Thoughts on Thundertree and Daring the Dragon

This was the encounter I was dreading; an extreme risk of abrupt and complete failure.

Introducing Venomfang earlier at Cragmaw castle was very deliberate. I wanted to give my party the chance to roleplay a potentially fatal situation with protective ramparts close by.  Seeing their trusty Paladin felled by a single breath displayed just how dangerous Venomfang was. The party could then realistically save Cadan Dalmas by dragging him inside the castle walls.

A long time elapsed between Cragmaw and Thundertree; real life getting in the way. Our intervening conversations contained much anticipation and apprehension! After much private number crunching, (and low muttering), I read the experiences of other teams which gave some very useful ideas on how to run this encounter.

Like other DMs, I found the Twig Blights a petty annoyance.  I liked the uncanny atmosphere they created but limiting their presence kept the party focused on the real objective.  Zombies no longer scare my players.  They are tough to kill but pose little real risk.  (*) Finding zombies in several buildings would have slowed the game; concentrating their first attack added more to the eerie mood without unduly delaying the final fight.   We had to finish Thundertree in one session.

Our party had six members, all level three.  There was also a Dwarf commoner and a Goblin.  How could they hope to overcome a Young Green Dragon? It seemed too easy just to halve Venomfang’s prowess.  Two of our party could cast five Protection from Poison spells. This seemed a legitimate way of coping with a Green Dragon; yes this reduced the potency of his breath but it also denied our Cleric and Druid their other 2^nd level spells.

Our party had other resources too. Druid Buddynock Rubyrubb is a skilled herbalist.  His mystery concoction gave the party +1 on their constitution saving throws against poison. It helped but did not make the fight unduly easy.

Dropping three gallons of lamp oil down Venomfang’s tower followed by a Fireball forced the dragon into the open but did not inflict crippling damage.   I ruled that most of the burning oil inevitably missed him and Venomfang only suffered 30 hit points damage.  I only realised the threat to Buddynock’s cherished Wilson a few days before we were due to meet.  Fortunately a second bucket had been present ever since the first day of adventuring.

I am very proud of my party.  Despite being outclassed, they defeated this truly fearsome enemy with intelligent and courageous tactics.  Each member played their part to the hilt.  The blessings from Dain and Dalmas faded quickly, but the three bardic inspirations proved highly effective, giving Celmar’s tricky Fireball a better chance of success, not to mention the crucial magic from Shupatra and Buddynock which forced Venomfang out of the sky and held him on the ground. It seemed reasonable to include Reidoth in the hand to hand fighting.  He took beast form as there was no clear space to use spells.

Occupying Gove and Gundren in a private feud provided some light relief and aggrieved comments from the players.  

I rolled each dice honestly, my fingers were crossed by the end, but all dice were rolled honestly all the same.

Ranger Samuel’s archery was highly effective,  four of his six arrows struck home and one hit inflicted critical damage. After recovering from her fall, Celmar unleashed three successful volleys of magic missiles, but Dain Rocksmiter’s Guiding Bolt failed by a single point and Cadan Dalmas missed with both his javelins and first sword cut. 

Venomfang was forced to withstand five opponents in close combat.  After a couple of rounds when the party seemed dominant, the dragon regained his focus with a vengeance, shrugging off our Bard’s spells and alternating poisonous breath attacks with fangs and claws.  Venomfang felled both Reidoth and Dain Rocksmiter and badly injured Cadan Dalmas and Shupatra. 

Bringing a dozen more zombies into play now upped the stakes when it really counted.  Their presence threatened our Elven Sorceress (“Aw!  Hey!”  said Celmar) and Ranger Samuel, but the slow advance of the Undead gave both of them time to react.

The dragon was now down to 17 hit points.  Venomfang won initiative.  If the dragon had breathed again Dalmas and Shupatra would have fallen, the dragon instead used teeth and claws, missed and Cadan Dalmas struck home a second time, using his last Divine Smite to bring Venomfang down to exactly zero hit points.

Dain Rocksmiter was helpless but almost stable, but Reidoth was at the point of death.  Only swift medical attention from Buddynock saved his life.

The remaining injured zombies were slain without much difficulty by three determined archers and our Paladin with his sword, striking from above thanks to the Flying potion.  Treacherous Gove seized his chance and ran.

The day was ours.  Just.

If the battle had continued, I suspect the following would have happened.

·        Venomfang originally had 136 hit points.  He was down to 17.

·      If Venomfang had felled Cadan Dalmas and Shupatra with his poisonous breath, Buddynock Rubyrubb would be the last hero left in the melee. Our Druid was still in bear form. Buddynock might have inflicted some minor injury but I am sure Venomfang would have soon overcome him too.

·        By now the dragon was so badly injured it would have been shot out of the sky if it attempted to flee, Venomfang’s best hope of survival was forcing the fight to a finish.

·        If Celmar used her last spell slot to cast Magic Missiles again and Ranger Samuel’s archery was true, I believe Venomfang would still have been defeated.

·        The close packed, unarmoured Undead were highly vulnerable to Ranger Samuel’s three Hail of Thorn spells and Gundren could finally inflict damage with his own crossbow.   All the same, I strongly suspect the zombies would have defeated Celmar before any archery ended the fight.

·        Ranger Samuel and Gundren would have struggled to save six helpless casualties.

·       Dain Rocksmiter would probably have stabilised by himself and Reidoth would have probably died.

·       Cadan Dalmas, Shupatra, Buddynock Rubyrubb and Celmar would have each needed medical intervention. By the simple law of averages at least one would probably have died, before anyone could reach them; maybe even all four.

All in all, better the battle against Venomfang ended when it did.

I just hope my party recognise their own success.

They should be truly proud.


As a much deserved, and unusual benefit, I granted each member of the party a permanent +1 bonus to their Constitution score for eating a very fresh dragon steak.

(*)          The Lost Mine of Phandelver should definitely restore fear of the Undead!