Review: In the Mists of Manivarsha

When I was running the adventures in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel last year, I jotted down my thoughts on them informed by my actual play experience, much as I did previously with Candlekeep Mysteries. Next up, the last adventure we played through from the book: "In the Mists of Manivarsha." Warning for those who plan on playing these adventures: spoilers ahead!

In the Mists of Manivarsha

Written by Mimi Mondal

"In the Mists of Manivarsha" has an unusual premise, which I always appreciate: during a kind of mini-Olympics, a contestant (and the trophy!) are swept away by a clearly magical wave from the nearby river. 

Beyond that initially premise, though, I think the set-up lacks bite. When I ran "In the Mists of Manivarsha," I added an element of potential violence to light a fire under the characters: the people of the towns invited to the competition are apt to blame the host town for the loss of the trophy, which could further inflame already existing factional differences between the townsfolk--if the sacred trophy isn't recovered, there very well could be mass violence and local warfare.

"In the Mists of Manivarsha" suffers from another problem common to the adventures in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel: it's an extremely linear scenario. Any time an adventure calls for the characters to be ferried around on a boat by an NPC, you can bet that the players won't have much say over where they're going or how they investigate the situation. Also, this adventure suffers from a lack of site-based exploration; although there are places to go and things to do in this adventure, the layout of the sites the characters arrive at are very basic and feature few opportunities to make meaningful choices.

I will give "In the Mists of Manivarsha" credit for introducing a new monster: the riverine, a fey creature who is something like a dryad, but connected to a river instead. They really aren't meant to be fought in the context of the adventure, but I may have played up the idea of these creatures masquerading as gods a little too hard as my players picked a fight with one of them. Having played through the encounter, I can report that riverines are pretty bad-ass, with a good variety of legendary actions and lair actions. They'd make for a good villain if you wanted to use them that way.

Unfortunately, I also have to report that "In the Mists of Manivarsha" doesn't quite work right according to the rules of the game at the climax. The adventure's Big Bad is supposed to use their Hypnotic Gaze ability to turn two NPCs against the characters, but if you read what the villain's Hypnotic Gaze attack actually does on a mechanical level it only prevents the target from attacking the creature and stuns them. It doesn't "turn" them in any way; it doesn't allow the gazing creature to take over or impose their will on the target!

Although I have some pretty strong criticisms of this adventure, we did have a good time playing it. I'd rank it as a fairly middle of the road adventure for a WotC anthology.

Siege, Seafaring, and Spelljamming Weapons

I don't think it's exactly a hot take to say that the rules in 5e D&D for firing vehicular weapons, whether we're talking conventional seafaring vessels from Ghosts of Saltmarsh or the spelljammers from the Astral Adventurer's Guide, are serviceable but not particularly exciting or dynamic. One thing that bothers me is that these weapons work the same way no matter who happens to be firing them. Individual skill isn't taken into account by the rules at all.

A side effect of that is that it's often better for a character to use their regular attacks, spells, and abilities than it is to use shipboard weapons. That's lame; the shipboard weapons are there to be used, so they should be more attractive options. 

The rules below aim to take the talent and experience of the people manning the weaponry into account. This gives the players a chance to show off the expertise of their characters, but it also gives you a reason to have enemy and allied vessels with crack teams of seasoned mariners and spacefarers that are better than any standard-issue crew.

Siege Weapon Attack Rolls and Vehicular Weapon Attack Rolls

Each weapon, such as a ballista, canon, or catapult, has a ranged attack bonus in its stat block. If the person who fires the weapon has a higher ranged attack bonus than the weapon's standard bonus, use their personal attack bonus instead.

Additionally, if the creature who fires the weapon has a Dexterity bonus, add it to the damage dealt by the weapon.

Note: You may wish to restrict the ability to substitute a character's ranged attack bonus for the weapon's ranged attack bonus to characters who are either proficient in martial weapons or who possess the relevant Vehicles proficiency.

Extra Attacks

If a creature operating a siege or vehicular weapon and have the Extra Attack feature, each of their allowed attacks counts as an action toward loading, aiming and firing the weapon. For example, a fighter with three attacks per round from the Extra Attack can use their three attacks to load, aim, and fire a ballista on their turn.

Crashing

The attack roll to crash a spelljammer or other vehicle into another object is a d20 + the pilot's Dexterity modifier and their proficiency bonus if they possess the appropriate Vehicles proficiency.

Note: I could probably be talked into using Intelligence or Wisdom modifiers in place of Dexterity.

Ramming and Other Melee Attacks

If the creature who uses a ram, such as the hammerhead ship's blunt ram, or a similar weapon, such as the scorpion ship's claws, has a higher melee attack bonus than the weapon's standard bonus, use their personal attack bonus instead.

Note: You may wish to restrict the ability to substitute a character's melee attack bonus for the ram's melee attack bonus to characters who possess the relevant Vehicles proficiency.

Ship Repairs

I would allow ships to be repaired when not berthed. Furthermore, I would remove the "repairing 1 hit point of damage to a ship takes 1 day" stipulation: you can restore 1 hit point per 20 gp spent per day, providing that laborers capable of performing the repairs are available to do the work. 

I'd rule that anyone proficient in carpentry or smithing would be capable of performing repairs, depending on what the ship is made of. I might even expand that to anyone proficient with the kind of Vehicle in question.

I imagine that docks would might offer spellcasters capable of casting mending to help speed alone the process, so determining what they charge for that service would be helpful here. 50 gp a casting seems about right to me.

If nothing else, keeping a ship repaired might be a decent way to keep characters hungry and in search of loot.

* * *

The items below are things I'd like to continue to think about and work on:

Piloting

I'd like to work more on positioning rules to give the pilot at the spelljammer helm more to do.

Canons

I don't know why, but there aren't a lot of canons on spelljamming ships. I'd probably replace a lot of the mangonels with canons when I run a Spelljammer campaign.

Magical Weapon Options

The lack of magical shipboard weapons in the Spelljammer book feels like a real missed opportunity. This is D&D we're talking about, why wouldn't there be lightning canons or acid hurlers or eldritch machine guns?

If I were running a Spelljammer game, I'd definitely invent some bespoke magical spelljammer weapons. Adapting some of the weapons from the infernal war machines in Descent into Avernus would be a start.

My gut instinct is that magical shipboard weapons could use ranged attack bonuses as above, but also might be able to substitute ranged spell attack bonuses as well to give spellcasting characters more to do during ship combat.

Frankly, options to customize your ship is a huge part of the fantasy of owning one in the first place so it's a tremendous dropping of the ball that they couldn't find space or the inspiration to add the options to the Spelljammer set. 

(Note: I've largely abandoned this tangent as I probably won't be running a Spelljammer game anytime soon, but I'm posting them anyway in hopes that they are useful to someone, somewhere.)

Against the Conqueror Worm

Ajustus put the call out to run a D&D one-shot the other day, so I got to play my first game of 2023. That fact that it was a Poe-themed adventure bodes well for the year.

Characters

Grongor, human fighter, played by Aos

Jupiter de Montmort, human rogue, played by me

Events

Grongor and Jupiter were hired by Baron Rennet to seek out his wife, who had traveled to stay with her brother but had not yet returned as expected. Our protagonists both had something of a reputation, though whether they were truly earned was another matter. Grongor was said to be a folk hero, rumored to be responsible for slaying a fearsome beast--an act of heroism he denied. Jupiter passed himself off as a helpful duke's son, but in fact he was nothing of the sort; he was simply a charlatan hoping to ingratiate himself with the aristocracy.

