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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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While visiting a country town, you spot something curious in the skies above. At first, you think it is a large bird hovering among the clouds in the distance, but soon it grows larger and larger, appearing to be some sort of giant, flying rock, with what appears to be a fortress built upon it.
While marveling at the appearance of this strange flying fortress, a flash of magical energy erupts near you, appearing to be some sort of rift. A wild-haired old man in a wizard’s robe, bearing a crumpled hat, tumbles through it clutching a tall, gnarled staff. He glances around frantically before spotting the approaching fortress in the sky.
“Good heavens, am I in time?” he blurts, before spotting you standing on the street staring at him in bemusement. “Ah, I see events haven’t happened yet, excellent. You there! Stop gaping like a landed fish and pay attention! That flying fortress is coming here to lay waste to this town as part of a campaign to conquer the land.
“My name is Ellet Green, and I have come from the future to stop the horrible battle that is about to take place! You must assist me in bringing a halt to this war before it even starts!”
Should you ignore the urge to run away and step up to help this strange wizard, he looks momentarily relieved, before noticing the fortress moving ever closer to the town. The people who had been standing around watching its approach have grown fearful and are now starting to flee, fearing the worst.
“Right, now then, we need to get onto that monstrosity and give its owner, a powerful sorcerer named Calagan, a proper kick up the backside.” If you have the power of flight, you can suggest to the wizard that you could take to the air and head up towards the fortress. Ellet dismisses this as madness.
“It’s madness!” he cries dismissively. “They have defenses designed to stop boarders much more powerful than you or I. No, I have a better method of getting us up there, through one of my temporal rifts. I’m getting quite good at this sort of thing, you know. I rarely end up inside out at all these days. Just hold still for a moment.” As Ellet begins mumbling to himself, bolts of purple lightning shoot down from the bottom of the fortress, causing a nearby hut to explode!
“Don’t rush me,” Ellet mumbles as villagers run around screaming. “There we go, just like this!” He casts a spell that creates another rift, through which you can see a castle courtyard, likely to be the very one above you. Ellet jumps through, and should you follow, find yourself standing in the courtyard of the flying fortress, with several startled guards around you!
You have the element of surprise when you press your attack. Ellet assists with magical bolts of lightning and protective spells, and should you defeat the guards, he will point at the fortress stronghold ahead. “We have to find Calagan, but more importantly, disable the magical crystals that give this chunk of rock the power to fly. Inside!”
Should you follow him in, you’ll see a number of corridors, all leading to a circular chamber where you are accosted by several wizards with the power to teleport around the room as they attack.
“Calagan’s apprentices,” Ellet spits. “Rank amateurs, I say. Have at you!” Ellet cries, tossing a small bomb at one of the apprentices who, in a puff of smoke, turns into a startled chicken.
“There you go, finish off the others while I find a way down below.” Should you survive your fight against the apprentices, you spot Ellet as he points to a stairwell leading down.
“It was easier than I thought. Come on!” Should you follow, you traverse the narrow stairs and the winding corridor beyond, which leads to a rocky chamber glowing with eerie purple light. Crystals are embedded into the surrounding rock, and before you there is one mass of crystal forming a platform, with a robed man standing on it, clearly controlling the flying fortress with powerful magic. Below it, you can see the town and the open skies between.
“Your tyranny ends now, Calagan!” Ellet cries as he mashes his crumpled hat onto his head.
“You fool,” Calagan snarls, whirling to face you and Ellet. “Without me to control it, this fortress will drop and destroy the miserable town you are trying to save.”
“Nonsense, I’ve never met a spell I couldn’t figure out,” Ellet scoffs in reply. “Surrender, or we shall vanquish you, tyrant!” Calagan simply rolls up his sleeves and prepares for battle!
Should you defeat the powerful sorcerer, Ellet rushes to the controls and attempts to change course. “I need more time to learn this bizarre contraption,” he calls over the sound of rushing wind as the fortress drops like a stone. “I might be able to avert disaster if… that’s it! I just need to make use of this ample power supply. Go and touch that crystal over there would you? Don’t worry, it’ll only tingle a little bit.”
If you do go and touch the crystal, you feel a strange buzzing sensation as Ellet starts casting a spell. A surge of power around you feeds into it, creating a huge rift below the plummeting fortress!
“Hold on!” Ellet cries as the fortress and everyone on board flies through the massive portal. Unsure what to expect, you are startled to see another flying fortress, just like this one below you, closing fast!
“I took us back in time just a tiny bit,” Ellet explains over the rush of wind. “If my calculations are correct, this should be quite spectacular!” He opens another rift, grabs you by the arm and pulls you through. You find yourself standing on the street of the town below, right where you started. Looking up, you see the original fortress plummeting towards its duplicate, and they come together to smash with incredible force, sending them both tumbling to the ground far outside of town!
“Well, that was exciting,” Ellet says as he catches his breath. “Crisis averted, I’d say. What’s the tea like here? I could use a drink. Oh, and I took some of the equipment from Calagan’s body before we left, I think you’ve earned this.” He hands you a small sack with some magic items within, a fitting reward!
See how the adventure for Calagan’s Floating Fortress Free Multi-Level DnD Battlemap & Adventure ends by taking your players to The Place Between which this was written for, as well as 16+ locations in our early access Game Master’s Adventurer’s Guide Bundle, which has over 300 pages of content. You’ll get 74 battlemaps with system-agnostic adventures written just for them, maps of the towns, locations, faction lists, important NPCs (portraits included), more adventure seeds, plus digital item cards with loot your players can find! That’s at least 74 easy sessions of fun for only $28, take a better look here.
Ruined Temple of the Vast Beyond Free Multi-Level DnD Battlemap & Adventure
The Rift
While traveling along a highway surrounded by open fields on an overcast day, you are surprised when a flash of magical energy appears to rip open the ground not far from you. It vanishes almost as soon as it appears, leaving you to wonder if it was even real.
Cautiously, you continue your journey, until it happens again, a long rip in the air itself above you surrounded by violent magical energies! A bird flies through it and disappears, only to emerge from what appears to be another rip a few dozen yards away, flying straight upwards. Confused, the bird tumbles to the ground before getting its bearings and flying away, squawking loudly.
If you have any knowledge of magic, you might be able to hypothesize that some sort of portal magic has gone awry. Also, anyone insightful may draw the same conclusion based on the obvious facts in front of your nose.
Another rip opens behind you, through which a flood of seawater rushes through, complete with startled fish smacking into you before falling to the damp ground, gasping for breath. As you squeeze the water out of your soaked clothes, another, much larger portal opens above you, accompanied by the rush of air being sucked through into a place of darkness punctuated only by a few points of light.
You stumble backwards to avoid being sucked through, until the hole ceases to exist, leaving no sign of its presence aside from your ruffled hair and clothing. While you consider your next move, another tear opens, revealing what appears to be a small laboratory with an assortment of books, strange compounds and tools gathered around a desk. An older man dressed in blue robes with wild, white hair looks through it at you and gasps in astonishment.
“A tear in the fabric of space and time? Good heavens! Hold still,” he advises you as he grabs a tall wooden staff and a crumpled hat before leaping through the tear, just before it closes. He picks himself up and brushes away some of the mud clinging to his robe, then picks up a fish from the ground before him.
