The one with the very old dragon
The story starts with Araceli making her way to the temp agency. She's running late and is very stressed about it. After hyping herself up outside, she makes her way into the building to find a cast of characters sitting around a table. An elderly tiefling introduces herself as Miriam and begins the onboarding process. After explaining the way that jobs will work to everyone, she shows them the portal, speaks the portal key, and sends them on their way.
They arrive in a cave filled with a seemingly neverending sea of gold. Nix, the abjuration fairy, is immediately able to sense the presence of abjuration magic and the team can tell that there is no way in or out. After taking in their surroundings for a moment, the team watches as the gold begins to shift and undulate below them, revealing an ancient golden dragon who introduces himself as Ragvala. He tells the crew that he has hired them to help him retrieve a lost lute and correct a painful mistake. He asks the crew to make their way into an ancient forest to retrieve a lute that used to be owned by a friend so that he might return it to him and seek forgiveness for a fight they once had. The crew agrees to help him and Ragvala invites them to climb up on his back so that he can fly them there. Once everyone is on board, the dragon steps through a glowing blue portal out of the lair and begins to fly the crew across a vast and beautiful landscape. The crew chat with each other, getting to know a bit more about their co-adventurers as the flight stretches on. As the conversation flows, Nix and Clay choose to reveal that they are not, in fact, an adventuring uncle and niece duo but a wizard and paladin from the Summer Fae Court. Suddenly, a hungry griffin appears out of nowhere, looking to find a snack on the back of a dragon. The crew casts a fog cloud to hide themselves within. The druid intern, Figgus, leans on his understanding of nature and recognizes that the creature is hungry. Tossing some rations to it, the griffin is satisfied. With its hunger quelled, the griffin takes a shine to Figgus and offers to let him ride on its back. Figgus accepts and the two of them soar high into the clouds where a beautiful view of the two suns and fluffy blanket of clouds below is revealed. After returning to the back of the dragon, a group of pixies appear casting polymorph on the crew, and Larli the wizard is transformed into a giant octopus. Nix quickly casts dispel magic, removing the spell to the dismay of the pixies. They protest that they just want to play a game with the crew and are rebuffed. Clay then pulls rank on the pixies and demands that they provide him with information on the forest ahead. They describe a strange, scruffy man who exists deep within the forest near some ruins and who tends to play songs on a magical instrument. While they fly, Araceli finds a map of the forest in her notes from one of her classes. Ragvala arrives with the adventuring crew in tow at the Quivering Forest and sends them in to search for the item. They begin making their way in, and very quickly come to a grove with shifting grass. After some experimentation, Clay realizes that when they sing to the grass, it appears to change colors. After a rousing performance of a familiar song, the grass changes colors in front of each of the potential paths forward. The crew chooses to follow the path with the yellow grass, arriving at an incredibly peaceful grove where all of the animals in the forest seem to be at peace with each other. Larli notices some strange stones to the south of the grove, and upon further investigation discovers that they appear to be carved be from some sort of ruins. Remembering what the pixies had said, the crew decides to venture down that path. As they arrive into the next area, the crew sees a figure of a scruffy gentleman playing a lute as he sits on the ruins of an old temple. Brant quickly hides in the shadow and positions himself to attack the individual, if necessary. The rest of the crew approach the individual and begin to talk, asking him questions about his profession and why he's hiding in the forest. After some gentle inquisitions to identify whether or not the lute that he was holding was the lute they were looking for, they realize that while he doesn't have the lute, he may know where it is. The stranger agrees to sit with them and tell a story that he heard in the forest about an ancient dragon who used to adventure with a group disguised as a Dragonborn. The adventuring crew went on many quests and were incredibly close friends until one day, in that exact forest, the Dragonborn got into a fight with the bard of the adventuring crew. The group was fractured and never spoke again. As the crew ask how the mystery bard discovered this story, he reveals that he learned the information from a mysterious lute that is trapped inside of a massive banyan tree. Brant chooses this moment to backflip out of the shadows and land on a rock so that he can shout at the mysterious stranger and demand that he tell them where the tree is. Terrified, the mysterious stranger reveals the location of the tree and flees the scene. The crew make their way to the specified location, and upon arriving are greeted with an eerie, foggy landscape. Out of the fog, a small child holding a doll emerges, asking for help from the adventurers. The crew is able to see a dead owlbear behind the child and after deliberating briefly, the child transforms into a massive Oni bent on destroying and eating them. The intern Figgus takes multiple slashes from the Oni as the rest of the crew gather around to fight off the attack. Nix casts faerie fire in order to give advantage to the rest of his crew, which provides an opening to the rogue Brant who shoots the monster down quickly with two arrows to the neck. As the dust settles, Nix searches the body of the Oni and discovers a large red jewel, which she pockets. Behind the dead Oni and Owlbear, the crew sees the grand Banyan tree. Nestled within its roots, they see a beautiful black lute. The crew briefly attempts to pull the lute out, and then instead chooses to reduce it down to a smaller size so that it