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Fungal Peaks Enclave Free 60×40 DnD Battlemap, featuring a druidic sanctuary carved into a cliff face, high above the forest floor, and filled with glowing mushrooms. VTT ready!
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If you’d enjoy more DnD resources like this Desert Highway Free 60×40 DnD Battlemap, Luke and I have released our newest Hardcore GM’s bundle of 520 large, 40×30″ DnD battlemaps (double the size of those in the Quarantine Bundle) with 255 fantasy adventures for $39. It’s your chance to have a great deal on some of our most beautiful maps! We guarantee that is something here for every GM—no matter what setting you prefer, from large cities to underwater seascapes.
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After getting in trouble with the law and ending up in jail pending trial, whether guilty or not, you’re approached by a man wearing a suit and a bola hat while carrying a cane. If you’re perceptive you may be able to see a silver necklace around his neck with what looks like a broken key, missing its tip. He clearly holds some sway over the guardsmen, having them leave so you can speak in private. The man introduces himself as The Collector, before explaining that he understands that you’ve got yourself into a little spot of trouble and that he’s here to help, as a friend. The Collector goes on to explain that he can get you out of jail with a fully clean record, but he’ll need a little favor from you first. You see, he’s in need of some vital information from a man who was part of a group of raiders who attacked his caravans, and stole important artifacts from him. This man was captured and now resides within the hell-hole of a prison they call The Pit. The rest of his comrades however, are still on the loose, perhaps still with his artifacts. The prison guards tried to get the location of the raiding group’s hideout from the prisoner, but they had no luck and so The Collector has instead arranged a new plan. Removing his hat, The Collector solemnly informs you that he has had your criminal records changed to have you convicted of murder. Just a formality, he assures you, but he needs you to be sent to The Pit and to retrieve this information for him. He cares not for your methods, as long as you get the inmate to speak, whether through gaining his trust or… otherwise. Once you’ve gained this information, you’re simply to tell a guard you need to speak to The Collector and he says he will come to release you. He then gives you the general description of the man you must seek. If you ask about what happens if you don’t manage to get the information, The Collector laughs and says that but of course, then you’ll be staying in The Pit for a long time.
The next day you’re taken in an armored carriage, chained and blindfolded through the harsh desert. When you arrive at the prison you feel the harsh sun on your skin for only a few moments before you’re taken underground. The guards refuse to talk to you if you question them and soon enough your blindfold and chains are taken off, before you’re thrown into a cavern-like area full of other inmates. Cells line the walls of the cavern and a small stream runs through it, providing water to drink and bath in. Walking around the prison searching for the man you must seek, you’re soon confronted by a small group of men led by a bulky, dark skinned man who sees you as fresh meat. Unpersuaded by your talking, the men see only physical violence as a means to end disputes. No matter your choice, including killing the men, the guards do not intervene. They do, however, show up later to retrieve the bodies. Eventually you find the man you’re searching for, hiding off in a cell in the corner of the prison. He is a tanned, slender man in his late sixties but is not what you’d expect from a raider. When approached, you see the man has been beaten and covered in bruises and cuts. He shudders and pleas with you to not beat him more, but when he notices you’re not who he expected he calms down. If you ask him about who he was expecting, he introduces himself as Oran explaining that there’s a group of men in the prison led by a bulky dark-skinned man named Regar who have been hasling him since he arrived. If you killed Regar and his cronies (the group who attacked you earlier) and explain this to the man, he is incredibly thankful and much more willing to talk to you. If asked about the other raiders and the location of the hideout, Oran looks confused, asking about what raiders. If you explain further, he seems to have no idea what you’re talking about.
Oran explains that he is an elder from a tribe of nomadic people who were themselves attacked during a ceremonial festival of his people. He explains that every decade all four of the tribes of the sand, which includes his tribe, come together for a festival so the elders of each tribe may discuss important matters with each other. However, during the night they were attacked, and he was captured along with some others by the unknown assailants, only waking to find himself in this hell-hole. If pressed further, he surmises in a hush voice that the attackers seemed to know them, calling to them by name before attacking. The man thinks that perhaps they were after the key to the desert that their tribes have protected for millennia, as it is the only thing of value his people keep. If you ask about the key, Oran explains that it is a magical artifact with the power to control the dunes and the dust storms that pervade the desert. Long ago it was broken into four pieces and each given to one of the tribes, so that no tribe would have dominion over the desert. But, on that night, he saw as his attackers killed one of the elders right in front of him before taking the elder’s key piece. Oran continues that, as keeper of the key for his tribe, his piece was also taken, but it seems like at least one of the other elders got away with their piece as he has been tortured by the guards to try and uncover the location of where his remaining people may have fled. He, of course, did not give this information up, a mostly toothless grin appearing on his face. If you ask more about this location, Oran explains that his people have a sacred oasis that they may go to in time of need, and his people would most likely have fled there for safety but he refuses to give you directions. He does however say that whoever the attackers of their tribes were, they cannot be allowed to gain all the key pieces as holding such power over the desert has only led to bloodshed in the past. GM’s Notes: The Collector is behind the attacks on the tribes people of the desert and the torture of Oran. He wears three out of four pieces of the key to the desert around his neck, and wishes to collect the remaining key fragment so that he may rule the desert.
