Alright guys, here is Episode 1 part 1. You may be wondering, why is there a part 1? Well our sessions were always broken up in parts wherever the narrative needed it. Also it helps for recaps and something like posting on a blog so you don’t have to read a wall of text. Because that’s fun. No, no, I spared you all that grueling agony. The players in their first D&D session together, it brings a smile every time I revisit this memory. Enjoy, I know my players and I most certainly did.

Four adventurers walk along the roads towards the small town Greenest, a small mining town in the outskirts of civilization, but an eerie fog looms over the surrounding foothills that make for the town’s natural defenses. It is at an intersection that their fates become entwined.

Along the road, the warlock Breadon encounters a pair of kobolds with a sack of trinkets in the midst of an argument. Breadon questioned the pair, learning of the promise of loot, a return to their lair, and a ‘dragon man’. The warlock decided to leave the two to their bickering instead. Their draconic voices fade into the fog, and after a few short strides Breadon hears the pitter-patter of horseshoes approaching from behind.

He spots a tiefling striding on the road on top of a horse (who was named Susan, and he wanted to be respected for his life choices). The tiefling introduces herself as Aydan, the two exchange inquiries about the fog, which then they learned of their shared destination. The duo marched along the road in idle chatter before stumbling upon the wizard, Arcaelus, as he emerged from the brush nearby. Initially startled, Aydan and Breadon managed to restrain themselves from incinerating the human. The mystery of the fog continued to elude them, believing that their answers could be found in the town of Greenest, they made for the final approach. The trio followed the road until it led to a three-road intersection, with a wooden post directing them to the route of Greenest.

Two shadows approached the intersection from the opposite path, the warlock conjured some faerie fire to illuminate the area. It revealed another the tiefling, a half-elf and a horse. The two introduced themselves as Illya and Jimmy, the horse was aptly named Sarah Jessica Parker. The groups exchanged pleasantries, denoting of the peril that lied beyond the hills into Greenest. They followed the winding road and reached the top of the final hill, the town of Greenest was just a few short miles away. Instead of the pleasant, welcoming lumber and mining town one would expect, they find columns of black smoke rising from burning buildings, shadowy figures running in the distance, and a dark winged figure wheeling low over the keep that rises above the town.

A bolt of lightning erupts across the sky and clashes against one of the towers of the keep located at the center of town. A great explosion resounds through the hillside, the glimmer from the bolt revealed a blue dragon as it encircled the keep. After dispatching some raiders and kobolds along a bridge, the party find themselves in the midst of a bandit raid.  Passing through some alleyways and dispatching some more bandits, the group find some workers from an excavation site that may very well be the cause for all these misfortunes. Some more bandits interrupt their meeting, leading to another scuffle within an intersection. The party instruct Illya to take the workers back to the keep, a thunderous spell from our Jimmy G finished off the remaining marauders but lured the blue dragon upon them. The dragon unleashed a great bolt, tearing through several houses and buildings, along the route that Illya and the workers departed. The party find the mangled corpses of the two horses and one of the workers, but no tiefling.

The party arrive at the keep, though battered and bruised, they are reunited with Illya along with the dwarf commander of the keep, Gard Brimstone. After a short rest the thunderous roar from the dragon resounds through the cloudy night sky, its shadow emerging from the clouds with wing beats like the sound of tornadoes.

Image: Wizards of the Coast
Image: Wizards of the Coast