Category: The Best Free DnD Battlemaps with System Agnostic Adventures
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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.
âA tear in the fabric of space and time? Good heavens! Hold still,â 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.
âCod? In the middle of a field? Balderdash!â he cries. âSorry, you appear to be a little out of your depth. No, not you, the fish!â He makes a gesture with one hand and speaks a few mystical words, creating a much smaller version of the magical portal youâve been seeing appear randomly for the past few minutes. He drops the fish into it, followed by a splash before the portal closes again.
âMy name is Ellett Green, an accomplished wizard specialized in the mysteries of space and time. âButâ, I hear you think, âif youâre so specialized, why are they still mysteries?â Answers take time, you know! Now, what we have here is magical teleportation energies being summoned in a sloppy, inartful fashion thatâs leading to portals appearing seemingly at random. Look, thereâs another one!â 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.
âThis is getting dangerous,â the wizard remarks as the cow moos indignantly. âWe 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.â Ellett mutters, whispering an incantation and whirling around as if searching for something.
âAh, there it is, the source!â 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.
âI sense powerful energies from this place,â Ellett muses, looking for something around you. If youâve a knack for magic, you too will sense this strange energy, coming from somewhere on the floor above you.
âWhatever is causing this disturbance is here, above us,â 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.
âThis place appears to have been some sort of temple to the Ether, a waypoint for teleportation energies,â Ellett surmises, âbut itâs been long abandoned, and it appears someone forgot to turn off the portal crystal before they left. Thereâs one more of those strange ethereal entities protecting it, and itâs huge! We need to fight our way to the crystal so I can shut it down before itâs too late!â
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!
âItâs done,â Ellett cries, âgo through now or be trapped here forever!â 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.
âWell, that was a bit of excitement,â he marvels. âWelcome to my abode. Before you go on your way, perhaps youâd like a cup of tea, and a little something as a reward for averting the collapse of reality!â He offers an assortment of minor magical items as a reward for standing by his side.
GMâs 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 youâd 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 Masterâs Adventurerâs Guide Bundle, which has over 300 pages of content. Youâll 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! Thatâs at least 74 easy sessions of fun for only $28, take a better look here.Â
Ruins of the Eternal City Free DnD Battlemap & Adventure:
Heaven Beneath the Waves
While sailing the ocean, your ship sinks in a vicious storm. You lose consciousness in the drowning waves, and eventually wake washed up on a large, rocky outcropping with a tall lighthouse built upon it. Around you, there is nothing else; only blue ocean as far as the eye can see. There are no shorelines in the distance, nor birds that would indicate any are just beyond the horizon.
As you approach the lighthouse on a small path winding up from the rocky shore, you see it has two giant, gold-plated doors intricately inlaid with the images of meditating figures. Souls are depicted leaving the meditators in shining rays of light, and rising up towards the sun. The handles on the doors are a lighter color, worn by years of passing hands.
The doors are unlocked, and should you enter the lighthouse you find itâs lavishly decorated with sumptuous red velvet drapes, golden candelabras, and marble checker floorsâthough everything is covered in a thick layer of dust. There is a teleportation ring in front of you, set inside a circle of gold, with some kind of brass mechanical device to activate it. Next to it is the skeleton of a man, and beside him is an old leather-bound journal.
The last entry reads: Iâve finally made it up here, away from the savages, only to find the teleportation machine is missing a part! Iâve searched the entire island, and now have just two daysâ worth of rations left. I hate being so close to escape, yet so far away from it. Still, Iâd rather die up here, than return to whatâs below. Yvonne, I will see you in the next life⌠I hope you waited for me. Forgive me for ever bringing us here.
There is a stairwell that leads up the lighthouse to a story above, as well as a basement lower down. The railing is made of intricately carved mahogany, and the walls are lined with gilded paintings depicting famous historical figures known for coming close to perfection. The top story is a room open to the elements, with a large, burning green flameâseemingly of magical originâin a golden dish to guide vessels from the sea. Surrounding the edges of the platform are brass plant containers, with whatever once grew in them long-since withered and dead.
The lower basement is a simple room, with a bathysphere waiting with an open door; bobbing gently in a pool of water that leads down below the lighthouse. Bronze statues of men and women, once polished to a high gleam, surround the edges of the circular room. The figures are beautiful, depicting the height of strength, grace, magical talent, intellect, and other traits. All of them gaze towards the bathysphere.
Should you go inside the bathysphere, the door seals with a crank, and a lever sends it sinking beneath the water into the dark, inky depths. The glass sides of the bathysphere allow a breathtaking view of a sprawling complex, built on the ocean floor, as it follows a rail inside one of the buildings and surfaces inside. You step out, and immediately the smell of mildew, salt, seaweed, and rust overpowers your senses. What were once beautiful checkered marble floors are covered with rubble, and there is the constant sound of running water where it splashes in pools on the ground from leaks.
