The Promotion One-Shot

## The Promotion

**The Promotion** was a one-shot and the first session run in the Beiinors setting.

## Characters

### Player Characters

 Turkon | Sean R. | Kobold Artificer, travels with a steel defender construct named Boxy

### Important NPCs

 Mrs. Tucker | Leader of a mischievous roaming Kobold squad

## Summary of the Events

[ *Beiinors — The Promotion One-Shot — 06/12/22* ]

### **Background**

The town of Redhall lives to the southwest of the Western Dragonlands. Centuries prior, well before the Wilverian Empire was an empire and the dragons roamed freely and violently, Redhall was a town under the protection of Jarlgand, an, at the time, adult red dragon. He has since aged into ancient and, though he is not the absolute ruler of Redhall, his influence lives on. Redhall still provides tribute and, in a large way, worships him in a similar manner as Chinese traditions honor ancestors and elders.

The four of you have been summoned by the chair of the Redhall elders (Salraangtuuk, silver dragonborn with scales that have begun to lost their shimmer) in addition to your close friend, Malaktuuk (a silver dragonborn). There, the most senior member of the elders, who oversee the town, informs you of a task you knew was coming - the ancient rite of Promotion, whereby a new elder will be selected as a leader for the town. Malaktuuk has been selected, unsurprisingly given that this is his grandfather speaking, and he has requested the 4 of you as his aides in this task.

The task - travel through the treacherous Western Dragonlands and provide tribute to Jarlgand, who will provide his blessing to Malaktuuk's ascension.

The catch - it is important that Malaktuuk does not interfere personally with any wildlife that may threaten him, as it may be a part of Jarlgand's retinue or another, particularly unfriendly dragon's.

So the task is simple - escort your friend, the next chosen elder, to Jarlgand where he will pay tribute and accept the rites bestowed upon him... should Jarlgand agree with his selection.

### Session Recap

Salraangtuuk gathers Malaktuuk and his four chaperones to send them on their way to Jarlgand. Sal gives Mal the bag of tribute to be offered to the dragon, and gives the party two potions of healing.

Between Kalabash's wilderness knowledge and Fled's religious divining aparatus (a spinner in the shape of a cross), the party settles on heading due north into the jungles of the Dragonlands. The forest looms up on either side as they make their way deeper into the forests. As night falls, the party stops to set up camp and start a campfire, while Fled lets out some bombastic prayers and educates Trefaldwyn (not a Redhall local) in the lore of the deity known as "Our Lord And Savior Jesus Christ". Tref summons his familiar (in the form of a cat) to keep watch while the five travellers go to sleep. The night passes uneventfully.

The next morning, Kalabash wants to head further north into the mountains, while Fled's jesus compass doohickey wants him to go east, downhill toward a lake and stream. Malaktuuk sides with Fled and the party heads toward the water. On the way, they run into a squad of two dozen or so armed kobolds, led by a kobold woman named Mrs. Tucker. After narrowly avoiding a fight, the party gets teased by the kobolds for having gotten lost while looking for Jarlgand. Tucker explains to Turkon that Jarlgand is farther away to the east, pointing to a mountain far in the distance, and warns Turkon that there is likely to be a troll somewhere along their path.

After walking a ways, the party begins to notice a strange smell. Peering over a rise to look down at the stream bank below, the party spots a troll and two half-ogres. Turkon fails a stealth check, and the creatures turn to look at the party. Fled attempts to hail them, speaking Goblin, without much success. Tref sends his cat scampering up to one of the half-ogres, and casts Shocking Grasp through the cat, surprising and shocking the half-ogre with a critical hit. The troll, meanwhile, lumbers up the bank to Tref, and Kalabash lunges at it and lands a critical hit with her scimitar. The half-ogre that had been shocked attacks Tref's cat, poofing it out of existance, while the other half-ogre follows the troll up the bank. Turkon throws his javelin at the troll (twice, in fact, since it is a magically returning javelin). Fled runs back to check in on Mal, who is like "wtf are you doing, there is combat going on right now my dude". Fled turns back to the fight, and casts Spiritual Weapon in the form of a fist targeting the half-ogre. He then uses his bonus action to perform an interpretive dance to try to cheer up Mal (it doesn't work). Tref castes Scorching Ray at the troll, and the troll responds by clawing at Tref and biting Kalabash. Kalabash uses her action surge to swing five times at the troll, finally bringing it down.

Both half-ogres now gang up on Kalabash, and while one swings and misses the other does hit for significant damage. Turkon throws his javelin (twice) and fires his crossbow, killing one of the half-ogres. Fled targets his Staff of Swarming Insects at the remaining half-ogre (over the exasperated objections of the rest of the party). The summoned bee swarm has no effect. Fled then targets the half-ogre with his Spiritual Weapon fist. Tref attempts to hit the half-ogre with Shocking Grasp but misses, and then uses one of the party's potions of healing. The troll, to everyone's surprise, regenerates itself and attacks Kalabash again, nearly bringing her down. Kalabash targets both the troll and the half-ogre with her lightning breath weapon, and recovers some health by taking her second wind. Turkon fires his crossbow and javalin, killing the remaining half-ogre, and positions himself over the fallen Tref. Fled runs up to Tref and casts Cure Wounds, and drops the troll (again) with his Spiritual Weapon.

Turkon remembers that preventing a troll from regenerating requires burning the body with either fire or acid, and the revived Tref destroys it with his acidic breath weapon. Turkon retrieves his crossbow bolts. Fled uses his Spiritual Fist to retrieve one of the bolts from within the ass of one of the half-ogres. The party looks to the east and sees that the stream the troll and half-ogres had been eating fish from leads directly to Jarlgand's mountain, and with plenty of daylight remaining the party heads out along the river. As the party winds its way up toward the mountain, the temperature begins getting noticeably warmer. As the party debates whether to stop and take a short rest, they see an enormous red dragon soar overhead and fly into the top of the mountain (it's a volcano). The party takes a short rest.

Pushing forward, the party notices that the vegetation begins to look more withered. Closer to the mountain, the party can smell sulfur and hear flames crackling and starts to notice portals to the elemental plane of fire, showing pools of lava. The party finds a large set of stairs carved into the slope of the mountain, and Tref estimates that the party ought to be able to make it to the summit before sunset. Near the summit, Mal leads the party through a massive stone archway into the volcano, and they see Jarlgand the dragon in his lair. Mal introduces himself. Jarlgand seems temperamental. Fled insists on trying to chitchat with Jarlgand, but Jarlgand instead picks up Mal in his hand and takes him away to talk with him/test him. Meanwhile, Jarlgand sends two baby dragons (Ackulgan and Weingeld) to fight the rest of the party in order to test their strength.

The ground of the lair shakes, knocking some of the party members prone. Fled summons a Spiritual Weapon fist and casts Beacon of Hope. Tref takes a potion of fire resistance, and casts the Lightning spell at Weingeld. The pissed-off Weingeld flies up to Tref and hits him with a blast of fire breath. Turkon cast Ray of Frost at Weingeld and then fires his crossbow at the resulting frozen wing. Kalabash shoots her longbow, hitting the same frozen wing. Ackulgan flies over and blasts Fled, Tref, and Kalabash with her fire breath. Fled slaps Ackulgan with his spiritual fist [*recapper's note: Karl insisted that I edit this recap to clarify that this event was called "The Slappening"*] and casts Cure Wounds on himself. Tref hits Weingeld with Magic Missile. Weingeld hits back at Tref and Kalabash with his fire breath. Turkon hits Weingeld with two javelins and a crossbow bolt. Boxy tries to attack Weingeld as well but misses. Kalabash swings her scimitars at Weingeld and also takes her second wind. Ackulgan bites and claws at Fled. Tref, Kalabash, Turkon, and Boxy get splashed by an erupting lava geyser (Seth initially pronounced it as "gayser" lmao). Fled casts another Cure Wounds on himself and attempts another slappening, but misses. Tref fires Magic Missile at Weingeld again, and Weingeld flies off, declaring that the party "seems strong enough to him", but Ackulgan replies that she is still having fun. Turkon casts Cure Light Wounds on Tref and misses a crossbow shot at Ackulgan. Kalabash runs at Ackulgan and hits her with a scimitar. Ackulgan hits Kalabash, Tref, Turkon, and Boxy with her breath weapon (dropping Kalabash and Tref) and flies away after a parting shot from Fled's spiritual fist.

At that moment, Jarlgand flies back over with a scorched Mal, declaring that if Mal lives then he has Jarlgand's blessing. Turkon heals his two fallen comrades. Mal looks pretty rough, with half of his face severely burned, but he's conscious and seems able to travel. Turkon leaves some extra magic-y tribute for Jarlgand as the group leaves the lair and heads back toward Redhall.

*The End!*