D&D 5E Running Rime of the Frost Maiden

[MarkB]

One quick note on the Roll20 version of this adventure: Both the token and art handout for Auril's first form are, accurately enough, labelled "Auril (First Form)". What a give-away! I'm glad I checked those assets in advance of the confrontation. I know it's not like they're really going to think she's dead when she goes down like a chump in the first round, but let's at least suspend the reveal for a little while.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

One thing I wouldn't do is force a confrontation with Auril on Grimskalle if the players are trying to avoid it. Apart from railroading, such a fight is likely to be inconclusive, since she can use her lair action to teleport anywhere she likes if things start going badly for her. Also note that her pet roc can drop people off the side of the building from a great height.

As for motivation, my players had already decided that they needed the Ythyrn Mythallar to end the winter, due to clues found in the Black Cabin and Lost Spire, so had common cause with Vellynne, despite not trusting her. It's perfectly reasonable for the DM, role playing as (intelligent and manipulative) Vellynne, to use whatever means of persuasion might prove effective on your particular PCs, and taking into account that she knows the PCs don't trust her, to get them to take her to Ythyrn. If the PCs refuse, she is likely to make off with the codicil and team up with Avarice, who will use the power of Ythryn to free Levistus.

As for why Auril will show up in Ythryn - the clues are on Grimskalle. She is a collector. She likes to collect and preserve things unchanging. She has "collected" Ythryn and sealed it away with her magic, which is why the PCs need the eponymous rime in the first place. If the PCs made a good impression in the trials she might be willing to tolerate them, if they take a "look but don't touch" approach, but Avarice hasn't been through the trials.

 

[MarkB]

One thing I wouldn't do is force a confrontation with Auril on Grimskalle if the players are trying to avoid it. Apart from railroading, such a fight is likely to be inconclusive, since she can use her lair action to teleport anywhere she likes if things start going badly for her. Also note that her pet roc can drop people off the side of the building from a great height.

As for motivation, my players had already decided that they needed the Ythyrn Mythallar to end the winter, due to clues found in the Black Cabin and Lost Spire, so had common cause with Vellynne, despite not trusting her. It's perfectly reasonable for the DM, role playing as (intelligent and manipulative) Vellynne, to use whatever means of persuasion might prove effective on your particular PCs, and taking into account that she knows the PCs don't trust her, to get them to take her to Ythyrn. If the PCs refuse, she is likely to make off with the codicil and team up with Avarice, who will use the power of Ythryn to free Levistus.

As for why Auril will show up in Ythryn - the clues are on Grimskalle. She is a collector. She likes to collect and preserve things unchanging. She has "collected" Ythryn and sealed it away with her magic, which is why the PCs need the eponymous rime in the first place. If the PCs made a good impression in the trials she might be willing to tolerate them, if they take a "look but don't touch" approach, but Avarice hasn't been through the trials.

It's more that I want to introduce the players to the concept that Auril can be fought, before they leave the island. I don't think the battle will be inconclusive, because I don't see Auril as using her powers to retreat, or willingly involving her Roc as it's essential to her plans.

She's immortal and thinks on larger scales - she fears being confronted by divine enemies who could end her entirely or banish her from the mortal realm, not ordinary people who can set her back for a season at worst.

My players don't know any details of the mythallar yet. They didn't visit the Lost Spire, and Velynne has been non-specific about what can be found in Ythryn.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Vellynne will be as cagy as she needs to be. If she needs to give out more info to persuade the PCs she will. She also has a better idea about the power level of Auril. She was quite dismissive about her in my game.

Although it's more fun if the PCs don't think Auril can be fought until she actually is coming at them!

Negotiating with Auril could also be an option if the PCs make a good impression in the trials.

Personally, I don't see Auril's arrogance to be so overwhelming that she won't run away if reduced to her 3rd form, and use her minions, including the roc, in a fight. She can always grow another, it's not like she is sentimental.

In my game Auril sent an army of minions in to engage the party, who where in control of the Mythlar, then attacked herself, making extensive use of flying and ranged attacks.

 

[MarkB]

My players are currently in the Caves of Hunger, having defeated Auril in her lair.

The Flameskulls lived up to their reputation of being extremely under-CR'd, dropping almost the entire party. This was, ironically, aided by the fact that two of them had become werepolarbears, as this otherwise-useful boon comes with a side order of vulnerability to fire.

Tekeli-li, on the other hand, did not work out at all. The adventure describes him as a recurring threat, attacking periodically and then turning to mist and retreating if he takes more than 20 hit points. This fails to take into account that a 9th-level party can easily get through all his hit points in a couple of turns - in this instance, the paladin and barbarian, going first, laid down over 100 hit points of damage, and that wasn't even using all the barbarian's attacks.

Since gnoll vampires apparently don't have a resting place they can retreat to, he was basically toast before he even got a turn, and the party sealed the deal with a stake through the heart and a sprinkling of holy water.

The relic that casts arcane eye on a person was also a bit of an oddity - it essentially allowed them to scout ahead a great deal, which meant the place lost a lot of its mystery. I ruled that they couldn't just scout the entire place dues to its size, so I gave them a choice of scouting either south or east, with the far south-east region being unrevealed whichever they chose. They chose east, and spent the rest of the session setting up ambushes and flanking attacks upon the undead in this area. The cleric was especially pleased, his Turn Undead obliterating all but two of the Shadows while they were still surprised.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, Tekeli-li is horribly underpowered. I buffed is significantly, and my PCs still took it out in a one and a half rounds.

My PCs' arcane eye stumbled into the room with the Lovecraftian monster frozen in the ice and received a brain-freeze. A party of that level technically has access to the spell anyway.

There is a big jump in difficulty in the Necropolis, although the big bad demi-lich is still a pushover. Spitting Mimics and squads of Magen gave them a hard time.

 

[MarkB]

Yeah, Tekeli-li is horribly underpowered. I buffed is significantly, and my PCs still took it out in a one and a half rounds.

My PCs' arcane eye stumbled into the room with the Lovecraftian monster frozen in the ice and received a brain-freeze. A party of that level technically has access to the spell anyway.

There is a big jump in difficulty in the Necropolis, although the big bad demi-lich is still a pushover. Spitting Mimics and squads of Magen gave them a hard time.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the actual city. That looks like it'll be a lot more interesting. The Caves mostly feel like just an XP booster for parties that haven't yet hit 9th level.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the actual city. That looks like it'll be a lot more interesting. The Caves mostly feel like just an XP booster for parties that haven't yet hit 9th level.

Narratively, there needs to be connective tissue between the Necropolis and the outside world. The remorhaz fight was probably the best bit in the caves. The gnoll vampire falls flat.

There is a very similar section in Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter: GameBanshee

 

[jayoungr]

Parking a link to a useful thread here for future reference:

D&D 5E - Rime of the Frostmaiden Post-Mortem (Spoilers)

As is my new tradition, each time a campaign ends, I'm trying to learn from it. This will be about my Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign. About the Group and Selection of the Campaign The group contains a “seasoned” casual player who’ve I’ve been gaming with for over 20 years. I put seasoned in...

www.enworld.org

 

[Steel_Wind]

Let me see if this will work. I made some battle maps today for The Dark Duchess. Looking to see if I can upload them here for use by others. These maps are at 150dpi, intended for Foundry VTT but may be downscaled to 72 DPI by Roll 20 DMs.

Obviously, the maps are dark. That is deliberate as that is the entire premise of the module. With a torch or other light in hand, the ice covering the hoard in the lower hold will show up quite nicely though!

[EDIT: I had some technical corrections to make concerning separating the sails off of the main deck so they can be added as a foreground layer, and moving out the captain's cabin and poop deck so those can be properly layered. The revised files are at this link: RotFM - Google Drive I would not use the ones below, but of course you can look to give you an idea of what is at the google drive link.]