Ravenloft: The Horrors Within

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.

Strahd's Tale

Count Strahd von Zarovich was a ruthless conqueror. Retiring after years of war, Strahd settled in the beautiful valley where he'd won his greatest victory. There, in the way of his ancestors, he spilled his blood into the earth, sealing a pact between himself and the land. In honor of his parents, King Barov and Queen Ravenovia, he named the valley Barovia and constructed his home, Castle Ravenloft.

Strahd invited his few remaining family members to live with him at Castle Ravenloft and eventually was joined by his younger brother, Sergei. Sergei was everything Strahd wasn't—youthful, empathic, and warm. Soon after he arrived, the younger von Zarovich and a local villager named Tatyana fell in love. Strahd resented his brother, even more so after meeting Tatyana and being charmed by her pure kindness. Obsessed, Strahd sought to woo her but was rebuffed. Unwilling to accept her wishes or the idea of Sergei as his better, Strahd made a pact with ancient evil forces to regain his vitality and ensnare Tatyana's heart.

The day of Sergei and Tatyana's wedding, Strahd murdered Sergei and, to seal his pact, drank his brother's blood. He revealed his new might to Tatyana, expecting to enthrall her. Instead, horrified by Sergei's murder, Tatyana fled Strahd, ultimately leaping from the height of Castle Ravenloft and vanishing into the Mists. At the same time, traitors from among the castle's guards and wedding's guests rose up to assassinate Strahd. Despite countless wounds, Strahd didn't die. His bargain with the Dark Powers had made Strahd the multiverse's first vampire. A night of slaughter followed; when dawn touched the parapets of Castle Ravenloft, no living soul survived within. But Strahd remained.

Strahd's villainy and his connection to his land drew all of Barovia into the grip of the Dark Powers, which transplanted the vampire and his realm into the Shadowfell. This began a succession of torments that plague the count still. The Dark Powers' attentions have spilled forth to drag others into the Mists as well, giving rise to the Domains of Dread.

Strahd's Domain

Barovia is altered by Strahd's presence, creating the following effects:

• Closing the Borders. While in his domain, Strahd can close or open the borders to Barovia at will. While the borders are closed, noxious fog suffuses the Mists surrounding Barovia. A creature that enters the Mists for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or gain 1 Exhaustion level. A creature makes this save only once per turn.
• Dreadful Darkness. While in an area of Darkness, creatures other than Strahd and creatures of his choice have Disadvantage on saving throws to end or avoid the Frightened condition.
• Jealous Heart. When a character receives Heroic Inspiration but already has it, that character can't give it to another character in the group.

If Strahd dies, these effects end immediately.

Strahd's Lairs

While the notorious Castle Ravenloft is Strahd's home, it isn't his only redoubt in Barovia. Multiple bastions of evil serve as sanctuaries for the count and his servants, should fate demand.

[image: Nightly the village of Vallaki bars its gates against attacks from wolves and deadlier predators]

Horror in Barovia

Adventures in Barovia often include the following elements.

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 Wolves or Zombies.
• 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 Ghosts, Werewolves, and deadly Druids.
• Levels 9–10. Armed with knowledge and magical weapons, the characters lay siege to x, facing Strahd's most terrifying servants and the count himself.

Blood o' the Vine

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 x) 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 each character 500 GP.

[image: The Blood of the Vine tavern is one of the few places in the village of Barovia that welcomes strangers]

Treacherous Blood

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 2,500 GP if they investigate. He doesn't share that his information comes from the count's servants.

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.

Ivana's Tale

The firstborn of a fantastically wealthy family, Ivana Boritsi was clever, poised, and—in the eyes of her father, Klaus—utterly unfit to lead the family. Driven to prove her father wrong and encouraged by her mother, Camille, Ivana learned every aspect of her family's vast perfume and medicine business.

Her focus on her goals faltered when she met Pieter, a skilled chemist in her family's service. Camille recognized her daughter's budding romance and saw the lowborn Pieter as a threat to the girl's prospects. Camille seduced Pieter and arranged for her daughter to discover them, intent on convincing her to forsake this and all future romances.

Ivana took a different lesson from the experience. Realizing the depths of her family's depravity, she poisoned her mother and her callous younger siblings with toxins of her own design. None suspected Ivana, but soon after, Klaus summoned her. Having lost his sons, Klaus named her cousin, Ivan Dilisnya, his heir. Ivana was the last to be informed, her father having already announced his decision to the estate and sent a messenger to inform the Dilisnyas.

Having expected this, Ivana had poisoned the perfumery on the estate's grounds, turning its far-ranging smells deadly. Ivana laughed as toxic mist poured across the estate. As she sipped the antidote, she watched Klaus and the manor's staff die choking amid a violet fog. When the poison cleared, the Mists had surrounded the land of Borca (for details on Ivana's x and x, see "x").

[stat block: Ivana Boritsi]

Ivan's Tale

Treachery is tradition for the Dilisnya family. The land of Borca originates from the same world as Barovia's conquerors, the von Zaroviches. Dilisnyas were at Castle Ravenloft the night of Strahd von Zarovich's transformation.

Ages later, the siblings Boris and Camille Dilisnya plotted to steal the prestige of their cousins, the Boritsis. Camille manipulated her way into the Boritsi family, while Boris prepared his son, Ivan, to act as head of a united Boritsi–Dilisnya house.

Despite abundant opportunities, Ivan resented his family's plans for him and grew to embody puerile vice and impulses. His family's wealth and doting servants exacerbated this problem, even as Ivan fixated on childish toys and behaviors. Frequent "accidents" transpired around him, forcing his family to cover up the maimings and deaths of numerous pets and servants. Only his beloved sister, Kristina, remained immune to his wicked tricks. Although Ivan's family grew unsettled by Ivan, they sheltered the future head of their house, reshaping their estate and investing in whimsical diversions for him.

On the same night Ivana Boritsi poisoned her family, Ivan learned his parents intended to send Kristina to a prestigious boarding school. Screams, cruel cackling, and clockwork screeching filled the estate that night. When it ended, Ivan Dilisnya was the last living member of his family, and the Mists had closed around Borca.

