I thoroughly enjoyed this adventure on the second run through. The first time I ran it solo with a Lawful Evil Monk/Stone Sorceress/Hexblade Warlock and in the end basically ended up destroying the Longsword as it was Sentient Chaotic Good.

I modified it for the next run solo with a Lawful Evil Monk and a Sentient Lawful Evil Longsword with Telepathy that reached out to every Lawful Evil creature at an extended range, summoning them. It had intended for them to battle each other until the sole survivor earned to the sword.

This came off as a much better adventure... very satisfying!!!

I'm a power player all the way back to the original D&D box set throught AD&D, but quit when 2E came out and then didn't play again until 5E. I have run this adventure several times solo and absolutely love it. It gives a great introduction to LMOP, but affords the option for you not to follow the standard LMOP storyline. My Yuan-ti Pureblood Bounty Hunter Monk was using the Wayside Inn at the Triboar Trail/High Road crossroad as a base of operations and was exploring the area when the events of this adventure occurred. There are only minor modifications required to run this solo: 1) Outside: Wolves x2 instead of Wolves x3 2) Room 2: Skeletons x3 instead of Skeletons x4 @ Staff & Unarmed Strike, both Budgeoning damage attacks vs their Vulnerability (Note: At this point she had enough XP to multi-class to Stone Sorceress) 3) Room 4: Being a YTP she was immune to poison so no effect 4) Room 8: Backed into the passageway where only one opponent at a time could engage. (Note: Now enough XP to multi-class to Hexblade Warlock and am very close to 4th level). Always tough and nearly die every time. I cannot recommend a better solo starting adventure!!!

I decided to play this adventure solo with a female Lawful Evil Yuan-ti Pureblood Monk(1)/Sorceress(1) Bounty Hunter. Being a Bounty Hunter made her the perfect choice for infiltration to discover what happened to the King.

The early introduction of the BBEG: Malekith riding a Nightmare early in the adventure was masterful... and terrifying!!!

Later, introducing a Young Green Dragon Zombie was an overpowered event where an entire party of 4 x 2nd levels can be massacred (TPK)...Multi-atack of bite (15hp) + claw (10hp) + claw (10hp) with 60ft fly and in 4 rounds everyone is dead. I changed this to an Ankylosaurus Zombie.

Almost no treasure or magic awarded throughout the entire adventure was very demotivating.

Destroying an entire Goblin tribe because the woodland creatures were too fearful to even put up a fight just wasn't gonna happen. I just captured a Goblin Patrol and negotiated their release for incriminating information of the Black Hand's involvement, leaving the Goblins to deal with the woodland creatures on their own.

One nice side item: My PC got bit by a Devil Dog and is now diseased, but she's immune to the poison damage/condition so she's a carrier of the disease... exquisite because she's a Poisoner that is emboldened by a new weapon..

Finally, my character is a worshiper of Bane, but is one of his most subtle operatives. So, if the Black Hand are operating openly under Bane's direction then my PC is good with it, but cannot be involved so she refused the offer to rescue the King. But if they have gone rogue and are operating on their own then she must either take command of them or kill them. Her mission now is to find out where the Black Hand's loyalties truly are.

The adventure is too linear and does not take into account the nuances of role play.

I've replayed this adventure with another solo character and added some embellishments... My character is a Monk (2)/Stone Sorceress(1)/Hexblade Warlock(5) Yuan-ti Pureblood. The hook for this adventure was sending Unded Snakes through the Portal, lower CR first then higher with each reopening of the Portal with a Giant Constrictor Zombie Snake really taking a toll. Realizing that these attacks would not stop, she stepped through the Portal to put an end of them once and for all. She defeated the Necromancer after casting Hex spell as a Bonus Action but it was Counterspelled by the Necromancer, allowing her to cast Fireball via Necklace of Fireballs to wipe out all the Skeletons, then moving to engage in melee range. She subdued the Necromancer and relocated him to an island invaded by Mercenaries & Merchants to raise and Undead Army in order to protect the Island and the indegenious peoples.

