The story of a campaign that went on 6 years and 3 editions!

[Advilaar]

May take me several posts to do this justice over a few days. But, I thought some may enjoy this reading.

I inadvertantly managed to be a part of something most geeks only dream about. An open session in a public area campaign that went on for years and through 2e, 3e, and a little 4e. From 2nd level 2e to 30th 4e.

I did not plan this, nor do I think I am some demigod DM. There are folks on this board that are far more talented than I am and far more imaginative.

But still, I would like to share our tale. being a public session, we had some PCs that stayed with us to the end. Some stayed for a month or two.

This is that story. If the mods feel it is out of place, feel free to move it. But still, I have the yearning desire to share this.

 

[Advilaar]

It started off simple enough. The group of players I ran with at the time was pissed off at the current DM because he was the kind that fell so in love with his NPCs, you could not kill them. He was one of these "weak PC" DMs with strict storylines you see occasionally grace these boards. However, most of us wanted to continue gaming. One of the other players who was very experienced was asked to pick up the mantle, but flatly refused. He had just gotten out of running a campaign with hell players who did not get along with each other in another circle we did not hang with. Eventually, the task came to fall on me, someone who had never DMed and only had played for under a year. Who knew that the campaign would go for 6 years and 30 levels and 3 editions?

Anyways, I looked over my battered 2e PHB and bought a 2e MM and 2e DMG. I went on a shopping spree for graph paper and colored pencils and spent the better part of the next week coloring in a world. A brutal world it was at that. I started them out in an area that started out in an oppressive merchant city-state ruled by an aristocracy of merchants and city gaurds that acted as brutal tax collectors. I had everything drawn out for adventures in this place. I even had woods at the edge of the city called the Dead Wood that spontaneously raised undead and a detailed storyline to explore.

However, the PCs who I had started out at level 2 had other ideas that taught me my first painful lesson as a fledgeling DM. Be Flexible! They decided the place was too oppressive and decided to skip town pointing at a distant large metropolis far, far to the north they wanted to travel to! Now my old DM would have railroaded them. But I played along. Lord forbid I had nothing drawn up for that place or the lands between here and there!

Fortunately, I had time and a continent map with some detail. As the PCs traveled, what used to be made up names off the top of my head on a piece of posterboard became actual living places with inhabitants and unique features. As they traveled out of the country into the nieghboring country, the currencies changed. Thier features made them viewed as foriegners. Still, they continued, had minor adventures on the way until they made it to the destination city. of course, gaining levels up to 6 over the course of the months we played.

The city they ended up at had way more freedom than the place they came from, but was much more screwed than they could ever possibly realize until much later. The city was part of a vast empire but was allowed some autonomy from it in exchange for goods and taxes. In the middle of all this was the largest building in the center of one of the districts. A place called the Flame Tower. Our wizard went nuts. Finally, a place to network and get spells and equiptment.

About this time, 3e came out. We ended up fully switching to it. It was relatively painless and 3e had a bit more meat to it.

Of course, showing up broke in the equivalent of Chicago was no fun. So, our heroes had to find some way of making money. In this empire, there was a very popular and brutal sport called Dungeon Ball. Basically, this was full contact with weapon and armor basket ball. You had to get into position to put the ball in a basket on top of scaffolding. You had to wear a special ring so they could teleport you out to Cleric teams if you started to die.

As they fought and got into adventures with the politics and drama of the sports community, they realized the first messed up thing about the new home. Elves were slaves and required to shave thier heads! A new player that just joined ended up playing one of those elves.

After gaining the approval of a sports fan and leader of the Flame Tower, the slave elf became free and they, after initiaition, became full members of the Flame Tower. But, by joning the Flame Tower, they also became involved in the Flame Tower's secret plots. You see, the leader of the Flame Tower did not like the tax payments and meddlesome intrusion from some capital thousands of miles away. Nor was the Tower a big fan of forced slavery even though it was due to some accord from an ancient defeat of the Elves and thier fey allies hundreds of years ago. The leader wanted to stage a revolt. Different groups would have different parts in the revolt. However, since the PCs were knowledgeable about the stadium district, they would lead the assault to capture and kill a man called the Taskmaster who was an influencial imperial ruler, director of the sports league, and slave keeper.

However, that is when stuff started hitting the fan before the plot could even be acted on. The Merchant Prince from the country they traveled from declared they had hidden knowledge and a weapon whose likes of had not been seen since the era eons ago when Demon Princes ruled the planet. Matwani and his archmage cohort Shaw demanded 1B gold pieces "protection tax" from all the major cities of the western part of the empire. Of course since our hero's metropolis was far away from the rest of the empire and imperial troops were weeks away, the city would be on it's own to deal with this threat.

