From The Great Beyond
Summary
Freevale, the Town of Outcasts, is being terrorized every night by the monsters from beyond - zombies, ghosts, giant centipedes, huge sentient spiders, etc.
This happens ever since the townspeople have sent an expedition to the Empty Jewel, a Dead Dwarven City nearby. Underneath the city, the expedition has discovered the Gate to The Great Beyond. They took the Golden Key from it, accidentally unseailng the ancient portal to the "other side".
To save the town, the heroes must take the Key back to the portal and seal it again, once and for all.
Scenes
Freevale, the Town of Outcasts
The players are visiting Freevale, a Wild-West-style town where rejects from society (tieflings, orcs, goblins, mutants, werewolves) live together in peace. From talking to townspeople, they learn about the monster attacks, and learn that the town's Mayor is desperate for help.
Mayor's Office
Mayor Wolfington is having a bad week.
Mayor Wolfington
Mayor of the Freevale. He's a werewolf, fighting the best he can to protect the city from the monsters.
The adventurers he has summoned to his office are his last hope - he can't hold off the scourge of the monsters on his own. He tells the players about the expedition, and gives them the location of the last survivor's house, their only lead - the Old Man McQue.
Old Man McQue
The last survivor of the expedition. He ran away in fear, abandoning his friends, and is now wrecked by guilt.
Survive the Night
As players make their way to the Old Man McQue's house, the night falls.
Giant Centipedes
In the darkness between the buildings, you hear a pitter-patter of hundreds of tiny legs, and then see five glowing red dots - eyes of the giant centipede crwaling on the wall of the building. The sounds get louder, more are coming.
Players can hide out inside the Old man McQues house, if they persuade him to overcome his fear and lower the defences around the house for them to come in.
He will tell them about the expedition. They have traveled to The Empty Jewel, an abandoned undergronud Dwarven city. They have discovered a room with an ancient Dwarven experiment - a gate to another world. When they tried to take a priceless Golden Key from it, they accidentally unsealed the gate, and the monsters poured out. He was the only one who managed to survive. He will give players the Golden Key they can use to close the Gate, if only they can reach it.
An old Abbey
During the two day's journey towards the Gate, players can spend the night in an old abbey, which is the only place around you can use to hide from the monsters.
It has an old cemetery nearby, and at night, Zombies will rise from it. If players are not careful to stay on alert and board the doors, they will wake up to a growling, brain-eating surprise.
The Big Tusk
On their way, players will find an Orc settlement. It's close to the entrance to the Empty Jewel, and it was destroyed by the monsters coming out of the portal.
The heroes will meet the Orc King.
Orc King
Living in The Big Tusk, so close to the source of the monsters, and having lost all of his friends to the attacks, he has lost his grip on reality, and declared himself the "King fo Zombies". He trained a few zombies to serve him, and got accustomed to being the only living creature in the town.
He will try to turn the players into his zombie-minions, but can be convinced to help them on their mission (he can be easily fooled).
The Empty Jewel
An abandoned underground Dwarven city.
The Empty Jewel is filled with various otherworldly monsters wondering about, the most dangerous of which are giant interdimensional sentient spiders. The spiders know the way to the gate, and can be negotiated with. If the players are convincing, the spiders will help them to navigate the tunnels leading to the portal.
The Portal Room
A round chamber deep underneath the ground, is hidden behind a set of illusionary walls. A spiral staircase is leading to the Gate to The Great Beyond.
In the portal room, the heroes will see an enormous Basilisk crawling out of the Gate. If given a chance, it will swallow the player holding the Key. Once the Basilisk is defeated and the Key is recovered, players can put it back into place, seal the Gate, and return to Freevale victorious.
This adventure was made by the Adventure Writer's Room community. We are a group of GMs who meet in the discord voice chat, and challenge ourselves to improvise a one-shot adventure in 2 hours. Our goal is to brainstorm fun ideas and improvise stories together in a chill, lighthearted, no-pressure environment. It works, it really helps with the writing, and it is super fun.
We're looking for some friendly and creative people to join us!
Authors: @Hearsay, @Maeloki, @RedFire, @lumen.
