D&D: In ‘Vecna – Nest of the Eldritch Eye’ You’ll Get a Head Start on Thwarting Vecna
Vecna: Nest of the Eldritch Eye is a preview adventure that links low-level characters to the unfolding events of Vecna: Eve of Ruin.
In D&D, there’s a sort of running gag about how this ragtag band of low-level misfits who randomly bumped into each other in a tavern will end up, in like two months, taking on the gods themselves. And it’s especially true in the newest adventure coming to D&D, Vecna: Eve of Ruin. In Eve of Ruin you are a band of heroes who may be the only thing that can stop Vecna. Why?
Well, in a new preview adventure, which you get access to whenever you pre-order Vecna: Eye of Ruin through D&D Beyond, or you can buy after the 21st for $4.99, you’ll get a little more context as to why. Nothing is necessary for the running of the main adventure. But it’s enough of a taste to whet the appetite for the main event in just a couple of weeks (since if you pre-order, you also get early access to the books on May 7th).
But what exactly happens in Nest of the Eldritch Eye? Well, for starters, if you play your cards right, you’ll end up with the attention of Vecna on you. At least for a time.
Vecna: Nest of the Eldritch Eye
Nest of the Eldritch Eye is a very short, straightforward little mini-dungeon crawl. It is an easy little one-shot that follows an extremely simple premise: you’ve been hired by Lord Neverember to patrol Neverwinter during a particularly troubling time. A warranted move by Neverember, considering you immediately stumble onto a murder with a grisly, dedicated eye.
One thing very naturally leads to another, and in true D&D fashion, before you know it, you’re descending into the catacombs beneath the city to fight a bunch of cultists. That’s about as D&D as it gets.
And for a 3rd level adventure, it’s pretty good. You’ll fight some shadows, zombies, a water weird, and, of course, a bunch of Vecna cultists. The main setpiece of the adventure is a two-level dungeon crawl that may well culminate with the players encountering the spectral form of Vecna.
It’s an image we’ve seen before in the previews of Vecna: Eve of Ruin. Vecna appears in a burst of green flame to his cultists. And that is exactly what may happen in the adventure. Of course, Vecna isn’t actually there. But his presence is.
And that is enough to convey one of two potential buffs to the party members who happen to be present at the time. There’s the Charm of the Eldritch Eye:
And the Charm of the Creeping Hand:
Both of these represent Vecna’s personal attention on you. And as a quest reward? I really love it. This kind of limited use of cool power is an excellent way to give mechanical consequences to story events. I think more adventures should have stuff like this baked in.
But, here at last, you see how the players first brush with Vecna, and that will, somehow, lead them to challenge the archlich himself for the fate of the multiverse.
Pre-Order Vecna: Eye of Ruin through D&D Beyond Here
