Hi all,
I just started running Legacy of the Crystal Shard for my group. I've updated and upgraded the monsters and NPCs to be a challenge for six PCs of 3rd to 5th level. We had our first session this evening. It went pretty well. I know we're kind of late to the party on this one, but I'd like to share my group's adventures in Icewind Dale anyway, just in case anyone is interested.
To start with, here are the current PCs:
- Lander: An aasimar monk and Chosen of Torm, who has been tasked with rooting out a group of extortionists who have established themselves in Icewind Dale and bringing them to justice.
- Lavinia: A lightfoot halfling wild mage who has fled to Icewind Dale in order to protect her family from a group of halfling supremacists she angered.
- Lily: A fire genasi who, until recently, served as a sergeant in Luruar's Argent Legion. For reasons only she knows, she left the legion and signed on as a guard for the season's last caravan heading to Icewind Dale. She regards Sengal as her sister, even though the two have only recently met.
- Roberto: A 12 year-old urchin who views Lander as a father figure after the monk took him under his wing. Roberto aspires to be a daring skald. He is traveling with Lander to Icewind Dale, where he hopes to find the mother who abandoned him.
- Roxanne: Roberto's biological mother, Roxanne is a half-elf with a troubled past. A harlot by trade, she gambled away her son, who ended up living on the streets. Interested in the arcane, she was caught stealing a spellbook from a Waterdhavian mage who, as restitution for her crime, tasked her with recovering a stolen magic staff that had been traced to Icewind Dale.
- Sengal: A fire genasi whose father was a prominent member of the Elk Tribe. After being rejected by her tribe, she was taken in by a kindly druid, who led her on a pilgrimage of sacred sites around western Faerûn and taught her the ways of the druid. She is now returning to Icewind Dale to find her father.
EPISODE 1: Welcome to Icewind Dale
Upon their arrival in Bryn Shander, the PCs fended of a group of yetis that attacked the caravan as it slowly wound its way through the town gates. The druid, Sengal, spotted a ghostly figure crowned with reindeer horns out in the snow beyond the gates, but when she went out for a look later on, she could find no trace of the woman.
Lander and Roberto interacted with a pair of grumbling guards who blamed a barbarian for the yeti attack. Roberto, due to his obsession with needing people to like him, kept charming the guards with his friends cantrip, much to Lander's consternation. He also pickpocketed a distraught shopkeeper, but Lander spotted him and made him give the key he'd found back. Lander also agreed to help the shopkeeper, an apothecary named Rierdon, attempt to recover his money from a thug named Slim that evening. Lavinia also agreed to help.
Meanwhile, Sengal and Isilme were approached by a dwarf merchant named Helda Silverstream, who had traveled with them from Luskan. She thanked them for their help protecting the caravan and asked if they and their companions who be interested in escorting her to the dwarven valley in a few days' time. They said they'd think about it, and she told them to meet her at the Northlook Inn.
Lander, meanwhile, wanted to see whoever was in charge of the town. The others tagged along. As they entered the market square in the center of town, they spotted the naked barbarian lashed to a post, hoarsely calling out to passersby to help him. The guards they'd spoken to earlier had said he'd arrived in town yesterday only to be caught stealing from a local merchant. They clearly believed he had led the yetis to the town and therefore deserved his punishment. The PCs, however, wanted to help him, so they went in search of the town speaker.
As they approached the speaker's palace, a dour, self-important man carrying a wizard's staff was just leaving. The PCs tried to talk to him, but he brushed aside their enquiries and continued on his way. They were able to secure an audience with the speaker, a woman named Duvessa Shane. They told her about the yeti attack, and Sengal described having seen a woman with an antler crown in the snow storm. They also asked her about the barbarian in the town square. Roberto pleaded for the man's life, and Duvessa eventually relented and agreed to commute his sentence to banishment if one of the adults would vouch for him and see him out of the city as soon as he'd been released and his belongings returned to him. Isilme agreed, as she was intrigued by his talk of an "ice witch".
As Roberto and Isilme escorted Hengar to the sheriff's office to retrieve his gear, he introduced himself as Hengar Aesnvaard. He begged them to come back with him to his tribe's camp, as they were under threat from the beasts of the wild, who were being driven into a fury by this ice witch. Isilme, without consulting anyone else, agreed to accompany him on her own, but both she and Hengar instructed Roberto to go find his "father".
Meanwhile, the others secured rooms at Geldenstag's Rest. Lavinia conversed with the proprietor, Myrtle, asking as many questions as she herself was asked. Roberto also shared some juicy tidbits from his mother's XXX-rated diary that more than sated Myrtle's inquisitiveness. Lavinia learned a great deal about the goings on in town from Myrtle. Lily also learned a bit while taking a tour of the town on her own. Lander, who was feeling a bit fed up with Roberto, tied him to his cot in the inn and then went to pray in the temple.
That evening, Lander, Sengal, Lavinia and Lily went to meet Rierdon the apothecary at the Northlook. Mistaking them for potential recruits, the proprietor sent them straight to Slim's room. Barging in on Slim, they discovered a murder scene. The PCs made short work of Slim's goons, particularly due to a well-placed shatter spell from Lavinia that blew out the windows and destroyed the furniture in the room. Seeing things weren't going his way, Slim leapt out the window. Lander and Sengal ran to the window just in time to spot a giant rat scurrying down an alley. They gave chase, with Sengal even transforming into a cat, but the rat managed to elude them. As they made their way back to the Northlook, they spotted what looked like a building on fire across town, only the flames were an eerie green color.
Meanwhile, Isilme and Hengar made it as far as Kelvin's Cairn before Hengar called a halt for the night. As the beasts of the tundra had become quite dangerous, he told her that they daren't light a fire, so instead he built a snow shelter and told her they'd have to spoon to keep warm.
Back at the Northlook, the two surviving thugs had surrendered, so Lily tied them up with sheets and Lavinia intimidated them into talking, although they didn't seem to know much that was useful. A search of the room and the bodies revealed a note addressed to someone named Aarun (presumably the murdered man, whom Rierdon didn't recognize) from a Mithann.
And that is where I called the session. We'll be playing again in a fortnight.
Aside from Isilme's player deciding to go off with Hengar alone, things went pretty well. I think what I will do is have her patron contact her in some way and suggest that she shouldn't try to face the wrath of the Frostmaiden alone. Lurue will encourage her to go back to Bryn Shander and try to convince her newfound allies to accompany her. I know that's a bit heavy-handed, but it's supposed to take three days to get to the barbarian camp, and the player's going to miss out on a whole lot by going off alone for that long (plus, once she gets to the camp, she's not going to be able to do anything to help on her own; she'll most likely get herself killed).
In case anyone's interested, here are my house rules for the campaign:
- Feats and multiclassing are allowed. I'm also allowing non-human PCs to sacrifice their racial +2 ability boost (or two +1s, in some cases) to start with a feat. Only one player took me up on the offer though (Sengal has the Observant feat).
- Instead of having inspiration grant advantage, I'm intending to hand out plot twist cards. You can only have one at a time, and you must use it before the end of the session or it is lost. I forgot to bring them along to the first session, though, so I just used the default rule for inspiration. Next time!
- Even though I had the PCs start at 3rd level, I decided to let everyone add their Con score to their hit points as an extra boost. I thought they might need it since some of the creatures they will be fighting might be overpowered for the CR I eyeballed for them (since I had to update them from the playtest versions and upgrade them from 1st-3rd to 3rd-5th and taken into account the fact that I've got 6 PCs instead of 4).
- Wild Magic Surge: The chance of Lavinia triggering a magic surge increases with spell slot level. It triggers on a roll of 1 on a d20 for a 1st level spell as normal, but when she uses a 2nd level spell slot, a surge will trigger on a roll of 1 or 2. When she gets 3rd level spell slots, when she uses one, a surge will trigger when she rolls a 1, 2, or 3. And so on.
Hi pukunui, thanks for sharing. I picked up Legacy and am planning to run it after getting through the Starter Set. Its a beauitfully presented module and I really like the DM screen that comes with it.
Do you recommend that the starting level be 3rd?
joeburgos wrote:
joeburgos wrote:
Interlude: During the night, Isilme is visited by a unicorn, through which her patron Lurue speaks to her, advising her to turn back and seek the aid of her newfound allies (the other PCs) as she cannot hope to face the Frostmaiden alone. Hengar is disappointed but understanding and agrees to wait in Termalaine for a day or two. The unicorn then escorts Isilme back to Bryn Shander.
EPISODE 2: The Drawing Down
We kicked this session off with Lander, Lavinia, and Sengal going to investigate the source of the strange green flames, while Lily (whose player was absent) stayed behind to guard the captive thugs. The source was a burning warehouse with townsfolk busily piling snow on the flames to put them out. The PCs came across the owner of the warehouse, a merchant named Dunavan, conversing with a priestess of Amaunator. They overheard the words "Aarun" and "silvered" and stepped in to inform the two that they'd found Aarun dead in Slim's room at the Northlook. The priestess introduced herself as Mithann and suggested they find someplace out of the wind to talk, so she took them back to her rooms at the shrine.
The PCs showed her the crumpled up note they'd found on Aarun's body, which she proclaimed a forgery. She informed them she'd sent a different note inviting Aarun, who she revealed to be an agent of the mysterious Harpers, to meet with a hunter named Aglonell. Aarun never showed, and based on the evidence presented to her, she could only conclude that her message had been intercepted by the Luskan pirates and replaced with the forgery that lured Aarun to his doom. She also told them about the crate of silvered weapons and Aarun's suspicions of there being wererats amongst the Ship Rethnor thugs who'd come up from Luskan.
Dunavan showed up and asked the PCs if they'd be interested in guarding his other warehouse, the one that happened to contain the crate. They said yes, and offered to watch over it for the remainder of that night. Off they went, bumping into Isilme on the way. They filled her in, and she them, while they sat in the warehouse. When nothing happened by the time the sun had risen, they decided to get some rest in the morning, then went to meet Mithann and Aglonell at noon.
Aglonell told them of his looted traps and of being robbed by thugs. While the sheriff had dismissed them as pesky bandits, Mithann and Aglonell were certain they were Ship Rethnor pirates. Aglonell had tracked them to their lair on the southwestern slopes of Kelvin's Cairn and offered to show the PCs. They jumped at the chance and headed off immediately at a fast pace. With Aglonell leading the way, it only took them three hours to arrive.
The bandit lair was accessible via a narrow switchback staircase. There was also a cave at the base, out of which an icy stream gurgled. They opted for a frontal assault and climbed the staircase and bashed the door in, taking a few hits from crossbowmen firing through concealed arrow slits for their troubles. Nevertheless, they made short work of the bandits and the two wererats they encountered in the lair, in large part due to Sengal's judicious use of a moonbeam spell. [DM note: the bandits hit her repeatedly, taking her down to about 3 hit points by the end, but she made every single one of her Con saves to maintain her concentration on the spell. One of the wererats also managed to get a bite in on Lavinia, but she too made her Con save.]
Searching the lair, they found a locked chest, two flasks of green alchemist's fire, and a note to Slim from an unknown person discussing plans to move a score of bandits into town to help overthrow Duvessa as speaker. The PCs hastily retraced their steps back to Bryn Shander and went immediately to the speaker's palace to show Duvessa the note. She recognized the arcane signature immediately as that of the wizard Vaelish Gant. She commented that he brazenly displayed that very mark on the door to his office opposite the council hall on the south side of town. While she was clearly dismayed, having though of Gant as an ally, she insisted that the PCs leave the politicking to her. She asked them not to confront Gant directly but instead to keep a close eye on him, since she figured the PCs would be better at covert surveillance than any of her guards.
The PCs also informed her about the existence of the wererats and the crate of silvered weapons. They offered to give the crate to the sheriff to distribute amongst his men. While Duvessa wanted to keep things on the lowdown so as not to alert Gant that she was on to him, the PCs spoiled her plans by not only giving the town guards the crate of weapons but also putting the word out that they had them. They did this partly to protect Dunavan's warehouse (their reasoning being that if the pirates knew the silvered weapons were no longer in the warehouse, then they wouldn't attack it).
Afterwards, the PCs found a locksmith willing to open the chest for them. Inside were 220 gold coins! On the way out, they were confronted by a group of hotheaded youths, who started hurling insults at them, particularly Lavinia. She protested that she was an upstanding citizen, which just made her the butt of several jokes. She tried to intimidate them into backing off, which happened to trigger a wild surge, which happened to result in a wave of necrotic energy that very nearly killed the hooligans. They went scrambling away in fear as Lavinia apologized profusely to her companions, who had also been hurt by the surge. [DM note: The surge was triggered as a Tides of Chaos recharge, in case anyone is wondering.]
That is where we finished for the night. The players are planning on staking out Gant's office, with Sengal wildshaping into a cat in an attempt to get inside unnoticed. They also intend to go find Hengar and accompany him back to the Elk Tribe camp. They've heard the rumors about the discord in the Dwarven Valley as well, but I think they intend to ignore that for now.
Overall the session went well and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. I'm grateful to Isilme's player for agreeing (between sessions) to have her character rejoin the party rather than continue her solo sojourn. I'm also a little bit frustrated with the module, though, for failing to take into account the fact that the players might want to show Duvessa the note with Gant's arcane mark on it. Maybe I had the PCs meet with Aglonell too soon, but the module gives no indication as to when he's supposed to show up. As it stands, the PCs have uncovered Gant's duplicity with four more days to go before his attempted coup during the feast of Highharvestide. If the PCs head off to the tundra, that'll buy Gant some breathing space, but now that Duvessa's on to him, I'm not sure what he'll do instead. He can't trick her into meeting him in his office only to have her captured and tied up so she can't give her speech. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do next. Luckily I've got two weeks to figure it out.
Sounds like a blast!
Really enjoying reading through this! 
Thanks guys. We did have a blast.
Keep the updates coming. I like how thick and fast the incidents are flying. Also, nice job on providing a gentle course correction with the unicorn visitation.
Keep the updates coming. I like how thick and fast the incidents are flying. Also, nice job on providing a gentle course correction with the unicorn visitation.
I certainly will. We play once a fortnight, so the next update won't be for a while unfortunately. I have come up with some ideas on how to deal with the early reveal of Vaelish Gant. I might have him profess his innocence and insist that someone has forged his arcane signature (he does, after all, display it in public on his office door after all). At the same time, he might get his goons to encourage the PCs to get out of town.
We missed a session a fortnight ago because I failed my Con save against the stomach virus that was doing the rounds in my house. So it's been a month since we last played. But we had quite the session tonight!
EPISODE 3: The Wizard's Gambit
We kicked off with Lavinia laying out a plan of action against the wizard, Vaelish Gant. She proposed forging a note from Slim asking Vaelish to meet him. Sengal would then wildshape into a giant rat to deliver the message. Unfortunately, they never got to carry out this plan, as they chose to head out for some supper first at which point things happened ...
As they were heading down the street from their inn to the local tavern, the Hooked Knucklehead, they spotted Vaelish approaching them, with none other than Roberto, the prodigal son, at his side. However, as the pair neared the others, a quintet of townsfolk suddenly drew daggers and fell upon the PCs. Two were town guards, while another appeared to be a housewife. The suddenness of their attack caught the PCs off-guard, but Roberto dashed forward to aid his comrades, hoping to put the attackers to sleep with magic. Unfortunately, the attackers seemed too tough and Roberto only succeeded in putting Lavinia the halfling wild sorcerer to sleep instead (although she was awakened with a swift kick from Isilme). On a later turn, Lavinia cast a ray of sickness only to have a wild surge cause pink bubbles to come out of her mouth whenever she tried to speak, preventing her from casting any more spells for the remainder of the fight.
Vaelish also came to the PCs' aid, firing fire bolts from his staff at the assailants. The PCs took some big hits from their attackers but eventually all five of them were dispatched, although they prevented the last one - one of the town guards - from dying. A search of the bodies revealed that all of them wore an amulet carved from black ice in the shape of the Frostmaiden's snowflake holy symbol. Isilme took one of the amulets, while Lily jealously hoarded the rest. She immediately started feeling very possessive of them. Vaelish commented that the Frostmaiden appeared to have it out for the party. He then offered to treat them to a meal and a warm drink at the Knucklehead, which they accepted despite their reservations.
Sengal broached the subject of the incriminating note, asking Vaelish if he knew anything about it. Vaelish of course denied being the one who wrote the note and suggested that someone must be setting him up. He asked why anyone would think he would wish to do Speaker Duvessa any harm, as he considered her a good friend. He suggested that perhaps it was Rendaril, the half-elf from Waterdeep who ran the largest trading house in town and supposedly made more money in a week than most other merchants in town received in a whole season, who was gunning to topple Duvessa. Meanwhile, Roberto decided to pad around the inn looking for anyone who might be paying too much attention to the PCs' conversation. He spotted one shady looking character in a corner watching them, but when he turned to tell Lander, he bumped into a serving maid, who spilled a tray of ale mugs on him. The distraction allowed the shady character to slip away through the kitchen, though Roberto spotted him and told Lander, who got Lavinia to go with him. They convinced Barton, the Knucklehead's proprietor, to allow them entry into the kitchen. The shady character ambushed them in the back alley, however, revealing itself to be another Rethnor wererat. The lycanthrope managed to bite Lander, who failed his Con save. Meanwhile Lavinia suffered another wild surge, this time turning her skin bright blue. Roberto, Lavinia and Lander, armed with silver weapons and magic as they were, were then able to make short work of the pirate. On the way back through the kitchen, Lander grabbed a chef's hat and plopped it onto Lavinia's head (for the obligatory smurf joke).
Not long after, Vaelish excused himself and the PCs also headed back to Geldenstag's Rest, where they were able to fend off Myrtle's nosy questions and get some much-needed rest. In the morning, Lavinia sought out Mithann to see if she could restore her skin to its normal color, but Lander decided not to tell anyone he'd been infected with lycanthropy. He told Mithann he might see her about something personal in a few days, though. He then went out and bought a silvered chain and lock and gave it to Lily with express instructions to tie him up should he change into a wererat during the next full moon in 4 days' time (I didn't know if there were specific rules for when there's a full moon in the Realms, so I rolled my friend's d30 and got a 4. Ha!).
The party then stocked up on rations and headed out to meet Hengar in Termalaine, having decided that helping out the Elk Tribe was more important than sorting out Bryn Shander's political situation. Along the way, they came across a middle-aged woman who had sold her family bakery business and was moving to Targos to get away from the Rethnor thugs and their protection racket. She seemed quite distraught about it. Despite the urgency of their mission, the PCs decided to slow down and travel with her - bravely weathering a sudden winter squall that howled down from the Reghed glacier for about an hour - until she reached the point where the road to Targos branched away from the road to Termalaine. Shortly after they parted ways, the druid Sengal spotted some lupine shapes in the snow and a pack of wolves, led by a vicious winter wolf, attacked the party from all sides.
The winter wolf went for Lander and Sengal at the front of the party, while the wolf pack assaulted Lily and the donkey that Roberto had purchased in Bryn Shander. The wolves made short work of the donkey, killing it instantly. Lily, however, managed to dispatch both wolves with a single blow to each of them. Two more wolves were taken out by Lavinia's magic, and the last wolf turned tail and ran back into the snow. The winter wolf, meanwhile, was savaging Lander to little effect (not only was he able to resist the wolf's cold breath thanks to his magic ring but his lycanthropy also made him immune to the wolf's bite) and was swiftly beaten to a pulp by the combined efforts of the party. Roberto insisted that they build a cairn for his donkey, so the party spent another hour searching through the snow for enough rocks to do so. They then placed the winter wolf's head on top of the cairn.
When they arrived in Termalaine, they found the locals' friendliness suspicious (references were made to The Stepford Wives and the like). They were met by none other than the town speaker herself, who cheerfully showed them the way to the Eastside, the town's only inn. There, they found a 12-year-old girl named Marta tending shop. Roberto and Marta blushed at each other. Then one of the others asked if a barbarian named Hengar had been around and Marta said he had indeed and had left a message for someone named Isilme. The message was that he was hiding out in the woods north of the town. Roberto insisted on buying another donkey, then they went and found Hengar lurking in the woods. He was glad to see them and told them he'd been hiding out in the woods as he was wary of facing a repeat of his ordeal in Bryn Shander. He insisted that they set off at once. With a relentlessly fast pace, they could reach the Elk Tribe camp in 11 hours.
As they passed through Bremen's Run to the west of Kelvin's Cairn, they came across a dwarf patrol. Two of the dwarves were wielding axes made of black ice and were arguing amongst themselves, while the third dwarf was calling for calm. As the party passed by, Roberto rudely called out an insult, which prompted the two dwarves to turn on him angrily. They rushed forward and yanked him off the donkey but were unable to hit him with their axes. He cast a crown of madness on one of them, while Sengal cast heat metal on the other dwarf's chainmail, but then Isilme ended the matter by putting all of the dwarves, including the third one, to sleep. She promptly woke him up and started peppering him with questions. He gave her a rundown about the troubles the dwarves have been having since Baerick started making his black ice trinkets just over a week ago. Despite the concerns of most of the party, Lily insisted on taking the helmet of one of the sleeping dwarves which happened to be made of black ice, while Roberto took one of the black ice battleaxes.
At Hengar's urging, they then left the third dwarf to tend to his sleeping comrades while they continued on towards the tundra.
And that's where we left things. We didn't quite get as far as I was hoping we would, but that was partly because I kept rolling random encounters (which may have been because I decided after last session to make it so random encounters triggered at the high end of the percentile roll instead of the low end). I'm very much looking forward to next session though. The players have no idea what their PCs are going to be up against as they reach the climax of Act 1 (and they've chosen the path leading to the most dramatic climax too, in my opinion). 
Quick recap because it's late and I'm tired:
EPISODE 4: A Song of Ice and Fire
As the PCs left the dwarf patrol behind and continued up Bremen's Run, they sought out the bandit lair they'd cleared out earlier and set up camp for the night. Hengar the Elk Tribesman filled them in on his story and told them about the tribes and such. In the morning, as they were cresting the last spur of Kelvin's Cairn, they heard shouts from below. A single barbarian was being chased by a group of eight, dressed in bear furs. The PCs decided to rescue the lone barbarian, but most of them went tumbling or sliding down the snowy slope. Sengal managed to entangle most of the Bear Tribe warriors, however, so the lone barbarian, who turned out to be a fellow Elk Tribesman that Hengar recognized, managed to move a safer distance away.
Lavinia let off a shatter spell, which may have caused an avalanche. Everyone started running away at that point. Two of the entangled Bear Tribe warriors got buried in the snow, but everyone else made it. The rescued Elk Tribe hunter, Wigleff, said he'd been part of a hunting party that had been set upon by Bear Tribe raiders. He was the last survivor. Sengal healed him with her druidic magic and then Hengar urged everyone to keep moving.
During the 10-hour trek across the tundra, the group was ambushed by yetis. They spotted one yeti in time but the other surprised them, taking out Lavinia in its initial attack. The first yeti paralyzed Roberto with its chilling gaze and then took out his donkey (although the donkey made its death saves and Roberto later healed it with his own bardic magic). Lily also took advantage of the distraction to liberate the black ice amulet Isilme was carrying, bringing her total to five amulets and one helmet. The combined might of the PCs, along with Hengar and Wigleff, was too great for the yetis, however, and they both fell under numerous blows.
