I thought it would be fun to turn each of our game sessions into a story. I take a lot of notes when I play to help keep me focused on the game, so it was easy to add in some extra note-taking details about what characters said or did. And then I had an outline for an epic tale of four friends turned adventures in the city of Waterdeep. And a fun way for our group to share a recap of each session. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy reading our adventures!
The Beginning of an Adventure
Jofina sits around a table in the crowded bar room of the Yawning Portal with her new friends. She and Ivy, the half-elf druid, had met in the woods near Evereska around four months ago. The eladrin struggled those first weeks after leaving her home in the feywild. The world here was fascinating but she missed having magic all around, guiding her through the woods.
Jofina thinks to herself, If it wasn't for Ivy's help I might not have found my way to Rhyme's village. Or even Waterdeep to bring Rhyme's brother Kairos a tiny clockwork dragonfly.
The women arrived in Waterdeep a month ago with the package for Jofina's friend Rhyme's younger brother. The harengon had moved to the city to open up a watchmaker shop. When Jofina and Ivy found Kairos at his shop he was delighted to meet his brother's fey friend. He invited the two women to join him and his friend Torryn at the Yawning Portal for drinks. The two of them had met at Kairos' watchmaker shop about four months ago.
That first trip to the Yawning Portal was a month ago, thought Jofina. The eladrin looks across the room spotting Threestrings, the human bard, setting up to play another song on his three-stringed lute. She had come to oddly enjoy his interesting music style. She also spies Durnan the owner of the Yawning Portal behind the bar as usual. Bonnie the barmaid heads their way.
"Hello Kairos, Torryn. Nice to see you again. What will you all be having tonight?" Bonnie says as a way of greeting the group.
"Ale," grunts Torryn, Kairos's tiefling friend.
"And to eat?" Bonnie asks.
"Just ale," answers Torryn.
"Ale on an empty stomach could be a bit unfavorable," replies the barmaid.
Jofina quickly asks, "What drinks do you have tonight?"
"We have ale, dwarven ale, gnome ale, and even halfling ale! Also elven berry wine, dwarven fire wine, and even an eladrin honey wine!" answers Bonnie cheerfully.
"I'll have the dwarven fire wine," Jofina says.
The barmaid gives the woman with light pink skin and hair that looks like a spring meadow full of flowers a curious look and says, "You're one of them fey elves, aren't you? That dwarven ale is gonna burn on the way down."
"I'm excited to try it!" Jofina says and then asks, "What do you have to eat?"
Bonnie laughs and lists off the meals on the menu for this evening. All of which come with a house vegetable mix.
"I'll try the venison," answers Jofina. Then to the tiefling, "Torryn, I'll let you know if it's any good. In case you want to order some."
Bonnie turns to the half-elf and asks, "And you love? What's your name again?"
"Name's Ivy. I'll have the eladrin honey wine," the half-elf replies.
"Ah, excellent choice. Although unfortunately, we can't seem to get the really good stuff from the feywild…"
Jofina interrupts the barmaid, "It loses its flavor here in the mortal realm."
"Ah. Yes, that would make sense," Bonnie says and then turns back to the half-elf saying, "Ivy, I'll start to remember your name better if you come in more often like your friends Kairos and Torryn. What will you have to eat?"
"How is your venison sourced?" the druid asks.
"How is it sourced?" the barmaid replies, surprised by the question, "Well we get it from the butcher. And well I don't know where he gets it from, but I do know that the animals are humanly killed."
"Very well. I'll take the venison," Ivy says.
"And you, my little friend?" Bonnies says looking down at the small harengon.
"I'll have the honey wine too. And my usual," answers Kairos.
"One lettuce and tomato sandwich on toast," replies the human.
Jofina wrinkles her nose thinking, I don't know how he has so much energy eating only lettuce and tomato toast.
Bonnie heads off to put in their order. The group sits back taking in the sights and sounds of the room. In the corner, gamblers are cheering and yelling. And it's late enough in the night that the drunken singing of adventurers almost drowns out the three-stringed lute. Jofina hums along with the music while waiting for Bonnie to return with their drinks.
Suddenly the door opens and a group of five human men come in the door. They push past the table bumping Ivy's chair. She cringes from the jostling, missing the quiet of her forest. The group makes their way to a table near where Yagra, a half-orc mercenary, sits by the fire. All of them giving Yagra murderous looks.
Ivy, recognizing the symbol on one of the men's jackets, pokes Torryn asking, "Hey. Aren't they members of the Xanathar Guild? Do you know them?"
Torryn looks over at the five men and shrugs saying with an uncertain tone, "I don't think so."
"They're giving Yagra murderous looks," Ivy says.
Torryn looks over again and shrugs saying, "If you say so."
"What are you two talking about?" Jofina says.
Ivy points to the table with the five men saying, "Those guys. I think they're members of the Xanathar Guild. And they're totally giving Yagra the stink eye."
Jofina peers over at the group and agrees with the half-elf. But before they can continue their discussion, Bonnie returns with their drinks and food. And even though she hadn't written anything down, the barmaid knew exactly who ordered what. The group turns to their meals and drinks letting the din of the room surround them.
