The dragon emerged halfway from the cave entrance, just far enough to clear his wings. He opened his mouth wide, razor sharp teeth and massive fangs jutting out from his lower and upper jaws as a pale red tongue lashed the open space between them. A loud, massive groan roars out from his throat as he leans down and spreads his massive ribbed wings wide in the early mornings light. They snap out wide, quivering from the action, membrane that is vital to dragon flight stretched taut. His back, covered in deep dark red overlapping scales, similar in hue to blood, arches high. Loud snaps and pops come from within his humongous core as his back cracks and creaks in response to the deep curve. His lower jaw snaps shut as he shuffles his front limbs forward, the claws flexing and crushing the large granite boulders and stones that cover his great entrance. Both clawed limbs reach a massive boulder, larger than some ships that sail the seas near and far. Upon it, as the dragon grasps onto its front face, are deep furrows rent upon it's granite surface. A horrible scratch and screech fills the air as claws, designed to tear through other hardened armor and scales, cuts deep into the rock face. Large and small chunks fall onto the ground, adding to the already large pile of broken stones. The Dragon plants his feet back under his body as he lowers his back into its usual stance. He opens his mouth wide and coughs, once, twice, three times. Finally, a strange round object, glittering in the fresh days sun, spits out from his mouth. too fast to easily make out, it is small, no more than a foot or so in diamater. it shoots straight from his mouth and onto the ground, clanking and clanging as only a metal object hitting solid stone can do. He wiggles his jaws, and grunts. He curls his head upon his long neck down to inspect his side, and lifts up his left front foot to his chest. one of those large, impossibly sharp and strong talons digs into the scales upon his chest, and begins to wiggle and twitch. A sigh of contentment groans out from his lips. Old scales, pale red compared to the deep reds upon his back, fall to the ground and he scratches his side.
Suddenly, he pauses, going as still as a statue. the wind, low and soft, now gusts from the east. It whistles loudly before falling silent. Slowly, ever so slowly, he lifts his head, and makes eye contact with you as you stand still next to his cave entrance. You, and your companions, caught out in the open, making preparations to assault the Dragon within his lair. You can only stand and stare as he stares back at you. And, at the same time, both you and the Dragon utter Oh crap! as surprise is spoken out loud.
******
you stand upon the ridge line, staring out into the vast valley below. You had spent days pouring over old maps, book descriptions, listening to explorers tales about this hidden valley just discovered. So large that the next ridge line cannot be seen, so deep that the tops of the trees look like mere bushes bathed in shadow. And, in the center, an equally large mound rising up to just below the height of the largest of foothills you climbed up to this summit. You stare in awe with your companions, gazing at the incredible opportunity you have found! A new land, one to be explored, surveyed, conquered! New land to claim as your own! a new kingdom!
the land shifts.
rocks tumble and fall down the hills towards the valley floor below.
the land shifts again, harder this time, forcing you to spread your feet and arms wide. Those larger boulders begin to shift and groan. The scree upon which you stand shifts, causing you to sink an inch into the hard rock and pebbles.
The land shifts a third time, and you see the mound in the middle move.
you blink and look again. stone doesnt move on it's own, right? you think as again, the mound confirms the impossible. It shifts.
trees that grew around the mound begin to sway and ripple, from the mound out.
and then you hear it!
the incredible boom of rocks and stones being split.
once.
twice
three times
each one louder than before.
each one forcing trees to sway, the scree to shift, the mound to move.
Suddenly, the mound explodes!
Dirt, sand, brush, trees, boulders, stones; all of it explodes out in a massive cloud of debris that surges forth from the center towards the surrounding mountain sides.
the mountains themselves groan and shift in response, sending more and more rocks and stones to fall. Anything, including yourself, caught below these multi-ton rocks is crushed flat. More and more rocks explode from impact as the debris strewn cloud overtakes your position, forcing you to fall back. To where? youre not sure! just someplace more solid could be more solid? If the ground itself is rebelling... you shudder to think about this idea as you find a larger outcrop of stone more inclined to stay in place than to roll away. You and your companions crouch underneath, while the wizard lifts his hands high over his head and creates a shield. Stone missiles large and small impact and bounce off. His action saves you...
A sound, not exploding rock, not falling stone, not the sound of the fighter crying from a snapped femur; no, this sound is loud! so loud that it overtakes all other sounds. You clap your hands over your ears, yet you still hear it. It rings in your head, but also, rings within you. you groan in agony at hearing it. over and over and over again it roars, each time it feels like your soul is being plucked like a guitar string.
finally it stops.
the rocks falling stops.
the debris begins to settle.
the air clears up.
and you see it!
