Adventurer's League Season 2 (Upper Track part 1)

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 first two adventures for the upper level track, DDEX 2-3 The Drowned Tower and DDEX 2-4 Mayhem in the Earthspur Mines.  Let’s dive in, and take a closer look at the next part of Season 2

DDEX 2-3 The Drowned Tower

All right Game Fans, Season 2 of Adventurer”s League (The Elemental Evil Story Arc) picks up with an investigation.  Something’s afoot with the Brotherhood of the Cloak, and someone’s looking for some adventurers to investigate quietly.  Something nefarious is afoot, and some adventurers are going to earn some hefty coin for finishing this investigation.

DDEX 2-3: The Drowned Tower, is designed for 5th thru 10th  level characters, with an average party size of 5 suggested.  For Adventurer’s League play, the level range is a hard ceiling, and characters below 5th level and above 10th level or higher are not playable in this adventure.  This specific adventure is built to run in three parts.  Remember to bring your D & D Survival Kit with you when you show up to game.

Note 1:  This adventure is optimized for level 6 characters, so if this is your first adventure reaching level 5, be extremely careful.  The option of faction charity is no longer a viable option, so if you do die, make sure you have enough GP to raise yourself.  

Note 2:  This adventure is listed as for characters of level 1-4 on the cover, this is erroneous

Part 1: The Rescue of Salvar Brix

The first part of this adventure starts with the party caught off guard by trouble.  While moving through Mulmaster, they witness an assault, and hopefully intervene.  Success puts them on the trail of a mystery, with a patron who has funds and influence that can help them with a variety of potential crises.  It also gives them a potential entrance to the Tower of Arcane Might.  Their new patron provides them a great deal of information and a hefty potential reward.

Part 2: The Investigation of Drayson Fivestar

This section of the adventure is a pretty straightforward investigation.  The characters have multiple methods of finding clues and figuring out what’s going on.  Investigate the areas thoroughly to be surprisingly rewarded with information, treasure, and experience points.  The various locations in this section don’t have to be engaged sequentially, so if something sounds interesting, check it out first and then work your way around.  The Characters have to return to their patron to check in, and this triggers the next part of the adventure.

Part 3: The Drowned Tower

This section of the adventure shifts from an investigation into a more traditional dungeon crawl.  The characters have a site to investigate, that is allegedly occupied by hostile creatures and potential traps.  The interesting thing about this section that i like the most is that the characters enter the Tower through the top and have to work their way down into the spooky/trapped/full of trouble sections.  There are some pretty serious combat encounters in the Tower, so keep your eyes and ears open, you need to be paying some pretty serious attention.  After the adventurers have completed their investigation of the tower they’re going to have a magic item to figure out what to do with and collect their rewards.

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 3,000 and 4,000 experience points, depending on how things end up going and how many people are playing.  If this is your first adventure after reaching level 5 you’re going to have between 9,500 and 10,500 experience points.  If you’re continuing from DDEX 2-16,  you’re going to have between 8,785 and 11,400 experience points.  If you’re continuing from Season 1, you’ll end up with between 28,500 and 35,500 experience points.  Playing with a brand new character, or continuing from the lower level track of Season 2, you’re firmly in the middle of level 5.  If you’re continuing from a Season 1 character, you’re sitting in level 7, and could potentially be level 8.    

·         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 Boltsmelter’s Book  you should end up with 105 Downtime Days.  If you are continuing from another point, or from a character from a different season, you’ll have to calculate your Downtime Days on your own.  

Renown: All faction members receive 1 point of renown for participating in this adventure. Lord’s Alliance and Harper faction members can earn an additional point of renown for actions taken in this adventure.

Favor/Enmity: The patron who initially hired the adventurers for this task is willing to sponsor the magically inclined members of the party to join the Cloaks.  

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

DDEX 2-4 Mayhem in the Earthspur Mines

All right Game Fans, Season 2 of Adventurer”s League (The Elemental Evil Story Arc) picks up with an investigation.  Something’s going on with one of the many mines in the Earthspur mountains, and a shipment is extraordinarily late.  Someone is going to have to check on the mine and determine the fate of the missing shipment.

DDEX 2-4: Mayhem in the Earthspur Mines, is designed for 5th thru 10th  level characters, with an average party size of 5 suggested.  For Adventurer’s League play, the level range is a hard ceiling, and characters below 5th level and above 10th 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 1:  This adventure is optimized for level 6 characters, so if this is your first adventure reaching level 5, be extremely careful.  The option of faction charity is no longer a viable option, so if you do die, make sure you have enough GP to raise yourself.  

Note 2: There are a variety of adventure hooks to bring a party of adventurers into this adventure.  Take the one that works with the party you have and start the day off right

Part 1: The Pit Fight

The first part of this adventure starts with the party trying to make contact with a mysterious dwarf.  There are a couple of different ways to interact with the environment, but the characters can either meet with the dwarf before his grand finale match, (this requires some trickery and mischief), or they can attempt to participate in a gladiatorial match and earn some coin.  Whichever way they choose to handle this, they find a lead on the problems that are affecting the mines.  

Part 2: The North Road

This section is a quick travel montage.  The adventurers have to move a fairly long distance on foot, and this part of the adventure features some travel, some interactions with interesting people.  Harper characters can pick up a side gig along the way, but the important interaction here is between the adventurers and the Ludwakazar dwarves.  

Part 3: Falling Stone Mine

This section of the adventure is a bit of a non-traditional dungeon crawl.  Infiltration may work better than a full out assault on the mine, but it’s up to the adventurers to figure out how to enter the mines and free the captive dwarves.  It’s an interesting encounter area with neat set pieces (including Mine Carts), so look around and see what the environment has to offer.  Be extremely aware that the monsters in this area are no joke, and you can find yourselves in a world of hurt very quickly.  Plan ahead, play smart.

Part 4: The Return

This section deals with the aftermath of the mines and the adventurers return to Mulmaster.  There are a few interactions that need to take place, and the Dwarves of the Ludwakazar clan have asked a favor of the adventurers.  Be clever and make sure you know what you’re supposed to do.  Once the characters have taken care of their obligations, it’s time to count up the loot and divvy up the 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:  For completing this adventure, your character will gain anywhere between 3,000 and 4,000 experience points, depending on how things end up going and how many people are playing.  If this is your first adventure after reaching level 5 you’re going to have between 9,500 and 10,500 experience points.  If you’re continuing from DDEX 2-3,  you’re going to have between 11,785 and 15,400 experience points.  If you’re continuing from Season 1 with a character that’s played DDEX 2-3, you’ll end up with between 31,500 and 39,500 experience points.  Playing with a brand new character, or continuing from the lower level track of Season 2, you’re firmly in the middle of level 5.  If this is your second adventure in the level 2 upper level track, you’re probably still level 5, but could have made it to level 6.  If you’re continuing from a Season 1 character but following DDEX 2-3, you’re sitting in level 7, and could probably be level 8.    
·         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 The Drowned Tower  you should end up with 115 Downtime Days.  If you are continuing from another point, or from a character from a different season, you’ll have to calculate your Downtime Days on your own.  

Renown: All faction members receive 1 point of renown for participating in this adventure. Lord’s Alliance, Zhentarim, Emerald Enclave and Harper faction members can earn an additional point of renown for actions taken in this adventure.

So now that you’ve completed Mayhem in the Earthspur Mines, 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 2-9 Eye of the Tempest and DDEX 2-13 The Howling Void.  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