Dungeons & Flagons

A tiefling rogue, halfling druid farmer, half-orc barbarian, dwarven bard, and half-elf sorcerer make up a motley crew, adventuring in the lands of Olam.

6 minute read

Leaving Grinder’s Mill, the adventurers head back to Food Alley and Waffle Wizards to find out if they have anything to do with the odd goings-ons with the newer shops in the alley.

Along the way, they stop by Dolly’s Donuts to drop off a bag of non-enchanted flour that Grinder had given them. There’s a sign on the front door that reads, “Temporarily closed due to living donuts.” Fred is excited to have flour that he can actually use. At least they think he’s excited, primarily based on the unusual half-smile.

Grindlefoot asks Dolly if she knows K’ren at Waffle Wizards. “Sure, but not very well. She’s a bit greasy, if you know what I mean.”

It doesn’t take them long to reach the squat stone building designed to look like a castle. The stonework, doors, and windows appear a tad rundown, as though regular maintenance is lower on the to-do list than other items. The sign above the door is quite large and made up of individual tiles for each letter in the name that come together into the shape of a waffle. WAFFLE WIZARDS is spelled out in very large, block-style, black letters, with each one on a bright yellow background. If any of the group had previously been to a Waffle Wizards before, they would have known that these signs are an iconic sighting throughout Eritz.

They enter through the front door and female aarakocra with bright pink feathers greets them in a high-pitched nasally voice. “Welcome to Waffle Wizards, where everything is magical. I’m Flo and I’ll be helping you today, sugar. Let’s get you seated.” She takes them to a table and gives a rundown of the menu.

Gven notices a goblin cleaning a table with a distinct lack of effort. She walks over to the table and plops the sack of enchanted flour on it. “I think this is yours,” then walks back to her group’s table. The goblin rolls its eyes and starts to say something, but then thinks otherwise and picks up the sack, lugging it to the kitchen.

Mond orders the woefuls, the one selection that Flo warned them about. After a few bites, he suddenly gets very sad. Grindlefoot notices, “what does it taste like?” Mond quietly says, “regret. And I have to commend the chef!” He makes his way to the kitchen and finds a bugbear wearing a hairnet flipping fried eggs on the stove top. The cook grunts in response to Mond, not seeming to care about any accolades.

Back at the table, Gven asks Flo if K’ren is around. Flo turns towards the back of the restaurant, “K’ren, honey, these folks want to chat with you.” Turning back to the group, “anything else I can get ya, sweeties?” The group shakes their heads no and Flo returns to the hostess stand, leans over and props her head on her hand to watch the ensuing confrontation.

Emerging from the kitchen, a middle-aged tiefling with purple hair has a distinct look of annoyance on her face. In a slightly aggressive yet overly sweet tone, “How can I help you?”

Dolor and Gven begin to question K’ren about Food Alley, the newer cafes, and the morning’s flour delivery. Quickly tiring of the inquisition, K’ren becomes angry and defensive.

“Look, those shops have no right to steal our customers! It’s all I can do to keep this place running so that Flo, Squiggy, and Chuck have jobs.” She points at Flo, the goblin, and then the bugbear as she says their names. “Look at this place, you think I want to be here? No way! This is the first step in my plan. After I get this place turned around, I’m going to manage a Beyond the Wall Grill or maybe a Red Keep Bistro. The honchos up at Game of Stones Restaurants are gonna know the name K’ren and they’re going to be impressed.”

As her voice gets louder and she becomes even more visibly upset, Squiggy and Chuck come out of the kitchen to stand behind her. Flo is still at the hostess stand, loudly chewing on a stick of gum with a look of interest on her face. There are only two other customers in the cafe, both older and sitting together at a two-top, sipping on their coffee and chatting as though nothing’s going on.

Gven stands up from her chair and puts her hand on her greatsword and calmly says, “so you did enchant the flour to sabotage the other shops.”

A villainous look of rage crosses K’ren’s face, “Chuck and Squiggy, we have troublemakers.”

Fight choreography

  • Squiggy, the goblin, attacks Gven with a large fork, stabbing her 3 times for a total of 18 damage and then suddenly disappears, reappearing 20 feet away in another part of the diner.
  • Dolor fires his shortbow at Squiggy, causing 9 damage.
  • Grindlefoot wild shapes into a dire wolf and moves toward the bugbear.
  • Mond throws his daggers at the goblin and misses.
  • Gven invokes her barbarian rage and attacks K’ren with her greatsword, causing 21 damage
    • K’ren responds with her tielfing trait of hellish rebuke, causing 7 damage to Gven.
  • K’ren casts slow at the group, affecting Gven and Mond, halving their speed and causing a -2 penalty to their armor class.
  • Chuck, the bugbear, wacks Dolor over the head with a frying pan for 5 damage
  • Bilwin sees that Gven looks a little worse for wear and casts cure wounds, granting her 11 healing.
  • Squiggy attacks Gven with his very large fork again, hitting her 2 times for 5 damage and then (again) disappears and reappears 20 feet away.
  • Dolor attacks Chuck with Gleaming Blade, knocking the bugbear unconscious.
  • Grindlefoot, as a dire wolf, bites K’ren and causes 5 damage.
  • Mond is able to shake off the slowness effects and casts mind spike at K’ren, who takes 4 damage.
  • Gven can’t break free of the slow spell, but swigs a healing potion for 14 in healing.
  • K’ren drops the slow spell and waves her arm, animating 3 tables, which begin attacking the group.
    • Table 1 bashes Gven with its legs for 6 damage.
    • Table 2 swings at Gven and misses.
    • Table 3 swings at Dolor and misses.
  • Bilwin attacks Squiggy with guiding bolt, but it misses.
  • Squiggy attacks Gven with that damn fork another 4 times, missing all of them.
  • Dolor attacks K’ren with Gleaming Blade and knocks her unconscious.
    • The animated tables suddenly stop, once again in their inanimate form.
  • Squiggy stops fighting, throws down that stupid fork and yells, “alright, alright!”

Within a few minutes, two members of the city watch burst through the front doors and arrest K’ren, Chuck, and Squiggy. Gven tells the guards that the evidence is in the kitchen and they can chat with Rezko over at Grinder’s Mill for more details.

Over at the two top, Flo is standing next to the couple, a male dwarf and female elf, keeping their coffee cups filled. She looks up at Dolor, “hey sweetie, when you go back to Dolly’s, let her know that Flo is looking for a new job, will ya.”

The adventurers advance to level 5.