D&D

Danaeryzard & Alaria: A Cloud of Laughter and Daggers

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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, you can read the earlier chapters of the saga using this tag search. Read them in chronological order!)

…………..

Esmeralda

A three days journey though the Forest Wilderness brought the brave duo back to the safety of Castle Drachen. Danaeryzard and Alaria settled back into their room at the Barracks and tried to get some R&R before being summoned to their next mission. However, it wasn’t long before a messenger delivered word that Esmeralda was waiting to speak with them in the Great Hall.

The Great Hall is a giant room filled with tables used for meeting and eating. Cauldrons were cooking up stews and kegs of mead were found stacked around the room. Dany and Alaria made their way through the room to where Esmeralda was seated. At the table with her was an Elf that they had never seen before. They cautiously approached until Esmeralda indicated to them to come and sit. 

“Greetings Alaria, Danaeryzard. Please join us. This is Hedwig, a Druid Elf visiting the castle on official business. I thought he could spend some time training the both of you on Druid fighting techniques and battle strategies for forest combat,” Esmeralda said, standing to greet the newcomers. Hedwig did the same and they all shook hands before sitting down at the table together.

Hedwig

“Certainly, I’d be delighted to go over some of my proven tactics,” Hedwig replied, feeling a little awkward. He was a strong, middle aged Elf with several decades of combat under his belt, but he never thought of himself as one to train the new recruits. His battles were often improvised – not necessarily planned and prepared for carefully in advance, contrary to how he’d have Esmeralda believe.

“Excellent! We’ll get to that in a moment – I think the Drachen Gardens Courtyard would be a suitable location, yes?” Esmeralda asked, looking at Hedwig, who nodded in agreement. “But first, we must have a debriefing on your recent mission. Please tell me everything that you learned at Water’s Edge.”

Dany and Alaria glanced nervously at each other. They didn’t even come close to completing the mission. In fact, they felt somewhat responsible for the deaths of  some innocent townspeople at Lake Constant, and felt extremely forlorn about the whole mission. They weren’t any closer to discovering the mysteries of the crystals, or finding the location of the Sun Wizard. However, they recapped their travels, explaining about the magical abilities the the Golden Dragonborn have been using to change their form, as well as their encounter with the Hag and the crystal stones they found in the foundation of the library. 

Esmeralda did not hide the concerned look on her face when she heard about the crystal stones. The fact that the crystals, in massive form, were embedded into the very foundation of the building itself was grave news indeed. She asked to see the building schematics that they had collected from their defeated enemies. Esmeralda surmised that the crystal stonework creates an immense power. She sent the schematics to the Drachen Scholars to analyze and decipher. 

“All right, good work you two,” Esmeralda said, “I know you might not think it, but you have done some great research here. Now we’ll have a better understanding of what we’re up against. Next up, training. Hedwig here is the best when it comes to nature. Let’s gear up and meet in the courtyard.”

When they stepped into the Garden Courtyard, Dany and Alaria were amazed. Courtyard was an understatement! The Drachen Gardens were so vast, it could have been called a forest. Acres and acres of green grass, lush trees and foliage, and meticulously organized flowerbeds were spread out before them.

Castle Gardens

Hedwig and Esmeralda led the way to an open grassy field, speckled with a few giant trees. They were discussing how this area would be more suitable for combat trials, with less obstacles and no flowerbeds to trample. As they began to get set up, suddenly an ear-splitting alarm began to ring throughout the entire castle grounds. Esmeralda’s face went pale.

“Oh no. Bug Bears again!” Hurriedly, Esmeralda packed up some weapons and put them in her own sack, obviously preparing to go to battle. “I have to go take care of this. I’m going to give you each a set a Chat Rings, so that we can communicate. If you both wear the ring and earring, you can communicate telepathically with anyone else wearing the set.” She quickly showed them how the Chat Rings worked and then rushed off towards the entrance of the castle.

Unsure of what to do, Dany and Alaria remained in the courtyard with Hedwig. After about a half an hour, the alarm was still going off and Esmeralda had not returned. The three decided to search around the area, maybe they could help somehow.

Dany looked around by the trees surrounding the clearing. As she turned to search deeper into the wooded area, she heard the sound of branches being stepped on by something heavy. Something that was breathing loudly. Something… growling!

Bug Bear

She turned to her left and saw that a giant Bug Bear was heading straight for her. It was at least eight feet tall and fierce, but it did look as though it had already been in a serious fight. The Bug Bear roared and charged towards Dany, Alaria and Hedwig. In a panic, Alaria tried to contact Esmeralda with the Chat Rings, but heard no response. They were on their own!

Taking the lead, Hedwig raised his crossbow and took a shot directly at the Bug Bear, which stopped it in it’s tracks. But the Bug Bear was not severely injured from the arrow; it pulled the bolt from it’s shoulder and roared once more. Seeing an opening, Alaria whipped out her wand and cast her new favorite spell: Hideous Laughter at the Bug Bear. The targeted beast took a step forward, tripped, and fell flat on it’s face, erupting with a wailing laughter that was louder than the intruder alarms still blaring through the castle. Hearing these cries attracted another Bug Bear to the trio, this one approaching from the south. 

Dany knew that they might be overwhelmed fighting both of these strong Bug Bears at once. Since the first Bug Bear was doubled over in fits of laughter, it was incapacitated, but not getting hurt either. Gripping her crystal orb, Dany tried a new spell, the Cloud of Daggers. She cast this cloud at the laughing Bug Bear. Since it was already unable to move because of the Hideous Laughter, it would be stuck within Dany’s Cloud of Daggers, which was a thick cloud filled with spinning daggers that slice at anyone in the cloud. The synergy of the spells cast by Dany and Alaria would take care of the first Bug Bear, while they focused on the second attacker! Were these partners finally starting to learn how to battle effectively??

The second Bug Bear was headed straight for Hedwig. It began to swing a giant, spiked mace and roared wildly, but Hedwig used his spritely reflexes to dodge at the last moment. Alaria and Dany both shot at the second Bug Bear with crossbows, while the first Bug Bear remained in the cloud of laughter and daggers, which was beginning to turn red with blood. Whimpers could be heard between the roars of insane laughter. 

Hedwig recalled some of his woodland creature studies and realized that while Bug Bears have a high armor class, their HP isn’t very impressive. But they are chaotic and will always attack! The second Bug Bear was proving to be quite chaotic as it swung it’s mace at Dany, hitting her with a heavy blow to the arm. She took a step back, reeling from the hit. It was at that moment when the first Bug Bear’s laughter turned into a weak howl… and then silence. The cloud attack had worked decisively. 

Now, to finish off the second Bug Bear. Hedwig swung his axe at the Bug Bear, but it missed and hit Dany instead! Her dragonscale arm was bruised and bleeding. Alaria’s crossbow attack missed the erratic Bug Bear, who dealt another blow to Dany with the heavy mace. Now Dany was getting mad – why was she the main target here?? She channeled her anger through her crystal orb to release a Fire Bolt cantrip directly in the Bug Bear’s hairy face. It roared in pain and beat down the flames on it’s fur. 

Hedwig took a few steps backward and made a wide sweeping motion with his staff to cast a Thunder Wave spell. The wave of energy charged directly at the Bug Bear, tossing it through the air and slamming it against one of the giant trees in the Courtyard. The Bug Bear was stunned and stood still, giving Alaria a perfect shot for her crossbow. She hit the Bug Bear in it’s chest and it howled in pain. Dany cast another Fire Bolt, but a moment too late. The Bug Bear jolted out of the way and the giant tree behind it was set ablaze. 

As it ran, the Bug Bear hurled it’s mace at Alaria, hitting her strongly on her side. Hedwig brandished his staff once more, summoning the power of the Moonbeam spell. Beams of light and rays of stars engulfed the Bug Bear with ghostly flames and it’s body fell in a crumpled heap on the grassy grounds. 

The trio stood, panting, and surveyed the area to make sure no more attacking Bug Bears were headed their way. All was quiet. 

“Why didn’t Esmeralda respond to our distress call?” Alaria wondered aloud.

A moment later, Esmeralda and a group of soldiers stormed through the Courtyard, only to stop and see the carnage. Esmeralda looked surprised and impressed to see two dead Bug Bears laying in the field. She asked Hedwig to analyze the skills of Alaria and Dany. 

“I like how they used the forest to their… advantage…” Hedwig said, glancing over at the giant tree that was still burning a few yards off in the distance. 

“Well, despite this not being our planned training session, I must thank you for your help and your expertise today, Hedwig. We hope to have you visit Castle Drachen again, perhaps under less chaotic circumstances next time,” Esmeralda said. She turned to Dany and Alaria and continued, “The two of you did great out there as well. Thank you for defending the castle and doing exemplary work. I heard from the Scholars that they are studying the written orc language from the building schematics in their lab right now, and should have the wording deciphered in a few days.”

Esmeralda looked over at the tree, still burning. “Someone’s going to have to put that out. Can we get a grounds crew out here?” She sighed. “Well, the two of you are doing a fantastic job. But in the future, Dany… can you NOT burn down the Princess’ Birth Tree??”

…………………..

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! 🙂

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Danaeryzard & Alaria: Battling the Horrible Hag

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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, you can read the earlier chapters of the saga using this tag search. Read them in chronological order!)

…………..

The Hag

The Hag was bearing down upon Danaeryzard and Alaria with her gruesomely long nails and tattered rags. She smelled as though she was centuries old. The duo wasn’t sure the best way to attack this crazy old woman, and exchanged confused looks as they cautiously separated to either side of the ancient stone basement chamber. 