Large windows of thick glass reveal the ocean vista outside, and you can see large schools of fish swimming between buildings. The glass is very old, and covered in green algae, as well as cracked in places. Next to the windows are rotting red velvet curtains, torn and stained. This building was once as lavish as the lighthouse above, but it has long ago fallen into disrepair.
Strange noises echo down from rooms further in, like clattering metal or crazed laughter. Peopleâor thingsâare alive down here with you. As you move deeper into the complex, you find yourself in a room with a globe of the world, the gold embossed letters âWELCOMEâ carved into the marble floor before you. A large, fancifully lettered poster on the wall behind the globe welcomes all who seek to shed the politics of the world above and instead perfect themselves; through enlightenment, one can ascend to a higher plain of existence; moving beyond frail mortality to something greater.
Then a group of three, hideously deformed people enter the room, searching as if they heard you make some kind of noise. They are pale from lack of sunlight, with stitches and scars covering their entire bodies, and some have extra limbs sewn on. The groupâs leader, an emaciated woman, yowls when she sees you, pointing and yelling that âI knew a tarnished from the world above came down here! See! See how they walk among us, tainting our heaven with their imperfections! We must cleanse them!â. They attack, using sharpened pieces of metal and broken furniture, projectile weapons, as well as weak magical cantrips and what appear to be claws. Some even have tiny mouths on their backs or limbs, which they use to bite.
As you continue further in, you hear a man weeping. Should you go to investigate, you find what appears to be some type of medical facility where a man in a white, bloodstained robe is bent over the naked body of a woman. He is cutting it with a scalpel and sewing the body in places, making it hideously deformed, while sobbing and yelling at himself âWhy wonât it work! He told me it would work!â. When he notices you, he immediately grows defensive, saying âWho are you? You canât have her, sheâs mine!â before attacking you with the scalpel and using ice cantrips. There is a note in the room outside, reading: My wife is imperfect, dragged down by the sins of her mortal coils. I need to change her, perfect her, so she can ascend with me. I will not leave her behind, no matter the cost! HE will show me the way⌠I will follow in HIS footstepsâŚ
After that, the note becomes illegible. Should you continue to search the underwater building for the part needed to operate the transporter, you encounter more groups of maddened, deformed people. It looks as though they have been performing various experiments on themselves in an attempt to achieve perfection, though the results are grotesque.
You enter a foyer with two statues holding up some type of banner, though itâs too old to read. Thereâs a heavy, metal engraved door leading out of the room, but itâs locked and too heavy to be forced open, leaving the only option to climb a wooden staircase which leads to the library. When you enter the library, you see a key among the books on the table, but before you can take it the shadowy figure of a young man in a black robe materializes behind you. He greets you in a sibilant voice, appearing as if partially transparent; phasing in and out of existence.
The figure introduces himself as Asmim, explaining that he founded this place, and was the first to ascend to a higher plane of existence; achieving true immortality. His wife was next to follow suit, but sadly the power corrupted her and she now doesnât believe they should share their knowledge with their followers because, if they, too, ascend, they will be powerful enough to threaten them.
She is stronger than him, and keeps him trapped down here. She has clouded the minds of his followers, driving them mad so they cannot ascend as they deserve. He, on the other hand, seeks only to share, Asmim explains. If you help him defeat his wife and get to the surface, where he can teach all he has learned to others seeking perfection, he will impart the knowledge of ascension to you as well; and all the power that comes with it will be yours!
Before you can ask too many questions, Asmim looks around as if scared. He explains hurriedly that she is looking for him, and he must goâbut heâll find you again before you leave. He warns you earnestly not to trust her, as she has become ruthless in her deceptions, before he vanishes.
Once you have the key, if you unlock the doors and go inside you encounter a crazed, half-naked fat man. He is waddling around slapping his bald head, and muttering to himself. When he notices you, he yells in a nasally voice âNo, you canât have it! I hid it here, he told me to prevent the disbelieves like YOU from leaving! You must overcome your flesh! You must, you must, you must!â Should you try to get past him, his belly will rip open and reveal a small hoard of slimy tentacles, which he attacks with. They seem to be coated with some kind of poison.
After he is defeated, if you continue further in you find a statue holding the part you need to fix the teleporter in the lighthouse. Only, before you can leave, the shining white figure of a woman appears between you and the door that was previously locked. She introduces herself as Isolda, and explains that she knows her husband has asked you for help escaping. She asks how much you know about ascension, before explaining that it is merely the next step on a long and arduous journey which mightâone dayâlead to godhood.
