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Innistrad Adventure - Army of The Damned
Innistrad Adventure - Army of The Damned
Introduction
This is a fan-made adventure module using the D&D
Next system. All illustrations and names used from
Magic: The Gathering, along with all D&D terms and
rules, are properties of Wizards of the Coast. This is only
a fan creation, not in any way made for sale.
Download the basic rules for FREE at here!
Innistrad is a setting steeped in gothic horror themes
and makes liberal use of horror tropes. Werewolves hunt
within the forests, vengeful spirits haunt the places of
their grisly deaths, hedonistic vampires feast on humans
at their leisure, and Frankenstein-like mad scientists
create abominations stitched together from corpses. All
these classic horror stories are merged together to create
a unified campaign setting that is much more than the
sum of its parts, an amazing and compelling backdrop for
epic storytelling.
1
Introduction
Classes
2
Introduction
Races
Religions
Lets take things one step further. What if this strong tie to
the Shadowfell came from a specific source? A source that
is tied to many of Innistrads supernatural happenings,
dampening protective wards and empowering both
werewolves and vampires? Yes, Innistrads link to the
Shadowfell is the moon.
The Innistrad moon is a massive portal to the Shadowfell
plane. No one remembers what sinister entity constructed
this link between planes, but the world of Innistrad was
set to be consumed utterly by the Shadowfell. The deity
that saved Innistrad from being swallowed up by the
Shadowfell has similarly been lost to history.
This god could not close the immense portal, but
managed to block off and imprison the portal at the cost
of the deitys life. The gods corpse engulfs the portal as
a massive desert of silver. The barrier of silver stops the
Shadowfell from consuming the world, but does not block
its influence entirely. You can see an imprint of the longforgotten god on the moon to this day its the heron on
the moons surface.
This explains the seemingly paradoxical nature of
Innistrads moon: the portal to the Shadowfell inside of
the moon empowers evil creatures, while the outside
surface of silver empowers good. A full moon is when the
Adjusting Difficulty
4
Introduction
Background
Humanitys Peril
One Hope
Falkenraths Lesson
old mentalities.
Then a few months ago, while Katarina was deep in
her experiments with the artifact, vampires from Castle
Falkenrath entered the village. The vampires were
preparing to celebrate the disturbing three-day holiday
called Court of the Vampire Queen, and came to collect
their unfortunate Queen Katarina, the troublemaker.
Katarina, Ralf, and Siegfried fought the vampires alone.
The trio pleaded and begged with the villagers to help, but
their friends and neighbors all stood by, frozen in fear. In
the end, Ralf was killed, Katarina was taken, and Siegfried
was convinced by his love to flee and keep the artifact safe.
Overview
6
Introduction
Adventure Hooks
You can let players invent their own reasons for visiting
Shadowgrange, or they can use the following backgrounds
as an easy way to create characters with compelling ties to
the events of Army of the Damned.Background Template
Below is a list of bonds that applies to any background
that players select or create. You can replace or augment
some or all of the options in your chosen background with
one or more of the bonds.
BOND (D8)
1. The Church of Avacyn has hired you to make contact
with Katarina Brunn, a musical prodigy living in
Shadowgrange, whom they have not heard from in
months. You must find her and/or retrieve an artifact
that was under her care.
2. Your cousin, Siegfried Reinholdt, has fled from
his home in Shadowgrange under mysterious
circumstances, and the deed to his property has
passed to you. Whatever you choose to do with the
shop, you must travel to Shadowgrange to sign the
necessary papers.
3. You have infiltrated the ranks of the demonworshipping Skirsdag cult. The cult has found out
about a secret plan that the Church of Avacyn is carrying
out, something involving an artifact being held by a
woman named Katarina living in Shadowgrange. You
are under orders to investigate this artifact.
4. Sielda Reishaf, an elder of the Avacyn Church and your
foster parent, has entrusted you with an important
mission: travel to Shadowgrange and find Katarina
Brunn. If she is missing, then retrieve the artifact she
was holding, a so-called tuning fork.
5. Your close childhood friend, a cathar named Axel
Becken, has never returned from a Church mission
to Shadowgrange. To find out what happened to him,
you must travel to the village.
