DM Stories: My Discord Group and Clarshh’s Sepulchre, a.k.a. How Elren Befriended “Benjamin”

October 23, 2020

I have a wonderful Discord group that meets (now) on Sunday evenings after I get back from Adventurers League. A big thanks to @Momo (Claa P. Trap), @Bisharp (Elren), @DoctorIcky (Momon), @Lurker (Vin Smoke), and @Legion (Calla), you guys are absolutely awesome. Claa and Calla do not appear in this story as they came in later.

The group began in a small town (in a homebrew world), getting recruited by an Arcane, a blue giant that specialized in magic and magical items. Their job: be caravan guards and delve into a lost sepulchre of a deceased cult leader to acquire a cube of force that Sereen (the name of the Arcane) already had a buyer for.

Man in doorway, startled, arms raised. Shadows of dogs at his feet. Bright light outside.

Once the party arrived at the small abandoned hamlet where the entrance to the tomb was supposed to lay, the party got to work looking for the items that the clues pointed to.

The party investigated around the town. They found some monsters, destroyed them, and found some answers to some of the clues. All good. All ordinary.

Old, parchment-like text: Clues to find treasure, includes

Until the bathhouse. That stupid bathhouse.

So, there I was, describing this, and I ask for a Wisdom (Perception) check. This was to see if anyone noticed the spider caught in the furthest ceramic tub.

Elren (played by @bisharp, one of the very first players I recruited for this campaign, if not the first; thanks buddy!), saw it. Being a wood elf, he has an… affinity for nature. Sure, he was a monk, but still, a wood elf.

The aasimar rogue (@Lurker) and the wizard (@DoctorIcky) said to kill it with fire and the bathhouse with it.

What was it, you ask?

Well, what I thought I described was:

Brown tarantula spider with hairy legs on a rocky surface.

But Elren said something to the effect of, “Oh, leave him be. You’re scaring him.”

I asked @bisharp to roll a Wisdom (Handle Animal) and set the DC stupid high for a group of level ones.

It’s at this time I should mention a house/table rule of mine: A roll of a Nat 1, regardless of anything else, ALWAYS fails, and usually (okay, almost always) results in something bad happening, while a roll of a Nat 20, regardless of anything, is ALWAYS a success, with something awesome happening. It is my belief that anyone, regardless of skill, can mess something up or do something awesome by blind luck/misfortune.

Can you guess what that elf rolled?

No?

A NATURAL STUPID 20.

Remember how I described it?

This is what it turned into:

Fluffy cartoon spider with large eyes says “Hi!” on a blue background.

And Elren named him Benjamin.

Oooooooooooof course he did.

Of note, later, when the party was in an escapable deathtrap, with a ceiling slowly falling (and partly due to the player being bad at puzzles) yells, “Run Benjamin! Save yourself!!!” The party was thrilled at that one.

But, Benjamin had won over their hearts. Especially when he pulled a…