Hada the Black, a necromancer who was apprehended during an investigation of five missing orphans perished last night in the custody of city officials. The inquisitor who questioned Hada is certain that the children are still alive. After the characters hear of a contract offered by the city guard, they discuss the situation with the inquisitor. The tired and disheveled man smooths his crimson robes as he speaks.
She lay down her sword and wept; her tears are the water. She lay down her body and slept; her bones are the fountain. Atop the mountain, at the war’s end, a place for gods to wonder.
This is an adventure for four 6th to 7th level PC's that may be completed in a single session. The Untamed are a street gang in a busy city. A recent change in leadership has transformed the members from pickpockets and second-story thieves into kidnappers for an inter-dimensional aberration named Xlrieh'oc. Their hideout is now a strange and wicked factory, capable of extracting the firm essence from a person; the process leaves the victim partly ethereal and their form no longer casts a shadow. Although most victims die during the procedure, those who survive are conscripted into the gang. The extracted essence is crated and shipped to the aberration's home plane through a breach between worlds in the hideout's backroom.
"Bloodwood of the Cruor Circle" is an alseid and blood hag lair suitable for four or five 10th-level characters. This adventure can be completed in a single session. The Cruor Circle, a coven of dark druids led by a blood hag, has taken over control of the local alseid herd with the power of the blood. Within the forest, those who do not make proper sacrifices are stalked by the alseids and taken to the Bloodwood. Within the Bloodwood, captives become blood sacrifices, empowering the creation of sap demons, blood ponds, and other twisted products of the dark druids.
Fight the Monster in its Den … If You Dare! Book of Lairs brings you 24 great monster lairs for 5th edition! Each of these exciting and unusual battlegrounds comes with a complete short adventure, including a hook, area hazards, tactics, and treasures. Stage your 5th Edition fights in unforgettable locations like: Alchemist’s Guildhall Necromancer’s Cistern Clockwork Tower Den of the Rotten Kings Lost Halls of Everforge A Pirate Cove Crypt of the Warlock Citadel of the Void Dragon A Dark Grove Lost Fane of the Serpents Branches of Yggdrasil Tomb of the Scorpion Prince Sky Stairs of Beldestan Imperial Ghoul Outpost Umbral Vampire Lair And 10 more! Designed by some of the top names in the RPG industry, Book of Lairs is sure to add an aura of wonder and mystery to your game! Book of Lairs uses standard monsters as well as surprising new creatures from Tome of Beasts, and both monster books are required for maximum playability.
Fane of Serpents is a titanoboa lair suitable for three to five 10th-level characters. A rocky butte covered with soaring ruins looms over the landscape. Legend describes it as a monument raised by an inhuman race that was wiped out centuries ago as retribution over foul practices. Locally, the spot is known as Titan’s Height. It rises starkly above the surrounding area, with four terraced plateaus. Each level is covered with the ruins of many-columned halls in an architectural style unlike anything else in the area. Their age and strangeness alone are enough to generate fearful legends. The stories grow worse when travelers or livestock disappear near Titan’s Height, which they sometimes do.
We’ve been running these fights since before my granddaddy helped drive them gnolls out. We have a proud history of taking care of the animals, too—we get ’em as pups from the dwarves up in Granitehold. Sure it’s bloody, but you’re not in the sot lands of kings and queens anymore, are you. Say, did you hear that?
In the small hamlet of Riverbend, the miller’s wife is missing, and the locals suspect the husband himself was involved. But all is far from what it seems. Ellessandra, the missing woman, is actually an elf from the Summer Lands. She came to live in the human settlement when the miller made a dangerous pact with the River King, the lands’ powerful sidhe ruler. Now, the player characters must unravel the truth behind Ellessandra’s disappearance, piece together the involvement of a young fey lord, and dive into the fey courts of the Summer Lands to stop a raid that would surely spell Riverbend’s doom. All the while, Arthurian intrigue and mischief runs high among the fey lords and ladies in this mercurial, open‑format adventure from acclaimed adventure designer Wolfgang Baur!
The spire has existed for as long as locals can remember. Rising above the sand near the ocean, the spire is topped by a natural cave system. Stories about the place circulate around the docks and taverns of the nearby towns—dark tales of ritual sacrifice and the worship of long dead gods of lightning and storm. Many claim the victims of the old cult still crawl through the tunnels accessible at the peak of the spire. Others say a new scaly threat now lairs there, and the storms of late have been most violent near that place. In this explorative and perilous adventure, the party ascends a great rocky spire to face the place’s past and the blue dragon that presently resides there.
The Claret Wellspring is an adventure for four 4th-5th level PCs. "The first spell cast has not yet finished its work." Strange lights in the desert lead the PCs to a long-forgotten oasis. Travelling towards the lights, the PCs are threatened by magic so old, it defies categorization. Arriving at the withered shore of a blood-colored pool, the PCs discover an ancient dial and three tooth-like columns rising from the ground. Turning the dial results in the water being magically siphoned into the column's hollow cavities. If the pool is emptied, a small door is revealed in the crimson-stained much. They must defeat a blood-infused water elemental before proceeding. Once inside, the PCs share a room with a dark ritual running since the origin of the world. The keeper of the place, an immortal fey inside a powerful suit of armor, offers little explanation as to the nature of the ritual, and he seeks to ensure they tell no one of the Claret Wellspring.
