Wizards of the Coast promises that Vecna: Eve of Ruin, its final DnD campaign before the arrival of the new core rulebooks, will be an “off-the-rails” adventure across the entire multiverse. In a press event on April 10, senior designer Amanda Hamon promises the book is “as high-level as we can get and as memorable as it can get”.
We’ve been drip-fed information about Vecna: Eve of Ruin so far, but this press event paints a fuller picture of how the DnD campaign will play out. “It’s got horror elements, but it’s more of a high-stakes, ticking time bomb plot”, Hamon explains. “It’s got a lot of drama, and it’s a potential multiverse-ending storyline.” Here, apparently, we will see the classic antagonist Vecna “come to fruition as a villain”.
How exactly does Vecna plan to end the multiverse, then? Hamon says he’s instructed his cult, whose members are spread across the DnD planes, to steal valuable secrets for a “Ritual of Remaking”. “He’s created a magical link between himself and his cult, they’re extracting secrets in a ritual, and funneling that energy to Vecna”, Hamon says. “He is trying to remake the multiverse to his own will.”
No bad deed goes unnoticed, though. Some of the universe’s most powerful DnD Wizards have become wise to Vecna’s plans. Alustriel Silverhand, a celebrated mage from the Forgotten Realms, is the first to twig, and she alerts her pals Mordenkainen and Tasha. “They don’t know where Vecna is or how he’s doing it – they only know he is trying to change the multiverse”, Hamon adds.
The Wizards Three gather in Alustriel’s sanctum, which can be found in the Planescape city of Sigil. When the trio cast a Wish spell to try and stop Vecna, it doesn’t quite go as planned. Instead, it summons your level-ten adventuring party, who have psychic ties to Vecna after sabotaging one of his cult’s kidnapping schemes.
You’re not quite what the Wizards had in mind for saving the world, but Mordenkainen has a backup plan. He’s figured out where to find fragments of a precious DnD magic item, the Rod of Seven Parts. “This is the first time in fifth edition that we bring back the Rod of Seven Parts and we present stats for it”, Hamon says.
“The Rod of Seven Parts dates back to a second edition module called the Rod of Seven Parts.” “The Rod of Seven Parts was created by the Vaati, beings of ultimate law.” “This was back when good versus evil was a literal battle”, Hamon adds.
The Rod was originally created to imprison Miska the Wolf-Spider, a demon leading the forces of evil. After it imprisoned Miska in a demiplane, the Rod split into seven pieces, which were scattered across the multiverse.
Get one piece, and it’ll direct you to the next. Grab them all, and you can banish Vecna. So begins your party’s adventure across the multiverse, where you’ll stop by the DnD settings of Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Dragonlance, Greyhawk, and Eberron.
Over in Ravenloft, Strahd von Zarovich has come across one piece of the Rod of Seven Parts. “Strahd himself doesn’t really care about the Rod of Seven Parts”, Hamon says, “but he’s an opportunist and recognizes that a lot of people are interested in this piece”. Your party could fight the vampire Darklord for his prize, but there might be other ways to persuade him to part with it.
“Another piece of the rod of seven parts is located in the Astral Sea”, Hamon adds. “This piece is located inside of what the characters think is an asteroid, but it turns out to be a dying god.”
Another stop on your plane-hopping spree is the Dragonlance planet of Krynn, where Lord Soth is waging war. You won’t be tangling with this classic villain directly, though. Instead, the party must face off against Teremini Nightsedge, a “fanatical” and “intense” Wizard in Soth’s employ. “She is trying to use the Rod to power her own ritual against lycanthropes in the area”, Hamon says.
In Greyhawk, the party will encounter a False Lich copy of Acererak, who created the infamous Tomb of Horrors. “Re-Rac”, as Wizards of the Coast affectionately calls him, “is his own sapient, sentient individual”, left to do the dirty work of running the dungeons in Acererak’s stead. “If the characters are interested, they can negotiate with him to end his reign of terror in the tomb”, Hamon says. “They can also just fight him.”
Few details about your trip to Eberron were shared during the April 10 presentation. However, with the worldwide release of the DnD book fast approaching, it won’t be long before we learn more. Vecna: Eve of Ruin releases globally on May 21, but fans can access it early by pre-ordering on D&DBeyond or shopping at their Local Game Store on May 7.
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