D&D General How Was Your Last Session?

[Azzy]

Last session went well—I had beefed up Cryovain to be a CR 10 baddie (thank you @dave2008) to provide an actual challenge and climatic battle. I'm glad I did, too. I wanted them to feel like death was on the line and if I had stayed with the CR 6 default, it would have been a cakewalk). The breath weapon rechaged two or three times durring combat, dropping most of the party to half hp and dropping the rogue to 0 hp (the cleric made sure she was up the next round). Ultimately, the turn the dragon got in range to use its breath weapon, the paladin cast misty step to get on the dragon's back. This proved a good idea and that damed dwarf kept holding on despite the dragon's best efforts to shake him off. Things took a bad turn for the paladin whe the dragon used its breath weapon on the dwarf, dropping him to 0 hp (and consequently dropping him about 100 ft. to the ground—and an automatic failed death save)). After a ranged attack (from the ranger) that turn that dropped the dragon to 0 hp, the dragon's corpse landed on the dwarf (causing a second automatic failed death save). Fortunately, the party managed to heal the dwarf before he could roll another death save.

I do have to question the player's strategic thinking as they had the rangey ranger pop a potion of flying before the battle (instead of giving it to the barbarian that had the dragon-slayer sword—which she then never got to actually use). I even tried to hint that giving it to a melee character would be a good idea, but no takers.

Next session is the resolution and conclusion in which the party will (likely) head back to Axeholm to let the people of Phandalin know that the dragon is dead and that it's safe to go back to town. Then they will likely go back to Neverwinter (where they started from). Aside from the possibility of random encounters, there's no danger to likely threaten the party on the way back and it it will all be talkie role-playing action.

Thus endeth my campaign, and the next session after will be a return to my friend's Ravenloft campaign in which I get to play as a player again.

My thoughts on this campaign is that I shouldn't have mixed Lost Mines and Icespire Peak. DoIP is laden with too many side quests that have little to nothing to do with the plot of finding and stopping the dragon. Having two major plots (find and clear the lost mine and kill the dragon) gave too little heft to either of them. And, the PCs leveled too fast (that's my bad, though). I wish I had just run LMoP by itself, but water under the bridge and all that.

My next campaign (when my turn to DM again comes up) will be in Eberron and I don't think I will be using any published adventures for that. I am more comfortable creating my own adventures (and this has been true since I first DMed), so I really don't know why I try to run a published adventure every so often.

 

[billd91]

The PCs finished off the rest of the zombies in the old hobgoblin cave and decided they were too worn own to press on. So they returned to Kendall Keep and found that one of the keep's regular merchants had arrived that day for a late visit on his way to his wintering quarters. He was gregarious with them and asked them about their adventures, which Pom the bard was only too willing to answer with detailed descriptions of the party's valor.
Loot the halfling barbarian decided to go visit the merchant's horses and proceeded to have a conversation with them via a speak with animals ritual that she knows. Through that conversation she learned that this merchant occasionally visits some caves and meet with people with predator fangs who smell of blood as well as other two-legs, including humans. Sometimes, they take people stuck in beer boxes (barrels) and the merchant hands them over. This, of course, concerned Loot that this merchant may not be all that he seems to be.
That night, Tarin, Garra, and Shael stole into the warehouse to examine this merchant's cart and gear. They found that one of his barrels had a false bottom (useful for smuggling at the least) but also with manacles held fast with a chain and staple. They met with the local cooper who confessed he had made barrels like that (with the false bottom but not with the manacles) under duress as the merchant has leverage - the cooper's missing daughter, thought by some to have run away to make her fortune, but actually kidnapped by the merchant.
The party resolved to tail the merchant when he next left Kendall Keep, so the next morning when he set out, so did they. They spotted him heading for the caves. And when one of his bodyguards stayed near the road to watch for trouble, they rushed him and knocked him out for questioning.

It's always fun when the group gets together for some less-violent mayhem. They're pretty good at keeping a DM on his toes since they're willing to try all sorts of unusual things.