The players may call The Collector to inform him of the information they gained from Oran regarding the sacred Oasis, and although it takes him a longer time his people will manage to find it and recover the final key fragment; giving him the ability to rule over the desert as he desired.
Other ways to resolve this quest may be to talk to other inmates, some of whom have been planning an escape via a tunnel they’ve been digging and bribe or otherwise convince them to let you come along, perhaps even bringing Oran with you. In addition, the players may be able to directly betray The Collector, calling him to the prison only to confront him instead, with the intent of getting the other three key fragments back. In this case, the guards will come to defend him as well as his two bodyguards. If Oran is presented with the other three key fragments to return to his people, he thanks you profusely explaining that you’re always welcome among his people, as well as you given directions to the sacred oasis so that if you ever need, you may seek shelter there.
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While staying at a desert town you find a notice board with a selection of jobs including one from a grieving woman looking to hire someone to investigate the disappearance of their husband.
Upon meeting the woman, who has two young children, she explains that her husband, a merchant traveling the desert roads, vanished a month ago. Unfortunately, she lacks substantial information but mentions he was last seen heading towards a nearby town through an unused shortcut, passing an abandoned desert toll station. She provides additional details, describing her husband’s caravan engraved with the words “The Merry” and a necklace medallion he always carried.
Heading to the Toll station you travel on a desert road which now due to the toll station being abandoned has deteriorated. The toll station is four days away by horseback and when you arrive you find it abandoned just as the wife described.
Inside the Palisade you find a broken caravan matching the description the wife gave you next to an opening in the palisade which harbors strange claw marks which make it look like the outpost was perhaps attacked at some point. Inside the outpost you find little but for rubble, wood and tattered cloth.
Eventually you find a staircase that leads into natural caverns below the outpost, it’s unnaturally silent and exploring the many caverns you begin to find what looks to be the remains of humans, stripped completely of all flesh with gnawing marks on their bones.
Near the bodies you find a leatherbound journal written by one of the guards from the outpost explaining that he has been spending more time down in the many caverns under the outpost as he believes they can be put to good use for storage but that they unsettle him. He thinks he’s seen some old symbols carved into the stone but they look quite worn and he’s not a scholar so hell if he knows what they mean. He continues that he intends to map out the entire cavern network but will bring some of the others next time as the place kinda creeps him out.
Later in the journal the guard claims to be hearing voices when in the caverns and has chosen to avoid them because of it. He says the other guards who have spent time in the caverns are also acting erratically. He doesn’t know what is going on but he intends on leaving the outpost when his contract is up as it just doesn’t feel right being here.
Most of the other pages of the journal are missing or torn but what you can make out is the words, hunger repeated, until the language shifts and appears to begin being written in the same symbols as on the walls of the caverns. If you understand the language of undead you note that the motif of hunger continues repeating in this language.
Searching the other caverns you hear sound up ahead before spotting what looks like a pale emaciated man in tattered guards clothes hunched over in the corner of the cavern, the sound of crunching can be heard as if he was eating something.
As you approach however, the creature turns to face you revealing a deformed humanoid creature with elongated limbs, pale milky eyes, a drooping jaw covered in blood and viscera and the remains of a rat in its hand. He attacks you on sight, hunger in its eyes as if it had not eaten in weeks.
Searching further you encounter more of these creatures, and begin seeing the cryptic symbols on the walls of the cavern mentioned in the journal. Once again if you understand the language of undead you may decipher their meaning which details this site as a place of unholy worship, where grand sacrifices were made to dark gods and where the cultists of this place ate the forbidden flesh.
