TEXT:  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Written by D. Estep of Blood Lords RPG
  
  Written by: D. Estep 
  Photos: Clipart; clipart.com 
   
   
  This adventure was designed to introduce 
  everyone’s favorite killer clown into your 
  campaign setting. IT was written for my table 
  group for our annual Halloween Game this 
  year and I thought others may enjoy it as well. 
  This small module is laid out so that you can 
  utilize this story inside of your own campaign 
  with ease, and made available to you in case 
  you’re short on time, and need a great, quick 
  solution to your holiday game this haunting 
  season.  
  Thanks,  
  D. Estep  
   
  Long has (Insert town in your setting) been 
  plagued with the curse of its oldest resident. 
  Every 26 years the being known as “That” 
  awakens to feed after an act of extreme 
  violence occurs in the (town you mentioned 
  above.) While awake “That” takes the form of 
  Dimmingeyes he Prancing Clown, and hunts 
  and lures children in to scare them and eat 
  them. Dimmingeyes has massive control over 
  (your town) whilst awake. He controls the 
  weather, the collective memory of the town’s 
  inhabitants and can only be seen by those he 
  wishes to be seen by. 
  Georgie Wingurick, son of the High Lord of 
  (your town) seems to be the latest victim in a 
  string of disappearances. He is 1 of 4 children 
  to have gone missing from (your town) in the 
  last fortnight. The peculiar thing is, that once 
  another child goes missing, the town’s people 
  seem to forget about the children that have 
  gone missing before.  
  The party after being hired by Lord 
  Wingurick to find young Georgie will seek 
  information on the town’s dark past, and 
  uncover a slew of disappearances dating back 
  to the establishment of (your town). To 
  combat the “Eater of Children and Worlds”, the 
  party must revert themselves to the former 
  and put the beast back to sleep before more 
  children go missing.  
  You can seed this adventure hook into your 
  campaign’s story any number of ways, you 
  know how to insert it into your world far 
  better than I do. For authenticity sake, you 
  may want to mention an extreme act of 
  violence that has recently occurred in your 
  world, or link “That’s” arrival to one that has 
  already happened in your story.   
  Dimmingeyes will only return to his slumber 
  either by being defeated, or if another 
  gruesome act of violence occurs after he 
  wakes.  
  * Based on past deeds of the party, a messenger 
  will approach them and present them with a scroll 
  bearing the black wax seal of House Wingurick. 
  The scroll includes a summons to the Lords home. 
  The scroll is very non-descript, which will have 
  the party wondering what a high lord would want 
  with them.  
   
  
  “You now find yourselves in the great hall of 
  a great, stone tower. As you sit at the long 
  oaken table, shaking off the cold from your 
  journey across town, you note the silence of 
  the room, all except for the ticking of a 
  grand time piece on the west wall of the 
  room. As you wait for the Lord, your minds 
  concoct terrible reasons for having been 
  summoned by the most powerful man in the 
  region.” 
   
  *At this point open it up to the party, and let them 
  banter about the situation. 
   
  “The doors open, and the Lord enters 
  holding fast to his wife Lady Ellia, who is 
  obviously distraught. She fights a hysterical 
  outburst behind a black veil. The Lord 
  gingerly walks her to her seat beside his, and 
  then looks at you all before taking his own. 
  He is a striking man, a bit more fashion 
  forward than a typical man of his age. He sits 
  in silence for a moment. You notice he looks 
  a bit tired, the bags under his eyes match the 
  wine in his glass.” 
   
  “My Wife Lady Ellia and I welcome you as 
  favored guests this evening to our home. 
  Thank you for answering my summons with 
  such haste. Our son, Little Georgie has gone 
  missing. (Lady Ellia has an outburst of 
  sobbing.) He was playing on the street 
  accompanied by his nanny. She said she only 
  turned her back for a brief moment and he 
  was gone. She is being kept alive only because 
  Lady Ellia fears she may have more 
  information.” 
  “I would ask you to aid me in finding our 
  Georgie. The guards are searching for him, 
  but I come to you now because of your 
  collective reputation. Some believe this chain 
  of vanishings to be the work of a 
  supernatural evil. Although I do not 
  subscribe to such superstitions, I wish no 
  stone unturned until our boy is home safe.” 
   
  “As for compensation….” (DM insert lucrative 
  loot here based on party interest/whatever 
  you want them to have.) 
   
  “You make your way out of the Wingurick 
  Estate, back into the cool autumn air, making 
  your way to the (library/place of knowledge where 
  the histories of the town are kept.)” 
   
  *Allow the party to spend about 20 minutes searching 
  the history texts of the town. After which give them 
  each a fragment of the history as listed below, then 
  allow them to role play piecing the information 
  together after their search of the texts. 
   