Later, the PCs got caught in another winter squall, but luckily they were close to the Elk Tribe camp at that point. Still, a number of them failed Con saves vs exhaustion, some more than once even. I believe Sengal still has 2 levels of exhaustion, so she's on half speed. Most of the others only got 1 level, which they were able to get rid of with a long rest in the Elk Tribe camp. Speaking of which, when they arrived, they found that the Bear Tribe had conducted a raid on the Elk Tribe the day before and had carted off some prisoners - including the aging father Sengal had come to visit before he died. The Elk Tribe shaman, Mjenir, didn't seem happy to see the PCs, and the barbarians refused to let the PCs sleep in a tent. Hengar offered them a place around a fire pit with him, although Roberto snuck off and slept in a tent without waking up its occupants. In the morning, Wigleff was found stabbed to death, with Mjenir accusing his wife of having done the deed in the night. She was to be sentenced to death by exposure in the snow. The PCs tried to talk to her but she refused to say anything and Mjenir wasn't too happy about them interfering in tribal business anyway.
Shortly after, they set off with a band of fourteen Elk Tribe warriors (including Hengar and the tribe's best tracker, Folnor Hagbarthe) to follow the Bear Tribe raiders and hopefully mount a rescue. Folnor explained that the Bear Tribe had moved their camp to the sacred hot spring of Evermelt, which is situated at the top of the glacial moraine at the edge of the Reghed Glacier. It was near the old lair of the great white wyrm known as Icingdeath, which the great Elk king Wulfgar had slain over a century before. During the journey, the group got caught in another winter squall, slowing their progress, but after six hours they made it to the edge of the glacier, although Folnor had led them to a point about an hour's march to the south so that the Bear Tribe's scouts wouldn't see them coming. With another four hours of daylight, they made a makeshift camp at the base of the glacier to wait. As the hours ticked by, they spotted some wolves moving closer through the snow. One looked large and white. The barbarians seemed disinclined to deal with the wolves, but the PCs were worried that the winter wolf was acting as a scout for the Ice Witch, so they went out and engaged it in combat. The wolves got a few good bites in, but ultimately the PCs prevailed. Lily succumbed to the influence of all the black ice on her person and, in a rage, hacked the winter wolf to pieces.
It was midnight at that point, so we called it there.
Thoughts: I think I've created a monster. First of all, I gave Lander a ring that gives him cold resistance, and now he's got wererat lycanthropy, which makes him immune to nonmagical, nonsilvered weapon damage. In this particular environment, where most creatures deal either nonmagical, nonsilvered weapon damage or cold damage, he can dish out the damage while taking very little in return. The player is waiting until the full moon comes and he experiences his first episode of turning into a wererat before deciding whether or not to seek out a cure ... meanwhile, some of the other players are suggesting that Lander bite all the other PCs so they can all have immunity to nonmagical, nonsilvered weapon damage.
Also, the black ice trinkets seem to be having an effect on Lily and Isilme's players as well as their respective characters. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
Great story pukunui, thanks for sharing.
I love reading these recaps, Puk. I'm glad to see the adventure plays as well as it reads.
It sounds like you're having some challenges with Lander's lycanthropy, as well as his magic ring. I'm not sure how Lander got the magic ring or what the backstory is, but if the ring is turning out to be overpowered, there are many ways to take it away. I mean, the Ice Witch could just literally wish it away. In any case, it sounds like the problem isn't the ring itself, but the ring in combination with the lycanthropy. For the ring, perhaps you could evolve it into a legacy item with powers that grow and change over time. After the players defeat the simulacrum and the skeleton at Evermelt, the ring could "level up". Perhaps it now grants immunity to cold 1/day as a reaction for one round, but also becomes a +1 magic weapon that makes all of Lander's unarmed attacks cold damage. This would reduce the defensive power of the ring, give it a little offensive oomph, and hopefully make Lander feel like he was getting something cool, as opposed to losing something. At higher levels it could perhaps shoot a ray of frost or blast of cold. Just a thought.
As for the lyncanthropy, my reading of the Monster Manual is that a player who embraces the curse changes in alignment. In this case, lawful evil. That's probably not something an aasimar Chosen of Torm would want to do. The extortionists that he came to root out--are those the wererats? If so, you have an excellent dramatic irony at work here. He's become the thing he came to defeat. Hopefully you can work with the player in a constructive fashion to roleplay his descent into evil and/or struggle for redemption. Once the players return to Bryn Shander, I would kick this plotline into overdrive. The players let Vaelish off the hook the last time they met him. That was probably a mistake. When they return to Bryn Shander, they find that he has seized control of the town. The mayor is dead, or staked in the square like Hengar, or turned into a wererat. Perhaps Vaelish or one of the wererats have some sort of psychic control or connection over Lander and uses him to attack the players from within. Or perhaps Vaelish has a potion that cures lyncanthropy, and he offers it to Lander in return for an agreement not to interfere with his takeover of Icewind Dale. There's so much potential here...if you can get buy in from your player.
What about the black ice that Lily and Isilme have? Use the black ice to tie them into Akar Kessell. He's one of the big bads of the adventure, so do anything you can to foreshadow his involvement or make the conflict personal. For example, maybe he uses the black ice to communicate telepathically to Lily and Isilme. Perhaps he gives them clues to help them in their quests, but asks for service in return. Or perhaps Akar Kessell is somehow part of the reason that Lily left the Argent Legion. In any case, I think you can let this simmer for a while until the players reach the Halls of Black Ice, then really turn up the temperature.
Anyway, I'm not sure if those ideas are helpful, but I hope they are. Your players have great backstories that create all sorts of opportunities to improve the adventure. Seems like a good group.
PrimusPeregrinus wrote:
Last night was Halloween here. To mark the occasion, I made cookies:
EPISODE 5: The Ice is Dark and Full of Terrors
We kicked off the session with Sengal grumbling about having to wait till nightfall to rescue her father [no bribery on the part of the DM was involved in this at all ... 
]. Her fellow Elk Tribesmen agreed, so the party headed off to Evermelt. The Elk warriors headed up the side of the glacial moraine - a more direct but more difficult route - while the PCs headed up the winding path, with Sengal leading the way on Roberto's donkey. When the PCs were about halfway up, the Bear Tribe guards pushed boulders down on them. Isilme got clipped and Roberto got hit pretty badly. When Lander stopped to help him, they were targeted by the Bear Tribe bowmen.
Eventually the PCs made it up to the top of the moraine to find that the Elk warriors had already engaged the Bear warriors in combat around the shores of the hot spring. One of their members had not made it up the moraine, so they were down to 12. There was a group of eight Bear warriors near the top of the path, and after the PCs engaged them in combat, the Bear warchief, Wolvig Barrundson, entered the combat. Unfortunately, he was successful charmed by Sengal (even though he had advantage on the roll) ... she wanted him to stand down and call off his warriors, but before he could do anything, Roberto superceded the basic charm with a crown of madness, causing Wolvig to attack and kill one of his own men.
As the other PCs made short work of the other Bear warriors, Wolvig saw things weren't going to go his way and he surrendered. The Elk warriors, reduced to in number to eight (including Hengar and Folnor), rounded up the rest of the Bear warriors. Under interrogation, Wolvig revealed that the Elk prisoners had been taken into the ice caves below the glacier by the Bear tribe's shaman. The PCs asked him why the Bear tribe had sided with the Frostmaiden, and he begrudingly told them it was the shaman's idea and that he'd persuaded the tribe it was necessary for their survival. Secretly, Wolvig still worshiped Tempus, however. Roberto decided it was time to practice his sleight of hand and pickpocketed Wolvig; to his detriment, all he found was a pouch with some coppers in it, so he put it back in Wolvig's other pocket without the barbarian noticing.
Meanwhile, Lily and Roberto had spotted shiny things at the bottom of the lake, so they both dove in and swam down, resisting the pull of the current, to collect some mineral-veined rocks. The others followed, but all of them get swept into the underwater chute by the strong current. They got battered and bruised and swept over a 30-foot high waterfall. Only Isilme managed to catch herself on a slippery column of ice. The others all plunged into the pool at the base of the waterfall. Roberto followed shortly after, landing on top of Isilme, who amazingly managed not to lose her grip on the ice column. Lily came through a few moments later, having carefully buried her special treasures in a corner of the Bear Tribe Camp first.
Once the PCs had collected themselves, they found themselves in a small cavern with several ice stalagmites to which were tied a number of naked Elk Tribe people. The shaman of the Bear Tribe stood on a ledge to the northeast, while two Bear Tribe women dressed as bears stood amongst the stalagmites. The shaman welcomed them to his sacrificial rite to Auril and proceeded to cast hold person on Isilme, followed up by a spiritual weapon in the shape of a bear claw that sliced at Roberto. Sengal wildshaped into a bear and went to attack one of the women. Enfuriated that someone would use their tribal totem against them, the women drew long, curved knives and leapt at Sengal to slice her up.
Hengar and Lander made short work of one of the women, who fell into a crevice through which the water from the hot spring was flowing, while Isilme shook off her paralyzation and moved closer to the shaman to call forth the Arms of Hadar. Unfortunately, due to the cramped quarters, she not only hit the shaman and the Bear Tribe fury, but also Sengal (who only just managed to maintain her bear shape) and four of the Elk Tribe prisoners. [This was rather upsetting for the player concerned, who claimed it wasn't fair ~ the one time she tries using a spell other than eldritch blast, she ends up with collateral damage.] The shaman was partly amused but also somewhat upset that she had killed some of the prisoners before they could die of exposure ~ the only proper way to sacrifice someone to Auril.
Lander proceeded to leap onto Sengal's back so he could reach the shaman on the ledge. He knocked the shaman prone, and he crawled back away from the ledge but not far enough, for Roberto, who was getting harrassed by the shaman's spiritual claw, cast shatter in the tunnel behind the shaman, causing a cave-in that buried the shaman alive. Sengal used her bear claws to dig out the shaman's body to make sure he was dead. Well, actually, the player had intended to loot the body, but she was distracted by her father calling out to her, so Roberto siezed the opportunity to pick the corpse's pockets and found a potion of healing that he promptly downed in one gulp.
The surviving Elk tribe prisoners were freed but they were all half-dead from exposure and the PCs didn't really have anything to keep them warm. With his dying breath, Sengal's father warned her that the Ice Witch was in the next cave, and that one of the Elk Tribesmen, Soren Arsnfirth, had already been dragged in as her first sacrifice. Sengal was presumably moved by her brief reunion with the father that had abandoned her as a child.
By this point, the PCs were feeling really beaten up, but they couldn't afford to take even a short rest. Hengar said he would try climbing back up the waterfall to go and get help, while the surviving Elk Tribesmen huddled together to keep warm. Roberto crept down the ice passage and observed the Ice Witch standing on the far side of a crevice bisecting a giant ice cavern. Behind her lay the dessicated remains of Icingdeath, the great white wyrm slain over a century ago by the Elk Tribe hero Wulfgar. A naked man knelt on the near side of the crevice, pleading with his "daughter" to stop the madness. Roberto caught her saying something about "an example". After Roberto relayed this back to the others, the group opted for a frontal assault.
As soon as the Ice Witch spotted them, she became enraged and used the power of Auril to animate the bones of Icingdeath. The players were suitably awed, but the only PC to succumb to the dragon's fear was Sengal. Meanwhile, the Ice Witch called upon the last lingering remains of the dragon's lair to cause bits of ice from the ceiling to rain down on the PCs who'd entered the cavern. Isilme took several blows from the ice, the dragon's tail, and the Ice Witch's magic and collapsed in a heap on the ground, dying.
Roberto dashed away to the left to hide behind a stalagmite, while Lily and Lander attempted to go to the right. Sengal was unable to approach the dragon, so was also unable to go to Isilme's aid. As she was all out of magic and wildshapes, she was forced to resort to firing arrows at the Ice Witch from within the tunnel. Isilme died after failing three death saves in a row.
All looked bleak for Team Hero until Roberto had the brilliant idea to cast Tasha's hideous laughter on the skeletal dragon. [Since the skeleton had an Intelligence greater than 4, and I rolled a 1 on its Wisdom save, the spell worked.] The skeleton collapsed onto the ground, shaking silently with mirth. The Ice Witch, however, was not to be deterred. She continued to batter the heroes with chunks of ice from the domed ceiling and her magic. As Lily approached with her sword drawn, the Ice Witch reached out her hand and caused the metal to go freezing cold, forcing Lily to drop it. Lander came to her aid and the two of them were promptly subjected to a cone of cold which took the monk out despite his cold resistance.
Roberto cast shatter behind the Ice Witch, causing some of the ice-encrusted dragon hoard that had lain undisturbed beneath its corpse to explode out into the room. A particularly shiny silver bracelet landed just on the edge of the crevice, catching Lily's eye in the process and causing her to hesitate. But then she noticed that the Ice Witch was also perilously close to the crevice, so instead of picking up her sword (or the bracelet), Lily rushed the Ice Witch. She rolled high on her Strength check, while the Ice Witch rolled ... a 1! Down she went, crumbling into snow as she fell, revealing it to be a simulacrum and not the real deal! The dragon's bones stopped moving. However, the Ice Witch's laughter sounded over the wind as she warned them that that was just a vessel for her power, as hollow as the PCs' victory. They could keep defeating them, but she would keep sending more out until all of Icewind Dale was subjected to Auril's wrath.
The survivors picked themselves up and, seeing that their companion Isilme was dead, promptly proceeded to loot the room, digging through the dragon's remaining treasure. They found a number of coins and shiny trinkets. [Isilme's player commented that if they found a potion of healing, she'd be upset; they didn't, but I'll just point out that they could have.]
And there we have it! Who would've thought a massive skeletal dragon could be taken out of the fight with laughter? It made for an epically memorable scene (and helped snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat). Lily pushing the Ice Witch's simulacrum into the crevice was truly inspired too. I'm glad I decided to add that terrain element into the encounter.
This was probably one of the best sessions I've ever run. The players were all suitably freaked out when the dragon's bones rose to face them, and it was a lot of fun seeing their looks of resignation and hopeleness give way to elation as first the dragon was subdued and then the Ice Witch. By the end of the night, the PCs had exhausted pretty much all of their resources - spells, hit dice, and so on - and two of them were taken out of the fight. Isilme's death was rather bittersweet - I could tell the player was rather upset about it, but I'm not sure if it was just because her PC had died or because none of the other players had sent their PCs to stabilize her. The druid's player was willing to do so but couldn't because of the dragon fear, while the others were more concerned with engaging the Ice Witch.
OrwellianHaggis wrote:
EPISODE 6: Bad Moon Rising
This session started with Lavinia reverting to halfling form (she'd been a pot plant for the entirety of last session) to find herself sitting on the shore of a hot spring, surrounded by the high walls of the Reghed Glacier. Behind her was the Bear Tribe camp, with the Bear Tribe members being guarded by only a handful of Elk Tribe warriors. As she watched, Hengar emerged from the pool, looking exhausted, and announced that the PCs had succeeded in preventing the Elk Tribe prisoners from being sacrificed (although a few of them had been killed in the process) but that they had gone on to face the Ice Witch in the old dragon lair.
The barbarians, being well schooled in the tales of Wulfgar and Drizzt, recalled that there was a hole in the ceiling of the dragon's lair. At this point, Wolvig the Bear Tribe war chief decided to switch sides and aid the Elk Tribesmen (he was never really keen on the whole Frostmaiden thing; that had been the late Bear Tribe shaman's idea ~ he did, however, warn Lavinia that his older brother, King Gunvald, was still at large, along with many of the Bear Tribe's warriors). Together, they climbed up onto the glacier and lowered a rope with a harness through the hole in order to lift up all the naked, half-dead prisoners and the PCs. They also lifted Isilme's body out of the cave and set it aside to prepare for the traditional funeral rites.
[Meanwhile, Isilme found herself lying in soft grass in a moonlit glade. Her patron, Lurue the Unicorn Queen, crouched nearby, concern on her face. She offered to send Isilme back, perhaps even giving her a new body in the process, and gifted her with a red faerie dragon as a familiar. Isilme stated that she'd prefer to keep her regular body, thanks just the same. Lurue seemed a bit disappointed but acquiesced, and soon Isilme found herself back in her body again.]
Lander decided to come clean about his lycanthropic curse. At the same time, he reminded everyone that the speaker of Bryn Shander was due to give her Highharvestide speech in two days' time and that her life was still in danger. He implored them to get a move on at first light so they could attempt to cover the 40 miles between Evermelt and the town in time to come to her aid. The rest of the group agreed and settled down to a nice soak in the hot spring and then a good sleep in a warm Bear Tribe tent (although Lily experienced some vivid dreams involving a soaring tower seemingly fashioned from black ice). In the morning, Hengar announced that he would like to accompany the group on the rest of their adventures in Icewind Dale, to which the group agreed, although Isilme felt compelled to take him aside and admit her guilt in the deaths of several of his tribemembers in the ice caves. He seemed somewhat dismayed but thanked her for her honesty and said he understood (none of my players seemed to buy that, but I explained that it appeared he might have a soft spot for her).
The following day consisted of a dreary 10-hour march back across the tundra. Along the way, they met the main contingent of the Elk Tribe heading towards Evermelt, where they intended to spend the rest of the winter now that the Bear Tribe had been dealt with. King Jarund apologized for his tribe's lack of hospitality before and proclaimed the PCs friends of the tribe. They would be welcome in the Elk Tribe camp any time they wished to return. He also gave Hengar is blessing to continue to aid the group in their endeavors. After parting ways with the Elk Tribesmen, the party made it safely across the tundra and took shelter in the bandit cave again, just in time for Lander to begin his first transformation into a wererat.
I had the player roll a hard Constitution save to resist the physical transformation, as well as a hard Charisma save to resist the alignment/personality shift. He failed on both counts, although only just with the second one (getting a 19 vs DC 20). Seeing that Lander was becoming not himself, Sengal cast hold person on him so that the others could bind him with a set of manacles and the silvered chain Lander had bought for just this purpose. Once he was bound, Sengal cast moonbeam on Lander instead, burning him with radiant light and forcing him to shift back into his humanoid form - although he could feel his body struggling to transform again.
Meanwhile, Roberto had set up some bear traps around Lander but when he saw how much the silvered chain and the magical moonlight were hurting his "papa", he slipped past the others and freed Lander, despite taking a bit of damage from the moonbeam himself. Lander made a run for it, heading for the cave entrance. Lily whipped out her silvered longsword and slashed at Lander's legs, knocking him prone. Sengal moved the moonbeam onto him again, but then Roberto cast invisibility on Lander, which allowed him to escape outside. Everyone was pretty upset with Roberto, but Lander ended up crawling into another cave and spent the night licking his wounds (as it were). The next morning, he couldn't remember what exactly had happened, but the others eagerly filled him in on the previous night's activities (and Lander was understandably taken aback by his companions' enthusiasm). I decided that Hengar had been out hunting and had missed the whole thing, which led some of the others to suspect that he might be a lycanthrope too.
The following day saw the PCs heading down Bremen's Run past the Dwarven Valley. Only half an hour into their journey, however, they came across the red-haired Elk Tribe woman who had been cast out for allegedly murdering her husband (Wiglef, the Elk Tribe hunter the PCs had rescued on their way out onto the tundra). She appeared to have survived being left for dead in the snow and had gathered a group of Bear Tribe warriors to aid her in seeking revenge against the group who had foiled her plans. Despite her best efforts, though, she and most of the Bear Tribe warriors were slain. When the last three surrendered, the PCs explained that the bulk of their tribe had surrendered to the Elk Tribe and that if they knew what was good for them, they'd go seek them out at Evermelt and seek forgiveness.
A few hours later, Lily began feeling an intense urge to veer off course and head into the Dwarven Valley. This resulted in some more PvP as Sengal once again cast hold person so that the others could tie her up. In the process, Lily was liberated of all her black ice items, which were handed over to Lavinia, who immediately started feeling like everyone wanted to take them off her. Lily, meanwhile, was left tied up and, because Roberto wouldn't let them put her on his donkey, dragged through the snow. She eventually managed to break free and leapt on Lavinia in an attempt to reclaim her possessions. Lander tried to stop them, and for a while there was a three-way tug of war over the bag containing the black ice helmet and amulets. Isilme tried to calm things down with a sleep spell but only managed to knock out Lander (she'd been hoping to get Lily). Roberto promptly woke his "papa" up and Lander proceeded to pin Lily to the ground. This time they blindfolded her and then left the black ice items behind after Lavinia's shatter spell failed to even put a crack in them.
As they stumbled through the gates of Bryn Shander, some of them were feeling quite exhausted (I believe Isilme has three levels of exhaustion, while Sengal is back up to two levels after having gone down to none during the rest at Evermelt). Lander made a beeline for Mithann, the cleric of Amaunator/Lathander, dragging Lily with him. They found her at the town hall, where everyone was impatiently waiting for Speaker Duvessa Shane to show up and deliver her speech. Sheriff Markham spotted them, as did Mithann, and they commented that it wasn't like the speaker to not show up. They suspected foul play.
At this point, the party scattered, with Lander insisting that Mithann help Lily and him with their personal problems, while Lavinia and Roberto decided to go check out the Northlook Inn (since that is where they first encountered Slim) and Isilme went to the Speaker's Palace. Sengal got left behind and started wandering around looking for the others.
Lavinia was recognized by the Northlook's proprietor, Scramsax, who told her to get out ~ she wasn't welcome after trashing one of his rooms with her magic. She immediately suspected that the proprietor might be in on the scheme, which caused Roberto to use disguise self to make himself look like Duvessa to gauge Scramsax's reaction. He walked in and Scramsax was surprised to see the speaker, asking what she was doing so far from the town hall. Roberto said he was on his way there, which didn't add up, since the Northlook is very much out of the way, so realizing the game was up, he cast thunderwave in the middle of the common room and made a run for it. As Roberto and Lavinia ran, they were confronted by a gang of Rethnor thugs, who were surprised to see the speaker out and about. Rather than fight, both PCs willingly gave themselves up in hopes that they would be taken to the real speaker's location. As the thugs were tying up Roberto, however, they realized something was wrong (since his disguise doesn't hold up to physical interaction), but some fast talking on the boy bard's part left them confused, deciding to just let Slim figure it out.
Meanwhile, Isilme gained entrance to the Speaker Duvessa's office (somehow) and found a note from the wizard, Vaelish Gant, asking Duvessa to meet him at his office immediately. She ran out to find the others, coming across Sengal in the process. She told the druid to find the others while she went off to check out the wizard's office. She arrived just in time to see a gang of seven thugs carrying Roberto and Lavinia come up to the office door and knock on it. Slim opened the door and, after a brief conversation which revealed that he had the real speaker tied up inside, ordered his lackeys to take the PCs round the back and gank them.
As they were heading into the back alley, I decided then would be a good time for a random wild surge. I rolled and got the magic missile. Two missiles burned away the PCs' bonds while the rest hit the thugs. Lavinia cast shatter next, thumping the thugs badly. Roberto stabbed one, Isilme tried to hit another with her eldritch blast (but she was just too weak, what with three levels of exhaustion plus her penalty from being resurrected, which was down to -2). The three remaining thugs made a run for it, and the three PCs decided they couldn't take Slim on their own, so they went off to find the others. Having regrouped, they went and showed Sheriff Markham the note Isilme had found. He told them to hurry and get Duvessa as Gant had already called for a vote. Isilme asked for reinforcements, but he told her she was on her own, and she, lacking any grasp of social etiquette, called him an idiot. He was going to have her arrested but Roberto managed to convince him to leave it till later.
