TOPIC: Tyranny of Dragons: Continues Rot 3 2020

Another great post, my favourite line "I think I've broken my upright"

Thank you to all the players for a really enjoyable rotation. I think I only stumbled a few times with the rules, but you all assisted in getting things back on track.

Hope you all enjoyed it too and will be returning in rotation 6

As a reminder, the game will resume from the characters arriving in Waterdeep

It had been an interesting few weeks for the Narrator, he was able to sit back and review the actions of his chief stooge. Dave, the Narrator reflected, was funny. The Subliminal incident, as the Narrator now thought of it, still caused him to blow beer down both nostrils in great guffaws of laughter, and, he reflected, there were far too few such occasions.

It had all stemmed, the Narrator recalled, from the conversation with Dave about “being a bit more subtle in his dealings with the uprights” and “trying subliminal communication”. The Narrator smiled… Dave took things very literally…
Chuckling to himself, the Narrator reviewed the text on Dave’s peerless thinking…
The uprights were thinking of themselves (informally at least) as the Band of Dave. The main reason for this (and Dave had to admit this privately to himself with a degree of guilt), was that he’d been dropping sub-liminal messages to Maria for a couple of weeks.
Dave’s subconscious immediately defended itself. Nar Ator had spoken to him again. Dave still preferred to think of the creature as a separate real entity rather than a construct of some malign, and Dave had to think, EVIL, god called GM. But the creature had a point. Direct intervention with the Uprights was all very well, but half of the Band thought Maria was raving mad speaking to a spirit guide, and the other half were undecided. Nar Ator had therefore instructed the crow to try and be a little more subtle with the Uprights, practice more indirect means of influencing them. Sub-lim-in-al messages it suggested were the way forward, and Dave was instructed to practice.
Dave was shocked to the very tips of his feathers. It had taken him some time to piece together what subliminal was, let alone how to do it. [The Narrator smiled once again as he remembered Dave’s logic]:
Sub – “under”, as in worms couldn’t get into the sub soil.
Lim – “featherless wing”, the poor uprights either walked on them or used them to a surprising number of different things. No wonder they were so confused when it came to taking action.
In-Al – this had caused Dave lot of trouble, he was unable to comprehend what an ‘Al’ was, and therefore what “in-Al” could be. In the end Dave had to wait until he was in Elturel and get a look at a library. Libraries, Dave decided were useful places. Not only could you find out obscure meanings to ancient text, but to place so much good nesting material in such abundence, was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. Uprights, the bird decided, merited more credit than he gave them. “In- al” it transpired was not at all pleasant. ‘–al’ apparently was an ancient suffix meaning “of the kind of, pertaining to, having the form or character” which was fair enough… until Dave realised what ‘in-al’ therefore meant. Very clearly the suggestion was that the spirit needed to be IN the form or character. Which meant that he, Dave needed to be IN the FORM accessed under the featherless LIMB…
Dave went somewhat cold. There was ABSOLUTELY NO WAY he was doing that. Dave failed to see how crawling up a creatures vent, could influence them in ANY subtle way…

When the Narrator arrived to find out how it was going (having become bored with reading boring text) he was surprised when Dave maintained a stoney silence. Eventually the narrator got tired of the cold shoulder and addressed the crow directly.

“What’s the matter Dave?”
Dave remained silent
“OK, I’ve had enough of this, you had your chance, so skip straight to the report. How are the subliminal messages working out?”
Dave glowered.
“Ah not working then?”
“Not ever, Ever, ever, Ever, EVER am I crawling up someone’s backside, and that’s final!”
“WHAT?” Nar Ator sounded perplexed.
“Subliminal, I’m not doing it.” Dave’s response was very final.
“Why not?” Nar Ator was quickly loosing the plot, something that was very bad in his line of work.
“I just told you. I’m not crawling up any asses”.
“WHAT!!!?!!!!” Nar Ator sounded strangely strangled. It was then Dave heard the creature laugh long and hard. Eventually the creature was able to explain what Subliminal actually meant, and Dave heaved a sigh of relief.

Dave had got on with practicing.

Which brought him back to the Band of Dave.