The duo arrived at the brother's mansion and found it eerily quiet. After knocking loudly, the door was answered by a dirty-looking young woman who was wearing a dress that seemed to be fashioned from a curtain. After inquiring after the Baroness, they were ushered into a dining room that was filthy with dirty dishes. When she left to fetch the Count, whom she disturbingly called "Papa," the pair peeked under a cloche only to discover meat that was crawling with worms.

"Papa" arrived and explained his sisters absence as due to illness. The youths that accompanied him were all wearing impromptu clothing and seemed out of it. Jupiter and Grongor were beginning to suspect cult activity, which was more or less confirmed when "Papa" used magic to compel Grongor and Jupiter to eat the tainted meat. This was the straw that broke the camel's back; as soon as they had regained control over their actions, Jupiter and Grongor slew Papa and his young followers.

Following up on a stray comment from "Papa" that his sister was somewhere in the basement, the duo explored the kitchen and found stairs leading down into the cellar. What they discovered in the cellar was evidence that some sort of large creature had burrowed up from the depths and was now roaming freely in the mansion's basement.

At this point, the adventurers decided to explore the grounds instead. They found one building that functioned as servant's quarters, but everyone who had sought shelter there had been killed. A second building had the butler holed up inside. He helpfully explained that drinking alcohol helped prevent the worms from the tainted meat taking root, so both Jupiter and Grongor were happy to take a few slugs from the bottle he offered.

Grongor and Jupiter escorted the butler to the barn, hoping to put him on a horse and send him in search of the authorities. Unfortunately, the horses had been devoured by a monstrosity. Time for the butler to hoof it on foot. There were more tunnels bored up from below. The earth began to shake and a giant worm burst from the ground. It took a massive bite out of Grongor, but Jupiter and Grongor's combined strikes brought the creature down. 

Once the creature was dead, the pair ventured into the tunnels and found a section of masonry that looked sloppy and new. Grongor put his back into demolishing the wall; trapped within was Baroness Eleanor Rennet. She explained that her brother had fallen under the sway of the "Conqueror Worm" and formed an orgiastic, rotten-meat-eating cult around it. When she refused to eat the tainted and mind-altering meat, her brother had imprisoned her within the depths under the mansion.

The Baroness was escorted back to her husband, a reward was freely given, and Jupiter suggested that the baron hire the now unemployed butler.

Trail of Destruction Review

 

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, "Trail of Destruction." Warning for those who plan on playing these adventures: spoilers ahead!

Trail of Destruction

Written by Alastor Guzman

Even though "Trail of Destruction" is a mid-level adventure, it has a pretty epic feel to it. Something is awakening volcanoes, so this is a scenario in which the characters can intervene and potentially save the world a significant number of imperiled people by thwarting a cataclysmic event. 

However, I also felt like the set-up of this adventure could use more dramatic tension. As written, the NPCs the characters can interact with are all a little too nice, which means they have a lack of texture and nuance. To remedy that, I had the priest NPCs be part of a colonizing religion that wasn't native to the land. That allowed me to work a more interesting angle about the creatures in the volcanoes being the former "gods" of the native populace and add some elements of usurpation where the new religion's dominance was causing something atavistic from the past to reawaken--a classic Gothic convention.

As written, the adventure is fairly linear, but I opened it up by having the characters obtain a map that showed the locations of the observatory, a town, and the shrine, which let the players choose where they went and how they investigated the underlying mystery. Thankfully, the shrine also allows for some decent site-based exploration and has a nice area for a climatic boss battle.

Speaking of the boss battle, this adventure adds the tlexolotl, a massive salamander-like elemental, as the Big Bad of the scenario. I don't know if it was intentionally on the part of the adventure's author, but the combination of this monster and the surrounding setting elements gave me strong "Mesoamerican Kaiju" vibes, what with the giant fire-spewing lizard-like monster that was worshiped as a god(zilla), the jungles and volcanoes, and the elements of natural cataclysm. If you don't lean into that vibe in this adventure, you are a fool! Overall, this one felt like a pretty fun romp. There are great ideas here, and although I think they greatly benefit from a few embellishments from the DM, this one was quite fun for my group.

The White Pearl Has Been Found!

Aos's Spelljammer campaign continued in a short session in which we finished off our exploration of the Black Pyramid.

The Characters

Xastra, githyanki warlock

Professor Nefarious Jones, goblin artificer

Hemlock, tiefling rogue

A Pal Goes AWOL, a New Friend Appears

During the exploration of the black pyramid, Ted went missing. However, Professor Nefarious and Xastra were soon joined by Hemlock, a tiefling adventurer they found wandering around the complex. This new acquaintance proved to be a real lifesaver when Xastra and the Professor plummeted from one level of the dungeon into the cold rushing water of the level below. Hemlock managed to get a rope tied in place so the now-soaked pair could climb back up to safety.

The group were also confronted by a giant spectral eye, that seemed to be the projection of a sleeping dragon, who was none too pleased to hear that they were seeking the White Pearl within the pyramid. In another chamber, half-finished mummies were found; Hemlock and Xastra rolled up their sleeves to loot in the bodies, and found several grave goods to add to their growing stash.

The next significant challenge came when the group found a door that had clearly been spiked shut from the other side. Foolhardy and overconfident, Xastra teleported past the door and...stumbled into the midst of a mind flayer and its gnoll cohorts resting. Shouting "Ta-da!" Xastra smashed the spikes out of the door and flung it open so that Hemlock and the Professor could join the fray.

Luckily, the mind flayer's mental blast fried the brains of its gnoll companions. Unfortunately, it also did a number on the Professor and Hemlock. Xastra, being resistant to psychic assault, faired somewhat better. Indeed, her hatred of mind flayers rose to the surface and a combination of hex and eldritch blasts soon exploded the mind flayer's head into a gooey mess. Searching the chamber revealed the White Pearl in an ark-like encasement. 

Beat up from the confrontation with the mind flayer, the group took shelter in a more defensible room, then decided to head back to the Al Waxman with the White Pearl, the basilisk eggs they had located earlier, and all the treasures they had looted from the pyramid. 

Gold For Fools and Princes Review

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, "Gold for Fools and Princes." Warning for those who plan on playing these adventures: spoilers ahead!

Gold for Fools and Princes

Written by Dominique Dickey

The premise for "Gold for Fools and Princes" feels a little tired: people are trapped in a mine and need to be rescued! To be fair, though, the premise is enlivened by the presence of two nobles who snipe at each other endlessly and are locked in mutual enmity, each of whom wants to be seen as the "savior" in this situation. Unfortunately, it's also one of the many adventures in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel where an NPC immediately offers to hire the characters to help out as soon as they show up. No one checks resumes or calls references in DnDLand.

There are elements of this adventure I felt compelled to change in play. As written, the two noblemen don't feel as textured or even different as I'd like. To be honest, I struggled to differentiate them in my own head at first, which made presenting them as unique characters a bit of a struggle at the outset of the adventure. 

Additionally, although this adventure does some site-based exploration in the mines, the actual map is extremely linear and doesn't take into account that players will try to excavate blocked tunnels--which is a no-brainer in a scenario that asks the characters to descend into a mine to find trapped miners! 

I ended up altering the map on the fly as we played to account for player actions, but I shouldn't have had to do that--the adventure should have addressed that to start with because it's an obvious thing that players might try. In terms of adventure design, I believe that actions you can reasonably expect players to attempt should be taken into account in the overall design of an adventure. I suspect not including them as part of the scenario evidences a lack of DMing experience on the author's part, but that's just speculation. Space constraints in the adventure could also be a factor here.

