Download these free horror DnD battlemaps & be ready to play in minutes! Many come with system-agnostic adventures written just for them. Perfect for VTTs.
Maneaters Forest Temple Village Free 60×40 Multi-Level DnD Battlemap, featuring a cannibal jungle village with piles of bloody human bones, as well as altars for sacrifices. VTT ready!
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If you’d enjoy more DnD resources like this Vampires Floating Blood Citadel 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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While staying at a tavern, your meal is interrupted by an out of breath man stumbling through the front door. His clothes are tattered and his right arm looks broken. In his left hand he is carrying a heavy iron hammer. The man frantically screams for help, claiming that some type of abomination is trying to kill him. As he moves further into the tavern, he collapses to the ground and begins crawling. Looking back toward the door, the man screams again that it’s here and pleads for someone to help him. Rolling onto his back, he raises a hand in what appears to be an attempt to defend himself, but you can’t see what he might be reacting to.
Before you can even blink the man’s left arm is raised and he smashes the hammer into his face. Gurgling blood, the man continues to scream for help as he smashes the hammer into his head again and again with his left hand, as his right hand attempts to fend off some imaginary beast from atop. Then the screaming suddenly stops and his body goes limp revealing his caved in head, his blood pooling on the wooden planks of the tavern’s floor.
The other patrons turn pale and a silence falls over the tavern which is only interrupted by the tavern owner returning to the room with his hands full of the patron’s dinners, which are dropped as the tavern owner in bewilderment asks what the fuck happened. The guard’s are called and everyone is told to stay where they are until they’re asked to move so that the guards can get everyone’s story of what happened. The guards in question are polite but disturbed by your story, they insist on organizing alternative accommodation for you and you’re told not to leave the city until everything is sorted as they may need more from you. The next morning when you go downstairs from your newly appointed tavern you find a lithe modest woman with black hair and wearing a long flowing dress with silk gloves, covering all of her skin except her face, where she wears a pair of librarian spectacles. She approaches you, asking if you were part of the group who saw the death of a man named Gren last night? She describes the man, who to your recollection fits the bill. If you ask why she wants to know, the woman sighs sadly, explaining that her name is Dr.Elara Briggs and that Gren was an employee of hers at the city’s museum working as a caretaker over the night. Elara continues that recently Gren became convinced that one of their newly released exhibitions which feature a series of ancient blackstone artifacts have something wrong with them.
Elara says that she caught Gren in the museum last night when she was staying late to catalog some new arrivals, when she found him in the blackstone exhibition room standing in front of one particular large blackstone obelisk, with an iron hammer in his hand. He said he was going to destroy the artifact but when he raised his hammer to it he instead just screamed in terror before hitting his arm with the hammer instead and running off.
Elara claims she attempted to follow him but he was simply too fast. That was the last Elara saw of him until receiving news this morning of his untimely death from a friend in the guard. Elara explains that her friend couldn’t divulge much information due to the ongoing investigation but they were able to point her toward you without breaking the rules. As such Elara asks you what happened last night in the tavern with Gren? Disturbed by what you tell her, Elara questions if perhaps Gren might have been correct in his theory. Noting your garb, Elara asks if you’re available for hire for a few days while she closes the museum to investigate the black stone artifacts. With concern, Elara explains that even with Gren’s theory she can’t just destroy priceless artifacts without proof and that hopefully either you find something and you can dispose of the artifacts or you find nothing and life can continue as normal.
If you agree, she tells you to meet her at the museum later that day. The Museum is large and Elara greets you at the door before telling you to just take your time and explore at the museum as you see fit and she’ll be in the back cataloging if you need anything. Exploring the museum you find trinkets and weapons from all around the world. However, when entering the blackstone exhibit something feels off, almost ominous, the reflective black stone mirroring your face but almost distorted. Nothing else of note happens on the first day making it seem like a regular old museum, unless you approach the largest obelisk with malice or the thought of destroying it. If that occurs you must make a will save or you feel the urge to get closer to it, once you’re right next to it it’s almost like a portal opens up and you see visions of abominations from the depths of the sea within the stone which reach out their arms to grab you, pulling your head into their underwater realm, making you drown.
Anyone not influenced by the stone will see you instead smashing your head against the stone, in what looks like an attempt to kill yourself. On the second day, those of weak will might experience brief visions, reflections of the briny depths in mirrors or glass, incredible itching which when itched reveals scales under their skin, text within any tome changing into an unknown language, etc. If you talk to Elara about any of this she grows concerned, explaining that she has heard enough and the artifacts must be destroyed before what happened to Gren happens to you. If you ask if she’s being a little hasty and how she knows it’s the black stone artifacts causing the visions and not anything else in the museum, she explains that the black stone’s were found under the sea off the coast by a trawling vessel and the visions you’ve experienced all seem to focus on the ocean.
Elara collects some heavy tools that are used to open crates and asks for you to follow her. Upon arriving at the black stone exhibition, nothing seems out of the ordinary. Elara requests you assist her in destroying the artifacts but as she moves to strike the obelisk she pauses noticing briny water that has begun to pool under the obelisk, pouring from the very stone even though there appears to be no openings.
Elara backs up in shock before a sudden wave of water flows through the black obelisk like a tidal wave, knocking over Elara and sweeping her back into the museum’s corridors. For those perceptive, they might notice a portal similar to the one in an early vision filled with abominations from the depths of the sea has truly opened up on the black obelisk causing the museum to begin filling with water at an astounding rate. In addition, you notice the horrible dark shadows of deformed fishfolk now appearing within the briny ocean waters within the museum who move to assail you. Once the black obelisk is broken and the fishfolk defeated, the waters recede like magic, disappearing as if soaking into the stone floors. Elara returns, shocked, soaked and bewildered, thanking you for saving her and who knows what else before collapsing into your arms.
