The Dragon of Icespire Peak Campaign Diary - Episode 6 - Stormfront

The prep...

"About time we show up!"

We finally get to the orcs invading the ruins. I had their stat blocks cooked up for a few weeks now. For this session, I did want to give the players some additional loot. So I pulled out the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) and used the Individual Treasure: Challenge 0-4 table (p: 136). Orcs are challenge rating 1/2, so I rolled on the table. One orc rolled a ridiculous amount of platinum, so I took that amount and shifted it to an equivalent gemstone from the 50gp Gemstones table (p: 134).

I also gave each orc a visual identity, so it would be easy for the party to identify targets. This is very important when you aren't playing with miniatures. It adds to the storytelling and allows the players to pick which target they want. I didn't do this with the ochre jellies, (and I probably should have). But since I had three orcs swarming the party here, it might come into play.

I figured that the group was going to chat with the dwarves some more after the battle, and maybe even take a short rest. They may make it back to Phandalin, but I had my doubts. With that in mind, I didn't prep too much else. I pulled the new quest cards out (three more). I reviewed the stats for Inverna and made sure I had all the notes ready. We dove right in.

The story...

Speak up! I can't hear you!

As we started I brought up the fact that the trio hadn't received the Sending Stones magic item that they were promised. These are essentially fantasy walkie talkies that have one use per day. I told them we could do a little retcon and they could ask the dwarves about these. Instead this turned into a full blown discussion about how to split loot with the dwarves. The Druid thought giving the dwarves a few of the gems would be a good idea, in case they wanted to meet up with them later. The Rogue wanted to take all the gems and just pretend they didn't find anything of value (nice role playing there). They asked Inverna, and she just said she didn't care, as long as they didn't cut her out from her fair share.

Eventually they didn't really make a solid decision. But slept on it. So we jumped forward to the next morning with the orcs hurrying ahead of the storm toward the ruins. The Druid rolled a high perception check and got a good description of the figures. When she got back to the group with the description, Inverna confirmed they were orcs, and was ready to fight. I pulled up the map of the ruins and showed them the approach. The Druid player looked it over and asked about the thick wall in front of the temple. Was that a 5 foot opening with a door? Sure was. She suggested they bottleneck the orcs into that area. Inverna loved it and volunteered to be bait. She can't wait to kick some orc ass. The Druid and the Rogue would be on either side of the doorway and use ranged attacks. Since the Rogue's crossbow string snapped in the previous battle, she was going to throw daggers and large rubble. The Druid had her spells ready. The dwarves retreated into the temple and would hold the door open if the characters wanted to retreat.

So the plan proceeded. The characters tried to be stealthy but one of them failed the roll and the orcs heard them, and started creeping forward. But once they saw Inverna, the leader (one with a necklace of elf ears around his neck [ewwww said the players]) cries out "Death to Knife Ears!" Yeah I borrowed that from Dragone Age but I always liked that epithet for elves. As the orc hurtled forward, javelin ready, The Druid cast Entanglement in the area where the orcs were rushing. This caused the roots and plants to erupt from the ground and wrap around the orcs. Two were immediately ensnared. The one at the back with a broken tusk rolled a natural 1 and started shrieking like a baby which cracked the players up. But the leader with the gory necklace was strong enough to power through. He hurled his javelin yelling "TALOS!" He missed Inverna, but kept rushing toward her.

The battle continued, and the Entanglement  spell worked great. Combined with the bottleneck, the orcs were unable to swarm into the area. With three players working on them with attacks and spells, they fell one by one. Broken Tusk rolled a natural 1 two more times, and I described that his efforts to escape only further entangled him, until he was prone, covered in vines and screaming like a baby. But he got fierce enough when Inverna walked over to him to finish him off.

That strategy worked so well that none of the player characters were injured! Only Inverna took a hit from a javelin, and she was tough enough to keep fighting after that. The party pulled the loot, and decided to give the healthy amount of coins to the dwarves, instead of the more valuable gems. It was a good compromise that the players felt pretty good about. I did make them sweat a little bit when the dwarves mentioned an empty stone box in an pillar (where the gem hoard was hidden) and how it was odd that it was empty. The dwarves suspect the players are holding out on them, but they also just watched the players slaughter three very strong orcs, so they aren't in any mood to pick a fight.

