ADVENTURE BOOK Hunt for the THESSALHYDEA ADED ae MIKp WHEELEREating stops Perkins, Gs Sins, Michele Carey, Scot Ftageral Gray Kim han, Pip Aas, ate Wekch ‘DAD Lee Designers: Jeremy Cras, Mike Mears Fith Eon DBD Design Team: Civtopter Pris, James Wye, Rodney Thompson, Rober J Saal, Petr Le, Steve Towrshen, Bune, Code ‘Additional Contributors: reg Bend, Mt See, Chis uous, Tor Lal, Rt Bake, Mina Hornet, Jenner Cake Wes, Stove Wile, Nina Hoss ‘Based on he nga Dungeons & Dragos me cect by E. Gary Gyax and Dave Aeson, th Brian Blume ob Kutz, James Ward ané Don Kaye DUES MOS Da ead Co Fon aba tom cpr Pays Mtr Me Dr Ms Pe ete Ct bot anes nc Wor react oz aeodenarct Waa Ct fe UA a eer cores eros adr Ge eres epg Wo cat eer oc tr ay Bend Sa tray pron o wate oe rl se coe es poled tot ees rien pers of Wears be Cast C2016 Waa te Cast LeNOTES TO MYSELF (AS DUNGEON MASTER) We should be able to finish this story in one night (maybe 4 long weekend if Dustin really gets caught up in the roleplaying), but don’t rush it. As long as everyone's having fur, let it take as long as necessary, It’s all about the fun. Describe each scene. Tell then what their characters see or hear or feel at the start, then just let them go. They say what the characters do, and | tell them what happens. But don’t take control of their characters. | control everything else—the monsters, the nonplayer characters (NPCs, like Sir Tristan), even the environnent (like traps)—and the dice reveal how things tur out! All creatures written with an underline can be found in the Monsters section of the rulebook. Don’t worry too much about. - getting the rules right or being perfect as aDM (Hat's short for Dungeon. Master). Sust relax, let things happen naturally, and enjoy playing the gane. If things get contiesing— especially in conbat—do what seens fair and move on. Like the rulebook says, my job as DM is to make sure everyone has a good tine and that the story moves along smoothly.THE WHOLE STORY The characters have been suunoned by Sir Tristan, the ruler of a small donain ina lonely stretch of mowrtains. A terrible monster called a thessallydra has been attacking his realu. It is a strange and dreadful creature with eight heads surrounding a large circular mouth rimmed | with jeaged teeth Its maw drips with acid, and its tail ends ina pair of sharp pincers. Tristan asks the characters to get rid of this menace. | The thessalhydra was last seen going into caverns belonging to an unriendly tribe of troglodytes. The characters must enter the caverns and deal with the stinky trogs. Following the thessalhydra’s trail leads them into a cursed labyrinth, where they meet the Lost Knight. He will | help then escape only if they prove thenselves worthy by solving his riddles. The way to escape from the labyrinth is through a portal into a strange, dark, parallel diversion called the Upside Dows. There the | characters meet the Proud Princess, a powerful adventurer who has her own quest and wants nothing to do with the characters. She shows then the way out of the Upside Down and into the thessalhydra’s lair. if the characters can beat the thessalhydra and bring its heads back to Sir Tristan, they have successfully finished this adventure. |: pe iallgaat a siAUDIENCE WITH SIR TRISTAN Start the adventure in Sir Tristan’s throne room. The characters have met Tristan before. He sponsored then on an earlier adventure and proved hinself to be a kind ruler to his people and a good friend to the characters. They can trust him. Sir Tristan says that lately a monster called a thessalhydra appears out of nowhere and attacks local farms, villages, and even Tristan’s castle. All his soldiers together could barely fgkt it off. After each attack, the thessaltydra disappears into the woods and leaves no trail. Tristan can’t send his guards after the monster. They must protect the castle (and they know they’re not strong enough to beat the monster). He asks the characters to hurt down and kill the thessallydra, then return with its heads. (Tristan wants them stuffed ard nounted over his throne.) This scene is all about conversation. The characters are talking directly to Sir Tristan, but there are others here too—royal advisors, guards who fought the monster, and such, They treat the characters well— they're the heroes Sir Tristan turns to in his tive of need. Give then confidence to take bold action (sometines Will needs to be reninded that he’s playing 4 character, not just hinself).GIFTS FROM, SIR TRISTAN Sir Tristan offers then huge rewards to go on this dangerous mission. Begin. by offering 100 gold pieces each and let then negotiate if they want more. If the group gets too greedy, Sir Tristan reminds then that they're ol friends. Once the deal is struck, Sir Tristan might have a surprise for the group. If the characters negotiated a fair deal and. respected their friendship with Sir Tristan, he will give them some magic equipment that will be useful in this