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Circus of the Damned | 5th-Level Adventure and Location Supplement

Added 2021-08-28 17:01:01 +0000 UTC

Enter the Mysterious Circus and Uncover the Secret of the Dark Curse

Circus of the Damned

Circus of the Damned is a Fifth Edition adventure intended for three to five characters of 4th to 6th level and optimized for four characters with an average party level (APL) of 5. A traveling circus is cursed with undeath after stealing a devil’s treasure. They now roam the lands searching for the gold coins and the pieces of their souls trapped inside them. This adventure location occurs in the Freelands campaign setting but fits any existing campaign with only a few modifications and name changes.

Backstory

Starkspell’s Elysium Circus has traveled from coast to coast and performed its acts for the high-born and the low. For the last three decades, the eponymous Ringmaster Julian Starkspell has led the motley troupe of acrobats, clowns, magicians, exotic animal tamers, and other performers. They roam from place to place, appearing as if by magic, and put on a grand show before disappearing just as quickly. However, something has changed in the last few years. The performances have become darker and more hair-raising than before, often ending up more frightening than entertaining. After the circus leaves each town, a dark pall is left hanging in the air, and a heavy sense of doom presses on the townspeoples’ shoulders. There are also reports of people going missing—presumably to join the circus—and never heard from again.

In actuality, the circus has been cursed due to their greed and lust for fame and fortune. A few years ago, the performers found themselves hired to give a show at the wedding of a wealthy noble in Haven, the capital city of the Freelands. Not content with the promised pay, the circus performers took it upon themselves to make a plan to steal from the wealthy noble during the wedding. The heist was successful, and the circus stole away into the night with a chest stuffed with a thousand gold coins they found hidden in the noble’s bedchamber. The following months were filled with carousing and spending the stolen treasure during their travels, never perceiving the curse on the gold that was now corrupting them all until it was too late.

An archdevil gifted the gold to the noble who had sold his soul in exchange for the wealth. As each coin is spent, so too is a piece of the spender’s soul, trapped within the gold. With each missing piece, the victim falls further under the curse until their soul is completely gone and they remain an empty husk. The performers appear as they always have by day, but at night, the curse takes hold, and their greed transforms them into skeletons, ghouls, and other undead creatures. They take no more pleasure in the things they once enjoyed, food turns to ash in their mouths, and wine no longer quenches their thirst—the curse has stolen their joy of life. The cursed circus now travels the land performing their acts both day and night, hoping in vain that it will rekindle the spark they have lost. The gold coins call out to the performers, leading them from town to town to collect them one by one. Once they find a coin, the troupe puts on a show and encourages the townsperson holding it to spend it on them, releasing the piece of the soul trapped inside, often killing them afterward to protect their secret. And so the circus roams, hunting for the gold and their lost souls.

For this adventure we teamed up with a couple of our favorite content creators! Venatus Maps crafted an amazing set of custom undead circus performer tokens and a stunning hand-drawn VTT circus map! Will Savino from Music d20 worked his magic and wrote some creepy dark carnival music to create the perfect ambience for your table!

Venatus Maps has been in the cartography game for years, creating a large variety of maps for all manner of purposes with the intent of equipping dungeon masters everywhere with high-quality maps to use with their players! Come check out their work now for loads of free maps as well as literally thousands of free assets to construct your own! With a back catalog of hundreds of maps and new monster and NPC token packs coming out every month you’ll be prepared for your next session and inspired for sessions to come!

Music d20 releases new tracks each week to help you score your RPG sessions. With hours and hours of music already released, track variants, loopable mp3s, and a dedicated playback app, Music d20 makes it easy to DJ while you DM.

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