Getting Into D&D 5e Adventures

The adventuring party chose the Axeholm Quest at the end of their last adventure.  This quest has one of the larger areas and included a multi-level fortress.

I ended up using my go-to process of wrapping paper and markers to make the battle map for the game.

I started with level 1 of the fortress.  I like to make hash-marks to indicate dead space in the dungeons, but I started to regret this process toward the end…so…many…hash-marks…

I was limited to my wrapping paper width and ended up having to make some of the rooms smaller than the maps found in the Dragon of Icespire Peak book.

I placed wrapping paper over level 1 so I’d be able to match up all the locations as I drew level 2.

I prepared the table for the game by laying out level 1 of Axeholm and covering the unrevealed locations with paper.

A new player was going to join us for this game and I decided that the group should have a small combat to kick off the quest.  The adventures have to travel past the location of their first quest, Umbrage Hill, and I decided that the Manticore would make a great combat for everyone (and also highlight how much more powerful they are at their new levels).  I placed a blank battle-map I was gifted over the fortress map to play out this combat.

I finished up my DM notes before the game.  I wrote in an introduction for the new player and decided to add a side quest for the henchmen so they wouldn’t be available.  This was to encourage the party to welcome in the help.

My DM Notes are below if you’d like to read them.

• Introducing XXX’s Character
  • In your travels you come upon a group of adventurerers, they appear about as experienced as you are. They are a Human Wizard, Dwarven Cleric, Elf Fighter, and a Warforged Paladin.
  • They light up when they hear you’ll be traveling toward Phandalin. They have a message that needs delivered to an adventuring group that is in that area. They asked this group to help the people deal with a white dragon in the area while they investigated problems in the north.
  • They need a letter delivered from their patron, a Bronze Dragon that presides over Stormwreck Isle.
    • The letter is to inform them that the sea elves have heard rumor that one of their people, Mirral, had died. Prior to the Mirral’s death they heard it had created a magical hat for a giant crab. They would like to know what happened to Mirral and hope the giant crab and tell them the story. Runara would like this Giant Crab to come to Stormwreck and meet with these elves. The sea elves have also noticed an increase in storms along the Sword Coast and think this story may help them in their investigation.
    • The letter provides a location for the Giant Crab to go so he can get to Stormwreck Isle
  • Provide XXX with a choice of magical items + 100 gp
  • While traveling the High Road you hear rumors of a Red Demon near an old lighhouse.
• Adventurers Preparing for the Quest
  • • Introduce XXX’s Character to the group, and share the letter contents
    • Captain Pinchy would like an escort by the Squire (incentivise the players to have the new player instead of extra henchmen join the mission)
  • Gathering Rumors:
    • A red demon was spotted by the high road near the Tower of Storms
    • Dwarves from Excavation Site
      • Had been exploring the area after learning about Axeholm through some of the notes and information they learned from the Temple of Abbathor
      • Fled the area when they saw the Dragon approaching
      • The Dwarves fled Axeholm over 100 years ago. They found a letter associated with the Fort.
        • The letter was from an elf, Vyldara, a Moon Elf Ambassador that failed to prevent unrest between dwarven peoples. She was imprisoned by Axeholms Castellan and the followers of Mordian, a dwarven god of creation. They suspected she was in league with the other dwarves of the area, worshippers of Abbathor, the dwarves from the excavation site
        • She overheard the dwarves planning a banquet in the name of peace with he worshippers of Abbathor, but the Castellan was planning on poisoning the High Priest of Abbathor, vile acts that filled her with anger.
        • She mentioned the Castellan became paranoid and began gathering precious items in his room to hide somewhere in the fortress.
        • Other evidence points to a betrayal by the worshippers of Abbathor, where they would feign a desire for peace only to attack the the dwarves of Axeholm when the banquet began. After the betrayal, many of the dwarven guards feld, others stayed behind an locked the entrance in defiance of their bretheren. Letting their rage consume them.
        • They believe a final battle between the Mordiaran and Abbador followers occurred on what is now Umberage Hill
          • They’d like to travel with the group through Umberage hill and back to axeholm to investigate the site after the adventureres clear the location
• Travel through Umberage
  • As you approach the familiar area umberage hill, you see the familiar site of cairnes and greenery. You can hear the creeking of the windmill in the distance.
  • The Manticore has made a lair of the Windmill, do the characters notice the Manticore peaking out behind the ruins of the house and wind mill
  • The Manticore begins flying toward the group to attack (no surprise for either group)
• Arrival at Axeholm (read description pg 12)
  • The dwarves park their cart outside the fortress and will not enter until the site had been cleared.
  • A4: Mustering Hall: pg 13: Bodies of dwarves dressed in white and steel studded leather among bodies of dwarves dressed in the familiar red leather with gold studs of the Abbathor followers from the Dwarven Excavation
  • A15: Dining room pg 14: A single dwarf, long dead, skin dried, and pulled tight, a long grey beard and hair, in an extravagant suit of gold studded armor, sits at the head of the table, a shard of golden axe in his skull.
  • A14: Throne Room: The greater Ghoul holds a broken golden axe strapped to his wrist
  • A27 Banshees Bedchamber: searching you find a finely crafted writing set of elven make. Additoinal letters and notes appear to be written in an elvish code
  • Other locations as written in the module
• After completing the adventure (killing or driving out the monsters)
  • Uneventful heading back
  • Townmanster Wester’s house: His ½ brother is standing outside speaking through the door. He bows and steps back when he sees you approach.
    • Harbin Wester slides single coins from under the door for the group and asks them to post two more quests on the job board.
• Next Adventureres
  • Mountain’s Toe Gold Mine
  • Dragon Barrow
  • Woodland Manse

I spent some time typing up my DM notes. I could only think of one thing when I was prepping for the game. The movie Tremors. I decided to add a few fun moments from the movie to the adventure. I added my DM notes at the bottom of this entry if you’d like to check those out.

I prepped the table the night before the game.

The Adventurers started their day by gathering some rumors at the local tavern. They heard about the newest location of the Dragon and “red winged demon”. Some townsfolk passed along that a hunter has a lodge in Neverwinter and they saw that no matter how they traveled, they’d be spending a night in the Neverwinter Woods. They decided to head to Falcon’s Hunting Lodge before traveling to the Logging Camp. The thought was it would be worth the cost of a bottle of wine to gain entrance to Falcon’s lodge for a safe nights rest. After gathering the camp supplies, a borrowed cart and ox, they set off on their quest.

The party traveled on the Triboar Trail and then cut north through Neverwinter Woods. They came across a clearing in the woods and saw a boar with a group of pigs. The Adventurers noticed that the pigs were branded “BAK”. This was a group of pigs that escaped from Butterskull Ranch, the previous adventure.

As the party discussed the situation, the boar took off to the east and the rest of the pigs scattered into the woods. The Adventurers decided not to pursue, knowing how hard it would be capture the pigs. They sent a message back through their sending stones, a magic item picked up from the Dwarven Excavation Question, to the Knight’s retainers in town. They asked him to share the news of the pigs to Big Al, the owner of the Ranch and these pigs.

They continued on toward the Hunting Lodge

After some more time traveling they came across Falcon’s Hunting Lodge. After being greeted at the gate and presenting the wine, the party was welcomed and provided a place to stay for the evening.

