WotBS Tolamaker's Burning Sky

Tolamaker

Adventurer
Session 79: Soul Survivors

The party take their turns reminding the DM that almost all of them have teleportation abilities, forcing 41 to drop the wall of force, and go toe to toe with Mishka. The onslaught of everyone, alongside their gifts from the temples, leads to the disintegration of 41, leaving only his mask. The party starts to regroup, when the mask regenerates, and they are forced to defeat him once again. Rushing through to the next room, they find the true body of 41. The vision that takes hold shows a young monk who rushes forward too fast, and for the wrong reasons, leaving a soulless husk. But a flicker of hate still burns, and when the forest is in turmoil with the genocide of the Taranesti, 41 awakes, and takes control of the soul-shaping temple. With a single push, the ghost of the master of the temple is able to finally put the weakened 41 to rest.

Post Session Thoughts:
The last session ended on what seemed to be a bad moment for the party, but the teleportation really undercut the moment, and the fight was rather anticlimactic. The reveal of the astral projection was a bit of a jump scare, but pretty easily dealt with. I think if I were to do it again, I would buff 41 with more legendary actions, not more HP. I would probably still buff his AC, DC, and to-hit.

There's a part of me that also wondered if I should have corrupted the gifts of the temple as well. As it is, they are a straight up buff, which I don't believe my group needed (The one-time Heal spell from the sacrifice would still fit, I think). Just as 41 corrupts the visions (I said last time that the book didn't have this explicitly happen, oops, I just missed it on a reread), I think that it might have been a fun turnaround to have the buffs turn around. The regeneration might reverse, the flight might turn into half-speed, and other things like that. Maybe make it a legendary action by 41, once per round, just to build the tension.

This session was pretty short, because we leveled up, and then spent a while talking about what people wanted to change about their characters with the temple. Other than a few stat changes, the only real change was Corban's character trading rapier proficiencies for scimitar so that he could use Shaalguenyvar. I hadn't done any planning or Foundry prep for the next session, so we really just talked about planned downtime before parting ways.

Changes to the module:
The only change I made was that I didn't include a parting vision where Leska told Coaltongue of the Aquiline Heart. No real reason, other than it didn't feel like it fit the moment, and the group already got a lot of information about trillith and the Torch, so I felt like they had enough lore to work with.

Post Module Thoughts:
I liked this module overall, mostly for the Temple mechanics and story. However, while the Ycengled encounters were important for establishing Shahalesti as an antagonistic ally, the actual encounters and characters didn't really emphasize that for me. I think what might have helped here, and made me less likely to cut a lot of Ycengled would have been better Shahalesti characters. 41, Rhuarc, Quillathe and Yvonnel are all characters that have backstories and tidbits that really helped me flesh them out in ways that made them more interesting to interact with. Ycengled really only had Malhun, who has ties to other future enemies, but no real chance or reason to share those connections. I think a good addition to the module would be someone like a Shahalesti commander who is a true believer in High Elf supremacy to give the players a face to hate.
 

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Tolamaker

Adventurer
Sessions 80, 81, 82 - The Storm Breaks Back

Returning to Seaquen, the party hands over Katrina and Inquisitor Etienna over to the Lyceum. Simeon's eyes light up when he sees that they have brought the torch back to the Lyceum, and says "This will turn the tide. We cannot thank you enough." While Simeon and the Wayfarers take time to figure out the inner workings of the Torch, the party goes their own ways for a while. Eluriah travels back and forth with the newly freed Ycengled elves, working to reinvigorate the forest after decades of decay. Corban begins work attempting to learn more of the scimitar he discovered, but is unable to find anything in the libraries. He spends his time carving a teleportation circle into the treehouse. Mishka goes into the makeshift Lyceum dungeons to speak with the Inquisitor, to see if the vision of her father in a Ragesian prison was true, or just taunts from 41. Her attempts to intimidate the Inquisitor fail, who laughs in her face, and she breaks the Inquisitor's arm, being separated in a moment by a wall of force from Kiernan, who kicks her out of the dungeon.