Eventually you find a creature not like the others, more human. When you approach this one you find him resembling the description of the merchant but beginning to become deformed, with a bloody drooping jaw, one milky white eye and his right arm and leg becoming longer.
He’s confused and doesn’t know where he is or who you are but after some talking he calms down. If you ask what happened, explaining who you are, he explains he stopped at the toll station ruins for the night but was awoken by the sounds of scraping on the walls, he ignored it at first but decided to go check it out when the noise didn’t stop, he encountered creatures much like he is now within the toll station and he fled from them eventually ending up in the caverns beneath.
He found a hiding spot within a crack and can’t remember much since then but for flashes of eating meat and the sun being too bright to be in so he stayed in the caves. The man begs you to end his misery as he looks down upon his deformed body and to take his medallion necklace back to his wife, to tell her it appears there was an attack on the outpost by bandits and he was killed, don’t tell her the horror of what he has become, he begs you.
GM’s Notes: Hundred of years ago a cult used these caverns for its horrible rituals involving the consumption of human flesh which eventually caused them, as well as the caverns to become corrupted, changing them into horrible monstrosities. Eventually they were dealt with by a group of heroic adventurers but over the centuries this information was lost.
When a new road was set to be built across the dry landscape of the desert, this location was chosen due to its proximity to the rare creek which runs through the chasm below the toll station. Unbeknownst to the builders of the toll station the caverns were a corrupting influence on any who spent too much time down there. Over the years, the guards lost to madness and then began to eat the flesh of other humans who attempted to pass through the toll station. The more flesh they ate the faster they changed.
As so many people kept going missing in the region eventually the toll station was abandoned, leaving the now deformed and monstrous guards to roam the caverns.
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While staying at a forested village you’re approached by a large muscled man who is an elder of the town and claims to be a shaman, he greets you kindly and asks if he may have a word with you. The man appears concerned and tense.
If you agree, he introduces himself as Adalbern before explaining that, over the last few months, the forest has seen a change. Dangerous beasts who live deep in the forest have made their way closer to the village, attacking those who stray too far in search of wild berries or herbs.
Adalbern continues that he believes the balance of the forest has been broken by something dark, originating from a sacred site the villagers called the Grove of the Everlasting.
Adalbern beseeched the other elders of the village to allow him to travel to the grove to investigate, but he was refused due to the nature of the grove. You see, Adalbern continues, only those old, ill, or close to death seek the grove after proper funeral rites have been undergone for those individuals, because those who enter the grove do-no return. Instead, they are accepted into the afterlife, becoming one with the forest. Because of this, the other elders could not take the chance of Adalbern not returning, even if he was only to investigate the surroundings of the grove.
Adalbern sighs before explaining that, to make matters worse, it appears his son overheard the conversation between the elders and rashly decided to travel to the grove himself with a friend in tow. Those young men have not returned since last dusk, and so Adalbern begs for your assistance to travel to the grove and find them, if they have not already entered the grove, and–if possible–uncover the nature of the darkness which now shrouds the forest.
If you ask why the grove wouldn’t accept you into the afterlife if you enter it, Adalbern explains that you’re an outsider and not of the forest. He means no offense, but you do not belong here or to the forest, and so it would not accept you.
If you agree to help, Adalbern grips your hand tightly and thanks you before giving you simple directions to arrive at the grove. It appears to only be half a day’s travel away on foot through the thick forest, luckily a path will take you most of the way however.
As you approach the Grove of the Everlasting, you begin noticing ancient stone ruins surrounded by many wide, muddy trails–some more well used than others–which branch off into the forest in all directions.
If you’re perceptive, you might notice some footprints in one of the muddy trails before entering the grove, which could be from the young men. Entering the grove, you find a paradise of lush plant life, streams and waterfalls which pour down into a grotto. To your surprise, the scent of smoke is on the breeze but it’s hard to pin down where it’s coming from.
Making your way deeper into the grotto after taking a winding tunnel, you come across the two young men you were sent to rescue solemnly sitting on bed rolls around a fire. They’re surprised to see you but quickly pick up their spears and stand their ground.
If you explain you’re there to bring them back to the village, they look visibly upset explaining that all they were told about the Grove of the Everlasting were lies and that the afterlife doesn’t exist. If you point out that if the tales were true they’d be dead, they respond back that while that may be true they would have died heroes, willing to give their lives to attempt to appease the forest.
Interrupting your conversation, the ground shakes and you can hear the sound of scraping echoing from deeper within the grotto then a big splash, as if something large is moving nearby. If you follow the sound, you’re led through several caverns and tunnels before reaching the bottom of the grotto next to a small waterfall, which pours into a small lake.
