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

[Charles Rampant]

Are Dragon Turtles associated with Tiamat and Bahamut? Replacing the Kraken with one makes sense for me - I'm keeping the focus on the Cult of the Dragon in my ToD/SKT mashup - but I'm pretty vague on where Dragon Turtles fit into the cosmological setup.

 

[robus]

Are Dragon Turtles associated with Tiamat and Bahamut? Replacing the Kraken with one makes sense for me - I'm keeping the focus on the Cult of the Dragon in my ToD/SKT mashup - but I'm pretty vague on where Dragon Turtles fit into the cosmological setup.

I'm calling the Kraken "the dragon of the seas". With Tiamat returned, dragons rule the land/air, Krakens rule the ocean (replacing the Storm Giants) - at least that's their dream

 

[Blake Parris]

Are Dragon Turtles associated with Tiamat and Bahamut? Replacing the Kraken with one makes sense for me - I'm keeping the focus on the Cult of the Dragon in my ToD/SKT mashup - but I'm pretty vague on where Dragon Turtles fit into the cosmological setup.

Well, going by the monster manuel, it makes it sound like dragon turtles act and are treated like the dragons of the sea. They have a higher int then white dragons too, so there in the running for being able to be as conniving as at least some dragons, seems like that's what Tiamat would care about. Even if they aren't originally you could always say that dragon cultists treat them like they are, other dragons don't really have sea claims.

 

[Charles Rampant]

I'm calling the Kraken "the dragon of the seas". With Tiamat returned, dragons rule the land/air, Krakens rule the ocean (replacing the Storm Giants) - at least that's their dream

And this way, you get to use the totally rad Kraken!

Well, going by the monster manuel, it makes it sound like dragon turtles act and are treated like the dragons of the sea. They have a higher int then white dragons too, so there in the running for being able to be as conniving as at least some dragons, seems like that's what Tiamat would care about. Even if they aren't originally you could always say that dragon cultists treat them like they are, other dragons don't really have sea claims.

Sure. The other dragons are coastline at most, not underwater, so it seems fine to just quietly slot them in there. And what really matters is that one is working for the Cult, not necessarily that it's worshipping Tiamat.

 

[Myrdin Potter]

I have been pretty happy with the way this adventure has been running. I have been intertwining it with PoTA after my group started with Phandelver.

Getting close to the end game, the group role played well and Iymrith slipped up as intended.

For the life of me, I cannot see how the fact that she is a dragon gets revealed. The party is about to rescue the king and she should be long gone by the time the party is done there, and there was no reason for her to launch into a rage or anything as everything was in front of the youngest sister.

The clue about the evil at the heart of the Storm Giants and the calculated slip up about "abducted" has been enough for the party to pin Iymrith as the probable bad guy, but I don't see where else there is a link to the dragon that killed Harshnag and destroyed the temple of the oracle.

 

[Blake Parris]

In the book, the link is explicitly given by the oracle. It tells the party Imuryth is a dragon, also as written Imuryth arrives as a storm giant to the eye of the all father. Additionally, kraken society members might be aware of the connection. In my campaign I have been more explicit about it, have had her appear earlier and have a more active role(in mine she enslaved the kraken with a magic artifact and has telepathic abilities as a result. Any evil outsider has been rewritten to be her, such as in the stone giant section. It's not an earth primordial that's talking to the stone giant thane, it is Imuryth acting like she's the stone giant god via the magic pillar.) My cleric has been having visions about her as well.

If your to maelstrom though and there hasn't been a clear reveal to the party you could just have the storm giants not know she's a dragon, have them track her to the dragon layer. Start the fight with her in giant form like earlier posters suggested and have her turn in to dragon form later in the fight.

 

[Myrdin Potter]

She arrives in the form of a dragon at the oracle, and my party never got to that line of questioning. They only get 6 questions each day, they asked and that was enough to head off to find the relics, they came back and chose thier foe, asked a few questions on that for and then Imuryth shows up and wrecks the place.

Obviously, none of the Storm Giants know else even the evil sisters would not work with her. I will have to decide if that is a big surprise to everyone or if the kraken cult knows. I think I will have them know that their ally is a dragon but not who the dragon is specifically and then let the party role play and detective the rest out, including returning to the oracle and digging it out if needed.

My party is living in the upper levels of the water cult temple in PoTA, and they ritual cast water breathing every day because of expecting to fight water creatures and to fight in the water. They also tend to tear things apart so quite possible that they will be on board long enough for the kraken to appear. They also have the airship (and are way over trusting on the origin of it), so can escape the kraken to the air, but I also expect that they might jump into the water to fight it as they will not drown.

Will be interesting next session or two.

 

[Blake Parris]

So last session my group went to the eye and asked their questions. They immediately went to the great worm cave and got the shield, now in my campaign I decided that the conches are broken so that they will need to visit at least 3 of the giant layers, to be able teleport, They are planning on going back to the eye before getting more relics. Now this puts me in a bind, do I run the Imuryth encounter now or do I put it off until they come back with another relic(potentially after defeating the frost giants)? If I do it now they'll need another way to get to the other giant layers (digging through the rubble does not seem realistic to me). Would dimension door let them get to the oracle chamber?(has range 500ft) I'm not sure how far into the mountain the chamber is.

 

[robus]

Prepping the final chapter and I see that the treasure sarcophagi are to be opened in order and loot after loot handed out until the final one wherein lies a mummy lord.

I'm not sure why that wasn't randomized in some way. One option I can see is making each sarcophagi opened have a 50/50 chance of containing the mummy lord (until it's found). Alternatively rolling at 1d6 to determine it's position in the opening sequence.

I'm also wondering how the PCs might even have a chance of finding these sarcophagi if they're buried and sequestered? I feel like an empty one should be half buried or something? Or perhaps have a sink hole that has a PC fall into an empty sarcophagus giving a hint at least that there might be more stuff buried.

However I'm very happy to find that there's a big hole down which my PCs will find a very bruised and unhappy Blagothkus. I'm going to have terrible moaning sounds emerge from the hole.

 

[robus]

[MENTION=32659]Charles Rampant[/MENTION] - For the final chapter I'm swapping the Yuan-ti for Dragon cultists in order to keep the story tightly aligned with ToD. Rather than performing the ritual they're found debating which one is to be lowered down to kill Blagothkus as the fall wasn't enough to do it. Iymrith is tired of listening to his pathetic moaning.