Chapter 13: The Use of Druids
The Loud Boys in the Lost Mines of Phandelver, a D&D Report
The three adventurers crowded around the doorway. Before them an old man cowered. He was dressed in brown robes of coarse weave, all the better to hide dirt stains and animal droppings in. Feathers braided into his thinning hair and shiny rocks webbed into a necklace hinted at either insanity or knowledge of the mysteries of nature magic. His voice croaked, much like a raven’s.
“Don’t hurt me!”
Kila shouldered his way in, cheerfully sheathing his sword. “Hello, old man! We’re not going to hurt you!”
“Argh!” said the old man reflexively at the sight of the tall armoured human looming in the one-roomed house. Kila did tend to take up most of the available space whenever indoors, due to all the muscles. It was not always the most reassuring sight.
Uayak appeared beside the old man suddenly, having utilised Kila’s distracting entry to good effect. He unsheathed a little dagger and began to flick it, scattering reflections of firelight on the walls. “That’s right,” he said, not at all menacingly, “we’re not going to hurt you…”
The old man squeaked, more like a chick than a raven. He seemed to have run out of breath for screaming.
Jake came in last, sparks still dancing over his fingers in readiness for more twig blights. As the lack of plant monsters to fight registered, his disappointment generated a palpable aura and he finally let the spell go.
“I thought you said you were out of spells,” said Uayak.
“That was a fire bolt, it’s a cantrip,” said Jake. “I’ve got plenty of those. It might only singe you but I could probably set those blighted twigs on fire with it. Cantrips don’t really need any power.”
“Ah! A magic user!” exclaimed the old man. “Then… are you a party of adventurers? Are you able to assist me?”
The three looked at one another.
“With what?” said Jake.
“Who are you?” said Uayak.
“Do you have something to eat?” said Kila.
*******
Slightly more comfortably settled on the bare dirt floor, chewing on some of the old man’s stash of last winter’s nuts and drinking stale water from their own bottles, they listened to the tale.
“My name is Reidoth. I listen to the trees and the earth, I am the hands of the forest, I make my home with the creatures of the wild…” the old man began to intone.
“What are you doing in the ruin of this town, then?” interrupted Uayak. He was cutting his fingernails with the dagger he had drawn earlier.
The old man glared. “I made my home with the creatures of the wild, until I sensed from the forest that there had been a disturbance in the balance of life. I spent much time communing with the spirits of the trees and streams-”
“Chatting up dryads and naiads, you mean,” sniggered Uayak. Kila and Jake giggled.
“Communing, and they revealed to me that the origin of the disturbance lay in the ruins of this town. The forest has been in the process of reclaiming Thundertree but something is preventing it from doing so. I came to find out more.”
The old man paused dramatically. Jake was still stuffing himself with nuts and Kila had started to clean his sword. The little sounds of Uayak’s fingernails pinging into the fireplace where he was aiming them were rather grating. “Are you all listening to me?” the old man demanded.
“Mmph,” said Jake, mouth full. “Uh-huh,” said Kila, critically inspecting the edge of the blade. “You’re looking for something in Thundertree,” said Uayak.
“Not just looking,” said the old man. “I found it.”
Another dramatic pause.
“Look, whatever you found, you obviously can’t deal with it by yourself,” said Uayak. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be cowering in here. Tell us what it is and we’ll deal with it.”
The old man huffily said, “It’s a dragon, it’s nesting in the old tower-”
“A dragon!” Jake excitedly exclaimed. “Dragons are really challenging. What colour is it? Does it talk? Some of them are poisonous, I read all about it in one of my books, I’ve got in my bag somewhere-”
At the same time, Kila was mumbling, “Oh, that’s why the tower looked so funny, I knew it didn’t look like that before!”
“Do you mind!” yelled the old man. “I was talking!”
Jake looked at the floor and Kila mumbled, “Sorry.”
Uayak smoothly deflected the situation. “So we find the dragon in the tower?”
“Yes. You need to drive it out so that the forest can continue reclaiming Thundertree.”
“I don’t understand. How does a dragon being in the tower stop the forest reclaiming the town?” said Jake, frowning.
“By its mysterious draconic powers,” said the druid, scowling.
“But how? I’m pretty sure I’ve read that dragons can live in forests. There shouldn’t be any reason why-”
“Look, the dragon needs to go, all right?” shouted the druid.
“All right, all right,” said Uayak soothingly, and tried to change the topic. “You’ll be coming with us, of course.”
“No,” said the druid.
“Why not?” said Uayak. “You have spells that can help us in combat?”
“Yes, but I’m not coming.” The old man crossed his arms firmly and glared at them. “You have to do it yourselves.”
“What if you come and cast some protective charms or buffs?”
“No.”
“Have you got any healing potions you can give us? Or potions to give us an edge in combat?”
“No.”
Uayak also crossed his arms and glared. Despite being half the height of the old man, even seated, he was still twice as threatening. “You mean, you want us to put our lives on the line and deal with this dragon that only you see as a problem, and you’re not even going to help us in any way.”
The old man nodded. “Yes, that sounds about right. Come back when you’re done and I might have a reward for you!”
Uayak switched the focus of his glare to what would have been the sky if it wasn’t for the intervening roof. “What kind of world is this? Why are these non-adventurers so useless? Who’s running this place anyway?”
Slowly, Kila and Jake looked up as well. A distant rumble of thunder crossed the sky, but nothing else happened.
Uayak slumped. “Fine. But at least let us have a rest here.”
The old man nodded, and pointed to the bare boards in front of the fireplace. “You can even sleep on my bed if you like.”
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Next is Chapter 14
Here is Chapter 12
And Chapter 1 is here