The fifth adventure by Dan Hass (and the second in the Red Blade War series), And the Goblin Boss Wailed, has the characters dealing with a displaced goblin tribe, the Horned Skull. Written for 1-8 characters of level 2, the adventure is 25 pages long and is a significant amount of work. It is also available as part of a package that includes all four initial adventures in the Red Blade War.

The adventure takes up where And the Elf Prince Wept ended, with the characters in the elven lands. A plague has broken out in the human villages, and the elves have prepared a package of medicines to send to their neighbours. However, the prince doesn’t want to expose his subjects to the plague. Now, if only there were a band of adventurers that would take the job…

This is a much more ambitious adventure than the previous adventures in the series. The players are hit by a number of ethical challenges, and must juggle fighting the disease and dealing with the goblins. The plague also brings out the worst in humankind, and although it isn’t a major theme of the adventure, having to deal with the gap between the powerful and the poor makes for more interesting decisions by the players.

Although there are only nine encounters in the adventure, the encounters have a lot of detail in them (and might be split out into several encounters in another product). The adventure requires a lot of the DM, as there is the possibility of some intense role-playing. Most of the adventure can be handled without combat, although violence is an ever-present threat. The adventure really reads well and looks very entertaining.

The stat-block for the goblin boss, which includes lair actions, shows excellent innovation.

The quality of these adventures has been increasing. The maps and layout are better and the encounters are getting more interesting and more detailed. The editing is not always perfect, but it doesn’t detract from the ambition of what is on the page. And the Goblin Boss Wailed is a strong addition to the Dimgaard series.