Set in and around the beautifully-detailed village of Erburg, this adventure pits the characters against some particularly hard zombies which have proven too tough for the village Watch to cope with.

After an introduction which explains what is going on, what the characters really have to face and how it all came about, the first part is a detailed exploration of Erburg. If you have run the adventure A Dreadful Dawn, the characters will already know the village, and in particular the Laughing Badger Inn, quite well. But this is not a necessary prerequisite to playing this adventure, as there is enough detail provided here. While the village and surroundings are well-detailed, it will be easy to place it somewhere suitable within your own campaign world if this adventure is to be slotted into an existing campaign. Local notables are well-described and there is a lot going on that has nothing (or only a little) to do with the adventure in hand, a good way of developing a good feel of a community which continues whether or not your characters are hanging around there!

Next comes a series of 'Events' which occur while the characters are in Erburg. Each comes complete with enough details to run the event, including necessary background as to why it happens, but with sufficient freedom to enable the DM to meld it into the story he is telling rather than being forced to run it NOW because that's when it happens! This also provides for a generous measure of interaction and investigation for those who enjoy such aspects of role-playing, before the more standard fare of exploration and combat kick in.

Without, of course, going into too much detail about the rest of the adventure, Chapter 2 takes the characters into the surrounding forest with scope for wilderness skills such as tracking as well as opportunties for combat. Again there is a selection of 'Events' which the DM can weave into the narrative as the characters complete their journey, making it a lot more than "You walk through the forest for x hours/miles until you reach..."

Chapters 3, 4 & 5 give the characters the opportunity to find out what's going on and to put a stop to it... provided they survive the various perils and adversaries who await them. Again everything is well laid out with all the information the DM needs to run a given event or encounter provided clearly. The book rounds off with likely reactions of the Erburg residents to the tales returning adventurers might tell and ideas for further events and adventures... and a few new monsters and items which the characters will encounter during their exploits. There are also some pregenerated characters, useful if you want to use this as a one-off - or to save time if a character falls mid-mission.

Overall, it is a well thought out adventure which, while it is fairly linear, has enough going on that the characters will not feel that they are being channelled in a particular direction. Everything is presented clearly and it should prove straightforward to run as a one-off or as part of a campaign, particularly if you run the classic bunch of adventurers going around dealing with problems and reaping the rewards type of game.

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Reviewed: 22 July 2007