Castlevania dungeon crawl in 5th edition (mostly a campaign log)

[J-H]

2023 edit:
The content of this campaign is posted on the DM's Guild.
Other campaign logs:
Against the Idol of the Sun (follow-up to the party that played this; campaign on DM's Guild)
Baldur's Gate II in 5e (unrelated; no plans to DM's Guild it)

This is based primarily on Super Castlevania IV, an excellent game with an amazing SNES soundtrack. I will be modifying the base layout, levels, bestiary, etc., to keep the game engaging.

Dungeoncrawl campaign for levels 3 through about 14

Party levels up (milestone) after each boss fight. There are 11 stages in the base game.

Ideally 1 stage & level per session, possibly configured for come & go (4-6 players). The adventure will be built for approx. 5 players and I can adjust up or down if the party size varies substantially.

Hook
After a hundred years of mundane peace, magic has returned to the world again - and this, as everyone knows, means that the evil Lord of Darkness, Vladimir Tepes - Dracula ! - has returned from a hundred years in hell, and his great fortress, Castlevania, has returned to planar alignment with the Prime Material Plane.

The Belmont clan and a few others have done him in in the past, but the scions of this era have vanished. Every night brings fear and terror from the outer defensive works around Vienna all the way to the walls of Instanbul. Having rallied the werewolf tribes and with armies of constructs and undead that have built up over the last century, Dracula's forces are strong enough that the armies of Christendom and the Turk alike are thrown onto the defensive, unable to strike back.

It is well known that Castlevania is home to great riches, and, as it is tied to the sudden resurgence of magic in the world, power. Any who penetrate its defenses can expect to grow unnaturally quickly in power and skill, and acquire wealth; one noble house in Germany was founded by a young man who accompanied the legendary Simon Belmont three centuries ago, and it's well-known that the ivory castle of the Belnades, which fell after a ferocious siege three decades ago, was raised by sorcery after the founding matriarch of the line combated Dracula with staff and spell.

Whether in the hunt for power, or with the goal of liberating Europe and slaying evil, you find yourself standing near the outer walls of Castlevania, a member of one of several groups who hope to infiltrate the castle and slay Dracula as he controls his forces from afar, atop his tower shrouded in perpetual shadow by the dark clouds that cover it from dawn to dusk.

The castle is not undefended, and you know that you must move stealthily - to simply ride up and smash the outer gates would be to invite sudden retribution. Instead, you must find ways through and around the walls, past the main defenses, and through the structure of the sprawling castle. You know that there are relics of past invasions there, rooms sanctified and safe for resting - but they are few and far between. You know that any lairs inhabited by boss monsters are likely to be left alone by other creatures, and are probably safe. Resting areas can also be created by using Hallow, but invoking holy magic against the castle itself will generate some attention.


ALERTNESS
I'll be tracking the castle's Alertness level. Certain actions by the party will raise the Alertness level. As it goes up, the castle will automatically direct more magical power to its defenders, and less to Dracula's armies - potentially helping the rest of the world, but endangering your task. Dracula's more powerful minions may also be sent to find and destroy whoever is infiltrating the castle - after all, it has been done before, and you do not possess artifacts such as the famed Belmont whip.

Actions that increase it
1 point: 12 hours pass
4 points: Boss monster defeated
4 points: Spectacular un-stealth
8 points: Substantial damage to the castle itself
6 points: Use Hallow to create a resting area.

Consequences?
-Increase likelihood of roving boss/troubleshooter appearing (roll on tables with increasing probability?)
-Increase enemy AC, damage, and attack by 1 (one +1 per 4 points, so at 10 alertness points, a base skeleton would have +1 AC and +1 damage)

STAGE DESIGN
The boss fight for each stage should be deadly or very deadly, and the rest of the stage should have a couple of easy fights, a couple of hard ones, and at least one other very hard one. At least one encounter per stage should have some type of enemy filling the spellcaster/battlefield control role.
At minimum every other stage should include a non-combat encounter. Take advantage of the sub-factions and possible NPCs.

There are no substantial water or climbing segments between the 3rd stage and late stages of the castle; redesign for variety may be needed.
Dealing with "platforming" is a challenge. The best I can think of is having a dual-level map where the bottom part is less desireable (more enemies). The upper part has platforms and restricted paths, along with enemies with push/pull capabilities. This could be challenging to map & DM. I will probably substitute other environmental hazards (pits).

LOOT
I expect the loot progression to be higher than average, so 1-2 consumables per player per stage, and 4-6 magic items per stage. Any magic items that go unused/unclaimed can go into a 'pool' to be claimed by new players who join later. People with existing characters who miss a session can level up to rejoin. Those who have played more sessions will likely end up a bit better equipped as a result.

I expect to cap out at about +2 items.

HOUSE RULES/VARIATIONS:
-PHB races only
-All of Castlevania is under an effect that prevents teleportation except by the power of the Castle or its master. A sufficiently powerful caster can override this, but only to a distance of 5' per level (so a 15th-level caster can teleport 75'). This allows tactical teleportation while preventing someone from teleporting straight to the keep using LOS.

[J-H]

Spoiler: Original SC IV Monster/level distribution

Show

ACT I: THE OUTER DEFENSES
Level 1: Courtyard/outer buildings
Boss: Rowdain, undead horseman (skeletal horse spits fire; lance swipe, lance jump)
Bestiary:
Skeleton (bone thrower)
Bat
Skeleton (club equipped, ambusher)
Viper swarm
Flying horse head
Medusa heads
Trap floors (turn over/drop down)
Ghost
Geographic style:
Greenery and large old buildings. Skeletal life in the background including skeleton dinos)

Level 2: Forest of Monsters
Boss, mid-level!: Medusa; throws snakes, weak petrification
Bestiary:
Zombie hands
Plant man (ambusher)
Spiders
Zombies
Ravens (harassers)
Goblins
skeletons
Thornweed plant
Bird-men - called gargoyles
Flying claw trap hands
Bone pillar (shoots fire)

Geographic style:
Forest, rivers. Overgrown, lush, decay.

Level 3-1: Caverns
Bestiary:
Bone pillars
Stone men (split on hit)
Bats
Falling rocks/stalactites

Geographic style: Underground

Level 3-2: Waterfalls
Boss:
Bestiary:
Bone pillars, thornweeds
Geographic style: Old ruins, waterfall, wet

Level 3-3: Submerged City
Boss: Hydra; platform based fight (watch out for falls)
Bestiary:
Ghost eyeballs
Mermen
skeleton dragon head/neck (Chained, spits fire)
Ravens
Geographic style: Ruins, water, flooded;

Level 4: Clockwork mansion
Mid-boss!: Puxiweil, giant skeleton with tongue lash and gas clouds.
Main boss: Koronot, the shrinking stone golem guy.
Bestiary:
Scimitar skeleton
Club skeleton
Geographic style: Rotating, clacking gears, parts fitting together.
First part is normal ish, second part is rotating room. Shift map 10' every round? 10' normal, 10' slope (disadvantage), next 10' fall & dex save or prone;
Third part is ascending blocks and spikes area. Not sure how to replicate. What sense is there in this?

ACT II: THE CASTLE

Level 5: Entrance
Boss: None
Bestiary:
Harpies that drop gremlins
Bone pillars
Bird-men (gargoyles)
Whip skeletons
Geographic style:
Front of castle - drawbridge, statues, etc.

Level 6:
Boss: Dancing ghost couple; flies, stabs with rapiers (multi target), generate/throw rapiers at range.
Bestiary:
Hellhound (regenerating doggie)
Zombies
Axe armors (throwers)
Falling chandeliers
Female ghost "siren" well dressed things.
Butler ghost
Blood skeletons (regenerate)
Animated coffins
Animated/charging tables
Dancing ghosts

Geographic style: Lushly decorated for a ball

Note: Skipping dumb chandelier jumping. Doesn't work in tabletop.

Level 7: The Long Library
Boss: Sir Grakul, giant armor knight
Bestiary:
Armored Knights
Small ghosts (from bookcases)
Winged guards
Flying magic books
Rug-lifting creature
Wolf
Geographic style:

Level 8: Cellar
Boss: Frankenstein (throws alchemical weapons: Splash fire on ground, splash fireball, and create a a weak copy that shambles)
Bestiary:
Spiders
Acid falling from ceiling
Axe armors
Ghost eyeballs
Bone Pillars
Falling spikes
Skeletal dragon (head/neck)
Bats
Geographic style:

Level 9: Treasury
Boss: Gold bat
Bestiary:
Bats
Gold skeletons (tougher, more agile); whip, sword
Caskets
Sucking rock holes
Skeletal dragon
Geographic style: GOLD



ACT III: THE KEEP

Level 10: Clock Tower
Boss: Mummy
Bestiary:
Medusa heads
Skeletons (regular - sword, whip)
Axe armors
Blood skeletons

Geographic style:
Moving gears and stuff

Level 11: The end is at hand
Boss:
Bestiary:
Dullahan - headless fencerlunges, dangerous
Skeleton;
Rock monster

Geographic style: Racing up a big set of moving platforms to Room of Close Associates

FINAL BATTLES:
Slogra: Dinosaur Knight
Gaibon: Flying demon dino; fire/fireballs
Death: Throws scythes/sickles
Dracula: Teleports around the room; calls lightning, throws fireballs

Note: There’s a good amount of variety per level, but still a lot of skeletons. Elemental damage is generally limited to fire only. I will probably revamp many of the bosses to fit better within the D&D ruleset.

I also intend to add some variety to the bosses and minions, and introduce some sub-factions that may be encountered and bargained with around the castle. This will also require some more ‘intelligent’ guardians, monsters, or doors to prevent, for example, werewolves from just leading someone past all the guards as ‘prisoners’.

I will end up creating an area map that will show interactions from area to area – it may be possible to skip portions of an area based on route choice or to double forwards/backwards (jaquaying is a term I’ve heard for this) instead of being strictly linear. Easier or hidden paths may result in fewer fights as well.

Sub-Factions:
-Werewolves
-Constructs
-Evil men working for Dracula
-Other parties infiltrating the castle (stealing, retreating, challenging, fighting, encouraging)
-Where are the Belmonts? There should be at least one.

Monsters that do not appear in SCIV but that I can easily introduce:
Werewolves
Igor (w/ Frankenstein)
Mermaid caster
Cyclops (giant)
Spearmen
Cerberus
Minotaur (bruiser)
Camilla (vampire, tends to ride giant floating skulls)
Elizabeth Bathory (vampire)

Planned additions to this post: Revised D&D 5e bestiary/encounter list by level, with approximate XP totals to determine how close to 'levelup' the encounters add up to

[J-H]

Stage 1

Spoiler

Show

Geographic style:

Greenery and large old buildings. Skeletal life in the background including skeleton dinos). This area is overgrown & appears mostly abandoned to its denizens, who continue in a mockery of actual life. The skeletons are mute, so there are no bellows, bird-tweets, etc, like you’d expect. The area is strangely silent except for leaves rustling in the wind, and the few enemies.

What purpose within the castle does this place serve?
It’s a forgotten offshoot. These weak creatures are occasionally entertaining, but are basically ‘stored’ away for later use.


You stand before a low palisade wall in disrepair. A rotting wooden door hangs ahead, clattering slightly as a gust of wind blows. First area is a short stone palisade wall with step behind it, and a few skeletons and stone buildings. It’s actually an old hill fort! 1-2 encounters in the fort buildings, then the far gate out is a small building with a couple of encounters. From the second floor of the building, they can see the valley ahead.

After that, cross large bowl-shaped valley area with rolling hills; the edges of the valley are near-vertical and imposing to climb. If party does climb, major harassment from bats; vipers in cliffs. Can bypass to caves (Area 3) but extend area 3 to triple length and deploy optional Area 3 boss as mid-boss.

Cross valley; Random encounters from below bestiary. Left side of valley has more dinos, right side has more skeletons, middle is in between.

Rowdain rides out of stable house to engage party. Loot stable/tack house. Beyond it, crest the valley and see forest sloping up ahead.

Battle tactics for Rowdain: At first, he will stay at long range, letting his mount spit firebolts at the party. Once he and the mount have sustained a combined total of 20 points of damage, he will charge in, using lance. If the mount is still at 75%+ health, it will wait another round before using Burning Hands (fire breath). If the party has been stomping everything, then instead have him charge in aggressively and hit-and-run in conjunction with Burning Hands breath.

Vampire bat:
Tiny beast, speed 40’ (fly)
AC 14
HP 8
Blood Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage, and the stirge attaches to the target. While attached, the stirge doesn’t attack. Instead, at the start of each of the stirge’s turns, the target loses 5 (1d4 + 3) hit points due to blood loss. The stirge can detach itself by spending 5 feet of its
movement. It does so after it drains 10 hit points of blood from the target or the target dies. A creature, including the target, can use its action to detach the stirge.

Ambusher Skeleton:
AC 12 (unarmored)
HP 21 (3d8+6)
Speed 30
Str +0 Dex +2 con +2 int -2 wis -1 cha -3
Special: Vuln: Bludge Immune: Poison/etc.
Stealth +4 Perception 9
Attack: Club +4 to hit, 1d6+2 damage; +1d6 sneak attack
CR ½ (100xp)

BOSS 1: ROWDAIN & MOUNT:
STR 18, DEX 12, CON 10, INT 8, WIS 12, CHA 10
AC: 17 with shield, otherwise 15 [Scale Mail 14 + dex 1 + shield 2]
HP: 10d8 (60)
Special: Vulnerability, Bludgeoning; Charger: +2 to hit on a charge attack
Saves: Str +5
Loot: TBD, probably magic breastplate and weapon;
Lance: Rowdain attacks with his lance when mounted; 10’ reach, disadvantage on close targets. When mounted, he uses a shield. If dis-mounted, he will discard the shield.
Attack +7, damage 1d12+4; Remember to account for cover caused by other creatures!

MOUNT: Skeletal Nightmare (CR3)
This skeletal horse’s eyes glow with the light of a fire that rages within the skull, and its feet barely seem to touch the ground. This was no ordinary horse, even in life.
Size: Large; Flight (no), Speed 60’
AC: 13
HP: 6d10+12 (60hp)
STR 18 DEX 15 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 10 CHA 13
Special: Fire immune; vulnerability bludgeoning
Attack:
One of:
Hooves +6, 2d6+4
1 per 4 rounds, Burning Hands (3d6 fire damage, 15’ cone, Dex DC 11 half): Fire Breath. NOTE: “Charge up” – describe its mouth filling flames the round before this is used.
Fire Bolt +3 to hit for 2d10 damage

[J-H]

This is probably going to take a couple of weeks to finish. If I get time, I hope to eventually run this at the FLGS. I want to get some more games in as a player first, as I am not very familiar with most of the spell list and other options, especially beyond character level 4-5.

What magic or abilities, aside from teleportation, should I beware of?

