LMoP DM Blog III: Wave Echo Cave Finale + Phandalin Election

Wave Echo Cave: Finale

This session occurred on 10/2/2019.

Recap Previous Session:

The players explored Wave Echo cave and dealt with most of the threats easily. Rupert the Spectator was dismissed, and the treasure was claimed. All that remained was the Black Spider...

This time on.....

The session began a bit late, but I began by pointing out that everything had been explored except rooms 18 and 19. The players helped out with the recap of what exactly happened, and discussed the plan. They had detected a strong magical energy in room 18 previously, but though the Black Spider a bigger threat and investigated room 19 first.

They finally agreed on splitting the group, having the charismatic players come in the southern door, and the others sneaking around to the eastern door. The plan was to talk it out and see how they could rescue their Dwarven friend Nundro Rockseeker. The codeword was "Keruffle" (lol).

They began by knocking on the door. After a few moments and whispers heard through the door, the Black Spider's flamboyany voice came clear: "Who is it?! Oh do come in!" and the door was opened by a small, nervous goblin.

I asked the players for a marching order first, and the Paladin Brise was first in line. Nezznar (the Black Spider) had prepared his Faerie Fire spell to be cast on whoever came through the door. I explained the effect of the spell without naming it or its actual effect (advantage on attacks!), and after one failed arcana check, they had no clue and continued to chat with the Black Spider.

Inside the room, other than Nezznar and the goblin, a bugbear standing guard near the bound Nundro, as well as a Giant Spider named Brian (thank "The Adventure Zone" dnd podcast for this, as well a Nezznars voice.). Brian was Nezznars life partner, and together they have big plans. Nezznar introduced the party to Brian, and asked about how clear the dungeon was. Where were the bugbears he sent with the players?

The players tried to bluff that something went wrong; the bugbears died as well as some party members, but the place was cleared out now. The Black Spider cared little for the bugbears, but he knew something was up and attacked immediately.

At this moment, I surprise most of my players by pulling out some really cool 3D printed dungeon tiles!

I tried to combine rooms 19 and 20 into one, with the cubby on the right acting as a cell where Nundo was stored. I also failed to print out enough tiles, so the place was a bit cramped. Regardless, the players were impressed!

Battle Go!

The battle began with Nezznar shouting to his bugbear: "KILL THE DWARF!"

The clear opponents were:

- The Black Spider (a low CR mage)

- Brian the spider (giant spider from the MM)

- The Bugbear who was trying to execute Nundro. (MM)

Brian with an I, not magic Bryan

The combat opened pretty quickly with some web spells, and the party Sorcerer expending two charges of a fireball necklace, causing 9d6 damage to everything.
Luckily the roll was low (29 damage I think), but this was enough to kill Brian immediately, which caused Nezznar to fly into a howling dramatic rage.

"BRIAN NOOOOOOOOO! WE HAD SUCH A BRIGHT FUTURE TOGETHER BRIAN, OH NO OUR CHILDREN!!!!!!!!"

It was a great time to RP, hahah. This fireball also set the webs on fire, which was a cool terrain hazard.

The bugbears whole purpose in the fight was to rush to the restrained Nundro and beat him to death. I planned to roll death saves for him (using the rules of hit=death save), and I think my players initially thought him dead. But at the end of one round he ended up making a death save and I had him audibly choke on blood. This caused Aeras to immediately use Healing Word on him, bringing him up.

**~~Nundro Has Joined The Party!~~**

Nezznar, in a blind emotional rage, called out to his god Lolth, asking for power. 

I've been reading the "Drizzt" novels (which are amazing stories set in the Forgotten Realms of dnd 5e, would recommend), and I learned a lot about how Drows work! Lolth responded to his calls in a very typically Lolth kind of way, sarcastically.

For a male drow to be turned into a Drider is a humiliation and one of the worst punishments that can be given. But it was the right place and the right time; just what Nezznar needed, and so with a gasp and some boiling legs, he sprouted more and became a spooky Drider.

Note: Don't pronounce it "Dee-Rider", that means something else and your players will laugh.

He pulled his scimitar from its holster and it dripped blood, signaling the next phase of the fight!

check out that blood lol

A Drider gets 3 attacks per round, 2 sword attacks and one bite. I also opted to give the monster full Drider HP as well as a Legendary action of another free sword attack at the end of one players turn per round.

