A village has fallen to a plague. Can you rescue them in time?

The Shaggy Plague has afflicted a nearby village, and it’s up to you to save the people and prevent its spread, but the cure requires a rare plant that’s heavily guarded. Can you recover it in time?

Content Trigger Warnings

 This adventure includes themes of disease, bullying, extortion, betrayal, violence, and death.

Background & Synopsis

A village is suffering from a plague, and Zilji Larka asks the party to help retrieve a rare herb that’s needed for a cure. The herb, known by sorcerer and apothecary Jaydrey, only grows in a particular mountain valley. As they near the valley, they encounter Orrelius and learn of a dragon in the area. The dragon has scouts who meet the party and learn of their quest. The party must get to the valley either by navigating rapids or exploring a cave. When they arrive, the young red dragon is there and demands the party pay tribute, or it’ll torch the needed plants. It offers them a quest to steal a gem from a nearby cottage at the top of a cliff. The cottage is an entrance to the lair of a silver dragon, the same dragon that gave Jaydrey her sorcerous origin. The silver dragon won’t relinquish the gem, so the party must find another solution. Once the party acquires the plants, they take them to the afflicted village, but on the way, they encounter werewolves but get help from a druid. On arriving at the village, while helping the suffering, the red dragon attacks with its dwarven minions, so the party must protect the village.

This adventure is designed for 3–5 characters, level 5–7, with a total of 18–20 levels.

Adventure Hooks

This adventure can serve as a side quest or as an introduction to a campaign featuring a war between dragons in the mountains.

Where are we?

This adventure can occur in any population center with a nearby village and mountains within a few days’ travel.

Opening Encounter

As the party walks through a city or town, a small clockwork griffon the size of a raven swoops at the party, then climbs straight upward and begins plummeting to the ground. Zilji Larka comes running to catch it, and if the party doesn’t interfere, he dives to their feet and barely catches it. He pulls out a pair of tools, casts Mage Hand, and holds the griffon with the spectral hand while tinkering with the object.

“I thought I had that stabilizer fixed! Looks like it needs some more adjustments.” He stops suddenly and looks up at the party. “Oh! Hey! You look like adventurers! Maybe you can help me!”

He tells the party that the Shaggy Plague has struck his village, and he needs help saving them. It can only be cured with a rare herb, kindleroot, that grows in the nearby mountains, so he’s looking for someone to go find it for him. “I’ve researched it and know what it looks like, but I need to head back to the village and help my parents. I don’t know how much time they have left, and you can find it in time, I got some help from the local apothecary that should at least buy them some time. I have to take the chance. She can tell you more about kindleroot.”

If asked, he explains that the Shaggy Plague is so named, because it causes a fur-like growth to spread over much of the body, but after about a month, the hair begins to grow inward. It begins with pain in the skin, then it attacks the arms and legs and causes gradual paralysis, then the organs eventually fail. “Now you understand why I need to cure this.”

Apothecary: Forewood & Pestle

The apothecary is a long narrow wooden building that’s more window than wood, but the interior is darkened by the plants hanging across the windows and growing up from the windowsills. Shelves filled with salves, potions, and other jars line the walls below the windows, tinted green from the leafy curtains filtering the sunlight. The air combines aromas of soil, mold, musk, and alcohol. Characters sensitive to strong odors or with pollen allergies are triggered and must attempt corresponding saving throws.

At the end of the long aisle that comprises most of the interior, a halfling, Jaydrey Forewood, bounces among a distillery, a table with ceramic bowls filled with a variety of powders and creams, and a few potted plants from which she carefully takes trimmings. Once the party begins to approach her, she looks at them like a mother to children returning home from a long trip. She notes a feature of each of the party and compliments them, asking sincere questions about their journeys, where a particular scratch in their armor came from, or anything else she notices from their appearance or words. This continues until someone from the party asks about the kindleroot or some other topic. The party notices that, due to her facial cleft, when she talks, she replaces dental sounds like D, T, and Th with other sounds, which may take them a minute to get used to, but her welcoming attitude soon eclipses that distraction. (We recommend that the GM describe her speech impediment instead of attempting to reproduce it.)

When they mention the Shaggy Plague, Zilji, or kindleroot, she stops abruptly and tilts her head with compassion. She begins pausing as she speaks, trying to keep her composure. She expresses deep concern for them but notes that the kindleroot is difficult to acquire. She has a friend who’s trying to get it but hasn’t been able to, because it’s too dangerous. When the party expresses interest in harvesting it, her voice softens with concern, her eyes filled with both compassion and protectiveness. “That’s so sweet, but the world needs kind people like you, and if you try that, the world will be poorer without you.”

Because Jaydrey fears for their safety and doesn’t want to be responsible for their deaths, the party must convince her to give them the needed information. She can be convinced if they demonstrate the following: 

commitment to follow through

commitment to environmental preservation

magical prowess to handle unexpected challenges

ability to survive harsh environments

compassion for those in need

The party can demonstrate those by multiple people communicating their values, by telling stories of past accomplishments as examples, etc. At first, she does not specifically ask about any of those points. She’ll just refuse, telling them she doesn’t want their blood on her hands. Once their pleas convince her on two of the points, if they don’t cover the others, she’ll ask pointed questions. “But what about…?”

Once they succeed, her face lights up with hope, and her skin shimmers silver for a moment. She gives the party a drawing of a kindleroot plant, which has huge, spear shaped leaves, which are usually light orange. It also grows tiny flowers, which can be orange, dark gray, dark gold, silver and gold. A patch of them on a breezy day looks like a bonfire. She needs the juice from the leaves and flowers of twenty mature plants to brew antidote to cure the whole village, but if they cut them carefully and leave the shallow roots intact, they will grow back in case of another outbreak or simply to preserve their beauty. She also sketches out a map to show them precisely where to look. (Show Map to Kindleroot) If the party asks how she knows all this, she tells them that she’s been there before and studied the plants there, but then she gets a wistful look on her face and says, “But it’s been a long time. Too long.” If the party asks about the house on the right, she says, “There’s a little house up there,” but gives no more information.

Jaydrey suggests that the party get some rest at the town’s local inn and set out in the morning. During the evening, Zilji talks to them at the inn about his home village, its location and the environment around it, and the kind people there, all the while tinkering with a clockwork moose that he never quite gets working.

Before they set out, Zilji arrives to see them off and gives them a handheld white porcelain clockwork bear. “I’ve worked on this for a long time. It’ll protect you from extreme heat and cold when things get rough out there, but I’m not sure how long it’ll last.”

Zilji’s Bearable Environment

Wondrous Item, Uncommon

This white porcelain bear figurine has 2 charges. While holding it, you can expend a charge as a bonus action to produce an aura in a ten foot radius sphere around the bear. All creatures within the aura have resistance to fire and cold damage for 1d3 rounds. The bear can’t recharge and makes a loud popping noise, cracks, emits a harmless spark, and leaks a clear acrid oil when its final charge is expended.

Optional Travel Encounters

The pass into the mountains is two days from the town where the party started. The journey follows a well-marked dirt road, where the hills grow taller and longer as the mountains in the distance seem close enough to be over the next hill, yet never are, and each hill seems higher and longer than the one before, although that’s an illusion created by anticipation. The leaves on the trees gradually give way to needles on conifers, and the dirt underfoot adds the uncomfortable texture of growing rocks that announce the forthcoming cliffs.

Along the way, the GM may wish to include some encounters by choosing or rolling on the following table or skip to the next section. Use the Road through the Hills map if needed for these.

d6	Encounter
1	A loud rustling in the forest approaches the party as fast shadows move toward them. A pack of six wolves chase an elk, which weaves around trees and runs directly toward the party. As it runs at them, the elk charges at a random member of the party in an attempt to get past.
2	Three ogres are patrolling the road. They’re messengers for Cheruss (See Chase the Dragon) who bring him food. If the party offers them more food for less work, they’ll accept it in exchange.
3	Two eagles fly overhead. Then they fly over again. They seem to be following you for several hours, then they fly away toward the mountains.
4	A horse-drawn cart full of crates comes toward the party. One of the front wheels is missing, and a bugbear is carrying the axle with difficulty. If the party helps her replace the wheel, she thanks them profusely. She refuses to answer questions about the contents of the crates. They’re full of medical supplies for the ailing village, and she doesn’t want anyone to steal them. If the party helps, they will meet her in the village, helping the sick.
5	A goblin merchant approaches the party and offers them homemade skunk jerky, only 1 cp each, or 10 for a dozen! He won’t take no for an answer, insisting that nobles consider it a delicacy. It usually goes for ten times as much, but he has a surplus at the moment, so he’s willing to sell it at rock-bottom prices!
6	The party hears the sound of a baby crying. Over the next hill, a mule-drawn wagon approaches, the driver carrying the crying baby and clearly stressed. He asks the party whether they have any leather that his teething baby could chew on.

Interest Peaked

When the hills become so steep that hopelessness begins to threaten the party’s morale, from the summit of the next hill, the party notices a river slicing through a nearly vertical mountain wall, a sparkling blue thread through the vertical eye of a colossal stone needle. Jaydrey’s map denotes this river. The party has arrived at last.

The river is fifteen feet wide and averages four feet deep with fifteen feet of land between the bank and the cliff on each side. The cliff extends 150 feet upward and curves gradually outward, widening into a large valley.

Those with a passive Wisdom (Perception) higher than 15 notice that, while the mouth of the valley has no trees except some high above, the ground is littered with dry branches that crack loudly as the party walks over them unless they succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity (Stealth) check.

Around the first curve, Orrelius waits on a ledge eight feet above the ground. If the party doesn’t make a successful stealth check, he hears them and says, “Greetings, travelers. What brings you to this valley?” If he heard them coming, he has already cast Zone of Truth, and the party feels its effects but must succeed on a DC 17 Charisma saving throw to avoid its effects.

Orrelius is suspicious of the party, but if they tell him the truth about their mission, he tells them that he believes that the plant they seek is in a valley further in, but he’s also heard credible rumors of a dragon in the area, although the reports have conflicted widely as to the color.

If any of the party are injured, he heals them. He then asks for directions to the afflicted village, hoping to provide help to the most afflicted until they bring the cure. “I can’t help everyone, but if I can soothe them and fend off the Reaper until you arrive, we may accomplish more than if I join you.” As the party gives directions, if they use visible landmarks in their directions, Orrelius asks for additional environmental details like precise directions, the density of the woods and types of trees around the roads, inhabited areas, and other features he may detect with his other senses. If they don’t know directions to the village, he asks for directions to town so he can find and ask someone there.

Eyes of the Wyrm

The roughly circular valley widens out to a half mile diameter, most of it densely packed with coniferous trees with a visible corridor on the opposite end. Once the party reaches the mouth of the corridor, Gwanla Marblerock, a dwarven spy, sees them and welcomes them. She claims to be gathering mushrooms and berries (technically true at the moment) and offers them some pine nut bread with mushroom jam. She casually asks what brings them to the mountains, and if they tell her, she expresses sympathy and wishes them well. She asks which direction they’re headed, and if they show her the map, she offers them directions to a safer passage through a narrow cave.

Gwanla works for Cheruss, the young red dragon, and the shortcut she offers to the party is a trap. Once the party leaves, she takes an alternate path to report back to Cheruss. If the party successfully spies on her, they see her slip behind a brush pile into the side of the mountain. The tunnel she takes is small and narrow, allowing small creatures to walk in it single file, but medium creatures need to crawl, and most large creatures cannot fit.

Gwanla’s Tunnel

If the party follows Gwanla’s advice, they find an abandoned mineshaft in the left wall of the mountain before it curves inward toward the river. (Use the Gwanla’s Tunnel map) The walls and floor are wet with condensation, and a gelatinous cube fills part of the corridor and surprises unwary adventurers.