[stat block: Ivan Dilisnya]

Ivana and Ivan's Domain

Borca is altered by Ivana's and Ivan's presences, creating the following effects:

• Closing the Borders. While in their domain, Ivana or Ivan can close or open the borders to Borca at will. While the borders are closed, the Mists surrounding Borca are filled with briar vines (Ivana) or barbed wire (Ivan). The Mists become Difficult Terrain, and whenever a creature moves into or within the Mists, it takes 2d4 Piercing damage for every 5 feet it travels. Once Ivana or Ivan closes or opens the borders, neither Darklord can do so again until the next dawn.
• Ivana's Whispers (Ivana Only). Ivana can encode a message of 25 words or fewer into flowers in Borca at dawn. Until the next dawn, the first time a creature smells a flower, it hears the message in its mind, understanding the meaning of the message.
• Mystery Letters (Ivan Only). Whenever Ivan writes a letter and addresses it to a creature in Borca whose name he knows and that he's seen before, the letter appears near that creature at the next dawn. The letter appears in an unobserved but obvious space, such as a bedside table or among gear.
• Spies. While in Borca, Ivana and Ivan can cast Clairvoyance, requiring no Material components and using Intelligence as the spellcasting ability. To cast the spell, there must be a Large or bigger plant (Ivana) or a Tiny doll or similar toy (Ivan) within range from which the sensor appears.

If a Darklord of Borca dies, that Darklord's effects end immediately. Those effects resume if that Darklord gains a new body (see Ivana's and Ivan's Darklord Restoration traits).

Ivana's Lair

The vast Boritsi estate, Misericordia, hosts fields, greenhouses, and alchemy labs used to create Boritsi-branded perfumes and tinctures. Within the manor, the Darklord cultivates rare and unique plants in greenhouse-like conservatory wings only she can enter.

Ivan's Lair

The Dilisnya estate, Degravo, is a confusing tangle of topiary gardens, hedge mazes, and neglected petting zoos that abut sheer cliffs. At the heart of the grounds sits a largely abandoned compound that includes the Laughing House, Ivan's home.

Horror in Borca

Adventures in Borca often include the following elements.

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.

Lethal Lavender

Adventure for Level 5 Characters

• Situation. The human siblings Eroso and Siobhan Manduchi (Medium, Neutral Evil Nobles) 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.

Regions of Darkon

The Shroud has divided Darkon into four parts (see "x" for details):

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

Azalin's Tale

Firan Zal'honan was a noble and heir to the city-state of Knurl on the world of Oerth. A student of magic, Firan adopted the title "Azal'Lan," meaning "wizard-king," when he came to power. Firan's rule was marked by harsh laws and violent expansion, but his people flourished, as their lives were filled with magical wonders.

As Firan aged, he looked toward his succession. His son, Irik, was generous and charming but, in Firan's eyes, soft and unfit to rule. No matter how Firan tried to teach his son of the world's harsh realities, Irik's kind spirit wouldn't bend to his father's cynical outlook. This difference came to a head when Firan caught Irik freeing political prisoners. Firan could have ignored the crime or pardoned his son. Instead, Firan personally wielded the axe during Irik's execution.

In the years that followed, Firan was tormented by his son's death, but he also became convinced that only he was fit to rule. Researching the mysteries of death, he discovered the secret to becoming a lich. After embracing the transition into undeath, Firan ruled for decades more, increasing Knurl's power and earning himself many foes. Eventually, tales of magic that might restore Irik lured Firan from his home. During his search, a band of mercenaries ambushed the ruler. Firan fled into the mist to avoid the assassins. When the mist cleared, Firan found himself in Barovia.

In Barovia, peasants Firan encountered mistook his title and called him Azalin. Soon, Azalin encountered Barovia's ruler, Strahd von Zarovich. The two came to respect each other, and Azalin taught Strahd much of the way of magic. Together, the pair learned a great deal about the nature of the Domains of Dread and made attempts to escape. Their plots failed, though, and resulted in other realms—such as the domain of Mordent—being drawn into Barovia's orbit. Eventually, the two tyrants' respect soured into loathing. Before Azalin and Strahd could destroy each other, Azalin entered the Mists, and the domain of Darkon spread before him.

Azalin's Domain

Darkon is altered by Azalin's presence, creating the following effects:

• Closing the Borders. While in his domain, Azalin can close or open the borders to Darkon at will. While the borders are closed, undead terrors fill the Mists surrounding Darkon. Whenever a creature enters the Mists, one Hostile Zombie Clot appears in a random unoccupied space within 30 feet of that creature.
• Lord of the Dead. While in his domain, Azalin can cast Clairvoyance, requiring no spell components and using the same spellcasting ability as his Spellcasting action. When Azalin casts this spell in this way, he can place the sensor in any Undead in Darkon with an Intelligence of 6 or less, even if it is beyond 1 mile of Azalin. In addition, Azalin can speak through the Undead he placed the sensor in.
• No Secrets. Whenever a creature in Darkon casts a spell using a level 5+ spell slot, Azalin becomes aware of that creature's name and location. A Nondetection spell blocks this effect.

If Azalin dies, these effects end immediately.

Azalin's Lair

During the Hour of Ascension, Castle Avernus—Azalin's seat of rule and magical laboratory—erupted in a magical conflagration. Now, Castle Avernus stands frozen in time at the instant of its destruction, blasted to magically floating chunks of rubble. Its towers pitch wildly and crumble to pieces amid arcane flames, yet they don't fall. Although time has halted in the ruins, Azalin's servants who avoided the disaster have returned, unaffected by the castle's frozen time. Meanwhile, the fortress's magic attempts to heal the wreckage, slowly creating new halls and winding stairs between the fractured floors.

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.

[image: The Treacherous Harbor of Martira Bay]

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 semi-exploded 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 Shadow Dragon 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.

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 Necrichor (see x) 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.

Horror in Darkon

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

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.

Secrets of Avernus

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.

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.

Saidra's Tale

Despite being raised in poverty, Saidra d'Honaire was an arrogant bully whose father led her to believe she was secretly royalty. When her father remarried, Saidra suffered slights and mockery at the hands of her callous stepmother and stepsisters.

