Tag: D&D Encounters

Following a brutal encounter in the Drow Torture Theatre last week the heroes took a short rest and then moved onward in search of the Slave Pits. After some exploration the passage seemed to open into a larger cavern. The shouting from a Drow guard and the screams from victimized slaves left no doubt that the PCs had found the Salve Pits.

While hiding in the passageway the heroes spotted a Drow leading a Svirfneblin slave back to the pens. Before them stood a large creature made entirely of webs. It seemed to have some recognition of the Drow guard as it stepped aside to allow the slave to pass. The guard left the slave in the creatures charge and retreated the way he came, oblivious to the PCs’ presence.

Huge Spiders scuttled along the floor and walls, threatening the Svirfneblin. Suddenly a Human woman stepped out to confront the Spider, shouting at them and kicking them. It was Khara Sulwood.

Last week’s session ended after the PCs successfully navigated the maze of caverns inside the gates of Zadzifeirryn and found the Torture Theater. After a short rest the PCs moved quietly in the directions of the screams and cheers.

The passage ahead opened into a huge chamber, its lower level a cavernous pit heaped with corpses. Erie red light filled the area cast from glowing fonts full of blood. Two Drow Torturers stood on a platform above the PCs, the walls of the chamber around them lined with stone steps filled with Drow spectators.

A Torturer swung a heavy blade beheading a human captive; the crowd roared with delight. The Drow kicked the lifeless body into the pit and pointed towards a group of chained human captives, “Time for a new victim!”

The two Rogues in the party tried to sneak up to the edge where two Humans were chained. Rogue #2 made an amazing Stealth check, Rogue #1 rolled a 1. One of the Torturers spotted the party and challenged their presence, “Who are you and what are you doing with those bodies?” she demanded. The four Drow PCs, still dressed in House Jaelre uniforms, tried to Bluff their way out of the escalating mess.

“We wanted to have the best seats in the house,” said the Druid. “We didn’t want to pay to get in,” said one of the Rogues. The Torturer paused briefly to consider the plausibility of this explanation but quickly realized that something was amiss. She placed her hand in the adjacent blood font and began chanting as she started a summoning ritual.

Last week the heroes managed to get through the gates of Zadzifeirryn. They ended last week’s session when they found a safe place to hide and took an extended rest. This week they awoke refreshed and leveled up.

This week’s encounter is another unusual one for D&D Encounters. It’s possible that this week could end up as just role-playing and skill checks, which is how it played out at my table. In order to keep my group interested I had to make a few changes on the fly but all in all things worked out ok. The encounter still took about 90 minutes (without any combat) and it certainly allowed for some interesting character development and NPC interactions.

The numbers at our FLGS continue dwindling as we were down to only seven this week, two DMs and five players. The other DM decided to take the week off and my table ran business as usual with our regular five.

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

After last week’s fight against the elite Drow of House Jaelre the PCs advanced though the secret passage. The tunnel eventually led them to a vast, wide-open cavern so deep that they could not see the floor. Extending out into the darkness in front of them was a rope bridge clearly made in part from spider web strands. Three other similar-looking bridges stretched out from other walls of the cavern. All of the bridges converged at the top of a huge stalactite. The naturally inverted tower seemed to be hollowed out with chambers within.

This week our numbers were down at both locations where I play D&D Encounters. At Dueling Grounds we were down from 12-15 players most weeks to only seven this week. At Harry T North (which is the group I write about) we were ready to split into three tables but with a few players absent we were down to two tables of five. So my group kicked out the non-Drow interloper and ended up all Drow once again. Here’s how the party broke down.

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