The restless spirit of a tormented warlord howls through the mountain winds, threatening to unleash catastrophic storms upon the village at its feet — only those brave enough to reclaim his legendary blade can decide his fate.
Welcome to “The Howling Gorge” 5E adventure! Within these pages, you’ll discover everything necessary to embark on this thrilling quest, complete with detailed descriptions of locations, encounters, NPCs and stat blocks, maps, and handouts.
This adventure also features a versatile and scalable system, allowing Game Masters to easily adjust the difficulty and complexity of encounters to suit their players’ preferences and skill levels. Whether you have a party of advanced players or beginners, you can tailor the challenges to ensure an exciting and engaging experience for everyone involved. The scalable system guides modifying creature statistics, making it simple to customize the adventure to fit your party’s level.
In “The Howling Gorge,” a party of 4-6 characters (levels 3-5) is summoned to Galespire, a village gripped by supernatural storms and the eerie howls of Garumn — a legendary warlord whose spirit is bound to his blade and interred deep within the gorge that bears his name. Elder Mowen tasks the heroes with venturing into the Ironspike Mountains to retrieve the blade, as previous adventurers who attempted the same journey were never seen again. What the characters do with the blade once found will determine the fate of Galespire and Garumn’s restless soul. The adventure is divided into five parts.
Part 1: The Village’s Plea
The players arrive in storm-battered Galespire, where Elder Mowen addresses a crowd of frightened villagers in the central square. Gathering information from key NPCs — the young shepherd Faelon, who witnessed a ghostly figure on the mountain, and Old Eydis, a village elder with deep knowledge of Garumn’s legend and survival wisdom — the party pieces together the myth of the blade and its power over the storms. A sudden supernatural tempest drives everyone to shelter at The Gales Rest inn, and the following morning the players stock up on mountain gear from the merchant Halvor before setting off into the Ironspike Mountains.
Part 2: The Ironspike Mountains
The ascent through the Ironspike Mountains tests the party across a series of environmental and combat challenges. They encounter the Silver Falcons, a beleaguered adventuring group pinned down by a Frostclaw Bear, and earn allies and rewards by intervening. A three-stage icy cliff climb demands repeated Athletics checks with falling hazards at each stage. As night falls and the party makes camp on a high ledge, a ferocious snowstorm sweeps in — and the only shelter is a cave already occupied by four Mountain Goblins whose leader wields crude but potent arcane magic.
Part 3: Garumn’s Gorge
Descending into Garumn’s Gorge, the players are enveloped by a hauntingly oppressive atmosphere — spectral visions replay scenes of Garumn’s final battle, and those who study them carefully gain an edge on future lore checks. Natural hazards including rockslides and chilling wind gusts challenge the party’s endurance as they push deeper. Two Spectral Warriors block a narrow pass at the gorge’s heart, and a vast frozen lake must be crossed — carefully, as cracking ice and freezing water threaten the unwary — while two Frost Guardians rise from the depths to defend the far shore.
Part 4: The Garumn Cave
Beyond a massive runic stone door — unlocked only by applying the correct element to each of four runes (fire, water, air, and earth) — the players descend into Garumn’s ancient tomb complex. The antechamber holds a war altar and a hidden mechanism that rewards sharp-eyed characters with a key and healing potion. A frost-trapped corridor guards the path to the Blade Chamber, where two Frost Wraiths defend a pedestal encasing Garumn’s blade in ice. To free it, the party must align four glyphs — Frost, Shadow, Stone, and Wind — in a sequence drawn from Garumn’s history, with each wrong attempt sealing the chamber doors and driving the temperature down. Once the blade is retrieved, the players face a defining choice in Garumn’s Tomb: place the blade reverently in the sarcophagus to pacify the warlord’s spirit, or claim it for themselves and face his wrath alongside spectral minions.
Part 5: Aftermath
The adventure concludes with four meaningful outcomes shaped entirely by the players’ decisions. Returning the blade earns the party a hero’s welcome and Galespire’s full celebration. Keeping it brings subdued gratitude, partial rewards, and the promise of future trouble as the blade’s power draws unwanted attention. Destroying the blade yields the greatest honors and the truest peace. Failing to appease Garumn — or enraging him — leaves the storms raging, the villagers in panic, and the characters tasked with finding another solution in an ongoing quest of the DM’s design.
Release Date: 2024
Format: Digital (PDF)
Items Included
- The Howling Gorge 5E (PDF)
- A B&W Printer-Friendly Version (PDF)
- Maps
- Illustrations (Generated with Midjourney)
- Monster Stat Blocks
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