Isolda explains that one can ascend through perfection and inner peace, or through the belief of oneâs followers. Her husband did the latter. When he realized what he had done, instead of seeking to change his ways, he fell to temptation and decided he needed to keep the power for himself. To this end, he led his trusting followers astray, teaching them things which would ensure they could never find inner peace and ascend. He relied on their worship to stay strong, but they were slowly driven mad on the dark path he led them down, and they became less than human. After that, they began to kill one another.
By the time he realized the consequences of having less believers, Isolda had become his equal, and could use her strength to keep him here. She hopes that, by doing so, his strength will continue to wane and he will become human again. Because it is power that corrupted him, she hopes that when he is once again mortal, he will finally see reason and she can redeem him before it is too late.
Isolda says that if you help him leave, he will only go and find worshippers on the surface to grow his power. He seeks to become a true god, and will do anything necessary to achieve that end, no matter how many souls he tarnishes along the way. She asks that you only take the part you need to escape, and leave this place without helping him, so that the consequences of his actions may take their course.
Should you ask if Isolda will teach you how to ascend, she shakes her head sadly, saying that until her husband is mortal again it requires almost all her strength to just keep him here. When she is free of that burden, she will find you and impart the knowledgeâbut she cannot do it sooner.
If you offer to kill Asmim, Isolda pales and stutters ânoâ, saying she would never want that, he is her husband. She loves him, despite what power has done to him.
When you leave, Isoldaâs light blinks out behind you and she is gone. Once youâre nearly back at the bathysphere in the welcome room, Asmim reappears between you and the exit. He asks if you have considered his offer, and if you refuse he admits he may have lied to you earlier, but he is so desperate to get out of this cage that he will do whatever is necessary to escapeâincluding teaching you the true secret to ascension. He can teach you now, and you can both have followers in the world above. His method will grant you far more power than that drivel Isolda believes.
Should you still refuse, Asmim growls in fury and says âIf you will not help me leave, you will stay here and worship me!â He then summons shadows which peel off the walls and attack, while he moves around the room incredibly fast and tries to grab you and throw you across the room. He also creates vortexes of darkness on the floor, which suck you in towards them and cause you to move slower the closer you get. His aim is not to kill you, but to break your will through torture until you surrender.
If you ask Isolda for help, she will refuse to attack her husband, but she will heal you a couple of timesâuntil she is so weak that she cannot expend any more energy, lest Asmim escapes.
Once Asmim is defeated, all the magic he has cast disappears in a heartbeat, and he falls to the ground; no longer cloaked in shadows, only a simple, frail, mortal old man. Isolda floats down to cradle his weakened form, telling you âYou should leave this place now, I must try to make him see the light again before itâs too lateâ as she cradles his dying form in her hands.
If you attempt to kill Asmim after heâs become mortal again, Isolda defends him; using her powers to grab you, and push you towards the bathysphere, yelling âBegone with you!â before locking you inside and sending you on your way.
Should you instead side with Asmim, Isolda fights you using sunlight attacks and magical fire. When defeated, she vanishes in a puff of sparkling light. Asmim thanks youâbut unless you had him teach you how to ascend before you helped him, he disappears before he honors his word; leaving only echoing laughter behind.
GMâs Notes:
Isolda and Asmim shouldnât be too powerful, more on the level of ghosts with some magical abilities. When Asmim is returned to mortality and dying, Isolda seeks to help him ascend the right way before he dies and his soul is taken beyond her reach by the gods.
If the players assist Isolda, should any fail a death save later on she will appear to them and help them ascend instead of dying. It will not give them too much extra power, giving them abilities similar to a ghost, as it is just the start of their journey.
Should players learn how to ascend from Asmim, it requires a substantial number of worshippers who are loyal to the point of blindness. Should players attempt the process, it will change their alignment to evilâbut it will work.
If you enjoyed this Ruins of the Eternal City Free DnD Battlemap & Adventure, Luke and I released the Hardcore GMâs bundle of 520+ large, 40Ă30âł DnD battlemaps (double the size of those in our famous Quarantine Bundle) with 255 adventures for $39. Itâs 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. Â
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 FREEâit’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 đ
Undercity Drug Den Free DnD Battlemap & Adventure:
Troubles with Azure
While staying at a tavern in a desert town, youâre approached by a slender figure wearing a white cloaked robe over intricate wormscale armor. She sits down at your table, lowering her hood and tells you she has a job for you. If you ask why she thinks youâre looking for a job, she casually replies that no-one comes out to this hell hole for vacation. If you ask why she is asking you in particular, she explains that she doesnât know you which means youâre not a local and you look to be well equipped, which is just what she needs for this particular job.
If you agree to listen to her proposal, she introduces herself as Valla and asks if youâve been acquainted with the narcotic âazureâ since visiting the village? She continues that itâs quite a prominent part of everyday living here, most folk use it as an enjoyable relaxant after a hard day’s work. Mostly safe for ingestion after itâs refined, it gives off a pleasant high, with the added side-effect of heightening the magical abilities of those who are so predisposed.
