INTRODUCTION

UNDER A FELL BLACK SKY is a rollicking high action adventure set on a chaotic field of battle between a civilized army and hordes of undead. Designed to be played in a single sitting, the player characters must quickly orient themselves, traverse a muddy plain, climb a tower, deal with a quartet of questionable NPCs, save the day, and then battle to survive against a near overpowering foe.

The adventure is balanced for four 5th level characters, who will need to work well together to survive and succeed.

This module should give you and your players a straightforward evening of intense rapid fire adventure. The start of the adventure has been deliberately designed so that players need have no background knowledge of their characters, no reason to have come together, and no complicated motivation for past actions. Since the very first thing that happens is an amnesia inducing impact, feel free to play this with throw away characters or to use it to begin a long campaign. The adventure might even be run as a prequel to a long running campaign, the events occurring as part of a common wartime history that the characters might share in common.

PREPARATION

Before you begin:

• take a look at each of the player's character sheets and determine a 'primary item' for each, i.e. the most important part of each character's adventuring kit. This item needs to be something the characters are likely to have been carrying in their hands in combat, for example the fighter's greatsword, the cleric's mace, or the wizard's staff.
• record each item on a list and add one more item, titled ''skull sized blue glowing Orb''. If you are playing in person, record the list on cards and place these cards face down at the center of the table. If playing remotely, be prepared to select from this list with a dice roll. This peculiar action will hopefully intrigue your players and if they know you well enough, make them suspicious... and nervous!
• prepare the battle maps you will need. Battlefield, Outside the tower and Level 1, Level 4, Collapsed Tower. If playing in person, you might print these out or display them on a TV. If playing remotely, they can be easily imported into your favorite Virtual Tabletop.
• populate the map with minis or tokens. Place the player character minis to right hand side of and near, but not in the dark red impact zone. Then place 12 Blue Coat foot soldier minis in a wedge (defending the PCs from an attack from the right hand side of the map). Finally add an elf commander mini between the NPCs and the wedge of defenders. Here are some tokens you can use in your favourite VTT: Blue Coat, Skeleton, Greater Skeleton, Elf commander, Earth elemental, Rogue, Undead dragon.

PART ONE: INCOMING!

Once you're sure everything is ready to go, and when the players least expect it, begin with a bang!

Everyone will hear a desperate cry of ''INCOMING!'', followed by an enormous earth shattering (literally) crash.

As the ringing in the ears sound fills your player's ears, describe how a massive boulder - the size of a large carriage - has crashed heavily into the ground near the characters, throwing them into the mud. Their armor and faces are covered with the black sticky clay: a mix of fine slippery dust, dark red blood and gray undead body parts.

The characters have suffered complete amnesia, caused by the pressure from the impacting boulder. They have no idea who they are, who the other characters are, or why they are even here.

Ask the players to roll for initiative and let them act in turn. They may still act ideally for their character class, by vague instinct or reflex, but make sure you also reward players who decide to act non-optimally for the fun of it or for the benefit of the story. Depending on what the players say their characters are doing, give them the information below.

• If the players look at the ground:
  The field might have once been fertile farmland, but now every inch is a sea of churned soil, mixed with the broken limbs of men and undead alike. Fingers, elbows, teeth, weapons and every bit of gore imaginable mixes to form a hellish, slippery surface for battle.

• If the players look around themselves:
  The characters see blue coated soldiers rising slowly and groggily to their feet, shaking their heads and rubbing the mud from their eyes.

• If the players look further afield:
  Amassed in a churning sea of horror not so far from the PCs, they see a horde of skeletons rising to their feet.

• As each player takes an action that would normally utilize their primary item (for example the fighter moves to attack with his greatsword) ask that player to choose one of the cards from the pile in the center, or roll to claim one of their items from the list you have made.

• Now adjudicate the outcome of the attempted action with the influence of this unexpected discovery. For example, the fighter may raise what he thinks is his greatsword for a spectacular killing blow, only to discover he is wielding the wizard's staff.

• The player who claims the 2nd last item from the list should also take the final item, having unknowingly picked up two items from the mud, as they struggled to their feet. Part of the fun of this opening sequence is finding a practical way of getting each character's primary item back into their hands, without too much meta gaming.

