D&D 5E Playtest Campaign: Second Session TPK

After running a number of one-shots with the new D&D Next playtest, I wanted to see how the rules held up over the course of a proper campaign. With the release of advancement up to 10th level, coupled with reasonable xp progression, encounter building guidelines, and loot tables, the tools were all there to put a full-fledged campaign on the table. And so I dusted off an idea I'd been kicking around ever since I read this excellent story hour.


A Town Called Fortune

Twenty years ago, an adventurer named Brom discovered an elaborate dungeon complex carved into a mountain, filled with elaborate traps, fabulous treasure, and all the foul denizens who made the place their home. Brom made several forays into the dungeon, but ultimately fell prey to its peril. But not before others heard of the riches he'd pulled from that foul place.

A gold rush began. Adventurers of every stripe flocked to the dungeon, but they found that natural forces had blocked the cavern's entrance; a rushing underground river now flowed through the chamber that had been the entrance. One of the first true authorities to arrive was the Church of Tiamat herself; ever diligent in their pursuit of wealth, the Church seized control of the area and built a town. They called it Fortune, and the Exarch ruled over it. She commanded her magi to make open the way once a week by magically stopping the river, that adventurers could enter and seek their riches.

Now, the town of Fortune is abuzz with activity. Once every week, the forces of Tiamat hold Parade Day, where they march to the dungeon's entry with all the adventurers brave or foolish enough to enter. The whole town caters to the adventurers; the notary signs people up in advance for funerals (if you don't have one purchased, your body defaults to the Church of Tiamat after death for 'questioning'). The Mourning Girls offer their services, both to mourn at your funeral and as whores. Coffin shops are common, as are armories, weaponsmiths, and mercenary companies.

Those who have braved the dungeon and returned with noteworthy treasure are awarded an enchanted iron bracelet by the Church. Thus adventurers of great experience may wear a number of such bracelets, and command the respect of those in town. They may also draw the eyes of the noble Patrons, most of whom are masked, who may choose to sponsor adventurers on certain tasks. Furthermore, the higher-ups in the Church of Tiamat are always watchful for those who may become strong enough to become a threat. Better they die in the dungeon than cause problems later.


The Original Party

They numbered four, initially. Here is a quick rundown of the PCs:

Brolf, Male Human Fighter - Endurance Specialist, Thug Background - A big, dumb, extra-burly warrior. Did I mention dumb? Not very observant either. Typically rolled a d4 for listen checks.

Handmaiden Valanthe Siannodel, Female Elven Cleric of Pelor - Healer Specialty, Sage Background - A zealous cleric seeking to burn the scourge of undeath wherever she can find it. Also zealous in recording her findings on undeath in a big book.

Estoriel Trelayen, Female Elven Wizard (Academic) - Arcanist Specialty, Thug Background - An ambitious young scion of the Trelayen crime family (elven mafia who control a human town). She's seeking power and resources to take over the family business. By force.

Mink of the House of Mork and Mindy, Male Dwarven Monk - Endurance Specialist, Bounty Hunter Background - A monk. Not a lot of character to this one (as the name might suggest). He was mostly quiet.


The First Delve

The four PCs had all been hired on to guard a wagon with a huge cask of ale bound for the town of Fortune. Over the course of the two day trip to the town, they discovered they shared a common interest in seeing what the dungeon had to offer, so they decided they'd best join forces and venture down. There was a fair bit of drinking and partying once they arrived in Fortune, where they spent a couple days lingering in town.

After learning the fate of those who didn't have a funeral, all but Mink decided to put ten gold down with the notary so their remains wouldn't be disturbed by the Church of Tiamat. They also hired on a mercenary, an elven rogue named Palisa, who agreed to accompany them for thirty gold pieces. Prepared for their venture, they joined the procession on Parade Day, and made their way out to the dungeon.

They ventured inside, avoided several traps, then found their way down to the first level of the dungeon proper. They travelled south, and found the lair of the kobolds. In short order, Brolf fell into a thirty foot pit and nearly died. They climbed back out, Valanthe offered up some of Pelor's healing, and they carried on. They found an underground lake, with some fire beetles lurking on the shore. Though the beetles were not aggressive, Brolf was not to be denied the chance to smash things with his maul, so he attacked. Two of the beetles had the chance to sink their mandibles into poor Brolf, critting once and dealing eight damage in total. But Brolf and his friends prevailed, slaughtering the beetles.

Under the hood: The beetles totalled 40 xp, which is an easy encounter for the party. Only some dice luck on my part made it anywhere near threatening, and the outcome was never in doubt.

The warrior was patched up once again, and the party proceeded into the water. They began to swim when they heard something moving through the water towards them. Rapidly, they made an attempt to cut back to the beach, but only the wizard Estoriel and Mink managed to reach the shore! Palisa and Valanthe were near the shore, but Brolf was still well out and moving slowly, thanks to his heavy armor.

Under the hood: A pair of giant snakes are worth 200 xp, which is a challenging encounter for a group of five 1st level PCs. This was meant to be a challenging encounter.

