Murder Hobo Squad: A Lost Mine of Phandelver/Dragon of Icespire Peak & Beyond D&D 5E record (Beware Spoilers!)

DM: We had some mild technical difficulties tonight.  Discord chat kept freezing so we set up a google meeting.  It worked well, but had an unexpected feature: Real time subtitles.  This lead to hilarity and the occasional breakdown in events as we stopped to laugh and make fun of the subtitles.

Reidoth and I had spent the day over text roleplaying through his last week or two at Thundertree as the dragon arrived and their pregame encounters.

The party decided to investigate the Dragon Cultists before approaching the dragon.  They didn’t want any surprises during that fight.  They walked around the outside of town and split up as the headed towards the Cultists.  Thorivor got a sniper perch on a nearby building, Araloth and Bilba hid in some nearby ruins and everyone else hid behind their building while Ramond, Reidoth and Talindra knocked on the front door.  A face appeared through the shutters on the nearby window asking who was there.  They introduced themselves and said they’d just had a chat with the lovely dragon Venomfang and they thought they’d come over and introduce themselves.  The guard said he thought Favric would like that and let them in and showed them down the hall.  He introduced them to Favric relaying what they had said and went back to his post.

A conversation with Favric ensued where the party figured out the Cultists didn’t actually know much about the dragon and hadn’t actually met her yet, although they wanted to meet her and possibly serve her.  The party played friendly and acted like they wanted to protect Venomfang too, even saying they wanted her to move along as there were threats to her nearby.  Reidoth revealed that he knew Venomfang had been attacked by a much larger dragon before heading here and suggested that they would be wiser to seek out and serve that dragon instead.  Talindra uses Suggestion to motivate Favric to go and seek him out.  Favric asked about any leads to track down this dragon and Reidoth pointed them towards a Sage in the Icewind Dale amongst the ten towns called Gelan Brightleaf, saying they had more information. (DM: They’re a member of the Emerald Enclave Reidoth knows about.  He’s setting them up to get captured)  Favric thanked them and said this seemed like the best plan.  The party left and 10 minutes later the cultists walked out and headed off with their bags on the backs.

They party had an unsuccessful search of the building and then swept through the buildings one by one heading west and then north from there without much difficulty.  They ran in to a few Twig Blights and a couple of Giant Spiders but they posed little resistance.  Reidoth pointed them towards the old Herbalists shop they were asking about and they recovered the treasure Mirna Dendrar had offered them as thanks for rescuing her (An emerald necklace hidden under a counter).  After a short rest in Reidoth’s holdout they decided it was time to face the dragon.

They opted for the stealthy approach at first.  Reidoth cast Pass Without Trace and they moved up the winding path or through the woods staying out of site of the tower.  On their way up Talindra sent her familiar up at a great height to see if the Dragon could be spotted in the tower through the hole in the roof while staying out of sight.  The dragon’s presence was confirmed and the Owl was sent away to safety.  As they turned the final corner, exposing themselves to the tower, an unseen voice spoke up from within.

Venomfang: “You have returned.  I see you brought friends.  Am I to assume our deal does not stand?”

Reidoth: “Our deal stands.  However the deal was that once you have returned to heal you would leave.”

V: “I said I would leave when I was healed and ready.  I am not fully healed and I am not ready.”

Re: “You’ve been hunting for yourself well enough.  There are powers taking in interest in your presence and it would be in your best interest to move on.”

V: “I am not ready to go and as you pointed out I am a capable hunter.  Think on that.“  They could hear the sounds of stone scraping on stone from within the tower.

Talindra: “But while you are out hunting you are likely to draw the attention of the other local dragons.  Do you really want to fight Cryovain or Claugiyliamatar?  You should move along to avoid that”

(DM: Talindra tried to cast Suggestion on the dragon, but couldn’t get line of sight from where she stood)

V: “I don’t know this Cryovain and Claugiyliamatar has little interests this far north.  I’ll leave when I’m ready.  I still need to finish healing.”

Ramond: “You would do well to listen to us.  If we have heard of you so have others.  More threats will come.”

Re: “I have not broken your trust.  Have I not healed you              ?  Have I not brought you food when you were unable to hunt?  I am servant of the balance and the balance has tipped.  It is not safe for you here anymore.”

V: “You have taken care of me and that is appreciated.  I have no desire to hurt you, but here you come having brought mercenaries with you.  You bring threat, look at you.  You’ve stormed through this place killing everything.”

Re: “I did say before there were numerous threats in the town.  We did have to make our way through.”

V: “You have the right to defend yourselves, as do I.”

Ra: “So have you chosen the path where we must drive you away?”

V: “This is my home for now and I have no desire to leave.  You’re the ones that come here bearing weapons.  You’re the ones threatening me, all because that old man asks you to.

