Wildemount is a land of dark and epic fantasy, with low-level characters fighting to survive in a world full of common folk who are just as mud-splattered and hungry as they are—and high-level characters contending with the fate of nations and magic that has the power to bring about the end of the world, or the creation of a new one.

Wildemount: Dark Star is an adventure suitable for 4 to 5 characters of 7th level, and takes 1 to 2 sessions to complete. It takes place in a town in the untamed and uncharted southern reaches of the Wastes of Xhorhas. Characters are encouraged to play characters skilled in the magical art of dunamancy, using the subclass options available in chapter 4 of Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. Xhorhas is a land in which mortals of many different races that the neighboring Dwendalian Empire considers monstrous congregate. Your players are likewise encouraged to play characters using race options provided in that chapter as well.

This adventure was played on-stream with James Haeck, Orion Black, Jasmine Bhullar, Lauren Urban, and Todd Kenreck. You can watch this live play of the adventure below.

Legacy of the Dark Star

The townsfolk of Galgarad have a legend that in ancient times, the Bright Queen herself granted them an artifact called the Dark Star that would ward evil from their town. It was given to the first Keeper of Galgarad, the leader of the town, and she gathered acolytes and secreted it away in a hidden shrine to the Luxon. None but the Keeper and her acolytes knew the true location of the Dark Star, though many have searched for it.

However, it seems that the power of the Dark Star has faded. A plague of undeath has fallen upon Galgarad, and every night for a week the village has been ravaged by an ever-growing horde of ravenous zombies with swift legs and long claws. All who die succumb to the plague, and become the undead themselves. The current Keeper, a selfish and arrogant lout named Ralyx Mirimm, isolated himself within his manor. Thus, the people rallied around a woman named Zef Beltune, who sent a desperate letter to the nearby city of Asarius in hopes that a group of mercenaries would hear their plea for help.

The mastermind behind the undead plague is the Dark Star itself. Though it said to be an amulet of protection granted by the Bright Queen, the Dark Star is actually the skull of a lich that worshiped the Spider Queen Lolth, and threatened the nascent dynasty in ancient times. Leylas Kryn and her allies managed to defeat the lich, but could not find its phylactery. Rather than risk the lich’s revival, the Bright Queen and her dunamancers froze the lich in time, and hid it in Galgarad—far from the capital—with secret dunamantic rites to keep the seal in place.

The Dark Star was hidden away to protect the town from its evil, not to safeguard the artifact from thieves. The office of Keeper was created to pass this secret knowledge down through the generations, but over time the purpose of the rites of sealing were forgotten. Ralyx’s greed caused him to embezzle the money used to buy ritual ingredients—and dismissed the acolytes that aided him in those rituals to keep his secret from being revealed. With the seals faded, the Dark Star awoke. Its hibernation had taken its toll, and it existed only a demilich, and a weak one at that. Using all of its strength, the Dark Star reached out with its consciousness until it found a secret cult of Lolth that worked its evil within the shadows of the Kryn Dynasty.

These occult followers of Lolth are known as the Children of Malice. The sect that heard the Dark Star’s call traveled in secret to Galgarad. In the intervening weeks, the Dark Star regained some of its former power and made itself master of the forgotten vault. With the demilich’s aid, the Children of Malice infiltrated the secret temple and pledged fealty to the ancient lich. The Dark Star demanded vengeance upon the people who had imprisoned him for so long, and the followers of Lolth conjured beings that could enact the lich’s horrible vengeance: nergaliids. These devil toads spread a curse of undeath upon the land, building a horde of husk zombies starting with the outlying farms, and then sending their undead army to ravage the town of Galgarad under cover of night.

The Children of Malice, their nergaliids, and the Dark Star itself still lurk in the depths of the forgotten vault, preparing one final attack that will finish off Galgarad once and for all.

Adventure Start

This adventure is suitable for characters of 7th level

The heroes are searching for work in Asarius, City of Beasts. A courier delivers them a sizeable parcel at their table, saying that he was traveling north from the southern moors and found a desperate-looking goliath on the road. The goliath asked him to deliver it to the characters, as she had heard they’re famous mercenaries.  

