The Underdark holds many secrets. A series of earthquakes and eruptions have rocked a normally placid land. Strange creatures sighted in the dark of night raise fears across the already disturbed countryside. As tales of a lost race that once warred with the drow begin to surface, only the boldest adventurers dare to descend into the shadowy darkness.
An expedition of dwarf warriors from Citadel Adbar finds itself isolated and besieged by Ice Spire ogres and their allies. They require immediate relief or they risk being destroyed to a dwarf. Seer has directed you to their location in the hopes that you can rescue the dwarves and save their precious cargo, a tablet bearing secrets of ancient rune magic.
The party has been tasked with bringing the head of the fire giant king Snurre Ironbelly to the storm giant lord Krombaalt, as well as capturing the dwarven traitor Obmi Ironwhisper. Delving into Snurre's stronghold, they will also discover the sinister drow manipulating the giants. The adventure is part of the "Against the Giants" series originally by Gary Gygax, hence the writing credit.
The PCs intervene in an attempted murder and are hired to find out what made a guy go mad. This leads them to search for Yenejg Togan's tower/a strange merchant in the nearby forest, where they discover that bugbears have moved in. After exploring the tower, finding the "merchant", and dealing with the bugbears and the lamia that caused the incident in the first place, they were still unable to get into Yenejg's inner sanctum without a key. The PCs return with the key and figure out how to use it to enter Yenejg's sanctum. They then explore it, dealing mostly with traps, and finally discover the resting place of the treasure Yenejg stole from the town. This adventure begins with a skill-based roof-top chase and can include some complex non-combat interactions with potentially hostile NPCs. It includes some semi-interesting traps as well as some nifty puzzles. No villain to speak of. Fool-hardy adventurers can get themselves killed, but some caution will result in only one extremely hard fight, and even that can be avoided if action is taken quickly. Pgs. 74-107
HSING bears foul news: SEER has been captured. While exploring the ruins of Ulcaster in search of knowledge pertaining to runes (or perhaps even how to create them), they were separated and now the pseudodragon fears the worst. Without SEER's guidance, the efforts of the assembled factions in these recent events may all be for naught.
In the village of Elventree, near the oppressive city of Hillsfar, a recent string of strange occurrences has the locals on edge. The factions have gathered here on the borders of the forest of Cormanthor to determine what’s happening. Are these the machinations of Hillsfar, or something more?
A deathpriest hierophant of Orcus has turned the lower catacombs of a cemetery into a base for the undead and demonic horde it is gathering. The deathpriest loses control, however, with the arrival of a balor, and its carefully orchestrated forays to snatch victims have turned into wholesale slaughters. The PCs arrive in a nearby town to meet with a merchant who promised to sell them a long-coveted magic item. They are not altogether pleased to arrive to find the aftermath of a brutal attack—and no sign of their item. Pgs. 150-155
Beneath the jungle-covered ruins of an ancient human temple lies a small outpost of grell that have taken to hunting the nearby area by night. Sangkon Bhet is a fairly typical example of a small grell outpost; the monsters occupy convenient ruins or caverns for a time as they search out new places to move a colony that has over hunted its previous locale.
A trek across the Shadow Marches leads weary travellers to Blackroot, a quiet village of ramshackle huts nestled among the darkwood trees. Here, orcs and humans live in peace. However, all is not well. Something evil has crawled up from below, threatening to devour the village and its denizens. Only a party of brave heroes stands in its way. In Khyber’s Harvest, the PCs battle an ancient evil threatening a remote village in the Shadow Marches. The dark power of the planes has grown strong in this place. Depraved cultists and twisted aberrant creatures are dragging innocents down into ancient caverns to undergo a horrific transformation. To save these helpless villagers, the PCs must overcome the terrors of Khyber—a quest that brings them to the attention of the dreadful Belashyrra, the Lord of Eyes.
