Adventure Site Contest: What Happened to Brother Eustice?

​Written by Vance Atkins.
B/X, Low-level parties
Cave shrine in the foothills.
  As your party rides into town, Père Nicolas runs up to you from where he has been waiting at the temple door. “Friends! Brother Eustice went to investigate an old shrine in the hills, and hasn't returned!” You are acquainted with Eustice, a somewhat innocent but well-meaning young acolyte, just arrived to your border town from seminary in the city. Nicolas reports that Eustice hired a few idle caravan guards as companions, and set off to explore a cave where a shrine to an out-of-favor god was said to reside. That was yesterday, and there has been no word from the party, who intended to be gone only a few hours.
  Hey, it’s a Vance Atkins joint…we’ve seen him here on the blog before. At his blog he regularly reports his game sessions, where he plays a classic “wander around and bump into adventures” campaign with pick-up groups at his local bar. This is exactly the kind of game I advocate, a game that uses these kinds of adventure sites weekly, so it’s great to see him bringing in his own contribution. In What Happened to Brother Eustice? We have an old classic, the rumored ancient shrine in the nearby hills…this one having apparently eaten a local curious acolyte, the titular Eustice. Order loaded nachos and have Mike pick up the first pitcher for the table, we’re playing D&D tonight.
  Module looks nice. My second review of the author and I’m already familiar with his house style…we have clean, large-font presentation, with single column introduction, switching to double-column key, then ending with a bestiary complete with a nice little illustration. There’s nothing flashy about the writing but everything is described well, adjectives including not just sights but sounds and smells. It’s not something that bothers me, but I will note it’s written in second person…I know that provokes a violent allergic reaction to some. What I do mildly dislike is that the opening givens the background and assumes the hook has been taken, rather than rumors and hooks as is traditional. The map being inline with the key really is a nice formatting choice, it’s preferred if at all possible.
  The map itself is a simple Dyson Logos affair, as with every other time a Dyson map is used it neither adds nor detracts…it’s just okay. Linear-with-branches, so not ideal in terms of exploration, but that’s more understandable given the small scope (nine rooms). Water feature on the bottom is nice, a little bit of a linkage would theoretically be possible but alas, it’s not there.
  There’s a fun night of D&D to be had here with the cave exploration. The random encounter table is for the trip to the site, very standard, but I guess that also gives potential hazards if the party withdraws to camp out. My own personal bugaboo raises its ugly head in the monsters encountered within the cave, with 1d2 being present…no, you tell me, is it one or is it two? The crab spiders aren’t a big deal but the other monster is a custom from Trilemma Adventures Compendium Bestiary, the 6 HD “Chitin Drake”…a very neat creature, basically an oil-spitting flying centipede, but the difference between 1 and 2 of them drastically changes the entire site’s threat level. The other challenges are bog standard but it’s a nice bog, hidden stuff, trapped stuff, and poor Brother Eustice to talk to/accidentally murder. I could wish for a little more interaction with some of the set dressing, like polished basalt statues that should set most experienced PCs hair on-edge. Nope, they’re just atmospheric.
  Those statues and the missed opportunity that they represent are also a good segue to talk about the treasure. Huge statues are wonderful loot, particularly for low-level parties…there’s nothing like having extremely valuable loot that weighs a literal ton and throwing that in front of lowbies. No GP given for those two big statues, alas. Only 700gp in toto is available along with a potion of healing, a low-but-defensible total for a level 1 side cave, but if you rolled a 2 on that chitin drake number you’re going to be sorry. What I do like is how the treasure is all concealed, nothing is available without searching and that is how it should be.
  The adventure site is a lost shrine in a cave, so of course it’s workable in any campaign anywhere. I would make some changes personally to the treasures a bit, but that’s not really a stop. Some might object to the chitin drake being custom but it’s a cool creature and less absurd than an owlbear, so I like it. In the end, I guess the answer to What Happened to Brother Eustice is…my players. My players are going to happen to him. 

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That's one heck of a monster picture.