ERUPTION OF THORNS OPENING

At the start of the Eruption of Thorns, each player may attempt on of the following skill checks(read the descriptions to the players first):

Athletics (DC 18)  - You wrestle with the killer fauna, keep the dragon in your sight at all times. Character does not take a -2 penalty for missing Q’Riyr with an attack during Eruption of Thorns.

Perception (DC 14) – You spot patterns in the movement of the vines that you can exploit for your attack. Character ignores Q’Riyr’s cover against ranged and blast attacks during Eruption of Thorns.

Heal or Nature (DC 18) – You determine the nature of the poisonous  sap and are  prepared with counteragents. Character chooses 1:  ignore the  immobilized condition from Thorn Wrap, or do not take ongoing poison damage from Thorn Wrap.

Acrobatics (DC 22) – You leap and  duck past the vines.  They do not impede you in the least. Character does not take damage when moving 2 or more squares during Eruption of Thorns.

Download Q’Riyr (right click ‘Save As’)

No cardboard pyrotechnics this week — no time– but we’ve reached a basic middle ground of me having minis and my really cool tokens each week so it’s not too bad.

The encounter this week was actually rather simple.  Two corruption corpses, a gray ooze and a mote of cold energy that are on the other side of a weakened bridge.  The players spent a bit of time at the other end of the bridge crafty enough to examine the bridge and nervous about going below.  Once they finally got across, the combat got out of gridlock and then the corpses got cut down.

One thing that I’m considering is letting characters choose who they want to use and just treat that character as fresh each session.  A lot of players want to use encounters as a chance to try new classes, and other players are showing up for the first time and then notshowing up, so it’s almost easier to treat each encounter as standing on its own and refreshing each encounter.  It might take some serious rebalancing to do that though.  Has anyone done anything similar?

Tip: Explaining the game for new players

While I’m not convinced that the player’s father will be our regular player (and that’s totally fine) I am confident that he had a fun time. I had a sense of what I could tell him as a new player and what I could not.  Here’s a list of stuff that I keep in mind when I am playing with new players:

Keep it simple to start. I try to tell players that typically what they do is decide an action, roll a d20, add numbers and try to get as high as possible.  I don’t give them much else because there are so many elements in D&D (indeed, most RPGs) that you will only cause confusion hitting them with the RPG firehose.  Start small.

Explain when it comes up. When something becomes relevant, take a break and then explain it. That will allow you to introduce everything  gradually.

Explain the impact of choices. Explaining mechanics is good.  Explaining choices and the impacts of those choices is even better.  When a player is struck, it’s fine to explain to him a few things he or she can do and then let them choose.

Don’t play the character. It’s tempting to tell the player “do this, now roll that, now do this”  and just make their moves for them; resist this urge at all costs.  No one wants to play a game where that happens.  You have to guide but never take over for your player.

What do you do with new players in your games?

As always, I run Encounters at Myriad Game’s Salem Store.

the last season of Encounters had been lackluster, with high initial turnout and then dwindling to nothing shortly thereafter. I wasn’t there for that previous season, but knew that I wanted to grow it at my store so that we had people coming in for D&D regularly.  It’s my little action that I can take to grow the hobby person by person, so I’ve got a lot of passion.

So much passion that I made 3d terrain for session five!  I’ve been getting into cardstock modelling, so I rebuilt the terrain of the encounters with some of my own miniatures and with some cardstock cliffs I made based off of templates I bought from Worldworks Games. I also have been using Gale force 9′s Dungeon Master’s Token Set, which I love!  So there was a lot of flash here.

Did I forget to mention that we had eight people? All it takes is for three returning people to bring friends, and instant playgroup extension! I was pretty surprised at our sudden growth, but I certainly wasn’t going to turn anyone away from the table. I found some extra character sheets from the previous season and tossed those out, and then I spent a few quick moments to beef up the encounter.  In the end I threw another shaman into the group for more domination hijinx.

The game was awesome.  The scenery really helped, but I was able to help the new players get into the game, and the experienced players already brought a lot of cool combat narration.  The big mechanic in this encounter was an ankheg that could be swayed to one side or the other during each round.  I played that up with players :  ”The ankheg is ravenous, but what you know about ankhegs is that they are not discriminating in what they eat, and are easily persuadable.”  This pushed the players to describe some pretty fun ways that they distract and redirect the ankheg.  That and some good rolling kept the ankheg as an ally until it needed to eat PCs.