Baron Rajiram’s forces have secured the Nelanther Isles and have scoured the Sword Coast for treasures. Now they have begun to explore a mysterious island that recently just popped into existence nearby. SEER seems to believe that an aboleth artifact is their goal. It is up to the adventurers, in competition with the baron, as well as aboleths, the Kraken Society, and the mysterious caretaker of the island, to locate the Eye of Xxiphu and avert catastrophic disaster. A Four-Hour Adventure for 17th-20th Level Characters. Optimized for five 17th-level characters.
A Villain with a Vison A stolen jewel leads to the heart of the swamp, where one man’s thirst for vengeance threatens to destroy an entire town. Pgs. 68-92
On the southern shores of the Moonsea, the residents of Mulmaster have eked out a living where others would likely have given up long ago—in a bleak city where corruption is rampant and the Church of Bane holds sway. In these five short, introductory adventures, you will travel the breadth of the City of Danger, meet its people, see its sights, and witness firsthand how the city truly has earned its ominous moniker. An introductory adventure for 1st-2nd level characters. City of Danger is broken into five mini-adventures, each designed for one to two hours of play. Therefore if you are attempting to run all five missions in one session you need a minimum of five hours to do so (and probably more). If running this adventure as part of an event that cycles players through quickly, the DM should be familiar with the mini-adventures that he or she is going to run. At public events, time is often the most important factor. Get the players into the mini adventure as quickly as possible, keep an eye on the clock, and take whatever shortcuts are necessary to stay on schedule. If time is not an issue, let the characters spend more time interacting with the non player characters within the mini-adventures. It is not required that the mission be played in order.
A cold winter wind blows from the Scourge Mountains, but its origins are not of this world. And with it come horrifying stories of a fey who walks the land. Cold, beautiful, and deadly, she turns every mortal she touches into a statue of ice, and she seems determined to blanket the entire north in a blanket of frost. It is the Winter of the Witch…and if the archfey Koliada is not stopped, it could be the world’s last. “Winter of the Witch” starts with the PCs receiving an urgent but somewhat cryptic message from the skeletal knight, Sir Keegan. They find the skeletal knight a helpless victim of an aggressive interrogation by an undead minion of Orcus and his demonic thugs, who are attempting to extract the location of something called the Sun’s Sliver from the stubborn knight. The PCs fight their way into deep ruins, defeat the demon lord’s toadies, and retrieve the Sun’s Sliver. Once the PCs have recovered the Sun's Sliver, they must confront the Winter Witch in Winter's Heart, the witch's icy sanctum in the Feywild. Only there can they confront the cold-hearted archfey and save a section of the world from a wintery doom.
A derelict raft drifts into Mulmaster’s harbor carrying a young woman. Delirious with hunger, the only words she seems able to speak so far have been “ash and fire.” The only other clue to her identity is an ornate tattoo. Is the woman insane, or is something nefarious at play?