The mineshaft ends in an increasingly steep and slippery slope. Everyone must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall prone and slide into a thirty-foot pit at the end, taking 3d6 bludgeoning damage. The pit is a cylinder, sixty feet in diameter. On the opposite side stands a fifteen-foot arch blocked by a large stone that, from inside of the pit, can only be moved with a successful DC 25 Strength check. The wall has a one-foot diameter window beside the arch. 

If the party arrives here and makes any noise, Cheruss hears them and sends Gwanla (or another spy if Gwanla isn’t available) to check on them via the window. Once Cheruss hears the party’s status, he goes to the pit to talk to the party, rolling the stone out of the way. If the party attacks him, he uses his breath weapon against them and leaves. A few minutes later, four dwarven veterans appear, crossbows loaded, followed by Cheruss’s face appearing out of the dark corridor beyond. (Skip to Chase the Dragon)

The River Valley

If the party doesn’t follow Gwanla’s directions, they need to follow the river across the next valley. As they cross the valley, a hunting party of four saber-toothed tigers attempts to surround and ambush them. (Use Mountain Valley map)

At the valley’s far end, the cliff walls narrow until no dry land runs between them, and the river turns to rapids with only wet walls bordering it for two hundred feet. The party must find a way to get past the rapids. (Use River Rapids map)

Raft: Creating a seaworthy raft from trees requires a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check. Proficiency with carpenter’s tools adds the character’s proficiency bonus to this check. The raft has 40 hp. The raft moves twenty feet per round and requires a successful DC 17 Dexterity check to avoid hitting a rock. Proficiency with water vehicles adds to this check. Each round the raft hits a rock, the raft takes 1d8 bludgeoning damage, and everyone on the raft must succeed on a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall into the water, taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage. Those who fall in the water must swim or use their action to succeed on a DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check to grab the raft, then use their action the following round to attempt to climb onto the raft, requiring a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. Creatures with a swim speed have advantage on checks to grab and climb onto the raft. If someone on the raft uses their action to help, the person climbing on has advantage on the check, but the person helping has disadvantage on any check to avoid falling off in the event of a collision. Each round they are in the water attempting to climb aboard, they take an additional 1d6 bludgeoning damage.

Swim: Swimming the rapids requires a successful DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check each round to avoid drowning. Failure indicates that the character begins choking. See Suffocating in the Basic Rules, Chapter 8. The swimming character must also succeed on a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check each round to avoid hitting rocks and taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage. Creatures with a swim speed or webbed digits have advantage on this check.

Climb: Characters may attempt to climb the cliff wall to get past the rapids. Climbing the rocks requires a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check each round to avoid falling. A climber’s kit gives advantage on the checks. Climbing closer than twenty feet above the water gives disadvantage on the checks due to splashing water making the rocks slippery. Winds buoy non-evil creatures that fall. Such creatures descend at a rate of 60 feet per round and take no falling damage but still suffer the effects of the water current and rocks.

Once the party gets past the rapids, the canyon widens out again into a field as long as the first but not as wide as the previous one. The green grass is accented by orange blades, and the far left quadrant appears to be ablaze as the kindleroot plants flicker above the green blades. Against the left wall, smoke wisps rise from a large cave entrance. (Use Kindleroot Valley map.)

As the party approaches the kindleroot, four dwarven veterans, crossbows loaded, emerge from the cave, followed by a large red dragon. Cheruss the dragon glares at the party.

Chase the Dragon

Cheruss likes his “fire grass” and won’t allow anyone to take it, especially for such a paltry reason as saving lives or ending suffering. “You want to end suffering? Point me to that village, and I’ll immolate the place!”

If Cheruss hasn’t learned the party’s purpose yet, he demands to know why they’ve invaded his domain. He doesn’t appreciate thieves who don’t work for him, and anyone who would steal from him is volunteering to be his next meal. At the same time, he constantly watches for ways to benefit himself in any encounter, and combat with even moderately formidable foes has no guaranteed benefit, so he manipulates the encounter to his advantage.

If the party tries to fight for the kindleroot, as soon as he notices them raising their weapons or making spellcasting gestures, he threatens to burn the whole field. He likes his landscaping, but it’ll grow back if he doesn’t burn the roots, and a season or three while it grows back is quick as a spark for a dragon.

He does not allow them to leave without paying a price for disturbing him, even if they give up on the kindleroot.

He considers negotiating with them. Atop the cliff in the previous valley, an old woman has a large ruby that he wants. She’s a powerful wizard, he says, so it hasn’t been worth the effort to get it himself, but he’d be willing to exchange it for the amount of “fire grass” that they need.

Get the Ruby

If the party attempts to get the ruby, they must get back to the other valley. If they came through the tunnel, they can go back the same way once they find a way out of the pit. (Cheruss won’t help them. He’d rather leave them there to die.)

The valley wall extends 150 feet vertically. As they climb, an eagle flies over and circles for a few minutes before flying back up the mountain. Winds buoy non-evil creatures that fall. Such creatures descend at a rate of 60 feet per round and take no falling damage.

After that, the climb changes to rough terrain for another 300 feet as the slope becomes more gradual. At this point, the party can see a large silver cottage, the eagle perched on the roof, and a nest with two giant eagles twenty feet away. All of the eagles watch the party closely as they approach.

Aside from the massive nest nearby and the mountaintop location, the cottage looks like an unassuming, well-maintained home. The windows, made of silvered glass, allow no one to peek inside. The single door is unlocked if the party enters without knocking.

Inside the cottage, shelves of trinkets, antiques, and other mementos line the walls among silver wall sconces and rows of old books and scrolls. Light comes in through the windows unobstructed. Portraits of humanoids of many different ancestries fill the remaining wall spaces with smaller ones on shelves. A successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check notices that one of the portraits on a shelf shows a younger image of Jaydrey.

If the party knocks, a feminine voice calls, “You’ve come this far. It would be rude of me to send you away. Come in.” An elderly human sits with her back to the door, reading the handwriting on a yellowed sheet of paper. She holds it to her chest, sighs, and sets it down on a small table beside her. She picks up a glass of dark brown liquid, takes a sip, and says, “Welcome to my home. You must be tired from that climb. Sit, and I’ll get you some tea and scones. How may I help you?” She grabs a wooden crutch, gets up, and tends to her guests.

The woman is Layni, the adult silver dragon who is the source of Jaydrey’s sorcery, shape changed into human form. The cottage covers the entrance to her lair, a vast network of chambers below the mountain, which she accesses through a trapdoor in the back room. She has tolerated Cheruss and kept him from terrorizing the surrounding countryside, knowing he’ll eventually move away in frustration. Every item in her cottage has sentimental value to her, as each belonged to an old friend, most of whom are long gone, along with many of their civilizations. She values these items, all she has left of those she loves. She does not reveal her true nature unless necessary, and she answers any questions about her age or nature with a cagey response like, “Don’t you know it’s rude to ask a woman about her age?”

If the party mentions Jaydrey, Layni says, “Oh! You’ve met my daughter! My own blood!” She dismisses questions about the physical differences between human and halfling, assuring the party that love and commitment make someone family, not physical resemblance, and she answers every question with a corresponding question about Jaydrey.

If the party asks about the ruby, Layni gets suspicious and questions why they’d run errands for Cheruss. She knows he wants it and has no intention of handing it over to him to be just one more sparkle in his vault. If the party acts trustworthy, she’s willing to show it to them, opening an engraved brass coffer and producing a brass hair clip with a half-inch ruby setting attached to a red braid of hair. (The ruby is worth 5,000 gp.) “This is Sartyn. She lived under this very mountain long before your grandparents were born [present elves excepted]. Her descendants still live there.” (She refers to her mementos as if they are the owners, not because she’s confused, but because her memories of each are tied to the item.)

Layni wants to help the suffering village but can’t bear to part with the ruby. She’s open to suggestions on how to proceed but is reluctant to get directly involved. She would rather not “bully little Cheruss” and prefers to give the party the opportunity to solve their own problems. “That’s how you grow, my dear! You have so little time in your life, you need to use that time to develop your little mind and achieve your potential!”

If the party asks Layni to go with them, she agrees only as a last resort. She steps outside and changes to her true nature, a huge silver dragon who walks with a limp in her left hind leg. She speaks to the giant eagles in their language, to which they respond by flying up, then swooping down and picking up the party gently in their talons. When they fly to Cheruss’s cave, Cheruss threatens to burn the kindleroot, to which Layni says, “If you do that, I will freeze you so solid, they’ll sharpen blades on your eyeballs!” Cheruss insists that the plants are his property and will only part with them with an appropriate payment.

If the party negotiates for a different payment, Cheruss insists that the party could never give him anything he wants unless they’d like to offer one of their own for his next meal or provide him something he’d be unable to acquire himself. He is cruel and arrogant, so he meets too small an offer with, “That sounds like a fitting tribute to let you live. I accept it in exchange for your life. (He’s serious.) Now what can you offer that’s worth more than your lives?”

The dwarves working for Cheruss appear loyal to him, but they only serve him as an agreement that he won’t attack the rest of the village in the tunnels below the mountains. If questioned, they only admit the truth on a successful DC 20 Charisma check and then only if they believe that Cheruss can’t hear them. If the party convinces the dwarves to rally their community with the promise of assistance and helps them escape into a tunnel in the mountain wall, news of an uprising leads to Cheruss flying away, knowing he needs reinforcements to fight an entire community that’s no longer afraid of him. Layni is unaware of this arrangement, and if she learns that Sartyn’s family is being held hostage by Cheruss, she becomes enraged and chases him away, threatening him if he ever returns.

The Road to Recovery

Use Road through the Hills map.

As the party takes their acquired kindleroot to the ailing village, they see a humanoid in a cloak with shaggy exposed arms limping toward them from the general direction of the village. It may appear to be a victim of the Shaggy Plague but is actually a werewolf with two more hiding in the woods nearby in wolf form. Once it gets within thirty feet of the party, it and the hiding wolves attack the party. At the beginning of the second round, another wolf appears from the woods and attacks the werewolves on its turn. This fourth wolf is Eilwynn Ilaras in wild shape.

Following the combat, Eilwynn uses Cure Wounds on anyone who’s injured. If she or a member of the party received a bite from one of the werewolves, her Baseless Emotion triggers as fear that the injury will cause lycanthropy causes a panic attack. She sits down and focuses on her staff, running her fingers over the runes and staring intently at them for 1d10 minutes. Assistance will not reduce her recovery time, and she will meet attempts to assist with appreciation for the concern and a request to give her a few minutes. After the panic subsides, she tells them that those wounds should get checked soon as a precaution. After the encounter, she offers to travel with the party to help them, as she heard about the plague.

A Dose of Joy Is a Spiritual Cure

When the party nears the village, a small collection of halflings and gnomes living in wattle and daub houses surrounded by a stream and farmland, Zilji and Jaydrey meet them on the road and eagerly take the plants to a nearby hut where brewery equipment awaits the final ingredient. Zilji then heads back into the village to tend to the sick.

If the party enters the village, they find Orrelius near one of the homes, wiping cold water on one of the victims. The voice of any party member will sound familiar, but he will ask for their names again to jog his memory., “I pray you have come to bring blessings to this village. I’m thankful to be a vessel of hope and healing here, but even with my gifts, the disease spreads faster than I can keep up, and many whom I’ve healed have fallen ill again.”

If the party mentions the werewolves to Orrelius, he casts Remove Curse on up to three of the bitten. He tells them where to find some wooden buckets and rags and asks them to take the buckets to the nearby stream, fill them with cool water, and tend to those with fevers.

