At the unfathomable edge of the Shadowfell lie the Domains of Dread, realms bound by Mists where magic and reality twist into nightmare. This chapter for DMs explores the most terrifying of the Domains of Dread. Among other tools, each featured domain includes the following details:

Domain. This initial section introduces the domain, its unique horrors, and notable locations.

Darklord. The domain™s Darklord, their stat block, effects they create within their domain, how they close their domain™s borders (see the introduction), and details of their lair appear here.

Adventures. This section provides guidance on creating adventures in the domain, a campaign outline, and short adventures.

This chapter concludes with an overview of additional domains.

Each Domain of Dread is aligned with a tarokka card. A character with a tarokka deck can use it to travel between domains. While in the Mists, the deck™s bearer can draw a random card from the deck; that card serves as a Mist talisman (see the introduction), allowing travel to the domain it is aligned with. A tarokka deck can be used in this way once every 24 hours. A list of domains and their aligned tarokka cards appears at the end of this chapter.

Every Domain of Dread has a tarokka card that opposes it”one hinting at the truth of the domain™s Darklord. If a domain™s opposed tarokka card is drawn during a tarokka reading in that domain, that domain™s Darklord becomes aware of the reading and its participants. When this occurs, the Darklord can choose to see through the eyes of the tarokka user and speak through them for 1 minute. The Darklord might make their presence known, level a threat, or misinterpret the cards. A tarokka reader has no memory of what a Darklord uses them to say.

Domain of the First Vampire

In Barovia, the night is a curse. As darkness falls, wicked souls slip from the spires of Castle Ravenloft to work the will of an immortal overlord. This is the realm of the vampire Count Страд фон Зарович, whose depravities have doomed him and his land to endless cycles of obsession and despair.

The howls of wolves and shrieks of ravens echo through the dismal valleys and oppressive forests of Barovia. In isolated communities, superstitious villagers find the brightness in their lives smothered by dread of their aloof overlord and other festering evils. These Barovians fear the night, as agents of the devil Strahd watch in the dark and claim whatever he desires. Yet few in Barovia realize their torments have played out again and again. In every generation, echoes of Strahd™s past reemerge, compelling and confounding the Darklord as he endlessly obsesses over the one victim who™s eluded him for centuries.

Domain Features

Barovia is known for the following features:

The Devil Strahd. Few have seen Count von Zarovich, but all know he dwells in Castle Ravenloft, a citadel from which few visitors return. Strahd is infamous for viciously executing any who flagrantly break his laws, but otherwise he rarely interferes in the lives of his people. Some whisper that he is a vampire.

Haunted Tales. The stories of Barovia™s people are full of hidden evils: accursed ruins, portentous ravens, secretive cults, treacherous witches, vicious werewolves, and worse.

Isolation and Suspicion. Barovia is a realm of wolf-prowled forests and treacherous mountains where the sun is obscured. The land™s superstitious people live in scattered villages. They distrust strangers, fearing they™re agents of the count.

Locations in Barovia

Barovia is a land of long shadows where ancient wildernesses strangle the ruins of a near-forgotten empire. Mysteries pervade the domain, and those who leave the relative safety of Barovia™s dismal settlements enter perilous lands where mortals aren™t welcome.

The village of Barovia is described below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Barovia Locations table.

Village of Barovia

Lying in the shadow of Castle Ravenloft, the village of Barovia teeters on the brink of ruin. Its few residents rarely venture from their homes, suspecting their neighbors of wickedness and fearing evils in the night. Their dread is largely justified, as wolves, ghosts, and vampire spawn haunt the town, and many locals have been consumed by callousness or wicked temptations.

A rare exception to the village™s cold desperation can be found at the local tavern, the Blood of the Vine. Those few who oppose Strahd™s evil congregate here”under the covert oversight of the count™s agents.

Count Strahd von Zarovich has lost all he ever desired”over and over again. Tormented by the Dark Powers, Strahd is haunted by visions of his lost family and tarnished nobility. The count spends long years brooding in the depths of Castle Ravenloft, but a reincarnation of his obsession appears every generation: Tatyana. Each time Tatyana™s reincarnation emerges, Strahd seeks to undo the failures of his past and find a way to win her love. Time and time again, Strahd™s heartless, domineering nature causes his bloody history to repeat itself and drives Tatyana beyond his clutches.

A severe, aristocratic figure, the count has the bearing of a former soldier and the impatience of one used to being obeyed. He feels little but occasionally embraces the novelty of toying with amusing strangers or breaking the spirits of his enemies. During his unnaturally long existence, he has learned many occult secrets and mysteries of the Domains of Dread. Strahd™s dignified bearing crumbles when someone breaks his laws or denies him what he desires. In such cases, Strahd makes bloody examples of his opponents, drawing out his vengeance into campaigns of terror.

Adventures set in Barovia involve oppressive, gothic menace; suspicion; and the legendary threat of Strahd von Zarovich. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Barovia

Adventures in Barovia often include the following elements.

The Ancient, The Land

Strahd remains bound to Barovia and it to him in a way few rulers or Darklords understand. He knows when any creature enters or dies violently within Barovia, and he takes offense when someone slays his servants or the domain™s wolves. Strahd can manifest a variety of dramatic effects, such as casting his voice on the wind, making his visage appear in the clouds, or changing the weather. These effects don™t aid him in combat, but they contribute to making him feel like an oppressive and ever-present threat.

Incarnations of the Past

The subject of Strahd™s obsession, Tatyana, perpetually reincarnates among the people of Barovia. No matter what form she takes, the Darklord unceasingly seeks her, determined to possess her and make her part of an idealized fantasy of his past. Tatyana™s incarnation might be anyone, including a player character. If her incarnation is an NPC, roll on the Tatyana™s Reincarnation and Connection to Strahd tables to inspire a new chapter in the count™s tale of obsession.

Реинкарнация Татьяны

Реинкарнация Татьяны

	Tatyana™s Reincarnation Is ¦
1	Анна, хранительница того, что желает другой Тёмный властелин — например, ка Анхтепота или Несокрушимое Сердце Морденхайма (оба описаны далее в этой главе).
2	Эз д'Авенир (см. главу 5), охотница на чудовищ.
3	Ирина Коляна, приёмная дочь бургомистра Индировича из деревни Баровия.
4	Лисса фон Зарович, дальняя родственница Страда, ставшая вампиром.
5	Нассери и Ясмин, близнецы, служащие богу Эзре.
6	Петра Риленович, художница, рисующая образы того, что она называет «жизнями снов».
7	Квентин Л'Аржан, драконорождённый сын пастухов, живущих близ Аргинвостхольта.
8	Ренуар Лоран, сын Шанталь Лоран, женщины, похищенной Страдом много лет назад.
9	Ваназия, член странствующей группы вистани или другого отряда скитальцев Туманов.
10	Василка, Плотевой голем или возрождённый (см. главу 1), живущий в аббатстве Крезка.

Связь со Страдом

Связь со Страдом

	Tatyana™s Reincarnation ¦
1	Напитал свою кровь ядом, который усыпит Страда на целое поколение.
2	Скрыт от Страда другим Тёмным властелином или неким более таинственным злом.
3	Попадает в ловушку коварного слуги Страда, телесно или под действием заклинания вроде Магического сосуда.
4	Знает о своих перевоплощениях и стремится положить им конец, освободив Баровию от Туманов.
5	Живёт зачарованной жизнью, неосознанно оберегаемый и взращиваемый графом.
6	Заблуждаясь, планирует искупить Страда своей исключительной добротой или верой.
7	Использует магию, чтобы скрываться от Страда, принимая облик старика, ребёнка или загадочного животного.
8	Ищет реликвию, способную ослабить Страда.
9	Стремится присоединиться к группе искателей приключений и организовать осаду замка Рейвенлофт.
10	Хочет воскресить прошлые воплощения Татьяны, чтобы сразиться со Страдом.

Roots of Evil

As the first Domain of Dread, Barovia might serve an important role in the metaphysical underpinnings of the setting. Some Darklords might have emerged from the Mists first in Barovia, encountered Strahd, and found their ways to their own domains later. Others might have a particular interest in Barovia and in undoing Strahd™s connection to his land. Consider these possibilities when developing plots involving conflicts between Darklords or escaping the Mists, as outlined in chapter 3.

Signs of the Count

Servants of Strahd are everywhere in Barovia. While in the domain, characters experience regular reminders that the Darklord watches them”and that they are unwelcome. Roll on the Strahd™s Presence table to inspire such encounters.

Присутствие Страда

Присутствие Страда

	Strahd™s Presence Is Suggested ¦
1	Когда облака на мгновение напоминают когтистые руки, зияющие черепа или замок Рейвенлофт.
2	Когда волки или вороны беззвучно следуют за персонажами и повторяют их действия.
3	Через выцветшую резьбу или гобелены с гербом фон Заровичей.
4	Во время чтения тарокка, когда карта Тёмного властелина меняется, обретая сходство со Страдом.
5	Во сне, где персонаж становится очарован или подвергается угрозам Страда.
6	В деревенском святилище, усеянном склянками с засохшей кровью, обломками кольев и волчьими клыками.
7	Когда персонажи просыпаются и видят стаи гнездящихся летучих мышей или обескровленные трупы животных.
8	Когда подглядывающие селяне пытаются подслушать персонажей или украсть у них мелкие вещи.

Barovia Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Barovia involve communities oppressed by fear of Strahd and his cycles of obsession. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“5. The characters emerge from the Mists and seek shelter from danger in the village of Barovia, Krezk, or Vallaki. There they learn the people fear Count von Zarovich, and the characters might meet a reincarnation of Tatyana. They help strike back against agents of the count, such as deadly Волк or Зомби.

Levels 6“8. The characters learn more of the count™s history and about magical relics that might help oppose him. They seek these in haunted corners of the domain, facing servants of Strahd and remnants of his past, including Привидение, Волк-оборотень, and deadly Друид.

Levels 9“10. Armed with knowledge and magical weapons, the characters lay siege to Castle Ravenloft, facing Strahd™s most terrifying servants and the count himself.

Adventure for Level 6 Characters

Situation. A discovery beneath the Blood of the Vine tavern in the village of Barovia has unleashed sinister magic, transforming the owners.

Hook. Disguised as a human, Urwin Martikov (Medium Wereraven; see chapter 5) of the Blue Water Inn in Vallaki hires the characters to investigate why the Blood of the Vine tavern in the village of Barovia has closed, claiming he was in negotiations with the owners to buy it. Urwin offers to pay characters 500 ЗМ каждому.

Scene Configuration Overview

• If you encounter broken links below, they will appear once you install the adventure in your World.

• Each map features distinct interior lighting options, accessible via Scene Controls, enabling transitions between brighter outdoor streets and dark interiors.

• Weather effects are disabled for all interior scenes, ensuring indoor environments remain unaffected by outdoor scene configurations. By default, no weather effects are set up for the scene.

• The tavern™s main floor is outfitted with preplaced area lights, while each table and private room includes unlit, prepositioned candles. Overhead area lights are labeled on the scene as OHL.

• NPCs populate the scene in advance, ready for player interaction. The Minotaur skeleton and ghouls remain hidden at first, ready for their reveal at your discretion.

Encounters

This adventure uses map 2.2: Blood of the Vine Tavern and consists of these encounters.

Corrupted Owners. The three human sisters who owned the Blood of the Vine tavern”Alenka, Mirabel, and Sorvina”have been transformed into the following ravenous embodiments of primal hunger:

Alenka (Relentless Slasher; see chapter 5) wields kitchenware and prowls the first floor.

Mirabel (Medium Ghast Gravecaller) stalks the second floor with her two Ghoul servants.

Sorvina (Невыразимый ужас; see chapter 5) conducts strange rituals in the basement.

Taproom. Dust covers the taproom. Here, the animate corpse of Arik the barkeep mindlessly cleans pieces of shattered glassware at the bar. If attacked or otherwise interrupted, Arik falls to pieces.

Office. The office in the northeast corner of the first floor is cluttered with junk and unfinished notes to the count describing the activities of the tavern™s patrons. This suggests the owners spied on the locals. If the characters have visited the tavern before, their activities are detailed. A trapdoor descends to an area beneath the tavern.

Private Dining Room. The dining room in the southeast corner of the second floor is strewn with broken dishes, rotten food, and pages from a destroyed book. The pages are from the journal of Mirabel, one of the inn™s owners. Surviving entries note the following information:

First Entry. Mirabel™s sister Sorvina discovered a hollow hidden under the tavern. Strange ruins lie amid the dirt walls. Sorvina wants to excavate them, hoping to find a tomb filled with treasures.

Second Entry. Sorvina™s digging revealed strange standing stones. Mirabel worries about her sister, who™s started whispering to herself as she obsesses over learning more about the stones.

Third Entry. Sorvina discovered the bones of some monster at the center of the standing stones. All three sisters are having nightmares from which they wake up ravenous. Sorvina claims the hunger is a blessing. Food has lost its taste, but the inn™s patrons suddenly smell delicious.

Temple of Ravenkind. A circle of ancient menhirs carved with stylized ravens and sunbursts is partially unearthed beneath the tavern. The creature that was once Sorvina is here, chanting over a monstrous skeleton of black bones with stag horns and tusks. When she notices intruders, Sorvina howls, causing the bones to rise as a Minotaur Skeleton. Both it and Sorvina fight the characters to the death. When the skeleton is defeated, its bones remain intact.

Cursed Remains. The skeleton exudes evil magic. Casting Снятие проклятия on the monster destroys the skeleton. However, if a character touches the skeleton (while it™s animate or otherwise), its spirit whispers to the character, bidding them to end its ancient curse. Doing so destroys the skeleton and grants the character the Вторая кожа Dark Gift (see chapter 1). A character who already has a Dark Gift can™t accept the curse.

Returning to Urwin. If the characters defeat the monsters in the tavern and return to Urwin, he pays them and shares that a benevolent relic, the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, was created at a site like the one hidden under the tavern. The circle was used later to imprison a vicious spirit of the Svalich Woods. If the characters destroyed the skeleton, Urwin rewards them with two random Quaal™s Feather Tokens (see Dungeon Master's Guide). Characters also receive a bonus 1400 ОП каждому.

Adventure for Level 9 Characters

Situation. Lyssa von Zarovich (Medium, Chaotic Evil Vampire Nightbringer), a distant relative of Strahd, plots to undermine the count by unleashing her monstrous servants on Barovia.

Hook. A human resident of Vallaki named Ernst Larnak (Medium, Lawful Evil Spy) tells the characters that locals have seen figures excavating the churchyard in the ruins of Berez. He offers to pay 2500 ЗМ if they investigate. He doesn™t share that his information comes from the count™s servants.

Scene Configuration Overview

• If you encounter broken links below, they will appear once you install the adventure in your World.

• Each map features distinct interior lighting options, accessible via Scene Controls, enabling transitions between the brighter outdoors and dark interiors.

• The Below Ground area has pre-placed area lights that are turned off by default.

• Hidden NPCs populate the scene in advance, ready for player interaction at your discretion.

Encounters

This adventure uses map 2.2: Von Zarovich Sanctuary and consists of these encounters.

Berez Churchyard. A stone slab covering a grave in the churchyard has been shattered, revealing stairs leading down to a von Zarovich sanctuary. There, two Vampire Spawn guardians fight trespassers.

Lyssa™s Plot. Lyssa greets the characters in the sanctuary™s central room. Observing that they don™t look like servants of the count, she shares the following information:

• She is a distant relative of Count Strahd von Zarovich. She, too, is a vampire.

• She seeks to depose Strahd and raise Barovia to its deserved glory.

• With the aid of allies beyond the Mists, she has created servants immune to many of Strahd™s powers. Now she needs to test them.

Regardless of whether the characters agree to aid Lyssa, she opens a door to the adjacent chamber and unleashes a pair of Vampire Mind Flayers (see chapter 5). The monsters obey Lyssa™s commands and fight the characters. Lyssa fights as well but flees if she takes damage, swearing her revenge.

Crypt. The chamber to the north holds the bloodless corpse of a mind flayer and a journal filled with accounts of strange dreams. The journal is a Mist talisman linked to the domain of Bluetspur (see њOther Domains of Dreadќ later in this chapter).

Hidden Chamber. A character who investigates the large room as a Изучение action and succeeds on a Проверка: Расследование СЛ 16 finds evidence of a bricked-over hidden chamber in the east wall. Characters can physically remove the wall in 1 hour (half that time if they have Mason™s Tools).

Elder Evil. Strahd buried a foe in a coffin behind the main chamber™s east wall. Opening the coffin releases a Vampire Nosferatu and a Swarm of Infesting Insect (both detailed in chapter 5) that fight to the death. Also in the coffin is a Самоцвет яркости.

Conclusion. If the characters defeat or drive off Lyssa, each character gains a bonus 2600 ОП.

Domain of Desire and Deceit

The noble families of Borca engage in an endless war of conspiracies and lethal betrayals as they pursue influence, thrills, and age-old rivalries. People here value guile and callousness, and none embody those traits better than the domain™s two Darklords: the genius poisoner Ivana Boritsi and the childishly cruel stalker Ivan Dilisnya.

Beyond the fashionable holdings of Borca™s elite, commoners struggle against crime, poverty, and starvation. In scattered villages and tenement-filled cities, locals view nobles as celebrities, and the commoners™ idealized vision of noble life leads them to mimic the aristocrats™ callousness and appetite for empty fads. Desperate commoners are tempted into debt and depravity in pursuit of nobles™ favor and passing fancies. Those who don™t bend to the whims of Borca™s elite face humiliation before they™re crushed.

Domain Features

Borca is known for the following features:

Two Darklords. Ivana Boritsi and Ivan Dilisnya are both Darklords of Borca. They control the domain equally”one of countless facts that contributes to their mutual loathing.

Cruel Intentions. Borca™s most influential families are vicious rivals bound by blood, politics, and business. Their rivalries unfold in an endless shadow war of lies, shifting alliances, and assassinations. The nobles value appearances above all else; they favor stylish poisons, clever clockwork devices, and public embarrassment in their plots.

Desperate Sycophants. Commoners own little, renting homes in crowded cities or rural villages that serve noble interests. Many commoners desperately court the favor of the elite.

Noble Intrigue. Nobles control all aspects of Borcan society. They squabble over artistic, political, and religious influence to feed their gluttonous egos and fill their idle lives. The Boritsi family holds the greatest influence.

Locations in Borca

The impoverished lands of Borca languish in the shadow of opulent noble estates and garish monuments to greed. The exploited land bears the scars of age-old rivalries and the hiding places of noble secrets.

The capital of Levkarest is described below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Borca Locations table.

Levkarest

Borca™s capital of Levkarest stands at the pinnacle of culture and ostentatious power. Here, lesser nobles pursue fickle dramas and vogue trends while the populace labors amid workhouses and cultlike fashion houses. Commoners glimpse this world of toxic glamor only from afar or when nobles exploit street-level fads.

At the city™s heart rises the People™s Parliament, the land™s ineffective seat of government. Here, unpopular members of noble families squabble over meaningless legislation. The nation™s true rulers conduct business on noble estates, in avant-garde clubs, and in the offices of faceless mercantile ventures.

Near the People™s Parliament stands the Great Cathedral. Within, pious commoners and ostentatious aristocrats attend ceremonies sacred to the deity Ezra. Locals say the cathedral was created by nobles who believed they™d earned the ire of some great evil. Centuries later, these families still support the church, transactionally investing in dubious supernatural insurance.

Борка изменяется из-за присутствия Иваны и Ивана, что создаёт следующие эффекты:

Закрытие границ. Пока Ивана или Иван находятся в своём домене, они могут по желанию открыть или закрыть границы Борки. Пока границы закрыты, окружающие Борку Туманы наполняются колючей лозой (Ивана) или колючей проволокой (Иван). Туманы становятся Пересечённой местностью; каждый раз, когда существо перемещается внутрь или внутри Туманов, оно получает 5 (2d4) Колющего урона за каждые 5 пройденных футов. Как только Ивана или Иван закрывают или открывают границы, ни один из двух Тёмных властелинов не может сделать это снова до следующего рассвета.

Шёпот Иваны (только Ивана). Ивана может зашифровать сообщение, состоящее не более чем из 25 слов, и на рассвете спрятать его в цветах Борки. До следующего рассвета, когда существо впервые нюхает цветок, оно слышит сообщение в своей голове и понимает его значение.

Загадочные письма (только Иван). Каждый раз, когда Иван пишет письмо и посылает его существу в Борке, имя которого ему известно и которое он видел раньше, письмо появляется возле этого существа на следующем рассвете. Письмо появляется в ненаблюдаемом, но очевидном пространстве; например, на прикроватном столке или посреди экипировки.

Шпионы. Пока Ивана и Иван находятся в Борке, они могут творить Ясновидение. Для этого им не требуются Материальные компоненты, и они используют Интеллект в качестве заклинательной характеристики. Чтобы сотворить заклинание, в пределах дистанции, на которой появляется сенсор, должно находиться растение размером не меньше Крупного (Ивана) или Маленькая кукла или подобная игрушка (Иван).

Если Тёмный властелин Борки умирает, эффекты этого Тёмного властелина мгновенно исчезают. Они начинают действовать вновь, если Тёмный властелин получает новое тело (см. особенность Восстановление Тёмного властелина).

Adventures set in Borca involve intrigue between petty nobles, family secrets, manipulation, and deception. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Borca

Adventures in Borca often include the following elements.

Nobles of Borca

Twelve depraved families rule over every aspect of life in Borca. Each is a core family of fifteen or fewer irredeemable individuals united around the head of the house, who tyrannically controls the clan™s myriad ventures. Servants and business representatives across the domain support these core families, as do members of branch families”lackeys with different surnames who are distantly related to the core family or indentured to them.

The Noble Families of Borca table details the domain™s most powerful families.

Supernatural Intrigue

Magic and the supernatural heighten the gilded depravities of Borca. When planning adventures in Borca, consider including the following elements.

Curses and Poison. Chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master™s Guide describes curses, magical contagions, and poison. Villains in Borca might use these or adjusted versions of your own design”perhaps with signature cosmetic effects.

Monsters. Monsters can serve as threats but also agents of noble houses. Shape-shifting creatures such as Бес and Крыса-оборотень} excel at infiltration, while Доппельгангер} and Суккуб might pose as nobles, innocents, or trusted allies. Creatures like Привидение} and Пожиратель интеллекта} might control individuals, making them behave in unusual ways. Choose a single monster, and consider how you might make it central to a devious noble™s plot.

Spells and Magic Items. Don™t try to account for or incorporate all magic into adventures involving supernatural intrigue. Choose a single spell”such as Ясновидение, Гейс, or Разговор с мёртвым”and consider how to make it central to a plot involving secrets and mysterious revelations. Consider doing the same with a magic item such as a Плащ летучей мыши, a Глаз карги, or Посыльные камни. Characters should earn rewards for using their own magic in clever ways.

Borca Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Borca typically involve the domain™s noble families. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“3. A scheming noble targets the characters, presenting them with an opportunity or exorbitant compensation for a simple task. In the aftermath, the characters discover they have given up something of great value or realize they look like criminals.

Levels 4“6. The scheming noble or a rival offers the characters a way out of their predicament, but this involves a dangerous confrontation or daring infiltration. Supernatural forces”such as jilted doppelgangers, cursed family members, or dead nobility”might aid the characters. Against expectations, the characters complete their mission and turn the tables on their foe.

Levels 7“8. The characters™ activities attract the attention of Ivana Boritsi or Ivan Dilisnya. The Darklord invites the characters to their estate or corresponds with them from afar, using them as agents in their rivalry. For example, either Darklord might task the characters with seeking out the missing will of Ivana™s father, Klaus.

Adventure for Level 5 Characters

Situation. The human siblings Eroso and Siobhan Manduchi (Medium, Neutral Evil Благородный) are scions of a minor noble family who stole a rare plant, not realizing it belonged to the Boritsis. After discovering the owner, they feign their deaths to avoid reprisal.

Hook. Eroso and Siobhan seek out the characters to use as patsies in their staged murder.

Encounters

The adventure consists of these encounters.

Dig Your Vibe. Eroso and Siobhan Manduchi approach the characters and invite them to go carousing if the adventurers agree to share tales of their exploits. The two are Friendly and flattering.

Exquisite Corpse. Soon after the characters leave the siblings, they hear a scream. If they investigate, they find Eroso™s stabbed corpse surrounded by guards. Siobhan accuses the characters of killing her brother. A group of four Стражник and one Капитан стражи (in the Manduchis™ employ) moves to kill the characters, while Siobhan vanishes into the night.

Wanted. More guards hunt for the characters but are easy to avoid. Before the characters flee the community, Nostalia Romaine (Medium, Lawful Evil Ассасин), who appears to be human, discovers them. She explains that she works for the Boritsi family, shares the details in њSituationќ above, and insists the characters help her find the Manduchis.

Dead Walking. Any character who spends a day searching for the Manduchis and succeeds on a Проверка: Проницательность или Убеждение СЛ 14 learns Eroso™s or Siobhan™s whereabouts. If they investigate, they find a public site”like a theater or bar”where the noble is behaving recklessly. These aren™t the actual Manduchis, but Восковая фигура (see chapter 5) striving to destroy themselves in public. The characters encounter at least two of these creatures, perhaps more at your discretion.

