Face of the Moon - A D&D Adventure for Characters of Levels 16-18

Oct 5, 2026

Upload by lilac

A D&D adventure for characters of levels 16-18 follows adventurers who step through a portal created by a strange illithid device and are drawn into a lunar plot. Mind flayers use technology from a lost race to create duplicates of rulers and influential figures, advancing a far-reaching agenda. On the Lunar Citadel, cloned minds and reality-bending devices enable abduction and substitution, while Ythrilnaw oversees infiltration and defenses.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryComic

FormatPDF

Pages27

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Lost-race technology and the Lunar Citadel

Ythrilnaw

Role in infiltration and control

Adventure Synopsis

Portal arrival and escalating resistance

Kelm Semersted and clues

Involving the Characters

Opening event and campaign adjustments

No Moon?

Wandering star alternative setup

Face of the Moon A D&D® adventure for characters of levels 16–18 By John “Ross”Rossomangno Illustrations by Eric Belisle and Miles Johnston Cartography by Jason A Engle When the characters step through a portal created by a strange illithid device, they are transported into the heart of a devious plot. Using the technology of a lost race, the mind flayers are creating duplicates of prominent rulers and influential people to advance their nefarious agenda. Only the adventurers can put a stop to the illithids’ dark plot. The heroes must contend not only with the formidable intellect of their foes, but also the bizarre environment in which they find themselves. Background When a team ofillithids eliminated a surface-dwelling scholar famous for his study of aberrant creatures, they scoured his laboratory and destroyed his research. Among his curiosities, they discovered the preserved body of one of their kind, along with a strange device. A psychic dissection of the dead illithid’s brain unraveled a bizarre tale. In its travels across the planes, this creature stumbled upon a remote place. Although the mind flayer was eventually slain and its corpse sold to the eccentric TM & © 2012 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved. April 2 01 2 | DUNGEON 2 01 1 Face of the Moon scholar, the mind flayer’s brain held all the knowledge that the creature had gathered, including the memory of a stranded ship belonging to a forgotten race. The illithids that recovered the body set about studying these memories, combining them with their knowledge of celestial mechanics to chart a portion of the lost vessel’s course. They discerned that their own world’s moon was once a port of call for other vessels of this lost race. Meanwhile, other mind flayers studied the device found with the dead illithid. Despite its lack of arcane or psionic energy, this object seemed able to manipulate reality. The mind flayers devoted great resources to unlocking its mysteries and eventually discovered how the device could open a portal, beyond which stood a citadel of the lost race, filled with other potent devices. Apod ofillithids and their thralls, led by an elder brain, crossed over to the citadel to continue their studies. After sealing the portal behind them so that no one could interfere, they spent years in isolation. Inside the Lunar Citadel, as the illithids came to call it, a vast chamber housed a machine capable of reproducing organisms from sample material. Initially, the illithids hoped this place would provide them with a limitless source of food, but the brains ofthe cloned creatures yielded neither sustenance nor nuanced taste. These vacant minds proved vulnerable to manipulation, and the vessels that housed them sometimes were indistinguishable from the donor material that created them. And so was born a devious and far-reaching plan. When the portals to the world were reopened, a subtle campaign of abduction and substitution began. Ythrilnaw While the mind flayers’ elder brain devotes itself to overseeing the infiltration of the world’s power structures, the ulitharid named Ythrilnaw controls the operations of the Lunar Citadel. Ythrilnaw’s dark intellect surpasses the cunning of a typical mind flayer. Deferring only to the will of the elder brain, Ythrilnaw sees the devices found in the Lunar Citadel as tools to further subjugate the natural world. adventure SynopSiS The adventure begins when the party encountersa slain illithid bearing a strange device. This object opens a portal to the Lunar Citadel, the base of operations for the mind flayers. After the adventurers pass through the portal, it closes behind them, and they are set upon by the servants ofthe mind flayers. The disturbance alerts the mind flayer Ythrilnaw, which appears to the characters through the base’s communication system. The ulitharid informs the characters that escape is impossible, since it holds the only other portal-summoni

FAQs

What triggers the adventurers’ arrival at the Lunar Citadel?

The party encounters a slain illithid bearing a strange device; it opens a portal to the Lunar Citadel, where the mind flayers’ operations are based.

What does the mind flayer Ythrilnaw do in the adventure?

Ythrilnaw controls the Lunar Citadel’s operations and, while serving the elder brain, oversees defenses and efforts to subjugate the natural world.

How can this adventure be adapted for campaign settings without a moon?

Set the base on a wandering star in orbit observed in the night sky, remove references to a rocky lunar surface, describe the citadel suspended above the world, and assume gravity is provided by unseen technology.

Oct 5, 2026

Upload by lilac