D&D 5E Tap Tap Tap

[BoldItalic]

BoldItalic replied, "there is only one thing we can do about them, and that is to recruit them to aid us."

Turning again to the frightened creature, BoldItalic spoke slowly and clearly so that there would be no mistake. "We will let you live if you swear to serve us to defeat the dragon lady. Do you speak for all three?"

The kobold looked nervously left and right at his two fellows and hissed something in the draconic language, receiving some kind of assent in reply. "They say they more afraid of you than they afraid of her. Also, you here and she not. Where you want we dig?"

"Tell us your true name," demanded Rylnethaz. "You will be bound by terrible oaths to serve us."

The kobold was almost too terrified to speak, but managed to mumble "No laugh. Me called Diggur. It mean brown-tail in kobold-speak. It shameful name." and his ears turned flat against his head, a sure sign that he was telling the truth.

"If you serve us well," said BoldItalic, "you shall have a new name. A proud name. A name that will spoken in awe through all the halls of the underdark."

At this, the kobold's eyes gleamed and the tip of his nose grew a whole inch wider. It was obvious that a good bargain had been struck. Diggur turned again to his companions and hissed something, at which the other two skipped and hopped around in obvious glee, reaching up to pat BoldItalic on the knees.

"Yes, well," said BoldItalic gruffly, thinking for one fleeting moment that perhaps grandchildren might be fun after all, "names must be earned. First, tell us what lies down the tunnel and how we can find the dragon-lady."

"Many twisty-turny tunnels, all alike," said Diggur, "You walk very careful or you fall in spiky pit and be eaten by Grue."

"Who is this Grue?" demanded Rylnethaz, and, trying to chose his words simply, "How big is it, and is it soft or hard?"

"Grue is grue. It eat kobolds who get lost in tunnels, they never seen again."

"I have heard legends of this creature, far back in the mists of time," observed BoldItalic, "in the age of EightBit, long go. Little did I think it still survived. This is most interesting. But we digress."

"Lead us to where the dragon-lady lives," insisted Rylnethaz.

And so they set off down the tunnel, following Diggur who led the way proudly with his tail held high. They turned steadily right and downwards for a long time, passing many side-tunnels that led who-knows-where, until they came to ...

 

[BoldItalic]

Folks, if you are reading this thread and want to join in, feel free. Just inject yourself into the story somehow, narrate what you think should happen next and create a cliff-hanger for the next person to build on. It's fun

 

[Rylnethaz]

…they came to a stone bridge spanning a chasm. Rylnethaz stood at the edge and dropped a pebble in the chasm. There was no telltale sound that the pebble had reached the bottom. “Well, it is not like we would be careless to begin with but let’s make sure that we cross the bridge in all safety,” said Rylnethaz and everyone nodded in agreement.

They had barely reached the middle of the bridge when an otherworldly roar was heard, followed by stomping noise. The kobolds all shrieked in unison, “It’s the Grue, the Grue, we are dead, we are dead” and started running left and right and bumping into each other.

BoldItalic and Rylnethaz looked at the goblins, then at each other, then at the goblins again and finally they both looked at the unspeakable monstrosity that emerged from the tunnel they had just come from, completely cutting of their escape.

Rylnethaz said to BoldItalic, “now would be a good time for you to finish telling us about those legends, how do we kill it?”

BoldItalic started speaking in an academic tone, “Well, it is quite simple actually, as the legend goes, the Grue, menacing and terrifying though it may be, it is itself afraid of the light, any light. We have not been using any since you and the kobold have a natural darkvision and I am still maintaining my spell but I think we can make an exception here.”

