PH Dungeon's 5e Swords of the Realms Campaign


Campaign Journals

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I thought since I started a journal for the new Pathfinder Campaign I started (Eyes of the Lich Queen), I might as well start posting my journals from the 5e campaign I spent the last year or so running.

This campaign was run weekly on roll20. It features material from the Beginner Box, Princes of the Apocalypse, plus a some other adventures and plenty of homebrew content. It took characters from level 1-10 over the course of 50 sessions (sessions being about 2.5 hours each on roll20).

I plan to post 2 sessions per week, until I've posted all the journals. Since they are already written it shouldn't be too difficult to maintain.


Session #1 (Trouble on the Road, The Cragmaw Goblins)
Characters: Inspiration (Tiefling Bard 1), Captain Jack (Human, Rogue 1), Cara (Human, Ranger 1), Falgrim (Dwarf, Fighter 1), Phann (Half Elf, Sorcerer 1).

Session Notes: It is early spring. The roads are just beginning to open after a long winter. The heroes have been hired by Gundrem Rockseeker to deliver a wagon load of supplies from Neverwinter to the a relatively newly reestablished mining town called Phandalin. Gundrem has ridden on ahead to meet with his brothers in the town. He was escorted by a human bodyguard named Sildar Hallwinter.

The "road" the heroes travel is in poor condition, and the going is slower than anticipated. A few days out of Neverwinter they come across a dead horse and pony. They recognize the mounts as having belonged to Sildar and Gundrem, and they have clearly been slain by arrows. As they investigate, the adventurers are ambushed by goblins. Four goblins burst out of the woods, and two more attack with bows from behind a deadfall blocking the trail ahead. The heroes quickly dispatch the little buggers. Three fall to a sleep spell from Inspiration. One is burned to a crisp by a fire bolt from Phann, another is decapitated by Cara's swords and a final goblin is wounded and taken prisoner. Cara and Falgrim are both wounded by goblin blades during the fight.

After the skirmish they kill the sleeping goblins and interrogate their captive. They discover that Sildar was taken to their nearby cave lair and Gundrum was shipped to a place called Cragmaw Castle to see King Grol. Apparently King Grol is the king of the Cragmaw goblins, which consists of a number of tribes in the area who all pay fealty to this goblin "King."

They use their goblin prisoner to lead them to their cave complex. After killing two goblin guards they make their way inside. They follow a central tunnel into the lair, a stream cuts through the tunnel, and they are forced to walk along a wet, narrow stone ledge that flanks the fast moving stream. Unfortunately they are spotted by a scout on a bridge up ahead that overlooks the stream. Phann drops him with a firebolt, but it is unclear whether he alerted any of his kin to their presence.

Cara tries climbing up a small escarpment in a side passage to scout, but discovers that it's not so stable. She falls and is quite injured. Shortly after this a flash flood comes tearing down the tunnel they are exploring. Falgrim and Cara managed to cling to rocks, but the rest of the heroes are washed out of the cave and sustain some injuries.

After recovering from the the flood trap, they venture back into the caves and slay three wolves chained up in the goblins' kennel cave. They find a chimney passage in the back of this cave, and Falgrim climbs up it and discovers another cave containing extensive supplies. It is inhabited by a bugbear, two goblins and a nasty looking wolf. Falgrim promptly slides back down the chimney to rejoin his companions.

The heroes are left injured and in need of rest, but they are unsure whether to leave and rest in the woods or hole up in the kennel cave, which is fairly defensible.


Session #1 GM Commentary: This session was pretty much run RAW from the adventure in the 5e beginner box. I think that adventure is a pretty solid intro to the game, and I liked it enough to use it to kick off the campaign for a group of jaded, veteran players.


Session #2 (Cragmaw Hideout Continued)
Characters: Captain Jack (human, rogue 1), Cara (human, ranger 1), Falgrim (Dwarf, fighter 1), Inspiration (tiefling, bard 1), Phann (half elf, sorcerer 1)

Notes: After the goblins make a brief and unsuccessful attempt to parlay with the invading adventurers, the PCs make a fighting withdraw from the goblin caves and take a short rest in the woods some distance away. They then return to the caves and fight their way into the heart of the goblin lair. They move up the central tunnel (that had been flash flooded in the previous session) and are assaulted by archers from the bridge and engaged by goblins in melee, as well as the Klarg the bugbear and his pet wolf. Phann makes effective use of his burning hands spell to severely wound several enemies at once. Captain Jack helps to keep the bridge clear by darting out from underneath of it and putting crossbow bolts into the heads of goblin archers up above. Cara and Falgrim both fell their quota of goblins in melee. The heroes sustain their share of injuries, but they survive and finish their enemies.

They then explore the remainder of the cave complex. It isn't an overly large lair, and they recover some treasure in the form of silver and copper coins as well as a jade statuette of a frog and two potions. They also recover Sildar Hallwinter (Their patron, Gundrem Rockseeker's body guard). The man is in poor health thanks to the goblins, but he lives. They find extensive supplies from a looted caravan, which are too bulky to easily carry, so they leave them behind.

The heroes help Sildar back to their wagon where they plan to make camp. En route he informs them that he overhead the goblins mention that an individual referred to as the Black Spider had ordered them to waylay Gundrem and capture him. The ambush was not a random attack. He also explains that about a month ago Gundrem and his two brothers were prospecting in the hills near Phandalin when they discovered a long lost mine that they think will yield great wealth if they can get it up and running. The dwarves have been secretive about its location and have not told anyone else. However Gundrem did make a map to the mine. He was carrying the map when they were attacked, and Sildar believes that the goblins sent it along with Gundrem and his gear to Cragmaw castle. Finally, Sildar mentions that there is a small settlement known as Talvir's Hold a couple of more hours to the east along the Triboar trail. He suggests they press on to Talvir's Hold and rest there, as it will be much safer than camping in the wilderness. The heroes agree and despite being tired and wounded they press on.

They arrive at Talvir's hold that evening, and they are allowed entry. They meet Lord Talvir and his beautiful half elven wife- a priestess of Selune named Shandrill. They dine in Lord Talvir's hall and tell him of his recent exploits. They ask if he knows the location of Cragmaw Castle, but he doesn't. However, he mentions a friend of his named Ragnir who is a trapper and hunter that knows the region very well. If anyone can help them find Cragmaw Castle it will be Ragnir. Lord Talvir then explains that Ragnir is currently leading a hunting party to hunt down an owlbear that has recently started plaguing his lands. Around this time a young hunter bursts into the hall and explains that Ragnir was badly wounded fighting the owlbear and is about a mile away along with another wounded hunter named Sigrund. Lord Talvir's son Logrun is with the wounded men and he was the one that sent the lad to fetch help.

The heroes agree to go with Lord Talvir and a few of his men to help bring Ragnir and Sigrund back to the hold. This takes a couple of hours, but they manage the task without incident. On the way back to the hold they talk to Ragnir and learn that his son Sven was killed by the owlbear. The hunters wounded the beast with several arrows and Ragnir believes that it has returned to its den to lick its wounds. He didn't find the exact location of the den, but he believes that they were very close to its lair when they encountered the monster. Ragnir wants to avenge the death of his son and finish the creature while it is wounded. He agrees to help the heroes find Cragmaw castle if they help him slay the owlbear. Lord Talvir offers to keep their wagon of provisions safe while they complete their tasks.

The heroes rest the night on the floor by the hearth in Lord Talvir's hall. The next day they plan to set out with Ragnir and finish off the wounded owlbear. Before retiring for the night they decide to release their wounded, goblin prisoner.


Session #2, GM Commentary: The first part of the session wrapped up the Cragmaw lair mini dungeon from the Beginner Box set. The stuff about Lord Talvir's hold and Ragnir and the owlbear was all homebrew content designed to integrate with the Beginner Box adventure.


Session #3 (Cragmaw Castle)
Characters: Characters: Captain Jack (human, rogue 2), Cara (human, ranger 2), Falgrim (Dwarf, fighter 2), Inspiration (tiefling, bard 2), Phann (half elf, sorcerer 2)

Ragnir and Lord Talvir's son Logrum accompany the adventurers from Talvir's Hold to the den of the owl bear. There they find the wounded owl bear along with two of its young. The heroes engage the creatures; injuries are sustained; Falgrim is KOed, but in the end the owl bears are killed. They recover two scrolls, some coin and a potion of invulnerability.

They also discover a small tunnel in the back of the den that is choked by tree roots. They follow this tunnel and locate what appears to be some kind of ancient barbarian altar and burial chamber. Here they find several burial urns, a cauldron filled with ash and a stone altar covered with animal skulls. There is a recess in the top of the altar that is filled with blue sand. Phann investigates and discovers a magical obsidian spear tip. During their investigation a strange creature (possibly undead) forms from the ash of the cauldron. It rises up out of the cauldron and attacks them. It drains much of Cara's life-force, and though they cause it some injury with magical attacks, they decide to retreat, and they abandon the room.

That afternoon the adventurers return to Talvir's Hold and then help Lord Talvir recover the supplies that were left behind in the Cragmaw clan hideout. They rest the night in the caves and the next day they bring the supplies back to Talvir's Hold.

The day after that they set out for Cragmaw castle with Ragnir as their guide in hopes of rescuing their employer Gundrem Rockseeker. They journey north to the Neverwinterwood. They camp the night in the forest, and the next morning they locate a ruined castle that the goblins have made into their lair. They do some scouting around the castle and find multiple potential entrances. Captain Jack decides to climb up a pile of rubble and peer through a hole in one of the tower walls in hopes of getting a view of what might be inside and using the breach as an entrance. Unfortunately, he dislodges some rocks during his climb and makes some noise that alerts several hobgoblins lurking in the tower just below the opening. They sound the alarm and Captain Jack retreats back into the woods to rejoin his companions.

Four hobgoblins riding worgs are deployed to investigate. The heroes decide to fall back deeper into the woods and set up an ambush. It isn't long before the worgs pick up their scent and find them. Cara and Falgrim stay on the ground, while the rest of the heroes hide among the tree branches and ready ranged attacks. There is a nasty fight. The worgs prove to be dangerous opponents and Cara sustains significant wounds. Yet in the end they persevere and slay the patrol.

Next they return to the castle and find a concealed entrance among the rubble. Ragnir stays outside, and the rest of the party use it as their entrance. Inside they soon encounter a couple of hobgoblin guards that they take out with ease. Unfortunately the fighting attracts attention from a nearby chamber and a hulking bugbear, a wolf and a female dark elf join the fighting. The dark elf doesn't stick around during the fight, and she retreats back into the tower from whence she came. The wolf and the bugbear are both eager to fight and prove dangerous foes. Falgrim is knocked unconscious when the bugbear smashes him over the head with its club. Goblin reinforcements join the fray, causing more problems for the heroes, but they persevere.

