D&D 5E D&D AL Play reports: Princes of the Apocalypse, sessions 1-23

[MerricB]

The Sumber Hills. The Dessarin Valley. 7th Kythorn, 1491 DR

The adventurers were heading south-west from Rivergard Keep, hoping to discover the source of the strange giant vultures they’d seen about, although their knowledge of where they were was scant at best. They were thus delighted when they discovered a noble and his guard being attacked by several strange figures in stone armour. The noble was rather less than pleased as all of his guard were slain by the armoured attackers, but happy for the assistance. Upon questioning, he revealed he’d also been sent into the hills to search for the missing delegation from Mirabar, and he accepted the invitation from the rest of the group to accompany them on their own search. Who the attackers were was unknown – although the stone armour they were wearing disintegrated like some of the shards they’d found in the graves.

The next day, they came across a hidden monastery in the hills. Upon requesting entrance, they were denied. It should be said that they weren’t particularly diplomatic, but neither were the monks who baldly stated that it was place of seclusion and visitors were not allowed. This didn’t impress the adventurers, so they chose to break down the door and directly confront the monks. The door, sturdy as it was, still broke open on the first attempt, and the monks guarding the door were rendered unconscious. The adventurers had done so quietly enough so that no alarm had been raised, and they began to explore the monastery.

One odd things about the monks of the monastery: they were wearing masks shaped like gargoyle faces,

They bypassed a room of sleeping monks, and proceeded to a room in which several duergar – dark dwarves – were resting and gambling. The confrontation – as expected – was not peaceful, with the adventurers not willing to protestations of their peaceful status from the duergar. Or at least, they wouldn’t have listened if the duergar had made those statements. As it happened, both sides were spoiling for a fight, and that swiftly occurred. They quickly looted the room, discovering the same symbol as they had found on the Bringers of Woe in the Tomb of the Moving Stones beneath Red Larch. At that point they realised that they had indeed found a place of interest – and what little mercy they had for the inhabitants of the monastery vanished.

While they looted another room that appeared to belong to someone of importance, the monks from the sleeping quarters they’d bypassed began to appear, having woken from their sleep due to the nearby battle against the duergar. Once again, battle was joined, but the sleepy state of the monks allowed them to be overcome without much difficulty.

The main confrontation of the day came when they discovered the main shrine of the monastery, in which a priest aided by several guards was setting up some sort of ceremony. The adventurers managed to surprise them by virtue of taking a secret entrance into the shrine, but even that did not make the battle easy. The guards were particularly dangerous, and several of the adventurers had major wounds as the battle reached its conclusion. The priest fled down a set of stairs, followed by one of the adventurers, but in the cavern below was an umber hulk that the priest seemed to be releasing against the adventurers. At this point they considered it prudent to flee, and they did, before the priest could raise the entire temple against them.

DM Notes
Due to this session taking place on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, we were missing quite a few players who were with family (or possibly in Queensland). Djoran’s noble joined the group, and we only had three other players in attendance. It ended up being especially action-packed!

What happens to the other characters when their players aren’t there? It’s one of the ongoing problems of running D&D: there will be lots of sessions when not everyone can turn up. My solution is to just not have the characters participate, although we consider them to have been there are fighting with the party (additional foes that are also invisible for the session…) I don’t try too hard to explain it all away; I think that for a lot of these games, that way lies madness.

The undiplomatic nature of the group really came through as they barged their way into the monastery. At some point in the future, this may come to haunt the party, but it turned out to be the correct approach in this instance.

One major concern when running this part of the adventure was to make the reactions and movements of the inhabitants realistic. It’s very easy to get caught in the trap of having each room be an island to itself, but if the monastery goes on alert, the cultists aren’t just going to stay in their rooms. They’re going to react. It was a little easier this session as the players didn’t let any of them go for help, thus causing a cascading situation where everyone becomes alert to the players’ movements, but having the sleeping monks wake up in reaction to the battle with the duergar was a case in point. In fact, the players stopped to explore another room before the monks caught up with them – if the players had gone back to the sleeping chambers first, they would have had an even easier time of it.

