Thunderspire Labyrinth: Session 2

Last night we played the second series in our Thunderspire Labyrinth arc. Although outside of some bookend scenes, we spent the whole time out of the labyrinth. So this was an example of a really good session that literally broke out of the dungeon I had planned. We had all eight players in attendance tonight, so I felt okay leaning towards the tactical side. Indented text from Wizard of the Coast's Thunderspire Labyrinth published adventure.

We started right where we left off, leaving the Customhouse to help defend the ruins of Rivershard against the Lizardfolk assault that the players had uncovered. It was an hour's walk through the Road of Lanterns, at which point Hermiad saw them emerge and rejoined the party. He had been sent as a runner back to the landing site and the rest of the clan, mainly because Anthony was sick.

Rarhan, captain of the dragonborn guard and the PC's escort last session, ran down to rejoin the defenders. Lizardfolk riders had been seen on the horizon, and the 100 or so town guardsmen were busy turning the ruins into fortifications. Rarhan invited the vikings to join in, and we ran a skill challenge!

For the mechanics, I asked everyone to come up with two skill rolls they would make. They could concentrate on one skill they were really good at, or choose two skills and get a bonus. I asked everyone to come up with activities that would help the fortification. Here are some of the descriptions I remember:

* Bartix used Religion to interpret the Lizardfolk beliefs and build some scary offensive displays.
* Oddny and Varin used History as military experience to implement tried-and-true anti-siege methodology.
* Erik and Mendas used Streetwise to develop contingency plans for urban warfare should they have to fall back.
* Edgar used Athletics to dig, dig, dig.
* Rurik used Diplomacy to get the most out of all the workers!
* Hermiad used Nature, and only Nature, to interpret the existing lay of the land and plan where to place walls and trenches to maximal effect.

So, with a plan in place, everyone rolled their first skill. This was a full-sized encounter-weight skill challenge, requiring 12 successes before 6 failures. The first round generated 5 successes, 3 failures... so halfway there. Of course, there wasn't much that could be done to readjust their tactics, so we did the second round and went 7 and 1. That's 12 successes exactly, meaning that the fortifications were implemented!

They worked on their plans throughout the day, and behind them on the horizon, lizardfolk gathered. By the evening, the originally planned invasion time, the vikings could see some 1000 lizardfolk gathered, wearing the markings of several different tribes. But no one was attacking... the PCs sensed a vacuum of leadership. The defenders of Rivershard continued to work, getting a fitful sleep but making it safely through the night.

In the morning, the defenses were more or less complete. The lizardfolk were ready to go too: a chieftain rode in front of their ranks, totally pumping them up. Mendas snuck forward to listen in to the speech, and the horde seemed to be getting into it. This Chief Mukhur told his assembled throngs that the dragonborn may not have been the insane rabble that they had expected, but were still unprotected, vastly outnumbered, and ripe for sacking. Then, suddenly, the horde stopped banging their spears and fell silent! The rest of the vikings looked around them and saw a new figure above their lines. Hovering above them was the Ordinator Arcanis from the Seven-Pillared Hall!

The Ordinator Arcanis wears deep black robes and a golden mask of an impassive, stylized dragonborn face. This mysterious figure serves as the magistrate for the Seven-Pillared Hall. As the representative of the Mages of Saruun, the Ordinator Arcanis judges guilt or innocence in grievances and acts as an arbitrator in disputes.

There is no single Ordinator Arcanis. Each of the Mages of Saruun takes up the golden mask and black robes in turn, rotating the responsibility throughout the organization. When the Ordinator Arcanis walks the Hall the inhabitants tremble. It is not unusual for the Ordinator Arcanis to remain unseen for weeks or months at a time only to suddenly appear suddenly to execute the law of the mages or to settle a dispute. In most cases, the judgment of the Ordinator Arcanis is swift, harsh, and usually fatal-the mages have no desire to maintain jails or inflict minor penalties.

Anyway, that's what one of the dragonborn explained to the party. The Ordinator hovered some thirty feet above the dragonborn lines, its mask gleaming in the sun. From the way that the lizardfolk reacted, they had not been expecting such concrete support from the Mages of Saruun. Still, Mukhur lifted his warclub and charged, some 200 of his tribe behind him. Mendas noted that most of the horde stayed put. The rogue scampered back to his party in time to receive the charge!

