SSoI - Session 28: Airstrike!

Our Heroes (10th level):

• Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear paratrooper) 
• Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
• No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger 
• Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
• Xyla, Drow Vampire

Note: Full Attendance! Just to restate, standard 4E encounter balance is built around a 5-man party. I stayed with this as we had six players when we started. So I build for five - if six show up they have an advantage, five is even, and if only four show then they are at a disadvantage. If only three or less can make it we just don't play that week.

This worked really well for much of the campaign but we're down to five players now and two of them are involved in an organization that has out of town weekend events fairly often. That means that quite a bit of the time I either have all five or I have only three. With six players it just meant a weaker party sometimes, but now it means no game. Add this unusual wrinkle in to the usual job/kid/family/holiday schedule complications in trying to get six adults together regularly and we had a very spotty latter half of 2013. I haven't fully solved it at this point so it was good to have a full team this time.

As the last of the fire's from Abrithiax's rampage are stamped out the bucket-brigading townsfolk raise a cheer for our heroes. Appreciating the appreciation is short-lived though as a telepathic contact comes in form Lord Cartwrtight that the western gate is under heavy bombardment. Some hellish green flame is being catapulted in and it's clinging to everything it hits and even the gatehouse is beginning to melt under the assault. He asks the heroes to risk an airborne trip outside the walls to destroy the infernal siege engines that are behind the attack. naturally, our heroes agree. Whistling for the owls, they leap into the saddle and are airborne in minutes.

They easily spot the launching point of the blazing green hellfire, but as they angle towards it other winged shapes are rising to meet them. As the gap closes they become familiar leonine beasts - manticores!

While a few combatants hang back and shoot, an aerial joust shapes up between the three biggest manticores and the four close-combatant party members, slashing and striking as they flash past each other hundreds of feet above the ground. Thinking outside of her usual melee box Xyla focuses her glowing eyes on one manticore and dominates it, sending the beast to attack one of its own. Aiming for the wings, the slayer and ranger both manage to send manticores spiraling down out of the fight, sometimes temporarily, sometimes for good as two of them plummet straight into the ground to their deaths! One beast gets tangled up with the slayer who goes after the wings (hey it worked the first time) and then realizes his mistake as the manticore, the slayer, and the owl all begin falling from the sky. He manages to break free before impact, but it's a near thing. 

Stay in formation!

Blasting through the manticores, the party reorients themselves, climbs back up out of bow range as they cross over a group of hobgoblins, then dives down over the artillery site. Leaping free they take stock of the opposition - dwarves! Strange dwarves with infernal symbols operating large mechanical siege engines - Charduni? No, Duergar!

There are 3 of them, one working each machine, plus a clear leader type shouting orders and one tough-looking customer with a big warhammer who is already eyeballing the party in general and Gartok in particular.

Starting things off right No-Name plants an arrow in the leader with his usual style as he gracefully leaps from his mount. The evil dwarf staggers back but is then charged by the slayer who is winding up for a ferocious fullblade strike. Desperate, the dwarf summons a legion devil between him and the onrushing half orc. One swipe of the blade cuts the devil in half, the follow through bloodies the duergar, and a final slice puts the dwarf down for good - and the fight has only just begun!

Gartok moves to engage what is clearly the duergar champion and the two go at it like angry blacksmiths, hammers ringing. He is aided by Xyla who is happy to meet a victim that doesn't drop at the first hit - finally a challenge! 

Gravis and Ivan, quickly joined by Torin and No-Name, begin attacking the artillerists to put a stop to the bombardment. They prove to be no weaklings themselves as they back off and team up, wielding frost-weapon morning stars and tossing explosive devices whenever the heroes group up. It's an unpleasant new tactic, as the dwarves are willing to grit their teeth and drop bombs in close, counting on their innate resistance to fire to protect them form the worst of it. The battle is mobile, shifting in and around the massive siege engines. The explosions take their toll but the defenders of Brindol are not deterred and one by one the duergar fall, leaving only the champion upright.

Battered but not beaten, the champion suddenly grows to the size of an ogre, slashing out with his spiked beard and laying about with rapid strikes from his hammer. If he can't save the others he can at least destroy these upstarts. Xyla and Gartok take some hits but the rest of the party rushes in after felling the last engineer and under the weight of those  attacks the dwarf staggers. Torin goes for the killing stroke, misses, but an incredible shot from the ranger deflects his blade into the massive champion finishing him after all. 

Realizing that the Red Hand army is all around them the group sets about destroying the hell-forged artillery and then escapes on their owl companions before the hostile forces can react, winging back over the walls of Brindol to safety.

DM Notes: This was a pair of battles in unusual conditions to change things up. First, the aerial battle with the manticores to try out the 4E flying combat rules. They worked pretty well but are very risky as "proned" = "falling" if the target is flying. This made for a very three-dimensional fight as the party does have some proning attacks. Some of the manticores had grab attacks which  led to some tricky situations as the grabbed character prones the grabbing manticore, sending both of them downwards. The mants have lots of ranged attacks too which meant they didn't have to close and our melee monsters had to work a little harder to jump on things. Even given that the fight only lasted 4 rounds, and these were not minions.

Exchange of the game:

DM: "...and these manticores attack the ranger" 

Gartok's player: "Yeeeeeeah yes yes yes!"

Gravis' player: "You're a terrible defender."

The duergar fight involved a new opponent for them and had a time limit, though they didn't know this had an actual mechanical element. It is night, but they are dropping in on a unit in the middle of the enemy army. Now that army has given the dwarves plenty of room to work, but if the engines stop firing and sounds of fighting break out, they will come to investigate. So, after the firing stops and combat starts, the party has ten rounds unmolested. After that, soldiers from the nearest units start coming to investigate. As it turned out it didn't matter as that fight only lasted 6 rounds, plus a few more to destroy the artillery. All the rest of the Red Hand got to do was shake their fists as the PC's flew off. 

Duergar are fun in 4E. This was my first run with them and I'm looking forward to more. The poor hellcaller died on round 1 but he did get to pop his fun power:

It didn't matter as the slayer still killed the devil AND the hellcaller but doing the facial expressions and (very short) conversation (BAMF! Yes o mighty mast-ACK!) as this all happened was quite a bit of fun.

