Barrowmaze #28: Feed the Ghastly Gourmand and Escape with Your Life

The company escaped from the Barrowmaze via a dark deed and desperate gifts to various nefarious creatures.  Mighty were the rewards.

A quick and furious battle ended with the Company of Aliontus chasing a ghoul through a kingly vault and into the lair of the Mistress of the Maze, Grizelda the Ghastly Gourmand and her gaggle of ghouls, a kitchen of sorts, stuffed with beakers, books, and man eaters.  A large black cauldron bubbled over a fire, smelling pungent.  Dan the Fighter vomited violently and the undead cannibals laughed and pointed.

More than a dozen nefarious foes faced the fatigued foursome, so they negotiated with her, back tracking to bring a pair of recently killed adventurers to be boiled in the witch's pot.  With that, they crept through the cannibal crowd and hurried on to more familiar tunnels, stopping only to push in a hastily bricked up door.  Within was a musty library staffed by two sinister deathless librarians and their anti-paladin protectors.  Aliontus quickly offered a sheaf of Nergalian Writs and the heroes fled quickly.

Returning to the surface lands, shaken and stirred, they celebrated the riches they had gained.  Great piles of gold were spent on wine women and song.  Clovin the Cleric was feted for his discovery of the Font of Law.  Surely it would be used to solve the problem of the Barrowmaze and its restless dead.  Eric the Fighter made a poor business investment and earned the ire of the Youn Duke Korthos Ironguard.   Aliontus drank to much and awake naked in the center of town, having spent the night preaching to cats and rats.

Storm King's Thunder #30: Doom in the Desert

Finished it.  The campaign met its finale with a final battle against the blue dragon.  No PCs died, though I kinda spaced out and forgot to attack a couple of times.  High level fighting is silly. 
Happy to turn over the DM screen to my friend for Tomb of Annihilation!
We'll have some one-shots occasionally where they will finally fight Tiamat.  I'm thinking instead of using Rise of Tiamat, I'll use some of the high level stuff from Out of the Abyss.  Fight some demons then go to hell and fight Tiamat.

The best part was the holiday spirit.  Pants brought custom shirts for everyone with a red d4 pun on them.  The group also went in on buying me the new book, Xanathar's Guide.  Second year in a row I have received a Christmas book signed by my players.  I was really touched.  I feel so lucky to have this group these days.  It's been two solid years of D&D.  The wife's wizard is 12th level.  We played through two official Type VI campaign books and I am totally ready to hand off the DM duties.  The location will change as well.  We'll play at the next door neighbor's house.  It will be a good change of pace.  I got a bit tired of the plotted out campaign and I wasn't as excited to DM the newest book, though I'm stoked to play in it.  Of course, my Barrowmaze campaign continues, with my heartbreaker booklet that I am more into every time I play. 

The battle itself was fine.  Imryth lurked in her sand pile for awhile while her gargoyles and cave-ins softened up the intruders.  A pit to Hell was found, guarded by a massive bronze statue of Tiamat, who exhaled poison gas and whispered words of doom and portent, of the coming of the Mother of Wyrms.  Finally Althea the Bearer of the Black Mask donned her cursed garb and was assailed by doubt and temptation.  She knew that she needed only to betray her company to the reap a reward of ultimate power upon the coming of the Apocalypse, but though she wavered she would not be turned.  The fire lady launched a fireball into the sand pile, revealing the ancient blue wyrm! 

The old conniver was enraged.  She surged forward and roared her electrical fury at the Company of the Raven, leaving the elven mages, both light and dark, a pair of smoking ruins.  A red skinned demon emerged to steal Althea's Mask of the Black Dragon.  Apollo healed his magical friends.  The barbarian and bard assassin engaged with the demon then the dragon herself.  Though her tail thrashed and the heroes were between within inches of their lives, the might of sword and spell prevailed just as it had in Barovia against the dread lord Strahd.  The dragon was slain and the realms were safe for a time.

The Maelstrom Court pledged friendship and alliance with the Lords of Waterdeep.  Bards sang the praises of the brave cloud sailors.  Noble titles and lands in contested places were bestowed, with great thanks from the people of the Sword Coast.  Yet even as the depredations of giants eased, a low rumble of rumour and dread was heard from place deep below...

Storm King's Thunder #29: Heavy Lifting in the Battle of Ascore

TL DR  Ultimate battle?  In the midst of the heroes battling gargoyles above the sands of the Anaurach Desert, it was proposed that initiative be decided based on contests of strength between me the DM and various players (we usually use side initiative on a d12).  I won the first push up contest(22), then lost the second(31),  then lost a pull-up contest(7), and finally outlasted my wife in a side-plank contest.  Hilarity ensued.  Yes a bottle of wine was involved.

DM Notes
The end is nigh.  I can almost taste it.  And I don't mean the imminent return of Tiamat.  I mean the campaign itself.  With this last battle against the Blue Menace of the Anaurach I plan to hand over the reins to a friend and retire from DMing type V D&D.  I hope it feels satisfying enough for the group, but I'd like to pause it for awhile and pick it back up on an episodic basis, roleplaying a scene here and there before another epic battle with the queen of dragons.  At this level plot points seem sort of inevitable and less surprising, at least for me.  I'd like to make the playing through of those plot points special occasions instead of weekly affairs.  I'd never really agreed with the term "to play through" a module until things got to around the 10th level, when astute players can more or less make things happen as they like.  I'm looking forward to being surprised by the game again, this time as a player in Tomb of Annihilation!

