Lead Design: Simon Hunter I have been playing Dungeons & Creative Consultants: Dragons since the early 1980's starting with Darren McKinnon, Rodney Chamberlain, Beau Prendergast The Basic Set which cost me $19 and $1 for the pack of 6 polyhedron dice. This was the Interior Art: James Welch, Patrick E. Pullen, Daniel F. Walthall set with the artwork on it by Erol Otis. Over Bartek Blaszczec, Fil Kearney time my school friends and I progressed to DM’s Guild Creator Resources the Expert Set and then onto the more Additional art provided by complex 1st Edition and 2nd Edition Maps: Advanced D&D. Simon Hunter Due to real life commitments I skipped Special Thanks: playing 3rd and 3.5 Editions even though I Inkarnate, Campaign Cartographer 3+ still had the core rulebooks. In 2010 a bunch Lord Zsezse Works of my friends and I started a 4th Edition Credits: campaign and it was a blast. We had tiles and The Border Kingdoms by and Alex Kammer miniatures and a great who made the story come alive. Playtesters: Darren McKinnon, Skye McKinnon, William McKinnon Now that 5th Edition has been around Sabel Hunter, Hannah Hunter for some time, I wanted to return to the role of storyteller. I went through my old https://www.dmsguild.com/product/244431 https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Patrick%20E.%20Pullen campaign notes and decided that it was time https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=James%20Welch https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/8224/Axebane-Games for something new, a mix of adventures that http://www.filkearney.com would bring new players into the D&D world in a campaign with my own twist. The DUNGEON MASTERS GUILD (DMS Guild) provide a great opportunity to design and publish all manner of material for D&D, from monster stats and magic items, to full blown adventures and campaigns. In your hands you hold the second adventure of this campaign, a continuation of the previous encounter and the next step in the story.

Enjoy Simon Hunter : Emrik Allwatcher August 2020

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This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

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Skeletal Green Dragon Wyrmling (700xp) ..... 22 Kslithkor (Dragonborn Scout) ...... 23

Magic Items ...... 24 Harmonised Chime of Opening ...... 24 Foreword ...... 2 Worn Hat of Holding ...... 24 Credits ...... 2 Mundane Items 1 ...... 25 Contents ...... 3 Mundane Items 2 ...... 25 Notes ...... 3 Maps ...... 26 Introduction...... 4 Thanks For Playing ...... 29 Realm of the Ready Sword ...... 4

Telcharn ...... 4

Adventure ...... 5 Prelude ...... 5 Part 1 – Entry Level ...... 6 When you see text in a box like this it is Cave Mouth ...... 6 meant to be read out to the party. These boxes contain detailed information about Kobolds and ...... 6 locations and NPCs. As Dungeon Master Flooded Room ...... 8 you can paraphrase or change them Prison Cells ...... 9 completely. Chasm and Tunnel ...... 10

Spider and Skeleton ...... 12 A box like this gives the Dungeon Master Puzzle Room ...... 13 some extra specific information about Part 2 – Lower Level ...... 15 certain details. It may have important Cavern Floor ...... 15 background information or knowledge Kobold Treasure ...... 15 that an NPC knows but cannot divulge.

Damp Room ...... 15 Errata Mystery Tunnels ...... 16 20200825 Initial Release Part 3 – Upper Level ...... 17

The Hallway ...... 17 Velmissa and Slith ...... 17

Final Encounter...... 19

Endgame ...... 20 Treasure ...... 20 Experience ...... 20

Final Words ...... 20 Wizards of the Coast the of Wizards MonstersSample & NPCs ...... 21 file Infirmed Kobold (25xp) ...... 21 Living Mud (100xp) ...... 21 Wizard Kargrok (200xp) ...... 21 Giant Fire Bite Spider (200xp) ...... 22

protect the caravans of goods travelling up and down the trade route and there are several fortified keeps along the road. The realm is a place devoid of towns and The Elixir campaign takes place in the cities but there is the occasional village that FORGOTTEN REALMS® setting as part of springs up now and then, defending DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 5th Edition ruleset and themselves against raiders and the like. The scenarios. trade route supports a few stone inns but With the release of The Border Kingdoms mostly there are just clearings where by Ed Greenwood and Alex Kammer there caravans can stop for the night. now exists an opportunity for adventurers to make their fortunes, or not, in an area of the Forgotten Realms that has a reputation for being wild and chaotic. Telcharn is a small town of The Player’s Handbook, Dungeon mostly wood and Master’s Guide, and are stone buildings. The required to run this adventure. The Border party find Kingdoms supplement contains a plethora of themselves here information for the area and would prove after hearing about useful for expanding this campaign within the famous cobbler this part of the Forgotten Realms. Hundrar Thornspur. The Dungeon Master should read Perhaps one of the through the adventure first, to familiarise James Welch characters wishes to buy themselves with the flow of the adventure. some of his wares directly from him, having heard that the exported boots are of lesser The party of adventurers can begin the quality or maybe they are returning some old campaign anywhere in Faerûn, travelling boots to be repaired. separately or together to the Border The town itself has quite a few not-so- Kingdoms. Or they may be locals to the honest locals so the party will need to be kingdom, born and bred in the wild wary of their possessions. The local outfitter, roughness and instability of the lands and its one Abrant Zunderscales, sells many items people. for the traveller, all with less than honest sales talk. There are a few inns and other shops all of which are available for the party to browse and explore. See the Telcharn map and the following notes for more information. For more information, read the section The Realm of the about the Realm of the Ready Sword and Ready Sword is a long Telcharn in The Border Kingdoms stretch of land, supplement. located south along

