Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 DaveDash Nov 03, 2014 3:56:02	I'm currently running a party of four PC's through City of the Spider Queen, which I am converting to 5e as I go.   The purpose of this thread is to show examples of mid to (eventually) high level combat, in a real campaign, in a no punches held environment.   This is a rollplaying campaign, which is designed to be hard on the characters, but we still do keep it within the edges of roleplaying (so no super genius int 3 monsters).   I will highlight some of the more interesting combats in this post.   The battle into Szith Morcane.   Background.  The characters have been asked to investigate Drow raids into the Daggerdale region of the Forgotten Realms. They traced the source of the raids to nearby crypts, have battled their way through the upper levels of the crypts, and now find themselves on the doorstep of Szith Morcane, a Drow outpost. The Drow know they are coming, and have set up an ambush in a cavern near the entrance to Szith Morcane.   Szith Morcane itself is situated in the side of a massive chasm, and the main way of navigating into each different area of the outpost is via a truly massive spider web (spun by a fiendish gargantuan spider, who is loyal to the Drow), which drapes down one of the cliff faces of the chasm.   The Party. Sebastian the Half-Elven Level 11 Lore Bard, Ronaldo, the Half-Elven Level 11 Vengeance Paladin (brother to Sebastian), Soulafin, the Drow Level 11 Abjurer Wizard, and Posma, the Half-Elven Level 11 Light Cleric.   (And also Kenny, the celestial owl, Soulafins familiar. Given I had already killed a prior familiars, each one now takes the name "Kenny"....).   The current battle is about to take place after the party has skirmished with a couple of Drow sentries guarding the cavern's above, whom swiftly retreated after taking a fireball from Soulafin, the Wizard.  At the bottom of a steep passage from where the skirmish took place, was a hole that drops 20ft into a chamber below (10ft of rock, 10ft of open space to the floor below), where the first line of Drow defence now lay in wait for the party. The retreating Drow took the only means of climbing down into that cavern with them (a rope of climbing).   The party are at the top of the hole in the passageway above, suspicious of traps around this hole, deciding what to do.   After using invisibility on the Bard, and levitating him (upside down I might add, so only his head poked through the hole) down into the hole to peek into the chamber below, they get a good idea of the foes they are up against, and they formulate a plan of attack.   The Enemy. 3 Drow Sentries (one wounded), CR2 each, 1 Medium Wraith Spider, CR3 (like a giant spider except with traits similiar to a wraith), 1 Quth-Maren, a flayed undead Drow, think of a ghoul on steroids, CR7 1 Drow Mage, the most dangerous foe, CR7, straight out of the monsters manual. This encounter is rated “Deadly”, and the PC’s have had a couple of prior encounters but have been conserving their resources well.   The Battlefield. A rough natural cavern oddly shaped, but roughly compromising of two circular components. The chambers entrance is the hole in the ceiling, and the exit is the chasm on the opposing side. The main feature of the chamber below is a set of table and chairs, which the Drow have tipped up on side to use as ¾ cover, while the others lurk in the corners of the chamber.   The Plan. Since the Drow didn’t seem to notice Sebastian when the party levitated him down in the first place, they decided to drop him down and have him wait down in the cavern. Soulafin would then drop a wall of fire angled in such a way to hit as many Drow as possible, and offer opaque cover for the rest of party to drop down onto the ‘safe’ side of the wall. Soulafin, Ronaldo, and Posma would then all jump down, taking the falling damage (to conserve 2nd level slots instead of using spells like misty step), then scramble to a portion of the cavern nearby which offered cover. From there Soulafin would blast a fireball into the chamber, dismiss the wall, and the party would mop up the survivors.   The Battle. Sebastian sits in the chamber below. He hasn’t moved from the spot they levitated him onto, so they Drow were not aware he was there. Soulafin then kicks off the battle by placing his wall of flame down into the chamber below, and then proceeds to jump down (falling prone) behind the 'safe' side of the wall of fire, then scrambles off to a corner of the cavern out of sight. The rest of the party follow down, leaping through the hole in the ceiling and rolling off to one side.  