Publication:Night Below
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Plot Summary
Night Below is a boxed set that includes three 64-page books ("Book I: The Evils of Haranshire", "Book II: Perils of the Underdark", and "Book III: The Sunless Sea"), 26 photocopyable player handouts on 16 sheets, an eight-page Monstrous Compendium supplement, eight referee reference cards, three double-sided full-color maps with tactical maps on the reverse suitable for use with miniatures. Night Below is an adventure for four to eight first-level characters that will allow them to reach 14th level by the conclusion. The adventure breaks down into three parts (each with its own beginning, middle, and ending), each contained within its own booklet and fold-out, double-sided color map, with tactical maps for miniatures. The adventure begins with the player characters acting as couriers for a wizard, when they are waylaid by band of brigands trying to capture the party's spellcasters. Play is initially conducted aboveground in a rural setting, which provides many small-scale encounters from which characters can gain experience, treasure, and clues. There is a village that characters can use as a base, with its own supporting cast of Non-player characters for potential friends, including rangers, a druid, and a wizard. The players then unearth the entrance to a vast cave system, where they will contend with the sinister plot hatching far below. The adventure recommends that the Dungeon Master reward the characters with experience points for accumulating the powerful magic items that they find. In case characters don't advance in level quickly enough, hooks and suggestions for mini-adventures both above and below ground are provided. The set consists of three 64-page booklets detailing the epic dungeon-based campaign (all three with cover art by Easley; book 3 having the same cover art as the box itself), 6 large color fold-out poster maps, an 8-page booklet of monster statistics pages, 8 reference cards for the Dungeon Master, and sixteen sheets containing player handouts. Book I: The Evils of Haranshire provides an introduction to Night Below, a campaign designed to take player characters from 1st level to 10th level and beyond. This campaign was expressly designed to be usable into any ongoing campaign setting. This booklet details Haranshire, where the adventure begins, and the non-player characters which may be encountered there. Book II: Perils of the Underdark details the catacomb and cavern complexes of the Underdark here. This book introduces many encounters with underground races, such as the derro, svirfneblin, illithids, and rockseer elves. This portion of the adventure emphasizes role-playing, intrigue, and diplomacy rather than just combat. Book III: The Sunless Sea describes the aboleth city of Great Shaboath and leads up to the final confrontation against the aboleth, who are the masterminds behind the scenario.Three of the six mapsheets provide smaller maps detailing various sites for encounters, while the other three mapsheets are large-scale tactical maps designed to be used in miniatures combat. The monster booklet details 5 monsters in the Monstrous Compendium style: savant aboleth, rockseer elf, ixzan ixitxachitl, giant moray eel, and Shaboath golem. The Dungeon Master's reference cards include maps of the villages of Milborne and Thurmaster, a listing of underground terrain hazards, monster rosters, descriptions of aboleth and ixitxachitl deities, and monster cutouts for miniatures combat. The sixteen loose sheets contain 26 handouts to be given to players at suitable times in the campaign, and include items such as journal entries, sketch maps, runes and symbols, and clues.
Publication History
Night Below was written by Carl Sargent and published by TSR as a boxed set in 1995. Cover art was by Jeff Easley, with interior art by Arnie Swekel and Glen Michael Angus.