Large! so large! larger than large! large is small compared to this thing. massive! monstrous! greater than colossal the thing stands.
Covered in large spikes upon a hardened shell, limbs longer than normally found upon a bipedal animal. claws that can obliterate! a tail that pulverizes! a mouth that consumes!
Pure terror consumes your mind as you leap to your feet and begin to run, to run away!
That! That cannot be the wizard gasps, his breath quick from the reaction.
What? ow! what in the nine bloody light forsaken layers of hell is that thing! a dinosaur the fighter grunts as he falls and rolls down the hill instead of running down.
a dragon? the thief asks.
A dinosaur the druid chimes in.
NO! Worse! the world killer! Armageddon made flesh! made manifest! the wizard pants harder as he leaps high over a rock.
It's a Tarrasque!
****
You stand huddled together upon a cairn as purple lightning flashes overhead and strikes the ground. The mounds begin to split and tear as bony arms, covered in rotted flesh, lift from the ground. You look near and far, and everywhere the eye sees is nothing but a giant graveyard. the graveyard. her graveyard.
destroy all that, and you shall have immortality. She says from the black caverns of her raised hood, her scythe pointing out to the swarm around you.
****
Gadrin's gap. Legend says that Gadrin himself help this location against 200 orcs 1200 years ago, granting his name to this location for his bravery. yet today, Gadrin's gap may change to your name.
a narrow cleft in the rock walls, a mere 20 feet wide, it is the most direct path from the wastelands beyond to the capital of Han-ou. treachery from within had killed off the guards of this location, leaving the gap defenseless, and potentially allowing the horde of Orcs, goblins, kobolds, and more, all to descend upon the soft capital of Han-ou and her pampered citizens.
You stand at the opening, and ponder how Gadrin mustve felt when he stood there all by himself.
Prolly pissed his pants. the elf says with undisguised hatred, making you wonder if you had spoken your thought out loud. You could not tell whether the elf hated the dwarf, or dwarves in general, or all of the combined horde that is about to crash upon this gap. It mattered not. He was here with you now. All of you were. all five of you.
five against 5,000.
an epic for the ages.
(should the gap not fall)
******
Hey there! so ive had this idea poking about in my head for the last couple weeks now.
Have you taken on a Red Dragon when he just woke up from his evening slumber?
Have you encountered the mighty Tarrasque as it begins to start Armageddon?
Ever wanted to take on a cemetary full of zombies, skeletons and mummies?
what about being the lone guard against an almost unlimited horde of goblinfolk invaders?
Play mind games with an Aboleth?
It takes a long, long time to get our characters up to high enough level to take on these fearsome encounters. And what's worse, its entirely possible that the group, or the game, or the pbp, will fizzle out long before you can achieve that moment of taking on a level 20+ encounter. or that level 9 at 5th level. or that level 3 at 12 level (cuz who doesnt occasionally love that super easy encounter?)
I thought hey, why not just offer the encounters
so my idea is simple. I create the encounter, no fluff, no background stuff, just the scene, the creature (or creatures), and all you have to do is provide a character to the fight.
Hey Rizz, very interesting and lots of questions.
Would the players play the same characters just started at mid-level and then bumped up for the next fight? Or would you select players, and they'd build different characters each time? If the players were playing different characters would they need to fill the same sort of 'role' or be able to switch roles or would 'roles' be irrelevant?
Would we know the situation/scenario before we bumped or changed our characters?
My 3.5 group used to have "Arena" games. We rotated DM spot, who created the gladiatorial scenario and the players created 10th level characters for it.
The survivor wins...lol.
Hey Rizz, very interesting and lots of questions.
Would the players play the same characters just started at mid-level and then bumped up for the next fight? Or would you select players, and they'd build different characters each time? If the players were playing different characters would they need to fill the same sort of 'role' or be able to switch roles or would 'roles' be irrelevant?
Would we know the situation/scenario before we bumped or changed our characters?
1)idk. Probably be easier for players to stick with one character, but would be interesting actually if this was sort of an anthology of sorts. PC A defeats the red dragon. PC B, daughter PC A, fights a remorhaz. PC C, neice of B, fights tarrasque, and so on. One could almost imagine seei g an old man and woman sitting by a fore in a large manor house, trophies of the familys conquests and vanquishments hung up the wall.
As for the scenario, id probably post a choice of two or three to go after. Of course, choose the wrong one and it could carry over and just be stronger than before.