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