The Dragon of Icespire Peak Campaign Diary - Episode 7 - Along the Triboar Trail

The prep...

I calculated that the trip to Conyberry was going to take around three days to travel. So I decided to throw together an random encounters table. I put together 12 encounters that the group may run into on the way to Conyberry. These were not all combat encounters, some were just strange things they notice along the road. I tied to tie them to the story as much as I could. So they might find carnage from a dragon attack. Or signs of orcs passing through. Some are weather effects. Some are just raccoons raiding their camp during the night. They will roll 1D12 for each travel day and see what happens. If they roll the same number more than once, than they will get a free day. I rolled up some additional random loot for these encounters as well.

I wanted Conyberry to have a bit more of an adventure to occur there. So I came up with the idea that the orc shamans are using some kind blood ritual to give them Talos' power. In Conyberry the group will find this ritual in progress. If they disturb it, then zombie orcs will attack. I've got a few more hints of the ritual on the way to Conyberry too, as part of the random encounter table.

They should have enough to fill in the time for this session with this amount of work. But the Shrine is nearby, and that is a full blown battle in itself. They should also meet with Paellia here, so I've got her prepped as well.

The story...

Savior of goats named Rupert.

So after being sick for two weeks, we finally got back to playing. Things didn't get off to the best start. We were messing around with D&D Beyond for a bit, as the Rogue was trying to activate your subclass features for the assassin. Unfortunately, I confused the way D&D Beyond works and it we were going around in circles. We spent way too much time trying to figure it all out and ended up just putting aside her ability updates for now and start playing (in the end it didn't matter all that much since there wasn't any combat in this session.

So it started with the Druid and Rogue going to the Inn to find out more about the dragon attack in Phandelver. They chatted with the innkeeper and then went to talk to Donnabella the magical unicorn who saved the goat from a messy end. She told them a bit more about the dragon, mentioning again about how arrogant it is and how it filled the whole town square when it landed. I wanted to ensure they understand this is a young dragon and something they can take on once they get to a high enough level. Donnabella was still injured so the Druid used some of her healing magic to help the recovery process along. This fascinated the young "unicorn" and she thanked the characters, and reminded them that she would be happy to accompany them on an upcoming adventure if they needed magical aid.

After that the group split up the remaining loot with Inverna. She thanked them and also said she would be willing to accompany them if they had any other orc related shenanigans they wanted to get into. They asked her to come along with them to the Butterskull Ranch, and she agreed. They would meet up the next morning.

The duo headed over to Barthen's provisions. They picked up a couple of Healer's Kits. These can be used to stabilize a character who has been downed in combat, and keep them from bleeding out. In other words, it keeps characters from rolling those nasty Death Saves. A good idea to have a few on hand, just in case the healer (aka the Druid) goes down. The Druid also reached inside the treasure barrel. She found a folded piece of green cloth. I kept trying to get her to unfold the cloth, but she never did. If she did, something fun happens. Hopefully she'll remember she has it and it doesn't get lost in the bottomless pouch.

Quinn is ready to PUNCH!

As the group headed back to the inn they finally ran into Quinn Hightopple. This halfling fighter loves punching anyone in the crotch (yes it actually says that in his NPC information). Tobin the Innkeeper yelled to the women to watch out, and they were able to use the door to knock the halfling pugilist down. He offered his services (and ability to punch dragons in the crotch). They declined. I played this mostly for laughs and they found him just annoying enough. Tobin was able to placate him a bit, and the ladies went to bed. Once again they barred their door with a chair, partially from robbers but also from Quinn.

The next morning the group started their two and half day journey toward Coneyberry and the Butterskull Ranch. I asked them to roll on the table I created and they rolled for the raccoon rummage. So during the day I described how the trek was uneventful. They tried to get Inverna to tell them a bit more about the dragon and the area around. I was careful to describe some the issues around the area, but not give away too much. Inverna knows some stuff, but I want the characters to rely too much on her knowledge to get in and out of trouble. That night during the watch the Rogue heard something sneaking toward the camp. It was a bit of fun as they tried to determine if it was an enemy or worse... Quinn! Turned out it was just a raccoon. The rogue did a catch a release program with the little guy.

The next day they rolled on the chart, and got WIND! So the winds started battering the ladies as they traveled, making things miserable for them. It slowed them down so that it added a half day to the travel. This will come into play on when they meet Paellia the local druid who is waiting around Conyberry. As they traveled they came upon a couple of strange things. They found traces of horse hoof prints around the area closer to Conyberry. They also found dried black stuff. A good survival roll revealed it to be dried blood, possibly orc blood. The group was wary, but settled down for the evening.

Area around the Triboar Trail is pretty open.

I had them roll on the chart for the third day, and they got a random encounter with an orc party. We were getting near the end of playing time, and I knew a full combat would take too long. So I adjusted the encounter a bit. If the characters drew attention to themselves, then a battle would start the next session, but if they kept quiet they would see something interesting.

During the watch the Druid noticed some torchlights coming along the trail. She kept quiet and watched as a group of orcs passed by. Two were carrying large stakes, and one was carrying a bloody sack. They were talking as they walked and this awakened the Rogue (Inverna was sound asleep). The two adventurers observed the orcs plant the stakes and then remove two heads from the sack and place them on the stakes. Then the orcs trudged back to Conyberry muttering to themselves. The players had a chat about what they saw and decided to investigate with Inverna the next morning. And that is where we stopped.

The post...

The 12 sided dice, least used
of the dice.

So we had another session without any combat. But I think it went as well as it could. We were messing around quite a bit with character sheets and talking some game mechanics at the start. That will happen sometimes. I think once again wandering around the town and talking with the NPCs took up a lot of time. I didn't mind so much because we hadn't played in a couple weeks, and it helped get us all back into the world of the game.

While I had everything set up for a combat on the random encounter table, the players just didn't roll them up until the end. This worked out fine, because it gave the game world a bit more reality. Living in California, we know all about days where the wind just blazes away for days. So that moment worked really well (I could see the scowls on the ladies face as I described the wind). Again, I was playing it off the cuff here to make sure the game moved at a good pace and end on time. The ladies had a good time during this session, and the mystery of the orcs got them curious about the next session. So overall, it was a pretty successful session, but I'm looking forward to some combat next time.

Up Next...

Session 8: The Village of the Dead