Introduction
Warlock Joe’s Dark Vegas Vacation is a 5e-compatible adventure for four to six level 7 adventurers. It plays for 3-6 hours. The heroes travel to the post-apocalyptic dead-world of Dark Vegas. In this text, Pharaoh Vegaskare II is referred to as Vegaskare for brevity.
The great and powerful Warlock Joe (aka Josiah Darksoul) is no stranger to plane-walking and dimension-hopping. In his long and terrible career as the multiverse’s most irresponsible magus, he’s visited countless worlds, never leaving them in the same state he found them. One such world is Dark Vegas, the stygian domain of Pharaoh Vegaskare II, a tyrannical sorcerer that stole the power of the sun by opening a tear to the negative energy plane. The world plunged into eternal frozen night. Life ceased across the entire planet. Of course, it was Warlock Joe who provided Vegaskare with the knowledge to execute this disastrous spell. Warlock Joe can’t wait to help adventurers explore the sunless surface, hoping they’ll ensure what happened in Dark Vegas, stays in Dark Vegas!
Area 1: The Gate
The party encounters an ancient, hieroglyph-laden archway of garishly-colored metal and glass. Upon investigation, a Simulacrum of Warlock Joe appears, congratulates the heroes on finding this secret gate to another world, and claims there is awesome adventure inside.
Joe won’t tell the heroes much about the world beyond, aside from revealing there is a “buck-wild dungeon at the end” and “a crystal skull and an Unreadable Scroll” located within. If they need enticement, he lets slip the name of the world: “Dark Vegas”.
Warlock Joe casts Endure Elements on the party and gives them a Mace of Disruption, with instructions for its use. “Endure Elements,” Joe tells them, “is a forbidden spell that was literally removed from reality for being too useful.” It will allow the heroes to survive Dark Vegas’s environment for 20 hours. He opens the gate and ushers them through.
Area 2: The Wasteland
Stepping out of the gate, the adventurers emerge in an utterly-dark, immeasurably-cold wasteland, with frozen sand beneath their feet. Half-sunk in the frozen sand is a diamond-shaped sign with a neon star above. If illuminated, the sign’s words can be read: “Welcome to Kingdom Vegaskare”
🌑 Environment – The sun is extinguished. Dark Vegas is cold beyond calculation and suffused with negative energy, causing the following mechanical effects:
- it’s completely dark.
- non-magical fire is instantly extinguished.
- corporeal undead are covered in ice and have resistance to fire damage.
- all living creatures take 100 necrotic damage at the end of each round unless they’re protected by Endure Elements.
- negative energy reanimates undead 1d3 rounds after they’re slain unless they’re killed with a Mace of Disruption. At the beginning of the round, the undead reanimates, healing 25 HP (up to their maximum HP).
Moving through the Wasteland of Dark Vegas is difficult. The party must cross eight ‘units’ of Wasteland to reach the River of Shadows (Area 3). Attempts to move forward take 1 hour. For each attempt, a hero makes a Wisdom (Survival) check DC 18 for the group. The party may spend an extra hour for advantage on this roll.
Success: Move forward 2 units
Failure: Roll 1d6
- 5-6: Move forward 1 unit
- 2-4: Stay in the same place
- 1: Move backward 1 unit
💡 Tip – Use dice! Track remaining Endure Elements protection by using 1d20 to count down the hours. Track the units of travel across the Wasteland with 1d8.
Wasteland Encounters
- trigger if the party fails to move forward.
- when the party takes a rest or move forward, roll 1d6, trigger on a result of 1.
- also, roll 1d4. If the result is 4, the party finds a Dead Adventuring Party.
- don’t deplete additional hours of Endure Elements protection.
💀 Dead Adventuring Party – the frozen remains of a previous adventuring party. The heroes will find a Mace of Disruption.
Wasteland Encounters
Area 3: The River of Shadows
Once the party travels 8 ‘units’, they arrive at the banks of the River of Shadows. The Pyramid of Vegaskare (Area 4) is found on the far side of the river. Luckily, there is a Ghost Boatman who will ferry them across if they convince him they are here to pay tribute to the great Pharaoh.
If the adventurers attempt to cross on foot, they find the river to be quite shallow. It is about 3ft deep, 50ft wide, and the entire crossing is difficult terrain. The river is full of Shadows. At the start of each round, 1d4 Shadows rise and attack! Combat ends when the party leaves the river.
