#116 The Ending Of It All For 5-6 Characters Level 20

The Ending Of It All

an Adventureaweek.com mini-dungeon by Stephen Yeardley

Square = 20 ft.

Background waiting to be found. But the concentration it took

to complete the encasing ritual meant she missed
Liikkua rested her hand on the great serpent’s the tiny yellow moth with tattered wings fluttering
head and spoke softly to her creation. The dragon at her side. As she pressed the cube into the atlas,
was magnificent, even to a deity of travel who has the moth landed on a face, leaving a diminutive,
seen unimaginable sights. Despite its awe-inspiring golden, star-shaped mark. It was in this way that
presence, it waited for her words. She talked of Hastur inscribed his own key and entered the cube
the codex and of how Hastur, the King in Yellow, without the goddess knowing.
fought to steal it, ransacking the infinite planes to
find it. The guardian rumbled understanding, so Introduction
Liikkua drew a simple map of six planes, separate
from each other but connected by a sense of order. Each non-chaotic character receives a cryptic
She folded it into a cube and shaped a key phrase petition soon after reaching 20th level that reads, “I
for each face. She set the dragon and codex into humbly ask that you help bring to book the chaotic
the cube—despite it being just 2 inches on each old. The traveling repository holds our futures.”
side—and then picked up a simple atlas of 144 Recreating a set of folds in the letter forms an
maps. She leafed through it and devised a mystery origami phoenix. When completed, it takes flight,
for each one, before allocating it to random future ignites, and then leaves an ash trail towards a part
travelers. Then she pushed the cube through the of the city the characters somehow haven’t seen
tome’s cover, unaware of where it would end up,

©2018 AAW Games, LLC.

Author: Stephen Yeardley Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this AAW
Artist: Rick Hershey version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, Games, LLC game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a Section 1(d).
Cartography: Justin Andrew Mason deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form
Adapted to 5E by: Kyle Crider been designated as Open Game Content or are in the public domain are not included in this declaration.) without written permission.
#116 The Ending Of It All For 5-6 Characters Level 20

before. There they find a forgotten, nondescript A. Green-Grown Rushes

library with a single dilapidated door. Inside, five
people sit around a worn table. The characters arrive at a 30-foot-square barn. As
they enter, they see an aged monk in tattered yellow
• A paladin petitioner from Heaven robes. The monk is so thin that light seems to pass
• A monk petitioner from Utopia through him. He is feeding dozens of birds with
• A fighter petitioner from Abaddon scales instead of feathers. Their claws, beaks, and
wattles “clack” as they peck at the rush-covered
• A bard petitioner from Hell ground. When the character reaches the center of
• A sorcerer petitioner from Purgatory the barn, the monk—Hastur in disguise—sends
all 78 cockatrices to attack the character, and then
There are quiet greetings as food and empty chairs disappears. The beasts become stone tokens when
materialize. The five wait for the characters to sit, dead, comprising 1 circle, 2 ellipses, 3 triangles, 4
and then the sorcerer makes a book on the table squares, 5 pentagons, 6 hexagons, 7 heptagons, 8
visible. The tome is old beyond reckoning, yet octagons, 9 nonagons, 10 decagons, 11 undecagons,
clearly well made. The monk taps the cover and and 12 dodecagons. The barn becomes a large room
says, “Although you won’t know it, this atlas is a with two doors.
record of your exploits and those of others like you.
You’ve been watched over time, and you are the first B. The Twelve Apostles
to gain the required experience. But another also
watched you, and we all have a problem. Now bear Twelve four-armed gargoyles line this room, one
with us and prepare.” against each wall. As soon as the party is in the
room, the doors lock and the gargoyles swarm the
The bard starts a dirge, and a cubic gate rises party (this is standard behavior for the rooms that
from the book. Five faces bear symbols from the follow). Each gargoyle has a dodecagonal recess in
petitioners’ home planes; the sixth, a diminutive its chest that needs a stone token from Area A in it to
yellow moth. The petitioners stand; the table unlock the doors.
disappears, and the tome and cube hover in the
air. As the paladin grips his hilt, the fighter leans C. The Eleven Who Went to the Heavens
forward and says, “Ready?” He touches the moth
mark, and instantly everyone is on a stage in an This dusty space looks like an eternal waiting room.
opulent opera house, facing a roaring crowd that Eleven flesh golems are dotted about the room, all
melds and rises as a shoggoth. After the shoggoth slumped on decrepit thrones, animate and attack.
is beaten, everyone reappears in the library. A huge tapestry on the northeast wall reads, “The
Characters receive a moth token for the victory. [For kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the
a longer adventure, the GM may instead require violent take it by force.” Each flesh golem has an
the characters to venture to each of the petitioner’s undecagonal recess in its skull that needs a stone
planes listed above on quests to assemble the moth token in it to unlock the doors.
token in five parts.]
D. The Ten Commandments
The petitioners say they cannot directly help the
characters enter the cube, defeat Hastur, and recover Hastur cast the following symbol spells on the
the codex, but they explain the use of the moth walls as indicated (all DC 20): (a) death, (b) discord,
token. When touched to the cube, it transports the (c) fear, (d) hopelessness, (e) insanity, (f) pain, (g)
characters inside to face the defenses Hastur has sleep, (h) stunning, (i) death, (j) discord. A pit fiend
built around the codex. appears to attack the party at any suitably awkward
moment as they deal with the symbols.
Note: In the planes of the cubic gate, the characters
are outsiders. Each time the characters enter a room, Each symbol has a decagonal recess in its center that
the doors lock behind them. Locked doors require needs a stone token in it to unlock the doors.
the relevant stone tokens to open.