Valla takes a moment to look around to see if sheâs being watched before continuing that recently however, those who have normally taken azure only casually have become sick from withdrawals when theyâve stopped taking it. This is a completely new side-effect, and a dangerous one at that.
Valla further explains that she is a member of the worm hunterâs guild and a portion of her brothers and sisters have become fully addicted to the stuff. A couple of them tried to make it through the withdrawals, however, after one of them died none have tried to do the same.
Azure makes it hard to do their jobs, she continues, explaining that being a worm hunter puts you in danger every day and one slip up could mean not only your death but that of your entire sandskiff crew. With so many of the guild out of commission due to their addiction, the guild has been in a bad place. Without an antidote to the addiction or an influx of new members, the guild might go out of business for good, which would have a bad knock on effect for the rest of the town as well.
Valla has managed to track down the original source of the tainted azure to a drugden on the outskirts of town. She wants you to go there and see what you can find out, including finding an antidote if possible, and proof of any wrongdoings so that those responsible can be put to justice.
Valla also explains that she and the worm hunterâs guild canât be seen to be involved in whatever you end up getting into, as the politics in the town are complicated. Thus, if anything goes wrong sheâll have to deny that she knows you. If you agree, she gives you what information she has and sends you on your way.
When you arrive at the drugden you find a set of sandstone stairs leading down into the entrance of an underground parlor, where half a dozen shady men are playing cards and laughing. When the men notice you, one of them stands up and says âThe boss didnât tell us anyone else was coming today. Perâaps youâve lost your wayâŚâbefore motioning for you to leave while his other hand slowly moves toward his sheathed scimitar.
You may be able to convince the thug that you are indeed expected, but otherwise the thug and his friends will fight until theyâre bloodied before calling for parlay and letting you through. After youâve defeated them, theyâll flee the building with intent of leaving town before theyâve been found to have failed at their duty.
Passing through a set of wooden doors, you find yourself in the parlor proper. Dozens of emaciated men and women gaze at you from shabby wooden seating arrangements, where they lie dazed with smoking pipes; clearly high on azure.
A bartender in the central hall seems to be the only one not on the drug, and if asked where the owner of the establishment is, he nods towards the doors at the back of the hall saying Tratel is in at the moment. Opening the door, you find Tratel; a tall, slender man in a black vest and crimson shirt. He is sitting behind a desk writing notes into a leather-bound ledger. The man stops upon seeing you enter, and asks who the hell you are as heâs not expecting anyone.
If you threaten Tratel, demanding for answers about the tainted azure, he denies any part in it but if you’re perceptive you may be able to see that he is lyingâincluding about having a potential antidote. If you demand the antidote, he refuses to give it to you, goading you to either kill him or leave as sweat rolls down his brow.
Once attacked, the man draws a rapier from under the desk and activates a magic sigil which brings some of the books on the shelves lining his office to life. The books take the form of small flying paper imps and attack.
When bloodied, Tratel surrenders; promising the antidote should you let him live. If you do, he retrieves the key to the chests which lie behind the desk. They contain vials of the antidote to the tainted azure.
Tratel further explains that he was only doing what he was told by the Big Man, but now that heâs given up the antidote to you heâs as good as dead. With some quick thinking Tratel comes up with a new deal, offering to testify to the mayor, in conjunction with his ledger that the Big Man was responsible for the tainted azureâbut in return, he wants to be smuggled out of the town safely afterwards.
Taking Tratel to the mayor’s office, youâre met by two guards at the door and a stern looking older clerk inside who informs that the mayor is busy today but he will be able to see your caseâincluding Tratelâs testimonyâtomorrow morning, advising you return then. In the meantime, Tratel will be kept in a solitary unit within the guardhouse for his safety. Tratel looks nervous at this but agrees to go with one of the guards at the door to the guardhouse nearby nevertheless.
In the meantime, if you return to Valla with the antidote, sheâll be thankful, paying you the agreed upon sum and asking if you managed to find any evidence of wrongdoing. If you explain that you managed to get the drug dealer Tratel to agree to testify against the Big Man, sheâll be happy to see that he might finally get his comeuppance; explaining that the Big Man has been involved in many unsavory activities around the town but always seems to get away with it!
In the morning when you arrive back at the mayorâs office youâre invited into his backroom by the clerk, where the mayor is reclined in a leather chair next to a tanned obese man wearing lavish jewels, smoking a cigar. After presenting the ledger, the mayor looks over it skeptically for a few minutes before explaining that this only shows that the Big Man was supplying azure to Tratel, not that he was tainting it himself.