The GM may consider the backgrounds and other abilities of the party and encourage them to use their skills creatively to help in various ways, such as cooking, repairing neglected items, foraging for more food, etc. Cure Wounds and other spells can reduce the damage caused by the disease and sustain those closest to dying or in pain. The cure takes a day to prepare, so the party can use the rest of the day to help. The villagers express their appreciation, and those currently healthy or in early stages of the disease eagerly help the party.

Refined by Fire

Late the next morning, a scream echoes through the village. “Dragon!” (Use Village Rescue map)

If Cheruss is still alive, he has come to assert his dominance over the weakened village. If he still controls the dwarves, three dwarven veterans come riding on saber-toothed tigers from the road and threaten the villagers, who attempt to flee for safety.

Orrelius has already expended all but his fourth-level spell slots healing villagers but first casts Spiritual Guardian, then the second round invokes Spiritual Weapon on his sword and hurls insults at Cheruss, attempting a contested Charisma (Persuasion) check to get Cheruss to focus on him. “The bloated iguana is so weak that it can only bully a dying village!” If he gets Cheruss within melee range, he uses his remaining fourth-level spell slot for an Improved Divine Smite.

Jaydrey prefers to continue working on the cure while Zilji stands guard at the brewery hut. After the first round, Jaydrey will step in if the outcome is doubtful, moving as far from the hut as possible, asking Zilji to guard and monitor the cure. 

If appropriate, Eilwynn enters combat using Entangle on the mounted dwarves followed by Thunderwave if possible, then uses Shillelagh, shortbow, or Wild Shape.

As the battle ends, Layni swoops in, having learned that Cheruss was heading this way. When Orrelius hears another dragon, he welcomes the challenge and starts threatening Layni until he learns that she’s an ally. If Cheruss still lives, Layni chases him away and returns to the village.

Layni lands near the hut, changes shape to her human form, and calls, “Jaydrey, my blood?” Jaydrey runs out of the hut and embraces Layni. They go into the hut together, still tending to the cure while chatting.

That afternoon, as the cure nears completion, Zilji asks Orrelius and the party to find those in the most advanced stages of the disease and bring them out for the first doses of the cure. Jaydrey and Layni bring out small cups of glowing orange liquid and ask the party to distribute them. After drinking, pain and other internal symptoms gradually begin to subside after an hour, the fur begins to shed after four hours, and in the worst cases, the complete recovery takes up to a day.

The villagers invite the party to stay for a celebration, quickly assembling a feast as children reenact the battle, sometimes arguing over who gets to be which member of the party until they decide to take turns. As they repeat the drama, they add more dragons and tiger-riding dwarves so more can participate, and the story becomes increasingly embellished with each retelling.

Cry me a river…wait! I didn’t mean that literally!

A light is shining in the long-abandoned wizard’s tower, but is this good news or bad? And why is the ground so soft?

This adventure is designed for 3–5 characters, level 5–7, with a total of 20–24 levels.

Background & Synopsis

A long-abandoned tower has recently had lights in an upper window. Hadarai Liadon climbed up to see what’s going on and saw items gathered for a ritual. A wizard is trying to open a portal to the Elemental Plane of Water to flood the area. The wizard was bullied and wants revenge. First, some mud mephits enter the city and start causing chaos. Local farmers near the tower report that their fields are too wet in spite of mild rainfall. The ground near the tower is getting waterlogged. A Mud Elemental enters town and seeks out the bullies. If the wizard gets the portal open, it will soon destroy the entire city, not only the flooding, but the water elementals that are coming through with it! But when the wizard sees that he’s endangered those who were kind to him, he has a change of heart. But is it too late?

Adventure Hooks

This adventure can serve as a side quest or as a way to introduce characters in an existing community. The opening encounter will draw the party into the action, and if they’re not immediately interested, the mire mephits will annoy them until they have to act.

Where are we?

This adventure can occur in any city with a library and nearby forest and farmland.

Opening Encounter

The party may be in any public space, such as an inn, park, or marketplace. Hadarai Liadon bursts on the scene, swinging down from a rooftop or rafters if available, scarves trailing behind faer. Fae immediately starts asking locals, “Have you seen anyone head toward the old wizard’s tower?” Fae was in the trees in the woods near it and noticed a light coming from the window at the top. If asked about it, fae says fae climbed up the outside and peeked in, and while it was unoccupied, it had a pile of new supplies: bottles of something white, a book, a chest, a jar of pearls, and two barrels.

Ebus has secretly gathered them with the intent to open a gateway to the Elemental Plane of Water and flood the city.

Out of the Cauldron, Into the Soup

Map: Muddy Buddies

Once the party has time to react to the news but before leaving the area, the closest pile or puddle of mud or body of water begins bubbling, and six mire mephits fly out, making flatulence-like noises and shouting vulgar taunts in Aquan. They fling putrid mud at anyone nearby, leaving the targeted local residents incapacitated with nausea. When threatened or noticing anyone preparing to attack them, they fight any aggressors to the death.

Local Clues

City Rumors

• Many suspect Lechlun, “the jewelers’ boy with the weird face.” He studies dark destructive magic.
• Two thugs, Wally and Eddie, complaining loudly about the mess of mud, will mention a tiefling monk who just came into the city recently, hanging around with that weird Ebus. (Wally and Eddie have bullied Ebus most of his life. Lechlun is aware of this, and he endured some bullying from them as well, but he was better at staying out of their way, so they didn’t notice him as much.) If asked about Lechlun, they’ll say, “Yeah, he might have something to do with it.” If asked about Ebus, they’ll just laugh and start talking to each other about mean pranks they’ve pulled on him. “Remember the time we…dipped his favorite book in goat milk, stuck his head in a bramble bush so his horns got stuck, etc.” They don’t think Ebus is capable of anything.
• If the party asks those who guard the city gate, they won’t remember anyone specific coming or going, but if asked about Ebus or Lechlun, both leave most days for several hours, and they’ve both been out of town a lot lately.
• Most people in town recognize Ebus but don’t know his name or anything about him, as he’s quiet and keeps to himself.
• Nobody suspects Hadarai, but fae spends most of faer time in the woods or on rooftops, so most people don’t even faer but are used to faer suddenly swooping down onto the street to enter a shop or the like. Although if you’re suddenly missing something that you thought you just set down, the locals use the expression, “Haradrai’s hands,” suggesting that fae stole it when they weren’t looking, which isn’t usually true, and it’s more a local joke than an accusation. Around dinnertime, the large hat in the corner booth usually hides most of faer body as fae eats the daily special, but if approached, fae will jump onto the table and remove faer hat, bowing in a grandiose gesture, after which fae will happily converse with anyone, answer questions, and offer to help any way fae can. Fae will be happy to lead the party to the tower if asked and climb it to answer more questions.
• A few local farmers are in town for supplies and local gossip, and two who have farms near the tower note that their crops in the field closest to the tower are rotting from too much moisture, even though rainfall has been moderate lately.

Jeweler

Julius & Gemma run the local jewelry shop, and their son, Lechlun, helps when not pursuing magic projects. The two story shop is a brick building with barred windows. The inside is lit like daylight, the entire ceiling magically illuminated. Several chests with shallow drawers line the walls, the drawers partly open to display shiny jewelry. 

The couple sit at benches, cutting gems or piecing together jewelry, and Lechlun is sitting at a table with a candle burning and four large tomes open, writing with the charred end of a stick on a slab of limestone, then erasing with a damp sponge and writing more. 

When anyone comes into the shop, Julius and Gemma welcome them warmly while Lechlun ignores the noise and continues his research.

If addressed, Lechlun typically raises a fingers a gesture to wait, finishes the section he’s writing, and then steps away from his work and greets his guest with a smile.

If asked about Ebus, Lechlun will speak favorably and sympathetically about him. “He’s a decent person, but trouble seems to find him. I’m used to people treating me differently because of my appearance, but he’s like a bully magnet.”

Ebus recently stopped into the shop and bought all of the abalone they had in stock, but they will only reveal this if specifically asked about Ebus’s recent behavior.

If asked about Wally and Eddie, Lechlun suggests staying away from them. “Those guys are just mean. Always have been. Only people they’re nice to are their wives and kids, and even with them, well, I wouldn’t treat people like that. I guess they think they’re funny, but I see the looks on their families’ faces — they don’t appreciate it.”

Lechlun is usually at the shop, but lately, he’s been leaving for several hours to go to a nearby granite quarry to mine for obsidian. His magic allows him to carve through rock without a pick. The shop has several drawers full of obsidian, both uncut pieces and jewelry.

Library

Emmara

Emmara owns the local library, which is supported by a nearby magic school and by sages and wizards who pay to use its resources for research. It also has meeting rooms available for rent and a large room that functions as a school for children.

If asked about Lechlun, Emmara will note that he used to spend a lot of time at the library and still comes in occasionally, but he has made comments about, “less study, more experiment,” and he has expressed frustration at not being able to find books related to his tradition, needing to write his own instead.

If asked about Ebus, she takes on a protective, condescending tone, like a parent concerned about their child. Ebus has always spent a lot of time at the library since he was very young. He was often bullied by his peers and found the library as a safe haven. Since then, it has become like a second home to him, where he spends long hours reading casually and studying. Emmara has spent many hours over the years offering a shoulder to cry on and a welcoming ear to absorb his sorrows. Any mention of Wally and Eddie will bring an angry frown.

Rohna

If the party comes to the library during the day, Rohna will be in the classroom section with twenty children who are all busy working on painting and sculpting projects. As she moves from child to child, the arms of her wheelchair offer alternative brushes, grab extra boxes of clay and jars of paint, pick up dropped objects, and hold a cup of tea that she sips while encouraging and coaching the children. When a jar slips off the table out of her reach, she uses Mage Hand to grab it and put it back on the table, though not as close to the edge. At times, the party may notice the figures in the paintings seem to move, but only for a moment. If asked about this, Rohna will answer that art is a form of magic in itself that you have to make more than read.

Rohna has spent time teaching Lechlun and Ebus when they were much younger, before they began studying magic, but hasn’t had as much contact with them lately. Since Ebus used to be at the library every day, she has noticed that he hasn’t been there lately. “He always warms my tea for me, that sweet boy, and my tea and heart aren’t as warm when he doesn’t come in.” (She has a ceramic pot of steaming hot tea sitting on the counter with no heat source in sight. She can warm it herself, but she likes to let him do it for her as an act of kindness.)

If asked about Wally and Eddie, she’ll describe them as, “boys with many gifts that they’ve never learned to recognize.” 

Precision & Ebus

A pair of tieflings sit at a table outside the library, drinking tea, talking [in Infernal], and laughing. One with tan skin, ram horns, and a black goatee reaches over to the teapot on the table, and his fingers glow red until the teapot steams heavily. He pours more tea for his companion, who has purple hair and wildebeest horns and holds his cup in his toes as his arms appear constricted by his chest, his purple tail toying with the hand crossbow strapped to his leg.

If asked about recent events, they get nervous and defensive. [Precision doesn’t know that Ebus has caused it.] Precision will say sarcastically, “It’s always the Tiefling, right?” Ebus will say, “I’ve always been the target, not the aggressor. Maybe listen for the harshest voices in town instead of accosting us!”

If asked about Lechlun, Ebus will acknowledge that they were friends in school but drifted apart. Ebus was uncomfortable with the dark energies Lechlun was exploring. Ebus was more interested in exploring a variety of magical energies, while Lechlun focused on Oblivion magic.

Precision was traveling and arrived in town three days ago and is staying at the closest inn. He met Ebus shortly after arriving, and the two have met for tea for an hour each day.