The night her father revealed that Saidra was only distantly related to nobility, she fled into the night. At her mother's grave, Saidra's curses were overheard by a mysterious stranger. This grandmotherly figure offered to grant Saidra any wish. When the stranger heard Saidra's desire, she cackled and dressed the girl in rubies and a crimson gown. Resplendent, Saidra set off to the masquerade ball celebrating the coronation of the land's new duke.

At the masquerade, Saidra charmed the duke and his court. Yet, as bells tolled midnight, the gems on her dress evaporated, releasing a magical poison. The evil magic killed everyone at the masquerade, a massacre that would have fulfilled Saidra's murderous wish and left her within reach of the throne. As Saidra toured a palace full of the dying, clouds of spreading poison rose in a mysterious mist.

When the mist cleared, Saidra found herself in a grand estate in Port-a-Lucine. The estate's servants acknowledged her as their duchess, but the lethal poison had dissolved Saidra's body into a deathly vapor. As none seemed to notice, Saidra embraced the fantasy that she had achieved her vain desires.

Saidra's Domain

Dementlieu is altered by Saidra's presence, creating the following effects:

• Closing the Borders. While in her domain, Saidra can close or open the borders to Dementlieu at will. While the borders are closed, the countryside called Chateaufaux appears in the Mists surrounding Dementlieu. Creatures in the Mists get lost amid mazelike hedgerows and fogbanks, only to reappear on the outskirts of Port-a-Lucine 2d6 hours later.
• Empowered Actors. Humanoids add 1d8 to Charisma (Deception or Performance) checks made while wearing a mask.
• Invitation. At dawn, Saidra can choose a creature whose name she knows or that she's seen before. A simple mask and an invitation to the next Grand Masquerade appear to that creature. The letter and mask appear in an unobserved but obvious space, such as a bedside table or among gear.

If Saidra dies, these effects end immediately. The effects resume if Saidra gains a new body (see her Darklord Restoration trait).

Saidra's Lair

The duchess dwells at the d'Honaire Estate. This lavish manor and its manicured grounds cover the largest island in Lucine Bay.

Horror in Dementlieu

Adventures in Dementlieu often include the following elements.

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 Gargoyles, Wererats, or Waxworks (see x).
• 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.

The Grand Masquerade

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.

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.

Drakov's Tale

In the world of her birth, Vladeska Drakov was known as the Crimson Falcon, leader of a peerless mercenary army called the Falcon's Talons. In a land of bitterly feuding royal families, she and her troops executed a thousand ancient grudges and petty atrocities. Drakov amassed a fortune and planned to retire young and buy a title and a realm to rule.

The sacking of Yeivere changed her plans. During that city's razing, Drakov's mercenaries went too far. The Falcon's Talons killed a unique soul during the slaughter. None can say who the soul was—a royal, a saint, a witch, an angel—but with its death, the world turned against them.

The ruling families united to hunt the Talons. Thanks to her tactical genius, Drakov repelled her pursuers and went on the offensive. One by one she attacked her former benefactors, burning villages, pressing citizens into service, and impaling anyone with a drop of noble blood. Over years of work, Drakov forged a bloody empire. But while sacking the burning city of her last remaining foe, Drakov and her troops were engulfed by smoke. When it cleared, everything they knew was gone.

Transported to an unfamiliar land, Drakov and her troops wasted little time subjugating it. This unprepared realm fell quickly, almost willingly. On taking the city of Lekar, Drakov named herself ruler of her new empire: Falkovnia.

However, under a moonless sky, the dead rose against Drakov, claws scraping against Lekar's walls before alarms could be raised. Drakov's brilliant and desperate strategies eventually turned back the zombies during the days-long First Siege of Lekar, but victory came at the cost of most of her veteran troops.

Since then, Drakov has nearly lost her nation. Every moon, a new desperate battle unfolds. She prepares ceaselessly for each one, certain of her ultimate victory but doubtful of her troops' mettle. With threats and public impalings, she keeps her people more terrified of her than of the undead. And with every new moon, she faces an unconquerable foe, never revealing a secret only she knows: that each zombie bears the face of an innocent her soldiers once put to the sword.

[image: Custodian's Hall rises over the few remaining wards of Lekar that haven't fallen to the zombie hordes]

Drakov's Domain

Falkovnia is altered by Drakov's presence, creating the following effects:

• Authoritarian Regime. Drakov's allies have Advantage on Wisdom saving throws.
• Closing the Borders. Drakov can't close or open the borders of her domain. Falkovnia's borders are usually closed, but they open one week every month starting on the night of the new moon.
• Endless War. Whenever a creature other than Drakov or her allies finishes a Long Rest in the domain, roll 1d20. On a 1, the creature doesn't remove any Exhaustion levels as a result of finishing that rest, and the creature gains 1 Exhaustion level.

If Drakov dies, these effects end immediately.

Drakov's Lair

When she conquered the city, Vladeska Drakov claimed Lekar's seat of governance, Custodian's Hall, as her army's headquarters. Since the First Siege of Lekar, one emergency after another has forced Drakov and her Talon troops to repurpose the building's chambers for military purposes.

Horror in Falkovnia

Adventures in Falkovnia often include the following elements.

Siege of Lekar

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.

Labyrinth

Har'Akir's countless trap-laden ruins interconnect beneath the desert in a hidden maze called the Labyrinth. Monstrous Mummies 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's Tale

In a nation called the Land of Reeds and Lotuses, Ankhtepot served the royal family as high priest. As old pharaohs died and new ones rose, the influential priest came to believe that the gods wanted a wiser leader to rule. On the day of a new pharaoh's ascension, Ankhtepot rallied his priests and murdered their liege. But he had misjudged the people's will, and an outraged mob rose up and executed the traitorous priests.

Moreover, Ankhtepot had misjudged the will of the gods. As he stood before them in death, the immortals forsook him, cursing him and denying him entry to the afterlife. They returned him to the world but stripped away a piece of his soul, his ka—the vital essence that inspires all living beings.

Ankhtepot awoke, trapped within his corpse, as he was mummified along with his treacherous followers. Untold centuries passed, but on the day the last memory of Ankhtepot faded from the Land of Reeds and Lotuses, the high priest's bindings rotted away, and Ankhtepot crawled forth from his sarcophagus. He emerged from his tomb in an unfamiliar land: Har'Akir.