One of the snakes attacked and coiled around Brolf, dealing a substantial amount of damage! The poor warrior's AC of 16 was doing nothing for him. The PCs struck back, but Mink's lack of any ranged weaponry and Estoriel's lack of a 0th level offensive spell were proving to be serious deficiencies. Valanthe managed to reach the shore, where she used lance of faith to great effect, but the second snake attacked Palisa and bit her in half and pulled her into the water.

Brolf managed to land the killing blow on his snake. Wounded, and desperate to get out of the water, he drew an opportunity attack from the second snake, who handily hit and dropped Brolf to -10 (not enough to kill him). Mink used his rope to lasso the warrior, but he couldn't pull him from the snake's clutches. The others managed to harm the snake, but not before it made another attack, this time lunging for the cleric, Valanthe! Her AC of 17 protected her, however, and the snake was slain.

Brolf was healed with a potion, and with Estoriel out of spells, it looked like it was time to rest.

End of Session One.

For session two, the fifth member of our group was able to make it. He rolled up a character, and I placed him as the surviving member of a group of adventurers who hadn't fared so well.

Rosco Tealeaf the Impostor, Male Halfling Rogue - Ambush Specialist, Guild Thief Background - A friendly halfling. The Impostor title was added later.


The Delve Continues

Battered and bloodied, but still alive, our heroes decided to hole up in an abandoned room. But before they could get there, they heard footsteps approaching. Lo and behold, they made the acquaintance of Rosco Tealeaf! The halfling told them he'd heard something coming their way.

The PCs accepted the halfling into their little company (after all, with Palisa dead, they had need of a rogue), and they set about preparing for combat. Sure enough, a pair of troglodytes, their giant spider pet, and a captive goblin attacked! The battle was ferocious (especially with Estoriel at a loss for spells), but the PCs managed to win without serious injury. They killed both troglodytes, and the spider, but the goblin slave surrendered, and was set free.

Under the hood: This was one of my random encounters, valued at 150 xp. By the book, it should be somewhere between an average challenge and a tough challenge, and it lived up to that in play.

One of the conceits of this dungeon is the random encounters; I'm rolling frequently, and I have a list of encounters ranging from 100 xp to 550 xp, with the frequency heavily tilted towards lower level encounters (though that changes on lower levels). My players have been informed that not every fight will be winnable, and that the dungeon will not play fair.

Following the battle, the party set about holing up for the night. Everyone gathered in the abandoned room. They lit a cook fire and began roasting the snakes they'd killed. Mink, meanwhile, decided he'd go exploring. He climbed up a shaft in the ceiling and explored some cramped tunnels, eventually coming across the kobold's main lair. But on his way back, he heard the sound of more foosteps approaching; what sounded like dogs, and some heavy paws.

Unfortunately, Mink was cornered, and the pair of dogs turned out to be hell hounds, in the service of a rather unsavory gnoll named Obrist the Ravenous. The party heard the hounds growling, and decided to emerge from their room to do battle in the hallway. Mink was holding off some gnolls as they tried to climb up to get him, but the rest of the party fared very poorly. They charged out, then everyone but Brolf and Rosco were felled by the hell hound's breath weapon. Then the other hound bit Brolf, dragging him down too. Only Rosco was left alive, and he made an ill-fated dash past the hounds only to be brought down by the opportunity attacks. Mink fought in the tunnel, dispatching the two normal gnolls, but Obrist, his hounds, and his carnivorous monkey were still lingering below. With no other option in sight, Mink tried to use step of the wind to outrun the hounds, but some poor rolls saw him caught and brought down.

Under the hood: Unfortunately for my PCs, I decided the smell of roasting meat would call for a random encounter roll, and it came up positive. And then I rolled a 98%, just within the 5% chance for the toughest encounter on my list. 550 xp: Gnoll leader, 2 gnolls, 2 hell hounds, and a carnivorous monkey. This would be well beyond a challenging encounter for a first level party, and it worked out exactly as expected: TPK.

On one hand, I felt like a dick throwing an encounter like that at my PCs, especially worn down by the day's encounters. But on the other hand, one of the central themes of the campaign is the deadliness of the dungeon. The very idea that the dungeon isn't fair, that not all fights are winnable, that I'm not going to pull punches simply because the chips are down. In this place, the heroes make their own luck, and sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.

Besides, maybe it's better to get a TPK out of the way early, to knock the complacency out of my players.

We set about creating new characters. Everyone decided to play the same class, though stats were re-rolled and some backgrounds / specialties were changed up.


The Second Party

Brelf, Male Human Fighter - Endurance Specialist, Guide Background - Brolf's older, wiser brother. Brelf is everything Brolf ought to have been but wasn't. Where Brolf was just big, Brelf is actually in shape. He is looking for his brother, and he fears the worst.

Handmaiden Meriele, Female Elven Cleric of Pelor - Healer Specialty, Sage Background - A very proper, feminine cleric who is looking into Valanthe's disappearance. She is intending to write a detailed treatise on undead creatures. Nowhere near as zealous as Valanthe was.

