MortalPlague
Adventurer
My players just fought and bested Lareth the Beautiful, wrapping up the Village of Hommlet adventure I was running. It was a good four sessions or so; they delved deep the first time, but sorely worn down, they had to retreat to town and make a second foray into the Moathouse against a waiting and prepared Lareth.
The villain made use of a secret escape tunnel, disappearing with most of his closest followers before the PCs kicked in the door (and he left them a troll to play with). They found the passage, caught up with the band of miscreants as they were packing their loot, and battle ensued. It was a glorious fight, with plenty of danger on both sides, a few crits flying around, and a great deal of back and forth fighting. In the end, the PCs triumphed, and all was well.
There were several epic moments in the conflict:
So overall, it was a great adventure, culminating in an excellent finale. So often, in D&D, something throws the fight out of whack, or a run of bad dice luck kills PCs or the villains, or the difficulty is badly misjudged (one way or the other). It was really good to have a properly dramatic finale, and a satisfying conclusion to the arc.
The villain made use of a secret escape tunnel, disappearing with most of his closest followers before the PCs kicked in the door (and he left them a troll to play with). They found the passage, caught up with the band of miscreants as they were packing their loot, and battle ensued. It was a glorious fight, with plenty of danger on both sides, a few crits flying around, and a great deal of back and forth fighting. In the end, the PCs triumphed, and all was well.
There were several epic moments in the conflict:
- The barbarian charged Lareth the Beautiful and crit him, bloodying him in the process. Lareth was no longer beautiful after that!
- The bugbear strangler slipped in behind the warlock and grabbed him with his garrote, with the intent to use him as a shield against the paladin. The warlock cast a spell to attack the bugbear grabbing him. The opportunity attack from the bugbear missed (a miracle of its own, at +10 to hit), then the warlock hit him for about 20 thunder damage, killing him.
- Drex the Fighter, Lareth's right-hand man was hit by a power that forced him to flee when he took damage. Fleeing, he took an opportunity attack from the paladin, who critted his head off.
- Lareth called to Vecna to steal the sight from his foes, just before successfully blinding and damaging all three PCs in the blast.
So overall, it was a great adventure, culminating in an excellent finale. So often, in D&D, something throws the fight out of whack, or a run of bad dice luck kills PCs or the villains, or the difficulty is badly misjudged (one way or the other). It was really good to have a properly dramatic finale, and a satisfying conclusion to the arc.
