The Light of Yule – A Holiday One Shot by Daylight Publishing (@daylightpub1066)

Writing and Layout: Cameron Day (@daylightpub1066) The old Holiday tome aesthetic is wonderful; the information is laid out in an easy to access manner and the writing marries the camp and quaint with the darkness and depth of aspects of the campaign beautifully. Plus, the lore as laid out shows how much Day has made Nordvindr and this adventure a labour of love.

Editing, Balancing, and Statblocks: Ryan Langr (@RealmwarpM) The creatures are great and their thematic abilities are awesome.

Cover Art: Marcel Budde (@MarBudde) They olde timey-nordic woodcut style cover is breath-taking! The details are wonderful and the stylised Krampus encircling the eponymous Light of Yule truly captures the essence and tells the heart of the tale as covers and engravings of this nature would have in the past. One of the most effective, stylistic and thematic covers I have ever seen. It certainly gives you a flavour of what’s inside.

Interior Art: Abbie Hines (@abbieh_art) The interior art throughout the adventure truly captures the spirit of the story. The somewhat sweet and marriage of olde illustrations aesthetic with a more modern twist bridges the cover, the inspirations for the story. The illustrations of the important characters are spectacular and impressively bring their nature and personality to the fore, while impressively holding a cute centaur and filthy Demon and a malicious frozen shard of personality in one great style.

Encounter Maps: Jason Russell (@critical_dice) You can never go wrong with a JSR map! They have a clean, effective design with a hand-drawn OSR feel.

“A Christmas Inspired Adventure for four to six 8th-level players”

“Deep within the Feywild, an ancient evil known as Krampus has captured the powerful artefact The Light of Yule, and has nefarious intent with it. If the Light cannot be returned to Father Sonareoth in time for him to bless it, then the Sword Coast will not be safe from the darkness that comes at wintertime…”

The Land of Nordvindr

The supplement opens with an inspired in world quote about Father Sonareoth, and his unpopularity with the Elves, by a Dwarven Ranger called Klaus Remark, which clearly shows the depth of thought and care put into this adventure.

Nordvindr is a “land of eternal snow, ice, and cheer” in the Feywild where Gnomes and Elves live immortal lives, kept safe by Father Sonareoth keeping the iron that could mortally wound them locked away. Here they hunt, play and create great machines and mechanisms”.

Ruled by Father Sonareoth

A lone fey Lord with powers of “ice, snow and other fey Wizardry” presides over Nordvindr, apart from the courts and realms of the Feywild.

Plagued with Darkness

The immutable nature of the Feywild have allowed Krampus, a malignant being from another plane, to build a fort and an army of wicked Fey and Devils with designs on stealing Sonareoth’s power, the Light of Yule. With new allies in Jack Frost and Sandman, he inches closer to his goal.

The Light of Yule

“This ancient artefact, depicted as a simple hemlock wreath in which a trio of red candles glows, holds the life force and power of Father Sonareoth.” The Platinum Dragon himself creates a new wreath each year for Sonareoth since time immemorial, who secretly protects the Sword Coast from the cold and dark things that awake in the depths of winter with its light. Were it to be snuffed out...?

Adventure Layout

The adventure is split into seven parts: Part One – Arrival in Snowmantle Part Two – To the he Great Door Part Three – The Forest of Freezing Chimes Part Four – The Frauhst Estate Part Five – Sandman’s Dimension Part Six – Within Castle Krampus Part Seven – Yule is Saved

Part One – Arrival in Snowmantle

The party wake up in huge, fluffy beds to sweet and nostalgic smells...somewhere quite different from where they went to sleep. Finding their equipment in chests at the foot of their beds, they come across Aenyr, an adorably illustrated Ponytaur (details on the Ponytaur race, including player options, and Ice Elves are included on the appendix. More on that later). Aenyr informs the PCs the Light of Yule has been stolen by Krampus, mere days before it’s protective light will be needed to protect the Sword Coast from bitter cold, blizzards and evil.

This is a sweetly described and well laid out opening scene filled with festive fragrances, clear features and checks and a holiday hook for adventure, despite the discombobulation the PCs may feel awaking in a strange new land.

