DDAL Jasper DMS Season 9 & Descent into Avernus Adventure League

[jasper]

On Sundays I am doing Descent. On Fridays I am doing the Season 9 modules. I need to find my coin token bag my wife gave few years ago for the soul coins. Also need to hit the dollar store again and make my Lego Infernal War Machines. Poison is used during the book page 258 of DMG.

 

[jasper]

Descent Into Avernus Session 1

Chapter 1

Copping a Copper for a Copper Piece.

PC killed 1 Monsters Killed 18 Villains Captured 0 Villains Escaped 0

I had a Very strong group of six or five. Ava Ranger 2. Dexro Ranger 3 Sword coast Tiefling, John C Cleric 1 Warlock2. Joshua Paladin 4. Pamela Druid 4. Nekron wizard 3.

Gain a level. 10 downtime days. 80 GP.

Note. I am level locking each chapter for the moment. Chapter 1 is level 1 to 5. You have the option not to progress or level out and bring in new pc. I will also need your flaws and Gawds in my notes.

The group has been ordered by Don Meepo a mob boss in the Realms to go to Baldur’s Gate and discover why Elturel has disappear. Why? Because only the good Twinkies come from Elturel and his supply is getting low. Elturel is city of goodness, light, high culture. Even the peasants are only downtrodden only once a month. Baldur’s Gate. Hmm. You know that space harbor on Tan Ton Ween call Moss Ease in the movie Star Wars. That is were Gaters go for a peaceful weekend. Jobby the Hut would not make a week in THE GATE.

When the group arrives at Baldur’s Gate, they are to meet their contact Captain Zodge. A small crowd of peasants are blocking the gate and throwing rubbish. The city watch called the Flaming Fist have close the gate.

Issio, “Can you give us some help with these bloody peasants”. Pamela fires an arrow from her bow killing a rioter and then slips away into the outer city. (Player move tables to help the other table.)

Dexro, “Bloody the peasants. Sure. “ He charges in. Crowd, “HEY HE KILLED KENNY! THAT BEEP!” The crowd surround Dexro and start kicking him to dead. The rest of group help Dexro kill off the peasants.

Issio, “Good job. Now why are you here?”

Joshua, “Don Meepo send us. We are looking for a human with a left eyepatch a captain Zork. I think he is in charge. “

Issio, “Oh, Captain Zodge. Follow me.”

The group are taken up a block to the watch post. Captain Zodge is middle age human with a flaming fist eye patch, long silky black hair.

Captain Zodge briefs the group. Elturel has disappeared. Taken either by Q, the Borg, to Hell, to New Jersey, we don’t know where just a hole in the ground is left. The Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard was visiting the city is presumed MISSING. AND ONLY MISSING. The knight of Elturgard called Hellriders are blaming Baldur’s Gate. Elturgard is the kingdom you are in. The gawds Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul have return. Their followers are committing murder, which is our job. You have a license to kill.

Dexro interrupts the briefing to get his license to kill in writing.

Captain Zodge continues the briefing. You have a license to kill any of the dead three followers. Bane is lord of darkness. Bhaal Lord of Murder. Myrkul Lord of Bones. Don’t worry about collateral damage. What we call criminals who yet to commit a crime being proactive punished. Go to the Elfsong tavern. Meet with Tarina a member of the Thieves Guild. She has information. He gives each member a copper badge embossed with the flaming fist symbol.

(I had fun with copper badge idea. And the group was having fun with the license to kill. ) On the way to the tavern the group pass three kids.

Nat. “How can you tell Gaters from others.”

Jenks. “Gaters know there are three type of people. Survivor’s. Loot Drops. Or body.”

Squiddly, “What the difference between a Loot Drop and a body?”

Nat, “With a body you can only loot it once and sell it to the necromancers. With proper beatings, you can make a loot drop drop loot every tenday.”

Nekron, “That my clue. Sorry I was running late. I was taking some ax spray to a body. “

Dexro, “You mean you were putting on axe spray to your body.”

Nekron “Read what I said.”

The group arrives at the tavern. Half the tavern drinkers are trying to decide if they are a loot drop or body. Joshua ignites his flame tongue. Oh survivors. Joseph tries to find if the tavern sell IMP beer. (again we were having fun staying in character but doing call backs to other adventures.) They meet Tarina who demands the group wait to eight PM to meet with some her associates before she would give up the information. John C thinks he knows her. (NAT 20 plus his bonus gets him the information.) She is known also as the Dread Pirate Rhonda Thunderbell. But this being THE GATE, the city would probably throw her a party than lock her up. (The background information on here was interesting but I set the DC at 22 because no reason exists for the pcs to know her.)

Joshua and Nekron decide to use their new badges to shake NPCS down. (What. Ok. You want to go look for a fight. Ok. Give me a minute. ) The group. (What only Joshua, and Nekron do the shake down). The two coppers try to shake down two vets. Losing initiative Nekron is dropped with three swings.

Vet number two, “Survivor, loot drop, or body. Your choice?”

Joshua, “Survivor!” As he slays the first vet.

Vet number two, “Ok it a loot drop each. Take your friend and go.”

Joshua, “No. I am survivor. “

Vet number two, “Your friend is a body!” Three swings and two hits later. Nekron is dead. Joshua kills vet number two. ( The player running Nekron when home to sleep. He can lose his faction item for a raise. Or owe the dm his first magic item. Player lasted 20 minutes after he arrived late. )

Eight PM rolls around. The party is scattered around the tavern. Dead-Eye and seven of his crew walk in.