A welcoming desert oasis offers respite from the searing wasteland, but this paradise has perils. Castle of Sand is suitable for three to five 4th level characters.
The loss of Skyreach Castle in Hoard of the Dragon Queen was a major setback to the Cult of the Dragon, but still only a setback. The cult is determined to retake the castle and claim Tiamat’s lost treasure buried in its frozen walls and cloudstuff vaults, but they aren’t the only ones. Blagothkus the cloud giant is still the master of Skyreach, and he has gone to the hall of his cousin Brunvild, ice lord of Uldoveld, for the resources to repair and reoccupy the castle. At the same time, the party is dispatched by the Council of Waterdeep to reclaim some of the stolen treasures lost when the castle fell.
Sky Stairs of Beldestan is a vampire warlock lair suitable for four characters of 14th level. It can be a lead-in to Citadel of the Void Dragon, or it can be played independently. For as long as any dragon can remember, the stairs of Beldestan have been a site of pilgrimage, a direct route from dusty earth up to the heavens, where enormous creatures soar and carry sacrifices up to the gods. Its base is well known for the efficacy of the invocations offered there, but very few other than the most faithful dare venture up the stairs themselves: enormous eagles, howling winds, and various inimical undead make the stairs a place that few find congenial for long.
The Vault of Pallon the Pious is an adventure for four 2nd level PCs. A famous pirate captain came to worship a lawful god in his final years. After a lifetime of plundering, pillaging, scuttling, and murdering along the coastline, the fear-inspiring Pallon the Merciless rebranded himself as Pallon the Pious. But, a history of violence is a hard thing to reconcile, and the salty old dog slowly succumbed to madness. His most precious possession was a set of scales that reflected perfectly his own inner conflict. The Scales of Misjudgement are buried deep in the treasure room of his crazed rock-island vault.
A powerful evil plots to corrupt the fey audience attending a theatrical performance. Her priests pose as convincing performers who set the stage for their master’s arrival in the final act. While staying in the fey community and perhaps as partial reward for some previous accomplishment, the party is invited to the performance. In this dramatic and deadly adventure, the party witnesses a strange performance and the corruption of the fey audience before defeating a herald of darkness and her priests.
"Ruins of the Umbral Tower" is a shadow fey hunter lair suitable for four or five 8th-level characters. This adventure can be completed in a single session. The ruined Umbral Tower rests deep in the forest, in a marshy region avoided by all but songbirds. Long abandoned by its original occupant, the tower features a malfunctioning gate that connects this place and the Plane of Shadow. The site serves as a base for a group of shadow fey hunters and their entourage of hounds and guardians. The hunters used the gate to travel from their home plane, and they now attempt to bag as many trophies and as much loot as possible before returning home when the gate reactivates.
Throughout the land, legends of the Dusk Queen persist. They speak of a sometimes kind, other times cruel, yet always mysterious fey queen who ruled from her Dusk Tower—a tall spire of smooth, dark stone in the heart of a great, shadowy forest. Perhaps the most gripping legends, however, whisper of the Dusk Queen’s sudden and mysterious disappearance. Also available in 5e format.
An evil oracular being has taken up residence in a lonely valley. The only access to the valley is through a thick, dead wood whose shadows draw out foul memories from those who travel there. The oracle, Lurinax, has recently divined the season in which the world will end. This knowledge is greatly prized by many, so the evil fortune teller hides in his lair, protected by maddening winds and the souls of those he slew to obtain his knowledge. In this grim and dark adventure for tenth- and eleventh-level PCs, the party must travel the trail of shadows, face the manifestations of Lurinax’s victims, and finally the evil oracle himself.
The General who commanded the successful and profitable Crossroads Mercenary Company turns up murdered in his home, on the very eve of his scheduled announcement of which of his ambitious captains he’s chosen to succeed him as commander-in-chief. Every one of those commanders was in the house when the murder occurred, so they’re all suspects. If that’s not enough to keep things exciting, the clock is ticking down to zero. The General made a pact with devils years ago, and unless the murder is solved quickly, an infernal gate will open, allowing devils to flood through the General’s mansion into the world at large.
Nightmare of Blood! The village of Karvolia has paid its annual tribute of blood to the Red Goddess—but this year, none of the donors returned. Now the priestess commands the village elders to send another dozen young men and women to the edifice of stone that looms on the cliffs overlooking the village: the dreaded Blood Vaults. The terrified elders are willing to pay adventurers handsomely to find a way to make this second tribute pass them by. Unfortunately, the latest set of donors has already entered the Blood Vaults, and are being prepared for the donation process…