Tyranny of Dragons Campaign Recap

[Nicrosil]

Hey folks, this is a recap of my group’s experience going through Tyranny of Dragons, DM’d by me. I'm using this thread partially as a log for my players, since we often end off pretty late and so I sometimes forget important details, and as DM notes. At the end of each recap I'll have a brief postmortem, explaining why I did some things, what I forgot to do, stuff like that. By seeing my blunders, I hope other DM's can avoid them entirely.

I want to note that this is heavily homebrewed; I’ve scrapped most of Hoard of the Dragon Queen and have greatly expanded Rise of Tiamat. I’m using material from the Adventurer’s League season to supplement the lower levels. I’ve also homebrewed most of the setting by taking the Sword Coast and chucking out most of the established lore. Basically only the map and the names are the same. Lore wise, this world was almost destroyed about 3,000 years ago, widely believed due to the overuse and abuse of magic. Most of the major factions define themselves based on their beliefs of how magic should be used. We'll get more into that later in the adventure.

Our cast starts at level 3, so they all have some previous experience adventuring. Their individual reasons for meeting in Phlan aren’t really defined, but we assume that everyone knows everyone else and they’ve been working together for a while now. Something I want to note is that everyone is playing an archetype from the most recent batch of Unearthed Arcana; part of this campaign is to get real experience with and feedback on the archetypes. Oh, something else I should mention. Everyone started with a one or two uncommon magic items; I’ll list them in everyone’s bios ᵒᶰᶜᵉ ᴵ ʳᵉᵐᵉᵐᵇᵉʳ ʷʰᵃᵗ ᵉᵛᵉʳʸᵒᶰᵉ ʰᵃˢ⋅ I like to run higher power games with lots of magic stuff, so keep that in mind.


Verik: Triton, Storm Barbarian (https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_Barbarian.pdf), Emissary of Hekaton. Verik was our previous DM for Storm King’s Thunder, and probably made his character when preparing the final chapters there. In this world, Tritons are humans who pledged themselves to Hekaton and the storm giants during the apocalypse. They were transformed, and now serve as royal guards and spies. Verik was assigned by Hekaton himself to go the surface world, since he’d been receiving rumors that dragons were acting strangely. Verik is very straightforward and reckless in combat, not for glory, but to protect his friends.

Lia: Half-Elf, Beastmaster Revised Ranger (https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_RevisedRanger.pdf), Outlander. Lia’s animal companion is a wolf named Moro, raised by Lia after Moro was abandoned by her mother and pack. She’s a member of the Emerald Enclave, a group set on destroying monstrosities and undead that threaten civilization, and has a relationship with another agent there. Lia is a half-elf, but has intimate knowledge of the workings in the elven court, especially King Melandrach… She’s slow to trust, and hasn’t said anything on the subject to the party.

Faramin: Gnome, Glamour Bard (https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_Bard.pdf), Nomad. Faramin was raised in a secluded gnomish village where he discovered his musical talents. Wander-lust overcame him, and he roamed the forests. At one point, he discovered a fey village. They took a liking to him, and taught him how to intertwine his bardic skills with fey magic, and gave him his most prized possession: a golden fiddle. Faramin continues to wander, trying to make people happy and love life. He is a bit naive, however.

Gunhild: Human, Kensai Monk (https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA-RevisedSubclasses.pdf), Acolyte. Gunhild was an acolyte at a far away monastery, and quickly proved to be a prodigy. Soon his power rivaled the greatest of the elders. However, the elders were corrupt, and fearful that Gunhild would displace them. They cast him out, and now he wanders the land, trying to become strong enough to defeat his old masters. Now, Gunhild’s player is notoriously, stupidly unlucky. But, when rolling for stats, this scumlord somehow got 2 18’s, nothing under 10, and almost maximum HP, and since he’s a monk his AC is 18. It’s like he’s been charging his luck for this one moment. We’ll see if this luck continues into the actual game…

Tiegar “Tie” Pawson: Tabaxi, Inquisitive Rogue (https://dnd.wizards.com/sites/default/files/media/upload/articles/UA%20Gothic%20Characters.pdf), Outlander. Tie was originally the familiar of the famous wizard Xonthal, who grew lonely. He tried to awaken Tie, but something went wrong, and Tie became the first Tabaxi. Xonthal was cruel to Tie, but Tie found joy when he snuck out to the nearby village, stealing trinkets and baubles. But, one day, Tie was discovered by a small child, who called him a “monster kitty.” Tie ran back to the tower, but Xonthal had discovered Tie missing and began to beat him. Rather than take his punishment like before, Tie lashed out, leaving a nasty scar across Xonthal’s face. Tie fled, stealing some minor magic items along the way. Tie can be aloof at times, and still has trouble with the whole “property” thing.

Rosemary: Human, Scout Rogue (https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/2017_01_UA_RangerRogue_0117JCMM.pdf), Charlatan. Rosemary was an ordinary young socialite, attending balls and dances thrown by nobles. She’s not noble herself; several suitors took her, more because they wanted to be “charitable” than because they had any romantic interest. However, during a ball, she accidentally stumbled across some thieves. She was captivated by them, and felt something awaken in her: the spark of competition. She beat the criminals to their target, and it felt good. She kept thieving, using her “noblewomanliness” to become a grifter. Eventually, she made a team of her own, and they pulled several heists. However, a job went terribly wrong, and Rosemary was the only one to make it out alive.


So, onto the recap proper. I'm putting it in spoilers to avoid a wall of text.


We begin in the city of Phlan, a small coastal town along the Sword Coast. Phlan is a very old city, alternating between periods of wealth and recession. Phaln is on the downswing now, however. The local thieves guild, the Welcomers, are becoming more and more bold, and the town's many guilds are straddling the line between businessmen and organized crime syndicates. The town’s militia, the Black Fists, is no better; they rule the town under martial law. The Lord Protector of the town perished in a construction accident about a year ago, and the commander of the Black Fists, Ector Brahms, was named Lord Regent. Ector is a good man, and a great commander, but he’s a poor Lord Protector; the town has languished under him.

Phlan is build on a river delta; the majority of the city lies on an island in the center of the river. The south bank is home to several farms and ranches, while the north bank is home to the ghettos, industrial areas, and the local church, Valhingen. The party has been contacted by the church; they ask for some help in, well… the catacombs. The messenger seems anxious and desperate for help.

The party agrees to help, and they make their way to Valhingen. The church’s grounds are beautiful; they looks more like an ornamental gardens than a graveyard. The party is ushered inside the church proper, where a man wearing plain, black robes with a long, weathered face greets them. He introduces himself as Doomguide Yovir, the head of this church. Faramin is wary about the whole “Doomguide” thing, but Yovir states that Valhingen is a church to Kelemvor, a god of death and respite. “Doom” doesn’t refer to a violent death, but to the natural end of all things.

Yovir tells the party that lately, a few members of the clergy have gone missing, “A few weeks ago, a novice went missing. That’s not too surprising; many can’t handle the hard work required here. However, Brother Rasoran, a cleric who’s been here for the past 10 years, also vanished. And then a few days ago, they found Sister Bethel, and… well…”

As he’s saying this, he leads the party into a small side room. A stone slab lies in the center of the room; there’s a humanoid figure under a sheet on top of it. Even with the sheet, though, the party can tell something’s wrong with it. Yovir delicately lifts part of the sheet, enough to reveal a dead, elderly woman. She’s covered in rotting bite wounds, as if they had decayed faster than the rest of her body. It’s clear that they were caused by an undead creature. The Doomguide sadly says that he fears the undead have risen again. Verik cautiously asks what he means by “again.”

Yovir explains, “Well, when I was a novice, about 50 years ago now, a necromancer defiled the catacombs, and threw the entire town into disarray. With Phlan the way it is now, I fear an undead infestation would lead to anarchy. Please, we need all the help we can get. Go into the catacombs, find the source of the undead, and snuff it out. I can pay you each a hundred gold for your help.”

As everyone agrees, Yovir looks relieved. He leads the party to another side room, where an old, iron bar door blocks the entrance to a long set of stairs. Yovir calls out a name, explaining that the party will need a guide. The catacombs are old and mysterious; they run for miles underneath Phlan. A mousy, shy looking woman slips into the room, wearing similar black robes as the Doomguide. “Cassyt,” Yovir explains, “is just a novice, but she’s studied the catacombs extensively. She’ll serve as your guide down there.” Cassyt waves meekly.

And so the team of adventurers descends into the unknown depths below, down a long, musty staircase of cold stone… into a well lit, pleasant looking room. An old fresco dominates the north wall, depicting several races from all walks of life, while a room to the west has a long table decorated with candles and place settings, like a banquet hall. Cassyt explains that it’s tradition in Phlan to hold a feast when a loved one dies to preserve and celebrate their memory; this room is for poorer families who can’t rent out an inn. Cassyt also explains that the banquet hall has a side room that functions as an elevator, for the priests to carry the preserved body down into the catacombs proper.

However, there’s another iron bar door along the north wall, near the fresco, that leads into a dark tunnel. That way leads into the older sections of the catacombs, where previous churches and sects buried the dead, Cassyt states. The party argues for a bit about which way to go, but Verik interjects, suggesting they ask Cassyt. She’s caught off guard by this, but says that they need to find the source of the undead; it’s more likely that it’s hiding in the older sections of the catacombs. The party agrees, and heads north.

The party travels down a narrow hallway, when it suddenly widens. On either side are macabre cells, or dioramas. Skeletons dressed in fine clothing and expensive jewelry are reading dusty tomes by unlit fireplaces, laughing with friends as they cut into nonexistent food with gold cutlery, hunting a stuffed deer through painted forests with rusty weapons. Everyone’s a bit weirded out, and rightly so, except for Tie. He tries to reach into one of the cells to grab some jewelry, only to be disappointed when he finds his arms can’t reach deep enough. Oblivious to this, Cassyt explains that these are the First Families of Phlan, the wealthy merchant families who originally settled here. They were buried as if they were going about their daily lives, so that they could continue to do so in the afterlife.