Talindra took a few careful steps away from the group, worrying about breath weapons.

Re: “You refer to this as your home.  I believe the terms of our deal were that this was in my ward.  I protect it in the service to the gods.  Do you now claim it as your land?”  He cast detect thoughts and only used it to read the surface, not pushing deeper.   He then relayed his findings to Ramond and Talindra telepathically, telling them, “She doesn’t intend to leave.  She is healthier than she appears”

Ra: “You have chosen your path.  We resign ourselves to the gods.  May Tempus smile upon us at the end of this day.” He started walking towards the tower and Araloth stepped out of the bushes around the western side of the tower.

V: “Very well.  You have chosen your path.  Those who leave shall be spared.  Come at me and I will defend myself.”  Then there was more scraping and banging from within and we rolled initiatives.

Bilba and Thorivor ran in to the bushes and readied an arrow for the enemy to appear.  Melandrach ran up to the cottage door as Araloth ran up the side of it and on to its roof and drank his Antitoxin potion (Everyone else drank theirs before heading up this path).  Ramond double moved in through the cottage door and in to the tower and engaged the dragon and cast Shield of Faith.  Talindra ran up to the nearest arrow slit and cast Web through it filling a 20ft cube binding the dragon, but missing the Ramond.  Karson moved up to an arrow slit and turned his sword in to a hawk, which attacked the dragon for him with the full strength of the sword, landing two of three attacks.  Venomfang considered staying put but chose to break free of the webs by flying upwards, taking hits from Ramond and Talon (The sword/hawk).  Forty feet in the air, she dropped two large chunks of masonry she was holding in Ramond’s general direction.  He got out of the way of one, but the other hit him.  As she rose up through the roof Bilba and Throivor unleashed their readied arrows, but the tower provided too much concealment at this angle.  Reidoth moved up and peeking over Karson’s shoulder through the arrow slits and past all the web, he was able to cast Haste on to Ramond.  As the wave of energy rushed through his system Ramond (DM: and his player) were overjoyed and let out a cry of delight.

Bilba shot at but missed the dragon, but Thorivor made up for this, landing three of his four Action Surge hits.  Melandrach ran through the cottage dropping his staff and drew his bow, landing two arrows before retreating back inside.  Araloth ran up the side of the tower and stood on the remaining walls and ledges.  He watched Ramond below run back through the cottage and draw his wand and unleash eight Magic Missiles in to the Dragon and then fire a Guiding Bolt at it.  Talindra walked east and cast Web at the Dragon in the air before backing up a bit.  Karson moved past her and shot Venomfang with his longbow.  Venomfang flew east through the web unhindered as it fell to the floor.  “Very well, keep your tower, but you’re paying a price.”  She then unleashed her poisonous breath over Karson and Talindra.  Karson fell unconscious and Talindra was left weakened.  Venomfang then continued flying east and lower to the ground, trying to get cover from a nearby building.  Reidoth quickly ran to heal Karson back to consciousness while Araloth walked down in to the tower and began the looting.

Bilba and Thorivor landed two more arrows in to her hide as Melandrach and Ramond gave chase.  Melandrach dropped his bow and scooped up his staff and ran full pelt towards the dragon.  He ran 40 feet up to the dense bushes, spent Ki to dash and long jumped over 20 foot of bushes before running his remaining 20 feet to end up just over 10 feet from the dragon.  He fired two Radiant Sunbolts in to the dragon, almost downing her.  Right behind him Ramond did similar.  He Channelled Divinity to make himself a hasted Peerless Athlete and jumped over thirty feet of bushes and was actually able to run past Melandrach and get toe to toe with Venomfang.  He swung his greatsword with all his momentum, but missed.  He landed his second attack and Divinely Smote the dragon with all he had.  He scramed out, “This is the path you chose!” and ran the greatsword through her neck.  Radiant light from the smite burst forth and the sounds of armies clashing could be heard.  The dragons momentum carried it forwards and she crashed in to the ground, tumbled and lay motionless and dead.

With the dragon dead the party joined Araloth in the looting as they got the breath back and discussed what dragon parts could be useful.  Along with cash and gems they found a scroll of misty step, and a scroll of lightning bolt.  Beneath the coins is a rusty old woodcutting axe of dwarven manufacture. Runes in Dwarvish on the axe head read, “Hew”.  Talindra ritually identified the axe:

Hew is a +1 battleaxe that deals maximum damage when the wielder hits a plant creature or an object made of wood. The axe’s creator was a dwarf smith who feuded with the dryads of a forest where he cut firewood.

DM: It was gone midnight, everyone was happy and laughing.  We called the game, discussed things and chuckled and went to our beds.

This has been a worthy experiment.  I definitely need to buff Cryvain and some other stuff from what the module suggests.  Eight players really skew the challenge needed.