During the previous two sessions, the characters explored Vontarin’s old mansion, but they failed to find Nathaire/Vontarin. Here in Session 8 of D&D Encounters: Dark Legacy of Evard, the town of Duponde again slips into the Shadowfell at sundown, and the party faces another Decision point in the adventure. Do they guard the people of Duponde sheltering at the armory, or do they seek out the mysterious black-hooded creature that Marshal Grimbold’s guards failed to catch?
For Session 8: Darkness Returns, the players at my table at Total Escape Games in Broomfield, CO ran Arturo (human warpriest), Brandis (human paladin), Enzio (human assassin), Kyle (changeling mage), and Silas (drow vampire). After returning to Duponde, the characters could see that the locals had spent the day fortifying the town. Duponde was full of unsettling rumors of dark apparations, half-glimpsed monsters, and more. Most of the townspeople were gathering in the chapel or the armory for protection as dusk approaches.
At sunset, the PCs felt the same strange sensation they experienced the previous night. The air grew chill and an atmosphere of dread descended over the town as Duponde once more slipped into the Shadowfell.
Shortly after darkness fell, Grimbold came to speak with the party. “I heard that you went to see Mother Grivelda,” he said. “What did she tell you? Did you have any luck tracking down our missing mage?” Grimbold listened closely to all that the characters told him about their time at Mother Grivelda’s house and about their fight with the tiefling bandits at Vontarin’s old mansion.
When the PCs finished their story, Grimbold said, “I won’t lie— I think we’ll need your help again tonight. If you could guard the armory, Duponde would be further in your debt. But it also seems that catching this Nathaire fool is vital, too.” After thinking for a moment, he added, “Just before sunset, my guards saw a small humanoid in a black hood skulking near the south gate. They lost him in the alleys nearby. I don’t know if it was Nathaire, but it could be worth checking.”
The party voted and (almost) unanimously chose to check out the mysterious skulker in the black hood (Kyle wanted to have the rest of the party check out the skulker while he went to the armory to boss around the townspeople gathered there), so Grimbold provided directions to the part of town where the guards saw the dark figure. After that, the harried marshal took his leave and headed to see to the town’s defenses.
Following Grimbold’s directions, our heroes searched the quarter of the town by the south gate. Much of that area was derelict even in the natural world. In the Shadowfell, it took on an aura of desolation and brooding malevolence. Empty houses seemed to watch the party through broken black windows. Thick, thorny vines choked the walls of rundown buildings and rustled with stealthy movements. As the PCs advanced, Silas saw a dark figure watching them from a nearby window. It quickly ducked back out of sight.
<>Note: This encounter was supposed to take place on the same map that was used in Session 5 for Mother Grivelda’s house, but instead of just reusing that map, I dug out one of the maps from the D&D Essentials Dungeon Master’s Kit.
As the PCs advanced toward the house where Silas saw the dark figure, they realized that their opponent was a Shadow Bolter (Level 5 Artillery), like the one they had faced in Session 3: Streets of Shadow. The shadow bolter remained in the house, peppering the PCs outside with its black bolt attack. When Silas rushed the house and confronted the shadow bolter, it switched to its dagger for melee combat.
Meanwhile, outside the house, the rest of the party had been ambushed by 3 Twig Blights (Level 3 Soldier) and 4 Twig Blight Seedlings (Level 1 Minion Skirmisher). With Silas cut off in the house and the rest of the party strung out across the map, each character soon found himself engaged in his own separate battle. The swampvines used their vine snare power to good effect, grabbing both Arturo and Brandis and dragging them off toward the edge of the map. Enzio went down in Round 2 after being hit hard by the shadow bolter’s black bolt attacks and then by a couple of swampvines’ claw attacks. (After being down for a couple of rounds, the unconscious and dying assassin was healed by Arturo and was able to get back into the fight. It’s always nice to have a cleric in the party.) Seeing the carnage unfolding around him, Kyle attempted to sidestep the danger by changing into an attractive female twig blight swampvine. His ruse worked only too well, though, since he attracted a bit too much attention from a couple of seedlings who followed him around behind a cottage and then suddenly saw through his disguise and attacked him.
For Session 8: Darkness Returns, the players at my table at Total Escape Games in Broomfield, CO ran Arturo (human warpriest), Brandis (human paladin), Enzio (human assassin), Kyle (changeling mage), and Silas (drow vampire). After returning to Duponde, the characters could see that the locals had spent the day fortifying the town. Duponde was full of unsettling rumors of dark apparations, half-glimpsed monsters, and more. Most of the townspeople were gathering in the chapel or the armory for protection as dusk approaches.
