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Layout and Graphic Design: Charles A. WrightFront Cover Art: Colin ChanInterior Art: Terry PavletCartography: Robert AltbauerAuthors: Eytan Bernstein, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, Gwendolyn Kestrel,Rhiannon Louve, Ari Marmell, Anthony Pryor, C.A. SuleimanDevelopers: Ari Marmell and Matthew J. FinchProducers: Bill Webb and Matthew J. FinchNecromancer Games is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast .We make no claim to or challenge to any trademarks held by Wizards of the Coast .Necromancer Games, Inc., 2015, all rights reserved.Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Necromancer Games Inc.’s ProductIdentity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Game Content:product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures;characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols,designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and othervisual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities,teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment,magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademarkor registered trademark clearly identified as Product Identity. Previously released Open Game Content isexcluded from the above list.NecromancerGames5th Edition Rules,1st Edition Feel1
The Lost Lands: Adventures in the Borderland ProvincesTable of ContentsIntroduction. 3On a Lonely Road, by Anthony Pryor.4Illusion and Illumination, by Rhiannon Louve.19The Mountain That Moved, by Gwendolyn Kestrel.34The Two Crucibles, by C. A. Suleiman. 50The War of the Poppies, by Eytan Bernstein. 64A Most Peculiar Hunt, by Ari Marmell. 80Ectarlin’s Last Ride, by Scott Fitzgerald Gray. 97Appendix: New Monsters.116Maps. 122Legal Appendix.155Other Products from Frog God GamesYou can find these product lines and more at our website, froggodgames.com, and on the shelves of many retail game stores.Superscripts indicate the available game systems: “PF” means the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, “5e” means Fifth Edition,and “S&W” means Swords & Wizardry. If there is no superscript it means that it is not specific to a single rule system.GENERAL RESOURCESLL3: Sword of Air PF, S&WLL4: Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms PF, S&WLL5: Borderland Provinces 5e, PF, S&WLL6: The Northlands Saga Complete PF, S&WLL7: The Blight* PF, S&WLL8: Bard’s Gate Complete* PF, S&WLL9: Adventures in the Borderland Provinces 5e, PF, S&WSwords & Wizardry Complete S&WThe Tome of Horrors Complete PF, S&WTome of Horrors 4 PF, S&WTome of Adventure DesignMonstrosities S&WBill Webb’s Book of Dirty TricksRazor Coast: Fire as She Bears PFBook of Lost Spells 5eFifth Edition Foes 5eBook of Alchemy* 5e, PF, S&WQUESTS OF DOOMQuests of Doom (Vol. 1) 5eQuests of Doom (Vol. 2) 5eQuests of Doom (includes the 5e Vol. 1 and 2, but for PFand S&W only) PF, S&WQuests of Doom 2 5eQuests of Doom 3* 5e, S&WQuests of Doom 4* 5e, PF, S&WTHE LOST LANDSRappan Athuk PF, S&WRappan Athuk Expansions Vol. I PF, S&WThe Slumbering Tsar Saga PF, S&WThe Black Monastery PF, S&WCyclopean Deeps Vol. I PF, S&WCyclopean Deeps Vol. II PF, S&WRazor Coast PF, S&WRazor Coast: Heart of the Razor PF, S&WRazor Coast: Freebooter’s Guide to the Razor Coast PF, S&WLL0: The Lost Lands Campaign Setting*LL1: Stoneheart Valley PF, S&WLL2: The Lost City of Barakus PF, S&WPERILOUS VISTASDead Man’s Chest (pdf only) PFDunes of Desolation PFFields of Blood PFMountains of Madness* PF* (forthcoming from Frog God Games)2
IntroductionWelcome to the Borderlands. You’ll probably die here.Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. The Borderland region isn’t that hostile. It’s home to a great manythriving cultures, humanity and other races building upon century after century’s worth of history. Muchof the area is fully civilized.Much of it isn’t. The wilds hold monsters, and worse than monsters, surprises to challenge the courageof even the most stalwart adventurer.And those civilized areas, the provinces and miniature kingdoms? They hold secrets and schemes oftheir own, creatures and conspiracies at least as dangerous as anything you’ll find in the wilderness.No, the Borderlands don’t necessarily spell death for those who brave these outer reaches, but they dospell adventure. Peril. Excitement. And they do so in their own way. There’s nowhere else quite like theBorderlands, so there’s nothing quite like a Borderlands