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Message: <blockquote data-quote="wolff96" data-source="post: 3063248" data-attributes="member: 342">The most memorable dragon in one of my campaigns?  "Chuckles" the Black.Some kind of creature or magic had been stealing cattle from a group of plainsmen that were party allies.  The players agreed to investigate for their friends.After much investigation turned up nothing -- no tracks, no magical signature that they could find -- they finally settled on simply "staking out" the herd.  So they watched for several nights.  They finally saw a globe of darkness swoop in, abscond (silently) with a large cow, and fly off to the north.  They followed into the northern swamps.They spent quite a bit of time searching before they caught on -- something was living underwater in the swamps and flying off to eat the herd.  The party arcanist guessed 'dragon' but the rest immediately told her she was being silly.  Who ever heard of a dragon living in a swamp??They swam into the creature's lair.  Sure enough, it was a young adult black.  The creature tore them up in the underwater tunnel leading into his lair, then retreated to let the traps soften them up before confronting them again -- fully healed from some of the magic in his hoard.  During the fight, he taunted them.  At one point, I said "The black dragon chuckles, saying..."  I never got to finish because two of the players IMMEDIATELY dissolved into laughter.  They misheard my statement, thinking that the Black Dragon's NAME was 'Chuckles'.  So much for the aura of fear and dread I'd managed to raise in that tense encounter.The characters began taunting the dragon during the fight, asking what kind of stupid name "Chuckles" was for a dragon.  (Since it was somewhat of a metagame joke, the dragon was naturally confused.)They ended up fighting him to something of a draw;  the party retreated without killing him or forcing him from his lair.  They did, however, immediately hire bards to immortalize their encounter with "Chuckles, the Black Dragon".  The dragon was not amused.  He became my personal favorite BBEG of any campaign.  To this day, the players still talk about the various schemes and plots he came up with throughout their adventures.  He hurt them several times -- taking out key allies, destroying the Barbarian's tribe, and melting several temples to the ground -- but they still loved the idea of mocking this dragon.At the very end of the campaign, they finally hunted him down and faced him one last time.  It was a heck of a battle -- despite the fact that he was still only a Young Adult, he had acquired quite a bit of wealth, fame, and allies in fighting them over the years of the campaign -- but in the end, Chuckles perished beneath their blades.---------------------------The story of "Chuckles the Black" is still a part of that world's history.  (It's a shared DM world).  Every once in a while, I'll be gaming in that world and some bard will start up with the "Saga of Chuckles".  (132 verses and counting.)</blockquote>

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