This
weekend I helped run an amazing event called Heroes for CF, where 24 people (28
if you include the 4 of us running the games) spent the entire day playing
Dungeons & Dragons to raise money for research into finding a cure for
Cystic Fibrosis – as well as awareness in the disease itself. We raised over
$6000! That easily topped the $4000 we brought in last year, which was already
more than we had hoped for in the first place. Has this event been a roaring
success? We like to think so.
As with
last year, I’ll give you a summary of how the day went, at least from my table.
Hopefully, this account will be much shorter than the one I wrote about last year’s event.
A couple
key points on some terminology for those unfamiliar with it. Dungeons &
Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game, where people sit around a table and
play out a story about adventurers going on quests. A Dungeon Master is the
person who runs the game, telling the players what their characters see in the
world around them, controlling the monsters, and determining the success of actions
the players wish to take. Unique to this event were some rewards some of the
players had earned through their fundraising, such as Resurrection Scrolls
which would bring a character back to life the first time they dies and, more
importantly, Cry Havoc!s – something which gave players who raised $250 or more
the ability to summon some negative effect down upon one of the three opposing
tables. There were also a number of special single-use ability cards that could
be purchased – with all proceeds going to the donations.
In last
year’s game, all four tables played through the same adventure, seeing who
could get the farthest. This year, we wanted even more of a connection between
the separate gaming tables, so we made them all part of a unified story. Each
table represented a crew of an astral air ship in the Astral Plane –
essentially a silvery, space-like, dream dimension that connects all the other
planes of existence together. Each crew had been press ganged into working for
Seyefibrax, a dracolich (which is a powerful undead dragon), by having
extremely powerful magical items stolen from their captains. They were given a
list of missions to choose from, which determined which Dungeon Master’s table
they would be playing at for the first 2.5 hours of play. If they didn’t
complete the mission by the end of that 2.5 hours, they would fail that
mission.
The crew
that came to my table were on a mission to the Plane of Air – a dimension made
up of, you guessed it, air. Endless skies with clouds and chaotic winds – and,
on occasion, floating islands. The crew was being sent to a large floating
island with several smaller islands chained to it with orders to fetch one of
the islands and bring it back to Seyefibrax.
After
finding a portal to the Plane of Air, the crew made their way to the floating
islands in question – huge, upside-down mountain-like chunks of land. Some of
the smaller islands had forests on them, others had small villages. The main
island had a forest, with a huge palace rising from the middle of it. Thick
chains, each link 20 feet in length, connected smaller islands to the enormous
mainland, where they disappeared into tunnels in the rocks. Each of those
tunnels had a little air-dock nearby with a door into the island, guarded by
two air-elementals – small, living tornados.
The crew
decided that their first stop should be the palace – perhaps they could get
permission to have one of the islands. They landed at an air dock and took a
very long walk through a forest and a village before coming to the palace gate,
where – after some language-barrier troubles with the local bird-people – they attempted
to bluff their way in to see the Sultan. However, they were found out when the
appointment they claimed to have wasn’t on record, and they were turned away.
Two crew
members stayed in the village while the other four returned to their ship to
scout around the island. They then regrouped and shared their collected
information and plans – they now knew that there were various industry operations
on the smaller islands, and that the islands could be reeled in to the mainland
from control rooms stationed by each chain. They had also discovered that one
of the smaller, forested islands had a chain that entered a tunnel that was out
of sight of the nearby platform with elemental guards – and they could pull up
their ship close enough that they could enter via the tunnel.
This they
did, leaving their sailors behind to take care of the ship. They made their way
up the 150 foot tunnel, battling some of the giant fire-beetles that lived
there and occasionally being struck by the enormous chain as it swung in the
wind. However, they had to hurry, because they were spotted by a birdman-guard
through an observation window. They reached the end, finding that the chain was
attached to a giant metal spool – which began to turn, reeling the chain in and
making it swing even more violently. They saw a lever by a door and, even
though they couldn’t read the sign above it, they guessed that it was for some
emergency purpose.
