Continuing with my series of reviews of submissions for the Adventure Site 2 Contest. This time, I'm reviewing the entry from the founder and host of the contest, Coldlight Press' Ben Gibson, who makes a study of such small, one- or two-session modular adventures he digs up on itch.io.
Disclaimer: I had the pleasure of being part of a playtest group for this adventure, so my review is colored by the fact that I've seen it in action at the hands of its author.
Fog Valley Retreat
Author: Ben Gibson
System: AD&D
Party Size: n/a
Level Range: 6-9
Deep within the valley, where the high keening voices sound in the heavy air and ivy shifts against the wind, an elegant edifice looms out of the fog, cloaked in whispered rumor. They say it is a refuge of all wicked highborn, most recently the villainous one who owes you his head...
This elven sanctuary—a former temple dedicated to the Lady Lelit, the Angel of Refuge—is no lovely Lothlorien, with all its singing and loafing about. This is a cold and desperate haven for any noble or elf fleeing danger, no questions asked. The place is run by the elf high-priest, Hilgal, who pays obeisance to "The Guide," a petty elven god who still watches over the site masquerading as the refuge's matron saint. Many "fallen tyrants, deposed lords, and other cruel refugees" have found shelter within its walls. There is a suggestion that the priest is converting many of these nefarious fugitives to the worship of The Guide. Fog Valley Retreat is the current hideout of a villain named Fingol the Vile.
Why are the characters interested in this site? Why would they go there? These are for the DM to decide when plugging this site into their campaign. There really isn't a whole lot going on here of its own volition...the PCs will be visiting the site to make something happen. Whatever it is you need the players to do there, you'll understand how the place will respond and therein lies the adventure. Rumors and hooks provide you with some options: maybe some unholy stuff is going on up there; maybe there's a rich jewel thief to rob; maybe its a den of chaos that needs to be dealt with (harshly).
When the players arrive, they are greeted with a stone facade carved into the valley cliffs—an "elegant double stairway draped with ivy" that leads to the stone doors of the refuge's upper level. Below them are the broken doors leading into the ground level. Hidden in the ivy of the nearby cliffs to either side are a pair of secret doors entering (or more precisely, exiting) the refuge...sally ports in case of a raid by the authorities. So, four entrances within 300 ft. of each other, each leading to a completely different part of the refuge. Choose wisely.
If the party takes the open doors of the lower level, they enter an open shrine chamber where they behold a 15-ft. high statue of the Angel of Refuge. The upper doors lead onto a balcony overlooking the same chamber. The statue contains an avatar of fallen godling called "The Guide," who exists in a dormant state and may or may not come into play during the party's mission. The ivy around both secret doors conceals bloodthorn vines, so simply finding them will be a fight, but they allow the party to infiltrate deep into the complex without much problem.
Once inside, the party must navigate the refuge's maze-like passages and chambers to locate their quarry, while avoiding the priest and acolytes who manage the place, a cockatrice that serves as a wandering guard dog, and the mostly-docile-unless-provoked house spectres (!) of former staff and guests who are bound here (presumably) by their oath to The Guide (they're just hanging around and doing things they did in life until someone interferes with them). There are lots of weird chambers and things to mess with throughout the complex, and maybe not much fighting if a party is careful and deliberate. It is possible to trigger the Avatar of the Guide, which could become a huge problem for the party if they don't wrap things up quickly and leave.
Treasure is often quite valuable but unwieldy (a golden altar worth 18,500 gp but weighing 500 lbs.; crystal chandeliers worth 13,750 gp but delicate and weighing 400 lbs.; a harpsichord worth 9,500 gp but weighing half a ton; lots of heavy tapestries; etc.) Unless the party has a Portable Hole, which they may at these character levels, much of this treasure will only be collected if the place is cleared out completely and the party brings in a team of wagons. Luckily, there is still plenty of lootable treasure found throughout.