The party eagerly ventures into the next room, but it’s not much better. A wide pit dominates the center of the room, filled with old, broken bones. They can only move forward if they shimmy across the pit’s narrow lip. As they do so, Cassyt explains that this section of the catacombs is where the funerary cults are located; over the years various folks got… strange ideas of how the dead should be preserved. While the priests of Kelemvor use different methods, they don’t want to disturb the resting dead, and so they build around this section. Faramin notices a side path along the rim, and peeks in. The side hallway is filled with pottery shaped like animals, corpses preserved in a way that looks like they were burnt, and carefully arranged bones. Seeing nothing of interest, he continues across the pit. But, something saw him…

After everyone successfully shimmied, they find themselves at the top of a rickety set of stairs that wrap around a strange statue. It’s clear that these stairs are old and haven’t been taken care of, so they’ll have to descend carefully. Gunhild goes down first… when suddenly Rosemary hears something running behind her. She turns around, and sees a humanoid figure, with tight, gaunt skin, and a distended jaw rushing at her. She screams, and we roll for initiative!

Everyone’s scrambling to react. Liah sics Moro on it, and draws her bow. Rosemary waves her rapier wildly… and rolls a one. She throws the rapier into the darkness, and hears it land with a crunch in the bone pit. She shakily draws her blowgun. Gunhild tries to see what these things are from the back line to identify them... and rolls low. It's definitely undead!

They make short work of the creature, but as it dies, it lets out a scream. More of the undead creatures run out of the darkness, and towards the party! Eventually, Tie realizes that these things are ghouls, undead with a hunger for flesh and a paralytic venom. The information is too late, however, as a ghoul bites and paralyzes Verik! Thankfully, Gunhild is able to kill the ghoul before it eats Verik, thanks to his katana-to-the-face-and-kick-to-the-shins wombo combo.

As the last ghoul crumples, I look at the index card I used for initiative… and realize I completely forgot about Cassyt. Whoops. She, uh, suddenly climbs out of the bone pit, holding Rosemary’s sword! Way to be, Cassyt!

So, rickety stairs. Everyone makes acrobatics checks as they descend, trying to be careful where they put their weight so it doesn’t collapse. At the base of the stairs are two paths: another hallway, and a closed door. Rosemary investigates the door, while Gunhild checks out the statue. Rosemary hears muffled groaning, and what sounds like someone pounding on wood. Gunhild checks out the statue; it depicts a humanoid figure with a locust head and four arms. One hand holds a set of scales, one has a quill, one has a book, and one is reaching downwards, as if it were offering someone help up. Gunhild realizes this depicts a god of a very old pantheon, but he’s not sure beyond that. Everyone makes their way down the stairs without a hitch… except for Liah and Moro. As the ranger and her wolf make their way down, they miss a step, and the stairs suddenly collapse! They’re not hurt too bad, thankfully.

Rosemary informs everyone about the weird noises beyond the door, and Verik and Liah move forward to investigate. They don’t hear anything, when suddenly something slams against the door! The party thinks it’s a pack of zombies, probably four of them from the sound of it. Verik and Liah make a plan. Verik kicks open the door and throws his javelin of lightning in, but it doesn’t kill any of the zombies. Verik had really bad luck this session. Liah shoots at one of the zombies, and the two rogues move in to get sneak attacks. The zombies fall, when suddenly another ghoul emerges from the shadows! But, it gets cut down before it can make sushi out of the triton.

With the excitement of combat over, the party investigates the room. The room is plain, but several old silver manacles and mirrors hang from the walls, and an old strongbox sits on a weathered table. Most interesting, however, is the pillar of light in the center of the room. A chimney leading to the surface lets light in, carefully redirected by a set of mirrors. Cassyt starts to explain that this room was used to kill vampires and similar undead, but pauses when she sees that a climbing rope is hanging in the center of the light pillar. The room grows silent, and everyone hears muffled crying and hiccuping coming from an adjacent room. Verik and Faramin cautiously peer in, while Liah and Tie go to check out the hallway. Gunhild is still curious about the statue, while Rosemary checks the strongbox.

The adjacent room has several niches carved in the wall, filled with urns and trinkets. Huddled in the far end of the room is a tiefling, a half-elf, and a weeping half-orc. Upon seeing the party, the half-elf rushes forward and kneels at Verik’s feet, thanking him and saying they’d been stuck in here for three days. Faramin plays a song to try and calm the half-orc, and rolls super well! The half-orc is out cold.

The tiefling and the half-elf explain that they’re members of the Welcomers, the local thieves guild. Cassyt starts fuming, but the tiefling carefully explains that their orders were to investigate rumors that there were undead lurking here. They thought it would be a pretty simple job, and only brought the climbing rope and a bottle of whiskey, which the half-orc drank when they became pinned in this room. Faramin realizes that the tiefling’s pockets are bulging, and orders him to empty them. Trinkets plundered from the niches come rattling out. Cassyt is livid, and tells the party she wants the thieves out of the catacombs. Verik agrees, and uses his racial wind gust power to blow their climbing rope out of the chimney. I... er... Cassyt wonders why he didn’t just, you know, cut the rope. Verik has a flair for the dramatic, apparently. He directs them to the entrance of the catacombs, to face the wrath of Doomguide Yovir. Cassyt reminds him that they, uh, destroyed the stairs, but Verik proclaims that they can climb! The tiefling kicks the half-orc awake and the Welcomers trudge off.

Rosemary checks the strongbox, but is disappointed to find it only holds wooden stakes. Gunhild put their heads together to try and identify the statue, and they realize it depicts a psychopomp, a god or spirit that directs the dead to the afterlife, like Anubis or Charon. More interesting, however, is what Liah finds. There’s a room along the hallway; inside is an obsidian obelisk with worn silver words etched into it. Liah realizes it’s written in Celestial, which she speaks! The words are faded, but they seem to be a blessing of health and strength. She gets the feeling that this is more than just a blessing; it may be some inert magical ritual. She tries to rewrite the etched words, but doesn’t recall how the rest of the blessing should go.

Meanwhile, Tie continues down the hallway, and finds himself in a large room made of bones. I’m not joking; human bones are imbedded in the plaster and form complex designs. They’re everywhere, even in the ceiling. As Tie looks at the ceiling, however, he notices that one skeleton is moving. It suddenly breaks free and falls on him! The rest of the party hears the commotion, and rushes to help him. As they enter, more and more skeletons drop from the ceiling, sending rubble everywhere. Rosemary, hesitant, decides to guard the hallway! Verik wonders if he’d be useful in this fight since he only has piercing weapons, which he figures wouldn’t be effective against skeletons (http://i.imgur.com/cSAtyYl.jpg). But no, skeletons are vulnerable to bludgeoning damage and immune to poison, but there’s nothing about being immune to piercing. Huh. At one point, a skeleton rolled a natural one, so I said it’s arm came dislodged… but it picked up its arm and started bludgeoning the party with it! And then immediately died next round. Anyway, the party demolishes the skeetons! And I realize that I forgot Cassyt again! She, uh, was helping Rosemary guard the hallway.

The team makes their way deeper into the crypts, and finds something really disturbing… Similar to the section with the First Families, there are cells with skeletons arrayed as if still alive, but they aren’t depicting everyday life. In one cell, child sized skeletons strangle a man, in another, a group of people are holding down someone and forcing him to drink from a dirty vial. Cassyt explains that these are where the worst killers and criminals are buried, forced to experience the tortures they inflicted on others. The perpetrators here were victims in life; they finally get to enact vengeance. Everyone stops in the middle of the hallway at the sight of a loaded bear trap. Faramin triggers the trap with a quarterstaff and moves forward. Suddenly, he hits a tripwire, and a hidden crossbow shoots him! The bear trap was a ruse! He’s hurt a bit, but Cassyt heals him.

Finally, the group enters the catacombs proper. The vast cavern holds thousands of miniature buildings, like the ones on the surface of Phlan, but maybe a third the size. There’s a side chamber with an accordian gate; Cassyt points out that this is the elevator that connects to the banquet hall. However, the ropes have been cut, making it inoperable. Cassyt’s confused; the clerics came down here a few days ago. This must have been recent.

After some searching, the party finds a strange cavern. Four zombies and a ghoul mill about barrels and crates, and a kobold holding a staff covered in bells is sleeping in a barrel. Strange… Tie rocks his stealth check, and weaves his way towards the kobold, while the rest of the party engages the ghoul. Tie assassinates the kobold with no problem, and the ghoul and a zombie go down without a hitch. They began dealing with the other zombies, only to find that one of them was immortal. For those that don’t know, zombies have a trait where if the get knocked down to 0 HP, they can make a Constitution save with a DC based on how much damage they took. Due to a combination of low damage rolls on the player's part and high rolls on mine, this zombie would not die. For 7 turns someone shot, bit, or stabbed this zombie, and he made his save every time. Sadly, Verik finally slays zombie Rasputin…

During combat, Liah hears rustling papers and barked orders coming from an adjacent cavern. She and Moro go to check it out, and see a mage in red robes with an intricate tattoo on his forehead shoving papers from a desk into a sack. He looks up at them and curses. A knight with a similar tattoo on its armor and a cultist in brown robes with a strange symbol on the left breast move to attack, while a kobold readies its sling. Liah yells at the mage to stop what he’s doing, but the mage flips her off and continues what he’s doing.

Tie, Rosemary, and Cassyt enter as well. Cassyt screams at the wizard who has been raising the undead, and casts bless on the four people in the room. The wizard yells back at her “foolish mortal!” and continues to shove papers into his sack. He glances warily at a circle of runes next to him. Tie and Rosemary dive into the shadows with insanely high stealth checks. Rogues, man. Liah, and Moro wail into the acolyte, while Rosemary makes her way over to the mage. Gunhild, Verik, and Faramin enter soon after, and the mage calls them “foolish mortals!” too, and casts invisibility on the knight. Faramin starts sneaking as well, inching towards the mage. The acolyte falls, and the kobold launches a ball of filthy rags and feces at Liah. It misses, and splatters against a wall. Tie emerges from the shadows and assassinates the kobold… again. Rosemary, meanwhile, has snuck up to the desk and tries to grab some papers. The mage sees her, and calls her a “foolish mor-” He’s interrupted as Liah shoots him in the chest and kills him, much to the dismay of Faramin, who was planning on swapping the mage’s sack Indiana Jones style. Rosemary grabs a paper, which appears to be a very detailed map of the catacombs… with one strange discrepancy.