So, BoldItalic, with a flair, summoned a globe of light in front of the rampaging monster. Unfortunately the Grue was not impressed and kept coming, the bridge trembling under its bulk. Seeing that, BoldItalic said, “and now we can safely assume that this legend was a lie.” “In light of the Grue's absence of fear for the light and its general ignorance of legends I suggest our next course of action to be ‘run away from the rampaging Grue as fast as possible’ because it is getting uncomfortably close,” said Rylnethaz. To that BoldItalic replied, “A sound conclusion after a logical deduction and I concur. We might make you a scholar after all!“

The kobolds were already running for the far side of the bridge and so did the two adventurers. The Grue was on their heels, breaking rocks, roaring and punching its way through stone. They fled past a few passages until…

 

[BoldItalic]

... until they reached a great bronze door that was carved with face of a terrible dragon. Their way was blocked by the door and the Grue was getting closer and closer. What could they do? Rylnethaz turned, drew his trusty elven blade and readied his shield, prepared to make a fight of it and to die nobly if necessary, to defend the others. BoldItalic began reciting his most terrible spell, holding the final word of the incantation until the Grue would come within range. "This is where it ends", he thought, "one way or another." He surprised himself by how calm he felt.

Time slowed down.

Diggur the kobold panicked and started scrabbling at the door, "Must Open! Must Open!" he screeched, struggling to reach a great iron ring that hung from the snout of the carved dragon face. It was out of his reach. "Lifts Me Ups!" he hissed to the other two kobolds beside him, and after a moment they understood what to do.

Diggur was hoisted on his comrades' shoulders and reached the iron ring. He grasped it both hands and, planting his feet firmly against the door, pulled with all his puny might.

The door didn't open.

There was a rumbling noise, though, that wasn't made by the approaching Grue at all, but by some mechanism hidden in the walls and under the floor the stood on. Suddenly, they were all enveloped in a cloud of dust and a shower of pebbles that seemed to shake loose from the ground.

"Uh-oh. Spiked pit trap here we come," thought BoldItalic, and he braced himself ready to leap nimbly aside. Except that it wasn't that sort of trap at all.

Diggur was left dangling upside down from the ring he was clinging to, while Rylnethaz, BoldItalic and the other two kobolds shot up to the ceiling. It was completely unexpected and very disorientating. Rylnethaz found himself in a heap on what was now the floor, trying to disentangle his legs from his arms whilst still keeping hold of his sword and shield. BoldItalic, the words of his spell utterly gone from his mind, grumbled "Anti-gravity trap. That's all we need right now."

From the tunnel behind them, the Grue came charging headlong but as it set foot on the floor where our heroes had been standing just moments ago, it stopped suddenly, wailed, turned inside out and back-to-front and fled.

"Fascinating," said BoldItalic from the ceiling. "The Grue must exist in a transfinite 5-dimensional geometry. I've always had difficulty visualising roto-reflecto-rotations in 5-space, and having seen one, I think I still do."

"Never mind that", said Rylnethaz, "How do we get down?"

 

[Rylnethaz]

“We could walk on the ceiling until we are out of the area of effect but that would get us back to the Grue and besides we would have to deal with it again if we want to pass this door. We could also wait for the trap to be reset but we are not sure when and if theis is going to happen,” said Bold Italic.”

“Can you dispel it?”

“I could try but it would be wiser to save up resources for a more critical moments, besides there is no reason for us not to be a little creative now that the Grue is not our immediate concern. Maybe our hosts can help us.” And with that, BoldItalic turned to Diggur.

“Diggur, can you slip through the handle so that you do not need both your hands to hang from it?”

“Err, yes, I think I can,” and with an agile move positioned himself as BoldItalic had asked.

“Do you see anything that could be described as a panel, a cover, a small drawer or something like that?”

After a while Diggur exclaimed with surprise that he had indeed found something like that.

“Well, can you pry it open?”

A few moments later the answer came in the form of a thin metal sheet falling on one of the kobolds’ head. A long litany of kobold curses was directed towards Diggur.

“What do you see inside Diggur?”

“A small strange piece of stone or metal with hair growing out of it and sparkling light going around it in circles.”

“That’s it Rylnethaz, this is the reverse gravity focus, a loadstone with iron filings on it and connected to the trap with an energy conduit. Diggur, I can see you still have your pickaxe with you, use it to remove that stone.”