Aripos and Niel decide that they need to steal back Aripos' fines from his earlier trial for burglary. THey successfully sneak into the treasury, but while escaping into the night, a strange chill fills the air. In the treehouse, frost forms over the newly carved bark as Eluriah returns from another Ycengled trip. Mishka is traveling from temple to temple, making every offering she can to ensure her father's safety, when the night air freezes with the onslaught of blizzard, and elementals form from the ice and snow.

The party, though separated, are able to defeat the elementals around them, and spend the rest of the night regrouping to defend Seaquen. In the morning, the devastation is widespread, but was contained. in the halls of the Lyceum, assorted allies from across the continent gather as Simeon informs them that they believe this attack was the result of a new weapon by Ragesia: an obelisk of eldritch ice, powered by kidnapped mages. He explains that with the combination of Katrina's help, and an imprisoned inquisitor, they have finally been able to decipher the spy missives that the Stormbreakers brought to them at the beginning of the year. "The information is old obviously, but it gives us enough to know where they are being held, and some ideas of their capabilities. Coupled with our own new weapon," Simeon gestures to the Torch brought forth, eliciting gasps and mutters from the crowd, "we finally have the means to strike back. To take the fight to them!"

Monks representing the East and West winds come forward and present a mask that speaks with the voice of Psi Lu, the master of the West Wind. He informs them that he would be happy to provide air reconnaissance with his "magnificent air ship." Simeon trepidatiously agrees, though the party confirm to one another that they will keep an eye on him. Kiernan comes forward, and with the aid of several illusions, lays out the map for the Scourge Fortress, detailing where troops will land, and where the Stormbreakers will go to take out the magical shield that will prevent them from leaving. The fortress is deep within Ragesian territory, near their northern border, so the Torch is their only hope in and out.

The next day, the assembled armies of Dasseni soldiers, Sindairese clans, a contingent of wind monks, and Gate Pass refugees gather to the north of Seaquen. Simeon hands the Torch to the party to do the honors, and they raise the Torch together and strike it to the ground. A firestorm erupts around them, almost a mile wide, and in a rush of heat the armies are deposited on the snowy mountainside. Gathering their wits, officers and soldiers under the direction of General Xava begin marching to the gates of the valley, where alarm horns and the glitter of spells are already waking. With a word of encouragement (and several fly spells) from Simeon, the Stormbreakers take to the sky and make their way to the center of where they believe the Eye of the valley is. Below, they see streaks of fire burn from the gates, spattering over shields of light thrown up by Timor mages.

In the valley, once their flight runs out, it is remarkably empty. They are able to sneak their way to an outpost, and Aripos lands a near-killing blow on a wyvern rider about to begin patrol. However, an inquisitor on a flying mammoth manages to disrupt their ambush, and the party is put on their back foot when Gruz is almost gored to death (with a nasty crit from the mammoth). While the party dispatches most of the guards, one soldier makes her way into a cave, which is heavily guarded by sigils of faerie fire (negating Aripos' greater invisibility he had just popped), and walls of fire. Finally, Eluriah is able to spot the final sigil that would have stunned one or more of them, and they make their way in to see a perfectly mirror-smooth ice lake. In the ice behind, a shimmering form appears: a withered old man with fine clothing, and a sneering face. He taunts them, and when it is clear they have no intention to run away, he grins, and drops the illusion that has made the cave appear far smaller, revealing soldiers and monsters at his disposal.

One of the combatants is another Wayfarer, who brings in one of her compatriots close in to do damage, but Corban intercepts with his own Wayfarer teleportation, freeing Eluriah from being ganged up on. Gruz takes to the air to avoid the burrowing remorhaz, and fires eldritch blasts out. When a monstrous aboleth bursts forth from the ice, Mishka rushes forward to intercept it, evading its psychic enslavement with the boon of Madness' protection. Aripos takes pot shots at an ice demon who trades psychic information for gold, and the evil Wayfarer grabs Eluriah and takes her to a winter wolf and the reemerging remorhaz. The thrilling conclusion comes this week!

