How to run Sparkrender, the Observatory and the finale of Dragons of Stormwreck Isle

Feeling stressed about running the Observatory? Watch this video for a room-by-room breakdown, advice about Sparkrender and the finale for Dragons of Stormwreck Isle.
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▶ Dragon Rituals PDF: www.patreon.com/posts/draconi...
▶ Dragon Rituals written in partnership with @RdotDoyle
▶ Slideshow edited by Selina Knyazev (@SadcatLina, behance.net/SelinaKnyazev)
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This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at dnd.wizards.com/resources/sys.... The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at creativecommons.org/licenses/....
▼▼ Timestamps ▼▼
0:00 The Observatory
0:23 The un-fun parts of this dungeon
2:04 At Dragon's Rest
4:30 Facing Mek and Min
6:14 Sparkrender's ritual
8:41 Fighting Sparkrender
10:31 The Dragon Totems
11:21 Freeing Lord Aidron
12:07 Completing the ritual and aftermath
#dnd #5e #dosi

[@Turtlpwr]

To any new(ish) dm’s considering subbing his Patreon, DO IT! As a still green dm, I can honestly say that All of the resources available that I’ve used have seriously leveled up my games. The players at my table for the DOSI games alone have been captivated specifically by all of the implemented changes Matthew advised. Once again thank you Matthew Perkins for all the hard work and dedication

[@Turtlpwr]

Also it’s made every session so much more epic for everyone, dm (me) included

[@heyitsMattyP]

Thanks for the glowing review :)

[@sasoltero]

Here are some things for Sparkrender to say in early combat rounds: "You dare to challenge me? I am a dragon, and you are nothing but insects!" "Your weapons are no match for my scales! My claws will tear you to shreds!" "You are nothing but a bunch of pathetic mortals! I will crush you like the insects you are!" "Leave now, and I may spare your lives. But if you stay, you will die!" “Soon I will become the most powerful creature in this world! You are nothing compared to me!" "You are all fools! You can’t stop my ascension!!" "I will make dragon-kibble of you all! I will make you suffer!" "I am the dragon, and you are nothing! Bow down before me!" "I am the master of this world! You are all my servants!" And here are some for him to say as the tide of battle turns against him: "You think you've won? You've only made me angry!" "I'm not done with you yet! I'll kill you all!" "You're just lucky! I'm not at full strength!" "This isn't over! I'll be back!" "You've only beaten me because of numbers! I'm still the better fighter!" "You'll regret this! I'll make you pay!" "You're all going to die! I'll make sure of it!" "You're just a bunch of cowards! You can't face me one on one!" "I'm going to kill you all! I'm going to make you suffer!"

[@oldeb]

Will run this in 3 days with my players. Wish me luck ! Additional BBEG lines ideas : "Oh what is it ? An unexpected lunch ?" (when the PCs arrive) "You think you are heroes ? You just forgot the fear of death mortals. Let me reacquaint you." "When this ritual is over you will behold true power. And it will be the last thing you will ever see." "You start to annoy me ! Shut up and die !"

[@heyitsMattyP]

Good luck! (For three weeks ago!)

[@oldeb]

@@heyitsMattyP they loved it ! One of my player is planning to run this campaign on his own and I sent him your playlist :)

[@heyitsMattyP]

Oh great! Thanks for passing the word along :)

[@leamayesmith]

In regards to the key, I actually hung it around the owlbear’s neck in one of the smaller encounters earlier in the game. My players kept it but had no idea what it was for until they saw the bridge. It worked out pretty well and they had more of a sense of accomplishment for earning the key.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Oh sick! Very good :)

[@msoares2603]

Man, this is just WAY more exciting than the regular story written in the starter set, I'm watching this video and already getting hipped about the adventure haha. I have never DMed (or even played dnd with friends for that matter, only watched other people plays online), and I bought this kit to try to DM for a few friends, and your videos on DOSI have helped me a lot on planning the adventure, and making it more exciting than the one in the kit. Thank you!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to hear! I ran this dungeon for two groups: one did the dungeon as-written, one did this boss battle situation. And running as a big boss battle was way more fun.