Estel Farwatch, Female Elven Wizard (Academic) - Arcanist Specialty, Spy Background - She's the assassin hired by House Trelayin to kill Estoriel, and bring back proof that the deed is done.

Mork of the House of Mink and Mindy, Male Dwarven Monk - Endurance Specialist, Bounty Hunter Background - Another monk. Not a lot of character to this one either.

Rosco Tealeaf, Male Halfling Rogue - Ambush Specialist, Guild Thief Background - The real Rosco Tealeaf, wondering who's been impersonating him these last couple of days? Turns out the last one was an impostor!


The Second Delve

The newly-formed party met in the Hall of the Lost, where friends and relatives of missing adventurers come to share information and hold out hope for their loved ones. They decided to join forces (conveniently). A mercenary named Drekkis offered his services for thirty gold, which they accepted, and the six of them made their way into the dungeon on the following Parade Day.

They navigated the traps at the entry with little trouble, and found their way down into the dungeon proper. They wound up in the same area as before, and discovered quickly the evidence of their previous characters' rather gruesome demises. Chewed bones and the remnants of some gear, all except Mink (who died running, and this died elsewhere). They decided to take out their anger on the kobolds, and using the secret shaft in the roof, they came upon the kobold lair from behind.

Under the hood: Fifteen kobolds is worth 150 xp, which ought to be somewhere between average and tough. It was firmly in the easy camp. But I wasn't too surprised at the outcome.

They quickly butchered the fifteen kobold warriors in the main hall, though during the battle, an escapee notified the chief of the attack. He began to setup a defense in the halls, using the trapped section to his advantage.

The PCs emerged, but they detected the traps, and while the rogue tried to disarm them, one of the kobolds blasted at him with a wand of magic missile. Not being a wizard, he needed to make an attack roll (which he missed). Rosco wisely decided to take cover. The PCs also discovered a secret passage that let them bypass some of the traps, however, so using that, they attacked.

There was a pitched battle: the chief (an improved dragonshield) and his hobgoblin ally fought alongside a kobold trapmaster and two dragonshields. The hobgoblin was taken down with a single radiant lance crit, while a crit from Brelf took down the trapmaster. Brelf then crit the chief to wrap up the fight and claim the spoils.

Under the hood: Two encounters ran together here. The chief was worth 25 xp, the hobgoblin was worth 40. The trapmaster was worth 70 xp, and the dragonshields 20 each. So all put together, it was 175 xp worth of trouble, most of the way to a tough encounter. The battle played out accordingly; the PCs had the upper hand, but they took their lumps, including a savage blow that took the NPC warrior Drekkis well into the negatives. Meriele had to heal Brelf during the fight, as he had been taken down to 2 hit points. But only Drekkis actually went down.

Looting, and gathering together, they rigged the trapped corridor again and decided to camp in the middle of it, using it as the more defensible ground. They posted watches, and managed to avoid any further encounters through the night. With the dawn, they had enough xp to reach second level, and we called the session there.

Observations

Two sessions in, and I'm already noticing a few things about this latest playtest.

• The rogue doesn't feel as gimped as I was expecting. Instead, Rosco was consistently dealing sneak attack damage, hitting regularly, and was almost always effective. His skill bonuses came up a fair bit too.
• The encounter guidelines feel spot on. The xp values seem to be a good gauge of how difficult an encounter will be. They also mention that lower level monsters won't be so much of a threat as higher level ones, which was completely accurate in my findings, despite not a huge disparity in attack bonus.
• Economy is something I like. The amount of treasure feels pretty good, actually; silver is worth something, and a gem worth 10 gp is actually a reasonably big deal at 1st level. I would still love to see them switch to a silver standard as they were discussing, but I'm pretty pleased with how things are now.
• On the same note, equipment is pretty useful. After the TPK, the PCs were stocking up on caltrops, hunting traps, and all sorts of other useful things.
• Area of effect attacks are extremely deadly in this edition. The biggest damage dealers were the hell hounds with their breath, and the kobold trapmaster's fire bomb. Those attacks were dangerous!

Great write ups. I enjoyed reading them and seeing how your tough encounters really were tough. In our group, we felt the same way about the rogue. It plays better than it looks.

AoE abilities/spells are killer. We've also found that gang tactics (especially with monsters that have the mob tactics) are also quite deadly.

Keep on..keeping on. (I can't xp you...but I would if I could).

Neechen said:

We've also found that gang tactics (especially with monsters that have the mob tactics) are also quite deadly.

Click to expand...

I actually forgot to use mob tactics in the big kobold fight, although at the rate my players mowed them down, it wouldn't have made a big difference.

Thanks MortalPlague, that is some serious playtesting. Several PCs, a variety of fights. I love write ups that take us behind the scenes (or under the hood as you put it). Those and your observations are my fav parts.

Nice to see the Encounter building is feeling right.

We had a third session in the time the boards were down (posted below)

While the boards were down, I was cross-posting this on Wizards. Someone asked about the dungeon ecology, so in the interest of keeping the same information in this thread, I'm going to post it in here.