Post Session(s) thoughts
These three sessions were fun, for different reasons. Interrupting the downtime with a combat encounter where they were all split up, seeing the fruits of their labor in the different peoples gathered as part of the army, and the sheer variety of enemies at the Eye have all been a hit. I also enjoyed telling them straight up that they would get no long rests during this mission, and I think that halfway through the Eye fight they're getting a taste of what that means. And I spent two rounds with the remorhaz doing nothing because I started burrowing for safety, but then couldn't catch up with anyone until Koren literally teleported Eluriah into place.

Changes to the Module
I moved the blizzard attack to before the big meeting on a whim, because it had been nagging at my head that it felt very strange to go to a meeting where you're briefed about a weapon that the enemy is developing, and then they attack with that weapon just after you learn about it. Switching up the order seemed like a better way of proving the danger, and then explaining why they needed to destroy it.

I have maintained my strategy of putting enemies one encounter level higher than recommended, and it still is working well. I think this whole adventure will be a real test of that, because right now at the Eye, it feels like a good challenge. It will be interesting when we're 3-4 sessions deeper near the end of the module.
 


Tolamaker

Adventurer
Sessions 83, 84, 85: Voices from Afar

The party manages to turn the tide when, as Eluriah is in the jaws of the Rhemoraz, Corban manages to out-counterspell Kreven to polymorph Eluriah into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. She and the Rhemorhaz bite each other viciously, and she manages to barely eke out ahead. After being batted about by Eluriah's tail and Gruz hounding her, Koren teleports away to safety. The rest of the enemies are dispatched, though Corban exchanges gold witht he ice devil for information on how the Obelisk works. They chop at the icy lake, and the shield over the valley is disrupted.

Heading north, with information from the airship coming through now, they get caught in a fog, where they come across a strange translucent gnome, who refuses to admit that he's a ghost. However, a strange noise comes from the distance, and he suddenly "dies," falling into his frozen body at their feet. Horrific creatures with no flaps over their eyes and mouth come loping from the distance, and attempt to eat the party, but they dispatch them handily.

When they come in sight of the Scourge Fortress, there is a second army here, waiting for orders. It seems impossible to enter the Fortress undetected, but Psi Lu descends from the clouds, to unleash a blinding white light from the airship's eye, obliterating the defenses below. The party is knocked back even this far way, and Gruz has a flashback to the same white light destroying his company, filling him with dread. THey rush forward, dispatching the last survivors guarding the path, and rush in to the now crumbling fortress.

Moving room to room, Kreven taunts them all the while. In a moment of inspiration, they block several doors in order to be able to fight one group at a time, avoiding being overrun. However, they are not prepared when the enter a perfectly square, perfectly clean white room. As they enter, their magic items lose their luster, and ambushers pop out to catch them unawares, without their magic. Mishka is peppered with arrows, and only stays upright through sheer determination. Gruz and Aripos are able to dance about the room quick enough, pushing through one of the side doors to dispatch the archers. Several times, Eluriah and Corban forget their magical limits, and attempt to heal, and are left with empty hands outstretched.

Finally, through a bloody jumble, they finally capture Clark, a clerk who has been slowly poisoning them with his knives, and manage to gather some information, including the fact that Mishka's father is supposedly still in the prison below. Will they descend into the prison, or try and find the secret entrance to take on the Obelisk?

Post Session thoughts

83:
This one was fairly straightforward. Playing the gnome Ander Folthwaite was fun, just to waste some time having the players try to explain that he is in fact dead. His soul accidentally got sucked up into Shaalguenyaver, and Corban feels bad about it.

