Horrors of Adria

About the adventure

Adria has never lost a fleet. Storms split around its harbor, plague stops at the waterline, and for four hundred years no rival port has managed to explain why. Adria doesn't explain it either. Whatever keeps this city safe, it has been kept quietly, by every monarch in turn, for as long as there has been a city to keep. This spring the young queen did something none of her ancestors dared. By the end of the week, Adria will learn what that cost. You begin in the king's dungeon. No gear, no allies, and no idea why the crown put you and these strangers in the same cell block on the same night. Above you the castle is coming apart. What is outside the walls is an army, but it is what's inside them that should worry you. Getting out is only your first problem. This is horror that takes the horror seriously. Combat is dangerous and often avoidable; light, rest, and a working door are genuine resources; running is frequently the right call. Expect long stretches of investigation and conversation. The mystery is solvable and the clues are fair, I will never lock the plot behind a single dice roll, and the NPCs you meet want things, remember what you did to them, and can be reasoned with, lied to, or saved. What you decide will decide how this ends. Who this is for: players who prefer dread to power fantasy, questions to combat, and characters with something to lose. New to D&D? You're genuinely welcome! Starting with nothing but your character is the gentlest possible way to learn the 2024 rules, and I'll teach as we go. We open with a session zero, use lines and veils plus an X-card throughout, and I keep an eye on the spotlight so everyone gets scenes that are theirs. Content: imprisonment, disease, body horror, memory loss, and moral choices with no clean answer. No gore for its own sake, no sexual content, nothing involving children.