They pulled
the lever, causing a huge guillotine blade to drop down, severing the chain.
The chain dropped to the floor and began rushing away from them as the door
opened, revealing five birdmen behind it. Two of the crew stayed behind, slowly
retreating to hold off the birdmen while the rest tried to keep up with the
chain – but it was pulling away too fast. They got to the opening of the tunnel
and called in their ship, then formed up to join in the fight as their two
allies rejoined them with the birdmen close behind.
The crew
then boarded their ship and took off for the slowly retreating island, its
chain swinging below. They flew up to where the chain was anchored and not
swinging and tied it to the ship – first with one rope, which snapped, and then
with every rope they could spare. They were in a hurry because they could see
things in the distance, flying towards them from the main island. Luckily, this
time the ropes held, and they flew off with the island in tow. They were moving
more slowly than usual, but they still outdistanced their pursuit. Finding a
portal, they traveled back to the Astral Plane and set a course to deliver
their haul.
Everything
seemed to be going well when something invisible began attacking the captain at
the helm. Then –
/Breaking
with the narrative, the players noticed the next table over had just entered a
boss battle, so they used a Cry Havoc! to summon harm down upon them. In response,
the other crew sent two Cry Havoc!s right back at them.\
– a devastating psychic storm hit the
ship, damaging it and injuring a number of the sailors. At the same time, a
planar rift opened in the middle of the deck and two red Slaads – toad-like
demons – stepped through, attacking the crew.
It was a
tough battle, during which one of the crew members was knocked unconscious, but
the crew managed to defeat the slaads and will as the invisible stalker – an air
elemental assassin – however, it took up much of their time. The finished with
only 30 seconds left on the 2.5 hour time limit – just enough time for them to
get the island to the dracolich.
After a
short break, the crews chose new missions and moved to new tables with new
Dungeon Masters for the second round. My new crew, having just come from a
sci-fi adventure that I know nothing about, were now on a mission to retrieve a
large red crate from a Githyanki (yellow-green-skinned evil warrior people
common on the Astral Plane) ship flying the astral shipping lanes, before the
ship reaches its destination.
The crew
set off, quickly finding the ship in question – a massive thing, more than four
times the size of their own ship, its decks lined with ballistae. This crew was
a cautious bunch, carefully discussing plans before taking action, and enjoying
thinking outside the box. Manoeuvring their ship below the larger one, so as to
keep out of sight, they launched a grapple close to the bottom of the hull at
the rear of the ship, attaching the two ships together with a rope. They then
shimmied over – two of them noticing a hidden hatch in the middle of the bottom
of the ship, barely noticeable. They mentioned it to the others, but they
decided to continue with the original plan – after all, a door is likely to be
guarded, so why not make their own door?
Wishing to
enter the empty space they believe will be below the lowest deck, the hacked
their way through the hull, finding said space filled with rocks used for ballast.
They still wanted to get in and spy from under the deck, but after estimating
how long it would take to move enough rocks, they crawled along the bottom of
the ship to the secret hatch – which they forced open, breaking the latch. They
sent their sneakiest member ahead first, then all entered the smuggling compartment
after getting the all-clear. There they found some treasures, but no red crate.
Always
sending their stealthy member first, they moved up a ladder, through a trap
door into a deck filled with crates and barrels of food and water. One of them
stayed behind, searching for the red crate, while the others moved up the
stairs – waiting for a githyanki patrol to pass – to find a long hall lined
with what appeared to be prison cells with humanoids inside, chained to
slab-like bunks. The crew moved towards the back of the ship where they could
see some more normal-looking cabins, hiding in a cell once to let another
patrol pass.
One of the
crew members spoke to one of the weak, haggard looking prisoners, learning that
this one came from the Material Plane, where an entire village had been
captured. Feeling sorry for them, they shared some food, but they knew they
didn’t have much time, so they moved on, reaching the cabins at the back of the
ship with the crewmate that had stayed behind rejoining them.