Something else I made was some more mechanics for Rallo.  I gave him basic stats, but then I also made cards with little powers on them.  Right before the encounter,  I roleplayed with the players talking and trying to make friends with the dwarf.  Anyone who succeeded in making an impression received a card that allowed  them to trigger an ability from Rallo when his turn arrived in the initiative order.  It was a fun little mechanic in the battle and a way to drive some more roleplay into the encounters.

The session ran a little longer than I expected, but the juice definitely was worthy of the squeeze.  We might need to expand to more than 1 DM, which is so far away from where we started.

Tip: Be Flexible.

I certainly could have turned away the seventh and eighth players.  We didn’t have any character sheets explicitly for them and the encounter was definitely not balanced for that number.  But the second part of taking ownership is being flexible.  I knew that with  a little extension that I could accomodate other players so I did so.  Especially with the goal of expanding the presence of D&D at the local gaming store, it just doesn’t make sense to turn away people who want to learn the game and play.

Sometimes you get thrown a curveball.  Stay open-minded, stay fluid, and adapt.

As always, I run Encounters at Myriad Game’s Salem Store.

Art provided by Kyle Ferrin.

So it is that you find yourself travelling through the desert  You must protect your body and your will to reach your destination without harm.

Throughout the challenge each player accumulates survival points for successes. Each failure accumulates “sand” for the failing player.

Survival represents the steps the character has taken to inure him/herself from the dangers of the environment.  Sand represents the dangers of the desert as they seek to overwhelm a character.  The balance between these two values is used at the very last part of the SC, and can be used to gain a boon or a disease.

Players will automatically accrue a point of sand every other day, starting with the first day. Track the total of survival and sand each player gathers over the course of the challenge.

Each day, each player can choose an approach (you’ll want to let players know what each approach is) and then use one of the associated skills for that approached. If the player chooses not to use an associated skill, increase the difficulty of the challenge by two. The intent here is that a player will choose a basic strategy and then describe how they use a skill to implement that approach. Players can devise their own approaches different from those listed here; this will of course require GM adjudication to determine the results.

Day1: Blistering Heat

The desert oppresses you with its heat, the sun high overhead and demanding.

Survival Tactics(Moderate): The desert is cruel, but not clever; you use knowledge and your wits to deal with the harsh desert heat. Skills: Nature, Heal, history, Perception. Success: gain 1 survival. Failure: gain 1 sand.

Dogged Determination (Hard): The flesh is always weak; Your willpower will drive you through the desert by itself. Skills: Endurance, athletics, religion, intimidate.  Success: gain 1d4 survival . Failure: gain 1d4 sand.

Child of the Desert ( automatic): You embrace the desert and all of its challenges. It is unclear whether this can help or hurt you in the end. Gain 1 survival, 1 sand and gain a +2 on your next skill check.

Day 2: Dessication

Dealing with the heat is one thing. The true test of the desert is keeping enough water inside of you. everything conspires to steal your precious water. Even your skin betrays you, ofering it up to the sands and maybe the vultures that circle overhead.

Each player chooses one approach to Dessication:

Water Hunting (hard): You search for underground reserves or plants that hold water. Hopefully the search is not fruitless. Skills: Nature, Perception, History, Dungeoneering. Success: gain 1d4 survival. Failure: player chooses 1: gain 1d4 or lose 1d4 healing surges until the journey ends.

Reserved movement(moderate): It is better to limit one’s movement, conserving what water there is until more can be found. Skills: Endurance, Heal, Stealth. Success: gain 1 survival. Failure: player loses two healing surges until the journey ends.

Day 3: Burning Cold

You are beginning to learn that the nights are the true threat of the desert. The freezing nights can slay the unwary as easily as the heat of the day, which you keep in mind as the cold settles in your bones.

Each player acquires 1 sand.

Each player chooses one approach to the Burning Cold.

Seek Warmth (Hard): You can “rough it” but prefer to increase your odds by finding aids to survival. Skills: Perception, Insight, Nature, Heal. Success:  gain 1 survival.  lose 1 healing surge until journey’s end to gain 1 extra survival.  Failure: gain 1 sand.