The artillery crew had some fun stuff too.

Now these particular duergar had resist fire 5, and the champion had resist fire 10 - note the damage can exceed that pretty easily, but desperate times you know. The champion at one point was shouting at them to target him so the attackers would be getting hit as they ganged up on him and was just gritting his teeth as the 5-6 points punched through his tough hide and the push let him get some movement in that didn't provoke OA's - it seemed like a perfectly evil dwarfish thing to do. 

Also note: This pair of battles does not appear in the original adventure. I am freelancing quite a bit for the siege to make it appropriately climactic, to use some of the things 4E does well, and in some cases just because I want to. 

Everyone seemed to have fun, the good guys won pretty handily and the western gate was saved.

SSoI - Session 27 - Red Dragon Fight

Our Heroes (still 10th level):

• Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and starting second base-bear Ivan!) 
• Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
• No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger 
• Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
• Zarra, Drow Vampire (in a torpor for this session after gorging herself on hill giant "juice")

Returning to Brindol after their emergency expedition the heroes realize that much of the city has been evacuated, presumably during their expedition to the Fane of Tiamat. They are invited to a council of war to share their advice and help plan a strategy for the defense of the city. As the most powerful adventurers in the city they are an important resource, and the city leaders know it.

Mechanically this is a 3-part skill challenge that will help frame the rest of the climax of the adventure.

Part 1: Formal Introductions

In this opening discussion the party meets the city leaders and makes their first impression on each. 

Success or failure here will affect how difficult the targets for the subsequent skill challenges are, initial attitudes of some of the NPC's,  and some of the offers that might be made by some of the individual NPC's.

This goes extremely well. The major players are:

• Lord Cartwright, ruler of the city 
• Lady Kaal, leader of a powerful trading house
• Marshal Ulverth, head of the city watch
• Lady Goldenbrow, high priestess of Lathander
• Immerstal the Red, leading wizard of Brindol

Also Appearing:

• Sorana and Speaker Wiston from Drellin's Ferry
• Sellyria Starsinger representing the Tiri-Kotor elves
• Captain Helmbreaker, leader of a dwarf mercenary company 

This was a Level 10 Complexity 2 skill challenge to make a good impression on the town leaders. Previous successful efforts in the adventure drop this to a level 8. Primaries are Diplomacy, Religion, and Insight. Secondaries are History, Arcana, Streetwise, and Perception.

The party blew right through this one. They are very good at some of those skills, had good references from Drellin's Ferry and the elves, and handled themselves perfectly.

Part 2: Strategy Session

With the introductions out of the way the talk turns to a debate on how to use the forces available to best defend the city.

This counts as one of the "battles" in the defense of the city. There are definite wise and unwise options on the table and choosing the bad ones will count as a defeat and remove some of the assets available to defend the city. This, combined with the results of our played encounters will determine the "finale" scenarios and the fate of Brindol - a successful, heroic defense and breaking of the Red Hand's siege, or a desperate rear guard action as the horde overwhelms the city's defenses and the remaining defenders flee for their lives.

This goes well too. It's a Level 10 Complexity 5 challenge. Primaries are Diplomacy, History, and Religion, Secondaries are Arcana, Bluff, Insight, Nature, and Streetwise. The basic debate is whether to meet the enemy in the field with the Lion Knights leading the way, or to hold the walls, giving up the initiative but maintaining a stronger defensive posture. Lord Cartwright and the knights are in favor of the field battle while the marshal favors holding the walls. The others hold varying positions or are undecided.

Gravis the warlord quickly realizes the army is not large enough to take the Red Hand on straight up ad argues forcefully and persuasively for holding the walls. Aided by his companions, they convince the lords of the city to play defense instead of a glorious but foolhardy charge into a stronger foe.

Part 3: Defending the City

Having decided on defense, the question arises as to what happens if they get inside the walls.

This affects some of the possible scenarios later in the campaign and there are advantages and disadvantages to both sides. This isn't a win/lose so much as it is a way for the players to decide how they want to handle things later.

One option is to run a resistance cell type of defense - small groups of snipers with makeshift barricades spread throughout the city making the entire area dangerous for invaders. The danger is that healing and power may be spread too thin. The alternative is a centralized defense stationed around the High Cathedral of Lathander. Clerics and elite defenders would be staged there to provide centralized healing and a rally point for any retreating defenders and to act a dispatch-able fire brigade if things are going wrong at any point on the walls. The danger here is that if this group/location falls, the whole city may fall. Lord Cartwright, Immerstal, and the high priestess favor the centralized defense while the rest favor a distributed defense as they are unwilling to abandon their individual holdings.

This is a level 10 complexity 2 challenge and the party once again blows it away with Torin setting Gravis up for an intense but diplomatic illustration of the perils of the distributed defense. Success here = the players get to choose how this goes, failure = a distributed defense regardless as the disunited leaders refuse to pool their resources and only defend their own holdings

After this the party is made the leading edge of the city's defense. To ensure communications the wizard uses a scroll of telepathic Bond to link Lord Cartwright to Gravis so they can communicate from anywhere in the city. Then word comes that giants are making another push for one gate, siege engines are bombarding the north wall ... and a red dragon has just landed inside the city and is setting that quarter ablaze. Our heroes mount up on giant owls and head out to deal with the dragon.

Abrithiax, the red dragon, has driven off the gate guards, smashed some smaller buildings, and set others on fire. He shows no fear as the party rushes in. In fact, though they have faced several dragons, none were as large and powerful as this one and his magnificence has an effect on them - briefly. All of them charge in (except for the ranger, though he does open fire). They wound the dragon but he repsonds with fiery breath and furious claws leaving Gartok bloodied. The warden stays in the fight, and the slayer keeps swinging, but a tail slap knocks the warlord across the street!

Continuing hits from the others are beginning to hurt the great beast and it unloads more flame on Torin and Ivan but Gravis gets back in the fight and shots encouragement to everyone. As the dwarf holds the red's attention, the slayer unloads a series of punishing slashes with his fullblade, and the ranger plants a final arrow in the thing's head as it staggers and falls.