Tarina, “Sorry. I forgot. If you want the information, you must do my light work for me. Hey Clueless kill those eight before they kill me.” (YES. Getting the party to do evil work. HAHAHAA.)

The group battles the pirate crew while Tarina dives over the bar.

Tarina, “There is a bathhouse with a walled garden called the Porchester Spa. Followers are seen going and coming from the spa. A secret door to the dungeons are somewhere in the spa. Have fun boys.” She dashes out the back door.

DM. Notes. If the group reaches a reasonable stop point early, I am calling the game. I do like the layout of the book as I scanned the book when I first took notes, but I did forget the opening. If you want to run a Tiefling with wings you need to use the sword’s coast book. Renown items. At tier 1 if you are in a faction you can choose a ring or faction item. At tier 2 you can get of +1 weapon, +1 shied, +1 rod of pact keeper, or +1 wand of war mage.

 

[jasper]

DDAL09-01 Escape from Elturgard
Escape from the railroad
PC killed 0 Monsters Killed 20 Villains Captured 1 Villains Escaped 0
Story Award Cooler Heads prevail. You just beat up the villain.
Magic Items 2 potions of healing, scroll of protection from energy, amulet of proof against detection and location.
Levels. If you started above level 1 go to level 5 Gain 80 gp and 10 downtime days per level gain. NOT 750 gp I was handing out hourly. If you started at level 1 go to level 5 or 4 as you want. Gain 80 gp per level. 10 down time days.
DM ruling on Amulet of Proof against detection and location. One player said RAW you could not cast divination spells on yourself. I am going with RAI only hostile divination spells are block.
DM reminder. Steep stairs are difficult terrain, regular stairs are not. DM will tell you if they are steep.
DM is sorry he ran the module badly. This module is gathering the locals and their stuff and high tailed to Baldur’s Gate. And concludes with a murder mystery. Next time I run this I will make each suspect more memorial and make you write the names down. I will also do a flow chart and static investigation roll to find the clues.
I had a very strong group in each part. This module allows you to level after each hour. So, I am not mentioning levels. Ava Ranger. Jon Wizard (returning player). Tigra Barbarian. Maxwell sorcerer (who I kept calling him barbarian due to the player running one normally.) Roland ranger. Rauf of the Sand Druid.
The group are a local guard unit for Elturgard Guards and Gardening Club. They are returning for eastern demark guarding a load of tulips and other merch. Just before dawn in the west they heard and see a loud explosion. Some think they smell brimstone. Others occasionally are flicking falling ashes off their uniforms. As the merch caravan rolls into the final rest stop before Elturgard they are met by Darling Dara their employer. Darling Dara declares the city is gone. Not believing her, the climb up to the watch tower and look west. The city is gone, as if it was flung off into space, (Or the Borg scooped it up. Only two players got that.) After telling them they are not on harasser pay (Yea extra 2 cp a day.); she gives them three locations to search, recover locals and loot (impound for the good of the city. Wellum’s Smithy for Wellum and his weapons. Ghorin the mill owner and his grain, oats, and mill stones. The Fabled Fawn for Segren and his wife Vasha and any customers. And remember the beer, and cooking supplies. They choose to got to the inn. (Note next time I going to run the encounters in sequence to build up some tension and let some NPCs have face time with the pcs.) They arrive at the inn. The barn is on fire or slightly on fire, well some of the roof was smoking. A customer is tossed from the second story window with a broom stick shove through its heart. A bed knob is toss out too. Seeing a Lemure grinning at the window, the group charges the door. (Note I should have Vasha scream about the barn is on fire, and she needs help too. I allowed the group to start about 55 feet away from the doors.) The group split. Some taking the north door, some taking the south down. One or two slowly just walking forward. Entering the tavern nine plus Lemures are descending down the three stairways. Two groups on the north stairs and one on the south. The group make short work of Lemures in the south part of the tavern. Jon rescues Vasha Hall and finds out Segren is in the barn. (OK I was having trouble getting the group to recognize the barn was on fire. My fault.) Jon starts to cut the other customer Hastrine Leaftender and orders the group to go rescue the innkeeper. Tigra and Roland start finishing off the northern group. The rest of group run toward the barn. (Yes, even a double or triple move is not going to get the pc to barn in one round. HAAAA.) Rauf of the Sand kicks open the door and starts chocking as smoke pours out. He rushes in.
Meanwhile the Tabaxi Tigra Barbarian finishes off the last Lemure and dashes toward the barn. (Tabby Cat move very very fast.) Just as Rauf and Tigra are pulling the unconscious Segren outside, a beam crashes to the ground. It would have crushed Segren. Rauf heals Segren but he does not recover conscious. (Note this never explained why. Grr.)
The group take the people to caravan and a small squad is sent back to recover the beer and cooking equipment. The group decides to head toward the smithy. As they arrive, they heard the racking of a double barrel shotgun. Um Racking of a double crossbow. Um.
Wellum, “Halt. The next bandit who steps forward will get the working end of my shot…. hand crossbow. “As Roland and Tigra are calming down Wellum and his apprentice Gordrick; a half-elf scout name Vollis Foote runs up. She wants to help. Wellum tells the group of the bandit raid. This left the smithy with only 3 buck and quarter staves. But both rangers are able to follow the trial left behind by the raiders. Not wanting npcs, um to make sure the smith and his apprentice survive, they assign Vollis to stay behind to guard them. (yes, that is the ticket.) The group follow the foot prints to an old temple of Torm who is god of duty and loyalty. Jon sends his owl into the temple. The entrance way has been looted but the bronze doors to the main temple are close. The secret door on the right wasn’t close. (Passive perception of the owl was unknown so I used Jon’s). Tigra opens the secret door and the chanting she just heard comes to a sudden stop. The group gets into a combat single file stack and the fight begins. Tigra was able to sneak down to the underground cavern. She sees two cult fanatics, a spined devil and a few bandits. The Spined Devil has grown out of a dead human’s head.
Roland, ‘It always a dead human.” A few rounds of combat later it is over. (Ok each encounter levels with the group APL. I should have remembered the cults were cult fanatics. OPPS.) The group find loot, the weapons, some jewelry. The group return to Dara with the three locals and weapons.
On to the miller and the grain. (OH. A fetch quest with an imbedded fetch quest.) Ippon the miller and his pal Pal are loading a wagon with grain. Pal thinks the group should see if they can get Stephen King (was the poet Billiam) to come back with the group. Stephen King was writer up the way but did not want to leave his shack. (Someone had mention King and we got side track talking about his works.) King is on his small porch smoking an evil five leafed weed and writing in his journal. Once the group convinces King he really needs to leave the area, he decides the tale of the missing city of Elturel would make a great novel. Would ….
(oh hell no. A fetch quest in fetch quest in a fetch quest. After some discussion, and to move the game along. I just called out the ability or skill check for next encounters. If they failed, they took damage. Etc.)
Would the group fetch some stuff for ink, paper, and some Pegasus feathers? Most of the group got the feathers but two them nearly got hoof in mouth disease. A hoof in their mouth. But Tigra and Jon were able to calm down the horse.
The group with the miller his pal Pal, King with his special items, and grain are moved safety to the caravan. The group retires for the night. In the morning they wake up to King’s body being found.
(Okay this where I should made each NPC a person. And had some interaction during the night. The players were having trouble getting the clues. And I was having trouble making the npcs memorable. In frustration I just gave them the villain and ended the game.)

