# Shipwrecked: An Adventure for D&D Beginners Crash-landed on a secluded island, alone against the terrifying wilderness, you and your band of low-level adventurers must shelter yourselves against the storm, take stock of your possessions and abilities, and make a plan to defeat the Weather Wizard and steal his airship to escape the island. This beginner adventure for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition assumes that you have already created 1st-level characters. It gives a chance for new players to figure out the game and test out their equipment and abilities. ## Adventure Structure The adventure should take about 2 hours to complete. 1. ***Shipwrecked.*** After a violent shipwreck, the party recovers on the beach of a tropical island, making sure everyone is okay. Upon realizing that they are in the eye of the storm and the storm will soon return with just as much force, the party must quickly make a shelter and defend themselves against the winds. 2. ***Weathered.*** The storm does not let up. From the light of a lightning strike, observant party members will spot a wizard standing upon the peak of a mountain at the center of the island, controlling the weather with his magic airship. They set out to kill the Weather Wizard and stop the storm. 3. ***Frozen.*** The party fights through the freezing rain and climbs up the mountain, where they can then ascend the airship's tether cable to get aboard. 4. ***Ambushed.*** On the deck of the airship, the party is attacked by mephits, mosquito-like elemental monsters that burst when they are slain. 5. ***Befuddled.*** The party must solve the puzzle of the Weather Wizard's airship in order to access the cabin where he has retreated. 6. ***Victorious.*** The party fights the weather wizard on the deck after he flies out of his cabin. He uses weather effects to debuff the party while he fights. After defeating him, the party gains control of the airship. Without the Weather Wizard, the airship loses its ability to control the weather and the storm subsides. ___ Monster statblocks and enemy spells are provided on page 5 and 6 of this document for reference. Maps are not necessary to run this adventure. By the end of the adventure, the party will have acquired themselves an airship and can level up. ## Part I: Shipwrecked Read out the following text to the players upon beginning the adventure. Captain Nodlong has a loud, nasally voice. \columnbreak > Welcome to Shipwrecked, an adventure for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition! I can see that you have all prepared your first level characters. Let's begin our adventure! > > "Shipwrecked!" yells your captain, Nodlong, a four-foot-tall gnome with a tri-cone hat and a nose bigger than his feet. "It figures my beautiful ship would be wrecked! The warranty expired last week!" Nodlong spitefully kicks up wet sand on the beach, spraying mud all over the wreckage. "That storm came out of nowhere! Clear skies, then boom! The wind picks us up and slams us into this secluded island in the middle of nowhere! At least the storm's died down!" > > Everyone, make a DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check. That means find your bonus for Survival on your sheet, roll a d20, and add that bonus to the result. Don't tell me what the d20 says, tell me only the final result after you've added your bonus. If you need help figuring out your bonus for Survival, please let me know and I'll help you out. Characters are to make DC 10 Survival checks. Make sure that each player has correctly added their bonus, taking into account their Wisdom score, whether they have proficiency, and whether they have Expertise. > For a DC 10 check, that means that you succeed if your result is 10 or higher. If anyone has rolled a 10 or higher, this is what you realize: Your skills of surviving in the wilderness tell you that the storm has not died! You are currently in the eye of the storm. You have about half an hour to set up shelter for when the storm comes back! If nobody rolls above 10, Nodlong tells the party this information instead. > "Well?" shrieks Nodlong. "We're wasting precious seconds! We are currently situated on a beach with lush forest on the edges. In the center of the island is a very large mountain. We don't have time to trek to the mountain before the storm hits, but I think we have time to construct a shelter and perform other duties necessary for survival. Let's make an inventory of everything we have on us and make a plan for a shelter!" \pagebreak > Everyone, take a look at what equipment your character has on them and report to Nodlong with anything you think might be useful for preparing a shelter. Once the party has laid out their inventory items and their usefulness, they see Nodlong clean off a bit of mud from his hat with the spell *prestidigitation.