Back at the office, Lander decided to kick in the door, which triggered the glyph of warding. Lightning bolts shot out at everyone, and Lavinia collapsed to the ground, unconscious. As she fell, wild magic surged out of her and the PCs found a rather confused-looking giant mechanical starfish (a pentadrone) standing in their midst.
And on that bombshell, I ended the session.
Thoughts: This session was a lot of fun. In fact, Lily's player even said it was the best session ever, which made me pretty happy. Not a whole lot happened plot-wise, but there were HEAPS of fun moments as the PCs fought each other. One of the things I'm really enjoying about this particular adventure is the number of ways in which I can mess with the PCs and cause them to come into conflict with each other. First off, there are the multiple plot threads in Act 1 that, if played right, can lead to conflicting priorities amongst the PCs. On top of that, we had Lander's lycanthropy, Lily's obsession with the black ice, and Lavinia's wild magic. Oh, and Roberto's childish pranks and impulsively irritating schemes. Some of the PCs (and their players) were pretty annoyed with him by the end of the session, with one of the players insisting that a twelve year old would not act the fool as much as Roberto has been. I think it's been great, though.
Now there's the matter of the pentadrone, which is the subject of a whole other thread.
Great cliffhanger. Can't wait to hear about the next session.
THEMNGMNT wrote:
EPISODE 7: The Wizard's Gambit (Redux)
The session opened with Roberto rushing to heal Lavinia, who had been electrocuted by the magical glyph warding the wizard's front door. Once the halfling was back on her feet, the PCs attempted to communicate with the starfish-like mechanical creature standing in their midst. It spoke to them in a strange, mechanical-sounding language that none of them understood, so they decided to ignore it. Just then they heard a scream from inside the building that was suddenly cut off.
Lander went back to kicking the wizard's door in, only to find that the entryway was shrouded in magical darkness. As the PCs made their way inside one-by-one, the modron seemed to reach the conclusion that they were committing a crime and decided to stop them. It began by spraying Roberto and Lavinia with a paralyzing nerve gas, but they shook it off and ran inside after their compatriots.
Meanwhile, Sengal heard the flapping of leathery wings and then felt a sharp sting on her neck as something giggled in her ear. Lavinia heard this and fired a gust of wind in the creature's direction, smiling with satisfaction as she heard it shriek as it thudded into a nearby wall. Lander eventually found another set of doors and opened them only to find that the floor on the far side was slick with grease. Just beyond that, he came out of the darkness to find himself in a dining room of sorts, only with the dining table tipped on its side as a barrier, with two pirates aiming crossbows at him from the other side. A young mage stood behind them, seemingly concentrating on a spell. And there was Slim, with an unconscious Duvessa over his shoulder. He ordered his men to stop the PCs and then slipped through some doors at the back of the dining room.
Then the modron moved to the front door and it became apparent that it could see through the magical darkness (truesight). It proceeded to enter the hall and battered Lavinia into unconsciousness with its starfish arms. Sengal grabbed Lavinia and dragged her through a side door and into what turned out to be a closet in order to heal her. [Cue jokes about them coming out of the closet.] Lander, Lily and Isilme, meanwhile, pushed through the darkness and braved the slippery floor to engage the pirates, while Roberto cowered on the floor in the darkness ~ where he was harrassed by the small creature that had stung Sengal earlier (the creature turned out to be an imp).
Lander made short work of the mage, upon whose death the magical darkness dissipated. When the pirates caught sight of the modron in the hall, they turned tail and ran for the back door, only to find that Slim had locked it behind him. Roberto, who had turned himself invisible to sneak into the dining room, decided to magically disguise himself as Slim to convince the pirates that he'd come back for them. They were a bit confused at first, and when he ordered them to attack the modron, they freaked and decided to make a run for the front door, bypassing the monster by going through the bedroom and office. Lavinia had meanwhile come that way; she failed to stop the pirates with a rather feeble shatter spell. She then spotted Roberto as Slim and before he could warn he, she attacked him.
Sengal slipped out the front door and circled around the outside of the building to look for the back door. Spotting Slim's tracks, she turned into a bear and followed them, eventually catching up to the wererat in a back alley just as some town guards happened to come around the corner (thanks to a well-played Plot Twist Card). Slim put a knife to Duvessa's throat and tried to back down a side passage, but Sengal lunged forward to block his escape. While the wererat was able to shrug off the wounds Sengal's bear form inflicted, he was still able to slit the speaker's throat and make a run for it, only to be grappled by Sengal and dragged back into the waiting arms of the guards, who, thanks to the PCs, were all armed with silvered weapons. Sengal quickly shifted back into her humanoid form and healed the dying speaker with her magic.
Back at the residence, Lily was fighting a desperate battle with the modron while Isilme was once again lying on the floor dying. Lily eventually opted to help her ally instead, which enabled Lavinia to swoop in and steal the kill with a well-aimed spell. The modron disintegrated before their very eyes. Roberto, still disguised as Slim, had run out the front door after the pirates, calling for them to come back and help him (for reasons unknown). With the modron gone, Lavinia used acid splash on the lock on the back door and the other PCs, sans Roberto, went hurrying after Sengal and Slim.
Once Duvessa had been revived, she was hopping mad and swore at Slim quite profusely. She then demanded that Sengal and the guards, along with their prisoner and the other PCs who had just shown up, accompany her to the town hall, where she gave Gant and his backers an earful they won't forget. Gant smirked and informed them that their victory was hollow because he could be in all the other towns at once while they couldn't. He then teleported away.
The following day, Duvessa called for the PCs to come to the town hall, where she publically presented them with the keys to the city as a reward for their service, both with fending off the yetis at the front gate the day they'd first arrived and with saving Duvessa - and subsequently the entire town - from the machinations of Gant and his piratical cronies. In addition, she gave them the deed to Gant's residence.
Thoughts
I think I mishandled the modron. Because it only speaks its own language, the PCs couldn't communicate with it, so were unable to tell them what they were doing. As a result, it ended up dominating the session, dragging out the combat (which seemed to take the entire session; compare that to Session 5, in which we blew through three combats) and stealing the spotlight from Duvessa's rescue, which ended up feeling a bit tacked on at the end. In retrospect, I think I should have allowed the PCs to communicate with the modron and/or had it return to its home plane before the full minute was up, and I probably should have left the actual rescue for next time. Ah well.
What happened to the imp? I assume it was the (dead) wizard's familiar? It might want to find the PCs long enough to embarrass them again and say "Thank you for relieving me of that self-important buffoon" then return from whence it came.
Yah I had a bad reaction when you first described the Modron, without knowing what it was at all. Bummer being shown to be right.
You might want to create an edited Chaos Magic table - take out the items that don't work well, replace with fun other stuff (like 'Donkey2 appears from around nearest corner').
If Slim ever gets the chance, he should remember to use a critical hit generator, not a bladed weapon, to do in the PCs. Drowning, suffocation, Grease on a slide into a pit (to starve), a VERY long drop; something that healing won't help with. An elaborate revenge plot, not just 'I kill you'.
Of course, first there is the small matter of a few capital charges against him: assault and battery, attack on the Town Speaker, treason, kidnapping all come to mind. (And double jeopardy is no restraint.) Although the outcome of the trial should not be in doubt, the forms must still be obeyed. The PCs could be called to testify, as eyewitnesses to his crimes. Cue Matlock or Perry Mason episodes. Slim might try to plot a jailbreak or escape. If the PCs do testify, they could face an ambush by Gant's supporters, who would know where and when to prepare a 'welcoming committee' for them.
- If your group is current-events-conscious: Gant's people could protest the PCs' obvious anti-lycanthrope prejudices, as evidenced by (1) their providing silvered weapons to the police; (2) trying to kill Slim at first sight. -
Future possibility: Fibber McGee's closet. Open the door, a ton of stuff falls out. Makes lots of noise, destroys Stealth and Hide efforts, maybe does 1d4 damage to whoever opened the door, creates several squares of Difficult Terrain, find one semi-random mundane item of equipment / treasure among the piles of stuff lying all over. (There has to be a sound bite of this somewhere on the internet; I originally found the idea from a Golden Age of Radio cassette tape sold at Cracker Barrel.) Look what else 'came out of the closet' !
BRJN wrote:
Gant and Slim would definitely be out for revenge. The players just ruined their lives! Of course they want payback. It's one of the things I like so much about this adventure. In the course of play there are likely to be so many dangling plot threads created by player action that the adventure can go on for much longer than it first seems.
THEMNGMNT wrote:
I imagine the Speaker might be in the mood for some revenge against her tormentors. She could deputize the PCs to go 'collect' Slim. Or she might send some undercover cops. Or (if she is LG and the forms MUST be obeyed) she might file an extradition request with the government of Lonelywood, then send somebody. I would have her ask the PCs to serve as backup: ambush anybody chasing down the undercover cops to rescue Slim from them. They get implied protection from being on a Government mission.
After the PCs and the undercover cops bring Slim back and put him in jail, cue the trial paragraph above.
If the undercover cops fail at their mission, the PCs might get tasked with rescuing THEM. Quietly. Then they can find Slim's revenge plot; he's testing some ideas on the cops.
Fibber McGee's closet could be in Gant's old residence (but somebody already opened that door, didn't they?). I was actualy thinking of the next time the PCs break into somebody else's place. BBEG has a closet-full of STUFF instead of a pile of gold coins. Could be used with any civilized BBEG's lair.
Most of the books on the shelves could be ordinary stuff: herbs for a garden, kitchen recipies, healers kit concoctions, catalog for styles of iron fence, Stonemasons Journal subscription for the last three years. Plus Gant's notes from researching whatever spells he knows (which may/may not overlap with your PCs' spells). His last will and testament, fully set up to be legally unimpeachably valid. Adventure Diary from his youth - to the extent he will want to risk information being publicly known. (Could actually be a brag book with little relation to fact.) Book(s) about former adventurers from days of yore, his childhood friends who went on to fame & fortune. Poetry - Illiad, the Psalms, Shakespeare's Complete Sonnets. The Ballad of the Emerald Princess by Gondolin Adanedhel, words and musical notation, formatted for a Bard or six to play the work (and my 3e Bard's masterwork - shameless self-plug). A beat-up copy of some Zhent religion / philosophy text. Poor-quality and mildly X-rated discussion of how Bane took Loviatar as a consort. The True History of Cyric, annotated version, with a few more pages added at the end to discuss the mortal heroes who forced their way into the Iron Throne and ended the Spellplague. Collection of standard material from bardic tropes, hand-written over several years based on listening at a tavern to whoever came through and 'sang for his supper'. One diary of things Gant wanted to investigate further when he had the time; some of these are crossed off the list and discussed at length farther in the book. Anti-Elminster songs and ditties (make him look foolish, not hateful screeds). Heritage marriage and geneological charts of the Royal Houses of the world. A fake book that contains some semi-precious stones, placed where amateur thieves would find it. Religious texts for whoever Gant worshipped most. History of the Moonsea, by a famous Harper; History of the Moonsea, by a famous Zhent. (These last two discuss the same events from very different perspectives.) Something like Nostradamus' predictions; several have notes by Gant in the margins. Waterdeep nobles' fashion / style guides for the last several years.
Is there any space left on the bookshelves?
You know, one of these days I'm going to have to stop brainstorming here and do it at fiverr or somewhere like that - so I can get paid for having fun... 
Thanks for all the ideas, BRJN! Lots to ponder. One note, though: Slim was captured at the end of last session, so I don't know that he'll be causing any more trouble - unless someone breaks him out of jail, of course. That being said, the PCs never encounterd his partner in crime, Marek the Shank, so he could still be at large and still pose a threat. Next session is tomorrow, and then we'll be out for about six weeks while people go away for the summer holidays.
One a side note, Isilme, who has decided she is too serious for this group of "crazies", will be leaving the group and a new adventurer will be taking her place. [I've asked the player to stick with her for this coming session, so the exchange won't take place until the first session of the new year.]
By the way, I've just laid out the following "news, rumors & leads" for the PCs to choose from in Act 2:
- DWARVEN VALLEY: Dain Stokely Silverstream and his dwindling contingent of loyalists have abandoned the Dwarven Valley and sought refuge in Easthaven. As a result, there is no one left in the valley to hold back the horde of walking dead or the spread of Baerick Hammerstone's black ice trinkets throughout Ten Towns.
- LAC DINNESHERE: Tales of pirates sailing a ship with a keel made of black ice are on everyone's lips. They have been preying mercilessly on the people of Caer-Konig, Caer-Dineval, and Easthaven.
- EASTHAVEN: Just before Vaelish Gant's magic staff whisked him away from Bryn Shander's Town Hall, he mocked your inability to be everywhere at once and let slip that Easthaven was about to feel his wrath.
- KELVIN'S CAIRN: The hunter Aglonell reports that several packs of goblins and a pair of white-furred crag cats have been leaving the mountain's slopes to range ever closer to the nearest towns, seemingly growing bolder in their hunt for food.
- TEN TOWNS: Ever since "that Davrick Fain" began his apocalyptic preaching about Auril's wrath, acts of random violence have become more common, and many folks blame them on desperate people seeking to appease the Frostmaiden. In addition, the "crazy folk" who worship Auril appear to have upped their game, brutally murdering people (mainly foreigners such as yourselves) instead of kidnapping them.
- BRYN SHANDER: Hengar believes he was set up by the cult and would like to confront his accuser, a local merchant named Brinna Alcott, who sells wools, linens, and sewing supplies from her store. Her accusations made no sense, and so he believes she may have something to hide.
- REGHED TRIBES: After their request for shelter in Bremen was rebuffed, the Tribe of the Tiger set up camp on the northwestern shore of Maer Dualdon, where its numbers have been whittled away by persistent beast attacks. Meanwhile, the Tribe of the Wolf was last seen heading southwest towards the dwarf fortress of Ironmaster. Its current whereabouts are unknown.
- TERMALAINE: Miners working the tourmaline gem mine on the outskirts of Termalaine have recently reported hearing strange noises and have had tools go missing. The mine is currently still open for business, though it may not be for much longer if the situation gets any worse.
EPISODE 8: All Hail the Conquering Heroes
This session opened with the PCs partaking of some much-needed R&R. Despite Gant's dire warning, they gave themselves two days of downtime. Roberto decided to take the opportunity to give the residence a thorough once-over. He went out and bought himself a hound to help him sniff things out and then proceeded to get the dog killed when he triggered a magical ward in Gant's desk that cast a 4th level shatter spell, shredding just about everything in the room, including the poor dog and anything that might have clued the heroes into Gant's next moves. About the only thing to survive was a scroll with the haste spell inscribed on it. Roberto, however, survived the blast relatively unscathed, much to everyone's disappointment ... ;)
He then went and found a glass vial filled with a red liquid that briefly flashed with a bright light as he was handling it. He had a taste but no one was quite sure what it was, so he tucked it safely away in a pouch, along with the other potion he'd found on the dead apprentice's body (which had a red liquid that pulsed like a heartbeat in it).
After that, the PCs decided to head to Easthaven in pursuit of Gant. As the Chosen of Torm, Lander considered it his duty to go after the wizard directly. Rooting out the corruption afflicting Ten Towns was why his deity had sent him here, after all. The others felt hard done by enough that they readily agreed, although they were all a bit nervous about the pirate ship with the black ice on it. Only Lander, Lavinia, Roberto, Lily and Hengar left for Easthaven, however, as Sengal had gone off to do some druidic thing and Isilme had decided she'd be better able to follow Lurue's wishes on her own. [DM Note: Sengal's player was absent and Isilme's player wasn't enjoying her and intends to make a new character over the summer break.]
Partway through the seven-hour journey down the Eastway (the only paved road in Icewind Dale), the group was ambushed by a gang of white fur-clad goblins. The goblins got a few good shots in but even with superior numbers, they were no match for our heroes and all of them fell to sword and spell. Nothing else troubled the PCs for the remainder of the journey.
Upon arriving in Easthaven, which has been experiencing boom times reminiscent of the original "white gold rush" when Ten Towns was originally settled, Roberto made it a top priority to stop by Rurden's Armor to purchase some chain barding for his donkey. Luckily, Rurden happened to have some in stock and Roberto played up his new "Hero of Bryn Shander - and soon to be of Icewind Dale" epithet in order to get a discount on the price. In addition, Rurden shared some info about the pirates - who sail a ship called the Howling Fiend that has a demonic ram carved from black ice on the prow - and an "oily Luskanite" who came by his shop a few days before, trying to extort protection money from him. The description didn't match Gant's, much to the party's disappointment.
After that, they proceeded directly to the Town Hall, where they presented a letter of introduction Speaker Duvessa Shane had written for them and gained an audience with Easthaven's speaker, Danneth Waylen. The middle-aged but still fairly attractive businessman greeted the heroes warmly, indicating that he'd heard tell of their adventures in Bryn Shander and on the tundra. They asked him about Gant, but he said he was too preoccupied with the pirates to worry about a wizard. He offered to pay the heroes 500 gp if they'd help drive off the pirates. The PCs indicated that they would be happy to help. Roberto, meanwhile, who had used disguise self to make himself look more like a distinguished gentleman, asked the speaker if he knew of any wizards in town who could craft him a love potion. Danneth demurred, indicating he'd heard of no one with such power in town but plenty of charlatans who would claim to be able to do such a thing. The speaker also offered to put up the heroes at the local White Lady Inn (so named for a ghost from a popular local legend). He also let them in on a secret - he had devised a plan that involved hiding most of the town's guards and sellswords on the fishing vessels in order to catch the pirates by surprise. The PCs were rather unimpressed that the speaker would leave the town so defenseless and were thus not surprised in the least when the pirates outwitted him.
As the PCs mingled with the few patrons in the inn's taproom and listened to the tales spun by a halfling bard going by the name Rinaldo, they got the lay of the land. The pirates had been plaguing the towns of Lac Dinneshere for nearly a tenday. While it was said that they were originally fisherfolk from Caer-Dineval who'd been given the black ice ram to intimidate Easthaven fishing vessels violating an old treaty divvying up the lake's fishing grounds, they'd soon turned vicious and had attacked both an Easthaven vessel and one from Caer-Dineval that had come to the stricken ship's aid. Since then, they've been setting fire to vessels and letting the sailors burn or drown. A few they have also pressed into service as pirates. They make their home in a hidden cove somewhere at the far end of the lake. Lander also asked around about Gant and Rinaldo let slip that the wizard was staying at the White Lady too! Roberto immediately latched on to a plan, magically disguising himself once again in order to chat up the serving maid. She wasn't too sure about giving guest's private information away, but when Roberto gave her 5 gp, she quickly told him that Gant was staying in room 6. After she left, he turned himself invisible and went and picked the lock to the wizard's room.
Meanwhile, there was a commotion out on the waterfront. The Howling Fiend had arrived and pirates were spilling out from the dock, burning and looting as they went. A few brave citizens grabbed what weapons they could and put up a token defense, but it wasn't until the heroes (sans Roberto) rushed into the fray that the tide turned. Some pirates had broken away and headed into town. After the pirates on the waterfront were dealt with, Lander, Lily and Hengar headed after them while Lavinia decided to take matters into her own hands and approached the Howling Fiend.
Back in the inn, Roberto let himself in, relocked the door, and went searching. He quickly found a small lockbox under the cot in the room. Rather than open it, he took it to the window and put it out in the gutter, then went and hid under the cot, his plan to wait until the wizard returned.
Lander, Lily and Hengar followed the trail of mayhem to find that the pirates were raiding Rurden's armory. Lander went for the back door while Hengar and Lily went through the front. The pirate captain, a hot-headed man with fish-hooks holding an old wound in his cheek closed, ordered his men to stop the intruders. Hengar dealt him a wicked blow with his warhammer, however, and Derrick quickly retreated out the back door. Following, Hengar found Rurden lying in a pool of blood behind the shop counter, three dead pirates at his feet. The barbarian stooped to check on the dwarf, finding him to still be alive. Quickly administering first aid, he then moved on through the back in pursuit of the captain while Lily took care of the remaining pirates in the front of the shop. Lander, meanwhile, had circled around the back and caught a bunch of pirates trying to make off with weapons and armor. He beat one down, then two came at him, swinging the pieces of armor at him while the others turned and went the other way as their leader came out the back door.
Back on the waterfront, Lavinia headed out onto the pier only to have the four pirates guarding the ship run towards her. She cast shatter on them, which not only shredded them but also caused the midsection of the pier to collapse. Her access to the pirate ship cut off, she looked around for another way and spotted a rowboat. She hopped in it and started rowing slowly but surely out towards the Howling Fiend. When she was within range of a scorching ray, she fired one off at the ship's sails. Unfortunately, this triggered a wild surge, which resulted in a fireball centered on her. Even if she had withstood the blast, the rowboat she was in didn't, and her unconscious form fell into the frigid waters of Lac Dinneshere and quickly expired. Some concerned bystanders eventually fished her body out of the water.
Derrick and his remaining crew fled back through Easthaven's streets only to find their escape route cut off (with a big hole in the pier and the Howling Fiend's sails and now mast on fire). While they seemed inclined to fight to the death, the overwhelming numbers of the PCs and various other bystanders was enough to subdue and capture them.
And that is where we ended. This was the final session for the year. In fact, we may not play again until mid-January, as many of the players are going away for the holidays.
Thoughts
Lily's player was in Australia, so she phoned in via Skype. The connection wasn't the best, though. We ended up giving up on it and Lavinia's player acted as an intermediary via Facebook chat messages instead, which was a little awkward. Isilme's player acted admirably as Hengar. Lavinia's player was a bit disappointed with his PC's anti-climactic self-immolation and was madly scrambling to find some rule that would mean she could survive. I ruled that she had disadvantage on her death saves because she was unconscious and drowning in freezing water. He rolled three failures in a row. The others were talking about resurrecting her but I don't think that's a practical solution at this time. The lowest level revival spell is revivify but it has a 1 minute window. All the rest are too high level. It's unlikely there would be a 9th level cleric or druid within easy reach up here in the wilds of Icewind Dale. It's possible Mithann, being a retired adventuring cleric, could cast raise dead, but she's all the way back in Bryn Shander.
Overall, I think this session went OK. The pirates were a little weak. Even "Derrick the Drownder", whose tactics involve running away when he gets reduced to half his hit points, which happened on the first attack from Hengar, even with Derrick's Uncanny Dodge halving some of that mighty warhammer's damage. (Hengar, being an NPC warrior, happens to have multiattack.) If I have one real complaint about this module, it's that there aren't enough enemy magic-users. With so many PCs, the fights against purely mundane enemies are just too one-sided. At the same time, having so many PCs means I have to add more combatants, which can slow things down a bit too much sometimes.
Right, well, now I've got the better part of a month or so to prepare for next time!
EPISODE 9: Fire on the Water
[DM Note: As I was prepping for this session, I discovered I'd goofed up a bit last time. The pirates were supposed to attack in two captured fishing vessels, not their precious pirate ship with the black ice figurehead/ram. I talked to my players about it at the start of this session. They said they weren't too fussed about the pirates, so we opted to just leave it as it was.]
Scene 1: Gant's Room, The White Lady Inn, Easthaven
[DM Note: This scene was played out via private message between Roberto's player and myself ahead of the actual session.]
As Roberto waited invisibly in the cold and dark under Gant's bed, he heard a scuttling noise near the door. A large, tarantula-like spider came squeezing under the door and walked into the middle of the room. The spider then morphed into an imp and proceeded to inform Roberto that it had come to deliver a message from Gant. Namely, that the wizard had got Roberto's mother and that if he and his buddies didn't stop interfering with Gant's plans, something bad might happen to her.