If you ask where Tratel is, explaining that he was the key piece in this and he would testify that the Big Man was responsible, the obese man speaks up. He says âIt truly is a tragedy, but Tratel hung himself in his cell last night⌠it seems his conscience caught up with him for his crimes against the innocent citizens of this town, as it was simply too much for him to bearâ.
He continues saying that you need not worry however, as he managed to track down the location where Tratel was hiding the rest of the antidote, and heâs currently having it distributed to the people of Sandworm Mesa via his other workers. The obese man then looks to the mayor, putting a hand to his heart and saying heâs sorry that an underling of his managed to cause such issue and that it wouldnât happen again. The mayor nods and says âSee that it does notâ, before letting the obese man leave.
GMâs Notes:
This adventure was written for our Sandworm Mesa Adventurerâs Guide. If youâd like more information about the location, NPCs, and loot that can be found here, please go check it out!
If your players instead kill Tratel, they may take the ledger to either Valla or the mayor’s office. Valla will insist the ledger is taken to the mayor in the hopes of some repercussion for the Big Man.
In either case, the Big Man will be waiting in the Mayor’s office having gotten word of Tratelâs death, and will claim to have no knowledge of his misdoings; saying he provides a 100% organic and safe drug and that it was indeed Tratel that was wholly responsible. He will thank your players for dealing with him, as the Big Man had no idea Tratel would do such a heinous thing and still promises the mayor that nothing like this will happen againâŚ
If you enjoyed this Undercity Drug Den Free DnD Battlemap & Adventure, Luke and I released the Hardcore GMâs bundle of 520+ large, 40Ă30âł DnD battlemaps (double the size of those in our famous Quarantine Bundle) with 255 adventures for $39. Itâs 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. Â
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 FREEâit’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 đ
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.
âI am Captain Mordecai Avery,â he bellows, silencing the chatter in the room. âI 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?â
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.
âThrough a heavy fog on calm waters they came,â he says. âThey 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.
âI 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.â
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 youâll be facing, he provides this answer.
âPirates, my friend, pirates,â he exclaims. âLightly 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 youâre not unaccustomed to danger. Together, weâll route the fiends and take back my ship.â Should you agree to assist, Avery bids you join him outside for this.
âDamnable weather,â 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.
âThe Hemingway!â Avery breathes, taking in the sight of his beloved ship. âThe incantation worked perfectly, returning us straight to the deck of my ship. But sheâs damaged and fouled up with ropes and bridges. The scoundrels have turned her into part of their base. This will not stand!â He looks around and points to a tower not far from the ship.
âAvast, the ship off the Hemingwayâs 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 weâll find these brigands. Gird your loins as we press onward and deal with this scum before they can organize a defense. Then, weâll cut the Hemingway loose and return back to the sea, where she belongs.â
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. Itâs 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.
GMâs 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. Theyâll 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 owlâthe 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 manâs 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 âI appreciate that you came to hear me out, especially after youâve 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.
âSomeâbut not allâof 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 donât know what could be causing this phenomenon, but itâs 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.
âI 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 havenât read, for they deal with the goddessâs⌠darker teachings. However, if there are answers to be had, I suspect that is where they may be found.â
Should you enquire about the pay, the distracted-looking Klaus starts, before apologising and offering âI 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?â
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. âThey are ruthless and evil,â he warns, âand if you let a single one survive, they will merely sacrifice more innocents to resurrect their brethren later on.â
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 youâre 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 youâre 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 âWe 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 donât advise you resist.â
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 resurrectedânot 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 Klausâs 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 whatâs 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 Klausâs.
If you interrupt whatever it is theyâre doing, the burgundy-robed cultist holds up his hand to stop the proceedings, and says in a deep and echoing voice âYou 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.â
Should you ask if that involves sacrificing the terrified peasants, Malfus nods curtly, saying âWhat your Klaus refused to understand is that Everbreath is a goddess with three aspects. They are the Giver, the Taker, and the Gambler,â he gestures towards the statues before continuing. âThus, there are many ways to resurrect the dead. One can sacrifice a life for a life to the Giver, pay the Taker with something preciousâa limb, someone dear to you (though youâll never know who sheâll take), years from your life, a part of your destiny⌠Or one can make a bet with the Gambler.
âIf you win, the Gambler will grant you what you desire. But if you lose, it is said that sheâll take your soul to trade with the other gods for her own, fickle ends. You could end up in the hells, or worseâa 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 moodâbut this often leads to the losers not realising what they have lost until it is too late.
âBecause 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.â
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 âI 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.â
If you ask how to tell if someoneâs 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 Gamblerâbut 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 âIt 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 sideâand those who lost are the ones experiencing these symptoms now.â 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 itâs 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 donât 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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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 FREEâit’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 đ
While traveling along a stretch of highway in the countryside, you encounter a young man huddled against the cold. His clothes are little more than rags, and his hair and skin are matted with mud. He looks to be in a sorry state, and as soon as he sees you approaching, he draws your attention by raising one hand.
