Dice Friends — Escape from Semolo Plateau Ep1
In the first episode of Dice Friends, and of this new campaign, Dale leads Graham, Kathleen, Paul, and Beej through an adventure on the island of Chult!
Vital Statistics
Date: January 15, 2018
Category: Dice Friends
Campaign: Escape from Semolo Plateau
Game Master: Dale Friesen
Players: Kathleen De Vere as Morra, Graham Stark as Snak, Paul Saunders as Dande, Brendan "Beej" Dery as Bontan
System: Dungeons & Dragons 5e
Runtime: 2:12:21
Synopsis
In the inaugural episode of Dice Friends, the four protagonists (Bontan played Brendan "Beej" Dery, Dande played by Paul Saunders, Morra played by Kathleen De Vere, and Snak played by Graham Stark) began their journey in prison beneath the Semolo Plateau. They were sent on work detail with minimal equipment plus curse rocks. Their successes were less than spectacular, and then they fled back home. In an attempt to prevent a herd of tiny venomous dinosaurs from following them onto the plateau they released the suspension bridge, but non-functional safety ropes meant that the bridge was not recoverable.
Plot Summary
Four non-human creatures find themselves in the Semolo Plateau prison on charges with varying degrees of fairness. Bontan, an albino Hill Dwarf Cleric, was arrested on sight when some Semolo guards found him for bearing the Tattoo of Abu Nihar, a Necromancer (magic is frowned upon very harshly on the Semolo Plateau). Dande, a Tabaxi Monk, was also arrested on sight and claims he was framed for burning down a building. Morra, an Elf from Faerun, was arrested for stealing four Malfansa Lizards, a creature the plateau inhabitants use to make poison which they sell, and releasing them into the wild. Snak, a Battiri Goblin, stole some equipment from the Plateau and left to stash it somewhere, and was arrested upon his return for deserting the militia. These four are the only non-human prisoners and get picked on by the “leader” of the prisoners, Peg-Leg, frequently being sent on the mandatory work details without food.
One day as the four are being sent on another foodless work detail, they find a note on the ride up from the prison. It’s from the plateau’s Sage, telling them he has an offer to make them and not to trust the Mayor. They don’t know what to make of this and go to see the Mayor, who gives them a list of things they need to collect as part of the work detail. The items range from exceedingly difficult to virtually impossible to get, such as “T-Rex eyeball [Fresh]”. The Mayor then says he has a job for all them going to Port Nyanzaru once they finish the work detail, to which Snak immediately agrees to.
After getting their instructions, the party goes to the Sage to get Cursed so they don’t just run away while in the jungle. The curses come in the form of rocks, which once taken from the Jug Of Curse Rocks are activated on the person who took them. The curse rocks are handed out by the Sage’s assistant, Bebo, but shenanigans involving multiple attempts to avoid taking a rock via sleight of hand cause Snak’s curse to activate and Morra intimidates Bebo so much that he collects the rocks back and runs to the Sage. The Sage threatens to send them all back to prison and have Peg-Leg do the work detail, at which they all begrudgingly take a curse rock and leave to get crappy equipment from the Quartermaster.
Once equipped, the party heads out across the bridge into the jungle and waste no time arguing about how to acquire the items on the list. They are only talking for a few minutes when an Undead Garbanzo Spider descends on them and all four begin fighting for their lives. The commotion from this fight starts to attract other creature’s of Chult’s jungle, including a mass of small carnivorous dinosaurs, at which point the party grabs the head of the slain Garbanzo Spider, one of the items on their list, and run back across the bridge. The party releases the clamps of the bridge once they are across, preventing the hostile creatures from following them, but there’s a problem: the ropes that normally allow the bridge to be hauled back up are not attached and now everyone on the plateau is trapped there.