The Wayside Grave D&D 5e One-Shot Mystery Adventure (Level 5, 4 Players)

One grave, alone, a mile short of the border, with no village near enough to explain it. Everybody who passes pulls a weed and leaves a pinch of salt on the stone. Nobody founded that and nobody will stop.

The salt has begun going damp and dark within a day, which it has never done. The ground has settled. The stone has tilted about four inches.

And under the line where the turf has always been, the lettering is as sharp as the day it was cut.

There is a name on it, and there are people a mile east who have walked past it their whole lives.

THE LAST STOP BEFORE THE BORDER, and the one that asks what all the tending was actually for. A 5th-level investigation where the hardest part is not what is under the ground - it is who has to be told.

WHAT YOU GET - 38 pages, and nothing left for you to invent
- 5 scenes, every one written out in full: read-aloud text, what happens if they fail, what to do if they skip it
- 2 battle maps in three versions each - DM, player, and no grid, 70 px per 5-foot square
- 4 ready-to-play 5th-level characters. No session zero
- 11 secrets, tables and printable handouts

THREE STAT BLOCKS, ALL OF THEM OURS. Nothing in this adventure is borrowed from a monster manual you already own.

PART OF THE SALT ROAD. Sixty miles, sixteen stops, each a day apart. Every one of them has noticed the same thing and not one of them has said so out loud. This adventure stands completely alone - it needs nothing from any other - but a table that plays four of them starts comparing notes without being prompted.
THE FILES - four PDFs: A4 and US Letter, each in colour and in a printer-friendly build. The printer-friendly version is the same book in pure white, nothing removed. Plus 6 map images.

Compatible with Fifth Edition. Instant digital download - nothing is posted.

Made with AI assistance: the text and maps of this adventure were written and generated with AI, then edited, checked and laid out by hand.