After the skirmish they enter the tower in search of the drow. They don't find her but they do find Gundrem Rockseeker dead on the ground with his throat slashed. They also find a naked dwarf captive that they are suspicious of because there is no sign of an exit from the tower. They also recover Gundrem's map to Wave Echo cavern and find the dress of the drow underneath Gundrem's dead body.


Session #3 GM Commentary: This session is mostly material from the beginner boxed set (Cragmaw Castle), but the owlbear lair was a little homebrew side trek. One of the advantages of using roll20 is that I'm easily able to prep a bunch of little monster lair maps, so it's easy to have some little side quest stuff on hand that I can work in whenever I get the urge.


Session #4 (Arrival in Phandalin)
Characters: Characters: Captain Jack (human, rogue 2), Cara (human, ranger 2), Falgrim (Dwarf, fighter 2), Inspiration (tiefling, bard 2), Phann (half elf, sorcerer 2)

In Cragmaw Castle, the heroes discovery the treachery of their "dwarf" captive whose ruse is foiled when Falgrim confirms that "he" doesn't speak dwarven. He returns to his drow form and remains the prisoner of the PCs.

The adventurers are confronted by more goblins while they try to rest in the ruins of one of Cragmaw keep's towers. A nasty creature, called a grick is aiding the goblins, and it ambushes Falgrim when he exits the door to the tower. The goblins and the grick are defeated, and afterwards the characters explore the remainder of Cragmaw castle where they recover Sildar Hallwinter's gear.

They return to Talvir's Hold with their drow captive and the body of Gundrem Rockseeker. That night they execute the drow and discover that she was in fact a doppelganger. They burn the corpse on pyre that evening.

That night as they are sleeping in the hall Inspiration notices Shandrill (Lord Talvir's gorgeous half-elf wife) leave the hall in only a white, fur trimmed cloak. He follows her outside and finds that she has gone into the timber temple of Selune where he sees her chanting and holding a silver chalice. She sees Inspiration lurking in the shadows and reprimands him for spying on her.

Inspiration returns to the hall and by this time the rest of the party is awake and wondering what is going on. Phann decides to do his own investigating and discovers that Shandrill has gone outside and performing a ritual in the light of the full moon. The ritual appears to involve pouring holy water over the ashes of the pyre where they had burned the doppelganger. He decides to join her in hopes of seducing her. He uses his knowledge of religion to convince her that he wishes to aid her with her ritual. She is much more receptive to Phann than Inspiration, and he manages to work his charm on the woman.

Unfortunately, before his advances to bear fruit Lord Talvir comes out of the hall and confronts the pair. Lord Talvir seems quite jealous that Phann is standing with his nearly naked wife in the middle of the night, but Phann does some fast talking and manages to convince Lord Talvir not to try to kill him. Talvir allows Shandrill to finish her ritual, and then he takes his wife and they return to their bed chambers. He gives Phann a stern warning that if he even sees Phann look at Shandrill inappropriately he will kill him. As Shandrill is leaving with her husband, she gives Phann a longing and possibly lustful glance over her shoulder.

The next morning Lord Talvir is a little cooler towards the party than he had previously been. They are encouraged to be on their way to Phandalin with their supplies.

They arrive in Phandalin around midday. After turning the supplies over Barthen's Provisions they set up in the Stonehill Inn. Here Inspiration does some afternoon performing while the rest of the heroes spend some time eating and drinking. They gather some rumours and learn that orcs have been seen around Wyvern Tor and the Town Master is looking for heroes to investigate and determine what kind of threat to the region they might pose. They also learn of an evil corruption that has infected a sacred place called the Valley of Shrines. And of course there is the nearby Wave Echo Cavern that Gundrem and his brothers had discovered. Finally, they learn of group of mercenaries that has been causing trouble in town. They are known as the Redbrands.

The heroes decide to confront the Redbrands at the Sleeping Giant Tavern. Here they find four of the mercenaries hanging out on the porch. The men are quite hostile towards the heroes and start a fight with them. All four are killed- two incinerated by a burning hands spell from Phann. However the heroes take some wounds in the fight as well.


Session #4 GM Notes: This session kicks off a long running trend in this campaign that involves Phann the sorcerer trying (and usually succeeding) to pick up various women- sort of D&D meets Leisure Suite Larry. Phann ends up becoming probably my favourite character of the campaign- him and Inspiration that bard.


Session #5 (Dealing with the Redbrands)
Characters: Characters: Cara (human, ranger 3), Falgrim (Dwarf, fighter 3), Inspiration (tiefling, bard 3)

The heroes have just finished dealing with four of the Redbrands. Two more had come out onto the porch, but when they saw the heroes making short work of their companions they retreated back inside the Sleeping Giant Tavern. The heroes are deciding how to proceed when they hear screaming coming from inside the bar. Falgrim hefts his maul and leads the charge. Inside they find the tap room devoid of Redbrands. There are a few miners and prospectors, and the female dwarven bar tender tells the PCs that the redbrands took her bar wench and dragged her upstairs.

They head for the upstairs and Falgrim finds a Redbrand waiting at the top of the stairs with a heavy crossbow. He fires a shot down at the dwarf but it reflects off his chain armor. He then retreats away from the stairs to reload. Falgrim rushes up the stairs and is assaulted by two more redbrands with crossbows. Again his armor protects. At the top of the stairs he finds that there are five redbrands in total, and one of them has the bar wench as a hostage. He holds a sword to her throat and demands they leave before he kills her. He's clearly a cowardly fellow, who is acting out of desperation. Inspiration casts a sleep spell that suddenly puts the bar wench and one of the redbrands to sleep. Cara then rushes up the stairs and vaults over the railing at the top to kick the hostage taker in the face. He drops his captive and staggers backward. Falgrim starts swinging his maul and shatters the skull of another redbrand. The one that Cara kicked spits out his teeth and rushes at her hoping to push her over the railing of the stairs. Instead, Cara side steps his clumsy attack and throws him over the railing. The man goes crashing down the stairs and knocks Inspiration down, but the tiefling quickly regains his footing and stabs the coward with his rapier.

Soon the fight is over. One of the five redbrands is dead and four more have been taken prisoner. The heroes take them to the Townhall where they are crammed into the two cells in hall's cellar.

The townsfolk are most pleased with them standing up to the redbrands and encourage them to go up the hill to the ruins of Tresendar Manor where they believe the adventurers will find the remainder of the thugs and their leader- a wizard who goes by the name Glasstaff. Only Townmaster Westin doesn't seem so pleased. He's concerned that their actions will bring retribution from the remaining Redbrands, which might result in the deaths of innocent citizens. The heroes are eager to finish what they started and drive off the remainder of the thugs, but they are weary and wounded from their fighting and not yet ready to confront another dozen thugs. They decide to return to the Stonehill Inn and rest for the night. Citizens take up guard positions through the town during the night, ready to blow horns of warning should the remaining Redbrands emerge from the ruins of Tresendar Manor.

The night passes uneventfully. The next morning at breakfast the heroes are joined by Sister Graele the local holy woman. She is an attractive half elf that bears a strong resemblance to Shandrill (priestess at Lord Talvir's Hold). She claims to be a priestess of Tymora, and she speaks to them about the corruption in the nearby Valley of Shrines. She tells them how over the past couple of years she's seen small groups of sinister robed "prilgrims" pass through town and head into the hills. She believes cultists are gathering in the valley and are responsible for its corruption. She fears what dark business they are conducting. She also encourages the heroes to finish dealing with the Redbrands and she offers three potions of healing to help them.

After breakfast Falgrim, Inspiration and Cara make their way up to Tresendar manor. As they are sneaking around the base of the second tier of an escarpment that the manor is built on, they hear noise from down below. In the woods below they see a pair of redbrands emerge from what appears to be some sort of tunnel carved into the base of the hill. They decide to sneak down to investigate, but by the time they reach the spot where the men emerged they find that they are gone. The heroes discover a tunnel that leads into the hillside and probably runs under the manor ruins. Falgrim notes that tracks indicate that the two men headed towards town.

The heroes decide to follow them and find the two men hiding behind the ruins of the old town wall. They seem to be spying on the town. The trio tries to sneak up on ruffians and succeed. They manage to take the two men captive without a fight. One of the ruffians is eager to talk in exchange for his good health, and he gives them plenty of information about the numbers of Redbrands still lurking in the lair. He warns them that Glasstaff has allied himself with a drow called the Black Spider and the Black Spider has sent a few bugbears to help Galsstaff. He also tells them that Glasstaff has a few villagers captive.

They take their captives to the Townhall for holding and then return to the tunnel. They find a small cellar dungeon complex beneath the manor that seems to be the Redbrands lair. Inside they find a secret door that takes them into a small crypt that may have once belonged to the Tresendar family. Here they are assaulted by a trio of animated skeletons that they quickly dispatch. They also find a door that leads into a room that has been converted into a holding cell area. Here they are ambushed by a pair of redbrands that they make short work of. They free three captive villagers and escort them out the tunnel.


Sessions #5 is pretty much all material from the D&D 5e beginner box adventure.


Session #6 (Dealing with the Redbrands, part #2)
Characters: Characters: Cara (human, ranger 3), Falgrim (Dwarf, fighter 3), Inspiration (tiefling, bard 3), Phann (half-elf, sorcerer 3)

The adventurers return to the the dungeon complex below Tresendar Manor. As they begin their exploration they hear voices coming from near the bottom of a staircase. Falgrim decides to lead the way down the stairs to investigate. He encounters the wizard known as Glass-staff. The man is busy talking with the agitated captain of the Redbrands about the fact that several of the Redbrands haven't returned from their duties in town. Falgrim isn't being overly stealthy and interrupts the two men. Glass-staff doesn't immediately attack, but begins a parlay and starts gathering information about who the characters are, and what business they have with him. The conversation is really more of a delaying tactic than anything else. It buys time for several bugbears to sneak around behind the back of the party and attack. Fighting erupts when the bugbears stage their ambush. Insiration and Phann are at the top of the stairs and make up the back rank of the party. They are forced to fend for themselves against a trio of bugberas, while Falgrim and Cara battle mercenaries at the bottom of the stairs. Glass-staff bombards Falgrim with magic missiles, nearly bringing him down. Glass-staff also uses the confusion of the combat to escape. Phann makes good use of his burning hands spell to scorch bugbears and drive them off, but they do inflict some serious wounds on Inspiration. After the fight the heroes find that Glass-staff has escaped through a secret door. They manage to track him down and discover that he fled the manor.

