D&D 5E Princes of the Apocalypse campaign recaps

[Nebulous]

Session #15- Temple of the Howling Hatred

https://app.box.com/s/2osscxh1dzkmivh2soc5s0jih79m52a3


I'm glad we didn't quite make it to the boss fight, i need a week to figure some stuff out. A) More tactics

B) Windharrow C) What the Waterdeep noblewoman knows, if alive, and how she plays into the plot

 

[Uller]

So you didn't get to have your Windharrow info dump...I was looking forward to what you tell them.

Just had a thought...my Windharrow will be Yarsha from the Earth cult. Among the things she will tell them is a powerful source of elemental magic is needed to close a node of the opposite element. She will leave the impression it must be the opposing weapon (so Windvane can shut the earth node). What will be unsaid is an opposing prophet can also be used...so toss a living Aerisi into thje Earth node and explosions ensue...

Thoughts?

 

[Rabbitbait]

Well that's put the cat amongst the pigeons in my game. The party had defeated Aearisi and had one of the party (Layna) had attuned to Windvane. Then Layna and one other party member decided to reconnoiter down the wormhole. Both of them are very sneaky. They didn't stop at the fane of the eye - they kept going down and then, through a mixture of sneakiness, bluffing and bravado made their way all the way to the node without incurring any combat at all.

Layna was contacted by Yan-C-Bin, and gained the knowledge of creating devastation orbs, as well as how to finish the ritual to summon the prince into this plane. She was very tempted to do so, as she could have wrecked bloody revenge on those who had wronged her in the past, but managed to keep her focus and followed the clues to the realization of how to close the portal. She threw the spear into the portal and then the two of them scarpered. As fast as two rogues can.

From my point of view, that is going to make the other three cults sit up and take notice. Now they can no longer slowly gather their strength, they need to take action and that means taking control of the local area.

This was two 5th level characters managing to get all the way down to the air node and destroy the portal. I was so sure that they were both going to die, but they really did play that well and escaped without a scratch. It was very high tension stuff though. One of the players stated that it was probably the most tension filled session he had ever played.

https://deathgrind.obsidianportal.com/adventure-log/down-the-wormhole

Fun fun fun.

 

[Nebulous]

So you didn't get to have your Windharrow info dump...I was looking forward to what you tell them.

Just had a thought...my Windharrow will be Yarsha from the Earth cult. Among the things she will tell them is a powerful source of elemental magic is needed to close a node of the opposite element. She will leave the impression it must be the opposing weapon (so Windvane can shut the earth node). What will be unsaid is an opposing prophet can also be used...so toss a living Aerisi into thje Earth node and explosions ensue...

Thoughts?

Nope, i was afraid they would have killed Windharrow before he could have infodumped, i little choice but to get him out of there. Hell, the PCs missed FOUR surprise attacks in a row, he really nearly died anyway.

I like your idea of throwing a prophet into a node to destroy it. Yet another monkey wrench in this endless plot of options. Sigh.

 

[Nebulous]

Well that's put the cat amongst the pigeons in my game. The party had defeated Aearisi and had one of the party (Layna) had attuned to Windvane. Then Layna and one other party member decided to reconnoiter down the wormhole. Both of them are very sneaky. They didn't stop at the fane of the eye - they kept going down and then, through a mixture of sneakiness, bluffing and bravado made their way all the way to the node without incurring any combat at all.

Layna was contacted by Yan-C-Bin, and gained the knowledge of creating devastation orbs, as well as how to finish the ritual to summon the prince into this plane. She was very tempted to do so, as she could have wrecked bloody revenge on those who had wronged her in the past, but managed to keep her focus and followed the clues to the realization of how to close the portal. She threw the spear into the portal and then the two of them scarpered. As fast as two rogues can.

From my point of view, that is going to make the other three cults sit up and take notice. Now they can no longer slowly gather their strength, they need to take action and that means taking control of the local area.

This was two 5th level characters managing to get all the way down to the air node and destroy the portal. I was so sure that they were both going to die, but they really did play that well and escaped without a scratch. It was very high tension stuff though. One of the players stated that it was probably the most tension filled session he had ever played.

https://deathgrind.obsidianportal.com/adventure-log/down-the-wormhole

Fun fun fun.

Pretty cool. Amazing how all our games are so different.

 

[Uller]

Nope, i was afraid they would have killed Windharrow before he could have infodumped, i little choice but to get him out of there. Hell, the PCs missed FOUR surprise attacks in a row, he really nearly died anyway.

I like your idea of throwing a prophet into a node to destroy it. Yet another monkey wrench in this endless plot of options. Sigh.

I'm not telling them to throw the prophet in. That will have to be their idea. But if they do...BOOM! The node closes.

By the book, closing a node requires throwing the corresponding weapon into the node's portal. So Ironfang closes the earth portal. That seems lame. I like the opposing weapon closing a node...makes more sense...Here is what I am hoping happens...

They kill a prophet in his/her temple. They take that prophet's weapon. Then all the prophets sense the danger and go to the fane to learn the rest of the summoning ritual. The PCs confront all three there, kill one. The other two escape. Now they have to go to the nodes and begin the summoning so time is now an issue. The PCs must go after them, fight one plus their myrmidon(s) and see how close that one was to finishing the summoning. If they go and rest the prophet succeeds in summoning his or her prince and is killed by it immediately (this cult is very...lovecraftian...no?). Lair and Regional effects start to happen. If they go right after the prophet without resting, they arrive just as the prince is summoned (again the prophet gets eaten) but no lair or regional effects take place so it will be a bit easier.