[@echelon5266]

Thanks for this video. It really helped me prepare for this combat. I just started this combat in my session last night. It hasn’t finished yet, but already there is so much I would do differently had I known in hindsight. I have a party of 5 players 1. I would make the countdown dice a D8. I made it a D12, it was just too long given the amount of action economy the players get in comparison to the BBEG. 2. Buff Sparkrender. I reckon once he reaches half health, give him multi-attack where he can use two actions. 3. I think I’m going to ignore the attempt to succeed the ritual. If the countdown reaches 0. He succeeds. 4. Consider more HP. My players literally managed to reduce his health by 56 in two rounds. It would have made a lame boss fight to be defeated so easily, so I just gave him more HP. NB: my players didn’t get the key 🔑, so they spent ages just trying to figure out how to get into the observatory. Combat only started when one of them failed a stealth check once they were inside.

[@jermperture9094]

The library sheet from Patreon for Dragons Rest was absolutely amazing. It came alive and the players spent lots of time there getting the missing pieces of the plot! Thank you!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to help! Check out Zipperon Disney on KZbin too, because he wrote a huge chunk of that and gave me permission to publish it.

[@JOrtizArt]

Running this for the second time, using your changes, and I've just got to say...this is how you make an epic finale! As written, this mod was lackluster, and these changes make it shine. Frankly, your work puts the WotC designers too shame. On the one hand, it's disappointing to see the lack of understanding as to what makes a compelling story/adventure coming out of WotC nowadays, but then again, if they got it right, we wouldn't have your insightful fixes. Happy to support your Patreon...you've earned it many times over.

[@TheLowCarbCocktailGuy]

From someone who is a new DM, thank you so much. My group is running this last chapter in a few days. After watching your previous video, I reread the chapter, and I wanted to do something different. This is perfect. The only thing I'm doing differently is that I have created a puzzle that the players need to solve in order to activate the bridge instead of a key. Thanks again

[@heyitsMattyP]

The adventure is sorely missing three things: 1) Traps 2) Puzzles 3) Spellcasters. Adding any of those is a good idea!

[@manveroo1340]

I have a similar problem. My players are going to the observatory and will bypass Runara. They managed to have no clue about the needed Key. As a first time DM I have no idea how to craft an appropriate puzzle... What kind of puzzle did you end up with?

[@discocombo]

Thank you for your awesome takes on this adventure! Makes it way more interesting!

[@heyitsMattyP]

You're welcome :) Thanks you!

[@RdotDoyle]

Awesome video and great advice as always! Those dragon rituals sound pretty incredible too

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers!

[@murvee]

LOVED this serious of videos! First time DM and players using this campaign and all of them loved it and I had to explain that all my ideas for changes came from you.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Claim them for yourself! You did all the work :)

[@lwlewis007]

This is an outstanding finale! Love the concept of a player jumping crazy into the vortex!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers! I'd love to get some stats on how many groups have a player step into the ritual. I reckon it would happen half the time

[@KDinLA]

Honestly THE BEST advice for DMs on the internet.

[@heyitsMattyP]

tytytyty

[@truedarkzero4221]

Love this take, been stressing this conclusion as written, I was actually thinking of changing it up similarly to this! Glad I watched!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers mate! I've run the module twice: once by the book, and once with my homebrew changes from this series. For the finale, this homebrew version worked way better - it was tougher, more dramatic, and more satisfying for everyone

[@shynes7]

All these ideas really amp up this starter set, awesome work.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Thanks!

[@evuilliomenet]

This is brilliant, thank you!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad you liked it!

[@mattia_sanulivi7699]

I'm about to run the session finale of DoSI tonight and with your precious advices the adventure was a blast so far! Thank you!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to help :)

[@RafaelCabreraAzrael]

holy shit, this is amazing, going to be dm for the 1st time ever and glad ive watch this!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers Raf! I hope it's a suitably epic finale :)

[@wizardcat2232]

Best evil dragon dialog "foolish mortals you are but peons compared to the might of my magic. You think your using magic when you are just playing with the most basic of magics now behold what a dragon is capable of."

