™ Sample file 95569720_Ch00_FM.indd 1 4/24/07 8:45:41 AM DESIGNERS: RICHARD BAKER, ERIC L. BOYD, THOMAS M. REID EDITORS: JOHN THOMPSON, M. ALEXANDER JURKAT EDITING MANAGER: KIM MOHAN DESIGN MANAGER: CHRISTOPHER PERKINS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER: JESSE DECKER SENIOR ART DIRECTOR D&D: STACY LONGSTREET DIRECTOR OF RPG R&D: BILL SLAVICSEK PRODUCTION MANAGERS: JOSH FISCHER, RANDALL CREWS FORGOTTEN REALMS ART DIRECTORS: KARIN POWELL, KATE IRWIN COVER ARTIST: WILLIAM O’CONNOR INTERIOR ARTISTS: MIGUEL COIMBRA, STEVE ELLIS, RANDY GALLEGOS, EVA WIDERMANN, KEIRAN Yanner GRAPHIC DESIGNERS: NICK ISAAC, KARIN POWELL CARTOGRAPHER: KYLE HUNTER GRAPHIC PRODUCTION SPECIALIST: ANGELIKA LOKOTZ IMAGE TECHNICIAN: SVEN BOLEN Based on the original Dungeons & Dragons® rules created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and the new Dungeons & Dragons game designed by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison. This product uses updated material from the v.3.5 revision. It is designed for use with the Forgotten Realms® Campaign Setting by Ed Greenwood, Sean K Reynolds, Skip Williams, and Rob Heinsoo. This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming License and the d20 System License, please visit www.wizards.com/d20. U.S., CANADA, ASIA, EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS UNITED KINGDOM PACIFIC, & LATIN AMERICA Wizards of the Coast, Belgium Hasbro UK Ltd Wizards of the Coast, Inc. ’t Hofveld 6D Caswell Way P.O. Box 707 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden Newport, Gwent NP9 0YH Renton, WA 98057-0707 Belgium GREAT BRITAIN (Questions?) 1-800-324-6496 +32 2 467 3360 Please keep this address for your records 620–95569720–001–EN DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, DUNGEON MASTER, FORGOTTEN REALMS, d20, d20 SYSTEM, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, Shadowdale: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The Scouring of the Land, Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, all other Wizards of the Coast product First Printing: July 2007 names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., in the U.S.A. and other countries. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the ISBN: 978-0-7869-4039-4 material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental. ©2007 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Printed in the U.S.A. SampleVisit our website at www.wizards.com/forgotten realms file 95569720_Ch00_FM.indd 2 4/24/07 8:45:46 AM ar rages across Cormanthor and the WDalelands. The black-clad legions of Zhentil Keep and the drow of the Elven Court are locked in a fi erce war against the refounded elf realm of Myth Drannor and its allies in the dales. As elves, drow, and humans skirmish in the wide woodlands of the Elven Court, Zhent forces also assail the western forest. A powerful army led by Scyllua Darkhope, High Captain of Zhentil Keep, are as follows: Book of Exalted Deeds (BoED), Complete Adven- occupies the western dales. Shadowdale, for so long a bastion turer (CAd), Complete Arcane (CAr), Complete Warrior (CW), against Zhentish ambitions, now groans under the yoke of the Draconomicon (Dra), Fiend Folio (FF), Fiendish Codex I (FC1), conqueror. Libris Mortis (LM), Lords of Darkness (LD), Lost Empires of Shadowdale’s traditional defenders are scattered to the four Faerûn (LE), Miniatures Handbook (MH), Monster Manual winds. Storm Silverhand, Dove Falconhand, Scothgar “Scotti” II (MM2), Monster Manual III (MM3), Monster Manual IV Amcathra, and the rest of the Knights of Myth Drannor fi ght (MM4), Monsters of Faerûn (Mon), Planar Handbook (PlH), alongside the warriors of Ilsevele Miritar in the fi erce battles far Player’s Guide to Faerûn (PG), Races of Faerûn (RoF), Serpent to the east. Mourngrym Amcathra, Lord of the Dale, occupies Kingdoms (SK), Spell Compendium (SC), Shining South (SS), the Twisted Tower, seemingly unconcerned with Shadowdale’s new and Underdark (Und). “defenders.” And Elminster, the Sage of Shadowdale, is missing, Although this adventure is a sequel to the adventure Cormyr: his tower in ruins. New heroes must step forward if Shadowdale The Tearing of the Weave, you don’t need to play through that is to be free again. adventure before running this one. Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land is a DUNGEONS & We recommend that you review the information presented DRAGONS® adventure designed for four 9th-level characters. Player on the Dalelands and Shadowdale in the FORGOTTEN REALMS characters will advance through 10th level and into 11th level Campaign Setting (pages 116 and 137, respectively) before run- during the course of the adventure, and perhaps reach 12th or ning this adventure. You’ll also fi nd more detailed information 13th level by its conclusion. about Shadowdale in Appendix 1 of this adventure. This adventure uses a tactical format to describe encounters that are likely to result in combat. The adventure is divided into Preparation an adventure narrative (the front sections of Chapters 1 through You need four books to run this adventure: the Player’s Hand- 5), in which encounters and location descriptions are presented book (PH), the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG), the Monster in the traditional manner, and a tactical encounter section at the Manual (MM), and the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting end of each chapter, in which specifi c battles are laid out in an (FRCS). In addition, you might fi nd it useful to have a copy of easy-to-run format. Heroes of Battle. The success or failure of the characters’ efforts to overthrow Shadowdale’s conquerors is based on the victory- point rules introduced in that book. You don’t have to have How To Use the Heroes of Battle to resolve the plot, but it’s a good resource for Tactical Format war-themed adventures. The keyed entries in the text present, in essence, a fl owchart of ThroughoutSample this book, superscript abbreviations are often the adventure. Locations or event-basedfile encounters that result used to denote game elements and other materials that appear in in a fi ght have a corresponding tactical encounter at the end of certain supplements. Those supplements and their abbreviations the Chapter in question. 33 95569720_Ch00_FM.indd 3 4/24/07 8:45:52 AM INTRODUCTION When the adventure narrative directs you to refer to a tacti- attack Myth Drannor before Ilsevele Miritar’s fl edgling realm cal encounter, simply turn to the indicated page. grew any stronger. The most obvious feature of each tactical encounter is the As Fzoul searched for a master stroke to overthrow his new map of the room or area where the encounter occurs. A variety enemy, he was approached by Esvele Graycastle, a priestess of Shar. of text entries accompany each map: a Setup section, informa- The servant of Shar cared little for Fzoul Chembryl’s troubles tion to be read aloud to the players, and other details specifying with Myth Drannor, but she greatly desired to strike a blow features of the tactical area. Begin with the Setup section fi rst, against the servants of Mystra in Shadowdale—in particular, the which describes the initial creature positions and circumstances great mage Elminster. Esvele offered to remove Elminster (and of the battle. The remaining sections include creature descriptions the other Chosen of Mystra) from Shadowdale by creating a dead and statistics, creature tactics, traps (if any), and other related magic zone over the entire area; its effects would deter the Chosen information. of Mystra from returning. The Sharran priestess also offered an The encounters in this adventure are designed for use with alliance with the Lolth-worshiping drow of House Dhuurniv. By DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Miniatures. In some cases, a miniature depriving Shadowdale’s defenders of their potent magical powers, you own might represent a character or creature perfectly. If you Esvele would make it possible for the Zhentarim and their drow don’t have the exact miniature, just substitute another miniature allies to fi nally conquer the dale. In turn, the subjugation of of the same size and tell the players what the miniature you’re the dale by the Zhentish armies would make it possible for the using represents. servants of Shar to carry out their goddess’s vendetta against Mystra. Fzoul assented to Esvele’s offer—allowing the priestess HOW TO USE TACTICAL MAPS of Shar to rip a hole in the Weave seemed a reasonable price for As described on page 59 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, if a map the defeat of Shadowdale. feature covers more than half of a given square, the feature is In the dark hours of 15 Nightal 1374 DR, a small company considered to extend into that square. If it covers less than half of Sharran assassins and shadow adepts slipped into the dale. of a square, it doesn’t extend into that square. In Elminster’s vaults a powerful Sharran artifact—the Ebon For example, if an area of light undergrowth skirts around the Diadem—lay quiescent, one of many such evil items that the edges of a square, but the rest of the square is clear, then there’s Sage of Shadowdale kept hidden safely within the wards of his no extra movement cost to enter that square. If the undergrowth tower. But the Diadem harbored a deadly secret. Breaching the reaches past the middle of the square, the square costs 2 squares defenses of his tower, the Sharrans succeeded in activating the to move into.