GM’s Notes:
Those attempting to strike the black obelisk directly, will, just like Gren be subject to the visions which caused himself to end his own life if they fail a will save, each round the player will attack themselves with whatever weapons they can find while believing they’re being attacked by horrible monstrosities. Each round however, they will get another chance for a will save to break this effect. Once broken they cannot be affected again for a time.
The Black Obelisk is a remnant of an ancient city that worshiped the god of the deep. Crafted and imbued by master craftsmen from blackstone pulled from the greatest depths of the sea, with the entire construction taking over 100 years. The visions that stone gives were seen as blessings to the people who built it but its ultimate design was to function as a gateway to the depths, being used to flood the city and bring them closer to their god.
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Level 1 of our Haunted Manor Free 40×30 Multi-Level DnD Battlemap & Adventure, featuring the haunted ruins of a mansion with a disturbing past. VTT readyLevel 2 of our Haunted Manor Free 40×30 Multi-Level DnD Battlemap & Adventure, featuring the haunted ruins of a mansion with a disturbing past. VTT ready
While eating dinner at a tavern in a small town, two distressed parents burst in through the doors. Quickly scanning the room, they set eyes on you and approach. The woman explains in a hurried voice that her two teenage sons entered an abandoned manor known by the village to be haunted on a friend’s dare earlier in the day, and they haven’t come back. They’ll pay you to go get them, but you must leave soon lest something terrible happen!
They give you instructions for how to get there and urge you to hurry. Should you go, the manor is a short hike from the town on a nearby hill. As you get closer the road degrades visibly and becomes overgrown with tall weeds. When you finally lay eyes on the manor however, there are lights shining from the windows.
Knocking on the door, it’s opened by a friendly butler. Should you mention that you thought the mansion was abandoned, the butler’s face falls, and he explains sadly that they have had to cut many of the staff so the building has come into disrepair, but it is very much still in use. He gestures to the cobwebs in the rest of the entry room, saying that he can understand why some people might describe it as abandoned.
If you ask after the missing boys, he shakes his head, saying they haven’t had any visitors, but he’d be more than happy to help you check the grounds for them in case they are fooling around somewhere. But first, he invites you to come inside and dine with Lord Aldenbracht, as his Lord has just sat down for dinner and there is enough to share. It would be a shame to dine alone as they haven’t had company in a long time, due to the rather unfortunate state of the manor.
Should you agree, the butler leads you inside and through a large, dusty foyer. As you approach the dining room you hear loud noises, as if someone moaning in pleasure, paired with sounds of eating. Ushering you into the dining room, you see a long table laden with a feast, and at the end sits presumably Lord Aldenbracht; a morbidly obese man eating with the rush of one starving, gravy dribbling down his chin as he chomps through pork pies and roasts.
The butler introduces you, and the Lord simply acknowledges your presence with a nod, before gesturing at the food in an invitation to partake. Sitting at the table, should you try the food, it’s incredibly delicious; like nothing you’ve ever eaten before, and all other food pales in comparison. You feel compelled to eat far beyond fullness, to the point of pain, and even then you can’t seem to stop.
Mid-way through the meal, with Lord Aldenbracht eating a seemingly inhuman amount, the butler returns and whispers something in his ear. Both excuse themselves, Aldenbracht wiping his greasy chin with a linen before removing his considerable paunch. He has a sickly, rattling breath as he leaves the room.
Having finished your food and after waiting what seems like a long time, there is still no sign of the Lord or his butler. Feeling a little sick from all the decadent food, you begin exploring the mansion.
If you look in the kitchen, you find the remains of a human body lying on the butcher’s block. The body is scarred, like that of a warrior, and smells too old to have been the missing teenagers. Nearby are spices, some of which have already been rubbed into slices of meat taken from the torso. There is no sign of a cook, however.
Further in are abandoned servant sleeping quarters which look like they haven’t been used for a very long time. There is also a small storage room that smells strongly of different spices, and something repugnant like decay. Should you open any of the crates, hordes of rats will pour out, leaving behind small, empty vials and jars that appear to have once held herbs and spices, tonics, or essential oils, but dried up long ago.
There’s also a secret alchemical room. Inside it are mixing containers and powders, as well as notes detailing how to “pacify animals strong enough to fight back”, thus making them willing sacrifices. Should anyone try any of the powders, they all taste slightly different (peppermint and apple, another of cinnamon, honey and ginger, one tastes of liquorice and the last of savory spiced roast pork), but all are delicious and intoxicating, making the imbiber lightheaded, giggly for no reason, rather slow of wit and willing to agree to almost anything.
Exploring more around the kitchen, you find an office. There’s a ledger book detailing decadent food expenses, as well as an opened letter sent by a man looking for his missing brother, who disappeared on a business trip and was last rumored to have visited this manor. It asks if the Lord perhaps knows what happened to him? Did he grow ill, or move onwards? Which direction did he head? He must know the fate of his brother so that he can finally rest and say goodbye in his heart.
There is also a secret servant quarters, which are long abandoned, as well as a hidden room with shackles and a stretching-rack. The timber of the rack is bloodstained and scratched deeply, with a few human fingernails stuck deep in the wood.
Moving onwards and heading back through the foyer, you find a long-abandoned washroom. It has a steaming bathtub, full of warm blood.