At this point, the players were levels 8 to 10. Thier patron was a level 15 wizard. The Merchant Prince himself was a level 8 aristocrat and son of the late Merchant Prince, but his Wizard was level 18.

The cty of course, balked. After all, there was no army at the gates and the nearest Merchant forces had not even mobilized towards the borders. Then, the horror was realized. Hundreds and hundreds of Blue and Red young adult dragons flew in formation to lay waste to the city. In response, a domed wall of force came up around the city and the more powerful wizards of the city went up into thier towers to help defend the city! Also, during this confusion, massive amounts of green dragons appeared out of nowhere defending the city wearing the crest of the Empire! The next several sessions dealt with the players conducting missions to hinder the imperial rulership during the chaos, scouting missions, and missions to aid the general population under the Flame Gaurd's banner under the backdrop of the aerial battles over the protective force dome they were too weak to be involved in. Also, trying to figure out why someone would surgically put in a magic pin that would make all elves' bodies with it implanted disappear on death! Not even the Wizard PC or the Patron could figure it out.

Until, one day thier powerful Wizard patron, tattered and worn out from days of battle and having to be resurrected twice comes to them with a plan. Since the Merchant Prince's arch mage was known to be away because of intellegence reports and scrying, the PCs would be instrumental in a cunning plan. The patron had found a way into the Merchant Prince's compound in a desert area. Since most of the PCs were from that region and had the accents and mannerisms of the locals, they would be the perfect choices to infiltrate the palace and find out what the "weapon" was and how this pertained to all these hundreds of dragons that merely popped up out of nowhere when the patron himself only claimed to had seen 1 or 2 dragons his whole life!

So, equipted with stolen Palace Guard uniforms and passkeys gleaned at terrible costs. They were teleported to a small dug out hole under the floor and out of reach of the palace's dimensional anchor. After tense encounters helped with potions of glibness and the rogue's good roleplay, they ended up reaching the "weapon" room. Of course, the gaurds here were not so easily fooled because they all knew each other. It was a rough battle as the gaurds were levels higher and very well equipt.
But, our heroes made it through and opened the doors. There they saw the Merchant Prince wearing strange goggles in the middle of a huge inlaid wheel holding his hands on red and blue orbs almost oblivious to them as he seemed in a deep trance. Only when the rogue had his blade in his back, did the Merchant Prince snap out of it and yell, "You fools! I am the good guy here! You will rui....." and passed out dead.

Right then, the hero's patron wizard calls out and says in a voice in thier minds, "The dimension anchor focus is on a table in the far wall. Destroy it. Get the orbs and the guy's gear! You need to let me teleport you out quickly!" Within no time, they hear multiple dragon's breaths and screams from outside the massive doors they locked behind them as the whole palace was shaking violently. Just as 2 greens WITH AND ASSISTING a red bash through the door with a hole torn through the roof of the outside hallway, the patron shows up, throws up a wall of force and teleports them out of there!

Back in the safety of the Flame Tower, the PCs and the Patron and his apprentices look over the items. The City was safe. the formations of Dragons, defending and attacking, vanished. The orbs were the mythical Dragon Orbs that could control the minds of dragons thought lost in the eons. However, it did not explain why - even as powerful an Orb is - it could control completely hundreds of dragons even from thousands of miles away including dragons legends noted for having incredible willpower and resistances. That is, until the Wizard PC who had an eidilic(sp?) memory drew exactly and decribed exactly the markings on the floor.

After a days or so research with dusty, centuries old tomes the Patron and the PCs discovered references to a huge but incredibly fragile artifact called The Wheel. Supposedly, this artifact multiplied powers and effects difficulty and damage 100 fold! The tome mentioned there were many of these that the ancient Demon Lords in antiquity used to rule the whole planet with an iron grip. All of these were thought to have been destroyed. Fortunately, when the dragons went into a rage on the palace compound mad about being controlled, they inadvertantly destroyed this wheel cemented into the floor.

All agreed these orbs should be placed under the conservatorship of the Flame Tower because they were so dangerous and there are entire nations who would drool to get these. The strange goggles, however, could not be completely identified. All they could figure out was it granted darkvision. Since the magic on them was of middling power, the patron agreed to let the PCs have it. The rogue is the one who ended up getting it once loot was distributed. He would get far more than he bargained for!

