Rhenny
Adventurer
~~Travensburg Campaign – Part 24 – 7/13/2014
“The Final Conflict”
We played for about 3 hours (4 hours with 1 hour of chat and breaks)…3 players –– 7th level PCs – Continuing our Campaign
T’rissril Eilsndar the Drow Bard (not present at this game)
Fid (the Dwarven Fighter who transformed into a Warforge Fighter)
Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist ex-jester (not present at this game)
Nalcon the Noble Cleric of Pelor
Darhgel the Tiefling Evoker
Rhaegar the Dragonborn Paladin (Bounty Hunter – Oath of Vengeance Build - Acid) (not present at this game)
Darhgel, Fid and Nalcon were able to rest a full 8 hours locked in one of the guard rooms on the first floor of Abracadamus’ Tower. Refreshed, they ascended the stone spiral stairway that led to the third level of the tower. Cresting the landing, Fid noticed a hall area with a door to the north and more passage ways and doors to the south. He also noticed a set of gleaming scale mail, completely propped up in one corner of the hall. This caught Fid’s interest so he stepped forward to investigate. As he approached, the armor animated and prepared to attack. It held a shield and a battle axe. Nalcon, Darhgel and Fid also noticed that another set of armor in the south corner began to move as well. Fid engaged the animated armor and found that the armor itself could parry some of Fid’s most powerful blows. Nalcon tried to thwart the foe with sacred flame, but that did little damage. Darhgel fired a ray of frost that struck one of the foes, but it continued to close on the party. Once the group was completely engaged with the two sets of armor, they heard moaning and a hideous zombie dressed in robes came from the passageway to the south west. It approached within 60’ of the party and began casting a spell that charmed Fid. Fid was now under the Spellborn Zombie’s control until he could break the charm. Fid spun around and swung his mighty hammer at Darhgel, hitting twice (with one crit!). Darhgel was stunned, and knocked down low on health.
Meanwhile, Nalcon had to contend with the animated armor on his own. He used his magical flare to protect himself, and managed to avoid the wild axe blades that slashed at him. Fid was able to shake himself free of the compulsion that controlled his actions and then he smashed into one of the animated armor suits, crumpling it to the ground. Nalcon fired scorching rays at the zombie burning it slightly. That’s when the Spellborn Zombie casted another spell and flickering lights of red, blue, yellow played all about the heroes. All but Fid were hypnotized by the sparkling display, so they had to struggle with this condition over the next few seconds. Undaunted, Fid attacked the other armored creature and dented it, but the spellcasting zombie was able to capture Fid in his power once more, directing him to attack Nalcon the cleric. Fid hit Nalcon once, which shocked Nalcon out of his hypnotic state. Then, Darhgel shook off his stupor, and ran down the stairway seeking safety. The sound of two more animated suits of armor entered the combat from the south west and Fid braced for battle. He downed the injured one, and then met the others. Nalcon sensing the gravity of the situation, unleashed a fireball that hit both animated sets of armor and the spellborn zombie. The zombie burned but did not die. The armor was hurt but not destroyed. Darhgel spent the next few seconds remaining out of harms way, and when he climbed back up the stairs, Nalcon healed him lightly. Eventually, the group took the spellborn zombie down, after it rose from death no less than 2 times. They also dealt with the suits of armor, and were able to set up watches to rest for an hour before continuing to search the tower.
Moving to the north doors, Fid burst inside, smashing the door off of its hinges (one of his specialties). Inside, the party found a workshop of sorts, with a magically burning fire in a brazier, a table with papers and journals, and three ghouls, ready to pounce. Fid was paralyzed by one of the beasts so Darhgel jumped into the room to take on others by casting thunderwave to knock one to the ground dead, and injure another. The ghouls did some damage to Darhgel and Fid, as Nalcon picked one off with his sacred flame. At one point, the last remaining ghoul jumped on Darhgel’s back, bit and clawed him deeply, but Nalcon’s sacred flame ended the ghoul’s joy ride. In this room, the group found another slate tablet. This one said, “#3 Flagros” Darhgel also inspected the fire and found that a powerful magic kept this flame burning, and that same magic seemed to be pulsing throughout the entire tower.