Also, since the adventure focuses mostly on a single creature afflicting the mines. and even though it is an unusual creature, it doesn't lead to surprising encounters in the mines after the first combat. 

While I'm griping, it isn't clear why the mine overseer doesn't help with the expedition into the mines or why the other miners aren't involved in the rescue effort. They're miners; they should be better at that than the characters.

Overall, I thought this adventure fine, though it does have a few issues that could have been avoided. To be absolutely fair to the scenario, I do have to note that the player who I ran it for absolutely loved it. While I wonder how much my alterations kept it afloat, his praise for the adventure was glowing--which really has to be taken into account. In the end, this adventure led to a quite successful and memorable adventure.

Sins of Our Elders Review

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, "Sins of Our Elders." Warning for those who plan on playing these adventures: spoilers ahead!

Sins of Our Elders

Written by Stephanie Yoon

"Sins of Our Elders" does a lot right. I love a ghost story, and having the heart of the haunting in this scenario be a spirit who is angry at how she has been erased from the historical record and not given her due is a strong motivation that feels unusual and unexpected. 

I also really appreciate that the characters are given a number of leads that they can tackle in any order they want; unlike some of the adventures in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, this gives the players the room to guide their own involvement in the adventure and gives them variable ways of piecing together what's going on with the ghost, its attacks, and the strange effect of the populace not remembering the ghost's assaults on them after the fact.

Speaking of that effect, here's how it works: the angry ghost has been attacking the populace, even leaving corpses behind, but the people cannot remember the attacks after they've occurred. There's a nice symmetry there; since the ghost is angry that her good deeds have been forgotten, she is afflicting the people with selective memory loss. I'm of two minds about it in practice, however. On one hand, it's clearly a contrivance to make the scenario work, but on the other it makes the characters special since they can remember the ghost's predations. It does give the players a good reason to get involved since they're one of the few parties who can effectually investigate the haunting.

I do have a few minor criticisms of the adventure. The ghost has multiple ways of attacking the populace--appearing in its own form, manifesting gargoyles bearing the ghost's anguished face, and...giant blue tigers. The tigers feel thematically disconnected; it may not be immediately obvious how they connect to the ghost the way the gargoyles do. My solution was simple: give the tigers the ghostly woman's face too! That's both uncanny and connects all the imagery.

Additionally, I wish the "gwishin" (the name given to this particular kind of ghost) had its own original stats instead of just using the standard-issue ghost stats from the Monster Manual.

Overall, though, this was a strong adventure as written and it was a ton of fun to play. The cast of nonplayer characters is varied and interesting, and this is one of the adventures where negotiating with the villain, instead of slaying them in a climatic "boss fight," works particularly well. Because the players have to propose a solution to the ghost, rather than just talking it down from villainy, it feels more like they did something creative rather than simply succeeding at a well-timed Persuasion roll.

Suspicious Statues and a Space Mummy

Aos's Spelljammer campaign continues! The first adventure is chronicled here, the second is here, and the third is here. Here's what went down in the latest installment:

The Characters

Ted, bugbear ranger

Xastra, githyanki warlock

Professor Nefarious Jones, goblin artificer

Suspicious Statues and a Space Mummy

Although the gang had gotten sucked out the door they had opened in the last session, they did not find themselves floating in space as they feared; they were merely propelled out onto a star-shaped platform overlooking the exterior landscape. Once back inside the pyramid, Ted, Xastra, and the Professor took a rest and re-oriented themselves. At some point, they had lost track of Captain Cook, who either ran off, got captured by something, or is otherwise up to no good.

The party explored a large swath of the pyramid complex over the course of this adventure. When the group began finding a series of "mind flayer statues," Xastra became suspicious that there was a medusa or basilisk afoot when she noticed that the mind flayers had been captured in moments of fear and anger. She was also attacked by a cloaker while examining the statues, but a handy misty step allowed her to magic her way out of its murderous embrace.

Xastra was right; the group later encountered a basilisk, which caused them to retreat behind a closed door and debate whether or not they could kill it without getting anyone turned to stone. They decided to go for it, and defeated the basilisk fairly easily. They also found two basilisk eggs that they may go back for if time and safety allows.

They also encountered a mummy, that they absolutely obliterated. Also discovered in their exploration: magic jumping boots, a necklace that allows for breathing in the void of space, and a dwarven axe. Sites within the complex that have been located: aviary, reptile house, observation chamber, and an orrery. 

Exploration to continue next session!

Wages of Vice Review

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, "Wages of Vice." Warning for those who plan on playing these adventures: spoilers ahead!

Wages of Vice

Written by T.K. Johnson

The premise of this adventure is fine--someone is killing off the children of the most prosperous citizens of a city, that's nice and dramatic--but unfortunately it's badly let down by the execution. The central problem is that the adventure is far too linear; the characters move from point A to point B to point C, largely having the same encounter (someone innocuous attacks the child of someone of importance) until they get a big backstory loredump.

"Wages of Vice" would greatly benefit from a more open structure, and a little site-based exploration would have been appreciated too. Why not have the adventure's quest-giver point the characters in a number of investigative directions and let them choose how they tackle the leads they've been given? 

Speaking of the quest-giver, this adventure suffers from a problem common to the adventures in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel: it presumes that it doesn't strain credulity to have characters show up as strangers to a troubled location and get immediately hired by a quest-giver to sort things out. It's expedient, but as a start to an adventure it beggars belief if the residents of an imperiled site assume that the characters, who are as likely as not a motley crew, are both competent and altruistic enough to risk their lives on behalf of someone's else's issue.

The "hired on first meeting by the quest-giver" isn't the only aspect of "Wages of Sin" that feels repetitive. This adventure is the third in a row that takes place during a local festival. On one hand, I get it: on the surface, a festival is a good in-game event to express the flavor of a ficitonal place. On the other, it starts to feel like lazy shorthand when so many adventures in the book feature one.

Another repetition: The villain in "Wages of Sin" uses a poisonous substance to turn innocent townsfolk into mindless murderers...which is also more or less an idea that appeared in the earlier "Written in Blood" too. "Wages of Sin" suffers from these similarities, as they just make you think of adventures that did something equivalent, but better. 

As written, I think this is the weakest adventure in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel so far. We had a decent time with it, but the adventure didn't do itself, or us, any favors.

To the Black Pyramid

 

Aos's Spelljammer campaign continues! The first adventure is chronicled here and the second is here. Here's what went down in the latest installment:

The Characters

Ted, bugbear ranger

Xastra, githyanki warlock

Professor Nefarious Jones, goblin artificer

To the Black Pyramid

Ted and Xastra recruited Professor Nefarious Jones to help repair their recently acquired scorpion ship, which has been christened The Al Waxman. While repairs were underway, the crew was approached by a mysterious one-legged figure in a space suit, his face obscured by a helmet. The man introduced himself as Mister Cook, but Xastra immediately dubbed him Captain Cook. Cook produced a map to an area that Xastra had a keen interest in: it showed the location of the black pyramid from her dream!

Cook claimed that he wanted to travel to black pyramid because it held the promise of a way to magical heal the burns that covered his body. (Which is why he kept his helmet on at all times, supposedly.) He also said that the pyramid contained heaps of treasure, so that was enough to convince the party to take him there on the Al Waxman's maiden voyage.

The trip to the black pyramid was uneventful, but as the Al Waxman flew into range of the structure its crew saw a disheartening sight: an illithid nautilus craft was parked nearby. Deciding that a little discretion was called for, the Al Waxman touched down amid a field of monoliths that hid it from view.

