In the Garden of Evil is a Tier 2 adventure set in Avernus in which the characters are sent to save a Hellrider and her unicorn which are trapped in Bloodroot Grove, a remnant of the beauty that existed in Avernus before the Blood War.

This is the fourth of the Tier 2 Avernus adventures for the D&D Adventurers League. In the first three, the characters made a base at Mahadi’s Emporium, a travelling market and place of relative safety then went on a quest to find the location of the last battle of the Hellriders, as their overall mission is to save the souls of the Hellriders trapped in hell. Along the way, they may have discovered other Hellriders trapped in other areas. This adventure assumes they’ve learnt that information, and they’re now trying to save those Hellriders.

The structure of the adventure is simple: The characters reach the outskirts of the forest, where they find the dead body of a Hellrider and the tracks of a unicorn proceeding further into the forest. As they follow the tracks, they face several challenges – perhaps three or four from a list of ten potential encounters – that make the journey more difficult. Finally, they reach the heart of the grove, where they discover that the Hellrider is dead, but devils have tricked her unicorn into serving them. If all goes well, the characters can free the unicorn and give it a new purpose in life.

By far the most successful section of the adventure is the travel through the forest. The encounters are varied and evocative and give great potential to change how the adventure plays. In my run-through, the party befriended a treant, who accompanied them for the rest of the story, and was important when it came to the confrontation at the Heart. Some of these encounters are relatively short, but there’s enough information that I could add additional details and bring the forest to life.

The beginning and end of the adventure need more work. The beginning of the adventure – finding the dead body of the Hellrider and the tracks of the unicorn – is not a great “Call to Action”. There’s no briefing scene, although there are adventure hooks in the introduction that you should use so the players know what’s going on. The Hellrider is unnamed, which led me to the initial assumption that it was Shalrel, the Hellrider they’re seeking. There’s also a mention of a journal, but I initially missed that it’s referenced again in the “What Do They Know” section – I was looking for a handout or a dedicated journal section.

The “What Do They Know” section is quite inadequate, as well. Here’s the full text:

The Hellrider is a last bastion of knowledge on the fall of Zariel’s forces and the desertion that they, Shalrel, and Zhalruban all partook in, but they don’t know much about the rest of Bloodroot Grove. If the characters don’t speak to the Hellrider directly, their journal contains the same information.

My instincts are that I can find information on such matters on the fall of Zariel’s forces and the desertion in the adventure background. Here’s what it says:

During ZARIEL’S GREAT RIDE, a unicorn named ZHALRUBAN served as a mount to one of Zariel’s lieutenants, SHALREL PRALL, a virtuous and honorable PALADIN. When Shalrel succumbed to fear and fled from battle, however, Zhalruban was distraught. The unicorn retreated with her rider into BLOODROOT GROVE, hoping to shelter there while she tried to convince Shalrel to remain by Zariel’s side. Once inside, however, the duo was beset by DEVILS. They fought no structure guides, but when defeat seemed inevitable, the devils made Zhalruban an offer she couldn’t refuse: in exchange for sparing the paladin’s life, the unicorn would be forever confined to Bloodroot Grove.

There’s an inconsistency of information there that makes it difficult to determine what’s going on. And, in fact, there’s a third Hellrider who fled the battle present in the forest, so it seems to have been quite common. What’s Zariel’s Great Ride, by the way? If you haven’t read the hardcover or previous adventures, you’re unlikely to know. Here’s some essential background for this entire series that you may not have picked up:

One-hundred and fifty years ago, the angel Zariel came to Elturel seeking aid in storming Avernus and fighting both devils and demons as they fought in the Blood War. A troop of warriors in Elturel volunteered and stormed down into hell. Once there, some of them were overcome by the horrors and fled back to Elturel. These would be later known as the Hellriders of Elturel and became the core of the mercenary troop that protect that city – they’re those who fled Hell, not those who stayed. Some of the troop fled but didn’t make it back.

I’m not entirely sure if Dara wants to rescue the souls of those who fled and didn’t make it back or the souls of all the Hellriders who died in Avernus. The text of these adventures is inconsistent on that point (when it exists at all).

The finale of the adventure should be brilliant. The devils have deceived Zhalruban: Shalrel isn’t alive, and Zhalruban is kept there because of a lie. However, this encounter doesn’t give the players a way of determining this. The devils who made the pact know, but they’re not about to tell the players (and why would the players ask?) And Shalrel’s body? It’s hidden inside a pod, and a successful DC 17 Perception check is required to tell the players that Shalrel is “mostly dead”. Even as the DM, I’m not quite sure what that means and how to impart it to the players.

You can create something out of this encounter – I did – but it didn’t have the resonance I hoped it’d had because I couldn’t determine the best way of imparting details about the pact, the fate of Shalrel, and what it all means to the players. It would help the entire adventure if the players discovered parts of this information as they explored the forest, but because it’s just made up of encounters randomly chosen, no structure guides the players to this knowledge.

All of this means that while there’s a lot to admire in the adventure, it’s more challenging to run In the Garden of Evil successfully than it should. It’s possible that this is due to my DMing style and is something you can adjust for, but the flow of information undermines the many solid ideas and encounters featured here. It’s enjoyable, but you’ll likely need to rework sections.