the Night Hunter

This 2-hour scenario is for four or five 1st-level characters playing

the fifth edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game.

Writing, Design, and Layout: Kelsey Dionne

Dedication: The Arcane Library’s YouTube followers!

© 2021 The Arcane Library, LLC. All rights reserved. Not for resale or redistribution. Permission given to copy for personal use.

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Game Master Information
BACKGROUND RUNNING THE ADVENTURE
• The Night Hunter is a cowled figure • This adventure is meant to be
who lurks among the moonlit hills run at a glance. It uses bulleted
and brooding pines of the wilds, lists, bolded keywords, and short
looking for new victims to flay alive. room descriptions you can read or
• When travelers pass through the paraphrase and embellish as needed.
Night Hunter’s domain, it might • Monsters have clickable links to their
choose them as its new quarry. stats online or in this document.
• Appendix A contains GM versions of
the adventure’s maps.
SYNOPSIS
• Appendix B has the stats and
• This scenario is events-based, with descriptions for new monsters.
each event happening in turn over
• Appendix C describes new magic
the course of one night.
items.
• At the start of the adventure, the
• You can watch a video walkthrough of
characters set up camp during their
the adventure here.
travels, not realizing they are in the
Night Hunter’s territory. • You can watch a video walkthrough
for how to use the combat cards
• The Night Hunter chooses the PCs as
included with the adventure here.
its new victims. It spends the night
harrying them from the darkness
around their camp, becoming more PACING/TRANSITIONS
audacious with its attacks until a final
confrontation. • A Dramatic Question is presented
with some encounters. Once that
question has been answered, the
tension of the scene is resolved.
That’s your cue to work toward the
Transition — even if that means
summarizing the end of a clearly
decided encounter.
• Room descriptions are short and
informational. Anything listed
before the Development section
is safe to share with the players at
the outset. Reveal elements from
the Development section as the
characters explore the area.

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 The Howling
CAMPSITE
FOREST RUMORS
• Long, churning clouds blow in over
the night sky, covering the moon with d6 Detail
twisting tendrils. An entire logging site turned
• A keening howl rises on the wind up empty in these woods a
from the surrounding hills. 1 few months back, camp gear
strewn everywhere. They
never found a single person.
DEVELOPMENT
They say the old woodlanders
• Characters can tell the howl isn’t used to send one unlucky soul
a wolf, coyote, or other common 2 out into the forest when the
forest creature. The character with evil spirits were restless. That
the highest Wisdom score notices it person never came back.
sounds like a creature with a speaking
voice — perhaps an intelligent being. There’s a ghost story about
a long-fingered being in the
Characters trying to rest won’t be 3 woods called The Willowman
able to unless they pass a DC 15 that steals children who don’t
Constitution check. listen to their parents.
A few years ago, a dying man
The howl draws closer over the
stumbled into a village cut
next hour. As soon as it’s within 100
4 open from neck to belly. They
feet of the camp, it abruptly stops.
never figured out what sort of
• While the howls draw closer, each creature could have done that.
character rolls once on the Forest
A friend said her hunting party
Rumors table to recall a legend
came across a body nailed to
they’ve heard about these woods.
5 a tree with wooden spikes.
After the PCs get their rumors, a Something had pulled out all
crack and hiss echoes from the of its innards, too.
trees above camp just outside They say livestock and horses
the reach of the campfire light. go missing in here on cloudy
Investigation reveals it’s a great 6 nights. It’s like they just
horned owl snapping the spine of wander off into the darkness
a rabbit it just caught. and disappear.
• It’s too late for the PCs to flee the
area; the Night Stalker’s territory
covers 20 square miles of dense forest. TRANSITION
• After the owl incident, a quiet hour
passes. Then, go to It Strikes.

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 It Strikes
CAMPSITE
• The silence breaks as a dozen
thundering footfalls crash toward
camp.

DEVELOPMENT
• The footfalls are a herd of six elk the
Night Hunter spooked in the direction
of the PCs’ camp. They reach the
camp in one round.

Two of the elk have deep, straight

cuts bleeding down their necks
and flanks. They’re wild with fear.

