Session 2 - How I Met A Dragon (recap)

Ragvala’s Lair

• As Aegar and Zoyana’s feet felt again the firm ground while still enveloped in white light, they heard

“Amazing! Simply Amazing! Adventurers are the greatest. My friends, I have a request. Will you aid me on a quest? This old fellow needs your help.” “And, I have even prepared a minion for you to command.”

• When their eyes were able to adjust, what they saw next was a jaw-dropping sight!

  • The ceiling and the walls were all smooth and glowing in white. With light shining from all sides, it was hard to tell where the wall ended and the ceiling began. The room they were in felt impossible to measure: it might be a trick or magic that fooled your senses. There is no way that a room as wide and as high as your eyes see can possibly exist. Right?

  • But that’s not all: as they looked to the ground, they saw gold. They were stepping on a vast sea of gold. Gold coins, gold bars, golden swords, golden thrones, golden chariots, golden statues, and all manner of other golden or gold-covered items imaginable.

  • After looking around the room, they realized that the room they are in really was as vast as they saw it. However, the place still hummed with magic. A smart guess would be that there was defensive magic to prevent anyone without permission to come in or to get out of this area.

  • The gold they were stepping on was also real. There are also no traps or curses attached to any of the gold that they see. This was clearly a hoard of some sort, most probably a dragon’s.

The Coinmaker

• The ground shifted as a massive pile of gold slowly rose in front of them. Coins and other items rolled off from the body of a gargantuan, golden scaled dragon.

  • Long flexible spines, like whiskers, ran down from above its mouth.

  • Wide and cracked horns swept back from its nose and brow, and two saggy frills ran along the back of his long neck.

  • His scales were not as shiny as the items they saw in this room though, his movements slow, and the color from his eyes had almost faded to white.

  • It did have one unique feature however; its front right claws were covered in vibrant but harmless green flame.

  • The dragon was majestic, but they could clearly see that this one had endured for at least a millennium, if not longer.

  • This was an ancient gold dragon.

• It shifted its head and looked down at them, smiling

“Greetings adventurers! Welcome to my common room. I am Ragvala, the Coinmaker. I need your help.”

“Before we speak of the errand any further…”

• Another blue circle appeared in a flash of white light, and out stepped a skeleton carrying an unconscious Pliny. It set him down next to them on what they now saw is a small Trumpian Wall, almost like an alter.

• Ragvala leaned down and breathed across the group. As they were enveloped by this warm gust of air, they felt their wounds closing and they were refreshed. They were completely restored from their encounters with the skeletons as if they had a long rest (and had not gone drinking the night before).

• Ragvala excitedly praised the adventurers who passed his test and gives them comments about their impressive combat skills.

  • Aegar
    • A Cousin, a noble so noble you can no longer be noble. A mind bender, that one…
    • Your flailwork was impressive. Two swipes! One to crush it, and then the way the skull bounced around the room.
  • Zoyana
    • You, who thinks into other people’s heads, but then forget to look into your own.
    • That was a wise choice climbing away. And then amazing bravery with that flip! Quite impressive.
  • Pliny
    • The world renowned bard (he said with a twinkle in his eye). Caught between worlds, educated yet so young to the world.
      
    • (He laughed) You tried to bring the tavern down when met with a skeleton. What would you do… never mind.
    • Do you hear the call? Would you rather lute, or loot? How about both?

• Ragvala was searching for an antique, a black, magical lute called Dragon’s Sorrow. This lute never breaks and was once owned by an annoying but loyal friend, Rokstasha.

• The last known location of the lute was somewhere within the Quivering Forest, near the Moonsea. He thought it is impossible, since the lute was lost 800 years ago. But apparently, news of a wandering bard had found this magical item. Someone named Vagabond Victor.

• He would’ve gone by himself to retrieve the lute but at this point in time, he could no longer use his ability to change shift due to his old age. Finding a small item in his current form will be too difficult while inside the Quivering forest.

• Ragvala offered the characters a part of his treasure hoard as a reward for successfully helping him. How much exactly, the dragon would not tell. He simply said that some things need to be kept a mystery to add fun to the adventure.