Endure the Night (Hard): Again you rely on your own toughness to make it through the desert’s challenge. Skills: Endurance, Athletics, Heal.  Success: gain 1d4 survival.  Failure: either gain weakness on the first round of a combat encounter until the journey ends or gain 1d4+1 sand.

Call to the Spirits of the Desert (Moderate): In desperation you call out to the spirits of the desert.  How will they answer?  Skills: Religion, Arcana, Diplomacy. Success: gain 1d6 survival and gain 1d4 sand. Failure: gain 1d4 survival and 1d6 sand. Special: If you have more survival than sand, regain 1 healing surge or gain a +1 on skill checks during the journey.  If you have more sand than survival, lose 1 healing surge for the remainder of the journey.

The desert burns your body and your mind. What illusions does the desert present to you? Find out in part II of Seven Days in the Desert.

This episode is all about when to use skill challenges.  Is the locked door a good skill challenge?  Find out why or why not on the latest episode.

Enjoy!

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True Power Opening

Each PC may make one of the following skill checks:

Intimidate (DC 17): Unafraid of Maim’s threats and power, the PC stands prepared.  Maim has -2 to attacks against this PC during True Power.

Perception(DC 15): You keep close watch on Maim’s attacks, rolling with them to take away it’s powers. Choose 1: gain 20 temporary hit points, or ignore difficult terrain penalties during True Power.

Insight(DC 19): You counter Maim’s bestial nature with attacks of your own.  You may attack Maim as an opportunity attack every time you are the target of an attack.

Arcana(DC 19): With magical sight you observe the pulse of energy shining within Maim.  You  manipulate that energy and bleed it out.  If you spend three healing surges, you can reduce the duration of the Worldbreaker by 1 round.

Download Maim’s Monster Builder file.

Credits for inspiration goes to Nosferatu Zodd of the manga Berserk, one of my favorite manga villains ever.  Playtest props go to my Wave group, who faced a very “anime-powered” version of this beast.

Maim and other creations can be found on the Worldbreaker page.

First, I will speak about what I didn’t do:  closely review the adventure. This is relevant because this encounter was brutal.   I think it was even more savage than first encounter in the Dark Sun Encounters.  Surprise round hilarity and monsters capable of doing solid damage in bursts equals  a ridiculously  strong encounter.  Had I taken a more in-depth look and passed thee encounter through my sanity filter, I could have been more prepared to deal with it, toning the encounter done or leaving other mechanisms in place to make it easier to deal with. I didn’t though, but I was forced to improv a solution in the form of a dwarf.

The “pre-encounter” involved the players meeting a dwarf mage named Rallo.  He spoke with the players when their foes interrupted with an attack, and he was still standing  near the end of the encounter.  Rallo had no powers or abilities statted out, so was really just there to get beat up by monsters.  In round two I realized the players where getting ready to go down so I executive-decisioned that rallo would have powers, specifically, a one-shot auto-heal to help the players out.  This worked really well, as in the fourth round all but one player was face down in the sand. Rallo dramatically called for the players to not give up, and spread arcane healing energies over them.  This one surge was all that the players needed, and the PCs rose from near defeat to victory.   It was a tense situation that everyone enjoyed.  I was able to do it seamlessly so that it felt like something Rallo could do.

Tip: Take Ownership of Fun

This brings me to a point:  via the magic of the internets, I saw that a lot of people were pretty sore at WotC for that encounter.  There weere a lot of TPKs off of this encounter.  To that I say….take ownership.  If you are running a game, you are the CEO of fun at that period of time, not WotC.  I understand that the encounter was a touch unbalanced, but there are ways that you can make that encounter fun for everybody.  You try a solution like mine, or what about selling the TPK?  A dramatic, mournful finish can soften the blow of character death.  I’ve seen pickup games  where the GM killed all the PCs and concluded with “Ok, that’s over. Sorry guys!”  To me that’s just a wasted opportunity.  Even a TPK has a chance to be awesome.  Have the players discuss last thoughts of the characters.  Describe the consequences of the failure; what happened to the world now that the players aren’t there?  Make their passing felt.  Even though the players died that death will still have meaning and still be dramatic and awesome.

Whatever you do, don’t just accept what’s going on around you.  Don’t say “there’s nothing I can do!”  Of course there is!  As GM, you have access to the pulleys and levers.   Pull the right ones to make the game mean something.