adventure.The following eight scenarios are intended to challenge your players, of course, but also to showcasethe sorts of story potential the Borderlands region can offer. Some of these adventures are dark, bloody,bordering on horrific (and possibly even disturbing to more sensitive players); some are far lighter,almost silly. One focuses on the perils of the untamed wilderness, another is almost entirely urban. Someare quite light on combat, others extremely action-heavy. Like the Borderlands — and like the gameitself, throughout its long publishing history and its many editions — these adventures run the gamut,providing an array of experiences. Their common theme, the thread that binds them together in a singlebook? The Borderlands themselves.Please note that we assume you have access to the Lost Lands: Borderlands Provinces book. You’llneed to look there for more detail about these regions, governments, and communities. That said, whileit requires making up some details of your own and you might miss certain nuances, it shouldn’t provetoo difficult to make these adventures work for you even if you don’t have the companion work at hand.You’ll also note that many of the encounters in these adventures don’t offer treasure. Because treasurein general, and magic items in particular, differ so greatly from campaign to campaign in the new edition,we’ve chosen to leave that largely up to the GM. By all means, provide your PCs as much loot, or as little,as your preferred play style warrants.Other than that, have at it! The Borderlands await your adventurers. No, they may not die out here, onthe edge of civilization — but only if they earn their survival!— Ari Marmell3
The Lost Lands: Adventures in the Borderland ProvincesOn a Lonely Roadguards for the hazardous trek into a wilderness region of the Yolbiac.That’s where our heroes come in.Like one who, on a lonely road,Doth walk in fear and dread,And, having once turned round, walks on,And turns no more his head;Because he knows a frightful fiendDoth close behind him tread.— Samuel Coleridge, The Rhyme of the Ancient MarinerThe Real StoryProfessor Togren’s interest in the region is very real, and he has nointention of betraying or leading the party astray. Nymea Goswynn on theother hand, has some very specific goals in mind, for she knows far moreabout the area than she’s letting on.Togren’s hypotheses about the region are entirely correct, though notnecessarily in the way he believes. Millennia ago, before the coming ofthe Hyperboreans, parts of the Yolbiac Vale were inhabited by a race ofcreatures called the Jaundool (pallid ones, in the original language), nowforgotten save in obscure legends and terrified racial memory.By the time the Hyperboreans walked the lands of Akados, the pallidones had already faded to a decadent, degenerate shadow of their formerselves. Most humans knew to avoid the territory occupied by thesecorrupt remnants, but some were nowhere near as wise, and in theirquest for power some of the old, dark forest tribes actually sought out thesurviving Jaundools, offering food, gold and sacrifice in exchange for lostknowledge. As the professor suspects, these activities were centered in theQuillande Ferosc.The deals that the ancient humans made proved to be mixed blessingsat best, for though they gained power, they found themselves infected bythe same corruption that had taken the pallid ones. Rituals and magic grewever darker, and eventually the humans actually interbred with the twistedAdventure BackgroundOn a Lonely Road is a wilderness adventure for a party of 4–6adventurers averaging 2nd level. Intended as an exercise in suspensefulsurvival horror, the adventure contains several suggestions for amping upthe tension, keeping the players nervous, and even facing the possibilitythat their characters might not survive.The Yolbiac Vale is known for its strange secrets, but has largelybeen ignored by historians from outside the Vale itself — though onescholar, Sarrus Togren of the University of Subtleties in the city ofTroye, believes the region was once home to an ancient and learnedcivilization. Long dismissed as a crackpot by his peers Togren has, withthe aid of his loyal assistant Nymea Goswynn, at last obtained fundingto lead a research expedition to the Vale, specifically a region knownlocally as the Quillande Ferosc. He now has everything he needs save4