Further down the corridor is a strange worshiping room with pews. At its head is a statue of a flayed man pinned to a cross, his face and body contorted in extreme ecstasy. Looking at it, you feel drawn in, and as if something is compelling you to drop to your knees and worship the terrible visage. It is hard to search the rest of the room due to the allure of the statue, but should you read any of the scrolls, you learn that His name is Syealoss, and that he yearns for flesh sacrifices. The scroll details how to prepare and celebrate the highest offering–a young innocent. You can’t forget the horror you learn, and feel something dark and unsettling shroud your soul as a result.
Opposite the small temple room is a gentleman’s room, with a map inside it. Should you look, it leads to a place labeled “Underground Ruins of Halbrak Village”, with a question mark next to it. Next to it is a letter from someone named Lord August, suggesting that great power can be claimed by the worthy, should they be bold enough to take it.
The next floor up is in equal disrepair, with abandoned cobweb-strewn bedrooms for nobles and servants alike, though the rooms with hearths all have crackling fires lit. The air rushing through the chimneys creates an eerie, howling sound throughout the manse.
One of the sumptuous bedrooms has a squeaky timber under the rug, and should you fold it back and lift up the loose timber, you find the remains of a human skull.
Should you visit the library, within you find The Crimson Cookbook. It details hundreds of decadent recipes, but they only include human flesh as the meat. If you read it to the end, afterwards, when you look at people, sometimes you’ll find yourself wondering what they would taste like if cooked as one of the recipes.
There is still no sign of the butler or Lord Aldenbracht. There is another storage room, which reeks strongly of death and decay. Should you open any of the crates or barrels, they are filled with dry, crusty blood soaked clothes and shoes, as well as some low-value personal affects, including toys.
Lastly, there is a room where eerie purple light filters below the door. Should you enter it, you see four inhuman skulls with glowing eyes in each corner of the room, a blood-splattered floor with a sinister sigil burned into it, as well as a table with seats and a shining orb on it.
Should you look into the orb, you’re suddenly transported in your mind to a dark void where a disembodied voice talks to you. You can’t remember exactly what was said, but when you return to yourself you find the orb cracked.
Afterwards, normal food doesn’t taste the same. It all tastes off somehow. And now, in its place, human flesh smells and looks delicious. When you sleep, you have vivid, tempting dreams of eating it.
Once the orb cracks the visage of the manor suddenly disappears and the manor takes it’s true form as ruins all around you, the eyes of the skulls are no longer glowing but the orb on the table remains cracked. You can hear loud banging and calling from a hidden room attached to the room you’re now in, where a roof has partially fallen in and collapsed. Should you clear some of the rubble, the two teen boys cry with relief and thank you, saying they were exploring the ruined manor on a dare when the ceiling collapsed, trapping them inside.
If you ask them about Lord Aldenbracht or the butler, or otherwise mention anything that happened to you, they give you odd looks and explain that Bellview Manor has been a ruin for over 100 years. It is said their ancestors rose up against the Lord for some reason, locking everyone inside and burning them alive.
There is a sarcophagus inside the room the boys were trapped in. Should you look inside, you find the remains of a creature that looks like it might once have been a woman, with long gray hair attached to the skull. However, all the limbs are slightly too long, the proportions aren’t quite right, and she doesn’t seem quite human. Her hands are clasped around some kind of amulet on a chain, and if you move them to see it, you find a small version of the flayed, ecstatic man.
Once you set eyes on the symbol, you feel drawn to take it, and hold it covetously close around your neck and under your shirt, where it will whisper to you…
GM’s Notes:
Only the first player to look at the orb is transported to the other place, and it happens so quickly that none of the other players should notice their mental absence. To everyone else, the orb should just seem to crack as soon as they walk into the room.
What’s really happening in this manor is that Lord Aldenbracht and his family, and servants, were involved in some sort of sinister, cannibalism cult roughly 100 years ago. While they started snatching travelers and poor locals discreetly, soon they grew brazen about it and eventually it grew so bad that the peasants devised a plan to rise up and kill the evil growing in the manor, as well as gain retribution for their loved ones.
As a result, the manor has in fact been in ruins for almost 100 years, and even though exactly what happened here has been long forgotten, the peasants still do not go there, for almost no-one comes back. The two boys only went there on a dare by a friend, and when they didn’t return, their terrified friend ran to confess to their parents what they did, which sent their parents off to get help at the tavern.
What your players experience is a haunting, an echo of the great evil that occurred here. It’s been lingering over this place, haunting it for the last century, but as time goes on the haunting has grown weaker. Sometimes the manse is as the players experienced it, sometimes it’s just ruins. The two boys were lucky to find it only as ruins. But, now that the orb has been broken, the haunting of the building has ended–but perhaps it has transferred something sinister onto the player who looked into it.
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During your travels, you spot a beautiful town in the distance silhouetted against clear blue skies. It rests on lush green fields filled with wildflowers, and you can see stone huts and buildings decorated with flower baskets and fresh wreaths. But as you draw closer, something feels wrong, and you notice it’s ominously silent.
There are no sounds one would associate with a village; no livestock calling out, or bird calls, nor the sounds of people or children laughing.
As you continue to make your way toward the village, something crunches underfoot. Lifting your boot, you see the bones of a dead bird, perfectly laid out as if the animal had been flying when it died. There is no sign of flesh, tendon, or cartilage on the bones, and they appear burned–but there’s no sign of fire anywhere else.
Looking into the fields, you suddenly see why there’s no livestock. Lying amidst the swaying green grasses are the bones of cows, goats, and various birds, positioned as if they, too, had been going about their lives when they suddenly died. Like the bird, there is no hint of flesh left on the bones, and they are blackened as if from fire.