YouKnowTheOneGuy said:

Where do the monsters in the dungeon come from? I'm planning a similar type of mythical dungeon in my game, but I'm not sure how I want to handle that worldbuilding aspect.

Click to expand...

The ecology of the dungeon is probably the hardest thing I've been trying to figure out. On one hand, I want things to make sense in world; I want the characters to be able to use politics and make alliances, to play sides against each other. I want them to be able to destroy the monsters' food sources. I want the dungeon and its denizens to react to the characters in a believable way. On the other hand, I do want the dungeon to be a little bit 'gamey'. There are deathtraps with little real explanation. There are a whole bunch of bands of monsters living here with only the most tenuous of reasons to be there. So in the interests of explaining things, here's what I've got.


Where do all these monstrous humanoids come from?

The dungeon has one main entrance / exit, but it has many secret ones as well. The denizens of the dungeon have arrived mostly through those secret tunnels. Some such tunnels connect up with the Underdark, while others offer alternative exits to the surface world. Either way, the location of those exits would be valuable information for any PC.


What stops one faction from wiping the others out?

There are two main reasons for the fragile peace between factions. The first is physical separation: the dungeon is shaped like a cross, with each tribe occupying a section that opens into a large cavern 400 feet wide and long, and 50 feet tall. This cavern is full of relatively docile fire beetles (a ready source of food), who only attack if provoked. So the various lairs are separated, and each group has plenty of food available.

Secondly, there is a human camp called Refuge on the first level. It is ruled over by a mad swordsman who styles himself "King Hydra the Brilliant". He has a retinue of criminal followers, who share the space with a band of aloof elves, and a dwarven expedition. King Hydra is no gentleman; given the chance, he will enslave any hapless adventurers he can trick. Once taken, he sells them to the gnolls (who then have dinner), or to the orcs (who put them in the arena). The gnolls have a steady source of high quality food (adventurers taste better than beetles), and being lazy, they are content with their situation. The leader of the orcs, a lady named Rusalka keeps her bloodthirsty forces in line with regular pit fights (it's an outlet for their orcish aggression), ensuring that they don't destroy their own strength with a futile war against the gnolls.

So yeah... there are politics at play. I really can't wait to see how the PCs handle the situations.

Session Three: Heroic Rampage

We sat down at the table one short; Mink the monk's player was missing. But we decided to play anyway; we'd just have Mink hanging out at the back of the party, "fighting some additional bad guys". An easy way to handle his absence without having to run his character.

The first order of business was to clear out the rest of the kobold lair. The party had only two areas left to check; a large barred door in the middle of the kobold complex had some threatening noises from behind it, while the underground lake (which had the snakes in it) was still mostly unexplored. Dealing with the barred door first, they quickly discovered an ogre locked away, with a healthy pile of well-gnawed adventurer bones. The PCs had the jump on him, and destroyed the ogre before he had a turn. Some good, hefty damage rolls really helped take him down fast.

Under the hood: Not much to say about this one. The PCs were smart; they unbarred the door stealthily, then gained a surprise round. The ogre rolled low on initiative. So all four PCs plus their NPC got in an attack, then three more attacks occurred before the ogre would have a chance to fight. He's got a lot of HP, but not THAT much HP.

Some loot was had, including a dead wizard's spellbook. I'm using an old rule from earlier editions, where the wizard doesn't automatically get spells when she levels up. Instead, she has to find a wizard who knows the spell, or find it in a book. Making spells a treasure or quest item can make for some great adventuring.

The PCs poked around at the lake, finding a couple of treasures underwater, and they quickly dispatched a bunch of non-aggressive fire beetles. Feeling mighty good about themselves, they decided they would be best served to explore some of the other wings of the dungeon. They jammed a broken pillar into the kobold escape chute (which led to a lower level), and then made their way out into the central cave.

The cave offered an opportunity to meet the other adventuring party who had taken the delve, entering at the same time they did. Marissa Cairn, a lady warrior in blue was sitting at a fire, cooking some giant beetle with her two surviving men-at-arms. They told the PCs they'd attempted to raid a place called the Hall of Bells on the second floor, but the undead had slain two of theirs. Marissa provided the PCs with some information on the other wings, so the characters made some decisions. They decided to attempt the goblin caves first, then to explore Refuge.


The Goblins

The big defensive feature of the goblin caves is a twenty foot chasm. The far side offers cover for goblins; they post a sentry there, who alerts the others if anyone's coming. The walls are covered in thick foliage, which allows someone to climb along them. But Brelf didn't require it; with Rosco Tealeaf on his shoulders, he made a jump, and with his 18 strength, he covered 18 of 20 feet. He grabbed the far edge with his arms, and used his second action to pull himself up and take cover. Rosco slipped around the cover and spotted the goblin sentry, who he quickly shanked.

The sentry hadn't had a chance to sound the alarm.

The party then ambushed a goblin patrol, then ambushed a scout sent to check on the noise. Then they forayed deeper into the cavern complex.