Of course, now the players have left the monastery, giving the monks time to summon reinforcements and be better prepared. The next session will be interesting!

 

[MerricB]

The Stoneheart Monastery. The Sumber Hills. 9th Kythorn, 1491 DR

The rest of the adventurers was disturbed by a small group of guards sent from the monastery to deal with the intruders; they came in the middle of the night, but were swiftly dealt with by the group without too much trouble. The next day, the adventurers prepared for another assault on the monastery, now convinced it had something to do with the missing delegation. They were direct in their approach to the monastery, and simply broke down the door… only to find two minotaurs standing behind it along with one of the monks.

It should be noted that minotaurs are dangerous, especially for a group that is still quite low-level. Krovis took the lead, aided by Thumbalina, and both suffered several near-deadly blows in the melee that followed. The reckless attacks of the minotaurs may have exposed them to the blows of the barbarian and paladin, but their own blows were of such power that – if not for the ability of the paladin and barbarian to ward off damage – one or both of the adventurers would have died.

The adventurers then chose to examine the other corridor leading off from the entrance chamber. The corridor turned after a short span, and a number of doors led off from it. A party of monks were keeping watch there, and they moved to engage once the door was opened. Unfortunately for the monks, both Krovis and Thumbalina were still able to ward off their blows and the combined force of the archers and spell-casters behind them were able to deal with the monks quite quickly; it was certain that the monastery was now alarmed, however.

Investigating one of the doors led to a scriptorium, with many books and scrolls piled about. Rather than moving onwards quickly to foil any plans the monks might have, the group paused to rummage through the papers. This, of course, gave the monks the chance to summon the leader of their order.

She was less than amused to find the adventurers, and words were exchanged. Amazingly, instead of a mass combat, we ended up with a duel between her and Krovis, with the adventurers and monks watching on from various points around and outside the room (and, in Thumbalina’s case, from outside through a window).

The duel was long and hard, with Ivan occasionally shouting words of inspiration and healing in Krovis’s direction, but for the most part it was a battle between Krovis’s excellent defences against the superior open-hand fighting style of the abbess. And the abbess was good – much better than Krovis. Krovis was lucky, getting in a couple of critical hits, which severely hurt the abbess, but he wasn’t able to quite keep up with the damage the abbess was inflicting on him.

Thus he fell, and the abbess moved in to finish him off, only to have the remainder of the group (chaotics all) to attack. The abbess had survived Krovis’s attack, but she couldn’t survive the rest of the party, and soon the monks and their leader lay dead on the floor.

Considering the wreckage – and the poor state of Krovis’s health, the group retired from the monastery to get some much-needed rest.

The Players and their Characters
Michael is playing Krovis Thorn, LN human Paladin 3/Fighter 1. (Soldier, Lord’s Alliance)
Mikey is playing Diablo, N dragonborn Warlock 3 (Sage, Lord’s Alliance)
Jesse is playing Jandar, CN human Fighter 3 (Criminal, Zhentarim)
Noah is playing Gimble, CN gnome Rogue 3 (Criminal, Zhentarim)
Josh is playing Ivan, CN water genasi Bard 4 (Pirate, Lord’s Alliance)
Danielle is playing Thumbalina, CN dwarf Barbarian 3 (Outlander, Emerald Enclave)

DM Notes
What happens when you camp near an outpost of evil? You get attacked, that’s what! The decision to run the attack was pretty easy, with particular attention being paid to how hard it would be for the cultists to discover the party (not particularly hard, in my opinion). It wasn’t a really dangerous attack, but it was a taster of what may occur in the future.

The adventure has certain notes as to what reinforcements are brought in for when the party leave and return; the minotaurs in particular were described in the adventure. For this group – which is still very low level, especially compared to the level of their opposition – it was potentially lethal, although the resistance that Thumbalina possesses due to her rage and the damage reduction Krovis has in heavy armour mitigate a lot against this type of opponent. Less well against spell-based attacks, but we’ve had very few of them so far.