After the dragon is slain it's a Level 10 Complexity 3 skill challenge to put out the fires. This was a little more freeform as to skill relevance so I let the players justify their skill choices. It was a lot of fun and a nice way to wrap up this session.

Marked, Quarried, and Bloodied - that's a tough situation

DM Notes: Most of my notes are above but I wanted to give the players some say in the defense of the city and the skill challenges worked very well. Their characters are the highest level beings in the valley other than the enemy leaders, and given their track record so far it makes sense that the town leaders would listen to their counsel. Note they are not just turning it all over to the PC's, but they are treating them as valuable partners, maybe even equals. I had notes on each leader's position on each of these questions and let the player's direction drive whose opinions were swayed. Skill challenges play much faster than a typical combat, so it's easy to include a few, make them feel fairly important to what's going on, and then wrap it all up with a fight against a big dragon I was very happy with the way this one went and I think the players were too. The decisions made here will shape a lot of the remainder of the adventure when it comes to encounters and the opposition.

SSoI - Session 26: Red Hand Rising

Our Heroes (now 10th level):

• Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear linebacker) 
• Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden (performing the ritual washing-of-the-beard after a defeat)
• No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger  (tracking the flying queen of dragons)
• Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
• Xyla, Drow Vampire

As Gartok and The Elf with no Name were both out for this session, Apprentice Blaster filled in with Maximus, Human Fighter (Gladiator).

We begin in the city of Brindol, Impiltur, Faerun. Still stinging from their failure to stop the summoning ritual that allowed an aspect of Tiamat into the world, our heroes stagger back out of the fane, down the mountain path, and use the old portal once again to return to the city. They are greeted by Lord Cartwright and his aide who are relieved to see them alive but have an urgent problem: the Lion Knights of Brindol are battling the encroaching Red Hand army to try and stave off a siege. Unfortunately a group of hill giants has separated from the main army. One mob is attacking one of the gates while others bombard a section of the city wall with boulders. The city watch is being overwhelmed and the rest of the defenses are still being organized - can the heroes help? With barely the time to catch their breath, the party agrees to check the raid with the aid of a well-known champion of the city - Maximus!

Gravis wants a tactical advantage if they are going to be fighting giants and requests the aid of the Tiri-Kotor elves who have forces in the city. They agree and soon the team is mounted up and airmobile. they sweep over the wall and swoop in behind the giants attacking the gate. It's a small force of four brawny giants swinging a battering ram, a shaman-looking leader, and his pet - a monstrous scorpion beast.

Cue 'Ride of the Valkyries'

The defenders of Brindol dismount and charge! Torin, Gravis, and Maximus cut down the shaman almost immediately while Zarra uses her uncanny charms to dominate the giant scorpion pet, turning it against the other giants before leaping into the fray herself! Not the brightest of beings, and befuddled at the sudden assault and their turncoat pet the giants die to a man in front of the gate. The heroes are battered but driven to carry on, so they whistle for the owls and remount to extinguish the second assault.

The second group of hill giants is gathered in the ruins of an ancient shrine outside the city walls. They are picking up everything from fallen masonry to grave stones and hurling them at the wall and seem to be having quite the time doing so - it's possible alcohol is involved. The party is soon over though as the owls drop down out of the sky and five deadly warriors close in around them like the fingers of a deadly fist! Under Gravis' direction Maximus leaps in and draws their attention (gladiators!) while Zarra and Torin rip into the behemoths with no mercy. The giants fight back with clubs and boulders, knocking some of the heroes for considerable distances but the counteroffensive is unstoppable and this fight can only end in one way. Soon enough the giants are down while the party rests for a moment. Then they call the owls down and take flight back to the city, mission accomplished - for now.

DM Notes: This was a get-things-going-again session after schedule issues caused us to miss most of the summer. I normally want a minimum of four players to run (I build the crunchy stuff for 5 players - bring 4 and I have an advantage, bring 6 and they have an advantage) and that's been the rule since very early on. After losing one of our regulars though it got a little tougher to keep the schedule going if more than one person couldn't make it. Three were available so I drafted Apprentice Blaster to fill in with a new character and he did really well as 4E fighters are fairly complex in play with the whole marking thing. 

The session before this was a really tough marathon fight that ended with mixed results but the players felt like they had not succeeded. I wanted to keep it fairly simple with a straight-up (and more level-appropriate) fight to let us all get back in the groove again and that's exactly how it went. No time for dilly-dallying around with social interaction or skill challenges - we're under attack! Help us! 

(That other stuff will come next time)

One technical note: adding decent mobility to this all-melee party made it incredibly vicious when it came to inflicting harm. A fighter, plus a tac warlord and two nasty melee strikers meant they were not at all afraid to mix it up in close and they were easily peeling triple digit hit points off of the poor giants every round. Nasty. They are truly Savage.

So in the end the city is being surrounded but the heroes have returned and quite directly and visibly established themselves as the top defenders of Brindol. The siege is just getting started and it's going to be good.

SSoI - Session 25: The Inner Sanctum

Our Heroes (9th level):

• Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear denture-wearer) 
• Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
• No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger 
• Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
• Xyla, Drow Vampire

After a short rest the party advances into the finished area at the end of the cavern they see a group of robed hobgoblins, arms upraised, chanting something in Infernal. A red dragonborn in more elaborate robes leads them as two blue abishai, lightning crackling about them, watch. Energy streams from the five upraised dragon heads to the top of the high-ceiling-ed room The incoming group is immediately spotted, and the devils prepare to engage them. 

Thinking that interrupting whatever is going on here is a good idea, Torin leaps onto the platform, ready to lay about with the fullblade. He swings at one of the devils but is blasted by lightning and blown back off of the platform. Warned by the example, the rest of the party engages more carefully and it's an absolute slaughter. The cultists, their leader, and their guardians are hammered into oblivion in almost no time at all. The energy coruscating from the dragon heads to the top of the shaft flickers and diminishes but does not stop - they have had an impact, but more work remains.