The party set off in the morning from Falcon’s Hunting Lodge toward the Loggers Camp in the west. They followed a trail along the river. They began to hear something in the woods and after a few failed and then successful perception rolls, they followed crows and saw a logger up in the tree. The Druid shifted into an animal form and investigated the logger, finding him dead from dehydration.

They continued on and came across the camp. They decided to leave the wagon and supplies outside of camp when they noticed how quiet the camp was.

Coming from the east, they saw two tent encampments and decided to investigate the one to the South.

I didn’t take any prep pictures of the tents, but I used a set of of tents from the Elven Forest Dungeons and Lasers Elven Forest set. The other tents were made from cardstock. I drew a template and folded them into shape. I might add some paint in the future, but they made it quick and easy to get them on the table for game day.

The party of adventurers investigated the southern camp. They saw the empty tents and scattered belongings of the loggers scattered about this part of the camp. During the investigation an Ankheg burst from the ground…and was quickly dispatched after it spit acid at the party. Afterwards, one of the characters noticed a mound of soil and went to investigate. They saw a head resting inside and nudging it, it fell to the side revealing it was all that was left of a logger. Another Ankeg burst from the ground. The characters were able to quickly dispatch this one and looked over the creatures. One of the players rolled really high on a check and I decided they knew quite a bit about Ankhegs and let them harvest the acid glands.

The characters continued their investigation, seeing devastation in the northern campsite. They began to cautiously move around camp.

They spotted odd tracks in an old stone building at the center of camp. The tracks appeared to be pig like. They ended up finding 13 figures made of sticks, hair, and blood, hidden in the remains of the chimney.

They began to move around this building and came under attack by another Ankheg. This creature severely wounded their companion, Captain Pinchy, before it was killed.

They moved to investigate the main logging building and while they looked in the window, they saw the wooden floor boards begin to lift and move like a wave toward them as another Ankheg burst out. This Ankheg broke out of the wrong gosh darn supply room! The party quickly dispatched the final Ankheg in the area.

They discovered Townmaster Harbin Westers’ half brother, cowering on a desk. They finally had him come out and offered their protection.

The party continued their investigation and came across a trail of blood that led to an elevated area of the camp with hard stony ground. There they found a logger that had died from blood loss. He had dragged himself to that area to escape the Ankhegs, that couldn’t burrow in the hard ground.

The party decided to take Tibor Wester back to Falcon’s Hunting Lodge with them so they could all recover and rest before traveling back to town.

Upon further inspection of the stick figures they found in the Loggers Camp, they determined these were some kind of religious cursed item. After leaving Falcon’s Hunting Lodge, they destroyed the figures in a fire (releasing the curse).

They made it back to Phandalin, collected their reward, and selected their next quest.

Axeholm

Here are my DM notes

• Adventurers Preparing for the Quest
  • Gathering Rumors:
    • Falcon’s Hunting Lodge
      • Read the entry on page 9
    • A red demon was spotted in the mountains to the south, near an area called Axeholm
    • The Dragon was spotted on the Triboar trail. Destroyed a wagon train, killed 2, took Ox
    • Loggers
      • Loggers have set up camps along the river to transport logs to Neverwinter
      • Tibor Wester is the ½ brother of Harbin Wester. Get’s his suppplies from Phandalin
      • There are 12 loggers that work at the camp, plus Tibor
  • Picking up Supplies
    • Harbin has made arrangements at Barthen’s Provisions, read text on pg 34
      • Each crate holds enough provisions to sustain everyone for 1 month (2 total)
      • Barthen, “If you intend to vist Falcon’s Hunting Lodge on the way, you better buy a bottle of fine wine (10gp) and give it to him as a gift”
• Traveling to the Camp
  • You can travel 24 miles per day and the camp is more than 50 miles north of Phandalin
    • They can head directly north or veer east and stay at Falcon’s Hunting Lodge
  • The party member with highest Wisdom (Survival) needs to check for each hex
    • DC 10, fail causes the party to get lost for 1d4 miles
  • Day 1: Nothing noteable occurs, can camp near the woods or a few miles in
  • Day 2: Camp in Woods or head to Falcons Hunting Lodge pg 24
    • Around mid day you all see about 60 feet ahead of you, a wild board stands in a small clearing. Around the boar are 4 pigs. Roll a perception check
      • You’re able to make out that each pig as BAK branded on them…you also notice that the Boar appears to be looking directly at you, unmoving
    • If the party approaches cautiously, the Boar will stay unmoving, keeping the pigs from running
    • If the party discusses capturing the pigs or the boar, the Boar will run and the pigs will begin to scatter
      • What would you like to do?
    • Day 3: Should arrive at the Logging camp the morning of the third day.
• Nearing the camp
  • You think you’re less than a mile from the Logging came when you see a clearing up ahead, roll perception
    • As you’re walking along the path a small noise up in the trees catches your ear, perhaps a squirell scurrying in the branches. You begin glancing around in the trees when you see a crow swoop toward some branches further into the woods. You think there is something in the tree that has attracted the Crow.
    • If they choose to approach
      • You begin to work your way through the undergrowth toward the tree where the crow was last seen. As you get closer the crow begins to “caw” and looking up you see what appears to be a human, sitting on a high branch clutching the tree.
    • No response is given if they call out. If they choose to investigate further
      • Up the tree is a man dressed in work clothes. He’s holding a bloody ax tightly in one hand and the other arm is wrapped around the tree. He’s dead, his body stiff and unmoving.
• Arrival: Read the description on page 34
• Exploring the Camp
  • L1: Cabin on the Rocks
  • You see the remains of two cabins that have been mostly torn down
    • The Ankhegs can’t burrow up here
    • You discover the body of a human man, his lower leg is missing and tied off. Investigation DC 10: The stump of the leg appears to have a melted burned and bleeding appearance.
  • L2: The Old Cabin and Chimney
    • You see the reamins of a ruined cabin, with a fireplace that has mostly collapsed onto a stone foundation, roll a Perception Check or other DC 10
      • You notice pig tracks in the wet sandy soil leading up to this area
    • If the area is searched
      • As you search through the rubble of the chimney, you come across 13 tiny totems, stick figures, coated in old sticky blood, and tied together with hair. Carved into the sticks are lightening bolts symbols. Roll for Religion(DC 15 Intelligence [Religion])
        • You decern the totem’s purpose is to bring ill fortune to all who reside near it
        • On a very high roll, you feel like the lightening bolts look similar to some of the symbols you saw in the old lighthouse.
  • L3: The Cabin: Office and Tool Storage
    • If they look in the windows of the Tool Storage, You see a large open area of the cabin with a wooden floor. To the north is door, the east side has a fireplace (unburning), and shelving / crates of suppies and tools lining the walls
    • Perception Check: You see some of the floor boards begin to move upwards a few inches, almost creating the appearance of a wave…ROLL for Initiative
    • If they look into the Back office, You see a thin well dressed sitting atop a desk that’s been pushed up against a door to the southside of the room. His hands are placed over his mouth and his eyes are closed as he slowly rocks back and forth on the desk
      • What do you do?
      • If they try to get his attention, he’ll sign wispering to urge them to be quiet and make a prayerful gesture mouthing “Save Me”
    • Any approach to close to the building will cause the creature to begin burrowing underground toward the adventurers
  • L4: The Dock
    • Perception: you notice a small sucken boat under the water near the dock. It looks like it’s been broken in half.
  • L5: North Camp
    • You see a dead campfire and tents, messkits and scattered personal belongings (nothing of worth), you see humanoid footprints and strange marks in the soil
    • Investigation Check DC 10 you deduce the humanoids were kill and possibly dragged into the sand
  • L6: South Camp
    • You see what looks like a large animal mound/ with something in the circle of soil
    • If they approach, in the center of the mound is a Dwarf’s head. His eyes are closed like he’s sleeping.
      • Pulling the head up reveals that nothing is attached. Melted, burned and bleeding
    • ANKHEG ATTACK

When you return back to town. Harbin rewards them, refuses to open the door for his ½ brother and berates him for slowing down the logging business. You all have achieved Level 4!

