Nightfall is a challenging one-shot adventure for level 8 – 10 characters. In it, the party finds its way to the town of Secomber where they learn that there have been some troubles in the neighboring graveyard. Evidently, the grave keepers have gone missing and any adventurers they send that way never return. The party then travels to the graveyard where they encounter numerous undead and a pulsing, blighted tree. Attacking the tree alerts the plague vampire that has set up her home in the graveyard, and an epic battle begins!

This was a really challenging adventure for my party, and they actually almost died and had to strategically retreat. The tree calling forth undead every round and the plague vampire’s Charm ability almost undid them. Everyone eventually decided to abandon their Charmed cleric and make a run for it, and, fortunately for the cleric, he took some damage from the vampire’s ally and finally managed to break out of the Charm. Everyone survived (with like 10 HP apiece), and they’ve decided to recoup and attack again. I can’t wait to finish the encounter with them!

I think this is a really fun, challenging encounter. If you have a cleric, the initial encounter with the zombies isn’t terribly difficult, but even with a cleric and the sunlight spell, the final encounter with the vampire and the tree will be difficult. I really liked some of the special mechanics like the golems taking damage for the vampire and the tree summoning undead. I thought those were clever ways to increase the difficulty of the encounter and force players to strategize.

My biggest criticism is about the layout of the adventure. It’s not easy to read the map, especially if you print the adventure for reference, and the stats for the monsters are in a couple different places, making reference a bit of a hassle. As a DM I would have appreciated a print-friendly version and information about the monsters all in one place, especially for that final battle where there are so many creatures around.

However, this is an overall really cool adventure. If you’d like a mid-level adventure that is challenging and unexpected, I would give this one a try. It’s well worth playing!