6. The holy tomb of Saint Traft, one of the most righteous
and celebrated cathars to walk the land, is located
in Shadowgrange. Youve decided to make a holy
pilgrimage to the saints tomb, where its said visitors
7
Introduction
Road Encounters
Event
Ancient Devoutees
2
3
4
5
6
Cloud of Teeth
Explosive Summons
Fiendish Hecklers
Into Darkness
Ominous Bridge
Ancient Devoutees
Treasure
Cloud of Teeth
9
Chapter 1: Into Stensia
Explosive Summons
Developments
Treasure
Fiendish Hecklers
Developments
Into Darkness
Ominous Bridge
11
Chapter 1: Into Stensia
Developments
Treasure
Developments
Treasure
Conclusion of Part 1
Milestone: Level 2!
Part 2: Shadowgrange
Shadowgrange is one of the oldest human settlements
in Stensia. Most of the villagers are farmers, the majority
being shepherds. The rest of the villagers work in trades
that support the farmers by spinning wool, weaving
clothes, shoeing horses, milling grain, and the like.
Some merchants move goods from Shadowgrange to
other settlements such as Lammas, but shipments move
less frequently these days as the roads become more
dangerous.
In the last two years, Shadowgrange has experienced
a swell of new citizens that sought refuge behind the
villages fortifications. Most of these folk come from
smaller remote villages that have been destroyed by
over-indulgent vampires, mindless undead, or sadistic
ghoulcallers. With Avacyns presence missing from the
land, the protective holy wards of these villages are failing,
and creatures of the night are making bolder attacks.
Shadowgranges moat and stone walls make it one of
the best defended villages in the area, but many villagers
secretly believe that this settlement will eventually fall just
like the rest.
When characters first arrive in Shadowgrange, read or
paraphrase:
Chapter 2: Shadowgrange
Encounters in
Shadowgrange
Important NPCs
Innkeeper
Owns a trading post; secretly a
Skirsdag cultist; has a cursed item
for the party
Head priestess of Shadowgranges
chapel; has a quest for the party
Blacksmith; has a quest for the party
Fletcher; has a quest for the party
Town Description
Chapter 2: Shadowgrange
Chapter 2: Shadowgrange
Visgaud Grounds
Armory
Chapel
Chapter 2: Shadowgrange
Alchemists Shop
Developments
Alchemists Basement
Chapter 2: Shadowgrange
Developments
Chapter 2: Shadowgrange
Treasure
Mayors House
Ground Floor
Second Floor
Chapter 2: Shadowgrange
Music Room
Chapter 2: Shadowgrange
Developments
Conclusion of Part 2
Milestone: Level 3!
Undead Menace
REFUGEES
Developments
The refugees have more dire news for the crowd around
them: as they fled, the survivors saw brief glimpses of
the horde beginning to move south, in the direction of
Shadowgrange. At the rate they were moving, theyd reach
this village in two days.
Panic ensues when this information is revealed.
Stensians are stoic folk and dealing with horrors is a
grim fact of life, but an entire horde of undead bent on
their annihilation isnt something theyve ever had to
face before. The cathars do their best to maintain order
amongst the crowd.
Once she hears about the impending attack, priestess
Flora seeks out the adventurers. A meeting of the village
leaders is to be called immediately and she asks for the
characters to join them.
Ill Tidings
southeast.
These are the two options that the council members will
argue for, but the characters can come up with different
ideas as well.
This is a chance for the players to throw in their own
advice about how Shadowgrange should meet the threat.
The council members have their own opinions.
Eckhardt: Grim. A seasoned ex-cathar himself, Eckhardt
has his doubts that the village walls can hold, and once
theyre breached, the zombies would easily overrun the
village. He advocates evacuation. We dont have enough
cathars to hold off a zombie horde. We need to start
evacuating the village and get the people south.
Levi: Also grim, but more optimistic. Levi points out
that the roads south are narrow and dangerous. Trying
to protect a thousand evacuating villagers would be next
to impossible and there will bound to be casualties. He
advocates defending the village. The gates and walls
will hold. If the undead cannot breach out defense, their
superior numbers will mean nothing.
Flora: Stubborn and fatalistic. Flora sees abandoning
the village as an ultimate failure. Countless generations
are buried in the village crypt, resting eternally in The
Blessed Sleep, and they cannot be forsaken. She advocates
fighting to the bitter end if need be. Our destiny is in
Avacyns hands. She would not want us to abandon our
ancestors.
This is an encounter best resolved through roleplaying.
Let the characters argue their case for whichever response
they favor. If you feel they have argued persuasively, their
position should carry the day.
Since the characters are probably arguing for a position
favored by at least one of the council members, all they
really need to do is convince the ones that disagree.
Developments
First Wave
Second Wave
Third Wave
Eight zombies from deeper inside the horde join the fray,
along with two more skeletons. Same tactics as above.
