Running the Red Hand of Doom

Yes... starting here because I tied LMoP with RHoD

I returned to being a DM after a long (45 year) year hiatus and wanted to make sure I was able to master how the game was being played today, So, I got a subscription to DnDbeyond, 5 players who could play in-person and a bag of dice. I chose the run the Lost Mines of Phandelver (LMoP) because, at the time it was free and contained in-line notes explaining how to play the game for those who had never played before.

Our Journals of those adventures are contained here - Lost Mines of Phandelver  I am thankful to Matthew Perkins for his lovely Youtube series on the LMoP. His approach informed how I might tackle the Red Hand of Doom.

HOOKS

These are the assumptions I made about the NPC and their motivations along with how I linked them to the RHoD

• Venomfang - If this bastard doesn't TPK the party, then he flys off and joins the Horde and is known as Ozyrandion
• Reidoth the Druid - I allowed him to use faerie circles to transport the party to and from Venomfang. Why did he do this?
• Ghostlord - The  and Reidoth the Druid are the same guy. Reidoth was a druid back when the Wave Echo Caverns were destroyed and subsequently he became a lich. - more on this later
• Gulthias Tree - There is vampiric tree as sort of a throw away in LMoP and I decided this was planted by the Ghostlord and that further, the tree in his Lair is also a Gulthias Tree. - More on this later.
• Gundren works with Axehaft Security - But, they refused to help him with the liberation of Wave Echo Caverns - there is a plot reason, but that's enough.
• Kidnapping of princess - Cliché, but I did have a princess join a cult which, while not in the RHoD seemed to fit well because I needed a Halloween episode, I started teasing it in LMoP.  There is a reward.
• Sildar - Is a Lion of Brindol and can deliver the reward for the princess and let the party know that hundreds of teenagers are joining a strange cult.
• Forge of Spells - I had it grant a couple of highly powered items, but really it was the Ghostlord giving out these items.

GAME PLAY

I got my footing in this adventure, learning the game from a couple of players with experience, the LMoP module and from loads of prep work. It players well, but the whole Thundertree bit was disconnected.

RHoD and the Elsir Vale are set in Forgotten Realms, but leagues and leagues away from Phandalin and the ending of the last adventure. with that In mind I made a bunch of changes.... so many and long enough ago that I don't remember all of them.  I will say this:

• Brindol = Triboar
• Drellin's Ferry = Noanar's Hold
• Witchwood are just beyond Noanar's Hold to the East
• Black Fens = Evenmoors
• The ghostlord's Thornwaste is to the south
• Hammerfist Holds is Mithral Hall - more on that
• Normally the horde sweeps West to East, I reversed that

Where ever you place RHoD, you may want to spend a few minutes making sure the distances make sense. This module has a timing mechanism, a ticking clock that works best if the distances are the same as there were in the original game.... finding those distances, well it's not easy.  here is my work with my translated names. Elsir's Vale Travel

All of this necessitated me converting the PDF of RHoD into google documents and running search and replace on these term which was fine because I was going to want to add lots of things to the story.

Children of rich and influential nobles are being lured away by a seductive cult that has these teens renounce their wealth and position, adopt rough spun robes and head eastward along the Dawn's Way. No one know where they are going, but they alway say eastward.

The party meets this cult and I just had them share pithy quotes from a self-help book called the  "The Secret". This is very metaphysical and had the players wandering what gods were are work when they meet member of the "Children of Doom" on Conywell Pass. They got nowhere question members of the cult because the all professed that there were a leaderless organization and simple followed the universe.  [I can share this if you guys want]. There was a battle with orcs and ogres because my players require combat after metaphysical discussions with spoiled rich kids.

They followed the cult to Triboar where they encountered the Teskerhill's who raise horses for the all of the nobles, knights and cavalry in the area. Apparently, the eldest had recently returned from the Children of Doom and murdered the patriarch of the family and fled.  The cult is tied in with the Red Hand Horde, brainwashing the teenagers to kill their parents. In this case, the horse ranch is then run by a younger, incompetent brother who struggles to make the decision. The cult is all about degrading the operational abilities of Elsir's Vale to wage war.

Many session later, after the fall of Noanar's hold (Drilling's Ferry) the party deals with this cult, and rescues nearly 1,000 youth who end up being refugees heading home.  I enjoyed this story line, but it's not in the original.

Ahead of the Harvest Close festival, the central square is filled with large banners and streamers flapping gently in the wind.  The colors of autumn, these banners seem to flap to the music of the many small bands of poets, musicians and amateur musicians filling every corner of the square. Drums, Ocarinas, flutes and fiddles.