Exhausted from a pretty stressful month or two and still having to plan for the Flame Tower's eventual plans of revolt, the PCs decide to visit an old haunt frequented by Dungeon Ball sports veterans and current players to catch up on old times with other NPCs they have not talked to in a while. It is then, the rogue PC decides to put on the glasses. What he sees leaves him shocked! The other PCs check on him to make sure he is okay.

 

[Advilaar]

Dragons everywhere! The rogue wispered in a very mad but concerned voice as he let all the party members peer in the goggles. Signs changed meaning. A few, walking amongst the folks living day to day in a big city were replaced by green junenile dragons! There were restaurants that had public menus on the sidewalk. Instead of steak, it read "elf flesh". Which to the former elf slave's horror who had the pin embedded in his body since birth meant all dead elf slaves were processed for meat to fulfill a dragon's appetite.

My world had newspapers. They found even the newspaper had two meaings. Look at it without goggles, it had routine headlines. With, only dragon news.

Worried and paranoid, the party decided to use a teleportation gate to another major metroplois located in the Flame Tower to discuss this in private. However, the metropolis they chose which was a city of temples to major dieties that they had travelled through was worse! A priest who earlier had helped them was secretly a gold dragon! Even more dragons were here, though mostly metallic. Some, truly epic dragons as in very old for high preists were seen making rounds to the public. Others, children playing disguised with humanoid children on a field pretending to be Dungeon Ball stars.
Overwhelmed, they decided on a plan. they would see if the Patron was a dragon. And, who they could trust if demihumankind was only food to what seemed like unlimited dragons.

To be honest, this took a hell of a lot of deciet and hiding things to pull off. Even though the sessions I ran were public, I developed friendships with many of the players. Hell, I would even catch a drink or the occasional ..umm.. I would rathered not say with some of them. It leads me to the second secret of a DM they taught me. NEVER reveal secrets of a campaign no matter how much you talk with or get close with your players. Even if you are chomping at the bit to let it all out!

 

[Advilaar]

So, eventually they grudgingly left the Monastary City to return back to the Flame Tower and confront the Patron. Who, they hoped, was not a dragon as well. they let the Rogue do the talking and wear the goggles as he would be the one who could talk the part's way out if the Patron turned out to be a huge ass ancient wyrm or something. But, as they walked through the massive mable halls of the Flame Tower, they started thinking. The Patron could not possibly be a dragon. If he was, during the battle above the city, he would have come into dragon form. After all, what self respecting dragon is going to masquerade as a dragon when a big dragon war is going on!

The moment of truth arrived as the Patron agreed to meet the PCs in his office. The Patron was a competent judge of character, and looked to the rogue asking if he was okay as the Rogue breathed a huge sigh of relief. There were no dragons in the Flame Tower and the Patron was definately not a dragon!

The PCs decided to let the Patron look at the goggles telling them what they saw. At first the patron wondered if the party had been smoking Slaadi Sticks, an illegal drug popular in many major cities across the Empire and beyond. What an outrageous tale! But, gradually they convinced the Patron to take a walk with them wearing the goggles. After all, the Patron had his own private box in the stadium and he was going to head out anyways to watch some league Dungeon Ball games to unwind after a nasty battle and ressurections. He joked maybe a certain team that had a reputation for always finding a way to lose might win if they had a dragon on it! He laughed. Maybe he might make some cash he lost on some side bets.

But with the glasses on walking from the Flame Tower to the stadium, his demeanor changed from cracking sports jokes to outright horror! He had to take the goggles off halfway to the stadium. This is horrible, he mentioned telepathically to the PCs. Still, let's continue to the stadium. In the stadium, they noticed a full one quarter of the audience were dragons. Mostly green. Including some popular merchants, celebrities, and councilmen.

This is VERY serious, the Patron mentioned again telepathically. From here on out until we know more, we should only mention this in our minds. we will watch the games as everything is fine and discuss this further back at the tower.
Noticeably absent from the sports venue was the Taskmaster. a greedy man who ran the stadium, was leader of the Imperial Liason Council, and master of a majority of the elven slaves. Today, he had his cohort, Bruno the Stone Giant over the ceremonies. Was the Taskmaster a dragon? Also, a major city had gotten attacked just last week. Many in bars were wondering if those Greens that showed up with imperial crests were the army the Imperials spoke of. Where did all of them go?
Needless to say, the Patron and our heroes would have a busy next few sessions.

Also, Shaw, the dead Merchant Prince's powerful Wizard remained somewhere out there up to who knows what.

