Category: D&D

Escaping the Prison of Brass invites Retribution

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/580860/mike-s-free-encounter-132-fiery-retribution

Fiery Retribution is the 132^nd Free Encounter. Designed for 3–6 characters of levels 7 to 11, this encounter pits your party against a ruthless retribution squad sent to enforce the brutal retaliation policy of the City of Brass. It can be run as a standalone encounter or as a direct sequel to MFE 131: Prison of Brass, fitting perfectly after C7: Vault of Frost in the Consortium Series.

The Story

Being a predominantly lawful evil society, the ruling class of the City of Brass values order and profits. To deter prison breaks, they employ a brutal Retaliation Policy: hunt down escaped prisoners and their allies and murder them as a warning to others. Now, a dedicated salamander retribution squad has tracked the PCs down.

Features:

• Custom Elemental Foes: Includes full, ready-to-use stat blocks:
  • Salamander Captain (CR 7): Wielding a cinder iron glaive, Inis Vel is a veteran, cigar-loving killer who might be getting too old for this stuff.
  • Salamander Warrior (CR 5): Tougher than average salamanders, equipped with shields and javelins, and selected specifically for their unmatched cruelty.
• Farmhouse Map: A detailed battle map showing a farmhouse besieged by fire, created using Inkarnate.

Specifications:

• Recommended Party: 3–6 players of levels 7–11.
• Setting: Easily integrated into any campaign world.

Videos for my D&D products are available on my Eternal Library: Random Universes YouTube channel.

Information about my other D&D products is available on my web site, drmcl.com and my free to subscribe Random Universes: Eternal Library substack: https://eternallibrary.substack.com/

What do you get when a wizard combines a snapping turtle, an octopus, a moray eel, a hydra, and a dash of demonic corruption?

Before his home was consumed by the Merak, the eccentric wizard Jah-Aims specialized in creating exotic pets for the wealthy. Utilizing ancient “combination cubes,” he produced wonders like the winged cat and flops like the scorpion squirrel. But when war escalated, the factions demanded weaponized horrors.

Influenced by the succubus Kullina, who secretly introduced chaotic demonic elements into his experiments, Jah-Aims set out to create the ultimate amphibious engine of terror. By fusing the eggs of a snapping turtle, octopus, moray eel, and hydra, he forged the Chelonian Hydra.

Though Jah-Aims was eventually slain and his laboratory buried, his dormant masterpiece survived. Now, after decades of slumber, the Chelonian Hydra has awakened—and its insatiable hunger has driven it to hunt once more.

What’s Inside?

The Chelonian Hydra (CR 12): This Huge monstrosity features:

• Turtle Powered Defense: A rock-solid AC 19 natural armor shell.
• Five Moray-Eel Heads: Capable of devastating venomous bite attacks.
• Grappling Tentacles: Tentacles that can grapple and restrain up to four targets simultaneously.
• Ranged Bone Spines: Demonic projectiles that allow the hydra to kill targets from afar.
• Acidic Volley: A recharging 30-foot cone spit attack that melts flesh and armor alike.
• Regeneration: Cut off one head, and two more grow back!

Four Battle Maps: Ready-to-use combat maps offering diverse battlegrounds.

• Building Map: A farmstead setting for a terrifying land assault.
• Beach Map: Perfect for a coastal clash (complete with a dock).
• Sea Bottom Map: For deep-sea, underwater confrontations.
• Shipwreck Map: Fight amidst the sunken ruins of a merchant vessel destroyed by the beast.

Can your players shatter the shell or will they become the next meal of the Chelonian Hydra?

Mike’s Free Encounter #130: Chelonian Hydra – Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Videos for my D&D products are available on my Eternal Library: Random Universes YouTube channel.

Information about my other D&D products is available on my web site, drmcl.com and my free to subscribe Random Universes: Eternal Library substack:

Enter the Temple of Bones and challenge the undead hierophant!

Designed for 3–6 characters of levels 7 to 11, this adventure fits easily as a standalone encounter or as an addition to your ongoing campaign—including direct integration with the Consortium series (before or after C8: Tomb of Ice).

