B10 Night’s Dark Terror (1986) [+]
Nov 24 2025
Dungeons & Dragons module B10 Night's Dark Terror labels itself as a Basic/Expert transition adventure for levels 2-4. The action centers on the three rivers area around Kelven which includes a visit to Threshold, a town detailed in the Expert Rules. I believe Kelven is a fews days south from The Keep on The Borderlands so it's a natural place to stop for adventurers heading towards civilization to spend their loot. In my campaign I made Kelven be the Keep so the environs of B10 naturally widens the same area the PCs have been adventuring in.
B10 is a double-length module so fairly long.
In part 1 the PCs are hired to be horse wranglers and drive a herd for sale in an Elven village. But when they get to the horse ranch they see it's under attack by goblins. There is a combat map and cut-out counters so you can do a detailed battle. The NPCs are also detailed and some can help defending their home. The goblins are in two different tribes so the PCs might be able to divide and conquer.
But the some of the goblins manage to steal all the horses so part 2 is the PCs going after the horses. Also the goblins have been taking captives so the PCs can try to rescue them too. It's wandering around in the forest where the are three goblin lairs each being distinctly different (e.g. one of them the goblins were previously decimated so their hiding and being defensive). The last goblin lair is a bit of a stronghold.
By the end of part 2 the PCs may know that the goblins have been directed by a Master and most of the captives were taken to an ancient city in the North. The PCs run into a were-horse-centaur (a horse that can turn into a centaur or is it vice-versa?) who agrees to give the location of the ancient city in return for freeing the horses the PCs are supposed to deliver. A good role-playing opportunity to make a better deal with the horse-centaur.
Part 3 is the ancient city of Xitaqa were there are more goblins plus Iron Ring slavers (the Iron Ring is funded by a bandit barony in the west trying to destabilize the region but those machinations are only mentioned in this module). Fight or sneak into the central temple, battle the Iron Ring sorcerer (who is supposed to get away but I thought that was too fiat so gave the PCs a chance and they took him down; not to worry the module provides a second master sorcerer with different stats in case a backup is needed).
With the horses recovered (in part 2) and the slaves rescued (in part 3) the PCs can return and then drive the horses to the elven town and selling them. Part 4 is not very exciting There are some standalone mini-dungeons that the PCs can do: pixies need help with a haunted island; random tombs (burial mounds) to loot; dwarves at a gold mine plagued by mysterious disappearances; werewolves harassing the were-horse-centaur.
Somewhere along the line the PCs were supposed to figure out the bad guys are trying to find a lost ancient city and that weird tapestry in the horse ranch main house is actually a map to a lost valley. If they figure it out then the path leads then North from the elven town to Threshold and then further onwards. Part 5 includes a bandit attack getting to Threshold; an Iron Ring plan in Threshold to lure the PCs into a trap; up the wilderness valley where 200 gnolls pursue the PCs; then up a mountain road past downed bridges to the entrance of the lost valley.
Part 6 is the lost valley. Two degenerate peoples fight a never-ending war (well, the war will end in a generation or two as there aren't many of them left). The jackal people and the stocky humans. The jackal people used to rule this whole region and uplifted the primitive humans to become the servant/slave class. And then a thousand years later the humans overthrew the jackals but the wars devastated both peoples and now the remnants are in this valley. The PCs can side with one side or another or both or neither.
The main action is going to the main temple to stop the undead generator. Then maybe a second trip to the lower level to kill the big Cthulhu-oid tentacled monster. This is the largest dungeon in the module at about 20 rooms -- most of the others are a few rooms to maybe a dozen rooms.
The appendix has a calendar and a small player's map of the area (I like player maps since I can't give out a GM map with labels rubbed out as that's too obvious). There is also a weather calendar showing the weather for each day: cloud, rain, temperature, wind each from level 0 to 3. And a half page on bartering rules.
This is a pretty big module. I ran it in fifteen 2-3 hour sessions and I skipped some stuff. Although there are good motivations in the first half (get the horses back and rescue prisoners) I lost the thread of why the PCs care to go to the lost valley. Maybe to stop the Iron Ring but there is no specific goal other than maybe the lost valley has powerful lost treasure. Or I guess the standard adventuring spirit of going to lost places to discover cool stuff.