adventure. If they were greedy or acted like they didn’t care about their friendship with Sir Tristan, he won't give them anything extra. He starts with two bags of holding, so that they can easily carry the thessalhydra’s severed heads. Then, for each character, he provides a ring of protection and 2 potion of healing. Finally, he has two weapons—a wand of magic nissiles and this greatsword: Wider’s Dark Bite. This greatsword is made of an unknown black metal, In Most cases, it Works as a +1 | greatsword. But when used | against a thessalhydra, it works as a +3 greatsword. While in the Upside Dowh, it works as a +4 greatsword.RUMORS ON THE ROAD As the characters search for the thessalhydra, they meet other people along the way. Give them a few short roleplaying encounters. Some NPCs have useful info, and others are just distractions. But vake sure the scenes are fun, or the group might ignore then specially Lucas—he'll want to be all business). A merchant offers them one apple each, He says that local apples tasted better before the thessalhydra arrived. That’s why he’s sure the monster’s lair is in the apple orchards to the north. A traveling priest says that often lesser monsters worship bigger ones. There are troglodytes in.a nearby set of caverns. They might know something about the thessalhydra. A woodcutter warns then that some of the caves around here are cursed. “Once you enter, you get lost in the twisting tunnels and, never escape.” Anelderly farner doesn’t believe there is a thessaltydra. He thinks it’s just a big owlbear that is raiding settlements for its supper. “I ain’t never seen no thessalhydra, but owlbears we got plenty of around here!” When the players start getting bored with roleplaying encounters, it’s time for then to fird the troglodyte caves. If they've wandered. off following false leads, just have them luckily stuuble upon the right cave.TROGLODUTE CAVERNS || dave one character (group’s choice) make a DC 12 ability check— Intelligence (Nature) if they ve searching for the troglodyte caves, | Wisdom (Survival) if they're searching for the thessalhydra’s tracks, | or another skill that matches their actions. If the check succeeds, they have arrived at the troglodyte caves. Use the map to describe what the characters see. Let then pick in. what order they explore the caves. When they reach a nuubered area, see that area’s description on one of the following pages.if the skill check fails, they still arrive at the caves, but. unluckily do so at the sane tive as a returning hunting party of 8 troglodytes. They must defeat the hurting party before they can exter the caves. Area I: Cave Extrance. A successtil DC 15 Intelligence (mvestigation) or Wisdon (Survival) check reveals that the cave’s mouth has recently been visited by about 25 troglodytes, the thessalhydra, and an owlbear. Area 2: Empty Cave. Nothing of interest here. The floor becomes too rocky to follow footprints anymore. Ayes 3: Trapped Hall. The cave is eupty, but the hall to area 4 is trapped, which requires a successtul DC. 10 ability check to detect, using Intelligence (investigation), or disarn, using Dexterity. tf triggered, the roof collapses. Anyone in. the hall must make a DC 10 Dexterity save. Those who fail take 2dé + 2 bludgeoning danage. Those who succeed take half as much damage. The hall becones impassable. Ayea 4: Treasure Room. This is where the troglodytes keep their few valuable itews. There are 200 gp in coins and gens, plus artwork and other valuables worth 200 gp more. The secret door that connects to area 6 needs a successtul DC 15 ability check to detect, using Intelligence (Investigation), or open, using Dexterity. Area 5: Connon Chamber. This is where most of the troglodytes sleep. Ten troglodytes are here, but they are terrified and try to run away into area 6 as Soon as they see the characters.Ayea 6: Noble Chamber. This is where the five troglodyte leaders sleep. The head trog is a fair and noble ruler (like a trog version of Sir Tristan). He’d rather talk than fight (wilike most trogs, he speaks Connon). But if the group angers him, all the trogs attack and fight to the death If the group politely asks about the thessalhydra, hel say that it comes in trom the woods, passes through the caves, and enters the Cursed Labyrinth, It never travels the opposite way. Area 7: False Treasure Room. This room is like area 4, but everything is broken and worthless. One vase is trapped, requiring a successful | DC.10 Intelligence (Investigation) check to detect and a successful Dl 10 Dexterity check to disarm. if triggered, the hall to area 5 collapses. Anyone in the hall must make a DC.10 Dexterity save. Those who fail take 2dé + 2 bludgeoning danage. Those who succeed take half” as much danage. The hull becones impassable. Area & Guard. Post. Eight troglodyte quards are stationed here. If the characters enter or make too much poise in an adjoining room (fr exauple, have a fight: or arguuert), the - guards attack. Ayea 9: Owlbear. One owlbear is here and. sleeping. Characters may attenpt Dexterity (Stealth) checks against its passive Perception (3). Failure means it wakes up and. attacks. Ayea to: Water Pool. A natural spring feeds a 10-foot-deep pool of clear, fresh water. In the pool lives a giant frog, which leaps out and attacks the first character to touch the water. Ayea ut: Slyine. This is where the troglodytes cone to worship their dark god, Laogzed. There’s an altar and a statue of an ugly froq-like creature. On the altar are pieces of rotten meat. and 50 ap worth of coins ard. swall gens.THE CURSED LABYRINTH It sens like 4 normal maze with twisting, turning hallways that intersect, but there is no solution to this maze. Its path is completely 1 randon, and if | you turn around to retrace your steps, you find that the path has changed behind you. Random Path, Use the first few hallways as shown on the map (taped into the book a few pages ago), but when the characters move off the map, use the table below to figure out what they fd next. If | the characters turn around, the maze remains the same until they go | around a corner or open.a door. From that point on, the labyrinth makes a new random path. deo Result 2 dio map squares straight, then dead end | B-5 dé map squares straight, then reroll | 6-8 df map squares straight, then turn left | 9-0 id map squares straight, then turn right | 12-14 Special encounter Gescribed on the next page) 6-I6 4 map squares straight, then T intersection 7-18 dé map squares straight, then a four-way intersection 19 Reroll, but also add a door 20 Reroll, but also add a secret. doorSPECIAL ENCOUNTERS While going through the Cursed Labyrinth, the characters will have some interesting encounters. Koll on the following table (if you get the same result twice, reroll or choose an encounter). dé Encouxter 1 Damaged Walls 2 Treasure 2 Pit Trap 4 Troglodytes 5 Skeletons 6 The Lost Knight Damaged Walls. The next hallway the characters enter shows signs of danage, like a powerful beast has raupaged through here. The group can. easily tell that this damage was done by the thessalhydra. Treasure. They find the remains of an ancient adventurer who died trying to escape the labyrinth. The body has treasure worth 2dzo gold pieces. Pit Trap. The hallway has a pit trap somewhere along its length Characters must make a successful DC 2 Intelligence (Investigation) check to detect the trap, and a successtil DC 12 Dexterity check to safely move past it. Those who fail the Dexterity check fall in and take de bludgeoning dauage. Cliubing out of the pit is easy to do. Troglodytes. Four troglodytes, menbers of the tribe trom the caverns who ran into the labyrinth to escape the thessalhydra, have been trapped here for two weeks. They're mad with hunger and inmediately attack. Skeletons. Eight skeletons, the undead reuains of adventurers, come shanbling down the hallway to attack the characters. The Lost Knight. See details on the next page.| THE LOST KNIGHT The characters encounter the Lost The first riddle is siuple. All they Knight—a mysterious figure dressed have to do is catch him. He runs ina full suit of armor who is around the corner and calls back: trapped in the Cursed Labyrinth. “Kt my heels you nip in this game we The knight is at the far end of play. Buc cursed is the maze, and 4 long hallway (60 feet trom the lost am |. So who's chasing whom? group). He says he knows their Ob, who’s to say? The front is the quest is to slay a great monster. back. Hello is goodbye.” He'll help them if they solve his two riadles. If the characters chase hin, use the Random Path table to generate the hallways (reroll results of | and 2). Every tine they round a corner, they see hin escape at the other end of the hall The solution is to stop chasing the Lost Knight, turn around, ard. go back the way they cane. Once the group goes back one room, they automatically fed the Knight’s second riddle. Second Riddle. The characters see the Lost Knight standing in a doorway at the far side of a large room. “You solved my first riddle,” he says. “Now can. you find the missing piece to fish my collection?” He points to three shelves above the doorway. Then he steps through the door, which closes and magically locks behind hin (cannot be picked or broken. dowt).The first two shelves each have two wall statues, and the third one has only one statue. Shelf 1 Statues. A man with a crow aud a bag of coins. Shelf 2 Statues. A woman with a crow and a jar of honey. Shelf 2 Statue. A common woman wearing aX apron. and. an. enpty space for a second statue. In the room is a large table covered with many suall statues, including 4 cake, a pie, a spinning wheel, a basket of | laundry, a plate with a steak, a toy soldier, a sword, and twenty-four | sculptures of crows. To solve the riddle, the characters must put the right statue from the table in the eupty space on shelf 3. If they put 4 wrong sculpture on the shelf, everyone in the room takes 4 lightning damage, They must try again If they put the right statue there, the door opens. Solution. The basket of laundry. These are the characters trom the nursery rhyme “Sing a Song of Sixpence.” Cues: 1. It’s based ona nursery rhyme. 