During the course of this adventure, the heroes undertake various activities to thwart the plots of the Cult of the Dragon. The cult’s awareness of the characters' opposition to their goals will have started even earlier if the characters played Hoard of the Dragon Queen. Either way, it doesn’t take long for the cult to target the characters as a threat that must be eliminated.
Like “Chapter 9: Council of Waterdeep”, this chapter is played out as separate encounters. However, these attacks work best if they are incorporated into other chapters, rather than played out between chapters.
Think about the pacing of other chapters and the placement of these encounters so that the cult’s attacks can be spaced out over time. In particular, the third attack should be placed for maximum effectiveness.
The cult’s attacks can happen anywhere, but the characters are at greatest risk while on their home ground. The cult wants its enemies to know that they aren’t safe anywhere. If the characters ever split up to pursue separate missions in what seem like safe environments, the cult is almost certain to strike.
Character Death
Character death should always be handled carefully, but don’t be afraid to kill party members in this adventure. The characters should be high enough level to cast
raise dead , or to seek out such magic from their allies. Especially if they played through Hoard of the Dragon Queen, the characters have had ample opportunity to prove their worth to the Harpers, the Order of the Gauntlet, and the other factions.
First Attack
The cult’s first attack against the heroes is a measured assault designed to deliver a warning.
Location and Timing
This attack can occur anywhere. The cult has no concern for innocent bystanders, but the encounter will be easier for you to run without a panicking crowd to deal with. This combat encounter should occur after a previous combat encounter has drained some of the characters' resources, but before they can finish a long rest.
Cult Forces
The assailants the cult throws against the characters should be adjusted for the strength of the party. Using foes from the First Attack Cult Forces table, construct this first attack as a hard encounter using the guidelines in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
First Attack Cult Forces
| Creature | XP Value |
|---|---|
| Dragonclaw | 200 |
| Dragonwing | 450 |
| Dragonfang | 1,100 |
| Half-blue dragon gladiator* | 1,800 |
| Young blue dragon | 5,000 |
Plan of Attack
The cultists try to attack with surprise, using one of two different plans outlined below. Feel free to adapt one of these plans or devise a plan of your own. Assume that the cultists have either observed the characters for a few days or have been briefed about their targets by other spies.
Option 1: Attack at an Inn
If the characters are staying at an inn, the cultists might opt for a direct assault, crashing through the front door. A more subtle approach sees them enter the inn a few at a time disguised as customers, then attacking when they have the characters outnumbered and surrounded. The dragon is unlikely to enter the inn building, opting to use its breath weapon through the windows or attacking any characters or bystanders who step outside.
Option 2: Attack on the Road
As the characters are traveling, the cultists can get ahead of them and lay an ambush. Alternatively, cultists might follow the party at a distance by day, then move closer when the characters stop to rest for the night. A surprise attack in the dark or at dawn is particularly dangerous, granting the dragon complete freedom of movement and creating the possibility that some party members will be asleep or unarmored.
Conclusion
Because the cult has underestimated the heroes' strength, this first assault is doomed to fail. However, try to ensure that at least one cultist escapes to report what happened. If no one gets away alive, leave signs that other cultists were hanging back as reinforcements, but fled when the original force was overwhelmed.
Make sure the characters understand what this attack was about. If it makes sense for the circumstances of the attack, the cultists will be dressed in full regalia, complete with masks and dragon-wing capes. With their last breaths, dying cultists should curse the characters and exclaim, “The dragons rise! You cannot stop us!”
The characters gain a level at the end of this chapter.
Second Attack
The first attack established that the heroes are an even more dangerous threat than the cult believed. In this second encounter, a stronger cult force attacks to kill.
Location and Timing
Place this encounter at a point when the characters are not at their strongest or most well prepared. Wait until they are scattered, their spells and features are depleted by previous fighting, or they are injured and low on healing. In particular, if the attack comes during a long rest but before the characters have finished that rest, they won’t yet have recovered full hit points, spells, and other resources. Such an attack puts the characters at a huge disadvantage, but reinforces that the Cult of the Dragon wants the adventurers dead.
A dramatic location works best for this attack. The cultists not only want to eliminate a threat, they want to send a message to all others who oppose them. Attacking at an important public building such as a major temple or a palace declares that no place is safe from the cult, while an assault at a large marketplace or a royal garden guarantees a maximum number of witnesses.
Cult Forces
The second attack force comprises a team led by a dragonsoul cultist (see appendix D). If this is an isolated fight with the characters at or near full strength, choose adversaries that create a deadly encounter. If the adventurers are weakened from earlier encounters, aim for a hard encounter instead.
Don’t be reluctant to use forces that are likely to kill one or more characters. The destruction of the heroes is the goal of this attack, and if the risk of death doesn’t feel real, the players won’t take the threat of the cult seriously.
Second Attack Cult Forces
| Creature | XP Value |
|---|---|
| Dragonwing | 450 |
| Dragonsoul | 1,800 |
| Mezzoloth | 1,800 |
| Nycaloth | 5,000 |
| Adult black dragon | 11,500 |
Plan of Attack
These attackers know more about their targets than the first group did, thanks to the survivors from that battle.
Option 1: Indoor Attack
The attackers launch their assault while the characters are visiting an important location crowded with innocent bystanders. The black dragon begins by tearing off a section of the roof to incite as much terror as possible. While the characters are distracted by that assault,
Option 2: Outdoor Attack
An attack in a marketplace, garden, or some other outdoor location opens with the black dragon and one or more flying nycaloths appearing overhead to create a panic. The cultists are hanging on to the dragon, but they drop down to engage the party in melee while the dragon circles above, attacking with its breath weapon and using its Frightful Presence on rounds when its breath is still recharging. While the crowd inhibits the characters' movement, mezzoloths can easily and rapidly teleport through it.