In the meantime, I'm hoping to make this battle one to remember.  They've already taken down a couple dragons during this campaign.  This time they've already had their plans shifted by terrain and spells drained by multitudes of minions.  I hope to make it a running battle in a cyclopean min-dungeon, with mysteries and traps along with their ultimate foe.  I won't say I want to kill some characters, but if one or two die it wouldn't make the campaign less dramatic.

The Story
The Red Balloon arrived in Silverymoon to great fanfare.  The glitterati of the city turned out to celebrate the heroes of the realm, who had walked the very halls of the Maelstrom Court and not only lived but returned as friends and allies of the Storm King himself!  They were invited to many balls, feasts, and theatrical performances, their deeds were turned to song, and all the kind help of a grateful kingdom was opened to them.  For a time, all was well, but the doom of the Drakkorn still echoed in the hearts of the mighty and though giant kind had ceased their destructive depredations, dragons continued to sail out of the northern reaches, headed for some southern clime.  A migration? or a meeting?

Feeling there was little time to waste, the Red Ballon set forth once again, now crewed by hearty men with curly beards, into the oncoming storm of the desert.  From the ancient ruined city of Ascore could be seen a violent thunder storm swirling above the great amphitheater said to crown the lair of the ancient sapphire wyrm to whose credit was due the manifold sufferings of the Forgotten Realms these many months.  The crew landed the Red Balloon and approached under the influence of magical spells of Flight, cruising low.  Even so, heavy stones, fragments of statuary were launched at their approach by vigilant gargoyles, one catching the cleric Apollo on the shoulder blade, sending him crashing into the sand. 

Althea the Wizardess and Ezra the Storm Sorceress summoned fire and ice to shatter the guardians, and Ezra sensed a great malevolent presence guiding the storm above.

Circling about, chased by dozens of stoney, bat winged devil statues, the heroes dove into a great hole in the ground within the amphitheater, finding themselves in a massive vaulted underground chamber.  Gargoyles screeched above.  A massive presence filled the space.  They were not welcome here...

Barrowmaze #27: Driven Deeper into the Chaos Sepulcher

TL DR  Tired, tense, driven by hunger.  Unable to escape the dungeon, with running low on food and torches, the explorers found a secret door into an ancient elemental crypt and hurried down forgotten halls, desperate for an exit.

DM Notes: In Too Deep and the Public Doom Die
Tuesday's session was a pretty great one.  The tension was thick.  Resources dwindled.  Lost and short on spells, the their exit route cut off, they delved ever deeper into the dungeon, hyper aware of the mounting danger.  I have no idea what will happen next.

We have been playing this Barrowmaze campaign for about a year now.  It's usually me as DM and two players with two or three characters and a few henchmen.  We play using roll20 video chat (the fog of war feature makes dungeon exploring very easy).  After quite a few early deaths the guys have gotten their characters up to 4th level.  I was starting to think they were getting a little big for their britches.  Not any more.

With the exception of the Skull Mountain excursion, most of the campaign has taken place in and above the Barrowmaze, and most sessions have involved walking from town, exploring a bit, sometimes just a mound or two and returning for some carousing.   The last few sessions have been different.  Each time we ended in the dungeon.  Characters had no rest.  At first it was because they really wanted to explore deeper to find the fabled Fount of Law.  The second time it was because I rolled a random encounter as they tried to leave and we did not have time to play it out.

I've run games before where characters got in over their heads and bit off more than they could chew in the past.  Usually I would feel a bit guilty and responsible.  I would conveniently forget about some things like torches and food, exhaustion etc.  This time was different.  With the Doom Die being rolled by the players after nearly every action, the ticking of time became very clear.  Through a series rolls of 2 and 4 (hunger/exhaustion and torches) resources became taxed.  It was a lot of stress eating apparently.  By the end of the session they were down to their last couple of rations.  They had even chosen to take the 1hp a couple times.

The Doom Die was really great here.  It gave me a sense of when to have the pursuing necromancer appear, and the rolls of 4 and 6 made me think hard about what clues or boons I could offer the desperate party.  I think one clue unfortunately compelled them away from a safer choice, but oh well.

We used the Battle Die as well.  This was again interesting.  It made it clear when spells ended, when it was time to introduce a complication, or when to offer an extra action to a player.

This was a session were a combination of the familiarity with the context of the Barrowmaze and the procedures in place made for a really cool experience.  I can't wait for the next game, though it could easily end in a TPK.

The Saga
The session started with the four grave robbers at the door of a large room through which they needed to pass to get to their exit stair.  They were weary but triumphant with their newly acquired orb.  They heard chanting in the "Dark Speech" and the groans of many voices.  Peering under the door they could see orange light and smell brimstone.

