The O rder of th e G a u n tle t The Church of the Silver Flame The Church of the Silver Flame is more narrowly religious than the Order of the Gauntlet, but its overall tone is similar. Because the Silver Flame is Thrane’s state religion, characters of any class from that nation might work toward the Silver Flame’s ends. The Em erald Enclave The Wardens of the Word or the Gatekeepers The Wardens of the Wood are this faction’s logical equivalent in Eberron if you’re setting Princes of the Apocalypse anywhere near the Eldeen Reaches. Otherwise, the Gatekeepers are a good choice. The L o rd s’ A llia n c e The Twelve or the Aurum The Twelve serves as the defender of civilization much as the Lords’ Alliance does, and its members are similarly vulnerable to occasional bouts of rivalry and infighting. The Aurum, while far less altruistic than the Lords’ Alliance, fulfills a similar function in the world of Eberron, fighting to protect the status quo and ensure that those in power stay that way. The Zhentarim The Order of the Emerald Claw Replace the Black Network with the Order of the Emerald Claw, though you should downplay the connection to Vol. Dragonm arked Houses As an alternative to the five factions, you can use Eberron’s dragonmarked houses. If you do so, remember that many members of the houses don’t possess dragonmarks, and that even houses dominated by one race (the half-elves of House Lyrandar, for example) include members of other races. When you start the adventure, have every character choose a dragonmarked house in addition to a race, class, and background. House Deneith functions much like the Order of the Gauntlet, House Kundarak serves as the Lords’ Alliance, House Lyrandar or House Tharashk is equivalent to the Harpers, House Phiarlan and House Thuranni are the Zhentarim, and House Vadalis fills in for the Emerald Enclave. O th e r E lem en ts Once you’ve located the adventure in the world and figured out how you’re going to handle the factions, only a few tasks remain. • Give some of the magic items in the adventure an Eberron spin by connecting them to the magic of dragonshards. The four elemental weapons wielded by the prophets, for example, might be powered by Khyber dragonshards. • Connect the economy of the Dessarin Valley to the dragonmarked houses. Kaylessa runs Red Larch’s inn, the Swinging Sword, on behalf of House Ghallanda, and many of the town’s wagonwrights are affiliated with House Lyrandar. The missing delegation that kicks off the adventure in chapter 3 might be organized by House Kundarak. • Include some NPCs of Eberron-specific races. Grund in Red Larch (described in chapter 6) can be a warforged; much of the town looks down on him anyway. The doppelganger in the “Halls of the Hunting Axe” side trek could be a changeling, and it’s not difficult to imagine the prophet Vanifer being one too. Some of the lycanthropes and druids at Scarlet Moon Hall (described in chapter 3) might be shifters. • Tweak the adventure’s background to connect it to the Last War. Perhaps the four prophets are war ref ugees—or war criminals. And they found themselves picking up their elemental weapons for the first time on the Day of Mourning. Y o u r O w n W o r l d If you’ve created a fantasy world of your own to serve as the setting for your Dungeons & Dragons game, it will work just fine for the Elemental Evil campaign. The servants of the Elder Elemental Eye might operate under different names or present themselves in new guises, but elemental corruption can strike any world at any time. Heroes are always be needed to drive back the forces of darkness and destruction. The events of Princes of the Apocalypse take place in a thinly settled frontier, far from any kind of central authority. There are no power groups that can easily contest the rise of the elemental prophets—that’s why the burden of action falls to the player characters. The easiest conversion is to take the whole Dessarin Valley and drop it into the map of your world. Locations such as Red Larch or the Sumber Hills are generic enough that they would fit in most D&D settings. You may want to rename deities or factions to the pantheon or power groups present in your campaign, but otherwise you can incorporate the adventure as written into a part of the world your player characters have not yet explored. Alternatively, you can find a suitable place in your world where you can arrange towns analogous to Red Larch, Womford, Beliard, and Westbridge in the vicinity of a desolate wilderness like the Sumber Hills. In this adventure, these towns are as much as 70 or 80 miles apart, but there is no reason you couldn’t fit them in a much smaller area. As long as the towns are at least a day’s travel from each other, you have enough wilderness to make moving from town to town a serious decision point for the players. The Sumber Hills are presented as an area of dry badlands, but they don’t have to be hills in your campaign. A region of uninhabited moorland, a wide marsh or swamp, or even a dark and haunted forest would serve just as well as a setting for the cult outposts and the events described in the search for the missing delegation from Mirabar. Naturally, you should select a setting where old castles are likely to be reoccupied by sinister newcomers, and a huge old subterranean complex could underlie the mysterious ruins.
