Hunger of the

Nine-Tongued Worm
One by one, the faint lights strung along civilization's
frontier gutter as darkness, embodied by the warlord
Korthak Maal, swallows them.
Rumor outweighs fact when it comes to Maal.
Reports claim the mating of an ore witch and a
demon bred him. Others say he is the last living son of
deceased King Elidyr and is cursed to walk the world
as a revenant until all traces ofNerath are erased. Some
have whispered Maal is nothing more than a chieftain
clad in lies designed to spread terror as his uncounted
hordes tumble out from the night.
Regardless, Korthak Maal has never known defeat,
and no force has been able to slow his march. It is
against this backdrop the campaign begins.
CHAPTER 2 I Evil Campaians

Heroic Tier:
Invasion of the Nentir Vale
Promises of glory and riches, and perhaps the responsibility
to protect one's homeland, inspire adventurers to
journey to the Nentir Vale (as described in the Dunaeon
Master's Guide), where a seething host is heading. A call
to arms has been raised in the town ofFallcrest, and
all the land's heroes are converging to raise an army to
throw back the evil masses.
Along the way, characters happen upon a sacked
hamlet littered with rotting corpses atop which
carrion eaters feast. An investigation of the ruins
reveals not everyone fell to the sword. Tracks leading
away from the hamlet indicate some villagers were
marched away.
Following the tracks leads adventurers to an old ruin
where ore scouts in service to the warlord Maal have
staked their claim. When battling the orcs, characters
notice their enemies' atypical forms and behavior. As
each ore is slain, something tiny slithers away from its
twitching corpse. It appears these orcs were infected
with tsochar parasites (see Chapter 4). The battered
prisoners are also infected with the parasites, as evidenced
by their strange behavior and mutations.
Exploring the ruins reveals an underground complex
filled with pungent, writhing alien creatures. Adventurers
eventually enter a temple-like chamber deep below
the surface world. Foreign carvings and invocations to
the Nine-Tongued Worm decorate the earthen walls.
While inspecting the domed room, filthy monstrosities
boil out from the darkness.
If characters survive the confrontation, they manage
to reach Fallcrest in time to contribute to the vale's
defense. From this point forward, the heroes undertake
missions to fight the horde, including engagements
against the warlord's champions.
The heroic tier ends when characters participate in
a grand battle against the invading army. Their contributions
on the battlefield allow the vale's defenders to
drive back the enemy, at least for a time. Yet the victory
is bittersweet, because adventurers find more foreign
worms wriggling among the dead-and not all of them
slithered from their foes.

Paragon Tier: Evil Within

With the threat to the Nentir Vale contained, at least
for now, adventurers are free to research the troubling
phenomenon and any specimens they might
have acquired along the way. After much fruitless
searching, characters come away with only a name:
Uri Tantovar. An occultist and well-known expert on
all things strange, he vanished after looking into an
unusual occurrence in the Dawnforge Mountains.
Having no other leads, adventurers head off in search
ofTantovar.