Shadow of the Dragon Queen, session 13

We played our final session of Shadow of the Dragon Queen on Monday, August 28, 2023. The four characters had penetrated the heart of the Flying Citadel and needed to take it down before it could wreak havoc on Kalaman.

Present for this session were the following characters:

Tordek Steelfist, level 11 dwarf fighter (battle master)
Hrothkar, level 11 human barbarian (path of the ancestral guardian)
Vermin Streetcorner, level 11 kender ranger (swarmkeeper)
Parren Calente, level 11 human wizard (evocation)

In their previous session, the party had retrieved the mirror of erised reflected paths and were now ready to confront Lord Soth.

As they ascended to the Bastion of Takhisis, they came face-to-face with a Kalaman Guard – but one that was possessed by Caradoc, the seneschal of Lord Soth. However, he was less interested in stopping the characters and more in helping them, as he had little interest in helping the Dragon Armies. Revenge against the Knights of Solamnia was his only passion – and he wanted to “guide” Lord Soth back to the right path, as well as gaining control of the Flying Citadel for himself.

Although rightly wary of the undead knight, at this stage the party could use all the advice they could get! Caradoc revealed to them the location of Lord Soth and his defenders. The party thanked him and continued onwards, somehow neglecting to inform him that they planned to destroy the Flying Citadel! I could see vast disappointment in Caradoc’s future!

Knight of the Black Rose

The heart of the Bastion of Takhisis was taken up by a platform holding the Cataclysmic Fire that Lord Soth had stolen from the tombs of Kalaman. A throne room overlooked the fire, in which Lord Soth sat. Meanwhile, his standard bearer guarded the fire itself.

The party took the back way, taking the stairs that Caradoc had revealed, but before they reached the death knight, they had to deal with two skeletal knights in one of the antechambers (a shrine to Sargonnas).

Round 1:

Parren lobs a fire bolt for 19 fire damage.
Hrothkar rages, moves into melee, and strikes twice recklessly (attack rolls of 26 and 29) for a total of 25 piercing damage.
Vermin fires her light crossbow and misses twice.
Tordek moves into melee and misses three times. (Dice rolls of natural 3, 2 and 3).
Skeletal warriors were surprised and don’t act.

Round 2:

Parren fireballs both warriors (excluding the party) for 37 fire damage. (one saves, the other fails).
Hrothkar strikes twice for a total of 24 piericng damage.
Vermin fires her light crossbow and hits once for 16 piercing damage.
Skeletal Knight hits Hrothkar with its enervating blade attack for 13 necrotic damage, a second time for 18 damage, then once more for 16 damage
Tordek uses his reaction to strike the Skeletal Knight for 9 damage
The second Knight attacks Hrotkhar three times for 15, 14 and 17 damage.
Tordek hits a Skeletal Knight for 13 damage, killing it (it fails its Undead Fortitude check). He strikes the other for 20 damage, knocking the Knight prone.

Round 3:

Parren casts toll the dead for 17 necrotic damage, which the Knight fails to make the DC 17 Wisdom save.
Hrothkar strikes twice with his Dragonlance for 31 total damage
Vermin finishes off the Knight with two well-placed crossbow bolts (9 and 12 damage).

The battle had lasted 3 rounds and 10 minutes. Vermin cast four cure wounds spell on the badly damaged Hrothkar, and the party moved into Lord Soth’s throne room.

There, the Death Knight turned to look at them, but the party was prepared, the mirror of reflected pasts ready. Only the word “Isolde” fell from his lips as he became mesmerised by what he saw. The party very quickly returned downstairs.

Extinguishing the Fire

As they looked down at the main chamber, Caradoc attempted to gain control of the Flying Citadel – failing utterly. Soon enough, they were in a very short combat with him. Unfortunately for Caradoc, the veteran’s body he’d possessed was no match for the party – especially after Tordek pushed him out of the window to the floor below.

Now, all that stood between the party and the fire was Wersten Kern, Lord Soth’s standard bearer.

Unfortunately, by this time the party was split – Caradoc had delayed Parren and Tordek, so for the first couple of rounds, Vermin and Hrothkar stood against Kern alone. Hrothkar began well with a critical hit, but soon was facing the unchecked might of the standard bearer as Tordek and Parren raced down entirely too many flights of stairs, arriving just in time to see the barbarian go down. Tordek was reduced to throwing hand axes!

Vermin, dodging blow after blow, rushed to Hrothkar’s side and cast a cure wounds spell to revive him. The barbarian awoke to see the strange sight of Parren facing off against Caradoc, who had picked himself up from the fall and now was attacking the wizard. A shocking grasp spell was enough to enable Parren to make a hasty retreat. Hrothkar took down Kern, then raced down to lay Caradoc low as well!

Caradoc’s ghost rose from the body, but before he could possess one of the party, his curse activated and dragged his shrieking form back to Dargaard Keep. Now nothing lay between the party and the Cataclysmic Fire.

There, with a prayer to Paladine, Hrothkar immersed the Dragonlance in the fire. The fire spluttered and went out. A great shudder went through the citadel – it was beginning to break up and fall!