âPlease, help me,â he begs as you draw near. âThereâs a powerful witch living in the nearby swamp whoâs been kidnapping people! I barely managed to escape with my life, but there are others being held there even now. You have to help them!â
Should you inquire further about what this witch can do, he tells you she can summon beasts from the swamp to do her bidding, and create clouds of poison that choke and wither her enemies.
If you decide to assist him, the young man is visibly relieved. âThank you, kind stranger. I am called Meddi. Come, her home lies this way.â Meddi ambles along ahead of you, leading you away from the road and into the woodlands. Over the course of hours, the surroundings change from lush forest to murky marshlands.
Meddi beckons you on, certain of the path he is taking. Should you have expertise in tracking, you may be able to detect the recent prints of many large animals moving along this path. Meddi waves away your concerns though.
âTheyâre harmless enough until Agima puts a spell on them. Thatâs the witchâs name. Sheâs lived here for many years but never done anything like this before. She must have gone mad. We have to free the villagers from her clutches!â
You continue through the swamp until Meddi crouches low behind an old stump and points to some stone buildings ahead. Huge trees grow in the area, their branches clutching at the sky like great hands. They shade the swamp from the sun, leaving it a grim, bleak morass.
âThere,â he whispers. âThatâs where she lives. I escaped from the large building at the far end. Thatâs where sheâs keeping the others.â
Should you proceed into Agimaâs domain, you move forward across a rickety wooden bridge that leads over the dark waters of the swamp. The buildings stand on land barely above water level, with moss and mud visible on all of the walls.
If you have skill with traps, or just a knack for spotting them, you might notice a number of traps set along the path! If you fail to avoid them, they attempt to viciously slash you and may even have mild poisons on them. The interior of the buildings repels you with the stench of refuse and clumps of decaying vegetation. They clearly havenât been used in a long time.
A short bridge spans a creek that connects to the larger body of water. If youâre perceptive, you might spot a creature lying in wait for you in the murky waters. Should you cross the bridge without being stealthy, a huge alligator lunges at you from the turgid waters!
Should you survive that, you can go around the corner and see the large building Meddi pointed to just ahead. An arch stands between you and it, and should you have a talent for magic, you might recognize some runes on the inside of the arch, carved into the stone.
If you blunder in, the runes glow and you feel a darkness assail your mind, trying to weaken you with images of despair! If you resist, or found a way around the arch, the large building stands before you. You may notice Meddi has followed you from a safe distance, and he gives you a tentative thumbs-up when you turn to look at him.
The doors to the large building are closed, and if youâre perceptive, you might spot another trap on them! If you fail to avoid it, the trap will drop rocks on you as you enter the building.
Once inside, you can see this place is well-tended, with no sign of the muck from the other buildings present. Strange tapestries line the wall, made of some kind of red ropes that look disturbingly like intestines! Moving forward carefully, there seem to be no more traps, no more beasts, yet no sign of Agima either. Behind you, Meddi stands in the doorway.
âYouâre more cunning than I thought,â he remarks, all indications of his timid nature gone. He looks at you with a devious grin, even as his form changes to a vicious old woman who seems barely human, dressed in homespun garments that appear to be made out of the parts of people! âYouâve made it through my traps and even killed my pet âgator! Youâve been more trouble than it was worth to lure you here, but Iâll soon have your guts adorn my hall!â
Agima attacks with her foul magic as swamp zombies rise from the murky ground outside to assault you as well. Should you survive, you can check the nearby buildings to find that while she was lying about who she was, she hadnât lied about kidnapping villagers, for there are a dozen people held prisoner here. Should you set them free, they thank you profusely and promise to reward you properly at their village after you leave. Searching Agimaâs place reveals a stash of coins and gems sheâd taken from her victims over the years.
GMâs Notes:
Start in the top left, moving through the first area of buildings with the traps in them. Agima attacks in the building with the pentagram in the bottom right, with other buildings in the bottom left housing the captive villagers. The swamp zombies are fodder to keep the player(s) busy while she hits them with spells.
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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 FREEâit’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 đ
Town of Stormswake Free 60×40 DnD Battlemap & Adventure
It Came from the Sea
While traveling near the coast, a strong wind gusts over the land and heavy clouds form in the afternoon sky, portending a thorough drenching should you continue on your way. Fortunately, the nearby town of Stormswake offers a chance for rest and shelter.
Rain belts down across the water as you approach the entrance to the town, which is built into the side of coastal cliffs. A path made from wood is secured into the cliff face, leading around the corner to the town itself. A travelerâs inn sits on the edge of the water on a wooden pier, inviting you with the promise of a warm meal and a hot fireplace with which to dry yourself.