Suddenly a man in the new group with a shaven head covered in eye-shaped tattoos shouts, "Ya like killin' me mates, do ya?" Then he rushes Yagra and punches her in the face. The other four humans get up and stand behind their companion, ready to join the fight. A crowd quickly forms around the pair, blocking Jofina, Ivy, Kairos, and Torryn's views of the brawl.
Without a second thought, Torryn jumps up and begins pushing her way through the crowd. Joffina, Ivy, and Kairos quickly follow right on her heels. When they finally break through the crowd, they see Yarga has pinned her attacker to the ground, but his four companions are circling her menacingly.
Before the eye-tattooed man's friends can join the fray, Kairos hums a soothing tune set to the rhythm of a ticking clock and two of them slump to the ground fast asleep. A mass tangle of weeds and vines suddenly spreads out to carpet the floor, ensnarling two more of the Xanathar Guild members. Jofina knew the unusual flora could only have come from her friend Ivy. She had seen the druid cast this spell a few times during the three months they spent in the woods and on the road.
Jofina confidently steps over to the last man standing and says intimidatingly, "All of your friends are either asleep or ensnared, the city watch has been called, and you have nowhere to go. You should just surrender now."
He doesn't hesitate to hold his hands up in surrender a bit unnerved by the strange-looking woman.
Now that an all out brawl had been brought to a halt, the patrons of the Yawning Portal began returning to their tables. But before they can take more than a few steps a giant creature climbs out of the shaft in the middle of the room. People begin yelling in alarm and racing towards the exits or under tables to hide! The bar room is in total chaos!
As the crowd parts, Jofina and her companions see a nine-foot tall, warty green-skinned monstrosity with a carrot-shaped nose covered in half a dozen bat-like creatures. Three more of them fly around his head of tangled black hair.
Durnan jumps onto the bar yelling, "Troll!"
Kairos turns, glowing hourglasses shining in his eyes as he focuses on the troll, who grabs his head growling from the sudden spike of pain. The half dozen bat-like creatures attached to the troll immediately let go, their hunger sated and fly lazily back down the shaft.
Durnan draws his greatsword and attacks the monster head on shouting, "I'll take care of the troll! You focus on the stirges!"
Jofina draws her longsword and shield, dances over to the closest stirge, and slices the creature in half. One of Torryn's arrows flies past the eladrin pinning a second stirge to the ground. Its wings flap weakly a few times before stopping altogether. A second arrow, shot by Ivy, flies past the paladin's other side. The stirge deftly darts out of the way of the arrow. Yarga joins Durnan in fighting the troll, the two of them wearing it down.
Jofina swings and misses the last stirge, as it again flies out of harm's way. It swoops back down intent on attacking Jofina, but she raises her leaf-shaped shield blocking the creature. Torryn's arrow clips the stirges wing, distracting it enough for Ivy to sneak up behind the creature and take it down with her dagger.
Durnan still fighting the troll, Yarga by his side, calls out, "We need fire to kill the troll. Candles, table lamps anything that has a flame!"
Kairos spins his hands around creating an orb of fire. He throws it at the troll, but it goes wide landing several feet off to the right. The floor smolders from the impact of the fiery orb for a moment before going out.
Durnan swings his greatsword, slicing into the troll and dropping the creature to one knee.
Jofina looks around and sees a lamp on the table closest to the troll. The area around the eladrin shimmers just before she disappears and then suddenly reappears on the table. Without missing a beat, the paladin picks up the oil lantern and smashes it into the troll, lighting it up like a stinky human torch. The troll slumps to the ground. Durnan leans over and gives the creature a shove sending it back down the hole.
Durnan looks at the group saying matter-of-factly, "Thanks for your help. You fought well."
The patrons of the Yawning Portal flood back into the bar and a crowd amasses around the party. Everyone is chatting excitedly about the appearance of the troll and the fight that ensued.
A man in a floppy hat and scarf pushes his way through the crowd. When he gets to the group, he strokes his mustache and says, "You be adventures. Am I right?" before anyone can answer he continues, "I could tell from the way ye fought that monstrosity. I could use your help."
Jofina confirms, "We are."
The mysterious stranger adjusts his hat and says, "Volothamp Geddarm, chronicler, wizard, and celebrity, at your service. I'm sure you've noticed the violence in our fair city these past tendays. I haven't seen this much blood since my last visit to Baldur's Gate! And now I fear I have misplaced my friend amid this odious malevolence. Let's find a table to talk, shall we?"
Jofina, Ivy, Kairos, and Torryn look at each other.
Torryn shrugs saying, "Sure."
The others agree and they head back to their table. They were pleased to find that their dinners and drinks were still on the table where they left them. Jofina drags a chair from another table over for Volo and they all take a seat.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading!
When I started working on this, I thought to myself, "Do you really need to start writing another story?" And apparently, the answer was a resounding, "Yes!" And it's because I had such a great time playing our first game that I wanted to share the fun and excitement.