 

[jasper]

Descent Into Avernus Session 2
Chapter 1
Days 2-3
Massaging the numbers. Or being ratted out.
PC killed 1 Monsters Killed 45 Villains Captured 3 Villains Escaped 4
Magic Items Bag of beans with 7 beans DMG 154, potion of fire breath * 2, potions of healing * 4, alchemist fire * 3

Gain a level if you want. If Tier 1 10 downtime days and 80 gp. If Tier 2 20 downtime days and 240 gp. Remember Chapter 1 is for levels 1-5 and if you level out you can not play in the chapter. Rauf of the Sands spend 90 gp if you want the curse removed.

I had a very strong group of six. Ava Ranger 5. Burt Bard 5. Tigra Barbarian 4. Rauf of the Sand 4. Geeraunt Wizard Transmuter 5. Todstool Fighter 4. Oops make that a strong group of 5. Burt dropped out after the opening encounter. Which made the final battle very deadly. OOPS. HEY players remind me to strike out people off the sign in sheet when they leave.

Last session they got information the cults of the Dead Three Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul were operating out the Sweeny Todd spa They wait till morning to check it out. The Sweeny is a beautifully decorate courtyard of nymph water fountains. They enter the bath house and are given a choice of bath or massage. Sweeny and Pirelle nearly get into a fight over who going to give the sand druid Rauf a sand massage. Sweeny walks away mumbling but takes Geeraunt as a customer. (Ok I had fun role playing out the massage and shoving pcs toe into their ears. ) Rauf would have enjoyed his massage but for the occasional waft of stagnant water come from under the secret door on the north. The group decides to wait to midnight before raiding the place.

Rauf turns into a scorpion and walks under the courtyard door and turns back into his humanoid form. They break into the pool room Todstool runs across the room and into the pool to aim his short bow at the kneecap of the Necromite of Myrkul.

Bill Necromite, “ You are a little short to playing with sharp objects and not tall enough to play in pool. And you better not pee in it.”

Todstool, “Surrender or I am taking out the kneecap.”

Ted Necromite (the other guard everyone was ignoring), “Excellent we capture five loot drops for the Death Three. That 2 for each of the gawds. “

Bill Necromite, “We ain’t surrendering shorty.”

A few rounds later Ted is dead, and the group has 3 prisoners who confess to belonging to cult of Myrkul. And please go through the secret door to your doom.

(Note to other DMs. Remember the flooded sections are 2 feet deep. I had the gnome Todstool treat as difficult terrain.)

The group wanders around the far west end of Dead Three Dungeon. They rescue Klim the Possible from the fists of Bane and Iron Consul. ( I do love how these villains can synergize. But must remember which group are being fought. I occasionally flipped abilities during the game.) Then the other dungeon residents were ratted out by Rizzo the Rat. The druid made friends with a rat in one of the rooms. (For the rest of the session, Rizzo gave the group a heads up of if the room was wet or dry. If the room had people in the room. Also I was adjusting the difficultly up due the very strong group.)

The group go gas from one group which nearly exploded but did not since produce flame is not really flame. The spirits of evil smack one of the pcs upside his goody good head before the group recognize it was a spiritual hammer trap and left. About 9 zombies were destroyed. Then they came to a secret door. Rizzo did not know what was behind it. So the evil coppers decide to crash the party.

(Trigger the boss fight due to time and location.)