DM Notes: This one is over in 4 rounds. By the end of round 2 all of the minions, the priest, and one abishai are all dead. It was pretty funny when the slayer took the backlash though. Here's the power:

A shaft leads up from this chamber and is clearly a place they need to go but the group is concerned about leaving an enemy behind them. The secret door (see above) is quickly located and through it they locate a summoning room, a treasure room, and what they suspect is Azarr Kul's personal quarters. They find no opposition other than some nasty traps, loot them thoroughly, and then come back to the round chamber with the shaft leading up into what they suspect will be their final confrontation with the high wyrmlord.

Xyla flies up the 100' shaft, carrying a rope and secures it so the rest can climb. Some other magical aid is used in this endeavor too so the whole party manages to gather at the edge, armed, armored, and ready.

In the center stands a figure that can only be Azarr Kul, leader of the Red Hand and the cause of the invasion. Arms raised and eyes closed he chants something in Infernal, clearly concentrating on whatever evil ritual he is performing, Hovering near him are two winged, female, angelic figures. The five stone dragon heads spew energy towards the domed ceiling of the room where a swirling ... something ... is taking shape.  A single green abishai stands between the shaft and the platform where this mighty figure stands.

Around the rest of the room are five dragon statues, one of each of the chromatic types that Tiamat rules. A female wrapped in chains is bound to each of the dragon statues, and a devil of some kind stands next to each one, holding a flaming sword.

Our heroes peek over the edge of the pit and take all this in, trying to decipher what's happening.

DM Notes: This is a large, complex encounter. It's their first direct confrontation with the chief enemy villain and he's in the middle of a massive ritual. There are some puzzle elements here too and there is a real payoff: there is a chance the party can stop the ritual from succeeding and what they do will have a big impact on how the coming siege goes.. It's going to be tough, but it is possible. The players have no advance knowledge of what's going on though they do have some suspicions. The winged females are succubi, consorts of the leader. They and the abishai will try to stop any interference while the rest of the participants complete the ceremony. 

The plan: The hostages will be killed, one per round after the first, and if five sacrifices are made then the ritual is complete. If the heroes manage to save one hostage Azarr Kul will kill himself - if left unmolested for a round. It's that important to him. If that happens he may show up as some kind of death knight later.

Though it's not obvious, the chains wrapping each victim are in fact a chain devil, adding an element of surprise to the fight. If the legion devils are killed (they are only minions) then the chain devils can complete the sacrifice. It's not completely hopeless as the victims are considered to be "grabbed" and forced movement breaks a grab, so many of the party's attacks can be extra useful here. 

Azarr Kul will take no part in the initial fight, even if someone moves up on him. If he is struck then he will come out of his ritual pose. Once the ritual succeeds he will come out of his pose and fight if necessary. 

This is way more complex than I typically make one encounter but I wanted this one to stand out and to give the players a chance to discover some of these things and a chance to affect the rest of the campaign. Hopefully this explanation makes it easier to follow.

With only a loose plan in place the slayer leaps onto the platform, slices through one of the angelic beings, then as she screams in pain and rage, his sword flashes again, cutting her down for good. Feeling a little competitive, the vampire launches herself at the abishai and tears into him. The rest of the party goes after the legion devils, correctly surmising that they are up to no good, and several of them fall. Then they watch in horror as the first sacrifice is made.

Cursing and raging, the other winged female flies up out of reach and begins sweet-talking various male members of the team into helping her out. Gravis directs his companions to finish off the legion devils, then realizes that may not be enough as they very chains that bind one of them move and slide and kill the second victim before shifting into a more humanoid form, blood-drenched links rattling as the thing shifts its shape.

The slayer and the warlord free one victim, slaying the chain devil in a flurry of attacks. Gravis notices that the blue half-dragon has not moved during all of this action and warns the rest of the group not to attack him, but to focus on freeing the victims. The vampire, the warden, and the warlord tear into the chain devils with a fury, ignoring the abishai and the bewitching female for the time being. The ranger and the slayer though are having a much tougher time ignoring her and their loyalties hang in the balance. The heroes are expending all of their energies to stop this terrible ceremony and it's going to be a near thing.

Soon all of the legion devils are slain as are all of the chain devils, but four of the victims are dead. Having freed the fifth sacrifice, the team tries to hustle her out of the room and back down the shaft as the second succubus dies screaming (revenge of the slayer, with help from the bow ranger!) but the green abishai takes to the air himself and kills her, completing the ritual.

Azarr Kul has not taken part in the fight at all, letting it pass all around him as he concentrates on the ceremony. As the group looks on the rock dome of the room changes to a starry sky - but not the starry sky of our world. Clouds gather and lightning clashes as time seems to stop. Then the top of the room explodes outward, and a titanic five-headed, multi-colored draconic form hovers in mid-air. One claw reaches down and snatches up the chosen of Tiamat as the armored figure roars in triumph. They fly off into the night sky, leaving the heroes battered, bleeding, and defeated - but alive.

DM Notes: This was an epic battle that lasted 11 rounds and took several hours to complete. It's effectively a multi-stage encounter as there is the initial group of occupants and the sacrifices to stop, then the reveal of the chain-devils the running clock of the sacrifices, then a battle with Azarr Kul and/or an aspect of Tiamat - or both!

My players pushed their characters to the limit. They figured out the sacrifice plan pretty quickly and had all the legion devils down by round 3, but could not kill the chain devils fast enough as the ranger and the slayer kept getting pulled off track by the succubus' powers. With one or two of the strikers out of the fight for several rounds, there were just too many targets for them to stop them all. They left it all on the table though - they were out of daily powers, encounter powers, action points, healing, and magic item powers by the end, and most of them were bloodied too. They came very close, with the last victim descending down the shaft with the vampire when the abishai managed to line up a shot and blast her for the final kill.

I had no plans for them to fight Tiamat right here. If she shows up it means the bad guys have won this fight, one way or another. She has other business on this plane so she's simply going to fly off, regardless of what they do - by the end of a combat like this it's unlikely they will be able to hurt her anyway. 

Now they could fight Azarr Kul if they had chosen to attack him but it's debatable how that would have turned out for them as it was a tough fight already with almost two encounters worth of opponents. Adding a third (he's a solo) might have pushed it into a TPK, but it is a choice they have to make. Theoretically, if they kill him AND save at least one victim, then the ritual fails. It's a tall order, but that's the best possible outcome. 

