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Message: <blockquote data-quote="THEMNGMNT" data-source="post: 7967089" data-attributes="member: 6809274">In my modified version of Storm King's Thunder, the 13th level characters stepped through a magical portal and arrived at Skyreach Castle in the middle of a thunderous storm that kept most of the defenders indoors. The characters' goal is to find and free Hekaton, high priest of the giants, who is in thrall to the Zhentarim. They also know that the storm giants have enslaved an ancient blue dragon and possess an orb of dragonkind. Respectively, those are a potential short-term ally and boon.I intentionally introduced the storm to give the characters sufficient cover to sneak through Skyreach, but they triggered a series of rolling encounters that could bring the whole castle down on them.The characters arrived in the lower courtyard next to the main gate. They took shelter near one of the guard towers. Atop the tower was a storm giant defender and inside were four Zhents huddled around a fire. The drow priestess NPC used scrying to locate the blue dragon. Scrying takes 10 minutes to cast, and the players spent at least 30 minutes debating where to go next, so it was no surprise when they were spotted by the courtyard's guardians -- four air elementals.Two of the elemental were tweaked versions of air elemental myrmidons, so they had a lightning bolt which stunned. The aasimar vengeance paladin was stunned by a bolt, picked up in an elemental's whirlwind, and hurled through an illusory hole in the courtyard floor. The paladin fell down the hole, plummeting from the castle and hurtling toward the earth one mile below. When the stun wore off he used find greater steed to summon a pegasus. Normally that spell takes 1 minute to cast, but I hand waved it due to the cool factor. What's the point of playing a paladin for almost 3 years if you can't get rescued in mid-air by your trusty flying horse? The pegasus caught the falling paladin and they flew back to the castle to rejoin the battle.The characters quickly defeated the elementals, but one slipped into the guard tower to join the Zhent guards. The arcane trickster rogue threw open the door and, swinging on the giant-sized handle, dropped a fireball on the Zhents. They survived, but it was nevertheless an epic moment. Once again, the players made short work of the opposition, but not before the storm giant atop the tower was alerted. And that storm giant roused the storm giant atop the other guard tower. And that other tower is filled with Zhentarim, too.We paused there. As I said, if the trend continues it won't be long before all of Skyreach Castle is on alert.</blockquote>

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