Hi folks,
Last night I kicked off my group's new campaign: Scourge of the Sword Coast. Although it is a Next playtest adventure designed for levels 2-4, I've upscaled the adventure so that I can run it with PCs of levels 5-7 instead, thus allowing those of my players who wanted to keep playing their characters from our previous campaign to do so.
To give the campaign a proper sense of closure, I will be finishing things off with the first part of Dead in Thay (Bloodgate Keep). At that point, I will let the players decide if they want to venture into the Doomvault or end the campaign there and start a new one.
Since two of the PCs are survivors from our ill-fated Legacy of the Crystal Shard campaign, so I came up with a prologue for this adventure that gets them from Icewind Dale to Waterdeep, picking up the other three PCs along the way.
After the disaster in the Halls of Black Ice, Lavinia and Roxanne managed to make it back to Bryn Shander with the aid of Roberto's stalwart donkey. While recovering in town, they encountered a bedraggled dragonborn soldier named Bharash, who told them that he was the sole survivor of a small strike force of mercenaries that had foolishly attemped to beard the Ice Witch in her den, a lonely tower made of black ice situated on an iceberg in the Sea of Moving Ice.
As Auril's fury continued unabated through the winter, the people of Icewind Dale rallied to fight her Chosen themselves. Led by Dain Stokely Silverstream and King Jarund Elkhardt - and accompanied by Lavinia, Roxanne, and Bharash - a motley army of Ten-Towners, dwarven refugees, and Elk Tribe warriors went in search of Hedrun. However, when they entered her tower, all they found were the Bear Tribe king, a few of his warriors and some orc mercenaries, as well as the undead Akar Kessell, who cackled with glee as the warriors plunged their swords into his dessicated flesh, informing them with his dying words that they were too late: some tattooed wizards had already come and taken Hedrun away.
Meanwhile, the death of Baerick Hammerstone and the unleashing of a crazed black ice golem led to the destruction of the Halls of Black Ice. The survivors fled the Dwarven Valley, either rejoining their people in Easthaven or disappearing from Icewind Dale altogether, taking some of the black ice with them.
As the adventurers rode out the rest of the winter in relative comfort, Lavinia began experiencing vivid dreams. She eventually came to the realization that her rebirth coincided with that of Lathander's - whose time as the ancient Netherese sun god Amaunator appeared to be at an end - and that the Morninglord had chosen her to be his herald, to spread the light of the new dawn and bring hope to the good people of Faerûn after the long darkness of the Spellplague years. Lathander's representative in Bryn Shander, Mithann, advised Lavinia to seek out her old adventuring companion, Sir Isteval, a retired Purple Dragon Knight of Cormyr, who also preferred Lathander over Amaunator, much to the consternation of the sun god's clergy. According to Mithann, Sir Isteval would most likely be found in the small town of Daggerford near Waterdeep.
The arrival of spring found the three companions joining the first caravan south, bound for Lavinia's home port of Luskan. There they found Lavinia's brother, Jace, who had just escaped from the Fate's Hand - a clandestine group of halfling racial supremacists who had kidnapped and tortured him in an effort to get at his sister. He claimed that a giant crow-like being had come to him in his fevered dreams and offered him his freedom in exchange for his service. Jace readily agreed, and his new patron gifted him with strange magic and a pet crow.
Not wanting to stick around in Luskan with Fate's Hand agents on the hunt for them, the four companions hit the road, bound for Waterdeep several hundred miles to the south. Somewhere around Neverwinter, they were joined by an eladrin bard named Magnolia.
After arriving in the City of Splendors, Roxanne made straight for the headquarters of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors, returning the magic staff that Vaelish Gant had stolen from them. The mage who had hired her, Obar Nevendil, paid out a handsome reward, which Roxanne graciously split with her traveling companions.
The group was then able to spend a few tendays in Waterdeep, keeping a low profile and watching out for any signs of the Fate's Hand. Before long, rumors began to spread of trouble near Daggerford, some ninety-odd miles to the southeast. Around the same time, Jace spotted an agent of the Fate's Hand on the streets of Waterdeep. Upon informing the others, the five companions hastily gathered their things and headed south along the Trade Way, not only to help the beleaguered citizens of Daggerford but also to stay one step ahead of their pursuers.
And thus a new adventure began!
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Lavinia Fendell
Halfling wild mage 5, neutral good
Born into a humble family of jewelers in the troubled northern port city of Luskan, Lavinia discovered she possessed innate magical powers at a young age. While she has much confidence in her abilities, she still struggles to fully control them - only six months ago, while in Icewind Dale, she accidentally killed herself when an attempt to light a pirate ship's sails on fire with scorching rays resulted in her own rowboat going up in flames. Her companions arranged to have her raised from the dead by a cleric of Lathander, and not long after, she discovered that the Morninglord had chosen her to be a herald for his own rebirth. She now seeks to spread his light to all the dark corners of the Realms.
Jace Fendell
Halfling fiend pact warlock 5, neutral
The younger brother of Lavinia, Jace did not share his sister's gift. He was a simple jeweler until his life was turned upside down by the Fate's Hand. The crazed halfling supremacists slaughtered his parents and kidnapped him, torturing him in hopes of getting at their real prize, Lavinia the wild mage. After enduring months of suffering, he began seeing feverish visions of a giant crow-like being. The crow offered him his freedom in exchange for his service. Desperate to escape, Jace readily agreed to the creature's terms. He was gifted with strange and wonderful magic and a pet crow. Sometimes he finds himself saying and doing things he doesn't understand - and sometimes rather destructive magic happens. Jace has not been entirely truthful with his sister, who believes he has inherited her gift for wild magic as well.
