Last session of Coasts and Borders campaign went well. After a storm and ghost-pirate journey, our intrepid band ended in a small picturesque town of Skahm, which primary claim to fame as far at the party is concerned is that it is near the base of the tallest peak in the land. The drow rogue was following a vision they had of Eilistraee. They were accompanied by the three bronze dragon wyrmlings (well, slightly older, up to 4HD) they rescued from a powerful fey.
They were trying to be there before the first night of the full moon, giving them not much time to scale the peak after getting climbing gear and supplementing their cold weather gear (it's mid-winter), and getting warned about yetis. They decided to pass on both reindeer pack animals and a dog sled, going for speed and the strength of their dragonborn barbarian who came from a tundra tribe.
This was an extended skill test over multiple days of the climb, also made harder by choices to push hard (go the pace set by the faster two), go normal (go the pace set by the normal two), or go easy and reduce the DC. And also to push on for an extra half-march after dark. The pace set DCs against exhaustion levels, there was also checks for dealing with hazards and navigation. Oh, and once they reached a certain height it was also thin air which they had to acclimate to (which took time - did they want to slow down?) and was giving them disadvantage against exhaustion levels.
So, in the middle of this, one night they all collapse asleep. The drow rogue, who trances, has last watch by themselves. They don't hear anyone approaching, but suddenly hear a female voice speaking undercommon with a drow accent and can barely make her out. She says that the drow should follow her to caverns within the peak that will bring them to the top. But it is for the anointed only and will have to leave the rest of the party behind. But could bring the wyrmlings.
The drow, missing multiple warnings, complies. So the only one on watch successfully sneaks out of the camp, leaving everyone else asleep. They leave a note attached to the dragonborn's horn.
The drow woman leads the rogue to a cave not to far away. The drow misses the humanoid bones on the floor. Once sufficiently in that there is no hint of moonlight (Elistraee has moonlight among her portfolio), she turns and lets out a dreadful wail of pain and anger at the drow and the dragons. Two wyrmlings immediately fall, one is hurt, and the drow is reduced to three HPs from 25.
Please roll initiative.
This was a lightly modified banshee, with a wail [recharge 6] that did 5d6 psychic damage instead of just reducing the target to zero but still did half damage on a save. And also one that could keep up an living visage in dim light or darkness.
Decades before, she had been a drow hunter, tasked by her matron mother to make sure that a fleeing drow did not get to this shrine of Elistraee. Her and her hunting spider follwed the drow up the mountain, but were killed. He hatred and the power of the matron mother would not release her spirit, and she had been haunting the mountain ever since, killing the occasional drow trying to go to the shrine.
The loud wail however wakes up two of the three remaining party members. The pragmatic half-elf sorceress/warlock starts to take stock, but the eladrin bard, well aware of the sounds horrors make in the feywild, bolts up with a cry of "Banshee!" and rushed out. (Player completely guessed, and was right. This is her first D&D campaign, but she's into the fae predating it.)
She had sung in the camp earlier and knew the accoustics, and in trying to figure out where the wail came from I let her roll Performance. She nailed it and continued her dash, getting near the mouth of the cave just as a spectral hunting spider pulled itself from the stone to block her entrance. (Pretty much straight Specter, just reskinned and changed from 50' fly to 40' move and climb.)
The sorceress wakes the dragonborn, sees the note and reads it, and follows, but is behind due to not dashing.
Jumping a little further head the drow rogue has dropped and failed a death save, the dragons are making theirs, the eladrin bard took an opportunity attack from the spectral spider to get in, losing about 1/3 of her max HPs but being able to chase off the Banshee for a round (through a wall) with Dissonant Whispers upcast to 3rd level. The sorlock can decimated one of the spiders with a crit from a shadow blade and green flame blade combo*, and the reckless attacking, great weapon mastery barbarian eliminated the other.
(* We are explicitly allowing Shadow Blade to work, even though the material component of GFB is now a weapon worth at last 1 sp.)
The sorlock rushes in, after the second failed death save by the drow the glamour bard gives them a healing potion and then triggers Mantle of Inspiration to give everyone temp HP and some move. Then the banshee drops the disguise and show's it's horrifying visage to everyone but the dragonborn to chase them out.
Everyone saves.
More combat, and it's wail has recharged. At this point most make their save and I roll below average instead of above. In response to the wail the bard does another Dissonant Whispers, and another failed save takes the last of hit's HPs as it dissipates.
Multiple people/dragons down, max HPs drained, and spells used. They finish up the long rest and search the bodies, at which point the drow rogue recognizes one of the more recent corpses as one of the older boys who also didn't fit in in drow society - actually tried to protect the PC when they were little, but disappeared a few years ago. Looks like they too escaped the underdark and were called to Elistraee.
(This seems to be a not-unknown occurrence in the world - there has already been an attempt to capture the PC by a young drow bounty hunter and his pack of Death Dogs previously.)
The next day they push on. The normally oblivious dragonborn is the only one to notice a yeti ambush, and far enough away that they can detour and find another. The drow becomes exhausted and their load goes to the dragonborn who is now making CON (athletics) rolls for long term exhaustion at a higher DC than everyone else, but managing them, when they finally get to the peak at it is the last bit of the mountain still bathed in sunlight.
Only to find just a few foundation stones and nothing.
They collapse at the top, watch a truly magnificent sunset from above the cloud layer. The dragonborn tribe's culture has climbing peaks at certain life stages for ceremonis, and he's been preparing for one for over a week in game, granting a specific rank of hunter on the bronze wyrmling, Bali, who had been the best at learning hunting from him. (The wyrmlings were near feral and didn't talk when rescued.) Player had written a whole ceremony he talked out, and both myself as DM and the other players were taken by surprise. It was really cool.
When the moon rises, an aurora forms in the sky and a tower made of moonlight forms around the foundational stones. They ascend a spiral stair inside for an indeterminate amount of time and arrive at the top where an old half drow man greets them patiently.
"I am Aelar, I have dreamed of many things, and you are among them. You must have many questions."
And that's where we'll pick up next session.
