D&D General How Was Your Last Session?

[ECMO3]

Brand new game with 2nd level players

Dragonborn war cleric
Dwarf Fighter/Ranger
Gnome Wizard
Human Life Cleric
Glasya Tiefling Rogue (me)

We came upon a destroyed town, the people were gone. The town is surrounded by a palasade and a moat with a tower on each side of the moat. A church bell was ringing. Looking into the town we saw a couple of wargs feating on a human body. I snuck across the drawbridge and into the tower once on top of it the Dwarf made some noise to alert the Wargs and draw them out across the draw bridge. They came. I sniped with a short bow from the tower. The Dwarf got chomped pretty good and pulled into the moat by one of the worgs. After the Warg died I went down from the Tower and pulled the dwarf out by the beard.

The chuch bell was still ringing, we found some Goblins inside the church and killed them. Throughout the rest of the town we fought more Goblins, capturing one Goblin and interrogating him. He told us some of the people were kidnapped, some were killed and there is a woman still hiding out in the town.

We eventually found the woman. She was rather cagey, turns out she has allies, they showed up to town said there was a band of orcs and a band of elves on their heels and they would be to the town in the morning. It was early afternoon at this time.

The Human started working on dinner while the rest of us explored the town. We expelled the other Goblins we found and picked up some mundane loot.

When we left off we were getting ready to explore the town's keep.

 

[Musing Mage]

The further adventures of my 1st ed team in Cormyr...

Kyla the 3rd level Human Kensai, and Feltuun the 5th level Dwarven Fighter were joined by Ersey, 1st level Gnome Fighter/Thief and Ry-Lee, 1st Level Human Druid. Arash, the group's 3rd level Ranger is absent today.

It's the month of Nightal, and the new year approaches. Food prices have skyrocketed due to the harvest being reduced by an unnatural blight destroying farmland. Kyla and Feltuun have made the acquaintance of a Druid and Gnome, and are making plans for the future. News reaches the group that the town of Eveningstar has put a bounty of no less than 5 Golden Lions per head on kobolds due to the recent invasion of a tribe in the area. Feeling that such a prospect is easy money, the group packs their things and heads out of Arabel along the Kingsroad.

Along the way, they encounter a group of halflings, twenty-five strong, approaching. As they near, the group quickly learns that these are in fact Goblins, dressed in halfling garb. The leader of the goblins approaches with a big, friendly smile. He is well spoken and charming, which throws the group off. He speaks of his business as a merchant and desire to make many human customers. The group is suspicious but hears him out. When he proudly breaks out the wares - 4 elves, 2 halflings, a dwarf and a gnome - the group smiles in his face and asks him to hold that thought. They pull their own wagon off the road and immediately launch a volley of missile fire at the goblins, initiating combat.

Though the numbers seem like a lot, Feltuun is well armoured and eager to butcher goblins... he rushes forward hacking like a maniac while Kyla flanks another group. With a well placed entangle spell from the Druid, and 8 attacks per round between the two warriors, the goblin ranks are thinned rather fast. A force of them flee into the fields, allowing the team to rescue the prisoners. The Druid makes some opposition about killing the helpless goblins stuck in the entangle, but the incensed Dwarf and Gnome ignore him.

The other force of goblins recover their morale and return in formation, but their slings are no match for an armoured dwarf's raged, and he rengages, dispatching another batch quite handily. The final half dozen flee, never to return.

The captives are grateful to have an escort to Eveningstar where they can find shelter from the winter and humanoids preying on people in these times of trouble. That night by pure chance, a randomly rolled force of Dwarves arrives. The rest of the trip is quite uneventful.

Leaving off in Eveningstar, the group settles in as the winter weather grows colder and they make plans for their next step... with eyes on the fabled Haunted Halls of Eveningstar, where the kobolds are rumoured to have laired.

