Rhenny
Adventurer
Travensburg Campaign – Part 10 - 12/14/13 session
We played for 3 hours…4 players and 1 DM controlled PC – 3rd level PCs – Continuing our Adventure
T’rissril Eilsndar the Drow Rogue/assassin
Fid (the Dwarven Fighter who transformed into a Warforge Fighter)
Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist ex-jester
Nalcon the Lightbringer Cleric, noble who doesn’t like to get his hands dirty
Arkady the chubby human Evoker, ex-soldier
WARNING – This part of the campaign is a modified version of Mines of Madness – Spoilers and modifications of the adventure abound.
From last game….The Golem walked over to the boulder and rolled it into the next cavern.
Fid decided to follow the golem and then when the golem stopped, he commanded it to throw the boulder at the huge bat that was clinging from the ceiling about 60’ to the north of them. The golem strained to lift the huge boulder and threw it about 15’ in the air. It crashed to the ground and then rolled further toward the mound of bat guano, squishing 2 cave crickets. This made all of the crickets spring forth, and the huge bat took to wing.
Fid was beset by a number of the creatures, but he stood his ground with shield and axe. Nalcon stayed far behind, and Tris crept from the darkness to fire an arrow into the huge bat. The bat screeched in pain.
Meanwhile, as Fid backed out he heard the cry of humanoid somewhere deeper into the caverns past the mound of bat guano. Unknown to him and the rest of the group, a portly Evoker who had been investigating the area above the mines searching for the Forever Stone as well, had fallen into a worm hole and tumbled 300’ down a chute to the caverns only a few hundred feet to the north east of the party. Arkady, hit the ground with a thud, taking a damage on his fall. He stood, brushed himself off and chanted a quick incantation to light up his spell book so he could see in the darkness. All the while, he heard a rumble and felt the ground beneath him vibrate slightly. He heard a creature to the south west screech in pain, and then he slowly walked toward the sounds trying to be as stealthy as possible, yet failing miserably. The vibrations grew stronger as he shuffled up a 15’ cliff, up an incline to another 15’ cliff. Then, as he turned to look back to where he had been, he saw a huge purple worm slither past and continue clockwise away from him. The beast was large, yet still only a young one. Fearing the sound of screeching to the south west and the purple worm to the east, he remained silent and just watched the worm.
Back in the other cavern to the south west, Fid and the others fought the huge bat and the cave crickets. Fawnsworth stepped forth and splashed a color spray that affected 5 of the cave crickets, 4 of them bounding away from him in fear, the 5th one slowed to near ineffectiveness. Tris fired another arrow at the huge bat and pierced its hide once again. The bat and the crickets tried to bite at Fid, but his metal frame and armor could not be compromised. Eventually, Fid saw a light from the north east, and Arkady saw a light from the south west. Some cave crickets hopped over to Arkady and tried to bite him in pure panic, none scoring wounds (Arkady had mage armor). Arkady used magic missile to take down one and injure a few, but others hopped toward him. Fid hacked at the huge bat, but it didn’t die until Nalcon enveloped it with a sacred flame.
Seeing the light and another humanoid figure to the north, Tris ran forward to flank two cave crickets that were trying to bite Arkady. Tris’ blades flickered in the light and both scored hits, killing both targets. Arkady uneasily thanked the Drow for the help, and soon all of the vermin were extinguished. Arkady warned the others of the purple worm, and the group decided to camp at the threshold to the next cavern and watch the behavior of the worm. After an hour, they realized that the worm seemed to have a 1 minute circuit around the cavern. After Fid and Arkady bandaged themselves, Fawnsworth used his illusions to test the worm. He found that the worm would attack, but it had a tougher time going into some of the smaller alcoves in the cavern, or at least it didn’t seem to want to go into the alcoves. Arkady told the others that it seemed like a creature of habit. It was circling the area because it had grown accustomed to catching prey that way. Going on this theory, the group ran to an alcove on the other side of the cavern. Once everyone was in the alcove, piercers dropped from the ceiling slashing into both Tris and Fid. The others escaped damage. The living stalagmites blocked their exit, so when the group realized that these monsters had no attack while they were on the ground, Fid used his strength to grapple one and move it into the middle of the cavern. With an opening, the group made a run to another alcove, and then Tris continued further down to the south. With her excellent darkvision, Tris was able to see a smaller tunnel leading south ending in an ornate stone door. She signaled the rest to follow quickly before the worm returned, and they all made it to the door.
