Hidden deep in the borderland forest, bandits lurk in the ruined castle of a long-dead border lord. Their incessant raids draw a band of neophyte heroes to the derelict keep. There they discover fouler, more odious dangers lurk below the ruins.

Dare you brave the terrors of the Shadowed Keep to crush that which lurks within or will darkness shroud the surrounding lands?

Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands is an adventure for 1st-level characters compatible with the 5th edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game. Designed for the Duchy of Ashlar campaign setting the adventure can be easily inserted into a GM's home campaign.

Early 2024 Edition

This is the Early 2024 edition of Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands. This edition is the culmination of multiple playtests, additions, suggestions, revisions and corrections spanning over a decade of play and development.

Subsequent editions of the adventure will build on what lurks within these pages. For you, these updates are free. Once you’ve purchased Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands, you unlock all future digital editions of the adventure (for your chosen edition or game).

Update Log

• Early 2024 Edition: Extensive expansion of the town of Dulwich.

• Late 2023 Edition: Extensive proofing and editing.

Running the Shadowed Keep

Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands is designed for a group of 1st-level characters. The adventure is set in the Duchy of Ashlar, which is part of the Gloamhold campaign setting, but can easily be inserted into your own campaign world. The keep’s location—a bluff surrounded by dense woodland—is generic enough to fit any but the most atypical campaign. Similarly, the one-time ruler of the fortress is nothing but an adventurer made good and not the scion of some noble house.

The Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands is a sandbox adventure—the characters can explore the various zones of the keep in almost any order. Thus the characters will find some areas easier than others, and they may never even discover other portions of the complex (particularly locations D14 – D16). Similarly, there is no time pressure during this adventure—the characters can explore the Shadowed Keep at their leisure. If you would rather a faster-paced adventure, consider placing a rival group of (black-hearted) adventurers in the area also intent on exploring the ruins. This gives the characters an impetus to explore swiftly and potentially sets up a climactic fight with the rival adventurers somewhere in the ruins!

Once the party has cleared the keep the characters can move on to their next adventure or they can claim the fortress as their own. In this way, the keep can become the focus of an entire campaign as the characters battle to clear the surrounding woodland of enemies (or explore the deeper caverns below the keep) while repairing the shattered fortress. The obstacles to successfully completing such a task are legion. (Refer to “Further Adventures” for more details.)

Characters completely exploring the keep and defeating all its challenges should reach 4th-level by the end of the adventure.