That One Session of Dwimmermount

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A little more than a year ago, my step-daughter gathered up a group of players and asked if I’d run some D&D. I said sure. She said that there might be 10 players. <gulp>

Five fantasy adventurers standing on floating stairs.

“Dwimmermount” by James Maliszweski; Cover by Mark Allen.

I certainly wasn’t going to use D&D 5E. For any RPG, 10 players is a lot. But back in the day, tables were often 10+ players. I narrowed my system of choice to those that had rules for a caller.

“The caller is a player who announces to the Dungeon Master what the group of characters (the Party) is doing. The Caller must check with every player to find out what all the characters are doing, and then tell the DM (quickly and accurately) what they plan to do. The Caller does not tell the others what to do; the Caller merely reports what is going on.” page 53 of Dungeons & Dragons Players Manual (Revised by Frank Mentzer)

I didn’t know who had previous RPG experience, and felt that Race as Class—The traditional classes are Fighter, Thief, Cleric, Magic-User, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling. Though Thief is a later add. would provide the best guide rails. I went with Labyrinth Lord—They were all 10th and 11th graders many of whom I didn’t know their parents, so I passed on “Lamentations of the Flame Princess”.

First, Labyrinth Lord is free. I did not want a barrier to entry for those that may not have resources. Second, it is a faithful interpretation of the Basic/Expert rules of D&D—A game that has proven to have legs primarily from its narrow scope and compact rules system, making it a hacker’s dream..

Day of the Game

It turned out 7 players showed up. Still 1 too many for my 5E comfort level. I went ahead with the plan, introducing the basic rules. Two of the players had previous 5E experience and were a bit suspect about rolling 3d6 straight down and picking a class that included races. When I got to the “you die at 0 HP” they again paused, considering mutiny. I explained that they could just quick make another character and we’ll move on—I used some humor and ensured that they understood things weren’t all that serious

If memory serves we had a dwarf (named Dunder Mifflin), 3 fighters, 1 wizard, a halfling, and a cleric (and about 4 hirelings). I introduced them to Muntberg, at the foot of Dwimmermount. They bought equipment—I prodded the wizard to secure hirelings, as they are the most useful of wizard equipment. In hindsight, I should’ve mentioned more about burning oil

I explained the basic rules of Labyrinth Lord advancement—You get 1 XP per 1 GP of treasure, and monsters give you minimal XP. I talked about the dungeon turn, what you can do, and the frequency of random monsters—Every 2 turns there is a 1 in 6 chance of a random encounter; avoid them. I then explained that the answers were not on their character sheet; They should instead ask me questions as they explore the dungeon.

I gave them each a random rumor which may prove useful, and off they went.

Into Dwimmermount

Up the mountain they climbed. Into the entrance. They poked around a bit and opened the first door —I was narrating the mapping to them, but in hindsight, I believe I’ll go ahead and draw out the map as they explore it.; Behind which was 6 orcs and a leader. The battle was fast and furious —reaction checks and morale checks and the casualties quick to pile up. Dunder Mifflin died—An event that left the player a bit shocked. But he chuckled a bit. I told him to roll up a new character, and he started laughing along with the hirelings. As expected, the wizard’s sleep spell secured a victory. Hungry for loot, they stripped everything and decided to head back to town.

Back at town, the characters a bit wealthier and a bit wiser, recruited more hirelings. And Sunder Mifflin, son of Dunder, joined the ranks. Along with Whiskey Sue, Four Eyed Tom, Hairy Harold, and some other hirelings with less memorable names. At this point, I noticed a shift.

The players stealed their resolve and grew interested in defeating the challenges ahead of them. They knew I wasn’t pulling any punches, and redoubled their effort.

