Qrebib Design: William W. Connors, Cindi Rice, & John D. Rateliff Editing: Cindi Rice e Brand Management: David Wise Cover Illustration: Todd Lockwood Interior lllustration: Patrick Kochakji, John Matson, Kevin McCann, Amie Swekel, & Sam Wood Art Direction: LN Buck Cartography: Rob Lazzaretti e Typography: Angelika Lokotz Graphic Design: Matthew Adelsperger Proofreading: Miranda Horner, Carrie Bebris, & David Wise Playtesting: Peter Archer, Elizabeth Baldwin, Steven Brown, Douglas Carter, Dale Donovan, Bruce Heard, Audrey Hollis, Miranda Horner, Oona Meeker, BiU Olmesdahl, Thomas Reid, Sean Reynolds, Myles Stewart, Stacey Stewart, Erin Stewart-Lynn, Keith Strohm, Red Swan, Valerie Vallese, & Pierce Watters Special Thanks: Steve Miller & Ed Stark Debication This adventure is thankfully dedicated to everyone who has ever written a letter or spoken up in a seminar to ask ~what 's this Shadow Rift thing?"

Tdle of Qontents Tfie .Abuentun Tfie ~ettitUl Prince of Shadows ...... 3 Appendix One: The Shadow Rift ...... 11 7 Introduction ...... 4 The Domain ...... 118 Adventure Summary ...... 5 The History ...... 124 Act One: Grasping at Shadows ...... 7 Appendix Two: Who's Doomed ...... 127 Scene One: Briggdarrow ...... 8 Loht, Prince of the Sith ...... 128 Scene Two: Lake Kronov ...... 25 Maeve, Princess of the Shee ...... 131 Scene Three: Goblinwood ...... 27 Appendix Three: Relics and Artifacts ...... 133 Scene Four: Brujamonte ...... 34 The Sword ofArak ...... 134 Scene Five: Wytch wood ...... 40 The Regalia of Arak ...... 136 Scene Six: The Witch's Lair ...... Sample 44 fileThe Obsidian Gate ...... 138 Scene Seven: The Fracture ...... 58 Appendix Four: Monstrous Compendium .. . . . 139 Scene Eight: Prisoners of Darkness ...... 63 Avanc ...... 140 Act Two: Realm of Shadows ...... 67 Arak ...... 141 Heroes in the Shadow Rift ...... 68 Arak, Alven ...... 142 Scene Nine: The Greenlands ...... 70 Arak, Brag ...... 143 Scene Ten: The MaJachUe Palace ...... 76 Arak, Fir ...... 144 Scene Eleven: The Precipice ...... 94 Arak, Muryan ...... •...... 145 Act Three: Door to Darkness ...... 97 Arak, Portune ...... • ...... 146 Scene Twelve: The Stowndowns ...... 98 Arak, Powrie ...... 147 Scene Thirteen: The Black Marsh ...... 102 Arak, Shee ...... 146 Scene Fourteen: The Darkenheights ...... 105 Arak, Sith ...... 149 Scene Fifteen: The Obsidian Gate ...... 108 Arak, Teg ...... 150 Scene Sixteen: Denouement ...... 115 Changeling ...... 15 l Crimson Bones ...... 153 Grim ...... 154 Saugh, Dearg-Due ...... 155 Saugh, Gossamer ...... 156 Treant, Evil (Blackroot) ...... 157 Glossary ...... 159