If they have the weapon counter to that Prince the weapon will attempt to dominate the PC carrying it right then and there and make him attack that prince relentlessly. Everything it has...

The weapons (or a prophet) can be used to close a portal. The weapons are evil, sentient and can dominate any PC that attunes to them as per the rules in the DMG for artifacts. Non-chaotic evil PCs that just hold them or use them without attuning will take elemental damage every time they grasp the weapon (just once per touch). The weapons will do what they must to get the PC back to their own node and will attempt to turn them into a prophet or will cause them to be killed by another potential prophet.

I'm not sure how the Fane can be destroyed yet. Maybe it can't...Maybe four devastation orbs of each element can be used to create an orb of annihilation...Maybe the fane will cause anyone who tries to destroy it by other means to go mad (requiring a wish to over come).

I have lots of time to think on this...we aren't playing again for about a month because of my kids' hockey and my players' vacation...

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, you've given me some ideas, too.

So, if the PCs get Windvane from the Queen, it can be used to close the Earth Node and defeat Marlos the Medusa. If they get Ironfang from Marlos, it can be used to shut down the Air node (which should be easy, it's empty, unless the FIRE PROPHET or some of his cronies have infiltrated the Air node).

Another idea i had today, although i'm sure i read it somewhere here but looked it up on a wiki-

The Elemental Princes of Good:

Ben Hadar (Water)
Chan (Air
Entemoch (Earth)
Zaaman Rul (Fire)

What if the four person delegation from Mirabar (Teresial, Brudelnar, Rhundarth, and Talbok (dead) were imbued with an essence of the Good Princes and they themselves could close a node by sacrificing their lives?

 

[Nebulous]

I'm still having a bit of trouble figuring out if the Elder Eye needs ALL of the Princes or just ONE Prince. If shutting down a single node or killing a Prophet or stealing a weapon prevents a Prince from coming, that ruins the ultimate plan, yes?

So it makes more sense for that to not be the plan, exactly.

The 5th and final Cult of the Eye in the Fane of the Eye knows the ultimate plan, and the Prophets are not even privy to this.

The PCs can also detonate a super-devastation orb in the Fane and annihilate it. The 5th cult creates superorbs by each Prophet sending a lesser orb (per the book, these are the normal orbs) where they are condensed into a superorb).

 

[Nebulous]

Windvane closes the Black Geode
Ironfang closes the Howling Caves
Tinderstrike closes the Plunging Torrents
Drown closes the Weeping Colossus

Whichever node is left is the manifested Prince who wants to summon the Elder Eye for its reward...but there is no reward. The Prince will be destroyed, and then the entire world.

 

[Uller]

Windvane closes the Black Geode
Ironfang closes the Howling Caves
Tinderstrike closes the Plunging Torrents
Drown closes the Weeping Colossus

Whichever node is left is the manifested Prince who wants to summon the Elder Eye for its reward...but there is no reward. The Prince will be destroyed, and then the entire world.

Sounds good. So how does the party prevent this? Or is it impossible to stop? Is the only option to confront and destroy the prince when it enters the world?

The reason I ask is one way of stopping it is setting the requirement that the summoning of a prince requires three of the nodes to be closed. One prophet + one weapon + one node (all of the same element) and all other nodes closed = a prince being able to enter the world. The problem there is that if you go with opposite weapons (or prophets) close nodes, it becomes impossible for that situation to arise. So now I'm rethinking it...(but I don't probably not, see below)

As for the Elder Eye...I think I am going to go with some of the powerful cultists (not prophets) are actually followers of the Eye and working to bring about the end of the world. They are there to make sure that the above situation occurs and will manipulate prophets, PCs or whoever to accomplish that.

(For my game) the Elder Eye itself does not need to be summoned. It _is_ the fane...or the fane is part of Tharizdun...the gods didn't imprison Tharizdun, they shattered him and parts of him scattered throughout the multiverse. Most just are floating harmlessly in the voids between worlds but sometimes one lands on a world (like the Loc nar from the Heavy Metal movie). His will lives on and occasionally he is able to will one of his shards to grow and influence the creation of cults and elemental nodes. It is limited in that it can only create all four at the same time but he needs them to grow in power then destroy each other so that only one survives to summon it's prince. One prince in a world will create an imbalance that will quickly destabilize that world and destroy it, freeing that shard of Tharizdun back into the void so it can land on another world and repeat...More than one prince would just result in them destroying each other.

So back to my question...maybe it is not possible to prevent it. Once there is only one cult that has all three components, that cult can summon it's prince. Either the heroes will rush this process along or the cults will eventually go to war with themselves and make it happen under the subtle guidance of the Elder Eye cultists. So the last two prophets go to their node hoping the party will follow the other remaining prophet and unknowingly sacrifice him/her. When confronted they will fight because they want their prince to enter the world so they hope to drive the party back (of course they expect to be well rewarded by their prince for summoning it...but it will just eat them).

Closing the node while the corresponding prince is in the prime material plane will banish that prince. So a clever party will try to get past the prince with the right weapon and close the node rather than fight it.

As far as level progression goes...I'm letting my group level to 8th (three sessions at 7th and killing off two minor villains is enough, I think). Once they kill a prophet, that will get them to 9th. Second prophet 10th. Third prophet 11th. So they well be 11th to fight the prince...will that be enough? Deadly encounter for four 11th level characters is 14,400 XP. 18,000 for an elemental prince should be all right if they are not too drained from earlier fights...

I guess we'll see.