D&D Clementinenade [Spoilers for Occulturation]
Amber, Katie, and Goschol and the Clementinenade adventure.
D&D fifth edition.
Amber is a Moon Druid Fairy. For the fairy race, I just made it a Tiny humanoid with 30 feet of walking speed and flying speed.
Katie is a Glamor Bard Fairy. For the fairy race, see above.
Goschol is a Genie (Dao) Warlock Genie. For the Genie race, I just made it a Medium humanoid with 30 feet of walking speed and flying speed.
I didn’t give any of the races special traits like darkvision or anything. I was just running it as simple as I could. All of the characters were level 3.
DM: “Alright, where did we leave off last time? Oh, that’s right. We’re in the hotel room. We have just organized the furniture that we bought from the store. Now remind me, what did you guys say you were going to do next?”
Amber: “I want to explore the world!”
Goschol: “As you wish, Master Amber. 𝆕 I will show you the world 𝆕.”
DM: “Alright, Katie? Do you have any thoughts?”
Katie: She is rummaging through a toy bin for props to use for the game. “No, just decide where to go without me.”
DM: “Okay, so if you want to explore the world, you’re going to be a bit more specific. You’re in a city with skyscrapers. You could go to the woods that are nearby. You could also visit a restaurant or the subway below the city. There is a park-”
Amber: “Let’s go to the woods!”
Goschol: “As you wish, my Lady Amber.”
…
DM: “Katie? Do you agree with going to the woods?”
Katie: “Yes, I’m going to cast a spell to make Goschol and Amber fall in love.”
Amber: “Hey, you can’t do that!”
DM: “Well, I mean, if she wants to waste her highest level spell slot, I’ll let her. It’s close enough to Charm Person that I’ll allow it. Both Amber and Goschol need to roll a Wisdom saving throw.”
Amber: “Ha, 18.”
Goschol: “Uh oh, 13.”
DM: “The DC was 14, Goschol fails. So while Amber is able to shake off a sudden attraction to her genie, the Goschol is overwhelmed with love towards his master. He tries to show his affection by performing all sorts of small tasks for her. “May I carry your bag for you?” And such.
[Note: Goschol and DM are both run by the same person: me.]
DM: “Okay, so you entered the woods and after a few hours, it is around noon when you… what are your passive Perception scores?”
Amber: “16”
Goschol: “10”
…
DM: “Katie?”
…
DM: “Well, Katie definitely doesn’t notice anything. And Goschol, I’m sorry to say that you’re a bit distracted by how quiet it is. You find it odd that there are no birds singing, no wind rattling the leaves, no twigs snapping under your feet. But Amber, you notice that there are fruit hanging from some of the trees. This fruit is a citrus fruit, like an orange. But it’s not an orange. Actually, roll an Intelligence (Nature) ability check.”
Amber: “13”
DM: “Yes, it’s not an orange. You’ve seen all sorts of fruits as a fairy druid, but you’ve never seen any fruit quite like this. However, the fruit quickly leaves your mind as you’re more curious about the arrow that is sticking out of a tree nearby. Around the shaft of the arrow is a scroll of paper.”
Amber: “I pick up the arrow and take out the paper.”
DM: “Do you read it?”
Amber: “Yes, I hold it up so everyone can see it and read it aloud.”
DM: “When you hold it up for everyone to see, you see that hastily scrawled in all caps over the entire page is one 4-letter word. You don’t have much time to read it, so you only catch that the first letter is “H”. You blink and the message is replaced with a long elegant writing in cursive. “You are cordially invited to a feast starting at midnight. To get there, follow the fruits hanging from the trees.”
Amber: “Hmm. Should we go to the feast? What do you all think?”
Goschol: “A feast sounds romantic. I think it would be a lovely place to have a date.”
Katie: “Oh, yes, I want to see you two on a date.”
Amber: “We’re not going on a date. But I also think it’s curious that there is an invitation to a feast sent via arrow.”
DM: “So you all decide to go? In that case, you easily follow the fruits hanging from the tree until you find yourself in a clearing.”
Katie: “I knock on the door.”
