Adventure: Tombs of Cathedra
Welcome to the end of the line.
The badlands don't hold much promise. Maybe you've come to try your hand at copper mining or timber work, neither are easy, but both will earn you a kind of living. If you're here for the other thing, I'll warn you off. You don't want to go down there. Folks don't prosper from scavenging, I tell you, those stairs lead to nothing but an ugly death and a defiled corpse. But folks do it and some of 'em come back here and ain't chewed too bad.
But if that's what you're here for, I wish you luck. Silver and gold and arcanum beyond imagining... that's the talk, might even be the reality. If nothing else, you won't be alone. Good luck.
The Fourth Age ruins of the mysterious city of Larethon sit on the southern rim of an enormous canyon. Beyond the Necropolis of Larethon a crumbling stairway winds down into the Great Rift canyon. On the far side of the Red River running through the canyon exists an ancient and isolated burial ground known as the Valley of Blossoms. Within the valley are an unknown number of elaborate tombs carved into the cavern walls by long dead nobility. The characters explore these tombs, scavenging treasures and ancient magics, discovering the secrets of the Saffron King and his mad court, and facing deadly traps, ferocious creatures, and unspeakable dangers.
Information & Details
What is this? This is a Dungeons & Dragons campaign built around the idea of an open table. You want to play D&D, but committing to a regular game can be challenging. So we're going to run this game for whoever can make it. A group of up to 6 characters will explore the Tombs of Cathedra and see what adventures await them over a 3-hour game session. The cast of characters may change, but the setting will reflect the adventures they've had, the secrets discovered, and the clues found by those who have come before. It's a game of exploration and we need you at our table to round out the party.
When and where are we doing this? We'll be at your friendly neighborhood game store rolling dice, battling monsters, gathering treasure, and looking forward to you joining us.
** TO BE DETERMINED SOON, POSSIBILITIES INCLUDE THE BELOW LOCATIONS **
PLEASE RSVP IF YOU ARE ATTENDING. IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND PLEASE UPDATE YOUR RSVP. Thank you!
Facebook Meetup Discord
Players & Characters. You're the player, your character is the persona you'll take on to explore the Realms of Adventure. Build your own character before the game using official Dungeons & Dragons player options or play with a pregenerated character we have for you! Need the rules? Use the free basic rules pdf available from Wizards of the Coast or the free rules on DnDBeyond. No dice? No character sheet? No problem! Free character sheets and dice provided!
If you’d like to join our DnDBeyond campaign and take advantage of the pregenerated characters, digital tools, and have access to our shared content use this link:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/campaigns/join/51697283383335302
Please be aware that we will routinely clean out the active characters in the DDB campaign to allow everyone the opportunity to make a character. Be sure to export a copy of your character in PDF form to not lose your character.
Use any of the character creation methods on the site, but we're not using any Noncore, Partnered, or Homebrew Content for this campaign. Stick to the 6 core rulebooks and use the Standard Array Generation Method for your Ability Scores.
Contact us if you have any questions about anything.
House Rules & Items of Note
Character Level. Everyone starts with a 1st level character and maximum hit points and choose to either take the basic equipment or buy their equipment and supplies using the maximum starting gold for their class.
Level Advancement. Character levels will be earned by facing the challenges within the necropolis. Each challenge rated by the CR system and requiring 10 challenges overcome to earn the next character level (a slight modification to the standard XP system).
Healing. We'll be using the optional rule of Slow Natural Healing in this campaign. Characters don’t regain hit points at the end of a long rest. Instead, a character can spend Hit Dice to heal at the end of a long rest, just as with a short rest. This prolongs the amount of time that characters need to recover from their wounds without the benefits of magical healing.
Time. We will be tracking time within the game as accurately as possible and this may effect character availability. The expectation is that each session will be the start and end of an expedition, but things being what they are, there may be exceptions. You can take advantage downtime activities by utilizing the time your inactive characters are not adventuring. A campaign calendar will be available in the adventure log to see where things stand for any given session.
Party Composition & Multiple Characters. Characters venturing into the necropolis will find that not all of the characters are the same level. The challenge/XP system we're using results in level disparity based on attendance, but that's okay, you'll have something to do. Lower level characters adventuring with more experienced characters will face greater challenges and danger, but will advance more quickly. Creating a lower level character to add to your stable of characters is allowed and may be necessary as your main character may not be available for a session due to injury or being involved in another adventure.
Critical Success or Failure. Rolling a 20 or a 1 on an ability check or a saving throw doesn’t normally have any special effect. We will not be using critical failures, a roll of 1 is a roll of 1 and does not have any special result unless a specific action in the rules states otherwise. When you score a critical hit on an attack, you get to roll extra dice for the attack's damage against the target. Roll all of the attack's damage dice twice and add them together. Then add any relevant modifiers as normal.
The Campaign World
The Great Rift is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Red River and it's tributaries in the western lands beyond the Kingdoms. The canyon is said to be more than 500 miles long from east to west, up to 30 miles wide in places, and attains a depth of over a mile.
The Necropolis of Larethon is an enormous ruin that is said to have once been the capital of the Saffron King during the darkest times at the end of the Fourth Age. It sits at the southern edge of the Great Rift and many legends tell of it's fall and the creation of the canyon.
Just beyond the Necropolis of Larethon, on the forested plateau sits a timber and mining camp renown in the Kingdoms as the gateway to the underworld, Dreadwood. This is a place whose size is far overshadowed by its reputation. Fewer than 2,400 people live in the region around the camp and use the place as a urban center. The camp itself is about 800 permanent residents. Miners, lumberjocks, and trappers make up the bulk of the population. It is a rough and tumble place where the law is weak and civilization scarce.
The ruins of Larethon have been looted for millennia. It's treasures have been carried away or crumbled to dust. All that remains are unanswered questions and mysteries from another age. It's necropolis expanding to encompass the dust of its former glory, it's corporeal dead long since starved beyond their undeath, and the gates to the Valley of Blossoms fallen and left ajar. But that canyon is left unspoiled, because the kings protect their own.
While the sun is high, wyvern haunt the sky and the is ground festooned with poisonous snakes, spiders, and scorpions. At night, it truly becomes dangerous, with restless spirits emerging from their crypts and the roving packs of ghouls growing in number. But there is gold here to be pulled from crypts and tombs. Treasure enough to make an adventurer as rich as a king, but so too is there the curse... But that is nonsense and curses are fools talk. You're here for gold and jewels and the arcana of another age. Just like the others were.