The Story

The quiet town of Linaria was once known only for its high-quality flax—until a brutal civil war and a ruthless necromancer left it in ruins. Stephanus, the town’s young priest, survived the slaughter but turned his back on his peaceful deity. Seeking vengeance, he embraced a dark god of death and ascended to the rank of Hierophant, being renamed Mortivox Severus.

Severus used undead to excavate a sprawling dungeon beneath the town’s graveyard, carefully laying the bones of his fellow townsfolk to rest. Now, the undead priest slumbers in his final tomb. The PCs can claim his bone armor and his powerful bone staff. But be warned: his tireless creations still guard the catacombs, and they do not welcome intruders.

What’s Inside?

• Detailed Battle Maps: Includes maps for the Temple Exterior (Walled Graveyard), Mausoleum & Ratacombs, All Paths & Acid Trap, and the Graveyard & Hierophant Chamber.
• New Monsters & NPCs: Fight your way through custom undead and constructs, complete with full 5e stat blocks:
  • Mortivox Severus (CR 13): A formidable Death-domain legendary spellcaster who wields devastating spells and lair actions.
  • Grave Digger Golem (CR 9): A massive flesh-construct that uses its shovel to batter and bury foes.
  • Carnis Remotor (CR 6): Vulture-like constructs of bone designed to strip flesh from intruders using flensing claws and flesh-melting acid breath.
  • Bone Watcher (CR 3): Multi-armed, multi-skulled guardians with blindsight, spider climb, and a thunderous shriek.
  • Ossiequitator Carnivorus (CR 1/2): Flesh-corroding oozes that ride inside the ribcages of ogre skeletons to dissolve their targets in battle.
  • Plus Burrowing Grave Ghouls, Bone Dogs, Ogre Skeletons, and ravenous swarms of Examen Murium Carnivororum.
• Acid Trap: A magical bone glue and a rotating floor trap that drops characters into a deep pit of flesh-melting acid.
• New Necromantic Magic Spells:
  • Flense (1st-level conjuration) – Strip the flesh clean off your targets.
  • Bolt of Decay (1st-level necromancy) – Blast foes with darkness and rot to leave them reeling.
• New Magic Items:
  • Bone Staff (Rare) – Cast custom bone-themed spells or instantly dig a grave.
  • Heavy Bone Mail & Bone Half Plate Armor (Rare) – Enchanted armor that resists necrotic damage and provides the quiet of the grave.
  • Bone Glue (Uncommon) – Lay down a hidden, sticky magical hazard for unwary foes.

Product Details:

• Recommended Party: 3–6 Players of levels 7–11.
• Setting: Easily dropped into any graveyard or town ruins in your campaign setting.
• Format: Ready-to-run encounter with background, history, tactics, and scaling options.

Will the PCs defeat Mortivox Severus, or will their bones be added to the walls of the temple?

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/579758/mike-s-free-encounter-129-temple-of-bones

Videos for my D&D products are available on my Eternal Library: Random Universes YouTube channel.

Information about my other D&D products is available on my web site, drmcl.com and my free to subscribe Random Universes: Eternal Library substack: https://eternallibrary.substack.com/

AI Images in PDF: AI image generators were used to generate some images in the PDF. Photoshop, which incorporates AI features, was also used in image creation and modification.

AI Free Maps:  All maps were created without AI using Inkarnate (https://inkarnate.com/) or Campaign Cartographer 3+ (https://www.profantasy.com/products/campaign-cartographer-3)

AI Free Fantasy Ground Unity File: The FGU .mod file contains no AI generated content.

Infiltrate the venom cult’s desert stronghold and stop a deadly new threat before it strikes!

Pyramid of the Scorpion is a complete, ready-to-run encounter for the world’s greatest roleplaying game, designed to challenge a party of 3-6 characters between levels 6 and 9.

Near the ancient city of Kanrak, a cult of devil-worshipping assassins known as the Al-Hashashin al-Aqrab (The Scorpion Assassins) has created a terrifying alchemical breakthrough. Deep within the forgotten tomb of Neb-Shed-Kheperu, they are manufacturing Ladghat al-’Aqrab al-Qatilah—a magic-infused venom specifically engineered to ignore poison resistance.

