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The evil has broken its ancient bonds!

Can you brave the darkness and stop the nightmare creatures without becoming one of them?

This adventure is for 4–5 characters, levels 8–10.

Trigger Warnings

This adventure contains elements of body horror, violence (including choking and falling), and enclosed spaces. Player discretion is advised due to potentially disturbing content.

Synopsis

The party navigates a panicked crowd after a nearby mysterious tower’s roof explodes with darkness. As they work through the crowd, they face six talontulas, dismembered hands animated by dark magic. Recognized as heroes, the party is implored by the townsfolk to investigate the Forbidden Tower. Legends speak of a dark power sealed within, now unleashed.

Scaling the tower, they encounter signs of death and decay, with the ground barren and a dark cloud surrounding the top. Inside, they descend a spiral ramp, facing off against creepers seeking to hinder their progress. At the tower’s depths, they confront the dreadfallen, a formidable undead mass of body parts.

Finally, they must destroy five stones to seal a gateway to the Negative Material Plane while the necrotic energies threaten to turn them into a new dreadfallen. Once all stones are destroyed, the gateway is sealed. Ethereal figures emerge, revealing themselves as wizards who built the tower to contain the dark power. Grateful, they explain their sacrifice and thank the party.

Returning to the population center, the party is hailed as heroes, having prevented a catastrophe and earned valuable rewards.

Adventure Hooks

• Rumors of a powerful artifact hidden within the Forbidden Tower have spread across the land, attracting adventurers seeking fame and fortune. The party hears of these rumors and decides to investigate.
• The party receives a distress call from a member of a secret society dedicated to protecting the world from dark forces. The message warns of an impending catastrophe emanating from the Forbidden Tower and requests the party’s assistance in investigating and neutralizing the threat.
• The heroes witness the explosion from afar and decide to investigate.
• A renowned scholar contacts the party, seeking assistance in uncovering the secrets of the Forbidden Tower. Believing it holds the key to unlocking ancient knowledge, the scholar offers a reward for their help.

Where are we?

This adventure can take place in any populated center that may have a mysterious tower nearby.

Adventure

A Show of Hands

As the sun begins to set, an explosion shakes the community. In the distance, a spray like a smokeless volcano of ink erupts into the air as slivers of pure darkness surge across the landscape. One of those motes lands on the outskirts of the community, easily detectable by the screams of those nearby, which get louder and closer as more voices join in.

When the party investigates, the panicked crowd makes movement through the community nearly impossible. Each character must decide how to get through the crowd and succeed on an applicable DC 10 ability check such as Strength (Athletics) to push through, Dexterity (Acrobatics) to dodge between people, or Charisma (Intimidation) to get people to avoid them unless using magic or another strategy. On failure, the character gets trampled by the crowd, taking 1d4 bludgeoning damage and must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or fall prone. Characters using wheelchairs or other seated mobility devices or using a stability service animal have advantage on the check to avoid falling prone. This continues for three rounds, and if prone, the character must succeed on an applicable ability check with disadvantage to return to an upright position.

GM Note

While this encounter is intended more for atmosphere and introduction than danger, feel free to increase the number of talontulas or introduce waves of them to invoke stronger fear if your players seem unimpressed with six. The presence of the unarmed commoners likely offers a challenge as the party tries to protect them.

After the third round, the crowd disperses until twenty unarmed commoners remain on the 20 × 100-foot road. At this point, the party discovers six talontulas, pairs of dismembered decaying hands, thumbs intertwined, waving their fingers like butterfly wings, and flying through the streets.

Anyone obstructed by the crowd or too slow to escape becomes a target as the talontula lands on the victim’s neck, choking its prey while piercing the throat with mandible-like thumbs. As the target falls, the hands crawl along the ground and walls like a spider, its thumbs extended in search of its next victim, flying again when it chooses its next target. The talontulas are dispersed throughout the street, and each attacks the closest living creature.

All Hands on Deck

Once the party defeats the talontulas, the townsfolk recognize their bravery and power. They plead with the party to go investigate the Forbidden Tower and find a way to stop the dark magic from unleashing further abominations.

Six miles from the edge of town, the townsfolk point to the Forbidden Tower. They have learned its legend from childhood, and parents use it to scare their children into behaving while warning them to stay away. Many have scoffed at the stories, and while some have reached the base of the tower unscathed, none who attempted to scale it returned.

Legends tell of a dark power that was captured within it centuries ago. The stone tower has no doors or windows except a door at the top, sealed with powerful wards to prevent it from opening. Those who built the tower to contain the evil sacrificed their lives to contain it and became one with the dark power.