“Cod? In the middle of a field? Balderdash!” he cries. “Sorry, you appear to be a little out of your depth. No, not you, the fish!” He makes a gesture with one hand and speaks a few mystical words, creating a much smaller version of the magical portal you’ve been seeing appear randomly for the past few minutes. He drops the fish into it, followed by a splash before the portal closes again.
“My name is Ellett Green, an accomplished wizard specialized in the mysteries of space and time. ‘But’, I hear you think, ‘if you’re so specialized, why are they still mysteries?’ Answers take time, you know! Now, what we have here is magical teleportation energies being summoned in a sloppy, inartful fashion that’s leading to portals appearing seemingly at random. Look, there’s another one!” he gasps, ducking as a portal opens up right where he was standing.
A cow falls through from the other side, narrowly missing Ellett as it lands heavily on the ground.
“This is getting dangerous,” the wizard remarks as the cow moos indignantly. “We must find the source before a portal connects us to an active volcano and buries us in lava! Or worse yet, a portal cascade begins that unravels reality itself! Give me a moment.” Ellett mutters, whispering an incantation and whirling around as if searching for something.
“Ah, there it is, the source!” her cries as a portal opens up beneath you. Along with the crazed wizard, you fall through it into a strange realm where stars and glowing purple energies swirl across the skies, and huge chunks of rock drift around. You appear to be in an old stone building that is crumbling beneath you, perched on a rocky outcropping floating in the strange realm around you.
“I sense powerful energies from this place,” Ellett muses, looking for something around you. If you’ve a knack for magic, you too will sense this strange energy, coming from somewhere on the floor above you.
“Whatever is causing this disturbance is here, above us,” Ellett says. Before you can act, strange blobs of purple energy drift down from holes in the floor above and start assailing you with crackling bolts of lightning! Should you survive their assault, Ellett urges you to follow him upstairs to find the source.
Before you, jutting out from the rock at the edge of reality is a huge purple crystal, glowing with power.
“This place appears to have been some sort of temple to the Ether, a waypoint for teleportation energies,” Ellett surmises, “but it’s been long abandoned, and it appears someone forgot to turn off the portal crystal before they left. There’s one more of those strange ethereal entities protecting it, and it’s huge! We need to fight our way to the crystal so I can shut it down before it’s too late!”
Should you survive your battle with the elder ethereal, Ellett reaches the crystal and begins a powerful incantation. The crystal sparks and flares, appearing to resist his attempt to shut it down, and great cracks appear in the walls of the old temple starts to fall apart. Then, the crystal flares one last time as another portal opens before you!
“It’s done,” Ellett cries, “go through now or be trapped here forever!” Should you take his advice, you fall through the dimensional rip and land on a soft chair in the small library. Ellett comes through just before the portal closes, brushing himself down and adjusting his hat.
“Well, that was a bit of excitement,” he marvels. “Welcome to my abode. Before you go on your way, perhaps you’d like a cup of tea, and a little something as a reward for averting the collapse of reality!” He offers an assortment of minor magical items as a reward for standing by his side.
GM’s Notes:
Ellett has mostly defensive spells to aid the player(s), letting them do the heavy lifting during the fight. The ethereals are ghostly in appearance, using pure magic to attack with, but in the Temple to the Ether the player(s) weapons are quite capable of dealing damage.
If you’d enjoy more DnD resources like this Ruined Temple of the Vast Beyond free DnD battlemap & adventure, take your players to The Place Between which this was written for, as well as 16+ locations in our early access Game Master’s Adventurer’s Guide Bundle, which has over 300 pages of content. You’ll get 74 battlemaps with system-agnostic adventures written just for them, maps of the towns, locations, faction lists, important NPCs (portraits included), more adventure seeds, plus digital item cards with loot your players can find! That’s at least 74 easy sessions of fun for only $28, take a better look here.
Cosmic Bandit’s Shipwreck Base Free DnD Multi-Level Battlemap & Adventure:
The Astral Corsairs
While relaxing in a local seaside tavern, the door bursts open and a large, bearded man enters, dressed in expensive leathers and bearing a gold-trimmed sword sheathed on his belt. He strides to the bar and orders an ale, then quaffs it down in an extended gulp before slamming the empty mug onto the counter. He turns to survey the room, then begins slowly walking around the crowded tables.
“I am Captain Mordecai Avery,” he bellows, silencing the chatter in the room. “I seek people of good character, stout of heart and unafraid to travel into danger. Who among you is willing to risk all, take up arms and stand by me against villains and miscreants who waylaid my ship? A handsome reward awaits any bold enough to step forward. What say you?”
Should you indeed be bold enough to express your interest, Captain Avery looks at you with approval and takes a seat at your table. He describes an attack on his ship, the Hemingway, on a recent voyage.
“Through a heavy fog on calm waters they came,” he says. “They were on board my ship before we knew what was happening, forcing our surrender and putting us into the longboat before taking possession of my vessel. I have sailed the seas for three decades, yet never seen corsairs perform their sordid craft with such skill.
“I have mused on this mystery for weeks since, and came to the only conclusion; they came out of nowhere! I see the skepticism in your eyes, but I tell you in truth, the corsairs came from another dimension. I visited a learned magician recently and after winning a drinking contest, wrangled the secrets of traveling the stars from him. I intended to return to my ship through this strange magic immediately, but my crew were drunk and in no shape to fight.”
Captain Avery pulls an amulet out of his tunic and shows a purple gem mounted in a silver surround. He asks if you are prepared, and if you should inquire more about what you’ll be facing, he provides this answer.
“Pirates, my friend, pirates,” he exclaims. “Lightly armored men and women of disreputable character, skilled in the use of blades and led by a powerful sorcerer who grants them the power to travel between the realms of the cosmos. My own crew were no match for them, but I can tell from the cut of your jib you’re not unaccustomed to danger. Together, we’ll route the fiends and take back my ship.” Should you agree to assist, Avery bids you join him outside for this.
“Damnable weather,” he mutters as you stand in the street with rain drizzling down around you. At his suggestion, you gather around as he takes out the purple gemstone amulet and speaks a phrase of carefully rehearsed magical words. The street around you fades away, replaced by the wooden deck of a ship.
The sky overhead changes to a vast expanse of stars and clouds of purple mist, which continues down past the side of the ship, for in this strange realm, there is neither land nor water save for the rocky outcropping the ship appears tethered to.
“The Hemingway!” Avery breathes, taking in the sight of his beloved ship. “The incantation worked perfectly, returning us straight to the deck of my ship. But she’s damaged and fouled up with ropes and bridges. The scoundrels have turned her into part of their base. This will not stand!” He looks around and points to a tower not far from the ship.
“Avast, the ship off the Hemingway’s bow appears to be a wreck. Doubtless these miscreants have stolen other ships before, use and discard them at will, then seek out replacements as needed. The tower off the starboard bow is where we’ll find these brigands. Gird your loins as we press onward and deal with this scum before they can organize a defense. Then, we’ll cut the Hemingway loose and return back to the sea, where she belongs.”
Should you follow, Avery leads you across the wooden bridge attached to the front of the ship and towards the tower. You can see movement through the windows as your approach is spotted by the occupants. Avery rushes forward, sword drawn and crashes through the door into the battle!
The corsairs are trying to keep you busy while they pull back to another, larger ship across the way. It’s too heavily damaged to move, but the narrow approach will allow their archers to pick off your approach at their leisure.