I still give this a 4 star rating as a general adventure, but it is a 5 star under unique circumstances such as this ones my characters are presented with.

I'm a big fan of Elfypunk and have purchased every adventure. That said, the original format of adventures was exceptional, but this new format seems to have missed the mark. I think this needs to be reworked under the original format.

I can't say that I recommend this adventure... it proved to be too deadly. I'm a power gamer and instead of running 2 4th level characters I ran the adventure with a 3rd Yuan-ti Sorlock. Every encounter was easily overcome except for the final saving throw vs Mummy Rot for putting on the Mummy's Amulet, so my character was afflicted. Realizing what happened, she re-enabled all the old traps and introduced new ones, then secreted all treasure away in the most remote, hidden location in the crypt. Then suspended a weight above the sarcophagus with a remote release outside. She then placed herself in the basin of the fountain just before she died with a note describing the treasure contained within and that she would lead them safely to it if she was brought back to life. A poetic ending and potential resurrection at a later date, but for now she's dead.

I ran through this adventure a 2nd time and am now revising my review... I enojoyed this adventure now that I had a Sorlock with access to Remove Curse... any character with access to the 3rd level spell Remove Curse will find this adventure very enjoyable... Classes: Cleric, Warlock & Wizard @ 5th level. No map is provided but the verbal description of the rooms and hallways make it easy to generate a map.

I found this adventure a good fit for characters with a Coastal Background, especially for my character. As a Coastal "Anti-hero" of some noteriety, my character was a 5th level Yuan-ti Sorlock. As a Power Gamer, this adventure proved to be extremely deadly for a Solo 5th level character, but the captured Captain and the last minute resuce by the captive forced to use a magic item for nefarious purposes brought the adventure to a close just moments befroe certain death, making the adventure most enjoyable... I just love adventures that bring the character to the point of death where ingenuity is the only factor in coming out alive... if you do too then this is your adventure.

Just finished running this adventure as a solo 4th level Sorlock and it fit very well into my character development as the PC had died in a desert tomb that had the Necronomicon Book of the Dead, so it only made sense that a Necromancer would eventually seek out the book and Speak with Dead to discover the tomb secrets and retrieve the Book along with reviving any dead as Undead.

Coming back as a Ghost was just too powerful and too easy as my PC immediately discovered how to undo the last failed saving throw that ended her life, but she thanked the BBEG before doing so, but this made him her archenemy, setting up the next installment.

I would limit to Ghast as the most powerful Undead to return as or some other Undead of similar CR.

While I enjoyed the adventure, where are a few areas where it could be enhanced...

1) Map: There needs to be a map showing the city's location in the Anauroch Desert relative to at least the first of all 4 tombs and any other landmarks. 2) Magic/Treasure value: xp/2 = gp is a good rule of thumb for awarding Magic/Treasure value as anything more starts unbalancing the game upon reaching Tier 2 and above 3) Scaling: The adventure is stated as 1-4th level, but there is no scaling... maybe something on the Heroic (Deadly) scale would be nice. 4) Map: A map of the City would be nice as it's a home base for the remainder of the trilogy, I think. 5) Desert related Magic Items: Alchemy Jug, Decanter of Endless Water, Orb of Direction, etc...

I'm a Power Player running a solo 4th level Yuan-ti Sorlock Bounty Huntress fresh off of a Coastal adventure whose epic heroics caught the attention of the ruler of a lost city that has mysteriously reappeared... what was needed was secrecy and who better than a complete outsider?

Mold Earth was such a handy Cantrip for this adventure, making the sand storms a non-issue.

The Blind Fighting Feat along with an Eversmoking Bottle reversed the Action Economy of every encounter so that the Flanking Maneuver Advantage was eliminated while giving my character Advantage due to their Blindness.