Part Two – To the Great Door

Given magical means of keeping warm and reindeers to ride to make it in time, guided by the mighty, regal and more than a little intimidating Ruhdolf, the party make their way to the Great Door. En route they are attacked by an Ice Elf Shaman and their summoned Ice Elementals. Advice on running the encounter and handling the Ice Elf’s resistance to death not meted out by cold iron are included. Statblocks for all creatures, including the Ice-Shaman’s undead Risendeer and the hench Feydeer, Ruhdolf, are provided in a separate PDF.

Arrival at the Great Door

The party doesn’t have long to marvel at the immense doors and the 30 ft. Silver Dragonborn encased in golden armour, Hovdyr, that guards it, before they are attacked by Frost Giants and another Ice Shaman. Similar tactics as before are given, with the addition of the gleaming scaled guardian doing his best to hold the Giants off. There aren’t any stats or comments on how to accommodate Hovdyr into combat, so I believe the gargantuan combat is a chance for DMs to describe the immense action taking place around and through the combat the PCs are engaged in. This really is an awesome opportunity for improvisation and describing an epic battle, as well as a chance to ensure the party survive in style – this is a festive adventure after all. I have such glorious images of this battle in my mind now! I didn’t know how much I needed a 30 ft. Silver and gold Dragonborn in my life, but now it’s all I want.

Part Three – The Forest of Frozen Chimes

The forest is spooky a place of sibilantly screaming icicles that will test the party, literally and figuratively.

The First Test is of kindness with the PCs coming across a Goblin Boss and their injured Colossal White Weasel steed. Will the party show kindness and heal the poor animal, or will they find themselves jumped by surprise Hobgoblins?

The Second Test is a tricky test of intelligence with the party coming across a gnome who seems like a fungi work with a mathematical magic mushroom problem for them to work out. The added wrinkle being the Gnome is a Mage and casting illusions on the mushrooms. The various checks and handling of the situation are clearly laid out, as well as the Gnome’s large sibling who intervenes if the PCs refuse to help.

The Third Test is to find out if the party are monsters or not, as an Owlbear cub in a magical snare telepathically calls out for help. Releasing them is not as easy as it first appears, but frankly the PCs deserve the gang of Ogres that appear if they don’t help in my opinion.

Part Four – The Frauhst Estate

This huge manor is disconcertingly icy and laid out in dungeon format. Each area has a short, pithy description followed by all features, treasure and developments in clear bullet point format with all pertinent information, making prep and running simple and easy. This is a seriously interesting location that really tells a story and reflects its owner.

Over the course of exploring the manor, the PCs find evidence of a break in among the otherwise pristine rooms, as well as various fascinating, bizarre and dangerous tomes and items, many from all manner of other planes. It would be advised to prepare and/ or look into book supplements for ease with dealing with the library and study.

A glorious puzzle in dining room revolves around paintings of Barovia, Elysium, Eberron, Mount Celestia which can suck PCs into the demiplanes they present, relying on a fairy-like creature retuning them to Nordvindr after answering a specific riddle. This has the potential for some serious fun and drama, especially playing with the idea that the party are split over multiple demiplanes. Perhaps, waiting until any or all PCs touch the paintings, before initiating the save.

Rough cold iron blades can also be found in the house, though the party may not realise their importance until it is pressing.

CW: Child Death (referenced)

In the private study, the home’s owner, Jackson Frauhst, who has an epic and tragic tale to tell of his life, the fate of his family, the coming of Krampus, and the emergence of Jack Frost. The story is fascinating and heart-breaking, and depending on the PCs and their antics around the house, there’s a possibility of some very awkward conversations and feelings of guilt.

This story carries genuine emotional weight and pathos, while mixing with the hypercolour holidays aesthetic.

Soon after hearing Jackson’s tale, Jack Frost appears intent on killing Jackson and anyone in the way. Frost is an intimidating character and the art is horribly perfect. The evil fey is wickedly set on his goal, so the party don’t have long to defend Frauhst from his darker half, especially if needs to hold Frost off so the PCs can get cold iron blades. Even more pressing is the incoming of the Sandman who cocoons in sand any of the party that don’t fall under his somnial influence.

