Of the three modules in this series, this one squeezes in the most combats even if they are not necessarily the most challenging. It has too many for a four-hour module and has some serious editing problems. It feels like the author wrote an eight-hour module and then hastily cut it down to five hours without doing the necessary restructuring and editing.
The most confusing part is the text for Area 4. It mentions a palisade, obstacles, a ladder, and a walkway that I do not see on the map (3C). Also, the map has another feature that isn’t explained or isn’t explained well. The War Hearth has detailed text, but it is not clear how it matches up to the map. Lastly, the text for the last combat has elements that are part of a ritual that were obviously intended to be interacted with in a time sensitive fashion, but now have no clear purpose.
Still, the module does a good job using thematically appropriate monsters and has flavorful, though mechanically typical, traps. The maps are excellently drawn, even if they don't always match the text.
The two main RP encounters have potential but would require the judge to augment them and really perform to make them engaging. The last one (Part 3) is squeezed in and is particularly flat with very little material -- less than a column of text. If it wasn’t for the NPC Appendix, a judge would know almost nothing. Also, the module rather ham-handedly pushes the players to advocate the “best” option without any of the details that would be necessary to make other options even possible.
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