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#116 The Ending Of It All For 5-6 Characters Level 20

E. The Nine Bright Aligners • LN (clear): The target is struck by two rays.
Roll twice more, rerolling any 8.
This octagonal room has nine sections in a floor • N (black): No effect.
made of unadorned clear crystal that has been
magically hardened. Each section represents an Each section has a nonagonal recess in its center
alignment, and shines with a different color from that needs a stone token in it to unlock the doors.
beneath the crystal (see below). The sections do
not flow in the usual “alignment wheel” but are F. The Eight Aberrant Rainers
set randomly. When someone not of the same
alignment as the section stands on it, a prismatic Each section of floor has a large, round grate set
spray targets the character as follows (all DC 20): in it. The eight-foot-high “ceiling” is dark and
undulates. In fact, this is the bottom of a 30-foot-
• LG (blue): The target takes 10d6 cold deep flooded space that holds eight lake trolls.
damage on a failed save, or half as much Two rounds after characters enter the room,
damage on a successful one. gravity reverses so that characters “fall” upward
• NG (indigo): On a failed save, the target is into the water to face the trolls—and possible
restrained. It must then make a Constitution drowning.
saving throw at the end of each of its turns.
As the last troll dies, gravity returns to normal.
If it successfully saves three times, the
Characters, trolls, and water crash to the floor.
spell ends. If it fails its save three times, it
All characters take 7 (2d6) falling damage, and
permanently turns to stone and is subjected
the water rapidly drains away through the large
to the petrified condition. The successes and
failures don’t need to be consecutive; keep
track of both until the target collects three of
a kind.
• CG (violet): On a failed save, the target
is blinded. It must then make a Wisdom
saving throw at the start of your next turn.
A successful save ends the blindness. If it
fails that save, the creature is transported
to another plane of existence of the DM’s
choosing and is no longer blinded. (Typically,
a creature that is on a plane that isn’t its
home plane is banished home, while other
creatures are usually cast into the Astral or
Ethereal planes.)
• CN (red): The target takes 10d6 fire damage
on a failed save, or half as much damage on a
successful one.
• CE (orange): The target takes 10d6 acid
damage on a failed save, or half as much
damage on a successful one.
• NE (yellow): The target takes 10d6 lightning
damage on a failed save, or half as much
damage on a successful one.
• LE (green): The target takes 10d6 poison
damage on a failed save, or half as much
damage on a successful one.

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#116 The Ending Of It All For 5-6 Characters Level 20

grates. Each troll has an octagonal recess in its K. Three Rivals

chest that needs a stone token in it to unlock
the doors. Three nalfeshnee fight to prove their worth as
defenders of Hastur’s plans, but all will turn on
G. The Seven Stars in the Sky intruders. Each demon has a triangular recess in its
back that needs a stone token in it to unlock the doors.
This heavenly looking space is 40 feet high and
has seven vrock veiled to look like angels in L. Two Clothed All in Green
it. In addition to listed qualities, their feathers
are multicolored and shimmer constantly with This space is a piece of a planet that belongs
a hypnotic pattern (DC 17). Each vrock has a to Hastur, engulfed by a prehistoric forest. A
heptagonal recess between its wings that needs a Spinosaurus lairs here, keeping out of the way of
stone token in it to unlock the doors. a vesiculosa. Party members will find themselves
caught between these two foes. Each has an
H. Six Heavy Walkers elliptical recess that needs a stone token in it to
unlock the doors. If the characters defeat Hastur
The six clay golems here patrol rooms with traps and return here, they can explore the planet, which
and report on any that have been triggered, is like Mesozoic-era Earth.
bringing captives or remains to their master. Each
golem has a hexagonal recess in its forehead that M. One Is the Loneliest Number
needs a stone token in it to unlock the doors.
The immense, ancient void dragon, created by
I. Five Heads are Better than One Liikkua to guard the codex, now circles Hastur’s
library beyond the farthest ends of the Material
There are five stone pedestals here. Each one Plane where it maintains its eternal vigil.
holds an unbreakable glass (as small wall of Killing it earns the wrath of a goddess, but the
force) box with a severed head that looks like characters need to get past it somehow (see Area
one of the characters. Physically touching or N description for options). The guardian has a
attacking any box with a melee weapon triggers circular recess in its forehead that needs a stone
an imprisonment spell (minimus containment; the token in it to unlock the doors to the library.
character must succeed on a DC 25 Wisdom save
or be trapped inside the glass box). N. The Library
If a character can get into a box without opening The codex is in this library. Hastur, the Great Old
the door, she can extract the item within. Each One [you may wish to adapt a high-level fiend,
head has a pentagonal recess in its forehead that perhaps the Archduke of the Undead], formed
needs a stone token in it to unlock the doors. it within the guardian’s defensive ring without
its knowledge. It is on a table in the middle of
J. Four Vanities (and a Bonfire) the room, still sealed by Liikkua’s magic. If the
characters manage to convince the guardian
Four mysterious hooded humanoids sit in deep
dragon of Hastur’s duplicity, it enters the library
chairs around a warm fire in the middle of
with them, destroying everything there except the
this homely looking room. They are a cabal of
codex in its efforts to reach the Great Old One.
abominable beauties. Each abominable beauty
has a square recess in the palm of its left hand that Defeating Hastur and regaining the codex for the
needs a stone token in it to unlock the doors. guardian is no small feat. In gratitude, it casts
limited wish to benefit the party.

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