At the door, Tris examined the locks…there were 6 of them on the door. There were also 6 bronze plaques next to the wall. Fid and Arkady could read them. They were the names of the Dwaven Mines in the area. Resting for a while, safe from the worm, the group pondered the locks and the name plates. Eventually they figured out how to open the door when Fawnsworth used a knock scroll to unlock the first lock. Then the “u” in the first name of the first plaque became depressed. Once they saw that, they realized they needed to spell out “unlock.” Tris pressed the letters in order and all the locks opened.
Inside the room, the group encountered the Crypt Thing, Abracadamus, sitting in a stone throne. Tris was able to sneak inside without the thing seeing her, but the light from Fawnsworth’s and Arkady’s light spells alerted Abracadamus of their presence. The thing beckoned to them and asked them why they were here. Tris, who had sneaked around beside Abracadamus, jammed her short sword deep into its back. This made the Crypt Thing cackle. It did not seem to go on the offensive so Tris disengaged. After a bit of banter between Abracadamus and the party, each having a turn to talk with the thing as it asked them why they were here, the group was shown a marvelous treasure behind a secret door. The Crypt Thing told them they could abandon their quest for the Forever Stone and take the treasure, but the party refused. With a wave of a hand, the treasure room wall sealed, and the Crypt Thing asked them if they were ready to make one more sacrifice. He asked one of them to kneel before him and accept disintegration. The party did not like this offer so they launched attacks at the Crypt Thing. Still alive, the Crypt Thing waved its hand once more and another wall on the south opened to reveal a small Green Dragon. It was awaking from stasis, and it looked wild eyed and hungry. With that, the Crypt Thing disappeared.
Fid bravely pinned the dragon in the small room it was in, and stood his ground with shield held high while he hacked at it, chipping a few dragon scales. Arkady fired an inaccurate acid arrow at the beast, but then the green dragon issued forth a cone of poison gas, harming both Fid and Arkady. Arkady and the others backed out of the room after trying various ranged attacks against the snarling beast, a few hitting solidly. Tris, in the corner of the room avoided the breath. She thought she heard some mumbling near the throne where the Crypt Thing was so she stepped over and tried to attack the area, missing with two attacks. Then, she tried to run out of the room, but she ran into something in the doorway. She shouted out…”It’s in the doorway.”
Fid and Tris were the only ones in the room with the dragon at this point and the dragon belched more gas harming them both (it recharged). Tris was mightily wounded, and Fid was starting to feel pain as well, but he bravely kept his position so that the dragon could not push out and use his tail.
In the hallway, Fawnsworth took a vial of the lime powder that they had collected earlier and he threw it into the air near the doorway. The fine dust settled on the invisible Crypt Thing, and then the others were able to hit it. Nalcon shot it with scorching rays, only 1 hitting home, Fawnsworth hitting it with a ray of frost. Eventually it went down, and Fid was able to withstand two rounds of a biting and clawing dragon, while the adventurers were able to finally land the killing blow.
After the battle, Fid took out the diamond tipped pick he had found earlier and he started smashing away at the wall to the east where the treasure had been. Eventually they got it open and they found three chest worth of loot - over 700 gp worth of coin and gems, plus 9 cat statuettes, a horn, 2 healing potions, 1 potion of heroism, two identify scrolls, 1 read magic scroll, and another scroll – a map and a deed to tower on the outskirts of the city of Freehold, a 3 day journey to the south of Travensburg.
The group was able to time the purple worm’s passage once again, and then they exited the mines. Unfortunately, by killing the Crypt Thing, they lost their chance to find the Forever Stone, but they did have an eventful adventure and walked away with treasure and their lives.