2 Sample file Sample file Prince of ~fJabows

character rather than Prince Loht. Should such a Introbuction contingency arise, the Dungeon Master should ver since the Grand Conjunction shook adjust resulting departures from the written text to the geography of Ravenloft, explorers of smooth over any inconsistencies. Remember that the Demiplane of Dread have marveled possession of the legendary item will attract much at the Shadow Rift. This gaping wound unwanted attention from the shadow elves, who will Elstands at the very heart of the Core domains and be aghast to see such a venerated object in the defies all efforts to understand Its origins or explore hands of mere mortals. its depths. Now, in this adventure, heroes will at last have Late BejJUJ"8J a chance to learn what mysteries the dim vapors If this adventure is being used independently, the of that fantastic canyon conceal. With a great deal Dungeon Master will not have to worry about the of luck, they may even survive long enough to possible results of the player characters' previous return to the outside world and tell others what actions. Sufficient information should be available they have seen. through the course of the adventure to make up for any gaps in the heroes' knowledge of past UI~at liu Gone Before events as detailed in Servants of Darkness. This adventure is designed to be used in one of two ways: The heroes can experience the events in l\unain.g ~fJLs Abuentun Prince of Shadows either after completing the Prince ofShad ows is designed for four to six player RAVENLOFf4D module Servants of Darkness or as an characters of 7th to 9th levels. In order to battle the independent adventure. Neither is inherently shadow elves, the heroes will need magical preferable over the other, so the Dungeon Master Is weapons of at least + 1 enchantment. free to use whichever method best suits his or her To run this adventure effectively, the Dungeon RAVENLOFT campaign. Master will need the Player's Handbook, the DuNG£0N MAsn:R9 Gulde, the MONSTROOS MANUALTM $tnauts n DadtuSS tome, the RA.VENLOF19 MONSTROUS COMPE:NDJUM8 For those groups who played Servants of Darkness, Appendices, and Domains of Dread. the Prince of Shadows adventure serves as a In addition, this adventure contains several continuation of the events depicted In that module. optional encounters that utilize monsters from the Since it is virtually impossible to predict just what MONSTROUS COMPE:NDIUM Annual Volumes Orte, Two, player characters will say and do, it is quite and Three. For ease of play, their combat statistics possible that the earlier adventure may haveSample ended arefile presented in this book as well. up with the Sword ofArak in the hands of a player In this adventure, the heroes descend into the heretofore unexplored region of the Shadow Rift. The characters will be isolated in this alien environment where they cannot even begin to predict what dangers lurk around them. The Dungeon Master should carefully play up the unique atmosphere and strange creatures that the heroes will encounter in this Mlst-filled chasm. The touchstone of this adventure is eeriness. The Shadow Rift is not some blood-splattered charnel house nor a typical "dungeon." Instead, it is a land apart, strange rather than malevolent. Parts of it are exceptionally dangerous, and certainly many of its inhabitants have no love for mortals. Trespassers should proceed with caution, yet the heroes should continually have the sense that they are peripheral to events and that the inhabitants are largely wrapped up in their own unfathomable affairs to which they will return as soon as the Intruders have departed. Only thus can the sense of mortals briefly crossing these immortals' stage be conveyed.

4 Prince of ~fJaboUJS

a{ler I spoke with him he stopped speaking Abttenture ~ummar.u altogether and now simply gazes dreamily out the n refereeing any adventure, an element window, smlllng. I think we can dismiss this report of risk always exists for the Dungeon as senlle dementia. Master. Despite all careful planning, he or • she cannot possibly anticipate all the Young Goodman Eilis's Story: "It was her, I tell youl possible actions that the players may undertake. Dancing in the woods ... but it seemed like she With that in mind, the following summary indicates didn't know me. the most likely course for the players to take in this "Alright, alright; I'll try to tell it in order. I was out adventure. in the woods at night-why? Because my horse had Briefly, Act One begins when the heroes stumble thrown a shoe and I had to get off and walk him if I across a town that seems filled with sleepwalkers. djdn't want the poor animal to go lame, that's why. They eventually learn that the village has been And the walk back took longer than I'd thought it attacked by wdancing men" and may, if they linger would, and I got benlghted. There wasn't any moon, too long, get to experience such an attack them­ and it was dark as pitch under those trees. Then I selves. The rest of the act concerns their attempts saw it. A sort of glimmering, shimmering patch off to to discover the purpose of these attacks, eventually my left. I went toward it-why? Because I'd got tracing them to the mysterious shadow elves. myself lost and thought it might be a cottage or Act Two follows the heroes as they brave the something, with the light muted by curtains on the unknown challenges of the shadow elves' windows or sometrung of the sort. But it wasn't that homeland, the mysterious Shadow Rift, journeying at all. No, notrung like. It was a clearing, and in it to that strange land in an attempt to recover an was these ladies. Dancing. I never seen such artifact known as the Crown ofArak before it falls dancing, not in all my born days. And when they into the hands of an old enemy of theirs known as passed close by me, I could see that one of them the Prince of Shadows. was Melissa! Clear as day, not ten feet from me. I Act three is a race against time as the heroes wish I'd jumped forward and grabbed hold of her and struggle to stop the Prince of Shadows from got her away from them, but it was like I couldn't do opening a dimensional gate in the Shadow Rift that nothing but stand there and stare, I was that will allow something even the shadow elves fear to surprised. Then I let out a cry and ran after them, come into Ravenloft from the Demiplane of and-whoosh!-they was all gone. Vanished like a Shadow. Arriving at the crucial moment, their snuffed candle. I ran about In the woods for hours intervention determines the success or failure of the calling her name, but it wasn't no use. She was gone Shadow-Prince's plot and decides which of three again. And I know I've lost her forever this time. possible powers is dominant in the Shadow Rift at "There. That's my story, and I'm sticking to iL" the end of the adventure. Sample-lnqul.sllor file Cobb's Comments lo Chief lnqul.silor The background events that underlie this Roe: I did the best I could with this lmpenllent and adventure can be found in the Appendices of this recalcitrant witness. Nol only does he openly boast book, along with descriptions of the artifacts, major of thl.s encounter with the fey, In which they clearly personalities, and races that will be encountered bewitched him, but he repeatedly states his regret over the course of the campaign. Dungeon Masters that he did noljoin in their ungodly bacchae and wishing for more information should consult these haue closer consort with the eull uision they sent Lo sources, plus the glossary. for explanations to any delude him. I recommend seuen days in the stocks puzzling references. al least Lo humble his Loo-worldly spirit and bring him back to a proper appreciallon of the real world. '.E~e Inqubitor'J Jleports -ChiefInquisitor Roe's Comment: I remember Melissa 's sad decline and her death uery well. I now Old Gaffer Whitten 's Statement: "There wer recall that her family said that she "hadn't been b't'rflies. A yard across, they were. 'N' bees as big herself' those last few months. Listless and uague, as my hand. 'N' flowers what smelt so sweet it like quite unlike her usual self. I may haue to consider 'ta turned my head like a glass of Chauncey's best mouing the body to unconsecrated ground. bitter. Mind you, I could'a taught them a thing or two about gardenin'-if I wasn't so creaky and so Goody Hespra 's Story: "It looked like a man, but its blasted old. Did me good t'see it, it did." skin was all white-white as milk. It was all dressed -Inquisitor Hewitt's Comment to ChiefInquisitor in black, with a sword by Its side-not a proper Roe: These are Gaffer Whitten 's uery words, so far sword, mind you, but a skinny little needly thing. as I could make them ouL The old man is a poor And when it looked at me-tori-my heart leapt witness, but insists he "seen what he seen." Shortly into my mouth and my knees turned to butter. I sez

