The Hunger Between Worlds — Free 5e-Compatible Adventure

Adventure Overview

The Hunger Between Worlds is a complete planar mystery for four 4th-level characters. It begins with an eccentric academic and a modest haunting, builds toward an overnight vigil in a deserted mountain temple, and ends with a hunt through an alien reflection of the world.

What the Heroes Must Do

Hear Professor Elian Voss's theory.
Document the presence in a haunted house.
Investigate the deaths at Saint Orra's abandoned temple.
Lure an ethereal predator into the Material Plane.
Follow it through a planar ripple and end the threat.

Adventure at a Glance

Act I: social scene and haunted-house investigation.
Act II: mountain travel, temple exploration, and vigil.
Act III: pursuit across alien terrain and final battle.
Primary combats: 3, with the second and third involving the same wounded creature.

Tone and SafetyThe adventure moves from scholarly curiosity into eerie, bloodless horror. Before play, let the group know that it includes predation on sleeping victims, blood loss, spiders, and an uncanny alternate world. These elements can be described without gore.

Starting the Adventure

The heroes may be contacted by Voss, hired by the town council to humor him, or referred by someone who knows they have faced the supernatural. The council pays 25 gp per character if they settle the Briar Lane haunting. Voss offers an additional 100 gp total for useful evidence from both sites.

Background: The Thin Places

Professor Elian Voss studies the architecture of the planes. His central claim is simple: the planes are not separated by distance, but by resonance. Repeated belief, ritual, or intense emotion can tune a place until it lies close to another world. Ancient shrines, burial chambers, crossroads, and disaster sites are therefore more likely to become “thin places.”

Voss has catalogued small anomalies at seven such locations: objects moving without a visible cause, reflections that lag behind their owners, voices heard through solid stone, and creatures glimpsed only under precise conditions. His colleagues dismiss his evidence as drafts, tricks, and the effects of mind-altering cave mushrooms. Voss did sample those mushrooms during one expedition, which has not helped his reputation.

The TruthVoss is essentially correct. At the House on Briar Lane, grief has attracted a lesser shadow that can cross only at the boundary of dim light. At Saint Orra's Temple, centuries of prayer weakened the planar boundary. A bloodweaver called Sivrix discovered the opening and fed on sleeping priests from the adjoining world. It departed when the temple emptied but returns whenever warm creatures sleep there.

What Voss Knows

Manifestations obey rules. Finding the rule makes them observable.
The Briar Lane presence appears only near one small flame, never in bright light.
The temple victims died in their sleep, without wounds, and were completely drained of blood.
Sacred architecture may act like a tuning fork between realities.
Crossing a planar boundary might be possible where a creature has already forced it open.

Part 1: The Unbelieved Scholar

Voss works in a bright rented room above a bakery. Colorful ribbons hang between shelves, each marking a proposed planar relationship. Chalk diagrams cover the floor. The room smells of cinnamon rolls, lamp oil, and old paper—not mushrooms.

A thin man in a patched blue academic robe opens the door before you knock. “You came. Excellent. Before we begin: I am not intoxicated, cursed, or attempting to sell you mushrooms. Reality has seams. Something has learned to put its fingers through them, and I would very much like you to see it before it learns to put through anything larger.”

Roleplaying Professor Elian Voss

Voss is intense, defensive, and genuinely delighted by careful questions. He speaks quickly but never risks the heroes merely to prove himself right. If treated respectfully, he gives them two resonance needles: silver sewing needles tied to blue thread. Within 30 feet of an active planar opening, a needle turns and points toward it.

Question	Voss's Answer
Why does nobody believe you?	“Because invisible worlds are unfashionable, and because I once mistook a luminous fungus for a portal while under its influence.”
What is in the house?	“A silhouette. It appears at the outer edge of candlelight in the west parlor or upstairs nursery. Bright lamps prevent it from appearing.”
Why start there?	“It is close, contained, and unlikely to drink all your blood. We should establish the principle before attempting the dangerous case.”
What happened at the temple?	“Seven sleepers died over two months. No wound. No blood. The survivors fled twenty-three years ago.”
How do we return from another plane?	“Do not let the opening close. Mark it on both sides, and keep the creature that made it from escaping your sight.”

Part 2: The House on Briar Lane

The two-story house has stood empty for nine years. Its last resident, Merra Vale, died peacefully after months of mourning her daughter. The front windows are boarded, but the building is structurally sound. Dust, faded yellow wallpaper, and covered furniture make it melancholy rather than immediately threatening.

Investigating the House

The party has time to explore before sunset. Each meaningful discovery below requires a successful check, but a failed check should cost 20 minutes or introduce an unsettling sign rather than halt the adventure.