84: Another straightforward one, but it did lead the return of Kreven's Palpatine voice. I probably should be more sinister, but ever since I started the voice it's honestly just been very funny every time he taunts them. They also found the armory, and had a lot of fun with the attunement pillar there (I assume an addition to the 5e version.) It felt like the right balance between a long rest and a short rest, after such a long adventuring day.

85: The Ambush. I'll admit that I assumed this would either be a very boring fight, or an overwhelming one that I might end up fudging a tad. It's just a room with antimagic. But this lead to one of the most hectic and tight fights in a long while, due to several crits on the part of Clark the Clerk against Mishka, who each time managed to make her Barbarian Con saves to stay at 1 HP. Every time someone tried to use an item, or cast a spell, there was this groan around the table as people remembered. Corban's player tends to be the most mechanics-savvy, and even he got caught a few times. There was also a fun moment where Corban felt useless, and so fed a health potion to Mishka, and then was downtrodden when I reminded him that it had no effect. Cue Mishka's turn, where she ran out of the field at the entrance, and convinced me that the potion was still in her, just suppressed, so she got the effects. Really fun stuff.

Perhaps infected by the sillier nature of Kreven's voice, I decided during questioning that Clark was really just a really good clerk with eidetic memory, and he kept getting promoted up the ranks, even though he really just likes bookkeeping. When they asked how he got so good at knifework he just shrugged and said he got a lot of practice in between filing.

Changes to the Module
I made no real changes to the module, and it's been working great. The only change has been a consistent Encounter bump by one each time (in place since Castle Korstull), and it's stayed steady. We'll see if we have to bump that up come the finale.
 

Fuzzybear

Explorer
Cue Mishka's turn, where she ran out of the field at the entrance, and convinced me that the potion was still in her, just suppressed, so she got the effects. Really fun stuff.
This is awfully kind of you. Fun without being overly lenient though which is great.

Gruz has a flashback to the same white light destroying his company, filling him with dread.
I honestly wish I could have connected this better. I made a different decision though, but it sounds awesome. Very FF9 reminiscent, and I mean that in a good way.
 

Tolamaker

Adventurer
I honestly wish I could have connected this better. I made a different decision though, but it sounds awesome. Very FF9 reminiscent, and I mean that in a good way.
Yeah, I didn't have a strong idea of what to do with the player's backstory of "my entire squad was wiped out," for a long time. Even after I decided that it would be one of Pilus' creatures, I didn't have a strong idea. Once I read the description of the airship dropping its laser beam, I knew that could be a fun connection to make. I'll likely change a future enemy on the airship to be the specific creature.
 

Tolamaker

Adventurer
86, 87, 88 - Agony's End

Oh man, I'm further behind than I thought. The party descends into the prison due to Kreven's very convincing argument of thousands of gallons of water washing them down. They are met by a mad druid by the name of X, who starts to give them a tour of the prison. They meet the X, the X, and the Mad Dinner. During the tour, they come across a fight between two gangs, where Mishka sees her father among the hostages taken. She beheads the orc bringing them back and rescues her father. He tells them that only one prisoner has descended into the Oubliette, Guthwulf the inquisitor.

The party brute-forces their way through the hallway, crossing a bridge that shows the glow of the Obelisk above. Guthwulf meets them, nonchalantly revealing himself to be formerly in charge of Ragesia's diabolical recruitment wing. He is interested in the party in a detached way, calmly telling them that their successes led to his fall from grace. He tells them that they must kill agony to stop the waves of pain that power the obelisk, corroborating what they learned from their dealings with Vellisk.

Guthwulf stoneshapes the door so they may pass into the Oubliette, where they find a ring of fire, and a singing seela named Etinifi singing the Song of Forms. Eluriah takes up the song so they can talk to him, where they learn that he has been imprisoned in this way for 40 years, and he begs them to kill Agony to end his pain. They destroy the runes around Agony's prison, revealing a horrifically wounded and pained trillith in the form of a woman. They talk to her, and convinced that she will not turn on them, let her go. Eluriah attempts to heal her, but the pained nature of Agony doesn't allow it to take hold. Still, she gives Eluriah her boon in thanks before descending into the crevice.

