S tart at the End is a short adventure that puts the dragon encounter at the beginning instead of at the end. Designed for four 7th-level characters, it provides enough experience to raise them to 8th level. A cleric and a rogue are highly recommended for all adventure parties. Generations ago, the wizard known as Elizar Branded Hand came to the village of Gross Fell seeking Start land to build a library and laboratory. The villagers were only too happy to have such a prominent person living at the End near them. A successful Knowledge (local) check (DC 25) reveals that Elizar built his library and laboratory shortly before something began breaking into homes and killing the villagers. When Elizar refused to help the villagers hunt down and destroy the beast, they A short adventure for four burned his buildings. Apparently Elizar fled into the crypt beneath his land and hasn’t been seen since. The 7th-level player characters nocturnal assaults stopped at the same time. Now a young dragon has appeared in the skies above Gross Fell, attacking the flocks and flying off into the CREDITS hills. No one is precisely sure where it lairs, but a few Design: Rich Redman fear it may have unearthed Elizar’s crypt, taking resi- dence there and perhaps releasing the Branded Hand’s Editing and Typesetting: Sue Weinlein Cook evil once again. Editorial Assistance: Penny Williams Cartography: Rob Lazzaretti ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS Web Production: Julia Martin SampleStart at the End filebegins as a dragon-slaying mission: The Web Development: Mark A. Jindra PCs are pitted against Kyracolides, a young blue dragon Graphic Design: Sean Glenn, Cynthia Fliege who recently uncovered Elizar’s crypt while searching for a lair. What neither the PCs nor the villagers yet Based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game by E. realize is that while Kyracolides is indeed a danger to Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and on the new edition of the the people and livestock of Gross Fell, he has inadver- DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game designed by Jonathan Tweet, tently uncovered something far more dangerous. The Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, and Peter Adkison. rear of the lair opens to a small crypt area, behind which are a series of tunnels inhabited by all manner of D&D, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, MONSTER MANUAL, FORGOTTEN unwholesome creatures. While the dragon is willing to REALMS, and DUNGEON MASTER, ALTERNITY, AND DARK MATTER are registered trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, leave them in peace in return for living space, he has Inc. The d20 logo is a trademark owned by Wizards of the not yet encountered the master of the crypt: Elizar Coast, Inc. All Wizards characters, character names, and the distinctive Branded Hand was the creature who terrified Gross likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Fell generations ago, after becoming a vampire. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or art- work contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. PREPARATION ©2002 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All rights reserved. Made in the U.S.A. As the Dungeon Master (DM), you need a copy of This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, the Player’s Handbook, the DUNGEON MASTER’S® Guide, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental. This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game and the MONSTER MANUAL® to use this adventure. If Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form you plan to set the adventure in Faerûn, you’ll need a without written permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming License and the d20 System License, please visit copy of the new FORGOTTEN REALMS®Campaign www.wizards.com/d20. Setting. Monster and NPC statistics are provided with 1 each encounter in abbreviated form or, where appro- priate, the proper page in the MONSTER MANUAL is Gross Fell c referenced. Gross Fell (village): Conventional; AL NG; 200 gp You can adjust the difficulty of the adventure by limit; Assets 8,500 gp; Population 850 adults; Isolated changing the level of main antagonist (Elizar Branded (human 96, halfling 2, elf 1, all others 1). Hand, the vampire wizard), or by altering the number Authority Figure(s): Gwydion Harthorn, female of wraiths, shadow mastiffs, and xorns living in his human Drd15; Jolan Hawkscar, male half-elf Rgr13. crypt. To tailor the encounter to groups of different Important Characters: Arrakk the Hammer, male half- orc Ftr8 (sheriff); Shepherd Hodge, male human Com9; levels, refer