Area	Clue	Check
Entry Hall	Wax drippings form a repeated line toward the west parlor, as if someone carried the same candle there nightly.	DC 11 Intelligence (Investigation)
West Parlor	Scratches on the floor stop exactly 15 feet from a brass candlestick. The shadow cannot cross into bright light.	DC 13 Wisdom (Perception)
Kitchen	A shuttered lantern and six candles remain usable. A tinderbox sits in a drawer.	No check
Upstairs Nursery	A child's charcoal drawing shows a tall dark figure outside a circle of candlelight.	DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation)
Merra's Room	Her journal says the figure came when she whispered goodnight beside one candle.	10 minutes of searching

The little flame bends though the windows are closed. Beyond its glow, darkness gathers beside the wall—not the absence of light, but a shape leaning into it. Two pale points open where eyes should be. The candle goes out.

Drawing Out the Lesser Shadow

The creature manifests only in the west parlor or nursery when both conditions are met: the room is otherwise dark, and exactly one candle or similarly dim flame is lit. It appears at the edge of that light. The observing character may attempt a DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check. On a success, that character is not surprised. The candle immediately goes out and the lesser shadow attacks.

In complete darkness, the lesser shadow is invisible. Lighting a candle reveals it only while it is within that candle's dim light. A hooded lantern or magical light that creates bright light suppresses its invisibility normally, though it refuses to manifest if such a light is already present. Opening shutters during daylight makes it retreat into the walls; it returns after 10 minutes of darkness.

Encounter: At the Edge of the Flame

Use the lesser shadow statistics. The room contains two spare candles on a mantle and a lantern in the adjoining kitchen. A character can light a held light source as an action, or use an adjacent candle or lantern as a bonus action if holding the tinderbox.

Round 1: The shadow attacks a surprised or isolated target, then moves away from any new flame.
Round 2: It slips through furniture and attempts to extinguish the nearest nonmagical light.
Bloodied: At half its hit points, it flees toward Merra's room. If the journal is read aloud and the heroes promise the house will be occupied again, it loses its resistance to nonmagical damage for the rest of the fight.

Evidence and RewardWhen destroyed, the shadow collapses into cold gray dust around a glassy black bead. The bead vibrates when a resonance needle approaches. Voss recognizes it as matter condensed at a planar boundary. The council pays the promised 25 gp per character.

Failure Forward

If the party cannot defeat the creature, bright light drives it away. Voss still accepts their observations and the nursery drawing as evidence, but insists the house be sealed until they return. The adventure continues.

Part 3: Road to Saint Orra's Temple

The abandoned temple lies a day and a half into the Copperhorn Mountains. Voss accompanies the party to the last village but lacks the health for the climb. He provides a rubbing of the temple floor plan, climbing cord, four sticks of chalk, and a warning: “If the opening appears, mark its edge before you cross.”

Use the journey to shift the tone from ordinary countryside to isolation. The first day is clear and bright. Goats watch from ridges, alpine flowers fill the valleys, and the temple's white stone can occasionally be seen high above. Near the upper trail, the natural world becomes subtly wrong: birds avoid one slope, echoes return a heartbeat late, and a resonance needle slowly turns toward the temple.

Mountain Challenge

The party must earn 3 successes before 2 failures, using different relevant skills at DC 13. Suggestions include Strength (Athletics) to secure a climb, Wisdom (Survival) to find the old pilgrim path, Intelligence (Nature) to recognize unsafe stone, or Dexterity with appropriate tools to repair a rope bridge.

Success: The party reaches the temple with daylight remaining and has advantage on its first group investigation check.
Failure: Each character loses one Hit Die from fatigue and scrapes; these dice return normally after a long rest. The party arrives at sunset.

Part 4: The Empty Temple

The temple stands in a bowl of bare gray peaks, its square bell tower open to the wind. No road reaches its doors now. Prayer ribbons, bleached almost white, stir beneath the eaves. Inside, dust lies undisturbed across rows of low stone beds. Every carving faces inward, toward a circular mosaic in the sanctuary floor.

Saint Orra's Temple is small: an entry hall, sanctuary, kitchen, six-cell dormitory, archive, and courtyard cistern. It has no hostile inhabitants during daylight. Let the players investigate freely and discover at least three clues before nightfall.

