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#tales from the yawning portal

trashcan-teddie · 4 months

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Little miss Calcryx taking a well deserved nap.

I've been trying out new coloring methods, kind of proud of how this turned out. (More fun facts after the break)

✨ Like what you see? Commission Me! ✨

My husband is running The Yawning Portal for a small group of our friends and decided that Calcryx has the same personality as our very sassy bull terrier mix Clover. I had to draw our party dragonling over her inspiration.

#Calcryx #Tales from the yawning portal #yawning portal spoilers?#dnd #dragon #dragon art #dnd 5e art #dragons are dogs #right?#bear draws

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plinchy · 9 months

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My party backdoored a dungeon and proceeded to have the best fight i've ever ran.

The fellow getting coin dropped on him is an npc sidekick from the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild, and the guy that looks like him is our party's TORTLE druid using a hat of disguise. (The barrel was technically left behind, but was drawn to remind everyone he's been traveling with a barrel attacked to his back while disguising himself as the halfling npc sidekick's brother.)

The octopus were part of the druid's Conjure Animals. haha..

read more for Forge of Fury spoilers (from the Tales from the Yawning Portal module)

They swam through a lake and ended up in a young dragon's lair.

I had made modifications to the story and reasonings for the creatures inside Stonetooth to better fit the Eberron world setting, and obviously to my campaign needs.

The black dragon had two health bars using this Angry GM post as a guide. The only difference is that I gave it the two actions after the first health bar was depleted, to show that feeling of desperation and increased difficulty. The satyr bard was like "holy shit this is just like dark souls" and it made my week.

Another thing to note is that my party is level 5, with 5 player characters and 1 DM NPC sidekick. This campaign is usually 3 players, but I brought in 2 'guest' players to play temporarily for this dungeon. We're all still pretty new to DND and this was our first big dungeon crawl module.. and they swam through the lake, so now I need to prep backwards :D :thumbup:

#dnd #draw your squad meme #meme #oc #plinchy #forge of fury #tales from the yawning portal #the immovables #mydnd #plinchy draws #dmplinchy

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ltdbanana · 2 years

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Tiamats roll in tales from the yawning portal d&d

#Tiamats roll in tales from the yawning portal d&d free#

If we can destroy the masks or otherwise get them out of the cult’s possession it could be key to defeating them. In an audacious bid for power, the Cult of the Dragon, along with its dragon allies and the Red Wizards of Thay, seek to bring Tiamat from her prison in the Nine Hells to Faerûn. Note that while some dragons may share some characteristics of … Legendary Resistance (1/Day). Paul Kidd 290(83) D&D3 Beruto of the Carp Dragon "Dweomered Dragon Scales" Christopher Campbell 308(39) D&D3 Betrayer's Shroud "Bazaar of the Bizarre: The Rewards of Villainy" Wolfgang Baur 238(28) D&D2 Bigby's Demanding Ram "Bazaar of the Bizarre" Mark Galeotti 178(17) D&D2 Bimbomushi (gem) "Bazaar of the Bizarre" David Sweet 40(44) D&D1 Bison. They met a bandit called The Black Spider working for the Cult of the Dragon. The In-Fighters provide a certain amount of chaos and I was pleased they didn’t assume every encounter could only be dealt with by combat. Black blue dragon seat covers $35 (sac > Rocklin Ca). The name is taken from Tiamat, a goddess in ancient Mesopotamian mythology. T-shirts, posters, stickers, home decor, and more, designed and sold by independent artists around the world. If she is wearing the Black Dragon Mask, Rezmir can take up to two legendary actions between each of her turns, taking the actions all at once or spreading them over the round. When Tiamat assumes her throne, her draconic children shall serve her as dukes, and her clergy as their mortal vassals. People have already covered at length the problems with Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

#Tiamats roll in tales from the yawning portal d&d free#

So long as you hand over the dragon mask to me, you are free to go. He has turned into a half Warg, half First game will be Saturday, the 28th at 12:00 noon EST Keepers of the Secret Hoard, the Wearers of Purple - not to be confused with the Purple Dragons, the famous and heroic human knights of Cormyr with their purple dragon heraldry - rather, The Cult of the Dragon has been a force of evil in the Sword Coast for centuries. The Black Dragon Mask* was now in the heroes hands, along with a mouthy sword that practically dripped with evil intent. Temple of Tiamat is classified as a trail queue, and a minimum amount of 14K item level is required to enter it. (archive) Hoard of the Dragon Queen Campaign Forum Black Friday 1416864024 Kurt Pro. Black dragon mask hoard of the dragon queen.

#Tiamats roll in tales from the yawning portal d&d

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feyariel · 7 days

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I would be submitting this as an ask to @wearepaladin, but the circumstances are complicated enough that it doesn't fit into one ask and the content is spoilerific as Hell for The Standing Stone, the fourth adventure in the Ashardalon Adventure Path. I thought this wouldn't matter, as it's literally 24 years out of date, but then I found out that the first two parts of that AP, The Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury, got updated in Tales from the Yawning Portal, meaning some players might want to run the whole thing adapted for 5e. Thus, I need a cut. (Apologies if I've asked this before: my memory isn't as good as it once was.)

Okay, so back in 2005 or 2006 (I forget exactly), my old D&D group (sans me, as I was concerned about other issues at the time) was running The Standing Stone. At some point, there had been an attack on the village under scrutiny, leaving the mayor wounded. The party Rogue "Acrobat" (Half-Elf, CN), through a great leap in logic, figured out that the villagers were evil and the mayor was the ringleader (both true), so shot the wounded, bleeding mayor, murdering him. The DM rules this an evil enough act that he shifts the "Acrobat's" alignment to CE.

Not long thereafter, the party reencounters the ghostly paladin, who attacks (as one does). He smites the "Acrobat" (like one does) before leaving.

Hilarity ensues. By which I mean there's a great story about how the party dissolved at that point because of the smite and poor communication (one of the best in my experience with D&D), but it's irrelevant to the question at hand.