Alaria had recently remembered in a dream that her Tiefling horns contained a bit of magic power, and thought this was as good a time as any to give it a try. Waving her head in a circle, a magic aura emanated from the tips of her horns and a Hideous Laughter spell quickly was cast in the Hag’s direction. Dany and Alaria had to cover their ears as the Hag released an ear-splitting cackle that sounded as hideous as she looked. The spell put the Hag in a fit of laughter, and she was unable to do anything else but buckle over and cackle uncontrollably. Not sure what to do next, Dany used her crystal orb to cast a Fire Bolt cantrip, but it whizzed by the Hag’s head, missing her just barely. To make things worse, the heat and light of the fire seemed to snap the Hag out of her crazed state. 

The Hag sneered in Dany’s direction and was caught off-guard by the crossbow bolt that Alaria embedded in her bony arm. Dany focused her energy on a True Strike spell to learn more about the Hag, and her crystal orb revealed that the Hag had an exceedingly high armor class, despite the rags she was wearing. While Dany was busy with her magic, the Hag turned to Alaria and ran at her, screaming loudly and with her arms clawing out. Alaria backed away and aimed her crossbow once again, landing another shot but not doing much damage.

They needed to step it up. Dany’s second attempt at a Fire Bolt cantrip wasn’t strong enough to affect the Hag’s armor class. Since Alaria was the only one managing to do any damage to the old Hag, she continued to receive the retaliatory attacks, and hollered at her partner to attack again.

After a third Fire Bolt cantrip miss, the Hag ran at Dany and promptly turned invisible. Dany froze with fear. How could she attack what she could not see? Luckily, Alaria whipped out her magic wand and cast her Magic Detection spell. An illuminated outline of the horrible Hag was now visible, so they had a fighting chance! 

Alaria’s newfound magic powers reminded Dany that she too had a magical accessory – a Circlet of Blasting. She clasped her talons around it while it hid safely under her robes, but she wanted to save it for the right moment. Her Fire Bolt cantrips, despite missing their targets, were filling her with fiery rage that she needed to expel – the best way she knew how! Dany inhaled deeply and unleashed her Breath Weapon in a massive funnel of fire directly at the Hag, who screamed out in pain. Seeing an opening, Dany ran over to Alaria so she could better support her partner.

The Hag was still invisible, but the duo could see her shimmering outline through the remaining smoke that was thinning out from Dany’s Breath Weapon. The Hag was charging at them, this time targeting her clawed fingers at Danaeryzard, but her mangled nails were no match for Dany’s tough lizard scale skin. She nudged the Hag off with her elbow, while Alaria raised her crossbow and made an excellent shot into the Hag’s side. The damage was starting to add up! 

This was the right moment. Dany pulled the Circlet of Blasting out from her robes. Holding the amulet outward with her talons, Dany used her magic power to harness 3 powerful rays of fire that all blast at the Hag. Her hideous cackling laugh echoed through the stone chamber, but she was starting to buckle over and became visible once again. As she backed away, Dany was able to use her dagger and jab at her, but the Hag was up to something. She walked backwards and her aura began to shimmer. She was casting a spell!

Bengie

In a flash, the Hag turned into the recently deceased, and extremely innocent Bengie. Dany and Alaria looked at each other with dismay. 

“I can’t shoot Bengie! This is insane!” Alaria cried. But she knew that it wasn’t really the sweet teenager who had tried to help his town – it was the awful Hag. Alaria knew she had to be strong. She took a deep breath and drew her arrow, using her ever-improving skill to shoot Bengie in the chest. Before he could react, Dany lifted her orb and summoned three Magic Missile bolts at him in powerful succession.

Bengie tried to run at the duo and scratch back but he missed and fell face first into the ground, burying Alaria’s arrows even deeper inside him. She almost couldn’t look, but Alaria lifted her crossbow to shoot one more time and end this Bengie impersonator once and for all. After the final blow, Bengie wailed out with the Hag’s grating voice, and the dying body morphed back into the Hag’s form. The Hag stopped moving and the battle was over.

Dany and Alaria collapsed on the ground. Killing Bengie in such a way was psychologically tormenting and they needed a short rest to recover. They barely wanted to get close to the Hag, but Alaria searched the body anyway – discovering some gold and another building map. The map contained the same ancient language written on it that was on the schematic that they found on Sullen. She also found a Necklace of Adaptation, and put it around her neck. Looking down at her necklaces, Alaria noticed that their crystal trinket necklaces were still glowing. There was still magic down here. 

Alaria began to clear the dust and dirty from the floor to better examine the stone flooring. There were a few inches of grime but eventually cleared enough dirt to reveal that the stones were actually made of the same crystal slabs that were from Lake Constant. The entire basement was made out of these crystal stones! They continued to excavate the space and found that the crystal was everywhere.

Alaria pulled out the two building maps that she was now carrying and examined them. She realized that the first building was actually an ancient drawing of the library itself! The other building might be in town too – or maybe it was their next destination. They needed to learn more! But they had killed the librarian, so it was now up to Dany and Alaria to do research on this ancient writing. The partners went back upstairs to the archives room with the ancient scrolls which they had passed on the way down to the basement chamber. They searched and studied many ancient tomes and finally matched the writing to Orc language.

But how could they read the words on these building schematics? They needed to get some outside assistance. They made their way out of the library and into the afternoon sun. Dany and Alaria could see fishing boats were on the beach and that the fishermen were back at the Guild. They walked over to the large Fishing Guild building and found Crest inside, looking serious and tired. Alaria asked how he was, and Crest sighed deeply… saying that he was hanging in there. 

“We must ask you Crest, have you seen anything strange around town in the past few months? Have you ever seen an Orc in this area?” Dany asked him. He said that he had not. Alaria showed Crest the second building schematic, pointing out the Orc language written at the bottom. Crest looked very confused and remarked that the building pictured had to be larger than anything that was constructed in Water’s Edge. He wasn’t able to provide them with any information, so they decided to give Crest his space and return to the Inn.

It was time for a new plan. They took a long rest and decided that it was time to return to the castle with the information they had discovered. Maybe the royal scholars could assist them in translating the text or identifying the building in the drawing. At the very least they could pick up their wages and get some direction from Kolari and the Expeditionary Guard. They would set off at dawn.

The next morning, Dany and Alaria wanted to slip out of town quietly. Enough damage had been done to this small town since their arrival, and they knew that the townsfolk wanted them to leave. They headed back towards the rocky perimeter of the town, past the crystal caves that were filled with the memories of murder and deception. Dany and Alaria turned their heads away, not wanting to think about what had happened. As she began to climb the rocks leading back to the woods, Alaria looked toward Lake Constant, and She’i’s house. She regretted not saying goodbye to She’i. Perhaps they would come back again someday.

As they passed the caves, Dany and Alaria didn’t notice that their crystal trinket necklaces were still glowing. They neglected to notice the two figures standing not far within the entrance of the crystal caves, in the midst of a peculiar business transaction. They certainly did not recognize that one of these figures was Crest. The other figure was very large and wearing a hooded cloak. 

The hooded figured pulled a pouch of coins out from his cloak and tossed it to Crest, who accepted it eagerly. As he made the payment, the hood fell backward, revealing that he was another evil Golden Dragonborn Wizard!

“On to your next shipment,” the Dragonborn snarled at Crest. “He does not like to be kept waiting.”

…………………..

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! 🙂

Danaeryzard & Alaria: The Restoration Center

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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, you can read the earlier chapters of the saga using this tag search. Read them in chronological order!)

…………..

The tragic mood hung heavy in the air as Danaeryzard and Alaria stepped into the moonlight and out of the cave. Silence surrounded them and they walked down the path to the Inn. When they entered, the innkeeper greeted them happily – obviously unaware of the tragic events that had just occurred. They didn’t feel it was their place to inform this woman about Cledus and Bengie, so they tried to act normal.

As Dany was sorting through her backpack in the main hall, she found the stein that Charlotte had asked them to look for in the caves. The stein that set off a wild Vegepygmy attack earlier that night, before they encountered Sullin. Thinking about the caves immediately sent Dany into a fiery rage. How can she act normal after what just happened? What if Charlotte had something to do with this?? It was a bit irrational, but this type of grief was not an emotion that Danaeryzard had any experience with in her past. She could feel heat rising from within and black smoke began to flow out of her nostrils. Before she knew was she was doing, Dany headed over to the innkeeper demanding to speak with Charlotte’s mother.

Rose, the innkeeper, said that she was Charlotte’s mother, and seemed a bit frightened by the approach. Danaeryzard presented the stein to her, and asked what her child was doing in the caves. All of the rage that Dany felt about what happened in the caves seemed to be deflecting onto this poor innkeeper. Alaria stayed to the side, feeling a bit awkward. 

“We encountered several Vegepygmy enemies and sustained many injuries in the caves as a result of this stein! I demand some compensation for returning this family heirloom back safely to your reckless child,” Dany said hotly, finishing with a snort of small flames.

Frightened and not wanting to start any trouble, Rose asked them to wait a moment and rushed through a side door. Dany started to feel anxious about how she was behaving and tried to cool down. After a few minutes Rose came out with a generous food platter with roasted chickens, vegetables and beer. She also gave Dany a sack of 15 gold pieces. Dany thanked her for her troubles and tried to apologize, but Rose ran off saying it was time for her to get to bed.

As they ate, Dany and Alaria bickered over if they should split the purse. “I was in that battle just as much as you were!” Alaria reminded her, thinking of how she really wanted to buy some more potions before their next big fight.

“You always pocket the money that you find when you ransack dead enemies – which I help to kill. Besides, I’m the one who discovered that cursed stein, and I’m the one who just made a scene and terrified this poor woman… I guess I earned this one!” Danaeryzard laughed a bit at herself as she finished off her beer. 

After the meal they retreated to their room. Before finally retiring for a long rest, they discussed what their next move should be. As strangers in this town, there were few people that the duo could trust. They knew that Crest and Smalls had to be on their side, having witnessed the murder of Bengie and Cledus at the hand of Sullin. There was also She’i, the friendly boat maker on the beach who had a special connection with Alaria. Perhaps they’d head for the Fishing Guild in the morning.

