Welcome !
It's been a while since I posted in this series. As a reminder, this is the tale of events in a D&D campaign I ran a while back, based on the "Sunless Citadel" module from the "Tales From The Yawning Portal" Dungeons & Dragons adventure book. In the last post, the party had entered the citadel, but then it all went wrong for them as they blundered into Kobold Central.
I hope you enjoy my D&D campaign write-ups, and the commentary I add to them. Questions, comments and feedback are welcome !
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Our dejected heroes, captured by the kobolds, spent an uncomfortable night sitting in a cell. The only healer in the party was Erioch, who was more of a battle-priest anyway, with only limited healing ability. But he was unconscious, although stabilised and no longer bleeding to death.
The kobolds had removed all their equipment, including healing potions. So the only healing the characters had available was the natural healing delivered by their enforced long rest.
By the morning, they were feeling a bit better and the two unconscious party members had come to their senses, although still very weak. They started to wonder what the kobolds had in store for them, why they hadn't been killed out of hand, and whether they had the ability to mount an escape attempt.
They decided that trying to escape while totally disarmed and with no armour or equipment might be just a bit too risky. Probably the first wise decision they'd made.
As a Dungeon Master, although I appreciate the "prison break" scenario can be fun, I'm not going to engineer one to make it too easy for them. I'd already been generous by not just inflicting a TPK (total part kill) on them when they attacked far more kobolds than was sensible for a first level party. There were limits to my generosity !
After a while, kobold guards came to collect them. There were enough guards to deter any attempt at any funny business, and the shackled prisoners were escorted back to the throne room that was the scene of their recent defeat.
Sitting on the throne was the shaman whose spells had done so much to turn the fight in the kobolds' favour. She turned out to speak reasonably good Common Tongue, and introduced herself as Yusdrayl.
The conversation between Yusdrayl and the party was surprisingly positive. It soon became clear to the characters that the kobolds might be notionally evil, but the reality was that (just like people everywhere) they just wanted to be able to get on with their lives.
The conversation was quite long and mostly cordial, with the party periodically having to sit on the head of Gorwin (their headstrong but not very bright warrior) to shut him up. It was helped by Yusdrayl healing their wounds.
It turned out that the kobolds were having problems with the goblins who also inhabited the Sunken Citadel, and that actually gave them common ground with the party, whose initial brief in Oakhurst had been to try to solve the problem of goblin raiding parties.
It was finally agreed that the party would get all their equipment back, and proceed deeper into the Sunken Citadel to go and kill goblins.
They spent the day recovering safely in the kobold controlled area, which enabled them to gain a level. In D&D, there are a couple of different mechanisms available for this. Some Dungeon Masters only allow a level gain at the end of an adventure, others apply it the moment it happens. I prefer an approach which allows a level gain to happen after a long rest in a place that's safe and if it makes narrative sense.
Then they left the kobold area and headed into danger, with the well wishes of their hosts ringing in their ears.
Next time..... goblins !
Previous posts in this series;
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-introduction
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-lets-meet-our-characters-
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-arrival-at-oakhurst
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-to-the-sunless-citadel
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-into-the-citadel
@alonicus/the-second-dandd-tarak-campaign-kobolds-are-people-too-