D&D Encounters: March of the Phantom Brigade (Week 10)

“Salazar Vladistone is a hero.” At least he was during his lifetime, according to Faldyra. After last week’s battle against the ghosts of Hammerfast, this week’s encounter began with a quick breather in the library. The PCs found Faldyra pouring through old dusty tomes in the library’s basement archives. She’d discovered information about the leader of the Phantom Brigade as well as a possible way to defeat him once and for all.

This week at our FLGS we were running with a skeleton crew. My table had only three players, but one of the veterans was willing and able to run both Belgos and Valenae. The other two players were running Jarren and a new addition to the party, a Dragonborn Fighter. The other table at our FLGS had five players, all of them still sore from the TPK they suffered last week and looking to get back into the game.

Faldyra told the PCs the story of Vladistone’s life. Apparently he was a hero, the leader of a famous adventuring company called the Silver Company. His wife, Oldivya, a Cleric in life was a member of the same adventuring party before she met an early death during the group’s exploration of the original Castle Inverness. After her death, Vladistone became cold and distant. However, the Silver Company continued adventuring, taking on the most dangerous missions and helping to shape the development of the civilized lands in these parts. Vladistone became more reckless always volunteering for the most dangerous assignments. It was like he wanted to die in order to be reunited with his wife.

Eventually Vladistone met his match. The Silver Company took a mission that was deemed too dangerous for anyone else. A band of Durger Dwarves infiltrated a shrine dedicated to the Dwarven god Moradin. Vladistone himself led the Silver Company into the shrine in order to defeat the Durger threat. Unfortunately that was his last adventure. He died keeping the Durger busy long enough for the rest of his party to escape.

The Durger threat was never defeated, but a series of earthquakes blocked the doors to the shrine, keeping the Durger from advancing beyond the sealed doors. Faldyra believed that Vladistone’s remains are still somewhere inside the shrine.

In addition to learning more of Vladistone’s history she also discovered what she believed was the reason for all of the recent turmoil, including the reason Vladistone cannot communicate with his wife.

When the Silver Company first explored Castle Inverness they removed a powerful artefact called the Arrow of Time. If the Arrow could be found and returned to its original location within the tower she believed that things would return to normal.

However, there was another possibility. The Arrow itself could be used to right a wrong. If it was used to kill a creature, the magic of the arrow would travel through time and destroy that creature forever, making it as if the creature never existed. So if it was a single creature that killed Vladistone all those years ago in the shrine, killing it with the arrow could change history. Vladistone wouldn’t die and he might find redemption in his later years of life. This would stop him from ever becoming a ghost and reverse all of the hardship the Phantom Brigade has recently unleashed.

The PCs discussed options and felt that finding the Arrow of Time needed to be their top priority. Faldyra arranged to get them safely out of the city and provided them with directions to the shrine. They made it out safely enough, with only a few ghost scouts noticing the party.

Unfortunately a group of ghostly riders eventually pursued them. The ghosts stayed out of weapon range, never catching up, even when the party slowed to rest. It seemed that they were not interested in catch the PCs, just following them.

The heroes eventually reached the shrine. When they dismounted three ghostly horsemen approach slowly, and clearly without hostile intent. The leader was Vladistone himself. “Were I you, I would proceed no farther. Inside you will find more than you bargained for. Trust me I know.”

The PCs tried to enlist Vladistone’s aid, inviting him to join them in their exploration. They even said they’d find his remains and provide a proper burial. He still refused. He warned them three times not to enter before giving up and retuning back towards Hammerfast.

The doors to the shrine were still covered with rubble for the earthquakes. The Fighter tried to force the doors open but realized that they swung outward. He got to work clearing the rubble. While he laboured, Jarren and Valenae studied the inscription on the door. Jarren was sure it was an arcane glyph designed to open with the correct command. However, until more of the door was visible they were unable to decipher the script.