They find him fleeing into the woods with a few Redbrand allies. The adventurers eventually catch up with him, and engage him in a final battle. The fight ends when Phann puts Glass-staff down with a Witchbolt spell, and the surviving Redbrands surrender.

The heroes recover a magical Glass-staff from the wizard (hence his nickname), which proves to have special defensive properties. Phann claims the staff and attunes himself to it. Afterwards they finish a thorough search of the Tresender manor cellar and recover some additional treasure that was being horded by the Redbrands.


Session #7 (Wave Echo Cavern)
Characters: Characters: Cara (human, ranger 3), Falgrim (Dwarf, fighter 3), Inspiration (tiefling, bard 3), Phann (half-elf, sorcerer 3)

The heroes spend a few days of downtime in Phandalin. During this time they meet with Halia Thornton, and she tells tells them of the upcoming election for the position of Townmaster, which she plans to run in. She also warns them that Sister Garaele may not be what she claims. Halia explains that last summer there were some strange pilgrims passing through town that ventured into the hills, and that they had secret dealings with Sister Garaele in the night before setting out from the Stonehill Inn.

Phann decides to do some investigating and spends an evening flirting and getting to know the priestess of Tymora while she is running a gambling event at the Inn. He learns that she is the sister of Shandrill, though the two had a falling out many years ago (something to do with fighting for the affections of Lord Talvir). He successfully seduces the priestess and spends a night of passion in her home. However, he doesn't note anything particularly suspicious about her (although he doesn't try to do any kind of search of her home when he is there). She seems to want to spend more time with the half elf, and she encourages him to try to convince his companions to venture into the Valley of Shrines to attempt to deal with the corruption that now infests the place.

After relaxing in Phandalin for several days the heroes decide that they will follow Gundrem Rockseeker's map and investigate Wave Echo Cavern mine. They spend a good portion of a day hiking among the rugged hills outside Phandalin, and late in the afternoon they locate the entrance to the lost mine. They begin exploring, and in the first chamber they come to they discover the remains of a dwarf, who is likely one of Gundrem's two brothers.

In the mine itself they find the skeletal remains of many dead men, gnomes, dwarves and orcs. It is clear that there was some extensive fighting in the tunnels many years ago. While investigating, they are set on by a flock of stirge. Inspiration manages to bring them down with a sleep spell, though several of the little buggers manage to stick the heroes before he gets his spell off.

Deeper in the mine they find a room occupied by a trio of ravenous ghouls munching on the bones of the dead. The ghouls immediately rush the heroes. Falgrim holds them at bay by standing in the doorway with his maul to keep them from getting to his companions. However the sounds of battle draws a much larger pack of ghouls to them, and they soon find themselves locked in a heated battle with around a dozen ghouls. In the end they all live, but they expend many spells and suffer many injuries. Phann and Inspiration make good use of area affect spells like shatter and burning hands to deal damage to multiple ghouls, softening them up for the warriors to bring down.

After the battle they are forced to take a rest, and they hole up in the chamber that they found the initial band of ghouls in. The room was once some kind of barracks for miners, so they use remains of the furniture to block the doors. During their rest they hear attempts made to get into the room, but whoever is making the effort eventually gives up. As they leave, they are worried that they may be ambushed, so Falgrim exits first. Unfortunately, even though he is prepared for danger, he is still jumped by a pair of stealthy bugbears. The two brutes bring him down with their surprise attacks, leaving him unconscious before he can react. The rest of the party is forced to deal with four savage bugbears. Fortunately, Cara steps out into the tunnels and holds them at bay with her swordsmanship while Phann blasts them with fire magic. This frees Inspiration to tend to Falgrim and keep the dwarf from dying. The adventurers kill two of the bugbears and cause the remaining pair to flee to lick their wounds. They decide after this fight that they are too wounded to risk remaining in the mines, so they decide to return to Phandalin to rest. They make the journey back without any additional complications, though when they arrive it is after dark and they are exhausted.

Though they have little to show for their first foray into the mine, they plan to return in the near future.


Anyone familiar with Frog God/Necromancer Games products might recognize my reference to the Valley of Shrines in this session. I was trying to plant a hook for the Tomb of Abysthor adventure, which I was looking at doing a 5e conversion for. They are still working through material from the Starter Set (Wave Echo Cavern), so they haven't taken the bait on that yet.


Session #8 (Wave Echo Cavern, Foray #2)
Characters: Characters: Cara (human, ranger 3), Falgrim (Dwarf, fighter 3), Inspiration (tiefling, bard 3), Phann (half-elf, sorcerer 3)

The next morning in Phandalin the characters are in the common room of the Inn when they meet a pair of travelers- Brandis and his son Tobin. The two men are searching for Inspiration and try to recruit him to return to Neverwinter to join a group of nationalists in their attempt to discredit Lord Neverember and oust him from power. Inspiration politely turns them down.

The heroes again travel through the hills to Wave Echo Cavern. As they enter they come across a band of orcs that appears to also have found the mine. A fight ensues, and though the heroes are outnumbered and suffer a number of wounds, they come out victorious and slaughter the orcs.

They continue exploring the mine and find an assayers office. Here Captain Jack opens a safe that still contains a number of coins (the first real treasure they've found in the mine thus far). Afterwards they start search another barracks type chamber, and here the skeletal remains of long dead warriors animate and attack. A fight ensues against the skeletons, but the heroes destroy them with relative ease. Unfortunately, while they continue to search the room, Phann is ambushed from behind by a trio of gricks. He is nearly killed by their deadly tentacles and snapping beaks, and it requires some effort from the party to save him and destroy the aberrations. By the time they deal with the Gricks they have expended enough resources that they decide they will need an extended rest, so they make the long trek back to Phandalin, arriving back in town safe but exhausted well after dark.


Session #9 (On the trail of the Black Spider)
Back in Phandalin the characters meet a pair of merchant brothers who have recently arrived from the town of Triboar to the east. The merchants tell them news of a Skymage who captains a wondrous sky ship and has landed the sky ship in a lake near Triboar.

Phann receives a letter from Shandrill. He also discovers that the Town Master Westin has been trying to have some sort of an affair with Sister Garaele, and seems to have some sort of secret regarding her that he is using as leverage to get in her bed.

That afternoon they return once again to the Lost Mine. They find the entrance blocked with webbing and the corpse of Gundrem's final brother Nundro is trapped in the webs. Pinned to his corpse is a note to them from the Black Spider. It seems that the Black Spider has acquired all he wants from the mine and has moved on.

They follow the trail of his bugbear minions and it leads them south, deeper into the craggy hills of the Sword Mountains. Here they discover another cave system, and if they wish to follow the trail further they must enter.


Characters: Characters: Cara (human, ranger 3), Falgrim (Dwarf, fighter 3), Inspiration (tiefling, bard 3), Phann (half-elf, sorcerer 3)

The heroes venture into the newly discovered cave complex, following the trail of the Black Spider. They soon come upon a long narrow cavern infested with webbing and home to four giant spiders, which attack them from the shadows. They are forced to defend themselves against the foul arachnids, and though some of the heroes suffer injuries, they persevere and slay the creatures.

They continue to follow the trail, and other than a brief attack on Falgrim from a falling piercer, their progress through the caves is unhindered. Eventually, they come upon a passage filled with purple mist. In the mist they are set on by a small pack of zombie guardians, which they destroy with ease. They also discover the entrance to a series of chambers, and here they find the lair of the Black Spider.

The Black Spider is protected by a band of bugbears and two other drow, one of which is a priestess, and the other a warrior. Falgrim is eager to avenge the deaths of his wife's kin, and the heroes offer no quarter. The battle proves challenging, but again the heroes persevere. They slay the Black Spider with relative ease, but the priestess escapes through a secret door. The drow warrior is revealed to be a doppelganger, and the bugbears nearly kill Falgrim.

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32

Huzzah!
And I must say, the fights sound rather dangerous - 5e must be tougher than I thought?


My journals for this campaign are a little brief, as I wasn't originally going to be posting them, so they don't give a great sense of the combats. However, I would say that 5e is probably not as deadly as pathfinder. This is because there are no negative hit points and by RAW the death saving throws reset after you are healed go back above 0 hp. However, we did have characters dropping to 0 hp on a fairly regular basis, but then they would be healed and be right back in the action.

The healing word spell in 5e is a huge game changer. It allows healing from range as a bonus action. It doesn't heal much damage, but the bard made a lot of use of it. He could hang out at the back of the party and still heal the front line characters and get off a ranged cantrip (like eldritch blast) in the same round.

The next time we play 5e the group agreed that they want death saves to only reset after a short rest.


GM notes for sessions #8, 9, 10: Wave Echo cave mines are from the starter set. The characters didn't entirely finish exploring them since the black spider had abandoned the mine. This a major deviation from the RAW adventure. I had Black Spider become a minion of Dark Natasha from the Tomb of Abysthor adventure, and unbeknownst to the be PCs, when they followed the trail of the Black Spider from Wave Echo cave they followed the Black Spider into one of the dungeon levels of the tomb of Abysthor.


Session #11 (Against the Drow priestess)
Characters: Characters: Cara (human, ranger 3), Falgrim (Dwarf, fighter 3), Inspiration (tiefling, bard 3), Phann (half-elf, sorcerer 3)

The heroes decide to pursue the drow priestess. They follower her through the secret door and are ambushed when she attacks from the shadows, firing a poisoned hand crossbow bolt (a miss). A running battle ensues as she flees into the tunnels and makes use of the cover of rocks and stalacmites to hide and fire her crossbow (gaining sneak attack). She inflicts some pretty bad wounds on Cara, Captain Jack and Phann, but eventually Falgrim manages to close on her and the heroes take advantage of their numbers to beat her down. Just as they are about to land a killing blow she uses a spell to merge with the rock of the tunnel floor. The heroes aren't sure what happened or how her magic works, they take a short rest, heal wounds and loot her lair. Captain Jack opens three locked chests that are filled with loot. They recover the spider staff from the Black Spider and they find his spell book.

After this is done, they head out the way they came in. On their way they encounter a few ghouls and while fighting them a pair of piercers fall from the ceiling, causing injury to Phann and Cara. The skirmish is quick, and the ghouls are defeated with relative ease; although Falgrim sustains some nasty gashes from their claws.

Up ahead, in the cave where they fought they giant spiders, they spot a several black robed cultists accompanied by animated skeletons. The cultists are busy extracting a venom sack from one of the spider carcases. The adventurers don't feel they are in good enough health to fight the cultists, so they slowly back away. Captain Jack observes them, and the cultists eventually leave- following the same exit tunnel they were about to use.

