Call to Arms
Anyone strong enough to wield blades or spells must report immediately to Captain Lhorin Ruskin at Grey Hold.
Quest: Grey Hold is a fortress on the edge of a vast mountainous region, two days’ march from the dwarven town Hammersong. Just north of the fortress runs a long, deep gorge known as the Grungur Depths. The gorge is considered treacherous as the area is unstable and few go near it. Some say it is bottomless, but no one has ever ventured deep enough to find out if this is true.
One week ago, hundreds of zombies climbed over the ledge and attacked Grey Hold. A few nights later, a new wave of zombies emerged from the gorge to attack the fortress, this time almost breaching its defences.
What the characters do not know: At the bottom of Grungur Depths, some 1000 feet down, its shadowy domain has become the lair of a powerful vampire which is summoning large numbers of undead minions. With the aid of an enslaved earth elemental, the vampire has built an extended dungeon, in which it makes its home.
The zombies sent by the vampire to attack the fortress is only a small part of the vampire’s forces. The vampire hopes that the attacks will prompt the fortress to counterattack, so that adventurers carrying plenty of valuables will make the dire mistake of entering the dungeons that the vampire has built around its lair, where undead horrors and lethal traps await them.
Encounters: One vampire, two vampire spawn, nine zombies, one shadow, one earth elemental.
CR: 13-24, depending on if the characters fight the creatures in smaller groups or all at once.
Reward: 1,109 gp, 5,028 sp, 467 cp, one citrine (50 gp), one jasper (30 gp), five moonstones (150 gp/each), thirteen onyx stones (25 gp/each), one Potion of Diminution, one spell scroll (Phantasmal Killer), and one Ring of Earth Elemental Command.
Brave adventurers needed to protect Lower Wolverton
Quest: A wizard has claimed an old crumbling tower near the coastal town of Lower Wolverton as her home. Anyone who has approached the tower since then has been chased away by fiery spells, and signs have sprung up around the tower that warn all intruders to stay away – or else. There are also reports of peculiar night-time lights in the woods of Greenmist Haven near the tower.
No one has been injured yet, but the townsfolk in Lower Wolverton are nervous, so the mayor is offering a reward to those willing to investigate what is going on in the tower.
What the characters do not know: The wizard is a female halfling conjurer by the name of Sybil Sevenhills, but her plans are less sinister than the mayor believes. One week ago, her mentor fell under the sway of an evil entity and unleashed a pair of fiendish hounds in the forest of Greenmist Haven before running off from the wizard academy.
Sybil and her fellow pupils are currently trying to contain the monsters before they cause harm to anyone. Unfortunately, this can only be done through a lengthy ritual that demands all of Sybil’s concentration, so she can’t allow any interruptions.
Encounters: 2 hell hounds.
Friendly encounter: Sybil Sevenhills (a mage).
CR: 5-11, depending on if the characters fight the creatures in smaller groups or both at once.
Reward: The mayor’s reward (170 gp). If the characters speak with Sybil and help her hunt down the hellhounds, she gives them a pair of Boots of Levitation and a large slice of Sevenhill Special Cheese (ten servings), which provides a +1 bonus on Constitution saving throws for 24 hours.
Eleonor Littletwig has gone missing in Greyleaf Forest
Quest: Three days ago, Eleonor Littletwig, a half-elven girl of eight years, left the village of Ruttertoft to bring supplies to her relative who lives alone deep in Greyleaf Forest. She never arrived at her relative, and no trace of her has been found. Mya Brittlestaff, the village elder, offers anyone willing to search for Eleonor a reward of 25 silver and a keg of the village’s finest mead.
What the characters do not know: Unbeknownst to the villagers, two groups of orcs are skulking through the woods and killing unscrupulously as they come closer to Ruttertoft. Eleonor, who has an affinity with wolves, was chased by one of the groups, but found refuge with a pack of wolves in a cave near Bluesong Lake.
Encounters: Fourteen wolves, and two groups of five orcs.
Friendly encounter: Eleonor (a commoner).
Other encounters: Fourteen wolves and two groups of five orcs.
CR: 4-7, depending on if the characters fight the creatures in smaller groups or all at once.
Reward: The orcs carry 144 cp, 292 sp, 63 gp, a yellow gem worth 24 gp, a faintly magical rabbit’s foot (which provides the wearer with a +1 bonus on Wisdom (Nature) checks), and a cotton handkerchief embroidered with the initials A.R.
Large bronze key lost in Highstalker Hills
Quest: On his way back from an expedition, the somewhat absent-minded wizard Ibatraz Wyvernspur lost one of the items he discovered in the dungeon: a large, heavy and complex key in the shape of a tower. Having found quite a lot of loot during his travels, and eager to research some of the books he had come across, Ibatraz did not pause to search for the key but simply assumed he had dropped it. Well back in his study, Ibatraz realized that the key may be quite priceless, so he quickly announced that he would greatly reward those who could return the key to him.
What the characters do not know: The key is both magical and valuable, but it was stolen rather than dropped: one night, an intrepid gnoll crept up to the wizard’s campsite and pilfered the key from his bags.
However, the gnoll met its end only hours later when it sought shelter from a thunderstorm in a cave that also housed a dragon, which made a quick snack out of both the intruder and the key. The key’s magic is now filling the dragon’s mind with wild visions, causing it to fly around erratically and attacking objects and creatures at random.
Encounter: An adult blue dragon.
Friendly encounter: Ibatraz (a friendly archmage)
CR: 16
Reward: 400 gp from the quest giver Ibatraz. The dragon’s hoard also contains 1,042 gp, 1,798 sp, 3,182 cp, a wooden talisman fitted with a starshard gem (worth 200 gp), a carved wooden rod with silver inlays (worth 25 gp), a Potion of Clairvoyance, and a mithral chain shirt. The key opens the entrance to the long-lost Tomb of the Everlasting, a legendary dungeon in which a mad necromancer was buried some three thousand years ago.
Flora Redblade is wanted for Theft & Murder
Quest: The notorious bandit Flora Redblade has stolen a crown made for the king-in-waiting two weeks before the coronation. The theft took place while the crown was being transported to the capital. A large group of guards accompanied the caravan, but they were fooled by several decoys that enabled Flora to sneak off with the box that held the crown. The king-in-waiting is furious and has issued a hefty reward for Flora’s head and his crown.
What the characters don’t know: Flora plans to sell the crown to purchase medicine for her hometown, which has been struck by a strange plague.
Encounters: Flora Redblade (a bandit captain), Flora’s tame mastiff Bork, her five fellow bandits.
Challenge rating: 2-5, depending on if the characters deal with the encounter separately, in smaller groups, or all at once.
Reward: 150 gp and a Letter of Recommendation from the king-in-waiting.