So my party have taken a left-turn. They started the Dragon of Ice-spire Peak by taking all three quest notices from the town masters hall and are conducting a loop to complete them. They began with Umbrage Hill, made their way to Gnomengarde and then left to head towards the dwarven excavation. However... on their way to the excavations, they were passing by Axeholm. One of the players noticed that there is what looks like a pass between the mountains, and he convinced the other party members that they should investigate. They have found Axeholm. About two levels early.
So far it's going well for them. The module states that third level should be ok if they take rests (there are four players) and the ghouls haven't proved that much of a challenge so far. They are about to literally run into the Banshee, so I guess we'll see how that goes. All in all, so far it actually seems a little easy, especially if this is supposed to be aimed at level five characters?
My question here is has anyone set Axeholm up as the party's base of operations once they clear it? Axeholm doesn't really tie into the overall adventure all that much. I can see changing the campaign slightly at some point to evacuate the townsfolk there where they could do some restoration works in exchange for the safety Axeholm provides. I know that this is the stated reason for investigating it, but it never actually happens in the main module.
I'm not sure if giving them a whole fortress at such an early level is too much? Hopefully, I intend on continuing the campaign through to the end, perhaps incorporating some Lost Mines content and then leading them into the Dungeon of the Mad Mage.
Interesting. I'm guessing you wanted the characters to find Axeholm?
If the characters travel in a straight line between Gnomengarde and the Dwarven expedition, they are at least 5 miles from Axeholm if not more.
Did your characters explore every canyon along the mountains from Gnomengarde to the expedition? That is 25 miles of mountainous terrain with lots of canyons, lots of entries into the mountains, lots of hills, lots of possibly interesting rock outcrops. Lots of time spent exploring random terrain.
Axeholm is basically about 100' across and about 40' high with stonework that extends about 20' from the mountainside. It hasn't been maintained in years and could easily be partly or wholly obscured by vegetation. If the characters know what to look for it is probably easy to find but the characters would probably have to be fairly close to it to stumble across it.
Anyway, it makes for a fun and interesting twist deciding to throw difficult content at a party of third level characters. I was looking at it and higher level and larger parties will probably need more monsters to make it challenging.
However, in your case, with a party of only four, the banshee could prove to be deadly. The DC13 con save wail can be quite challenging if the characters are all within 30'. Unless you are a class with con save proficiency, you likely have a 50% chance or less of making this save at 3rd level. 1/16 of the time you could have a complete immediate TPK if all characters fail that save. Even with proficiency, you are still likely failing 35% to 45% of the time at that level. The odds of 2 or 3 failing and ending up at zero hit points aren't that bad .. which is the real risk.
As for a base of operations, I think that is pretty irrelevant. The characters have no way to guard it, no way to secure anything they might choose to leave there. Orcs which have been forced out of the Icespire peaks might wander in and take over after it has been cleared out. It also has no source of food or water, is located off the beaten path and is a dank retreat built into the mountainside. I'd rather stay in the inn in Phandalin personally :). In addition, it isn't that central to places the players would want to travel or visit. No nearby merchants or markets.
Honestly, if they want a local base of operations they might be better off clearing and refurbishing the estate on the hill at the east end of Phandalin - that might be a much better choice.
I also agree that whether they set up a “permanent” base there is pretty irrelevant. There IS water there in the kitchen and bath(A26), but they’re a long way from food and trade. And if they got the portcullis raised, then yes, displaced orcs could wander in for some added conflict. But again, it’s far from where the plot hooks are. Unless they do hunker down for too long and the dragon destroys Phandalin and the mayor leads the citizens there, so that a whole town shows up on their doorstep. From there, the mayor could issue a few more quests (Dragon Barrow, Logger’s Camp(to bring back his brother rather than deliver supplies), Tower of Storms(“The tales of all the shipwrecks, maybe there’s something useful that can be salvaged”).) before a hook gets placed to get them to icespire peak.