The party explored the pyramid, and it quickly became apparent that there were two factions already striving against each other within it. They encountered no mind flayers, but they did get into a few scrapes with gnoll janissaries wearing illithid livery. They also encountered several groups of neogi, one of which was large enough to convince them not to engage. Professor Nefarious did sabotage a door (which a little help from Xastra's invisibility spell) that maybe kept them contained to one part of the complex.

The group did manage to score some solid loot in their exploration, including a skull amulet that fires magic missiles and two scrolls.

Their most interesting encounter in the black pyramid was with a flesh golem who was occupied holding up the ceiling in one of the pyramid's chambers. The golem didn't seem to have any self-knowledge about his origins, but he sure was holding the roof up like a champ.

The adventure ended on a cliffhanger when the party opened a door and suddenly they were all sucked into...space? An anti-gravity field? Something. We'll find out next time.

The Fiend of Hollow Mine Review

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.

The Scorpion is Seized!

Aos's Spelljammer game continues! The first adventure is chronicled here. Here's what went down in the latest installment:

The Characters

Ted, bugbear ranger, played by Heather

Xastra, githyanki warlock, played by me

The Scorpion is Seized!

The night after saving the people of Rumble City, Xastra dreamed that one of the lizard creatures was at her window, desperately trying to get in. It hissed, showing its teeth before fleeing down the wall. She then noticed that the shadow on the floor was unusually deep. The shadow began to speak; its voice was in her mind, saying, "Take the white opal from the black pyramid. The scorpion is the key!"

In the morning, Ted and Xastra were asked to gain access to the wizard's compound so that a distress signal could be sent to the giff for reinforcements. On the way to the wizard's home, Ted was pleased to see that the grateful townfolk were engaged in constructing a statue in his honor. Unfortunately, the pair discovered that the compound was sealed off by a stone hatch that, when tampered with, manifested a magic mouth that presented a riddle.

Now, neither Ted nor Xastra are the brightest bulbs, so their attempts to solve the riddle resulted in a man of stone emerging from the hatch to murder them. Violence is usually more their speed than word puzzles, but on this occasion they found themselves in trouble--each of them either missing the construct or failing to damage it for several attacks in a row. Ultimately, Ted managed to shatter it with his sword.

Down inside the wizard's compound, the pair found the communication device and also managed to locate the missing helm from their spelljammer. They also found an additional spelljamming helm. Glancing through the wizard's telescopic device, they saw what looked like a rusted claw sticking up from a dinosaur-infested jungle in the distance.

Further searching revealed two more important bits of loot: a cache of gold coins and a flying carpet. Xastra insisted on a shopping trip for Ted using their newfound loot; the duo were pleased to see that their fame as the saviors of Rumble City entitled them to a 50% discount on all goods, so Ted was soon outfitted with a rapier and a breastplate. 

Some items discovered in the wizard's sanctum gave Ted and Xastra the idea that the metal claw they had observed earlier might belong to a scorpion-shaped spelljammer. Sensing a potential lucrative salvage, or perhaps even the chance to own their own ship, the pair loaded up the spare helm onto their magic carpet and flew out into the jungle. (Xastra also had her strange dream in mind.)

The scorpion ship was in poor repair and perilously perched on a jungle cliff. There were trees growing through rusted holes in the craft, which they carefully cleared away. They also encounter a gravity switching chamber, scared away a hungry displacer beast, and found a locked metal case. Unwilling to spend the night in the jungle with marauding dinosaurs about, they got the helm up and running and flew the scorpion craft back to Rumble City.

After locating someone who could open the mysterious metal case for them, they found themselves in possession of what appeared to be a magical sword.

But where is the white opal and where is the black pyramid? More questions to be answered in the future.

Rough Night in Rumble City

I got to play in the first session of Aos's Spelljammer game. Here's what happened!

The Characters

Ted, bugbear ranger, played by Heather

Xastra, githyanki warlock, played by me

Rough Night in Rumble City

Left behind aboard the ship as the rest of the crew went on shore leave, Ted and Xastra proceeded to get hellaciously drunk, which did not leave them in a great position when the bosun woke them up to tell them that the away group had not returned. Xastra was a bit sad to learn that this did not mean she had been promoted by absence to captain of the ship. The bosun asked them to head into Rumble City to find the rest of the crew, so Xastra and Ted grabbed their gear and set off.

The first sign that something was amiss was that the custom's office had seemingly been abandoned. No one was manning the desk and papers were strewn about. There were no signs of violence, but clearly something had happened.

Ted was insistent on visiting the Purple Pump, the local brothel. The brothel was similarly vacant; patrons had left drinks undrunk, but the patrons themselves were no longer in attendance. In an upstairs room, Xastra and Ted found two lizard-apes defiling the furniture. The creatures attacked, but Ted and Xastra killed one of the creature and sent the other fleeing from the window. Xastra yelled threats at the departing monster, vowing to kill its parents.

Since the Purple Pump was a bust, Xastra wanted to check on the repair shop where the crew were supposed to take their ship's spelljamming helm for repairs. The repair shop was ransacked and emptied, which was a problem since there was no chance of leaving Rumble City on their ship without the helm. 

While scouting Rumble City's market, they overheard voices. Despite his large size, Ted was adept at sneaking and skulking; after approaching the mysterious duo stealthily, he observed two neogi arguing with each other and stealing pickles.  Ted and Xastra hatched a plan; Xastra would draw the attention of one of the neogi, while Ted knocked the other out for interrogation. The plan worked pretty well, though one of the neogi bit Xastra. He paid for this slight with his life, eating a faceful of hellish rebuke. The neogi they took captive was not too forthcoming; he was a bit of a gigglepuss, but he did drop an important piece of information: everyone was being held down in one of Rumble City's parks. His usefulness expended, Ted put an arrow between the Neogi's eyes.

To Ted and Xastra, it sounded like the crew and the people of Rumble City were being held captive. Xastra was further saddened to learn that she and Ted had not been promoted to the role of joint mayor in the absence of Rumble City's lawful government. 

As someone who had been imprisoned by the illithid, Xastra had a hatred of slavers, so thwarting the neogi was now high on her list of things to do in Rumble City. And so the pair were off into the High Park, which they managed to traverse without encountering whatever huge monstrosity was prowling within it.

In the further reaches of the park, Ted and Xastra watched in horror as a man dressed in stereotypical wizard garb was paid by a neogi--clearly an exchange for the residents of Rumble City and the crew of their ship, who were bound in the trees with blue webbing! The duo quickly hatched a plan to kill two birds with one stone and rescue the captives before they could be fed to the nearby (and grotesquely fleshy) neogi egg sac.

As the neogi began to depart, Xastra ran out from cover and cast charm person on the wizard. She quickly convinced him that she was a friend who had come to warn him that the neogi were planning to betray him and that the best thing to do would be to help kill the neogi and then find a new buyer for the slaves he had collected. The wizard and Xastra unleashed their magic against the neogi while Ted feathered him with arrows from the underbrush. 

Once the neogi was delt with (and the wizard had used some of his precious allotment of spells), Xastra turned her eldritch blast on her enchanted "ally" while Ted rushed him with his sword. Before the wizard succumbed to his many wounds, he awakened the neogi egg sac, which erupted into a swarm of neogi mites. The swarm was also dealt with in short order. 

Xasta and Ted cut down their allies and the remaining residents of Rumble City, all the while expectant to hear their praises sung by the now-freed captives.

One hitch remained: the helm of the ship was somewhere in the wizard's tower and needed to be retrieved. But that's a tale for another time.

