Last week, we continued with my Scarlet Citadel campaign with the second full session. Instead of writing up what happened in a “story hour” format, these posts are going to be my reflections on the game as a DM. Hopefully they’ll prove useful to others running the adventure.
You can read earlier posts here. This post contains spoilers for Scarlet Citadel.
Even though some of the party were on less than 5 hp, our bold heroes were determined to press on and rescue the Red Hart. As Cauldvyr and Torander moved through the Oubliette room, I had them both roll Dex checks to avoid knocking into the hanging chains. Torander failed, activating the six zombies. I thought this fight might see one or two characters go down, but the party prevailed, with Cauldvyr using thorn whip to great effect, hauling several zombies into the pit in the centre of the room.
Allia sneaked ahead into the torture chamber and started freeing the Red Hart from the cage. I didn’t want to overwhelm the party here so I had just one torture instrument animate each round, starting with the garrotte, then the iron mask, and finally the iron maiden. Allia caught a glimpse of someone watching through the gap in the northern part of the room, but wisely focused on getting the Red Hart out.
The characters destroyed the garrotte and the mask, then beat a hasty retreat as the iron maiden advanced towards them. Torander was left behind at the back, but fortunately the iron maiden did not pursue him past the torture chamber steps.
Now out of spells and goodberries, and low on hp, the group returned to the keep with their three rescued captives and took a short rest to spend some hit dice, as it was still the middle of the night and too soon for another long rest. A second harpy appeared shortly afterwards, charming almost everyone in the party with its Luring Song, and calling them all out in the courtyard. After the harpy had been dealt with, the characters were able to stand watch until morning without further trouble and return to Redtower.
Now 2nd level, they have an invitation for drinks with Mayor Wislaw Broz to look forward to next session.
If you’d like to keep up to date with my Scarlet Citadel campaign and other posts, please do join my mailing list – there’s a sign up form on the home page.
Main image by David Auden Nash
Richard Green | Game Designer 