Tag: D&D Encounters: Web of the Spider Queen

After the heroes defeated the Drow Totemist, her Archer companions and the Skeletons from last week they took a hard-earned short rest to tend to their wounds and catch their breath. Without warning a flash of light filled the room and two figures appeared from out of nowhere.

The PCs recognized one of them as Khara Sulwood (whom they’d met at the Old Skull Inn a few hours earlier). The other figure, a male Elf, turned to Khara and upon seeing her discomfort after materializing said smugly, “Never teleported before?”

Khara took a deep breath before replying “No. Elminster could have at least warned us he was going to do that.” She looked around and upon recognizing the PCs said, “Wait. I recognize you. You were at the inn. Are you the other one following Elminster’s call?”

In the streets of Shadowdale Drow warriors still fought the locals. The party just finished securing the Old Skull Inn and searching the bodies of the fallen Drow. The Bladesinger then felt a magical energy flash through his body and a voice speak to him alone. “This is Elminster, and I’m somewhat busy with these Drow. They no doubt want the Pendant of Ashaba. Go retrieve it from the Twisted Tower.”

This week we ran two tables at my FLGS. My table had seven players while the other had six. I’m usually reluctant to run tables with more than six players because the encounter tends to take a lot longer, but our extra player was the friend of a regular visiting from out of town so I was ok with it. The party consisted of the following PCs.

• Drow Fighter
• Drow Paladin
• Drow Rogue #1
• Drow Rogue #2
• Drow Druid
• Drow Wizard (Bladesinger)
• Drow Cleric

In order to encourage good role-playing and teamwork I let the table know that I decided to award magical treasure a little bit differently than they were used to. Rather than roll randomly for an item and the have the party fight and argue over it I would choose an outstanding player for the night and they could choose any one item of the list that was suitable for their character. If more than one player had a good night I’d have all eligible players roll off. This was my subtle way of letting the players know that if they couldn’t behave they wouldn’t get magic items. I wish I’d have thought of this idea years ago because everyone relay brought their A-game this week.

On March 17, 2010, Wizards of the Coast begin this little experiment called D&D Encounters with the very first Wednesday night encounter. Over two years later the program is still going strong and yesterday marked the beginning of season 9. In Web of the Spider Queen the PCs will be facing off against Lloth’s forces as the Drow invade Shadowdale. This is all part of the ongoing Rise of the Underdark campaign that will be dominating the Wizards’ product offerings throughout 2012.

As we’ve done from the outset of D&D Encounters we will continue providing weekly recaps every Thursday. This is our way to provide an ongoing synopsis of the story as well as share the highs and lows of our specific campaign. We will also continue recording the sessions and sharing the podcasts on a weekly basis. So get ready to fight some Drow as the Web of the Spider Queen beings.