* > "What are you looking at? It's just a measly cantrip! What spells or abilities do you have that might be useful?" > > Everyone, take a look at your spells, racial traits, class features, or feats for anything that might be useful. Nodlong peers out at the horizon. He rolls a Perception check and nods. > "Yes, with my skill of Perception I can see the edge of the storm quickly returning to us! What skills might you all have that could be useful right now?" > > Everyone, check your sheets for any skill proficiencies that might be useful. You can be as creative as you like. Once they have examined their character sheets for useful items, abilities, and skills, get the players to describe collectively how they set up shelter or perform other survival tasks. ## Part Two: Weathered Read out the following text to the players once they have finished their shelter. > The storm crashes down on your little shelter with no time to spare! Rain pounds against the supports! The wind wails as it whips through cracks in your design! Lightning flashes in the sky, followed by rolling waves of thunder that rattle your bones! > > Everyone, make me a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. Saving throws are similar to ability checks, but you have to make them to avoid damage or a negative effect. Find the bonus you get for your Constitution saving throws and add it to a d20 roll. Everyone who fails their saving throw takes 1 cold damage. They must subtract it from their HP. \columnbreak > "Did you see that?" says Nodlong. "There! On the top of the mountain!" > > Everyone, make me a DC 10 Perception check with disadvantage. Disadvantage means that you are performing the check in a more difficult situation, in this case due to the wind and rain making it hard to see or hear. When you roll with disadvantage, you roll twice and take the lower result. Characters that score a 10 or higher on their Perception check see the following. > When lightning flashes, you see it! On the top of the mountain, a ship floats in mid-air, tethered to the peak with cables! The ship has massive red sails that balloon out from the wind, and it has a long metal rod that stretches to the sky and captures the lightning! On the bow of the ship, a lone figure spreads his arms and seems to control the storm itself with his wild undulations! He must be some sort of Weather Wizard! > > "Nine Hells!" shrieks Nodlong. "Who knows how long that Weather Wizard will be up there! This storm could last weeks! We have to stop him if we are to survive!" The party develops a plan to stop the Weather Wizard. He's much, much too far away to hit with ranged weapons or spells, and his airship is being buffeted around too much by the wind anyway. It seems that the party's best bet is to climb the mountain and board the ship. ## Part Three: Frozen Like building a shelter, ask your players to identify anything on their character sheet that might help them against the stormy conditions. If they can find anything, they have advantage on any saving throws they must make in this section. > First, you must trek through the forest through the freezing rain! Everyone, make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw! On a failed save, a character takes 1 cold damage and 1 level of exhaustion, giving them disadvantage on ability checks. Reiterate that ability checks are different from saving throws. \pagebreak > Next, you must scramble up loose rocky embankments at the base of the mountain! Make me a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw! On a failed save, a character trips and scrapes themselves on the sharp rocks, taking 1d4 slashing damage. > Finally, you must make the climb to the peak of the mountain! Don't worry, it's not a very tall mountain. Find any equipment or abilities that might help you make the climb, then make me a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check. On a successful check, they make it to the top quickly. Anyone who fails the check gets stuck about halfway up and will require some help to make the check again. If everyone makes it up, Nodlong is the one who needs help. > You can help an ally make a check by declaring it and describing how you help them. Helping an ally gives them advantage on their ability check. When you have advantage, you roll twice and take the higher result. You can't stack advantage, so only one person needs to help. Also, if you have both advantage and disadvantage, you just roll normally once. If the character who needs help makes it up, great. If not, Nodlong casts *levitate* and hovers them up. > "That was my last spell slot for the day!" he complains. "I was hoping to save it for later, but oh well!" Now that the party is at the peak of