XSOLO: Lathan's Gold

XSOLO "Lathan's Gold" (1984) by Merle M. Rasmussen is an Expert D&D solo adventure featuring six individual scenarios, set in and around the Sea of Dread.

Module XSOLO "Lathan's Gold" (1984) by Merle M. Rasmussen.  Cover illustration by Jim Roslof.

Prerolled Characters:

Each of the six prerolled characters have a different quest to complete:

Lathan Lance-hand (E4)

Your betrothed, the lovely Alandah, has been kidnapped by the evil Baron Ludwig von Hendriks.  The baron requires a ransom in unrefined gold equal in weight to the kidnapped Alandah: 1,000 coins’ weight (1,000 gp).  You must take the ransom to the baron in Fort Doom in a certain number of days, or you will never see Alandah alive again.

The baron has left word of a burning mountain in the Sea of Dread that produces streams of unrefined gold.  He wants you to find the mountain for him.  The only problem is that you don’t know exactly where the mountain is.

Elrem Nessumsar (D6)

Your people are not a sea-faring race, but they do have foresight.  Because of other races’ rapid population growth, Rockhome’s borders are shrinking.  Your elders realize that your people may one day need more land.

It is rumored that the Isle of Dread is large, mountainous, and unpopulated.  You are a scout being sent to locate the infamous island.

Brother Octave (C5)

Your diminishing order has learned of an ancient holy shrine called the Temple of Araknee.  Members of your order believe that if the temple is found before the next new moon rises, your order will survive and flourish.

Ancient doctrine indicates that those who search for the temple should sail to the Three Sisters Keys and sacrifice their ship to the Dragon’s Teeth.  If the searchers survive this sacrifice, they are to intone the Three Sisters, who will send them to Spider Isle.

Kuat the Dragon-hearted (F6)

Since you were a child, you have heard stories of the war against the merpeople.  Now that you are an experienced fighter, you want to find out if the legends of the Aquapopulus War are true.

One legend tells of a battle in which merpeople surrounded and fought your people on a small island in the Sea of Dread.  You have decided to seek out this battlefield.

Suparjo (M4)

Legend tells of rare seven-headed hydras in the Malpheggi Swamp and the Sea of Dread.  You wish to see for yourself if these mythical beasts really exist.

Krag Skraddle (T6)

For centuries, pirates have hidden their stolen treasure on unmarked islands.  Much of the treasure was lost when pirates were killed in battles or storms.

All you need to do to find these hidden stores of wealth is find Pirate Rock and dig up the beach.

Specularum:

Each solo adventure begins in Specularum.

Rasmussen provides an extremely useful series of entries that may alternately be used in a regular D&D game as a mechanism for PCs to navigate the city.

The streets of Specularum (location S7).  Illustration by Jeff Easley.

Locations include:

• the Tavern-on-the-Shore (where sea captains trade stories)
• Ceesalt the Sage (a source of information)
• the Grog Shoppe (where marines are hired)
• the Marketplace (where rations are purchased)
• a city well (see illustration, above)
• the Hippogriff Inn (1 gp for a meal and a place to sleep)
• the Capital Armorer (where armor and weapons are purchased)
• the Golden Coin Gambling House (with rules for gambling)
• the city jail

The Sea of Dread:

Additional entries allow for exploration of other urban locations (including Fort Doom), various islands, coastal areas, trade routes, and the open sea.

Parchment map of the Sea of Dread, from XSOLO "Lathan's Gold" (1984) with coastal trade routes.

The trade routes depicted differ slightly from those appearing on the "The Lands and Environs of the D&D Wilderness"

Islands in the Sea of Dread

Names and brief descriptions for many of the islands depicted on the map of the continent from module X1 "The Isle of Dread" are included:

• the Three Sisters Keys
• Skeleton Key
• Insect Island
• Spider Isle
• Termite Atoll
• "no name" island (little more than a sand bar)
• Pirate Rock
• Burning Mountain*
• East Key

*the location for Burning Mountain is covered by the legend, above, but appears as an underwater volcano on the map of the Sea of Dread in X7 "The War Rafts of Kron".

(The Dragon’s Teeth Reef described in the module is also indicated on the map in X7 "The War Rafts of Kron".)

Conclusion:

XSOLO "Lathan's Gold" by Merle Rasmussen provides an enjoyable experience, but its real value may be as a playing aid to running X1 "The Isle of Dread".

There are mechanics for urban adventuring in Specularum (which include chartering a ship), as well as brief descriptions for many of the small islands in the Sea of Dread.