The ghostly paladin, despite being a ghost (undead), still has paladin abilities up to this point. He attacks an evil humanoid of a race that isn't in any fashion considered so monstrous that they're "humanoid" for mechanical reasons only -- meaning there is no question, regardless of setting lore, that the person he's attacking is capable of reason, whether or not the character is beyond repentance (he isn't, but the ghostly paladin doesn't stop to ask).

Now, I get that he's a ghost and that kinda skews things, but since this is a very similar situation (I don't recall the "Acrobat" being injured, but it's still an attempted murder of an intelligent being suspected of being evil without attempts at other forms of reconciliation), does this count as a willful act of evil and thus a violation of the paladin's code of conduct (y'know, the hardline 3.5 one)?

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dndhistory · 3 months

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392. Harry Nuckols - B9: Castle Caldwell and Beyond (1985)

Another set for Basic D&D, therefore covering levels 1-3 of the game, this module is slightly different than usual. While we are now, in fifth edition, used to anthology volumes with several unconnected or only lightly connected adventures to be played in short sessions (think Tales from the Yawning Portal or Keys from the Golden Vault), back in the day there were not very common.

Shorter adventures were usually those that you could find in competition modules, designed to be played in one session in a competitive mode in the context of a convention or something similar. Therefore B9: Castle Caldwell and Beyond is a new idea. The module consists of five different adventures with the first two being connected but the other 3 being quite discreet. All of them are also designed to be played in one session.

The adventures themselves are quite simple, as befits the low level they are aimed for, with the first two adventures being simple "clear out the dungeon" missions, but growing in complexity as the module goes on. What we also get here is a pretty nifty Clyde Caldwell cover... which I suppose is a must for a module entitled Castle Caldwell.

#adnd #dnd #ttrpg #ad&d #d&d #dnd art #dungeons and dragons #dungeons & dragons

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chronotsr · 16 days

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No. 3 - G3, Hall of the Fire Giant King (July 1978)

Author(s): Gary Gygax Artist(s): Erol Otus, Dave C. Sutherland III (cover), David A. Trampier Level range: Average of 9, preferably 5+ players Theme: Standard Swords and Sorcery Major re-releases: G1-3 Against the Giants, GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders, Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff, Dungeon #200, Tales from the Yawning Portal

So that was a little disappointing. But maybe it just middles in the middle? C'mon Gary, let's see that special skill I've heard so much about.

G3 begins how G2 ended: teleporting conveniently on the outskirts of the fortress in such a way as to skip a trek without surprising the players. Meh. Our big bad this time is King Snurre -- I haven't mentioned the Chieftains yet because they're all just midbosses compared to the this guy. And, he's kind of famous isn't he?

For a guy who is functionally a one-off NPC that the party presumably kills, he ends up in a lot of paintings. Not that I'm complaining, that 4e art is amazing. In fact, broadly, 4e's art is a little underrated, it benefits from being less restrained than 5e. I don't think that's a knock on 5e's artists, more like…the art direction seems to be intentionally tamer. Anyway, thank you 4e art, I never realized there was a dog in the background of the 5e PHB until now. Neat.

Yada yada yada the setup is exactly the same as before, but now it's got ~mordor vibes~. As far as changes change, these fire giants (even the children) expressly do not do morale checks because apparently Snurre is such a motherfucker. Scary!

Anyway, we're already in the room-by-room, so let's begin the juicy part:

There's a scooby doo trap with a tapestry in the doorway having holes for eyes so a giant guard can alert the entire building if the players don't catch it. That's evil! But not unfair, which is a good balance. Naturally, there is a ballista tripwire on revisit that does some nasty damage, so this hallway is just The Troll Zone

Snurre has two pet hellhounds leashed to his throne, but also he's wearing a white dragonskin as a cloak at all times, which overcomes his natural aversion to cold with MAGIC. What an asshole! Also, as you look at that picture from the 5e cover, there's a bevy of (unimportant) changes from the original, like Snurre is no longer in his signature pitch-black platemail, but I think special mention should go to the fact that in the original he has literally 60k worth of precious stones on his person and scattered throughout the architecture of the throne room. This room should be GLEAMING.

A Gygaxism: Queen Frupy is a 'haradin', which roughly means 'scold', which. Ok. So, so much attention is given to how uggo she is (to Gary). Actually, I think the description of her armor is kinda cool, she wears black dragonskin, studded with iron (so by Runescape logic I guess she's good with a bow?). Reaper Minis did a character that sort-of resembles the description, but their Vanja has a spear where Frupy uses a scepter:

You can actually negotiate with her, the implication of the text is that she's unreasonable but…just ignore that. Lol.

She also has a magic mirror (implied to be a furniture mirror, not a hand mirror) that reveals invisible creatures in the reflection, which is kind of awesome. Good way to catch assassins! Somehow the drow are using a gifted necklace to spy on them, but I feel like the mirror probably should've revealed in some way (maybe the mirror was also a drow gift?) She's more astute than she lets on, because she has a huge stash of mind control crap in her dresser drawers for emergencies.

????????????????????????????

Keeping with the "giant leader's treasure sucks" tradition, Snurre's treasure is genuinely crazy. It occupies a FULL PAGE, and each INDIVIDUAL TRUNK has a listing and an explicit mention of the traps. Traps range from a standard scything trap to secret snakes to the treasure being invisible to contact poison. How the hell does Snurre use this room? You're telling me he never fucked up remembering which of the 13 chests were trapped in which way? Oh, also, they're pick-proof, because fuck you thief. Naturally, the loot itself is also a fucking trap, because while there is some truly amazing stuff in there (20 randomized magic items, a decent amount of valuables, a +3 ring of protection, and a ring of 3 wishes), there is also lots of troll items (statues with a stacking curse of -1 to all tests, ring of contrariness, ring of delusion). On the whole, a big fuck you to the party. Oh, and while the locks are unpickable, you can shoot them off with magic missile, which is…why?

Snurre's dwarf-slave-advisor is bizarrely well equipped and loyal, and given the opportunity to escape he will…backstab the party. As much as people complain about how early DND has too many save or die traps, I genuinely think the regularity with which rescued npcs betray the party is a waaaaaay dumber and more ridiculous trend. I simply cannot fathom why someone as smart as Obmi would choose to keep being a slave to Snurre when adventurers showed up with the ability to free him. Honestly? Take his big lie and make it true. The lie makes sense because it makes more sense than the canon character.