Monster XP is going to be all over the map, depending on what happens in the session. Just killing the main occupants (the acolytes, the named NPCs, and the cockatrice) should net a couple thousand XP. If one or more spectres gets involved, the XP count is going to soar (especially in the dance hall). The avatar looks to be worth around 7,100 XP if slain, but that should be an appropriately big fight.
The total XP haul from this is really hard to gauge. All in, we're looking at around 170,000 XP in treasure and monsters, but realistically only a fraction of that will be recovered as the party is unlikely to clear the place out (especially if their mission is a covert one). It's difficult to say how an average party would fare in this regard.
1) THEME
(How strong/consistent is the adventure's premise, flavor, and setting?)
First of all, I love elves as villains (dwarves, too). I've shifted my own campaign's elves away from Tolkien's noble elves, to more of the alien, sidhe-variety whose motives are often inscrutable and who look down upon mortal races as inferior and simple creatures (like pets almost, without the emotional connection). The elves in this particular place are up to no good and they don't really care. Very good!
There is less of a theme in this site and more of a mood. Decadent, decaying; melancholic; devoid of emotion or empathy; joyless and empty. The titular valley is, indeed, pretty foggy—filled with a sweet-scented, ground-hugging mist which sets the stage for a slightly-creepy vibe with an atmosphere of cold, damp sadness. The interiors make sense as a temple first, refuge second (more an afterthought). There are several smaller shrines, a baptistry, a library, a choir, and a rectory. It all feels very connected to the overall tone set up in the background.
Other than the roaming cockatrice or occasional spectre, there aren't a lot of encounters. The site's occupants mostly keep to themselves, as you would expect from cloistered priests and fugitives from the law. High Priest Hilgal is a 7th-level cleric (which isn't technically allowed in AD&D but is with the Unearthed Arcana update) with magical plate armor and heavy flail, his 8 acolytes are 3rd-level elf clerics, and Fingol the Vile is an elf fighter/MU (4/6).
Triggering the avatar is likely, though not a certainty, but its motivation and subsequent reaction upon awakening makes perfect sense to the site's background.
SCORE (THEME) = 4 / 5
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2) MAP AND ART
(How complex/useful is the map and/or art? How easy is it to grok the layout?)
The map is from Dyson Logos featuring a multi-level complex with enough loops to make a dervish dizzy. Like many Dyson maps, this one is crowded but it's well designed with lots of directions to move, short and long corridors between rooms, and both major and minor elevation changes.
No scale is given, though the guidance given on the woken avatar's movements suggests a 5' grid. This reference doesn't come until nearly the end of the manuscript, however.
SCORE (MAP/ART) = 3 / 5
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3) CLARITY
(How easy is the writeup to read/parse quickly? How well does the information flow?)
The text is in two-column format, left-aligned. The margins are tight and the line spacing is compact, but the layout uses bolding and header titles, along with shaded key headers and text tricks (treasure in italics; special notes underlined, monster stat blocks in shaded boxes, etc.) that make locating information pretty easy on the fly.
Good order-of-battle notes are given for dealing with intruders, along with what the occupants of the dungeon do if the Avatar of the Guide awakens. Icons in each room's header indicate the fog level at a glance (a nice touch).
There are a few minor typos and grammar issues that look like they were artifacts of the editing-down process (and perhaps a 5e conversion, as the acolyte stat block includes a "Perception +3" reference), but they aren't glaring and don't create any confusion as to what is being said. I proofread for a living so I'm probably hyper-sensitive.
SCORE (CLARITY) = 4 / 5
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4) INTERACTIVITY/INNOVATION
(How well does the adventure use the rules to create interesting play?)
The most obvious interactive element of the adventure is the fog, which has infiltrated the retreat through a pair of partially-open doors at the entrance. It dampens fire (reducing said damage) and obscures the floors. Opening a closed door invites the fog to roll into the room, while closing the doors of a fog-filled room causes it to dissipate in a few turns—very good. Fog completely fills certain "sunken" areas of the ground level, reducing light and visibility. Closing the main doors of the refuge removes all interior fog after a few hours. Nice, weird environmental effect that keeps players guessing but is mostly harmless.