PCs can calm individual elk with

DC 18 Animal Handling checks (DC
20 for the two wounded ones).
• While the PCs are distracted by the
elk, the Night Hunter targets a pack
animal near the edge of the woods. It
cuts its neck and drags it out into the DRAMATIC QUESTION
woods, letting it bleed out silently.
Will the PCs discover the Night
PCs watching the pack animals Hunter’s ploy?
can pass a DC 15 Perception check
to notice the flash of a blade from
the darkness, followed by the COMBAT
animal slumping over. The Night • The elk spend 1d4 rounds wheeling
Hunter flees if noticed. around the campsite. They charge
anyone who gets in their way or fails
The slain animal leaves a bloody an Animal Handling check.
trail 60 feet out into the darkness,
ending with its body.
TRANSITION
If the PCs don’t have a pack
• After the PCs regroup in camp,
animal, the Night Hunter carves a
another quiet hour passes. The insects
conspicuous series of X marks into
and birds have fallen utterly silent.
a line of trees leading out 60 feet
from camp. The trail ends with the • The Night Hunter hides 100 feet from
body of an elk with its throat cut. camp. Go to A Cry For Help.

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 A Cry For Help
CAMPSITE COMBAT
• A terrified scream rips through the • The Night Hunter keeps to the
night. The voice is frantic and shrill, fringes of combat and light, never
and it calls out for help in Common. fully revealing itself.
• It tries to knock one PC unconscious
and drag that character off into
DEVELOPMENT the night to crucify to a tree with
• The Night Hunter is mimicking the wooden stakes. It will return later to
voice of a person, trying to draw good- disembowel that PC after it finishes
hearted PCs into the darkness. hunting the rest of the party.
• If any PCs investigate, the Night A PC who returns to consciousness
Hunter attacks from hiding. Go to can escape the tree with a DC 15
Combat. Strength check. They must pass a
• Otherwise, the PCs listen on as the DC 15 Constitution save or take 1d6
Night Hunter imitates the sounds of piercing damage in the process.
finding and disemboweling its victim. • If the Night Hunter can’t gain an
Any PCs hearing it must pass a DC upper hand quickly, it slips away into
15 Wisdom save or suffer one form of the darkness and hides.
short-term madness.

Attempting to sleep through these

TRANSITION
sounds is impossible without a way
to fully block the listeners’ ears. • The Night Hunter leaves any captured
PCs pinned to trees and even allows
other PCs to find and rescue them.
DRAMATIC QUESTION
• Two hours pass. Go to The Butchery.
Will the PCs try to save the “person?”

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 The Butchery
CAMPSITE DRAMATIC QUESTION
• Silence fills the heavy air, pressing Can the PCs defeat the Night Hunter?
in like the boiling clouds overhead.
Dim moonlight turns the tops of the
TRANSITION
towering pine trees silvery white.
• After the final encounter with the
Night Hunter, go to Aftermath.
DEVELOPMENT
• The Night Hunter approaches the
camp silently, attacking any PC who
looks vulnerable or isolated from the
group.

COMBAT
• The Night Hunter fights to the death,
its game finally over.
• It remains in the shadows at first
and then leaps out into full view,
unleashing a triumphant, unholy
scream.

All PCs who hear the scream must

pass a DC 15 Wisdom save or be
paralyzed in fear until the end of
their next turn.

TREASURE
• The Night Hunter carries a cursed
butcher’s blade called the Night
Hunter’s Knife.