[SociopathFriend]

This is probably going to take a couple of weeks to finish. If I get time, I hope to eventually run this at the FLGS. I want to get some more games in as a player first, as I am not very familiar with most of the spell list and other options, especially beyond character level 4-5.

What magic or abilities, aside from teleportation, should I beware of?

Pretty much all of them- magic spells particularly at higher levels are very good at simply destroying a narrative but to get you some lower ones that can pop up relatively quickly:

Pass Without Trace - Makes the party able to easily avoid expected combat and even jump an enemy entirely unawares.
A veil of shadows and Silence radiates from you, masking you and your companions from detection. For the Duration, each creature you choose within 30 feet of you (including you) has a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks and can’t be tracked except by magical means. A creature that receives this bonus leaves behind no tracks or other traces of its passage.

Find the Path - Makes being lost almost entirely non-viable if they know what they're looking for.
This spell allows you to find the shortest, most direct physical route to a specific fixed location that you are familiar with on the same plane of existence. If you name a destination on another plane of existence, a destination that moves (such as a Mobile fortress), or a destination that isn't specific (such as a green dragon's lair), the spell fails.

For the Duration, as long as you are on the same plane of existence as the destination, you know how far it is and in what direction it lies. While you are traveling there, whenever you are presented with a choice of paths along the way, you automatically determine which path is the shortest and most direct route (but not necessarily the safest route) to the destination.

Stone Shape - Allows total negation of the mighty stone wall that is supposed to keep them going somewhere.
You touch a stone object of Medium size or smaller or a section of stone no more than 5 feet in any dimension and form it into any shape that suits your purpose. So, for example, you could shape a large rock into a weapon, idol, or coffer, or make a small passage through a wall, as long as the wall is less than 5 feet thick. You could also shape a stone door or its frame to seal the door shut. The object you create can have up to two hinges and a latch, but finer mechanical detail isn't possible.

[J-H]

Thanks. Here's my initial thoughts on how to handle each.

Pretty much all of them- magic spells particularly at higher levels are very good at simply destroying a narrative but to get you some lower ones that can pop up relatively quickly:

Pass Without Trace - Makes the party able to easily avoid expected combat and even jump an enemy entirely unawares.
A veil of shadows and Silence radiates from you, masking you and your companions from detection. For the Duration, each creature you choose within 30 feet of you (including you) has a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks and can’t be tracked except by magical means. A creature that receives this bonus leaves behind no tracks or other traces of its passage.

This will get them past some encounters...but they may not have a druid every session! Some areas will be linear or will have open areas without the ability to hide. PWT works best with large areas that have multiple un-occupied routes available.

Find the Path - Makes being lost almost entirely non-viable if they know what they're looking for.
This spell allows you to find the shortest, most direct physical route to a specific fixed location that you are familiar with on the same plane of existence. If you name a destination on another plane of existence, a destination that moves (such as a Mobile fortress), or a destination that isn't specific (such as a green dragon's lair), the spell fails.

For the Duration, as long as you are on the same plane of existence as the destination, you know how far it is and in what direction it lies. While you are traveling there, whenever you are presented with a choice of paths along the way, you automatically determine which path is the shortest and most direct route (but not necessarily the safest route) to the destination.

Not too worried about this one. Loot may involve exploration of side rooms.

Stone Shape - Allows total negation of the mighty stone wall that is supposed to keep them going somewhere.
You touch a stone object of Medium size or smaller or a section of stone no more than 5 feet in any dimension and form it into any shape that suits your purpose. So, for example, you could shape a large rock into a weapon, idol, or coffer, or make a small passage through a wall, as long as the wall is less than 5 feet thick. You could also shape a stone door or its frame to seal the door shut. The object you create can have up to two hinges and a latch, but finer mechanical detail isn't possible.

I think the Castle will probably slowly repair any wall damage. They can probably hide from or divert a few encounters with this, but the Castle itself is magical and the boss monsters in particular will have some control over their domain...no hiding from Slogra that easily. Added to Alert ticker: 1 point per Stone Shape or other damage/reshaping to the castle structure beyond once per 24 hours.

[J-H]

Stage 1 has been added. I'm a bit below the XP budget for 5 player characters, but given the small size of the area I don't see much that I can add...maybe another encounter in the old bailey (keep) going up the cliff.

[hymer]

Stage 1 has been added. I'm a bit below the XP budget for 5 player characters, but given the small size of the area I don't see much that I can add...maybe another encounter in the old bailey (keep) going up the cliff.

Since you're running milestones, I see no reason to sweat some inconsistencies of this sort. It's not going to add up to a major problem over time, anyway.

[J-H]

The Forest of Monsters
Part 1: Graveyard
Beyond the hedge, you see a mist-covered open field. What little grass grows amongst the razorvine quickly peters out, leaving bare brown soil, dark and loose in the moonlight. The mist keeps you from seeing more than about 50' in front of you. Angular stones are littered across it, some standing upright and others lying akilter. A brief inspection reveals illegible inscriptions, weathered by time. This place is a cemetery, disturbed.

Do you go straight away from the hedge, or along it east or west, or somewhere in between?

When fighting in the graveyard: Zombie hands reach up from the ground beneath: Dexterity DC 10 to avoid being grabbed, or restrained. STR DC 10 to break free, or deal 4 damage to the hand (AC 9). Hands will grab anyone who stands still. Hand description: You start to step to the side, but feel something holding on to one of your boots. Looking down, you see the tattered flesh and bones of an undead hand reaching out of the ground and holding on to you.

Graveyard encounters: Zombies are scattered around the map. Figure two zombie fights no matter which way they go (use map for counts) plus a bone pillar or two at the border.

A blocky shape appears in the mist ahead of you – a square mausoleum, about eight paces by eight (25’x25’). Dark crosses are set in deep bas-relief, having weathered the passage of time, and even the bronze door-handle is in the shape of a sturdy cross. Four ugly statues of winged creatures provide an odd counterpoint – one at each corner. They are motionless (K: Arcana to know that gargoyles exist).

The gargoyles each have sapphire eyes worth 150gp each. The sapphire are magic (cursed, transmutation). After a set time period, they will regrow the gargoyles if together. Remove curse to disable. The Stone Golem (Golem factory/stage iv boss) can also cause them to regenerate at will.
Detect Magic: Magic, abjuration & conjuration
Identify: These gems are the eyes of the Undying Gargoyles. After a period of time, or if certain conditions are met, each pair is cursed to rebuild a gargoyle, summoning new stone from the remains of the old and bringing the creatures back for another lifetime.

Remove curse spell: Disables one pair each. Dropping all in potion of Remove curse: Neutralizes all of them as long as they are submerged, but also turns the remove curse potion into a Flesh-to-Stone potion (identifiable on short rest).

Inside the mausoleum, you find no coffins or tombs. An old mage-light hovers in the ceiling, illuminating an inside containing more carvings. Several large polished silver mirrors are set into the walls. [mirrors removable? Yes, but have to wield as shield – no AC bonus but take up hand]

Investigation DC 12 turns up a small glass jar with an oily substance inside (potion of Remove Curse x 1)
Investigation DC 20 reveals that one of the wood crosses actually conceals a silvered longsword
Investigation DC 17 reveals a hidden panel: 1x potion of climbing, 2x holy water, 2x potion of healing

 
Phase 2: Swamp
The ground begins to slope downhill slightly. The earth begins to squish under your feet – at least it’s just water, right? Tall trees become visible as you move out of the misty area. Many of them have bulky roots running on the surface. You have to watch your step or risk a fall (difficult terrain). At least it's just water, right?

As you move into the forest, you hear a welcome chorus of insects. Rabbits dart among the trees, and you hear toads and other animals in large numbers. (Perception 15 – you see a small herd of deer dart away). Nature 10: This density is unexpected given the environment.
Swampy morass, with water slowly filtering through it from the stream.
Mud, much difficult terrain.

As you continue on, the ground grows outright muddy (very difficult).

All terrain is very difficult; the stream is only difficult and is the fastest way through the swamp.

You encounter a stream. It runs with a steady current, about ten feet wide and two feet deep. In the darkness it’s hard to see into the water, but there are no obvious signs of life. (Can move full speed in direction of current; half speed against, ¼ speed for Halflings).

Swamp encounters:
1 Plant-man ambushers (4)
2 Shambling Mound (2) Two giant plant-creatures heave themselves off the ground, revealing themselves to be ogre-like creatures.
3 Spiders (6) (You see webs in the trees ahead of you. Dark forms crawl across the webs.
4 Black Pudding in water. (loot contained: Potion of climbing; potion of growth)
5 Phase spider (1)

Phase 3: Regular Forest
The ground eventually starts to slope upwards and become dryer. (Merely “difficult”/half speed).

Forest encounters:
Same as swamp minus black pudding.

Faction: Werewolves
Most of the werewolves are off in the army
What’s left are mostly young ones with a couple of older ones watching over them.
They will be encountered in the forest section, or earlier if the party does anything particularly noisy or flashy (thunderwave, fireball, etc.).

(Perception checks may modify this)
You see human-sized shadows moving in the forest. With long arms and hunched-over shoulders, they look unnatural. One of them raises its head to the sky and howls, briefly silhouetting a pointed wolf-like muzzle.

(K: Arcana 10 “werewolves” 15 “silver weapons do more damage”; K: History 10 reputation for operating in tribes, often traveling and sometimes doing no harm, 15, traditionally linked to Dracula; hold very firmly to agreements and expect others to do the same.)

With quiet snarls and the glint of long, sharp fangs, they move in.

The werewolf hunting party is six wolves (4 regular, 2 shaman; one has a quarterstaff strapped across his back).

The werewolves will attack, splitting targets to try to land a bite on as many people as possible. The shamans will give orders in Romani (can anyone speak that? – if so, can translate). Once at least 3 bites are landed, the wolves will back off, and the shaman will give her speech. Go with Russian-ish accent.

“Hold, for I would bargain with you. We are werewolves, the true Romani, and the legends are true – we can make others like us. I need but do a simple completion of the magic that now flows in your blood, and you will be cursed to turn into one of our own – subject to the pack leaders, and in turn thus to Lord Dracula.

You are here to try to stop him, yes?”

She stalks to the side.

“We are no mere automatons; our remit as our best fighters are away is to help the pack grow stronger. Rather than taking and breaking some of you, I offer a choice that fulfills the commands given. Our young are good hunters, but unblooded in battle. I would summon them, and have them hunt and fight you. Run if you wish; they will be told well to stop when they reach the snake-headed witch’s domain; if they are fools and continue on, their deaths are on their own head. Other than that – do not kill them. Do not kill them or we will curse you and our soldiers will hunt you down – wherever you are if you yet live – when they return victorious from battle.”

Option 1:
Cue chase scene. Group has ~2-3 minute head start (she signals with howling). Wolves move 40’, party moves 25’-30’ and can dash only 3+CON mod times. We’ll run a 30 minute chase scene in 1 minute blocks of time, with the speed per minute ratios. The party moves at a rate of about 12.5’ per round (half speed for Halflings, or 15’ if Halflings carried); the wolves move at a speed of 20’ per round. Thus in 10 rounds (1 minute), the wolves gain 75’ or 50’ in distance. In 5 minutes, they gain 375’ or 250’ of distance.
For every round the party is not moving, deduct 20’ of distance between the wolves and the group.
The wolves start 1500’ away (in the village) but have a bonus of moving full speed for the first 500’ due to familiarity with terrain around the village.
Have 2-4 events during chase; wolves catch up, wolves circle around; use of stream? Ambush wolves? Draw out rough track on map.
1 Spiderwebs ahead with webbing and giant spiders. (see Web spell)
2 Two plant-man ambushers
3 A fallen titan blocks your path: A giant tree trunk lays rotting horizontally for forty feet to the east and sixty feet to the west. It’s about a foot off the ground, and 6’ in diameter.
4 Random forest encounter
5 The forest is thick and you can’t move long in a straight line. Which way are you going? Make a DC 15 survival check (use group average); for every point of average failure, add wolf gains due to decreased travel efficiency
6 You find an open clearing and can move full speed for four rounds.

Descriptive:
Foliage overhead blocks much of the moonlight. You move along in the darkness amongst trees, low-hanging branches, and roots.
Something brushes against your face – it’s just a vine.
You startle some birds into flight.
The otherwise noisy forest is quiet around you as you crash through the brush.

The werewolf village is inhabited by 1d6+2 regular werewolves, 2 shaman, one armored pack lord, and 12 juveniles. 6 longhouses (each 20’ wide x 40’ long) described as having large porches/overhangs along the edges around a central row of bonfire cooking pits. Three smokehouses on the western edge are drying meat (smell smoke as you approach). Investigation DC 15 3 potions of invisibility, 3 of Bodily toughness (advantage on CON saves for 1 hr)
Additional loot:
Pearl of Power (1 shaman) (A); 1/day use action to recover spell slot up to 3rd level.
Light Hammer +1 (+1 to hit, 1d4+1+str/dex damage; light weapon)

The juveniles will hang back sometimes, and sometimes make stupid tactical runs in. Other wolves will move in to save them. Shaman tactics remain the same. The pack lord will find the biggest guy on the other team and try to kill him.

Option 2: Pack Lord Duel
Party has challenged pack lord. He will say he’ll fight any two. “The shamans will watch, and any treachery will be answered doubly in kind!”

The large pond is north of the werewolf village. There are 6 longhouses pointing towards a center bonfire, with open spaces towards the south practice field and towards the pond. The south practice field has several trees scattered through it.

The werewolf village is inhabited by 1d6+2 regular werewolves, 3 shaman (Alia, Delata, Hanzi), one armored pack lord (Svalbard), and 12 juveniles. 6 longhouses (each 20’ wide x 40’ long) described as having large porches/overhangs along the edges around a central row of bonfire cooking pits. Three smokehouses on the western edge are drying meat (smell smoke as you approach).
The center-eastern longhouse smells of herbs and other substances. Investigation DC 15 2 potions of invisibility, 1 of Bodily toughness (advantage on CON saves for 1 hr), 1 of Cure Wounds, 1 of Haste.

The practice field / dueling arena will be well lit by a fire from the middle of town, but the south end will be fairly dark. Branches are stuck into the ground to mark out a boundary for an squarish oval area about 80’ long and 40’ wide. There will be more trees on the south end. The juveniles will line the west side, the adults the ends, and one shaman will be on the west side, with one more at each end of the field. The party will be along the east side; they will face off from the long ends of the field.

Deep voice, broad open stance. “I shall show these young ones what a true battle is like – not some capped-claw spar!” You see a big werewolf, probably close to seven feet tall. His shoulders are broad and well-muscled, and his grey-tinged brown fur carries several white streaks marking old scars, including one that crosses his left eye, which seems to have a permanent squint. He carries a greataxe in one hand and a shield in the other, and is also wearing an orange-tinted breastplate. “If I triumph, you will see how to fight against greater numbers instead of as the hunters. If I fall, you will see how others may hunt you, and learn in turn that you might live and grow stronger.”

