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The plot of the scenario is simple enough, as an orc shaman seeks revenge on the small town of Duvik's Pass for their slaughter of his people years earlier. Empowered by his deity, the shaman has unleashed a plague, infecting the springs which give the town water with it. As the people of the town die off the shaman has found himself infected by the plague, his deity having decided to test his worshiper.
Things get more complicated due to the presence of a band of kobolds. Despite the plague, the last healthy inhabitants of the town still attempt to mine the silver that is the town's main source of revenue, only to find said kobolds have set up shop in the mine. The would-be miners are slaughtered by the kobolds, who have contracted the plague themselves, and can think of nothing better to do than living in the mines until they die.
There are several methods of introducing the PCs into the scenario (not all of them making sense, as I'll discuss later), and the scenario starts with them at the mouth of the mine, about to enter to flush out the evil. They will have to overcome traps, the kobolds, the shaman, and his undead minions if they wish to save the village.
The module has a lot going for it, with the players in my group saying the best part being that it actually feels as though the scenario was written for first level characters. I've run them through several published scenarios for low-level characters, and it's been their opinion that those modules were designed for characters with maxed-out stats and tons of equipment that will allow them to overrun their opponents. The PCs in my group are of varying strength, with half not being combat monsters and having statistics which can best be described as average. Also, none of the party has any sort of magic, either spells or equipment. Despite that they felt this adventure was great fun, with opponents well-suited to their power level, and at no point did they feel that the scenario was going to either be a cakewalk or one in which they had no chance of winning.
I was also impressed by the way the author handles the disease. All of the published modules I've read involving disease tend to have the PCs get them regardless of their actions, and usually inflict such penalties that PCs are so weakened they often can't complete the scenario. Here the author did an excellent job of showing how dangerous the plague can be, while writing the scenario so that the PCs should not experience more than the initial effects before they stop it. It was a refreshing change. Also, for once the foes of the PCs are also suffering from the plague, a far cry from so many adventures where only PCs and hapless NPCs get the "rampant" plague running through an area, while the foes of the PCs walk around in perfect health.
As mentioned earlier, the adventure can easily be expanded from its hack-'n-slash roots. Among other things players may wish to investigate how the shaman came to hate the town. From the description of what happened it sounds as though the villagers, despite their overall Neutral Good alignment, decided to engage in a little racial cleansing, and based on the evidence (IE, the shaman's level of hatred and the fact that only one percent of the town's population is something other than human, halfling, or dwarf) it seems as though the women, children, and any other non-combatants were put to the sword rather than being brought back to the village to be raised/conditioned to live in a civilized manner. A good GM can easily turn this into a situation where the PCs may not be sure whether helping the villagers is truly the morally right thing to do.
One thing I can't fail to mention is that unlike some adventures found on the WOTC website complete stats are given for all the creatures the PCs will encounter, rather than forcing a DM to have to flip back to his Monster Manual to get stats when necessary. I thought that a nice touch.
The module does have a few flaws, which is why I've refrained from giving it a four in Substance. The first trap PCs encounter seems a bit too elaborate (or, at least, I don't see a band of kobolds having such an item as that which the trap is based around) for the kobolds that set it, and if it is activated the PCs will have much harder time of it the rest of the adventure, as the players in my group found out.
There's also a few head-scratching moments in the adventure. The backstory of the scenario has the town elders declaring the town's well water has been contaminated, but when the healthy inhabitants of the town go to the mine, it's to get silver, rather than to check and see what might be contaminating the springs their water comes from (by an amazing coincidence, the spring that feeds the town well is in a cavern connected to the mine). One of the adventure set-ups even has the PCs being sent by the elders to cleanse the mine so the disease will lift. So somehow the elders know that the plague can be stopped by going to the mine and eradicating the source of the disease, but they never mention it to the inhabitants of the town, instead waiting for a bunch of strangers to wander in and ask them to do something about it. Rather odd, in my opinion.
The shaman behind the plague is also a bit confusing. He's described as having devoted his life to spying on the town and plotting his revenge, and such a lifestyle makes me wonder where he got all the experience points that brought him to sixth level, along with the assortment of magic items he both has when the adventurers arrive, and that he used before their arrival.
Finally, the way the kobolds initially become infected with the plague is not elaborated on, combined with a lack of logistics sense that brings back memories of the good old days of gaming when monsters could live in a 10 by 10 room with no source of water or a bathroom.
Admittedly, many of these plot holes can be put to good use to expand the adventure. Perhaps the shaman was allied with other survivors from the massacre, who supplied him with his magical items, and who might take up the mantle of destroying the town. And the kobolds initial infection may mean that the contaminated water has reached farther than the shaman expected, and the PCs may have to explore to see who needs help after the plague has run its course.
All in all this turned out to be a fun adventure enjoyed by everyone I ran through it, and I had a good time running it. If you're playing a low-level D&D game I heartily recommend printing it out and running your players through it.