Asks the party to place 1 more job on the board.

1. Mountain’s Toe Gold Mine
2. Axeholm

I needed to make a few things in preparation for the Loggers Camp quest.  The first thing I worked on were the monsters, a group of Ankhegs lurking in the sandy soil of the camp.

I used the Pathfinder mini pdf I own to print out some Ankhegs. I don’t have color printer at home.  I decided to color them in using markers.  I cut them out and glued them together with scrap cardboard in between the layers to help them fit the stands better.

Part of the upcoming adventure involved the party delivering goods to the camp.  They’re loaned a cart, two crates, and an ox for this task.  I had a 2d ox and two crates (from Dungeon in a Box).

I couldn’t find a cart for sale at my FLGS so I decided to build one with scrap cardboard.  I used a tutorial from the YouTube channel Selhrac Games.  I used my hobby knife to carve in some random wood grain, cut the pieces and used tacky glue to put everything together.

I also made some quick cardboard tents for the camp, but I didn’t take any progress pictures.  There really wasn’t much to this process.  I just cut out a tent shape and then traced it on cardboard to make about 8 of them.  All you need to do is fold them into shape.  If ever feel the need I’ll put a little paint on them.  You’ll be able to see these on my next post with game pictures.

I busted out my craft painted.  I mixed some black paint with pva glue, hoping this would create a nice seal on the cardboard.  Once that dried I began painting brown over the cart and noticed the black paint on the white glossy cardboard would rub off.  In the end I got a good coat on the cart and then dry brushed it with an almond color.

I used a rubber band as the harness on the cart.  I think it turned out really well for something I made from trash and things laying around the house.

It’s been a while since I posted an update for the Dragon of Icespire Peak campaign.  I’m a few sessions behind with my posts.

I took it a little easier when I prepped for this game.  Instead of creating large battle maps, I focused on one key building and using maps to highlight where the players were on a large farm property.
For the map, I found a nice image online for the adventure.  It had a hand drawn look.  I added some color to sections of the property with markers.

I didn’t take any in progress pictures of the building I made, but I used my tried and true methods to create it.

The focus of the adventure takes place in the Farm House.  I started by drawing out the levels on 1 inch grid wrapping paper and then gluing it to scrap cardboard.  I also made a roof using the same process that went into the windmill (the first adventure in the campaign).

I prepped the table for the game that morning.

The adventurers we’re on a quest to help deal with Orcs that have attacked and taken over Butterskull Ranch (the rancher uses a skull mold to make his butter)

We used the included map from the box set to show the overland travel to Butterskull Ranch.  They stopped in a ruined town call Conyberry and came across a cow and ox with brands BAK (initials of the Ranch owner).  The party decided to take them along to the Ranch.

I laid out the Ranch map with markers to indicate areas of exploration and a token to represent the party’s movement.  The party had a rough estimate of the number of Orcs that attacked the Ranch, shared by a lone survivor that rode for help.

They worked there way around the ranch as the sun began to set.  Coming across Orcs chasing loose animals, bodies of slain ranch hands, and they even ambushed an Orc using the outhouse.  I would set aside Orc minis to denote how many the party had come across and killed during their exploration.  After exploring most of the ranch, they focused on the Farmhouse.

The party approached the Farmhouse and used the druids spider form to do some scouting.  They were able to see an Orc cutting up a pig on the ground floor.

The party moved in and were able to surprise the Orc and kill it without drawing the attention of any other Orcs in the building.

The party moved upstairs.

The adventurers attempted to search the upstairs and ended up drawing the attention of the Orcs when the opened a bedroom door.  The party moved back as Orcs began pouring into the hallway.

Sissal the Warlock had previously been gifted the ability to use lightening 3 times during the Tower of Storms adventure.  He hadn’t used it yet, but thought this was the perfect opportunity.  Casting Lightening Bolt down the hallway, he was able to kill and seriously maim the Orcs.  The rest of the party swiftly mopped up the rest.

he party found the cellar doors after clearing the house.  They found Big Al, the ranch owner, tied to a chair, the walls lined with Butterskulls.

He was most concerned about his prized dairy cow, Petunia, and was thankful the adventurers had saved her.

He went with the adventurers to seek revenge on the last of the Orcs on the farm.  He gifted the adventurers a suit of Mithral Chain Mail for their help.  Big Al decided to travel back to Phandalin with the party for safety until the trouble in the area was solved (the dragon had pushed the orcs out of their area into the Phandalin region).

After returning to Phandalin, the party regrouped and took a look at the two quests on the Job Board.  Mountain’s Toe Gold Mine or the Logger’s Camp.

They decided to do the Logger’s Camp quest and I started prepping for the next adventure

It’s been a while since I posted an update for the Dragon of Icespire Peak campaign.  I’m a few sessions behind with my posts.

I took it a little easier when I prepped for this game.  Instead of creating large battle maps, I focused on one key building and using maps to highlight where the players were on a large farm property.
For the map, I found a nice image online for the adventure.  It had a hand drawn look.  I added some color to sections of the property with markers.

I didn’t take any in progress pictures of the building I made, but I used my tried and true methods to create it.

The focus of the adventure takes place in the Farm House.  I started by drawing out the levels on 1 inch grid wrapping paper and then gluing it to scrap cardboard.  I also made a roof using the same process that went into the windmill (the first adventure in the campaign).

I prepped the table for the game that morning.

The adventurers we’re on a quest to help deal with Orcs that have attacked and taken over Butterskull Ranch (the rancher uses a skull mold to make his butter)

We used the included map from the box set to show the overland travel to Butterskull Ranch.  They stopped in a ruined town call Conyberry and came across a cow and ox with brands BAK (initials of the Ranch owner).  The party decided to take them along to the Ranch.

I laid out the Ranch map with markers to indicate areas of exploration and a token to represent the party’s movement.  The party had a rough estimate of the number of Orcs that attacked the Ranch, shared by a lone survivor that rode for help.

They worked there way around the ranch as the sun began to set.  Coming across Orcs chasing loose animals, bodies of slain ranch hands, and they even ambushed an Orc using the outhouse.  I would set aside Orc minis to denote how many the party had come across and killed during their exploration.  After exploring most of the ranch, they focused on the Farmhouse.

The party approached the Farmhouse and used the druids spider form to do some scouting.  They were able to see an Orc cutting up a pig on the ground floor.