However, the imp then proceeded to tell Roberto that it could see the writing on the wall and wanted out of its relationship with Gant. It also wanted to stay on the material plane, though, and it claimed that Roberto had something it needed to be able to do that. In exchange, the imp promised to help the heroes bring Gant down. Neither Roberto nor the imp trusted the other, so there was a bit of an awkward exchange, but ultimately Roberto agreed and handed over the small, nightmarish idol he was carrying with him. The imp cackled with glee and told him that Gant and his mother could be found at Banrock's Mithril Pot on the south side of town.
Roberto retrieved Gant's strongbox from the gutter outside the window and then proceeded to go find his allies.
Scene 2: Waterfront, Easthaven
As Roberto came out of the inn, he found Lander, Lily, and Hengar arresting several pirates while angry townsfolk looked on. Someone sent for the town speaker, who arrived in short order. He asked the heroes to escort the pirate captain, Derrick the Drownder, and his crewmembers back to the Town Hall for interrogations. Upon hearing this, Roberto tugged on Lander's sleeve and informed him that an angelic being had told him that Gant was at a tavern with his mother and that they needed to go rescue her straight away. Lander, however, insisted that dealing with the pirates was more important.
At the Town Hall, the heroes and the speaker questioned the pirates at length, but with the Howling Fiend sunk in the harbor, they were no longer much of a threat and therefore didn't have much useful information to convey. Derrick did reveal under duress that he had an informant in town, which is how they'd known to stage their raid while all of Easthaven's defenders were out on the water. The informant turned out to be the local ferryman, Creedon.
Scene 3: Banrock's Mithril Pot, Easthaven
Roberto's mother, Roxanne, had tracked Vaelish Gant - the thief she'd been sent to apprehend - to Banrock's famous eatery. She had been surreptitiously watching him for some time when he caught sight of her and arranged to buy her a drink. Shortly after, the Heroes of Icewind Dale entered the tavern. Gant rose and loudly greeted them. Lander loudly replied that he was there to arrest Gant for his crimes in Bryn Shander. At that point, two men at a table near Roxanne's came over to her and told her that she should leave with them before there was any trouble. Banrock attempted to shoo everyone outside as he didn't want any fighting in his tavern. Gant used misty step to teleport out into the street and made a run for it, with Lander hot on his heels. Lily dawdled, eyeing the chowder hungrily, while Roxanne tried to escape from Gant's goons. Lily eventually tore herself away when Roberto asked her to look after his mother while he chased after his "papa".
Lily managed to get the goons off Roxanne, who promptly skidaddled down a side street and transformed herself with disguise self. Lily slowly followed after the others, making sure the goons kept their distance.
Scene 4: A public square, Easthaven
Gant paused in a public square and called out to passersby that he was an innocent party being chased by thugs in hopes of garnering some sympathy. Lander displayed his holy symbol of Torm, while Roberto worked the crowd, turning them against Gant. Seeing the game was up, Gant used blur to make himself a harder target but Lander managed to grapple him and pin him to the ground anyway. The disguised Roxanne snuck through the crowd and snatched up the sapphire staff. She accompanied the heroes and their quarry back to the Town Hall, where they presented Gant to Danneth, who was busy interrogating Creedon the ferryman. They all told him of Gant's crimes, and while he was sympathetic to their cause, he pointed out that Gant had not appeared to have committed any crimes in Easthaven, so he could not convict him of any crimes. He gave the heroes permission to take Gant back to Bryn Shander, however.
Roxanne stated her case as well, indicating that she'd been sent all the way from Waterdeep to apprehend Gant and recover the staff he'd stolen. If possible, she wanted to take Gant back to her employer, who would be waiting for them in Luskan, in the spring. The heroes pointed out that Speaker Duvessa would probably put Gant to death; nevertheless, they let Roxanne keep the staff. She then left to go and investigate Gant's room, while the others went back to the tavern, where they persuaded poor Banrock to keep Gant in his back room out of sight so they could enjoy some of his pottage.
Scene 5: Banrock's Mithril Pot, Easthaven
The Heroes of Icewind Dale were seated next to a stately looking dwarf who was introduced to them as Dain Stokely Silverstream. During the course of their meal, they struck up a conversation with him, learning of the plight of the inhabitants of the Dwarven Valley. He asked the heroes if they would be willing to attempt a rescue of his niece, Helda Silverstream, who was being held for ransom by Baerick Hammerstone's contingent of black ice-corrupted dwarves still living in the valley. The heroes recalled that Helda had traveled up from Luskan with them on the season's last caravan and had even asked them to escort her to the Dwarven Valley. Unfortunately, she had left Bryn Shander on her own while the heroes were out on the tundra helping Hengar's people.
The heroes replied that they needed to return to Bryn Shander first for some pressing business but that they would take up his request as soon as they were able. They asked for some equipment - armor in particular - and asked if Stokely knew of any way to ward off the effects of the black ice. He was unable to help them with the latter, but he provided Lily with a fine suit of splint armor and Roberto with a breastplate as a down payment for their services.
Scene 6: The White Lady Inn, Easthaven
That night, Roxanne decided to help herself to Gant's room at the White Lady Inn. As she slept peacefully, the others took turns guarding Gant in their own room. During Roberto's watch, Gant asked him for a glass of water. Roberto went out into the corridor and then turned invisible. Gant almost immediately started shuffling out into the corridor, so Roberto retreated down to the inn's common room and then used message to wake up and alert Lander of Gant's attempted escape. Lander swiftly apprehended the wizard and made sure he wouldn't get away again.
In the morning, Roxanne came down and introduced herself using her true form (since her magical disguise had worn off overnight). Since she had Gant's staff and bore more than a passing resemblance to Roberto, the heroes believed her story and offered to let her travel back to Bryn Shander with them.
Scene 7: The Eastway, Icewind Dale
A few hours into their journey back to Bryn Shander, the heroes came across a merchant being attacked by a pack of dwarf zombies who'd wandered down from the valley. They quickly came to his aid and offered to escort him back to Bryn Shander. As his horse had been killed by the zombies, Roberto reluctantly allowed his donkey to be used in its place. As the merchant was returning home to Bremen, his cart was empty, so the rest of them piled into the back. During the remaining part of the journey, the merchant told them of the trouble one of his fellow Bremenites was causing - a shopkeeper named Davrick Fain who had recently proclaimed himself a priest of Auril. He had taken to traveling around Icewind Dale, frightening people with threats of eternal winter if they did not do enough to appease the Frostmaiden. Not long after, people - mostly foreigners - started being kidnapped. Some were found frozen to death, while others simply disappeared. More recently, however, people were being found brutally murdered. The merchant blamed the Cult of Auril and warned the heroes that they should watch out.
When the merchant showed off the new black ice bracelet he'd purchased, Lander snatched it off him and threw it into the snow. The merchant was quite put out, but Lander promised to reimburse him for his troubles. When Lander wasn't looking, though, Roxanne retrieved the bracelet and kept it for herself.
Scene 8: Bryn Shander
Back in Bryn Shander, the heroes split up, with some taking Lavinia's body to Mithann while others escorted Gant to Duvessa. At Mithann's, the heroes arranged to have their comrade raised from the dead, while at Duvessa's palace they handed Gant over. Roxanne pointed out that she wanted Gant alive, but Duvessa said that wasn't going to happen, so she consulted her employer via a sending stone. Although disappointed, the Waterdhavian wizard deferred to Duvessa's claims of greater crimes.
Later, the heroes returned to their new lodgings (Gant's former residence) only to have their neighbor inform them that someone had come and fixed the front door and changed the locks. He handed them the new keys. Suspicious, the heroes very carefully progressed through the house, looking for any signs of danger but finding none. Deciding the coast was clear, they settled down for a good rest.
The next morning, Roberto took his mother shopping at the market. Roxanne had been told all about the black ice and decided she didn't want to keep the bracelet, while Roberto decided he'd best get rid of the black ice axe he'd been carrying since the journey out onto the tundra (although, when it came down to it, he found it difficult to part with it). Roberto caused a bit of a stir with a would-be buyer and ended up escaping by using disguise self to make himself look like his mother's twin. As they were leaving the market, they were approached by a band of ruffians who tried to solicit them. When they resisted, a fight broke out, and Roberto ended up using thunderwave on some of the thugs, the noise from which brought the town guard running.
After that, they went to Mithann's and assisted with the raise dead ritual. And that is where we left things.
Thoughts
I feel like the surrender of both the pirates and Vaelish Gant was a bit anticlimactic but the players seemed OK with that. I think they're going to find the Dwarven Valley pretty tough.
Also, Roxanne is the new recruit who is replacing Isilme. As indicated, she is Roberto's mother. Should be an interesting dynamic. She is a half-elf arcane trickster.
EPISODE 10: To the Rescue!
Scene 1: Lavinia's Resurrection, Bryn Shander
Mithann had instructed the PCs to come to the shrine an hour before dawn. When they arrived, they found the priestess had laid Lavinia's body out in the center of the shrine, surrounded by carefully arranged mirrors and crystals designed to catch the first light of dawn. She took the diamond needed for the ritual and placed it over Lavinia's heart. She then commenced the ritual, praying to the Morninglord to allow Lavinia's spirit to return to her body. As the ritual neared its completion, the sun poked up over the horizon and a few minutes later, as the light came in through the window, a concentrated beam hit the diamond. An explosion of rainbow light filled the shrine, refracting through the crystals and mirrors, blinding everyone with its brilliance. As the light faded, the PCs saw that the diamond had disappeared and Lavinia's battered body was whole again. The halfling wild mage drew a ragged breath and opened her eyes. Mithann leaned forward, laying her hands on Lavinia's head and blessed her in the name of Lathander. "The Glory of Dawn has seen fit to give you a second chance, Lavinia. Go forth as a beacon of hope, bringing the light of the new dawn to those who yet dwell in darkness."
Scene 2: The House of the Triad, Bryn Shander
Lander had decided it was time to commune with Torm, so off he went to the temple and started praying. He entered a dream-like state in which Torm himself appeared. Lander related all that he had seen and done, including the hunt and capture of Vaelish Gant and the undoing of the wizard's schemes. He also made mention of the black ice. Torm seemed troubled, proclaiming that the black ice could potentially be a more insidious threat than Gant was. Lander mentioned that he had been tasked with attempting to rescue a dwarf being held for ransom from other dwarves who were responsible for the crafting of the black ice into various trinkets and jewelry. He asked Torm for aid. The deity thought for a moment and then replied that he would be happy to bless Lander and any of his companions who vowed to uphold his tenets (which include things like being vigilant against corruption, obeying your masters, doing your duty, striving to uphold law and order, and bringing painful but quick deaths to traitors).
Only Lily agreed to this requirement. Lavinia did not think he could make that vow in good conscience, especially considering that she had come to Icewind Dale as a way of running away from her duty. Sengal was philsophically opposed to such civilized concepts like law and order and refused. Roxanne, who doesn't like being told what to do, refused on principle, while Roberto simply couldn't be bothered. Therefore only Lily and Lander received Torm's blessing, which consisted of the benefits of a potion of heroism (10 temp hit points and the effect of the bless spell) for 24 hours.
Scene 3: On the Road, Icewind Dale
With Lily and Lander conscious of the short duration of their blessing, they pushed the others to leave for the Dwarven Valley immediately (meaning that Lavinia was saddled with the full -4 penalty from raise dead). Unfortunately, a sudden winter storm prevented them from leaving Bryn Shander for an hour. They made progress for an other hour across the plain before they spotted a lone dwarf stumbling through the snow. The group halted and Lily moved forward alone to investigate. As she got within a sword's length of the dwarf, she discovered it was a zombie. Just then, nine more zombies came bursting out of the snow all around her. She laid into the zombies with her blade, while Lander and Sengal went running through the snow to aid her, the monk laying about with his fists while the druid conjured a searing beam of moonlight. Roberto spurred his donkey forward, attacking the zombies with both sword and spell, while his mother sniped at them with her shortbow. Lavinia remained with Roxanne, firing off the odd spell, until a great white cat burst out of the snow and pounced on her. Although it slashed her badly with its wicked claws, Lavinia was able to resist being knocked down. She peppered it with spells, while the others dithered over whether or not to finish off the zombies or turn and face the new threat. Lily stayed where she was but took some fire from her hair* and threw it at the cat, scorching its fur.
