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Koury
2015-01-12, 09:08 PM
Hello! I've kinda always wanted to do a campaign journal and this last weekend my group began Hoard of the Dragon Queen, our first adventures in 5e. Feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments! Talk about how your group handled fights and other situations and how the outcome varied from ours! But also, refrain from spoilers please, my group will be reading this thread I'm sure!

And with that little intro out of the way, let's begin!



The Current Party
Drodic's belief that who a person is has more to do with the actions and goals of that person and less to do with to whom they were born and how much gold they have acquired has led him to friendships with folks most nobles, including his family, wouldn't be caught dead associating with. His ties with people considered "shady" by society have occasionally reflected back on his family negatively, once even causing another party to pull out of what would have been a major transaction.

While his parents try to carve out their place among the nobles of Baldur's Gate, having risen to prominence buying and selling foodstuffs, Drodic has been more content carving out a place among the everyday people. He frequently makes efforts to hide his connection to his family, both so they aren't negatively affected by his actions and so that he himself is not judged on where he comes from. Despite his best efforts, however, Drodic is something of a black sheep to his family.

Recently, in an attempt to give Drodic more experience as a merchant (and to just get him out of town for a while) his family has sent him to the town of Greenest to trade a few wagons of salt for a few wagons of the towns plentiful flour. He is set to arrive very soon.

Sheet (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=62164)
Vondal likes stuff. Shiny stuff. Valuable stuff. Your stuff. Vondal is not some petty thief, however. He will not steal your stuff. He will offer you a fair and equitable trade! His magic bauble for your pure silver handcrafted statue, for example. And you accept his trade because his bauble solves many of your daily problems! Your life is soon to be much easier with your new magical toy, and while the statue you gave up was certainly valuable, you have no doubt you came out ahead in the exchange.

Except now that the dwarf has left, your bauble isn't working. Maybe you're saying the command word incorrectly? "Dolus!" you shout for the fifth time. Still nothing. You go looking for the dwarven merchant, but he is long gone by this point, laughing, having separated yet another fool from his coin.

And so it has been for Vondal his whole life, living well by using his sorcerous powers to aid in selling his "merchandise" to people. Occasionally, however, he will cross the wrong person and have to leave town and lose his old identity, else risk losing his freedom, or worse, his life.

On the run is where we find Vondal now, having fled south from Waterdeep after a minor misunderstanding with a merchant who was passing through town. After discovering the merchant had connections to some shady organization, Vondal decided a vacation was in order. He packed his things and headed out on the first caravan south. He currently finds himself headed toward the small town of Greenest.

Sheet (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=57515)
Hailing from a small fishing village in the Sea of Endless Ice, Ernir gained a bit of local renown after averting a crisis in his hometown. Having found fame and praise suits him, he headed off to the metropolises in the south, determined to become a legendary figure.

However, gaining fame is easier said than done. Ernir has spent the last few years trying and failing to build a reputation in the major cities of Luskan, Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate. Having failed in each of the big cities, the Dragonborn has decided to try to start his legend in a smaller town. So it is that he finds himself hired on as a guard to a trade caravan, heading to the town of Greenest.

Sheet (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=19135)
Ezrath has spent the better part of a decade as a combat medic in the mercenary company of the Red Shields, protecting caravans leaving Scornubel, as well as serving as the city's army.

It was during one of these deployments that Ezrath's party was attacked by a blue dragon. He could only watch in horror as the dragon tore his longtime friends apart. It then slowly turned to exhale a crackling bolt of thunder and lightning at the medic himself. The world fell to blackness as the elemental energy swallowed Ezrath.

Ezrath jolted awake. Wait, what? Hadn't he just died? He looked around himself, and while he saw no trace of the dragon remaining, the mangled remains of his allies were there. He looked at himself and found burned clothes and warped weapons. But somehow, he was alive. Not just alive, but he felt almost reborn.

He had vague recollections of a dream he had had while unconscious. An old man, accompanied by seven canaries, had appeared to him and told him of great deeds he was to accomplish. Ezrath couldn't recall most of the dream, but knew the first step lay in Greenest, a small town he had been to before. After reporting the loss of the party to his superiors, Ezrath headed out to Greenest in search of... whatever it is he is supposed to find.

Sheet (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=75271)



Ch. 1 - Into the Keep (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?392687-Tyranny-of-Dragons-A-Campaign-Journal&p=18649277&viewfull=1#post18649277)

Koury
2015-01-12, 09:09 PM
Into The Keep

A trade caravan some thirty people strong makes it way down the road to Greenest. Night will be falling soon, but the caravan has decided to press on as the town is only an hour or so away and all are eager to arrive. None more so than Drodic, leader of the caravan, who is ready to finish his duties here and return to his hometown.

However, that might not be so easy easy to do, he discovers as the group crests the last hill and Greenest comes into sight. The town is under attack! Even from this distance, the caravan can see the unmistakable silhouette of a dragon circling above the town as smoke from burning buildings rise to the sky. The whole caravan stops in its tracks.

