Zeb Cook's The Afterlife of King Neiren

The First in an Epic Series of Adventures

The Afterlife of King Neiren introduces the the campaign background of the Five Courts from the Age of Legends. Each coming adventure expands the setting, taking players from the monstrous Western Court to the fey lands of the Northern Court, the death-ridden Eastern Court, and the mysterious Southern Court. Eventually the series climaxes in an adventure that spans courts and time!

The Afterlife of King Neiren is more than a stand-alone adventure. It is the first installment in a continuing series of Legendary adventures, with new chapters planned for release throughout the coming year.

The Legendary series takes characters out of the present and sends them into the mythic past, to the age of heroes, gods, ancient wars, and the creation of the great artifacts remembered in modern songs and histories. Each adventure stands on its own, but together they build a much larger story, allowing players to experience the events that shaped the world and even become the heroes whose deeds are remembered thousands of years later.

In The Afterlife of King Neiren, the characters fight beside a doomed king, recover his body from a battlefield, and carry it across hostile lands for burial before the next full moon. Along the way, they face monsters, enemy champions, impossible choices, and the growing realization that something is terribly wrong with the dead king.

Written by legendary game designer David "Zeb" Cook, this first Legendary adventure launches a year-long journey into a lost age.

Adventure Summary

The Afterlife of King Neiren is a Legendary adventure. This means it takes place in the misty times of long ago; the player characters are mysteriously transposed to an age when mythic heroes of ancient songs were alive and the great artifacts of lore were first created. The adventure can be played stand-alone or can be injected into an existing campaign setting. The latter creates unique opportunities for characters to become part of the legendary poems and songs bards sing in the campaign's “present day.” In this case, the adventure starts with a simple framing scene in the player characters' current campaign to set the stage.

The adventure's setting is the mysterious Land of the Five Courts, a world that exists only in songs and epics. Pre-dating the world's known history, it was a time when gods walked among men, and great heroes performed deeds that made them legends.

The players are sent back to the age when Margarda, the Witch-Queen of the Western Court, challenged the legendary King Neiren. It is the Seventh War, and her hordes have breached the boundaries, invading deep into the Central Court, the realm of humans. The moon blesses her armies with dark might. Her diviners have read the organs of one hundred slaughtered slaves, shaping her battle plans to ensure success. She has scattered the human chieftains and the towns' freemen in her path and is poised to destroy Kynastol, the seat of Aemon's power. If it falls and the High King is defeated, the Central Court will fracture as petty kings and chieftains flee to their own lands. Without unity, the Witch-Queen's army will destroy them one by one.

The players will play a role in King Neiren's last stand and in the mysterious events that follow his death. The adventure has the following beats:

1.       The Prelude (for pre-existing campaigns only): While between adventures, the players meet an elfin bard who sings an ancient ballad that magically transports them to the ancient past.

2.       The Night Before the Battle (stand-alone start): The players are soldiers in King Neiren's army the night before the great battle with the Witch-Queen's horde. They are summoned to the king's tent, where an elf seer tells them the king will die tomorrow and that they must take his body to a distant tomb for burial before the next full moon.

3.       The Battle: The players fight a series of vignettes alongside King Aemon. The battle ends when Aemon dies defeating Margarda. In the aftermath, the players must find his body and get it off the battlefield.

4.       Journey to the Stoir: The players take the body cross-country, dealing with ambushes, wandering monsters, and minions of the Witch-Queen looking for King Neiren's body. Sir Cantrad joins them and can help guide them to their destination. Meanwhile, Aemon's corpse begins to behave unnaturally.

5.       Crossing the Stoir: The tomb is in the Witch-Queen's territory on the other side of the river. Safely crossing requires a live sacrifice. The players must find a way to cross without committing their souls to evil.

6.       To the Tomb: In the Western Lands, the players meet with the Witch-Queen's lieutenants on their way to the tomb. Some may be helpful; others may not.

Burial: At the tomb, the players face different hostile factions who all want King Neiren's body. Unknown to them, Margarda's spirit is imprisoned in his body. The players must prevent her escape and properly inter King Neiren.  

About the Author

David "Zeb" Cook is an American game designer best known for his work at TSR, Inc., where he worked for over fifteen years. Cook designed several games, wrote the Expert Set for Dungeons & Dragons, worked as lead designer of the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and invented the Planescape setting for AD&D. He is a member of the Origins Hall of Fame.

Stretch Goals and Add-Ons

Please note that this is a single adventure module, fully written, edited, and ready to be laid out. Maps and art are done. As such, we are not adding stretch goals or add-ons at this time. 

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