The city’s ruler, Sulemana the Just, needs a team of capable adventurers to shut down this operation before her elite dwarven guards are wiped out.

Features:

• Detailed Maps: Features high-quality maps for the Pyramid Exterior and three levels of the Interior, including the scorpion farm, the alchemists’ laboratory, and the final tomb chamber.
• New Monsters & NPCs: Full stat blocks for unique threats, including:
  • Bina al-’Aqrab: The “professional life extractor” leading the project.
  • Ladghat al-’Aqrab al-Bagheedah: A terrifying CR 9 Fiend (Devil) with crushing pincers and a deadly sting.
  • Scorpion Devils (Shaytan al-Aqrab): Brutal infernal enforcers.
  • Scorpion Alchemists: Arcane spellcasters who infuse their strikes with toxins.
  • The Four Officials: Ancient mummies serving as the pyramid’s original guardians.
• New Alchemical Items: Rules and pricing for three types of poisons, including the resistance-piercing “Sting of the Deadly Scorpion”.

Information

• Recommended Levels: 6–9.
• Format: Modular encounter that can be run as a standalone adventure or integrated into the Consortium Series (specifically following C5: Desert Moon Dungeon).
• Setting: Easily adaptable to any desert region in your campaign world.

Will the PCs purge the pyramid, or get stung by the cult’s newest creation?

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/579162/mike-s-free-encounter-128-pyramid-of-the-scorpion

Videos for my D&D products are available on my Eternal Library: Random Universes YouTube channel.

Information about my other D&D products is available on my web site, drmcl.com and my free to subscribe Random Universes: Eternal Library substack: https://eternallibrary.substack.com/

The show must go on.

The “Widow’s Game” reaches its most artistic and deadly stage yet. Tragomelist, a satyr former gladiator haunted by the brutality of the arena, has answered the whisper of the legendary sentient crossbow, Widow’s Kiss. Driven by a frantic fury to kill his way out of his nightmares, he is accompanied by the Fey Fatales, four sisters he once rescued who have transformed themselves from helpless victims into lethal performers.

In this 127th installment of the Mike’s Free Encounter series, the PCs are drawn into a high-stakes performance. While it can be run as a standalone encounter, it can also be integrated into C9 Thyrella’s Trident.

Adventure Overview

• Recommended Levels: 9–13.
• Party Size: 3–6 Players.
• Setting: A natural amphitheater with magically enhanced acoustics.

What’s Inside?

• A Bardic Rival: The full stat block for Tragomelist (CR 10), a Crossbow Champion and 10th-level bard who uses his Dissonant Encore reaction to turn missed shots into deadly hits.
• The Porphyreoi Rhapsodoi:The Fey Fatales (CR 3), four unique sisters—Melpomene, Sige, Hyleor, and Klotho—who use Tragic Song and Heroic Recital to bolster allies and devastate  foes.
• New Magic Item: Brontidion, a rare +1 hand crossbow that deals extra thunder damage and allows its wielder to cast thunderwave.
• Battle Map: A detailed map of a Natural Amphitheater, complete with log seating and cliffs magically altered to grant advantage on Performance checks for the audio arts.

Features

• Widow’s Kiss Series: The fourth chapter in the pursuit of the legendary artifact, featuring new “dream whispers” and interactions for PCs participating in the challenge.
• Consortium Integration: Specifically designed to fit seamlessly into the adventure C9: Thyrella’s Trident, easily encountered during a river journey or a visit to Trobert’s Inn.
• Dramatic Duel Mechanics: Detailed guidance for handling a formal one-on-one duel between Tragomelist and a PC, including how the Fey Fatales respond to victory or defeat with haunting musical dirges.

Will the PCs silence Tragomelist or will the dirge be for them?

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/578599/mike-s-free-encounter-127-widows-kiss-4-tragomelist-the-fey-fatales

Videos for my D&D products are available on my Eternal Library: Random Universes YouTube channel.

Information about my other D&D products is available on my web site, drmcl.com and my free to subscribe Random Universes: Eternal Library substack: https://eternallibrary.substack.com/

AI Images in PDF: AI image generators were used to generate some images in the PDF. Photoshop, which incorporates AI features, was also used in image creation and modification.