And here we players took a pause. I brought out the map, a big field, 21x35 squares of green. As a result of winning the skill challenge, the players would get to set up the map in any way they chose using the box of scenery I provided. This includes trenches, trees, bushes, mushrooms, rocks, hills, walls, and fires, especially fires! They still had to protect an entire long flank, though: I would be allowed to field forces along the entire 35-square map edge.

Their main tactic was to use walls for funneling the troops. They were able to create a single off-center passage, which they lined with trenches. They flirted with using the three trenches I provided, and filling them all with the burning pitch they had collected all the way back in the Siege of Hyboria. I ruled, however, that the fire had a chance of spreading with this much petroleum spread around. Instead they opted for one trench, dug deep, for a nice stable burn.

Finally, they were set. The vikings lined up on the map edge closest to Rivershard.
I brought out my forces: 12 lizardfolk infantry (pretty obviously minions), two lizardfolk riding war raptors (using dire wolf stat blocks), two blackscale lizardfolk bruisers, and two marsh mystics. That's pretty much every trick in the lizardfolk playbook, with one or two inventions, and my players are about to outgrow them. This is your swan song, lizardfolk.


Nearly everyone beat the lizards in initiative. Hermiad and Varin climbed up on the ramparts to take potshots at separate riders, while Mendas and Edgar got into position (Edgar stood before the pit, ready to drop in a torch). Rurik and Oddny had crossbows, reserving actions for when they had targets in range.

Then the horde acted. Everyone but the marsh mystics had the same initiative. A rider and eight infantry charged down the middle of the gauntlet, ending up around the trench or on the left flank. As they went, Oddny hit one of the infantry with her crossbow, killing it instantly. Rurik took out another as they approached.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Blackscale Bruisers rushed up and knocked a hole in the wall! Yeah! The rider and four more minions rushed in to fill the gap.

Bartix had been delaying his turn and now stepped into action. A magic missile dispatched a threatening minion, and then he spent an action point to throw an Odin's Ball down the line of the wall (Odin's Ball is his rebranded Fireball). As Zach described it, a blask of magic energy left his orb, travelled across the battlefield, then burst to form a towering visage of the one-eyed god! Very Final Fantasy 7!

Bartix trained it on one of the minions such that he 7x7 blast hit everyone on that flank. This is where Bartix normally falls down, blowing the hit rolls, but this time he was on, and beat everyone's reflex! Four minions gone, and everyone else taking serious damage, boosted by Rurik's warlordiness!


Erik went next, engulfing three minions with a burst of flame. Edgar finished his turn and dropped the torch, setting the pit on fire. It didn't catch anyone, but now the flaming barrier was up. So we were approaching the end of the first turn, and I had two of my infantry left.

Bah! My only chance to make an impact lay in the marsh mystics. They ran up and fired off Poison Clouds, one on Edgar, one hitting Hermiad, Rurik, and Erik! Everyone but the ranger took damage and were dazed!

At the top of the order again, Mendas darted out from cover and hit the raptor with his Bait and Switch. Fine, it was stabbed, but he also switched places with it, sending it into the flames!

Rurik was dazed and didn't have a lot of options, but used Knights Move to lend Hermiad some more mobility. The ranger then jumped down from the wall and rushed one marsh mystic, hitting him with both barrels of his twin strike. Then, through the action point, he brought out his Two-Wolf Pounce, a daily that involved three attacks and a total of 5W! Also, three attacks through an action point, that's three triggers of Rurik's Resourceful Presence. That ended up being a lot of damage, including, I believe, a crit. He killed his first marsh mystic, shifted, and bloodied the second! Awesome!

So I had pretty much lost my right, but I still had something going on the left. Varin was right next to a rider and raptor, but he teleported away and laid a curse'n'blast. That killed the rider, but he still had to worry about the beast. It moved up on a rock and lunged at him, but for little affect.

The other remnants of the wave were the two Blackscale Bruisers. They moved around the flank, and one got into position to try and whack Rurik using his reach! No luck, though.