is able to be easily removed without harming the tree. As Larli picks it up, she sees a vision of the adventuring crew and their last moments with the lute. She watches as the dragon and the bard argue with each other fiercely before the dragon grabs the lute from his friend and tosses it into the forest. She sees the other members of the group slowly begin to take sides in the argument, and as the Dragonborn turns his back to his friend, she sees what the bard never saw: immediate regret wash over Ragvala's face. As the vision fades, Figgus asks the great Banyan tree to sign off on his druid internship hours. After an incredibly persuasive request, the Banyan tree takes the clipboard into its trunk and signs Figgus off for all of his required hours, transforming him into an official bard. The crew makes their way back through the forest without issue, emerging with joy and laughter to the delight of Ragvala. The misty-eyed dragon thanks them for their hard work and then asks them to climb up onto his back to help him deliver the lute to his friend. Soon after they enter the air, a giant Roc blips out of a portal, and in its terror attacks the dragon. The crew and Ragvala attempt to fight the creature off as it slashes at their friend's chest. In a fury, Brant throws himself off of the back of the dragon, attempting to slash the Roc as he falls through the air. Just missing the bird, the pixies from before appear and cast fly on each of the characters, saving Brant from certain death. As the crew approaches the floating cittern-shaped castle in the clouds, Ragvala snags Brant from the air with his claws and crashes backwards into the entry room of the castle. Thinking quickly, Nix casts feather fall on the adventurers and the dragon, preventing them from receiving any more damage. The Roc screeches and flies away leaving the crew to recover. Clay rushes forward and attempts to heal Ragvala, but finds an empty well deeper than anything he could ever hope to replenish. Ragvala tells the adventurers that he has lived a long life and that because his life was so long, he's had a long time to come to terms with the idea of death. From the top of the grand staircase in front of them, grand doors slam open revealing a djinn with a look of shock on his face. Ragvala asks Brant to deliver the lute to his friend for him, and as Brant walks up the grand staircase he notices some writing on the back of the lute that says "All my songs will sing of you forever, my friend". As Brant reaches the top of the stairs and returns the lute to the djinn, he shouts that every second that he has wasted not being with the ones he loved was a second wasted. The djinn, realizing his mistake rushes down the stairs to the great dragon, and as the dragon asks his friend for forgiveness, the djinn begins to weep. The djinn places his forehead against the forehead of the dragon, expressing his love and forgiveness, and with a smile on his face and a great tear rolling down from his eyes, the dragon sighs out his final breath. The djinn thanks them for their efforts and asks for privacy in his grief. The crew flip their coins to return to the agency, are given their gold and sent out into the dark and rainy streets of a new city: The city of Sigil.
They arrive in a cave filled with a seemingly neverending sea of gold. Nix, the abjuration fairy, is immediately able to sense the presence of abjuration magic and the team can tell that there is no way in or out. After taking in their surroundings for a moment, the team watches as the gold begins to shift and undulate below them, revealing an ancient golden dragon who introduces himself as Ragvala. He tells the crew that he has hired them to help him retrieve a lost lute and correct a painful mistake. He asks the crew to make their way into an ancient forest to retrieve a lute that used to be owned by a friend so that he might return it to him and seek forgiveness for a fight they once had. The crew agrees to help him and Ragvala invites them to climb up on his back so that he can fly them there. Once everyone is on board, the dragon steps through a glowing blue portal out of the lair and begins to fly the crew across a vast and beautiful landscape. The crew chat with each other, getting to know a bit more about their co-adventurers as the flight stretches on. As the conversation flows, Nix and Clay choose to reveal that they are not, in fact, an adventuring uncle and niece duo but a wizard and paladin from the Summer Fae Court. Suddenly, a hungry griffin appears out of nowhere, looking to find a snack on the back of a dragon. The crew casts a fog cloud to hide themselves within. The druid intern, Figgus, leans on his understanding of nature and recognizes that the creature is hungry. Tossing some rations to it, the griffin is satisfied. With its hunger quelled, the griffin takes a shine to Figgus and offers to let him ride on its back. Figgus accepts and the two of them soar high into the clouds where a beautiful view of the two suns and fluffy blanket of clouds below is revealed. After returning to the back of the dragon, a group of pixies appear casting polymorph on the crew, and Larli the wizard is transformed into a giant octopus. Nix quickly casts dispel magic, removing the spell to the dismay of the pixies. They protest that they just want to play a game with the crew and are rebuffed. Clay then pulls rank on the pixies and demands that they provide him with information on the forest ahead. They describe a strange, scruffy man who exists deep within the forest near some ruins and who tends to play songs on a magical instrument. While they fly, Araceli finds a map of the forest in her notes from one of her classes. Ragvala arrives with the adventuring crew in tow at the Quivering Forest and sends them in to search for the item. They begin making their way in, and very quickly come to a grove with shifting grass. After some experimentation, Clay realizes that when they sing to the grass, it appears to change colors. After a rousing performance of a familiar song, the grass changes colors in front of each of the potential paths forward. The crew chooses to follow the path with the yellow grass, arriving