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 19 (Day 24-25)
- The party awoke to unusually cold and blustery weather.
- Faith raised the dead sailor, to the interest of Feffel Quintex.
- Moony and William bought a cart and mules. Later on, there was a flurry of pricing and armor/weapon and healing potion upgrades.
- The rest of the party interrogated Oreioth, who seemed peculiarly rational in the morning. He wanted his books, he wanted to know more about the druidic ritual in the hills, and he seemed both attracted and repulsed by the power growing up there.
- The lawkeeper, Halrud Ponden, tried to recruit the party to help settle the disorder in and around Beliard. He also noted that, if they wanted Oreioth confined, they needed to take him with them.
- The barkeep, Neshor Fleurdin, granted that a recruiter for the Circle of the Scarlet Moon ritual in the hills had provided him with directions to pass on to those who asked about them, and he gave them to the party.
- The next day they headed south toward Summit Hall. Bruldenthar expressed an interest in visiting the site where the Mirabar Delegation was ambushed. When they reached the site, it was being investigated by (presumed) Fire element soldiers and a priest. A battle ensued, which the party was ultimately successful in.
Player Recap
Fire and Lightening
Disturbed by the nights events, the group decides to post a watch overnight. Faith takes the opportunity to read more of Marlos Urnrayle texts. She comes across some notes on the Temple of Black Earth that might have been useful a few days previous, but nothing surprising.
The winds pick up and rattle the windows waking the remaining party.
William joins Faith at the temple of all gods for morning prayer. They are greeted by Feffel Quintex with a nod and continues his own prayers. Faith manages to not bump into Feffel as she completes her own prayers. Moving to the back room, Feffel asks if he may observe. Faith invites him in and she begins her prayers. Sailor sits up and screams in terror. He is disoriented and his throat parched (and at 1hp). William can’t find anything stronger than water in the room, so brings the sailor a cup. Eventually, they manage to calm him, but he is clearly disturbed by their presence. Feffel offers to look after him and suggest that Faith get in touch with his companion.
The remaining campaigners head down for breakfast. The bar has been restored to order. The rescued refugees once again offer their thanks and gratitude. They plan on staying in Beliard for a few days before seeking a caravan heading home. The locals are quiet and glance at the party nervously. As the group enjoys their full English breakfast they listen to the buzz around the room.
Other strangers have previously come to town. Rumors of a Druid ritual that will occur in the hills. The barkeep Neshor’s name comes up occasionally.
Some are looking at Aldrik and are obviously wondering if he is the same dwarf that was here earlier.
Faith and William fight against the wind to return to the Watchful Knight Inn. The sailor’s friend is just coming down the stairs as they step through the door. He walks straight up to Faith and asks after his friend. Faith is able to reassure him that the victim is recovering in the temple and would like to see him.
William grabs some breakfast and goes with Moony to look for a mule and cart. They get a reasonable deal and take Bruno and Bonny to the stable at the inn.
Faith, Nala, Theren and Aldrik leave to check on Oreioth. The constable greets them at the jail and says that Oreioth has been no trouble. Oreioth greets them politely and apologizes for the previous evening. “Things got a bit out of hand.” He asks for his books. He indicates that they are not necromantic books.
They discuss the purpose of reading and what he is currently pursuing. He finally admits that he is looking for the source of the power in the Sumber Hills. “They say that they have managed to join the power of the elements and necromancy.” “Your friend the druid, has he joined them? No I suppose not.” “If you do go into the hills, take me with you. That kind of power should not be with them and the living. It’s so messy.”
They continue on to the Lawkeeper’s house. The servant shows them in to the study. There are several well ordered stacks on the desk and other surfaces. Halrud welcomes them and after giving Theren a slight look, he invites them to tell of their adventures.
He pauses them when they mention the delegation. He is disappointed the hear that his important mail has probably gone astray. He is very concerned about the lack of order and offers that there are certain matters that the town elders would like the party to undertake. Large increases of drifters and ne’er do wells coming through town, fortunately drifting out of town towards the South or West.
He also requested that they take Oreioth with them, if they want him confined, as he has not broken any laws in Beliard.
Theren and Aldrik go shopping for armor, but don’t find any Dwarf Scale. Aldrik decides to trade in the Duergar armor for a shield and battle axe. Moony finds some studded leather armor behind some barrels. He also gets some arrows. Nala amazingly finds a +1 sword. Reequipped the group returns to the inn.
The bar is slowly returning to normal. Moony spends time to telling tells to the bar tender, the local drunk, and the bar maid. He is surprised when Senya swirls and throws a punch at Moony. He ducks and finds the whole thing terribly funny. Faith finds a small stone outside, casts a light spell on it and tosses it in front of Moony for distraction.