A ft er wor d For the Elemental Evil story, we tried to bring the elemental cults to life in a way that we’d never done before. We also wanted to make sure that each cult had its own identity and recurring motifs. Water cultists have scaly skin. Air cultists use elemental devices, such as balloon packs and wingwear, to fly. Fire cultists harness the forge to create all sorts of fiery implements and weird ironworks. Earth cultists meld their flesh with stone. Because the cultists are insane, it’s easy to imagine many crazy ideas. Water cultists riding giant walruses! Earth cultists with purple worm hatcheries! It’s all good. This appendix contains a sampling of the concept art we commissioned for the Elemental Evil story, not all of which ended up in this adventure. Sometimes we went in directions that proved too wacky for our tastes, but hopefully you’ll see something here that inspires you. —Chris Perkins W at er c u l t is t s shun ar mo r , but t hey l ik e sw or ds l in e d w it h shar ks ' t eet h and s h ie l d s made from g ia n t c r ab shel l s . T h e m y s t e r io u s V iz e r a n D e V i r c r eat es four m ig h t y w eapo ns im b u e d w it h el ement al po w er . A e r is i K a l in o t h 's o b e s s s io n w it h w in g e d el ves m a n if e s t s a s a set o f il l u s o r y w in g s . F ir e c u l t is t s ar e mast er s o f the for ge .
G ia n t V ul t ur es ar e po pul ar mo unt s amo ng a ir c u l t is t s . A n a ir c u l t is t uses a bal l o n pac k t o at t ack from abo ve w h il e s t a y in g out o f mel ee r ang e . A i r c u l t is t s c an g l id e thr ough the a ir u s in g w in g w e a r and pr ef er t o at t ack a t r ang e w it h c r o ssbo w s o r j a v e l in s . A i r beac o ns ar e f l o a t in g st r uct ur es t hat do ubl e a s a v ia r ie s for a e r ia l mo unt s .
E ar t h cult r o bes c o n s is t o f t h in r ock t il e s , f o r m in g a f a b r ic o f f l e x ib l e stone . E ar t h c u l t is t s use a v a r ie t y o f b u r r o w in g mo unt s E ar t h beac o ns ar e stone c it a d e l s at o p nat ur al cr ag s o r p il l a r s o f r ock . t hey usual l y appear off the beat en t r ac k near bar r en c anyo ns , r ocky h il l s , o r m o u n t a in s .
A r azer bl ast ' s ar mo r i s f used t o the s k in and c an ' t b e r emo ved . the w a r r io r ' s chest c a v it y has a n o pen hole w it h ahear t o f l iv in g f l ame . A f ir e c u l t is t a s t r id e a g ia n t f ir e l iz a r d F ir e c u l t is t s b in d f ir e el ement al s t o t h e ir w eapo ns and w ar m a c h in e s . F ir e beac o ns t y p ic a l l y have smo ke o r f ir e is s u in g from t h e ir t o ps , and st r uct ur al l y t hey r esembl e t o r ches o r l amps .
W at er c u l t is t s s o m e t im e s have w ebbed d ig it s and w ear gow ns made from kel p . T hey c u l t iv a t e bar nac l es o n t h e ir s k in a s a f ur t her act o f d e v o t io n . C o nc ept s for G a r S hat t er keel 's a r t if ic ia l c l aw . W at er c u l t is t s t ame a v a r ie t y o f c r eat ur es t o ser ve a s mo unt s , in c l u d in g g ia n t w al r uses . W at er beac o ns ar e usual l y b u il t near nat ur al so ur c es o f w at er and o f t en r esembl es g ia n t f o u n t a in s , conch shel l s , o r anemo nes .
W h a t H a p p e n s N e x t? ONTINUE UNRAVELING THE MYSTERIES of ancient evil with the downloadable module Neverwinter: Elemental Evil for the acclaimed free-to-play action MMORPG. Characters in the tabletop roleplaying game can delve deeper into the devious plots of the corrupt, power-hungry prophets every week in stores worldwide with the D&D Adventurers League Elemental Evil season of adventures. Bring your tabletop adventures to life with Elemental Evil miniatures and other game accessories by Gale Force Nine and WizKids Games. The Sw ord C oast is f a r FROM SECURE, AND THE ADVENTURE GOES FAR BEYOND THESE PAGES. The Temple of Elemental Evil Adventure System board game provides new ways to experience this epic story. Combine the contents with the other D&D Adventure System Cooperative Games, including Castle Ravenloft and The Legend o f Drizzt, to create even more exciting play experiences. Learn more at DungeonsandDragons.com. C