2. There are “four-and-twenty” statues of “black birds.” 3. Tell then the nave of the nursery rhyne and let then look up the words. The Knight’s Prize. After the group solves both of the Lost Knight’s riddles, he congratulates them on being so clever. The knight explains that the Cursed Labyrinth is not in our world. It is built ina deniplane. The thessalhydra has found a way to push through it to a place called the Upside Dowk. The Lost Knight shows the characters how that is done, but warns that this is a one-way passage—they ll have to fund a different way home.THE UPSUDE DOWN The Upside Down is a kind of alternate dimension—an echo of the Material Plane (where we all live). That means in some ways it’s very sinilar to our world, but in others it’s completely different. The Upside Down is a cold, dark place. It’s always night there, and the air is always cold (Ike just before a snow storm). You never feel warm in the Upside Down. Also, characters get no natural healing while in the Upside Dowk: no matter how long you rest, you don't regain any hit points, and you can’t spend Hit Dice. Magical healing still works. In places where our world and the Upside Down touch each other, the Upside Dowk looks like our world—the same buildings, trees, and other structures—but they're always broken and ruined. These are the places where you can cross between planes, if you know how. In places where the worlds don’t touch, the Upside Down looks like a haunted forest.WINTER’S DARK BITE IN THE UPSUDE DOWN The sword that the characters ight have received fron Sir Tristan, Winter's Dark Bite, is made of uetal nined frou the Upside Dowh, so it gets even stronger when it’s used here. While in the Upside Down, Winter’s Dark Bite acts like a +4 greatsword.UPSIDE DOWN ENCOUNTERS This part of the adventure is mostly supposed to be scary, not dangerous. When the characters first arrive in the Upside Down, make it in the middle of the woods (an area that doesn’t touch our world). Describe how lonely, dark, and desolate it is, with a cold wind blowing all the tine. Let the characters explore a little. Describe sections where the Upside Dowk touches our world in places that the group has already visited, so they can see scary, haunted versions. Have there be strange howling noises on the wind, and make it feel like something is stalking then, lurking just out of sight in the darkness. They find tracks made by the thessalhydra, but: also tracks made by other monsters. But the tracks are inpossible to follow. The tracks come and go. Sonetines they loop back on themselves. None of it makes any sense. When it’s time to move the story forward, introduce the Proud Princess.THE PROUD PRINCESS With a blast of lightning and thunder, the Proud Princess appears ona hill near the characters. She is strong and proud, a warrior princess, who looks at the characters and instantly knows that they pose no danger to her. (No |__ stats for her. She’s not someone they should fight. If they insist on trying, they can hit her only with a critical hit, and even then she shrugs off whatever danage they do. Her attacks always hit them and deal 2dé + 6 slashing danse) The Proud Princess has a quest of her owh, though she will not talk about the details. She warns the characters to stay out of her way, for their own safety. Simply to keep them away, she tells them how to find the thessalhydra. The thessallydra uses the Upside Down 4s 4 Way to return to its lair without being tracked. The lair is a cave where the Material Plane and the Upside Down touch. A special plant grows there—a plant: whose flowers bloom in both worlds. | These flowers can be used to cross | between worlds if you perform a certain ritual. A key conponent of this ritual is blood from a monstrosity (a type of creature). The thessalhydra is 4 monstrosity, so it can use its own | blood to open a t gateway.The Proud Princess can point then to the cavern where the flowers grow, but if the characters want to open a gateway, they'll also need the blood of a monstrosity. Luckily she knows of one that has been. stalking around the Upside Down lately: a demogorgon! She tells then that the denogorgon is attracted to the suel of blood. The easiest way to get its attention is to spill blood on the ground. But since there are so few creatures in the Upside Dow, the only source is the characters theuselves. Using a weapon carefully, a character can. do minor damage (cutting their pal) causing t hp of damage and spilling a sual anourt of blood. If the group spills a total of 3 hp worth of | blood, the demogorgon. will arrive le ninutes later, leaping from the darkness and attacking the group. If the characters