Investigative cosmic horror in D&D? So you thought that was impossible, eh? Well, read on!

The adventure picks up in the rough and tumble port town of Port Mandei. Port Mandei passes for the commercial hub of the stark and desolate Haunted Steppes, a far northern region of the Lost Lands known for its calamitous past.

Whatever brings the adventurers to this remote location, odd things start happening shortly after they start exploring Port Mandei. These weird events start discreetly enough – maybe a glass suddenly slides off of a shelf to shatter on the floor, or a distant dolorous bell of an unknown source will ring for a minute and then suddenly stop.

As the characters move through the adventure with the early prospects of some interesting employment taking them into the heart of the Steppes, it becomes increasingly apparent that something very wrong is happening. The crops are starting to wilt and die. The dead are increasingly unquiet and are rising from their graves. The seasons themselves seem to be reversing. There even seems to be some sort of taint or obstruction to magic itself. What could be causing all these devastating changes?

The first thought is that the wards that hold back the Demiplane of Shadow far to the north are failing and that the cursed shadow horde that has afflicted this region for thousands of years is returning. However, after much exploration across the vast Steppes visiting such dangerous and incredible locations as Cale’s Doom and the long-abandoned wizard’s college, Tangjan College, the truth is revealed, and that truth is more horrible and terrifying than anyone could have imagined.

It will come down to this simple fact – can these adventurers unite the fractious cultures of the Steppes in order to face a gathering horde of the most horrid and dangerous creatures ever assembled? And, all that just in order to gain themselves the chance to face a being of legend and myth that the mere thought of it makes most mortals faint in fear? That is what it will take to prevent The End of Everything. Do you have what it takes?!

Ashnod [Vanguard Series]

Ashnod [Vanguard Series]

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