Area	Discovery
Sanctuary	The circular mosaic depicts two overlapping mountain ranges. A resonance needle points to its center. DC 13 Arcana or Religion: the design is older than the temple and was incorporated into it.
Dormitory	Dark discolorations outline seven beds, but no blood stains the mattresses. DC 12 Medicine: the victims must have lost blood without it ever touching the room.
Archive	The final prior's journal records that deaths occurred only during sleep and ceased when everyone stayed awake. One novice saw “a many-jointed man bending out of the air.”
Kitchen	Dry wood and sealed lamp oil remain usable. A small silver mirror is stored with ceremonial dishes.
Cistern	Clear water reflects unfamiliar stars for an instant after sunset. A creature looking into it sees its own reflection blink out of time.
Bell Tower	From above, the party sees that no animals approach within 300 feet of the temple after dusk.

Resting HereA normal long rest cannot be completed while Sivrix hunts nearby. Characters can recover after crossing the ripple only if they first secure a safe location and spend the necessary time.

Planning the Vigil

The heroes must create believable prey. At least one living creature must sleep in the dormitory or sanctuary after midnight. Spells or abilities that induce sleep work. A character pretending to sleep must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma (Deception) check; Sivrix watches from the far side before emerging.

Good preparations grant concrete advantages:

Flour, ash, or water on the floor: reveals Sivrix's path, preventing surprise.
Mirrors facing the sleeper: reveal the ripple one round before it opens.
Alarm line or watcher within 10 feet: the watcher has advantage on the check to notice the attack.
Sanctuary mosaic studied and marked: crossing characters are not knocked prone on the other side.
Too much bright light or obvious noise: Sivrix waits. After one hour, a DC 14 Arcana check reveals the planar pressure building but refusing to break.

Part 5: The Bloodless Night

Shortly after midnight, the air beside the sleeper dimples like cloth pressed by a hand. A vertical ripple opens. Sivrix leans through, appearing humanoid from a distance but revealing six black eyes, split forearms, and folding spiderlike mouthparts up close.

The sleeping figure's breath turns white. Beside the bed, empty air wrinkles and parts. A narrow shape unfolds from nowhere—too tall, too thin, its head smooth except for clustered eyes. Its jaw opens sideways. A red thread rises from the sleeper's skin toward its waiting mouth, though no wound appears.

Detecting the Feeding

A watcher notices the temperature drop automatically, then makes a DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check. A character using a mirror or resonance needle succeeds automatically. On a failure, Sivrix completes one use of Bloodless Feeding before initiative is rolled. The sleeper awakens after taking damage unless magically prevented.

Encounter: Sivrix Emerges

Use the ethereal bloodweaver statistics. The planar ripple occupies a 5-foot-wide space beside the sanctuary mosaic or dormitory bed. It sheds faint violet dim light for 10 feet.

Sivrix begins half in the ripple and tries to feed once before fighting.
It uses Unfolding Step to separate watchful heroes, but avoids killing a helpless creature once combat begins; it wants to escape with its meal.
When reduced to 45 hit points or fewer, Sivrix disengages if possible and retreats through the ripple.
If surrounded or prevented from reaching the opening, it fights until reduced to 15 hit points, then surrenders and gestures desperately toward the tear. It cannot speak a Material language.

The Closing RippleOnce Sivrix crosses, the opening begins to contract. It closes after 3 rounds unless a character uses an action to trace its edge with chalk, drive a weapon through it, or succeed on a DC 14 Intelligence (Arcana) check. A stabilized ripple remains open for 8 hours. Crossing costs 10 feet of movement.

A character who passes through the opening briefly feels pulled in every direction. On arriving, that character makes a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, falling prone and becoming unable to take reactions until the start of their next turn on a failure.

Part 6: Beyond the Ripple

The temple is gone. You stand beneath the same sun, in the same place among the mountains, but the valley has never known a human hand. Glassy reeds click in the wind. Low bushes crawl several inches when your shadow touches them. Far above, translucent shapes swim through the sky, and the moon hangs pale beside the sun. A trail of dark red droplets leads across the stone—then bends sideways up a cliff.

This is not the Ethereal Plane itself, but an alien world lying close to both it and the Material Plane. Gravity, air, temperature, magic, the sun, and the moon behave normally. The geography matches the Copperhorn Mountains in broad shape, but every living species is unfamiliar. The stabilized ripple hangs in open air behind the party and remains their route home.

Disorientation

Until the party spends 2 hours studying the terrain, all Wisdom (Survival) checks made to track Sivrix have disadvantage, and all Dexterity (Stealth) checks have disadvantage. During those two hours, characters may examine local plants, compare the sun and shadows, listen for movement, and establish a camp. Afterward, the disadvantages end.

If the party pursues immediately, they may catch Sivrix before it rests but risk getting lost. If they acclimate first, Sivrix regains 20 hit points (to a maximum of its current encounter starting total) and prepares its lair.