to Table 4-1 in Chapter 4 of the DUNGEON Nadya the Smith, female human Exp7; Tarlach Vell, MASTER’S GUIDE. The adventure is set near a village known as Gross female human Clr6; Sinnoch Root, male human Sor2. Fell but adapts easily to hilly farming region in exist- Others: Town guard, War5, two War2, five War1. ing campaigns. Start at the End uses a modified ver- Notes: Gross Fell is a village of farmers and shep- sion of the Darkcrypt map from the August 30, 2001 herds. Several outlying hamlets use this settlement as a Map-a-Week feature on the D&D website. It is trade center; the nearest is about 30 miles away. The nearest town lies about 35 miles from Gross Fell. available for you to download at <http://www.wiz- ards.com/dnd/images/mapofweek/darkcrypt.jpg>. The Crypt’s Construction The modified map is reprinted on the next page for The crypt entrance is at the base of a hill about 9 miles your convenience. from Gross Fell, not far from pastures and trails used by Should you wish to develop the adventure beyond local shepherds. Kyracolides hides the entrance with what is presented here, the best opportunity to do so is mirage arcana while sleeping in it. While he is out hunt- to focus on the brand on Elizar’s left palm and develop a ing, the entrance appears to be a 10-foot wide tunnel cult of Erythnul around it. (See “Concluding the with masonry walls and a 12-foot arched ceiling. Adventure.”) Except where noted otherwise, walls in the crypt are masonry, typically 1 foot thick (break DC 35, hard- CHARACTER HOOKS ness 8, 90 hp per 10-foot-square section, Climb DC 15). All doors are strong wooden ones (2 inches thick, This is a good “side trek” adventure—it’s easy to insert hardness 5, 20 hp; break DC when stuck 23, and when it into an existing campaign any time the player charac- locked 25), except where noted in a specific encounter ters (PCs) are traveling in a hillySample region a bit off filethe description. Descriptions of encounter areas list beaten track. Alternately, Kyracolides can be the central details of any locks. antagonist in a longer story that you devise. Use the fol- There is no light in the crypt except whatever the lowing hooks and rumors to draw the PCs into the PCs bring with them. encounter with the dragon. • The PCs are in the village of Gross Fell when they learn that herders spotted a dragon in the hills Kyracolide’s Precautions above the village. Fearful of what this occurrence As noted, Kyracolides hides the entrance to his tunnel may portend, the community’s elders appeal to while he is actually present. In order to find the the player characters for assistance, offering a entrance, PCs must track him to his lair and locate the small but heartfelt reward for their help. entrance before the dragon obscures it. A ranger may • The PCs arrive in Gross Fell following barely be able to find Kyracolides’s tracks outside the area remembered tales of a wizard who succumbed (Wilderness Lore DC 15) and follow them to the to evil and was buried alive. Parents use tales of entrance. Elizar Branded Hand to curb disobedient chil- dren. The characters spot the similarity between those tales and the tales of the buried LAYOUT OF THE CRYPT wizard. • The PCs hear a local legend that tells of a fabu- 1. The Entrance (EL 7) lous treasure buried in the hills outside the vil- The tunnel leads approximately 60 feet into the hill- lage of Gross Fell. side before opening into a large space. The walls of the tunnel and this room are hewn stone (Climb DC 22), 2 Sample file 3 and the ceiling of this chamber measures almost 20 (1d4+1, 2 wings); SA breath weapon (6d8 electricity, 60- feet above the hewn stone floor. Running across the ft. line); SQ blindsight 90 ft., create/destroy water, immu- floor of the tunnel or this room requires a Dexterity nities , keen senses; AL LE; SV Fort +10, Ref +8, Will +9; check (DC 13). Those failing the check fall, halting Str 17, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 12. their movement and requiring a move-equivalent Skills and Feats: Bluff +10, Diplomacy +5, Hide +15, action to stand again. Masonry walls surrounding area Intimidate +3, Listen +16, Search +16, Sense Motive 1a extend into the area and rise to the ceiling, inter- +16, Spot +16; Flyby Attack, Hover, Quicken Spell-Like rupted by a 20-foot doorway in the south wall. Simple Ability, Wingover. geometric patterns in faded paint are still visible on Breath Weapon (Su): Kyracolides has one type of these walls. An underground stream, roughly 20 feet breath weapon, a 60-foot line of lightning that deals wide, runs along the north edge of this room, and 6d8 points of electricity damage (Reflex save DC 18 under rooms 2, 3a, 3b, and 3c.