Welcome back to the weekly D&D and Tabletop Gaming thread! Here’s a place where we can talk about Dungeons & Dragons or any other tabletop games that you nerds might be into. Tell us about the games you’re playing, speculate about future expansions, recruit your fellow Avocados into new groups, whatever you want.
No discussion topic this week, ’cause I’m on vacation. Artificer discussion next week.
I took over the GM’s chair once again, this time running the group through the D&D 5e adventure “Forge of Fury,” found in the Tales From the Yawning Portal book. The PCs are:
- Gash the Furious, a Half-Orc Totem Warrior Barbarian (played by Otto)
- Slowclap, a Kenku Kensei Monk (played by Josephus Brown)
- Seraphina Lathander, an Aasimar Light Cleric (played by The Wasp)
- Oona Maku, a Half-Elf Hunter Ranger (played by Wafflicious)
- Fritzi Flickerfling, a Gnome Evoker Wizard (played by The Hayes Code)
- Edith Stitch, a Gnome Forge Cleric (played by Spiny Creature)
They killed my dragon, and only two of them came close to dying themselves. Thanks to Spiny for writing up our recap again, as Edith Stitch.
[spoiler title=”Nightscale”]
Klaus.
Klaus, you know I hate to say your name like that, because you know I love you like a grandmother.
But Klaus. You cannot possibly have just now noticed that I’ve been wearing black dragonhide bracers.
I’ve been back from the forge for weeks now, Klaus! You work in one of Reorx’s most ancient workshops – you help me create sacred leatherwork. This is meant to be your calling, Klaus.
But yes, yes, I do have new bracers, and they are dragonhide. I must admit: they’re entirely for show, purely decorative, but I couldn’t resist. They were my consolation to myself after a very bad day.
After we killed those duergar and subdued their leader, we decided to leave her for the time being and see what else we could see.
We explored south, finding the great hall. Off of that was the kitchen, where a nastily animated little table magically rose up and fought us.
(We dispatched it, but who enchants a table against intruders? What, were there especially delicious cornflakes in the pantry that needed to be theftproof? Madness.)
In another room, we heard hammering. We entered and found a cavern with duergar working forges on the other side of the river. We tried to deceive them into letting us pass without a fight, but they were having none of it.
Fritzi used a massive fireball on the forge to blow them apart, and the survivors went invisible and ran. Some of us could still tell by listening where they were, but only Gash ran after them, and she’s as deaf as a deaf brick. One of them made the mistake of hitting her, and after that she was on them, invisible or not.
With the halls explored, we returned to the duergar leader. We questioned her, either aided or very much not aided by Gash taunting her with the severed head of one of her fellows. Depends on your perspective, really.
She had no knowledge that we needed, aside from the extremely helpful heads-up that at the bottom of the next chasm was a black dragon. Apparently, the duergar had been paying tribute for centuries in exchange for being left in peace.
I asked if she would be sensible and refrain from attacking if we untied her, given our obvious ability to defeat her without a second glance.
Her response was “curse your surface god,” which I took as a sort of soft “no.” Anyway, we killed her.
After that, we decided to climb down that very deep dark chasm. I’m no wilderness woman, but I must admit this is the part I was most excited for – it looked so much like an old adventure story you’d have read as a child, Klaus!
Knowing there was a dragon about, we proceeded with caution – even Gash. The base of the waterfall collected here, so we reached a lagoon. There we saw a black shape snaking in the water, and I cast Beacon of Hope to protect us from death.
We waited until the dragon had reared its ugly head above the surface, but I’m afraid waiting was perhaps not the wisest move. By then, it flew instantly away from our missiles, landing on the shore next to us and blasting us with its acid breath.
Several of us were hurt quite badly, but I foolishly hoped the dragon might have run out of acid and attack with tail and claws next, which I am well-suited to handle.
Alas! The dragon stuck to what works, quite sensibly. It simply sprayed us with its breath again, and Slowclap and I fell unconscious on the spot before Oona killed the great beast.
I’m told Slowclap came far closer to death than I did and gave everyone quite a scare while I was out. Thank Reorx for that second holy woman. Seraphina stayed safe and revived us.
(Slowclap, bless him, looked like a bird in an oil slick with all that acid in his feathers. Tragic, yet strangely lovable!)
Meanwhile, Gash swam out into the lagoon in a full rage to retrieve the dragon body. When I awoke, all I could do was cast Guidance on her while she doggy-paddled like a madwoman.
But thank goodness I did, Klaus! When she returned, I set to carving the dragon’s foul-smelling hide, and harvested a few especially beautiful intact scales.
And that, of course, is where I got these new bracers. We also found the dragon’s island lair covered in treasure, and a flying potion which I gave to Slowclap, who was simply beside himself about it. But these bracers – it was these bracers I cherished most.
I find them a permanent reminder that, even if a dragon is a shithead to you, he doesn’t know how to make you into a lovely bit of leather.
[/spoiler]