• As the 2nd or 3rd player in initiative order takes their turn:
  A tall noble looking elf commander wearing what was presumably once significantly more shiny armor stands before the PCs pointing down the field of battle, shouting in words drowned out by the ringing in their ears. Reading his lips reveals that he is perhaps shouting ''Go, go now! Take the...'' or something like that.

• If the players look in the direction the elf is pointing:
  Far to the east, at least 1000 feet away stands a tall unstable looking tower.

• As the player who chooses the blue Orb announces this discovery:
  Ask for a DC10 Wisdom (Perception) check from the players. On a failure, the character's head is still spinning too much to do anything more than dry wretch into the filthy quagmire. On success, announce that their character notices the following:
  A raised area -a small hill- rises from the plain behind the PCs, ringed by two rows of Blue Coats upon which a sea of undead breaks. Atop the mound stands a ring of robed figures. One of them holds aloft a blue shining Orb. He places the Orb in a stone altar structure and with a burst of energy that pushes the robed figures back, tendrils of brilliant blue light reach out towards another such mound further to the north.

• If the players ask about the positioning of the mounds and the tower:
  It's a little hard for the PCs to tell from their position, but a triangle formed by drawing a line between these three high points would cover the majority of the battle field. The two mounds are already occupied by glowing activated blue Orbs, each seated in a stone altar structure. Is there an altar at the top of the tower, too?

  Start ''Hearing returning'' Mood

  The players may engage the skeletons. Allow them to do so, though they won't have any difficulty destroying a few of these. Attacking a single skeleton will cause their kin to approach and surround the offending PC, making for fun on both sides of the battle.

THE EARTH ELEMENTAL

Once the players have had a couple of turns each it's time to complicate matters:

With a deep roar the 'projectile' that knocked everyone down when it landed slowly stumbles to its feet, shakes off some large chunks of rock that its landing has dislodged.

• The elemental uses multiattacks and Earth Tremor on any hapless victims within its range (Blue Coats and undead alike) and giving a satisfied rumble when it crushes foe or 'friend' alike.

Insert this new horror into the initiative and continue the battle.

• This elemental -normally an overpowered foe for character's of this level- is heavily damaged by its flight (and landing) and will focus the majority of its attacks on the Blue Coats, and undead cannon fodder, generally focusing a PC with only one attack per two rounds. Many Blue Coats will die in this encounter that should underline the risk to the players this powerful foe poses. Feel free to add Blue Coats to the field should numbers start to run thin.

As battle proceeds...

• Try to keep the players confused and excited and nervous, but don't frustrate them too much.

• The party should be able to fairly quickly work out at least one fact; apparently they need to take the blue Orb to the top of the tower at the eastern end of the battle field, thus completing a large triangle with the other two mounds.

• If the players seem too confused, allow the elf commander to frantically shout slightly more instructively once the PCs hearing has returned more, ''The tower, take it to the tower!'' But then quickly crush the elf with the Elemental, so he can offer no further assistance.

Once they get moving, the characters should be able to mow their way through the undead hordes, so have fun surrounding the characters so the hapless skeletons have at least a chance to do some damage. Take care to surround any character who has multiple melee attacks, so the player can enjoy employing their training.

Part One will end with the character's escaping inside the entrance to the tower and slamming the door behind them. But first...

• When they characters arrive at the tower courtyard, describe every monster on the field noticing them, and turning to run them down. Literally hundreds of undead will be rushing towards them.

• As the characters struggle to open the door, announce that arrows begin raining down on them, and roll to attack each of them with a couple of shots of the skeleton's ranged attack each round they remain outside the tower.

• The door may be opened with a DC 18 Strength check, it has an AC of 15 and 20 HP. The door's lock may be picked with a DC 20 Dexterity check.

• As each failed attempt to open the door passes, emphasize the approaching horde to the players, ratcheting up the tension every time. Feel free to describe additional Elementals of different kinds also, rushing quickly to destroy the party. Once they finally get inside, you will want the players to feel they have gotten to safety barely in the nick of time.

Once the door is closed behind the PCs or the door frame is successfully blocked, allow the players a moment of triumph. They deserve it.

PART TWO: ASCENDING THE TOWER

This part of the adventure is designed to be a breather from the generally intense combat oriented nature of this module. Allow the characters a few moments to catch their breath, heal, rebuff.