There was a lot of activity from the goblins; moving feet, barked orders. But the goblins wanted no part of a fight. They asked to parley, and two of the PCs met with Rax, the bugbear who leads the goblins. The PCs noticed that many of the goblin warriors bore wounds from an earlier fight; the bugbear confirmed that a couple of adventurers had been through recently. He offered to pay them to leave them alone. They accepted his terms, and about 250 gp richer, left the goblins alone. Perhaps the most surprising part was that Mariele offered to heal the goblins. When Rax declined, suggesting it would look weak, she left him a healer's kit. The gesture actually moved Rax; in the future, the bugbear may be more of an ally than he would've been otherwise.


To Refuge!

Well, not quite. The party went into the wing of the dungeon that held Refuge, the bandit town. But they were sidetracked. The entrance to that wing passes through a library, which is entirely picked clean except for one book, sitting on a conspicuous pedestal. Correctly realizing it was trapped, they decided to investigate; the book was a very fine spellbook, after all. They determined that the pedestal itself was alive; it was, in fact, a gargoyle. Standing back, the PCs decided to attack. The casters managed to inflict some damage as it emerged, and then the warriors promptly dealt with it.

Under the hood: A gargoyle is a level 5 monster worth 320 xp. On its own, it should constitute a tough encounter for a 2nd level party of four (280 xp would be the usual budget). Accounting for Drekkis the NPC, the encounter should be really challenging. It began with a roll of initiative and a surprise round. I decided that the gargoyle would have DR of 10 while in stone form (particularly since its body was largely out of view, only its arms were visible). Two arrows struck it, but failed to do enough damage (since gargoyles are resistant to non-magical attacks). The two casters, however, readied actions to blast it when it revealed itself. When its initiative count came up, the gargoyle burst into view, and was blasted for 21 damage between the pair. Gargoyles only have 34 hit points. It made one attack on Brelf and missed it. Then all the PCs smashed it to dust.

They claimed the spellbook, and set about exploring the rest of the wing. There was a section that led off towards Refuge which they ignored, then a section which housed some undead. A wight made a lair here, with six zombies accompanying it. The undead commander issued a warning not to tresspass, and the party decided to destroy said undead monstrosity. And they did.

Under the hood: One Wight, Six Zombies is 420 xp. The encounter should have been a real challenge, but here's what happened instead. First, the mage won the initiative. She stepped forward and used ray of frost on the wight. She rolled a critical hit, and dealt 21 damage. Now at 6 hit points remaining, the wight had lower hit points than the zombies (who had 7). The cleric went next; she stepped forward and turned undead. She didn't roll enough to destroy any, but she had enough points to affect the undead. And since it affects undead based on hit points remaining, the wight was immediately forced to flee for a minute. Six zombies didn't stand much of a chance without their leader.

Examining the wight revealed that his armor would probably fetch a good price based on the amount of metal alone, so they decided to start removing it from him. Drawn by the sounds of battle, an ankheg began to burrow towards the party; the rogue heard it, so he ushered the party into the hallway, dragging the wight's corpse with them. Dragging the corpse wasn't helping matters any, and the brute burrowed up beneath the fighter. Brelf made his dexterity save, and was able to step back to safety. They battled the ankheg, who spit acid at the party, scoring the only real damage all day. Then they took the beast down, and cut it open to find a trove of swallowed gems.

Under the hood: The ankheg was one of my medium encounters on the random encounter chart, worth 210 xp. His breath weapon actually hit most of the party, and dealt the only damage most party members took all night. And since the DC on the save is 9, everyone made it, taking only 4 acid damage. The creature has an AC of 18, which every single attack managed to hit. It wasn't that the AC was poor, but my party's dice luck was incredible.

Satisfied with their victory, the adventurers decided to check out the other passage before venturing to Refuge. They explored a few tunnels with some portcullis traps, and found a puzzle door which required an INT check to pass by. They made that, and discovered an alchemist's laboratory, long abandoned, but with plenty of valuable tomes on science and the like. Also, they found some potions, and a the wire-connected skeleton of Hawthorne the Rat, the previous tenant's familiar. Hawthorne's story was carved all over his bones in arcane runes.

After some looting, the party found another room with some sarcophagi. Naturally, they decided to open one, and they found the bones of a dead tenant swimming in a gray ooze. The puddle attacked, and three monstrous centipedes emerged from a small crack to join the fight! The party made short work of them.

Under the hood: Gray Ooze is 150 xp, and I had 3 giant centipedes for a total of 180 xp. So this was meant to be an average fight. Surprisingly, it lasted the longest out of any of the fights, mostly because the PCs didn't want to hit the ooze with weapons (after the NPC got his greatsword damaged). Still, the magic was effective, and the warriors dealt with the centipedes with their usual efficiency. Ultimately, the ooze was slain on an opportunity attack, as it tried to get at the softer, magical targets. The fight may have reached the third round.

At this point, we wrapped up, with the PCs debating whether to return to town with their treasures (and earn some bracelets from the Church), or to investigate Refuge first. Either way, it should be an excellent session next Tuesday!


Observations

• When PCs go on a dice rolling hot streak... wow. It wasn't that my dice were cold, my monsters didn't get a chance to act. None of the fights lasted more than 3 rounds.
• D&D Next moves FAST. We got through 5 significant fights (the ogre, the goblins, the wight and zombies, the ankheg, the ooze), had plenty of exploration (they explored two wings of the dungeon), and had some roleplay encounters as well. All this in a four hour session. I nearly ran out of prepared material!

Treasure Aplenty


The characters made the decision to hold onto the books and wait out the six days in the dungeon. They figured that if they were going to haul back some treasure, they might as well make it a truly momentous haul! So in addition to the various gems and coins and potions they'd acquired, and the collection of books, they decided to take a pair of 500 pound marble statues.


The first order of business was to explore the last wing on the first level. Our heroes had destroyed the kobolds and plundered their section thoroughly. Then they had battled the goblins, reaching an understanding with Rax, their bugbear leader. Thirdly, they explored the side where the bandit town of Refuge was located, defeating all the undead who lurked in the halls nearby (though not actually visiting the town itself). The last, they had been told was empty; picked clean by previous adventuring groups. But Marissa Cairn, a fellow adventurer they'd crossed paths with earlier, had said she was headed there to see if anything had been missed.


In the interests of thoroughness, they set off to see what there was to see. The empty area was, indeed, empty. I hadn't even drawn a map for it, it was simply a collection of thoroughly-plundered lairs. All except for one section, towards the back; a gloomy pool in a cavern, with an island at the far side. And there, on the shore, looking terrified, was Marissa Cairn. Minus her pair of bodyguards.


They found out that her bodyguards had been eaten by some sort of monster in the lake, when they tried to cross and claim the treasure from the island. And, through some trial and error, they discovered that this thing was a blind creature with tentacles and one big mouth (think the Watcher in the Water from Lord of the Rings). Brelf, being a guide by background, decided that since they were spending six days here, he would attempt to condition the beast to fear attacking the surface. With the use of a hunting trap on a chain, he would bait the thing into setting off the trap, then haul it back up. If the tentacle was still caught, it would be hit by missile fire.


Since the party had holed up in a relatively safe area, the chance for encounters was low. Over the span of six days, there were two. The first encounter was at night on the third day, when a ghoul and a pack of skeletons happened to smell the tasty flesh. A relatively tough encounter, the two sides had a standoff at first. But as the skeletons advanced, the party sprang into action. The cleric went first, but unfortunately, her attempt to turn undead failed to yield any result (a really poor dice roll). The mage had better luck; Estel strode forward and blasted several skeletons back with thunderwave, dealing significant damage to three. Rosco's sling stone was tremendously effective, taking down another skeleton. At Brelf's direction, Drekkis, the NPC warrior stepped forward to chop down another skeleton with his greatsword. Unfortunately, that left Brelf without a target in reach, so he stepped up beside Drekkis, and stood shoulder to shoulder with the big warrior, ready to strike any skeleton that closed.


Sure enough, the skeletons closed. Brelf missed his attack, while the skeletons both failed to strike Brelf and Drekkis. The last skeletons were stuck behind the line of combat without a ranged weapon, as was the ghoul. The ghoul hissed and took cover behind a corner, while the last two skeletons waited to shuffle up.


The next round of attacks was more successful for the party. Handmaiden Mariele wielded Pelor's holy light with much greater success; she hit the ghoul with lance of faith, dealing 12 damage. That put the creature into bloodied territory. Then Estel acted, taking down a skeleton with a ray of frost. Rosco's sling did its work once more, and then Drekkis carved up another skeleton. That left one skeleton, and a badly wounded ghoul. Brelf stepped in and handily cut down the ghoul, and the skeleton was taken down by Marissa Cairn, the other NPC.


Under the hood: This was the second-toughest random encounter on my list, clocking in at 420 xp. 280 xp is supposed to be a tough encounter for a 2nd level party. The PCs had several advantages; they had the initiative, and they had a bottleneck. Being able to limit their incoming attacks was a big factor. Also, my skeletons didn't have bows, which their stat block entitles them to, so the xp perhaps ought to have been a little less, but I wanted to get them up to 3rd level, so I didn't nerf it. Furthermore, the ghoul was stuck at the back of the fight; I really should've given him superior cover from the corner, but I only granted him regular cover; every attack hit him. Still, the positioning was mostly to blame for the lack of challenge.


The PCs were 20 xp short of 3rd level, so I gave them each 25 for their training of the sea monster. They levelled at the end of their extended rest.


On the fourth night, during the first watch, there was another encounter with wandering monsters. A pair of orcs, on the hunt for adventurers to enslave, carrying three goblin gladiator-slaves with them, came wandering down the corridors. The orcs were laughing and joking and not being quiet in any way, so they were easily detected. Furthermore, the PCs were quiet in their preparations, and managed to surprise the orcs as they came around the corner.


We didn't even bother rolling out the combat. They took down the orcs, then took the goblin prisoners. One of the goblins spoke a little common, and he pleaded for their lives. There was a debate between Brelf, who wanted to kill them, and Handmaiden Mariele, who wanted mercy. Eventually, they agreed grudingly to let the goblins live, but they would bring them to the surface instead of turning them loose. Brelf did not want them to join with the other goblins, where they would then kill more hapless adventurers.


