thedmtoolchest

The Vile Village | 7th-level 5th Edition Adventure | MonkeyDM

Added 2022-10-18 16:58:57 +0000 UTC

Hey, everyone!

I've been working with a couple of different content creators this month producing adventures and I'm really excited to share this one with you! Evan over at MonkeyDM just wrapped up a $2.7m kickstarter for his Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt and I've written some great adventures for it!

The kickstarter is still accepting late pledges, so go check it out!

~ TJ

The Vile Village

The Vile Village is a Fifth Edition adventure for three to five characters of 7th to 8th level and is optimized for four characters with an average party level (APL) of 7. A secret branch of the Radiant Church used the villagers of Jägerweiler as test subjects in horrific eldritch experiments. After the test subjects resulted in twisted monstrosities, the church branch flooded the village with an alchemical acid to wipe out their failures, but their plan failed, and the creatures survived. The priests fled, leaving the surviving horrors behind to stalk the forests and slaughter any who came near their village. While the nearby city huddles behind sealed gates to fight a madness-inducing scourge, the creatures are outside, waiting for their chance to get into the city and eat everyone in sight.

Backstory

Eldritch entities have forever used the seductive promise of power to lure in the greedy and foolish. And none are worse than those who forsake their oaths and succumb to the darkness they swore to fight. Radiant Church priests, once the symbol of hope and light for the residents of Luyharna, have begun to stray from the path of righteousness to one of despair and death.

A branch of the Radiant Church known as the Obitus Scholare broke from their traditions and began horrifying experiments to harness eldritch powers. A corrupting madness swept the city due to these experiments, forever tainting its people. The Obitus Scholare priests secretly conducted their research in Jägerweiler Village, a small logging community. Sitting just outside Luyharna and in the shadow of its high walls, the quiet village was the perfect place to hide the twisted results of the horrific testing from the city authorities.

The Obitus Scholare forced its victims to consume eldritch flesh and blood, subjecting them to pain and agony while recording the effects to further their goals. The outcomes were initially impressive and resulted in the creation of hunters augmented with strength, speed, and other supernatural abilities. Those who survived were brain-washed and trained to become hunters and assassins, tracking down other eldritch creatures and killing political opposition in exchange for gold to fund further research.

These hunters would eventually go mad, their minds shattered by the whispers calling from the shadows to the eldritch blood inside them. They become twisted monsters full of rage, fleeing into the forest or among the villagers, slaying everything in their path. The Obitus Scholare could use their remaining hunters to eliminate many of the creatures, but there were just too many. To erase all traces of their work and stop the monsters from attacking the city above, the priests arranged for a massive flood of an acid-like fluid designed to eat flesh and organic matter to wash through Jägerweiler, killing both monsters and villagers in the process. The priests, eager to leave Jägerweiler behind them, slinked away to continue their secret experiments in the ruins of a long-abandoned insane asylum, creating more successful hunters with their refined techniques. With Luyharna currently under the effects of madness-inducing moons, they can act with apparent impunity as the city looks further inward and descends into chaos.

However, Obitus Scholare’s attempt to completely eliminate their gruesome failures was only partially successful. While the villagers were killed, many of the creatures survived—some even thrive in the now caustic village. A creature known as the Veiled Hunter has taken control of the other monsters, and the threat they represent to Luyharna continues to grow. The city’s gates are barred while under quarantine, protecting the masses who are ignorant of what is happening just outside their city. However, the nobles who pull the city's strings and high-ranking church officials look upon Jägerweiler with growing concern that a mass assault by the creatures is imminent. The abominations wait in their forest village, readying themselves to crack open the city gates and feast upon the sweet meat quivering behind them.

Adventure Summary

The characters leave Luyharna to investigate Jägerweiler, a small forest village just outside and below the city. Upon arrival, they find the village empty and full of twisted monstrosities instead of villagers. While investigating and looking for the source, they stumble upon a dead test subject possessed and twisted by eldritch flesh sewed within the corpse. Other clues throughout the village point to a conspiracy among the Radiant Church and their experiments conducted in the village. After facing off against the Veiled Hunter, the party learns the horrifying truth behind the creatures’ origins and Obitus Scholare’s involvement.

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