[No-Artpunk] #4 The House of Pestilence

The House of Pestilence
Nick Roman (The Byzantine)
AD&D 1e
Lvl 10-14
31 pages + 4 maps
Class: Protected Cruiser

With this NAP I took a risk setting the bar for entry very high but I am glad to observe that it has already paid off. Someone wrote a sequel to D3. Normally: Insane hubris. Here: an exemplary performance. House of Pestilence is not just good, in that it preserves the energy and strangeness of the original D series, while shoring up some of its weaknesses, it is in fact downright great. With the D series culminating in the unsatisfactory Q1, such expansion is not just laudable, it is highly desirable.

An open-ended location in grand style, preceded by several underdark areas, with possibilities for everything from elaborate plotting and cunning assassination to a huge pitched battle. The House of Pestilence, a Drow noble house in exile, has sought the patronage of the Daemon Lord Anthraxus, plots among itself, cavorts obscenely and trafficks with all manner of hideous underdark denizens and lower planar agents. The wizard Vaus Arghul, recurring nemesis of the party, seeks to obtain the heart of its matron mother as component in an obscene ritual to obtain unlife. If that is insufficient, immense wealth also awaits. Enter the PCs.

A caravan of delights awaits the aspiring Underdark GM. Locations on the way to The House of Pestilence in the style of D1 and 2. Open-ended too, where the detail that is provided allows the DM to run it as a social encounter, but as often as not there is wealth and sorcery to uncover. A myconid shanty town with petitioners from all over the underdark seeking to achieve universal wholeness through the fungus. Pan’s Orchestra, a series of limestone caverns excavated by Wind Walkers over the course of millions of years, holding an ancient shrine. Ego’s Haunt, a deadly trap set by Mind flayers.

Locations have more weight to them if the process of reaching them is an adventure in and of itself. Enter the Undernesse, a network of caverns that forms the periphery of the holdings of the House of Pestilence. Treacherous deep gnome vassals, a mated pair of Shadow Dragons, the lair of the Dendrolion, a near extinct psionic predator reintroduced by House Umil-Da for hunting purposes, a crystal grottoe inhabited by a nymph, tormented by a Daemon. Sulphur springs with supine bugbear and troglodye servants. Encounters are lavish, complex and multi-faceted.

Multi-faceted is the right word. It would have been easy for Benson to stick with one format for the wilderness but like a true Dungeon Master we are confronted with the unexpected as the adventure changes gear in a heartbeat. The outer lair of the defences: a confusing labyrinth of winding tunnels, sticky fungus, illusionary corridors and UMBER HULKS led by a miserable drow wizard. Notice subtle detail: a procedure for alarm, allowing the very cautious to penetrate the caverns. Two types of fungus, one sticky, retarding progress, the other harmless. And then extra complications, tunnels are strategically collapsed, the Wizard’s telepathic call for help will be contemptuously refused by the noble house, a punishment for his weakness, making him more likely to surrender. Notice rich, ornate but not obfuscatory detail, little things like being able to salvage gnawed rothe meat.

What the House of Pestilence does proper and what was missing from D3 is to provide not just a complete and lengthy multi-tiered order of battle in case hostilities break out (!) but descriptions of all the NPCs and their little plots and schemes so the PCs have something to work with in case they go in and do not immediately start spamming fireball. The matron mothers progeny scheming and attempting assassinations. The variously amorous intrigues and vendettas that occupy the guard captains. The status-jockying of the servants and slaves. Then various guests that have arrived at the mansion with their own objectives, and among them, the 18th level wizard Vas Arghul with his plan of assassinating the Matron mother. You arrive into a veritable vipers nest. If the GM cannot turn that into something interesting then he should move back to 5e.

The second part of running an adventure like this is to provide opportunities, not just for atmosphere, world-building and noetic appreciation, but chaos, exploration and mischief. Slaves plotting to escape, a menagerie of underdark critters, some of which (like a Shedu), can possibly be freed, others, like a purple worm, simply unleashed. A cursed idol of Anthraxes along with a fixed schedule of sacrifice that exercises a baleful force upon the entire cavern. A bazaar where hideous night hags sell all manner of profane wonders. A vault full of riches, including 7 magic relics of good! A belltower from which the central alarm may be sounded. You have to do some cross-referencing but from this you can piece together an entire rhythm, a routine to this place of vice, intrigue, dark wonder and evil.

Every time you think the adventure has reached the end of its complexity it unveils, like a matroishka doll, another layer beneath. Beyond concentric layers of security is the Outer Palace, with therein the manors of the captains of guard, followed by the Inner Palace, which is partially shifted into the abyssal realm. Here the adventure transitions seamlessly from social adventure/pitched battle to dungeon proper. The suites of the grandees of House Umil-Da give way to the obscene fanes of Anthraxus, and the non-euclidean realm of the Ouroboros Pillar awaits, as the characters step into domains that are no longer wholly in the material plane, and are beholden to powers, principalities and dominions!

Opposition is legio and will be demanding to run even with proper notation, as is proper for a high level scenario. A DM must be intimately acquiainted with the legion of spells, items and creatures that are deployed and be able to employ them as though they were his own limbs. The Adventure attempts to help you in this by providing a full order of battle and initial tactics, but with so many permutations, it cannot be avoided that you will have to think on the fly. The upper levels of the Palace are pure planar adventure, bizarre challenges, daemonic trickery, worlds of sulfur and rot. Perhaps my second favorite is the tasteful use of a 12 HD hydra in the weird geometries of the Ouroboros pillar, followed by Umber hulk tunnels and at last the final smackdown in the grey desolation of the Ziggurat chamber, against an Ultroloth, and his 3 (or is it 5?) iron golem retainers in the shapes of long extinct Drow Nobles.

As is by now a common theme, Treasure is superabundant, but the limited carrying capacity of the characters and the laborious process of extracting it from the location forms the bottleneck. The approach to the house alone has almost 100k in combined magic items and treasure. Lugging it back through miles of monster-haunted, teleport-blocking tunnels is another matter. I will note here in passing the invention of several new devices, the hideous Bracer of Insect Enslavement, the expedient Silver Serpent Armor bracelet, the brilliant, nigh impossible to obtain and Huso-esque (frequent references to Huso abound) World Without End bottle of infinite ink, which can generate charts for ancient locations. Consider also the rich and varied stable of Pregens and retainers which such names as Valeria, the Sovereign of Sighs, Haught Taupik the Blood Sword Emperor and Saumur the Hangman of Orscea. It is a richness, a sheer delight. Item loadouts are stalwart, betraying the courage of the author.

Now comes the put puttering and scraping and shovelling. This adventure violates contest stipulations by a narrow margin, introducing 2 new monsters, 1 new spell (Infravision Mask) and 10 new items. Please attempt to look solemn and contrite as I perform my ceremonial finger-wagging and headshaking at the foolishness, the rashness, the impetuousity of youth. With all that said, this is a fine adventure in its own right, and an otherwise excellent entry. It reveals that it was not play-tested, but I expect this one will strike quite true when put to the test.

Excellent run so far. Are we going to make this the greatest NAP ever? What further battleships lie in wait?