I'm really looking forward to the next installment!!!

Pro: 1) The narrative was very well written, good plot and the graphics really added to the gameplay. 2) The story really played well with my character choice of Bard Triton and Druid Triton... the coastal undead basis for the adventure easily incorporated into my character design as the Bard Triton joined the College of Swords and the Druid Triton joined the Circle of Twilight then multiclassed to Sorcerer with a Shadow Origin

Con: 1) The Steam Mephit breath weapon was essentially useless due to being submerrged, giving resistance to fire... a Water Mephit would have been a better choice. 2) Introduction of a Legendary Magic Item (Iron Flask) was way overkill for a Tier 1 adventure and unnecessary. 3) Introduction of a Very Rare Magic Item (Ring of Shooting Stars) was also overkill... a better choice would be the Uncommon Magic Item > Wand of Magic Missiles @ 7 charges 4) The long rest immediately befre the final encounter was unnecessary as a full recovery made defeating the BBEG hardly a challenge... in fact, I easily captured the BBEG instead of slaying him so that he could live on to become an even more powerful BBEG when he eventually escapes capture... with 2 characters the long rest should not be used or if a long rest is absolutely necessesary the doubling the final encounters provides proper balance.

Conclusion: An excellent coastal undead series of solo adventures best played with 2 characters and doubling all encounters, but you need to limit all magic items to the Uncommon tier..

Addendum: Played the entire series again several times with a Yuan-Ti Stone Sorceress/Hexblade Warlocks and enjoyed them every time, but had to double every encounter in the first 2 of the series to make it challenging... this 3rd in the series is tough enough as is... enjoy!!!

Just starting the adventure, but here are a few first impressions...

Definitely need a flow chart to maneuver the adventure... side quests do not link back to the main quests and a flow chart would be most helpful.

The structure is designed in standard form, meaning it's designed for going right until you can't go right any more... as a power gamer, knowing this is the standard, I always go left until I can't go left... what this has done, I think, has led me straight to the BBEG and the MacGuffin while at full power instead of being weakend by other encounters enroute... this is no problem, but it leaves the remainder of the structure an optional exploration.

Anyway, I like it so far!!!

Update:

My chracter is a Lawful Evil, Yuan-ti Sorceress/Warlock... so, I previously paid off the Half-Ogre not to eat the Halfling so that I could use him as a canary in a gold mine... it worked... the BBEG went after the Halfling, providing the opportunity to easily slay it safely at range... the Halfling and the MacGuffin owner are now safely departing after paying off the Half-Ogre again while my character remains to explore the structure.

This place just might make a good home base... it's isolated... it has an Artesian Well that no one knows about... it has a reputation of being cursed... all that remains is to clear the area of undead and then negotiate with the Half-Ogre using Suggestion Spell upon reaching 3rd level to act as a Guard... and, of course, since my character is Yuan-ti with unlimited Animal Friendship with snakes, make it a true Viper's Den... absolutely fill it with snakes!!!

Oh yeah!!! Now I absolutely love this adventure!!!

Final thoughts: The treasure award is what I consider excessive... my rule of thumb is 1gp treasure value for every 2 XP earned as anything more than this the magic items start to overwhelm the game play upon reaching Tier 2... for example, upon reaching 3rd level in a 1 gp to 1 XP ratio I would go for 2 Wands of Magic Missiles... think of the devastation to any BBEG in taking an average of 2 x 28hp = 56hp of Force damage in 2 just rounds... I've had Tier 1 parties of 4 take down Dragons when each member has 2 Wands of Magic Missiles

Pros: I'm always playing solo adventures and enjoyed this one very much... I recommend it as it has a good storyline and the BBEG with her entourage would have been a deadly challenge if I was not a power player... also, the dice were on my side for the final encounter.

Cons: The structure of the adventure does not flow very well from one encounter to the next as some of them are not sequential and the transitions are verbal... I recommend the author create a flow chart to assist in the flow of encounters... the sequel has the same issue...