The level disparity is expressed during play by the group engaging in much shorter trips into the monastery than you’d otherwise expect: it’s just too difficult to stay in there for long. This actual session ran short at about 90 minutes compared to the regular 2 hours, but with the group retiring after the fight with the abbess, it seemed the appropriate time to end things.

The Chaotic nature of most of the party was well expressed in their reaction to the “duel” – where only Krovis was really talking it seriously (and, as he was unconscious when his friends pitched in, could hardly object). Michael’s chosen for Krovis to follow Kelemvor – a particularly amusing decision given his mis-step in the earlier session when talking to the necromancer. Although I’m not drawing attention to it in my reports, at every chance Jesse gets, he’s having Jandar announce that the group represents the Zhentarim, who are there to help. (Michael and Josh are rather less than amused at this).

Although the leader of the monastery is now dead, the second-in-command – the priest seen last session – still survives and so further defense of the monastery will be organised. It will be interesting to see what the players do. My challenge now is to work out how much the monastery will be defended before it is abandoned as a lost cause…

 

[Celtavian]

We entered the Stoneheart Monastery. Tough place. We almost died at level 4. Two of our party had to be carried out. Three were barely on their feet. We couldn't find a place to short rest. We were resource depleted. Surprised we made it out alive.

 

[MerricB]

The Stoneheart Monastery. The Sumber Hills. 10th Kythorn. 591 DR.

With the lady abbot now dead, the adventurers expected a simpler entrance to the monastery. Not a bit of it! This time, three minotaurs awaited them in the entrance chamber, and the resulting combat was fierce and dangerous. Minotaurs can hit very hard indeed, and the group – Krovis in particular – was reminded of that. Repeatedly.

With the death of the minotaurs, the adventurers spotted a few monks who fled from them, but had vanished once the adventurers gave chase. A number of doors led off from the hallways, and so the group began to explore them, seeking the monks.

The first room they tried held not the monks, but instead a lich – a gaunt figure who was busily engaged in researching something beyond the adventurers’ understanding. The adventurers engaged it in conversation, not realising at first what they were addressing, and discovered that it was not really aligned with the monks of the monastery, it was named Renwick, and it really didn’t want to be disturbed. Jandar tried to press the issue, and was informed that if he continued, he would discover how long he could survive in a room full of poison gas. Renwick pointed out that he didn’t need to breathe, but Jandar did. Jandar left quietly.

Exploring the rest of this side of the monastery yielded a lot of empty rooms, mainly work rooms. The group were particularly interested by a distillery with many large bottles of brandy in it, with Jandar sampling the brandy to excess and becoming quite intoxicated as a result.

This gave them a few problems as they explored an interior garden, where two statues animated and attacked the group. The statues’ stony exterior proved resistant to the party’s weaponry, and the lead characters in the group were torn up pretty badly before the warlocks in the group could subdue the statues with their eldritch blasts.

The adventurers then discovered stairs leading down, where they discovered the monks they’d spotted earlier trying to convince an ogre and his minions to come help above, despite previous orders to the contrary. The ogre was quite happy to engage the adventurers now they’d come below, and hit hard! The adventurers won the battle, but it was a close-fought thing, and the monks had disappeared by its end. With the group now very badly hurt, they returned to the surface and left the monastery, looking once more for a place to rest and heal.