at an incredibly peaceful grove where all of the animals in the forest seem to be at peace with each other. Larli notices some strange stones to the south of the grove, and upon further investigation discovers that they appear to be carved be from some sort of ruins. Remembering what the pixies had said, the crew decides to venture down that path. As they arrive into the next area, the crew sees a figure of a scruffy gentleman playing a lute as he sits on the ruins of an old temple. Brant quickly hides in the shadow and positions himself to attack the individual, if necessary. The rest of the crew approach the individual and begin to talk, asking him questions about his profession and why he's hiding in the forest. After some gentle inquisitions to identify whether or not the lute that he was holding was the lute they were looking for, they realize that while he doesn't have the lute, he may know where it is. The stranger agrees to sit with them and tell a story that he heard in the forest about an ancient dragon who used to adventure with a group disguised as a Dragonborn. The adventuring crew went on many quests and were incredibly close friends until one day, in that exact forest, the Dragonborn got into a fight with the bard of the adventuring crew. The group was fractured and never spoke again. As the crew ask how the mystery bard discovered this story, he reveals that he learned the information from a mysterious lute that is trapped inside of a massive banyan tree. Brant chooses this moment to backflip out of the shadows and land on a rock so that he can shout at the mysterious stranger and demand that he tell them where the tree is. Terrified, the mysterious stranger reveals the location of the tree and flees the scene. The crew make their way to the specified location, and upon arriving are greeted with an eerie, foggy landscape. Out of the fog, a small child holding a doll emerges, asking for help from the adventurers. The crew is able to see a dead owlbear behind the child and after deliberating briefly, the child transforms into a massive Oni bent on destroying and eating them. The intern Figgus takes multiple slashes from the Oni as the rest of the crew gather around to fight off the attack. Nix casts faerie fire in order to give advantage to the rest of his crew, which provides an opening to the rogue Brant who shoots the monster down quickly with two arrows to the neck. As the dust settles, Nix searches the body of the Oni and discovers a large red jewel, which she pockets. Behind the dead Oni and Owlbear, the crew sees the grand Banyan tree. Nestled within its roots, they see a beautiful black lute. The crew briefly attempts to pull the lute out, and then instead chooses to reduce it down to a smaller size so that it is able to be easily removed without harming the tree. As Larli picks it up, she sees a vision of the adventuring crew and their last moments with the lute. She watches as the dragon and the bard argue with each other fiercely before the dragon grabs the lute from his friend and tosses it into the forest. She sees the other members of the group slowly begin to take sides in the argument, and as the Dragonborn turns his back to his friend, she sees what the bard never saw: immediate regret wash over Ragvala's face. As the vision fades, Figgus asks the great Banyan tree to sign off on his druid internship hours. After an incredibly persuasive request, the Banyan tree takes the clipboard into its trunk and signs Figgus off for all of his required hours, transforming him into an official bard. The crew makes their way back through the forest without issue, emerging with joy and laughter to the delight of Ragvala. The misty-eyed dragon thanks them for their hard work and then asks them to climb up onto his back to help him deliver the lute to his friend. Soon after they enter the air, a giant Roc blips out of a portal, and in its terror attacks the dragon. The crew and Ragvala attempt to fight the creature off as it slashes at their friend's chest. In a fury, Brant throws himself off of the back of the dragon, attempting to slash the Roc as he falls through the air. Just missing the bird, the pixies from before appear and cast fly on each of the characters, saving Brant from certain death. As the crew approaches the floating cittern-shaped castle in the clouds, Ragvala snags Brant from the air with his claws and crashes backwards into the entry room of the castle. Thinking quickly, Nix casts feather fall on the adventurers and the dragon, preventing them from receiving any more damage. The Roc screeches and flies away leaving the crew to recover. Clay rushes forward and attempts to heal Ragvala, but finds an empty well deeper than anything he could ever hope to replenish. Ragvala tells the adventurers that he has lived a long life and that because his life was so long, he's had a long time to come to terms with the idea of death. From the top of the grand staircase in front of them, grand doors slam open revealing a djinn with a look of shock on his face. Ragvala asks Brant to deliver the lute to his friend for him, and as Brant walks up the grand staircase he notices some writing on the back of the lute that says "All my songs will sing of you forever, my friend". As Brant reaches the top of the stairs and returns the lute to the djinn, he shouts that every second that he has wasted not being with the ones he loved was a second wasted. The djinn, realizing his mistake rushes down the stairs to the great dragon, and as the dragon asks his friend for forgiveness, the djinn begins to weep. The djinn places his forehead against the forehead of the dragon, expressing his love and forgiveness, and with a smile on his face and a great tear rolling down from his eyes, the dragon sighs out his final breath. The djinn thanks them for their efforts and asks for privacy in his grief. The crew flip their coins to return to the agency, are given their gold and sent out into the dark and rainy streets of a new city: The city of Sigil.
Completion Date
10/6/23
10/6/23
Plot type
One-shot
Parent Plot
Related Characters
Related Organizations
Related Locations
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