Drodic immediately decides that he needs to help the town, straps his rapier to his belt and puts out a call for others who will aid him. Three others step forward. One is a Dragonborn named Ernir, who eagerly volunteers. Though he bears no weapons, he is clearly anxious to help. Another is a Dwarven merchant named Vondal, who has stayed silent since joining the caravan. He likewise wields no weapons no wears any armor, but this is no time to turn away aid offered. The last to volunteer, and perhaps the only on in the group to be equipped to go, is a Human named Ezrath, wielding a warhammer in one hand and a shield in the other, and wearing a suit of well maintained chain mail.

After quickly unhitching four of the horses pulling the carts, the groups rides toward the town. As they approach, they see that most of the people they see scurrying around the streets are not townsfolk in a panic but are what appear to be bandits ransacking the town. They arrive at the outskirts of the city and decide the best course of action is to head for the keep in the center of town, some 400 feet away. They tie the horses off and proceed on foot, hoping to stay low and follow this course.

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac357/KouryCasey/Ch1-GreenestMapRoutetoKeep_zps1299a7e2.png

As they approach the first intersection, a family bursts out from a nearby house, fleeing toward the keep. First four children, followed closely by a limping man. Lastly, a woman, holding a broken spear and a shield emerges. As she gets to the street, she turns to face the group of eight kobolds that pour out of the building after her, and begin surrounding her. The party wastes no time intervening.

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac357/KouryCasey/Ch1-GreenestMapLinanFight_zpsc416dcad.png

The fight is fast and deadly. Drodic lets loose an arrow, skewering one foe instantly, while Ernir charges forward and lets loose his destructive ice breath, creating three new ice sculptures for the town. The kobolds retaliate, ganging up on the woman and nearly killing her, one also landing a solid blow against Drodic, who is now injured. Ezrath advances, interposing his sizable self between the injured woman and the kobolds, and smashing one of the remaining foes. The woman disengages and moves toward her family while Vondal takes aim and fires a glob of acid, catching two more kobolds, both of whom drop dead, the acid still sizzling away on their bodies. Drodic quickly dispatches one of the last remaining kobolds. The last kobold turns and runs, having seen seven of his allies drop almost instantly, but Drodic takes out his bow and kills him before he can run out of sight.

The group now turns to the family. The woman introduces herself and offers Drodic her healing potion. Though the halfling initially refuses, telling the woman to drink it instead, he takes it after she continues to insist and is able to heal to full. (DMs Note: I placed the healing potion here after reading all the reports of how difficult this adventure is. I had no idea they'd need it right away like that.) The woman, Linan, tells the party that the raid started recently and she has no idea what the raiders want, though she assumes they're here to steal everything of value. She says that her family is headed to the keep, and that the party should too if they want to live through the night. (DMs Note: Upon revealing the womans name as Linan, the whole group immediately decided her name was was Linen. Linen of the Cloth. They're that kind of group.) The party volunteered to escort them.

Continuing along the route they decided on earlier, they spot a second group of raiders and decide it is best to sneak past them while the raiders pillage. As they do so, the eagle-eyed Ezrath and Drodic spot a second group of villagers hiding in some bushes nearby, but still in sight of the second group of raiders. The group carefully moves across the open road toward the keep and get out of sight of the raiders and then go back to escort the second group to safety as well. (DMs Note: A combination of good rolls on the part of the group and bad rolls on the part of the one lookout raider made this part go exceedingly well for the group.)

Having made it to the base of the hill of the keep, Drodic decides to head up and scout out the rest of the way and see if they can even get into the keep. He spots a group of raiders on the move along the road to the north but ignores them as he circles the keep clockwise, headed south. Upon reaching the southern tip of the keep, he peaks out around the corner and is able to spot three raiders keeping an eye on the keep. He stealthily heads down the hill a ways, trying to see if the gate is still open and finds it is, with the entrance being guarded by three soldiers, eyeing the raiders watching them. He quickly gets back around cover at the southern point of the keep. As he looks back one last time at the raiders he sees there are now only two standing watch.

http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac357/KouryCasey/Ch1-GreenestMapIntotheKeep_zps5df3fa0e.jpg

After heading back and reporting to the group, they decide to make a break for the door with the party making a wall with their bodies to protect the villagers. The party moves out first and forms a line and the villagers quickly move between the party and the castle wall toward the keep. As they do, however, they come under fire from three kobolds down the way, hurling stones at them with their slings. Drodic immediately shoots back, his arrow pinning one of the kobolds straight to the ground, and the other two run off.

The guards see the party and the townsfolk and quickly aid the group into the keep. As they do so, they close the doors behind them, as they see more raiders starts to gather outside and it is no longer safe to keep the gate open. (DMs Note: The party comes close to leveling from this episode and so I award them enough bonus XP to hit level 2. I partly do this do quickly get out of level 1 and its more swingy fights. I will likely be doing episodic leveling, awarding levels when suggested by the book from here on out.)