The Stink - Dungeon Magazine 105

Now who doesn't want to root around in and under the Middens and the sewers beneath them? You don't? What about your player characters?

This adventure will require some changes to play well with Ptolus, but the concept is solid.

Evil Locathah, non-evil Locathah, lot's of nasty encounters and dangerous filth. What's not to love?

Diseases are at the root of this adventure. Included in the scenario are 6 new diseases, described in juicy detail. 

The evil Locathah are worshippers of a god of disease and have chosen the midden and the sewers and caves below to set up a lab for incubating more and more virulent disease strains. 

You may have to put some effort toward getting the player characters involved in this mess, but a couple of options are put forward. A missing friend is one possibility, but I like the second option better because it can be developed with more detail. An important item, maybe a family heirloom has been accidently dumped into the vastness of the Midden and because of its nature the owner is willing to pay for delvers to go and get it back. There are also some missing people being held down below so the PCs might be pursuing that lead.

You can easily combine this with other scenarios like the one with Ularis Gadare offering a reward to go in and retrieve something he wants.

Racing the Snake - Dungeon Magazine 105

If there's something I enjoy it is challenging terrain, and this adventure delivers. Racing the Snake would make a great vacation outside the confines of Ptolus and the dungeon. 

After restructuring the opening act to work with the setting and city, the overland journey becomes very interesting with time-keeping used to see if the party can stay ahead of their foes.

A war between some merchants is underway and it has reached the point where the less scrupulous of them is hiring assassins to take out his rival and/or his rival's family.

The restructuring: 

The evil merchant is a fellow named Dajoud we can place in the Uraqi city of Rashadar. His targets are in Ptolus. Dajoud has sent a ship with some Uraqi mercenaries to the city to harass and kill employees of Trend and to try to kill Trend's daughter Felicia. Dajoud also tried to have Trend assassinated, but failed and now the target has shifted to Felecia. 

Player characters get involved by stumbling into a group of Dajoud's mercenaries attacking an employee of Trend in North Market. It's possible they might know this bard from some tavern or from the Joden Temple.

Galina, the bard, thanks the party for the rescue (assuming your players aren't the type to ignore obvious plot points), and notices that one of them resembles Felicia. She offers them 500 gold pieces to meet with Trend and hear a proposal from him. The meeting will take place that night at a warehouse he owns in the Docks district (come fully prepared).

Galina informs Trend of the coincidence of a look-alike and has a plan to send the party and the double on a false trail to lure the assassin off of Felicia's actual trail. When the party gets to the warehouse, they are paid up front and then Trend brings them up to speed on the plan and offers them 6,000 gold pieces if they sign on.

They are to leave immediately that night with their party member disguised. They will be travelling north into the Moonsilver Forest and finding their way along a narrow canyon/ravine for part of the trip. There's nothing saying such a thing can't be there since it is a small section and unimportant to the setting. They'll then move into an underground river and eventually come up through smugglers tunnels into Carper's Bay

They are to do everything in their power to string out the deception so the assassin keeps reporting back that he's still on the trail of "Felicia" so that Dajoud won't have reason to detect the ruse and hire more assassins to go after the real Felicia. Under almost no circumstance is "Felicia" to display any martial or magical talent.  

Meanwhile Trend and his daughter will be taking a different route to Carper's Bay to wed Felecia to another merchant's son, cementing their relationship and giving them more trading power to oppose Dajoud.

Trend cannot have Dajoud killed since he is against bloodshed mostly, and because Dajoud is very well connected making trade in Uraq very difficult afterward.

The assassin is a Yuan-ti Abomination that has a handful of Kobolds (3 of them sorcerers) working for him. The assassin will get wind of the party leaving Ptolus on the way to the wedding, and will hasten to follow.

That's when the fun of the journey begins. From there most of the module can be used with minimal adjustments.

As long as the party can maintain the ruse and avoid killing the Yuan-ti, Dajoud will remain ignorant and things will go as Trend and Galina planned. Dajoud is also a sorcerer and keeps in touch with the killer a couple of times each day by a Sending spell. He also knows if his employee is alive or dead thanks to a magic ring each of them wear.

