Adventurer's League Season 1 (Part 7)

ll right Game Fans, we’re back with another look at the first season of Dungeons and Dragons organized play, The Tyranny of Dragons.  We are looking at this from the perspective of participating in the Adventurer’s League organized play campaign, so we’ll focus on it from that and go from there.    Today we’re going to check out DDEX 1-12 Raiders of the Twilight Marsh, and DDEX 1-13 Pool of Radiance Resurgent

If you’re playing these adventures in order, you should be somewhere around level 6 and be ready to go with both of these offerings.  If you’re playing out of order, check our previous article for ideas to get your character ready for the tribulations of level 5.

DDEX 1-12 Raiders of the Twilight Marsh

Raiders of the Twilight Marsh is the twelfth adventure in the Tyranny of Dragons season for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition.  Deep in the Twilight Marsh, a Black Dragon’s hoard has been found.  Its secrets are sought after by many, but who will have the bravery to strike while the Dragon is away?

This adventure is written for characters between levels 5 and 10, (and if you’ve read the other articles in this series) Adventurer’s League puts this as a hard cap (so you’ll have to find something else for your lower level hero to do).  Adventurer’s League is for a group of three to seven players, with five being the optimal number.

Now that we’ve got the number crunching out of the way, let’s talk about the story you’re looking at.  Through some information from an old friend, the party of adventurers learns that a Black Dragon that’s been terrorizing the Twilight Marsh has left its lair unguarded while on a mission of its own devising.  A quick thinking party could take advantage of this and rob the Dragon of its worldly goods and find out all sorts of secrets about its plans in the region.  

This adventure adds an element that has been touched on before, but really comes into its own here.  Pace.  When’s the Dragon going to be back in its lair?  Do we have enough time to complete this mission without getting turned into little pools of acid?  For the first time the stakes are high enough that failing to hit the pacing will bring you face to face with an extremely annoyed Black Dragon, in his lair, taking his stuff.  No one wants to try and live through that, do they?

Part 1:  A Hoard Unguarded

An old friend (Probably) of the adventurers is in town and has some extremely interesting information.  He’s keen to share it with them so that they will go into the Twilight Marsh in search of treasure and experience.  There’s nothing that could go wrong with trying to rob a Dragon, right?

This section of the adventure gives the players plenty of time to get their information and quickly choose a plan of attack for dealing with the acid breathing elephant in the room.  Players of a couple of factions will have the opportunity to take on some extra challenges to complete some secret missions.  

Part 2: The Lizard King

The other inhabitants of the Twilight Marsh aren’t pleased to have a Black Dragon living there.  This interlude gives the players a chance to make contact with one such inhabitant, and witness the aftermath of the Dragon’s temper tantrums.  The combat here could be extremely dangerous, though it might give someone the chance to finish a secret mission.  Once the players have dealt with the combat, the aftermath could steer them in the right direction, or they may have to struggle to find their way to the Dragon’s Hoard.  

Part 3: The Coven at Bloodroot Hollow

As it turns out, the Black Dragon isn’t the only Twilight Marsh resident that the Lizardfolk are having an issue with.  If the Lizard King survived the combat in part 2, he sends the party on a rampage directly into the Coven. The Coven is having a bit of a rough day, and players have a couple of different options on how to manage them.  The race tightens up between this part and the next, and how the players choose to treat with the Coven can adversely affect the next portion of the adventure.

Part 5: The Ruins of the Black Bull

The Players have a couple of different ways of interacting with the ruins in front of them.  Astute players who’ve been paying attention for the entire season are likely to have thought about a backdoor.  Depending on how the interactions with the coven went, it’s entirely possible that a grouchy dragon is waiting for the party, with friends.  

Part 6: Hall of the Black Bull

This part of the adventure is less combat and more investigation.  The players will need to have their thinking caps on to find all of the hidden things left in the Hall of the Black Bull and avoid the traps that may be lurking.  If the players have avoided the dragon and its minions before now, they’re going to run into some trouble here.  There is a decent amount of treasure for the monetarily inclined.  

Part 6: The Bowels of the Black Bull

Gross title aside, this part of the adventure focuses on how the players are going to get into the depths of the Dragon’s lair and steal his treasure.  There are prisoners to rescue and some hilarious changes to what you may expect from your monsters.  The finale of this adventure concludes with one foe laid low, but another, darker monster rising in its place.  Once you’ve dealt with the Dragon’s Hoard, the players are free to take care of any other obligations they have and return to Phlan for their rewards and treasure

Aftermath:  So as a character in the adventurer’s league, you have three primary rewards you’re aiming for, and the occasional extra bit of stuff.  Let’s go over your Downtime Days, your Experience Points, Your Gold Pieces, and your renown.    If you’re not playing in an Adventurer’s League group, you don’t need to track these on your log sheet, but keep an eye on your numbers.