• In a friendly and upbeat tone, Ragvala offered the adventurers to borrow any of the itmes they saw from within his hoard. Stealing or selling those items would instantly result in their deaths of course.

  • Aegar helped himself to some golden plate mail. Pliny took a golden dagger.

• When asked how they were chosen: Ragvala looked at the characters with a mischievous smile and said “oh, I can sense the greatness in you”. Be hind him, they noticed a golden mirror sparkle.

• Ragvala offered the characters a once-in-a-lifetime chance of having them ride on his back to transport them to the edge of the Quivering Forest. Once the lute is found, they could join him in returning it to his old friend.

Once ready to go:

• Out of the ancient gold dragon’s mouth floated a unique spell scroll.

• As the item floated into the air and unrolled itself, a spell activated and a familiar magical circle of blue-ish hue appears underneath the dragon.

• The gold inscribed runes and symbols moving clockwise, the circle was massive enough to accommodate the dragon’s size.

• Ragvala lowers his body to the ground and moves the end of his tail closer to its stomach for you to use a foothold.

• He motions his head back a little while looking at you adventurers with great delight,

“Let’s go on an adventure, shall we?”

Encounter A. Hungry Griffon

• A Dragon’s Breath: Encounter A. Hungry Griffon

• Our heroes heard a loud screeching noise behind them. As they turned around to check, they saw an unusually large eagle fly towards them at great speed. The strange thing about this creature was that it had four legs. Its front legs looked the same as what an eagle should have, complete with long talons. Its hind legs however looked more like it belonged to a land animal, a lion perhaps.

• The four-legged eagle creature flew higher than them and the dragon. As soon as it was right above them, it folded its wings to its sides, opened its beak and dove toward your direction while releasing an ear-shattering screeching noise.

• After a couple close calls, the heroes realized that the griffon was hungry and saw the characters as its morning meal. A couple of failures later, including a bit of ration flying the wrong way and off the dragon’s back, the heroes successfully feed the Griffon and it became calm and stopped attacking the characters.

• The griffon in particular took a liking to Aegar. It released another screeching noise, however this time, it moved its head forward and rubbed it against his chest while still flying.

• It lowered itself a little bit and adjusted its flying speed to match Ragvala’s before exposing its back at Aegar The only assumption that he could make is that it wanted him to hop on its back for a ride!

• With one strong flap of its wings, the Griffon soared upward, flying at incredible speed until it entered the thick layer of clouds. For a few seconds, Aegar did not see anything but white.

• He did his best to keep his eyes open while the wind hit his face.

• A second more and everything above him was blue in color. Not a single cloud could be seen except when he looked down.

• To the East, a majestic orb of orange and yellow light blinded Aegar until his eyes adjusted.

• He hadn’t ever seen the sun this big. The massive orb was rising in its own leisurely pace to light the world they was currently in.

• The griffon wanted to show Aegar this magnificent sight, and then took Aegar to enjoy some acrobatics. They first did a loop above the clouds, then dove below and looped around Ragvala and the rest of the party.

• Aegar secured himself back on the back of the dragon, and the griffon flew back towards its nest.

Encounter B. Playing with the Pixies

• A Dragon’s Breath: Encounter 3B. Playing with the Pixies

Getting near the Quivering forest, a shower of glittering dust falls from above.

Looking up, you hear giggles and laughter and you see a group of tiny creatures that resemble butterflies.

They look like miniature elves with a pair of wings on their backs.

A red-headed pixie with pure white butterfly wings flies close

“Hello! I’m Okki! Let’s play a game! Heehee!”

Everybody, make a Wisdom saving throw.

---

• Whoever rolls the lowest automatically fails. Everyone else is subject to DC 12
• All who fail are into either a Giant Goat, a Giant Octopus, or a Giant Hyena.
• Then, after the players settle down, have the polymorphed character(s) roll a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. Those who failed lose balance and fall off the dragons back.