DM: “No, sorry. I mean, it’s a grove of trees. There is no door. There are no buildings. However, there are a bunch of tables set out with checkered tablecloths covering them. Laid out on the table are glass pitchers filled with some orange liquid with pulp in it, so it might be orange juice. And there are also glass cups set out on the table. Strangely, there are no plates, bowls, or silverware. However, it does seem like the tables are not entirely set up all the way yet as you see a young woman continuing to place cups and pitchers on the tables. She sees you and walks over to you.”
Amber: “I don’t trust her.”
DM: “I’ll assume that you didn’t say that aloud. You have more tact than that.”
Amber: “You’re right, instead I ask about the feast.”
Young woman: “Oh, the feast? My, you’re here early. It’s not for another 12 hours. It’s at midnight after all.”
Amber: “In that case, maybe we should leave and come back later.”
Young woman: “Oh, no no no. There is no need for that. I have a nice place where you can rest while you wait. It will only take a little bit. Time will fly right past, you’ll see.”
DM: “She leads you behind some bushes.”
Amber: “Well, I don’t want to be here. I’m going to leave.”
DM: “Oh, really? Everyone, roll a Wisdom saving throw.”
Amber: “13.”
DM: “Really? But you have a +6 to Wisdom saving throws.”
Amber: “Yes, my roll was a 7.”
DM: “Oh dear. Well maybe Goschol will have better-”
Goschol: “8”
DM: “Nevermind. Katie, you’re our last hop-”
Katie: “6”
DM: “That’s okay. But it does mean that you all stand there thinking about how you should get out of there and leave. You keep thinking about how you don’t trust the young woman. And before you know it, the sun has started to set. Amber, that’s when you feel someone bump into you. You turn around to see who it is, but there is no one there.”
Amber: “A g-g-ghost!”
DM: “Maybe. Amber, your passive Perception ise 16, so you instantly notice that there is fruit growing on these trees. It’s the same fruit you followed to get to this forest grove. However, the fruit here is overripe. It’s rotten. It’s squishy. There are bugs swarming around it and some of it is so squishy that it has fallen from the tree to the ground.
Amber: “Eew. I don’t like that. The fruit shouldn’t be rotten.”
Katie: “Eew. Let’s get out of here.”
DM: “You are all up and ready to move now. You all wonder why you had stayed there for so long when you had every intent to leave. What do you choose to do.”
Amber: “We leave.”
DM: “Very well, you all walk through the bushes and are immediately confronted by the young woman who runs over to you from across the grove. She walks up to you and-”
Young woman: “We’re not quite ready for the feast yet. Midnight is still a few hours away.”
Amber: “That’s okay, I don’t think we’ll be staying.”
Young woman: “W-what do you mean?”
Amber: “I mean, we’ve spent far longer here than we wanted to, so we think that we should better head out.”
DM: “The young woman grins and asks-”
Young woman: “No, I mean. What do you mean by ‘We’? I’m not going with you, so who are you talking about?”
DM: “Amber, you turn sideways to gesture to your friends who followed you out through the bush… but they’re not there.”
Amber: “I could have sworn they were with me just a second ago.”
Young woman: “Well, I guess you can leave. But if you’ve lost your friends, you should probably go find them first.”
DM: “She is still smiling.”
Amber: “Where are my friends?”
Young woman: “How should I know? I don’t know your personal life.”
Amber: “I turn into a mosquito and fly into the air to look for my friends.”
DM: “Very well, that’s where we will switch over to Katie’s perspective. Katie, after you followed Amber out of the bush, you lost track of her. Maybe she took a turn when you weren’t looking but you have no idea where she is now. The young woman from before walks up to you but stops further away from you than you would have expected. And instead of looking at you, she looks to the side at nothing. She just stares at nothing and nods her head and mouths words as though speaking with someone. Then she looks up into the air as though watching something fly away. Then she turns her attention to you.”
Young woman: “Sorry about that, did you need something?”
Katie: “Um, maybe. I came here to eat, but it’s still hours from the feast.”
Young woman: “Well, we don’t have any food yet, but we do have some drinks to tide you over in the meantime.”
