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Hey Preacher95!

Glad the adventure captured your imagination!

A remote region of Aldoran or Taldor might work nicely. Perhaps nestled in an upper valley of the Five Kings Mountains or a hidden slope of the Fog Peaks' southern reaches.

It may not matter too much if you are playing this as a one-shot prequel. But if you plan to play subsequent adventures where this one leaves off, you might consider where you want your PCs to begin that journey, and base your decision for locating this adventure on that locale.

Rone AND Lou!? I've gotta get this one.

I'm running Escape from Meenlock Prison and came across what seems like a glitch in the text. In Area 12 (Loading Bay), who is the "Awake Prisoner" pictured in the map? Area 12 is given an EL of 2, but there's no description of the prisoner. Also, does the elevator in that area work?

Hi Sarah,

My wife and I are the authors of Escape from Meenlock Prison. Sorry, we don't check the messageboards as often as we used to.
Indeed there was an awake prisoner hiding on the catwalk in the original manuscript. The editors (wisely) cut him from the text but forgot to remove him from the map. Here's the original text in case you're curious.

12. The Mouth of the Wolf (EL 4)
Four 10’ diameter, 12’ tall fermentation vats dominate the corners of this well lit room. A few feet above each vat, a 3’ square wooden platform is suspended to the ceiling by long steel pins. A 2’ wide wooden walkway connects the wooden platforms, forming a catwalk around the perimeter of the room. On the west side of this catwalk, a fifth platform extends beyond the room into a shadow-filled space 10’ high by 5’ wide.

From a door on the east wall, a long ramp leads down 10’ into this sunken, 25’ square room. There is a door in the center of the north wall. A metal ladder affixed to the south wall provides access to the catwalk. A DC 15 Spot check notices the shadow of a young prisoner on the platform centered on the west wall.

If discovered, the cautious but friendly Pren Quickirons asks the PCs to help him figure out how to lower the elevator cage in the west wall’s alcove. The 10’ tall cage is identical in construction to that in Area 1. Once lowered, iron bars built into its solid ceiling snap into sockets in the alcove, locking the cage down.

Pren recently became a local hero when he defended his hamlet from a werewolf attack. Fearing (correctly) that he contracted lycanthropy, the hamlet’s elders incarcerated him while they gather funds to pay a high level cleric to remove the boy's dreadful curse. The night of his first full moon is two days away. Sitting on the catwalk next to Pren is a small burlap bag containing two vials of silversheen that he stole from the guard’s desk in Area 3. He mistakenly believes they will prevent his transformation. He does not discuss the circumstances surrounding his incarceration and dismisses the bag as merely stolen valuables.

At a budding unconscious level, Pren was drawn here through empathy for the starving wolves locked within the elevator cage outside. Once trained to harry prey into the assassin vine field, the wolves have become feral with neglect. As Pren renews his noisy attempts to lower the cage, preferably when the PCs are on the catwalk, Finneus decides to put an end to the PCs and begins lowering the cage from above. Three rounds after the two frothing wolves come into view, the cage completes its descent, and the wolves push the door open and attack.

A target of a successful trip attack must make a DC 12 Reflex save or fall off the catwalk. Those not falling into an open-topped, wine-filled vat instead take 1d6 damage from their 15’ fall to the stone floor below.

Wolf (2): hp 8 of 13; Monster Manual 283.
Werewolf, Human Form: hp 20; Monster Manual 175.

Tactics: One wolf targets Pren. If reduced to 15 hp, he falls from the catwalk (taking damage if appropriate), involuntarily transforms into a werewolf during the next round, and attacks the nearest creature thereafter. If no living targets are on the ground, the raging werewolf disappears into Area 11 and beyond, forcing the PCs into a tense predator/prey hunt scenario once they recuperate.

In this original version of the adventure, there is no key to this elevator. The only way to use it to escape is to stuff something under it while it lowers. This has two effects. First, it prevents the tall elevator cage door from opening and releasing the wolves, and second it allows the PCs to crowbar it open, climb in, and then up and out while it's "between floors." In the published version of the adventure, the elevator does function with the key.

Ok Ashenvale, what do you think of this?

Plan B: Mr. Dee, an expert con, returns to the women PCs unarmed and, under flag of truce, divulges the truth. Well sort of.

<The true part>
He tells them that a few weeks ago a prisoner digging an escape tunnel inadvertantly blundered into some old ankheg tunnels under the vineyards and shortly thereafter, evil creatures that the prisoner's call "the dark ones" invaded the prison. Since then, many of his fellows (implying guards) were taken by surprise and killed, both by the creatures and the prisoners who escaped their cells during the ensuing chaos. He and the three others the PCs met were all that remained until the PCs snuck in and killed two of them.
</The true part>

See how the players take this. Can Mr. Dee garner some sympathy with them? I mean, these were his life-long friends the PCs just killed. Sob sob. Play it up. The PCs have no way of confirming (yet) that he is not a real guard. And besides, this all jives with what the men PCs see in the basement.