After the Fighter cleared the debris completely they again tried to learn the opening command. Together Jarren, Valenae and Belgos combined their knowledge of Arcane, Religion and Thievery to figure out the command word. The PCs set themselves up and spoke the word of opening – success, the doors opened.

Belgos crept up and stepped inside the dark room. Aside from a Dwarven statue and the rubble of another, he couldn’t immediately see anything amiss. He spotted another set of doors so he tried the word of opening. Unfortunately it didn’t open the new door; rather it began closing the door he just entered through. The Fighter dashed inside before the doors closed. Jarren quickly fired a Light spell inside just as the doors slammed closed.

With the room alight, the PCs saw three undead creatures emerge from hidden alcoves along the walls and attack them. Valenae and Jarren stood outside listening, but couldn’t hear through the doors. They tried the opening word again and sure enough the doors opened. As soon as the door began opening, the PCs outside saw their friends in the thick of battle.

Valenae used her Fey Step to get inside and help as fast as she could. Jarren stood back and used Magic Missile and Arc Lighting to try and soften up the melee combatants. Belgos took the first opportunity to get out of melee and started firing his bow from the relatively safety of the steps.

The two Ghouls engaged Valenae and the Fighter. The Zombie started by engaging the Fighter but then charged Belgos. Belgos kept moving further back from the melee but the Zombie kept charging him in pursuit.

After a few rounds of melee (and after everyone in the party failed their Perception check) another undead creature arose from the rubble of the statue. Upon reaching his fully erect height he shouted out and his entire body was set ablaze. He then threw a fire ball at Jarren.

The Fighter kept marking the Ghouls in order to keep them off of Valenae. The problem was that they kept hitting him (such is the plight of the defender). At first Valenae used Healing Word to restore some of the Fighters rapidly depleting hit pints, but eventually the Fighter fell unconscious. However on his very next turn he rolled a 19 on his death save, which became a 21 after applying the +2 from the adjacent Valenae so the Fighter was back in the fight.

He kept fighting for another round but again he was knocked unconscious. And again on his turn he rolled a 19 and brought himself back into the fight.

Meanwhile Belgos and the Zombie kept trading blows. With only 1 hit point left, Belgos finally destroyed the zombie, sliding it 3 squares to add insult to injury. And it was a good thing because I rolled a 19 on the Zombie’s turn which meant that he arose as a minion. He charged Belgos, but rolled a 1 (my first of the night). Belgos was fortunate enough to hit on his turn killing the Zombie a second time.

The rest of the party focused on the most injured Ghoul first and killed it. The Blazing Skeleton was unable to hit very often with his ranged attack, but he was able to pin a few of the PCs into his aura forcing them to take a little bit of fire damage.

Jarren targeted the Blazing Skeleton and the remaining Ghoul with Arc Lightning. He kept hitting the Blazing Skeleton and missing the Ghoul. The same round that he dropped the Blazing Skeleton he rolled a crit on the Ghoul bringing it within a few hit points of death. This was the only crit we saw all night on an attack roll (from the players). I on the other hand scored two crits in the first two rounds decimating the Fighter and Valenae early on.

Belgos finally managed to get back into the fight by entering the shrine. It was his shot that managed to kill the final ghoul.

By the time the combat was finished the Fighter was again down to only a few hit points, Belgos was at 1, Jarren was at 5 and Valenae was barely above bloodied. This was another tough fight for the PCs, but no one died. After just two encounters most of the PCs are down to their last couple of healing surges. With three encounters remaining, things may yet get a lot worse.

As an added bonus this season we’re recording our D&D Encounters experiences and making them available to you as downloadable podcasts courtesy of The Shattered Sea. Listen to the Week 10 Encounter. Bear in mind that these recordings are made in a loud, crowded game store so at time it may be difficult to hear everyone.

Visit the Dungeon’s Master D&D Encounters Archive for all of our ongoing weekly coverage as well as other great D&D Encounters articles and resources.

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