The group decided to walk back down the hallway, around the stairway west and then go to the north door, bypassing a double door in the south west corner of the hallway. Fid burst through the door again, and saw a raised platform with a magic circle about 20’ into the room. There was also a gong on the east wall, and two, more fearsome ghouls lunging at the group, along with another animated suit of armor clanging to life behind the ghouls. The party seemed to be in control of this situation until the ghouls leapt out into the hall and the double doors to the south opened. Two undead priests emerged from those doors, with a Spellborn Zombie close behind. Fighting on the north and south taxed the party, especially when the spellcasting zombie used his power to control Fid again. The undead priests inflicted wounds upon both Darhgel and Nalcon, as the companions fought for their lives. Darhgel unleashed a sculpted ice storm to damage the foes, and the battle raged on for 5 or 6 rounds. Eventually, the heroes prevailed. Inside the north room, the party read a plaque on the wall that said, “Abracadamus knows. Speak the names of power and sound the gong.” To the south, the party found another slate tablet (“#4 Pothekus) and a large container of sparkling water. Although the others could not make heads or tails of it, Nalcon drank some and healed some of his wounds. He told the others they too could drink the water, so they did. They found that each person could only benefit from the water once, but they filled their wineskins with it anyway, realizing that this would be beneficial to others. Then, the group took another short rest preparing for the next stage of their journey.
Ready to move on, the party entered the room with the magic circle and the gong. Darhgel spoke the names of power in order and then struck the gong. A loud ringing reverberated throughout the tower as the magic circle began to glow. The heroes timed their move to jump into the circle together. Instantly teleported to the highest level of the tower, the party saw that they were in a large room. There were tables throughout the room, a menacing alter with a Vrock Demon statue looming over it at the far south wall, a strange force field-like cage in the south east corner, 8 wights positioned randomly around the room and a death knight in the middle of the room. The death knight told the party that they were not his master so they would have to leave, but the only way for them to leave would be to die and pass to the world beyond. The adventurers launched into action, a battle where they knew they would hold nothing back.
Throughout the battle, Fid used his military prowess to take on a number of wights who closed on the party. Darhgel and Nalcon called upon spells to injure their foes and rejuvinate allies. Darhgel’s lightning bolts crackled against the wights while Nalcon called upon Pelor to grant him with a radiant burst to thwart his enemies. Nalcon also errected a carefully placed wall of fire to protect Darghel and Fid from some of the wights and simultaneously injure some of his enemies. Pretty soon, the wights were all dead, and as the party faced down the death knight, who hit them with a devastating fireball, they heard the loud ringing of the gong from the 3rd level of the tower. Soon after, both Darhgel and Nalcon felt expert blades stab into their bodies as two transparent men materialized beside them. These creatures looked just like two men who had approached Fid and Darhgel three nights earlier at the Half Moon Inn in Freehold. At that time, the heroes refused to help them find the Forever Stone, so the transparent men left, formed their own party, traveled to the tower, killed the zombies on the first level and waited for the heroes. They used the heroes to bypass the magical wards and defeat the denizens of the tower and now they knew that they could kill the heroes and retrieve the Forever Stone for their master.
Nalcon and Darhgel faced the two transparent men, as Fid charged the death knight. Calling upon all of his energy, Fid attacked furiously, and was able to bring the death knight down. Nalcon and Darhgel fought the transparent men and after one went down, they heard the gong ring another time. Two more transparent men materialized. One stabbed Darhgel, bringing Darhgel down. Nalcon defended himself, and when he got a chance he used healing magic to rescue Darhgel from unconsciousness. After a few rounds, the party survived the ambush. They killed 3 of the transparent men, but left one unconscious so they could find out more about their master.
With a few moments of rest, the party searched the room. They found Abracadamus’ journal which told them about the Forever Stone and how Abracadamus had found a way to use its magic to protect his tower from the ravages of weather and time. The journal said that when Abracadamas was older he would take the stone, for at that time he would have no need of his earthly abode.
Upon further investigation, the group saw a chest in one corner. They also noticed that the alter, with the Vrock statue over it, had an area in the center where a small orb could sit, but there was no orb to be seen. They also inspected the force cage, saw the yellow gem, The Forever Stone, secure on a pedestal. Darhgel realized that the magic of the force cage was too strong for him to deactivate, but then Nalcon suggested that the group search the chest for an orb that might fit into the alter. Bravely, Fid walked over to the chest and opened it. Inside, he saw a magical scepter (that Darghel found could be used to reactivate the teleportation circle so they could escape back to the 3rd floor of the tower) and a set of three small orbs, one yellow, one red and one blue. For a few seconds, the party pondered which orb to place on the depression of the alter, when Darhgel made the decision to go with yellow. As he placed the yellow orb into the depression, the magic of the force cage dissipated. At that point, the transparent man woke from unconsciousness so Fid and the others questioned him about his master. The transparent man’s will seemed unbreakable. He would not reveal anything except he pointed to Darhgel and told Fid, “He knows….Darhgel knows my master.” Immediately, Fid and Nalcon became suspicious of Darhgel, the mysterious Tiefling they had been adventuring with for only a few months. Fid and Nalcon turned their attention to Darhgel and began questioning him. Darhgel told the others that the transparent man was lying. He said he had no idea what that creature was talking about.