The knight proves to be the real boss of the campaign, as he suddenly reappears and begins duking it out with Verik and Gunhild. Remember how I said Gunhild’s player is notoriously unlucky? Well, Gunhild managed to hit the knight… maybe twice. Gunhild himself didn’t get hit at all though, so I suppose it all works out in the end.

Eventually, the knight falls, and everyone begins to search the room. First off, it seems that the ring of runes the mage was eyeing is some kind of one time teleportation circle. Using it requires a command word, however, and with the mage dead there’s no way of knowing how to activate it. The acolyte’s symbol looks like the profile of a red dragon head over 5 streaks; Verik identifies it as the symbol of the dragon cult…

Faramin realizes that the mage is one of the Red Wizards of Thay, evil spellcasters who specialize in necromancy. Looking through the papers, most of them seem to be logs about an excavation project, but a few seem to be journals. Skimming over them, they find out that the red wizard was in the catacombs searching for something, and was worried since “Rezmir” and “Rath Modar” were going to be arriving soon.

Most notably is the map Rosemary grabbed of the catacombs. Cassyt exclaims that it’s more accurate than anything the clergy have. There’s a weird marking on it though. An arrow leads off the map, with a note on it in Draconic. None of the party members speak it, but Cassyt says Doomguide Yovir could probably translate it. They find that the wizard and his entourage got here from a tunnel they carved from the surface; following it they emerge in the woods beyond Phlan.

Returning to Valhingen triumphant, they report their success to Yovir. He happily pays the party, and gives them a special gift. It looks like a necklace or choker made of bandages. He explains that it’s a periapt of wound closure, a magic item that will help them heal. He chuckles that the duty of the clerics of Kelemvor is to make sure that the dead stay dead and the living stay living. They ask Yovir to translate the word on the map, and he seems puzzled. It’s apparently the Draconic word for “Pool.” Faramin suddenly remembers that about a hundred years ago, a hole was torn between this world and the Weave, the source of all magic. This hole was underneath Valjevo Keep, located here in Phlan. This rip was dubbed the Pool of Radiance.

Suddenly, a dragon roars overhead...


Finally, the DM recap. Players, stay out.


So, if you couldn't tell from the title of the session, this is based on the fourth adventure of the first Adventurer's League season, Dues for the Dead. I didn't make too many changes, but I did cut out a room with a weird crown/scale puzzle and a room with talking skulls since we were running late. The rooms I did keep in were a bit bland, however, so I tried to include something interesting. In the adventure, the obelisk is just a statue, but I decided that if someone knew Celestial and rolled high on a Religion check, everyone in the room would have bless and cure wounds cast on them. Problem was, only Liah knew Celestial, and she kept rolling low. I probably set the DC too high, but oh well.

Doomguide Yovir was fun to roleplay, if only because I got to do an old man voice. I feel like roleplaying NPC's is were I'm weakest, but having a unique voice for a character really makes them stand out. I doubt my players would ever forget the flamboyant criminal Basil, or the voice I did for him.

Two things I would redo: Start earlier, and get initiative scores ready beforehand. We started like two hours later than normal, and so we rushed the end a lot. That's partially why I'm doing this recap, so the players can see what I might have glossed over at the end there. I really want to emphasize that Rath Modar and Rezmir are important NPC villains who they'll be encountering soon. With initiative scores, the skeleton encounter and the final encounter took maybe 3 minutes for me to get set up. That doesn't sound like much, but it's an eternity at the table. Even then, a couple of zombies and kobolds disappeared somehow from the final fight. Plus I kept forgetting Cassyt!

I worry that the bear trap thing might cause some controversy, so I just want to say it was supposed to be more comedic than deadly. The players loved it, even Faramin.

I did play the red wizard poorly; in the actual adventure he would have disappeared basically as soon as someone entered the room, but I wanted to give the players a reasonable chance to stop him. I probably went a bit overboard with that, since he spent like 3 rounds doing nothing and I forgot to have him use shield, but like I said above the real boss of the encounter was the knight.

All in all though, everything went better than expected!

I hope you guys enjoyed the recap; we play every Thursday so hopefully I'll have new installments up by Sunday/Monday. Till next time!

[Nicrosil]

Alright, so everyone's magic items.

Verik: Javelin of Lightning

Liah: Bracers of Archery, Gloves of Missile Snaring

Faramin: Instrument of the Bard, the one that lets him cast cure wounds and barkskin and stuff.

Gunhild: Bracers of Archery

Tie: Boots of Elvenkind, Immovable Rod (oh boy)

Rosemary: Philter of Love (we'll probably change it since it doesn't work like we thought it did.)

Last time the party got a Periapt of Wound Closure, which will probably go on Gunhild or Verik since they're on the front line. Everyone also has a recharging healing potion. It heals (proficiency bonus)d4+(proficiency bonus) HP; it should be useful since they don't have a real healer.

[Nicrosil]

Where we last left off, the party had explored the catacombs underneath Valhingen, and discovered the presence of the Dragon Cult and the Red Wizards of Thay. The two groups were apparently seeking out the Pool of Radiance, a portal to the source of all magic that opened up beneath Valjevo Keep a century ago. Suddenly, a dragon roared!

The team watches in horror as a giant white serpent descends on Valjevo Keep and begins demolishing it. They rush to the central island of Phlan, fighting against a tide of fleeing people. They finally break through, and find themselves in an empty square with a strange sight. Three men in black splint armor are slaughtering other people in that same armor. They recognize the armor as that of the Black Fists, Phlan's militia. However, these guys have a streak of white paint smeared across their armor. The turncoat Black Fists notice the party, and yell at them to halt!

And Tie does, to the surprise of the Black Fist and myself... Tie asks why, and the guardsman stammers that he needs to bring them to a safer location! Now turn around and put your hands behind your back. Tie refuses, so the Black Fist tries to stab him. And now combat begins!

Moro, Tie, and Gunhild move to intercept the Black Fist, while Verik engages another. Faramin, Rosemary, and Liah provide ranged support. Faramin mocks one of them for a whopping 1 damage. But, it works! The Black Fist whiffs all of his attacks against the squishy Tie!

The third Black Fist moves in to assist against Tie and Gunhild. bringing the wolf to 0 HP in the process with a lucky crit! The Black Fists have very high AC, and can deal a lot of damage, so things start to get a bit hairy. It doesn't help that on the second round a kobold in priestly garb comes bursting out of a nearby house, and tries to hex Verik. The barbarian resists the enchantment, and glares at the kobold cleric. The cleric switches up its tactics and hexes Faramin! He's paralyzed! Rosemary notices that the kobold seems to be furiously concentrating; its little brain is firing on all cylinders. She shoots it with her blowgun for 4 damage... and the kobold fails its save! Faramin is free!

Meanwhile, the wolf is bleeding out, and fails two death saves! Worst case scenario Liah can pretty easily resurrect the wolf, but its still tense. The group's doing good, but they're hurting. Suddenly, a corpse rises up from the pile! It's not a corpse, it's a friend! She wears similar armor as the Black Fists they're fighting, but with no white streak. She calls the Black Fists traitors and charges at them! ...And whiffs horribly. Whoops. There is a scary moment where the kobold uses command to make Verik kneel, giving the Black Fist advantage on his attacks, but he's raging and mitigates most of the damage. Faramin comes and punches to kobold to, and I quote, "make a statement." The Black Fist turns its attention to Faramin.

The fight goes pretty smoothly after that. The wolf succeeds two death saves, and the group's new friend proves useful! The last Black Fist falls, and Moro drinks a potion. The new friend introduces herself as Aleyd, a Black Fist. When the dragon attacked, several of the Black Fists turned on their friends, and painted that white streak on their armor to mark themselves. The dragon destroyed Valjevo Keep, and killed the town's nobility, the guildmasters, and the Lord Regent. She seems saddened by that last bit, as the Lord Regent, Ector Brahms, was the commander of the Black Fists before he became the Lord Regent. Tie wonders if Aleyd and Ector were in a relationship. It's... complicated. Either way, Aleyd sees that the party's worse for wear and tells them that the Laughing Goblin Inn has been converted into a makeshift hospital. She leads the party there.


This is only about half of last session; I'm headed out of town and wanted to get something posted. The rest of the recap and the DM notes are coming Soon(tm).

[Nicrosil]

Sorry about the delay, here's the rest of session 2.


The party goes with Aleyd to the Laughing Goblin Inn. What was once a pleasant, cozy inn has been converted into a makeshift hospital. Wounded people are lying on tables, and everyone's rushing around tending to them. The party takes a short rest. Aleyd is clearly in charge; two people approach her with news. Aya is an elven woman who was a scribe at the library. She thinks that the Lord Regent could still be alive. She was talking with him at Stojanow Gate, a prison located at the base of Valjevo Keep. She left before the dragon attacked to fetch something, but she's certain he's there. Another person, a dwarven woman named Eurip, confirms this. She overheard a spellcaster looking character talking with some kind of fiend, like a tiefling, but... more. The devilish looking guy talked about meeting "friends" at Stojanow Gate.

Aleyd is overjoyed, and begins to martial a force to go rescue him. Aya argues that their top priority should be finding a way out of town; she knows that a member of the Welcomers, Glevith, is a smuggler. Last she heard, he was at the Cracked Crown inn at Scholar's Square. She stresses that she knows who this dragon is; he's known for being especially cruel and hostile.