After some recovery, they returned, refreshed, and reinforced. Taking a different path, they checked doors, and when they discovered some monsters they prodded their hirelings to take the vanguard—I check the morale and everyone was onboard

This encounter went better for the PCs, they had minor resource losses (at least no PCs died). They pressed deeper into the dungeon and came upon a statue and puzzle. They wanted more information and asked questions. They decided after they left the dungeon they’d go to Adamus to track down a sage —Had we had more sessions, the flow of information to and from the sage might have driven further exploration. Especially as campaign cast members began offering rewards for more information from Dwimmermount

Still fresh, they backtracked to the room in which the first Dunder Mifflin died. The door was locked. Listening, they heard movement behind the door—I rolled on the Dungeon Restock table on page 79 of Dwimmermount – Labyrinth Lord version. With the session drawing to a close, I forced their hand and had them return to Muntberg—By forcing them back to Muntburg, I was invoking a bit of the West Marches Procedure. I did check for random encounters as they made their egress. After all, running out the session clock should not be a teleport to a safe-zone.

Conclusion

We did character creation, rules explanation, two forays into the dungeon (involving 4 combats, exploring 7 rooms), character replacement, and at the table chatter—All in 4 hours. We got a lot done, and the players began drawing connections from inside and outside of the dungeon.

We never did return to this session, but I learned a lot following the “rules as written” procedures of Labyrinth Lord. Namely that this style of play is a group problem solving game. Yes your character is important, but not more so than the campaign and the overall group experience.

From this, I also saw the promises of what a megadungeon focus can bring to a campaign. Part of Dwimmermount’s allure is that it is a focal point of the entire campaign. Buried within this dungeon is an archaeological and historical trove of information that exposes the campaign backstory. With monetary (and thus XP) incentives for producing maps and gathering information, the flow of story into and out of Dwimmermount became evident.

Discovered an Unknown to Me Sibling of the Old School Primer

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I’ve been following the great posts from the “OSR Guide for the Perplexed” call. Sidenote: Take some time to go Google “OSR Guide for the Perplexed”. Kuroth’s Quill post pointed me to “Megadungeon Tactics: Mission-Based Adventuring” by Matt Finch. An article unknown to me and published in Knockspell #4. According to Kuroth’s Quill:

This is an excellent resource for old-school dungeon-exploring players in general, and helps players to effectively deploy in play the concepts outlined in Matt’s Old School Primer (free).

That piqued my interest. Scratching together some RPGNow credits, I downloaded Knockspell #4 and read the article (from 2009).

First, this article is addressing the rise of the Megadungeon, something of which I’ve never played in. Nor given all that much thought to how I would explore them as a player.

Sidenote: There is Grognardia’s 2008 post My Megadungeon: dwimmermount. Please take the time to read this whole site. Michael Curtis’s 2009 Stonehell Dungeon looked to address the organizational layout and modularity of megadungeons. Also consider Rappan Athuk, Banewarrens, the Worlds Largest Dungeon, etc. Regardless, something about 2009 begged everyone to explore massive dungeons.

I found the advice reshaping my understanding of an aspect of role-playing that I’ve often set aside; The strategic consideration of adventuring, especially when you have fragile characters.

Matt Finch provides practical advice at the intersection of mechanics and dungeon topography.

First and foremost, understand the rewards struture of the game. In older editions and the OSR, character get XP for gaining treasure, defeating monsters, and completing quests. In an adventure, if you tally XP sources, the majority of possible XP comes from treasure. Sidenote: Consider that a 100 XP monster might be a barrier to 1000 XP of treasure. Where possible, mitigate the chance of that 100 XP monster ever attacking you. Bribe it, ambush it, lure it away, etc. After all, your fragile 4 HP wizard can die in one hit from a monster that deals 1d8 damage.

With this understanding, optimize for treasure and do your best to ensure an upper hand in any conflicts. Inversely, avoid efforts that are unlikely to produce treasure or that can introduce further conflict complications. This is codified in the various approaches into the dungeon.

Second, understand that dungeons often have procedures for random encounter checks. In otherwords, monsters that won’t have much treasure. Which runs against your rules of optimization. Reduce your chances of random encounters by being efficient and judicious.

First Expedition

This is where you aim to map the corridors. Sidenote: GMs require the players to declare which character is doing the mapping and has the map.

