In the middle of the worst winter the province has ever seen, bodies keep turning up cold and blackened. The problem is two-fold: first, the bodies have large bruises and breakages not capable of being made by any animal in the region; and second, these bodies get back up soon after they are found. Although within the city gates the archers and guardsmen can easily overwhelm these wights one at a time, the villages surrounding the city are being slowly depleated. And for every body found there are two or three more missing persons...
The wights have summoned the snowstorms with a powerful artifact of weather control, and they are planning on creating a kingdom of ice and doom. The city is merely the launching point for a potential army of wights. Can the PCs stop the wight horde before it builds enough numbers to be practically unstoppable?
William and Sandra, the fairest young couple from the village, have gone missing. They were last seen going to the lover's glen, near the swamp, late last night. Their parents hope they have eloped, but fear something sinister has taken them.
An investigation by the PCs leads to an encounter with will-o-wisps trying to lure them into quicksand. Whether they young lovers fell for this trap is up to the DM.
Deep in the rain forests, the PCs are trying to find their way to a lost city. Hacking through the undergrowth, they are attacked by a half-dozen winter wolves. The winter wolves use a coordinated attack employing trips and their breath weapon to good effect. If the PCs kill a couple of the wolves the remainder flee. The question for the PCs is: Why is a winter wolf pack in 95-degree heat in the jungle?
Following the pack leads the PCs to an ancient city -- the lost city the PCs were originally seeking -- that is now covered in frost and ice...
The reason for the ice in the jungle is left to the individual DMs.
*With thanks to BLACKDIRGE for the write-up of Crackjaw*
A fiendish worg named Crackjaw has led his brethern worgs in a revolution. The immense pack has managed to destroy most of the goblins of the Northern Forest. The pack has destroyed most of the food supply and is coming south. A contingent of lizard folk arrive in the city and seek help, describing the destruction wrought by the worgs. A united front may save the human settlements, but can the humans trust the lizard folk before it is too late?
Crackjaw is a fully advanced worg with the fiendish template. Despite his relatively low CR, he and his pack could give even high-level PCs a run for their money.
**************************************************Crackjaw
Advanced Fiendish Worg
Large Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 12d10+48 (126 hp)
Initiative: +1 (Dex)
Speed: 50 ft.
AC: 16 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +6 natural)
Attacks: Bite +18 melee
Damage: Bite 1d8+10 (crit 19-20)
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 10 ft. /5 ft.
Special Attacks: Trip, smite good
Special Qualities: Scent, darkvision 60 ft., damage reduction 10/+3, cold and fire resistance 20, SR 24
Saves: Fortitude +12, Reflex +9, Will +6
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10
Skills: Hide +4, Listen +10, Move Silently +7, Spot +10, Wilderness Lore +8
Feats: Power Attack, Expertise, Improved Trip, Cleave, Improved Critical (bite)
Climate/Terrain: Any forest, hills, plains and mountains
Organization: Solitary (with pack)
Challenge Rating: 8
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Nuetral Evil
Trip (Ex): If Crackjaw hits with a bite attack he can attempt to trip his foe as a free action without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the attempt fails the opponent cannot react to trip Crackjaw.
Smite Good (Su): Once per day Crackjaw can smite an opponent with a normal attack inflicting an additional 12 points of unholy damage to a good aligned foe.
It was evident immediately to the goblins of the Redskull tribe that their newest worg pup was quite different than the other worgs they had bred and raised before. He was very large and his glossy black fur was streaked with red stripes reminiscent of dripping blood. The pup’s eyes shone with a feral red luminance that was unsettling even to the tribal shaman leading him to believe that the newborn worg had been touched by the goblin’s savage god Maglubiyet. Ferocious even in his first moments outside the womb, the fiendish worg pup set upon and devoured his litter mates, attacking even his mother when she came to the aid of her remaining offspring. The tribal chieftain, who watched with obvious amusement as the pup cracked the bones of his siblings in its oversized jaws, dubbed the infant worg “Crackjaw”.