• Experience Points:  Experience points for this adventure will vary depending on the path you take through it.  The minimum amount of experience you’ll earn for this expedition is 3,000 experience points, while the maximum is 5,000 points.  If you’ve just hit 5th level from using any of the options we’ve mentioned above, this means that you should be sitting at somewhere between 9,500 and 11,500 experience points.   If you’re continuing from Dark Pyramid of Sorcerer’s Isle, those numbers are more like 18,000 and 25,500, which could put you over the threshold for level 7.
• Gold Pieces:  This one’s a little trickier, because GP is calculated based off of the number of players at a table.  There’s enough treasure available that you should certainly be able to pick up some extra supplies or replace ones that you expended during the adventure.  Keep an eye out for any handy magical items that may show up.  There are a few that can show up in this adventure, and one of them is a permanent magic item.  
• Downtime Days:  This one’s easy.  Everyone gets 10 downtime days for playing through this adventure.  If this is your twelfth Tyranny of Dragons adventure, (and you’re playing them in order) you should have 135 downtime days.  If you’ve used the catching up option to reach level 5, you’ll have 95 days left
• Renown:  Everybody should earn a point of renown if you are a member of a faction.  Depending on your actions and your faction, you can also gain an additional point of renown.  Emerald Enclave Characters and Order of the Gauntlet Characters can also accomplish a secret mission on this adventure.

So now that you’ve completed Raiders of the Twilight Marsh, check your character, level up if you need to, pick up additional gear and get ready for the next adventure.

DDEX1-13 Pool of Radiance Resurgent

Pool of Radiance Resurgent is the thirteenth adventure in the Tyranny of Dragons season for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition.  An old legend resurfaces in Phlan, and if it falls into the Emerald claws of the Maimed Virulence, the current situation in Phlan will go from bad to horrible.

This adventure is written for characters between levels 5 and 10, (and if you’ve read the other articles in this series) Adventurer’s League puts this as a hard cap (so you’ll have to find something else for your lower level hero to do).  Adventurer’s League is for a group of three to seven players, with five being the optimal number.  This adventure is optimized for 8th level characters, so keep your eyes peeled if you aren’t that level.  The lethality bar is turned up this time around.  

This adventure’s going to be a rough one.  The Pool of Radiance, and its connection to the sinister creature Tyranthraxus are well documented in the histories and novels of the Forgotten Realms.  Suffice it for new folks, they are bad news on a platter, and giving a Dragon access to the power of the pool is an equally bad idea.  

Part 1:  Meeting at the Prison

A member of the city’s thieves guild has caught a useful bit of information that sends the party on the path of interacting with the newly found Pool of Radiance.  This is the fairly typical introduction portion of the adventure where quick questions can be handled and the players can make their plan to handle the situation before setting off.  The players have their first opportunity to use Downtime to directly affect the adventure they’re playing, so give them the option to make their one day memorable.  

Part 2: Trailing the Cultists

This section requires a pretty good amount of thinking on your feet for the DM.  The pacing of this section is dependent on how the players spent their downtime days, and how they’re going to try and interact with the cultists and their allies.  If you at all think the players are going to try the random encounter route, by all means pre-generate those encounters so you’re ready for what’s coming.  

Part 3: Kranun’s Crater

If the players beat the cultists to this area, it plays out much differently than the other way around.  The mysterious secret that the Maimed Virulence’s minions are seeking to recover for him lays either in the Crater itself, or is being rushed back to him.  The players are going to have to think their way through a lot of potential hairy situations quickly to keep the Dragon from getting his grubby little dragon claws on that power.  Even worse, Tyranthraxus probably shouldn’t be given the opportunity to possess another dragon to destroy the world.  This encounter area is chock full of fights and dangerous opponents, so you’re going to need to be on your A game to survive this adventure.  Should you survive this part, you’re free to return to Phlan for your rewards and your treasure.

Aftermath:
So as a character in the adventurer’s league, you have three primary rewards you’re aiming for, and the occasional extra bit of stuff.  Let’s go over your Downtime Days, your Experience Points, Your Gold Pieces, and your renown.  If you’re not playing in an Adventurer’s League group, you don’t need to track these on your log sheet, but keep an eye on your numbers. (If you’re playing Adventurer’s League, you might be starting your third log sheet, if you don’t have one, ask the DM)

• Experience Points:  Experience points for this adventure will vary depending on the path you take through it.  The minimum amount of experience you’ll earn for this expedition is 4,500 experience points, while the maximum is 6,000 points.  If you’ve just hit 5th level from using any of the options we’ve mentioned above, this means that you should be sitting at somewhere between 11,000 and 12,500 experience points.  Since you need 14,000 to hit level 6, you’re awfully close.  If you’re continuing from Raiders of the Twilight Marsh, those numbers are more like 22,500 and 26,500, which puts you on the doorstep of level 7 if you aren’t all ready inside.
• Gold Pieces:  This one’s a little trickier, because GP is calculated based off of the number of players at a table.  There’s enough treasure available that you should certainly be able to pick up some extra supplies or replace ones that you expended during the adventure.  Keep an eye out for any handy magical items that may show up.
• Downtime Days:  This one’s easy.  Everyone gets 10 downtime days for playing through this adventure.  If this is your thirteenth Tyranny of Dragons adventure, (and you’re playing them in order) you should have 145 downtime days.  If you used the catching up option to hit level 5, then you’re at 115 days.
• Renown:  Everybody should earn a point of renown, and if you completed a mission for a faction you may be a member of, you’ll get an additional point.

So now that you’ve completed Pool of Radiance Resurgent, check your character, level up if you need to, pick up additional gear and get ready for the next adventure.

Those are two adventures for this week, check back next week for a look at DDEX1-14 Escape from Phlan, the thrilling conclusion to the first season of the Adventurer’s League

Game on, Game Fans.