But now, the explosion must mean that, after all this time, the seal has broken, and the world will perish unless someone stops it. Someone needs to scale the tower to seal it or destroy the power within.

At Death’s Door

As the party travels to the tower, they notice several dead animals along the way, crushed or strangled. Larger animals like deer have two holes in their necks the size of thumbs. The tower’s eruption has ceased, but a dark cloud surrounds the top.

The ground in a fifty-foot circle around the tower is barren with no trees or undergrowth except some dead leaves and branches. A successful DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation) check reveals humanoid boot prints in many directions and lines in the dirt as if a medium-sized creature or object were dragged to or from the wall of the tower. (A human recently climbed the wall, fell, died on impact, and was pulled through the wall into the tower.)

The wall is indestructible, sealed with powerful magic to contain its contents.

Climbing the wall with a climber’s kit requires a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check, DC 18 without the kit. The top of the tower has enough space for two medium-sized creatures to stand. A creature at the top helping with a long enough rope gives other climbers advantage on the check. A climber who fails the check must roll 10d6 − 1 to see how far they fall, taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every ten feet, rounding down. If tied to a rope with someone helping from the top, the helper can prevent the fall with a successful DC 10 Strength check. A climber’s kit reduces the fall distance to a maximum of 25 feet. After falling, the climber must attempt the Strength (Athletics) check again.

At the top of the tower, a roughly ten-foot square jagged opening emanates magical darkness, concealing the other side.  The rest of the roof has a steep tiled slope, requiring a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to climb and perch on it.

Ramping Down

No light enters the tower as magical darkness flows around the portal like liquid without gravity. Once inside, illumination and darkvision function normally, but magical darkness conceals the bottom thirty feet of the tower. A creature with Devil’s Sight can see through the darkness.

A spiral wooden ramp lines the interior wall, extending to the bottom. The ramp is five feet wide with a six-inch raised ridge along the inner edge, but no railings. The ramp slopes downward at a rate of ten feet per circumference of the tower, a total ramp distance of 600 feet.

Once the characters arrive within the tower, six creepers attempt to sneak up the wall to attack. To determine the starting location of each creeper, roll 1d4 for the hundreds place and 1d100 for the remaining two digits. The resulting number indicates the distance down the ramp where each creeper begins its turn.

Creepers each attempt to hide and move vertically toward the closest character until reaching the ramp, then they climb on the underside of the ramp until directly below the target, grabbing the ridge of the ramp and launching into an attack. Creeper attacks continue until the dreadfallen is destroyed.

Navigating the Tower

To keep track of character and creeper locations in the tower, simplify the spiral ramp into a straight line. The tower has a 20-foot diameter, with a 5-foot-wide ramp descending 1 foot per 10 feet of ramp.

Creepers climbing the tower cover up to 180 ramp feet per round (60 feet up the tower wall for every 10 feet climbed). They can only attack adjacent characters while moving vertically, so move them 60 feet at a time, then use the remaining feet to move along the ramp using normal distances. as if making 60-foot leaps and walking the rest, only able to attack targets within 5 feet or less of their landing position or with normal movement.

If characters attempt to long jump to the opposite side, the 12-foot jump requires a Strength score of 24, moving them 30 feet down the ramp. A 90-degree jump with a 15-foot movement requires a Strength score of 12, moving them 15 feet down.

A creature can swing down to the ramp below as a bonus action by succeeding on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check and using all of its movement. On success, it moves sixty feet down the ramp.

The dreadfallen and creepers do not speak verbally but communicate with each other through Infernal Sign Language, which they can sense using their blindsight. Creepers have disadvantage on attack rolls against anyone who can understand this language as they communicate their strategies to each other. Characters may notice the communicative movements, and a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Arcana) check recognizes the movements as a visual language. Characters who know at least one visual language have advantage on the check.

If a creature flies down the middle past a creeper, it provokes an opportunity attack as the creeper launches at the target. If the creeper misses with this attack, it falls to the bottom. Creepers attempt to use the ramp as cover when possible. At the GM’s discretion, spells like Fireball and Ice Storm may only affect creatures within one ramp level (The caster must consider elevation when choosing the spell direction and range.) due to cover from the ramps.

Negative Consequences

As the dreadfallen ceases its writhing, the remaining creepers collapse, and the magical darkness dissipates. Suddenly, the inert pile of limbs and organs begins to shudder and move as it seems to implode downward as if draining into a hole. The remaining flesh vanishes into a 5-foot diameter vortex of swirling green and black energy in the floor, surrounded by a pentagon of five non-reflective black stones. The energy flows into the stones as they become impossibly darker, then exploding outward.