Katie: “What’s in the drinks?”
Young woman: “It’s Clementinenade. It’s like lemonade, but instead of lemons, it’s… it’s made of something else.”
Katie: “What is it made of?”
DM: “The young woman smiles, showing her pearly white teeth.”
Young woman: “I can’t tell you that. That would ruin the surprise.”
Katie: “It better not be made of that rotten fruit.”
DM: “The young woman leans her head to the side and furrows her eyebrows.”
Young woman: “Rotten fruit?”
Katie: “The fruit is so squishy that it’s falling to the ground. If the juice is from that, I’m not having any.”
Young woman: “Don’t worry about the rotten fruit. That’s from last year’s harvest. That’s why we’re waiting until midnight. That’s when this year’s harvest will yield forth its fruit and we will have all fresh fruit.
Katie: “Screw this, I’m out of here.”
DM: “Do… do you just walk away?”
Katie: “No. I have a magical key.”
DM: “Is it the key to your hotel room?”
Katie: “No, it’s a key to everything.”
DM: “It can’t be the key to everything, but it can be the key to your hotel room.”
Katie: “Fine, it’s a key to my hotel room.”
DM: “Okay, you can use the key to your hotel room to get back to your hotel, but you are the only one with this key. So you would be leaving everyone behind.”
Katie: “I use the key to escape.”
DM: “Okay. You reach out with the key in your hand. Then you twist the key as if in an invisible keyhole. You hear an audible click as though unlocking a door. And a fog drops on top of you, blocking out your vision. You walk through the fog and find yourself back in your hotel room. As you walk through the fog, you can hear behind you a fading voice asking-”
Young woman: “Wouldn’t you like some Clementinenade?”
Amber: “Wait, she just left the adventure. She won’t be able to participate anymore.”
DM: “Well, I did tell her that she would be leaving everyone behind.”
Katie: “Oh, I didn’t think about it like that. In that case, I wake up from my dream. I’m still in the woods.”
DM: “Indeed you are. Not only are you in the woods. But as you try to stand up, you realize that your arms and legs are tied to a branch. You’re up in a tree.”
Katie: “Uh oh.”
DM: “As you look down, you see hundreds of people below you on the ground, gathered around tables and drinking the juice that the young woman called Clementinenade.”
Katie: “I scream for help.”
DM: “You scream ‘Help! Help! Help me!’ but no one down there reacts. They should have heard you. You’re not in a particularly tall tree. But they don’t respond. It’s like you’re not there.”
Amber: “Wait a second. That 4-letter word that was originally on the paper. It started with “H” like… like the word-”
Katie: “‘Help’, like ‘Help!’”
Amber: “The paper had said ‘Help!’ But it changed!”
DM: “Maybe.”
Amber: “Are you always going to say ‘Maybe?’”
DM: “Maybe.”
Katie: “Fine. If they can’t hear me then… I see a witch on a broomstick.”
DM: “You see a witch on a broomstick?”
Katie: “Yes, and she is looking for a magical key.”
Amber: “Is it your magical key?”
Katie: “Yes.”
DM: “It’s too bad that she’ll never find that magical key. Because as you scream for ‘Help!’, the witch flies past slowly on her broom. She doesn’t turn her head at your voice. She doesn’t react at all. And despite the large number of people on the ground, the witch doesn’t look down. She doesn’t seem to notice them. You don’t think she can see or hear any of you.”
Katie: “Oh.”
Amber: [out of character] Looks over her own shoulder.
DM: “Why did you look behind you?”
Amber: “No reason.”
DM: “Are you scared?”
Amber: “What? … Yes.”
DM: “Nothing even happened yet.”
Amber: “You all disappeared! I’m all alone. And everyone’s invisible!”
DM: “Don’t worry. You’ll figure it out.”
Katie: “I’m going to fly down from the tree.”
DM: “That would be a bit easier if you weren’t tied down. Luckily, you do have your key. Unfortunately, it’s in your back pocket, so you can’t hold it. But it does have a sharp edge, so maybe…”
Katie: “I can use the key to cut the ropes around my wrists!”
