Split D&Decision

The first Thursday of each month, a group of us play Dungeons & Dragons at Polyrhythm Brewing. A couple weeks back, my four players found themselves in the center of a ring of ghostly frost giant chieftains on their stone thrones, fighting a giant skeleton summoned up by the ancient king, Reggaryarva. 

The fighter, monk, bard and druid squared off against the undead creature, who, though not fast, packed a significant wallop. In fact, a natural 20 took the gnomish druid out on the very first turn (and on that poor player's first opportunity to play in months, to boot).

No idea why I didn't snap a pic of the actual fight...

The remaining adventurers managed to eventually drop the frost giant skeleton, but were then assailed by an invisible stalker, and before too long, all the party members save one were laying unconscious. Worse still, their mummified companion Sahnar had been tragically destroyed by the stalker! 

At least the sole member on his feet was able to stabilize his living comrades and drag them to safety, as the spectral king dismissed his summoned monster with a wave while wiping mirthful tears from his eyes.

The next morning, the debate revolved around whether the Ice Pack (as they are sometimes known) should have another go at the gauntlet, or move on to sooething a little less challenging.

The monk argured that the challenge was proof that something valuable was at stake, if they could just prove their worth. The fighter challenged this, saying they had followed a rumour far out on the tundra away from Ten Towns. The druid mused that there might be further challenges after the stalker, while the bard lamented that a rematch would not include Sahnar, one of their heaviest hitters.

As a Dungeon Master, it is great to sit back and watch your players interact in a way that requires little to no input from yourself. I did throw in the occasional tidbit like, "yeah tough to beat an invisible foe without something like faerie fire to even the field," prompting the druid's player to reply, "hmm, I actually have that spell..."

The debate went back and forth, with the monk being most insistent on trying again, since the ghostly council supposedly only appeared under the light of the full moon. The other players were more hesitant, arguing there were other rumours to explore, but also hatingte idea of relinquishing potential loot.

Watching the monk player emphatically trying to make his case, I jokingly said, "Roll Persuasion!" He dutifully picked up a d20 and let fly, ended up with an imprssive result of 19.

"That isn't binding, is it?" asked the fighter player.

"No," I confirmed, "Player characters have agency, they get to make up their own minds."

The bard player finished his current beer and said, "Well, I'm convinced."

I blinked. "What? Really?"

"Not totally," he replied. "I, the player, think this is dumb idea that will likely results in some or all of us getting killed." Looking the monk player square in the eye, he continued with a grin. "But Yorrick Grondson, half-orc bard and adventurer, is completely on-board thanks to the effective arguments made by Fardun Glinthammer!"

Grinning, the monk player looked at his teammate running the gnomish druid, Merrick Frostbottom. "Well," he mused, "if we can keep me out of the scrum a bit longer, it could work..."

All eyes turned to the player running Ivar Ango, human bounty hunter, who stared back impassively for a long moment before finally sighing, "well, it's not like I am going to let you idiots do this without me, am I? So I guess I'm in too."

And so the next night, the adventurers set themselves up far more strategically, and when the frost giant skeleton was summoned this time, it was hard pressed to deal with the hit and run attacks of the nimble monk. Ivar darted between the massive stone thrones, forcing the undead thing to clamber over them in pursuit while spells shot forth from Yorrick and Merrick.

With the martial arts attacks of Fardun doing double damage to the brittle bones of the skeleton (and with it not rolling any critical hits this time!), they made short work of the first challenge in surprisingly little time.

And when the invisible stalked first attacked one of them, Merrick illuminated it with faerie fire, negating its primary defense. This allowed the rest of the party to flank it and take it down in again, a surprisingly quick fashion.

This prompted cheers around the table and a respectful nod from the ghost of King Reggaryarva, who raised his hand and...whoa, almost put more spoilers in there than I'd intended... Needless to say, the Ice Pack was elated, and the adventure will continue in early November.

From a coin check earlier in the evening; Sahnar (RIP) at the bottom