Misfortune often comes all at once, and this certainly has been the case for the once-prosperous village of Friezford. The opening notes explain all, but it's not completely clear how much of this background the party should actually know in advance...

This is a classic ghost adventure, with the ghosts requiring certain things to be done for them by the living before they can return to everlasting rest and peace. So of course, the trick is to figure out what they want and survive long enough to accomplish it. Needless to say, it's not only the undead which will pose problems... and there's a whole bunch of new ghost special abilities to make even the ghosts more potent. One of these, the ability to manifest a solid object (even whilst the ghost manifesting it is still, of course, incorporeal) is quite interesting and worth considering for other ghosts in your game.

There is a run-down of all the ghosts around (and there are quite a few), along with the single specific condition that will allow them to depart to their rest. Only then do we get to the hooks to get the party involved with the situation and the information that they can gather (or access via bardic knowledge) once they decide to investigate further. There's not a lot, because it was apparently over an hundred years ago that the village was overrun and common knowledge is by now not very detailed.

Four events are provided, which may be run in any order as is appropriate given the party's actions. These should provide plenty of action and excitement. There is a map of Friezford and its environs, and a good detailed run-down of the locations - and of course what happens should anyone visit them. Some of them are really quite 'spooky' and can be played up to emphasise the atmosphere of the ghost town.

The main problem with this adventure is the very specific terms under which most of the ghosts can be laid to rest... to be precise, how difficult it is to firstly discover them and then put them into effect. At one point, only two very specific spells will work which the characters may or may not have: and if they do not, it's airily waved aside as a sidetrek that's up to the DM to arrange to gain access to them... even though it's never made clear just how they are supposed to discover which spells they need in the first place!

That aside, the actual ghost town and events going on there should provide a fair bit of quality spooky entertainment for your group.

Return to Ill Wind in Friezford page.

Reviewed: 27 May 2016