The scroll that finally tips at the motivation of the giants is, no kidding, scroll #68 of almost 450 paper items, none of which are mentioned. The weird need for a number baffles me.

The kitchen is doing some lateral thinking and using one of the gas vents as a gas stove, which is hilarious.

Oh, we're only now to level 2?

All of the former kings are entombed in a Giant Tomb, which, that is entirely too cool of a visual for them to have not included a visual. In a fucking grave mistake, this room is cut from the 4e remake, so there is no incredible art of it. There is no justice.

If you somehow didn't kill the hill giant chieftain AND you didn't get him in G2, he's here in G3. And he brought the pet bears!

Gary, you're such an asshole. No one would ever think to throw their cool mace into the lava pit mid combat. This is just trolling.

🤷 Guess I'll die

"The were-rats, if losing, will turn into rats and flee down the drain" That is, actually an incredible escape plan, except that we have pre-established that this Hall is founded upon LAVA AND COOKING-HOT GAS.

Fuck the party I guess

You often hear people who got into ADND in the late 1e/2e era talk about how people speculated that Hommlet must lead to Temple of Elemental Evil because of hints about the Elemental Eye and, honestly it just kind of feels like Gary defaults to the Eye. It has come up in every scenario he has written so far (which admittedly is 2 so far), but with the power of Knowing What Comes Next I can assure you that this is going to keep happening. Anyway, there is a temple to the Eye here, complete with human sacrifice, and the allusion to tentacles eating people is already starting to signpost what we now know is true: It's Tharizdun. The Eye is Tharizdun. It always comes back to Cthulhus!

A lot of early players clearly enjoyed Poking Random Shit because if you decide to touch the Elemental Eye's altar and also play every musical instrument in the room, you get to make every person in the room roll on this table, AND also execute whichever player is nearest to the altar (no save). But, hey, you will suddenly get whatever you want most on the altar. If you are somehow dumb enough to do it again, there's a 1 in 12 chance you get a +1 in all stats, a 2 in 12 chance of something extremely bad happening, and a 9 in 12 chance nothing happens.

Would genuinely like to know how many GMs bothered following this instruction. It does teleport you towards the final encounter, so that's something.

An entire page is dedicated to disarming the tentacle wall magic trap, which to be honest looks like it'd repel a significant percentage of players because you either need an evil cleric or some good magic to dispel the wall, and the wall punishes the shit out of you for trying to disarm it. To be a mild devil's advocate, the tentacle wall IS super suspiciously placed (the shape of the room implies it's going somewhere), so at least it's not also super esoteric. If you DO bypass it, you are now the proud winner of the "discover the drow" award! Woah, elves but they're ontologically evil??????????????????????????????????? Truly novel! Eclavdra, head of the drow here, hangs out doing nothing in particular, and you may unceremoniously execute her if you want to bring her storyline to an unceremonious end.

The frost giants are here from last module, if they survived. They really want you to kill these kings!

No really why did they used to draw trolls like that

This adventure just won't end. There's a surprising amount to say about this module given that it's only 22 pages of monster murder and motherfucker traps. Anyway, welcome to level 3!

There are fake dragons here to troll you into getting excited for loot

The fire giants also have a panic room? Every giant has a panic room. Why are panic rooms so normal in the G series?

A SECOND fake dragon that is actually a gorgon, which is almost funny

Finally, a REAL red dragon, which is frankly cruelty to fool me three times

After many, many drow are fought, you eventually run into a magic-fighter drow noble who has a wand of "viscid globs", which despite the suggestive name, is actually a superglue gun? You can literally rip yourself apart trying to separate yourself from a glued object. It's a really, really bizarre item. And it has a LOT of charges -- 79.

Mercifully, finally, something that could be potentially interesting: Eclavdra's rival is hanging out in the basement and can be sweetalked into helping the party screw over Eclavdra, which. FINALLY. However, if you displease her, it's demon time.

For reasons I cannot fathom, there are mind flayers here observing the drow, and the drow are not super bothered by that.

And that's basically it! at the very end they find a tube with a map and a wish leading to the D series, and a quick explainer on the then-new Drow. Well, not that quick, it's a page and a half, but the conceptualization of the drow is basically unchanged between then and now. Evil elves, forced underground, adapted to living there, dark skin, magic spidersilk clothes and adamantine weapons, sunlight sensitivity, drow spell list.

On the whole, G3 is, an adventure. While yes the Drow twist is kind of neat (but not special, since Drow are functionally Melniboneans and Elric was already decades old at this point), mostly this module lacks the fun of G1 and substitutes lots of murder traps for any genuine creativity with the scenario. On the whole, I consider it…crowd pleasingly boring? Your treasure goblins will love it for how much nice stuff they can find, if they survive.

We will end today with the back cover, which features some hippogriff mounts. People just don't give parties flying mounts anymore, it's honestly strange the tradition died. See you in the D series later. And if you're waiting for more obscure modules…I can only promise one in 1978.

#1e #chronotsr #dnd #dungeons and dragons #tsr #ttrpg #adnd

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musicalchaos07 · 7 months

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How would you write the Jancy-Coming-Back-From-Murray’s-Car-Ride-True-Feelings-Confession?

Hi Anon,

I accidentally wrote a mini-fic so I hope that's ok.

