SIX FACES OF DEATH - A dark fantasy adventure for characters of 11th to 13th level

Oct 5, 2026

SIX FACES OF DEATH presents a dark fantasy scenario where adventurers drawn to a newly appeared island in the Sea of Swords must unravel the mysteries of the Changing Island before Faerûn is threatened by horrors from another plane. The narrative centers on Acheron and Cube 1717, where warped experiments, mind control, and lethal transformations unleash the Archquadrone and its pixelating curse. Surviving foes and survivors shape the preparation, planning, and escalating danger as the conflict spills into the Material Plane.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryComic

FormatPDF

Pages48

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Beyond the Material Plane

Acheron and Cube 1717

Unexpected Visitor and the Archquadrone

Pixelating Curse and Aftermath

Preparation and Planning

Character alignment and challenge tuning

Starting scenarios

Escalation into the Material Plane

Signs and Survivors

SIX FACES OF DEATH A dark fantasy adventure for characters of 11th to 13th level An alien being, dark omens, and vanishing ships send the adventurers to a mysterious island newly appeared in the Sea of Swords. But can the characters uncover the mysteries of the Changing Island in time to save Faerûnfrom a terror from another plane? Design and Cartography by Jason Bradley Thompson Editing and Development by Scott Fitzgerald Gray Beyond the Material Plane lie dimensions where gods and devils dwell, and where pure ideals are embodied in physical form. One such place is Mechanus, the plane of ultimate law, where the geometric modrons maintain absolute order. Another is Acheron, home to endless battlefields of law and evil, where reborn warriors fight eternal conflicts of metal and blood. No stars or suns appear in the skies of Acheron—only floating metal cubes hurtling through the void. One of these was Cube 1717, designed by a mad derro architect named Avnas, and ruled by a powerful devil named Earl Andromalius—a servant of the god of tyranny, Lord Bane. Cube 1717’s primary purpose was as a battle station in Acheron’s endless wars. But it also contained a prison and laboratory where horrifying experiments were carried out upon court-martialed soldiers and other doomed souls. Some became food for horrid monsters. Others were used for weapons testing and destroyed by steel and hellfire. Once, three particularly cunning conspirators who tried to unseat Earl Andromalius werefused together into a horrible undead entity—a skull lord named Vargo, doomed to suffer forever in the prisons of the cube. Unexpected Visitor Not long ago, a planar rift brought an unusual creature to Acheron, where it was discovered by Earl Andromalius’s servants. It was a quadrone—one of the cubical warriors of the modrons, left broken in body and mind by being cut off from the order of Mechanus. When the creature was brought to Avnas, the insane derro subjected it to bizarre experiments that drove the already unstable quadrone completely mad. Under the duress of the testing, the quadrone was corrupted by the magic of Acheron to develop a heretofore unheard-of power: the ability to control other beings and make them into creatures like itself. Exponentially growing in power and size, the Archquadrone escaped its captivity and penetrated to the engine room at the heart of Cube 1717. There, it fused its body with the cube’s engines, creating a living brain whose first task was to instigate the deadly pixelating curse—a magical malady that transforms creatures and objects into lawful neutral cube creatures serving the dictates of the Archquadrone. The infection spread quickly throughout Cube 1717, transforming thousands of Acheronian soldiers into cube-like mockeries of life. Earl Andromalius was killed and overthrown, and with the power of Cube 1717 at their command, the Archquadrone’s cube-creatures soon threatened Acheron itself. To deal with this threat, the princes and dukes of Acheron were forced to seek the aid of the yugoloths—mercenary creatures of pure evil. The strength of their combined forces allowed the devils and the yugolothsto besiege the cube, slaughtering its defenders. In the end, the yugoloths were forced to use the River Styx as a weapon, inundating Cube 1717 with its waters to cleanse both the memories of the dead and the curse that infected them. Preparation and Planning Six Faces of Death is a dark fantasy adventure featuring countless fiends, mind control, strange physical transformations, and dead bodies by the thousands. Before running the scenario, you’ll want to make sure that your players are aware that the adventure features plenty of dark imagery and horror themes. Even then, you might want to downplay some of the more graphic descriptions contained herein, according to your own sensibilities as a DM and the ages and sensitivities of your players. The adventure is also a dangerous one—and might

FAQs

What danger drives the adventurers to the Changing Island?

A planar rift and the threat tied to the mysteries of the Changing Island send adventurers into the Sea of Swords to prevent a terror from another plane from affecting Faerûn.

What is Cube 1717 and what role does it play in the story?

Cube 1717 is a battle station in Acheron containing a prison and laboratory. Its engines become fused with the Archquadrone, which then initiates a curse that turns creatures into lawful neutral cube forms.

How is the curse and Cube 1717’s contamination dealt with?

After devils and yugoloths besiege the cube, the yugoloths use the River Styx to inundate Cube 1717, cleansing both the memories of the dead and the curse infecting those within.

Oct 5, 2026

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