This article is written with Snakes & Saloons for D&D 5E in mind, but the stat blocks should work just fine with any other wild west 5E hack, Ultramodern5, or just the core rules.

Steinsberg is a coal mining town built on the plains of the western frontier. It is the end of the line for the rail network, and provides vital coal for the settlements of the New Continent. To the west is the Canyonlands, a maze carved into the earth by eons of erosion by shifting rivers and seismic activity.

Adventure

This adventure is designed with a party of four third-level adventurers in mind. The fight against Elmak the Red Dragon should present a substantial challenge, unless the party decides to talk their way out of it. The fight against the Kazsa Brothers may be lethal, so halve their damage if you want to avoid the possibility of player character death.

Arrival in Steinsberg

Rain drums against the roof of the train car as you near Steinsberg Station. You pass the wooden structure covering the mine shaft, its sides streaked with black and brown dust turned to mud by the rain. Piles of rock surround it, glinting wetly in the little bit of late afternoon sunlight that penetrates the clouds.

The train comes to a stop and you disembark. The station is nothing more than a wooden platform and a small booth where a ticket-seller struggles to stay awake. An acrid smell fills the air, and people rush across the muddy road from the platform to the nearest building, the Sandblast Saloon. Welcome to Steinsberg: The end of the line.

It’s cold and rainy when the party arrives in Steinsberg. If they go to the Saloon to follow up on the job offer hook, Max Thamda’rass directs them to Rask’s room on the second floor, where Merry North-Tooth is currently staying. She’s delighted at the prospect of more protection, but won’t be heading back to camp until the morning.

In the meantime, the party can banter with the regulars at the Saloon, play some blackjack, or check out the general store. See the d20 Blackjack section below for more on that.

Anybody they ask about local rumors will mention that some of the mining equipment has gone missing recently. Mostly shovels and pickaxes, but also a box of dynamite. It was all equipment left at the entrance to the mine overnight.

Townsfolk

Any of the townsfolk can tell the players the following if questioned: Things have been going missing around town lately, mostly food but sometimes tools, never money. Wanted posters for a stern-faced man named Alfons Kasza were recently put up, and a similar-looking man passed through Steinsberg on his way out to the Canyonlands a week ago. It’s been raining for days. Strange creatures have been seen along the bank of the nearby river.

Sandblast Saloon

Steinsberg’s premiere, and only, drinking establishment. The Sandblast is four storeys tall, not including its basement. Its ground floor is a bar with tables strewn about the room. No matter the time of day, at least a few locals can be found in here, playing card games or slamming back bottles of ale.

The second floor has a pool table and two rooms for rent. The third floor is subdivided into six rooms for rent, and the top floor is a single, open room for rent, meant for large groups or people who need the space.

Normal rooms cost 1 SP per night and can comfortably sleep two people, and the large room costs 10 SP per night and can comfortably sleep six.

Bonus: d20 Blackjack Rules

Any roll in d20 blackjack can be modified by up to the user’s proficiency bonus, if they have proficiency with a Gaming Set.

The first roll of every round is a d20, representing the first two cards you receive. If a character decides to hit, they roll a d10. If their total goes over 21, they bust, and lose this round. Repeat until every character passes or busts.

The dealer rolls a d20 at the same time as the party, and then rolling a d10 until they either bust or pass 17. Their roll is unmodified.

Winning gets you twice as much money as you bet, losing gets you nothing, getting the same score as the dealer gets you your money back.

Know your limit, play within it, only gamble to bankruptcy in fantastical elf games, etc.

The Next Morning

Early in the morning, Finch Hopkins comes into town, clearly shaken. He stumbles into the Sandblast Saloon, orders a drink, and downs it while staring blankly at the wood of the bar. If a member of the party asks him what’s wrong, he tells them

“Last night… my cattle… I heard the cows bellowin’, so I went out to check on them. I found Bess on the ground, ripped apart. Jennibelle ran past me, bleedin’ from her gut, all sliced up. Finally, I saw the little bugger responsible.” He takes a deep breath. “Weren’t no coyote, no wolf, certainly no bear. I thought it was a kid at first, that’s how short it was, but it had yellow horns and eyes that shined like a cat’s. Head like a lizard’s. That’s all I saw before I pulled out my six-shooter and took a shot at it. I missed, but the little thing skedaddled.”

