The start of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons comic book line presented an epic tale in which a motley crew of do-gooders overcame their differences to stop an evil wizard from overrunning the land. It was a good introduction to the setting and our heroes, but it was the sort of giant epic quest that, quite frankly, does not play to D&D‘s strengths.

That’s not to say that D&D can’t be about epic quests and heroism, but a role-playing game is a unique place where group storytelling, whimsical jokes, and unlucky die rolls meet. That combination creates an off-beat sort of tale that stands apart from other fantasy literature. The second story of the comic book line, “The Spirit of Myrrth,” feels more like something that players would experience at a table. Here we find a portal to the underworld, a giant skeleton, and a group of jesters willing to kill to get the respect they think they deserve.

The Art of a Good Joke

In my opinion, not enough RPG games spend time showing what characters do when they’re not out adventuring. As such, I am immediately delighted as we open with Onyx trying to show Vajra that he has a sharp sense of humor…and completely blowing the joke.

Onyx’s miserable delivery becomes his main motivation for embarking upon a new adventure. The ghost of a jester named Myrrth appears at the tavern with a dire warning that someone is planning to rob his grave.

Myrrth was a comedian whose career climaxed with a joke so powerful that it killed everyone who heard it. He literally slayed ’em. If Cybriana, Onyx, and Vajra protect his grave, he promises to give them the joke to sell. But Onyx has other plans.

A dwarf whose main motivation for adventuring is to get better joke material is a fantastic concept, and I would award extra XP to Onyx’s player for going all in on this.

Meanwhile, Back at the Inn…

Right after Cybriana, Onyx, and Vajra leave Selûne’s Smile, Connor appears. You may remember him from last time when our mysterious innkeeper Luna took him in after he was teleported away from a pack of wolves. He has a history with Vajra that seems unpleasant, and the child in his care has a strange secret.

Connor plays the part of an older rogue with enough charm to get him out of any situation, but he’s a right bastard as we’ll find out far down the line. The story that reveals that will also explain why the strange child seems to randomly turn into a cat.

The Depths of Waterdeep

The City of the Dead, Waterdeep’s massive graveyard, has a fair share of powerful wards. That’s not surprising, since leaving graveyards unattended is how you get undead plagues. As such, our heroes wind up battling a fomorian giant before finding Myrrth’s tomb. The tomb is empty, and the city watch catches up to the adventurers once they’ve opened it.

Or at least they claim to be the city watch. If the attempt to kill the group isn’t a tip-off, the fact that one of the guards uses magic clues the adventurers in. (This was in the old days of D&D, where guards were almost always of the fighter class and couldn’t usually learn spells.)

The adventurers fight valiantly in the ensuing fight, defeating more fomorians before finally disappearing in a literal blaze of glory when they all get hit by a fireball from the fake watch.

The false watchmen don’t just attack out would-be grave guardians; they also burst into the inn where Myrrth is entertaining Luna. Connor and the child quickly clue in that these are not real guards and reveal them to be wererats. Said wererats quickly get a taste of terror when the child summons up some cats to help deal with them.

The mysterious incident sends Connor on the trail of our heroes, who managed to escape a fiery death thanks to a well-timed teleportation spell from Cybriana.

A Brief Interlude

It’s worth noting that, if you want a complete summary of these stories, you should read the comics directly. When you’re reading these blog entries, you’re seeing my slanted take on the tales with commentary and edits to focus on what I consider most important to the story. Case in point: I usually skip over little interludes like this one between the scheming villain behind these plans and his bumbling sidekick:

Similarly, in my summary of “The Gathering,” I skipped over several moments where Imgig Zu ranted about his evil scheme. They’re just sort of there, and they don’t add a ton to the story. They do make suitable segues between action scenes, and in this case they’re good for a chuckle or two.

A Really Big Graveyard

Back at Myrrth’s now-empty tomb, we discover that our heroes escaped their fiery death thanks to Cybriana casting a phantasmal force spell to create the illusion that they had all been burned to a cinder. However, the depths of Waterdeep contain many mysteries, and Onyx literally stumbles into one of them.