Ebus claims to have been at home the rest of the time, researching and relaxing. (He hasn’t, and if followed, he will leave the next day to go to the tower.)

The Tower

Maps: Wizard Tower 1, 2, and 3 (early)

The tower, two miles outside of the city in the forest, is a four-story stone ruin, abandoned for over a century, and generally considered unsafe by local residents, though most stay away from it regardless of its condition for fear that the wizard who used to own it left some remaining protective wards on it. The former owner’s identity is unknown to most, and even the elves who lived in the area at the time (Emmara arrived more recently, and Hadarai was a baby when he vanished.) only remember a mostly reclusive scholarly human who used couriers for supplies and deliveries.

As the party nears the tower, they notice that the ground gets gradually softer and wetter, the dirt turning to mud, and a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check notices that the side of the building facing the city is slightly wet.

The interior of the tower has a ten foot wide stone spiral staircase along the walls, the stairs eroded with time into an irregular graded ramp that a wheelchair can navigate with relative ease. The bottom floor is cracked stone with weeds forcing their way through the cracks. The other floors are rotting wood of dubious integrity, with large sections lost to time and termites.

On the first floor, a family of six badgers have carved through the stone opposite the entrance for a burrow. If the party gets within ten feet of the entrance, the badgers will attack, but otherwise, they will stay in the burrow and snarl at the intruders.

The second floor has a bookshelf with a large wasp nest near it. Attempts to examine the shelf will result in an attack by a swarm of insects (wasps). A successful Intelligence (Investigation) check while searching the rotting books on the shelves will locate the only useful information, a spell within one of the rotting books, Iz’zart’s Swarm Limb.

Iz’zart’s Swarm Limb

1st-level conjuration

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Self
• Components: V, S
• Duration: 1 hour

You summon a swarm of fey spirits that take the form of a swarm of beasts of Challenge Rating 1 or lower shaped as an adaptive limb, responding to telepathic commands like the appendage it’s replacing. This spell cannot add an extra limb beyond those typical for your ancestry.

The summoned swarm is also considered fey, and it disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when the spell ends.

The swarm gets no actions of its own, but you can use its bite as an unarmed attack.

The swarm can detach on command as a bonus action. While detached, it retains its link and can attack and follow simple commands up to 30 feet away from you. If it moves further away, the spell ends.

The third floor is nearly impassable. Some rotting bedroom furniture lines what remains of the floor along the walls. Searching through the debris will reveal a rotten chest with 200 sp and 60 gp.

Only a fifteen-foot section of floor nearest the stairs remains on the fourth story. At the top of the stairs are stored three vials of salt, a book written in Aquan with information about the elemental plane of water, a chest full of abalone, a jar of pearls, a small barrel of sand, and another of water.

The stone roof is mostly intact, but a hole where a trap door once gave access to the roof is now only a pair of rusty hinges with no sign of the wood once attached to it.

If the party follows Ebus to the tower, he confronts them if he notices them and claims he came to check out Hadarai’s claim. If asked why he’s been leaving town each day or about purchasing the abalone, he claims that he’s been missing his parents lately and has been going to visit their graves outside of town, and while he was there, he noticed that their gravestones are getting weathered and bought the abalone to fill in the chips and beautify the stones at the same time. (He’s lying.)

The Quarry

If the party investigates the quarry, they will find a 200 foot wide, thirty foot deep pit of limestone with granite ribbons running through it. The side has a staggered ramp leading to the bottom with tracks once used by mining carts. Tunnels lead into the walls of the crater, and inspection reveals perfectly circular five foot diameter smooth cylindrical holes extending different distances as far as sixty feet into the darkest granite seams. Inside some of these cylinders, small sections have been roughly chipped away with a small tool such as a hammered chisel.

Getting the Dirt

Map: Out of their Element

The next morning, the ground in town has become damp and muddy as if it rained all night, even though everything above ground is dry, and the sky was clear through the night. When the party is outside in or near the marketplace, they hear screams as a mud elemental appears near the marketplace and heads toward Wally and Eddie’s cart where they sell furs and venison sausage. The elemental will attempt to catch and kill them, smashing their cart in the process. Everyone else flees in panic, and if the party attacks the elemental, it will fight the party until it doesn’t consider them a threat, then it will continue to pursue Wally and Eddie.

While nobody noticed Ebus casting the spell to summon the elemental, if the party specifically asks whether anyone saw him, several people remember seeing him in the marketplace before the attack. Immediately following the attack, he left for the tower, as the gate guards can confirm. They note that he was carrying a twelve foot ladder.

Lechlun was still in bed during the attack, and Precision was eating breakfast at the inn.

The Rising Tide

If the party isn’t following Ebus by this point, Precision will cross paths with them and ask whether they’ve seen him. “I was hoping he’d come by and share breakfast with me at the inn, but he never showed up. He’s not at his house or the library, either.”

At this point, the muddy ground is getting wetter, and water begins flowing through the city. The party can easily trace its current as coming from the general direction of the tower and can follow it back, although the ground has now become difficult terrain. A party with additional mobility needs may need to take an indirect approach to the tower, curving around and approaching it from the side where the ground is dryer.

Maps: Wizard Tower 1, 2, and 3 (late)

When the party arrives at the tower, the stream has become a five foot deep river, flowing from the roof over the side of the tower. Ebus stands on the roof at the mouth of the extraplanar river, and when he sees the party, he yells, “You’re too late! The portal to the plane of water is open, and it will soon be permanent! Those who stood by and watched my torment all those years will finally know what it feels like!”

If the party tries to reason with Ebus, he considers everyone in the city to blame for allowing Wally and Eddie to bully him. Only reminding him that this will destroy the library and could hurt Emmara and Rohna will cause him to stop.

If the party tries to get to Ebus by climbing the tower, either inside or outside, he waits until they get to the third floor and uses his Aquatic Torrent ability, although if they attack him with ranged attacks immediately, he doesn’t wait. When Ebus is on the roof, he has full cover against any attacks, but attacks he makes against those on the outside or on the second or third floor inside have partial cover against him.

After any dialog between the party and Ebus, regardless of the outcome, out of the river at the base of the tower, a deluge dragon rises up and attacks the party. Note that Ebus is not controlling this elemental—it came through the portal with the flowing water and will attack the closest creature.

If, during the combat, the party tells Ebus that this will hurt Emmara or Rohna, he will stop fighting the party and join in the attack against the deluge dragon. If the deluge dragon attacks him, he will defend himself against it.

If anyone attacks the deluge dragon from inside or outside the tower, it will consider all creatures in the direction of the attack to be threats, including Ebus if applicable. The dragon reaches a height of thirty-two feet, and the tower is forty feet tall, but 40 hp damage against a section of the wall (AC 15) will topple the tower.

Depending on the strength of the party, if this encounter doesn’t provide enough challenge, additional water elementals may also attack, and if the party is outmatched, Hadarai, Lechlun, and/or Precision may show up to help.

After the third combat round, Emmara shows up, yelling to Ebus to stop, that the library is beginning to flood. A wave causes them to slip in the mud and fall into the dragon’s Deluge and begin to drown. Ebus immediately cries out for Emmara and focuses only on rescuing them.

If Ebus is unconscious before Emmara appears, Emmara will rush to Ebus and stabilize him if necessary.

Feeling Drained

Once Ebus stops attacking, the planar portal closes. This doesn’t stop any elementals, but the flooding tapers off. 

Emmara asks Ebus to return to town to resolve this without more destruction, and he reluctantly and remorsefully complies, apologizing profusely to Emmara during most of the walk back to the city.

By the time everyone returns to town, Hadarai has seen what happened and has spread the word, which spread quickly through the city. The city guard asks Ebus to come peacefully to jail while they sort everything out, and Ebus agrees.

Wally and Eddie stand with their families in front of the assembled crowd. Their children cling to them, and Eddie’s son says, “Daddy, don’t let him hurt us!” Wally and Eddie both look terrified but are trying to hide their fear, unsuccessfully. Ebus looks at them, sees their fear, and looks horrified. Ebus hangs his head and says to himself, “This is what I’ve become. I’m so sorry.”

After Ebus leaves, Wally’s daughter cautiously approaches the party and says, “Thank-you. Mommy told Daddy that he and Uncle Eddie made this happen. Thank-you for making it not happen more.”

Most of the residents nod in appreciation and walk away, going back to their lives. 

Precision says, “The guy without friends is going to need a friend after this,” and he begins walking to the jail.

Rohna, holding a sack with one of her chair’s arms, uses the others to begin picking up debris that washed into town. Lechlun and a few others nod and help.

Hadarai drops down in front of one of the party from a roof, hanging upside-down on a long silk scarf and smiling. With one hand, fae makes a grandiose gesture and says, “Well done! Here, I found this. Keep it as a memento!” Fae hands over a Ring of Water Breathing. The party member with the highest Wisdom (Perception) score will recognize the ring as one worn by Ebus when they first met him.

If the party stays in the city in the days following, they will notice Lechlun, Rohna, Emmara, Wally, and Eddie each going to visit Ebus in jail.

Characters

Ebus

Medium humanoid (tiefling), Chaotic Neutral

Armor Class 12 (15 with mage armor)

Hit Points 40 (9d8)

Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
9 (-1)	14 (+2)	11 (+0)	18 (+4)	12 (+1)	12 (+1)

Saving Throws Int +7, Wis +4

Skills Arcana +7, History +7

Damage Resistances fire; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11

Languages Aquan, Common, Infernal, Terran

Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

Innate Spellcasting. Ebus’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 12, +4 to hit with spell attacks). He can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: Thaumaturgy

1/day each: Hellish Rebuke, Darkness

Spellcasting. Ebus is a 9th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). He has the following wizard spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): Fire Bolt, Light, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation

1st level (4 slots): Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Protection from Evil and Good, Shield

2nd level (3 slots): Levitate, Misty Step

3rd level (3 slots): Counterspell, Fireball, Fly

4th level (3 slots): Conjure Minor Elemental, Ice Storm, Stoneskin

5th level (1 slot): Cone of Cold, Conjure Elemental

When anticipating combat, Ebus casts Mage Armor and Stoneskin and will use his reaction to cast Shield if attacked before his turn.

Actions

Aquatic Torrent (1/day). Ebus can fill with water a 20-foot-tall cylinder with a 40-foot radius centered on a point he chooses within 150 feet. The area is heavily obscured, and exposed flames in the area are doused.

    The water moves suddenly and quickly through the area to the lowest elevation at a speed of 60 feet, making it difficult terrain. When a creature enters the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 13 (3d8) bludgeoning damage, falls prone, and moves 60 ft. in the direction of the water’s current. On a successful save, the creature takes half damage.

    If a creature is concentrating in the spell’s area, the creature must make a successful DC 12 Constitution saving throw or lose concentration.

    If the water is in an open space, it will spread to half height and double the radius the second round on Ebus’s turn with the same effects on all within the area. By the third round, it dissipates enough to lose its force.

Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.

Mire Mephit

Small elemental, neutral evil

Armor Class 11

Hit Points 22 (5d6 + 5)

Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
8 (-1)	12 (+1)	12 (+1)	7 (-2)	10 (+0)	10 (+0)

Skills Stealth +3

Damage Vulnerabilities bludgeoning

Damage Immunities piercing, poison

Condition Immunities poisoned

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10

Languages Aquan, Terran

Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Death Burst. When the mephit dies, it explodes in a burst of noxious mud. Each creature within 5 ft. of it must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

False Appearance. While the mephit remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an ordinary mound of mud.

Innate Spellcasting (1/Day). The mephit can innately cast Acid Arrow, requiring no material components. Its innate spellcasting ability is Charisma.

