DDEX3-9 The Waydown (5-10).pdf

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The Waydown

The recent discovery of an entrance to the Underdark has set local leaders on edge. In a display of initiative, the First Lord

of Hillsfar has ordered the construction of defensive structures surrounding what locals have begun to call “The

Waydown.” You have been charged with escorting an emissary back to his home in the Underdark without alerting the

Red Plumes. A four-hour adventure for 5th-10th level characters.

Adventure Code: DDEX3-9

Credits

Adventure Design:

Cole Kronewitter

Development and Editing:

Claire Hoffman, Chris Tulach, Travis Woodall

D&D Adventurers League Wizards Team:

Chris Lindsay, Chris Tulach

D&D Adventurers League Administrators:

Robert Adducci, Bill Benham, Travis Woodall, Claire Hoffman, Greg Marks, Alan Patrick

Debut: October 23, 2015

Release: November 1, 2015

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand,

Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon

Master’s Guide,

D&D Adventurers League, D&D Encounters, D&D Expeditions, D&D Epics, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and

their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. All characters and their distinctive likenesses are

property of Wizards of the Coast. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or

unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast.

Delémont, CH. Represented by Hasbro Europe, 4 The Square, Stockley Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1ET, UK.

Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.

Introduction

Welcome to

The Waydown,

a D&D Expeditions

adventure, part of the official D&D Adventurers League

organized play system and the Rage of Demons

storyline season.

This adventure consists of five mini-adventures, and is

designed for

three to seven 5th-10th level characters

and is optimized for

five 8th level characters

. Players

with 4th level characters may spend twenty downtime

days to level up to 5th level. Characters outside this level

range cannot participate in this adventure.

The adventure is set in the Moonsea region of the

Forgotten Realms, near the city of Hillsfar.

Preparing the Adventure

Before you show up to Dungeon Master this adventure for

a group of players, you should do the following to prepare.

•

Make sure to have a copy of the most current version

of the

D&D basic rules

or the

Player’s Handbook

Read through the adventure, taking notes of anything

you’d like to highlight or remind yourself while

running the adventure, such as a way you’d like to

portray an NPC or a tactic you’d like to use in a

combat.

Get familiar with the monster statistics in the

Appendix.

Gather together any resources you’d like to use to aid

you in Dungeon Mastering, such as notecards, a DM

screen, miniatures, battlemaps, etc.

If you know the composition of the group beforehand,

you can make adjustments as noted throughout the

adventure.

•

The D&D Adventurers

League

This adventure is official for D&D Adventurers League

play. The D&D Adventurers League is the official

organized play system for D

UNGEONS

& D

RAGONS

®.

Players can create characters and participate in any

adventure allowed as a part of the D&D Adventurers

League. As they adventure, players track their characters’

experience, treasure, and other rewards, and can take

those characters through other adventures that will

continue their story.

D&D Adventurers League play is broken up into

storyline seasons. When players create characters, they

attach those characters to a storyline season, which

determines what rules they’re allowed to use to create

and advance their characters. Players can continue to

play their characters after the storyline season has

finished, possibly participating in a second or third

storyline with those same characters. A character’s level

is the only limitation for adventure play. A player cannot

use a character of a level higher or lower than the level

range of a D&D Adventurers League adventure.

If you’re running this adventure as a part of a store

event or at certain conventions, you’ll need a

DCI number.

This number is your official Wizards of the Coast

organized play identifier. If you don’t have a number, you

can obtain one at a store event. Check with your organizer

for details.

For more information on playing, running games as a

Dungeon Master, and organizing games for the D&D

Adventurers League, please visit the

D&D Adventurers

League home.

•

Before Play at the Table

Ask the players to provide you with relevant character

information. This includes:

•

Character name and level

Character race and class

Passive Wisdom (Perception)—the most common

passive ability check

Anything notable as specified by the adventure (such

as backgrounds, traits, flaws, and so on)

Players that have characters outside the adventure’s level

range

cannot participate in the adventure with those

characters

. Players can play an adventure they previously

played or ran as a Dungeon Master, but not with the same

character (if applicable).

Ensure that each player has an

official adventure

logsheet

for his or her character (if not, get one from the

organizer). The player will fill out the adventure name,

session number, date, and your name and DCI number. In

addition, the player also fills in the starting values for XP,

gold, downtime, renown, and number of permanent magic

items. He or she will fill in the other values and write

notes at the conclusion of the session. Each player is

responsible for maintaining an accurate logsheet.

The Waydown

Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.

If you have time, you can do a quick scan of a player’s

character sheet to ensure that nothing looks out of order.

If you see magic items of very high rarities or strange

arrays of ability scores, you can ask players to provide

documentation for the irregularities. If they cannot, feel

free to restrict item use or ask them to use a standard

ability score array. Point players to the

D&D Adventurers

League Player’s Guide

for reference.

If players wish to spend downtime days and it’s the

beginning of an adventure or episode, they can declare

their activity and spend the days now, or they can do so at

the end of the adventure or episode.