In this new land, Ankhtepot found a pious people devoted to the same gods he once served. Over generations, he wiped out that religion, replacing it with false divinities of his own imagining for whom he alone could speak. Ankhtepot also resurrected the priests buried alongside him as mummy lords, replacing their heads with those of beasts and monsters holy to his new faith. These Children of Ankhtepot served him as they did in life, and together the dead conquered the souls of Har'Akir.

In the ages since, Ankhtepot hasn't forged the land of his ambitions. His servants scheme against him, his people don't flourish, and his monuments crumble to dust in mere centuries. Ankhtepot's ambitions have withered. Now he seeks only to reclaim his soul and use it to put an end to his accursed immortality.

Ankhtepot's Domain

Har'Akir is altered by Ankhtepot's presence, creating the following effects:

• Blistering Sun. Any outdoor area of Bright Light in Har'Akir is an area of extreme heat (see the Dungeon Master's Guide).
• Closing the Borders. While in his domain, Ankhtepot can close or open the borders to Har'Akir at will. While the borders are closed, whirling sands fill the Mists surrounding Har'Akir. A creature that enters the Mists for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there takes 2d6 Slashing damage.
• Control Undead. Undead of CR 5 or lower in Har'Akir have the Charmed condition and obey Ankhtepot's orders.

If Ankhtepot dies, these effects end immediately.

Ankhtepot's Lair

A mountain-size black pyramid, Ankhtepot's tomb—called Pharaoh's Rest—looms over the City of the Dead. It can be seen from all across Har'Akir.

Horror in Har'Akir

Adventures in Har'Akir often include the following elements.

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 Mummy Lord and oppose Ankhtepot, as detailed in the "Scrolls of the Dead" adventure.

Scrolls of the Dead

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 5,000 GP and a random magic item from the Relics—Rare table in the Dungeon Master's Guide if they stop Isu.

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.

Hazlik's Tale

On the world of Toril, Hazlik rose among the ranks of the merciless Red Wizards of Thay. Arrogant and convinced mortality was a weakness, he sought hidden truths of magic, ways to visit realms within the psyche, and command of reality.

As Hazlik's power increased, he developed rivalries with other Red Wizards, many of which ended with his foes magically scarred. But one rival Hazlik couldn't defeat: the wizard Indreficus. Hazlik gradually came to obsess over Indreficus, viewing him as his only worthy opponent. Indreficus shared Hazlik's genius and arrogance, and they spent seasons as vicious adversaries and passionate lovers. They drove one another to feats of magical brilliance both revolutionary and unspeakable. This culminated when Hazlik discovered that Indreficus planned to betray Hazlik to garner the favor of Thay's ruling zulkirs. Heartbroken and enraged, Hazlik captured Indreficus and subjected him to nightmarish magical manipulations that permanently transformed him into a pain-wracked, living magical portal. Hazlik presented his creation to the zulkirs, hoping to gain their patronage

The zulkirs revealed that Indreficus hadn't betrayed Hazlik. Rather, the ruling mages had watched the pair's ascent and, wary of their ambitions, undermined them before they became threats. Moreover, they deemed Hazlik's transformation of Indreficus an abomination. As punishment, the zulkirs decreed that every mage Hazlik had scarred could do the same in return to him, marking him with their personal symbols. As the first brand-wielding member of the mob of Hazlik's rivals closed on the wizard, Hazlik fled through the groaning portal that was Indreficus.

Hazlik emerged amid the pain-wracked dreamscapes of Indreficus. Unwittingly, Hazlik had entered the Domain of Dread known as the x, where Indreficus's shrieking and condemnation hounded him. After months of torment, Hazlik escaped into the Mists and eventually emerged into a realm that knew nothing of magic. His Thayan tattoos had turned gold and warped into symbols meaning "traitor." Undaunted, Hazlik used his magic to dominate the people of this new realm, claiming the title of zulkir and dubbing his realm Hazlan.

Hazlik's Domain

Hazlan is altered by Hazlik's presence, creating the following effects:

• Closing the Borders. While in his domain, Hazlik can close or open the borders to Hazlan at will. While the borders are closed, the Mists surrounding Hazlan are filled with monstrous magical experiments. A creature that enters the Mists for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 5 (1d10) Force damage and have the Restrained condition until the start of its next turn. A creature makes this save only once per turn.
• Frayed Magic. Whenever a creature (excluding Hazlik and his allies) casts a spell using a level 5+ spell slot, it rolls on the Wild Magic Surge table in the Player's Handbook to create a magical effect.
• Magic Nightmares. While in his lair, Veneficus, Hazlik can cast Clairvoyance, requiring no spell components and using the same spellcasting ability as his Spellcasting action. When the spell is cast this way, its range is all of Hazlan, Hazlik can see but can't hear through the sensor, and the sensor can appear only on an Eye of Hazlik.

If Hazlik dies, these effects end immediately. The effects resume if Hazlik gains a new body (see his Darklord Restoration trait).

Hazlik's Lair

Hazlik's crimson-towered palace, Veneficus, stands atop the jagged mesa called the Red Rise. The Darklord is attended by a staff of magical creations and his most accomplished apprentices.

Horror in Hazlan

Adventures set in Hazlan often include the following elements.

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 Intellect Devourer, a Brain in a Jar (see x), 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 Purple Worms 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 Dark Gift feats (see x).
• 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.

Eyes of the Darklord

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 4,000 GP once they're guided to another domain.

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.

Cthulhu's Tale

Spawned beyond the borders of the multiverse in realities where time and life have little worth, Cthulhu is a servant of elder evils and a harbinger of their inevitable ruin. For untold eons, Cthulhu's will influenced receptive minds across the multiverse, reaching out in dreams and using them to open gateways to the Far Realm. Through such portals, Cthulhu visited the Material Plane, corrupted and laid waste to civilizations, and erected city-size monuments to its mighty predecessors.

