We got deeper into the Dungeon of the Dead Three this week than I thought we would. Four combats and plenty of investigation. We stopped session right as they found Flennis, mid spell ritual, and initiated a surprise combat. If you’ve read the module, then you know who Flennis is.
The highlight for me wasn’t combat, though. It was the altar.
There’s a Bhaal altar down here, covered in entrails. The module treats it like set dressing: pour holy water on it, move on. My players? They interrogated that thing like a witness. What kind of entrails? How many? How fresh? Is the giant mask hanging above it magical? Cue Detect Magic ritual. Mage Hand poking through the gore. And because they took the time, I rewarded them. Hidden inside the mess, they found the Vanthampur signet ring. Not in the book, just something I added for paying attention.
Combat wise, they were efficient. Cleared two rooms with minimal resource spend. So far the dungeon’s “meat grinder” rep hasn’t been landing. Though two frontline warlock builds are doing a good deal of the lifting here. One (Granny) is a Ranger 1 / Warlock 1 who has Goodberry (Magic Initiate) on pact slots.
2024 rules let Warlocks now take Agonizing blast in cantrips besides just eldritch blast. Our other ‘lock is a Primal Savagery build. Yes, you heard that right. A Primal Savagery + Agonizing Blast build. Which, of course, means he has the False Life invocation to spam. This forced Bane’s tanky warriors to learn the hard way that the fragile looking caster was actually the frontline. It was a great moment when the players in the party start recognizing the strengths of each other’s characters.
The funniest part of the night was the animated gauntlets. After Bane’s warriors went down, the players found the noble they were torturing. Everyone calls actions at once: ranger collects arrows, necromancer investigates the corpses, and our new cleric eagerly rushes forward to save the prisoner. “I use Healing Word!” he says. “I’ll roll Medicine!” And then I get to grin, “Actually, roll initiative.” The gauntlets on the nearby armor spring to life, fly past everyone, and start punching the cleric in the face. It was quick, brutal, and hilarious.
The dungeon feels dangerous, but the party’s handling it well so far. Resource spend is uneven. New players burn slots, veterans hoard, but everyone’s contributing. They’ve made it farther than I expected, and next session starts with a blast. Two Fireball spell slots. Level two party. You do the math.