Nicole has been planning this special Christmas edition of D&D for quite some time and it fit in perfectly on New Year's Eve. We all planned ahead for this special edition with the decision to use our Buffalo Wild Wings points that some of us have been holding on to for a while. We figured that most of us had to work on NYE, so making an entire meal for 7 people would prove to be more than what any of us were willing to take on. So, we let Buffalo Wild Wings make dinner for us.
We took a poll of what types of flavors of wings people liked and ordered a bunch of each type in advance. All we had to do is pick them up on our way to Nicole and Del's house. Nicole made winter themed potions and French fries in the air fryer and Erika brough carrots and celery. We all got there roughly around 5:30, got settled in and dove into the food. It was delicious!
Everything was white, quiet and we couldn't see anything. We didn't have our weapons on us, none of our animals, we were confused but we felt well rested. Where were we?
We hear a lady and then a loud pop sound. We see her - she's covered in flour and other baking ingredients, she's got frizzled hair, a tad on the plump side and looked middle-aged. She asks, are you the adventurer's I asked for help? Again, we were super confused. She went into her story.
She loves to bake and has to make a lot of cookies for everyone in Winterland, especially during this time of year. A magical oven, that she has inherited from her grandmother, needed maintenance and should couldn't remember how to fix it. She thought she would cast a spell to make the gingerbread men help her with the impossible task of keeping up with the baking but somehow the spell went wrong, they went rogue and started making naughty gingerbread men and a giant gingerbread dragon. They soon took over the town and started to terrorize the villagers and their homes. So, Queen Tinselwind the White, asked for help and we showed up.
She did go into the details of their world. Their world is in a different plane than ours is. That's why you do not have your weapons, animals and she added, if you are magical - your magic might not work the same in this plane, but you could sure try. We asked her if she had any weapons or spells for us to use and she said she could find some for us to use. She gave us a couple dozen Christmas themed weapons and spells for us to look through and share if we'd like. She gave us some special health potion eggnog for when we needed to use it.
She told us about her magical oven, the orb powering it and that it needed to be repaired for the gingerbread men were going to take over Winterland. She asks, will you help me? We kinda didn't have a choice and told her yeah. Erika tries to summon Carl, but Carl turns into a gingerbread cookie cat. She snapped her fingers and we went from what we thought purgatory was into Winterland.
We all appear in a small house and we see the oven. Every six seconds a gingerbread man pops out, giggles and runs out the door to cause havoc. We see a giant gingerbread dragon, named Crumble Claws, out in the village terrorizing people and smashing their cottages. You could hear villagers, which looked like gnomes or elves, screaming and attempting to run away.
We roll for initiative.
We ask if there are any instructions on how to fix the oven. She remembers her grandmother having a box and goes and gets it. It has to be unlocked. There's a lock on it with four symbols - a snowflake, a sun, a flower and another flower but it's wilted. We all gravitate towards the seasons, and we must have to put them in some sort of order. On Erika's first turn, she attempts an order and isn't correct but on the right track.
Isaac leaves the house and tangles with a gingerbread man; he ends up killing it with some rolls that go in his favor.
Crumble Claws goes. He turns towards Isaac, sprays molasses at him and does some damage.
Del tried his hand at the puzzle and tries all snowflakes, but the box doesn't open. We ask Queen Tinselwind for some help or hints and ask her the correct questions. Val attempts the puzzle and we find out the first season in that realm is and she tells us spring. Val assembles the puzzle to a flower, sun, wilted flower and snowflake. The box opens and we get stars, needle, thread and some parchment paper. We had to figure out a constellation to move onto the next part of the puzzle.
Ben gives Val the gift of an advantage for death saving throws and continues to try to eat the gingerbread men.
All the gingerbread men get a turn. They move and throw frosting at the villagers.
Celeste works on the puzzle with Queen Tinselwind. She asks the appropriate questions and together they both figure it out. They are left with another puzzle, this time, it's a parchment paper bundle.
Erika goes and decides to work on the next segment of the puzzle. She unwraps the bundle and finds six different pieces of wood with a riddle of the order in which they must be burned in. Queen Tinselwind remembers her grandmother doing these tasks to maintain the stove, but it's been so long. Erika was only able to figure out what two of the pieces of wood were.