The storm hit the ruins just as the players started on their way to Phandalin via Umbrage Hill, which is on the way. The Druid used her Detect Magic spell to see if necklace they found on the dwarf skeleton was magical. It wasn't. But here mechanical Goldfish WAS! I have plans for that little guy if they ever got to visit the gnomes.

The Rogue is always looking for these.

At Umbrage Hill they met with Adabra again. She could sell them potions of healing, but they were 50 gold pieces. Really damn pricy. The characters couldn't afford those at this time. But they chatted with Adabra, enjoyed some tea. They asked Adabra about the wandering druid Paellia, and told her about the message Paellia left. Adabra felt that meant that Paellia was going to be in Conyberry in five days time. I also had Adabra hint that she and Harbin had a previous relationship, and may still like each other. So the players had a bit of fun teasing Adabra.

It was still raining as they headed back to Phandalin. Now here I ran into a bit of trouble, because I had thought a little bit about what happened in the town while the party was away, but I didn't really plan it out fully. I didn't think they'd get here during this session. So once again, I had to improvise a little... and very soon a lot.

So I described how the town square had a huge series of massive claw marks torn into it. One nearby building was partially destroyed. The town was deathly quiet, only the pounding rain could be heard. I figured the players would head to the inn or directly to Harbin to find out what happened. Instead they decided to visit the Coster - the only option I didn't really plan for.

So I panicked a little bit. I ended up pulling out the adventure book (I was so flustered I didn't even use my tablet which would have been faster). I try very hard not to pull any books out during the game, because it slows things down. But yeah I goofed here. I eventually pulled up the name of the owner of the Coster and her inventory. Of course she has one of those elaborate Forgotten Realms names, so I adjusted it too Lillian. Luckily the players liked her immediately. She volunteered to send a message to Neverwinter for them (they discussed a dwarves archeologist who may know and pay to learn more about the ruins). She also grumbled about Haylia, who the characters already don't like or trust. She sold them replacement bow strings and a few more arrows for the Rogue.

"No, I don't trust Haylia."

Lillian also told them about the dragon attack. It wasn't so much an attack as it was a demand for tribute and adoration. This is a young white dragon. I'm playing him like a bully who isn't all that bright. White dragons are notoriously dim witted, but quick to anger. This one was forced out of his home to the east by cultists. So he is grumpy already. But he sees the town as easy pickings and feels he can bully them into getting free food and loot. Which he can.

Lillian explained how he made his demands, and was going to take the local goat as a snack. But Donnabella, the aspiring magician who thinks she is a unicorn attacked the dragon with a simple fire spell and ran away with the goat. The dragon was angry and smashed a building on top of Donnabella, crushing her legs. The goat got away. The dragon laughed and said that they see what happens to those who defy him. He said he'd come back soon and expect a cow, or horse or willing victim - or some treasure to add to his horde. If they failed him, he would destroy the village a building at a time.

After hearing that story, the characters headed to visit Harbin. Once again I had quite a bit of fun playing the blustering town master hidden behind the door. He paid them for the job well done. They teased him about Adabra. He told them of the dragon attack in his own blowhard way. "And lo, upon wings of death, there came a white dragon, and he did smite the earth with terrible force!" They reviewed the new quests on the job board. They decided to head to Butterskull Ranch by way of Conyberry, so they could meet up with Paellia. We ended with the group heading to the Inn to check in on Donnabella and get some rest before their next adventure.

The post...

Peanut Butter Skull Ranch Cookies!

This was another very fun session. The money talk at the start went on a bit longer than I would have liked. But the Druid and the Rogue are learning more about how different their characters are. The Druid wants to play fairly straight with everyone. The Rogue is greedy and now needs money to pay off Haylia, so she is willing to bend any rules to get her hands on money.

I have to say I'm really proud of the players for taking the time to come up with a plan using the map, and really working it over on the orcs. It showed them that good planning can make or break a battle. They used the rest of the session for some solid roleplaying, and information gathering.

My big lesson is to be a little more prepared with those NPCs, if possible. I had come up with a little bit about Lillian over at the Coster's a few sessions back. But they characters start out so well equipped they didn't need to visit her. It would have probably taken me a little less time to dig through my notes to find what I had for her (which looking at it now, wasn't all that much different from how I played her). I think I got more flustered than I should have, and could have played it off a bit better. In other words, it annoyed me more than it annoyed the players.