The sounds of magical energies being summoned can be heard during the fight as the sorcerer at the base of the tower comes to the fore, trying to delay your approach with powerful magic.
Should you succeed in defeating the corsairs, you can find a hoard of loot in the hold of their ship to take with you, before Avery sets their base ship on fire and cuts the Hemingway free. As she drifts away from the burning island, the captain takes out the amulet again and embeds it into the tiller. Speaking the incantation, he brings you and his vessel back through the mystical pathway to appear in the ocean, within sight of the docks of the town you began in.
Avery thanks you profusely for helping him regain his ship, and grants you a small bag of gold along with an item useful to your particular profession, before dropping you off at the docks and storming off to look for his drunken crew.
GM’s Notes:
The player(s) begin on the smaller ship in the bottom right of the map. The corsairs are a group of fighters and thieves wielding fast, accurate weapons. They know the terrain, and try to keep the player(s) from advancing. The sorcerer is a real threat, and tries hit and run tactics to keep out of personal danger. They’ll try to retreat to the larger wrecked ship to make their stand there.
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Temple of the Forgotten Ones Free DnD Battlemap & Adventure:
Dark Side Effects
You receive a letter from Professor Klaus, the man responsible for resurrecting the inhabitants of Nevermore. It is stamped with a black wax seal engraved with an owl–the symbol of his family. Inside, the letter requests your company for an urgent matter that he needs your help investigating, with the promise of fair payment.
Should you go to the man’s small house near his laboratory, he welcomes you inside distractedly before inviting you to take a seat on one of the sumptuous leather couches. The room is dark, and filled with strange, half-burned items and paintings which survived the initial destruction of Nevermore.
Once settled, Klaus offers a pot of thick, shockingly sweet, tarry coffee before saying “I appreciate that you came to hear me out, especially after you’ve already risked yourself to save my town once. I would appreciate it further if you were to keep this conversation between us, regardless of if you accept my offer or not. You see, I am beginning to suspect something is terribly wrong with those I resurrected.
“Some–but not all–of the oldest among those I brought back are experiencing memory loss, missing time, and anyone else observing them describe their behaviour as that of… mindless undead. I don’t know what could be causing this phenomenon, but it’s getting worse. Because of this, I need you to acquire scrolls regarding the goddess, Everbreath. The problem is, the temple I discovered her teachings in initially has become overrun by cultists who have misunderstood her ways. They are violent, and willing to sacrifice innocents to bring back those they love.
“I need you to go to that temple, and bring me five books from the library there. They are bound in purple leather, and I need them at any cost. Those books are the only ones I haven’t read, for they deal with the goddess’s… darker teachings. However, if there are answers to be had, I suspect that is where they may be found.”
Should you enquire about the pay, the distracted-looking Klaus starts, before apologising and offering “I am the only one who knows how to access the treasure beneath the Lost and Found store. I have been using it to fund my endeavours, however I am willing to entrust the small hoard to you if it keeps my town alive and well. Will that serve?”
If you come to an agreement, Klaus nods and hands you over a map that leads to the temple, advising you not to regret the deaths of any therein. “They are ruthless and evil,” he warns, “and if you let a single one survive, they will merely sacrifice more innocents to resurrect their brethren later on.”
The journey to the temple takes two weeks via horseback, and you find the building carved into a huge cliff in a remote forest. There is a male and female acolyte standing outside, one wearing gray robes and the other black. As you approach, they hold out their hands and tell you to stop, saying that they do not recognise you, nor are you expected.
Should you explain why you’re there, the acolytes listen quietly before exchanging a few hand signals with each other. Then one nods, and invites you to follow them into the temple, while the other runs on ahead to talk to the other cultists inside. A perceptive adventurer might sense nefarious motives, but should you follow the acolyte in, he leads you past other cultists who watch with raised eyebrows as you’re taken deeper into the temple.
The acolyte leads you into a guard room containing three of their brethren, plus the acolyte who ran ahead. The three strangers block the entrance behind you, as the two acolytes meet to unlock the door of a cell; holding it open and advising you, in no uncertain terms, to get inside. Should you protest, they spit that “We know of your Professor Klaus, and he does not understand our goddess, Everbreath. As a result, she has delivered you to us as worthy payment for eternal life. We don’t advise you resist.”
Should you fight back, the cultists attack with prayers which drain your life, or daggers and bows which have been tipped in some kind of mild sedative.
If you kill one of the acolytes, the other wearing black robes will scream and say a prayer to their goddess. As they do this, one of their arms unravels like a ribbon blown into the wind and evaporates in black mist, leaving nothing but a bloody stump. However, as you watch, the acolyte you killed is resurrected–not as an undead, as the inhabitants of Nevermore are, but as living, breathing flesh; their wounds healed.
The guards at the back of the room are wearing similar gray or black robes, and should you kill any of them, those wearing black robes will sacrifice limbs, or say prayers with seemingly no price, to resurrect their fallen brethren.
Once the guards and acolytes are all finally dead, you continue to move through the temple, fighting similar cultists in black or grey robes. When you finally find the library, the five books Klaus is looking for feel warm to the touch and are bound by thin, gold chains. They are the same strange burgundy as Klaus’s eyes, not the purple he described.
When you emerge from the library, you hear crying and pleading from a large room down some stairs, as well as chanting. Should you go see what’s happening, you find the rest of the grey-robed cultists in a large room, firmly leading some peasant prisoners out of small chambers they were previously locked inside, and towards an altar overseen by three statues. Black robed cultists are standing at the sides of the room, while supervising the proceedings is a man in a burgundy robe, who watches with cold eyes the same color as Klaus’s.
If you interrupt whatever it is they’re doing, the burgundy-robed cultist holds up his hand to stop the proceedings, and says in a deep and echoing voice “You who have killed so many of our own; I am Grand Master Malfus. I will let you leave this temple safely, including with those books you have stolen, under the agreement that you allow us to bring back those you have sent to the next worlds.”
Should you ask if that involves sacrificing the terrified peasants, Malfus nods curtly, saying “What your Klaus refused to understand is that Everbreath is a goddess with three aspects. They are the Giver, the Taker, and the Gambler,” he gestures towards the statues before continuing. “Thus, there are many ways to resurrect the dead. One can sacrifice a life for a life to the Giver, pay the Taker with something precious–a limb, someone dear to you (though you’ll never know who she’ll take), years from your life, a part of your destiny… Or one can make a bet with the Gambler.
“If you win, the Gambler will grant you what you desire. But if you lose, it is said that she’ll take your soul to trade with the other gods for her own, fickle ends. You could end up in the hells, or worse–a war between gods. The tricky Gambler has even been known to grant her losers what they desire, while keeping their soul, if she is in a merciful mood–but this often leads to the losers not realising what they have lost until it is too late.
“Because of this, the way we are resurrecting the dead is the wisest, most merciful path. This way, the souls of those sacrificed can be judged by Death, and go to their afterlife. They are not payment for the Taker, or winnings for the Gambler.”
Should you point out that Klaus managed to harness the power of Everbreath without sacrificing, paying, or making deals, the man shakes his head and says “I doubt it, and I suspect so does he. More likely, he made a deal with the Gambler without realising it. That is why he needs the books dedicated to that aspect. Go, see if the man still has his soul. Moreover, see if anyone in the town he supposedly resurrected has their soul. I think you will find it… enlightening.”