Ok I dropped all the pcs at least once except for Geeraunt who was playing the far game. And my dice love hitting Tigra. She soaked up over five Nat 20s. Some of the villains have multiattack with special abilities. One could turn invisible first then attack. One had a gaze attack then daggers. Him I played as the Old Spice guy. “Look at me. Don’t I have beautiful muscles. Stare at them. Are you stunned by my good looks? Good. I will stabby stab you now.” Also I had forgot Burt had left the table, so I was running this as very strong encounter than a strong. Sorry about that my players. The group was able to stabilize with one hit point left and let Geeraunt lead the way.

The group looted the eastern part of the cult house while four of the cultists in other parts of the dungeon decided to leave. The group did try to destroy some of the Dead Three statues. Tigra did kneel before Bane before Todstool destroy the statue. Todstool destroyed the Bhaal statue. Rauf of the Sands destroyed the Myrkul statue and was cursed. No benefits of magical healing. (Rauf needs to drop 90 gp between sessions to remove. Why I want to charge him 1,000 gp I don’t know.)

What the party does not know? An imp has been spying on the group and reporting back to Thurstwell Vanthampur.

 

[jasper]

DDAL09-02 Stopped at the Gate
A Blue’s Clues Mystery
PC killed 0 Monsters Killed 26 Villains Captured 2 Villains Escaped 0
Magic Item Eyes of the Eagle
Days 7-9
Gain a level. 80 GP. 10 Downtime days
First module I quit in disgust.
I had an average group of five, two were new to the shop but not AL. Ben Monk 1. Roland Ranger 4. Alderai Sorcerer 1. Ginger Druid 3. Vasco Monk 1.
Most of the problems with module is lead by the nose to next scene. Important information is buried in wall of text. And some paragraphs give conflicting information in the same paragraph. See page 9 left column What they know.
Some of this could be help by bolding text.

 

[jasper]

Descent Into Avernus Session 3

Chapter 1

Days 4

House Break Heart Breakers

PC killed 1 Monsters Killed 52 Villains Captured 3 Villains Escaped 4

Magic Items Torpor * 4 DC 15 Con Incapacitated 4d6 hours, Midnight Tears DC 17 31 poison damage DMG 258, +1 mace DIA 39.

IF under level 5 Gain a level. 80 GP. 10 Downtime days. If Level 5 240 GP and 20 downtime days.

NOTE. There are still 12 pages left in Chapter 1 so next time we play we still will be in Chapter 1 which level 1 -5. Sorry for the misinformation.

I had a weak group of five. Dannad Fighter 1. Havnald Cleric 1. Vox Ranger 1. Burt Baard 5. Logalla Fighter 1.

Sorry, due off board problems I was having trouble dming. Also The group was supposed to be around level 3.

The group proceeds to Low Lantern to get information on Vanthampur family. They meet Amrik Vanthampur who thinks they here to assassin him. He introduces himself as Amrik Vladimir. Burt wanting to impress him challenges Grimboot an cross-eyed bouncer and duergar to a shooting contest. First of three seagulls. Grimboot’s crossbow versus Burt’s boomerangs.(UM WELL Ok. That is off script. Think fast dm.)

The contest. First of three seagulls. On deck. Can not shoot beyond 60 feet nor closer than 20 feet. Skadric Salakar a fellow Flaming Fist on suspension will diving in and fetch the missed boomerangs. Skadric needs to pay off his tab. Grimboot uses his enlarge ability to cheat. Burt uses levitation to even out the match. (Note Burt is first time for me drop in player. I had fun with the contest.)

Amrik blows smoke and narcs out his ma Thalamra Vanthampur. The group goes to the villa and bluff the guards into letting into the house. Fendrick Gray the butler opens the door, and lets the visitors in. He escorts them pass a nice wax statue of Duke Thalamra. Slobberchops the family pet appears real. Fendrick leaves the group in parlor and tells it be ten minutes or so as he goes get the Ms. Duke.

So the group proceeds to explore and loot the ground floor. Entering the basement, the discover a small problem. Two Spined devils. The group makes short work of the devils. Little Timmy Burt’s ward helped. The group starts the clearing of the basement. Most rooms are currently empty. (Why? I don’t know! Third base.)

They hear chanting behind a door. They open the door to see a temple to Zariel. 4 Cultists. And a Barbed Devil. (Did I say Barbed. Let down grade to bearded devil. YEAH 20 initiative) . The devil does not hear the group behind the door. They burst in and kill a cultists right off. Logalla and Burt stay at the door. Dannad flanks right to a new cultist. Havnald, Vox, and Little Timmy charge forward to take down their second cultists. The devil moves and hits Havnald with both attacks dropping the pc. (Pause while I asked the DMS at the table about the Infernal wound ability on a zeroed person. My decision. If you take damage from missing the save; it counts as a death save fail.) Little Timmy kicks the devil in the ankle. Vox finishes off the cultist. Burt and Logalla do range attacks to the devil while Dannad fights his cultist.

The devil smiles. And hits Timmy with a Nat 20 and another hit. He then picks up the bleeding body of Little Timmy. Opens Little Timmy’s mouth and pulls out a SOUL COIN with Little Timmy’s name on it. The devil swallows the soul coin.

Burt does a healing word on Havnald. Logalla attacks the devil. Dannad misses his cultist. Burt heals Little Timmy. And the rest focus fire on the devil killing it. They finish off the devil and wipe out the other two cultists. End of Session.

SOUL COINS. If you die during the session your pc name will go on a soul coin. These will appear later in the book.

 

[jasper]

Game Problems. I have not had a steady table, so information between sessions is being lost. Also due to personal problems on Sunday, I should just called off the session.
In game problems. I think Little Timmy is a familiar for the Bard but as Timmy only hits on a 20 I was not worrying about how he affected game play.

