8 Short Adventures for 5Th Edition Sample File Credits Design: James J

8 Short Adventures for 5th Edition Sample file Credits Design: James J. Haeck, Jerry LeNeave , Mike Shea, and Bill Slavicsek Cover Art: Marcel Mercado Interior Art: Marcel Mercado, Florian Stitz, Bryan Syme Cartography: Jon Pintar, Michael Tumey Editing: Chris Harris Art Direction: Marc Radle Layout and Graphic Design: Marc Radle Publisher: Wolfgang Baur © Copyright 2018 Open Design LLC Kobold Press, Open Design, and their associated logos are trademarks of Open Design. The 5E logo is used by kind permission of Sasquatch Game Studio. Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, place names, new deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, story elements, locations, characters, artwork, graphics, maps, sidebars, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game Content are not included in this declaration.) Open Game Content: The Open content in this book includes the monster names, statistics, traps, and skill rules. No other portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without permission. KOBOLD PRESS PO Box 2811 SampleKirkland WA 98083 file www.koboldpress.com 2 Table of Contents PIT OF THE DUST GOBLINS ............................................................................................... 4 An adventure for five 4th-level characters by James J. Haeck CRYPT OF GREEN SHADOWS ............................................................................................10 An adventure for five 5th-level characters by James J. Haeck UNDER THE DEVIL’S THUMB ...........................................................................................16 An adventure for five 5th-level characters by Jerry LeNeave BLOOD VAULTS OF SISTER ALKAVA ...............................................................................30 An adventure for five 5th-level characters by Bill Slavicsek CARRION SHRINE OF QORGETH ....................................................................................38 An adventure for five 6th-level characters by James J. Haeck THE LEYSTONE OF THE INDIGO STAR ...........................................................................44 An adventure for five 7th-Level characters by Mike Shea PALACE OF THE WIND LORDS .........................................................................................52 An adventure for five 7th-level characters by James J. Haeck THE UNDYING TOURNAMENT ......................................................................................58 An adventure for five 8th-level characters by James J. Haeck A NOTE ABOUT MONSTERS Monsters in these adventures are marked with bold text. If a creature cannot be found within the System Reference Document (SRD), then a reference to the Tome of Beasts is provided. Sample file 3 Pit of the Dust Goblins An adventure for five 4th-level characters set in the Western Wastes by James J. Haeck FOR THE GM DUST GOBLINS The goblins squatting in the ruins of Feycircle are outcasts Pit of the Dust Goblins is a trap‑laden lair set at the edge from the Bloody Tusks tribe; cultists exiled for venerating of Midgard’s Western Wastes in the ruins of the town of the mysterious shadow fey instead of the Great Old Ones Feycircle. It is a short dungeon that requires stealth, clever that lumber across the Wastes. The leader of the goblins tactics, and manipulation of different factions within the is a shaman named Sisskuss, who leapt on the chance to dungeon to ensure survival. This dungeon can be linked capture the abandoned fairy ring: a nexus of power at to the Crypt of Green Shadows and the Carrion Shrine of the crossing of two minor ley lines. Sisskuss summoned Qorgeth, but it can also be used as a stand‑alone dungeon. a shadow fey called a selang inside the circle, hoping to court it and empower her bloodline with its dark magic. HISTORY & BACKGROUND SELANG The people of Feycircle believed the fairy ring for The selang is the goblins’ unwilling captive, and is willing which their town was named protected them from the to strike a bargain in exchange for their total annihilation. encroaching sands of the Western Wastes. When the ring Like all fey, however, his moods are fickle, and he is just as withered, they learned they were right. Feycircle’s dew‑ likely to cheat the PCs as he is to reward them. flecked pastures and verdant forests succumbed to the Wastes in an instant. SURVIVORS Feycircle sank deep into the sands and was soon Three humans remain in the Pit of the Dust Goblins. The occupied by a tribe of fanatical dust goblins, a herd of first is Hana, a loyal gatekeeper who has vowed to watch dogmoles, and the giant worms that caused the blight. the town no matter what. She is trapped within her home, The PCs may explore the keep—the only structure hoping to find two young siblings named Rennie and remaining in the dusty sinkhole now called the "Pit of Linde who were unable to