Worldbuilding Prompt #420 - The Box - A Cautionary Tale

This post was inspired by a writing prompt in the Worldbuilding Community - Worldbuilding Prompt #420 - The Box

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This actually happened, in a Dungeons and Dragons game a little while ago where I was one of the players. My character was the party rogue, Burr the Brave. The name is a lie. He is probably the least brave character I've ever played. The kind of chap who would insult someone to get a bar fight started, then crawl out under the tables avoiding trouble, grabbing any dropped loose change and picking the pockets of unconscious combatants on the way out.

The adventure was quite tough, a one-shot introducing us to a new city in the game world, but more of an exploration and mystery than a combat-heavy session. In the process we picked up a few bits and pieces of treasure and minor magical items, plus a medium-sized treasure chest towards the end that we hadn't had time to open.

In our group, we usually end each adventure or module with a bit of a de-brief, where we divvy up the loot and get information on any magic items we'd collected.

Our characters made it back to the safety of their lodgings, and it looked like we were going into "debrief mode" as people started listing out what they'd picked up.

Image by Gerhard from Pixabay

But when it got to the treasure chest, something made me twitch. Call it instinct, or whatever. But I said "I'd like to check it for traps before we open it." All the other players were saying things like "but we're in debrief time.... we don't need to do that".

The DM just said "Roll it."

So I did.... yep, trapped. I rolled again and disarmed it, as the DM casually mentioned to the others that he hadn't actually said it was time out yet.

Something in the DM's expression made me hesitate again. He had that evil glint in his eye. So I said "I'd like to check again... does the lock have any traps ?"

And the DM said "Roll it."

Natural 20. Yep, the lock was stacked with poison needles, really nasty ones.

That got us into the chest. It was full of gold. But why would a few hundred gold warrant not one, but two traps ? So I said that I'd put on my gauntlets and scoop the gold out, to see if the chest had a false bottom. It did !

Just as one of the other players said "Ah, I bet there's magic under there, I'll ope.." I said. "Check for traps."

All the other players looked at me like I was an idiot. Three traps on one chest ?

And the DM just said "Roll it."

I rolled really well, and yes, there was another trap ! So I rolled again to disarm it. A natural 1.

Once the smoke cleared, and my character finished picking splinters out of his hair and drinking healing potions, we examined what had been left after the chest exploded. There was quite a bit there, but all the scrolls and spellbooks had been incinerated. Oh well.

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So, lessons learned;

1. Game time finished when the DM says it finishes, not when you reach a convenient break.
2. There's always one more trap. Don't open the box until you've checked for it !
3. The DM is always more twisted than you expect.