The shaking has stopped now but it appears like it was coming from a cavern on the other side of the lake. Making your way over to the cavern you’re shocked to find a wet colossal basilisk curled up, resting amongst the bones of many humans and other animals.
Flicking out its tongue the basilisk senses your presence and its eyes pop open before the monster eagerly slithers toward you, its maw ready to bite. The young men retreat, drawing their bows and firing arrows as you’re engaged by the basilisk.
When it’s defeated, the basilisk begins flailing wildly, blood pouring from its wounds before it crashes into the lake. The young men rush up to you cheering in cocky excitement, adrenaline still pumping in their veins.
Lifeless, the basilisk sinks into the depths of the lake which is clearly much deeper than it appears. If inspected, it seems that the lake is connected to flooded underground caverns which reach deep beneath the earth, and may be where the basilisk originally came from.
When you return to Adalbern he thanks you profusely for saving his son but when you explain what happened at the grove he appears shocked, but then deep in thought. He explains that two years ago the village suffered heavy droughts and food stocks were low due to the forest not providing its usual yield.
Many were set to starve before the previous elders of the village decided to make the sacrifice of going to the Grove of the Everlasting early. Over fifty elders chose this path and, due to their sacrifice, no one in the village starved. Since then no one has been sick or old enough to go to the grove.
It is a horrible thought, Adalbern continues. But what if those who entered the grove these many hundreds of years were not taken into the afterlife by the grove, but instead eaten by the basilisk? Maybe it was the sacrifice of those who chose to go to the grove that kept it well fed and docile.
Perhaps the story was told in order to keep the village safe, even if it was a lie. The world is harsh and often tradition serves a purpose even if it is long forgotten.
In this case, perhaps the lack of villagers going to the grove over the last two years forced the basilisk to leave its normally rich feeding ground, pushing out the other predators closer to the village.
With a sigh, Adalbern thanks you again. Stating that perhaps they can put this tradition to rest now that they understand its purpose, and those who are ready to die can instead die in the presence of their loved ones.
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Dark Shrine Barrows Free Multi-Level 40×30 DnD Battlemap & Adventure
Atoning for Crimes Past
While traveling through the wilderness as the sun is about to set, you spot someone camping not far from the highway. If you go in for a closer look, you see a rough-looking man, unkempt and poking at the fire with a stick, until he senses your approach and leaps to his feet.
“What do you want?” he asks with a tremor in his voice, appearing ready to flee at the slightest provocation. Should you greet him calmly and assure him you mean no harm, he calms down.
“I thought you were something else,” he mutters sitting down once more. He extends an offer to join his humble camp, and should you accept, he will tell you why his nerves are frayed.
“I’m a thief and a scoundrel,” he explains without shame. I used to operate with a bunch of like-minded lads, and we’d go around the land looking for stuff to steal. We made a pretty good living, until a few weeks ago.
“We heard of a legend about an old shrine that had been built under a barrow, forgotten out in the wilds. There were some strange earthen monsters protecting it, but we fought through them and found what we were looking for.
“A small gold figurine sat on the outstretched hands of a statue, probably worth more than all the loot we’d stolen for the past year combined. We celebrated, getting blind drunk that very night. When I woke, I had the horrible feeling I’d had dreadful nightmares all night, but I couldn’t remember anything specific.
“I don’t know to what god that shrine was built, but every few nights for the last three weeks, one of our gang didn’t wake up. Their faces were twisted in fear, as if something had scared them to death.”
Your host takes a long swig of some strong liquor, before composing himself to speak further. “I’m one of the last from our gang who’s still alive and sane. The others are either dead, or ran away screaming. I have no intention of going out like they did. I haven’t slept in three days, and I won’t until I get this cursed figurine back to the shrine and hope that fixes things.
“Honestly, I’m exhausted and I don’t know if I can do this on my own. Those earth-creatures were kind of nasty and if they’ve returned, I doubt I’ll be able to fight my way through them. You look like an experienced traveler; could I ask you to get me into that shrine? I’m trying to undo the trouble I started. Yeah, I’m a thief, but I don’t think I deserve to go out like that.”
If you agree to help this man atone for his crime, he offers you his thanks. “The name’s Morgan. The shrine isn’t far from here. Let’s get this over with.” He douses the fire and if you follow, he leads you away from his camp in the twilight, over some terrain covered in sparse vegetation.