Trees for partial cover may be a factor. He’ll probably delay his first action to fling his axe when someone gets within 30’, and he’ll use cover and possibly even climbing to make it as hard as possible to flank and pin him.

“Always prepare at least one surprise.”
“A true warrior uses not only his muscle, but his speed and his mind. Watch as they try to flank me, and as I in turn try to outmaneuver-them.”
“Focusing on one foe may bring a swifter kill, but leaving an enemy at your back untouched is also unwise!”
“Find the weakest enemy; single him out and kill him first!”
“See, he moves to protect the weaker one and distract me. They fight not as individuals, but as part of a pack.”
“When badly wounded and unable to retreat – tear out as many throats as you can!”

“Svalbard” Werewolf, Pack Lord CR 8 (equipped)
Size Medium (but Powerful Build)
AC 18 (Breastplate + dex 2 + shield 2)
HP: 110
Speed 40’
STR 20 (+5) DEX 15 (+2) CON 18(+4) INT 13(+1) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 14 (+2)
Saves: Cha +5, Con +7
Skills: Perception +6, advantage on smell & hearing checks
Damage resistance: Non-magical weapons that aren’t silvered
Multiattack: 2 axe attacks + bite
Returning Greataxe +8/+8 to hit, 1d12+5 damage plus
Bite: +8 to hit, 1d8+5 damage; If claws hit, advantage on bite attack roll; curse or
Ranged Returning weapon +8 (disadvantage beyond 30’, max range 60’) for same damage. Functions 1/round
Powerful Build: Advantage when rolling against grappling, shoving, etc.; Able to wield a heavy weapon in one hand
Loot:
Returning Greataxe: functions as base weapon, but is magical; can be thrown and returns once per round. Also allows bearer to always know which way is north.
Breastplate of Fire Resistance. 

Continue Forest
Then do a couple of random encounters per bestiary below.
 
Phase 4: Romanesque Ruins
The lair of the Medusa: Old statues, new statues
A bone pillar or two; multiple snake swarms distributed around, and a giant constrictor familiar.

Descriptive:
The forest thins out as the ground rises and becomes rocky. The face of the cliff rises ahead of you, with a large pond to one side exiting to one side at the mouth of a cave. Marble pillars and walls, the remnants of some old set of buildings, extend from near the forest’s edge all the way up to the cave. Some have fallen, and some yet stand, leaving it a jumbled maze to navigate.

In view is a statue of an armored warrior in full plate, balanced precariously on its right leg, missing an arm. It appears to have been here for a while.

(As the group moves ahead, they may come upon):
-A statue of an elf crouching in hiding, peeking around a corner with a bow at the ready;
-A stone werewolf with its head removed
-A spear-wielding fish-man-thing (K: Arcana DC15 – Merman, nowdays limited to the deep oceans; If successful, K:History DC 15 thought to have once inhabited Atlantis.)


Party glimpses sinuous trails in the soil; no footprints.
You see the shapely torso of a woman atop a bottom half that is ten feet of thick, strong snake. Instead of hair, dozens of dreadlock-sized snakes protrude from her scalp; some drape around her head like hairs, while others are waving around and sniffing the air. She holds a short sword with a broad blade casually in one hand.

Tactics: Ambush: Behind corners. Hit and run.

Sound effects: Rattlesnake rattle after she speaks; Extended ssss
Lines: “Who entersss my domain?”
“Gaze upon my sssplendor”
“I’m never alone.”
“None of you are named Jassson, right?”
(snake kill) “Ssssomeone will pay for that!”
(player to 0) “Ssssleep here a little while. I’ll be bessside you when you wake.”
“Who daresss tread on my ground?”
“You are not worthy to look upon my beauty”
“Do you feel good? I can make you look just like you do now forever.”

Medusa (Boss!) “Crotalisa”
Loot: Stone of Good Luck (+1 saves & ability checks, which includes skills & initiative)
AC 15 (natural armor)
HP 127
Speed 30’, Climb 30’
Init +3
Stats: Str +0 dex+2 con+3 int+1 wis+1 cha +2 (add +1 to all saves & other ability checks from this)
Skills: Deception +6, Insight +5, Perception +5, Stealth +6 (Includes Luckstone bonus on all)
Darkvision 60’

Petrifying Gaze: When a creature that can see the medusa's eyes (forward 180* of Medusa, as she can turn her head freely) starts its turn within 30 ft. of the medusa, the medusa can force it to make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw if the medusa isn't Incapacitated and can see the creature. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is instantly Petrified. Otherwise, a creature that fails the save begins to turn to stone and is Restrained. The Restrained creature must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn, becoming Petrified on a failure or ending the effect on a success. The petrification lasts until the creature is freed by the Greater Restoration spell or other magic.
Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it can't see the medusa until the start of its next turn, when it can avert its eyes again. If the creature looks at the medusa in the meantime, it must immediately make the save.
If the medusa sees itself reflected on a polished surface within 30 ft. of it and in an area of bright light, the medusa is, due to its curse, slowed by its own gaze.
half speed, -2 AC & dex save; no reaction; no bonus action; only 1 attack/rd; 50% chance a 1 action spell takes another turn to take effect; d20+2 vs Wis DC14 each round at end of its turn to negate
Multiattack: The medusa makes either three Melee Attacks — one with its snake hair and two with its Shortsword — or two Ranged Attacks with its Longbow. The medusa poisons its weapons with its venom for the first attack each round.
Snake Hair: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage plus 14 (4d6) poison damage.
Shortsword: Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage.
Longbow: Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage plus 2d6 poison damage on the first attack each round..

Medusa Loot: Ring of Swimming; Luckstone; Short sword +1
• A tarnished silver ring set with a small blue sapphire shaped like a fish.
• A small polished agate stone. Despite its size and shade, it seems to catch the light just right for maximum appeal.
• A short sword with a short, broad blade – a gladius. The leather wrappings on the handle are old and stained, but the blade is free of rust and appears sharp.
• Scroll: Sleep x 2 (90’ range, roll 5d8 for total HP effected; creatures within 20’ of target point are affected in ascending order based on current HP); asleep until damage, or someone uses an action to wake up; subtract each creature’s HP until moving on to next one.

Investigate DC 10: You find two throwing daggers and pair of +1 crossbow bolts
Investigate DC 15: You find four +3 crossbow bolts wedged into a corner near one of the statues.


Bone Pillar, CR 2
Medium Undead, speed 0
Two lizard-like heads mounted on a jumbled column of bones turn to track your movements. Their mouths open and they spit fire at you.
AC 13 (Natural Armor)
HP 45
STR 10 DEX 10 CON 14 INT -3 WIS -3 Cha 12
Vulnerable: Bludgeoning.
Multiattack:
Fire bolt x 4, +3 spell attack for 2d10 damage

Leaf-Man Ambusher (CR 3)
Large plant
AC: 11
HP: 90
Speed 40
STR +1 DEX +1 CON +0 INT -1 WIS +1 CHA +0
Special: Blend with foliage: +10 on Stealth checks while immobile; Hampered by water
Resistance: Piercing
Vulnerability: Fire, Lightning

Attack +4, 2d6+1 damage; leaves obscure the vision of anyone it hits enough that they cannot make AOOs against it until its next turn (as Swashbuckler rogue ability)
Tactics: Will pop out, attack for two rounds, and then retreat; repeat.

The leaf-man is made out of a bunch of plant leaves held together by magic in a form resembling that of a large human, albeit with the bulk of an ogre. Since it’s made out of leaves, it has a hard time moving through water (1/2 speed).

Werewolf, CR 3
(locked into hybrid form; modified)
AC 12
HP: 58
Speed 40’
STR 15 (+2) DEX 13 (+1) CON 14(+2) INT 10(0) WIS 11 (0) CHA 10 (0)
Skills: Perception +4, advantage on smell & hearing checks
Damage resistance: Non-magical weapons that aren’t silvered

Multiattack:
Bite: +4 to hit, 1d8+2 damage
Claws: +4, 2d4+2 damage

Werewolf Shaman, CR 5
(locked into hybrid form; modified)
AC 12
HP: 58
Speed 40’
STR 15 (+2) DEX 13 (+1) CON 14(+2) INT 10(0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (0)
Skills: Perception +4, advantage on smell & hearing checks
Damage resistance: Non-magical weapons that aren’t silvered

Spells: Spell save DC 12, caster level 5
Thorn Whip
1st level (4 slots) Fog Cloud, Faerie Fire, Entangle; Cure Light Wounds
2nd level (3 slots) Heat Metal; Hold Person; Word of Healing
3rd level (1 slot) Slow
Loot: Circlet of Blasting, Scorching Ray 1/day at +5 to-hit

Multiattack:
Bite: +5 to hit, 1d8+2 damage
Claws: +5, 2d4+2 damage

Spoiler: map

Show

[J-H]

Stage 3

Spoiler: Map

Show

STAGE 3A: CAVERNS

You enter a cave with a stream of water running through it. The floor is smooth and ripply from the water, and it’s apparent that there are plenty of side tunnels and other paths that have been hollowed out over the years.

The tunnel is only five feet wide. After the last couple of nights of moving across mostly large open spaces, it feels cramped. You’ll probably have to travel in single file (get standard order written down).

After a little while it widens. Most of the cavern is about 10-15’ high. The floor of the cave is smoothed by water, but stalactites hang from the ceiling, cold drops of water occasionally dripping off of them.

The stone between levels is about 20’ thick.

Climbing: Half speed. STR (Athletics) DC 15 if not hammering & pitons. If hammer & pitons, totally attract bats and stone man attention.

Descriptives.
“You splash through the cold, clear water.”
“Your footsteps echo ahead of you.”
“You hear something thudding rhythmically in the distance, like slow, hard footsteps.”
“The cave is dark, and noises echo strangely. You can hear the water running.”
Encountering Bone Pillars without stealth: “Fire flashes at you from the ____”

(Darkness): Summary for quick reference.
The most fundamental tasks of adventuring–noticing danger, finding hidden objects, hitting an enemy in combat, and targeting a spell, to name just a few–rely heavily on a character's ability to see. Darkness and other effects that obscure vision can prove a significant hindrance.
A given area might be lightly or heavily obscured. In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
A heavily obscured area–such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage–blocks vision entirely. A creature effectively suffers from the blinded condition (see appendix PH-A) when trying to see something in that area.
The presence or absence of light in an environment creates three categories of illumination: bright light, dim light, and darkness.
Bright light lets most creatures see normally. Even gloomy days provide bright light, as do torches, lanterns, fires, and other sources of illumination within a specific radius.
Dim light, also called shadows, creates a lightly obscured area. An area of dim light is usually a boundary between a source of bright light, such as a torch, and surrounding darkness. The soft light of twilight and dawn also counts as dim light. A particularly brilliant full moon might bathe the land in dim light.
Darkness creates a heavily obscured area.

 
Stone Man (CR 6)
“With the noise of falling gravel, something emerges from the wall behind you. You see a 7’ tall humanoid form made of rock.” Arcana DC 10: It’s not an earth elemental. DC15: It looks like it could be elemental in nature, and could move through stone. DC20: Scottish Dwarves have reported a few “stone men” inhabiting long-lost caverns. They are hostile to intruders and, are dangerous in groups. You heard something about “bringing their own buddies” but it didn’t seem to make sense at the time.
“Your hit cracks its form, and it falls apart into a pair of smaller piles of rocks that immediately re-animate and attack you with a bit more agility than before. These are only about 5’ tall each.”
Size Large
AC 16 (Nat armor +7, dex -1)
HP 126
Speed 30/burrow 30
STR +5, DEX -1, CON +5, Int -3, Wis +0, Cha -3
Darkvision 60’, Tremorsense 60’
Immune to poison, exhaustion, paralyzation, petrification, unconscious
Resist non-magic damage
Special: Earth glide: Can move through non-magical, un-worked earth and stone
Pack tactics: Stone Men have advantage whenever side by side with another Stone Man.
Multiattack: 2 slams +8, reach 10’, 2d8+5 damage
Split: Upon receiving more than 10 physical damage from any single hit, it splits into two medium Stone Men.
Split 1
Size Medium
AC 17 (Nat armor +7, dex 0)
HP 63 minus a split of the damage done to the original
Speed 30/burrow 30
STR +4, DEX 0, CON +5, Int -3, Wis +0, Cha -3
Darkvision 60’, Tremorsense 60’
Immune to poison, exhaustion, paralyzation, petrification, unconscious
Resist non-magic damage
Special: Earth glide: Can move through non-magical, un-worked earth and stone
Pack tactics: Stone Men have advantage whenever side by side with another Stone Man.
Multiattack: 2 slams +7, 1d8+4 damage
Split: Upon receiving more than 10 physical damage from any single hit, it splits into two small Stone Men.

Split 2
Size Small
AC 18 (Nat armor +7, dex +1)
HP 32 plus a split of the damage done to the original
Speed 30/burrow 30
STR +3, DEX +1, CON +5, Int -3, Wis +0, Cha -3
Darkvision 60’, Tremorsense 60’
Immune to poison, exhaustion, paralyzation, petrification, unconscious
Resist non-magic damage
Special: Earth glide: Can move through non-magical, un-worked earth and stone
Pack tactics: Stone Men have advantage whenever side by side with another Stone Man.
Multiattack: 2 slams +6, 1d4+3 damage
While Earth Gliding: Dislodge Stalactites, 2d6 damage, 5’ radius, Dex DC 13 half.

Adventurer bodies:
You see a pair of skeletons, better-equipped than most. Their eyes glow with a dim purple light. There will be two pairs of skeletons encountered, all four belonging to recent former adventurers. Death has been making use of the resources that walk into the castle. I’ll use this as an opportunity for a bit more interaction with Death as a villain. To do so, I’ve inflated HP so that there’s a chance of these skeletons actually landing a blow. I’m hoping to build Death up as an occasional annoyance throughout the game and give the players someone else to hate.

First floor, first one found: Longsword, full plate armor, shield, 2x holy water: This one wears full plate armor and has a shield; instead of wielding the longsword at its belt though, it wields a shadowy sickle.
AC 20, attack +4 for 1d4+2+2d4 necrotic, Cha DC 10 or Slow for 1 rd on hit, 75hp
Next one: Studded Leather armor, Thieves Tools, 3 caltrops, 4 ball bearings, light hammer, potion of invisibility, 17 Crossbow bolts +1
AC 14, attack +4 for 1d4+2+2d4 necrotic, Cha DC 10 or Slow for 1 rd on hit, 51hp; +2d6 sneak attack; Stealth +5
Third: Scale Mail +1, maul, Pole of Collapsing (XGTE, 10’ pole, shrinks to 1’)
AC 16, attack +4 for 1d4+2+2d4 necrotic, Cha DC 10 or Slow for 1 rd on hit, 75hp
Fourth: Splint Mail, Kneecapper Warhammer (magic, does +1d8 thunder damage to creatures size Huge and above; traditionally a style associated with dwarves)
AC 17, attack +4 for 1d4+2+2d4 necrotic, Cha DC 10 or Slow for 1 rd on hit, 66hp

Skele stats: Str+2, dex+2, con+2, int -2, wis -1, cha -3; vulnerable to bludgeoning.