I've not dropped hints about Talos the storm god (which The Druid was able to recall with a very high History roll). I had mentioned Butterskull Ranch early on in the adventure, when the characters first entered the inn and ordered bread and cheese. They saw Tobin the Innkeeper carving out a piece of cheese from a skull shaped lump of cheddar. He told them all about this special Skull cheese (the players dubbed it head cheese), and how he hadn't seen anyone from Butterskull ranch in a while and his stock of the cheese was getting low. So it was nice to see the payoff kick in here.

So Coneyberry has an adventure tied to it, and I think that and meeting with Paellia will take up the next session. So I won't have to dive into Butterskull Ranch yet. But I should be prepared for both, just in case the Coneyberry adventure doesn't pull them in. In either case, this was a fun one, and a little bit of a break from the darkness of the dungeon delving in the previous session.

Up next...

Session 7: Along the Triboar Trail

The Dragon of Icespire Peak Campaign Diary - Episode 5 - When Condiments Attack

The prep...

Dippin' Sauce of DOOM!

It was time for some combat. It had been a while since the duo had actually rolled those attack and damage dice. Those goblins Beviz and Boothead were the targets that time. This time it was a trio of ochre jellies. Since it had been four sessions since we had a full blown combat, I knew I would have to take it slow, and help both players get back into the swing of things.

First off I decided to actually draw a map of the area they had explored. I did this before the session. It had been a week since they had explored the area, I didn't want to have to rely on their memory of the place. So I did a bit freehand sketch work (and no, I can't draw to save my life). I warned them that it wasn't to scale or anything, but was more for reference to help them determine where they could move to if they wished.

I had the ochre jelly stats prepped a couple weeks before hand and was good to go there. I had Inverna's stats ready as well. I watched a video of the Dungeon Dudes talking about The Essentials Kit and discussing the sidekick characters. They had some good recommendations and I decided to use those in this game. I made it clear to the players the Inverna would do what she was told to do (within reason), but that her default was to swing that sword of hers. However once combat started I had the players take turns rolling for Inverna. This made her feel a little less like a DM controlled player.

That was about as much prep as I needed to do. I figured they would continue exploring the temple and deal with the jellies, then maybe spend some time with the dwarves at the end. I doubted we'd get to the orc combat, but I had them prepped just in case.

The story...

Inverna likes welding swords and line dancing.

We started the session with the classic, "Roll for initiative." The players rolled and the Rogue got to attack first, followed by Inverna, then the jelly and then the Druid. I won't give you a play by play, but lets just say things went about as well as they could have. I actually miscalculated how fast the jellies could move. They are really slow, so the Rogue was able to get into a better position within the altar room, and maneuver behind pillars to take shots at the creature. Inverna moved in and attacked, rolling very well this whole session. The Druid used her Frostbite cantrip to cause frost damage and slow the jelly down further. She also used her Entangle spell to cause roots and vines to erupt from the ground and hold the jelly in place. The players did a fine job with some great rolls and took the jelly out.

But just as they were about to celebrate, another one oozed from a nearby wall and attacked the Rogue at close range! This was actually recommended by the adventure to add another jelly if there are more than two characters in the room. It made for a fun switch up, as Inverna and The Druid moved closer to help their companion. Once again the ladies had some great rolls, although this time Inverna's sword actually clove the jelly into two separate but still deadly monsters. The Druid gasped and said, "Its like those bastards from Legend of Zelda! I hate those guys!".

After the battle in the altar room concluded the group examined the area. Again, I have to give props to the dungeon designers for providing enough hints in this starter dungeon. It helps guide DMs and players to start looking for secrets all over the dungeon. One of the pillars in the room is broken, I used this opportunity to describe to The Rogue how it looked hollow inside. She immediately examined the remaining pillars and found one with a secret door inside. Within the pillar were a mass of dwarf skulls "Gross!" and a box full of gems "Sparklies!"

But what does it mean?