Roxanne Winter
Half-elf arcane trickster 5, chaotic good
A courtesan by trade, as well as a dabbler in the arcane, Roxanne was caught stealing a spellbook from one of her clients. Though freespirited to the extreme, she nevertheless agreed to his terms of restitution: she would seek to recover a magical staff that had been stolen from the mage's associates. She tracked the thief to Icewind Dale, where several other adventurers aidied her in bringing him to justice. In the process, she reunited with the son she'd recklessly gambled away in a card game. He'd grown up on the streets but was keen to reconcile with his wayward mother. Unfortunately, he was lost in a disastrous raid on a group of corrupted dwarves, and as a result, Roxanne decided it was time to turn her life around and become a bona fide adventuring hero! When she and her companions reached Waterdeep with the staff, she even split her reward with them instead of keeping it all to herself.
Bharash 'Brian the Brave' of Clan Norixius
Dragonborn totem barbarian 5, neutral good
Hailing from Baldur's Gate, Bharash joined the Flaming Fist as a youth and rose swiftly through the ranks. While he is a well-disciplined soldier, full of inspiring war stories and cautionary tales, the spirit of a dragon burns within him, and he has learned to channel its fury into a formidable rage. Unfortunately, while on assignment in Icewind Dale, he found himself on the receiving end of his favorite maxim, "In life, as in war, the stronger force wins." In this case, the stronger force proved to be the Ice Witch, Chosen of Auril, and the beasts at her command. Bharash's strike force was wiped out to a man, and he barely escaped the freezing breath of the winter wolves. Back in Ten Towns, he attempted to drown the memories of his humiliating defeat in strong drink, until he found new strength when Lavinia and Roxanne befriended him during the long dark of the northern winter. When the spring came, he agreed to accompany them south.
Magnolia Fairchild
Eladrin valor bard 5, neutral good
Hailing from a noble family in the heavenly realm of Arvandor, Magnolia is a woman on the run, trying to escape from an arranged marriage with a fey prince she doesn't like. Upon arriving in Faerûn, she adopted a fake name and took up the life of a wandering warrior-poet. While on the road between Neverwinter and Waterdeep, she encountered four companions heading south who agreed to share their campfire with her. They enjoyed her jokes so much that she decided to stick with them for a while. She doesn't particularly mind where their path takes her, so long as it isn't back home.
Episode I: Welcome to Daggerford
22 Mirtul 1486
A day out from Daggerford, the caravan the PCs are traveling with has been joined by a number of refugees, all talking about the widespread and unusual raiding by savage humanoids - gnolls, orcs, and goblins. That evening, the caravan circles up near an abandoned farmstead. As the PCs get ready for a quiet evening, several of them hear a commotion coming from the farmstead. This is followed by something lighting a scarecrow on fire.
When the caravan's guards don't appear to be interested in investigating, the PCs decide to take matters into their own hands. Although they attempt to sneak up the farm track quietly, Magnolia trips over a rock and makes a bit of a noise with her musical instruments and such. The band of goblins ransacking the farmhouse pause at the sound. Soon arrows and spells are flying, and the goblins and their pack-wolves wind up dead, while the farmhouse is engulfed in a fireball that Jace didn't know he could cast. Not wanting the fire to spread, Roxanne locates the farm's well, and she and the others spend a good half hour or so fighting the flames. Afterwards, they explore the barn, where they find a mutilated cow and several signs pointing to a gnoll attack.
23 Mirtul 1486
The caravan arrives at Daggerford in the afternoon. A large crowd of refugees is gathered outside the Caravan Gate, where a small contingent of guards is holding them off with loaded crossbows. A man is explaining to the guard captain - a muscular young woman armed with a spear - that his wife his pregnant and should be let in to the town. When the captain says she can't let them in because of the duke's orders, a well-dressed halfling standing near them protests, referring to the guard by her first name, Sherlen, in the process. She replies that only those who can afford a room at the town's most expensive inn can enter. When the PCs demonstrate that they can afford rooms and then some (in fact, Lavinia and Magnolia offer to split the cost for the pregnant woman and her husband to stay at the inn until the baby comes), the captain hesitates. At that point, some refugees grab rocks and move forward menacingly, shouting that it isn't fair that the PCs can go in but they can't. Roxanne spots a terrified-looking guard with a trembling trigger finger. The wealthy halfling - identified as a priest of Tymora by the coin-shaped brooch on his cloak - calls for calm, but the crowd is becoming a mob and isn't interested in listening.
Bharash steps up, putting on his most intimidating dragon face to scare them off. This isn't quite enough, but Magnolia looming menacingly behind him in all her otherworldly glory proves to be the tipping point. Though the crowd backs off uncertainly, it is too late - the nervous guard's finger twitches, and a crossbow bolt thuds into the ground at Jace's feet. Screaming an inhuman scream, the guard drops his crossbow and grabs a spear, looking as if to charge at the PCs like a maniac. Sherlen orders the guard to stand down. Before anyone else can react, however, Lavinia blows a gust of wind at the crazed guard, knocking him back into the town's moat. After several of his fellows drag him out, Sherlen knocks him unconscious with the butt of her spear and has him dragged to the jail. As the PCs follow the guards into town, the gates are closed behind them, and the small crowd of locals that had gathered just inside to watch the proceedings begins to disperse. As the PCs look around, they spot an attractive young woman - a courtesan by all appearances - eyeing them up appraisingly before sauntering off.
At that point, the wealthy priest of Tymora, who introduces himself as Curran Corvalin, takes the PCs under his wind and gives them a whirlwind tour of the town, filling them with so much trivia that they can barely remember their own names. When they enquire about the nasty business at the gate, Curran shakes his head and explains that it has to do with the fact that a prized relic, the Delimbiyr Bloke, was stolen from Duke Maldwyn's castle a few days ago. Suspecting a stranger in town took it, the duke isn't allowing any more refugees to enter the town. Curran isn't sure how that's supposed to help him recover the Bloke, but he doesn't wish to step on the duke's toes. He does mention that a dwarf adventurer named Jekk was interested in the Bloke too and offers to arrange a meeting with him so the PCs can learn more about it.