Note: These are adventurers re-animated by Death. The shadow sickles will dissipate upon destruction. Anyone knocked to 0 by one has disadvantage on their death saving throws.
On a failed Cha save:
You feel your body slowing down around you. It’s hard to get it moving again. You’re only mortal, after all. A voice echoes in your head…:
1 “I have known this one like I inevitably know everyone.”
2 “I remember every mortal I’ve met.”
3 “Your flesh is a weak tool. I can make better use of it.”
4 “I offer you the gift of peace.”
5 “You seek my oldest friend, don’t you? He’s busy right now.”


Note: Bone Pillars will hold an action to make a single attack against any enemies coming into view, if a battle is going on nearby and could get close to them.

Xorn Lair

If they make it up to the 3rd floor, they will find the nest of a single Xorn. In the nest are about numerous cylinders of gold, each about the size of a dwarf’s thumb. The gold is occasionally shot through with lines of impurities – other metals like silver and iron. You think it’s about 3,500 gold pieces worth of gold, weighing about seventy pounds in total. The Xorn will drop out of the ceiling onto whoever tries to pick one up first.


STAGE 3B: Waterfall

The sound of running water changes ahead of you to a splashing, and then a constant rumble.
The cave opens out some into a deep pool with water plunging down into it. You look up, and see that the waterfall ascends vertically out of sight through a narrow shaft. There’s room to move onto some rock platforms near the falls. You should be able to climb between platforms to work your way up.

You’re able to pull yourself up onto the rocks. More ledges extend above you.

A vertical ascent in a 30’x15’ tunnel, the back 1/3 of which is occupied by a waterfall.
Platforms typically 5' wide, bold lines if 10' thick..so a flying character can ascend vertically, except past the bolded lines. The bold ones extend from front to back, including blocking/diverting water.

High Jump: 10’ run up, go up 3+str modifier; can reach half height above, so reach is jump height + 1.5 x character height.
Anyone can pull themselves up if there’s no combat going; if under fire, etc., STR DC 10 to pull up (wet/ uncertain grip/rushed). Enemies have advantage if attacking someone who is climbing (unable to defend himself).

Foes:
Bone Pillar
Thorn Vine
Vampire bats
Bat swarm


Thornvine (CR 2)
Large plant
AC 13
HP 65
Str +2 dex +1, con +2, Int -5, Wis +1, cha -4
Perception +3, stealth +3
Immune to blind & deafness; blindsight 30’, tremorsense 60’
Multiattack: 2 tendrils, reach 10’
+4 to hit, 2d6+2 piercing damage; on hit, can restrain (STR DC 12) but then cannot attack; 10 damage will destroy the tendril, but the plant can regrow one as a free action the next turn.
OR
Thorn Whip +3 to hit, 30’ range, 2d6 damage and pull target 10’ closer

Stage 3: The Sunken City

You arrive at the edge of a large lake that pools between you and the castle. A series of buildings before you form stepping stones across the lake, surrounded and partly submerged in murky water. The buildings appear to be made of white stone, possibly marble or granite, and resemble what you might find in older parts of Italy or Greece. In a number of places, buildings have collapsed, leaving only walls or pillars standing. The water appears to be about eight feet deep – if you don’t want to swim, you’ll need to travel from rooftop to rooftop. Still, at least you don’t see much moving, and you have clear lines of sight in many directions.

Aquatic combat notes:
• Any enemies submerged in water have resistance to Fire spells. The water also functions as half cover (+2 to AC & dex saves) against enemies more than 5’ away.
• Projectile weapons only travel up to their short/normal range distance in water.
• Anyone without a swim speed makes attack rolls with Disadvantage, unless the weapon is a piercing/stabbing type.
• Your swim speed is half your standard move speed.

Landmarks:
The sides of the city are surrounded by water for a few hundred feet; this is the “easy way” across the lake. They will have to hop from pillar to pillar and building to building, with a typical gap of 5'. Throw a couple of longer gaps in there to force flight relay, bridging, swimming, or other creative problem-solving.

Encounters:
• 4 jumpers & 2 spitters
• 3 jumpers & 4 spitters
• A large, 3 story building rises prominently near the middle of the city: Merman baron, 2 skeletal hydra heads, 1 water witch, 2 jumpers
• An old temple (2 story/Athens style): 2 water witches, 1 water elemental, 2 jumpers, 2 spitters


Foes:
Merman jumper (trident): Reskin Sahuagin, add +1 to hit, damage, AC, and +10hp.
You see a humanoid figure covered in glistening scales. The head looks like that of a fish, and It has large webbed feet and hands tipped with the telltale shine of sharp claws, and more webbing between its upper arms and its torso. It holds a spear in one hand. Swimming underwater, it picks up speed and launches itself into the air before landing in front of you.
AC 13 (natural armor)
Speed: 30’, swim 40’
HP: 36
Perception +5/passive Perception 15; Darkvision
Multiattack:
Trident +4, 5’, 1d6+2 damage
Claw +4, 5’, 1d4+2 damage
Str +2 Dex +0 Con +1 Int+1 Wis+1 Cha -1

Merman Spitter: (Reskin Sahuagin, add spit)
You see that some of the fishmen have large, bulging pouches in their cheeks and smaller mouths.
AC 12 (natural armor)
Speed: 30’, swim 40’
HP: 25
Perception +5/passive Perception 15; Darkvision
Spear +3, 5’, 1d6+1 damage and claw +3, 5’, 1d4+1 OR
Water Jet (CON based), +4 to hit, 40’ range, 1d4+2 damage; Con DC12 or 1d6 poison damage; at 10’ range or less, Dex DC12 or blind for 1 round.
Str +1 Dex +0 Con +2 Int+1 Wis+1 Cha -1

Merman Water Witch:
AC 12 (natural armor)
Speed 30’, Swim 40’
HP: 60
Perception +6, Religion +3; Passive Perception 16; Darkvision
Str +1 Dex +0 Con +2 Int+1 Wis+2 Cha -1
Spear +3, 5’, 1d6+1 damage and claw +3, 5’, 1d4+1
Spell list: Spell DC 12, +4 to hit
3 (3 slot): Slow (C, 120’, 6 creatures, 40’ cube, Wis negates; half speed, -2 AC & dex save; no reaction; no bonus action; only 1 attack/rd; 50% chance a 1 action spell takes another turn to take effect; Wis recheck each round at end of its turn to negate), Fear (C, 30’ cone, Wis or drop & frightened; must dash away; Wis to end if finishes turn with line of sight broken).
2 (3 slots): Misty Step (bonus action 30’ teleport), Shatter (60’, 10’ radius, CON or 3d8 thunder; upcast +1d8), Crown of Madness (C, 120’, Wis or charmed; must use action before moving on each turn to attack a non-self target you choose; if no valid targets, can act normally; use action to continue control; Wis at end of each turn to end effect.)
1 (4 slots): Sleep (5d8hp, 20’ radius), Ray of Sickness (Ranged spell; 2d8 poison damage; CON or poisoned status-disadvantage on almost everything-until end of caster’s next turn), Magic Missile (3x 1d4+1 darts, +1 per upcast)
Cantrip: Chill Touch (Spell attack, 2d8 necrotic damage; can’t regain HP until start of caster’s next turn)
One has Circlet of Blasting; other has Quaal’s Feather Token.
Loot (1 shaman): Circlet of Blasting, Scorching Ray 1/day at +5 to-hit (3 rays/2d6 fire damage per ray); This thin metal circlet is made of brass, with the emblem of a flame on the front. The flame emblem appears to be permanently stained by smoke.
 

Fishman Baron:
You see a fishman with a particularly bulky torso and muscled arms, wielding a jade-tipped trident. Thick scales coat his body.
AC 16
HP 110
Speed 30’, Swim 50’
Str+4 Dex+2 con+3 Int+2 wis+1 cha+3
Saves Dex+5, Con+6, Int+5, Wis+4
Perception +7, Passive Perception 17; Darkvision
Multiattack: Trident x2, +9 for 1d8+6 piercing damage
4 d8 superiority dice. Maneuvers:
• Menacing attack: On hit, add superiority die to damage roll; Wis save (DC 15) or frightened until end of next turn.
• Pushing attack: Add to damage roll, Str DC 15 or push back up to 15’
Loot: Potion of Growth x 2; may use 1; duration 1d4 hrs; size to Large, advantage on strength checks & saves, +1d4 damage on attacks
Trident +2

Skeleton hydra head (chained; CR2)
A slender, lizard-like skull the size of a human torso rises on a long, bony spine that’s attached to the stonework. The mouth opens to reveal long, needle-pointed teeth like those of an eel.
Medium (long) undead, reach 20’
AC 14
HP 70
Str +3, Dex+1, Con+2, Int -2, Wis -2, Cha -2
Spit Poison: +5 to hit, 2d6 poison damage on hit or
Bite: +5 to hit, 1d12+3 damage

Hydra- Boss
The hydra will engage near the edge of the water, in an area with plenty of pillars (mapped out) that require hopping from one to another to move around, or swimming/falling in water. This limit’s the party’s mobility and may split them up some.

The water gets louder around you as some unusual waves splash against the ruins from the direction of shore, pulsing like something is coming. You see a large, snake-like head and body raise from the water ahead of you. And then another, and another, and more until there are eight of them. History DC 10: One of the storied labors of Hercules was killing a many-headed hydra. History/Arcana DC15: The hydra is a real but very rare creature, with regenerative powers almost equal to the trolls that inhabit the Scandinavian mountains. Also like those trolls, fire can keep it from healing.


8-headed Hydra
Huge monstrosity,unaligned
Armor Class 15
Hit Points 306
Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft. ft.

STR +5, DEX +1, CON +5, INT -4, WIS 10, CHA -2
Proficiency Bonus +3
Skills Perception +6, Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16
Hold Breath.The hydra can hold its breath for 1 hour.
Multiple Heads.The hydra has multiple heads. While it has more than one head, the hydra has advantage on saving throws against being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, stunned, and knocked unconscious. Whenever the hydra takes 25 or more damage in a single turn, one of its heads dies. If all its heads die, the hydra dies. At the end of its turn, it grows two heads for each of its heads that died since its last turn, unless it has taken fire damage since its last turn. The hydra regains 10 hit points for each head regrown in this way.
Reactive Heads.For each head the hydra has beyond one, it gets an extra reaction that can be used only for opportunity attacks.
Wakeful.While the hydra sleeps, at least one of its heads is awake.
Multiattack.The hydra makes as many bite attacks as it has heads.
Bite.
Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 1d10 + 5 piercing damage.
OR
Poison breath, 15’ line, CON DC16 or 3d6 poison damage; half on successful save.

General notes: Lots of reskinning for the mermen, which makes things easier. This stage has 3 very distinct environments, with movement abilities both vertically and horizontally being rewarded.

[J-H]

This requires a somewhat linear (railroady?) approach.
What keeps the PCs (or a sufficiently powerful dragon) from simply flying up to Dracula's tower and blasting him? Why slog through all these levels of stuff? Why not use Passwall or adamantine picks to cut your way through the castle instead of exploring all these rooms?

Metagame answers:
-Because we're here for a dungeoncrawl, not a scry-and-die
-Because 5th level characters aren't powerful or equipped well enough to fight Dracula, and nowhere outside the Castle lets you get so much XP and magical loot and wealth

In-character answers:
-The castle is magic; it cannot deny passage, but it darn well can shift things around so you have to take the long way through it.
-The castle has defenses against aerial incursion: In addition to skeleton-manned ballistas, there's a gravitational effect that kicks in about 30' off the ground, where you get much heavier and begin to fall towards the castle; none may fly except by permission of Dracula. I do have two spots where the players will run into the ballista defenses, albeit at short range so that they don't get badly hurt by them.

Thoughts on the IC answers?

[J-H]

Stage 4: Rotating Tower to Castle Front Door
(Party level at beginning: 6)

Spoiler: map

Show

Geographic style: Rotating, clacking gears, parts fitting together. This area derives power from some unseen force, moving and producing parts for Dracula’s army of necromantic constructs.

Past the lake, you see a substantial sized blocky stone building backing up to yet another large cliff face. A large, round tower sticks up from the rear of the structure, stretching 300’ into the air. A broad bridge at the top of the tower connects it to something.
Dracula’s castle is no longer visible over the lip of the cliff. You must be getting very close to the castle itself.

A set of stone double doors stands open, and a crude stone pathway approaches it.

Note: If group tries to fly above/over, they feel pulled towards the tower as though by a gravity manipulation spell. They get pulled in and spun around the outside. High flight gets engaged by three ballista operated by skeletons atop the tower.

The entire building is filled with the low vibration of stone grinding and moving.

First room: Empty, but with scrapes and scuffs on the floor going to the east as though, and a few pieces of bone lying around.

To the east: A 10’ wide hallway with more drag marks straight down it. The stone is covered with an aged white plaster. Passive Perception DC15 to note that the plaster-covered walls appear uneven, with some parts older than others. The plaster walls suddenly crack and bits fall to the ground, as skeletons leap out of poorly concealed plaster covers on the wall, attacking the party. (6 ambusher skeletons)

North of the left room is a storage room, which then connects back to the entry hall. This room has numerous sturdy wooden shelves lining the sides of the room, as well as in the middle. Some of the items in here have moldered away, but a few of them look only slightly weathered. The storage room contains miscellaneous consumables, including:
• Potion of Heroism
• Spell Scroll (Stoneskin)
• Scroll of Protection
• Arrows +2, 20;
• Any 3 mundane weapons
• 50gp worth of mundane and non-alchemical adventuring gear (rope, basic tools, etc.)

The south exit from the storage room goes to a large L-shaped room. Bits of bone litter the floor and are piled along the floor, but it’s otherwise fairly bare (Investigation DC 15, healing potion in a pile in the corner).

The room contains two specters, which will attack when the party tries to leave the room. Two translucent horrors drop out of the ceiling, each looking like the decayed upper part of a human and a halfling, respectively. They silently reach out their hands, as though to take hold of you as they float closer.
2 Spectres (Ghosts but without the “Horrifying Visage aging aura, CR 4).

