SG3 The Cursed Keep

THE CURSED KEEP

A Mid-Level Fantasy Adventure
Intended for 4 to 6 player characters of levels 2 to 4

A mysterious plague is afflicting a small farming village.
The local healer believes the disease was spread by an evil mage.
The village's only hope of a cure lies in an abandoned wizard's tower.
Can your party storm the tower, find the cure and save the day?

Greetings adventurers and Game Masters! 

I am wxcited to release  the third module of my SG-Series, “The Cursed Keep”; a mid-level one-shot adventure fantasy adventure intended for 4 to 6 seasoned adventurers of levels 2 to 4. This is a generic, system neutral adventures designed to be fully compatible with both OSRIC (and OSR rules) and the Fifth Edition (5E) of the world’s most popular role-playing game. In this timely adventure your players will be attempting to aid a village by stopping a deadly plague spread by a Chaotic mage.

Synopsis: In this adventure your players will find themselves in a village facing a deadly plague. They are approached by a local healer who explains that this malady is unlike any other he has encountered; neither his herbal knowledge nor his divine prayers can affect it! Researching the malady the druid learned two things: first, the illnesses began shortly after a strange visitor had come to the village and put on a magic show, and second, each of those afflicted cough up a strange glowing, green vapor.

Realizing this plague might be a magical creation set loose by this mysterious enchanter, the druid dug deeper into local archives and questioned old timers. He discovered a nearly identical plague afflicted this region over a hundred years ago, and that disease was cured by a benevolent archmage who came to the village’s rescue. He also found a map detailing the location of the archmage’s tower in the dangerous and untamed forest that borders the village.

Armed with this knowledge, the druid is seeking a band of heroes to travel to the supposedly abandoned tower, uncover the archmage’s remedy, and return to the village with the cure before it is too late!

Can you players save the day!

Maps of The Curse Keep

Cartography by Dyson Logos, as modified by Louis "sirlou" Kahn, all rights reserved.

This book provides a complete one-shot adventure. While aiming to offer a non-rules specific module, we do strive to provide sufficient information to make the book useful to the majority of our readers. However, the GM will still need to refer to their gaming manuals of choice for complete monster statistics and and treasure descriptions.

PLUS you also get a free copy of my 2022 Starry Knight Press Catalog, which has information on all of my modules and supplements, as well as maps of the known portions of my campaign world of Terrans, and bonus content (new monsters and magic items for OSR/5E) from my published books!

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This adventure is being published during a worldwide pandemic. It is a very scary and uncertain time for all of us. It was my intention in writing this book that those who played this scenario could confront their fears of this real life illness in a roleplaying setting and that by defeating the plague in this scenario they might feel empowered and not as frightened. It was not my intention to trivialize the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, but rather to try to help people cope with it in a safe space; through a familiar and cooperative medium, a roleplaying game.

I hope you and your players enjoy this adventure, and that you find it easy to play with your fantasy gaming system of choice! Thank you for your custom and for supporting Starry Knight Press!

Louis “sirlou” Kahn
Starry Knight Press
March 2020

This module is part of my "SG-Series" of generic adventures, written to be compatible with OSRIC/OSR and 5E rulsets. This series includes: SG1 Rite of the Hero, SG2 Seer's Rescue, SG3 The Cursed Keep, SG4 The Tomb of the Dragon Lord, SG5 The Basilisk, and SG6 The Lost Library of Kadie.