He takes a long swig of his ale.

“Half the herd got killed or torn up so bad they won’t produce milk this year. That’s what should scare me. But what in the abyss was that thing?”

He doesn’t have much to say beyond that, aside from saying that the attacks happened on the west side of his property, near the river.

If the party decides to investigate, continue on to The Farm. If they decide to leave with Merry North-Tooth, go to the Canyonlands section.

The Farm

The Hopkins Farm sits along the edge of a river, west of Steinsberg. A dirt path leads from the edge of the property to the farmhouse, which is currently occupied by Marlaine Hopkins and the two Hopkins children, Scotty and Walter.

The trail of gore is still visible, leading from the house to the west side of the property.

Interspersed with the cattle tracks are three-toed digitigrade footprints from a creature that is fairly light. They both enter and leave the property at the western edge, on the shore of the river.

Following the tracks isn’t hard. They run alongside the river, complimented occasionally by a scrap of meat or a mark from a weapon getting dropped on the ground. The area around the river smells unpleasant, reminiscent of the acrid smell from the night before but not as strong. The tracks end at a spot where the the river has carved a cut-out into its bank, creating a small stream. It looks like this stream only gets water when the river is swollen by rain, as it is now.

The Dragon’s Cave

Following the stream leads to a cave, where the water continues to flow down into the earth, leading to the southwest corner of the map below.

Thanks to Rooty for making this sweet variant! You can grab it and a darker version here!

The Dragon’s Cave is a grotto carved out by years of overflow from the river. The water is an unsettling orange color, with flecks of foam floating in it. Breathing too deeply in here burns your throat.

This cave is home to the kobolds and their queen, the red dragon Elmak. The kobolds and Elmak are different castes of the same species, in the same sense as queen bees and their drones. We recommend scouring our Token Editor for some great Kobold and Dragon tokens!

There are a dozen kobolds in total: There are nine females, split evenly between the entrance, the northwest corner, and the northeast corner. These are the colony’s guards and foragers, and will fight if threatened. They are each armed with one of the following three weapons: Shovel (1d6 bludgeoning), Pickaxe (1d6 piercing), Dynamite (thrown at a target within 60 feet, DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, 3d6 bludgeoning damage on a failed save or half damage on a successful one. Single use.)

Three smaller males dwell in the pond, with Elmak. They are not armed, and will scurry away from danger. Their only duty in the colony is taking care of Elmak.

If the party gets within 15 feet of the central pool, read out the following:

“Warmbloods! Is it not enough that you taint my lair with your toxins? You need to violate it with your presence?” The dragon rises out of the pool, orange water sloshing off of her gigantic body. She stares down at you, hate in her yellow eyes. Sores and chemical burns are clearly visible on her body. She begins to take a deep breath, the sort that any experienced adventurer knows precedes a blast of scorching fire.

Elmak can be reasoned with. If the party tries talking to her before she burns them to cinders, she’ll hear them out. Her only concern is stopping the polluted water from entering the river (and thus her cave), and if the party can convince her that they can deal with the pollution problem, she will let them leave without harm, despite the wounds they’ve inflicted on her children.

If they can’t, a fight ensues, and if she is not defeated (or talked down), she will raze Steinsberg with her fire breath. Due to the toxins weakening her, use the Red Dragon Wyrmling stat block from the Monster Manual to represent her.

Pollution Problems

Water acidification can be mitigated by building a tailings pond for the mine waste, preventing the polluted water from spilling into the waterways after rainstorms. This is known to the mine owners, but they never bothered because it would be quite expensive, and “the water just flows into the canyonlands, right? nothing lives down there anyway.”

The Canyonlands

This section of the adventure can be done either before or after resolving the issues with the kobolds and their dragon queen, unless you’re a very anti-Quantum Ogre, in which case following this path first results in the town being burnt to the ground, and following this path second results in all of the archaeologists except for Merry North-Tooth get killed by the Kazsa Brothers.

