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canyonwalkerAs I've written a few times now, my City of the Dead D&D game sort-of wrapped on Friday night. The final piece of the evening's session, our 8th play session, was the PCs entering a fallen temple in Graymount to retrieve the dead body of an allied cleric.
Earlier in the session the group had cleared its path through town— meaning they rousted the spies and triggered the undead ambushes one day so they'd have a smoother path the next day.
In going up a level (to 7th) the party's cleric, Terence, gained the very useful Divination spell. With it the caster obtains a short piece of advice from their patron deity on how to succeed at a relevant task. Terence asked, "How can we most safely recover Baynor's body?" I provided the answer in the form of a written clue-note:
Yes, the response is in the form of a riddle. That's kind of a trope in the game for how Divination works. It's always been part of the challenge and the fun of the game for the party to decode such riddles. But it's not supposed to be a hard riddle. So I prepared several additional clue-notes in case the group needed hints. It turned out they didn't need more hints! They figured out on their own, from things they'd already seen and remembered:
That all took more prodding from me than I wanted. Ideally they would've thought of more themselves. I let them sit-and-spin for a bit then prompted with increasingly specific suggestions to help them converge on a reasonable plan. Ultimately they went in with a solid plan. But you know that saying about plans & first contact with the enemy....
But that's the other thing about plans. While even a good plan tends to fall apart upon first contact with the enemy, having that plan is crucial because it represents all the thinking about how to solve foreseeable challenges. Among these challenges was protecting themselves from a wraith's ability drain— a fearsome attack that could have resulted in TPK (Total Party Kill) if the group had fumbled their way in without a plan.
Astrin and Herran, both warded against the wraith's most feared attack, strode forward into the temple's nave. They were the strikers. The other three hung back near the door, in the light, prepared to support them with spell casting and whatever else was necessary.
The wraith was ready for them. It knew they were coming. It felt their presence as soon as they stepped onto the stones of the plaza outside. And in the deep shadows of the cursed temple's inner sanctum, they were in its demesne.
The wraith rose from the crypt beneath the main floor, its incorporeal body passing through stonework as if it weren't there. It enveloped Astrin (the first to enter) with its enormous size, wrapping its shadowy arms around her in death's embrace, fingers like tendrils of darkness going for her face to draw her life force out from her... and ⛔️ ACCESS DENIED! ⛔️
Terence's Vitality spell blocked the creature's deadly attack. Its shadowy arms still pummeled Astrin and left her bruised, but her life force was untouched.
"Oh, you wanna play?" Astrin snorted. "Let's do this." With sword in hand she called for her god's blessing and put everything into her swing. Holy Smite!
Astrin heaved Baynor's body over her shoulder, her strength augmented to that of a pro-football linebacker by Terence's Bull's Strength spell. Herran, moving with surprising speed due to another magic effect, speedily gathered Baynor's dropped possessions from the floor. The two exited to the plaza, laid Baynor down in the sunlight, then... went back in.
Yes, they went back for more.
They understood that when you have the advantage, you press the advantage.
Or as Astrin said to the lurking wraith when they went back in to its shadowy lair, "We're not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with us."
It was a great shout out to a classic line from The Watchmen. Alas this wraith was smarter than the criminals in the movie trying to beat on Rorshach. It knew when it was outmatched. It tried one more go at combat then retreated again the crypt. The party realized correctly they didn't have the strength to chase it deeper into the forsaken temple— where there'd certainly be traps and other dangers— so they took their partial victory. They walked out into the sunlight, loaded Baynor's body on their horses, and rode home.
Earlier in the session the group had cleared its path through town— meaning they rousted the spies and triggered the undead ambushes one day so they'd have a smoother path the next day.
Solving a Puzzle
Why did having a smooth path on the final day matter? Ah, that was because the time of day mattered. The party spent a few weeks regrouping in their home base of Durendal because they all were going up a level.In going up a level (to 7th) the party's cleric, Terence, gained the very useful Divination spell. With it the caster obtains a short piece of advice from their patron deity on how to succeed at a relevant task. Terence asked, "How can we most safely recover Baynor's body?" I provided the answer in the form of a written clue-note:
How to Recover the Body? (Divination)
Open the doors of the fallen temple neither early nor late, and above all be quick; else the evil within may grow.
Open the doors of the fallen temple neither early nor late, and above all be quick; else the evil within may grow.
Yes, the response is in the form of a riddle. That's kind of a trope in the game for how Divination works. It's always been part of the challenge and the fun of the game for the party to decode such riddles. But it's not supposed to be a hard riddle. So I prepared several additional clue-notes in case the group needed hints. It turned out they didn't need more hints! They figured out on their own, from things they'd already seen and remembered:
- Father Baynor was killed and raised as a wraith; therefore, presumably, he was killed by a more powerful wraith.
- Wraiths are powerless in daylight. (Terence knows this from his studies)
- Baynor's body is in the fallen temple of Morgarath. (Terence already used another spell that revealed this.)
- The temple faces due south and has large wooden doors at its front.
- The area is in the northern hemisphere, and the season is approaching the winter solstice when the sun will be low in the southern sky at midday. (Meraxes knows this via astronomy and Herran knows via nature skill.)
Forming a Plan
The group did more than just pat itself on the back for figuring out they should go at noon. They scribed a few additional spells on scrolls while in Durendal, spent time buffing up with defensive spells at the steps to the fallen temple, and made a plan about who'd go where once they entered.That all took more prodding from me than I wanted. Ideally they would've thought of more themselves. I let them sit-and-spin for a bit then prompted with increasingly specific suggestions to help them converge on a reasonable plan. Ultimately they went in with a solid plan. But you know that saying about plans & first contact with the enemy....
No Plan Survives First Contact with the Enemy
The boss wraith was not the only challenge they had to deal with inside the fallen temple. Baynor's body— and the wraith determined to destroy anyone trying to retrieve it— were in the inner sanctum of the temple, past the entry chamber. The sun barely penetrated there. And there was a trap on the doors to the inner sanctum. And there was... a vampire... sneaking around the foyer when everybody's attention was elsewhere!But that's the other thing about plans. While even a good plan tends to fall apart upon first contact with the enemy, having that plan is crucial because it represents all the thinking about how to solve foreseeable challenges. Among these challenges was protecting themselves from a wraith's ability drain— a fearsome attack that could have resulted in TPK (Total Party Kill) if the group had fumbled their way in without a plan.
Astrin and Herran, both warded against the wraith's most feared attack, strode forward into the temple's nave. They were the strikers. The other three hung back near the door, in the light, prepared to support them with spell casting and whatever else was necessary.
The wraith was ready for them. It knew they were coming. It felt their presence as soon as they stepped onto the stones of the plaza outside. And in the deep shadows of the cursed temple's inner sanctum, they were in its demesne.
The wraith rose from the crypt beneath the main floor, its incorporeal body passing through stonework as if it weren't there. It enveloped Astrin (the first to enter) with its enormous size, wrapping its shadowy arms around her in death's embrace, fingers like tendrils of darkness going for her face to draw her life force out from her... and ⛔️ ACCESS DENIED! ⛔️
Terence's Vitality spell blocked the creature's deadly attack. Its shadowy arms still pummeled Astrin and left her bruised, but her life force was untouched.
"Oh, you wanna play?" Astrin snorted. "Let's do this." With sword in hand she called for her god's blessing and put everything into her swing. Holy Smite!
"You're Stuck in here with Us"
Herran, also in the nave by then and similarly warded, waded into the combat at her side. He had no particular god to pray to but he had preternatural familiarity with undead. Driven by a curse in his family 5 generations back he studied undead, learning how to defeat them in combat. He hit the wraith hard. Standing opposite Astrin the two of them took the shadowy horror to task, pummeling it way harder than it was able to strike them. In two combat rounds the dread wraith, an ancient horror that thought it had the advantage, retreated.Astrin heaved Baynor's body over her shoulder, her strength augmented to that of a pro-football linebacker by Terence's Bull's Strength spell. Herran, moving with surprising speed due to another magic effect, speedily gathered Baynor's dropped possessions from the floor. The two exited to the plaza, laid Baynor down in the sunlight, then... went back in.
Yes, they went back for more.
They understood that when you have the advantage, you press the advantage.
Or as Astrin said to the lurking wraith when they went back in to its shadowy lair, "We're not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with us."
It was a great shout out to a classic line from The Watchmen. Alas this wraith was smarter than the criminals in the movie trying to beat on Rorshach. It knew when it was outmatched. It tried one more go at combat then retreated again the crypt. The party realized correctly they didn't have the strength to chase it deeper into the forsaken temple— where there'd certainly be traps and other dangers— so they took their partial victory. They walked out into the sunlight, loaded Baynor's body on their horses, and rode home.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-03 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-03 06:21 pm (UTC)They spotted the vampire sneaking across the wall, up above the doors. It was using its spider climb ability to stick to the stone 20 feet up. They spotted it just as it was moving to shut the doors. It closed the doors, plunging the whole interior back into darkness, but the members of the party in the room acted quickly. Duncan attacked, Terence turned the vampire, and Meraxes reopened the doors. Once turned, the vamp turned into a cloud of vapor and floated away. The group couldn't determine where it went (there wasn't enough light to see) and decided not to pursue it. Recovering Baynor's body and ensuring nobody was killed by the ancient wraith while doing so was the primary mission.
no subject
Date: 2025-05-12 11:55 pm (UTC)* Distract: The vamp's plan was to make spoiling attacks against the PCs in the foyer. This would split their attention and resources off from the PCs in the inner sanctum, tilting some advantage to the powerful wraith in there and the dead bodies it was guarding. He was always going to flee as soon as he was beaten, not wanting to be destroyed and hoping that maybe he could fool at least one of the PCs into giving chase.
* Divide: Anyone who pursued the vampire would not only deprive the remainder of the group of their abilities in the primary fight against the wraith but would expose themselves to extreme risk delving deeper into the cursed temple with its presumed traps and unknown denizens lurking in the darkness.