Here are a few short adventure ideas for introducing characters to Khoras. They are by no means the only opportunity for adventure in this world. Hooks are "seeded" throughout the entire site, and are especially abundant in the Nations and Cities sections. Be sure to check out those areas when you're done browsing here. Also, it bears repeating that this world is not "system specific". Individual statistics for villains that players may face are intentionally left out, so that you, the Game Master, may use whichever game system you prefer, and are in control of the level of difficulty for each encounter. The information includes hyperlinks to the location in Khoras where the adventure takes place and a link to the appropriate visual aides for each adventure. Click on the title of the adventure for complete details.
Synopsis: The characters are approached by one of the city nobleman who asked them to help him find the legendary Coin of Drakkel during the Festival of the Coin. This adventure is something of a scavenger hunt through the city of Drakkel, chasing clues and obscure bits of historical knowledge while eluding competitor teams and rival Coin hunters.
Location: Entirely within the City of Drakkel.
Synopsis: Characters stumble upon an abandoned town and later discover undead rampaging around the countryside. They soon find themselves drawn into a plot involving a 2000 year old tomb and a gate to other dimensions. Originally designed as a single shot adventure. This one can be run in one night.
Location: In the foothills of the Sentinel Mountains, east of Jannerus.
Synopsis: Characters are teleported through the last gate of an ancient teleport network and find themselves ill prepared for the situation they find themselves in.
Location: Anywhere in southern IthriaThe saurians who dwell in the ruins of Doth have managed to reactivate the last gate in an ancient teleport network. The characters are soon teleported through that gate and find themselves in the heart of the ruins of Doth, in the lair of a tribe of wild saurians, outnumbered and lost and hundreds of miles from home.
Synopsis: A wizard abandoned on an island takes out revenge on those who left him there.
Location:
Asylum and the
Drakkellian Alliance
An unstoppable killing machine appears out of nowhere and begins a journey toward Drakkel leaving death and destruction in its wake. Only after investigating do the players discover that the golem is killing very specific people. This discovery leads them to learn of the horrible truth behind the golem and its creator.
Synopsis: A town is under attack from creatures emerging from a nearby swamp.
Location:
Corvenia or
Arkalia
Men working in the swamp are vanishing. Strange lights and sounds are heard emanating from the edges of the swamp. The town folk are scared and laborers are refusing to work. The local lord wants the swamp edge cleared to expand his territory – farming lands, etc. However, with the local disappearances, odd sightings and fearful workers, this is proving difficult. The lord wishes to hire warriors to scout out the swamp and dispatch any evil spirits or animals that may pose a threat to his workers. He wants the warriors to bring out a dead ogre or something to SHOW the workers and prove to them its save to work again. Of course, he'll pay the warriors well. In actuality, a necromancer witch (a death master of sorts - a sorceress that deals strictly with death magic and making zombies and such) has settled in the burnt out shell of a ruined castle deep in the swamp. She is kidnapping townsfolk to add to her growing horde of undead. She plans on eventually attacking the small town. She wants revenge against the town for some real or perceived wrong.
An agent in the Ithell area contacts the characters and says he represents a wealthy collector of art and antiquity. A recent archeological dig on Mountain Top isle of Arkalia has caught the attention of his employer. The employer is none other than Pon Molthir. The characters are hired to investigate and steal any Irenni relics that they can. They will be paid based on what they recover. Pon Molthir believes that this dig has uncovered the city of Iruqo. He is particularly interested in a specific statuette which may or may not be at this site. He gives them a detailed description of the statuette and offers a healthy monetary bonus if they are able to smuggle it out for him. Arkalia jealously guards its rights to all Irenni ruins and will keep uninvited diggers away at sword point.
A girl who has been kidnapped by a military commander is being forced into marriage. The local authorities (city guards, militia, etc. ) are hesitant to get involved due to the commander’s high rank and position. The girl’s father, although a poor man, runs a tavern keep and he is a master brewer. He begs the characters to help. He promises them that if they free his daughter, his tavern will be as a home to them, with free food and ale for the taking. This is a good one if you’ve got at least one altruistic character. Basically, they will have to venture into the Citadel under the guise of conducting business, sneak into the upper levels (officer’s private quarters) where the girl is being held and rescue the girl. The wedding plans are moving quickly and the characters will have just a couple of days before the event. If they are seen or captured, they could be labeled criminals. If they succeed, they’ve got a tavern which will treat them like family (a great "home base" for future adventures).
A well known and highly skilled grumman glassblower by the name of Leafall Bandis, has developed a new technique to make stronger, clearer glass - an accomplishment of which he is extremely proud and is sure to reap great monetary benefits. He is traveling from his home in the village of Ransook (in the Khenshire) to the Drakkellian Alliance to show off this technique to House Tinabri, the glassblowers' guild. A jealous competitor, a human glassblower named Petrin Cauvos, living in Jannerus, is quietly gathering hired muscle to help ambush the caravan as it passes through Jannerus. Petrin plans on stealing the technique, including all paperwork and glass samples, which means the attack will have to be carefully executed so as to not damage any of the cargo. As for Leafall, he will either be killed or captured and later tortured for information about the technique. Depending on the morals and skills of your player characters, they could be hired as mercenaries by Petrin to help with the ambush or as caravan guards by Leafall. The caravan will consist of four wagons in total and several horsed riders. Leafall is a wealthy man and could have hired many more guards. However, he is traveling through the friendly grumman lands and is not expecting any trouble. Petrin has the advantage of surprise.
While traveling through lightly forested hills, the characters stumble upon an animal scratching about the base of a small hill. After shooing the animal away, they find a door, buried beneath the dirt, partially exposed. If the characters uncover the door and overcome the lock, they discover a small, fortified bunker buried in the hill. The bunker is loaded with clothes, equipment, weapons, a small library, magically preserved food, barrels of water and more. It consists of about six rooms and plenty of curiosities to keep the players busy. This is the "safe house" on the receiving end of an emergency teleport pad out of a wizard’s castle. After 30 minutes of poking around the small base, the wizard discovers (by remote alarm) that his safe house has been compromised and he shows up. This is an interesting way to introduce the characters to a powerful wizard or a larger plot. Perhaps the encounter leads to a battle between the characters and the wizard. Perhaps it leads to a job offer. Who knows?
On the previous voyage of the Tempest, a priestess of Agethos was thrown overboard to appease an island of myrian savages in the western Pirate Isles. On the return voyage, the ghostly apparition of the priestess visits the captain of the vessel and declares the ship cursed and will sink on its next voyage. Fear quickly spreads through crew. The ship reaches the port of Drakkel and rumors quickly spread that the ship will sink on its next voyage. Although the captain and several crew members quit their posts, the owner eschews the curse and hires additional crewmembers and appoints a new captain - paying them all handsomely. He does not want any interruption to his trading. Local gambling houses in Drakkel begin placing odds on the ship. Betting becomes a favored past time as preparations are made for its embarkation. Another ship, whose owner renames "Temptress", makes preparations to follow the Tempest, to provide a good show for its high paying customers. This is the kind of subplot you drop in when the characters are taking a ship from Drakkell to somewhere. This is one of the ships that is in port that is going where they want to go. Alternately, the characters could be hired as deckhands or bodyguards for one of the passengers. The curse itself could be manifested as a terrible storm, a sea monster or a group of sea zombies that climb out of the waters up the side of the ship in the middle of the night. Either way, give the players a good battle and something to remember. The voyeur ship becomes entangled in the mess as well. Both ships sink. Only about half of all the people survive and make it back to tell the tale.