DM: “Good idea. How original of you. Go ahead and roll Dexterity + Proficiency bonus since you’re proficient in knives.”
Katie: “6+2+2… 10!”
DM: “That’s not enough.”
Katie: “Can I try again?”
DM: “May I, but yes. This, however, will take multiple minutes and we will switch to Amber’s perspective after you make this roll.”
Katie: “11+4=15!”
DM: “There we go. You cut yourself free. Amber, you’re up. You’re a mosquito in the air.”
Amber: “I’m going to find my friends.”
DM: “Where do you think they might be?”
Amber: “The last place I saw them was before I left the bushes. So maybe they are still behind the bushes.”
DM: “You fly through the bushes once more and see piles of rotten fruit on the ground. Looking up, you’re not sure where all that fruit could have come from. There wasn’t enough fruit in the trees to produce such large piles.”
Amber: “Oh no! She’s turning them into fruit!”
DM: “Maybe.”
Amber: “Ugh, stop saying that!”
DM: “What do you do now?”
Amber: “I’m going to investigate the fruit that is on the trees.”
DM: “You fly up to the one of the fruits that is hanging from the trees. It’s rotten of course and there are bugs swarming around it. As you touch it, however, it doesn’t feel like fruit. Instead of the orange peel coating you expect, it is sticky and hard. And as you touch it, it is very clearly a bundle of bones.”
Amber: “Eew! I fly up and away. I’ll check on a different fruit.”
DM: “You come up to another fruit. This one seems fresh. It isn’t as squishy and soft as the overripe rotten fruits below.”
Amber: “I… um, I touch it.”
DM: “You hesitantly touch it, and it squirms. But something you notice is that the area that moves is larger than the fruit itself. The fruit is something that could fit in your hands. But the branches and air above the fruit move as well. And you have a high enough passive Perception so I’ll just give it to you. There is a shimmering silhouette of a Small humanoid.”
Amber: “I shake it harder.”
DM: “You’re still a mosquito, You’re not shaking anything.”
Amber: “Oh. That’s right. I turn back into a fairy and shake the fruit.”
DM: “You shake the fruit. It’s incredibly heavy, at least compared to what you were expecting. This must weigh like 80 pounds or something. And it’s also a lot bigger than it appears. And you hear the voice of a little girl whimpering.”
Little girl: “No! Stop! Don’t hurt me!”
Amber: “I-I won’t hurt you.”
Little girl: “What? Where are you? Show yourself!”
Amber: “I can’t show myself. There is a young woman that is preventing anyone from seeing each other.”
Little girl: “I’m not sure who you are or if I can trust you. But if you’re not a bad person, could you help me? I’m tied to this branch. I can’t get away.”
Amber: “I don’t know if I can trust you either. I can’t really see you. I can only barely make out your silhouette. But I’m going to trust you anyway.”
DM: “Okay, what do you plan on doing?”
Amber: “Do I have a knife?”
DM: “Yes.”
Amber: “I’ll use the knife to cut her free.”
DM: “Roll Dexterity + your Proficiency bonus.”
Amber: “Um, total is 13.”
DM: “Ooh. That will succeed. But it will take a few minutes.”
Amber: “There, you’re free.”
Little girl: “Thank you. But I don’t think I can climb down.”
DM: “It’s not very high. But if she fell, she would definitely break something.”
Amber: “That’s okay. I can cast a spell on her to help her get down.”
DM: “You can’t see her. You can’t target her with a spell if you can’t even see her.”
Amber: “Then I need to be able to see her. Hey, little girl. What’s your name?”
Little girl: “I’m Jeopra. What’s yours?”
Amber: “I’m Amber. I need you to touch that fruit over there.”
Jeopra: “This fruit?”
DM: “Jeopra reaches out her hand and taps a fruit hanging below her. She immediately recoils and an expression of horror covers her face.”
Jeopra: “Aah!”
Amber: “W-what’s wrong?”
Jeopra: “T-that fruit. It… it had fur. It was hairy!”
Amber: “Maybe it was an animal.”
DM: “Maybe.”