As always, I run Encounters at Myriad Game’s Salem Store.

Thanks again to those who have shared their thoughts on Threshold thus far!  I’ve gotten tons of great comments, but some recurring themes emerge:

• Movement needs more abstraction
• Ranged characters are getting hosed

When these two issues arose, I thought a lot about each and then came to a solution that I think solves both. at once.  Movement needs more abstraction simply because having to count half measures across rounds slows the game and generally is a little inelegant.  For instance, we can just say that slowed characters cannot move into a new zone and be done with it (thanks Ryven and Dave).  We want to reduce counting as much possible.

Ranged characters get hosed by this system, because they get  opportunity attacks every time an enemy is in their zone, so they either have to leave a zone to attack or get opp attacks every time they draw a bow — not fun.

Going with more movement abstraction can fix both problems.  I think abstraction really requires more modes of movement.  We need more manuevers.  I want to keep the number of manuevers under a certain amount, but I think that we get worthwhile results by simpling have the following:

Ranged Manuevers: A character taking this action can make ranged attacks without making opportunity checks until the beginning of its next turn or until a creature makes a melee attack against it.

Without getting into the gory details of “engagement” (who is in contact with who) which, while it is a sound element, adds complexity for little gain, I think that making move actions your defacto action for where your character is going to be and also as an indication of posture makes good sense.

Any thoughts on that?  What manuevers would you add?

Threshold is a system for running fights through the basic form of a skill challenge. It can be used anytime that you would like a combat that is more cinematic than tactical, or if you have special dramatic needs of a scene too difficult to implement on the grid.

Why Threshold?

If you’re familiar with the fluid rules, you can see that it’s a good attempt to translate the grid-based 4e system to a grid-less context.  Even Fluid might be too crunchy for some when they want to go off the grid, however.  People want something even faster and simpler.  In response to that need, I built this system.  Also, I wanted a demo for my new approach to skill challenges called the Action Box.

The Action what?

Don’t worry about that now.  Just know that the concepts of that are used to build this skill challenge structure for running combats.

Assumptions

To build a system like this required more parts of 4e be sacrificed to fit.  Where Fluid only sacrificed some precision and peculiarities of the movement system, Threshold needs even more imprecision.  It assumes that your group has equal measures of trust and communication to fill that gap.  Threshold sacrifices more movement precision, and also abstracts area of affect spells.

It is assumed that, though you may not use a tactical battlemap, you will make a rough map divided into zones.  Zones are abstractions of range that allow us to group opponents as needed.

It is suggested that you use a rough map with counters to track combatants when there are more than 10 combatants in a fight.

Threshold rules.

Play proceeds similar to a normal combat as described in the Player’s Handbook.  Each combatant rolls initiative to determine the order of action, and each combatant has a move minor and standard action.

There are two phases per turn in the Threshold system:  The obstacles phase and the actions phase.  In the obstacles phase, initiative is preserved, but the players only have one free action to make an appropriate check against the obstacle they must face.  In the action phase, order is preserved once again, and each player gets the standard complement of actions to take the actions listed below under the Action Phase.

Zones.

Play is divided into zones.  A zone is a section of the battlefield where combatants are close enough to each other to attack with melee attacks.

When determining distances through zones, consider a standard zone 5 squares.  This mean a typical character can cross a zone in 1 round.  You can alter the size of zones as well.  A large zone could be up to 10 squares while a small zone could be as low as 2 squares.

Moving through Zones

To move through a zone, a combatant must take one of the movement actions listed below.  If the amount of squares that movement would create is greater than the distance of the zone (5 by default), your character can move to an adjacent zone.

If the zone is hindering, a character must make a maneuver check before making the move.  If the zone has a hazard, a player must make the hazard check when entering the zone.

If you do not have enough squares to cross zones, the squares moved are added to the movement in subsequent turns.  When there is a total high enough to leave the zone, this total is reset to zero and the character can move to the next zone.

Example:  Jervis the ranger is slowed, and tries to move across a standard zone (5 squares).  He doesn’t have enough movement to cross, but adds 2 to his movement total.  Next turn he is still slowed, and adds another two for a total of four.  The thrid round he is still slowed, but now adds 2 movement to the total of four, leaving him with six movement.  He crosses into the next zone and his movement total is 0.

Area of Effect in zones.

