WARNING: SPOILERS for both Waterdeep: Dragon Heist the module in general and the story arc for this campaign in particular. If you just want to follow along the campaign but don’t want to have the plot spoiled for you, read no further.
Link to this episode’s podcast.
Sometimes, things don’t go like you thought they would. I went into this session expecting it to be mostly about the party straddling the line between being gracious guests and grilling their hosts, the Gralhunds. I prepared lists of clues that different characters could drop if interviewed away from the watchful eye of Lady Gralhund (provided the character’s rolled well on their persuasion or intimidation checks.) So, I was pretty surprised to see the party bug out without really asking any questions. However, the things they could have learned from the Gralhunds ultimately only provide interesting background and exposition, they aren’t necessary to drive the plot forward at all. So while it would have been fun if they had pursued these avenues more, I’m not that worried about it.
In the second part of the episode, I am trying to give the characters a better sense of connection to the neighborhood. Thus far, their connection to the neighborhood is not going too well. Icky has made some kind of a bond with Embric and Avi, the Blacksmiths. But Dalia is not invested at all with Tali (which is fine, that was just something I threw out to see if she would bite.) So they don’t have many connections to the neighborhood. But I would like to change that. So I brought the whole neighborhood together in an act of community and of healing. Icky resisted at first, and maybe I should have been more sensitive to his needs, but eventually I forced the narrative towards community and a coming together.
I was surprised with how quickly the party jumped on the Meloon problem. I suspect that is a sign that they didn’t know what direction to go in otherwise, probably a failing on the DM’s part. But it was a nice distraction. It gave Kyva a chance to flex her skills and generally brought them to an interesting place. Azure Edge is a plus 3 Great Axe, an incredibly powerful magic weapon. It would have been silly to give him to the party at this point, but if the rolls had been high enough, silliness would have ensued. Instead we wound up with a witness to something that was more than happy to testify even to Kyva. And she was very flexible, willing to take what she could get from the legendary axe. I’m quite happy with how the situation played out.
There was no new article in The High Road Herald this session, since we ended last time before the City Watch showed up and anybody knew anything about the invasion of Gralhund Manor.
DougieDM 