The Graveyard of Goldmeadow
This adventure was written for a 1st level party that is new to Dungeons & Dragons. It will ease them into role-playing and the game's rules with a simple adventure dealing with undead in a small village. Download printable battle maps here.
This adventure was adapted by Brent P. Newhall from the Graveyard of Col Fen adventure in the D&D 4th Edition supplement Open Grave. All stat blocks in this adventure are simplified (and, in some cases, modified) versions of full stat blocks in the 5E Monster Manual, though the ghast is significantly weaker than normal. Art by Victor Laube.
Introduction
The party has been working guard duty for caravans traveling up and down the Sword Coast. Their most recent caravan stopped in Port Llast for much-needed repairs. The party drank through most of its earnings, and in doing so befriended a morose dwarf, Glem. He belonged to an adventuring party wiped out by gnolls a few days ago, making him unable to fulfil their contract.
He offers the contract to the party; it's to go to the nearby village of Goldmeadow and escort a man named Thom Gill and two dead bodies to a man named Azhram Taralian in the city of Helm's Hold.
Goldmeadow Village
The party enters a small, normal farming village of about two dozen buildings, which is dominated by a sturdy tavern, the White Well. Inside, most of the villagers have gathered—almost all of them hardy farming types—to discuss their recent problems.
The Tavern
The mayor, Isabel Locke, is a surprisingly young woman in her early twenties (her father Alastair, the former mayor, died of the shaking sickness a year ago).
She explains that a week ago, the town's healer, Cara Bel, vanished. She often goes on short expeditions to the nearby woods to gather herbs, so at the time, nobody was concerned. The next evening, two zombies set upon a young man named Mac Shane as he was wrking late in his fields. He was badly hurt, but escaped to tell of the attack. He's since fallen ill and holed himself up in his house. Two days ago, the Gill family vanished from their home, which showed signs of struggle and tracks leading into the graveyard. When the villagers investigated the graveyard, they were attacked by the undead.
If asked about anything else unusual in the village recently, the barkeep will remember a tiefling who passed through several weeks ago. She ate a meal at the tavern but kept to herself, saying only that she was a treasure hunter. She poked around the village and did visit the graveyard, then left, with no evidence that she took anything.
Isabel is a concerned, capable leader, still unsure of her ability as a leader and rather desperate to resolve this crisis. She will gladly escort the party to visit any area of the village and any residence, but will not enter the graveyard.
Gathering Clues Around the Village
Cara's one-room hut stands not far from the village; it is full of drying herbs and shows no sign of struggle. A very careful search will reveal a stone bowl that contains stinking earth; soil from a grave in the graveyard.
Mac has locked the door of his farmhouse and lays on his bed, shivering and pale. He was bitten by a zombie, and is slowly turning into one, though he doesn't realize it yet. He isn't lucid enough to give much information, except to describe the zombies attacking him and biting his arm. A DC 12 Nature check will reveal that he will turn into a zombie in another 24 hours.
The Gill family house is exactly as Isabel described it. The house has a larder, which contains two empty coffins and smells strongly of funerary perfumes. The mud outside the house shows signs of people being dragged. Isabel will explain that the Gills are a young couple, in their 20's, with one infant child.
Encounter 1: The Graveyard
A 2-foot tall stone wall surrounds the graveyard. Within, the large trees grown over the graves grow increasingly wilted and stunted as they party ventures further inwards.
About halfway into the graveyard the party member with the highest passive Perception sees a thin, gray-skinned zombie lurching towards them. A party of 4 or fewer will face one zombie; a larger party will face two. Make sure you describe the zombie(s) as weak and thin.
This zombie is intentionally low on hit points; the encounter will teach the PCs the mechanics of fighting instead of providing a serious threat.
Zombie
AC 8 HP 10 Speed 20 ft. Init. -2 XP 50
Attacks: Melee (slam) +3, 4 (1d6+1) dmg
The zombie attacks the PCs until it is destroyed.
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Encounter 2: The First Crypt
At the center of the graveyard lies three crypts, each of them overgrown with ivy. Several large cracks run up the middle and right-hand crypts, as though they were damaged in an earthquake.