The corridors are your flight path when you cut and run.

Understand the flow of the dungeon. How you can use it. And how others can use it against you. In this first expedition, there is an assumption that you won’t gain any treasure but will reduce your chances of random encounters.

Matt encourages a devious strategy, analogue to “doubling a volunteer’s pay”. Hire elves and dwarves promising a share of the treasure. PCs, be generous, after all the plan is not to find treasure. Yes this is disingenuous, but what is a poor dungeon raider to do? Sidenote: They have secret door detection and stonework cunning to sniff out anomalies in the corridors

Elves and Dwarves are one form of preparation; Another analogue is spell selection. In this first foray, its all about reconnaissance spells. Sidenote: Character creation is quick, so take a calculated risk with this disposable PC; Instead of preparing sleep consider detect magic or even read languages.

Another point Matt raises is around topography:

Keep in mind especially that corridors which circle back to other corridors are very dangerous in running battles, because they allow enemies to hit you from more than one direction at the same time.

Understand the physical flow of the dungeon. From this understanding you can later optimize your approach and even use the dungeon topography to your advantage (or at least minimize its disadvantages).

Prepare for the Second Expedition

With a map in hand, the players/characters should discuss and plan their next expedition. Where do they think they can smash and grab some treasure? What might there approach be? While this is a more dangerous expedition, the goal is to optimize treasure acquisition. Sidenote: This in turn leads to leveling-up and increased durability of characters.

From here, Matt Finch provides a trove of information and approaches, as outlined in the conceptual table of contents for this article:

The First Two Missions

  • Expedition #1: Map the Corridors
  • Expedition #2: Recover Lost Cash Flow

Expeditions After the First Two

  • Type #1: Rinse and Repeat
  • Type #2: Checking for Details
  • Type #3: Deep Excursion
  • Type #4: Rescue and Recovery
  • Type #5: Gadgeteering, Gizmology, Amateur Siegecraft, and Buildstuffological Engineering

Conclusion

The advice from Matt Finch’s “Megadungeon Tactics: Mission-Based Adventuring” from Knockspell #4 can be summed up as know the risk/reward elements of the game and take an iterative and agile approach in dungeon delving with an initial focus of understanding the flow of a dungeon.

My Response to an OSR Guide For The Perplexed Questionnaire

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Filling out an OSR Guide For The Perplexed Questionnaire, my answers are inline.

One article or blog entry that exemplifies the best of the Old School Renaissance for me:

A bit of a cheat, but the index of Secret Santicore PDFs demonstrates a community dedicated to crafting all kinds of interesting ideas.

 

My favorite piece of OSR wisdom/advice/snark:

The Hardest Core RPG Theory Post

Best OSR module/supplement:

I love Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage King, a small sandbox with numerous approaches.

My favorite house rule (by someone else):

Carousing by Jeff Rients

How I found out about the OSR:

It would’ve been around 2011. I was following blogs about gaming, especially learning about Dungeon World. It was a take on old school gaming. And in September 2011, I bought the 1st edition of Death Frost Doom and the Grindhouse Edition of Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

I started reading James Raggi IV’s Grindhouse Referee Book and thinking “This is so very good.”

My favorite OSR online resource/toy:

BarrowMaze’s Meatshields

Best place to talk to other OSR gamers:

Google+ and through other blog postings (get the OSR OPML from Save vs. Total Party Kill).

Other places I might be found hanging out talking games:

I’m dipping my toe in MeWe. I’m over on Reddit (/r/osr as /u/takeonrules)

My awesome, pithy OSR take nobody appreciates enough:

Don’t give me a backstory, make it happen at the table.

My favorite non-OSR RPG:

Burning Wheel

Why I like OSR stuff:

OSR games use a familiar and common rules framework, focusing instead of content and ideas. Instead of introducing yet another boutique set of rules, energy is spent creating and mixing ideas.

Furthermore, much of it is released under the OGL, meaning the rules remain free for future use.