They decided to find another way around, but searching unexplored passages yielded no secret passages.  Worried now, they tried to backtrack, exploring side passages they had passed on the way to the Fount of Law.  These passages were a maze of narrow, natural tunnels.  After a few dead ends they discovered a crumbled wall of masonry.  In the chamber beyond their dim light fell upon a livestock sized insectoid creature, it's tentacled head buried in the corpse of a goat-headed beastman, which itself reclined upon a pile of jewels and coins.  Striking from ambush, the group quickly slew the thing and gathered the treasure, a kings hoard!  They also found a concealed stone door.  An escape.

The door opened to the space behind a massive stone statue depicted a four armed demon holding skulls of various provenance: a bird, a reptile, a fish and a badger.  The room was huge, with a vaulted roof.  Doors to the north and south were locked and elaborately designed, so they were ignored and the party fled east.

Immediately the floor fell out from beneath the fighter.  Luck was on his side.  A Dexterity Saving roll of 1 saw him leap to safety as the trap door spun beneath him.  There was a bricked up door at the end of the corridor beyond.

As the group began to work on it with sledge and crowbar, light appeared in the demon chamber behind.  It was a Necromancer of Set with his retinue of skeletal minions and the zombified corpses of the band of goat-headed beastmen with whom the party had recently parlayed.  There ensued a strange stand off.  The players were somewhat protected by the pit, into which two skeletons immediately fell.  The trap door was doused in oil and set afire.  The cleric used the final charge of his Wand of Wonder to create a globe of darkness for a time.  The Necromancer called out, demanding the Font for the glory of Set, but with his Stinking Cloud ineffective and unable to send his clumsy minions across the trapped pit, eventually resorting to skeleton rock throwing.

 Meanwhile, three tomb robbers attacked the bricked up wall relentlessly, finally breaking through a small hole and tumbling through.  A long, silent passage stretched into the darkness.  Hurrying, the group passed doors and side passages, finally exploring north, turning back with a bad feeling from a northern door and exploring a few alcoves, discovering yet more wealth (cleverly avoiding a collapsing floor to do so).  They had discovered more ancient coinage and gemstones than ever before but were no nearer to any known exit.

Again footfalls could be heard in the darkness beyond the light...

Storm King's Thunder #28: A Deal is Struck with Old Snarl

TL;DR 
The heroes did some dragon research at Candlekeep and used the Scry spell to scout the Klauthen Vale.  Klauth the Red greeted them and they came to an agreement: A loan of the airship in exchange for the hoard of Imryth the Blue.  The sounding of the Drakkorn.  Picked up the ship (delivered by Harshnag the Frost Giant), and sailed toward Silverymoon, enduring a demon attack along the way.

The Saga
The King has returned!  The giants have ceased their depredations as the Lord of the the Storms walks among them, re-asserting his authority.

Back in Waterdeep, the Company of the Raven wasted no time in deciding which dragon to confront -they wanted that flying boat back.  The wizard, sorceress and bard spread liberal coin around the libraries of Waterdeep and Candlekeep, traveling down the coast to that citadel of scholarship was a boon.  There was a myth of Maegara the Fire Elemental once walking the cleft of Klauthen Vale, thus creating it's temperate climate within the frozen Spine of the World.  Klauth himself was said to be an elderly dragon, appearing in every era of history, clever, cruel, imperious, and often covetous of other dragons' wealth.  It was said that 100 years ago a Company called Force Gray made a pact with the old wyrm in order to slay a lesser one.  This was good beta!

As the Company returned on horseback to Waterdeep, all the land was deafened by a long droning sound.  A sound of portentous doom.  None knew what was the providence of this sound, though none in all of Faerun failed to hear every note.

Using a newly acquired Crystal Ball, Althea the Wizardess set about searching for the Flying Ship she had learned to fly those many months ago.  She did so, finding it tethered within a grand cavern.  Panning about with her Scrying spell, she came upon a pool of water glowing with a strange light.  Looking closely at the water she found herself looking at the back of her own head!  The dragon was spying on them as well!

A game of Message spell ensued.  It became clear the old red was willing to lend his ship in exchange for the hoard of Imryth.  That was good enough for the Company.  They made haste to the Harper Circles of Rapid Transit and swiftly found themselves expeditioning from Mirabar to the gates of the Vale.

Approaching the Vale, a figure strode from the mist, a long chain trailing from his massive should like the string on a balloon.  It was their old companion Harshnag!  He had survived the collapsed of the Temple of Annam by joining Klauth's teleport and the two had reminisced about old times, for Harshnag had been a member of Force Gray 100 years ago.  He presented the ship, the Red Balloon, sadly scoured of the hoard of Skyreach Castle.

Back in the skies, the Company of the Raven flew east, hoping to reinforce their magic resources in Silverymoon.  In the distance they saw a flight of dragons, heading south.

In a cloud of fire and brimstone, a trio of demons appeared on the deck of the ship.  A fat pig headed demon radiant with rainbows, caused many to cower in his presence.  Two vulture like creatures screamed and farted death spores.  A desperate fight ensued, only ended when Esra the Sorceress came to her senses long enough to cast Banish and send two of them back to hell whence they came.