As an adventure, I knew on reading "Spirit in the Spice Groves" that it was to 'if-then-else' to work with my gaming group, who are notorious for doing the unexpected.

As an adventure setting, though, "Spirit" had lots of possibilities. I'm not running Sahasra, but the underground village of monkey people and their tranquil groves fit very naturally on a volcanic island in my game, and I imagine they'd fit as easily into any jungle or tropical mountain setting.

I substituted a more flexible plot that worked better with my campaign, and it worked wonderfully.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Loved the setting - beautifully described, lots of color, created a specific feel that worked very well at the gaming table. The inherent tranquility of the setting contrasted well with the horror plot I ended up using.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Restrictive plot: if I'd actually run this adventure as is, my gaming group would have been off the rails before I could say "heron lotus." That's ok, though - the adventure setting was worth the price to me.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

The Spirit in the Spice Groves is a 23 page pdf adventure for Dog Soul Publishing's Sahasra: The Land of 1000 Cities fantasy setting. This adventure is part of the Folkloric Gems product line which supports and enhances the products and settings developed in their Folkloric line of products. Sahasra is a setting based on and inspired by the myths, legends and folklore of India. Although the adventure is set in Sahasra, it can be easily adapted to any other campaign setting. The adventures is designed for four PCs of 4th level.

The adventures comes as a single, bookmarked pdf file. There is no print version of this file, but the artwork and layout should not be too heavy on printing. Artwork is very good, with some visually striking images by artists Matthew Meyer, Matthew Vasey and Glaucio Marcos. There is a good proportion of artwork within the pdf to enhance the adventure. Layout and editing is acceptable, with a number of minor errors that slipped through, most notably in the stat blocks but also in places throughout the text. The style of the pdf is pleasing and simple, and in the same vein to other products in the Sahasra line. Donna K. Fitch's writing is clear and fresh, and easy to read and understand.

The Spirit in the Spice Groves is an adventure that takes place in the kananauka city of Kishkindha. The Feast of Sugri the Bold, a festival celebrated in honor of the warrior maiden Sugri who liberated the kananauka, a race of monkey-people, from their ogre slavemasters, is coming and the kananaukas are preparing for it. This year, however, there are rumours that the spice groves around the city are cursed, meaning that one of the main attractions of the festival, a brew called Lotus Heron made from spices and mangoes, is in jeopardy, along with the livelihood of the family responsible for brewing it. The PCs are called in to investigate, and soon get embroiled in the tales of the city and its people.

The adventure is structured into 19 encounters or events, each which can take place depending on the actions of the PCs. Judging by the encounters and the roleplaying/combat scenarios involved, this adventure should be quite quick to play through and resolve - certainly in less than a game session. A full background and adventure synopsis is given, as well as several plausible adventure hooks to get the PCs involved. Each encounter or event reads very much like a 'Lone Wolf' or 'Choose Your Own Adventure' novel in the sense that completion of each encounter directs the PCs and DM to other encounters depending on what the PCs do. The format seems very restrictive, and doesn't necessarily cater for all the possibilities or actions that the PCs may attempt to take.

The majority of the adventure involves the PCs investigating the 'Spirit Beast' of the spice groves, and the interactions with a number of NPCs within the adventure. The only combat encounter is the adventure conclusion itself. A fair amount of detail is given to allow DMs to run the adventure smoothly, although in some cases the resolution looked 'too easy' in that NPCs appeared to quickly reveal the information the PCs may need. The appendices of the adventure contain the stat blocks of the antagonists of the adventure, and rather unnecessarily in places, descriptions of all their pertinent abilities with full text. A handy list of encounters and glossary of NPCs is also provided.

The adventure itself is relatively simple in that it involves an investigation followed by interrogation of numerous NPCs. There's little in the way of intrigue or complications, and PCs should have a relatively easy run through this adventure. The format itself is not conducive to creativity on the part of the PCs. Nevertheless, it's a solid adventure that should provide an hour or two of fun at the gaming table, perhaps even more so for non-Sahasra gamers discovering the kananauka people for the first time.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The Spirit in the Spice Groves is a simple, yet pleasing, adventure. It contains some very good artwork, and gives a taste of the Sahasra setting and in particular the city of Kishkindha and the kananauka. There's good opportunity for roleplaying, followed by a challenging final conclusion.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The format of the adventure is perhaps too restrictive, and the adventure itself provides little in the way of complications to hinder the progress of the PCs through the adventure. The adventure is short, and most gaming groups should be able to play through it fairly quickly. A few minor editing and stat block errors are present.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>