The Pursuit

The heroes need 4 successes before 3 failures. Checks are DC 14. A character may not use the same skill twice in succession.

Approach	Possible Skill	Result
Follow droplets that fall sideways.	Wisdom (Survival)	Find the shortest route across a tilted scree field.
Predict how the wounded creature seeks shelter.	Intelligence (Nature)	Identify warm vents beneath a ridge.
Climb above the alien brush.	Strength (Athletics)	Spot folded reeds marking Sivrix's passage.
Read planar vibration in the resonance needle.	Intelligence (Arcana)	Follow Sivrix's repeated short-range shifts.
Move without disturbing glass reeds.	Dexterity (Stealth)	Approach the lair without warning it.

Success: The party finds Sivrix's hollow first. It has no cover during round 1 and cannot use Unfolding Step until round 2. Failure: The party crosses a field of snapping bladder-vines; each character takes 5 (2d4) acid damage, and Sivrix has half cover during round 1.

Alien Discoveries

During the pursuit, choose or roll one discovery. These are wonders, not additional combats.

d4	Discovery
1	A herd of six-legged grazers turns its mirrored faces toward the party, then vanishes beneath loose stone.
2	A blue fruit contains drinkable warm water. A DC 13 Nature check identifies it as safe; each fruit restores 1 hit point, up to 3 per character.
3	A floating membrane reflects the temple as it looked a century ago, full of living priests.
4	A shallow print resembles a human hand with two extra fingers. It is old and does not belong to Sivrix.

Final Encounter: The Folded Hollow

Sivrix's lair is a bowl-shaped depression beneath interlocking black stone. Three vertical slabs provide half cover. Pale feeding cords stretch between them; a creature entering a cord's space for the first time on a turn must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or become restrained until it uses an action to free itself.

Sivrix begins with the hit points it had when it escaped, plus 20 if the party acclimated. It fights intelligently, shifting behind slabs and feeding on restrained enemies. At 15 hit points or fewer, it attempts to bargain through images projected into the heroes' minds: it shows them the location of a valuable cache in exchange for its life.

Mercy or Destruction

Kill Sivrix: The temple is safe. The ripple remains until its 8-hour limit, then closes.
Accept surrender: A DC 14 Insight check confirms that Sivrix fears death but feels no remorse. If allowed to leave, it will hunt elsewhere unless compelled to remain in its world.
Seal the passage: At the Material-side mosaic, three characters can complete a 10-minute ritual using the glassy bead from Briar Lane, Voss's rubbing, and one resonance needle. No check is required. The bead and needle are destroyed.

Sivrix's CacheWedged beneath a slab are offerings stolen over decades: 180 gp in old coins, a silver ceremonial cup worth 75 gp, two potions of greater healing, and a foldstone charm. Once per dawn, its wearer can teleport up to 15 feet to an unoccupied space they can see. After three uses, roll a d6; on a 1, the charm becomes mundane.

Conclusion

When the party returns, Voss is waiting below the temple with blankets, food, and enough nervous questions to last until morning. The black bead, alien specimens, sketches, or Sivrix's remains finally provide repeatable evidence for his theory. His rivals do not all apologize, but they can no longer dismiss him as merely intoxicated.

Voss pays the promised 100 gp and gives the heroes a handwritten copy of On Resonance and the Architecture of Adjacent Worlds. A character who studies it for 8 hours gains advantage on their next Intelligence (Arcana) check concerning a portal or planar boundary.

Possible Endings

The Temple Restored: Pilgrims return after the passage is sealed. The party's names are carved beside the sanctuary mosaic.
The Door Left Open: Voss establishes a guarded research station, creating a base for future planar adventures—and a dangerous point of entry.
Sivrix Escapes: Weeks later, reports arrive of bloodless livestock or travelers. The predator has learned caution and may become a recurring foe.
A Larger Mystery: The six-fingered print proves that someone else has crossed this world before. Voss asks the heroes to help locate the other six thin places.

Creature Statistics

Lesser Shadow

Medium undead, typically chaotic evil

Armor Class 13 Hit Points 36 (8d8) Speed 40 ft.

STR6 (−2)

DEX16 (+3)

CON10 (+0)

INT6 (−2)

WIS12 (+1)

CHA8 (−1)

Skills Stealth +5 Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks Damage Immunities necrotic, poison Condition Immunities exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11 Languages understands the languages it knew in life but cannot speak Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Amorphous. The shadow can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

Darkness Unseen. While entirely in darkness, the shadow is invisible. This invisibility ends while any part of it is in dim or bright light.