Unfortunately they woke up a bit after sunrise and had a slow start to their morning. Neither one of them had slept very well, plagued with nightmares from the day before. The inn was seemingly empty when they left, so the partners were also in search of breakfast. 

Walking down the path, they continued to notice that the town was very quiet. At this point, word must have gotten out about the murders. They realized that all of the fishing boats had gone out for the morning, and without Bengie the Fishing Guild would be empty. They agreed to skip the guild and head to She’i’s house up the beach instead.

She’i

She’i was easy to find. She was sitting on her front porch, looking pensively out at Lake Constant with a cup of coffee in her hands. They walked up to her and could tell just by looking that she already heard the bad news about Bengie and Cledus. After assuring them that there was no ill will, She’i invited the travelers inside for some breakfast, which they happily accepted.

Alaria decided to show She’i the building schematic that they had found on Sullin after the battle. “Do you recognize this language, written on the bottom? We’ve never seen the likes of this before,” Alaria asked her, trying to stay focused on the matters at hand, instead of She’i’s beautiful eyes. Looking carefully at the drawing, She’i flipped it upside down. Then flipped it over again.

“Just as I thought…” She’i said. “No idea.”

They chuckled and thanked her for trying. She’i cooked up some eggs and a local specialty, a seafood jambalaya, which they all ate together. The duo expressed concern about where to go next. 

“Well the Fishing Guild won’t do you much good right now, they won’t be back until the afternoon,” She’i explained. “Haven’t you visited the Library yet? It’s right next to the Inn!”

They were surprised to learn that the largest stone building in town, which they had mistakenly assumed to be a church for humans and mostly ignored, was actually the Water’s Edge Library. She’i wished them luck and set them off in the right direction so she could get started on her day’s work.

Dany and Alaria were quite impressed with the Library. The stone building was massive and seemed to tower over the town. The large wooden doors were heavy when Dany reached to push them open, and when they walked in they were momentarily amazed by the handsome vaulted ceiling and endless rows filled with books. The aisles were lit by candelabras and shed dim orange light throughout the large main hall, at the other side of which was a large desk and a librarian.

Cricket the Librarian

As soon as she looked at the librarian, Alaria suddenly had a terrible feeling inside. She got goosebumps up and down her arms and felt her heart skip a beat. Dany noticed the sudden change in her partner and looked over. 

“Why is the library so big in a fishing town?” Alaria whispered to Dany. “I’m going to check for magic with my wand.” She discreetly pulled her Wand of Magic Detection out of her bag and did a quick wave around the room. All of the books seemed normal to her… however, the librarian on the other side of the hall seemed to have a magical aura. “We should remain cautious in this place.”

Alaria decided she would not show this person the building schematic, and would instead draw out some of the characters that she could remember written on it. They would ask the librarian if she knew anything about exotic languages, instead of giving away too much information to the wrong person. They were very weary of people with false identities after what had happened to Cledus.

“Good morning, I am Cricket the Librarian,” she greeted them kindly as they approached. “Is there anything I can help you with today?”

The duo explained that they were looking for an expert on exotic languages and texts, and that they were trying to identify a particular language. Cricket seemed very eager to help and said she was a bit of an expert, since she was the Librarian. Alaria drew out some of the characters to show the woman what they were looking for, and Cricket said it looked like an ancient text from the Restoration Room. 

“We have a lot of ancient tomes in this Library, and we work very hard at curating and restoring these pieces, so we devote the lower levels of the Library to ancient writings. Would you like to come with me downstairs to see?” Cricket said, growing excited. She grabbed a torch and lead the way to a stone doorway, which had stairs descending below. 

While they walked down a spiral staircase to the lower level, Cricket asked where they discovered these ancient letters. Alaria made up a story about her grandfather showing them to her when she was young. They walked through a room that was filled with large old scrolls on display, as well as tablets and tomes. 

Dany was a little confused that they didn’t stop walking when they were in that room. Instead, Cricket led the way deeper into the back of the ancient text display room, toward another stone doorway and set of stairs. “I noticed that you two were wearing crystal necklaces from the shop next door. Did you know that the crystals of the lake were discovered by our town’s great founder?”

She began to recount the history of Lake Constant as they continued on, telling the two travelers that the town and the lake itself was discovered and established by the town’s founder, named Lovely Constant. Cricket seemed to revere the town founder, and spoke of her like she was a queen. 

“Lovely Constant was a proud protector of our beautiful town!” Cricket was almost exclaiming with prideful emotion. Alaria and Dany both began to feel very uneasy as they continued down the second flight of steps. Their crystal necklaces began to glow faintly when they reached the bottom of the stairs. 

The second lower level was a huge space with stone walls separating out small chambers in the center. The lighting was considerably dimmer compared to the higher levels of the Library, but they could still see enough thanks to the torch and some other candle-lit fixtures around the perimeter walls. 

“This is the Restoration Center,” said Cricket, turning to face them. Her face looked zany and gleeful in a disturbing way. “We keep it darker here… it’s better for the ancient… texts. There are lots of ancient things down here. Many artifacts from the time of Lovely Constant, the fierce defender of this town! Lovely Constant would have been very DEFENSIVE ABOUT STRANGERS SHOWING UP AND GETTING PEOPLE KILLED!!” Crickets eyes suddenly widened maniacally and her mouth began to open and twist in such an unnatural way that Dany and Alaria felt it was somewhat disturbing. They didn’t have long to feel horrified about it, because in a flash Cricket dropped the torch and ran off in a great speed towards one of the stone chambers in the center of this basement level. 

The Hag

They could hear her scream from within the chamber. It started as a young woman’s scream, as the voice of Cricket, but the tones began to change into a more evil, deeper, older screaming voice that echoed through the room with a howl. 

Before Dany and Alaria had a moment to think about what was going on, they were ambushed by a grotesque figure. She was not really a young woman at all, Cricket had transformed into an evil old Hag! Her hunched figure, wiry hair and pointy fingernails indicated she was as ancient as the old scrolls they had just seen – but she was clearly full of magic and speed.

Her gaping mouth was open and she screamed out at them.

“This is my town! YOU HAVE HURT IT!”

…………………..

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! 🙂

Danaeryzard & Alaria: Final Battle at the Crystal Cave

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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, you can read the earlier chapters of the saga using this tag search. Read them in chronological order!)

…………..

What scared them the most was that they were NOT ready to battle.

Sullin the Dragonborn

Meanwhile, Sullin the Dragonborn Wizard stood ready for battle with his tall staff pointed directly at Danaeryzard and Alaria. The duo were frozen in a moment of panic. Only moments before, they had stumbled upon the dead body of Cledus, who they thought to be living and had spoken to them only a day before. Now it was obvious that this body had been dead for days and Sullin had used his magic to change into Cledus’ form… and had set them up for this trap!

Before entering this chamber, Dany and Alaria had taken a few moments to heal up, but not fully. They had not taken a short rest, so Dany had no fiery breath weapon power left within her to use against Sullin. Alaria was not at full HP, and Dany had only used False Life necromancy to gain some extra HP; this left the duo at a disadvantage against this large and powerful wizard. Dany couldn’t help but feel a shameful intimidation by this strange Dragonborn foe. His confidence and strength reminded her of the red Dragonborn kinsmen bullies back home. But she also couldn’t help but wonder, how many other Dragonborn out there were powered by great magic, like herself and Sullin? How might her life have been different if she had grown up alongside an evil Dragonborn wizard who could train her? And what sort of magic was Sullin’s specialty?

The orb on Sullin’s staff began to glow, and they could see the back of the cave where there were clusters of enormous crystal slabs. Dany and Alaria knew that the crystals could be used against them by this enemy, as they had learned when they first met the Sun Wizard. They had also learned from that street urchin Charlotte that the crystal’s magic could be harnessed after charging it for one turn. Perhaps Dany could use this to her advantage! But she would have to be able to reach one of these crystal slabs first!

Danaeryzard took a few steps toward Sullin and raised her crossbow. She needed to get closer to the crystals, but she didn’t want to get too close to the enemy either. There were crystals set up directly behind Sullin which he was probably going to use for his own attacks, so Dany and Alaria decided to attack the crystals. They knew it would take two hits to destroy each crystal slab, so they would have to be quick. Dany shot at the crystal slab over Sullin’s shoulder, in hopes of intimidating him by shooting the arrow past his face.

It didn’t work. The arrow missed the crystal and the entire action made her look foolish. Sullin began to laugh, despite the fact that Alaria had darted quickly to the side and successfully embedded an arrow into the crystal. 

“I hope that wasn’t your best attack!” Sullin scoffed, raising his arm and putting his talon hand onto another crystal next to him. The duo could see the crystal slab begin to glow faintly, and they worried what would come next!

Dany moved to the left side of the cave and raised her crystal orb. Using her Firebolt cantrip, she sent a plume of fire at the Dragonborn enemy. It did a bit of damage, and Sullin used his other talon to pat down a few flames as Alaria shot another arrow at the crystal she had been aiming at – this second shot caused the crystal slab to shatter and break into several pieces. One crystal down… countless more to go!

Suddenly the crystal that Sullin had been charging up shone in a brilliant white brightness, after which the white glowing power began to be absorbed into Sullin’s talon, arm, and around the rest of his body. 

“You two have no idea what you’re getting into!” he hollered, manifesting his white magic aura into orbs that surrounded Alaria, glowing so brightly that they blinded her! She screamed out and began to stumble, obviously disoriented. The orbs faded, returning the cave to dimness. Dany shot another bolt of her crossbow at Sullin, suddenly realizing that these arrows were merely bouncing off of his strong scaled skin. “He’s resistant to piercing damage!” she cried. Danaeryzard decided there was no point in using her crossbow anymore in this battle, and made her way to a cluster of crystals that she could try to use for herself.

Meanwhile, Alaria was blind and trying not to panic. She switched to her short sword and got into a defensive stance. Sullin began to approach her and tried to strike her with his staff, but the agile Tiefling’s hearing abilities seemed to be heightened during her blindness – she heard the whoosh of the staff coming toward her, and she was able to duck just in time to avoid the hit!