[@kevindonville8185]

Brilliant!!!

[@heyitsMattyP]

tytytyty

[@PeanutJamster]

Loved this! I was unsure how to run tis particular chapter so I gave the video a watch. Some background: Brand new to dming and had an extremely awkward first sessions (Almost quit the same day) but powered through. My players wanted to start at a higher level this time around as opposed to starting at 1 (so they can get "online" a bit earlier) so I had them start at 4. The caves went fairly smoothly. Did the octopus without much worries. Then, it reaallly got interesting. Since I had to scale the enemies up (We had roughly 7-8 players this time), they ended fighting several fume drakes that all exploded for some lovely aoe damage that really hurt, lol. I was generous and allowed them to take a short rest. Next session, they broke the crystal that was blocking the vents and out dropped a Salamander and Fire Snake. When I tell you that Salamander went to town on them, my goodness. I actually got a bit concerned at one point because the one person with frost bolt was doing decent damage, but the Salamander ended up targeting them, rolled for a crit + fire damage and managed to KO him in one turn. Gotta say it was hilarious how it happened, but the party managed to pull through. The Shipwreck wasn't extraordinary, but I had them fight the zombies, 2 ghouls and a wight below deck. They tried escaping the ship undetected but unfortunately when they were trying to get back to the ship, they alerted the Harpies, along with the Harpy Matriarch. Charm is a funny ability, lol. Next session, I had a filler episode where everyone took part in the "dragonsong festival" where they had to do several competitions. We had arm wrestling, archery, barrel rolling and a cupcake eating competition. I know they had a blast with it too. I followed your suggestions for running sparkender to really make it more interesting, along with some liberties. They fought the stirges, along with a stirge queen. The rouge and warlock disengaged and ran into the tower where the ritual was underway and tried to help free Aidron. I even tied in the whole countdown from 10 scenario. After some fighting, the monk managed to completely destroy one of the totems which made Sparkrender fly into the void (the ritual) and came out as a young green dragon. He cursed the party, saying he was the wrong color and was supposed to be ancient (the ritual got interrupted so he def got messed up there). I had a whole epic encounter when he emerged absolutely livid and flew into the air and created a dome of raining acid which pretty much "killed" everyone. They started to lose consciousness until one of them spotted Runara flying overhead and the bard (this player was absent in the previous session, so he wasn't present during the fight) dropped in playing a song taught to him by Runara (Shinryu's theme from FF14). They all felt revitalized and had one final stand against the now Green Dragon Sparkrender. After the fight, I had the Kobold warlock attempt to channel the residual energies from the ritual, but Aidron had to intervene because the power would have destroyed the Kobold's body. After he encouraged the rest of the party to help absorb the power, the Kobold emerged as a dragonborn, Aidron evolved into a young bronze dragon and everyone else in the party inherited a breath attack of their choice, along with the ability to speak draconic and scales on different parts of their body. We wrapped up the final session with Runara praising the group and foreboding the possibility of Sharruth's return because of the comet. I found a sharruth campaign online that I'm going to have them run, just as a wrap up for some of the character's story. This comment ended up being absurdly longer than I expected, but I had so much fun dming for the first time. It def brought me out of my comfort zone and I'd love to do more in the future!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Oh sick! Great story, but the thing I'm most impressed with is how you had a bad feeling after the first session, but pushed through anyway. Well done!

[@dreadknot69]

Not gonna lie...not sure if it's just because it's the 'new hotness', so to speak, or what but .....I really like what you're doing with this adventure and I truly prefer it to the written module. I've subbed to your patreon and am very happy with the stuff you've been adding to not just this but all the starter sets.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers Dread! I'm just lucky to have found the thing I am good at: simplifying, untangling and enhancing stories. I'm no expert roleplayer, no fancy writer, no experienced dungeon master with hundreds of campaigns under my belt, but I can hack a D&D session up and build something out of the best bits.