   
   
  
   
  *After searching the library/histories, reveal 1 of 
  these to each player. 
   
  300 years ago, the first settlers of 
  (your town) mysteriously vanished. 
  More than 600 men, women and 
  children were believed to have been 
  butchered, hundreds of smeared 
  blood trails all lead to the town’ well. 
   
   
  26 years after that, many children 
  vanished after a gruesome massacre 
  was committed involving a man 
  named Klad Maro when he allegedly 
  poisoned his whole family with the 
  deadly Night Kap mushroom before 
  eating a crossbow bolt, and killing 
  himself. 
   
   
  Observing a timeline in a tome of 
  histories, you begin to piece together 
  that every 26 years, acts of violence 
  and vanishings have occurred since 
  recorded history in (your town.) 
   
   
  52 years ago, a human lumberjack 
  from (your town) locked the doors of 
  a tavern, mostly patronized by Elves, 
  and set the place ablaze killing all 
  inside. Shortly after, a slew of child 
  disappearances began to occur. The 
  strange disappearances stopped after 
  the towns fold hunted down 37 
  women accused of consorting with the 
  Abyss and were burned alive. 
   
   
  26 years ago, another string of 
  juvenile disappearances began after a 
  man known as Blood Claude set out 
  on a gruesome killing spree with a 
  blacksmith’s hammer, and ended after 
  an orphanage in the town exploded 
  killing 108 people, 84 of them being 
  children. 
   
   
  The old town well linked to the first 
  massacre, would be located under a 
  now shanty house that is the center 
  of many frightening ghost stories told 
  to children of the town. You also 
  discover through looking over maps 
  that all occurrences seem to have 
  taken place along and above the city 
  sewer ways.  
   
   
   
  *The group should deduct, or be lead to the 
  fact by the DM that Dimmingeyes’ favored 
  targets are children, and to effectively locate 
  and destroy him, they will need to become 
  such. 
   
  *The mechanism you use to revert the party 
  into children should be whatever feels most 
  organic to you for your setting. One idea is 
  to allow them to find a Scroll of Age 
  Reversal within the library. But the means in 
  which they obtain the ability is up to you. 
  The magic should revert them into children 
  for 24 hours to allow them to lure 
  Dimmingeyes to them so that they may 
  confront him. 
   
   
  
  *After being age reverted by magic, each 
  player will roll on, or be assigned a selection 
  from the “Childhood Predisposition” table 
  below, giving the adolescent version of their 
  character a common youthful obstacle to 
  deal with, and providing flavor, and the 
  party with a laugh at their expense. Let’s face 
  it being a kid isn’t easy. Predispositions will 
  remain active as long as the character is in 
  their child form. 
   
  Childhood Predisposition Table 
  D8 
  Predisposition 
  1. 
  Hey Fat Boy! You are a little 
  husky; -5 to movement speed. 
  2. 
  You have a St-St-St-Stutter; -2 
  to Charisma. 
  3. 
  You have big buck-teeth, and 
  poor vision; Disadvantage on 
  Perception (sight) checks, and 
  -1 Charisma 
  4. 
  You are a hypochondriac. 
  You spend your next action 
  vomiting after seeing the first 
  sight of blood. 
  5. 
  You’re a hearty lad, but not 
  the smartest member of the 
  gang. -1 INT 
  6. 
  You’re as skinny as a rail, and 
  weak as water; -2 STR 
  7. 
  You are a Scare-D-Cat. Roll 
  twice on the Worst fear table. 
  8. 
  Metal Mouth! You have a 
  state-of-the-art head 
  contraption attached to your 
  dome to regulate your 
  horrendously crooked teeth. 
  The contraption encompasses 
  your entire head. The DM 
  chooses 1 other party 
  member, s/he is the only 
  character that can understand 
  a word you say. 
   
   
   
  *After receiving a Childhood Predisposition, 
  the players will now roll for their “Worst 
  Fear” Dimmingeyes will transform into these 
  forms, and scare them, unraveling their 
  minds. When a player encounters their worst 
  fear at any time during the session, the DM 
  may force them to run away, or inflict a 
  negative effect on the player as they face 
  their Worst Fear. They may also be forced to 
  roll on the Madness Chart in the DMG. 
   
  *Dimmingeyes will harass the party by 
  revealing himself as a player’s Worst Fear, 
  attacking them in that form just before 
  retaking his clown form, saying something 
  terribly hilarious and vanishing. The table’s 
  contents below can be substituted for 
  anything the DM desires. 
   