Flawed Perfection. After the characters encounter at least two self-destructive Manduchi waxworks, they find a Восковая фигура convinced that it is the new, improved Eroso Manduchi, and it doesn™t want to die. If the characters promise to let it go, the Construct leads them to Lethal Lavender, the secret club where the Manduchis are hiding.

Lethal Lavender. The interior of the Lethal Lavender club is overgrown with bruise-colored fungus. A pair of fungus-covered Зомби, разносчик чумы (see chapter 5) haunts the bar. In the VIP lounge, the plant the Manduchis stole has bloomed into a Некроколония фиолетовых сморчков composed of the real Manduchis and their remaining wax duplicates.

Ivana™s Favor. After the monster™s defeat, Nostalia finds the characters. She rewards them with a vial of Boritsi perfume worth 2,000 GP and a letter from Ivana Boritsi inviting them to a private social event at Misericordia in a week™s time. Characters also earn a bonus 1100 ОП каждому.

Domain on the Brink of Destruction

Darkon is a sprawling realm of somber gothic cities, vast wildernesses, hidden secrets, and the dead. The ruins of forgotten magical empires scar the land. Undead creatures haunt the domain™s lonely reaches, and the living acknowledge that the land™s morbid magic might one day reanimate their corpses.

Yet, for all its mysteries, the domain of Darkon has failed. Across the realm, the Mists close in, inexorably overwhelming the land. These Mists turned ravenous are known as the Shroud, and what they consume doesn™t reemerge.

Darkon™s dissolution ties to the disappearance of its Darklord, Azalin Rex. During a disastrous event known as the Hour of Ascension, Azalin™s citadel, Castle Avernus, was destroyed, and a mysterious golden star called the King™s Tear appeared in the heavens. Since then, no one has seen Azalin, and the Shroud has eroded the domain.

Despite the encroaching annihilation, life in Darkon hasn™t changed. The residents of towns and cities far from the domain™s borders dismiss reports of vanishing frontiers as fearmongering. As Darkon splits into crumbling islands, ambitious individuals vie for Azalin™s power, each touting that they alone can save the land by becoming its tyrant.

Domain Features

Darkon is known for the following features:

Divided Domain. The Mists consuming Darkon have divided the land into four separate regions.

Hour of Ascension. Azalin Rex vanished during an event his servants call the Hour of Ascension.

Inevitable Undeath. The night after any Humanoid dies, its corpse reanimates and shambles into the night. Locals swiftly burn bodies to prevent this.

King™s Tear. Since the Hour of Ascension, a golden star called the King™s Tear hangs in the sky. The sun and moon pass behind this star in their orbits.

Secret Police. The Kargat, the domain™s secret police, remains active in Darkon™s largest cities: Il Aluk and Martira Bay.

Locations in Darkon

Darkon is a place of dark wonders and apathy. The ruins of impossible structures litter the landscape, but the domain™s jaded people ignore these marvels to focus on daily concerns.

The regions of Darkon are described below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Darkon Locations table.

Regions of Darkon

The Shroud has divided Darkon into four parts (see њFractures of Darkonќ for details):

Jagged Coast. Dense forests and shattered cliffs compose the Jagged Coast, skirting the Sea of Souls. Undead within the forests prey on isolated communities here.

Lychgate. Lychgate is ruled by the dead. Aimless undead creatures wander the forest, milling around amid the time-locked ruins of Castle Avernus and many of Azalin™s powerful servants.

Mistlands. Scattered communities dot the Mistlands, which were once Darkon™s wild eastern reaches. Strange monsters emerge from the forests and mountains to prey on the isolated lands.

Rexcrown. The heart of Darkon, Rexcrown has become a sagging bog. From it rise the spires and grim wonders of Il Aluk, Darkon™s capital, and the homes of the domain™s indifferent elite.

In Darkon, Azalin was a tyrannical wizard-king obeyed by the living and the dead. When he first appeared before his people, he adopted an illusion of the form he possessed in life: that of a middle-aged human man with dark hair and a superior demeanor. However, his true form was that of a moldering lich, eyes ablaze with blasphemous energy.

Since arriving in the Domains of Dread, Azalin has been unable to learn new magic. For a wizard who forsook his mortality to pursue arcane studies, this was the ultimate frustration. Despite the limits on his studies, Azalin numbered among the few Darklords who understood the mysterious nature of the Domains of Dread. For generations, Azalin struggled to escape Darkon. His magical atrocities reshaped Darkon and the Domains of Dread time and again. However, these struggles gave Azalin only a glimpse of freedom, and his metaphysical violations inevitably reverted to the Dark Powers™ original designs. Nevertheless, Azalin refused to stay a prisoner. His most recent plot culminated in the Hour of Ascension and the destruction of Castle Avernus. Since then, no one in Darkon has seen the Darklord, and his realm has begun deteriorating.

The stat block in this section presents the Darklord as he was prior to his disappearance and how he would be should he return. Azalin current spirit jar is a golden amulet he carries. If this amulet is destroyed, Azalin™s original spirit jar”an immovable dragon skull in the ruins of Castle Avernus”reactivates, and the lich™s spirit returns to Darkon if his body is destroyed.

The domain of Darkon has fractured into four regions: the Jagged Coast, Lychgate, the Mistlands, and Rexcrown. In Azalin™s absence, ambitious villains unleash terrors as they strive to dominate their piece of the domain. This section explores the horrors unfolding in each region of Darkon.

Jagged Coast

Stark vistas of sheer cliffs, mysterious islands, and knotted forests bleed from one to the next along the Jagged Coast. The shadow of Castle Avernus once loomed over the southern part of the region, enforcing grim peace on the small communities there. In the north, the thriving city of Martira Bay prides itself on its inhabitants™ wealth and reason.

Since Azalin™s disappearance, the Darklord™s secret police have maintained order here”obeying not the commands of the missing king, but rather the will of their regional leader, Alcio Metus.

Kargat

Azalin™s secret police, the Kargat, has long enforced the Darklord™s edicts and smothered any ember of rebellion in Darkon. Those њdisappearedќ by the Kargat are never seen again.

While all Darkon fears these dark-cloaked spies, few realize the Kargat is largely composed of vampires and other shape-shifting creatures. Members operate in cells assigned to particular tasks or locations, with each reporting to a regional leader. The highest-ranking members reported to Azalin. Serving the Kargat are the Kargatane, a cultlike rank of living informants and initiates who spy on their neighbors in hopes of earning supernatural power and induction into the larger organization.

The Hour of Ascension threw the Kargat into disorder. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Alcio Metus (Medium, Neutral Evil Вампир), a Kargat leader and criminal kingpin in Martira Bay, slew her peers and took over the western branch of the group. From the Black Tower in Martira Bay, Alcio spreads her Kargat spies across region and beyond.

Martira Bay

A foggy port on the Sea of Souls, Martira Bay is a cosmopolitan hub of trade and ideas. The populace prides itself on its worldliness and believes that the best of Darkon and lands beyond passes through the city. Martira Bay™s people appreciate reason and tangibility, and many have never left the city. This makes many residents incredulous of magic and the supernatural, even as sГ©ances and spiritualist practices flourish in posh salons.

Martira Bay is infamous for sensationalist murders. Newspapers such as The Bullseye update their devoted readership on the grisly details of sprees committed by killers such as the Midnight Slasher, the Spider, and the Weeping Woman. The overwhelmed Martira Bay constabulary works to counter these killers, as do professional detective agencies including the Ray Detectives (founded by Alanik Ray; see chapter 3) and the Dusklight Detectives.

Lychgate

Lychgate hides the magically shattered remains of Castle Avernus. Whatever ongoing magical disaster befell the castle during the Hour of Ascension has locked its ruins in time, freezing it in a semiexploded state. While Castle Avernus remains the lair of some of Azalin™s most dangerous servants, the surrounding wilderness has become overrun by shuffling corpses and mournful spirits drawn to the castle™s strange magic. The region is ruled by Ebbasheyth, Azalin™s Теневой дракон ally who maintains a lair in Castle Avernus.

Adventures in Lychgate likely relate to the mystery of Azalin™s disappearance. Roll on or choose a result from the Doom in Lychgate table to inspire adventures in this ruined realm.

Гибель в Лайчгейте

Гибель в Лайчгейте

	In Lychgate, Adventurers Might Seek ¦
1	Сосуд духа Азалина или иное магическое сокровище.
2	Труп союзника, чьё тело восстало зомби и убрело в Туманы.
3	Сокровище Тёмного властелина, хранимое в Авернусе.
4	Подробности судьбы Азалина.
5	Двойники Азалина, союзника или самого персонажа.
6	Проход к Слезе Короля.

Mistlands

Even before the Hour of Ascension, western Darkon was a land of magical mysteries and strange creatures. No longer fearing the Darklord™s magic, ancient evils have crept from the shadows to terrorize and control the scattered communities.

In the town of Nevuchar Springs, an elf mystic and leader of the Eternal Order, Cardinna Artazas, works to turn back the Shroud. To do this, she sought to resurrect a being bonded to the land and capable of bending the Mists to its will. This resulted in the corruption of her order™s sacred pools and unleashed Darcalus Rex, a Некрихор (see chapter 5) that claims to be the first king of Darkon. Uncertain of what it has unleashed but desperate for salvation, the Eternal Order serves the whims of Darcalus Rex as the strange being grows in power.

Rexcrown

Residents of Rexcrown consider themselves the only true Darkonians due to their proximity to the capital, Il Aluk. Despite that prestige, Rexcrown is covered in deadly swamps, depleted mountains, and fields that produce disturbingly malformed crops.

The city of Il Aluk is built in a bend in the Vuchar River and rises in countless gothic spires. These mark the homes of the city™s elite, severe governmental buildings, and temples dedicated to dozens of grim deities. Serving the city are the vassal villages of Decimus, Desolatus, and Despondia, where peasants struggle to feed the city™s people and the decadent lifestyles of local nobles.

As the Shroud spreads fear among traders, Il Aluk suffers from shortages in food and other supplies. The city™s residents have grown desperate and resentful of the exploitative upper class. This has resulted in violence and the ransacking of wealthy homes. The city™s elite have rallied behind one of their eldest members, Lady Talisveri Eris.

Eris is a vain human who uses elaborate fashions and makeup to disguise the fact that her body is permanently imperceptible. Once each moon, she incites her fearful peers to go out at night and commit violence while using her high-priced Potions of Greater Invisibility. These magical attacks and Eris™s pompous, detached rhetoric exacerbate tensions in the city while enriching her nearly bankrupt family.

Adventures set in Darkon™s disconnected regions often involve the mystery of Azalin™s disappearance, the domain™s dissolution, or the metaphysical nature of the Domains of Dread. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Darkon

Beyond the adventures you might develop in Darkon™s disconnected regions, the following elements persist across the domain.

Azalin™s Fate

The events of the Hour of Ascension and the fate of Azalin loom over adventures in Darkon. The details of these mysteries are yours to decide. You can take inspiration from the following possibilities when determining Azalin™s fate.

Severed Darklord. During the Hour of Ascension, Azalin™s body was destroyed as he tore open portals to the Negative and Positive Energy Planes. The former portal lies at the heart of Castle Avernus, while the latter is known as the King™s Tear. The opposed planar energies are disrupting Darkon. Once the domain is destroyed, Azalin theorizes, his spirit jar will be released into the Shadowfell.

Shattered Darklord. The Hour of Ascension was Azalin™s failed attempt to become one of the Dark Powers. His essence is now trapped within his spirit jar, scattered pieces of his iron crown, and the floating amber sarcophagus known as the King™s Tear. Whoever frees Azalin™s essence will become the new Darklord.

Unmoored Darklord. During the Hour of Ascension, Azalin split his soul, leaving a piece in Darkon while the greater part escaped through a metaphysical rent between domains”the King™s Tear. Now, disguised as the scholar Firan Zal™honan, Azalin searches for secrets of the Dark Powers in other domains. He avoids entering the Mists without Mist-wandering guides, fearing the Dark Powers will find him otherwise.

The Dead Serve

In Darkon, Humanoid corpses reanimate as Зомби 24 hours after death. These corpses obey Azalin. While he remains missing, they roam in a winding path toward Castle Avernus. These zombies avoid other creatures, but they fight anything that blocks their path.

The Shroud

During the day, one can traverse the Mists surrounding Darkon as normal, allowing travel between domains or regions of Darkon. At night, the Mists surrounding the domain turn deadly and encroach on the land”sometimes by infinitesimal degrees, other times in unstoppable floods. A creature that touches the Shroud takes 7 (2d6) Некротического урона and is Испуг until the end of its next turn. If a creature is slain by the Shroud or enters it entirely, the creature vanishes. What becomes of it is a mystery.

Darkon Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Darkon likely involve the mystery of the Hour of Ascension. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“3. The characters arrive in Darkon near Il Aluk, Martira Bay, or Nevuchar Springs. They soon make an ally among those who oppose the villains rising to replace Azalin: Alcio Metus, Darcalus Rex, or Talisveri Eris. The characters help defend their allies and learn of these villains™ methods.

Levels 4“15. The characters confront the region™s villain. Rather than fighting the characters, the villain entreats the group to help them establish control over the domain, which they believe will reunite Darkon™s regions and end the threat of the Shroud. To do so, they must defeat the domain™s other villains or recover the scattered remnants of Azalin™s power. The characters work to save Darkon while undermining their wicked patron.

Levels 16“18. The characters™ adventures take them to Castle Avernus, where they must either claim a remnant of Azalin™s might or learn his fate. In doing so, they can restore Azalin and bring his wrath down on those who would claim his throne.

Adventure for Level 16 Characters

Situation. The characters must learn the secret of Azalin™s disappearance.

Hook. The threat of the Shroud and those who would claim Azalin™s throne has grown too great to ignore. An ally directs the characters to the only place they can find answers regarding Azalin™s disappearance: Castle Avernus.

Scene Configuration Overview

• If you encounter broken links below, they will appear once you install the adventure in your World.

• The map is prepared for your adventures through Castle Avernus, with Global Illumination enabled by default.

• Scene Regions are configured to transport tokens from the first to the second floor and from the eighth to the ninth floor. No other stairs are equipped with Scene Regions.

• NPCs are placed in the scene and hidden until you are ready for PCs to interact with them.

Encounters

This adventure uses map 2.7: Castle Avernus. Before starting, consult the њAzalin™s Fateќ section and develop the details behind the Darklord™s disappearance. The floors of Castle Avernus are disconnected, allowing characters to access them in any order.

Lychgate Encounters. While traveling through Lychgate or between floors of Castle Avernus, roll on the following table to determine what the characters encounter.

	Encounter
1	Два мародёрствующих Арканалота (см. «Энциклопедия чудовищ»)
2	Два Дуллахана (см. главу 5) и два Кошмара
3	Два Терзающих ревенанта (см. «Энциклопедия чудовищ»), замаскированных под обломки
4	Два Неумолимых джаггернаута (см. главу 5)

Into the Maw. Droves of animate corpses fill the outer bailey. A Spirit Naga named Lossa lurks amid the rubble. If she spots the characters, she impersonates Azalin and commands the corpses to fight. They rise as three Zombie Clots (see chapter 5).

The Archive. Elzarath, an Indifferent Ghost with a floating severed head, laments the state of the archives. Elzarath shares that they once held the biographies of all who died in Darkon, but now the books are scattered. If asked about Azalin™s biography, the ghost searches and finds nothing. Elzarath doesn™t know Azalin™s actual name, but if specifically asked about the biography of Firan Zal™honan, the ghost finds the book. This biography relates the information in the њAzalin™s Taleќ section and key details of the Hour of Ascension.

Crypt of Irik Zal™honan. The Ghost Irik Zal™honan appears to any Good-aligned creature or those who call out to him. Irik can™t leave this area, but he aids those who seek to restore his father. He knows Azalin™s true name is Firan Zal™honan and shares that with anyone who destroys the corrupted experiment in the Hall of Life in the ruins above. Irik reveals that he is Azalin™s son only if asked directly.

Hall of Life. This room holds a dragon skull made of gold and a circle of glass and emerald cylinders. The dragon skull remains magically anchored so only Azalin can move it. The cylinders are cracked and filled with bubbling decay. If someone smashes all the cylinders, the cylinders fuse into a Hostile Abomination with the same stat block as a Lesser Star Spawn Emissary (see chapter 5).

Ebbasheyth™s Lair. Ebbasheyth the Shadow Dragon is in her lair, attended by a Kargat Messenger (Medium Vampire Nightbringer). The monsters are Hostile, but any character who takes an Influence action and succeeds on a Проверка: Убеждение СЛ 16 can make them Indifferent. Characters who mention their desire to restore Azalin have Advantage on this check. If made Indifferent, Ebbasheyth tells the characters the archives might hold details of Azalin™s schemes. If asked what name to search for, she doesn™t know but relates that the spirit in the room below might.

Conclusion. The biography of Firan Zal™honan in the archive reveals the secret of Azalin™s disappearance. From this, the characters should know how to find or restore Azalin or how to recover his power. Characters also earn a bonus 9800 ОП каждому.

Domain of Decadent Delusion

Composed of the city of Port-a-Lucine and its shining, fog-shrouded outskirts, Dementlieu is a realm where the truth is smothered by collective delusion. Everything in Port-a-Lucine appears to be more than it is, and people behave as if the few examples of grandeur and prosperity were the norm. Beneath its facade, the city is rotten.

Despite pervasive claims of happiness and success, the people of Dementlieu fight to survive and maintain social appearances. Every individual struggles to hide their struggles. Lying is central to life in the domain, creating a breeding ground for con artists and smiling villains.

Behind the domain™s denial of reality is its Darklord, the phantomlike Duchess Saidra d™Honaire. The cynosure of high society, this masked duchess ensnares the city™s upper class in her exaggerated ideas of luxury and civility. During her weekly masquerade balls, Saidra™s guests must perform to her expectations. Those who fail to charm her are decried as impostors and reduced to ash by her magic. Saidra™s terror also grips the city™s desperate. Her murderous, unmasked form”the Red Death”stalks the benighted streets, preying on any who tarnish her preposterous vision of a perfect society.

Domain Features

Dementlieu is known for the following features:

City of Lies. Nothing in Port-a-Lucine is as it appears. Everyone pretends to be more successful than they are. Lies great and small fill everyday communication. All residents know these truths, but none dares speak of them.

Grand Masquerade. Every week Duchess d™Honaire holds a Grand Masquerade. Invitations are coveted, and invitees who don™t attend rarely survive for long.

Lord Governor. Administration of Port-a-Lucine rests in the hands of Lord Governor Marcel Guignol. He is counseled by aristocratic advisers, including the duchess.

Masks. Decorative masks are common accessories, worn at social events and in daily life.

Locations in Dementlieu

Port-a-Lucine™s grand structures and garish promenades dazzle viewers, distracting most from the grimy streets and cramped homes beyond. The countryside of Chateaufaux is described below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Dementlieu Locations table.

Chateaufaux

The people of Port-a-Lucine speak of the countryside, Chateaufaux, where nobles summer at their estates and where idyllic villages send goods for sale into the city. But no one travels far beyond the city walls, no goods arrive from beyond, and Chateaufaux doesn™t actually exist. The Mists creep close to Port-a-Lucine, occasionally exposing patches of forests and meadows but nothing more. Nevertheless, Chateaufaux remains a convenient explanation for whatever mysteriously appears or disappears.

Duchess Saidra d™Honaire knows her life isn™t her own”she knows she isn™t alive at all”yet she ignores that for the sparkle of empty celebrations and a parody of her ideal life. The duchess terrorizes Dementlieu, forcing the realm to conform to her desires. Those who expose the flaws in her fantasy and remind her of the desperation she once endured, she slays using her life-sapping power.

All can plainly see Duchess d™Honaire isn™t one of the living. Nevertheless, servants and sycophants flatter her poise, beauty, and array of lavish masquerade costumes. When not hosting decadent social events, Saidra removes her mask and slips into the night. Through the streets and alleys of Port-a-Lucine, the Darklord prowls as the Red Death: a murderous spirit that preys on liars, the struggling, and all who remind her of her humble origins.

Saidra is overbearing and elitist, despite being unworldly. She fears being exposed as a fraud and projects this fear onto others, violently accusing

them of being liars on the barest evidence or sign of vulgarity. Yet, in mysterious letters and rumors, Saidra receives evidence that her own simple, spiteful family dwells somewhere beyond her city. Their confessions could bring all her deceptions to light.

Adventures set in Dementlieu feature mystery and deception, often involving illusions and fairy-tale grandeur masking depravity and murder. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Dementlieu

Adventures in Dementlieu often include the following elements.

Lies and Liars

In Dementlieu, one can take little at face value. Terrible food might be called gourmet, while horrendous art might be dubbed avant garde. Those who resist such claims might find themselves mocked for not understanding a thing™s appeal. This can lead to challenges that range from the comical to the surreal. Roll on or choose a result from the Dementlieu Deceptions table to inspire overlooked events that might lead to broader consequences.

Обманы Деменльё

Обманы Деменльё

	A Dementlieuse Liar ¦
1	Утверждает, что лично знает герцогиню д'Онер и потому заслуживает особого обращения.
2	Настаивает, что вкладывает все ресурсы в решение проблемы, которую явно игнорирует.
3	Публично попал в ловушку или ранен, но уверяет прохожих, что всё в порядке.
4	Выдаёт свои пироги из крысятины и вино из сточной воды за модные деликатесы.
5	Выдаёт себя за эксперта, но его советы — нелепая или опасная чепуха.
6	Утверждает, что его краденый товар из Шатофо.

Scourge of the Red Death

Between masquerades, Saidra d™Honaire fixates on her past and her fear that people suspect her ignoble origins. At these times, her glamorous facade fades, reducing her to a crimson spirit. In this guise, she slips into the night and scours Port-a-Lucine, targeting the sick, poor, or uncouth; those who disparage nobles; and those she suspects of investigating her past. The resulting life-drained bodies are attributed to a notorious figure locals call the Red Death.

Using the Red Death. While Port-a-Lucine™s residents ignore the Red Death™s victims”potentially chiding corpses for their laziness or public drunkenness”the characters are unlikely to overlook bodies so clearly drained of life. Use such corpses to remind the group that the lies of Dementlieu™s people are dangerous denials of reality.

Dementlieu Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Dementlieu often involve the discovery and unraveling of a conspiracy. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“3. Someone asks the characters in Port-a- Lucine for help finding a missing friend, opera performer, or noble. Following the clues, the characters learn this is but one of a rash of disappearances involving dangerous creatures hiding in plain sight”such as Гаргулья, Крыса-оборотень, or Восковая фигура (see chapter 5).

Level 4“5. The mystery points toward an elite member of society. The characters can™t gain access to this individual, but they know the noble attends the Grand Masquerade of Duchess d™Honaire. The characters must prepare for and infiltrate the event (detailed below) to learn more.

Levels 6“8. Learning that the suspicious noble supports or benefits from the disappearances, the characters investigate the noble™s home or business (such as the opera house or House of Wax). There, they discover and disrupt the creatures behind the disappearances, likely finding that the vanished people have been turned into monsters. If the noble escapes, an unrefusable invitation to the Grand Masquerade might draw them out, resulting in a showdown during that event”and potentially attracting the ire of Duchess d™Honaire.

Adventure for Level 4 Characters

Situation. The Grand Masquerade is an opportunity for characters to meet Dementlieuse nobles and gain information they can™t otherwise access.

Hook. The date of the next masquerade is public knowledge. To attend, the characters need to create their own costumes and invitations.

Encounters

The adventure uses map 2.9 and consists of these encounters.

Dressed to Kill. Attendees at the Grand Masquerade are expected to sport lavish costumes featuring fanciful masks. Any character not wearing an appropriate Costume, a mask, and at least 100 GP worth of jewelry (or appropriate magical alternatives) has Disadvantage on Charisma checks made during this adventure. Armor can™t be worn with a nonmagical costume. If a character becomes Окровавленный while wearing a nonmagical costume, their costume is destroyed.

Arrival. At the entrance to the estate, servants check the characters™ invitations. A character with a forged invitation must succeed on a Проверка: Обман СЛ 10 to be admitted. Those who fail are asked to leave. If they refuse, four Упырь wearing formal wear and masks fight them.

Masquerade. The Grand Masquerade unfolds in three tableaux. During each, the characters can decide to dance, gossip, flirt, or do something else. Each character can earn renown for their group with the ball™s attendees and host by making positive impressions on other guests (see chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master™s Guide for details on renown). Each positive interaction can increase the group™s Renown Score by 1 per character per tableau.

Duchess d™Honaire has yet to appear, but hundreds of other costumed nobles mingle during the masquerade. These masked guests might share their names, but a character must succeed on a Проверка: Внимание СЛ 10 to identify even someone they™re familiar with. The following guests pay particular attention to the characters:

Alexandre du Cire (Medium Восковая фигура; see chapter 5) poses as a human and runs the House of Wax. He urges the characters to visit his establishment. His costume is a suit on one side and a ball gown on the other. He is Friendly.

Angel Pajaro (Medium Волк-оборотень) is a famed diva of the Port-a-Lucine opera and is Hostile. She likes to humiliate her fans but loves flattery from other performers. She™s dressed as an arctic fox.

Julienne d™Honaire (Medium, Neutral Good Бандит) is a Friendly human. She™s bubbly and behaves in an unrefined manner. She claims to be related to the duchess but confides that she wasn™t invited. Julienne wears a secondhand ballerina costume.