I made their first encounter with the people of Noanar's Hold (Drellin's Ferry) a fun one. The party come to town after a stiff battle against a marauding band of hobgoblins, only to find a festival with contests and prizes. Seems like this town is clueless. They are mostly interested in the kegs of ale the party liberated from the marauders. It seems these are required for a drinking contest and Tharma, the local barkeep pays cash on the barrel, whisking away the assortment of imported ales.

What followed was a set of mini-games.... really different from dungeon crawls and combat, but it allowed them to get to know the inhabitants.

Drinking Contest

If you start with a dozen participants it's kinda fun.

• 1st round: Mug of Brightwood Ale (DC 11 CON Save);
• 2nd round: Mug of Splintertooth Ale (DC 14 CON Save);
• 3rd round: Mug of Gut Punch Ale (DC 17 CON Save);
• Bonus rounds: Green Death Ale (DC 20 CON Save per mug)

Any dwarf has a solid chance here as I gave them advantage on these rolls.

Arm Wrestling

Wrestle against Soranna Anita These are just opposed "Athletics" checks. If you best her by 5 or more you advance 1/2.  Note: she has determination and can roll at advantage. No one from out of town is going to bet her.  Anyone with enough strength to carry a spear is offered a place in the local militia

The Hungry Hobgoblin

Hide and seek for the kids but our halfling entered this contest and helped another kid win using luck. Basically, the kids make stealth checks every 10 minutes and seeker makes an investigation check. The seekers starts off rolling with advantage because there are so many kids to find:

• 5-6: Investigation Check with Advantage;
• 3-4: Straight Investigation Check;
• 1-2: Investigation Check with Disadvantage.

Archery

Three arrows at short range. If there is a tie, three more arrows at long range (disadvantage)

• AC = 22 Bullseye! (10 points);
• AC = 18 Yellow band (8 points);
• AC = 16 Red band (6 points);
• AC = 14 Blue band (4 points).

A halfling kid almost beat our ranger.  Fun times

Horse Race

Each lap the contestants must make Animal Handling and Acrobatics/Athletics. They have to add these numbers together and the highest one is in the lead.  On the final lap, everyone is tired so I made them make a CON check and if you failed you have to make your other two checks as disadvantage.  I think e did four laps and it was surprisingly close and everyone was into it.  Our druid and ranger entered against another of Kellin Shadowbanks' children. The ranger was riding a horse he got from Owen Teskerwill named Pinkslip. Very fast, I gave the horse +3 per lap.... still he barely edged out young Moira Shadowbanks. Later, Ms. Shadowbanks adventures with them and guards horses.

There was also a dance contest and a pie eating contest, but the townies won these.

WHY ALL THIS STUFF

The town doesn't want to worry everyone, but they are identifying talent prior to raising a militia. 

Mostly, I made few changes here.  I did two things:

THING 1 - BREAKING A BRIDGE

3e had some interesting rule on breaking a stone bridge and these were not at all clear to me. My goal was to force the players to either attack the bridge defenders, or the bridge and make it difficult for them. I wanted it to take roughly 6 rounds of concerted effort on the bridge to take it down. Oh and I should add, they recruited old Warklegnaw to throw stones and had some Arrows of Seiging.  So the spreadsheet helped become up with the following:

Bridge Breaking Rules

• Stone Hardness = 10
• HP per 5ft section = 150
• Damage = Dice Roll - Stone Hardness
• When two adjacent sections are destroyed the bridge falls the next round.  DEX Saving throw if nearby.

Modifiers

1. Fire / Electrical = 1/2,  Cold = 1/4
2. Force and Thunder = Full Damage
3. Bardic Inspiration can add to the damage

NOTE TO FUTURE DMs - If Old Warklegnaw throws boulders at the dragon and scores a critical combat is greatly shortened. Our halfling dealt the killing blow on Ozyrrandion (Venomfang) and the bard (Zaila Fanter) wrote a lovely poem in her honor while managing to rhyme wizardry with lizardry. Day 9 - An Ode to Pimzin, Slayer of Dragons

THING 2 - Introduce Caleb Teskerhill

Caleb is the fellow who joined a Cult of Secrets and got brainwashed to killed his father.... the party finds him in a daze heading towards the horde near Skull Gorge Bridge.  He is under a strong enchantment which is difficult to break, but once they are back in town, they are successfully in lifting the enchantment. Caleb Teskerhill knows the location of the cult and will guides them there. He is a competent horseman and if they party get them through to the Battle of Triboar, an able ally in combat there.