They were
faced with three options – an ajar door directly in front of them, a closed one
to the left, and a barred one to the right. They removed the bar, finding a
humanoid prisoner inside with its head entirely concealed by a golden mask.
Curious as they were, they backed out, replacing the bar, then went through the
door to the left – startling and getting attacked by what looked like the
githyanki captain, accompanied by two red dragon-like guard dogs. As they
started to win the fight, the captain attempted to flee, but was knocked unconscious
and dragged back to the cabin just before another patrol came by.
Once they
were confident the patrol hadn’t noticed anything unusual, they stripped
anything of value off the githyanki and revived him to interrogate him. The
first attempts failed dismally, but finally one of them managed to scare him enough
that he momentarily blurted out that the red crate was just in the next cabin –
then, angry at himself, he threatened that they would all pay, and faded from existence
– fleeing to another plane.
They found
the crate in the third room, as well as some healing potions, and began moving
out after debating about what to do with the masked prisoner, and deciding to
leave him behind – much to the despair of one of the crew members, who slipped
a written apology under the door on the way by. They had to hide in another
cell to avoid a patrol again, but otherwise made it out without much trouble –
jamming the secret hatch shut behind them with a crossbow bolt in an attempt to
hide that they were there for as long as possible.
Back on
their ship with the crate, they casually flew away, taking some time to
identify their new magical loot. The one who took the gold key figured out that
it was most likely for the golden mask on the prisoner, and gave it to the one
who’d slipped the note under the door as a memento. They decided after a brief
discussion, not to open the crate, as there instructions were that it was to be
delivered unspoiled. Thus, they delivered it, and completed their second
mission.
After
another break, during which many awesome prizes were raffled off, the final
round began – but it wasn’t what everyone expected. The dracolich, Seyefibrax,
and her loyal undead Herald turned against the crews, attacking them all. Four
tables were pushed together, uniting 24 players all at one table!
With a
mountain in the middle where the crew captains’ stolen items were, and each
crew coming in from a separate quadrant, this was massive battle, especially
when animated skeletons began rising up in all the quadrants. Luckily for the
crews, they managed to heavily sway the course of the battle early on with
their purchased cards and the remaining Cry Havoc!s – which brought the
Githyanki ship in (peppering Seyefibrax with a volley of ballistae bolts for
the audacity of sending people to steal from them), a flumph spaceship visited
multiple times (interfering with the dracolich’s ability to heal, summon more
skeletons, and put up ice walls), the ridiculous Knights of Naa Naa flew in on
their giant goats (tying up the dracolich’s attacks for a round), and a host of
demons arrived, granting extra health to one of the crews.
Even so, it
was a tough battle. The crews rushed the mountain, understanding that the
dragon was drawing power from the hostage items at the top – which, if
retrieved, would also boost the powers of their captains. The Herald died in a
blast of fire reflected back at him from three purchasable cards after dropping
a fireball on nearly a dozen characters. Just when everyone was starting to
look rough, a player used a card allowing her to become the Dungeon Master for
10 seconds and declared that all the players were now considered part of the
same crew – then her captain played a one-of-a-kind card that was auctioned off
for $125 at the beginning of the event that allowed him to blip his entire crew
into another plane of existence, completely heal, and return to battle without
losing any time.
The
mountain was scaled, the items reclaimed. One captain now had a sword that
offered protection to those surrounding him, and would behead a creature on a
critical hit. Another one had a sword that would deal massive radiant damage,
and also protect surrounding players. One captain became resistant to most
elemental magics and could summon an elemental in to aid with the battle. And
the fourth captain was restored to true form – a brass dragon.
Together,
the captains converged on the mighty Seyefibrax, and the dracolich was brought
down, freeing the Astral Plane and the captains from her tyranny.
And so
closed the epic, second year of Heroes for Cystic Fibrosis. What lies in store
for next year? Who could say, but I think it may be hard to top this year’s
grand finale. Still, we’re certainly going to try!
Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.
Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.
If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment