The third Avatar module came out three months after FRE2 Tantras. Anyone running it at the time might have been stuck for what to do during that period, though I’d imagine at least a couple months to get through the first two adventures is possible, and there were suggestions for what to do while waiting (I’d take them over this).
In any case, the opening of Waterdeep skips any boring shopping around for someone willing to take the party across the Sea of Fallen Stars into the Dragonmere, and assumes that this was done and starts there. Not that there’s any decisions for the party to make here. They’re given as bound to Ilipur on the southern shore of the Dragonmere, but a fierce storm forces the ship north to near Wheloon in Cormyr. This is given as if it should be played out instead of just starting near Wheloon, and telling the players what happened like they are to be told they hired a ship.
All this is the start of an overland march with the itinerary set by the module novel. Like with the initial journey to Shadowdale, there’s not a lot of motivation to go to Waterdeep, but there are prophecies and such promising that it is the key place to be, which is still better stage management. Still, a lot of parties will probably feel like they’re flailing around. Everything possible is done to force the party down a particular path. There are two sets of bad guys each trying to get what they want out of the party herding them along. Like in Tantras, the novel characters are part of what’s going on, most notably Midnight, permanent NPC focus/MacGuffin of the party, and Cyric, who is now one of the major villains, while Kelemvor and Adon have gone back to being optional. I should also mention the physical presentation is the same as the first two adventures: a standard 48-page faux-parchment booklet with a three-panel detached cover giving the magical chaos tables, a section of the 30-mile map showing from Cormyr to Waterdeep, and a poster sheet with several maps (detailed later).
The first stop is nearby Wheloon, meant to let the party make sure they have any gear needed, and then moves to another charge of murder and attempted incarceration. This is is more meant for the players to escape the arrest attempt, but attempted capture of the party is beyond old by now. From there, its through Hilp to Suzail to sail across the Dragonmere to Ilipur again. Or not, as the various bad guys chase them away from Suzail, as the entire point is to force them away from the sea, and away from the regular caravans that travel to Waterdeep from Ilipur. (The fact that this is why the party keeps trying to get to Ilipur could have been stated better earlier. i.e., if you’re going with NPC Midnight’s plans for how to get to Waterdeep, have her outline them to the party…. Also, Ilipur has no entry in the Cyclopedia, so here’s a new lore detail for you.)
All this is to end up in Eveningstar, where everyone gets pushed west to High Horn. This is after being warned that the path west is closed, but that’s a further problem from Darkhold, another 3-4 days past High Horn, and not on any road, so this makes for potential confusion. At any rate, High Horn itself is one of the high points of the module. Bhaal catches up to the party at this point, and as the avatar of the god of murder, is going to be a tough fight. 84 HP, AC 0, regenerates 2 HP a round, and can possess as a new body anyone he kills (back to 84 HP…). If nothing else, that last will be trouble, especially as the DM should run him so as to make sure there’s plenty of bodies from the garrison around to use.
Oddly, there’s no map for High Horn itself, and its architecture is important to the encounter. That said, the important part is clear, it’s a good setpiece, and there is plenty of room for the players to decide on actions that will direct the fight. In fact, I think this is the high point of the entire set of modules, right here. It’s a pity there’s a long road left to the climax. The general idea is for the players to go through a gap in the Sunset Mountains, and eventually cross the River Reaching at Hill’s Edge, but there’s little reason why other routes might not work—other than more harassment from the bad guys. (Still, there’s a bit of description of the terrain around Yellow Snake Pass, for those interested in more lore.)
The harrying of the party continues, with progress towards Waterdeep, covering a number of locations not really seen before, but they don’t get much attention here either. Once the party does arrive (after more forced plot shenanigans), things finally start sweeping towards a climax… that is predictably overwhelmed by NPCs. We get the bad guys, the novel NPCs, Elminster, and Blackstaff Arsoun. Beyond other problems, the DM is going to busy with all his parts.