Amber: “Stop it! Okay, I take out my phone and take a picture of the fruit and look up what type of animal it is.”
DM: “You use your phone, you say? Okay, you look it up on the search engine using the photo search function. However, it comes up as an orange. A Clementine to be specific. You know this isn’t true. That fruit is not any sort of orange you’ve seen before. The only similarity is it’s color and peel.”
Amber: “Okay, then I search if there are any animals that look like fruits.”
DM: “You know that some snakes look like flowers and some animals disguise themselves as plants. However, the search engine comes up with the same answer. Clementine. Clementine oranges. Now that you look closer, you can see that the tabs on the search engine where it says ‘All,’ ‘Images,’ ‘Videos,’ ‘News,’ it instead says, ‘Clementine,’ Clementine,’ Clementine,’ ‘Clementine.’”
Amber: “Ah, spooky! I… how am I going to get Jeopra to see me?”
DM: “Hmm. Amber has an impressive Wisdom, so maybe… Amber, roll a Wisdom ability check with proficiency.”
Amber: “18+4+2”
DM: “The result doesn’t matter. It’s high enough.”
Amber: “Wait, my phone is glowing.”
DM: “Yes. Exactly.”
Jeopra: “Hey, I… I can see you. You’re glowing. No, that’s your phone. I can see you in its light. You’re… you’re a fairy!”
Amber: “I shine my phone light onto the little girl.”
DM: “As the light hits the shimmering silhouette, it floods with color and becomes opaque. You can see it is a human. A little girl.”
Amber: “Wait. Then this means… I shine my light on the fruit that Jeopra touched.”
DM: “It’s a racoon. And it’s angry.”
Amber: “I’m going to cut it free.”
DM: “How are you going to cut it free without getting hit by its claws?”
Amber: “I’m just going to jump out of the way of it’s claws.”
DM: “Fine, it’s just a standard cut check but it takes ten times as much time because you’re doing this in an inefficient way.”
Amber rolls and gets a result that the DM determines takes 20 minutes to complete.
DM: “Okay, we’re back to Katie’s perspective. Katie, you’ve just cut yourself free. What are you going to do?”
Katie: “Well, now that my hands are free. I’m going to take out my phone and call Amber.”
Amber: “Why didn’t I think of that?”
DM: “Amber. You hear your phone ringing. And when your phone rings, the young woman on the ground hears it too and turns to look at you. She has started walking in your directions. What do you do?”
Amber: “I answer my phone. ‘Hello?’”
DM: “Katie, what do you say?”
Katie: “I say, ‘Amber, I was trapped in a tree, but I’ve gotten out now. Where are you?”
Amber: “I’m in a tree too, I found a-”
DM: “Actually, Amber. You don’t hear that. Instead, you hear Katie say, ‘Get down from that tree.’ However, your passive Perception is high enough that you can see the young woman is mouthing words as she walks to you.”
Amber: “Uh oh. The young woman is talking to me on the phone!”
DM: “Maybe.”
Amber: “Then there is no point in continuing this phone call. It isn’t Katie that called me, it’s that young woman. I hang up.”
DM: “Katie. You hear Amber say that you’re not really Katie. Then she hangs up.”
Katie: “I’m thinking maybe phone calls aren’t going to work. Okay, then I fly down to where all the people are.”
DM: “It’s far past sunset now. It’s about 3 hours until midnight. So it’s too dark to see anything.”
Katie: “Okay, then I turn on my phone’s flashlight.”
Amber: “Yes! Yes!”
DM: “Katie, you see that there people gathered around the tables, drinking the Clementinenade.”
Katie: “No one should drink that! I fly down to a table and shine my light on the pitchers of Clementinenade.”
DM: “Now that your light is shining on the Clementinenade, it is no longer orange with pulp. It is instead an opaque dark red with chunks of… something floating in it. There are also some heavier chunks at the bottom of the pitcher.”
Katie: “Eew! Is it blood?”
DM: “Maybe.”
Amber: “Gross!”
Katie: “I tell everyone to stop drinking it. I tell them to run away.”