That evening, over a fine meal at the upscale River Shining Tavern, the PCs learn from Jekk that the Delimbiyr Bloke is a brick of quartzite shaped in the stylized image of a dwarf's head. The dwarves in the community believe it to be a religious icon, and they are justifiably upset, not only because it's been stolen but also because the duke had been keeping it to himself in the first place. He also explains that he is under suspicion because he had tried to buy the Bloke off the duke recently. While his offer was rebuffed, he was able to borrow it briefly so a sculptor working at the local temple of Amaunator could make a plaster copy of it. He plans to leave for Firehammer Hold, a dwarven temple-fortress about a tenday's journey to the north, with the copy to see if he can learn anything more about it from the dwarves there. Jekk invites the PCs to join him for breakfast before he leaves so they can see the copy for themselves.
During the evening, they also hear a number of other rumors from fellow tavern patrons. First, several villagers depending on supplies from a village upriver haven't received their goods. They are beginning to wonder if something has happened to the village. There's also talk of orcs marauding in the highlands between Daggerford and the Forlorn Hills. Meanwhile, the town's most celebrated resident, Sir Isteval, has gone north to Waterdeep with several companions with the aim of investigating the gnoll attacks around the Ardeep Forest along the way.
24 Mirtul 1486
In the morning, the PCs seek an audience with the duke but are told that he won't be able to see them until the afternoon. Jace and Magnolia decide to hit the markets, where the halfling buys himself a pony, while Roxanne and Lavinia follow up on some of the leads from the night before. (Bharash, meanwhile, sleeps the morning away.) Lavinia and Roxanne first pay a visit to The Decorated Man, a tailor shop run by a gnome illusionist named Ballick. He explains that he was expecting a shipment of fine cloth from the villagers of Julkoun a tenday ago and is concerned that something has happened. A customer mentions that Hadeshah, the priestess of Chauntea at Harvest House, might know something as she keeps in contact with her counterpart in the village, a priest named Estor.
Next they pay Sherlen a visit at the jail. She tells them that the guard who went crazy the day before, Grengel, hanged himself in the night. When she'd spoken to him earlier, he'd told her that he'd heard a familiar female voice in his head, telling him to shoot but that he hadn't wanted to. She was also surprised that he'd committed suicide, as he'd seemed keen to make amends for his actions when she left him for the evening. She indicates that the PCs might want to talk to some of his fellow militiamen, though she warns them that they are not generally a talkative sort. She also says that all the rumors about Julkoun have made her concerned enough to talk to the duke about it. He's agreed to pay mercenaries 25 gp each to investigate what's happened to the village. The PCs indicate that that's what they come for, so Sherlen hands them a map of the region that she says Sir Isteval left with her pass on to whoever showed up to help.
As they are leaving the jail, the PCs see a commotion down the road outside the Shanties. There, they find Duke Maldwyn astride his horse while some of his soldiers evict the slum's tenants so they can search for the missing Bloke. The duke is in a rage, and nothing his sister, Lady Morwen, or anyone else can say will make him feel better. After the search turns up nothing, Maldwyn storms off back to his castle in a huff, after threatening to throw all the refugees out of the town.
Afterwards, the PCs head over to the drill field and start chatting with some of the militiamen training there. After the PCs offer to buy them some drinks at the Lady Luck Tavern, the guards open up, explaining that Grengel was a quiet but likeable fellow who was really good at lanceboard. Roxanne notices that one soldier, a young woman named Ashli, is visibly upset. It's clear she liked Grengel and is jealous that he had been spending so much time with a courtesan named Natyssa, who turns out to be the same woman the PCs spotted watching them at the gate.
Jace and Magnolia finish their shopping and rejoin their companions as they are leaving the inn. They go and talk to Natyssa, who is staying at the Lizard's Gizzard, a sort of orphanage/women's refuge run by a grandmotherly half-orc named Sasha. Natyssa is surprised to hear that Grengel killed himself. She says he was a nice young man and insists he was just her friend, not one of her clients.
With some time still to kill before their audience, the PCs split up and hit the town's two main temples to follow up on more leads. Magnolia and Jace go to Harvest House, where they learn that the homing pigeons from the temple of Chauntea in Julkoun have straggled in over the past two days. The temple's priestess, Hadeshah, explains that she spoke with the pigeons, but all they could tell her was that their master let them go and that they were shot at with arrows. They spent several days wandering aimlessly before heading for Daggerford.
Meanwhile, Lavinia and Roxanne go to Morninglow Tower, where the local priest of Amaunator, Luc Sunbright, is in a foul mood because his sculptor, Alven Gissen, is missing. The PCs go to the inn at which Alven was staying, where they learn from the innkeepers that Alven was also friends with Natyssa. They're allowed to search the sculptor's room and find that his stuff is still all there. They debate going and confronting Natyssa again, but instead Roxanne suggests she approach her and attempt to befriend her as a fellow courtesan. First, though, they have their audience with the duke. On the way, Lavinia proposes that Magnolia suggest to the duke that he let all the refugees in, but they end up not following through on that course of action.
Maldwyn is all charm and good manners, treating them to fine wine and hors d'oeurves. Magnolia isn't impressed. His manners are so human. They discuss the Bloke, although the duke is evasive about a reward for its return. They also try to convince him to pay for the hireage of a boat to take them up the river to Julkoun. He isn't keen on the idea at all, but Roxanne eventually convinces him to "subsidize" their travel costs.