The Players and their Characters
Michael is playing Krovis Thorn, LN human Paladin 3/Fighter 1. (Soldier, Lord’s Alliance)
Mikey is playing Diablo, N dragonborn Warlock 3 (Sage, Lord’s Alliance)
Jesse is playing Jandar, CN human Fighter 4 (Criminal, Zhentarim)
Noah is playing Gimble, CN gnome Rogue 3 (Criminal, Zhentarim)
Josh is playing Ivan, CN water genasi Bard 4 (Pirate, Lord’s Alliance)
Danielle is playing Thumbalina, CN dwarf Barbarian 3 (Outlander, Emerald Enclave)
Dean is playing Zed Lepplin, CN human Warlock 1/Fighter 1 (Entertainer, Zhentarim)

DM Notes
We’re spending a fair amount of time on the monastery, with the various trips allowing the monks a small ability to recover between expeditions… although not too much. Only a bare handful of monks now survive, with the group’s major opponents now being foes who have come up from below to bolster the monastery’s defences. There is still leadership, but it isn’t that effective at this point. The inhabitants need a breathing space!

We were back to a full table of seven players tonight. I adjusted a few of the encounters to scale to the number of players, although not to their levels… I want to keep some of the feel of the difficulty of these encounters for the players. The group is at relatively low levels compared to the threat of their opponents, which just requires them to keep on their toes more; it shouldn’t be that long before the group reach the fourth level ; the main trouble is with the players who can’t make every session and thus miss out on valuable XP.

Apart from that, it’s business as usual. The monks are getting worried, though, so they’ll try something different next session!

 

[MerricB]

The Stoneheart Monastery. The Sumber Hills. 11th Kythorn. 591 DR.

Once again, the adventurers entered the monastery; this time with Krovis pre-emptively charging at the door on his newly acquired paladin’s mount and smashing it down. The minotaurs and monk behind the door were quite surprised by this and fell after a short combat, although – once again – Krovis was hurt rather severely by the minotaurs. They are extremely dangerous beasts!

However, upon searching the monk, the adventurers discovered a note, which read: “Do not engage the intruders! Greet them and bring them to me in the shrine.”

Some groups would ignore this note, especially given that they were now on their third expedition into the monastery – having, in each one, left death and destruction behind. Not this group, chaotics that they were. They immediately tried to come up with explanations as to why they’d slaughtered the monk and the minotaurs…

The group knew the way to the shrine, having visited it on their first attack, and immediately made their way there; this way through the front doors. A pair of living statues observed them as they entered, but did not attack. Within the shrine stood the priest they’d met on their first venture, and they greeted him with an apology for the trouble they’d caused. Xarbo, for that was his name, was not amused to learn that the monk at the door had been killed by the unruly minotaurs (and that the adventurers had slain them in retaliation), but controlled his anger and greeted the party.

Jandar declared that the adventurers represented the Zhentarim and was quickly shushed by the rest of the adventurers, with Ivan apologising and explaining they were seeking the missing delegation. Did Xarbo know anything about them? To the adventurers’ surprise, he replied in the affirmative, explaining that a number of the delegation were seeking enlightenment in the mines below. They were there by choice – if he liked, he could escort the adventurers to them!

The adventurers were sceptical, but agreed. Xarbo sent his two guards down the stairs to show the way, the party following behind them. However, at this point the treacherous priest triggered a trap on the stairs that dumped all of the adventurers in the room with the Umber Hulk, and the door to the cage was open! It charged at the group. The adventurers could now see it had been half-blinded and had its claws augmented by great metal talons.

It tore apart the guards and started in on the adventurers; thankfully, its blinding removed its great weapon of its confusing stare, but the talons were sharp and deadly. Krovis and Jandar were at the front of the group, protecting the others from its attacks, and took great damage before it eventually fell.

With the beast dead, they were surprised to hear applause – Xarbo had come down the stairs behind them, and congratulated them on their victory. They had passed the final test; as he couldn’t those unworthy to meet with those in search of enlightenment. He took them back upstairs to a waiting room, and went in search of the delegates. The group accompanied him without protest.

Eventually, they met with two of the delegation, who were dirty and dusty from their work below in the mines. When asked about their circumstances, both replied that they were fine, and that they were seeking enlightenment. The word “enlightenment” came up many times in the conversation, although exactly what it meant was not explained by the delegates. Eventually, the adventurers wearied of the conversation and the seekers of enlightenment returned below. Xarbo arrived, happy to have shown the adventurers what they sought – and declaring that they too might be worthy of enlightenment.