There are plenty of obstacles along the way that smart players can turn against the enemy, and some encounters they might find a way to use to their advantage as well. There are notes in the locations and encounters indicating how the pursuers can be delayed further or catch up sooner depending on choices made.

After completing the scenario the characters may have made two merchant families as strong allies, and even some residents of the Moonsilver Forest. (Maybe the Viridian Lords)

The Sinkhole - Dungeon Magazine 103

What if an inn got sucked into some caverns that were part of the Shadow of Ptolus?

The scenario as written involves an inn falling, mostly intact, through a sinkhole into a cavern infused with the plane of shadow. Instead of a sinkhole, what about a magical translocation? 

Such an event would certainly fit into the lore of the setting. You could develop any number of reasons and make them plot hooks for something bigger.

The translocation of the inn turns it into another location behaving just like Kadmiel the Shade Tower. It doesn't exist in the real world, but occasion ally casts a shadow of itself on bright moonlit nights.

Among the many dangerous encounters are also hazards like pockets of gas, cave-ins, and any number of shadow related afflictions you could invent and apply.

The goal is to get everyone out of the shadow caverns and back to Ptolus proper. The hungry shadow infused monsters have other plans.

The adventure assumes the player characters are staying at the inn when everything starts. They could be there for any number of reasons, meeting a client, seeking information about something else they are investigating, etc. This works as a drop-in (pun intended) concurrent with other plot threads.

Strange effects for spellcasting would be appropriate with anything shadow or illusion related. Light could be dimmed. 

Going back to the Why?:

1) There could be someone at the inn that is a target of someone powerful enough to have the inn and everyone present shunted into the Shadow of Ptolus. Could Renn Sadar be involved somehow? It's unlikely he would be the target or even present since as powerful as he is and as connected to shadow magic, the PCs wouldn't have much work to do (unless he was in a coma the whole time).

2) Maybe a magic item is present that causes the shift.

3) Could a deity be behind it? Maybe Destor pushing his luck?

4) For some unfathomable reason the Soul Riders took control of half a dozen of the mightiest spellcasters in the Inverted Pyramid, including Renn Sadar, to work a ritual that threw the inn and occupants into the Shadow of Ptolus. They'll only vaguely recall bits of their actions and aren't likely to admit lacking control. The Soul Riders may want access to something within the shadow. If one of your players is absent you may want to use them as an NPC under the control of a Soul Rider. Perhaps that character is present when the shift into the Shadow of Ptolus occurs and is there to get whatever the Riders are after.

Escape as written is as simple as finding a certain cave-in and digging out, but for our purposes that would not be in keeping with the Shadow of Ptolus, and much too simple. Alternately you could let them dig out a passage into the second level of Kadmiel, the Tenebrous Abode, but that still isn't a way out. Spells like Plane Shift, Gate, and Etherealness, or items that work similarly could allow exit.

The Chasm Bridge - Dungeon Magazine 101

An evil wizard whose delving party left him behind when he lost a leg has taken up residence by a natural bridge over a chasm in the caverns below Ptolus. He attracted some monsters who now work for him, and he charges a steep toll to cross his bridge. The only other bridge over the same chasm is controlled by some mean Gargoyles he has a shaky truce with.

That's mostly it. It's a location that can be dropped into any cavernous dungeon if you need a little something else for the characters to interact with.

 

Prison of the Firebringer - Dungeon Magazine 101

An epic challenge, Prison of the Firebringer begins with wilderness locations and caravan attacks. It might work better for Ptolus if the wagons and outdoor locations get replaced with pack lizards and caverns. Cultists are behind these attacks as they search for a caster of lawful bent to force into casting the ritual to free the demon.

The story is that an academy of powerful mages summoned and trapped a Slaad Lord before they themselves fell. Slaad are creatures of chaos so it works from that standpoint, but in the adventure it is possible to negotiate with or even try to fool the powerful prisoner. To me, that aspect might rule out a Galchutt. Instead I would consider a powerful demon. Now some cultists and their powerful allies want to break the demon out.

Who are these cultists? Chaos cultists have been done to death so something fresh is needed. As written, one of the leaders is a Durzagon, basically a half-fiend/half-dwarf. That could make the cultists some wacked in the head dwarves. Initially Duergar came to mind, but they're lawful devil worshippers, not chaotic demon worshippers.  Derro? They are chaotic evil, but are not in the 5e Monster Manual. Well, just dwarves that are nuts.

