Adventure Site Contest 2: Tor of the Vulture Lord

I did print this, so spoiler alert I guess.

​Written by Alex Edwards
OSRIC, levels 1-9 (hee hee hee NO)
Roc nest full of bandits.
  A Roc nests in the ruin of a temple set on a 250ft stone pillar overlooking a desolate hex. Brigand Horde & other Creatures of Chaos use the caverns beneath the temple as a base from which to raid local settlements.
  If you enjoy striking prominences, this contest has got you covered. Obviously we started with a ridiculously tall monadnock, and recently a pair of desert spires menaced and confused us…now we have a rocky tor, less enormous than the others but still extremely prominent. Add all the towers we’re reviewing (and of yes, more to come), and we might even call this one the Year of the Spire.
  Imma get us to the content, but first I’m going to talk about this one’s format a bit. It’s…a little strange. First page is single-column, starting with a tiny blurb, a line of hooks in italics, then the bestiary, which is personality notes along with order of battle notes along with faction breakdown. Then you have two-column keys, with monsters highlighted in yellow and treasure highlighted in blue (which, by the way, is pretty unreadable if printed out), with a bit of referee notage in the back. Each paragraph is separated by grey vs white background, which is probably what the author had to do because of his hatred of whitespace. Then we get to the map, which, while clear, has a nearly random sequence of rooms keyed to the alphabet. None of it is fatal, but it’s a little weird.
  Our story is pretty simple, there’s a high tor that used to house a temple to Nike, now being used as a nest by a roc. A warlord with special Potions of Roc Control has set up camp in the caves and allied with harpies and vulchlings, enslaved some mongrelmen, tamed some hippogryphons, and now Plots Vague Villainy while his lieutenants squabble. Of and also one lieutenant is lawful good and trying to spy on the warlord’s band and has friends in the nearby woodlands. The adventure suggests level 1’s be introduced to the location by being swept up and dumped into the nest, their adventure then an escape, to return later to rescue a princess (who’s actually evil and shacked up with a minotaur lieutenant) or overthrow the warlord. It’s an idea, but one rather…fraught with risk.
  First impression of the map gave me flashbacks to EE 101, but it’s clear enough upon studying. My biggest question is how I’d convey the somewhat sketchy diagram style to my mapper (also there’s an error in the passage to the right T/S, need stairs there). It’s a neat environment, a ton of movement possible on the X, Y, and Z axis, and there’s a lot to explore in a lot of different directions. Secret doors are all in logical, realistic places, pity they’re mostly just nasty nightmare fights. Also bonus points for a well in the middle there, a fortress that might be besieged needs a good water supply. Very unique style but I think I dig it. 

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  If you send level 1’s up against this one I hope you’re planning on making this a funnel, because there are a lot of instadeaths for them. Although technically the hit dice are enough to be a threat (120 brigands total, for example), I would also expect a level 9 group to butcher this fortress in moments. All the monsters and NPCs have a real personality to them and friendly reaction rolls, interrogation, and/or trickery should yield some fun interactions. Nice side note, there’s an “insert NPC prisoner(s) here” jail location that’s a great spot to add friendly captives for campaign integration. Nobody in this joint is particularly fond of the warlord, in addition to the spy and her waiting allies the mongrelmen aren’t particularly loyal, there’s twenty orc ladies in the harem that are getting bored with him, the Regulation Bandit Band Wizard is uncaring about anything other than demonology, the minotaur lazy but being encouraged to usurp the warlord…it’s a powderkeg, you love to see it. The roc herself (named “Vengeance of the Azure Abyss” and boy that’s a great title) has her own egg-related goals, and she ignores humanoids normally as not big enough to bother. There’s a good set of orders of battle for various rooms. The only thing I’m not fond of are the three secret rooms that are each filled with four mummies wielding +1 battle axes, that’s a pretty crummy reward for discovering a secret.
  This adventure is sure to blue-highlight those +1 battle axes. The fact that the author is counting the magic weapons for XP means that we’re thinking hard about the budget, and there’s adequate if not generous amounts here for the middle of the level range given (once again, this isn’t really 1-9). Pleasing mix of coins, jewelry, and a few bulky items (mundane equipment is in the budget). Magic items are going to be pretty mundane, +1 arms and armor mostly with potions, but the amounts are plentiful at least. +1 silk robes are a nice side for the poor wizards. A good spellbook in the warband’s wizard’s hands will make your own MU happy.
  Hard to imagine this one not working in most campaigns. I’d disagree with the suggested early inclusion and it’s not going to be much of a threat at the top of the level range, but midrange this is a very solid ultra-prominence to include in your game. As a lover of rocs, I think this is a roc done right.