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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MortalPlague" data-source="post: 6068577" data-attributes="member: 62721">When we last left our heroes, they had just entered the haunted Hall of Bells.  The last few sessions had seen a fair bit of combat, but nothing truly threatening.  I wanted to change that.  The Hall of Bells was my opportunity.First off, the December playtest push changed up the experience budget values.  I actually had a great deal more budget to play with when selecting monsters.  In addition, the monster math had been tweaked to make monsters more dangerous.  The monster math hadn't been truly dangerous last session, but with a good dungeon crawl chock-full of undead, I was prepared to amp up the difficulty.The party featured a few hired mercenaries, who I did not include in the encounter building numbers, so the PCs would have a bit of a leg up on the difficulty.  One of the conceits of the campaign is that mercenaries actually do give PCs an advantage in the dungeon (for a price).  It would defeat the point if I adjusted encounters to compensate.So here's what I did.  First, I put together the dungeon and populated it.  Then I went over and adjusted the number of monsters up from my original design to meet the new encounter guidelines.  But that wasn't enough.  I created a group of rival adventurers who would be racing the PCs in a friendly / not-so-friendly rivalry.  Then, I also added a behir (a Level 10 monster) who had followed the rival adventurers into the dungeon, and was lurking in the tunnels below, eating the crypt spiders.  The behir functioned as an ambush predator; it would attempt to sneak up on and eat any stragglers, but if it was discovered, it would retreat back down below, using its superior speed to escape.  But the constant threat of a behir attack had the characters on their toes.All the building blocks were in place for a climactic dungeon crawl session!  Let's meet our party. The Brave AdventurersBrelf Proudhammer - Human Fighter 3 (Guide background)Handmaiden Meriele Amastacia - Elven Cleric of Pelor 3 (Sage background)Estel Farthrow - Elven Wizard 3 (Spy background)Evellios (Vell) - Elven Archer Fighter 3Zarchus - NPC - Human Fighter 3Myrielle - Semi-NPC - Human Rogue 3The Ivory Lady - NPC Unfortunately, real life circumstances kept Ral's player from joining us, so his character was quietly retired.  We did have a guest sitting on who hadn't played before, so she took over the NPC rogue Myrielle.  So with a band of seven, the adventurers continued their exploration of the Hall of Bells. The ParleyWhen we left off last session, it was with Pohtep and his rival adventuring group approaching via the main entrance.  The PCs debated whether they would take the diplomatic route or not, but ultimately their good tendencies won out.  The PCs hailed him from down the corridor, and they discussed the terms of their exploration.  They told him that they had staked claim to the area, while Pohtep promised them that he was not after the necklace they sought.  He suggested that there was room enough for both parties to explore, and took his group northwest towards Area 7.The PCs were left to the cell blocks.  They cleverly used acid to loosen the bars to the statue room (Area 4), searched it thoroughly (which took half an hour), and looted the trinkets there.  They avoided use of the tunnels beneath to reach the chamber, which meant they avoided the crypt spiders and the behir.  For now.  They ventured into the North Cells (Area 6) and found a wight and five zombies awaiting them.This marked the first battle using the new math.  The wight taunted the PCs into coming to fight him, and he arranged his zombies in a line before him, blocking access; or so he thought!  Brelf won the initiative, and using a longspear, he jumped over the zombies.  His high jump height cleared seven feet.  I ruled that one zombie got to make an opposed dexterity contest to attempt an opportunity attack, but Brelf handily won that too.  Then he struck the wight for a savage blow, nearly dropping him on the first attack.Meriele stepped forward and turned undead, and all the undead fled.  The zombies ran as far as they could, while the wight simply didn't get the chance; he was cut down before he had a chance to act.  However, the reinforcements arrived in round two; 2 wights, 3 skeletons, and 2 zombies from Area 9!The wights were immediately dangerous; one pinned Brelf in the corner with the help of the zombies, while the other one took on Zarchus.  It was here that parry proved its worth, saving Brelf and Zarchus considerable damage.  The skeletons all had bows, however; they arranged themselves on the far wall and began to peg both Brelf and Meriele, who were both threats.Meriele backed off down the tunnel to avoid the skeletons, hiding behind were Vell was standing.  