Sealing the Gateway

Roll initiative as the party responds to the explosion.

The stones pulse with dark energy. At initiative count 20, each stone emits an explosive wave of necrotic energy, dealing 1d6 necrotic damage per remaining stone to any creature within 30 feet of it.

Negative Energy Stones

Armor Class 15

Hit Points 30

Immunities Necrotic, Poison, Psychic; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from nonmagical attacks

Vulnerabilities Radiant Damage

To seal the gateway, the party must destroy the five black stones surrounding it.

Any creature at 0 hit points on its turn rises as a dreadfallen creeper on its turn the following round. Use the portal for determining its Dark Connection proximity. If three creatures thus transform, they merge over the stones and portal as a new dreadfallen. Once all five stones are destroyed, the portal implodes. The negative material plane connection is severed, sealing the gateway for good.

The Tower’s Builders Speak

Once the gateway closes, the stone fragments glow bright white, and ethereal figures of five wizards emerge from the light. They include a towering minotaur with intricate tattoos adorning his horns, his arm around the shoulder of a purple tiefling with curly black hair and horns with a similar shape and tattoos, a gnome with shimmering silver hair cascading down her back and a clockwork prosthetic leg, a human in a cyan parka that seems trimmed with ice and snow and who has tattoos on their face that transform their burn scars into a dragon, and a sea elf with aqua skin, indigo hair, and lightning-like trim on his robe.

The wizards express gratitude and explain that, centuries ago, they erected the tower to contain an ancient, malevolent force. To fortify the wards, they bound their spirits to the stones. However, the insidious being within the tower, rather than attempting to escape, cunningly manipulated the very stones that restrained it. Through dark machinations, it orchestrated an escape into the Negative Material Plane, leaving behind a rift that animated the remains of those who fell in the initial battle and those who dared to investigate the tower. These unfortunate souls metamorphosed into the dreadfallen, embodying the twisted remnants of their former selves. The cataclysmic explosion occurred when the pent-up negative energy breached a weak point in the tower’s roof, expelling a surge of force that birthed the talontulas, a grotesque manifestation of the escaping darkness.

As they finish their tale, they fade away, leaving only a shaft of light from the opening in the roof. When the party decides to leave the tower, they must find a way down from the roof.

Rewards

Against the wall rests a large pile of rusting and rotting equipment, the former belongings of the tower’s victims that the dreadfallen expelled. If the party examines the pile, they find the following.

• 8,800 gp
• 2,160 pp
• Silver chalice set with moonstones (750 gp value)
• Spell Scroll in a hollowed-out bone case: Ice Storm
• Arrow +2

Returning to Town

Returning from the tower, the relieved and grateful townsfolk greet the party, eagerly awaiting news. With the threat vanquished, the community begins to heal from the trauma. They hail the party as heroes, their bravery and sacrifice celebrated by all.

Dramatis Personae

• Dreadfallen
• Dreadfallen Creeper
• Talontula

Maps

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To use the tower map, enter through the portal at the top left. As characters move left to right down the ramp, it continues on the left side at the next level until reaching the bottom. It’s a steady decline, displayed with different angles for VTT compatibility.

Credits & Copyright

• Writer: Dale Critchley
• Cartographer: Dale Critchley
• Artwork by Dale Critchley, public domain illustrations, and Adobe Stock Art

Legal

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

All content, unless otherwise noted, ©2024 Wyrmworks Publishing

A Ready-to-Roll: Feyweather Friends Add-on Encounter

This is a work in progress.

Trigger Warnings

This encounter includes violence, danger to people and animals, and eyeballs.

All eyes are on you!

Can you free a helpless forest creature from aberrant corruption?

This encounter is for 1–2 characters of any level.

Synopsis

While traveling through the Far Realm-infused forest, the hero finds a bush with eyeball berries ensnaring a distressed woodchuck. The bush, a gazeberry bush, is transforming the woodchuck into a floating eye minion, an oculing. The hero must navigate the bush’s magical eye beams while freeing the woodchuck before it’s too late. At higher levels, already transformed oculings join the fray.

Adventure Hooks

While designed as an add-on encounter for Ready to Roll: Feyweather Friends, this standalone encounter works in any fantasy forest, especially in adventures with aberrations and other Far Realm-inspired encounters.

Where are we?

This encounter takes place in the woods on the way to the shrine.

A Treat for the Eyes

As the hero traverses the woods, the chittering of a distressed woodchuck fills the air. On investigation, the hero finds a woodchuck wrapped in the roots of a bush that resembles a blueberry bush, except the berries are eyeballs. The roots glow magenta and begin to surround it like a cocoon, and the woodchuck struggles as streaks of red light beneath its fur gradually shift to magenta.