Any good adventure site includes fun things for the party to play with or be challenged by, and this one is full of them—nicely-layered bits that create opportunities for gaining treasure or some other benefit. One of my favorite bits: A random encounter involving a character stubbing their toe on a petrified mouse, bug, or other vermin, prompting a yelp of pain and a second encounter check. Great way to create a weird little mystery while hinting at the roaming cockatrice.
The wandering cockatrice guard dog doesn't attack guests or "staff" carrying a stone egg on their person...awesome! A pair of valuable tapestries hold danger: one bears a curse that angers any spectres encountered; the other hides a bloodthorn vine behind it. A font filled with water and lined with thousands of sparkling coins; taking even one causes two vengeful spectres to appear.
There's a cursed set of Cloak and Boots of Elvenkind that make the wearer hard to miss and slows their move by half (a lovely trick). The party can find cockatrice eggs worth a small fortune that will also hatch into chickatwices (1 hp cockatrices) if taken and not kept very warm at all times. There's even a handy room with four pillars that places a Geas spell upon anyone who stands between the pillars and swears an oath.
There's a hall filled with faint music and dancing spectres who don't bother you unless they are interrupted (say, by the party trying to steal the incredibly valuable crystal chandeliers). If the players figure out how to interrupt the music (and there are multiple ways given), then the spectres vanish. Good, non-obvious solution to the challenge of getting those chandeliers, but woe to any party who stumbles in here hauling that cursed tapestry around!
Worst of all, killing any of the staff or guests taking refuge here (which may be exactly why the party has come) causes the avatar of The Guide to awaken and emerge from the statue, then roam the halls hunting for the violators of its sacred oath of hospitality. The avatar is a 13 HD spirit with 65% magic resistance, immunity to +1 or weaker weapons, and an arsenal of spells including Wall of Fire and Flame Strike. Trying to evade a fiery angel chasing you and clamoring for revenge is a helluva way to leave a place. Love it!
SCORE (INTERACTIVITY) = 5 / 5
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5) MODULARITY
(How easy would it be to drop/integrate the adventure into an existing campaign?)
A simple but well-layered premise is all you're really given for a background. The introduction and GM Notes sections explain the intent behind the loose background structure and give you a few helpful ideas for integrating the site into your campaign, including a default villain-on-the-run.
It's not necessarily meant to be defeated, either. It's a locale with a flavor and purpose that could become a known or recurring site where lots of things happen, especially in a campaign involved with elves, criminal activity, and/or knives-out diplomacy. Think of it almost like neutral-ground where despicable people can mingle without fear of immediate violence.
SCORE (MODULARITY) = 5 / 5
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6) USABILITY
(How much work will the referee have to do to run this adventure at the table tonight?)
By design, you'll need to do some upfront work to plug the site into your campaign, and you may need to tweak some of the spiritual references if your campaign has well-defined religions, but the site is flexible enough to handle all sorts of rationales you may devise to bring the party here. How much work you want to do in that regard is largely up to you as well. Once the party has a reason to visit the site, the manuscript gives you everything you need.
SCORE (USABILITY) = 4 / 5
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7) OVERALL THOUGHTS
Having playtested this adventure, I got to experience it first-hand before reading the manuscript. That's something I wasn't even able to do with my own submission, unfortunately, but it's a given that playtesting helps fine-tune the creation process. This one was playtested with multiple groups, and it shows.
I'm impressed by how well what happened at the table (VTT in this case) correlates almost exactly with how the adventure site is written. Of course, part of that is the fact that the author was the DM and knows every square centimeter of the site, but I feel that anyone armed with the key as written would achieve near-similar results. It's a great example of what this contest is trying to accomplish.
FINAL SCORE = 4.2 / 5
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