[No-Artpunk] #12 The Ivory Islet (AD&D)

The Ivory Islet
C. Dantes
AD&D
Lvl 9 – 11
Pages: 47 (+2 maps)
Classification: Dreadnought

Part of the appeal of working with higher levels is that adventures will be had that not only task the player but also the DM. This is exemplified nowhere but with The Ivory Islet, an adventure that is brilliant but dense and complex even when compared with some of its heavier NAP cousins (Shangri-La & Cairn of Night). Someone actually did it. Someone looked at the official NAP tournament bible and realized the unlimited power of the material that is at their disposal. Everyone else was just using 5% of their brains. Ivory Islet freely uses material from Oriental Adventures, Creature Catalog, White Dwarf and a great profusion of obscure Dragon Magazine articles. The result is something that feels hyper-exotic even though not even a single new creature is introduced. The power was inside you all along.

An advanced adventure is right. This thing is dense, two levels, 44 rooms taking up 20 pages, the rest being taken up with appendices, premade character sheets, monster stattblocks, additional information on faction goals and NPCs within the Ivory Islet etc. Complex encounters in surreal, exotic locations with rich descriptions. Detailed NPCs. Orders of battle, countermeasures, contacts, connections and multiple ways of egress. A complicated plan to usurp the ossified ruling caste of the elephantmen and impose on them the racial supremacy that the BBG thinks they so richly deserve. This has just about everything you would ever need and the question is, are you strong enough, oh mortal man, to wield its power. It tries to help you out by highlighting treasure, creatures and features so there is order in the chaos, again, probably a good decision because without it running this would require a companion volume worth of notes.

The premise is great, very imaginative. The Ivory Preservatory is a sort of fantasy Shadow Moses island that the Nagmellans (elephantmen, as Pachyderms, Creature Catalog) use to dispose of cursed items, and also secretely guards a portal into an abyssal demiplane. Hannibar, Archbull, exile, fantasy bond-villain and would-be messiah, has struck deals with various foul spirits and seeks to stage a coup on the Nagmallen leadership. Enter the PCs, who can come as anything from burglars, negotiators to exterminators.

This thing is dense, rich with high fidelity detail. I am not talking floor-tiles and latrines either. Gameable information, considerations how the Nags perfect memory affects their response to intruders, intelligent responses from multiple groups, coverage of what other parties interact with the Preservatory in case the party decides to try to bluff their way in, a defence that protects the building from spells of 5th level or higher but which can be disabled (!), a crucial detail, easy to miss. A lot of this information is grouped so it does not need to be teased out of individual room entries, which is a small mercy. Even the random encounter tables have a little extra.

Good map, multiple means of egress, including a few that are not immediately obvious, like a hole in the ceiling or the means to crawl up via a latrine. Treasure vaults, secret hiding spaces and booby-trapped areas to snare intruders are the name of the game, and elevate the adventure above pure spec-ops D&D. Instead a location of wonder, closest analogy G3. A complex inhabited by intelligent opponents, but with different (though non-hostile) factions, prisoners that can be interrogated/rescued, an underlying design and a bizarre versimilitude to the whole. Some people have this great gift, to create a living, breathing complex that is simultaneously a place of wondrous adventure. This is sustained by a sort of Trentian or Kuntzian depth and specificity to all of the contents. It is the exact opposite of the perfunctory ‘2000 gp worth of jewels.’ All this while staying within the contest parameters.

Encounters are properly high-level. Combinations, complexity and variety. Its not just pachyderms, its the Goldtusks, the honor guard with their right tusk replaced by a gold prosthetic wielding falcatas and trunk maces (seperate proficiency if you want to learn), a special elite guard with poisoned crossbows and tower shields with bags of memory moss to take out spellcasters, two different varieties of flying bone relics holding the memories of ancient Nag spellcasters (and yes these are in AC 9). Two devils that can be called in. A horn that can be blown to alert the complex and an iron golem that can be woken up. Elite NPCs with abilities and magic items. This is advanced D&D kids.

