Final Resting Place
by Michael Kortes
Most adventurers like to think that when their number is finally up, their colleagues will bring them home, either to be raised or at least returned to their families for a proper burial. But how far will the PCs go in order to do right by a fallen adventurer? And will they draw the line at hauling his coffin out of the Underdark? A D&D adventure for 3rd-level characters.
Fiendish Footprints
by Tito Leati
A microscopic map etched into the surface of a tiny knag of wood puts the PCs on the trail of the Fiendish Foot, an item of vast necromantic potential. Will your heroes beat a band of hobgoblins to find the Foot? And what of the object’s vampiric protectors? A D&D adventure for 6th-level characters.
The Root of Evil
by Mike Mearls
A sickness festers in the heart of a great city—the demon tree Malgarius spreads its diseased roots through paving stones and courtyards. Only the most powerful adventurers have what it takes to enter the demon tree and return alive. A D&D adventure for 18th-level characters.
Backdrop: The Ring of Storms
by Keith Baker
The land of Xen’drik holds many secrets, wonders long forgotten by the children of the modern age. Cyclopean ruins recall the heyday of an empire of giants, whose savage descendents lurk in the shadows of their former glory. Xen’drik also hosts the ruins of a mysterious sect of long-lost elves called the Qabalrin, whose shattered cities lie within the mysterious Ring of Storms. An Eberron backdrop of Exploration and Doom straight from the setting’s creator!
I ran "Final Resting Place" a few weeks ago as a side quest in my Freeport campaign. It is a really great adventure (but lacking some info about a diplomatic approach of the group, presumably cut because of space considerations). I was lucky that the rogue hung back and was approached by the real villain of the adventure to capture his "precious".
The repercussions of this adventure can lead to a surface attack by an underground empire (the ruined city of Highport just got a bit more ruined in my campaign in an attempt of the Underdark empire to recapture the treasure) and a later all-out war bewteen the surface world and the underground empire... and it all started in this little adventure.
It is my humble opinion that Dungeon just keeps getting better and better. I will be able to use just every adventure in this issue. Final Resting Place and backdrop Ring of Storms will see use in my Eberron game. Fiendish Foot Prints and The Root of Evil will see use in my adventure path game as cool sidetracks. The columns are well done and I must say the only downside to this issue is the lack of a map for the Ring of Storms.
