Bensentials Session 4

Game Date: 10/12/2024

Location: Home Game
Campaign: Bensentials, Session 4

System: D&D 5e
DM: Matt

The Party:

Baileigh - Tiefling Druid (Circle of the Moon - 2024 rules)

Ben - Changeling Sorcerer (Draconic)

Bryan - Shifter Monk (Way of Shadow), Human Fighter (Champion)

Rick - Assimar Paladin (Oath of Vengeance), Tabaxi Rogue (Assassin)

The Session: When we left off last week, they were finally ready to face the dragon. Today they bought a few things in town to get ready, then climbed up the mountain on horseback. They fought a few ice mephits while on the chasm-lined path (this encounter isn't in the book but it felt interesting), and then they made their way into the guardhouse.

They knew they weren't alone when they saw that there were already other horses in the stables. They listened at one door and heard four bandits talking about how they knew a party had arrived. They bandits agreed that they would con the PCs into helping them defeat the dragon, and then they would betray the PCs while they were still recovering from the battle.

So the PCs decided to pull the same con - they befriended the bandits, with the understanding that they would kill them after the dragon fight. The group continued to explore the guardhouse, then they crossed a bridge over a chasm, and searched the keep. They fought a few more ice mephits (they were stirges in the module, but I wanted something a little tougher), then finally made their way up to the roof where the dragon slept.

The module called for a young white dragon, but I've had my adult white dragon mini for 15 years and I've never used it. So that's what we used. I still used the young dragon stats, though... mostly.

They spent several minutes deciding on how they would approach the fight. Finally they decided to sneak into positions around the edges of the roof. The paladin's opening move took off a huge chunk of the dragon's health. Then the dragon turned around and used his frost breath on the paladin, taking him down to 0 hit points. 

Some of the others tried to help the paladin, but the icy roof meant people kept falling down when running to his aid. He failed three consecutive death saves over the next few rounds.

The dragon took to the skies for a round, then landed and knocked a bandit off the roof with a swipe of its tail. Everyone converged on the great beast and finished it off with no further lives lost. Then the PC and the bandits turned on each other. This proved to be harder than the dragon fight, but the PCs prevailed in the end. They gathered up the treasure and returned to town.

Then everyone leveled up, except the paladin, who remains dead. He replaced his character with a Tabaxi rogue. Next we discussed what to do next. It looks like we'll be trying out the Strixhaven module, though we're going to take a quick detour to White Plume Mountain (the version from Tales of the Yawning Portal) first.

The rogue solved the sphinx's riddle, and they started with the western path. They dealt with hallway that heats metal, fought some ghouls, and spent a while getting through the frictionless room. Finally they reached the "inverted ziggurat" room and spent the next hour or two fighting the multi-tiered menagerie. They managed to open the safe at the bottom without setting off the vibration trap, and convinced the oni to give them their prize: the legendary sword Blackrazor.

Afterthoughts: White Plume Mountain is a fun, wacky module, with a variety of encounters that don't really make sense when put together. I read the novel 11 years ago (yeesh time flies), and I've been wanting to run it ever since. Next session we will finish White Plume Mountain, and then possibly start the Strixhaven campaign if there's time. We also plan to update all the characters to the 2024 rules before next session. 

Unfortunately this group's days are numbered, as I will be moving out of state in a few months, but we're going to enjoy it while it lasts.