I'll be honest - they were not happy at the end of this one. It was very quiet as everyone packed up and left. I think they felt like they had failed in the biggest fight of the campaign and who would like that? There might even have been some grumbling about what the DM threw at them in one encounter and I understand - it was pretty damn tough. By the time the next session rolled around everything was fine and it's been fine since. Could I have changed up the encounter? Sure, and if I ran it again I would probably tweak it at least - but I'd do that with any of them. I'd probably at least give them an action point (and maybe a healing surge or encounter power recharge) after the chain devils are slain as that's effectively two encounters right there. I might weaken the chain devils too, as they turned out to be fairly tough for a Skirmisher type, or maybe Kul only needs one consort. The encounter before this one might have been easier too. Regardless, I don't think it was drastically overpowered for a group that's been powering through everything I've thrown at them.

The original adventure has some environmental effects in the room but only Azarr Kul and 4 abishai are in it. Once he gets killed Tiamat automatically comes through and fights the party or flies off to be fought later. That seemed underwhelming to me, and it's supposed to be the big finale of the whole campaign! I wanted to have more going on and to have some potential impact from the players actions so I redid the whole thing. 

So now the party gets to deal with an army, it's divinely sanctioned warleader, and an avatar of an evil dragon god - it's going to be a lot of fun.

SSoI - Session 24: Temple of Death

Our Heroes (9th level):

• Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear denture-wearer) 
• Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
• No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger 
• Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
• Xyla, Drow Vampire

The party passes a tense but uneventful night in a guest room in the Fane of Tiamat.

(They don't know it but it's uneventful because they have killed everything that lives in the upper level of the fane. Most of the things that live in the lower level tend to stay there, and right now, the things that don't are in the middle of a huge ceremony and won't be leaving for some time. So they picked a pretty safe time to camp without really realizing it.)

After regathering themselves the team heads down an unexplored flight of stairs and comes to a large open temple chamber with a huge statue of a five-headed dragon. As they enter and explore, they hear noises from the balconies, and five winged draconian forms swoop down on them - wyverns! One of each color!

Melees break out in several locations around the room. The bow ranger contributes to all of them from some distance back but the rest of the party is in the thick of it with no "safe" area at all. Somehow, the slayer manages to land the finishing blow on all five of the things. Pleased with himself, Torin collects the five heads and stacks them up to gather on the way back out.

Xyla, nosing around after the fight, discovers a secret door and opens it. The heroes file through and come out in a large natural cavern - and not an unoccupied one! Two of the now-familiar greenspawn razorfangs await, along with a pack of hell hounds. The keenly sensitive beasts are already charging as the party spreads out on the upper terrace.

The first razorfiend to reach the group is brutalized by the waiting fighters, Gartok in particular showing his skill. Then the hell hounds close in and unleash their fiery breath, demonstrating the downside of a close formation. After only a short time three of the hounds are down but the fourth proves to be a wily opponent, as does the final spawn. The hound finally falls to a shot from the ranger. Torin is once again forced to resort to the WORLD SERPENT GRASP to tie down the spawn, calling for Xyla and Gartok to aid him and they do, finishing off the razorfang together.

After resting briefly the team scouts ahead and finds a large passage of worked stone at the end of the cavern - they are not yet at the end of their quest, but judging from the chanting they are getting close.

DM Notes: Lots of combat in this one but they were being fairly cautious as they advanced - lots of old-school exploration and general testing/touching of things in the big temple. The 5 wyverns were not all that tough and the party killed 1/round. It was cool that the slayer landed the killing blow five times in a row. We're not obsessive about that kind of thing but it was a fun character note. And no, wyverns don;t have powers based on their color like dragons, I just thought it was a nice touch. The original adventure had 5 wyverns here and that fit perfectly as a single encounter in 4E's system.

In the other bigger-than-you'd-expect underground room the original adventure had greenspawn razorfangs but I didn't want an encounter solely with those - we've had that before. So I added the hell hounds that were pretty common with the hobgoblin raiders early on and we had a nice mix of ranged, close blast, and melee options. This fight lasted 7 rounds and was wildly swingy. Round 1 the wardne crit twice, the warlord once, and the slayer did as well. The bow ranger had 2 rounds where he missed completely, even after a reroll courtesy of elven accuracy on one of them. The vampire had a coupleof 2's in there too. Using the same creatures lets the party show off how far they've come - two of the spawn was a tough fight the first time, as were the hell hounds. Now a larger group with both is merely an even fight. 

Next time: The big confrontation    

SSoI - Session 23: Chamber of Horrors

Our Heroes (9th level):

• Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear striker/defender/leader) 
• Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
• No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger 
• Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
• Xyla, Drow Vampire

Gathering up their gear the party leaves the guardroom and wanders through largely empty halls until they find a new door and kick it in. Some kind of ritual is happening here involving blood and chanting. A figure in robes turns to the door and takes hold of the ranger's mind.  Not waiting for further developments, Gravis shouts "Torin stop him!" as the slayer charges in and destroys the robed hobgoblin standing in a circle who is cutting himself with a dagger while glaring at the rest of the party and chanting. The twelve cultists standing on the outer perimeter of the circle take issue with this and their leader, an obvious cleric of Tiamat orders them to attack.

From the door the ranger begins mowing down cultists as Gartok, Gravis, and Xyla charge in. The dragon worshipers stand little chance and are cut down unceremoniously along with their leader. Barely winded, our heroes move on.

Realizing they left a door unopened, the team doubles back, forces the door in question, and emerges into a grim scene - a torture chamber run by devils.

A Vizier Devil, her Pain Devil second, and a trio of Pain Devils seem almost happy to have something to fight as they move to defend their lair.  The party charges in and are met with waves of pain as they close - apparently the devils radiate pain! The devil captain utters a word and his crew's scourges burst into greenish flame. The vizier devil stands safely behind her subordinates, throwing blasts of flame into the enemy ranks. One devil falls to the heroes' assault but Torin staggers and falls under the devils' defense and Xyla is battered and bloodied as well. 