Opening it, it is filled with a small pouch of gold pieces and various sundry trinkets... and a desperate and vague letter for help. It guides them to the town of Galgarad, a town not listed on their map of the wastes. The letter directs them to a point at the southern point of the wastes, near a pair of hills just north of the Seepfeed River and the western edge of the Vermaloc Wildwood.

Travel to Galgarad

The journey from Asarius to Galgarad is about 125 miles as the gloomstalker flies. However, characters with mounts such as riding horses or moorbounders may wish to follow the road south for 80 miles, traveling in relative safety from Asarius to the bridge over the Seepfeed River. Turning east from that road into the wilderness leaves the characters with only about 75 miles of wilderness to cover. Characters traveling at a normal pace over easy terrain can travel about 24 miles in a single day before having to make camp and rest.

If you wish to roll for random encounters while the characters travel, you can use the Grassland Encounters (Level 6–10) table in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, replacing the “98–99” result with a family of 1d4 mammoth and the “00” result with an udaak battling a mammoth on a small hill half a mile distant. Roll 1d20 at morning, noon, night, and midnight. On a roll of 19–20 (while on the road) or 18–20 (while in the wilderness), an encounter occurs. Roll on the modified Grassland Encounters table to determine what creatures the characters encounter.

The Town of Galgarad

Arrival in Galgarad at sunrise reveals a run-down burgh that has seen better days. Crumbling stone walls and parapets surround the town's rotting wooden houses. People are scared, flitting through streets as quickly as possible and generally hiding in their homes. Speaking to one of them reveals that every night, undead that they call Husks descend upon the town. All they kill join their ranks.

The Keeper has locked himself in his mansion and has not come out in days. He has only spoken to townsfolk through a sound-pipe at his door. The panicked townsfolk have chosen a Rallier to keep the peace in the Keeper’s absence.

One of the townsfolk—a young male drow named Yalluk—bolts past the characters as they enter town. If the characters stop him (or speaks to another one of the townsfolk) that person tells them the following information and guides them to the Moorbounder, the only pub in town still standing.

• “We’ve been staving off an army of undead every night for the past week. The horde started small, but everyone who dies from the zombies rise as husks of their former selves and join them! The horde is huge now… I don’t think we’re going to survive tomorrow night’s attack.”
• “I don’t know why this is happening! The Dark Star has kept us safe for centuries, but... something’s changed, I think.”
• “The Keeper won’t come out of his manor, and won’t help us. We’ve all rallied behind Zef. She’s in the Moorbounder, with most of the other survivors. Here, I’ll take you to her!”

If the characters don’t stop one of the townsfolk and instead investigate the town, they find:

• There are dozens of houses that have either been burned to the ground or with smashed windows and doors hanging loosely upon their hinges.
• Bonfires burn unattended in the town square. Upon further inspection, these bonfires are huge heaps of burning corpses. Some seem normal, but others have a strange look to them; their fingers seem to have elongated into horrible gore-stained talons.
• There are only two buildings with light in their windows: a massive manor with a wrought-iron fence, and a three-story inn with a pub on the first floor. The pub has a sign with a great black cat on it, and is called the Moorbounder.

The Moorbounder

Galgarad used to be a thriving town with a dozen pubs and inns for travelers passing between the northern wastes and the southern moors. After six days of panic, looting, and assault by the undead, the Moorbounder is the only public building left. Its doors are reinforced with iron and barricaded by chairs. Knocking on the door causes one of the townsfolk inside (a middle-aged female dark elf commoner named Lyn) to open it just a crack and ask who’s outside. She welcomes outsiders inside, but warns that they don’t have much food to share, just enough to feed the survivors.

The inside of the pub is filled with the sick and hungry townsfolk of Galgarad—and they’re the lucky ones. They didn’t succumb to the undead horde that animates all who die as husk zombies. Sitting on a table is a tall, muscular woman with light gray skin, a bald head, and countless tattoos all over her body. She turns to the characters as they enter and stands to approach them, leaning on a glaive like a crutch. If Yalluk is with them, he introduces her reverently as their Rallier, Zef Beltune.