Lord Governor Marcel Guignol (Medium Благородный) is Indifferent and didn™t want to attend the event. The elderly human is jittery and hates loud noises, and he seeks an excuse to leave. He™s dressed as a smiling jester.

Raoul Rameau (Medium Капитан стражи) is a member of the city watch. He tries to guess who people are and why they™ve been invited”his hunches are poor. He™s dressed as a toy monkey with cymbals.

Uncouth Exchange. After the second tableau, two revelers wearing the same costumes as two nearby characters spot their lookalikes. Outraged by this faux pas, these Берсерк fight them, wielding sharpened candelabras (these function as Greataxes). If the characters defeat their attackers, their Renown Score increases by 2.

The Duchess Appears. After three tableaux, Saidra d™Honaire (see Сейдра д'Онэр in this chapter) appears. She is fabulous and terrible as she drifts over the flattering crowd. Nearing the characters, she halts, gasps in revulsion, and points. њYou! Never have I seen such an audaciously incompetent impostor! Who do you think you are to violate these hallowed halls?!ќ Near a character, Julienne d™Honaire begins to reply, and the duchess instantly disintegrates her. A ghoulish servant soon appears with a dustpan to clean the spot where Julienne stood. If party members spent two or more tableaux with Julienne, the group™s Renown Score decreases by 1.

Conclusion. If the group™s Renown Score is 5 or less, the duchess shrieks, outraged to find more unworthies. Right away, four Упырь servants appear and fight the characters; two Ghouls arrive every round until the party flees the estate. The duchess doesn™t fight.

If the characters™ Renown Score is at least 6, the duchess compliments one of their costumes as she drifts by in time with the music. If the characters came to the masquerade to meet or influence someone, that individual appears soon after, impressed by the duchess™s compliment. Other members of the city™s nobility or individuals the characters met earlier in the night also might approach them with invitations or offers of employment. Characters earn a bonus 600 ОП каждому.

Domain Besieged by the Dead

Falkovnia is a land besieged. Empty countryside surrounds ruined or crumbling cities. Only a few desperate pockets of civilization survive, carrying on not out of hope, but out of fear of the land™s merciless soldiers. Led by General Vladeska Drakov, Falkovnia™s military organizes a desperate and occasionally effective defense against an implacable foe: the ever-growing armies of the dead.

Every moon, a new zombie legion emerges from the Mists. Never appearing from the same place twice, the horde sweeps across the land, drawn to the densest populations of the living. That always includes the Falkovnian capital of Lekar, where unfit and underfed conscripts defend crumbling walls alongside General Drakov and her crimson-armored elite soldiers, the Talons. Causalities mount during the zombie sieges, but miracles and moments of desperate valor haven™t abandoned Falkovnia. The people™s numbers dwindle, but they soldier on.

In the aftermath of a zombie attack, the Falkovnians burn their dead, repair what they can, and whisper that now might be the time to flee the city. Invariably, someone speaks too loudly, and soldiers drag off the so-called traitor to be impaled as an example. The people might want to abandon their homes, but Vladeska Drakov refuses to accept defeat.

Domain Features

Falkovnia is known for the following features:

Army of the Dead. Every night of the new moon, thousands of ravenous zombies emerge from the Mists to feed on the living.

Capital Punishment. There is only one punishment for any crime in Falkovnia: impalement.

Rotten Remnants. Ruins cover Falkovnia”towns and villages crushed by zombie hordes and haunted by undead stragglers.

Talon Soldiers. Falkovnian soldiers known as Talons patrol the land, hunting for deserters and strangers to press into service. Talon officers bear prominent tattoos of the Blood Falcon, the symbol of Vladeska Drakov.

Locations in Falkovnia

Falkovnia is an unnervingly still domain, where people and animals hide to avoid attracting the attention of zombies and Drakov™s brutal Talons. The city of Lekar is described below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Falkovnia Locations table.

Lekar

The only city of the living left in Falkovnia, Lekar bears the brunt of the zombie invasion. The city has outgrown its walls multiple times since its founding, leaving its districts divided by fortifications. During the first zombie siege, General Drakov sacrificed the northern River Ward, leaving hundreds of souls to be slaughtered but allowing the remaining defenders to turn back the zombie horde.

Now the city™s survivors face harsh conditions. Talon soldiers keep the peace in the cramped slums. Troops lead civilians outside the walls to scavenge from ruins and work the fields of abandoned farms, but their harvests are never enough for the city™s survivors. Though bitter and desperate, soldiers live better than civilians, assured of rations and housing in the Bastion Ward”the Talons-only district around General Drakov™s command center at Custodian™s Hall. From there, Drakov orders daily public executions as conscripts dispense supplies to the suffering masses.

General of a demoralized occupying army, Vladeska Drakov rules what little of Falkovnia hasn™t been overrun by the dead. A cunning authoritarian, she believes any tactics”no matter how immoral”are permissible in the pursuit of victory. The Mists torment her by keeping her ever on the edge of defeat, exhausting her and forcing her to watch her precision fail in the face of an endless string of emergencies and an undefeatable enemy horde. Drakov is ever being pushed to the edge. Hunger, sleep deprivation, and the endless demands of terrified troops and civilians drive her toward outbursts of paranoia and violence.

Adventures set in Falkovnia involve zombie hordes, cruel soldiers, and Drakov herself. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Falkovnia

Adventures in Falkovnia often include the following elements.

Zombie March

Zombies emerge from the Mists on the night of the new moon. This surge brings a recurring threat to besiege the walls of Lekar, but it also makes encountering droves of zombies more likely throughout the domain. Use the zombies from chapter 5, the Monster Manual, or other sources to create surprising and terrifying encounters.

The Falcon™s Talons

Drakov™s military forces are both completely overwhelming and entirely outnumbered. Though relatively few in number, the Talons are organized enough to oppress Falkovnia™s survivors and enforce Drakov™s totalitarian laws. In the face of zombie hordes, though, the Talons are fighting a losing battle. Talon soldiers are Пеший воитель, while officers are Воитель-ветеран.

Martial Law

Lekar is a martial dictatorship. Drakov™s troops carry out example-setting impalings as punishment for even the slightest crimes. These executions impose order through terror and make it clear that zombies aren™t the realm™s only monsters.

Only Bad Choices

There is one simple truth in Falkovnia: The dead are going to kill everyone. This sets the stage for countless bad decisions, from leaders making terrible sacrifices or permitting immoral acts to individuals making fatalistic choices. Locals behave as if it™s their last day alive”because it probably is.

Trapped with the Dead

Falkovnia™s borders are usually closed, and Vladeska Drakov has no control over when they open. Anyone who enters the Mists surrounding Falkovnia encounters endless numbers of zombies. Travelers who somehow avoid these shambling corpses emerge from the Mists back in Falkovnia, pursued by the undead. For one week following the night of the new moon, the Mists are empty of zombies and the borders open. During this time, Drakov sends patrols of Talons to sweep the edges of the Mists for deserters. These patrols are difficult to avoid, and battles with them often attract zombies.

Falkovnia Campaign Arc

Falkovnia is one of the few domains where the characters and the Darklord might be on the same side, united against unrelenting hordes of zombies. The characters might try to defend Falkovnia™s people alongside Drakov, but as the Darklord™s obsession with victory becomes clear, they must balance keeping her trust and upholding their principles. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“4. The characters save a group of commoners and outmatched Talons from Zombies. The thankful band takes the characters to Lekar, where people hail them as heroic њTrueborn of Falkovnia.ќ Vladeska Drakov recruits them to bring scattered pockets of common folk to safety in Lekar.

Levels 5“8. The characters witness the suffering in Lekar and see some of those they™ve saved impaled for disloyalty. Rebels entreat them to help smuggle people out of Lekar to hidden encampments in the mountains.

Levels 9“12. The characters are captured by Talons, but Drakov offers them freedom if they defend the city™s southern gate, the Gate of Torches, from the impending zombie siege. Unknown to the characters, Drakov plans to sacrifice the gate as detailed in the њSiege of Lekarќ adventure.

Adventure for Level 9 Characters

Situation. Zombie hordes attack Lekar. Vladeska Drakov seeks to defeat them by sacrificing the characters and a district of Lekar.

Hook. The characters are ordered by Drakov or entreated by citizens to defend the Gate of Torches.

Lekar Gates

This adventure takes place at a gate in Lekar™s southern wall, the Gate of Torches, and a second gate to Lekar™s central district, Loyalist™s Gate. The Gate of Torches shows the scars of countless zombie claws, but otherwise the gates are identical. Both have the following features:

Fortifications. The walls of Lekar are 30 feet tall, with the gatehouse™s towers rising 40 feet. Crenelations atop both provide defenders with Three-Quarters Cover from beyond the wall.

Gates. The gatehouse™s battle-scarred gates are Huge objects with AC 19, 72 HP, and Immunity to Poison and Psychic damage. Any character adjacent to the mechanism over the gate can open or close the gate in 1 round.

Encounters

These encounters begin at the Gate of Torches, which uses map 2.12. Characters can position themselves where they please. Describe inexperienced soldiers guarding other posts or zombies beyond the map, but don™t track their actions in battle. When you™re ready to begin the siege, the Siege Events by Round table outlines what occurs each round. The following sections further detail these events.

Zombie Attack. Zombies shamble from the south and attack the gatehouse™s gates. Rather than having foes make individual attacks on the gates, assume the gates take 4d6 damage every time a round ends with a zombie adjacent to them. When reduced to 0 Hit Points, the gate is destroyed. If this occurs, troops flee as detailed in њSiege Climax.ќ

Drakov™s Talons. Starting on round 5, any character on or behind the walls who succeeds on a Проверка: Внимание СЛ 12 notices Talons (four Воитель-ветеран) behind the gate. The Talons are supposedly allied troops, so this shouldn™t cause concern. The Talons behave as detailed on the Siege Events by Round table. They flee if fought.

Talon Wagon. This wagon contains kegs of gunpowder. A character adjacent to the wagon who spends a round investigating discovers these explosives. On round 6, any character who has noticed the Talons and is within sight of them sees them setting fuses. If no one prevents the soldiers from lighting the fuses or extinguishes the lit fuses, the wagon explodes at the end of round 8. Creatures within 30 feet of it when it explodes make a Испытание: Ловкость СЛ 12, taking 42 (12d6) урона Огнём damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one. The explosion destroys the gatehouse™s gate, regardless of its remaining Hit Points.

Siege Climax. The siege continues until either the gatehouse™s gate is destroyed or the end of round 9. At the end of round 9, an explosion hundreds of feet to the west destroys part of the city wall, and Зомби pour into Lekar. Surviving soldiers abandon their posts”it™s clear the Gate of Torches will be overrun. These survivors race through the slums to Loyalist™s Gate.

Loyalist™s Gate. Loyalist™s Gate is identical to the Gate of Torches and uses map 2.12: Lekar Gate. When the characters arrive from the south, the gate is closed. Hundreds of surviving soldiers and slum residents scream for the guards to let them through. Talon soldiers (eight Пеший воитель) and Владеска Дракова (see earlier in this chapter) guard the gate. Drakov thanks the panicking assemblage for their sacrifice and reveals her plan to set the slums ablaze once the zombies flood in. The characters can open the gate to admit the crowd using the mechanism in the gatehouse, but Drakov and her troops fight to prevent this.

The characters have 4 rounds before groups of 1d6#The number of zombies that appear Зомби begin appearing from the south at the end of each round. Narrate these zombies attacking the crowd, but don™t track the crowd™s Hit Points. If the characters open the gate before the zombies appear, they earn 5900 ОП каждому.

Drakov™s Defeat. If Drakov is defeated, Falkovnia™s borders open, and no zombies appear from the Mists for several moons. Some people rebuild, others flee into the Mists. After this time, though, Drakov reappears and slowly retakes control of Falkovnia. The borders close, and zombies return soon afterward.

None can say how many domains drift through the Mists. This section hints at the multitudes of additional Domains of Dread. Detail and explore them in your adventures, or use them as examples when creating your own domains using chapter 4.

Darklord: Flimira Vhage

Hallmarks: Detective work, memory loss

Everything inside the office of the Agency is a monotone gray. Anyone who passes the frosted glass door into this single-room domain is expected by Flimira њFlintlockќ Vhage, the detective agency™s owner. From here, Flimira collects cryptic correspondence relating to mysteries across the Domains of Dread. She enlists agents to investigate these cases, then report back to her. However, she never reveals her own past as a detective-turned-criminal, her involvement in every case her agency investigates, or that the Agency exists within her mind.

Darklord: The God-Brain

Hallmarks: Abductions, false memories, illithids

The entity that would become the God-Brain of Bluetspur was an illithid elder brain whose existence-violating experiments revealed a malignant truth of the multiverse. This secret manifested in the elder brain™s mind as an alien disease. Terrified of learning this pernicious, devouring knowledge themselves, the other illithid elder brains banished their peer from existence. In actuality, the Dark Powers claimed the afflicted elder brain and granted it an alien domain. Now called the God-Brain by the mind flayers and stranger entities that serve it, this elder brain pursues radical methods of saving itself from the thoughts destroying it. Its servants claim trespassers and beings from other domains, violating their minds with their bizarre experiments.

Darklords: Isolde and Nepenthe

Hallmarks: Bargains, misfits, wandering exiles

The Carnival is a wandering domain that appears within other Domains of Dread. Before the Carnival appears, mysterious fliers blow into communities near where it™s about to arrive. When it arrives, the Carnival sets up a surreal wonderland of entertainment and oddities staffed by performers, outcasts, and cursed individuals from countless lands. Attractions include grand shows at the big top, sideshow performances, and the Hall of Horrors. The Carnival™s mysterious leader is Isolde, a good but wrathful warrior of the Feywild who™s cursed to lead the Carnival even as she hunts an elusive foe across the Domains of Dread. She carries the bladelike Nepenthe, a weapon that hungers for blood. Although driven by vengeance and painful memories, Isolde protects the Carnival at all costs.

Darklord: The Last Passenger

Hallmarks: Escape from disaster, lightning rail

The disaster known as the Mourning numbers among the greatest tragedies to befall the world of Eberron”a mysterious calamity that killed nearly everyone in the land of Cyre. In the nation™s capital of Metrol, some citizens foresaw the coming devastation and sought to escape on lightning rails: elemental-powered engines capable of pulling trains of passenger carts. As scared innocents packed Metrol™s last lightning rail, known as Cyre 1313, the evacuation was delayed at the demand of a late-arriving VIP. Hundreds were forced from passenger carts to admit and maintain the secrecy of this last passenger and their retinue. When the lightning rail finally departed, it was too late”the Mourning overtook the train and its escapees. But even as it did so, the Mists claimed Cyre 1313 and all aboard it. Now, the last lightning rail from Metrol hurtles through the Mists as a traveling domain.

Those on board fear the disaster pursuing them, the mysterious passenger seated in the train™s foremost cart, and the necrotic energy now infusing the engine™s elemental spirit. Yet none of the passengers realizes that their endless quest for escape is pointless, as Cyre 1313 carries only the dead.

Darklord: Tristen ApBlanc

Hallmarks: Life and death, strange invention

Tristen ApBlanc was born amid tragedy, the son of a vampire father and a human noble. Fearful villagers murdered his parents, leaving the boy to be adopted by druids. But during his teenage years, his dhampir nature revealed itself (see chapter 1). When the druids discovered the youth™s hunger for blood, they cast him out. Tristen grew enraged and slaughtered them, draining them all. The sacred waters of the druids™ rituals had infused their blood, though, making it poison to the dhampir. Tristen died with his adopted family, but as the Mists closed in around their sacred stone circle, he rose as a ghost.

Unexpectedly, with the dawn, the Darklord™s dhampir body was restored. Now, he lives by day, a perpetually young, charming, invention-obsessed dhampir dwelling in Castle Tristenoira, the smoking fortress his goblin servants built over the druid circle of his onetime family. At night, though, the dhampir dies a painful death, then rises in his spectral form to scour all that is green and vibrant from
his land.

Darklord: Stezen d™Polarno

Hallmarks: Cursed art, dour population

A notorious hedonist, Marquis Stezen d™Polarno enjoyed popularity among his noble peers but craved immortality. A mysterious artist offered him eternity by painting Stezen™s portrait on a magical canvas. But the artist didn™t mention that the painting would strip Stezen of his love of life and natural charm. Despite his dulled existence, the marquis enjoys one reprieve: Once every season, when he shows his portrait to an audience, it consumes their souls and refreshes his thrill for life. Stezen™s artistic predations captured the attention of the Dark Powers, which drew his lands into the Mists. Now, Ghastria is a fertile island that, like its lord, lacks an essential vim”except for once per season, when vigor fleetingly returns.

Darklord: Yagno Petrovna

Hallmarks: Corrupt theocracy, false deity

Born of a Barovian family, Yagno Petrovna went missing on the slopes of Mount Ghakis as a youth. As a violent storm rose, he took shelter in a mysterious ruin and was found weeks later wandering the hills, babbling about an amber idol and the god he™d discovered: Zhakata the Provider and the Devourer. His family sought to help him, but when they learned Yagno had been secretly sacrificing people to his fictitious god, they chased him into the Mists. When he emerged, the domain of G™henna sprawled before him.

Life is hard in G™henna, a rocky land home to fierce, ravenous animals. The domain™s starving people worship the bestial god Zhakata and regularly travel to the cathedral-city of Zhukar. There, they offer their crops in sacrifice and hear Zhakata™s will through the revered prophet Yagno Petrovna.

Darklord: Tsien Chiang

Hallmarks: Labyrinth, inescapable dreamworld

In her youth, Tsien Chiang accidentally slew her gold dragon mentor to create a magic, wish-granting bell capable of driving invaders from her homeland. Her scheme worked, and the people made Chiang their queen. Over time, though, the people bristled under Chiang™s rule and rose up in revolt. Slaughter and loss on both sides led Chiang to ring her magic bell again, but this time the bell cracked, and the Mists spilled forth. When they faded, Tsien Chiang was the ruler of I™Cath, a labyrinthine, nightmare city where the people sleep endlessly. In their dreams, they toil forever in a fantasy version of the city, working to maintain the perfectionism of their harsh queen.

Darklord: Gabrielle Aderre

Hallmarks: Bad parents, possessed children

Gabrielle Aderre is convinced that her son, Malocchio, is destined for greatness. From her estate outside the village of Karina, she employs an endless string of servants to provide Malocchio with the best possible upbringing. Inevitably, though, every servant flees or vanishes, either as a result of Gabrielle™s unreasonable expectations or the deadly tricks and accidents that frequently occur around the child. Gabrielle isn™t content to leave her son™s grand destiny to chance, though. Using her precious bone spirit board, she calls on supernatural forces to guide and protect her son. Spirits, angels, fiends, and worse answer her summons”but as long as they chart Malocchio™s path to glory, the Darklord eagerly accepts their gifts.

Darklord: Thakok-An

Hallmarks: Magical apocalypse, obsession

The city of Kalidnay was once the seat of power of Kalid-Ma, one of the monstrous sorcerer-kings of Athas. Thakok-An, the greatest of Kalid-Ma™s enforcers, desired the sorcerer-king so greatly that when she learned of a plot against her master, she didn™t reveal it. Instead, she performed a magical rite to grant Kalid-Ma even greater power, sacrificing her own family to do so. Her ritual went wrong, though, and life-draining magic washed over Kalidnay, destroying the city and draining life from nearly all its residents. Awaking amid the ruins, Thakok-An found Kalidnay surrounded by an endless sea of silt and mist. Worse, rather than being empowered, Kalid-Ma languished in a cursed torpor, the sorcerer-king™s vast magic bleeding away.

Now Thakok-An obsesses over her sleeping king. From Kalidnay™s survivors, she™s created a new cult of servants. Following Thakok-An™s wishes, these templars condemn trespassers in Kalidnay to ritual combat in the arena, where the lives of the slain sustain the secretly withering sorcerer-king.

Darklord: Tristessa

Hallmarks: Banshee, silent village

The forbidding land of Keening is dominated by Mount Lament, at whose base lies the village of Anwrtyn. The people of Anwrtyn deafen themselves so they won™t hear the shrieking of the banshee Tristessa, a mournful spirit who roams Mount Lament and whose wail carries through the night. In life, Tristessa dwelled under Mount Arak in Tepest (detailed earlier in this chapter), but she was exiled for crimes against her people. In death, she endlessly seeks to reunite with the family slain by her misdeeds.

Darklord: Klorr

Hallmarks: Impending doom, surreal environment

Klorr is the end of worlds. Here, shattered islands drift through a misty netherworld, caught in a swirling, clockwork spiral that ends at the unignorable, burning eye called Klorr. Thirteen stars orbit this sunlike sphere, one winking out every hour. Each time one of the stars dies, one of the domain™s ruined islands is drawn into Klorr and consumed by flames. Afterward, each other island wrenches ahead, then halts, one hour closer to the same doom. When all thirteen stars have winked out, they return hourly to the sky.

Those who dwell on the crumbling islands trapped in the domain count the hours until their end. Few know how they came to Klorr or when new islands get added to the cycle, only that the Mists closed in and doomed them. Amid the realm™s surreal skies float the ruins of lost domains”among them, a city of skulls, a realm overrun by dogs, and an array of bloody, iron arenas. Echoes of domains that exist elsewhere in the Domains of Dread also drift here, including at least one duplicate of Castle Ravenloft. Those cast away amid this orderly apocalypse grow ever more desperate to defy the doomsday clock and the will of a hidden Darklord, the obsessed clockmaker named Klorr.

Darklord: Frantisek Markov

Hallmarks: Depraved science, sapient animals

Dr. Frantisek Markov is a genius”but less so than yesterday. His Markov Formula grants him unparalleled intellect, but it insidiously steals more than it gives, making him increasingly dull-witted and bestial in form. Despairing, the doctor fled to a tropical island he dubbed Markovia, where he tests new versions of his formula on the local fauna in hopes of recovering his waning genius. As a result of these tests, animals across Markovia now possess sapience and have been deluded into worshipping Markov as their god.

Darklord: The Nightmare Court

Hallmarks: Nightmares, recurring dreams

Any who sleep might become forever trapped in the Nightmare Lands, a phantasmagoric realm whose features shift endlessly. Those who visit and escape speak of malicious wildernesses; the empty city called Nod; and uncountable drifting spheres, each containing a stranger™s unending nightmare. Insidious entities called the Nightmare Court rule the domain. No one knows how many members make up the court, but they include the tragically graceful Ghost Dancer, the tomb-bound Hypnos, the witch Mullonga, the trickster Morpheus, and the embodiment of terror known as the Nightmare Man. These beings, artisans of nightmares, visit terrors on any whose sleeping minds brush against the domain.

The Nightmare Court™s members share one commonality: All are the living nightmares of Caroline Dinwiddy, a potent psychic who has repressed memories of her own heartless deeds. These memories torment her sleeping mind, creating the Nightmare Court. Deep within the City of Nod, inside a warped reimagining of the clinic where she once worked, Caroline sleeps without waking, refusing to face the terrors her dreams unleash on innocents across the Domains of Dread and beyond.

Darklord: Sarthak

Hallmarks: Asceticism, brainwashing, shadows

The Ashram of Niranjan is a vibrant vihara, or monastery, on a misty chain of islands. Here the elderly scholar Niranjan leads ascetics in practicing Ramsana, a way of life prioritizing nonattachment to the material world. In truth, Niranjan is Sarthak, a wicked bronze dragon who sends agents into the Mists bearing his philosophical writings. These works promise escape and peace to any who adopt their teachings and search the Mists for their source. Those who come to the ashram must divest themselves of worldly goods, which become part of Sarthak™s hidden hoard. Sarthak then helps his victims enter a trance that causes their souls to slip away from their bodies. Sarthak consumes these souls and replaces them with shadows, leaving the victims™ bodies under his control.

Darklord: Myar Hiregaard

Hallmarks: Nomadic riders, transformation

An unparalleled warrior, Myar Hiregaard united the nomadic tribes of the vast plains of Nova Vaasa. But, while respected as a soldier, Hiregaard made a poor peacetime leader. When brutal games could no longer keep her interest, she incited hostilities between two of her vassal tribes, then led her own forces to crush them. Subtly, she did this again and again.

After Hiregaard™s greatest massacre, the Mists enfolded all of Nova Vaasa, splitting the Darklord™s personality in two when they did. Now she rules her people with strict fairness”but when her bloodlust is piqued, she transforms into the raging knight called Malkan and sows discord across the plains.

Darklord: Maligno

Hallmarks: Evil toys, village of children

The toymaker Guiseppe had his wish for a family granted when his creation, the marionette Figlio, came to life. A proud father, the toymaker presented his son to all the people of his village, Odaire. The local children loved Figlio, but their skeptical parents said the marionette was nothing but a toy. Over time, this doubt enraged Figlio, and the marionette convinced Guiseppe to craft siblings for him. Then, when the time was right, Guiseppe™s creations did away with all the adults in Odaire.

Claimed by the Mists, Odaire is a village populated only by children and ruled by Figlio the Трупонетка (see chapter 5), who now calls himself Maligno.

