D&D 5E Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)

[pukunui]

I was thinking: 6 hours seems like a long time for a simple raid on what looks to be a relatively small town (judging by the map). Anyone got any thoughts on that?

 

[vandaexpress]

I was thinking: 6 hours seems like a long time for a simple raid on what looks to be a relatively small town (judging by the map). Anyone got any thoughts on that?

1. Have them take captives, spend time running down captives, etc
2. They surround the keep at one point, even sending in a force against the Sally port. One could argue that Cyanwrath and Mondath spent some time debating whether or not to make a serious play for the keep and the riches it no doubt contained, maybe spending time having scouts inspect the exterior for secret entrances etc before giving up.
3. Some of the villagers are putting up resistance long into the night. Not just the lady with the family, but the townsfolk that barricaded themselves in the temple. Assuming similar actions taking place around the town, it might not be easy for the cultists to break in and ransack every building quickly.
4. The cultists are not super well organized, the fact that at points they don't even know who is a cultist and who isn't gives me the impression that they aren't the most efficient group of Raiders with a sophisticated plan of which houses to hit.
5. Related to the keep point above, they may have been holding out for the dragon to help take the keep, and were subject to his whims and lack of urgency in attacking the keep.
6. You could include organized groups of townsfolk trying to drive off the raiders, especially business owners defending their shops. This could also increase the time to ransack.
7. The majority of the cultists aren't demihuman, they have no darkvision. Working at night can take a lot longer when you can't see. Especially in the chaos of raiding a town, maybe you lose a guy from your group and you're trying to find where he went.

 

[pukunui]

I guess. I'm still having trouble seeing it taking that long, though. Yeah, they might be a bit disorganized, but there are a lot of them.

 

[cmad1977]

I guess. I'm still having trouble seeing it taking that long, though. Yeah, they might be a bit disorganized, but there are a lot of them.

Bear in mind that this isn't a hot and run skirmish or a smash and grab robbery. The cult is taking everything that isn't nailed down and might be valuable. Slaves, coins, candlesticks, forks and knives, nice furniture, mugs, horses, wagons, religious objects... Anything and everything must go!! That was my read anyways.

 

[cmad1977]

1. Have them take captives, spend time running down captives, etc
2. They surround the keep at one point, even sending in a force against the Sally port. One could argue that Cyanwrath and Mondath spent some time debating whether or not to make a serious play for the keep and the riches it no doubt contained, maybe spending time having scouts inspect the exterior for secret entrances etc before giving up.
3. Some of the villagers are putting up resistance long into the night. Not just the lady with the family, but the townsfolk that barricaded themselves in the temple. Assuming similar actions taking place around the town, it might not be easy for the cultists to break in and ransack every building quickly.
4. The cultists are not super well organized, the fact that at points they don't even know who is a cultist and who isn't gives me the impression that they aren't the most efficient group of Raiders with a sophisticated plan of which houses to hit.
5. Related to the keep point above, they may have been holding out for the dragon to help take the keep, and were subject to his whims and lack of urgency in attacking the keep.
6. You could include organized groups of townsfolk trying to drive off the raiders, especially business owners defending their shops. This could also increase the time to ransack.
7. The majority of the cultists aren't demihuman, they have no darkvision. Working at night can take a lot longer when you can't see. Especially in the chaos of raiding a town, maybe you lose a guy from your group and you're trying to find where he went.

This sounds great and I will certainly pick through and use some of your tips/ideas!!

 

[vandaexpress]

I guess. I'm still having trouble seeing it taking that long, though. Yeah, they might be a bit disorganized, but there are a lot of them.

I really think the key delay is their inability to take the keep. They invest resources into trying to get into it (sally port), kill people in it (dragon attack), surrounding it, etc. throughout the course of the night. Why would they do that if they didn't want to get into it? Again, remember that by the time the PCs reach the keep at the end of "Seek the Keep" the adventure makes a point of stating the cult has surrounded it and continue to surround it for the duration of the episode (which is why they need to use the tunnel to facilitate egress).