The heroes give the cultists some time to get well ahead of them, and then they leave the caves. They camp that night in the hills, and the next morning they return to Phandalin.


Session #11 GM Notes: I had partially hoped the characters might decide to do some more exploring of the cave complex they tracked the drow to, as this would have led them fully in the Tomb of Abysthor adventure from Frog God Games. However, having dealt with the Black Spider successfully they opted to head back to Phandalin and then move onto other adventures.


Session #12 (Return to Lord Talvir's Hold)

Characters: Phann (level 4, half elf sorcerer), Cara (level 4, human ranger), Falgrim (level 4, dwarf fighter), Captain Jack (level 4, human, rogue 3/fighter 1), Inspiration (level 4, tiefling, bard)

The heroes spend several days of downtime in Phandalin selling off loot and preparing for their journey to Triboar. They purchase horses, and they make a deal with Halia Throton that entitles them to 20% of the profits from the Wave Echo cavern mine.

Eventually, they head for Triboar. They stop at Lord Talvir's hold to check on Shandrill and await the arrival of Falgrim's wife and son. They discover that a tribe of Uthgardt barbarians has made camp outside the stronghold for mutual defense against an approaching orc warband.

Lord Talvir has been drinking heavily for the past several weeks, and is sleeping in his chambers when they arrive. Shandrill has taken up the role of the leader of the people in his absence.

That evening there is a feast. The barbarian chief (Fenris), his beautiful sister and his most loyal warriors are in attendance along with the heroes. His goal is to convince Shandrill to allow his people to stay within the walls of the keep for protection. He is also clearly taken with her and flirts with her non-stop. Eventually Phann moves in and tries to convince him to go check on his people in the camp, as showing such caring for the well-being of his people would surely impress Lady Shandrill. Lord Talvir staggers into the feast around this time, and Phann is forced to intervene to prevent a fight between Fenris and Talvir.

Warhorns then sound. The stronghold is under attack. The heroes hurry to help defend the palisade wall, but soon leave their post to Ragnir and some other warriors when they learn that orcs have somehow entered the compound. They hurry to the stables and discover that a small band of orogs and orcs has made it over the palisade wall. The orogs are hulking orcs with ogre blood. They are very dangerous warriors, and the human defenders are little match for them. Luckily the heroes are much more capable than Lord Talvir's warriors, and they are able to fight off the orogs.

Falgrim, Cara, Phann, and Captain Jack all sustain serious injuries in the fight with the orogs and orcs they encounter. By the time the skirmish is done they are in need of healing. Unfortunately, the battle for the stronghold is not yet won, and the orcs remain a threat.


Session #13 (Battle for Talvir's Hold)
Characters: Phann (level 4, half elf sorcerer), Cara (level 4, human ranger), Falgrim (level 4, dwarf fighter), Captain Jack (level 4, human, rogue 3/fighter 1), Inspiration (level 4, tiefling, bard)

After finishing off the orogs, the heroes head to the front gate of the steading. Here they find that Lord Talvir is demanding that the gates be shut, but Shandrill and the barbarian Fenris are allowing them to remain open while uthgardht women and children rush through. Phann, Jack and Inspiration climb up onto the platform above the gate and see that the folk are being pursued by orcs, worgs and a troll. Phann uses his suggestion magic turn the troll on the worgs. Jack and Inspiration fire arrows at the worgs, while Falgrim rushes out into the fray to help protect the women and children. The troll proves an effective worg killing machine, and afterwards Phann uses a second suggestion spell to convince it to chase after the orcs. The heroes deal with the worgs, and the orcs are driven off.

The gates are sealed and the heroes turn their attention back to the rear wall. They discover that orcs have managed to get a ladder up and are coming over and into the compound. The heroes join the battle and slaughter the orcs coming over the wall. They give Ragnir the chance to push down the ladder, but the orcs put another one up further down the wall, away from the archery platform. Jack goes for this one, scampering across the top of the palisade. His balance is uncanny and he reaches the ladder before the orcs can climb it. He then pushes it down. Phann, Cara and Inspiration climb onto the archery platform and start firing their bows down among the orcs. The monsters soon come to understand that taking the hold will not be as easy as they anticipated. They lose heart, and withdraw.

Shandrill is overcome with gratitude, and Phann takes advantage. He sneaks her to the barn where she finally gives him the opportunity to f&&$ her. Unfortunately, Lord Talvir notices that the pair have disappeared, and thanks to Inspiration ("I'm pretty certain I did not see them heading to the barn") he finds them with ease.

He catches them in the act and flies into a rage. He starts hacking at Phann with his sword. Phann defends himself with his staff of defence, while Shandrill yells at her husband to stop. The rest of the heroes watch the show. As the half elf tries to pull up his breeches and flee, he trips and falls, giving Talvir the opportunity to land a couple of nasty strikes on the sorcerer. Phann shocks him with lightning, and then makes a break for it.

The heroes gather their horses and flee with Shandrill into the night.


Some Background info:

In the next session there is something of a character switch. A few of the players decide they want to try out some different characters.

The characters also go back to Neverwinter, which ties to Inspiration's backstory. Inspiration was a play write in Neverwinter prior to becoming an adventurer. He wrote a satire about Lord Neverember (the Lord Protector of Neverwinter- and Unmasked Lord of Waterdeep), and given the political climate of the city (a lot of people see Neverember as a foreign conqueror), the play was quite offensive to the Lord Protector. The play was shut down, and soon afterward Inspiration's muse and star actress Teela was murdered. She played Lord Neverember in his play- the female playing a male added to the comedy and satire. Inspiration was wrongly blamed for her death, mainly due to him being a tiefling. Asmodean symbols were found at the scene of the crime, suggesting ritual sacrifice and the activity of devil cultists, so therefore Inspiration was naturally the prime suspect. Inspiration was forced to flee the city and has been on the run ever since. Now he returns hoping to clear his name.


Session #14 (The company parts)
PCs: Inspiration (tiefling bard 4), Vala (air genasi warlock 4), Falgrim (dwarf fighter 4), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 4), Berrian (elf druid 4)

Shandrill, Phann, Cara and Jack ride for Triboar, parting ways with Falgrim and Inspiration who head back towards Neverwinter to meet up with Falgrim's wife and son.

Falgrim and Inspiration ride through the night. The next morning they come to a trading post called Oleg's Hold. Here they find a caravan on its way from Neverwinter to Triboar preparing to set out. Among the caravan travelers they find Glanora and Tordek- Falgrim's wife and son. With the dwarves are some other interesting folk- Vala, Berrian, and Smashmouth. Vala is actually in the process of hunting down Inspiration because, Teela, the woman Inspiration has been accused (framed) of murdering (the impetus for him leaving Neverwinter session #1), was in fact a girl that grew up in the orphanage Vala once ran. Vala saw her as a daughter of sorts, and Vala was most upset by her murder. Luckily for Inspiration, he convinces Vala that he is innocent and was framed. He is aided in this task by some Knights of Samular, one of whom casts a zone of truth spell to help him prove his innocence. This leaves Vala and Inspiration working together to find the real killer. Smashmouth and Berrian had also agreed to help Vala with this task, and in return she and Inspiration agree to later help them with a quest of their own.

Falgrim and his companions return to Neverwinter with Falgrim's wife and son. Here Falgrim spends some time tending to his family and smithy, while Vala, Berrian, Inspiration and Smashmouth begin investigating Teela's murder.

They first visit the White Rose Theatre in the Black Lake district, where Inspiration meets with an old friend named Lucas Wilmont. He discovers that one of Teela's friends, a girl named Faydra, likely was with her when she was attacked and murdered, and is now working at the Driftwood Tavern. Inspiration knows the girl, as she was also an actress and Teela's understudy. They go to the Driftwood tavern and talk to Faydra. They discover that she was with Teela when she was killed, but she escaped out a window when the killers barged into Teela's apartment. There were two attackers; they wore hooded cloaks, but Faydra caught a glimpse of one of them. He had an eyepatch and scars on his face. She recognized him as one of the soldiers that sometimes patrols the district.

Next the heroes went to Teela's apartment to visit the scene of the crime. They found that it was still empty. A pentagram to Asmodeus was carved into the wooden floor boards and was filled with dried blood. The symbol appeared genuine, suggesting that killers were either Asmodeus worshipers or highly knowledgeable about diabolic rites.

After this they head back towards the Protectors Enclave to search for their suspect.


Session #15 (On the trail of Teela's Killers)
PCs: Inspiration (tiefling bard 4), Vala (air genasi warlock 4), Falgrim (dwarf fighter 4), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 4), Berrian (elf druid 4)

Having finished investigating Teela's apartment, the heroes headed back to the Protector's Enclave to search for their two murder suspects (the soldiers that Feydra witnessed). Vala cast an invisibility spell on Inspiration to hide him from the guards whilst crossing the bridge.

As they crossed the Dolphin Bridge, Inspiration noticed that they were being followed. Upon reaching the Protector's Enclave, Vala, Berrian and Smashmouth ducked down an alley hoping to lead their pursuer into the an ambush. Inspiration positioned himself near the alley entrance (still invisible), so that he could cut off their pursuer's escape.

The man cautiously followed Vala into the alley, and she leaped out from around a corner with her blade ready, taking him by surprise. She immediately, started questioning him, demanding to know why he was following them. He become flustered and made a run for it, but his retreat was blocked when Inspiration rolled a cistern barrel at him and caused him to trip. The adventurer's interrogated the man and were told that it was his job to follow suspicious folk operating in the city. He in turn started casually asking them questions about their activities, but they quickly caught onto his game. They spared his life and sent him on his way, though not before making it clear that if they saw him again they would not be so merciful.

Suddenly the city alarm bell sounded. The alarm indicated an attack on the wall, which generally meant that something horrible had emerged from the chasm (a vast sink hole to the Underdark that was caused during the Spellplague). This indeed was the case. They hurried to the wall, and on the way they rejoined with Falgrim who was also responding to the alarm. They arrived in time to see that a horrific beast, vaguely like a wyvern (but horribly mutated) had landed on the wall and was tearing into several guards.

From down in the street Vala got its attention by blasting it with an eldritch bolt. It flew down to engage them, and unleashed an aweful, sanity blasting screech. The sound shattered their psyches. Inspiration collapsed and was unconscious. The monster then flew down to land before Falgrim. The dwarf smashed at it with his maul, while Vala continued to blast it with bolts of arcane power. Then it tore into Falgrim with its fanged maw, tossing his body to the ground and leaving him on the verge of death.