the edge of Duskwood Forest and north above the cliffs that form the northern Coast the James Welch edge of the Shaar and the Shaarwall. It is a lawless land, full of bandits and monstersSample and has no king or government. file of Wizards It does, however, offer a fast route for traders going from the Shining Sea to the Golden Road. Because of this heavy trade, several groups of armoured knights called the Crown Blades hire themselves out as escorts to help

The Puzzle Room consists of four pillars with an intricate magical device contained within each of them. There are four unique Shape-Stones that the party need to find to open the door to the upper level. These stones are scattered throughout the caves and it is left to the At this point the party has completed Dungeon Master to place them at their the Kobolds in the Open encounter and they discretion. are now ready to enter the cave. This The door to the puzzle room from the adventure can be played without having run caves is only openable by a Harmonised Chime the first encounter, characters will need to be of Opening, see the Magic Items section, at least level 2 and the Dungeon Master will which can be found on the entrance level if need to create a suitable backstory that gets the party does not explore the lower level. them to Forest’s Edge and the cave in question. The morning finds you packing up the The caves consist of three levels of campsite and readying yourselves to mined tunnels, stone worked rooms and enter the cave. It is a short walk along a naturally formed caves. The entrance level seemingly well-worn dirt track from the shows signs of mining and there are blocked forest's edge in through an area of sparse passageways and unstable areas. The upper oak. The morning brings out a few birds, level is tiled and is the location of the final chirping endlessly about and there is a encounter. The lower level is a natural cavern. There are mostly creatures such as spiders general calmness. Up ahead you see the and rats here. The tunnels height varies from cave entrance, a dark mouth of a natural around ten to twelve feet in the mined areas cave but supported with rough wooden and up to twenty feet in the cavern. Cobwebs beams as if it has been used as a mine at cover most of the ceilings. The air is stale, some point. Two animal skulls hang on dank, and musty. either side of the wooden framework,

The various monsters encountered in evidence of candles within them as if they the adventure include kobold, orc, skeleton, have been used as some sort of warning living mud, giant spider, humanoids, and light. The area around shows signs of foot other creatures. The final boss is undead in traffic but the cave entrance itself is quiet nature. and empty. Silvered weapons will be a boon for the final encounter and provisions have been made for the party to acquire some. The Dungeon Master has final say to whether the party be able to find these weapons, to allow for a simpler fight or vice versa.

There are coloured glassy crystals embedded in the walls and floors of the caves that are of little value though they will glow dimly when clustered together. Individual crystals do not have this ability. A certain amountSample of them, about a pound, when held file together will bring about the glow, and the characters may be able to construct dimly glowing torches with a glow area of about ten to fifteen feet using this method. The kobolds love shiny things, so the orcs have been using the crystals to coerce the kobolds into doing their bidding.

There are five kobolds in this room. The entrance level consists of two They are older and infirmed and protective of rooms where the orcs and kobolds from their trinkets and shiny things, use the Kobolds in the Open had been living in, a infirmed kobold described in the Monsters collapsed tunnel, a flooded room, three & NPCs section. prison rooms, a dead end, a cavern with a collapsed floor and four puzzle rooms. See the Maps section for the layout of the level. What the kobolds know A captured or charmed kobold will not offer up any information about what is in the cave, most have not been allowed The entry to the caves is a naturally down into the rest of the rooms. Hard formed cave that has been mined out and pressed they might say something about wooden supports run down the length of the "Pretty shiny glass!" or "The orcs hurt me!" tunnel. There are two skull lanterns hanging either side of the mouth of the cave and The Dungeon Master can use one of the there are signs of frequent foot traffic. The party will need some sort of light so kobolds as a guide if the party can coerce him. they can all see unless they all have His name is Kwap and is a slightly larger Darkvision, having them stumble around is a kobold, stats are in the Monsters & NPCs good way to remind them that they’ll need section. He has a basic idea of the cave layout. torches, even those with Darkvision benefit He is deceptive and cowardly and will betray from having torch light. the party at any chance.

You enter a chamber with rough walls. It The first two rooms are where the orcs is oddly shaped, about thirty-five feet by and kobolds have made their own. The thirty-five feet but elongated. There is an kobolds are older infirmed creatures, and exit at the south east corner. The floor is there is only one orc in the room, the other covered with filth and debris and small three having been encountered in the rodents scutter away from the party. previous adventure.