 

[jasper]

DDAl09-03 Session 3
Red Copper in the Morning
Day 9
Gain a Level
Magic Items Gloves of Thievery and Scroll protection from Fiends.
PC Killed 1 Monsters Killed 46 Villains Captured 3 Villains Escaped 0
I had a weak group for the first bonus objective and then a strong group for the rest of the session. Johnalena Monk 1. Surahana Paladin 4. Botticelli Monk 4. Charlie Warlock 4. Started at 6:20 PM end at 8:50. I even threw in a small combat to delay the game but I was back before 9:10.
I suggest you run this a dirty cop show. I also created my own box text beforehand.
The new recruits are order to wait outside Flame Daryn Flaburn’s door. She is chewing out Manip Benn Hithlin for being behind on filing his paperwork after dismissing him, she invites the recruits in to be yelled at. After they close the door, they are told their real missions. One follow Hithlin to see if he is leaking information to the Zariel death cult. And report by noon to the murder scene. The body has not been identified yet but it is not the Sands Korek. Do not engage, beat, punch, or kill fellow fists who are backing Hithlin. They wear black handkerchiefs. She dismisses the group.
The group hang around the doughnuts and coffee until Hithlin leaves. The follow him. (Group stealth check.) Twice they nearly lose him. Once when a beer wagon cuts them off and the second when his bully boys try to block them. (I would just roll a d 6 on complications table). They see him enter the Narwhal Tavern and pass a note to a patron and then leaves by the back door. (Yeah high passive perceptions). Botticelli who is a drunken master first bumps into Lovet Utich and steals a look at the message. Remembering they need real living proof, (oops the dm clarified they need hard proof). He engages Lovet into a drinking contest. (Hey when 5 cops invite you to drink you drink. The Inquiries part of bonus A does not work because the adventurers are COPS.) After losing the first round badly, Charlie swaps out Botticelli mug, with Charlie’s mug which will not let you get drunk. STINKY CHEATING COPPERS. After getting Lovet quietly drunk, they arrest him and send him to the precinct.
They arrive at the Korek’s house before Manip Foremantle. And have words with the two black handkerchief fists at the door. Just as they about to throw down, the Manip comes around the corner and locks up both groups. After a quick tongue lashing, he dismisses the guards. They enter the house. Foremantle does mention he will not see anything if any loot drops into their pocket.
(Note I had drawn out all the maps before hand while I was waiting for the players to arrive. I also label the house ones with the same numbers on the map. This sped up part of game.)
The group divide up the house while the Manip wait in the murder room. Roland finds a chunk of wood in the sitting room. Botticelli and Johnalena loot the kitchen discovering some spice bottles contain religious material components. Charlie loots some books about Zariel from the study. Roland also finds some glass prisms in the storage room floor which would light something underneath the house. Going upstairs Botticelli searches the bedroom and misses the loot. The group does find out the piece wood got to a trap door underneath the ground floor stair. The group splits. Roland and Surahana will check out the murder scene and the rest will check out the trap door.
And since they were new on the force the house exploded killing them all. OK not that type of cop show.
The murder scene does reveal a secret safe which gives up gloves of thievery. Roland being greedy rechecks the bedroom and discovers the scroll of protection from fiends. (see the dm can be nice and hint you recheck your work.)
The cops surprise two cultists guard part of the sewer tunnels underneath the house. After necro dropping them, they return to crime scene. Manip orders them into the tunnels to see where they are going.
The party splits again. Well Okay. Roland stayed in front of the party enough where he would not lose his devil sight. No one really cared what the welcome map really said. Roland would explore ahead and then come back. Explore ahead and then come back. Explore ahead and then come back. (Psst Ok Roland I know what you trying to do.)
Note. Since I was running the long version, I made changes. Drop the top three rooms from the map on page 22. Fold those room into the necessary rooms below. Some the room descriptions in Bonus Objective B don’t match with what is on the map.
The group finds the sleeping cells of cult. The smell of burn flesh is now about a six out ten. They find some books belong to Sands Korek. Entering the upper corridor, the smell of burn flesh is now an eight. They bypass the north hallway and head west finding the prepping chamber. In this chamber they find a journal with names signed in blood. The last two entries are Sands Korek and Eryn Xeph. Eryn is still fresh but some how did not smear because of …. Yea Special Secret Cult Chemicals Botticelli. (Player was poking fun at me as I had the book closed at first.)
The decide to still explore west. Not noticing the blood trails since the dm forgot to put them on the map. Roland opens the door to cells and kennels. To see one hell hound and let see four not five pcs um yes FIVE cultists. (Imagine that a one for one match up. It’s that fair.) The party charges in to the cells taking out the hell hound and a cultist before they can react. (Grumble Whine I hate low initiative.) After making short work the cultists, imp, and hell hound they search for more clues. They do hear chanting from the ritual chamber. They come up with a great plan. SPLIT the party. Johnalena and Surahana will take the east door to the chamber. Charlie and Roland will take the west door. Botticelli will say go to the east team who will give a 60 count then rush. He then run to the west party and they charge in. (Hey they don’t have radios.) But first what are they forgetting.
OH. Roland will QUIETLY use his thief’s tools and open the locks on both doors. QUIETLY. (I roll a die against his open locks roll to see if the cultists noticed. 20 and 19 which I made the bad guys initiative.)
They hear chanting. Roland kicks open the west door just to see the Spined Devil pull out the dagger from new cult recruit Eryn. A coin appears from her body which the spined devil eats. The party attacks and the devil and cultists fight back. Suddenly the body of Eryn turns into a spined devil. The party takes out both devils before Johnalena is struck down.
Breaking combat with his three foes the paladin dashes across the chamber and slides into Johnalena. Lay on Hands to restore her to full.
Bob the Unnamed Cultist, “We dying for the glory for Zariel. Necro drop the Loot Drop!” All the cultists break contact and charge toward Johnalena. They raise their swords and.
Miss. Hit. Miss. Hit. Hit. Zeroing out Johnalena again. The group kills one. Kills the second one. Kills the third one. Death aka Mr. Happy appears only to Johnalena as she misses her first death save. The cultists raise their swords. MISS. AND DEATH FOR JOHNALENA. A SOUL COIN appears above her body and is sucked into the altar. They kill off the remaining two cultists. Take the evidence to Flame Daryn Flaburn. Charlie pays to raise Johnalena.
DM Note. I will be using poker chips for soul coins. If any one dies during season 9 I am going to put the pc name on the chip. The chips will be in a bag. If you draw a named chip out the bag it has an extra charge.

