Early on in the campaign, we had a guest player jump in for just one session. I wrote this synopsis for him afterward, in case he wanted to take that information and just let me know (in broad strokes) how he’d like his character’s story to continue after being separated from the party. I’ve cleaned it up a little to make it more, uh… story-like.
Ryan the Archer always thought being a hero would be pretty cool. When he’d heard that there was a green dragon set up in the nearby abandoned village of Thundertree, he figured getting rid of it would be a pretty good way to prove how heroic he was. Knowing that he probably couldn’t dispatch of the beast on his own, he went to the frontier town of Phandalin to enlist aid. That’s where he encountered a group of adventurers who said they were heading to Thundertree anyway to speak to a druid named Reidoth.
Party Members____________________________________
Rigor Mortis: Human Wizard (School of Necromancy)
“The Seeker”: Human Bard (College of Glamour)
Varsea Rockseeker: Dwarf Cleric of St. Melora (Life Domain)
Hilga of the Green: Half-Orc Paladin (Oath of the Ancients)
“Ben”: Human Monk (Way of the Long Death)
The group spent a couple days travelling to Thundertree together, skirting around the edge of Neverwinter Wood. When they arrived, they encountered angry twig creatures and some zombies covered in ash, which they readily dispatched. Ryan had heard the story of Thundertree and explained to the rest of the party that the zombies were the result of the past eruption of Mount Hotenow; a volcano to the north.
When the party encountered the human druid (Reidoth) in one of the abandoned huts at the edge of town, he explained to them that he could tell them where a particular castle they were looking for was, if they agreed to make the dragon go away. He explained to the party that green dragons, while maybe not the most powerful of the chromatic dragons, are certainly the most intelligent and devious. The party said ‘yeah sure whatever’ and agreed to go get rid of it.
Before approaching the dragon in its tower however, they decided to search the rest of the town. They found several dragon cultists who were all very excited to meet the dragon for the very first time. After successfully convincing the cultists that they, too were huge fans of dragons, they all joined together and entered the dragon’s tower.
Inside, the dragon (named Venomfang) demanded to know who intruded on his lair. The lead cultist (Favric) revealed his deception, stating that he and his similarly-dressed cultists were the true believers, and that they’d brought the party there as an offering of sacrifice for the dragon. Amused by this, Venomfang instructed both groups to isntead fight to the death for his favor, which they did. Only the lead cultist managed to escape from the tower.
Hilga then approached Venomfang and offered him an armful of mostly green gems and jewelry the party had found. She asked him if maybe he’d like to, y’know, leave. Venomfang explained that he couldn’t leave, because his sister was out there looking for him, and would kill him if she found him! Hilga presented an idea – if he were to leave, the Druid would tell them the location of a castle. The party could go clear out the castle – which would be a much more defensible location – and Venomfang could live there instead. The dragon told the party that Reidoth was probably untrustworthy, because he’d been sending adventurers to their deaths in the dragon’s lair for some time and likely had no regard for their lives. However, Venomfang said he’d agree to their terms if he heard them directly from the druid.
So the party went back to Reidoth and relayed this to him. The druid was upset, claiming the dragon was trying to trick them. He refused to go up to the tower and talk to it. Fed up with all this bullshit, Rigor Mortis cast a friends spell on Reidoth, making him much more agreeable. Rigor then just asked outright for the location of the castle they were looking for, and Reidoth gladly marked it on the party’s map, since they were best pals.
((That’s where the session ended.))
Rigor, knowing the Friends spell would soon wear off and make Reidoth hostile towards them, quickly ushered the rest of the party away. Ryan the Archer (who wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation) agreed to stay behind with Reidoth and keep watch over the tower. A few minutes later, he would become the Hero of Thundertree.
Later, I wrote up this short scene of what happened after the rest of the party left.
Reidoth the druid waved a very friendly wave as the group of adventurers left his hut. They seemed to be in a hurry; They must’ve been eager to do their truly heroic deeds! Ryan, the young archer who stayed behind, sat on the floor and began inspecting his longbow.
“So,” Ryan said, “you’re part of a group that protects the forests?”
Reidoth beamed a smile and nodded. “That’s right!” He said, tapping at the wooden leaf clasped near his shoulder. “Were you interested in joining?”
Ryan shrugged and turned his bow over.
“There are many threats to the forests of Faerun,” Reidoth spieled as he moved across the room and bent down to reach into his knapsack. His voice was muffled as he rifled around inside it. “We do what we can, but we have so few members and allies… ah-ha!” He finally emerged, holding a bit of parchment. “It was some good fortune your group came here. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about the dra-”
Reidoth began to reach out to hand Ryan the parchment, but stopped short. He suddenly looked as though someone had handed him a bowl of warm soup and he realized too late that they’d used their own piss for the broth.
The druid crumpled the paper and tossed it aside. “That wizard,” he growled through clenched teeth as he stomped back to his knapsack and snatched it up off the floor. He turned on the archer and jabbed a finger toward him, shouting “That was a disgusting trick! An abuse of magic!”
Ryan truly did not understand what was happening. Eyes wide, he opened his mouth to try and retort, but just couldn’t find any words.
“You never intended on driving off the dragon at all!” Reidoth kicked open the door and stepped outside. “The Enclave will hear about this!”
“Hey, that’s not true!” Ryan finally got his bearings and jumped to his feet, following Reidoth out the door.
Reidoth spat on the ground and thrust up his middle finger before using magic to instantaneously contort his very not-bird-like body into the shape of a hawk and taking off.
Ryan stood there and stared at the sky for a few moments, thoroughly confused. Eventually, he meandered back into the hut and picked the crumpled parchment up off the ground. “Join the Emerald Enclave!” It read at the top in impeccable calligraphy. It listed potential titles, rewards, goals, and beliefs. Ryan just finished reading the final belief – “Forces that upset the natural order must be destroyed” – when he heard a low rumbling to the north that quickly turned to scratching, followed by crumbling stone.
The unmistakable curved jawline and emerald scales of the green dragon Venomfang’s head poked out from the top of the tower. It was quickly followed by the rest of Venomfang’s body as the massive creature leaped and thrust out its enormous wings, taking flight over Neverwinter wood.
Ryan found himself standing there and staring at the sky again. He stood there until the heavy beating of the dragon’s wings faded away. He looked around, arms bent into an incredulous half-shrug, searching for someone to confirm that he was, in fact, not insane. The shattered twig blights and twice-slain ashen corpses offered all the reply they could. Eventually, he dropped his arms back to his sides.
“Guess I’m the hero of Thundertree,” he said, to no applause.
Convulsive Ravings 