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Cities & Towns Adventure Locales 2

Cities & Towns Adventure Locales 2

The next great Kobold Press hardcover book is on sale! Weighing in at a hefty 256 pages, Campaign Builder: Cities & Towns is a homebrewer’s dream.

It’s full of advice on designing new settlements or expanding on existing settlements. Find summaries of government types in fantasy settings, rulers, NPCs, and cultists to poach for your game. Plus, more charts than you can shake a stick at to bring your worlds to life!

In addition to the book, check out Campaign Builder: Cities & Towns Map Folio. A dozen high quality maps await with ubiquitous adventure locales. These are big enough for minis, and you can draw on them with wet or dry erase markers.

Adventuring in the Map Folio

This example adventure shows how you can use maps form the Map Folio. Here, we’re using the Cemetery map to craft a one-shot. Follow along!

Adventure Hook

Aeris Englewood was an exacting elven judge from a bygone elven kingdom. For centuries, he adjudicated fairly in the town of Alderport. He condemned himself to death when he discovered he had someone executed for a crime they didn’t commit.

His body rests in the large mausoleum in the eastern side of the Cemetery of the Forfeit, where so many he condemned to death now lie. Try either of the following hooks to bring the PCs to Alderport:

  • The elves have not forgotten their kin who remained behind. His brother, who is now The River King (see Tome of Beasts 1), has bargained with the PCs to recover the body and return it to the Summer Lands for proper burial.
  • While Aeris’s body must be laid to rest in the Cemetery of the Forfeit, no one in Alderport is willing to do the job, since the judge’s presence has stirred the souls of those he sentenced. The mayor, Foxgang Beltser, offers most of the judge’s wealth and property to anyone who can do the job.

This encounter is probably best for four to five 6th-level characters.

Cemetary of the Forfeit

The cemetery is an hour’s walk from Alderport, to keep their distnace from the restless dead. The townsfolk normally hold a somber parade, accompanied with brass instruments, when a body is interred.

Early dwarven settlers of Alderport were experienced with fighting undead. They hewed powerful runes into the now-rusting gates of the cemetery. Any Undead creature suffers 13 (3d8) radiant damage each round that it’s within 10 feet of the gates. As such, most Undead have long lain dormant.

Centuries of bitter souls yearning for vengeance have turned the Cemetery of the Forfeit into an unhallowed site. It reeks of death and has a strong necromantic aura. Any Undead in the cemetery have advantage on saving throws against Turn Undead, and are treated as one Challenge Rating higher for purposes of Destroy Undead (minimum 1).

Approaching the Mausoleum

Aeris’s presence has aroused the dead from their slumber. As the PCs proceed along the path toward the mausoleum, they levitate or claw from their graves and attack from all directions in 1d4 + 2 waves. Roll a d6 and consult the table below to determine which Undead creatures attack the PCs in a wave.

d6MonstersChallenge RatingSource
11d8 skeletons1/4SRD
21d8 zombies1/4SRD
31d3 shadows1/2SRD
41d3 beggar ghouls1/2Tome of Beasts
51d4 cackling skeletons1/2Tome of Beasts 2
62 ghouls1SRD

Among the many graves stands a statue to the goddess of sacrifice. PCs who make successful DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) checks recall that the goddess blesses all who call on her in their time of need. Once per short or long rest, a PC who can see the statue and utters a solemn prayer to the goddess as a bonus action gains 10 temporary hp.

Mausoleum

The mausoleum sits along the western edge of the cemetery. The door remains unlocked after the spooked mortician fled the graveyard. Undead under CR 2 are barred from the mausoleum by dwarven runes, providing an illusion of safety.

The mausoleum contains three biers (Aeris’ body rests on the westernmost one). There are also eight rooms inside the mausoleum with eight unlocked doors, leading to corresponding rooms in the chart below. (The northwestern room is room 1, and the room numbers ascend in clockwise order.)

If the PCs intend to inter the body, they must find an empty room. If the PCs open a door where a denizen was buried, it attacks with surprise. If they trigger the fog cloud trap, choose a denizen to attack during the confusion.

If the PCs intend to leave with the body, 1d4 + 1 denizens exit their rooms, attacking in waves. The denizens can’t leave the mausoleum, but lesser Undead may pose a problem to the PCs.

RoomDenizenChallenge RatingSource
1Bleakheart3Tome of Beasts 2
2Empty
3–4Lady in White2Creature Codex
5Opening the door triggers fog cloud spellSRD
6Empty
7Flayed Wraith5Tome of Beasts 2
8Old Salt (trapped)5Tome of Beasts 3

Many of these damned were wealthy, buried with baubles and gems. Review a monster’s lore and select appropriate wealth and magic items in each room.

Zwergsgrab, Traitors’ Tomb

A small stone structure, crafted by dwarves, sits in the southwestern corner of the graveyard. The door is locked but it can be forced opened with a DC 20 Strength check. PCs can also unlock the door using thieves’ tools with a DC 20 Dexterity check.

Inside this chilly structure are six empty sarcophaguses. The runes lining each room reveal that dwarven traitors were interred here. At the southern end of the structure, a hole, dug from below, leads to a long cavern.

You could return here for a follow-up adventure. But for nowm the PCs can catch a short rest in here if they get in trouble.

Conclusion

The undead return to their slumber 1d4 hours after Aeris’ body is buried or removed from cemetery.

About Benjamin Eastman

Benjamin L. Eastman was introduced to D&D by his four closest friends—who immediately betrayed his trust by sacrificing his first character to a demonic artifact. Undeterred, he’s played all manner of RPGs in the intervening years. In addition to writing Warlock Lairs and monsters for Kobold Press, he’s contributed to the Stargate RPG and Americana, and co-authored DMs Guild adventures including Baby Tarrasque. He is perhaps proudest of the bar brawl—his first published monster in the Creature Codex

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