Previously in Chatty’s game:
Our heroes faced the second and third test of Baphomet, dodging magical mirrors, exploding skeletons, pools of blood and mechanical minotaurs to recover the relic keys needed to open the complex’s Inner Sanctum. Only one remains and saving the last two slaves will be within their grasps.
Last Friday was to be the last session of our second and current D&D 4e mini campaign.
Covering level 4 to 6, this mini-campaign was centered on saving a group of surface people from the clutches of goblinoid and Duergar slavers operating from within a sprawling underground complex known as Thunderspire Labyrinth. I mostly followed the adventure as written with a few modification to the scripts.
This session was to see the culmination of facing the tests and dangers of the Well of Demons, a temple complex dedicated to the Minotaur Demon Lord Baphomet and overrun by Gnolls trying to shift the well’s demonic focus toward their own patron Lord Yenoghu.
Unfortunately, Franky (who plays the Eladrin Warlock) couldn’t attend, his job sending him on an assignment that went late into the evening. Franky has hardly ever missed a game and I can totally get how disappointed he was not to be able to attend. I’ll make it up to you buddy I promise!
Once the PCs were done resting for a few minutes after facing the Carnage Demons in the pools of blood, they made their way back to the Proving Grounds (See map). There, the Gnoll lieutenant they had met during the last game was waiting for them with the 4th and last relic needed to open the Inner Sanctum’s doors (The ones on the right of the map).
Unsure if it was a trick, my players hesitated a few seconds. I dropped all pretenses of innocence and pointed out that I planned to finish the adventure the same night, the Gnoll helping out was a very convenient plot fast forwarding device.
Nobody argued.
In order to open the way to the Demon Well’s Inner Sanctum, all 4 relics needed to be dropped in 4 magic circles spread around the Proving Grounds (The Yellow ones) at the same time. Scouting the various rooms, the PCs spread out and prepared to activate them.
Bjerm the Fighter moved to the circle situated in a statuary where broken statues of past Minotaur heroes were strewn here and there. Takeo the Warlord took position near a bloodstained altar dedicated to Baphomet, two hideous idols sculpted like they were screaming. Rocco the Rogue went into the room containing 4 pools filled with coloured liquids. Naquist the Cleric placed himself by the circle near all the chained Minotaur skeletons, sensing that he would have to deal with some undead. Lastly, Fizban the Wizard moved near the central chamber in order to coordinate the activation of all circles at the same time.
The Gnoll Lieutenant lazily sauntered near the door, carefully placing itself near the wall and away from any skeletons.
On the wizards’ mark, the PCs dropped the relics in the magic circles.
And all Hell broke Loose:
- A Green Dragon rose from the central room’s well, screaming in rage.
- A 10′ wide spiked ball of Force materialized and startied rolling rapidly in the corridor surrounding the room where the Dragon was.
- Some of the chained skeletons rose and tried to grab whatever came near them. They were unkillable but could be frozen for a round with radiant damage
- The two idols near the altar send out a horrifying scream that sent the Warlord running for the nearest door.
A creature of Elemental Water formed in the blue pool as a twirling vortex of grasping watery tentacles. - 2 Crossbow Turrets popped from the ceiling of the statuary each hitting the fighter with giant bolts.
This was one of the most complex encounters I had DMed so far in 4e. Fortunately, all PCs rapidly left the rooms they were initially located making the traps in each room irrelevant. After dodging both the Doomsphere and the dragon’s hit and run attacks Bjerm, Rocco, Fizban and Takeo regrouped with the Cleric, staying clear of the Skeleton’s grasping claws. It also helped that the cleric froze the skeletons with a Consecrated Ground zone, allowing unhindered movement.
Because the Doomsphere of energy did a complete circuit around the battle map every two rounds, I was forced to move in, attack and move out with the dragon while the PCs chipped at its HP. I managed to use the dragon’s Alluring Glare to pull Bjerm into the path of the Doomsphere once. I didn’t manage to do it again.
(Now that I had time to think of it, I should have delayed the dragon’s turn to go just before the Doomsphere, thus, any PCs it lured in the corridor would not have the chance to run away before the ball hit them. I also used the Dragon’s stunning frightful presence too early in the fight. I’m not the most tactically accomplished DM there is… and quite frankly, I don’t mind either. But in this case it would have made the fight more of a challenge to the players).
The PCs launched everything they had against the Dragon. The fighter brought the dragon close to them with his Footwork Lure power, the Warlord used his Lead the Attack exploit to make all attacks against it easier to hit (and bloodied the beast). The Dragon was also fireballed, backstabbed and subjected to some heinous damaging stances.