Approaching the town, you hear the squeak of a rusty hanging shop sign being blown back and forth on the gentle breeze, overpoweringly loud in the silence. As you enter the village, scattered through the streets and the houses are the burned, skinless bones of the locals, still wearing their pristine clothing, jewellery, or other accoutrements.
Children died hugging pets, babies perished in the arms of their mothers, friends died talking in the street, others died perusing the shops or getting along in their day’s work. Like the animals, they all seem to have died suddenly, in the midst of their lives. Should you enter any of the homes, they are perfectly in order. Some appear to have perished in the midst of a family meal, food still ready on the plates, while still-warm pots of soup cool over the hearth fire. Whatever happened to this village, it was only shortly before you arrived.
While it’s clear those at the entrance to the town died going about their daily lives, as you move deeper into the heart of the village panic becomes apparent. The bodies there appear to have been running away from whatever it was that killed them, or hugging one another for comfort, or cowering.
As you look upon this macabre scene, you hear an echoing, monstrous wail coming from the town well. The sound rises and dims, changing into howls and back into eerie wails. If you approach and look into the well, you see it’s mostly dry, with a small puddle at the bottom. Sitting in the puddle and staining it red is a pale man in dirty, torn clothing, his calves bleeding and bones protruding from his kneecaps. He is raving mad from the pain.
Should you rescue him, he begs for help or mercy from his suffering. If you heal him, the man thanks you, gasping and still shaking from shock, before asking if you have a stiff drink. He looks upon the remains of the village, tears in his eyes and shaking his head, muttering to himself incoherently.
If you asked him what happened here, he introduces himself as Farvald and explains there was some kind of storm made of red embers which swept through the village. Anything an ember touched, the skin blackened and burned right off, FROM THE INSIDE, Farvald emphasises, saying the resulting ash swept up into the sky and disappeared. Nowhere was safe. Nowhere but underground. Nothing could stop the embers but the well, the well, the well, he mutters to himself, eyes glazing over.
More questions bring Farvald back to himself and reveal that the embers followed people as if alive and actively hunting them. Should you ask him where the storm was heading, he turns and points towards a mountain in the distance, before shaking his head and saying he’ll still hear the screams as they burned.
If you move to follow the storm, Farvald grabs your arm and insists on following you. The horror’s he’s seen seem to have shaken his hold on reality, and if you refuse he insists on going there on his own regardless.
The journey towards the mountain takes a few hours, but after only half an hour of traveling you begin noticing the sound of birds again. If you question Farvald as to why there are birds here if the storm came this way, he sheepishly admits he didn’t really see quite that well which way the storm was heading due to jumping in the well. He does mention however that his mother sang a children’s bedtime story regarding this mountain, a story designed to scare young children into behaving themselves. At least, that’s what he used to believe up until today. Then he sing’s the story as best as he can remember.
“In a mountain tall and steep, Whispers echoed, secrets keep. Legends speak of a history old, Where heroes fought with hearts so bold.
Over 200 years ago, they say, An invading force came to dismay. Defenders climbed the peak so high, In a final battle, they had to try.
When all seemed lost, hope nearly gone, A whisper came from an ancient one. An evil prisoner, seeking release, Offered salvation, a twisted peace.
The commander, desperate and brave, Accepted the offer, darkness to stave. In exchange for freedom, the evil’s plea, The ember storm unleashed, wild and free.
Its power engulfed the invaders fast, Reduced to bones, a haunting contrast. The ancient evil fulfilled its vow, But darkness remained, as legends allow.
Now, my child, rest your weary head, As I share this tale before you’re to bed. Know that choices bear consequences true, Beware dark deals that may ensnare you.
Dream of heroes, brave and true, Who faced the storm and the enemy crew. Their sacrifice reminds us strong, To resist temptation to do wrong.”
He explains that he’s sure this mountain peak was the one in the rhyme, and must find the source of what was responsible for the deaths of his fellow villagers, it’s all that he wants now.
When you arrive near the mountain peak, you find it silent much like the town. As you make your way towards the peak, you see a humanoid-shaped individual standing upon a stone overhang, carving something into its hard surface with a finger. However, something seems deeply off about the person. The skin seems loose, fat rolls bunching around its wrists and ankles, as well as hanging in sagging jowls from its chin.
The individual turns to face you upon your arrival, its movements eerily fluid, squishy and inhuman–as if it has no bones. The flesh on its face hangs loosely, sagging around milky white eyes ringed by raw, bleeding muscle. Despite its mimicry of humanity, everything about it is slightly off; corpulent and disfigured.
Farvald breaks down, pushing past you and kneeling before the inhuman figure; exclaiming in excitement that he has brought it more flesh, more life for him and his brethren. He raves that he saw within the eye of the ember storm from the well, beheld the magnificence and power of Those Who Hunger who danced at its heart.
The shape etched in the stone behind the figure begins to glow an ominous orange and a heavy wind stirs up. Above you, the sky darkens and embers flicker and ignite in the distance; surrounding you as you find yourself within the eye of a new ember storm.
You can hear voices whispering to your mind, voices that hunger, that seek life and existence from beyond the void.
The inhuman figure standing before Farvald opens its wet, toothless maw in a smile that splits across its face, stretching and sagging lopsidedly. It reaches out a finger covered in tiny rolls of skin and touches Farvald on the forehead, and the madman’s body begins to change; filling from within, as if bloating with water, before Farvald’s skin splits and morphs into a giant, caterpillar-shaped mass of flesh covered with inhuman faces and writhing limbs. The monstrosity lumbers towards you, its many mouths moaning in hunger.
After the horror that was Farvald is defeated, the figure behind him steps back; turning to embers and dissipating with the storm around you. In the corners of your eye, you think you might have glimpsed other figures in the storm doing the same. Once the figures are gone, the whispering in your mind stops.
The air of the mountain now still, you’re surrounded by pure, unnatural silence. The only remnants of what happened is the faded sigil on the ground, and the mutated corpse at your feet.
Behind the ridge the inhuman being was standing on is a valley full of bones, as well as 200-year-old armor and rusty weapons. Deep amidst the ancient battlefield you notice some kind of giant, hollow, obsidian boulder that had been long ago split in two. If you inspect it, you find very faded ruins of sealing engraved in the surface, along with a dire warning against releasing the evil inside…
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Paying just $39 rather than full price saves you over 98%! Take a look at all the extra maps you can download with one click in the Hardcore GM’s DnD Battlemap Bundle here.
The Twisting Fel Free 40×30 DnD Battlemap & Adventure
An Old Man’s Hourglass
While staying at an inn during a stormy evening’s meal, the front doors swing wide open revealing a large haggard old half-devil man carrying a wooden chest in his arms. His cloak is besodden from the downpouring of rain and he appears to be bleeding from a sword wound on his arm.
The other patrons of the tavern look on in shock as the man collapses on the ground, barring the front door with his slumped back while pushing the wooden chest in front of himself. If you come to his aid he explains that the ones hunting him cannot get what lies within the chest and he begs for your aid.
Soon after the door behind him begins to thump as whoever was chasing him attempts to open it. From beneath his cloak, the old man produces a finely carved ebony hourglass, which he inverts, allowing its black sand to trickle into the other chamber, covering an image that closely resembles the very inn in which you presently find yourself.
A voice bellows over the storm outside. “In the name of lord Hadron, let us in. You harbor a thief and traitor to the crown”. The half-devil vehemently denies the accusation and implores your assistance in holding the door for just a few minutes longer after which he promises to explain everything.
If you assist him, the men outside in the storm become increasingly agitated but as the last grain of black sand falls, a hushed stillness descends. No rain, or gale can be heard and the thumping on the door is but a distant memory. As you peer into the hourglass, the building within its lower half is obscured by the black sand below, revealing an entirely new upside down structure bathed in a curious translucent green glow in its upper half.
Looking out the surrounding windows you can see you are now in an entirely different realm. The inn stands amidst an alien landscape, one of black stone and eerie fel magics. The inn’s other patrons, in states of distress, demand answers and an immediate return home.
Turning to the half-devil man, you finally notice the uncanny green hue of his eyes. He calmly explains that the hourglass has transported all within the inn to the Twisting Fel, a realm that exists between realms within the hells, a place once called home by his ancestors. He assures you that everyone will eventually return home, but first, he must flee this area before resetting the hourglass to return to the material plane.
The old man elaborates on the peculiar nature of the Twisting Fel which mirrors the material plane in many ways but not in others and that because of this it can be used for traversal, allowing access to places that otherwise might not be accessible when on the material plane. In this case the tavern you now stand is but a mirror of the one on the material plane, one of many locations which show up within the Twisting Fel which also appear on the material plane.
If you ask what is so precious within his wooden chest, the old man slowly opens the chest, revealing a small baby half-devil boy lying asleep on its cushioned interior. He explains that his daughter and a nobleman’s son fell in love and in secret had this child. When the nobleman’s family discovered the affair and the existence of the half-devil grandchild however, they sent men to have his grandson and his daughter killed. He barely escaped with his life and that of his grandson while his daughter perished.
The elderly man beseeches your assistance in accompanying him through the Twisting Fel for a few hours, as he seeks to reach another mirrored building—an old, abandoned stable situated along the King’s highway, far from the tavern’s location. Should you agree, he breathes a sigh of relief, pledging to the other patrons that they, too, will return home within a few hours.
If you ask what would happen if you invert the hourglass without being in a known mirrored location The old man cautions that this action could result in unfortunate outcomes, such as emerging within walls or underground. Hence, it is best to employ the hourglass solely in known places.
As you navigate the landscape of the Twisting Fel, you encounter endless caverns, carved stone staircases, and eerie devilish structures that mar the desolate expanse. During the journey, the old man shares stories, explaining that it has been a considerable time since he last ventured to this realm, for it teems with dangers. He expresses gratitude for your assistance and reveals that his ancestors once dwelled in a grand city at the heart of the Twisting Fel. Yet, it has crumbled over time, much like his ancestors, leaving the remnants of the Twisting Fel’s people to eke out a meager existence.
He explains long ago there were many of his kind who dwelled in a great city at the center of the Twisting Fel, but it, like many of his ancestors perished, and the city is now but a ruin where the remains of the Twisting Fel’s people huddle amongst what little they have left. It is here he continues that all the hour-glasses were made. One of many, it is what his devilish ancestors used to traverse to the material plane and evidently led to the interbreeding with mortals. The old man’s hour-glass in particular was handed down through the generations and he has used it sparingly as it was told to him as a child the dangers of the Twisting Fel.
After almost two hours of travel, you approach your destination—the abandoned stables, visible on the other side of a chasm, but before you can make your way across the chasm the ground starts to rumble and geysers of fel energy burst forth followed by dog sized wurms of glowing fel energy which set towards you.
After dealing with half the wurms the ground shakes again and a massive wurm bursts forth close to where the oldman was taking cover, crumbling much of the floor around him, which falls down into the endless void below, before the wurm knocks him aside into a stone wall and charges at you.