Comments
We had a new player join today. He had not played D&D Next at all. He played the evoker and had a great time with it, and was a welcome addition to the game. The group had a good time with roleplaying/interacting with each other and the crypt thing, exploring and combat. Again, I love how D&D Next lets us have a 3 hour game filled with enough from all pillars of play.
Additionally, we still love the ease of using ability checks with modifiers for proficiency makes it very fluid and gives PCs lots to do even when they are not in combat. The players were coming up with interesting ideas like strength check to try to kick over a fallen piercer, stealth checks to hide in shadows and move silently, dex checks to try to vault over the piercers when they were on the ground, strength check to grapple the piercer and pushing it, monster knowledge checks using intelligence to find out more about the purple worm and the crypt thing, athletic checks to climb, wisdom checks to perceive, charisma checks to try to negotiate with the crypt thing and the dragon, even an attempt to intimidate the dragon when it was really wounded. (Many of these moments I didn’t even put into the narrative).
One thing we noticed that was a little confusing had to do with the dragon’s poison breath. The attack says poison damage and we ruled that the warforge was just as susceptible to it as any other PC, but we did ponder the issue. What if the poison was something that had to be breathed, would the warforge be susceptible then? Thinking about it we wondered if Stinking Cloud should affect a warforged. It seems as if the Con save for that, to prevent retching, would be something that a warforged would not experience. Poisons that need to be breathed in would also seem like something a warforged would not be susceptible to, but there is no distinction for these cases in the rules now.
All in all, we had a blast running through the Mines of Madness (which of course I modified to make it more campaign worthy rather than a 1 shot where PCs could die more easily). We are going to run our next games with 5th level PCs because the group wants to see how they feel at that point, and then later we may jump up to 12th etc. Unfortunately with the holidays approaching, we probably won’t play again for 3 or 4 weeks. That will give me time to create or modify for a new part of the campaign.
Health and Happiness to all for the Holiday Season. Cheers.
We played for 3 hours…4 players and 1 DM controlled PC – 3rd level PCs – Continuing our Adventure
T’rissril Eilsndar the Drow Rogue/assassin
Fid (the Dwarven Fighter who transformed into a Warforge Fighter)
Fawnsworth the Gnome Illusionist ex-jester
Nalcon the Lightbringer Cleric, noble who doesn’t like to get his hands dirty
Arkady the chubby human Evoker, ex-soldier
WARNING – This part of the campaign is a modified version of Mines of Madness – Spoilers and modifications of the adventure abound.
From last game….The Golem walked over to the boulder and rolled it into the next cavern.
Fid decided to follow the golem and then when the golem stopped, he commanded it to throw the boulder at the huge bat that was clinging from the ceiling about 60’ to the north of them. The golem strained to lift the huge boulder and threw it about 15’ in the air. It crashed to the ground and then rolled further toward the mound of bat guano, squishing 2 cave crickets. This made all of the crickets spring forth, and the huge bat took to wing.
Fid was beset by a number of the creatures, but he stood his ground with shield and axe. Nalcon stayed far behind, and Tris crept from the darkness to fire an arrow into the huge bat. The bat screeched in pain.
Meanwhile, as Fid backed out he heard the cry of humanoid somewhere deeper into the caverns past the mound of bat guano. Unknown to him and the rest of the group, a portly Evoker who had been investigating the area above the mines searching for the Forever Stone as well, had fallen into a worm hole and tumbled 300’ down a chute to the caverns only a few hundred feet to the north east of the party. Arkady, hit the ground with a thud, taking a damage on his fall. He stood, brushed himself off and chanted a quick incantation to light up his spell book so he could see in the darkness. All the while, he heard a rumble and felt the ground beneath him vibrate slightly. He heard a creature to the south west screech in pain, and then he slowly walked toward the sounds trying to be as stealthy as possible, yet failing miserably. The vibrations grew stronger as he shuffled up a 15’ cliff, up an incline to another 15’ cliff. Then, as he turned to look back to where he had been, he saw a huge purple worm slither past and continue clockwise away from him. The beast was large, yet still only a young one. Fearing the sound of screeching to the south west and the purple worm to the east, he remained silent and just watched the worm.
Back in the other cavern to the south west, Fid and the others fought the huge bat and the cave crickets. Fawnsworth stepped forth and splashed a color spray that affected 5 of the cave crickets, 4 of them bounding away from him in fear, the 5th one slowed to near ineffectiveness. Tris fired another arrow at the huge bat and pierced its hide once again. The bat and the crickets tried to bite at Fid, but his metal frame and armor could not be compromised. Eventually, Fid saw a light from the north east, and Arkady saw a light from the south west. Some cave crickets hopped over to Arkady and tried to bite him in pure panic, none scoring wounds (Arkady had mage armor). Arkady used magic missile to take down one and injure a few, but others hopped toward him. Fid hacked at the huge bat, but it didn’t die until Nalcon enveloped it with a sacred flame.
Seeing the light and another humanoid figure to the north, Tris ran forward to flank two cave crickets that were trying to bite Arkady. Tris’ blades flickered in the light and both scored hits, killing both targets. Arkady uneasily thanked the Drow for the help, and soon all of the vermin were extinguished. Arkady warned the others of the purple worm, and the group decided to camp at the threshold to the next cavern and watch the behavior of the worm. After an hour, they realized that the worm seemed to have a 1 minute circuit around the cavern. After Fid and Arkady bandaged themselves, Fawnsworth used his illusions to test the worm. He found that the worm would attack, but it had a tougher time going into some of the smaller alcoves in the cavern, or at least it didn’t seem to want to go into the alcoves. Arkady told the others that it seemed like a creature of habit. It was circling the area because it had grown accustomed to catching prey that way. Going on this theory, the group ran to an alcove on the other side of the cavern. Once everyone was in the alcove, piercers dropped from the ceiling slashing into both Tris and Fid. The others escaped damage. The living stalagmites blocked their exit, so when the group realized that these monsters had no attack while they were on the ground, Fid used his strength to grapple one and move it into the middle of the cavern. With an opening, the group made a run to another alcove, and then Tris continued further down to the south. With her excellent darkvision, Tris was able to see a smaller tunnel leading south ending in an ornate stone door. She signaled the rest to follow quickly before the worm returned, and they all made it to the door.
At the door, Tris examined the locks…there were 6 of them on the door. There were also 6 bronze plaques next to the wall. Fid and Arkady could read them. They were the names of the Dwaven Mines in the area. Resting for a while, safe from the worm, the group pondered the locks and the name plates. Eventually they figured out how to open the door when Fawnsworth used a knock scroll to unlock the first lock. Then the “u” in the first name of the first plaque became depressed. Once they saw that, they realized they needed to spell out “unlock.” Tris pressed the letters in order and all the locks opened.
Inside the room, the group encountered the Crypt Thing, Abracadamus, sitting in a stone throne. Tris was able to sneak inside without the thing seeing her, but the light from Fawnsworth’s and Arkady’s light spells alerted Abracadamus of their presence. The thing beckoned to them and asked them why they were here. Tris, who had sneaked around beside Abracadamus, jammed her short sword deep into its back. This made the Crypt Thing cackle. It did not seem to go on the offensive so Tris disengaged. After a bit of banter between Abracadamus and the party, each having a turn to talk with the thing as it asked them why they were here, the group was shown a marvelous treasure behind a secret door. The Crypt Thing told them they could abandon their quest for the Forever Stone and take the treasure, but the party refused. With a wave of a hand, the treasure room wall sealed, and the Crypt Thing asked them if they were ready to make one more sacrifice. He asked one of them to kneel before him and accept disintegration. The party did not like this offer so they launched attacks at the Crypt Thing. Still alive, the Crypt Thing waved its hand once more and another wall on the south opened to reveal a small Green Dragon. It was awaking from stasis, and it looked wild eyed and hungry. With that, the Crypt Thing disappeared.
