D&D 5E Princes of the Apocalypse campaign recaps

[Nebulous]

That was a brilliant session and an excellent write up. Well done.

Also interesting to see how different and similar to my session it was, both at the same time.

Thanks! Yeah, everything just came together perfectly in that 2 hour time frame, even the foreshadowing of the genasi dying on the white griffon, which RANDOMLY was knocked to near death, that was not scripted by me, that was just fate.

 

[Nebulous]

Now that I have introduced the purple wyrm (accidentally) as a tie-in to a PCs backstory (oh yeah, and he gained Inspiration for confronting it) I think I am going to make it a much more relevant part of the next session. IN FACT, I am going to paint Shadowflame in shades of gray, and it knows much more about the nature of Yan-C-Bin and Imix than the players do, and might be very well their first introduction to those names as it harshly criticizes the foolish human Knights who worship madness and Chaos they don't understand....

...what if this monster becomes an ALLY? Or at least, the enemy of an enemy is my friend....

That's just some brainstorming, but if things go as I think they might, there are going to be some Knights and PCs crawling into a cave that is going to connect to the Howling Hatred subterranean complex. Maybe not, who knows, but I have to plan ahead now that i've gone slightly off the beaten track.

 

[Nebulous]

Also, I have that great big beautiful giant map of the Sighing Valley, I really want to milk that as much as I can.

 

[Nebulous]

Session #7 - Lair of the Purple Wyrm

https://app.box.com/s/kub54hjrg3xh8c7a06amcqrj1thmssdx

With summer vacations our games have been interrupted, so the next won't be for two weeks as well.

Also, I took some liberties with the plot, I felt like the Elemental Evil stuff and the Princes needed to be seeded sooner rather than later, so I used the purple wyrm as that plot vehicle. Does it work ok?

 

[Rabbitbait]

Very nice, especially the ominous ending

 

[Nebulous]

So as I'm prepping the next session, it seems like the PCs (three of them leveling to 5th next time) are in a pickle. It's nighttime in the Spire, the Knights are onto them, and there are 8 Feathergales and 5 Howling Hatred. That's 13 fairly tough enemies. That's possibly a TPK as well unless the PCs could bottleneck themselves into a strategic position. I don't know. I do have a couple ideas to help them out, but i don't want it to seem deus ex machina.

How have other people handled the Spire?

 

[Rabbitbait]

So as I'm prepping the next session, it seems like the PCs (three of them leveling to 5th next time) are in a pickle. It's nighttime in the Spire, the Knights are onto them, and there are 8 Feathergales and 5 Howling Hatred. That's 13 fairly tough enemies. That's possibly a TPK as well unless the PCs could bottleneck themselves into a strategic position. I don't know. I do have a couple ideas to help them out, but i don't want it to seem deus ex machina.

How have other people handled the Spire?

Just make sure that they know they are in a tight spot and possibly in over their heads. Trust them to work out a solution. I often find that the best gaming occurs when I have no idea how my players are going to survive.

Just play it as it would run, giving leeway for good ideas. Don't feel that everyone needs to survive. A TPK isn't ideal, but the possibility of it is a good thing.

 

[Jaelommiss]

So as I'm prepping the next session, it seems like the PCs (three of them leveling to 5th next time) are in a pickle. It's nighttime in the Spire, the Knights are onto them, and there are 8 Feathergales and 5 Howling Hatred. That's 13 fairly tough enemies. That's possibly a TPK as well unless the PCs could bottleneck themselves into a strategic position. I don't know. I do have a couple ideas to help them out, but i don't want it to seem deus ex machina.

How have other people handled the Spire?

There's no reason to make a solution for them. The most interesting decisions I have ever seen result from players needing to think their way out of a hopeless situation. Since your players have seen traces of execution by falling, I would recommend having the NPCs try to capture instead of killing them. Perhaps as a reward for dealing with the dragon they will be allowed to leave alive after being stripped of all valuables and equipment. Or they might throw one of them from the tower each day until the party acquiesces to their demands. If they think that the performers are associated with the players, then they too could be executed. Throw the performers from the tower first, one per day, to show that the cultists are serious in their threat. This will give the players time to escape or create a plan without letting up on the tension. Perhaps the cultists will drag the players to their queen after capturing them. After meeting her they might realize that she's really not that bad ("Then Aerisi used her talents for enchantment magic to sway mortals into joining her cult"). One issue I have with the module is that there is almost no interaction with cult leaders until it is time to fight them. They are given interesting personalities and it seems a shame to let them go to waste.

Or you could play on your players paranoia. Thurl said that "they'll take care of them" in your pdf. After a night with nothing out of the ordinary, they send the party away with filled packs, a generous pay for their performing, and a flying escort to take them safely to their next destination. Naturally the players will want to decline. Don't let them. The escort flies overhead, warns them of danger approaching (random encounters), helps them fight, and makes them generally feel uncomfortable. The escort leaves them with a letter welcoming them to reconsider at any time, letting them know that they will always be welcome at Feathergale Spire, and asking them to look into a monastery nearby that recently got taken over by vile bandits masquerading as monks*. Of course, it is nothing but an act to convince them that there is nothing to fear, but it might give your players pause. The knights realize that their zeal was offputting, and so act 'normally' in an attempt to win them over. If it doesn't work it should at least play on your players' fears.

*I'm not sure if you've already told them about the monastery.

 

[Fildrigar]

So as I'm prepping the next session, it seems like the PCs (three of them leveling to 5th next time) are in a pickle. It's nighttime in the Spire, the Knights are onto them, and there are 8 Feathergales and 5 Howling Hatred. That's 13 fairly tough enemies. That's possibly a TPK as well unless the PCs could bottleneck themselves into a strategic position. I don't know. I do have a couple ideas to help them out, but i don't want it to seem deus ex machina.

How have other people handled the Spire?

IMC, the party went in as guests. They didn't cause trouble, rightly thinking that it'd be a tough battle. They were feasted by Thurl, and accompanied the Knights on the manticore hunt. They managed to handily take out the Manticore with a couple of lucky crits, and returned in triumph. The subject of elemental cults in the hills was broached, and the Knights convinced the party to attack the Sacred Stone Monestary. ( Going so far as to fly the party most of the way there. ) They will return with a vengance in a cult reprisal soon. ( The party just took out Rivergard Keep, keeping it for themselves. I'm thinking that the Feathergale Knights will try to keep that from happening. )

The party did just venture down the underground river, and are engaged in battle with the water cult underground. They're a little low level for that, not sure if they're going to be willing to back off or not though. We'll see.

 

[Nebulous]

There's no reason to make a solution for them. The most interesting decisions I have ever seen result from players needing to think their way out of a hopeless situation. Since your players have seen traces of execution by falling, I would recommend having the NPCs try to capture instead of killing them. Perhaps as a reward for dealing with the dragon they will be allowed to leave alive after being stripped of all valuables and equipment. Or they might throw one of them from the tower each day until the party acquiesces to their demands. If they think that the performers are associated with the players, then they too could be executed. Throw the performers from the tower first, one per day, to show that the cultists are serious in their threat. This will give the players time to escape or create a plan without letting up on the tension. Perhaps the cultists will drag the players to their queen after capturing them. After meeting her they might realize that she's really not that bad ("Then Aerisi used her talents for enchantment magic to sway mortals into joining her cult"). One issue I have with the module is that there is almost no interaction with cult leaders until it is time to fight them. They are given interesting personalities and it seems a shame to let them go to waste.

Or you could play on your players paranoia. Thurl said that "they'll take care of them" in your pdf. After a night with nothing out of the ordinary, they send the party away with filled packs, a generous pay for their performing, and a flying escort to take them safely to their next destination. Naturally the players will want to decline. Don't let them. The escort flies overhead, warns them of danger approaching (random encounters), helps them fight, and makes them generally feel uncomfortable. The escort leaves them with a letter welcoming them to reconsider at any time, letting them know that they will always be welcome at Feathergale Spire, and asking them to look into a monastery nearby that recently got taken over by vile bandits masquerading as monks*. Of course, it is nothing but an act to convince them that there is nothing to fear, but it might give your players pause. The knights realize that their zeal was offputting, and so act 'normally' in an attempt to win them over. If it doesn't work it should at least play on your players' fears.
l*I'm not sure if you've already told them about the monastery.

thanks! I really like the idea of throwing one person from the tower per day, starting with the musicians, and the players will feel HORRIBLE about that. I had already planned to introduce 3-6 aarocraka warriors, I even printed 3 statblocks for Crowkakatak, Dirtbeak and Whistlewing for the players to run as secondary characters. Temporary allies who know they're not Feathergales and not Howling Hatred and want to help them.

Alternatively, as the book suggests, they might could rescue sacrificed players falling from the tower. In fact capturing and not killing them might be the way the Knights should go and take them as prisoners to Aerisi. Even then a squad of armed aarokraka could aid them and the whole band could descend as a war party. I don't know, so many options and it all really depends on what they decide to do. So as usual I'll have to play it by ear and act accordingly!