 

[Advilaar]

Arriving back at the Flame Tower, the Patron and the PCs came up with a plan. First, they had to make sure The Flame Tower as an organization was secure and there were no young adult greens or worse masquerading around as Flame Gaurd. Now, many parts of the Flame Tower, except for the public offices at the bottom floor were off limits to non Flame Gaurd personel. Special medallions were worn by Flame Gaurd NPCs and the PCs themselves that allowed them unfettered access to most areas of the tower except private residences and of course, the Patron's private accomodations.

The tower itself, like most of the major political strongholds of the world was warded against teleportation. The only exception being those who wore the amulets.
An Idea was sprung. The patron would call a series of mandatory meetings in his office 10 Flame Tower residents at a time. The PCs would hang back in the room made invisible by the patron. the Patron would glance them down, and have some BS speech made up about honor, duty, and thanks for the valor in the Metropolis' recent struggles. All the while, checking for dragons. He would then call any identified dragons back into the office for "special rewards and a promotion". If a dragon was discovered, the PCs would appear and kill it, if it was not too powerful or large. For fear of letting any potential dragons who might know what the goggles were, he had one of the invisible PCs wear them and could be notified through telepathy.

The whole process took most of the day, and some agents of the Flame Tower were away from the Metropolis and would have to take time to be recalled for the "meeting". Some on assignment were many days away. The Patron dipped inside the organizations vault and gave them anything powerful with Dragonbane on them he could dig up. "There were not too many dragons", the Patron grinned. "Or.. so I thought till yesterday. Was not much need for anti-dragon weapons so we never kept many. But, in our travels, we did find these long ago."

It was a long, arduous process. But finally, three very young juvenile dragons were found. Two greens and a black. One by one, each dragon was easily dispatched by the overwhelming might of the well equipt and magiced up PCs.

"Next, we may want to talk to a Cleric we can trust. Someone who can pry secrets and perform divinations from the dead better than I can. We need to question these dead dragons. Also, the body of the dead Merchant Prince may be of some use other than laying in the Tower morgue." the Cleric PC spoke. Believe me, the PC cleric had tried. But the bodies were protected by something... more powerful.

Of course, the Rogue happened to know someone. And, not just anyone. In previous travels at a bit lower level, he came to win the affections of a certain beautiful young high priestess. This one lived in the Monastary City. The last time he was there, he did not see her. The acolytes at the temple said she was on pilgrimage and would not return for a bit. Plus, the PCs really did not want to hang around because one of the priests happened to be a fairly large Silver dragon who acted like it was getting a bit suspicious. But, this woman was intelligent and kind. Surely they could trust her. There was no way this lady could possibly be a dragon. After all, the Rogue had been several trips in her bed chamber. Plus, they did not want that many people in the Metropolis to know - just yet even though the metropolis boasted many grand temples in it's own right. It would be best to do this out of town.

"Before you go talk to your friend," the Patron chimed in. I had some of my apprentices take better looks at the goggles." "I managed to make copies, but , alas.. my copies are imperfect. They have a side effect of giving the wearer a massive headache if worn too long and I have a feeling they may cause temporary blindness if worn for more than 30 minutes"

 

[Advilaar]

Arriving through the teleportation gate from the Metropolis back to the Flame Tower field office in the Monastary City, the clerk that usually greeted them was snoozing. Upon hearing the PCs enter the room, he roused and nodded sleepily. "Nothing to do. Orders from the big guy was that no more recruiting is to be done till further notice. So, me and my partner just sit here taking turns gaurding this teleportation portal. Man, I am glad I got transferred here instead of where you guys came from! I got a wife and kids. last thing i would want is to wake up and see hundreds of dragons try to waste a city. Heh, they will NEVER come here! This is ultra bad ass high priest city! No one would ever want to piss off 30 ach Clerics and paladin armies on griffins!"

The PCs tried not to laugh at the ignorance. Monastary City seemed to have even more dragons than Metropolis! But, that secret was under orders to be kept, for now.
Now more about Monastary City. The Flame Tower office is just that, merely an office in a huge shopping district known as "The Mall". Here, almost any item can be found and temples to almost every known diety worth it's salt. Of course, for a price. No sleeping is allowed in field offices as there were no bunks, so everytime the PCs came here during the tenure with the Flame Gaurd, they had to make other living arrangements.

It was hell in of itself just finding an inn that was not dragon controlled. But, the PCs finally settled on a quiant inn on the edge of the Mall, away from pilgrims and tourists.
The rogue, however was tired of bunking and barracks life. He wanted an actual bed. Preferably a bed with a hot priestess lady in it, for even adventurers need the occasional affections of the fairer sex. He had gleaned the high priestess was back in town. he would stay there and feel her out to see if she could be trusted and meet up with the other PCs later.