This sort of hyper-tactical spec-ops D&D is interspersed with fiendish obstacles with open-ended secrets. Take the above, a secret treasure vault with an albino nag that must be charade-communicated with in order to get certain items out of the vault (with an exchange mechanism based on weight, something that would be utterly impractical were it not that fairly meticulous attention has been paid to the weight of treasure and other items throughout the adventure). Later on, in the Gurgothan side of the outpost, there is a gigantic dice that opens into six extra-dimensional rooms, or pools of memetic fluid that hold the congealed memories of Nag elders, or the cabin of a sadistic dual whip (one cockatrice feather) wielding Nag NPC, his submissive slave and his menagerie of minature tigers. A brass tube studded with diamond spikes underneath a pit of white hot coinage is used to prevent intruders in the southern gate. Machinery can be adjusted using levers in adjoining rooms.
There are no breaks on this crazy train.

I want to zoom in on a single encounter to illustrate what makes this adventure so sick. In 36. there is the frozen (using ice from the memory pools, which retains its temperature unless intervened with by intelligent life) body of a Leveller (a 45 HD behemoth from AC 9). Only its leg is not frozen. The Nags get rid of the cursed items by having them hyper-smashed by the leveller. Ok fair. That would be a feature in some item. But its a game. So there is a pile of (to the nags, valueless) treasure, coins and a few items, underneath the leg. If the leg takes damage it will step down. Do you risk it? There is an Alpha Astra (the floating wizard item things) hiding in the room that will fire MM on the leg if the players get underneath the leg. AND you can dispel the weird ice (which is also used elsewhere to preserve the Goldtusk reserves and save on food-supplies) and release the Leveller! This is a single encounter, totally gameable, it can be used or be resolved in multiple ways but it is also simultaneously part of the weird but consistent internal logic of the complex.

All the usual gripes and grouches about crude errors or shortcomings sort of fall by the wayside. There is a craftsmanship here that borders on the obsessive, an attention to exactly the correct detail that elevates the adventure and allows the DM to adjudicate and anticipate, a willingness to boldly expand one’s horizons and utilize material from the extensive legacy of Dungeons & Dragons and create a proper open-ended location THEN also include a timetable in case there is overmuch dithering on the PC side. Subtle details that reflect actual play and familiarity of clever players, the information they would receive if they cast Speak with Animals on the seals (Dragon magazine #137 in case you were wondering) near the island’s entrance. The one requirement is that you, like the author, get your hands dirty and dig in deep. If you can handle D3 you can handle this.

There is an extensive coverage of the aftermath, consideration of what happens if the players try to call in help from the elephantmen government, a list of rumors that may be gleaned from sages or the right contacts, a description of Hannibars plan to help you out in case you could not read between the lines etc. The information is presented in a way that is considerate towards the reader, it is something to be taken into account and used. Additional permutations like the nature of some of the prisoners is also included. Several new items, including a mummified trunk that can transport items to a person as long as his name is well known, a Mancatcher that can deal damage to someone’s oldest relative and other items of power and wonder are included. Extensive use is made of items in Dragon and occasionally White Dwarf, which is very cool. The premades are the most colorful motherfuckers this side of Greyhawk, and include in their ranks an LE Kensai, an NE Aztec priest, a half-ling thief-acrobat with teeth of the saint, Joan Comette, Nine of Diamonds Half-Orc Assassin and so on. Bravo.

I suspect difficulty is high, but not unreasonably so for a high level adventure. Save vs death is used sparingly, the Pachyderms with their advanced tactics should be comparable to hill giants, and the inclusion of advanced enemies like Bone Devils using their abilities intelligently should provide for a formidable challenge to even veteran players. Brute force is interspersed with poison, paralysis, curses and miscellanious spell use. Gimping is kept to a minimum, with 5th level+ spells being supressed within the complex, but not in a way that is impossible to bypass. I suspect the adventure is robust enough to handle intelligent use of wizard eye, invisibility, clairvoyance etc, and the tips for handling repeat incursions are appropriately merciless.

Great work, very unconventional. Have we peaked? Are there still worlds to conquer? Can we do even better?