HOARD o f the DRAGON QUEEN B y W o l f g a n g B a u r a n d St e v e W i n t e r TYRANNY of DRAGONS. C r e d it s F o r e w o r d Ko b o l d P r e s s You hold in your hands the inaugural campaign for the Designers: Wolfgang Baur, Steve Winter fifth edition of D u n g e o n s & D r a g o n s . With Wolfgang Editor: Miranda Horner Baur and Steve Winter at the reins, you are in good Interior Illustrators: Aaron Hubrich, Tyler Jacobson, hands. They both have long, storied histories with Guido Kuip, Marcel Mercado, Bryan Syme D & D . Hoard of the Dragon Queen reflects not only their Cartographer: Jared Blando vivid imagination and compelling adventure design Art Director: Marc Radle skills but also their ability to juggle this project with an Producer: Wolfgang Baur ever-evolving set of core rules. The D & D design team is indebted to them for their patience, ingenuity, and hard W iz a r d s o f t h e C o a s t work in creating such a great campaign under tough D&D Lead Designers: Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford circumstances. Producer: Greg Bilsland Adventure Contributors: Mike Mearls, Christopher Perkins, Speaking of those core rules, you need only the basic Matthew Sernett, Chris Sims, Rodney Thompson rules and the Tyranny of Dragons online appendix to Art Directors: Kate Irwin, Shauna Narciso play through both this adventure and its sequel, The Cover Illustrator: Raymond Swanland Rise o f Tiamat. Both the rules and the appendix can be Graphic Designers: Bree Heiss, Emi Tanji downloaded for free at DungeonsandDragons.com. Project Management: Neil Shinkle, John Hay With laurels placed where they belong and the Production Services: Cynda Callaway, Jefferson Dunlap, resources you need to enjoy this campaign at your fin­ David Gershman Brand and Marketing: Nathan Stewart, Liz Schuh, gertips, proceed. Good luck, and good (dragon) hunting! Chris Lindsay, Shelly Mazzanoble, Hilary Ross, Mike Mearls Laura Tommervik, Kim Lundstrom, Trevor Kidd May 2014 Playtesters: Melissa Bassett, Andre Begin, Mik Calow, Melanie Cote, Manon Crevier, Ben Danderson, Dave Eadie, Frank Foulis, Rodrigo Gorgulho, Pete Griffith, Liam Gulliver, Jon Harvill, Joseph Kauffmann, Yan Lacharite, Renata Landim, Rodrigo Landim, Eric Leroux, Carlos Eduardo Lopes, Julia Lopes, David Muller, Claudio Pozas, Paula Pozas, Count Response, Sara Servin, Robin Stacey, Jaime Thayer, Keoki Young Disclaimer: The following adventure contains chromatic dragons. Wizards of the Coast cannot be held liable for characters who are incinerated, dissolved, frozen, poisoned, or electrocuted. ON THE COVER In this glacial scene illustrated by Raymond Swanland, the white dragon Glazhael takes ice sculpture to extremes, turning intruders into grisly decorations for its draconic lair. T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s Map: The Sword Coast......................................4 Third Floor................................................. 57 Introduction.........................................................5 Map: Castle Naerytar Level 3 ...................58 Background.........................................................5 Beneath the Castle.....................................59 Overview..............................................................5 Map: Castle Naerytar Dungeon...............60 Episode 1: Greenest in Flames...................... 6 Rewards...................................................... 61 Character Hooks.......................................... 6 Episode 7: Hunting Lodge........................... 62 The Approach............................................... 6 General Features........................................62 General Features...........................................7 Castle in the Clouds..................................62 Wandering Encounters................................7 Important Nonplayer Characters.............63 Missions.........................................................8 Through the Gate.......................................63 Map: Greenest............................................ 10 Outside the Lodge......................................63 Episode 2: Raiders’ Camp.............................13 Lodge Ground Floor..................................65 Tracking the Raiders..................................14 Map: Hunting Lodge Ground Floor.......66 The Camp.................................................... 16 Lodge Upper Floor....................................68 Map: Raider Camp......................................16 Map: Hunting Lodge Upper Floor........... 70 Rewards.......................................................19 Traveling to Parnast................................... 