The archmage is an extremely powerful mage, “a wizened magic-user crackling with arcane power.” The archmage possesses several spells that would make them a formidable foe in Shadowdark and 5e. If the Shadowdark archmage does not instantly kill an opponent with death bolt (DC 15 INT spell) or fireblast (DC 14 INT spell), they can just teleport away using void step (DC 15 INT spell) or fly away using float (DC 14 INT spell). In 5e, the archmage is resistant to magic, gaining advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. If that is not enough, the archmage can cast counterspell in the midst of action. The 5e archmage can also fly and cast lightning bolt at 7th level, and they also can teleport once per day.
The point is that the archmage is not someone characters should annoy. Although the archmage is lawful in Shadowdark and neutral in 5e, they are human (or elven or whatever). An unsavory, chaotic, evil, angry, bloodthirsty archmage surely exists in the world! The encounters and adventures below emphasize the lawful and neutral nature of the archmage, but they can obviously be tweaked. For example, the archmages who form a mageocracy could very well do so for selfish, rather than altruistic, reasons.
Encounter Seed: The townsfolk gawk as a robed man and a cloaked woman walk along the main road toward the town council office. The townsfolk recognize the two figures as Perminses, the archmage, and an assassin known simply as Whisper. Why are they together, and what do they want with the normally quiet village?
Encounter Seed: An older man (archmage) and two younger companions (apprentices) walk into a shop while the characters are trying to sell gems. The gemologist stops his conversation with the party and immediately moves to help the gruff man.
Encounter Seed: A town is under attack by demons, particularly a vrock and several dretch. As town guards, and potentially the characters, attempt to deal with the incursion, an archmage comes from the tower to assist the town in the battle.
Adventure Seed: A council of four archmages has overthrown the authoritarian lord of a settlement, replacing him with their own mageocracy. At first, the peasants prefer the mageocracy to the oppressive regime. Over time, however, disagreements among the mages plunge the once lawful settlement into some degree of chaos.
Adventure Seed: Everyone stares in awe as the tall woman in the flowing red robe (archmage) enters the tavern. She looks directly at one of the characters and says, “I think we need to talk.”
Ridiculous Adventure Seed: Every time the settlement’s archmage goes to a tavern, he does something inappropriate. From burning down a bank with an errant spell to accidentally turning a patron into a gibbering mouther (he got better), it is always something. There are audible groans when he enters the tavern, and he is too aloof to notice. His wife has had enough. She is looking to hire someone who can watch the archmage from afar and keep him from going back to the (literally) blasted tavern.
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This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (“SRD 5.2.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ legalcode.