More conversation followed, in which he revealed that although the monastery had managed to save some of the delegation, the party as a whole had fallen prey to the vicious, evil Wind Knights of Feathergale Spire, not far to the west in the Sumber Hills. He urged the adventurers to deal with that evil, and was pleased when the adventurers agreed. After a good nights’ rest, the adventurers set out to Feathergale Spire.

A few days later they arrived, to see a pair of knights riding on griffons and giant vultures above the tower. Thumbalina was enchanted, and the group were greeted by a vivacious young woman, who offered to take them to meet the leader of their order – on this happy anniversary, the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Feathergale Knights! The adventurers accepted the invitation, and proceeded inside the spire…

The Players and their Characters
Michael is playing Krovis Thorn, LN human Paladin 5. (Soldier, Lord’s Alliance)
Jesse is playing Jandar, CN human Fighter 4 (Criminal, Zhentarim)
Josh is playing Ivan, CN water genasi Bard 4 (Pirate, Lord’s Alliance)
Danielle is playing Thumbalina, CN dwarf Barbarian 4 (Outlander, Emerald Enclave)
Dean is playing Zed Lepplin, CN human Warlock 2/Fighter 1 (Entertainer, Zhentarim)

DM Notes
We were down to five players this week, Mikey and Noah unable to attend. Michael took advantage of the one last chance before reaching level 5 to rebuild his character as a straight paladin rather than a paladin/fighter, after I pointed out how important it was to reach Extra Attack. I feel his character was much more effective as a result.

And so we finally got in a session where there was a lot of roleplaying and a lot of lying – from both sides! Yes, Xarbo was in no means telling the truth, and I don’t think the players really bought his explanations, but were willing to play along with them to see where things were leading. (This was certainly the case in Dean’s case, who several times was very sceptical of the “enlightenment” answer. Certainly I attempted to play the delegates in a brainwashed manner; I tried to present their words in a flat monotone, giving away their compromised state. I don’t really know how successful I was at that, but then, Danielle probably didn’t care. She was completely delighted by the Feathergale Knights, though!

Watching the group after they found Xarbo’s note was absolute joy – there’s nothing like seeing a group think they’ve just made a terrible mistake, especially when they’re scrambling for justifications for their actions.

With the group now approaching the Feathergale Knights in a diplomatic fashion, it offers up all these possibilities for the next session…

 

[MerricB]

It’s an interesting tactic to announce to your host that you were sent to kill him, but that’s what Thumbalina did upon meeting the head of the Feathergale Knights. She followed this up with the pronouncements that she’d changed her mind, they were all really cool, and could she ride a griffon please. Yes, you’ve got to enjoy the antics of the dwarf who thinks she’s a giant (she was raised by giants), is a barbarian and belongs to the Emerald Enclave.

This even managed to stop Jandar from pronouncing that they’d been sent by the Zhentarim to help (followed by the usual denials of that status from the other adventurers) for about 10 seconds, a definite first! Although what wasn’t surprising was when he eventually managed to state this, the rest of the adventurers were unaware. You’d think they’d be quick enough to stop him by now, but such was not the case.

This excitement led into a very nice dinner with the Feathergale Knights, which was interrupted by a manticore hunt!

The manticore hunt was interesting; each of the adventurers hopped on their own mount, except for Zed, who rode with one of the knights. This backfired on the gnome when his knight retired from the hunt after being hurt by the manticore. The search for the manticore saw half the adventurers set out on their own separate ways to discover the manticore first; however, they were not successful in that and it was the main group that discovered the manticore first. Several of the knights retired during the combat, and Thumbalina jumped onto th the back of the manticore, laying about it with her axe. Eventually, Diablo slew with a scorching ray spell, with Thumbalina leaping to safety on another’s griffon. The adventurers who had split from the group caught up just as the manticore fell.