Two other cool OSR things you should know about that I haven’t named yet:

If I could read but one other RPG blog but my own it would be:

Ramanan Sivaranjan’s Save vs. Total Party Kill

A game thing I made that I like quite a lot is:

My Random Bond generator for Dungeon World; Useful for connecting two NPCs together.

I’m currently running/playing:

I’m running a 5E game using the Tomb of Annihilation adventure. As I continue to increment the Death Save DC, I relish the dread of the players.

I don’t care whether you use ascending or descending AC because:

I used THAC0 and BAB, both work fine. Besides, shouldn’t you be running from monsters anyway?

The OSRest picture I could post on short notice:

osr-image

Burning Wheel Lifepaths Inspired by Warhammer Fantasy

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Recently, I’ve been reading through the First Edition of Warhammer Fantasy RPG. The character creation is rather spectacular. Encoded in the career descriptions is a vibrant setting, and a clear antecedent to Burning Wheel.

Table 1: Villager Setting Lifepaths
Lifepath Time Resources Stat Leads
Toll-Keeper 6 yrs 15 — City, Peasant
Skills: 5 pts: Bandit-wise, Haggling, Appraisal, Persuasion, Accounting
Traits: 2 pts: Humorless
Restrictions: May not be the character’s second lifepath
Targeteer 4 yrs 8 +1 P City, Noble Court, Outcast
Skills: 5 pts: Bow, Fletcher, Contest-wise, Wager-wise, Travel-wise
Traits: 1 pts: (Stead Hand)
Table 2: City Dweller Setting Lifepaths
Lifepath Time Resources Stat Leads
Bawd 5 yrs 11 — Noble Court, Outcast, Seafaring
Skills: 4 pts: Good Times-wise, Streetwise, Haggling, Brawling
Traits: 1 pts:
Restrictions: May not be the character’s second lifepath
Pit-Fighter 3 yrs 7 +1 P Outcast, Servitude, Soldier
Skills: 5 pts: Brawling, Dirty Fighting-wise, Acting, Appropriate Weapon, Crowd-wise
Traits: 2 pts: Scarred, Cold-blooded, Fearless, Resigned to Death
Roadwarden 4 yrs 8 +1 P Outcast, Soldier, Village
Skills: 5 pts: Riding, Road-wise, Countryside-wise, Ambush-wise Sword
Traits: 2 pts: Saddle Sore, Cautious
Note: Groom, Roadwarden, or any soldier lifepath
Raconteur 5 yrs 9 — Outcast, Peasant, Soldier, Village
Skills: 5 pts: Oratory, Blathering-wise, Conspicuous, Persuasion, Seduction, Etiquette, Story-wise
Traits: 1 pts: Witty, The Story
Coachman 4 yrs 11 +1 M/P Outcast, Soldier, Village
Skills: 4 pts: Riding, Traveler-wise, Firearms, Observation
Traits: 1 pts: Jaded, Cool Headed
Requires: Groom, Roadwarden, or any soldier lifepath
Table 3: Noble Court Setting Lifepaths
Lifepath Time Resources Stat Leads
Explorer 6 yrs 15 +1 M/P Any
Skills: 7 pts: Cartography, Navigation, Oratory, Riding, Foreign Language, Read, Write
Traits: 2 pts: Cocky, Callous
Requires: Sailor, Scout, Student, Forester, Huntsman, Strider, or Your Lordship trait
Munitioner 5 yrs 25 +1 M City, Outcast, Seafaring, Soldier
Skills: 6 pts: Engineer, Munitions, Mending, Metalsmith, Explosion-wise
Traits: 2 pts: A Bit Deaf, Prominent Scar, A Bit Crazy
Requires: Sailor, Scout, Student, Forester, Huntsman, Strider, or Your Lordship trait
Note: Counts as an Engineer for lifepath requirements.
Court Druid 8 yrs 32 +1 M City, Outcast
Skills: 7 pts: Etiquette, Astrology, Spirit Binding, Ancient History, Symbology, Sing, Curse-wise
Traits: 1 pts: Mysterious
Requires: Any previous lifepath that contains the Sorcery skill
Table 4: Outcast Setting Lifepaths
Lifepath Time Resources Stat Leads
Witch-Hunter 6 yrs 15 +1 M/P City, Religious, Soldier, Villager
Skills: 6 pts: Oratory, Stealth, Crossbow, Interrogation, Throwing, Agent of Chaos-wise
Traits: 3 pts: Suspicious, Zealot, Loner, Rigid Moral Compass, Sixth Sense
Requires: A Soldier or Religious lifepath