The player characters get dragged into things when they come upon the survivors from an attack who tell them what happened and ask the party to help rescue those that were taken by the Acolytes of the Hidden Flame. 

The caravan could have been going from the surface down to settlements below. Now all that's left are a bunch of fried lizards and the dead delvers that were guarding the caravan. The wizard from the named adventuring group is missing and could easily be someone whose name the PCs recognize. The cloth and wine the lizards were carrying are as toasted as the lizards themselves.

Placing the location of the academy into the dungeons below the city means determining who this cabal of powerful spellcasters were. Let's keep things uniform, they were dwarves, the lawful sort, who in desperation summoned and bound a demon in order to fight off a Drow invasion.

Among the locations of interest in the scenario are an observatory. At first this seemed a bit tough to work with and then I just decided that there's no reason powerful wizards and the like couldn't have an underground observatory. Magic is magic after-all. The observatory is the lair of a Beholder, so things get tough fast and the Beholder is untypical, being able to cast spells.

The Beholder wants someone to get rid of the bonkers dwarves and will point the party to where they can be found if asked politely.

Other locations include another ambush site complete with a dead pack beast, also cooked. A passage with a blood trail from a wounded pack animal. A campsite above the passage from where some cultists and a demon will attack the party. Another camp where some cultists can be talked to and maybe the party will get jumped by a half-fiend Minotaur cleric and another demon.

The cultists are crazy, but not zealots so it is possible to get information those captured.

After all of that the group will reach the dungeon and may face some Fomorian giants at their camp.

Inside the dungeon are some rooms with ghost guards.

In the original module there are numerous Slaad, but I might replace them with various types of demons.

 As things progress one might get the impression that the original occupants were lawful, but just as crazy as the cultists. They used plenty of undead to guard the place.

Turns out the demon prisoner isn't alone, his mount, a fiendish Pyro-Hydra is trapped here as well. It happens to be a Legendary creature.

Bazin-Gorag is a two headed demon, maybe you could make it an aspect of Demogorgon.

In hindsight, it might be best to keep the Slaad instead of demons, but still use the bonkers dwarves as cultists.

Besides defeating this epic opponent, the adventure provides options for other outcomes that have repercussions later.

Critical Threats Homnar Thest - Dungeon Magazine 100

Most of these Critical Threats from Dungeon Magazine, I find rather boring. Not this one. Homnar Thest would fit right in around Ptolus.

Master Thest as some call him is a weretoad, and a nasty one. He runs a smuggling and kidnapping operation with some fellow weretoads. He sells victims into slavery. Sounds like he could be part of any number of groups in the city. He would work well with the Ennin.

There's no adventure attached to the NPC villain, but the personality and nature of this beastly fellow almost writes one for you.

On the surface he comes off as a prosperous merchant. He's very portly, yet agile. He wears expensive cloths, jewelry, etc. He's a glutton and greedy to boot. Oh, and he eats people when he can get away with it.

In Giant Toad form he can swallow targets whole. If he catches a character alone things could go very badly, or result in a kidnapping. Have a player you know will be missing a couple of sessions? This could be a reason their character isn't around, and the ransom might be expensive.

Blind Man's Bluff - Dungeon Magazine 97

This is one of the many Side-Treks mini scenarios Dungeon Magazine was fond of publishing. There's not a lot to change. It can be moved into the dungeons below Ptolus easily enough. 

The short of it is that some Grimlocks are seeking help to rescue a leader of theirs trapped in the cave of an undead (wight) Ettin. They plan to double cross the party once their leader is safe. That's really all there is to it.

You can toss this in while the group are on their way to do something else down below.

Expanding the encounter shouldn't be too difficult since the background given mentions a Mind Flayer causing the Grimlocks to be in the situation to begin with. It ordered them here and then abandoned them when the wight kicked their collective backsides.

A wight by itself is a pretty tough fight for a lower level party. An Ettin that's a wight should be a bit tougher. Since in 5e humanoids killed by wights rise as zombies, you could up the difficulty by having the 4 slain Grimlocks already zombified.

The lair could also be a place to put a plot hook for later down the line, among the treasure.