Tyranny of Dragons Session 3: Escaping from the Cultists' Camp, and Returning to the Camp

 Might be a little sparse on details, we played this session a week ago and meant to do the fourth session today, but had another COVID interruption. 

Again, this is a campaign of the Tyranny of Dragons Hardcover, so full spoilers ahead if you are planning to play it in the future. Sticking pretty close to the adventure as laid out in there so far. 

PC's:

Link, (maybe slightly derivative) Wood Elf Winter Soldier Bard 1/Paladin 2 - 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 3, Pact of Chain with Pseudodragon familiar - Undying Patron - perhaps a fey ghost/undead, Haggatha an older half-elf woman who has recently made a pact, looking for Talis, a missing half-elven friend.

Exellence, Tiefling Wizard - Diviner, level 3 - missing background on this one, and I keep forgetting to write it down, note mentions being from Daggerford.

Damakos, Tiefling Hermit Warlock 3 Fiend Patron.  Pact of Tome.

Zumbruta, Leonin Outlander Barbarian 3 - From the Shaar plains in the distant South. Hates dragons, Blue ones especially. Probably ultimately going with Path of the Beast. 

Zumbruta the lion man finally woke up, and hearing his friends had once more gone following after the cultists went running after them. With the information they had left with the authorities in Greenest, Zumbruta had no trouble finding the camp and avoid the rear guard. He then started sneaking past the kobolds into the box canyon containing the camp after darkness fell. 

The others gathered around a campfire late at night and began to formulate a plan to free Leosin. They ultimately decided to take him up the rope ladder to past the watchtower overlooking the camp. Then Zumbruta found them, and they finalized the plan with a lot more confidence than they had when they started planning. Zumbruta was sent to sneak out of the camp again and to slip around to the plateau above near the watchtower while Haggatha, Exellence, and the halfling slave would make their way up the ladder. Meanwhile, Damakos and Link would free Leosin and take him to the ladder. 

In succession, both Haggatha and Damakos managed to bluff their way past guards and ascend the ladder without arousing too much suspicion. The guard at the top even allowed Haggatha to work on her protective "ritual" at the base of the tower, which turned out to be a silence spell that took effect just as Zumbruta leapt from the rocks above into the tower! Between the three of them they quickly dispatched the four guards, and used a cantrip to make a brief flash to alert Damakos and Link to move. They ascended the ladder with Leosin after a brief confrontation with guards at in the camp who fortunately did not take too close a look at Leosin. The party then engaged in a forced march back to Greenest before collapsing with exhaustion. when they arrived mid-day. 

After resting for a day, the Governor and Leosin approached them once more, suggesting they return to scout the cultists' camp and try to ascertain what the cultists were likely to do or go next. So the party returned, but took their time to approach stealthily, spending another day on the road. Upon arrival, they found clear signs of much traffic leaving the camp. When they returned to the guard tower, they found the dead guards and cut ladder as they had left them, and they only remaining inhabitants of the camp appeared to be a handful of mountain man hunters, who glanced up and waved at them when they were noticed peering into the canyon from above. Making their way back around into the camp, they talked with the gruff mountain men for a bit and learned that most of the cultists had left, other than a handful that remained with a larger number of kobolds in the cave at the end of the canyon. 

They party couldn't resist going into the cave, and they both noticed and were in turn noticed by a couple of guards with fairly large collars watching them from near the cave entrance. As they approached, the cultists retreated deeper into the cave, only to charge out at the when they rounded a bend in the cave. One of the cultists was dropping quickly, leading the other to attempt to escape into the darkness, but doing so merely revealed a passage that the party might otherwise have missed, as the cultist was slain one step into the tunnel. The party followed this passage, choosing a branch that led straight into the barracks for the human cultists. Another battle ensued, with the party fairly quickly overcoming the guards, aided by a darkness spell in particular that caused confusion for the guards, most of whom were hastily being wakened by their companions. They were noticed, however, by Frulam Mondath who came to check on the commotion but arrived just after the last of her guards had been slain, and she quickly followed them, chased back into her quarters where the party landed the final blow. Searching her belongings and writings, they found the marching orders for the cultists who had left. Making a very careful search of the room, the party eventually also found beneath a carpet a hole in the floor with a rope ladder leading to a level below. After healing up a bit, they descended, and at the end of a tunnel at the bottom of the ladder walked into a shrine to Tiamat, where Langdedrosa Cyanwrath the Blue Half-Dragon was waiting, with a couple of fanatical human followers. Langdedrosa wasted little time pitching into the party, who by good fortune were able to retreat into the narrow tunnel where he could only fight one at a time. Langdedrosa took a number of hits, especially from Zumbruta and Link at the front of the line. Then Langdedrosa used his breath weapon, and waved his minions forward to finish the job. Zumbruta fell, then Link fell to great-axe blows from the human followers after one of the berserkers was dropped. Then it was all warlocks and wizards left standing. Exellence fell, then Damakos, both tieflings however getting off blasts of hellish rebuke before falling, and the other berserker fell, leaving Langdedrosa facing Haggatha. Once more, Langdedrosa tossed aside his sword and moved forward to slay Haggatha with his spear. One blow landed, but didn't finish her, and she managed to drop him with a dagger in the end, and quickly administered first aid to Damakos before he managed to bleed out. Link was discovered to still be alive as well, though the wizard and the barbarian had both passed on. Enough healing potions were available to revive the two unconscious heros, and the party retreated, carrying the bodies of their companions after pausing to loot a chest in the shrine with some of the cultists' most valuable stolen items. They used some of these proceeds to buy horses from the mountain men outside, who also agreed to escort them back to Greenest (the party paid a lot better than the cultists did). So we ended back in Greenest, looking for the priest of Chauntea...