These posts detail the life of my ongoing trash elf character Rose Royce. Many were posted previously on Dungeons & Donuts and on Instagram.
I’ve only gotten to play Rose a handful of times in the Forgotten Realms so far. She’s attended parties in Waterdeep, stolen treasures from Undermountain, and is currently assisting a party in Baldur’s Gate, but the most interesting place I’ve gotten to play her in the FR (however briefly) was the island of Chult.
A friend of mine was running a pick up game of Tomb of Annihilation using the hardcore rules that come with the book. For those unfamiliar, the adventure is set on Chult, an jungle island populated predominantly with undead, goblins, and so many dinosaurs.
Our mission was to set out from Port Nyanzaru into the jungle to find the lost city of Mezro (I think?) and all of its lost treasures, a seemingly impossible task that the locals thought we were crazy to undertake.
Rose’s goals were far more prosaic: she wanted to eat a Flintstone’s size rack of ribs, ride a dinosaur, and not die of shivering sickness or being eaten by zombies. So far so good.
The very first encounter, we were ambushed by a whole tribe of Batiri goblins. *Face palm*
The rest of the party (two human fighters and a dwarf barbarian) immediately started fighting them. Rose, on the other hand, tried to distance herself and start communicating to try to diffuse the situation. She knew a little bit of goblin from a previous campaign, and since she was similar in stature to the goblins, she figured she ought to try.
Three rounds later, one goblin was dead. On the other side the fighters and barbarian were poisoned. Despite Rose’s continued suggestions of making peace, they were spoiling for a fight. The goblins stacked up, then unleashed a flurry of spears. All three PC’s died a round later.
Rose was taken captive. Tied up, but very alive.
Using Persuasion, a few clever lines, and a quick magic trick (Sleight of Hand), by the end of the session Rose was crowned Queen of their tribe. She was sitting pretty atop a throne of skulls, tropical drink in her hands.
This campaign didn’t last long, but it’s fair to say Rose ended it on top.
Moral of the story: When meeting new creatures it’s always best to try talking first. You never know how far it’ll get you!