Danaeryzard wanted to help Alaria, but felt the best way to do this was with a good offensive move. Sullin was preoccupied with Alaria, so Dany put her talon on a crystal slab and began to charge it herself. This time the crystal began to faintly glow red, and Dany could feel a fiery warmth charging within. 

Alaria’s vision began to come back. She could see the dark shape of Sullin before her, and she began to swipe wildly in his direction and slashed him lightly many times. He retreated back to a cluster of crystals and raised his staff to shoot a Fireball at Dany. Luckily, her red Dragonborn heritage gave her fire resistance, but the attack greatly reduced the HP she had gained from False Life. She didn’t have a moment to think about this issue, because the fire power within the crystal surged into Danaeryzard with an almost unbearable heat. She raised her orb and shot another Firebolt cantrip at Sullin, hitting him with a great blast of fire.

Alaria was relieved to have her vision restored and nimbly darted to another crystal, hacking away at it with her short sword. Both Sullin and Dany raised their talons and began to charge crystals once again. This was turning into a battle of magic! Was Dany up to the challenge? Trying to distract him, Alaria stabbed at Sullin, but his thick armor was proving to be an issue. He shrugged her off and pointed his staff in Dany’s direction once again. This time, a yellow cloud emanated from Sullin’s staff, moving to the area where Dany and her cluster of magic crystals were stationed. It covered Dany and her immediate area with a thick mustard gas and she buckled down to her knees, struggling to breathe. Her body began to heave and she started to vomit. The charging crystal connection was severed and Dany could not perform any actions as she struggled to get away from the gassy cloud.

Seeing her partner attacked this way put Alaria into a rage! She slashed at Sullin’s arms, but that didn’t stop him from hitting her with another Fireball. While he was distracted by Alaria, Dany managed to crawl out of the gas cloud and she used her final spell slot to cast a Magic Missile attack, destroying another crystal slab and hitting Sullin with a bolt as well. 

At this moment, they all heard echoed voices of men through the cave. All of them froze mid-battle, not knowing who was approaching. With a *poof* Sullin reverted back into Cledus’ form, and Cledus’ real body vanished from the entrance of the chamber. However, even in Cledus’ form, Sullin looked very beat up and was bleeding from the attacks he had already suffered. The three battlers all looked very worse for wear, so when townsmen Crest and Smalls arrived on the scene, they didn’t know what to think of the situation. In their point of view, it looked as though their friend Cledus had been beaten up by two foreigners. 

Smalls

“What is the meaning of this? Are you all right, Cledus?” asked the portly Smalls, who cautiously walked towards the three fighters. 

Sullin (as Cledus) staggered to his feet. “They – they attacked me!” he cried.

“He’s lying!” Dany implored at the two newcomers. “He’s not really Cledus! He’s a wizard!” cried Alaria at the same time. Crest and Smalls looked at each other, at Cledus, and at Dany and Alaria… not sure what was going on. Crest asked Smalls, “Why should we believe these strangers?” 

“We are official members of the Expeditionary Guard. We were sent here directly from Castle Drachen!” Alaria said, trying to sound as big and official as she could. At this, the two men raised their eyebrows.

Crest

Crest wasn’t very convinced. He scratched at his beard and said, “The Expeditionary Guard?! Prove it!”

“Everyone has been saying that Cledus has been acting strangely this past week. Even you could probably agree with that! That’s because he’s not really Cledus!” Alaria tried to explain. Just then, another human appeared in this chamber of the cave. It was Bengie! He looked shocked at what he saw. “What happened here?”

“Bengie! You must remember us!” Dany and Alaria exclaimed. “Remember, we were looking to find Cledus, and you said that he wasn’t acting himself lately? You begged us to help him? He was killed by a wizard, and that wizard is using his form! This wizard is evil, he’s a follower of the Sun Wizard and we have to stop him! Please help us!”

Bengie

Bengie looked at Crest and Smalls and said, “Would you not agree that Cledus has been acting very strangely lately? He never used to drink. And he always said he hated going in these caves.” The men seemed to nod in agreement, as though more incidents had been happening throughout the town. “These two foreigners told me they were sent from the castle a few days ago on official business. Maybe we should question -“

Bengie didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence, because as he was speaking, Sullin reverted back into his true form. At that moment, Cledus’ real body reappeared at the entrance of the chamber. And at that moment… Sullin flung a fireball at young Bengie, killing him instantly. 

Crest’s eyes filled with horror and rage at the scene unfolding before his eyes. He unsheathed a large sword from under his cloak. Smalls followed suit; he pulled out a sword and they moved in on Sullin. The fight was back on!

Alaria tried to dart to the side but her crossbow attack missed. Dany readied herself by a crystal slab and began to charge up magic power once again. Crest and Smalls attacked Sullin with strong slashes and the battle was finally starting to turn in their favor. Sullin began to retreat and cast a False Life spell on himself, giving him extra HP. 

“You will never defeat the Sun Wizard!” Sullin cried out as Smalls tried to use a sword attack but missed. Danaeryzard shot another powered up Firebolt cantrip at Sullin, and Alaria slashed him with her short sword. In a final blow, Crest fiercely skewered Sullin through the chest. “Long live the Sunnn—” Sullin managed to say weakly as he began to gurgle out blood from his mouth. Crest pulled his sword back out of Sullin’s body and the wizard fell in a crumpled heap.

They all stood silently for a moment. The two men, Crest and Smalls, looked in dismay at the bodies of Cledus and Bengie in the cave. Dany and Alaria had no idea what to say, aside from offering condolences for the deaths of their friends and thanking them for coming to their aid in the battle.

“I guess this puts me in charge now…” Crest said, in a bewildered and almost fearful tone. “I have to tell Bengie’s mother what happened. I have to… I have to take care of so many things…” His mind trailed off and he didn’t finish his sentence. He turned abruptly and exited the chamber. Smalls stood in somber silence for a few moments, then sighed deeply and walked out as well. 

Dany and Alaria stayed behind for a bit longer. Alaria checked Sullin’s dead body and found hand-drawn building plans with notes written in a language she couldn’t identify. She put it in her bag and then the duo stood together in the cave quietly. 

“We never actually met Cledus. I wonder what he was like,” Dany whispered.

“Bengie was a good kid. He didn’t deserve this,” Alaria said disjointedly in response, lost in her own thoughts.

The partners looked at each other, finally realizing how tired and beaten they felt. They needed to rest and regroup. They needed to get back to the Inn. From there they would figure out their next move. From now on, they would not only be working to help the castle… they would be would be avenging the life of Bengie, and who knows how many other innocent lives that have been spent by the Sun Wizard and his minions. Now, this was personal.

……………………

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! 🙂

Danaeryzard & Alaria: Mushroom Cup Cave

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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, you can read the earlier chapters of the saga using this tag search.)

…………..

Sunset at Water’s Edge was truly a sight to behold. The vast width of Lake Constant gave an impression of looking out at an endless sea, with the sun slowly making it’s way toward the horizon and casting succulent shades of peach and orange across the sky. However, Danaeryzard and Alaria didn’t have much time to appreciate the natural beauty – they were looking for the cave where Cledus would be selling his crystals. They walked along the rocky perimeter of town, where they came upon a large, carefully carved opening to a dark cave. 

“Hey – wait a sec!” a young voice called after the duo.

Dany and Alaria wheeled around, surprised. Behind them was a young, scraggly looking girl with shaggy hair and dirt on her face. “Who are you?” asked Alaria.

Charlotte

“Oh uhh I’m Charlotte. Are you going in the cave?” asked the girl. Without receiving an answer, Charlotte rambled on. “Lots of people check out the caves, especially foreigners. Like those crazy religious folk. They’re always looking for the big crystals. Are you looking for the big crystals too? Did you know they can amplify magic? But it takes a turn to charge ’em, so you have to plan ahead! My mom always tells me to plan ahead, but it’s so hard to remember… Oh hey can I ask a favor?”

Alaria looked at Dany quizzically. Who was this scruffy girl with all this information? Why was she talking so fast? What could she possibly ask them to do? 

“You are quite bold to come up to foreigners all alone like this,” Dany said to the child, trying to sound wise and give warning of their potential danger. “What could we do for you?”

“Well… I’m not supposed to go in the caves. But sometimes I sneak in. I never go too far, because it gets dark and I don’t want to get lost. But uhh… well, I left something in there last time. It was my Grandpa’s Stein. It’s an old brass mug with a crystal fish on the side. If ya see it, can ya bring it back to me? Or give it to my mom – she works at the Inn. Please? Could ya?”

A stein? Why would a child be carrying a stein into a cave at all? It was a strange request, but Dany and Alaria said they would keep an eye out for it. Charlotte thanked them and ran off towards the main road. The partners shrugged at each other and proceeded cautiously inside the cave.

It was a well made cave, carefully crafted with support beams and a sunlight shaft, allowing what was left of the daylight to illuminate the interior. The cave was damp, sandy and musty, and looked as thought it was not being used regularly. On the right side was a darker opening that led deeper into the cave, and on the left was a large door with a giant bolt lock going through the middle. Alaria inspected the lock, hoping to use her lock-picking skills to open the door, but was confounded by the complexity of the ancient lock. They decided to proceed into the darker passage, which led to a much larger open chamber.

The main cave chamber felt even mustier than the entrance. There was moss growing all over the walls, and appeared to have accumulated in mounds in the far corners of the chamber. Little white mushrooms were clumped together and tiny white spores floated lazily in the air. A soft clicking sound echoed throughout the chamber, but Dany and Alaria could not see the source of the sound. They continued to carefully walk through the chamber, in search of any sign of Cledus or maybe a good hiding spot. 

