(This post covers three gaming sessions since the last session post, partly because the combats have grown so large that not many combats take up a significant portion of each session, and partly because I'm a lazy bastard and didn't get around to typing this up in time.)
The party was in dire straits - one bad round of combat saw the wizard down, several of the party's other big guns hovering close to negative hit points as well, and only a few goblins and worgs down on the other side, and those at the hands of a hobgoblin devastator, not the party. That last was a mistake on my part, I didn't read the stat block close enough and didn't realize that devastators can sculpt their spells to miss comrades, but in afterthought I realized the devastator, leader of this particular raiding band, was tired of the little bastards and their smelly dogs and wouldn't have sculpted the spell for them anyway. He probably would not have also hit the hellhound and chimera, but eh, they were still standing and the party was hurting.
The party was in dire straits - one bad round of combat saw the wizard down, several of the party's other big guns hovering close to negative hit points as well, and only a few goblins and worgs down on the other side, and those at the hands of a hobgoblin devastator, not the party. That last was a mistake on my part, I didn't read the stat block close enough and didn't realize that devastators can sculpt their spells to miss comrades, but in afterthought I realized the devastator, leader of this particular raiding band, was tired of the little bastards and their smelly dogs and wouldn't have sculpted the spell for them anyway. He probably would not have also hit the hellhound and chimera, but eh, they were still standing and the party was hurting.
As predicted though, the party rallied, got the wizard back on his feet and proceeded to mop the floor with the remaining monsters. They did receive some help in the form of the dire wolf that had been shadowing the party as they (particularly the ranger) amused the large wolf, who came swooping in to challenge the devastator head-to-head, keeping him from fireballing the party for even more damage. The devastator did return the favor, dropping the dire wolf (the druid healed him not long after, so no big deal) before finally dying himself.
The attack in broad daylight in front of the townsfolk, plus the attackers killing and burning many on the other side of the river, the once wishy-washy townsfolk are convinced and they are leaving. The party, heady with success, head on towards the north, see if they can't break the blockades on the northern trade roads, take care of this pesky lieutenant, and get the elves to throw in on the side of everyone else in the vale.
They travel through many little villages, some taking the storm warnings seriously and preparing for war, others scoffing at the very idea of it. The party drives on each day, passing out warnings everywhere but moving on no matter if the warnings are heeded or not. Eventually they find the blockade on the trade route north, a small, hastily constructed fort containing a few ogres and some hobgoblins. The druid summons giant owls, the rogue and ranger sneak up for ranged attacks and the lobbing of fire bombs, and the paladin, his retainer, and the wizard gallop up from afar to clean up. The hobgoblins and ogres did not stand up long to the onslaught, and the party, intent on unblocking the road to the northlands, burned the block house to the ground ending that particular threat.
Having also sensed other raiding parties in the wilds around them (thanks to the ranger's Primeval Awareness) and still having some owls conjured, the druid decides to use them to capture the party someone to question. The owls bring back a hobgoblin, leader of that particular raiding party. To question the hobgoblin and stay within the boundaries of most of the party's alignments (killing a bad guy, acceptable; carving bits of a helpless bad guy? not cool), the paladin stuns the hobgoblin and then forces it to drink - and I can't believe I've never thought of doing this before - a Philter of Love. The hobgoblin is male (I rolled for it, not a misogynist bastard, I'm just an asshole to everyone) and so is effectively charmed for the next hour, no save. The hobgoblin spills as much as he knows - the lieutenant is here (and a goblin, quite a feat for one so small to command hobgoblins and other dangerous monsters), there are ogres, and ettins in attendance, the local lizardfolk are working for them, and there's a dragon, because of course there is. The lieutenant is also breeding things, demon like things, in his lair, a horde to unleash on civilization. The elves in the area, isolationist, owl-riding wood elves who have been living in the swamps since the end of the last empire in the area, are also being avoided to keep them from joining up with the communities to the south. Having asked their questions, the party slits the throat of the hobgoblin and discuss their plans from here.
They head towards the swamps, hoping to find the elves and convince them to help in the war, but if nothing else, help them find the bad guys' lair and stop his plans. At the edge of the swamps the ranger detects something nigh fiendish (his Primeval Awareness again, pegging to favored enemies) that "smells" like a devil, but not quite, and it's nearby. The party creeps up to find what looks like a mutated abishai, a devil servant of the dark goddess Tiamat, something they have fought before, but this one is different - larger, more aggressive (if that's even possible), acid breathing, and amphibious. They slay the beast and find that it was feasting on a giant owl and en elf that it had slain. Detecting even more elves flying in, the party searches the area while waiting for them to arrive.
The elves arrive, the party gracefully placing their dead comrade and his owl in full view, along with the monster and their empty, non-threatening hands. The elves, suspicious isolationists long separated from other peoples, treat the party brusquely, but finally consent to guide them to their city in the swamp, fairly certain the party was not to blame for the death of their comrade. The party follows on their own giant owls while the elves gather up the three dead bodies, two to bury and one to study. The swamp elves ask the party to relax in their guest accommodations while they (the swamp elves) hold a funeral for their fallen comrade. The elves in the party immediately decide they're going to the funeral (they're elves too, not outsiders...) and everyone else watches, the druid as a squirrel in a tree and through the eyes of the wizard's owl familiar and a handy illusion spell. The party then wonders the next day why the swamp elves don't automatically drop everything they're doing and join them in hunting down the horde's lieutenant.
