Tyranny of Dragons: Actual Play (Sessions 9 - 10)

I’m still trying to get all caught up on my session reports for the Tyranny of Dragons campaign.

Session 9: Dog Fighting

Fight!

The party take a month in the city of Waterdeep to explore and equip and plan their next moves.

 Godric seeks an audience with Lady Silverhand the Open Lord of Waterdeep to express his concerns about Lord Nighthill in Greenst who he believes is up to no good. Brioche and Raven both wanted some spider-silk armour made and discovered an artisan named Kade willing to do the job for free if they could recover money owed to him from a wizard named Shalara who he had made some fashionable garments for. Meanwhile Skaar wanted to learn some blacksmithing and apprenticed himself to a blacksmith named Dorn. Dorn explained to Skaar that his son Stam was kidnapped by a slaver named Travok and hoped that he could help get him back. The party learned that Travok and Shalara often worked together and that they could often be found in an abandoned building in Dock Ward where Travok ran a dog fighting club. The group infiltrated the club and Godric learned that Travok knew where to find his sister who had disappeared before his return to Greenst. Before more information could be gathered a massive fight broke out in the club when it was discovered that Travok had been fixing the fights with the help of illusions from Shalara. Travok and Shalara esacaped the place but before leaving told Godric that he would meet him at one of his warehouses the next night.

Session 10: Serpents & Slavers

This guy went down like a chump. Sad DM face :(

The next night the heroes headed out to the warehouse. On the way they were attacked by a band of gargoyles who they handily fought off with the aid of a warrior monk who happened to be on the street at the time. The monk joined the party claiming he was looking for a challenge to test his martial prowess. At the warehouse something seemed out of place and the party proceeded with caution. The warehouse was trapped and inside the air was warm and humid with a strange pungent odour. As they explored deeper inside they discovered a nest of three blue dragon eggs. They finally found Lennithon’s eggs! The eggs were being guarded by a serpent-man who warned the party to leave or suffer the consequences. The party was determined to not leave and they fought against the snake man who used powerful magic casing half the party to run away in fear. Regardless, the party defeated the guardian and moved up a set of stairs. On the second story of the warehouse the heroes encountered a veiled woman sitting in a throne next to a massive wooden lever. Before them were four men and women with nooses made of thin chain around their necks and standing on an obvious trap door in the floor. One of them was Stam, the blacksmith’s son! After much discussion it was determined that Travok had double crossed both her and the party. The veiled lady (who they think is probably a medusa) made a deal with the party that if they would kill Travok then she would release Stam and give them one of the dragon eggs. The party reasoned that once they told Lennithon where to find the rest they wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore and they could get Stam back to his father. The hunt for Travok is on!

Tyranny of Dragons: Actual Play (Sessions 7- 8)

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the campaign log. We are still playing and last night we had our eleventh session. This is what has happened so far.

Session 7: Dungeons and Doppelgangers

When I voiced these guys, I told my players they
sounded like the aliens from the District 9 movie.

After defeating the were-boars the group rested and discovered the hoard of treasure the two brothers had accumulated in the dungeon. After they struck out to find the exit to the surface and the Yawning Portal. Along the way they found a throne room with a dead orc in it and a scorpion shaped throne studded with gem stones. Wisely the group decided that it would be smarter to not to mess with the throne and continue to try and find a way out. As they came to a cross road they heard deep voices in the dark planning to ambush them, once again the party decided to avoid confrontation and took the southerly route instead. Shortly after taking this path they were attack by spider-men monsters. As the group went to engage they entered a room that had two sacs (presumably the webbed bodies or possibly egg sacs) hanging from the ceiling. As they engaged some giant spiders joined the fray! It soon became clear that the party was going to win the battle when suddenly Kyhber and Skaar attacked their own party members! Before the group could subdue them they fled leaving behind a small amount of weird living luminescent blue ooze. When the web sacs were cut open the bodies of Khyber and Skarr were discovered naked inside!

DM Note: The players of Khyber and Skaar had missed some sessions so I had their characters disappear in Undermountain for a while and then reappear later when they could play. I asked the players if they would be willing to play along and they were. The grou was really surprised but said they enjoyed the trick. I also decided that they haven’t seen the last of these mysterious shape shifting creatures…

Session 8: The Yawning Portal

They finally made it out of Undermountain!

After the surprise attack the party hunkered down and barricaded themselves into a small room to rest up. Once rested they continued their mission to escape Undermountain. The party was determined to not let any distractions hamper them from getting out. That changed when they ended up hearing a ruckus going on in a nearby chamber and the sounds of a familiar voice. The voice was none other than Randal Dawnbringer the cleric of Lathander, who they had last encountered way back in Greenest! It turned out that Randal had been told by his “Brother” (Randal believes that the God Lathanader is his brother) in a dream to find the heroes by going to the raiding camp and through the same portal that brought the heroes to Undermountain. While traveling through the dungeon he met and joined up with a Halfling woman named Jamna who told him she was scouting for a Temple to Tiamat somewhere in Undermountain. Along the way they encountered a band of Hobgoblins who were about to capture them when the party arrives. The group fought the Hobgoblins and reunited with their old friend. Raven, the groups rogue had a conversation with Jamna who was also curious as to what the group was up to. After hearing their story and that they were trying to get to the Yawning Portal, she lead them there and after paying their gold pieces up they went. In the Yawning Portal the group was hailed as great heroes and now they have quite a reputation in Waterdeep!

DM Notes: This session I wanted to sow the seeds to reintegrate the Tyranny of Dragons storyline back into the campaign. In my mind one of the richest treasure hoards in all of the Realms is the City of Splendours herself and that nothing less than the city itself would appease Tiamat! At some point I plan on having the characters discover a grand temple to Tiamat in Undermountain. But for now the seed is planted for the future and I think the whole group was ready to move on to other adventures outside of the dungeon.