Luckily Berrian arrived to heal Inspiration. He had been delayed by a crowd of citizens trying to return to their homes. Vala and archers from the wall continued to fire on the beast, and finally managed to drive it off. Inspiration struggled to his feet, and fired a final shot at the thing with his bow as it flew away. The shot was well placed, despite the long range, and it brought the beast down. It crashed into a building and landed in the streets. Berrian and Inspiration spent a couple of moments casting healing spells, leaving Falgrim in much better condition.

Vala hurried to the spot where the beast had crash landed, and found it to be dead. It's body was dissolving into some sort of nasty black sludge. Clearly, the creature was not part of the natural world. Falgrim and Berrian soon joined her, but Inspiration moved to hide in an alleyway, as he did not want to be recognized. Multiple squads of guards arrived on the scene, and praised Vala, Falgrim and Berrian for their heroism. The guard captain encouraged Vala to report to the Halls of Justice at her earliest convenience to debrief with General Sabine. Among the guards Berrian spotted, was a man that fit the description of the suspect they were looking for.

Berrian decided he would follow the guard in the form of an alley cat. The remainder heroes decided to return to Falgrim's home to rest. Eventually the suspect's squad left the fetid sludge pile that was the remains of the dead monster- other squads were tasked with shoveling the remains into wagons to be carted away. The elf followed the guards down to the docks where they entered into a tavern and began a meal and some drinks. He then hurried back to check in with his companions.

They decided that they would go rent a room at a nearby inn. Then Vala would go to the tavern and try to seduce the guard and lure him back to the inn where Inspiration, Falgrim would all be waiting to jump him and interrogate him. Berrian would follow Vala to back her up in case things went south. Surprisingly, the plan essentially worked. Vala succeeded in getting him back to the inn and into her room where her companions jumped him. Berrian arrived a couple of minutes later, and they started questioning him. They had to prod hard and dunk his head in a bathtub several times, but he wasn't the brightest fellow, and they tricked him into confirming he broke into Teela's apartment and held her down while his companion killed her.

In the midst of their interrogation there was a knock at the door. Vala asked who was there, and the voice on the other side said he was looking for Vlad, which happened to be the name of the guard they were in the midst of questioning. Inspiration opened the door, grabbed the man and threw him inside. He fell face first on the ground. Falgrim stood over him, ready to smash his skull with his maul should the man try to cause trouble. They soon discovered that this man was Vlad's compatriot, and the man that Vlad had just named as the one that killed Teela. Inspiration also noticed that the man had a brand on him. The brand was an Asmodean pentagram. They stripped down Vlad and discovered that he too had the brand, suggesting that both men may be connected with some sort of cult of devil worshippers.

The session ended here, with the heroes planning to next move their captives to Black Lake district and there they would seek the aid of the Sons of Alagondar (a group of rebels operating in the city).


Session #14 & 15 Notes: It was fun to do a murder mystery type adventure that was directly connected one of the PC's background. This little adventure was inspired a lot by material in the 4e Neverwinter campaign book, which I think was a pretty decent product.

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32

Ah, the old seduce and conquer, beloved by every guy playing a female character ever ;-)
(Amiright?)

Sounds like a fun few sessions - find the clues, rough up the bad guys, fight a mindless best - perfect!


Session #16 (Exodus from Neverwinter)
PCs: Inspiration (tiefling bard 5), Vala (air genasi warlock 5), Falgrim (dwarf fighter 5), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 5), Berrian (elf druid 5)

As the characters prepared to move their captives from the Inn in the Protector's Enclave to the Black Lake District they were interrupted when a dozen members of the guard showed up in search of Vlad and Amos. They entered the room with the heroes, but Vala had already turned the two men invisible. She managed to convince the guards that she had not seen Amos and that Vlad had been too drunk to be of any use to her, so she had sent him on his way, and she had not seen him since. The captain of the guards was highly suspicious of her story, but he respected Smashmouth and Falgrim due to their past services to the city, so he decided to leave them alone for the time being and start searching elsewhere for the men.

It didn't seem like their deception would hold up for long, so they aborted the plan to smuggle the two killers into the Black Lake District. Instead, Vala executed them and moved their bodies into a vacant room, leaving them set up in a disturbing sexual position

Next the adventurers headed for the Halls of Justice and reported to General Sabine the details of the fight against the Chasm Horror. She tried to convince the heroes to stick around Neverwinter since she thought they might be of use protecting the city from the aberrations of the chasm, but the heroes were eager to leave. They knew it was just a matter of time before the two guards they executed would be found, and then there would be lots of questions for Vala and company to answer. Thus, Falgrim gathered his family and the heroes left Neverwinter. It was early evening when they departed.

They quickly put some distant between themselves and the city. Once clear of Neverwinter, they made camp for the night. They spent the next couple of days traveling the Triboar Trail east. On the morning of the second day they came upon the smoking remains of a recently raided homestead. It was clearly the work of orcs, and there was a fresh trail leading south into the hills. It was easy enough for Berrian to track, so the heroes decided to avenge the dead homesteaders.

The heroes pushed hard into the hills and caught up with the orc raiders around the end of the day, just as the warband was approaching Wyvern Tor. There was an ogre and a pair of worgs among the orcs, but it made little difference. Berrian introduced the party to the orcs by summoning a storm above them and calling down lightning. This nearly slaughtered half the war party, and it certainly caught their attention. The survivors charged the heroes and swarmed among them. Falgrim, Smashmouth and Vala engaged them in melee. Berrian shifted to a wolf form and took on the worgs, while Inspiration hung back and offered ranged support with his bow. After a few quick moments of intense combat the orcs, worgs and ogre were all dead. Vala, Berrian, Smashmouth and Falgrim were all wounded, but they found the strength to leave the area and set up camp within the cover of a Leomund's Tiny Hut, which was conjured by Inspiration.

Session #16 XP
Avoiding trouble with the guard and escaping Neverwinter 2000 xp
Orcs 17 x 100 = 1700
Ogre 450
Worgs 2 x 100 = 200


I didn't mention it in the journal, but Smashmouth and Berrian have ties to the Emerald Enclave druid faction, and he had been hearing rumors about circle of druids called the circle of the Scarlett Moon that had been gathering in the Sumber Hills. The higher ups in the Emerald Enclave want more information about the order and are concerned that it might be connected to Malar worshipping lycanthropes. Thus, Vala, Inspiration, Falgrim have agreed to accompany Berrian and Smashmouth to the Sumber Hills to try to gather more information about the Scarlett Moon druids.


Session #17 (Journey on the Long Road)
Characters: PCs: Inspiration (tiefling bard 5), Vala (air genasi warlock 5), Falgrim (dwarf fighter 5), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 5), Berrian (elf druid 5)

The heroes traveled east through the hills near Wyvern Tor. During their journey they had a brief encounter with a band of hunters from Triboar who were stalking a crag cat in hopes of harvesting its pelt to sell to the Sky Mage. The heroes have heard that this "Sky Mage" is a merchant mage from a distant land to the far, far south. She and her crew fly aboard a ship that sails through the sky like most ships sail through water. Her ship recently landed and made anchor in a lake near Triboar, and she has be staying in the town for the past couple of weeks. Captain Jack had been most interested in the rumors of this "Sky Mage" and the prospect of claiming an air ship, which was one of the reasons he had gone towards Triboar instead of accompanying Falgrim and Inspiration back to Neverwinter.

The heroes lost a travel day when they were forced to take shelter from a terrible storm within a Leomund's Hut. Eventually they reached the Long Road, and from there they headed south, and arrived in the town of Westbridge. Here they stayed at the Harvest Inn and met the village Reeve, who was also the owner of the Inn. He was a halfling named Herivin Dardragon. They shared news and gathered rumors. They learned that the Sumber Hills to the south of Westbridge had become increasingly dangerous due to monster activity and unnatural weather. They also learned taht Herivin had recently been approached by a band of hodgoblins who claimed that they had come representing the ancient green dragon Claugithar from the Kryptgarden forest to the west of town. The dragon hadn't been heard from in decades, but according to the hobgoblins it had a just awakened from a lengthy sleep. They demanded that Dardragon start assembling a tribute for the dragon, and that they would return to collect the tribute in two months. If he failed the village would be punished by the dragon. Dardragon wasn't sure if the hobgoblins were bluffing or if their threat was serious.

In the town they also learned that the local provision shop was called Scarlett Moon Provisions. This was curious, since the druidic order they had come to the region to investigate was called the Circle of the Scarlett Moon. It hardly seemed that the two things could be coincidence. They investigated, and learned from the shop's owner that it was named by his grand father, a fellow who had an interest in the region's history and had learned a little of the ancient druidic order from Menhir's west of town. They also discovered the one of the owner's son's, a "troubled" lad named Algun, ran off with a pair of druidic types about a ten day ago. The druidic types had also come in to the provision shop with questions regarding its name and its connection to the Circle of the Scarlett Moon. Algun had become quite fascinated with them. They were bound for Red Larch, and from there they planned to venture into the hills to search for the circle's camp.

The next day, adventurers made a day trip to the menhirs. The standing stones were highly weathered, but Berrian was able to discern that some ancient and faded symbols etched into the stones bore a connection with Malar the beast god and encouraged embracing the curse of lycanthropy. They returned to town and gathered provisions; a day later they set out once more, following the Long Road south towards Red Larch.

While passing through the western edges of the Sumber Hills, they were ambushed by a trio of Ankhegs that burrowed up from the ground. Only Smashmouth sustained serious injury, but during the fight members of party noticed that they were being watched by a pair of strange armoured men standing on the top of a hill overlooking the road. As soon as they killed the last of the Ankhegs, the heroes charged up the hill to try to catch the watchers and find out who they were. The two men were fleeing the area, but the heroes caught up with them. A skirmish ensued, and the adventurers killed one of the armoured strangers, and captured the second one.

The man wasn't willing to say much, but he pointed them towards a place called the Feathergale Spire, and he claimed that there were many more of his ilk about. He gave the sense that they were some kind of bandits, but their armour was very strange for bandits to be wearing. It was full plate and appeared to be formed from magically altered or treated pieces of stone. It was unlike anything any member in the party had ever seen. Since the two watchers hadn't really initiated any violence against the heroes, they decided to allow the man to go free. They then set off on their way to Red Larch.

Session #17 XP
Gathering information about the Circle of the Scarlett Moon in Westbridge 1000
Helping Helivir Dardragon keep the caravan guards from causing trouble 500
Ankhegs 450 x 3 = 1350
"Stone men" 450 x 2 = 900
3750/5= 750 per PC


GMs Notes: This session marked the start of my attempt to weave material from the 5e "Pinces of the Apocalypse" adventure into the campaign.


Yeah, it was good times- right at the start of the real level sweet spot that gives the characters significant resources, but they still feel like heroes instead of super heroes.

carborundum wrote:

Ah, the old seduce and conquer, beloved by every guy playing a female character ever ;-)

(Amiright?)