DM: “You can’t see them unless you turn your light on them, but you hear all around, screams. Then vomiting. Perhaps it has something to do with you shining light on the pitcher of what they were drinking.”
Katie: “Well, at least they’re not drinking it anymore.”
DM: “They do get up and scatter in all directions. However, with your light, you can see that some of them are running into each other, and falling to the ground.”
Amber: “Wait, that’s what bumped me when we were in the bushes! It was an invisible person. They couldn’t see me and I couldn’t see them.”
DM: “Maybe. Anyway, Katie, you see them running into each other, if you shine light on some, they will be able to see each other and coordinate their movement, but it won't help too much unless you can somehow shine your light on all of them.”
Katie: “I’m going to fly straight up and shine my light down.”
DM: “Oh, that’s smart. Because it’s a cone, it will cover a massive area. It will be dim, being so far up and diluted, but it should do the trick to let them all see each other, even if only as translucent ghostly images. And with the light, you can hear their screams. Amber, you hear it too.”
Amber: “I investigate the screams.”
DM: “On the ground is a large circular area of dim light. Crossing that area are translucent, transparent people. They’re hysterical. Some are screaming. Some are crying. Their voices are faint, but you can hear them. As people enter the area, they appear from nowhere. When they leave, they disappear as though they never existed.”
Amber: “I’m going to fly into there and find Katie.”
DM: “You fly into the area, but you don’t see Katie in there. You call out for Katie, knowing that she would be able to see you in this area. As Katie calls back, you hear her above you. You shine your light on the trees above you, but she isn’t in the trees. You look up and up until you see a star. But it’s too bright to be a star, it’s Katie shining down light from her phone.”
Amber: “I’m going to fly to her.”
DM: “Amber, roll a Dexterity saving throw.”
Amber succeeds her saving throw, barely dodging out of the way of the young woman that has creeping up on her. However, she feels a tendril of orange peel grab around her leg. She is able to get away, but she is thinking that the young woman might not be human.
Amber: “Let’s go get the little girl down from the tree.”
DM: “How will you do that?”
Amber: “I think we should give her wings.”
DM: “Wings… what? How would you… well, it’s not too much greater than Levitate. So If you both use your highest level spell slot and combine your powers, you can give her the ability to fly.”
Jeopra: “Yay, I can fly!”
DM: “Now what are you going to do?”
Amber: “We’re going to find Goschol.”
DM: “Okay, you shine your lights on the fruits and some of them are the skeletal remains of creatures that died a year ago, and some are people and animals that seem to have been trapped just today. Are you just going to ignore them and look for Goschol instead?”
Katie: “Yes.”
Amber: “No.”
Katie: “Oh, in that case, I will help them as well.
DM: “In that case, you will all need to make a Dexterity ability check with proficiency.”
Amber: “9”
Katie: “5”
Jeopra: “21”
DM: “There are about 30 people trapped in the trees. Amber can release one trapped person per 11 minutes, Katie can release one trapped person per 15 minutes. And Jeopra can release each person by taking only a few seconds to cut loose each trapped person. Within a minute or two, she can release each of the trapped people.”
Jeopra: “Ah! This one is a genie.”
Amber: “That must be Goschol.”
Goschol: “Yes, it is I. Thank you for releasing me, human child.”
Jeopra: “My name is Jeopra.”
Goschol: “I will remember your name, human child.”
DM: “As the freed animals and humans scatter in all directions. The young woman stares at you flying folk with anger. Soon everyone else is gone out of sight. They’ve escaped. But as you move to leave, everything goes dark. There is only one thing you can see, it’s the young woman… but she doesn’t look like a young woman anymore. You can’t tell where the ground is because everything is a uniform black. Depth perception is difficult to judge. It’s like your eyes are closed but you can still see what was moments ago a young woman, glowing as though in a spotlight. Instead of a human she is… she is…”
Amber: “Come, one just describe it.”
DM: “Just pretend I did something cool to stall for time. I only get one first chance to describe the monster of this adventure, I need to get it right.”
Katie: “You’re kind of ruining the magic by hesitating.”
