Chapter One
An abrupt start to book four of the AP, the adventure begins in the middle of combat, which is a bit jarring. I had to re-read the conclusion of the previous book to make sure I hadn't missed anything. There follows a lengthy flashback/info-dump, hastily introducing three new major NPCs. There is a sidebar defining the in media res narrative structure, but I'm not sure why it was necessary at all, except maybe to streamline the opening or cull the word count.
The heroes are then presented with a potentially overwhelming enemy force and herded into a short and altogether unnecessary dungeon that I will likely cut entirely should I ever get to run this AP.
The party must then infiltrate a convention of evil alchemists to bring one of the primary villains to justice. This is a really cool idea. The three tests the party must complete to register for the conference are kind of lame, they each boil down to a boring knowledge skill roll. I would probably just give the players the opportunity to jump a group of attendees and steal their identities.
After infiltrating the convention, the party make their way down to a hidden dungeon beneath the revel. Their disguises are no longer of any use and the action switches from social stealth to kick door/kill monster. The dungeon has an interesting vibe, with laboratories set up to study and milk poison from various venomous beasties. There are plenty of opportunities for the party to gather incriminating evidence of unlawful and immoral experimentation and bring the perpetrators to justice. Once the party have found and apprehended their quarry, yet still have to extract him from the dungeon.
Overall, with the exception of the bizarre in media res opening, this is a pretty strong opening chapter.
Chapter Two
Arresting their target is only the start of the agent's troubles. Now they must detain him within the titular hunting lodge for a 72 hour period, while their superiors quibble over jurisdictional issues. It's made clear thar the party are not to interrogate or execute the prisoner, only keep him locked up until someone else decides what to actually do with him. Unfortunately, nobody mentions that the lodge is haunted.…
This chapter contains a description of the hunting lodge and a timeline of events that unfold over the next three days. Defending the lodge and repelling waves of attackers is fun, but the ghostly forces at work complicate the proceedings. I suspect I would drop the supernatural elements in my own game and focus on defending the lodge from enemies determined to rescue the prisoner.
Chapter Three
In the final chapter, the agent's are sent to investigate an abandoned theme park. This kind of feels like something that was left on the cutting room floor after the Extinction Curse AP, but sure, let's go with it for now.… Slightly more alarming is the boxed text warning that the players are about to be railroaded into a brick wall and how the GM should encourage their players to just go with it for the benefit of the story. The warning is warranted, this is perhaps the most blatant repression of player agency I can recall seeing in any AP. I can see this being problematic for some groups. The author also encourages the GM to dissuade players heading straight to the big finale, as 14th level characters will likely have the ability to bypass the majority of this area altogether.
I can't see any reason why this chapter needed such an outlandish setting, it exists as a buffer between the end of chapter two and the big rail-roady finale. This chapter may as well have been set in a big warehouse. By the end of Assault on Hunting Lodge Seven, the adventure is moving in an interesting direction, but is certainly taking a clumsy route to get there.
