This adventures involves a group of thieves who thought they were ever so smart in having a base outside of the city on which they prey - the city guards are not concerned about what happens outside the city walls, and the thieves do not trouble anyone other than city-dwellers so nobody around the amazing tree-house they've constructed is interested in them either. Only they have now been ousted by some harpies...

The obvious mission is to evict the harpies: whether or not the party is happy about the thieves moving back in depends on their outlook (or who is paying them!). The hooks provided to get them involved include, interestingly, a couple which are completely inaccurate but will get them to the right place, as well as more obvious things like the party rogue being approached for assistance.

The city is left unspecified so you can run this adventure anywhere you have a city with a forest nearby capable of supporting the tree house. The plan provided (again originally from the Map-a-Week feature on the Wizards of the Coast website) shows an evergreen tree, but it's not important to the structure of the tree house so if the most suitable forest is deciduous, a tree of appropriate size from there will do fine. (Or perhaps you are not enough of a botanist to care...) Be that as it may, the actual habitable portions of the tree house - and the mess the harpies have created - is well-described and should prove an entertaining 'inverted delve' for the party, with assorted harpies to fight as they, understandably, do not wish to be evicted.

Neatly, the harpies are not treated en mass, there is a defined leader with her own plans and tactics, as well as other mature harpies and even some young ones - who still can make themselves unpleasant to intruders. A few brief notes on how to follow up the adventure, depending both on why the party got involved in the first place and the outcome, are included.

Overall it is a nice straightforward adventure which can slot neatly into any campaign when the party is in an appropriate location - perhaps you want to get them more involved in urban life, or maybe they are just passing through - and level, with scope for being treated as a side-trek or incorporated more closely into your plots.

Return to House of Harpies page.

Reviewed: 13 May 2016