The knights were delighted with the dwarf’s success, and the next morning – before the rest of the adventurers were up – Thumbalina found herself inducted into the Featherspire Knights!

Discussion between the adventurers and the master of the Knights, Thurl Merosska, turned to the matter of Stoneheart Monastery. Thurl revealed that the monastery had been corrupted by evil and – based on their reports – it was time to deal with it once and for all. The adventurers happily agreed, and after being reprovisioned by the knights – the group actually being flown to a nearby town to buy supplies – set off once again for the monastery.

This time, they directly attacked Qarbo, attempting to deceive him first; saying that a bottle of explosive spirits was the head of Thurl, but he fled, leaving his guards to face the intruders, and ended up fleeing into the mines and then further down, into a long spiraling staircase that led to a bridge over a great chasm. On that bridge the adventurers were attacked by gargoyles which caused them a lot of trouble, but Zed dodged his way along the bridge until he faced Qarbo, grabbing him and stopping him from fleeing further. Then Thumbalina charged into the evil priest, knocking him into the chasm – and to his death.

The adventurers then returned to the surface to rest and recuperate.

The Players and their Characters
Michael is playing Krovis Thorn, LN human Paladin 5. (Soldier, Lord’s Alliance)
Jesse is playing Jandar, CN human Fighter 4 (Criminal, Zhentarim)
Josh is playing Ivan, CN water genasi Bard 4 (Pirate, Lord’s Alliance)
Danielle is playing Thumbalina, CN dwarf Barbarian 4 (Outlander, Emerald Enclave)
Dean is playing Zed Lepplin, CN human Warlock 4 (Entertainer, Zhentarim)
Mikey is playing Diablo, CN dragonborn Warlock 3. (Sage, Lord’s Alliance)
Noah is playing Gimble, CN gnome Rogue 3. (Criminal, Zhentarim)

DM Notes
It’s always a lot of fun running this group, as I’m never sure what they’ll do next. Danielle’s initial declaration of “We’re here to kill you!” was hilarious, and led to a lot of the players just doing double-takes. It was absolutely priceless! Thankfully, she then continued on immediately to flatter Thurl, so the group weren’t then slaughtered out of hand.

I apologise for the lack of updates on the progress of the group (and my blog in general); I haven’t been in the best of health, and other matters have also been drawing my attention.

Interactions with NPCs can go in many different ways, and good background on the NPCs goals and personality help. In other words, read the adventure! Princes doesn’t quite have the same background information as in Hoard of the Dragon Queen (which gives a lot of very good information about the factions), but there was still enough for me to work out a strategy that Thurl would adopt when faced with the party. Would he attack them? Would he try to influence them? The Knights are noted as not trusting the monks in any case, so it was easy for them to aid the party against the monastery, and even give them a little push in that location.

Which brought the characters down into the depths beneath the Monastery… It’s quite possible in this adventure for the party to wander into areas which are a little too difficult for them. That’s fine; one of the tactics as a DM is to provide other adventure opportunities for when they retreat after realising things are going badly. If they retreat…

 

[Rabbitbait]

Crikey, they're in a very bad place. I hope they survive.

 

[MerricB]

The Stoneheart Monastery. The Sumber Hills. 24th Kythorn. 591 DR.

The adventurers had been charged by the Feathergale Knights to discover the evil lurking in the Stoneheart Monastery, and so they delved once more into its depths, first making sure they’d explored all of the upper level before going into the dungeons. The kitchens, dining hall and guest chambers proved deserted with nothing of value – even the guards on the gate had disappeared by now.

Taking the stairs down from the central shrine and turning the opposite way from which the priest had gone brought them to a crypt, which was guarded by ten zombies. The adventurers dealt with them pretty easily, the slow-moving zombies proving no match for the superior fighting power of the party. (And to think, zombies had inflicted great wounds on the party a couple of months ago…) The group contemplated a set of stairs leading up, only to realise it probably led to the lich above, someone they had no wish to face again.