As Crackjaw grew to maturity his size and strength surpassed the wildest expectations of the Redskull tribe. As large as a draft horse and with a disposition to match his fiendish nature the Redskull goblins looked on Crackjaw as a gift from their god. The huge worg refused to be ridden, mauling and even killing goblins who made the attempt, instead surging into battle alone an equal member of the tribe. With the aid of Crackjaw the Redskulls managed to annihilate a number of neighboring goblin tribes and their power was growing in the small forest in which they lived. Crackjaw was considered and equal member of the tribe but he was not happy with his station and at the goblin subjugation of his brethren. The Redskull goblins maintained over thirty worgs, which they rode into battle treating their mounts as little more than beasts to be yoked for whatever purpose was needed. Unable to resist the cunning strength of their goblin masters, the worgs led a life of demeaning servitude.
A rage gad been growing in Crackjaw over the treatment of his brethren but none expected the whirlwind of destruction that would follow. The Redskull tribe was obliterated in a single night crushed beneath the ravening jaws of Crackjaw and the words he led to freedom. Crackjaw’s new “pack” feasted well on goblin corpses for many days until the huge worg that had granted them their freedom loosed a booming howl and led them from the goblin’s dank cave and out into the forest that would become their undisputed demesne.
In the months and weeks that followed the destruction of the Redskulls, Crackjaw led his pack to war. The worgs sniffed out every goblin lair in their forest and crushed it completely, allowing the surviving worgs the chance to join the pack or die. Crackjaw now leads a pack of nearly one hundred worgs all fiercely devoted to their fiendish alpha. The pack prowls their territory, a small forest in the north, almost constantly chasing down and devouring any intruders. Recently the food supplies in the area have become depleted as the huge pack had decimated the local wildlife; this has turned Crackjaw’s attention to the human villages that border the forest. An ample supply of food lies just within reach and it will not be long before the humans in the area are drowned beneath a sea of howls and snapping teeth.
Description & Tactics
Crackjaw is a massive worg, easily twelve feet long and four feet high at the shoulder. His fur is a deep midnight black streaked with blood red striations, which the goblins in his former tribe saw as a mark of their god Maglubiyet. Crackjaw’s fearsome jaws are oversized and filled with powerful bone-crushing fangs and the huge worg, true to his name, delights in cracking the bones of his enemies between them. Crackjaw’s fiendish nature is not readily apparent at first glance but the eerie glow if his red tinged eyes and the charnel stench that hangs about him are quick indications of his otherworldly origins.
Crackjaw is not a subtle combatant and rushes headlong into combat with a wild and feral abandon. The huge worg will make a beeline for the strongest looking combatant using his massive size to trip his opponent and then maul them on the ground. With his damage reduction and elemental resistances Crackjaw has learned that there is very little that can hurt him besides powerful magic and so he typically commands his pack to swarm spellcasters keeping their spells from deciding the combat. Crackjaw will only use his smite ability if he has managed to trip a good aligned opponent and can deliver a good bite attack to the fallen enemy.
100 years ago, a gruesome and prolonged war with the Kobold Empire ended with the kobold's defeat. The grand general of the victorious army turned the land of the conquered kobolds into his kingdom, Haraekan.
As the centennial approaches, more and more mysterious phenomena plague the kingdom, with the capital city (built on the site of the final battle) as the epicenter. Old spirits die hard, and the wraiths of the slain kobolds are out for revenge...
An evil wizard has put the king's son to sleep forever. The king promises land grants, wealth, fame, military titles, anything, to whomever can free his son. The heroes have discovered the way to heal the son. It requires the blood of the prince's one true love (insert random princess type in here), a balor's tooth, an Astral Deva's tears, and the brain of the Paragon Wyvern.
A paladin, her lover having died in a sensless accident battling an orcish sorceror, has sworn to end the cycle of violence against the orcs forever ... no matter what the cost. She abandoned her own divine sponsor, as she felt it had abandoned her when her love died, and quested for a scroll that would summon forth an army that will demolish all in its path. She believes this will be for the "greater" good. In reality, the summoned creatures will be xill, and once they are on the Prime they will not leave. Very likely they will be much worse than orcs!
By the time the party catches up with her, she will have completed the first stage of the ritual and there will be xill guardians surrounding the area she has chosen for the ritual (a tower that has long been in ruins). The xill will fight the party no matter what the cost to themselves. They want the paladin to complete the ritual and become a blackgaurd. Once that occurs, she will lead the xill army to dominate the world under an iron fist.