Skull room:
The skull room is large, about forty feet high, and decorated with several bas-relief skulls 10’ high on the walls, as well as a few decrepit tapestries hanging down, each featuring a large skull on a solid-colored background. Cubbyholes line the room at four feet off the ground, each containing a single humanoid skull. There are a total of three doors on the west side, and one on the south side. When the group reaches the middle of the room, four of the skulls go Blurry. (passive perception DC15 and above to notice the unmoving blurriness)

Spoiler: Puxiweil & Friends

Show

Tactics: All open with Blur; then use AOEs and other spells as appropriate. Highest level spells are used first, but only if an acceptable # of targets are used. Concentration spells (Flaming Sphere, Hold Person, etc.) used only if Blur is broken.
Movement: Roll 1d8 for altitude to move to each round, in increments of 5
They will move away from attackers; other than that, random movement in 1d4 direction (1 N E S W 4) of 5-15’

Flameskull (CR4) Bright orange flames surround this floating skull.
(see card for details)
( ) ( ) ( ) 1st level (3 slots): magic missile (3x 1d4+1), shield (Reaction, +5 AC until next turn start; MM immune)
( ) ( ) 2nd level (2 slots): blur (C, attacks have disadvantage), Flaming Sphere (C, unoccupied, 2d6 fire damage 5’ radius, Dex half; bonus action 30’; can ram to force save)
( ) 3rd level (1 slot): Fireball (8d6, 20’ radius, Dex half)

Puxiweil This skull has pink eyes. An impossibly long tongue lashes out at a close target.
Tiny undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 60 (9d4 + 18)
Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)
STR 1 (-5) DEX 17 (+3) CON 14 (+2) INT 16 (+3) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 11 (+0)
Skills Arcana +5, Perception +2
Damage Resistances Lightning, Cold, Fire, Necrotic, Piercing
Damage Immunities Poison
Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Paralyzed, Poisoned, Prone
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 12
Actions
Tongue: Ranged melee attack, 20’, +5; on hit, 5d6 poison damage; CON save DC 13 or paralysis for 3 rounds, save each round to end.
( ) Spell slots: Blur (C, attacks have disadvantage),

Boltskull: Miniature lightning bolts crackle across the surface of the skull constantly.
Tiny undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 40 (9d4 + 18)
Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)
STR 1 (-5) DEX 17 (+3) CON 14 (+2) INT 16 (+3) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 11 (+0)
Skills Arcana +5, Perception +2
Damage Resistances Cold, Fire, Necrotic, Piercing
Damage Immunities Lighting, Poison
Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Paralyzed, Poisoned, Prone
Illumination: Sheds dim light in a 15’ radius
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 12
Magic Resistance. The Boltskull has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Spellcasting. The Boltskull is a 5th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks).
Cantrip (at will): mage hand
( ) ( ) ( ) 1st level (3 slots): magic missile (3x 1d4+1), shield (Reaction, +5 AC until next turn start; MM immune)
( ) ( ) 2nd level (2 slots): blur (C, attacks have disadvantage), Hold Person (C, 60’, Wis or paralysis)
( ) 3rd level (1 slot): Lightning Bolt (100’, 5’ wide; 8d6, Dex half)
Actions
Multiattack. The Boltskull uses Electric Ray twice.
Electric Ray x2. Ranged Spell Attack: +5 to hit, range 30 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (3d6) electric damage.

Freezeskull: Small patterns of frost cover this skull.
Tiny undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 40 (9d4 + 18)
Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)
STR 1 (-5) DEX 17 (+3) CON 14 (+2) INT 16 (+3) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 11 (+0)
Skills Arcana +5, Perception +2
Damage Resistances Lightning, Fire, Necrotic, Piercing
Damage Immunities Cold, Poison
Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Paralyzed, Poisoned, Prone
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 12
Magic Resistance. The Freezeskull has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Spellcasting. The Freezeskull is a 5th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks).
Cantrip (at will): mage hand
( ) ( ) ( ) 1st level (3 slots): Ice Knife (60’, on hit 1d10 pierce; either way, shard explodes, target + 5’ radius Dex save or 2d6 cold damage), shield (Reaction, +5 AC until next turn start; MM immune)
( ) ( )2nd level (2 slots): blur (C, attacks have disadvantage), Snilloc’s Snowball Swarm (XGTE, 5’ radius 3d6 cold damage, Dex half; magic snowballs)
( ) 3rd level (1 slot): Lesser Cone of Cold (30’ cone, 6d6 cold damage, Con half)
Actions
Multiattack. The Freezeskull uses Icy Ray twice.
Icy Ray x2. Ranged Spell Attack: +5 to hit, range 30 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (3d6) cold damage.

The mid-west exit goes to a room where the party can rest. The door handle is again made of iron crosses, and the room is lit by a small red brazier burning with magical flame in each corner. Investigation DC 20: You find a stash of two vials of Holy Water and a Potion of Healing behind a false brick.


The south exit of the room goes to the rotating tower. As you touch the door, you can feel a vibration.


The base of the rotating tower is reached through a square room where the gravity gradually shifts to the west and normalizes to “vertical” as you walk across it.

 
The party then enters the rotating tower, a large cylinder made of red and gray stones where the gravity is constantly shifting (towards the cliff) as the tower rotates in place. About one square in eight (so two around per rotation) is loose rock. Some of these are places you can fall through; some of them contain skeletons that will leap free to engage the party.

The “bottom” of the tower is only about 10’ wide. There will be roughly 12 gradients around it, going from:
1 Flat
2 Difficult terrain unless you can make a DC 10 acrobatics check
3 Acrobatics check DC 15 to move at difficult terrain speeds
4 Athletics DC10 to hold in place on the vertical wall of the tunnel.
5 Acrobatics/Athletics check to climb or fall prone and slide down, taking 1d6 damage
6 And then you’re actually hanging from the overhanging wall.
7 Upside down
It rotates at a speed of 10’ per round.

A couple of skeletons leap out of the walls, raining down from above to give the party a chance to learn how to fight inside the moving cylinder.

Spoiler: Elizabeth Bathory, Vampire

Show

Medium undead (shapechanger), Lawful Evil
Proficiency +5
Armor Class 17 (Natural Armor+2, Dex+4, Ring +1)
Hit Points 204
Speed 30 ft.
STR 18 (+4) DEX 18 (+4) CON 18 (+4) INT 17 (+3) WIS 15 (+2) CHA 18 (+4)
Saving Throws Str+5, Dex+10, Con+5, Int+4, Wis+8, Cha+10; advantage on saves vs. magic
Skills Perception +7, Stealth +9
Damage Resistance: Necrotic; Non-magical physical damage
Senses Darkvision 120 Ft., passive Perception 17
Shapechanger: Elizabeth can transform into a swarm of bats or back as a Legendary or Bonus action.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the vampire fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Regeneration. The vampire regains 20 hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point and isn't in sunlight or running water. If the vampire takes radiant damage or damage from holy water, this trait doesn't function at the start of the vampire's next turn.
Spider Climb. The vampire can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Actions
Multiattack (Vampire Form Only). The vampire makes two attacks, only one of which can be a bite attack.
Unarmed Strike (Vampire Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: (1d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. Instead of dealing damage, the vampire can grapple the target (escape DC 18, opposed by target’s athletics or acrobatics)
Bite (Bat or Vampire Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one willing creature, or a creature that is grappled by the vampire, incapacitated, or restrained. Hit: (1d6 + 4) piercing damage plus (3d6) necrotic damage.
The target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and the vampire regains hit points equal to that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0. A humanoid slain in this way and then buried in the ground rises the following night as a vampire spawn under the vampire's control
Charm. The vampire targets one humanoid it can see within 30 ft. of it. If the target can see the vampire, the target must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw against this magic or be charmed by the vampire. The charmed target regards the vampire as a trusted friend to be heeded and protected. Although the target isn't under the vampire's control, it takes the vampire's requests or actions in the most favorable way it can, and it is a willing target for the vampire's bite attack. Each time the vampire or the vampire's companions do anything harmful to the target, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success. Otherwise, the effect lasts 24 hours or until the vampire is destroyed, is on a different plane of existence than the target, or takes a bonus action to end the effect. This takes an action, so would prevent attack/multiattacking.

Children of the Night (1/Day). The vampire magically calls 2d4 swarms of bats or rats, provided that the sun isn't up. While outdoors, the vampire can call 3d6 wolves instead. The called creatures arrive in 1d4 rounds, acting as allies of the vampire and obeying its spoken commands. The beasts remain for 1 hour, until the vampire dies, or until the vampire dismisses them as a bonus action.

Legendary Actions
Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Vampire regains spent legendary actions at the start of their turn.
• Move.The vampire moves up to its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
• Unarmed Strike.The vampire makes one unarmed strike.
• Bite (Costs 2 Actions).The vampire makes one bite attack.
• Transforms into a swarm of bats (AC 15)

Loot:
Ring of Protection +1 (A ring made of mithril, carved to resemble a shield where you’d otherwise see a gem)
Mantle of Spell Resistance (Dark blue cloak with grey edges)

 
As they get most of the way towards the top, a beautiful woman in a red silk dress and dark blue cloak leaps down from the top exit, landing gracefully in front of the group. For all that her skin is glowing and flushed with a healthy tinge of blood, you feel like she’s eyeing you more like walking slabs of meat. She speaks with an aristocratic accent.

Note: Each space between sentences represents an attempted charm and order.
I pre-rolled opposed Perception, Charm, and Wis saves. Charm Wis DC 17.
1 Ratel: Save failed, not detected.
2 Dmitri: Save failed, Reybella notices
3 Corwyn? Fail; Reybella notices

“So, this is what they’ve sent to replace the Belmont clan? You don’t look so strong to me. You should keep your spellcasters from doing anything that would upset me.”
(first charm)
Pause for response

“Am I not beautiful? I am too young and beautiful for ones such as you to look on. Close your eyes and listen only to my voice.”
(2nd charm)
Pause for response... pass out notes to the two charmees and the one who spotted it. I expect everything to hit the fan at this point.

"I swear, my dear uncle has almost been disappointed that nobody’s distracting him from conquering all of Europe.” She clicks her tongue. “As if the castle environs aren’t enough amusement. Go jump up and down on some of those cracked blocks and you’ll see.”
(3rd charm, if she get the chance)

"He is a stickler for tradition, spending his time locked up in the tower moving his armies like chess pieces. I prefer more personal amusements. Come closer to me.”

(4th charm, if she gets the chance, at a caster type)
Opens with Charm, play as hit-and-run vampire using Spider Climb and biting.

Charm prioritization:
-Not elf or half elf due to Advantage vs Charm, so (Dmitri, Ratel, or Corwyn)
1) Ratel is heaviest armored and thus most annoying to bite; first choice.
2) Dmitri is likely in front
3) Corwyn if in range; if not, Reybella as Cleric
During combat, if Charming, choose whoever is the biggest threat (likely Dmitri, Reybella, or Adrian sorc).

Note:
2d4 swarms of bats will fly in after 2 rounds of combat.

Tactics (partly copied from The Monsters Know):
Vampires target those PCs first who are ill-equipped to resist its grapple attack.
• During its Multiattack (action), a vampire first uses claws with intent to grapple. If it successfully grapples, they it bites; on subsequent rounds, it keeps biting the grappled foe (once per turn). If it fails to grapple, it resorts to claws with intent to damage if the opponent is proficient in Athletics or Acrobatics but keeps trying to grapple if he or she is not.
• If preemptively attacked, the vampire uses its Unarmed Strike legendary action to strike back at the first two melee attackers who engage it but then uses its Move legendary action to back away if engaged by a third.
• If grappling a victim, the vampire uses its Bite legendary action to drain it faster, then, if necessary, uses its third legendary action to Unarmed Strike any other PC attacking it.
• A vampire uses Legendary Resistance to reroll any failed saving throw.
• A vampire will try to avoid a PC who strikes it with radiant damage or holy water, but if it can’t, it will prioritize grappling and draining that PC over attacking other PCs.
• Elizabeth will transform into a swarm of bats and attempt to flee when reduced to 40hp.  

After all that....

At the top of the tower, it narrows slightly, and the group can step up and have gravity change to be level on the tower. They find 9 skeletons operating ballista facing outwards… the skeletons will engage once someone emerges to the top. One of the skeletons has Bracers of Archery, and thus gains +2 to damage with its ballista roll.
If the party has taken a long rest after Elizabeth, two bone golems will be guarding the bridge and will join the fight.

Ballista recap:
It takes three rounds worth of actions to operate: Load, Aim, Fire. Aim is limited to a 45* traverse per round. If all 3 skeletons are still up, then they can load, traverse, and fire once per round.
Ballista: AC 15, HP 50, immune to poison & psychic.
Ranged attack +6 to hit, 3d10 piercing damage;

Two swarms of bats will harass them as they cross the bridge.

Then direct route into golem factory (two level, top level is easier path, bottom level has golem enemies). The top level is a 10’ wide observation catwalk, and is accessible by a ladder right near the entrance. No safety rails!

The bottom area features a large bone pit in the floor, where bones are brought from outside (conquests) and dumped in. A small squad of skeletons carries the bones and dumps them into a great tube-like device, which has several lightning elementals (see below) attached to the top. The elementals will detach and attack if the tube is attacked, but will not engage otherwise.

Complete parts for bone golems slowly drop out of the far end of the tube into a shallow parts pit. Skeletons then get parts from the parts pit and move them to an “assembly area,” which is hazy with necromantic energy (2d6 necrotic damage to living things every time they start a turn there). The pieces are slowly pulled together and assembled by the magic of the area into bone golems, which then move forward to a staging area where they stand, waiting, with their default orders on. They will act if attacked, but will not actively seek out.

Exiting leads to a large chamber where a stone golem awaits. That’s the boss monster for the level. The stone golem’s eyes will glow orange as it assesses the group, then flash blue as it says “Awaken!” – and the sapphires in the team’s packs will regrow into gargoyles.

Also, the medusa head in Adrian’s pack will animate.

Stone Golem: As per monster card.
• Loot: Clockwork Amulet, SGTE; 1/day can take 10 on an attack roll.
• Ioun stone of Fortitude (CON+2) (A).
• If Elizabeth escaped, Shield +1 from within its chest plate.

Gargoyles: As per monster card

 
Medusa Head
Tiny undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 24 (6d4 + 6)
Speed 0 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)
STR 1 (-5) DEX 17 (+3) CON 12 (+1) INT (-2) WIS (-2) CHA (-2)
Damage Resistances
Damage Immunities Poison, psychic, necrotic
Condition Immunities Charmed, Frightened, Paralyzed, Poisoned, Prone
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 12
Elusive: The Medusa head moves 5’ without provoking OAs every time an attack misses it.
Attack:
Snake Hair: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5’, single target. Hit: (1d4+1) piercing + (2d6) poison damage. Athletics or acrobatics check DC 11 or be pushed back 5’.

