WotC_Bruce serves the dragon

[TerraDave]

Generally amusing, with a few possible "reveals". From his blog.

I play in a weekly 4th Edition campaign (and playtest) run by Chris Perkins. Once a month I have to miss the action, and the Monday before last, I apparently picked a particularly bad time to miss.

As the last session I attended ended, my tiefling warlock Melech was checking out a funeral bier on which a withered corpse lay. Hey! A silver ring! Melech slipped the ring off the hand bone, and... the session ended.

Apparently what happened while I was gone was dramatic. Melech vanished in a flash of poisonous vapor, even as all the exits to the temple room we were exploring slammed shut. Then, all the terrible paintings on the wall animated and did their level best to kill the party, minus Melech. I hear that TPK (total party kill) was nearly achieved.

When I returned to play last night, Melech found himself in a lightless cavern. A sunrod found in his kit showed three passages. The air “seemed better” down one. Our brave tiefling ventured down it, only to come across three black dragons, each the size of a man. Things went downhill from there. Much chasing ensued, misdirection, and bluffing, and a break for freedom. Which ended when Melech found a black dragon the size of an elephant.

Melech did what any crafty tiefling would do: offered his complete and undying service. The dragon bought it, and sent Melech packing with the command to loot the temple for the dragon’s hoard. The dragon sent along two black dragon “wyrmlings” to see to it that he honored his bargain. Crap.

At one point, Melech accidentally dropped a dwarven lift on the two dragons, and took that as a sign to fight. He managed to kill one by drawing on his Star Pact, avoid the other by trapping it behind a portcullis, and in the end, get rescued from below the temple by the party. At which time he was roundly reviled and even struck(!) for having triggered what nearly amounted to a TPK. Hurt and embarrassed, Melech suddenly wondered if serving the black dragon in truth might not be such a bad idea . . .

 

[Wormwood]

Okay, that was awesome.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Aha!

"Hey! A silver ring! Melech slipped the ring off the hand bone, and... the session ended."

Does this mean identify is out?! Were they expecting some immediate result from slipping the ring on the finger? Who knows?

 

[GreatLemur]

Does this mean identify is out?!

Damn, I certainly hope so. That was never any fun.

 

[Cadfan]

Perhaps the most important aspect of this is the phrase "star pact."

The conclusion I'm taking from this is that warlocks draw on multiple types of pacts at one time. Its a bit of a logical leap, but I'm going with it.

As for putting the ring on blind and its implications for whether Identify is in the game, don't draw any conclusions. I know players who regularly have their characters try magic items blind. Its faster, and rarely screws them.

 

[kenmarable]

As for putting the ring on blind and its implications for whether Identify is in the game, don't draw any conclusions. I know players who regularly have their characters try magic items blind. Its faster, and rarely screws them.

I know I do. When players are busy converting loot and coin into 100gp pearls and prioritizing their lists of what to identify in what order, I (player and character) often just get bored and try things out. MUCH more exciting.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Aha!

"Hey! A silver ring! Melech slipped the ring off the hand bone, and... the session ended."

Does this mean identify is out?! Were they expecting some immediate result from slipping the ring on the finger? Who knows?

The bit you quote is about the stealing of the ring... nothing to do with putting it on his own finger.

It might have been a case of "that looks valuable".

Or even

"Shiny Thing! Ooo!"

 

[Cadfan]

I know I do. When players are busy converting loot and coin into 100gp pearls and prioritizing their lists of what to identify in what order, I (player and character) often just get bored and try things out. MUCH more exciting.

Hehheh. Same here.

I also tend to skip the division of the loot, and just randomly walk off with what I feel is my fair share. Everyone squawks, but I always take less than my proportional share, and I'm the Combat Medic PRC Cleric, so no one wants to feud with me.

And then later, when I really really want something, I point out all those times I voluntarily shortchanged myself on gold coins I secretly never wanted anyways...

 

[Voss]

The conclusion I'm taking from this is that warlocks draw on multiple types of pacts at one time. Its a bit of a logical leap, but I'm going with it.

I can't even see the ground you started from. Is there any indication that he has another pact?

 

[Tewligan]

I see the alchemical flashlight is still in. Boo!