I like that it's close to B2 and at a level where this can be the next module after B2. Although it's a "transition module" it does seem pretty much Expert Set from the get go in that you need the wilderness rules from the start.
Overall a this was mostly a fun module to run.
B10 is a double-length module so fairly long.
In part 1 the PCs are hired to be horse wranglers and drive a herd for sale in an Elven village. But when they get to the horse ranch they see it's under attack by goblins. There is a combat map and cut-out counters so you can do a detailed battle. The NPCs are also detailed and some can help defending their home. The goblins are in two different tribes so the PCs might be able to divide and conquer.
But the some of the goblins manage to steal all the horses so part 2 is the PCs going after the horses. Also the goblins have been taking captives so the PCs can try to rescue them too. It's wandering around in the forest where the are three goblin lairs each being distinctly different (e.g. one of them the goblins were previously decimated so their hiding and being defensive). The last goblin lair is a bit of a stronghold.
By the end of part 2 the PCs may know that the goblins have been directed by a Master and most of the captives were taken to an ancient city in the North. The PCs run into a were-horse-centaur (a horse that can turn into a centaur or is it vice-versa?) who agrees to give the location of the ancient city in return for freeing the horses the PCs are supposed to deliver. A good role-playing opportunity to make a better deal with the horse-centaur.
Part 3 is the ancient city of Xitaqa were there are more goblins plus Iron Ring slavers (the Iron Ring is funded by a bandit barony in the west trying to destabilize the region but those machinations are only mentioned in this module). Fight or sneak into the central temple, battle the Iron Ring sorcerer (who is supposed to get away but I thought that was too fiat so gave the PCs a chance and they took him down; not to worry the module provides a second master sorcerer with different stats in case a backup is needed).
With the horses recovered (in part 2) and the slaves rescued (in part 3) the PCs can return and then drive the horses to the elven town and selling them. Part 4 is not very exciting There are some standalone mini-dungeons that the PCs can do: pixies need help with a haunted island; random tombs (burial mounds) to loot; dwarves at a gold mine plagued by mysterious disappearances; werewolves harassing the were-horse-centaur.
Somewhere along the line the PCs were supposed to figure out the bad guys are trying to find a lost ancient city and that weird tapestry in the horse ranch main house is actually a map to a lost valley. If they figure it out then the path leads then North from the elven town to Threshold and then further onwards. Part 5 includes a bandit attack getting to Threshold; an Iron Ring plan in Threshold to lure the PCs into a trap; up the wilderness valley where 200 gnolls pursue the PCs; then up a mountain road past downed bridges to the entrance of the lost valley.
Part 6 is the lost valley. Two degenerate peoples fight a never-ending war (well, the war will end in a generation or two as there aren't many of them left). The jackal people and the stocky humans. The jackal people used to rule this whole region and uplifted the primitive humans to become the servant/slave class. And then a thousand years later the humans overthrew the jackals but the wars devastated both peoples and now the remnants are in this valley. The PCs can side with one side or another or both or neither.
The main action is going to the main temple to stop the undead generator. Then maybe a second trip to the lower level to kill the big Cthulhu-oid tentacled monster. This is the largest dungeon in the module at about 20 rooms -- most of the others are a few rooms to maybe a dozen rooms.
The appendix has a calendar and a small player's map of the area (I like player maps since I can't give out a GM map with labels rubbed out as that's too obvious). There is also a weather calendar showing the weather for each day: cloud, rain, temperature, wind each from level 0 to 3. And a half page on bartering rules.
This is a pretty big module. I ran it in fifteen 2-3 hour sessions and I skipped some stuff. Although there are good motivations in the first half (get the horses back and rescue prisoners) I lost the thread of why the PCs care to go to the lost valley. Maybe to stop the Iron Ring but there is no specific goal other than maybe the lost valley has powerful lost treasure. Or I guess the standard adventuring spirit of going to lost places to discover cool stuff.
I like that it's close to B2 and at a level where this can be the next module after B2. Although it's a "transition module" it does seem pretty much Expert Set from the get go in that you need the wilderness rules from the start.
Overall a this was mostly a fun module to run.