Such distortion and defilement didn't go unnoticed by the Dark Powers. Multiple times the Mists closed around dread Cthulhu, and multiple times the terror evaded them. It was drawn into the Shadowfell when an extinct cabal of mages summoned it onto a sepulchral world of the Material Plane during a once-in-an-era alignment of eclipses. With the magic of the Shadowfell enhanced, the Mists rose and drew in Cthulhu. Raging and grasping, Cthulhu dragged with it remnants of past conquests and violent minds linked to its own. These disparate nightmares became the foundation of its prison: a surreal island hidden amid the Domains of Dread.

Cthulhu's Domain

Innsmouth is altered by Cthulhu's presence, creating the following effects:

• Choking Depths. A creature can hold its breath for only 30 seconds while in the domain.
• Closing the Borders. While in its domain, Cthulhu can close or open the borders of Innsmouth at will. While the borders are closed, those who enter the Mists surrounding Innsmouth become lost at sea amid inky fog for 3d4 days before arriving once more at Innsmouth.
• Something in the Air. Creatures other than Cthulhu and its allies have Disadvantage on saving throws to avoid or end the Frightened condition.

If Cthulhu dies, these effects end immediately.

Cthulhu's Lair

Amid surreal expanses within Innsmouth's depths lies the entrance to Cthulhu's Vault, a prison within the Mists where Cthulhu lies trapped. The entrance to Cthulhu's Vault is a ritual site etched with symbols of power from across time and hundreds of worlds. Those who perform the proper rituals, guided by visions from Cthulhu itself, might free themselves from the domain of Innsmouth, and, in so doing, unleash Cthulhu on the multiverse.

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 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.

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 "x" 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.

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 "x").
• 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 "x").
• 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.

Vault of the Elder

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.

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's Tale

The Vasavadan dynasty has ruled Kalakeri since ancient times. Ramya Vasavadan was handpicked by her father to succeed him, but on the bleak day of his death, Ramya's brother, Arijani, declared himself the new maharaja.

Ramya refused to yield to her brother, and with her allies, she captured and prepared to execute him. But Ramya's sister, Reeva, counseled mercy. Instead, Ramya imprisoned Arijani and ascended as Kalakeri's maharani, Queen of Kings.

In the years that followed, Ramya ruled justly. But in the shadows, Reeva plotted with rebels, who eventually freed Arijani and spurred nobles across the nation to revolt.

Regretting her mercy, Ramya sent her army to crush the rebels and mercilessly execute the treacherous. Reeva and Arijani combated Ramya's superior forces with ambushes and deceptions. Once again exploiting Ramya's sympathies, the pair tricked Ramya, invaded the Cerulean Citadel, and executed their sister by strangling. With her final gasps, Ramya cursed her brother and sister, calling them bloodthirsty beasts. Soon after, a terrible monsoon struck Kalakeri, bringing with it the Mists.

The storm lashed Kalakeri for weeks. At its height, Ramya returned from the dead and called on those who had fallen in her service. Loyal in death, a corpse legion joined the revitalized maharani, besieged the Cerulean Citadel, and slaughtered Arijani and Reeva. Ramya then stole their skulls and built them into the foundations of what would become the Tower of Traitors.

Arijani and Reeva's plots didn't end with their lives. They too were reborn, transformed into monstrous reflections of their ravenous desires.

Now in the Land of the Mists, the conflict gripping Kalakeri continues, trapping the nation in an endless war and forcing its people to swear loyalty to monsters.

Ramya's Domain

While Ramya is in control of the Sapphire Throne, Kalakeri is altered by Ramya's presence, creating the following effects:

• Closing the Borders. While in her domain, Ramya can close or open the borders to Kalakeri at will. While the borders are closed, the Mists surrounding Kalakeri sap the life of those within them. A creature that enters the Mists for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there and isn't a Construct or an Undead must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or gain 1 Exhaustion level. A creature makes this save only once per turn.
• Everlasting Army. A Medium or Small Humanoid slain in combat rises 24 hours later as a Wight under Ramya's control, unless the Humanoid is restored to life or its body is destroyed.

If Ramya dies or if her siblings control the Sapphire Throne, these effects end immediately.

Ramya's Lair

The Cerulean Citadel is Kalakeri's royal palace. It derives its name from the blue sandstone used in its construction. Control of the citadel and the Sapphire Throne within regularly passes between Ramya and her siblings.

Horror in Kalakeri

Adventures in Kalakeri often include the following elements.

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 Wights or other Undead to capture the characters weekly.
• Rebel Faction. Members of this faction are Hostile toward the characters. The faction sends Assassins or Wraiths 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 Wight 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 Basilisks and the Wraiths 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.

Tower of Traitors

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 10,000 GP in gemstones and a Candle of Invocation.

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.

Harkon's Tale

Harkon Lukas weaves numerous self-aggrandizing tales of his origins. Among them, Harkon tells of being spurned for his ambitions by the werewolves that raised him. Through talent and sacrifice, he became a legendary performer, and people flocked to bask in his remarkable presence.

Eventually, the rulers of Harkon's homeland realized the threat posed by Harkon's growing fame. Officials tried to imprison him for invented crimes, but Harkon's fans defended him. When royal agents came for him, Harkon feigned his death, and his followers revolted. When outraged masses bearing Harkon's coffin besieged the royal palace, Harkon ended his ploy. He burst from his crimson coffin in wolf form and devoured the land's monarch. Drenched in blood, the "resurrected" Harkon returned to his human form and donned the monarch's crown amid the cheers of his deluded followers. Yet before Harkon's reign could begin, the Mists rose around him. When they cleared, Harkon found himself in an unfamiliar land called Kartakass.

Harkon's Domain

Kartakass is altered by Harkon's presence, creating the following effects:

• Beast Spies. From dawn until dusk, Tiny Beasts in the domain magically gain the ability to understand Common and can communicate telepathically with other Beasts and Monstrosities.
• Children of the Night. Harkon exerts influence over the animals of his domain. From dusk until dawn, Medium or smaller Beasts within 1 miles of Harkon have the Charmed condition. If Harkon pleases, these animals become Hostile to creatures other than Harkon and his allies.
• Closing the Borders. While in his domain, Harkon can close or open the borders to Kartakass at will. While the borders are closed, a strange melody fills the Mists surrounding Kartakass. A creature that enters the Mists for the first time on a turn or starts its turn in them must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw, or it has the Unconscious condition for 1d6 hours, then awakes within sight of the town of Harmonia in Kartakass. A creature makes this save only once per turn.