While the heroes were exchanging words amongst themselves, the transparent man stood and bolted towards the Forever Stone. Luckily, Fid heard the footfalls, so he spun around, ran to the transparent man and pulverized him with his mighty hammer. Then the group decided that Fid would snatch the Forever Stone from the pedestal, all the while realizing that his action might have disastrous consequences for the tower itself. As conjectured, when Fid grabbed the stone, the entire tower began to shake and crumble. Each of the heroes had to run for the circle. Nalcon was already there, but both Fid and Darhgel fell and were hit by some falling debris. For the next 45 seconds or so, each of the heroes tried to escape the crumbling ruin, but as time elapsed more and more debris fell upon them. Nalcon made it out without suffering harm. Fid made it out after taking substantial damage in the process. Darhgel was crushed before he could make it out. The others heard his screams. With only a split second to decide, Fid ran back into the crumbling tower, found Darhgel and carried his body out to safety. Nalcon’s healing magic brought the Tiefling back from near death, and the party, without another word, began their trek back to Freehold.
Comments
Wow…this was the exciting conclusion to our 24 session campaign that saw our heroes grow from 1st to 8th level (yes…after this one, they would level up).
We had a great time testing out the mechanics and developing a story that entertained us as well. The rules of D&DNext made it pretty easy for me to develop the story and eventually create monsters and challenges with more ease than other versions of D&D. Some of the times I would preplan the story and challenges. Other times, I would react to the pace of the game and add or change things on the fly. Since I never knew how many players would be able to make each session, I had to be flexible and adapt. This game makes it very easy to do that.
Of course, the monsters in the playtest were too easy for the PCs, so I needed to add spellcasting templates to zombies and create more powerful wights, etc., but now that 5e has launched, it is clear that the new monsters will be more challenging – that’s great. I borrowed some of the monster ideas from 4e (Chillborn Skeleton and Spellborn Zombies).
Thanks to anyone who has read my playtest reports over the last year or so, and a special thanks to the players in my group who made this a creative and enjoyable experience.
I am very pleased with the direction of D&D 5e.
“The Final Conflict”
We played for about 3 hours (4 hours with 1 hour of chat and breaks)…3 players –– 7th level PCs – Continuing our Campaign
T’rissril Eilsndar the Drow Bard (not present at this game)
Fid (the Dwarven Fighter who transformed into a Warforge Fighter)
Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist ex-jester (not present at this game)
Nalcon the Noble Cleric of Pelor
Darhgel the Tiefling Evoker
Rhaegar the Dragonborn Paladin (Bounty Hunter – Oath of Vengeance Build - Acid) (not present at this game)
Darhgel, Fid and Nalcon were able to rest a full 8 hours locked in one of the guard rooms on the first floor of Abracadamus’ Tower. Refreshed, they ascended the stone spiral stairway that led to the third level of the tower. Cresting the landing, Fid noticed a hall area with a door to the north and more passage ways and doors to the south. He also noticed a set of gleaming scale mail, completely propped up in one corner of the hall. This caught Fid’s interest so he stepped forward to investigate. As he approached, the armor animated and prepared to attack. It held a shield and a battle axe. Nalcon, Darhgel and Fid also noticed that another set of armor in the south corner began to move as well. Fid engaged the animated armor and found that the armor itself could parry some of Fid’s most powerful blows. Nalcon tried to thwart the foe with sacred flame, but that did little damage. Darhgel fired a ray of frost that struck one of the foes, but it continued to close on the party. Once the group was completely engaged with the two sets of armor, they heard moaning and a hideous zombie dressed in robes came from the passageway to the south west. It approached within 60’ of the party and began casting a spell that charmed Fid. Fid was now under the Spellborn Zombie’s control until he could break the charm. Fid spun around and swung his mighty hammer at Darhgel, hitting twice (with one crit!). Darhgel was stunned, and knocked down low on health.