I offered victory points to defeating the Cult and we spent a couple of sessions infiltrating and chopping the head off the serpent. This was a Halloween episode so I wanted the enemy to have creepy mind control charm abilities.  And yes, they were creepy.  The end result is having to lead nearly 1,000 barefoot hippies back to civilization, not Noanar's Hold (Drellin's Ferry), but to Calling Horns where the townsfolk are none to happy to see the extra mouths to feed.

Leading a gaggle of teenagers, newly freed from mind control enchantments they arrive in Calling Horns where I contrived a fist fight between a roguish member of a local gang, the Crimson Tigers and Rolf Axehaft a member of Axehaft Security on an undisclosed mission. They turn over a rescued young lady, Loreal Neverember to Rolf and he promises to ride with  the princess and a message to Lord Jarmaath

Before riding, Rold shares what he knows about a Road Block and the party has their net goal.

PARTY NAMES - somehow this party doesn't have a party name yet, so a disgruntled merchant, Iormel Cowell is heard rabble rousing in the square and calling them the Destroyers of the Dawn's Way.... I was hoping they name themselves the Destroyers of the Dawn, but they had other ideas.  Sigh.

1. They broke the Road Block
2. Fought the Razor Fiend, and
3. Met the Tiri Kitor

THE TIRI KITOR

They were pacifist and refused to help, needing all of their owls for their own defense.  In a lightly defiant move,Trellara Nightshadow (whose brother, Lanikar Nightshadow gave them a couple of elven canoes and they paddles to the Rhest which I have in the Evenmoors and the module called the Blackfens.

The players went 3 sessions without a long rest, so they spell casters were 95% exhausted. Why? The environment is hostile. crocodiles, mosquitos, lizard folk, and occasional dragon, razor fiends crooning in the distance. This is not a place one can get a proper rest unless they have the "Hut" spell, which my party did not. Now, the bard keeps one ready.

So, no rest, equals higher tension and as a DM, this was an awesome set of encounters. I did not change things much. This is where I started using the maps of a gifted mapmaker, Canvas Quest. The maps are clean and beautiful. Support him.

What changed? The location of the Blackfens is the Evenmoors. The location of the Tiri Kitor is to the south of the Evenmoors.

FINDING THE GHOSTLORD

For the location of the Thornwastee I used the hills south of the Evenmoors, but I made this waste vast. Neither Tiri Kitor scouts nor the Druid flying in animal form were able to find exact location, so they returned to Triboar (changed from Brindol) and asked around for help with lore, arcana and even a Map shop.  Here is where I made a change.

The Mapmaker had a lovely map showing the location, but it was purchased by a halfling named Merryfield Brambleburrow. The party was delighted because they'd had tea and cakes with this guy. He's friendly, helpful and the kind of NPC the players enjoy interacting with.  A real gem. So they go to his house and find out Merry's wife sold it to Lady Kaal and it hangs in her study. This sets up a high-stakes side quest to get in and get out without Lady Kaal noticing because, as the adventure goes, you'll be meeting her again to conduct some diplomacy.

IN THE THORNWASTE

The mechanics defined in the module are annoying, but we went with them resulting in players having to stop and rest over little 1 HP wounds that slow progress. I would not change this, the mechanics of it are simple enough and not one 'hated' it.

THE GREAT LION

 The module didn't call this out specifically, but I highly recommend you use this. There are two ways in, but not matter which way you go you'll face Varanthian:

1. Between the legs of the lion - The Behir will sneak attack.
2. Into the Mouth - The party may lower a ladder and climb up it. If they do, the Behir should rush out and shoot lightning at all of the aligned party, then attempt to climb the rope ladder.... he is too heavy and the rope will break.

At least that was. my plan. The lightning lizard got the lightning bolt off and the party was in deep trouble most members saved and the one that didn't had 3 HP remaining.  If the lizard had broken the ladder she was surely dead.  Instead, the Druid used the "Polymorph" spell, the Behir failed his save and was turned into a rat, slumbering at the bottom of the rope ladder.  They got a free round to attack it before it changed back and without the previously perfect conditions we had a dead Behir.

Fun, fun, fun encounter, but it could have been a TPK.