After the duke dismisses them, it is time to enact Roxanne's plan. This goes off swimmingly, with Natyssa happy to meet with another young woman in her line of work. They swap stories over dinner, and far from being stand-offish and territorial, Natyssa comes across as warm and welcoming. Despite Lavinia's paranoid assumptions that Natyssa is really a succubus messing with impressionable young men's minds, Roxanne takes an instant liking to her. During the course of the meal, Roxanne surreptitiously drops Alven the sculptor's name into the conversation. Natyssa is surprised to hear that something has happened to him too and explains that she had been planning to rendezvous with him this very evening. She reveals that while he is from Waterdeep, he still has plenty of work to do here in Daggerford, and besides, the roads have become quite dangerous. She can't think of any reason why he would leave. Meanwhile, Jace, using his metamorphic hat of disguise, had separately decided to eavesdrop on Roxanne and Natyssa's dinner conversation. Afterwards, he watched them acquire clients and go upstairs. He waited to make sure that Natyssa's client, a human merchant, came down alive. When he did, Jace decided not to bother waiting any longer and went back to his own bed.
Fin.
Thoughts
The PCs came together nicely and worked together fairly well. Unfortunately, this part of the adventure is incredibly information heavy, with a lot of little clues and tons of information about the town and its inhabitants. The players were struggling to keep everything straight, and the two oldies started to fall asleep. Nevertheless, they enjoyed it. The opening salvo against the scavenging goblins, while a cakewalk, was fun and let them try out their party dynamics and such.
The funniest bit for me was how, every time I identified an NPC as a halfling, the guys playing Jace and Lavinia panicked, thinking it was a member of the Fate's Hand come to capture them again. I'm saving that for when they come back to town after the first or second foray into the wilderness. Magnolia will also be receiving a visit from a family member or two wanting to drag her back to Arvandor to marry that prince. Oh, and Lavinia will also have to contend with some Netherese mages hunting the gods' Chosen ...
If you ran or played in this adventure, how did you find this opening section? Did you skip over a lot of the investigative elements? Skip Curran's tour or just gloss over it? Any suggestions for future sections of the adventure?
I'm looking forward to the next session in a fortnight's time, when the PCs head out of Daggerford to find out what's happened to Julkoun.
You seem to get an awful lot of play time man, Im very jelly.
masterfat78 wrote:
Episode II: The Village of Julkoun
25-28 Mirtul 1486
Our heroes purchased a keelboat, with help from the duke, and set off up the Delimbiyr River to find out what happened to the village of Julkoun. Their journey took them past the remains of the Laughing Hollow, a forested area at the foot of Mt Illefarn that was once home to many fey creatures before a wildfire ravaged it.
During the third night of their journey, a strange wyvern-like beast startled Jace during his watch as it circled overhead, letting out a cry that seemed to be a mix of a roar of a dragon and the moo of a cow. When he woke up the others, Lavinia sent some dancing lights up into the night air to get a better look at it. The creature appeared to be man-sized and seemed almost emaciated. It shied away from Lavinia's lights and flew off to the east. Jace stayed up for the rest of the night in case it returned, but it did not.
29 Mirtul 1486
Once the heroes were only a few miles out from Julkoun, they found a place to moor their boat on the north bank of the river and cut across the outlying farmland. They spotted no farmers or farm animals and noticed that the crops were being overrun by weeds. When they arrived at a farmhouse, they found signs of a struggle but no bodies or anything. After examining the clues for some time, they concluded that hobgoblins had been here and that the inhabitants had mostly likely been captured rather than slaughtered.
After cautiously moving closer to the village under cover of the fields, the party paused so Jace could send his crow to scout the village. Through the crow's eyes, he spotted the goblins in the village's watchtowers. He saw the fields of sharpened stakes and fortified gates, complete with human and halfling body parts skewered on the spikes. He spotted the barricaded breach in the north wall of the lower village. He noticed the thick chain stretched across the river to block any boats. He noted the encircling moats and the rampart of earth connecting the lower village to the upper village. He also found the curious covered bridge running between the walls of the moat between the upper village and the adjoining hill known as the Flint. Jace relayed all this information to his companions.
Shortly after the crow returned from its scouting trip, the party was approached by a squirrel. It regarded them curiously for a moment, then opened its mouth and proceeded to speak in Elvish. The voice was warm and soothing, conjuring up images of a peaceful forest grove filled with butterflies and flowers. As only Magnolia and Roxanne could understand what the creature was saying, they translated for the others. The squirrel was speaking on behalf of a creature calling itself Oyfanen, who was inviting them to her grove in the forest a few miles to the north. She wished to give them some information.
The party agreed to follow the squirrel and eventually found themselves in a tranquil grove centered on a massive oak tree. A dryad soon presented herself to the group, introducing herself as Oyfanen. She bade them make themselves comfortable and provided them with sweet honey wine and delicious fruits and the like. She then got down to business: A mixed force of goblinoids had sacked the village of Julkoun several tendays ago. They had killed many of the villagers and then forced the survivors to strengthen the village's fortifications before chaining them together and marching them off to the north, presumably to live out the rest of their short lives as slaves.
Oyfanen professed a hope that the heroes would help strike back against the goblins. When they readily agreed, she mentioned that there was a camp of goblin scouts and their wolves not far from her grove, on the north side of the forest. She offered to lead them to it and help them drive off or kill the goblins. The party decided to wait until dawn, when the nocturnal goblins would be the least prepared for an attack, and so spent a very restful night in the dryad's grove. In the morning, Oyfanen provided them with a collection of goodberries and then cast pass without trace on them so they could sneak up on the goblins undetected.