Although the cat was big and tough and scary-looking (like a white-furred sabertooth tiger), it could not stand up to the combined force of all the PCs. It died a swift death as its mate emerged from the snow and hot-legged it back towards Kelvin's Cairn. The PCs let it go while they finished off the zombies. Sengal wanted to carve up the cat for meat, and Roberto offered to help her. The others weren't so keen, but another winter storm blew down off the glacier, trapping them in the open for two hours.
*Lily's player's super-awesome, creative description for one of her character's racial abilities.
Scene 4: Southern End, Dwarven Valley
After traveling for another five hours across the snowy plains, it was well after dark by the time the PCs reached the south end of the Dwarven Valley. There they spotted a trio of gruff-looking dwarf guards, decked out in black ice helmets and wielding black ice axes. Roberto volunteered to go and talk to them. He tried to convince them that the party had come to trade for black ice. He offered them the black ice battleaxe he'd taken from another dwarf some time ago as a "peace offering", but the guards were having none of it. They accused him of stealing it and told him to go away. He apologized and retreated to where the others were and then magically disguised himself as another dwarf. He then returned to the guards and tried again, but he fumbled over his answers to the guards' questions about clan and purpose and eventually they got angry and attacked him, with one throwing a hammer at him.
Another battle ensued, with the PCs making short work of the enraged dwarf guards. Afterwards, Roberto tried to pawn some of the guards' black ice trinkets, but the observant druid Sengal spotted him and alerted the others. They didn't stop him. In fact, Lily took some more black ice herself, despite knowing full well what effect it would have on her.
With two fights under their belts, the PCs were feeling a bit worse for wear. As they cautiously proceeded into the valley, taking the eastern path, they passed a number of seemingly abandoned mining tunnels. They decided to enter one and see if it would be suitable for a short rest. They found the tunnel to be narrow and cramped, with a ceiling just high enough for the average dwarf. While the bulk of the party decided to stop after about two hundred feet, Roberto opted to continue on. As he was not paying proper attention to where he was going, he soon stepped on an ancient rune that caused the tunnel to collapse on top of him. The others heard - and felt - the rumble. Concerned that it was some kind of early warning system, several of the PCs opted to watch the tunnel entrance for enemies, while Lily and Roxanne hurried to the cave-in. Lily struggled to pull away the rubble and rocks, while Roberto squirmed and squirmed and finally managed to get a hand free. Lily grabbed it and yanked him out. Roberto thanked her by attempting to trick her that he'd found some gold, but Lily saw straight through the illusion.
Scene 5: Eastern Path, Dwarven Valley
After resting for an hour, the PCs felt refreshed enough to continue on, although some pressed for a longer, overnight stop. Lander and Lily weren't keen, as they felt it would eat up too much of their limited duration divine resistance. So press on they did, with the others guiding Lavinia and Roberto's donkey - neither of whom have darkvision - as best they could. After about two miles, Lander stopped the party as he had spotted another trio of black ice-adorned dwarven guards 120 feet ahead of them (thanks to his divinely-enhanced darkvision). While the party dithered over what to do about them, Roberto spurred his donkey and attempted to charge them in the dark. This didn't end well, with the donkey losing its footing. Rather than jump off, Roberto opted to hang on for dear life, as the two of them bounced down the valley slope, coming to a painful stop about 50 feet below the path. The donkey was unconscious, its life swiftly ebbing away, so Roberto had no choice but to use his healing magic to keep his beloved companion alive. It was a good thing too, for Roberto spotted a zombie making its way towards him from further along the slope. Lily threw some rope down, but Roberto was able to coax his sure-footed donkey back up the slope to the path.
Unfortunately, the dwarven guards had heard the commotion and came to investigate. Roberto cast invisibility on Lily. Sengal's player played a Plot Twist Card which resulted in the dwarf guards being distracted by Lander's heavenly physique. This was enough for Lily to get amidst the dwarves and shove one of them off the side of the path. He went tumbling down seventy feet or more, and although he survived the fall, he was soon set upon by zombies. The other two dwarves were surprised to see Lily appear in their midst and set upon her with their axes. The other heroes came to her aid and eventually the two dwarves fell. Again, Roberto and Lily took some of the dwarves' black ice items before the party crept forward to see what the dwarves had been guarding.
Scene 6: Abandoned Hall, Dwarven Valley
They found another tunnel, albeit one that had been expanded into a residential area. It turned out to be abandoned, however, as the PCs made their way past row after row of empty rooms. Both Robert and Lily felt a pull tugging them deeper underground. Roberto ended up well ahead of the others and so came to a junction where another guard post was situated. He again tried his story of wanting to trade, but they thought he was crazy wanting to trade in the middle of the night. They got into an insult-slinging match which quickly devolved into yet another battle. This time, however, Lander dealt the final blow and opted to knock out the female dwarf - who had appeared to be the leader of the guards - so that they could interrogate her later.
That is where we stopped for the night.
Thoughts
This was a fun session. We didn't get quite as far as I would've liked, but we had fun carrying on with the dwarf guards and such. Lavinia's player enjoyed the little vignette I'd developed for her resurrection scene. I didn't use miniatures for the fight with the zombies, and that seemed to go smoothly enough, but for some reason some players were having difficulty knowing where people were positioned on the narrow path, so I brought out some miniatures and then used them again for the fight in the tunnels.
I also experimented with a different method of determining initiative. Instead of having everyone call out and trying to sort things out in a jumble, I started counting down from 30 with people calling out when I got to their number. Some of the players really didn't like it, though, so for the second two fights, I instead just asked if anyone had over 20, then over 15, then over 10, etc. That seemed to work and I'll probably keep doing it that way from now on.
Now if I could just find a way to get Roberto's player to put down his smartphone when it's not his turn and Roxanne's player to figure out what she wants to do in a more timely fashion ... 
I love reading these, Pukunui. Thanks for sharing them. They really highlight the growing story that you are all building together. Cheers.
Thanks Rhenny! I'm glad you're enjoying it.
It's been a while, but I thought I should at least post what happened in what turned out to be our final session for this adventure.
EPISODE 11: The Halls of Black Ice
This session consisted almost entirely of a single battle sequence, which was a modification of iserith's "I am the Lizard King!" scenario. In retrospect, it turned out to be way too difficult for them, partly because they were effectively down to three PCs, and partly because I don't think I did a good enough job framing the scene.
The PCs - minus Roberto and Lavinia and essentially Roxanne, whose player was having some troubles and ended up leaving early - found Helda in Baerick's forge. She was bound to a slab of black ice fashioned into the snowflake symbol of Auril. A cultist of Auril was standing beside her, chanting praises to the Frostmaiden, while Baerick stood in the middle of the room, chiseling the finishing touches on a carving of a humanoid creature made of black ice. Two other dwarves tended forges in the corners of the room. The presence of so much black ice caused the room to be quite chill, and there was slippery ice on the floor everywhere except where the forges and several braziers were radiating enough warmth to keep it at bay. There were also some magic glowing runic circles around the altar and the statue Baerick was carving, with more runes linking the two circles together.
I described the runes as pulsing with a sickening red glow that seemed to be in time to a fading heartbeat, and I tried to make it clear that the altar was draining Helda's life force, but the players didn't seem to grok that immediately. When the PCs were spotted, the cultist of Auril summoned a wall of whirling air around Baerick and the statue. Lander prayed to Torm to amplify the warmth from his magic ring so he could melt the ice where he tread, but instead of hurrying to rescue Helda, he first went and pushed his way through the wall of wind to confront Baerick. Lily, meanwhile, moved to engage one of the dwarves at the forges, while their NPC ally, Hengar went to attack the other. Roxanne attempted to circle around the outside of the room, ever so slowly heading for Helda the long way. Sengal, meanwhile, stayed near the front of the room and cast spells.
As the battle raged on, I described Helda as fading fast, with a red glow starting to brighten inside the statue the more she faded. Unfortunately, as Lander, Roxanne, and Sengal approached the altar, they were subjected to its corrupting effect. Roxanne was filled with bloodlust but ended up just shutting down and doing nothing, while Sengal became treacherous. Lander was briefly filled with a mad ambition to take over Icewind Dale but quickly shook it off and proceeded to attack the icy restraints holding Helda to the altar.
I was having the altar give Helda a level of exhaustion each round. When she was just about to take her sixth level and die, Sengal's player had the idea of using the charm of vitality I had given her for making peace with her father's spirit. That reversed the "polarity" of the life draining effect and instantly dropped Helda's exhaustion levels back to 0. Someone managed to kill the cultist, and Baerick came out to attack Hengar, felling him. Lily came running over to the altar and rather eagerly succumbed to the corruption, also becoming filled with bloodlust. [I had based the corrupting effect on the Abyssal Corruption optional rule in the DMG; the DC was only 10 to resist, but everyone was rolling crap, and I gave Lily disadvantage since her player so desperately wanted her to fail!]
At this point, I should have let things be. But I really wanted to show off the black ice golem, so I had it animate but go berserk. Its first act was to pummel the dwarf that Lily had been fighting into the ground. It then turned on Baerick, but Lily ended up decapitating him. Meanwhile, Lander finally managed to karate chop all the restraints and freed Helda. His player then played a plot twist card that enabled him to spot a secret door in the nearby wall, so Lander and Helda headed for it. But the treacherous Sengal's player played another card to have something nasty waiting on the other side of the door - another dwarf come to investigate. This dwarf attacked and fell the injured Lander, and then proceeded to get into a fight with Helda. Sengal, meanwhile, went over and delivered a coup de grace to Hengar (at first the player made it seem like she was going to the rescue of her fellow Elk Tribe member, but she ultimately revealed that she was getting rid of him because the Elk Tribe had tried to get rid of her all those years ago when they left her to die of exposure due to her elemental heritage). She then started to flee, although not before casting entangle on both the golem and Lily.
Lily, overcome with bloodlust, was unable to flee herself, as she was too keen to try to take on the golem. She was using Baerick's black ice maul, which turned out to be magical, but it was not enough. The golem eventually crushed her to death with its icy fists.
And that was the end of that! We ended with Lander unconscious but stable and in hostile territory. Lily very definitely dead. Hengar dead. Helda most likely dead. Sengal on the run but with little hope of making it out alive on her own. Roberto AWOL. Roxanne more or less not really there. And Lavinia in pot plant mode again.
Rather than try to pick up the pieces and finish the campaign, we opted to leave it there. I am now going to be running Scourge of the Sword Coast as a follow-up. I've bumped it up to 5th level. Lavinia has survived her ordeal in Icewind Dale somehow and is still on the run from the halfling supremacists who caused her to flee up north (she's now fleeing to the south instead). Only she's now got her brother in tow, since he made a desperate pact with an unknown entity to give him the power to escape (he's a warlock with the fiend pact but he doesn't know that's what it is; he's also got an imp as a familiar, but he thinks it's a raven). Roxanne is with them, having rescued the donkey from the dwarf mines but not her son, Roberto. It looks like they will be joined by two bards as well. Should be an interesting party! They may have to rely on subterfuge and guerrilla tactics to survive, since they've got no tank types. I'm thinking of giving them an NPC ally healer who's not much of a combatant and is frequently getting into trouble that the PCs will have to get them out of if they want their free healing (like the medic in Saving Private Ryan).
So tune in next week for the first installment of our new campaign!