The initial point of all this is to get at the Pool of Loss (a portal to Hades), to get at one of the Tablets of Fate. This is part of a plan hatching all through the adventure, and instead (or, in addition) undead creatures are let loose on Waterdeep. This powers the rest of the climax, which brings together the party Midnight, Myrkul, Cyric, and Ao. There’s some decidedly clever bits, which the players may or may not ever figure out, and… even more waves of the new monsters of the module. I think the part would be largely exhausted of dealing with them by now.
The very end of the adventure finally gives answers for what the heck is going on. It was Myrkul’s idea to steal The Tablets of Fate, and use them to at least gain some power over the other gods, and preferably have the power to oust Ao himself. In the end… the plot is useless. They do have a fair amount of magical power, but not enough to challenge Ao, and do not themselves define the god’s jobs, instead just being a meant as a reminder of what the jobs are instead of being the definition. Ao expelling the gods to the mortal realms is to help remind them of their purpose, but has the side effect of widespread chaos and devastation in the Realms (heck of an object lesson there). A final half-page is dedicated to aftereffects of the Time of Troubles, including that the gods now must rely on worshipers for their power; something to be put in rule form in Forgotten Realms Adventures.
Conclusion
As covered in my review of part one, the entire series is extremely railroaded, and hits any magic-user or cleric characters with a large “I’m not that useful” bat for the entire experience. That’s okay in the novels, as clerics (Adon) are still second-line fighters, and Midnight is the focus of a lot of magical plot shenanigans that let her overcome some the problems with more firepower (she also levels up at an insane pace—presumably because of having the power of Mystra in her), while PC magic-users are likely to feel kicked to the curb the entire way. Basing the entire idea directly off of novels and then not letting the players be the main characters is an extremely bad idea, and my understanding is that TSR never made that particular mistake again.
The “good” news is that Ed Greenwood did the module writing, and some bits of lore work their way into the modules, particularly the last two. If you’re interested in pulling out tidbits of official lore that may come straight from Greenwood, that’s the only value I see in these modules. Looking around, what I can find of people who actually used this adventure say it was a horrible experience. The only exception is one person who went through the trouble to recast the entire situation to directly involve his players, tossing the entire NPC cast in the process.
If you are interested in the lore, there’s not much in Shadowdale, a few interesting bits with the Ashaba River in Tantras, and some notes about Ilipur and a few places along the route here. More concretely, a few towns get all-new maps with keys giving names of a few establishments, much like the maps from the Cyclopedia (again, Shadowdale lacks this, just having color versions of existing maps). The poster sheet for Waterdeep is broken into seven segments, so at that point I’d rather have seen a small map booklet which would be handier to use than laying out an entire poster just to look at one small part. There’s new town maps of Wheloon and Eveningstar. There is a much-reduced version of the standard map of Waterdeep, two small floorplans of the Roosting Griffon Inn (a ruin found on the road to Waterdeep) and Dragonspear Castle, a partial map of Blackstaff Tower (Waterdeep key #32), and floorplans of the Lonesome Tankard Inn (in Wheloon). There are two new monsters in the back (both used extensively in the adventure) which are in the format of, and could be transferred to, the Monstrous Compendium.
One complicated bit: Ed Greenwood had a megadungeon underneath Waterdeep, and the Pool of Loss is actually in Undermountain. Like any self-respecting overly large and sprawling dungeon, there’s portals to all sorts of places in there, and the portal used from The Yawning Portal (Waterdeep key #4) is the second(?) one from there into the place; this one was added purely to keep from having to burden this adventure with all that, and get them to a place that already existed there. I assume; the version of Undermountain published a year later has little to do with Ed Greenwood’s version.
As a final argumentative point, lore wise, I will note that current chronologies of the Realms place the Time of Troubles in 1358 (I think this started with the 3rd Ed campaign setting). That’s the year just beginning in the original boxed set. There’s a dearth of dates in most early products, but those that exist conflict with that, and other problems have cropped up making it all fit. TSR never said anything, but I get the idea that they roughly figured one year of real-world time would imply one year advance in their new setting. FR5 The Savage Frontier (1988) was published a year later, and has a new set rumors/events for 1358 in the region. That implies the Avatar Trilogy should be (counting months from August 1987) Eleint [September] 1359 DR. I suggest anyone working purely with early Forgotten Realms materials may want to work their timeline on that basis.
