Once upon a time, a camp went horribly, horribly wrong.
It started out pretty mildly. After holing up with all the gold they’d looted, the small, narrow entranced room with good view of any approaches seemed ideal. Admittedly, putting the Bard to watch for the whole camp was optimistic given his 8 Wisdom. Also they did underestimate the danger posed by the beastie that got away and they decided not to pursue.
When the Bard failed watch and the snake leapt from the shadows and coiled around his torso, ready to strike his face, things looked bad. The Bard was already Weak so his powering through was probably going to fail. He did get off a scream, which was generous given the snake then disengaged its jaw and swallowed his head.
But his companions were roused! Surely the Ranger and his pet direwolf will save him. O, they missed the slippery shadow beast and instead skewered and rendered the Bard. O noes!
But the Druid has now scrambled free of his sarcophagus, surely he will save him. With elementary mastery? Wait. You’re summoning a wall of flame in this small room around its only exit. Yes it will burn the snake. The snake wrapped around the Bard. Okay, go for it. Holy smoke, you failed your roll too.
Let us see. Everyone is burnt, blasted and choking from the living inferno the Druid just called forth blocking the only exit from this room full of dry, ruined carpet, pillows and tapestries. Except the Bard was already choking from the large snake swallowing his head. The ring fire around him also isn’t helping. And the fact that his companions have done more damage to him than any other “monster” so far.
The story ends well. The Bard survived with one hp and a little dignity after killing the beast. And even though he was scalded and near dead from smoke and snake bile, it took a while to convince him that resting and recovering was a good idea: “Camping caused all these problems in the first place”.
This story really had me jazzed and then it had that horrible ending where the bard lives… #bardist
Yes. The fact that the Bard did not die caused me some serious cognitive dissonance.
Of course a mere mortal would have fell against such a grievous onslaught. But this was Talisan, the Fey Eyed, the Tattooed Mage, of the House of the True Bards.
Plus dice are fickle things, that promise the Abyss but leave you on the precipice, to take full responsibility should you jump.
I think the Bard was hit by 1d4+2d6+2d8+7 damage, much of which ignored his 1 armour. So he survived by luck alone.
Oh it’s just my personal disdain for bards.