Written by: J.A. Iris (DesViper)
Candlekeep Mysteries is an adventure anthology written by members of the D&D community, including big names like Alison Huang, Daniel Kwan, and Kienna Shaw! Each of the 17 adventures of the anthology is depicted as books found within the Candlekeep, a massive library-citadel on the Sword Coast of the Forgotten Realms. But, the anthology could be easily adapted to the Cobalt Reserve on Tal’Dorei, the University of Wynarn on Eberron, or any other setting featuring a huge, well-kept library.
Candlekeep is managed by the Avowed, a sect of dedicated scholars who oversee the library’s massive collection. Those who wish to enter must provide a new entry to the library, either a unique work not yet catalogued by the Avowed or a special edition of a work they already have. Once inside, entrants are welcome to the expansive shelves of Candlekeep, except for certain restricted materials, of course. The library will even supply a guide to help navigate the vast collection and assist with any research needs. From there, adventure abounds from many of the strange books and book-like objects player characters are destined to encounter.
Below is a list of maps that would be a great addition to the first 9 adventures of Candlekeep Mysteries, the rest will be covered in part 2.
Spoiler warning: spoilers for adventures in Candlekeep Mysteries ahead, proceed with caution!
Candlekeep & The Joy of Extradimensional Spaces
1. Great Library
Of course, the Great Library is a natural fit for the shelves and halls of Candlekeep. The sun-filled chambers and moon-filled corridors would put a layer of beauty over the pragmatic halls of Candlekeep.
But, the action is in the books themselves! The first adventure in Candlekeep Mysteries takes place in a magical library demiplane created by the mage Fistandia, and the Great Library would also be a great fit for Fistandia’s Mansion. The adventurers could battle animated books in the Violet Study and align the planets in the Orrey, all before leaving the way they came.
Mazfroth’s Mighty Digressions
2. City Streets - Lonely Behir
The next adventure in Candlekeep occurs when our heroes are beset by creatures mimicking books that have found their way into Candlekeep. After tracing the mimics to Baldur’s Gate, the adventurers face off against a pack of jackleweres in a run-down hovel. Whether there for diplomacy or violence, the Lonely Behir would make a wonderfully cramped location for the Amberdune pack’s hideout. They could sneak past or blast through the ground floor to the storage area where Korvala confronts them. Once she’s amenable or irrelevant, the adventurers descend to the basement for their reward, a Lamia’s heart!
Book of the Raven
3. Forgotten Chapel Graveyard - Shadowlands
The Book of the Raven is one of the more curious items of Candlekeep: it was dropped off by a raven several decades ago - one supposes it was allowed entry into the keep by right! Once the player characters interact with the book, however, they find a map to Chalet Brantifax, a mysterious abode rumoured to house a Shadowfell crossing. The Forgotten Chapel is the perfect backdrop for the Chalet and the strange encounters within.
4. Wizard Prison Pt. 2 - Inert
The tragedies that befell Baron Brantifax made their way to a graveyard beside the Chalet. The torment of his daughter was so deep that her grave became a crossing to the Shadowfell, and should the adventurers be so daring as to dig up the coffin and lie in the empty grave at night, they would be transported to the Shadowfell in an extensive, dangerous necropolis!
The Wizard Prison makes an excellent arena for the waves of monsters that attack the adventurers the moment they arrive in the Shadowfell. Gargoyles immediately descend upon them from 120 feet above the grave they arrived in. Then, ghouls begin to crawl from the tombs lining the walls of the tower, and finally, Drovath Harrn himself stands at the entrance, raining arrows on our heroes until he is finally slain. From there the rest of the Harrn Mausoleum is just outside the top of the tower.
A Deep and Creeping Darkness
5. Mushroom Infested Mines - Original No Sinkhole
A Deep and Creeping Darkness tells the tale of a village beset by strange, sporadic disappearances after a mining disaster. After a short investigation, the player characters learn this tale is true and make their way to the village of Maerin to discover what really happened to the town. The adventure culminates in a showdown with the meenlocks that have infested the town after the disaster. The Mushroom Infested Mines is a great fit for the fey-plagued mines, filled with eerie light and a huge chamber just waiting to be detonated!