If you ask how to tell if someone’s soul has been taken by the Gambler, Malfus grins and says that their eyes will look like his own.
Should you leave and let the cultists sacrifice the innocents, everyone you killed will be true-resurrected. However, they will keep their word, and let you leave in peace without holding grudges in the future.
If you instead fight and save the peasants, once the cultists are defeated Malfus surrenders and accepts death stoically. Before he is slain, he warns you that there is a sixth burgundy tome that was lost to time. If Klaus somehow finds it, he may be able to find a loophole in his deal with the Gambler–but in all his own years spent searching, he himself was never successful. Malfus remarks that he hopes Kalus succeeds where he failed.
When you return the books to Klaus, he sits and his face pales as he reads them. Then he says in a soft voice “It is as I feared. The souls of those experiencing mindlessness are slowly drifting away from their bodies. Left unchecked, they will be taken by the Gambler in payment. Everyone I resurrected must have made a bet with her on the other side–and those who lost are the ones experiencing these symptoms now.” Then he glances at his eyes in a tarnished mirror, before grimacing at his own reflection.
Should you explain what Malfus said before he died, Klaus stands, driven to action. He hands you a silver locket filled with pictures of a family, explaining that it belonged to the man who hid the treasure before the town burned down, and that wearing it will reveal the entrance to the treasure hidden beneath the Lost and Found store. Then he tells you that he must begin packing his things, as he must find the sixth book before it’s too late.
If you question his ability, he remarks that he was the one who discovered a forgotten temple to an obscure goddess, and if anyone will be able to find the sixth book, it will be him.
Before he leaves, he grasps your hand in both of his in a firm handshake, thanking you sincerely.
Clerics worshipping the Gambler were burgundy robes, while those who worship the Taker wear black, and those following the Giver, gray. Thus, only those in black robes can make personal sacrifices to bring back those your players defeat, and only those in grey robes can sacrifice prisoners for the same thing.
If your players don’t kill Malfus, Klaus will have heard of the sixth missing book and mention it and his journey to find it after giving them the locket to access their treasure.
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When visiting a small city in a remote area, you see a poster looking for mercenaries to investigate a string of murder-kidnappings in the surrounding villages. It advises you to contact the city guard to learn more.
Should you speak with them, the guards inform you that remote villages near the Forbidden Forest have been under attack by undead. The monsters have been killing and kidnapping innocent men, women, and children, before dragging their bodies back to their dark abode in the forest. The guards will pay you handsomely to go investigate and put a stop to it.
The journey to the attacked villages takes about a week from the city, and should you talk to any of the locals within them (though many have left to relocate, and others are packing their things to leave) they tell you that the nearby Forbidden Forest is an evil place, haunted by vengeful ghosts. Should you ask why they’re vengeful, the locals explain that it has always been so, ever since the village within the forest was burned down and its inhabitants massacred a couple of generations ago. They believe someone or something must have angered the spirits recently to invoke their wrath so, for until now they lived at an uneasy peace by not trespassing in the forest and the spirits wouldn’t bother them.
Should you follow any tracks left by the latest undead kidnapping, they lead out from the village and deep into the Forbidden Forest. The forest itself is dark and cold, with dying trees dripping sap from twisted limbs, and muddy ground that sucks your feet in as you walk. Your footprints fill with unnerving red water behind you. As you follow the tracks deeper into the forest, a mist begins to shroud everything, and it seems to move on its own accord.
Eventually the mist completely surrounds you, muffling sound and obscuring your surroundings. When it finally fades, you find yourself at the entrance of a small village with quaint two-story buildings, flower baskets on windows, and dark cobblestone streets. There is a large arch above the main road, with a fancifully painted “Welcome to Nevermore”. As you enter however, you see that everyone within it–the elderly, children, and even pets–are undead.
When the first man sees you, he yells to an undead boy “They’ve come for us, run, Timmy!”, sending the child running away to hide inside a house while the rest of the town begins screaming and fleeing in a panic.
Should you manage to calm any of the fleeing inhabitants down, they introduce you to their mayor, Wilbert. He is a thin old man with a stoop and a missing eye which now is home to a worm who inhabits the empty socket. When he meets you, he tips his hat at you, exposing a cracked skull beneath.
Wilbert invites you inside one of the buildings to his office, explaining that he alongside the other villagers were massacred in an invasion long ago, which is when their humble town was struck off the map. He cheerfully says that their “professy” is the one who found a way to bring them all back to life, and points through a window to a cliff above the village; explaining that he lives in the building at the top of it.
Wilbert’s cheerful manner sobers, and he says that unfortunately the first few the professy brought back weren’t… quite right. He’s been trying to fix the bad batch ever since, and recently brought them up to his manor for more experiments towards that end, but they took him captive instead! Now the bad batch have been going out beyond the mists that protect the town, and bringing back more dead then reanimating them as evil using the professy’s technology!
Wilbert begs you to stop them before other living folks such as yourself come here and kill the inhabitants of Nevermore in retribution, for good this time. He says he doesn’t know what they can offer you as thanks, but is sure the villagers could pool together their goods as some form of payment if you help them put an end to these misdeeds.
When you travel up to the professor’s lab, the undead within it are mostly mindless, and victims from the recent raids of nearby villages. Those amidst the bad batch lead the smaller groups of mindless undead, and are as cognizant as the friendly undead down in Nevermore. They are surprised to see you–a living stranger–and sneer contemptuously that they’ll fix you once you’re reanimated.
Once you’ve fought your way through the laboratories, you find the professor bound and gagged in a circular room with cogs ticking beneath a clear floor. He is a man in his forties who is very much alive, wearing frosted white spectacles and a worn dark suit. Guarding him is the leader of the bad batch; a towering brute of an undead half-orc, who has been performing extra experiments on himself to perfect his form. He has increased his size, and grafted on extra limbs from other bodies so he looks more monster than man.
The hulk of a beast observes coldly that you’ve done well to make it this far, and offers you a deal. He says that if you join him, he will make you perfect; remove all the weakness of the living, so that you feel no more pain, no more hunger or thirst, and never age. In return, you can help him bring this gift to everyone else, as he and his friends have been doing. Imagine never having to watch a loved one die again, and knowing that if they do, you could bring them back as easily as fixing a broken vase. Of course, to be perfected, you would need to die first. He can make it fast.
Should you refuse, he growls at you to “suit yourself” before flicking on the lightening machine in the corner of the room; sending out blue bolts of electricity shooting across the ground. He then grabs the professor and climbs up the wall onto the ceiling using his extra limbs, waiting for the lightning to kill you.
Once the lightning machine is disabled he growls angrily and jumps down, attempting to tear you apart with his many, bare hands.
After you’ve defeated the last of the bad batch and freed the professor, the man stands up and dusts off his clothes. He thanks you sincerely for rescuing him, saying that he didn’t expect any others among the living to have compassion and understanding to his work here, and the plight of Nevermore.
His face grows sad as he looks down at the body of his captor, and he sighs, saying that it is tragic he couldn’t figure out how to fix them. They were good people, before the massacre. But he supposes it couldn’t be helped, and he is glad that their misdeeds will stop drawing attention to their humble village which is better off left forgotten.