Meanwhile, Nalcon had to contend with the animated armor on his own. He used his magical flare to protect himself, and managed to avoid the wild axe blades that slashed at him. Fid was able to shake himself free of the compulsion that controlled his actions and then he smashed into one of the animated armor suits, crumpling it to the ground. Nalcon fired scorching rays at the zombie burning it slightly. That’s when the Spellborn Zombie casted another spell and flickering lights of red, blue, yellow played all about the heroes. All but Fid were hypnotized by the sparkling display, so they had to struggle with this condition over the next few seconds. Undaunted, Fid attacked the other armored creature and dented it, but the spellcasting zombie was able to capture Fid in his power once more, directing him to attack Nalcon the cleric. Fid hit Nalcon once, which shocked Nalcon out of his hypnotic state. Then, Darhgel shook off his stupor, and ran down the stairway seeking safety. The sound of two more animated suits of armor entered the combat from the south west and Fid braced for battle. He downed the injured one, and then met the others. Nalcon sensing the gravity of the situation, unleashed a fireball that hit both animated sets of armor and the spellborn zombie. The zombie burned but did not die. The armor was hurt but not destroyed. Darhgel spent the next few seconds remaining out of harms way, and when he climbed back up the stairs, Nalcon healed him lightly. Eventually, the group took the spellborn zombie down, after it rose from death no less than 2 times. They also dealt with the suits of armor, and were able to set up watches to rest for an hour before continuing to search the tower.
Moving to the north doors, Fid burst inside, smashing the door off of its hinges (one of his specialties). Inside, the party found a workshop of sorts, with a magically burning fire in a brazier, a table with papers and journals, and three ghouls, ready to pounce. Fid was paralyzed by one of the beasts so Darhgel jumped into the room to take on others by casting thunderwave to knock one to the ground dead, and injure another. The ghouls did some damage to Darhgel and Fid, as Nalcon picked one off with his sacred flame. At one point, the last remaining ghoul jumped on Darhgel’s back, bit and clawed him deeply, but Nalcon’s sacred flame ended the ghoul’s joy ride. In this room, the group found another slate tablet. This one said, “#3 Flagros” Darhgel also inspected the fire and found that a powerful magic kept this flame burning, and that same magic seemed to be pulsing throughout the entire tower.
The group decided to walk back down the hallway, around the stairway west and then go to the north door, bypassing a double door in the south west corner of the hallway. Fid burst through the door again, and saw a raised platform with a magic circle about 20’ into the room. There was also a gong on the east wall, and two, more fearsome ghouls lunging at the group, along with another animated suit of armor clanging to life behind the ghouls. The party seemed to be in control of this situation until the ghouls leapt out into the hall and the double doors to the south opened. Two undead priests emerged from those doors, with a Spellborn Zombie close behind. Fighting on the north and south taxed the party, especially when the spellcasting zombie used his power to control Fid again. The undead priests inflicted wounds upon both Darhgel and Nalcon, as the companions fought for their lives. Darhgel unleashed a sculpted ice storm to damage the foes, and the battle raged on for 5 or 6 rounds. Eventually, the heroes prevailed. Inside the north room, the party read a plaque on the wall that said, “Abracadamus knows. Speak the names of power and sound the gong.” To the south, the party found another slate tablet (“#4 Pothekus) and a large container of sparkling water. Although the others could not make heads or tails of it, Nalcon drank some and healed some of his wounds. He told the others they too could drink the water, so they did. They found that each person could only benefit from the water once, but they filled their wineskins with it anyway, realizing that this would be beneficial to others. Then, the group took another short rest preparing for the next stage of their journey.
Ready to move on, the party entered the room with the magic circle and the gong. Darhgel spoke the names of power in order and then struck the gong. A loud ringing reverberated throughout the tower as the magic circle began to glow. The heroes timed their move to jump into the circle together. Instantly teleported to the highest level of the tower, the party saw that they were in a large room. There were tables throughout the room, a menacing alter with a Vrock Demon statue looming over it at the far south wall, a strange force field-like cage in the south east corner, 8 wights positioned randomly around the room and a death knight in the middle of the room. The death knight told the party that they were not his master so they would have to leave, but the only way for them to leave would be to die and pass to the world beyond. The adventurers launched into action, a battle where they knew they would hold nothing back.
Throughout the battle, Fid used his military prowess to take on a number of wights who closed on the party. Darhgel and Nalcon called upon spells to injure their foes and rejuvinate allies. Darhgel’s lightning bolts crackled against the wights while Nalcon called upon Pelor to grant him with a radiant burst to thwart his enemies. Nalcon also errected a carefully placed wall of fire to protect Darghel and Fid from some of the wights and simultaneously injure some of his enemies. Pretty soon, the wights were all dead, and as the party faced down the death knight, who hit them with a devastating fireball, they heard the loud ringing of the gong from the 3rd level of the tower. Soon after, both Darhgel and Nalcon felt expert blades stab into their bodies as two transparent men materialized beside them. These creatures looked just like two men who had approached Fid and Darhgel three nights earlier at the Half Moon Inn in Freehold. At that time, the heroes refused to help them find the Forever Stone, so the transparent men left, formed their own party, traveled to the tower, killed the zombies on the first level and waited for the heroes. They used the heroes to bypass the magical wards and defeat the denizens of the tower and now they knew that they could kill the heroes and retrieve the Forever Stone for their master.