I had the behir lurking about nearby, so I gave it a sneak roll.  It did poorly.  I handed Meriele a note telling her about noises from down the corridor.  Fortunately, she didn't go off investigating, but she did peek around the corner, only to see a flash of something blue ducking back into hiding.In the end, the PCs managed to cut down the undead, though with considerably more HP loss than I'd expected.  Brelf briefly investigated the blue thing, but there was no sign of it; whatever it was, it had slipped back down into the tunnels.Under the hood: I had planted an extra wight in this encounter, and it proved to be a good idea.  The first one went down so quickly it didn't even factor.  Overall, this encounter was worth 1190 xp.  A tough encounter for four 3rd level PCs should be  840 xp.  So this was tougher than tough.  And honestly, it actually worked out as the numbers suggested.  There was a fair bit of healing thrown out, the cleric used her turn undead, and only Vell was unscathed through the whole fight.  The fight also exposed the two weaknesses of parry; it doesn't stop ranged attacks, and it's a reaction - only one use per round. The Second ParleyWith the attack from Area 9, the PCs knew about the secret passage, so they followed it through.  They found another well with bells dangling above it, and they met Pohtep and his band once more.  Both groups looked considerably banged up; Pohtep had been clearing out some of the other areas.  The rival adventurers offered to join forces; the Hall had proven to be more challenging than either had expected.  Wisely, our heroes did not trust Pohtep; they questioned him on his actual goal.  He conceded that he was seeking a powerful weapon; a mace called Scarhallow.  Each PC aside from Meriele was fine with his goal.  But Meriele had the truth written on her face; she knew of the weapon, and had been tasked to retrieve it for her own church.No truce could be reached.  There was further discussion; the demagogue was keen to reveal that he knew the secret of the bells, though he would not share it.  He also revealed the true nature of the behir, and informed the PCs that it had followed his group into the Hall, and was even now preying on the creatures that live in the tunnels beneath.Pohtep and his companions left, heading further into the dungeon, while the PCs discussed their options.  The prospect that they might have to slay Pohtep was entertained.  Meriele hesitantly revealed a secret; Commander Fang of the White Guards had drawn her aside before they entered the dungeon, and told her, "Pohtep is a good friend of the Exarch.  It would be good if he did not return from the dungeon."  Evidently, the leader of Tiamat's Red Branch and her White Branch were at odds, politically.  But being a good character, Meriele was hesitant to act on such a suggestion. A Journey In The TunnelsThe PCs decided to ring the bells and see what happened.  They positioned themselves back in the side chamber, and had Vell fire an arrow.  The bells rang, and it summoned a pair of crypt spiders to the bottom; without looking down, all the characters heard was the skitter of legs.  Then they heard a hiss and the sounds of combat; the behir was tearing the spiders apart!They decided to take advantage of the combat; they wanted to see if they could catch the creature.  But by the time they got down to where it was, the beast had slain the spiders and was already moving on.  The party decided not to pursue the behir into the tunnels.The tunnels proved to be a good way to move around, however.  The caverns from the north cells in particular headed northwest, which led in the direction they hoped to go.  So taking to the tunnels, and moving in a group, the heroes advanced.  They came to the bottom of a well.  They could hear the sounds of far-off combat from above; Pohtep was battling a mummy in area 13.  Brelf had Zarchus give him a boost up, then he climbed the rough surface of the well.At the top, he peeked over the edge.  There was Queen Teera herself, the awful mummy with her court of eight skeletal warriors, each armed with a bow.  He had come up right in the throne room (Area 14)!  He managed to make the wisdom check not to succumb to her aura of dread, but the Queen was still a terrible figure."Who are you to enter my throne room?" she rasped."I'm Brelf Proudhammer, and I'm an interloper in your halls," he replied, somewhat awestruck at the sight of her, and a little sheepish at being caught."Did you bring friends?  Or were you fool enough to come alone?""They're below," he admitted.The Queen turned to her archers.  "Ring the bells," she commanded.Brelf cursed and clambered down as the skeletons drew their bows back and peppered the bells with arrows.  The sound filled the tunnels below; there was little doubt the spiders were coming.The PCs formed quick battle lines, with Brelf and Zarchus up front.  