This is part of a series about my DMing Princes of the Apocalypse, a D&D 5e adventure by and copyright Wizards of the Coast.

There will be SPOILERS. If you are playing in a PotA game, please don’t read this. If you are DMing a PotA game, or are a DM who wants to see what the ride was like … read on!

GM Recap

Session 28 (Day 31-32)

The party debated the next best course. Circling the hill and ascending from the north side was a popular choice, but William’s Augury indicated woe for that course.
They ultimately decided to climb the hill up to the next camp on the left. They chatted with a druidess and her three ranger pals for a bit, with increasing tension. When the party passed through the camp toward the next, the people there attacked. The party succeeded but, again, taking two fireball attacks nearly killed Nala and sent everyone back down the hill for healing.
They tried it again, going to the fiddler’s camp on the left. There they met the halfling druid Gariena, her two sprites Flix and Afid, and her guest, the Red Larch pickle master and hapless tool, Grund. Grund was thrilled to see Mr Kitty again, but was afraid because he was told anyone from Red Larch would have him “put in irons.”
Another night down camp, noteworthy for (a) William dreaming of zombie and skeletal bears, and (b) Theren being nearly assaulted by one of the sprites, who then flew off north to one of the towers.
In the morning, the party explored Gariena’s campsite, finding it struck and empty. They did find strangers’ tracks leading toward the Scarlet Moon Hall at the hill’s summit.
The party tried to recruit the young druids to assist, but Urshnora, who has been spending time with them, discouraged the effort. On the other hand, they also, as a group, refused to leave, despite Faith’s attempt to persuade, then intimidate. Theren, though, told them to flee if the party didn’t return within four hours.
The party tracked the trail toward the front opening to the Hall’s boundary wall. They circled around to the north and northwest, before the wall was found to be in a relatively easily crossable state … and right where William had augered woe for attacking. They chose a position more northerly and crossed over, only to do so in an unstealthy fashion, which led the Hell Hounds to attack …

Player Recap

Moony and William get into trouble and then Faith makes it worse

A “druid” from another campsite comes to the group, keeping his distance from them. Sauriki asks their intentions and the group explains that they were attacked and have no ill will against the innocent. They are concerned that things are not what they appear. He heads back to his campsite warily.

After discussing the next steps, William cast Augury to see if circling east and approaching the keep from the north is a good idea – Woe!

After more discussion they decide to visit the other active camps up the road. They reach the first camp and are approached by the druid Lytin, with three rangers. She greets them and asks if they are fellow pilgrims. William returns the greeting and introduces himself, stating that they are there to here to witness the events. The sound of a fiddle wafts into the camp. Lytin rolls her eyes and complains of the noise. They briefly talk about the halflings and the other camp.

William has heard this type of music before, from a traveler, perhaps a bard. Faith senses that it might be magic.

“When the great rite is performed it will be the first step in the purification and will begin the rebalancing of nature,” Lytin assures them. She is a bit nervous or uncomfortable. She lets them know that Elizar doesn’t want people up near the site while they are preparing for the ritual.

They don’t look hungry and the party doesn’t see signs of hunting supplies. As the group moves through the camp, Lytin yells, “Take them”. Strong battle. Lytin cast Fireball twice on herself and her party.

Return to campsite with the young druids. Short rest. After healing up, Urshnora suggests that they visit the last camp before resting for the night. On reaching the camp, a large presence yells “Mr Kitty” and Grund races to hug Moony. He then races away in terror. The halfling Gariena invites the group to the camp. When things settle, the group convinces Grund that they wish him no ill will. Moony even offers him some of his dried fish. They have a peaceful talk, with the exception of the sprites filching some of Moony’s fish. The party says their goodnights and heads back to the young druids’ camp.

During Theren’s watch a sprite appears and yells at him before flying off north.

Next day the halfling’s camp is empty. William finds some tracks leading toward the Scarlet Moon Hall. The group walks towards the manor and then works their way around the wall.

Cross at the crumbled down wall. William and Faith make too much noise crossing the rubble. Two hell hounds and a guard race towards them.

Game Notes

A Long Holiday Weekend at the Campground

I can’t believe how many in-game days (or real-life game sessions) this all took. The problem was I was unwilling to upset the overall top-of-the-hill plans, which meant that no matter how much time the characters took, or how many group of undercover Fire Cultists were killed, there were no plot implications, even when the party would retreat back to camp to heal and sleep (again) overnight.

Probably my least-good DMing during the campaign.

At least the apparent kidnapping of Gariena by the Eternal Flame got them moving on the summit, albeit pretty much directly on the path that their own druid’s Augury indicated would lead to WOE.

Supporting Cast

Gariena, the halfling druid with a pair of sprites as familiars / companions is very much part of the campaign-as-written. Her taking Grund under her wing is not, but she seemed like the kind of person who would both attract and help a half-witted half-orc on the lam from the law.

Of course, nobody’s actually after Grund — that’s just what the Believers back in Red Larch told him (that he would be captured and “put in irons” for what he had done for him), in order to get him to flee town and never come back. Easiest way to keep him quiet (easier than trying to kill him, at least).

The whole party, especially the Tabaxi rogue, had been quite taken by Grund, whose true happiness in life was brining pickles for sale on market day. So it was fun to bring him back in — and to add his disappearance to the stakes when the campsite was found empty the next day (despite one of the sprites trying to alert the party’s sorcerer in the middle of the night when it happened).

There was some discussion about recruiting the Young Druids on the presumed assault on Scarlet Moon Hall. Urshnora — who had actually sort of started taking them under her wing, as part of her redemption arc — thought that was a bad idea (and it probably would have been). On the other hand, the kids weren’t cowed by danger and refused to flee.

In the end, had the party gotten into real trouble (something I thought possible), the Young Druids would have come to the rescue, whatever Urshnora thought. Which would have been pretty cool.

Bits and Bobs

The Fire Cultists all seemed more than happy to cast point-blank Fireballs at the party, even though they themselves had fewer hit points and no fire resistance. That’s dedication. Also, it was the only decent offensive spell they had, and it really caused a lot of player consternation.

The Cranky Druids continue to be cranky, especially when every time they turn around, the party is busy killing another campsite full of druids. “But they were all bad” doesn’t seem to mollify them, strangely enough.

The problem with coming up with tokens for all the important folk is that you end up having to come up with tokens for all the unimportant folk, so that the players can’t surmise that only the folk with tokens are important. So even though the “druid” and “three rangers” were disguised Fire Cultists who would die quickly after encounter, I still had to come up with tokens and names so that they would at least seem a bit interesting.

And, okay, it was fun doing so.

<< Session 27 | Session 29 >>

Princes of the Apocalypse, Session 28: “We Didn’t Start the Fire”