I was somewhat unlucky (as ofetn happens with Solo monsters) and I didn’t manage to recharge any of the dragon’s powers. Its breath weapon, which I got to use effectively twice, still seriously hurt the PCs (5 ongoing poison damage).
All in all, the fight was not much of a challenge. The strategy of all PCs grouping together was the best one to use and a level 5 solo dragon just couldn’t be a challenge for a group of level 6 PCs working together well.
As the dragon weakened and the PCs were fortified by the cleric’s Consecrated Ground power, Takeo the Dragonborn warlord breathed acid on it and then used an action point to deliver a melee attack, which killed it!
Thus was born the legend of Takeo the Dragonslayer!
The dragon fell just as the door to the Inner Sanctum opened wide enough to let our heroes enter in a hallway leading to a second set of double doors..
After a short rest, the Gnoll lieutenant urged the PCs onwards and took up position on the first rank of the party.
As the second set of doors were pushed open and our heroes spilled into a room filled with acrid smoke, boiling Cauldrons and cackling demons, the Gnoll lieutenant screamed at the Gnoll Warlock standing behind an altar, performing some sort of dread ritual.
“By the will of Asmodeus, you will burn in the eternal fires of the Nine Hells Maldrick Scarmaker! I am here to see your plans fail!”
Oh yeah!
Part 2 is coming up soon!
Image Credit : Wizards of the Coast’s Thunderspire Labyrinth.
Does this adventure come with actual battlemaps for the players to play on, or did you use tiles/dry-erase?
Anyway, some of the puzzles here look quite interesting. It seems Wizards actually publish some excellent adventures – apart from the awful one included in the Starter Set. Check out my Blog for a wee rant about it if you’re interested. Link under the name. 😛
Ball of Force? Do I smell a skill challenge?
Tahakkis last blog post..Teaching with the Starter Set
The posted map you saw in the article had a corresponding battlemap. There were 4 such maps with the adventure. The rest of the encounters were drawn on vinyl maps and/or made with dungeon tiles.
I’d say that Thundespire Labyrinth is a great demonstration of what you can do with a D&D adventure when it comes to interesting combat challenges.
As for the ball of force, it was only a trap that attacked whatever it crushed in it’s path. There were only two skill challenges in the adventure and none of them were worth writing home about.
As for the Starter Set adventure, it was an okay Delve. I played it with new 4e players to test the new PHB2 classes and while it is entirely forgettable, I didn’t feel it was all that bad. I’ll go and have a look at what you have to say about it.
Phil, I’m thinking of taking Consecrated Ground for my cleric next level, so I’m curious: Did the cleric stay next to the zone the whole time? My reading of the rules for zones suggest that if the cleric doesn’t then the power ends (because Consecrated Ground is a close burst 1).
For that reason, I’m leaning towards taking Weapon of the Gods.
Consecrated ground starts as a burst but it creates a zone that the cleric can move 3 squares by using a move action so he does NOT have to remain in the middle of it. However, since it takes a minor to sustain and a move action to move the zone, the cleric must usually keep it close to him.
It’s a very powerful prayer and I think any healing-built cleric should take it.
Hmm. The rules for zones say they end if the caster is ever out of range of them. The range of Consecrated Ground is close burst 1, which by my interpretation means that it needs to remain at least adjacent to the cleric (ie. one square of the zone must be within a close burst 1 of the cleric).
If I’m wrong, I agree with you that CG is an amazing power.
I’m looking it up and I think that a Close Burst is not a ranged effect so it has no range and therefore, according to page 222 of the PHB2, it stays active as long as the cleric has a range of effect to at least 1 square of the zone.
Otherwise why would the power be allowed to move 3 squares if it popped out of existence after moving 2 squares and leaving the cleric’s space?
I pondered the same thing too.
The “not a ranged effect” argument just doesn’t seem right to me (it occurred to me too). It sounds more like justification than interpretation.
And as for the move 3, I was puzzled about that too. Ultimately, three strikes me as just enough to get the zone from (eg.) centred 2 to the cleric’s left to 1 to the cleric’s right. Ie. enough to swap it from side to side in one round.
Now, I’m not asserting that I’m absolutely right here. The power seems to work weirdly within the rules and the move 3 proviso seems to stand out as odd.
But on the generous reading (ie. no range issues), CG is as close to a WTF power as I’ve seen (it’s up there with Flaming Sphere). The more restricted reading brings it back closer to Weapon of the Gods and flavours it more as a Battle Cleric power than a Devoted Cleric power (which makes 2 of each at level 5).
To each their own, I suppose. I was just curious to hear how you were playing it.
If you want to discuss it further, I started a thread here:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108623