Area 4a: Vegaskare’s Pyramid
Beyond a concrete lot full of frozen motor vehicles, stands a giant glass pyramid covered in frost. The door is locked; the glass can be broken. Inside is a vast room. Amidst slot machines and blackjack tables, decorative obelisks depict the rise of conqueror-king Pharaoh Vegaskare I, his sorcerer-son, Pharaoh Vegaskare II, the completion of his conquest, and the construction of this pyramid (dated 4-21-92). A familiar figure (a pointy-eared, sallow-skinned wizard labeled “Josiah”) is depicted alongside the dynasty’s rise.
At the room’s center is a 300ft-tall glass tower – an elevator shaft. Going up leads to Vegaskare’s Penthouse (Area 5) on the top floors of the pyramid. The elevator doors can be pried open and the icy shaft climbed with a successful Strength (Athletics) check DC 15.
Area 4b: Pyramid Basement
Descending the elevator shaft leads to the basement, where Dead Adventuring Party and an emergency generator can be found. On a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check DC 10, the emergency generator can be turned on. This lights up the pyramid and activates things powered by electricity, such as the elevator or the slot machines. However, the lights awaken Vegaskare and his Tomb Guardians and attract 1d4 x 10 Zombies to the pyramid every 10 minutes.
🎰 Slots – With the power on the adventurers can play slots in Dark Vegas. They can purchase a “Spin” for 1gp and for each “Spin” roll 3d8. Any result where all three dice match is a jackpot. Roll a d100 and multiply it by the result to find out how much they won!
Example – Joe rolls 3d8 and gets all 3s, he rolls a d100 and gets 53. 53 * 3 = 159 gp.
Area 5: Vegaskare’s Penthouse
Approaching the penthouse, Warlock Joe is alerted by a Scrying sensor in the elevator shaft. He contacts the heroes via one-way Sending spells, transmitting, “Within the penthouse, there is a safe containing great treasure and an Unreadable Scroll that must be destroyed.”
Vegaskare’s penthouse suite is where he lived, worked, and practiced his evil magic. From here, he stole the light of the sun and doomed his world to frozen undeath. The penthouse occupies the top three floors of the pyramid, connected by double-helix spiral staircases. Unlike the rest of the glass pyramid, the walls of the penthouse are built of an unbreakable, meteoric material.
Area 5a: Main Floor
The main floor of the penthouse is an entertainment area for guests, containing a bar and a home theater. Vegaskare’s Tomb Guardians (2 Wights) rest in glass sarcophagi; while resting, their passive Perception score is 8. If the pyramid is illuminated, the Tomb Guardians rise from their sarcophagi and roam the main floor; their passive Perception score is 13. A set of doors leads out to an observation deck. If the pyramid is lit, the adventurers see a mass of undead swarming into the pyramid below.
Area 5b: Middle Floor
The middle floor contains Vegaskare’s bedroom. The undead Vegaskare rests in his frozen bed, wearing a strange-looking ankh on a chain around his neck. The ankh is frozen to Vegaskare; it requires a successful Strength (Sleight of Hand) check DC 15 to remove it without waking him. If the pyramid is illuminated, Vegaskare is already awake and blearily staggering around, with a passive Perception score of 14, armed with a Sun Blade.
Area 5c: Top Floor
The top floor is a small room containing a large safe. Vegaskare’s safe is protected by a 3-digit dial-combination lock and a keyed lock. Dial Lock: heroes may recall the numbers from an obelisk (4-21-92) or find them by safecracking. Getting each number requires an Action and a successful Wisdom (Perception) check DC 13. The safecracker must listen carefully for the clicks, so if there is a loud commotion in the room (such as combat), these checks are made with Disadvantage. Keyed Lock: Vegaskare keeps the ankh-shaped key on a chain around his neck. Picking the keyed lock requires an Action and a successful Intelligence or Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) check DC 15.
If the safe is opened without using the combination and key, an alarm is triggered. The alarm alerts Vegaskare, his Tomb Guardians, and all other undead in the pyramid (who slowly ascend the elevator shaft to attack the party).
The safe contains a Rod of Rulership, a Vicious Flail, the crystal skull of Pharaoh Vegaskare I, and the sealed Unreadable Scroll.
📜 Unreadable Scroll – instructions for a spell to siphon energy from the sun by breaching the negative energy plane. Also, there’s a personal note from Warlock Joe to Vegaskare: Try it! See if it works!
Escape & Reward
If the heroes obtain the Unreadable Scroll, Warlock Joe messages them: “I’ve created an invisible portal outside the pyramid. Run and jump off the observation deck at full speed to reach it!” If the party jumps into Joe’s invisible portal, they return to the gate in their own world. The Simulacrum of Warlock Joe asks for the Unreadable Scroll so he can destroy it. He offers a Mace of Disruption or a Necklace of Fireballs as a reward.