5 Prince of ~~abows to myself, "feets, don't fail me now," and I took off Nashe's Story: "I swear I didn't do it. I swear. It was running like the Black One hisself were right behind just like I told you. We was out in the woods hunting, me. All the time, l's praying and calling on blessed Rafe and me, and all of the sudden he falls down. It luck to save me. Guess it heard m' prayers, 'cause I was dark, so 1couldn't rightly see, but it seemed to got clean away. But lordy I'm never going back into me that he was thrashing around on the ground like them woods again o' a moonless night, even if the he was wrestling with something I couldn't see, or cow does get herself lost." mebee a whole nest of somethings. Anyway, he kept -Inquisitor Jocelyn's Report: We all know that yelling 'Get 'em off me! Get 'em off me!' over and Good.wife Hespra is a god/earing woman. I see no over, till suddenly if sounded like he choked on reason not to accept her story at face ualue; I think somethin'. Anyways, I had me axe with me, so I we should praise her for shunning the fey and all heaved it up over my shoulder and took a mighty their dark works, and I suggest this as an swing. And I hit something. The ground was boiling appropriate topic {or your next sermon. with 'em, but I couldn't rightly see what they were. -Roe,'s Annotation: duly preached the next Highday. After a bit it got quiet, though, so I got out my flint and steel and got a light going. The ground was all Inquisitor Jankln 's Report: ... As you know, we tore up awful and there was no sign of Rafe, but found the stranger wandering in the woods along there was this ugly little fellow lying stretched out on the road. He could give no account of himself and the dirt. I reccon my axe'd got 'em good. Anyway, I seemed dazed, hardly aware ofour questions. In could see that I'd have to wait for morning but I short, he showed euery sign of being elf-shot. Per didn't worry none-If they came back for me, I'd just your instructions, we put him in the press and whomp them with my axe like I done before. questioned him again. He seemed to show no dis­ "Well, morning came, though it sure took it's tress and ignored all our questions and l'1f unctlons time about it. And then the oddest thing happened. for him to confess and purge his soul as if we had That little man's body, it just caught fire and burned not euen been there. He finally expired on the away. So I came back into town to tell people what eighth day, stlll unconfessed. As is usual with such happened, and that's when you folks 'rrested me. cases, the body will be buried staked in a cross­ And I still don't see why; I told you what happened roads where the spirit, If it rises, will be unable to to Rafe. I wasn't me that did him in, it was those find its way back to trouble us. little ugly fellers." -Inquisitor Paynim's Comment: A sad case. Obuiously he did in his partner and then concocted some wild story blaming it all on the fey, with his Heuidence" conveniently burning away in the morning light I recommend this murderer go to the Sample filestake, and without any of the usual palliatives. -Chief Inquisitor Roe's Comment: Agreed.

Hobbln 's Tale: "Y'see, first I heard these voices­ one real quiet and whispery and the other, a lady's, sorta hissy like something was wrong with her tongue. Yes, it was a lady's voice--no mistaking that. Full o' fancy words I couldn"t' rightly understand. Anyway, it sounded like they was sparkln'-begging your pardon, courtin'-and I got to wondering just who It could be carrying on out in the middle of the woods at that time o' night. A man with three daughters can't be too careful, y'know. So I creeps up, quiet as I can, and what do you suppose I saw? It was nothing but a snake and a turtle-'n' they was talking. I knowed then it weren't canny. So I made off as quiet as I could. That's all I saw, and that's the honest truth." -Inquisitor Walther's Comment: Further inuestigation showed that Hobbln had been sampling good Mistress Wickham's ale before his moonlight walk; doubtless his tale would be more sober if he himself had been so!

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