Princes of the Apocalypse, Session 17: “Over the Hills and Far Away”

Wherein our party views some scenery, has some minor encounters, and are acclaimed heroes.

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

Table of Contents. The Party.

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 17 (Days 22-23) 

  1. The two scruffy strangers, Wiglaf and Storol. were from the Lurkwoods, far to the north. They had heard tell of druids, the Circle of the Scarlet Moon, here in the Sumber Hills for “some sort of ceremony with a giant something to fix all the magic going crazy.” When the William made it clear he wasn’t the “Elzar/Ebeneez’r/Eriazar” who was in charge of that circle, they backed off.
  2. They found a camp, and set up watches with the freed prisoners. During the night, each of the characters had portentous dreams (see Margie’s log).Also, DING! Level 6!
  3. The weather was again overcast and rumbling. As they walked, Bruldenthar was searching for possible hidden paths to the Vale of Dancing Waters, an ancient Dwarvish site. Also, they could occasionally see a giant bird flying overhead they assumed was associated with the Feathergale Knights.
  4. At a junction, four of the freed prisoners turned left to make their own way to Red Larch.
  5. Four ogres thought the party would be a tasty lunch. They were sorely mistaken.
  6. The party reached the Stone Road and turned left toward Beliard. They crossed the famous Stone Bridge.
  7. They reached Beliard amongst much fanfare. and gratefulness of the ex-prisoners and the locals who had relatives among them. Lawkeeper Halrud Ponden put the party and the ex-prisoners who weren’t from the town up at the Watchful Knight Inn, and wanted to talk with the party on the morrow.
  8. The party sat down to food and drink, which they were enjoying until three Hell Hounds burst through a window into the tavern, charging straight for their table …

Player Recap

Traveling

“Are you the Druid? Yeah, I think he is.” They head towards William. The other says, “We have been looking for you.” Wiglaf and Storol ask about the Scarlet Circle of the moon planning on joining the impending ceremony. They describe the Circle folks wanting to fix all the magic stuff going wonky led by “Ebenezer” and the “Rite of Wicker Giant.” It appears that said ceremony might include human sacrifice. Seeing William’s horror, they decide that they don’t want to tangle with the group and quickly head back into the scrub. 

Late afternoon the significantly larger party finds a place to camp that is near a small creek. The perimeter is secured. Over the course of the night each member has odd dreams of impending doom. 

Theren: You’re walking through a shadowy valley. It’s hard to see around you, even though your gaze usually pieces the dark. You hold up your hand to peer through the darkness, and suddenly it lights up like a torch. Strangely enough, there’s no pain, but you can see, littered around you, the bodies of your companions, flesh charred and bloodied, the smoke from their bodies obscuring the air around you. A voice flickers through your head … “The opportunity will be presented to gain some measure of control over your talents.” It’s Gemvocs voices, and you can almost see him in the whorls of choking smoke around you. But another light cuts through the gloom, on the hilltop above you, a giant, burning figure, massive, flames wreathing its form, as its eyes seem to catch the light from your burning hand, and it turns to look at you with … interest … What do you do? Fireball. Eats it, blows it back.

Faith: (The old man with the triangular irises and beard like smoke … you have finished a chapter, or have you just started one. The young man’s story can be completed now, but Tyr demands a reckoning, and he gets soooo incensed about such things. Ah, incense, and the smoke rises further from his beard, wreathing him, hiding him from sight, even as — he pulls open a space in the smoke. “Did you have something you wanted to say?”: Endings, beginnings, new chapters always …

Nala: You’re back in the City Guard, walking the parapets (a poncy job, one you never actually got, but, hey, here you are). The weather over the city has been terrible — storms, great winds, tides going crazy. People claiming it’s the end of the world. Capt. Brex Gelvain is beside you. “Dire tidings. Ill portents. We strike against the enemy. When will they strike back?” … (response) … “Huh. Well, there’s that.” And along the horizon is a wall of fire, hundreds of feet tall, like a great sand storm … and it is headed directly for the city and your parapet and … 

Aldrik: You remember this moment. A year ago, maybe two, A cavern in the north, where you and your fellow troops struck back at orcish raiders who were holed up there, befouling the caves with their filth. You remember the battle, wiping out the forces on the ice field above, descending into the cavern, fighting their pet ogre, more battles, freeing the prisoners … and then everyone else climbed back to the surface, you the last of them, on rear guard … when you realize you hear laughter … orcish laughter … taunting you … that’s not how this happened … but you can hear them, jeering at you, escaped from your clutches, deep, deep inside the earth, pillaging and plotting … Evacuate anyway, duty … eyes open, orcish laughter in the deeps.