AI Free Maps:  All maps were created without AI using Inkarnate (https://inkarnate.com/) or Campaign Cartographer 3+ (https://www.profantasy.com/products/campaign-cartographer-3)

AI Free Fantasy Ground Unity File: The FGU .mod file contains no AI generated content.

The Widow’s Game moves to the Cold Land. The sentient crossbow Widow’s Kiss has called forth a new challenge: Heleka, a frost giant who hunts the deadly rhemorhaz.

 Specifically designed to fit into the Consortium Series adventure C7: Vault of Frost, though it works perfectly as a standalone high-level encounter.

Adventure Overview

• Recommended Levels: 6–10.
• Party Size: 3–6 Players.
• Setting: A frozen forest within the Cold Land.

What’s Inside?

• A Giant New Rival: Heleka the Remorhaz Hunter (CR 8), a frost giant Crossbow Champion who uses a Huge Harpoon Hand Crossbow to reel in her targets.
• Sled Bears: Stat blocks for the Sled Bear (CR 2), supernatural polar bears raised by giants to pull sleds and tear through foes with bite and claw.
• New Magic Items:
  • Harpoon Winch: A wondrous item that allows you to harpoon enemies and pull them closer with magical chains.
  • Ice Walker Boots: Snug, fur-lined boots that grant a magical “Stomp” attack and allow you to ignore difficult terrain created by ice or snow.
•  Map: A detailed battle map featuring a Frozen Forest, perfect for a snowy showdown.

Will the PCs be the hunter or the hunted? Why not both?

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/578330/mike-s-free-encounter-126-widow-s-kiss-3-remorhaz-hunter

Videos for my D&D products are available on my Eternal Library: Random Universes YouTube channel.

Information about my other D&D products is available on my web site, drmcl.com and my free to subscribe Random Universes: Eternal Library substack: https://eternallibrary.substack.com/

AI Images in PDF: AI image generators were used to generate some images in the PDF. Photoshop, which incorporates AI features, was also used in image creation and modification.

AI Free Maps:  All maps were created without AI using Inkarnate (https://inkarnate.com/) or Campaign Cartographer 3+ (https://www.profantasy.com/products/campaign-cartographer-3)

AI Free Fantasy Ground Unity File: The FGU .mod file contains no AI generated content.

Widow’s Kiss’ Challenge is heating up. The sentient hand crossbow continues its deadly game of seeking the ultimate predator to wield it. This time, the call of the weapon has reached deep into the heart of cursed dwarven city.

Glemli the Burning Enforcer was once a captain of the Ironpick guards, a dwarf of cold, calculated cruelty. Now, he is an undead creature of fire, once tasked with keeping the Frostcursed undead in line. Marked by the Widow’s Kiss, Glemli awaits his next challenger.

In this 125th installment of the Mike’s Free Encounter series, the PCs face a burning foe who breathes fire and commands burning skeletons.

Adventure Overview

• Recommended Levels: 3–6.
• Party Size: 3–6 Players.

What’s Inside?

• A Ruthless New Villain: The full stat block for Glemli the Burning Enforcer (CR 5), a heavy-armored undead master of the crossbow.
•  Burning Skeletons (CR 1/4): undead that radiate intense heat and fight with iron hand crossbows that never melt.
•  Weapon Gem, a wondrous item that bonds to a weapon to grant extra energy damage—though it extracts a painful price from the wielder with every attack
• Detailed Battle Map: A high-quality map featuring the beached stone boat on a riverbank, perfect for a crossbow duel.

Will the PCs extinguish Glemli’s abyssal flame or will they become charred bones?

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/578202/mike-s-free-encounter-125-widow-s-kiss-2-burning-enforcer

Videos for my D&D products are available on my Eternal Library: Random Universes YouTube channel.

Information about my other D&D products is available on my web site, drmcl.com and my Random Universes: Eternal Library substack: https://eternallibrary.substack.com/

AI Images: AI image generators were used to generate the images in the PDF.

AI Free Maps:  All maps were created without AI using Inkarnate (https://inkarnate.com/) or Campaign Cartographer 3+ (https://www.profantasy.com/products/campaign-cartographer-3)

AI Free Fantasy Ground Unity File: The FGU .mod file contains no AI generated content.