71 Episode 3: Dragon Hatchery........................20 Episode 8: Castle in the Clouds...................72 Map: Dragon Hatchery..............................23 Map: Parnast...............................................73 Rewards.......................................................27 Skyreach Castle..........................................75 Episode 4: On the Road.................................28 Map: Skyreach Castle............................... 76 Elturel...........................................................28 Concluding the Adventure.........................86 Baldur’s Gate.............................................. 30 Appendix A: Backgrounds........................... 87 Fellow Travelers..........................................31 Appendix B: Monsters................................... 88 Life on the Road......................................... 33 Appendix C: Magic Items............................. 94 Random Road Events.................................33 Planned Road Events.................................37 Episode 5: Construction Ahead.................. 39 Waterdeep....................................................39 Northbound, Again.....................................40 Carnath Roadhouse....................................40 Map: Carnath Roadhouse.......................... 41 Tracking the Load.......................................42 Grudge Match............................................. 42 Episode 6: Castle Naerytar........................... 43 Traveling to the Castle................................43 Castle Naerytar............................................45 Squaring Off Against the Cult of the Dragon......................................48 Approaching Castle Naerytar....................49 Outside Castle Naerytar............................ 49 Inside Castle Naerytar............................... 50 Ground Floor...............................................50 Map: Castle Naerytar Ground Floor......51 Second Floor.............................................. 54 Map: Castle Naerytar Level 2 ....................55 Introduction yranny of Dragons is an epic story told across Se c r e ts two adventure products, of which this is the first. Characters begin at 1st level, and by the end of The Cult of the Dragon has kept secret its goal to bring T Tiamat into the world thus far. Many know of the cult’s Hoard of the Dragon Queen, they should be 7th or 8th level and ready to continue with The Rise of Tiamat. The increased activity along the Sword Coast, especially in ideal party size is four characters. If your group is larger the north, but the reasons behind the resurgence are or smaller, you can adjust the adventure’s difficulty by unknown. reducing or increasing the number of enemies present Besides his cultists, Severin has forged an alliance in a given encounter. with a splinter faction of the Red Wizards of Thay. This Tyranny of Dragons is set in the Forgotten Realms on small and secretive group, led by an outcast named Faerun’s western shore—the Sword Coast. A thin strip Rath Modar, plots to unseat the lich Szass Tam from of civilization stretches down this coast, where widely his position over the Red Wizards. Rath believes that in spaced cities are arranged like beads on a string. A com­ exchange for his help in releasing Tiamat, she will grant bination of roads and wagon tracks loosely connect the him the power he needs to overthrow Szass Tam. cities that stretch from Luskan in the north to Calimport C u l t O rganization in the south, passing through Neverwinter, Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate, and other great ports along the way. The Cult of the Dragon is organized in cells, which vary The bulk of this adventure takes place on the stretch in size from just a handful of members to scores. Lead­ between Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter. ers in the cult are known as Wearers of Purple, and Adventure Supplements. You can play this adventure they outrank normal cultists, but no formal grades exist with just the Dungeons & Dragons basic rules and the within the ranks of the Wearers of Purple. Tyranny of Dragons appendix online, which contains Although the cult uses regalia in its rituals and its all the monsters and magic items not described in this distant camps, members who operate in public places book. Both of these supplements are available as free dress and act no differently from anyone else. downloads on DungeonsandDragons.com. The cult is not above hiring mercenaries when it has Character Advancement. At your option, you can use special jobs to fulfill. Indeed, many of the “cultists” that the milestone experience rule. Under this rule, you pick characters encounter in the first three episodes of this certain events in the campaign that cause the characters adventure are working for pay. to level up. In Hoard of the Dragon Queen, the charac­ ters gain a level after completing each episode except O v e r v ie w episode 5.