William: <forest, then fire! figure in the flames, directing it all like an orchestra conductor. Looks a bit like Renwick, hooded, emaciated.  Rush forward, throw back the hood, and it’s YOU. What do you do? Slap myself.

Moony: running. running in the light, then the cool of trees, then into the darkness, down and down, a winding path, something ahead you’re trying to find, something nobody has ever seen, until … a door. turn back … another door. and to the sides, four doors, one on each side, no room to run, no sun to warm, no air to breathe, only the doors, against which you scratch, with futility. What do you do? Scratching, picking lock, wolf howls, look through keyhole, gray wolf eye

The rest of the night passes quietly. On the road in the morning, Moony pulls out his compass and the arrow is swerving around about, not pointing to due North. Shrugging they continue on. 

Aldrik walks with the dwarf Bruldenthar for a while. Bruldenthar has been looking around the surrounding hills. He is looking for the Veils of the Dancing Waters shrine. It should be in the hills near here. The path is hidden, but they may have passed it already.

The clouds are low as they walk. There is a rumble of thunder and William catches a glimpse of something in the clouds. He let’s the others know and the larger group keeps an eye out too. A bit later a couple of folks see the same thing. William asks if they saw a rider and talks of the riders from Feathergale Spire. 

Soon they reach the cross-road. Some of the captive want to go to Red Larch. The adventurers are firm that they can not accompany them to Red Larch. The group insures that they have supplies and 4 ex-captives set out South. 

A few hours later an Ogre steps out on the road and starts talking about lunch. Two more step out and remind him that he was suppose to wait for the group to be closer. As they bicker, William transforms into Star form, informs the Ogres that the group is not lunch and fires a Guiding Bolt at Ghary. Theran launches a Fireball at Thom and Deck. Moony follows up with a sneak attack on Ghary. Faith calls lightening down on Deck, raising the fur on Moony. Aldrick puts his new great axe to good use and finishes off Ghary. A fourth ogre comes out of the bushes. Nala steps up to Deck and with two big swings fells the Ogre. The remaining ogres are quickly killed, but not before Samm knocks out one of the captives. William heals him and the remaining refugees are rounded up. After the battle, Faith realizes that the lightening she called was wanting? trying? to jump to other targets. 

Moving onward the group reaches the Stone Roadafter lunch. The few of the prisoners are from Westbridge choose to remain with the larger group. Soon they reach the Stone Bridge. It is an engineering/magic wonder, but really could use some railing. As they reach the span of the bridge there is a caravan come towards us on the bridge. The party decides back down the bridge and let the caravan pass. It cost them about an hour of travel time, but they are able to cross the two mile bridge without incident. 

Just at twilight the travelers arrive in Belliald. It is a pleasant town with mature trees and prosperous establishments. A townsman spots a friend in the refuge group and calls out. A crowd quickly forms around the travelers. Soon a well-dressed man, the Chief Lawkeeper and Townmaster of Beliard arrives and greets them. Halrud Ponden welcomes them and insists that they stay at the inn as a guest of the town. He excuses himself and requests that they talk with him in the morning.

Halrud token
Halrud token

The bulk of the group heads towards the Watchful Knight. A few locals are rejoined with their families. There are six remaining refugees. The group decides to give them each 10 silver in the morning to help them make it home. Moony follows Halrud home to see what is so important that he won’t join them now. Apparently Halrud was in the middle of his book-keeping.

At the Watchful Knight, the bar maid Senya greets them and shows them to a large table. She brings their drinks and lets them settle in. Some of the refugees filter in, but head up to their rooms exhausted. Moony rejoins the group and is just waving down Senya, when three Hell Hounds crash through the window.

Game Notes

Druids and Seekers Thereof

Storol token
Storol token

The various cults in the Sumber Hills have been attracting nogoodniks for years, increasing the crime rate along with the bad weather rate. Nothing was written up for Wiglaf and Storol to show up yet — they appear in the Scarlet Moon stuff, still to come — but it made some sense to have them, as well as other possible miscreants, encounter the party, and give some hints as to problems to come.

Wiglaf token
Wiglaf token

As a note, Wiglaf is (as I crafted the token) a woman. Because why the hell not?

Dreams

Hitchcock Dreams
Graphic I used for the Dreams journal entry

I would expect a lot of the ex-prisoners to be having nightmares tonight, but instead we get the party.