In the Mists of Manivarsha

I've been running the adventures in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel as part of an open table campaign on my Discord. Without further ado, here's how "Trail of Destruction," the eight adventure, went for my group. 

Dramatis Personae

Captain Horatio Gurthus, human barbarian

Brother Albany, human monk

Gnargar, kobold monk

Wave of Mutilation

Pushed into adventure once more by horrific dreams, the trio found themselves venturing to the war-torn jungles of Kalakeri, where they hoped to prevent the partisans of three river towns from engaging each other in bloody conflict. They arrived in the town of Sagorpur, just in time to view the final contest of the Trials, a series of events in which contestants from the three towns competed yearly for the honor of bringing a gilded conch shell back to their town until the next Trials.

The final competition of the Trials was narrative dance. The contestants were all obviously skilled, but the final contestant--a small woman in a red sari and golden headdress--was phenomenal. Even though the party was untutored in the art of dance, they caught the gist of her performance: her dance told the story of a town destroyed by a wild wave that arose the river. The group noticed that some people in the crowd had been moved to tears by her performance; each of the affected wore a red armband matching the woman's sari. 

When questioned, one of the spectators explained that the woman's dance told a real story. There were once four towns in the region, but Manivarsha was destroyed by an uncanny wave that erupted from the river. He also told them that the dancer in the red sari was Amanisha Manivarshi, a descendent of the survivors of that cataclysm.

When the time came for the judges to award the gilded conch shell to this year's winner, it was no surprise that the trophy was presented to Amanisha. Unfortunately, the roar of the crowd was suddenly cut off when a pillar of water arose from the river behind the stage and crashed down on the town of Sagorpur. When the water receded, the immediate area was left cluttered with debris and injured townsfolk. The adventurers also noticed a strange green glimmer in the river's current, lending a suggestion of fell magic afoot. They also saw several people trying to enter the temple standing next to the stage, but the door was being guarded by two creatures that looked like spouts of water topped with giant, cobra-like heads.

Down the River

After dispatching the watery creatures, the party entered the temple and consulted with Plabon, the High Riversinger and one of the judges of the Trials. Plabon informed them that each of the three towns of the region worshipped the river god they believed inhabited the river that provided the livelihoods of the townsfolk. Plabon also stressed that he did not believe that Iravati, the god of Sagorpur's river, was behind the wave that had just caused so much destruction.

Plabon was able to explain part of the party's shared dream: the loss of the sacred conch trophy could lead to violence, particularly against the Sagorpuri who might be blamed for its loss. When the green glimmer that they had observed in the river was mentioned, Plabon told them to seek out Dukha, a small-time river trader who had also reported seeing a similar glimmer in his travels across the region's rivers.

They found Dukha drinking in a tavern. The river trader explained that he had seen the strange green glimmer the party had noted in several tributaries in the region; in fact, he had followed the glimmer to a river called the Tinjhorna--where he claimed to have met the god of the river itself! The river spirit accused mortals of using foul magic to interfere with the region's waterways, though it could lay the blame on no particular folk. The party then hired Dukha to pilot them to the area where he had met the river god.

Setting off in Dukha's skiff, the group navigated the rivers cutting through the area's swampy forests. On their journey, the travelers encountered a mangrove treant who attempted to warn them off; the treant also noted that the "river gods" were not actually divinities--they merely posed as gods because they loved the adulation of the region's peoples. 

After the encounter with the treant, Dukha moored the skiff on a small island near a series of parallel waterfalls. The isle turned out to be the hunting ground of a group of weretigers, but some quick-talking on the part of the adventurers successfully dispelled the weretigers' hostility. The weretigers pointed out a pool that fed the waterfalls and told them that it was the most likely spot to encounter the "river god."

Bad Sportsmanship

The group managed to sneak up on the "river god" as it attempted to placate two water elementals that glowed with an eerie green phosphorescence. The party was divided in how to approach the "river god": Horatio and Brother Albany strongly suspected the river god was responsible for the wave that caused havoc in Sagorpur, but Gnargar (correctly) intuited that if the river god was trying to calm two elementals he must also have a vested interest in de-escalating the situation. 

Calmer heads did not prevail. The group engaged the river god, who was surprised that mortals would dare attack him, and the water elementals sped to his defense at the first sign of violence. Gnargar and Brother Albany dealt with the elementals while Horatio entered a rage and tore at the river god. The river god proved to be a formidable foe; even though both Brother Albany and Horatio are seasoned combatants, the river god was able to fell both of them. A nearly dead Gnargar landed a killing blow against the river god and managed to revive his two companions before death could claim them.

After some much needed rest and healing, the group spotted glimmering ghosts in spectral boats rowing down the river. Following the direction they came from brought the party to another island. The isle was strewn with ruins that matched the temple back in Sagopur, and there was also a huge rotten tree stump upon which slumped an inert figure--an unconscious Amanisha! Once Amanisha was revived, she revealed that she had been brought by the magical wave in Sagorpur to this place--and that the river god was not responsible as her captor was a woman with gray skin and a rusted sword!

This woman soon made her presence known. Her gray skin was cracked and weeping a thick, sticky-looking red fluid; her mouth had sealed over, but when she spoke the skin of her face ruptured, sending a cascade of the red fluid over her rotten flesh. This woman called herself Jibisha; she was a competitor in the Trials from long ago; desperate to win the Trials she had made a pact with a demonic entity in return for supernatural skill. The Trials were held in Manivarsha the year she competed--her attempt to cheat resulted in the destruction of Manivarsha! Unwilling to see another Manivarshi win the trophy that she believed was her due, Jibishi had stolen both Amanisha and the conch.

Gnargar wisely rushed forward and ripped the sacred conch from Jibisha's grasp, greatly weakening her. Brother Albany then managed to stun her by manipulating her ki. Unable to defend herself, the group thrashed her soundly before she could recover. 

Once Jibisha had been dispatched, the group heard a voice from beneath the rotten tree stump. The voice belonged to the "river god" of Manivarsha; he had been trapped and enslaved by Jibisha--she used his control over the waters of the region to create the wave that brought Amanisha to the island. However, since he was responsible for the destruction of Manivarsha, the group declined his request to free him from beneath the stump. Amanisha, a loyal daughter of Manivarsha, was pleased with their decision. She was escorted back to Sagopur with the conch, to much rejoicing. 

Trail of Destruction

I've been running the adventures in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel as part of an open table campaign on my Discord. Without further ado, here's how "Trail of Destruction," the seventh adventure, went for my group. 

Dramatis Personae

Captain Horatio Gurthus, human barbarian

Brother Albany, human monk

Dreams of Fire and Ash

The current dream that was afflicting Horatio and Brother Albany was fairly simple, as far as visions granted by a strange angel go: they dreamed of a isle on which all the volcanoes were erupting at once, resulting in a flood of lava destined to wipe out the entire population. They awoke certain that this was no natural disaster; with their intervention, the catastrophe could be averted. And so they traveled to the isle of Telepec in Valachan.

As they traveled the road to one of Telepec's towns, they began to smell smoke. Rounding a bend in the path revealed a horrific sight: the rain forest was smoking due to the flames emanating from a creature with a humanoid body and a long, snake-like tail. The creature was accompanied by two giant snakes, each also wreathed in flame. The creatures had overturned a cart full of food, flowers, and gilded items belonging to three figures in priestly vestments. Now that the wagon was upset, the creatures were attacking the clerics. Unwilling to merely watch the carnage, Brother Albany and Horatio entered the fray and dealt with the attacking monstrosities.

