TEXT: Tribality Publishing
  THE DARKEST NIGHT
  A  C H R I S T M A S  A D V E N T U R E  F O R  F I F T H  E D I T I O N
  C R E AT E D  B Y
  SHAWN ELLSWORTH
  THE DARKEST NIGHT
  A  C H R I S T M A S  A D V E N T U R E  F
  A  C H R I S T M A S  A D V E N T U R E  F
  THE DARKEST NIGHT
  THE DARKEST NIGHT
  A  C H R I S T M A S  A D V E N T U R E  F
  THE DARKEST NIGHT
  A  C H R I S T M A S  A D V E N T U R E  F O R  F I F T H  E D I T I O N
  THE DARKEST NIGHT
  A  C H R I S T M A S  A D V E N T U R E  F O R  F I F T H  E D I T I O N
  A  C H R I S T M A S  A D V E N T U R E  F O R  F I F T H  E D I T I O N
  THE DARKEST NIGHT
  THE DARKEST NIGHT
  THE DARKEST NIGHT
  
  Tribality Publishing
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  Iceville was cursed to darkness
  In a time long ago
  Every nook and cranny
  There, no light would go
  Fear and sadness for all
  And the tears oh, they did ﬂ ow
  For no relief in sight,
  Did the dawn ever show
  A stranger came to town
  Coming up the road
  He said he wanted to free Iceville
  From the darkness that took hold
  He said his name was Kringle
  A hero from far away
  He’d heard our plight in Iceville
  Promising to hold the dark at bay
  The evil feared the hero
  And tried to trap him cold
  But the children cheered for Kringle
  And their love kept him from that hold
  The evil swore to slay him
  But Kringle was so bold
  He slew it with his power
  Bringing light to defeat our foe
  As years passed he stayed near us
  In the forest to the north
  His workshop full of magic
  Children toys do come forth
  He brings them down to Iceville
  And slips from house to house
  Leaving toys and eating cookies
  Not noticed by even a mouse
  This day is a thanks to him
  For bringing light to our town
  And he thanks all our children
  With presents that abound
  Introduction by Edward McCulloch
  
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  S TA R T I N G  O U T
  A DC 15 Intelligence (History) check with allow your 
  players to also ﬁ nd out that 480 years ago Kringle 
  defeated a demon that enslaved the people of Iceville. 
  The unspeakable evil had placed Iceville under a spell 
  of eternal darkness, allowing it to feed off the fear and 
  sadness of the people. The monster’s name has been 
  lost to time. If their check is a close failure, let them 
  know the same details, just don’t speciﬁ cally mention 
  the monster is a demon.
  E N C O U N T E R  1
   
  As you leave town, you ﬁ nd the winding path 
   
  through a pine forest to Kringle’s Workshop. After 
   
  traveling through scattered pine woods for an hour, 
   
  the forest thins and you enter a large clearing lit by 
   
  the partial moon. Suddenly four piles of snow start 
   
  to rise into humanoid shapes that are 30 feet in front 
   
  of you.
  Roll initiative and start a battle against four snow 
  people. The snow people will often choose to hide 
  and drift to get to weaker enemies. Adjust the number 
  of snow people up or down for groups that are larger 
  or smaller than four players.
  The Darkest Night is a holiday themed adventure where players battle an ancient 
  evil to save Krinklefest. This adventure can be used as an outline for any game 
  system, but the speciﬁ c details are for four 1st-level adventurers using 5th edition 
  rules of the world’s greatest roleplaying game.
  SNOW PERSON
  Medium construct, neutral
  Armor Class 14
  Hit Points 9 (2d8)
  Speed 30 ft.
  STR
  DEX
  CON
  INT
  WIS
  CHA
  13 (+1)
  13 (+1)
  10 (+0)
  8 (-1)
  8 (-1)
  8 (-1)
  Damage Immunities Ice
  Damage Vulnerabilities Fire
  Condition Immunities blinded, deafened, frightened
  Skills Stealth +5
  Senses Blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive 
  Perception 8
  Languages Understands languages of its creator but can’t 
  speak
  Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
  Snow Drift. The snow people gain advantage when hiding in 
  a snowy environment. Once hidden, a snow person effectively 
  becomes invisible and can drift up to 15 feet per round as part 
  of its move until it surfaces. While drifting, a snow person can 
  not attack.
  ACTIONS
  Ice Claw. Melee Attack: +4 to hit, Hit: 8 (1d6+4) slashing 
  damage
  Snowball. Range Attack: +2 to hit, Hit: 5 (1d4+2), Range 
  30’/60’ bludgeoning damage
  
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  E N C O U N T E R  2
  Having survived the advance guard, the adventurers 
  make it to the workshop without further incident.
   