Players should select their characters’ spells and other

daily options prior to the start of the adventure, unless the

adventure specifies otherwise. Feel free to reread the

adventure description to help give players hints about

what they might face.

Determining Party Strength

Party Composition

3-4 characters, APL less than

3-4 characters, APL equivalent

3-4 characters, APL greater than

5 characters, APL less than

5 characters, APL equivalent

5 characters, APL greater than

6-7 characters, APL less than

6-7 characters, APL equivalent

6-7 characters, APL greater than

Party Strength

Very weak

Weak

Average

Weak

Average

Strong

Average

Strong

Very strong

Average party strength

indicates no recommended

adjustments to the adventure. Each sidebar may or may

not offer suggestions for certain party strengths. If a

particular recommendation is not offered for your group,

you don’t have to make adjustments.

Adjusting the Adventure

Throughout this adventure, you may see sidebars to help

you make adjustments to this adventure for smaller/larger

groups and characters, of higher/lower levels that the

optimized group size. Most of the time, this is used for

combat encounters.

You may adjust the adventure beyond the guidelines

given in the adventure, or for other reasons. For example,

if you’re playing with a group of inexperienced players,

you might want to make the adventure a little easier; for

very experienced players, you might want to make it a

little harder. Therefore, five categories of party strength

have been created for you to use as a guide. Use these as

a guide, and feel free to use a different adjustment during

the adventure if the recommended party strength feels off

for the group.

This adventure is

optimized for a party of five 8th

level characters.

To figure out whether you need to

adjust the adventure, do the following:

•

Add up the total levels of all the characters

Divide the total by the number of characters

Round fractions of .5 or greater up; round frations of

less than .5 down

Dungeon Mastering the

Adventure

As the DM of the session, you have the most important

role in facilitating the enjoyment of the game for the

players. You help guide the narrative and bring the words

on these pages to life. The outcome of a fun game session

often creates stories that live well beyond the play at the

table. Always follow this golden rule when you DM for a

group:

Make decisions and adjudications that enhance the fun

of the adventure when possible.

To reinforce this golden rule, keep in mind the following:

•

You are empowered to make adjustments to the

adventure and make decisions about how the group

interacts with the world of this adventure. This is

especially important and applicable outside of

combat, but feel free to adjust the adventure for

groups that are having too easy or too hard of a time.

Don’t make the adventure too easy or too difficult for

a group. Never being challenged makes for a boring

game, and being overwhelmed makes for a

frustrating game. Gauge the experience of the

players (not the characters) with the game, try to feel

out (or ask) what they like in a game, and attempt to

give each of them the experience they’re after when

they play D&D. Give everyone a chance to shine.

•

You’ve now determined the

average party level (APL)

for

the adventure. To figure out the

party strength

for the

adventure, consult the following table.

The Waydown

Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.

•

Be mindful of pacing, and keep the game session

moving along appropriately. Watch for stalling, since

play loses momentum when this happens. At the

same time, make sure that the players don’t finish

too early; provide them with a full play experience.

Try to be aware of running long or short. Adjust the

pacing accordingly.

Read-aloud text is just a suggestion; feel free to

modify the text as you see fit, especially when

dialogue is present.

Give the players appropriate hints so they can make

informed choices about how to proceed. Players

should be given clues and hints when appropriate so

they can tackle puzzles, combat, and interactions

without getting frustrated over lack of information.

This helps to encourage immersion in the adventure

and gives players “little victories” for figuring out

good choices from clues.

expenses maintaining his or her lifestyle. Some downtime

activities help with lifestyle expenses or add lifestyle

expenses.

Spellcasting Services

Any settlement the size of a town or larger can provide

some spellcasting services. Characters need to be able to

travel to the settlement to obtain these services.

Alternatively, if the party finishes an adventure, they can

be assumed to return to the settlement closest to the

adventure location.

Spell services generally available include healing and

recovery spells, as well as information-gathering spells.

Other spell services might be available as specified in the

adventure. The number of spells available to be cast as a

service is limited to a

maximum of three per day total,

unless otherwise noted.

In short, being the DM isn’t about following the

adventure’s text word-for-word; it’s about facilitating a

fun, challenging game environment for the players. The

Dungeon Master’s Guide

has more information on the

art of running a D&D game.

Spellcasting Services

Spell

Cure wounds

(1st level)

Identify

Lesser restoration

Prayer of healing

(2nd level)

Remove curse

Speak with dead

Divination

Greater restoration

Raise dead

Cost

10 gp

20 gp

40 gp

90 gp

210 gp

450 gp

1,250 gp

Downtime and Lifestyle

At the beginning of each play session, players must

declare whether or not they are spending any days of

downtime. The player records the downtime spent on the

adventure logsheet. The following options are available to

players during downtime (see the

D&D basic rules

or the

D&D Adventurers League Player’s Guide

for more

information):

•

Catching up

Crafting (exception: multiple characters cannot

commit to crafting a single item)

Practicing a profession

Recuperating

Spellcasting services (end of the adventure only)

Training

Acolyte Background

A character possessing the acolyte background requesting

spellcasting services at a temple of his or her faith may request

one spell per day

from the Spellcasting Services table for free.