Heading south, the group found themselves in the mines, where they stumbled on a party of duergar, set there as guards by Qarbo and not yet relieved of their duties (due, no doubt, to the priest now being dead). The duergar were not in the mood to fight to the death, and after a few were slain by the adventurers, they fled as quickly as they could to safer locales. The adventurers, somewhat cautious after their previous encounters, did not pursue.

The deeper mines were dangerous, with grick lurking in unexpected corners. These many-tentacled beasts could attack with surprise from behind, so the group were soon very much on their toes after the first encounter with the aberrations. Cries for help led the adventurers to a cell where several prisoners were being kept, including the pair the group had questioned before (and insisted they were seeking enlightenment).

Unfortunately, before the adventurers could question the prisoners, more grick attacked, surprising the group from behind (despite the prior warnings – they were all distracted by the prisoners!) Once the grick were dead, healing spells were expended and the prisoners freed…

DM Notes

Not that much to say about this session; the group basically mopping up the remnants of the Stoneheart Monastery. The main decisions to make were in how much the monastery had been abandoned by the cult. In the end, I ruled that the prisoners had been forgotten in the chaos, likewise the duergar guards. At this point, the group could go down to the very dangerous level below or return home… they’ll likely do the latter, seeing as they have the freed prisoners to escort home!

 

[MerricB]

The Stoneheart Monastery. The Sumber Hills. 24th Kythorn. 591 DR.

The adventures had found a number of prisoners, one whom they recognised as the dwarf Bruldenthar. He was the delegate that the monks had demonstrated as being there of his own free will – he’d insisted that he was seeking enlightenment in the mines. This was certainly no longer the case, as he pleaded with the group for release. Using keys they’d previously found on the bodies of some of the cultists, the prisoners were soon freed, and a more badly-treated lot of people it would be harder to imagine. Food had been rare over the last tenday; the efforts of the adventurers in attacking the cultists had unfortunately also meant the prisoners had been neglected. The adventurers tended to them, and soon they were restored enough to converse.

Bruldenthar informed the group that the delegation had been ambushed south of Beliard by Earth cultists (those of the monastery), and had been ferried over the water by pirates. However, their captors had then been attacked themselves by raiders on giant vultures (almost certainly Feathergale Knights, based on their descriptions), who had flown off with the delegate Deseyna Norvael while the remainder had been retained by the earth cultists. Bruldenthar’s companion Rhundorth and Teresiel had been taken below – he’d not seen them again. He also spoke of the brainwashing he’d received that had led to the strange interview of a few days past, which had deflected the attention of the party. Although some of the adventurers were eager to progress below the temple, escorting the prisoners safely home took priority, and so, after using the remaining stores in the monastery to give everyone a good meal, the adventurers returned to Red Larch, where the good folk of the town tended to those rescued.

However, before the party could deal with the Feathergale Knights, another issue needed to be dealt with: orcs had begun to enter the valley in great numbers and had been raiding settlements on the eastern side of the valley. Kaylessa, the innkeeper and mayor of Red Larch, let the adventurers know about the news. She’d been contacted by the Waterbaron of Yartar, and been asked to send the adventurers that way. Thumbalina was likewise contacted by a member of the Emerald Enclave and told about the orc movements. And so the journey to the other side of the vale began.

It was fairly uneventful, except for a short tussle with ogres which went badly for the ogres. They also met some pilgrims going to the dwarven shrine in the Vale, whom they warned of the local bandit activity, while assuring them that the priests were still in residence.

Finding the orc raiders didn’t prove to be that difficult – all they had to do was follow the smoke! They soon came across a burning farm with one survivor, the farm’s owner, and he told a tale of the orcs taking a number of his workers – and his wife – as slaves! Obviously, they needed to be rescued.