After helping right their wagon, Horatio and Brother Albany spoke to Sister Amelia, the leader of this pious expedition. She explained that they had set out to leave offerings to the goddess Ezra at a shrine known as the Gate of Illumination, in hopes that the offering would cause the goddess to intervene and end both the earthquakes and the attacks by monsters that had been plaguing their town. The attack by the snake-like creature had convinced them to turn back. 

When Horatio and Brother Albany expressed their willingness to look into the matter further, Sister Amelia drew them a map of the vicinity, pointing out the Two Gods Observatory, a town called Xotol, and the location of the Gate of Illumination. On the chance that they went to the observatory, she asked that they inquire about the whereabouts of four templars she had sent to the scholars therein to gain information about the recent increased spate of volcanic and seismic activity.

A Horned Friend and a Large Friend

The pair were most interested in the Gate of Illumination, but since it looked like it would take them a full day to reach the shrine, they decided to explore Xotol on the way and gather more information about the unfolding situation. When they reached Xotol, they found many of the businesses there closed; the townsfolk were instead pitching in to repair the town's stone walls and other damage caused by the earthquakes. They also noticed that the residents of the town seemed to be of a different ethnicity than the priests they had encountered earlier, a fact that would become important later on.

Brother Albany and Horatio booked rooms at the Jolly Parrot, the only inn still open in town. The only other guest, a tiefling Vistana named Ollin, bought them drinks, so they sat down in the common room to enjoy his company and generosity. Ollin proved to be a font of information about Telepec. As a Vistana wanderer, he had made it his business to collect folk tales and local history. 

Prompted by speculation that something monstrous was behind the volcanic activity, Ollin told them that in the days before the Church of Ezra's missionaries had arrived in Telepec, the native population had worshipped the "gods who lived in the volcanos," and had used offerings not unlike the ones they had seen in the priests' wagon earlier to placate their gods. As is often the case, the Ezra-ites had appropriated the ancient shrines and re-dedicated them to their goddess, which the pair began to suspect was behind the awakening volcanoes and the incursions of the snake-like, fiery monsters.

Ollin practically invited himself along on the rest of their journey; he was eager to add more lore to his store of knowledge about Telepec. The group set out in the morning for the Gate of Illumination. On the way, they encountered another overturned wagon surrounded by corpses, but this time the wagon had been stripped of offerings. Once healed, the sole survivor told them that fire-wreathed snake creatures had made off with the goods. 

The group also encountered a red-bearded giant who forcefully warned them to turn back from "the maw of doom." However, by expressing an interest in saving their fellow humanoids from the coming apocalypse, they managed to get the giant, who introduced himself as Copal, on their side! To speed their haste in reaching the Gate of Illumination, Copal scooped them up, set them on his shoulder, and make quick strides to the shrine.

Izel, Lord of the Inferno

The Gate of Illumination proved to be an ancient shrine built into the base of a clearly active volcano. A red light pulsed from within--the interior walls of the shrine were laced with magical veins that looked like molten magma. A red haze hung in the air; the interior was hot, but not as hot as a building connected to a volcano ought to be. Of course, as a giant, Copal was too large to enter with them, so he waited for them outside.

The interior of the shrine confirmed their suspicious: the placement of statues of Ezra in front of murals depicting lizard-like volcano gods made it obvious that the Gate of Illumination was formerly a "pagan" shrine devoted to the creatures living within the volcanoes and that it had been appropriated by the Church of Ezra to aid their missionary efforts. 

Exploring further, they found a trio of statues--two of which were holding urns. When the third urn was found and replaced, a miraculous thing happened: a red, peppery liquid appeared in the central urn. The trio took a chance and quaffed it; a little experimentation revealed that it had made them resistant to fire and heat. They also found a wounded snakeman and healed him. 

They found themselves on a rocky "shore" that terminated in a lake of lava further in the shrine. They also found the four missing templars manacled to the wall, presumably left as sacrifices for whatever was moving beneath the flow of the lava. Brother Albany freed the templars and sent them outside to shelter with the giant. The group then watched in horror as a massive, lizard-like being of immense size and power pulled itself from the lava and stood erect on the rocky causeway. The creature was covered in black scales, but blindingly bright light began to pour from the seems between them.

The trio engaged the ancient "god" in combat, but it proved to be a worthy adversary. It belched gouts of super-heated, liquidized rock that both pummeled and burned them. Ollin was killed outright by the pyroclasm. Although Horatio and Brother Albany managed to wound the creature greatly, it beat Brother Albany into unconsciousness and Horatio also found himself near death. Before the monster could attack again, Horatio pulled Brother Albany to safety and exited the shrine. The "god of volcano" mockingly laughed as the pair retreated from its lair.

A Different Tack

Outside, the pair healed themselves as best they could and hatched a plan. Although Copal was too big to enter the shrine through the door, they figured that he could climb the volcano, dive down into its heart, and make his way to the lake of lava that the volcano-god had emerged from. Brother Albany and Horatio again entered the creature's chamber to engage the monster while Copal got into position. The plan worked; Horatio and Brother Albany further wounded the creature--and then Copal emerged from the lava to deal the creature two massive blows with his maul. With the monster knocked down, Brother Albany finished it off.

With the death of the "god," Brother Albany and Horatio were fairly confident that the island's volcanoes would now resume dormancy, but they returned to town and stayed long enough to make sure. When no more earthquakes rocked the area, they were assured that they had done their duty and saved the people of Telepec. Before leaving, they suggested that the Ezra-ites build their own churches instead of repurposing older shrines--they believed that this is what had awoken one of the "ancient gods" of the isle. Also, they requested that all the offerings that were going to be brought to various shrines be given to Copal instead.

Gold for Fools and Princes

I've been running the adventures in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel as part of an open table campaign on my Discord. Without further ado, here's how "Gold for Fools and Princes," the sixth adventure, went for my "group." Only one player could make it to this session, so we played it one-on-one.

Contentious Beginnings

Horatio dreamed of a boy, destined to lead a revolution against tyranny, who was trapped underground. Fearing that the lad would never grow up to strike a blow against oppression, Horatio followed the hints provided by his dream to the mining town of Anisa, in Hazlan, where he discovered that the local gold mine had suffered a collapse and several miners were thought to be still trapped inside.

When Horatio arrived in Anisa, he was just in time to witness two Mulan noblemen, each with their supporters in the crowd, arguing in the town square over who would lead the expedition to free the trapped miners. The crowd was a mix of upper-class Mulan and Rashemi workers; each of the noblemen seemed favored by one of those groups. Horatio also met Uzoma, the dwarf overseer of the mine. She informed him that the two young noblemen had long been at each other's throats, particularly as both had been maneuvered by their respective families to marry Duchess Inaya--so they were both competing for her hand. Uzoma also told him that a survivor of the mine collapse claimed to have seen golden-furred monsters with multiple legs burrowing through the tunnels.

The nobles' squabbling was interrupted when a giant scorpion tore out of an alleyway, sending the assembled crowd into terrified flight. The two noblemen leapt down from their platform to fight off the beast, but Horatio was faster on the draw--he was soon hacking at the creature with his claws and deftly avoiding its stinging tail. 

This combat was instructive regarding the two noblemen. Lord Kirina, a hulking, axe-wielding noble clad in surprisingly utilitarian Rashemi clothing, was tall, imposing, and clearly a seasoned warrior. Lord Simbon, the smaller of the two who was dressed in the height of fashion, was clearly out of his element as he engaged the giant scorpion with his scimitar. Of course, neither could hold a candle to Horatio, who ripped the scorpion's head off and dashed it to the ground.

Extinct Monsters?