the mountain, read the following text. > You can see the airship hovering about fifteen feet above the peak of the mountain, tethered to the rock by a strong cable. Untethering the airship is a bad idea, as the ship can fly and it won't stop the Weather Wizard. You reckon you could probably sneak onto the airship by climbing up the cable. However, some of you are no doubt hurt. You can take a short rest under an outcropping nearby before attacking the airship. \columnbreak > When you take a short rest, you can spend your hit dice to regain health. If you find your hit dice on your character sheet, it will tell you what die you need to roll. For example, a sorcerer rolls a d6 and a barbarian rolls a d12. You take the result of your roll and add your Constitution modifier, and that's how much health you recover. > > Nodlong complains that he doesn't get his spell slots back. "I've already used all my slots today! If only I were a warlock, but no! I'll have to wait out the entire night." Wizards can also regain some spell slots on a short rest using their class abilities. For other classes like fighter, you might regain some abilities on a short rest as well. You don't get rid of levels of exhaustion on a short rest, either. You need a good night's sleep for that. Note that Nodlong will always be out of spell slots no matter what he's done during the day. If the party demands a long rest, tell them that they'll take 1 point of cold damage each hour due to the very poor conditions. It's better to quickly short rest and keep their bodies moving to resist the cold. Additionally, since the airship is above their heads, they can't see what's going on on the deck just yet. Once the party has rested, it's time to attack the airship. ## Part Four: Ambushed > Make me a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check, your choice, to climb up the cable and get onto the airship. Again, you can help out party members or use class abilities or spells to make things easier. If you fall, someone can make a DC 10 Strength or Dexterity saving throw (their choice) to catch you and pull you up. If anyone falls, they take 1d6 bludgeoning damage and must try again. Players can also make Dexterity (Stealth) checks to avoid notice as they climb up. The DC is 11, but the DC is hidden as they don't know who they're hiding from. Once the party clambers up onto the deck of the airship, read the following text. > You expected to see the weather wizard waiting for you, but he seems to have retreated into the cabin of the ship for now. Lightning strikes the metal rod in the center of the ship and lights it up to reveal ... \pagebreakNum > Spindly, flying, buzzing, mosquito-like monsters made of dark cloudy matter! If you think your character might be able to recognise what they are, roll me a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check to identify them! Since these monsters are quite rare, the DC to identify them is higher. If a character succeeds on the check, they tell the rest of the party that these monsters are **stormcloud mephits**, vicious creatures from the elemental plane of air, servants to the evil storm god Talos! Their statblocks are found at the end of this document. There is one **stormcloud mephit** for each character, not including Nodlong. > As you draw your weapons and prepare your spells, one of the mephits picks up Nodlong by his cape and dangles him over the edge of the airship! Before you can do anything, the mephit drops him, and you can hear Nodlong's screams mixing with the roar of the wind and rain -- "NOOOOOOO!!!" -- before you hear a terrible THWACK! Oh no! He's dead! After a moment of silence, add: > Seems that he was nodlong for this world. > <br> <br> > Roll initiative. Get each player to find their initiative bonus on their character sheet. Tell them not to just shout out their initiative, but wait until you ask them. Address each player by their character's name when jotting down where they are in initiative order. For simplicity, the **stormcloud mephits** have an initiative of 10 and all act on the same turn. > To make an attack against an enemy, you first roll an attack roll. This is your ability modifier -- Strength or Dexterity, depending on the weapon -- plus your proficiency bonus, which is 2. If the result of your attack roll meets or exceeds the enemy's AC -- their armor class -- your attack hits and you roll damage. Your damage roll is the dice of the weapon -- for example, a d4 for knives or 2d6 for a greataxe -- plus your Strength or Dexterity modifier. \columnbreak On initiative count 20, lightning strikes the metal conductor rod in the center of the ship. This doesn't do anything at the moment, but characters can push mephits into the conductor rod with a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check