[@BSRJR]

Some cool ideas in this video. The one thing I REEEEAAAALLLY don’t like, is one player leveling past the others. You really don’t want to create haves and have nots to that degree within the party. As an alternative, I’d recommend giving a Dragonborn racial feat to all the players if they decide to channel the energy as a group. Like at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy. The draconic energies would kill a single character, but as a group they can distribute it equally and each get a Dragonborn feat.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Fair enough! It's not something I normally do, but for special moments, I'm OK with letting a character pull ahead for a few sessions till the rest catch up.

[@D4V3TH3RAV3]

Late to these but thanks for the series - been great to watch & prep for my first crack at being a DM. Def debating having one of the Kobolds follow the party, heroically nearly die vs Sparkrender and steer the party to have them absorb the ritual power to try and save them and have them turn into a red Dragonborn haha

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers Dave!

[@Makenai_]

MISS YOUR VIDEOS!!!

[@heyitsMattyP]

I'll be back soon!

[@TheOneNotTheOnly]

Aragon, Gimli, and Orlando Bloom. Classic

[@heyitsMattyP]

He is a man who can only play himself

[@pdubb9754]

The way you suggest playing Sparkrender sounds pretty ruthless. Commanding the kobolds to take out any fallen foes and letting the players know it ought to amp up the tension. It also makes the minons a more relevant part of the combat. The d12 countdown die - will this combat even come close to 12 rounds? I've never had a combat last that long.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Boss fights are the best time to be ruthless - good villains want to win! And if a player were to lose their character in a heroic scene, this is the moment. If I were playing against kids or a super non-tactical party, I'd probably dial it back though, because all this stuff is meant to reward players for paying attention and making the correct combat decisions (don't stand close together, take out the minions first, free Lord Aidron, etc.) I wouldn't expect both combats to take 12 rounds, but puting a timer on the table changes the game's energy in an interesting way. The goal of this session is to have non-stop tension and action, to really heighten that feeling of satisfaction when they win.

[@Dadungeondaddy]

Im using this canpaign as an intro to dnd for some friends and if they continue outside of it I was gonna hook in Tyranny of Dragons, so I planned on making Sparkrenders ritual a way to help in bringimg Tiamat back that the players stop early on and leading to want to investigate the cult. Im gonna use this for sure: "No pathetic mortal could possibly stop a demigod like I. Tiamat will rise again, and I will stand by her side. Come, and perish fools!"

[@heyitsMattyP]

Sounds good! My advice (unasked for) would be to be wary of stakes in this story. Stopping the revival of Tiamat is bigger than a level three story, but there could be a smaller piece of the Tyranny of Dragons puzzle which could be involved here. I'd recommend reading that module and looking for crucial magic items, like the dragons masks.

[@Tristonidas]

Nice website buddy. I like!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Thanks!

[@georgegonzalezm.8393]

Evolve to a dragonborn!! LOVE IT!!! Now I have a feasible reason to include dragonborn race in my campaign!!!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Yeah I think it's something kind of zany that a player would love to roleplay :)

[@jojasam631]

Mattie! Love your stuff, have been coming back to this video series for a couple of weeks to prep for my sessions. Just a heads up, I headed to your website and it's not working.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers! I've been working on a new site in the background, and it didn't finish development before my old domain expired. It's all back now though!

[@icebarrierangel6610]

Wishme luck i will run your versión tomorrow

[@heyitsMattyP]

Hope it went well :)

[@xkillrocknroll1]

What are some other interesting things that could be done at the very end with the portal energy ritual thingy? Some get draconic powers on level up? Becoming chosen ones to fell all the bad dragons with an epic intro into DOIP?

[@heyitsMattyP]

I'm still stuck on transforming into a Dragonborn! No better way to ruin a halfling's day

[@ceebeedubs5590]

I'm thinking of using the ritual that creates some kind of portal that draws the players into the beginning of the curse of strahd 😅

[@heyitsMattyP]

Ooooh very good!

[@_SuperSadex]

awesome video as always. May I ask, what font is used at 7:46 ?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Zatanna Misdirection

[@Jorge23_06]

Wow, this is way better than the actual fight where you can skip the ritual part completely. The problem is that I don't know if this will be too much for my players to handle, they are new to TTRPG games and so am I...

[@heyitsMattyP]

But Jorge: think of the memories!

[@goblins_workshop]

I’m running the campaign for some friends and I did exactly what you explain in your videos and they absolutely love this!! In this video I really love your idea about the ritual that change the character race but I have a question… I already have a dragon born and a kobold in my party… I can see the kobold becoming a Dragonborn it would be great but since there is already a Dragonborn… what would he become instead? A superpowered Dragonborn? A full dragon? Something else? Pleeeeease let me now because they will go to dragon’s rest next week and rush forward to save Aidron!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Glad to help! If a Dragonborn jumped in, they'd still get the level-up. If you wanted to add dragon flavour to it, you could give them an extra use of their breath weapon per-day.

[@Scottoz_]

Do you have one pdf i can purchase that has all your changes to this campaign? Your store link is down ..

[@heyitsMattyP]

I don't, but you can browse everything here: matthewperkins.net/store

[@wendull811]

What would you recommend if your party has a dragonborn in it already and he channels the energy. I'm just curious as I just started this with my group, and one is a dragon born.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Maybe give them an extra use of their breath weapon per day?

[@wendull811]

@Matthew Perkins I like that, thank you. I am new to all this, as is my whole group. I am learning a ton from your videos. Keep up the great work.

[@demongustavditters7150]

Have you ever thought about doing videos on dragons of icespire peak? I wonder if it could lace it in w the lost mines in a sane way. Or should it be it’s own run. Curious to see what you think. @heyitsMattyP

[@heyitsMattyP]

Yes! I read the adventure for the first time in May, and I took a bunch of notes for it. BUT my intention was to run it as a sequel, and now the new Shattered Obelisk messes that up a bit. I'll have to do some more testing to see if it still works, which means I need to run all three campaigns

[@demongustavditters7150]

@@heyitsMattyP makes sense. I can’t wait to see anything you post on any of it! I’ve laced two adventure locations into my lost mines game, one to great effect. But I didn’t do a great job with the other.

[@heyitsMattyP]

@demongustavditters7150 which two locations?

[@demongustavditters7150]

@@heyitsMattyP umbrage hill. Had the party rescue a cleric Npc (old retired pc) from the manticore. And tower of storms I winged it. Used it to plant seeds of future adventures that never came to fruition. The one win I had with that location is an npc Cramsey Clawsmith. A chain smoking crab man who trades glass from the beach and ship wrecks to local goblins for cigarettes. French accent. Played him quirky kinda like Drax The Destroyer from the MCU. Edit. He was a win bc the party loved him. They were sad when he wanted to stay on the beach. I planned on having him reoccurring.

[@roninhare9615]

Love the break down of storm wreck isle. I do have a question, because I want to suggest it’s an option when I run my players though, but how would you go about a player completing the ritual on themselves? The lure of undergoing a dragon ascension could appeal to a player or 2. Would you be opposed to a player gaining scales and wings? Their base AC could now be 13+dex and they gain a fly speed equal to their walk speed. Granted undergoing this ritual would kill the bronze dragon and would be an evil act, but I want the option to be there just incase.

[@heyitsMattyP]

yeah, i'd just race-swap them to dragonborn

[@echored2259]

Does anyone know where to get the token or something similar used for the swirling magic?

[@echored2259]

For the Ritual

[@heyitsMattyP]

It's a green screen effect, not a VTT token

[@echored2259]

Well done!

[@kairos4480]

Where do you get those swirling ritual effect? can I get it for free?