The party has a choice: go to Glevith and negotiate with him, or go to Stojanow Gate and rescue Ector? They decide to go get Ector. Their short rest complete, they head out. Aleyd has mustered together a force of a few other honorable Black Fists, and a woman in ill-fitting leather armor with the symbol of Kelevmor on it. It's Cassyt!

The party goes to Stojanow Gate, approaching from the north as the light rain turns into a proper storm. The entire square has been barricaded off; hundreds of refugees are cowering in the square. In the center is a man with long silver hair, tied to other prisoners. Aleyd recognizes him as Ector Brahms. But, patrolling the square are dozens of traitorous Black Fists and men in heavy armor. The party notices that some of the plate armored men have white scales on their skin. Half-dragons. They also notice that there's a wagon parked near the wall; someone's inside it but they can't tell who... or what.

Aleyd comes up with a plan. She and her group will sneak around to the west and draw the attention of the guards. The party doesn't have a better plan, and so they agree. The plan works! Kind of. The group successfully draws the attention of the turncoat Black Fists, but Aleyd is cut down in the chase. There's no time to mourn her, as three of the half-dragon guards and the man in the wagon attack! This mystery man turns out to be a cambion, a half-devil. This is who Eurip saw. The cambion assaults the group with rays of fire while the party attacks the guards. At one point, Rosemary tries to bluff her way in, pretending to be a higher up in the cult. The guard she addresses, confused, asks her to make "the sign." Rosemary is at a loss, and combat resumes. Verik and Gunhild are laying waste to the cambion, but he charms Verik into attacking Gunhild! Now, Verik can remake the save every time he takes damage, but Gunhild's bad luck is in full swing; he can't hit Verik, and when he does Verik easily makes the save. The rest of the party is struggling against the half-dragons, when suddenly Ector breaks free of his bonds and comes to help! They easily take down the remaining guards, but Verik is still attacking Gunhild! Gunhild, our immortal tank, falls unconscious! Rosemary does some quick thinking, and runs up to Verik... and kisses him.

Alrighty then.

I say it's weird enough to warrant another save, with advantage. Verik rolls a 17, and a 1. Now I'm a terrible person, and rule that Verik breaks free of the charm, but gets a new flaw; he has an unconscious crush on Rosemary! What this means, I don't know yet. I don't want to be weird with it, so I'll say its up to the individual players if they want to pursue that. The cambion, seeing his charm has been broken, flies up above the party, says "screw this," and teleports away.

Ector thanks the party, and mourns Aleyd. The party heals up using potions they got at the Laughing Goblin Inn, and they and their 200 something refugees make their way to Scholar's Square. The party is blocked from entering the Cracked Crown by a very angry looking bouncer, but someone on the inside sees the party, sighs, and tells them to come in. The Cracked Crown has been converted into a makeshift war room; tables have been pushed together and are covered in maps, urchins are running in and out carrying messages and delivering news, and a familiar looking tiefling seems to be in charge. He's the tiefling Welcomer the party encountered in the catacombs! He's mad, and the two women next to him seem upset as well. Faramin tries to smooth the situation over using his Enthralling Performance ability, but Glevith shuts him down. This is a crisis man, now is not the time for song!

Either way, the party manage to convince Glevith to lead them out of the city, at a hefty price. He and his two companions, a halfling woman named Trunks and a half-drow named Dark Linsa lead the refugees down an abandoned tunnel. Glevith explains that there are tons of tunnels connecting Phlan. They used to be part of the sewers, but were cut off decades ago. Suddenly, someone screams from the middle of the tunnel! The party rushes over, and finds Linsa and Trunks standing over the corpses of a kobold and a basilisk, with three lifelike statues frozen in horror. Linsa says that they came out of a hidden side tunnel; a kobold managed to escape. The party should expect a fight when they emerge.

The rest of the journey through the tunnels is uneventful. Glevith stops the party at a crossroads; he says that to the right is the exit, while he and the Welcomers are going left, back into the city. Ector Brahms and Glevith have a weird moment; Ector extends a hand to the thief, but Glevith pulls him into a hug. He says that they'll negotiate the terms of Ector's surrender later. With a mock salute, the Welcomers run back towards the city, leaving the party and their refugees alone.

Linsa was right, sadly. Waiting just past the tunnel's exit is an army. A half-elf woman in light blue clothes holds an icy staff while a kobold priest readies a spell. A pair of giants with two second, draconic head, lift their weapons, while a half white dragon wyvern ridden by a elf sorceress descends from the blizzard. The party is already weakened from their earlier encounters; there's no way they can get past this.

Suddenly, Gunhild notices a woman standing next to him. She's dressed in a fine suit, blonde hair tied in a neat ponytail. She tells Gunhild that he and his friends appear to be in quite the predicament. Thankfully, she can help, for a small price. She introduces herself as Ms. Lewis, of Mann, Levinn, and Lewis firm. She hands him a business card; it's blank except for the three names. See, a client of hers has taken an interest in Gunhild. Her client can help them, if she can just get his name...

Gunhild proudly states his name, but he notices that it felt... wrong. He said the right words; he heard himself say the right thing. But... it still feels like he said something different. Ms. Lewis smiles, and thunder echoes across the sky. With a roar like the very seal of the heavens has opened, a white hot arrow crashes through the wyvern and one of the ettins, sending the wyvern crashing into the snow and killing the ettin instantly. Gunhild notices that Ms. Lewis has vanished without a trace...

Meanwhile, Rosemary notices something about the spellcaster in blue. She's an old member of Rosemary's crew, Talis! Rosemary used to lead a crew of grifters and thieves. However, their last job went bad... They were going to steal some artifact from a mage, and had disabled all his wards, when suddenly... all Rosemary remembers is a lot of fire. She barely got out alive, and never saw her crew again. Until now.

Talis sees Rosemary, and her face becomes a storm of emotions. She's conflicted, but suddenly yells "**** it!" and garrotes the kobold priest. She runs away, activating a scroll of teleport.

That just leaves the elven sorceress, the grounded wyvern, and a half-dragon ettin. Faramin, Tie, Moro, and Gunhild charge the ettin, while Verik solo's the wyvern. Liah and Rosemary start taking shots at the mage. Now, a word about Adventure's League content. Each adventure states what level and party size it's calibrated for, and gives a table for determining whether your party is weaker or stronger than that. According to that chart, 6 level 4 characters is equivalent to 5 level 7 characters, but when I put the encounters in Kobold Fight Club, encounters intended to be medium difficulty turn into deadly encounters for my group. So, when I was preparing the adventure, I redid most of the encounters. One half dragon ettin, the mage, and the half dragon wyvern turned into an encounter just above the "deadly" threshold. However, that math did not hold up in practice! Verik was tanking full breath weapons from the wyvern, Liah was tearing up the caster with arrows, and the rest just melted through the ettin. Something I really need to do is learn how to run enemy casters. The mage didn't get any spells off, and had to retreat using misty step and fly almost immediately. But, she was still brought down by Liah.

The climactic fight ends with a whimper, and Ector leads the townsfolk out of the tunnel. He's solemn as he carry's Aleyd's body wrapped in a rug. However, once they make it a few miles into the woods, Ector gives a speech. "We have suffered a loss beyond comprehension, but we cannot allow ourselves to become victims to despair. We are the white-hot flame in the cold north! We are Phlan!” The crowd roars, and as if in response, the party can hear the faint roar of a dragon.

As promised, the DM Recap. Players, get lost, stay out, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.


So this session was... weird. As I said before, this session is based on the Adventure's League adventure "Tyranny in Phlan." The thing is, that session's supposed to be a mid-season arc; the party encounters all the NPC's they'd met over the past few months. This was session two. And, since it's AL, I had to rearrange a lot of stuff. See, the adventure starts out in the Laughing Goblin Inn, before the dragon even attacks. It's AL, they have to make each session self contained after all. Anyway, the adventure is supposed to go Part 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. HOwever, the first session ended off with the party in Valhingen when the dragon attacked. So, I spliced the adventure order to Part 3, the latter half of 1, 2 or 4, 4 or 2, and then the first half of part 1 and also part 5.

Yeah.

Some things I learned: combat is a slog with 6 players and a wolf, and not everyone likes it. Plus, I suck at remembering monster abilities and keeping track of initiative. Especially spellcasters. I suck at spellcasters. At the end of each session, I ask everyone what they liked, what they didn't like, and what they want to see more of. Everyone agreed they wanted to see more roleplaying encounters.

For those who have read the web serial Pact, Ms. Lewis (http://pact-web-serial.wikia.com/wiki/Ms._Lewis) should be familiar. For those who haven't, basically she and her associates are lawyers for diabolists and fiends. As to her current client and why he's taken an interest in Gunhild... that will be revealed later. Much later.

Talis! I have big plans for her. She's a minor character in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but I'm expanding her role here. She has ties to Rosemary, but she's also deep in the cult. Is she a double agent, and if so, for who? Because we're dumb, the question came up if Rosemary and Talis were lovers. Rosemary's player responded that's up to audience interpretation.

Rosemary's a bit weird. Mechanics wise, she's a Scout rogue, and she's using her blowgun a lot to the point that we've been discussing making her magic item some kind of reusable poison darts. However, skill, backstory, and roleplaying wise, she's much more of a grifter or thief than survivalist. Now I champion the idea that fluff is separate from crunch, and Rosemary's player is having a good time, but I still feel weird about it. We'll see in future sessions how her character evolves.

All in all, much slower and more combat heavy than I would have liked, but still pretty good. We're sowing the seeds for the rest of the campaign's main story, and Rosemary's and Gunhild's story arcs.

[Nicrosil]

This week Tie and Rosemary couldn't come, so it's just Verik, Gunhild, Rosemary, and Faramin. This session we tested out downtime! I primarily used the Unearthed Arcana on Downtime (https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA_Downtime.pdf), lkwpeter's Magic Item Vendor system (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?512055-DM-Help-Faer%FBn-s-Vendors-A-flexible-vendor-system-for-magic-consumables), and Saidoro's Sane Magic Item Prices (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?424243-Sane-Magic-Item-Prices).


