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. But 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 54 (Day 41)
In … The Temple of Eternal Flame
- Moony led a very cautious exploration of the hallway of dwarvish statues. Behind one he found the Crypt of Findon and Gitte, apparently never found by any cultists and undisturbed since the fall of Tyar-Besil. They left the sarcophagi undisturbed at Aldrik‘s insistence, though they did hide briefly in the crypt when a loud axe trap was poorly disarmed.
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Razerblast token (official) An octagonal chamber beyond with lightly glowing obsidian pillars turned out to be a guardpost for three Razerblast fire cultists, as well as a flash-frying magma oven. The party prevailed, but not without Nala and William nearly perishing from vicious attacks and explosive deaths.
- The party hid back in the crypt and took and enforced long rest. DING! Level 9!
Player Recap
Sleeping with the Dead and Liking it!
After finishing off the ogres and finding their stash of coins, Moony sets off towards the hall leading out of the room. William and the others continue to look around the room or watch Moony explore the hall. Moony discovers a secret door behind the first statue. He enters the room with Aldrik close behind. It looks like a shrine with a couple of sarcophaguses’. Dust is thick on the ground. It doesn’t look like the cultists have found this room. There are Darvish rune on the sarcophagus “Rest well, Findon Stonemender. Dream of hammer and chisel echoing in your halls.” The second says “Beloved Gitte. Heavy are the hearts of all who knew ye.” Moony looks for traps on the first sarcophagus and asks if anyone would mind if he opens it. Aldrik eventually says that he would rather not have them disturbed.
Farther down the hall, Moony spots a trip wire between the last two statues. Unfortunately, he sets off the trap as he is disarming it. An axe drops across the hall. The group retreats to the crypts. They listen at the door and hear two people coming to the hallway. “I’m not surprised that one of them set off the trap.” “Surprised they aren’t here with an axe in their head.” Take more than that to damage them” “Should we check on them” “Nah” Then the voices retreat. Waiting a few minutes after the sounds stops, Moony creeps back out and explores further.
In a large octagonal room with molten red pillars. Three razerblast fighters, with flaming spears and heavy armor. It is a tough fight, especially when the razerblasts explode upon death.
Game Notes
Check and double-check
The party has gotten high enough in level that the stock DCs on secret doors and traps are kind of getting laughable. I need to either up them, or just assume they will not be triggered.
That said, I watched to see if the party was actually checking out the statues in detail. In anticipation of which, I came up with a description for each of the 8 statues in the “Hall of Remembrance,” because of course I did:
- Male, war pick, shield, ringlet beard
- Male, axe and shield, long beard with glimpses of chain.
- Male, one-headed axe, chain, braided beard
- Female, plate armor, two-headed axe
- Male, great hammer, stylized beard.
- Female, shield and warhammer, hair in braids
- Male, great-hammer, ringlet beard
- Male, apron, hammer & chisel, plumb line from belt
Again, nothing I couldn’t have improvised … but why burn brain cycles mid-game when you can burn them during prep and not sound like you’re improvising? (“Hey, those descriptions are written down … they must mean something!”)
So the Rogue was able to see the hidden Secret Door to the crypt. Which, inadvertently, became their go-to hide-out for much of this part of the adventure.
Kudos to the players (and a would’ve-been-Inspiration to the barbarian dwarf) that they asked before simply yoinking off the sarcophagus lids inside. And the Dwarf decided, y’know, these two deserve their rest. And the others (banter aside) went along with him. Good on them for not being mindless murder hoboes. This time, at least.
Giving the Players a break
So when the Rogue did poorly with the axe trap, the sound it made attracted guards from further in.
I could have had the guards (who assumed the trap was tripped by the ogre contingent up in the NE corner of the map) go and check things out there (“What are you dolts doing? We’ve shown you how to turn off the trap when you go off-shift!”).
Except (a) the guards probably wouldn’t have wanted to rile up the ogres. And (b) I didn’t want to suddenly turn this into another messy melee, with the guards discovering the massacred ogres and to start running and screaming for help. I mean, it could have happened, but I chose not to.
Beating up the Players
It is always important to remember that the DM and the Players are not competitors. The DM should not get into beating up the Players, or try to kill them. We are all here to create an intriguing and involved fantasy tale that will be satisfying for all.
Of course, part of that fantasy tale should involve beating up the Players.
Last game, after Aldrik rejoined into the party, I went around to the various encounters in the Temple of Eternal Flame and bumped them up a bit. An extra Hobgoblin here, a Guardian not asleep there. That sort of thing. No checking on CRs — I’m a professional! — just a slight bump.
This was not done as wisely as I intended.
First, the Party was a level below the recommendations for this dungeon (they had not Long Rested and dinged up yet). I was so used to them being a leg up on things that I simply forgot to check.
Second, the Razerblasts they were about to bump into are powerful foes, and adding an extra one didn’t help the Party’s calm. They lack effective ranged tactics (unless they want to throw away their weapons), but up close they combine high AC, very high (for this level) HP, and three attacks / turn. Plus I had them hold back a bit so that the party would come after them and they could trigger the heat trap. Once that was done and they closed to melee range, they were murder and, in fact, their saves and HP meant that the Party began to think the Razerblasts had resistance to Radiant as well as Fire damage.
And then there was the way they exploded when they died, which became very problematic for our heroes. Both the Fighter who charged in and the Druid who was at the edge of the trap (and, when a Razerblast engaged, he scored a hit and two crits) nearly died, and others in the party were bloodied — except the Barbarian, who, damn, is a killing and damage resistance machine.
(Indeed, I concluded I needed to look at the balance between the Fighter and the Barbarian. The former was having problems keeping up, melee-wise.)
It was, even if an ultimate Party success, a pretty wild melee, lots of maneuvering (and hiding), but also a huge bloody nose and reminder that not every opponent could be walked over. Which was not my intent, but … y’know, that’s not necessarily a bad reminder now and again.
Especially since the session then ended with the party taking their Long Rest (in the crypt), and getting their ding up to 9, to then sleep with dreams of vengeance.
And, well, other dreams I had in mind …
As well as restocking the two rooms they just cleared …
Amusing moment of the evening
After the battle, the party spent a chunk of time trying to figure out how the heck to magically ignite the Razerblast spears for their own use, as the added damage was quite nice. Alas, as with the rods of Stonemelders, their extra elemental damage is just an intrinsic part of Razerblasts being highly ranked / initiated fighters in the Fire cult. And none of the players, when they finally reached that conclusion, were that interested in it.
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