The bush, a gazeberry bush, is transforming the woodchuck into an oculing, drawing sustenance from its life force, turning it into a minion that will protect it and lure more creatures to it.

The Apple of My Eye

At higher levels, add existing oculings equal to half the total character levels, rounding up. They hang by their eyelids in an adjacent tree and look like magenta apples until the hero moves within thirty feet of the gazeberry bush, which causes them to attack.

Dramatis Personae

Oculing

Tiny aberration, unaligned

Armor Class 12

Hit Points 5 (2d4)

Speed 0 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
3 (-4)	14 (+2)	10 (+0)	2 (-4)	12 (+1)	2 (-4)

Skills Perception +3

Condition Immunities charmed, frightened

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13

Languages —

Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

Immutable Form. The oculing is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form. It can be restored to its original form with a Remove Curse spell.

Actions

Eye Beam. The oculing can use its action to shoot a magic eye beam. Roll a d4 to determine the effect:

1.        Ray of Expulsion. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or take 7 (2d6) force damage and be pushed ten feet away from the Oculing.

2.        Ray of Enervation. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or have disadvantage on Strength-based attack rolls and Strength checks for 1 minute.

3.        Ray of Brilliance. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be blinded for 1 minute.

4.        Ray of Terror. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute.

 

(This is a work in progress.)

Trigger Warnings

This adventure contains themes of altered perception and hallucination, body horror, and unsettling aberrant creatures that may evoke discomfort. Ensure players are comfortable with these potentially disturbing elements before embarking on the journey.

 

Opening Tagline

Teaser

This adventure is for 1–2 characters of any level.

Background & Synopsis

 

Adventure Hooks

How might your players…?

Where are we?

Setting

Pushing Back the Darkness

 Above a peaceful hamlet, the sky has recently shown activity beyond the stargazers’ explanations. It seems to warp, like something pressing against fabric. At first, they believed new stars had appeared in the sky, but on closer observation during the warping, the points of light, as well as points of darkness beyond the darkness of the night sky, appear more as holes revealing light, darkness, and mysterious colors.

Eyes on the Skies

Brandis, a young human messenger with short hair and simple clothing, approaches the hero as the sun sets. They appear frantic but resolute, trying unsuccessfully to stay calm, speaking quickly but with many pauses, forcing the words out with obvious effort.

“Please. Come to the…hall…elder…stargazers….” They close their eyes and take a deep breath. They resume speaking more slowly, still pausing often. “The elder wants you to come…Shemnas…to help restore harmony. Please. Come with me.”

They urgently lead the hero to the town hall and into the main meeting hall, where Shemnas, the village elder, sits, squirming in his seat while listening to the stargazers and glancing at the sky.

Shemnas is a middle-aged man of human and elven ancestry with light skin and short brown hair and beard. He wears a green high-collared tunic and robe and knee-length boots. 

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Three stargazers in blue robes accented with glittering silver trim, stand near Shemnas in heated and confused debate. Roweena, an elderly human woman shakes her cane at her peers and insists that the disturbance is part of an astronomical cycle. Flindek, a ginger gnomish man with thick glasses, paces and warns of fiendish activity. Insight, a large albino tiefling with long braided hair, stomps his hoof and insists in a booming voice an overlap with the Shadow Realm.

Shemnas sees Brandis and the hero and approaches them. He thanks them for coming and asks that the hero listen to the stargazers. “By the stars! We’ve been over this for weeks, so we could use a fresh perspective. I’m hoping you might notice something we haven’t.”

Renda, a young human with mottled brown skin and long auburn hair and wearing similar garb sits in a clover-gilded wheelchair, sifting through books on a shelf near a window. She mutters to herself as she pours over the books. If approached, she says, “We need to look farther. Much farther. And farther still. But the solution may be close.”

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The Amulet of Feyweather

When given a chance to speak over the noise, Renda speaks of the Amulet of Feyweather, a relic believed to hold the essence of a star and infused with magic from the Feywild. Its ornate setting cradles a jewel of celestial brilliance, pulsating with gentle, calming light. The amulet is said to possess a unique magic capable of harmonizing the natural forces.

Manifestation of the Farweather

As Shemnas pleads for aid, the sky twists as erratic winds fill the air. A hole rips open in the sky, revealing a writhing amorphous cacophany of what may be hair, tentacles, spines, or something else beyond description. The winds bring an odor of soil, sulphur, and acid. Thunder moans through the atmosphere like a low growl. Drops of black and glowing gold rain begin to fall like heavy ash over the nearby forest, accompanied by streaks of black lightning that glow with kaleidoscopic outlines. The dark flashes cause a staccato effect as each streak abruptly and momentarily silences the thunder.