Talk about super cool shit!

Annnnnd I immediately targeted the Paladin with the highest AC (19), but also with Faerie Fire still on him. Many attacks were hit, and the Paladin ended up going down twice, but survived. Other players lost a lot of HP, but for the most part Nezznar was surrounded and it was clear who would be the victor of the fight.

I was a bit disappointed by the remainder of the fight as there was no more dramatic tension. I added a bit by having Brians corpse spawn some cute lil 2HP spider minions, but they were mostly a distraction. I really felt like I wanted one last surprise; some big AOE spell, or some backup monsters. But at this point, I had wrested my players of about 5 health potions, and many other resources were spent, so I felt they had earned it.

Phoenix Falconflight, the noble fighter, delivered the final blow, cleaving Nezznar in half to cheers. The players had a great reaction to his death, and the fighter's players physically ran to his car to get a plastic battleaxe and was rewarded with a point of inspiration!

For loot, I gave them the listed "Spider Staff" (which is kind of lame, charge-based spider climb + web spells) and I also threw in a hilarious "Ring of the Grammarian".

The players also remembered to check room 18 and found the Gauntlets of Ogre Power

Afterglow

After the big boss battle, the players chatted with Nundro and brought him to the cave entrance where Gundren awaited. They had a beautiful reunion, followed by a cry as they shared a moment about their departed brother Tharden. Gundren thanked the players, and inquired about any remaining monsters and the location of the Forge Of Spells! He again promised them 10% of the profits once the mine is up and running.

The Rockseekers suggested that everyone head back to town, to rest and bury the dead brother, as well as to sell the players' barrels of gold ore. The players agreed, and we were off! Back to Phandalin, victorious!

Handwave travel because of narrative reasons!

Back in Phandalin

They returned to town to find the place covered in fliers. Surprise, the election is tomorrow!

I spent about a half hour in Inkscape and whipped up some fliers and I think having physical printouts of them really got my players interested. I think they realized that this was a real election with some real mechanics once they saw the fliers!

They immediately were into it and had all kinds of plans. Their campaign manager (ex potato farmer) Edith gave them the rundown of the political situation and explained how the election would happen tomorrow.
Halia Thornton was definitely the front-runner as she was well known in town as the owner/proprietor of the miners exchange.
Daran Edermath was mostly campaigning for his own honor. A retired adventurer, he simply wants to find a bit more glory and recognition, but isn't very interested in politics or governing.
Pheonix (one of my players) was only recently known in town as a member of the adventuring group who drove off the redbrand. There were some rumors that he owned the in-construction manor, but overall Edith was not too sure how good of a chance he stood.

I am planning to write another article about the election and its mechanics, so I won't get too deep into that in these DM blogs.

Town Shenanigans

The players wanted to do two things now they were in town:

1. Figure out where Halia is, and what she was hiding.
2. Meet Daran Edermath and try to convince him to quit the election.

The players were very suspicious of Halia, as they had seen her disappear into a teleportation ring a few days before along with their bard friend Jelenath. They wanted more dirt and to find out what she was up in the ring, and so the Druid shapeshifted into a rat and scouted out Halias home. The rogue accompanied her, helping to pick the back door, and they found a tidy kitchen and quiet house. 

CUT SCENE TO OTHER PLAYERS: KNOCKING ON DOOR

The Paladin and Noble Fight Phoenix knocked on Darans door to find a handsome, ornately dressed gentleman greeting them with a firm handshake. Daran is a total bro, he supports the players and thinks Phoenix would be a good mayor, but on his honor he ends up refusing the pleas to drop out. He agrees that Halia and the Zhentarim she belongs to are dangerous, but hes not willing to sacrifice his own pride.

Instead, he shows the players his spiked gauntlet, and invites them to join the "Order of the Gauntlet", one of the 5e factions. My paladin player was looking for a good story hook to sunset his character, so this was it, and I thought it a pretty good continuation of the conversation.

With not much earned other than learning Darans resistance to dropping out, they headed back into town to further discuss their plans, and I ended the session at 10PM, right on time.

Le Fin

I was pretty happy with how the session went overall; the boss battle kinda whimpered out at the end, but the election was super engaging for the players, and the 3d terrain was really cool.

Things to think about for next session:

• Jelenath + Halia double identity
• Election stuff