One Last Riddle

1 one last riddle CREDITS Design: David Eckelberry Editing: Kim Mohan Web Production: Sue Cook Web Development Mark Jindra Graphic Design: Sean Glenn, Cynthia Fliege Based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and on the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game designed by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, and Peter Adkison. D&D, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and DUNGEON MASTER are registered trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All Wizards characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental. ©2001 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. All rights reserved. Made in the U. S. A. One Last Riddle is a DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® adventure for four to six characters of between 5th and 7th level. This short adventure should occupy a single evening’s play. PREPARATION To use this adventure, you need the Player’s Handbook, the DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide, and the Monster Manual. Text in shaded boxes is player information, which you should read aloud or paraphrase when appropriate. Unshaded boxes contain information for the DM. Monster statistics noted in each encounter are abbreviated, but provide the Monster Manual page number where full statistics of common monsters can be found. Statistics for special monsters and NPCs appear in the text. Individual encounters have an overall rating—their encounter level (EL), which is the challenge rating (CR) summation of each encounter element. The EL helps you gauge how difficult or easy any given encounter will be for your players’ characters. One Last Riddle can be set just about anywhere, within any campaign world. No map is needed for this adventure, because even the locations the characters travel to represent part of an event-driven series of happenings. To begin, just allow your player characters a moment’s peace some evening alongside a road, and start the first encounter. Adventure Background The great sphinx Ujaset died last night. Before that time, the people of the surrounding land reported the occasional appearance of a translucent winged leonine figure in the skies above. According to local folklore, this beast sometimes halted the progress of travelers to trouble them with its clever questions, generously rewarding those who could answer the sphinx’s riddles. Perhaps it’s this legend that has drawn the player characters to the region. Encounters All of the following encounters are event-based, each one building on what has come before it. 1. A Riddle for You (EL 11) In this encounter, the characters are drawn into the adventure. Assuming they’re wise enough to avoid using violence, Ujaset starts them on their short quest.