---

The pixies continue to chuckle while Okki approaches and says the following while doing her best to stop from laughing:

“Hello! Let’s play a game! Quick, quick! The first one to touch all your falling friends win! If you win, you gain a friend. If you lose, well, then you might also lose a friend! Hahahahaha! This is so fun! Hurry!”

---

• If all the polymorphed creatures manage to stay at Ragvala’s back, the pixies pout and asks politely if they can jump so they can play. If the characters refuse, the pixies leave the characters polymorphed until the spell ends and flies away from them, disappointed.
• If one of the characters fall: Okki and the other pixies folds their wings on their backs and dive down to catch up to the falling characters.
• If the characters hesitate to jump off the dragon’s back, start counting. For every six seconds that pass, each polymorphed creature falls 500 ft. down. Each character, including the ones who got polymorphed, rolls a DC 8 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to try and catch up to one of their falling friends. Failing the check, automatically makes the character fall, but only by 300 ft. as the wind slows down their fall. A success makes the character fall by 500 ft. If the result of the check succeeds by 5 or more, the character falls by 700 ft.
• Unless the character can fly or hover, movement speed has no effect on the distance they fall during their turn.
• The pixies can reach the falling characters right away, but instead of touching them to win, they wait for the non-polymorphed creatures to arrive.
• If a character successfully catches up to a polymorphed creature and touches it, the nearby pixie giggles and removes the concentration on the Polymorph spell and casts Fly afterwards (a flying speed of 60 feet). The pixie then calls on one of its friends nearby to cast another Fly spell on the other character.
• If a character attacks a pixie, they fly away if they are not killed.
• The characters only have 30 seconds to win the game or else the pixies will get bored and fly off.

If Successful…

• Once all the characters are turned to normal and are all flying,
• Okki is impressed with the characters and tries to help them as much as possible by telling them where they can find Vagabond Victor.

---

The pixies guide you down to the edge of the Quivering Forest.

“Friends! We are now friends! Thank you for playing with us!

Since we are now friends, I can tell you where you can hear good music inside the forest. Do you want to know?

Go down, down, upper left, up!”

---

• If asked about the magical lute, Okki does not remember seeing one in the forest but “an extra left wouldn’t hurt!”

---

• Ragvala lands in front of the characters, asking if they had fun with their new-found friends.
• The pixies bow to the ancient gold dragon before flying off somewhere else.

<Proceed to Part 4: The Quivering Forest.>

If They Fail…

• If after 30 seconds, there are still characters under the Polymorph spell:

---

The pixies got bored, releases their concentration on the transformed characters, and fly away with Okki yelling out to you:

“Booooo. You’re no fun! We’ll find someone else to play with. Enjoy your landing!”

---

• All the characters who are not flying continue to drop 500ft every 6 seconds. Let the players panic a little bit and think of strategies on how to survive the fall.
• Once they are about 100 ft. above ground, Ragvala swoops down and catches all of them. Landing right at the edge of the Quivering Forest.
• Ragvala warns the characters how much of a trickster the pixies are, but if they get to become their friends, they can become powerful allies.

Area 1. Northern Border

• A Dragon’s Breath: Area 1. Northern Border

• Zoyana successfully made a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check and saw the first bear trap. A careful march forward disabling all the traps, and the party moved to the next Area

Area 3. Angry Red Caps

• A Dragon’s Breath: Area 3. Angry Red Caps

  • After a bruising encounter, with Pliny putting one Redcap asleep, and all three of you nearly falling to the other, you successfully defeated the wake Redcap and bound and interrogated the other.
  • On the dead body, you found a map that included notes about 11 areas of the Quivering Forest.
  • You woke the sleeping redcap, and learned that these murderous gnomes are carnivourous cousins to dryads. They must feed blood to the mushrooms to which they are bound every two or three days, or they will pop out of existance.
  • You discovered a pouch full of exotic tiny mushrooms on your captive (If sold to the right buyer, they will be worth 100gp) and then knocked him out before leaving him behind.
  • Battered and bruised, you followed the directions of your map Southwest, towards the Rainbow Leaves Area 2…