Since many folks are traveling for the holidays, I thought I’d review an adventure that takes place while traveling: The Inn At Five Points!
This is a semi-linear adventure, but that's generally the nature of most published adventures and especially shorter ones. They have a tight focus, but this is one that actually lends itself to campaign play! It has an ending that is going to mostly finish the same way every time, but it does a great job at world building and providing the PCs with hooks and opportunity for future adventures. I'll also note that its an adventure with only a couple "combats" that will really happen so it's pushes actual roleplaying! With enough roleplay, you could stretch it out, but this is can easy one-shot that can even be run in under 3 hours. With all that said, let's get to the review! As usual, its spoilerific. You've been warned!
Adventure Summary
So the adventure opens with the PCs needing to find a place to camp for the night. They very likely encounter an lonesome warrior, Dolmond Fway, on the road. He tells the story of how he is the only one of his adventuring party to still live. A great beast, that he calls a wolf-wyrm, quite literally devoured all the others. The warrior is done with the life of adventure and is on his way to become a field hand at his cousin's farm. But he still has the horses that belonged to his deceased friends and will sell them to the PCs at a bargain price. Furthermore, he'll share that his adventuring group was headed to the titular Inn at Five Points. There they were to meet a man who carries a map that can lead the PCs to a lost kingdom supposed filled with treasure.
When the PCs set upon the road the following morning, they should be on the look out. After all, they were just warned of a man-eating beast! Hint: it's on the cover of the adventure. The beast attacks, perhaps from surprise depending on how wary the PCs have been. As a fun bonus, this is finally the opportunity for that PC with the "born on horseback" birth augur to show off! This is one of two times that there's a pre-written "jousting" opportunity within a DCC module (see Crash of the Sky People for the other one). A lovely touch with the fearsome beast is that its not at full hp. It's a smart way to put a tough creature in a low level adventure. Bonus: If the PCs gut the monster, they'll find some gold and a magical dwarven shield from the adventurers who were recently eaten.
Moving on, the PCs arrive at Five Points. A place named for the five paths from five different regions that meet here. However, there's not much here except for an inn, some horse traders, and a couple farm houses. Not too much to be said about the horse traders at Pop Tavit's Horses and Tack, but the PCs do need a place to stable horses (assuming that they bought some). Alternatively, they could try to offload excess horses. At about the time, the PCs should experience a soft rumble of the earth.
Meanwhile, the inn is filled with great characters. There's the inn keeping couple, Arlo and Quendy, who once made an appearance in a previous Brendan LaSalle adventure (DCC #10: Belly of the Great Beast). Their previous inn got blasted into space. Guess the insurance money came through. We also have Jenny Paper, a thief who bears some resemblance with a certain thief from Neon Knights. Jenny pretends to be on an urgent errand errand for a local noble house, and has some forged documents to help "prove" this. Boom. Another rumble of the earth. Slightly stronger than the last one.
But our mysterious stranger with the map (unless a better one fits your campaign) is written as Emmet Mott, a prospector. The lonesome warrior from the beginning of the adventure told the PCs of his description, and he's doing that "strider in the corner of the Prancing Pony" thing, so his mysterious nature practically invites the PCs to come over. He won't immediately trust the PCs but you don't want to make it too hard. Emmett is an older man and definitely not an adventurer. He wants a percentage of what the PCs recover from any expedition, but really isn't greedy about the situation. Boom! A massive rumble that shakes the entire inn!
An earthquake causes the entire inn to plummet beneath the earth! Everyone needs to make Reflex saves. When the inn reaches the bottom of a huge sinkhole, they are hundreds of feet beneath the earth. Furthermore, cultists are actively capturing people for a sacrifice to the Rat God! The PCs can possibly stealth around a little bit, but we're thrown into our second (and last) combat encounter of this adventure. There's a lot of cultists here, plus they may summon a pretty dang fearsome rat demon.
If the PCs get into trouble, a couple of the aforementioned NPCs can possibly help out. Such as Jenny the thief and the warrior woman of an innkeeper. After the fight is over, there are a couple side rooms with loot. There's also the bones of an old sailor whose spirit briefly appears to communicate his wishes to be buried in his homeland across the sea. If the PCs can accomplish this, they are rewarded with Luck! Somewhat more interestingly, the PCs also find a large egg: that of a wolf-wyrm!
That's the end of the adventure, but we are also left with a new level 1 spell: Hell Rats. This is a great addition to Lankhmar's Rat God, who has an Invoke Patron and the other basics, but no special spells. And as a special bonus, we have some recipes for Five Points Rosemary Garlic Bread, Spicy lamb Stew, the Lucky Traveler (a vegan hot cereal), and a oatmeal cream stout. All specialties served at the Inn at Five Points. Unfortunately, Arlo and Quendy must rebuild their inn once again...
Conclusion
The PCs are left with a variety of paths in which thy can go. Taking Emmett Mott's map and explore the ruins of a lost civilization is probably the most appealing path. Here’s a few possible adventures that would work with that (with perhaps the most minor of tweaks to descriptive text):
And who knows how many rat god cultists are out there. With the most minor of adjustments, this is the perfect adventure to place just outside of a large city such as Punjar or Lankhmar. But the adventure can also be placed in between larger adventures as a short interlude. As it was the Convention module back in 2019, you probably won't be finding it in print, but it's a great adventure to add to your PDF collection. Go check it out!
What’s your favorite adventure that takes place while traveling?
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