 

[jasper]

DDAl09-04 Session
Day of the Devil
Flaming Fist Fight Fight Fight
Day 10
Gain a Level
Magic Items Periapt of Health, Soul Coin aka Little Timmy
PC Killed 1 Monsters Killed 74 Villains Captured 8 Villains Escaped 0
I had a weak group of four. Agent Bob Wizard 1. Maxwell Sorcerer 4. Kayn Nyak Rogue 2. Kayn is a new player both to D&D and adventure League. Shade Bard 2.
The group awoke to good news. Segren Hall the innkeeper who was kicked in the head during the first adventure has awoken from his coma. (Still no reason given for while healing magic did not work.) And BAD NEWS. Duke Dillard Porty one the remaining council members is going to give a speech about the refugees and murders. He going on stage at Nine AM, and the group has crowd control. Also, they have to play nice with High Watch which is mucky mucky upper-class police force.
9 AM no Duke.
9:30 AM no Duke and crowd is getting upset
9:45 AM The Watch grabs the Rolling Rocks a bard band to entertain the crowd.
10 AM the Duke arrives. He gives out the murdered Gharizol. He urges the people not to loot drop the suspect. He tells people to remain calm. He takes AN ARROW RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES. An Imp and two Nupperibo devils appear out his forehead. The party goes into action. (I should start them 150 feet away but only did 50 feet.) Between sleep spells and attack spells the devils are dead or captured before half the party goes. Chesserie Warden one the people working second shift has killed the assassin. In the assassin’s pocket is a hit list with the duke’s name, Segren Hall, and Wellum Smit. The group starts walking toward the warehouse to see if they are okay.
They are stopped by 12 cultists. Four to one odds. The cultists tell them to run. The group does. TOWARD the cultists. Between sleep spells, attack spells, and four yes only four melee attacks the cultists are dead or captured. And only Maxwell is hurt. (HAHA. The script calls for the pcs to run and do a chase scene. Under an hour in and the group has finished two hours’ worth of content.)
The group arrives at warehouse. Dara is missing with old man Ghorin and their pet goat. But nobody cares because she was not important in any other modules except as a quest giver. Segren and Wellum are secured in the warehouse office. The warehouse has a keg of nails. 8 two by four by ten boards. Six two by four by six boards. A set of ball bearings. A bag of caltrops. Some wood scrap which could be burned. The warehouse has a set of double doors and one window. (I gave the group ten real minutes to come up with a plan.)
The six-foot boards board up the window and the caltrops were placed under the window. Maxwell would guard the window. Agent Bob would guard the victims to be. Most of the ten-foot boards secured the double doors. The ball bearings were put behind the doors. The rest of boards had nails driven into and placed behind the ball bearings. (I treat the boards as caltrops.) A ten by ten-foot section behind the boards had the floor boards pulled up. (difficult terrain. Note I was offering and getting input from the players on how to handle the improvised stuff. Hey the module does not tell you what the floor is like.) So, the first ten foot by twenty foot long part of warehouse behind the doors are secured. Kayn Nyak is taking point on the front left of the ware house peeking out between the wooden planks of the warehouse. (Think old western barn where the heroes can see and shoot out.) Shade is holding the center of the warehouse. (and ACTION um Initiative.)
Charles Winchester the Third Cultist, “Alright you dirty Flaming Fist beep Fools. Send out Segren and Wellum and no one gets hurt.”
Kayn moves aside on of planks and throws a dagger into Charles Winchester the third’s face.
Charles Winchester the Third Cultist,” Ok boys. It the Necro drop way!” Two cultists flank right to get around to the window. Two cultists pull out their crowbars.
Shade, “HEY That’s cheating only PC’s should have crow bars.”
Kayn Nyak, “Crow bars. Regular bars. I going to need a drink.”
Charles Winchester the Third Cultist charges toward Kayn position and tries to stab him through the opening in the planks. A crack is heard as the doors are being broken into.