Update: I just finished the 2nd installment of this series... 1) It gets better... the next chapter enhances this one 2) Treasure distribution here is what I consider appropriate... my rule of thumb is 1gp treasure value for every 2 XP earned as anything more than this the magic items start to overwhelm the game play upon reaching Tier 2... for example, upon reaching 3rd level in a 1 gp to 1 XP ratio I would go for 2 Wands of Magic Missiles... think of the devastation to any BBEG in taking an average of 2 x 28hp = 56hp of Force damage in 2 just rounds... I've had parties of 4 take down Dragons when each member has 2 Wands of Magic Missiles 3) I generally play a Yuan-ti Sorlock and everything regarding this adventure is well suited for my character concept... and it is due to this reason that I'm upgrading my rating from 4 to 5... for others where this adventure does not fit character concept please consider this a 4 of 5.

Please do not let my comments minimize what I think is a good solid, but brief solo adventure.

Areas where modifications are required... 1) Stated as levels 1-3 but no adjustment is provided for which level is to be run. I'm running a 2nd level 1/1 Sorlock and had to adjust the encounters to 1 Goblin Boss with 2 Goblins as Gate Guards outside and a Goblin Shaman with 2 Goblins as bodyguards inside for proper game ballance. This gives 2 each 300xp encounters, increasing my character from 2nd to 3rd level. 2) The word Ogre is used 3 times, but there is no Ogre encounter 3) No treasure, just the 150gp reward and a Potion of Healing from the townsfolk... what happened to the 50gp collected by the Goblins every time they blow the silver horn? I recommend 1 gp per 2 xp in treasure or magic item value awarded so that this would be 125 gp in the Goblins posession, plus the reward offered by the townsfolk. 4) Need a map for the Goblin Gate/Barricade as this could be a combat situation. My first instinct would to be pay the 50gp to gain entry then negotiate via combat.

I like this adventure with the above modifications... it very nicely satisfies my requirements for character development.

Follow-up @ item 2) above: I'm a power gamer so standard DMG recommendations are not very challenging... > Playing a Yuan-ti 2nd lvl @ 1 lvl Stone Sorcerer > 1st lvl Hexblade Warlock with 16 Con & 16 Dex & 16 Cha, all +3 modifiers, using a standard 27 pt build gives you 19 AC > 21 AC using a shield, immunity to poison, advantage on all magic saving throws, a Familiar that only uses the Help action so you have advantage on one skill roll or attack roll per round, always using two weapon fighting when hand-to-hand, plus 3 Sleep/Shield/Hex spells > Sleep spell takes out the Goblin Boss > Hex/Eldritch Blast takes out the 2 Goblins as Gate Guards outside > you'll take a hit or two, but Healing Surge and you're back up to full hit points > Sleep spell takes out the 2 Goblins as bodyguards inside > maybe you'll take a hit or two before they drop > Hex (still concentrating)/Two weapon fighting (shortswords) takes out the Goblin Shaman > So, you've used up all your spells, except for Cantrips and are still concentrating on Hex and you're at least 1/2 dead > Perfect game balance!

A wonderfully challenging solo adventure for a power player in transitioning a Lawful Evil Yuan-ti Pureblood Stone Sorceress from 1st to almost 3rd level.

The adventure is basic, but very well designed and adaptable for both Good or Evil PCs... I picked up a Worg as the perfect Sidekick which compensated for minimal treasure and magic... a Black Bear is the Sidekick for a Good PC.

I'm anxiously awaiting the next adventure in the series!!!

Toward the end of this adventure and into the next 2 sequels the NPC Garren becomes a crutch for the PC, a role that my PC found so completely unnecessary that I eliminated Garren from the plot, making the storyline merely that of travelling home following a teleportation accident.

I'm a power player from 1E and find the adventure enjoyable but the sequel adventures less engaging...