Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 3994508" data-attributes="member: 58197">The bard doesn't betray the dragon because he has no reason to do so.  It's not like the bard is being forced into service.  As for why he works for the dragon to begin with, it's because the dragon is way smarter than he is, and he knows it.  The bard is a smart guy--probably a 16 Int or so--but he's nothing compared to the dragon's Intelligence of 24; he can't plot and scheme on anything close to the dragon's level.  He can recruit new cult members and talk white dragons into buying refrigerators, but he doesn't have the logistical and strategic skills to really expand the cult's influence.The dragon's role in this whole business is that of a mastermind.  As in Master Mind.  The mind that is the master.  Frankly, that prodigious Intelligence score is the only asset it really needs; the physical prowess and the hoard are just extras.  The dragon can plan years ahead, juggling the details of a dozen interlocking schemes, weaving plots of incredible complexity and anticipating its enemies' moves before the enemies themselves think of them.The bard knows that the dragon is capable of this, and that he himself can't match it.  That's fine by him.  He's happy to reap the benefits of his position--luxury, power, the adulation of the cultists--and leave the heavy thinking to his boss.  He's a combination salesman and administrator; the dragon is chief executive.As for what happens if the bard dies?  These things happen.  The erinyes are also involved in the cult, if you recall; they'll pick out a new high priest and put him in contact with the dragon.Oh, for God's sake.  I'm not going to write a day-by-day biography of the dragon's life.  The dragon hunted around the wilderness until it found the kobold tribe, which it recruited by the simple expedient of showing up.  It then nurtured and encouraged the kobolds until the tribe produced a sorceror who could cast lesser planar binding.  That sorceror summoned an imp and sent it back with a message for the pit fiend.  The dragon knew which imp to summon by dint of having Knowledge (Planar): +44.Later, one of the dragon's erinyes noticed the bard, who was then leading his own little cult but not having much success expanding it beyond his home town.  The erinyes went to the bard and offered him a deal.  Happy?</blockquote>

Verification