The prep...
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| Time to smash some elves. |
In light of how I felt during the last session, I headed over to one of my favorite Dungeons and Dragons YouTube content creators: The Dungeon Dudes. I remembered that they covered running a game based off a module, so I decided to give that a rewatch and see if there were any tips they had. Sure enough, the Dungeon Dudes had some great advice.
They suggested printing the map out and then making some quick notes right on the paper. This way you don't have to keep flipping to the section in the book as much. I did this (but I admit right now, my handwriting is pretty dreadful. Hopefully I'll be able to read my notes). I also used sticky note tabs to flag the places in the module where the monster stat blocks are located (I'll also try to remember to open tabs on my tablet in D&D Beyond before the game. But this is a good back up in case I forget to).
The Dudes also suggested creating a roster of main NPCs and villains so you can keep it all straight. Now Dragon of Icespire Peak is a bit unique in that it is fairly short (for an official campaign) and that it doesn't really have an antagonist that directly interacts with the party that much. Cryovaine is just a menace tormenting the people around Phandalin. He doesn't have an active plot or design. He's just hungry, bored and enjoys terrorizing folks.
But the orcs worshiping Talos... I could do something with them. I went over the sections of the module where they appeared and found three named Anchorites of Talos. I essentially made these the sub-antagonists for the campaign. These three would be coordinating the orc takeover of this area. The party would learn more from the first encounter with one of the three: Grannoc the shaman. Grannoc is the big bad guy at this location. So I would have him do an evil monologue about how he was one of three and defeating him would only strengthen the other two.
But digging up these named half-orcs and having them handy I will be able to foreshadow events later. I kinda wish I did this from the beginning, but hey, I got it down now and hopefully it will make the later adventures against the orcs feel a bit more planned.
I did some minor work with the other two half-orcs seeing them as a cleric and a paladin of sorts for Talos. I might tweak with their stat blocks to give them some abilities of those classes (clerical spells and smites). We'll see how it goes with this one.
After that, I gave everything a review going by the Lazy Dungeon Master material. Not a lot to change form the last session, just a few more notes about the three anchorites. I felt ready to run the session.
The story...
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| Is your kitchen rated for shape changing druids? |
So we picked up with the pair of heroes exploring the Manse and seeking out a way to clear it out. The Druid reverted back to her elf form and with Inverna the two decided to go upstairs. Unfortunately the stair were trapped and the Druid failed her Dexterity Saving Throw (a trend to continue through the night). After taking a bit of damage, she used Misty Step to teleport to the top of the stairs. She had Inverna hold the lower level. They each had Sending Stones from early on in the campaign, and they could use these to communicate.
Now I did screw up a bit here. There are Stirges hiding at the top of the stairs, and I forgot to have them attack right away. I ended up using them later, but just something I should have been more mindful of. The Druid did great on her perception checks, and found foot prints leading to where a group of orcs were hiding out. She also explored the Master Bedroom and found all the magic items inside the loose stone in the mantle as well as finding the magic item vault. Of course my description of the secret door was pretty obvious (hidden behind a tall painting of a waterfall). The Druid recognized the Cloak of Billowing and got a kick out of it (it featured in a D&D live play she watched). But she was unfamiliar with the other items.
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| Repulsive little beasts. |
The Druid then used the Sending Stone to communicate to Inverna to come up using the vine covered balcony. The warrior did this and felt she was unobserved. The two then made their way back to where the orcs were hiding out. They burst in and attacked. The Druid cast Web and nabbed two of the five. One was slowed but not restrained and the other two attacked. These orcs were rolling really badly to escape the webs. But they did hit the heroes a few times, nearly killing The Druid again (she keeps refusing to Wild Shape). Finally she torched the restrained orcs in the web, and they looked for a location to take a rest. Here is where I unleashed the Stirges on them. But a well timed Moonbeam spell took out most of the vile creatures and Inverna rolled a natural 20 on her shot with the bow, so they were not a threat.
The two went to the magical vault and took that short rest to get some hit points and spell slots back. The player also took some time to look at the strange metal rod they found. After playing around with it, she realized it was an Immovable Rod. The concept delighted the player and she started thinking up all kinds of ways to use it. Then they continued exploring (using the rod as a makeshift stepladder to climb from a second story window).
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| Those orcs were hiding upstairs. |
They had seen the strange tree growing out of the well in the central courtyard from the windows above. So they made their way down. Now this whole time I was rolling behind the screen to see if anyone was going to be looking for the Black Bear that the magical Boars saw wander in the kitchen. But luck was on their side, and they weren't looking in the right rooms.
So the elves examine the tree and find that it smells like blood, has an oily texture to the bark and is just generally gross. The Druid assumes that some evil magic is at work (she's right of course) and declares that the tree must be burned down. She decides to her combo of Web and Produce Flame to burn the tree down. The minute she webbed the tree the two Vine Blights hiding in the tree emerged and attacked.
The battle was going poorly for the Druid as she kept failing her Strength and Dexterity saves to avoid being entangled by the grasping vines. They were both taking quite a beating, and this forced the Druid to finally wild shape into a Black Bear again. With the added strength and extra attack she did more damage to the cursed vines and the elves won.
The tree burning was bound to attract attention and soon the Anchorite of Talos, Granoc the Druid emerged from the ruined laboratory. Enraged at Inverna for burning down his tree and seeing the black bear he was warned about running amok, he took matters into his own hands. With a sinister threat he prepared to attack... next session.
The post...
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| Evil on the vine! |
So this session went a lot smoother than the last. My description makes it seem short, but there was a lot of careful creeping around the manse, as well as lots of conversation and pondering on how to best explore and what to do. Also role-playing the two characters messing with the Immovable Rod was a lot of fun (and a nice slow point between the combat encounters). It was a solid balance of exploration, roleplaying and action. I will say that they nearly got overwhelmed by those orcs. Those axes hit hard and it was only through bad saving throws for the two webbed ones that they were able to hold their ground.
Printing out the map and making notes right on the paper was a HUGE help. I only opened the book to check the monster stats. I was using my laptop to show the player the map of the manse, otherwise I would have had the laptop displaying the monster stats and would have barely opened the book at all. I also prepped the magic cards early on, but I should have prepped my combat information on paper ahead of time. I usually write down AC and HP for the monsters head of time so it is all in one place and I don't have to keep referring to it.
All in all it was a fun session and leaving it as a cliffhanger for facing the boss of the area is going to be exciting. Probably the first Boss Battle of the campaign. I'm pondering having him wild shape into a boar to attack them to start for a real battle royale. And lets not forget there are still some Twig Blights hanging around. Looking forward to the next session.
Up next...
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