Rallier Zef Beltune

The Rallier is Zef Beltune, a musclebound female goliath veteran with a mangled leg. She uses her glaive as a crutch, and stands only when necessary. She was chosen to lead the panicked townsfolk not just because of her skill with a spear and shield, but because she is a member of Den Beltune, and has lived one lifetime already. She earned her leg wound defending a group of townsfolk from the undead husks last night. Rallier Zef burns with dull fury at her inability to help her people, but begs the characters for aid.

Rallier Beltune knows the following information:

• She had a strange vision the night the attacks began; a star in the night sky turning jet black and glowing with evil light.
• She believes that the Dark Star, which is said to have kept them safe for so long, has somehow been corrupted by evil.
• She doesn’t know how the star was corrupted, but she knows that the Keeper dismissed his acolytes that helped him tend to the Dark Star’s protection several months ago. They came to her with their concerns then, and departed for Rosohna to seek an audience with the Bright Queen. Zef sighs and says that none have heard from them; she suspects that they were caught in a skirmish and perished before reaching the capital.
• She grimly states that she can hardly fight in her current condition, and that the entire village will be overrun by the next night. She thinks that their only hope is to destroy the Dark Star. If pressed, she sighs and admits that it’s only a hunch—but what choice do they have?

Zef has not been able to convince the Keeper to surrender the Dark Star, but she thinks the characters might be able to do so. “After all,” she says with a wink, “You were sent to us by the Bright Queen herself, were you not?"

If the characters truthfully reveal that they were not, she smiles wide and narrows her cunning eyes. “Not that the Keeper knows that, eh?” The characters need not use this lie, but it is one way to gain access to the Keeper’s abode.

Keeper’s Manor

The Keeper’s manor is an elaborate, four-story house of wood and stone surrounded by a wrought-iron fence. Its gate is locked tight, and a character that hops the fence must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 2 (1d4) piercing damage from the iron spikes atop it. The yard on the other side of the fence is filled with husk zombie corpses with their long, claw-like fingers and pointed teeth. Some have had their flesh burned off, others are covered in melting ice, and others seem to have been blasted apart by bolts of force.

The door to the Keeper’s manor is locked, and a long iron pipe with a flared end trails down from an upper window. This sound-pipe is the only way the Keeper will speak with anyone. His door is locked and reinforced with iron. It can be opened in one of the following ways:

• If the Keeper unlocks it (see below)
• It can be torn from its hinges if a character makes a successful DC 17 Strength check
• It can be broken down if reduced to 0 hit points (it has 20 hit points, AC 17, and is immune to poison and psychic damage)
• Its lock can be picked by making a successful DC 20 Dexterity check with thieves’ tools

Convincing the Keeper

If the characters speak into the sound-pipe, the raspy, aged voice of the Keeper slithers down the pipe in response. He is a cantankerous old drow (see “Keeper Ralyx Mirimm,” below) who believes himself better than the common rabble. He refuses to let anyone in—unless they offer him incredible wealth, such as a rare magic item or a sum of 1,000 gold coins. A character that tries to lie to him about a promise of wealth must succeed on a DC 18 Charisma (Deception) check.

The Keeper is terrified of the Bright Queen (or anyone with political power in Rosohna), and shrieks if he hears that the characters were sent by a member of the dynasty. He stammers and asks why they’re here at this desperate time, and then goes silent for a few moments before calming down and inviting them in for a warm meal. 

A character that makes a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check recognizes that his demeanor completely changed. Succeeding on this check by 5 or more also reveals that he paused for a terribly long time before inviting them up, as if he was scheming something.

Keeper Ralyx Mirimm

The Keeper of Galgarad is a feeble, aged male drow mage who fled from Rosohna in disgrace over two hundred years ago. He has a short, wild mess of white hair and weathered violet skin. His body is thin and spindly, and he wears immense, voluminous robes to conceal his withered frame. Ralyx was exiled from Den Mirimm after carrying on a flagrant and callous affair with a member of Den Thelyss, cheating on his wife with whom he had already raised three children. He wandered the wastes for decades, using his charisma to wriggle his way into a position of power in small settlements across Xhorhas. He would always flee these places as their people turned against him, but he has repeated his grift for nearly two hundred years before settling in Galgarad twenty years ago. His cunning, charm, and magic allowed him to ingratiate himself to the town's ailing former Keeper and claim his position. 

The Keeper of Galgarad has kept watch over the Dark Star since the dawn of the Kryn Dynasty, for the first Keeper was appointed by the Bright Queen herself. The first Keeper was beloved by Galgarad’s people for her service as mystical protector of the town, and the five Keepers that have succeeded the first have enjoyed that love as well. Even Ralyx Mirimm was beloved for a time—but he squandered any good will he was afforded as Keeper when he shut his doors and refused to house even a single one of his people when the undead descended upon the town.

Within the Keeper’s Abode

Within the front door is an antechamber for guests to remove their shoes, with a tall spiral staircase nearby. A hallway extends past the stairs, but a permanent wall of force stands in the way—only the paranoid Keeper knows the password to allow access into the rest of his house. The Keeper’s abode is at the top of the stairs, which spiral up for three dizzying flights into an opulent common room. The room is garishly gold; everything seems to glitter, from the walls to the tables, to even the chairs. Trophies and mementoes of his time as a promising scion of Den Mirimm adorn the walls—including two splendid suits of armor decorated with runes. 

Invited Guests. If the characters enter at Ralyx’s invitation, he greets them with a broad smile on his old and angular face, with his arms spread wide. “Honored guests,” he rasps. “You must be hungry after your trip from the capital. Please, join me for some nourishment? I can prepare a feast of fine food with a snap of my fingers.”

Regardless of their response, Ralyx snaps his fingers at casts a spell of his own devising, which conjures a fully set table with a splendid feast for up to eight, including place settings and utensils (and consumes a 3rd-level spell slot). It is a feast of Xhorhasian delights:

• a main course of rzukaal (a dish made from sautéed rice noodles, hearty mushrooms, and giant spider legs)
• a dessert of keltaly (heavy cream mixed with pulverized black currants and frozen into a fluffy, sweet, creamy dessert)
• a crystal goblet filled with yunfaalyu (a fragrant plum liquor served at frigid temperatures and garnished with currants).

Uninvited Intruders. If the characters break into Ralyx’s home, he screams as soon as he notices the intruders and demands to know why they have come. Unless they threaten him and make a successful DC 15 Charisma (Intimidation) check, he prepares to cast cloudkill. (Initiative is rolled as soon as it’s obvious he’s preparing to cast a spell, but he still casts the spell on his turn.) The two suits of armor in this room also animate, becoming helmed horrors that attack until Ralyx surrenders and commands them to stand down. If he is reduced to 15 hit points or fewer, he surrenders and starts weeping fat tears.

Making a Deal. Ralyx tries to make a deal with the characters, either cordially over dinner or in intimidated disgrace.  He praises the characters, trying to charm them with his words and get them to support him instead of the villagers.

He might say it in this way: “I never thought I would meet mercenaries as keen-minded as you. I think you and I can see eye to eye. The people of this town… when faced with disaster, they panicked. They devolved into chaos and barbarism—you see what transpired down there? They will stab anyone in the back if it means their own survival… even you. Can you not see what they’ve done? They are using you as fodder against the horde, a way to buy time for them to escape. They are almost as monstrous as the undead.

“Now, I know where the Dark Star is. I am a dunamancer—nay, I am the Dark Star’s Keeper! Bring it to me, and I can use the power to turn this horrid zombie problem into a boon. And of course, I can afford to pay you very, very handsomely.”

Keeper Ralyx offers the characters 1,000 gp each if they bring him the Dark Star. He doesn’t elaborate on how he can turn the zombie problem to his favor unless a character makes a successful DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check. He overconfidently explains that he can use the Dark Star to control the zombie horde and use it to rebuild the town they destroyed—and kill whoever caused the problem. Of course, Ralyx has no idea if he can do these things, but his hubris is without limit.