Important: The adventure is 1e but it has monster conversion notes for D&D 4th edition The town of Highport, once a human community overlooking Wooly Bay from its perch on the northern coast of the Pomarj, fell prey to hordes of humanoids swarming out of the jungle-covered hills surrounding the settlement. Though the orcs, goblins, kobolds, ogres, and gnolls razed much of the place in their ferocious rampages, the smoldering ruins they left behind soon became a new kind of community, a place of trade between the humanoid “locals” and the unsavory human traders who have no compunction about doing business with them. Slaves are a commodity in ready supply in Highport’s market, since many pirates raid up and down the coast of the bay, putting fishing villages to the torch and filling their holds with captured refugees. Slavery has become a thriving business in the town, and rumors abound of a cartel of Slave Lords who run things from behind the scenes, filling their coffers in secret from the buying and selling of human chattel. The trade has become so prolific that the good folk to the north have grown tired of these depredations and decided to fight back. Forces of righteousness and honor have recently descended upon Highport, some openly and others in secret, in various attempts to destroy the machinations of the Slave Lords and abolish the abominable enterprise that has taken far too many loved ones from home and hearth. One such doughty servant of goodness is Mikaro Valasteen, a cleric of Trithereon. Mikaro slipped unnoticed past the crumbling walls of Highport with a single mission: to rescue and transport as many slaves to their freedom as possible. Mikaro and a handful of faithful assistants located a number of escaped slaves—as well as rescued a few more not sufficiently restrained and guarded—and shepherded them through the gates and beyond the reach of their humanoid tormentors, returning them to their lands and homes. This covert freedom brigade enjoyed remarkable success early on, since the servants of the Slave Lords were often lax in their vigilance and sloppy in their efforts to prevent loss of the “merchandise.” After one too many shipments never made its destination, the humanoids stepped up their security and the normal channels of escape from Highport closed to Mikaro and his team. He cannot risk exposure by smuggling the freed slaves through the gates as merchandise any longer, since shipments of goods are now regularly stopped and checked. No longer able to free the slaves in that manner, Mikaro began hiding his charges in an abandoned villa in a particularly rundown part of the town. Although they are safe for the moment, their numbers have grown unmanageable, and the priest fears it is only a matter of time before someone slips up and brings slavers to their doorstep. Ever more desperate to find a new means of escape from Highport, Mikaro has started work on a plan that is both daring and dangerous. He intends to use a series of old sewers coupled with natural caverns running beneath the town as an escape route to the sea beyond the walls. But he needs someone to clear out the creatures and pitfalls he knows lie within. Pgs. 2-27
The fabled sword of Selfaril is told to bestow wisdom and power upon whomever wields it, so naturally its discovery has caused quite a stir in Mulmaster. All of this is complicated when a masked benefactor claims to not only know the truth about the blade, but also how it can be used to benefit the oppressed people of Mulmaster. Can it truly change Mulmaster for the better?
An adventure included in the Essentials Kit (2019). The party starts in Phandalin, the starting town for the Starter Set (2014) adventure, Lost Mine of Phandlever. Various jobs are posted by Harbin Wester, townmaster, which the PCs can pursue. These jobs culminate in a raid on Icespire Hold, where Cryovain, a young adult white dragon, has recently claimed as its lair.
An Introductory Adventure for Storm King's Thunder. As evening approaches, you spot a wooden signpost next to a trail that heads north into the hills. Nailed to the post are three arrow-shaped signs. The two marked “Waterdeep” and “Daggerford” follow the High Road but point in opposite directions. The third, marked “Nightstone,” beckons you to follow the trail. If memory serves, Nightstone is roughly ten miles up the trail. This is Chapter 1 of the greater story available for free on the Dungeon Master's Guild.
Strange things are afoot in the Moonsea. The factions have called all those willing and able to investigate strange occurrences in the region surrounding Phlan. Dark whispers and unseen terrors lurk in the misty shadows between this world and someplace much more sinister. Unveil the horrors before it is too late! Part one of Misty Fortunes and Absent Hearts.
If you're looking for a light-hearted adventure, you've come to the right place. Can a wizard and her beloved chef live a quiet life of baking and brewing, or is trouble destined to enter their innocent kitchen? It's up to the player characters to see what these two have cooked up before things get too hot to handle (without potholders, anyhow). Game designer Andy Collins offers the latest in our series of monthly free adventures. This original Dungeons & Dragons scenario, including full description and stats for a crusty new culinary creature, is suitable for a party of four characters of 2nd level. Adventure Preview When Andolyn met Gendrew, it seemed a match made in heaven. Andolyn was a skilled wizard with a love of a good meal, looking for an excuse to settle down from adventuring, while Gendrew was a master chef looking to create new methods of cooking. Together, they took up a quiet life of baking and brewing, content to live in a small cottage on the outskirts of town. But now one of their experiments has gone horribly wrong, and the characters must save poor Gendrew from his own delicious concoction, while defending themselves from the inhabitants of the cottage, and one unwelcome invader.