Friday Fantasy: The Emerald Enchanter

The green-skinned wizard known as the Emerald Enchanter has been a presence in the region for as long as anyone can remember. In recent times a number of inhabitants from nearby villages have gone missing and the clues point to him being responsible. It is feared that the Emerald Enchanter will use them as subjects in the experiments he is said to conduct. Hopefully, someone will be brave enough to make a rescue attempt. Thus, a number of brave adventurers have assembled outside the gates to his citadel, which sits atop a windy cliff, a foreboding presence over the whole of the region. This is as much set-up as there is for Dungeon Crawl Classics #69: The Emerald Enchanter, the third scenario to be published by Goodman Games for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Designed for a group of eight to ten Second Level Player Characters, it is an important scenario for three reasons. One is that it is written by the publisher, Joseph Goodman, the second is that it is the third scenario to be written for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and the second to be written for Player Characters who are not Zero level, and the third is that it is the first scenario for Second Level Player Characters.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #69: The Emerald Enchanter is as grim and weird and as challenging as you would expect for a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. The scenario feels in part inspired by B1 In Search of the Unknown and ‘The Halls of Tizun Thane’ from White Dwarf Issue No. 18 reprinted in The Best of White Dwarf Scenarios) as well as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus in that it involves the home of a wizard—though not a dead one—and the creation of new constructs. The latter are not composed of the flesh of the dead, but of blocks of emerald, green gemstone. The Player Characters will quickly discover that there are two types, one rough as if an unfinished sculpture, the other exquisitely detailed it had been a living person transformed into a block of moving emerald, green gemstone. Which of course, is what it is, and what some poor victim has been transformed into after having dunked into the Transmogrification Vats in the Emerald Enchanter’s workshop. Pairs, consisting of one unfinished and one finished, can be found throughout the manse of the Emerald Enchanter. Worse, the Player Characters will discover that upon killing a finished one, it reverts back to the person they were before the Emerald Enchanter experimented upon them. Sadly, they still die, but if they can revert back, does this mean that a way can be found to reverse the process and keep them alive?

The scenario beings with the Player Characters outside the doors to the Emerald Enchanter’s citadel faced with the first of the various pairs of emerald constructs. Once inside, the path from the front door to the Emerald Enchanter’s laboratory and the final confrontation with his evil ways is quite straightforward and linear. There are some entertaining encounters on the way, such as the ‘Hall of Mosaics’ and the ‘Hall of Anguish’. The first is with a Tile Golem, which pulls itself off mosaics on the walls and can draw more tiles from the wall to heal itself, blast the Player Characters with a stream of tile shards, and even create tile beasts that can harass the party! The second is of grey rock into which the Emerald Enchanter has imprisoned his enemies as ebon spirits. Now they haunt the hall, able to reach out from the walls, floor, and ceiling to attack the Player Characters. The encounter description references the fate of Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back as to how they look, but of course, they are much, much more menacing! There is even an initial encounter with the Emerald Enchanter who comes to check on the intruders, weirdly appearing up through an emerald gemstone table. This is only a fleeting encounter, though it does offer a way to circumvent the whole of the rest of the adventure and cut straight to the final confrontation—if the Player Characters are adventurous enough to take it. If they do not, though, they are stalked by a number of bewinged, flying emerald skulls that appear and disappear out of the walls.

Before the Player Characters get to the confrontation with the Emerald Enchanter in his laboratory—fantastically illustrated with a player handout on the inside front cover—there is an encounter with the source of his power. This is a demon, long held captive in a pentagram. This is primarily a roleplaying encounter, one that can grant the Player Characters a major bonus, but oddly what it does not do, is actually help them in defeating the Emerald Enchanter. In fact, nothing does except their abilities, spells, and luck. Narratively, this is underwhelming, especially if, as given in an earlier encounter, the Player Characters could have leaped straight into the final encounter with little in way of penalties. There are elements which can be discovered to help solve aspects of the scenario, but none them of help the Player Characters defeat the Emerald Enchanter and none of them are time sensitive. The confrontation though, is fun and full of action. Roiling vats of boiling green liquid, flying emerald skulls that fire beams of deadly energy from their eyes, an automatic pulley system ferrying cages with villagers screaming in terror on their way to immersion in the nearest vat, and the Emerald Enchanter himself! If the Player Characters can defeat the Emerald Enchanter, they will be praised for their courage, and if they manage to save the villagers, they will be feted as true heroes! For the Elf or Wizard there is some decent loot too.

The scenario does have some requirements. One is the large number of players which may be difficult for some groups to get together. Alternative options are either to have a number of replacements in the event of Player Character death or increase the Player Characters from Second to Third Level. Neither are quite satisfactory. The other requirement is perhaps more important and that is the need for a spellcaster, whether a Wizard or an Elf. Since the adventure takes place in a wizard’s manse, there are numerous encounters in which items or parts of the encounter are activated by spell checks. Whilst it is possible for non-spellcasting Player Characters to attempt such checks, the probability of their succeeding each time is so low that in combination with high number that occur in the adventure means that the without an actual spellcaster, the play of the scenario is going to be much slower than the author intended.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #69: The Emerald Enchanter also includes a second scenario—‘The Emerald Enchanter Strikes Back’. This a sequel, also written for eight to ten Player Characters of Second Level, in which it revealed that they failed to kill the Emerald Enchanter, and now he roams area, enraged and bent on revenge. Only he is not on foot, but now in command of the Emerald Titan, a towering arcane colossus, in which strides the land, targeting the surrounding towns and villages in his revenge. This is a much more open scenario, primarily a mini-wilderness adventure—although the Judge might want to consult Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage King about one of the locations—in which the Player Characters must track down the Emerald Titan (although how difficult is to hide a thirty-foot tall emerald green robot?), gain access and deal with the Emerald Enchanter once and for all. This is a fun addition which requires a little more careful handling by the Judge as it is a wilderness adventure and bit more open.

Also, as much fun as this adventure is, and as fun as some of the things that the Emerald Titan can do to dislodge or kill the Player Characters once they are inside it, like stepping into a river to fill its legs with water and drown them, poke at them between its armour plates with splintered trees, or even pushing a bee hive through a crack, the inside of the Emerald Titan is barely described, if at all, making it feel very sparse and not really helping to emphasise the odd nature of the Player Characters’ situation. ‘The Emerald Enchanter Strikes Back’ is a great addition to Dungeon Crawl Classics #69: The Emerald Enchanter, but it just needed that bit more fleshing out.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics #69: The Emerald Enchanter is as solidly produced as you would expect for a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. The maps are decent for both scenarios and the artwork is nicely done too.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #69: The Emerald Enchanter is a grim scenario that feels like a Hammer Horror scenario as much as it does a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. It is playable as is, but at the same time, the Judge is left wanting more information about the Emerald Enchanter and might want to give a temporary bonus that will weaken the Emerald Enchanter if the Player Characters defeat his source of power. Other than that, Dungeon Crawl Classics #69: The Emerald Enchanter is an  entertainingly engaging and grim scenario that should really challenge the Player Characters.