Ralyx refuses to explain why the Dark Star is a problem in the first place unless a character threatens him again and makes a successful DC 20 Charisma (Intimidation) check. A character that brings up information they learned from the Rallier, such as how he dismissed his acolytes, has advantage on this check. On a success, he furiously explains how the ritual of the Dark Star was esoteric nonsense from an ancient age that constantly drained his time and resources. He dismissed his acolytes as a way to save money that could be better spent on the town (even though he just embezzled the money for his own purposes).   

Ralyx’s Possessions

Keeper Ralyx is an incredibly wealthy socialite. Or at least, he was some 20 years ago. Over the past two decades, he has spent the lion’s share of his wealth on his grandiose remodel of the formerly humble Keeper’s abode, parades and other ostentatious and self-serving displays of power, and heaps of expensive spell components to create magical wards enough to calm his paranoia.

The magical trinkets and mementos in his solitary room are worth a total of 400 gp, and he has a chest hidden under his bed containing 2,000 gp. Characters that spend time looting his house from top to bottom find stashes of gold, trinkets, and works of art worth a total of 100 gp per hour spent searching, to a maximum of 24 hours. He also has a locked vault in the basement of his house that contains a +2 dagger, a +1 dagger, a suit of +1 chainmail, and a +2 wand of the war mage.

To the Vault

If the characters agree to help Keeper Ralyx, he tells them the location of the Vault of the Dark Star. If they refuse, he wails that they must do something, or else the creatures will eat him next! He eventually reveals the location under duress. The vault is hidden within one of the two hills outside of town. One side of this hill is actually made of the grass-covered shell of a horizonback tortoise, with several hidden entrances leading down into the hollowed-out center of the hill. The vault is within the hill.

Vault of the Dark Star

The shell of a long-dead horizonback tortoise makes up the south side of one of the two hills just south of town. It is covered with layer of dirt and grass that camouflages it almost completely. However, three gaping holes have been punched into the shell by the husk zombies. They spilled out of the hill night after night, and now there are dozens of these undead abominations mindlessly pacing the interior of the shrine until their masters command them to spill forth again.

As the characters investigate the hill, they realize that there are three holes on the hillside; one near the top, one in the middle, and one near the base of the hill. The inside is pitch dark.

1. Prayer Chamber

Entering any of the holes brings them to the main prayer chamber, which is fifty feet wide and roughly circular. The floor of the chamber is filled with twenty-four husk zombies and two nergaliids. The zombies are the rotting remains of townsfolk of Galgarad, and the nergaliids are their creators. The upper hole opens into air about 40 feet above the ground, the middle hole is 20 feet above the ground, and the lowest hole is a mere 10 feet above. Three 4-foot-thick wooden support beams crisscross the vaulted ceiling, with each hole leading onto one support beam. They roughly cross in the center, and ropes are tied around them, with each rope dangling to the beam below. Deep claw marks are gouged into the decaying wood, revealing how the husk zombies have climbed out of the hidden vault.

At the northwestern end of the chamber is a set of stone double doors inscribed with the hexagonal symbol of the Luxon. This passage leads into a hallway to the ritual chamber where the Dark Star was sealed. The zombies try to pursue any characters they see; climbing ropes if they are attacked from above, or chasing fleeing characters into the sealed hall (area 2).

Tip: Making Mass Saving Throws

When making saving throws for a large number of the same creature, such as 24 husk zombies, it can save time to use a digital dice-rolling app. Alternatively, you can split the monsters into four groups and roll once for each group, and treat each result as if all creatures in that group had rolled it. This method reduces the amount of time spent rolling while still making the results of the saving throw somewhat varied.

2. Sealed Hall

This hallway is 10 feet wide and 15 feet long. A set of heavy stone doors allow access to the prayer chamber (area 1) and can be barred with a thick wooden beam. The stone door has AC 17 and 50 hit points, and is immune to poison and psychic damage. A set of double doors made from thick oaken planks blocks access to the ritual chamber (area 3). The wooden door has AC 15 and 22 hit points, and is immune to poison and psychic damage.