Actions

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) slashing damage plus 2 (1d4) acid damage.

Mire Breath (Recharge 6). The mephit exhales a 15-foot cone of noxious mud. Each creature in that area must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, taking 3 (1d6) poison damage and becoming incapacitated due to nausea for 1 round on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Variant: Summon Mephits (1/Day). The mephit has a 25 percent chance of summoning 1d4 mephits of its kind. A summoned mephit appears in an unoccupied space within 60 feet of its summoner, acts as an ally of its summoner, and can’t summon other mephits. It remains for 1 minute, until it or its summoner dies, or until its summoner dismisses it as an action.

These small vaguely humanoid mud beings smell of stagnation and rise up from pools of mud to cause havoc. They lack wings and seem to fly by floating on mists of expelled miasma.

Mud Elemental

Large elemental, neutral

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)

Hit Points 114 (12d10 + 48)

Speed 30 ft., swim 60 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
20 (+5)	12 (+1)	18 (+4)	5 (-3)	10 (+0)	8 (-1)

Damage Vulnerabilities cold

Damage Resistances fire; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, unconscious

Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 10

Languages Aquan, Terran

Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

Fired Brick. If the elemental takes fire damage, it partially solidifies; it loses its swim speed, but its attacks cause an additional 8 (1d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage.

Freeze. If the elemental takes cold damage, it partially freezes; its speed is reduced by 20 ft. until the end of its next turn.

Mud Form. The elemental can enter a hostile creature’s space and stop there. It can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

Actions

Multiattack. The elemental makes two slam attacks. If both attacks hit a Large or smaller target, the target is grappled (escape DC 15), and the elemental uses its Engulf on it.

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage.

Engulf. The elemental engulfs a Large or smaller creature grappled by it. The engulfed target is blinded, restrained, and unable to breathe, and it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw at the start of each of the elemental’s turns or take 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage. If the elemental moves, the engulfed target moves with it. The elemental can have one Large creature or up to two Medium or smaller creatures engulfed at a time.

Deluge Dragon

Huge elemental, neutral

Armor Class14 (natural armor)

Hit Points161 (14d12 + 70)

Speed 30 ft., swim 90 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
20 (+5)	14 (+2)	20 (+5)	10 (+0)	12 (+1)	14 (+2)

Damage Vulnerabilities cold

Damage Resistances acid; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, unconscious

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11

Languages Aquan

Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)

Deluge. Each creature within 15-feet of the elemental that is prone and does not have a swim speed must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to stand up. Any prone creature that fails this check and is unable to breathe water cannot breathe and takes an additional 4 (1d8) bludgeoning damage.

Water Form. The elemental can enter a hostile creature’s space and stop there. It can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

Actions

Multiattack. The elemental makes two slam attacks.

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 23 (4d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage.

Breath Weapon (Recharge 5–6). The elemental exhales a watery blast in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 45 (10d8) bludgeoning damage and being knocked prone on a failed save, or half as much damage and isn’t prone on a successful one.

The neighborhood is on fire!

Can you stop the spread, rescue the families, and prevent more destruction all at once?

This adventure is for 3–4 characters, level 5–6, with 18–22 combined levels.

Background & Synopsis

A nearby building with people inside starts on fire, and the party needs to rescue those inside and stop the fire from spreading, but what started the fire in the first place? As the party rescues those within, they encounter others who may have clues. Rork’s family has been living in the basement and never got along well with the landlord. Naiara Trevica is helping to rescue the residents but seems to know a lot about arson. Aderyn Lloyd has a reputation for mischief—did they inadvertently cause it?

The truth is that the landlord, Arrias, has a gentrification scheme in mind, wanting to burn down the block and rebuild with newer buildings with higher rental costs that will force all of these families, who already struggle, into homelessness.

While constantly blaming others for the problems, he tricks a child into lighting the first fire, then hires someone to unleash a giant crocodile on the neighborhood, then uses his Warlock powers to unleash hell hounds to finish the job. When discovered, he summons two more hell hounds and attacks the party.

Adventure Hooks

This adventure can serve as a side quest or as a way to launch a campaign in an urban setting.

Where are we?

This adventure can occur in any large city with a financially marginalized neighborhood or district. For those using the Nethermaw campaign setting, this adventure would take place in a poorer neighborhood of Smoke.

Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire

As the party travels through an economically disadvantaged district, they notice smoke coming from one of the windows, followed quickly by flames and a voice crying for help. When they get to the house, Naiara Trevica is there and tells the party that people are trapped inside and asks, “I don’t know you, so I don’t know how capable you are. How can you help?”

Whatever the party decides, Naiara will help, either rescuing or stopping the spread.

The houses in this part of town are made from sturdy timbers with wattle and daub walls and thatch roofs, each typically housing two or three families in their two-story structures, one on each level, including a cellar. These walls have a 14 Armor Class and 11 (2d10) hp to break through.

Any room that’s burning will cause 1d4 fire damage to all creatures within and be filled with smoke. Medium or larger creatures will need to remain prone and crawl. Each round a creature is not prone and breathing in a smoke-filled room, it experiences smoke inhalation, requiring a successful DC 15 Constitution saving throw every round to avoid taking 1d6 poison damage and becoming poisoned until succeeding on the saving throw, which may be attempted again during each rest until successful.

In addition, every round a room burns, burning pieces of the ceiling will fall. Creatures in the room must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to avoid taking 1d4 bludgeoning damage and 1d8 fire damage.

The building has 2 floors plus a cellar with the following rooms and residents:

1. Kitchen (1 occupant: Leofrick Morningfall)
2. Living Room (1 occupant: Rose Mistsplitter)
3. Bedroom (2 occupants: Daisy & Violet, 7-year-old human twins)
4. Stable (1 goat, 3 sheep, 11 chickens, 1 donkey)
5. Ramp (to upstairs)
6. Upstairs living room (1 occupant: Gorme Twofoot, a 44 year old non-binary lightfoot halfling)
7. Upstairs bedroom (1 occupant: Urzoth Skullbinder, a 90 year old female orc)
8. Cellar (3 occupants: Rork and his parents, Mug and Guk)

The fire began in the kitchen on the first floor but is spreading each round as follows:

1. Kitchen and living room
2. Bedroom
3. Stable (After this round, a rhythmic drumming fills the air as Ollie Dragao summons the town to help.)
4. Upstairs Bedrooms; Rork and family escapes the cellar via the cellar door, dragging out an empty barrel and bucket
5. Adjacent building (upstairs) on kitchen side (occupied by the Brawnblade family downstairs; Na and Erhice upstairs); Rork casts Create Food and Water, filling the barrel with water.
6. Adjacent building upstairs completely burning; Ollie, his dog, Tazz, and several townsfolk will use a fire hook to collapse any vacated burning building and focus on preventing the spread to other buildings. Rork begins scooping water out of the barrel with a bucket, and throwing it onto the fire. People in adjacent buildings have escaped.
7. Both floors weakened. Each round, each medium-sized creature on the floor must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall through the floor, taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage. Adjacent building first floor is now burning.
8. Adjacent building on the other side begins burning.
9. Townsfolk have stopped the spread via fire hook and bucket brigade from a nearby fountain.

Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire

Once the fire is under control, an elderly tiefling with long, wavy, black hair, green eyes, and purple skin approaches the party and thanks them profusely. He introduces himself as Arrias, owner of the buildings on this block. He thanks them for rescuing the tenants and preventing further spread. (If the party doesn’t trust him, a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check will reveal that his mannerisms seem forced, like he’s trying too hard to show gratitude.) To any remaining residents, he assures them that he will rebuild the ruined houses and replace them with even better homes than before. He talks about how much the neighborhood could benefit from brick buildings that won’t burn and shops on the first level for easy shopping. He then talks to each family from the affected houses to make sure they’re ok.

Meanwhile, some of those who helped with the fire start cheering for “Mug & Guk’s kid” (Rork) and the way he was the first to the scene with water. Upon receiving this attention, Rork looks up from the wicker ball he’d been focused on, slips behind the closest building, and vanishes. Anyone who chases after him sees a crocodile in the distance slipping into a sewer opening. (He doesn’t like crowds, so he panicked at being the center of attention and wild shaped into a crocodile to slip away, but some may find this suspicious, especially since they don’t know him.)

Local residents:

• Rose Mistsplitter is a human in her late 20’s. She works in The Anvil (the forge district) as a courier. She’s pleasant and friendly but always tired.
• Leofrick Morningfall, Rose Mistsplitter’s husband, is a stay-home-dad who cares for their two twin daughters, Daisy and Violet. He focuses on caring for the children, and after the fire, he’s mainly focused on comforting them. If the party encounters him later, he’s friendly and loves to work puns into his conversations.
• Gorme Twofoot is a 44 year old non-binary lightfoot halfling. They work at the local general store as the shopkeeper’s assistant. Gorme lives with their friend, Urzoth, and their salary barely feeds and houses the two. They get frustrated when they have to skip a meal due to Urzoth giving away yet another knit item, but that’s also why Gorme and Urzoth are such good friends — Gorme proudly wears a sweater Urzoth made for them when they were cold and homeless.
• Urzoth Skullbinder is an elderly female orc, a dear friend of Gorme, who’s always wearing a colorful short-sleeve wool sweater. Urzoth has chronic Pain [IE 3] and Leg Weakness [IE 2] and uses a rollator to walk around the house but also has a wheelchair for travel around the city. Urzoth enjoys knitting and uses that skill to earn some extra money, but she often has trouble charging for her beautiful scarves, mittens, and blankets when she sees someone cold and in need.
• Na Mardon is a 30-year-old human who delivers coal to Anvil with her partner, Erhice. Her clothes and skin are stained black from the coal, but her eyes twinkle like the forges she serves, and she enjoys conversation, often talking long after others are done listening.
• Erhice Ildessint, an elf with a more burly build than is typical for his ancestry, helps deliver coal with Na. Erhice is quiet and enjoys listening and learning from others, which is why he and Na work so well together, Na keeping the long hauls of coal interesting with her stories while Erhice happily enjoys the tone of her voice as much as the stories she tells.
• Gralnar Brawnblade, a middle-aged dwarf, works as an assistant in a weaponsmith shop in Anvil. He’s kind and friendly, but when stressed, he quickly gets angry and yells.
• Arros Brawnblade, Gralnar’s wife and also a middle-aged dwarf, is the neighborhood teacher. She has an excellent relationship with the local children and, out of habit, tends to talk to adults as if they’re small children. (If someone notes her tone, she’ll apologize and take a more mature approach.
• Elrin Brawnblade, their daughter, the dwarven equivalent of a human tween, likes to run off and explore and frequently comes home with interesting items in her pockets that she discovered, which has led to Gralnar and Arros sending her to give the item back to its owner. Elrin doesn’t mean to steal, but she has trouble controlling her impulses when she finds something interesting.
• Mug (kobold) works in the sewers with Guk, making sure everything flows and reporting anything unusual. She takes pride in their work and know that the city would cease functioning without her and her coworkers, and she gets frustrated with those who think less of her for any reason but also avoids conflict with anyone bigger than her.
• Guk (kobold) works with Mug, and while he believes in the work he does, he internalizes the disdain of those around him and feels inadequate as a person. If someone blames him for the fire, he may accept the blame and assume some carelessness led to the fire, although Rork and Mug will defend him.
• Rork lives in the woods but came to town to visit his parents. He doesn’t enjoy being in town and is eager to leave. Once he returns to his parents after slipping away, he’s eager to convince them to come live with him in the woods. He keeps urging them by saying, “We really need to get out of here right away,” which is mainly motivated by his anxiety, but it can appear that he’s trying to avoid getting caught.
• Aderyn Lloyd knows Elrin well, as they’ve been on some adventures together. Aderyn acts as a mentor to Elrin, but while they always keep Elrin safe, and her parents trust Aderyn, they sometimes get into mischief together. If anyone questions Elrin, she’ll confide in Aeryn before anyone else. Meanwhile, some townsfolk may blame Aderyn for their recklessness and suggest that they caused the fire, “by knocking over a lantern or something.”
• Naiara Trevica knows this community, as she acted as a mercenary in a nearby turf war recently. When investigating the source of the fire, she will note that it spread from the wall, not the inner hearth, so it looks like it came from outside. She can point to the exact spot where the fire started and note that this is the most vulnerable part of the exterior. “Trust me. If you’re going to burn this style of house, here’s where you light it.” She has burned houses this way as part of the war, but when some of those fires spread, she helped rebuild the homes of the innocent, which is why she’s still in town.
• Ollie Dragao uses his lute to heal anyone hurt in the fire and immediately begins the cleanup process, encouraging others to join in the effort, which they gladly do. He sings as he works, and many others join in, but he soon needs to stop and rest to catch his breath, although he still taps out a motivating rhythm on his drum.