Last time, Phlan had fallen. A white dragon and its cultists overtook Phlan, killing the town's nobles and guildmasters. The party managed to escape with the Lord Regent, Ector Brahms, and around two hundred refugees.

The party went upriver, to the city of Rast. The city has welcomed the displaced citizens of Phlan, and Ector is trying to set up a meeting between the five major factions and the party to get support to retake Phlan. This leaves the party with a month of downtime to do as they wish!

Gunhild immediately goes pit fighting. He spends a week building up hype, and goes against his first opponents: a farm hand! He's ripped! But Gunhild is wily, and pins his opponent, winning the hearts and minds of the people and a hundred gold.

Meanwhile, Verik and Faramin want to buy some magic items. Faramin's clever, and uses his Enthralling Performance ability every day to tell the town of Rast of his heroic exploits! Towards the end of the week, an alchemist approaches Faramin after his performance, and tells him that he can give Faramin some Dust of Sneezing and Choking at a very reduced price. Faramin haggles some, and by that I mean he rolled a single Persuasion check and got stupidly high because of his expertise, and got the price even lower. Way to be, Faramin.

Meanwhile, Verik takes a more subtle approach to magic item buying. He eventually arranges a meeting a seller in a dark alley, ironically, for a Gem of Brightness. Now, I'm dumb. In two ways. First off, the way the vendor system works is you roll for how many magic items a city has, and what the total worth of those magic items are. I missed that last part, and just told the players Rast has 2 uncommon magic items for sale. Second, I used a text to speech generator to give this mystery seller an old man voice. The Old Man is a shirtless, hairy man with a pinched face, a bright red rose, and a tattered wizard hat. He recited the darkness speech Bane gave, and then told him the price was 5,000 gold. Verik couldn't pay up, and so the Old Man told him to "get the **** out of my alley."

Liah decides to purchase a few +1 arrows, and then goes to research more about the dragon cult. And she learns a lot about the cult's structure! The lowest ranks consist of cultists, acolytes, and mercenaries. After they've undergone initiation, they choose a path to follow: the Way of the Red, Blue, White, Black, or Green. Each sub-cult emphasizes different aspects of draconic nature. For example, the Way of the White emphasize the superiority of dragons, and spend their time proselytizing. The Way of the Black, however, focus on the cruelty of dragons, and emulating it.

When a cultist chooses a path, they are designated a Dragonclaw. They're interns essentially, running errands and helping higher ranked cultists. Next are Dragonwings, who gain more independence and can choose their own missions. Above them are Dragonfangs, who typically command 3-4 Dragonclaws, and above them are Dragonsouls, very powerful individuals who lead large scale operations for the cult. Above them are the Wyrmspeakers. There are only 5 Wyrmspeakers at a time, one for each type of dragon. They are considered peers of dragons, whether through their physical might, their magical skill, or through the use of magic items. Some members of the cult are "Wearers of Purple;" they are a cut above the rest. Many Dragonfangs are Wearers of Purple, and all Dragonsouls are.

Gunhild is still hitting the arena, and takes down a drunken brawler dwarf woman with ease. His final opponent... an actual bear! And he wins! Amazing! Verik also decides to hit the arena... and fights Gunhild. Or, someone posing as him. And Fauxhild falls! Verik also tries to learn Draconic... and this is where we noticed a problem with the Unearthed Arcana downtime rules: everything takes a lot of time. So Verik, with only a week left of downtime, finds a teacher, but is unable to learn. He does manage to steal a Draconic dictionary, however.

Ector Brahms tells the group that the faction members have all arrived; they're ready to discuss the fight for Phlan. In the town hall's meeting room are five figures arranged in a semi circle. From left to right, a goliath barbarian with black, wooden stripes crossing his bulky form, a kind looking elderly man with dark skin and plain robes, a gnomish woman nervously picking at her nails, Ector Brahms, and... The Old Man!

Introductions are made. The goliath is Curse-Scar, Thorn of the North, Bearer of the Curse, representative of the Emerald Enclave. Liah is also from the Emerald Enclave, but doesn't know him. What she does know, however, is that goliaths are given names based on achievements or duties to their clan. Curse-Scar is a vessel for curses and bad luck, a voluntary pariah. The elderly man is Father Persea, from the Order of the Gauntlet. The nervous gnomish woman is Ayda... not to be confused with Aya, a woman from last session. I realized my mistake too late. Anyway, Ayda represents the Harpers, who in this world are less "secret magical vigilantes for good" and more "magical researchers who are super careful since magic destroyed the world a few thousand years ago." The party knows that Harper agents typically travel in pairs, one trained in magic and one martial (http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Warder). Ayda, however, is alone. Ector Brahms, well, we had a whole session about his deal. The Old Man represents the Zhentarim, but otherwise is an enigma. The party joked that he's a level 20 everything, but in reality he's a low level wizard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka1ap_t_PZ8). My campaign is stupid.

Liah gives a speech about how they need to help Phlan, and Father Persea and Ayda seem convinced, but Curse-Scar and the Old Man are grumpy. Faramin tries to do Enthralling Performance again to convince the council to lend aid, but gets shut down again. For those that don't know, Enthralling Performance says that if he performs for 10 minutes, creatures of his choosing need to make a saving throw or be charmed by him. If they succeed the save, they don't know that Faramin tried to charm them. It's a very potent ability, but that 10 minute performace time thing is hard to explain. Faramin was bummed out, so I'm going to make sure he has opportunities to do it in future sessions.

Curse-Scar is opposed to working with the party; he says that Verik "reeks of giant." In this world, Tritons are people who long ago pledged themselves to the Storm Giants. Verik feels bad, but Father Persea reassures him that his spirit is strong and noble! Faramin asks him to do him next. We all agree that Faramin's spirit looks like golden glitter. More concerning, however, is that Curse-Scar says that Gunhild smells fiendish. Everyone is convinced that Gunhild has sold his soul to the devil. Father Persea is concerned about this, and asks to speak with Gunhild after the meeting. He has seen this kind of thing before.

Anyway, Ayda speaks up, and says that she will happily help the party, but she needs help. She and her partner were investigating a camp made by the dragon cult a few miles north. They were discovered, and she managed to escape, but Leosin... She doesn't know what happened to him. Ayda says that the camp is a front for a dragon hatchery; they're guarding a clutch of white dragon eggs. She thinks they may be related to the dragon seiging Phlan; they could be used as a bargaining chip. Curse-Scar thinks that's a stupid idea; dragons are an abomination and their eggs should be destroyed. The Old Man wants a dragon egg for himself. Faramin has taken a liking to the Old Man, while the rest of the party agrees more with Curse-Scar. It's going to be interesting to see what happens when the party reaches the dragon eggs.

Father Persea says that he's seen horribly mutated animals upriver. Hundreds of years ago, a cabal of sorcerers build a pyramid nearby that they used to summon creatures from other planes. The cabal was destroyed and the pyramid remains inactive. However, Red Wizards have been seen skulking about; Fathe Persea fears that they've reactivated the summoning artifice inside. Again, Curse-Scar wants it destroyed, while the Old Man wants exclusive access to the equipment.

The party has two choices where to go: the dragon camp or the pyramid. We ended things off there, but it sounds like they want to go to the camp first. We just need to get Tie and Rosemary's opinions on it.


And once again, DM notes. I'm running out of clever things to say, but players stay out.


Roleplaying is not my strong suit. This session had 5 characters I had to roleplay, with no existing adventure I could base it off of. My notes started with "This is going to be a train wreck." It could have been worse, however.

First, the downtime. There's a weird disconnect in the rules we were using; the activities in the UA article take multiple months, while the vendor system takes a week at most. Like, it would have taken a year for Verik to learn Draconic, which is why I threw in the book he could steal. As usual, I asked everyone what they liked and didn't like; Liah's player said that she didn't like the downtime stuff since it seemed chaotic and random, while Gunhild's player said he liked the downtime stuff since it was chaotic and random. Hoh boy. Thankfully, in my campaign skeleton there are only a few downtime sessions, so hopefully it's a good compromise.

The council! This council is a sort of mini version of the one's in Rise of Tiamat. The party peforms missions, and depending on what they did, they gian the favor or emnity of its members. Here's how I'm doing it here: a council member can be Allied, Friendly, Neutral, Unfriendly, or Hostile. Allied gives 4 points, Friendly gives 2, Neutral gives 1, Unfriendly gives 0, and Hostile gives -1. Their relationship can be improved by doing missions, good roleplay, or bribing them. How many points they have will effect how well retaking Phlan will go.

Curse-Scar is modled after Middle Finger of Vecna's Cursewrought Barbarian (http://mfov.magehandpress.com/2017/07/path-of-cursewrought.html), which I fell in love with the moment I read it. Curse-Scar starts out Unfriendly, but destroying the dragon eggs and the artifice in the pyramid will improve his relationship.

Father Persea, well, it's a long story. First off, in the game Bloodborne, there's a character named Father Gascoigne, who the community has nicknamed "Papa Guac." When I got Diablo III a few weeks ago, I made a witch doctor who I named Papa Guac. Father Persea is a twist on both, a kindly old man who uses spirit magic, like a druid. Persea, by the way, is the genus name of avocados. It's the world's worst pun. Father Persea starts out Neutral, but investigating the pyramid first and helping the afflicted lizardfolk tribe inside will improve his relationship.

Like I mentioned in the main text, the Harpers in this world are similar to the Aes Sedai of Wheel of Time. Leosin is a character in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but I've changed some stuff around of course. Ayda starts out Neutral, but the party's relationship with Ayda will increase by investigating the dragon camp first, and by getting Leosin out alive. She and Father Persea are somewhat mutually exclusive; unless the party immediately splits up, they can only get one of them up to Allied and the other to Friendly.

The Old Man... at the time I regretted making him a joke character, but Faramin's player loves him. He wants to get on his good side and get him a dragon egg, which should be interesting since it seems that the rest of the party wants to destroy the eggs. The Old Man is Curse-Scar's opposite; he starts Unfriendly, but his relationship is improved by giving him a dragon egg and giving him access to the pyramid's magical machinery. They're meant to be mutually exclusive, but I'm 65% sure my party will find a way to win both of them over.