The only cost paid for the spell is the base price for the

consumed material component, if any.

Faiths that can call upon spellcasting services in and around

Hillsfar include the following: Chauntea, Lliira, Mielikki, and

Tempus.

Character Disease,

Death, and Recovery

Sometimes bad things happen, and characters get

poisoned, diseased, or die. Since you might not have the

same characters return from session to session, here are

the rules when bad things happen to characters.

Other downtime options might be available during

adventures or unlocked through play, including faction-

specific activities.

In addition, whenever a character spends downtime

days, that character also spends the requisite expense for

his or her lifestyle. Costs are per day, so a character that

spends ten days of downtime also spends ten days of

The Waydown

Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.

Disease, Poison, and Other Debilitating

Effects

A character still affected by diseases, poisons, and other

similar effects at the conclusion of an adventure can

spend downtime days recuperating until such time as he

or she resolves the effect to its conclusion (see the

recuperating activity in the D&D basic rules).

If a character doesn’t resolve the effect between sessions,

that character begins the next session still affected by the

debilitating effect.

Adventure Background

About a half-day’s travel from Hillsfar is a hundred-foot-

deep sinkhole caused by rainfall and geographical

anomalies stemming from the recent events in

Mulmaster. Called the Waydown by locals, this sinkhole

raised alarm among surface dwellers after soggy horrors

began creeping up from its subterranean depths. To allay

fears of inhuman invasion, the First Lord of Hillsfar

recently ordered a Garrison built around the Waydown to

secure it.

Unbeknownst to most citizens of Hillsfar, the troubles

of the surface world are mere hints at the horrendous

evils occurring in the depths of the Underdark. Spurred

on by the demon lord Graz’zt, a horde of demonic fire

giants besieged and captured the drow city of Szith

Morcane. Beleaguered by this relentless assault, the drow

quickly dispatched emissaries to the surface world in

search of aid. Among these was the drow smuggler

Arrizz, who was able to procure a shipment of supplies

from the Zhentarim and now seeks a way to safely deliver

them to the Underdark. His main hope lies in getting the

supplies through the Red Garrison at the Waydown and

shipping them downriver.

Of course, this plan hinges on finding a way through the

Garrison, and a corrupt Red Plume Captain named

Maggarl Helck who has replaced Guard Commandant

Vuhm Yestral as commander of the garrison. Over the

last thirty days, Helck has taken to allowing smugglers in

and out of the Waydown. The movement of illicit goods

has made him quite rich. He is beginning to re-think this

plan, however, as eight days ago a giant octopus attacked

a river expedition and drug away two mercenaries.

This attack was orchestrated by twin cambions named

Gattash and Rashara. Originally members of Graz’zt’s

court, the twins were recently expelled for a minor slight

and placed in charge of a backwater region of the

Underdark as punishment. Since that time, they have

managed to infiltrate a tribe of primitive kuo-toa and

install themselves as twin gods of sinful excess. After

moving their tribe to the comfort of an ancient kuo-toa

temple, the twins now plot to overthrow the Red Plumes

Garrison and regain Graz’zt’s favor.

Death

A character who dies during the course of the adventure

has a few options at the end of the session (or whenever

arriving back in civilization) if no one in the adventuring

party has immediate access to a

raise dead

revivify

spell, or similar magic. A character subject to a

raise dead

spell is affected negatively until all long rests have been

completed during an adventure. Alternatively, each

downtime day spent after

raise dead

reduces the penalty

to attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks by 1, in

addition to any other benefits the downtime activity might

provide.

Create a New 1st-Level Character.

If the dead

character is unwilling or unable to exercise any of the

other options, the player creates a new character. The

new character does not have any items or rewards

possessed by the dead character.

Dead Character Pays for Raise Dead.

If the

character’s body is recoverable (it’s not missing any vital

organs and is mostly whole) and the player would like the

character to be returned to life, the party can take the

body back to civilization and use the dead character’s

funds to pay for a

raise dead

spell. A

raise dead

spell cast

in this manner costs the character 1,250 gp.

Character’s Party Pays for Raise Dead.

As above,

except that some or all of the 1,250 gp for the

raise dead

spell is paid for by the party at the end of the session.

Other characters are under no obligation to spend their

funds to bring back a dead party member.

Faction Charity.

If the character is of level 1 to 4 and a

member of a faction, the dead character’s body can be

returned to civilization and a patron from the faction

ensures that he or she receives a

raise dead

spell.

However, any character invoking this charity forfeits all

XP and rewards from that session (even those earned

prior to death during that session), and cannot replay that

episode or adventure with that character again. Once a

character reaches 5th level, this option is not available.

The Waydown

Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.

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