Introduction

Hi everyone, my name Aime Luduck, and I'm writing to you from Cape Town, South Africa. I hope you enjoy this post.

On to the Topic!

During the the holidays, I was the DM for a DND story with @zakludick, @merenludick, my grandmother and a family friend. As this was my first time playing, we didn't properly understand the rules, but we had the basics in mind and played off those.

The characters in the party were:

Dain Ironfist - Hill Dwarf (Cleric) - @zakludick
Finnon - Lightfoot Halfling (Rogue) - @merenludick
Meriele - High Elf (Wizard) - Grandmother
Gimsley - Dragon born (Ranger) - Family friend

The story was Christmas themed and I made up the story as it built up. I had a couple of ideas to put in the story but most of it I just made to go along with the story.

So let me tell you the tale of this snowy quest journeyed by these brave adventurers.

The Snowy Quest

The party arrives in the cold township of Snowsdale, the harsh icy winds swirling as they enter. Having been tired of their travels they enter a local tavern in search of warm ale and a comforting fire. These travellers have been searching for quests in foreign lands, but had not yet been successful. As they enter the tavern they see it's empty alone for the dwarven tavern owner and an odd man sitting near the fire, who wears a shadowy cloak. The travellers see a glint of red armour beneath the cloak, shining in the light of the fire.

The travellers walk to the dwarven tavern owner, and Gimsley speaks, " Good evening, we are travellers who seek refuge from the cold winds, may we please buy your fine ale?" Unfortunately the tavern owner was in a bad temper and responded gruffly, " I'm in no mood to deal with hungry travellers, the taverns closed! Be on yer way!" Dain then spoke in the dwarven tongue, which seemed to soften the tavern owners mood. The other travellers have no recognition of what they are saying and stay silent. Eventually the tavern owner speaks Common and says, " Very well, sit yer 'selves down, I'll bring you yer ale."

The travellers take seats in the corner of the tavern and wait. They wearily glance at the strange man by the fire, curious to who he might be. The bartender brings them their ale and says, " That'll be five gold coins fer each mug." The travellers realise they don't have enough gold to pay, so Dain speaks again to the tavern owner in dwarvish.

" My friend, Unfortunately we do not have enough gold to pay for this ale. Is there another way we'll be able to pay you? "
The tavern owner is in thought for several minutes and finally asks, " Are you comin' to this town again soon?"
Dain responds, " We are in search of quests, so we will be travelling back. "
"I'll take yer word fer it", says the tavern owner. " I'll allow you to open a tab, as long as you pay me back in three months."
" Thank you, my friend. Your kindness is appreciated"

The tavern owner leaves the travellers to enjoy their ale. As the drink their ale, they talk and come to an agreement. One of them should try to speak to the cloaked stranger. Gimsley volunteers and approaches the cloaked figure hunched before the glowing fire. Gimsley sits in an armchair next to the cloaked man and kindly greets him. "Good evening, sir, how are you?". The cloaked bearded man is unexpectedly friendly and returns the greeting. " Good day to you too, lad.I suppose I'm as well as I can be at the moment. " Gimsley nods and the two sit in silence for some time. Finally Gimsley speaks, " Kind sir, would you be interested in partaking in a bet?" He takes out a set of dice and waits for the strangers reply. The stranger seems interested and says, "Very well, for what shall we bet?"
"How about this, if I win, I can ask several questions and you must answer them"
The man raises an eyebrow. "And what if I am the one to win? "
Gimsley shrugs. "Then you may ask me any questions you might want to ask."

"Very well, explain to me the rules of this bet."
Gimsley carefully explained the rules of the game, they played a few rounds until the stranger was confident he knew how to play.
They played and Gimsley won. The cloaked man laughed joyfully and said, "Very well, state your questions."
Gimsley leaned in his chair towards the man, ready to make his questions. "From where do you hail, and are you of the human race?" The man looked up as if finally remembering something.

"I come from a place where there are no animals or vegetation, where the icy tundras are steep and unparalleled, and where the cold snow covers all mountains. I come from the North Pole. And no, I am not human, I would not like to say what I might be, if you do not mind. "

Gimsley looks in surprise. " What's your business being so far from your home? "
" I was driven out by my enemies"
" I have one more question Is like to ask you."
"Very well"
" Do you know of any quests that people offer? "

The man looks surprised. " Are you an adventurer? " Gimsley says, " Yes, I've travelled here with my party in search of quests. Do you know of any? "

There was a twinkle in the mans eye. "One of my own.... you see, my name is known far and wide across this world, as I have a certain duty I must fulfill. I am Santa Claus. I've been driven out of my home by my enemies and have been in hiding since. They've corrupted my elf's and have slain each one of my reindeer. I beg of you traveller, please, journey to the sacred mountains of the North Pole and slay my enemies before Christmas passes. In return, I offer you a large amount of gold and jewels."

Gimsley was in awe of Santas tale and spoke, "We accept your quest. I'll tell my party and we'll leave immediately." "Thank you kind traveller, I wish you good luck and fortune. "

Gimsley walks to the party and tells them of the quest. They too are astonish of Santa's tale. "We should get some rations before we start travelling " , suggested Dain. Thankfully he spoke again to the tavern owner in dwarvish and the tavern owner agreed to sell them rations and place it on their tab. And so, the party started their journey to the great North Pole.

The End ( for now)

I hope you all enjoyed this post, I'll post Part 2 soon.
Good night/day to all of you!!!😊✨