The Druid examined the altar and I slipped in a clue. The main iconography for the temple was a double diamond symbol (which I made up on the fly), and it was chiseled out in numerous places and replaced with a strange triangular symbol. I drew the symbol for the Druid and she made a history check. I told her to do it with advantage (rolling two  20 sided dice and using the higher roll) because she had seen this before. She rolled very high, since she was proficient in History. In her character backstory she selected that she had an ancient tome in her possession that was filled with dangerous information. I fleshed that idea out a bit with her to have it be an apocalyptic tome written in a mess of strange languages and symbology (very Lovecraftian, I admit). The symbol found here was in that tome, and from the research that she made, was part of a larger sequence of symbols - five in total. But what they meant was always unclear. To see one in this buried temple was bizarre.

Essentially I'm seeding adventure hooks for the module Princes of the Apocalypse with that symbol. But I can also work it into this adventure a bit. I've determined that the white dragon terrorizing the area was driven out by the cults in Princes, so they will all tie together in one way.

The trio continued to explore. Each new room got a thorough search by the Rogue who was obsessed with finding loot and riches. They spent a lot of time what they termed "The temple bathroom" and found a crushed skeleton in another room. That skeleton had a silver necklace they almost missed, but the Rogue decided to check the figure on a whim. Further exploring revealed another Ochre Jelly. The ladies were confident... and then he bad rolls started. They kept missing and worse, they started roll natural 1s.

Now I added a fumble rule to this game, just about the only house rule I'm using. Roll a 20 on the 20 sided dice during combat and you automatically succeed and roll double dice for damage. But roll a 1 on the 20 sided dice and you fumble. You might drop your weapon, or miscalculate your spell and it fizzles completely, or your bowstring might snap. The Rogue had her bowstring snap, and The Druid's quarterstaff slipped from her hand. Only Inverna was immune, and she landed a few hits. I'm so glad I was letting the players roll for Inverna, because even though their characters were doing badly they didn't feel completely useless since they were also rolling for her. Eventually they were able to defeat the monster but took some damage from it. By the end of the exploration all three were pretty beat up, and The Druid had exhausted her spells. They were in need of a rest.

They headed back out to the front of the temple. Night was falling and the dwarves were happy to see them. The trio related their adventures (leaving out any mention of the loot) and the dwarves were entranced and happy that the ladies arrived when they did. They chatted a bit and then bedded down for the night. I asked them for a watch order. Norbus the dwarf took the first watch. Inverna and The Druid would take the next watches. Being elves they only need four hours to get the benefits of a full rest. For a druid this means all her spell abilities will return.

We ended the session with The Druid taking a little walk during her watch and in the dawning light seeing a storm moving in from the sea. As lightning flashed, she saw three figures heading toward the gates of the ruins. Who were they? The group would find out in the next session.

The post...

Scarier with the face, or without?

This session was a lot of fun for everyone. Combat pulled in the pair and they had fun trying their abilities and spells against a gross monster. I was afraid they might be overmatched, but the Druid's spells were very effective and The Rogue was making some great shots, with two critical hits during the session.

The only real issue I ran into during combat was organization of information. I had the stats on a handy page on my tablet, but I kept having to scroll between Inverna's stats and the monster stats. It slowed me down a bit, and I'm thinking I may just need to print out a cheatsheet for Inverna, or have The Druid player hold onto those stats and use them when she rolled for Inverna.

They did get bogged down a bit with some indecision on where to go a couple times. They got really nervous in one corridor with two attached corridors leading to it. They couldn't decide where to go and spent way to long deciding. Of course I knew the two corridors lead to the same place, so it didn't really matter, so that probably colored how long it felt to me. But I think we could have moved a bit faster in that portion of the exploration.

I'm only saying that because we really ran out of time with the Dwarf section at the end. I was rushing because I saw that ending this with the orcs on the way would be a great way to kick off the next session. But the players didn't really get to talk about loot or the sending stone reward, or what to tell Harbin. The Druid did ask about the triangular symbol and Norbis rolled a natural 20 on his Intelligence check, so I had him recount seeing that symbol when he was a young man at a shrine in the Desserim Valley (the main location of Princes of the Apocalypse) so I was able to lay another story seed there.

All in all, the group had a fun time, we played just over 2 hours, so that felt like a nice full gaming session that flew by.

Up next...

Session 6: Stormfront