 

[Gorg]

My party invaded Cragmaw Castle. Snuck in through the hidden side enterance, and went right into the room with the Grick. 2 round kill, but it wounded the thief. Next up was the chapel. Gobs achieved total surprise... Thief shot by arrow.
Mage responded by casting burning hands- and all 3 gobs saved. burnt, but still fighting. Gobs made good use of the bonus disengage action to hit and run when the fighter charged. He still hit one and killed it. the rest of the short fight happened at range.

gold altar set recovered. thief drank potion of healing. They found the storeroom next. And from there the hobgob barracks. This was a much tougher fight! thief was dropped by a nasty blow, thanks to the hobs martial prowess ability. (but not before he killed one with a sneak attack.) both fighter and cleric also took heavy damage.

luckily, the cleric was close enough to use a cantrip to stabilize the thief immediately! H also did plenty of damage with his mace! Fighter and mage both rolled crits to squash the last 2.

Man, hobgobs are nasty melee opponents. they get free sneak attack-like damage, if an ally is within 5'...

It took 2 2nd level spells to get everyone back in fighting health- an upcast cure on the thief, and a healing prayer.

that ended the session for the day. i guess the elf curse also applies to half elves, lol. he WOULD have died, if this were 1e 2e or odnd!

 

[Dr Magister]

Actually really good. We finished the last game with a Shambling Mound having come over the side of their river-ship, engulfed the halfling rogue and ditched back over the side.

We started with the cleric hitting it with a Guiding Bolt, rolled a natural 20 and inflicted a load of damage as it floated away. The monk leapt from the boat onto the mound, and thanks to the Guiding Bolt managed to hit it with a stunning strike. The dwarf fighter then shot it with the deck-mounted ballista. They'd already infliced a lot of damage on it when it came onto the ship, and the monk considered using Deflect Missiles to reduce the dmage, but decided against it. The ballista bolt slammed into the mound, killing it, and I ruled that the excess damage went onto the halfling, who dropped to 0hp. We're using the Lingering Injuries rules from the DMG, and he ended up being hideously scarred.

They healed him and got him back on board, and sailed on. They decided to stop at a town at the confluence of the river they're on and a tributary. The halfling player decided that his character was pretty traumatised after having being swallowed and horribly scarred, and so the PC headed straight for a tavern and started downing shots of the local liquor. A failed Con save later saw him throwing up over the side of the dock.

Then he felt someone tugging at his belt pouch, drew his sword, turned and struck. Despite his drunkeness he rolled well, and did enough damage to kill the scrawny girl who'd been trying to pick his pocket. This was in broad daylight on a bustling dock. He sank to the floor still very drunk, and waited to be arrested.

The rest of the PCs, who'd been exploring the town, returned to the ship. When the halfling didn't come back they went searching for him, learned what happened and the session ended with them looking at the unconscious halfling through the bars of his cell and debating how they can (and if they should) save him from being executed for murder.

It was an incredible and totally unpredictable combination of in-character decisions, OOC tactical choices and dice rolls, resulting in a lot of drama and in-character soul-searching (especially by the cleric, whose goddess is, amongst other things, the patron of small children). The stop-over in the town was only meant to be a brief rest and resupply, and I'd literally decided on the fly that there was a town there at all, because I looked at my map and thought it made sense that there would be.

 

[el-remmen]

EDIT TO ADD: The below is part of an adaptation of "Roarwater Caves" by Willie Walsh from Dungeon magazine #15. The last time I ran this adventure 2E was less than a year old.

In my "Revenants of Saltmarsh" group, the two players (along with their NPC gnome ranger buddy) have been exploring sea caves inhabited by xvarts at the request of the xvart who would be chief, Zemeck. It seems that a group of bugbears led by a big fat one named Kruglut have taken over, forcing the xvarts to serve them and killing those who resist (including the former chief and his sons - Zemeck is the former chief's nephew). The problem is some of the xvarts are loyal to the bugbears and most are too scared to act against them. Oh and the other problem is that the two characters are both part of the D&D equivalent of an early Christian cult and only use violence as a last resort, preferring sleep spells and the like, attacking to subdue, and binding the wounds of those that they defeat through violent means. This makes success a lot more difficult because they are really trying to "love thy enemy." The paladin (of redemption) is also very suspicious of Zemeck and is worried that once the bugbears are dealt with he will return with his many xvart warriors to finish the PCs off. The other PC is a bard.