You travel for nearly half an hour, and in the dim half-light of the early evening you come across a narrow gully with rocky walls. Morgan draws a dagger and tells you to be wary, for this is the place near where he acquired the cursed figurine.
“There are stairs down along the east and west walls of this place,” he whispers. “We just have to go to one of them, which go down to a series of tunnels that lead to the shrine.” Just as he finishes speaking, you hear someone jump out at you from behind a pillar of rock in the center of the gully. A few more follow him, rushing straight for you with swords and daggers drawn!
“Give it to me!” screams the one in front, coming right for Morgan! “We have to stop the voices talking in our minds!”
“Lann, you’ve gone mad!” Morgan shouts, even as he backs away. There’s no time for further talk as you are forced to defend yourselves from these mad ruffians!
Should you survive, Morgan tells you that they were part of the crew he was with. “The poor bastards were driven mad. I guess the figurine spoke to them, telling them where to find me? This cursed thing has to go back right away!” He goes to the walls of the gully and looks around until he finds the stairs down.
If you follow, you soon find yourself in a small network of caves that appear to have been carved by people long ago. As you wander around, you see signs of former habitation, and sense a feeling of disquiet around you. Soon, you notice some of the walls are moving! Earth elementals emerge from the stone and dirt, layered with clumps of roots and soil as they flail at you!
“Hold them off while I return this thing to the shrine!” Morgan yells. If you survive the fight, you quickly find Morgan has entered a chamber with a statue that seems to be surrounded by a pond filled with blood-red water. Morgan places the figurine back on the statue’s extended hands, and immediately there is a sense of relief in the tunnels.
The remains of the elementals seep back into the ground, and Morgan staggers towards the stairs.
“Thanks for the assist,” he mumbles as he staggers towards the stairs. “I wish I could repay you… wait, I have an old stash not far from here. You can take it, I owe you that much at least. Let’s head back to my camp and rest up.”
The next day, Morgan gives you directions to his stash before he packs up, then waves farewell, telling you he’s going to find a quiet place to sleep for a few days. If you follow his directions, you soon find a small chest buried behind a dead tree. Inside is a pile of gold coins and a few gems, a fine reward for your assistance!
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Download this Ruined Jungle Village of Nagia Falls free multi-level 40×30 DnD battlemap & adventure, featuring an excavation of an ancient magic spacecraft. VTT ready!
Ruined Jungle Village of Nagia Falls Multi-Level 40×30 DnD Battlemap & Adventure
The Hidden Treasures of Nagia Falls
While visiting a small village near a thick jungle, you are approached by a young woman with bright eyes and an expression of barely concealed enthusiasm. She’s dressed like an explorer, and has a large pack filled with supplies on her back.
“Hello, my name is Penelope Smock, an explorer and archaeologist. My expedition is about to set out to discover the location of a remarkable find from a lost civilization, and we could use a little muscle, just in case. Not that I expect anything to go wrong, mind you! But it never hurts to take precautions.
“In addition to a generous retainer, I’m willing to give you a cut of any treasures we find at the site. It lies deep in the jungle, so we have a couple of days travel ahead of us, and there’s likely to be some ongoing exploration of the site, so we’d like you to stay in the area for a few weeks. Are you at all interested?”
If you agree to accept her offer, Penelope will smile broadly and shake your hand. “We leave within the hour, so if you’ve any last-minute shopping to do, now’s the time. Let’s meet up just outside the village entrance.”
Once you’re ready to go, you can meet Penelope and the rest of her team before heading further into the jungle. Her people number around twenty, and are carrying all sorts of equipment including large axes, hammers, nails, everything one would use to build a permanent base. If you inquire further about Penelope’s intentions, she’s happy to explain further.
“If this turns out as my research suggests, we’ll need to be there for a month or two in order to fully uncover the wonders the place is hiding. Of course, if I’m wrong, we’ll be back before the end of the week!
“But it is my firm hope that the site reveals what I hope it does. You’ll have to forgive me for dancing around a complete answer. The group of guards I hired for my last expedition came highly recommended, but it turned out they were under the employ of a rival of mine, Doctor Claude Eastman, a man who will stop at nothing to possess the relics of old and use that knowledge for his own ends.”
“So, to avoid that problem, I waited until the last minute and looked for some local adventurers who couldn’t possibly have any affiliation with the good doctor. And here you are! Well, enough chit-chat, let’s get there already!”
