I'm surprised with how many people think the adventure is terrible... I read through it, and I thought it seemed like fun. It's got a nice back story, and the combat encounters seem well flavored. I particularly thought the risk of the mill catching fire was a nice touch. I haven't looked over the encounters in detail yet as far as stats go, but at a glance they seemed to offer a nice balance of creatures (aside from the first, with its brutish content).
Caveat: I tend to enjoy running low level games. The 'save the village' thing is something I enjoy, so that may be influencing my thoughts on this one.
I ran this adventure several times leading to the gameday and several times on that day.
The adventure is not terrible, but it suffers from several things. The initial estimation of 2-3 hours is ridiculous. The players are getting Paragon Level characters from a book that they probably never saw, until that day. It will take time to get accustomed to what those characters can do, and do it efficiently. Add to that the fact that you are probably sitting 5 people that have never played together and you are adding a lot of unknowns to the mix.
The adventure itself has an interesting story, and some interesting challenges but they are poorly executed because the DM is
rushed trying to get the whole adventure in a 3-4 hour time frame. The initial combat is against opponents with a ton of hit points, making the combat much longer and "uninteresting." Add to that the fact that some environmental factors make it harder to "hit" the creature and you have a grind in the making. This combat eats up so much time that the rest of the adventure suffers for it.
If you want to run this adventure I'd recommend the following:
[sblock]Let the players make their own characters. I'd rather play a character I know than one I just get handed and have to get acquainted with in 5 minutes. Pare down the hit points of the creatures in the initial combat. Eliminate the environmental factors (concealment). This will make that combat move faster.
Shorten the skill challenge. Instead of 8 successes make it 4. The target numbers are so low that the fact that you are even having a skill challenge is questionable. Make sure you determine what the players do with the girl before advancing.
Describe in vivid detail the location for the 2nd encounter. Make sure you mention the "fire hazard", but let the players know that this is the little girl's father's mill. They might not want to destroy it, specially if they suspect that the townsfolk are somewhere inside. Describe the mill stone, the platforms, etc. This encounter has some interesting terrain that can be used advantageously by both the creatures and the players.
Describe in vivid detail the location for the 3rd encounter. If the girl is with the party, have the Mezzodemon taunt her. Have the party really hate this creature. Use the creatures intelligently. Have the players use the terrain to their advantage. Make this combat interesting. You don't want a slugfest, like the first encounter.
End the adventure on a high note. Make it dramatic. If the players succeeded have them interact with the townsfolk, and specially the girl's parents. They are now the heroes of Weeping Briar. If they fail, make sure that they see the effect as the townsfolk are sacrificed, and the girl finally found and brought back to the altar. Maybe there is something dark to her, or maybe she pleads with them before she gets sacrificed too.
In the end make the choices, and circumstances the PCs face, significant.
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