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Message: <blockquote data-quote="THEMNGMNT" data-source="post: 8034458" data-attributes="member: 6809274">The latest session of my Dragon Heist/Deck of Many Things mashup was probably the most fun I've ever had with 2nd level characters.To recap: The halfling rogue, half-elf wizard, and half-orc fighter are breaking into an island prison off the coast of Waterdeep to free the dwarven architect of a secret vault filled with a legendary treasure hoard created by a draw from the Deck of Many Things. Last session, they discovered that dwarf's cell wasn't designed to keep him in -- it was designed to keep something out. Something...extraplanar...like a devil, an angel, or perhaps a deadly avatar summoned by the Deck. (Hint, hint.) I'm leaning heavily into factions, and the Xanathar's Guild and a drow house are significant enemies in this session, while the Shadow Thieves are allies of the halfling and half-orc.The session starts with a mind flayer arcanist working for the Xanathar plane shifting into the dwarf's suite. The guards, including the prison's minotaur warden, mistakenly assume the PCs are working with the mind flayer. The guards attack the mind flayer while the minotaur takes on the PCs. A mind blast and confusion spell from the mind flayer takes out the guards and befuddles the PCs. The wizard throws a bead of force -- a magic item he discovered in their first adventure. The mind flayer fails its saving throw. Suddenly, it is encased in an indestructable force field that weighs only one pound. The wizard picks it up and hurls it out the window into the storm-tossed sea 80 feet below.Taking the fearful, panicked dwarf with them, the PCs descend one floor to resolve some unfinished business with other prisoners. First, they free an old blind man who used to work for the orc fighter's evil stepfather -- a powerful noble in Waterdeep. Next, they seek out a traitorous rogue that once worked for the Shadow Thieves. But she has already escaped her cell with help from the mind flayer.At the ground floor, the players find the prison guards locked in battle with agents of the drow house -- a half-dozen chitines led by an ettercap. Outside the prison, the traitorous rogue is stealing the player's boat and making her escape from the island. The halfling pursues her. But she gets the best of him and he has to jump into the ocean to save his life. Meanwhile, the half-orc dismembers several chitines (with the help of his orc racial power that pops him back to 1 hp when he's knocked out) and the wizard uses another bead of force to neutralize the ettercap.The PCs load the dwarf and old man aboard a boat and make for Waterdeep.What made the session so much fun is that I had stacked the deck so strongly against the PCs. At only 2nd level the PCs were one or two hits away from going down. There was no way they were going to keep hold of that dwarf -- the mind flayer or the drow were sure to get him. Yet, somehow, the players lucked their way through three Deadly encounters and completed the mission. The beads of force -- which I've never before seen in play -- obviously made a huge difference. The session felt like total chaos throughout.</blockquote>

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