The rest of the party wanted to go with the Cleric to scout out his conections with his temple. His diety was a diety of storms. A very small temple here, but one he wanted to scout out for dragons nonetheless. The paranoia when they first saw through the goggles had clouded thier minds the last time they were here. now jaded to it, paths of action would come more clearly. Bodies had to be interrogated.

The Wizard PC had another interesting idea and an experiment he wanted to try. High level wizards can cast powerful spells such as True Seeing. The conspiracy may run deeper if all those wizards as well could see dragons without goggles! Being he could now try to cast this, but did not know the spell personally, it would be an awesome time to try to pick up a scroll of it to transcribe in his spellbook for future use.

Now, I know what you guys are saying. The PCs were fixing to disobey the #1 rule of gaming: NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY! But, all is good. They figured that they had been walking amongst dragons all thier lives, if they only used the goggles occasionally and acted normal, they would be okay.

How soon, at least one of them would learn. And learn harshly.

 

[Advilaar]

Yes, the party split three ways, massive dragon infestation regardless.
The Rogue woul go to the High Priestess for possible help and some... shall we say.. extracurricular activities.

The Cleric would go scout out the lone temple to his God.

The Wizard and the Freed Elf, who had become a quite talented archer ranger would go pick up a scroll of True Seeing to test out a theory on the goggles and hopefully, not conspiracies involving wizards. A trip to a rumored nuetral temple of knowlege known for having a very well stocked library would also be in order.

To make things a bit more challenging, the cleric ended up having to drop out. Which leads me to the third lesson of DMing. It is a controversial lesson of DMing i have seen from other campaigns. If a player has to leave, do not NPC him. It seldom works and can deteriorate the memory of the character. Also, great.. no healer. For this reason, I also NEVER use cliffhanger battles that go on through one session to the next. It can really suck not to have someone show up. Always end a session at a resting point.

I explained away the Cleric's departure. I had him send a message from his temple that while there, he found no dragons, but a really nice priest that gave him dire visions of doom who were on the verge of going to another plane of reality and abandoning the temple. He had to leave with them to further his spiritual advancement but wished them luck.

However, I had one out. The Rogue had taken a leadership feat, but I was still mulling over which NPC would follow him. I did not want any contrived thing like a priest popping up out of the blue. It had to be an NPC they had met and had at least an Inkling of backstory. Plus, they really had not run with any lower level Clerics that fit the mold. Then, it came to me. The Rogue had two adventures with another rogue NPC back before the Dragon Battles breaking into Imperial controlled warehouses and general hit and run thuggery. I drew him up in more detail and gave him Use Magic Device.

Speaking of our friend, The Rogue, he had a hot date and a mission to do. After having a 'convienient" reunion with the newfound Cohort, the Rogue and the Cohort exchanged living places and agreed to meet up again to catch up after the meeting with the High Priestess which the Rogue insisted to do alone. However, I had the Cohort follow. Yeah, the Rogue with his spot could see him. But after some time, The Rogue just gave up on trying to dissuade him.

Over the sessions in following years, I bet the Cohort may have secretly regretted his decision to follow the Rogue. He would die and have to be resurrected dozens of times!

The Rogue walked into the temple while the Cohort, still played by me as an NPC went to the altar to pray where some of the acolytes were healing the sick and wounded using a rod. The Rogue slipped on the Patron's imitation goggles scowling under a massive migrain. No dragons. Good. He took them off still reeling from the nasty effects and asked to speak to the High priestess.

The acolytes after a brief time came to get him and escort him to the High Prietess' personal chambers, a large high cieling affair with gold finery and huge canopy beds and silk threaded couches. A place The Rogue knew well.

The Rogue embraced the Priestess, but the Priestess felt cold and distant. There were things from her trip that would affect thier relationship, she said. But the Rogue wanted to try to enlist her help before any possible bad news or break up. After all, the world was full of hidden dragons!

The Rogue pulled out the goggles. "i had some revelations as well during my little trip that may rekindle things entirely. These. he put the goggles on his face. Then, through the splitting pain like a nail going through his temples dropped his jaw!
Standing before him was no curvy female with long flowing blonde hair that floated on the wind. No, it was the largest Gold dragon he had ever seen standing over 80 feet tall!

He drops the glasses to the ground nearly breaking them.

"What is the matter?" she asked.

The Rogue was speechless for a moment.

But, a Gold dragon of that age is a very good read of character. Particularly if that dragon happens to be the High priestess of a major temple. Even the Rogue's diet of potions of glibness and natural skills could not hide his feelings this time.