The mystic didn't have many options: these guys are straight controllers, with a very limited ability to damage. He shifted back and hit Hermiad with Swamp Grasp, successfully incapacitating him. That was a pretty good result, the ranger was going to be held in place for a little while. But then, Hermiad triggered his displacing collar, teleporting out of the swamp and behind the mystic! We figured that the mystic was congratulating himself on somehow dispersing his foe, unaware that an angry viking was now behind him.

Mendas was facing the lizardfolk-raptor combo, but the raptor was granting combat advantage for some reason. Prone, maybe? That sounds right. Anyway, the stab and the sneak attack killed the mount. "You killed Bitey!" the rider shouted, rushing at Mendas. But he rolled a 1.

No longer dazed, Rurik and Erik could respond to the giant lizardfolk coming up behind them. Rurik turned his magic greataxe into a halberd and poked the lizard back. Erik summoned his floating holy weapon, which went to town on the other lizard. I think both were now bloodied.

Edgar was still dazed until the turn end of the surviving marsh mystic. With his one action, he ran around and engaged the two surviving minions. They responded by hitting him with their warclubs, and one critted! Resulting in a mighty 8 damage! Our fighter laughed.


Let's see, what else. Mendas killed his dude... Varin got out the Infernal Darkness, which caused the raptor to run away and join up with his blackscale allies. Bartix fired off a Bizarre Terrain to further hinder the blackscales, but they were still able to charge their foes. Erik was hit and pushed back! and to safety! which is a crappy power, actually.

Edgar was starting to regret using his whetstone, there was nothing of note left for him to hit! Still, with his now +13 to hit, he had little chance of missing, and not immediately killing, the two. And... he rolled a three! He proved us all wrong! Martin then pleaded with everyone else not to kill the minions, as he really wanted to do something this game.

Uh, Bartix used his Icy Terrain out on the giants. Oddny charged over and killed the raptor, Rurik killed one Blackscale, and Erik killed the other.

Hermiad fatally surprised his mystic, and Mendas finished off the rider. Everyone watched with baited breath as Edgar wound up... and hit! The field was swept clean, and the heroes had won!

I had wanted another encounter in the night, but it wasn't to be. Instead we entered into a narrative/roleplaying section. The invasion was soundly defeated over the entire battle lines. Chief Mukhur never charged, and with a huge portion of his tribe dead, he slinked away. The rest of the assembled horde began to trickle away. Meanwhile the Ordinator Arcanis began to throw around some serious power, somehow chaining rituals together rapidly cast Bloom, then Ironwood, to rebuild the wall with armored trees. Rarhan congratulated the PCs and pledged that a great alliance had been forged between their peoples. Satisfied, the vikings returned to the Seven-Pillared Hall to do some commerce and to follow-up on that note.

And, it turns out, to drink! The party arrived at a jubilant Hall, celebrating the victory in the valley below. They went straight to Rothar's Taproom, and accepted all the free drinks that they could fit in their viking gullets! They met Rothar, a goliath that ran the place, and the barkeep encouraged his customers to celebrate the heroes (he got paid either way). Bartix used Prestidigitation to play a movie of their battle, and Mendas played the crowd. And everyone got drunk. Also Bartix found a female shifter with snake-traits. As he explained, his faith allowed him to lie with snakes and not women, so this would be okay... but he blew his Diplomacy and didn't Do anyone.

Whew, we haven't ended a game in a bar all campaign! Kind of a classic D&D thing, I'm glad to cross it off the list. We start next game... proceeding with our dungeon!

Casualties:
2 Lizardfolk Greenscale Hunters
2 War Raptors
2 Marsh Mystics
2 Blackscale Bruisers
12 level 5 Lizardfolk minions
Several beers. I didn't partake, so I have no stake in this.

Thunderspire Labyrinth: Session 1

Last night we played the first part of our new adventure! But I'm not ready to name it for real yet. I bet Blogger lets you rename posts... guess we'll find out! All italicized text is owned and copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast, from their Thunderspire Labyrinth product. Which we are now playing!