Fid bravely pinned the dragon in the small room it was in, and stood his ground with shield held high while he hacked at it, chipping a few dragon scales. Arkady fired an inaccurate acid arrow at the beast, but then the green dragon issued forth a cone of poison gas, harming both Fid and Arkady. Arkady and the others backed out of the room after trying various ranged attacks against the snarling beast, a few hitting solidly. Tris, in the corner of the room avoided the breath. She thought she heard some mumbling near the throne where the Crypt Thing was so she stepped over and tried to attack the area, missing with two attacks. Then, she tried to run out of the room, but she ran into something in the doorway. She shouted out…”It’s in the doorway.”
Fid and Tris were the only ones in the room with the dragon at this point and the dragon belched more gas harming them both (it recharged). Tris was mightily wounded, and Fid was starting to feel pain as well, but he bravely kept his position so that the dragon could not push out and use his tail.
In the hallway, Fawnsworth took a vial of the lime powder that they had collected earlier and he threw it into the air near the doorway. The fine dust settled on the invisible Crypt Thing, and then the others were able to hit it. Nalcon shot it with scorching rays, only 1 hitting home, Fawnsworth hitting it with a ray of frost. Eventually it went down, and Fid was able to withstand two rounds of a biting and clawing dragon, while the adventurers were able to finally land the killing blow.
After the battle, Fid took out the diamond tipped pick he had found earlier and he started smashing away at the wall to the east where the treasure had been. Eventually they got it open and they found three chest worth of loot - over 700 gp worth of coin and gems, plus 9 cat statuettes, a horn, 2 healing potions, 1 potion of heroism, two identify scrolls, 1 read magic scroll, and another scroll – a map and a deed to tower on the outskirts of the city of Freehold, a 3 day journey to the south of Travensburg.
The group was able to time the purple worm’s passage once again, and then they exited the mines. Unfortunately, by killing the Crypt Thing, they lost their chance to find the Forever Stone, but they did have an eventful adventure and walked away with treasure and their lives.
Comments
We had a new player join today. He had not played D&D Next at all. He played the evoker and had a great time with it, and was a welcome addition to the game. The group had a good time with roleplaying/interacting with each other and the crypt thing, exploring and combat. Again, I love how D&D Next lets us have a 3 hour game filled with enough from all pillars of play.
Additionally, we still love the ease of using ability checks with modifiers for proficiency makes it very fluid and gives PCs lots to do even when they are not in combat. The players were coming up with interesting ideas like strength check to try to kick over a fallen piercer, stealth checks to hide in shadows and move silently, dex checks to try to vault over the piercers when they were on the ground, strength check to grapple the piercer and pushing it, monster knowledge checks using intelligence to find out more about the purple worm and the crypt thing, athletic checks to climb, wisdom checks to perceive, charisma checks to try to negotiate with the crypt thing and the dragon, even an attempt to intimidate the dragon when it was really wounded. (Many of these moments I didn’t even put into the narrative).
One thing we noticed that was a little confusing had to do with the dragon’s poison breath. The attack says poison damage and we ruled that the warforge was just as susceptible to it as any other PC, but we did ponder the issue. What if the poison was something that had to be breathed, would the warforge be susceptible then? Thinking about it we wondered if Stinking Cloud should affect a warforged. It seems as if the Con save for that, to prevent retching, would be something that a warforged would not experience. Poisons that need to be breathed in would also seem like something a warforged would not be susceptible to, but there is no distinction for these cases in the rules now.
All in all, we had a blast running through the Mines of Madness (which of course I modified to make it more campaign worthy rather than a 1 shot where PCs could die more easily). We are going to run our next games with 5th level PCs because the group wants to see how they feel at that point, and then later we may jump up to 12th etc. Unfortunately with the holidays approaching, we probably won’t play again for 3 or 4 weeks. That will give me time to create or modify for a new part of the campaign.
Health and Happiness to all for the Holiday Season. Cheers.
