Adventurer's League Season 2 (Part 6, Lower Track)

All right Game Fans, we’re continuing with our look at the 2nd season of the Adventurer’s League for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th edition.  Unlike last season, we’re not going to take these adventures in numeric order, but we’ve split them up into two different tracks based off of their suggested character level.  Today we’re looking at the final adventure for the lower level track, DDEX 2-16: Boltsmelter’s Book.  Let’s dive in, and take a closer look at the next part of Season 2

DDEX 2-16 Boltsmelter’s Book

All right Game Fans, Season 2 of Adventurer”s League (The Elemental Evil Story Arc) picks up with a change of pace.  Dwarves have stopped in at the city of Mulmaster, and one of them needs some security during his stay.  What secrets is this dwarf keeping, and how long will they stay secrets?  Hopefully we know some heroes who can help him out.

DDEX 2-16: Boltsmelter's Book, is designed for 1st thru 4th level characters, with an average party size of 5 suggested.  For Adventurer’s League play, the level range is a hard ceiling, and characters of 5th level or higher are not playable in this adventure.  This specific adventure is built to run in four parts.  Remember to bring your D & D Survival Kit with you when you show up to game.

Note 2:  This adventure has a couple of interesting mechanics for the  DM to follow, so make sure you’re ready for the sections in Parts 1 & 2 that play a little differently.

Part 1: I’m on a Boat

The first part of this adventure starts with the party all ready in the middle of things.  Furgis Boltsmelter has hired the adventurers to provide security while he prepares for a journey.  While outfitting and provisioning a ship for long journey, trouble strikes.  The characters will have to think and act quickly to meet the Dwarf’s expectations for security.  If the characters succeed, it’s only a temporary success, as the trouble rapidly multiples.  

Part 2: Now What?

Trouble has wandered across the city of Mulmaster.  Elemental cults are actively scouring the city looking for Furgis, and the characters by extension.  The adventurers are going to need all their wits and faculties to get out of this particular jam alive (and hopefully paid).  Finding a place to lay low is the focus of this section of the adventure, but there are plenty of opportunities to get into scraps with the cultists along the way.  Eventually, Furgis and the adventurers feel a pull, drawing them below Mulmaster

Part 3: The Hammers of Moradin

This section of the adventure escalates the level of trouble.  A delegation of dwarves meets the characters  while they are following the pull of Furgis’s item, and demand the return of both Furgis and the item.  Before any resolution can be reached, all hell breaks loose and a third party decides to take a shot at the Dwarf and his item.  Regardless of the outcome of this fight, the adventurers will need to follow up in the next section to manage the call of Furgis’s Item.

Part 4: The Earthen Cyst

Surprisingly, this section of the adventure allows for a diplomatic opportunity to manage the crisis.  It’s possible to make a new friend and gain assistance in entering the Earthen Cyst, a powerful elemental node currently under the control of one of the Elemental cults.  Once inside the Cyst, the fight is on with the stiffest resistance presented so far by one of the Elemental Cults.  After the cult has been defeated, the party has an opportunity to acquire some treasure, pick up some new magic before gearing up for the next adventure.  

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:  For completing this adventure, your character will gain anywhere between 900 and 1,200 experience points, depending on how things end up going and how many people are playing.  If this is your first adventure in your Adventurer’s League career, you’re going to make it to level 3 with some progress into level 4.  If you’re continuing from DDEX 2-12, you’ll end up with between 5,875 and 7,400 experience points.  This puts you firmly in the middle of level 4, and possibly into level 5.  Level 4 gives you the option of using the catching up usage of Downtime that will let you trade downtime days to get to level 5.  

·         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 you are continuing from Dark Rites at Fort Dalton, you should end up with 95 Downtime Days.  

    Note 1:  Characters have an opportunity to spend downtime days to accomplish a couple of effects.  During Part 2 of the adventure they need to find a safe house, and some of the options of acquiring a safe house by spending downtime days.  The other option for using Downtime Days involves spending some money and downtime days to add new spells to a spellbook.  Check with your DM for how to utilize these options.  

            Renown: All faction members receive 1 point of renown for participating in this adventure.  

Favor/Enmity: Depending on what the characters decide to do with the item at the conclusion of the adventure, a character may end up making a new friend in the Underdark,

So now that you’ve completed Boltsmelter’s Book, check your character, level up if you need to, pick up additional gear and get ready for the next adventure.

All right Game Fans, that’s our review of this adventure.  Next week we’ll be back to start our look at the upper level track of adventures for this season.  We’ll pick up with DDEX 2-3 The Drowned Tower and DDEX 2-4 Mayhem in the Earthspur Mines.  If you need to check back on the season so far, check out: http://zardozgames.blogspot.com/p/adventurers-league-season-2-compilation.html

Game on, Game Fans, we’ll see you next week