Dale C. McCoy Jr has been producing material for the Pathfinder game for several years, and with Rescue from Tyrkaven he has turned his attention to the 5E game. Rescue consists of a single dungeon of 15 areas. A short but effective introduction gives the DM the background and synopsis of the adventure, but it wastes no time in giving you the meat of the adventure.

In summary, a merchant caravan has been beset by hobgoblins, who have taken goods and kidnapped some of the merchants. The characters are hired to go on a rescue mission for both the merchants and the cargo (barrels of wine). However, it isn’t so simple because the hobgoblin’s lair is actually an old abandoned shrine to an evil god… giving Rescue great potential for inspiring a dangerous, entertaining adventure.

The adventure changes from a rescue mission to something more resembling a zombie horror adventure. It’s a nice touch, and one that allows the DM to give a good surprise to the players. Although the adventure gives the possibility of not triggering the change, you pretty much need to do it to elevate this adventure above being just a standard dungeon crawl.

Production-wise, it’s a nice product, with good formatting, art and maps. I find the text to be a little overwritten, and – as usual – there are a number of editing mistakes, but they’re not too bad.

If there’s a problem with the adventure, it’s that the potential for apocalyptic adventure is a little low due to a lack of monsters. Only nine zombies? (Okay, they’re not exactly zombies). It feels like it could be a lot more memorable with more… as it stands, it might be just a touch too easy.

Overall this is a nice little adventure, which works best with a modicum of judicious adjustment from the DM.