Rethinking the Failed Climb Check

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I’ve been listening to numerous actual play podcasts, and stumbled upon Sunday Skyper‘s Burning Beards campaign. A group clearly enjoying their game.

On my ride home from work, I was listening to Episode 8. At one point in which Ulfkell Son of Muggur, Flint Gotterdamn, and Fandral the Stalwart, son of Vandral Iron Girdle found themselves stuck in a watery pit.

I paused and thought about how I would establish consequences for this all too common obstacle. The intent, as I recall, was to climb out of the pit and get the lanterns so they could better see their surroundings. The situation was Fandral was climbing with a boost and guidance from Flint.

A classic consequence is to have them fall midway through their climb. But with the Let it Ride rule, this mandates that they can’t climb their way out. Not cool and doesn’t move much forward.

Options I was thinking of were:

  • You climb up but find the lanterns are gone or busted (or now coveted by a creature)
  • You climb up but sustain an injury
  • You climb up but damage/ruin some equipment

Also important when considering consequences is to bind helpers to the outcome of the test.

In this case, what I would’ve chosen was to for rocks to fall onto Flint and damage his axe (he has an instinct related to his axe) and Fandral sustain an injury but make it to the top.

Really, this is following the advice of Dungeon World with some hard moves:

  • Use a monster, danger, or location move
  • Reveal an unwelcome truth
  • Show signs of an approaching threat
  • Deal damage
  • Use up their resources
  • Turn their move back on them
  • Separate them
  • Give an opportunity that fits a class’ abilities
  • Show a downside to their class, race, or equipment
  • Offer an opportunity, with or without cost
  • Put someone in a spot
  • Tell them the requirements or consequences and ask

 

The Stage is Set for an Epic Battle in Omu

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Setting the Stage for a Grand Combat

Building from the previous session:

  • The warlock, as an eagle, carried a silenced rope kept close to the King of Feathers.
  • An aging (now hasted) Tabaxi, bent on a glorious death, lead the King of Feathers on.
  • A Tabaxi rogue/ranger nimble and fast, provided flanking support.
  • The sorcerer, barbarian, and cleric, followed several steps behind.

Random Tables

When you first lead the King of Feathers into the camp, roll…
d6 Result
1 1 round of inaction
2 2 rounds of inaction
3 3 rounds of inaction
4-6 Respond Quickly

I wanted to reflect that moment of confusion, when a large and silenced T-Rex charges into an encampment.

I told the players that each round there was a 50/50 chance that the rumblings of a nearby huge monster would wake any sleeping inhabitants.

The overall state of the camp
d20 Results
1 A wizard was out relieving themselves (and alert)
2 The wizards were in a meeting (in the same building)
3 A wizard is overseeing a dream spell
4 The guards on watch are instead gambling
5 The wizards are deep in a summoning ritual (and it won’t be long until it’s done)
6 The wizards just dealt with an incursion, roll 2d6 each, they each spent those spell slots; 1d6 veterans are bloodied.
7-20 The wizards were sleeping amongst their bone harem of their skeletons (they each get +2 cover bonus)

A camp of 20 or so humans has nighttime activity. I wanted to convey that reality, and not lay the conditions out ahead of time.

Players Roll

Since there were two groups of characters (those fast enough to lead the King of Feathers on, and those not) I had them roll to see how far the trailing group was behind the King of Feathers.

They rolled 1 round of inaction, that the guards were gambling, the faster barbarian would arrive at round 2, and the sorcerer and cleric would arrive at round 4. (They didn’t know but the veterans would awake at round 3).