Sounds like a fun few sessions - find the clues, rough up the bad guys, fight a mindless best - perfect!


Session #18 (The Hall of the Scarlet Moon)
Characters: PCs: Inspiration (tiefling bard 5), Vala (air genasi warlock 5), Falgrim (dwarf fighter 5), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 5), Berrian (elf druid 5)

The heroes made it safely to Red Larch. Here they stayed at the Inn of the Swinging Sword, and did some investigating around town, looking for more information regarding the Circle of Scarlett Moon Druids. Anticipating impending conflict with lycanthropes, they spent time at a place called Vallivoe's Sundries where they purchased a few vials of Silversheen. They visited Ironhead arms where a half orc named Feng Ironhead agreed to melt down several silver coins in Inspiration's possession and use them to silver the blade of his rapier.

They also spent time at the local watering hole, a place called the Helm and Tankard. Here Inspiration performed for the locals with much success. They learned about the the Feathergale society, a group comprised mainly of minor nobles from Waterdeep with an interest in riding winged mounts. They also encountered a knight of Samular named Lady Vikanna and learned about the fate of her expedition to the Valley of Shrines near Phandalin. The expedition went poorly, as the knights encountered a corrupt magical fountain that produce dangerous skeletal undead. She was on her way back to order's stronghold to report the fate of her companions. They also learned that a local hunter named Serge knows the Sumber Hills well and is believed to know where the Scarlett Moon Circle is gathered.

They sought out Serge at his cabin and Berrian offered him payment to take them to Scarlett Moon Hall. They set out the following day. Their journey to the camp was uneventful, though they did witness members of the Feathergale Knights flying on hippogriffs, and they caught a glimpse of Feathergale spire in the distance.

Upon reaching their destination, Serge headed back towards Red Larch. Here they learned that the Circle of the Scarlett Moon now occupied one of the four "Haunted Keeps". The haunted keeps were fortifications built long ago but have fallen into decay. Feathergale Spire was also one of these keeps, though it has seen revitalization thanks to the Feathergale Society. Several small camps belonging to various druidic types who had come to either learn more about the circle or join the circle were set up on the hill. The remains of the keep was situated on the top of the hill. Scaffolding had been erected at the sides of the keep, suggesting that the circle was attempting to repair the structure. The curtain wall was in ruin, but in the courtyard they could see the burning wicker giant. The wicker giant was great effigy of a man that continually burned, never seeming to consume its fuel.

The party first approached a camp at the bottom of the hill. They found it to be occupied by four druids. The spokesman of the group introduced himself as Varigo. They quickly discovered that Algun, the lad from Westbridge, was one of the group. The druids had been at the camp for several days, but so far only Algun had been invited up to begin initiation into the circle. Varigo thought this was quite strange, and was suspicious of what was going on. For instance, he had noticed that the druids camped next to them had a "pet" bear that they were keeping leashed to a tree. Druids don't leash their animal followers.

Not long after they arrived the two druids from the aforementioned camp came over to greet the new arrivals. They explained that Elizar Dryflagon was the man in charge, and that he would likely come down from the keep soon enough to greet them. One of the two volunteered to go inform him of the party's arrival, while the other one returned to his camp site.

Berrian decided to visit the camp check out the bear. Sure enough it was leashed to a tree. He used speak with animals to learn that the bear had been captured by the "druids", and that they had been abusing the animal. Berrian returned to get Vala and she turned the pair invisible. Then they went back to the camp and freed the bear. Upon doing so, it immediately attacked its captor. He tried to fight back, but Berrian cast a hold person spell on him, and he was mauled to death by the bear. The beast then fled into the hills.

The druid's companion returned moments later with Elizar Dryflagon and a couple of Elizar's guards. Strangely, the guards wore metal breastplates, helms and odd goggles that covered their eyes- not the sort of attire druids normally go for. Elizar was welcoming enough, though he grew suspicious when he learned that one of his flock had just been killed by a bear. Despite this, he took the time to greet the heroes, and he explained that he was looking for worthy new initiates to join the circle. Out of the group, he decided to invite Vala up to the keep to be introduced to the rite of the Wicker Giant.

The heroes also spent more time questioning Algun about his experiences with Dryflagon and the ritual. The boy wasn't much use, and seemed a little slow. Inspiration decided to cast a dispel magic on him because he suspected the lad might have come under some sort of magical compulsion. The spell seemed to help, but Algun couldn't remember much of anything that had happened to him on the hill- other than staring into the flames of the Wicker Giant.

Session #18 xp
Gathering information in Red Larch 1000
Finding Scarlett Moon Hall 700
Helping the abused bear 700


Session #18 Notes: this session was all based on material from Princes of the Apocalypse.


Session #19 (Shit hits the fan at Scarlett Moon Hall)

Characters: PCs: Inspiration (tiefling bard 5), Vala (air genasi warlock 5), Falgrim (dwarf fighter 5), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 5), Berrian (elf druid 5)

Falgrim arrived at the Scarlett Moon camp to join his companions. Together they decided that they would investigate some of the other small camp sites on the hill and try to gather more information about the strange druidic order. They first talked to a rather unfriendly group of men, who mentioned that they had been invited to take the test of the Wicker Giant. Apparently those who passed the test would soon be invited to participate in the great communal ritual that was soon to come. They were growing impatient waiting for the ritual to happen, but they were under the impression that Dryflagon was waiting to gather more followers before beginning the final ritual. The exact nature of this ritual was unclear, but its supposed intent was to purge the land of corruption.

The next group they approached consisted of a few druid types slumbering around a fire. One bored fellow was sitting on a log observing them. He was happy enough to talk, and he indicated that they too had taken the test and stared into the enthralling flames of the Wicker Giant. However, he wasn’t sure they had been perceived as being worthy of joining the final ritual.

The final group of campers consisted of a pair of hostile worgs and robed “men” whose faces were concealed by shadowy hoods. Inspiration detected a goblinoid accent about them, and the heroes were told to piss off. They decided not to press the issue, and they wandered back towards the trail that led up to the keep.

Inspiration decided that he would try to dispel the magic on the Wicker Giant. He moved up to the trail until he had a clear view into the courtyard of the old keep. The court yard was surrounded by the remains of a crumbling curtain wall. In the court yard, standing before the decrepit keep stood the Wicker Giant. The Wicker Giant was an effigy of a man made from branches. It stood about twenty feet tall, and some sort of magic caused it to continuously burn without consuming its fuel. He cast a dispel magic spell, which did its work (natural 20 on his dispel check). The Wicker Giant collapsed into a pile of ash and cinder; at the same time the spell freed a angry fire elemental that had been bound to the effigy. The creature began rampaging through the courtyard of the keep, burning and wreaking havoc.

All hell then broke loose. The rough fellows at the nearby camp, suddenly started shifting into bestial, hybrid wolf forms. A pair of guards with crossbows fired on Inspiration from the entrance to the courtyard. Vala cast a fly spell and took to the air, while the rest of the heroes started to retreat down the hill. Suddenly a fireball detonated among them. Vala spotted the caster. It was the druid that they had encountered earlier who had the captive bear. She flew towards him, intent on killing him.

In seconds all the camp was in chaos. Falgrim and Smashmouth found themselves facing off against two werewolves. Berrian aided them by conjuring a storm cloud and blasting the werewolves with lightning. Then another “druid” emerged from a tent at the top of the hill and detonated another fireball among them. This explosion also killed one of the werewolves. Vala was taken out of the sky by a scorching ray spell cast by the druid she was approaching, and she was forced to proceed on foot. Smashmouth came to her aid just in time to be blasted by a burning hands spell and watch Vala slip her rapier into her enemy’s throat.

Falgrim, Berrian and Inspiration raced down the hill to join Vala and Smashmouth, and the party fled into the wilderness. As they turned to take a glance behind them, they could see the rogue fire elemental burning the keep, and people scurrying about on the hill. Once they had put some distance between themselves and the camp, they tended to their wounds with healing spells. Several of them were badly burned by all the fire magic. They decided that they would return to Red Larch to figure out their next move.

Session #19 XP
unleashing fire elemental on the camp 2000 xp
werewolves 700 x 2 = 1400
"druid" 700
4100/5= 820 xp each


Fire balls in 5e hurt since they start at 8d6 damage. A couple of those and the heroes were toast- literally, so there was no way they were sticking around to face an entire camp of hostiles.

It was a fun session- I did not see the dispel magic on the Wicker Giant coming, so that was a great surprise, especially when the 20 came upon the dispel roll. Everyone was like, "Oh f~#&, what have we done?"


Session #20
Characters: PCs: Inspiration (tiefling bard 5), Vala (air genasi warlock 5), Falgrim (dwarf fighter 5), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 5), Berrian (elf druid 5)

The heroes returned to Red Larch. They spent a day in town preparing for a journey to Goldenfields. The plan was to report their findings regarding the Circle of the Scarlett Moon to abbot Doravic- one of the leaders of the Emerald Enclave, a druidic order that both Smashmouth and Berrian had ties to. The next morning they set out. On their first travel day they encountered a band of hippogriff riding knights- members of the Feathergale Society. Their leader showed quite an "interest" in Vala due to her air genasi heritage. He convinced her to demonstrate her powers of flight, and he gave her an invitation to visit Feathergale Spire. She didn’t accept, as the heroes had other places to be, but he assured her the invitation was an open one, should she change her mind.

On their third day of travel they arrived at the Bargewright Inn where they were able to sign on with a riverboat captain named Hasten. From there they traveled south along the Desarrin River towards Goldenfields. Their journey was peaceful for the most part, but they did have a brief skirmish with a small flock of blood hawks, which attacked one of the sailors on the boat. They likely saved the man’s life, which earned them some good will from the captain and crew.

Towards the end of their second day on the river they arrived at the abbey of Goldenfields. The following day they managed to garner an audience with Abbot Ellardin Doravick, and they told him of their experience with the Circle of the Scarlett Moon. Since their investigation thus far had raised as many questions as it had answered he encouraged them to return to camp and see if they could learn more about the “druids.” Berrian and Smashmouth agreed this was a wise course of action, and after resting a couple of days at the abbey they made their way back to Red Larch.

The return journey was uneventful until they were attacked on the road by a pack of four trolls. Berrian and Vala made effective use of fire magic to drive two of them off- one of whom left its head behind after Smashmouth sliced it off. The remaining trolls proved tough opponents, and both Berrian and Smashmouth were badly wounded in the battle. Fortunately, Smashmouth proved quite adept at hewing the trolls’ limbs off with his great axe, and Berrian’s flame blade spell came in very handy for burning their corpses to prevent them from regenerating. In the end they managed to slay three of the trolls, and make it safely back to Red Larch.

