Chains of Abeir: A D&D 5e Dragonborn Rescue Mission for 2-3 Players

Chains of Abeir is a D&D 5e one-shot adventure that puts your small group on the other side of reality with an impossible choice. A dimensional rift has torn open in a mountain cave, revealing Abeir — the twin world where dragonborn never won their freedom. On the other side sits a mining complex where hundreds of enslaved dragonborn dig crystals under armed overseers and the shadow of a dragon overlord. Your team of 2-3 players at level 4 crosses through with one mission: rescue as many people as you can before the rift closes forever. Six locations. Time for three. Every choice means leaving someone behind. This is the adventure your table will argue about for weeks — and the one they’ll ask to play again just to see what happens when they choose differently.

The World Your Dragonborn Left Behind

Most D&D players know dragonborn as proud warrior-types who show up in the Player’s Handbook with breath weapons and resistance traits. Fewer know the lore behind them. In the Forgotten Realms, dragonborn originally come from Abeir — a twin world that split from Toril in ancient history. On Abeir, dragon overlords ruled absolutely. Dragonborn were property. They mined, they fought, they served, and they died on their masters’ schedule.

When the worlds separated, some dragonborn crossed to Toril and built free lives. Clans formed. Settlements grew. Generations passed. But on Abeir, nothing changed. The overlords still rule. The mines still operate. And dragonborn are still born into chains, live in chains, and die in chains without ever knowing their cousins on Toril walk free under a blue sky they’ve never seen.

Chains of Abeir is built on that foundation. A natural rift opens between the worlds, and for the first time in centuries, free dragonborn can see what was left behind. The adventure doesn’t ask whether you’ll cross through — it assumes you will. The question is what you do when you get there, how much you can carry back, and what it costs you to leave the rest.

Six Zones, Three Choices: How the D&D 5e One-Shot Adventure Works

The mining complex on the other side of the rift contains six distinct locations, each with its own gameplay, NPCs, challenges, and moral weight. Your team only has time to reach three before the rift begins closing. This choose-three-of-six structure means there are 20 possible combinations, and every combination creates a meaningfully different adventure.

The Locations

The Chain Pits hold the complex’s most vulnerable — sick dragonborn, elderly who can barely walk, and children chained to iron rings in the dark. The rescue is straightforward. Two bored guards, simple chains, a short walk to the rift. But these are the people who can’t help themselves, and if you don’t come for them, nobody will.

The Sorrow Quarry is the heart of the operation. Thirty able-bodied miners swing picks under heavy guard, overseen by Krath — a career overseer with a dragonshard whip and no interest in negotiation. This is the hardest combat encounter in the adventure and the largest group of people. A miner named Brennak can rally an uprising if you give him the spark.

The Archive of Scales holds centuries of dragon record-keeping — bloodline records that can reunite families across worlds, territorial maps revealing other slave camps, and rift research that might allow a second crossing. No slaves to rescue here. Just information that could change everything.

The Overseer’s Vault is Drazen’s personal armory, trapped with dragonshard alarm crystals embedded in the floor. At the center sits Wyrmfang — a legendary dragonborn weapon stolen generations ago. Taking it strips the boss of his best equipment before the final confrontation. The room has no guards. The room itself is the guard.

The Hatchery holds eight unhatched dragonborn eggs tended by Mother Usha, an ancient caretaker who has spent decades keeping these children alive. She doesn’t trust strangers. She doesn’t trust promises. She trusts proof. Convincing her to leave is almost entirely social — and one of the eggs is different from the others in ways nobody can explain.

The Crystal Store is the complex’s wealth — refined dragonshards worth a fortune. A dormant construct called the Shard Sentinel patrols inside, activated by sound and movement. You can steal the crystals, destroy them to cripple the operation, or both. But Nahla — the escaped slave guiding your team — lost her mother in these mines. These crystals were bought with blood she knew.

Why the Choice Matters

There is no optimal route. Every combination leaves something important on the table. Save the children but not the miners. Take the weapon but not the eggs. Grab the records but leave the crystals intact. The adventure doesn’t punish you for choosing — it makes you live with what you chose. And your table will feel it.

A D&D Boss Encounter Built on Moral Complexity

The path back to the rift is blocked by Drazen — a bronze dragonborn who chose collaboration over chains. He commands the overseers. He wears stolen dragonborn weapons. And he genuinely believes he is protecting the slaves from something worse. Drazen is not a cackling villain. He’s a man who made a terrible compromise and built his identity around defending it.

You can fight him — if you raided his vault, his AC drops and he loses his signature weapon. You can persuade him with evidence from the zones you visited: freed slaves he can see with his own eyes, the sword that belonged to a dragonborn freedom fighter, proof that freedom is real and not a lie. Or you can deceive him with a story about the overlord replacing him. Three paths, each shaped by your earlier choices.

Then the dragon lands.

This is not a combat encounter. An ancient dragon overlord touches down on the ridge above you, and the adventure makes it very clear — you run. The rift is closing. The overlord’s breath weapon pushes you through. And in the last narrowing gap between worlds, a single enormous eye fills the opening. It is not angry. It is curious. It is memorizing everything it sees.

Complete D&D 5e One-Shot Adventure Package

Everything your DM needs to run Chains of Abeir is inside the book. Four pre-generated dragonborn characters with full personality profiles, combat roles, and party dynamics. Complete stat blocks for every creature — turncoat guards, overseers, the Shard Sentinel construct, Drazen in two versions (with and without his gear), and the ancient dragon overlord for the rare table that tries to fight it. Seven battle maps covering every zone and the ridge path. Scaling notes for 2, 3, and 4 players. Five detailed sequel hooks that grow naturally from whatever your table chose. No external sourcebooks required. No rebalancing needed. Open the book, hand out the characters, and play.

Perfect For Your Table

Small groups of 2-3 players who are tired of rebalancing adventures designed for four or five. Every encounter in Chains of Abeir was built for small parties from the ground up — not scaled down from a larger design.

DMs who want meaningful choices without railroading. The choose-three-of-six structure means the DM doesn’t need to steer the story. The players steer it. The adventure just makes every direction matter.

One-shot nights that need to deliver. 2.5-3 hours of play, zero prep time, and an emotional payoff that full campaigns sometimes struggle to match. Your players will be talking about who they left behind long after the session ends.

Tables exploring dragonborn identity. If your group has dragonborn characters or players interested in dragonborn lore, this adventure digs into what it means to discover your people’s history — and to carry the weight of what you find.

Groups who want replayability. Twenty possible zone combinations means twenty different adventures. Bring different players, choose different zones, and the boss encounter, the epilogue, and the sequel hooks all shift to match.

The Ready Adventure Series

Chains of Abeir is part of the Ready Adventure Series from Anvil & Ink Publishing — complete one-shot adventures designed specifically for small groups. Every title in the series runs in a single session with zero prep, delivers moral complexity and multiple solution paths, and works without modification for 2-3 players. Other adventures in the series include The Stolen Festival Bell, The Sinking Tower of Hours, The Colossus Autopsy, The Winter Ball Heist, The Merchant’s Vault, The Crimson Ceremony, and The Bandit’s Keep.

Cross the Rift. Save Who You Can.

The rift is closing. Your people are on the other side. You have hours, a small team, and six places that need you — but time for only three. Chains of Abeir delivers the kind of impossible choice that makes D&D matter. No filler. No wasted prep. Just the hardest decision your table has ever made — and the consequences that follow them home.

Chains of Abeir — the D&D 5e one-shot adventure where every rescue means leaving someone behind, and every table plays a different story.