The Widow’s challenge has begun. The legendary hand crossbow, Widow’s Kiss, is whispering in the dreams of the most dangerous archers, seeking a new wielder. This sentient weapon—crafted from phase spider chitin and woven shadow—seeks a fellow predator devoid of kindness to claim it through a series of lethal challenges of the Widow’s Game.

In this 124th installment of the Mike’s Free Encounter series, your party is drawn into the Widow’s challenge. Whether the PCs are potential champions or merely cross paths with a ruthless competitor, they must face crossbow master Kirak-Kik-Kik in a desert duel for survival.

Adventure Overview

• Recommended Levels: 3–6.
• Party Size: 3–6 Players.
• Setting: The shifting sands of the desert.
•  

What’s Inside?

• Lore: Detailed history of the Trials of the Singing String, a divine contest that birthed five sentient bows, including the bloodthirsty Widow’s Kiss and the math-obsessed Lexicon of Force.
• The Widow’s Game: An ongoing game of murder involving the “Kiss”, an invisible cursed mark that allows the crossbow to track contestants and instigate matches between rivals.
• New Desert Foes: Stat blocks for Desert-Kreen, including Kirak-Kik-Kik and his Large Desert Wasp mount.
• Three Maps: High-quality maps featuring Desert Ruins, a Magical Oasis (containing a hidden gate to the Elemental Plane of Water), and Open Desert terrain.
• Scholarly NPC: Wyleth the Librarian, a scholar and former contestant who can offer historical context or help remove the deadly mark. Everyone one loves scholars.

Will the party emerge triumphant or will their bolt pierced skulls bleach in the sun?

Videos for my D&D products are available on my Eternal Library: Random Universes YouTube channel.

Information about my other D&D products is available on my web site, drmcl.com and my Random Universes: Eternal Library substack: https://eternallibrary.substack.com/

AI Images: AI image generators were used to generate the images in the PDF.

AI Free Maps:  All maps were created without AI using Inkarnate (https://inkarnate.com/) or Campaign Cartographer 3+ (https://www.profantasy.com/products/campaign-cartographer-3)

AI Free Fantasy Ground Unity File: The FGU .mod file contains no AI generated content.

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/578036/mike-s-free-encounter-widows-kiss-1-desert-kreen

Mundurin Ironshaper has a dream: to restore his family’s legacy by retrieving the machine needed to forge the legendary Dwarven Iron Donkeys—mechanical marvels infused with elemental fire spirits. But the means of their creation lies deep within the mountain fortress of Baraz-Khadur, a city lost to the ancient red dragon V’Shelexa the Maker of Ash.

In this 123rd installment of the Mike’s Free Encounter series, the party is hired to bring Mundurin into the heart of enemy territory and recover the core machine from a workshop hidden away for decades.

Encounter Overview

• Recommended Levels: 3–6.
• Party Size: 3–6 Players.
• Location: The ruins of Baraz-Khadur, featuring a surface outpost and a subterranean workshop.

• The Dwarven Iron Donkey: This masterpiece of magical engineering acts as a beast of burden, heals from fire damage, and can belch a 15-foot cone of flame at your enemies. Or friends. You do you.
•  Maps: Detailed maps including the Outpost Surface, Outpost Interior, Gatehouse, Corridors, and the Secret Workshop.

Will the PCs reclaim the core, or will the party’s bone join those of the dwarves.

Videos for my D&D products are available on my Eternal Library: Random Universes YouTube channel.

Information about my other D&D products is available on my web site, drmcl.com and my Random Universes: Eternal Library substack: https://eternallibrary.substack.com/

AI Images: AI image generators were used to generate the images in the PDF.

AI Free Maps:  All maps were created without AI using Inkarnate (https://inkarnate.com/) or Campaign Cartographer 3+ (https://www.profantasy.com/products/campaign-cartographer-3)

AI Free Fantasy Ground Unity File: The FGU .mod file contains no AI generated content.

https://www.dmsguild.com/en/product/577835/mike-s-free-encounter-123-iron-donkey