Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor (continued)

Alright, we continue where we left off, in the Polyandrium, where the PCs are going to be entering into two unlooted crypts. The first is the Crypt of Rothilion, which is currently inhabited by a trapped creature thanks to all the wards and seals around the crypt. What sort of creature, you might ask? How about a mind flayer lich? Yeah, you're not fighting that thing. But all it's trying to do is escape, so once the lich realizes the party has broken the seals, it will attempt to get past the party and flee. Which sisgood, because I don't care how good you think you are, you're not going to defeat a CR 19 undead mind flayer with the powers of a 9th-level sorcerer. It's just not happening. So, let it run away and be thankful. Looting this crypt will give the party an important item, Rothilion's staff of justice, as well as the key to the next crypt, the Crypt of Orbakh.

Orbakh's crypt has its own extra-special visitor, this one being a deepspawn that was brought into the crypt by a deposed sorcerer. A deepspawn is a monster that spawns other monsters. The catch being, of course, that it has to have eaten that monster before so it knows how to spawn more of them. Yuck. So, this deepspawn has been here for a long, long time, and has been spawning all sorts of things. I'm not going to be able to do this one justice, so I'll just say that there are factions in this crypt that will have to be dealt with one way or another, and the deepspawn will prove to be a tough fight. Assuming the party is successful, they will acquire Orbakh's ivory scepter, which will summon a baelnorn, which is an elven lich except they're good. It will give the party some backstory and ask them to directly confront the Cult of the Dragon before they can succeed in dropping a dracolich into a pool of radiance (again, bad thing). Assuming the characters agree, the baelnorn will give them some assistance and direction.

At this point, the adventure does become somewhat linear. Actually, it's pretty linear all the way through. But now the PCs at least have some idea of what's really going on here and what they're up against.

So, the party gets to enter Myth Drannor. This is not a happy occasion; Myth Drannor was overrun by demonic and diabolic forces centuries ago, and there are demons and devils all over the place. In addition, there are bands of gargoyles and gangs of humanoids roaming around looking for things to kill. PCs definitely fall into that category, so wandering around Myth Drannor with no plan is a recipe for extreme hurt and suffering. Fortunately, the baelnorn's directions will hopefully minimize the party's exposure to these threats. Hopefully.

The goal of exploring Myth Drannor is to reach Castle Cormanthor, which is an ancient elven structure that is still utterly beautiful and breathtaking. However, it's also the current hub of the Cult of the Dragon's activities in Myth Drannor. This is where the party will face their toughest opposition, and their ultimate goal is to destroy the phylactery of the (fortunately absent) dracolich. And they are going to have to fight said dracolich's daughter in the process, and she's a very young red dragon with 95 hp, so she's no pushover. Assuming the party is successful, they will have ended the Cult's current plot, which will of course earn them a lifetime's worth of enmity from those people, not to mention a really pissed off dracolich. But then, who said the life of an adventurer was easy?

The last third of the book is taken up by the Appendices. The first one is a description of the Pools of Radiance and important information about them. The second discusses the Mythal, the magical aura that surrounds Myth Drannor and provides a variety of magical effects, some of which are beneficial...others not so much.

Then we get some new magic items that appear in this adventure, five pages of them. Nice stuff. I especially liked the staff of night, which doesn't just create darkness, it also makes the wielder immune to the gaze of an umber hulk. It can also summon an umber hulk, although if the monster is slain, the staff is destroyed. So be careful with that.

Next up are some new monsters, including the aforementioned deepspawn, as well as the dragonkin. The deepspawn is a Large Aberration with 14 HD and a CR of 8. I've already described its primary ability. It's also a tough fighter, having several attacks and the Multiattack feat. The dragonkin is a Large Monstrous Humanoid with 7 HD and a CR of 3. These are used in this adventure as shock troops for the Cult.They can fly, and use either their foreclaws or spears in battle. Then there is the Mythal Ghost, which is a template that can be added to a creature that spends at least nine days in the Mythal. This one's tough to describe in a few short sentences, but it's basically a 'guardian angel' that can protect the character that happens to look exactly like the character. It's immune to mind-affeting, cold, fire, negative energy, and level draining effects, and doesn't need to eat or sleep.

After this we get statistics for all the creatures in the adventure. They are not listed alphabetically; they are listed in the order in which they are encountered. This has advantages and disadvantages. It's nice to know what order you'll be facing these monsters in, but some of them show up later on, and their stats aren't repeated, so you'll have to flip back and forth sometimes to find the different creatures or NPCs you are fighting at this particular time.

And that brings us to the end of this adventure. It's definitely a fun romp through some of the most iconic parts of the Forgotten Realms, but it's also deadly; the opposition isn't fooling around, and they do have the power to succeed in their goals if the party is unable to stop them. As usual, I've not played or run through this adventure, but I would definitely like to run a group through it if possible. We shall see.

So, that's it for this product. There are two more magazines to go through for the month of November, and the rest of the time can be spent updating the Tasiri stuff I've already done. Filling out some incomplete maps, for example. But next time, I'll be going through the second 3rd edition collection of adventures: Dungeon #83. Stay tuned.