Suddenly in the corner of her eye, Dany spotted something shiny among a pile of rocks. She always loved shiny things, ever since she was a hatchling, and could easily spot something shiny even in dark places. The shiny thing was indeed the missing stein, but when Dany picked it up she accidentally disturbed the rocks and they spilled across the ground, rolling over a white mushroom. It popped and hundreds of little spores poofed up in a small cloud. The clicking sound quickly intensified in volume. Alaria looked toward the back of the cave and saw that the mounds of moss in the back of the cave were stirring and moving on their own. 

“I think you should get over there Dany. Try some of that fiery breath of yours on those mossy mounds.”

She tried to walk over as carefully as she could, but Dragonborn were never known to be very graceful or light-footed. Danaeryzard’s large talon feet managed to smush a cluster of white mushrooms as she walked deeper into the cave. Another poof of spores rose up and the mysterious clicking almost sounded like angry yells that were echoing through the chamber. 

Vegepygmy

Without warning, the moving mounds of moss popped upwards and sprang into the form of Vegepygmy warriors! These leafy, spear wielding soldiers were short but quite full of rage. Apparently Dany and Alaria were not expected or welcomed in this cave after all! Was the ‘missing stein’ a trap to awaken these monsters? Quickly they moved into defensive poses as the Vegepygmy lept toward them. Dany took on two at once, and a third ran towards Alaria, clicking angrily. One attack from the Vegepygmy on Danaeryzard showed that their leafy spears were no match for Dany’s red-gilded scale armor skin. The spearhead seemed to bounce off of her, leaving the Vegepygmy looking confused and angry. 

Alaria shoved her short sword into the chest of the Vegepygmy that was charging toward her. It cried out in pain, but when it stepped back, Alaria watched in horror as the wound she had just doled into him was glowing green and regenerating. The stab wound was practically healed as the Veggie heaved it’s spear into Alaria’s arm.

On the other side of the cave, Danaeryzard used her Fire Bolt cantrip to attack one of the Veggies that were flanking each side of her. The flames hit the Vegepygmy directly in the face and it cried out in pain. The smell of singed leaves began to fill the cave. Again the Veggies tried to attack Dany but her thick scaled skin was too powerful. Feeling boisterous, Dany tried to do a slick move with her crystal orb and hit the Vegepygmy on the other side with another fire bolt, but her fingers slipped and she almost dropped the orb. 

Alaria was in pain and in her desperation she had a moment of clarity – as a Rogue, she had the ability to dash, disengage, and sneak her way through battles! If her attacks were simply being healed by this Vegepygmy, then she was not going to be able to beat it on her own. She quickly dashed away from the little green monster attacking her, and charged at the Veggie that Dany had burnt in the face. This time the Vegepygmy did not heal up after Alaria’s short sword hit. This was when Alaria realized that once you attack a Vegepygmy with fire, their magical healing ability was disabled. 

“Dany – you have to hit them all with your fire attacks! Roast these brussel sprouts!!”

After shrugging off another attack, Dany heaved her firey breath weapon towards the Vegepygmy that she had missed last time. While it wasn’t a huge hit (she was still struggling to fully control the power of her breath weapon, and she was pretty sure the dampness of the cave only made things worse), she knew it would be enough to do some damage and negate the magic power.

With her next move, Alaria chopped the first Vegepygmy directly in half. She had a victorious gleam in her eye and set her sights on the other newly singed Veggie. As she kept that warrior busy, Dany turned around and sent a Fire Bolt towards the last Vegepygmy, and it’s healing magic finally stopped. The two remaining Veggies were getting desperate and livid. In a rage and attacking from behind, one of the Vegepygmy found the sweet spot under her arm and stabbed Dany deep under her scaled skin before she could turn and defend herself.

But Dany wasn’t too injured to retaliate. With her crystal orb in hand she conjured a Magic Missile spell, creating three thunderous bolts of energy that pulverized what was left of the Vegepygmy attackers. Their lifeless bodies collapsed in leafy heaps, and Dany spotted an old key in the enemy that Alaria had recently chopped in half. The key was surely intended to be used on the locked door from the cave entrance! They made their way back to the old locked door.

Before proceeding, they needed to heal. Alaria used a potion, and Dany decided to try out her False Life spell to regain some additional HP. She’d never practiced necromancy in her past Sorcerer practice, and felt the strange surge of dead spirits creating an invisible defensive shield around her. 

After they unlocked the door the two partners continued into the deep chamber, which looked like it had been used much more frequently and recently than the rest of the cave. As they walked deeper in, they saw a body laying on the ground. Cautiously they looked closer and saw that it was the body of Cledus. His skin was white and his throat had been slit. He looked like he had been killed several days ago. 

If that was Cledus, then who were they playing Roll It with at the bar the day before??

“HAAA-ARUK-UK-UK-HAAA!!”

Golden Dragonborn

A deep laughing voice that made Danaeryzard’s heart sink with despair echoed through the chamber. The ominous laugh had a distinctly Dragonborn accent and was the all-too-familiar sound that Dany heard when her clansmen would laugh at her and call her names when she was younger. In the back of the chamber, huge crystals began to glow in the darkness. From the shadows walked out a tall golden Dragonborn, holding a staff.

The Dragonborn continued to scoff at Dany and Alaria as he began to approach. 

“Looking to buy some crystals, are we?? HAAA-ARUK-UK-UK!! Ahh, and I see that you’ve found Cledus!”

Alaria and Dany exchanged horrified glances as they realized that this entire scenario was a setup. This golden Dragonborn had somehow used magic to impersonate Cledus and lead them into this trap. How did they not see this coming?

“Do you two really think you can interfere with us? The Sun Wizard is always going to be one step ahead of you! These crystals don’t matter to us anymore!”

The golden Dragonborn held his staff out in front of him, towards Dany and Alaria. The crystal orb installed at the top of the staff began to glow with a red light.

“SOON YOU’LL BE JOINING YOUR FRIEND CLEDUS!!”

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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! 🙂

Danaeryzard & Alaria: A Gambling Interrogation

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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, you can read the earlier chapters of the saga using this tag search.)

…………..

The midday sun beat down on them as Danaeryzard and Alaria walked south on the beach towards the Fisherman’s Guild at Water’s Edge. The hot windy air stirred up scents of salt and old fish. They passed a few unused boats that remained on the shore; the fisherman had taken the better ones out to sea earlier in the day. As they walked around the perimeter of the massive Fisherman’s Guild building, they noticed that the entrance was a huge stable door, with the top half open to allow for some ocean breeze. Alaria motioned to Dany to be quiet and stay hidden for the moment – she was going to use her Wand of Magic Detection first.

With a flick of her wrist, Alaria cast a wave of magic across the open chamber of the Guild. The two then peeked inside carefully, to determine what the wand might reveal. Inside the Guild was one huge room, filled with fishing supplies of all sorts. Rods, tackles, bait and anything else that a fisherman might dream up. Alaria noticed that the rods and tools were gleaming with traces of enchantments, which meant that the fisherman were certainly maximizing their profits… but there was no sign of the magic crystals that they sought for their mission. 

Bengie

They also saw Bengie. An awkward preteen who was left behind to ‘stand guard’ at the Fisherman’s Guild while all the grown men were working during the day. Dany and Alaria decide to ask him a few questions, starting with the whereabouts of Cledus. 

“Cledus? Oh, he’s at the Constant’s Heart. He’s always there, these days. Always drunk too.” Bengie seemed pretty talkative, even though he was nervous talking to a Dragonborn and a Tiefling who seemed to have appeared out of the blue. Alaria boldly asked if Bengie had seen any crystals around, and he replied that the crystals were quite common in Water’s Edge. One could find crystals of all sizes in these waters, from small little crystals sold as trinket souvenirs, to large crystals spanning several feet.

Dany and Alaria immediately thought of the large crystals that were used during the battle against the Sun Wizard a few weeks ago. He, or one of his minions, must have procured the large crystals here. They needed more information! They thanked Bengie for his help and made their way back through town to the Constant’s Heart bar. 

The bar wasn’t very big, but large enough for a few tables in a back area, where a man and a woman were laughing very loudly. The rest of the bar patrons were sitting quietly and keeping to themselves… it was still the middle of the day, after all. Not the usual time to be rowdy and drunk. Alaria lead the way to the bar and they asked the bartender if he knew which one of these men was Cledus. The bartender seemed a little surprised that they were asking, because everyone in this town knows Cledus. He was the one playing Roll It over at the back table with Miss Sinder.

The bartender seemed to sigh when he mentioned Miss Sinder, but Dany didn’t really see what the big deal was with this woman. She looked in her direction and saw a woman who seemed normal enough, but she was very drunk. She seemed quite smitten with the man they knew now must be Cledus. She also seemed like she was somewhat of a rich woman, based on the fancy corseted dress she was wearing.

Cledus

Cledus however did not look rich. He looked like a fisherman and he looked very drunk. His arms flopped around as he spoke. The bartender told Dany and Alaria to go join them for a game! They awkwardly approached the table, sat down and Alaria plunked her huge coin purse down for all to see. 

“Can we join your game? We’ve got money.”

Sinder made a pout as Cledus said, “Sure, the more the merrier. Do you know how to play?”

They admitted that they did not, so Cledus said they could do a practice round first, to show them the ropes. He anted up one gold piece, and indicated that everyone should do the same. Sinder rolled her eyes and joined in too. Dany suddenly notices that Cledus seems to be staring at her.

The game is played simply, in two parts. First is a dice game, roll to see who gets the highest number. The two highest numbers then compete in an arm wrestle to determine the winner. The practice dice round ends up with Dany and Alaria as the finalists, and Dany’s large lizard arms beat Alaria’s small Tiefling frame without much effort. Everyone laughed and Cledus claimed it was all beginner’s luck. They formally introduce themselves by name and they get ready to ante up. This time, Cledus antes up 15G. Higher stakes.

