Forge of Fury

The Forge of Fury is the second published adventure for 3rd edition, written by Richard Baker. It's for 3rd-level characters, who can probably get up to 5th level by the end of the adventure. It takes place in an old dwarven stronghold, which of course isn't inhabited by dwarves anymore. Shades of the Mines of Moria, wouldn't you agree? The adventure can be run as a straight treasure hunt; maybe the party found a map in the Sunless Citadel, for example. Or, a local lord hires the party to find the dwarven cache of magical weapons. Alternatively, the party can learn of the dungeon through a captured and charmed orc prisoner that has been raiding the local area.

The dungeon is set in the ruined stronghold of Khundrukar, built by the legendary dwarven smith Durgeddin the Black. There's some backstory included that the players can learn, but it's not essential; what matters is heading down into the dungeon to kill things and take their stuff, right? This adventure is broken up into five sections, all of which can be handled in a single session of play if the players don't dawdle about.The stronghold is located under a hill called the Stone Tooth, which is basically an outcropping of rock that sticks straight up out of a hill and looks like a broken tooth. Assuming the party finds their way in (it shouldn't be hard, particularly if they have the map), the first section is The Mountain Door. This area is dwarven-worked stone and is inhabited by orcs, who are not going to be pushovers; they are organized, intelligent, and have the advantage of knowing the terrain, so the party that goes in guns blazing is likely to get smoked. However, if they are cautious and stealthy, they can deal with these orcs and move on to the next section, The Glitterhame.

The Glitterhame is a natural cavern complex, much larger than the Mountain Door. Here the party will encounter stirges and troglodytes, along with a few surprises. In a chasm, the party can discover an underground river that leads down to an area called the Sinkhole. This is the least-necessary area of the dungeon, and it's probably the deadliest thanks to one encounter: A CR 10 roper. For a party of around 4th level, this is a deadly encounter that can easily result in a TPK. The reason for the encounter being here is straight-out explained in a sidebar: There are times when running away is the best tactic, because not everything you encounter is going to be level-appropriate. This goes way back to the earliest days of D&D and modules such as the classic D1 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth, where the party could, if they were unlucky, encounter a lich, which was way above their capabilities. Again, you don't have to fight everything you encounter. In fact, it's a bad idea because eventually you'll run into something that will kill you.

However, this encounter apparently had the opposite effect; a lot of players complained about how 'unfair' the adventure was because of this encounter, and the complaints were vociferous enough that WotC ensured that going forward, all encounters would be level-appropriate up until the final boss fights. That's a disappointing outcome, but I don't see any way to change that in a society where video games have taught everyone to expect to be able to defeat anything they encounter. It's definitely a loss to gaming culture.

Anyway, the Foundry is the section past the Glitterhame, where the dwarves did most of their living and forging. However, it's been pretty thoroughly cleaned out by the time the party gets there, so they'll find some traps and monsters such as duergar and some undead, but not the awesome treasure they were expecting to find. Oh, and there's a disguised succubus who is trapped and will exchange information for her freedom.

The last section, and one the dwarves hadn't really done much with, is the Black Lake. It's now the home of a young black dragon, Nightscale. The dragon is the reason that there's not much loot left in the upper levels; she's collected the best stuff in her hoard. And she's not interested in sharing it, so there will definitely be a fight. Assuming the party wins and survives, the dragon's hoard is on a small island in the middle of an underground lake.

There are also some follow-up suggestions to decide what the characters do after surviving the dwarven stronghold and the dragon, as well as a lengthy list of named creatures and their statblocks. One thing 3e really has an issue with is the statblocks; they are way, way longer than they used to be, even in the abbreviated form. It's not exactly user-friendly. And these are low-level adventures; imagine what they'll be like in the higher-level ones.

Anyway, that's it for this adventure. Next up, it's time to dive into the month's magazines, starting, of course, with the venerable Dragon. See you then.