It’s Dungeons and Dragons time! Here’s the latest installment of the epic journey of our heroines, Danaeryzard and Alaria! (If you’re new here, check out the entire saga in order by reading the chapters organized on the D&D tab of this site!)

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For a moment, nobody moved. The mock city street was silent and empty. Then Esmeralda quietly stepped back to observe as Danaeryzard and Alaria attempted their Combat Training mission, which was to not let anyone enter a specific house in the middle of the road.

“Since you’re better with the crossbow, maybe you ought to take the roof and shoot down any attackers,” Dany suggested nervously. “I’ll stay on the ground and try to guard the entrance of the building.” Alaria nodded. It was the better choice; she was nimble and climbed up the side of the building across the street. There was a plank connecting the rooftop of the building where Alaria was positioned and the roof of the building they were guarding, so she would be able to change her vantage point fairly easily. Dany moved to guard the main entrance of the building on the ground and took a defensive stance at the door with her crystal orb ready in her claw.

It was only a moment before they heard the footsteps approaching. They heard three sets and it sounded like they were coming from all directions. Suddenly, from the west appeared a Bandit Captain (or, a guard acting as one for this training session) and two Bandits were approaching from the east and south. 

The Bandit coming from the southern direction was the fastest and reached Dany at the entrance of the building first. He was a bit small and looked like he was a new recruit. Wielding scimitar blades, he lashed out at Dany and caused some minor scrapes on her thick scaled Dragonborn skin. Dany chuckled to herself and realized this Bandit might look scary, but he was just a greenhorn wearing a costume.

As the Bandit Captain approached, he produced a giant scepter and pointed it up towards Alaria on the roof. With an intense gaze he cast a spell towards her with red fiery sparks. However, the distance from his attack on the ground gave Alaria just enough time to backflip out of the way and avoid the hit! Resuming her composure, she aimed her crossbow down at the Bandit Captain and hit him in the arm. 

Meanwhile, Dany still had this Bandit in front of her and she didn’t know what to do. He was a bit too close for comfort and she panicked in the moment. Instead of casting a spell, she attempted to stab back at the Bandit, as he had done to her. But with one claw holding the orb and the other holding a dagger, she was a bit clumsy and missed. 

The other Bandit quietly rushed to the building where Alaria was stationed and started climbing up the side.

The young Bandit beside Dany sneered and took an attack stance. Dany was able to fend him off with her arm as he flailed his scimitar daggers in an attempt to slice her. He hit nothing and Dany rolled her eyes. The Bandit Captain did not seem pleased by this embarrassing display and made his way towards Dany. He held out his scepter and it began to glow green. But then nothing happened, it appeared to sputter out. The Bandit Captain had a furious look on his face and he banged the scepter on the ground in frustration. Dany laughed and began to wonder if this Bandit Captain knew what he was doing with his magic. Maybe the Bandit Captain was inexperienced too. Maybe this Combat Training would be easy!

Unfortunately, just at that moment their luck started to change for the worse. Alaria moved to the other rooftop to shoot the Bandit climbing up the side of the building. But when she aimed her crossbow to take the shot, a cable snapped and rendered the weapon unusable. Alaria’s jaw dropped in dismay and she rushed behind a chimney to take a defensive stance and switch to her daggers instead. And to make matters worse, another Bandit suddenly appeared on the rooftop across the street.

Back on the ground, Dany wanted to “show” the Bandit Captain how to really cast an attack spell. With her crystal orb she channeled her Firebolt cantrip with a strong bolt of flame at the Bandit Captain and he cried out in pain. He patted down flames on his cloak and looked even angrier. Then the Bandit team began a coordinated attack against Danaeryzard. The newly appeared Bandit on the roof across the street hit her with his crossbow, but it merely bounced off her thick scales. The young Bandit on the ground tried to slice her with his scimitar daggers once again, but Dany shrugged him off. The Bandit Captain rushed towards the entrance of the building and with his scepter charging what appeared to be electricity, he channeled the electric power to his hand and touched Dany with his fingertip. But his magic once again had no effect on her.