The party moved in and were able to surprise the Orc and kill it without drawing the attention of any other Orcs in the building.

The party moved upstairs.

The adventurers attempted to search the upstairs and ended up drawing the attention of the Orcs when the opened a bedroom door.  The party moved back as Orcs began pouring into the hallway.

Sissal the Warlock had previously been gifted the ability to use lightening 3 times during the Tower of Storms adventure.  He hadn’t used it yet, but thought this was the perfect opportunity.  Casting Lightening Bolt down the hallway, he was able to kill and seriously maim the Orcs.  The rest of the party swiftly mopped up the rest.

he party found the cellar doors after clearing the house.  They found Big Al, the ranch owner, tied to a chair, the walls lined with Butterskulls.

He was most concerned about his prized dairy cow, Petunia, and was thankful the adventurers had saved her.

He went with the adventurers to seek revenge on the last of the Orcs on the farm.  He gifted the adventurers a suit of Mithral Chain Mail for their help.  Big Al decided to travel back to Phandalin with the party for safety until the trouble in the area was solved (the dragon had pushed the orcs out of their area into the Phandalin region).

After returning to Phandalin, the party regrouped and took a look at the two quests on the Job Board.  Mountain’s Toe Gold Mine or the Logger’s Camp.

They decided to do the Logger’s Camp quest and I started prepping for the next adventure

I forgot to mention in my last post, that it really meant a lot to me when I saw my project featured during the awards show on YouTube. My son was thrilled to see his game on TV. I sent the link to my son’s friend and his dad so they could see it too.

I mentioned in my last post that I haven’t been in the best mental state of mind to play or work on the game. Thankfully, my wife decided that she would schedule the game and tell me when everyone was coming over. That really helped get me motivated to prep and think about something fun.

I jumped in and finished the rest of the map for the game. Specifically the 3^rd floor of the tower and I painted some craft walls I had built.

I spent the day before the game getting my notes put together, printing out some handouts and setting up the table.  I decided to use the Side Kick rules in the book and created some generic Wizard, Cleric, Thief, Bard sheets in case the players wanted to add any additional help to their group.  My son decided he wanted to bring his squire along so I made a 1st level fighter/defender sidekick for him.

I also made a Side Kick character sheet for the Giant Crab the group comes across.  I was thinking that the younger players might like the idea having the crab join their group.  I ended up a Hobby Lobby and came across some cheap ocean creatures and there happened to be a crab and sharks in the bag.  It was only a few bucks so I picked it up.

The last few items I printed were letters that the adventurers could find in the Light House

I’ll include my notes for the adventure at the end of this post, but this is the basics of the adventure.

Everyone shared about their new level 3 abilities when we finally got together to play.  I reminded them that they were traveling to the Tower of Storms to find magical treasure in shipwrecks.  After getting back into the groove of playing, the adventurers decided on the route they’d take to the Tower of Storms.  They traveled along the Tribor Train toward the High Road.  In a later expansion to this campaign there is an Inn located at the crossroads.  I decided to add this to the adventure as a way to introduce it early to everyone.  Instead of an Inn, it is mostly an encampment with Tents that can be rented, food and drinks, and the beginnings of a stone foundation for the Inn that is available to visit in another campaign.

After a night of difficult rest the party approaches the coast as a storm begins to roll in.  They find a path down the cliff to an area that will allow them to approach the lighthouse.  They hear a thumping over the crashing waves and see the green glow in the lighthouse.

They all made their way down and met the Giant talking Crab that asked for their help to free his master, killed by the evil half-orc in the lighthouse.  They need to retrieve the magical focus stolen from his master so their soul can be at rest (they’re currently a banshee).  In return for accepting the quest, the Crab retrieved a magical item for the characters.  It was a magical rod usable by the Warlock.  I didn’t mention this earlier, but I made up some custom magical items for the players and drew some fun item cards for them.  I’ll try to get those pictures added later.

The party began making their way up to the lighthouse when they came under attack by a group of Harpies.  They had been warned that these creatures existed by the Giant Crab and easily scared them away from their roost.

They made it to the Light House and explored the lower level.  They discovered two letters, a potion of Water Breathing, and the Warlock gained a special ability.  In one of the rooms was an Altar to the evil god Talos.  Sitting on the altar was a letter and when the Warlock reached out to pick it up he was imbued with the temporary ability to cast lightening bolt due to a metal rod that would periodically charge the altar.

They began climbing the steps of the Light House tower.  At the first landing they exited to the open landing on the second floor.  They came across the Anchorite of Talos that had killed the master of the Giant Crab, holding the magical focus.  The druid wild shaped into a wolf, and all the characters attacked.  The Anchorite was able to strike the group with lightening and during the combat used Thunder Wave.  He was finally struck down and the adventurers continued up the stairs into the lighthouse.  The group searched the body, gathered some items, and noted that the Anchorite had a large hole in it’s chest, missing it’s heart.

As they approached the top of the light house they realized that the light being emitted was too bright to look at the light source.  They could hear the thumping sound, like a heart, and the knight decided to turn quickly and throw an axe at the light.  He turned, threw, struck the light, and was blinded.  The druid then threw his boomerang striking the light, making sure to not look at the light.  Those that could see were able to see that the light was a giant heart, slowly shrinking.  When the group removed their weapons the heart imploded and disappeared.

They returned the magical focus to the giant crab and it’s banshee/ghost master.  The spirit was free.  The group then asked the crab if it would join them on their search of the shipwrecks for treasure and it agreed to help.

The group went out into the water, aware of sharks nearby.  The Giant Crab joined the team.  The crab investigated each of the adventurers and mentioned how the sharks would be more included to attack some of them due to unhealed wounds.  The group decided to heal and picked the Druid to take the potion of water breathing since he is small (a Halfling) and could maneuver around the wreckage.  During the dives they were attacked by three Hunter Sharks, with some of the group being wounded, exciting the sharks before they were all killed by the adventurers.  The other two players received custom magical items I made for them.

After they finished exploring the wreckage they asked the Giant Crab it’s name.  It shared that it never had one and the group decided to call it Captain Pinchy.  They did end up asking Captain Pinchy to join their group and he happily joined them.

The group traveled back to Phandalin, passing through the “inn” and giving the patrons and update of their adventure.  They sold goods in Phandalin and decided their next adventure would be Butterskull Ranch.  They need to travel to a Ranch that has been attacked by a group of Orcs.

These are some of the notes I typed up in preparation for the game.

Leaving Phandelver: Do they want to do anything before they travel. Perhaps Horses and a cart?

