The type of fun you enjoy in a Dungeons & Dragons game depends on the group. It may also just depend on how they feel when you play the session.
For us, we are currently enjoying a fun romp through dangerous monsters, strange caverns, and many varied treasures. Yes, we are running the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.
There is not much of a plot to the dungeon, but there are many difficult challenges and sweet magic item rewards. The party have a reason to be there (find the second segment of the Rod of Seven Parts) and I am making sure the monsters are challenging for this 11th-level group. There are times when we want immersive plots, but this is not that time. It’s a time to just do some dungeon delving!
Entering the Greater Caverns
The exploration of the Greater Caverns started this week. The initial encounter against troglodytes, giant troglodytes and an even bigger troglodyte was won easily by the party aided by their spell casters. But it was the great sword that the troglodyte chieftain that drew the attention of the barbarian. It was confirmed as magical by a detect magic spell, and so the barbarian carried it into the next combat.
That turned out to be a bodak. Except, as this was a party of 11th level characters, a solitary bodak was not going to be a threat to them. So, I improved its statistics just a bit.
Greater Bodak. AC 18. HP 106. Death Gaze DC 18. Fist +9, 1d10+5 bludgeoning plus 4d8 necrotic. Withering gaze DC 18 Con, 8d10 necrotic. Legendary Actions. 3 actions; can make one fist or gaze attack with each action.
Was that scarier? You bet it was! The characters rolled well, and no-one dropped immediately to 0 hp, but it was close!
Margoyles and Illusions
That was not the end of the dangerous opponents… because in a great cavern, Margoyles (a superior form of Gargoyles) waited. Again, I created stats for them. I started with the basic gargoyle, then made their attacks, damage, hit points and AC higher. And gave them resistances and immunities. I think they ended up about Challenge rating 9.
These creatures waited until the barbarian was on his own, climbing up to investigate the magical aura (from a set of wings of flying) on a ledge that the wizard had detected. Then they attacked! The barbarian attacked back with his newly acquired greatsword, and soon the party were hard-pressed. I gave the margoyles dangerous stats.
But then, a group of giants entered the far side of the cavern and threw rocks at the margoyles! The individual rocks were dealing 3d10 damage and there were five giants! One after the other, the margoyles started falling out of the sky. The party tried to communicate with the giants, but unsuccessfully, and ran for it. (One of the giants seemed to want to play catch with a large boulder. The PCs demurred). However, the next cavern, with many strange rock formations, unsettled the party. Were the giants still following? As they cautiously returned the way they came, they saw the giants… turning translucent and disappearing. They were illusions!
In fact, as they later discovered as they used the identify spell during a rest, the greatsword could summon illusions! It was also cursed – so that the barbarian could use no other weapon. Was that a problem? The power of the illusions had been highly effective (and, indeed, had been used by the troglodytes, though to little effect).
However, the party had overlooked one thing – if the giants had been illusory, then so had been their attacks on the margoyles! Thus, when they returned to that chamber, the remaining four margoyles attacked, once more surprising the party! One had been slain for real by the group, but the other four margoyles were still happy to fight. The party won another hard-fought battle and retired for a long rest.
Rewards and Curses
The party are feeling that there are a few too many cursed items (boots of dancing and cloak of poisonousness were gained in a previous session) and this is true, but then there are many other beneficial magic items as well! In fact, this is one of the most magic-item heavy adventures I have run. However, I should reduce the cursed items for future sessions. There have been many!
In another couple of sessions, we will return to the plot-heavy main campaign, but for the time being we are enjoying the diversion of The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth!