Dungeon Master Rants and Raves

To do backstory with two of my PC’s, Kala and Zorakus, I decided to let them go through an Easter-themed adventure, set two years before the rest of the campaign had begun. 

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We begin in on the road towards CrystalForge with two weary travelers on horseback. Both horses are spooked off the road by a fox and stumble upon a slightly foot-beaten path in the woods. As the two riders try to make sense of what has happened, two panthers slip past them and the pair follows behind them silently. Suddenly, the two panthers shift into slenderly built golden-haired and the pair quickly whip around as they hear an examination from behind them.

Standing there is both a grey tiefling, Zorakus, and an air genasi, Kala, staring in awe at the two wood-elf druids before them. Zorakus and Kala introduced themselves to the elves and were introduced to Morwin and Daeven. They are graciously welcomed into the town of Rosefall, populated solely by wood elves, all of which are druids. As the foreign pair look around the town they take in festive decorations of colored eggs, rabbit and egg-shaped banisters, wonderful scents of freshly made festival food, the squealing of youth running about, and yet are also greeted by an unsettling sight: any teenaged elves are wearing rabbit masks that only expose their eyes and mouth. 

The pair follows Morwin and Daeven to the town’s library, taking in the sights of the small building structures that are all overgrown with ivy and flowering plants. Upon entrance to the library, Zorakus and Kala separate in hopes of discovering more about Rosefall. Kala searches through children’s books for local fables, while Zorakus spends hours searching for the town history to no avail. While Zorakus spends hours reading, Kala finished his light reading and headed outside to scope the area for festive activities. Noticing a small stand with rabbit masks, each uniquely decorated,  Kala makes his way over to learn more about the festival. He learns that the masks represent the type of animal the druids turn into and is handed one to represent his spiritual aura. Zorakus soon joins him and receives a mask as well. 

The two adventure about the town for the remainder of the day to enjoy the festive activities and run into a young child wearing all pink. The three compare ages, discovering that the child is actually the oldest amongst them, and are invited to spend the night in the home of Morwin and Daeven. Once shown to their room they are warned to not leave at all after midnight, for their own safety.

During the night Kala and Zorakus both wake up to a strange sensation and the sound of scratching at their door. Roars and squawking echo from the room as they have both been magically transformed into the animals that their masks represented. Kala, now a large brown bear with blue crescents under his eyes and a golden chin to lip line, and Zorakus, now a small saw-whet owl, try to calm down, but panic as parts of their door is being ripped apart. The two bust open the door to be greeted by an oversized housecat that leads them downstairs to a congregation of nearly 25 panthers. The two do their best to blend in, failing to do so and are called out by Morwin and Daeven after the congregation for disobeying the one rule they were asked to follow. The two are escorted back upstairs and are closed off in their room once more.

Zorakus begins to panic once more, fearing the possible consequences for leaving the room and before Kala can adjust to his new strength, he pats Zorakus too strongly on the head and knocks him out. The two rest through a good chunk of the morning, Kala being abruptly awoken by a tap of Zorakus’ staff and a Mage Hand slap to the face due to frustration about the previous night. 

The pair head downstairs and are informed of a local egg hunt occurring. While it is common practice for only children to participate the two have been allowed the honor of joining since they are outsiders who seemed interested in understanding Rosefall’s culture. During the egg hunt, Zorakus manages to find an excessively large chocolate egg, and once discovered by Morwin, and is asked to guard it through the night in the middle of the town square. Kala joins Zorakus in his guard-duty to see if he can catch a glimpse of the fabled Easter Bunny that is revered by the town. Through the night the two hear a slight cracking of the chocolate egg and are surprised to see a chocolate wyrmling clamber out of the egg, which instantly attacks Zorakus as he moves closer to see it.

During a struggle to kill the wyrmling the Easter Bunny appears to collect any eggs left outside and watches the pair struggle with wyrmling. Upon the death of the creature, the Easter Bunny promptly eats it and nods fair well to the pair, disappearing from sight as he does so.

Homebrewed Item for one of my campaigners, Alea ( @hummbirds )

Orbs of Darkness Usage Time: 1 action Range: 10 feet without breaking if thrown. If thrown farther, roll 1d6. On a 1, the orb breaks. Can be rolled as long as no obstacles obstruct its path.

Duration: Permanent or until a large enough light spell is cast

Calling on the limitless darkness of the Shadowfell, you coax darkness into a fragile glass sphere the size of a marble. The light absorption ranges from all light to a slight dimming in lights. The level of light taken in is determined by 1d4, 1= takes in one candle's light, 2= takes in 2 lantern's light, 3= dim light, 4= total absorption. There is no limit to the number of orbs you can possess and there is no limit on how many orbs can be used in a single moment.

If an orb is smashed, the magic is lost and the light, that has now been converted to darkness, is released into a 15-foot radius.

 Who has the stickiest fingers in the group? Why not put your skills the test and steal that Bag of Holding you say lying about in the bizarre. Crystalforge is known for its weird places to buy magical items, but why buy it when you could just steal it instead! During your trip to the bizarre, you have just passed a stand that has a Bag of Holding for sale, at a low price of 600 GP! Will you save up to potentially lose the item, or will you work your stealth skills and steal the bag, and anything that it may have inside of it too.

As the lights dim your eyes adjust to the darkness around you, some more quickly than others, you hear the faint whisper of screams. A woman appears on the stage, covered in blood (perception check to see if you can tell if it is fake or not), and she falls to her to knees. Her sobs are drowned out as a voice floats over the crowd, “She was not the only victim of the plague set upon our lands” as you watch shadows form into humanoid shapes, “countless wives, children, and citizen were left without a single soul left in their family other than their own and many others were seen covered in the blood of others before they took their final breaths,” the woman rises but there is clearly a rope hung around her neck now, “but one would come to save us all.”

  A male figure covered in shimmering gold armor, a golden sword at his hip, walks out onto the stage. A mask covers his face, giving him a more porcelain doll-like appearance, but his blonde hair (perception check, if failed sees blonde, if passed see orangish colored hair) flows freely around his ears. The man walks to the center of the stage, the woman has now exited the stage and looks over your heads and into the unknown.

  “Crystalforge was the heart of the Demon War, the most destroyed and devastated area until the Golden Knight appeared. The Golden Knight was not like any other soldier we had ever seen and have ever seen since.” The man draws his sword as a brick red tiefling enters the stage with flames surrounding its horns and a large, flowing, black cloak surrounded them.

  “We all feared the Demon King, though we do not do so today. He had killed hundreds of our citizens and his spawn destroyed our homes and those horrid creatures still roam our lands today.” A thick fog seems to pour out from underneath the tiefling’s cloak as it steps closer, a wicked smile ripping across its face, to the knight the dimming lighting is now gone and only the light of the flames around the tiefling’s horns are visible and a deathly growl echoes from the stage. “You will rue the day I die.” You can hear a few of the audience members gasping and a small child can be heard whispering their fears to whoever had brought them.

  As the crowd settles down the lights rise, emulating a brilliant sunrise, behind the Golden Knight and you are both temporarily blinded as your eyes adjust to the brightness once more. The tiefling is now gone, but its black cloak has fallen upon the stage in front of the Golden Knights who is now holding both of the horns that were on the tieflings head.