The Goblin Bathwater Incident is an adventure by Marius Brunner for a level 1 party, starting with a simple tavern brawl but ultimately bringing the players to face a dire magical threat.

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Story

The players start at the sleepy coastal town of Antikh, where a normal night at the local tavern devolves into a vicious brawl – getting everyone arrested and locked in jail for the night. But that’s just the beginning, and a series of strange events start to plague the town; the players are tasked with finding out what’s going on, and they quickly realize that the political situation is a lot more complicated than it might seem.

Antikh is in the territory of the Empire (whichever Empire you want – the adventure is setting-agnostic), which is at war with the Caliphate. And even though it’s not the frontline, war was a way of making things difficult – and clashes over the control of a vast criminal conspiracy in the town’s underworld doesn’t help, and neither does the involvement of an ancient, vastly powerful (and somewhat bored – which is the most dangerous part) wizard.

Ultimately, the players will have to figure out the source of a drug called “Goblin Bathwater”, and when they do, they will also have to secure a powerful magic artifact – and decide the fate of the region.

Layout, Art, & Extras

There’s a lot of extra information that helps you run the adventure; background history, summaries for each chapter’s story and important NPCs, as well as lots of “Designer Notes” with miscellaneous advice on how to run certain scenes – or what to do when they are derailed.

There’s quite a bit of art spread throughout the pages, including portraits for the notable NPCs, and maps for both the town and for the locations where encounters are expected to take place. There’s also several new magic items, as well as some new monsters (besides the NPC statblocks).

Final Thoughts

Overall, The Goblin Bathwater Incident is an excellent long-form adventure that will keep you occupied for several sessions; it has a good mix of investigation, roleplaying, and combat, and even blends some moments of levity and goofiness with a more serious storyline – despite what the title might have you think at a first glance.

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