Zjelwyin Fall

By Anthony Huso
Self Published
1e
Levels 2-3

Sages assume Shodredh Dhachod, the Gringling Lich who conceived and constructed Zjelwyin Fall, must rest inside, dreaming his sidereal dream. But Dhachod’s wards are such that knowledge of the Fall’s location and trajectory are forgotten before they can be put to paper; so it hurtles unwatched, a spindle of otherworldly beauty, a ruby comet tracing the limits of the Astral Plane.

This 52 page adventure uses about twelve pages to describe seven set piece puzzle rooms in a Lich lair on the astral plane. It manages a fine level 2-3 dungeon in a non-traditional environment and shows, I would assert, the power of 1e done right by someone who understand it.

Mr Lich has devised a lair on the astral plane in which only folks less than 4HD can enter. This is a rather interesting way to construct something otherworldly … it’s an astral dungeon! Not only do you get the exoticism of the location, but it also places limits on the infinite ingenuity that a well seasoned group of players can bring to a puzzle dungeon. Husoo remarks that the origins are his experienced players needing something from the liches lair, but, unable to enter, use some low levels to go get it for them, outfitting them with a few magic items and gear Nystul’d up to survive the astral transition. There’s no real reason why this has to be on the astral plane, magic being magic, but it makes a lot of sense in that context. 

This is a puzzle dungeon. After a “short” astral journey (DM makes up to 24 wandering monster checks … that, thankfully, Huso has provided some set creature encounters for) the party ends up in room two of a puzzle dungeon. Solve the puzzle in each of six rooms and you get to room seven, the lichs lair, where he lies dreaming. You’ve got a few rounds to grab all the loot you can while avoiding falling to Pandemonium, until you decide to dump out floor trapdoor. Unless you wake the lich, in which case, game over. 

Puzzle dungeon isn’t quite right and my characterization of it as such is not quite fair. Set piece dungeon might be better, but, also, that implies centerpiece combats, which tis doesn’t have. You enter a room, do a thing to get to the exit, or fail at it and go back outside to enter again. Set piece dungeons feel like combats to me. Puzzle dungeons to me imply the environment of those boring old challenge dungeons with blank grey walls and a potion on a pedestal. These, however, are complex and well integrated rooms, with a theming of time and sometimes space. It all feels right to me. 

You’re going to be a glass dome like room. Outside the dome is chaos. Inside is usually some form of red sand, blowing, drifting or some such. You must do something, frequently trying to get somewhere in the dome, avoiding some obvious sand issue (blowing sand area, sand falling through hourglass hole area, etc) and facing some creature obstacle, either as a matter of course or as a local fail state. It feels like a complete picture.

“PCs arrive in a staggering glass dome. They are ranged (at positions A) around a gleaming silver ledge that encircles and overlooks an expanse of red sand some ten feet below. The dunes in this crimson pit transition to blue at the center, where they collapse into a horrifying central funnel. The glass dome keeps a churning but beautiful storm of red cosmic dust at bay.” Red generally signifying bad/go backwards and blue success/go forward to the next room. In this case you’ve got some Migo hanging out in some pods on the ledge opposite the party and a dune walker running about inside the sands. There’s also a little bit of treasure on a dead b ody on a ledge. Dump your ass in to the blue sand hole. Avoid waking the migo. There’s treasure on the balcony, at a nearby spot, and a dune walker almost directly under it. Thus going to the obvious treasure gets you it, and a clue, but then immediately jumping to the sand from there gets you the dune walker. Surveying your environment may walk you over the hanging migo, thus waking them. This is a well constructed room. They all are. 

Husos descriptions are a little oblique, with a baroque kind of structuring of the phrasing. Generally fine but perhaps not the most readily received by the cortex. “A platinum knife with skull pommel and diamond settings” or “jeweled footmans flail” being typical treasure descriptions. One of the astra encounters is solid enough that I’ll use it as an example “A slender man with ash-white flesh floats in lotus position. Gray robes curl kelp-like around his body while a pale gemstone flashes, blue facets gathering light at the center of his forehead. His pupiless eyes are set on the elusive Astral brilliance.” A Gith! A GREAT description of a Gith. It’s a dude. It plays up the aesthetic thing. A monster description that stays grounded. I love a good zombie description that portrays it as a person, the horror of the walking dead, instead of just something to stab. Anyway, descriptions are fine, if a bit tortured and/or cumbersome.

The text overall though is a bit strained. Huso has done wonders, it would seem, in keeping things in check from what I REMEMBER of Night Wolf.  Things FEEL tighter here, even though the rooms run longer. (Three pages for one of them.) Decent formatting keeps things together though, with easily located sections in a general logical order. He is a little too explainy for my tastes, even beyond the necessary greater length that rooms like this must dictate. And there are certainly places in the text where another pass through would help tighten things up, both literally and figuratively. The migo presence gets tacked on to almost the end of that sand room. “Their worrisome forms can be seen from the ledge’s northern circuit but they will only take flight if molested or if the ledge directly above them (at M) is walked on” Seems like that is something to mention in the initial description of the room. And that kind of “dump in pertinent information at a far later place” is not uncommon here. He also gets a bit conversations a bit too frequently with phrasing like “Oh course the lich …” and so on, padding things out in places in which they should be tightened up. 

There is the issue of a split party, which can happen in several places. Going down the funnel one at a time will almost certainly be a disaster, at least for the poor DM trying to run an engaging game. And there are places where I could NOT figure things out. “PCs who re-enter the sand take more dmg and go again to location A.” I don’t think they do? I can’t find any reference to that? 

The rooms here are well constructed. These are not throw away puzzles. This is the epitome of a dungeon for experienced PLAYERS, at low levels. I wish things were different here and there, making more sense, a little tighter, descriptions a little less cumbersomely evocative. Seven rooms? With an overland? Huso claims three sessions out of this, and I believe him. But it’s a GREAT work. Made all the better by what is by far the best of  Daniele Valeriani art on the cover, which for some reason reminds me of Klimt. 

The PDF is $18, with hardcopies also available through Lulu. I don’t see previews anywhere. I do like a good preview that helps me make a purchasing decision where $18 PDF’s are concerned. 

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