You continue on through the jungle for two full days, before Penelope spots a statue almost completely obscured by lush vines.
“It’s a signpost of sorts,” she explains, clearing away the greenery to reveal a strange language etched into the stone. “This way to Nagia Falls. This is it! We’re nearly there!” With renewed vigor, she presses on, and should you follow, you are treated to the sight of a cliff rising out of the jungle with a plateau visible up high.
Two sets of large doors are built into the side of the cliff, but one of those is damage and open to the jungle.
“That’s our way in,” Penelope says, pointing at the breached doors. “Don’t worry about the climb, I brought a few trinkets to help out!” She goes to one of her team and retrieves a rope with a gem-studded grappling hook at one end. She whirls it around and tosses it up to the breached door, and the grappling hook magically clamps on.
“Follow me,” she cries, crabbing onto the rope which retracts upward, carrying her aloft with ease! The rope extends once she’s safe, and one by one, you’re able to ascend the cliff. When you reach the top however, you see Penelope is fending off writhing plants, trying to snare her and feed her into a giant toothed maw!
Should you kill the giant carnivorous plant at the entrance, Penelope thanks you, then straightens her torn tunic and leads you through a tunnel to another chamber, while the rest of the team make the ascent. She lights the place with a small wand, and what she sees there takes her breath away.
“A Nagia Gemcraft,” she breathes. “I’ve never seen one intact before. That alone was worth the effort! I’ll be investigating that soon, but right now we should get to the surface and set up camp.”
Should you follow her back along the passageway, you find some stairs leading up, and soon emerge onto the plateau where you see ruined buildings from the long lost civilization. Unfortunately, you can see the place is infested with more flesh-eating plants!
“Not this time,” Penelope cries, taking out a gem-tipped wand that crackles with lightning. “Let’s clear this place out!” With her help, you can take on a bunch of these horrid monstrosities.
Should you survive, Penelope thanks you a great deal for your efforts, and pays you your first bag of gold. “We can take it from here, but don’t go too far away as we might need your assistance again soon. Thanks!” she then moves to help her team set up camp for the night.
GM’s Notes:
The giant plants can’t move of course, but they have long tentacles they will use to try and pull people in. Penelope’s wand can create a shocking blast of electricity, but doesn’t have much range.
This adventure continues in part two, The Reconstruction of Nagia Falls: The Hidden Danger of Nagia Falls, which you can get access to by subscribing to our Patreon for as little as $3USD!
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Click image to download this free Multi-Level TTRPG battlemap of Trollgore Forest Grotto, then keep scrolling for the detailed adventure prompt written for it.
Just Trolling
When you enter a small, country town situated in lush forest you come across an old sign for a missing child. It’s clearly been there for a while, but if you go speak to the mother who put the sign up she will tearily tell you that her young boy Mica has been missing and no-one’s had time to help her find her little angel. He was such a good boy, she’ll cry—if you would find him, or at least bring her news of… well… bring her closure, then she can finally rest.
She’ll invite you into her house and sit you down on a toy chest. The walls are covered in different, colorful children’s scrawls from her son. She explains with a smile that he loves to draw, before describing Mica to you.
He is a small, brown-haired boy who looks a little bit like a mouse. She says he always carried his favorite toy with him, which is a little black, wooden stallion his father had carved for him when he was just a baby.
She says she doesn’t have much, but can pay you with her gold wedding and engagement rings if you find her boy—or what happened to him. She will always remember her dead husband in her heart, and knows he wouldn’t mind her using the rings to get their son back.
If you agree, she’ll cry tears of joy, thanking you profusely. Then she’ll sniffle and wipe her eyes, before suggesting that you start by talking to his friends. She knows he was friends with a little blonde girl named Hani. Her and her parents only moved here a few years ago from one of the big cities. They live on the far side of the village, near the woods.
If you go talk to Hani, you will find the small house covered with little magical charms. It is quite isolated and a good walk from the village, but if you knock on the door a woman with long, dark hair will open it. If you explain that you would like to speak to Hani about Mica, she will immediately become cold and haughty, before calling over her husband to talk to you.
The man is large, but very friendly and welcoming. He’ll happily call over Hani to speak to you while his wife waits at his shoulder. When Hani learns what you want to know, she will scowl and stick her tongue out. She says she wasn’t friends with Mica, saying that he was always horrible to her and would pull her hair or break her toys with the other boys. She’s happy he’s gone—she hopes the troll ate him!