As a reward for your help, he invites you to return to their village whenever you wish. If ever you are in need, they will treat your wounds or give you a place to hide. In addition, he takes off his frosted white spectacles and hands them to you, explaining that they grant their wearer the ability to see into the ethereal realm, as well as see and speak to ghosts. When used, they appear crystal clear to the wearer and don’t obscure their vision.
If you go back down to the village, the professor will accompany you. Once there, mayor Wilbert is incredibly grateful that you helped Nevermore, and sheepishly presents a reward of hobbled-together heirlooms or shiny trinkets, apologizing that they haven’t had much outside trade for… well, quite a few years now.
This adventure was made for our Nevermore Adventurer’s Guide. If you’d like to know more about the location and NPCs (as well as a greater campaign), consider buying the guide individually or grab it as part of our great-value $39 guide bundle!
If you enjoyed this Reanimator’s Clifftop Laboratory Free DnD Battlemap & Adventure, Luke and I also released the Hardcore GM’s bundle of 520+ large, 40×30″ DnD battlemaps (double the size of those in our famous Quarantine Bundle) with 255 adventures for $39. It’s a great deal on some of our most beautiful maps and adventures! I’m sure there’s content in it you’d have so much fun running for your friends, from large cities to underwater seascapes. Paying $39, rather than full price per map ($3 – $4.50 each), saves you over 98%! Take a look at all the extra content here.
Otherwise, I also recommend our latest bundle of system agnostic campaign sourcebooks, filled with battlemaps, locations, NPCs, loot, AND adventures! Luke and I love them so much, they have some of our favorite adventures in quite often grimdark or Lovecraftian horror settings. If you’re not sure about it, download our favorite campaign sourcebook for FREE—it’s about a super whacky location that will have your players roaring with laughter. That is, if their sense of humor is anything like ours 😉
Eternal Well of Oceanus Free DnD Battlemap & Adventure, of an underwater portal plus its free adventure about a deep dweller army. VTT ready!
Eternal Well of Oceanus Free DnD Battlemap & Adventure
Living Up to His Legacy
While staying in a town you’re approached by a sea elf messenger. He is dressed in colorful silk clothes and bears the insignia of a seahorse. The messenger greets you politely before offering you a letter sealed with wax bearing the same ensignia. He says that the letter will explain everything, but his master’s have need of your help once again. After that, the messenger saunters away.
The letter is signed by Elleadon Carilis and explains that over the last couple of months since you helped him and his brother Ruthelon, they’ve put in a lot of effort to live up to their father’s legacy. Training every other day, in between their other responsibilities, as well as donating a portion of their income to veterans of the many under-sea wars who have been underserved.
In addition, Elleadon continues, he has personally started a research and development wing of their business focusing on the creation of new weapons and armor to be used in the war against the evil beings that belong to the darkest depths of the sea.
Elleadon laments that Ruthelon unfortunately disagreed with this approach, claiming that by the time it would take to create these weapons and armor, many could perish. Ruthelon believed it was unacceptable that they continue to stand aside while innocents lost their lives, before proceeding to enlist a small troop of soldiers with the intent of an assault on the location of an ancient portal known to harbor deep dwellers.
Elleadon then explains that Ruthelon has set up a forward base at a location (given at the bottom of the letter), and he wishes for you to go and assist him. Elleadon doesn’t believe Ruthelon knows what he’s getting himself into and he’s entrusting you to bring him back alive. In return, Elleadon says he’s willing to give up one of the first proto-types his enterprise finishes, either weapon or armor.
The location given in the letter is a week away off the coast and requires a vessel to reach, before having to take the plunge and swim down to a coral encrusted shelf where a small tunnel entrance is located. The tunnel is twenty meters long, before it sharply turns up and opens into a large cavern. As soon as you emerge, a set of three guards immediately point their spears at you.
The guards ask who you are and how you came across their hidden camp. If you explain that Elleadon had you sent as back up and you’re there to see Ruthelon, they let you pass with one of the guards making the off-handed comment that they’re in over their heads, and offering to show you to Ruthelon.
Making your way deeper into the cavern system you can see a dozen injured men on stretchers who are being treated by a medic, as well as several sets of crates which look to contain food and essential supplies. When you make it to the chamber containing Ruthelon you find him over a tactical map of the area, a stricken look upon his face.
When Ruthelon notices you, he looks down and lets out a sigh before muttering to himself that his brother does indeed know him well. He then motions for you to approach and begins explaining what has been occurring. Two weeks ago he arrived at this base camp, and from here he and his troop began launching attacks on the nearby deep dweller infested locations.
At first they had great success reclaiming two small hamlets that had been previously lost, but when Ruthelon set his eyes on a larger target called the Eternal Well it all went to shit. The Eternal Well was once used by an ancient civilization as some type of magical transportation around the ocean, but it long ago was abandoned and thus became another ruin in the vast seas.
Ruthelon continues to explain that he expected to find a small amount of resistance here as it’s not an important strategic location and his scouts only noted a handful of deep dwellers dressed in ragged cloth carrying encrusted coral canes. But when the attack took place, the deep dwellers did something to activate the Eternal Well, creating a portal through which many dozens of additional deep dwellers came through.
Ambushed, Ruthelon and his troops retreated; leaving many of them injured and several dead in the process. Ruthelon then finishes by explaining that he needs you to come with him back to the Eternal Well, to either destroy it or kill off the deep dweller summoners and reclaim the well for themselves. He fears that his actions may have set into motion something horrible, and he needs to stop it before it comes to fruition.
Ruthelon gives you some time to consider and says to let him know when you’re ready, explaining that he will bring what men he can to help deal with the enemies coming through the portal while you deal with the summoners.
When you arrive at the Eternal Well the summoners are hard at work keeping the portal open, which you can see deep dwellers very slowly trickling in from. It appears that the previous summoning that was used against Ruthelon and his men may have caused additional damage to the well and now this is the best they can manage.
Ruthelon then gives the signal and charges first towards the portal, several deep dwellers intercept him and his men but he’s given you enough room to deal with the summoners. When the summoners notice you coming closer they begin chanting loudly and well the well becomes brighter for a moment. Then, a large creature covered in tendrils appears in the wells light, ready to fight you. After the tendril creature and the summoners have been dealt with, the remaining deep dwellers attempt to flee.
Ruthelon thanks you, clasping your hand in his before exclaiming that perhaps he needs to learn to be more level headed like his brother. He wanted to do what was right and make his now deceased father proud, but he understands now that the task of making the seas safe is something he cannot rush without risking his inexperienced life and those of his men.
GM Notes:
This adventure is meant to be run as a follow up to another of our premium one-shots called One Father’s Legacy (which you can grab with its map for $2.98 from DriveThruRPG here).
After summoning the tendril monster, the Eternal Well has become too damaged to be used any further but it can be repaired by someone proficient enough in the arcane arts. After being repaired, the well can be used to connect to similar wells throughout the ocean by channeling arcane energy into it. If done, it grants access to instantaneous teleportation.
