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Bane of the Chicken Mage | 3rd-Level Adventure

Added 2021-09-03 17:11:54 +0000 UTC

The heir of a tyrannical family has emerged from hiding and threatening a new reign of terror

Bane of the Chicken Mage is a Fifth Edition adventure intended for three to five characters of 2nd to 4th level and optimized for four characters with an average party level (APL) of 3. A young mage, scarred mentally and physically from her past, has hidden beneath the town of Umberghast for twenty years. Rising from her hiding place, she seeks revenge for her mother’s death at the hands of the townspeople long ago. The last of a family of tyrants, she will let no one stand in her way, even turning her father into a chicken to keep him out of the way. This adventure occurs in the Freelands campaign setting and fits any existing campaign with only a few modifications and name changes.

Backstory

The Chillheart family were tyrants who held their power over the town of Umberghast through magic and fear. For generations, they maintained control over the region and crushed any who opposed them. Eventually, the family began to dwindle until the last alive was the necromancer Elzora Chillheart, who terrorized the townsfolk from her family’s dark tower. With the help of a band of traveling heroes, the people of Umberghast finally rose against Elzora, defeating her and her undead minions before razing her tower to the ground. For the last twenty years, the town has known peace and prosperity, free from the yoke of evil.

Unfortunately for the town, Elzora had kept a secret, one that has been hiding below the ruins of her tower since that fateful day. Elzora’s secret lover, the elemental mage Odram, and their baby daughter Iniress escaped the destruction by hiding in a secret underground lair. They did not escape unscathed, however— the fires severely burned Iniress, scarring her for life.

Raising his daughter in hiding, Odram attempted to steer Iniress away from the path of necromancy and evil, but the young woman’s desire for vengeance grew as the years passed. The young girl hid her scars behind a mask in the shape of a wolf, the crest of the Chillheart family, but she never forgot who gave them to her. When Iriness announced her plans to take revenge against the townsfolk, Odragast tried to stand in her way and was polymorphed into a chicken and imprisoned by the young mage.

Now armed with her mother’s spellbook and her father’s elemental teachings, Iriness left her secret lair with her golem minion to declare that the town was once more under the rule of a Chillheart. She slew Umberghast’s mayor with magic while demanding the town prepare a tribute before retreating to her underground home, where she now waits and plots.

New Monster & NPC Template: Wood Golem and Young Mage

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