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Message: <blockquote data-quote="der_kluge" data-source="post: 9371280" data-attributes="member: 945">The Baron’s Eyrie (Dungeon #58) <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="⭐" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/2b50.png" title="Star    :star:" data-shortname=":star:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" />  <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="⭐" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/2b50.png" title="Star    :star:" data-shortname=":star:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" />  <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="⭐" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/2b50.png" title="Star    :star:" data-shortname=":star:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" /> This module (for levels 5-7) takes place in an unnamed island of terror, but given that its origins are Dragonlance, it suggests that Sithicus could also be suitable. The adventure starts at an inn, where the PCs learn that several individuals have been recently kidnapped mysteriously from the inn. While there, the PCs meet a man named Mikal who explains that he is fearful that he is being chased, and asks for the PCs help in protecting him. If the PCs agree or not, the man is kidnapped, and apparently no amount of prep work on the PCs part will stop this event from happening. Mikal is immortal, and a werebat by the name of “the Baron” has learned of this man’s existence and wishes to have him for himself so that he can feed on him regularly. The Baron lives inside a floating castle and due to the curse on the castle, is unable to leave it, and thus relies on his underlings to find food for him.There’s a brief, mostly unnecessary, backstory regarding the floating castle (which is from Krynn) and wanders aimlessly across Ravenloft and is now the home to a group of werebats, and a bunch of other random things like spiders and flying ghouls. In the module, Mikal asks for their protection, but doesn’t offer anything for this service, and instead just says that they’ll discuss the details in the morning. Of course, in the middle of the night, he’s captured. This might be the best way to handle this situation, because the module requires that he be kidnapped. Clever PCs might insist that he sleep in their room, and they could literally manacle him to the bedpost for his protection. Come to think of it, this isn’t the first time I’ve recommended manacles as a solution to an obvious railroad. It might become necessary equipment for my character should I ever play in a Ravenloft campaign.From there, the PCs follow the trail (hopefully, I guess), and find a floating castle. I’ve never been a huge floating castle fan, although they are cool, they do present a lot of complications. This is somewhat discussed by the author at the end of this module – pointing out that some powerful lords would very much like to have the castle for themselves. So, why this hasn’t happened yet is puzzling. A small group of werebats aren’t going to stop Strahd from taking it from them, for example. And, if the PCs kill the Baron, there’s nothing stopping them from having the castle for themselves, too! Although, the curse of the castle dictates that whoever its owner is can’t leave the castle. So, I guess one of the PCs must sacrifice themselves to be the castle keeper. Small price to pay, perhaps, for the rest of the party having a floating citadel.At any rate, the castle itself is fairly well detailed, and while there’s a decent amount of combat, it doesn’t feel overly heavy. I liked the room with the Doppleganger that disguises himself as Mikal and tries to convince the party to save him. That’s particularly clever. The subplot is also interesting, in that the werebats don’t like the Baron, and wish for the PCs to eliminate him, but because they are beholden to (and controlled by) him, they can’t come out and directly say this. After a bit of misdirection, it’s assumed that the PCs either weaken or defeat the Baron and are thus able to leave the castle at that point.I like this module, but there are some real headscratchers here. How the Baron (who is confined to his castle) even learned about Mikal is a baffling one. Presumably his werebat minions (there are 3 of them) learned about him, and told The Baron? It’s not clear. One of the werebats is described as a “shrewish” bookkeeper (funny, she doesn’t look Shrewish!), who keeps meticulous accounting records. Ok, what? Why do werebats keep accounting records at all? That one was a real puzzler. Also, it feels very much like the “spooky” bits (like a bleeding set of armor) were just tacked on. It feels like it might have been a Dragonlance module, but the author decided to shoehorn it into Ravenloft because he thought it stood a better chance at getting published, and thus just added in spooky bits for thematic reasons?If I were to run this, I would change quite a few things. Firstly, it could make for an interesting side-quest. Someone could simply pay the PCs to rescue Mikal and provides them a general location of his whereabouts (where they find a floating castle). You could also easily tie Mikal into the “Lady of the Mists” quest since it includes several individuals who were immortal. Some of the werebat interactions are a little weird, and don’t feel at all natural. The “dinner” event with the werebats is also pretty weakly described and thus could use quite a bit of improvements. A lot of the role-play opportunities here could simply be ignored by a party more eager to just kill stuff, so there needs to be more an incentive for them to ask questions first, before they just start murder-hoboing everything. This is one of those modules were “kill first, ask questions later” is actually the RIGHT solution, and would create quite a few problems for the GM to resolve. Like, the GM needs to have an answer to the problem of “what happens when my party kills the Baron?”, which the modules doesn’t answer.</blockquote>

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