Description
In years past, the Bell family was acclaimed across the Magocracy of Allain for their facility at alchemy and the transmutation of mundane beasts into magical beasts and hybrids. The most recent Lord of the Keep, Victoir Bell, is known more for his drunken proclamations of arcane greatness than for any facility with managing the estate. Despite this, the people of Belcassel love him and look forward to his erratic displays of illusion and evocation at feast times. His son and daughter have used materials from the Bell family library to experiment on the local fauna, creating a dangerous number of magical creatures.
Upon discovering his children’s actions, Lord Bell confronted them in a liquor-fueled rage. He was promptly killed and partially eaten by one of their experiments, a startled griffon, which fled into the nearby farmland. Now, the creature’s rampage through Belcassel’s farms and fields threatens to disrupt the Bell children’s plans, making them desperate to get matters under control before their father’s death is discovered…
This adventure for the 5th Edition of the world’s first RPG is meant for four 1st-level characters. Designed by Kelly Pawlik, it features cartography by Dyson Logos and art by Phil Stone.
Christian –
A relative was in town for the weekend so I got to run this adventure as a One-Shot, and we had a blast! This was my first time purchasing a Warlock adventure, and I was certainly not disappointed.
The adventure was simple enough that I could easily prep and adapt it to what I was wanting to run, but detailed enough that I didn’t have to really improvise at all.
It has all the elements you would expect from a fun D&D adventure; Interesting exploration of a castle, fun and exciting combats, and interesting social encounters. It has enough meat in it that you can really tailor it to your group and focus on the things they want to focus on, and because of this, I was able to get my players really invested in it, and having a good time.
I would definitely recommend this as a great start to a campaign, or a fun one-shot for an afternoon / evening of fun. I’m looking forward to running the second part of this adventure some time in the hopefully near-future.
gatesvp –
This is a fun set of ideas for an entertaining adventure.
It’s an 8-page PDF with a full-page map, so it’s about 5 pages of adventure. It feels like it has some inconsistencies and missing pieces.
– The PCs can “hunt a griffon”, but it’s literally a one-paragraph explanation. So if they take this option, you have to invent something.
– The most significant NPC is a teenager who basically doesn’t interact.
– The adventure theoretically ends with you leaving the teenager alone in a mansion to chase after his sister. Possibly missing the remains of their murdered father in the cave below.
But the adventure does include a 3/4 page thoughtful description of the town of Belcassel. A thing that will be completely ignored in the follow-up (Lair 35), when the PCs leave town.
Given the severe space limitations, this is really a skeleton for an adventure. It can be entertaining, but there’s some assembly required.