• Town is beginning to become more busy with travelers seeking adventure and a new life. You hear about a few travelers in town that might be interested in joining you
• Rumors that the Dragon was Spotted near the High Road near Leilon
• Uneventful Travel to the Inn
  • You see a sign reading Wayside Inn at the cross roads of the Triboar Trail and High Road. As you round a bend in the trail/crest a hill you can see a small wooden building that must have been hastily built along with a number of walled tents, and an open fire with a large pot nearby. You also see an area of cleared ground and the beginings of a stone foundation being built.
  • Martisha Vinetalker, owner and striking half-elf, pleasing features and a tough demeanor. Cold, calculating, charismatic, and knows hot to run a business for profit.
  • Backes Dunfield, bartender, human with a scarred face and crooked smile, recently joined up with Marisha. He is a former privateer
  • Coorah Struckt, cook, a half orc that has been a close friend to Marisha for many years. Food is incredibly good, well spiced, stews and meat pies.
• Rumors:
  • A group calling themselves the Stone Cold Reavers, led by a female elf, Syleen Wintermoon came through a night ago.
    • They mentioned something about Phandalin not being worth their time and full of weak people that needed taught a lesson.
    • They said jobs in the area aren’t much and involve helping people. They did have a great time terrorizing some Gnomes and getting magic items from them.
    • Headed Leilon to investigate a rumor White Dragon being spotted in the area.
    • They heard word from another traveler coming from Neverwinter that a red demon was spotted by loggers up river at the Logging Camp.
    • The Lighthouse
      • A few people have ventured near the coast close enough to see an erie green light from the lighthouse.
      • Most people hear a thumping coming from the area…loud enough to hear over the crashing waves.
      • Ships have gone missing near the lighthouse over the past 6 months
• Durning the night, you sleep poorly as the wind wips your tent walls, In the morning you see a storm approaching from the sea coast.

Tower of Storms

• Read entry on arrival:
• You arrive at a cliff face about mid-day, the sky has begun to darken and you see rain and lightning in the distance. Waves crash around a path of stone leading to a 30ft tall pillar with a cave entrace. You also see, what appears to be a giant crab…waving to you?

Meeting the Giant Crab

• Find a plath down, approached by a giant crab, read through section.

Haunted Cave

• Miraal, the sea elf, read descritioption, Giant Crab translates the situation as the banshee howls it’s torments at them.

Plateau: Harpys attack with song

Harpy’s Aerie, find a potion of water breathing

Moesko the Anchorite: Clad in armor made of giant octopus hide, holding an opalescent conch

So, it’s been a while since I posted about the D&D campaign I’ve been running. I’ve had some ups and downs since my last post, but I’ve been happy to get back into it.

I started like I normally do when prepping for a game by creating the maps. I drew out the island and first floor of the lighthouse.

I decided that I’d create some additional walls to give the maps a 3D look. I figured my son and his friend would like that.

I ended up priming some cardboard from food boxes brown on one side and taping them together for the second floor. I started by drawing out the map, gluing it down, and then cutting out the shape of the floor.

I took a break between finishing this part of the project and playing the game.

I had the opportunity to visit family in Ohio. We always stop in Point Pleasant, WV to visit the Mothman, walk around the museum, and stretch our legs. During our stay in Ohio we witnessed the eclipse. I can’t describe how awesome that experience was for me and my family. One part of the eclipse that amazed me was that no matter the direction you looked it appeared like dusk.

I ended up suffering an injury that set me back physically and mentally after the trip. Thankfully my wife helped pull me out of this mental block by scheduling the D&D game. That helped motivate me to do something fun. I’ll share more about the game in the next post.

I recently received a prize to create my own HeroForge 2D mini (thanks OnTableTop team and HeroForge!).  I honestly wasn’t sure what I should make.  I started looking through the Dragon of Icespire Peak module to see if there were any monsters or villains I should make into a custom mini.  I really couldn’t find anything that I felt was really needed…until I remembered my first Dungeons and Dragons character I played in High School.  He’d be fun to make!

Thanks to my hoarding superpowers, I still had my character sheet and original mini.  I named him Su Park after two of my first TaeKwonDo instructors.  This game used AD&D 2nd ed rules.  They didn’t have a Monk character class at the time, so I ended up making him a Cleric. I used special class in the Priest Handbook and skills from the Ninja Handbook to create a Monk that worshiped animals.  Pretty much he ended up being a Shaolin Monk.  Like many first time players and teenagers, I ended up in the Murder Hobo category…or maybe my alignment would best be described as Chaotic Dickhead.

Thinking of this characters original adventures, including a trip to Ravenloft resulting in a cloned body and heart replacement, loss of an eye to gain low light vision (kinda an odd story), and betraying his companions a few times.  I thought he’d make a great member of the Neutral Evil adventuring party that has and will continue to mess with my current players.  The Stone Cold Reavers.

I used my original drawings of Su Park to make my new Hero Forge 2D mini.  I think this looks a lot closer to my original concept of the character than my small metal mini.  I’m also impressed with how my painting has improved since I first painted up Su Park so many years ago.

I’m looking forward to making Su Park and the rest of the Stone Cold Reavers to fight the adventurers 🙂

I had the return to Phandalin planned out (see my notes below) and was happy that they decided to keep the Knight’s retrainers in town.  This gave me the opportunity to introduce a group of Neutral Evil adventurers that are mentioned later in the adventure, the Stone Cold Reavers.

The Knight was extremely upset that these people would hurt his friends.  I think they’ll be out for vengeance when they come across them later in the adventure.

After getting their reward, buying a magic item the Stone Cold Reavers sold to the town master, selling gems, etc. the party thought about their next quest.

They decided to follow up on the rumor “Tower of Storms” at their next quest.

“It is late at night when you arrive back in Phandalin. You decide it might be best to stop back at the inn for some food and a good nights sleep. You pass by the job board as you walk to the Inn. You see that the Gnomengarde job is no longer posted and the board appears empty. You decide that’ll you’ll speak with Townmaster Harbin Wester to get your rewards first thing in the morning.

You get to the Stonehill Inn and see Sir Richard’s companions sitting at a table. As you approach you see that they appear bruised and battered. They share a run-in with a group of ruffians that didn’t like that we had taken most of the beds at the Inn. They started to speak ill of them and the adventurers, causing a fight to break out.
As you eat your dinner and share stories with the other patrons you overhear a rumor.

Share rumor 5 Tower of Storms pg 9

You then head to your rooms for a well deserved nights rest

Meet with Harbin and receive rewards.

Harbin asks you a question. “Since you’ve done such an excellent job, can you put these postings up on the job board for me? (Sliding three pieces of paper and 3 silver coins under the door), Another adventuring group calling themselves the Stone Cold Reavers took the last job off the board (Gnomengarde). You all seem a lot nicer than that group and this’ll give you first pick at the next job if you want one” he say’s cheerily. “They did end up finding some useful magical equipment. I bought Hat of Wizardry off of them. I’d be happy to sell it to you for what I paid since you’re so nice to me. They had some other items they wanted to sell too. You might want to check Barathen’s Provisions, Lionsheild Coster (run by Linene Graywind), or Phandalin Miner’s Exchange (Halia Thornton guildmaster) see pg 8-9.

What is your choice for your next adventure?
Rumor: Visit the lighthouse and shipwrecks on the coast, maybe treasure in the shipwrecks?

Job 1: Investigate the Orcs at Butterskull Ranch, 100 GP after completion

Job 2: Take supplies to the logging camp, 100 GP after completion

Job 3: Escort Don-Jon Raskin to the Mountain Toe Gold Mine, 100 GP after completion

The party spent some of the morning hiking in the mountains when they finally came across the Dwarven Excavation site.  They did a search of the canyon and the Druid rolled a nat 20!  They found a lost pickax and were able to identify a set of orc tracks and two sets of heavy booted tracks.  I used most of the text descriptions from the quest in the book for the areas.  Here are some of my notes.  The one thing that didn’t fit into my notes was that the adventuring party didn’t make themselves known until they snuck up on Dazlyn and Norbus in the Courtyard of the temple.  I used two matching dwarf figures as the greedy looking statues beside the entrance to the temple.

