Wrath of the River King was the first 4th Edition Open Design project from Kobold Press and is set mostly in the Summer Lands, Midgard’s version of the Feywild. I ran this adventure in 2009, starting it in the Feyshore Forest near Parsantium.
Here’s the third write up. You can read past episodes here.
Confronted by the baying pack of eel hounds, Brave Ella climbs up the grassy bank where she can take potshots at them, but Krivinn, Koh-Bar and Margarita soon find themselves surrounded by frenzied eels and slipping all over the place on the muddy shore. Koh-Bar goes unconscious from multiple slithering bites. To rescue the tiefling, Krivinn lays hands on him, then throws him up the bank. Meanwhile, the pack leader spits at Ella twice and then closes to attack her at close quarters. Koh-Bar uses his thunder leap to jump back into the action, misses three out of four eel hounds and ends up unconscious again. He goes on to fail two death saves before being healed by Krivinn. Margarita revives Ella and then slays the leader after it’s bloodied by Krivinn.
Weary from their travails, the adventurers head up the creek to find somewhere to rest for the night as it’s getting dark. The party set up camp – Ella talks about building a fire but using this word seems to freak out Koh-Bar who runs off into the woods, ranting and raving. While he’s gone, Ella makes her small fire. Koh-Bar spots a man of leaves in the trees and returns to the others but runs off again when Krivinn repeats the word “fire”. When he comes back for a second time, Krivinn sets him off yet again, then Sharden does.
Eventually the characters stop tormenting the tiefling when the twigs in their campfire start screaming and writhing around as if in agony! Krivinn grabs several twigs out of the flames, burning himself in the process, and then lays hands on the sticks in an effort to heal them. The party decide not to light another fire; instead Sharden uses a scroll to cast magic mouth to guard the campsite.
The adventurers settle down to rest but Ella’s watch is disturbed by a flock of owls swooping and diving through the camp. Fortunately, the others get back to sleep and the party manages to take an extended rest.
Next morning, the party continue to follow the creek upstream, running into a group of shadow fey accompanied by their hunting boars. When the characters refuse to bow down and swear fealty to the fey, battle ensues.
The shadow fey runners turn invisible and blind the party with their feyshot wands, the boars charge, and the witch surrounds herself in a shadowy aura. The shadow fey prove to be elusive foes, hard for the characters to target with their attacks, but the adventurers emerge victorious. Two shadow fey manage to escape.
Art by Pat Loboyko
Richard Green | Game Designer 