DM: “You see a roughly humanoid shaped creature. However, its skin is like that of an orange peel. Its head is a massive orange. Carved into the front of the orange are holes for eyes and a jagged smile for a mouth. Pulp is hanging out of the holes. For arms and legs, it has branches and roots to make up the digits and malleable arms.”
Monster: “Where do you think you’re going? Would you really leave your friends behind after going through all that effort to save them?”
DM: “Roll initiative.”
Amber: “19”
Jeopra: “17”
Katie: “16”
Monster: “12”
Goschol: “11”
DM: “Amber, you’re up first. Everything is dark. You can’t see the floor, any trees or bushes that might be in the way, or any of your friends. The only thing you can see is the monster. What do you do?”
Amber: “I fly up to it and carve into its face with my knife.”
DM: “You carve a nice little nose onto that face. Roll attack and damage to see if your carving is anything more than decorational.”
Amber: “Uh oh. 12 to hit.”
DM: “Why do you guys keep getting 12s? Well, that’s not enough to deal damage. You carve a nice nose into it, but you fail to cause any of its insides to fall out. Let’s see who’s next. Oh.”
Katie: “I’m next, right?”
DM: “Well, sort of. But first. You all hear frantic footsteps and wingbeats as someone runs across the ground in a mad sprint right past the monster. The monster turns to face something that none of you can see and reaches out with its claw like hands.”
The DM makes a few secret rolls.
DM: “You hear a thud as something hits the ground next to the monster, and no more sound or movement after that.”
Amber: “Oh no! That must have been Jeopra because a fairy wouldn’t have been heavy enough to make a sound from falling and a genie doesn’t have wings or feet.”
Katie: “I also have that same realization. Can I help her?”
DM: “It is your turn Katie, but what do you mean by ‘Can you help her?’”
Katie: “Can I help Jeopra?”
DM: “You don’t know where Jeopra is. But you did hear something hit the ground next to the monster.”
Katie: “I go to where I heard something fall.”
DM: “If you reach down, there is definitely something there. It does appear to be a human. Though you can’t tell just by touching who it could be.”
Katie: “Jeopra is the only person left. Who else could it be?”
DM: “Jeopra is the only person that is still in the woods according to your knowledge. But you don’t know her well enough to be able to identify her on touch alone. Though you could make the conclusion that since the body is human, and she is the only human here, that this is Jeopra.”
Katie: “Then I make that conclusion.”
DM: “She is breathing unsteadily and isn’t moving. This means she has probably passed out. If she doesn’t receive immediate medical attention, she might not make it.”
Katie: “I’m going to heal her.”
DM: “How so? If you try to cast a spell, you would need to see her first. If you use standard first aid, you’ll need to roll a Wisdom (Medicine) check with a DC of 15.”
Katie: “I’ll do first aid.”
DM: “Roll for it.”
Katie: “10.”
DM: “Not enough. You can tell that your efforts are not effective. It’s hard to tell where the different body parts are. You think you’ve found the face, but no, that’s its shoe. Ah, this must be the arm, no wait, it’s the neck. Wait, if that’s a neck, it definitely shouldn’t bend that way. Hopefully that’s the leg.”
Monster: “My turn. I attack the person that carved a nose into my face.”
DM: “Okay, 15 to hit. Your AC is only 13, so that’s a hit. 1d6+2 damage… it rolled a 6, so 8 damage. Your 21 hit points have been reduced to 13.
Goschol: “My turn. I cast Witch Bolt.”
Amber: “But aren’t you an earth genie?”
Goschol: “Oh, that’s right. Okay, imagine a hose that shoots out water. No image that the water is actually dirt and rocks. I spray a spout of pebbles at the monster, which for some reason deals lighting damage.”
Amber: “That’s more like it.”
[I’m not going to bother tracking numbers anymore. I’ll just say whether it hit or not.]
Goschol: “That’s a hit. 2d10 lightning damage.”
DM: “Amber, your turn again. You can choose to get away from the monster, so it can’t hit you. You could also attack it again.”
Amber: “Can I cast a spell?”
DM: “Sure, what do you want to do?”
Amber: “Can I cast a spell that makes us able to see each other?”