Posma blesses the party with a prayer from Lathender, while the others ready to attack anything they see come through the flames. The wall of flame obscures the view from the other side, where most of the Drow and their undead allies are situated. The wraith spider moves forward to attack the nearest party member (Posma) and misses, meanwhile the Drow caught in the wall of fire burn in the magical heat, screaming in pain, and disperse out of the flames effects. One Drow sentry leaps off into the chasm casting levitate on himself, running out of places to hide. The Drow mage, the most dangerous of foes, drinks a potion of haste then climbs down the chasm wall on the spider web, attempting to hide. The Quth-Maren shambles forward and attacks Ronaldo, its eyes filled with rage and hate. Due to its flayed seeping muscles, its horrifying visage sickens all those who gaze upon it. However in Ronaldo’s aura of courage, the party feels safe. Soulafin throws a fireball into the cavern through the wall of fire, incinerating two Drow sentries and badly wounding the Quth-Maren, he then dismisses the wall of fire, opening up the battlefield. Ronaldo smashes the Quth-Maren with divine might using his greataxe, and cuts one of its horrid arms right off. Posma unleashes the divine fire of Lathender upon the wraith spider, badly wounding it. The Drow mage pops up from the chasm wall, clinging onto the web with one hand, and with the other weaves magic which fills the cavern with poisonous gas (cloud kill). Sebastian dispels the cloudkill, while Soulafin finished off the wraith spider with a magic missile. Ronaldo charges around the corner, seeking vengeance upon his foes, and is hit with a Drow crossbow bolt, suddenly feeling sick into his stomach. In return, he throws a handaxe at the Drow who shot him, and the handaxe goes through the Drow’s skull, knocking him off the chasm wall and swallowed down into the depths of the chasm.   Soulafin then rushes around the gap, looking for the dangerous mage, suspecting he is levitating in the chasm. However he is unawares however that the mage is hiding in the thick tangles of web below him. Not seeing the mage, Soulafin moves back from the edge, and readies himself to magic missile anything dangerous that he sees. Unfortunately for the party, they situated themselves in an almost perfect line, so the Drow mage takes this opportunity to strike, casting lightning bolt on Soulafin, Ronaldo, and Sebastian. All of them however leap out of the way, and unfortunately for the mage, Soulafin’s blasts him with a magic missile, killing him. The mages body (and any potential items) is swallowed by the darkness of the chasm.   The Aftermath. This was the group’s first real encounter against a determined enemy, and they had come out victorious. However, the fight was intense and they felt like they needed to catch their breath before continuing on. They decided they’d set up for a short rest in the corner of the chamber under the protection of a Leomund’s Tiny Hut, and Soulafin also ensured that there was an alarm spell protecting the entrance to the cavern. Meanwhile he would also get Kenny to watch the chasm for signs of trouble while he prepared the hut from his spellbook.   Little did they know the missing Drow sentry had quickly scaled the spine of the web down the chasm, (using a potion of climb) and had alerted the Drow, who were now in the process of assembling a rapid reaction force. Seven Drow sentries, a Drow officer (CR5), a Drow mage, and a large wraith spider were getting ready to silently climb up the web to where the group were preparing to rest.   Also, not even Kenny’s keen eyes could have seen the arcane eye which scouted the party and relayed their intentions to rest back to watchful Drow eyes in the chambers below, and little did they know their deaths were approaching quietly up from the web, any sound masked by the echo’s and sounds of gushing water from the depths of the chasm.
#2 Jedric0202 Nov 07, 2014 0:39:54	Excited to hear more tales from your adventures.  I ran this for my group a couple of years back and things got nasty for them.
(Reply to #2) DaveDash	Jedric0202 wrote: