Getting Into D&D 5e Adventures

I spent some time typing up my DM notes. I could only think of one thing when I was prepping for the game. The movie Tremors. I decided to add a few fun moments from the movie to the adventure. I added my DM notes at the bottom of this entry if you’d like to check those out.

I prepped the table the night before the game.

The Adventurers started their day by gathering some rumors at the local tavern. They heard about the newest location of the Dragon and “red winged demon”. Some townsfolk passed along that a hunter has a lodge in Neverwinter and they saw that no matter how they traveled, they’d be spending a night in the Neverwinter Woods. They decided to head to Falcon’s Hunting Lodge before traveling to the Logging Camp. The thought was it would be worth the cost of a bottle of wine to gain entrance to Falcon’s lodge for a safe nights rest. After gathering the camp supplies, a borrowed cart and ox, they set off on their quest.

The party traveled on the Triboar Trail and then cut north through Neverwinter Woods. They came across a clearing in the woods and saw a boar with a group of pigs. The Adventurers noticed that the pigs were branded “BAK”. This was a group of pigs that escaped from Butterskull Ranch, the previous adventure.

As the party discussed the situation, the boar took off to the east and the rest of the pigs scattered into the woods. The Adventurers decided not to pursue, knowing how hard it would be capture the pigs. They sent a message back through their sending stones, a magic item picked up from the Dwarven Excavation Question, to the Knight’s retainers in town. They asked him to share the news of the pigs to Big Al, the owner of the Ranch and these pigs.

They continued on toward the Hunting Lodge

After some more time traveling they came across Falcon’s Hunting Lodge. After being greeted at the gate and presenting the wine, the party was welcomed and provided a place to stay for the evening.

The party set off in the morning from Falcon’s Hunting Lodge toward the Loggers Camp in the west. They followed a trail along the river. They began to hear something in the woods and after a few failed and then successful perception rolls, they followed crows and saw a logger up in the tree. The Druid shifted into an animal form and investigated the logger, finding him dead from dehydration.

They continued on and came across the camp. They decided to leave the wagon and supplies outside of camp when they noticed how quiet the camp was.

Coming from the east, they saw two tent encampments and decided to investigate the one to the South.

I didn’t take any prep pictures of the tents, but I used a set of of tents from the Elven Forest Dungeons and Lasers Elven Forest set. The other tents were made from cardstock. I drew a template and folded them into shape. I might add some paint in the future, but they made it quick and easy to get them on the table for game day.

The party of adventurers investigated the southern camp. They saw the empty tents and scattered belongings of the loggers scattered about this part of the camp. During the investigation an Ankheg burst from the ground…and was quickly dispatched after it spit acid at the party. Afterwards, one of the characters noticed a mound of soil and went to investigate. They saw a head resting inside and nudging it, it fell to the side revealing it was all that was left of a logger. Another Ankeg burst from the ground. The characters were able to quickly dispatch this one and looked over the creatures. One of the players rolled really high on a check and I decided they knew quite a bit about Ankhegs and let them harvest the acid glands.

The characters continued their investigation, seeing devastation in the northern campsite. They began to cautiously move around camp.

They spotted odd tracks in an old stone building at the center of camp. The tracks appeared to be pig like. They ended up finding 13 figures made of sticks, hair, and blood, hidden in the remains of the chimney.

They began to move around this building and came under attack by another Ankheg. This creature severely wounded their companion, Captain Pinchy, before it was killed.

They moved to investigate the main logging building and while they looked in the window, they saw the wooden floor boards begin to lift and move like a wave toward them as another Ankheg burst out. This Ankheg broke out of the wrong gosh darn supply room! The party quickly dispatched the final Ankheg in the area.

They discovered Townmaster Harbin Westers’ half brother, cowering on a desk. They finally had him come out and offered their protection.

The party continued their investigation and came across a trail of blood that led to an elevated area of the camp with hard stony ground. There they found a logger that had died from blood loss. He had dragged himself to that area to escape the Ankhegs, that couldn’t burrow in the hard ground.

The party decided to take Tibor Wester back to Falcon’s Hunting Lodge with them so they could all recover and rest before traveling back to town.

Upon further inspection of the stick figures they found in the Loggers Camp, they determined these were some kind of religious cursed item. After leaving Falcon’s Hunting Lodge, they destroyed the figures in a fire (releasing the curse).

They made it back to Phandalin, collected their reward, and selected their next quest.