Safely beyond the range of the auras of pain, the ranger drops one of the foul devils. Hurting, the vampire rips the last pain devil apart and then teams up with Gartok to slay the lead pain devil as well. The slayer climbs back to his feet as Gravis shouts encouragement, lashes out, kills the vizier devil but he falls to blood loss at the same time. 

Triumphant but having suffered serious wounds and running low on ways to heal them, the heroes make a hasty retreat to one of the empty guest rooms they discovered earlier. Holing up and resting up, their mission will have to wait for now.

DM Notes: This was another session with some exploration, a very short combat, then a better combat. 

The first fight was over before it started with the robed Talon of Tiamat dominating the ranger and then not living long enough to command him later in that round! The rest of those enemies was unable to even slow down the group with the cleric croaking on round 2 and the last of the minions dying on round 3.

The original adventure has a group of clerics in this room - I stayed pretty close to that, just using some of 4E's new options to make a more mixed set of bad guys.

The second fight was much more even with overlapping pain auras dropping the slayer and hurting the vampire and the warden. Flaming melee weapons with reach are pretty nice too. Combined with the vizier's ranged abilities this was a much tougher group of opponents.  They still pulled it out in 5 rounds but they were drained and feeling the pressure as they retreated for a long rest. 

The original module has a single bone devil as the occupant of the torture chamber. I wasn't looking for a solo monster here and the pain devils seemed especially thematic.  

SSoI -Session 22: The Fane of Tiamat

Our Heroes (9th level):

• Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear and guardian of the forest) 
• Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
• No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger 
• Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
• Xyla, Drow Vampire

Finding the foyer somewhat quiet, the party begins exploring the fane of Tiamat. 

For the first time in a while, there are a lot of doors to be dealt with. This leads to a discussion of the true roles in a D&D party. There is the Door Decider, the Door Checker, the Door Unlocker, and the Door Opener. This also leads to the dubbing of Gravis as the "Doorlord".

Checking as quietly as they can the team finds several empty rooms.

After finding a storeroom and four guest rooms someone exclaims "It's a Comfort Evil Inn!"

After some time though they hear sounds coming from another room and so kick in the door - it's a kitchen! With a remarkably attractive woman, a pair of devilish looking cooks, and some hobgoblins all at work. At first the woman screeches at the party, ordering them to work. Then she realizes they are not her lackeys and she screeches even more loudly to get the intruders!

This fight is over almost before it starts. In a matter of seconds the ranger drops 3 of the hobgoblins while the slayer and the warden kill the other 3 while also engaging the devils. The vampire rips the woman, leaps past her,  finishes off one devil, the kills the other for good measure! The warlord and Ivan drop the woman - who changes in death to reveal herself to be a hag -  to finish the fight. 

DM Notes: Three rounds! They wiped out 3 normal opponents and 6 minions in 3 rounds! Also, in round 1 of the combat I rolled four 3's in a row for monster attacks - not a good showing for Team Evil. Standard procedure now is that the warden locks the enemies down all around him, the ranger shoots one or more targets, the vampire and slayer bloody an enemy each, then the warlord lets one or more of them strike again! They are just ripping through most fights now.

Poking around the kitchen reveals nothing of particular interest. The slayer decides to foul the bubbling pot of nastiness a bit further as the rest of the group moves on. Grinning, he runs to catch up.

Heading back down a different corridor the team opens up another door and finds a very large room. A group of dragonborn are pushing their chairs back and flipping the table over as the party bursts in. 

The dragonborn are clearly seasoned soldiers as they form a line and restrict the invaders to the corner of the room, a cramped area that makes it difficult to fight. One of the soldiers falls to combined strikes from the ranger, vampire, and slayer, but in the confined space various blasting spells and breath weapon attacks are taking their toll on our heroes. The slayer tries to leap to assault the wizard but a summoned gust of wind blows him back over the barricade. They pull back and jam the door shut - retreat? Never! Going with plan B they race around to another door they now are sure opens into the same room, planning to come in behind the defenders.

Bursting in again the heroes find that the scaled soldiers have flipped an even larger table over and are quickly moving into defensive positions. This isn't going to be easy either, but there is more room to maneuver than in the corner. Removing one target in particular though will make this much easier, and he is the slayer's prey. Pushing himself to the limit Torin leaps over the barricade and with some guidance from Gravis he kills the elemental mage with two swings of his blade! As the rest of the party surges over and around the makeshift defenses another soldier falls leaving only one more wounded grunt and the dragonborn commander. 

The entire group assaults the leader and though he is a canny, experienced, and mighty warrior even he can't withstand this and falls to their attacks. The final soldier prepares to sell his life dearly and he does - to the vampire's claws and the rangers bow. 

Searching the room yields gold, gear, healing potions, ...and a magical ring, from the body of the commander. The victorious heroes rest for a few minutes, then prepare to push on in search of their true enemy.

DM Notes: While the kitchen encounter was pretty close to the original this one was a little different. The module has a group of blackspawn raiders which are big minotaur-like dragonspawn. All of those MM IV monsters are not included in 4th edition and I wanted something a little more interesting anyway. This ended up being a nod to the old "rival adventuring party" we used to see in AD&D adventures, with a more military theme. We had a leader, some grunts, and a wizard, who use some tactical sense and have some complimentary abilities. They are pretty nasty in melee and the wizard gives them both some decent ranged area capabilities and some close blasts, on top of every single one of them having a small breath attack. It worked, as it was a fun group for me to run and a challenging encounter for the players, which was especially nice after they steamrolled the kitchen crew. 

One of the advantages of converting and adapting the adventure is that I get to rework it so that it still makes sense but it's more fun for me - and hopefully the players. After all, if we're going to spend 2 hours on one fight then I'd better enjoy it too.

SSoI - Session 21: To the Wyrmsmoke Mountains!

Our Heroes (now 9th level):

• Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, owlbear commando) 
• Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
• No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger 
• Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
• Xyla, Drow Vampire

Gone But Not Forgotten:

Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin

(Our friend Marc announced somewhere in between these last few sessions that he just could not make the scheduling work consistently and so he would be dropping for good. One of these days I hope things sync up and he can rejoin us. He didn't come from a background of tabletop play, most of his experience was from games like World of Warcraft. It was a lot of fun having someone with some game experience, plus the new player enthusiasm, plus the "what do those do again?" factor at the table once more. Hopefully we can drag him back in down the road.)  