Having at least put their request to the elves for help, both for themselves and the other communities elsewhere in the vale, sincerely and graciously enough, the party does manage to secure a map to the location of the lieutenant and some boats to haul them through the swamps. The party begins their trek towards the lake containing the sunken city, capital of a long dead empire, and now home to the lieutenant they're hunting and possibly a breeding nest of dangerous devils, like the one they fought earlier. Along the way, they run into some chuul and kill them. The chuul weren't part of the original adventure's random encounter chart for this area, can't remember off the top of my head what they replaced, but whatever it was doesn't exist in 5th edition and the chuul can sometimes be found in swamps, so I put them in. It also has the added benefit of letting the players know that their adventure isn't the only game in town - chuul are escapees from the aboleth, former slaves run away from terrible masters. Where there are chuul, there is an aboleth (or are aboleths) somewhere not too far away. It was a random roll on the encounter table, but it did give an interesting flavor to the evening. Will the party divert from their current goal and see if they can find the aboleth(s) nearby, or will they stay the course?
Next session, I'll be talking with the party. Combat needs to speed up, drastically so, as we are spending a lot of time on small combats. I tried to adopt a faster initiative system to keep combats interesting, but the meta discussion before every action has gotten too much. On top of it, the next big bad they're to face, the lieutenant, is going to use a lot of the tricks they are using and the party is not going to get to sneak up on this group. Yes, I said group, this big bad is bringing friends to the party, and some of these friends can't be detected by the party's ranger, of which they have been relying on too much lately.
Having also sensed other raiding parties in the wilds around them (thanks to the ranger's Primeval Awareness) and still having some owls conjured, the druid decides to use them to capture the party someone to question. The owls bring back a hobgoblin, leader of that particular raiding party. To question the hobgoblin and stay within the boundaries of most of the party's alignments (killing a bad guy, acceptable; carving bits of a helpless bad guy? not cool), the paladin stuns the hobgoblin and then forces it to drink - and I can't believe I've never thought of doing this before - a Philter of Love. The hobgoblin is male (I rolled for it, not a misogynist bastard, I'm just an asshole to everyone) and so is effectively charmed for the next hour, no save. The hobgoblin spills as much as he knows - the lieutenant is here (and a goblin, quite a feat for one so small to command hobgoblins and other dangerous monsters), there are ogres, and ettins in attendance, the local lizardfolk are working for them, and there's a dragon, because of course there is. The lieutenant is also breeding things, demon like things, in his lair, a horde to unleash on civilization. The elves in the area, isolationist, owl-riding wood elves who have been living in the swamps since the end of the last empire in the area, are also being avoided to keep them from joining up with the communities to the south. Having asked their questions, the party slits the throat of the hobgoblin and discuss their plans from here.
They head towards the swamps, hoping to find the elves and convince them to help in the war, but if nothing else, help them find the bad guys' lair and stop his plans. At the edge of the swamps the ranger detects something nigh fiendish (his Primeval Awareness again, pegging to favored enemies) that "smells" like a devil, but not quite, and it's nearby. The party creeps up to find what looks like a mutated abishai, a devil servant of the dark goddess Tiamat, something they have fought before, but this one is different - larger, more aggressive (if that's even possible), acid breathing, and amphibious. They slay the beast and find that it was feasting on a giant owl and en elf that it had slain. Detecting even more elves flying in, the party searches the area while waiting for them to arrive.
The elves arrive, the party gracefully placing their dead comrade and his owl in full view, along with the monster and their empty, non-threatening hands. The elves, suspicious isolationists long separated from other peoples, treat the party brusquely, but finally consent to guide them to their city in the swamp, fairly certain the party was not to blame for the death of their comrade. The party follows on their own giant owls while the elves gather up the three dead bodies, two to bury and one to study. The swamp elves ask the party to relax in their guest accommodations while they (the swamp elves) hold a funeral for their fallen comrade. The elves in the party immediately decide they're going to the funeral (they're elves too, not outsiders...) and everyone else watches, the druid as a squirrel in a tree and through the eyes of the wizard's owl familiar and a handy illusion spell. The party then wonders the next day why the swamp elves don't automatically drop everything they're doing and join them in hunting down the horde's lieutenant.
Having at least put their request to the elves for help, both for themselves and the other communities elsewhere in the vale, sincerely and graciously enough, the party does manage to secure a map to the location of the lieutenant and some boats to haul them through the swamps. The party begins their trek towards the lake containing the sunken city, capital of a long dead empire, and now home to the lieutenant they're hunting and possibly a breeding nest of dangerous devils, like the one they fought earlier. Along the way, they run into some chuul and kill them. The chuul weren't part of the original adventure's random encounter chart for this area, can't remember off the top of my head what they replaced, but whatever it was doesn't exist in 5th edition and the chuul can sometimes be found in swamps, so I put them in. It also has the added benefit of letting the players know that their adventure isn't the only game in town - chuul are escapees from the aboleth, former slaves run away from terrible masters. Where there are chuul, there is an aboleth (or are aboleths) somewhere not too far away. It was a random roll on the encounter table, but it did give an interesting flavor to the evening. Will the party divert from their current goal and see if they can find the aboleth(s) nearby, or will they stay the course?
Next session, I'll be talking with the party. Combat needs to speed up, drastically so, as we are spending a lot of time on small combats. I tried to adopt a faster initiative system to keep combats interesting, but the meta discussion before every action has gotten too much. On top of it, the next big bad they're to face, the lieutenant, is going to use a lot of the tricks they are using and the party is not going to get to sneak up on this group. Yes, I said group, this big bad is bringing friends to the party, and some of these friends can't be detected by the party's ranger, of which they have been relying on too much lately.
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