D&D 5E Feathergale Spire: The players want revenge!

[Tyranthraxus]

Yeah we didnt properly cleanse the keep which was too our detriment. However before we left the bandits and cultists had a falling out and the bandits left after we killed Grimjaw. When we returned to the Keep, we found the bandits had returned by the cultists had not (only the Boat Captain was there). We zone of truthed the Boat Captain and then killed him and made a deal with the Bandits to 'reform' their ways. Basically intmidiated the crap outta them and told them to stop their Banditry. Whether they do or not I dont know.

 

[pukunui]

The other thing that's occurred to me is that the party can easily pass themselves off as a completely different group of adventurers. Of the four who encountered the knights last time, one is dead, another has been reincarnated in a new body, and a third has gone off to rethink her life. That just leaves one left whom the knights might recognize, but he is an arcane trickster and knows the disguise self spell, so he could make himself look like somebody else. The two new PCs are complete unknowns as well, as is the fifth PC who wasn't present last time.

I'm considering just having the whole "anniversary feast" be a ploy. So if the PCs try just walking up to the front gate again, the knights will let them in and pretend its their tenth anniversary again and, if the PCs let them, they'll run through the whole spiel of showing them around and inviting them to a feast. No doubt the PCs won't let the knights attempt to sacrifice them this time, though.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

MY character promised Renwick that he would help him steal his brothers bones (claim them!) from the Knights of Sammular. Only my character promised though.

 

[pukunui]

Are you expecting the lich to come after you if you don't follow through?

I haven't included the knights in my campaign. Not sure I'll include the monastery either. Seems kinda boring. I am intending to run Scarlet Moon Hall as a standalone adventure soon, though. I like the whole play on the "Burning Man" thing.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Pukunni: Thats a good question. I purposely made sure that I only signed myself up to do it. Renwick told us how his brother had fed him a potion on the battlefield which turned him into a Lich because he couldnt bare to be without him. THen I guess the Brother died and 'some religous cult' stole his bodies and decided to dedicate themselves to his memory. He just wants to bury his brother in a final family approved resting place.

Basalt (my character) kinda saw that. He considers family important and after meeting the Knights of Feathergale spire has a serious issue with knight groups. As he sees it the bones should be with family not the false reason for a knightly order

(No time frame was given)

My character is a Warlock (Fiend/Ogremoch) and an Anti-Paladin (Ogremoch) who dosnt know thats who he gets his powers from. Hes been called 'brother' by Gargoyles which he found a little odd.

 

[pukunui]

OK, so we played again tonight. The PCs deceived their way into the tower entry hall, then started attacking. Despite playing into the wee hours of the morning, we were forced to end in a sort of stand-off. The PCs have slain a number of initiates and knights, and they've also managed to shut and bar all of the windows in the tower. They are now holed up in Merosska's quarters, with the surviving knights circling the tower on their mounts, and the leaders lurking around up top, with the hurricane monk at large (she jumped out the window of the solarium and they don't know where she went after that). I had two knights dismount and come down to level 3 and position themselves behind mostly shut doors (the PCs know this because the arcane trickster rogue set his bat familiar on sentry duty, and none of the bad guys noticed it lurking in a doorway). The leaders (the air cult priest and the skyweaver) are hanging around at the top of the stairs in the pagoda thing or thereabouts.

Now, of course, they're talking about trying to claim the tower for their own, which wasn't really what I had in mind. I guess I should have thought of that before deciding to run this adventure.


We'll be playing next on April 1st, and I had planned on running an unrelated one-shot with some pregens, but I suppose we could continue this adventure and I could just do something utterly wacky, like have a dragon randomly show up and start attacking the tower or something. I dunno. Will have to give it some thought.

 

[EvanNave55]

There is an L9 "Storm of" spell that you might want to put in the Air Orb. AFB and I don't remember the spell name, sorry. The PCs get hit by hail, lightning, wind gusts, and acid rain (not all at once).

That's Storm of Vengeance (fairly appropriate name in this circumstance)

First it deafens you and your companions within 360 ft. radius and causes thunder damage, then it rains acid upon you, next they can target you with lightning strikes, then a storm of hail bludgeoning you to death, and if you manage to survive all that a full 6 more rounds of cold damage within difficult terrain when your surroundings are heavily obscured by the harsh rain and winds.

The full spell text is here:

Storm of Vengeance
9th-level conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Sight
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute


A churning storm cloud forms, centered on a point you can see and spreading to a radius o f 360 feet. Lightning flashes in the area, thunder booms, and strong winds roar. Each creature under the cloud (no more than 5,000 feet beneath the cloud) when it appears must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 2d6 thunder damage and becomes deafened for 5 minutes.
Each round you maintain concentration on this spell, the storm produces additional effects on your turn.
Round 2. Acidic rain falls from the cloud. Each creature and object under the cloud takes 1d6 acid damage.
Round 3. You call six bolts o f lightning from the cloud to strike six creatures or objects o f your choice beneath the cloud. A given creature or object can’t be struck by m ore than one bolt. A struck creature must make a Dexterity saving throw. The creature takes 10d6 lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Round 4. Hailstones rain down from the cloud. Each creature under the cloud takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage.
Round 5-10. Gusts and freezing rain assail the area under the cloud. The area becomes difficult terrain and is heavily obscured. Each creature there takes 1d6 cold damage. Ranged weapon attacks in the area are impossible. The wind and rain count as a severe distraction for the purposes of maintaining concentration on spells. Finally, gusts of strong wind (ranging from 20 to 50 miles per hour) automatically disperse fog, mists, and similar phenomena in the area, whether mundane or magical.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

We just defeated the Old Guy at the top of the Tower at the Burning Man festival. It was a VERY tough battle. AFter copping full damage from a Fireball and a few other spells, I was down on 1 hp for the last 2 rounds. I managed to charm one of the cultists to help us in that battle.

Now we have 4 deep dark entrances into the Earth and not sure which one we are going to take. Im voting for Water.

 

[Daern]

...I suppose we could continue this adventure and I could just do something utterly wacky, like have a dragon randomly show up and start attacking the tower or something. I dunno. Will have to give it some thought.

I think it would make a great base of operations! What about going the opposite direction and having a faction come to the rescue? Maybe a Waterdeep Griffon Knight arrives and provides enough distraction to turn the tide of battle. Now they've got a sweet tower they need to fortify once they get attacked by Air Cultists from the nearby cave!

 

[pukunui]

I think it would make a great base of operations!

I'm not sure I'm ready to give them a base of operations. I had other plans ...

What about going the opposite direction and having a faction come to the rescue? Maybe a Waterdeep Griffon Knight arrives and provides enough distraction to turn the tide of battle. Now they've got a sweet tower they need to fortify once they get attacked by Air Cultists from the nearby cave!

Unfortunately, this doesn't work for me, since I'm just running Feathergale Spire as a standalone scenario in my homebrew campaign. There are no factions, nor any cavalry to come to the rescue. The PCs *are* the cavalry themselves, to a certain extent. And while I have decided that the Feathergale Society is still associated with a larger cult devoted to elemental air, the other cultists aren't conveniently located just a stone's throw away from the tower.


I've arranged a special session for tomorrow night to finish off this scenario, as I really want to run Death House with some pregens as an April Fools' Day special.

What I'm planning on doing is having the cult leaders (the priest and the skyweaver) give the PCs 10 minutes to come out with their weapons left behind and their hands in the air, or else the cultists are coming in. There's no way the PCs will surrender, though, so when they don't come out, the priest will summon an air elemental (perhaps via an elemental gem that he just happens to have) and send it into to attack them. While the PCs are busy fighting the elemental, the knights in the tower will rush the door and try to smash it open, then the leaders will use hit-and-run tactics on the PCs, firing spells at them from the stairwell then retreating back up to the pinnacle.

Assuming the PCs wipe all the cultists out - or cause the survivors to flee on their flying mounts - I'm thinking I'll have something happen to the tower. Maybe it gets zapped by a lightning bolt sent by Yan-C-Bin and starts crumbling. Maybe it gets shifted into the elemental plane of air, and the PCs have to find their way back to the prime world. I'm just not ready for them to have their own fortress, especially one that is off in the middle of nowhere. The players had been talking about building a stronghold near their hometown. I'd rather they did that. That'll give me more time to reveal a campaign secret that I've yet to put into play properly.