THE GHOSTLORD

This guys is a big change for me.  I've always liked the idea of.lich as a BBEG and here he is:

• They've met before - Ghostlord was in the form of Reidoth the Druid who "helped" them navigate the faerie circles to get to Thundertree and face Ozyrrandion.
• He's Grooming the Party Druid - At the conclusion of the Lost Mines of Phandelver caused the "Forge of Spells" to work again for one last time, granting the party a boon. As a DM I explained this as.... well, almost no chance to get magic items and characters who are 5th level should have some. Therefore a mysterious wizard Alalix Tressander grants them magical items.  A Staff of the Woodlands and the Axe of Dumathoin  The axe is a macguffin to lead us to the next campaign "The Curse of Mithral Hall". It's is powerful but also cursed.
• He want's the Druid or the Staff - The ghostlord mistakenly thinks the party druid might join him if only he can explain his life mission to him. But the mission involves distasteful, unethical and forbidden magics. Namely, Awakening Beasts and then creating new species. To do this he will create an undead version of the Unknown in the next adventure "The Curse of Mithral Hall" and use it to power his schemes.
• Return of the Ghostlord (RotG) - is the campaign that resolves his BBEG-ness.
• Poorly Hidden Phylacterys - Why, why, why would the ghostlord make it that easy to get at his phylactery? Hubris I guess. After Negotiations this will never happen again, he vows.
• Memory Wipe & Timeout - The party acts in good faith, but ends up memory wiped (not remembering anything about the last 24 hours and believe that the Lich is a reasonable fellow.  Additionally, he places them onto a demi-plane where time runs differently. He already has another fellow there, Alalix Tressander because, the ghostlord reasons, his deep knowledge may be useful in getting the getting the Mythallar started but without slowing down time for Alalix, he will be dead before the long-term schemes of the Ghostlord can play out over the centuries.
• The Release - Essentially, the ghostlord used up 5 days in real time to properly hide his phylactery. It is no longer trapped over the branch of a tree. The party is released, meets the "Red Lion of Triboar" who is the commander of one of the Units that will be used in Mass Combat.

And this chapter ends with the party having no idea where the Ghostlord lives, only that he was a misunderstood fellow.

Long rest is a super powerful pull in this game. A fully charged caster becomes a god again, even at 8th level but sometimes I'd important to emphasize the martial classes and make those caster carefully consider when their heads will next see a pillow.  The Battle of Brindol (Triboar) is one of those nights.  It's starts 2 hours after sunset and never stops.... of does it?

The Sphinx

In Red's Magic shop there is a Gynosphinx and if your party is like mine they are always visiting magic shops. When they do, Alandri the human-looking sphinx is working there. She hates hagglers because haggling is a way to ignore riddles and she will grant discounts for witty word play.... WHY? It's important to get into her motivations a bit. I played here as enslaved by Immerstal the Red wizard; enjoined from speaking of her plight directly. She is permitted to speak in riddles. So with every visit, my party was confronted by another riddle, each time a little easier, but every time the left the magic shop they commented that's the weirdest encounter we've ever had.

On the eve of battle I gave them the easy riddle and boom.... she's a sphinx. Now she can speak freely and she offers a bargain. Should the Red Wizard die, she will be freed. In exchange she has the power to stop time allowing the party to get an 8 hour long rest.

The Murder Hobos

Are they murder hobos? What are the consequences?

My party joked about needing to kill this slaver keeping red wizard each session, but the did not do it. Instead after the Sniper encounter and before the cathedral comes around I have the party confronted by Lord Jarmaath and the Red Wizard.  Both are poisoned, reduced to zero strength and unable to move. Our cleric shrewdly offered to restore the wizard's strength but only if the wizard, releases the sphinx.  The wizard is reluctant, but he honors his word.

The Long Rest

The sphinx arrives, creates a time-shifted time hut and the party gets a long rest. They emerge, clean, rested and fully charged. There is nothing like a party that knows there is just one final fight and they can throw spells around with abandon.... especially after having had to conserver them for so many sessions.

Where I Failed

DnD 5e can bog down if you bring too many units into combat and I was tempted to rebalance the encounter with loads of numerical units rather than smaller numbers of higher power, elite units. In the end, they say they enjoyed the battle, but it was very different from the streets of blood or battling the dragon where the combat rounds flew by.

As a DM, always remember that 20-sided die can make a play feel like they missed a turn.... a turn they waited a long time for.

This was cake for them because they had earned the long rest.  Honestly, I had send 4 waves of enemies after them and it was still easy.

What worked well was sending General Kharn against Lord Jarmaath and attempting to kill him... I came really close.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In counsel after the Red Hand retreated I had Caleb Teskerhill deliver much of the news. I hope I mentioned him before, but if not a brief set of bullet points 

• Teskerhill's raise horses for defense.
• Caleb was sucked into the Cult of Secrets and brainwashed to kill his father. -- Which he did.
• The party rescued him -- and he returned to the city just as the battle was about to begin.
• He levied his men, fierce riders on horseback and fought for the city

So, Caleb is this cursed and redeemed fellow who still fills the wicked pull of the Cult. He knows that when the party thought they had rescued nearly 1,000 youth from the cult that only 200 came back to the city. The others, just as they were programed, walked to the Fane of Tiamat and became sacrifices. It was those 800 souls that provided the energy for the ritual in part 5.

