D&D 5E Enhancing "Storm King's Thunder"

I have a slight inclination to unr DDAL 05-18 (The Mysterious Isle) / 05-19 (The Eye of Xxiphu) after Iymrith goes down, just as a wind-down epilogue.

I haven't read the modules yet, but it appears they are a link to the Purple Isles / Oosith / Slarkrethel, which sounds cool, but the reviews of the modules I found aren't exactly positive.

Feedback would be appreciated.

My group has just rescued Hekaton and is ready to take down Imyrith. They've fought him twice before. The first time, the PCs (around level 8) figured that the blue dragon died at the Temple of the All Father. So they went to find and loot his lair. They managed to destroy the gargoyle guards and yuan-ti, but were thrashed by the ancient blue. One PC died, and the rest fled for their lives.

In the second battle (prior to rescuing Hekaton), they confronted Imyrith's at the Storm Giant's court. Although the dragon dominated most of the fight due to the power of his terror effect, eventually the storm giants made their will saves and Imyrith was forced to retreat. Even an ancient blue dragon isn't a match against 2+ storm giants and the PCs. Without fear and his breath weapon, an ancient dragon just doesn't do enough damage in combat.

The group has five PCs, who have just reached level 11. One is a Paladin of the Ancients, meaning anyone within 10' is immune to dragon fear. Plus she can cast a Protection from Energy spell. If I follow the advice of the adventure (and provide storm giant allies), the end would be a cakewalk. So I'm thinking that Hekaton would still grant the PCs each a potion of storm giant strength and the claw of wyrm rune (which could give a second PC protection from energy). Given those buffs, I think the PCs would still be victorious, but at least it would be a decent fight. As we're at the end of the adventure (and looking to start a new campaign), this fight will end with either the death of Imyrith or a TPK. Does this sound reasonable?

orangefruitbat said:

My group has just rescued Hekaton and is ready to take down Imyrith. They've fought him twice before. The first time, the PCs (around level 8) figured that the blue dragon died at the Temple of the All Father. So they went to find and loot his lair. They managed to destroy the gargoyle guards and yuan-ti, but were thrashed by the ancient blue. One PC died, and the rest fled for their lives.

In the second battle (prior to rescuing Hekaton), they confronted Imyrith's at the Storm Giant's court. Although the dragon dominated most of the fight due to the power of his terror effect, eventually the storm giants made their will saves and Imyrith was forced to retreat. Even an ancient blue dragon isn't a match against 2+ storm giants and the PCs. Without fear and his breath weapon, an ancient dragon just doesn't do enough damage in combat.

The group has five PCs, who have just reached level 11. One is a Paladin of the Ancients, meaning anyone within 10' is immune to dragon fear. Plus she can cast a Protection from Energy spell. If I follow the advice of the adventure (and provide storm giant allies), the end would be a cakewalk. So I'm thinking that Hekaton would still grant the PCs each a potion of storm giant strength and the claw of wyrm rune (which could give a second PC protection from energy). Given those buffs, I think the PCs would still be victorious, but at least it would be a decent fight. As we're at the end of the adventure (and looking to start a new campaign), this fight will end with either the death of Imyrith or a TPK. Does this sound reasonable?

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You're right that having Storm Giants accompany the party makes things a lot easier. 5 PCs with those buffs sounds like a good match. If you feel like Iymrith is going down too quickly then have her regenerate some hit points at the end of each round. I've found that maximizing a monsters hit points is a good way to make the fight challenging.

My group walked all over her. Pull no punches.

Just wanted to update this. We're thirtysomething sessions in and the PCs just went after Countess Sansuri (I added a lot of Tier 1 content, see earlier in thread). Sadly, they killed her and then discovered that her conch is in a Leomund's Secret Chest that only she could trigger. They withdrew to lick their considerable wounds, then decided to go back in -- they had heard Felgolos's bellowing, some were holding out hope that there was another way to get the conch, and some were thinking that sky castle looked pretty sweet.

So anyway, Count Thullen captures them (props to the players for surrendering when the jig was up...sometimes players won't), all except the bard who casts greater invisibility and then invisibility to elude capture. Count Thullen has them led to the "dungeon" where Felgolos is being held, intending to parley. He definitely didn't like what his sister was up to, and despite the B&E and double homicide (they got Cressaro, too), he's looking for an excuse to let them go. The PCs weren't really in the mood for his moralizing, standing there in the room with the tortured dragon, which is understandable.

The "negotiations" aren't going all that well when the invisible bard sneaks behind the dragon and uses three dispel magic spells to free him. Felgolos hulks out and the PCs do what they can to help, up to and including the manacled barbarian kicking giants in the shin. The bard casts fog cloud, which is great for Felgolos with his blindsight, and then Thullen stupidly summons an earth elemental because tremorsense. He loses control of it almost immediately, so now he's got a hostile earth elemental attacking him too.

The count goes down, followed closely by three of the cloud giant guards. One is beating feet and will probably get away to summon reinforcements. That's where we left off. Regardless of what happens in the castle, assuming no TPK, they're still going to have to find another giant lord. Considering the Eye of the All-Father collapsed, that's not an option. I figure Felgolos will be able to tip them off to the location of another giant lord.

Said one player, "I'm sure this is just how the book drew it up."

I still owe a write-up of our finale (and post-finale!) sessions, not forgotten!

Sounds great! But just have the chest with the conch in it break or something so they have access. Or, they could go after another giant lord. In my game Queen Guh was pretty easy to find and stopping her was a priority for the people of the Sword Coast.

Daern said:

Sounds great! But just have the chest with the conch in it break or something so they have access. Or, they could go after another giant lord. In my game Queen Guh was pretty easy to find and stopping her was a priority for the people of the Sword Coast.

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Nah, I'm not gonna have the "chest break" to just give it to 'em. They failed to get the conch, but by releasing Felgolos, they can get a line on another giant lord. They've already visited Chief Guh: They obtained a map in Harpshield Castle showing lands promised to the Iceshield Orcs (I made the Ear-Seekers in Chapter 1 a clan of this tribe), and the map revealed the location of Grudd Haug. They paid a visit at 6th level, and that's when I introduced Harshnag. They defeated Guh, but unfortunately, her wagon collapsed and she crushed her conch. They didn't know what it was or what it was for at the time, but it was useful foreshadowing.

I figure Felgolos will tip them off to the location of the giant lord he fears the most.

Motorskills said:

I still owe a write-up of our finale (and post-finale!) sessions, not forgotten!

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I think you forgot.

I've been running this campaign with the premise that the PCs are all agents of the Lords' Alliance. They just go through defending Goldenfields from the giants and decided to take Shalvus up on his request to escort him (along with some sheep) to Bargewright Inn. Once they got there, they agreed to escort the beer wagon all the way up to Mornbryn's Shield, despite suspecting that it was a Zhentarim test. Apparently the allure of Mornbryn's long-buried (and possibly legendary) treasure was enough ...

So now I might need to come up with a small tomb-based dungeon for four 7th level PCs ... hmm. Anyone got any ideas?
Has Mornbryn's tomb ever been explored in any previous edition of D&D?