The spiders appeared; one from the north, one from the southwest.  They attacked with savage ferocity, battling both fighters.  Brelf was holding his own, but Zarchus took a serious bite on the first round, and succumbed to crypt sickness.  Pale and shaking, and in rough shape, the NPC warrior suggested they might bottleneck the spiders in the southeast tunnel.  Brelf agreed.  The PCs began to move back, forming a new line, while Brelf and Zarchus held theirs at bay.  The spider bit Brelf too, but he made his constitution save.  Zarchus took more damage; he was in bad shape.  The others lined up behind Meriele, who stood at the front line with her chainmail and shield, a warrior for her faith.  Zarchus made good on his retreat, and so did Brelf.Only one of the spiders had taken any damage, due to poor rolling on the PCs' part.  Meriele had a spiritual weapon flying around, and Vell had shot one.  One spider was at roughly half damage, the other was unscathed.  But the bottleneck would help limit the terrible melee attacks of the spiders.  Unfortunately, Vell hadn't retreated back far enough, and the spiders lurched forward.  The healthy one rushed him in melee and critically hit Vell, dealing 20 damage.  The archer then failed his constitution save, contracting crypt sickness, with its necrotic vulnerability.  The wounded spider spat a gob of necrotic ichor, but fortunately for Vell, it missed.  A hit would've meant double damage; it might've spelled Vell's death.Vell managed to withdraw behind the cover of Brelf and Meriele, who were holding the line with impressive skill.  With the battle lines locked in place like that, the spiders couldn't hit them, and over the next few rounds, they managed to bring both beasts down.  Following the battle, Meriele used lesser restoration to cure Vell, though she hadn't enough of Pelor's grace left to cure Zarchus too.  Fearful that the behir would show up and attack them while they were vulnerable, they retreated back to the north cells and climbed out of the tunnels.Under the hood: I couldn't have been more pleased at how the initial meeting with Queen Teera went.  It's rare you have a chance for an exchange of banter between hero and villain, especially if the villain gets to spring a trap.  So that was tremendous fun.  As for the encounter, it's hard to quantify.  The crypt spiders were a custom creation; you can find their stat block in the adventure if you're curious.  I was trying to build something terrible and fierce, with a sickness too, so that one couldn't simply shrug off their bite.  Let's face it; few things in D&D are as scary as lingering effects.  The spiders had roughly 56 hit points each, which actually gave them some staying power.  It was impressive how long they lasted, particularly with AC 14.  But the other side of the coin was dice luck; the PCs spent the first round not rolling above a ten on the d20.  And there was a good deal of dice hate in the whole encounter, even past the first round.  Still, I was quite satisfied with the results of the fight. The Third ParleyBattered and injured, the PCs met Pohtep again; he and his group were likewise battered and injured.  They'd been fighting one of the mummified handmaidens.  Pohtep suggested a truce; that both parties rest up before venturing back in.  It was clear that both groups required an extended rest.  He also offered to share a camp with them, but the party was mistrustful enough to decline.  Probably a wise choice.  In a bid to show off whose god was mightier, Pohtep used one of his lesser restoration spells to cure Zarchus, where he then smugly suggested that their whole group owed him a debt.  Brelf was insistent that Zarchus would've had the strength to fight it off on his own.  Amused, Pohtep left, to set up camp outside the Halls. At this point, we took a break for dinner.  It goes to show how quickly 5th Edition can run; we started at 4 pm, and took our dinner break just after 7 pm.  In the span of three hours:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">RP encounter (the first parley)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Exploration encounter (getting into and looting the statue room)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Combat encounter (the north cells and reinforcements)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">RP encounter (the second parley)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Exploration encounter (the tunnels)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Combat encounter (the battle with the spiders)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">RP encounter (the third parley)</li> </ul>That would've been a long session in any other edition, but for 5th, it was half the session.  And none of it felt rushed or unfulfilling.</blockquote>

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