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Otherwise, I also recommend our latest bundle of system agnostic campaign sourcebooks, filled with battlemaps, locations, NPCs, loot, AND adventures! Luke and I love them so much, they have some of our favorite adventures in quite often grimdark or Lovecraftian horror settings. If you’re not sure about it, download our favorite campaign sourcebook for FREE—it’s about a super whacky location that will have your players roaring with laughter. That is, if their sense of humor is anything like ours 😉
GMs, I’ve read a lot of different things about the Feywilds. Do you think spirits there should be immortal and unkillable, as some of the lore suggests–taking time after being “killed” to reform again? Or do you play it some different way, such as only powerful spirits doing this–or none of them? Let me know in the comments below! As always, keep scrolling for the one-shot adventure written for this Feywild Castle Courtyard free TTRPG battlemap! ⬇
A poster in a large city requests the aid of mercenaries for a foray into the realm of fairies. More information can be found at the university of magic, and if you go there you’re halted at the reception until the man who wrote the poster comes down from his apartment for you.
He is an old wizard, with wrinkled skin, long gray hair, and a scraggly gray beard. He looks gaunt, and his blue robes come up a little too short around his ankles. The man cheerily introduces himself as Eskal, and shakes your hand with a bony grip. He invites you to an inn across the street for something to drink and a bite to eat while he explains his proposal.
Once settled at the inn, Eskal explains enthusiastically that he seeks a special artifact from the fae, which was lost a long time ago in the ruins of a palace that is said to have been built by the God of Madness. He says he is searching for it as he needs a suitable gift for a queen who was recently widowed. He admits cheekily that he’s always had a thing for her, and says that now they have even more in common because his own wife Bertha left him…
Anyway, the point is the Queen’s set up a competition. The man who gets her the most wondrous gift will become her next husband, he says with dreamy eyes. Of course, Eskal chuckles, rumor is that she poisoned her last husband–but that’s women for you! He slaps his knee in mirth at this.
He concludes that he’s found the most wondrous gift of them all, one surely any lady will love. It’s a chicken, said to once have been a pet of the God of Madness, but it lays eggs–lots of them! And you’ll never guess what’s inside the eggs! People! Tiny people, who hatch fully grown and clothed–though it is said you can’t understand a thing they say. He’ll need to study it more once he has it. If you help him, not only can you keep anything else you find in the fairy realms, but he’ll pay you in a collection of rare toads from his last project. They’re worth quite a bit, you know, and he can’t be bothered selling them.
Should you haggle for a better deal, he grudgingly concedes that he can throw in a few rubies as well–though he mutters under his breath something about them being slightly cursed. Should you press him on it, he stammers that it only causes a persistent itch on the left ankle, while absentmindedly scratching his own.
If you agree to the job, he whoopees in delight before telling you to wait for him at the reception again tomorrow morning.
When the time comes, he leads you to an overgrown, unkempt graveyard in the city and down a small path inside it. Eventually you arrive at a crossroads, and he tells you to hold his hand before closing his eyes and walking forwards. He leads you through the middle of the crossroads, and suddenly the land around you changes. You are no longer in a graveyard, but a lush jungle–and plants there shimmer bright blues, greens, pinks or purples.
Overgrown by the brightly colored plants are the ruins of a beautiful, yet perplexing castle. Parts of it are normal buildings, with flowering hedgerows which even now keep their shape (as you watch, flowers bud, bloom, and die rapidly)–but other parts of the castle weave in and out of a giant tree which spreads its roots throughout the entire area. Some small rooms even hang like precarious baubles from the higher branches.
Eskal leads you to a courtyard, filled with statues holding blue flames. He takes a pouch from his belt, and opens it; showing you some shimmering purple powder. He explains that you and him need to put the purple powder in all the flames that the statues are holding. The color of the flames indicate which room waits behind the large timber doors, which are built into the tree’s roots at the end of the courtyard.
Each room, he explains, presents a challenge before one can enter. Unfortunately, you seek the castle’s Chicken Room, which means you’ll need to defeat the bane of all chickens–a large, 6-legged fox! It’s also got QUITE the number of tails, but don’t you worry about that, Eskal assures you.
When you go to put the powder in the bowls the statues are holding, the statues come to life and shift away from you, trying their best to hold their bowl out of reach while saying things like “No”, “Nuh-uh”, “Don’t touch me, you filthy plebeian”, and the like. But, as soon as the powder is in the bowls the flame will change to purple and the statues will grow still again with a sigh or grumble.
Once all the flames are purple, a small hole in the center of the courtyard, walled by an overgrown fence, will begin to make rattling noises, as if by some strange mechanical contraption. Slowly a wooden elevator will stop at the top of the hole, locking into place, and on top of it is a fox standing on two back legs, and looking at the other four front “arms”. They have very long claws, and are more reminiscent of a bear’s.
The fox has four eyes, three tails, and long fangs overhanging his jaw. Seeing himself in the light, he sighs in deep resignation. “So, I’m to be a fox now, am I? Very well…”
If you ask him what he means, the fox looks at you uninterestedly and explains in a flat voice that he’s the immortal guardian of this palace, and he is forever destined to take the correct form the challenger must face to get access to the room they seek. Now, if you don’t mind, he’d prefer to get this fight over and done with, so he can go back to oblivion until the next challenger summons him.
He will then lunge at you, doing slashing attacks, biting, and using harsh criticism to demotivate you.
Once defeated, he’ll let out a sigh as his body dissolves into orange butterflies, whispering sardonically “finally”. Then the butterflies will disperse into the sky.
When you enter the room behind the door in the tree’s roots, you’ll find almost everything is made out of pink, sparkling crystal–except for a plump pink velvet cushion, with a white hen sitting on top of it. She is surrounded with cracked white egg shells, and the floor is swarming with tiny people yelling gibberish in high-pitched voices. They stand about three inches high and rush towards you, before beginning to try to climb up your legs.
Eskal will chuckle at the sight of the room, saying isn’t this amazing, before hiking up his robes and walking through the space–uncaring of what he steps on–towards the chicken. The surviving tiny people begin to scream and flee out the door, with their arms up in distress as they disperse into the wilds. If you watch them once outside, a crow will fly down from above and happily eat one of them.
Once Eskal has the chicken on the cushion (you must always keep the cushion, he whispers reverently), he leads you out from the fairy realms again, through finding another crossroads in the wilderness. Once back in the graveyard, he leads you to his quarters in the university and pays you with the toads–which are indeed worth a pretty sum–and also offers the cursed rubies, regardless of if it was agreed upon or not. If you accept them, he sighs in relief once his left ankle stops itching.
He invites you to come with him tomorrow to present the chicken to the Queen, as well. If you agree, he’ll ask you to meet him at the reception again.
Once you do, he emerges dressed in his finest blue robes–which are still a little bit too short for his ankles–with a pointed wizard hat in a matching shade of blue. He has oiled back his hair and his beard glistens… with silver sparkles. There are even sparkles in his eyelashes, and the overpowering smell of some kind of cologne.
He winks at you, saying in his gravelly voice that he’s always known how to impress the ladies.
He is also carrying the chicken, only this time, it’s on a blue pillow. He walks with you and the chicken to the palace, where he requests an audience with the Queen and explains what the chicken is. The guards to the throne room turn red in the face trying to suppress their laughter, but they gesture for you both to go inside anyway.
Once inside, you join a line of others with grievances to bring before the Queen, and on either side of the line are pews partially filled with differing nobility.
After waiting almost the entire day in line, the Queen sees you and Eskal. The queen is a woman in her 30s, with blond hair, rosy cheeks, in a long white lace dress and wearing jewelry which is absolutely dripping with diamonds.
