Adventurer's League Season 3 part 6 (Mid Level Track Part 2)

All right Game Fans, we’re continuing with our look at the 3rd season of the Adventurer’s League for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th edition.  Like 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 mid level track, DDEX 3-8 The Malady of  Elventree and DDEX 3-9 The Waydown.  Let’s dive in, and take a closer look at the next part of Season 3.

DDEX 3-8 The Malady of Elventree

All right Game Fans, Season 3 of Adventurer’s League (The Rage of Demons Story Arc) continues with DDEX 3-8, The Malady of Elventree. Madness has taken root in the elven settlement of Elventree.  An escaped slave seems to have brought this affliction of the mind down on the citizens, but are there stronger forces at work?  Someone’s going to have to discover the root of this trouble and bring it safely to an end.  

Like most of the tier 2 adventures, DDEX 3-8 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 or higher than 10th are not playable in this adventure.  This specific adventure is to run in three parts, and should take around 4 hours to complete from start to finish.  Remember to bring your D & D Survival Kit with you when you show up to game.  If you’re running this adventure, pick whichever hook you think will attract your party’s attention and get the fun started from there.  

Part 1:  Hall of the Unicorn

The Adventure begins with the characters arriving for a concert at the Temple of Mielikki in Elventree.  Upon arriving to the concert (late), they notice that a lot of folks are behaving very strangely.  Madness has overtaken the guests and it’s spreading amongst the city.  The church would like the characters to investigate the source of the madness and find a way to swiftly end it.  

Part 2:  Going down the Waydown

The second part of this adventure requires a little bit of hiking, but eventually the characters can find their way to the river, and hopefully get closer to the source of the troubles.  Depending on party composition and faction loyalty, there are a couple of different directions that the party can take, but they eventually lead into a confrontation with unexpectedly terrifying enemies.  Once the characters have overcome these challenges, they can push deeper into the Underdark in pursuit of a lead.

Part 3:  The Duergar of Zortagra

This part of the adventure brings the characters to an ancient deep gnome fortress that had been taken over by Duergar.  The dark dwarves have been corrupted by the lingering madness that has affected Elventree, but it’s a far stronger madness in the underdark.  The characters can find the source of all the trouble if they can manage a confrontation with Deep Duerra herself.  

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:  Completing this adventure will net your character between 4,500 and 6,000 experience points.  If you’re playing with a fresh 5th level character, this should put you at somewhere between 11,000 and 12,500 experience points. Your character is still level five, but you’re closing in on Level 6 pretty hard.  If this isn’t your first Tier 2 adventure, then you could have any number of experience points.  

·         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.  Make sure you add this to your total from previous adventures.  

·         Renown:  Every Character earns a point of renown.    There are a couple of ways for characters to pick up extra renown, and Zhentarim agents have the possibility of completing a secret mission for the faction.  

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

DDEX 3-9 The Waydown

Season 3 of the Adventurer’s League continues the Rage of Demons story arc and carries on with  The Waydown.  After multiple incursions by hostile monsters emerging from a sinkhole that leads deeper in the underdark, the First Lord of Hillsfar has ordered defenses built around the site for the common good.  However, an emissary needs to find their way home without arousing the suspicions of the Red Plumes.  

DDEX 3-9 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 or higher than 10th are not playable in this adventure.  This adventure is built to run in 4 parts and in an Introduction.  It shoud take about 4 hours start to finish.  Remember to bring your D & D Survival Kit with you when you show up to game.

Introduction:

While on their way to Hillsfar, the characters bump into a couple of travellers who have an “Exciting Opportunity.”  The minstrels have a request (that pays money), and it’s the easiest thing in the world.  The characters need to escort a person and a load of supplies past the garrison at the Waydown and get it safely into the hands of people who will put it to good use.  Easiest thing in the world, right?

Part 1:  The Dinner Performance

The characters have to convincingly portray a group of minstrels and perform well enough to get the emissary and the supplies past the garrison without alerting the soldiers to the deception.  It’s possible that the characters can navigate this challenge socially and use their considerable skills to deceive and persuade the guards that everything is ok.  It’s also possible that this turns into a battle inside the Garrison itself.  Fighting is probably not the best solution to the situation, but you’re capable adventurers, you’ll figure this out, hopefully.  

Part 2:  The Red Plume Garrison

Once the characters have successfully gained entrance to the Garrison, they’ll eventually have to make their way through the Garrison without alerting the sentires or triggering a response.  This is much more of a stealth mission than an assault, and you’ll need to adjust your thinking to manage it.  Navigating the Garrison presents some interesting challenges, but a party is capable of handling this challenge however they like.  

Part 3: Down the Waydown

The characters have finally cleared the Red Plume Garrison and are almost home free.  There are native humanoids that aren’t pleased about humans entering their territory and they’ve been waiting to ambush the next batch of them that they see.  The characters will have to work fast in order to stop the ambush before they lose precious supplies and resources they’re escorting.  

Part 4:  The Shrine of Two-Fold Sin

The characters have stumbled into another place tainted by madness.   The Kuo-Toans have been visited by their gods and now worship at their feet and accept their strange allies as their own.  In order to prevent further attacks from this group of underdark dwellers, the characters will need to handle these gods and their allies.  Not everyone is as hostile as they appear, and the characters can find an unexpected ally if they look hard enough.  

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:  Completing this adventure will net your character between 4,500 and 7,500 experience points.   If you’re playing with a fresh 5th level character, this should put you at somewhere between 11,000 and 14,000 experience points.  You’re probably a 5th level character, but if you manage to squeeze out all of the experience points, you could make 6th level.  If this isn’t your first adventure with this Tier 2 character, make sure you adjust your experience points accordingly.  

·         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 completing this adventure.  Make sure you adjust your downtime days correctly.

·         Renown:  Each character is going to get one point of renown. Order of the Gauntlet and Lord’s Alliance Faction members have the opportunity to complete special assignments during this adventure, but they have to be at least rank 2 to qualify.  Zhentarim characters earn an additional point of renown for completing this mission.    

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

And those are the next two adventures in Season 3.  We’ll be back next week to take a gander at the next two adventures in the mid level track.  For those playing along at home, that’s The Quest for Sporedome (DDEX 3-11) and Writhing in the Dark (DDEX 3-13).  Game on, Game Fans.