If Harkon dies, these effects end immediately.

Harkon's Lair

The Darklord owns a tavern in Skald called the Old Kartakan Inn and Taverna. The inn occupies a small island on the Sing Song River. Nightly, Harkon Lukas or artists under his tutelage perform there.

Horror in Kartakass

Kartakan adventures often include the following elements.

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 Wolves and people-eating Goblins.
• 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 Banshees and a covetous Young Copper Dragon.
• 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 "Hungry for More" adventure below details this performance. After this Harkon might resent the characters or start obsessing over one of them.

Hungry for More

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 Instrument of the Bards if they return her son.

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 "flesh rights"—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.

Viktra's Tale

From an early age, Viktra Mordenheim sought to understand the complexities of anatomy. She pursued medicine not to aid patients but to reveal the secrets of life. Eventually, her research bent toward reanimating dead flesh and improving humanoid bodies. When Viktra began employing thieves to procure specimens for her tests, she met Elise, a beautiful resurrectionist whose spontaneity entranced the methodical surgeon. Viktra was smitten, and with Elise she discovered there might be more to life than chemical reactions.

When Elise started exhibiting signs of an incurable disease, Viktra hastened her experiments. On the doctor's operating table, victims were killed, returned to life, and died again as Viktra sought a breakthrough. When finally Elise passed away, Viktra refused to accept failure. The doctor worked feverishly crafting her masterpiece, an artificial organ she called the Unbreakable Heart. But as she fitted the device into Elise's corpse, constables burst into the lab and accused the doctor of numerous murders. As Viktra struggled against arrest, smoking chemicals, arcing electricity, and a strange mist filled the laboratory.

When the chaos cleared, Viktra awoke in Lamordia, an unfamiliar land where her genius was celebrated. Elise and the Unbreakable Heart were nowhere to be found, but the doctor soon heard rumors of a wondrous and terrifying figure who wandered the icy realm and whose chest glowed as though her heart were the sun. Ever since, Viktra has continued her experiments, striving to re-create her successes but failing every time. Between disappointments she searches for whatever Elise has become—and with her, the miracle of the Unbreakable Heart.

Viktra's Domain

Lamordia is altered by Viktra's presence, creating the following effects:

• Air of Obsession. When a creature fails a Constitution saving throw to maintain Concentration, that creature takes 3 (1d6) Psychic damage.
• Closing the Borders. While in her domain, Viktra can close or open the borders to Lamordia. While the borders are closed, lightning storms roll through the Mists surrounding Lamordia. A creature that enters the Mists for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there makes a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 4d6 Lightning damage on a failed save and half as much on a successful one. A creature makes this save only once per turn.

If Viktra dies, these effects end immediately.

Viktra's Lair

Schloss Mordenheim is a castle that stands amid dramatic cliffs overlooking the sea. Travelers from Ludendorf reach Schloss Mordenheim by crossing the ice and following a treacherous road.

Horror in Lamordia

Adventures in Lamordia often include the following elements.

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 Homunculi 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, Viktra Mordenheim 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 "Isles of Agony" 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 Mordenheim's Monster (see x) 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 x) 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.

Isles of Agony

Adventure for Level 5 Characters

• Situation. The characters must recover the Unbreakable Heart (detailed earlier in x). 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 2,500 GP, plus a 1,000 GP bonus if they capture the monster.

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 "the breath of the dead."

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 Rudolph van Richten (see x), 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, Lord Wilfred Godefroy.

Wilfred's Tale

In life, Lord Wilfred Godefroy was an unremarkable minor aristocrat. He inherited the estate of Gryphon Hill near Mordentshire centuries ago by murdering his father and framing it as an accident. During a bloody night years later, the entire Godefroy family—Wilfred; his wife, Estelle; and their daughter, Penelope—died violently. But instead of passing on to the afterlife, the Godefroys' souls lingered at Gryphon Hill. In death, Wilfred is haunted by the ghosts of his family, recent and the past generations, who blame him for their deaths and the family's disgrace.

A generation ago, a mysterious alchemist created a device in Mordent called the x. This magical machine had many fantastic powers, including the ability to open passages between the planes and separate a creature's good and evil natures into separate beings. The Apparatus drew multiple powerful beings to Mordent and eventually attracted the Mists themselves when the device malfunctioned, causing a deadly disaster. The Mists collected Mordent into the Domains of Dread, and the mysterious alchemist vanished. With the departure of mightier beings, Lord Godefroy remained as the land's most fearful villain. He inherited the mantle of Darklord of the new domain of Mordent.

Since then, Wilfred has claimed lordship of all who die in Mordent. He knows the location of the Apparatus and seeks to master its powers, but how to do so and the location of a vital piece of the machine—the Rod of Rastinon—both elude him. He seeks to blackmail anyone who might be able to reveal the device's secrets or find the missing rod. Wilfred forces Alice Weathermay, mayor of Mordentshire, to keep him appraised of useful visitors to the domain, by holding her dead husband, Daniel Foxgrove, hostage.

Wilfred's Domain

Mordent is altered by Lord Godefroy's presence, creating the following effects:

• Closing the Borders. While in his domain, Lord Godefroy can close or open the borders to Mordent. While the borders are closed, the groans and whispers of the dead fill the Mists surrounding Mordent. Creatures in the Mists have the Deafened condition.
• Ears Everywhere. While in his domain, Lord Godefroy can cast Sending, requiring no Material components and using Charisma as the spellcasting ability. When casting the spell in this way, Lord Godefroy can target any Undead creature in Mordent, in addition to the usual targets.
• Spectral Serfs. A Humanoid that dies in Mordent rises 7 days later as a Specter under Lord Godefroy's control, unless the Humanoid is restored to life.

If Wilfred dies, these effects end immediately.

Wilfred's Lair

The House on Gryphon Hill lies just outside Mordentshire and is home to Lord Wilfred Godefroy. Hundreds of spirits remain bound to the house and the surrounding grounds, and all serve the lord of the house and struggle to stay in his good graces. Spirits that rebel are punished—either forced to face Wilfred's kennel of spectral hounds or dragged into the deepest recesses of the house, which even the eldest spirits fear.

