Authors: Eytan Bernstein, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, Gwendolyn Kestrel, Layout and Graphic Design: Charles A. Wright Rhiannon Louve, Ari Marmell, Anthony Pryor, C.A. Suleiman Front Cover Art: Colin Chan Developers: Ari Marmell and Matthew J. Finch Interior Art: Terry Pavlet Producers: Bill Webb and Matthew J. Finch Cartography: Robert Altbauer Necromancer Games is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast™. We make no claim to or challenge to any trademarks held by Wizards of the Coast™. Necromancer Games, Inc., 2015, all rights reserved. Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Necromancer Games Inc.’s Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Game Content: product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures; characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product Identity. Previously released Open Game Content is excluded from the above list. Necromancer Games 5th Edition Rules, 1st Edition Feel 1 The Lost Lands: Adventures in the Borderland Provinces Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................... 3 On a Lonely Road, by Anthony Pryor ..................................................................4 Illusion and Illumination, by Rhiannon Louve .....................................................19 The Mountain That Moved, by Gwendolyn Kestrel ................................................34 The Two Crucibles, by C. A. Suleiman ............................................................... 50 The War of the Poppies, by Eytan Bernstein ........................................................ 64 A Most Peculiar Hunt, by Ari Marmell .............................................................. 80 Ectarlin’s Last Ride, by Scott Fitzgerald Gray ....................................................... 97 Appendix: New Monsters ..................................................................................116 Maps .......................................................................................................... 122 Legal Appendix ..............................................................................................155 Other Products from Frog God Games You can find these product lines and more at our website,froggodgames.com , and on the shelves of many retail game stores. Superscripts indicate the available game systems: “PF” means the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, “5e” means Fifth Edition, and “S&W” means Swords & Wizardry. If there is no superscript it means that it is not specific to a single rule system. GENERAL RESOURCES LL3: Sword of Air PF, S&W LL4: Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms PF, S&W Swords & Wizardry Complete S&W LL5: Borderland Provinces 5e, PF, S&W The Tome of Horrors Complete PF, S&W LL6: The Northlands Saga Complete PF, S&W Tome of Horrors 4 PF, S&W LL7: The Blight* PF, S&W Tome of Adventure Design LL8: Bard’s Gate Complete* PF, S&W Monstrosities S&W LL9: Adventures in the Borderland Provinces 5e, PF, S&W Bill Webb’s Book of Dirty Tricks Razor Coast: Fire as She Bears PF Book of Lost Spells 5e QUESTS OF DOOM Fifth Edition Foes 5e Book of Alchemy* 5e, PF, S&W Quests of Doom (Vol. 1) 5e Quests of Doom (Vol. 2) 5e THE LOST LANDS Quests of Doom (includes the 5e Vol. 1 and 2, but for PF and S&W only) PF, S&W Rappan Athuk PF, S&W Quests of Doom 2 5e Rappan Athuk Expansions Vol. I PF, S&W Quests of Doom 3* 5e, S&W The Slumbering Tsar Saga PF, S&W Quests of Doom 4* 5e, PF, S&W The Black Monastery PF, S&W Cyclopean Deeps Vol. I PF, S&W Cyclopean Deeps Vol. II PF, S&W PERILOUS VISTAS PF, S&W Razor Coast PF PF, S&W Dead Man’s Chest (pdf only) Razor Coast: Heart of the Razor PF Razor Coast: Freebooter’s Guide to the Razor Coast PF, S&W Dunes of Desolation Fields of Blood PF LL0: The Lost Lands Campaign Setting* PF LL1: Stoneheart Valley PF, S&W Mountains of Madness* LL2: The Lost City of Barakus PF, S&W * (forthcoming from Frog God Games) 2 Introduction Welcome to the Borderlands. You’ll probably die here. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. The Borderland region isn’t that hostile. It’s home to a great many thriving cultures, humanity and other races building upon century after century’s worth of history. Much of the area is fully civilized. Much of it isn’t. The wilds hold monsters, and worse than monsters, surprises to challenge the courage of even the most stalwart adventurer. And those civilized areas, the provinces and miniature kingdoms? They hold secrets and schemes of their own, creatures and conspiracies at least as dangerous as anything you’ll find in the wilderness. No, the Borderlands don’t necessarily spell death for those who brave these outer reaches, but they do spell adventure. Peril. Excitement. And they do so in their own way. There’s nowhere else quite like the Borderlands, so there’s nothing quite like a Borderlands adventure. The following eight scenarios are intended to challenge your players, of course, but also to showcase the sorts of story potential the Borderlands region can offer. Some of these adventures are dark, bloody, bordering on horrific (and possibly even disturbing to more sensitive players); some are far lighter, almost silly. One focuses on the perils of the untamed wilderness, another is almost entirely urban. Some are quite light on combat, others extremely action-heavy. Like the Borderlands — and like the game itself, throughout its long publishing history and its many editions — these adventures run the gamut, providing an array of experiences. Their common theme, the thread that binds them together in a single book? The Borderlands themselves. Please note that we assume you have access to the Lost Lands: Borderlands Provinces book. You’ll need to look there for more detail about these regions, governments, and communities. That said, while it requires making up some details of your own and you might miss certain nuances, it shouldn’t prove too difficult to make these adventures work for you even if youdon’t have the companion work at hand. You’ll also note that many of the encounters in these adventures don’t offer treasure. Because treasure in general, and magic items in particular, differ so greatly from campaign to campaign in the new edition, we’ve chosen to leave that largely up to the GM. By all means, provide your PCs as much loot, or as little, as your preferred play style warrants. Other than that, have at it! The Borderlands await your adventurers. No, they may not die out here, on the edge of civilization — but only if they earn their survival! — Ari Marmell 3 The Lost Lands: Adventures in the Borderland Provinces On a Lonely Road guards for the hazardous trek into a wilderness region of the Yolbiac. Like one who, on a lonely road, That’s where our heroes come in. Doth walk in fear and dread, And, having once turned round, walks on, And turns no more his head; The Real Story Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread. Professor Togren’s interest in the region is very real, and he has no — Samuel Coleridge, The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner intention of betraying or leading the party astray. Nymea Goswynn on the other hand, has some very specific goals in mind, for she knows far more about the area than she’s letting on. Togren’s hypotheses about the region are entirely correct, though not necessarily in the way he believes. Millennia ago, before the coming of the Hyperboreans, parts of the Yolbiac Vale were inhabited by a race of Adventure Background creatures called the Jaundool (pallid ones, in the original language), now On a Lonely Road is a wilderness adventure for a party of 4–6 forgotten save in obscure legends and terrified racial memory. adventurers averaging 2nd level. Intended as an exercise in suspenseful By the time the Hyperboreans walked the lands of Akados, the pallid survival horror, the adventure contains several suggestions for amping up ones had already faded to a decadent, degenerate shadow of their former the tension, keeping the players nervous, and even facing the possibility selves. Most humans knew to avoid the territory occupied by these that their characters might not survive. corrupt remnants, but some were nowhere near as wise, and in their The Yolbiac Vale is known for its strange secrets, but has largely quest for power some of the old, dark forest tribes actually sought out the been ignored by historians from outside the Vale itself — though one surviving Jaundools, offering food, gold and sacrifice in exchange for lost scholar, Sarrus Togren of the University of Subtleties in the city of knowledge. As the professor suspects, these activities were centered in the Troye, believes the region was once home to an ancient and learned Quillande Ferosc. civilization. Long dismissed as a crackpot by his peers Togren has, with The deals that the ancient humans made proved to be mixed blessings the aid of his loyal assistant Nymea Goswynn, at last obtained funding at best,