Unchained Melody

Ahhhhhh – rested and recharged. Feels good, man. A special thanks to everyone for giving us a chance to soak in the summer sun!

DM Ben went to Antigua in the Caribbean, and boy, oh boy – that crystal blue water was simply the best. For the long plane rides, he read “The Monsters Know What They’re Doing (book 1)” and watched Acquisitions Incorporated PAX East 2022 live show. Good stuff!

We’re getting closer and closer to our Wandering Monster Wilderness Trek table, so today, we’re tapping the talent over at Brite Minis and their version of the classic Harpy! These screamin’ meanies tend to live within marshlands or in caves near shorelines. They tend to use the buddy system with a pair, so it was great to get two different sculpts here. They also can travel in packs of 6 to 12, so you could load your plate up with these suportless models to run off more.

Even though there are two different poses/models, we asked resident painter Kimmy Utah to print each model rather distinctly for easy identification when they’re on the gameboard. A grey vs red garment color was perfect, but she also tweaked the hair color and even the bases.

So what do we know about these monstrosities? Besides their nasty multi-attack and slashing claws (2d4+1 damage), these songbirds can fly at a speed of 40 feet really turn on the charm with Luring Song (Wisdom DC 11 or become incapacitated). Thankfully, their AC is low (11), and their to-hit is rather wimpy (+3, but DM Ben will probably bump it to +5).

Now, let’s flesh this encounter out a bit. Another long rest means one or two players get watch duty at a time. Towards the end of the first watch, which was incredibly boring, the player hears the faint sound of sweet, sweet music. DM Ben will briefly play a clip of this humming melody sound effect on a lower volume.

Then he’ll make the volume louder and louder and ask each player to make that Wisdom DC 11 saving throw. We have two humanoids in our Party of six level four characters, so if neither human player is on watch, the song will be so soothing that they will be forced to make a roll. Think of it like briefly waking up for a loud rain and how good it momentarily feels before you fall right back asleep.

Certainly, the group will investigate…especially if one or two players blow the save and start dashing (double their movement speed) toward the direction of the mysterious magical melody. Our two harpies will be perched on a tall tree. Then it’s battle time. Each Harpy has 38 HP, and they will certainly withdraw once their HPs go down to about ten-ish. Their job here was to disturb and harass and not fall on their clubs as it were.

Just remember, there are two Harpy monsters here, so at the start of the encounter, each humanoid within 300 feet has to be two Wisdom DC 11 rolls. DM Ben is going to make them near the maximum range to see if he can force a couple saving rolls before the players are in combat range. Remember, it’s an action to start singing and then a bonus action after that to continue to the tune. A charmed target repeats the saving throw at the end of each turn.

Now, all we need to do is, once again, update our Wilderness Trek Wandering Monster Table!

Until next time!