Developments
Don’t be afraid to engage in some triumphal monologuing by the dragonsoul cultist leading the attack. Whether the attackers are winning or losing, the cultist fights with cries of “The dragons rise!” and “We are unstoppable!” At some point, the leader lets important information slip: “The Masks are joined, the call has sounded! Soon the Gates of the Nine Hells shall swing wide and She shall return!”
As with the first assault on the adventurers, try to ensure that if the attackers are defeated, at least one escapes to report the outcome of the battle. Most easily, the dragon can fly away if the battle turns against it.
The yugoloths were summoned by Red Wizards and paid by the cult to kill the adventurers, but they have no loyalty to their benefactors. If a yugoloth takes damage from a single attack that deals more than half its remaining hit points, it withdraws from combat on its next turn. If it hasn’t already tried to summon another yugoloth, it does so immediately. If it’s already used that power, it simply flees, intending to regroup with other survivors later.
Because the yugoloths are mercenaries, the characters can attempt to buy them off with a better offer—one that not only exceeds what the cult is paying but covers the damage to reputation that comes from changing sides in the middle of battle. A good starting offer is 10,000 gp, or 2,000 gp per yugoloth if more than five of them are in the fight.
In addition to damaging bystanders, this encounter can easily destroy buildings and great landmarks. This formidable assault should provide a sense of the destruction that will wash over the Sword Coast if the Cult of the Dragon is successful in its plans.
Conclusion
The attackers might win this fight and kill all the characters. However, that doesn’t need to end the adventure. Healers in the Order of the Gauntlet, the Harpers, and the Emerald Enclave can restore the characters to life so they can continue waging war for the forces of good. Surprisingly, dying in this battle might give the characters an advantage. When the attackers report to Severin that the meddling adventurers are dead, they’ll be written off as a threat. If the raised characters make an effort to keep out of sight of the cult’s spies, their next blow against the cult could come as a complete surprise.
The characters gain a level at the end of this event.
Third Attack
The second attack was meant to finish off the heroes. If a third attack proves necessary, the cult escalates to the highest level.
If nothing else, the second attack should impress on the characters that the first attack wasn’t a fluke or a one-time event. They have a price on their heads. Additionally, the potency of the second attack should make the characters understand that if a third strike is even more powerful than the second, they won’t survive. If it doesn’t occur to the players that the characters should take steps to protect themselves, a concerned NPC can make the suggestion.
Location and Timing
This attack can occur in any settlement the characters are staying in or passing through. Ideally, use a location where one or more characters have homes or family.
After the second cult attack, allow the characters to complete one or two chapters of the adventure before the cult makes this final attempt on their lives. Because this attack is an all-out assault, the characters should have full access to spells, healing, and other resources.
Cult Forces
Enough chromatic dragons have responded to the
Make this a deadly encounter—and not just by the numbers prescribed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide{@i }. By now, the cult knows how the characters fight, and so do you. Sometimes players can make a group of characters tougher than their basic game statistics indicate. If that’s the case for your group, take that into account when selecting the attacking force.
Third Attack Cult Forces
| Creature | XP Value |
|---|---|
| Dragonwing | 450 |
| Dragonfang | 1,100 |
| Half-red dragon gladiator* | 2,300 |
| Mage | 2,300 |
| Half-green dragon assassin** | 3,900 |
| Young red dragon | 5,900 |
Plan of Attack
This encounter should challenge the adventurers in every way. The characters should be no easy match for the attacking force, such that retreat and escape might be their best option if they hope to survive. However, if the characters haven’t made escape plans ahead of time, the attackers will have taken steps to make retreat impossible. The specifics are up to you, but should be based around any obvious features of the encounter area. Standard escape paths such as back doors and known sewer entrances will be watched, and tactics the characters have used before will be known. Only a special escape route—a secret passage known only to a palace’s most trusted servants, for example—should come as a surprise to the cultists and Red Wizards.
Frontal Assault
Because clever ruses and ambush have failed in previous attacks, the cult’s third assault opts for overwhelming force. The dragons attack the characters from the air, attempting to draw them outside if they are indoors. When they finally face off against the adventurers, the attackers fight to kill. If the characters try to stay inside and under cover, the dragons attack whatever building they hide in, setting it ablaze. Half-dragons, cultists, and mages watch all known exits, including underground ones, to prevent the characters from slipping away.
Developments
This battle will likely be a challenge to run. It is designed to create an emotional low spot in the adventure, during which overall defeat for the forces of good looks like a real possibility. Character death—even if temporary—can crush some players' spirits.
For those players, don’t make this battle just a relentless slog toward death. Give the adventurers opportunities to save innocent townsfolk from being slaughtered and turn dragons away from fleeing crowds. The characters can clear burning buildings, use magic to douse flames or save the dying, and stand up for those who cannot defend themselves. Let their sacrifice during this fight mean something.
Conclusion
Great heroes rebound from losses to fight even harder for the cause they believe in. Thanks to
The characters gain a level at the end of this event.
Sequence of Events
Depending on how the adventure unfolds, feel free to alter the forces and tactics in the second and third attacks as you see fit. For example, you might want to hold off with the yugoloths until the third attack, or you might want Red Wizards showing up in the second attack rather than the third.