Darklord: Jacqueline Renier

Hallmarks: Martial law, plague, wererats

The once-beautiful cities of Richemulot crumble as season after season of the Gnawing Plague afflicts the domain. Countless commoners and aristocrats have died, causing rule to settle with the vain noble Jacqueline Renier. Unbeknownst to the people, Jacqueline is a wererat whose servants create and spread the plague. She loathes what her domain has become but refuses to cede power back to the people by ending the ongoing disaster. Jacqueline™s obedient state police, the Casques Silencieux, enforce martial law and quarantines across the domain.

Darklord: The Headless Rider

Hallmarks: Haunted bridge, murderous legend

Nearly every domain knows some version of the apparition called the Headless Rider. It appears as a mercenary in dark armor in Mordent, a ghostly cataphract in Har™Akir, and a mutated centaur in Lamordia. But in each incarnation, certain details remain true: the rider lacks its head, it appears on a prominent bridge, and it decapitates victims as it endlessly searches for its own head. Anyone who escapes the Headless Rider might find a different domain on the opposite side of the spirit™s bridge. (See њDullahanќ in chapter 5 for more details.)

Darklord: Doerdon

Hallmarks: Misdirection, ventriloquism

The Risibilos is a small music hall, similar to those found in any decent-sized city. Its lord, Doerdon, was once a king”one so thoroughly humorless that he forbade his subjects the privilege of laughter, on pain of death. He now finds himself cursed to entertain others”a task he is utterly unqualified for. Fortunately, the Mists delivered him a partner, a ventriloquist™s dummy carved in the likeness of Strahd von Zarovich. The eerie dummy has a mind of its own, insisting it is the real Strahd and that the creature currently sitting on the throne of Castle Ravenloft is a mere impostor. It rages at the audience and makes audacious promises to any who will help it regain its station. Anyone with the slightest inkling of who Strahd is finds this hilarious. Their peals of laughter are agony to Doerdon™s ears.

Darklord: Lemont Sediam Juste

Hallmarks: Reality-manipulating theater

Lemont Sediam Juste fancied himself a serious playwright, and he achieved popular, if not critical, acclaim in Dementlieu for his works of grisly horror. But he craved respectability, and with his new play Apparitions, Lemont believed he would find it. The night of the premiere, when the audience signaled their boredom, the playwright was crestfallen. His supporters wanted blood, so he gave them what they craved.

By the play™s end, Lemont had joined the drama and brutally murdered every member of the cast while the crowd roared their approval. As the show ended, the playhouse broke from Dementlieu, and Scaena was formed. Comprising a single playhouse, the domain can create any reality Lemont desires on its stage. The Darklord™s immersive performances become somewhat predictable, though, as they always end in slaughter.

Darklord: Pietra van Riese

Hallmarks: Island domains, nautical horror

The murderous pirate Pietra van Riese, captain of the Relentless, had an unsavory reputation for attaching her captives to ropes and dragging them through the water until they drowned. She never removed the detritus of her victims, even though some returned to life as zombies. Rival captains ultimately sank the Relentless, but death couldn™t keep Pietra. She awoke in the Sea of Sorrows, water in her lungs and sea creatures making their homes in her flesh. Her crew stirred with her, now fish-eaten corpses. When the captain sought to speak with them, her voice emerged from their mouths.

The Relentless sails a domain that can overlap any body of water in any other domain. Some domains border the Sea of Sorrows, while others call these mysterious waters by other names. Those who venture into the Mists by ship might enter the sea™s endless debris-choked expanse of eerie beasts and shifting islands, including the following:

Blaustein. The island-fortress domain known as Blaustein once was ruled by the notorious Bluebeard, but his spectral wives overthrew him and now endlessly torment him.

Dominia. The asylum of the vampire Dr. Daclaud Heinfroth rises up from the stormy island of Dominia. The asylum™s patients are all dramatically different versions of Heinfroth, inspired by who he was at various points during his lengthy life.

Isle of the Ravens. A storm of ravens surrounds this forested islet. Hidden amid the feathered gale, an impossibly tall tower reaches into the sky. The Isle of Ravens is home to the Lady of Ravens, and any who offend her join her ebon-winged flock.

The Lighthouse. Otherworldly light shines from the Lighthouse, a twisted spur of bizarre fossils. Anyone who enters finds that instead of broadcasting a warning across the sea, the light calls down to what lurks in the pit hidden beneath it.

Vigilant™s Bluff. An undead paladin holds vigil atop Vigilant™s Bluff. Weary travelers can find refuge here if they respect the paladin™s faith. The bones of those who don™t litter the surrounding coral.

Darklord: Anton Misroi

Hallmarks: Imprisonment, swamp magic

In society, Anton Misroi presented himself as an upstanding gentleman who served as a prison warden. But within the walls of the prison, he became a sadist who believed righteousness was on his side. When his torturous punishments finally drove the inmates to rise up, the bloody riot that ensued drew the attentions of the Dark Powers. During the uprising, Anton drowned in the swamps surrounding the prison. But he rose again soon after, an undead warden in search of inmates.

Beyond Anton™s prison, alligator-filled swamps cover the domain of Souragne right up to the sinking settlement of Port d™Elhour and Marais d™Tarascon, a village where above-ground crypts outnumber the residences of the living.

Darklord: Teresa Bleysmith

Hallmarks: Endless warfare, repeating history

Eerily faceless mercenary regiments sweep the countryside of Staunton Bluffs. Burning villages and killing helpless residents, they push ever eastward toward Castle Stonecrest, hereditary home of the Bleysmith family. Teresa Bleysmith, spurred by jealousy of her brother, Torrence, gave her family™s foes the intelligence they needed to raid Staunton Bluffs. The attack was never supposed to go so far, but the duplicitous mercenaries stormed through the countryside to take Castle Stonecrest within a day. Teresa survived the attack”but when she surveyed the damage done and found her family dead by her own designs, she threw herself from the bluffs. Now she haunts her own domain, where she repeatedly relives the day of her betrayal.

Darklord: Kas the Bloody Handed

Hallmarks: Undead military dictatorship

Notorious across the planes, the vampire Kas was once the champion of the lich Vecna. Wielding the mighty sword that bears his name, he betrayed his master, and the resulting battle supposedly destroyed them both. In truth, Vecna escaped and grew in power over ages and across worlds. Kas, though, was claimed by the Mists, and in his wasteland domain of Tovag, he believes his war with Vecna rages on. Patrols of prisoner-soldiers under undead commanders scour the land, dragooning strangers to serve in Kas™s armies and to manufacture bizarre war machines. When Kas deems the time right, he sends his forces into the Mists, believing that Vecna™s realm lies just beyond. Invariably, those troops never return, leaving the vampire to rage, rebuild his forces, and continue his search for the Меч Каса (detailed in the Dungeon Master™s Guide), which he considers his key to victory.

At least once, the Dark Powers have released Kas from his domain to torment their onetime prisoner Vecna. Inevitably, when Kas fails to defeat his ancient rival, the Mists return him to his domain to rage for another era.

Darklord: Sodo

Hallmarks: Serial murderers, urban decay

Each day, the city of Paridon in Zherisia erupts in riots over food scarcity, taxation, and the disappearance of dozens of citizens every night. At least one murderer stalks Paridon: the ancient doppelganger Sodo, which has impersonated so many people that it now finds it impossible to hold a form for more than a few days at a time. As Sodo™s flesh runs like hot wax, it staves off dissolution by consuming the organs of humanoids. Paridon™s streets serve as the Darklord™s hunting ground, and those who enter the sewers risk attracting the notice of countless insectile horrors, including Трупный охотник (see chapter 5) and their monstrous Hive Queen.

Domain of the Ancient Dead

Untold generations of tombs and monuments choke on the obsidian sands of the desert domain of Har™Akir. Here, past splendors lie forgotten, and the living bow in service to the mummified god-king, Ankhtepot.

From a golden pyramid in the City of the Dead, Ankhtepot reigns as speaker for the gods and immortal pharaoh. The deathless ruler cares nothing for his domain or mortal concerns. Rather, he relentlessly sends servants in search of his one desire: his ka, the missing piece of his fractured soul.

As the pharaoh obsesses over his lost soul, his servants plague the domain in his name. In hidden tomb-courts, mummies known as the Children of Ankhtepot dominate cults as emissaries of mysterious gods. And in the mud-brick city of Muhar, Ankhtepot™s priests oversee all aspects of life, apportioning food to the worthy and punishing blasphemers. But all the pharaoh™s servants also pursue the Darklord™s quest for his mysterious ka, though only his Children know the truth of this њtreasureќ he seeks. Each of them is desperate for some clue to placate Ankhtepot and spare them from his wrath.

Domain Features

Har™Akir is known for the following features:

Distant Pharaoh. The people of Har™Akir know their ruler is an immortal who resides in the golden mountain called Pharaoh™s Rest. Only priests can enter this massive pyramid.

Extreme Environs. Intense heat and winds are common in Har™Akir (see the Dungeon Master™s Guide), and water is scarce.

Forgotten Ruins. The deserts of Har™Akir are littered with the remnants of a strange and glorious empire. The origins of these ruins remain a mystery.

Mysterious Gods. Har™Akir™s people worship a pantheon of false or silent gods. Manipulative or deluded priests oversee all aspects of society in these gods™ and the pharaoh™s names.

Preserved Dead. Akirrans mummify their dead so the pharaoh might call them to service. It is a crime to burn the dead.

Locations in Har™Akir

Har™Akir is dominated by treacherous, surreal deserts that obey Ankhtepot™s will. The Labyrinth and city of Muhar are described below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Har™Akir Locations table.

Labyrinth

Har™Akir™s countless trap-laden ruins interconnect beneath the desert in a hidden maze called the Labyrinth. Monstrous Мумия and stranger creatures stalk these sprawling tunnels. Nevertheless, some priests use the few mapped sections to move about the domain unseen.

Muhar

The city of Muhar is the only permanent settlement in Har™Akir. Here, pious people thank the gods for the water and food of the Muhar Oasis. From the city™s largest structure, the Temple of Ese, High Priest Isu Rehkotep speaks for Pharaoh Ankhtepot in all matters; her word is considered both royal decree and divine edict. Ankhtepot doesn™t care how Isu runs Muhar so long as she maintains order and uses her influence to continue his unending search. Those who displease Isu or oppose her priest-guards are thrown into the Mouth of Oru, a pit that connects to the Labyrinth.

Ankhtepot has known treachery and conquest. He has known divinity and rule. But now he knows simply boredom and despair. He desires only to recover his lost ka, which he knows lies hidden in Har™Akir. With it, he hopes to become mortal again, die, and face his gods™ judgment. Whether this means peace or oblivion matters not to him. Ankhtepot seeks only an end, and he and his followers will be a plague on Har™Akir until he finds it.

Adventures set in Har™Akir involve ancient secrets, manipulative cultists, the ancient dead, and the search for Ankhtepot™s missing ka. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Har™Akir

Adventures in Har™Akir often include the following elements.

Children of Ankhtepot

Ankhtepot resurrected the priests who died alongside him as Владыка мумий, granting each the head of an animal or monster corresponding to the fictitious gods he imposed on Har™Akir. The Children of Ankhtepot style themselves as harbingers of these gods while they manipulate cults or the domain™s priesthood. Some have grown tired of Ankhtepot™s detachment and seek to depose the pharaoh”particularly the treacherous mummy lord Senmet.

Gods of Har™Akir

Ankhtepot has destroyed all evidence of the deities the people of Har™Akir worshipped in ages past, replacing that pantheon with gods of his own creation, as summarized on the Gods of Har™Akir table.

Pharaoh™s Priests

The priests of Har™Akir work Ankhtepot™s will, not realizing their deities are false. They keep alert for strangers and omens related to the treasure their pharaoh covets without knowing its true nature. Promising strangers are brought to High Priest Isu Rehkotep at the Temple of Ese in Muhar. The decadent high priest wants to possess what her pharaoh seeks, planning to use it to manipulate Ankhtepot.

Pharaoh™s Soul

Ankhtepot seeks his ka, the missing piece of his soul. It™s up to you what form this takes. Roll on or choose a result from The Darklord™s Soul table to determine the form of Ankhtepot™s ka.

Душа Тёмного властелина

Душа Тёмного властелина

	Ankhtepot™s Ka Is ¦
1	Анкх, священный для старых богов Хар'Акира.
2	Благословение, даруемое тем, кто выживает в испытаниях посреди бесконечных песчаных бурь домена.
3	Канопа с сердцем фараона, спрятанная в забытой гробнице.
4	Ястреб или гигантский орёл, кружащий вокруг солнца.
5	Воплощённая в радостной песне народа Мухара.
6	Части драгоценного камня, спрятанные в каждом из Детей Анхтепота.
7	Душа персонажа, возможно, обладающего чертой Отголосок души (см. главу 1).
8	Дух невинного целителя, похожего на фараона, каким он был при жизни.

Once the Darklord recovers his ka, Ankhtepot can restore his soul by completing an elaborate 1-hour ritual involving the sacrifice of a living person. Only then might he journey to the afterlife”whether he succeeds is up to the Dark Powers.

Har™Akir Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Har™Akir often involve the domain™s treacherous priests, its ancient tombs, and the hunt for Ankhtepot™s ka. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“4. The characters help a priest named Basras search a trap-laden, buried palace complex for a mysterious treasure. Within, they discover a set of oversize canopic jars. They take them to Isu Rehkotep in Muhar, but the high priest deems them worthless. Basras is thrown into the Mouth of Oru.

Levels 5“10. Isu Rehkotep hires the characters to search for the pharaoh™s missing treasure. She sends them to Senmet™s Tomb to recover an ark full of ancient scrolls, claiming these are what the pharaoh desires. (She doesn™t actually know the object of the pharaoh™s search.)

Levels 11“15. After the characters return the scrolls to Isu, Basras (now an Undead), reveals that the high priest seeks to use them to control a Владыка мумий and oppose Ankhtepot, as detailed in the њScrolls of the Deadќ adventure.

Adventure for Level 12 Characters

Situation. High Priest Isu Rehkotep claims to have found the treasure Ankhtepot has been searching for and prepares to offer it to him during a ritual at the pyramid of Pharaoh™s Rest. In truth, she plans to use a scroll that controls the Child of Ankhtepot called Senmet to destroy the pharaoh and claim his throne.

Hook. The priest De™rah fears the pharaoh will vent his wrath on the people of Muhar when the high priest is discovered. She offers the characters 5000 ЗМ and a random magic item from the Relics”Rare table in the Dungeon Master™s Guide if they stop Isu.

Encounters

This adventure uses map 2.14 and consists of these encounters.

Exploring the Pyramid. Rehkotep™s ritual takes place during the full moon, when the entrance to Pharaoh™s Rest stands open. Pharaoh™s Rest is a vast structure, but the path Rehkotep and her followers followed through the thick dust and sand of the lower reaches is obvious. Details of the pyramid™s lower levels are beyond the scope of this adventure.

Pyramid Heights. When the characters reach the Shrine of Ankhtepot in the upper levels of Pharaoh™s Rest, and when they enter the Lesser Tombs, roll on the following table to determine what lurks within.

	Encounter
1	Столкновение: Дао (см. «Энциклопедия чудовищ»), принуждённый защищать пирамиду
2	Столкновение: Три Невидимых охотника, распевающих проклятия
3	Столкновение: Четыре Мумии и две Пса смерти
4	Столкновение: Две Мумии и два Стража со щитом
5	Столкновение: Два Каменных голема, одетых как фараоны
6	Столкновение: Четыре Призрака из чёрного песка

Ritual Site. On the funeral barge level of the pyramid, Isu Rehkotep (Medium, Lawful Evil Первосвященник) readies to call forth Ankhtepot from his tomb using a ritual involving a gong on the ceremonial ship. Meanwhile, two Священник and two Последователь культа смерти defend her. Isu avoids battle, but if any of her allies fall, she produces an ancient papyrus scroll and reads it: s7VY8ijHewjIEQZr, summoning Senmet.

The Mummy. If Isu reads her scroll, 1 round after her allies are defeated, the Владыка мумий Senmet appears. Isu orders him to destroy the characters, and he obeys. Senmet fights until he or the scroll the high priest holds is destroyed. Isu doesn™t join the battle and attempts to escape if Senmet is destroyed.

The Scroll. A character adjacent to Isu can steal the scroll from her by succeeding on a Проверка: Ловкость рук СЛ 16 or by taking an action if she has the Выход из строя or Обездвиженность condition. Any character can take an action to destroy the scroll but can™t use it to command Senmet. If it is destroyed, Senmet turns Hostile toward Isu.

The Pharaoh. Once Isu and Senmet are dealt with, Анхтепот (see earlier in this chapter) appears at the path leading up to his tomb. He demands the characters depart immediately but return with his missing ka. If they do so, fabulous riches will be theirs. If they don™t, they will know his wrath. Characters who escape the tomb after the encounter with Ankhtepot earn a bonus 4700 ОП.

Domain Doomed by Magic

Hazlan is a domain drained of vitality, frayed by magical disasters, and overrun with abominations. Here the amoral, spellcasting elite have so exploited magic that it™s turned erratic and dangerous to use.

Encouraging these magical abuses is Hazlik, the domain™s zulkir, a title meaning wizard-overlord. The Darklord postures as the domain™s most powerful wizard and views all others as either apprentices or test subjects. All the while, Hazlik hides the fact that he™s lost the ability to learn new magic. Paranoid and controlling, Hazlik constantly spies on those in his domain through the Eyes of Hazlik. These pervasive, eye-shaped symbols appear on structures, decorations, clothing, and individuals across the domain”and through these eyes, the Darklord watches. Hazlik surveils his domain endlessly, reveling in the fear of his people, encouraging rivalries between his apprentices, and searching for magical innovations he can claim as his own.

Domain Features

Hazlan is known for the following features:

Eye of Hazlik. Inhabitants claim the eyelike design called the Eye of Hazlik bears Hazlik™s blessing and wards off dangerous magic. In truth, the symbol is a sensor for Hazlik™s magical surveillance.

Magocracy. The wizard Hazlik rules Hazlan. His apprentices have free rein to exploit the land and its people to further their magical experiments.

Shattered by Magic. The effects of magical disasters disfigure the domain, poisoning rivers with alchemical runoff, scarring the land with magical blasts, and unleashing unpredictable hazards.

Wild Magic. Magic is unreliable in Hazlan, resulting in dangerous side effects (see њHazlan Wild Magicќ).

Locations in Hazlan

Magical disasters and supernatural environments make Hazlan™s arid landscape even deadlier and its natural rock monuments even stranger. The settlements of Sly-Var and Toyalis are described below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Hazlan Locations table.

Sly-Var

In Sly-Var, mages obsessed with earning the Darklord™s favor raise architecturally discordant towers that defy physical laws. The residents magically create whatever they need, resulting in little need for trade. This leaves the labyrinthine streets and knotted bridges between intertwined compounds eerily empty. The few common folk who traverse these surreal streets often disappear”the victims of magical guardians or of wizards who see the magically deficient as stock for their experiments.

Toyalis

The largest town in Hazlan, Toyalis boasts a population of poor, hardworking commoners united by terror of the domain™s magic-using elite. Colorful depictions of magical creatures, arcane symbols, and the Eye of Hazlik cover the town™s rough wooden and adobe structures. Every few weeks, one of Hazlik™s apprentices leads a procession of attendants and magical wonders to Toyalis in search of replacement servants, new apprentices, or stock for magical experiments. A carnival atmosphere ensues, with the apprentice displaying their magical accomplishments and setting up competitions to assess the locals™ capabilities”magical or otherwise. When a mage™s procession leaves, it takes townsfolk deemed valuable with it.

The paranoid, egomaniacal archmage Hazlik clings to his power despite his magical ambitions being supernaturally smothered. Since Hazlik entered Hazlan, his magic has become unstable. Spells he casts behave erratically and fade swiftly”most lasting no more than an hour”while his magical creations fall apart in about a day. The idea of others learning this terrifies the Darklord, which leads him to claim others™ works as his own, spy on potential rivals, and order reckless research into the nature of magic and his domain.

Hazlik suffers vivid nightmares wherein past rivals taunt and torment him. The Darklord avoids sleeping, employing magical tinctures to stay awake, but this causes him to vacillate between bouts of exhaustion, jitters, and paranoia.

Hazlik knows that his domain is being ripped apart by magical disasters”many of his own creation. He openly denies the realm™s devastation, though, his fear of cascading ruin clashing with his inability to admit he™s wrong.

Tales in Hazlan involve radical magical experiments, supernatural environments, rivalries between mages, and magical surveillance. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Hazlan

Adventures set in Hazlan often include the following elements.

Eyes of Hazlik

Hazlik spies on his domain™s inhabitants using the Eye of Hazlik. This eyelike sigil adorns buildings, clothing, talismans, and creatures across the domain. Locals claim the symbol protects them from dangerous magic and creatures. Hazlik uses the eyes to spy on useful or threatening mages and to reinforce his reputation as an ever-present overlord.

Hazlik often sends loyal apprentices or magical creatures to capture those whose behavior witnessed through the eyes offended him. He turns such individuals into fodder for experimentation in Sly-Var or Veneficus.

Hazlan Wild Magic

As a result of unchecked arcane experimentation, magic functions erratically in Hazlan. Whenever a creature in Hazlan expends a spell slot to cast a spell or activates a magic item, it rolls 1d10. On a 1, it unleashes a random magical effect. Roll on the Порыв дикой магии table in chapter 3 of the Player™s Handbook to determine the effect. Consider describing these results in unsettling ways that don™t change their effects, as in these examples:

• Summoned creatures use the proscribed stat blocks but are cosmetically warped to resemble undead or aberrant creatures.

• Effects that teleport the caster relocate the caster into a misty expanse full of threatening shapes.

• Effects on creatures cause unsettling sensations, such as the feeling of earwigs wriggling beneath one™s skin or one™s teeth struggling free.

Anyone who openly wears an Eye of Hazlik can choose not to roll on the Wild Magic Surge table in this way once per day.

Hazlik™s Apprentices

Dozens of mages serve as Hazlik™s apprentices. Between infrequent, demeaning group lessons with the Darklord, these apprentices pit themselves against one another to impress Hazlik by pushing the boundaries of magical innovation. Those who gain Hazlik™s favor are promised arcane secrets known only to the Darklord”secrets that might not exist. This creates a cadre of Hazlani mages who recklessly seek to impress Hazlik by the following means, among others:

• Changing the nature of reality to suit their whims

• Creating monuments in Hazlik™s honor

• Devising new magic items, spells, or supernatural materials

• Forging unique magical servants for Hazlik

• Stealing rare magic items

• Unleashing dramatic displays of magical might

Hazlik™s current favorite apprentices include the masked wizard Yhal the Skygazer, the shadow-cloaked Ruzelo, and the daring genius Eleni.

Hazlan Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Hazlan often involve mages abusing their power to garner Hazlik™s fickle favor. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“3. The characters arrive in Toyalis, where servants of the mage Khrinitov abduct locals with supposed psychic potential. Eleni, an apprentice of Hazlik, believes Khrinitov™s experiments are pointless. She hires the characters to rescue the villagers from Khrinitov™s tower amid the Orbitoclasts. In doing so, the characters reveal Khrinitov to be an Пожиратель интеллекта, a Мозг в банке (see chapter 5), or another aberrant being.

Levels 4“8. Eleni reveals that she™s trying to undermine Hazlik and protect the people of Hazlan. She tells the characters of a magic mineral in the Mound of the Worm that Пурпурный червь pursue. She encourages the party to collect the mineral and use the purple worms to destroy locations like the Marks. As the characters do so, they face magical guardians and hazards. During their travel, they™re exposed to strange magic and might gain Тёмные дары feats (see chapter 1).

Levels 9“12. Eleni asks the characters to come to Sly-Var to plan a raid on Hazlik™s palace. There, she reveals that she™s been exposing them to dangerous magic from across the domain. She entraps them with a portal that leads to arena-like laboratories connected to Veneficus, where Hazlik pits them against terrors his other apprentices have created. The characters must escape, potentially facing Eleni and Hazlik along the way.

Adventure for Level 10 Characters

Situation. Subjects of magical experimentation seek to escape Hazlan, but every time they try, they™re spotted through the Eyes of Hazlik, and the Darklord™s apprentices hunt them down.

Hook. Allies hire the characters to help them escape Hazlan by destroying Hazlik™s orrery in Veneficus. They offer to pay the party 4000 ЗМ once they™re guided to another domain.

Scene Configuration Overview

• If you encounter broken links below, they will appear once you install the adventure in your World.

• The interior map is fully prepared for your adventures in a desert palace, complete with walls and lighting. Global Illumination is enabled by default.

• In this scene, minimal area lighting is utilized to prevent overwhelming the visual presentation. The pre-configured lighting mainly serves for area effects.

• The main floor of the palace is situated approximately 20 feet above the ground, as indicated by the stairwell leading to the main entrance. The external walls and windows on the terrace are configured with ground-level visibility in mind.

• Encounter actors corresponding to each roll result on the Galleries of Suffering table are ready to be placed in the scene from the World's actor directory.

• NPCs specifically mentioned in the encounters are placed in the scene, but remain hidden until you are ready for the PCs to interact with them. The exception is the Archmage apprentice that shows up when detected by one of the many Eyes of Hazlik. The only exception is the Archmage's apprentice, who appears when one of the many Eyes of Hazlik detects their presence. That actor can be placed on the scene from the Adventure's Actors directory.