as their action. Any mephits touching the lightning rod explode when it is hit by lightning. Each turn, two of the mephits use their ***Cloud Breath*** ability, and the others attack with their claws. Each mephit attacks a different target rather than all of them ganging up on one person. If a character has 4 health or lower, instead of attacking, the mephit will attempt to grapple them. They have a -1 to their grapple checks due to not being very strong. > When you are being grappled, you must make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check, your choice, against the grappler's Strength (Athletics) check. Mephits are small sized; if you're bigger, you have advantage on your check. If the mephits grapple a character, they'll pull them to the edge of the airship. On their next turn, they'll drag them over the edge and threaten to drop them. One more turn after that, and if the character can't free themselves or be rescued, they'll be dropped onto the peak of the mountain where they'll take 1d6 bludgeoning damage and have to climb their way back up the cable again. Once the mephits are defeated, the party has a chance to catch their breath and debrief on how the fight went. Let the party discuss what worked and what didn't. ## Part Five: Befuddled The Weather Wizard has retreated into his cabin and locked the door with a very unusual lock. > The lock has a lightning bolt symbol on it. The symbol is a dull grey metal, and it seems like there are bright white diodes all around it that are currently inert. It seems like it needs a shock to get going. In order to open the door, the party must somehow connect the door's lock with the lightning rod in the center of the ship. Remind the players that lightning strikes the rod a few times each minute. This is an open-ended puzzle, where there is no specific solution in mind, relying on the creativity of the players. If they can't figure out a creative way to connect the lightning rod, a character can make a DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check to examine the airship for anything that can help them. On a success, the character realizes that they can unhook the tether cable and connect it from the lightning rod to the door lock. Alternatively, if any player has the spells *shocking grasp* or *witch bolt*, these will also open the door. \pagebreakNum ## Part Six: Victorious As soon as the lock is opened, the Weather Wizard flies out of his cabin and cackles evilly as he spins in circles around his lightning rod before finally setting down at its base. The wind ships through his white beard. > "Fools! I am a divine servant of Talos, Evil God of the Storm! You think you can fight against weather itself? Think again! Aaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" > <br> <br> > Roll initiative! The Weather Wizard has an initiative score of 12, for simplicity. On initiative count 20, he takes one of the following lair actions. He must use all three lair actions before he can use any of them again. ___ - ***Wind!*** Each character on the airship must make a DC 12 Strength saving throw. On a failed save, they are pushed away from the Weather Wizard all the way to the edge of the airship's deck, where they smack their backs against the railing. They don't fall, but they definitely shouldn't look down. On a successful save, they stand their ground. - ***Rain!*** Each character on the airship must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, they take 1 cold damage and fall prone. Remind them that they must spend half their movement to stand back up. On a successful save, they take no damage and they don't fall. - ***Divine Fury!*** Each character shields their eyes from a flash of light from the lightning rod and must make a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, they become frightened of the Weather Wizard, meaning that they can't willingly move closer to him and their attack rolls are made at disadvantage. On a successful save, they are not afraid. Once the weather wizard is defeated, the storm subsides. > Finally, white clouds and clear skies. You can even hear birds chirping from the trees below, and the soft lapping of waves on the beach at the edges of the island. With the Weather Wizard defeated, his airship has lost its power to control the weather, and now it's just you, as a party, with a new ship with which to sail the skies. If only Captain Nodlong were here to see it, but, sadly, now he has become Captain Long-Gone. This brings us to the end of our adventure. I hope you enjoyed Dungeons and Dragons! \columnbreak ## Monsters ___ > ## Stormcloud Mephit >*Small elemental, chaotic evil* > ___ > - **Armor Class** 10 > - **Hit Points** 4 (1d6 + 1) > - **Speed** 10 ft., fly 30 ft. >___ >|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA| >|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:| >|8 (-1)|11 (+0)|13 (+1)|6 (-2)|9 (-1)|4 (-3)| >___ > - **Damage Resistances** poison, thunder > - **Condition Immunities** poisoned > - **Senses** darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 9 > - **Languages** Auran > - **Challenge** 1/8 (25 XP) > ___ > > ***Death Burst.