“GAHHH!!” The Bandit Captain cried out in frustration. The sound echoed through the street and Alaria could hear it from the rooftop. She used the distraction of the sound to her advantage and jumped out at the Bandit that was approaching her, lashing him in the stomach.

Dany was now surrounded by the Captain and the young Bandit, and they were too close for her to take a good shot with her Firebolt. Instead she used her dagger to swipe at the Bandit Captain and was able to cut his side. Up on the roof, the Bandit attacking Alaria managed to get a good hit back at her with his scimitar blade. The Bandit on the other rooftop aimed once again at Dany but just missed his target. 

The young Bandit that was struggling to attack Dany finally mustered up enough strength to land a hit that did some damage. She was surprised and a bit taken off guard by the pain and didn’t notice the Bandit Captain charging his scepter with a yellow aura. Suddenly Dany felt her scales reacting strangely and then with a flick of his scepter, the Bandit Captain cast a paralyzing spell. 

On the roof, Alaria and the Bandit were in a tight precarious position and there was one simple solution for her. Using all of her Tiefling might, Alaria pushed the Bandit right off the side of the building. He cried out as he fell, but was quickly silenced by the harsh impact. The Bandit did not rise again, and Alaria started climbing back down the far side of the building, away from the sight lines of the sniper Bandit across the street. While she climbed down, Alaria’s hand slipped and she fell several feet, causing more damage to her health.

Things were starting to look grim. Dany was paralyzed, and while she sensed that the effects of the spell were starting to wear off, she was still unable to move and knew more attacks were coming. The sniper Bandit on the roof had a clear shot of Dany’s back due to the position she was stuck in and didn’t show any mercy with his crossbow shot. However, the young Bandit at Dany’s side somehow missed with his scimitar dagger attack yet again, despite her being paralyzed. It was a good thing too, because she felt very weak and if she wasn’t able to move soon, she was at serious risk of passing out.

The Bandit Captain turned when he heard Alaria fall from the roof. He decided to focus his attention on her, spinning his scepter in the air. The Bandit Captain created a floating silver sword with his magic, which flew over in Alaria’s direction. It missed her and instead the magical silver sword attacked the lifeless body of the Bandit that Alaria had pushed off the roof. But this was a two attack spell, and the sword flew down the street at Danaeryzard, landing a final blow on her paralyzed body that caused her to black out.

Alaria felt rage growing within her; now she was on her own again. She stabbed at the young Bandit with her shortsword, and then ducked down an alley to draw the Bandits away from the building. The young Bandit gave chase and followed her, making another attack with his scimitar daggers.

But then the Bandit Captain simply stepped over Dany’s body and opened the door of the designated building. He walked inside and a bell rang from an unknown location, signaling that the mission had failed and was now over. All of the participants were revived and healed, and Esmeralda walked back out from her observation area towards Dany and Alaria. 

“What happened?” Esmeralda asked them, wanting the partners to learn from this training session. “What went wrong here?”

“My crossbow broke, that definitely set a bad tone…” Alaria said, looking at her broken weapon. “But I should have stayed to defend the entrance instead of running down the alley at the end.”

“Definitely, always remember the objective of the mission. And we can get that crossbow restrung, don’t worry. But Dany, why didn’t you use your Breath Weapon?” Esmeralda asked. She looked a bit confused.

“Oh… I guess I’m a bit reluctant to use it lately, after the accident.” Dany sighed. “But I did use my Firebolt more effectively today. Before I fainted, that is. I was being ganged up on too, and that was not easy to deal with!”

Esmeralda nodded and looked understanding. “Well, I didn’t really expect you to complete this mission on your first attempt. You both did fairly well for your first try. We will just have to try this again in a few days!”

At that, Dany and Alaria groaned in unison. Were they being subject to some new form of cruel and unusual punishment??

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And so ends the latest installment of our DnD adventures! Thanks for reading! I hope you like this ongoing storyline lol! If you play Dungeons and Dragons too, let’s hear about your character in the comments! 🙂