I set up the location, and called for a group initiative. For initiative order for the combat  was: the players, King of Feathers, and the camp. (I had briefly thought of rolling group initiative each turn)

A combat map for a tabletop RPG, with dominos for buildings, dice for monsters, and other oddities

The Stage is Set for an Epic Battle in Omu

The Participants

  • Five 7th level PCs – a tabaxi ranger 4 /rogue 3; a half-elf cleric 1 / sorcerer 6; a human cleric 7 / a half-elf warlock 7; a dwarf barbarian 7
  • One Tabaxi Hunter, an ally of the PCs bent on a glorious death
  • Two 9th level Mages (CR 6)
  • One 11th level Mage (CR 7)
  • One flesh golem (CR 5)
  • Twelve veterans (CR 3)
  • Twelve skeletons (CR 1/2)
  • One King of Feathers (an augmented CR 9 T-Rex)

Everyone knew this was a dangerous gambit. Going into the session we all knew this would be an encounter that would require constant evaluation.

As I was preparing the situation, I kept thinking what are the likely responses of the players?

  • They’ll lead the King of Feathers into the camp and stand back to assess (and perhaps strike after any spells had worn out)
  • They’ll join with the King of Feathers and battle the camp
  • They’ll swoop in to help the camp, and ingratiate themselves with the wizards

When You Lead a T-Rex Into Battle…

The grand melee that ensued was among the most satisfying I’ve ever ran; Definitely the most satisfying I’ve run for 5e. But this post draws long, so I’ll save the report until next time.

Plan for Complications – Tomb of Annihilation

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Random tables lead to creative solutions; or that time where they set in motion luring a silenced T-Rex into the camp of enemy wizards with whom they might soon form an alliance.

Large feathered T-Rex in jungle ruins

King of Feathers in Omu

Prior Sessions

Two sessions ago the characters had a harrowing three-way battle between a trio of ambushing assassin vines and a Red Wizard along with his cohort. The Red Wizard escaped and they spent the next session tracking him down, laying an ambush at the obelisk, and ultimately interrogating him (and throwing him to the conjured black tentacles).

The adventurers learned that the other three Red Wizards were to meet at the obelisk the next day. The adventurers weren’t able to tell if the captured wizard was lying, and set about crafting an ambush.

We ended that session with me saying – “Welp, I don’t know how this is going to go down, but I’ll write up some random procedures so that I lock in their actions while you discuss and work through yours.”

I created the procedures following:

Table 1: Are they coming tomorrow?
d6 Result
1-3 Yes, use the Arrival Times procedure to determine timing. Note: the arrival hour is the number of hours after sunrise.
4-6 No, roll on Table 2: So they’re not coming today

 

Table 2: So they’re not coming tomorrow…
d6 Result
1-2 But they’re coming today; use the Arrival Times procedure to determine timing. Note: the arrival hour is the number of hours since the initial ambush.
3-4 But the yuan-ti are laying are gathering around the players and laying an ambush
5-6 Because they caught wind of what’s happening and will instead send an emissary. Roll 1d6 to determine the hour of their arrival

Arrival Time Procedure

For each of the 3 Red Wizard groups roll a unique 1d6 (after all each group is different). The resulting die is their arrival hour. For any dice that turn up the same, roll those dice again.

  • If both are even or both are odd, they arrive together.
  • If the larger is even, they arrive that many rounds later.
  • If the larger number is odd, they arrive the product of those two dice minutes later.
  • If you rolled 3 dice, treat each even as the highest result of all odds and each odd as the highest result of all odds.

This Session

At the beginning of the session, I rolled on the tables. The result was the Wizards got wind of the ambush and were sending an emissary instead. Poor Trevor, the veteran waving the white flag; He came to realize that the Red Wizards, while paying generously, were holding his family as leverage.

The adventurers began setting up their ambush. Moving dirt, checking houses near the obelisk, and establishing a perimeter patrol.