Jonathan's tapping the steering wheel. He'll nervously get out three taps, realize what he's doing and then rub the leather like that's going to fix the cracking. He insisted that Nancy should try to get some sleep but every time she closes her eyes he's tapping away again like their own spin on The Tell-Tale Heart. She peers one eye open to investigate. Overall, he looks very serious. He's sitting up stiff as a board, eyes straight ahead, hands perfectly at ten and two. But she knows him better, she knows she has to look harder to really get a read on him. His sweater looks rumpled from pulling it in y so quickly, there's fine lines and dark circles under his eyes and he moves his jaw like he's stifling a yawn. She has an overwhelming urge to tell him to pull over so she can kiss him there but shakes her head thinking better of it. She knows he's not going to stop until he's sure whatever is growing under the lab hasn't gotten to his little brother.He's worried but handsome and she gets to think that because he's her… well her something. She feigns a sigh to get his attention. "Oh hey, sorry… I didn't mean to …" he trails off He loosens his right hand from the wheel and she takes it before she can stop herself. Jonathan's watching her from the corner of his eye, not quite sure what she's up to. She doesn't really know herself, but she raises his hand to her mouth and gives it a kiss all the same. She doesn't miss the way pink creeps into his cheeks. "I'm not going anywhere" she confesses just loud enough for him to hear. He doesn't say anything at first and now she's the nervous one. "The world's ending" he argues. "I-" "And there's Steve" "Jonathan" "And you know Will and my mom and look it's fine I get it, just a one time-" "Jonathan I love you and I'm not going anywhere" she cuts him off, she's not going to listen to every reason why they shouldn't be together. Because if the world really is ending she doesn't care anymore. Nancy Wheeler loves Jonathan Byers, Jonathan Byers loves Nancy Wheeler and screw what anyone else has to say about it. "Ok good because it would've been really hard to let you" he confesses. "Let me?" She challenges. "I just, I mean… before you know.. I didn't.. and now I do and-" he rambles. "It's ok I get it I thought the pull out was good too" she teases and noticed the corners of his mouth twitch to form a smile before he thinks better of it. "That's not-" he protests. "Oh so you lied this morning?" She taunts, content to keep up their playful banter. Jonathan grumbles, rolls his eyes and hits the breaks turning on the hazard lights. He quickly turns to face her and he looks at her like he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. It's nerve wracking and exciting all at once. Then he cups her face and kisses her. It's different from last night, less hungry, more reassuring and steady. "I love you" he confesses when he pulls away "And that scares me" "More than the portal to hell?" She questions. "Uh about the same actually" he admits. "I see" she nods. Maybe it's the sleep deprivation or just the absurdity of the last forty eight hours finally hitting her but she suddenly lets out a laugh, surprising Jonathan. "What's so funny?" He asks, eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Who picks the end of the world to finally get together?" She asks through her laughs. Jonathan takes a minute to digest her words before deciding that it is funny. "A couple of weirdos" he jokes. Nancy calms herself down and scoots underneath his right arm and wraps her arms around his waist. "You don't need to worry about me" she promises softly. "Yea ok" he huffs sarcastically. "I mean it, you're stuck with me" she informs him. End of the world be damned, he's hers for however long they have left. "Promise?" Jonathan asks hopefully. "Promise" Nancy confirms.

#ALEXA PLAY WILD HORSES BY THE ROLLING STONES #THEN FOLLOW IT UP WITH THANK YOU BY LED ZEPPLIN #I am NORMAL about them #and about them swearing their “loyalty?” to each other when faced with the apocalypse #so VERY normal #y'all get it right?#anon asks #stranger things #jancy #jonathan byers #nancy wheeler #jancy fic #my fic #jonathan x nancy #nancy x jonathan

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warlordfelwinter · 9 months

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Tales from the Dancing Sea Dragon

Part One: Dragon Heist

Chapter Ten: Patience is a Virtue

i'm sure there's nothing suspicious about this guy

~3.5k

The next morning, Celeste found more mail in his letterbox. He had gotten up earlier than the others, mainly for the intent of having the bathroom to himself so he could take a real bath and luxuriate for a bit in the hot water, easing sore muscles. He had gotten dressed and braided his hair up with flowers in it, putting a little more effort in than he usually did. There was a present thought, in the back of his mind, that if they were going to get a solicitor to look at this property with them today it meant he might get to see Patience properly for the first time in weeks. He wanted to look nice.

By the time he was ready, the other two still weren’t up, so he had a mind to go get them some breakfast, but he’d been distracted by the mail when he’d gone outside. Even more distracted when he found it was addressed to Nyalori.

As he was looking at it, confused as to who knew she was staying with him, he heard noise in the house and went back inside. Nyalori was coming downstairs, followed by Corivier and Zem, all looking as sleepily well-rested as Celeste had felt this morning.

“You’ve got mail, Nyalori,” Celeste said, handing the envelope over.

She looked as confused as he felt and opened it, finding a letter with a second note attached to it. She squinted at the note for a while, turning it in a few different directions, before giving up and handing it to Celeste. It was written in common but it was particularly embellished cursive that was a little difficult even for him to read.

“Miss Nyalori’ixash,” he read. “Enclosed is a letter from a rather effusive elven ship captain who cornered me in the Yawning Portal after our esteemed and cherished proprietor Durnan told her you were last seen with me. I would like to say that I am not the postal system, but delivering this to you is the least I could do since you found my dear friend Floon. Affectionately, Volothamp Geddarm.”

Nyalori opened the second letter, and smiled as she read it. “Zelyana left the money I earned working on her ship with Durnan.”

“Perfect,” Celeste said. “We were going to meet Volo at the Portal anyway, so you can pick that up while we’re there.”

She nodded, tucking the letter away. They ate a quick breakfast of some of the food Efni had left and then Zem curled up in Corivier’s bag and they set off for the Castle Ward.

—

When they got to the Yawning Portal, Volo was waiting outside with a box of pastries to share with them.

“You’re late,” he said fretfully, as Nyalori ran inside to get her money.

“You didn’t set a time,” Corivier pointed out.

“You’re later than I expected, then,” Volo said. In a few moments, Nyalori returned with a hefty pouch that she tucked into her bag. Volo set off, leading them through the Castle Ward. As he went, he acted as a bit of a tour guide, pointing out various notable landmarks and talking on the history of the city and certain buildings.

They came, eventually, to a magistrate’s office and went inside. A severe looking tiefling woman met them and led them back to her office.

“You’re late,” she said, as she sat down.

“Yes, well, unavoidable,” Volo said. He was cut off as the door opened again and Renaer came in. “Ah, and there’s our witness!”

“All right, where’s the deed?” the magistrate asked. Volo handed it over and she read it, nodding. She glanced at Celeste, Corivier, and Nyalori. “And the three of you will all be owners?”

They exchanged a glance and, once again, Corivier and Nyalori seemed content to let Celeste handle this, assuming he knew more about business than they did.

“Yes,” he said, nodding.

“Unconventional, but fine.” She quickly wrote up a few things on a different document that she’d already had mostly prepared. “Volo, sign here, then the three of you will sign here, and Lord Neverember as witness you’ll sign here, and the deed will be transferred.”

She looked at them, almost curious, as Volo signed his name. “Are you planning on renovating it?” she asked.

“Maybe,” Celeste said. “I mean, I certainly don’t know anything about running a tavern but I’m not sure what else we’d do with it.”

“Mm, well, you should probably get a solicitor. They’ll be able to help with that.”

“I know, I have one,” Celeste said, leaning forward as she pushed the paper over to them. He didn’t sign it immediately, taking a moment to read it. He wasn’t fluent in the sort of vocabulary they used on legal documents, but the solicitor he kept having to reassure people he had had taught him enough to know that he should read things before he signed them. It seemed, to him, to be straightforward, so he signed his name and passed it to the others who signed as well. Renaer signed it and passed it back to the magistrate, who nodded.

“Congratulations on your new property,” the magistrate said, getting her papers in order. “That’s ten gold for services rendered,” she said.

“Usually paid by the new owners, I think,” Volo said. He tried to stand up and Renaer grabbed his shoulder, pushing him back down and squeezing it.

“Not this time, of course, though,” Renaer said. “I mean, after all they went through for you? Least you could do.”

“Least I could do?” Volo echoed. “I’m giving them a tavern!”

Renaer’s hand tightened slightly and Volo deflated.

“Fine, fine,” he sighed, fishing out ten gold and handing it over to the magistrate. She took it, nodding.

“And you owe me a drink, Volo, for making me get up this early on my day off,” she said, before ushering them all out.

After saying goodbye to Renaer and Volo, Celeste turned to Corivier and Nyalori. He held up the papers they got from Volo detailing their new property.

“All right, do we want to go check out our new business?” he asked.

Nyalori nodded excitedly.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Corivier said.

“First, I think we should stop by one place here in the Castle Ward,” Celeste said. He looked around, getting his bearings and then set off. “Volo and that magistrate suggested we have a solicitor look at everything, and I just so happen to know the best solicitor in the city.”

Celeste led Corivier and Nyalori along several streets, past blocks of homes and businesses of opulent, perfectly manicured, whimsy; past several of the Walking Statues; past beautiful temples of various gods, all done in the different architectures of their cultures.

Eventually, they got to a quieter part of the ward, a street packed with shops and other businesses. Celeste led them to a non-descript building, squished in between two taller shops. It was dark stone and elegant iron work, with a single large window out front. On the window in painted gold lettering it read:

Patience Is A Virtue

- Legal Solutions -

Underneath the name, in smaller font, were the words, “We’re Real Lords of the Law.” As always, Celeste had to restrain a laugh at that. He opened the door, letting Corivier and Nyalori in and following them.

The inside of the law office was perfectly neat and orderly. Everything was clean, exactly where it should be. Even the art was geometric, repeating patterns. They entered into a waiting area with a reception desk, behind which sat a human woman who looked up as they entered. The clutter on her desk was the only hint of chaos in the entire building.

“Oh, Mr. Zasti!” Nancy exclaimed. “What a surprise. Did you have business today, or can I help you with anything? Would you like a cupcake?” she asked, gesturing toward the plate on her desk. “Baked this morning!”

“Yes, and you know I’d love a cupcake,” Celeste said, taking one. “I know it’s sort of a long shot, but is Patience here today?”

“Ohh, I think he’s working from home today,” Nancy said apologetically. “If you’d like, I can ask Grace to call him for you?”

“I’d love that, thank you so much,” Celeste said.

She hesitated, looking at the other two. “And can I help you with anything? Sorry, Mr. Zasti is an esteemed client here, are you…”

“They’re with me,” Celeste said, nodding.

“Perfect, I’ll be right back with Grace.”

Nancy got up and hurried back to one of the offices. He turned around to the other two.

“Okay, so, before Patience gets here, I should warn you he can be a bit… abrasive. He’s nice, but he’s, you know, very smart and you know how people like that can be.”

Before Corivier or Nyalori could say anything, Nancy returned with another woman. She was a tall, beautiful half-elven woman with blonde hair, wearing a dress of a startlingly bright pink. She beamed when she saw Celeste.

“Celeste! It’s been too long,” she exclaimed. “Oo and friends, hello. Nancy says you’d like me to call Patience for you? Can I ask what for?”

“I mean, I’d obviously just like to see him, but I am actually also here for business for once,” Celeste said. “We just got the deed to an old tavern.”

“Oh! Exciting! Right, one moment,” she said. She put a few fingers to her temple, murmuring some arcane words. “Celeste Zasti and company in the office, want to speak with you. Regarding some new property and a business opportunity.”

Grace paused, listening and nodded, taking her hand away from her head and smiling at Celeste.

“He’ll be here momentarily.”

“Thank you,” Celeste said.

“Congrats on your new business,” she said, and headed back to her office.

They only had to wait a few moments before the door opened again and a few figures stepped through. Celeste hardly paid attention to the second man—briefly registering him as Patience’s assistant—his focus entirely on the tiefling at the front. He was about a head shorter than Celeste, thin and wiry, with coppery orange skin and dark hair swept back between his horns. Snake-like eyes in shifting hues of yellow and orange glanced up from behind round glasses, falling on Celeste. He smiled.

Celeste fidgeted, restraining the urge to dart over and greet him how he really wanted to. He knew Patience would prefer if he stayed at least somewhat professional. Behind Celeste, unbeknownst to him in this moment, Corivier and Nyalori both had very different reactions to seeing the tiefling. Neither recognized him, but Corivier tensed as a quiet growl came from his bag and he felt an instinctive dislike and distrust from Zem, directed at Patience. He put a hand into the bag, trying to pacify her, and received sharp teeth in his fingers in response. Nyalori heard a soft, familiar voice in her ear, sounding more concerned than she was used to hearing.

Be careful, little one. That one is not what he seems.

Celeste, unaware of any of that, smiled delightedly at Patience, the light in the room growing just a bit warmer as his halo glowed more brightly.

“Celeste,” Patience greeted, walking over. “Grace tells me you’re here for legal advice for once.”

“What? Oh, yes, sorry. Yes, we are. Maybe,” Celeste said, having momentarily forgotten why they had come here. It was the first time he’d seen Patience in weeks, if he didn’t count his stealthy visit to the house the other night to reassure Celeste he wasn’t ignoring him. Which Celeste didn’t count, since they hadn’t even gotten to speak to one another.

“Right, well, come on back and let me see what you’ve got for me,” Patience said, barely sparing the other two a glance before turning and heading back to his office.

Celeste grabbed another cupcake as he went, gesturing for Corivier and Nyalori to follow. The three of them followed Patience and his assistant into his office at the end of the hall. It was comfortably cozy with five people inside and shared the same immaculate organization as the rest of the building. They all sat down, apart from the assistant who stood slightly to the side and behind Patience, ready to take notes on the entire meeting. Patience looked expectantly at Celeste.

“So. A business opportunity?”

“Yes, we got a tavern,” Celeste said, brightly.

Patience stared at him for a moment. “A tavern? Interesting.” He opened a drawer, pulling out a file with Celeste’s name on it.

“Is that—” Celeste started and then stopped, confused. “Why do you have a file on me?” he asked.

The tiefling glanced at him, as if the answer to that question should be obvious. “Because you’re bad with money. Your neighbor asked me to handle your estate for you.”

Celeste opened his mouth to argue the first point and then stopped again, realizing he actually had no idea how much money he had. He had never paid attention to it. Bills got paid and he had never run out. He frowned, still a little bothered that he hadn’t known about this.

“Which neighbor?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Older human woman.”

“Hm. Okay, well I’m going to ask her about that,” Celeste said. He fished the documents Volo had given them out of his bag, trying to smooth some of the crinkles out before handing them over. “And I didn’t buy this before you accuse me of being bad with money again. We got it as a reward.”

Patience huffed a slight laugh as Celeste handed the papers over, and then he looked curious. “A reward?” He glanced down at the documents. “Who gave you Trollskull Manor as a reward?”

“Volo. You know, the author. We found someone for him, in the sewers.”

“You—” Patience stopped and took a breath. “Sorry, you went in the sewers and, as a result, Volothamp Geddarm gave you an entire estate?”

“Well it sounds stupid when you say it like that,” Celeste said. “It was more complicated. I mean we had to fight things in the sewers. I’ll tell you the whole story later.”

“I look forward to it,” Patience said dryly. He returned his attention to the deed and other papers, taking a moment to look them all over. “Mm, well, this all looks fairly straightforward. Shall we go and see it? Judging by what I already know of the property, it will need some repairs, but until I see it I can’t give you an accurate estimation of the costs.”

Celeste nodded. Patience stowed all the paperwork in his bag and led them out. As they walked outside, Celeste linked arms with Patience.

“Thank you for coming, I know you’re busy and this is probably a bit beneath you,” Celeste said, leaning against him a bit as they stepped to the edge of the sidewalk.

Patience smiled. “Of course,” he murmured. He raised a hand, hailing them a coach. When it arrived, he opened the door, bowing slightly to Celeste and gesturing in.

Celeste climbed in and Patience followed, sitting next to him on one side of the coach. Celeste immediately snuggled up against him. Corivier and Nyalori climbed in after. Patience’s assistant sat up front with the driver and the coach set off for the North Ward.

“So…” Patience said after a moment of silence. He glanced at Corivier and Nyalori, his gaze lingering curiously on Corivier’s bag for a moment, before returning his attention to Celeste. “How did you all meet?”

“At the Yawning Portal,” Nyalori said. “There was a troll.”

“You fought a troll?” Though he was responding to Nyalori, Patience didn’t look at her. He kept his gaze on Celeste, clearly only here for him and unafraid to come off as rude for it.

“We did! Can you imagine?” Celeste asked. “Me? Fighting a troll?”

“I’m sure you did,” Patience said, in a tone that suggested he didn’t entirely believe Celeste. There was another beat of somewhat awkward silence before Patience sighed.

“Well, I’m obviously not one for small talk, so let’s talk business instead. Trollskull Manor—you are of course free to rename it if you wish—was once quite the famous tavern in the North Ward. If you renovate and reopen you could find yourselves with an extremely lucrative business. Without seeing the building, just going off what I know of it, I would estimate the renovation costs will probably run you around a thousand gold.”

Corivier blanched slightly at the amount, but didn’t interrupt.

“Then of course there are the guild fees, you’ll want to join one or they’ll be hounding you and upcharging for everything, any staff you have will be members of guilds, and you’ll be taking advantage of their services for any food and drink you offer, entertainment… most everything in this city is run through guilds. For a tavern, guild fees will run about two hundred and fifty gold a month. The staff will probably be around fifty gold a tenday depending on how generous of employers you want to be, add on another… ten gold or so every tenday for miscellaneous expenses…”

The entire time he’d been talking, Celeste’s smile had been slowly vanishing as he tried to keep up with the numbers.

“Hm. This is starting to sound like too much to think about,” Celeste said, dismayed.

“That’s why you wouldn’t think about it, my dear,” Patience said. “I would handle everything for you.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Celeste protested. “You’re already so busy.”

Patience smiled. “What I mean is that my firm would handle it, not myself personally. It is the intelligent thing to do as a business owner in Waterdeep—hire a solicitor to handle the details for you.”

“And you’d be willing to do that?” Corivier asked.

Patience looked at him. “I have something of a… vested interest in this venture,” he said, glancing at Celeste. “And it would be an investment for me. I would expect a percentage of the profits, though we can discuss that later.”

He paused.

“You could, of course, just renovate it and use it as a residence. That would save you the guild fees.”

“And you could move out of my dance studio,” Celeste said.

Patience chuckled at that. “I’m sure it would be nice to have… room for growth,” he said, looking at Corivier with a pointed glance toward his bag. Corivier visibly tensed.