Although the dryad had said there were about a dozen goblins, when they arrived at the camp, there were only six goblins and their wolves. Lavinia opened the attack with a fireball, while her brother Jace let loose with several eldritch blasts. Roxanne fired her bow with deadly efficiency, while Bharash and Magnolia ran in and engaged the survivors in melee. The goblins were all dead before they knew what hit them, and their wolves fled north. The party concluded that the other goblins were out on patrol and decided to wait for them to return. Three hours later, a patrol of three goblin wolfriders approached. Lavinia and Jace, being the closest to goblin size, had disguised themselves as goblins in an attempt to catch them unaware. Unfortunately, their plan fell through because neither of them could speak Goblin. Although one goblin and his wolf managed to hurt Lavinia a bit, they were no match for the combined might of the five companions.
Oyfanen thanked them for their efforts and told them not to worry about the last patrol. Her forest animals would make sure they didn't cause any trouble for the heroes. She then gave them some more goodberries and sent them on their way - after some debate, the heroes had decided to try sneaking around the Flint and climbing down into the moat to get to the covered bridge. To do this successfully, Roxanne snuck through the trees on the hill until she could see the two goblins in the closest watchtower in the upper village. She succeeded in putting them to sleep, though she warned the others it would only last for a minute. With no time to lose, the companions scrambled down the steep slope of the moat. Bharash, Magnolia and Roxanne had little trouble reaching the roof of the bridge. The halflings, however, both slipped, with Lavinia catching herself on the bridge while her brother fell all the way down into the moat fifty feet below. As he recovered, he found himself staring up at the body of the village priest, hanging from a rope strung through the window of the bridge. He debated trying to climb up the remains to get at the rope but Bharash ended up throwing him another rope down and then hauled him up. From there, they all slipped in through the open window, finding themselves on a walkway ending in iron doors at both the north and south ends.
The door to the south was slightly ajar, so Roxanne volunteered to go scout it out. Beyond the door was a wide stone corridor heading south for about fifty feet, where it ended at a T-junction. Sneaking down to the intersection, she spotted a set of ascending stairs at the limits of her darkvision off to her right. To the left, the passage continued east for only a short way before turning south again. She opted not to investigate any further and rejoined the others on the bridge. After a brief pow-wow, the party opted to go north to see if there were any villagers hiding that way. The door was locked, but Roxanne had little trouble picking it.
Unfortunately for them, all they found were goblins, goblins, and more goblins. A fierce battle ensued, with spells and arrows flying and swords slashing. As the battle moved through a large room filled with triple bunks and into a room centered around a well, a female goblin dressed in a wolf cloak and accompanied by three giant vipers emerged from what appeared to be a shrine down a passage to the east. She immediately cast hold person on Bharash, who despite being in a rage, was swiftly felled by the vipers' poisonous bites. The shaman then turned her magic on Lavinia, who was also unable to withstand the hold person + vipers combo. Jace, upset at his sister's fall, furiously attacked the shaman, while Magnolia went to her comrades' defense, reviving them with healing words.
As Jace was about to land the killing blow, too late he noticed the goblin shaman's skin begin to crack and burn. As his final eldritch blast ripped into her, she exploded in a gout of flame that briefly took on the shape of a great winged monster before washing over Bharash, who dropped unconscious again.
As this was happening in the well room, another group of goblins was returning to their digs after finishing their shift. They spotted the heroes battling their shaman and fired some arrows before most of them were taken out by one of Lavinia's spells. The survivors turned tail and ran, presumably to tell their superiors about the intruders.
Having found a set of keys next to the shaman's smoldering boots, the heroes locked themselves into the village's fortified hideout. They searched the place, finding a decent cache of non-perishable food and drink, blankets, and the like -- all the supplies one might need for withstanding a siege -- locked away in a room to the west. They also found a shrine dedicated to Chauntea to the east. It appeared the shaman had been busy desecrating the shrine, painting bloody, profane symbols all over the walls and the goddess' statue. Much to Jace's surprise, he found he could read the writing through his familiar's eyes. Most of them were rather bizarre references to the shaman's unnamed fiendish master. There was, however, also a reference to Red Wizards.
The heroes decided they needed a rest, and since the remaining goblin forces didn't appear to be in a hurry to assault the hideout, they were able to get one. During that time, Jace tried on the shaman's boots and, after walking up and down the halls and such, discovered, much to his delight, that they were magical boots of striding and springing.
Fin.
Thoughts.
This was a much more action-packed session than the previous one. The fight against the goblin wolfriders was pretty one-sided, but that was OK. The players enjoyed wiping out a bunch of goblins with ease. The goblins in the hideout managed to fare a little better due to being a bit more spread out and being able to take cover behind walls and bunks and such. I was even able to make use of a goblin boss' redirect attack ability, which the players thought was pretty cool.
I was a bit concerned that the shaman wouldn't be enough of a challenge with just the snakes to help her out, so I ended up boosting her hit points a little mid-fight and had the other goblin patrol show up on the fly as well, which was a good way of keeping the PCs from focusing all their fire on the shaman. Even though the shaman used very little offensive magic, the players were still frightened of her because of her effective use of hold person. The players were also impressed that mere goblins could still prove a decent challenge for their 5th level PCs. Chock one up for bounded accuracy!
I was a little surprised that they chose to hole up in the hideout, though, as there is only one exit. However, Jace's player told me afterwards that he has a plan to get them out using invisibility .... While that just might work, I do still need to figure out how the hobgoblins and their subordinates will respond to having a bunch of adventurers seemingly at their mercy.
