{"id":3984,"date":"2024-03-18T16:45:34","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T23:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/?p=3984"},"modified":"2024-03-18T16:52:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T23:52:34","slug":"princes-of-the-apocalypse-session-39-rising-tides-part-3-neck-deep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/2024\/03\/princes-of-the-apocalypse-session-39-rising-tides-part-3-neck-deep.html","title":{"rendered":"Princes of the Apocalypse, Session 39: “Rising Tides, Part 3: Neck Deep”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Princes<\/a>This is part of a series about my DMing\u00a0Princes of the Apocalypse,<\/em> a D&D 5e adventure by and copyright Wizards of the Coast.<\/span><\/p>\n

Table of Contents<\/a> \u25cf The Party<\/a><\/p>\n

There will<\/em> be\u00a0SPOILERS<\/strong>. If you are playing in a PotA game,\u00a0please don\u2019t read this<\/strong>.<\/em> But if you are DMing a PotA game, or are a DM who wants to see what the ride was like \u2026 read on!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

GM Recap<\/h1>\n

Session 39<\/b> (Day 36)
\nIn the Temple of the Crushing Wave …<\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \"Crushing<\/a>The party had a Short and Long Rest, refreshing all that stuff. Various <\/span>Dreams and Visitations<\/span> ensued. Faith learned far more about how awesome a weapon <\/span>Windvane<\/strong> is.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. They exited <\/span>Morbeoth<\/span>‘s stronghold. Ninetooth was not beneath the bridge, but they heard voices roaring the name of “Thuluna!”<\/strong>\u00a0 Which turned out to be the other two <\/span>aquatic troll<\/span>s, a pair of whom attacked them.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. The party crossed the Bridge of Victory and dealt with a multiple groups of troops<\/strong> in various rooms and the embarkment point to the river back to the outside world. At the end, they had captured a final room, and <\/span>Khalt<\/span>, a frozen-eyed Crushing Wave mage.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Player Recap<\/span><\/h1>\n
    “If You Wait by the River Long Enough, The Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By”<\/span><\/h5>\n

    The vivid dreams return.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Ko returns. He indicates there was a conflict with people who yip and bark. He helped drive them off.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    As they leave the brewery and cross the dragon bridge, Ninetooth isn’t there. The sounds echo around with all of the water and cave surfaces. Someone somewhere is calling out Thuluna’s name. As they move towards the market square, Nala senses that the sounds are getting louder and is ahead of them. A second voice joins in from the East. As they approach the second bridge an aquatic troll charges towards the group. The hall constricts the party’s movements but the troll quickly takes significant damage. Before they can finish Marrowsucker off, a second troll charges from behind. The next turn the oil Moony poured on Marrowsucker ignites and he perishes. The battle moves to Gorgebelly. Faith has been battling him with the Windvane. Doing damage and pushing him back. When the group focuses their attack on him the tide turns quickly in their favor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    They approach the Bridge of Victory. There is a door immediately east of the bridge.. Moony listens at the door. There is a corridor running east just north of the door. Some broken wall and another corridor South of the door.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    There are people speaking Common on the other side of the door. They mention Shatterkeel, Thuluna, Morbeoth and other items less clear. The party takes their places and William opens the door with a thaumaturgy spell. The door opens on a barracks with several Reavers and a Priest. They pile out of the room from the now open door and another door to the south. A pitched battle ensues. Ko is brought down, but the rest of the party does well. While the others loot the room, Moony rolls the bodies into the canal. They float away.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The group travels south to clear the way behind them. There is a room that looks like it has been used as a jail with some cots and a water barrel. As Moony rounds the corner of the hallway, he runs into a group of guards coming the other way. Both groups are surprised. The attackers includes more Reavers, a Dark Tide Knight, and a Fathomer. Moony attacks and the encounter commences. Faith calls her fairy spirits at full strength. Along with William’s Moonbeam<\/em>, they tear through the enemies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Around the corner the path opens out and there is a boat tied up. There may be something in the canal, but nothing comes to the surface. They can see the opposite side of the lake where the first entered the water area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    After a short rest, the group moves on to explore the Northeast corridor. They pass two large granaries. Now empty except for the gaping storage holes. Next, they come to a door. Again Moony listens and hears voices speaking in Common. This time the group is surprised when the door slams open. Inside are yet more Reavers, a person that has a frosty white eye like Morbeoth. Approaches the door and frightens Theren and Moony. At the end, they had captured a final room, and Khalt, a frozen-eyed Crushing Wave mage.<\/span><\/p>\n

    … We win! They lose! Neener Neener Neener!<\/span><\/p>\n

    Game Notes<\/h1>\n

    Kind of a grindy game, to be honest. Not bad, and some fun times, but not a lot of new stuff, mostly door-to-door clearing.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Time Marches On!<\/h2>\n

    Even if the players didn’t get \/ take a chance to head back outside, the various Cult Reprisals \/ Retributions continue in the Real World. At this point, it involves the unleashing of Devastation Orbs.<\/p>\n

    \"Devastation<\/a>
    Devastation Orb of Fire token I whipped up. Just in case I needed it, of course.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    The orbs are basically elemental bombs. When I first read about them I overestimated their power, so the Fire Devastation Orb I unleashed on Womford basically acted as a nuke for the town. They’re powerful, but not that powerful.<\/p>\n

    There are four towns kind of surrounding the Sumber Hills:\u00a0 Red Larch, Westbridge, Beliard, and Womford. (Arguably, Summit Hall could also be a target, and, in retrospect it would have been a solid one, given the party’s ties there.)<\/p>\n

    Red Larch was out because I wasn’t going to have it destroyed whilst they were away. At least, not yet. I wanted to go back and play in Beliard, too. I decided on Womford because, well, it drew the short, highly flammable straw.<\/p>\n

    And, of course, this kind of thing is going to start happening on a semi-regular basis as they wipe out the Temples. So there’s still plenty of time to take down the other towns …<\/p>\n

    But how does the party learn about all of this?\u00a0 Simple: dreams and gossip!<\/p>\n

    Dreams!<\/h2>\n

    Since it was Long Rest time, I wrote up Dreams for everyone:<\/span><\/p>\n