Area of Effect abilities can only target creatures in the zone that it strikes.  The number of targets that a burst or blast can affect depends  on the size of the blast and is determine randomly.  A burst 1 ability for example can affect 1d4 creatures in the zone.  Roll 1d4  and then select that many legal targets in the zone for the ability to attack.

The chart is below for how many creatures are hit with AOEs.  Use either the die roll or the static number in parenthesis.

Burst 1/Blast 2 1d4 (2)
Burst 2/Blast 3 2d4 (4)
Burst 3/Blast4 3d4 (6)
Burst 4/Blast 5 4d4 (8)
Burst 5/Blast 6+ 5d4 (12)

If there are not enough enemies to target with an effect, the player must choose allies to be hit with the effect.

Zone Effects

A zone  with a hazard effect requires a skill check to be made or else an adventurer will fall victim to that effect.

Hindering zones require a check to be made when moving or else movement is halved.

Opportunity Attacks and the Opportunity Check.

In Threshold, Opportunity Attacks are not given by default. Certain actions you take will provoke or allow you to take Opportunity Attacks.  Opportunity attacks are typically provoked by “Bold Maneuver ‘ (see move actions, below) or  by making ranged attacks when there are enemies in your zone. An opportunity check is made with either Athletics against the highest enemy fortitude in the zone, or with Acrobatics against the highest enemy Reflex in the zone. Failing the opportunity check allows one creature in the zone who is eligible to take an opportunity action against you.

Order of play

Each turn consists of an obstacles phase and an action phase. Each phase is detailed below.

Obstacles phase

The obstacle Phase is where we can make any overarching terrrain effect  or environmental hazards spring forth and attack the players, ot to at least provide a threat.  There are many ways to implement an obstacles phase.  We will provide an example of one here.  Further information on building this part of the encounter will be detailed in other articles on At-Will.
Each player will have a chance to make one or more skill checks that can affect his performance in this turn.  An example of an obstacle phase:
Obstacle:Tide of Shadows

Goal: Earn 10 escape before the shadow tide earns 10 shadow points.

Each Obstacle phase the shadow tide gains 1d4 shadow points.

Escape:You create sufficient space to be  free of the shadows once and for all.  The Shadow Tide Obstacle is destroyed.  Go directly to the Action Phase for the rest of the encounter.

Shadow: The shadow tide is on the verge of enveloping the party.  Though able to  avoid being completely consumed, proximity has left nightmare images and an unnatural chill that will haunt the PCs for some time.  Each member of the party gains shadow sickness.

More on designing Obstacle Phases will come later on At-Will.

Actions Phase

In the actions phase, participants take turns in initiative order.  Each participant has a move, minor and standard action, but only the following set of actions may be used for each of the actions. Immediate and Interrupt actions are used as normal with a rare few exceptions.  Opportunity checks work differently as well.

Move Actions

Bold Maneuver: Move your full speed and make an opportunity check.
Cautious Maneuver: Move half your speed.
Guard: Choose one ally.  Once per turn you may take an opportunity attack against an enemy in the same zone who attacks that creature.
Advantageous Maneuver: Make an Athletics check versus an enemies’ Fortitude or Acrobatics versus Reflex.  If the check succeeds, that target grants combat advantage to you until the end of its next turn.

Move Action Powers can be taken as normal.

Minor action

Skill Action:  Depending upon the encounter, there will be skill checks that your character can take as a minor action.

Minor action abilities and powers can be taken as normal.

Standard Action

You may use standard actions and powers as normal.

Example of Threshold Action Phase

Having just finished the shadow tide obstacle phase, the characters are fighting shadows that have emerged from the tide and are attacking.

The shadows’ leader is first in the initiative.  He is one zone away from the players, so he spends a move action to cross into the zone where the party is.  It is hindering terrain, but the shadow flies and it does not effect it.  The shadow moves the full speed., then spends a standard action to attack Herg, the party’s fighter.

The round ends.  The PCs go through another obstacle phase against the shadow tide and then have another action phase immediately following that, repeating the cycle until the encounter ends.

Ending a Threshold Encounter

Threshold encounters often end like a normal combat does.  The party is defeated or its enemies are.  The structure of threshold encounters allows you to alter the paths to victory and win conditions.

The Threshold system can implement system for morale, escort scenarios or protection encounters easily, as well as more exotic situations.

