Not even memories of past glory live on in the gentle hills around the village of Kusnir. Today its people have more concern for commonplace things, like the harvest, trade, and the threat of death in the night!
Kusnir is beset by a skulk.
The attentions of such a creature are a curse on any community. Streets and alleys which ring to the voices of children by day become fearful, shadowy places by night. Men go abroad armed and in groups, while women and children stay behind locked doors and even there are not safe. But life goes on. The lot of the peasant is always hard, what cannot be prevented must be endured and, of course, things could be worse.
Much worse. The skulk has begun to visit the village more and more often. Sometimes it kills, yet just as often it spares a victim, leaving clear signs of what it might have done had it wished. Its visits are now marked by strange and illegible symbols scrawled in blood on the walls of the buildings. The people are worried, helpless, and desperate. Desperate enough to welcome adventurers.
This adventure can be played alone or as the first adventure in the two-part Alderweg series.
Product History
UK2: "The Sentinel" (1983) is the second UK-series adventure, the fifth TSR UK adventure overall, the first solo effort by Morris, and the first half of the two-part Adlerweg series (whew!). It was run as a tournament at the GamesFair '83 Open, then published later in 1983.
New Trade Dress. Sentinel was the first UK-series adventure to feature TSR's new trade dress, which replaced the old covers that had diagonal banners with new covers with a horizontal banner. This changeover typically saw an upgrade in the graphic design of the adventures as well. However, TSR UK seems to have lagged a bit behind the rest of TSR in this regard, and as a result the graphic design is still finding its bearings (particularly evident in the very plain table of contents). Some of the UK's layout styles would never attain the US TSR's regular standards; on the other hand, as early as UK4, the TSR UK designers were making sophisticated and well-integrated use of artwork that went beyond what TSR US did.
The UK Feel. Most of the UK adventures are pretty plot-heavy. This one focuses on the players hunting down a skulk. In doing so they will enter several encounter areas, including the village of Kusnir, an old xvart lair, and a lake-side villa. This sort of railroaded episodic adventure would become more common in the US in the years afterward, with adventures like N2: "The Forest Oracle" (1984) and N4: "Treasure Hunt" (1987).
"Sentinel" also tends toward careful investigation rather than hack-and-slash - a sophisticated type of adventure design that had shown up in TSR UK adventures as early as U1: "The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh" (1981).
Finally, as with many UK adventures, this one makes heavy use of the Fiend Folio, featuring monsters such as giant bats, an iron cobra, kenku, needlemen, sheet ghouls, a sheet phantom, a stunjelly, witherweed, lots of xvarts (a British take on dark elves!), and of course the skulk.
Expanding Greyhawk. Like its predecessor (UK1: "The Crystal Cave", 1983), UK2 is set in the Hold of the Sea Princes, in an area previously undetailed by TSR. Following the Alderwea series, TSR UK wouldn't do any further work in Greyhawk.
About the Creators. The team of Tom Kirby and Graeme Morris were responsible for many of TSR UK's adventures. This was the first, following their work with Dave J. Browne on UK1.