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So my party have taken a left-turn. They started the Dragon of Ice-spire Peak by taking all three quest notices from the town masters hall and are conducting a loop to complete them. They began with Umbrage Hill, made their way to Gnomengarde and then left to head towards the dwarven excavation. However... on their way to the excavations, they were passing by Axeholm. One of the players noticed that there is what looks like a pass between the mountains, and he convinced the other party members that they should investigate. They have found Axeholm. About two levels early.
So far it's going well for them. The module states that third level should be ok if they take rests (there are four players) and the ghouls haven't proved that much of a challenge so far. They are about to literally run into the Banshee, so I guess we'll see how that goes. All in all, so far it actually seems a little easy, especially if this is supposed to be aimed at level five characters?
My question here is has anyone set Axeholm up as the party's base of operations once they clear it? Axeholm doesn't really tie into the overall adventure all that much. I can see changing the campaign slightly at some point to evacuate the townsfolk there where they could do some restoration works in exchange for the safety Axeholm provides. I know that this is the stated reason for investigating it, but it never actually happens in the main module.
I'm not sure if giving them a whole fortress at such an early level is too much? Hopefully, I intend on continuing the campaign through to the end, perhaps incorporating some Lost Mines content and then leading them into the Dungeon of the Mad Mage.
Ideas or comments?
Interesting. I'm guessing you wanted the characters to find Axeholm?
If the characters travel in a straight line between Gnomengarde and the Dwarven expedition, they are at least 5 miles from Axeholm if not more.
Did your characters explore every canyon along the mountains from Gnomengarde to the expedition? That is 25 miles of mountainous terrain with lots of canyons, lots of entries into the mountains, lots of hills, lots of possibly interesting rock outcrops. Lots of time spent exploring random terrain.
Axeholm is basically about 100' across and about 40' high with stonework that extends about 20' from the mountainside. It hasn't been maintained in years and could easily be partly or wholly obscured by vegetation. If the characters know what to look for it is probably easy to find but the characters would probably have to be fairly close to it to stumble across it.
Anyway, it makes for a fun and interesting twist deciding to throw difficult content at a party of third level characters. I was looking at it and higher level and larger parties will probably need more monsters to make it challenging.
However, in your case, with a party of only four, the banshee could prove to be deadly. The DC13 con save wail can be quite challenging if the characters are all within 30'. Unless you are a class with con save proficiency, you likely have a 50% chance or less of making this save at 3rd level. 1/16 of the time you could have a complete immediate TPK if all characters fail that save. Even with proficiency, you are still likely failing 35% to 45% of the time at that level. The odds of 2 or 3 failing and ending up at zero hit points aren't that bad .. which is the real risk.
As for a base of operations, I think that is pretty irrelevant. The characters have no way to guard it, no way to secure anything they might choose to leave there. Orcs which have been forced out of the Icespire peaks might wander in and take over after it has been cleared out. It also has no source of food or water, is located off the beaten path and is a dank retreat built into the mountainside. I'd rather stay in the inn in Phandalin personally :). In addition, it isn't that central to places the players would want to travel or visit. No nearby merchants or markets.
Honestly, if they want a local base of operations they might be better off clearing and refurbishing the estate on the hill at the east end of Phandalin - that might be a much better choice.
I also agree that whether they set up a “permanent” base there is pretty irrelevant. There IS water there in the kitchen and bath(A26), but they’re a long way from food and trade. And if they got the portcullis raised, then yes, displaced orcs could wander in for some added conflict. But again, it’s far from where the plot hooks are. Unless they do hunker down for too long and the dragon destroys Phandalin and the mayor leads the citizens there, so that a whole town shows up on their doorstep. From there, the mayor could issue a few more quests (Dragon Barrow, Logger’s Camp(to bring back his brother rather than deliver supplies), Tower of Storms(“The tales of all the shipwrecks, maybe there’s something useful that can be salvaged”).) before a hook gets placed to get them to icespire peak.