After all the wurms have been dealt with, you find the old man slumped on the stone wall he was knocked against. He is breathing but very weak. In his hands he holds the hourglass, shattered.
With a feeble voice, he expresses his regret, explaining that he can no longer return you to your home. Instead, he implores you to seek the ruined Fel city in pursuit of another hourglass, your sole hope of returning. Following the healing of his wounds, the old man informs you that he will guide you on a journey of several weeks, fraught with peril, through a realm of dangerous beasts and potent magics, as was foretold during his childhood.
GM’s Notes: Should the players choose not to return to the tavern to rescue the other patrons after the hourglass is broken, those left behind will likely run out of supplies and starve within a month or meet unfortunate ends at the hands of the Twisting Fel’s denizens.
The half-devil baby boy has a necklace of sustenance which will sustain him over the long trip to the ruined fel city, not needing to eat or drink.
You may instead choose to end the adventure by having the hour-glass survive the wurm encounter and have the old man use it to take you back to your plane at the mirrored abandoned stables.
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While visiting a small village, you are approached by a middle-aged man wearing fine leather armor, with an assortment of weapons at his disposal. His face is scarred and his expression is cold and hard.
“Pardon me,” he says politely in spite of his harsh demeanor. “I’m looking for strong people for hire, to aid me in a most noble quest. Are you available?” If you tell him you are, he continues. “My name is Jeddik Erskine. I live locally, though I spend much of my time on the road, protecting merchant caravans and hunting bandits.
“This isn’t the career I had in mind when I was young. When I was a small boy, my family grew grapes and produced some of the finest wines in the region. The vineyard where I grew up isn’t far from here, but I haven’t been back in years for you see, my family was killed in horrifying circumstances.
“The details are sketchy, for I was young and frightened, but nobody travels to the old vineyard anymore, for good reason. Malevolent spirits dwelled below in a series of chambers that were hidden when first we moved there. Strange occurrences began to manifest; minor things at first, but then my family were killed off, one by one.
Erskine steadies himself as he deals with powerful emotions. “I have lived in fear of that place ever since, but I will tolerate it no longer. I mean to go there and vanquish those specters so that my soul can be at peace, and I can reclaim my family’s land. I can pay you well for this task; will you join me?”
If you agree to help Erskine defeat the literal ghosts of his past, he bids you follow him to the vineyard just down the road, outside the village. If you follow, you soon arrive at a place frozen in time. Fields covered in weeds sprawl beneath towering pines, keeping the place cloaked in perpetual shade.
Erskine carefully approaches the cottage with a sword in hand, looking for signs of trouble. He can’t bring himself to enter the cottage, but instead looks out over the fields. In the dim light, you can see faintly glowing apparitions of people working among the weeds, as if they were still alive!
“Don’t let their appearance fool you,” Erskine warns. “These are the monsters that massacred my family! Let us clear this area first.” If you join him, you advance on the specters, which immediately turn toward you and transform into visions of fang-toothed, clawed monstrosities, hungering for your flesh!
They howl and evaporate when destroyed, and should you defeat the specters in the field, Erskine turns and notices the entrance to the underground crypt.
“I remember this place,” he mutters, then visibly flinches. “The sound of people screaming from within, yes, I was here. It was terrifying.” He grips his sword tighter and marches with purpose towards the doors which he kicks in revealing an empty chamber except for a staircase. With a torch in one hand, he goes forward, and if you follow, you descend a staircase to a lower level.
“This is the wine cellar,” he confides as you proceed cautiously. “It used to be a crypt, but it was repurposed.” Bones and wooden debris crunch underfoot as you head further in, spotting intact barrels nestled into the alcoves along the way. The silence is deafening, but something compels Erskine to continue on. Only when you reach a shattered door at the southern end does he stop.
Through the door a single specter hovers over a casket, with more of the cursed spirits faintly glowing by the walls around the raised area. To your surprise, the larger specter moves forward and speaks in a ghostly voice.
“Why do you return to this place?” he asks Erskine. “Why do you continue our torment? Have we not suffered enough?”
“For killing my family, it’s the least you deserve,” Erskine snarls, ready to continue the fight. If you’re insightful, you might sense there is more going on here than you realize. If you ask the spirit what they’re talking about, you receive an answer.
“We are the spirits of those who died when the Erskine family plundered and stole our land,” he howls. “They cut us down in the fields, and those of us who made it into the wine cellar to take refuge were locked inside to starve. Our souls are disquiet, unable to free ourselves from the shackles of this torment until the last of the Erskine family dies. Only then will we know peace. Help us!”
“It’s a lie!” Erskine shouts, unwilling to listen further. “And even if it were true, I wouldn’t have even been born yet when that occurred. To want a man dead for the sins of his father is as monstrous as I would expect from those who butchered my family, including women and children. As the only survivor of the Erskine family, I cannot abide this! I will vanquish these demon spirits or die trying!”
If you side with Erskine, you must fight the undead spirits of the fallen until they are all gone. If you survive, Erskine thanks you profusely for aiding him in avenging his family’s death, and provides you with a handsome sum of gold.
If you side with the spirits, Erskine is livid that you would turn on him and fights you and the spirits like a crazed man. If you defeat him, the spirits breathe a collective sigh and slowly vanish into the ether, leaving Erskine’s valuable sword and armor – not to mention a pouch of gold.
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Nightmare Abode of the Unseelie Court Free 40×30 Multi-Level DnD Battlemap & Adventure
Sweet Dreams
When you lie down to rest after a long day, you feel like you’re about to fall asleep when your rest is disturbed by a faint buzzing sound. You try to ignore it, but the noise persists. When you look around to find the source of the disturbance, you notice that you’re not in the same place you laid down just minutes ago.
