A day in the life of Tsubaki the Dwarf

Tsubaki stood at an intimidating 5 feet tall, his beard growing past a massive gut to the buckle holding his belt in place. Evidence of a recent battle was painted in blood, splattered across his armor and permeating the creases in his weathered face. Well, what you could see of it anyhow- something that one could describe as eyebrows came from Tsubaki's helm, bushy and ridiculous. The item had been labeled as the bushy eyebrows of strength and when fused to the face of the dwarf had added +2 to strength, and plummeted his appearance to a 6- he was fairly awful to look at. The DM admitted reluctantly that he must roll for a distraction now when Tsubaki entered a room. He set down the corpse of his friend Maglio, as the rest of the party came into the shrine they had found in the depths of the dungeon. Somehow, he knew this wasn't the end of their hellish assortment of problems.

Perhaps 7 hours earlier Maglio was anticipating the expedition with a motley crew, all bright eyed and excited to claim their glory. A Pyromancer chuckled and offered comic relief to the Mortician who had oiled his whip that morning in preparation for the battles ahead. In a soon forgotten moment, Tsubaki could be seen without the facial bush- teasing the imp that the Pyromancer had taken as a familiar. They had gathered their best gear, and the five of them entered the odd hole capped with a large disk that said LA sewer district on it in some strange dialect. They had been able to retrieve these words from a spell, but none of them knew what they meant. Nonetheless, this was the entrance to the wonderful and scary place known as the dungeon.

They had found battle almost immediately on their adventure, and had successfully slain a variety of low level creatures. In one room they came upon about a dozen Imps who threw fireballs across the room, focusing on Tsubaki. Luckily, Dwarves are naturally magic resistant and not much damage was done. A brief instant of fighting brought the Imps to heel in surrender, and the Pyromancer gained 2 new pets and Tsubaki the infamous eyebrows. Long corridors twisted and turned, sloping steadily down. The group had crossed a room now filled with the crumbled bones of vanquished skeletons, when an encounter was rolled. It was clear from the look on the DM's face that the party was in big trouble. 6 Clackers appeared, goblin like creatures with skin as hard as stone. Two of them were quite suddenly on the other side of the door Maglio had opened, and four had appeared in the doorway the party had come from about 60 feet away. Maglio and Tsubaki struck at the Clackers in the doorway, killing one after several bloody rounds of battle that left both of them injured. Imps shot their fireballs at them, brave yet doing no damage as the 4 Clackers approaching closed in. The Pyromancer and Mortician stood helpless behind, unable to attack unless they swapped places with one of the two trading hit for hit with their formidable foe. There was no hope of survival if they could not push through the doorway and flee, Tsubaki and Maglio threw everything they had at the Clacker finally slaying it. Sadly, as the Clacker fell so did Maglio. He had received a mortal wound, and blood ran from under his chest plate. In a smooth motion Tsubaki lifted his body over a massive shoulder, and ran down the hallway with the party in tow. The Clackers were 20 feet behind in pursuit when they turned a corner into a another cavernous hallway.

100 feet ahead of them was a clearing, to the right a door about 30 feet away swung open. Pushing it open was a group of 5 Clackers. Frantic the party raced forward, as Clackers filled the hallway behind them in pursuit. When the clearing finally came into view, four shrines sat in a square. There was no exit, no way to go except back. The only variable in what was becoming certain doom, was whatever the shrines contained. 40 feet behind them Clackers pushed forward. There was no choice except to hope one of these shrines would be their salvation. One of the four reeked of evil, a feeling of corruption seemed to thicken the air around it. Another was marked with the eight intersecting lines that represented chaos with their bright rainbow of color. No one could differentiate between the other two, but they agreed that they must represent good and law. There wasn't much time to talk it over, and so the group raced into their best guess for the shrine of good desperate to find a friend.

As the small shine filled with the tired, bloodstained, and desolate adventurers a light began to shine all around them. In a sensation that was like vertigo while plunging into a cold pool of water, the group felt themselves pulled into another realm. Towering above them, a tall man awaited on a floor of clouds. As far as the eye could see was open sky, angels swooping in and out of view, beautiful and terrible in nature. "I am Televieve, what brings you to my domain" boomed out, not from his mouth but somehow all around them. Tsubaki began to explain the battle and Maglio's death, when Televieve interrupted. "I know you and I will allow you to live, if you bind yourself to a path of Law." his voice proclaimed from the sky itself. Without much choice, Tsubaki agreed and the God adressed the Mortician. "You are a filthy creature, you reek of death and evil deeds. Goodbye." as his words echoed around them, the Mortician was gone. The sky began to fade, and Televieve was illuminated as darkness closed in "Your friend was lawful, and followed an admirable path. I will restore him" he said before the world went completely dark, and he too vanished.

Tsubaki came to in the grass surrounding the entrance to the dungeon, as Maglio blinked in astonishment to see the trees around them once again. He flexed his hands and felt... better. Tsubaki too felt invigorated, and for a moment gratitude filled the group as they breathed fresh air for the first time in what seemed like days. They tried to think about the Mortician, but none of them could really feel bad for him. It was as if he was no longer real to them, a hallucination induced by the stress of the journey. "Want to grab some grub, and go back in?" Tsubaki asked, and was met with unanimous agreement. The group headed into town, as forces beyond their comprehension watched on.

Tsubaki was a character I played for about 4 years, in a heavily modified grey hawk campaign/ AD&D with an almost 40 year history. The world Tsubaki experienced was largely created by the actions of my Dad and his friends when they were in their early 20's. To this day my Father runs his dungeon, doing his best to slay those who dare to enter the chaotic and wonderful world he created. What version of Dungeon do you gravitate to? What sort of character do you find yourself becoming when the dice hit the table? Comment below and let me know!