This tells me that the cult was serious about taking the keep, they were basically waiting on Lennithon the dragon to break the siege so they can get in (to no avail, hopefully). Also, the mission where Nighthill asks the party to capture a cult leader has the adventure suggesting he point out Mondath, which means she's there, within easy sight of the keep. Why would she be there? I figure she was most likely coordinating the siege.

They were probably hoping to take the entire town's possessions, including those kept in the keep, before dawn. One might argue that was their core objective, in fact. If you were raiding a town with a keep, where would you expect the most valuable treasure to be found? In the keep. If the PCs weren't present, the attack on the sally port would have been uncontested and the keep would have fallen. If the PCs weren't present, the Dragon would have wiped out the keep's defenders and the Cult would have taken the keep.

It's the fact that the PCs are there that drags the siege out for six hours.

 

[pukunui]

Bear in mind that this isn't a hot and run skirmish or a smash and grab robbery. The cult is taking everything that isn't nailed down and might be valuable. Slaves, coins, candlesticks, forks and knives, nice furniture, mugs, horses, wagons, religious objects... Anything and everything must go!! That was my read anyways.

True.

I really think the key delay is their inability to take the keep. They invest resources into trying to get into it (sally port), kill people in it (dragon attack), surrounding it, etc. throughout the course of the night. Why would they do that if they didn't want to get into it?

That makes sense. It's not the impression I get from the adventure itself, though.

For instance, it says that Mondath orders Lennithon to attack the keep specifically to target the PCs. It also says that while the cultists have encircled the keep, they appear to just be trying to contain the town's defenders more than anything else. They *don't* seem that interested in attacking the keep. Now, obviously, I can change that - and probably will (although I *was* planning on skipping the sally port mission as it's the least interesting to me) - but it doesn't seem to be the default premise.

 

[vandaexpress]

True.

That makes sense. It's not the impression I get from the adventure itself, though.

For instance, it says that Mondath orders Lennithon to attack the keep specifically to target the PCs. It also says that while the cultists have encircled the keep, they appear to just be trying to contain the town's defenders more than anything else. They *don't* seem that interested in attacking the keep. Now, obviously, I can change that - and probably will (although I *was* planning on skipping the sally port mission as it's the least interesting to me) - but it doesn't seem to be the default premise.

True, I didn't have the adventure in front of me to reference. I can definitely understand your concern. It didn't really come up at my table and honestly I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it here. I just assumed the town was big enough for the cult to take a while to loot.

The sally port actually wound up being far and away the most exciting mission for my group, but I can understand skipping it. The reason it was a hit with us was that we ran it late in the night when the party was pretty low on resources and I had the entire greenest keep mapped out, including a handful of guards on the inside with Gov. Nighthill. The attack force, combined with depleted resources, was enough to knock out everyone in the party except one character, who was fighting a desperate rearguard action as he retreated into the keep. The guards came... and got killed by the ambush drake. It was extremely tense, the party made it by the skin of their teeth.

Having said that, the ambush at the mill is far and away the most deadly for most groups, I think. It was tough for my guys too, but they managed to pull through. The reason the sally port was so deadly, like I said, was because it was a later encounter. I think any encounter you run late into the evening will be more deadly and tense, and I think it's smart to skip one of the missions if you want to keep the party alive. Given the options, I agree the sally port is the least interesting.

 

[pukunui]

... and I think it's smart to skip one of the missions if you want to keep the party alive.

The way the episode is structured, you pretty much have to skip at least one mission, unless the PCs don't ever take a short rest.

Another point to mention is that the cultists don't appear to have completely encircled the keep. There are a number of places where it indicates that they're only really watching the keep's front gate. For instance, under "Prisoners", it mentions that the PCs can opt to wait until clouds cover the moon and then throw ropes over the back wall of the keep and climb down (which can be the backup option if the PCs somehow fail to get the gate in the tunnel open).

 

[cmad1977]

Yeah my party needed a short rest at one point. For them the hardest part was the mill ambush. Their best moment was the church. They handled the church 'siege' with no problem. Ambushed the guards at the back while the Druid snuck in and calmed down the people while they all slipped out the back door using the smoke for cover. I was impressed.