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.

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!

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GM Recap

Session 20 (Day 25-26) 

1. The party looted the bodies, which included a Bag of Holding with 3750gp of loot, and a water-element person’s head. They interrogated the prisoner Ven Delaar, learned about Fire/Water rivalry, and his devotion to his high priestess, Vanifer, the servant of  Imix. Theren gacked  him once all the questioning was done.
2. Bruldenthar was very unhappy there was no sign of his books. 
3. They arrived at Summit Hall, where Narl Elrok was whisked away for interment in a private ceremony overnight, and Oreioth was put in gaol, awaiting either word from Red Larch or the order’s leader, Ushien Stormbanner, deciding his fate.
4. They brought Ushien up on their adventures. She was dismayed to learn that Renwick was operating out of Sacred Stone Monastery, and skeptical of what he had told them of Samular Caradoon‘s role in his metamorphosis.
5. They Spoke with Dead to the head, one Reash the Fathomer. He spoke of the conflict against Fire, of the attack on Rivergard Keep where he died, and of the goals of the Crushing Wave to envelop all. He also mentioned following someone/thing named “Shatterkeel“.
6. A quartet of young druids — Varigo, Muldoon, Iniri, and Fariya  were at Summit Hall, traveling to the mysterious Circle of the Scarlet Moon rite in the Sumber Hills, inspired by a vision of Iniri’s. They didn’t take well to the suggestion that it was some sort of evil magical gathering.
7. The next day, the party decided their next stop should be Rivergard Keep, which it seemed the Eternal Flame forces had attacked (Ushien mentioned smoke from its direction a day or two before). They traveled overland to where they had stashed their boat, which, remarkably, was still there, hidden. They traveled upriver to the keep, which they finding it a smouldering wreck. They slowly entered, made their way to gutted Great Hall, and encountered both the headless body of Reash … and the very much alive Jolliver Grimjaw. “So. You’re back,”

Player Recap

Of bodies and questions

The group ties up the hostage and begins searching the bodies. All of them have a burns on them in various states of healing. The leader also has a large fire symbol on his chest. It looks like there are multiple layers of scars on his chest.

There is a stack of leather bag to one side that contain ration, camping supplies, and small travel items. There is one larger duffle bag the is different from the others. Moony checks it over and when he opens it up it is very odd. It is very cold in the bag. there appears to be a wooden chest inside that doesn’t match the shape outside. Moony brings it over to Theren who sizes it up. He immediately identifies it as a Bag of Holding. As they empty it they find two chests and bundle wrapped in cloth. Moony investigates the bundle. It has a green stain on the side. It is a green head. Probably dead for about a day. Faith casts Gentle Repose. It looks aquatic, but is different from the Genasi captain Shoanderil Quanderil. They return it to the bag of holding.

Moony moves onto the two chests. The smaller chest has a gold chain with a platinum disc that looks like the crushing wave water symbol, some gems and a stash of coins. The larger chest has about 2000 gold pieces. William will hold onto the bag. 

When Bruldenthar sees that the larger chest contains gold, he speaks a harsh curse in Dwarvish and goes to the two remaining crates. When he finds them empty, he is clearly upset. “Where are my books?” Faith heals the captive to allow Theren to interrogate him. The fire and the flame, the great war — they seek to pull us down into the cold depths … Vanifer and her weapon Tinderstrike. Imix, the prince of evil fire, himself offers his power to her as he engulf the world in flames. Moony shows him the head. It is a prize for Vanifer. We got it from the dark and fetid pit. “I know that you will kill me. It is okay. I would do the same.” 

William determines that they came up the ancient road from the direction of the river. Faith recognizes the name Imix. Imix – evil destructive, but prefers to destroy that which is crafted or cherished by others. 

The group returns to the main road and arrives at the Summit Hall before night fall. Lady Ushien Stormbanner welcomes them but is surprised to see them so soon. She looks at the coffin with concern. She relaxes slightly when learns that it is Narl. The order will celebrate his life tonight and stand watch over him that night. There will be a private ceremony in the morning. 