[@heyitsMattyP]

It's a greenscreen effect, not a VTT effect

[@nathanshuster862]

Do you think Sparkrender should be medium or reflavored to large? He is a wyrmling but it’s almost too small/cute for BBEG presence… thank you so much for this content!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Large! It never even occurred to me to make him person-sized, even though that's what the book says. Gotta give the payers that drama :)

[@moonlight3777]

I have had every volume up completely on my computer and it was still very quite to hear

[@heyitsMattyP]

Apologies, I'm bad at audio

[@yuto6690]

Hei Matt I have just a short question My wizard is a bit sad about it that he isn't really worth it in fights at lvl1 is there a way to help him to get some more fun in fights, and is he able to make the spore octopus fall asleep?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Wizards are a good class - I'm not sure why someone would feel ineffective, unless they're literally running up to enemies and trying to hit them with a staff. Is your wizard using their cantrips? If your player is upset, maybe just target the other players. And I reckon the octopus' 52HP is too high to fall under the Sleep spell's 5d8 effect.

[@yuto6690]

@@heyitsMattyP Thx for the fast reply well he uses his cantrips sometimes, but is mad about it that his spells deal kinda less dmg or are less effective as his cantrips are i Told him that with getting a higher lvl etc. he will get way stronger and that he should try to use his cantrips maybe more effective

[@yuto6690]

@@heyitsMattyP i just realised that he is immune to charmes so sleep wont effect him either way i guess

[@heyitsMattyP]

If he's unhappy with his spells, let him re-choose his spells, or even pick a different class, and if he's still unhappy after that, sounds like an attitude problem

[@yuto6690]

@@heyitsMattyP okay thx so much we gone through the Playershandbook and let him read the cantrips so he can switch out those since we are playing with the pre gen chars. I guess he is already more happy about the situation as he can rechoose once now ^^`

[@HWORD-xg6hi]

I loved the adjustments for DoSI. Which adventure are you going to guide us through next? Princes of the Apocalypse? Rime of the Frostmaiden? Descent into Avernus? Keep up the amazing work!!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Thank you! Next I'm working on finishing my SKT guides, then maybe I'll do the Essentials Kit adventure Dragons of Icespire Peak - presuming nothing new gets released that might take priority

[@daryllanderson7305]

In my story. My story is building up to the Light of Xaryxis. So I’m using this Stormwreck book to mix together the stories, and level up my players. For Me. Sparkrender wants to resurrect the Ancient Red Dragon with the other Dragon to kill it for good. So it can become the new Lord of the Island. This will win over the Kobolds to go invade the Western Coast. But in order to get ready for the fight. Sparkrender uses a crashed Spelljammer ship, its cargo of weapons, and in my home brew. A Xaryxis Mech to fight the Red Dragon. The Kobolds are learning how to use this new space gear they’ve obtained. And they pilot the Mech in a Power Rangers-eques style.

[@daryllanderson7305]

By the way. You’re probably gonna say Sparkrender’s plan to resurrect the Red Dragon is stupid. Because it is. Runara told the players that Sparkrender’s plan will totally and utterly fail. This will spell doom to the entire western coast. It took three other Dragons to kill the Red Dragon. And you think a young Blue Dragon and the Kobolds new shiny robot will work? Yeah no. Definitely not. And that’s how I up the stakes on Sparkrender’s plan, and make the story more interesting. That’s why I like DND. Make it how you like it.

[@heyitsMattyP]

I would never say your plans are stupid! I'm glad you're doing your own thing :)

[@8eewee]

One thing I don't get is why Runara doesn't intervene personally (unless I missed it) It was mentioned that she didn't want to reopen old wounds or something of the sort, but if Sparkrender is doing all this stuff, wouldn't that be justification enough? I'm planning on having Dragon's Rest be under threat by kobolds loyal to Sparkrender so she has a clear reason to stay while the party goes on to stop the big bad.

[@heyitsMattyP]

In my version, Runara is not a dragon-in-disguise, she's just a regular old lady sworn to non-aggression.

[@pinpaltortenschreck1630]

Thx for the question and also thx for the answer. The Same question was bugging my mind while watching

[@connorgillis654]

In my version, Runara is a dragon but is so committed to the path of non-violence (her reason for founding the cloister of Dragon's Rest in the first place) that she refuses to help. I really played up the religious part of Dragon's Rest in my campaign so this works well for me.