Isaac moves and attacks another one of the gingerbread men, he succeeds, and throws 2% milk at him and makes him soggy.
Crumble Claws moves, destroys a cottage and throws a villager across the courtyard into a pile of snow. We hear more screaming.
Del works on the puzzle and figures out another type of wood.
Val is able to succeed on her turn and kills two of the gingerbread men, however, more keep coming out of the oven. We must get this oven fixed!
Ben attacks one of the gingerbread men and makes him soggy.
The gingerbread men take their turn, move but the closest one to Val attacks her, succeeds and pushes her to the ground. She is now prone.
Celeste works on the puzzle and figures out each type of wood. It is passed onto Erika for her to finish that piece on her turn. She figures out the order in which the wood goes from the riddle. They are thrown into the oven in the correct order, the orb glows and pulsates in the back of the oven.
Isaac moves and hides behind a tree.
Crumble Claws smashes another house, throws another villager into a pile of snow and then uses his movement to move towards Val.
Del moves and succeeds in harming one of the gingerbread men. Val changes her weapons, kills two more gingerbread men and uses the third strike on Crumble Claws, it's not much, but it starts the harm.
Ben casts haste on Val, however since it's a spell form our world, it doesn't work the same way in Winterland. Val glitches a little bit, her armor class decreases by two, giving her an AC of 14 instead of 16. it makes Val sad but gives Val another attack while using her sword and more movement on her turn.
Gingerbread men attack Del and each other. More emerge from the oven and succeed shoving Ben onto the ground. They giggle as they run past him and out the door.
Celeste works on the next part of the puzzle for the oven and has to untangle a bunch of cords, so they are organized. She got as far as she could before handing it off to Erika for her turn. Erika was able to get a little further but wasn't able to finish the entire thing. We hear Crumble Claws roar in pain.
Isaac rolls a nat 1 and accidentally shoots a villager with an arrow, then hides in shame behind a tree.
Crumble Claws goes and decides to claw and bite Val. He succeeds with both and Val loses a lot of health points. But she is still alive.
Del attempts a cantrip, but again, our magic doesn't work the same in Winterland, a purple noxious gas comes out and doesn't do anything to the gingerbread man standing in front of him. As a bonus action, he heals Val for a few health points.
Val rolls well on her turn and hits Crumble Claws for 60 damage points. He didn't appreciate it.
Ben finished untangling the puzzle and goes to check to see if anything else needs to be done to the oven. He notices a coil that was way overheated and needed to be cooled down. He asks Queen Tinselwind for some ice water. She gets that for him to dump over the coil. It cools it down; the oven settles and Crumble Claws roars in pain. The oven seems to be in working order now and no more gingerbread men come out of the oven.
The gingerbread men move towards Crumble Claws and the rest of us. One of them attempts to shove Del on the ground but doesn't succeed.
Celeste rolls and succeeds at throwing 2% milk at Crumble Claws, who is near the house, part of his limbs become soggy. He is starting to feel the pain we are inflicting on him.
Erika attacks the gingerbread men with a sugar plum tiara, she succeeds and the gingerbread men are charmed.
Isaac moves and hides behind a different tree.
Crumble Claws hits Val with his claws and bite, damages Val for the rest of her hit points, she is in the negative now, is unconscious/dead. Crumble Claws sings a terrible Christmas carol to Del, he rolls a nat 1 and is disadvantaged now. Crumble Claws manifests two more gingerbread men out of the snow to cause chaos to the village, however, the milk damage he has suffered may be starting to affect him.
Del casts nathair's mischief to everyone in a 20 foot cube, he is successful and everyone in the cube is now laughing uncontrollably. This includes Queen Tinselwind, who starts throwing ice balls while laughing so Celeste gets hit with some and loses a couple hit points.
Val rolls a death saving throw and fails.
Ben uses a snow globe to create a localized blizzard, he kills three gingerbread men, and the rest take half damage. The gingerbread men go, they move, Ben gets the opportunity to attack, fails and misses. The rest of them try to hit Ben, they succeed and Ben endures a little bit of damage.
Celeste, from the doorway, uses frosty flicker on Crumble Claws, she succeeds and everyone rolls with an advantage on their turn.
Erika casts false life on herself, but again, our magic works differently in this realm - it makes her nauseous and throws up.
Isaac is successful on his attack on Crumble Claws and hits him for 29 damage. He finishes his turn off with some cocoa for haste.
Crumble Claws spews molasses at Isaac and Ben. He hits Ben for some damage but misses Isaac. Crumble Claws takes a legendary action and bulldozes through everyone in his current path, including a tree. Val was able to move out of the way but Del gets hit with his claws and hits him hard.
Del heals Val, Val is now conscious/alive, and Del uses his eggnog to heal himself.
Val uses her eggnog to heal herself more and blasts Crumble Claws for 59 damage points.
Ben decides to test fate and casts fireball to see what it would do in this realm - streams of confetti spill all over everyone. We all gain 10 health points but so do the gingerbread men and Crumble Claws. Ben uses misty step to get away from danger.
Some of the gingerbread men and Crumble Claws move into Del's cube of uncontrollable laughter. One of the gingerbread men hits Isaac but misses Ben.
Celeste uses her reindeer bow from the doorway on Crumble Claws and inflicts some damage. Celeste heals Val for some more health points while Erika splashes Crumble Claws with some 2% milk and gets soggy. Some of Crumble Claw's cookie facade start to crumble.
Isaac moves and takes an attack of opportunity from a gingerbread man and takes some damage. On the flipsides, Isaac attacks the gingerbread man and he dies. Isaac hides behind a tree.
On Crumble Claw's turn - he bulldozes through everyone in his path again. Val was able to avoid him but Del sustained a little bit of damage.
Del moves his cube and it hurts some of the gingerbread men but doesn't quite kill them. He uses his card spray but in this realm, they are holiday cards instead. Crumble Claws gets hit but it's only for half damage. He is getting worn down.
Val gets set up with her three attacks. All three hit and with all the advantages he has acquired, she pummels Crumble Claws with 56 damage points. Crumble Claws takes a legendary action and spray molasses, but the critical hit kills him. He crumbles into a pile of cookie pieces. We cheer and turn our attention to the gingerbread men who are left running amuck in the village.
Ben hits two of the gingerbread men with magic missiles, but they do not die, they then, attempt to shove Del on the ground and fail. Ben throws a present and Del. The other gingerbread men succeed in throwing frosting at Erika and Celeste, who are still in the house with Queen Tinselwind. It leaves them sticky and it's hard to move around.
Celeste uses her ice knife from the doorway, it hits two of the gingerbread men and unfortunately, Del, because he was in teh vicinity.
Erika uses her sugar plum tiara on two of the gingerbread men from the doorway, she succeeds and they are charmed.
Isaac uses his pair of Christmas stockings to cover more ground than he usually can and hides behind a tree.
Del uses his slay bells and fails on this roll. He is disappointed.
Val annihilates the three gingerbread men closest to her. They did not see it coming. Ben casts magic missiles but this time they change shape. They turn into neatly wrapped boxes with bows. They hit the gingerbread men they were aimed at but did very little damage. In fact, they point and laugh at Ben. One of the gingerbread men go after Ben, kick him in the ankle and pushes him down on the ground.
Celeste finally is able to leave the house and casts moonbeam, even though she was apprehensive about casting one of her normal spells, she was glad she did though. On the last remaining gingerbread men, the moonbeam doesn't work as well, but a fully decorated Christmas tree comes down and crushes the gingerbread men. Crumble Claws and his gingerbread men minions have been defeated. Game over.
Queen Tinselwind comes out of the house and thanks us for helping her. We ask her if she could help us in the remaining challenge, we were a part of in our realm...we were hoping for a long rest, but she couldn't do that for us. She thinks about it for a little bit and all she can offer us is 10 health points. I guess it's better than nothing. She thanks us for a second time and she snaps her fingers.
Everything goes white again.
Nicole thanked us for participating in her Christmas themed D&D session. She told us that she has been working on it for a while. We thank her for putting a lot of effort into it. We all go downstairs and bring in 2026.
This upcoming year will be busy.
Next Adventure: New Year's Day and a Long Weekend