Nala explains the presence of Oreioth the necromancer and their dilemma of what to do with him. Lady Stormbanner agrees to keep him and if required judge him. Over dinner they share their story. Ushien knows that Renwick is a lich, but bristles at the suggestion that their founder Samular had anything to do with his creation. The remainder of the conversation continues the story of their travels. Ushien is also troubled by the rise of the elemental cultists. When William mentions the ceremony of the Scarlet Moon, she let out that there are some guests staying in one of the cottages who are heading to the event. 

After dinner, the group is at loose ends. Nala examines a small shrine to Samular is in the hall with relics of the knight’s founder. William and Faith spend some time in the library while others relax in their room before they all retire for a long rest. Faith enjoys the first dreamless rest since the left Summit Hall. 

Moony and William going down to the other guests in the morning when the hall brings breakfast down to the cottage. There are some caravan wagons within the palisade. Sitting on some wooden benches outside one of the cottages is a quartet of individuals. Varigo, Muldoon, Fariya, and Iniri are all druids. They have travelled from the South Woods. Iniri heard of the ceremony and was called in a dream. Was told to come to the North to the great hill to control and end the elemental energy 

Interview with a dead man

Who are you? I am Reash the Fathomer 

Who did this to you? So fleeting, so unsubtle. Ones of the Fflame.

Why did they seek you out? Fire hates waters. We quench it and smother it. They struck in our weakness, which you know of. His eye’s flicker to Nala. 

What are you trying to accomplish? We seek to arouse the wellspring of life to cover all things. We serve the Shatterkeel and will bring all down into the darkness. 

Where were you murdered? In the hall I’d sworn to defend. In the hall of Jolliver. 

Bruldenthar bids the group farewell and plans to continue to Waterdeep to tell of the delegation. Leave going south on the road from Summit Keep and back towards the river where their boat is amazingly still there. Travel up river to Rivergard Keep.

The once partially-repaired keep is a smoking ruin again. The chain across the harbor is fused tight. Pulling up on the riverside south of the dock-harbor they head to the Western entrance. The iron bound wooden gate is burned through. Some dead bodies. The chapel is rubble. Boat sunk in the harbor. The doors to the hall are also burned away. In Jolliver’s hall there are more bodies and roof is destroyed. As we walk towards the headless body belonging to Reash.

Jolliver Grimjaw: “So, you are back.”

Game Notes

Sic transit gloria Rivergard Keep

Since the party had sort of gone the long way around with the Haunted Keeps — leaving Feathergale Spire intact, leaving Rivergard Keep intact, then taking out Sacred Stone Monastery — I needed to figure out how they would work backwards, especially as it was clear they were headed back that way.

I mean, I could let them try to sneak in — something the party was rarely good about trying. Or I could try a full frontal assault, which seemed a bit much even for this group, as the Keep is, literally, a fortress.

Or …

I considered what I’d done to Rivergard. The party had some small amount of damage on their way through the first time. But subsequent to that, Drosin, the Easily Offended Crushing Wave Priestess, had taken most of the keep’s forces with her to an ambush of the party later, on the road to Sacred Stone Monastery. That had gone … poorly, meaning most of the Keep’s defenders had been wiped out.

And given the internecine warfare between the different elements, it makes perfect sense that the Eternal Flame would have launched a preemptive strike on the Crushing Wave’s surface fortification. And so they had,  wiping it out nearly to a man.

Jolliver Grimjaw is, of course, a survivor. And just the sort of guy to hold a grudge. His grumpy greeting is meant to mirror his grumpy greeting when the party first arrived.

Planting the seeds of what happened with Reash’s head / war trophy that the Fire Cultists were carrying (ew), suitable for Speak with Dead extraction, was icing on the cake.

Encumbrance and the Bag of Holding

I hate Encumbrance rules. I really do. They are emblematic of everything wrong and dull and boring and grindy about D&D and, usually, any other game. Don’t get me started on LotRO …

From my perspective as either DM or Player, Encumbrance rules add nothing to the story and everything to annoying paperwork.