This time, Alaria thought she’d try to use her skills and do a sleight of hand to win the dice game. She and Cledus both rolled a 6. Sinder decided to get up and get another drink, and this was when both Dany and Alaria noticed that Cledus hadn’t actually been drinking at all. He was PRETENDING to be drunk. Alaria gave Dany a look and then asks Cledus if he knows about the crystals in the lake. He winked at her and said, “Let’s finish the game, first. Time to arm wrestle!”

What they didn’t realize was that losing the arm wrestling round of Roll It means that you’re eliminated from the game. Unfortunately for Alaria, she was no match for Cledus’ arm wrestling abilities and had to sit out the rest of the game. The two travelers looked nervously at each other – they were pretty sure that they had to WIN in order to get any useful information out of Cledus. It was all up to Dany now.

In the second round, it came down to Dany and Sinder, and it was no surprise that Dany won the arm wrestling match once again. Finally her large lizard body was proving to be useful! She also couldn’t ignore the fact that Cledus was still staring her down. At the end of the second round, Dany again asked Cledus for information about the crystals. He sighed at their persistence, but didn’t seem to think the inquiry too suspicious. He told them that he actually had a delivery scheduled for the following evening, and maybe he could sell a few to them as well. But he doesn’t want to talk business! It was time for the final round.

Cledus tossed 35G on the table. “What do you say? Want to skip straight to the arm wrestle?” His manhood was now at stake too, no time to waste!

Dany almost felt bad for him as he tried to get a handle on her large three fingered claw hand. He was fumbling and had a terrible grip, she could tell his hand was sweating as well. She was grinning as she easily pushed his muscular arm into submission. Cledus was visibly annoyed but laughed and congratulated Danaeryzard anyway. 

She was getting a bit boisterous, and asked, “Don’t you know that Dragonborn are strong? Haven’t you seen any of my kin before?” He looked at her with a deep, thoughtful stare, and said, “Not for a long time.” Dany was unsure what to think of that, but didn’t want to push the subject further. She knew the history of her race. There were plenty of violent stories that maybe didn’t need to be mentioned.

Alaria pulled out her map and asked where Cledus would be meeting the other crystal buyer. He pointed out a specific cave on the map, by the outskirts of town. He also showed them where the inn was, and encouraged them to stay the night there. He would meet up with them at the cave tomorrow, at sunset.

However, Alaria had other plans. After Cledus took his leave, searching for wherever Sinder had gone, Alaria went back to the bar and picked up a small keg of beer to go. Since she had some liquid courage, she was going to try her luck again with She’i. Not knowing what else to do, Dany rolled her eyes and trotted along behind her as Alaria rushed back to the carpenter’s shack by the beach.

When they arrived, She’i was surprisingly receptive. She put down her tools and decided it was a good time to take a break! Alaria and She’i began to drink and flirt more, as Dany kept to herself in the corner. Dany was more worried about burping and subsequently burning down all of the wooden creations in the carpenter’s house, so when Alaria suddenly decided they should all go out to the water, Dany followed the two little drunk ladies outside. What Dany did not follow was the other two dropping their clothes! Dany decided to pass on the drunken ocean skinny-dipping, and spent the rest of the night at the inn.

The next morning, Alaria found her way back to Dany at the inn and since they had plenty of time to kill, they decided to go to the General Store across the road. Alaria had her stockpile of gold, much of it stolen from her victims in previous battles, and Dany had her winnings from Roll It the day before. They decided to pick up some needed supplies like food rations and crossbow bolts. The shopkeeper mentioned rumors about religious zealots sighted in the area and how they claimed they could use magic on the crystal trinkets he sold at the counter. Again, the partners exchanged glances. Zealots? These might be the Sun Wizard minions that are meeting up with Cledus this very evening!

It was time to hatch a plan. Dany and Alaria would continue to pose as crystal buyers. They planned to hide discreetly in the cave to scope out who the other buyers were, and if they happened to be religious zealots, or even the Sun Wizard himself, they would be ready. This evening they needed to get information, or even follow the other buyers back to where they came from – this was the best way to find the Sun Wizard and end his reign of terror once and for all!

The only thing left to do now was wait for the sun to set…

……………………

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! 🙂

Danaeryzard & Alaria: The Journey to Water’s Edge

/ gluxbox / 2 Comments

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, you can read the earlier chapters of the saga using this tag search.)

…………..

The moon was high in the sky – not that they could see it. Danaeryzard and Alaria, now Level 2 and official members of the Expeditionary Guard, were on overnight security detail at the Castle Drachen stables… in the pouring rain. Their charge seemed pointless and boring, so they played dice games to pass the time. 

“I heard something,” Alaria suddenly whispered.

Dany only heard the rain falling, but trusted Alaria’s instincts when it came to these things. They ventured outside towards the back of the stable, with Alaria creeping ahead to investigate. She stopped short and was surprised to be face to face with two cloaked spies. Through the rain she could see their drawn swords glimmering in the passing moonlight.

A spy

In her recent battle experience, Danaeryzard had learned that staying further away from the enemy was safer when it came to performing her magic. But these spies were unfamiliar to her. Who were they, and why were they on the offensive? Dany cast a True Strike cantrip to see if she could learn anything about these foes, but all she was able to determine was that they were not protected by any magic. 

Before they could set themselves up for an attack, one of the spies charged at Alaria. She was slashed on the arm! This didn’t stop her from jabbing at the second spy as he attempted to slip past and gain a better vantage point, taking out his crossbow and aiming directly at Dany. Feeling confident, Danaeryzard lifted her crystal orb and channeled her Fire Bolt cantrip through it to send a mote of flames at the second spy. However, the damage was minimal – she has yet to manifest a truly powerful flame with her sorcerer abilities. Or was the rain weakening her power? The second spy smirked at Dany, patting down the remaining flames on his cloak. She noticed him looking over her shoulder, past her, at something behind her. Whirling around, Dany saw two more spies silently approaching from the south and west! They were now surrounded by four spies. Who were they? Why were they attacking? 

One by one, the third and fourth spies shot their crossbow at Dany. She was in the middle of the road, a sitting duck… there was no chance to escape. The arrows pierced through her and she fell to the ground, blacking out once again.

Alaria, now in a bit of a panic after seeing her partner get skewered, darted away from the oncoming attackers. The rain was falling heavier now. From the east, the third spy was moving toward her… but then something happens. He comically stepped on a rake and it hit him directly in the face. The spy fell down instantly, howling in pain. The other three spies began to laugh at their comrade. A hood falls back from one of the spy’s cloaks and an Expeditionary Guard uniform could be seen, although obscured, underneath. 

“Can’t take a joke??” one of the spies asked Alaria, laughing.

“You’ve practically killed my partner! Who are you anyway?” She spat back at them.

The remaining spies pull back their hoods and reveal that they all are part of the Expeditionary Guard. This was apparently their idea of a practical joke, some ‘friendly’ hazing. Alaria was furious and insisted that they revive Dany at once. The veteran guards obliged and apologized; perhaps they went a little too far with their antics. Alaria and Danaeryzard tried to laugh it off, but Dany did notice Alaria stealing a pocket watch out of one of the veteran’s cloaks as they were leaving. Apparently hazing was a normal thing in the Expeditionary Guard. All they could do was hope that this was the only time they would be antagonized by their fellow guards. Alaria began to wonder if they should defect and find Ezra, maybe join up with the Midnight Ring instead…

Esmeralda

Back in the barracks not long after, the duo is visited by the beautiful yet strangely intimidating Esmeralda, a high ranking officer in the EG. She invites them to come and speak with her about something important. They followed her to the mess hall of the barracks, and Kolari was there waiting for them. A new mission was at hand!

Intel had reached the castle regarding the Sun Wizard. The Castle Drachen spies had learned that the protective crystals that the Sun Wizard had used in the Desert Cave battle came from Lake Constant, located at Water’s Edge. They were tasked with journeying to Water’s Edge and speaking to an informant named She’i. Kolari explained that She’i is a very protective and secretive type, and they would need to use a particular passphrase to get any information. When She’i asks, “What was the weather like yesterday?” they were to respond, “It was cloudy, until it wasn’t.”

The mission: Learn about the crystals. Find the Sun Wizard and defeat him. Simple right?

Luckily, Quartermaster Thamdid showed up just then, offering special new items for Dany and Alaria: a Circlet of Blasting and a Wind Fan, respectively. But he warns them that these magical items have a traceable aura. Powerful enemies such as the Sun Wizard will be able to detect such things, and he implored them to use these items with care. The more magical items they gather, the stronger this aura will be, and it could put them in danger. The two nodded and carefully placed their new magical items, along with some more food rations, into their packs and prepared for the three day journey to Water’s Edge. 

Alaria was given the map and proved to not be very good at reading it – the partners lost their way at the start, and had few hours of delay getting started. But the following days were sunny and there was a sense of progress in the air. They breakfasted in the Forest Wilderness under the trees. As they packed up their belongings and prepared to get back on the road, they heard a sniffing sound. Dany and Alaria exchanged confused glances, and silently readied themselves to investigate.

Blink Dog

Before they even took a step, a strange canine appeared out of nowhere a few yards directly in front of them! It took a step, sniffed a bush, and disappeared. Danaeryzard opened her mouth, about to ask what was that – when it appeared again, in a different location, a few yards further away. Alaria could sense that this animal did not pose a direct threat, and they decided to follow it. They approached it quietly, and as they got closer Dany could clearly see this canine, which had a sloping, pointed head and mean eyes. She instantly remembered that she had seen this species before, back in the markets of her Draconian village. It was a Blink Dog. But was it alone?

Gnoll

Alaria and Dany quietly pursued the Blink Dog deeper into the Forest Wilderness. That was when they saw who was luring them in. Two hairy, doglike Gnolls were snarling and hoisting up crossbows in the duo’s direction. 

Danaeryzard felt a burning anger rise within her. She should have said something when she remembered about the Blink Dog. While not violent, those were mean dogs and usually had evil masters. If Dany had mentioned this, maybe they wouldn’t have walked right into this trap… she felt angry and stepped forward, breathing in and feeling the air heat and steam within her body. Danaeryzard leaned back and harshly exhaled a fiery blast of Dragon Breath at the Gnolls. They screamed in pain and surprise. One of them was badly burnt.