On a Lonely Roadcreatures, producing chieftains and shamans who bore Jaundool blood.In time, most of these settlements and bloodlines died out or werehunted down, and the Jaundools were all but forgotten. A few persisted,however, dwindling but not disappearing, in the deep forests, and theirbloodline continued to linger in the descendants of the human clans whohad mated with the foul creatures.While reading ancient texts in rotting and unmaintained sections oflibraries in Troye, Nymea became convinced that she herself carried thebloodline of the Jaundools, and that her mentor, Professor Togren, borean even more powerful birthright — he is, she believes, a descendant ofa powerful ruler of the Jaundools, a fearsome creature mentioned as the“Pallid King” in one or two fragments of Yolbiac folklore. She believes,with the right inducement and rituals, that Sarrus Togren might be rebornas this fearsome king, and bring about a rebirth of the ancient civilization(with her as his lieutenant, of course).To this demented end, Nymea began to plant clues for her professor tofind and nudged him to act on his desire to lead a full-scale expedition intothe Yolbiac Vale. Eventually resorting to blackmailing several governorsof the University, Nymea secured permission and funding, and now sheseeks to draw her companions into a trap as sport and sacrifice to thethings she considers to be “her” people, and to bring about a terribletransformation in Professor Togren, that the pallid ones might live again.Professor Togren mistakenly believes he is pursuing the history of the“Ancient Ones,” a prehistoric human civilization of Akados, but theJaundools are neither human nor related to the Ancient Ones in any way.Members of the ExpeditionCharacters may already be part of the expedition, as students, assistantsor even professors from the University of Subtleties. If some charactersstart as expedition members, they may contact and persuade their fellowadventurers to join them.Seekers After KnowledgeThis one requires a little preparation, but gives one party memberparticularly solid motivation. A history expert or other scholarly adventurermay have heard the same rumors as Sarrus, or learned of similar legendsand stories, and decided to venture into the Yolbiac independently. InTroye, the character and his or her companions hear rumors about Sarrus’mission and can either seek him out and offer to join forces, or findthemselves approached by Sarrus or Nymea with a similar offer. Eitherway, it should be obvious that cooperation is a better idea than separate,competing expeditions.Meeting SarrusThe party first meets Sarrus Togren in the city of Troye, in the commonroom of the Gilded Mouse Inn, where he and his expedition are stayingwhile they purchase supplies and prepare for departure. The GildedMouse is a fairly run-down establishment with cheap rooms and cheaperale, suggesting that Sarrus is on a tight budget. He does, however, offer tobuy the party drinks, after which read or paraphrase the following.Adventure SynopsisInitially the expedition goes well. The party makes good time to thelittle-used Quillande Road and the Avauntz Inn — though they learn a fewdisturbing rumors about disappearances and strange events in the area —and develop relationships, for good or ill, with their fellow expeditionmembers. The party ventures into the wilderness in relatively high spirits.In the dark forest, the party fights off an attack by bandits, then delvesdeeper, uncovering signs that seem to verify Togren’s hypothesis. The realfear begins when the party locates the bandits, or what is left of them, theirbodies ritually mutilated and covered in strange sigils. That night one ofthe people they are escorting disappears, and soon the expedition is lost inthe woods, low on supplies and stalked by an unseen but very real force.Nymea makes her play at night, unleashing her Jaundool allies on the partyin a diversionary attack intended to kidnap Togren and any other sacrificialvictims she can acquire. Faced with a terrifying enemy and lost partymembers, the adventurers must decide on escape or rescue. Either way, withthe help of an unexpected ally, the
Necromancer Games is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast . We make no claim to or challenge to any trademarks held by Wizards of the Coast . 2. The Lost Lands: Adventures in the Borderland Provinces . Table of Contents. Introduction .3. On a Lonely Road, by Anthony Pryor. 4 Illusion and Illumination, by Rhiannon Louve. 19 The Mountain That Moved, by Gwendolyn Kestrel .