Our heroes, escorted by Lion Knights and the city guard, stagger back into town and take a well-deserved rest. Afterwards, A pair of knights bring them to an open square which seems to have been blocked off from other traffic.  A regal looking knight, a wizard in red robes, and a strangely attired man wearing a helmet topped with ram's horns all wait for them. 

The knight introduces himself as Sir Brandis Brightblade, leader of the Lion Knights. He has been receiving reports of the invading horde and knows the decisive battle will take place here at Brindol. He also knows that the army is large and formidable. Sura, the Lion Knight who they met back in Drellin's Ferry has also reported their efforts to stop the horde and combining that with what he saw last night he has a plan to decapitate the army. Brandis explains (with a grimace) that Kurgan here, a local priest, has provided a map and guidance to an old portal near an old temple of Tiamat. This is believed to be the Red Hand's secret home base. Agents of House Bauer have provided information that the leader of the army, Azarr Kul, has returned there to perform some magical ritual. With the heroes proving to be a powerful yet small team, Brandis believes that they could be teleported to the temple, enter it, and have a chance to slay Azarr Kul. With their leader gone, the army should be much easier to defeat. Additionally, whatever ritual he is planning can't be good and stopping it is a worthwhile goal as well.

After a brief consultation, our heroes agree. Immerstal the Red, foremost wizard of Brindol, begins casting the ritual of opening. Kurgan snarls "you're welcome" and stalks away. The party marks him as a potential troublemaker, and turns their attention back to the portal. The wizard completes his chanting and arm-waving and gestures for them to step through.

They find themselves stepping out into an old stone circle, half-tumbled but still recognizable. It rests in a small rocky valley with mountains all around. A narrow path leads up the side of the nearest slope and that's the way they go. Soon enough the path turns a corner and their goal is before them.

The path opens up into a shelf about 20' wide and 100' long. At the end is a large double door with a massive sculpture of a 5-headed dragon looming over it. Near it is the mouth of a large cave and that's where the trouble comes from, in the form of a blue dragon.

As the party re-positions to face this newest threat, the dragon spits lightning and the fight is on. This one is a bit more talkative and mentions that his name is Tyrgarun, and he's going to enjoy slaying them and offering them up to Tiamat. Gartok and Torin charge while Gravis and Xyla work from a little farther back and No-Name works from very far back. It's ugly up close, and both the half-orc and the dwarf take a beating.

Xyla briefly manages to hypnotize the beast but Torin is having none of that - he tears into the dragon with a fury, aided by Gartok and Gravis. With a sigh Xyla joins the fray as well, all fang and claw. In a matter of minutes it's over as Gravis directs a simultaneous strike from the dwarf, vampire, and slayer and the big blue staggers back and falls for the final time. The group pauses to rest and recover as they keep a watch on the door and loot the dragon's lair.

In better shape they force open the door (setting off a trap in the process) and push their way inside the Fane of Tiamat.Only a long, empty stone hallway greets them, but they are on guard as their entrance has not been quiet. Advancing, they come to a large room lit by another sculpture of a five headed dragon, with the appropriately colored light coming from a flame in each one's mouth. As they survey the room they notice some balconies above them especially when five bearded devils swoop down from them and attack!

There are duels all over the room as our heroes take on the things in pairs or solo, though with the warlord and the bow ranger one is never truly fighting alone. These new foes have dangerous powers, as Xyla and Torin are both blinded, dazed, and thrown back from the fight by their opponents. The creatures also fade in and out of the shadows, striking without warning. The warden holds his ground and forms the core of their defense with supporting fire from the ranger as the warlord reestablishes control and the devils begin to fall. The last one attempts to flee but is slain by a shot from No-Name. 

The group pauses and pokes at the bodies. "Hmm, Abishai." They realize there may be devils all through this place, making it a tougher mission than just killing on warlord.

DM Notes: There was a lot of in and out of character talk at the beginning. Everyone leveled up to 9th at the end of the Ghostlord adventure, there was some shopping in town, and some NPC interaction. There may have been an extra day of game time in there but the next happening was the meeting described above.

People who have run or played this adventure may wonder what the heck just happened. In the module, part 5 is the siege of Brindol, while part 6 is the fane of Tiamat. The fane always felt anticlimactic to me after the big siege, and I saw some ideas for changing that up online so I switched them. The attack on the fane comes first, then we end with the big attack on the city, which can be greatly altered by how the fane episode goes. I'm still happy with this change even as we approach the end.

The fight with the big blue lasted all of 4 rounds. The slayer, aided by the warden, had inflicted almost 200 points of damage on him in round 1 between his normal action, his action point, the warlord's action, and the warlord's action point. The vampire hypnotized him on round 2, which was a lot of fun for her. Then the bow ranger bloodied him from his usual distance, triggering the breath weapon which blasted the slayer, the warden, and the warlord and was the cause of some discussion about timing, positioning, and damage. The vampire gets in 3 shots in round 4 (normal action, action point, warlord) so she wasn't too far behind the other melee monster.

The abishai actually lasted 5 rounds and had some fun powers as noted above, but one-on-one they could not stop the characters. This was their first real encounter with devils so hopefully it gave them some warning about the kinds of things they can do as someone finally remembered that Tiamat lives on the first plane of Hell. There are plenty more infernal things to come, and not a paladin or cleric in sight.

SSoI - Session 20:Fall of the Ghostlord

Our Heroes (8th level):

• Lt. Alex Gravis, Water Genasi Warlord (and Ivan, a released, furry little kraken ) 
• Gartok, Dwarf Earth Warden
• Izenheim, Dwarf Cleric of Marthammor Duin ("Temple of Sune? Here? Really?" ... "What stone lion?")
• No-Name, Elf Bow Ranger 
• Torin Tsai, Half-Orc Slayer
• Xyla, Drow Vampire

The sorcerer decided that having helped force an entrance into the lion and with the greenish gas stopped it was time for him to report back and get some help. The rest of the party would press on, hoping to find the Ghostlord and put an end to him before anything else happened.