Note: Arrias has been planning this renovation for a long time and deliberately started the fire to force the current tenants out, because he can charge higher rent to a shop owner, and he recently got a good deal on bricks. He saw the Brawnblades’ daughter, Elrin, playing in the street and told her about some fireworks on the ground between the houses. He told her to stay away from them after making them sound enticing enough that she couldn’t resist, and she inadvertently started the fire, but she’s too afraid to admit it. If questioned, she’ll deny it, but she still has some fireworks in her pockets that she forgot about. She likes Arrias, who knows about her impulse control struggles and often points out interesting items that he secretly wants her to take for various reasons. She will be reluctant to connect him with any of this, but a successful DC 10 Charisma (Intimidation) or Charisma (Persuasion) check will convince her to explain Arrias’s role, although he’ll emphasize that he told her to leave them and was just warning her to stay away from them.

Smoke and Mirrors

When the cleanup work is done, Ollie invites everyone back to the local inn to relax. (Note: The inn is not on the main map. If using an existing campaign setting, any inn within a mile will work, otherwise tell the players that the inn is two blocks north of the map. The Miner Solution Inn map may be used here.) The rhythmic singing, driven by the beat of Ollie’s expert drumming, has a soothing effect on everyone after the stresses of the day, and a belly full of bean and sausage casserole, the inn’s Dish of the Day, brings a sense of that everything is going to work out.

If the party watches Elrin, they will see her pick up a small iron unicorn figurine from the fireplace mantle, examine it, and slip it into her pocket. If confronted about it, she doesn’t remember pocketing it, having done so absentmindedly.

The innkeeper tells those who’ve been displaced that they can sleep on the straw mats there until they find more permanent housing.

The party can use this time to talk to the residents to gather more information, and the innkeeper offers them a straw mat for the night.

Early the next morning, the party awakens to a panicked crowd outside and the sound of another house collapsing in the same neighborhood. A giant crocodile has surfaced from the sewers and destroyed another home, heading toward those still standing.

Once the party defeats the crocodile, even more questions and accusations surface.

• Mug and Guk work in the sewers and slept with Rork in a sewer alcove overnight. Besides their sewer connections, Rork was seen transforming into a crocodile yesterday. And the crocodile broke through the same opening where Rork went yesterday. They show up after the combat, shouting a warning that they found evidence of a giant crocodile in the sewers.
• Aderyn shows up as the combat ends and shows fascination with the massive creature. Some suggest that this was some kind of prank caused by them. While they deny it and insist that they would never deliberately destroy someone’s home, they’re intrigued by the idea of such a massive prank if it could be done without endangering anyone.

Arrias shows up at the end and is quick to blame the kobolds. He complained that they didn’t clean up well enough after working in the sewers, and they were ruining his building. This led to a steady stream of arguments between Arrias and the couple. Arrias insists that they were trying to ruin him.

The crocodile was arranged by Arrias, who hired a lizardfolk animal handler to destroy the other homes. Investigating the sewers will reveal an iron chain harness near the opening, but the handler fled upon unleashing the giant crocodile.

After the battle, Naiara shows up, impressed by the dead creature. If asked about it, she says she saw a lizardfolk heading the other way that she thought looked familiar. It could have been an animal handler that she encountered during a past job involving using giant creatures in a battle. She has no idea where the handler was going and wouldn’t be able to trace them, but if that was them, someone hired them.

If the party wants to investigate the sewer system, Mug and Guk tells them that the sewage in the sewer system is six feet deep, and the city uses oozes as part of their sewage processing system.

Burning a Hole in His Pocket

While the cleanup continues, a pair of hell hounds come running into the neighborhood and begin igniting the remaining houses. The hell hounds will attempt to ignite all the homes, then kill anyone who prevents or extinguishes the burning, lighting the remaining homes as they get to them. If the party continues to extinguish the fires, they will turn their attention to the party, but their primary goal is arson.

After the battle, Aderyn is on a nearby (tile) roof, having witnessed Arrias summoning the hell hounds, and begins laughing, knowing Arrias has incriminated himself.

Arrias panics and summons 2 more hell hounds and then attacks the party and Aderyn. He will use his scimitar on nearby creatures and send the hell hounds after the those out of range. He is on the verge of losing everything and is desperate, so he will fight to the death. After his death, the party will notice paper in his pocket, a receipt for building materials, including all the bricks and tools they need to rebuild the block themselves and take ownership and create something they can afford, that makes sense for the current community, and will help the entire community grow together.

If the party defeats Arrias without killing him, two of the town guards will come to investigate and take him away.

Arrias

Medium humanoid (tiefling), lawful evil

• Armor Class 12 (15 with mage armor)
• Hit Points 48
• Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
8 (-1)	14 (+2)	10 (+0)	14 (+2)	15 (+2)	18 (+4)

• Saving Throws Wis +4, Cha +6
• Skills Deception +6, Intimidation +6, Perception +4, Persuasion +6
• Damage Resistances fire
• Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
• Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Infernal
• Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Spellcasting. Arrias is a 9th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). Arrias has the following Warlock spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Thaumaturgy

1st level (at will): Mage Armor

2nd level (1/day): Darkness, Hellish Rebuke

5th Level (2 slots): Blight, Confusion, Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Hypnotic Pattern, Invisibility, Protection from Evil and Good, Remove Curse, Scrying, Shatter, Slow, Vampiric Touch

Dark One’s Blessing. When Arrias reduces a hostile creature to 0 HP, he gains 13 temporary HP.

Dark One’s Own Luck. Once per short rest, when Arrias makes an ability check or a saving throw, he can use this feature to add a d10 to his roll.

Infernal Armor. When Arrias casts Mage Armor, his armor flickers with red flames. When a creature damages him with a melee attack, it takes 2d10 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Actions

Thirsting Blade. Arrias can attack with his pact weapon twice, instead of once, whenever he takes the Attack action on his turn.

Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage. (Arrias carries 3 daggers.)

Eldritch Blast. Ranged Spell Attack: +6 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 4) fire damage.

Scimitar (Pact Weapon). Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) slashing damage + 11 (2d10) fire damage.

Arrias always begins the first round of combat by casting Mage Armor to invoke his Infernal Armor ability, then usually uses his scimitar against those in melee range or Eldritch Blast if enemies are further away.

Opening Tagline

Can you brave the icy tundra, unravel a sinister plot, and bring warmth back to a frozen village?

An adventure for 4–5 characters levels 11–16.

Background & Synopsis

The party finds themselves in a remote arctic village, where a blizzard sets the stage for a harrowing adventure. The initial encounter challenges the party to navigate the blizzard’s fury, after which they discover the disappearance of Ava, a blind baker from the village. As they track her, they uncover her transformation into a remorhaz and a sinister plot orchestrated by the blacksmith, Kaldur. The adventure includes encounters with frostbite spiders, rescuing wolves from an icy ooze, and the choice to assist or hinder ice trolls pursuing the remorhaz. Along the way, a dwarf barbarian and a dragonborn ranger offer unexpected aid. In the climactic showdown, the party faces the remorhaz controlled by Kaldur and his ice devil patron. The adventure concludes with a heartwarming homecoming in the village, offering closure and rewards for the party’s heroic efforts.

Content Trigger Warning

This adventure contains themes of sudden natural disasters, perilous weather conditions, missing persons, forced transformation, mind control, and combat encounters.

Adventure Hooks

This adventure works as a side quest for larger adventures set in cold climates such as Rime of the Frostmaiden from Wizards of the Coast or chapter three of Empire of the Ghouls by Kobold Press. If you’re using the Andovir campaign setting from Wyrmworks Publishing, this adventure fits well in LOCATION PENDING. This may also serve as a catalyst to launch an arctic campaign or story arc. If not native to the region, adventurers may be present for many reasons, including:

The party may be traveling through the tundra on the way to another mission.

Someone has hired the party to rescue, escort, find, or deliver a person or object in the region.

The party has heard rumors of a powerful magic item’s location.

A caster’s spell misfires and accidentally teleports the party to the village, so they need to find their way home.

Where are we?

This adventure takes place in a frozen region and can be adapted for arctic, tundra, or mountains.

Dramatis Personae

Ava the Baker

Medium humanoid (gnome), neutral good

Armor Class 11

Hit Points 9 (2d8)

Speed 25 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
8 (-1)	12 (+1)	10 (+0)	14 (+2)	12 (+1)	16 (+3)

Skills Perception +3

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13

Languages Common, Gnomish

Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)

Baker’s Tools. Ava is proficient with baker’s tools and can use them to prepare delicious pastries and baked goods.

Blindness [IE 4]. Ava’s vision is absent completely, and she has learned to navigate the world with no reliance on her eyes, depending on other senses instead. Because she has grown accustomed to this condition a long time, she has a −4 on sight-related attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws including ranged combat beyond 10 ft. but a +4 bonus when using other senses to compensate, not because they’ve become stronger, but because she’s learned to use them more effectively.

Actions

Baking Tools. Ava can spend 1 hour and use her baker’s tools to create a batch of pastries or baked goods. Consuming these treats grants temporary hit points equal to her proficiency bonus. These temporary hit points last for 1 hour.

Distract (Recharge 5-6). Ava can use a bonus action to throw flour into the air, creating a blinding cloud in a 10-foot radius centered on herself. Creatures within the area must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be blinded for 1 minute. A blinded creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

Frostbite Spider

Large monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)

Hit Points 26 (4d10 + 4)

Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	16 (+3)	12 (+1)	2 (-4)	11 (+0)	4 (-3)

Skills Stealth +7

Damage Immunities cold

Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 10 ft., passive Perception 10

Languages —

Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Spider Climb. The spider can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Web Sense. While in contact with a web, the spider knows the exact location of any other creature in contact with the same web.

Web Walker. The spider ignores movement restrictions caused by webbing.

Actions

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, taking an extra 7 (2d6) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A target that fails its save becomes slowed (as per the slow spell) until the end of its next turn. Targets with resistance to cold damage have advantage on the saving throw.

Frigid Fiber (Recharge 6). The spider weaves a web of icy strands in a 20-foot radius sphere around itself. Creatures within the area must make a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature is restrained by the icy web and takes 3 (1d6) cold damage at the beginning of its turn until freed. As an action, a creature restrained by the web can make a DC 11 Strength check to break free. The webbing can also be attacked and destroyed (AC 10; hp 10; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to bludgeoning, cold, piercing, poison, and psychic damage).