DM: “Yes, Faerie Fire would work. But the monster would have advantage on attacks against you and your allies. But you would be able to see your allies and coordinate with them and cast spells on them. Is it worth it?”
Amber: “Yes. I cast Faerie Fire.”
DM: “Well, since it doesn’t make sense for any of you to make a Dexterity saving throw against a spell effect that you don’t even see coming and can’t see or hear or sense in any way, I’ll just have you all automatically fail except for the monster, who gets a saving throw.”
Monster: “Yeah, I rolled really low. That’s a failure.”
DM: “Okay, you all alight up in fire. And the ground, trees, and plants around you are all traced in green, purple, blue and yellow flames that don’t actually burn anything. You can all see and hear each other, and have advantage on attacks against the monster. But it also has advantage on attacks against all of you.”
Katie: “My turn? I heal Jeopra with a magic spell.”
DM: “Yes. Now because you can see her, you can heal her with magic. Since she is a Commoner, you don’t even need to roll. She is just fully healed.”
Katie: “Is there anything else I can do?”
DM: “You’re a bard. You could use Bardic Inspiration to inspire someone. Or use your College of Glamor alternative use of Bardic inspiration to give your allies temporary hit points.”
Katie: “I’ll do that.”
DM: “Alright, you start singing an old western nursery song. ‘Oh My Darling, Clementine.’ Your allies can all move up to their speed as a reaction without provoking opportunity attacks and they all gain 5 temporary hit points.”
Amber: “I use the reaction to run away.”
Jeopra: “I use the reaction to run away.”
Monster: “I attack Katie, since she is the only creature that is still within melee range.”
Goschol: “Witch Bolt’s automatic damage. 1d10 lightning damage, which I describe as a spout of pebbles raining upon it.”
Amber: “I throw my knife at the monster. I hit. I deal 1d4+1 piercing damage.”
Jeopra: “I throw my shoe at the monster. I am so glad that I have advantage, or else I wouldn’t have hit. I deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage and roll so high that I actually do more damage than Amber does with her low rolling dagger.”
Amber: “How did she do more damage with a shoe than I did with a knife?”
DM: “You hit with the hilt and she with the heel.”
Katie: “I walk over to Jeopra and cast a spell to place her in a protective bubble.”
DM: “Hm. The closest spell to this is Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere. But that is out of the power level of a 3rd level character. Luckily, you’re a bard, I’m not going to look it up, but I’ll just assume that you can cast Sanctuary.”
Monster: “I follow after Katie and attack her. I get a critical hit. I deal 2d6+2, I still somehow only deal 8 damage, like I did to Amber.”
Goschol: “I follow after the monster and use Witch Bolt’s automatic 1d10 lighting damage.”
Amber: “I take Katie’s key and open the door to the hotel. And I go through the door.”
DM: “The door will stay open until the end of your next turn.”
Jeopra: “I am stuck in a bubble, unable to do much, so I roll the bubble into the hotel room.”
Katie: “I run through the hotel room.”
Monster: “I make a strike at her as she runs away but miss.”
Katie: “I throw my knife at the monster now that I am in the hotel room. I hit and deal 1d4+2 piercing damage.”
Monster: “I follow Katie into the room and attack. I hit, dealing 1d6+2 damage.
Katie: “I’m only at 3 hit points.”
Goschol: “I follow in and deal the automatic 1d10 lighting damage from my pebbles.”
Amber: “Katie is low on hit points, so I go up to her and heal her.”
Katie: “I run away.”
Monster: “I attack as she runs away but miss.”
Katie: “I attack and throw my knife at her from far away. And I miss.”
Monster: “I attack Amber, since… no. Actually, no. I chase after Katie and attack. I hit. I reduce her to 5 hit points.”
Amber: “I strike the monster with my knife as it runs past. I hit, and reduce it to 5 hit points.”
Goschol: “I deal exactly 5 lighting damage to the monster. It falls unconscious.”
DM: “Wow, that was pretty scary. Right?”
Amber: “I’m never going to any midnight feasts or parties ever again.”
Katie: “But what about New Years?”
Amber: “I might make an exception for New Years.”