The characters find themselves on the ground level of a long abandoned tower, filled with broken furniture and old crates. The sounds of the battle rage on outside, as the Blue Coats rally to defend the door of this tower, to give the characters a chance to get to the top and place the Orb in its focal point. If the players seem like they need encouragement to move on, and they actually went to some kind of effort to bar the door, feel free to have undead start to break through.

Eventually the characters will move up the stairs to the levels above. Each level has a stairway that curves around the inside of the walls of the tower, ending in a trapdoor that must be pushed up to gain entrance to the next landing. On the next 3 levels, the PCs find a kitchen and servants quarters, a dining hall, and finally a set of bedrooms. Each of these locations is broken down and long abandoned and what furnishings were not already removed are broken, dusty and decayed.

THE DEAL

As the PCs alight on level 4, they are greeted by a sinuous female voice, addressing the character you deem most likely to cheat, steal or betray the party, or if no character is an obvious choice, the voice addresses the character whose player has had the least 'camera time' so far in the adventure.

Lounging on four improvized couches are four brightly dressed female rogues. The leader of whom smokes a large roll of rich smelling 'herbs'.

Still mostly in the dark as to what is happening, and hopefully feeling like they were just starting to work things out, this event should throw a spanner in the works for the players. Allow this encounter to be a fun moment of roleplaying and let the players come to their own conclusions about what is actually happening here, whether they conclude that the PC the scoundrels address really is a traitor, or whether the whole party was in on the 'deal'. Hopefully the party will (ultimately) decide they'd prefer to take the Orb to the top of the tower, because that was the first instructions they received, and because if you play these scoundrels right, they will seem like a less than trustworthy crew.

A DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check will reveal that the rogues at least believe they are telling the truth, as will spells that force truth telling, but as the party hesitates the scoundrels will ratchet up the pressure in a situation that will probably end in combat. The gold filled chest is actually as real as real can be, the revelation of which will hopefully serve to confuse the players even further, though there is actually only 10,000gp in the chest. The rogues have 'held back' 10,000gp for themselves in 'fees' and 'charges'. Finding where they buried it might be a whole other adventure for another time.

• If the characters fight the rogues:

• This combat is a game of flanking. The rogues attack the characters in pairs, working hard to grant each other sneak attack damage, and disengaging to avoid opportunity attacks.

• If the characters are victorious:

• The party may again briefly heal, and might be wise to utilize some of the more 'useful' items found on the bodies of the rogues - each rogue carries a Potion of Healing (2d4 + 2) and the leader carries a Potion of Heroism.

As soon as you think the players are just about to move on, describe a crash from below and the sounds of dozens of undead, forcing their way into the base of the tower and beginning the climb up to the PCs.

This should prompt the PCs to climb through the last two levels of tower (another bedroom and a wizard's alchemy lab) and finally emerge on the roof. Don't miss the chance to describe the increasingly degraded nature of the stonework as the PCs climb higher, mortar is scarcer and scarcer, sections of steps are collapsed and missing stones let light in, giving brief glimpses of the battle outside, a battle which is not going well.

• If the PCs take a careful look outside:
  The characters will see the other two blue Orb positions are barely holding on, with deeper and deeper waves of undead breaking against the defending soldiers. The characters need to get the final Blue Orb into position as soon as possible!

• As the characters emerge at the top of the tower:

• The PCs finally push up the last trapdoor, emerge into the open, and discover their destination: a large stone altar with a bracket just the right size for the Orb they hopefully still carry.

PART 3: THE UNDEAD DRAGON ATTACKS

The characters have reached the top of the tower as the elf commanded them. Nothing inhibits the PCs from immediately rushing to place the blue Orb in its bracket, and when they do, describe the following.

• If the characters set the Orb in its proper resting place:

• Describe each event below in time with the sound cues as the music evolves in the ''Place the Orb'' Mood.

1. There is a deep throbbing pulse that knocks the PCs off their feet and causes the tower to shudder till it seems close to collapse.
2. Then a sudden burst of light that forces the PCs to look away.
3. A sinuous tendril of pulsing energy reaches out towards each of the other two altars, which each altar also reaching out towards the tall tower.
4. Finally... the 3 altars are joined and, with an enormous crack of thunder, they form a great blue sheet of light between them.
5. The battle field, to a man, pauses and looks up as the blue sheet slowly floats towards the ground, passing through man and undead, but leaving only the Blue Coats behind.
6. All the undead touched are destroyed.
7. A great cheer rises up from the battlefield.

At this point ask for Wisdom (Perception) rolls and describe the following to the player with the highest result.

The character hears the faint sound of wings in the air above the din of cheering... and turns, too late to act.

A huge undead dragon careers directly into the top of the tower from behind and above. Meaning to attack the PCs, the dragon succeeds only in collapsing the top three floors of the tower.

In a tumble of stone and undead dragon, the PCs fall to the ground, and unless they have some way of arresting their fall they take 6d6 damage at the end of the long ride to the bottom.

The PCs must now battle to survive this revenge attack from a very disgruntled undead dragon. The dragon is huge, blue, and semi-zombified, strips of its body dangle limply off and its chest hangs open, revealing a gaping hole where its sternum and internal organs should be. It bears a heavy chain, one end looped too tightly around its neck, the other swinging down near to the ground. The dragon is not having a good day, and plans to make anyone else's day worse too, if it can at all manage it!

Blue Coats attempt to offer assistance, and unless the PCs deliberately exclude them from the battle, you should spend up to half of the dragon's attacks on Blue Coats each round, describing their terrible deaths as vividly as you can. Depending on how well the PCs are doing, you may also expend one of the dragon's breath weapons on hapless Blue Coats.

This encounter should be very challenging, so use the attacks on the Blue Coats to help balance the fight as closely as possible to a TPK (Total Party Kill) while still allowing the PCs genuinely good odds of coming out victorious, as long as their tactics are sound and their teamwork effective. There are many things you can do to give the PCs a fighting chance. If the dragon rolls well on initiative, consider describing its first turn as it clambering out from underneath the rubble of the towertop and shaking off like a wet and very scaly dog. You might allow the PCs to use the heavy chain that hangs around its neck to their advantage, and make sure you hint sufficiently about the dragon's Gaping Chest (described below) and the possibility of utilizing the Orb (if they don't work these things out for themselves)!

Ideally, by the end of the encounter, the players should feel that their characters have just barely come out on top, through a combination of daring, skill, and a bit of luck! If any of the PCs are knocked unconscious, this should occur as near to the end of the battle as possible, so that player doesn't have to sit out for too long. Whatever you do, don't 'let on' that you are adjusting things on the fly though: that might spoil the fun.

The dragon has several weaknesses that will help the PCs to prevail, should they discover them.

The PCs may use the residual energy of the expended Orb as a weapon. If the Orb (by any means) touches the dragon it will cause 10d6 radiant damage as it explodes with a bright flash. By the end of this module the Orb has lost all its power and becomes a simple plain blue glass sphere.

Any PC attacking the dragon from within its bony chest cavity will discover it is far more soft and vulnerable than the hard outer ring of bones. The AC of the inner of the dragon is only 12.

When the PCs finally defeat the dragon, they truly have saved the day. Any PCs that have been knocked unconscious are quickly revived, though the blow of a undead dragon that fells a PC is certain to leave a lasting mark, perhaps a scar to tell stories about for years to come.

A great battle that will go down in legend has been won. Even better, the PCs will be at the center of those stories. Ensure the PCs are recognized in future adventures as the party that won the day ''Under a fell black sky''. Songs will be written, drinks will be bought, paintings painted and discounts had. If you have a talent for iambic pentameter, consider writing a ballad, with a verse for each of the PCs, featuring something that really did happen in your playthrough of the module, and also a fair few outlandish exaggerations to enrich the story appropriately.

Apart from the rogue's chest, there is no treasure in this module, so now is the time to reward the characters with an additional 4000gp as is appropriate for the number of encounters they have faced. A good idea is to do this at a ceremony of some kind, officiated by some important figure. You might like to make up the bulk of each PC's reward with a single magic item. Choose something particularly useful for each of PC, particularly if you play a campaign where they can't easily just go to the 'magic shop' and buy whatever they like whenever they like.

Make a big deal of the awards ceremony, the PCs have done well to survive.

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