As soon as the creature was slain, Lord Simbon and Lord Kirina began arguing again--this time over who had acquitted himself the best against the beast. Uzoma stepped forward and interrupted their argument before it came to blows; she sent Lord Simbon with Horatio to consult with Father Kendrik, a priest of the Lawgiver, about the nature of the creatures that might await them in the mines, while she and Lord Kirina would head to the mines to supervise the excavation efforts.

On the way to see Father Kendrik, Horatio learned more about Lord Simbon. It was Lord Simbon's family's desire to see him wed to the wealthy and powerful Duchess Inaya, though he rued having to give up his decadent, womanizing lifestyle.

Once ushered into Father Kendrik's study in the Anisa Academy, a site of occult scholarship founded by Hazlik, they found the priest surrounded by a number of heavy tomes, scrolls, and papers--utterly engrossed in his work. He clearly regarded their visit as an intrusion. He dismissed talk of the monsters supposedly spotted in the mines; naming the creatures "aurumvoraxes," he informed them that the species had been hunted to extinction in ages long past. Father Kendrik also evidenced an obvious dislike for Lord Simbon.

Into the Dark

Their consultation with Father Kendrik now over, Simbon and Horatio arrived at the mine. Uzoma and the miners were too afraid of what might lay beneath, so it was left to Horatio, Simbon, and Kirina to venture into the dark in search of trapped miners. 

The bickering and sniping between Simbon and Kirina continued inside the mine, punctuated with violent encounters with the supposedly extinct aurumvoraxes. Eventually, Horatio discovered two things of note: a half-buried stone covered with script in the tongue of goblins that glowed with a rust-colored aura and a hasty bolthole in which the miners were hiding! Horatio and the two noblemen led the miners to safety, fending off one last attack by the aurumvoraxes. 

Into the Light

Despite having saved the miners, Horatio was unsatisfied with the way things had turned out: he felt that he had treaded the symptoms, but not the disease afflicting the mines of Anisa. After presenting the stone to Father Kendrik, the priest confirmed that the markings on it were in goblin script, and that the stone's purpose was to summon monsters. However, Father Kendrik noted that the stone itself wouldn't be enough to summon the monsters that Horatio had encountered--other, sympathetic, runes would have needed to be etched at the sites where the monsters had taken root.

Early the next morning, Horatio set off for the mine once more. With the monsters plaguing the mine now dead, he made a more leisurely exploration of the mines and discovered markings resembling those on the stone drawn on the walls in white chalk. Horatio rubbed out each of the markings, rendering them powerless. 

Figuring that whoever might be responsible for summoning the monsters would return to the scene of the crime, Horatio hid in a bunkhouse tent and was unsurprised when he spotted Father Kendrik approach and enter the mines. Horatio stealthily shadowed the priest, and observed that Father Kendrik made his way to each place he had found summoning markings. Father Kendrik carried a rag that he intended to use to destroy the evidence of his involvement.

Horatio confronted Father Kendrik, who admitted his part in the plot. He had engineered the mine collapse to provide an opportunity for Lord Kirina to prove his valor--and thereby increase his appeal in the eyes of Duchess Inaya. Of course, Father Kendrik had hoped to use Kirina to gain influence over the Duchess. Believing that Horatio now knew too much to live, the priest attacked, imbuing his staff with radiant power and summoning a sword of spiritual power. But it was not enough; Horatio killed him within the mines and hid his body among the rubble.

This left Lord Kirina to deal with. Horatio found Lord Kirina regaling the common folk of a tavern with tales of his own valor in the mines. Horatio brazenly challenged him to a fight. The commoners circled around the pair as they sized each other up. Lord Kirina struck mighty blows with his axe, but even his great strength was no match for Horatio, who knocked him unconscious with ease. 

Once Lord Kirina was imprisoned in a storage room beneath the tavern, Horatio explained all to the town guard. Horatio's allegations were confirmed both by Kirina's admission of guilt and papers found in the office of Father Kendrik.

Review: Salted Legacy and Written in Blood

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. First up, "Salted Legacy" and "Written in Blood." Warning for those who plan on playing these adventures: spoilers ahead!

Salted Legacy

Written by Surena Marie

One thing I really liked about "Salted Legacy" as an entry-level adventure is that it eschews the "fighting kobolds or goblins in a cave" convention and instead drops the characters in the middle of a contentious social situation. That's honestly a nice change of pace for what is to all intents and purposes and entry-level adventure.

 Although there are a few occasions for combat, mostly in the market games, as written the scenario doesn't necessarily have to be solved with violence. The premise, exploring a vibrant night market in search of clues as to what is going on with a burgeoning feud between two food vendors and interacting with the market's sellers to get a sense of the forces at play, is pretty solid and offers a backdrop I haven't really seen done before.

That said, the night market games do feel a little game-y, especially since it's explicit that taking part in them is the only way to raise your renown high enough for the market folk to actually tell you anything important. I didn't mind that, but people with fragile senses of "immersion" could well be bothered by how this aspect of the adventure gamifies the renown rules in a blatant way.

Additionally, the adventure might be a little too "soft" in terms of stakes. The two rival families in the market are antagonistic to each other, but the text makes it clear that they will stop short of "harming" each other. I think that's a mistake; when I ran the adventure, I had the threat of them becoming violent hang in the air as an impetus to spur the players to action and as a possible consequence of their failure. Painting the two families as the Montagues and Capulets of the local marketplace raised the stakes considerably from "these two families yell at each other in public sometimes."

Also, I wanted to note one minor flaw that isn't impossible to rectify, but a DM might want to be aware of in advance: it's a little difficult to thread the needle on the third party being the real villain without either making it obvious who is inflaming the two families' mutual enmity or making the third party's influence too obscure to be picked up on during play.

Written in Blood

Written by Erin Roberts

There are a lot of great creepy details in this adventure that definitely fit the style of adventure I like to run. Additionally, crawling claws are often a generic "filler" monster in horror scenarios, but the way they take center stage here works well, particularly with the inclusion of the multi-armed soul shaker as the "evolved" or "greater" version of them.

I didn't really anticipate it, but the encounter where a pit opens beneath the wagon, creating a sinkhole that is then used as an ambush site by crawling claws, made for a pretty tense encounter. I don't think the characters were really in danger, but the set up made the players think that something catastrophic was possible, if not eminent.

Also, the abandoned farmhouses are given slight-but-creepy details that set them apart from one another, and the details are just enough to create an atmosphere of dread. My players wanted no part of those houses--which I take to be an element of successful design.

That said, the journey from the town to the farms at the frontier felt a bit linear. Things get better once they reach Kianna's farmhouse and begin exploring, but it would have been cool to see the possibility of picking alternate routes to get there. If you wanted to expand on this adventure, one obvious thing to do would be to create multiple approaches to the farmstead and let the players choose which way to go. Of course, you'd want to plan for different kinds of encounters along each of the pathways you devise. 

This may or may not be a negative aspect, depending on your preferences, but it's quite possible for the players to finish the adventure and still have only an inkling of what was going on with Kianna, Culley, the lake, and the monsters. Because so many npcs in the adventure "awaken" from their trances with no memories of their actions, there is a lack of material to piece together into a coherent picture for the players. 

In my opinion, this is actually fine for this particular adventure; as a horror-based scenario, it isn't out of line that they come away knowing that something awful was occurring, yet not completely assured that they understand the underlying cause of the terrors. In a horror-centric scenario, it's okay for uncertainty to linger--even after the adventure has been completed.

Sins of Our Elders

I've begun to run the adventures in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel as part of an open table campaign on my Discord. Without further ado, here's how "Sins of Our Elders," the fifth adventure, went for my group on Discord.