On the fifth day, the party began to move their treasure up to the dungeon entry. Parade Day was tomorrow, which meant the waters would be stopped, and they could march out in triumph. They piled the treasure on the beach, including their pair of marble statues, and they waited. During the night, a dwarf from Refuge exchanged some words from a distance, promising them work if they ever stopped by. Other than that, the evening passed without event. And then with the dawn, the river was stopped.


Our heroes met another band, made up of mercenaries, making their way inside. There was an exchange of boasting, but they were headed in opposite directions, so they took their leave. Commander Fang was surprised and impressed to see the party, and he offered some of his soldiers to help carry the statues (and offer gladly taken). With a great deal of wealth, they returned to town and earned their bracelets.


Drekkis took his leave, heading off to drink and woo some ladies with hiw new bracelet. Furthermore, Rosco Tealeaf, the halfling rogue, announced that he was through with this place. But he knew a guy who could step in to fill his shoes; an elf fighter with some thieving skill. And so, after splitting the treasure, he went off to happier paths.


The party spent a day or two in town. Some messages came in from friends of the characters (I had typed up letters for the other three, furthering some background details). Both Brelf and the new elf fighter (his name escapes me at the moment) purchased Displacer Beast Hide Armor, and borrowing a few gold pieces from Mariele, they masterworked their weapons. With a bracelet, they were also entitled to purchase the services of some more serious mercenaries at the Grey Company; Brelf investigated, seeing if any were worth their salt. Estel sold the statues to a sculptor.




Onwards and Upwards


With the bracelets came the notice of important parties. The characters were invited to a dinner with The Ivory Lady, a noble patron, who offered them a quest. Deep in the dungeon, in the haunted Hall of Bells, a mummy known as Queen Teera wore a priceless necklace, which the lady greatly desired. She sought adventurers who would accompany her in her mission to retrieve it. Offering two hundred gold to each party immediately, and five hundred upon a safe return, the offer was simply too good to pass up. Despite having to accept The Ivory Lady as the leader of the expedition, the heroes agreed to the task.


Furthermore, the party was approached by Commander Fang of the White Guards. He told them of a bandit queen who has been striking the food caravans coming to town. Reputed to be a lady of great charm, Illantha Fane is a serious danger to the town of Fortune. Since they had a few days to wait till the next Parade Day, when they could head for the Hall of Bells, they accepted the task. As they set out to track down the bandit queen, we wrapped the session.




Observations:

• We didn't get as much done in the session as I'd have liked, but in the end, splitting treasure is always a long process, no matter the edition.
• The gold from two levels of adventuring, after being split five ways, was not quite enough for masterwork weapon and an armor upgrade. I like that. Two characters managed it, by borrowing money from the casters (which they were then able to repay with the 200 from their new patron).
• I'm going to be throwing some harder encounters at the PCs in the near future. These last two sessions, they haven't been challenged at all. Illantha Fane is secretly a Green Hag, so that ought to make things interesting. Also, she's got a lot of bandits.
• The Hall of Bells should also make for a good challenge. Mummies are a harrowing monster to fight. Lots of undead in the Halls too, as well as some custom creatures.

Gather round, friends! Let me tell you a tale. Twas a cold December evening that saw five companions in dice sit down at a table and welcome an old friend back into the fold. From the snows of Edmonton he hailed; the brother of Brelf's player, who had long ago been a noble paladin at our table. He had played 2nd and 3rd Edition many times, but only played 4th once since he had moved abroad. He was eager to join in some D&D with us once more, no matter what version we played.


So we introduced him to 5th.


It took some doing, creating his character. The problem was not the system. The problem was that my printer had died, and I hadn't bothered to print up any of the Background or Specialty sections. I also didn't have a sheet for him. So we scrawled one by hand, then set about picking options for his character. Some of my players also had to update their characters to the new playtest rules. We were also distracted; we had a gift exchange that happened at the beginning, so there was plenty of fight for the attention of my players.


Still, we got things rolling after an hour. Our friend had built a duelist fighter named Ral Meynolds (get it?), who had distinguished himself at the Battle of Serenity Castle. He was a soldier of the east, currently on leave to explore Fortune.


And of course, to tie him into the adventure, he had also been hired by Commander Fang to tackle the problem of Illantha Fane and her bandits.




The Ambush


The PCs were introduced to one another, and Brelf and Ral hit a rocky patch almost immediately (expected, since their players are brothers). The group began to trek out of town, with Brelf attempting to look for signs of bandit activity. Unfortunately, he failed his check pretty badly, which meant the bandits found them first.


A couple of good spot rolls on the part of the elves, Estel and Marielle meant that the bandits didn't have an actual surprise round. No, they just had the advantage of good position. There were three of them; Illantha Fane herself, a beautiful bandit lady (actually a Green Hag), and two of her more capable bandits. They took aim and began to shoot, but the PCs had a good initiative. Estel went first and put one of the bandits to sleep. There was some fire exchanged between some of the bandits, then Mariele attempted to command Illantha to approach. Only creatures with more than 30 hit points can roll a save, so when she rolled one, the party realized she was more than an ordinary bandit. She shrugged off the compulsion and laughed. Ral managed to close with her, but he missed with his attack. She leered at him, then went invisible and ran away. The PCs made quick work of the other bandit, but they realized that they'd just met the leader.