"So... you know..." She said, dropping all illusions and going full dragon form! "You know, on other worlds, most mere mortals such as yourself would run in terror at the sight of my true and beautiful form. I always wondered about that. Until they told me the mortals of this world were immune to fear."

The rogue tried to make a bolt for the door!

"Not so fast. We are having a lover's discussion are we not? Well, if you can call us "lovers". Even though you are a mortal, I would expect you have at least the good social manners of a more refined one... and not of a filthy goblin who would run and hide" She said as the doors and windows locked themselves.

"You lied. You tricked me. You used me!" the Rogue replied back.

"As you tried to do me in front of my sisters? Do you remember when we met? I was drinking at the inn to escape the rigors of my post and watch the people - the demihumans and humans - for fun. I saw you quaff that potion of glibness to try to make moves on me. My sisters and I had a bet as to how long I could string you along to break your heart. Of course as you and your mortal buddies became sports stars, I had to keep you around. You were a shiney novelty. A precious gem for the horde for my vanity. But, this like all things end. I was going to tell you I had to move far away to another post but now that we are being honest, I can tell you the FULL TRUTH." , she slyly replied.

"What's that? I taste good with Ketchup?" The Rogue muttered still scanning for an exit, any exit!

She laughed. "You think I am a Green? the taste of sentient beings disgusts me. The demi human races ARE our horde to do as we please. As I have done what i pleased with you. After all, you are an object. Some eat thier objects. Some place thier object on a mantle and polish it. Some.."

"What the hell are you talking about! Why are you guys all disguised? Why are the Greens eating elves? If you are so powerful and so much better than humans, why are you pretending to be one?" The Rogue yelled, fully expecting to die at any point
"Silence object! Do not interupt your owner. With some owners, it can be hazaardous to your health. Not to mention, quite disrespectful. And by the way, do you think I would be disguised as a lowly object such as yourself because I want to?" She quipped.

"Then why?". He asked.

"It is simple. Though it is probably wasted on you since it would take a dragon to fully understand." she said insultingly.

"Humor me.", As the Rogue placed his hands in his face.

"The story is even older than I. Told by my mother when we were hatchlings and to her when she was but a mere hatchling. This world was a prison for us, ruled by Demon Lords who are now nothing but a child's fable. But we overthrew them and sent the reamainder packing back to thier twin worlds. However, even a gorgeous creature such as myself do not know the full details. Supposedly, as part of some pact, we were granted custodianship over your kind - our horde. But, we could never reveal ourselves unless a great emergecy arose or the Demon Lords returned. The Merchant Prince was such an emergency. He had certain things which controlled us. Using those earns the hatred of us all. You would not happen to know anything about those? Hmmmmm, object?"

Surprisingly, the Rogue uses this time to roll a NATURAL 20!!! "No, not a thing."

"Well, let's hope for all our sakes those things were destroyed.", she sighed.

"So, now what? I go with you to sit on a mantle?" the rogue asked.

"You would wish. I tire of you. I will still be beautiful when you need attendents to change your diapers. Decades are but a blink of an eye when you are not mortal. The Dragons have named a new King in light of events and I am to leave this place to take a post on the Dragon Council in his stead.", she said.

"So.. let me guess. You got a new toy and you are going to kill me because I know too much.", He said dejectedly.

"Of course not object. For I would never kill the father of my unborn child. Nor would i want anyone to break any object. Just because you are not in my horde does not mean I am less of a dragon. Your little secret is safe with me that you know. Not that I care. No one will believe you. But, due to my new post I can no longer display you. Some would not approve of my tastes at my new post.", she said as she switched back to human form.

"So, I am a dad, too... this is too much. So do I have to pay alimony?", The Rogue smirked.

"No. But take a look at the egg in the corner. She talks you know. And, she will be out in a year. Too bad you will need to go and will never see her" as the eyes of the High Priestess began glowing.

"Wait a second... I have a kid, and I will not be able to see it.. that..", he protested.

"Leave now. And never come to this place again!" She asserted as doors and windows flew open.

"But.. wait. i have questions..", the rogue protested trying to get more info to bring back to the other PCs now that he was fairly certain he was not going to be eaten.
The high priestess shifted to dragon form and yelled in a huge voice that rocked the entire temple, "LEAVE NOWWWWW!!"

Temple gaurds and priests came bursting in. The High Preistess back in human form smiling. Escort my guest out and never let him back in.

Walking out of the temple, shaken, he ran back into the Cohort.

"She dumped ya, huh?", The Cohort asked.

The Rogue just nodded.

