D&D General Session Recaps: The Lost Hoard

[THEMNGMNT]

This thread contains the session recaps of my current 5.5E campaign, "Lost Hoard of Malystryx". This campaign is set in the aftermath of a previous 1-20 level campaign in the Forgotten Realms that mashed up Tyranny of Dragons and Storm King's Thunder. The player characters saved the world. But at a price. The Realms are in bad shape and desperately need heroes.

Geographically the campaign is set in the Dessarin Valley, which in my Realms was shattered by the one-two punch of dragons and giants on the warpath. The players are treasure hunters looking to loot the abandoned lairs of dragons and giants. Along the way, they might just do some good.

We are using 5.5E rules and starting at level one.

• Gold Dragonborn Fighter. Soldier background. Strength-based great weapon master with a great sword. Savage Attacker. Planning to go Battle Master.
• Bronze Dragonborn Fighter. Soldier background. Strength-based two weapon fighter with scimitar and shortsword. Lucky. Planning to go Champion.
• Human Paladin. Noble background from the 5E rules (with a retainer). Strength-based great weapon master with a glaive. Savage Attacker and Tough. Leaning toward Oath of Glory.
• Halfling Rogue. Criminal background. Alert. Shortbow and dagger. Leaning toward Assassin.
• Goliath Cleric. Gladiator background. Magic Initiate: Wizard. Divine Order: Thaumaturge.

You're welcome to post any questions or comments you have.

EDIT: Updated character details.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Session 1.

Outside the city of Overlook (borrowed from 4E and placed where Red Larch should be) the player characters trekked into the Sumber Hills. They had gathered intel that led to a hidden temple of Tiamat abandoned after the Tyranny of Dragons nearly 20 years earlier. They hoped to find abandoned treasure, but weren't surprised to encounter a tribe of kobold scavengers squatting in the ruins.

For the ruins, I used the "dragon's lair" map from the 5.5E DMG. I purchased the colored version from Mike Schley's website. I'm buying a lot of Schley maps for this campaign as I love his work. It's a nice little map that helped make the battle very tactical. Also, we played on DND Beyond's Maps VTT. It's solid. This is our first time playing 5.5E and it was smooth except for Weapon Mastery (I'm looking at you, Nick!).

The characters fought their way from the top level down to the middle level, battling nearly a dozen kobold warriors and a handful of hardier winged kobolds. It took the entire session...and the lowest level still remains unconquered. The halfling rogue and goliath cleric both went to zero hit points. I'm using a house rule that turns death saves into a sort of condition track. At zero hit points (but no failed death saves) the character can move or attack, but not both. They were able to use that to stay on their feet and get some healing before the round was done.

In the middle level the characters found a throne occupied by the skeletal corpse of a cultist of Tiamat. The cultist had committed suicide with a ceremonial dagger. Clutched in his other hand was a scroll. One one side of the scroll was the suicide note filled with easter eggs from the previous campaign. On the other side of the scroll was a map of the Dessarin Valley revealing the location of the five hidden hoards of Malystryx, Exarch of Tiamat, killed by the previous 20th level player characters.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Session 2.

Player characters continued their fight against the kobold squatters in the hidden temple to Tiamat. Having cleared out the uppermost two levels, they descended to the third and final level. There, the leader of the kobolds, a scale sorcerer, had conjured two minor fire elementals. I used the stats from the Fire Spark for Flee Mortals, which is a CR5 Minion. They were easy to kill but did a lot of damage. Once they fell, the sorcerer was outnumbered 5 to 1. It hit the characters a few times with scorching ray...then ran away. Short session that spent a disproportionate amount of time trying to parse the Hiding rules. Sigh.

Next session the characters travel to Overlook to follow the clues in the suicide note and the map.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Session 3.

Characters advanced to level 2. Everyone decided to roll for hit points. The cleric got a 7, the paladin a 4, the gold dragonborn fighter a 2, and the rogue a 1. Ouch. The player of the other dragonborn fighter was in the Maldives, so he had better things to do than roll for hit points. Apparently.

The characters travelled from the hidden temple of Tiamat in the Sumber Hills to the city of Overlook. In my Realms, Overlook replaces Red Larch. I wanted a big urban center that was not Waterdeep, and the map of Overlook is just plain cool. And it has a catchy name.

Along the way, I prompted one of the players to share something about their character. The paladin volunteered. He's from a local noble family. His father died in the Dragonrage 20 years ago. His mother is strangely cryptic on the details. He has a teenage squire granted by his background.

Entering Overlook, I gave the players an overview of the city and its history. Which I made up to enhance the themes of the campaign. Overlook was the center of giant power in the North thousands of years ago. About three thousand years ago the dwarven slaves rebelled and the city was destroyed. The giants scattered. The dwarves scattered. In the millennia since, Overlook has been rebuilt and ruined multiple times. There are four wards, each named after a species of giant -- Storm, Fire, Frost, and Stone. In the present day, each of the four wards has its own ruler, with the most powerful being the Lord Warden of Fire and Lord Warden of Stone.

I introduced the downtime rules from Tasha's. I want to emphasize the passage of time and put some structure around all the stuff that typically happens in the background -- doing research, selling loot, building a stronghold. The players really seemed to embrace downtime, with the gold dragonborn fighter eager to pit fight.

The characters investigated the clues they had found on the skeleton of the cultist of Tiamat. The map of the lost hoards of Malystryx indicate the "black lair" is within Overlook.

With a Religion role, the paladin uncovered the cultist had been the Lord Warden of Fire, the most powerful authority in the city. He vanished mysteriously just days after the Dragonrage. It had long been rumored he was part of the Cult of Tiamat. Simultaneously, his wife and daughter were found dead in their home, although it was unclear if they were murdered or committed suicide. His adult son was not in Overlook and has never been heard of again.

The rogue's Investigation skill uncovered a paper trail of multiple properties in different wards that were suspiciously positioned -- and all owned by the cultist. The characters suspect there may be an underground lair beneath the properties.

And that's where we ended.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Session 4.

The player characters continued their downtime activities in Overlook. Not a lot of action, but time well spent building the world in partnership with the players.

The gold dragonborn fighter entered a pit fight. I narrated the fight as a midnight rendezvous in a ruined building lit by torches. A halfling bookmaker, a swig of moonshine for a few coppers, and a handful of desperate men. The human paladin and the goliath cleric both bet on the fighter's first match. He won the first and third match, but narrowly lost the second. He walked away with 100gp.

The opponent in the first match was a hardbitten human farmer. He was desperate to make a few coin as marauders had ravaged his farm. Hearing his story, the fighter gave him a few coin. The human marauders are led by trolls. They show signs of consuming troll blood to gain regenerative powers. They call themselves the Trollsworn and are raiding farms out of the Crooked Forest (what I call the Westwood).

The fighter suggested the party go help out the farmers in a sort of "Seven Samurai" scenario. All the players immediately sat up. That definitely piqued their interest. Looks like I'll be writing that adventure next!

Meanwhile, the characters still had to sell the bejeweled ceremonial regalia of the high cultist of Tiamat. The halfling rogue approached his usual fence. The fence said something this valuable and conspicuous would draw unwanted attention from the underworld. The fence suggested they take the jewels to House Silvercloud, the home of a cloud giant named Nerissa Silvercloud, who hosted monthly soirees where adventurers could sell their loot (and their exciting stories) to interested collectors. Intrigued, the human paladin used a family connection to secure an invite to House Silvercloud the following week.

It was around that time that the tail following them rolled poorly enough to trigger the goliath's passive Perception. With the reveal that a mysterious figure was following them, we ended the session.