A humble man approaches the tables and I need to tell you something. The story comes out haltingly. “When he –” He points to Aldrik. “– and the other fancy folks came through. Just after, these folk, they were in the sky riding on big birds all in blue and white. Flew overhead and then south (Translation: The Feathergale Knights were seen following the delegates leaving Beliard.) William gives him an ale and praises his bravery and strength of observation.
Faith goes to the temple for evening prays through the blustery night. She discerns that it, like most of the other weather events they’ve experienced are not natural.
In the temple, Feffel wants to know if Faith had inquired of the sailor and sees it as an important opportunity to learn more about death. He then shifts to his studies of the elemental manifestations and trying to determine an equation for their appearances. He is sure he can figure it out if only he had his equipment and books from the great library in Yartar. The rise in energy has been uneven in this area and the South. “If one could measure such things I am sure that it would be an amazing publication.”
He is also interested in Faith’s travels through the hills and the manifestations. He won’t speak to the weather because field studies are not all that accurate. “In the time I’ve been keeping my records that in the last 2-5 years there has been a rise in the elemental activities.” Natter Natter … Need Equipment … Research … Bugger …
[Side note: Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat was 3 years ago, 1489 DRl. In 1491 DR Princes of the Apocalypse adventure takes place.]
Faith maintains her plastic smile until she can politely leave. Just outside the inn door, a gust tosses Faith into a puddle. She goes straight up to the rooms for a bath.
Back at the table William starts carving on his mug. He asks Senya about the ritual in the hills. She says it’s just lots of big talk about heading into the hills, especially after that druid visited town a moon or so ago. She doesn’t know more, but points out Neshor as having more info.
When the barkeep stops by, William asks about the “druid.” He is evasive or absent-minded. “Oh, the Circle of the Scarlet Moon — he asked that I give directions to folks who are looking to join.” More delaying but eventually he come back with a small scroll with written instructions.
William orders more beer to make him and Aldrik feel better. When the rock goes out Moony leaves it on the table and heads up stairs. Later Nala adds a coin under the rock and goes upstairs. When William heads up he leaves behind a beautifully carved mug with flowers and vines.
During the watch that night, they look over the books from Oreioth: 1) Large tome of the anatomy of humanoid creatures from 1000 years ago. 2) Hard-bound brochure encouraging people to move to the valley from ~500 years ago and the (un-haunted) Keeps. 3) The poetry of some goth poet – very bleak.
Next next morning Faith starts early with prayers. The party breakfasts at the inn, picks up Oreioth and Bruldenthar, then heads out of town.
A winding road departs southward from Beliard, rising into the sere eastern end of the Sumber Hills. At length it descends again, passing the keep of Summit Hall, dropping down in parallel to the Dessarin River, eventually reaching Womford at the southern end of the valley. The road is moderately well traveled, as footprints and mule droppings testify, but is also dangerous.
The party found the site where it appeared the Mirabar Delegation was ambushed, about 8 miles south of Beliard.
Bruldenthar says “I would wish to see the site of the ambush.” They turn off the road towards the site.
William (eventually) notices something red and yellow ahead just off the past. He calls out to the party and as the crest the ridge they see a group of people in red at the old ambush site.
A mighty battle ensues with dueling fireballs and flaming swords. Lightning from Faith and Theren decimated the fire “guardians”. Chaos struck Theren, causing a Confusion spell to land on Moony and himself. Faith saved them from self-harm and the battle progresses to the inevitable victory for the adventurers. One remaining fire guardian was left alive but incapacitated.
NEXT SESSION:
Loot the bodies, interrogate the prisoner, explore the site, rest, ask Bruldenthar why he really wanted to come here and what the fire folk might want to look for.
Game Notes
Bring Out Your Dead!
So raising folk from the dead is not common in 5e, but it’s not that improbable, and any party worth its salt will have a cleric who can do it by 5th level (or paladins, druids, etc., at other variances). It’s not cheap (the lowest, Revivify, costs a 300gp diamond), but I still would expect that good clerics would be begged and bothered wherever they went for that service.
Regardless, having accidentally killed a townie yesterday, the party felt obliged to make good, which in turn made for some interesting scenes, most of them driven by the players, which is a good thing.
It also let me flesh out the gnomish cleric I’d (made up and) assigned on rotation to the local All-Faiths Shrine in Beliard. I’d already established back in Red Larch that the holy folk at those shrines in small town around the valley were staffed by agreement between the temples of the surrounding larger cities — Waterdeep, Yartar, Triboar. I’d also established that many of these folk weren’t necessarily spell-casting clerics, or, if so, were 1st to 3rd level, tops — enough for some light healing, etc., but mostly chosen for their pastoral abilities. So no rezzes for the locals without going to the Big City (and selling a several really nice horses to pay for it).
