Editing A1-4: Scourge of the Slave Lords (section)

=The Chapters=
We apologise to any hyperfans of the original modules; as with ''[[Temple of Elemental Evil]]'' (and unlike ''[[Queen of the Spiders]]'') the trade-paperback expansion did justice to the original, so we're using that as our basis.

Okay; ''mostly'' it did justice. The book [[retcon]]ed the series to be the sequel to ''Temple''. We concede that the connexion is contrived, so do feel free to ignore it and to play something else before it. (Wait 'til you get a load of the intended conclusion to the "trilogy".)

As to the series: the PCs getting captured, looted, and potentially enslaved themselves is a running theme. Taking agency from the players is generally frowned-upon, as a design decision; but in a slavery-themed story, at least the players know what they're getting their PCs into.

Another theme - because tournament - is that there are ''several'' parties on the same trip, in mutual competition. As a result you'll notice dungeons being disconnected from one another, and points where some PCs are carried off to Markessa's exercise-mat whilst other PCs are left with their wands in their hands. To play this series, one option is to go for a marathon outing with at least two DMs leading a dozen or more players, which sounds pretty awesome if it could be done right. Otherwise the DM has to do some work to keep everything on target.

==The Road to Highport==
This first chapter is "A-Zero" in the expansion. The party comes to a formal ball at Dame Gold's. Gold wants the party to deliver a MacGuffin to her brother. But she is about to be . . . ''Taken''. The party, following the kidnappers, get hit by pirates too and Taken, onboard the slaveship ''Ghoul'' - to man the oars. Hope they weren't much attached to the magic weapons they'd acquired up to now.

The slavers' sails are purple, replacing the yellow sails of A1. Why the change; don't ask us. Maybe to flex that the slavers are the ''real'' kings of the Wild Coast. Seems an arrogant move that could provoke a response by Nyrond and others; although, 'tis true, the [[Greyhawk Wars]] are coming...

==The City of Highport / The Temple of Highport==
[[File:A1 cover 2.jpg|200px|thumb|The A1 cover, trying to make the aspis a thing.]]
Here commences A1, ''Slave Pits of the Undercity''. The "City" chapter is five pages of mostly charts; David's (he wasn't going by "Zeb")'s adventure is the temple. Highport's liaison to the slavers are the orcs, running the operation from the sewers. New (forgettable) monsters: [[Aspis]] and Giant Sundew.
As a tournament module, there are two parts to this, played by separate parties in competition.

==Into the Wilderness==
This moves the player characters so they can start A2. It's basically a Gazetteer of the northern Pomarj coast. Party can interact with humanoid villages, who charge tolls; and fend off orc opportunists, charging "tolls" outside their property. It expands and essentially replaces the optional wilderness run in that module. It's about to be replaced itself (see below).

==The Slavers' Stockade==
Five chapters in and we're at A2, ''Secret of the Slavers Stockade''. Started by Harold Johnson and finished by [[Tom Moldvay]], they say because Johnson was a full TSR employee so had editorial duties on other projects and couldn't get back to this one. In the stockade the party learns The Princess Is At Another Castle. This speedbump in the narrative justifies itself in a fine sultry BDSM villainess - Markessa - and lots of body-horror. (Johnson was young n' horny back then.)

The PCs can be Taken here too. OH NOT THE WHIP. Also note "the party" can be split, a leftover from the tournament days when there were two parties doing their own simultaneous separate thing.

[[Palace of the Silver Princess|Knowing Moldvay]], we can only speculate as to what other help he provided in toning down Markessa's kinks and dropping silly monsters. Unfortunately the [[cloaker]] survived Moldvay's white-out, hiding among the mothballs. Many errors and typoes survived with it although they did get fixed in the trade-paperback.

==The Caves of the Drachensgrab==
This is the start of Allen Hammack's A3, ''Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords''. As a tournament run, this is to be done in three hours and was actually just the one of the tournament's five (5) linear starting modules. This one, supposedly the best of the five, features the storoper, a one-off special [[roper]] that, like the other stupid new monsters introduced up to now, made it to the second Monster Manual.

This tunnel-system is how people find the slavers' Gondolin called Suderham. Here's a nod to the Afrikaans language, a language in bad odour during the early 1980s.

==The Hidden City of Suderham==
It's the semifinal round, as A3 continues. The Slavers set up their base where nobody else would - within the caldera of a dormant volcano (and they're about to learn why the other Pomarjis didn't think of it first.) In the first part, the players need to find the catacombs. Here we meet several Slave Lords, including Mordrammo later renamed "Stalman Klim" and promoted to leader.

The catacombs themselves are Tournament Mode again aaaaand IT'S A TRAP.

==The Dungeons of the Slave Lords==
Why we're all here: good old-fashioned Carter-era nudity and the first (nearly last) appearance of the [[Cave Fisher]]. It's A4, ''In the ...''. Lawrence Schick is credited with the final result, rather than Johnson again.