From Red Larch they set out back into the hills to the gathering site of the Circle of the Scarlett Moon. They discovered that the camp had been abandoned, so they searched the remains of the burned out keep. Inside they discovered a tunnel that descended deep into the earth. Unlike the human built keep, the tunnel looked as though it was built by dwarves.

XP for Session #20
Reporting findings to the Emerald Enclave 1000
Blood hawks 4 x 25= 100
Trolls 4 x 1800= 7200
8300/4= 2075 per PC


Session #21 (Into the tunnels below Scarlett Moon Hall)
Characters: PCs: Inspiration (tiefling bard 5), Vala (air genasi warlock 5), Falgrim (dwarf fighter 5), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 5), Berrian (elf druid 5)

The heroes ventured into the tunnel below the ruined keep (aka Scarlett Moon Hall). The dwarf tunnel ran for a great distance before they discovered a chamber that held a band of hobgoblin guards. They attempted to ambush the guards with invisibility magic and a battle ensued. The hobgoblins soon received reinforcements in the form of a hellhound and two "men" with strange armour and flaming spears. Their armour seemed fused to their bodies and in the center of each of their chests was a cavity that burned with magma and fire. These men said nothing as they fought, acting more like constructs than people. Upon their deaths, they each detonated in an explosion of deadly shrapnel that destroyed their bodies and armour.

After this fight the heroes were all fairly wounded and spent so they left the complex and attempted to camp the night in the Sumber Hills. Inspiration put up a Leomund's Hut, which provided them with some protection, but a few hours into their rest they were set on by hellhounds, hobgoblins and Elizar Dryflagon, as well as one more "razerblast/explodey guy." Smashmouth turned the hellhounds and sent them running. Falgrim rushed Elizar and beat him down, killing him before he could cast any nasty spells. They then managed to finish off the hobgoblins and the Razerblast.

They completed their long rest in the hills and planned to return to the further explore the tunnels.


Session #22 (Into the tunnels below Scarlett Moon Hall, foray #2)
Characters: PCs: Inspiration (tiefling bard 5), Vala (air genasi warlock 5), Falgrim (dwarf fighter 5), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 5), Berrian (elf druid 5)

The heroes venture back into the ancient dwarven halls below Scarlett Moon Hall. Here they confront cultists and guards capable of imbuing their blades with searing flame. The cultist beseech their patron Imix before attacking the heroes- this is the first time they here this name. Inspiration recognizes Imix as the name used to describe some sort of primordial fire god.

After fighting their way through this first band of cultists, they find several rooms that are being used as prison cells. They rescue 5 azer (fire dwarves), and learn that the azer were brought here by the cult and an efreeti. The Azer have been forced to work in the forges below, making weapons and armour for the cult. The azer are eager to go down a wide set of stairs to the great forge room. Here they wish to liberate their kind working the forges and have their revenge against Hazeed the efreeti.

The heroes agree to help, and with the aid of the azer they defeat the fire genie and his guards, rescuing 3 more azer, who join them.


Session #23 (Into the tunnels below Scarlett Moon Hall, foray #2)
Characters: PCs: Inspiration (tiefling bard 6), Vala (air genasi warlock 6), Falgrim (dwarf fighter 6), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 6), Berrian (elf druid 6)

The heroes have just finished liberating the azer and searching the forge room when they are attacked by Vanifer and a host of her followers (hobgoblins, hellhounds, flame guards, cultists and a fire mage). Vanifer is a female tiefling and seemingly the leader/prophet of the Cult of Imix. Vanifer, the hell hounds, cultists and guards attack from one side of the room, while the hobgoblins and fire mage come at them from the other. A tough fight ensues, as the enemies are powerful and the heroes are low on resources from their battle with the genie.

Vanifer wields an enchanted flaming dagger, and she is a capable caster. She summons a wall of fire to split the party, separating Berrian and Falgrim from the others. She also teleports around the battlefield and stabs at foes with her dagger. She nearly kills Inspiration with such an attack.

Falgrim, Berrian, and Inspiration are all brought to unconsciousness during various points in this fight, and Falgrim ends up succumbing to his wounds and perishing (failing three death saves before anyone can help him). In the end, the heroes are victorious, thanks to the help of the Azer dwarves and their immunity to fire. Vanifer is slain by Smashmouth, and the fire mage manages to escape.

The heroes free the remaining Azer and recover some valuable mithril trade bars and a completed azer crafted sword blade (also mithril). They make camp in one of the cells that the Azer were using, and leave their Azer allies to do watch duty. During their rest they are accosted by the remains of the fire cult's forces, including another caster, specializing in fire magic. Smashmouth and Inspiration are too injured to actively contribute much to the fight, but Berrian, Vala and the azer dwarves repel the attack. Berrian's entangle spell proves instrumental in helping to pin their enemies down and keep them from advancing.

Vanifer 5000
Hellhounds 700 x 3 = 2100
Hobgoblins 100 x 5 = 500
Hobgoblin Captain 700
Guards 450 x 5 = 2350
Fire Mages 2 x 700 = 1400
Cultists 6 x 25 = 300
12350/4= 3100 per PC


The fight in session #23 was one of the biggest battles of the campaign. The only reason the PCs survived was because they had the help of about 8 azer dwarves fighting beside them, several of which were killed in the fight.

Most of this campaign was on roll20, but this session was a face to face one, which made it a lot of fun; I got to bust out a nice horde of minis for this set piece. The players got into running the azer, and we started giving them names. Certain Azer performed better than others, even though they all had the same stat block. In particular, one called Balzak really helped them out, and he became the leader of the Azer. Of course the players started calling him Ballsack very quickly, and they still fondly recall Ballsack the azer even though it's well over a year later. I might find a way to bring him back into my current campaign, since he eventually made his way back to the plane of fire.


Session #24 (Into the tunnels below Scarlett Moon Hall, foray #2, wrap up)
Characters: Inspiration (tiefling bard 6), Vala (air genasi warlock 6), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 6), Berrian (elf druid 6)

The characters continue to explore the dwarven halls where the fire cult made their lair, and find them to be for the most part deserted. They have a brief run in with a pair of ogres that they handle with ease, and back in the forge room they encounter a chimera gnawing on the bones of the dead. This fight proves a little more challenging, but with the aid of the freed azer slaves the chimera is defeated.

As they explore, they learn that the complex is quite extensive, and it contains several halls that seemingly lead to other areas of the former dwarven stronghold. Eventually, they find the lair of the chimera and loot it of treasure. They also come across a captured prisoner, who claims to be a sailor. He explains that he was captured by the fire cult near the Dessarin river. The heroes sense that he isn't being entirely truthful, and they press him further, learning that he was in fact more of a pirate than sailor. They also notice that his hands are webbed, and that he has strange gill-like slits at the sides of his neck. They decide to let him be on his way, even though they still don't entirely believe his story (water cultist).

Finally, they choose to explore one of the passages that appears to lead out of the section of the complex they have been exploring. They follow it some distance, and find that it ends at door. They open the door, and discover a room that appears to be the lair of several ogre-like creatures. Each of these "ogres" has grayish, stony looking skin. The beasts seem a little surprised to see the adventurers, but they promptly grab up their clubs and rise to their feet. The heroes briefly consider engaging them in combat, but decide to make a withdraw and leave the complex (Here they had discovered an entrance to the earth cults section of the complex).

They return to Red Larch with Falgrim's corpse and the treasures they have uncovered from their adventure.


This is the final session of Princes of the Apocalypse for a little while. After this the heroes decide to leave the region and head for Waterdeep to conduct more research about the cult.


Session #25 (Waterdeep)
Characters: Inspiration (tiefling bard 6), Vala (air genasi warlock 6), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 6), Phann (half elf, sorcerer 6), Father Varis (dwarf, cleric 6)

A terrible storm rages through the Dessarin Valley delaying the heroes departure from Red Larch for a few days.

When the storm Abates, Berrian decides to leave the party to venture into the High Forest to report his findings regarding the cult of Imix to Turlang. However, he is soon replaced by Phann who, having had a falling out with Cara, Shandrill and Captain Jack, has made his way from Triboar. The heroes are also joined by a traveling dwarven battle cleric named Father Varis.

Together they travel to Goldenfields where Smashmouth again meets with Abbot Ellardin. He has heard of the cult of Imix and the Princes of Elemental Evil, but he knows little about them. He encourages Smashmouth to investigate further and provides him with a letter of introduction to the Savant Sandrew the Wise, who is the high priest of Oghma in Waterdeep. The abbot believes that Sandrew the Wise will likely know more than he can tell him.

The heroes catch a river boat from Goldenfields to Waterdeep, sailing down the broad Dessarin River. Late one night, while passing by the Stump Bog, their boat is attacked by a river hydra. Fortunately, the heroes leap to its defence. Phann's fire magic proves handy in keeping it from regenerating its heads, and Smashmouth hews several of them with his greataxe. Vala uses a combination of stabs with her blade and eldritch blasts. Inspiration and Father Varis also make their contributions to the fight, and soon the beast sinks back into the murky waters. Vala dives in after the thing to ensure it is dead, and gathers some of its life essence as she slays the wounded monstrosity.

The remainder of the journey to Waterdeep is uneventful. Upon arriving the heroes sell of much of their gathered loot at the marketplace. They then venture to the Yawning Portal Inn where they stable their horses and rent rooms. Vala had been told that a contact of the buyer for the flaming dagger would meet her at the Inn. No buyer arrives the next night, but the Innkeeper mentions that a woman had been looking for her, and he expects she will be back.

While relaxing in the common room, Phann is confronted by a young noble woman named Melinda Hawkwinter. She remembers Phann from several years ago when he seduced her mother (who had recently become a widow). After gaining her trust, Phann left her and disappeared along with some of her valuable jewelry. The Hawkwinters have not forgotten this slight.

Phann decides to try to smooth things over with Melinda, as the event occurred many years ago, and Phann has possible turned himself around a little since that time (or maybe not). He learns from Melinda that her brother recently ventured into Undermountain via the well in the Yawning Portal. He hasn't been seen in a couple of days. Phann decides that he will try to find Pelgram Hawkwinter to make amends for his past misdeeds.

The following day Smashmouth goes to the temple of Oghma and meets with Sandrew the Wise. He discovers that even Sandew the Wise knows little about the Cult of Imix or the Princes of Elemental Evil, for they have never been overly active in Faerun. However, he is aware of a set of scrolls penned long ago by an Calishite archmage that reportedly has significant information about the nature of elemental evil.

