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.