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

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 next two adventures for the upper level track, DDEX 2-9 Eye of the Tempest and DDEX 2-13 The Howling Void.  Let’s dive in, and take a closer look at the next part of Season 2

DDEX 2-9 Eye of the Tempest

All right Game Fans, Season 2 of Adventurer”s League (The Elemental Evil Story Arc) picks up with a desperate plea.  A storm of unprecedented danger sits in the Earthspur Mountains threatening the Monastery of the Yellow Rose.  Some monks have fled from the danger, and are looking for help convincing their wayward brethren to depart.

DDEX 2-9: Eye of the Tempest, 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 an 8 hour adventure, so it should take two weekly 4 hour sessions to complete.  

Part 1: Introduction

The first part of this adventure basically sets the adventurers up to travel to the Monastery of the Yellow Rose.  They have several options to pick up supplies, gather information, and do a bunch of stuff to get ready for an overland excursion into reasonably hostile territory.  Once these preparations are made, the adventures have their choice of routes, and the writer of this adventure has done an excellent job of preparing encounters for either of the two routes that are offered.  Both routes provided get the characters within encounter range of the Monastery of the Yellow Rose.

Part 2: Calm Before the Storm

This section of the adventure requires some heavy thinking.  The adventurers are going to have to enter the Monastery and figure out who/what/why is causing the storm and try to figure out how to put an end to it.  The problem is that most of the religious folks at this monastery are honest, good believers in their religion, and there are an awful lot of them to try and manage.  This may require some healthy levels of sneakery, some poking around, and some research.  A frontal assault is probably not the best option.  There are a lot of interactions and opportunities to encounter folks who are friendly and not so friendly, so pay attention to the people you meet.  

Part 3: Eye of the Storm

This section of the adventure is the culmination of a lot of hard work from both adventurers and bad guys.  Eventually, the adventurers figure out that something is up at one of the parts of the Monastery, and unless someone stops it, all sorts of Elemental Hellfire is going to rain down on the Monastery.  Again, the writer has given a couple of different ways to engage the problem, and there are varying degrees of success or failure depending on how the players proceed.  After the characters have completed this part, it’s time to sort out the treasure, count some experience points, and wrap this up.

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 6,000 and 8,000 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 12,500 and 14,500 experience points.  If you’re continuing from DDEX 2-4,  you’re going to have between 17,785 and 23,400 experience points.  If you’re continuing from Season 1, you’ll end up with between 37,500 and 47,500 experience points.  Playing with a brand new character, or continuing from the lower level track of Season 2, you’re either at the upper end of level 5 or well on your way into level 6, possibly level 7 depending on how things went..  If you’re continuing from a Season 1 character, you’re sitting in level 8, and could potentially be level 9.    

·         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 Mayhem in the Earthspur Mines  you should end up with 125 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. Emerald Enclave faction members can earn an additional point of renown for actions taken in this adventure.

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

DDEX 2-13 The Howling Void

All right Game Fans, Season 2 of Adventurer”s League (The Elemental Evil Story Arc) picks up with more misgivings at the Monastery of the Yellow Rose.  Even with the intervention of heroic adventurers from nearby Mulmaster, the Cult of the Howling Hatred has advanced their evil plans and something must be done to save the city of Mulmaster from the forces of Elemental Evil.  

DDEX 2-13: The Hwoling Void, 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 two 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.  If you are playing this adventure right after playing Eye of the Tempest, make sure you keep track what happened during Eye, as it will have different effects on how this adventure plays out.  

Part 1: The End is just the Beginning

The Monastery of the Yellow Rose has been the site of an infiltration by the cult of the Howling Hatred, and adventurers recently exposed the cult, and prevented them from completing one ritual at the site.  However, there are still priests missing from the monastery, and troubles that ail the monks.  Secreted beneath the monastery is a terrible secret, and that secret could be used to cause terrible havoc to the world at large.

Part 2: The Node of Evil Elemental Air

The Node awaits beneath the monastery, and the adventurers have several opportunities to try and rescue the missing monks while depopulating members of the cult of the Howling Hatred.  This is more of a marathon than a sprint, so plan accordingly and use your thinking caps to work your way through these trials and tribulations.  This is a LONG part, and it will take a wide variety of solutions and potential plans to fully end the machinations of the Cult of the Howling Hatred.  

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 5,000 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 11,500 experience points.  If you’re continuing from DDEX 2-9,  you’re going to have between 20,785 and 28,400 experience points.  If you’re continuing from Season 1 with a character that’s played DDEX 2-9, you’ll end up with between 40,500 and 52,500 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 fourth adventure in the level 2 upper level track, you’re probably still level 6, but could have made it to level 7.  If you’re continuing from a Season 1 character but following DDEX 2-9, you’re sitting in level 8, and could probably be level 9.    

·         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 Eye of the Void  you should end up with 135 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, Order of the Gauntlet, and Emerald Enclave faction members can earn an additional point of renown for actions taken in this adventure.  Further, depending on the personalities rescued from the Node, an additional point of renown can be earned by all faction members.

So now that you’ve completed The Howling Void, 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 2-14 The Sword of Selfaril and DDEX 2-15 The Heart of Vengeance.  If you need to check back on the season so far, check out: http://zardozgames.blogspot.com/p/adventurers-league-season-2-compilation.html

 

Now, that will bring us to the conclusion of Season 2, and after we finish up, we’ll review Princes of the Apocalypse before we take a break and cover some other things.  Game on, Game Fans, we’ll see you next week