Tyranny of Dragons. Players gone Wild! Advise?

Scott Graves · May 6, 2019

Playing Tyranny of Dragons, Hoard of the Dragon Queen. Near the end. Now, this is only for DMs that have run this game before.

Spoiler Alert

You've been warned.

Seriously.

If you want to be ignorant this is your last chance.

Talking in 5

4

3

2

1

Ok. My players got past the Hunting Lodge but let some baddies run off to the villiage so the ice castle was warming up to leave early and drop it's load. They found the Wyverns and the flipping Halflings decide to steal one of them. They make the rolls and walk it out of the stable. It says the bad guys keep an eye on things at the well so of course a fight happened. The castle was taking off and the Halflings decided to follow it on the Wyvern.... They plan to follow it to the drop off point...

Yes... To the drop off point... They have a plan to attack it there.

Where does it drop off at? Has anyone played Part Two and remembers it saying blah... blah... blah... the Ice Castle would have landed here with the load of treasure if they didn't crash it into the iceburg…

Please, help... Save me from a prolonged search for one sentence.

robus · May 6, 2019

The Well of Dragons

robus · May 6, 2019

And that’s a death trap

akr71 · May 6, 2019

Yep, what [MENTION=6801558]robus[/MENTION] said. All of Tiamat's forces are congregating at the Well of Dragons. All of Rise of Tiamat essentially deals with gathering allies, so that an all out war happens at the Well of Dragons.

I mean, they could try to sneak into the Well, dressed like cultists and assassinate the leaders, one by one. If they free the prisoners, there might be enough chaos to help, but many innocent prisoners may likely die because of it. If you really want to be nice to them, make one of the cultist at the Well a Harper or Zhent spy under deep cover. Maybe Leosin the monk or Ontharr contacts them via Sending and tells them who to look for.

Ralif Redhammer · May 6, 2019

If they go to the Well of Dragons, all is not lost. But I think it does possibly create some damage to the narrative - why wait for the Cult to finish their plans, when they can just assault it now? In my campaign I played the Well of Dragon's location as a mystery that wasn't unraveled until they were able to take one of the higher officials of the Cult prisoner in the final act.

You could always have Skyreach Castle stop somewhere for another pick-up. Skyreach Castle is capable of putting down a smokescreen, and could conceivably disappear in the night. Or just have them follow it to the Well of Dragons, but realize that the Cult’s forces are just too overwhelming and they will need an army to deal with them (enter the Faction Council).

jayoungr · May 6, 2019

Ralif Redhammer said:
If they go to the Well of Dragons, all is not lost. But I think it does possibly create some damage to the narrative - why wait for the Cult to finish their plans, when they can just assault it now?

You answer your own question in the next paragraph:

Ralif Redhammer said:
Or just have them follow it to the Well of Dragons, but realize that the Cult’s forces are just too overwhelming and they will need an army to deal with them (enter the Faction Council).

Most of the storyline of Rise of Tiamat is about gathering allies and/or striking at high-ranking cult members to slow down their plans anyway.

Scott Graves · May 6, 2019

Ouch... That's what I was afraid of. This is WAY worse than when they attacked the cultists wagons before the caravan started heading north. I guess I need to read up on the Well.

I wonder if the castle would return for more treasure. They have to have other ways treasure flows into Parnath. Maybe it comes back with a group to try and retake the house and then the castle. Or would they even give a hoot about that route. Are they expecting more treasure from that path? I need a plan... At this point is the castle even worth going after? Their mission has been "follow the treasure" which they are doing. Actually come to think of it they are following their orders correctly by not assaulting the castle.

Grr....

Scott Graves · May 6, 2019

Ralif Redhammer said:
You could always have Skyreach Castle stop somewhere for another pick-up.

That is a great idea. I could come up with another Parnath like town somewhere else fed by it's own set of treasure gathering groups. I like this idea.

Ralif Redhammer · May 6, 2019

Hah, I guess I do. Though, one should never underestimate the overconfidence of some PCs.

jayoungr said:
You answer your own question in the next paragraph:

akr71 · May 6, 2019

You could also get them back on track by having the castle still crash. Either forces on the castle try to take over, or Blagothkus realizes the error of his ways (supporting the dragons) and crashes it intentionally - he is the only one who can control the castle after all.

Boom. You are right back at the beginning of Rise of Tiamat.

It never sat well with me that a giant - sworn enemies of dragons - is helping Tiamat's cause. I changed Blagothkus's character and motivations a lot when I ran it.