This is the seventh module in the Splinters of Faith adventure path from Frog God Games. Each module offers an adventuring locale that can be used separately without tying in to the other modules in the series.
This module centers the party around a temple-fortress of a paladin-like god, and the associated city that has grown up to service the fortress temple. The city is only briefly described in a couple of paragraphs; basically is a place for the temple to recruit new warriors and to buy the goods they need for the temple. The temple/fortress proper is lightly described over three pages and is not as interesting as the temples in the last two modules. Whereas those had plenty of local color, in the form of the personalities of the clerics, these are more of the stereotypical LG cleric/paladin type which most of us have seen quite a bit of in the past. in any event, the temple & town are just there to provide the rather weak hook for the adventure proper. Seems like Mr Head Guy pissed off his daughter and she went to raid a nearby evil stronghold and hasn’t come back. If the group rescues her they win the ‘Prove your Bravery’ contest, which is only held every ten years and is the only way to get access to the blessing the party needs for the adventure path. Yeah, an official rescue party went after her, but they didn’t return and so now none of our Paladins or hopefuls will go get her. LAME. Oh yeah, and if she comes back dead then you still win since they resurrect her. Not the most interesting base of operations and the hook is quite forced.
Our theme for this weeks evil temple is “Evil Air God”, so we get lots of flying creatures. Let us think of a mountain craig with lots of hollows for flying creatures. OK, I can get with that idea. Nice themed dungeon, even though I thought “I bet the next module is water based.” We get a wanderer chart. The encounters on the cart are not that interesting but they DO each have a motivation for being wandering around, in a sentence or two, which is a nice aspect that has been pretty universal in this series and should be utilized by other authors. The adventure proper is a bit too bland. “Room with flying monster #1.”, “Room with flying monster #2”. “Room with flying monster #3.” etc. There are about a half dozen new monsters, which I always appreciate; it keeps the party guessing and in fear for their lives as they figure out the new guys advantages and disadvantages.
There is a REALLY good/weird encounter in the module, in the form of a swarming insect. I REALLY liked it; it’s one the of the best ones I’ve seen so far in this series and is akin to “oops, looks like you left the stopper out of your ever-full jug.” There’s another encounter related to a magic-jar spell that I’m undecided upon. It _feels_ like a cheap-shot, but maybe I just have something with multiple possessions? There is ABSOLUTELY a cheap-shot later on. There’s a pit in the floor covered by an unlocked grate. The hostage is in it. If you open the grate without saying the command word then a pillar of flame descends and kills her. She has no idea the trap is there, but is reaching out through the bars. Really? She reaches out but never tries to open the unlocked grate? She’s never heard the command word when she’s been fed? There’s no scorch marks anywhere from a previous hostage? Uncool.
This is one of the weaker modules in the series. The temple is bland, the city description is almost non-existant (although probably enough to wing it; I continue to be impressed with the authors ability to impart a flavor with only a few sentences, as in the best of Gygax.)
The evil temple is not very interesting beyond the fact that everything flies and the the swarm encounter. Further, the suspension of disbelief required for the hook is MASSIVE.
This is $5 at DriveThru.