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 Aftermath
THE NEXT MORNING FUTURE ADVENTURE HOOKS
• All traces of the Night Hunter • PCs who flee the Night Hunter may
disappear after it’s defeated. The only wish to return to exact vengeance.
things left behind are its knife and a During the day, it lurks in a dank cave
ragged, brown cloak crumpled on the system beneath the gnarled roots of
ground. the forest’s oldest tree.
• If the Night Hunter got the better of Inside The Night Hunter’s dingy lair
the PCs, it crucifies each to a tree and is a scattering of choice treasure
disembowels them one by one. Lucky taken from its victims. The only
PCs might be able to wake up before problem is the angry dire bear the
their turn and break free, or a chance Night Hunter keeps chained inside.
group of hunters might come upon
the scene. • If the characters leave the Night
Hunter’s Knife behind or get rid of it, a
• The small village of Wardenwood lies new Night Hunter will eventually rise.
two days’ travel north, just outside of Might this one be even more powerful
the Night Hunter’s domain (primarily than its predecessor?
because that part of the woods is
claimed by a powerful weald hag • The Night Hunter isn’t necessarily
named Drusilla, as outlined in The responsible for all the rumors the
Curse of Wardenwood). characters heard about the woods
(see Forest Rumors, pg. 5). Are the
stories of The Willowman true?
THE WOODS
• Characters who explore into the 20-
mile stretch of forest around their
campsite find signs of the Night
Hunter’s previous victims. Mostly,
this is skeletons pinned to trees by
wooden, rotting stakes.

Giving at least three of these

victims proper burials grants each
character an additional 200 XP.
• Mysterious disappearances in the
forest end if the Night Hunter is
defeated. That is, until another person
takes up the Night Hunter’s Knife and
commits bloodshed with it...

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Appendix A: Maps
CAMPSITE

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 Appendix B: Monsters
THE NIGHT HUNTER Cursed Soul. The Night Hunter is a title
that passes on to anyone who commits
Tattered brown robes drape over a
too much bloodshed with its cursed
hunched, bony frame. The creature
butcher’s blade, the Night Hunter’s
moves with darting quickness, lashing
Knife. Each generation eventually
out with a notched butcher’s knife
produces a Night Hunter who lurks in
crusted with the blood of countless
the woods, terrorizing its victims until it
victims.
dies of old age or is killed.

THE NIGHT HUNTER

Medium humanoid (any race), chaotic evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 39 (6d8 + 12)
Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA

13 (+1) 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 12 (+1) 15 (+2) 10 (+0)

Saving Throws Wis +4

Skills Stealth +7
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Common
Challenge 2 (400 XP)

Berserk. At the beginning of its turn, the Night Hunter can choose to deal an additional 2 damage on
each of its attacks until the end of its turn. If it does so, all attacks against it have advantage until the
start of its next turn.

ACTIONS

Multiattack. The Night Hunter makes two Cursed Butcher’s Knife attacks.
Cursed Butcher’s Knife. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d4 + 5) slashing
damage.

REACTIONS

Mantle of Darkness (2/Day). The Night Hunter and anything it’s carrying turn invisible for up to one
minute or until the Night Hunter attacks or casts a spell.

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 Appendix C: Magic Items
THE NIGHT HUNTER’S KNIFE
Weapon (dagger), Rare, requires
attunement

• Dried blood tinges the bone handle of

this ragged butcher’s knife. You get a
+2 bonus to attack and damage rolls
made with this magic weapon.
• The Night Hunter Curse. Every time
you use this weapon to kill a creature,
make a DC 15 Wisdom save. If you
fail three of these saves during the
time you are attuned to this weapon,
you fall into a mental fog and lose
your sense of self, becoming the
new Night Hunter in the nearest
forest. You become chaotic evil and
gain darkvision 120’ and proficiency
in Stealth. You also gain the Night
Hunter’s Berserk ability and Mantle of
Darkness reaction. This curse can only
be ended with a greater restoration
spell. If this curse ends, you lose these
abilities, you return to your previous
alignment, and you have no memory
of your actions as the Night Hunter.

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 Credits
Cartography: Lanterns Light Maps / patreon.com/lanternslightmaps.

Cover Art: Roman Kybus / shutterstock.com.

Product Art: Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art © Rick Hershey / Fat Goblin Games.
Camilkuo, DomCritelli, andreiuc88 / shutterstock.com.

Fonts: Montserrat © Julieta Ulanovsky, Sol Matas, Juan Pablo del Peral, Jacques Le
Bailly. Deadhead © Twicolabs Foundation.

Special Thanks: John for permission to link to 5thsrd.org. My wife Jessee for drawing
this map on short notice!

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 License
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Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, LLC.
System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins,
Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original
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The Night Hunter © 2021 The Arcane Library, LLC.

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