The Escape

Welcome to one of my least favourite parts of the adventure. Everything up until this point has been really good, but at this point the party is badly damaged and low on spells (even lower if you’ve kept the lack of resting opportunities in the adventure as written). While it makes some sort of sense to have the party threatened during the escape, you don’t want then anticlimax of them failing.

There are a few random encounters to help build the tension. Rocks falling, draconians attacking, you know the type. I nodded towards this, knowing that an encounter with six Baaz Draconians wouldn’t slow the party much (1 round, 4 minutes – mostly a fireball spell).

But then came the encounter with Karavarix, the dragon that was the one slain by Sir Sarlamir, the act that had set in motion so much that came to fruition in this adventure. Except… the players didn’t know that. Most of that history isn’t revealed in the adventure or, when it is, it is nowhere near what they’re interested in. The plot of the adventure is “stop Lord Soth and the Dragon Armies” not, “learn historical stuff about what happened in the Age of Might”. The characters weren’t participants in that story; why are they suddenly against the undead form of Karavarix?

And throwing a CR 14 Greater Death Dragon against a party that hasn’t been able to rest? Its breath weapon deals on average 45 necrotic damage and has a DC 18 Dex save for half damage. Because it’s undead, the Dragonlance doesn’t work against it.

To make things worse, this isn’t even the final encounter of the adventure. There’s another one, that does a far, far better job of closing out plot threads.

I adjusted things. The death dragon didn’t use its cataclysmic fire breath weapon. It just went in with claws and bite. Hrothkar took a lot of damage (it’s his job, he’s the barbarian), and the encounter was over in 3 rounds/7 minutes.

There may be people who think this is an appropriate battle. I really didn’t.

So, the party eventually made it to the edge of the crumbling citadel, and there Clystran and his dragonnels flew down to pick them up. At this point I told them that they were blessed by the gods and could take a short rest. Otherwise, they’d go in battered and bloody to the finale. The lack of resting opportunities in the last chapter and a half is so, so problematic to the structure of this adventure.

Rout of the Dragon Army

As the party landed, a quarter of a mile away from Kalaman (when the defending soldiers of a city think every flying creature is a foe, don’t fly too close!), they were sought out by the commander of the Red Dragon Army, Kansaldi Fire-Eyes. She flew down on her young red dragon, landing on a rocky spire, and saw the authors of all her misfortune. She’d spotted the party leaving the not-so-much-any-more-flying citadel and was going to give them a piece of her mind before disembowelling them, painfully and slowly.

The party ignored her taunts and declarations of inevitable victory, and the final battle ensued.

Round 1:

Parren threw a level 4 lightning bolt at Kansaldi and her young red dragon for 42 damage. Both rolled 16 on their Dex saves and failed (The DC was 17!)
Hrothkar ran towards the pair, throwing a javelin for 7 dmg.
Kansaldi cast flame strike on Tordek & Vermin; both fail the save and take 27 damage each.
Vermin missed twice with her light crossbow.
Tordek threw a javelin of lightning, hitting both Kansaldi and the dragon, and moved closer.
The Young Red Dragon breathes on Tordek and Hrothkar for 56 fire damage. Tordek fails the save, but Hrothkar succeeds.

Battlefield Event:
Low-flying dragonnels fled across the battlefield. Creatures on the spire or otherwise above ground level must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. Tordek is the only one to suffer that.

Round 2:

Parren casts Lightning Bolt at level 4 again, dealing 38 damage. Both Kansadi and her dragon fail their saves.
Hrothkar moved into melee range and recklessly attacked the young red dragon twice for 36 damage – his Dragonlance dealing extra damage!
Kansaldi struck Hrothkar twice with a pike and with her flame burst special ability, but he saved against the flame and doesn’t catch fire. She then calls upon the Dragon Queen’s favour and heals 15 hp.
Vermin cast Hail of Thorns and struck twice successfully with her crossbow. Kansaldi saved, the dragon did not!
Tordek stood up and threw another javelin of lightning, then moved into melee, and struck twice with longsword. And that was the end of the dragon.

Battlefield Event: Fragments of flying citadel rain down for 22 bludgeoning damage, hitting Tordek, Hrothkar, Parren and Kansaldi.

Round 3:

Hrothkar killed Kansaldi, impaling her on the Dragonlance.

The combat took 3 rounds (barely) and 19 minutes to resolve.

A relatively easy combat? Yes, but there are times when this is appropriate. This was the cathartic ending where they finally got to meet and defeat the leader of the Red Dragonarmy, who had caused so much misery.

The War of the Lance wasn’t over, but Kalaman had been spared for now. And the heroes gathered with their friends and companions in Kalaman, rejoicing in their victory.

And so ended our campaign of Shadow of the Dragon Queen. In general, I think it’s an excellent adventure, but fairly terrible as a representation of the Dragonlance setting. At some point relatively soon, I’ll write a proper review giving my thoughts. But I hope you found something of interest in these reports. Until next time!