Bone Golem: (CR 5)
These golems are created out of the bones of various creatures. Standing about 8’ high, their arms end in long, curving blades made from the sharpened ribs of some large creature.
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 18, Int 3, Wis 11, Cha 1
AC 14
HP 135
Attack +7/+7 for 2d6+3

Immunities: Poison, Psychic; Charm, exhaustion, fear, paralysis, petrification
Resistance: Pierce & slash non-magical
Vulnerability: Magic bludgeoning
Passive Perception 10, DV 120’

Lightning Elemental (Lesser)
AC 15
HP 60
Str +1, dex+5, con+1, int -2, wis +0, cha -2
Immunities: Lightning, poison, grapple, fatigue, fear, prone, grapple, sleep, etc.
Resistances: Thunder; damage from non-magic weapons
Attack: Zap +5 for 2d6 damage, 30' range
Anyone striking with metallic weapon takes 1d6 damage

 
Exiting the Bone Golem factory, you cross the open grass of the castle glacis, a field sloping up towards the castle that serves as a final area with no cover. The group is attacked by a couple of flying harpies, which drop off gremlins.

Beyond the glacis, you see several clusters of old statues, apparently martial in nature. One area in particular draws your attention – off to the side, it appears to have an old stone altar with crucifix still mounted. (K: History 15, Trevor Belmont noted praying here before entering the castle to challenge Dracula two centuries ago). This is a safe resting area.

When the party approaches, six of the statues raise their swords. You hear a voice in your heads. “None who serve the master of this castle may approach. Prove yourself.” (holy symbols, radiant magic, etc. will work). If they fight, the statues are like gargoyles without flight, attacking at +6 for 1d8+2+1d6 radiant damage once per round.

Investigation DC20 reveals that someone has stashed a number of potions and holy waters under the altar.

Just past the altar you see a pair of statues worn beyond recognition. Each of them seems to have a thick red wax candle sitting in front of them – lit.
Inside is one a thin, flexible cord of some type of metal. One end has a small weight with a hole in it, and there appear to be several small clips that could be bent to fasten it around something. It’s about seven feet long and flexes freely. (Chain whip upgrade: Takes 5 minutes; upgrades whip to +1, base damage increases from 1d4 to 1d6).

The second candle contains a Returning Dagger +1 (functions immediately, ie can be used for extra attacks in a round)

The team passes the final statues, reaching a great ironwood drawbridge which lies across the deep ditch of an empty moat. A road runs downhill from it – an easy path – but your path is inside. Castlevania awaits.

[J-H]

At this point, the party is will be level 7, with access to 4th level spells.

Notable combat magical items collected:
Offensive
1 set of +2 ammo
1 +2 weapon
1 Sword of Vengeance (+1, cursed)
Warhammer of Warning
Circlet of Blasting
Bracers of Archery
Rod of the Pact Keeper +1
Defensive
Stone of Good Luck
1 Full Plate armor (may be two if party is plate-heavy)
Breastplate +1
Adamantine Scale Mail (immune to crits)
Maybe: Ring of Protection +1
Maybe: Mantle of Spell Resistance

I feel like this is perhaps a bit too light on loot, and lacks some of the flavorful utility items that can make things more interesting. However, I do feel like it's got something offensive for up to 6-7 players, and a defensive item for most. What do you think about the loot balance?

At this point, I see only 5 more stages, meaning we'd wrap at about level 12 (right after the Fighter gets 3rd attack): Ballroom, Library, Dungeon, Treasury, Final Tower. I cut part of the rotating tower (just a bunch of ascending platforms with spikes) and the "5th stage" is a really short trip to the castle door normally.

[J-H]

5/16/19 – 1st session
7 players! 3rd level start.

1 sorc, 1 arcane trickster, 1 Battlemaster fighter, 1 Life cleric, 1 Paladin, 1 Barbarian (of some sort that gets +radiant damage), 1 rogue/fighter.

Over half of the character sheets were made at the table, so we lost some time there. The party decided to bash through the front gate, and then split up to engage the two patrols of skeletons. They defeat the skeletons handily, although some take damage. The two roguish types mostly don’t participate, exploring the building nearby.

The group then splits into 3: The sorcerer and the rogue/fighter go check the next center building, while the other two groups check the buildings towards the edge. Both groups decide not to do anything with the buildings full of bats. The sorc & rogue check the inside of the building, even lighting it up, but fail to spot anything (a DC 15 perception check would have let them look through roof boards to spot the skeletons hiding motionless on top, but they didn’t get it). The 3 sneak-attacking ambusher skeletons jump them as they move towards the right group, doing substantial damage to the fighter/rogue (I think he dropped to 3 in this fight). They run towards the right group, which deals with the skeles. The left group runs to help, but is too far away. They start taking fire from the keep, and everyone abandons the search (missing the building with 2 healing potions and a giant spider).

The group moves up through the keep, easily splattering the two skeletons on the top floor. They pretty easily figure out that the half-skeleton impaled by a spear-sized arrow was put there by a ballista, and some good stealth rolls let them grab the loot from under it. They try to trick the skeletons into firing early, but fail, as the skeletons are ordered to wait for a good target (in their ADA role). The Paladin runs on up to make himself visible, and people stack up in the stairs or hide behind him. The ballista fires and misses by 2, and the skeletons are killed before they can fire again.

The group then checks the basement, where hilarity ensues as nobody can land a single attack roll against the swarm of venomous snakes for about 2 rounds aside from the battlemaster, who plays very conservatively and pours oil on them from the stairs (it gets lit, 10 total damage). The group then takes a long rest, getting to watch a dragon fly overhead, get shot at by ballista bolts, and then get forced down and way off to the side. There are some mutterings about maybe helping it, but I don’t plan for it to show up again…. But they now have evidence of why a strategic aerial assault is a bad idea!

We ran a bit low on time on the next part – I need to review # of encounters and compress a bit to fit everything into a night, as the game ran for 4.5 hrs and I want to keep it at 4. They ascend into the valley, taking the central route. The group splits into three AGAIN, and the ones who lag behind (cautious) get attacked by 4 vampire bats. The bats actually land some decent hits despite being stirges with 8hp each.

They twig on to the skeletal brontosaurus creature I described (no name given, just description). The fighter/rogue sneaks towards it, and makes a perception check to see 3 skeletal velociraptors stalking him. He runs back to the group, and the raptors are killed quickly. The group then decides that they have a one-in-one-hundred year shot at killing a gargantuan creature, so they take a quick break while I find a stat block for one. I use a brachiosaurus block I found online, but remove the natural armor and increase dex by 2 (AC still only 9). They kill it with the barbarian tanking damage…action economy is against it.

After this, they go and encounter the boss. I bump boss hp by 50% on the fly, and add a skeletal mage (with +50% Hp) and a regular skeleton. The Javelin of Lightning knocks the cleric to 0 and gets their attention! The skeleton mage goes down first, then the regular skeleton, then the horse, then the boss. Because I’m using the horse’s mobility, there’s a lot of running around chasing it and trying to reposition. The fighter/rogue likes to sneak, then use his whip at 10’ range to proc sneak attack. The Battlemaster (a halfling) uses a lot of time sneaking around on the open field and generally not being useful. The sorc pretty much just used chaos bolt, magic missile, and fire bolt.

At no time in the entire session did any of the monsters have to make a saving throw of any time. There was zero crowd control usage.

I skip the very last encounter (6 disembodied horse heads in the stables) and identify the loot for them.

Top lessons:
• I have a party that wants to smash down doors, kill big monsters, and ignore warnings. Plan accordingly.
• Big damage gets their attention. Spell/AOE damage is the only thing that reliably hits. Give multiattack out more freely.
• I need to prep spell descriptions for spellcasters instead of having to look them up.
• Instead of one large enemy, use 3 medium enemies, or have a “mate” or something around.
• I need to use some crowd control to help them learn to use it.

[RedMage125]

• I need to prep spell descriptions for spellcasters instead of having to look them up.

I don't ever feel need for them myself, but WotC makes Spell Cards with descriptions on them. I play at my FLGS with a lot of people who are into the game, but don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of spells like I do. They use the cards (having all their known or prepared spells laid out in front of them). It helps them a great deal.

If you don't want to spend the money, you could make your own by printing out the spell descriptions of the spells they use and putting them on index cards.

[J-H]

6/13/19 2nd session
First half of Forest of Monsters

I handwave the team cutting through the razorvine hedge because there’s no time crunch and they can Fire Bolt at will and have plenty of cutting implements. They deal with a horde (13) of zombies pretty easily, although Dmitri the Barbarian takes several hits thanks to his reckless fighting style. Tib the Paladin rolls several 1s and doesn’t do much damage. Adrian the Sorcerer spends his spell slots pretty freely. It takes most of the party 2 or 3 rounds to figure out that every time someone stands still, a zombie hand reaches out of the ground and prevents him or her from moving (AC 9, 4hp, or STR DC 10 to shake free). Some fun is had after the battle with zombie hands as back-scratchers, projectiles, etc.

The group approaches the cross-covered mausoleum with four gargoyle-like statues (yes, they are) on top. Two people plink at them once each, but neither attack hits, so they don’t do anything more. Adrian the Fighter/Rogue climbs up to the top and starts poking at one. He hears a noise behind him, but when he looks, nothing’s moving…but one of the other gargoyles is in a slightly different position than before. I guess most of the people at the table have seen Dr. Who (I haven’t) and associate this with the Weeping Angels. It worked well.

Dmitri the barbarian climbs up, and right as he reaches the top, Corwin the arcane trickster says “I open the door.” The gargoyles animate. The two in the back corners leap overhead and land next to Corwin, but don’t do much damage. He ducks inside. While most of the group deal with the other 3 gargoyles (slowly… Ratel the Battlemaster spends his time throwing daggers for 1d4+3 damage instead of using a melee weapon, while Adrian the sorcerer spends pretty much all of his spell slots), Adrian the Fighter/Rogue engages in a duel with the gargoyle he was next to. He decides to tackle it and push it off the mausoleum, and wins the strength check, then he keeps trading blows with it. Several times, he decides to punch it with his off hand attack (2 damage, reduced 1) instead of stabbing it…for reasons of cool.

The rest of the group ends up holding their attacks “Until he’s almost dead” while he continues to fight it. Once he’s dropped to 7hp, they step in and kill it. Corwin, meantime, has spent this time alone inside the mausoleum (a safe resting place). I then use the 3x5 card he dropped off while walking past me in the middle of the fight.

Stop investigating the room and set up a scene of being sacrificed. When party opens door, Minor Illusion of a demon standing over me. “You see a large red winged demon standing over the unmoving body of Corwin, his bloody hand holding Corwin’s heart. He looks up at you with red feral eyes and howls.

There were some pretty dumbfounded expressions from the party members, who had just finished blowing all their spell slots on the gargoyles. Dmitri rages and charges in, and then Corwin’s player says “I cancel the illusion and stand up cackling.” Dmitri: My hammer’s still swinging. “I stand up and move away while laughing.”

The group investigates, but doesn’t do anything with the big polished silver mirrors (they could have been turned into shields, and mirrors are helpful against Medusa...oh well). They do find some potions (climbing, healing x 2, holy water x2). So far nobody has used a single consumable the entire game. One of the characters started messing with one of the crosses mounted on the wall, but stopped when the Zealot Barbarian and the Paladin both pulled out their holy symbols (crosses, we are in ~14th century Europe). I rolled a d20 and got a 20, so when he woke up the next morning, he decided to check it again, and found that it was concealing a silver longsword. The barbarian’s character uses Rage-generated advantage to win an arm wrestling contest for the longsword, and gives Adrian the fighter/rogue the Javelin of Lightning instead.

They approach the edge of the graveyard, and a couple of people quickly twig on when I describe the bone pillars, a staple Castlevania foe. “You might want to get ready to duck.” The first one rolls poorly on initiative and doesn’t get to go, but the second one lights up Dmitri for 22 points of fire damage in a single round.

The group continues onwards, running into a bunch of spider webs high in the trees. They spot them from far away, and light the webs on fire. The spiders pretty much die (I don’t roll much for this- 12hp spiders falling 40’ from flaming webs just die), and the group ends up lighting several trees on fire.

This definitely qualified for one of my pre-determined triggers, so a few minutes later they see the werewolves approaching (at least one party member figured out that werewolves would be around). I had two shamans (cast as level 5 druid but with fewer slots) and 4 regular wolves, but with adjusted damage resistance vs. the MM.
Adrian the fighter-rogue sees them first and climbs a tree. He spends a couple of round sniping early in the battle before throwing the Javelin of Lightning at one, then jumping down onto it and trying to stab it. He’s marginally effective but definitely cinematic. The wolves bite Tib (the paladin) and Dmitri (the barbarian). Two wolves go down, and Tib is reduced to 0 by a combination of Heat Metal on his silver lance and some hits. Dmitri got hit by Hold Person but broke free, and then he got Slowed later. A couple of the party members also got Entangled. Despite all the crowd control, the team was winning, and so one of the shamans makes her speech, offering them a deal: She won’t activate the curse of werewolf transformation on the two people who are bit, if they agree to let the juvenile wolves hunt and harry them all the way to the snake-headed witch’s domain (I am not sure if anyone noticed that bit). After a bit of discussion, the group and wolves agree instead on them challenging the pack alpha (or the one who’s filling that role now) to a fair fight in exchange for being able to move on un-attacked.

That’s where we left off. I’m going to run a simulation with dice rolls to see if the Pack Lord has a chance of taking on 3 PCs at a time, or if he’ll just limit it to two enemies. The group will be going in with some resources expended (spell slots, smites, 2/3 barbarian rages gone, etc.).

I have updated the Forest Of Monsters stage description above with the modified descriptions and plans vs. what I posted a couple of months ago.
There was also talk about finding the crashed? dragon they saw last session. At some point I'll have to decide whether to include it, or just leave it as a mystery.

[J-H]

7/11/19: 3rd session
Forest of Monsters, Part II

We start off with the duel against the pack lord.

Spoiler: “Svalbard” Werewolf, Pack Lord CR 8 (equipped)[/spoiler

Show

Size Medium (but Powerful Build)
AC 18 (Breastplate + dex 2 + shield 2)
HP: 110
Speed 40’
STR 20 (+5) DEX 15 (+2) CON 18(+4) INT 13(+1) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 14 (+2)
Saves: Cha +5, Con +7
Skills: Perception +6, advantage on smell & hearing checks
Damage resistance: Non-magical weapons that aren’t silvered
Multiattack: 2 axe attacks + bite
Returning Greataxe +8/+8 to hit, 1d12+5 damage plus
Bite: +8 to hit, 1d8+5 damage; If claws hit, advantage on bite attack roll; curse or
Ranged Returning weapon +8 (disadvantage beyond 30’, max range 60’) for same damage. Functions 1/round
Powerful Build: Advantage when rolling against grappling, shoving, etc.; Able to wield a heavy weapon in one hand
Loot:
Returning Greataxe: functions as base weapon, but is magical; can be thrown and returns once per round. Also allows bearer to always know which way is north.
Breastplate of Fire Resistance.