Not long after you enter the inn, it becomes obvious there is tension in the air. Locals grumble to their neighbors beneath their breath, others clutch at their mugs of ale with grim expressions on their weathered features. Should you inquire with the innkeeper about this, he glances around to make sure nobody is within earshot, before leaning in closely to speak in hushed tones.
âYouâve picked a bad night to stop by,â he says. âTwo years ago, Stormswake was invaded by shambling monsters from the sea, but they were turned back by our priestess, Olaive. Sheâd only been here for a week, and was untested in battle, but she rose to the occasion and summoned great magics to help repel the hoard.
âYou may wonder what that has to do with tonight? Well, the leader of that hoard cried that they would return in exactly one year to finish what theyâd started, and that night, my friends, is tonight! People have been mulling over if it was a bluff or not. Some have left, but most stayed, either because they didnât believe it, or they want to protect their homes.
âSo, youâve a choice, travelers; stay and maybe fight a hoard of sea monsters, or leave while you still can.â He goes about his work, leaving you to make the choice. Should you choose to remain, it may occur to you to ask about Olaive, and perhaps speak with her.
The innkeeper points the way further along the boardwalk, and then across a bridge within the cliff that takes you to a circular chamber where she resides. âBut be warned,â he warns! âShe has no patience for fools who waste her time.â
With these words of wisdom, you may choose to head to the temple to speak with her. Along the way, you see locals preparing themselves to fight, donning heavy leather armor, sharpening short swords and preparing simple wooden shields to hold back the monsters that could assail the town at any time.
In the temple, Olaive greets you but cautions that this is not a good time. âDoubtless you have heard of our plight. You should have left while you can, but if you intend to stay, we certainly could use the aid. I am preparing a spell that may repel them, as it did last time, though something tells me it may not be effective. Do what you can to aid the town, while I finish my preparations in the grove just beyond the temple here.â
The symbol of an ancient sea god hangs in the temple, though it is far older than any you have yet seen in your travels. It has barnacles, dried seaweed and shells of deep-sea creatures placed into a circular, shield-like device made from shipwrecked wood. Should you ask any of the other people in town, or her assistants in the temple about this device, they will tell you Olaive brought it with her upon her arrival.
Soon, a warning shout is heard! Creatures covered in seaweed, barnacles and octopus-like tentacles lumber from the depths, seeking to climb onto the boardwalk and attack anyone who gets in their way!
Should you join in the defense, you can fight off some of the hoard, but for each that falls, another takes its place. It seems Olaiveâs spell might be the only hope for the town.
If you pull back to the grove, you see she is already in the midst of casting, but it doesnât seem to be having any effect. Indeed, an insightful person might surmise that the spell is, in fact, drawing the creatures closer!
Sensing sheâs been discovered, Olaive sneers and says she was sent here by powers beyond your understanding. âI mean to bring this town, this affront to the sea gods crashing down and its people to become as food to the creatures of the depths!â Her human appearance melts away to reveal a humanoid sea creature with large eyes and spiked fins!
She is a formidable foe, and you have no help from the townsfolk battling to stave off the invasion, but should you figure out that the wooden holy symbol on the wall of her temple is the source of her power, you can smash it to break the spell and drive back the horrid sea monsters!
With her plans foiled, Olaive (if she survived) will leap into the waters and dive away, protected by the power of the sea gods with the hope of returning to complete her work someday.
GMâs Notes:
The assault will start near the inn, and gradually move forward through the town streets towards the bridge that connects to the temple. There are plenty of choke points for defenders to hold them back, but figuring out that Olaive is the one summoning them, and then fighting her to defeat will break the spell. After that, the sea monsters will disperse back to where they came from.
When Olaive arrived the first time to Stormswake and was casting her spell, she wasnât powerful enough to complete it. Thus, the spell ended; sending the creatures back to the depths, and earning her the naive love of the townsfolk.
If you enjoyed tTown of Stormswake Free 60×40 DnD Battlemap & Adventure, Luke and I released the Hardcore GMâs bundle of 520+ large, 40Ă30âł DnD battlemaps (double the size of those in our famous Quarantine Bundle) with 255 adventures for $39. Itâs 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. Â
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 FREEâit’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 đ
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 theyâre 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 wouldnât 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 âWelcome to Nevermoreâ. As you enter however, you see that everyone within itâthe elderly, children, and even petsâare undead.
When the first man sees you, he yells to an undead boy âTheyâve come for us, run, Timmy!â, 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 âprofessyâ 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.
Wilbertâs cheerful manner sobers, and he says that unfortunately the first few the professy brought back werenât⌠quite right. Heâs 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 professyâs 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 doesnât 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 professorâs 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 youâa living strangerâand sneer contemptuously that theyâll fix you once youâre reanimated.