<The lies>
They considered enlisting the unexpected PCs to help, but after considering that the PCs might refuse and leak to the outside world that the prison has been compromised and thereby most assuredly putting it out of business, they decided to just let the PCs do their job. The well-armed and capable-appearing PCs just might solve their creature incursion problem while collecting their transferees. He admits it was a terrible mistake and misjudgement on their part, but states frankly that it was not much worse than the PCs outright murder of prison officials. Afterall, there was a chance the PCs would survive the cellar, whereas the PCs left no chance for his brethren.
</The lies>

If the players (and likely hence the PCs) buy this, he petitions them to help. Something (he says) he now realizes he should have done from the start. "Go and collect your fellows and your transferrees if you still wish. Then either be on your way or stay and help us. Make amends for what you have done here." At worst the PCs leave - perhaps after they collect the transferrees (which mind you will likely be the false ones), and they are out of his hair. But Mr. Dee hopes for more. If the PCs are killed, great. If the PCs kill the creatures before they go, he can get at the remaining wine inventory and proceed with the sale.

It would be great if you could still trick the top-side PCs into the basement, but it's going to be really tough at this point. The only way I can think of doing it is to have Mr. Dee offer to take up arms and descend with the PCs. This will boost his credibility too. Lyle remains top-side to operate the elevator, with a prearranged agreement to raise Mr. Dee quickly when he breaks away from the PC group and comes a runnin'. If a PC insists on staying up, let them. Just make sure they hear their friends screaming for help whenever combat insues. Oh, and one more thing, meenlocks aren't constrained to the basement. Especially at night. It can get pretty scary for an elevator operator... all alone... in the dark.

For anyone considering playing Escape from Meenlock Prison from issue #146, my wife and I have an idea spice buffet for you. Add as much or as little as you like.

If you plan to start a campaign with this 1st level adventure, consider populating an empty cell or two with villians you hope to recur. If the PCs don't free the NPC you've planted, you've got the seeds of enmity should the NPC subsequently free himself. On the flip side, if the PCs free their future nemesis, they are at least a little to blame for whatever evil he should happen to commit and thereby pave the road for future adventure hooks.

Definitely consider dimming the lights and playing scary music when the PCs descend to the basement and then again at key moments. I chose a few tracks from a Midnight Syndicate album called "The 13th Hour". The track "Veiled Hunter" works great for Area 4A, while "Last breaths" and "Gruesome Discovery" add a great deal to the warden and meenlock encounter in Area 9A. If you've never had music in your game, this is a good chance to give it a shot. I guarantee your players put down those pizza slices and sit up straight.

The basement is the colorful Oz where life above ground is B&W Kansas. Low music and dim lights mount tension and poise the players for visceral reactions. If after all your efforts, the mood isn't right or the players aren't paying attention, skip what I'm about to say. Otherwise, consider the following little things that can go a long way. In Area 1, the moths burst into a flurry of orbital flight as the first PC passes under the mottled light. Tiny pale roots penetrate the east wall and wave like cilia as a result of the nearby assassin vines' animation ability. In Area 2, an unseen rat knocks a wine bottle to the ground where it shatters just behind the feet of the last PC to pass by. In Area 4a, the crying man is the identical twin of the disembowed man he's reeling in. If the players think any of this is silly, stop. If they are getting into it, ...sweet!

In our campaign, the PCs were very reluctant to let any of the NPCs out. Where's the fun in that I ask? So we garnered some PC sympathy by having Nis Whitedress, the surgeon in Area 6a, begin bashing his own brains out when the PCs refuse his final, desperate pleas for freedom. That opened the flood gates for PC/NPC interaction. You may be surprised how many NPCs your PCs free if they get over the hump of letting out just one. And if they don't let out Nis, perhaps he rises as an allip, its hypnotic ability drawing the PCs to look into the cell where, in maddended shame, it beats its old lifeless body with smoky black fists.

To mix things up a bit, we had Simmol Redturn (Area 6C), the famous instigator for violent extremist groups, be a deathbed reformer. He's vowed to the gods to do only good deeds should his life be spared. If the PCs let him out, he's simply not the man he used to be and this puts him at odds with the other NPCs who expect him to be as evil as always. In our campaign, he's already reappeared in subsequent adventures where he attempts to repay the PCs who freed him with overly selfless acts of good will. His stumbling attempts at honorable deeds and "clean livin" mixed with his renewed association with criminals (his only friends) still have our PCs unsure whether he can be trusted.

In Area 7B, Verin Syllk offers the PCs keys to the cells if they free him. If the PCs aren't taking the bait or threaten him, he in turn threatens to drop the key ring down the drain in his cell. The PCs may start thinking that that key ring is somehow more important than it is, and an interesting roleplaying interaction between Syllk, the PCs, and Blessed of Pelor across the hall may arise.

The more you can involve your players with these prisoners, the more they will start to remember their names and think of them as real people. NPC to NPC interaction is a great way to prime the pump and draw the players in.

Finally, in Area 9A, consider clothing the half-transformed warden in a tattered uniform that's only visible if he's freed from the wall or the PCs make a DC 20 Spot check. If rash PCs kill him and only later discover his clothing, they might feel a tad guilty that this was no dangerous creature after all. This is especially true if Oban, his son-in-law from Area 7C, arrives later and sees his father-in-law's dead body.

Thanks all! And enjoy!