Bridges Burnt

"**Bridges Burnt**" (1x19) is the 19th episode of Dun-Johns and Dragons.

### **Previously on *Dun-Johns and Dragons***

After escaping being imprisoned on charges of serial murder, the party learned the identity of the true murderer and went to confront him, but found he was actually a construct being controlled by an Ancient Black Dragon, whom they fought in a massive cavern beneath Westerhaven, assisted by a Gold Dragon, apparently sent by the dragon god Bahamut. The Black Dragon escaped, collapsing the ceiling of the cavern and destroying a large portion of the city in the process, and the party escaped through a submerged tunnel, grabbing a couple treasures from the Dragon’s hoard in the process. They fled the city, heading north, though not without a brief scuffle with two members of the Wolf Pack as they crossed a bridge heading out of town; they finally managed to escape, literally burning the bridge behind them.

### **Part I**

They travel as far north as they can before stopping in a scrubby area to make camp. Stone casts Tiny Hut and they all settle in for a long rest. Stone spends some time getting attuned to the Ring of Shooting Stars, and Dugluss takes another session studying the crystal. They travel for two uneventful days, during which Magpie asks Shadowscale about dragons, dragonborn, and Bahamut, but Shadowscale has a fairly dim view of dragons and she doesn’t learn a whole lot.

On the third day, they meet a fortune teller with a fancy tent set up near the road. Stone, skeptical of someone using magic for profit like that, refuses to go in; Shadowscale is of a similar mind. The rest, however, decide to try it.

Magpie goes first; the fortune teller says to her, "I sense trouble within you. You are concerned. An ancient war rages still. Demons and dragons fight as they did of old for control over the spirits of mortals. Fire, forever fire, burning. I see a mother, weeping for what they've lost. A family in mourning. But I also see people ruined, a civilization burning, from the leadership of one not prepared for responsibility. Much fire within, and without. But perhaps this is not what is, or what may be. It may be simply what you fear inside yourself."

To Zander, she says, “I see a strength of will, both power and innocence. I see potential for good, and also for death. Death, so much death, darkness, everlasting night, death to all who come near. And yet, there are things missing within you. Hidden, out of reach of the light of your mind. For better or worse, you are incomplete.” Zander, hesitating, asks, “My life has been quite confusing. I don’t know if I know the right questions to ask, but I have power, and I don’t really know why, or what it means, or if I’m just destined to kill, or cause harm, whether I want to or not.” The fortune teller responds, “The mists of fate show what may be, but nothing is written in stone. Destiny is never beyond our own changing. Darkness is not always, as it appears, inherently bad. Creatures which live in the night are not more inherently evil than those that live in the light. All has its place. Perhaps your place is to silence those who might need it, bring darkness where there is an abundance of light. Perhaps death follows you, not to claim you, but to protect you. Death cannot be avoided, small one. Perhaps you should embrace it.”

Yoolna asks about her family, and a strange message she received from her brother; she’s not sure if he’s still alive. The fortune teller says, “I see much panic and chaos — events that could not be avoided. Many lives claimed, but many saved. I see figures running, figures hiding. I see an old man, trapped within a house, burning. The fire rages around him, but with the last of his strength he carries an old birdcage to a window, flames licking his heels, smoke filling his lungs, but he opens the door and watches as a bird flies away from the house, from the fire, from him, and a smile crosses his face as the flames consume him. I see no more than this.” Yoolna is confused, saying she doesn’t know anyone with a bird; the fortune teller says, “What the mists show me is not always literal. Perhaps you should take this more metaphorically.”

Dugluss asks about his family and his old master; there is a long pause, then the fortune teller raises her head, eyes misted over, and speaks in an otherworldly voice:

>
> Beneath, beneath, in darkness heart, the sleeper bides with shard apart
>
> The salted tomb from ages past, a terror from the heavens cast
>
> Asleep, asleep, she waits to see the fall of mortals yet to be
>
> The seas shall rise and skies shall break, if ever should the old one wake
>
>
>
>

Her head falls to the side and then in a normal voice she says, “Your family are well. I see a great time of prosperity for them and you. You will be reunited, yes, I see this very clearly.” Dugluss asks about his master. “He is suffering from a minor illness, but I believe this can be cured.” She offers to sell him some herbs or supplements; he declines and goes out to magically record the prophecy as best he can recall it on a coin.

Father Buckitt takes a turn, but since JD isn't there, we don't know what she says to him. He strides out fairly quickly and just says, "She's a strange woman!"

On the third night of their travels, Dugluss takes another session with the crystal. He meets the Arcanist again, who says, "There's something strange about this crystal — it seems to know certain truths. Ask it a question." Dugluss asks how his master, Folar, fares. The dark of the void turns to an image — an older-looking dwarf, sat in a chair, with his feet up and a large tankard in his hand. There are crumbs of food in his beard and a smile on his face as he snores loudly. Dugluss' consciousness floats back to his body and he has gained the ability to cast Divination with the crystal.

Meanwhile, Magpie and Yoolna take a joint watch shift. After a bit of silence, Magpie asks Yoolna if she thinks the fortune teller could *really* tell fortunes. Yoolna replies that her answer didn’t make any sense, as she doesn’t know anyone with a bird, so she’s a bit skeptical. Yoolna asks if the fortune teller told Magpie something about birds; Magpie answers vaguely, "No no, it’s all fine, nothing about birds." They fall back into silence, Magpie feeling even more concerned than before.