  On the far side of the clearing you ﬁ nd the path 
   
  again. After a few minutes your group reaches 
   
  the top of a small hill, you see a large building (120 
   
  feet wide by 40 feet deep) on the edge of a 
   
  woodlot 200 feet away. The building’s many 
   
  windows are lit by candlelight and you can make 
   
  out activity inside. Moving around the outside of the 
   
  building are six short, silhouetted shapes that 
   
  appear to be on patrol. On the front of the building 
   
  you can make out a set of large double doors that 
   
  appear to serve as the main entrance.
  Your adventurers have a variety of options available 
  to them to avoid a tough head-on battle with six toy 
  soldiers. Some obvious choices are:
  Dexterity (Stealth)
  • DC 15  They ﬁ nd a way to sneak past 2 of the 
   
  soldiers at the front of the building. As they 
   
  approach the back of the building, they all fully 
   
  hidden from the 4 remaining toy soldiers who are 
   
  over 60 feet away, standing between the 
   
  adventurers and the rear entrance.
  • DC 20 They ﬁ nd a way around all of the 4 of the 
   
  soldiers and ﬁ nd a small entrance which is locked 
   
  DC 13 Dexterity check to pick the lock or DC 13 
   
  Strength (Athletics) to break the door open.
  Intelligence (Arcana)
  • DC 10 Yep. The toy soldiers are magical.
  • DC 15 The toy soldiers are magically animated Hmm.
  Intelligence (Investigation)
  • DC 15 You notice a less guarded door towards the 
   
  back of the building.
  • DC 20 You ﬁ nd a hatch door to a tunnel around 60 
   
  feet from the building that leads into the basement.
  If they do not ﬁ nd a way to avoid a a head-on battle, 
  have then face six toy soldiers. The toy soldiers should 
  simply attack their closest enemy or continue to patrol.
  TOY SOLDIER
  Small construct, neutral
  Armor Class 14
  Hit Points 9 (2d6+2)
  Speed 30 ft.
  STR
  DEX
  CON
  INT
  WIS
  CHA
  15 (+2)
  10 (+0)
  12 (+1)
  6 (-2)
  12 (+1)
  7 (-2)
  Condition Immunities blinded, deafened, frightened
  Senses Blindsight Blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius)
  passive Perception 10
  Languages Understands languages of its creator but can’t 
  speak
  Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
  Antimagic Susceptability. Toy soldiers are incapacitated 
  while in the area of an antimagic ﬁ eld. If targeted by dispel 
  magic, the construct must save on a constitution saving throw 
  against the caster’s spell save DC or fall unconscious for 1 
  minute.
  False Appearance. While an animated toy solider remains 
  motionless it is indistinguishable from one of its non-animated 
  cousins.
  ACTIONS
  Tiny Musket. Range Attack: +4 to hit, Hit: 8 (1d8+4) piercing 
  damage. Ammunition (range 30’/90’) loading
  Bayonet. Melee Attack: +4 to hit, Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing 
  damage.
  
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  E N C O U N T E R  3
  Now that adventurers are inside the workshop, the 
  time for the ﬁ nal battle is near. Trying to sneak into 
  the workshop without the notice of Krampus will be 
  difﬁ cult and only possible if the group avoided ﬁ ghting 
  in Encounter 2. Each PC will need to pass a DC 20 
  Dexterity (Stealth) check. If the majority of them are 
  successful, then award a surprise round to the players. 
  Otherwise, Krampus is waiting for them.
   
  After moving through a small warehouse, your 
   
  group enters into main area of the workshop. The 
   
  main workshop area is a large room with a high 
   
  ceiling with crossbeams (60 feet wide by 40 feet 
   
  deep with a ceiling is 30 feet above the ﬂ oor). The 
   
  room is ﬁ lled with a dozen gnomes, in pointy green 
   
  and red hats, working away on toy soldiers. At 
   
  the far end of the workshop sits a 6 foot tall monster 
   
  covered in dark fur with cloven feet, a tail, two 
   
  horns, pointed ears and a long tongue.
  Begin the battle. The players will face off against 2 
  toy soldiers and Krampus. Krampus will use darkness 
  early on and then focus on charging with his horns 
  to gore them. The toy soldiers should simply attack 
  their closest enemy. If the battle is too tough for you 
  players, you could have one or two gnome helpers 
  (use Commoner stats on page 345 of Monster Manual) 
  wake up from the enchantment using whatever they 
  can ﬁ nd as weapons (use Club for stats) or throw a 
  healing potion to a player.
   
  The monster turns and looks right at your group and 
   
  lets our a huge roar. His roar extinguishes the 
   
  candles and plunges the large workshop into 
   
  darkness.
  • The players can ﬁ nd a ladder and get up into the 
   
  crossbeams.
  • You should scatter some pillars, crates, tables 
   
  around the room for cover
  KRAMPUS
  Medium ﬁ end (demon), chaotic evil
  Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
  Hit Points 30 (4d8+12)
  Speed 30 ft.
  STR
  DEX
  CON
  INT
  WIS
  CHA
  14 (+2)
  10 (+0)
  15 (+3)
  12 (+1)
  11 (+0)
  8 (-1)
  Damage Immunities Poison
  Condition Immunities Poisoned
  Senses Darkvision 120 ft., Passive Perception 15
  Languages Common, Gnomish, Abyssal
  Challenge 1 (200 XP)
  Charge. If Krampus moves at least 15 feet straight toward a 
  target and then hits it with a gore attack on the same turn, the 
  target takes an extra 7 (2d6) damage from the attack.
  Darkness. Magical darkness spreads out in a 20-foot-radius 
  sphere around Krampus. The demon can cast this spell only 
  once and it lasts until he is hit by a successful attack or three 
  rounds pass. Like the spell darkness, darkvision can’t see 
  through this darkness and nonmagical light can not illuminate 
  it. His innate spellcasting ability is Constitution (spell save DC 
  13).
  Enchant. Krampus is already using this power to control 
  Kringle and his helpers. His enchant ability will end once he is 
  knocked unconscious or is killed.
  ACTIONS
  Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, Hit: 9 (2d6+2) piercing 
  damage.
  Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, Hit: 6 (1d6+2) slashing 
  damage.
  Tribality Publishing
  
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  Have Krampus throw out some quotes each round.
  • “I am Krampus and Iceville will live in darkness 
   
  forever.“
  • Before casting Darkness: “Are you afraid of the 
   
  dark?”
  • “I will grow in power from the pain and sorrow of 
   
  the children trapped in eternal darkness.“
  • “The children will be getting no presents this year, 
   
  only pain.“
  • “I have been planning my return for centuries. What 
   
  is a few moments to destroy all of you?”
  C O N C L U S I O N
  Congratulate your players on saving Kringlefest.
  The gnomes, no longer enchanted, cheer and thank 
  each of the adventurers with hand shaking, pats on 
  the back and hugs. A moment later an old bearded 
  gnome appears towards the rear of the crowd, who 
  was not there a moment ago. He introduces himself to 
  the players as Kringle. Kringle is a tall old gnome with 
  kindly, jolly looking face. Kringle is wearing a red coat 
  and hat trimmed in white fur. He is tall and plump for a 
  gnome and strokes his long white beard while talking.
  Have a completely recovered Kringle thank each of 
  the heroes by name and give them all a personal gift. 
  Make is special, magical and tailored for each player, 
  like Kringle knew they’d be visiting him.
   
  As you leave the workshop, you notice the gnomes 
   
  have opened up a large door on the side of the 
   
  building and are leading a sleigh pulled by eight 
   
  reindeer, loaded with bags and parcels.
  Some ideas for Kringle’s presents:
  • a living clockwork of their favorite animal
  • a “robot” companion… could be an owl, dog or 
   
  even as large as a ﬂ ying mount.
  • a box with a lid, that when opened will ﬁ ll with their 
   
  favorite food (once per day)
  • any other crazy magic items from the Dungeon 
   
  Master’s Guide or other books (past and present)
  
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  The Darkest Night A Christmas Adventure for Fifth Edition 1.0 published by Tribality.com (Innovaworks Inc.); Copyright 2016 Shawn Ellsworth.
  
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