Thankfully, the orcs weren’t that far away and were still preparing to rejoin the main force. Their captives were still alive and looking somewhat fraught (as you would after being captured by orcs!) The orcs didn’t have a good watch out, so the adventurers were able to surprise them, and the battle was short and sweet. The farmer was reunited with his family, but they weren’t safe yet: there were still a lot of orcs about. The adventurers chose to escort the farmers to where they’d been planning to go previously before being surprised by the orcs: a nearby steading where all the local farmers were gathering for defence. There, they’d face the attack together.

Players & Characters
Michael is playing Krovis Thorn, LN human Paladin. (Soldier, Lord’s Alliance)
Jesse is playing Jandar, CN human Fighter. (Criminal, Zhentarim)
Josh is playing Ivan, CN water genasi Bard. (Pirate, Lord’s Alliance)
Danielle is playing Thumbalina, CN dwarf Barbarian. (Outlander, Emerald Enclave)
Mikey is playing Diablo, CN dragonborn Warlock. (Sage, Lord’s Alliance)
Noah is playing Gimble, CN gnome Rogue. (Criminal, Zhentarim)

(Not entirely sure of the levels of the PCs for this session, my notes are a bit scanty for this session and the next couple – apologies for that!)

DM Notes
This session was pretty significant: it represented the first real success of the party (freeing the first prisoner of the cult) and also the first side-quest I’ve sent them on to break up the regular storyline. Which gets them out of the dungeon-crawling that forms a very large part of this adventure.

It also represents the point at which the structure of Princes of the Apocalypse wanders into some real problems.

The fact is that Princes has a very strong central goal for the players: Find the prisoners. Any side-quest I then introduce then just delays the party accomplishing that goal. At this point, the group is well aware of where they have to go next (Feathergale Spire), and so the request for the group to deal with the orcs (essentially “save the farmers”) need to be balanced against their existing goal (“save the delegates”). Surely there should be others who can save the farmers while the group continue on their hunt for the delegates? Well, not in D&D-land, it seems. Let me make clear that I have no problem with the actual side-quest. It’s a great little adventure and was a lot of fun to run and play. It’s just that, structurally, it doesn’t fit in the ongoing story.

This probably worries me more than my players. Ultimately, it was my decision to side-line the main quest for this one. I can sort of justify it – “the delegates may already be dead; it’s been weeks, while the threat to the farmers is known and immediate” – but the justification may be hollow.

Coming up, there’s also the problem of the players wandering into sections of the adventure that may be just too difficult for them. I’m not really a fan of players needing to gain XP in a holding pattern until they’re good enough to continue on with the story.

How will I deal with this in future sessions? Your guess is as good as mine!

 

[Rabbitbait]

This probably worries me more than my players. Ultimately, it was my decision to side-line the main quest for this one. I can sort of justify it – “the delegates may already be dead; it’s been weeks, while the threat to the farmers is known and immediate” – but the justification may be hollow.

Coming up, there’s also the problem of the players wandering into sections of the adventure that may be just too difficult for them. I’m not really a fan of players needing to gain XP in a holding pattern until they’re good enough to continue on with the story.

How will I deal with this in future sessions? Your guess is as good as mine!

I just let my players wander in, get in trouble and run away. But it did make them a bit overcautious. I personally don't mind side adventures coming in as long as the players realise that there may be other consequences to the actions they take.

I hope my players aren't reading this, but the King of Breeland (my version is set in Eberron) is about to summon the heroes after they led a small army to destroy the Feathergale Knights and the Temple of Howling Hatred. They will get all sorts of honours, but will realise that the king (who has a certain level of paranoia) is now arresting the families and close connections of the Feathergale Knights in Breeland.

What will the adventurers do about that? Especially since they are now aware that there is a problem with the rising of elemental evil. And most of the families of the Feathergale Knights are noble families. How will they react to the deaths of their children and being rounded up like common criminals. Crikey.

I feel like my game is about to completely go off track from the written adventure, but things happen and I feel I need to follow what the consequences would naturally be.

So in your case, I'd be deciding whether the delegates die (or are completely brainwashed) if the adventurers delay. There doesn't seem to be any reason (in-game) that they need to survive.