Shemshime’s Bedtime Rhyme
6. Bone Mill Interior - Moonlight
Shemshime’s Bedtime Rhyme is one of the “book-like objects” mentioned earlier: it is a music box in the shape of a book, and once played, the music curses all who hear it with an infectious tune. To prevent the cursed tune’s spread, the player characters and a few staff of Candlekeep are quarantined in the Firefly Cellar until they resolve the curse and defeat Shemshime by crushing it with a sufficiently heavy object.
Chasing Shemshime around the Firefly Cellar is an exciting encounter, but for a more horrific battle against the evil spirit, the music box could transport all affected to the Bone Mill it originally spawned in! Hazards aplenty: this encounter forces the player characters (and any NPCs brought along) to run and dodge around the mechanics of the mill in the hopes of crushing Shemshime before being crushed themselves! Once they do, they can emerge from the nightmare realm to see the music box-book closed tight…ready to spring open again.
Honourable mention: just outside the bone mill realm, the Bone Mill Exterior - Blood River could add another layer of macabre to the nightmare!
The Price of Beauty
7. Imperial Bath Complex - Toxic
The Price of Beauty is a wonderful tome illustrated with all of Sune’s beauty, but the mirror set into the cover is where adventure lurks. Once someone expresses disappointment in their lives or themselves, the book conjures a portal to the Temple of the Restful Lily, an ancient bathhouse that brings beauty and comfort to any who visit. Except, it has been taken over by a coven of hags!
After our heroes thwart their tricks and save their victims, you can have the facade of beauty shatter over the temple as fetid muck pours into the bath and fouls all its waters. The Imperial Bath Complex made foul allows a proper showdown against the wicked hags in the otherwise sublime temple!
Book of Cylinders
8. Pharaoh's Tomb - Archaeological Site
The Book of Cylinders is - appropriately enough - a set of wooden cylinders pressed into clay to form the story, that of a village of frog-folk assailed by ophidian invaders. At the same time, the player characters hear that the grippli who supply much of the food for Candlekeep have been silent as of late, and the warning the Book serves is made clear. They then voyage north to discover that the frog-folk have indeed been invaded by yuan-ti!
Guided by the captured grippli, our heroes arrive at an Archeological Site where the yuan-ti invaders are performing a ritual to reclaim lost artefacts of great power! This map takes full advantage of the scenario and crowds the heroes and villains in a cramped, dangerous dig site. Once the invaders are defeated, it could even be restored to its former glory in another variation of the map.
Honourable mention: if the adventure calls for an all-out battle against the invading yuan-ti, the Bullywog swamp - Blue Lagoon Day would be a great fit to liberate the heart of the grippli village.
Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor
9. Eldritch Church - Stillness
Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor is a diary written by a servant of a Waterdeep noble who died a mysterious and gruesome death that remains unsolved. Springing from the diary, Sarah’s restless spirit guides our heroes to Lord Viallis Yellowcrest, who gathers an evil cult in an isolated town outside Waterdeep. There, at the Dark Chapel of the Temple of the Burnt Tongue, they confront the evil lord mid-ritual and watch as he sacrifices two more to conjure a grell.
For a more dramatic encounter, the Dark Chapel can instead be an Eldritch Church with otherworldly influences that are flooding the material plane, only to be cut short by the interruption of our heroes! The mage Lord Viallis can then attack the heroes from his high and mighty position at the eldritch altar, taking the elder horror with him should he be allowed to escape!
Lore of Lurue
10. Mangrove Forest - Blood Grove
Lore of Lurue is yet another enchanted tome in Candlekeep, just waiting to be sprung open by adventurers. Once they read the warning on the first page, the player characters are pulled into a magical demiplane where they live out the events of the story. The heroes assist the fey of the forest setting of the tome, but ominous red lightning thunders in the distance. They soon learn that a Cult of the Beast Lord has infiltrated the otherwise idyllic fairytale and corrupted the divine pool within!
The Mangrove Forest - Blood Grove illustrates this corruption wonderfully, or rather, horrifically. Blood cultists attack the heroes as they try to keep to the rickety bridge rather than fall into the bloody muck until a bolt of red lightning strikes the red pool. A nightmarish avatar of Lurue charges until it is defeated, and the Mangrove Forest is restored. The tale ends and the adventurers are returned to Candlekeep and aptly rewarded by the unicorn god.
Join us for more Candlekeep Mysteries in part 2 [Coming soon!], where we find The Book of Internal Alchemy, take on the Lichen Lich, and even blast off into space!