Run to the Ruins

Renda finds a description of an ancient shrine in the nearby forest that once held the amulet. “It’s probably ruins by now, but it’s our only lead unless someone else has a better idea.” She tears out the map of the forest and hands it to the hero.

The map, both inked and embossed for different reading methods, shows the town, the forest, a small river with forks, and the shrine. 

Forest Fetchquest

The shrine is ten miles from the village with options to take a direct route through rough terrain or an easier and longer path. 

The hero must also cross the river, which requires a successful DC 8 Strength (Athletics) check or be swept a mile downstream. The hero can attempt the check each mile. The river gets shallow enough at the southern edge of the forest to cross easily.

Every three miles, the hero must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom (Survival) check to follow the intended course. Failure indicates that the hero has veered to the left or right but doesn’t realize it and will move the next three miles accordingly. If the hero gets lost, they will eventually encounter one of the landmarks on the map so they can reorient.

GM Tip Give the player a copy of the map, and keep a separate one. Let the player track their movement on their map while the GM tracks the hero’s actual location.

As the hero ventures into the woods, the planar instability accelerates. Every 2d4 miles, choose or roll on the following table for an encounter or effect:

d6	Effect
1	All Eyes Are on You
2	Foul Mouth
3	Like Watching Grass Growing
4	Lost in Transition
5	Opening a Can of Worms
6	Squirrel Around

 

All Eyes Are on You. 1d20 pustules rapidly grow on the hero’s skin in random locations. If punctured or after one minute, they rupture, expelling pus that smells of decay. Beneath the pus, an eyeball looks around. The hero cannot see through or control the eyeballs, but attempts to injure or remove them cause 1d4 psychic damage. After 1d4 hours, they dissolve, leaving open wounds. A successful DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check successfully cleans the wounds. Failure requires a DC 10 Constitution saving throw every hour afterward. On failure, the hero takes 1 poison damage. The effect ends with a successful save.

Foul Mouth. Two four-foot olive-colored tentacles grow from the hero’s mouth. The hero can control them and manipulate objects but not attack with them, and the hero has disadvantage on all Charisma checks except Charisma (Intimidation) checks. The hero cannot perform magic that requires a verbal component. The tentacles dissolve after 1d4 hours, leaving an acrid taste in the hero’s mouth for 1d4 hours afterward.

Like Watching Grass Growing. A patch of grass has grown tiny eyes at the end of each blade. The blade tips turn to watch the hero. It is otherwise harmless, but if burned, it creates a Stinking Cloud for one minute.

Lost in Transition. A planar rift opens momentarily under the hero. The hero must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or fall into the Far Realm and immediately back into the forest one mile away in a random direction. If the hero has been to the landing location, they have advantage on a Wisdom (Perception) check to recognize the area and determine their location. Otherwise, they have disadvantage on all Wisdom (Survival) checks to navigate until discovering their location.

Opening a Can of Worms. A swarm of eye tadpoles erupts out of the ground five feet from the hero and attacks. (At fifth level or higher, use a number of swarms equal to half the character’s level, rounding up.) They appear as a variety of creatures’ eyes with red and purple nerve-like tails, swimming through the air and attacking with pale green beams.

Squirrel Around. An aberrant squirrel with a tentacle for a tail lashes it out like a whip at a bird in the same tree. The tentacle catches the bird, and the squirrel eats it with its mandibles. It will ignore the hero unless attacked.

Spelunking the Shrine

As the hero comes within one mile of the shrine, the forest changes. All traces of Far Realm influence fade, gradually replaced with the aroma wafting from vibrantly colored flowers and trees, the twitter of songbirds, and playful squirrels and other harmless forest creatures.

A pile of colorful rubble marks the remnants of the shrine, limestone blocks with colorful embedded tiles. A five-foot diameter ramped corridor  of eroded stone descends under the pile, and the stench of manure ascends from within. A successful DC 8 Intelligence (Nature) check recognizes the scent as pig manure. If it’s daylight, the sun peeks through small cracks, leaving dim light.

After sixty feet of descent, the corridor opens into a forty-foot diameter chamber, which serves as the den for a sounder of wild boars, giant boars, and/or wereboars, which attack the hero to defend their home. Use the following table to balance the encounter to the hero’s level:

Level	Encounter
1–4	1–4 Boars
5–10	1–2 Giant Boars, 1–3 Boars
11–16	0–1 Wereboars, 1–3 Giant Boars
17–20	1–2 Wereboars, 1–4 Giant Boars

They will fight for their home, but once half of their number are defeated, they will flee. The hero may attempt to negotiate with wereboars, but these are suspicious and defensive and require a DC 18 Charisma (Persuasion) or related check to convince them to allow strangers to invade and search their home.