Alaria expertly shot a bolt at the burned Gnoll with her crossbow, and he began to stagger. The other Gnoll was stunned by this onslaught and missed his attack. The Gnolls realized that their little plan had backfired – they were clearly overpowered by Danaeryzard and Alaria!

Seeing an opening, Danaeryzard conjured up a Magic Missile spell. Three bolts of magical energy burst from her crystal orb and hit the gnarly Gnolls. The burned Gnoll dropped to the ground and Alaria finished him off with an arrow. In final pursuit, Dany used what was starting to become her favorite cantrip – Fire Bolt – and hurled flames at the remaining Gnoll. After another pro crossbow shot from Alaria, the fleeing Gnoll fell face down and did not rise again.

The duo proceeded on, though not before Alaria did her signature move – steal anything of worth that the corpses were carrying. Danaeryzard simply laughed. The little Tiefling thief was consistent, that was certain!

The next day, Dany and Alaria finally stepped out from the woods and into a rocky clearing. Up ahead they could see a coastal fishing village. They climbed over the rocks, towards the huts and beach houses. It was time to get some information! They needed to find She’i. Alaria checked her map and saw that Kolari had marked She’i’s location. It was right on the coast, just north of a huge structure that looked important. Boats were docked up along side this large building on the coast, and fishing rods leaned along the exterior walls. 

However, She’i had a much more humble home. It looked more like a workshop than a residence. Partially built boats lay on the sand outside. They saw fire coming from the chimney and exchanged nods. She’i must be home. Alaria and Dany cautiously approached the house and knocked on the door. A voice from inside called out and asked who was there.

“Expeditionary Guard. We were sent here on official castle business,” Alaria replied, sounding official. There was a sound of shuffling inside, and the voice moved audibly closer to the door.

She’i

“Keep your voice down! ……What was the the weather like yesterday?”

Danaeryzard replied instantly, “It was cloudy, until it wasn’t.”

There was a pause. Dany looked nervously at Alaria. Maybe she said it wrong? A moment later, the door swung open and She’i stood before them, ushering them inside. The house is filled with dusty tools and half finished projects. In the dim light from the hearth they can see that She’i is very beautiful, and seemed to be staring at Alaria with interest. She’i apologized for the secrecy; she does not want to be known in the village as an informant. Looking thoughtfully at Dany and Alaria, she admitted that she was expecting the castle to send human guards. Dany felt a twinge of hurt and thought, Why did people have to be so abrasive towards Dragonborn and Tiefling races? They bleed and feel pain just like everyone else. What did it matter if they were human or not? 

She’i began to explain what she knew: that the crystals that had been used by the Sun Wizard were harvested locally from Lake Constant. She’i knew of some fishermen who would meet with outsiders late at night; she had seen them on the beach. These crystals were extremely valuable because they could harness magical energy. 

Dany and Alaria pressed She’i for more information. She revealed that the head of the Fishing Guild was the one who was selling the crystals to the outsiders. Presumably one of them was the Sun Wizard, or one of his minions. The head of the guild was named Cletus, and he was usually found at the guild during the day. She’i pointed out the window to the large building that the duo had passed on their way to her home. Of course! The large building was the Fishing Guild. 

They thanked She’i for the information and Alaria did some awkward flirting as they left. Dany rolled her eyes but secretly she was jealous. Nobody ever flirted with her… was it the scales, or the smoky breath? She could only wonder.

Alaria and Dany walked together towards the Fishing Guild, ready to confront Cletus.

………………….

Thanks for reading the latest chapter of the Danaeryzard and Alaria saga! I hope you enjoy these these blog entries, because DnD is super fun to play and super fun to recap and share with all of you! I’ve been trying to record a screen capture of our sessions (we play on Google Hangouts and Roll20) but I keep having technical issues. But if I can get it to work some day, is that something that you guys would want to watch?? Let me know in the comments! 😛

Danaeryzard & Alaria: The Crystal Cursed Diadem

/ gluxbox / 1 Comment

OK y’all it’s time to get nerdy. After completing my first-ever DnD session with my awesome friend Carney and our always patient DM “Tall Sven”, I realized that I took diligent notes. Naturally, I’m going to keep writing out the adventures of Danaeryzard & Alaria in our DnD game!

…………..

Danaeryzard knew she had done it this time. The black smoke rising from her latest wildfire had attracted… something. Or someone. She could sense the approach – but only barely, as though the footsteps were gliding along the wind itself. There was no sense in trying to hide, her guilt was proven by the steam still pouring from her lizard-like nostrils. Dany shrunk back into the hood of her cloak and hoped the approaching figure would pass her by.

When she saw the horns peeking out from the side of an overgrown bush about a yard away, Dany felt an instant wave of relief. Maybe it was only a goat? 

The Tiefling female seemed so small when she stepped out, but her face was brave and confident, albeit a little lost. Her horns were her most prominent feature, followed by her long flowing hair. She would be beautiful, if only she had dragon scales…

“Was that you, roasting all of these birds?” the Tiefling asked with a wink.

Dany noticed that the Tiefling was carrying a few dead and fire-singed quails. Her intuition told her that this was not a threatening approach. Danaeryzard dared not reply, her mouth still hot with flames.

“My name is Alaria… I’ve been trying to make my way through this forest. Are you alone out here?”

Dany gave a shy nod in response. Alaria motioned to sit nearby, and without speaking Dany indicated consent. Alaria passed one of the smoking birds to Dany and they sat together sharing their small meal in silence. Eventually, after eating and drinking some water, Dany gathered the courage to speak.

“I am called Danaeryzard the Dragonborn. Truth be told, I have been exiled from my home, so yes, I am on my own. I know this forest quite well, maybe I can point you in the right direction.”

The two spoke a bit more about where the Tiefling was from, and Dany learned that Alaria was a Rogue traveling alone and seeking companionship. Dany worried, as she always did, about getting too close to anyone. But accompanying someone towards the edge of the woods, that wasn’t much risk was it? 

They walked no further than 50 feet before they came across the small clearing in the forest. A tiny field, surrounded by large trees, was enclosing a peculiar scene – two large Bullywugs leaning over what appeared to be a recently killed human fighter. They were dressed in typical Bullywug fashion, their humanoid bodies in soldiers uniforms, only with bulging frog heads bursting from their necks. They were croaking out laughter about their latest kill, and didn’t notice the approach of Dany and Alaria. The sight of these Bullywugs repulsed Dany. She had seen these kind many times back in her homeland. Bullwugs often associated with some of the baddest and least savory members of her family’s Dragonborn clan and she had heard tales of some of the nasty business they did. Dany was certain that these Bullwugs in the forest were not any more innocent and would pose an immediate threat.

Without a word, the two silently readied their bows and began the battle. It was terrifying for Dany; she had never seen real battle before, and felt completely unprepared. Her light crossbow shots were missing and the Bullywugs had a nasty bite. She was attacked first, and was brutally bitten by a fast-moving Bullywug. Before long, Dany found herself on the brink of passing out, but saw Alaria handling the fight with great proficiency. As she blinked in and out of consciousness, Dany felt a jolt of pride for her new friend. 

It must have been a few hours later when she finally woke up, but Alaria didn’t seem too worried that Dany had blacked out. Maybe this sort of thing had happened to her new friend before, Dany couldn’t be sure. But she could tell that the battle had been won. Apparently Alaria had also checked the dead human body for anything useful, and this was when Dany realized the benefits of being friends with a professional thief.

After the success of their quick battle, they decided to continue traveling together. Dany lead them through the edge of the woods and they could see the Castle of Drachen from miles away before they got close to the city limits. The white castle shone brightly like a beacon and they reached the castle gates easily. The two were welcomed as friendly travelers, which was a bit of a shock to Dany. She had grown accustomed to strangers being afraid of her due to her lizard-like appearance, but everyone in Drachen seemed to be unaffected by her unique race. They decided to stop at the pub first to rest up and get a drink.

Inside, the pub was bustling with all kinds of people. Dany and Alaria nervously kept to themselves, and chose a table near the door. Within a few moments, an impressively large Magistrate was joining them at the table. He introduced himself as Kolari, an officer of the Royal Expeditionary Guard. They barely finished their polite replies before Kolari began pleading for help.

Kolari explained that Princess Pema, the beautiful royal princess who lived in Castle Drachen, was distressed. One of her favorite Diadems had been stolen by a pack of Jackalwere bandits in the desert between Drachen and Dragonlance! Kolari implored to them to please come to her aid, as they had no  more soliders available in the barracks for this quest. He promised to pay them 100 GP if they could return the Diadem safely to the castle. 

Dany and Alaria weren’t quite sure what to make of this random stranger’s desperate request, and by the looks on their faces it was pretty obvious to Kolari as well. He told them that they could think it over, but if they were interested in joining the Expeditionary Guard, that they should meet him that evening at the castle.

Just as Kolari was finishing his speech, a mysterious looking elf walked by and scoffed at Kolari. “Recruiting again, are we Kolari? Why don’t you leave these people alone for once?” The moment became awkward and Kolari made his leave. The elf lingered a few moments more. She introduced herself as Ezra and said that she too wanted that Diadem – but not to give back to the Princess. Ezra offered that the two join up with her and the Midnight Ring, and they would be paid 200 GP for completing the task. It seemed that Alaria knew more about this Midnight Ring, but Dany was oblivious. Dany thought that Ezra seemed a bit shady, and expressed her preference to help Kolari.

In the end, they decided to go to the castle and see if they could speak to the Princess directly. Inside the glorious Castle Drachen, they were taken directly to the throne room. Princess Pema awaited them and asked again that they help her. Dany and Alaria were outfitted with extra rations, some extra gold, and horses by the Quartermaster Thamdid. Dany was also gifted a Cloak of Protection, which was beautiful and exquisitely crafted. Before they realized what had happened, they were on their way to retrieve the stolen Diadem.