Different obstacles and victory conditions will be detailed on At-Will.

-The Red Clown

The king Hornestus Leopold thought himself surrounded by enemies. Self-titled Hornestus the Bold, the king confronted these “enemies”, finding them in whatever stones they hid under.  Hornestus’ subjects (when they were not being observed) knew the king as “Hornestus the Headless”, as he made it clearly known that he would rule an entire kingdom of headless subjects to be free of enemies and conspirators at last.

From the beginning to the end of each day, executioners plied their axes, fulfilling the kings rising quotas for conspirator blood. Their bodies could not keep pace with the demands.  Even Hornestus found himself fatigued.  The executions had become…tiresome.  This worried  him even more.  If he could not be eternally vigilant, his enemies would find a way into the throne room with daggers in hand.  How to alleviate that boredom growing in his heart?

Sedello!  The jester languished in the king’s dungeons.  Hornestus kept the fool waiting a full ten years for a jest made at the king’s expense.  Hornestus had failed all this time to devise  a suitable end for Sedello, but the fool would now serve higher aims. Darkly inspired, the king thought to laugh his way through the ennui of his daily executions.

The king’s guards dragged the fool  into the light  for his new work. The fool was dressed in the same jester’s outfit the king imprisoned him in.  These ten long years Sedello remained in  good spirits. Surely, the king took some mild offense and needed to find the appropriate moment to apologize and entertain Hornetus.   Once Hornestus let the performer revise his routine (with a noticeable absence of comments regarding the king himself) all would be forgiven and returned as it once was. Sedello began his routine and his wit shone, creating the only bright spot in the gallows.  Men waiting to executed even found their humor at the last.

Hornestus kicked the executioner’s axe towards the fool.  ”Alright fool, get to work.  Behead that man or back to your cell to rot forever.”

The fool begged the king to spare him this grisly duty, but Hornestus would not be turned. Afraid to face ten more years in a lightless cell by himself, Sedello clumsily hoisted the axe. His weak frame proved unsuitable for the task.  He fumbled the strikes, slipping and tumbling in the bloody mess he created.  Ten minutes later the piteous beheading was done; Hornestus erupted into deep belly laughter at the spectacle.

“You’ll see the cell again, fool.  You’ll come when called and entertain me.  Behead my enemies after the joke is made and then go back to your cell.  You’ll continue in this way until you die or I grow bored.”  Sedello stood, eyes fixated on nothing. He was covered in blood, leaning exhaustedly on an axe larger than he.  The king’s guards dragged the fool back to his cell.

Rather than wither, the man who became known as the Red Clown grew. Each time the Red Clown was called from the cell, his hands steadied; his frame soon fleshed itself out with muscle for its tasks.  He could now cut a man as easily with an axe as he could with wit and He cut men with both daily.  With a joke, a smile, and  a quick chop of the axe,  the Red Clown became the icon of Hornestus’ bloody rule.

One day the Red Clown’s smile vanished.  That day the king and everyone in his keep lost their heads.  His last performance completed, the clown threw his axe in the river.  He was never  seen again.

His axe has been seen many places over the years, in the hands of men mad with slaughter, cackling and laughing as they stomp through fields of blood and gore.

The Laughing Axe

Though large, the axe moves well and lightly in your hands.   How easy would it be to behead someone.  The thought makes you giddy…almost enough to join the cackling you can hear in laughter.

Whispers: Your life is the darkest of jokes!  Laugh you dimwit.  Smile.  Take the axe and make a thousand smiles just like yours!  If things are too serious, lighten the mood!

Lvl 10 Executioner’s Axe

Enhancement Bonus: +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls

Critical: +2d10 damage.

Property: Cursed.

Property: Bards can use the Laughing Axe as an implement.

Property: Jovial Slaughter;Whenever you bloody or drop an enemy, make an intimidate check  to against any enemy within 2 squares  of the target as a free action.  If you make the intimidate check, the opponent surrenders or flees.

Property: Slaughter Madness; When bloodied, you can a +2 item bonus to damage.

Curse (Daily): Laughing Blasphemy; As a free action, choose 1:  Wielder suffers a -5 to his next Diplomacy check or is dazed until the end of his next turn.

Release: Behead a king; Tell a joke to a creature from the Shadowfell and get it to laugh.