With the power source for the Obelisk gone, Corban feels the limitation on teleportation lift. They decide to send Corban and the torch to take the prisoners back to Seaquen, while the rest of the party goes up to deal with the Obelisk. Kreven is waiting for them, with a wall of force protecting him and the obelisk.

The fight goes awry when Aripos is targeted, and Gruz is heavily wounded attempting to rescue him. However, when Corban returns, the party is able to turn the tide and destroy the runes that enable the Obelisk's powers. Kreven is the last enemy defeated in the midst of a silence spell, cursing their names. They destroy the obelisk, and take the torch to the beseiging Lyceum forces, teleporting everyone back to Seaquen. A wounded yet elated Simeon grabs hold of them and cries out "We can beat them! We can take back Gate Pass!

Post Session Thoughts
86 - I felt a little strange in the prison. The book even calls out that players are going to expect a fight, but there isn't really one to be found unless they really botch talking with Agony, or fully trust Guthwulf's aims. As such, I felt like I had to kind of play up the detailed factions that really don't matter beyond flavor. The protections leading to the oubliette also felt rather weak, with a single glyph of warding and a block that could be brute-forced. Not a bad session, but it felt a little empty to me. I'm not sure how I would change it if I could go back.
87, 88 - The reveal of Agony and Etinifi went well, with some more learning of trillith lore. I didn't feel the need to reveal Etinifi's role quite yet. The fight with Kreven was a fun one, with enough moving pieces coupled with some bad rolls at the beginning really keeping the players on their toes. If I were to make one change, I would probably either shrink the room down, or add a few more inquisitors, because the spellcasters were able to fan out enough to avoid the worst of the counterspelling.

Changes to the module- The two changes I made was that I added an Obelisk Elemental (the same stat block as the blizzard elementals that attacked Seaquen), when Corban's player returned for the second session for CR purposes (he missed the beginning of the fight), and I also changed how the runes worked so that destroying them would have a greater effect on the battle. No one really touched them at first, and when Corban's player destroyed one, I figured that it was late enough in the battle, and it was mostly decided anyway, that it would cut off Kreven's access to those spells completely, rather than simply ending the ability to cast them for free through the Obelisk.

Post Module Thoughts -
I enjoyed this module more than I expected for such a combat-focused adventure, and I think it's because nearly every battle felt interesting enough to keep me and the players on their toes. The one day time limit across two levels and a dungeon is a fun restriction, and really made them think about what they had to do. Mishka's barbarian took the most damage against lowly zombies, simply because she decided she needed to save her rages for later. The Kreven, Eye, and Antimagic room fights were all really well designed, so kudos to the original creators, and to @Tormyr for the 5e conversion.

The other thing that helped is that I didn't pull my punches. I have a tendency that I've been trying to shake where I make a million little changes and adjustments to make the game perfect, and this time I just ran with it. Having three characters go down (one of them twice) has started to help me get a little less precious with their lives. While it helps that they're high level enough that even death is going to be more of a roadbump, I feel like this adventure might help me kick that habit for good, because those near-death experiences led to better gameplay overall.
 

Tolamaker

Adventurer
The Battle for Gate Pass: Sessions 89-96

What year is it? The past few months have been a blur for me, with summer jobs and travel and a million other little things that have essentially forced our game into biweekly for the moment (though that should be ending soon). I keep meaning to update this, but I keep falling behind and forgetting more, so I'm going to just give shorter descriptions for these as I catch up to today.

Session 89

Downtime Session where players either did their own thing or helped out the war effort. Knowing they were going to free Gate Pass next, Gruz masterminded a plan to use the Torch to create the appearance of a northward push into Ragesia through the Alydi gap, coupled with illusions and spells from Eluriah and Corban. The party is told of the plan to Teleport into Gate Pass and assassinate Ragesian leaders before the main assault. They teleport into a trap, but are immediately rescued by the dashing Renard (reminder that I mixed up Renard and Rantle's names back in Adventure 1, and the names stuck.)