Diggur removed the loadstone which fell on the same kobold’s head as the metal cover. Another long litany of kobold curses was directed towards Diggur.

“Well,” said Rylnethaz, “shouldn’t we be seeing something different?”

BoldItalic started to say something but at that moment everything came upside down, gravity returned to normal and everyone was in a heap on the floor.

When everyone was back on their feet, Rylnethaz talked to the kobolds. “Be alert for the Grue while we try to open the door” and then to BoldItalic, “Well done my friend and now that this is settled, that leaves us with a door problem. Is it locked and how do we open it?”

 

[BoldItalic]

BoldItalic mused. He could use a Knock spell, of course, but that sound of it would be quite loud and might bring back the Grue - or something worse. He tapped the door gently with the end of his staff [ TAP! TAP! TAP! ] to try to gauge how thick the door was, and whether it was solid bronze or just a thin sheet of bronze covering a wooden door. He noticed that the staff rebounded slightly, as if repelled by a magical field. If there was magic involved in keeping the door locked, he needed to know what kind of magic, so that he could counter it properly.

"I'm going to have to ask you to stand watch for ten minutes or so, while I perform an arcane ritual," he said. "I need to know more about what is holding this door shut." And so saying, he took a small metal bowl and a jar of beetles' wings from his pack and set them on the ground. "Shield your eyes," he warned the others, "there will be a brief flare of light."

They did so, and there was. "Let us hope that flash drives away the Grue further into its lair," remarked Rylnethaz. But BoldItalic shook his head. "Probably not," he said, as he worked away, crushing the beetles' wings into a fine powder with the end of his staff. "The legends may have been misunderstood. I fancy the Grue is a creature from the Elemental Plane of Heaviness and it is repelled, not by Light - as in torches and lanterns - but by Light - as in the antithesis of Heavy. It was the sudden surge of anti-gravity that sent it away. Purely a theory, of course."

"Ah! That explains it," exclaimed Rylnethaz. "If so, then the hide of a Grue would make excellent heavy armour. If it returns, I shall endeavour to slay it."

BoldItalic said nothing but continued to work away at his preparations. He mixed the crushed beetle powder with a little oil from his lamp-flask and smeared the resulting compound around his eyes. Gazing at the bronze door, he began to see details more clearly that had previously been hidden. The dragon's head altered and became two badgers holding palm-fronds. Beneath them was an inscription in strange characters resembling dwarf-runes that said "Run Away!" while the iron ring that Diggur had swung from became scaly, like the skin of a reptile. Someone had clearly gone to a lot of trouble with this door.

"Run Away!" he commanded the door in stentorian tones. "No, not you, Diggur, I'm talking to the door. It's the secret word."

The door swung open.

Behind the door was a large, sumptuously appointed chamber in which the figure of a half-dragon, half woman reclined languorously on a chaise-longue, idly peeling a grape. "Ah, you're here," she said in dulcet tones. "Do come in, and Diggur, fetch two goblets of wine for our friends."

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

There was a knock at the door. Tap, tap, tap.

[TAP! TAP! TAP! roared the audience on cue]

BoldItalic recognized the signal. He had been expecting it. Here in his cabin in the Never Moor Woods, the guest rooms were all prepared, food was on the table and a good fire was blazing in the hearth. It wasn't that he was prescient, but the runes foretold that on this day, on a far distant plane of the multiverse, an entire world would cease to be and that travellers fleeing the destruction of that world would be arriving here.

He flung open the door. "Thrice Welcome!" he cried to the red-shielded knight who stood without.

Sir Rylnethaz, for it was indeed he, was astonished. "BoldItalic? How camest thou here? And by the look of it, thou art well-settled in this, thy cabin?"

"Hmm. As one does, as one does," was the enigmatic reply. "But come in, come in, and sup ale with me. Have you the scroll?"

Sir Rylnethaz produced an ancient scroll that he had brought with him from the old world, on which were written magical runes in the URLspeak tongue that read http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?471976-Tap-Tap-Tap-The-last-thread-of-all. It was a magic scroll but anyone could read it, for this was according to the great DMG of 5e, p.139.

"Strange 'tis," began Sir Rylnethaz ...

I was expecting this to be a thread about the myrida uses of a 10' pole.

 

[BoldItalic]

I was expecting this to be a thread about the myrida uses of a 10' pole.

Anything to oblige.

Behind the door was a large, sumptuously appointed chamber in which the figure of a half-dragon, half woman reclined languorously on a chaise-longue, idly peeling a grape. "Ah, you're here," she said in dulcet tones. "Do come in, and Diggur Franciszek, fetch two goblets of wine for our friends."

A butler moved silently to obey. He wore a smart black tail coat and a bowler hat but the most striking thing about him was his towering height. Seeing BoldItalic look quizzical, the dragon lady admonished him "It's rude to stare. Franciszek is a half-giant from the forests of northern Europe. He is the proverbial ten-foot Pole."

Your turn

 

[Rylnethaz]

“Yes mistress,” Diggur replied with obedience and went for a cupboard to the left where a glass bottle of wine and a few goblets could be seen. The other two goblins followed him.

“Damned traitor”. Rylnethaz shot Diggur a threatening look. BoldItalic told Diggur that he would regret this but Diggur didn’t pay much attention.

There were carpets and tapestries in several spots around the chamber. The half dragon lady was on a slightly raised dais and a large table filled with fruits was in front of her. She was wearing flowing blue robes that could not hide her bulky form but accentuated her natural reddish color. What else caught the eye was a large set of wires, tubes, jars and various other instruments that formed a strange apparatus with some sort of cradle in the middle.

“This must be what she uses to gather energy for her transformation,” Rylnethaz said to BoldItalic.

“Come, come, don’t be squeamish now. I have invited you into my chambers.“

“Who are you,” BoldItalic asked her” and what are you doing here? What were you doing with the dead?”

“I am Arinaksa and I will be a full dragon soon, thanks to the elven corpses. They are going to provide me with enough energy to transform, and transcend .Bow now before me and I will let you live as minions and agents, of mine.”

Then Rylnethaz said, “You are a truly magnificent being, an almost divine amalgam awaiting to be further refined so that it dazzles everyone.” He then turned to BoldItalic and said come my friend see the truth for what it really is.” While saying that, Rylnethaz was turned just so that his face was not visible to the half dragon and wispered to BoldItalic,”let me know when you are ready.” He then turned to the half dragon and approaching the table laid his weapon and shield in front of him as if in supplication.

“Now Rylnethaz!” BoldItalic shouted and unleashed a spell, a lightning bolt that hit the half dragon squarely in the face. At the same time, Rylnethaz stood up and overturned the large table, throwing it on the half dragon and moved in to continue with the attack.

Arinaksa then shouted, “I may be magnificent but I am also vengeful, prepare to feel my wrath. Guards, to me!” and she started casting a spell.

 

[BoldItalic]

What happened next was rather confused and, even long afterwards, BoldItalic had difficulty relating it coherently.

Arinaksa's spell, directed with full force at Rylnethaz, glanced harmlessly off his upraised shield and flew straight upwards to strike a crystal chandelier hanging high above, in the roof. The chandelier shattered and a masked kobold that had been attempting to swing from it in best cinematic fashion with a rapier clamped between its teeth fell heavily into the apparatus below, smashing many of its tubes and releasing a huge surge of magical energy. The surge coincided with BoldItalic's counterspell with the unfortunate result that he was briefly turned into a potted geranium. All this was happening as Rylnethaz brought his sword down with a mighty sweep on Arinaksa's right arm, still outstretched in spellcasting, slicing through scaly skin and flesh and rendering the limb useless. Arinaksa screamed with pain and frustration and said some very bad words. You might have done too, if you had been her.

Then things got really complicated ...