  • Theren had early on expressed a concern about losing control of his fire magic — thus his being a hermit. It was a regular theme in the dreams I sent him, and their proximity to Scarlet Moon Hall gave it all a bit more immediacy.
  • Faith gets a head pat from her god for rescuing Narl’s body.
  • Nala gets a bit more generic dream about bigger problems than thunderstorms, having been crawling around down in a place under the influence of the Black Earth.
  • Aldrik gets a dream about his past, with a bit of Black Earth taint to it as well.
  • William has to worry about being turned into a druid working for the Eternal Flame, even if he doesn’t realize it.
  • Moony is having a bad time from having been stuck underground the past day or two, and from subconsciously recognizing something (were)wolfy about their recent visitors.

Innocents Abroad

Dealing with the freed prisoners was something of a PitA for the party, and was meant to be. I mean, they were sort of their responsibility now, and the party was overall Good and Lawful enough in sufficient places to not just leave them all in the lurch.

Crowd token
One of a few crowd tokens I crafted, both for the prisoners and for larger scenes in town.

That said, a handful going off on their own down the Larch Road to Red Larch … made their lives that much easier, even if I suspect they never got there …

It did all pay off in the end, with the party rightfully treated as heroes when they brought the rest of the ex-prisoners to Beliard, including some who actually lived there.

Welcome to Beliard

Even though there is a (brief) description of Beliard and there are clues planted that the Mirabar Delegation visited here, making it highly likely that a party of players in PotA will visit the place … there is no map given for the quaint little town. There are some people described by name, but no real tokens. No particular buildings.  Just mention of a few NPCs who might have info, the name of the local pub (the Watchful Knight), and that it’s a bit wealthier and ranching-oriented down than Red Larch.

So I ended up making up a lot of shit for Beliard when the party arrived.

Beliard
Beliard

Fortunately, I found a map someone had created. Unfortunately, it had no key, but it was large enough for me to blow up to a notional map for Roll20 and label everything, from the Street of Horse Dealers to the Tannery, the Caravansary, the Lawkeeper’s House, as well as a central well and two taverns (the one for visitors, and the “Teal Weasel,” where locals gathered).

I mean, somewhat fun, but also an irritating gap. Leaving that kind of info and material out turns Beliard into a theater-of-the-mind prop for dispensing clues, not a town that anyone would care about. And, if nothing else, remember eventually that all these little towns are going to get threatened with destruction, and it would kinda be nice if the players cared about that.

We’ll get lots more town action next session.

On the bright side, I was able to recycle the tavern I had all set up for a Water Cult fight in Womford into the tavern for a Hell Hound fight in Beliard. It’s magic!

Hell Hound ADnD
AD&D Hell Hound, which looks positively cute.

I don’t recall why a Hell Hound fight — it’s not called out in the book for Beliard. Did it felt like it was time for a fight (after a day of mostly travelogue), and I always bear in mind Raymond Chandler’s advice for writing detective stories: “When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.”

Or Hell Hounds.

Oh, wait — on consideration, it’s one of the “Hey, when you defeat a Cult location, bad things happen” encounter.

Questions from the Gallery

Symbol of the Crushing Wave
Symbol of the Crushing Wave

I fielded a question about where they had seen the Crushing Wave symbol (which was tattooed on the dead cultists at the ambush site they passed by the previous session) (except, since it’s a Water Cult, the tattoos sort of shifted like sea weed under their skins).

I noted that they had seen it on those bodies, on the walls of the shrine at Rivergard Keep, and on the crates of supplies in Shoalar’s boat that they had taken passage on.

Bits and Bobs

Yes, the party is now handily taking out ogres. Dinging to 6th Level (for taking out the Earth keep) certainly helps, though I was beginning to worry about their being way overpowered when they got back to Feathergale Spire (a keep for 3rd Level characters).

In keeping with Tolkien’s naming his trolls in the Hobbit some nice English names (Tom, Bert, and William), I named the Random Monster Ogres as  Thom, Deck, and Ghary. Also a Samm.

I didn’t want to get into the Vale of Dancing Waters just yet, so there was never any question of anyone spotting the path that Bruldenthar (the inveterate tourist of the late, great Besilmer kingdom) was looking for. The subject would come up later, however.

Stone Bridge
The kind of crazy Stone Bridge, with an improbably wide Dessarin River beneath it.

That being said, let me just add that the other tourist spot actually visited this session — the Stone Bridge — is ridonculous. Of all the architectural marvels (other than an underground city) for the Besilmer dwarves to have put up, a 2-mile long, rail-less bridge, barely wide enough for two carts to pass each other, is just plain silly.

But it’s pretty cool. And it offered the opportunity for some conflict, which the party remarkably declined.


<< Session 16 | Session 18 >>

3 thoughts on “Princes of the Apocalypse, Session 17: “Over the Hills and Far Away””

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *