Description
In his lonely tower, far-flung from the courts of the Shadow Fey, the old King went mad. It is said, even his own shadow avoids his company.
This scenario is set in a coaching house north of Zobeck. The Arnsdottir family have run the place for nearly two decades with the friendly and capable daughter, Ava, set to take over the business from her ailing grandfather. Unknown to the family, the coaching house sits above a dark river flowing far below the streets. Uncharted, the twisting caverns and old chambers below the Seven Steeds are filled with things both earthly and otherwise.
A short adventure by Jon Sawatsky for 5th Edition heroes of 6th and 7th level, with a map by Dyson Logos.
Stephen Hurd –
I’ve ran this lair twice for two different groups. On the whole, it went over very well both times. The “Hotel California” vibe really set the stage, and the hounds of the night and vile barbers really allowed me to control the pace and provide urgency. The encounters are varied and interesting with a couple exceptions… specifically, the mimic room just turned into a slog, and the water elementals felt out of place with no reason for combat and no opportunity for role-play.
As with many Kobold Press products, this gets better with a bit of prep from the DM. The first time I ran it, I ran it cold with maybe five minutes to read and digest it. There is a fairly large number of NPCs all of which have the same general guidelines, and there’s no real way aside from specific magic for the characters to learn exactly what’s going on… this worked out fine though since near the Margreve mysterious things happen. You need to be able to flesh out NPCs off the cuff, but what’s there is well organized.
With a bit more prep, the upstairs rooms can become more exiting, things can be tied easily to a larger campaign, and some of the smaller weaknesses can be cleaned up. One thing to consider is the light level in room 15. There should almost certainly be something (maybe a rug) covering the window ensuring dim light during the day. A list of names should be kept handy to populate the common areas, and the Shadow of the Moonlit King should likely skulk about outside of the room it’s keyed in, messing with the guests.
As for nits to pick, there’s a few, but all of them are small… the OGL declaration is from a completely different publication and doesn’t match the content at all. The shadow came from the basement, but there’s no basement on the map, and the ability scores on the creature at the end are messed up (but the modifiers all seem accurate).
On the whole, a decent lair to pull out if you’re not prepared, and a much better lair to fit into an adventure where the characters will travel north of Zobeck… it’s a great road lair to help break up the tedium of travel through a relatively safe area, a great side-quest for a party stationed in Zobeck, and a good way to highlight fey as an important faction in Midgard (more so if you provide opportunities to speak with the detached shadow).