While she wasn’t thrilled to be heading back towards Dragonlance, Dany and Alaria began their journey with full speed. After two days on the road, they came upon a road that lead through an ancient ruins. The crumbled remains of old buildings lined the road, and as they approached they saw a wounded warrior laying by a tree. He was clearly alive and struggling, so they approached him with concern. 

They told the wounded man that they had come from the castle. He immediately asked if they were searching for the Diadem. He began to speak frantically about a curse and how they needed to stop the ritual being planned by the evil Sun Wizard. Dany had no idea what he was talking about, but she wanted to help him. He was very handsome, even with his bleeding wounds. The man says that his name is Hendricks and he thinks the Jackalweres that attacked him must not be far away. Dany and Alaria scouted the area and discovered that there were indeed two Jackalweres hiding out in a nearby ancient building with broken stone walls. 

Dany used her magic orb to create a minor illusion cantrip to draw out the Jackalweres. Again, she learned that her lack of combat skills were going to be a problem if she gets too close to an enemy. Much like in their last battle, Dany found herself as a giant target, fending off foes while Alaria did most of the real attacking. The outcome was another success, and while everyone was a bit worse for wear afterwards, they came out with extra gold and a health potion. Alaria offered the potion to Hendricks, which Dany thought was very generous for a Tiefling. Once they had completed a long rest, the trio continued onward to find the Diadem.

As the dirt ground began to turn into yellow sand, Dany knew that they were getting closer to Dragonlance. When they approached the mouth of a large dark cave, she found her confirmation – the cave door was guarded by a magic stone dragon head. Beneath the head of the dragon was a message scrawled in Draconian: “The password is Gold.”

This clue gave Dany a sinking feeling in her core. Gold Draconians. Would she never escape the demons of her past? Or would they continue to find her and torment her? She whispered the meaning of the message to her travel companions. They deliberated for quite a while, arguing with the magical stone head who responded to their questions as though it thought it was a real dragon. “What are you talking about, ‘password’? I haven’t the slightest idea,” the stone dragon head replied, turning its dragon snout upwards snootily. 

“But it says right beneath you that the password is GOLD!” Dany insisted, feeling very foolish to be having an argument with a dragon-headed gargoyle. 

“What are you talking about? That’s nonsense. ‘The password is gold?'”

As soon as the stone dragon head spoke the word gold from it’s own mouth, the door swung open and the three rushed in. They made their way down a dark, barely lit cave hall, which ultimately led into a torture chamber. It was empty, aside from a dead human body still outstretched in what must have been an extremely painful position. They looked at the body with pity as the door swung behind them and locked them in. 

The resourceful group realized that the only way out now was through a hatch in the ceiling. They stacked up storage boxes littered around the room and climbed their way up, and they barely made it to the second floor of the dark cave. Alaria fell on her way up, knocking boxes and crates over with a loud bang and commotion, but no enemies on the second floor heard it… because they were all distracted by what appeared to be a magical seance.

Three Jackalweres were standing before a masked man floating in a protective, bright yellow magical orb. The Sun Wizard! He was holding the Diadem and appeared to be in deep concentration. His lips were moving, speaking inaudible words with great speed. 

“The ritual! He must be stopped!” cried Hendricks as they closed in on the enemies. But as soon as they made their move, the Jackalweres quickly turned to confront their challengers. Dany and her companions began to fight these strong werewolf-men. Hendricks told Dany and Alaria to proceed and stop the ritual while he distracted the Jackalweres. Dany was more than happy to sneak away from the fight, after how the last two battles had not gone well for her. Alaria and Dany each stepped deeper into the cave towards the Sun Wizard, and they noticed that the impenetrable shimmering orb was actually being held up by 4 crystals located in the corners of the room. Each taking one side, Dany and Alaria began to attack the giant magical crystals that controlled the Sun Wizard’s orb. 

For the first time in her life, Dany’s breath weapon was useful. She was able to aim her firey breath properly and attacked one of the crystals – burning up a slimy Flying Snake in the process. Each crystal only took two hits before they broke down into shards, which ceased the magical spell that created the orb protecting the Sun Wizard. 

Dany saw that Hendricks had handled the Jackalweres decidedly by this point, and all that was left was to attack the Sun Wizard himself and get the Diadem back. But before she could even raise her light crossbow, the Sun Wizard threw the Diadem towards the group and disappeared with a high-pitched screeching laugh that made their skin crawl. 

Hendricks confirmed that the ritual had not been completed and that the Diadem was safe to take back to the castle. They didn’t defeat the Sun Wizard – and that was certainly a problem – but they did achieve their goal! They successfully retrieved the stolen Diadem!

The ride back to the castle seemed to go much faster than the trip out to the desert. Dany was feeling so good about being able to control her breath weapon that she didn’t even mind that Alaria insisted on wearing the Diadem during the entire ride home. She felt that Alaria was a great teammate – the Tiefling was agile and had wonderful aim. With practice, the two of them might be a serious force!!

Back in the throne room, Princess Pema was grateful. On top of their promised reward (which had increased to 120 GP each due to the success), she offered them official positions within the Expeditionary Guard, with a weekly pay! Dany felt so proud. Never before had anyone given her a smile – let alone a reward! Maybe being exiled from her homeland was the best thing that could have happened to her. 

………………….

I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter in the Dany & Alaria DND saga! After our next session, I’ll post another novelesque blog! It might take a few weeks to get to the next chapter but stay tuned.

Danaeryzard the Dragonborn

/ gluxbox / 1 Comment

I’m a gamer but I will be the first to admit that I have very limited ‘tabletop gaming’ experience. If years of playing board games like Monopoly, Life, and Mall Madness counts, then sure. But otherwise, I’m a total noob. Recently a couple of my friends and I have been talking about getting a Dungeons & Dragons group together. It’s my friend’s first foray in being DM (dungeon master, aka the person who ‘runs the game’), so we’re all noobs, which is nice. I’m hoping that my experience playing RPG video games like Pokemon have helped prime me for this new style of battle… but we shall see!

The first thing you have to do before you can play D&D (aside from finding enough people to commit to starting a campaign) is create your character. There are many various races to choose from, and from there you pick a profession or “class” which gives you additional stats, abilities, tools, etc. You must also establish a background and personality traits that will drive your character to act in certain ways, depending on the situation. It can be very overwhelming!

I like to pick the path less traveled, so I decided to choose the Dragonborn race. I always loved dragons because I’m a fantasy nerd. A friend of mine from art school was an amazing dragon illustrator, but he passed away just about a year ago. (His family has kept his web portfolio up in his honor, please check it out if you are interested: www.elasticdragon.com) I’m dedicating my inaugural D&D character to him!

Dragonborn race is cool because you have dragon scales, can unleash a dragon breath, and you can speak the ancient Draconian language. I decided to be cheeky and name my character Danaeryzard Targeleon, which is a combination of Danaerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones and the names of the Pokemon Charizard and Charmeleon. Yes, I’m a dork. That’s why you love me!

As part of the character development, you have to establish a backstory. Here is mine:

Danaeryzard Targeleon is a Dragonborn Sorcerer. She was born into a darkly aligned Gold Dragon Draconian family that prided themselves on their strength and fighting abilities. However, Dany was born smaller than her kin, and with a wildly destructive magical ability that she had no idea how to control. Rather than trying to understand her powers and help her to wield her magic safely, she was ostracized by her family and peers. Throughout her childhood she was bullied and ridiculed by the otherwise proud and loyal Dragonborn village, located in the Plains of Dust in southeast Ansalon of Dragonlance. 

In her early teens, just as she was reaching adulthood, Danaeryzard noticed that her magic was becoming increasingly powerful and she was less able to control it. Her dragon breath fire was far stronger than her peers. She felt the power increase when she was emotional, which was most of the time in her teenage years. One fateful day, Dany was at an outdoor market, searching for shiny jewels (her personal favorite). An exceptionally rude Dragonborn from her clan named Krin Antalach decided to antagonize her and tell her to leave the market. Naturally, she became upset and as she turned to leave, she was pushed from behind by one of Krin’s friends and as she fell, she accidentally let out an enormously dangerous and fiery dragon breath. The market booths, built mostly of wood and canvas, were all up in flames within minutes. 

Danaeryzard was immediately blamed for the incident. She was deemed a threat to their society, because she could not control her magic. She was told to leave town and never return, upon threat of death! Left with only the supplies on her back, she escaped into the woods and has been ‘on the run’ ever since. Despite constantly being hurt by her Dragonborn kin, she was devastated to be thrown out of their society. She knew the only way to have a chance at a family again would be to control her power. But she didn’t know any other Sorcerers or anyone who was skilled in advanced magic. Her hope was that in exile, she would have the time and concentration to learn to control her powers. 

In part she was right, because as she journeyed in the shadows, she came upon a glass orb. It was at the bottom of a stream where she had stopped to fill her water canteen. When she pulled it out of the water, the orb felt hot to the touch and began to glow red. Danaeryzard knew that this was not merely a glass orb, but an arcane focus with which she might better use her powers. 

Practicing is not easy when you don’t know what you’re doing. Dany knew that her power was from her Gold Dragon bloodline, which meant she had the strong power of fire within her. In her attempts to ‘practice’ using her orb, she burned down several acres of forest on multiple occasions. This often attracted unwanted attention to her location, including from a certain Tiefling to whom her destiny would ultimately be tied…!

I’m leaving it somewhat as a cliffhanger here because I’m waiting for Ali to write her Tiefling backstory. We will meet and be outcast buddies together!

Welp, you can see how involved this game is already, and we only played a practice battle so far! We went and got fancy d20 dice sets over the weekend, and hopefully will officially begin our campaign soon. I’ll be sure to post more blogs about our progress… assuming we make any! lol

Do you play D&D too? What’s your character like??