A character that makes a DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check gets a hunch that the zombies won’t be able to break through the barred stone doors for at least an hour, giving them time to rest if they need it.

3. Ritual Chamber

This room is a long hall, but the back half has collapsed, creating a wall of dirt and rubble behind the statue that dominates this room. A statue of the Bright Queen kneels upon a 10-foot wide circular base in the center of this room, holding aloft a dodecahedral symbol of the Luxon made from glass and iron. Uncanny dark light pulses within it.

Hidden Foes. Characters with a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 15 or higher notice a monstrous creature lurking atop the beacon. Bulbous and scaled, with mottled green-gray skin, this creature is a nergaliid. It hides, waiting until other foes attack before striking its foes with its Tongue Lash attack or Siphon Life power from afar. Likewise, there are two staircases that flank the statue, leading to a balcony above the door into this room. Two drow elite warriors hide atop this balcony, and will jump down to block the exit if the characters try to leave, or attack from afar with their hand crossbows if the characters try to harm the Dark Star.

Dark Star Speaks. As the characters enter the room, the glass beacon pulses quickly, and the deep, rasping voice of the Dark Star fills the chamber. If they attack the nergaliid or the drow, the Dark Star urges them to lower their weapons. It greets them and relates the story of how it came to be trapped in the beacon (see “Legacy of the Dark Star,”) and tries to convince them that the Bright Queen is a heretic, a betrayer, and a traitor to Lolth. It cordially invites them to join the Children of Malice, and agrees to be taken to the Keeper and give him the same offer to rebel against the Bright Queen’s heretical regime. If they refuse to join the Children of Malice, it affably reminds them that the only alternative to serving them willingly is serving them as an undead thrall. If they refuse again (or attack), the Dark Star and its allies attack. Roll initiative!

Powers of the Dark Star. The Dark Star is a demilich, but it has lost most of its former power. The Dark Star itself is an onyx skull that radiates ultraviolet light, suspended in a glass-and-iron replica of a Luxon beacon. While encased in this beacon, it has the following traits:

• It acts on initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties)
• The reinforced glass beacon has an AC of 10 and 80 hit points. It is vulnerable to bludgeoning damage and is immune to poison and psychic damage.
• It can cast dark star once per day, requiring no material components. Using the spell, it creates a radius large enough to consume as many hostile creatures as possible (even if this includes its own allies). Once it casts dark star, the demilich concentrates on the spell. Damage to the glass beacon can’t break the demilich’s concentration.

Once the beacon is reduced to 0 hit points, the glass shatters completely, and the demilich’s onyx skull tumbles onto the floor. The demilich is stunned until the start of its next turn (which it still takes on initiative count 20).

Rules Tip: Concentration

A stunned creature is incapacitated, meaning it can’t take legendary actions or lair actions, or use its Legendary Resistance feature. If it’s concentrating on a spell, it loses concentration. As usual, a stunned creature is also easier to hit, as attack rolls against it have advantage, and it also automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws.

The Dark Star was once immensely powerful, but being locked in time stasis for nearly a millennium has sapped much of its great arcane strength. It uses demilich statistics with these changes, which reduce its challenge rating to 9 (5,000 XP):

• It can’t take lair actions
• It has no uses of its Legendary Resistance feature
• It can’t take legendary actions
• It has 40 hit points remaining (but its maximum hit points are still 80, allowing it to heal using its Life Drain attack)

When the Dark Star is destroyed, it emits a furious wail and its skull crumbles into ash. If the nergaliid is still alive, it slips into the shadows and tries to hide—and bargains for its life, offering treasure worth 1,000 gold that it found in the vault and safe passage through the husk zombies if they spare its life. If the drow warriors survive, they flee from the vault as quickly as possible from the vault and run into the Vermaloc Wildwood—towards their fortress of Dumaran, deep in the forest depths. The characters may wish track them to their lair after this adventure is concluded.