Episode III: No One Here Gets Out Alive
29 Mirtul 1486
As the PCs settled down for some much-needed rest, a hobgoblin tossed a rock with a message attached to it across the bridge. The note informed the PCs that the hobgoblins would give them one hour to surrender or else the bunker would become their tomb. Jace proposed that he make his companions invisible in stages and they could sneak out and through the window and back out of the moat in pairs. The others hummed and hawed for a bit, and then some hobgoblins pushed a barricade out into the bridge so that their mage could start firebombing the bridge.
After the mage had retreated behind the far door again, Lavinia opened the door at their end and cast gust of wind to snuff out the flames. Jace cast invisibility on Magnolia and Bharash. The eladrin made a beeline for the window and climbed out onto the covered bridge's roof. Bharash, meanwhile, hesitated long enough that the far door opened again and a bugbear pushed his way out to the barricade and tried chucking a javelin at Lavinia. The javelin ricocheted harmlessly off the invisible Bharash's armor. The dragonborn flew into a rage and leapt over the barricade to attack the bugbear, ending his invisibility. Roxanne popped out from behind the door and shot the bugbear dead with an arrow through the eye.
The hobgoblin mage sent some fiery rocks hurtling across the bridge, burning Roxanne and the halflings, who retaliated with fireballs. Several of the hobgoblin grunts succumbed to the flames, so Bharash charged into the far hall and lay into the hobgoblins. He killed the mage, but the hobgoblins' leader, dressed in half plate, managed to escape, ordering his remaining troops to withdraw. Bharash began to follow them, while the other PCs shook their heads and wondered what to do about their seemingly suicidal companion.
As Bharash reached the T-junction at the end of the hall, he was ambushed by a bugbear who soon wound up without a head. Some goblins behind barricades tried to pepper the big dragonborn with arrows, but when Jace and Lavinia came to his aid, they soon fell to sword and spell. Bharash finally calmed down and agreed to follow the halfings back up the hall and out the window.
Magnolia had no trouble climbing up the moat wall, where she found a pack of goblins building a fire near the bunker's chimney. She cast a stinking cloud on them then shattered their bodies while they were busy retching. Roxanne, meanwhile, had disguised herself as a hobgoblin but was having a significant amount of trouble climbing the moat wall, even falling all the way into the water at one point. The goblin guards in the watch tower above laughed uproariously at her until Magnolia came and cast stinking cloud on them too.
Lastly, Jace had used his magic hat to disguise himself as a goblin so that it would appear that Bharash was chasing him. Bharash also tied Lavinia to him with a rope and hauled her (and Jace, once it became clear that no more goblins could see them) up the cliff. With everyone back on the far side of the moat, the PCs high-tailed it back to Oyfanen's grove, where they got a good rest before a storm rolled in, putting a dampener on their plans.
30 Mirtul 1486
Sheltering in the relative safety of the dryad's grove, the PCs spent quite a bit of time debating whether to attack the goblins from another angle or attempt to follow the path the enslaved villagers had been taken on to the north. In the end, they decided it had been too long to have any hope of tracking the hobgoblins and their prisoners, and they didn't want to assault the village without reinforcements, so they opted to return to Daggerford. With the current speeding them along, they managed to make it back to town by that same evening.
They reported their findings to the duke, who begrudgingly gave them cheques to be redeemed for 25 gp at the new Sword Coast Trader's Bank. He also told them he'd contact the Lords' Alliance with regards to the goblins in Julkoun, though the PCs weren't convinced he would actually bother. They then received an invitation to meet with Sir Isteval, who had returned from Waterdeep. The middle-aged retired knight greeted them warmly and offered to match the duke's payment, giving each PC another 25 gp for their efforts. He also introduced them to his friend, a sun elf nobleman named Sir Darfin Floshin, who bemoaned Duke Maldwyn's lack of nobility at some length.
They had a good chat with Sir Isteval and Sir Darfin and then turned in for the night.
1 Kythorn 1486
In the morning, they paid Hadeshah a visit to inform her that her compatriot, Estor, had been killed in the goblins' assault on Julkoun. She was deeply saddened by the news, but thanked the PCs for letting her know. (They didn't tell her that they'd left his mutilated corpse hanging from the rope tied to the bridge.) Lavinia also checked in on Natyssa to find out if anyone else she'd been associated with had disappeared while they'd been out of town. While no one else had vanished or ended up dead, the missing sculptor Alven still hadn't returned either. The PCs then went and spoke with two half-brothers, Kelson Darktreader and Filarion Filvendorson. Kelson had accompanied Sir Isteval on his journey to Waterdeep and theorized that the gnolls raiding the Trade Way were operating out of an old hunting lodge in the Ardeep Forest. Filarion, meanwhile, informed them that he'd helped provision a different adventuring party that was heading for the ruins of Harpshield Castle, also in the Ardeep Forest. The party hadn't come back, but there were rumors of orcs in the area, so they may have met a bad end. With that in mind, the PCs spent the rest of the day shopping and resting.
2-4 Kythorn 1486
First thing in the morning, the PCs hit the road north, passing through several tiny hamlets whose residents made up some of the refugee crowd seeking shelter in Daggerford. They camped for the night, then headed up into the highlands colloquially known as the "Harpshield Lands", where the orcs were said to be on the hunt. Towards the middle of the third day, they encountered an orc patrol in the Ardeep Forest. The orcs didn't stand a chance and were all cut down in seconds, with Bharash chasing the last one down as it tried to flee back to its camp on the outskirts of the forest.
From the safety of the treeline, Jace sent his crow to invisibly scout the castle ruins. Through the crow's eyes, he spotted three orc encampments - one in the castle grounds and two more on the slopes of the hill to the northeast and southeast of the ruins. He also spotted a female ogre chained up in a section of the castle, and a pair of orcs patrolling the stone foundations. As the crow was heading back, he spotted a large hole in the hillside to the west of the castle. When Jace relied this find to his companions, they decided they'd investigate that first.