Treasure Items Coin Amount The ceiling of the cave has collapsed CP 4d6 per kobold here, blocking any further travel. The collapse looks to have occurred quite a while SP 3d6 per kobold ago. GEMS 2d6 GP worth total The party will notice that there are small glassy crystals amongst the rubble and there are signs of mining and foot traffic. The party can collect the crystals and if they manage to bundle about a pound of them together, they will noticeSample that they start to glow dimly. file

The other orcs are of course all dead from the previous encounter. Kargrok does This room is where the orcs sleep. There not know this and may call out for them are four camp beds and gear, a campfire, a during the fight. He can be caught off guard pile of coal in one corner and a pile of the by having no help and may fumble his actions, glassy crystals glowing in the other. It is giving him disadvantage on some of his roughly forty feet by twenty-five feet in size. actions. There is a lone orc here, sitting on the camp bed closest to the fire. He wears grimy Treasure Items robes and a pointy hat with a narrow brim. Coin Amount This is Orc Wizard Kargrok. Orc wizards are CP 4d6 rare and live long lives. He is charismatic and conniving. SP 3d6 He and the other orcs have been using GP 2d6 the kobolds to waylay travellers that pass GEMS 2d6 GP worth total through the area. He bribes the kobolds with the glassy crystals. He follows Velmissa Magic Items Derou’Xe (see Velmissa and Slith for more Quantity Item information) and knows of her power but not 1 Alchemy Jug of her plans, as he has never been permitted 1 Worn Hat of Holding to go to the upper level. 1 Spell book that holds all Unknown to himself and the other orcs, Kargrok’s known spells. the kobolds have stolen the Harmonised Chime of Opening along with the four Shape- His hat currently holds old food, some Stones required to get to the upper level. valueless baubles, and his spell book with some of the pages torn out. You can also use The room opens before you and is roughly the Mundane Items table if you wish to add rectangular in shape and has been worked some extra flavour. It is quite smelly, and anything put in it straight away will take on a with rough tools. There is a pile of coal in bit of a smell. Emptying the hat and having a the corner to the west and ahead of you long rest will clean out the smells. are four camp beds. To your left you see a campfire, crackling away with some sort of rodent being cooked on a spit. The room is slightly hazy from the smoke.

Kargrok sits on the camp bed closest to the fire, cooking a meal. Roll for initiative and when it is Kargrok turn he casts his Mage Armor spell on himself as his first action:

The orc pulls out a small leather strip from a small pocket in his robe, waves it in a circular motion and mumbles in a guttural voice “Beshrat Kwawa”. He thumps the stripSample to his shoulder and a faint blue glow file appears around him. He glares at the party, a wicked grin appearing on his face.

The characters will need to be careful when traversing the room, a fail on a A large damp room and a smaller grotto Dexterity check (DC13) will result in the that is accessed by a narrow passage makes character slipping over and suffering 1d4 hp up this part of the caves. damage.

A slick muddy trail comes out from the This is an exceptionally large room, room’s entrance and disappears down the roughly fifty feet by thirty feet. The walls corridor to the east. As you enter the show signs of being worked by tools. There is room you notice the ground is slightly wet a large fifteen by fifteen-foot granite stone cistern in the corner that appears to have and tacky. The air smells strongly of mud. overflowed recently, but is now empty, causing the floor to be muddy, damp, and quite slick for most of the room. The party You see a roughly built cistern of worked will notice that there is a muddy trail coming granite blocks in the south west corner, a out of the room and heading down the faint blue glow coming from within. The corridor to the east. cistern is empty of water and it is covered A faint blue glow can be seen coming in mud and grime. from within the well and this is a small tunnel that connects to 3b. The party can investigate the well and find the tunnel, it is not Most of the floor is covered with slick mud especially hard to find. They can attempt to traverse it; it is about twenty feet in length except for the north east corner which is and like the floor is quite muddy and slimy. It full of debris. is however a tight squeeze for even a medium sized character to get through, anyone over six feet will need to make Dexterity check (DC10) every ten feet as they progress, or A rough circular space with a remarkably they will get stuck for a round. The tunnel high ceiling, this room is five feet lower than slopes down to 3b. room 3a. The walls glisten with moisture and In the north east corner, there is a pile there are many cracks and fissures present. of debris that bears investigation. They will The blue glow comes from a clump of find the following in the pile: blue glassy crystals embedded in the floor and attempts to chip away at them can be Treasure Items seen by many small piles of stone chips Coin Amount around it. CP 2d6 There is a pile of gold nuggets here SP 2d6 (5gp) and a waterlogged scroll that is wedged GP 1d6 in a crack high above the floor that upon unrolling shows an unreadable blurred ink

message. The party also find that there are bones Any character that has entered the of kobolds and a keyring with several large space will need some sort of help to get back keys on it. The Dungeon Master can also have up the tunnel as it is quite muddy and one of the characters find the Harmonised slippery. Chime of Opening by using a Perception check The living mud that is currently to be (DC18),Sample otherwise it is just an ordinary leg file found in 4d has made its way from this room, bone. having squeezed itself through one of the The chime is a modified version and cracks and made its way up the tunnel. It has striking the chime does nothing unless it is eaten a couple of the kobolds, the remains near the door it has been attuned to. found in the corner of room 3a. Information for it can be found in the Magic

Items section.