Eskal blushes bright red as he steps forwards, and, stammering, gestures to you as he explains you both traveled into the fairy realm to get this incredible hen. He then places the pillow and hen on the ground, before lifting the hen up. At least five eggs shoot out from behind it as he does so, the chicken clucking loudly, and the eggs crack after rolling about on the floor for a few moments. The small, fully-clothed people pop out of them, then begin running around the floor and examining everything, all the while speaking that strange, high-pitched gibberish to each other.
Though the court begins laughing, the Queen squeals in amazement and clasps her hands together. Then her eyes fall on you, and she breathlessly asks if it was you, the brave mercenary, who fought that terrible fox and acquired this wondrous gift, with the help of that old man?
Eskal will start stammering incoherently while the Queen commandingly clears the court, saying that she wants to be left alone with you–and only you…
GM’s Notes:
All players must be touching each other and one of them touching Eskal to cross over into the fairy realm with him.
The Queen will find the most handsome player in your party the one she wishes to spend alone time with. Note she has a fondness for scarred barbarians, and orcs.
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How would time travel work in your campaign? Does the very act of going back jump your players into a parallel timeline, meaning the future your players came from still exists somewhere else? Or would you keep it as the same timeline, and anything your players do could stop their own births from coming about if they’re not careful? Let me know in the comments below! As always, keep scrolling for the one-shot adventure written for this Frozen Alien Machine free TTRPG battlemap! ⬇
While traveling through a large, rough-looking city inhabited by surly-looking peasants and lavish nobles with private guards, you see a poster with an urgent bounty on it. It’s not hard to miss–there are plenty of them, all over the city, and the reward is HIGH. The original price has been crossed out a few times, and replaced with larger sums every revision.
The wanted man is a prisoner who escaped from the city’s jail, named Oswald the Artificer. The poster has a linework print of a thin man with his long hair drawn back in a ponytail, and a tattoo across one eye. The poster warns that though the man appears somewhat weedy, he is known to be cunning and incredibly dangerous—hence the high reward. Those interested in taking on the job are urged to speak with the jail’s warden, Old Ben.
Should you go and speak with Old Ben, he’s located in an office at the top of a high tower which overlooks the jail. He thanks you warmly for inquiring about the contract, and explains that almost no other bounty hunters have come forward–most likely due to the underworld’s influence, as Oswald the Artificer had a lot of friends. The warden doesn’t have any guards to spare in this near-lawless town, and of those bounty hunters who did apply for the job, he’s since lost contact with them and fears they may have been killed. He needs you to know that if you take this job you must hurry, for time is short.
Old Ben explains that the escaped prisoner, while not a mage, specializes in strange and ancient artifacts. He sold those skills to the underworld, and eventually ended up working as part of an elite thieving crew. The underworld has strong sway here in this city, unfortunately, and eventually he was involved in an attempted coup of the royal family here. Thankfully he was betrayed, and apprehended by the law–but the right people must have been bribed, because instead of being executed Oswald was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment.
He kept Oswald in isolated confinement, fearing he’d get something or other smuggled in which he’d use to escape. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what ended up happening–only, the corruption here is so deep that it was one of his own guards who gave Oswald the device, despite being in isolation.
The warden pulls out a map while explaining that his guards interrogated the traitor and learned that Oswald is likely traveling to a location marked on the map with a red X. The warden says that there’s supposedly an ancient artifact there of some sort. Powerful, and unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Old Ben is worried that the escaped prisoner is going to use the artifact to somehow finish what was started with the coup, to prove he wasn’t the betrayer and be accepted in his old thieving crew again.
Old Ben rolls up the map and gives it to you, saying that–due to his tattoo–Oswald is a highly identifiable man. He’s on the run, and will be taking a roundabout way to the location, and likely on foot. It’s been more than a week since he escaped, but if you take some good horses the guards are willing to lend you, you should be able to intercept him in time.
If you accept the job, Ben writes you a letter to take to the guards at the stables outside the prison’s gate, so you might borrow a fast horse. While handing it to you, he looks around quickly and lowers his voice. He tells you softly that he’ll pay you extra if you bring Oswald back dead. It’s highly irregular, he says, but the underworld in this city has far too much sway, and you can bet if he is apprehended again he won’t be trialed fairly. He doesn’t see any way the man won’t end up escaping again and start causing more trouble.
You’ll find the large, muscular warhorse Old Ben is lending you at the stables just outside the entrance to the jail. He is a fiery, gray stallion with a scarred hide. While there, one of the guards gives you a pouch of stimulant seeds to feed the horse, so that it will not tire—but they warn you not to stop feeding them to it until you’ve caught your prisoner, as the horse might well collapse for several days afterwards if you push it too hard.
The journey to the place marked on the map takes just under two weeks. The roads wind through towns up steep mountains, until eventually you go through a thin, frozen gully between two mountain peaks. The other side opens up to wide, open space and eventually drops off to a cliff. Much of the floor consists of a giant, metal cube, whilst rusted metal gears wait frozen around its edges.
However, at the center of the cube, standing on a dais, is Oswald the Artificer. When he sees you, he growls that Ben finally got some rats to do his dirty work. In-between pressing a number of different buttons on the machine, he throws something at you that skitters across the metal ground. It’s a small, jade turtle which suddenly turns into a giant, living–and very angry–alligator snapping turtle.
The creature attacks you immediately, trails of glowing green smoke coming from its eyes and nose. But if you’re on the huge metal cube while Oswald finishes clicking his buttons, you’ll feel a sickening sensation and suddenly you’ll no longer be on a glacier overlooking a cliff, but a similar cube structure that’s overgrown in a hot jungle. Water runs over its mossy surface, and Oswald will curse loudly.
Should you manage to defeat the giant turtle, it disappears with a pop as shattering jade pieces scatter across the ground. Oswald cries out in despair, saying “No, Snappy!” before grumbling and fumbling on the buttons even faster.
The sickening feeling comes over you again, and suddenly the air is supercharged–almost too hard to breathe. Spiked rocks surround you as heat radiates from lines of magma which run along a clean metal cube, while the metal cogs around it tick and shudder loudly. Large, metal golems turn and look at you angrily from where they were previously standing guard on the cube, and attack all life forms; yelling warnings of “Intruder! Alert! Alert!”
Over the next minute Oswald will desperately teleport everyone on the cube again (unfortunately including the golems), and you’ll arrive on a version of the cube that’s flying in a crimson sky. Violent winds whip around you, while red lightning streaks past angrily.
There’s another giant cube passing close above you, and a hoard of ragged looking people jump off it with angry yells. They land on your cube, attacking any remaining golems as well as anything else living on it.
Oswald will throw up a flying orb which shoots little streaks of light, fending off his attackers but not doing much damage.
When there are only a few enemies left, the sickening sensation will come over you once more and you’ll be on a broken cube, floating in a sea of green stars, amidst the nothingness. Any surviving people from the red cube in the sky will freeze in confusion for a few moments, before deciding it’s some kind of trick and continuing the fight.
Should you manage to defeat them and get to Oswald, he’ll draw a small shank and try his best to defend himself. It takes a lot for him to surrender, and it is only when captured or near death that he holds up his hands and yells “wait, wait!”.
