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This whole post, a continuation from last week, will be fraught with spoilers, so you have been warned.
My own players should avoid the text below as well!Often I post reports like this from the perspective of the adventurers but let's look at the rest of this section of the 5E Starter Set adventure in part from the point of view of the hapless victims of our fearless band of marauders. I'll try to include details that would seem most important to the villains without leaving too much out for those who want the usual treatment. Maybe a GM's insight into how one might run the bad guys will prove useful to other GMs. Some of the encounters were from the previous week, held in reserve from the blog because the group had yet to complete the section.
In this case, the party (without cloaks or disguise) are clearly intruders, had blood on their weapons, one had just fallen down the crevasse and was severely wounded and had thoughts of taking over the complex for his own (Nothic gained that info), and while three were back helping the Noble out of the crevasse, the unarmored one (Wizard) was wandering over in easy striking distance (with surprise and Advantage) with only the little one (Halfling) supporting him.
I rolled a die and determined the Nothic would use the upper hand to try to take one or two down, perhaps using that and the injuries of the Noble to extort payment from a position of strength. Nothics are evil, after all.
When Floyd's attacked with his Noble Fighter resulted in a "1," I allowed the Nothic to have Advantage on his next round of combat. When the Nothic subsequently rolled a "20," and both claws had struck home, I allowed the Nothic to have buried his claws so deep it required a Opposed Strength Check (Contest) to separate them. When Floyd struck with his sword, he also rolled the check and despite the Nothic rolling first and rolling high, luck was with the Noble Fighter. I rewarded the well-played moment by having the falling body reveal the location of the chest hidden in the crevasse. The group found the only one of the secret supply room doors, in the northeast alcove. Through that, they discovered the Armory and only glanced into the tomb without entering (leaving the Undead undisturbed for now), then went below to the Redbrand Common Room.
After dispatching three dice players, and gaining some knowledge from the fourth, they bound him and checked the laboratory. After a bit of confusion, they killed a large rat that was trying to escape the room beneath the door to the east. It had already tipped off Iarno, though, who fled the complex. After gleaning what they could from the paperwork left behind, including the identity of Iarno and the existence of the Black Spider, they discovered the secret way up to the storeroom, and made their way back to the Cistern hoping they could catch up with Iarno. The tied up Redbrand from their first battle had been killed, seemingly by Iarno, and they figured out they had missed something hidden in the Cistern that had been retrieved.
Figuring they had lost Iarno, but ignoring the door to the Bugbear Barracks, the group approached the tomb from the front hallway, nearly falling into the pit trap. They opted to then go back around through he secret way to the tomb. They vanquished the Undead and quickly handled the two Redbrand guards, releasing the prisoners. With the former captives in tow, they returned to the Cistern and led them up and out through the cellar and back to town. They felt they had cleared the complex.
In the meantime, the Bugbears had discovered the death scene in the dice room, not noticing the tied up Redbrand behind the dicing table. The Bugbears checked Iarno's quarters and discovered he had fled. The Bugbears opted to leave via the secret tunnel but soon reunited with Iarno hidden in the woods, who rallied the Bugbears awaiting a chance to make an attack on the adventurers. Seeing they were still strong, he used his invisibility potion to follow them into town. Because they revealed their next plan on the streets, Iarno returned to the Bugbears and waited in sight of the Manor ruins to see when best to make an assault."I had a very good thing going on here," thought Iarno. "If it hadn't been for that meddling Sildar, and his collection of fools, I might have established a kingdom here in time and eventually had power enough to make the spider pay."
With the complex now actually cleared of enemies in earnest, the group rounded up the supplies and weapons and made a deal with Barthen to liquidate them. They put on hold their intentions to take the place over and stayed at the Inn where a long rest could more safely be assured. With Sildar, they intended to leave the next morning using their Goblin guide to locate Cragmaw Castle and rescue Gundren, should he still be alive. Most of that two-day journey north was uneventful but on the second night, during third watch when the Wizard and Cleric were up, the Wizard perceived a large creature lurking nearby and coming closer. As the brush parted, an Owlbear burst forth. Thinking quickly, the Wizard cast an image of as large a dragon as he could between himself and the charging beast. It worked! The Owlbear doesn't fear much but it also isn't bright and a dragon is just a little too big for him to comfortably attack. It turned tail and lumbered off in the woods northward.
From here down, expect spoilers and do not read on if you intend to play in rather than run a Starter Set adventure of your own. My own players should avoid the text below as well!In this latest session, after clearing out the Goblin Hideout last time and spending some time in Phandalin, the party had a handful of ideas what to do next. They had decided the Redbrand threat was most pressing but also figured it went hand-in-hand with searching for Sildar's ally Iarno as well as discovering the fate of the woodcarver's family. All of these pointed toward the manor ruins, so after fighting and locking up four Redbrand Ruffians in the Townmaster's cells, alongside their previous captives, four Goblins, they opted for a short rest over breakfast at the tavern. They had a few wounds from which to recover and an hour to eat and collect their thoughts made good sense. What they didn't know was that the Townmaster still fears Glasstaff, the Redbrand leader, and his ruffians more than the PCs just yet. The Townmaster staged an escape while the party was having breakfast, so I had Pip, the innkeeper's son run in with the news of the escape, giving them a chance to recall the secret tunnel should they need options on how to assault the Redbrand Hideout. They still chose a direct path to the ruins and information from one of the party (the Halfling was a former Redbrand), they knew where the cellar stairs were in the ruins. On their way, they popped in the Sleeping Giant, a known Redbrand watering hole, to see if any ruffians were there.
From here onward, there be spoilers. So, you players who wish to play the Starter Set adventure without foreknowledge, read no further!In prepping for this game, I was pleased to find out that Mike Schley had set up a sales site for the maps included in the Adventure Book of the Starter Set. He has both GM and player versions of the maps, the former with keyed details and the later scrubbed of those aspects. I'm not a GM who hands players a full map of an encounter location, so the player versions aren't useful to me in that way. The GM maps I have in the book, which I could scan for personal use and print if I really wanted a loose copy, which I don't. mI already have a blown up map of Phandalin, so of what is on offer, I grabbed five and might grab the North Sword Coast player version as well. What I like to do is take such maps and make what I call playouts. They are similar to Dungeon Tiles or Flip-Mats or other such aids. I simply take sections of the scrubbed map (it's a time saver not to have to scrub them personally) and use them along the way as the players explore the location.
Disclaimer: Wizards of the Coast is not responsible for the consequences of splitting up the party, sticking appendages in the mouth of a leering green devil face, accepting a dinner invitation from bugbears, storming the feast hall of a hill giant steading, angering a dragon of any variety, or saying yes when the DM asks, “Are you really sure?”
There's been a rash of discussion lately (it happens periodically) on the D&D legacy and I thought I would give my own perspective. ...