Dramatis Personae

Captain Horatio Gurthus, human barbarian

Dwalin Codbiter, dwarf artificer

Through a Haze of Nightingale Bell

After the tragic events of the last adventure, Captain Horatio Gurthus was searching for a way to bring his comrade Brother Albany back to life. To that end, he teamed up with Dwalin Codbiter, who was looking for a way to send his departed uncle past the veil of death, as he was currently stuck in a half-life as a floating skull with many opinions on the doings of the living. The duo made their way to the fabled city of I'Cath, but upon arrival at the docks they were surprised to see that instead of a metropolis of endless wonders, they were instead in a squalid, poverty-stricken port of call.

They headed to the Yeonido ward, where they had heard the boundary between the land of the living and the land of the dead was particularly thin. Unfortunately, all they discovered was the run-down remains of a park in which homeless people were huddling around the base of a worn statue. When asked for directions, one of the homeless, an obviously diseased man with a wooden prosthetic nose strapped to his face, offered to taken them to the "Nightside" of the city--if they were willing to pay the price of his admission as well. 

They were surprised when the man took them to a sordid drug den, where the proprietor brought them each a wooden pipe packed with a substance called nightingale bell. As they smoked, they felt their bodies relax, then grow numb. As they begin to drift away into the intoxicant's revery, each of them closed their eyes. When they opened them, they found themselves standing again in the Yeonido ward, but instead of the squalor they had experienced prior, the city was now a bustling, glamorous metropolis filled with beautiful, decadent citizens.

Memory Holes, Government Work

Now in the Nightside of I'Cath, Dwalin and Horatio began to explore the mysteriously altered form of the domain. They were on a busy street, teeming with people, when a strange fog began to rise from the cobblestones. Out of the fog emerged a jade gargoyle with the contorted face of an angry human woman. The creature slew a passerby with its claws, but was soon slain in turn by our heroes. However, as the fog retreated and the gargoyle's remains melted into mist, a strange thing happened: the people who had witnessed the creature's attack looked bewildered for a moment and then went about their business as if nothing strange had occurred! 

Seeking answers, the duo met with Kun Ahn-Jun, a local magistrate. The harried Ahn-Jun bluntly asked them if they had had an unusual experience in the Yeonido ward and was relieved to hear that they remembered the gargoyle's attack. She told them that the strange fog and the monsters it brings was a regular occurrence, as was the people of the city immediately forgetting these bizarre incursions as soon as they were over. Until meeting Horatio and Dwalin, Kun Ahn-Jun seemed to be the only person in the city who could remember the murderous oddity plaguing the ward. 

Since they had the ability to remember the mists and their horrors, Ahn-Jun offered them a few leads that might intersect with their own interests: she told them of a construction site that had suffered multiple attacks, a royal park that had witnessed several attacks, and a tea house when two nobles had been found grievously wounded.

A Light in the Woods, a Cup of Tea

The pair decided to investigate the construction site first, and found it to be an area of the city that was expanding into the surrounding forest. Laborers were hard at work felling trees, while an overseer and two guards stood watch. While looking around the site, they found a cobblestone path leading into the woods; following it brought them to a moss-covered monument and a stone lamp whose flame shone with a strange blue light. Brushing the moss from the marble slab revealed it to be a memorial to a woman named Dae Won-Ha, a "Warrior of the People." Below her name was a long list of the civic accomplishments she had achieved as a magistrate of the ward. 

Taking the stone lantern with them, the pair found that the strange fog had returned and that the workers at the construction site were under attack by huge tigers with the faces of an angry woman--the same face that had encountered previously on the jade gargoyle! With the aid of the overseer and the guards, they managed to kill both creatures, but not before casualties were inflicted on the workers. However, as the fog receded, no one present save Dwalin and Horatio remembered the attack; the workers assumed their comrades had had "an accident."

Their next stop was the Phoenix Tea Shop. When they arrived, they were perplexed to discover that its proprietor was the same man who had taken them to the drug den in the squalid version of the city, but here in the Nightside he was a kindly and healthy man. The tea shop was decorated with a number of cups that had been signed by local celebrities and people of importance. When asked if he had a cup signed by Dae Won-Ha, he brought forth a matching pair of cups: one signed by Won-Ha and another signed by Young-Gi. 

The proprietor helpfully explained that Young-Gi had been a close friend of Won-Ha, that he was formerly an advisor to Tsien Chiang, the ruler of I'Cath, but that he was quite old now and lived in retirement in his mansion in the Estate Gardens area of the ward. He also revealed that although Won-Ha was once regarded as the savior of the Yeonido ward, she had died largely forgotten. Interestingly, when the teacup was brought into proximity with the stone lantern they had found earlier, it shone with a similar blue light. They took the teacup with them.

The Guilty and the Grand Guignol

Horatio and Dwalin used a letter from Kun Ahn-Jun to gain an audience with Young-Gi. Young-Gi was an elderly dragonborn gentleman whose red scales had faded to a rusty color. In contrast to the bustle and noise of the city, his house was a bastion of tranquility and serenity. Dwalin was initially suspicious that Young-Gi was summoning the monsters to preserve the memory of his departed friend, but Young-Gi was much more sanguine about the situation; as he reached the end of his own life, he had come around to the perspective that legacies are fragile things that cannot always be preserved. 

When presented with the teacup, a soft glow came from within Young-Gi's silk robes. He produced a gold amulet--Dae Won-Ha's badge of office as a magistrate, which she had given him as a token of their friendship. Young-Gi gave them the amulet in hopes that they might be able to use it to solve the mystery of the attacks on the city.

In the Park of the Elders, the pair decided to get a closer look at the statue of Tsien Chiang that a local drunken teenager had described as "creepy." The statue depicted Tsien Chiang as a beautiful paragon of wisdom; however, closer inspection of the legend inscribed at the base of the statue revealed that all of Dae Won-Ha's accomplishments had been ascribed to Tsien Chiang! The unnerving fog once again rose from the ground, and with it arrived the ghost of Dae Won-Ha, accompanied by two more jade gargoyles who bore her face.

The ghost of Dae Won-Ha complained of being forgotten by the people of ward; she threatened to take everything form the populace that she had poured her life into fostering. When presented with the lantern, the teacup, and the amulet, she began to believe that she had not been wholly forgotten. However, it wasn't quite enough to sate her. She offered Horatio and Dwalin a bargain: if they would find a way to bring her name back into public prominence and expose Young-Gi's role in Tsien Chiang getting the credit for her good works (because despite their deep friendship, Young-Gi was too loyal to the vile ruler of I'Cath), she would cease her attacks on the Yeonido ward, help negotiate for the return of Brother Albany's spirit, and usher Dwalin's uncle's spirit into the afterlife.

The pair settled on an ingenious solution: they commissioned a playwright to pen a play that cast the spirit of Dae Won-Ha as a boogeyman haunting the Yeonido district. This pleased Won-Ha as it reimagined her role, gave her prominence, and included Young-Gi's treachery as part of her villainous origin story. By the time the play premiered in the endless night of I'Cath's Nightside, it had become a thrilling Grand Guignol-style production with special effects overseen by Dwalin's keen eye for artifice. The play was a success; Won-Ha's terrifying name was now back on the lips of the people of her district.

She also kept her word. As Dwalin and Horatio dozed in their private box at the premier as the dose of nightingale bell wore off, they awoke in the city's squalid true self again--but the skull of Dwalin's uncle was now gone and Brother Albany's eyes shot open and he gasped with living breath!