He tells you that only he knows the coordinates to get you back to your plane of existence, and to get them you need to let him go! If you say that you can’t let him kill the royal family, he’ll look at you in confusion before saying that they’re not the royal family, he is. He’s the only one of the true royal bloodline left, and the people who sit on the throne of the city slaughtered his family when he was a child. He escaped, and when they found him later those New Royals sold him into slavery in distant lands, and his masters branded this tattoo over his eye.
It took him years to escape, and years more to journey back to his homeland. When he did, he was welcomed by his people, and formed a rebellion. They’re called criminals by the nobles, but that’s because all the nobles who were truly loyal to the royal family were executed alongside his family!
If you ask him why you should believe him, he’ll sputter and grow quiet, thinking. Then he’ll snap his fingers, saying that the warden must have told you about the guard who helped him escape! She knew he was of the old bloodline, which is why she helped him. He formed bonds with his people, you see, and they know him and care for him. Not like the New Royals, who have stepped on the peasants since the day they seized power.
The man tells you that, if used correctly, this device will allow him to travel back in time and stop his attempted coup from failing–but it only has enough charge to do it once.
If you ask why he doesn’t just go back in time to stop his family from being slaughtered to begin with, he’ll shake his head and say that it would be going back too far, it’s too risky and could change too much. All he’s comfortable doing is going back and stopping the man who betrayed him from doing so, so that the coup may succeed. You seem like a good person–in truth, if you let him go, the codes will be of little value to you as you won’t remember any of this, because none of this will have happened if he succeeds. But you will have his gratitude, and–perhaps–knowledge in your souls that you have done the right thing.
Should you let him go, he thanks you emphatically, before dialing in another sequence in the machine. There is a hum, and a flash of light, and suddenly you are traveling through a large city which appears to be undergoing some kind of celebration. Should you stop and ask any of the cheerful peasant’s what’s going on, they’ll say that a despot has finally been overthrown and their corrupt followers are being put to execution. There are posters all over the city showing a thin man with a tattoo over an eye, with flags behind him and the slogan “Long Live the Revolution”.
GM’s Notes:
Should your players take Oswald back alive, the warden Old Ben will grumble that they didn’t do their job properly and try to kill him himself. If he succeeds, his guards will turn a blind eye to the murder, and everyone will believe that your players killed Oswald as he didn’t allow himself to be brought in alive.
If your players bring Oswald back dead, Old Ben will be relieved and pay them an incredibly high sum. Some might consider it a bribe to keep quiet and leave the town without causing a fuss…
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Your birthday’s coming up and you have no friends. Do you: A. Invite a bunch of random strangers to your party. B. You never wanted a party anyway and get drunk alone. C. Literally make friends. That is to say, reanimate the dead.
Let me know in the comments below! 😀 As always, keep scrolling for the one-shot adventure written for this Necromancer’s Underground Cavern Lair free DnD battlemap! ⬇
Necromancer’s Underground Cavern Lair Free DnD Battlemap with Adventure, plus the whacky one-shot adventure for it. VTT ready, come download!
Necromancer’s Underground Cavern Lair Free DnD Battlemap with Adventure
Making Friends
While buying goods at a market in a rural town, a local pastor will stop by your shoulder and ask if you might be an adventurer. If you say you are, he’ll ask you for a private word about some troubles their town has been having. If you humor him, he’ll take you aside discreetly for a stroll through some quieter, overgrown lanes between cottages. He’ll explain in a soft voice that a shadowy figure has been spotted in the graveyard at night, but no-one knows who it is. However, they’ve been seen digging up graves.
The pastor says this has disturbed those who have lost their loved ones’ remains, so he would like to know if you might be willing to follow this person back from the graveyard one night and figure out where they’re going. He explains that he has some ample donations which should pay for the job.
Should you agree, he’ll nod somberly and walk you to the village’s small graveyard, which has had a number of the graves disturbed. He says that the figure shows up every night, but usually around 2 or 3 AM. If you make sure you know where they’re taking the bodies before you deal with them–so the pastor might recover the remains–he and the townsfolk would be incredibly thankful.
If you go to the graveyard around that time, you will indeed find a robed figure digging up a body from one of the graves. Once they’ve broken the bones out of a casket, the figure will shove them into a bag and begin carrying them away with an odd, excited gait.
They’ll slink from the outskirts of the village, and into the surrounding rolling hills. Eventually, the figure will disappear down a steep, dry gully and down some stairs which lead even deeper, into some kind of underground cave system.
Should you attack the robed figure once they’re in the cave, you’ll find that they’re not a person at all–but rather, a reanimated skeleton with glowing green eyes! It will defend itself, and if you destroy it the bones will fall apart with a loud rattle. If you continue deeper into the cave system, you’ll come across more skeletons with the same eyes, but with pointed black cones tied to their heads.
When these other skeletons see you, they will become aggressive and attack. Further in are instruments playing themselves in merry tunes, as well as an altar with a skeleton waiting to be animated on it.
When you reach it, you’ll find an old man in a dark robe with another little cone on his head, working on reanimating the body with some magical artifacts. His sleeves are rolled up and he is humming merrily to himself, alongside the tune of the instruments.
When he sees you, however, the man will start with a yell, before asking accusingly who you are and what you’re doing here. Then he’ll look at you closer, observing the bone dust, and say “Oh no, you didn’t destroy my friends did you?! What the hell is wrong with you, they took me days to make!” If you point out that the skeletons attacked you, he’ll throw down his artifacts loudly and yell that of course they attacked you, you were trespassing–what did you expect would happen!
If you point out he shouldn’t be stealing bodies from the cemetery, he’ll scoff that they would have walked themselves back after he was done with them, if it wasn’t for you! Now he won’t be able to tell any of the bones apart, let alone return them all! And besides, everyone knows souls go to the heavens or hells–it’s not like they’re USING the bodies, the old man will huff.
Should you ask what on earth he’s doing here, the old man will open his arms wide and yell at you that this is his holiday home, and it’s his birthday! He was going to throw a party, and he doesn’t have any friends, so he has to MAKE them. He does this every year. But no, you had to come along and ruin it. Now the only way to make this right is for you to go back to the cemetery and bring him the bodies he needs. He’s even prepared the feast hall with illusions of food, and games, the old man will finish with a huff; crossing his arms.
GM’s Notes:
If your players go back to the village to dig up more graves, the wizard will be thankful and even, shyly, invite them to attend his birthday party. There they might learn he is actually a very illustrious and achieved researcher at the land’s most prominent University of Magic, and specializes in destroying undead–incase a lych king should ever rise again. He does, however, appear to have VERY bad people skills which might be why he has no friends.
If the party goes well, he might thank you sincerely for becoming his friends, and give you his card should you wish to socialize again in future.
Should your players get caught digging up the graves by the pastor, the man will be horrified. If they explain what’s happening and that they’ll bring the bodies back afterwards, plus the others, he’ll be utterly perplexed and stammer in confusion. If the pastor protests, he won’t have an argument against the fact that the souls aren’t using the bodies anymore and might just watch in helpless bewilderment as your players saunter off with the bodies.
If the party replaces ALL the bodies that the wizard and the players took afterwards, the pastor will still pay them the agreed upon sum–but he will still be confused and not entirely sure what happened, or why. He will feel slightly violated and request that the party and the wizard don’t come back to the town. The wizard, of course, will not respect the wishes of some small-town pastor and his illogical presumptions.
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