We finally got to our second session of Tyranny of Dragons, had planned for a week earlier but had to take a break due to me awaiting results of a COVID test. This week another player was out, also awaiting COVID results. This may be a long fall, we'll all be tired of having sticks stuck up our noses by the new year, I'm sure.
There will be spoilers here, as we wrapped up the first chapter and dove deep into chapter two.
Reprising PC's from Session 1:
Link, (maybe slightly derivative) Wood Elf Winter Soldier
Bard 1/Paladin 1 (Takes another level of Paladin mid-session) - Using Winter Soldier background from Hack and Slash
Blog Compendium to represent being from another dimension and recovering
from a long sojourn in the astral plane, now serving the Harpers to
infiltrate the Cult of the Dragon.
Haggatha Sweetwater, Half Elf Hermit Warlock 2 (Warlock 3 mid-session, Pact of Chain with Pseudodragon familiar) Undying Patron - perhaps a fey ghost/undead, an older half-elf woman who has recently made a pact, looking for Talis, a missing half-elven friend.
Exellence, Tiefling Wizard 2 (Diviner, level 3 mid-session) - missing background on this one, apparently, but note mentions being from Daggerford.
Damakos, Tiefling Hermit Warlock 2 (Fiend Patron. This was the player who had his warlock quickly killed the last time he made one and wanted to try one again. Level 3, Pact of Tome mid-session).
Zumbruta, Leonin Outlander Barbarian 2 (From the Shaar plains in the distant South. Player absent this week due to Covid testing).
Picked up where we left off, with the PC's back in safety at the keep while the raiders continued looting the town. Zumbruta was noted falling hard asleep in a corner of the keep after the exertions of previous hours, perhaps the continuous exertion was overtaxing his feline frame. Then the blue dragon came back and blasted a couple guards off the wall. The PC's prepared to try and do as much damage as they could each time it closed distance on the keep, Link with arrows and the other three with eldritch blasts, cantrips, and the few first level spells the warlocks had back after their last short rest. Link hit it hard with an arrow and after blasting another guard off the wall of the keep the dragon turned and wing buffeted Link and Exellence, knocking both prone and Exellence unconscious, and in doing so flew back away from the walls once more. Damakos then popped up and punched through its hide with an eldritch blast (critical hit), and at that point the dragon decided it had had enough, and flew away. Haggatha stabilized Exellence and Link finally used his lay on hands to heal him. Then they got in another short rest, holing up and hoping the raiders would leave.
Then a blue half dragon claiming to be Langdedrosa Cyanbane and the son of the dragon they had chased off arrived before the keep with an entourage of blue kobolds and four human prisoners. He offered to trade the prisoners in exchange for an opportunity at single combat with one of the champions of the keep. Everybody of course turned and looked at Link, the paladin (with a side glance at the lionman, who still seemed to be sound asleep and nobody dared try to wake him).
Link strode forth, three of the prisoners were released, Link got a hit on the half dragon who then proceeded to hit him another three times in 12 seconds with his spear, dropping Link. The kobolds released the last prisoner, and they and Langdedrosa turned and left town, following the rest of their band who already appeared to have left. Damakos stealthily followed them to the edge of town, noting which way they went as they left, and made his way back to the keep. Haggatha ensured Link wasn't dying and they all returned to the keep to rest.
After resting and leveling up, the party met with the governor, the priest, and a wandering monk. The governor announced the treasury was still intact and hoped the party could act as scouts for the keep, and discover where the raiders had come from, what numbers they were in, and what their future intentions were. The monk announced that his fellow monk Leosin who was investigating cult of the dragon activities in the area had been captured by the cult and he hoped the party could rescue him. The priest took the party back to the temple where they had slaughtered the raiders and found none had returned to loot it, and they were given healing potions and a holy symbol lit up when Link approached it, and the priest insisted he take it as Chauntea appeared to be recognizing him as one of her champions.
They then left in mid-afternoon, following the path of the cult raiders. About an hour before dusk, using their new Pseudodragon companion, Puddles (Haggatha's familiar), as a scout, they came across a band of kobolds and human mercenary stragglers. They had the pseudodragon bluff the kobolds into checking out what was over the ridge they were hiding behind and surprisingly it worked. Interestingly, nobody from the actual party scouted over the ridgeline and the pseudodragon was a little vague on things like numbers and species. So they prepared to ambush what they hoped would be one kobold, but 8 appeared in a skirmish line formation, noting Damakos and Haggatha who had managed to not hide very well at all. An interesting battle ensued, with the kobolds trying to maintain distance and use their slings, and retreating after a couple of them dropped and they noted it wasn't two enemies but four facing them, but the kobolds hadn't told the humans about what they were investigating so the human bandits were about 300 feet from the top of the ridge. So the kobolds retreated and the humans advanced as the kobold called out to them, but the kobolds were all killed before they could escape as the human bandits advanced, but once the humans starting dropping before they could close due to ranged fire from the party they then turned around and started running away as the party chased after them. One of the warlocks called out for the last human to surrender, and was convincing as the human stopped, dropping his weapons and raising his hands. Interrogating him, the party learned of a rear guard probably waiting a mile or so ahead, and the main camp of the raiders about 5 miles beyond that, a mix of Cult of the Dragon Cultists along with some mercenaries and kobolds promised a share of loot, a sack of which was found among the dead kobolds. The party made him promise them to return to Greenest and turn himself in and they sent him away back to the north. The next day the pseudragon noted him wandering off to the west after the party took an overnight rest. They decided to send Puddles ahead to scout in the direction described, and they ended up with a pretty good idea of where the rear guard was and where the main camp was.
Then the players surprised me. They decided to make a map and return to Greenest with their findings. They weren't super confident about facing either the rear guard or the main camp. The governor, however, upon their report was insistent on them at least laying eyes on the camp and getting a count, and the monk reminded the party of his concern for the fate of Leosin. So they turned around and once more camped out on the path toward the raider camp, after gathering up uniforms from dead cultists to use in infiltrating the camp.
The following day, the second after night of the raid, the party continued toward the encampment, dressing up as cultists. They walked right up to the rear guard, identifying it ahead of time and giving the signal of Tiamat, and talked to the officer in charge about how they had run into a farmstead with some fight in it on their return and been delayed. Then they continued to the encampment. Link was recognized as Knil the cultist who had disappeared shortly before the raid, but he bluffed his way through, giving an excuse of a stomach ailment, but was careful to avoid drawing the attention of the half-dragon Langdedrosa. He was put to work supervising prisoners by the mess tent. He also was detailed to secure the prisoner Leosin to a post in the open near the command tent. Haggatha took charge of a halfling prisoner she claimed she needed to prepare a meal for Langdedrosa. Not sure what to do, the party individually gathered information and then got together at nightfall, and we left off there.