• The Entrance to the Veneficus Teleport region can only be transported to; it will not send you anywhere else on the map.

• Teleport Scene Regions are configured to send tokens to various areas of the map.

  • Each Teleport Region is initially disabled, allowing you to control where your party is sent.

  • According to the adventure guidelines, the destinations are determined by the number of portals used and a roll of a d8 before the party reaches Hazlik's Orrery, which is an optional destination for every teleport region.

  • Additionally, teleportation to the Main Floor portal and the entrance to Veneficus is also an optional destination.

  • The linear teleportation destinations are as follows, so every area is visited before reaching Hazlik's Orrery if you wish:

    • Main Floor Portal

    • Apprentice Chambers North Portal

    • Apprentice Chambers South Portal

    • Laboratory North Portal

    • Laboratory South Portal

    • Lecture Hall North Portal

    • Lecture Hall South Portal

    • Hazlik's Orrery Portal

    • Main Floor Portal

Encounters

The adventure uses map 2.16 and consists of these encounters:

Greeting at Veneficus. The rooms within Veneficus (see map 2.16) and the walls outside all bear at least one Eye of Hazlik. If the characters are spotted, one of Hazlik™s former apprentices (Medium, Chaotic Evil Archmage) appears. This apprentice has been transformed to look and behave like the Darklord. The duplicate belittles the characters and fights to the death.

Galleries of Suffering. As the characters explore Veneficus, roll on the following table to determine what they find within.

	Encounter
1	Другой Архимаг, ведущий себя как Хаазлик (см. выше), или столь же замаскированный Инкуб
2	Искусство, выпускающее Костяного дьявола при прикосновении
3	Three Маг спорящих, кто величайший
4	Three Восковая фигура (see chapter 5) disguised as mages спорящих, кто любимчик Хаазлика
5	Один Каменный голем, изваянный похожим на Хаазлика
6	Искажённая магия (см. ниже)

Flawed Magic. Among mundane decorations, this room contains a random magic item. Roll on the Arcana”Common table in chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master™s Guide. The item functions once, causes a wild magic surge (see њHazlan Wild Magicќ), and then crumbles to dust.

Red Tower. Shifting portals connect the passages in the Red Tower. Every time the characters pass through a portal in the tower, roll 1d8. If the number rolled is lower than the number of portals passed through, the characters arrive in the orrery chamber. On an 8, the characters appear at the entrance to Veneficus.

Orrery Chamber. This room is dominated by a magical orrery only Hazlik can use. It is defended by a Relentless Juggernaut (see chapter 5). The orrery has AC 19, HP 25, and Immunity to Psychic damage. Every time the orrery takes damage, roll on the Порыв дикой магии table in chapter 3 of the Player™s Handbook. Negative effects affect the character who damaged the orrery, while beneficial effects affect the juggernaut.

Hazlik. After the orrery is destroyed, Hazlik (see earlier in this chapter) appears and offers a magic-using character power and influence as his apprentice. If the character accepts, he commands that character to murder the others. If the character declines, Hazlik mocks the party. The Darklord uses magic to flee if he takes any damage, swearing revenge. Characters who destroy the orrery and escape Veneficus earn a bonus 3100 ОП.

Domain of the Imprisoned Apocalyptic

Hidden amid the Domains of Dread lies a hideous realm defiant of reason and smothered by the Mists. From a violent, murky sea rises a crescent of shattered peaks, mangled spires broken like the jaws of some slain thalassic titan. From noxious fumaroles, miasmic pillars lurch from this accursed isle into a sky inconsistently lit by a distant, drowned light.

Strange ruins dot this island™s rocky coasts, some suggestive of forgotten peoples, others alien in form and purpose. Massive statues of crimson-flecked bloodstone loom over sheer cliffs, each a towering effigy of some profane monstrosity or alien god. One shore bears the wreckage of a few dozen collapsing wooden structures. Little evidence remains of this settlement™s residents, but at its edge lies a toppled sign bearing a word in Common that gives the island its name: Innsmouth.

Despite its forsaken appearance, the isle of Innsmouth isn™t abandoned. Cults vie for control of the island, among them the servants of Great Cthulhu, a harbinger of world-rending aberrance. At the island™s hidden heart, Cthulhu lies dreaming, its alien mind reaching across the Domains of Dread and beyond, drawing to it those who might rouse its full might and unleash it from its prison in the Mists.

Domain Features

Innsmouth is known for the following features:

Cosmic Horror Visions. Cthulhu™s dreams draw aberrant beings and shape Innsmouth as an amalgamation of cosmic horrors, from disparate ruins on the surface to stranger realms in the depths.

Cult Haven. Evil cults devoted to the entities Cthulhu, Dagon, Olhydra, and Zhudun struggle to control the domain. These cults view strangers as useful allies (see њCults of Innsmouthќ for details).

Dreams of Cthulhu. Cthulhu seeks freedom. It manipulates the dreams of those on the island, sharing visions of their escape from the domain resulting from the same rituals that would free it.

Locations in Innsmouth

Innsmouth is an inhospitable expanse of alien mountains and ruin-littered coasts. The village of Innsmouth and the mazelike Vaults are described below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Innsmouth Locations table.

Innsmouth

The ruined coastal village of Innsmouth is the most obvious shelter from the storms, alien creatures, and strange events on the island. The Cult of the Chthonic Night knows this and realizes its imprisoned master, Great Cthulhu, calls to strangers to aid the cultists in releasing it. This makes the ruined village a shadowy war zone, where cultists and their servants hunt for fresh acolytes and sacrifices.

The Vaults

Beneath the mountains of Innsmouth winds a labyrinth of improbable passages. Dramatic caverns narrow into the corridors of buried palaces that transform into the wooden halls of forgotten farmhouses. Regularly, these underground paths open into vast cavities, many with their own strange environments, weather, and celestial bodies. What lies among the Vaults? Cultists speak of the realms of alien beings, ghoul empires, countrysides ravaged by sapient energies, the dwellings of reclusive witches, and a thin place in the walls of the prison where Great Cthulhu lies trapped.

Four cults operate in Innsmouth, each with its own vile ends. While these groups are ruinously evil, characters might temporarily ally with one or more to oppose another foe or to escape the domain.

Cults and Cultists

The following groups vie for power on and under Innsmouth. Following each cult™s name are the ritual words cult members use in their blasphemous practices, along with other details.

Cult of the Chthonic Night

Hail, Hail, Cthulhu Awaits

Worships: Cthulhu

Leader: King-Priest Eeyog-Yah

Goal: Free Cthulhu from imprisonment

Lair: The village of Innsmouth and the Vaults

Initiates of the Cult of the Chthonic Night open their minds to the whispers of Great Cthulhu and seek to free the imprisoned terror from the Domains of Dread. Predominantly composed of Последователь культа аберрации and Куо-тоа that dwell amid waterlogged ruins deep below the Graven Peak, the cult interprets visions from Cthulhu as omens, calls for sacrifice, and signs of their god™s coming.

King-Priest Eeyog-Yah, an ageless and desiccated Верховный жрец куо-тоа, leads the cult. Eeyog-Yah occupies a state of perpetual somnambulism and narrates its visions. The priest™s attendants decipher their leader™s rambling as directives from their god.

Those who join the cult and participate in its induction rituals hear the voice of Cthulhu more clearly than others do (see њCult Dark Giftsќ).

Cult of the Drowning Wave

Make Clean for the Aeon Wave

Worships: Olhydra

Leader: Draa Shoom

Goal: Sink Innsmouth below the waves

Lair: Eyes of Olhydra

Those who await the Drowning Wave seek to make Innsmouth and all its inhabitants part of Olhydra™s realm on the Elemental Plane of Water. Olhydra, the Prince of Evil Water, then could use the might of Cthulhu and the mass sacrifice of the island to dominate the Elemental Planes and flood the Material Plane.

Draa Shoom, the cult™s Аболет leader, believes Olhydra will return the cult to a place of dominance over countless worlds in return for its sacrifice. To effect this, Draa Shoom coaxes Последователь культа стихии and shipwrecked individuals to the Eyes of Olhydra. There, amid boggy ruins and the lairs of murky elemental creatures, rises the Fathomless Gate. This ancient stone arch, thought to connect to the Elemental Plane of Water, is covered by bars of starmetal, which prevent passage by solid creatures. The cult seeks the proper rituals to open the gate, allowing Olhydra™s scouring waters to flood the domain.

Those who participate in the cult™s induction rituals are infused with a draught of Olhydra™s sapient form (see њCult Dark Giftsќ).

Cult of the Heavenly Doom

Empty Yourself to Gorge on the Stars

Worships: Zhudun

Leader: Celesta Grayl

Goal: Open gateways to join Zhudun

Lair: Blind Observatory and the Map of the Eclipse

Among the broken heights of the domain, the obsessed astronomers of the Cult of the Heavenly Doom seek signs in the heavens and omens from Zhudun, the Corpse Star, an Elder Evil that wanders space and knows the secrets of extinction. These cultists hope to climb into the heavens and join Zhudun.

The cult™s leader, Celesta Grayl, has sought Zhudun for centuries. While documenting her observations, Grayl discovered a path to immortality and became a Вампир, повелитель теней. Последователь культа смерти, along with desperate and deluded souls, have flocked to the ancient stargazer, forming the cult around Grayl and her discoveries despite their leader™s protestations and predations. The vampire suffers the cultists only so long as they help her decipher secrets from ruins around the island and retrieve knowledge from the grip of other cults. She believes their discoveries will help her reveal when the stars are right to join Zhudun in the dark places between the stars.

Those who join the cult and participate in its induction rituals release a portion of their life to the stars (see њCult Dark Giftsќ).

Cult of the Scaly Abyss

The Prince Awaits”Become the Way

Worships: Dagon

Leader: Xr™gh

Goal: Summon Dagon

Lair: Dagon™s Claws

The followers of Dagon, Demon Prince of the Darkened Depths, lurk among and beneath the waves of Innsmouth. Ancient even among inhabitants of the Abyss, Dagon seeks to drag demon lords and their Abyssal realms into its demesne of Shadowsea. Once sated on the flesh of its foes, Dagon aspires to unleash its might across the multiverse in a sanity-shattering wave.

Xr™gh, a Барон сахваджинов fanatically devoted to Dagon, seeks to turn all who dwell beneath the waves to the demon lord™s worship. Xr™gh seeks enough sacrifices to turn the sea red with blood, an offering great enough to attract Dagon™s notice and draw the demon lord to Innsmouth. The cult leader expects Dagon then to feed on Cthulhu and begin its conquest of the Abyss. Ravenous Сахваджин-воитель follow Xr™gh, as do Последователь культа бестии and murderers desirous of the eerie gold treasures the sahuagin offer from their submerged vaults. The Cult of the Scaly Abyss hunts the domain™s ruined villages, abducting anyone who seeks shelter amid the wreckage. Those they find, they drag through secret paths beneath the waves to their ritual site under the island called Dagon™s Claw.

Those who join the cult and participate in its induction rituals develop shark-like organs (see њCult Dark Giftsќ).

Cult Rites

The cults of Innsmouth seek initiates to aid in their unfathomable works. Those who prove themselves reliable devotees gain access to the transformative power of strange gods.

Cult Renown

The cults of Innsmouth reward those who honor their obscene patrons. Use the guidance in the Dungeon Master™s Guide to track characters™ individual standing within Innsmouth™s cults. Characters can gain renown with a cult by performing deeds such as those in the Innsmouth Cults Renown table.

Cult Dark Gifts

Characters who have a Renown Score of 10+ with an Innsmouth cult are honored as the chosen of the cult™s patron. They are urged to take part in a ritual that inducts them into the cult and bestows on them a supernatural boon. A character who participates in such a ritual gains the Dark Gift (see chapter 1) noted on the Innsmouth Cults Dark Gifts table.

These Dark Gifts include magical transformations associated with the cult™s patron and its members. This magic can make it easier to navigate parts of the domain and bypass seals made by cult magic. This includes the binding sigils that mark Cthulhu™s Vault. A character with one of these Dark Gifts can™t gain another. A character with one of these gifts who leaves Innsmouth can choose to lose the Dark Gift or keep it.

Adventures in Innsmouth involve cults, degenerate rituals, nightmarish visions, and aberrant transformations. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Corruptive Horror

The cults of Innsmouth are monstrous and dangerous, but not unwelcoming. Each seeks to bring a different terrifying cataclysm to Innsmouth. As characters interact with these cults and learn more of the island™s secrets, bizarre dreams encourage the characters to accept the Dark Gifts the cults offer and balance rivalries to gain the might of each. Groups that engage with each cult might have strange adventures across Innsmouth and undergo bizarre transformations. Those that do will find themselves with the power to free Cthulhu from the island”and maybe themselves as well.

Dreams of Innsmouth

Cthulhu sends dreams to those in Innsmouth”and in realms beyond”that might help it escape its prison. These dreams include strange images spurring the dreamers to seek the cults of Innsmouth, gain their powers, and then dispel the sigils in Cthulhu™s Vault. Dreams sent by Cthulhu might focus on the following topics and imagery:

Cult of the Chthonic Night: The village of Innsmouth, the Graven Peak, desiccated fish, tentacles

Cult of the Drowning Wave: The Eyes of Olhydra, shipwrecks, tidal waves, three eyes underwater

Cult of the Heavenly Doom: The peaks of Innsmouth, corpses in space, monoliths, whirling stars

Cult of the Scaly Abyss: Dagon™s Claws, deep-sea predators, sharks eating sharks, undersea ruins

Cthulhu™s Vault: The Cleft of Dreams, the Drowned Colossus, dark passages, strange sigils

Any of these dreams might end with a vision of the Mists parting and the characters™ home or a similarly tantalizing location appearing beyond.

Old One™s Bargain

Cthulhu™s dream-messages tempt characters to release the entity to win their own escape from its domain. Whether Cthulhu can or will fulfill this offer is up to you, but the characters might not wish to jeopardize reality to escape. In the course of exploring Innsmouth, they can find the writings of obsessed wizards and cult heresies that suggest the following secrets:

Cthulhu™s Disruption. Cthulhu™s power is such that, should someone release it, the Mists around Innsmouth would open and those in the domain could escape.

Cthulhu™s Might. Cthulhu wouldn™t emerge from its prison at full strength. For approximately one hour after its release, heroes might force Cthulhu back into its prison, should they subject the terror to potent magic such as Imprisonment or Wish, or a blow powerful enough to disrupt its physical form, like a powerful lightning strike, a massive explosion, or a strike from a large sailing ship.

Elaborate on these possibilities as characters explore Innsmouth, and encourage them to believe they might be able to outwit a Great Old One.

Otherworldly Relics

The monsters noted in the њCosmic Horrorќ section of chapter 4 make appropriate inhabitants of the ruins and vaults of Innsmouth. These beings often possess evidence of alien technologies and cultures. Innsmouth™s cults covet such relics. Roll on or choose a result from the Alien Relics table to inspire what otherworldly beings might possess.

Инопланетные реликвии

	The Alien Being Possesses ¦
1	Кристаллический жезл с чудовищным лицом.
2	Тускло светящийся трапецоэдр.
3	Нефритовый амулет в форме сфинкса.
4	Металлическое скопление шаров и полусфер.
5	Огромный серебряный ключ с выгравированными узорами.
6	Законсервированный мозг в стеклянном цилиндре.

Innsmouth Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Innsmouth involve warring cults, unfathomable beings, and bizarre transformations. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“2. The characters wash up on Innsmouth island and shelter in the village. They experience strange dreams. Soon after, they encounter cultists who seek to initiate them and others who seek to sacrifice them. The characters gain allies among one of the island™s cults.

Levels 3“5. The allied cult sends the characters to disrupt other cults and retrieve relics from the ruins. In return, the cult offers insights into the characters™ dreams and suggests ways to escape the island. After proving their worth, a character receives the cult™s Dark Gift (see њCult Ritesќ).

Levels 6“16. Led by their dreams and duplicitous cult members, the characters move from cult to cult, gaining influence by delving into ruins and strange vaults. In doing so, they collect Dark Gifts, as well as hints about Cthulhu™s Vault and ways to undermine the Great Old One (see њOld One™s Bargainќ).

Levels 17“20. After collecting a Dark Gift from each cult, the characters follow a treacherous path through the Vaults to Cthulhu™s Vault. There, they can risk releasing Cthulhu to escape the island.

Adventure for Level 11 Characters

Situation. Cult lore tells of a vault that is home to a wise elder who knows the secrets of escaping the island.

Hook. A cult leader shares directions to the vault but wants one of the strange relics the elder is said to hoard.

Encounters

The adventure uses map 2.18 and consists of these encounters:

Vault Ambush. On the way to the vault, two Фанатик культа and a Последователь культа бестии (or another enemy cultist selected from those mentioned in њCults of Innsmouthќ) ambush the characters.

Frigid Spires. The Vault of the Elder lies in a realm of icy mountains gripped by extreme cold (see њEnvironmental Effectsќ in the Dungeon Master™s Guide). The towers of a gravity-defying stone city protrude from one mountain.

Hollow City. The characters find the city filled with narrow ramps and abandoned, tubelike structures etched with eerie hieroglyphs. Of particular note is an out-of-place collection of tents and a templelike building.

Encampment. Brown mold covers the tents (see chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master™s Guide). If the characters remove the mold, they find five cultists frozen inside the tents, wrapped in blankets. One wears a Кольцо скрытого разума.

Elder Temple. The templelike building bears carvings depicting five-winged beings fighting giant, fungus-like insects. Through the temple lies a path leading deeper into the mountain”and defended by a Шоггот (see chapter 5).

Frozen Warning. Ice encrusts the walls of the deeper temple, covering more strange carvings. Etched into the ice over a depiction of another five-winged creature is a warning in Common: њBeware the Elder.ќ

Elder™s Reliquary. The passage ends in a chamber with four pillars of ice. Perched on one is a Hostile Старец (see chapter 5).

Ice Tombs. The pillars of ice each hold a shadowy shape. These pillars have AC 14, HP 20, Immunity to Poison and Psychic damage, and Vulnerability to Fire damage. The pillars contain the following:

Alien Relic. The first pillar contains a strange relic. Roll on the њИнопланетные реликвииќ table earlier in this chapter to determine what it is.

Mi-Go. Two pillars contain Ми-го (see chapter 5), which awake 1 round after being freed.

Vault Map. A hieroglyph-etched slab in the final pillar charts a route from Innsmouth™s surface to Cthulhu™s Vault. It also provides information from the њOld One™s Bargainќ section. However, only someone with the Dark Gift of the Cult of Heavenly Doom can decipher its alien language.

Domain of Betrayal and Revenge

Deceptively beautiful, Kalakeri is a land of verdant rainforests and a web of rivers and lakes known as the Backwaters. At the height of its prosperity, Kalakeri was a robust center of art, commerce, and religion, with merchants spreading wild tales of the land, using fanciful names such as Sri Raji and the Steaming Lands. Now Kalakeri is a conflict-torn shadow of its past glory. The remnants of the Vasavadan dynasty”three heirs transformed into monsters by their depravity and hatred”trap the land in an endless cycle of war.

The people of Kalakeri live in fear of Maharani Ramya Vasavadan, the domain™s Darklord, as well as her treacherous siblings, Arijani and Reeva. The Darklord™s curse manifests both in her deathless desire to rule Kalakeri and in her siblings™ endless rebellions. Both sides escalate their atrocities against one another, drawing the powerful and the innocent alike into their squabbles. As the maharani™s siblings court allies, the Darklord™s forces hunt and execute renegades, adding skulls to the grim Tower of Traitors.

Domain Features

Kalakeri is known for the following features:

Factions in Conflict. Two factions claim Kalakeri™s Sapphire Throne: the soldiers and loyalists of Maharani Ramya Vasavadan, and the nobles and merchants who support the younger royal siblings, Arijani and Reeva Vasavadan.

Jadurai, a City at War. The vast city of Jadurai is Kalakeri™s capital, the site of the royal palace, and a battlefield where factions struggle to claim or hold it as a symbol of rule.

The Backwaters. Rare creatures and extraordinary magical plants flourish in the Backwaters, the collective name for the wilderness away from Kalakeri™s cities. Scattered refugee groups hide in the wilds and organize dangerous, desperate attacks on the Vasavadan factions.

Locations in Kalakeri

Tropical rainforests isolate Kalakeri™s communities. While the domain™s residents are adept at navigating these wildernesses, strangers often fall prey to the domain™s myriad hazards and predators.

The capital of Jadurai is detailed below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Kalakeri Locations table.

Jadurai

Ancient structures adorned with the artistry of past dynasties stand alongside modern buildings in Kalakeri™s capital, Jadurai. The city retains its splendor, but the conflict between the Vasavadan siblings takes an enormous toll as they struggle over the Cerulean Citadel, the nation™s capitol, as well as the Sapphire Throne within. Sections of the city lie in ruins.

On the outskirts of Jadurai rises the Tower of Traitors. Rows of skulls taken from the Darklord™s enemies fill depressions in this stone tower. Two skulls hold places of special prominence: the original human skulls of Arijani and Reeva Vasavadan. The Darklord™s skeletal soldiers build the tower as part of her plan to rid Kalakeri of evil and receive the gods™ blessings.

Ramya Vasavadan desperately fights to claim and hold power over Kalakeri in a brutal cycle of victory and loss with her equally uncompromising siblings. Unlike most Darklords, Ramya struggles to control her domain, leading her to seek allies in opposing her siblings and their treacherous allies.

In her true form, Ramya is an undead horror, but illusions mask her monstrous appearance. Her true

nature is revealed by her chilled skin and her reflection, which always appears withered and terrifying.

Although Ramya™s siblings, Arijani and Reeva, aren™t Darklords of Kalakeri, they motivate the rebellions in Kalakeri and Ramya™s torments. This monstrous pair is detailed in њArijani and Reeva.ќ

Adventures set in Kalakeri involve suspicion and power struggles. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Kalakeri

Adventures in Kalakeri often include the following elements.

Arijani and Reeva

Ramya™s rule is jeopardized by her siblings™ pursuit of power. Arijani and Reeva Vasavadan promise their followers wealth and freedom, but in truth, their agendas serve only them. Ramya still loves her siblings, making her vulnerable to their promises and lies. So long as Ramya exists, the Dark Powers resurrect Arijani and Reeva as if they had Ramya™s Darklord Restoration trait.

Arijani. Arijani is the charming face of resistance for all who oppose Ramya. Now a Ракшаса, gregarious Arijani has decadent tastes. When in control of the Cerulean Citadel, he hosts parties for Kalakeri™s elite that conceal private feasts featuring obscene delicacies and mortal flesh.

Reeva. Reeva™s adoration of Ramya gave way to jealousy when Ramya eclipsed her in their family™s esteem. Now an Арканалот, Reeve uses insidious magic from beneath the Cerulean Citadel to summon fiends and manipulate foes from afar. Behind her back, many mockingly call Reeva њInajira,ќ her charismatic Arijani™s opposite.

Renown in Kalakeri

You can track the characters™ influence with Ramya™s loyalist faction and her siblings™ rebel faction, using the renown rules from the Dungeon Master™s Guide to track the characters™ standing with these groups. Characters might gain renown with either faction by performing missions such as these:

• Capturing or killing a rival agent

• Planting evidence that a rival committed a crime

• Conscripting a powerful ally for the faction

• Revealing the location of a rival™s hold

• Revealing traitors within the faction

Anytime the characters complete a mission for either group, their Renown Score with that group increases by 1, but their Renown Score with the other group decreases by 1 (to a minimum of 0). After the first time characters gain renown with either faction, any faction the characters have a Renown Score of 0 with treat the characters as follows:

Loyalist Faction. Members of this faction are Hostile toward the characters. The faction sends troops of Умертвие or other Undead to capture the characters weekly.

Rebel Faction. Members of this faction are Hostile toward the characters. The faction sends Ассасин or Дух under Reeva™s command to kill the characters weekly.

Characters can gain renown with a faction they have a Renown Score of 0 with by presenting proof of an action that undermines the other group. Even if betrayed, the factions seek the party™s aid, as they view the characters as useful pawns.

If the characters have a Renown Score of 5+ with either group, their deeds might benefit the faction enough for it to take control of Jadurai and claim the Sapphire Throne. The longer either faction controls the capital, the more extreme its reign becomes, its atrocities escalating week after week. The characters must balance aiding and opposing both factions to maintain equilibrium.

Kalakeri Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Kalakeri typically involve balancing the horrors committed by the Vasavadan factions. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“4. Agents from the rebel faction contact the characters, presenting Arijani and Reeva Vasavadan as misunderstood heroes seeking to overthrow a tyrant. They entreat the characters to save the heir of an allied noble family from a compound controlled by Ramya™s Умертвие soldiers and return him to a hidden safe house.

Levels 5“8. The characters meet Arijani and Reeva in their disguises as charming human royals. They thank the characters for their aid and ask them to reclaim the shield of an ancient hero petrified in the Forest of the Still, hoping the shield will be a symbol of their right to rule. As the characters travel to the forest, a messenger delivers a request from Ramya to do the same. The characters must face Василиск and the Дух of the petrified dead to recover the shield and then decide who to return it to.

Levels 9“12. Arijani and Reeva plot to attack Jadurai to claim the Sapphire Throne and request the characters™ help. Ramya™s spies have informed her of this plot, and she also seeks the characters™ aid. In the ensuing conflict, the characters might strike at any of the Vasavadan siblings.