“Something to think about,” Patience said. “Personally—and professionally—I think you’d be enormously stupid not to reopen the tavern. But it’s your choice.”

Celeste turned his head, nuzzling against Patience and murmuring, “Stop being rude,” in his ear.

Patience glanced at him with a smug smile, making it clear that he was needling Corivier on purpose.

The coach rattled to a stop and Patience opened the door and got out first, offering a hand to Celeste. He got out, holding Patience’s hand, and looked up at the manor.

Trollskull Manor was very clearly abandoned, but had once been beautiful. It was a massive, three storey manor house, sporting balconies and a turret, with multiple chimneys.

“Oh, wow,” Celeste said. “This place is huge!”

“Whoa,” Nyalori echoed, as she and Corivier followed him out, both looking awed.

Patience gestured to his assistant, who nodded and headed toward the door, and he let go of Celeste’s hand, getting a notepad out of his bag. He went more slowly toward the building, looking up at the structure and making notes as he walked.

"Celeste, do you want to go with Patience, and Nyalori and I can go inside and start looking around?"

Celeste barely heard Corivier, already heading to catch up with Patience, desperate to get a moment alone with him.

"Hm? Yeah, good idea!" he said absently, trotting over to the tiefling.

"Hey, I need to talk to you," Celeste said as he caught up.

Patience smiled. “I assumed so, you’ve been giving me that look since I came to the office. What is it?” He was writing without looking at his notepad, eyes flicking around the exterior of the old tavern, but he spared Celeste a quick glance.

"I wanted to ask you about something kind of serious.”

Patience stopped. He lowered his notepad and gave Celeste his full attention. "What's on your mind?"

"It's..." Celeste hesitated, glancing around, trying to make sure no one was around before he started asking Patience about things there were no good reason for a solicitor to know.

"Celeste," Patience said, and Celeste looked at him again. Patience held his gaze. "No one can hear us," he said. Celeste nodded and took a breath.

"I need to ask you about Tiamat."

#meet my favorite npc hands down #he's perfect #fel's ttrpgs #fic #dnd: tales from the dancing sea dragon #oc: celeste #celeste/asmodeus #other people's ocs

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limerental · 6 months

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ficletvember 2023 - day 16

Avallac'h returns to Tir ná Lia in the wake of Lara's death. content warning for canon-typical yucky elves but there are some of my own headcanons in here too

The churning sky above Tir ná Lia did not bode well for Avallac'h's reception. Word had travelled faster than he could. Events had progressed faster than he could forestall. His own actions had had unforeseen consequences.

Avallac'h had always had a blind spot.

As he stumbled from the portal, he felt more queasy from such travel than he had since he was an apprentice, but it was not truly the portal but an uncomprehending grief that soured his stomach.

Lara Dorren aep Shiadhal was dead.

It was not a grief-stricken, furious Auberon who swept down the grand staircase to meet him but Eredin. His red cloak flowed like water behind him, and his face was twisted with cold rage. Avallac'h did not have the time or desire to draw his sword before the general had a fist around his throat, his back pinned to a marble pillar.

Fortunately, Eredin's gloves were plain leather and not his ornate gauntlets sharpened to points along the knuckles. The leather creaked beneath Avallac'h's jaw, and he almost regretted the lack of sting. It would have been easier to bear, to comprehend.

The yawning pain of Lara's absence felt too dull and far away. Its immense weight had yet to settle into truth.

The truth of how it had happened was murky and may always be, but one fact pained him the most.

Lara had died alone.

“What did you do?” Eredin hissed through his teeth, shaking him like a misbehaving dog. “He is worse than he was after Shiadhal. Do you hear that?”

Thunder rumbled above the citadel with no slice of lightning to follow, and Avallac'h closed his eyes to listen to the raw sound of Tir ná Lia itself answering its monarch’s grief.

The humans of the Continent told tall tales of how the land had once loved the elves of old, but they only knew half of it. The land they occupied was bound and mastered by ancient magic that the Aen Seidhe had forgotten. At its master's pleasure, the land bore fruit, but rage and grief threatened to tear the earth asunder.

“I did only what Auberon asked,” said Avallac'h. “The boy would have perished soon enough either way. Human lifespans are so brief. Had I know that she would–”

“You let yourself be blinded, Crevan. You wanted her to yourself,” Eredin said. The clutch of his hand dropped away, and Avallac'h rubbed at his throat, eyes falling closed as he felt all the weariness of his great age.

Eredin was not wrong. He had been blind. It had been Auberon's suggestion to incite the violence that would fatally spill Cregennan's blood, but Avallac'h should have considered more of the consequences.

Most cruel of all, it was his hesitance to put the plan in motion, knowing how fully Lara was fascinated with the boy, that had led to his fatal miscalculation.

He had waited too long. Allowed her infatuation to grow too deep.

If he had acted sooner, Lara may have mourned for a time and then remembered herself and the responsibility of her blood and finally taken her place beside him.

He had dreamed of it often. A vision with startling clarity. Her green eyes shining with happiness, smile cheeky and flirtatious. Her body rounding with the shape of the growing babe.

How arrogant he had been to assume that her brilliant joy would be his future self's doing. That the child would be his.

Avallac'h himself had not pulled the blade on Cregennan and had not turned his back to Lara as she lay dying, but his arrogance had killed her all the same.

A deafening rumble of thunder rattled the very foundations of the citadel.

“Go to him,” commanded Eredin. His fury was its own show of grief, unable to bear Auberon's distress. “I could not console him, but he has always listened to you.”

“That may have changed,” said Avallac'h.

Eredin stopped him by arm before he could climb the stairs. Auberon's advisers had never been fond of one another, but now, the general's severe expression darkened with open dislike.

“It is said her babe is in the care of a human queen. A girl. You may not have ruined all of it. If you can stomach it, we still may–”

“No,” said Avallac'h with a cold surety. The very thought inspired fresh queasiness. To look into the eyes of Lara's daughter as he lay beside her and– “We will find some other path.”

He would never allow himself to be so distracted again.