Moon (the Tabaxi Ranger/Rogue) spotted a soldier approaching, flying a white flag. After a brief parlay, he brought Trevor (the soldier) to just outside the ambush spot. The offer at hand was that the adventurer’s join (and in some PC’s cases rejoin) the Red Wizard entourage. The pay was good and they looked after your family, according to Trevor. Moon countered saying that his family was leverage for compliance.

During the extended parlay with Trevor, the group worked out the following plan (mostly outside of earshot of Trevor, who was now ready to turn an eye on the Red Wizards but not actively work against them):

  • Twelve Moonshadow and Hooded Lantern would track the wizards to their encampment
  • Ord, X, Regina, and Kruxus Craft would begin resting to swap spells
  • Kruxus Craft would cast silence on 50’ of rope
  • Regina and Moon would go to the King of Feather’s lair, lure it out, and drop (via Mage Hand) the silent rope on the King
  • Moon would lead the King of Feathers towards the wizard encampment
  • As they drew near, Hooded Lantern seeking song worthy death would anchor the relay and lead the T-Rex into the encampment
  • A bit of mayhem later and the party would attack

Analysis and Behind the Screen

Planning can bog down a game. I employed a tactic early on saying “What I hear the plan to be right now is…”. This helped draw the group’s attention to the current shape of a discussed plan.

Early we all lamented the nerfed spell durations of 5e (compared to 2e especially); they are static and short. I made a table ruling. A character may expend a higher level slot to extend a spell’s duration:

  • 1 minute
  • 10 minute
  • 1 hour
  • 4 hours
  • 8 hours
  • 1 day
  • 1 week

Because short durations are lame when the plan is to silence a rampaging T-Rex to aid in the ambush of wizards. And yes, this may impose on a Sorcerer’s metamagic, but we’ll get to that if it ever comes up.

Back to the Session

The Red Wizards accepted the request of the for one day to think about it joining forces. And they could meet at a neutral place; the accepted recommendation was the prior wizard encampment in which the wizards and yuan-ti last fought.

What transpired:

  • While following to camp, each group rolled for random encounters – the wizards, the tabaxi PC and NPC, and the other group
  • A shambling mound attacked the Red Wizards, the advantage was the wizards, so I had the players roll some random dice to see if there were any fatalities (there weren’t and I should’ve clarified what the rolls were about)
  • No other random encounters
  • Moon, ever curious sneaked closer, but Zagmira spotted him
  • A quick roll of initiative and Moon bolted back into the jungle before Zagmira could unload
  • Moon and Hooded Lantern returned to camp
  • with a 4 hour silence dropped on a knot in the 50’ of rope, Moon and Regina left wrangle up the King of Feathers
  • At the amphitheatre, there were signs of the King of Feathers (only a 25% chance at night), but it was not there now
  • Invisible in the shadows Regina waited while 5 deinonychus came to prowl; afraid of drawing attention Regina dropped a major image to lure them away
  • Meanwhile Moon found the King of Feathers. With haste and agility he barely kept ahead of King of Feathers as he lured the mighty T-Rex towards a waiting Regina and the hanging collar/rope. (Without levels of rogue and ranger, Moon would not have kept ahead of the King of Feathers)
  • As the King of Feathers drew close, it noticed the invisible and skulking Regina
  • A quick roll of initiative and to Regina’s fortune she won.
  • Regina promptly changed into a large bird of prey and flew up. Grabbing the rope, Regina flew low to keep the King of Feather’s silent while Moon’s lead it through the jungle to the encampment
  • Moon succeeded at keeping ahead of the King of Feather’s and avoided picking up a level of exhaustion (DC 15) as they all approached the camp.

With time running short, and a massive battle looming, we called it a night.

This morning, I’m doing what I can to prepare the situation:

  • a marauding T-Rex perhaps in an area of silence
  • a polymorphed warlock carrying said silenced rope
  • a wizard encampment (3 Red Wizards, a Flesh Golem, 13 soldiers, 14 skeletons) that previously caught someone following them
  • an urban locale that is overrun by the encroaching jungle