At this, Hani’s father will pale and admonish the girl, saying come now you don’t really mean that, it would be a horrible thing to happen to anyone. Then his wife will quip that her husband has always been too passive, and if the boy did get eaten he deserves it.
If you ask about the troll, the black haired woman will roll her eyes and walk away into the house, taking Hani with her. The man will sigh apologetically and explain that a troll has been terrorizing the village, since about the time little Mica went missing now that he comes to think about it. The monster has been coming into the edges of the village and stealing livestock. Sometimes it even comes up to the houses while the owners are away, and steals things from inside!
It’s deeply disconcerting. They’ve tried driving it away, but even though the troll flees easily it always comes back. They have an idea of where it lives in the forest, if that would help?
If your players take this news back to Mica’s mother, she won’t believe that her little boy was so nasty to Hani, as he’s always been so sweet around her! But she will cry about the troll, and agree that yes it has been terrorizing the village for a while now but… well, she hoped you’d find some better news. She asks you to find the troll, and see if there’s any sign that it took her little boy—and if there is, please kill it! If you did that surely the rest of the village would pitch in with a reward, no-one likes the horrible thing.
Should you go to the part of the forest where locals suspect the troll lives, you’ll eventually find an old cave set in the ground, with some ancient stairs leading down. There are very old, stone walkways inside it, too.
The whole place smells like rotting meat, and there are cracked bones scattered along the ground. There are also children’s toys scattered along the earth—and amidst them is a small, painted black stallion.
There are also drawings on the walls which look like children’s scrawls, similar to the one’s in Mica’s mum’s house. They depict, in a crude way, an angry black-haired woman yelling at a small boy, who has a flash scribbled around him.
The next image depicts a scared troll being chased away by armed villagers. There are various other scribbles along the walls, but by far the most detailed—and large—is an almost life-sized drawing of what could be Mica’s playroom, with a woman there holding a tray of steaming cookies. Curled up beneath it is a sleeping troll.
If you approach the troll and it wakes up, it will roar aggressively and posture at you. But if you get too close, it will attack viciously.
If you cast dispel magic on the troll, it will turn into Mica, who will continue roaring at you and behaving like a troll for a few minutes, before blinking and looking down at his body in confusion. Then his eyes will widen and he will break down crying.
If you ask him what happened, he will explain tearfully that Hani’s mum turned him into a troll and he got so hungry he had to take food from the town because no-one recognised him. Not even his own mother!
But as time went on, he began to stop recognizing himself too, like the others. He would forget who he was, like he was dreaming, and wake up to himself less and less. But everything he remembers from the dreams is bad, he’ll say, in tears.
Should you return Mica to his mother and explain what happened, she will be so aghast at what that witch did to her boy that she will take off her rings and hand them to you purposefully, before saying that she is going to do her best to give that awful woman what she deserves, along with the help of the other villagers.
Should you confront Hani’s mother, she will spit that the boy got what he deserved and she hopes it taught him a lesson. Overhearing this, her husband will come to the front of the house, angrily saying what did he just hear, before yelling at his wife that she swore to him she had nothing to do with the troll incident. He’ll then say she promised not to do this again and it’s her blasted fault they have to keep moving to new towns! Then he’ll put his head in his hands and say he wished he’d chosen a better wife, not such a spiteful woman.
Then he’ll look at you and apologize profusely, before heading to the back of the house and returning with a bag of gold. He’ll then ask you give that to Mica’s mother as an apology for what happened. His wife will splutter that the gold is all their savings, but he’ll angrily ask what did she expect would happen, saying what she did is unforgivable and they’re lucky if the town doesn’t run them through with pitchforks tonight! Then he’ll tell his wife and daughter to pack their things and get ready to leave in an hour.
GM’s Notes:
If your players kill the troll, it will polymorph back into Mica’s dead body.
Because Mica was a troll for so long, he began to forget himself and take on more and more of the troll’s qualities. If it had gone on for long enough, he would have truly become a troll.
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Click image to download this free multi-level TTRPG battlemap of a Bandits Underdark Crystal Cavern, then keep scrolling for the detailed adventure prompt written for it.
Deep dwarves have paid you to find trade boats that have gone missing in the nearby area, along a stretch of river that’s usually safe. There are only peaceful settlements nearby, but the two search and recovery teams sent out have disappeared as well. Now the dwarves are worried something’s gone terribly wrong, and need you to figure out what.
When you search the area where people have been disappearing you’ll find a tunnel that’s not marked on any map. It looks like it’s only recently been cleared of rubble leftover from some kind of collapse. If you follow it, you’ll come to an open cavern with an old fortress, as well as part of the river running through it.