“Some of the group have trouble sleeping the rest of the night and others find sleep easier knowing that you’ve defeated an evil foe. In the morning you break camp and head into the mountains. After a few hours you enter a rocky canyon

Read Arrival on pg 22 Dazlyn and Norbus greet them if the party announces themselves.

E1: If the canyon is searched, The canyon is strewn with rubble and only has a few tough scraggly weeds If searched they see a lone set of fresh humanoid foot prints and two older sets of prints made with sturdy boots

E2: Ruined Settlement: Nothing is nown about this settlement including it’s name, Yet, It looks like there was an avalanche long ago and buried the settlement. We’ve cleared much of the rubble. You see a pony and equipment near an empty, rubble-filled well. Searching reveals a rusted old key and an iron ring

E3: Courtyard and temple Read description pg 22 Dazlyn and Norbus, say that they are willing to give you two matching Sending Stones if you will go into the temple and help get rid of a strange creature that attacked us. Be careful, because earlier in the morning an orc wandered into the temple as we his and we haven’t seen it come back out. We’d like to learn more about this temple and are willing to split anything found before we all leave for Phandalin.”

The party agreed to help Dazlyn and Norbus continue their excavation after clearing out the Temple of the unknown monster inside. They first entered the foyer and examined the secret passage the dwarves had discovered.  Then they decided to move into the main temple room.

The party saw the skeleton and didn’t realize that it was the devoured orc.  I used some pillars from the Dungeons and Lasers Land of the Giants set and an altar from the new HeroQuest boardgame for the temple interior.  They also spotted the Ochre Jelly hanging from the ceiling.  They spent some time thinking of how to deal with the possibility of the skeleton reviving and what they should do with the jelly.

Sir Richard decided to throw his hand axe at the jelly.  Damaging it, but causing it to split in two.

The Druid wild shaped into a spider and climbed up the walls and over to pillar to attack one of the split jellies.  The Warlock and Druid were able to make quick work of the monster.

The party did a search of the temple, not rolling well.  They searched the altar and I gave them a bonus to their roll and had them discover a secret drawer filled with gems.  The Druid examined a pillar where secret compartment is listed in the adventure.  I decided to have it contain a parchment with ancient dwarven text written on it.  The party decided to get the dwarves from outside the temple to read the text.  I was able to give some background on the temple and the religion to everyone.

Next the party offered to help the dwarves continue their excavation.  The dwarves asked them to continue to search for secret passages…and they kept failing their rolls.  The Druid began examing near the temple doorway and finally rolled high.  I had the Druid find the first secret passage.

The party began exploring and came across more passages and rooms.  They took a mid day break and met with the dwarves for a meal.  The Dwarves shared that they finally broke through the passage they were digging in and asked the adventurers to explore there.  Below are my notes from these locations.

“E6: Partially collapsed room. A faint light can be seen through the rubble

E8: You see three stone bed frames against the east wall

E9: Vestry: You see a stone font on the south west wall and a stone wardrobe against the east wall. Inside the wardrobe are two Suits of red Leather Armor with golden studs.

E10: You see a skeleton half buried in the rubble. It wears tattered and torn red leather armor with gold studs

If searched they find a GLOWING tiny jeweled dagger on a silver chain. Inscribed in Dwarvish Runes “Greed is Good” worth 50 gp”

The party continued their exploration of the temple’s secret passages and came across the passage containing another Ochre Jelly.  The party had to coordinate their movements due to the tight quarters, but between the druid in bear form and the fighter, the party was able to defeat the monster.

“E7: Secret Tunnel: An Ocrhe Jelly lurks in the rubble”

The dwarves helped the party clear away the last temple passage that had collapsed.  Knowing that there might be danger, the dwarves went outside the temple and urged the part to continue exploring.
The party entered the room..

“E11: You see the remanants of a destroyed statue on one side of the room. Standing opposite in the north of the room is a stature of a dwarf with horns, that stares greedily at a glowing green gem in its hands.”

The written adventure has the statue with the gem explode as a trap.  The party began contemplating the best way to deal with the statue if it came to life so they could grab the gem and survive.  I decided a living statue was much more fun than an exploding statue.  I gave the statue the stats of an ogre and had slashing do 1/2 damage to it. The fighter had the pickax at the ready near the destroyed statue (in case it reformed), the Druid shifted into a bear to grab the gem and the Warlock waited in the middle to help when needed.  The bear grabbed the gem and I had the statue grab onto the paw (grappled).  I ended up rolling a 1 for my first attack with the statue and decided that it broke it’s hand with the gem off, still holding onto the bear’s paw.  The statue ignored all other characters, only attacking the bear, due to the gem still being in the bears paw.  As the statue began to take more damage I had glowing cracks begin to form on it.  The statue did explode once it was defeated, causing some damage to the heroes.

The party left the temple with their treasure and met up with the dwarves.  They all readied their gear for the long trip back and decided to rest the night at the temple so they could make it back to town in a single day.  In the morning they noticed 3 orcs approaching.  These orcs were looking for their friend that was scouting a new home location for their tribe.

“Leaving the temple, you see three orcs approaching What do you do​?“

The party hid and prepared for battle.  The fight went well for our heroes and they suffered minimal damage.

As the party and dwarves began traveling down the mountain they spotted a white dragon flying out of the woods clutching a goblin in its claws.  The party waited until the dragon was out of site before continuing to Phandalin.

I started this encounter by describing their travel and using the below notes I wrote up.

“Session 2: Dwarven Excavation Adventure pg 22-23 Recap Adventure (Saving Adabra, Manticore, Orcs…)

After gathering supplies, you set off into the wilderness. This is your first time traveling off road and you all feel your senses heightened in these new surroundings. After many hours of walking through the hills and woods you begin to see the foot of the mountains. You decide it might be best to set up camp before hiking into the mountains. You find an area that you feel would make a great campsite and set up for dinner. As night approaches, what do you do? Do they set up watches, etc?

Roll for the time when the attack occurs, resolve combat. Goblins”

They did a great job describing what they did the evening.  The Druid scouted the surrounding area and I told him that there was wildlife in the trees, but that there didn’t seem to be many signs of ground animals.  I was saying this imply that there was something in the woods scaring off the animals or eating them ie the goblins.

The group set up watch and I rolled to see when the Goblins would arrive.  They were scheduled to arrive on the third player/final watch.  I then rolled again to see what hour they would arrive and it was right before everyone was to awake.

I decided to make the goblins a little weaker than normal by having them only use clubs and wear leather armor.  I was able to use 18 goblins for this encounter.

Sissal raised an alarm in time for the rest of the party to be ready as the Goblins moved in to attack.  Waffle and Sir Richard won initiative, followed by the Goblins, and Sissal went last.

Sir Richard and Waffle led the charge into the goblins.  Waffle in bear form is very powerful.  With a single bite he was able to kill a goblin.  He still rolled for his claw attacks and I decided to make it fun by having him describe how he was swiping and having him roll a Dex Check.  He succeeded with the check and I had the goblin go flying into another nearby goblin, causing it to go prone.