I gave the party some time to figure out if they wanted to switch gear around or do anything else as they travel through the woods, and they did not (they later realized that they could have tried to sneak in a casting of Bless, or moved healing potions around). The paladin also blew half of his Lay on Hands topping up Dmitri instead of having the cleric spend a spell slot.

Deep voice, broad open stance. “I shall show these young ones what a true battle is like – not some capped-clawed spar!” You see a big werewolf, probably close to seven feet tall. His shoulders are broad and well-muscled, and his grey-tinged brown fur carries several white streaks marking old scars, including one that crosses his left eye, which seems to have a permanent squint. He carries a greataxe in one hand and a shield in the other, and is also wearing an orange-tinted breastplate. “If I triumph, you will see how to fight against greater numbers instead of as the hunters. If I fall, you will see how others may hunt you, and learn in turn that you might live and grow stronger.”

The rest of the party takes seats along one edge of the arena, while Tib (HOrc Paladin) and Dmitri (Dwarf Zealot Barbarian) enter the arena and introduce themselves. Svalbard’s initial axe throw catches them by surprise, as they’re just out of range after their first moves. He gets one more throw in before they close to melee. The combatants also figure out that the silver weapons they are using are “just” normal damage (weaker werewolves). Svalbard taunts them some and calls out instructional moments to the werewolf juveniles watching:

“Always prepare at least one surprise.”
“A true warrior uses not only his muscle, but his speed and his mind. Watch as they try to flank me, and as I in turn try to outmaneuver-them.”
“Find the weakest enemy; single him out and kill him first!”
“See, he moves to protect the weaker one and distract me. They fight not as individuals, but as part of a pack.”

There’s some moving around and attacks of opportunity on both sides. Tib’s weapon is a

Dmitri gets dropped to 0 despite his resistance. Tib moves in and heals him, and the damage mounts on both sides. Dmitri gets dropped again (having started the fight with only one Rage). Svalbard has 10 hit points left and plays cautious, moving back and throwing his axe. He drops Tib to -4, but then another player remembers that Tib is a Half Orc and can instead be dropped to just 1. Tib gets to go, then Svalbard goes again and would likely kill him with his 3-attack routine. I point out to the party that “If you’re going to cheat, now’s the time.” They don’t seem to figure out a way to do so, and Tib moves forwards to attack… he hits, and does exactly 11 damage, defeating Svalbard.

At the end of the combat, there is exactly 1 hit point left on the field between three combatants.

The group loots the body and moves away from the village to rest. The dice are kind and they are undisturbed. During discussion of “who gets the Breastplate of Fire Resistance,” we determine that:
-Tib is wearing full plate armor despite it not being in his starting gear, and his AC should have been two points lower.
-Tib had Great Weapon Master and could have re-rolled at least 3 “1 or 2” rolls with his 1d12 lance during the duel.
Oooops.
Fixed. Tib’s player doesn’t keep track of the details very well.

The group then moves on and fights a pair of Shambling Mounds. Corwyn (Arcane Trickster) gets critted in the first round and dropped to 0, but Ratel drags him away for safe healing. The mounds go down (I think I dropped their HP by 15 because it was getting boring). One of them drops a wand of Detect Magic.

The group then comes to a stream, but I have it mapped out so they get super cautious (except for Adrian the rogue, who washes his head in it). Anyway, they end up not fighting the Black Pudding.

A little ways further on, they fight a trio of leaf ambushers (stats above), who move around a lot during combat. Their damage and AC is anemic, so it’s a nice easy fight. After the Shamblers, I think everyone enjoys having something that takes bonus damage from fire and resists only piercing damage. They are at least sneaky, so they get to go first.

After that, they approach the lair of Crotalisa, the medusa. They do some history checks and figure some things out, and I probably should have planned for that in advance. It’s a big set of ruins with walls of varying heights. They advance very carefully, eyes down, and end up successfully finding and killing a swarm of snakes – a big change from session 1! I have some rattlesnake rattle sound effects pulled up on my phone, and cue them whenever the snakes move or when Crotalisa taunts them. Some of them think that it means there’s another big rattler somewhere out there….

Adrian the rogue splits off to one side and spots a very large snake (constrictor). He moves away from it, then Medusa climbs up the wall behind him and hits him with two arrows for near-maximum damage.

Off to one side, Ratel the halfling Battlemaster who’s super cautious ends up constricted by the snake and slowly works to kill it, while Corwyn the Arcane Trickster helps.

The remaining players move down a hallway towards the Medusa and Adrian the rogue, finding another swarm of snakes in the process. The cleric drops Bless on the barbarian, the paladin, and the sorcerer. Adrian the rogue runs away. Medusa moves in close to melee with Dmitri the barbarian, who hasn’t raged yet. Sword hit, sword hit, and snake bites deal over half his max HP in one round. He then critically hits her for 60 points of damage while looking. A few other people move up, I don’t remember the details, and then Dmitri fails his next CON save and is restrained. There’s some discussion that characters may indeed not survive.

Earlier, the sorcerer had used Prestidigitation or something to conjure up a small mirror that he was carrying around, facing out. Medusa saw it and was slowed, so she backed off some. Dmitri passes his 2nd save, but Tib the barbarian fails his first one after looking at her so he could attack/smite.

They end up killing Medusa, and then Tib fails his 2nd save and is turned to stone despite Bless. The other snakes are dealt with, and the one potion of Remove Curse is used to de-stone Tib.

Medusa is looted (Short sword +1 to rogue, Stone of Good Luck to barbarian, 2 scrolls of Sleep that I forgot about to the sorc, ring of swimming to I don’t remember who). Adrian the rogue cuts off Medusa’s head and wraps it in some cloth before putting it in his pack. I’m not sure what to do with that yet.

The group levels up!

Next time: The cave, and dealing with the tremendous level 5 power spike. Extra attacks, fireball, and bigger cantrip damage.

[J-H]

I updated the Stage 2 area with the wolf lord duel, and Stage 3 with my plans for the next two sessions.

[J-H]

The paladin and the fighter/rogue were out, so the party took on the caverns with only 5. It worked out well, as the caves are very close quarters. Most fights had Dmitri (the barbarian) in front, soaking and dealing the most damage, while the rest of the party stacked up behind him. He absorbed enough damage to kill the entire party at least once. He got dropped to 0 and had two failed death saves at one point, but wasn’t worried since the party cleric has Revivify. They fought basically every enemy on the map except the last two bone pillars near the waterfall.

The party went east and up pretty early, and figured out pretty quickly what was up with the two Stone Men. I eliminated the “resistant to non-magical damage” bit, and I’m glad I did. I didn’t have them use the “earth glide and drop stalactites for 2d6, dex save half” ability much, as the party has zero way to counter it.

Highlights:
The dwarf being ahead and finding the giant pile of gold in the Xorn lair. “I know it’s a trap of some kind, but I’m still going to do it”. He actually was smart, throwing a rock ahead and then picking up only one piece of gold. I had the xorn wait until everyone else was busy stuffing packs and Dmitri was checking the other path. Xorns hit super hard! At only 70hp, it went down quickly.

Other highlights:
Dmitri the dwarf (barb) climbing down first, and taking fire bolts from a couple of Bone Pillars. He dropped on down, even though the rest of the party was 35’ above him. The sorcerer started climbing down; the halfling rogue held his action to “attack when I’m in range”, waiting for the halfling fighter to tie a rope and lower him down at barely-safe speeds. The chimney was only 5’ wide, but the sorcerer made the Acrobatics check I called for (18) to not get knocked down as a halfling rogue went sailing down past him.

The bone pillars throw a lot of damage, 4x +3 2d10 firebolts each per round, but they have low AC, low HP, and take +50% damage from bludgeoning weapons. Also, the barbarian was wearing the breastplate of Fire Resistance from last session.

“You approach the next room and hear chirping and hooting sounds, kind of like the bats you fought earlier.” The sorcerer fireballed the room, killing the swarm and letting me introduce the next Stone Man as showing up pretty damaged.

The final fight of the night was the last two Death-piloted skeletons plus a bone pillar hidden in the corner. The barbarian charged in again, saw what he was up against, and requested that the sorcerer fireball the room with him in it. He made the save, then took only half damage thanks to fire resistance – so he took 6 damage while 3 enemies took 24 damage each. Danger close fire support!

[J-H]

Session 5: Stage 3, Part 2, Complete!

We permanently lost the player of the Paladin to RL commitments. The party now has:
1 dwarf zealot barbarian tank
1 halfling battlemaster
2 arcane tricksters, one of whom has two levels of fighter
1 life cleric
1 dragon sorcerer (fire)

Items and armor were reshuffled, and the halfling is now at AC 20 (full plate + shield). Partway through the session, we discovered that the Fighter/Arcane Trickster had never picked a Fighting Style. Ugh.

I skipped the last two bone pillars in the caverns as redundant, and the party began climbing up the waterfall after some concerns about the distance they’d fall. Due to the climbing involved, the barbarian carries the halfling fighter on his back (STR 18, he can do it). This is helpful, because they climb up onto a ledge and are faced with a bone pillar in front of them spitting fire, and a thornvine attacking them from behind.

The fighter/arcane trickster uses his agility to get right up in the bone pillar’s face, but ends up eating a “drop to 0” amount of fire damage in the process. Some vampire bats are attracted by the fight and fly down after a round or two of combat. The only serious damage was the rogue.
There may have been one more thornvine at the top, but I think I skipped it.

They then emerged into the sunken city in a giant lake. The barbarian, wearing his ring of swimming, checks the houses and finds that they are mostly empty, but appear “lived in.” Most of whatever was living there apparently got up and left en masse in an organized fashion not too terribly long ago (the fishmen are off sacking Venice). One of the arcane tricksters puts Dancing Lights underwater for visibility, and spots one of the fishmen closing in. The group is attacked by two spitters and 3 of the jumpers that move up to melee. They are dealt with pretty quickly, although everyone seems to hate the spitters since they have ranged attacks with a save and a possible blinding effect at short range.

I skip the second “random” encounter because I’m concerned about time, and it’s good that I did. They then explore the temple, and try to talk to the fishmen. I need to be prepared for them to try to talk to everyone!
They focus down the water elemental and close-range fishmen while the two spellcasters hit them with Shatter, Fear, Slow, etc. Everyone saves against Slow; two characters have to dash off for two rounds due to the Fear effect (note: this knocks them out for 4 rounds of time so it’s not too fun). The halfling Arcane Tricksters spends his time sneaking and trying to get into range, but does some damage and lands some good Chromatic Orb damage. A couple of players get knocked to 0, almost but not quite including the cleric.

Loot: Circlet of Blasting, 2 healing potions
Short rest on top of the temple.

At this point it’s close to 9pm. “I have work tomorrow and should go. How close are we to finishing and leveling?” “Ahh…two more fights.” “Screw it, I’ll stay!”

The rogues successfully sneak up to the outside of the palace tower and do recon. The rest of the party climbs up sneakily, except that the barbarian rolls poorly and gets spotted. The fishman boss slugs down a potion of Enlarge Person and gets bigger! The spellcaster with him is focused down in the first round (60hp) and doesn’t get to do anything at all. The big fishman doesn’t last much longer, and the skeletal hydra heads tied down on the 1st level end up pretty irrelevant and get picked off quickly without doing much. I was expecting the party to come in on the 1st level, where it would have been much more relevant…but they didn’t, and their plan worked!
Loot: +2 Trident; 1 healing potion.

Then they fought the 8-headed hydra. There was a lot of maneuvering in this battle, as the hydra tried to stay in range for its 30’ line poison breath. The sorcerer, who kept pelting it with annoying fire repeatedly, went down to 0 like 3 or 4 times. I ran with the rule that you have to kill all heads of the hydra for it to die, but that when it went to 0hp, it started attacking with disadvantage and its poison breath was weaker. The sorcerer was out of Fireballs and, aside from one Action Surging round from the Battlemaster, the barbarian was the main source of head-killing. In total, they did 649 points of damage to the hydra before the last head was seared shut!

(no loot, it’s just a monstrosity).
Level up to 6!

The only characters who haven’t gotten substantial loot so far are the Arcane Trickster 5 (he has some mundane stuff but hasn’t used it, and he’s gotten use from the +1 bolts) and the Life Cleric (she inherited the Adamantine Breastplate). I’m not sure what loot a cleric needs…it’s not like she needs to be “even better” at healing right now, and she rarely uses melee weapons or offensive spells.

[FilthyLucre]

Just play Curse of Strahd.

[J-H]

I'm going to ignore the rude guy right above this.

9/12/19: Stage 4A
Only 5 players. The Fighter/Arcane Trickster has to miss again. I think I have to assume he’ll be gone about half the time.

The party approaches the a large building after leaving the lake. They cautiously approach the double doors, after finding scratch marks and bone chips in the path. These scratch marks and bone chips are noted several times throughout the building, but they never really figure out what they are.

They hang a left, tripping a weak ambush of 6 skeleton ambushers, who are all dispatched with nearly no damage. Then they enter the skull room, figuring out quickly that something’s up. The Sorcerer uses his wand of Detect Magic, spotting one of the 4 skulls sitting in alcoves (along with a bunch of non-magical skulls). The barbarian, Dmitri, throws his axe at it, but misses (cover/disadvantage) since it’s in a small cubby and his axe is big. The skull goes blurry. Then four other skulls go blurry.

Puxiweil (paralysis skull) paralyzes Dmitri, and gets focused down first. The group generally focuses down the skulls one at a time once they can force a failed CON save and remove the blur. This works out okay for them, but all three of the other skulls do manage to get their big AOEs off (Lightning Bolt, Fireball, Lesser Cone of Cold), for 8d6, 8d6, and 6d6 respectively. I had intentionally planned to avoid a TPK by having the skulls only use one big AOE per round (using their energy rays otherwise, aside from one Hold Person). I forgot to have them use Shield, but oh well.
Somehow the group manages to not die, and I think only one person even drops to 0.

They then take a short rest, finding another healing potion and two vials of holy water, before checking out the rest of the building. The ghosts don’t last long, and they loot the loot I had rolled. I realized that the Scroll of Protection is enemy-specific and roll it… 84. Yep, they got a Scroll of Protection from undead, 5’ radius, lasts 5 minutes, Cha DC 15 or undead can’t go in. That’s pretty strong!

They enter the spinning tower (I finally remember music), and dispose of the “training” encounter of four skeletons before it even has a chance to do the once per round rotation.

But that’s okay, because there’s plenty of spinning while fighting Elizabeth Bathory! I pre-rolled the initial checks, and she charmed two people before being caught. They just let her talk without answering her, and I was not subtle about it… I walked around the table and dropped off notes to the charmed people (Dmitri the barbarian who does radiant damage “just close your eyes and listen to my voice”, and Ratel the halfling fighter “keep your casters from upsetting me”), and to the one who spotted her (Reybella the cleric). The cleric’s player needed some nudging to decide to do something… and so she finally said “I cast Fire bolt” and rolled a crit for about 35 damage. I was really surprised at how quiet the table was compared to the usual. O h well.

