Had my 8th session with a group of D&D noobs. It was via Google Hangouts because, you know, end of the world. Characters are 3rd level. We're playing through Dragon of Icespire Peak, which I've heavily modified to suit my tastes as well as tie the plot and themes more tightly into the characters.
The goal of this session's adventure, Dwarven Excavation, is for the characters to warn a group of dwarven prospectors about the titular white dragon. In the adventure as written, the prospectors have unwittingly unearthed a temple to Abbathor, the dwarven god of greed. I've turned this seed into a major subplot, with a secret cult of Abbathor in Phandalin undermining the player characters. The characters are just now starting to get the sense that something fishy is going on.
The characters arrive at the site of the excavated temple. I placed three dwarves there--Astrid, Sandor, and Gundren--and asked the dwarven tempest cleric to pick two of them. He would have a positive relationship with one, and a negative relationship with the second. The cleric said he was childhood friends with Astrid and that Sandor had always been jealous of their relationship. Astrid and Sandor claim that during their excavation they uncovered a secret room filled with severed hands. The severed, undead hands swarmed them and carried Gundren away. Astrid and Sandor fled the temple and have been afraid to enter again.
The half-orc vengeance paladin is turning out to be more than a little bit mercenary. He demands to know what they'll get in return for rescuing Gundren. Sandor claims the temple is rumored to hold a valuable stone. "Enough to set you up for life." In return for the stone, the party agrees to enter the temple. Tough crowd!
The characters enter the temple. Eventually, they find an altar. Gundren's body lays atop the altar. His right hand is severed. A massive rune-covered greataxe is buried in his chest. The area surrounding the altar is unnaturally dark.
Rather than get closer, the characters exit the temple and confront Astrid and Sandor. Something about their story seems suspicious. The dragonborn sorcerer tries to detect thoughts on Sandor but Sandor succeeds on multiple saving throws. Eventually, a fight breaks out. Astrid calls out to Abbathor for aid. The characters were right! Spirit guardians surround Astrid, but the paladin drops her with a single smite. Before they can take down Sandor, a swarm of crawling claws emerge from the temple, followed by two ravenous ghouls in the rotted vestments of Abbathor's clergy.
And on that cliffhanger we ended our 2 hour session.