Stone takes the next watch. After a while, a mist begins to drift in, not moving on any wind, just hovering low to the ground, growing ever thicker. Stone watches as it coalesces into nine figures standing in a circle, facing towards the Tiny Hut at the center. Stone waits to see if they will do anything, but they remain still and silent. Stone finally asks, "Who are you?" A whispered reply comes: "We are the dead."

Stone learns that they are bound to this place while that which caused their pain still lives. They ask what killed them, and the figures tell them of a creature living in a warren of narrow, winding tunnels beneath a hill to the northeast, warning them of its jaws and breath. Stone asks for more information, but they simply repeat, "Northeast. Beneath the hill. Be careful," then fade from view.

The rest of the night passes uneventfully, and in the morning Stone tells the others about the ghosts and their quest. They suspect it may be some type of dragon, but Shadowscale says the winding tunnels put them more in mind of a behir, a creature created to fight dragons. Dugluss, uneasy, shares the prophecy from the fortune teller with the rest of the party. Magpie suggests it might have something to do with the vision she had of the Wave Mother. Magpie asks Shadowscale if a behir is tameable; Shadowscale is very skeptical, and advises against the attempt. At any rate, the group decides to take a detour to the east to the hills of the Lamlet Rise and see what they can find.

### **Part II**

Reaching the hills of Lamlet Rise, the group begins searching for likely-looking holes. Shadowscale finds an outcropping of rock with a large crack; it’s not big enough to squeeze through, but it definitely seems to open into some kind of cave system. They call to the others, and as Zander approaches, the grass beneath his feet gives way and he falls into a narrow opening. This hole is slightly larger, but still only big enough for Zander and Magpie to fit down it; they decide to check it out while the others examine the other crack.

As they descend down the narrow tunnel, it grows steeper and steeper. Zander wonders if they should go back, but Magpie says they should press on in hopes of finding a larger opening the others can fit through; Zander agrees and they continue. At one point, Zander's foot slips and he almost falls, but Magpie manages to catch hold of his shirt and steady him until he can regain his footing, but as they pause, they hear a far-off growling noise and thudding steps quickly growing closer.

The rest of the party, meanwhile, is trying to enlarge the other crack, which seems to open out into a wider area; they try moving one of the boulders away, and then Dugluss casts Shatter and Father Buckitt attacks it with his hammer, but to no avail. However, after the crash of the spell and the hammer, they begin to hear the thudding footsteps, now heading in their direction. They step back; Stone casts Guardian of Faith on the opening and the others prepare attacks. The behir comes snaking out of the crack, looking like a giant blue snake with six pairs of legs. Yoolna's prepared attack with the Circlet of Blasting lands, doing some fire damage, but Dugluss' lightning attacks don’t seem to phase it at all.

For its first attack, the behir shoots a ball of lightning, hitting Dugluss, Yoolna, and Shadowscale and knocking the latter two unconscious in a single hit. During the rest of the battle, it uses a powerful multiattack, biting and then grabbing and constricting people. Father Buckitt spends most of the combat thus constricted, though he does manage to make some significant hammer attacks in the end.

Early in the battle, Stone casts Beacon of Hope, giving their companions some advantage and healing bonuses; they also make tactical use of Mass Healing Word, bringing several people back from unconsciousness over the course of the combat. They make some attempts at using the Ring of Shooting Stars, but only one small attack lands. Shadowscale also focuses on spells, at one point casting Bestow Curse for a fairly significant disadvantage to the creature, but then is immediately knocked unconscious, losing concentration and dropping the spell. They do manage some critical healing actions later, however. Yoolna, after initial success with her Circlet of Blasting, doesn’t have much luck with her rapier, though she does some damage late in the combat. Dugluss, finding his lightning launcher useless against the behir, uses his all-purpose tool to gain Toll the Dead and lands some hits that way.

Part way through the battle, a strange mist begins to gather along the ground, and the apparitions Stone saw the previous night materialize, glimmering in the sunlight, circling around the behir and harrying it, interfering as it tries to make its attacks.

Zander and Magpie, when they hear the sounds of combat breaking out above them, decide to try to come up behind the creature. Zander casts Flight on both of them and they take off zooming through the tunnels, eventually coming up to the crack the others had been hammering on. Magpie, reaching the opening first but too big to fit through, tries to cast Hideous Laughter at the behir, but it makes its saving throw and is unaffected. She shouts, "You’ve got a rubbish sense of humor!" Zander, zooming up behind her, takes her arm and uses Thunder Step to teleport them both to a spot in midair near the behir, and then Magpie dive-bombs it, landing a stab with her short sword that pins it to the ground; it wriggles briefly then goes still, defeated. Magpie does a few celebratory loop-the-loops.

The ghosts converge on the party and say, "You have our thanks; we can be at peace. Go with the blessing of the dead, heroes." Everyone gets a single-use Inspiration that never expires or gets replaced. The ghosts dissolve and the mist dissipates in the sunlight.

## **Featured Characters**

### **Player Characters**

* Dugluss Deep-Forge
* Father Buckitt
* Magpie
* Stone
* Yoolna
* Zander Brushspark