Sissal the Warlock began to get swarmed by goblins on the other side of the camp.  Sir Richard rushed to his aid taking on three goblins while Waffle continued to rampage through nearby goblins.  Striking a goblin so hard it flew into a tree.

A goblin decided to start running away at the site of the bear attack.

Once Sissal was able to disengage from hand to hand, I had him roll perception.  Hidden in one of the trees was the Kobold from the Dragons of Stormwreck Isle campaign that is scouting for Cryovain the White Dragon.  Sissal didn’t manage to spot him at first.

After a few more turns of combat, all of the goblins had been defeated for fled.  The part was then able to spot a red small winged creature fly off.  They remembered the rumors that this creature was spotted before the Dragon arrived in an area.  There initial thought is that the Dragon might be hunting it.

They searched the bodies and disposed of them before preparing for the hike into the mountains.

Everyone was happy to get back together for another D&D game.  The boys were excited to try out their characters at level 2 and our Druid player shared the animals he wrote down as options to shape change into.  He chose a bear, wolf, and spider.  I walked over to my mini case and pulled out a Konflikt’47 Ursus and everyone thought it made a great mini for the bear and even the wolf shape.  I was able to pull out a spider I had painted up for my Moria Goblin army too.

The party discussed supply and equipment purchases and visited some of the local shops.  Sissal purchased a bedroll after I reminded the group it was fall and temperatures might be cold in the forest and mountains. They also purchased extra provisions for the walk to the Dwarven Excavation to warn the prospectors of the Dragon in the area. Sir Richard decided it would be best for his retainers to stay behind for their safety.

Then they set off for adventure

I wanted to start off the session with a little bit of excitement before the party began the written scenario at the Dwarven Excavation.   I also wanted to make use of some awesome Dungeons & Lasers terrain I recently won 🙂

I covered the battle map for the Dwarven Excavation with a grassland mat so I can breakdown this setup and have the map underneath ready to go.  I wanted this area of the forest to look like a clearing with some fallen trees.  I used the Dungeons & Lasers The Elven Woods set for this encounter, and a few other terrain items I own.  I placed the encampment terrain in the middle.  I picked out some Woodland Scenic trees I made last year and placed them around the outside of the camp.  I then added stumps from the Warlord Games basing set to the area.  Lastly, I wanted to add some fallen and barren trees to the scenario by using the awesome trees from the The Elven Woods set.  These things are great!

I purchased a lot of the D&D 2d Miniatures in preparation for this campaign too.  It was great to see that many of the sets were specifically designed for the essentials box.  I ended up buying the Goblin 2d Minis event though Dragon of Icespire Peak doesn’t have any in the adventure.  I figured that goblins will always come in handy.  I decided to make them the bad guys for the ambush.

I thought the set up for the encounter looked great even with some of the terrain being unpainted.

I finished setting up the table, and I was ready for the game the following morning.

The Dwarven Excavation mission consists of multiple hidden passages and rooms.  I decided to make all of these separate from the main battle map so the players wouldn’t realize that there was more to the temple.  I decided to use the thin cardboard from a cereal box as the base to the secret passages and rooms.

I started by using black spray paint on the printed side of the cardboard.  After the paint dried, I grabbed a glue stick for the next step.  I’ve learned that glue sticks are great for this process because other glues will soak in or bubble the paper.   After spreading the glue over a section I applied the paper by laying a corner down and running a finger along the paper in small sections to make sure it adhered smoothly.  I repeated this process until the entire cardboard was covered in the paper.

Next, I began outlining the rooms and passages by following my same process with the larger battle map.  I did double check the sizes before drawing because I knew this section needed to be very accurate so the dungeon passages and rooms would line up.

I used a chalk marker to number the rooms and passages based on the map in the book.  This was so I’d be able to pull out the right piece hidden under the table when the characters discovered them.  I double checked the layout and then i was ready for my project…creating the wilderness encounter.

I needed to find something suitable to use for an Ochre Jelly and statues.  In our area we have a department store called “Ollie’s” and they had a large assortment of D&D boxes and games for extremely low prices (only a few dollars!).  I was lucky enough to grab a D&D Campaign Case with creatures.  In this case are tokens that you can stick vinyl images of monster too.  It happened to have an ochre jelly.  I prepared the large token for the encounters and some small numbered tokens in case the adventurers cut them in half.

I also picked out some old D&D pre-painted minis that I thought would work for statues of dwarves throughout the temple

One thing I really enjoy doing as a new DM is making battle maps for encounters and scenarios.  I also think it really helps some of the players since they’re fairly young by giving them a physical and visual reference of what is going on in the game (two of the players are 10 years old).

I knew I wanted to have the players deal with an encounter in the woods while traveling to the Dwarven Excavation.  I decided that I needed to create the map of the excavation site and temple first and then I’d set up the woodland encounter afterwards.

I started by getting my “go-to” supplies ready for map making and counting out the 5ft squares on the adventure map. My usually supplies are cheap wrapping paper from the Dollar Tree, markers we have laying around the house, and a pencil.  My inspiration for making the battle maps this way comes from a YouTube channel, Zipperon Disney, when I prepping for Dragons of Stormwreck Isle.  I decided that I would create separate tiles for all the hidden rooms and passages.  This plan gave me the basic size of paper I needed.

I sometimes sketch out the area in pencil and then trace it with a black marker.  I started by sketching out most of the temple space and then went straight to the black marker for the rest of the map and interiors.  Next, began to highlight and color my maps to give it some character and help everyone visual the look of the area.  I think adding some color looks a lot better than plain lines.  I went with different shades of gray markers I had to differentiate from rubble and walls.  I would use these markers to hash out solid walls too.

I think the look of the map made it so the players wouldn’t suspect that there were hidden passages and rooms.  If I mapped out the entire adventure they’d wonder what was under the hidden areas of the maps and know to search.

I set up the map and put it under the plastic “glass” from a cheap poster frame to keep it flat. I later realized I forgot to fill in the details of the temple courtyard and had to pull it out and draw in that section.  Live an learn.

Next up…the hidden passages and rooms.

I’ve been doing some reading and basic prep work for the second game session, the Dwarven Excavation. Yesterday I decided to commit to a date…this Sunday!

A friend of mine came over earlier this week to play a game of Warhammer: The Old World. He brought over some Vampires and I dusted off my old Dwarf army.  It was a great game and I’m looking forward to playing again.

But, why are you talking about Warhammer: The Old World when you’re prepping for a D&D session?  Well, I’ve always had Miners in my Dwarf Army.  This game reminded me that I had a bunch of Dwarf bits that included mining equipment from these boxes.

I was able to quickly put together a mining cart and other tools to use for table dressing at the excavation site.  I also pulled out two of my Miners to use as the NPCs.  I never finished painting these minis because the Old World exploded, but now I might be able to get them done before the game on Sunday.

After setting up the table and everyone coming back into the room, I asked if the knights retainers were going with them or staying in town. They decided they should stay in town and gather information and rumors.  I thought that was very creative.  After the PCs started traveling, I gave them a description of the area that included a hill with cairns atop it and in the distance they could make out the windmill on another hill.  They spotted some humanoid foot prints that appeared to go in the direction of the cairn.  The adventurers decided to approach the windmill first since their quest was to have the woman that lived in the windmill return to the village due to dragon sightings in the area.