You are in an old forest, with trees so tall the canopy blocks out the sun. The leaves are red, the colors of Fall. Some of them detach from their trees and drift to the ground in a perpetual rain of desiccated vegetation. The air smells dry, laden with strange, tangy spices and the unmistakable aroma of death.
The buzzing noise returns and you notice something flitting between the trees. Something small and winged, which hovers for the briefest moment before darting into cover once more.
While you try to figure out what’s happened, the small creature flits out of cover and hovers a few feet from your face. She is a faerie no larger than your hand, with tiny pointed ears, diaphanous wings and an expression of unvarnished glee on her face.
“Oh yes, you’ll do just fine here,” she giggles, flitting about randomly to look at you from different angles. “I’m Elisha, and we’re going to have so much fun together!” Should you inquire where you are and how you got here, the faerie laughs.
“You’ll find out where you are soon enough,” she assures you with a sly wink. “As for how you arrived, it’s magic! Perhaps part of you wanted to be here, and the Court has a way of making people’s dreams come true. Oops, I’ve gone and tipped my hand! Come, let me show you.”
Elisha flits away, glowing slightly to guide you through the gloomy conditions. Should you follow, she leads you through the trees towards a clearing that lies beyond. Here, you see a huge stump of a once-great tree, which has been converted into an abode for people of your size.
Screams can be heard coming from within the structure, the distinct sounds of suffering and madness. Around the giant tree stump more faeries gather, laughing with sadistic glee at the suffering of people here.
“This is the Unseelie Court, newcomer,” Elisha brags, gesturing expansively at the ominous glade. The other faeries greet you with a mixture of applause, derision and laughter, though their attention is diverted from their evil play for only a few seconds.
“You may have been thinking about faeries being all sugar and spice, and all things nice,” Elisha continues. “But we’re nothing like that. Honestly, how could anyone be so boring? No, we’re much more interesting than our stupid cousins and I’ll be happy to show you exactly what I mean!”
“Hey uh,” one of the other faeries remarks when he looks at you, “are they supposed to have brought all their equipment with them?” Elisha looks at you with a blank expression before a look of consternation crosses her tiny face.
“I thought YOU were supposed to make sure they were unarmed before coming here!” she squeals as she flits away at top speed! The other faeries see you as a threat and close in to protect the Court! They’re small but deadly, wielding tiny spears with razor-sharp tips and many of them have fey magic to use against you.
Should you defeat the first wave of the faeries, the abode before you beckons. If you take the stairs and head inside, you see other people tied to the walls, clearly the subject of brutal torture from the evil fey.
“You have to destroy Elisha,” one woman whispers weakly. “Only then will this nightmare end. Go!” Should you heed her advice, you can take the stars to the top of the structure where you will find Elisha and a few of her close consorts.
“You’ve ruined everything!” she blurts, arms crossed in child-like anger. “We will have to make short work of you, but don’t kill them my sisters! We want to make them pay for this insult!”
You face off against Elisha and should you defeat her, she lies on the floor breathing her last breath. As she passes, you suddenly feel sleepy. You cannot keep your eyes open, and all turns to darkness.
You gasp awake, looking around you fearful of what you may find, only to discover you have awakened in the place you originally fell asleep! You are uninjured, and left wondering if it all a nightmare, or did it really happen?
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The Black Tower Free 40×30 Multi-Level DnD Battlemap & Adventure
Beta Test
While visiting a local inn for a rest, you are startled when a woman in elaborate robes made of black sable cloth appears in a puff of magical smoke in the middle of the common room! She coughs a little and sweeps the smoke aside with a few waves of her hands, then looks around the room and spots you at a table.
“Ah, you’ll do!” she remarks after a cursory examination. “I am Genevieve, a witch of no small renown in this region. You may have heard of me perhaps? Maybe? Anyway, you appear to be just the sort of person I’m looking for. May I join you for a moment?” If you agree to hear her out, she takes a seat at your table and collects her thoughts.
“It may not look like it, but I recently retired from an adventurous life and bought a nice little tower for myself. I have a great deal of magical treasure from my years of travel, and I’m simply paranoid about my new home being burgled. Aside from the loss of money and magic, the blow to my prestige would be insurmountable! The other wizards would never let me hear the end of it, you know.
“To that end, I have given great thought to security measures in the tower, and I think I’ve come up with a number of devious traps and fearsome creatures to dissuade the most accomplished thieves. But I need to know for sure!
“I propose to hire you to break into my tower, if you can! You know, test the doors, avoid the traps, dispatch the guardians of certain doom, that sort of thing. Just understand, I won’t be pulling any punches, so don’t hold back. To make it worth your while, I will part with a magical item of great pow— I mean, reasonable power. What do you say?”
If you agree to this unnecessarily dangerous mission, Genevieve beams at you, then raises a hand and you are enveloped in a cloud of smoke! You cough and sputter for a moment, but the smoke clears rapidly and you find yourself standing outside a small tower of black stone, somewhere in a forest.
“Up here!” calls Genevieve, drawing your attention to the roof of the tower upon which she stands. “Off you go then, do your worst!” The front door of the tower beckons!
If you’ve the skill, you could attempt to pick the lock, but you might also notice there is a trap above it that will drop heavy rocks on your head if you tamper with it! If you’ve no skill to deal with either of these things, you might be able to bash your way in and take the damage from the rocks.
Beyond the door lies a large chamber with stairs rising on either side, and a few smaller rooms. There are stone statues here that immediately begin to move as soon as you enter, stomping across the floor to intercept you! If you defeat the stone golems, you hear Genevieve’s voice from above.