[@loreermejo]

The book just says she's non-violent. I liked making this her whole deal: I filled the cloister of problems that raised because she always avoided conflict. She's still mourning her father and she blames any kind of fighting for her loss. In her mind every quarrel should be settled by words, and this is the reason the other dragon left to fight Sparkrender. She was never going to fix that, because Sparkrender would only be impressed by physical might. On a lower stake level, it's also nice to have some cloister residents struggle with this teaching: I had one angry because is gf was seeing another kobold (and couldn't face them), another sad because no one respected her (she would always threaten but could never harm), and even the human general had some trouble because her army was going to lose a very big battle since she chose not to fight. I think it's very fun putting players in front of similar scenarios and have them pick a side and push towards their own morals.

[@franktorres6067]

Guys I have a huge gripe with the adventure... Why doesn't Runara fight or even take care of the problem all by herself?

[@heyitsMattyP]

That's the exact reason the NPC-is-secretly-uber-powerful meme sucks, and why I make Runara be just a regular old lady

[@leboosh2811]

Because she’s sworn herself to not use violence

[@niconicer6463]

Honestly, I think it’s because of a few reasons. First of all, she can’t actually just lightning breath sparkrender away, so the combat would take longer than a while. Natural self preservation aside she is going to take quite some damage guaranteed due to the sheer amount of enemies at sparkrender’s disposal. Secondly, cannon fodder. The sheer amount of enemies at sparky’s disposal is also a perfect reason why Runera wouldn’t want to commit practical genocide. She is strong enough, but she wouldn’t kill all those beings when her ideal is that chromatic dragons and metallic dragons can coexist peacefully. Lastly, she’d leave the cloister unattended for long, too long, zombies could come and slaughter the kobold residents, who knows what could happen when she leaves. Almost all of her time is spent in or around the cloister so her finally leaving could be catastrophic for all we know. All and all, Runera please just help for 5 seconds, you can shrug off the damage and collect the darn child. You’d rather sacrifice a wyrmling and risk a huge threat rather than some scrapes on your claw??? It takes like 15 minutes MAX to free the bronze little boy. Just smash into the building, do a 360 breath attack (non lethal 🤓☝️) and save the child! You don’t even have to kill anything just save the sacrificial lamb! Anyways Runera is a perfect character and has no plot holes whatsoever.

[@mAcChaosCh]

Did you ever have anyone actually turn into the dragonborn? How did that play out?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Not me personally, but I saw a comment somewhere of someone saying it happened to their party, and it worked out well :) With any transformation stuff like that, I'd personally get player permission at the table before pulling the trigger and accidentally making their character something they don't enjoy playing.

[@renarddubois940]

"Mwahahahah what a silly band of mortals *snickers annoyingly* SCURRYING(dramatic) to their Untimely DEATHSSSS(hiss)" 50% health, ritual fail or any point that warrant frustration "HOW DARETH THEEE!!! HOW DARETH!! I AM of the noble blood of Eldenemir! Son of Tiamat! I will grind your bones into sand and breathe them into glass!"

[@R2d2homie]

Just here to sacrifice this commet for the algorithm

[@heyitsMattyP]

ACCEPTABLE

[@dacriaxvgr]

I was thinking on running this chapter as the prelude to Tyranny of Dragons, making the players watch as Sparkrender completes his ritual and becomes an amalgamated dragon with blue and red scales, having accelerated his growth to an adult dragon and leaving stormwreck isle to cause destruction. In the end he becomes the dragon that destroys greenest, not by following the cult of the dragon, but to test his newfound power. This way we have two groups looking for the dragon, the players who want to take down the foe they failed to stop, and the cult of the dragon, who see Sparkrender as a possible host to bring tiamat back to the realms. It's either that, or mixing all of the 5e box sets to create a single adventure with all the stories and quests from Stormwreck Isle, Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icepire Peak. Since Fizbans brought the idea of dragonsight, it could be cool to use that concept.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Yeah nice! Gotta be prepared for him to not survive the encounter with the players at the end though. If he dies, I hope you have a contingency for Greenest :)