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Designed by: Daniel Kahn
Like the excellent Hither Adventure Bundle, the Thither Adventure Bundle expands the official 5e campaign The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, adding three new locations that seamlessly integrate into the magical fey forest in chapter three, and diving further into interesting characters and stories that are only hinted at in the original book.
All three adventures are designed for parties of level four, and can be purchased separately, or as part of the bundle with a 20% discount.
The Cloistered Cove
The gregarious, helpful young NPC of Thither, Will of the Feywild, is an obvious Peter Pan reference. He harbors an interestingly dark twist, but, as the designer of The Cloistered Cove correctly points out, it’s unlikely that the player characters will discover that he’s really an evil child-kidnapping Oni under a curse.
Usually cursed creatures are turned into something monstrous or evil (or both), but for Mugan, it’s the opposite, thanks to the hag’s other sisters using him to undermine Granny Nightshade’s rule in Thither.
The Cloistered Cove builds on the Will/Mugan story by leaning into the Peter Pan references, including our very own Captain Hook in the form of a vengeful, hook-handed redcap named Big Red.
Before earning his trust, Will will ask the party to rescue his friend, the pixie Bella (or the talking oilcan Squirt) from Big Red, sending the party to the redcap’s nearby grounded airship, the Never Landing.
The full color ship map is awesome (cartography: Onedaygm), and includes Big Red, his reluctant first mate Squeamish, and the lurking giant awakened crocodile.
The party can choose to deal with Big Red violently or diplomatically, betraying Will (Big Red knows his secret!) or slaying the nearby giant crocodile.
Despite its brevity, the quest offers plenty of meaningful choices and resolutions. Unfortunately it lacks information on confronting Will about his secret, and the epilogue for siding with Big Red against Will’s Getaway Gang is woefully underdeveloped. Nice touch on Big Red’s hook being a fun magical grappling hook, though!
The Floating Isles
Inspired by some floating earthmtoes depicted in the middle of the Thither map, The Floating Isles begins with an unusual quest: collect 40 pounds of jabberwock dung, for either Nib, Will, or Granny Nightshade herself.
Why do we need this much dung, and why is it only found on the floating isles? Look, do you want to go on the adventure or not!?
The way to the isles lies through the friendly goblin town of Terracetown, where the goblins create the candy that’s sold in the market in Loomlurch. One of the goblin’s young daughters has been kidnapped by Granny Nightshade, one of many excellent tie-ins to the campaign.
While in town, the party can purchase pixie dust to safely float to the isles, and repel an attack by Nightshade’s tin soldiers as they search for their next child to capture.
The isles are an active warzone between two warring factions of fairies, the pixies and the sprites. The zone features a d100 table of complications that arise from magical spells and wild magic zipping around, making the basic fetch quest far more interesting and dynamic. The party can try to avoid the warring spellcasters, attempt to mediate a resolution, or simply kill ’em all.
The d100 table of magical complications is impressive, and floating earthmotes always makes for fun battlemaps, but this is the weakest of the three Thither adventures.
Forgetting Fablerise
Forgetting Fablerise presents a Feyrealm within a Feyrealm. The party stumbles into Fablerise, a Domain of Delight ruled by the friendly archfey giant spider, Yarnspinner.
The mini-adventure works best if the party is in dire need of a long rest, as Yarnspinner provides a safe haven to sleep in his domain. However, during the night, corrupted, ghostly versions of Yarnspinner steal the PCs’ memories, including their names.
They’ll have to team up with another recent victim, none other than Zarak, one of the minor villains from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, and explore the Scriptorium. The Scriptorium is a fun little mini-dungeon rich with exploration, social interaction, and a boss fight with the corrupted ghost.
This clever adventure hits all the pillars of D&D, utilizes fun fey themes like memory, names, and dreams, and ties into the wider story in meaningful ways, particularly by introducing Zarak as a temporary ally. Ideally this meet-up works especially well as a precursor to dealing with him as a villain at the Wayward Pool.
This adventure is very linear and requires the PCs to play along in trusting the giant spider, long resting, and allying with Zarak. Thankfully the designer includes an “off the rails” paragraph with helpful suggestions to keep the quest moving forward.
Despite the linearity, this is my favorite adventure of the bundle.
Overall this adventure bundle is another excellent expansion to The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, and highly recommended for DMs running that campaign.
Pros:
- Effectively expands Chapter 3 of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight with fun side-ventures and meaningful tie-ins.
- Full color gridded and grid-less maps for each location (Cartography: Onedaygm).
- Encounter adjustments for slightly higher-level parties.
Cons:
- The Cloistered Cove‘s choice-driven ending is underdeveloped.
- The Floating Isles‘ adventure hook is too weird and random, even for the Feywild.
The Verdict: Thither Adventure Bundle provides three all-new, yet seamlessly integrated locations for The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, expanding the story and world of the third chapter in all the right ways.
This review has been sponsored by the publisher Find more reviews on my website and YouTube channel.
Support my work by using affiliate links for shopping and pledging via Patreon.
RogueWatson 