Glacial Sludge

Large ooze, unaligned

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)

Hit Points 85 (10d10 + 30)

Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	12 (+1)	16 (+3)	1 (-5)	6 (-2)	1 (-5)

Skills Stealth +7

Damage Vulnerabilities thunder

Damage Immunities cold, lightning, piercing, poison

Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, prone

Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 8

Languages —

Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)

Amorphous. The sludge can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

False Appearance. While the sludge remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an icy field.

Shattering Shards. When the sludge takes bludgeoning or thunder damage, the damaged area explodes in a burst of crystalline shards. Each creature within 10 ft. of it must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Spider Climb. The sludge can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Actions

Multiattack. The sludge makes two attacks.

Icy Tendril. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage plus 18 (4d8) cold damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 14). Until this grapple ends, the creature is restrained, and the sludge can’t constrict another target.

[Add Ice Devil stat block before publication]

Ice Troll

Large giant, chaotic evil

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)

Hit Points 105 (10d10 + 50)

Speed 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
19 (+4)	12 (+1)	20 (+5)	7 (-2)	8 (-1)	7 (-2)

Skills Perception +2

Damage Resistances fire

Damage Immunities cold

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12

Languages Giant

Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)

Keen Smell. The troll has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Regeneration. The troll regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn. If the troll takes acid or fire damage, this trait doesn’t function at the start of the troll’s next turn. The troll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t regenerate.

Variant: Loathsome Limbs. Whenever the troll takes at least 15 slashing damage at one time, roll a d20 to determine what else happens to it:

1-10: Nothing else happens.
11-14: One leg is severed from the troll if it has any legs left.
15- 18: One arm is severed from the troll if it has any arms left.
19-20: The troll is decapitated, but the troll dies only if it can’t regenerate. If it dies, so does the severed head.

If the troll finishes a short or long rest without reattaching a severed limb or head, the part regrows. At that point, the severed part dies. Until then, a severed part acts on the troll’s initiative and has its own action and movement. A severed part has AC 13, 10 hit points, and the troll’s Regeneration trait.
A severed leg is unable to attack and has a speed of 5 feet.
A severed arm has a speed of 5 feet and can make one claw attack on its turn, with disadvantage on the attack roll unless the troll can see the arm and its target. Each time the troll loses an arm, it loses a claw attack.
If its head is severed, the troll loses its bite attack and its body is blinded unless the head can see it. The severed head has a speed of 0 feet and the troll’s Keen Smell trait. It can make a bite attack but only against a target in its space.
The troll’s speed is halved if it’s missing a leg. If it loses both legs, it falls prone. If it has both arms, it can crawl. With only one arm, it can still crawl, but its speed is halved. With no arms or legs, its speed is 0, and it can’t benefit from bonuses to speed.

Actions

Multiattack. The troll makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.

Bonus Actions

Snowstorm Aura (1/day). The troll can unleash a burst of frigid energy in a 15-foot radius around itself. Creatures within the aura must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 18 (4d8) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Kaldur Ironfist

Medium humanoid (dwarf), neutral

Armor Class 16 (chain mail)

Hit Points 65 (10d8 + 20)

Speed 25 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	10 (+0)	14 (+2)	12 (+1)	10 (+0)	8 (-1)

Skills Athletics +5, Insight +2

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10

Languages Common, Dwarvish, Infernal

Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Dwarven Resilience. The dwarf has advantage on saving throws against poison, spells, and illusions, as well as to resist being charmed or paralyzed.

Innate Spellcasting. Kaldur’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 9, +1 to hit with spell attacks). He can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: Ray of Frost
3/day each: Fog Cloud, Gust of Wind

Actions

Multiattack. Kaldur makes two attacks with his warhammer.

Warhammer. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) bludgeoning damage, or 8 (1d10 + 3) bludgeoning damage if used with two hands.

Icy Blast (Recharge 5-6). Kaldur can strike the ground with his hammer and release an icy blast in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 9 Constitution saving throw, taking 18 (4d8) cold damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one.

Kaldur Ironfist, a talented dwarf blacksmith, harbored a deep desire to craft a weapon of unparalleled power. Having spent too many days helping rebuild after white dragon and frost giant attacks, he was determined to protect his village from any threat. Fueled by this ambition, Kaldur made a pact with an ice devil. The devil's influence pushed Kaldur to seek a legendary forge hidden within the icy wilderness, where he believed he could create the ultimate weapon. Now, Kaldur's journey is marked by his relentless pursuit of power and the moral challenges he faces along the way. Though well-intentioned, his pact has changed him, and he must grapple with the consequences of his choices as he seeks to fulfill his destiny.

[Add Remorhaz stat block before publication]

The Rising Storm

[SIDEBAR: The Frostfang Inn

Gertrude "Gertie" Frostfang is a tough and resourceful halfling with a no-nonsense attitude and a heart of gold. She runs the Frostfang Inn, providing a warm and welcoming home for her family and a gathering place for the village. The inn is a sturdy wooden building with a cozy common room, where Gertie serves hearty meals and ale and other spirits. Gertie's family includes her two adolescent children, Willem and Selma, who help her run the inn.

Gertie is a beloved member of the village, known for her generosity and her determination to keep the community together. Her inn is known for its delicious food and in-house brewery.

The Frostfang Inn is an important hub of activity in the village, serving as a place for travelers to rest and for the villagers to gather and socialize. It is a warm and welcoming place, and Gertie is always happy to make new friends and share her stories with visitors.]

As the party arrives at the village of Frosthold and finds the inn, a sudden storm whips up, turning the air nearly opaque and biting into any exposed skin. The wooden building shakes, and the atmosphere seems to pull the inhabitants toward the roof. Gertie the innkeeper watches the window, pacing, and after a huge gust, says, “The walls won’t hold. We need to get out.”

Gertie tells the party to follow her. Through the gale, they hear something cracking and snapping. A nearby hut looks like it’s about to fly away. A child’s scream barely breaks through the howling wind. Gertie points into the darkness and yells that a stone building ahead will offer safety and continues toward the building regardless of what the party decides.

If the party investigates, the hut flies away shortly after they arrive. A young-looking half-elf father is trying to protect his children, an infant and a toddler. He shouts a plea for help to the party. (If the party doesn’t investigate, they will find the family frozen to death after the storm.)

Finding the shelter requires a DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check, but everyone who leaves the innkeeper for the hut must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or acquire hypothermia unless using protection from the elements beyond standard cold weather gear, acting as if affected by the Confusion spell. If the party doesn’t provide additional protection to the father and children, the father experiences the Confusion effects, and the children become incapacitated with hypothermia.

Treat movement through the village as rough terrain. Every round in the storm after the second, everyone takes 1 cold damage.

Once arriving at the shelter, Brace, the village cleric, immediately attempts to treat those suffering from hypothermia with healing spells and wool blankets that have been warmed near a central fire. The party may attempt to help Brace or treat others at the same time.

The Tumult after the Storm

The storm ends as abruptly as it began. The residents gradually step outside to survey the damage. Some buildings, including the inn, remain standing with some broken windows, while others are replaced with collapsed timber or just a stone floor.

A voice shouts over the chatter of residents, “Ava! Where’s Ava?”

Ava, the village baker, is missing. Her home still stands with relatively little damage, but nobody can find her in the village. The villagers describe her as a gnome with brown skin, black hair, and a tattoo on her neck depicting the faces of her husband and son, who died in a hunting trip many years ago. The ground near her home is icier than elsewhere in the village, and an investigation reveals a path of ice leading to the edge of the village.

Unknown to anyone, Kaldur Ironfist, the dwarven blacksmith, made a deal with an ice devil to improve his craft. The devil told him that the heat of a remorhaz is needed to forge the ultimate weapon in a mystical forge in a cave a day’s travel from the village. The fiend gave him an amulet to summon the storm and an armlet that transformed Ava into a remorhaz and allowed Kaldur to command her to go to the cave.

The ice near her house is the result of the remorhaz’s heat melting the snow and freezing after she left.

Kaldur, who claims to have remained in his stone house during the storm, offers to join the party to look for Ava. He knows the area, as he often travels to nearby caves to mine iron and other ore.

As much as everyone wants Ava back, the villagers suggest that the search party should set out in the morning.

Optional Travel Encounters

D6	Encounter
1	Frozen Stream Crossing: The party comes across a frozen stream. Each must make a DC 12 Dexterity check to safely cross it. On a failure, they slip and fall, taking 1d4 cold damage.
2	Lost Supplies: The party discovers a partially buried dogsled with supplies. They can choose to investigate it and find a crate of preserved food and a bottle of warming brandy.
3	Frozen Carcass: The party stumbles upon a partially frozen carcass of a mammoth. They can choose to investigate or ignore it. If they investigate, they find nothing of value but notice that it has a large bite out of its side. The snow has no tracks around it.
4	Ava's Cane: The party discovers Ava's cane, which had caught on her during her transformation.
5	Frozen Pond: The party encounters a small frozen pond. They can choose to investigate or skate on it for fun. If they investigate, they find the frozen remains of a few fish.
6	Impish Spy: The party notices movement in the distance, something peeking over a snowbank. Anyone succeeding on a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check, either by sight or the faint smell of brimstone, recognizes a fiendish connection, and characters who can see it and know the Infernal language or succeed on a DC 12 Intelligence (Arcana) check recognize it as an imp. It disappears as soon as the party discovers or moves toward it.

Cold Feet

Around noon, the party arrives at a treacherous ice field and notices the ice cracking under their feet in some places. Six frostbite spiders emerge from the snow to attack them.

The fresh powder over hard ice conceals hidden thin patches of ice, which collapse into twenty-foot pits. Creatures who enter a space with thin ice must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall into the pit, landing prone and taking 2d6 damage. The frostbite spiders can move over the spaces without collapsing them, using their tremorsense to navigate around the thinnest parts.

Anyone who falls into or examines the pits will notice that they are not individual pits, but an irregular icy tunnel that has collapsed in some parts. The tunnel follows roughly the same course that the party is going. It’s the path of the remorhaz, although it has collapsed in many parts, so the party can’t follow it underground.

A Pack of Trouble

The party sees a pack of eight wolves crossing the tundra one hundred feet ahead of them. As the wolves pass just beyond a hill between them and the party, sudden barking reverberates across the landscape. When the party reaches the crest of the hill, they see the ground below the wolves splashing with icy sludge as one of the wolves goes under, and ice and water erupt from the large puddle. A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals the icy puddle itself is attacking the wolves.

The puddle is a glacial sludge intent on consuming the wolves and kills one per round unless the party intervenes.

At the end of the first round, more barking emerges from another hill, and a dog sled speeds over the crest and banks hard as a dwarven barbarian in a wheelchair, Donna Nason (she/her), launches from the sled, chains flinging a ram to the front of the chair, crashing into the sludge with a Wheelchair Ram attack. Donna is raging and will continue to attack with her ax in subsequent rounds as her partner, Michael (he/him, veteran), a tall light-skinned human with brown hair and gray insulated clothing, moves the sled out of the way to keep the dogs safe. Michael will only join in the fight if he believes Donna is in danger, as he’d rather let her have all the fun.

As the battle finishes, Michael brings the dogsled down the hill to Donna. Michael adjusts Donna’s legs and helps her detach the ax from her gauntlets. Donna amorously thanks Michael as he wipes the remnants of the sludge from her wheelchair and gear. In an affectionate tone that contrasts the rage the party just witnessed from her, Donna introduces herself and Michael to the party and asks what brings them out to the snowy wilderness.

GM Note: Depending on the strength of the party, Donna and Michael may join them in their quest if they need an extra blade, but otherwise, they will continue on their way, as they’re tracking frost giant marauders. If they part ways and the party gets into trouble, they can return to help, saying they noticed the remorhaz trail and were wondering whether that was a clue to find the giants.