A duke’s son who is skilled at magic wishes to study under Morlokk. The duke is sending his son into the Baen Desert to seek an audience with the great mage. Of course, the Baen Desert is an extremely harsh journey. The duke wishes to hire additional mercenaries to assure the safety of his son on the long journey across the dunes of the Baen Desert. The characters are offered a job to guard the caravan as it makes its way across the dunes. The caravan starts in the War Vale and it's destination is the oasis in the middle of the desert. This is a good way to show off the Baen Desert. First of all, there's a dragon's lair in between the War Vale and Baen (in the ring of mountains on the east side). The caravan will have to give the lair a wide berth. Anyone foolish enough to take on a dragon deserves to die (and don't feel guilty about it). After that, you can throw other things at them: a sandworm, a sentinel scorpion, scrub rats, a baenite hunting party and maybe even a cousin of the Sarlacc if you're feeling particularly cruel. Once the party reaches the oasis, they will challenged at the edge of the oasis by a shadowy apparition that asks the nature of their business. At the center of the oasis is a large castle. Guards at the gate will question them politely and then show them to temporary guest quarters. The party will probably spend a day there basking in the opulent luxury of the castle. They will not, however, get to meet Morlokk. More than likely, they will deal with intermediate officials. Whether or not Morlokk accepts the duke's son as an apprentice is up to you. Either way, after a day, the caravan is "invited" to leave.
Synopsis: The Chosen kidnap one of the player characters.
Location: The
Coalition
The Chosen positively identify one of the player characters as a possible candidate for joining with the Corumunth. The player is kidnapped, brought to the Tower of Darkness and begins testing. The party has only four days to find and rescue their fellow adventurer before the character is joined with the Corumunth. After that, it's too late.
Synopsis: The characters find themselves in possession of a stolen religious
relic.
Location:
Arkalia
Just prior to the characters leaving the city, the city guards, assisted by the King's Guard, close and lock the city gates. The entire city is locked down and no one is allowed in or out. Rumors quickly spread that someone has stolen the Silver Hammer of the Church of Barrinor. The church begins sweeping the city with magical search spells. As the characters settle down for what could be a long stay, one of them discovers the hammer in a saddle bag on his horse.
Synopsis: The characters join in on a torgat hunt.
Location:
Normidia
The characters participate in a torgat hunt. Perhaps a local noble has taken a shine to one of the female characters and wants to bring her party along so that he may impress her. Perhaps several hunters from a large hunting party backed out at the last minute and the lead hunter doesn't want to go without the full compliment of 20 men and so offers the open positions to the characters. Perhaps the characters themselves hire a professional guide to set up a hunt for them.
The hunt is planned to be a 3 week outing. Near the beginning of the second week, the party spots torgat tracks and begins tracking. However, they have stumbled upon a particularly intelligent torgat that has survived several hunts. This one doubles back on the hunter's base camp and tears the place apart destroying all supplies. This agile torgat uses the trees as cover and never gives the archers a clear shot. He also tries to pick off the hunters one by one.
Synopsis: The characters search for a missing child.
Location:
Drakkellian
Alliance
The wife of a powerful Drakkellian noble is accused of the theft of a missing child. The women, having just lost a child in childbirth, denies the charges. Her husband, a very powerful and wealthy man, is outraged at the charges and offers a reward to anyone who can find the missing child and help clear his wife's name. Many people are currently searching.
The family of the missing child hires the characters to prove that the noble's wife actually did take their son. Perhaps the noble's wife really did take the child, driven mad by her own loss. Perhaps she is being set up by a rival who will make sure the murdered child is found in a place that will place blame on her. Perhaps the noble himself is setting up his own wife.
Synopsis: The characters are hired to steal a letter.
Location: Any
An old, but wealthy merchant wishes to hire the party to retrieve a letter from a rival. The letter implicates him in an indiscretion(an affair) from years before (during his very first few months of marriage). His wife doesn't know and he wishes to keep it that way. The love letter is in his own handwriting and there are several other clues that it is legitimate. (Broken wax seal with his sigil, pet name used, ec). If the letter were to become public knowledge, it would be a huge embarrassment for him and could end his business, his marriage and worse. The rival is attempting to blackmail the merchant. He asks the party to sneak into the rival's house (a fortified mansion) and retreive the letter. This will involve outwitting guards, overcoming security defenses, locating the letter and getting out alive with it. To further complicate things, another noble, who has found out about the ring wishes to possess it to humilate the party's benefactor. He has sent his own team to get the letter.
This website was last updated August 9, 2023. Copyright 1990-2023 David M. Roomes.