As the party nears the crypts, they will hear the crying of an infant from the right-most crypt.
This 25-foot wide, 35-foot long crypt contains a sarcophagus at one end, and the floor along the left wall has cracked and fallen through, creating a deep depression running the entire length of that side of the crypt. A ghast stands over the depression, looking down into it, from which echoes the wailing of the infant. Within the depression crouches Sara Gill, holding her baby. As soon as the party enters the crypt, the ghast will turn and attack them.
Ghast
AC 13 HP 36 Speed 30 Init. +3 XP 450
Attacks (2x): Melee (bite) +3, 9 (1d10+4) dmg
Melee (claws) +5, 7 (2d6+1) dmg, and DC 10 Con save or be paralyzed
The ghast uses its claw attack as often as possible, targeting the most powerful PCs, and switches to its bite if a PC is near 0 HP.
Once the ghast is defeated, Sara tearfully says that her husband was dragged into the middle crypt, while she was dragged here and guarded by the ghast. Half-mad with fear and exhaustion, she pleads with the party to rescue her husband. She will not enter the middle crypt with the party (for fear of harm to her child), but will stay outside it or run to the village at the party's recommendation.
Encounter 3: The Underground Chamber
The middle crypt also contains a sarcophagus (actually empty, if the PCs investigate) in the middle of the room. Cracks run up the sides of the stone walls, which have also been marred by words smeared in dried blood. The words are in Abyssal and read "Mezragul shall return."
A DC 10 Investigation check will reveal a secret door in the pavers at the other end of the room, a torn page from the tiefling's journal detailing her search for parts of a crown, and a faded map. The secret door is easily opened and leads into a small underground passage which opens onto a larger chamber.
The underground chamber is 25 feet wide by 40 feet long. There are four pillars in the room, and at the far end, a stone altar, onto which has been bound a struggling man who is covered in bleeding gashes. Next to him lies a small white skull that glows faintly green. Two ghouls stand on either side of the man, brandishing curved daggers and occasionally making light cuts into his body. Next to them stand two skeletons with drawn bows, while two zombies stand near the chamber's entrance.
Zombie
AC 8 HP 22 Speed 20 ft. Init. -2 XP 50
Attacks: Melee (slam) +3, 4 (1d6+1) dmg
Skeleton
AC 13 HP 13 Speed 30 ft. Init. +2 XP 50
Attacks: Melee (sword) +4, 5 (1d6+2) dmg
Ranged (bow) +4, 5 (1d6+2) dmg
The skeletons prefer to stay at range and fire their bows at the party. They're smart enough to stay behind a pillar, move to get a clear shot, fire, then move back behind the pillar during their turns.
Ghoul
AC 12 HP 22 Speed 20 ft. Init. +2 XP 200
Attacks: Melee (bite) +2, 9 (2d6+2) dmg
Melee (claws) +4, 7 (2d4+2) dmg, and DC 10 Con save or be paraylzed Melee (dagger) +5, 5 (1d6+2) dmg
As long as there are no enemies within 5 feet and the skull is intact, on its turn a ghoul will slash the victim (automatically succeeding). When the 6th slash hits, the man dies, bright green flames erupt from the skull, and it awakens (see its stat block).
The Skull of Mezragul
AC 13 HP 10 (25 if awakened) Speed fly 40 Init. +3 XP 200
Attacks: (only if awakened) Ranged (fire ray) +4, 6 (2d6) dmg
The awakened skull of Mezragul is a weak version of a flameskull, owing to its new awakening. If it is reduced to 10 HP or less while awakened, it will do its best to fly out of the crypt and escape, perhaps to become a recurring villain in the campaign!
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Updates
To scale this adventure up to a larger group, increase the first encounter to 2 zombies, add 1-2 skeletons to the second encounter, and add more zombies and skeletons to the third encounter.
To scale this adventure down to fewer PCs, replace the ghast with a ghoul in the second encounter, and in the third encounter, use only 1 ghoul, 1 zombie, and 2 skeletons.