Nalcon and Darhgel faced the two transparent men, as Fid charged the death knight. Calling upon all of his energy, Fid attacked furiously, and was able to bring the death knight down. Nalcon and Darhgel fought the transparent men and after one went down, they heard the gong ring another time. Two more transparent men materialized. One stabbed Darhgel, bringing Darhgel down. Nalcon defended himself, and when he got a chance he used healing magic to rescue Darhgel from unconsciousness. After a few rounds, the party survived the ambush. They killed 3 of the transparent men, but left one unconscious so they could find out more about their master.
With a few moments of rest, the party searched the room. They found Abracadamus’ journal which told them about the Forever Stone and how Abracadamus had found a way to use its magic to protect his tower from the ravages of weather and time. The journal said that when Abracadamas was older he would take the stone, for at that time he would have no need of his earthly abode.
Upon further investigation, the group saw a chest in one corner. They also noticed that the alter, with the Vrock statue over it, had an area in the center where a small orb could sit, but there was no orb to be seen. They also inspected the force cage, saw the yellow gem, The Forever Stone, secure on a pedestal. Darhgel realized that the magic of the force cage was too strong for him to deactivate, but then Nalcon suggested that the group search the chest for an orb that might fit into the alter. Bravely, Fid walked over to the chest and opened it. Inside, he saw a magical scepter (that Darghel found could be used to reactivate the teleportation circle so they could escape back to the 3rd floor of the tower) and a set of three small orbs, one yellow, one red and one blue. For a few seconds, the party pondered which orb to place on the depression of the alter, when Darhgel made the decision to go with yellow. As he placed the yellow orb into the depression, the magic of the force cage dissipated. At that point, the transparent man woke from unconsciousness so Fid and the others questioned him about his master. The transparent man’s will seemed unbreakable. He would not reveal anything except he pointed to Darhgel and told Fid, “He knows….Darhgel knows my master.” Immediately, Fid and Nalcon became suspicious of Darhgel, the mysterious Tiefling they had been adventuring with for only a few months. Fid and Nalcon turned their attention to Darhgel and began questioning him. Darhgel told the others that the transparent man was lying. He said he had no idea what that creature was talking about.
While the heroes were exchanging words amongst themselves, the transparent man stood and bolted towards the Forever Stone. Luckily, Fid heard the footfalls, so he spun around, ran to the transparent man and pulverized him with his mighty hammer. Then the group decided that Fid would snatch the Forever Stone from the pedestal, all the while realizing that his action might have disastrous consequences for the tower itself. As conjectured, when Fid grabbed the stone, the entire tower began to shake and crumble. Each of the heroes had to run for the circle. Nalcon was already there, but both Fid and Darhgel fell and were hit by some falling debris. For the next 45 seconds or so, each of the heroes tried to escape the crumbling ruin, but as time elapsed more and more debris fell upon them. Nalcon made it out without suffering harm. Fid made it out after taking substantial damage in the process. Darhgel was crushed before he could make it out. The others heard his screams. With only a split second to decide, Fid ran back into the crumbling tower, found Darhgel and carried his body out to safety. Nalcon’s healing magic brought the Tiefling back from near death, and the party, without another word, began their trek back to Freehold.
Comments
Wow…this was the exciting conclusion to our 24 session campaign that saw our heroes grow from 1st to 8th level (yes…after this one, they would level up).
We had a great time testing out the mechanics and developing a story that entertained us as well. The rules of D&DNext made it pretty easy for me to develop the story and eventually create monsters and challenges with more ease than other versions of D&D. Some of the times I would preplan the story and challenges. Other times, I would react to the pace of the game and add or change things on the fly. Since I never knew how many players would be able to make each session, I had to be flexible and adapt. This game makes it very easy to do that.
Of course, the monsters in the playtest were too easy for the PCs, so I needed to add spellcasting templates to zombies and create more powerful wights, etc., but now that 5e has launched, it is clear that the new monsters will be more challenging – that’s great. I borrowed some of the monster ideas from 4e (Chillborn Skeleton and Spellborn Zombies).
Thanks to anyone who has read my playtest reports over the last year or so, and a special thanks to the players in my group who made this a creative and enjoyable experience.
I am very pleased with the direction of D&D 5e.