So, in counsel, Caleb shares his dreams, as Velorian, owner of the eponymous playhouse shares where her spies learned. Lord Jarmaath is the one that makes the difficult ask. Please disrupt this ritual. 

The party teleported to Vraath Keep and began their Journey there.

From Vraath keep, I had them revisit Skull Gorge Bridge which was somewhat repaired and guarded by typical hobgoblins. These they destroyed without blinking.

On the approach, I introduced them to Blackspawn Raider and their old friend Jorr Westwood, the ranger who I styled after Clint Eastwood in Grand Torino.  Great character.  Jorr has been harrying the Red Hand for week and was about the enter the gates at the Fane of Tiamat, but he cannot make out the magic words uttered to get in.  Basically, I use him to allow the party to defuse the front door trap.  That trap is only there to drain the cleric of spells.

Oh.... our cleric cast Legend Lore and learns the plot.  This is really important. because the Red Hand of Doom doesn't have a straightforward plot.  Legend Lore informs them, motivates them and scares them.  I highly recommend it. They learn

• The Fane has an inner and outer sanctum.
• The fane is used to join and amplify the energies of multiple casters for the ritual
• Doom Hand Cleric and Doom Hand Warpriests are likely providing energy to the main caster in the Inner Sanctum
• These types of places can allow forbidden magics... think 10th, 11th and 12th level spells
• The goal is to open a rift between the planes and allow the infernal creatures of Avernus to come through.

That ate this up and make a B-line straight away.

Along the way, I had Regiarax and Wyrmlord Ulwai Stormcaller defending just before the Outer Sanctum. They had a score to settle with her and frankly it's fun as the DM to have a bard apply inspiration to assist a dragon with saving throws against Polymorph.  

They are about the approach the outer sanctum where the bard has retreated. I'm not sure they have enough spells to handle this... and neither are they.

Fun Fact - If you just push into the Fane and go straight the only thing stopping you from getting to the ritual is a single secret door and a few encounters.... oh and a health dose of fear.  As they push down the path there are doors left and right, but they ignore these.

Why?

Because they were given two teleport scrolls one to get close to the Fane and one to return to Brindol (Triboar).  So, the strategy is to do the Fane in one push.... super dangerous, but teleport out if they run into trouble.

WHAT I'D CHANGE

I'd just give them one teleport scroll.  OR..... I'd give them one because Immerstal the Red wizard is no longer around. In a previous session my part liberated the GynoSphinx and the Wizard left town for his own preservation, therefore, one teleport scroll. If the Wizard was around, he would surely make them a second scroll. As it was, the sphinx, Alandri gave the party her bugout magic kit which has a few Qwalish Tokens etc.

THE GOAL

Disrupt the ritual.

THE SETUP

At the Inner Sanctum I've tricked out Foundry VTT to have Azarr Kul inside an impenetrable central dias. Energy pulses from the five dragon heads powering this protection, ensuring the ritual is not disrupted. Blue Abashai stand on the balconies helping channel this energy and as a side feat when they see the party arrive they begin minor summonings each round

• 1-2 - Another Abashai (1)
• 3-6 - Lemures (3-6) 1d4+2
• 7-10 - nothing

Mostly lemures fall from the sky, striking the protective dome surrounding Azarr Kul, the high priest. they fall the ground and engage the party. 

In Foundry, they party has shared global vision and should be able to see the Blue Abishai, but they do not for three rounds and instead engage the falling wandering monsters.  

Eventually, the Ranger sees and destroys one of the Abishai and in foundry I remove the energy beam powering the ritual.. it's clear they need to destroy the other four.  which they manage to do in two more rounds. 

Azarr Khul merely preps his spells at this point, Mirror Image, Shield of Faith, etc. Once the Barrier Drops he yells, "No!!! You've ruined everything."

They fight him, but he nearly kills everyone. an NPC, Jorr Westwood sacrifices himself. They use the teleport scroll to get out.

WHAT WORKED

• I would 100% recommend forcing them to stop the energy flows by killing some monsters that are helping to channel it. 
• Azarr Kul's Reaction - Incapacitate the first one who hits him in a round unless a DC 17 WIS save
• Breath Lightning - Great mechanic
• Harm Spell - Does like 50hp and causes a death or near death

THE FLAWS

• 250HP Azarr Khul with resistance to most damage types - They did about 1/2 of that, meanwhile he's swinging and doing 25-30hp on a hit.
• Legendary Resistance - OMG... his natural saves didn't require this and I didn't use this.