Session 90

Renard points the party to their target, the enormous red dragon Vorax-Hul, who recently burned two districts on the orders of the new Ragesian Commander, Legate Korvus (I think that's the name?). Vorax-Hul has issued an open challenge, so the party isa ble to ascend the clock-tower where he resides easily, and a fight breaks out after Vorax-Hul taunts them as he adorns an enormous Inquisitor's mask. Despite his magical abilities, they are able to defeat him because of his lust for glory.

Session 91
Renard takes the party to a resistance stronghold beneath a church of Uzat, where they meet the three main leaders: Renard, the vigilante hero of the people; Jennis, the student-turned-resistance mastermind; and Osoka, Mishka's mother who fought the previous Ragesian occupation. Each has their own goals. Jennis wants to treat with the Shahalesti who are waiting just beyond the eastern gates. She believes their support would ensure Gate Pass's survival. Osoka wants to rescue old members of the Resistance being held in the tower of what used to be Gabal's War Mage school. Finally, Renard believes taking the gates between districts and flying the flag of the Resistance will rally the populace to join the fight.

The party goes to the prison first, as a favor to Osoka. There, they fight they're way up and defeat the warden, the old assistant to the headmaster. Inside a magic mirror meant to steal prisoner's souls, the party finds a strange trillith they recognize: Indomitability, who has been reborn as Vigilance. His natural abilities protected the Resistance members, and he assures the party that he and other trillith like them have no desire to see the entire world fall into nothingness.

Session 92
The party was intending to go treat with the Shahalesti when they get a panicked message from Tiljann that the Alliance forces have been stalled outside the walls of Gate Pass, and Kiernan was killed by a balor. The party decides to help the Alliance break through the gates, defeating a force of barbed devils, skeleton archers, and trolls (and one harpy).

Session 93
The party decides they can't fight their way to the Shahalesti, and decide to teleport to the eastern gate, where they land among a contingent of wyvern knights. They defeat the knights after the mutual surprise, though their commander is competent enough to escape despite her mount being killed from underneath her.

Session 94
the party finally reaches the Shahalesti forces, where they negotiate with Lord Shaaladel to join the Alliance over a lavish feast. They manage to stop him from taking dibs on Ragesia, and convince him to be an equal member, not leader of the Alliance. However, they aren't completely able to maneuver him from claiming Innenotdar for Shahalesti. When the party tells Shaaladel of their intention to destroy the Torch after the war, he laughs, but then realizes they are serious, and says that he is content with no country having control over such a weapon. He also declines to join any sort of "league of nations," as he believes that while war is to be avoided, it is "inevitable between the races."

With their luncheon done, and the terms decided, Shaaladel rises and calls his forces to join the battle.

Session 95

The party makes their way along with Shaaladel's forces, and come back to the Resistance church to update the leaders, but are forced to rescue them from a squad of giants.

Session 96
The party decide to join the main push to the central districts, and break through to a alley where they are surrounded by platoons of Ragesians and an enormous Grand Cavalry mammoth with howdah atop it. As the platoons close in, Eluriah is able to maneuver past Inquisitor's counterspells to reverse gravity and send all of the soldiers and party up into the air, immediatly ending the spell, letting the Ragesians fall to the earth while Corban featherfalls the group.

Slowly, the party whittles the enemy troops down, ending in a river of blood as Mishka guts the mammoth after cutting loose the howdah, and Eluriah encaging the remaining soldiers in a wall of thorns and then blasting them back into it once they push through. As the party emerges into the central district, they see Alliance soldiers cheering as a white flag is hung from the balcony of the Ragesian headquarters. Despite this, the party is unconvinced that the fight is over.

