PRINCES OF THE APOCALYPSE PLUS

The magically locked gate at Knifepoint Gully know held the remains of a battle between the Aarakocra and some air cultists. This time they returned to the first area they explored, the Sighing Valley. It was a nice, short encounter, though I fear may be overusing the вЂњoh you thought you were safe in townвЂќ encounters a bit.ДЄfter a Long Rest the party set out once again to the Sumber Hills. It was here I had to awkwardly remind my players about the spyвЂ™s letter they found in Rivergard Keep, and revealed that Justran was a spy and informant for the water cult. Miri used his money to pay off the other bandits.

I had half the bandits turn on the other half, with another simply running out the door. She rolled a Critical Success on her Persuasion. Miri took it as a challenge and her noble upbringing lead her to a counter-offer вЂ“ double the money to kill Justran. It was more villain monologuing that IвЂ™m oh so enamored with. He loudly offered 100gp to whomever killed these pesky heroes. They emerged from the private room to find half a dozen bandits trained with crossbows, and Justran, the water cult spy who ran the bar. They all saved, though still took some poison damage from the initial drink. Most still downed their drinks hereвЂ¦.and I had them roll CON saves, heh. I had a sharp intake of breath when many of the players remembered a scene where they all drank poison from a tavern back when we played Pathfinder. I joked about the Tex-Mex food and everyone laughed and enjoyed the scenario. In this case I invited them to a private dinner at the Helm in Red Larch, as returning heroes. My group enjoys a bit of light role-playing, especially if itвЂ™s light-hearted and fun. Which basically means more combat-oriented. While sometimes I run a Side Trek or encounter mostly as-is (like the Nettlebee Ranch) I decided to make the SpyвЂ™s Letter a bit more fun. вЂњPrinces of the ApocalypseвЂќ includes a lot of really neat encounters, particularly at certain milestones throughout the story.

IвЂ™m becoming less inclined to roll with random encounters, preferring instead to stage scripted events.

PRINCES OF THE APOCALYPSE PLUS

Plus they had to save MiriвЂ™s mom, one of the captured delegates. Now that theyвЂ™ve finished all the surface keeps and met all the elemental factions, the time was right to use the key theyвЂ™d acquired from the Sacred Stone Monastery and journey into the Temple of Howling Hatred. I had to bar their path at one point with a cheesy magical lock so they didnвЂ™t stumble into the Air Temple too quickly. But the dungeons arenвЂ™t set up that way at all, with the surface keeps leading down to the more difficult temples. вЂњPrinces of the ApocalypseвЂќ does have a bit of an awkward pacing where the heroes are generally expected to tackle each elemental cult in stages.

Thankfully I also keep track of important quests and notes in the form of game-like Journal Updates in Roll20, which I was able to point to in this weekвЂ™s session. Which isnвЂ™t to say IвЂ™m not enjoying вЂњPrinces of the Apocalypse.вЂќ The dungeon-focused format and multiple villainous factions has worked quite well for my group thus far. Here, weвЂ™re just beginning to plumb the depths of Elemental Evil. WeвЂ™ve already passed the total length of our previous campaign, вЂњThe Lost Mine of Phandelver,вЂќ a few weeks ago. Particularly as вЂњPrinces of the ApocalypseвЂќ is a lengthy campaign. With our sessions lasting 2-3 hours once a week, itвЂ™s easy for plot details or side characters to get lost and forgotten in the shuffle. If I had a lot more time and video editing skills I would start each session with a nice Game of Thrones style recap montage.

Princes of the apocalypse