Storm King’s Thunder: Episode 5
After such a combat-heavy experience, it can be a welcome change to have encounters where fighting is not the focus. The three pillars of 5th edition D&D are combat, exploration, and interaction, and after so much combat it was nice to dive into some interaction.
The Party:
Auberon — Elf Druid
Cygnus — Half-elf Warlock
Xavian — Human Rogue
Zedrick — Human Cleric
The characters had protected Bryn Shander from the onslaught of Jarl Storvald’s frost giants. They saved five of the six important NPCs, and after a day of recuperation each one came by to see them. Sheriff Markham Southwell asked the characters to patrol the lands of Icewind Dale and report on the giants’ activity. Beldora told Xavian that he’d make a solid Harper, and to meet her contact, Thwip Ironbottom, in the nearby town of Hundlestone. Thwip was the Harper who brought Cygnus along in the adventure in his backstory.
Duvessa Shane told them to go to Waterdeep and see her aunt, Inirva Coldwater, captain of a ship called the Dancing Wave. She’d be able to help them travel up and down the Sword Coast. Sirac also pointed the characters toward Waterdeep, because Lord Zelraun Roaringhorn was the only person he thought might know where to find Artus Cimber. Finally, Augrek asked the characters to meet her kin in nearby Ironmaster. She was searching for more defenders for Bryn Shander.
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
Since there would be a lot of travelling around the lands of Faerûn, my players needed a proper map. Maps are an exciting way to inspire your players into action and immerse them into the world.
They were up north, in Icewind Dale, and figured they might as well start with the quests that were close by. They could get to Hundlestone, and divert quickly to Ironmaster, then make their way down toward Waterdeep.
They rented a wagon and started their journey. I followed the rules for overland travel, and rolled for random encounters. I told them that if they stayed on the main roads, they’d move at a faster pace and be safer, but they’d have to follow along the trail. Hopefully, this would lead to interesting choices and discussion between the characters.
The rolls didn’t lead to any random encounters. I knew they’d be travelling a lot and figured it was best to just let fate lie in the dice. I’d learned my lesson from our last session, so I didn’t see the need to force anything. They made it down the Ten Trail to Hundlestone without incident.
They arrived into a town with small, low buildings cut into the meandering rock below ground level. The town was covered in a layer of fresh snow, and the wind pierced harder than a sharpened arrow. They found Thwip, and were invited in to his charming home. It was filled with clockwork inventions and intricate machines — many of which were half-completed and lay in scattered pieces on overstuffed shelves. Xavian mentioned his dealings with Beldora, and Thwip figured it would be best for the group to head to Everlund. They could visit the Harper stronghold and take advantage of their teleportation network to travel around more easily.
Cygnus prodded Thwip’s memory, and resurfaced discussion of their doomed expedition and capture by the great dragon, Iymrith. It appeared the Harpers had banished Thwip to this tiny northern outpost as a punishment for his carelessness.
But when the characters mentioned that they were looking for the lost Harper, Thiadon (from Auberon’s sidequest), Thwip admitted he’d made the same mistake. This time he’d sent Thiadon to a town called Sumpter to find clues on Acererak, and hadn’t heard from him since. Thwip began to get emotional about his mistakes. He felt guilty, but couldn’t help his lust for adventure. He quickly changed the subject, and gifted the party with a fancy clockwork dog.
Every Flight Begins With A Fall
The characters hopped on their wagon and soon arrived at Ironmaster. They met Gwert Brighthelm, the cousin of Augrek. He was more than happy to talk up the might of his dwarven brethren. The dwarves were ancient enemies of the giants, and they’d been noting a lot more sightings recently. After a little ego-massaging from the characters, he agreed to send some of his clan over to help Bryn Shander, on the condition that on their travels the party talk up the ferocity of the Brighthelms. The party was happy to oblige.
Since the characters would be travelling far, Gwert mentioned a rumour of a lady in Fireshear who trained griffons. Perhaps they could fly those around instead of travelling by horse?
They took a detour to the mining town of Fireshear, ruled by three allied merchant companies. The characters were only interested in griffons though, and soon they met the retired civilar of the Waterdeep Griffon Cavalry, Dasharra Keldabar. She was outside, training some of her younger griffons with a handful of her eager employees.
After some friendly introductions, and some fibbing about their griffon-riding experience, they got down to brass tacks — how much do these griffons cost? At around 250 gold to simply rent a single griffon for a day, they realized they were out of their depths.
Cygnus, Xavian, and Zedrick discussed possible ideas for taking the griffons by force. Auberon, being a druid and thus in-touch with nature and animals, instead spoke with Dasharra at length about her animals. She sensed his genuine curiosity and respect for the natural order. Dasharra was secretly a member of the Emerald Enclave and quickly devised some moral questions to test Auberon with. He answered honestly and passed, so she told him she’d be in contact again about keeping the elemental forces of the world in check. The party agreed that stealing the griffons would not be in their best interest… for now.
The party slept in town, and figured they’d set out in the morning. Their investigations about giant activity had uncovered some colourful answers from different townsfolk. As Fireshear was right on the coast, some sailors swore they’d seen a colossal longboat filled with frost giants patrolling the waters. Others seemed less concerned with giants and told tales of an enormous kraken that lives in the sea.
What really stood out though, were legends of Old Snarl — a nickname for Klauth, an ancient red dragon who lived in nearby Klauthen Vale. Since all of Klauthen Vale was his lair, it was exceedingly dangerous to travel through it. Cygnus seemed open to the idea of braving that dangerous path, but Zedrick in particular thought it best to avoid the dragon. Ultimately, the characters decided to not tempt fate. They wanted to go to Mirabar next, but would take the route through Luskan to avoid setting foot in the dragon’s lands.
They had discovered details that provided clues that revealed recent chaos in Faerûn. But would they be able to discern them? Certain actions they took now would have unforeseen consequences much further down the line, so they would have to tread carefully.