Post-session thoughts
89: I enjoyed Gruz plan to distract the Ragesians, and plan to have it come up during surrender negotiations.
90: The Vorax-Hul fight was a disappointment for me, and I take the blame for underestimating when to start the fly-by stage of the fight. The group were suitably awed by a dragon wearing another dragon's skull as an inquisitor mask, so that was fun.
91: The Vigilance reveal was very fun, and also let me reveal the evil trillith plan after I balked on it last adventure.
92: This fight was fun, but it seemed to prove to me that the squad rules in the module didn't work for the way I was running it. The skeletons were underwhelming, but the invisible trolls were a lot of fun.
93: THis wyvern fight was also fun, largely helped by the fact that one of the knights would not stop rolling crits, to the point that I had to give her a name, and declare her the captain. She survived her wyvern being shot out by being perfectly placed above another wall on the map to let her parkour roll off and escape. Delightfully frustrating for the players.
94: I can't remember the last time we had a full roleplay-only talking session. Rolls were made at the end of each argument, but my players really showed that they do remember stuff from previous sessions, and often made suggestions to lower the DC that were straight out of the book, and a few that made sense to me that also helped.
95: I made up this giant fight because I felt like I needed some drama around getting information. This was a short session, so I probably didn't need it.
96: Using some different squad rules, this fight was a lot of fun, and really felt like a great chance for the players to show off their high level abilities.

Changes to the module
I kept getting names mixed up with the Resistance, and it felt weird to call both Seaquen and Gate Pass the same thing, so I've started calling the alliance created by Seaquen... The Alliance. Gate Pass is now the Resistance.

91: I changed Gabal's ghost to a subordinate that betrayed Gate Pass. I have other plans for Gabal to appear later.

92: I added the trouble with getting into the city because I wanted this battle to feel meaningful, and to kill some NPCs. Kiernan has been my go-to assistant with Simeon, so he felt like a fitting sacrifice. I smushed the barbed devils and the skeleton archers together because I didn't want to run extra NPC soldiers like I did at the Alydi Gap. Because of this, I tested the squad rules as is against the players (Total damage is a static number minus AC) and didn't love it.

94: Because of the way I've changed short rests, this battle has been going much faster than intended in the module. Instead of forcing the battle to last overnight, I decided to give the players a long rest from their delicious meal with Shaaladel. As written, they would only get 2-3 fights at level 18, so I figured this would space things out a little more evenly as well.

96: Here I made a mishmash of @Tormyr 's rules and this reddit post. I kept the commander and Inquisitor abilities, and changed damage to 4x the normal weapon damage, and allowed the platoons to make attacks against every adjacent enemy, and to automatically deal damage to enemies who start their turn in the midst of the platoon. Because they had 300 hitpoints, I changed the "Half health loses commander and inquisitor abilities," and cut the platoon into three parts: soldiers, inquisitor, commander. When the platoon lost 100 hit points (giving two checkpoints instead of one), the platoon would lose one of the three parts. If it was an AoE attack, I rolled randomly to see what was lost. If it was due to single target damage, I let the attacker decide in a mini "How do you want to do this." If the commander or inquisitor were killed those abilities were gone, and if the soldiers were "killed" I started using half damage. This worked really well for my group, honestly way better than I would have expected.

Whoo boy. Alright, I'll hopefully be back in two weeks to start being a little more on task with these things. Next session, a perfectly war crime-free negotiation of surrender.
 

I think I must have been watching a friend play Dynasty Warriors when I worked on this adventure. I know the rules of D&D don't really work smoothly with 4 PCs versus 400 enemies, but naughty word it, you're high level. I want some epic carnage, so I say to you, well-done for making it work.
 

Tolamaker

Adventurer
It's been fun! To add to the DW feel, I had the players narrate an epic moment moving from district to district, just for flavor, which has often involved taking out mooks with some flair.

Off-topic, but is there any way to turn off the profanity filter in settings, or is that a site-wide setting?
 

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