Encounter 1: Guard Dogs

Human Lore
Nature DC 15: Humans are a scattered and
divided people. They inhabit kingdoms,
fiefdoms, and isolated settlements throughout
the world, expanding their influence, exploring
the darkest frontiers, and making war against
their rivals.
Nature DC 20: The ruins of ancient human
empires are scattered throughout the world. No
present-day human kingdom matches these
fallen empires in terms of scale and grandeur,
but humans remain undaunted. Their culture
has reasserted itself, and humans have begun
to expand their influence.
Black Dragon Lore
Nature DC 15: Black dragons like dismal forests
and gloomy swamps, and are naturally drawn to
places where the Shadowfells influence is
strong. A black dragon can surround itself with
gloomy darkness, which grants it total
concealment.
Nature DC 20: A black dragons breath weapon
is a blast of caustic green acid.
Orc Lore
Nature DC 15: Orcs favor hills and mountains,
places pocked by caverns easily turned into
defensible lairs. Bloodthirsty marauders and
cannibals, orcs venerate Gruumsh and thereby
delight in slaughter and destruction. Orcs dont
build settlements of their own, instead improving
existing shelters with crude fortifications. They
prefer to settle in natural caves or structures
abandoned by other, more skillful races. Orcs
can manage simple ironwork and stonework, but
they are lazy and grasping, preferring to take by
force the tools, weapons, and goods other folk
make.
Nature DC 20: Orcs band together into loose
tribal associations. The strongest individual in a
tribe leads as a despotic chieftain. Individual
bands within a tribe might wander far from their
native lands, but they still recognize orcs from
the same tribe as kin.
Nature DC 25: Orcs often demonstrate their
faith in Gruumsh by gouging out one of their
eyes and offering it as a sacrifice to their one-
eyed god.
According to myth, Corellon shot out Gruumshs
eye with an arrow. For this reason, orcs hold a
special hatred for elves and eladrin.
Drake Lore
Nature DC 15: Spitting drakes make for messy
pets, but humanoids train them as guardians
nonetheless. In the wild, spitting drakes
sometimes congregate with other drakes, such
as guard drakes. Spitting drakes can also be
found in clutches formed under a dominant rage
drake that has no clutch of its own.
Kobold Lore
Nature DC 15: Kobolds often dwell near a
dragons lair, maintaining a safe distance but
bringing sacrificial offerings to their "god." Most
dragons ignore kobolds, as a crocodile ignores
the birds that pick its teeth clean. Once in a
great while, however, a young dragon takes an
interest in its kobold cult, which then becomes a
real menace to the dragons enemies.
Nature DC 20: Kobolds are skilled at making
traps, which they use to capture prey and to
acquire sacrifices for their dragon lords.
Encounter 2: Kobolds!
Skeleton Lore
Religion DC 15: Skeletons are created by
means of necromantic rituals. Locations with
strong ties to the Shadowfell can also cause
skeletons to arise spontaneously. These free-
willed skeletons tend to attack any living
creature they encounter. Skeletons have just
enough intelligence to perceive obvious
dangers, but they are easily fooled and lured
into traps.
Note: Orcs are present in
Encounters 1,2,3 & 5.
Encounter 4: Vault of Fallen Heroes
Note: Humans are present in
Encounters 1 & 3.
Zombie Lore
Religion DC 15: Most zombies are created using
a foul ritual. Once roused, a zombie obeys its
creator and wants nothing more than to kill and
consume the living.
Religion DC 20: Corpses left in places corrupted
by supernatural energy from the Shadowfell
sometimes rise as zombies on their own. These
zombies have no master and generally attack all
living creatures they encounter.
Encounter 5: The Dragons Lair
Note: Bugbears are part
of the Goblin Family.
Goblin Lore
Nature DC 15: Goblins bellicose nature can be
traced, in part, to their reverence for the god
Bane, whom they see as the mightiest
hobgoblin warchief in the cosmos. Some of
Banes exarchs are goblins. Maglubiyet, the
Battle Lord, and Hruggek, the Master of
Ambush, are most prominent among these.
Nature DC 20: Hobgoblins once had an empire
in which bugbears and goblins were their
servants. This empire fell to internal strife and
interference from otherworldly forces - perhaps
the fey, whom many goblins hate.
Nature DC 25: Hobgoblins developed mundane
and magical methods for taming and breeding
beasts as guards, laborers, and soldiers. They
have a knack for working with wolves and
worgs, and some drake breeds owe their
existence directly to hobgoblin meddling. All
goblins carry on this tradition of domesticating
beasts.
Nature DC 30: Given their brutal magical
traditions, hobgoblins might have created their
cousins in ancient times: Bugbears served as
elite warriors, and goblins worked as scouts and
infiltrators. The disintegration of hobgoblin
power led to widespread and diverse sorts of
goblin tribes.
Chromatic Dragon Lore
Nature DC 20: Chromatic dragons bask in the
adulation of lesser creatures, but soon grow
weary of praise and worship - unless it is
accompanied by gifts of precious metals, gems,
and magic items.
Nature DC 25: Chromatic dragons prefer
ancient ruins, deep dungeons, and remote
wilderness areas for their lairs. Each dragon
type tends to inhabit certain climates and
terrains: reds like hot areas and volcanoes,
whites like cold, blues prefer coastal regions,
greens like forests, and blacks like swamps.
That said, an individual dragon lives wherever it
pleases, as long as its territory doesnt impinge
on another dragons. One well-known white
dragon of legend made its lair in the heart of a
volcano.
Nature DC 30: Dragons occasionally deal with
other creatures as equals. Red dragons have an
ancient pact with githyanki, and powerful
githyanki knights sometimes ride them into
battle. Powerful empires of the past enlisted
entire flights of dragons to lead their armies in
war.
Note: Encounter 3: Runic Defense
Is made of Orcs & Humans