 

[Smackpixi]

Today my players learned that Mephits explode when you kill them and they did not react intelligently instead they crowded them even more. Also tried to attack with fire on a steam mephitic, a being they already knew was composed of water and fire (thank you Level Up MM for roll table of what players might know about creature) and learned beings made of fire can’t be hurt with fire. I DM for new players, nice to see them discover how world works Since this quest will have more Mephits.

 

[cbwjm]

Since Auckland went into lockdown, our standard game has been on hiatus and ove been running some old modules from the old BECMI Thunder Rift setting. All I've been doing is subbing in 5e versions of the monsters in the adventures and it's been great, and sometimes totally bonkers! The very first adventure, Knight of Newts, could have seen them up against a water elemental, suicide in any edition.

Although I've toned down the power of some items (+1 weapons were just magical, +2 weapons were a 5e +1 weapon, I've otherwise not cut back the treasure, even creating unique items in DnDbeyond like a mace that also deals lightning damage in a way similar to a flame tongue (they got this at level 2). We finished the last adventure and, the PCs hit level 4, and they have a heap of magical items and thousands of gold each. I opened up the stores so that they could by some common magical items.

These adventures are a lot of fun as they focus more on going into the dungeon and killing the bad guys more than much in the way of role-playing. Since these are throw away characters, they've had fun with them. One player rolled a 5 and created a loxodon rogue, we're pretty sure his stealth works because no one wants to talk about the elephant in the room. The others are playing a playing a verdan warlock, known as Stupid Sexy Flanders; a dwaaarf (not a spelling mistake, that's how this character pronounces dwarf) cleric who is a not so smart parish priest with Dougal from father Ted as their avatar; Wee Jock Jock, a fighter whose race is my homebrew pixie race that he has modelled of Terry Pratchett's wee free men; and Bob, an ordinary human ranger.

We've been playing on roll20 which I had to learn to use but which has also ended up working out fairly well and then we just connect via zoom, have a few drinks, and have a bit of fun. Great times. Next session we'll be taking a DnD break and playing in my friends 5e based Sci Fi game which everyone is keen on. I'll be playing as Ratchet from Ratchet and Clank.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

4th session of Monte Cook's 3E Banewarrens campaign run with Shadow of the Demon Lord on Owlbear Rodeo.

Five player characters at level one:

• Dwarf Warrior. Heir to a lost kingdom -- in this case, Dwarvenhearth, deep beneath Ptolus. His trinket is half of a treasure map.
• Elf Magician. Outcast from elven lands, raised in Ptolus, keeper of a dark secret. His magical traditions are Arcana and Teleportation.
• Goblin Magician. Responsible for the destruction of his tribe. Specialized in the Necromancy and Forbidden magic traditions.
• Changeling Magician. An awesome background: Outcast by her "adopted family" and looking for her "sister"--the child she replaced. Her magical themes are light and darkness, using the Celestial and Shadow traditions.
• Human Priest. Cleric of Lothian, the core god of Ptolus. His wife was murdered and now he seeks answers.

The Elf Magician's and Human Priest's players were absent, so we only played for about 2 1/2 hours.

The characters continued to explore the Broken Seal, which is the first section of the Banewarrens. They discovered an enruned, enchanted door that seemed to lead to another part of the dungeon, but was impenetrable to them.

They also discovered the bodies of the missing expedition the Church of Lothian sent them to find -- along with a half dozen monstrous creatures of varying types, from an ogre to a harpy to mongrelmen. These creatures had the same strange bone rings that they'd spotted a few sessions back. It looked like both parties had annihilated each other.

The characters looted the bodies, recovering a few weapons and tools to supplement their meagre resources.

As they searched the ogre, he sudddenly came to life and attacked -- even though he was flat on his back with his entrails spilling forth. SotDL has ogres that are...shall we say...distinct. As in they have the distinct ability to vomit acidic bile as a reaction whenever they are damaged. It was an amazingly raw and grotesque fight as the ogre tried to eat the dwarf whole while puking all over the party multiple times. It was also a fun way to put the players up against a powerful creature yet ensuring it didn't kill them all.

Exploring further, the characters came across the lone survivor of the Church's expedition, Brother Heth. The paladin told them of how his expedition met its end. He also revealed that one of the creatures had used a magical scroll to lower the warded door and enter deeper into the dungeon -- a woman with the lower body of a serpent. Heth sealed the door again...but it's clear the creatures seek something within.

The characters brought Heth back to the Grand Cathedral. They met with their apparent patron, Sister Mara, who asked them to return to the dungeons when ready. She gave them each a gold coin.

Afterward, they traveled to the bookstore of the Elf Magician's wizarding mentor, Flavius. Previously, they had given Flavius the severed hand of a boggle that had a bone ring. Flavius had requested a few days to research the strange ring. Now he ushered them into his private chamber to share what he had discovered...

Next session: The mysterious Jevvica Norr!

 

[Faolyn]

Well, my players managed to piss off Rahadin, Strahd's main hench-elf. Did a metric ton of damage before he could get away. Now I get to figure out the repercussions from that.

 

[Older Beholder]

One of the players in our group has taken on the DM’s chair for the first time recently. We’re 3 sessions in, it’s a real down to Earth idea he had roughly based on ancient China. One player could no longer make it so we’re down to 3 people playing.

The party is made up of a barbarian, fighter and bard, which has added to a low magic feel and has been working well.

Last session we were conscripted to defend the Wall of Civilization from the invading hordes in the wastelands beyond. We traveled out to where the endless rains turned to snow. With an army made of mostly untrained commoners, we were told we were there as a deterrent, mostly a show of force.

In the night the wall was attacked, a large battle broke out as we tried to hold back invading orcs and goblins led by an Ogre mage. In the morning we went beyond the wall on a scouting mission.

Something about the simplicity of the setting has really added to immersion. The same group has been going in another campaign for a couple of years, which is now at level 16, so I think everyone is having fun getting back to basics a little bit, as well as just a change of scenery, new characters, etc...

 

[THEMNGMNT]

32nd session in my Dragon Heist/Deck of Many Things mashup. 7th level half-orc fighter, halfling rogue, and half-elf evoker wizard/grave cleric.

TL;DR TPK

In this session, they arrived at the shuttered scriptorium once owned by the wizard's family. He knew that a magical artifact that was his birthright could be found in the crypts below the scriptorium. Unfortunately, all of the players forgot that the last time they were at the scriptorium they locked a troll inside.

What does a troll eat when locked up for a month? Itself. What happens to the body parts that it eats? They regenerate. How does that effect the troll? It becomes a dire troll.

So the 7th level PCs walked face first into a fight with a CR 13 dire troll gone insane from pain and isolation. I knew this would be an exceptionally difficult fight and could go either way. I've used dire trolls once before and they are wrecking machines.

The fight was awesome. The cavalier fighter used unwavering mark to keep the troll focused on him, then action surged. Over two rounds he did about 70 points of damage. When the troll ripped up the fighter, he used his orcish trait to stay on his feet with one hit point. Next round, he was down.

The troll then turned his attention to the wizard, who had used up most of his spell slots before entering the scriptorium. The troll took him out in a single turn.

The heavily wounded troll then charged the rogue. The rogue had been playing it safe, holding back and plinking from a distance with his non-magical crossbow. That turned out to be the wrong approach. He came within a single hit of bringing down the troll but missed his final strike. The troll, with only four hit points remaining (!) dropped the rogue.

Total party kill.

Right?

Nah.

That would be boring.

Especially when the troll is an enforcer for the Xanathar's Guild.

Next session: One of my favorite AL modules: "Underworld Speculation".

 

[THEMNGMNT]

5th session of Monte Cook's 3E Banewarrens campaign run with Shadow of the Demon Lord on Owlbear Rodeo.