Adventure for Level 11 Characters

Situation. Arijani and Reeva Vasavadan seek to recover the skulls of their mortal bodies from the Tower of Traitors. They believe the skulls will grant them greater power.

Hook. Arijani or Reeva order the characters to recover two skulls from the Tower of Traitors but don™t say who the skulls belong to. They offer to pay the party with 10000 ЗМ in gemstones and a Свеча воззвания.

Encounters

This adventure assumes you are tracking the characters™ renown with Kalakeri™s loyalist and rebel factions (see њRenown in Kalakeriќ earlier in this section). It includes these encounters.

Stolen Skulls. The skulls Arijani and Reeva seek are from their own corpses, which were defiled by Ramya. The skulls are among hundreds in the Tower of Traitors. The pair don™t reveal who the skulls belong to but insist they™re vital to the rebel faction™s allies. To aid in the search, the siblings give the characters two Spell Scrolls of Locate Object. However, they don™t provide the characters with enough details for the spell to pinpoint the skulls.

Learning About the Skulls. The characters must learn three details about the skulls for them to be familiar enough to the characters that a spell like Поиск предмета can locate them. Characters can learn details in three ways:

Research. Characters who spend a day searching for rumors or investigating records in one of Kalakeri™s settlements learn a detail by succeeding on a Проверка: Убеждение или Расследование СЛ 16 respectively.

Renown. A character can spend a day questioning non-Hostile members of a faction. After doing so, the characters learn a detail, but their Renown Score with that faction is reduced by 1. The group can do this only once.

Magic. The Знание легенд spell reveals one detail; each character can use this spell once.

Each time the party learns a detail about the skulls, reveal a portion of the story from the њRamya™s Taleќ section, obscuring the names of the maharani and the traitors until the end.

Tower of Traitors. The Tower of Traitors is depicted on map 2.20b and is guarded by patrols of two Ревенант and four Умертвие. If the characters have a Renown Score of 3+ with the loyalist faction, the undead are Indifferent and tell the party to move along”they fight only if characters linger for more than 5 minutes or remove a skull from the tower. If the characters have less renown with the loyalists, the undead are Hostile. A new patrol appears 2d6#Rounds rounds after a patrol is defeated.

Searching the Tower. The tower is composed of thousands of skulls, and the ones the rebels want can be found via magic such as the Поиск предмета spell. Once discovered, a skull can be removed in 1 minute using a sharp implement. When both skulls are freed, the hatred lurking in the skulls manifests as two Hostile Глашатай плахи (see chapter 5).

Loyalty or Treachery. The next time the characters rest, Arijani (Ракшаса) appears and demands the skulls. If the characters give him the skulls, he compensates them and the characters™ Renown Score with the rebel faction increases by 4. If the characters refuse to give him the skulls, Arijani fights them. The party™s Renown Score with the rebels decreases by 4 if Arijani is slain. Soon after, Рамья Васавадан invites the characters to discuss future plans.

Regardless of how the adventure concludes, characters earn a bonus 4100 ОП каждому.

Domain of Tarnished Dreams

Life in Kartakass feels staged and surreal, as every plant, beast, and person strives to prove their greatness. Trees and flowers erupt into bloom; songbirds sing themselves hoarse; and every local knows that dreams, fame, and immortal adulation are theirs should they prove worthy. And where talent and expertise fail, obsession and duplicity reign, leading to cycles of triumph, betrayal, and despair. Predators flourish in this land of unrealistic hopes, consuming passions, and vicious secrets.

With each full moon, the truth of Kartakass is exposed, as the domain™s many werewolves and other lycanthropes indulge their hunger for dominance and blood. After the full moon passes, the idyllic facade returns. Locals don™t speak of why most bar their doors and shutter their windows on the nights of the full moon, but they acknowledge that the path to greatness is messy.

Domain Features

Kartakass is known for the following features:

False Idylls. Kartakass is supernaturally picturesque and outwardly serene. Every season is strikingly beautiful, communities appear idyllic, and many animals are affected as if by the Пробуждение spell. This makes deceptions and violence all the more stark.

Meistersingers. Kartakass has no unified government. Each settlement is governed by a meistersinger, the acknowledged mayor and embodiment of local art. Meistersingers maintain creative rivalries with one another largely for show.

Theatricality. Settlements pride themselves on performative traditions, such as distinctive dress, traditional dances, or song stylings.

Wolves and Werewolves. Wolves roam the land freely, and Волк-оборотень lurk in the domain™s settlements. Residents seldom venture outside during the full moon, fearing the lycanthropes™ hunger.

Locations in Kartakass

Kartakass is a land of rolling hills, light forests, clear lakes, and pastoral farmlands. Communities are welcoming and host frequent festivals. The settlements of Harmonia and Skald are detailed below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Kartakass Locations table.

Harmonia

Artists vie to perform at the town of Harmonia™s popular Crystal Club, a members-only venue inside a cave that features a stage constructed from a massive geode. The club features dramatic decor and discerning clientele. Rumors say that performers who fail to impress are exiled. The bloodier truth is that the club restricts membership to lycanthropes. Talented artists gain the curse and join their ranks, while the mediocre get devoured.

Skald

The largest community in Kartakass, Skald is a bustling hub of commerce and creativity. The lure of overnight celebrity and fawning crowds attracts the ambitious. Yet behind the facade of creativity and freethinking, business owners and celebrities prey on creativity, while performers struggle viciously over paltry opportunities. Vice, criminality, dark bargains, and supernatural predators flourish amid Skald™s many stages and frequent festivals. Among Skald™s most popular venues is the Old Kartakan Inn and Taverna, owned by the performer and Darklord Harkon Lukas.

The charming werewolf Harkon Lukas manipulates those around him to satisfy his narcissistic needs for adulation and control. Endlessly seeking fame, Harkon travels widely, earning applause and accolades. Yet, whenever he returns to a town he™s performed in, he finds he™s been forgotten. Lukas believes he needs just the right song or inspiration to make himself unforgettable. To that end, he searches for talented protГ©gГ©s, cultivating their skills, then stealing their work. He ensures their loyalty by gifting them copies of his cursed wolf-tooth necklace, Harkon™s Bite, or by transforming them into werewolves. He then manipulates these victims into believing only he will accept them.

Harkon wears a signature wide-brimmed hat and wolf-tooth necklace, and he carries a violin he calls Bleeding Heart. He uses flattery to charm those he takes an interest in. A skilled artist who declines the offer to become his protГ©gГ© often earns his obsession. The Darklord might go to any extreme to claim such performers™ talents as his own.

Adventures set in Kartakass involve art, werewolves, and sinister ambitions. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Kartakass

Kartakan adventures often include the following elements.

Harkon™s Curse

Harkon Lukas can create a copy of his signature necklace once per month on the night of the full moon. This cursed copy is called Harkon™s Bite.

Укус Харкона

Harkon™s Manipulations

Harkon Lukas seeks to win the attention and trust of artistic and charismatic individuals. This might include characters”especially bards”or their allies. Harkon might do this to further a grand plot, but he also does so to assuage his perpetually bruised ego and satisfy his need for control. Harkon also seeks supernatural forces he can exploit, including magic items or beings with performative powers”such as an Instrument of the Bards, harpies, or satyrs.

Harkon presents himself as a charming admirer or mentor seeking to aid others. He tries to manipulate those he pursues and earn their trust by encouraging them to do the following:

• Collaborate in creating a new song or show

• Compete in performances against the domain™s meistersingers

• Join him for tutoring or training exercises

• Protect him from a jealous former student

• Find a performer who stole one of his songs

• Travel with him on a tour of other towns

Harkon™s requests eventually turn criminal or violent. He might then blackmail those who aided him or threaten their reputations, or he might isolate them by gifting them Harkon™s Bite. Harkon continues such manipulations until it bores him, at which point he consumes his prey.

The Lukas Pack

An ever-changing entourage of followers and victims surrounds Harkon Lukas, but three individuals are constants in the Darklord™s life:

Akriel Lukas. Harkon™s eldest daughter, Akriel (Medium, Chaotic Evil Легендарный артист), idolizes Harkon and pursues her own performing career. The Dark Powers don™t torment Akriel as they do her father, and her reputation steadily grows”much to her father™s resentment. Akriel is a human and isn™t a lycanthrope.

Casimir Lukas. Harkon™s eldest son, Casimir (Medium, Chaotic Neutral Мастер-шпион), is seeking his place in the world. He wants nothing to do with Harkon, preferring to travel, even to other domains. Whether at the whims of his father or the Mists, Casimir always finds his way back to Skald. Casimir is a human and isn™t a lycanthrope.

Haldrake Moonbaun. Harkon™s oldest ally, Haldrake (Medium Волк-оборотень) appears as a heavily tattooed human. He serves as the Old Kartakan Inn and Taverna mixologist and head bouncer. When Harkon isn™t in Skald, he ensures things at the taverna run smoothly. Haldrake aids Harkon in his plots and knows many of the Darklord™s secrets, so Harkon compensates him well.

Traces of Terror

Kartakass™s charm masks its horrors. Roll on or choose a result from the Kartakass Sights table to inspire unsettling scenes in the domain.

Достопримечательности Картакаса

	Characters Witness ¦
1	Пробудившиеся овцы, замышляющие против пастуха.
2	Весёлый дом со следами резни.
3	Народная резьба, изображающая юношей, утаскиваемых волками.
4	Фонтан, изображающий танцующих волков.
5	Волчьи отпечатки лап в таверне или театре.
6	Певчая птица, поющая пока сердце не остановится.

Kartakass Campaign Arc

A campaign in Kartakass might follow this outline:

Levels 1“2. The characters meet Maria, a human woman whose idealistic son, Frantosh, ran away to Harmonia to become a performer. She gives the characters an Uncommon Instrument of the Bards and will allow them to keep it if they return Frantosh home safely. Along the way to Harmonia, the characters are plagued by Волк and people-eating Гоблин-воитель.

Levels 3“6. In Harmonia, the characters find Frantosh has begun performing with a skilled bard named Harkon Lukas. Harkon encourages the characters to help Frantosh follow his dreams. To help Frantosh, Harkon asks the characters to fetch voice-enchanting waters from a mystical silver spring near Argent Falls Conservatory. The spring is guarded by dead performers risen as Баньши and a covetous Молодой медный дракон.

Levels 7“8. On returning to Harmonia, the characters find Frantosh went to Skald with Harkon. There, Frantosh is performing nightly with Harkon at the Old Kartakan Inn and Taverna. Frantosh”now wearing a wolf-tooth necklace Harkon gave him”refuses to leave with the characters until after his first solo performance. The њHungry for Moreќ adventure below details this performance. After this Harkon might resent the characters or start obsessing over one of them.

Adventure for Level 7 Characters

Situation. The singer Frantosh has fallen under the sway of Harkon Lukas. He refuses to return to his family until after he performs at the Old Kartakan Inn and Taverna on the night of the full moon.

Hook. Frantosh™s mother, Maria, offers the party an Uncommon Инструмент бардов if they return her son.

Scene Configuration Overview

• If you encounter broken links below, they will appear once you install the adventure in your World.

• The interior map is completely set up for your adventures involving a tavern or inn. Global Illumination is turned off by default.

• Interior lighting is operational in most public areas of the scene. Lighting in sleeping rooms is placed but not activated.

• The scene regions designated for transporting tokens to different floors are preconfigured. Specifically, the scene region located on the second floor in the south octagonal room, which leads to Harkon Lukas's room, is disabled by default. This is to prevent the accidental revelation of the trap door in the ceiling.

• Two rooms have Scene Regions that override the darkness level: Harkon Lukas™s Room on the third floor and the Larder below the kitchen.

• NPCs mentioned in the adventure are placed in the scene, with Taven patrons (commoners) also present to conceal potential combatants from the players. There is an information box on the scene around the bandits to help locate the group among the patrons (the tables just west of the stage).

• Frantosh has the Shape-Change feature listed on his character sheet, allowing him to transform into a werewolf either in front of the players or in the background. Ensure that he has at least half of his hit points when using him in combat. The remaining werewolves are placed in the room just east of the stage (all hidden by default).

Encounters

This adventure uses map 2.22 and includes these encounters.

Frantosh™s Debut. Frantosh (Medium Performer) is performing on his own for the first time tonight. If the characters seek him out and mention his mother, he agrees to leave with them after his performance”it ends around midnight. If the characters try to abduct Frantosh, three Босс громил (or more) in Harkon Lukas™s service intervene.

Full-Moon. Mention that the performance is on first night of the full moon only if a character asks.

The Old Kartakan. The taverna is a popular spot in Skald. Crowds of Простолюдин fill the first floor of the Old Kartakan. Харкон Лукас (detailed earlier in this section) is here, but he avoids combat unless otherwise mentioned.

The Show. During his 1-hour performance, Frantosh makes a Проверка: Исполнение СЛ 15 every 15 minutes. Characters can aid him with the Помощь action or in other ways. Track how many of these checks Frantosh succeeds on. During the performance, these events occur:

Heckler. A drunk Простолюдин heckles Frantosh. If he™s not silenced within 3 rounds, Frantosh has Disadvantage on his next skill check.

Brawl. A fight breaks out between three Бандит. After the first round of combat, a Бандит with bad aim targets Frantosh with its Light Crossbow action each round. If Frantosh is struck, he automatically fails his next skill check.

Howl. A wolf howls outside, distracting the audience. The characters have 1 round to direct attention back to Frantosh, perhaps with flashy magic or by making a Проверка: Исполнение СЛ 18. If they don™t, Frantosh has Disadvantage on his next skill check.

After the Show. After the show, the characters see Frantosh vanish through a secret door. The next events take place in the inn™s hidden areas.

If Frantosh succeeded on three or more checks during the show, Harkon Lukas seeks to keep Frantosh. He won™t fight the characters, but he uses the necklace Frantosh wears to transform the singer into a Волк-оборотень. Frantosh and four more Werewolf servants of Harkon assault the characters.

If Frantosh didn™t succeed on three or more checks during the show, Harkon has grown bored with Frantosh. The characters find Frantosh Bloodied and being attacked by four Werewolves.

Conclusion. If the characters escape the Old Kartakan with Frantosh (potentially now a Werewolf), each earns a bonus 1700 ОП. Even if forced into battle, Harkon Lukas won™t kill the characters”they™ve intrigued the Darklord, and he might appear to toy with them later.

Domain of Snow and Stitched Flesh

A domain of amoral science, Lamordia shudders amid the icy environment and terror of its residents™ creations. Revolutions of steam and steel spur Lamordia™s people into frenzies of amoral invention. From industrialized communities and the iron walls of Ludendorf, the domain™s largest city, flow streams of scrap and chemical poisons that taint the land and transform creatures into horrors. Yet, the domain™s reckless scientists don™t pursue just mechanized inventions”the greatest goal is reinvention of life itself, transmuting people into ideals and unlocking generations of potential. In the name of such ambitions, the depraved reshape life and unleash abominations. And no aspirations have unleashed greater evils than those of the domain™s Darklord, Dr. Viktra Mordenheim.

Domain Features

Lamordia is known for the following features:

Frigid Environs. Lamordia is a frigid land of bleak mountains, frozen swaps, and icy seas. Few voluntarily trek into its wilderness, fearing freak blizzards and starving beasts.

Mutated Creatures. Creatures warped by alchemy roam Lamordia. The most infamous are the monstrous њwhalesќ of the Sea of Secrets”violent, unnatural leviathans, no two of which are alike.

Rational Culture. The people of Lamordia are direct and skeptical of superstition. They revere scientific innovation”as it™s all that stands between them and a life of frigid starvation. Magic is acknowledged but widely considered backward.

Steam Technology. Steam power driven by boiling sewers fuels clockwork inventions and massive cranes in the city of Ludendorf.

Locations in Lamordia

Lamordia is a frigid land. In the north, the Sea of Secrets is choked with ice, while the mountains known as the Sleeping Beast are never without snow. The cities of Ludendorf and Neufurchtenburg are detailed below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Lamordia Locations table.

Ludendorf

The city of Ludendorf is a morass of steam-powered factories operating at the behest of morally bankrupt barons. Boiling sewers and steam tunnels thread the city™s foundations, heating cramped tenements and powering cranes serving the city™s fleet of ironclad ships. These ice-breaking, whaling vessels dare the Sea of Secrets to bring back massive beasts that provide vital food and fuel for the city.

At the city™s heart, the unscrupulous Ludendorf University conducts risky investigations into such fields as alchemical combustion, automated ingenuity, chemical sentience, and speculative anatomy. The university continually needs new subjects for experiments and hires volunteers or pays individuals for њflesh rightsќ”ownership of their cadavers once they die. A secret society within Ludendorf University idolizes Viktra and follows the reckless paths laid by her work.

Neufurchtenburg

The smoking refineries of Neufurchtenburg process minerals harvested from the Sleeping Beast. These rare, little-understood elements are then shipped to Ludendorf™s factories. Radiation-warped monsters from the nearby bogs frequently attack, disrupting operations, but the town™s people use hulking clockwork machines, cutting-edge firearms, and destructive alchemy to fend off incursions.

From her laboratory at Schloss Mordenheim, Dr. Viktra Mordenheim uses her scientific genius to create horrors and wonders. All manner of undead and constructs march from her laboratory, but such flawed creations don™t satisfy Mordenheim. Rather, she seeks to re-create or reclaim her greatest creation, the Unbreakable Heart, a miraculous device that grants life to Mordenheim™s elusive reanimated victim, Elise.

Lamordia provides a stage for adventures featuring amoral science and altered or resurrected beings. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Lamordia

Adventures in Lamordia often include the following elements.

Elise von Brandthofen

Elise knows she died yet finds herself alive again. She is now a Чудовище Морденхейм (see chapter 5), and her life is sustained by the Unbreakable Heart (see the following section). Elise is learning to accept her new life but avoids Lamordia™s people, who label her as an outcast and a monster. She also knows that Viktra Mordenheim seeks to recover the Unbreakable Heart. The doctor™s actions”as well as the mercenaries she sends to abduct Elise”have shattered the pair™s bond. Now Elise hides at a secret sanctuary in the Isles of Agony called Hope™s Heart. Here, she shelters other victims and creations of Viktra, showing them the esteem their creator denies them. Those in Elise™s care have taken to calling themselves the Children (detailed below).

Mordenheim™s Masterpiece

The Unbreakable Heart is a nonmagical scientific wonder. Despite being the creator of the Unbreakable Heart, Viktra can™t re-create it and is obsessed with reclaiming it and rediscovering its secrets.

The Children

The Children are discarded creations of Dr. Viktra Mordenheim who have found shelter with Elise. Composed a few dozen Constructs and chemically animated Undead, the Children follow Elise™s lead and seek to live peacefully away from those who would misunderstand and harm them.

The exception to this is Adam, a Чудовище Морденхейм who recently joined the Children. Adam was created by Viktra to capture Elise, but Elise convinced him to join her instead. Unlike Elise, Adam was created from disparate parts and knows no previous life. Although Elise seeks to teach Adam humanity, he shows little respect for the lives of more fragile beings. Moreover, Adam is fascinated by Mordenheim™s work and quietly seeks ways to create life that will serve him.

Lamordia Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Lamordia often make the characters subjects or accomplices to Viktra™s schemes. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“2. A dean of Ludendorf University hires the characters to escort the coach of students traveling to an assistantship at Schloss Mordenheim. Along the way, they are plagued by mismatched Гомункул that sabotage their travels. These are members of the Children, seeking to stymie folk they take for Mordenheim™s allies.

Levels 3“6. At Schloss Mordenheim, Виктра Морденхейм hires the character to recover her invention, the Unbreakable Heart. She explains it was stolen by a monster that dwells on the Isles of Agony. Viktra wishes the characters to bring back the heart and the monster. The characters face dangers in the wilds, but the quest culminates in the њIsles of Agonyќ adventure (see below).

The conclusion of the campaign depends on whether the characters aid Viktra or Elise. When they return to Schloss Mordenheim, events might play out in the following ways:

Levels 7“9 (Aiding Viktra). If the characters aid Dr. Mordenheim, the doctor seeks to remove the Unbreakable Heart from Elise or test it by reanimating a new being. This results in a dramatic operation where an enraged Чудовище Морденхейм (see chapter 5) breaks free and rampages through the castle.

Levels 7“9 (Aiding Elise). If the characters aid Elise, the characters must free innocent victims of the doctor from the castle and prevent Dr. Mordenheim from animating new terrors by destroying her laboratory. Ultimately the characters must face Viktra Mordenheim (detailed earlier in this section) and two Flesh Golems made from the assistants the characters brought to the castle.

The campaign might continue with the characters continuing to aid or being targeted by the Children.

Adventure for Level 5 Characters

Situation. The characters must recover the Несокрушимое сердце (detailed earlier in this section). They don™t know it™s inside the outcast Elise.

Hook. Viktra hires the characters to recover the Unbreakable Heart, which was stolen by a monster. They are offered 2500 ЗМ, plus a 1000 ЗМ bonus if they capture the monster.

Encounters

The adventure begins when the characters reach the Isles of Agony and consists of these encounters.

Shipwreck. Soon after reaching the icy isles, the characters find six human survivors of a wrecked whaling ship. These sailors (Пират) are led by Mate Herzogin, and their captain was carried off by a half-human, half-machine monster. The survivors seek help returning home but want to recover their captain™s corpse (and their pay, which he carried).

The Monster. The monster the survivors fear is one of the Children, a Мясной голем named Kartad. He™s peaceful, but the survivors™ captain, Hans Giesbrecht (Medium Капитан пиратов), attacked him on sight. Kartad knocked out Hans, panicked, picked him up, and fled to Hope™s Heart.

Track of the Monster. Characters who succeed on a Проверка: Выживание СЛ 12 find and can follow Kartad™s tracks to Hope™s Heart. If the characters fail, a survivor points out the path. Roll on or choose results from the following table for three encounters that happen on the way (rerolling duplicates).

	Encounter
1	Столкновение: Шесть Лютых волков преследуют Гомункула. Гомункул убегает при первой возможности.
2	Столкновение: 1d8 Зомби, оживлённых механическими устройствами, смотрят в небо. Они Конструкты и не реагируют, даже если им навредить.
3	Первозданный медвесыч (см. «Энциклопедия чудовищ»), сделанный из разнородных частей, ищет пищу; это Конструкт. Он равнодушен к персонажам.
4	Столкновение: Тролль охотится вместе с Зимним волком.

Hope™s Heart. Hope™s Heart is a hidden canyon home to numerous harmless Constructs that is accessed via a passage in an abandoned cabin. When the characters approach, Elise appears on the cliffs 20 feet above and demands to know their business. Elise is a Чудовище Морденхейм (see chapter 5). The Несокрушимое сердце glows from her chest.

Fighting Elise. Elise attacks to prevent entry to the cabin and to defend herself. She avoids killing and won™t pursue those who flee. If the characters attack, they™ll likely have to make multiple attempts to wear down Elise or use trickery to defeat her.

Negotiating with Elise. Elise is Indifferent to the characters or Hostile if they harmed any Constructs on the isle. She™s wary of those who working for Viktra and can share the details described in њViktra™s Tale.ќ If a character explains they™re seeking the missing captain, she brings forth Hans and Kartad. Kartad has nursed Hans back to health; he apologizes and releases the bewildered captain.

The Crew. The six survivors arrive to see the characters speaking with Kartad. They overreact on seeing the њmonsterќ and initiate combat. Kartad panics and defends himself. Hans has 10 Hit Points but is too weak to command his crew or fight.

Aftermath. If the characters fight alongside the crew, Kartad and Elise defend themselves but flee after 3 rounds or if anyone is killed. Elise leads her followers to hide elsewhere on the island. The sailors thank the characters and offer to help them rally aid in Ludendorf to return and hunt the monsters.

If the characters deescalate the conflict or defend Kartad, Elise™s attitude toward them improves. She won™t give them the Unbreakable Heart or return to Schloss Mordenheim. Rather, she tries to convince the characters to see Viktra for the villain she is. She entreats them to return to the castle, save captive members of the Children, and thwart the doctor, as detailed in њLamordia Campaign Arc.ќ In return, Elise offers a trove of 4000 ЗМ and an Недвижный скипетр.

Characters who defeat or choose to aid Elise earn a bonus 1100 ОП.

Domain of the Haunted

In Mordent, the dead don™t rest. Here, farmers and fishers toil in scattered villages, cleaving to stoic, hardworking traditions. In the manors of landed, aristocratic families, the bearers of noble names view themselves as conservators of the land and of stifling reputations. Tradition, memory, and expectation haunt the lives of Mordent™s people, and when they die, nothing changes.

Little known to the living, the dead in Mordent rise as spirits, and for most”knowing no other ways”their work continues. Abandoned estates hide spectral generations of frustrated nobles and their downtrodden servants. While some spirits drift idly or deteriorate to mere impressions of their past selves, others greedily cling to their former possessions and ambitions. Some pernicious spirits become infamous hauntings, while others”such as the domain™s Darklord, the ghostly Lord Wilfred Godefroy”seek to dominate the living and dead.

Domain Features

Mordent is known for the following features:

Lingering Spirits. All manner of spectral undead and other hauntings lurk in Mordent. Ghost stories and rumors of haunted sites are common.