See Rewards at the end of the adventure for treasure in this area. 

Counting the Fey before It Hatched

Adjacent to the boars’ living chamber lies an abandoned room, its space predominantly consumed by rubble. Amid the rubble lies the amulet, its jewel exploded, dripping with a rainbow glowing liquid. Zipping around the room, a flickering swiftglint shakes off fragments of the jewel as the liquid, a glint resin, flows toward the hero to protect the newly-hatched swiftglint.

The hero must either capture or persuade the swiftglint to assist in sealing off the encroaching Far Realm. The swiftglint does not attack unless provoked. The hero gains advantage on any Charisma check related to communicating with the nonverbal fey if proficient in Elven Sign Language or offering a token gift. Spells like Comprehend Languages and Tongues can also facilitate communication using gestured languages. A successful DC 10 Charisma (Persuasion) check convinces the swiftglint to accompany the hero.

The swiftglint can communicate empathically with the glint resin to command it to attack or relent.

If the hero fails to convince the swiftglint, Renda can use the glint resin as a component instead, although if it’s dead, it’s not as effective.

Babe in the Woods

As the hero returns through the woods to the village, the Far Realm incursion remains. Roll for an encounter from Forest Fetchquest if alone or carrying a dead fey or ooze.

But if accompanied by a living fey or ooze, the fey energy, while not canceling the aberrant effects, alters them in a 60-foot radius. The fey does not aid the hero in any danger but stays back and giggles at any adverse encounter.

Choose or roll on the following table every 2d4 miles.

1d6	Effect
1	Caught on the Hop
2	Daisy Chain
3	Far Fey Flies
4	Fungus Among Us
5	Golden Veins
6	Planar Rabbit Hole

 

Caught on the Hop. The environment around the hero becomes a massive portal into the Far Realm with only a sturdy vine and small unstable islands, like lily pads in a pond. Crossing this area requires three successful DC 12 Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks. Failure on a check causes the hero to phase momentarily into the Far Realm and must succeed on a DC 14 Charisma saving throw to avoid taking 1d6 psychic damage. Creatures with Hallucinations reduce the damage by −(IE).

Daisy Chain. A patch of wild daisies fifteen feet from the hero have eyes in their centers and look at the hero. One of them winks at the hero. If the hero approaches within ten feet of the winking flower, it emits a puff of pollen, and the hero must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by the daisy for one hour, gazing at it without noticing anything else unless attacked. Each hour, the hero can reattempt the saving throw. Creatures with an allergy to pollen have advantage on the save. 

If the hero doesn’t approach, a vine lashes out and attempts to grapple the hero and drag them closer. The hero must succeed on a DC 12 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to avoid the grapple. The vine lets go and retracts once it takes damage, the target moves at least thirty feet from the flower, or the target moves within ten feet of it, triggering the pollen burst. If the hero damages the vine, the winking flower sheds a purple tear.

Far Fey Flies. A swarm of far fey flies, butterflies with moving eyes on their wings and multiple piercing proboscises, attacks the hero.

Fungus Among Us. 2d20 mushrooms with eyeball-colored caps grow on the hero’s skin in random places. If removed, each mushroom explodes in a puff of toxic spores, causing 1d4 poison damage. They evaporate after 1d4 hours into a flowery enchanting aroma, giving the hero advantage on all Charisma checks for the rest of the day.

Golden Veins. The hero’s veins become enchanted gold, creating a glowing web under the skin. Due to the added density, their movement speed is reduced by half, and AC increases by +2. Creatures using a seated mobility aid only lose ¼ of their movement speed.

Planar Rabbit Hole. The forest ground becomes a shifting tapestry of illusory vines. Creatures that can see must succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw to navigate the illusions without stumbling. Failure causes them to be teleported 1d4 miles in a random direction. Creatures in seated mobility devices can see the illusion but can’t stumble into the teleporation effect.

Sealing Your Fey

As the hero returns to the village, the effects of the Far Realm’s energies permeate the community. Tendrils wave from flowers instead of leaves. Shadows don’t quite match their physical counterparts. Some pets growl at empty spaces, while others stare at the sky as if in anticipation. The wind seems to whisper unintelligibly. Something on the periphery of the hero’s senses draws attention, but when turning toward it, there’s nothing there. Monstrous distortions with alien features appear in puddles and other reflective surfaces.