Horror in Mordent

Adventures in Mordent often include the following elements.

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 Ghast 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 "x."
• 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).

The Ghost Hunter's Haunting

Adventure for Level 3 Characters

• Situation. An accident at x 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 GP if they end the haunting.

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's Tale

Kateri Shadowborn was a great hero who, alongside her order of valorous knights called the Circle, spent her life in service of good. Among her greatest deeds was leading an army against a nation whose king had been possessed by a fiend. She defeated the fiend, though doing so caused her magic sword to shatter.

After a life of great deeds, Kateri Shadowborn retired to live in peace with her family at Shadowborn Manor. But the hero had made many enemies. Thinking her vulnerable, wicked cultists recovered the pieces of Kateri's broken sword and conjured the lingering malice of the evils she had thwarted. These the cultists forged into a terrible weapon, Ebonbane—and they became its first victims.

Animated by hatred for Kateri and her allies, Ebonbane took control of its creators and became a curse on the world. For years it worked to destroy what Kateri had created, ruin what she loved, and slaughter those who aided her. Many times the evil sword's wielder was captured, but none ever suspected that the weapon itself was behind the grisly crimes.

Finally, in the hands of an unassuming monk, Ebonbane found its way to Shadowborn Manor, where grim news had isolated Kateri and worn her down. Aged but still a mighty knight, Kateri recognized Ebonbane's threat, and a great battle ensued. During the clash, Kateri kept Ebonbane's attention and ensured her family and friends escaped the manor. When only the hero and the wicked sword remained, Kateri summoned her remaining might into a blow to destroy Ebonbane. But the wicked sword proved too powerful. Kateri's blade shattered, and Ebonbane struck down the legendary knight. Exalting in its victory, the evil weapon possessed Kateri's body and pursued her fleeing family. But as it did so, it witnessed its quarry fading into the rising Mists.

When the Mists receded, Ebonbane found itself in a realm where the residents regarded the ancestors of Kateri Shadowborn and her fellow knights as heroes. Thrilled to continue its spree, Ebonbane sought to leave Shadowborn Manor, but it had no one to carry it beyond the grounds. Now, the evil blade seethes in frustration, waiting for a worthy bearer to carry it into the world so it might destroy all the good that came from Kateri's work.

Ebonbane as a Magic Item

Ebonbane's magic weapon form is described below.

Ebonbane's Domain

The Shadowlands is altered by Ebonbane's presence, creating the following effects:

• Closing the Borders. While in its domain, Ebonbane can close or open the borders of the Shadowlands at will. While the borders are closed, whirling blades of magic fly through the Mists surrounding the Shadowlands. A creature that enters the Mists for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 3d10 Force damage. A creature makes this save only once per turn.
• Haunted Woods. The forest within 1 mile of Ebonbane's lair is wreathed in a powerful illusion. Whenever a creature other than Ebonbane or the sword's allies finishes a Short or Long Rest in that area, it must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw, or it is lost in the forest, always finding itself at the location it started in until it finishes a Short or Long Rest.
• Turning Weapons. While in its lair, Ebonbane can transform nonmagical Greatswords and Longswords within 1 mile of the lair into Animated Flying Swords by completing a 24-hour ritual.

If Ebonbane is destroyed, these effects end immediately.

Ebonbane's Lair

Ebonbane remains imprisoned in Shadowborn Manor, a fortified estate hidden in the Phantasmal Forest. The grounds are strewn with the bodies of those who sought the legendary blade and failed.

Horror in the Shadowlands

Adventures in the Shadowlands often include the following elements.

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 Basilisk 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 Revenant. 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 "x" 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.

The Shadowborn Sword

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 Questing Knight) invites the characters to join her mission to recover the lost sword of the hero Kateri Shadowborn. In return, she'll reward them with 4,000 GP—or double that amount in additions to the characters' Bastions.

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 "x"). 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 Soth's Tale

Lord Soth was given a quest to save the people of his world, Krynn, from the wrath of the gods. Possessed by baseless paranoia and possessiveness of his elf wife, Soth forsook that quest, and the world was devastated in a great Cataclysm. In punishment, Soth was resurrected as a death knight and, for centuries, brooded on his disgrace in the charred ruins of his fortress, Dargaard Keep.

When the evil god Takhisis whispered to Soth, promising to restore his glory and avenge him against the heroic knights who banished him long ago, Soth answered and served Takhisis. During this time, he called on his undead servants, including the ghost of the knight Caradoc. Seeking to forge a new knighthood of loyal dead, Soth became obsessed with Dragon Highlord Kitiara Uth Matar and charged Caradoc with claiming her soul. When Kitiara died in battle, Caradoc refused to capture her spirit unless Soth bargained with Takhisis to restore Caradoc to life. Enraged, Soth tried to destroy Caradoc as the Mists rose around them.

When the Mists faded, Soth found himself in the domain of Barovia. For a time, he found an ally in Count Strahd von Zarovich, but the two villains couldn't abide one another for long. Soth eventually pursued rumors of his treacherous servant, Caradoc, into the Mists. When the Mists parted again, the domain of Sithicus spread before him.

Lord Soth's Domain

Sithicus is altered by Lord Soth's presence, creating the following effects:

• Closing the Borders. While in his domain, Lord Soth can close or open the borders to Sithicus. While the borders are closed, purple flames fill the Mists surrounding Sithicus. A creature that enters the Mists for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there takes 5 (1d10) Fire damage plus 5 (1d10) Necrotic damage.
• Fearless Soldiers. Undead allies of Lord Soth have Immunity to the Frightened condition.
• Guilt of Sithicus. Few sleep soundly in Sithicus. Whenever a creature other than Lord Soth and his allies finishes a Long Rest in the domain, the creature must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or gain 1 Exhaustion level.

If Lord Soth dies, these effects end immediately.

Lord Soth's Lair

[image: Nedragaard Keep]

Lord Soth rules from Nedragaard Keep, a twisted, copy of his accursed fortress on Krynn, Dargaard Keep. Nedragaard Keep grows and withers over time like a living thing. Undead soldiers patrolling the keep regularly forget their duties or collapse into lifelessness. The disorder within the rigid death knight's fortress endlessly frustrates Lord Soth.