Under the hood: This wasn't meant to be a challenging encounter. One Green Hag and 2 Human Warriors should not challenge a party of five 3rd level PCs. And it didn't. Estel, had she rolled better on sleep, could have put down both warriors. And if Illantha had failed her save on command, she'd have been in much tougher straits. Still, the ability of hags to turn invisible at will saved her. It made it really easy for my villain to escape.


The characters took the fellow who'd fallen asleep captive, and when they woke him, they questioned him. He told them about the other bandits, and how Illantha was really magical (he hadn't a clue about her true identity- none of the bandits do). But he was happy to sketch the camp for them in exchange for his life. They realized they couldn't have him running back to the bandits to warn them, so they tied him up in a tree. Brelf was menacing him the whole time, so as they left him there, Estel conjured a silent image of Brelf glaring at him from the tree branch above, just to spook him. It worked.


The characters played the waiting game; they set up an ambush, and waited for the bandits to come looking for them. Sure enough, six capable bandits went out looking for them. By the time the surprise round was up, only two were left standing. And they'd lost the initiative. They were swiftly cut down.


With the numbers thinned, our heroes took stock of the bandit camp. I've attached a picture of the map here:





The slashed-out parts of the map are cliffs that overlook the camp. The green sections are bushes which provided half cover to anyone in them. The six stones towards the bottom of the camp were a ring of standing stones, which surrounded a stone hut; Illantha Fane's lodging. The big round circles are the trunks of the old oaks, in whose glen the bandits set their camp. You can see the big bonfire, and the pool they use for water. To the north and west are rows of tents, where they rest. When the PCs approached, most of the bandits were sitting around the bonfire, drinking and talking and laughing. Several were off in the tents, making merry in other ways, while there were a couple of notables. Sitting by the big tree just southwest of the bonfire was a mage. And sitting at the campfire was a big burly northman with a spiked chain. There were another four bandits of a capable nature, and then there were ten bandit rabble; farmers and farmgirls who'd been handed clubs and told to come along.




The Attack on the Camp


The PCs had formulated their plan. They positioned their archer, Vell (a replacement for Rosco Tealeaf) up on the cliff that overlooked the bonfire, where he had a commanding view of the battlefield. Estel, the wizard, went invisible and quietly approached from the southwest, through the narrow forest ravine and into the bushes just west of the standing stones. Her stealth roll wasn't so great, however, so unbeknownst to her, Illantha Fane heard her approach and went invisible herself to go investigate. In position, Estel knew the mage and one of the female bandit rabble were talking on the opposite side of the big tree from her. She could also hear the sounds of activity coming from the tent closest to her; one of the female rabble was enjoying some quality time with one of the male bandits.


Estel cast sleep.


Fengus had been watching Lucelle all evening. The girl was a looker; that golden hair of hers shone in the bonfire's light. And those breeches she wore? Temptation itself. He had brought her a drink. She had giggled, and they had drunk together. They had parted from the others, gone off to seek his tent. And there, they'd both felt no more need for clothing. They were in the throes of passion when suddenly... Lucelle fell asleep.


Estel rolled enough on her dice to put the two bandit rabble to sleep (the one in the tent and the one beside the bandit mage). Acting on the cue, Vell took his shot, and rolled enough damage to pin the wizard to the tree, dead. The others charged from behind the trees by the stream on the east, and closed with the bandits around the fire.


The fight was brutal and quick. The bandit barbarian didn't have a chance to act, and a ton of bandits at the fire were just cut down. The only complication to the plan was Illantha Fane; she appeared next to Estel and raked her with her claws, dealing a fair bit of damage to the wizard. But she made her save against the corrupting touch. Ral Meynolds moved to defend the wizard, running to attack Illantha but coming up short. Then she went invisible. The group polished off the bandits at the fire, and the stragglers who rushed in to join the fight, while Ral and Estel attempted to deal with the hag. She was clearly a hag now; the corrupting touch had been a revelation of her vile nature. And they pursued her into her hut, where she surprise-attacked Ral and sliced him badly (about 20 damage). But cornered, they managed to take down Illantha Fane.


Under the hood: The encounter was slated at 760 xp. Under the old rules, that would've been a tough encounter. But now, it amounted to somewhere between average and tough. Through clever play, the PCs shaved off 180 xp by picking off six bandits, which brought things down to a 480 xp encounter, which was a little below average difficulty. And through play, it proved to be exactly that. Still, it was tremendous fun. When the sleep spell went off, we were all laughing, and the challenge of pinning down Illantha Fane was exciting and dangerous. All in all, a fun encounter. With the new rules, though, I probably should have included more bandits.


I'm going to leave off there for now. Next time, I'll tell of their return to town, the arrival of Pohtep, and the journey to the Hall of Bells.