We opened up just where we left off last session. The party emerged from the dragonborn spaceship in the early evening with all their hangers-on in tow. This was, at last count, seven humanoids: Thargdar the Lizardfolk, Nigel the Albion explorer, and five dragonborn rescued from a laboratory in the ship. The rescued dragonborn were all grateful and trusting of our heroes, but Bartix watched their faces fall as they emerged from the spaceship. He correctly, uh, "insighted," that the party had been in an extremely holy place to these people, and they were confused, possibly upset, that the vikings were inside. Still, the captives descended, led by a fellow named Griv, to speak to the recovering dragonborn milling about on the ground.

Out of the woods stepped a large, commanding dragonborn, his armor in tatters, his sword bloodied. Griv recognized this as Rarhan, captain of the city guard, and was genuinely glad to see him. Rarhan demanded to know what had gone on, but accepted Griv's witness account that the vikings had done something heroic and not blasphemic. And the characters were responsible for the cessation of the madness, that's a plus! One item of note, Rarhan took the vikings to be strange Eladrin... and there weren't any Eladrin in the party.

Rarhan took in the character's account, edited to obscure details about their boat and people. Coming out of two weeks of madness, he was willing to accept the story. He let them know that entry into the Ancient Place was a problem, but he himself wasn't a religious man. In fact, he asked what it was like beyond the Horned King, as long as, he said, there were no Mages of Saruun around to hear. The vikings displayed one of their fantastical technological treasure items, and left it at, "Many fabulous, horrible things."

But what to do now? The characters remembered their note from the lizardfolk tribes, found three days ago in game (three months ago in real life). It advised the small Broken Moons tribe (RIP) to wait for four sunsets, then mass and attack the dragonborn when they were in the midst of their madness. By everyone's account, this meant either tonight or tomorrow night. But did they want to warn the dragonborn, or play the two against one another?

Part of the decision was being made for them. Rarhan was supervising tending to the wounded, and noted that they could make the journey over the next day, camping once they had made the climb out of the crater. The players knew that this could be too late, that they would arrive after the invasion was complete. They decided to trust the dragonborn and warn them of the plans of the lizardfolk tribe. With some heal rolls and Oddny's donation of healing surges to two especially wounded specimens, they were ready to roll at great speed!

In four hours the party, some 20 dragonborn and 8 other, had descended from the mountains. Edgar and Hermiad went in the opposite direction, back to the ship to report back to Earl Gaermund. And I don't have to tell any readers that this was due to players Anthony and Martin couldn't make it. Soon the city of Rivershard came into view. Rarhan pointed out the fires, noting that the lights were much lower than normal, and he couldn't say whether the fires were controlled or random.

As they cleared the foothills and began to cross the valley, Mendas slipped apart and scouted ahead. He ran into a lone dragonborn sentry, some fifty yards from the ruins of the city of its eyes bloodshot, its game stuck in at least "C." Mendas kept going, crossing the walls and noting a great bonfire in the center of town. Here some 10 armored dragonborn were lounging, drinking something hot from mugs, and keeping themselves awake. As he watched, a wagon rolled up, driven by a dragonborn and pulled by a behemoth (behemoths are D&D licensed versions of dinosaurs!). The soldiers around the fire waved him on, with some conversation that indicated that his wagon was full of valuables being evacuated from the town up to the Seven-Pillared Hall, before an invasion.

The rogue quickly climbed a roof and noted that the town was ringed with solo defenders, some fifty in all in a loose perimeter. Mendas then descended and slipped back to the group. Rarhan never suspected, and Marcus roleplayed his shock as the party went forth and discovered a guard standing before them!

Rarhan was their captain, and his vouching got everyone into the town. Again, the first reaction that all of the dragonborn had to the vikings was to assume that they were an odd breed of Fey. A few of the group peeled off to be armed and join in the defense, but Rarhan was dedicated to taking the vikings' information to the mages in the Seven-Pillared Hall. They started out, our heroes plus Rarhan and Griv, to the Minotaur Gate, a mile distant through the foothills.

The road enters a 50-foot-tall stone archway hewn out of the mountainside. A towering minotaur statue stands on each side of the entrance, glowering down at travelers.