On entering the town hall, those assembled look to the hero in easter anticipation. Renda wheels forward, asking about the amulet. If the swiftglint flies nearby, Renda looks at it with confusion and wants to know about it but mostly wants to know about the amulet.

After Renda learns the nature of the amulet and its inhabitant, she pours over the book to determine how to adjust the ritual accordingly.

Get a Grip

If the hero only brought back the shell of the amulet or the dead ooze, Renda needs an extra day to adjust the ritual and distill the pure essence from the remnants. 

In the morning, one or more tentacles burst from the ground and attack. Use the stats for a constrictor snake or giant constrictor snake to represent the tentacles, and they can move with the same speed as a snake by getting longer from point of emerging from the ground, able to move vertically as well as horizontally. Once killed, they dissolve into noxious jelly, and if anyone digs to look for the origin of the tentacles, they find nothing unusual. Use the following table to balance the encounter to the hero’s level:

Level	Encounter
1–4	1–4 Constrictor Snakes
5–10	1–2 Giant Constrictor Snakes, 1–3 Constrictor Snakes
11–16	1–3 Giant Constrictor Snakes, 1–2 Constrictor Snakes
17–20	3–4 Giant Constrictor Snakes, 1–4 Constrictor Snakes

Rite of Impassage

Renda assembles the necessary equipment for the ritual and, with the swiftglint’s cooperation or fey essence, she enacts a complex ritual that takes several hours. As it culminates, a wave of rainbow light emanates upward into the breach, and with a sound combining thunder and splattering, the rift slowly closes.

Renda slumps in her wheelchair, exhausted. If present, the swiftglint dashes away, slower than usual. Any remnant of the glint resin vanished during the ritual. In the center of the now tarnished equipment, a small jewel lies, smoking.

Renda examines the jewel and guesses that the force of the wave created a backlash and infused fey energy into a solid form. She senses its protective magic and hands it to the hero, offering it, a Prismatic Veil, as a reward.

Rewards

Shrine Hoard

Choose treasure from the shrine from the boars’ lair and the rubble room appropriate for the hero’s level:

Level	Treasure
1–4	12 gp
5–10	130 sp 90 gp
11–16	1600 cp 600 sp 60 gp Potion of healing
17–20	600 cp 900 sp 70 gp Potion of frost giant strength Potion of stone giant strength Spell scroll: Greater Invisibility

Reward for the Sealed Breach

Prismatic Veil

Wondrous item, Common (requires attunement)

This gem has 3 charges. While wearing or carrying it, you can expend 1 charge as a reaction to gain advantage on a saving throw against psychic damage or being charmed. If the saving throw is against an effect that allows you to take only half damage, you instead takes no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

The gem regains all expended charges daily at dawn.

 

Dramatis Personae

Aberrant Squirrel

Tiny aberration, unaligned

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)

Hit Points 2 (1d4)

Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
4 (-3)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)	2 (-4)	12 (+1)	3 (-4)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +5

Senses passive Perception 13

Languages —

Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)

Keen Hearing and Smell. The squirrel has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Actions

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 2 (1d4) piercing damage.

Tail Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one creature. Hit: 1 bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 7). Until this grapple ends, the creature is restrained, and the squirrel can’t constrict another target.

 

Glint Resin

Tiny ooze, unaligned

Armor Class 12

Hit Points 13 (3d4 + 6)

Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
8 (-1)	14 (+2)	14 (+2)	1 (-5)	6 (-2)	1 (-5)

Skills Insight +0

Damage Resistances psychic

Damage Immunities poison, radiant

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

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

Languages —

Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

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

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

Illuminating Glaze. The ooze sheds dim light in a 10-foot radius.

Actions

Gleaming Gush (Recharge 6). The ooze sprays a glowing liquid in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) radiant damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Luminous Effluence. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) radiant damage. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of its next turn.

Reactions

Planar Squeeze. When the ooze takes damage, it can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.

 

Swarm of Eye Tadpoles

Medium aberration (Swarm of tiny aberrations), chaotic neutral

Armor Class 12 (natural armor)

Hit Points 18 (4d8)

Speed 5 ft., fly 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
3 (-4)	13 (+1)	10 (+0)	1 (-5)	16 (+3)	1 (-5)

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, slashing

Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, restrained, stunned

Senses darkvision 120 ft., truesight 30 ft., passive Perception 13

Languages —

Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny insect. The swarm can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.

Actions

Shiner. Ranged Spell Attack: +5 to hit, range 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (2d4) psychic damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be disoriented and have disadvantage on Dexterity ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws until the swarm’s next turn. Creatures with Blindness, other vision impairments, or Vertigo have a +(IE) bonus on the save.