Light Aversion. While in bright light, the shadow has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

Actions

Chilling Grasp. Melee Spell Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) necrotic damage, and the target cannot regain hit points until the start of the shadow's next turn.

Snuff Light (Recharge 5–6). Each nonmagical flame within 20 feet is extinguished. A magical light created by a spell of 2nd level or lower is suppressed until the end of the shadow's next turn.

Sivrix, Ethereal Bloodweaver

Medium aberration, neutral evil

Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Hit Points 95 (10d8 + 50) Speed 35 ft., climb 35 ft.

STR16 (+3)

DEX16 (+3)

CON20 (+5)

INT11 (+0)

WIS14 (+2)

CHA9 (−1)

Saving Throws Dex +6, Con +8, Wis +5 Skills Perception +5, Stealth +6 Damage Resistances necrotic, psychic Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15 Languages understands Deep Speech but cannot speak; communicates simple images telepathically within 60 ft. Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

Spider Climb. Sivrix can climb difficult surfaces, including ceilings, without making an ability check.

Planar Scent. Sivrix knows the location of each sleeping, unconscious, or bleeding creature within 60 feet, provided the creature is not behind a planar boundary.

Unfolding Step. As a bonus action, Sivrix teleports up to 20 feet to an unoccupied space it can see. Until the start of its next turn, opportunity attacks against it are made with disadvantage.

Actions

Multiattack. Sivrix makes two Hooked Claw attacks. It can replace one attack with Bloodless Feeding against a valid target.

Hooked Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage.

Bloodless Feeding. One sleeping, unconscious, grappled, or restrained creature within 10 feet must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, it takes 18 (4d8) necrotic damage, and Sivrix regains hit points equal to half the damage dealt. On a success, the target takes half damage and Sivrix regains no hit points. This effect leaves no wound or spilled blood.

Folding Gaze (Recharge 5–6). One creature Sivrix can see within 30 feet must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or perceive the room folding around it. The target is frightened and its speed is 0 until the end of its next turn.

Reaction

Slip Between. When Sivrix takes damage from a creature it can see, it reduces the damage by 7 (2d6) and moves up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. It cannot pass through solid objects with this movement.

Scaling the Adventure

Party	Adjustments
Three characters or newer players	Reduce the lesser shadow to 28 hit points. Reduce Sivrix to 78 hit points, remove Slip Between, and have the mountain challenge require 2 successes before 2 failures.
Five characters or experienced players	Increase the lesser shadow to 45 hit points. Increase Sivrix to 115 hit points and add one additional feeding cord in the final lair.
3rd-level party	Use the easier adjustments above; reduce Bloodless Feeding to 13 (3d8) necrotic damage and Hooked Claw to 8 (1d10 + 3).
5th-level party	Use the harder adjustments above; Sivrix's Hooked Claw deals 12 (2d8 + 3) damage.

Shorter SessionFor a 4–5 hour version, skip the mountain challenge, give the party all temple clues after 30 minutes of searching, and resolve the planar pursuit with two group checks instead of the full challenge.

GM Quick Reference

Core Rules

Shadow manifests only in one of two rooms, in darkness, beside exactly one dim flame.
The flame goes out when it appears.
The shadow is invisible in darkness.
Sivrix arrives only for a sleeping or convincingly sleeping creature.
Sivrix retreats at 45 hit points.
The ripple closes after 3 rounds unless stabilized; then it lasts 8 hours.
Tracking and Stealth have disadvantage until 2 hours of acclimation.

Key DCs

House clues: DC 10–13
Notice shadow: Perception DC 14
Mountain challenge: DC 13
Pretend to sleep: Deception DC 15
Notice Sivrix feeding: Perception DC 13
Stabilize ripple: Arcana DC 14
Crossing disorientation: Constitution DC 12
Planar pursuit: DC 14

Suggested Timing

Scholar briefing: 30–45 minutes
Haunted house: 75–90 minutes
Journey and temple investigation: 90 minutes
Vigil and first Sivrix battle: 60–75 minutes
Alien-world pursuit: 60 minutes
Final battle and conclusion: 60–75 minutes

Clues That Must Not Be Missed

Manifestations obey specific conditions.
The shadow requires dim flame and darkness.
Temple deaths happened only during sleep.
The sanctuary mosaic marks the thin place.
Sivrix can retreat through the ripple, and the heroes can follow.
The ripple must be stabilized to guarantee a return route.

Legal Notice

This is an independent 5e-compatible work and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. Rules derived from the System Reference Document 5.1 are used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License where applicable.

© 2026 Magical RPG Games. All rights reserved. This adventure is provided for personal use only. No redistribution, repackaging, resale, or commercial inclusion is permitted without written permission.