"Well some women are real b___s. Don't worry bud. We will go get drinks on me. Not sure what the commotion was up there, but i did get the change in the offering plate and this cool staff they were using to heal folks with when all that commotion was going on!"

The Rogue smiled.

And I handed the player that played the rogue the Cohorts character sheet with a nice staff of healing.

 

[Advilaar]

I promise I will not bore you all the time with senseless dialouge which may bore the readers like I wrote above.

Only when campaign changing events occur. Now I do not think that is what I said or the Rogue said word for word. After all it has been years. I am sure if I called up the player who now lives far away, he would probably tell me things I missed or things that i actually had the High Priestess dragon say. But, I think I was pretty close.

Which brings me to DM lessons 4 , 5, and 6.

4. Even diehard hack and slashers can enjoy RP. However, it has to be epic and good. I guess some may want to spend a whole session buying a mundane lantern they can. But the RP has to FEEL like it belongs and be PERSONAL. Not forced and tedious and must mean something. When other DMs complain about others rolling eyes just waiting for the battlemat time to come again, this is usually the culprit.

5. Many DMs would slam me for bringing in a powerful monster that the PC would have no chance against. And, indeed, only a 10 year old would turn loose a huge ass dragon on a lonely 11th or 12th level rogue. Of course, said 10 year old would not be playing with folks for long with that behavior. Which brings me to Powerful Entities are okay if they advance the story.

6. Nor was I going to have The Patron come to "secretly" watch the Rogue to save his neck. Now when I had the Patron teleport in to remove them from the Merchant Princes "weapon room", they expected that. The players agreed that the Patron would come to teleport them out when the dimensional anchor was down. It was a CHOICE and part of a plan they RPed with the Patron as they brainstormed. You do not want to put PCs in situations where there is no CHOICE. Or in a situation where they watch helplessly as two big bad asses wail on each other.

I also had to obey rule number one: BE Flexible. The Rogue could have very well put on the glasses when first seeing her. But, because I did a fairly decent job of rule 2: Never let your campaign secrets out and even had the High Priestess send mail asking if the Rogue was okay after the Dragon City Battle, none was the wiser.

At this point in the campaign, I was going goodness! What kind of stuff had I gotten into? I was having to keep secrets from my friends even if they tried to pester me. I had NEVER played in a campaign as high level as they were. Only one, the Wizard had played up to 21 in early 2e. The rest level 10 at most. I was entering uncharted territory where everyone was getting more powerful.

A threshold gets crossed. At this threshold, the PCs are no longer chumps you have to take care not to Total Party Kill and have a bunch of pissed players on your case.

Folks always said low level was the best. But, I was hitting an unknown "sweet spot" of 3e.

That is 10 to 15.

I liked it.

 

[Advilaar]

Oh yes. Tangents sometimes are made.

But a good story sometimes needs observations as I remember back fondly to a very happy time.

While the Rogue had his untimely meeting with a now ex lover who just happened to be a dragon and was expecting a baby from, The Freed Slave Archer and the Wizard did what all PCs would do in a place like The Mall. They went shopping!
Making sure to only patronize non dragon run bussinesses, They re upped on gear to replace older gear with what they could afford.

The True Seeing idea, fortunately turned out to be not true. True Seeing for some reason did not reveal dragons. Only the goggles did. The Wiard breathed a sigh of relief.

Still, the Wizard, being a courious soul who read everything he got his hands on and always questioned things wondered and pondered.

First off, the age of the dragons. Yes, it was true that they did see the occasional very large dragon. But most all of them seemed to be around the same age: young adult. In fact, a great number. Did all these dragons just breed at once?

Second off, a place like the Mall in Monastary City or even areas of Metropolis were literally loaded with magic items. the Wizard, a potion brewer himself knew that it took it must have taken a lot of life force to create all these various magic weapons and such yet most of these items appeared brand new. Even the town gaurds had lesser magic weapons and armors.

"Who makes these?" the Wizard asked a store keeper whom they had already bought stuff from.

"If you are wanting to know my supplier, tough luck. I got mouths to feed. But, I am always up for educating my customers so they will come back. If you notice, every item has a series of letters in elven if held up to a light just right. very small. I have to squint. I do know this, though. That mark is quality! It will save your life if you are out in the rough areas of the world. Now, if there is nothing else to sell you, I need to help this gentleman over there out with a short sword. Excuse me.", the counter person said.

He was not rude, the place was pretty busy. And, because his livelihood depended on it would probably not give them more information. But still, elven marks when the elves were mostly slaves and no elf was hardly seen? Of course Freed Elf Archer always wore a cloak to hide his ears in public. There were just too many things not adding up.