And beyond that, the Road of Lanterns:

Beyond the Minotaur Gate, the Road of Lanterns slopes into the mountains. Green light from copper lanterns dimly illuminates the road, which leads about a half a mile into the mountains, sloping steadily downward over several switchbacks. The road is a brick-vaulted passage, 30 feet wide and 30 feet tall at its apex. Seventy-seven demon statues, each over 10 feet tall, stand watch along the corridor's length.

Three miles of subterranean lanterns led them to the Seven-Pillared Hall:

The heart of Thunderspire's upper level is the Seven-Pillared Hall. Dozens of lanterns hang from the walls and the thick pillars of this great chamber. The chamber walls have been fashioned into building facades, so the Hall appears more like a city square than an underground cavern. Merchants conduct business in the Hall, at the behest and with the permission of the Mages of Saruun.

The place was filled with dragonborn refugees, huddled together under blankets,thier wounds mostly dressed. It was around midnight, and though the Hall was lit, most of the population was sleeping. Rarhan made his way through the throngs and brought the vikings to the Customhouse.

This building serves as the headquarters for the enforcers employed by the Mages of Saruun to keep order in the Seven-Pillared Hall.

Bruug, a giant Lizardfolk Blackscale, stood guard at the door. He recognized Rarhan and let them in. Inside they found two dragonborn at a table spread with parchment, one seated, one assisting. The seated fellow stood and introduced himself as mage Orontor. He was exhausted from managing the evacuation, but perked up as Rarhan explained where the vikings had been. The mage immediately began to pepper then with questions about the Ancient Place.

The players decided to steer clear of this, giving Orontor the standard recap. They steered the conversation towards what was happening in the Hall, especially what was going on with the leadership of Rivershard. It turns out that the city has a King, and the King hadn't been seen as of late. Orontor said that they had seen the Princess, and she was sleeping in the Pigeonholes. The PCs wrapped things up and took Rarhan to find the princess.

The vikings made their way to the Pigeonholes, small openings in the rock which were normally occupied by the poorer elements in the Hall. Now, almost all of them were being rented to dragonborn. Here they started asking questions about the princess, backed with the authority of Rarhan.

They threw aside one curtain and found a sleeping fat dragonborn merchant. They shook him to wake him up, and he revealed that Princess Kava had gone with her two handmaidens into the depths of the pigeonholes to find the best sleeping arrangement. That sounds like trouble! The group forged on, looking in each hole, until the passageway had less pockets and more reaching darkness. And then, fifty feet after the last sleeper, a scream rang out! The vikings ran forward to find a dragonborn princess threatened by a horde of kruthiks!



What is a kruthik? Why, a kruthik is widely regarded as the favored son of 4th Edition, the Fantastic Monster Manual Find of 2007, the Owlbear of the new millennium! And I hadn't put them in my campaign yet, even though my players were rocketing up the XP chart! So clearly we had to fight some kruthiks. Also, a kruthik is a reptile which is also an insect and its legs are made of swords.

Rurik acted first, charging in and whacking one of the adult kruthiks with his axe. The next initiative went to all five adult kruthiks. They surrounded him and tried to bite him. I think one went through, doing some minor damage. And you know why? Remeliorating Chainmail. This was their fifth encounter of the day, the same day they had charged through the back half of the alien ship and ganked the Captain and it was midnight and this was still happening, so Rurik's AC was juiced by 2. Still, he was rethinking his tactics! Mendas, Oddny, and Erik rushed up to support, but there were no deaths to help.



There were four kruthik hatchlings on the board, and they split up. Two went to menace the party, charging and missing. The other two burrowed through the ground and came up near the princess!

Bartix and Varin went next. Bartix ran to the back of the map and threw down an Icy Terrain, which zapped the young and hurt another adult. Varin used an action point to send two Dreadful Words at the monsters threatening the princess. Zap, zap! Two curses, no waiting!





Finally, Bartix heard the earth groaning below him, and the hidden Kruthik Hive Lord came up from below! Man, burrowing creatures are awesome! We're about to Bullette level, too, I'm looking forward to that. Anyway, the hive lord surfaced and belched acid on the party. Yeah!