*** When the mephit dies, it explodes with a thunderous burst. Each creature within 5 ft. of the mephit must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or take 1 thunder damage. > > ### Actions > ***Claws.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 1d4 slashing damage. > > ***Cloud Breath.*** The mephit exhales smoky, crackling vapour in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, taking one level of exhaustion on a failed save. ### Exhaustion Levels for Reference | Level | Effect | |:---:|:-----------| | 1 | Disadvantage on Ability Checks | | 2 | Speed halved | | 3 | Disadvantage on Attack rolls and Saving Throws | | 4 | Hit point maximum halved | | 5 | Speed reduced to 0 | | 6 | Death | \pagebreakNum ___ > ## Weather Wizard >*Medium humanoid (human), chaotic evil* > ___ > - **Armor Class** 12 > - **Hit Points** 33 (6d8 + 6) > - **Speed** 30 ft., fly 10 ft. >___ >|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA| >|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:| >|10 (+0)|15 (+2)|13 (+1)|14 (+2)|12 (+1)|10 (+0)| >___ > - **Senses** passive Perception 11 > - **Languages** Auran, Common > - **Challenge** 1/2 (100 XP) > ___ > > ***Spellcasting.*** The weather wizard is a 2nd-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 12, +4 to hit with spell attacks). He can cast the following wizard spells. > > Cantrips (at will): *frostbite, gust, shocking grasp* > 1st-level (3 slots): *absorb elements, fog cloud* > > ***Talos' Caring Hand.*** When the weather wizard casts a spell, he can immediately fly up to 10 ft. away, landing on solid ground. > > ### Actions > ***Unarmed Strike.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 1 bludgeoning damage. #### Frostbite *evocation cantrip* ___ - **Casting Time:** 1 action - **Range:** 60 ft. - **Components:** verbal, somatic - **Duration:** Instantaneous ___ You cause numbing frost to form on one creature that you can see within range. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 1d6 cold damage, and it has disadvantage on the next weapon attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn. #### Gust *transmutation cantrip* ___ - **Casting Time:** 1 action - **Range:** 30 ft. - **Components:** verbal, somatic - **Duration:** Instantaneous ___ You seize the air and compel it to push against one Medium or smaller creature within range. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 5 feet away from you. #### Shocking Grasp *evocation cantrip* ___ - **Casting Time:** 1 action - **Range:** touch - **Components:** verbal, somatic - **Duration:** Instantaneous ___ Lightning springs from your hand to deliver a shock to a creature you try to touch. Make a melee spell attack against the target. You have advantage on the attack roll if the target is wearing armor made of metal. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 lightning damage, and it can't take reactions until the start of its next turn. #### Absorb Elements *1st level abjuration* ___ - **Casting Time:** 1 reaction, which you take when you take acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage - **Range:** self - **Components:** somatic - **Duration:** 1 round ___ The spell captures some of the incoming energy (acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage), lessening its effect on you and storing it for your next melee attack. You have resistance to the triggering damage type until the start of your next turn. Also, the first time you hit with a melee attack on your next turn, the target takes an extra 1d6 damage of the triggering type, and the spell ends. ___ The weather wizard can combine *absorb elements* with shocking grasp for a very powerful melee attack, dealing 1d8 lightning damage plus 1d6 of another type of damage, enough to potentially knock out a 1st-level character completely in one shot. If you feel that this is too powerful, you can instead combine it with his unarmed strike, dealing only 1d6 + 1 damage instead. #### Fog Cloud *1st level conjuration* ___ - **Casting Time:** 1 actiom - **Range:** 120 ft. - **Components:** verbal, somatic - **Duration:** Concentration, up to 1 hour ___ You create a 20 foot radius sphere of fog centered on a point within range. The sphere spreads around corners, and its area is heavily obscured. It lasts for the duration or until a wind of moderate or greater speed (at least 10 miles per hour) disperses it.