 

Swarm of Far Fey Flies

Medium fey (swarm of tiny fey), unaligned

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)

Hit Points 27 (5d8 + 5)

Speed 5 ft., fly 20 ft. (hover)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
3 (-4)	14 (+2)	12 (+1)	1 (-5)	10 (+0)	4 (-3)

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, slashing

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, restrained, stunned

Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 10

Languages —

Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny insect. The swarm can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.

Keen Sight. The swarm has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Actions

Multiattack. The swarm makes two attacks, one with its bites, and one with its wing gaze.

Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target in the swarm’s space. Hit: 7 (2d6) piercing damage, or 3 (1d6) piercing damage if the swarm has half of its hit points or fewer.

Wing Gaze. When a creature that can see starts its turn within 10 feet of the swarm, the swarm can use its gaze attack. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be distracted by the moving eyes on the butterflies’ wings, imposing disadvantage on its next attack roll. Creatures with blindness or other visual impairments gain a +(IE) bonus to the saving throw.

 

Swiftglint

Tiny fey, chaotic good

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)

Hit Points 18 (4d4 + 8)

Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
6 (-2)	18 (+4)	14 (+2)	12 (+1)	16 (+3)	14 (+2)

Skills Acrobatics +8, Perception +5

Damage Resistances psychic

Condition Immunities charmed, frightened

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15

Languages Elvish Sign, understands Elvish and Sylvan

Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Glimmering Dash. The Swiftglint moves up to its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Illumination. The Swiftglint sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light in an additional 30 ft.

Actions

Radiant Dart. Ranged Spell Attack: +5 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d6) radiant damage.

Bonus Actions

Fey Flicker (Recharge 4–6). The Swiftglint can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.

Feyweather Friends Quick Reference

Key NPCs

Brandis

• Young messenger, they/them, human
• Excitable and dutiful
• Often pauses when speaking, especially when anxious

Shemnis

• Village Elder, he/him, elf/human
• Loyal to village, open to new ideas
• Paces and has difficulty sitting when anxious
• Says, “By the stars!” as a general exclamation

Renda

• Village sage/stargazer, she/her, human
• Well-versed in planar lore and alchemy
• Mage with primary focus on ritual casting
• Uses wheelchair due to leg muscle weakness, can stand for a few seconds with great effort if necessary
• Usually quiet in crowds but assertive when she has something to say
• Enjoys speaking in seeming contradictions: “To go far, we have to get close,” “We need to learn more about the unknowable.”

Plot Outline

• Introduction:
  • Village stargazers notice strange occurrences in the sky.
  • Hero approached by Brandis and asked to meet with Elder Shemnas.
• Village Meeting:
  • Shemnas, a middle-aged man of human and elven ancestry, seeks the hero’s help.
  • Stargazers in debate about the celestial disturbances.
  • One of them Renda, proposes connection to Far Realm.
• Fey Amulet’s Importance:
  • Renda suggests the Amulet of Feyweather, a relic holding a star’s essence.
  • Manifestation of the Farweather – a tear in the sky reveals a Far Realm intrusion.
  • The hero tasked with finding an ancient shrine to retrieve the amulet.
• Forest Journey:
  • Map provided, offering two routes with varying degrees of challenge..
  • Encounters in the forest with Far Realm effects and creatures.
• Shrine Exploration:
  • Shrine ruins guarded by boars or wereboars.
  • The hero discovers the shattered amulet was a swiftglint egg that just hatched.
  • Hero must convince or capture the swiftglint to aid in sealing the Far Realm breach.
  • Glint resin, the liquid from inside egg, is protective ooze.
• Return to the Village:
  • Effects of the Far Realm persist; encounters based on fey presence.
  • The village displays distortions.
• Ritual and Resolution:
  • Renda adjusts the ritual with the amulet’s essence.
  • A wave of rainbow light closes the breach; the swiftglint and glint resin vanish.
  • Hero rewarded with the Prismatic Veil, an item from the amulet’s essence.

GM Tips

• Before you begin. This adventure includes disturbing elements that may be unsettling for players. Discuss the 
• Adjust encounter quantity. Based on character health, adjust the number and type of forest encounters. If HP is low, use non-combat encounters or make them less frequent.
• Modify encounters. The adventure gives guidlines​​, but every character is different. Adjusting number of monsters before the encounter, and change monster hit points mid-encounter if necessary.
• Invite player descriptions. When the player defeats a monster or accomplishes a task, let the player describe how it happens.

(This is a work in progress)

• An Eye for an Eye
• Feyweather Friends
• Ready-to-Roll Adventures

A Bonus encounter for Plague in the Mountains from Limitless Champions Adventures