Escape from the Undead

Unfortunately for the characters, the only way out of the vault is past a horde of slavering undead (presuming that they didn’t already kill all of the husk zombies in the prayer chamber). The undead, now masterless, mindlessly attack any creature they see. If the characters flee from them, 2d4 husk zombies pursue them onto the hillside and will chase them until they are destroyed. Any remaining zombies shuffle aimlessly about the vault until they are disturbed again.

Return to Galgarad

The characters return to find Galgarad is much the same as they left it. Unless the characters convinced them to do otherwise, the townsfolk are still preparing for the night’s eventual attack, and Keeper Ralyx is still hiding in his gilded manor. If the characters deliver the ashes of the Dark Star to Zef Beltune, she breathes a sigh of relief and thanks them for saving the lives of the people of Galgarad. The townsfolk have already given all that they could in their initial parcel, and have no reward. However, Zef possesses a mighty greataxe that has been passed down through her den for several cycles of consecution. This greataxe has the powers of a mace of disruption.

If the characters bring the Dark Star to Keeper Ralyx, he thanks them for their service and pays them half of what he promised, for a total of 500 gp each. If a characters makes a successful DC 15 Charisma (Intimidation) check, he gives them the full 1,000 gp. Otherwise, he attacks and requests the Dark Star’s aid. The demilich agrees—but rasps that they must agree upon the terms of their arrangement after the meddlesome adventurers have been dealt with.

Regardless of whether or not the characters sided with the Keeper, his possessions can be claimed as their reward if he’s defeated. (See “Within the Keeper’s Abode,” earlier in this adventure.)

Future Adventures

This adventure can be the start of a campaign set in Xhorhas. As a demilich, the Dark Star is not so easily defeated. Its phylactery is hidden somewhere in Xhorhas or the Underdark beneath it. However, because the demilich’s phylactery has been starved of souls for nearly a millennium, the Dark Star can’t regenerate until the phylactery’s power has been restored. This involves feeding it souls—either countless mortal souls or a number of the exceptionally powerful souls of demigods or of mortal beings who have attained great power in life—such as dragons or high-level characters.

The Dark Star knew the phylactery’s location, and was able to provide it to members of the Children of Malice before the destruction of its physical form. This information is carefully guarded; it may have been provided to a drow matron mother that lurks in the shadows of Xhorhas and serves as the cult master of Lolth’s faithful. She may be the only one who knows the hiding place of the phylactery, after casting modify memory on the couriers that brought that knowledge to her. Now, this matron mother is preying upon the souls of the thousands of Xhorhasian and Dwendalian soldiers perishing in the war and gathering them as a grand feast for the Dark Star.

If her ritual is successful, the Dark Star is revived as a lich, and the characters must defeat it alongside its numerous allies within the Children of Malice. If the characters want to stamp out the threat of the Dark Star and the Children of Malice once and for all, they must track down hidden enclaves of Lolth’s occult followers in order to prevent them from fueling the furnace of war for their own foul benefit. Or, discover the location of the phylactery and how to destroy it, and infiltrate the matron mother’s lair to steal the accursed artifact.

The first step on this journey could be to track drow fleeing from the vault. Their trail leads into the crimson boughs of the Vermaloc Wildwood—and from there to the fortress of Dumaran, home of a legion of hobgoblins that have sworn themselves to Lolth’s service.

Where will your campaigns in Wildemount go? What do you like about this encounter, and what will you change when you run it? Let us know in the comments! 

A huge thanks to Matthew Mercer and all of Critical Role for giving us the tools to play in their sandbox—and a very special thanks to them for giving D&D Beyond unique permission to publish encounters and adventures set in Wildemount. You can also keep up with their adventures across Wildemount in Critical Role, every Thursday at 7:00 pm PST on www.twitch.tv/CriticalRole.

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James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, and the Critical Role Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, a member of the Guild Adepts, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and other RPG companies. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his fiancée Hannah and their animal companions Mei and Marzipan. You can find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.