And, of course, Ector Brahms. You already know his deal. He's Friendly right now, but he will go to Allied if the party brings three other council members to Friendly.

So the party starts out with 4 points, 2 from Ector, 1 from Father Persea, and 1 from Ayda. The maximum number of points they can get by completing missions is 12. That's without bribes, of course.

Oh, Gunhild's soul. I'll just paste what Father Persea told Gunhild after the meeting. "Lewis, Mann, and Levin are a brand of fiends known as the Lawyers. They are not allied to devil or demons, but serve both. Be happy, it seems that they haven't gotten their hooks too deep in you. It sounds like Ms. Lewis's current client has an interest in you. You can summon them by repeating "Lewis, Mann, Levin" three times, but it will cost you."

The two missions the party can choose from are the Dragon Hatchery, based around the one in HOtDQ, or the pyramid, based on the AL adventure Dark Pyramid of Sorcerer's Isle. The party wanted to go to the Hatchery first and get Leosin and a dragon egg.

Overall, a pretty average session. Next time went a lot better, however.


Oh, I'm also editing the first post with links to the UA articles for everyone's class.

[Nicrosil]

Oh hello.

I am happy to report that the campaign did not die, I am simply a scumlord who hasn't been up to date with the recaps! SO, let's do a mega-recap of the past three months.


Where we last left off, the party met with the local faction members and got two missions: deal with a dragon hatchery and rescue one of the Harpers, or go upriver to an old pyramid and figure out why everything's gone to hell. The party chose to go to the hatchery.

On the way there, the party gets ambushed by the rearguard, black dragon cultists who shoot at them from clifftops. Rosemary does some clever roleplay, and tries to get them to stand down... except Tie has already chocked out one of them and trapped two others with his immovable rod. Either way, the party makes their way into the camp. Gunhild and Tie try to convince the guards at the entrance to the hatchery to let them by; one of them recognizes Gunhild from the fights he did in Rast! And he's a huge fan! Liah, Verik, and Rosemary chat up Cyanwrath, a blue half-dragon dragonborn dragon dragon who seems to be in charge here. He's a pretty nice guy, all things considered! Faramin, meanwhile, casts invisibility and rescues Leosin, the Harper agent they were rescuing. Thanks to some nice roleplaying on Liah's part, Cyanwrath thinks some other cultists set Leosin free, and he brutally murders them...

Liah, Verik, Gunhild, Tie, and Rosemary use the chaos to slip into the dragon hatchery, while Leosin and Faramin loop around the camp to find a hidden entrance. The two teams make their way through the complex, and eventually meet up deep below, in the dragon hatchery proper. Three giant white eggs are clustered together, leaking elemental energy; this whole chamber is cold and covered in frost. Faramin notices a side passage with a ladder that extends back to the surface. Intrigued, he makes his way up. Meanwhile, Cyanwrath wanders into the chamber, accompanied by a mage in red robes with intricate tatoos on his forehead. It's none other than Rath Modar! Cyanwrath has caught on to what the party's doing, and he flies into a rage! A battle begins!

Meanwhile, Faramin climbs the ladder and finds a door to... a mage's study? And Rath Modar is here too, performing a ritual on some sculptures made of ice... suddenly, they turn into identical clones of Rath Modar! They're simulacrums! Faramin tells the Raths he's from the Interplanar Association Against Infinite Cloning. and he needs to stop this at once! The Raths respond by all casting mirror image. Faramin closes the door to the study and thinks about how to move forward.

Meanwhile, the battle rages. Cyanwrath's weapon of choice is a giant machete that he can trasnform into a serrated whip that I definately came up with by myself, yessiree (http://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Beast+Cutter). Midway through the fight, a dragon egg hatches! It imprints on Tie! Amazing! At some point, someone tricks Cyanwrath into thinking it was Rath Modar who betrayed him, not the party. Cyanwrath, furious, kills the simulacrum of Rath Modar, and makes his way up the ladder. Faramin (and an invisible Leosin) scoot over, while Cyanwrath slips into the study. A few minutes later, he reemerges, the office completely destroyed! Sadly, all the Rath Modar-s were simulacrums; the real one is still out there somewhere.

So that went well. The party debates what to do with the eggs, and they reach an agreement, kind of. One of the eggs has already hatched and imprinted on Tie, and they can tell that the two remaining eggs are dead. They smash one of them, and Faramin puts the other in a bag of holding for the Old Man.

Verik is intrigued by Cyanwrath's beast cutter and attunes it... only to find out it's cursed! He now flies into a super rage where he tries to kill the nearest thing if he fails a wisdom save! Crap!

The party returns to town and starts their journey to the pyramid. They take a raft, and are attacked by a croctopus! It's a crocodile that looks like an octopus! Woah! They defeat the monster, and enter the pyramid. They quickly tell that the first floor is a magical maze that teleports them around. While navigating the maze, Gunhild makes friends with a ghost and gets voluntarily possessed! Then he gets eaten by a purple worm! Verik literally charges into the worm after his friend, weapon angled forward and cutting into the worm. Gunhild is getting torn up by the worm, and falls unconscious...

Gunhild wakes up in a pleasant office. Ms. Lewis is there, and chides him. Reconstructing his body and teleporting him out was not cheap; her patience is wearing thin, and Gunhild is in a lot of debt. Thankfully, he happens to have brought a soul with him, the ghost from earlier! Gunhild is given a choice; give them an innocent soul to do as they please, or do... favors... when called. Gunhild opts for the latter, and suddenly emerges outside the purple worm.

Meanwhile, Verik learns that the purple worms are literally sand worms and starts inhaling spice. He falls into a trance, and sees... something... like a great shape moving between the stars...

Spooky.

The rest of the party claw their way through the worm corpse and drag their friend out of the corpse, then make their way to the top level of the pyramid.

The party befriends a tribe of lizardfolk who have been living here for hundreds of years. A few days ago, a band of Thayan knights and Red Wizards set up shop. The two work together and stop the Red Wizards and get some nice potions. They ascend to the roof of the pyramid and do some clever roleplay... which leads to Gunhild getting tied up for interrogation while the rest of the party gets a tour of the arcane machinery the Red Wizards are using to pump eeevill energy into the water.

Gunhild, bound to a table and about to be tortured, decides the most logical way to get out is to summon Ms. Lewis. He does so, and asks for help with the Red Wizards. Slightly frustrated, she snaps her fingers, and all the Red Wizards disintegrate, their souls forever trapped by the Lawyers.

Oh.

The party reconvenes and decides that getting an exorcism on Gunhild is top priority. They destroy the portal summoning gunk, and make their way back to Rast.

Before re-meeting with the council members, Verik talks to Curse-Scar, cause, you know, curses. Curse-Scar says he can remove the curse on his weapon, but Verik is interested in embracing the curse, making it a way to fuel his rage. You know, what Curse-Scar does. The goliath is flattered and a little bit confused, but binds the curse directly to Verik's soul. His subclass changes to Path of the Cursewrought (http://mfov.magehandpress.com/2017/07/path-of-cursewrought.html)! Oh, and he also removes Verik's addiction to spice.

That done, the exorcism to remove the pact Gunhild made begins. Curse-Scar, Ayda, Father Persea, and the Old Man start concentrating on the ritual, while the party minus Gunhild, Leosin, and Ector Brahms watch for any shenanigans. And its a good thing they do, because Ms. Lewis pops in; she's livid. She summons some demons, and combat begin! Thankfully, the party are absolutely baller at this point, and dispatch the demons and Ms. Lewis with no problem. Ms. Lewis collapses as demonic chains pull her into hell... Suddenly, a sharply dressed tiefling appears. He's... Mr Lewis? He thanks the party for getting him promoted, and gives them his card.

Alrighty.

The exorcism is complete, and Gunhild's soul is cleaned! He's shaken by the whole experience though, and doesn't want to go on adventures for now. Thankfully, a friend of his from his monastery appears: Heilagur, a paladin! Nice! Sadly, Tie and Rosemary drop out of the campaign; they're running a turnip farm with Cyanwrath and the baby dragon.

Our heroic quartet get full support from the council for their mission to retake Phlan! The small army of adventurers make their way to Phlan, which has become an icy wasteland under the dragon's influence. Suddenly, a familiar face teleports in front of them. It's Talis! Rosemary's old friend! Upon seeing everyone, she surrenders! She explains what happened. The dragon uncovered the Pool of Radiance, and is trying to merge with it to become a god. That's too weird, even for her. She wants to stop it, and is willing to help the party. She's been to the main chamber where the Pool is, and can teleport the party there. Verik, Liah, Moro, and Gunhild go, while Faramin leads their forces to retake Phlan and provide a distraction!

With a pop of arcane energy, the party finds themselves in an icy cavern. They're surrounded by several dragon cultists, a mage they recognize as Rath Modar, and a half black dragon lady wearing a mask as a pendant, shaped like a black dragon's face. Oh, and in the back of the room atop a raised plateau is a giant dragon, bathed in golden light. There's an awkward pause, broken by Talis cursing as her teleportation magic backfires... teleporting her away. Leaving the party stranded. Surrounded by enemies.

Combat begins!

Liah and Moro take on the cultists while Heilagur battles Rezimir, the dragon lady, and Verik fights Rath Modar. The dragon decides to wreck everyone's day once in a while by using his breath weapon and trapping people in icy cages, but everyone manages to pull through. Except Moro, who was brutally murdered by some cultists. Halfway through the fight, the dragon starts screaming. The golden light bathing it turns to blue, and it screams about seeing things in the void, things watching it, moving between stars...

Alrighty.