  Worst Fear Table 
  D8 
  Worst Fear 
  1. 
  Snakes 
  2. 
  Werewolves 
  3. 
  Vampires 
  4. 
  Spiders 
  5. 
  Zombies 
  6. 
  Sharks (appears in the sewers) 
  7. 
  Skeletons 
  8. 
  Ghosts 
   
   
   
  
  “As soon as you get your bearings in your 
  new form and look around at your 
  companions in theirs…” 
   
   
  Perception Check: Highest spots the red 
  balloon floating nearby first.  
   
  If indoors: It moves very slowly 
   
  If outdoors: it floats slowly against the 
  breeze. 
   
  *An audible voice emanates from the balloon.  
   
  “You’ll die if you try! If you try, you’ll die!!” 
   
  “The voice stops as the balloon bursts, 
  splattering the room/ area with thick wet 
  blood, and the smell of metal” 
  *Dealing 2d10 psychic damage to all. 
   
   
  At any time the DM may force a “Worst 
  Fear” roll. The DM may choose one of the 
  Worst Fears of the PC’s rolled earlier in the 
  session, or roll on the chart and let fate 
  decide. When this event triggers, 
  Dimmingeyes will appear in that PC’s “Worst 
  Fear” Form, and attack that PC, forcing them 
  to roll on the Madness chart, or suffer 
  another ill effect decided upon by the DM. 
  Dimmingeyes harasses the PC in this way, hits 
  once or twice, reverts into clown form, says 
  something witty, and then vanishes. The DM 
  can trigger these events as much or little as 
  he sees fit throughout the session. This 
  mechanic is used to keep the players on their 
  toes, and breed paranoia throughout the 
  session. 
   
  “You make your way through the streets of 
  (your town) and you notice that the 
  disappearances have frightened the common 
  folk of the town. You see no children 
  playing, no one flogging their wares, every 
  shutter is fastened, and every shade pulled. It 
  appears as if the town as a whole has been 
  abandoned. The only thing in abundance is 
  eerie silence. 
  You stop in front of an old creepy 
  dilapidated house surrounded by old grave 
  stones, the old house predates more modern 
  architecture of the town. You feel chills climb 
  your spine and resting as tension in your 
  shoulders as you look upon this house of evil. 
   
   
   
  When a balloon enters the play space/scene, all PC’s 
  that can see it must make a DC 14 
  Charisma savings throw or be frightened 
  by it for the duration of its presence 
  in the scene, repeating the save at the 
  beginning of each of their turns. 
  They also suffer Disadvantage on 
  Ability Checks, and saving throws, and 
  attack rolls while the balloon is present. 
  *Players can shoot it down, splattering blood in 
  a 60ft. radius. All in the affected area make a 
  DC 14 DEX save or take 2d10 psychic damage. 
  
  *Outside the creepy shack is a great place for 
  a Worst Fear roll, but can be skipped to save 
  time because there will be one inside the 
  house shortly after. 
  “You step inside the house, pushing back the 
  creaky old storm door. Inside you see 
  furniture on its sides, papers laid about the 
  floors, and even some dead weeds that had 
  taken root during the grow season. You 
  search around cautiously. Suddenly…” 
  *Worst Fear Roll 
  *Let the group beat on him a couple rounds and then 
  have him retreat down a flight of stairs into the 
  basement. 
  “Against you better judgement you peruse 
  Dimmingeyes down into the dank, dark 
  basement. Bones litter the floor laying across 
  dried blood pools, the sight is horrific. 
  Standing out to you, you notice a trial of 
  fresh, and old blood alike leading down into 
  the well.”  
   
  *The players may now roll a climb check with the 
  rules your group normal uses for such a situation. The 
  depth of the climb can be however long you think 
  would be interesting. 
   
  Sewer Mechanics 
  Stench: When players first enter the sewers, 
  and every round of combat afterwards, the 
  PC’s (at the DM’s discretion) are forced to 
  succeed on a DC 12 CON save or use their 
  next bonus action to vomit. After 4 such 
  rounds of failed saves, your stomach is 
  empty, and you are feeling weak. That PC 
  must subtract -1 from their Strength ability 
  score. 
  Grey Water: While in the sewer water, PC’s 
  are only allowed to move 5ft. at a time. This 
  is assuming there are walkways in the sewer 
  on either side of the water. 
   
  It takes a full movement to enter or 
  exit the water. 
   
  If the water touches open wounds (if 
  the PC is below full HP, the PC loses 
  5HP at the beginning of their turn 
  when they begin it in the Grey 
  Water. 5x2 on the second turn, 5x3 
  on the third turn and so on. 
  *Whilst traversing the sewers the DM can finish 
  triggering Worst Fears if there are any left or through 
  in any encounters s/he sees fit.  
   
