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 Shadowfell’s influence is

strong. A black dragon can surround itself with

gloomy darkness, which grants it total

concealment.

Nature DC 20: A black dragon’s 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 don’t

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 Gruumsh’s

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

dragon’s 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 dragon’s 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 Dragon’s 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

Bane’s 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 l ives wherever it

pleases, as long as its territory doesn’t impinge

on another dragon’s. 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