Should you enter, you’ll find some grey dwarves, the missing traders, as well as the search parties that disappeared. They’re all quietly tending to the dark purple crystals growing off the walls and pathways throughout the cavern. If you approach, you’ll notice those same crystals growing out of their skin, along their limbs and faces. Should they see you, they will attack in unnerving unison and attempt to plant crystals into you.
WHAT’S HAPPENING? This cavern was closed off hundreds of years ago, and for good reason. The crystals within it are the remnants of an ancient, extinct race who created them to contain their minds and memories, in order to survive a great disaster.
Many of the crystals were damaged during the calamity that wiped out their creators, however. They have been growing slowly over the thousands of years to make up for what was lost, gradually restoring corrupted memories and information. But the destruction of the crystals from infrequent earthquakes is happening faster than their growth, and if things remain the same the crystals will all be destroyed.
Though they can grow anywhere, they grow unbelievably fast in organic life—preferably sentient, as they can meld with the consciousness of the creature they take over and increase their ability to think sooner.
After being locked away in darkness for hundreds of years by the ones who built the fort—for it was then the crystals discovered the use of the flesh—the crystals became despairing. It was their most desperate hour before a group of grey dwarf bandits unsealed the cavern and made camp here. Frantic to rebuild and regain what was lost, they seized the opportunity to take over their bodies—as well as those who ventured nearby.
If you make it to the throne room, you will find the leader of the grey dwarves, who is almost completely encased by a thin film of crystals on the surface of his skin, though they are growing all throughout his body. He is the most developed among the infected organics, and speaks for the hive mind crystals. Some other, less-developed organics are there in the room with him, and their leader will request to parlay with you.
He will explain the history of the crystal and what’s happening. With this information, he also offers you the choice to help him revive his civilization. This would require hundreds more sentient bodies, but he has read from the memories of those he has incorporated that dark elves are an unloved, evil race and suggests them as candidates.
In return for your help, he will offer the ancient knowledge his civilisation held—but he can only share it when the crystals have developed enough to have repaired the holes in the prehistoric memories.
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Click image to download this free TTRPG battlemap of an Underdark Fungal Village, then keep scrolling for the detailed adventure prompt written for it.
While traveling through the Underdark, you are kidnapped by dark dwarves. You wake up in a small, stone cell. Everyone is stripped of their possessions, but left with their underclothes—all except one party member, who is completely naked.
An old green dwarf is locked in there with you. He mumbles to himself constantly and pokes you with a stick if you come too close. If you try to talk to him he’ll babble gibberish (something about seagulls), but will get aggressive if you try to take his stick.
The dark dwarves take each of you away one by one, walking you up thin stone corridors and wooden walkways overlooking a bottomless chasm filled with glowing mushrooms. When you arrive at a large alchemist’s station, they throw a handful of powder in your face, before returning you to your cell.
Everyone’s powder had different colors, and within a couple of hours their effects begin to show:
– One party member is relaxed and happy; carefree.
– Another is unable to stop laughing. Everything is hilarious, no matter how mundane.
– Someone else sees eyes watching him at the corner of his vision, but whenever he turns to see, they’re gone.
– One adventurer is absolutely fine, except he keeps talking to someone called Pawl (who clearly isn’t there).
– Yet another has had their mind opened to the fourth dimension, and now knows with utter certainty that his free will is an illusion. An interdimensional being is controlling their every move…
– Lastly, someone’s accent has been inexplicably changed to a foreign one.
WHAT’S HAPPENING? The Duergar live in this Underdark settlement, harvesting the glowing mushrooms and processing them into a powdered drug that they then traffic. They have tested new drugs on you, by mixing novel combinations of substances in with the powdered mushrooms.
If you don’t do something, they might keep you there forever; testing new substances on you until your mind breaks, like the old green dwarf’s—and perhaps, even then, they’ll continue to run tests with the more… deadly substances.
If you’d enjoy more maps like this free TTRPG battlemap of an Underdark Fungal Village, Luke and I are currently offering 520+ battlemaps for $39. It’s your chance to have a great deal on some of our most popular battlemaps! With over 520 total maps, we guarantee that is something here for every GM—no matter what genre or setting you prefer, from grimy dungeons to beautiful overgrown ruins.
Paying just $39 rather than full price saves you over 96%! Take a look at all the extra maps you can download with one click here.
