E3 Prince of Undeath

D&D Adventure

Bruce R. Cordell and Scott Fitzgerald Gray

This epic-level D&D adventure is designed to take characters from 27th to 30th level. In this adventure, the demon lord Orcus tries to usurp the Raven Queen’s power over death using a shard of evil plucked from the depths of the Abyss. Only the world’s most powerful heroes have the slightest hope of stopping him.
This adventure can be played as a stand-alone adventure or as the conclusion of a three-part series that spans 10 levels of gameplay.

In our E3 Prince of Undeath excerpts, we present the adventure synopsis, three encounters, as well as a look at the mighty Wand of Orcus!

Prince of Undeath

Orcus intends to usurp the powers and privileges of the Raven Queen, the god of death, fate, and winter. If he accomplishes his aims, no soul shall rest easy again. To avert this theft of divine portfolio and purpose, epic adventurers must dive down to the bottommost pit of existence, where the Heart of the Abyss festers.

• Introduction and Synopsis (179 Kbs PDF)
  Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead, wants to usurp control over the spirits of the dead from the Raven Queen, the god of Death and Fate. The Prince of Undeath has slowly drawn his plans against her from the heart of his Abyssal realm, the citadel called Everlost. Everlost straddles a yawning chasm whose sheer slopes hold hundreds of tombs and burial sites, creating a tiered necropolis.
• Chaos Ship Overview (194 KBs PDF)
  Whether through a portal opened by Audaviator, a scroll of Planar Portal provided by a godly messenger, or through some other agency, the adventurers find the chaos ship Shevaithan moored to a docking mote within the swirling vortex of the Abyss.
• Magic Items and Artifacts (254 KBs PDF)
  Orcus carries a heavy mace tipped with an enormous skull. Its haft is smooth obsidian studded with blood rubies. This weapon transforms those it slays into undead horrors. The Wand communicates silently with its wielder, in Abyssal, using brutal and gory imagery to highlight its blood-soaked ends.
• S1: Boarding the Ship (334 KBs PDF)
  What might have once been a human woman stands atop the sterncastle behind the wheel, her flesh split and darkened, revealing demonic scales beneath. She wears a tattered hat, and madness dances in her eyes. The creature behind the wheel screams, "Repel the boarders! In Orcus’s name, scrub these worms from my ship!"
• R10: Warden of Everlost (364 KBs PDF)
  The boiling Bloodstorm parts like a veil as the Death Gate swings wide. The portal that leads back to Shevaithan is active, but a horde of rot harbingers swarms around it, flanking a humanoid figure in the midst of a ritual directed at the portal itself. The beholders slain here have been raised as undead, letting out a keening wail of alarm.
  
  The figure wheels, its ritual forgotten. "The defilers of the Red Hold save me the trouble of finding them, I see. Hoping for mercy perhaps? You have caused much grief for my lord, but consuming your souls will sate his wrath. I am Harthoon, voice of Orcus and castellan of Everlost. I am your doom!"
• F5: Deal with the Devils (404 KBs PDF)
  Patches of shattered crystal burn white hot within this blackened cavern. A squadron of devils occupies the chamber, led by a great pit fiend whose eyes burn red with rage. "Demon ilk!" she shrieks. "Thralls of Orcus! You shall die just as your masters have fallen before you!