Game Play Experience

Setting up this adventure in Roll20 was easy. There's just one map for the dungeon, and I loaded it with grid off and fog of war enabled. I added a map for the first encounter from Neutral Party Patreon. I used a really cute token for Nuno to give the impression that he might be interesting to talk to. It took some time for me to understand the lever trap puzzle in preparation. It is an elegant puzzle inspired by the light bulb scene of "Alice in Borderland". The key for the DM to understand is that the answer is the simplest option. The main NPCs that I relied on to tell the story were the Town Speaker, Chief Hammers, and Nuno Dirtmound. The background material provided for these NPCs is excellent.

I had four players (APL 3, average party), one of which had played the first episode of this trilogy in the week before. That player really enjoyed the first adventure, and was interested to find out how the story developed. The players were all used to playing Season 10 adventures, particularly the DC community adventures. One PC got stuck in a skull-door for a long time which killed the mood of the game for a while (that player missed out on the next five rooms). The players solved the lever trap puzzle really quickly even without finding the clues.

We ran about 20 minutes overtime, which would guide me to get the story moving faster earlier in the adventure next time I run this. There is a lot of content in Parts 3 & 4.

What Did I like about this Adventure?

This adventure has popular demand to run due to the success of A Wolf's Whisper. Just like in that adventure, there is chaos at the beginning that demands the clear heads of some experienced adventurers to resolve. Beyond that the similarity ends, as the party begins to be drawn into the dark secrets of the plot. Firstly an encounter in the snow sets the scene for danger, and then the party comes face to face with the crystal on page 8. This is a great introduction to the dungeon crawl that is to come next. As mentioned, you have already got two great NPCs involved in the story.

What comes next is the ominous terrors of the dungeon level, which provides an array of different options and pathways for the party to explore right away. The players really felt like they had some choice here (even though some options lead to the same place). Meeting Nuno early in this level makes a lot of sense and helps the party get involved in the story here.

The combat encounters are well balanced and interesting, and the dungeon level really faces the party with a clear mission and goal, and then places challenges and obstacles in their way. That is great!

The skull-doors are a great idea, and it was a really great moment in our game when one PC got trapped.

The story of the illithids and their creepy crypt is very interesting and macabre, the sense of something interesting going on here is very real.

Room For Improvement?

• Handout 3 should be provided earlier in the story, so that it's provided before any skull-doors are encountered - maybe Nuno has it?
• The lever in room 7 is only mentioned in room 5 - that description also should be included in room 7.
• The debris in room 4 is described twice, just only need one description (p11).
• Page 13 typo - refers to handout #2, should be handout #3.
• Page 10 typo - "chockers" should be chokers.
• Monster stats not in alphabetical order.

Overall What Did I Think?

Overall this is a really full adventure which is going to give you great value for money. It does require some serious preparation to understand, and since the dungeon level is non-linear, you need to be flexible to be able to respond to the changing situations. You cannot expect to just read the box text and successfully run this mod! It's an adventure that will run better for me the next time that I run it, since my understanding will be more complete. Unlike Wolf's Whisper, I don't recommend this adventure for families/young children, though young teenagers would love it!

This is an intense dungeoncrawl with many strong elements that keep the players engaged in the story.