Fourth Wave
Fifth Wave
Developments
Defending Shadowgrange
Add any other quests that you feel are appropriate to the
situation.
As the characters go about preparing, so do the rest
of the townsfolk. Shadowgranges cathars calls upon
all able-bodied citizens to take up arms against the
Evacuation?
Horde Tactics
Developments
If the skaab goliaths are taken out before 10 hits are dealt
to the gate, then the gate holds. Regular zombies stumble
over the fallen goliaths to claw at the gate, but their assault
is far weaker than the skaabs.
If the gate is breached, all is not lost. Eckhardt and his
soldiers, a mix of cathars and conscripts, stand ready to
meet the surge of undead that rush through the broken
gate. Their goal is to drive the undead back long enough
to repair the broken gate.
Regardless of the outcome, a messenger runs over
to the adventurers shortly after either the gate is saved/
breached. The bloodied soldier comes bearing grim news:
one of the far side walls have been breached. The undead
are breaking through, and her squadron of soldiers have
been taking heavy losses trying to hold their position.
If the adventurers completed the quest Finding
Runners, the messenger is one of the people the
characters enlisted as a runner, and theyre given an
The warm glow of fire can be seen over the rooftops ahead
of you, where the sounds of fighting can be heard. As you
turn the corner, you see two wooden cabins aflame next
to the wall, illuminating the scene in front of you. Fighting
amidst the bright glow in a tight formation are the cathars,
Influence Dice
Help
A cathar fires a crossbow
bolt into an enemy that
one of the characters is
engaged with. The enemy
takes 4 damage.
A gust of spectral wind is
felt as the spirit of Saint
Traft materializes on the
battlefield and swings his
greatsword at the PCs
enemy, dealing 2d6+5
damage and knocking
the target prone, before
his spirit is swept away
elsewhere by the wind.
Hindrance
A zombie catches a
character unaware with a
slammed fist into its back,
dealing 4 damage.
Waves of Undead
In order to hold the line and drive the undead back, the
characters must defeat several waves of increasingly
dangerous attackers while the cathars fight their own
undead foes in the background. Allow each waves
resulting combat to play out, then let the next wave arrive
one or two rounds after. This gives the characters a small
window to ready themselves for the next fight.
First Wave
Second Wave
Third Wave
Developments
Results
Necromancer Confrontation
Developments
Rineta Smitt is, to put bluntly, crazy. The teen lost her
parents at a very young age and has survived in the
wilderness purely off her talents in necromancy. She is
devoid of empathy for her victims, seeing humans as
useful only as resources to raid for food, clothing, shelter,
and their corpses for undead. She offers no remorse
because such a feeling is alien to her.
Victory!
Defeat!
human livestock.
Developments
Conclusion of Part 3
Milestone: Level 4!
Farbog Superstitions
If the characters ask about the farbog itself, they can find
out from various townsfolk that its a treacherous swamp
that people avoid if possible. One prominent rumor is
that the farbog used to be a beautiful forest with one of
the most influential settlements in all of Innistrad, but an
evil tainted the forest, turning it into the farbog it is now.
The bog has a well-known reputation for being the
residence of hellhounds, though its also said that few
folk are lucky enough to see one and live to tell the tale.
Others mention that ancient grafs dissolve into the muck,
causing the restless dead to stir as geists (spirits) and
ghouls.
The Farbog
Swamp Encounters
Event
The Hounds of
Baskerville
Whispers of Hope
and Doom
Deadly Lotus
Little Girls Plea
Corpse Wagons
Art by KAjito
You spot them out of the corner of your vision: twin fiery
red orbs burning through the cloak of fog. They move
closer, and you see the rest of the figure emerge a
monstrous hound, as tall as a human, stepping forward
on thick, muscular legs. As it growls, the beast exhales
embers from its open maw filled with razor-sharp teeth
and revealing a hot glow emanating from its throat.
You hear more growling from behind. Turning around,
you see a second fiendish hound approaching from the
opposite direction. Suddenly, the two beasts rush toward
you in a full sprint, their eyes blazing with unbridled
hatred.
These two hellhounds (MM 182) are actually hallucinations
caused by the gloomgas mushrooms spores. Only
characters hallucinating from the spores can see, hear,
or be affected by them. The hounds circle around and
strike at the weakest looking character, using their pack
tactics to eliminate the target quickly before moving to
the next. They use their Fire Breath if they can hit two or
more characters with it. All damage dealt by the hounds
to hallucinating characters looks like physical wounds,
but in fact the characters are unknowingly taking psychic
damage instead.