don’t want to spill their ove blood, they can stalk the denogorgon, but this is very difficult. One character should try aDC5 Wisdom (Survival) check for the group. If this is successful, they have found the demogorgon. iit fails, the group may try again (With the sane character or a different one making the check). If the group fails three times, the denogorgon has found them and attacks, but the characters are surprised, (ee chapter 2 of the rulebook for how surprise works).DEMOGORGON A demogorgon is a monstrosity the size and shape of an adult huvan, but i its mouth fils its face and opers liken Y= blooming flower. One currently lives in the Upside Dewh, Y and no one knows where it cane from originally. It’s incredibly strong and can heal itself from damage it takes (even here in the Upside Down). Like a shark, 4 demogorgon. is drawn to the scent of blood, and goes into a frenzy when blood is near. The Proud Princess says that they need a few ounces of blood trom the creature to open 4 gateway (filing an eupty potion vial vill do nicely, but let the characters solve the v probleu). if the demogorgon ii is killed, they can.get the blood easily. Buc let then try other ways if they don’t want to fight to the death. For exanple, they can get blood off a sword blade inmediately after it strikes and dauages the creature (they must do this four times to get enough blood). USING DEMPGORGON BLOOD After the characters have gotten enough demogorgon. blood, they can take it to the cavern with the flowers. If they pour the blood on one of the flowers, it bursts open violently (anyone standing next to the flower must succeed on. a DC 12 Dexterity save or be knocked prone), creating a cross-planar gate. Stepping through leads to area | of the lair of the thessalhydra.LAIR OF THE THESSAL Wher the characters step out of an oversized flower (ike the one they stepped into in the Upside Down), they are back in the Material Plane—home. In fact, they are pretty close to Sir Tristan’s castle (they can.see the towers above the tree line). Prints in the dirt make it clear that the thessalhydra has come this way often, and the tracks lead into a nearby cave.Ayea |. Extrance to the cave. Sone of the cross-planar flowers grow along the rocks here. | Area 2. This cave is thick with webs frou floor to ceiling. Three giant | spiders live here. If the characters don’t bother then, they wont | bother the characters. Area 3. There’s a 20-foot-wide pit. It takes a successful DC 12 Strength (Athletics) check to jump across. Failing juup without a satety rope tied to you means you fall away into darkness and take | 2dio bludgeoning danage. The pit is 30 feet deep. Nearby is a hidden passage (uarked as ans” on the map). It takes a successtul DC 12 Wisdon (Perception) check to notice it. Once found, it can be used freely. Area 4. A tribe of ten troglodytes live here. When the thessalhydra moved in, the trogs began to worship it as a god. Now they | protect it while it sleeps. If the characters have already killed the thessalhydra, the trogs begin. to worship them as their new gods.Area 5. At the back of this cave is an area that appears wet, like a mud patch or a shallow puddle, and occasionally ripples or bubbles. It’s actually au ochre jelly. If the characters don’t bother it, it won't bother then. Area 6. This is where the troglodytes go to leave offerings in worship of the thessalhydra. The walls are covered with small niches, each of which contains an offering. (See “Conclusion” below.) Area 7. This cavern is where the thessalhydra lurks. It is here and sleeping. If the characters can sneak up on it, they can take the creature by surprise (see chapter 2 of the rulebook for how surprise works).CONCLUSION if the characters kill the thessalhydra, they have successfully completed this adventure. When they chop off the creature’s heads and. bring then back to Sir Tristan, he will welcome then as conquering heroes, shower them with treasure, and grant: each one a boon (45 long as it is within his power to do so). Additionally, in area 6 of the thessalhydra’s lair | they will fund coins, GMS; and artwork worth 000 gold pieces, plus one magic item of your (the Dungeon Master’s) choice trom appendix A fron the rulebook.Further Adventures Perhaps the best reward of all is that the characters each gain a level. Use the information on the back of the character sheets to make them 4th level. They will then be ready to seek more adventure and rewards in future games of Dunceons & Dracons! ener OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE (ivi NETFLX COM (@* AND/OR TH” & © 2018 HASARO, PAITUCKE, i 02861-1050 USA. AL FIGHTS RESERVED. TM & @ DENOTE US. TRADEMARKS. TEM # £9702 ‘CONSUMER coNTACT LUSA.AND CANADA: HASBRO GAMES, CONSUMER AFFARS DEPT, PO, SOK 200, PATUCKET, 02861-1059 ISA. TEL, 60-255-5516. ‘AUSTRALIA CONSUMER SERVICE: [email protected] [NEW ZEALAND CONSUMER SERVICE: [email protected] NETFLIX cron anooe ’ SERseaacen