Crossbow machine to the north and wine room of death to the east. Nice and safe. |
I re-read about the rooms the trio hadn't explored yet, just to get a refresher about them. I was going to have the attack occur in the room G8, with the wine casks for sure. I also prepped the magical items that the characters would get from this excursion. I felt like we were good with ending this portion of the adventure tonight. I got my gnome voices ready and then we started.
The story...
The Rogue, Druid and Donnabella (magical unicorn) discussed where they wanted to go next. They were warned about the crazy gnome Fractore, in the room to the south, but they hoped that maybe they could get past her without things getting out of hand. The players were extremely cautious moving down the corridors. I described how this corridor was different. As they neared the room, torches were set up, as well as lamps.
Alternate crossbow machine, human made instead of gnome made. |
The Rogue went back to the group and they discussed a little further. The machine could fire a crossbow in four different directions and was controlled by a gnome operator in the seat above the crossbows. They decided to try to talk to Fracktore and hopefully get the gnome to stay calm. They made a big production about going down the hall, and the gnome called out a warning. They responded that they were here to catch the murderer, and needed her help. She didn't trust them, saying any one of them could be the killer. The discussion continued, but Fracktore lost her patience and fired down the hall at them. She missed, and the Rogue used a well placed arrow to damage the machine.
"I swear it was supposed to do that... any data is good data!" |
The group noticed that her tools on her belt were well cared for and very shiny. They reasoned that the shimmering the King saw during the attack could have been the sunlight from the nearby cave entrance reflecting off Fracktore's tool belt (I admit I had to stretch that a bit, but it got the group to stop obsessing over the "shimmering light clue"). The gnome explained how she had been hard at work on this machine for days and had little sleep. The group promised to guard her while she took a nap, and this boosted her trust in them. She vowed to help them out after a couple of hours rest.
The group took this time to talk about the possible shapeshifters this creature might be. They didn't roll all that well, and couldn't come up with anything. Once Fracktore was awake she joined them on their continued exploration of the complex.
To quote one of players, "Ewww, just... ewww." |
The players picked up immediately that Fracktore said eleven barrels and there were twelve in here. The Rogue immediately backed away from the barrels. I rolled a 1D4 behind my screen: evens it attacked her, odds it did nothing. I rolled a 3. The group asked Fracktore if it was possible that someone added a new barrel. She said they would have to have a work order and no one had given her one in the past few days - because she was shooting at anyone who came down the hall.
The Rogue pulled out some ball bearings form her pack and then started to toss them at each of the barrels. She skipped the one she had pulled a drink of wine from, and went for the one next to it. I described how the ball bearing didn't bounce off but sunk in for a moment. Then we rolled initiative.
Donnabella in one of the pre-chosen forms! |
With that accomplished the trio went back to tell the inventors and the kings the good news. There was much rejoicing, and the kings kept up their end of the deal. They ordered that their best magical inventions be given to these heroes. The characters received a Hat of Wizardry, a Wand of Pyrotechnics, a Clockwork Amulet and a Pole of Collapsing. I think the players were a bit disappointed by the bounty. Still they decided to accept the gnomish hospitality for the evening and sup with them and talk about their adventures.
The post...
Sometimes a barrel of monkeys is just a barrel of monkeys and not a mimic. |
I did end up speeding through the bit at the end with the kings and the awarding of the gifts. We were running out of time for the session and I wanted wrap up the adventure and not leave any dangling for the next session. The players were having a good time, but I also go the feeling that they were ready to head back to Phandalin for the festival.
Up Next...
Session 16: Botched Bountyhunters
4 comments:
That's what my treasure chest (aka stock portfolio) has looked like this week.
Ugh, yeah. It was pretty terrifying.
Hey, I can't thank you enough for your Blog about The Dragon of Icespire Peak. This is my first time DMing and you have opened up my imagination and given me some ideas on how to adapt the adventure for my players. I accidentally had a dog talk to one of the adventures when they failed their persuasion skill roll (I thought it was another NPC they were talking about). The dog said, "No" and ran away. The players looked at me with shock and said, OMG that dog talks. From that point on they were running around Phandalin looking for a talking dog. (Oh boy). So fortunately the session ended and I decided if I could find a way to have a talking dog, it might be fun but I need to figure out a way to have it blend into the campaign or somehow have it connected to one of my characters back stories. We will see. :) I also thought the emblem of the god found at the dwarf excavation was a real knife, not an emblem of one, so now I have to figure something out for that, but I think I have an idea to connect it to one of my players back stories, who is a dwarf and left his clan/family in disgrace. It involves some underworld creatures (gibberlings?) coming up and capturing his family to be slaves in the name of the dwarf god whose knife emblem it was to get revenge for having another dwarf god given his spot. THen somehow making the knife a way of appeasing the dwarf god to let the dwarfs family go. but I have to make sure I read through more of the adventures so I don't cause a major issue. Thanks again.
Sorry I got back to this so late. Been neglecting this blog of late. I'm glad it was able to help you out in your game. Did everything work out with the talking dog and the knife?
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