S2: White Plume Mountain
Originally published August, 1979
Version being read and reviewed:
Dungeons of Dread S1-4 (March 2013) by Lawrence Schick
Quick side note: I have revised the S1: Tomb of Horrors review to redirect the link to the Amazon product page for Dungeons of Dread instead of the now defunct official product page on the Wizards of the Coast website.
First things first - SPOILER ALERT!!!!
Still here?
Ok, here we go.
Before I crack open the book, a brief preface. White Plume Mountain is one of those adventures I'd heard of, seen the name dozens of time in Dragon Magazine and internet discussions, but actually know almost nothing about. I'd heard of Blackrazor as some sort of artifact weapon but didn't know it was connected to White Plume Mountain until a couple of years ago.
The "S" series of "Special" adventures are all meant to stand alone, which means that this adventure being for levels 5-10 when S1 is for levels 10-14 makes sense, I suppose. Still, that makes the Dungeons of Dread compilation an odd choice when a "path" of adventures like the GDQ series would have made for a more interesting book.
The illustration of White Plume Mountain itself by Erol Otus is meant to look like an in-game map of sorts, including notes about various landmarks and denizens. There is a mention of Dragotha, the undead dragon, in the upper left corner. The term dracolich hadn't been invented yet, but I believe Dragotha was the first of those now iconic beasties.
Already I vastly prefer the hook for getting PCs in to this adventure over just about every adventure I've read so far, with the possible exception of C1: Lost Shrine of Tamoachan. Three powerful weapons have been stolen from the vaults of wealthy collectors and the PCs are hired to retrieve them.
White Plume Mountain itself is apparently an active volcano, which a wizard named Keraptis turned in to his private sanctum 1300 years ago. Why is it always wizards? Even if there's a fighter around, he's basically a sidekick (Vecna and Kas, Burne and Rufus, Zelligar and Rogahn). Apparently wizards in Greyhawk are destined for villainy and lichdom or some other form of immortality.
There are some brief DM notes of the usual sort, along with a note about where in Greyhawk White Plume Mountain is located (northeastern Shield Lands). There's also some suggestions for filling out the dungeon with more levels, including a possible confrontation with Keraptis himself.
The mountain itself is apparently not a volcano at all but a mountain version of Old Faithful...a geyser. The cave entrance breaths...which is weird...and cool. I think, when I run this, I will actually make it Old Faithful since my setting is Earth 11,000 years after a magical apocalypse. Taking a quick look at the map before getting in to the room descriptions, the place is divided in roughly three sections, which is appropriate since the PCs are after three different weapons.
Notable rooms include...
Room 2 gives us our first riddle, told by a gynosphinx.
Room 4 has 9 silver globes...pinatas basically, with a variety of critters and treasure (some false, some real), and false keys (and one real key) to the door which slams shut behind the party. One of the treasures is an uber-powerful ring and a bit of a gotcha item since it loses all of its power when it leaves the room. I'm not entirely sure what the point is, here.
Room 5 gives us our second riddle, featuring five flesh golems. I am not a fan of riddles but, thankfully, so far, these ones are easy.
Room 7 looks like something straight out of an old school Super Mario Bros game - platforms you have to jump on to get across the room - if you fall, you die. This module is getting weirder and weirder.
Room 8 is the home of the first stolen weapon, Whelm, and its vampire guardian. If I were playing through this adventure, I'd be sorely tempted to keep Whelm for myself. That's a pretty nice hammer.
Room 11 is straight of a funhouse - a spinning cylinder room. Did I mention this place is weird?
Rooms 12 and 13 are home to the dungeon's caretakers, a werewolf wizard and her fighter partner (recurring theme strikes again), apparently hired by and then magically compelled to stay by Keraptis. Also, erotic tapestries? Why are there always erotic tapestries?
Room 17 features the second weapon, Wave, and its guardian - a giant crab and a boiling steam filled magical water balloon. Weird...right. Anyway, Wave is also a nifty weapon that might end up in the keep pile instead of returned to its owner - a trident with a variety of powers, though its drawback is a bit more hefty than Whelm's - it pretty much hates and wants to kill anyone who doesn't worship Poseidon (or some other god of the sea). Oh, did I mention these items are all intelligent?
Room 19 superheats all the metal on the party, including armor. Not sure of the point of this room either.
Room 20...oh, that's the point, get the party out of their armor so the ghouls in this room can ambush them. Fun.
Room 22 is a frictionless room with razor pits and an illusory wall and...what? As the young'uns say, I can't even with this room. We have gone from weird to bizarre.
Room 27 is the residence of Blackrazor and its guardian, an ogre mage that disguises itself as a halfling adventurer. Blackrazor is cool, but thoroughly evil (it absorbs souls). When I was a kid first starting to play D&D, I came up with an artifact called the Dagger of Souls which does almost the same thing as Blackrazor. Nifty bit of parallel evolution.
The purpose of the theft finally becomes clear with the end note - apparently Keraptis was testing new recruits to replace his old minions and sends a pair of efreeti to forcibly round up the party for indoctrination. Oooookay.
We have a new critter to play with, the Kelpie, who gets a brief MM style entry after the end note. Yet another Siren imitator, only this one is a sentient, shapeshifting plant.
A brief history of Keraptis and his demented gnome servants and a hand-out version of Keraptis' "invitation" round out the module.
This adventure is just plain weird. Not completely illogically so if one considers that Keraptis must be a total loon, but still, this is definitely not one of my favorites.
Next up: B2: The Keep on the Borderlands