#my fic #ficletvember #this one is for me only lmao

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traskomancer · 9 months

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RPG a Day 1-5

I figured it would be better to write these in chunks to avoid spam, so here goes the first five.

Day 1: First RPG I played this year

My regular group continued an ongoing dark fantasy hexcrawl using Beyond the Wall. We opted for BtW because it's a bit more empowering than other OSR systems and our group tends to get attached to its characters.

On alternating weeks, I was running a Traveller (Mongoose 2nd edition) campaign, which was the first time any of us had played the system. It was pretty short lived, but I think most of us enjoyed it (even if one player got screwed by the lifepath character generation) and I learned a lot about how to run a good Traveller game.

Day 2: First RPG Gamemaster

My first group was at the local library in a nearby small town. My dad found an ad for it in the paper and coaxed me to try it because he'd played D&D as a kid (I was 11 or 12 at the time). The GM was 19 and I thought he was the coolest person on the fucking planet for a long time. He was running a homebrew 4e D&D campaign when I joined, and the group was massive, like 8 players including me.

Day 3: First RPG I bought this year

According to DrivethruRPG, my first purchase this year was Maze Rats and Knave in March, both of which I poached from heavily for a homebrew OSR hack I ran a campaign of in April and May. Some good stuff in those, for sure.

I also got Stars Without Number as a birthday gift in January, and I feel like I've still barely scratched the surface of that book. It's super dense with information.

Day 4: Most recent game I bought

I backed the kickstarter for Nevermore after getting to play a oneshot of it with the designer as GM at Origins. It's supposed to come out in October, and I'm very much looking forward to it. It's a gothic horror RPG that uses playing cards for its resolution mechanic, and it has a very well-done gameplay loop

Day 5: Oldest game I've played

This may be a lame answer since it's still around, but Call of Cthulhu is pretty old as far as RPGs go (originally published in 1981). I guess I've only ever played 7e though, and that's not very old.

I've run and played old adventures, if that counts. I had a whole campaign where I expanded The Secret of Bone Hill (D&D adventure also from 1981). And my first time playing Tomb of Horrors (1978) was a homebrew 5e adaptation because Tales from the Yawning Portal wasn't out yet.

#rpgaday2023 #ttrpg #osr #traveller #DnD #Knave #Maze Rats #Stars Without Number #Nevermore #Call of Cthulhu

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keegansakura · 1 year

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And thus the campaign part of this has come to a close.

Wedding bells were rang

Chaos was had

...an old god given hope for a future to come

BUT THE COMIC WORK HAS JUST BEGUN! FOLLOW THE FROSTFIRE TAGS TO KEEP UP WITH THE STORY AS YOU GUYS WILL GET TO SEE IN THE FANTASTIC ART STYLE OF @spades-for-brains and the incredible homebrew campaign skills of @umbraproductions112 as the we work to bring this campaign to comic format for YOU GUYS to enjoy! (Also if anyone knows of any other platform this could be posted to please let me know in the comments, esspecially if they take fanfiction as arc 1 is basically the tales from the yawning portal module book-)

#dnd stuff #dnd5e #dnd #homebrew #frostfire party #frostfire comics

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devilscreekballad · 2 years

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Still baffled that the cover of DnD’s ‘Tales from the Yawning Portal’ is pretty much spot on Lynwood...

edit:

this one

#interactive fiction #the ballad of devil's creek #BaoDC ROs #baodc #baodc lynwood

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thedragonagelesbian · 1 year

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a player slept thru our d&d sess today so we brought back our ‘death house from CoS but none of us have prepped for anything & the party is tiny’ adventure and it was once again super fun

truly if i ever have time to start up another campaign, im going to try to rope ppl into playing like candlekeep mysteries or tales from the yawning portal in this style

#i like running SeriousTM longform campaigns and its what i gravitate to as a storyteller #BUT its very nice to just let loose and bullshit for like two hours too

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taramariewords · 3 months

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Crimson Pacts by taramariewords

In the shadowed caverns of the Netherrealm, where the air was thick with the scent of brimstone, a demoness named Lilith sought to forge an alliance with the notorious Archduke of Souls, Mephistopheles. Legends spoke of a crimson artifact, the Heartstone, hidden within the bowels of a cursed cathedral, capable of granting unimaginable power to those who possessed it.

Lilith, driven by an insatiable hunger for dominion, journeyed through the accursed lands to retrieve the Heartstone. As she traversed the desolate landscape, the very ground seemed to recoil at her presence, anticipating the malevolent pact that loomed on the horizon.

Upon reaching the haunted cathedral, Lilith faced trials that tested her resolve. Whispers of tortured souls echoed through the dilapidated halls as she navigated treacherous traps and faced spectral guardians. In the heart of the cathedral, she laid eyes on the pulsating Heartstone, surrounded by an ethereal glow.

As Lilith reached for the artifact, the very air shimmered with dark energy, and Mephistopheles materialized, his eyes ablaze with infernal power. A pact was struck—Lilith would unleash the Heartstone's power to open a portal between realms, and in return, Mephistopheles would grant her dominion over a legion of lost souls.

The cathedral quaked as the Heartstone's power surged through Lilith, tearing the fabric of reality. The portal yawned open, revealing the chaotic landscapes of the Netherrealm beyond. As Lilith reveled in her newfound power, Mephistopheles, true to his nature, betrayed her, seeking to harness the Heartstone's power for himself.

A battle of demonic proportions ensued, with Lilith and Mephistopheles clashing amidst the swirling energies of the portal. Unbeknownst to them, the tortured souls imprisoned within the Heartstone, yearning for release, influenced the outcome of the battle. With a deafening roar, the Heartstone rebelled against its captors, engulfing both demons in its crimson blaze.

As the portal collapsed upon itself, the cathedral crumbled, sealing the Heartstone within the rubble. Lilith and Mephistopheles, entwined in eternal struggle, vanished into the abyss. The accursed lands, freed from the malevolent influence, began to heal, and the tales of the ill-fated pact echoed through the demonic realms.

In the tapestry of infernal lore, "Crimson Pacts" stands as a testament to the unpredictable nature of demonic alliances, and credit goes to taramariewords for conjuring this tale from the depths of the Netherrealm.

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