  “The further you travel through the sewers 
  in search of Dimmingeyes, the more bodies 
  you begin to see “floating” in the water. As 
  your path leads to a dead end, you see a 
  boy.” 
   
  “Can you help me? I’m Georgie. I can’t find 
  my parents anywhere, but that nice clown 
  did give me this balloon! Look it floats! You 
  can too! 
   
  “While the boy finishes his voice transforms 
  into that of Dimmingeyes. You watch as the 
  boy transforms into the clown, and then he 
  attacks.” 
   
  
   
  Medium, aberration; chaotic evil 
  Armor Class 15 
  Hit Points 200 
  Speed: 45ft., swim 45ft., climb 45ft. 
   
  STR        DEX        CON        INT        WIS        CHA 
  14 (+2)    16(+3)        18(+4)       16(+3)      22(+6)        20 (+5) 
   
  Saving Throws Dex +10, Cha +10, Wis +10 
  Skills Perception +10, Performance +10, Intimidation +10 
  Damage Resistances fire; necrotic 
  Damage Immunities psychic 
  Senses darkvision 120ft.., passive Perception 19 
  Languages All 
  Challenge 9 (5,000 XP) 
   
  Friendship. When a PC heals another PC Dimmingeyes takes 
  that much damage. 
   
  Mock the Dying. Death saves made within 60ft. of 
  Dimmingeyes are made with Disadvantage. 
   
  ACTIONS 
   
  Multiattack. Dimmingeyes makes two attacks, he may perform 
  any combination of Cleaver of Merriment and Pieface.  
   
  Cleaver of Merriment. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 
  5ft., one creature. Hit: (2d8+4) piercing damage. The target 
  must then make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw, on a failure 
  Dimmingeyes tells a sinister joke laced with vile magic forcing 
  you to laugh so hard you drop your weapon. 
   
  Pieface. Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range 60ft./120ft.ft., 
  one creature. Hit: (2d6+4) acid damage. The target must then 
  make a successful DC 13 Constitution saving throw, on a failure 
  the target is blind for his next turn and the duration of this one. 
   
  Unbridled Polymorph. As an action Dimmingeyes can turn 
  into any creature at will, but he must take on all aspects of that 
  creature, and its weaknesses while in that form.  
   
  Float. As an action, Dimmingeyes may float any object or 
  creature size large or smaller. 
   
  Joker’s Shuffle. (Recharge 5/6) one target within sight is 
  forced to make a DC 14 Charisma savings throw. On a failure, 
  Dimmingeyes and the target exchange places via seamless 
  teleportation, and an illusion causes them to swap 
  appearances. The target looks and sounds like Dimmingeyes, 
  and Dimmingeyes looks and sounds like the target for 1 1d4 
  rounds or until dismissed by Dimmingeyes as a bonus action. 
   
   
   
   
   
  *When Dimmingeyes takes alternate forms, it is up to the DM’s 
  discretion whether to run Dimmingeyes with his standard 
  200hp, or whether to give him additional HP from his alternate 
  forms similar to a Druid when taking Wild shape. 
   
   
  Below is a list of recommended forms that 
  Dimmingeyes could take based on the Worst Fear table 
  above. Dimmingeyes is an incredibly powerful being 
  capable of transforming into virtually anything, the DM 
  is free to use his/her imagination when having his 
  shapeshift. Including the stat card for the following 
  creatures would be redundant information. I’m sure any 
  good DM will be able to locate these cards within a book 
  he/she most likely owns if they are running this game. 
   
   
  Vampire Spawn 
   
  Werewolf 
   
  Ghost 
   
  Ogre Zombie 
   
  Giant Shark 
   
  Giant Spider 
   
  Skeleton 
   
  Giant Constrictor Snake 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
  “As Dimmingeyes is struck his final blow, you watch in amazement as his flesh begins to crack and 
  turn to dust, he screams “This is only a nap, I will return! Just as he is seemingly destroyed. As 
  you exit the sewers through a large drain pipe emptying into  the river you make your way back 
  up into the streets above and see a large crowed gathered around a gallows pole. You see a young 
  boy of no more than 10 with the noose around his young neck.” 
   
   
  “Billiot Bringsby you have been convicted of the murder of 31 innocent souls, the punishment for 
  which is death by hanging. Have you any last words?” 
   
   
  The boy shakes his head yes. As you watch, the boys head transforms into that of the demented 
  clown.  
   
  “THEY ALL FLOAT! They all float down here!!  
   
  The lever is pulled and you see the young boy sway in the breeze, finally freed of all torment.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/Misc/Dimmingeyes the Prancing Clown Adventure.pdf