Axeholm

Here are my DM notes

• Adventurers Preparing for the Quest
  • Gathering Rumors:
    • Falcon’s Hunting Lodge
      • Read the entry on page 9
    • A red demon was spotted in the mountains to the south, near an area called Axeholm
    • The Dragon was spotted on the Triboar trail. Destroyed a wagon train, killed 2, took Ox
    • Loggers
      • Loggers have set up camps along the river to transport logs to Neverwinter
      • Tibor Wester is the ½ brother of Harbin Wester. Get’s his suppplies from Phandalin
      • There are 12 loggers that work at the camp, plus Tibor
  • Picking up Supplies
    • Harbin has made arrangements at Barthen’s Provisions, read text on pg 34
      • Each crate holds enough provisions to sustain everyone for 1 month (2 total)
      • Barthen, “If you intend to vist Falcon’s Hunting Lodge on the way, you better buy a bottle of fine wine (10gp) and give it to him as a gift”
• Traveling to the Camp
  • You can travel 24 miles per day and the camp is more than 50 miles north of Phandalin
    • They can head directly north or veer east and stay at Falcon’s Hunting Lodge
  • The party member with highest Wisdom (Survival) needs to check for each hex
    • DC 10, fail causes the party to get lost for 1d4 miles
  • Day 1: Nothing noteable occurs, can camp near the woods or a few miles in
  • Day 2: Camp in Woods or head to Falcons Hunting Lodge pg 24
    • Around mid day you all see about 60 feet ahead of you, a wild board stands in a small clearing. Around the boar are 4 pigs. Roll a perception check
      • You’re able to make out that each pig as BAK branded on them…you also notice that the Boar appears to be looking directly at you, unmoving
    • If the party approaches cautiously, the Boar will stay unmoving, keeping the pigs from running
    • If the party discusses capturing the pigs or the boar, the Boar will run and the pigs will begin to scatter
      • What would you like to do?
    • Day 3: Should arrive at the Logging camp the morning of the third day.
• Nearing the camp
  • You think you’re less than a mile from the Logging came when you see a clearing up ahead, roll perception
    • As you’re walking along the path a small noise up in the trees catches your ear, perhaps a squirell scurrying in the branches. You begin glancing around in the trees when you see a crow swoop toward some branches further into the woods. You think there is something in the tree that has attracted the Crow.
    • If they choose to approach
      • You begin to work your way through the undergrowth toward the tree where the crow was last seen. As you get closer the crow begins to “caw” and looking up you see what appears to be a human, sitting on a high branch clutching the tree.
    • No response is given if they call out. If they choose to investigate further
      • Up the tree is a man dressed in work clothes. He’s holding a bloody ax tightly in one hand and the other arm is wrapped around the tree. He’s dead, his body stiff and unmoving.
• Arrival: Read the description on page 34
• Exploring the Camp
  • L1: Cabin on the Rocks
  • You see the remains of two cabins that have been mostly torn down
    • The Ankhegs can’t burrow up here
    • You discover the body of a human man, his lower leg is missing and tied off. Investigation DC 10: The stump of the leg appears to have a melted burned and bleeding appearance.
  • L2: The Old Cabin and Chimney
    • You see the reamins of a ruined cabin, with a fireplace that has mostly collapsed onto a stone foundation, roll a Perception Check or other DC 10
      • You notice pig tracks in the wet sandy soil leading up to this area
    • If the area is searched
      • As you search through the rubble of the chimney, you come across 13 tiny totems, stick figures, coated in old sticky blood, and tied together with hair. Carved into the sticks are lightening bolts symbols. Roll for Religion(DC 15 Intelligence [Religion])
        • You decern the totem’s purpose is to bring ill fortune to all who reside near it
        • On a very high roll, you feel like the lightening bolts look similar to some of the symbols you saw in the old lighthouse.
  • L3: The Cabin: Office and Tool Storage
    • If they look in the windows of the Tool Storage, You see a large open area of the cabin with a wooden floor. To the north is door, the east side has a fireplace (unburning), and shelving / crates of suppies and tools lining the walls
    • Perception Check: You see some of the floor boards begin to move upwards a few inches, almost creating the appearance of a wave…ROLL for Initiative
    • If they look into the Back office, You see a thin well dressed sitting atop a desk that’s been pushed up against a door to the southside of the room. His hands are placed over his mouth and his eyes are closed as he slowly rocks back and forth on the desk
      • What do you do?
      • If they try to get his attention, he’ll sign wispering to urge them to be quiet and make a prayerful gesture mouthing “Save Me”
    • Any approach to close to the building will cause the creature to begin burrowing underground toward the adventurers
  • L4: The Dock
    • Perception: you notice a small sucken boat under the water near the dock. It looks like it’s been broken in half.
  • L5: North Camp
    • You see a dead campfire and tents, messkits and scattered personal belongings (nothing of worth), you see humanoid footprints and strange marks in the soil
    • Investigation Check DC 10 you deduce the humanoids were kill and possibly dragged into the sand
  • L6: South Camp
    • You see what looks like a large animal mound/ with something in the circle of soil
    • If they approach, in the center of the mound is a Dwarf’s head. His eyes are closed like he’s sleeping.
      • Pulling the head up reveals that nothing is attached. Melted, burned and bleeding
    • ANKHEG ATTACK

When you return back to town. Harbin rewards them, refuses to open the door for his ½ brother and berates him for slowing down the logging business. You all have achieved Level 4!

Asks the party to place 1 more job on the board.

1. Mountain’s Toe Gold Mine
2. Axeholm