Moving into an adjacent room the team doesn't see much, but there is an open pit on one side of the room. Of more interest though are the blue and green lights hovering near the ceiling. These glowing, vaporous froms slowly drift about the upper part of the chamber. As the party observes them, some drift lower, moving in closer to our heroes. For some, feelings of despair begin to creep into their minds as they watch the fascinating display. Others feel their minds being pushed in starnge directions, as if they were going mad. There's no doubt as to the source of these disruptions and out come the weapons, striking back at these strange spirits. As the party determines the best way to attack the things, a scuttling horror emerges from the pit, antennae twitching.

The monstrosity resembles an enormous centipede made up of skeletal remains of different creatures. The undead abomination slashes into combat, with bony claws and whip-like appendages made of sharpened bone. The thing moves across floor and walls with equal ease, slicing at the party and making a horrible clicking noise.

While the rest of the team handles the wisps, the slayer and the vampire attack the bone horror, striking back as it scuttles around the room. As the last wisp is destroyed they hammer the skeletal beast into a shattered ruin.

Catching their breath the party realizes this room is a hell hole of butchery, with the bones of numerous animals down in the pit. The horrors that happened here are likely the source of the things that attacked them. Ready to leave the disturbing place, they do discover a strange thing amidst the broken frame of the osteopede - a pair of bone dice with the symbol of Tymora where the 1's should be. The slayer pockets them, a trophy of the kill.



DM Notes: The battle in the butcher room was fun. There were 2 types of wisps but all of them were minions, and the osteopede is a new monster (as far as I know) from Open Grave that's an elite. It was very mobile (until it got too close to the warden and got locked down) and has some nasty attacks but the vampire and slayer combined are just about unstoppable. It was bloodied on the 4th hit and dead on the 7th, which took all of 4 rounds to happen. The vampire opened with a 50+ point slam (POW!) and the slayer finished it with a 70+ point critical (BAM!). 

The dice are a nifty magic item that lets a player roll 3 d20's and store them for the day, using them (one at a time) in place of any normal d20 roll. This has to be decided before rolling, but if you're winding up for a big hit and have an 18 stored away, it's nice to know you're not going to miss. It's a nifty little item and this its first appearance in one of my campaigns.

Advancing through the interior of the great stone lion they come to a large room with a glowing green pit in the center. Standing near it is what can only be the Ghostlord, feared lich and their new nemesis. Flanking him are a pair of undead knights - lion knights by the heraldry they display. Also swirling through the room are a half-dozen wraithlike forms who turn hostile eyes towards the intruders.

After a brief exchange of words the party knows that there will be no negotiation, no deal-making - only a final death will stop the twisted lich from destroying them and the city. Fortunately that is possible since they have already destroyed his phylactery. Unfortunately, the lich appears to be a formidable foe, with allies aplenty. The lich begins a spell and the ranger's bowstring twangs as the undead knights move to block the walkways around the pit. Undaunted by the vast chasm, the wraiths stream across and engage the heroes first. This part of the fight is short but savage, as the ghostly knights are destroyed by the team but manage to inflict some harm with their spectral blades. A new danger is revealed as some of the wraiths manage to ...beckon ... some of the heroes towards the pit. A fall into the glowing green hell is not something the heroes want to experience, and they resist as best they can.

As the ghosts are torn apart, attention turns to the two undead knights who silently block the direct way to the lich. Clearly mighty knights in life, their power is no less great in death, reborn through the rites of the Ghostlord. They prove to be staunch guardians of the foul thing. Stymied, the team shifts its tactics as the vampire, slayer and ranger all focus on one knight as the warlord and warden occupy the other. As powerful as he is, the unliving knight crumbles under their assault.

As the focus turns to the second knight, he looses a blast of flame while the lich strikes from across the pit with attacks of cold  and with eruptions of dark tentacles that try to drag the heroes into the pit. The group divides its efforts as two powerful enemies remain and leaving either unengaged could prove to be deadly.In a mobile battle around the edges of the pit, the vampire and slayer strike. The warden attempts to lock down the Ghostlord but the lich teleports across the gaping hole, standing side by side with the knight. The ranger stands and delivers shot after shot, regardless of location, as the warlord recalculates his strategy to bring down these foul remnants.

Red Ring = Bloodied. This is a good fight.

In the end, the battered and bloodied heroes stand victorious. The slayer slams into the Ghostlord with vicious blows, and the ranger delivers the killing shot. The last knight, tied up with the warden, survives long enough to see his undead master fall - then the vampire finishes him with her customary viciousness, ending the battle.

In an adjacent room the heroes find a black orb, obviously magical and radiating necromantic power. Worn out and with all patience gone, the options seem limited. Sticking with Plan A they smash it.

Exhausted and bleeding, the heroes stagger back out into the now clear air of the night.

DM Notes - This is what a serious D&D fight should be! All 3 types of opponents had some kind of forced movement power and there was a nice big pit of magical nastiness right there in the center of the room. This made things much more tense, as no one wanted to go into the pit. There is only so much room to get around it, so the death knights ability to act like a defender (marking) and their ability to slow a target (the Ghostlord could do this too) made it very difficult to get past them. The fight went 7 rounds, and by the end of round 5 the Ghostlord and every PC except the bow ranger were bloodied. At one point one of the knights was marked, quarried, slowed, weakened, bloodied, and taking ongoing 5 damage! I would call it "appropriately climactic".

Originally I had the Ghostlord designed as a solo, but after fighting the behir twice I thought yet another solo fight would be too much, so I redid him as an elite controller, added in the death knights (down-leveled a bit) as elite soldiers, and topped it off with the wraith knight minion soldiers. This gave me some expendables to tie the party up for a round or two with the three main opponents behind them being tough customers. With the terrain situation and the powers, I thought it felt pretty cinematic and pretty balanced given the outcome. 

Structurally this is the end of part 4 of Red Hand of Doom. With parts 5 and 6 left to go I changed up the flow of the adventure and we will kick that off next time.