The last place on the trip was to visit the library at the temple of Knowledge. the place was known for one of the best collections of books for that region. at least those books allowed to be viewed by the public. Plus, the Wizard had devoured most of the interesting books in the Flame Tower library he had access to. Maybe more answers lay in there before they would meet back up with the Rogue at nightfall back at the inn.

 

[Advilaar]

As they entered into the Library, the Wizard donned his goggles for a minute. And, when I mean a minute, not even that. The Wizard was not as hardy as the Rogue and could not tolerate the pain. But, before removing them, he only saw one young adult Broze in a corner by a huge pile of history books.

The Freed Elf Archer had a bit better luck, but also removed them quickly. Yep. One Bronze. No biggie.

Grabbing a table, the Wizard pulled out the other scroll of True Seeing. He had heard rumors of more powerful books of magic and lore written i writing only to be viewed by those who have true sight. Of course, as he could stand it, he could pull out the goggles to see if there were any draconic books written one way for dragons and the other for man, dwarf, and elf like the newspapers.

However, sometimes in looking for one thing that is truth, you find something more. A man in non descript black robes at another table watching them was no other than Shaw, the former wizard under the late Merchant Prince they killed who was controlling the the Red and Blue Dragons through the 2 orbs now under gaurd of the Flame Tower! Of course, he was cloaked in illusion, but the true seeing revealed him.

"So, what are you 'Lame Gaurd' doing in Monastary City? Did the Dragon flight show make you crap your pants? Or watching your beloved Patron get breathed on twice?" he projected mentally to both of them.

The Freed Elf Archer reached for his magic bow. And tried to utter something , but no words came out.

"i would put that weapon down if I were you. This city is crawling with dragons and I doubt you want them to find what YOU got or what I got. I would also only speak mentally. dragons have notoriously good hearing. I have not long. Have a seat. I detest this hell hole almost as much as your Patron."

Seats moved by themselves outward, but both PCs refused to sit, still bracing for what could be a terrible fight.

"So be it.", Shaw snarled.

"Why did you control the Dragons?" the Freed Elf Archer asked mentally.

"I? Something tells me you the Lame gaurd is dipping from the bottom of the barrel these days. Why would I do something that would make me Kill on Site for all dragon kind whereever I go with no place to hide. After all, you do see me here, unmolested with a dragon sitting 5 tables down. if I was to do something like that, It would not be wise of me to come here. I did not get where I was being stupid.", he projected in a huff.

"But weren't you the Merchant prince's Wizard?"

"I serve only myself and my coin purse. No dragon or man or dwarf. I only suffer rich fools as long as to enrich myself at the tune of the treasury of a nation!", Shaw torted back.

"Then why are you here?" The wizard asked.

"It is not the place of a hedge wizard such as yourself to know. As I said, I do not suffer fools. Nor do i sully my hands. But, I have a feeling this city will sully YOU! Have fun with dragons!"

Both the Freed Elf Archer and the Wizard had readied actions, so acted first. The Archer with lightning nimble reflexes quick drew an arrow, hands so fast it blurred. A special arrow was selected - a human bane arrow. He fired but dark tendrils reached up from Shaw's suit to bat the arrow away.

The wizard had better luck and struck Shaw in the chest with a flaming bolt of magic, slightly singing him.

"pfft" Shaw spit, as his hands grew red and a ground zero meteor swarm went off blasting all the tables, chairs and books in the vacinity as well as damn near killing the Wizard and mortally wounding the Archer.

Before anything else could react, Shaw vanished, teleporting who knows where.

The lone bronze dragon dove for cover as temple gaurds were yelling "Back up! Back up! High circle hostile spellcaster in the library! Get SWAT!

Hurt and burned badly, the Wizard said, "We are screwed if we stay here! This temple probably is anchored. we got to get ouside to teleport out!" As the Archer fired three arrows perfectly placed disarming and pinning two gaurds coming up to a wall.

"Agreed." replied the Archer.

As an arrow flew past the Wizard and another arrow hit the Archer in the arm, the Wiard went to the window and cast a spell. The window flew open revealing a two story drop!

Another arrow flew by the archer while a magic missile hit the Wizard leaving him dangerously wounded! worse, outside they could see Griffin riders swooping in from the skies outside.

the Wizard threw up a wall of fire, obscuring the view and path from the approaching temple gaurds and spellcasters. But, causing more damage in the process. Then, with a bit of breathing room, Feather fall to float out the window.

Right as two griffin riders swooped down close to them, the Wizard whipped out a scroll and they were back in the inn.