Now that I'm running the adventures in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, I'm going to be writing reviews of them informed by my actual play experience, much as I did previously with Candlekeep Mysteries. Next up, "The Fiend of Hollow Mine." Warning for those who plan on playing these adventures: spoilers ahead!
The Fiend of Hollow Mine
Written by Mario Ortegon
The premise of "The Fiend of Hollow Mine" is good: a magical plague is spreading and the characters have the opportunity to intervene to stop it. Not super original, but no harm no foul as far as I'm concerned.
I appreciate the variety of encounters in this adventure; you've got an ambush by bounty hunters, an interesting cast of characters in a tavern to interact with, a bit of cave exploration in an "abandoned mine," some roleplay with a distraught mother, and a set piece battle in an iron works that even has an alternate roleplaying solution if the players eschew violence.
(My players for this one did avoid violence, surprisingly! They leveraged the setting to their benefit to avoid fighting the monster at the end, which was interesting and unexpected.)
One thing worth noting: how on earth are players supposed to avoid the elevator trap in the mine? There's no other clear path through the mine, yet the elevator is an absolute deathtrap that could easily cause a Total Party Kill if they attempt to use it. And your players will likely try to use the elevator; if you put an elevator leading down into a mysterious mineshaft, your players will get on it! If my group hadn't had a barbarian with the Tough feat, and who therefore had a metric ton of hit points, I'm not sure they would have had anyone alive to revive the others.
One unexpected thing: the Day of the Dead-esque festival seems cool, but my players missed it by spending a night resting up in the mine! It feels like a shame that we didn't get to include that, but that's certainly no fault of the adventure--sometimes cool elements just get left on the cutting room floor due to the direction an adventure takes.
Also, like the previous adventures, I like that this one features an interesting, bespoke monster. A fiendish, disease-spreading owl creature is a pretty cool notion and can definitely be repurposed elsewhere. "The Fiend of Hollow Mine" is one of the stand-out adventures in the book, for me.
