I can’t believe they split the party up again.
One of the things I like about Dungeons & Dragons is the ability to shape and mold the adventure into the needs of the party and players behind them. For the introductory adventure in the Starter Set I have smoothed out and streamlined some of the story elements, particularly with regards to the character of Iarno Albrek/Glasstaff.
Because I have four 6th graders in control of the party, the majority of whom have not played before this campaign and are still learning how to fully role-play, I am not making them roll for every ability check as well as giving them the benefit of the doubt in most cases. Still, when they make mistakes, I ensure they pay.
From here on out there in this post will be spoilers for one section of the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set adventure Lost Mine Of Phandelver. Well, one aspect of it. You have been warned.
After stumbling upon the hideout of the Redbrand outlaws who have been terrorizing the town of Phandalin, and possibly having something to do with all the general evil doings going on in the region the party is attempting to deal with, the party wound up splitting again in another ill-advised move. The ranger fell in a trap, dropped down in hit points, and somehow the party didn’t look for a way around the trap. Nor did they heal the ranger.
You might see where this is going.
The latest session ended with the party getting back together and finding the secret passage that leads to the hallway that opens up into a natural cavern type structure with a crevasse. There they have two bridges to choose from to get to the other side, and a creature to deal with. Here is where I modified things a bit again.
I altered the Nothic in this area to having a taste for a specific type of flesh – that of a magic user. As the party approached the crevasse, the Nothic telepathically reached out to the party’s magic user attempting to possibly lure him into a trap. Of course the party is too large for a Nothic to deal with alone, so it stayed hidden and struck a deal for the “magic flesh” on the other side of the cavern. Heck, I even had the Nothic guide the party to the right door to gain the advantage with the element of surprise.
Fortunately it didn’t take long for the magic user hidden here to give up, but not before dropping the ranger unconscious. Nobody healed him before the fight!
What did the party do after subduing the magic user in the back end of the bandit’s hideout? Why, talk to him of course! And he spun a lie about not knowing who all was in this area, just having stumbled upon it and was looking for a quiet place to study his books. At least the party had enough sense to keep him separated from his staff.
The party split up again. And this is where the mistake was made. Alright, so it was smart to keep somebody behind to keep an eye on the wizard (they never asked his name) as well as their fallen comrade. The next room was an alchemy room, and I described it as such so there would be no question as to it having been there and in operation for a good long while. The party still didn’t make the connection. At least they found the Dwarven tome on the lost mine.
Going through more doors the party got further split apart. The Dwarven cleric was in the room with the fallen ranger and keeping an eye on the mysterious magic user. The rogue, wizard and fighter went through the next door and fought four drunken bandits. And the wizard fell down to zero hit points.
Unfortunately this is where the campaign had to end for the day. We didn’t get a lot done, but there was a lot of conversation about who this magician was. Not once did they consider him to be the leader of the Redbrand gang. And there was no looking on his desk, which has a letter in plain sight detailing a significant plot point connecting the Redbrand to the missing dwarf who hired the party in the first place.
I may have to make my NPC fighter a bit more intelligent if this party is going to succeed.