They are of value only in two occasions:

1. Things have gotten desperate, and the party sheds all but its weapons to make the final push across the wilderness.
2. The party has hit the jackpot and is seriously trying to think of how they can transport that twenty-foot-tall, ten ton golden statue of Asmodeus back to town.

Anything besides that should depend on the DM saying, “You’re beginning to be weighed down quite a bit — might be time to head back to town.”

Or, you can just give them a Bag of Holding. Like I did.

And, honestly, I was not a hard-ass about the Bag of Holding, and didn’t get picky about its rules. I did eventually say, at one point, “You know, that Bag of Holding is beginning to get a bit full — might be time to head back to town.”

And that was it. The players didn’t abuse it. It got rid of a bunch of record keeping. Win-win for everyone.

The Young Druids

I loved the conceit that Elizar was actually recruiting people to come to Scarlet Moon Hall to participate in (as worshippers or, um, kindling) the Rite of the Wicker Giant. It’s one thing to recruit ne’er-do-wells and the psychotic who are drawn to the darkness of the Evil Elemental Eye; it’s another to put up hand-bills in pubs and the like.

The four druids named –Varigo, Muldoon, Iniri, and Fariya — are actually in the game, as one of the camps at Scarlet Moon Hall, with a couple of elk companions. They’re noted as good guys that Elizar has already decided can’t be recruited and so will be sacrificed.

But that’s it. And, as recall, they just had generic druid tokens. Bah. So, when I decided that I would have some folks who had heard (in a dream) about this big gathering show up at Summit Hall at the same time as the party, they seemed a good set to flesh out as, kinda-sorta flower children, devoted to their causes, and each other, but both too trusting and too rebellious for their own good.

• 

  Varigo – human, ostensible leader, protective of “his people,” romantically involved with Muldoon.

• Muldoon – elf, quiet, friendly, romantically involved with Varigo.
• Iniri – human, passionate, saw the visions that sent them questing for the Circle of the Scarlet Moon.
• Fariya – human, practical, a bit less idealistic than her friends, but deeply supportive of them.

(Their elk had names, too, but I didn’t write them down for some reason.)

Anyway, these guys became recurring characters, introduced here, early, showing up at Scarlet Moon Hall, and being referenced after that. I liked them a lot, certainly more than just some generic plot bait as they were drawn up. I have no idea how the players liked them, but they made things more fun for me.

Bits and Bobs

The party had actually encountered  Reash in the past, before his severed head was discovered here. The Fathomer had morphed into the giant white water snake that attacked their boat when last they fled Rivergard.

Oreioth didn’t get a lot of great lines this time around, either because the party had gagged him, or at the very least threatened to. The former, I think, because it was impossible for Oreioth not to make crazy pronouncements.

How did the Fire Cultists who attacked Rivergard Keep end up (at least in part) back over the river at the Ambush Site? Hush.

(Oh, fine. Just because they’re Fire Cultists doesn’t mean they can’t use a boat to cross the river. Or that they can’t use magic to fly across in some fashion. I wave my hand at you.)

So I decided all the cults had their own way of marking themselves. The ascetic jocks of the Feathergale Knights / Howling Hatred, scarrified themselves with their cult symbol. The watery Crushing Wave sorts used tattoos (some of which moved magically, as if flowing in water under the skin). The Sacred Stone folk used external symbols, necklaces, rings, that sort of thing, stone and metal drawn from the earth. And the Eternal Flame cultists sort of imitated the Howling Hatred, except they used fire for their scars, not blades.

I was mildly disturbed by the party (well, to be fair, the Neutral Neutral Sorcerer) gacking the prisoner after questioning. It was a fully pragmatic act — there were a number of reasons why not to let him go, and he had just been trying to kill them — but, on the other hand, they were already taking one murderous prisoner down to Summit Hall for safekeeping; one more wouldn’t have been a big deal.

Still surprised it didn’t engender more debate.

And exeunt Bruldenthar, at least for now. His quest southward to Womford will overlap with some other cataclysmic events coming up soon. For the moment, though, his veering off was appropriate for the game.

 

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