Elizabeth went after her and knocked her to 0 pretty fast, and charmed someone else somewhere in that timeframe. We had a moment where I had the party cleric at 0, 3 party members charmed, and the last one was a sorcerer who had no radiant damage available. He was trying to break the charm by doing things like Magic Missiling his party members (after having been knocked down by the charmed halfling who was “trying to keep him from doing something that would anger the vampire”. He probably should have cast Blink, but oh well. It’s also worth noting at this point that the half-elf (1) and elf (1) character players forgot about the advantage vs. charm, and so did I.

A couple of moments helped turn this around:
1) Said halfling fighter had gotten the spellcaster down, then looked around and said “Oh, look, our cleric is down. I’ll go stabilize her.” Elizabeth says “I didn’t say to do that” and he says “You didn’t say not to.” The next round he puts a healing potion into the cleric, and she ends up putting up Spirit Guardians, an AOE Radiant emanation to stay safe with.
2) The halfling Arcane Trickster (charmed) has tossed away his weapon, as instructed, and goes up to her and tries to pick her up. “So, is there a Mr. vampire somewhere?” (We found out earlier in the evening that this halfling, Corwyn, is aged 30 and on his third wife). Instead of biting him, she hits him (legendary action), then hits him twice more on her turn instead of biting him. He ends up getting a couple of sneak attacks in and annoying her.

It’s still very much “could be TPK” territory, but Elizabeth has taken less than 40 points of damage and is healing rapidly with a “snack” or two (freed someone from charm). She ends up going right over to the dwarven zealot barbarian (Dmitri) with legendary actions, right before his turn, and biting him. He takes some bad damage, but Dmitri’s eyes immediately go bloodshot with rage and he goes to town on her (a good turnaround for the player who had previously been forced to do nothing for multiple rounds!). Elizabeth is dead in about two rounds, after having transformed to a swarm of bats at low HP (legendary action) in preparation for flying out a window (legendary action planned). She takes a Guiding Bolt to the Bat Swarm for about 20 points of radiant damage.

The group is paranoid about her coming back to life, so they engage in several different tactics to try to prevent it, and they loot the body (Ring of Protection +1, Cloak of Spell Resistance). They continue up the rotating tower. Instead of having the rogue poke his head out the top, the barbarian does it, giving the ballista-operating skeletons time to turn the ballistas around. Our two arcane casters (AT & Sorc) both cast Minor Illusion, while the halfling fighter throws a blanket up out of the trapdoor to give some motion. I have two of the three ballista operation teams fall for it. The group rushes up, taking only a single ballista bolt to the raging barbarian (targeting randomly rolled) for moderate damage before clearing all 9 skeletons. The arcane trickster gets the bracers of archery (+2 damage), and they decide to bed down for a long rest after reloading two ballistas and pointing them across the bridge. The third ballista was damaged with the sorc decided to fireball it and its operators to shut them all down at once…

The rotating tower was okay, but a bit of a pain. I don’t think I’ll do anything quite like that again. It was hard to remember to rotate it each turn (should have put out an init card) and they all just ended up running downhill the whole time… okay, I guess it did keep it from being a static fight.

I got good feedback from several people about how the vampire fight went; apparently a couple of them are reluctant to even try running vampires because the Charm/fragility/lethality combo makes them hard to balance. They had fun with it. It was still super, super close to a TPK! I don’t mind killing one party member, but killing all of them would have been a bit much.

The Life Cleric is dishing out massive amounts of healing, and despite what the guides say, does make a big difference in keeping people alive in battle.

[J-H]

10/3/19

We got a late start today, and then one of our players (Dmitri the Barbarian) got a call from his wife asking him to come home because their (little) kids were having a rough night. He rode with someone else, so the game stops for that; and then when they get back, someone else has to go pick up a kid… so instead of the usual 4-4.5 hours, I’d say we had less than 3 hours of play time.

While long-resting after fighting the vampire, they hear scraping and scratching noises from the rotating tower. Four skeletons dragging big rope nets full of bones are coming up, and the group kills them all – using at least two spell slots and the barbarian’s very last rage, for 13hp skeletons that never even attack back.

Then, about the time the skeletons would have emerged onto the platform the party was on, the doors of the building across the bridge open and two big bone golems (the type from Baldur’s Gate II) walk out. The ballistas are used to do some damage, but the DR/magic keeps them from doing much. The golems are brought down, with our fighter briefly being knocked to 0 in the process. Our Arcane Trickster finally uses his Hat of Disguise (from session 1) to look like a skeleton. Bone golems have INT 3, so I run with it. The golem notices that it’s been sneak-attacked with a crossbow, but all it sees behind it is a short skeleton with its hands behind its back. Other skeletons are not enemies, so there’s nothing back there. Proceed forward, ignoring the damage.

The long rest is then completed, and the party moves into the bone golem factory.

They pretty quickly kill the skeletons that are shuttling parts around, and then split up. The barbarian and fighter get some big ballista shafts to feed into the intake area, the two casters start slowly chipping away at the runes in the golem assembly area, and the arcane trickster climbs up on the machine and attacks one of the balls of lightning. Everyone starts coming over and the lesser lightning elemental is dealt with pretty swiftly. The group kills the second one, and as they’re lining up on the third one, the door at the far end slams open, and Koronok the stone golem strides in. At this point, the barbarian and fighter are on top of the machine, and the other 3 party members are on the wood catwalk 30’ above the ground.

Koronok wakes up the gargoyle sapphires in their packs, and then spends the next couple of rounds doing a move->jump->grab routine to pull down large sections of the catwalk, dumping people onto the ground. The gargoyles serve as a nice distraction, and he lays out some good damage at +10 for 3d8+6, but nobody comes too close to dying. The party then loots the body (after I remind them), and kills the rest of the lightning elementals, before going back to the top of the tower for a short rest and to identify their loot.

I go ahead and tell them to level up before the next session, as the only thing left in this “area” is a non-combat encounter before entering the castle.

Our Fighter/Rogue multiclass player hasn’t shown up, so I think he’s gone. I am considering adding a 6th player, as a 5 player party seems a bit more stretched. Then again, maybe the party should feel stretched.

[J-H]

10/24/19

I gave the opportunity for everyone to revamp their characters. 2 of my players took it:
Our Halfling Battlemaster Fighter is now a Wood Elf Kensei Monk, with weapons of Trident (since he has a +2), Longsword, and Longbow.
Our Elven Life Cleric is now a Dwarven Life Cleric (effectively swapped STR to DEX).
The Sorcerer swapped out Twin for Maximize, but he may have been able to do that just as part of being a sorc.

Our Fighter/Rogue(AT) is back, and is now a Fighter 2/Arcane Trickster 5.

The group left the bone golem factory and headed across the eerie open fields towards the castle. They spotted the statues around the altar, and were initially puzzled with the whole “prove you don’t work for Dracula” thing. A religion check gave them a hint, and out came the signs of the cross and their holy symbols. It didn’t take long for them to figure out that the candles contained something, and similarly they worked out the whip upgrade (regular whip to 1d6, +1 whip). I don’t think the whip was actually used, but it could have been.

The group entered the castle (I’m skipping the description for brevity). They chose to investigate the cloak room, which was, yes, really the “Cloaker Room”. The cloakers did not last long, although they did manage to latch on to a couple of the characters for a bit. Our cleric got stabbed and punched repeatedly by the monk while wearing a Cloaker.

Investigation revealed an ancient invitation in poor condition. This was pocketed. They were very, very wary of the room full of mirrors, but eventually entered it. The mirror portal (to the library) occupied them for a bit before they gave up.
“I try to go into the portal.”
“Give me your character sheet.”
(whole table gets concerned)
“Nope, you can’t pass through.”

Our Fighter/Arcane Trickster uses Disguise Self to pretend to be Elizabeth Bathory, the vampire. There’s some dialogue with the really rather dumb Cyclops butler, who requires an invitation but thinks hers is too messed up to read. Our Arcane Trickster 7 has a Forgery background, and remedies this quickly. Even with the Cyclops rolling at advantage, the forgery is unbeatable (2d20b1-2 versus a 26). The group is given leave to enter the Ballroom area.

They thank the Cyclops and make a U-turn for the locked and barred door to the dungeon. The cleric has Dispel Magic prepared for the first time ever, and breaks the Arcane Lock on the dungeon door. They enter it, and the vampire-disguised player successfully bluffs his way past the unintelligent golems (2 flesh golems, 1 bone golem) at the bottom.

They proceed down the hall towards the central point checking doors. Some skeletons on the western wall, manacled there as decorations, rattle their bones and try ineffectually to reach the group. The party barbarian smashes them with his maul…. And yep, they’re hanging on the wall just outside the Minotaur bunkroom/rec room area.

A minotaur opens the door and sticks his head out.
Minotaur: “Oi, what’s all that racket about”
Disguised-As-Vampiress: “Oh, that was just one of the people following me” (or something) “I’m here to feed from one of the prisoners.”
Minotaur: “Well, you’ll have to clear that with Adam”
DAV: “Who’s Adam?”
Minotaur: Eyes widen. “Schiess!” He shuts the door and the group hears yelling.

Adam is the Frankenstein’s Monster/boss running the dungeon.

Cue a battle where the party ends up lined up against 5 stock minotaurs, a minotaur sorcerer who opens with Lightning Bolt, and the 3 golems plus two bone pillars. Despite two fireballs doing a ton of damage to the mino’s, I’m getting worried about a TPK.
Cleric: “How thick is this wall?”
Me: “Why are you asking?”
Cleric: “Stone Shape will work if it’s 5’ thick or less. I want to make a door.”
Me: “The wall is 5’ thick, you can do it.”

The party cleric uses her only 4th level spell slot to Stone Shape a hole into the minotaur rec room. Several of the party members duck into there, using it to hide from the golems as the minotaurs are finished off.

The minotaur sorcerer should have used Dancing Lights to alert the other minotaurs, but I genuinely had him “not worried” since there were so many of them and the golems were there to help. By the time it became apparent that the golems were too slow in arriving, and the minotaurs were falling too fast, he had lost his chance.

The Fighter/Arcane Trickster heads up the stairs from the minotaur rec room, arriving in the Ballroom kitchen. He investigates the two doors from there, quickly closing the door before being spotted by the Spectres in the blue room. The other door? He unlocks it, sees what an Arcana check identifies as Hero’s Feast, and then leaves.

The group decides that it’s too risky, Hero’s Feast is a high level spell, and that they’d rather lock themselves in the (small) minotaur armory for an hour for a short rest.

The Arcane Trickster 7 player returns to the table at this time, and says “Well, I’m going to sneak up there anyway.” So he gets to start next session with the benefits of Hero’s Feast.

I’m not sure if they will continue to do the dungeon next, or if they will try to explore the ballroom area from the kitchens on. If they leave the dungeon for any length of time, the minotaurs will definitely find the dead “off duty” guard shift and will take measures including tripwires, caltrops, ball bearings, etc. I may have some minotaurs go hunting for them….

If they stay, I sort of have the question about why the central guard post didn’t hear the fight. I have some ideas on that front, including simply the portcullis being shut (in which case they will need to bash through it).

The only loot this time was the dungeon key and the returning dagger+1 & whip upgrade from the area outside, but no worries.

There were also only two battles the entire session – the cloakers and the minotaurs. Lots of talking, a couple of non-combat encounters, forgery, lockpicking, trying to figure out how to get a portal to work, etc. It was fun and productive.

[Mectain]

I just want to say that I can't wait for your next session and that if you're ok with it I plan on stealing this for my group. We are a group of gamers and I think they would appreciate this.

[J-H]

Go for it :) Glad you are enjoying it.

I have the next 3 areas (Ballroom, Library, and Dungeon) completely done, but I'm waiting to post them until I've run them
a) in case I need to change something up
b) in case someone in the group goes looking things up and finds this

The idea of eventually cleaning this up and posting in on the DM's Guild to maybe make a few dollars from it has occurred, but I'm sure I'd have to change a lot of stuff for copyright reasons, since most of the names are explicitly from Castlevania.

[J-H]

11/14/19
Everyone was there! The team departed the dungeons (which will now be well-prepared behind them), and explored partway through the ballroom maze. They fought some skeletons, some flying swords, some specters, and a Death-possessed wizard skeleton that opened with Circle of Death while under the effects of Greater Invisibility. They overcame the invisibility by spraying oil in a 10’ radius AOE (including 2 players) and then lighting it all on fire. The skeleton’s 2nd spell was Black Tentacles, and after that, its 105hp were gone and it was dead.

At the end of the session the barbarian’s player mentioned that he had been at 8 hp when Circle of Death went off. He thought it was “save for none” instead of “save for half”. Oops.

There was some good fun trying to piece together how this maze is laid out and how all the rooms link together. I think they’ve covered about 1/3 to ½ of the rooms.

They investigated most of the rooms, but did not follow up on the aura of magic in the blood fountain (Mace of Disruption in the top) or investigate that room (secret passage to dungeon). Oh well!

Highlights include dice poker (yahtzee) to see who got the spider climbing armor and who got the ring of sneakiness, and a debate over what to do with a well-crafted 10x10 3D map table of Europe. The barbarian (Russian Orthodox) smashed the location of the Vatican on the map anyway.

The session ended with a long rest as the party returned to the Hero’s Feast room from a different direction. Most of them are actually running short on Attunement slots.

[Honk]

🍺🥳👍
Only skipped through to avoid spoilers, sounds pretty awesome!!!
Send the link to my DM, when my fallen Aasimar Conquest Paladin needs new enemies to crush

[cullynthedwarf]

Can I request session updates from you I'm curious how your players will respond to this as well as what they are playing.

I'm assuming by your tag line that it will be relatively low magic?

[J-H]

Session updates are in-thread, through the last session. We meet once every 3 weeks.

I looked online for "how much treasure at X level" threads and found a couple at Enworld. I've been using those as a guide for my rolls for treasure, plus adding a few homebrew items in. I'd say it's slightly more high-magic than usual as a result, by maybe 10-15%.

The party is also "efficient" at distributing items, ie the Barbarian (tank/DPS) had 3 attuned items before hitting level 6, while the cleric had 0, because nobody wanted the barbarian going down. However, the Barbarian still has a magic but +0 greataxe while the rogues are wielding +1s and the (now monk) has a +2 weapon (randomly rolled as loot picked up while they were 4th level!).

The group has also "missed" some loot that was built in, so it may even out to more exactly what the DMG suggests. Overlooking a Mace of Disruption is definitely a power hit in an undead-heavy campaign. I'm not going to tell them that they missed it, though.