Rurik went next, and went after his target. This finished the adult kruthik off, but the warlord didn't shift, and ended his turn adjacent to 4 of the beasts. This is what we in DMing call "the magic hour." Their Gnashing Horde aura all activated, bring 2 damage apiece, all doubled by the Hive Lord... 16 damage to Rurik! You'll note that everyone else backed the fuck off on their turn.



But that was pretty much it in the fight. These kruthiks were level 4 brutes, and I don't remember a lot of misses on their 17 defenses. The Hive Lord was tougher, but it was very soon alone. Given three rounds, the vikings triumphed!


Rarhan had been working his way to the princess, and recovered her as the monster fell. He thanked them all as Bartix recovered some 150 GP in kruthik gizzards. And now a bit of a confession: Rescuing a princess, really? A princess that foolishly wandered into a cave? Yeah, my bad. I had meant to throw this in on the Road of Lanterns, introduce a kobold that worked at the inn or something, but I got lost looking through the materials and before I knew it, we were in the town. So thanks to everybody for rolling with it, and it might end up being an interesting game element.

The party had made it to an unprecedented five encounters in one day! But that was enough; nobody had any Dailies left, and the healing surge supply was low overall. Orontor's aide met them as they came out of the dungeon, and led them to a prepared set of beds at the Half Moon Inn. Interesting that the Mages had found a place for them, when even the royalty of Rivershard was sleeping in rock holes...

Upon waking the next day, everyone was ready for some commerce! The party went to Gendar’s Curios and Relics, run by Gendar, a Lizardman with an eyepatch. They traded in two outdated items, a +1 flaming sword and a +1 cloak of protection. All this left them with about 2000 gold, including all magical components. This wasn't as much as everyone had hoped, and they decided to save their money. During the bargaining, Gendar noted their tech-gear from the buried ship. "I'd be careful around the mages with that stuff," he said, "If it really came from their Horned King site, it'll be priceless to them... and they may not want to pay for it." He paused, and said, "I might, though... see me after closing."

The vikings had a meeting scheduled with Orontor at the customhouse, and beforehand they gathered all of the allies they could. They found Princess Kava, Captain Rarhan, good ol' Griv, and went to see the mage. Again, Orontor was concerned about the ship, and the group didn't want to overplay their hands. Instead, they wanted the help of the Seven Pillared Hall in defending the grounds of Rivershard. Orontor wasn't convinced. The plan, he said, had been to retreat to the safety of the caverns, to have three miles of cavernous road to harry invaders before lives were in danger.

We ran a skill challenge to make the arguments. Many of the vikings are skilled in Diplomacy to make their arguments, or Intimidate to voice their military experience. Several characters realized that they had to speak through Kava and Rarhan, especially the princess. She began to speak, but the 14-year old dragonborn was obviously intimidated by the looming mage. She looked to the PCs for support, and some Insight checks helped reassure her. Buttressed, she stepped forward and lambasted Orontor for his cowardice, for daring to surrender thier ancestral home to barbarians! She vowed to lead a force of proud Rivershard defenders and meet the lizardfolk tribes on the ruins on Rivershard walls, whether the mages would help them or not!

So that actually worked in game as a bit of a hell yeah moment. Everyone stormed out, and Kava immediately collapsed, but the vikings covered for her. They ran throughout the hall, finding soldiers under the direction of Rarhan and Griv.

But before they set out, a kobold named Charrak ran up and introduced himself. "Damn refugees," he told them, "This evacuation is terrible for the dedicated beggar. It's amateur hour out there! I had to agree to deliver this to you to make ends meet! And scene!"

Unfurling the scroll he handed them, they read the following:

Your actions against the crew of the Ashardalon are commendable. I was in a position to observe the proceedings, and I believe I noticed some secrets of the ship that you may have missed. I cannot move in concert with my brothers, due to attitudes that you must have noticed by now. Follow the attached map so that we can meet in secret.

The map led into the caverns to the north of town, and continued for two miles into the surrounding Underdark. But there was no time for that!

Soon they set out back down the Hall of Lanterns with forty more swordmen while Orontor watched dispassionately. And we'll pick up there next session! Defense of Rivershard! I did not see that coming!

Casualties:
4 Kruthik Hatchlings
5 Kruthik Adults
1 Kruthik Hive Lord
Every beer in my house. Ahem.