Horror in Sithicus

Adventures in Sithicus often include the following elements.

Shadow of the Black Rose

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.

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 "x" 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's Tale

The sisters Lorinda, Laveeda, and Leticia Mindefisk lived desperate lives at the wooded edge of a terrible land. Their brutish family claimed the girls were unnatural fey in disguise and forced them to toil constantly. After years of harsh treatment from their cruel father and brothers, the hopeless sisters snapped and killed an abusive traveler during a chance encounter. They butchered the body and served the remains to their unwitting family. Thus began a cycle of murder and cannibalism that persisted for years.

The Mindefisk sisters' crimes were finally revealed when they all fell in love with a charming stranger. They squabbled, and unwilling to relent or share, they murdered the stranger in full view of their horrified family. With nothing left to lose, the sisters killed the rest of their family as the Mists rose around them.

The horror of the Mindefisk sisters only grew in the Domains of Dread. Finding themselves in Tepest, the sisters discovered their new nature as hags. Over generations, mortals and fey alike came to know them as fickle miracle workers. Despairing families came to them often, willing to trade much for hexblood children born from the hags' magic.

Eventually, Lorinda grew fascinated by others' pursuit of family. She entreated her sisters to help her create a child, but Laveeda and Leticia refused, loathing the idea of any one of them having greater happiness than the others.

Defying her sisters, Lorinda assembled a monstrosity of animal parts and foul magic in secret. With her new daughter's help, the hag trapped her sisters inside their magic cauldron and stole their powers. Yet Lorinda's joy with her creation was short—the monster's magic quickly waned, and it rotted away. Ever since, Lorinda has sought to create a family of her own, producing countless monstrosities in experiments and approaching the villagers of Viktal in her guise as Mother. Over generations, this has given rise to the cult of the Mother in Viktal, but it has brought Lorinda no closer to attaining the lasting family connection she covets.

Mother Lorinda's Domain

Tepest is altered by Lorinda's presence, creating the following effects:

• Closing the Borders. While in her domain, Mother Lorinda can close or open the borders to Tepest at will. While the borders are closed, a violent storm fills the Mists surrounding Tepest. A creature that enters the Mists for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or take 2d8 Lightning damage and be pushed up to 30 feet straight toward Tepest. A creature makes this save only once per turn.
• Mother's Watchers. Creatures that have sacrificed an eye to Mother can take a Magic action and pray to her. When they do so, Lorinda can perceive through the creature's senses as well as her own until the end of the creature's next turn. When perceiving through a creature's senses, Lorinda benefits from any special senses it has.
• Sun and Storms. While in Tepest, Lorinda can cast Control Weather, requiring no Material components and using the same spellcasting ability as Spellcasting. When casting the spell this way, Lorinda can control the weather within 5 miles of herself, regardless of whether she is inside or outside.

If Lorinda dies, these effects end immediately.

Mother Lorinda's Lair

Ranging across the domain is Mother Lorinda's home, the Gurgyl. This towerlike structure of thorns, wicker, and giants' bones walks on three skeletal dragon legs.

Horror in Tepest

Adventures in Tepest often include the following elements.

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.

The Tithe

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 Priest) invites the characters to participate in the Tithe, a rite honoring their god, Mother.

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 Displacer Beast and Panther allies prowl the trees amid the lodge's structures and can enter them freely.

Chakuna's Tale

For untold generations, Darklord Urik von Kharkov ruled Valachan from Castle Pantara and hunted the people of Valachan for sport. Yearly, the Darklord's hunts grew in carnage, with his favorite prey being the shape-shifters of Oselo. Von Kharkov viewed himself as the domain's greatest hunter, a title he confirmed every time he slaughtered one of Oselo's supernatural warriors.

Chakuna was a werepanther warrior of Oselo and, like most of her people, was a skillful hunter. Seeing that von Kharkov eventually would slay her entire village, she swore to save Oselo. Realizing it would take a monster to slay a monster, she left her people and sought the deepest secrets of her deadly homeland. When she returned, she volunteered to let von Kharkov hunt her. During the murderous game that followed, Chakuna burned Castle Pantara and took the former Darklord's head.

Valachan is no mundane land, though. A Domain of Dread demands a Darklord, and Valachan will be ruled only by its greatest hunter. Refusing to let von Kharkov return, Chakuna made a pact with the domain itself. Within the depths of the mazelike Yaguara Mountains, Chakuna ripped her own heart from her chest and consumed the heart of Urik von Kharkov. Doing so, she stole von Kharkov's powers. Yet to retain them, she must feed the land constantly with the blood of the hunted. If she doesn't, the plants and animals of Valachan grow murderous and howl for von Kharkov's return. So Chakuna continues a cycle of bloodshed, embracing the violence of her peoples' onetime oppressor to ensure her bitter domination of her vicious realm.

Chakuna's Domain

Valachan is altered by Chakuna's presence, creating the following effects.

• Closing the Borders. While in her domain, Chakuna can close or open the borders to Valachan at will. While the borders are closed, shadowy beasts skulk or soar amid the Mists surrounding Valachan. A creature that enters the Mists for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there takes 1d10 Piercing damage.
• Heightened Senses. Beasts and Monstrosities have Advantage on Wisdom checks.
• Whispering Shadows. Humanoids subtract 1d8 from any ability checks they make when they take the Hide action.

If Chakuna dies, these effects end immediately.

Chakuna's Lair

Built above the overgrown ruins of von Kharkov's Castle Pantara, the Pantara Lodge is a maze of rope bridges, mighty boughs, and structures built among the branches of gigantic trees. Chakuna leaves those who die in the x without demonstrating skill or honor dangling from the branches of her home.

Horror in Valachan

Adventures in Valachan often include the following elements.

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.

Trial of Hearts

Adventure for Level 8 Characters

• Situation. To escape Valachan, the characters must participate in the Trial of Hearts.
• Hook. The hunter Chakuna (see earlier in x) invites characters to Pantara Lodge to discuss helping them leave the domain.

Random Domains of Dread