When the party reaches her, they may attempt a Diplomacy, Bluff, or Intimidate check (she has 8 ranks in Sense Motive) to parlay. If the party uses Bluff or Intimidate and fails, she will complete the last stage of the ritual which will summon four xill heralds, who will open the gate to allow in an army of 1,000 more Xill. If the party defeats the heralds, the doorway will not open. If they don't, they had better run. If the party fails with Diplomacy they will get one extra chance to prevent her from finishing the ritual without further violence.
If the party at any time make a Knowledge (Local) check of DC 12 they will know of the paladin's loss. Should they mention that in any capacity they will receive a +4 bonus in their Diplomacy/Bluff/Intimidate attempt.
A druid discovers that a cluster of xorn have riddled the side of a mountain, just below a mountain lake. The snow that fell in the winter is starting to melt. The pressure on the mountain-side will become higher and higher as small streams that end in the lake turn into rivers.
Due to the xorn's digging, a huge part of the mountain side and the lake will come down if nothing is done to prevent it. The resulting mud-slide will destroy the town in the valley bellow.
Someone will have to go in and convince the indifferent xorn that they have to leave. Diplomacy might be an option, since the xorn probably won't survive the impending disaster. Maybe they can even be convinced to help repair the damage. If not, it will be a tough job to get this done in time.
The party hears of a disturbance in a small village. Should they choose to investigate, they will discover the villagers preparing to hang a merchant. The merchant apparently sold the village weapons to deal with a worg. The attack was completely unsuccessful: the worg managed to kill two of the villagers because their weapons were ineffective. The villagers are accusing the merchant of selling them shoddy weapons and possibly even being in league with a greater evil that is somehow causing the worg to attack the village. The merchant, for his part, says he is innocent.
Any attempt to get the village to delay the execution will be successful (the villagers don't really have it in them to kill someone: they're good people). The party can use various magical means to determine if the merchant is telling the truth and to check the magical auras of the weapons (they are non-magical and look to be perfectly acceptable shortswords). If that is not enough to spur the party to think something more odd is afoot, they are approached by a 13-year-old lad who was brought on the hunt for the "worg" as more of an observer. He claims that the weapons struck the beast but that they did not leave a wound. He also claims to have seen the "worg" fly off after killing two of the villagers. Of course, no one believes him.
After hearing the lad's tale, a successful Knowledge (nature) check of DC 12 will let the party know that the creature must have some kind of resistance to ordinary weapons. A successful Knowledge (arcana) check of DC 12 will let the party know that they are facing a yeth hound and not a worg!
The creature is preying on the humans, feeding on their blood and fear. The party will be able to flush it out during the night. It wants people to come after it so it can kill them. However, the hound is not a very clever beast and likely has woefully underestimated the party. It will fly in and attack from the rear. Beyond that it will simply launch into an evil frenzy.
When the party returns victorious, the villagers will apologize to the merchant and give him and the party a feast! During the meal, they tell stories and one of them may be about a strange green flying beast.....
A group of dwarves have decided to cut corners in their mine. They hired a group of mercenaries to cage a yrthak and bring it to the mines, where its sonic lance and explosion abilities are used to blast tunnels out of the rock. The yrthak is intelligent enough to know its captivity, and the strangely constructed cage it is kept in keeps it in constant pain, but the dwarves see nothing but a strange beast. Unfortunately for the dwarves, they have seriously underestimated the beast, and it has slipped its cage and is terrorizing the mines. So the dwarves hire the original mercs and the party to kill it. When the mercs or the dwarves let slip what really happened, what will the party do? Punish the dwarves, fight the shady mercenaries? And what about the beast itself? Should it be released into the wild? Caged again? Killed?
The Set-up
The count has not been seen in his village holdings for nearly two years. His wife was carried away by the plague and now he only walks the battlement of his keep late at night grieving the loss. More and more bizarre pronouncements come forth from the count and some are afraid he has gone mad. A group of village elders has come together and put together a group to go speak with the count directly.
Behind the Scenes
The count is long gone of course - only his corpse remains as a zombie. One of his minions is a necromancer and is controlling the countryside. Can the PCs prove this without being blamed for the count's murder? Kidnapping a zombie could prove to be a great challenge!