The Copper Piece Gang

D&D Session Summary

This session opened in Red Tower after the party had returned from the Scarlet Citadel with Krovuur fully folded into the group. The first stretch was lighter and more social than many of the dungeon dives around it. Nucky made a point of performing at the tavern, and the performance went over extremely well. The crowd loved it, and the scene reinforced that Nucky was becoming a genuine local favorite rather than just another passing adventurer. It gave the session a pleasant breather before things turned sharp again.

While Nucky was winning over the tavern crowd, Zarnak worked the room for rumors and useful information. He noticed several hardened adventurers with fresh damage on their armor and decided to talk to them. That turned out to be one of the most important information-gathering moments of the session. These adventurers described having previously gone into the Scarlet Citadel while the jailer was still alive. They had been cornered, forced down another route, and found hordes of undead, a spiral staircase, and a sudden flood of acid that came out of nowhere. They also described a weird smell and said jellies and slimes seemed to appear from nowhere even though doors had been closed. One of their number had died down there carrying good gear. The group got names including Shala the mystic, Athana the healer, and Eodolf. The party not only got warnings about what lay ahead but a strong hint that there might be salvageable treasure deeper in the Citadel.

After hearing all of that, the group did the sensible thing by adventurer standards and headed right back to the ruins anyway.

Returning to the Scarlet Citadel meant passing through the overgrown approach where creatures had been shifting around since the party last cleared part of the area. The group knew that owlbears often claim abandoned nests, and Rae recognized signs that the local creature traffic had changed again. With the previous owlbear no longer occupying the space, the harpies had apparently moved back in. The party barely had time to absorb that before two harpies attacked.

This fight immediately turned ugly. One harpy raked Zarnak badly with its claws, and both creatures began singing together. Their song dominated Zarnak and turned him against the party, which made a dangerous ambush even worse. Under the effect of the harpy song, Zarnak struck an ally more than once before breaking free. The party had to deal not only with flying enemies and nasty positioning, but with their own heavy hitter temporarily pointed in the wrong direction.

Nucky answered by using support and cutting words to pull one of the harpies into a more favorable position. Krovuur used Astral Wind and other powers to disrupt the field, though one of his moves also dazed himself, which fit the chaotic tone of the fight. The party gradually gained control, especially once one harpy was forced into a vulnerable position and died under the lingering effects of the party’s attacks.

Zarnak, once free of domination, immediately swung back into form with one of the session’s standout moments. A harpy had ended up in a difficult position high along the wall, and Zarnak responded by charging and parkouring off the terrain to reach it. The table loved this, and he absolutely leaned into the moment. It was one of those classic D&D beats where the mechanics mattered, but the memory came from the visual of a furious warrior launching himself into the environment to swat a flying monster out of the air.

Eventually the party brought both harpies down, but the noise and chaos of the fight triggered the next problem almost immediately. Another owlbear showed up, drawn by blood, noise, or both. The owlbear charged, dropped Zarnak, and grabbed him, putting him in immediate danger. The party reacted hard. Zarnak struck back and knocked the owlbear prone at one point, buying a little breathing room. But the real turning point came from Nucky, who successfully banished the owlbear to the Feywild. That completely changed the immediate situation and gave the party the window they needed.

The whole group used that opening to retreat into the entrance hole leading back down. Nucky climbed up the wall to reposition. Krovuur got moving toward safety. Zarnak, after being healed enough to function, also made it to the opening. The harpies were dead, the owlbear was temporarily gone, and the party escaped underground before it could come back.

From there, the session transitioned back into dungeon-exploration mode. With the immediate wilderness threat delayed, the party got the next level map in place, took a short rest, and reset. They now had a better idea of the routes ahead, including the disgusting thirty-foot body-part chamber, the pool room, and other partially explored spaces. The earlier rumors about undead, acid floods, and slimes now mattered even more.

Before fully committing to the next descent, the party reoriented around the nearby unexplored paths. Krovuur and the front line picked up the smell of true undead again, distinct from ordinary corpse stink. The first contact came quickly in the form of a bizarre zombie-like creature with unexpectedly dangerous traits. Krovuur blasted it hard with Sunstrike, almost destroying it immediately, but the thing lurched forward with sudden intelligence, oversized claws, and a mouth full of maggots.

Zarnak stepped in and killed it spectacularly by ripping off its leg and using it to smash its head apart. That solved the immediate threat, but the smell and behavior made clear there were probably more of these things nearby. The party understood this was leading toward another dangerous branch of the Citadel and that the next stretch would likely involve more undead, old chambers, and bad choices.

By the end of the session, the group had strengthened local connections in Red Tower, gathered critical intelligence from other adventurers, fought through a harpy ambush, survived another owlbear encounter by banishing it, re-entered the Scarlet Citadel, regrouped underground, and started probing the next dangerous section filled with death-stink and strange undead.

Quick Recap

• The session began in Red Tower, where Nucky performed at the tavern and became even more of a local favorite.
• Zarnak gathered rumors from a group of adventurers who had previously explored the Scarlet Citadel.
• Those adventurers warned about undead, a spiral staircase, sudden acid floods, weird smells, and slimes appearing out of nowhere.
• They also mentioned losing a well-equipped ally in the Citadel, hinting that good gear might still be down there.
• The party returned to the ruins and found that harpies had moved back into the area.
• Two harpies attacked, and their song dominated Zarnak, causing him to strike allies before snapping free.
• Nucky and Krovuur helped turn the fight, and Zarnak had a standout parkour attack to finish the harpies.
• The battle noise drew another owlbear, which dropped and grabbed Zarnak.
• Nucky successfully banished the owlbear to the Feywild, giving the group time to retreat into the entrance below.
• After regrouping and resting, the party re-entered the Scarlet Citadel and started mapping their next path forward.
• The group picked up the smell of true undead again and encountered a dangerous zombie-like creature with oversized claws and maggots.
• Zarnak killed that undead creature brutally with its own severed leg, and the session ended with the party preparing to push deeper.