Local Nobility. Mordent is governed by town mayors and local lords. Few nobles remain, and some have only decrepit manors left to their names.

Old Faiths. People casually worship vague deities in Mordent, but evidence of forgotten druidic traditions lies scattered around the wilds.

Spiritualism. Attempting to communicate with the dead is a popular pursuit for investigators, bored nobles, and charlatans.

Tradition and Shame. The people of Mordent follow traditions that prioritize hard work, self-sufficiency, and avoiding public embarrassment. Locals overlook blatant strangeness so not to shame their neighbors, and every family has secrets.

Locations in Mordent

Mordent is a foggy land of forests, fields, and moors that endures frequent rainstorms. The land is dotted with tiny farming hamlets and the rotting homes of forgotten nobles.

The town of Mordentshire is detailed below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Mordent Locations table.

Mordentshire

Mordentshire is the largest community in Mordent. Sturdy fisherfolk work the town docks and, after dusk, fill crowded tavern common rooms. Cold winds frequently blow in from Arden Bay. When they stop, they™re replaced by a shroud of fog the locals call њthe breath of the dead.ќ

To the chagrin of the town™s no-nonsense populace, Mordentshire is home to a small community of scholars and adventurers. Saulbridge Sanitarium provides a refuge for the ill while also welcoming researchers from other domains. Across town, an unassuming herbalist shop is run by Рудольф ван Рихтен (see chapter 5), an investigator of all things monstrous and mysterious.

The lands around Mordentshire host two prominent estates. Heather House is the home of the Weathermay family, regional lords who count numerous heroes among their number. To the east stands Gryphon Manor, the notorious House on Gryphon Hill. The mansion has a history of violence, tragedy, and hauntings and is the home of the domain™s Darklord, Уилфред Годфрой.

Lord Wilfred Godefroy rules the afterlife of all who die in Mordent. Arrogant, impatient, and vengeful, the Darklord seeks any opportunity to exert his control and reinforce his undying noble standing.

Lord Godefroy haunts the House on Gryphon Hill, along with countless other spirits. Wilfred can send mobs of obedient spirits to do his will anywhere in the domain. He uses his control over the dead to influence the living, threatening to harm his victims™ dead loved ones if they don™t obey his fickle commands.

A generation ago, the creators of the mist-piercing device called the Apparatus vanished from Mordent. Lord Godefroy has discovered the hidden machine, but, to his frustration, lacks a way to use it.

Mordent is a realm of ghost stories (see chapter 4). Moldering manors, lonely moors, neglected graveyards, and similar gothic sites provide natural settings for encounters with spirits and the tragic dead. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Mordent

Adventures in Mordent often include the following elements.

The Apparatus

Wilfred is obsessed with control over the dead and the living. He knows where the magical device known as the Apparatus is hidden but has limited understanding of how to use it. Nevertheless, he knows it is powerful and can produce devastating effects. He cares nothing for the machine™s remarkable abilities and seeks to use it as a weapon to force all in Mordent to obey him.

To fulfill his goals, Wilfred seeks individuals with magical and alchemical insights, as well as rumors of the Apparatus™s missing piece, the Rod of Rastinon. He might threaten or blackmail the living into aiding him. Should he suspect the Rod of Rastinon or other vital information lies beyond Mordent, he might send his agents to other domains.

The Apparatus can exchange souls, open passages through the Mists, and create more dangerous effects, but the magical device might have any properties an adventure demands.

Bastion of Heroes

Despite the horrors lurking in Mordent, the domain hosts several quiet, relatively peaceful communities. Characters from Mordent might have had relatively peaceful, mundane lives before mysteries or tragedies led them to adventure. The abandoned estates of Mordent also make fine places to use the rules for Haunted Bastions, detailed in chapter 3.

Ghosts of Mordent

Ghost stories often involve spirits that linger as the result of some tragedy or unfinished work. In Mordent, spirits linger and might request help from the living. Roll on or choose a result from the Mordent Hauntings table to inspire adventures featuring the lingering dead.

Проклятия Мордента

	The Spirit Seeks Aid In ¦
1	Освобождение живого любимого от одержимости другим призраком.
2	Сокрытие тайны, способной опозорить или подорвать положение живого любимого.
3	Освобождение другого духа из подземелий под Домом на Грифоньем Холме.
4	Поиск духа, блуждающего по обширному региону или являющегося лишь в новолуние.
5	Восстановление памяти древнего духа, почти утратившего чувство собственного «я».
6	Поиск в далёком месте с привидениями духа, от которого он был отделён.
7	Запечатывание места древнего зла или логова существа, терзающего духов.
8	Тайный вывоз живого родственника из Мордента, подальше от лап Уилфреда.

Even though spirits are trapped in Mordent, many find secluded places where they reflect on nature, their lives, and eternity. Over generations, such spirits often become little more than vague shapes or disembodied voices or emotions before fading away entirely.

Van Richten™s Herbalist Shop

Рудольф ван Рихтен (see chapter 5) is the foremost scholar of monsters and strange occurrences in the Domains of Dread. He lives and works from the Mordentshire herbalist shop (see map 2.27). Beyond the storefront, Rudolph™s studies and prepares methods of combating evils plaguing the Land of the Mists. Adventurers might find lore and tools to combat all manner of monsters here.

When absent from his shop, Rudolph leaves it in the care of his protГ©gГ©s, Дженнифер Уэзермей-Фоксгроув and Лори Уэзермей-Фоксгроув (detailed in chapter 5) and Beatrice Polk, an elderly local gardener and accomplished detective.

Mordent Campaign Arc

Mordent campaigns often involve ghostly mysteries. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“2. Caarey Gelthik, a local ne™er-do-well in Mordent, has become a Вурдалак and lurks beneath the town docks. By night, he robs graves to consume the bodies within. The characters take note when silent spirits”perhaps of allies”begin wandering town, each missing limbs, tongues, and other soft features. Only finding and defeating Gelthik causes the dismember spirits to depart.

Levels 3“4. Beatrice Polk, caretaker at the Mordentshire herbalist shop, hires the characters to end a haunting afflicting the shop. See the adventure њThe Ghost Hunter™s Haunting.ќ

Levels 5“10. Alice Weathermay, mayor of Mordentshire, hires the characters to find a lost piece of local history: the Rod of Rastinon. She shares leads involving various strange sites, but the rod doesn™t appear. Eventually, Lord Godefroy”who has been working through Alice Weathermay”grows impatient. He threatens the party™s dead loved ones, insisting the characters find the rod swiftly and help him use the Apparatus (see chapter 3).

Adventure for Level 3 Characters

Situation. An accident at Rudolph van Richten™s herbalist shop broke a strange relic and unleashed a deadly feline spirit from another domain.

Hook. Beatrice Polk, the shop™s caretaker, offers the characters 400 ЗМ if they end the haunting.

Scene Configuration Overview

• If you encounter broken links below, they will appear once you install the adventure in your World.

• The interior map is fully prepared for your adventures in an herbalist shop, complete with walls and lighting. Global Illumination is enabled by default.

• Some areas of the scene have operational interior lighting, while other lights are pre-placed but disabled by default.

• NPCs are placed in the scene, but remain hidden until you are ready for the PCs to interact with them.

• Scene regions for teleporting tokens are set up on the first and second floors, as well as in the cellar.

Encounters

This adventure uses map 2.27 and consists of these encounters.

Beatrice Polk™s Aid. Beyond her folksy politeness and dislike of curse words, Beatrice Polk takes her stewardship of the herbalist shop seriously but doesn™t enter the shop during the haunting. She can provide the characters with a number of Зелье исцеления equal to the party™s members. She scuttles plans that involve harming or stealing Rudolph™s possessions.

Ghost Cat. A Wraith that appears as a black cat the size of a panther haunts the shop. Whenever the characters enter a room without monsters present, roll a die. If the number is odd, the cat is in the room. If the cat has more than half its Hit Points, it fights for a round, then flees to another room or floor; otherwise, it flees without attacking. If destroyed, the wraith reappears 24 hours later with full Hit Points. Its threat ends only if the ritual in the cellar is completed.

Laboratory. Two Poltergeists haunt this room.

Stairs. An unnatural wind blows against anyone who tries to ascend either stairway to the second floor. A character must succeed on a Проверка: Атлетика СЛ 16 to climb the stairs.

Dumbwaiter. A dumbwaiter connects the kitchen and the upstairs hall. It can hold one Medium or smaller creature. A creature outside the dumbwaiter can use an action to raise or lower the dumbwaiter and its contents.

Upstairs Hall. Broken on the floor is a strange relic: a mummied cat. Shelves nearby hold accounts of Rudolph™s travels in a land called Har™Akir.

Library. Rudolph™s library is filled with occult texts. Any character who spends a minute investigating the library finds a copy of Van Richten™s Guide to Ghosts. Those who spend at least 10 minutes reading this book and have seen both the relic in the upstairs hall and the ritual room in the cellar understand how to use the cellar room to exorcise the ghostly cat. Additionally, a character who succeeds on a Проверка: Расследование СЛ 12 finds a Свиток заклинания: Защита от добра и зла of Protection from Evil and Good.

Guest Room. Standing facing a corner of this room is Gennifer Weathermay-Foxgrove (see chapter 5). She is possessed by a Ghost, which holds her in a catatonic state. Gennifer is freed of her possession if she™s affected by a spell like Защита от зла и от добра or if she™s removed from the shop. The feline-featured wraith attacks the party if its possession ends or if Gennifer is moved from the room. If freed from the ghost™s control, Gennifer is aware of the ghostly cat, as she accidentally broke the relic in the hall. She knows how to exorcise the spirit using the wards in the cellar.

Cellar. A room in the cellar is prepared for magic rituals. A character who succeeds on a Проверка: Магия СЛ 12 realizes this space is warded to contain or dispel spirits. If the characters place the relic from the upstairs hall within the space, the ghostly cat appears 1 minute later and fights until destroyed. If the cat is defeated here, the relic repairs itself and the haunting ends. Characters gain a bonus 400 ОП каждому for ending the haunting.

Domain of Faded Glory and False Virtue

For the knights of the Shadowlands, the struggle with evil isn™t a philosophical trial”it is an active war. East of the rugged Theospine Mountains spreads the peaceful realm of Nidala, where the virtuous knights of the Circle guard their lands against wickedness beyond and within. To the mountains™ west lies the ruined land of Avonleigh, the birthplace of the knightly Circle; this realm fell to evil long ago and has become overgrown by the spirit-stalked Phantasmal Forest. Many knights of the Circle view themselves as inheritors of a legacy of shame. They aspire to the heroism of their storied ancestors and battle to absolve themselves of imagined failures. They throw themselves into crusades against foes, real and imagined, sacrificing their lives”and those of their people”for redemption and glory.

For all the Circle™s good intentions, these knights are cursed. Monsters and villains they™ve defeated reappear in the Shadowlands seeking vengeance. Most infamously, deep in the Phantasmal Forest lingers the evil that caused Avonleigh™s downfall: Ebonbane, Darklord of the Shadowlands and the sapient sword of the Circle™s founder, Kateri Shadowborn.

Domain Features

The Shadowlands is known for the following features:

Bastions on the Borderlands. The Circle seeks to reclaim a foothold in Avonleigh in a region called the Borderlands. They often reward allies with Bastions here (see chapter 3 and the Dungeon Master™s Guide for details on Bastions).

The Circle. The knights of the Circle (described in chapter 3) make their home in this domain.

Nidala™s Ruler. Elena Faith-hold rules Nidala. But this knight is rarely present in the land, as she leads deadly quests beyond the domain™s borders (see њFaith-hold™s Crusadesќ).

Locations in the Shadowlands

The Shadowlands is a dualistic domain: Avonleigh remains an overtly haunted wilderness home to lurking evils, while Nidala touts itself as the virtuous opposite. But the land™s harmony is artificial, its people forced to smile while trapped in the service of Elena Faith-hold and her sycophants. Accordingly, the domain™s conflict isn™t one of good versus evil, but rather of overt and covert evils.

The Phantasmal Forest is detailed below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Shadowlands Locations table.

Phantasmal Forest

The Phantasmal Forest dominates the haunted land of Avonleigh, a shifting, surreal woodland cloaked by perpetual night. A dreamlike place controlled by Ebonbane, the forest changes constantly, and locations within drift like flotsam on a dark sea. The River Avalon and the King™s Highway”an overgrown route of misaligned stones”enter the forest, but within the woods they circle endlessly and never leave. Only those descended from the Circle™s founding members can navigate the Phantasmal Forest without becoming lost. All others wander at Ebonbane™s whim, becoming prey for the wolves, corrupted fey, cursed knights, or wicked souls that haunt the forest.

Ebonbane is an evil, sapient blade that seeks to annihilate the legacy of the Shadowlands™ greatest hero and her allies. This includes all with the Shadowborn name and every member of the Circle.

Ebonbane is a magic weapon (see њЧёрный Бичќ later in this section), but within Shadowborn Manor, it becomes a creature that can move on its own (see the Чёрный Бич stat block). Beyond the manor, it doesn™t use its stat block”it requires a wielder to work its evil in the world.

Many who attempt to attune to the weapon are slain outright by its evil. Those who do manage to wield Ebonbane must endure the Darklord™s constant demands and risk becoming its pawn (see њSentient Magic Itemsќ in the Dungeon Master™s Guide). If unattended outside Shadowborn Manor, Ebonbane eventually finds its way back there. No one can carry Ebonbane out of the Shadowlands. If someone tries, the sword vanishes and reappears in Shadowborn Manor.

Ebonbane has a flamboyant personality and a penchant for the dramatic and sadistic. It has no regard for life and delights in animating the corpses of foes, then destroying them in front of their allies. When it speaks, it uses language that mocks the elevated speech of knights.

Adventures set in the Shadowlands feature individuals striving to prove their worth or superiority. Characters might be welcome to join the knights of the Circle, or perhaps they belong to families with heroic histories. Such ties could connect characters to the domain™s history and future quests. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in the Shadowlands

Adventures in the Shadowlands often include the following elements.

Faith-hold™s Crusades

Elena Faith-hold rules Nidala, crushing its people under the weight of her intolerance and need to maintain her virtuous reputation. While she doesn™t lead the Circle, she is its most respected member.

Elena leads forays of knights into the Mists on lengthy quests to defeat wicked foes in mysterious lands. An invitation to join one of Elena™s crusades is a great honor and a death sentence. Whenever Elena returns from the Mists, she always does so alone, claiming to be the sole survivor of a great victory.

Elena Faith-hold isn™t a Darklord, but should someone ever destroy Ebonbane, she might ascend to that position.

Quest of the Four Keys

One can destroy Ebonbane permanently using the sword of Kateri Shadowborn. However, the Dark Powers shattered her sword and scattered its pieces. These fragments are known as the Four Keys”emblems of Kateri™s valor and faith. Each embodies a different virtue and one of the four elements.

The Keys™ Locations. The Four Keys might appear anywhere in the Shadowlands or other domains. The ghost of Kateri Shadowborn or lore hidden amid tragic sites might point toward the keys.

Using the Keys. Should the characters collect the Four Keys, they can reforge them into a weapon that”if used to reduce Ebonbane to 0 Hit Points”negates its Darklord Restoration trait. It™s up to you whether this ends the Darklord™s threat or unleashes a greater evil bound within.

Shadowlands Campaign Arc

Campaigns in the Shadowlands often involve quests that reveal evils steeped in tragedies and abuses of power. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“4. The characters aid members of the Circle in defeating a dangerous Василиск in Nidala. Impressed, the knights charge the characters with reclaiming a fort in the Borderlands from a wicked knight. The knight”a Circle member who died trying to recover Kateri Shadowborn™s sword”is now a Ревенант. Once the knight is defeated, the Circle gives the characters its fort as a Bastion (detailed in the Dungeon Master™s Guide).

Level 5“8. In their Bastion, the characters find a piece of a broken sword. The spirit of Kateri Shadowborn appears to the most virtuous character and asks for their help freeing her spirit and defeating Ebonbane. She shares the details in the њQuest of the Four Keysќ section. The characters begin a journey across the Shadowlands and beyond to recover the other three sword fragments.

Levels 9“11. Once the characters have the Four Keys, Kateri™s spirit instructs them to travel to the Stone Circle in the Phantasmal Forest, where the sword can be magically reforged as a Holy Avenger. With this weapon, the characters journey to Shadowborn Manor and face Ebonbane.

Adventure for Level 10 Characters

Situation. A knight seeks to prove herself by finding a hero™s lost sword.

Hook. The human knight Lucia Lambert (Medium, Lawful Good Странствующий рыцарь) invites the characters to join her mission to recover the lost sword of the hero Kateri Shadowborn. In return, she™ll reward them with 4000 ЗМ”or double that amount in additions to the characters™ Bastions.

Encounters

The adventure starts at the edge of the Phantasmal Forest and consists of these encounters.

Phantasmal Forest. The journey to Shadowborn Manor is 18 miles, with the forest™s density and perpetual Darkness limiting characters to a Slow pace. As Lucia™s family members have belonged to the Circle since its founding, she can navigate the forest at a Normal pace, so the journey takes only 8 hours.

Fallen Knight. Outside the manor, a Претендент в рыцари смерти wearing the armor of a Circle knight bars the path and warns characters not to enter. A Good character who succeeds on a Проверка: Убеждение СЛ 16 can convince the corpse to let them pass; otherwise, it attacks those who try to enter.

Shadowborn Manor. Armored corpses lie about Shadowborn Manor (use map 2.29). If the characters disturb them or enter the great hall, five rise as Скелет Страда (see chapter 5).

Shadowborn™s Ghost. The Lawful Good Привидение of Kateri Shadowborn haunts the manor. If the characters seem near defeat, she appears and can distract Ebonbane or lead them to the hidden dungeon.

Ebonbane. Ebonbane (see Чёрный Бич) lies in the great hall. If with the characters, Lucia claims the sword and is stricken dead by Ebonbane, who animates her body. Otherwise, Ebonbane animates another corpse. The Darklord tries to convince the characters to take it from the manor so it can slay their foes. If they reject it, Ebonbane fights.

Conclusion. Should the characters escape Shadowborn Manor, each of them earns a bonus 3100 ОП. If they don™t take Ebonbane, Kateri™s ghost appears to them the following night and explains that Ebonbane™s evil isn™t ended. She goes explains the Darklord™s history and how to destroy it (see њQuest of the Four Keysќ). The Circle rewards the characters in Lucia™s stead if she is slain.

Domain of the Soul™s Shadow

Whatever Sithicus was or could have been, it will never be. The dramatic ruins of a fabulous elven realm cover a land realm forested by gigantic trees and burning with the flames of a forgotten magical disaster. Scattered communities appear among the dilapidation, the domain™s predominantly elf population living like strangers amid structures to which they have no connection. At dusk, people withdraw, hiding from the domain™s true residents: the shadows.

By night, the shadows of Sithicus reenact forgotten lives or mimic the deeds of questing knights, devoted lovers, and lurking monsters. Most of these shadows are harmless, if unnerving, and seem not to notice other beings. Some, however, resent the domain™s other residents and torment the living.

Though few in the domain realize it, Sithicus has ties to the world of Krynn on the Material Plane. Ruins suggest the work of elves from that world, while the night sky blazes with the five-headed dragon constellation of the deity Takhisis. As on Krynn, the black moon Nuitari is visible only to evil beings. But the domain™s clearest tie to Krynn is its Darklord, the accursed knight Lord Soth.

Domain Features

Sithicus is known for the following features:

Bound to Krynn. Sithicus is a warped reflection of the lands of Krynn. This world and its people, such as kender, are described in Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen.

Cataclysmic Fire. Accursed flames blaze amid prominent ruins and turn shadows into monsters drawn from Lord Soth™s past.

Living Shadows. Shadows in Sithicus move on their own. Most are harmless, but some are deadly creatures such a Тень or Теневой демон.

Soth™s Traitor. Lord Soth™s undead soldiers hunt for the ghostly knight Caradoc, whom Soth blames for his imprisonment in Sithicus.

Locations in Sithicus

Two significant features of Sithicus are detailed below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Sithicus Locations table.

Endless Ruins

Sithicus lies blanketed in endless ruins. Ancient forests rise from them, rivers flow in their broken avenues, and whole mountain ranges are sculpted with crumbled towers. These structures suggest the work of a vast, magical elven nation, but all evidence of these people has been reduced to enigmatic scraps of art and lore. At the heights of crumbling towers or in empty crypts blaze violet, cataclysmic fire (see њCataclysmic Flamesќ). In rare cases, these phantasmal flames reveal glimpses of Lord Soth™s past and details that the clever might use to win the Darklord™s favor.

Great Chasm

The Great Chasm gapes in Sithicus like a wound. None can say how deep it goes, as light fails to pierce more than a few dozen feet into the ravine. Those who descend deeper vanish into the shadows and rarely return. Those who do tell of a malicious darkness beneath the domain, a cacophony of hateful voices, and shadows that hunger.

Hidden amid ruins spilling into the chasm is the home of Inza Kulchevich, a hateful witch who can speak to shadows and believes all virtue is a lie. Despite her cynicism, she might perform prophetic fortune-telling or share strange lore in return for her visitors™ shadows.

Lord Loren Soth seethes within a realm that mocks and frustrates him. Having known the rigid standards of knighthood and warfare, Soth finds Sithicus empty and chaotic, his people apathetic and undisciplined. The elven beauty that once captivated him lies ruined, the land burns with the flames of Krynn™s Cataclysm, and the realm™s shadows remind Soth of his past failures. Worse, no worthy foes exist to challenge him. So Soth broods on his throne in Nedragaard Keep, haunted by banshees that sing the tale of his disgrace and by rotted, undead copies of the knights who once served him.

Lord Soth cares nothing for his domain. But should noteworthy threats or remarkable individuals appear, he seeks to crush or enlist them. The only exception is the spirit of his treacherous former ally, Caradoc. Soth™s undead servants and his werebadger seneschal, Azrael Dax, scour the land for the elusive ghost.

Soth shares his imprisonment in Sithicus with all in the domain by keeping its borders perpetually closed. Only those who rouse him to activity or invade Nedragaard Keep might convince him to let them escape. This risks provoking the mighty death knight™s wrath, but Soth still thinks of himself as a true knight”he might assist those who present themselves as honorable warriors or show knowledge of his home (see њInfluencing Lord Sothќ).

Adventures set in Sithicus feature mysterious shadows, grim ruins, and strange foes from the warped memories of Lord Soth. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Sithicus

Adventures in Sithicus often include the following elements.

Cataclysmic Flames

Illusory violet flames burn across Sithicus”fires from the Cataclysm that devastated Krynn. Powerful shadows guard prominent, bonfire-like pillars of these flames. These shadows might use the stat blocks of any monster, but they resemble dragons, knights, and figures from Soth™s past.

Whenever someone defeats one of these guardians, the flame it protected reveals an illusory scene from the Darklord™s past before vanishing. Any character who witnesses such a scene learns something of Soth™s history, the world he comes from, or the knighthood he once belonged to. One of the viewers then gains the Charm of the Black Rose (see њSupernatural Giftsќ in the Dungeon Master™s Guide for additional details).

Амулет Чёрной розы

Influencing Lord Soth

Lord Soth is typically Hostile to strangers, but characters can adjust his attitude to Indifferent by succeeding on a Проверка: Обман или Убеждение СЛ 20. Soth might employ characters he deems worthy on quests, such as the hunt for the ghost Caradoc. Making a second successful Проверка: Обман или Убеждение СЛ 20 while offering Soth something he covets can improve Soth™s attitude to Friendly for a short time, during which he might let others leave his domain.

Living Shadows

Shadows in Sithicus often act with a life of their own. Roll on or choose a result from the Shadows of Sithicus table to inspire these shapes™ behavior.

Тени Ситикуса

Тени Ситикуса

	The Shadows Behave As ¦
1	Эльф, отчаянно предлагающий завёрнутый свёрток.
2	Проблески скелетных воинов или лошадей.
3	Рыцари в битве или посреди осады.
4	Крестьяне, пожираемые теневым пламенем.
5	Марширующие солдаты с драконьими чертами.
6	Мрачные эльфийские жрецы, попавшие в засаду огров.

Sithicus Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Sithicus often involve trying to gain Lord Soth™s favor and win escape from the domain. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“4. Azrael Dax, Lord Soth™s werebadger seneschal, brusquely recruits the characters to hunt down deadly shadows. These shadows take the form of and behave as noble knights.

Level 5“9. Impressed by the characters, Azrael sends them to Inza Kulchevich to ask the witch to use her powers to find Lord Soth™s elusive former servant, Caradoc. Inza can do this, but first she requires the characters to collect the cataclysmic flame from three ruins across the domain in a magical iron pendant. Each flame is guarded by a shadow creature that resembles some foe from Soth™s twisted memories”like a lance-wielding Командир воителей or a pompous Первосвященник.

Levels 10“14. Inza uses the pendant to reveal that Caradoc™s soul is trapped in a black sapphire that Azrael already possesses. The characters must recover the gem. They might then infiltrate Nedragaard Keep to offer it to Lord Soth. Soth is fickle though, and this approach might end in a confrontation with the death knight.

Adventure for Level 14 Characters

Situation. The characters seek to escape Sithicus or the Domains of Dread.

Hook. Inza Kulchevich (Medium, Neutral Evil Death Cultist) offers to tell the characters how to escape Sithicus if they recover a magical gem from Lord Soth™s seneschal, Azrael Dax.