Either way, the party emerges victorious! The ice around Phlan begins to melt, and peace is restored! Lootwise, they got some nice potions, and strange mask Rezimir was wearing as a necklace. It's shaped like a black dragon's face, and has some very nice powers. Oh, Rezimir's sword is also magical. For now, it's a +1 greatsword that deals an extra 1d6 necrotic damage, and that goes to Heilagur. However, while he's weilding the sword, he senses a presence in the back of his mind, as if the sword is alive...

The day is saved, and the party spends a few months in Phlan, getting some much needed R and R. They realize they don't have an adventuring party name, and do some research. It turns out that the Pool of Radiance opened a hundred years ago and was closed by another adventuring party. That party called themselves the Silvergarde. However, according to a journal from the Silvergarde's mage, the name predates even them. Hundreds of years ago, before Phlan was a town, there was a monastery built on this ground by a group of scholars who watched the Pool of Radiance, hoping to learn its secrets, and to stop anything that would try to enter it... or exit it. That order was also called the Silvergarde, which roughly translates to "One who watches the void." However, the mage notes in her journal with some concern, that translation may be inaccurate. A better translation might be "One who walks with the void," or "One who follows in the path of the void." Spooky.

Either way, the Silvergarde are heroes of Phlan, and discuss what they should do next, when something odd happens. The air changes, like a storm is approaching. For a moment, everything falls silent... And then it stops. However, everyone notices that their ears keep twitching, like they can kind of hear a noise that's too far away or too low pitched to hear properly. Animals start behaving weird too. Horses are skittish, dogs are barking at nothing, and rats and vermin are getting more bold.

A few days later, a message arrives for the party. It's a call to arms from Dagult Neverember, Open Lord of Waterdeep and King of Neverwinter, asking the party to come to Waterdeep to discuss this draconic threat.

And that's where we ended off.



So. That was, like, 6 sessions right there. Forgive me if I don't have detailed thoughts. I find that having 4 people is a lot more manageable, especially during combat. Speaking of which, I've been getting better at combat by taking some inspiration from 4th edition. Spellcasters now have a couple of "powers" they can use a few times per day, like fireball or mirror image or whatever. It makes writing stats down a lot easier, since I only have to note 5 unique attacks rather than 20. I've also been using minions, which are just normal mobs with 1 HP. They make big fights a lot easier to run since you don't have to worry about HP, and a lot more fun since you can just tear through 5 dudes at once.

I'm not sure if Gunhild's been retired permanently, or if Heilagur is going to stick around for a few sessions and then switch back. I do have plans, however. Exorcism or no, I don't think the party's seen the last of Ms. Lewis.

Faramin's player is a blessing and a curse. I like the idea of having a serious campaign with a lot of tension and villainy and stuff, but I've found I really like having a bit of a goofier campaign. Faramin's actions feed into that (see Interplanar Association Against Infinite Cloning), so I have to thank him for that.

I forgot to put this into the main doc, but Liah changed her subclass as well to the Gloom Stalker. She's devastated by the loss of Moro, and is refocusing on her personal hunt. Liah has a complicated backstory, but all will be revealed... soon.

Verik also changed a lot. His character was basically a paladin, standing for King Hekaton and the storm giants of Maelstrom. In fact, he was basically in charge of the Royal Guard. Him embracing curses is going to ruffle a few feathers, to put it lightly. I've been working with his player to come up with other members of his squad; he's not the only one who's been sent to the surface to investigate the dragon cult.

All in all, we're having a ton of fun. As of writing this, we've done two more sessions, another faction meeting and a mission. Those recaps are coming soon, I promise.

[Nicrosil]

We're back, let's go.

We're officially in Rise of Tiamat! Woo! This session was the first Council meeting, where, like 20 new NPC's are introduced.

Basically, my worst nightmare.

To make it easier, I made little cards with a picture of everyone, their name, what faction/city they represent and brief notes on their personality. And by "little cards" I mean I typed all that up in a google doc, printed and cut it up, and then stapled that to a folded 3x5 card so it could stand up. It's super janky, but it worked.

Also on the DM prep side, I have more in-depth bios of the factions and the council members saved on a private doc. I have the normal personality traits and ideals and stuff that's already in the book, but then I came up with bonds and flaws for everyone as well. Hopefully it makes interactions with the faction members more interesting. Here's a list of all the faction members and a short bio for each. If anyone else is running Rise of Tiamat and wants to see the reference sheet I made for my players or my own more in depth notes, let me know.



Remalia Haventree, of the Harpers. Her husband and partner was a Closed Lord of Waterdeep and was assassinated by cult members. She's the one who organized this in the first place. She's patient and friendly, but pushes for action more than her superiors might be comfortable with.
Ontharr Frume, of the Order of the Gauntlet. He's young and hotheaded, but eager to prove himself. He's old friends with Heilagur, and he'll always support the party... even if his superiors don't.
Delaan Winterhound, of the Emerald Enclave. He wanders the Spine of the World mountains, protecting the small villages there. However, he found one day they were all destroyed by dragons, and answered Lord Neverember's call. He's also Liah's lover! Wow isn't that a plot hook and a half!
Lord Dagult Neverember, of the Lord's Alliance, representing Waterdeep and Neverwinter. He's the de facto leader of the Council, but is a bit... distracted, between managing Waterdeep, Neverwinter, and the Council.
Ambassador Connerad Brawnanvil, of the Lord's Alliance, representing Mithral Hall and the Dwarven People. He's very stubborn, and won't stand for any slight against his people.
Marshal Ulder Ravenguard, of the Lord's Alliance, representing Baldur's Gate. He's the leader of the Flaming Fist, Baldur's Gate militia and a commoner, something that Verik resonates with. He's stern, yet honest.
King Melandrach, of the Lord's Alliance, representing the Misty Forest and the Elven People. He's very... some would say regal, others would say arrogant.
Taern Hornblade, of the Lord's Alliance, representing Silverymoon. He's a powerful mage who set up wards that protect Silverymoon from all kinds of threats, including dragons. Maybe. He's very old thanks to his regular diet of longevity potions.
Sir Isteval, of the Lord's Alliance, representing Daggerford. Isteval was a warlord when he was younger, working for Corymyr, a rival nation to the Sword Coast. However, Isteval has cooled off in his older years, and takes his paladin oaths seriously. He supposedly represents Daggerford, but he doesn't deny that Corymyr sent him. He insists that his allegiance to the Lord's Alliance, his duties to Corymyr, and his paladin oaths do not conflict.




Last time, the party liberated Phlan! Hooray! And then a weird, omnipresent droning noise began. Shortly afterward, the party received an official summons from Lord Neverember to come to Waterdeep.

Oh, some quick side notes. First, Liah. Distraught by the loss of Moro, she steels herself, resolving to become stronger and stronger. Basically, she changed her subclass from Beastmaster to Gloom Stalker.

Also, Harziwan becomes fully sentient, yelling in Heilagur's mind. If I recall correctly, the conversation went something like this.
Harziwan, in a slurred, vaguely Chicago accent (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmMispgpUs0): "I am Harziwan, the greatest mage to ever walk the earth! Tremble before me, mortals!"
Heilagur, asking aloud to the laughing party "...why is my sword talking?"
Harziwan "...Eh? ...Waddya mean Imma sword?"
Turns out, Harziwan is... was... an arcane spellcaster who attempted to turn himself into a lich. He got the ritual wrong, and his soul became trapped in a sword. His memory's fuzzy; apparently he's only now become sentient because all his previous wielders were capital E Evil; the cognitive differences between Harziwan and Heilagur create mental resonance that allows both waveforms to coexist... or something. Lore!

Oh, speaking of which, another side note. I don't care about realmslore. At all. There's just way too much to dig through. You might have picked up on that already; I think Phlan is way to the east of the Sword Coast, but I've moved it, and Harziwan's actual name is "Hazirawn". So to hardcore Forgotten Realms fans, I'm sorry I've skinned your setting and wear it like a suit. Actually, I'm not sorry. Fight me.

Anyway, the party heads to Waterdeep! It's a bustling, lively city, built along a river delta. Just inside the city gates is a pretty tiefling woman who calls for the party. She says with a very thick Southern-belle accent that she's Rian, and she's Lord Neverember's personal secretary. She's very polite, almost condescendingly so, as she leads the party to the Open Palace, the central government building for Waterdeep. The party is given a whirlwind tour, and eventual dumped in a plush waiting room. Rian says she'll get Lord Neverember right away.

A few awkward minutes pass in silence.

Faramin hears a commotion outside. He presses his ear against the door and hears Rian speaking with a man with a deep voice. The man asks if the Golden Company has responded yet, but Rian says that their dodging the question. The man curses, and the door flies open.

With long strides, an imperious looking man wearing a deep blue uniform and a silver circlet marches into the room. In one hand, he clutches a wine goblet; the other cradles a large stack of papers. The man looks at the party and smiles broadly. "Ah! You must be our dragonslayers! Forgive me; I don't have time for proper introductions, but I'm Lord Dagult Neverember, Open Lord of Waterdeep and King of Neverwinter. And I've heard all about you! Fine work you did in Brand!"

"Phlan." Rian interrupts.

"Phlan!" Neverember says without missing a beat. He grows more serious. "Something is brewing. Something dangerous. We need all the help we can get, and they all squabble like children... Why can't they see..." He pauses for a moment then shakes his head. "Representatives from all the major factions and cities have already arrived; we'll meet officially tomorrow. In the meantime, Rian will show you to your rooms. Feel free to mingle, tour the city, whatever." He's already out the door before he finishes that last sentence.

The party is led into a side wing of the Open Palace, where the other council members are mingling. Upon seeing Heilagur, one of them perks up. It's Ontharr Frume, representative of the Order of the Gauntlet, and an old friend of Heilagur! He's heard all about the party's actions, and he's a big fan. He helps introduce the party to all the faction members, minus Neverember and Isteval. They mix and mingle.

Some highlights!