Once youâve 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 youâve 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 âsuit yourselfâ 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 youâve 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 didnât 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 couldnât figure out how to fix them. They were good people, before the massacre. But he supposes it couldnât 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 donât 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 havenât 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!
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While staying at a small underwater village, youâre approached by a sea elf dressed in white cloth who introduces himself as an acolyte of the local church. He explains that he focuses on the documentation of tales, and that while much of his village is very closed off to outsiders heâs always been very curious about them and so couldnât resist coming to speak with youâespecially since you appear to be mercenaries! Heâd love to hear about some of your wondrous adventures.
After heâs heard a tale or two of your feats, he reciprocates by telling you a tale from an ancient tablet heâs recently recovered and began translating. The tablet seems to talk about the deep dwellers, and how a small faction of them have the powers to take on the form of any other living being. Creepy, huh! He continues that heâs still finishing the last bit of the tablet translation, but he believes it explains how to spot these dopplegangers.
He finishes by adding that heâd love to show you some of his other discoveries, if youâre interested you can find him at the church grounds the next day. He explains his quarters are just off the gardens, in a small seashell cabin.
If you go to the church grounds and find the acolyteâs cabin, the next day the sea elf speaks in a monotone voice compared to his excited pitch from the night before. He seems surprised when you say youâre here to see his other works, before apologizing. He claims that something has come up within the church that he must see too and he can no longer oblige you, before turning to leave towards the main church. During this time his eyes seem twitchy.
If you decide not to go to the church, you instead meet the twitchy-eyed acolyte on the village streets the next day where he doesnât seem to remember you and excuses himself suspiciously as fast as possible. After that, he leaves to return to the main church.
If you break into his now-empty cabin, you find a large stone tablet on one of his workbenches, along with a hastily written note containing the final deciphering of the tablet which details how to spot a deep dweller doppelganger. The note details the twitching, as well as how the use of magical light seems to shine through their fake skin, and show the creature for what it truly is. Dopplegangers may also act in small but noticeable ways such as seeming to be physically agitated, as their fake skin irritates them.
When you investigate the main church it is completely empty. However, it looks like the people living here left in a hurry and you hear sounds coming from deep within the depths of the church, towards the basement. In the basement is a small tunnel which looks recently excavated and leads to the ruins of an ancient temple which appears to have been buried here long ago. In front of the temple’s doors swim two acolytes who, when talked to, try and dissuade you from going any further. They explain in a monotone voice that this is a holy site, and only those permitted can be hereâall the while showing symptoms of being dopplegangers.
Making your way into the temple you encounter more doppelgangers, before finally entering the grand hall which is covered in fleshy egg sacks. The high priestess yells that you surface dwellers know not what affairs you meddle in, then sends in more doppelgangers to attack you.
When defeated the priestess drops an eldritch rod of tentacles, which is the device the deep dwellers use to copy the skin of those itâs used on. When used, the tentacles open and wrap around its victimâs face, stealing their identity and imparting it onto the one who holds it. While used, the victim is placed in a coma, and cannot be woken until the doppelganger is killed or the effect otherwise dispelled.
Once there are no more doppelgangers left, you notice muffled voices from the egg sacks, and movement inside them. The original sea elves who had their forms stolen by the deep dwellers break free, horrified and saying that the last thing they remember was the rod wrapping around their face, suffocating them.
DMâs Notes:
The village church was slowly being taken over by the deep dwellers over the previous weeks after a new excavation was started in the church basement. That is what leads to the old temple, which was sealed long ago as the caverns below linked up to tunnels the deep dwellers used.
The acolyte found the tablet down in the excavation, but was taken just after he finished the translation and is why he seemed so different when you meet him the following day.
When a doppelganger is killed, their original captive wakes up within the egg sack theyâve been trapped in by the deep dwellers.
If you enjoyed this Infested Underwater Temple Ruins Free DnD Battlemap & Adventure, Luke and I released the Hardcore GMâs bundle of 520+ large, 40Ă30âł DnD battlemaps (double the size of those in our famous Quarantine Bundle) with 255 adventures for $39. Itâs 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. Â
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 FREEâit’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 đ
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 youâre 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 masterâs 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, theyâve put in a lot of effort to live up to their fatherâs 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 doesnât believe Ruthelon knows what heâs getting himself into and heâs entrusting you to bring him back alive. In return, Elleadon says heâs 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 youâre there to see Ruthelon, they let you pass with one of the guards making the off-handed comment that theyâre 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 itâs 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 youâre 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 heâs 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 Fatherâs 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.
If you enjoyed this Eternal Well of Oceanus Free DnD Battlemap & Adventure, Luke and I released the Hardcore GMâs bundle of 520+ large, 40Ă30âł DnD battlemaps (double the size of those in our famous Quarantine Bundle) with 255 adventures for $39. Itâs 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. Â
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 FREEâit’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 đ
