No character player Natural 20s were invoked in the playing of this tale. No, we shouldn’t still be alive, and no, our DM still isn’t entirely sure why we are.
I recently started playing in a campaign my friend is DMing where all the characters in the party have lost all of our memories from before we woke up in a cave 2 weeks ago. In that time we’ve killed a sea monster and its eggs, fought a vicious queen who may have been the Fates incarnate, freed a town, one of our party has gotten married, and we've discovered a cult—plot twist the cult is named after my character.
We have seven in our party including myself. I’ll refer to them by their classes for simplicity: Ranger, Bard (these two are siblings), Blood Hunter (an Aarakocra—this will be important later), Cleric, Rogue, Oath of Redemption Paladin, and me, a Tiefling Oathbreaker Paladin.
My character’s name is Amnon. He woke up in a cave along with the rest of the party, and at every turn I have played him as seeking a diplomatic solution before inevitably having to bash or burn whatever enemy was attempting to kill us in that particular minute. At this point in the story he had discovered what a paladin oath was and was quietly reading a book about all the various oaths paladins can take, when he was interrupted.
Our Blood Hunter, while exploring the town, had discovered the church of Amnon, and thinking I would be able to get him inside the church he came to get me. So Blood Hunter, Rogue, and, reluctantly, myself go from the inn we were staying at to check out this church.
Once at the church Blood Hunter introduces my character as The Amnon. The guards at the door begin to laugh and declare that I cannot be Amnon. So, after trying to convince them for a minute, I pull out my scroll of pedigree (found a few days earlier) declaring my character to be Amnon the Cruel, heir to Asmodeus Lord of Hell. At this the guards grovel at my feet as I again demand to be let into the church. The guards talk quietly behind us about how the true Amnon is my mother as they open the doors, but I continue with my act as I lead my party members into the church—where we are promptly knocked out and taken down below the church into a massive cavern to be held captive in a castle there.
When the three of us wake up with lovely headaches after a nice long rest, we break out of our bonds, grab our gear, and explore the mysteriously empty tower we were locked in, eventually coming to the top of the tower. Bloodhunter tries to fly off, only to be knocked down by a massive queen spider. As this happens we see below the tower an altar surrounded by 150 cultists preparing for a sacrifice, presumably us.
By this time the rest of the party has been led down into the cavern by an NPC the party acquired via the aforementioned marriage and begun to sneak into the group of cultists. Cleric and Redemption Paladin positioned themselves as near as they could to the cult leader.
Back on top of the tower, I tell Blood Hunter to grab Rogue and fly him away from the tower while I take my war hammer and try to bash the spider off its perch onto the ground below. This causes three things to happen simultaneously: the spider is killed instantly, Rogue is dropped onto a roof below Bloodhunter, and the full attention of the cult is directed right at the top of the tower where my character stands. The cultists begin rushing towards the tower, but I manage to think quickly and jump up on the edge of the tower. Casting Thaumaturgy to amplify my voice, I begin my speech.
“How DARE you DEMEAN me with such a pitiful foe! Do you know who I am! I am Amnon the Great! Amnon the Cruel! I am He who Toppled The Iron Tower, the Ruler of Avernus, and Heir to the throne of Hell! You WILL release me from this tower and BOW before my greatness!”
DM: Roll Intimidation with Advantage
Me: 22!
DM: They are enraptured and terrified!
At this point Cleric casts Suggestion on the cult leader saying, “You heard your Lord. Call off your men, and let us and your prisoners go free.” The leader succeeds the check. Redemption Paladin then casts Command saying, “Obey.”And the DM rolls a Natural 20! At this point the cult leader casts Antimagic Field on himself (10 ft radius), and the cultists point weapons at Cleric and Redemption Paladin.
Seeing this happen, I call again to the crowd, “Interlopers! Capture them and bring them to me for judgement!”
DM: Roll persuasion
Me: 16!
DM: Just short of what you needed.
The cult leader then calls out in response: “Do you hear the Imposter! I told you we should have sacrificed them when we had the chance–” Anything else he may have said was cut short by the silence spell cast around him by our Cleric (20 ft radius).
I call down again to the crowd as soon as I hear the cult leader silenced. “IMPOSTER!?! YOU DARE CALL ME AN IMPOSTER! I AM THE HEIR TO HELL ITSELF AND I WILL CUT YOU DOWN WHERE YOU STAND!!”
At this the cult splits, between those who changed loyalty to me and those still loyal to the old leader, and begin attacking each other over what to do with Cleric and Paladin, who escape in the commotion.
With the fighting intensifying and chaos all around us, Rogue and Bard get knocked off the roof they’re standing on with Ranger. Bloodhunter, our Aarakocra, decides to pick me up off the tower, flying me down majestically toward the chaos like divine judgement descending from the heavens into the middle of these people’s world. I pull out my shield and war hammer before landing on the pedestal vacated by the cult leader.
On the way down the DM has me roll a straight D20. “11”. The DM then describes how a deity (“What deity??”) shows their favor (“Oh no, I’m about to accidentally invoke Tiamat aren’t I…”) to me by wreathing me in a mass of glowing Hellfire that beacons my presence to all in the cavern.
As I land, I cast Thaumaturgy, amplifying my voice and sending tremors through the ground at my step, and call out “My faithful, to me! Faithless, turn to me and you will be forgiven once. Refuse to repent and I will strike you down where you stand!”
The cultists who refused to follow me turned to run. I proceeded to Eldritch Blast then Toll the Dead on the closest cultist, killing him instantly, and shouted to my new followers, “Hunt them down! They were made a promise, and I will keep it!”
After all this, the party and my cultists go up to the church above where I sent the cult members on a fetch quest to get me any and all information the church possesses regardless of nature or origin, and the party returns to the Inn to rest, where I am finally permitted enough peace to finish my book—and where we proceed to uncover more about this cult from the weeping wife of our Redemption Paladin and I am forced to play marriage counselor, but that is a story for another time
Maybe if there is enough interest in this story I’ll write down the rest of this storyline. For now, this has been a portion of the tale of Amnon the [Accidentally?] Great [Apparently]!
[zombify_post]
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