Kayn stabs Charles Winchester the Third making him Charles Winchester the dead. A cultist who had been low crawling from behind the back wall pops up and tries to get in to the window. (Yes, script says he just pops up at the window.) Maxwell spells him to death. One of the right flankers tries to beat down the wall to the office. The other right flanker grabs the crowbar and starts on the window. Agent Bob moves up to take the right side of warehouse door.
The doors burst open. One of the cultists goes to attack Kayn the other Bob. A spined devil teleports into center of the room. Dashes into the office. Grabs Wellum and teleports away.
Shade, “Hey that is cheating.!”
Maxwell, “That is not fair.”
Agent Bob, “that is not right!”
Kayn, “I am new what is happening.”
DM, “Yes I AM CHEATING. I will explain later.”
A brief pause as the players call dm names and want answers. Back to the action.
Maxwell, “Agent Bob, take yours alive!”
Agent Bob, “what? “and casts a spell killing his opponent.
Maxell, “Take Kayn’s cultist alive.”
Kayn and Shade both attack that cultist killing him.
Maxell. “SLEEP! I have to do myself!”
The group captures one cultist alive who turns state evidence and tells where the secret lair is. They are going to sacrifice Wellum to Zariel very soon. You should run and get there very soon.
Maxwell, “Not before a short or long rest.”
Shade, “Long rest.”
Agent Bob, “Long rest.”
Kayn Nyak, “What is a long rest?”
DM. “Hmm you can take a short rest. Or long rest. But a long rest would be bad. Didn’t I mention Wellum is going to sacrificed soon!”
Maxwell, “Short rest”
Shade, “Short rest”
Agent Bob, “Short Rest!’
Kayn, “what is a short rest?”
DM, “A short rest is…’ I explain to the new person what a short rest. While the group is doing the adjustments, I set up the final encounter. YES, the final encounter which would not happen if I didn’t kidnap Wellum. Note the second bonus objective is very railroad. No matter what the group does at the warehouse some how Wellum gets captured and the party charges off in pursuit. I dropped everything except for the cave encounters.
The group finds the Zariel cult secret lair. They encounter a glyph of warding. After a few minutes Maxwell remember G was on the coin from the assassin and is the name of what his name. (Again, crowd noise in the shop. People not taking notes. And I not stressing people take notes cause this to delay the game.) Maxwell says Gharizol which deactivates the glyph.
The first group of cultists charge and most get chopped to pieces. The second group of cultists join them. (AND I DID NOT ROLL ABOVE A 9) Sam the spined devil demands the party join the Zariel cult or die. They make the cultists die. Then they make the devil die. They are a little beaten up as they turn the last corner to see the last cultist dump a basket of centipedes on top of Wellum’s head. Wellum goes down.
Shade, “Darn he is wimp.”
Dm, “It in the script. Um. The cultists and devil had fun with him beforehand. Yea. That is the ticket.”
Kayn,” You mean I have to save him. CHARGE!” He dashes into save the npc. ‘Oh, my gawds. They all over me. They biting me. OUCH!” He drops to zero.
The rest of group around the corner. Agent Bob takes out an imp. Maxwell slides into the swarm and uses his healing potion to bring up Wellum. Shade slides into the swarm and heals Kayn.
Shade gets bitten and goes down. Wellum runs out the chamber. And group dog piles the swarm. (Note must remember swarm takes half damage from melee attacks.)
They return to the warehouse. Agent Bob has found a nice gold coin which has the name Little Timmy on it. Dara arrives in a new white freshly iron and starched robe. The old man turns into planetar and the goat turns into a deva.
Dara, “You don’t have a pack of cigarettes, it is light outside. You don’t have sunglasses. “
The back wall collapses. A huge wagon drawn by a small mule spins into the center of the warehouse nearly tips over and then settles on all four wheels. A Shou man with a blue pseudodragon sleeping on his head grins. He spits a wad of tobacco out.
“Well howdy partners. Heard y’all heading down the highway to hell. Need a lift!”
Dara, “Fai Che…….”
To be continued next week. Same Bad D&D Channel. Same Bad D&D time.