“Perhaps stone golems weren’t the best choice for the atrium,” she says, thinking out loud. “I might replace them with iron golems covered in spikes! Yes, that sounds deadlier. Anyway, proceed!”
As you take the stairs, you might notice there is a tripwire along one of the steps. If so, you could disarm it, but if not, you are pelted with an assortment of dead fish! Aside from the smell, they are launched with enough force to do significant damage!
Once you make it to the first floor, you notice a swirling pattern of air above the atrium. It coalesces into a number of air elementals, which move to attack! If you defeat them, Genevieve mutters some choice words from her position above.
“I was really conflicted about using those. There’s lots of space for them, but they just don’t hit hard enough. I shall have to reconsider them in the next iteration. Never mind my prattling, onwards and upwards!”
If you make it to the second floor, you find an opulent yet practical area that Genevieve lives and works in. The carpet beneath your feet is plain yet soft, and it is as you’re wandering around the area that the carpet starts to move! It rises from the ground and a fang-filled mouth opens wide as it tries to eat you!
The carpet is huge and tear-resistance, and seems almost impervious to magic, but if you defeat it, Genevieve appears in a puff of smoke and applauds.
“Well done, you defeated the Carpet of Certain Death, my final security measure. I bet you didn’t see that one coming! Still, you did defeat it and now I have a pile of torn carpet scraps to deal with. Maybe I should replace it with a chest of gold that has teeth? I don’t know, it sounds a bit cliché to me.
“Anyway, I took copious notes and I’ll have to put some thought into improvements. Here, take your pick of my low-end magic items before I send you back to the inn. Thanks again!”
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While traveling through a forest, you notice that even though the day is bright and clear, a gloomy atmosphere has enveloped the area around you. The sky seems dim, and the sun shines without warmth. You continue along the path, but something about the trees around you seems awfully familiar.
If you’re insightful, you might figure out that you have indeed passed by this area before, as if you were traveling in a circle. You hear a rustling from the bushes nearby and while you prepare yourself to face off against just about anything, a man emerges from the undergrowth, carrying a sword and wearing chain armor.
“I am no threat to you, if you do not seek to harm me,” he announces warily. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we seem to be in the middle of some sort of supernatural event, the likes of which I cannot explain. Perhaps we can pool our resources and try to figure this out?”
Should you agree, he lowers his weapon and relaxes a little. “My name is Isaac, and I’m a mercenary. I mostly do caravan guard work, but this morning, I awoke to find the caravan gone. I had thought they left without me, but now I’m not so sure. Bah, I know nothing of magic, except how good it is at making my life difficult.
“You may have noticed that we’re stuck in the same place, no matter which way we travel. I’ve spent the last hour trying to find my way out, but just find myself back where I started from. I even left a mark on a few trees, and sure enough there they are.
“There’s more to it though,” he continues in grim tones as he sheaths his weapon. “I marked three trees, but now I can only find two of them. I think the area we’re in is shrinking towards a central point, in that direction,” Isaac explains, pointing to his left. “It’s like something is herding us there.
“I’m not one to stand around waiting for whatever fate has in store for me. I intend to go straight in and see what it is that’s captured us in this bizarre trap. Are you up for it?”
If you agree to accompany him, Isaac grunts in acknowledgement and leads you on. Together, you pass by areas of forest steeped in gloom, and almost silent save for the occasional sound of a crow in the distance. There is no wind, and the eerie silence sets your nerves on edge.
Soon, Isaac’s theory seems to be proven right, as you spy a strange structure in the forest up ahead. It seems like an eight-pointed structure with a pointed roof, almost like a pyramid, or perhaps two of them merged together.
The walls are shimmering, reflecting the dim light and the forest around them, but it almost seems like those walls are reflecting things that aren’t there. If you’ve a talent for magic, you might surmise that the structure seems to sit astride multiple dimensions, allowing it to reflect things that you cannot see. Isaac takes a more direct approach to dealing with the problem.
“I’m going in,” he growls, drawing his weapon. “Whatever trapped us here is likely behind that door. I hope you can fight, ‘cause I don’t see us getting out of here any other way.”
He storms forward, kicks open the door, and heads in. Should you follow, you find a strange temple with mirrored walls, making it appear far larger inside that you would expect. Isaac looks closely at his reflection, and to your surprise, his reflection smiles and steps out of the mirror!
You find that your own reflection also emerges from the glassy surface, and you find yourself facing off against shadowy doppelgangers, armed with your weapons and knowledge, but little more than a shadow of you!
Should you defeat them, Isaac heads downstairs and finds the entire floor is a mirrored surface, reflecting alternate dimensions from above in an almost infinite way.
“This damned thing is responsible for trapping us here!” he declares. He appears to be about to smash it with his sword, when a winged figure of a dragon emerges from the floor, flying through the surface as if it were the sky! Its scales are like dark mirrors, but its claws look very sharp indeed. It growls and leaps to the attack! Should you defeat the mirror dragon, the whole temple cracks and starts breaking apart.
“Let’s get out of here!” Isaac shouts as shards of glass fall from the walls. If you run, you will make it out just in time as the entire temple shatters, lifting the shroud from the land and returning you to what appears to be your normal world. Isaac is nowhere to be seen, and you can only presume he too went back to his place of origin. The temple appears to have vanished completely, except for a large, curved shard that looks like a shield with a mirror finish!
GM Notes:
The mirror dragon can reflect hits back on the attacker if their attack is very weak. The mirror shield reward works the same way.
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