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Firstly Id like to say I ran this almost the week directly after running part 1 , so I think I was able to look at how this was connected to part 1 in a better light and my parties were doing this straight after part 1.
Also before I get started, Id like to mention that the Hul 2 series seems long for 4 hours. In that while its certainly possible it might go under 4 hours due to factors, its also very likely it will go longer without some creative work from the dm. I dont know if this points to inadequate playtesting but as a scenario goes it feels like it has often one encounter or two, too many.
Continuing the Winter/Cold theme, the Party is now introduced to a variation of the city under siege (the story type common in the majority of AL and other organised play Epics). In this case its more of a Ruined city under siege story. The party is asked after an initial encounter with some Wolf/Werewolf servants of Malar to investigate some information the guards have discovered about a missing relic and a thief apparently hiding in town . Rather than directly tangle with the servants of Malar, the quest giver would prefer the adventures to locate the relic and the thief.
While Im not adverse to an information dump from Quest Givers, I am a little saddened that this information has to come from there as I dont see another natural way for this to be learned. I guess some information could of been given by the Servant of Malar in the previous scenario, but then there is the issue of .. what happens if the characters havnt played it ? This is of course the price that comes with organised play and not being able to play everything in order.
To me at least, perhaps if the party was told about the thief and then found out about the relic perhaps by encountering it or finding out from the Villains brother.. it might of felt more natural.
At any rate some cold zones have popped up in proximity in Tent City Cold Zones that obscure sight and are obviously the creation of this RElic. THe party have a choice of a northern or Western one. Both have encounters connected to them and if the party is lucky they might
The biggest issue here is that one of these encounters is a red herring encounter. It involves a somewhat challenging fight with the party using resources and then a trek across to another encounter with the party using more resources. If the party picks the right one first, then the other really isnt neccessary and if they dont well, you are adding to the length of the scenario and perhaps the deadliness. I personally have had a party go to just one and both.
The party encounter the brother (who I made a Twin of the villain) and after a discussion and a further info dump, the party is asked to go to an area in the frozen docks called the ARches where the Brother will be found, looking for a prison for his Warlock (yay!*) Patron , Kasval.
- I say Yay here because the build of this villain is one of the best I have seen in all AL scenarios. Normally I get given a spellcaster who is .. if not underpowered.. lacking. THis one was not.
Kasval, does not really play a part in this scenario. He gets a name drop and then later is sent essence wise back to his plane. One thing my logic brain here has an issue with is this. Kasval is the originator of Geldryks powers. Geldryk is a Warlock. Geldryks plan is to use a tome (which again means little in the scenario) to Free Kasval from a prison in which, the end result would be that Kasval would still be imprisoned in the Item Geldryk wears. But still imprisoned in there. I made up some story that is was likely Kasval would come to fully take over Geldryk.
Kasval seems like perhaps a great villain for maybe a different Hul series.
So the party head into the arches (and another monster encounter) and finally enter a secret bunker/fortress/something which is decorate with pictures of flame and holy warriors fighting evil things. We are introduced to the now dead order of the Guardian Flame( or as the scenario says later order of the Flame)
I love secret organisations like anyone else, and these guys seem/ed? interesting. We are treated to another dead Paladin/Holy Warrior encounter (which can finally lead to a monster fight) or go peacefully. So yeah, another Hul scenario with a possibly good ghost thing helping a live person out. THe party also encounter a skill based challenge or free a trapped Imp. I had a little fun either with him insulting party members but also wanting out.
This all leads to a prison room where many years previously Kasvals body was destroyed and his essence played into an item.. which is now the property of Geldryk. No mention is made of why Geldryk didnt have to also get the locks open.. he just got in and left after taking the Kasval prison.
THe encounter with the 'Guardian Flame ' is interesting. I played him like a cracking fire. Part of me secretly was hoping that he was ANOTHER Imprisoned creature that had Warlocks of his own and was a foe of Kasval only because Kasval poached potential souls. ooh.. and the party gets a possible hopefully future story award assuming future writers remember it.
Maybe that was just me though.
THe party from here can chose to take on some extra power vs Kasval and then all roads lead to the final encounter with the good brother being put into a block of ice and the Party fighting the Relic/Kasval prison/Geldryk combination. A fairly interesting fight as long as he gets a chance to use his stuff. Otherwise it can be over quick.
Now at a few points in this scenario, I showed that the Good brother still cared for the bad one. While he didnt ask directly for people to not kill his brother, he implied he still saw good in him. Narrowly both times Geldryk was saved from death (although Im still confused as to why he isnt a Warlock anymore.. Kasvals prison is destroyed.. he goes back to the Hells).. its not that easy to get out of a deal.
One thing I will point out, this is one of the few scenarios where the magic item reveal is entirely dependant on if the BBEG is killed or not. Im really really really loving this. If people wanna evil it uip and annihilate the big guy because hes not worthy of even trying to save him, then thats on them. I personally applaud the writer.
As a final note, I gave this 3 stars because I quite liked the story, I like the monster choices, the possible Guardian Flame devil creature (Come on.. make it an unknowingly EVIL order!) and the Warlock build. I still think there were too many encounters there, and the middle encounters are an issue . However it is much better than parts 1 and 3, which is a rarety (because generally Ive found its the middle one, that is the weakest scenario)
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