Five player characters at level one:

• Dwarf Warrior. Heir to a lost kingdom -- in this case, Dwarvenhearth, deep beneath Ptolus. His trinket is half of a treasure map.
• Elf Magician. Outcast from elven lands, raised in Ptolus, keeper of a dark secret. His magical traditions are Arcana and Teleportation.
• Goblin Magician. Responsible for the destruction of his tribe. Specialized in the Necromancy and Forbidden magic traditions.
• Changeling Magician. An awesome background: Outcast by her "adopted family" and looking for her "sister"--the child she replaced. Her magical themes are light and darkness, using the Celestial and Shadow traditions.
• Human Priest. Cleric of Lothian, the core god of Ptolus. His wife was murdered and now he seeks answers.

To my surprise, this session was almost entirely roleplaying. And a lot of exposition. A lot. I probably dropped too many plot hooks in this session but the players kept investigating and the clues kept coming.

To recap, they met Jevvica Norr, a sorcerer who revealed that the alliance of monstrous creatures they faced are called the Pactlords of the Quaan. They want nothing more than the destruction of civilization. If they have entered the Banewarrens, that's bad news. The Pactlord masterminds appear to be a mind flayer named Yuinthiu and a gorgon called Szethea.

Jevvica equipped the characters with potions and a magical means of tracking down a lead on a missing boggle who was once a Pactlord. Basically, she animated the boggle's severed hand, Addams Family style. So the goblin magician now has an animated hand for a pet.

She also revealed that their contact at the Church of Lothian, Sister Mara, is the head of the Inquisition. Mara's husband was once an Inquisitor, too, but succumbed to a corrupting evil and vanished.

The players traveled to Delver's Square and learned that countless adventurers are now seeking the bounty on the murderous barrow wight they fought in the very first session. They soon realized they have information all the other adventurers lack -- they know the wight came from the Banewarrens. They decided to keep that to themselves so they could get an edge on the competition.

They learned of a manic street preacher who appeared in the wake of the wight's attack, preaching life after death. They think the preacher might be promising transformation into undead. The priest wants to follow up on this lead.

Finally, they ran afoul of another group of adventurers -- a burly orc named Ziraj, a gnome alchemist called Skeemo Weirdbottle, and a dwarf warrior named Astrid Nightstone. (For those in the know, I'm borrowing inspiration from the Doom Raiders in Dragon Heist.) Upon spotting the changeling player character, Astrid tried to attack her. The dwarf player character intervened. From this confrontation two things emerged: 1) Astrid blames the dwarf's family for the fall of their ancestral home, Dwarvenhearth. 2) The changeling has the appearance of a mysterious woman she saw on the street long ago -- and that woman is the patron and employer of Astrid's crew.

Next session: Return to the Banewarrens?

 

[Richards]

We finally got to play today after five weeks of various scheduling issues. The 5 PCs (4th level) fought their way through a ward in a city where an infusion of necromantic energy had turned the entire city's population into undead. They finally hunted down the necromancer who'd kidnapped the sleeping rogue they'd been sent to waken. After slaying the evil wizard, they bound the rogue found the magic tome that would allow them to teleport back to the city they'd left last session, and once back at the temple of the God of Death and Undeath they performed the ritual to enter the rogue's dream, fighting off a giant skeletal cat that had been chasing him through his unending nightmare. Then they left him to the mercies of Father Bones, the lich leader of the temple. He soon folded, revealing the method of releasing the sacred scrolls he'd stolen from the temple at the behest of the necromancer the PCs had slain.

At the end of the session, everyone leveled up to 5th and their signature items (the bard's lute, the fighter/wizard's bastard sword, the cleric's warhammer, the cleric/paladin's shield, and the sorcerer's jade cooshee) also gained in power, after being imbued with mystical energy infused from the Dreamlands by the Queen of Dreams herself now that they've each had one or more dreamstones embedded into them by a talented elven gemcutter.

Johnathan