Scene Configuration Overview

• If you encounter broken links in this adventure, they will appear once you install the adventure in your World.

• The adventure map for Sithicus is configured, but NPC tokens have not been pre-placed because the adventure does not specify their locations. These encounters do not use Nedragaard Keep, though it is available if desired. Global Illumination is enabled by default.

• Encounter actors are available for each result on the Encounters in the Ruins table.

Encounters

The adventure consists of these encounters.

Inza™s Quest. The witch Inza loathes Lord Soth. She knows he has tasked Azrael with recovering a magical gem that holds the spirit of the Darklord™s treacherous former ally, the knight Caradoc. Inza gives the characters an iron pendant bearing an image of a rose that™s missing its central gem. She asks them to follow Azrael to a ruin in the Misttop Mountains, where he hunts the missing gem, and recover it before him.

Inza™s Secret. Inza doesn™t share that she seeks to release Caradoc to provoke Soth into a conflict with the characters.

Searching the Ruins. The ruins where Azrael hunts for the gem appear on map 2.31. For every 10 minutes the characters are exploring, roll 1d6 on the table below for an encounter. For each previous encounter rolled on this table, add 1 to the result.

Встречи в руинах

Встречи в руинах

	Encounter
1-2	Претендент в рыцари смерти и две Банши
3-4	Два Неумолимых кошмара (см. главу 5)
5	Гултиасова порча, покрытая чёрными розами
6	Кендер-носферату (см. ниже)
7	Теневой верховный лорд (см. ниже)
8	Азраэль Дакс (см. ниже)

Kender Nosferatu. A morbidly whimsical pair of Vampire Nosferatu (see chapter 5) pesters the characters, hoping to be entertained. If the characters don™t keep them amused, the nosferatu attack. Because these monsters were kender in life”mischievous folk from the world of Krynn”they are Small.

Shadow Highlord. A dragon rider made of shadows guards a pillar of illusory violet flame. It reflects one of Lord Soth™s warped memories and uses the stat blocks of a Dullahan (see chapter 5) riding a Young Blue Dragon, followed by a withered Death™s Head (see chapter 5). The monsters are Hostile. If they™re defeated, the nearby pillar of flames shows a scene of Lord Soth being knighted and grants a character the benefits noted in њCataclysmic Flames.ќ If you roll this encounter a second time, treat it as a meeting with Azrael Dax.

Azrael Dax. Azrael Dax is Lord Soth™s dwarf seneschal and a murderous werebadger (use the Werebear stat block). Azrael and the six Strahd Skeletons (see chapter 5) attending him are Hostile. If reduced to 50 Hit Points or fewer, Azrael bargains for his life and offers the characters the black sapphire they™re looking for, which he™s been hiding from Soth for moons. After this, don™t roll for more encounters in the ruins.

Repairing the Pendant. Place the black gem in Inza™s iron amulet releases Caradoc (Neutral Evil Ghost). The arrogant creature is Indifferent to the characters. If they don™t free Caradoc, Inza does when the group returns the gem and pendant to her.

Soth Appears. Three rounds after Caradoc is freed, Lord Soth of Sithicus (see earlier in this chapter) appears from the shadows. Soth fights Caradoc and mistakes the characters for the ghost™s allies. A character might convince him otherwise”see њInfluencing Lord Soth.ќ

Escape. Characters who flee or defeat Lord Soth gain an additional 6200 ОП. Those who change the Darklord™s attitude to Friendly or help him defeat Caradoc can convince him to let them leave Sithicus. Defeating Soth also causes the domain™s borders to open. If the characters confront Inza about her method for leaving Sithicus, she cryptically explains that the only route to do so leads through Soth, encouraging them to seek the Darklord™s aid or confront the death knight again.

Domain of Nature™s Cruel Secrets

All is well in Tepest. Fields shimmer with bountiful harvests, and horned village children recite sing-song rhymes. But those who linger among this land™s pastures and colorful cottages can™t escape the feeling of being watched or the impression that strange forms move amid the fields. Locals dismiss such worries as the work of fey tricksters, but their smiles fail to mask the desperation in their eyes.

Brutality wears a welcoming face in Tepest, a truth embodied by the ancient hag Lorinda, who betrayed her coven in pursuit of adoration. Taking the guise of a deity called Mother, Lorinda adopted the village of Viktal, protecting its people from nature™s whims so they can worship her even as they sacrifice themselves to feed her monstrous offspring. In the wilderness beyond, resentful fey watch and plot, offering cruel bargains to those who stray beyond Mother™s sight. The people of Viktal do what they must to survive, using tradition to cloak their fear and complicity in a cycle of murder. Strangers become symbols of hope for Viktal™s citizens”welcome alternatives to slaughtering their families in Mother™s name.

Domain Features

Tepest is known for the following features:

Children of the Fey. Few children are born in Viktal. Would-be parents must bargain with Mother or the fey to bring them a child.

Fey Threats. Caves dot the land, connecting to depths where dangerous fey dwell. The people of Viktal fear them and blame them for every ill.

The Last Village. Viktal is the only community in Tepest. The others displeased Mother and suffered terrible fates.

Mother. Viktal™s residents devoutly follow the optimistic faith of the nature deity called Mother.

Mother™s Minders. Mother™s most zealous faithful are called Mother™s Minders. These devotees sacrifice their left eyes to Mother to show their faith.

The Tithe. Viktal™s festivals include a fertility celebration called the Tithe that occurs once a season.

Locations in Tepest

The valley of Tepest is rocky, ill-suited to farming, and plagued by dangerous fey. Nevertheless, those who worship Mother are protected from the worst of the land™s dangers. Mother™s Sight and Viktal are detailed below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Sithicus Locations table.

Mother™s Sight

A mile outside Viktal, in a field apart from the surrounding farms, stands Mother™s Sight: an array of rune-etched standing stones. These stones rise as tall as thirty feet, and several have pieces that defy gravity. Within the central and largest stone floats a disk reminiscent of a great eye.

Here the people come to worship, celebrate, and sacrifice. Colorful crafts adorn long tables, where the villagers play games and feast in celebration of Mother™s bounty. Meals here are tasty, and guests are encouraged to eat and drink beyond their fill.

During rituals here, Viktal™s community leaders give thanks to Mother before a dramatic fire surrounded by an eight-foot scaffold. (See њThe Titheќ adventure for additional details.)

Viktal

Mother ensures peace in Viktal. The village consists of a few dozen cottages, a market square, and an inn on the banks of Lake Kronov. Wicker scarecrows guard the rich fields blessed by Mother, and friendly people go about their daily lives. Cheery villagers welcome visitors, show them hospitality, and demonstrate interest in their stories.

Mother Lorinda desires a family over all else, not realizing she™s destroyed every family she™s ever had. A creator of monstrosities, this ancient green hag obsesses over unnatural maternalistic pursuits.

Over generations, Tepest™s villagers have come to view Lorinda not as a powerful witch, but as a god of the land and fertility called Mother. Lorinda doesn™t dissuade her fragile mortal followers from their baseless cult practices. The villagers provide willing sacrifices for the hag™s flawed magical attempts to create life, and their adoration gradually soothes the violent, magical outbursts that follow her failures.

Lorinda™s walking tower of bones, the Gurgyl, ranges across Tepest. Those who seek her here find a distracted but deceptively cunning hag clinging to

grotesque dolls of her family. She laments the loss of her sisters, Laveeda and Leticia, never acknowledging that they remain alive as her prisoners. She often speaks of her daughter, Laoirse (pronounced њLUR- shuhќ)”the name she uses over and over again for each of her monstrous creations.

When Lorinda visits Viktal, she appears in her illusory guise as Mother, an ancient, powerful woman wearing a mothlike cloak and bearing a branch with burning limbs. She calls on the people to prove their love for her through sacrifice, whether of food and crafts, their left eyes, or their lives. Sometimes her arrival is sudden and terrifying, such as when she magically appears to crawl from one of her followers™ empty eye sockets.

Lorinda seeks new ways to create a permanent family. This might involve great sacrifices, stolen fey magic, strange adoptions, or all manner of supernatural bargains.

Adventures set in Tepest feature rural cults, deceptive fey, and dread of nature™s mysteries. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Tepest

Adventures in Tepest often include the following elements.

Strangeness in Viktal

The locals seem welcoming and vigorous in their worship of the nature deity, Mother. The village leader, Wyan, guides them in their faith, assisted by elders called Mother™s Minders”all of whom are missing their left eye.

Residents invite visitors to stay at the village™s only inn, the Fisher™s Rest, free of charge for as long as they please. They encourage new arrivals to linger and participate in their upcoming festival, called the Tithe (detailed later in this section).

Mother™s Children

Multiple times a year, Lorinda goes through a cycle of trying to magically create a new child. She calls this monstrous being Laoirse and dotes on it for a time. She believes that sacrifices to Laoirse during the Tithe can extend her child™s life, but inevitably, the monster™s magic fades, and it becomes mud and bones once more. For weeks afterward, Lorinda remains inconsolable, and violent storms and strange disasters plague Tepest.

Lorinda™s children take varied forms. To create such a monster, choose a stat block appropriate to challenge your characters, then consider how that creature might appear if it were made from different parts. For example, a Минотавр Бафомета or Волк-оборотень might be a bipedal mixture of ram, stag, and wolf parts, while a Ходячая куча might be a person made of wicker. These descriptions should seem outlandish but reflective of the creature™s traits and actions. And no matter how bizarre her children are, Lorinda loves them all the same.

Tepest Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Tepest often involve Viktal™s cult and the dangerous spirits of the wilds. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“2. Characters find themselves welcomed in Viktal and encouraged to take part in the Tithe (see the adventure below). At the rite™s conclusion, the villagers try to sacrifice one or more characters to one of Mother™s children. The characters defeat the monster, earning the enmity of both the villagers and Mother Lorinda.

Level 3“5. Fey creatures or druids who have been victims of Lorinda aid the characters; they reveal that she is no god, but a powerful hag who wanders the land in a walking tower called the Gurgyl. They send the group on a quest to learn from a mystical site or elder forest spirit how to infiltrate the hag™s lair.

Levels 6“8. After learning how to infiltrate the Gurgyl, the characters locate and break into Lorinda™s lair, finding some of the hag™s bizarre creations and her diminished, imprisoned sisters. When they emerge from the mobile fortress, they find themselves near Viktal, where Lorinda confronts them, backed by her fanatical followers.

Levels 9+. If the group defeats Lorinda, the land spirals into chaos as fey from Mount Arak run wild. The characters might become involved in a power struggle between the good and evil fey of Arak. Lorinda™s return might drive the fey back”but the Darklord will help only if someone becomes her new child.

Adventure for Level 2 Characters

Situation. The characters participate in a religious celebration, at the end of which they are poised to become sacrifices.

Hook. The human leader of Viktal, Wyan (Medium, Neutral Evil Священник) invites the characters to participate in the Tithe, a rite honoring their god, Mother.

Encounters

This adventure begins the day of the Tithe, after Friendly villagers from Viktal (Простолюдин) lead the characters to Mother™s Sight. It uses map 2.33 and consists of these encounters.

Tithe Competitions. Wyan directs the assemblage in a prayer to Mother, and the day of games begins. Characters each can play three games, participating in each selected game once. During each game, a character makes the ability check or skill check listed on the table below three times. Those who succeed on the check two or more times win the game; if they fail, a villager wins.

Characters who don™t play a game might socialize and see some benign oddity extrapolated from the Viktal Sights table (earlier in this section).

Competition Winners. The day™s games draw to a close at dusk. Wyan names a character who won two or more games as Mother™s Favorite and crowns them with a garland of white camellias. If no character won this many games, a human villager named Lorelei (Medium Простолюдин) wins the crown and invites them to sit with her at the head table during the feast.

Feast. Wyan begins the feast with another prayer as the Mother™s Minders light a grand bonfire within a tall scaffold. During the feast, villagers encourage the characters eat and drink to excess. A character who does so must succeed on a Испытание: Выносливость СЛ 10 or gain the Отравление condition for the next 6 hours.

The Sacrifice. At midnight, standing before the scaffold (see map 2.33), Wyan announces, њNow we prove our undying love for Mother and beg her for another season of bounty. Bring forth our sacrifice!ќ Mother™s Favorite receives a bowl of food and tiny crafts and is instructed to take it to the bonfire.

If Lorelei is Mother™s Favorite, she obeys and approaches the bonfire. If a character is Mother™s Favorite, they choose whether to approach. Regardless, 2 rounds later, a biped with wolflike features and stag™s horns (use the Минотавр Бафомета stat block) emerges from the field nearest Mother™s Favorite. This is one of Lorinda™s monstrous children. It fights Mother™s Favorite (and anyone else who damages it) to the death. During combat, the villagers raise their voices in a hymn but stay out of the conflict. Lorelei smiles and doesn™t defend herself if attacked.

Conclusion. If the monster dies, Wyan and the villagers are horrified that the Tithe went wrong. They turn Hostile, blaming the characters and demanding they leave. Mother Lorinda learns of this and seeks revenge.

If the monster wasn™t killed, the villagers remain Friendly, but their true nature becomes clear. Mother Lorinda also takes an interest in the characters, potentially seeking to adopt them as her new children.

Regardless of how the Tithe concludes, the characters gain 200 ОП.

Domain of the Hunter

In the wild domain of Valachan, only the deadliest predators survive. Bestial hunters, carnivorous plants, and ravenous monsters stalk the dense rainforests, but the land™s greatest threat is its Darklord: the devious, undying hunter Chakuna.

Chakuna stalks the jungle, testing herself against the domain™s deadliest beasts. Yet little delights her more than discovering strangers to her realm” visitors who soon realize they™ve become the Darklord™s newest quarry. Chakuna forces her victims to participate in the Trial of Hearts, a race through the wilderness to remote sanctuaries. Participants face deadly traps and all the dangers of the wilds, including Chakuna herself. Those who reach the goal at the end of the trial are permitted to leave Valachan. Those who don™t reach it die, either due to the deadly wilderness or at the hands of Chakuna herself.

Domain Features

Valachan is known for the following features:

Displacer Beast Packs. Packs of Ускользающий зверь roam the jungle, led by Yana, a preternaturally large and cunning displacer beast that serves Chakuna.

Natural Hunters. Wild plants and creatures in Valachan usually seem hostile toward strangers. Most creatures here are carnivorous even if elsewhere they aren™t.

Trial of Hearts. The deadly Trial of Hearts is a battle royale that starts on the night of the full moon. Chakuna chooses participants.

Wilderness Domain. Valachan is covered by a fantastically dangerous rainforest. Visitors face constant perils, but the domain™s residents flourish.

Locations in Valachan

Valachan is lush and wild. Rare creatures and plants reign here, as do villages of people who understand and thrive in the rainforest. No roads pass through the land, but ships from other domains sometimes wreck on these shores. The settlement of Oselo and the Pantara Lodge are described below, and other notable locations are summarized on the Valachan Locations table.

Oselo

The former home of Darklord Chakuna, Oselo is a prosperous village that welcomes visitors. When night falls, the residents change, shifting from people into panthers, ocelots, tigers, and other hunting cats. These shape-shifters hunt animals for food and do battle with other peoples only to defend their home. Most fear Chakuna and want no involvement with the Trial of Hearts, fearing the Darklord™s wrath. However, in rare instances, Oselo™s shape-shifters might be convinced to guide, hide, or otherwise aid participants in the Trial. This displeases Chakuna, but she respects the decisions of her people™s elders. The villagers might adopt strangers deemed worthy, but outsiders first must prove themselves in an initiation ceremony focused on surviving unarmed in the forest for a week.

Pantara Lodge

The Pantara Lodge is a series of thatched structures strung together high in the forest canopy, suspended above the overgrown ruins of a burned castle. This is Chakuna™s home. Its interconnected treehouses include a great hall, the Darklord™s personal quarters, an armory, an infirmary, and several guest lodges. The Darklord™s Ускользающий зверь and Пантера allies prowl the trees amid the lodge™s structures and can enter them freely.

Chakuna is Valachan™s deadliest hunter, a youthful werepanther with the intensity and calm of a veteran executioner. Few can elude her cold cunning, deadly traps, and packs of feline allies.

Chakuna is no mere murderer. She hunts because she must to protect the people of Oselo from a more terrible fate. To that end, she prefers to target strangers in her land, forcing them to participate in the Trial of Hearts. She relishes the chance to hunt the proud and disrespectful, as well as the skilled and unpredictable. Chakuna knows no mercy, though, and even those she comes to respect eventually face her blade. She spares the people of Oselo alone, even as her peoples™ fear of her grows.

Adventures set in Valachan involve merciless wilderness, predatory animals, and deadly hunts. Use this section to develop horror adventures in this domain.

Horror in Valachan

Adventures in Valachan often include the following elements.

Trial of Hearts Rules

Visitors to Valachan likely are forced to participate in the Trial of Hearts, a dangerous game where the domain™s Darklord hunts them. On the night of the full moon, Chakuna selects those she considers worthy to participate. At the Pantara Lodge, she shows her guests every courtesy, provides them with a map of the domain, and sets out these rules for the trial:

• Participants can divide into small groups or go it alone.

• Once groups are established at the trial™s start, alliances between contenders aren™t permitted.

• Participants must reach one of two shrines: either on Kiru Island or between the lakes called the Scars atop Anquara Plateau.

• Participants can leave the Pantara Lodge at dawn. The following dusk, Chakuna pursues the contenders with hunting partners of her choice, attempting to slay any participants she encounters outside a shrine.

• Only one person or group can occupy a shrine.

• Participants can kill one another for any reason” particularly to take a shrine.

• The trial doesn™t stop for any reason until Chakuna arrives at both shrines and acknowledges any winners there.

• The Darklord™s servants escort winners to the village of Shuaran, and from there, out of Valachan.

• Losers rot where they fall.

• Rule breakers are killed.

Chakuna wants the trial to be challenging. If she catches a competitor too soon, she might release them if they sacrifice an ally, a limb, or a valuable weapon. Anyone who dies in the trial feeds the domain™s bloodlust”even those who fall to a threat other than the Darklord herself.

Valachan Exploration

Valachan is a dense and deadly wilderness. When creating adventures here, refer to chapter 2 of the Dungeon Master™s Guide for details on travel and journeys with stages.

Characters use the rules in the њTravel Paceќ section of the Player™s Handbook. Valachan™s forests prevent a party from traveling at faster than a Normal pace, and their density makes them Difficult Terrain, reducing travel pace by half. This means most characters can move through the domain at a Normal pace of 1ВЅ miles per hour and 12 miles per day.

Flying. Difficult Terrain slows flying creatures in Valachan, due to the strong winds above the forest canopy. Flying creatures are also easy to spot, attracting the attention of Химера, Птеранодон, and condor-like Птица Рух. Chakuna might stipulate that flight is off-limits during the Trial of Hearts. If she does, the Mists aid in enforcing this rule.

Navigation. It™s easy to get lost in Valachan™s jungles. Unless they use gorges and waterways for guidance, characters must make Проверка: Выживание СЛ 15 to avoid getting lost. Those who fail spend 1d4 hours wandering and risk encountering deadly creatures (see њTrial of Heartsќ for suggestions). Characters should make this check once during each stage of a journey, or after dramatic or disorienting encounters.

Trial Route: Kiru Island. An approximately 20-mile route from the Pantara Lodge to Kiru Island runs along the gorge south of the lodge to the Eirubamba River, then along the coast to Kiru Island. At a Normal pace, this route takes a day and a half (13 hours) to complete. Roughly 10 miles of this route follows the river. Characters who use a raft can move at Fast pace along the river. Rapids make the river Difficult Terrain, but even so, moving at this pace reduces the journey to just over a day (11 hours).

Trial Route: The Scars. Participants in the Trial of Hearts who travel from the Pantara Lodge to the Scars on Anquara Plateau have a route of approximately 20 miles if they follow the Shadowtaker Lakes east to the river called Killer™s Road, then ascend Anquara Plateau. Characters can follow most of this route at a Normal pace, but 2 miles involve climbing into the mountains”a Slow pace through Difficult Terrain, reducing movement to 1 mile per hour. This route takes over a day and a half (14 hours) to complete.

Valachan Campaign Arc

Campaigns set in Valachan often feature the Trial of Hearts and Chakuna™s connection to her domain. A campaign here might follow this outline:

Levels 1“3. Consider starting this campaign in another domain or world. During their travels, the characters become shipwrecked.

Level 4“6. The characters wash up on the shores of Valachan. They must find ways to survive the rainforest and fend off a pack of Displacer Beasts that stalks them. They eventually find shelter in Oselo or Shuaran.

Levels 7“9. Having heard of their exploits, Chakuna invites the characters to the Pantara Lodge, offering to help them leave if they participate in the Trial of Hearts (see the adventure below). Before the trial ensues, the characters might learn secrets from the head of Urik von Kharkov.

Levels 10+. If the characters survive the trial, Chakuna helps them leave the domain. As they characters travel out of Valachan, locals from Shuaran or Oselo beg the characters to stay and slay Chakuna. Should the characters kill Chakuna, chaos erupts and Urik von Kharkov strives to retake power in Chakuna™s absence.

Adventure for Level 8 Characters

Situation. To escape Valachan, the characters must participate in the Trial of Hearts.

Hook. The hunter Чакуна (see earlier in this chapter) invites characters to Чакуна to discuss helping them leave the domain.

Encounters

The adventure uses map 2.34 and consists of these encounters.

Pantara Lodge. Chakuna seems welcoming and polite, inviting characters to relax before a feast where she™ll explain how to leave Valachan. Note the Indifferent Displacer Beasts that prowl the lodge”Chakuna™s guards and hunting companions. The characters receive a comfortable guest room where they can rest before dinner.

Chakuna™s Guests. The characters aren™t Chakuna™s only guests. There are three other groups:

Lizardfolk. Tolocwa (Верховный людоящер) and three lizardfolk (Medium Воитель-ветеран) are their tribe™s best hunters.

Pirates. The human Rakengel (Medium Капитан пиратов) and three Пират from his crew were recently shipwrecked.

Thieves. Aian, Citana, and Lesar are Тигр-оборотень from Oselo who were caught stealing a rare herb.

Trial Rules. After Chakuna™s guests have all gathered for a meal of vegetarian dishes and mineral water, Chakuna does the following:

• Explains the trial, outlining the rules from the њTrial of Hearts Rulesќ section.

• Insists this is the only way to leave Valachan.

• Notes that the group could attack her, but they would face her Displacer Beast allies. If they want to fight, they should wait for the trial.

The pirate group speaks up in protest, but growls from Chakuna™s allies silence them. The Darklord answers questions, then encourages her guests to rest, as the trial starts at dawn. Those who leave before then violate the rules.

Cheating. Chakuna catches anyone who tries to leave the lodge early or otherwise cheat. She encourages them to obey the rules and calls on six Displacer Beasts to enforce them. She calls the monsters off before anyone dies.

Choosing a Route. Have the characters choose a shrine as their destination and determine their route (see њValachan Explorationќ).

Trial Encounters. The trial is divided into three phases, including a night camping in the jungle. As you narrate the characters™ journey through the wilderness, roll on the following table for an encounter that happens during each of the first two phases and another that occurs while camping.

События в джунглях

	Characters Encounter ¦
1	Засада воров (см. выше).
2	Чакуна, пробегающая мимо вся в крови; затем нападают четыре Зверя смещения.
3	Наводнение или камнепад. Персонаж должен преуспеть в Проверка: Выживание СЛ 15, иначе к путешествию добавляется 2 часа.
4	Четыре Роя прожорливых насекомых.*
5	Три Зомби-разносчика чумы* или Неумолимый потрошитель*, переживший предыдущее испытание.
6	Гидра или два Шагающих кургана.
7	Тираннозавр-рекс или два Гигантских крокодила.
8	Убитый член другой группы. Бросьте кость; если выпало чётное, у трупа есть Зелье лечения.

Chakuna During the Trial. Chakuna might appear and menace characters, but don™t track her travels or have her fight the characters directly.

Kiru Island Event. During the last phase of their journey, groups traveling to Kiru Island must find a way to cross Sangui Cove. While crossing, they are attacked by a Giant Shark and a Giant Crocodile.

Scars Event. During the last phase of their journey, groups traveling to the Scars must climb 120 feet up Anquara Plateau. While they do, a Giant Ape attacks them from above.

Trial Shrine. At both destinations, the trial shrine is a wooden platform bearing a statue of a panther. It hangs at the end of a 200-foot-long rope bridge suspended 60 feet over a spiked pit. Those who fall into the pit take 21 (6d6) Дробящего урона damage plus 36 (8d8) Колющего урона damage.

Rival. If the characters reached the shrine in less than 15 hours, they are the first ones there. After 2d4#Hours hours, the pirate group arrives at the Kiru Island shrine, and the lizardfolk group arrives at the Scars shrine. Both groups are missing any members who died in previous encounters, but they™re Hostile and fight the party. If the characters took longer than 15 hours, this rival group arrives first.

Conclusion. An hour after the group contends with its rivals, Chakuna arrives. If the characters followed the rules of the Trial of Hearts, she pronounces them victors and upholds her end of the bargain”helping them leave Valachan. If they broke the trial™s rules in even the slightest way, Chakuna knows it and fights them. In either case, each character earns a bonus 2100 ОП.