Hello Listeners!

This week is Episode 29, Session 14 Side B, for the Lost Mines of Phandelver, the beginners adventure presented in the Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set.

Today you’ll hear Alex play Hal, a level 3 Firbolg Bard. Kaetlyn play Uitzash, a level 3 Warlock in service to a dark patron. Kolton is playing Olo, a level 3 Tortle Barbarian. And Matt is playing a level 3 Grung Wizard named Rwrarp (pronounced like a frog noise). Colin was DM’ing this game. We are using the Milestone leveling variant in this adventure.

In today’s episode we have some combat to finish! And boy was it a doozy. There was a Dendarian Religious Revival, the threat of an untamed owlbear every turn, goblins betraying their kin, the introduction of a cute little puppy named Snarl (you’ll meet him later), some very good spell and ability use by Hal and Rwrarp (you’ll see exactly what I mean those happen), and so much more.

This was a really good combat, Listeners. It was made all the better because the foes that the heroes were facing kept coming after they’d been alerted by the sounds of fighting and the actions of the other NPCs. I was really happy that these encounters kindof spilled into each other one after another but that they didn’t all combine into one giant melee. This allowed the tension of the fight to remain high as the characters were hit by waves of enemies one after another with no time to rest in between and “reset” but it also didn’t overwhelm the players with a huge swarm of enemies that would have been insurmountable all at once.

This really enhances the climax of the battle and forces the players to use some abilities they might not have otherwise. You’ll see what I mean.

Also, there’s a lesson towards the end of this episode about carefully considering how your character’s spell effects impact the world beyond simply thinking about how they deal damage to enemies in a Rules as Written kindof way. To avoid spoilers, we won’t say anything more (just wanted to tease the end one final time). We might do an essay about that later on in the week, but we’ll see if Colin can find the time and motivation to do that. We’ll just leave you with the Pun-O-Meter for now.

Please, enjoy the show!