There are a few ways for a poisoned character to recognize
the illusion. When a character is damaged for the first time
by a hellhound, they must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving
throw. On a success, they notice something off about
the hellhound its features are hazy and blurred, it leaves
no footprints, theres no weight to its attacks, etc. After
this success, they can spend an action to concentrate on
the hound, making a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. On this
success, the character shakes off the hallucination and the
hellhounds disappear.
Alternatively, a character not hallucinating can help a
poisoned ally shake off its effects by convincing the person
that no hell hounds exist. They can stand in the same spot
as where the hellhound stands, or try to explain that
they are hallucinating, or anything else they can come up
with. Doing so takes an action. When this is done, the ally
can immediately make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw to
shake off the hallucination.
You see an orb of warm light pierce through the red fog.
As it bobs up and down excitedly, you hear a faint whisper
that says, Follow me, travelers. You are grave danger
here. Hurry!
Technically, the wisp does not lie: the adventurers are in
grave danger. But the wisp is the danger. An adventurer
that does not trust the wisp can roll a Wisdom (Insight)
check against the wisps Charisma (Deception) check
(+0) to gauge its intent.
In truth, the wisp aims only to distract the adventurers
and lead them in circles inside the spore cloud, because
this is the hunting ground of its master, a grell (MM
p172). If attacked, the wisp goes invisible and backs away,
content to watch its master feed while it hisses taunts
at the adventurers. If the grell is killed however, the wisp
lashes out in a rage, spitting curses and vile phrases as it
fights to the death. (Note that the wisps vision is heavily
obscured by the spore cloud.)
Meanwhile, the grell tries to sneak up behind the group.
With its blindsight, the aberration isnt affected by the
spore cloud at all. If all the adventurers are effectively blind
Developments
Deadly Lotus
Developments
A voice calls out to you: it sounds like a little girl, but the
voice is strange, warped, like hearing the message through
the end of a long tube. Please, misters. Please help me!
Mum and dad are hurting and left me. Will you bring
them back to me? Looking around, you notice a small
humanoid figure, her features hidden under silken sheets.
The spirits translucent body emits a soft pale glow.
The ghost is of Anna Helmvin, a little girl that died here
long ago in a time when the barren swamp held a thriving
community. She poses no threat to the characters, but
follows them for a while, begging them to help her. If
attacked, she turns invisible and runs away sobbing.
Anna will freely answer any questions the adventurers
have, but her knowledge is restricted by when she was
awake and is filtered through her child psyche. Here is a
list of things she knows that the characters may ask about:
This place was once a village. People were happy.
Anna and her parents died when their house burned
down. Anna died in her room, her parents died trying
to save her.
Her parents spirits were really sad and angry for not
saving Anna, but eventually all of them found peace
in the Blessed Sleep when the villagers buried them
Anna doesnt know what happened around here while
she was sleeping.
Anna and her parents woke up recently when bad
men dug up their graves.
Anna can lead characters to the graves, and point
them in the direction that the bad men fled to.
The grave site is located on a small hill not far from
where the adventurers meet Anna. The three graves have
been dug up and the shovels used for the digging have
been left on the ground beside them. The remains of Anna
and her parents are still in their graves, however a DC 15
Intelligence (Investigation) reveals to anyone searching
the bodies that jewelery -- rings, necklaces, braclets -have clearly been ripped off the skeletons, with bits of
gold, silver, and a pearl left over. The shovels left here,
the hurriedly removed jewelery, and the running footprints
leaving the area point that the robbers were fleeing.
Corpse Wagons
Developments
Conclusion of Part 4
You leave the black muck of the farbog behind you and
are greeted with a fresh breeze to the open valley ahead of
you. Soft rolling hills cascade ahead of you, flanked by the
jagged stone valley walls.
Up ahead, half a days journey away, is a thicket of
greenery rising up from the short grass. Rising from its
center, high above the forest ceiling, is a twisting stone
tower adorned by glistening metal contraptions. Weaving
along the towers length are bands of white, radiant energy.
Angry dark clouds gather over the valley. They seem
to concentrate over the small thicket, as if drawn to that
point. Quick flashes of lightning pop inside the restless
clouds. A storm is coming...
Blessed Silver
Living Wood
Magic Items
Arm of the Faithful
weapon.
Once thirty creatures have been slain with the Devour
Soul ability, the weapon shatters, and Withengar is
unleashed. He is a balor (MM 55). How Withengar acts
after being released from his centuries-long imprisonment
is up to you.
Ghoulcallers Bell
Moonsilver Spear