Fin.
4 Kythorn 1486
The group keeps to the treeline as they head up the western slope of the hill. The last 500 feet is in the open, though, so they do their best to not be seen or heard by the orcs keeping watch in the ruins. Soon enough, they reach their destination: a narrow tunnel opening on the hillside below the castle's ruined palisade. A short bit of investigation reveals that gricks use the tunnel.
Lavinia leads the way with Lathander's light to guide her. Unfortunately, it is not enough to spot the grick lying in wait partway down the tunnel. It lashes out at her with its tentacles and pulls her in for a bite. She responds by misty stepping her way past it so that Bharash can face the beast head-on. Since he is in rather cramped quarters, the dragonborn chooses to breathe his poison breath on it. The creature is badly shaken, and Roxanne takes the opportunity to fire an arrow so that it ricochets off the wall, skimming past Bharash's armpit and lodging itself deep in the grick's throat.
The heroes cheer Roxanne's expert aim and continue their way down the tunnel until it opens into a small, circular chamber riddled with smaller holes. Not wanting to hang around lest more gricks make an appearance, the heroes press on and soon find themselves in a barricaded corridor littered with broken weapons and stained with ichor and blood. The barricades are made of solid logs and fill the hall. Clearly the orcs put them here to protect themselves from the gricks. While the heroes ponder what to do next, another grick slithers into the corridor behind them, though they are able to make short work of it.
Bharash has had enough. He tackles the barricade to the west, bringing it down with a mighty crash. The group proceeds down a flight of stairs into what appears to have been a store room. The badly-decomposed remains of several humanoids lie strewn amongst the wreckage of crates and barrels. As Bharash stoops to check on one, it stirs and rises as a zombie, along with its three comrades. The group quickly dispatches the zombies, establishing in the process that this is all that remains of the adventuring party that had preceeded them to the ruins in search of lost treasure.
This adventuring party turns out to be more fortunate. Through his crow familiar's eyes, Jace spots what looks to be a secret door in the wall of the store room. Sure enough, there is a slab of stone that pivots, revealing a small tunnel he can crawl through into a white-walled chamber lined with empty niches. A stairwell to the north used to lead up into the castle but it is now choked with rubble. There is a door further on, which leads into a small room containing a chest full of silver and copper coins and a decanter labeled "potion of healing". Bharash takes a swig. The potion's gone bad and is now poison. Good thing he's got poison resistance!
Meanwhile, Roxanne does some recon work, finding another zombie in a prison cell (she manages to get the door shut and jams the lock before it can get out, though) and some tough-looking orcs resting in a firelit cellar. She heads back to the others, who have all gone through the secret door, to report. Lavinia is concerned by the description of the zombie, which Roxanne mentions is wearing a symbol of Amaunator. She is suspicious it might be the missing sculptor, Alven Gissen, although she can't think of any reason how or why he might have ended up here.
Emboldened by her brother's finding of the previous secret door, Lavinia gives this room a good once-over. Now it is her turn to find a secret door, this one leading from what is clearly a false treasure room to the real thing! This one contains two chests full of gold and silver coins and gems, plus three ancient but valuable-looking urns, a life-size gilded statue of a tiger, a suit of fine chainmail, a gleaming warhammer, and a jewel-encrusted shield that tingles with magic when Magnolia goes to pick it up. Lavinia decides to see if there are any secret doors in this room and in doing so touches the cat statue, which suddenly comes to life and attacks her. It has little room to maneuver in such confined quarters, however, and the combined forces of all five heroes make short work of the treasure room's surprise guardian.
The group decides to leave the bulk of the treasure here for now. They intend to come back and get it and load it all onto the wagon they left in the woods once they've cleared out the orcs. Next up is a short rest in the empty chamber. Magnolia spends that time mesmerized by the jewels on her shield, attuning herself to its magic in the process. It is a spellguard shield! She also claims the warhammer for her own (soon after discovering that it has some minor magical enchantment on it as well). As nobody feels comfortable in chainmail, they leave it with the urns and coins.
Back out the secret passage, the heroes go to visit the locked up zombie. Lavinia determines that it is, indeed, the reanimated remains of Alven Gissen, based on the description she'd received of him from the innkeepers back in Daggerford. He puts the poor creature out of its misery, as is Lathander's way, and then takes the symbol from its neck. From there, the heroes head down the opposite corridor and push open a set of closed doors.
They find themselves staring at an albino orc with burning red eyes, who is seated upon a makeshift throne fashioned from rocks, bones, skulls, and severed heads. The orc is holding the Delimibiyr Bloke! How did he get that?! There are two orcs flanking him. The pale orc challenges the intruders. Putting down the bloke and grabbing his battleaxe, he rushes them, taking a swing at Bharash and then draining some of his life force away with a mere touch. Then a shadowy demonic force manifests in the heroes' minds and Bharash and Roxanne find themselves filled with fear and flee back down the hall.
Lavinia opens herself fully to the tides of chaos and unleashes a mighty magical salvo. First, an ineffectual chill touch on the pale orc, then a quickened fireball in the chamber. The orc guards succumb to the flames, but the pale orc laughs and unleashes some fire of his own in a hellish rebuke. Unfortunately for him, Lavinia didn't have full control of the fireball, and he finds himself getting badly electrocuted by a wild surge of lightning. In the process, Lavinia's hair falls out and she grows another eight inches (so she is now 3' 11"). [DM Note: Lavinia's player missed triggering another wild surge by 1, so I offered to say he succeeded but that he'd have to roll twice on the table - success with a cost! Needless to say, he readily agreed.]