Unique statblocks for Frauhst and Frost are provided in the Statblocks Supplement.

Part Five – Sandman’s Dimension

At the Sandman’s mercy in his own dream realm, the PCs face a mental battle and greatest fears individually with Doppelgangers taking the form of the fears. This is an interesting and self-contained check and combat scenario with potential for a real intense, fun and/ or bleak time, depending on the manifested fears. Thoroughly recommend getting these fears in advance and ensuring other character’s fears aren’t upsetting for anyone at the table. Having multiple fears for variety and finding some way to do this without the other players finding out, while still respecting the safety tools, allows for some interesting and/ or amusing reveals.

I would have some concerns, especially with certain players, about capturing and negating PCs’ resistances, and fear about the stress this scenario could have with the intense one on one combats, BUT this is a fast-paced, action-packed Christmas caper and this is a wonderfully bizarre left turn. It’s also made very clear that the combats take place in a dream state and the PCs don’t die or lose HP that’s carried over when they wake.

Part Six – Within Castle Krampus

The players awake in cages in Krampus’ throne room with the Light of Yule hanging behind his snoring form, his minions all around him. All they need to do now is escape the cages, sneak up and reclaim the Light of Yule and discover the magic they had with them all the time...oh and don’t wake up Krampus!

Krampus is described in such a visceral and intimidating manner that really brings him to life. The unique statblock for the huge Demon includes some wonderfully lore-inspired abilities, so the party pocket must stay strong so as it to get sacked.

If they do happen to wake Krampus, he will summon Jack Frost if the battle isn’t going his way. If this is not enough for the meat of the fight (though surely it should be), the description of random creatures could inspire new combatants as needed. A boxtext is provided for an awesome OMG! Moment, which gave me a real rush of excitement, with advice to use it to negate Frost reducing a PC to 0 HP or whenever necessary.

However, things shake out, it’s eventually time to get the light and get out!

Part Seven – Yule is Saved!

The party are heroes! They are showered with treasure and a couple of awesome new magic items (I’ll get to these in the appendix). They will be asked to perform a great honour and meet the jolly big man himself, Father Sonareoth, in a magical final scene. A lovely way to end this epic holiday adventure.

Appendix A – Magic Items

The four new magic items are clearly laid out with two images and some rather lovely descriptions. Some are particularly pertinent to this adventure, but the rewards are really interesting and inspire further Fey adventures and/ or interactions.

Appendix B – Player Races

Two player races are included for this adventure and beyond with full stats and abilities with the exception of attribute bonuses with the advice to use the method from Grazilaxx’s Guide to Ancestry (assigning the attribute bonuses based on Background or Class rather than ‘race’. These are the adorable shaggy, Gnome-esque, Ponytaurs, and the Ice Elves, a mostly unknown and thought to be descended from Elves and Elementals, as seen in the adventure.

This adventure is an absolute cracker! A frenetic and energy-filled adventure full of excitement, wonder, exploration and arse-kicking! The pace is awesome and quick, perfect for a Holiday one shot when everyone is there to have a fun time and get to do a bit of everything. This may be controversial to some, but it somewhat feels like Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker with its clipping pace, awesome action and just non-stop popcorn-crunching, mine pie-munching epicness and good times. (if ROS wasn’t for you, I’m sorry and please disregard the comparison lol). What I’m trying to say is that it slaps! Seriously awesome fun with a little bit of something for everyone. Exactly what you want in a one shot, especially with the way elements are laid out allowing for controlling the time and hustling even more if necessary.

“Drawing inspiration from Christmas stories, Celtic and Germanic folklore, and the strange amorphous natural landscape of the Feywild, The Light of Yule is a perfect evening adventure for anyone looking to get into the holiday spirit and smite some humbugs.”

It truly does what it says on the tin! It filled me with festive joy and is one of the best Holiday adventures I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing!

Blooming marvellous!

https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/297093/?affiliate_id=1507682