I ran the windmill similar to the written quest.  They saw the Manticore, but one change was that it appeared to be very skinny, and Adabra yelled for help from the windmills upper window.  The PCs spent some time deciding the best course of action and actually rolled a nat 20 on insight, so I read the manticore description to them.  This helped them know that a Manticore can be “bribed”.  After convincing the knight not to attack, they offered the Manticore enough food for it to leave (this will be great as a future encounter later in the campaign). The characters were able to help Adabra and convinced her to come back to town.  This differed from the written quest, but why wouldn’t she come back to town after having a manticore try to eat her?  She rewarded them with a potion of healing.  They asked her to pack up her belongings and supplies while they explored the cairns.

I added a small encounter with orcs at the cairns.  I wanted to let the kids have a chance to kill some bad guys since I knew the manticore was not going to end up being a combat.  As they explored the cairns and old ruins the orcs were able to successfully hide and catch them by surprise.  This was a dangerous encounter due to how bunched up the characters were.  The first orc charged the halfling druid and rolled a 1, falling down.  The second and third orcs charged the knight and both missed their attacks.  The orcs took their second round with one standing, another moving to engage the Gnome warlock, and the knight taking 7hp of damage.  The knight and druid were able to kill one of the orcs that turn.  In the next turn the Gnome Warlock took some damage and after some successful attacks in that round and the next the heroes were able to slay the three orcs.  They discovered that these orcs appeared to be starving and saw that they were gathering mushrooms growing near the cairns.  The PCs healed themselves and then returned to get Adabra and bring her back to town.

In town they collected their reward of 25 GPs and decided to travel to the Dwarven Excavation as their next mission from the job board.  Next up for me is making the maps!

I wrote up an introduction for the player’s first game.  I wanted to give them a reason why they characters were coming together and why they were traveling to Phandalin.  Also, I wanted to tie this back to the first adventure they played and their characters from Dragon’s of Stormwreck Isle (DOSI).  I thought this would be fun for my son and his friend to think about their last campaign before starting this one.  I mentioned this in the last post, but there is a Human Fighter (A knight with his 3 retainers), a Halfling Druid, and a Gnome Warlock as the PCs for this campaign.

Below is what I basically read to them.  A few things to know if you want to read my introduction is that the only surviving enemy from DOSI was one of the winged Kobolds, Mek, that served the blue wyrmling Sparkrender.  My thought was that Mek feld to the mainland and came across a young White Dragon being driven from it’s territory.  Mek is now scouting ahead for his new master, Cryovain, for food shelter and new territory, now settling in the Icespire Peak region of the Sword Mountains.

You’ve been traveling many days and nights from your homeland. On a sunny fall day you come across fork in the road. As you contemplate the direction you should go, you feel a brisk and chilly wind begin to push you toward the left. You decide that fate has chosen the way to go. After a few more hours of walking you find yourself in a small village built in the shadow of a school of magic.

Walking to a nearby tavern you sit, thinking about what life has in store and begin to wait out the day. You begin speaking with fellow travelers and discover that a few are like you. These travelers would make wonderful companions. As the sun begins to set you all gather at a small table near the fireplace.

Now it’s time for everyone to share about themselves, what do you look like, why have you decided to become an adventurer and what do you hope to accomplish? Anything else?

After getting to know one another the tavern keeper approaches your small group. “I hear that you all are seeking adventure. After a good nights rest you should travel to school of magic. There is a group of adventurers there that might be able to send you on the path you seek.”

You all head to your rooms for a good nights rest. Some of you can’t sleep due to the excitement of adventures to come and other fall fast asleep, knowing that tomorrow will bring what the gods decide.

You awake as the sun begins shining into your room through the clouded glass of your window. You ready yourself to meet your new companions downstairs, and once gathered you head to the school of magic. As you approach, you see all manner of people walking with urgency around the campus. All of them seem to ignore you as if busy in thought and only thinking of their destination.

What do you do?(After asking around a student points them to a small building)

You approach a small stone building with stained glass windows. They glitter in the morning light and you can see them casting colorful random shapes on the floor inside the building through an open door. As you get closer, you notice a large pile of worked wood laying against the building. Parts of this wood pile looke like a large bow (Let them choose a proficiency check to see if they can determine that this is the ballista the group found on DOSI). As you enter the building you hear a group talking and laughing. They look like seasoned warriors and seem to be talking about a recent adventure. The group turns toward you. You see a human wizard clutching a book, a small halfling with a hand sliding toward a dagger at his side, a dwarf dressed in holy vestments gripping an ornate mace, a large man made of meta resting a hand on a gleaming ax, and a slim human sitting next to a long bow propped against the wall next to him. What do you do? Segway into the tale and mission.

The adventurers regale you with the most unbelievable story. One fraught with danger while on a quest to end the Famine of the Black Drakes, a frenzied breeding of these foul creatures across the countryside. They tell you of shipwrecks and strange creatures, friends, and monsters they came across on an island known as StormWreck Isle. You listen closely to their exploits.

Have each player recount an event from the game

After defeating the evil blue wyrmling, Sparkrender, they returned to the mainland. They share that they’ve recently come home from stopping the drakes with the help of a wise and powerful Bronze dragon, called Runara. During their travels with Runara, they began hearing rumors of a small red winged creature traveling through the countryside followed by rumors of a White Dragon killing and devouring many in it’s path as it moved south from a region far to the north. A region called Icewind Dale and a mountain range known as the Spine of the World. Runara shared that White dragons prefer violence and destruction to magic and cunning. She was concerned that a more dangerous creature had driven the dragon from it’s territory in the north in search of new hunting grounds.

One of the heroes leans forward and says to your group. “If you seek adventure, you should all travel South and seek out this vile creature. The horror and death it has brought to new lands need to be stopped.”

What do you do?

Share how they’ve been called to help nearby and can’t help. Perhaps they’ll be meet again in the future…. After agreeing to help,

You begin traveling south along the Sword Coast, taking the High Road past Neverwinter. You hear rumors a red winged creature followed by accounts of white dragon attacks, leading to the Triboar Trail…end

There was a little bit of roleplay as they traveled south.  I had them come across merchants with wagons of goods as they neared the Triboar Trail.  They asked a merchant if they could escort them to their next stop.  I had the merchant pay them each 2 SP and they made it to Phandalin.  After exploring the town and renting beds for the night, the party looked over the job the board.  They decided to take on the Umbrage Hill Quest.  This was absolutely perfect because I didn’t need to railroad them into going to that location!  My original plan was to have the Townmaster encourage them to swing by Umbrage Hill on the way to one of the other quests if they chose those.  I then had them all leave the room while I set up the board for the Umbrage Hill encounters (setup pictures attached)

I was super excited Sunday morning to kick off this game.  I even pulled out an old t-shirt my wife got me when my son was born to wear as I DM’d the session (it felt very fitting). I’m super impressed with the contents of the Essential’s box and used it to set up my DM “command center” and put out the box as decor on the nearby shelf.  When my son’s friend and his friend’s dad arrived they all started talking about their characters. I had them find a suitable mini from my collection of 3rd ed minis and newer 2d standees.  My son’s friend is running a Halfling Druid and his father is running a Gnome Warlock.