The Rask Expedition

Gustav Rask and his associates have come to Steinsberg to search the Canyonlands for fossils of early dragons, to learn more about how they split into several distinct subspecies. They have a room under Gustav’s name at the Sandblast Saloon, which they use whenever one of them comes back to town for supplies. Merry North-Tooth is using it when the party arrives in Steinsberg.

The members of the Expedition are camped out in the Canyonlands, about a day’s travel from Steinsberg. Max Thamda’rass at the Sandblast Saloon knows approximately where they are, so he can forward mail to them or tell potential bodyguards how to find them if needed.

The Kazsa Brothers

The Kasza Brothers are a band of roaming bandits. Their leader, Al, is the oldest of the three, and he firmly believes that it’s easier to make money through crime than “honest” work. Unfortunately, 15 years of banditry have left him and his brothers with nothing but their horses and a trail of bounties on their heads.

Camp Rask

The ride out is uneventful, though at midday, Merry points out some scaly creatures flying overhead and claims that they are likely distant relatives of dragons.

The camp is a simple affair: A fire pit, one large tent, and a parked wagon. A few dozen feet away from the camp is the Dig Site, an old streambed where an ancient fossil sticks out of the ground. Brushes, chisels, and picks are strewn around the dig area.

“Ah! Merry!” calls a deep voice from the tent. The flap opens, and a chubby old man steps out, holding a mug of tea in one hand. “And you’ve brought guests!”

“Prospective bodyguards.” Merry corrects him as she dismounts.

She gives the party an opportunity to introduce themselves. Afterwards, Gustav Rask continues talking:

“Ah, welcome, welcome, you look like a strapping and savvy bunch. While we were searching the Canyonlands, we didn’t have any real concerns about bandits, but now that we’ve settled in to one place I’m afraid we’ll attract attention from the sort of ruffians that hang around the edge of society, looking to rip off chunks of its flesh.”

He pauses to take a swig of his tea.

“Regardless, yes, hello, I am Dr. Gustav Rask, lead archeologist of the Rask Expedition. The shirtless lad over there is Kaleb Roehr, and my daughter Magda is inventorying our supplies in the tent. Your job will be to protect us during the course of this expedition. In return, we will ensure that you’re fed, and you will receive your pay once our work here is complete. We’ve got about an hour of daylight left, so how about you set up your tent and settle in?”

After the tents are set up, dinner is served, and just as everyone sits down to eat, a voice comes out of the darkness:

“Alright, folks. Hands to the sky. If nobody does anything stupid, this’ll all be over in just a minute.”

Three figures step out of the darkness, each holding firearms.

These are the Kasza brothers, faces covered by yellow bandanas and weapons at the ready. Al is in the center, flanked by the twins.

If they are not stopped, the Kasza brothers will tie everyone up, take a bag of gold and a week of food from the wagon, and then leave, without untying anyone.

More likely, a fight ensues, with the Kazsa Brothers fighting until all but one of them are unconscious or dead. The last will attempt to flee by stealing a horse.

If the players ignored Farmer Hopkins’ cattle mutilation problems earlier, the kobolds will be attacking the town when they return. There are 8 kobolds in the attacking force, armed with shovels, picks, and dynamite. One has a revolver that she holds like a rifle. The path the kobolds took from the Dragon’s Cave into town is trivial to follow, so return to the Dragon’s Cave section and continue from there. Do not subtract the kobolds killed in this encounter from the number of kobolds in the cave.

Epilogue

This adventure ends when both threads are dealt with. The party receives 20 gold each from the Rask Expedition, plus an extra 5 each from the Sheriff for any Kazsa Brothers brought back to town alive. They also gain proficiency in Archeology, which they will have to write on their character sheets themselves.

Afterword

I hope you’ve enjoyed this adventure. I absolutely adore weird west settings, something about cowboys shooting supernatural things just makes me smile.

I’m also fascinated by industrial disasters and the long-term effects of pollution. From Kyshtym to Church Rock, from the Queen River to Times Beach, the damage we’ve done to the environment is horrible.

Anyway, thanks again to Rooty for the delightfully grody variation of the Pooling Caverns battlemap, and please let me know below if you want more weird west articles!

-Garm

Map & Asset Downloads

Be sure to pick up the newly added Pooling Caverns variant in the Pay What You Want product below!