Blood in the Water is the second of the Dreams of the Red Wizards series, written by Ashley Warren as a D&D Adventurers League adventure for level 5-10 characters. The characters attempt to aid the folk of Turmish in their preparations for a war against the nation of Thay.

Unfortunately, after a promising start, the path for the characters becomes somewhat confused.

The adventure begins in the town of Akayar, where they’re given their mission: To accompany Zehira, the woman they rescued last adventure, to Myth Nantar, there to find the Librarian, a mysterious person that the Thayans are seeking, and seek their advice.

I note in passing that the characters might not have found the journal referring to the Librarian in the previous adventure, but Zehira would have found it when the Umberlee’s Resolve was repaired. I’m not sure how much time passes between the end of the last and the start of this, but we can assume it’s a significant period. Zehira, the hapless runaway who the characters rescued, is now a commissioned privateer and the captain of the repaired Umberlee’s Resolve.

The first part of the adventure handles the challenge of getting to Myth Nantar. It’s an underwater sea elf city, ringed with underwater mountains, some which break the surface (one of my players noted that they’re called islands at that point).

You have two options for entering the city.

The first is to use the clues in the Thayan journal to take the back way. In this case, the adventurers descend through ruined ships into the city, although they need to face sahuagin. The descent is atmospheric, full of hidden unease. Thankfully, Zahira has water breathing and darkvision. (The human fighter in our group looked puzzled about how he was going to see, looking at his torch longingly, as none of the many spellcasters in out party had the light cantrip). After the characters emerge into the city, they’re apprehended by the city guard, due to the noise caused by the fight with the sahuagin and taken to meet the town council.

The second is to swim down to the front gate, see a few fish and sharks, be attacked by a couple of sea spawn, and finally have the guard take you to the town council. It’s not as exciting, but at least you’re now in the city! I’m pleased that the more honest route is the easier one!

At this point, the players learn that one of the council members has been murdered, presumably by magic. They also meet Oceanus, a friendly sea elf, who they may have rescued in Ghosts of Saltmarsh if you’re integrating the two. With his advice, they can start looking for the Librarian.

The trouble here is that there’s a disconnect between what the players are looking for and what the adventure text describes. Are you going after the murderer or looking for the Librarian? All the information you get is about the murderer, but it dead-ends, and you can’t pursue it further.

One of the excellent inventions of the adventure, a half-(sea)-elf named Thessalia, approaches you to inform you where the Librarian is, so the adventure can continue. I find Thessalia a delight, but her introduction feels clumsy – a forced continuation of the adventure.

You can run the adventure as written, but the links of the middle and ending sections are likely to feel forced or unlikely to the characters. The adventure reaches a climax when the players are accused of murdering a guard, but the clues for the characters proving their innocence don’t quite work as such. Further information as to how they are meant to work would be appreciated.

The adventure’s conclusion is a dramatic one, as the murderer escapes and summons a hydra to cover their tracks. Unfortunately, the party might not even spot the murderer, and thus be unaware of why a hydra is attacking. It’s a great combat, especially underwater, but as a DM you need to make sure the players know the context.

Conveying to the players what has actually happened and what the murderer was doing is difficult with the material as written. The DM might know, but I don’t think the adventure’s structure allows it to occur naturally.

The bonus objectives are good ideas, and the one dealing with the mace and the temple works well. The other, with Oceanus, isn’t as successful, and some parties would be able to complete it quite quickly – for other groups, the expected solution may be something that they’d object to.

Overall, the good ideas of the adventure are obscured by the problems of the main plot of the adventure. There’s a lot of ambition and good invention here, with a lot of elements in motion, but the elements don’t integrate well together.