Subliminal activity had taken a while to get straight. Dave realised he’d overdone it when Maria immediately fell into a deep sleep. Subtle was one thing, but, Dave reflected, unconscious and unable to act was another… even as her comrades were fighting malign forces along the river bank, Maria was fast asleep, and Dave couldn’t help feel guilty.

To assuage his guilt, Dave started on the rest of the group. Though less receptive than Maria, most of them were susceptible to a bit of influencing to a greater or lesser degree.

Surprisingly, the very confused Dwelf thing seemed very receptive and readily accepted any number of strange suggestions, which it apparently took on trust. The creature, Dave noted, thrived on instinct.
It was then Dave had a revelation! Instinct. That was it. Play on the base characteristics of each of the band and wham, it was worms all round and a job well done!

The dwarf halfright (he wasn’t entirely big enough to be considered very up), was easy to manipulate. Any hyping of his aggressive side really worked wonders, and Dave almost had him frothing at the mouth as he carved the heads of the smelly dark uprights.

The evil looking upright with the music seemed sensible enough, and certainly had passionate Impulses (normally punctuated with dreams of violence) which were relatively easy to access but the results were unimpressive.

Only the small Gnome downright (he was even smaller than the dwarf) was inaccessible. It seemed the creature had no real imagination outside its own very structured view of the world. No amount of fiddling with his psyche seemed to break through the nonsense of something called mathematic theumaturgical formulaeic regression, and even the occasional sparked interest in something only provoked a driven and highly irritating desire to learn more about it and unravel its secrets.

Depressed, and bored Dave decided to give Maria a mental kick.

She woke refreshed and ready, much to irritation of her comrades, but pronounced that the Band of Dave was ready for action… Apart from a sideways look by the Gnome downright, the others let it pass. Dave made a note – subliminal was definitely better. The City of Waterdeep awaited.

Carefully he knocked the stick into the ground three inches deep. Then he went to get his metal strip. The strip had proved quite difficult to get hold of, much harder than he had anticipated, and to cap it off he had to pay for it!!....................................................................

The Blacksmith worked his forge, the best thing about being a blacksmith was the respect you got. People were pleasant and often would barter more than they wanted or pay more than standard rates because they needed that wrought panel, sword, knife, chisel or whatever it was quickly. Yes this was a good time to be a Blacksmith it was profitable and you had the respect of the people.
He pulled the ingot out of the fire, he looked at the glowing heated metal in his mind he envisioned the final product, a hinge. Setting about beating and folding it and hammering. He was busy hammering away when a voice broke his concentration.

“EXCUSE ME!!”

“Who said that” said the blacksmith looking round for the source of the voice.

“ME! I’ve been trying to get your attention for five minutes now”

“Me, who” enquired the smith.

“This isn’t a joke, and it will not have a witty ending”

“Er okay, just I can’t see you. You’re not a ghost are you?” asked the smith.

“Why would a ghost want to talk to a blacksmith?”

“Pillar of the community me, community councillor, neighbourhood watch captain, church elder and fire attendant”

“That is certainly a glowing résumé, and a blacksmith too. If I was a ghost, which I am not then I could certainly see why I would want to talk to you. In fact I would imagine you would have a queue of them a mile long” said the voice in a soft placating tone.

“Only I don’t like ghosts” said the smith

“I can see how that would upset you, it is a good job I am not a ghost then”

“So why can’t I see you” enquired the smith with a little panic in his voice.

“Er, because my livery is so fine that I do not want an amber to catch them. I am just behind this leather curtain.”

“I’ll be right with you” said the smith

“Er, Er, Er” a note of panic was in the disembodied voice “No need, all I need is a flat piece of metal about an eighth of an inch thick, eight inches long and two inches wide”

“What you going to do with that? It’s of no use” enquired the smith.

“That is my business, my good smith” replied the voice

“Two silver” said the smith

“What?” said the voice

“Two silver for that piece of metal” the smith said flatly.

“That’s robbery, I feel physically assaulted by that price” moaned the voice “I hoped it may have been gratis”

“You want it grated as well?” asked the smith

“No Gratis, as in free” said the voice

“Free, don’t do free, everything has a value and I reckon the value of that bit of metal for a purpose not disclosed, is two silver” said the smith who thought he was finally getting on top of this situation.

“Bet it would be free, if I was a GHOST” said the voice with real emphasis on the last word.

“Ah! But you said you weren’t already “retorted the smith

“I might have lied” the voice said in a slightly whiny tone.

“Did you?”

“No. Bugger. No”

“Two silver, money upfront”

“Upfront now, really!!”

“I haven’t seen you, so I have no idea if you’re coming back or not and you in such fine livery as to not want an ember to catch should have two silver easily”

“I left my purse in my other pantaloons”

“Drop it off on the barrel and I’ll have it ready for you later” and the smith set about is hammering once more.

Damn that meant he would have to go and see the murder council.

“And you want us to liberate not one but two silver pieces from the blacksmith”

“Yes”

“And what will we receive in return” asked the council

“My thanks?” came the reply

“No, we need something more tangible, how about one thousand” said the council

“Your mad, how am I supposed to get a thousand, four hundred?” enquired the voice

“Seven hundred”

“Four hundred and fifty”

“Five hundred final offer”

“Deal”

A few minutes later two magpies flew down and sat opposite the Blacksmith’s. The sat there for two hours before flying off.
The smith had just finished the hinge and was about to start on another one when a magpie flew in and tried to pick up the shiny new hinge. The smith swung wildly at the bird and it hopped out of the way. He swung again missing once more and the bird hopped onto the table. The smith swung once more missing but catching the money box, spilling his earnings over the floor. The bird made another attempt at the hinge, and the smith was so pre occupied with that magpie he missed two more fly in and pick up two silver pieces and fly away.

The smith picked up the spilt coinage and put the hinge in a safe place and set back to his work. On his break he noticed two silver pieces on the barrel. Smiling to himself he put them in his money box and made the piece of metal in about five minutes, the easiest work he’d done in a while. He put the piece back on the table. Too posh too come in that cost you thought the smith. Within moments the piece had gone. The smith was worried that it had gone so quickly that someone may have stolen it, but if they had he could make another……………………………………………….


Checking the stick was firmly in the ground he moved the metal backwards and forwards over the stick, he stopped after a minute and looked up. There were thousands of them the worms had come out the ground and were now on the surface. This had worked better than he had hoped. Dave hopped round collecting worms. After a few minutes they started to go back into the ground, Dave rubbed the metal on the stick and once again they rose to the surface. Quickly he gathered the worms, it had been so easy that he put an extra hundred for the Murder of Magpies. This was the life.

“Hi Dave” Dave continued his labours.

“Hello Dave” still he ignored the voice

“Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave”

“I can’t hear you” said Dave.

“Obviously you can Dave”

“No I can’t” replied Dave.

“C’mon now Dave”

“Listen Nar Ray Tor, I haven’t seen you for five months and three weeks but who’s counting”

“Yes well they are back, your needed in Waterdeep”

“Not going”

“Dave!!”

“I haven’t seen them for five months and”

“Three weeks I know you said, but Maria and the others have been in limbo too, they haven’t done anything for the same time”

“Yes well as you can see I have my worm farm and its doing pretty well as you can see”

“Dave without the spirit guide abilities how would you have known to use tools, speak to the Blacksmith”

“Okay, okay. Let me pay the Magpies and I’ll go on Sunday.”

“Dave it is six days journey, you will leave in the morning”

“What if I don’t go” asked Dave.

“Then you will hear this for eternity Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave”

“OKAY, okay. I’ll go”

“And be Maria’s spirit guide”

“Really couldn’t I have the wee fella?”

“No you are Maria’s spirit guide”

“Bugger”

“See you Thursday Dave”

Really didn't have a clue where that story was going at first Bane, a typical 'off on a tangent' post!

You, and Inept for his chapter post, have a D20 for your efforts!

Looking forward to the game

Maria’s initial delight in springing onto the docks at Baldurs Gate was short lived.

The sheer mass of heaving humanity and the stench struck her as physically and mentally. The noise of screaming merchants and the general bustle of activity made her feel light headed and anxious.
Moving through the teaming streets, the feelings of enclosure and stench of sewage and the sweat of docks workers and porters carrying goods seemed only to increase with as they ventured far into the city. It was only when she noted that there appeared to be no trees, plants, or animals in the area (even the rats appeared dormant under the press of so many people), that she eventually lost it, lashing out verbally in her frustration her only contribution being that the city stank. And it did. An odour so pervading that it seemed to blot out any rational thought. Maria recognised that her comment appeared to offend Izzy and only belatedly she remembered this was home for the Teifling. No wonder he was always angry. How could anyone live here for long? The journey through the city seemed to take age, the Gnome’s incessant curiosity about people places and things running riot.
Maria resolved to keep to herself, and with something akin to dread considered their final destination Waterdeep, which was allegedly far bigger than Balders Gate.

Maria left it to the Dwarf Flint to find their contact. The merchant advised visiting a particular inn where caravan guards were often hired. The group found the inn, and Maria slumped sullenly in a corner, her misery albut complete when the gnome started yabbering about the many wondrous things he’d seen and wanted to find out about. When the time came to order drinks, Maria uncharacteristically ordered wine and proceeded to drink far more than normal, eventually finding her way to a scruffy room to fall into a sleep plagued by feelings of claustrophobia and vile noxious fumes.

In the morning Maria felt a little better, but resolved to stay at the inn, instead of braving the streets. Elias brought her some clothes that he said would help her blend in and make her look a bit more like a mercenary guard for hire. Izzy appeared to have forgiven the insult to her home and was able to offer some tips in something called disguise, which Maria decided was a bit like urban camouflage. The Teifling insisted that it was best to keep things simple when using disguises and that suited Maria just fine.

The waiting started to play on her nerves. With her patience starting to wane, it was then that fortune smiled, and she recognised a man who appeared to be one of the cultists they’d seen in Greenist. The cult had arrived and were about to depart with a caravan.

Approaching one of the merchants, Flint was able to secure a position with relative ease, and quickly introduced the others to the merchant who were likewise recognised for their ability and general skill and hires in prominent positions on the merchants caravan. Maria’s obvious discomfort and social ineptitude conspired to secure her a guard’s position with no responsibilities, which was probably wise. Looking forward to being out of the city, Maria acquired some additional equipment climbing gear, additional herbs for her medicine kit. A map of the area around Baldurs gate (which she committed to memory, and a more general map of the route to Waterdeep. Parting with more coin than she expected to pay (apparently Baldurs Gate was more expensive than Greenist), Maria was instantly happier when the group joined the caravan outside the city.
It was a long trip. The 750miles to Waterdeep would take months…

The carts travelled around 5 leagues a day, and tended to stick together, there being safety in numbers, and progressively over time the group got to know other caravan occupants and other trains. The Cultists kept to themselves as did a strange figure in his own wagon. Almost always cooped up in it, never outside, and decidedly antisocial. Maria sensed nothing untoward, and Izzy even tried to use magical skills to get an insight into the purposes and desires of the other travellers.

Days stretched into weeks, with sightings of other caravans that joined them or moved on, and the occasional predator scared off by the size of the caravan. A shout of alarm focused Maria’s attention. Two shapes high in the sky looked like giant eagles, but there was something wrong…

As they drew closer the unnatural feeling Maria experienced on seeing them sharpened, just as the twang of a crossbow, and streaks of flame struck the creatures. These things were strange, the body of a giant eagle with the head of a stag. Maria’s senses told her these were abominations and had no place in nature. The creatures charged, swooping into attack. Maria resolved to immobilise her attacker using nature herself to deal with this perversion. The creature swooped in, and slashed at Maria, inflicting sharp stinging wounds, but her resolve didn’t fail, the vine in her hand responded to her call and whipped forward snagging her foe, and dragging it back to her side.

She paid for her actions with more wounds from the creature as it struggled to flee Maria heard the sound of mystical chanting either the Gnome or Izzy instructed shouted “Leave us and preserve your own life”. The creature struggled in Maria’s vine, seeking to escape. A bolt of black coldness struck the creature causing it to moan. Using natures power, Maria sought the rage of the bear, and clubbed it with her claws seeking to enclose it in her grip and rend it to pieces. With a screech the creature as it expired under her onslaught gushing foul ichor from its many wounds was piercing. Maria turned to see the other creature flee.

Staggering slightly from loss of bloody, Maria sought drew in the power of life from around her and felt her wounds close with some relief. Jebido was pouring over the dead creature muttering about its resistances and the nature of its attack. The Gnome went as far as separating parts of it ‘for later study’. Maria burned the remainder lest it pollute the earth further.

Their employer was overjoyed to see the ease of their victory and the group obtained some notoriety within the caravan, what that might mean to the cultists was a matter of concern.

The days ticked by. Having the only ale on the caravan meant that guarding the wagons was a full time job, along with dealing with the odd drunk. But life was quiet.

One early evening Maria spotted a herd of deer standing grazing on a hill not far from the trail. It was then that a the clouds seemed to part and a huge stag seemed to stand forth. Easily twice the size of a normal stag, its horns appeared to glow with golden light and the entire animal seemed somehow the personification of nature. Shouts went up from the caravan as guards grabbed weapons for the hunt. The stag seemed unfazed. It seemed to look at Maria, and speak, it sought help and protection from the hunters. Changing into wolf form Maria rushed to the Stag urging it to flee. It did so taking the herd with it. The hunters approached bows ready, Maria considered summoning natures wrath to block there path but hesitated, realising it would kill some of them and earn her enmity of the others. Elias saved her the decision by calling out and rushing off into the forest “this way… Over here… Charge!”. Maria followed.

The wily half elf managed to convince the hunters that he was on the trail, and between his efforts and Marias misdirections the hunters were rapidly confused and lost interest in the hunt.
Looking at the half elf, Maria could sense he too had heard the call. As one they moved deeper into the forest, coming to a clearing with a deserted ruined castle. The Stag stood in the gateway, waiting.

“You have my thanks, you have done the right thing. Your journey will be hard and long
Follow the river of gold….
…You will need help along the way

Light glowed as the Stag seemed to shine brighter. In a soft flash of golden light, it disappeared. In its place was a bow of surpassing beauty. Its wood polished red gold, seemingly glowing with an inner light. Maria’s hand reached toward it barely able to touch such beauty. The glow faded but the bow remained. Nature’s gift to her was not only practical but beautiful to behold.

Heading back to the caravan, Maria felt buoyed up for the first time. Her actions had obviously pleased the spirits and for once, Maria felt adequate for the task ahead.

Nar Ator looked sideways at Dave and smiled, “A bit flashy, but other than that, a damn fine bit of manifestation, how did you work this out, that’s normally a level 5 spirit guide power?”.
“Yeah after you mentioned that I could project into another’s body, and control thoughts, it kinda felt right that I should be able to just get folks to see what I want them to see.”
“Well Dave, that’s correct, you have some limited power to directly influence using audio and visual stimuli, particularly where receptors are distracted, bored, fearful or excited. It works best with those who prefer instinctive responses of course but with practice you will be able to manifest for everyone eventually”
“Cor”,
“I beg your pardon”
“I said ‘Cor’”
“isn’t it ‘Caw’?”, the Narrator was slightly confused
“Nope ‘Cor’ it is! As in ‘Cor Blimey that’s a big worm’”, Dave chuckled… that would teach the Nar Ator thing not to wind him up with words he didn’t understand!
“OoooKayyy. Just one thing, how did you manage to create the bow?
“What? I thought you did that?” Dave sounded confused
“So if you didn’t do, and I didn’t do it, then that leaves… that DM creature?”
“Probably, there isn’t anything in the notes about it, guess it’s one of those anomalies.”
“Whats an ano-mal –ley?” asked Dave
“think we’ll leave that one for another time Dave” Nar Ator winked out of existence, leaving Dave wondering whether his little plan had helped or hindered. Well at least Maria seemed happier, and the Dwelf Upright had definitely supported her and been seen to do it… she wasn’t isolated within the group and now she knew it!
That should all help.
Time for worms…!