Boiled down, S4 is a series of wildness encounters and then a series of cavern encounters, split between the lesser and greater cavern sections. The motive is looting — the sorceress Iggwilv’s treasure horde is supposedly in the caverns and Iggwilv being long dead means it is ripe for the taking. Except previous expeditions never returned, yadda yadda yadda. That’s really the extent of the narrative thrust. The boss fight is with Iggwilv’s vampire daughter, who sleeps with her mom’s cool stuff and doesn’t seem to bother anyone otherwise unless you come in to try and steal it? There is a sort of plausibility to all the encounters (most of which are tactically interesting) so that the whole thing feels more “realistic” than White Plume Mountain, but I don’t think it hold up to scrutiny. This might not be “gonzo” but it is still more of a funhouse than, say, Barrier Peaks or Tomb of Horrors.

I think the love for the module comes from secondary sources. The Erol Otus cover is a big one, as are the Jeff Easley interiors — he was really underused as a pen and ink artist. Most of all, I think the booklet of all new monsters is the thing that wowed folks on release. It is a great selection of beasties, basically the best of what would eventually become Monster Manual II. I think enthusiasm for them transferred generally to what is otherwise an otherwise workmanly module. Which, fair enough: monsters are pretty cool!

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