flee. She (correctly) believes the Dust Goblins." Inside the keep is an entrenched they are being held by the goblins as a bargaining chip. gatekeeper who can divulge that two children remain in town, imprisoned by the goblins. The dust goblins have summoned and imprisoned a ADVENTURE HOOKS selang—a shadow fey—inside the blighted fairy circle. Most of the refugees from Feycircle have pitched tents The goblins fear open combat and have laced the sunken some twenty miles from the city. As your players’ GM, you keep with traps, and would sooner parley than fight. know best how to involve the PCs in this adventure. The BEASTS following adventure hooks are provided to inspire and assist you. The Pit is currently inhabited by two kinds of beasts: Money. Feycircle was not a poor village; the lord crusher worms and dogmoles. The crushers are the spawn • and lady lived comfortably in their keep, and a large of Qorgeth, Demon Lord of Worms. The worms and their amount of treasure is contained within. Greedy dread master are the cause of the blight; they live only to adventures may be lured by rumors of this much feed. Were it not for a wandering pack of worm‑hunting unattended wealth. dogmoles, they would have consumed Feycircle already. Escaped from a dwarven settlement, these domesticated • Protection. The chief of the Bloody Tusks goblin dogmolesSample sought refuge and regular meals in the ruins of tribe is disturbed by the successfile of Sisskuss and her Feycircle. The dust goblins treat their unlikely allies with fey‑worshiping deviants, and wants them wiped out. If uncommon kindness. the PCs seek safe travel across the Wastes, he is willing to offer protection on their journey if they destroy the exiled goblins. 4 Sample file • Heroism. There are children trapped inside the Gate Towers. The two 30‑foot‑tall watchtowers flanking village—a brother and sister named Rennie and Linde. the gate are still standing and relatively stable. They can Their distraught mother, Relimma, is a refugee in a both be ascended by climbing the ladders inside the walls. camp some twenty miles away from the sunken village. Worm Traps. The dust goblins have spread worm traps all She offers anything the PCs want—up to the 50 gp along the main road leading from the gate to the fortress. she has to her name—in exchange for their safety. The Each trap hides under the dust, and snaps up with iron siblings’ father, Petring, ventured out to find them the clamps when a Medium or larger creature steps on it. day after the worms came, and hasn’t been seen since. The creature must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 2d6 piercing damage on a failed save and half as OUTSIDE THE KEEP much on a successful one. On a failed save, the target is also restrained, but can end the restrained condition by By the time you reach Feycircle, only a few shattered timbers making a DC 11 Strength check to remove the trap. protrude from the hungry sands, joined by a dozen decaying corpses of goblins and giant, man-sized worms. At the edge of 1A. DUSTY COURTYARD the wreckage is a deep sinkhole—a vast pit that has devoured the town’s keep. Its crumbling walls are still visible above the pit’s You squeeze through the hole in the stone walls and find yourself edge. Looming on the horizon like a distant, black moon is the in what may have once been a beautiful flower garden. The terrible silhouette of Anax Apogeion, one of the Great Old Ones flowers are worm-eaten and withered. The heavy stink of death that haunt the Western Wastes. draws your attention to the western corner, where a pile of human corpses is being swarmed by maggots. 1. MAIN GATE The milky‑white death maggots devouring the bodies are the larval stage of the crusher worms that infest the You descend thirty feet down the sandy slopes of the pit and sinkhole. A creature that investigates or otherwise disturbs find yourself before the slanted gates of Feycircle Keep. You the body must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw hear war cries and animal roars from within! Just inside the or be immediately swarmed by these creatures. On a walls, a battle has broken out—goblins hiding in a collapsed failure, they must then make a DC 15 Constitution saving tower shooting at gigantic lavender worms. Both sides are too throw. The creature to take 28 (8d6) piercing damage as preoccupied to notice you. the maggots devour their flesh on a failed save, and half as A group of six dust goblins (Tome of Beasts, p. 232) are much damage on a successful save. defending their turf against a swarm of twelve giant A character investigating the bodies may make a DC 13 crusher worms (use constrictor snake statistics). The Intelligence (Investigation) check. On a success, they find goblins are barricaded within a fallen tower and raining valuables worth a total of 50 gp, including a rosewood crossbow bolts on the worms.

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