The heroes lay into the pale orc. Lavinia pulls out her wand of magic missiles and pummeled him again but succumbed to his hellish rebuke in the process. Magnolia suddenly finds herself confronting the pale orc - whose pasty flesh is now cracking and burning - on her own. She takes a swing with the new warhammer. The orc explodes in a shower of flames that rise up like a giant winged beast ~ just like the goblin shaman back in the village of Julkoun. What exactly is going on here?! From the ashes of the orc, Bharash retrieves a golden torc and the battleaxe, which looks to be brand new with the symbol of a fiery hammer emblazoned on its blade. He notes that it appears to be of fine dwarven make but doesn't recognize the crafter's mark.
Magnolia revives Lavinia with a healing word and the party regroups. They retrieve the Delimbiyr Bloke, wondering still how it came to be here, and then ready themselves for battle once more, as they can hear more orcs coming. Magnolia spreads some ball bearings on the floor, but the orcs - both clad in plate armor - close to melee range before she can obscure them and so they are able to go around. Roxanne gets a good hit on one with her bow, though, and then casts grease in their path, causing one to fall prone. Bharash takes a mighty leap over the other one's head, taking a crit in the process (but he is raging with the spirit of his inner dragon [bear totem] and shrugs off most of the damage), and proceeds to decapitate the one on the floor with his mighty greatsword.
The other orc attempts to withdraw, bellowing to his brethren in Orcish. He is taken down from behind before he can round the far corner of the corridor, however. The heroes retreat to the secret chamber for another breather. This time, however, they find that Lavinia's light changes to a warm rosy glow, and they soon find themselves feeling well rested after only twenty minutes! Lathander's blessing is upon them! In thanks, Lavinia prays to Lathander for guidance, asking if it would be a good plan to try to intimidate the rest of the orcs into fleeing by showing them the trophies they took from the pale orc. She gets good vibes, so the group decides to do just that.
First, they explore the rest of the castle dungeons. They come across the cellar, but decide not to go up the flight of stairs that ends at a trapdoor in the ceiling. They continue to the east and find a smaller room with a bloodstained pillar and some rope. There is also a ladder leading up to another trapdoor. This one Bharash destroys with a mighty blow, only to reveal that the exit has been covered by a massive slab of stone. Back the way they came and to the south this time, where they encounter a sort of underground tavern, with a door in each wall and three once-human zombies standing amidst the wreckage of tables and chairs. They make short work of the zombies, then find another treasure chamber to the south. This one contains a chest with more coins and gems, a small jade statuette of the orc goddess Luthic, and a parchment map of the Delimbiyr region, with Orcish writing on it. They surmise that this was the map that Filvarion Filvendorson provided the other, ill-fated adventuring party. They take it with them. To the west is another corridor leading back the way they came, however there are some double doors partway down that open onto a well shaft. They can see daylight up above but can also hear orc voices. They had back to the old tavern.
The door to the east is boarded up. They open it up and head into an old, abandoned warehouse. There is what appears to be a giant spider in the room, but it turns out just to be the dessicated shell. There is, however, another grick, which attacks from a flight of stairs ending in rubble-choked trapdoor. A thorough search of the room reveals another secret passage to the east. This leads to a dead-end room with bookshelves and what appears to be an old portal. While inspecting the room, something invisible starts throwing the books around and slamming the heroes into the walls, the ceiling, and each other! They retreat to the adjoining chamber so that Lavinia can fireball the room but it is no good. The invisible creature has followed them! It continues to harrass them as they try all manner of things, from sleep and gust of wind to wild swings of their weapons. The invisible entity continues to silently knock them about.
The heroes decide to make a run for it. As they go, Jace's mind sparks and he finds himself telling everyone that they are facing a poltergeist! An invisible spirit that is lost and confused and lashes out at anyone and everything in its anger and frustration. Unfortunately, no one in the party is equipped to deal with such a foe. [That is to say, no one has faerie fire or see invisibility or any such thing; and there is no cleric or paladin in the party to attempt to turn it.] Equally frustrated, the heroes head for the well shaft, hoping that the sunlight will keep the creature at bay.
Roxanne reaches the well first and throws a grappling hook up to the lip of the well, thirteen feet above her. Bharash is hot on her heels and swiftly climbs the rope. Magnolia is close behind, while the two halflings take quite a battering as they run as quickly as their little legs will carry them. As Bharash breaches the top of the well, he finds himself looking at some rather surprised-looking orcs in the castle courtyard. He brandishes the torc and the battleaxe and growls at them that he defeated their leader and he will defeat them unless they flee! [And his player proceeds to roll a 20+ on an Intimidation check!]
To be continued ...
Thoughts
While Scourge of the Sword Coast certainly has its flaws, one thing I really like about it is how open-ended each of the individual adventure locations is. The players are basically presented with an adventure site (a village, a ruined castle, a dwarf hold, etc) and are free to approach it however they wish. Just about every site has multiple entry points too. Because the players chose to brave the grick tunnel, they were able to cut straight to the main orc leader, instead of having to sneak past or fight their way through all his orc minions first. I was quite pleased with how that part of the adventure played out, and it seemed like the players were too. I'll admit, though, that I may have given them a little helping hand to find the real treasure room, though ... 
As for the poltergeist, while it was a lot of fun for me, the players found it incredibly frustrating. The adventure had actually called for two shadows, but a) I don't like the strength drain thing and b) I didn't think they'd be enough of a challenge for five 5th level PCs, so I chose to use a single poltergeist instead. If they'd had something like faerie fire, it would've been a lot easier for them. I probably should have had the poltergeist say something, too, seeing as how specters can technically speak Common. I couldn't really think of anything for it to say, though, and so I just had it be completely silent, which probably added to the tension.
Still, it was pretty epic, and it was 1 am before we even knew it! That's partly why I left things hanging with a bit of a cliffhanger.