I saw Feffel Quintex, the gnome, as being as much an academic as a priest — enjoying his rotations to the hinterland as a chance to work on his manuscripts, even as he longed to get back to being in easy reach of his library at home. This gave me a chance to add some additional information and speculation about the growing rise of elemental events and energies around the Sumber Hills over the past few years.
As a side note, I loved how the players dealt with getting side-eyes from the locals after one of their own got fried in a combat — and what the party did to try and make up for that, from raising the poor dude who got made collateral damage, to leaving tips and treats for the bar staff and owner.
No local Walmart
The Forgotten Realms, especially under 5e, is a relatively low-wealth proposition, especially when it comes to magic items. If the party were adventuring in Waterdeep or Neverwinter, they would have access to a variety of armorers and smithies and magic shoppes to spend their hard-earned cash on.
But out in the middle of the rural Dessarin Valley? There’s not a lot of call for armor, or swords, let alone Rods of Lordly Might in the middle of Nowhere, South Dakota, or some little burg in the San Joaquin Valley, California, especially with quasi-medieval trade routes such as they are. Indeed, if there’s anything there, it’s usually been sold as treasure or as “well, if I’m buying my +1 Plate, might as well sell my +1 Chain.”
The problem is, the cost of high-end, magic, and/or powerful stuff is way too high for Bob’s Local Feed Store to carry. Indeed, a +2 Longsword might cost as much as the entire store, and the land it’s on, and the adjoining shops as well (consider Gandalf’s comment about Bilbo’s mithril chain shirt being worth more than the Shire). A shop in Beliard simply doesn’t have the capital to buy such a thing, second-hand or not, let alone hold onto it for any length of time.
I used (and highly recommend) the shop/item/availability table explained here. It did a really nice job of helping me figure out … well, is there likely to be a set of +1 Chain in the local market?
Rule of Cool does dictate that the players should be able to do some upgrades. But my preference was, unless they were willing to take several weeks off to travel back to Waterdeep, most of their upgrades would come from dungeon loot.
The mules and cart, by the way, were for the carrying of Narl’s body.
Beliard and Bureaucracy
So back in Red Larch we had sort of a “Council of Important Folk” and a part-time constable.
Beliard is richer and more sophisticated than that. It has a Mayor / “Lawkeeper,” who has a nice house on the town square, and a city council, and a full-time constable with his own constabulary (nothing much, but better than being shut up in a root cellar).
The party sort of runs full tilt into that this time. There’s the, um, embarrassing aspects of having killed a local, but the party’s making good on that, and get a certain amount of lee-way for having rescued folk from the Monastery.
But Oreioth is a different matter. The necromancer hasn’t committed any crimes in Beliard, and, to be honest, hadn’t really done so back in Red Larch, aside from necromancy (which, since it’s real, is probably illegal in most neighborhoods). I mean, sure those bodies came from somewhere … But that is a Red Larch concern, nothing to do with the good people of Beliard. We have laws and rules, don’t you know? Sure you must appreciate that.
Buuut … if you feel strongly enough about it … you’re welcome to take him into custody and take him back to Red Larch … and, unspoken, get him out of their fair town.
And that, kids, is how you avoid spending a lot of money feeding prisoners in your constabulary cell.
Bits and Bobs
The episode title was meant to be a blend of “The Hills Have Eyes” and the threat of the Evil Elemental Eye. Meh. They can’t all be winners, folks (esp. since I was coming up with titles before the episode in most cases).
I would eventually move on to something more pedestrian (promise!), but for the time being I was okay with the puns and pastiches.
More bad weather, to the point where it knocked a player down.
Since the core of this campaign involved people who had played in a previous Rise of Tiamat game, knowing this took place a few years after that was a useful question.
Beliard is meant to be a repository of clues. Since they spent a few days there, it gave me plenty of organic opportunity to bring them up, including the seemingly innocuous recruitment of folk, through “druids” sent down by Elizar Dryflagon, to come join the Ritual of the Wicker Giant and restore “balance” to the Sumber Hills.
Yes, of course, the wicker man clues did not at all worry the players …
That Oreioth is a remarkably well-read guy. Wonder who he stole those reading materials from?
Theren, our Sorcerer, suffered from the possibility of Wild Chaos Magic every time he cast a spell. This session it cropped up again, casting Confusion on a couple of the party during the battle with the Fire Cultists. Which wasn’t enough to save the out-of-their-league Fire Cultists.
(One thing I learned early: I was, myself, no match for the combined tactical imagination of the whole party. Ah, well.)
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