Anyway, after defeating some bathing bugbears in the last session and leaving them tied up, convincing another group of xvarts to just hide and wait for it to be over, and sneaking past a third group of xvarts, they ended up in a fight with two bugbears near the cave complex's "back door." (This was after a nasty fight with a stunjelly). When xvarts arrived the party bard somehow convinced them to wait and see how the fight goes (using the knowledge that the xvarts they had snuck past were boxing and betting on the fight to assume they like such a thing) and soon instead of helping their bugbear masters, a group of xvarts were betting and cheering as they watched the fight. As soon as it was over, the xvarts fled except for one who told them where to find Kruglut and saying he will keep the other xvart guards away as long as they are not called. He also showed them a safe place to take a short rest.

From there, the three heroes did some more exploring and found the central chamber where Kraglut was being fanned by palm fronds by a xvart, while others were giving him a mani/pedi and another was feeding him grapes. He has two large bugbear guards, a couple of dozen other xvarts in there, and his "pet" something called "Razorfeathers" that the PCs can't get a good view of from their perch above the room.

We left it there ready to begin next session with the surprise assault.

 

[Marc_C]

Fantasy AGE • Death in Freeport
Mega battle last night against the horror captured to serve as host for the dark god worshipped by the serpent living people under Freeport.

The creature was held captive by the serpent people inside a crystal sphere connected to the top of Milton's Folly (a gigantic surface obelisk) with 4 gold plated wires. The wires were supposed to channel energy from the dark god's plane creating a conduit.

The PCs managed to destroy the sphere. The creature unleashed its fury at being held captive on the characters. Surely it could kill and eat the puny humans and dwarves.

Horror: 4 tentacles (3d6+4 dmg, reach 4 yards), Tongue (2d6+4 reach 4 yards, poison constitutions/stamina 14 or -2 hit, -2 def. until save), Mouth 3d6+4 (swallow strength/might 14 to resist), Jump 6 yards high x 6 yards long. Size large (2x2 squares).

The PCs: Level 3 Mage dwarf, Level 3 Warrior dwarf, Level 3 Rogue human. Plus three level 1 human warriors as hired hands.

The heroes won by the skin of their teeth. They were all below 7 life points after 4 rounds. Another round and it would have been a TPK. That was the epic final to the serpent people thread of the campaign.

PCs were able to remove 4000gp worth of black opals from the stone columns. They will be able to pay the mortgage and repairs on the ruined mansion they bought as a base of operations.

 

[turnip_farmer]

Brilliant session. Up till now I've only ever played with strangers on the internet, but I finally convinced some of my friends to sit down at a table. Much more fun than normal.

 

[Azzy]

The final, wrap-up session of my campaign wen't mostly without issue, thankfully. Since the session was short, we were able to start my friend's Ravenloft campaign. Which went well once the DM got some port forwarding issues out of the way. Next Sunday will be a full session and we'll get back into the swing of things with these PCs.

 

[HJFudge]

After defeating a party of thugs sent to kidnap their charge, the PCs decided to leave their bodies on the side of the road with a message, warning the people who hired these thugs against further attempts. They set out from the inn where they were attacked toward their destination, but after a few hours the parties Necromancer senses a dark energy coming from the direction of the Inn. Worried about the Innkeeper and his family whom they had befriended, the party (against the wishes of their charge whom hired them to escort her to the city) decide to risk it and head back to see what was causing such a disturbance.

The bodies they left on the side of the road: Gone.
The inn: Burned.
The Innkeeper and his family: Vanished.

Tracks led toward the mountains, several of the tracks clearly hobbled or hampered somehow. Were the Innkeeper and his family still alive? They head off in pursuit hoping to intercept whatever force had kidnapped their friends and even their employer decides that this is a worthy delay. The rest of the day is spent tracking and they come across an abandoned cathedral deep in the woods at the foothills of the mountains. Dark necromantic energy emanates from the once holy place and haunting organ music fills the night air.

After paying a small price for inattentiveness (the windows they tried to break through happened to be ensorcelled, blasting them all with evil magicks and doing some damage) they proceed through the structure, sneaking around to disable the sources of necromantic energy that had been placed by whatever force occupied the chapel.

The Necromancer decides to try and redirect the power into his summoned minion and fails, destroying it but luckily also overloading the energy. The Innkeeper lay dead at the alter, his life essence used to power the wards, but his son remains alive and in the clutches of a powerful wizard - a member of the Merchant Consortium which sought to prevent their charge from reaching the city as she had vital information that would disrupt their interests there.

The Merchant Wizard offers the party the chance to walk away, claiming that the boy and his family were simply recompense for the parties killing of his apprentice (which led the thugs that attacked them at the inn). The party, being heroes, refused and a fight ensued. During the fight a truth was revealed: the leaders of the merchant consortium were dragons in disguise! The wizard cackles as he shape shifts into a carrion dragon and raises the dead parishoners of the shrine! Battle commences, the party manages to wound the dragon who tries to escape with the boy, but a daring leap sees the fighter save the kid as the dragon escapes into the air, vowing revenge.

The necromancer of the party takes pity on the boy and in a weird act of kindness raises his dead father as his new main Minion, promising to teach the boy the ways of the dead.

Thus the party stopped an evil merchant dragon wizard, saved a young boy from a fate worse than death, and gained a follower in the form of a young necromancers apprentice.

Fun times

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Six players, all with 5th level characters. 22nd session in what used to be my Dragon of Icespire Peak campaign. Now that the players want to continue the story, I'm expanding the scope across the entire Neverwinter region. So I'll be titling this the Reign of Neverwinter campaign for reasons that make sense to me and my players. Or maybe I'll just call it the Neverwinter campaign for short.

Anyway, after completing Dragon of Icespire Peak, the feedback I got from the players is that they were looking for a wider variety of challenges. Less combat, more problem solving. I admit that as a DM I have a bias toward action adventure. In the last two session I've tried to make a hard pivot into challenges that can't be resolved with force.

The session started with the players arriving in Phandalin after having slain the white dragon of Icespire Peak, only to find a rival party of adventurers claiming to be the killers of the dragon and angling for the reward. The PC orc vengeance paladin was infuriated and immediately threatened the leader of the rivals with bodily harm. (This is hilarious because, as noted above, the players had claimed they were looking for non-combat challenges and as soon as they got one they threatened to start a melee. And from there it only got worse.)

I turned to the newest player, who has a human genie warlock, and told her she knows the leader of the rival party. Mechanically, he was a CR 9 war priest. Narratively, he was a noble exiled from Waterdeep for trading slaves who relocated to Luskan. The player decided he had been a suitor of hers, but she discovered his slave trading and threatened to expose him to the authorities, leading to his hasty departure to Luskan. The warlock partnered with the PC dragonborn sorcerer to send telepathic messages to the exiled noble threatening to reveal his secrets if he didn't GTFO, now. The noble war priest gracefully turned the spotlight on the PCs and slunk out of town. On the outside, he was all smiles. On the inside: murder!

The players soon learned that the town had a new ruler. Several sessions ago the town master, Harben Wester, had been consumed by a black pudding (long story) that may or may not have been the fault of the PCs. No one's telling. The new town master, Mayor Pete, has been supplanted to an appointee of the Queen of Neverwinter. This is Lady Taneth, the new Warden of Phandalin. Secretly, she's part of a cabal of Luskan infiltrators who are arranging the deaths of local rulers, then engineering their appointment as replacements. Their goal is to seize power from the Queen of Neverwinter and turn that city into a vassal state of Luskan's. Taneth had a series of hard questions that cast the PC's previous actions in a dim light. The players were having none of this. They wanted their reward, now, and they threatened Taneth's life. Unwilling to comprise her longterm plans, Lady Taneth backed down. She said she would have their reward money in the morning. She also asked for their help discovering the fate of a local garrison that had gone ominously silent. The PCs agreed to look into it.

Lady Taneth had posession of one half of the Pyramid of Valanthara...a mysterious artifact that the dragon of Icespire Peak had sought. The PCs had the other half. After shaking it loose from Taneth, the PCs reassembled the Pyramid's fragments. As it flared to life, an answering flare came from within the ruins of Castle Phandalin. (That's my version of Tressendar Manor.) So, next session, the players will enter the ruins of Castle Phandalin in hopes of claiming the secret, lost treasure of the dragon that once protected the town.

Finally, the orc paladin gave Lady Taneth a decorative lamp, falsely claiming it was an apology for the earlier threats. He rolled a nat 20 on his Deception check. Taneth graciously accepted the lamp. Hiding inside was the warlock. Next session promises some infiltration shenannigans. The PCs might even discover the truth of Lady Taneth. But that won't help them know what to do about it.

I'd say it was a fairly successful two hour transition episode.