At sunset, the PCs felt the same strange sensation they experienced the previous night. The air grew chill and an atmosphere of dread descended over the town as Duponde once more slipped into the Shadowfell.
Shortly after darkness fell, Grimbold came to speak with the party. “I heard that you went to see Mother Grivelda,” he said. “What did she tell you? Did you have any luck tracking down our missing mage?” Grimbold listened closely to all that the characters told him about their time at Mother Grivelda’s house and about their fight with the tiefling bandits at Vontarin’s old mansion.
When the PCs finished their story, Grimbold said, “I won’t lie— I think we’ll need your help again tonight. If you could guard the armory, Duponde would be further in your debt. But it also seems that catching this Nathaire fool is vital, too.” After thinking for a moment, he added, “Just before sunset, my guards saw a small humanoid in a black hood skulking near the south gate. They lost him in the alleys nearby. I don’t know if it was Nathaire, but it could be worth checking.”
The party voted and (almost) unanimously chose to check out the mysterious skulker in the black hood (Kyle wanted to have the rest of the party check out the skulker while he went to the armory to boss around the townspeople gathered there), so Grimbold provided directions to the part of town where the guards saw the dark figure. After that, the harried marshal took his leave and headed to see to the town’s defenses.
Following Grimbold’s directions, our heroes searched the quarter of the town by the south gate. Much of that area was derelict even in the natural world. In the Shadowfell, it took on an aura of desolation and brooding malevolence. Empty houses seemed to watch the party through broken black windows. Thick, thorny vines choked the walls of rundown buildings and rustled with stealthy movements. As the PCs advanced, Silas saw a dark figure watching them from a nearby window. It quickly ducked back out of sight.
<>Note: This encounter was supposed to take place on the same map that was used in Session 5 for Mother Grivelda’s house, but instead of just reusing that map, I dug out one of the maps from the D&D Essentials Dungeon Master’s Kit.
As the PCs advanced toward the house where Silas saw the dark figure, they realized that their opponent was a Shadow Bolter (Level 5 Artillery), like the one they had faced in Session 3: Streets of Shadow. The shadow bolter remained in the house, peppering the PCs outside with its black bolt attack. When Silas rushed the house and confronted the shadow bolter, it switched to its dagger for melee combat.
Meanwhile, outside the house, the rest of the party had been ambushed by 3 Twig Blights (Level 3 Soldier) and 4 Twig Blight Seedlings (Level 1 Minion Skirmisher). With Silas cut off in the house and the rest of the party strung out across the map, each character soon found himself engaged in his own separate battle. The swampvines used their vine snare power to good effect, grabbing both Arturo and Brandis and dragging them off toward the edge of the map. Enzio went down in Round 2 after being hit hard by the shadow bolter’s black bolt attacks and then by a couple of swampvines’ claw attacks. (After being down for a couple of rounds, the unconscious and dying assassin was healed by Arturo and was able to get back into the fight. It’s always nice to have a cleric in the party.) Seeing the carnage unfolding around him, Kyle attempted to sidestep the danger by changing into an attractive female twig blight swampvine. His ruse worked only too well, though, since he attracted a bit too much attention from a couple of seedlings who followed him around behind a cottage and then suddenly saw through his disguise and attacked him.
With all of the separate, individual skirmishes going on across the map, it was difficult for our heroes to come together and focus their attacks. As a result of spreading out their attacks on multiple monsters rather than focusing their fire, this fight lasted a wicked loooong time. Eventually, though, the PCs triumphed. They captured the shadow bolter and Silas was able to interrogate it and find out that the dark one was a spy for Vontarin. It told the PCs that Nathaire/Vontarin was searching the ruins of Saint Avarthil Monastery outside of town, and that the mage planned to send an army of skeletons against Duponde soon that very night. Uh oh.
Any retelling of this episode of the adventure can't be complete without a mention of Kyle's absolutely brilliant adventurer's cookbook featuring such delights as Pegasus egg omelets and Chimaerinara Sauce!
ReplyDeleteGot to head out of town this evening so I unfortunately won't be able to make it to the session today, but I plan on being there again next week. Been great fun thus far! And special kudos on the skillful DMing of a bunch of extremely independent players... :)