Brawnanvil latches onto Heilagur, what with both being dwarves and all. Heilagur's weirded out; he grew up in Silverymoon with humans.
Speaking of Silverymoon, Harziwan notes that he likes Taern! He's not sure why, and Taern seems weirded out. Probably because, you know, evil sentient sword of darkness.
Liah and Delaan catch up; Liah tries her hardest to not be noticed by Melandrach.
Faramin chats up Melandrach, trying to use the fey as common ground. That... doesn't go well. Turns out that elves lost contact with the Feywild thousands of years ago, and it's a bit of a... touchy subject.
Verik speaks Marshal Ravenguard, and learns that while the Marshal wants to avoid war, he thinks it's inevitable, and wants the Flaming Fist on the front lines. Verik respects that.



Notably absent are Neverember and Isteval. Ontharr wonders aloud about the latter; Isteval's his idol and he was looking forward to meeting him. Mingling done, the party heads into Waterdeep proper to buy magic items and have fun. Verik hits the rumor mill, asking about cursed magic items, and learns that, rumor has it, someone named Otto Vaughn has been stockpiling them. Everyone's kinda freaked out because, you know, cursed items, and no one's heard of this Otto guy until now. Everyone in the underworld of Waterdeep is actually a lot more tense than they usually are, but they won't say why. Liah finds a little elven suburb of Waterdeep and asks about the politics of the Misty Forest. Apparently, Melandrach is the current king of the elves, but it's still up in the air who his heir will be. Melandrach's wife and son died in a dragon attack around 40 years ago. The next two in line are his bastard sons, Algarathas and Neronvain. Melandrach is a cautious man, and hasn't officially decided yet. However, Algarathas is a lot more popular, and Neronvain has been very withdrawn lately, so people think it's just a matter of time until Algarathas is declared heir. Meanwhile, Faramin does what Faramin does best: perform at a tavern and roll insanely high on performance checks. Except, his rolls kinda suck, so he's only able to find a kinda crummy tavern to perform in and his performance isn't the greatest. He notices something weird though. A woman in the tavern is glaring him down all night; he notices that she's been crying recently. When he slips out to leave, she corners him, and demands that he give her back her baby... Faramin is confused, and she tells him that last night, her baby was stolen. She heard music that sounded exactly like Faramin. Faramin, and the rest of the party, are confused as hell, and Faramin makes a swift escape back to the Open Palace. Heilagur had to step out, so he's... meditating. Or something.

The next day, the Council meets for real. A long table is set for all the Council members; minor nobles, representatives, and attendants stand on upper balconies. Brief introductions are made, again, and the Silvergarde is asked to give a recap of their adventures in Phlan. The party recaps, and everyone is pretty pleased with their performance! Some people don't like that they smashed the dragon hatchery, and Remalia wishes they captured a Rath Modar for interrogation, but other than that everyone likes them. Oh, Brawnanvil is adamant that they should have handled the dragon and the Pool of Radiance differently... Listen, I'm trying to convert the scorecard from HotDQ to this mess; it doesn't match up one to one. Don't judge me.

Suddenly, someone enters the lower area, an older man in a sharp blue uniform, leaning against a cane. Ontharr is excited; it's Sir Isteval! The rest of the council is in an uproar, but the party manages to soothe things over, with some prompting from Ontharr.

Oh, one last thing. The mask that Rezimir had, that Faramin is currently wearing. It's the Black Dragon Mask, a powerful artifact revered by the Dragon Cult that let their leaders become equals to dragons. There is a dragon mask per chromatic dragon; if Rezimir had one, it's safe to assume that the other Wyrmspeakers have theirs. There's some debate over what to do with the mask, but it's eventually decided it might be safest in the hands of the adventurers. Just, be careful, and don't lose it.

Anyway, on to business. Remalia starts. Two weeks ago, her husband was killed by assassins. One of the attackers was killed; on his body they found Dragon Cult icons, and a pendant with a symbol of a dragon etched on it. The pendant is unlike any other Dragon Cult icon they've seen. Undercover Harper agents have also noted that the gangs and criminal underworld of Waterdeep is growing quiet; gangs that were old rivals seem to be working together now, and they seem to be wearing a similar pendant. Something is happening, something big.

Remalia also says that her spies have been searching for more of the Wyrmspeakers. They're all secretive, though, and under anti-scrying magic. However, Varaam the White has been seen near the Serpent Hills, home of the tomb of Diderius, a powerful oracle and his divination pool, and nests of yuan-ti, ancient snake people that use eldritch blood magic. Whatever he's up to, it can't be good.

Lastly, Remalia reports that there's been an attack on the library-city Candlekeep. That's bad as is, but Remailia reveals with some reluctance that Candlekeep hides a secret. Long ago, one of the three founders of the Order of the Gauntlet... didn't die. Somehow, he changed into something new, something... terrible. Ancient Harper agents were dispatched to take care of him, sealing him in what is now Candlekeep. Remalia and the Harpers fear that the cult is going to use him for his knowledge of the ancient world, or worse, free him. Ontharr is furious, because, you know, turns out his patron saint is not only a monster but also trapped in Harper hell. Both of them ask for the party's help.

In other news, Lord Neverember instructs a minor noble lady to step forward. She says she knows what the strange, droning noise is. It's from the Draakhorn, an ancient artifact used to signal dragons all over the world. She doesn't know what it's being used for or where it is, but she suspects her old friend and colleague might, Maccath the Crimson. Sadly, she disappeared 3 years ago while investigating the Sea of Moving Ice, the Draakhorn's last known location. Her last report said she was going to investigate a large, flat iceberg... and then nothing. Divination magic on her or the Draakhorn fails, and trying to find the crew or her ship only shows its icy wreck. Worse yet, the Sea of Moving Ice is the domain of Araunithitor, an ancient white dragon who's a powerful spellcaster, more than capable of shielding his lair from divination magic.

The meeting concludes with the party being given a writ of emergency powers of authority. Basically, they can do what they want, within reason. They also get access to Waterdeep's teleporting circles, which connect most major cities! Fast travel, baby!

Either way, the party gets to choose which mission to do first. No matter what order they do things, they'll level up after 2 missions. After some debate, they decide to go to Candlekeep first, followed by the Tomb of Diderius, then either Waterdeep or the Sea of Moving Ice.

The plan made, the meeting disbands and the party rests up. Tomorrow, they teleport to Baldur's Gate, and from there, Candlekeep.


Hoh boy do I have Thoughts. Players stay out.

Like I said at the start of this, dealing with 40 NPC's and all the faction stuff is my worst nightmare. It could have been worse though! Always got to look on the bright side.

Something I thought about doing was have the party select 1-2 Council members to bring on each mission, using that super cool NPC's as Magic Items system that I can't find right now. Whoops. Either way, I tried that on the first session, making a card for Remalia, but everyone kinda forgot. Myself included. Again, whoops.

Also like I said at the top, I've made a google doc reference sheet with all the faction members and the current missions for the players and a master doc for myself. I've also converted the council scorecard into a sheet. If anyone wants to check it out for their own campaign, let me know.

Speaking of the scorecard, I tried converting the scorecard from HotDQ to our campaign. It fits pretty well, except for Brawnanvil. He gives a -2 if the party gave Skyreach castle back to the giants. However, there is no castle, nor is there a giants. So, I ad-libed something about him being cheesed that the dragon bonded with the pool... or something. Lore!

Oh, you may be wondering about the Golden Company. Like most of my worldbuilding, I stole it wholesale was inspired by another poster, namely LudicSavant's writeup on Erythnul (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?445290-Erythnul-the-Many)! If you haven't read it, go check it out it's really good.

Oh, and the hooks I gave each player. One of the missions is based entirely around infiltrating the underworld of Waterdeep, so I made up Otto Vaughn and his hoard of cursed items to give Verik a reason to want to do that mission. I'm actually glad they put it on the backburner, because Xanathar's Guide has come out, and I absolutely want to include Xanathar.

Faramin, well, I came up with that idea at like 2 in the morning, and when he started rolling poorly I figured, eh, screw it, let's throw this in. It will tie into his character arc, I promise.

As for Liah, you probably already figured out her deal, but I'll put it in here too. She's been silent about this with the other party members, both in game and out. She will have to confront this, though, and soon.Liah is the bastard daughter of Melandrach. She was raised with Neronvain, Algarathas, and the actual heir, considered equal despite her mixed heritage. When the dragon attacked and killed her older brother, she fled, partially to hunt down and kill the dragon that did that, partially because she was afraid of being named heir to the elven crown.

As for Heilagur, well, he's been busy most nights we meet, and his backstory's a bit bare. But, his schedule's updated and we rolled a rocking backstory using Xanathar's Guide, so look forward to more Heilagur action coming soon to a recap near you! For now, let's just say there's a reason Taern freaked out seeing Harziwan.

Oh, one last thing. I made up the Candlekeep and the Waterdeep missions entirely. The starting spark for this whole campaign was the idea that the players would get several missions, and could do them in any order they wanted. I originally had ideas for 6 missions here, but in the interest of keeping this campaign from going on for 4 years, I trimmed it down a bit.

OH, one last thing! People who've played RoT might recognize Rian's name. I decided to expand her presence a bit here. Oh, and speaking of later faction members, Liah's player is too smart for her own good. So I was introducing Neverember and she interjected.
Liah: Oh, doesn't he get kicked out of Waterdeep later?
Me: ...Eh?
Liah: Yeah, it was in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. He's just king of Neverwinter now.
Me: ...Oh. Well, not in this canon, I guess.
Liah: Yeah, it's your world, it's up to you. You could even include something where Neverember gets deposed.

I'm cheesed.

Not really. In the end, everyone had fun, and that's all that matters at the end of the day.


Also, does anyone read this? I write these mostly so I don't forget stuff and so my players can catch up on stuff they missed; I can easily stuff this all in... yet another google doc. Don't judge me.

[SpamCreateWater]

Just found this. Haven't quite finished reading what you've written down. Enjoying it so far!

[the_brazenburn]

It's nice to see that somebody else posts their campaign overviews here. I've posted one of my own (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?540101-Ivor-and-Brazenbuns-Curse-of-Strahd-Farce), and I honestly haven't got a clue whether or not anybody reads it.

Great campaign, by the way.