Run with the Remorhaz and Hunt with the Trolls

Mid-afternoon, the party encounters two ice trolls, who have been tracking the remorhaz and are eager to capture it for its valuable hide and quantity of meat. One holds and sniffs Ava’s cane, which caught in the remorhaz’s carapace and fell off nearby. The trolls sniff it and notice an overlap with the smell of the remorhaz, which they find curious enough to discuss with each other, but it’s nothing more than a curiosity to them.

The trolls’ reaction to the party depends on the party’s behavior. They flash their claws and fangs but don’t immediately attack unless they feel threatened or see the party as an easy snack, instead pointing and ignoring the party while still aware of their location by smell. If the party demonstrates power without hostility, the trolls try to ignore the party, focusing on tracking the remorhaz. If the party attacks or interferes, the trolls attack.

Shortly after the party decides their course of action, they hear the sound of a sled approaching from the top of a nearby hill. A blue dragonborn ranger, Rivaan Linxakasendalor, comes into view, using javelins to propel herself down the slope on a sled. If the party is fighting the trolls, she joins in against the trolls. Rivaan is determined to find the remorhaz, as she believes it to be the one that killed her father years ago, and she will ally herself with anyone she believes will help her destroy the monster, which may include siding with the trolls if necessary.

Since the trolls and party are both heading in the same direction, confrontation is nearly inevitable, either by the party or the trolls’ annoyance, although the trolls may decide to let the party kill the remorhaz and then take advantage of the weakened party.

Getting Warmer…

Late in the evening, the party arrives at the cave. The floor is glare ice and slightly wet in spots. Rivaan has no problem navigating it on her sled, but anyone walking must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) saving throw at the beginning of their turn to avoid falling prone during any combat within the cave unless taking measures to stabilize themselves.

Once within the cave, Kaldur attempts to slip away from the party. He points them to a path that he claims he doesn’t recognize and asks them to explore it. If caught, he tells them that he’s too “rusty” to fight a remorhaz and only wants to find Ava, so he’ll wait for them at the entrance to the cave.

Frozen Forge

The party comes to a large chamber with a table, anvil, hammers, tongs, and other forge implements but no bellows, only a fifteen-foot cube cage and a large pile of chains.

The tools lie on a page of scorched and blood-stained parchment inscribed with a poem written in Infernal:

Through ice and fire, power shall rise,

A pact of darkness, a deadly prize.

To wield the forge, no flame's embrace,

The chosen one shall claim their place.

Let molten cold consume your will,

And frozen flames your soul distill,

Till power binds your blood with ore,

Inseparable forevermore.

With passion’s fire and heart of ice,

Invoke the frost's infernal price,

Fulfill the pact, your power seize,

Ignite the world, and let it freeze.

In the corner of the room, a wooden wardrobe holds two pickaxes, two sets of crampons, and Braces of Frigid Flight.

Braces of Frigid Flight

Wondrous Item, uncommon (requires attunement)

The crystalline leg braces have icy wings extending from the sides and reduce leg-related mobility penalties by 1 while worn.

While you wear these braces, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. You can use the braces to fly for up to 1 hour, all at once or in several shorter flights, each one using a minimum of 1 minute from the duration. If you are flying when the duration expires, you descend at a rate of 30 feet per round until you land. When the duration expires, the braces melt and cannot be used again and are rendered non-magical.

A Hot Mess

Warm fog fills the final chamber, and the remorhaz senses anyone walking on the floor while waiting in a hot pool in the back of the chamber, springing out once anyone walking approaches within thirty feet of the pool and attacking.

The remorhaz wears a black iron cuff on one of its legs, noticeable with a DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check. A successful DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals an inscription in the neck of its carapace depicting two remorhaz heads, one larger than the other. If the party doesn’t notice the inscription, Rivaan notices after a round of combat.

Remorhaz Subjugator

Tiny construct, unaligned

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)

Hit Points 10 (4d4)

Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
12 (+1)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)	3 (-4)	10 (+0)	1 (-5)

Skills Stealth +5

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren’t adamantine

Damage Immunities cold, fire, poison, psychic

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone

Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 10

Languages understands the languages of its creator but can’t speak

Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Immutable Form. The Subjugator is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form.

Magic Resistance. The Subjugator has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Spider Climb. The Subjugator can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Actions

Anklet Attachment. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target. Hit: 0 damage, and the Subjugator attaches to the target. While attached, the target cannot remove the Subjugator. Anyone else besides the wearer of the Shackler’s Restraint attempting to remove the Subjugator must successfully grapple the remorhaz’s leg (as attempting to grapple, but regardless of size differences). On a successful grapple, the grappler must succeed on a contested Strength check against the Subjugator removes it.

Dominated Remorhaz. When attached to a target, the Subjugator can use its action to polymorph the target into a remorhaz. The target must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw to avoid the effect. Once polymorphed, the target is charmed by the wearer of the Shackler’s Restraint as a Dominate Monster spell. The effect lasts as long as the Subjugator remains attached to the target.

The remorhaz subjugator is a tiny construct designed to resemble a remorhaz wrapped around a creature's leg, specifically crafted to be stealthy and discreet. Its primary purpose is to aid in the subjugation and control of creatures targeted by the corresponding Shackler's Restraint armband or anklet. The remorhaz subjugator can turn invisible to avoid detection until it's ready to use its Domination ability on a target, compelling them to follow the wielder's commands. However, with each use, it weakens the Shackler's Restraint wielder, eventually leading to exhaustion and rendering the Shackler's Restraint non-magical.

Shackler's Restraint
Wondrous Item (armband), rare (requires attunement)
This black iron armband allows you to telepathically control a single remorhaz subjugator and thus the subjugator’s dominated remorhaz. You can mentally command the figurine to crawl onto a target creature whose location is known to the wielder or subjugator. The dominated creature retains awareness but is compelled to obey the wielder's commands. You can command the dominated creature as the Dominate Monster spell, but with unlimited duration, no concentration required.

Removing either your armband or the subjugator ends the domination effect.

Each time the remorhaz subjugator attaches to a new target, you must make a DC 8 Wisdom saving throw, the DC increasing by 1 with each new target. On a failure, you are permanently polymorphed into a remorhaz.

If the subjugator is destroyed, you must succeed on an additional Wisdom saving throw with a DC as if it attached to a new target or 16, whichever is greater, or be permanently polymorphed into a remorhaz. On success, you instead take 4d6 psychic damage.

Kaldur hides in a corner of the chamber behind a boulder, watching the events unfold. If the remorhaz is killed or the subjugator removed from it, he controls it to climb onto another target. He intends to use it on another target as he needs the heat from a remorhaz to forge his weapon. If noticed, he claims to have come in looking for the remorhaz. He denies any connection unless a Detect Magic spell reveals the enchantment aura of the shackle under his coat.

The remorhaz is blind and can’t detect anyone moving silently along the walls or ceiling or flying, but if it hears them, it can attack them with a −4 penalty to hit, attempting to knock them to the floor where its tremorsense can pinpoint their location.

If events turn against Kaldur, he shouts, “Unqon!” and an ice devil appears and attacks the party.

If the combat goes against the party, depending how they handled previous encounters, the ice trolls, Donna Nason, or even the wolves may appear and aid the party.

A Warm Welcome

Night has fallen, and the cave offers shelter for a long rest. The next morning, Rivaan makes sure that the subjugator is destroyed and leaves in search of the remorhaz that killed her parents.

The GM may choose a random encounter from above or skip to the party’s arrival back at the village. As they travel, they hear the howls of wolves in the distance.

The party arrives in the evening. Most of the village sit around a central bonfire, resting after a hard day’s work repairing storm damage. Their weary faces gain new energy as they see the party return with Ava, but they ask about Kaldur and respond to news of his betrayal with shock and sadness.

Brace eagerly offers the party mugs of hot mulled wine and bowls heaping with venison stew in a savory cheese sauce with berry cobbler for dessert, asking them how they’re coping with the stresses of the adventure. “That must have been scary. I bet you’re feeling a tangle of feelings right now.” “Were there times you wondered how you’d succeed? How did you overcome?” “What’s going through your mind now that it’s all done?” He offers no advice, only empathy and appreciation.

Gertie offers her best bedding at the inn and asks whether they need anything else. The smell of roasted nuts fills the warm air, and the beds feel soft and welcoming.

The next morning, the aroma of Ava’s bakery wafts through the village. She’s been up all night baking, and she brings a cart full of sweet rolls and mincemeat pastries to the inn to greet the party. The flavors attract the rest of the village, and soon, the inn is bustling with joyful conversations and expressions of gratitude.

Brace reaches into his pocket and pulls out a package wrapped in string and brown paper and hands it to the party as an expression of the village’s appreciation. The box, padded with cedar shavings, contains an Aurora Breeze Chime.

Aurora Breeze Chime

Wondrous Item (windchime), common

The Aurora Breeze Chime is a beautiful windchime crafted from pure gold with intricately designed antler-shaped chimes. It has one charge. When hung up in an area where even a slight breeze blows consistently for the duration of a short rest, it creates a magical resonance within a 30-foot radius. This resonance affects anyone using hit dice for healing during the short rest, granting them an additional hit point of healing. The chime regains its expended charge daily at dawn.

The tundra is cold and hard, but the warmth of hearth and joy of the community provide a welcome contrast.

Wondrous Item, common

This headband and brooch filters background noise while worn to help you hear the words spoken by the nearest speaker. You can also remove the brooch and give it to the person you’re trying to hear, up to ten ft. away with no obstacles between you to hear their voice directly as if they were speaking directly into your ear. This reduces the IE of Sensory Processing Difference (Hearing) by 2 IEs, but it also gives a −2 penalty on all Wisdom (Perception) checks.

When you’re alone and cold, a close friend will warm you. The Warmth domain focuses on close friendships and trusting relationships apart from the passions of romantic love. Gods of hearth, life, and war can claim influence over this domain, as can gods of love whose focus extends to a broader range of human relationships.

Warmth Domain Spells

Cleric Level	Spells
1st	Bless, Protection from Evil and Good
3rd	Aid, Warding Bond
5th	Beacon of Hope, Mass Healing Word
7th	Locate Creature, Mass Cure Wounds
9th	Forbiddance, Heal

Bonus Proficiency

When you choose this domain at 1st level, you gain proficiency with Insight and Persuasion.

Better Together

Also at 1st level, you can strengthen your friends by each others’ presence. As an action, you choose a number of willing creatures within 30 feet of you (this can include yourself) equal to your proficiency bonus. You create a magical connection among them for 10 minutes or until you use this feature again. While any connected creature is within 30 feet of you, you can grant each temporary hit points equal to 1d4 + your proficiency bonus for the duration as long as they stay within range.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Channel Divinity: Bond of Friendship

Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to bolster the confidence of your allies. As an action, you present your holy symbol and choose a number of willing creatures within 30 feet of you (this can include yourself) up to your cleric level. While they remain within range, they have resistance to psychic damage and a bonus equal to your proficiency bonus on all saving throws against being frightened or charmed or on saving throws required by uncomfortable emotions such as Amplified Emotions or Baseless Emotions. The effect lasts for 1 minute or until you are incapacitated or die.

Channel Divinity: Through Thick and Thin

Starting at 6th level, your Better Together feature also gives each affected creature advantage on one Constitution or Wisdom saving throw of its choice while under the effects of this feature, and it also restores one hit die to each affected creature.

Divine Strike

At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with divine energy. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 psychic damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.

Thick as Thieves

At 17th level, when you use your Bond of Friendship feature, all affected creatures also gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks.