The Evil One

Featured In Modules

This lore entry is featured in the following adventure modules:

• A Wolf in Adventurer's ClothingGuildmaster Thalin Fernstride sends adventurers to meet Holt and Sage Elbera at a newly discovered dungeon just outside Kingdom Grand and assist in its exploration. The dungeon seems strangely empty—no traps trigger, no monsters attack. At its heart lies a crumbled statue and a vast mosaic showing an inverted pyramid cradling an egg, with the phrase "He who sleeps will rise" carved across the wall. Holt betrays the party: he beheads Sage Elbera, unleashes Jeffery—a burning paper dragon monstrosity—to block their escape, and vanishes. After defeating Jeffery, Sage Elbera's body is burned beyond recognition. Returning to the guild, Guildmaster Thalin Fernstride demands vengeance on Holt.
• Ancient SecretsMaster Thalin Fernstride sends adventurers to investigate newly discovered ancient tunnels beneath Kingdom Grand that predate mortal civilization. The tunnels are infested with ankhegs, whose acid burns through the old stone. After fighting through the ankheg colony, they discover a sealed stone door marked with indecipherable primoridal runes, surrounded by the remains of a failed cult expedition. They recover an ancient shield similar to ones Holt discovered weeks earlier, and scattered journals which speak of "the one that came first" and "the one that slumbers."
• Ash House GoblinsThe Council of Grand hires the Adventurer's Guild to clear the infamous and supposedly cursed Ash House of its traps for demolition. Inside, the party discovers a tribe of Ash House Goblins who have made the house their home.
• Bliss UnmadeWith He Who Slumbers re-subdued in the caverns beneath Kingdom Grand, the four guilds send adventurers back down to clean up the aftermath. The surviving Cinder Guard stand masterless in a Bliss-Leeched stupor, and the coven that stole Molokite youth-magic has withered into bitter Witchlings and Withered Crones. Guided by Guildmaster Teyla Coalmaker and the hidden medicine woman Raphira, the party brews an Antidote of the Wardens, cleanses a corrupted cistern, and frees the Cinder Guard en masse—restoring the memory and name of one guard, Veyl.
• Dungeons and BiomancyMaster Thalin Fernstride sends adventurers with Sage Elbera to investigate a newly opened dungeon beneath the royal castle in Kingdom Grand. The dungeon contains strange stone containers filled with viscous liquid, moss-covered floors that induce madness, and shadows that move in the corners. They discover a laboratory with notes on biomancy experiments involving yetis, owlbears, and other monstrosities, as well as maps pointing to the door found in the Ancient Secrets adventure. In the central chamber, they find stone slabs depicting The Evil One creating an egg meant to destroy the world. They are ambushed by Hall Creepers that mimic their allies before escaping with evidence of recent cult activity.
• Evil from the PastThe four guildmasters of Kingdom Grand, Evenfell, Kdor, and New Arcanum send adventurers to Holt's abandoned laboratory beneath the temple of Vitalia, discovered through Sage Elbera's final intelligence. A magic mouth delivers Holt's farewell before vents release shimmering Lullwater that floods the chambers. Navigating rising water and failing magic, they recover Holt's journal revealing his childhood among the Molokite, his manipulation of their ancient desires, and his belief that their "god" was one of The Evil One's experiments—a creature grown from a tarrasque corpse through biomancy, controllable by the Lullwater. They escape the drowning ruin as the guildmasters prepare a full strike on Holt's camp at the dungeon gate.
• Finding the MolokiteWith Holt missing and Sage Elbera dead, Guildmaster Thalin Fernstride sends adventurers to the dwarven mountains to learn what Holt's notes mean by "Molokite." They travel by carriage—teleportation circles remain unreliable—and meet Durven MeadAnvil, who knows of no such ore but points them to an ancient sealed forge deep below the mountain, guarded by a demonic Armanite. After slaying the beast, they find no Molokite metal, only records of elves who sought ever-greater power, were corrupted, and were driven underground by the dwarves and other mortal races.
• Forge FireThe freed Cinder Guard need weapons, and only a sunsteel blade forged in divine fire can permanently harm He Who Slumbers's tentacles. Guided by Guildmaster Alyndor "Aly" Marvale and the ghost of Captain Kaelen, the party relearns the lost forging sequence at the Sunsteel Forge and uncovers the Book of Molok, Chapter IX, a prophecy naming the Living Seal needed to hold the Beast forever. The first new Sunsteel Blade is forged for Veyl.
• Masks and MasqueradesGuildmaster Elrin Veymar sends adventurers to meet Galen Lamiur, the flamboyant Minister of Civil Projects, who may know where the missing nobles are hidden. Despite his peacock-like demeanor, Galen reveals his cunning when Crown officials interrupt their meeting, and he cleverly passes the adventurers off as actors in a play about The Evil One. He suspects the Minister of Trade, Silas Drenn, is behind the disappearances and has discovered blueprints revealing a hidden dungeon beneath Drenn's mansion. The adventurers infiltrate a masquerade party at the manor, navigate the secret dungeon to rescue the captive nobles, and escape disguised as performers with the rescued nobles hidden beneath elaborate costumes.
• Nightmares and Old MagicsNightmares grip Kdor after the Goldstiel Festival. Citizens report identical visions of ancient stone laboratories, strange waters, and a crow-shaped monster watching them. Guildmaster Teyla Coalmaker urges adventurers to enter a dream realm with Holt and sever the connection before the nightmares spread. The Crow Knight was defeated but its mind survived and is now projecting visions: memories of something far older. The party must enter the Crow Knight's dying mind, navigate a surreal labyrinth of ancient experimentation, and confront the Crow Knight in his fractured consciousness.
• Scoops and SpectersThe Adventurer's Guild is hired by the new Church of Elina to cleanse the haunted Tyre Castle of spirits. Guided by Cleric Ellowen Thorn and after researching the specters with the grumpy expert Holt, the party chooses a wing of the castle to purge.
• Sound the Horns of WarThe four great guilds unite to stop Holt and the Molokite from awakening He Who Slumbers. Their combined forces march on the ancient gate beneath Kingdom Grand, where the final dungeon has opened and Holt's army has already entered. Adventurers join the vanguard, clearing Molokite cultists, mind-controlled adventurers from Evenfell, and remaining defenders to establish a forward operating base before the assault on the dungeon proper.
• The DungeonThe tremors beneath Kingdom Grand intensify again. Guildmaster Thalin Fernstride orders adventurers back into the caverns to find the source, survive collapsing passages and Slumber Cultist patrols, and report on cultist numbers and whether the ancient door has been opened. From a cliff overlooking the monumental gate—now larger and pulsing with light—they spy Holt among pale-skinned elves marked with glowing green veins, kneeling with hundreds of cultists as he forces them to drink from water skins.
• The Living SealThe Liturgy of Binding holds He Who Slumbers, but with the Molokite civilization gone it needs a permanent living anchor. Led by Guildmaster Elrin Veymar, the party descends to the Sealing Chasm, fights off Dreamleechers at the threshold, and sings the Liturgy while the Beast's Dread tempts each of them with their deepest desire. Veyl steps through the arc of light to become the Living Seal, sealing himself into the binding forever as Captain Kaelen's century-long vigil finally ends.