It’s been a bit, but I’m back! I’ve been hard at work on the newest map pack for Wild Beyond the Witchlight! I’ll talk a bit about that later, but for now let’s shift into spooky season. Just like last time, you never know what your players are going to get up to during a session. Seeing as we still have a few weeks left until Halloween, I feel like this is the perfect opportunity to share some spooky D&D Encounters to thread into your October campaigns.
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Map Pack Spotlight: Wild Beyond the Witchlight Chapter 1
Wizards of the Coast released their newest D&D adventure book Wild Beyond the Witchlight just a few weeks ago. The adventure focuses on the titular Witchlight carnival, then goes on to allow players to explore sections of the Feywild in later chapters. Since there’s so much content in the campaign book, I’m separating my map packs on DM’s Guild into chapters, and Chapter 1 is ready for play! It consists of nine top-down and isometric maps rendered in black and white. As a special offer, we will be including full-color versions of these maps once all five chapters’ map packs are released. The price will increase at that time, but anyone who purchases the title at the current price will get the color maps for free! You can check out the pack here.
10 Spooky D&D encounters
- A ramshackle mansion appears at the edge of town where none existed before. Bare halls lead to a darkened basement where unseen voices whisper malevolent secrets from the walls. Anyone who tries to leave must avoid the rotting flesh golem, as well as navigate their way through shifting rooms and disappearing doors.
- A procession of black-robed skeletons bearing a coffin marches through a public street. They do not stop until reaching a graveyard and begin a funeral service for a dead necromancer. Anyone who interrupts the funeral incur the wrath of the skeletons, as well as the ghost of the necromancer.
- A new distillery inadvertently distributes a spirit that causes the shadow of the imbiber to separate as a shadow that causes mayhem. A night hag is to blame, as she poisoned the latest batch. The distillery owner offers a high sum to either expel the hag or find the antidote to the shadow-poison.
- A wizened hag-like crone beckons the adventurers into her little market stall. Inside are all sorts of grim trinkets, such as a severed hand candle, a cat’s eye, and a journal with pages that do not take ink, but blood. Anyone who tries to steal from her suffers from a wasting curse that slowly drains their health over the course of a week.
- The innkeepers warn the adventurers not to stray outside during the night, otherwise the “Weeping Widow” will take them away. The Widow (a banshee) stalks the moors around the inn, unable to enter and take her revenge on the innkeeper who murdered her and her betrothed years ago.
- A strange sense of vertigo affects the party while walking through dark woods. Afterward, blinking causes the surrounding trees to appear rotting, with sickly thorny vines quickly crawling towards the adventurers. Blinking again reverses the sight to normal, but each time they blink the vines get closer.
- During the middle of a stage performance, everyone on stage and in the crowd turn in unison to look at the adventurers. All is dead silent until as one they all speak the words “Don’t fall asleep” before turning back around and resuming the performance. If asked, no one remembers the incident.
- A regal horse adorned with platinum barding approaches the adventurers while near an old battlefield. Anyone who mounts the horse find they cannot get down as the flesh melts from the horse’s bones, revealing a decayed warhorse skeleton. Only by finding and consecrating the remains of the horse’s owner will the creature release the rider.
- Upon entering an inn, the adventurers see that everyone inside the establishment is a rotting zombie, from the staff to the patrons. If questioned, none appear to be disturbed by this revelation and carry on as though all were normal.
- Rumors of graverobbers spread across town, and the adventurers take a job to guard an influential patron’s family crypt. The only stipulation is that they must spend the night inside the crypt. What they “forget” to mention is that their ancestors still roam the halls, and are hungry.
Wrap up
One of my favorite things to do is to write up short scary stories, and this set of spooky D&D encounters really hit that sweet spot for me. I may have used the “don’t fall asleep” one a few times in the past to give younger cousins a good fright! Please let us know in the comments if you’d like to see encounters taking place in specific areas, like the Nine Hells or the Underdark. You can also drop a comment on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Discord ! If you’d like access to maps and content, including downloadable PDFs of our adventures, check out our Patreon. We’re able to do what we do because of all our amazing Patrons!
