Hey all,
I'm running a sandbox campaign and my players are about to go into a forest that has an evil druid cabal hiding in it. I have horrible writer's block so I was hoping to find a good pre-made adventure with similar theming that I can cannibalize/adjust to my needs.
Basically:
>Should be a forest adventure.
> Should be nature themed
> Ideally has druids as villains but I'm fine with just redressing the villains in the adventure from hags/evil fey/disgruntled elves/whatever
I'm okay with Paizo stuff, 3pp stuff, old 3.5 stuff, old adventures from Dungeon magazine, whatever you guys can think of :)
I hope someone can help me!! Otherwise it'll have to be "okay you go into the forest and find the evil druids doing evil magics... interrupt them! k done whats next?" and I was hoping for something more elaborate than that haha, considering how much I've pumped them up already with rumors >_<;
Honestly, if you can find an adventure that's about a cult, it wouldn't be that hard at all to retool. Just replace the evil casters with druids, put in evil rangers and barbarians, and rewrite some of the fluff. Use difficult terrain rules (for bushes / thorns / etc.), toss in some trees... You've got a fairly good area to work with.
Caves also work well for evil druids. I mean, they're caves. They're good for just about everything.
I can't think of any evil druid specific adventures. I've fought evil druids before, but mostly in video game versions of D&D.
Thanks! I'll check those out :)
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Homebrew: a "druidic sect" is nothing more than a cabal of witches. They appear beneficial, manufacturing talismans of cold iron, marsh grass and cattail fibers to ward off a nuckelavee. The reality is, through a pact with the fey they cursed a mortal to transform it into the fey creature.
The "Druid Amulets" are all hexmarked (Wizard Mark cantrip or whatever). The trio of witches can hone in on any one of the marked amulets and coerce the bearer to commit some act of degradation against a neighbor, thereby sowing discord in the town. In the meantime some of the cult's "true believers" have been doing damage in the sewers, filling local streams with pollution, etc.
By the time the PCs arrive the druid cult is preaching the end times. The nuckelavee, the avenging spirit of the forest is coming for the town to rid the land of its wickedness and pollution. The streets are stinking, the sewers filled with monsters and the non-believers are cursed with terrible luck.
If you want to be saved all you need do is bear an amulet and commit yourself to the sect. Your commitment will be tested in a favor you'll have to do when the time is right.
The adventure then involves:
1. come to the town and hear the doomsayers
2. venture down into the sewers to deal with the most immediate threat (level appropriate 5-room dungeon); during this section many clues should be dropped to show human intervention in the sabotage of the sewer system
3. confront the cult in town; some decent fighting and the revelation that the hags are behind it all
4. night of the living peasants: the hexmarked amulets kick into high gear turning everyone into brainwashed slaves intent on destroying the PCs
5. after quelling the town's uprising the blight looms large; the former cult members know the nuckelavee is coming. If a CR 9 fey creature is too tough for the PCs have a cultist seeking redemption know a way to block the mind control of the amulets (which incidentally work kind of against the nuckelavee - see below)
6. PCs have to head into the forest to confront the coven in a final showdown. Minions, skill challenge, get physically close to the witches but then the nuckelavee rises; deal with it and finally the PCs go toe-to-toe with the coven FTW
The Druid Amulets are keyed to cast a powerful (DC 21) Sanctuary spell against the nuckelavee. If it fails it's save it considers the bearer an innocent and spares the creature its wrath. Any offensive action the bearer takes against the nuckelavee breaks the enchantment for a 24 hour period.
Can you use any of that?
@Mark Hoover
Love it! That's all great, lol. I'll definitely be using at least part of that, only reason I don't want to turn them into hags is because the BBEG is already a hag so we have had our fill of covens. I don't think evil druids need to be hags to have an excuse to do any of that, though. I liked the twist of them being hags!!
@KenderKin
I like that module too, it fits with my original idea that the druids were guarding a sacred tree, but then something managed to corrupt the tree and so the druids are corrupt as well.
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If you want to introduce your druids slowly depending on the level of the game you can have strange things happen to create a mystery situation.
Druids have a number of abilities to be subtle, at low levels they can use animal companions to cause disruption and attack especially from unexpected directions. Combined with their animal control spells they could turn a pack of dogs against its owner, make a group of horses stampede or have all the livestock suddenly walk away.
At higher levels druids can make great assassins with wild shape and natural spell. Imagine sneaking in as a viper and combining the poison spell and a poison bite to be pretty nasty. Dropping contagion on unsuspecting villagers to create fear and spread panic is also effective. Stone walls may prove no barrier to a small earth elemental druid earth gliding in to wreck havoc on a food supply or take out a critical NPC.
At higher levels they can destroy towns with control winds and control weather.
You can also look at blight druids who have access to animate dead to really throw off your players. Undead plus walking trees plus contagion plus earth elemental assassinations? Are you dealing with a druid or a necromancer...or both!