 

[jasper]

Descent into Avernus Session 4
Chapter 1 Part 4
Jail Break, Runaway, Raid.
Days 4 to 11
PC Killed 1 Monsters Killed 63 Villains Captured 13 Villains Escape 4
Either gain a level, or promote to level 5. Gain 10 downtime days and 80 GP per level.
Magic Items Pipes of the Sewers, Infernal Puzzle box. Note the box is a 6-inch cube. Weight 3 pds. DC 30 investigation to open. DC 18 wisdom save or take 42. This is not a story item. Shield of Hidden Lord STORY ITEM DIA page 225 +2 To AC and Fire resistance. See the hardcover for more information.
Story Award Friend of Hhune. You rescued old lady Hhune. One free spell casting service up to 1,000 GP.
Story Award and Story Item Lulu the Hollyphant. A small pink elephant that flies. Page 237 for stat block. Page 50 for her unlocks per chapter. She will be with party for the rest of the book.
Story Award Steve the Vet (John/Agent Bob). Agent Bob is still on probation with the Flaming Fist. A Veteran has been assigned to watch over him. Agent Bob can use him as a companion when the group is weak. Or as other dms allow.
Story Award One set of Zariel cultist robes.
Story Item Map of Avernus. Gives a clue as you arrive at a location. Page 79-80 Descent.
Magic Item for Completely Useless Fang aka baby tooth of Tiamat. +1 vs devils dagger.
PLEASE WRITE THE STORY AWARDS DOWN.
I had a weak group of four. Shade bard 3. Agent Bob Wizard 2. Alfred Hellsing Warlock 1. Completely Useless Wizard 1 who is mute and uses illusions to communicate.
Ok. I started the group where they left off in one of temple chambers. They enter a secret room behind the altar to discover another altar and Duke Thalamra Vanthampur. (ALERT ALERT Group is totally over match. Play nice with the squishy.) They decide not to join Zariel’s cult. She who will kick the group butt. Does so. Dropping Agent Bob with one spell. Taking Alfred down by half with another spell. The group surrenders. (WAIT WHAT!)
The Duchess summons more cultists, who manacle then group. Gag the group. Toss in a nicely lit warm prison cell. After issuing them freshly washed (ignore the blood stains they hard to get out.) orange rags for clothing. In the prison across the way is Falaster Fisk a thin man in his fifties (No his brother Handover is not here). He came from Candlekeep to use the Vanthampur library on Zariel for research his boss Sylvira Savikas. Falaster was very surprise when he discovered the Vanthampur were actual worshipers of Zariel. But he is very happy because now instead of fifty-fifty chance of being sacrificed tonight his odds are one in six. An old lady about seventy-five name Satiir Thion-Hhume. She and the Duchess are rivals for the open slot for the next Duke of Baldur’s Gate. The group grows quiet as Barney Bearded Devil arrives. He is their jailer. He causally puts the cage keys on a hook by his desk. And engages them in conversation. They don’t answer. He asks more questions. They don’t answer. Then he (OKAY THE DM) remembers they are gagged. He cuts off the gags and ask them a few questions and mocks them. After getting board with them, he asks do they want fresh mostly dead rat in their rat stew or fully cook rat. They don’t answer so he decides he go hunting and fully cook the rat because they don’t deserve a treat so soon.
Mostly Useless cast acid splash on the lock repeatedly. (YES, THIS IS NOT HOW THE SPELL WORKS. Don’t expect the DM to be this nice again.) This weaken the lock and they break free. They go to get the keys and Shade wonders why they just didn’t mage hand the keys. (WHY. Um Hmm. Because small little d-clip you could see, secures the key. Yes, that the ticket. WHAT do you mean no has Mage Hand? DM’s Head to table.)
The group frees the prisoners and bluffs the front gate guards. (Agent Bob got 23+. I got 10) They return to the police station and have to decide assault or sneak back in. (OKAY the group is way under powered for this section. I gave Agent Bob an NPC Veteran to be the meat shield. Since he had fun with the NPC, I decide to give the veteran as a companion. Agent Bob remember Steve does average damage when he hits). NOTE. The group chooses assault. So, most of the combat is going happen off board and I will look through the rest of this part of chapter and choose a few encounters.
The Flaming Fist Foolish Four and the rest of the cops assault the villa. The Flaming Fist Foolish Four take the upstairs. The rest of cops head down to the dungeon. They take out the five guards on the second floor. Shade knocks on one door.
Voice, “Go away. I am bathing. Mom. (SEE THERE IS PERIOD BETWEEN BATHING AND MOM)”
Shade knocks again.
Voice, “MOM. I said I was bathing.”
Completely Useless throws open the door and walks in. (Useless no I don’t! DM yes you do. Just go with it.) He ducks and grabs the infernal puzzle box that was throw at him. Thurstwell Vanthampur is bathing. In all his clothes. He still has shampoo in his hair. He is brutally spelled, stabbed, stabbed and spelled before he can get the soap out his eyes. And his imp companion is waxed too. Most of rest of second story rooms are empty. As they looting the Duchess bedroom, Agent Bob opens the study and a Helmed Horror attacks the group. (Note reduced the hit points by half). They destroy the horror and gripe that it won’t fit the bard. They head down into the sewers.
The group gets ahead of one the raiding group and opens the vault. Inside is Thavius Kreeg a thin man who casts a really fat shadow. Thavius Kreeg is priest wearing a holy symbol but tells the group it is a symbol of Zariel. Yes, he believes it. The group TALKS to him. He enjoys polishing the golden shield of the hidden lord. He talks to the shield and it talks aback. He knows Agent Bob and the rest of the Foolish Four are going to hell. Agent Bob agrees.
Note Thavius was talking in general but Bob answered him specifically.
Thavius, “Well since you going to hell soon. Take the shield. Mr. Gargauth inside the shield wants to go to hell to be freed of his curse. And take these new robes because your outfits suck.”
The group thank Thavius and arrest him. They then go back to the station. Where they are drafted by Commander Liara Portyr to go to Candlekeep so the puzzle box and shield can be examined. On the way to Candlekeep they are ambushed by a bearded devil and guard. At Candlekeep they meet various people and learn various things.
The puzzle box holds the contract between Zariel and Thavius Kreeg. Kreeg is responsible for the city being taken. (Holy. Grr. ALL DMS on page 41 of Thavius description add note to see page 47.)
Shield of the Hidden Lord. A pit fiend is inside the shield. It ticked off Asmodeus. It will serve the party in hell as a guide and advisor. (DM NOTE. No, I don’t know how this will work out. We will play by ear.)
Map of Avernus page 79-80 is given to group by Sylvira one of high commanders of Candlekeep.
Arriving at Traxigor’s Tower, the otter Traxigor wakes up Lulu. Lulu is a Hollyphant. Lulu was Zariel’s companion and hid Zariel’s sword before Zariel was captured by devils. Lulu does not remember where she hid the sword. Lulu has lost some of her memories and powers. See page 51 and 50 of the book. Lulu speaks Celestial and by telepathy. She is pink.
After a long rest, a good meal, and a hot bath the group step into the circle and are plane shifted to hell with Traxigor the otter and Reya Mantlehorn a veteran.
DM Comment. The last four pages of Chapter 1 is mostly a great information dump. You could use it for various seeds if you were homebrewing.