That evening the heroes find themselves back at the Yawning Portal. Vala's contact, an attractive rogue named Vivian, makes contact with her, and explains that the buyer for the dagger is awaiting them in Undermountain.


Session #26 (Undermountain)
Characters: Inspiration (tiefling, bard 6), Vala (air genasi, warlock 6), Smashmouth (goliath, paladin 6), Phann (half elf, sorcerer 6), Father Varis (dwarf, cleric 6)

The adventurers have a couple of reasons for which to descend into one of the most infamous dungeons in the realms- Undermountain. Firstly, when they killed Vanifer, the prophet of Imix, they recovered a magical dagger from her that they discovered to be a potent item and possibly an artifact. Vala has been asked by her fiendish patron, Tobias Pane (Warlock Patron), to deliver it to him, and she convinced that party that she has a contact who would be a good "buyer" for the item. Tobias wants to meet in Undermountain and has sent an agent named Vivian to greet the heroes and lead them to the meet site. In addition, Phann wants to find a missing nobleman named Pelgram Hawkwinter who recently entered Undermountain with a friend named Samel Roaringhorn and has not been seen since.

In the Yawning Portal tavern, they have heard several rumors about this famed dungeon complex. One rumor, that is somewhat troubling, involves the "bronze cyclops." The bronze cyclops appears to be some sort of construct that has been roaming the first level of Undermountain slaughtering all those it encounters, though a few lucky adventurers have escaped its wrath to tell about it.

The heroes descend into Undermoutain through the well in the Yawning Portal to meet with Vala's contact. Vivian guides them through a secret door and down a long hallway. In a room flanking the hall they find the recently murdered corpses of three humans who have been placed on a pentagram drawn with their blood. It seems likely there may be diabolical followers/cultists in Undermountain.

Soon they arrive in a chamber where they make contact with Tobias Paine, Vala's buyer. There are a score of dead goblins at the meet site, and Tobias explains that he killed them. Tobias is seemingly a human man, though Vala knows that this is merely a guise he wears (in truth he is a unique and powerful Yugoloth, but even Vala isn't aware of his exact nature). Vala gives him the dagger, and he crushes it to dust in his hands, as he does so the dust falls into a fountain before him, and the water of the fountain catches fire. Based on his expression it appears that he is somehow absorbing the dagger's magic as he destroys it. Smashmouth in particular is somewhat disturbed by this.

Tobias offers the heroes no real payment for the dagger, but he does provide them with some information. He explains that there is a lair of derro dwarves nearby, and that the evil dwarves have been taking captives and experimenting on them. He also tells the party that in a secret room, not too far from the entrance well, there is a portal that leads to Zhentil Keep. Finally, he mentions that the jewel in the eye of the bronze cyclops is its weakness. He then vanishes, leaving the heroes to decide what to do next.

Vivian wants to return to the Yawning Portal, so she heads back on her own. The heroes decide to follow Tobias's directions to the derro lair, and see about rescuing captives and liberating some loot. Phann bears a hope that Pelgram Hawkwinter will be among the captives. They follow a secret tunnel, cross a channel of polluted water, and head up a flight of stairs. Here they find the derro in a large room. The vile, white haired, dwarf-like creatures have several grimlock servants, as well as a pair of pet reptilian creatures called digesters. A brutal battle takes place, and the PCs learn that the digesters spit a deadly acid. The derro make use of both magic and poisoned weapons. All of these factors make for a tough fight that results in multiple heroes being knocked unconscious and left in dire need of healing magic. In the end, thanks to spells of mass destruction like fireball and ample healing magic, the heroes slaughter the derro and their servants.

They rescue Samel Roaringhorn and 5 other captives that the derro were presumably planning on experimenting on. However, Pelgram Hawkwinter is not among the captives. Smashmouth recovers Samel's armour (which Samel had apparently taken from his father without permission). They also find a chest of treasure belonging to the derro, which contains a wand of secrets, and several orichalium crystals (among other loot).

They speak with Samel and learn that he and Pelgram had become separated when they encountered the Bronze Cyclops and were forced to flee from it or face certain death. Samel was later ambushed by derro and captured. He doesn't know what became of Pelgram.

The session ends here.


Session #27 (Undermountain- search for Pelgram Hawkwinter)
Characters: Inspiration (tiefling bard 7), Vala (air genasi warlock 7), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 7), Phann (half elf, sorcerer 7), Father Varis (dwarf, cleric 7)

The heroes drop the prisoners they rescued from the derro at the bottom of the entry well, sending them back up to civilization. They then continue their exploration of the first level of Undermountain, searching for the missing noble Pelgram Hawkwinter.

In their search they discover a large room where four carrion crawlers are feasting on the corpses of over a dozen dead goblins. The carrion crawlers are content with their meal and show little interest in the heroes, but the adventurers decide it is best to deal with the pests, so they attack the aberrations. The carrion crawlers aren’t much of a match for the seasoned adventurers, but the fighting does attract a large pack of ghouls. Fortunately, the ravenous ghouls are loping up a long hall to reach their quarry and are lined up for Phann’s lightning bolt spell. The half elf sorcerer destroys most of the ghoul pack with ligntning magic, and the remainder of them flee.

They continue their search and find their way to a smaller square shaped room that acts as the intersection for four halls, one opening in the center of each wall of the room. Here they are ambushed by a pack of incorporeal undead that emerge from the shadows. Father Varis calls upon the power of Clangeddin and turns most of the undead, leaving only a few spectres to deal with. Once again the fighting attracts attention. This time that attention comes from the bronze cyclops, a deadly construct that they had heard rumors was set loose by Halastar, the mad mage of Undermountain. This ten foot tall construct proves to be a dangerous opponent, wielding an adamantite great axe and firing beams of disintegrating force from its single emerald gemstone eye. It nearly obliterates Phann out with a disintegration ray, and it does terrible damage to Smashmouth with its axe. To make matters worse the creature is resistant to most elements and magic, making it very hard to damage. Fortunately, Vala's patron had told them that its emerald eye is its weakness. Inspiration tries to target the eye, and he successfully destroys the green gemstone with an eldritch blast. This causes a wave of deadly necrotic energy to be released from the construct,which is very painful to the adventurers, but it also results in it collapsing to the ground, seemingly destroyed.

After the fight the heroes claim the emerald shards from its eye, and Smashmouth takes its axe.

They then make their way up a short flight of stairs from which the construct had descended. At the top of the stairs they find a large room dominated by a miniature stepped pyramid. Sitting on the pyramid is a throne made of magically fused bones. The throne is enormous and looks sized for a giant. As Vala and Inspiration pass between a pair of columns and head for the pyramid, a magical trap is triggered, blasting them with arcane lightning. The pair survive and reach the throne. They inspect it for traps and discover none. They do discover a secret trap door in seat of the bone throne that descends down to a tunnel below the pyramid.

The rest of the heroes attempt to join Inspiration and Vala by leaping past the lightning trap. Again they all survive, though injuries are sustained. They decide to climb down the trap door into the cramped hall to take a short rest, and the session ends here.


Session #28 (Undermountain- nasty trap room)
Characters: Inspiration (tiefling bard 7), Vala (air genasi warlock 7), Smashmouth (Goliath paladin 7), Phann (half elf, sorcerer 7), Father Varis (dwarf, cleric 7)

The heroes continue their explorations of the first level of Undermountain, searching for the a missing nobleman named Pelgram Hawkwinter. After taking a short rest, the adventurers begin to explore the tunnel they found hidden beneath the giant bone throne. Inspiration spots cleverly concealed magically runes warding the floor of the tunnel just ahead of them. He is unsure what they do or how to disarm them, but he suspects that it might be the work of the mad mage Halastar. They decide to all move back from the runes, and Phann uses his magic to trigger them from a distance. As anticipated, a magical trap is triggered and rubbery black tentacles squirm out of the floor to attack anyone who might have stepped on the runes. The entire party was well back and avoid this threat. However, the runes trigger a secondary trap that is much more insidious and deadly.

The floor upon which they are standing suddenly disintegrates, dropping them into a pit trap. The pit isn't overly deep, but at the bottom of the pit is a large teleportation circle that randomly redistributes the characters to various other teleportation circles scattered throughout a large room. Inspiration and Smashmouth are sent to the most dangerous teleportation circle, one carved into the ceiling of the room that causes them to fall into a permanent prismatic sphere- blasting them with various elemental magics that nearly kills each of the pair. Only after extensive healing, do they have the strength to exit the sphere, and then they suffer additional horrific damage from a variety of elements. Vala finds herself surrounded by a ring of fire, but is able to fly up and over the flames. Father Varis and Phann each are teleported to the far side of a pit of acid that bisects the room. Thus, the party is split. Smashmouth, Vala and Inspiration are on one side of the room, and Varis and Phann are on the other. A pit of deadly acid separates them. To make matters worse both sides of the room are inhabited by deadly insect like demons (mezzoloth) that eagerly move in to kill the heroes.

A lengthy and deadly battle ensues. The heroes soon learn that the fiends breath a deadly, toxic gas, and are resistant to magic and many elemental attacks. Their chitinous hides provide formidable armour, and they can sustain extensive damage. Furthermore they are capable warriors. This makes for dangerous enemies. Phann and Varis are barely able to hold their own. Smashmouth, Inspiration and Vala are equally hard pressed. Smashmouth manages to destroy one by pushing it into the prismatic sphere, and they eventually dispatch two more that are facing them.

Although all the heroes have a brush with death at least once during the battle, Phann is the one that comes closest to perishing. The fact that he survives is miraculous given that he is horribly injured when one of the demons pushes him into the acid pit. It is only through Inspiration’s healing magic that he clings to life long enough for father Varis to defeat the demon he is fighting and drag the half elf out of the acid. Unfortunately, Phann’s good lucks are permanently marred by acid burns, and even after the wounds are healed the scars remain. It seems that only the most powerful healing healing magic will restore his appearance.


GMs Notes: This was one of more nasty encounters I've devised over the years. Undermountain is fun that way. You can come up with almost any weird trap or encounter and justify it as the workings of Halastar.

Essentially the runes on the floor were a decoy to trigger the pit trap. I knew the characters would stay well back from them when they tried to dispel or trigger them, and they were right where I wanted them. When the pit trap triggered it drops them all onto a large, one way teleportation circle that sends them into another room. This room had 5 receiving teleporation circles, and they had to randomly roll to see, which one they ended up on. The one on the ceiling of the room that drops you onto a prismatic sphere was bar far the worse. But the best part was that the trap splits the party all over the large room with a big acid pit separating one side of the room from the other and nasty creatures in all areas of the room waiting to tear PCs apart.

The only reason they managed to survive was because they had so much healing magic. The paladin, bard and cleric could all heal, and that saved them from certain death.

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