How does Waterdeep have so much room in its catacombs? Because there are portals within that lead to other planes of existence, giving the city infinite burial space. The bad news is that the underground tombs are a complex maze that leaves our heroes trapped…until Conner finds them, with mixed results.

As hinted at before, Conner and Vajra have some history.

The old rogue manages to lead the group out by leaving a trail of copper pieces back to the entrance. Even though the copper attracts a hungry rust monster, the adventurers simply follow the creature back to freedom. Unfortunately, someone else, not the false guard, is waiting for them.

This comic really plays to my love of the absurd. Not too long ago, this group defeated an ages-old spellcaster who had manipulated a goddess. Now they’re taken out with ease by jesters wielding trick flowers and hand buzzers.

The Man with the Plan

Our captured heroes come to and meet the true mastermind behind this nefarious plot: a red-clad jester whose physical appearance was definitely based on Marty Feldman.

The lead jester does the honor of explaining his motivations and nefarious plan. The jesters of Waterdeep seek to make their own guild, but the city’s lords won’t officially recognize it. Thus, they must be forced to acknowledge the guild’s legitimacy at the hands of a giant rampaging skeleton.

It’s not the zaniest plot Faerûn has seen, but it’s up there.

The jesters use a very particular form of spellcasting to animate Myrrth’s stolen corpse, turning it into a massive undead monstrosity.

The spell works a little too well, as Myrrth’s skeleton wrecks the jesters’ hideout before stomping its way through the streets of Waterdeep.

Enter Khelben

The Forgotten Realms is home to mighty spellcasters, and Waterdeep in particular stands under the protection of Khelben “Blackstaff” Arunsun, one of the chosen of Mystra, goddess of magic. Naturally, a giant undead juggernaut rampaging through his city draws Khelben’s attention. Unfortunately, this is in the days of 1st edition AD&D, where some creatures are just flat-out immune to magic.

People often ask what role PCs in the Realms have to play when there are such powerful wizards as Khelben about. In this case, Khelben doesn’t have the context that our heroes possess. Specifically, since a series of jokes awoke the skeleton, their punchlines serve as the counterspell.

And thus the day is saved. Onyx recovers Myrrth’s skull, now returned to its normal size, and everyone can–

Oh.

Those Blasted Musicians

The villain we’ve seen ranting to Doofut during this story is the real villain: Ratanion, a high-ranking member of the Council of Musicians, Instrument-Makers, and Choristers who used the would-be Jesters’ Guild as patsies. By having them unearth Myrrth’s remains, he gained possession of the comedian’s skull once the skeletal collosus fell. That leaves him in position to learn the joke so powerful that it can kill, thanks to the fact that he has a cleric who can cast speak with dead on the payroll.

There are, of course, complications…

Ratanion’s solution is to wait outside while the cleric writes down the words of the joke. That plan has flaws, but it does guarantee that only the cleric will die if things go south. Unfortunately for Ratanion, it also leaves him in the hallway when Vajra and company burst onto the scene.

Unfortunately, they get into the chamber too late; Myrrth’s skull has already started to tell the killing joke:

With guards closing in, Onyx takes the cue and intimidates his foes by completing the deadly joke:

The joke fails to kill anyone, because the power wasn’t in the words themselves. In truth, Myrrth didn’t even write his own material for this one–someone gave him the joke along with a “good luck charm” that invoked a spell of laughing death.

The adventurers destroy the skull before it can reveal what the charm was, which leads Ratanion to end the fight, cut his losses, and let the adventurers go. After all, there’s no more way for him to profit now that the skull has been destroyed. While everyone else finds the idea of letting him go ludicrous, Conner seems more inclined to let bygones be bygones…sort of.

And thus the adventure comes to its conclusion. The group returns to Selûne’s Smile and Onyx gets Myrrth’s scroll of jokes as a reward. But that won’t do him much good, because his timing is atrocious. (I did love the demented grin on his face as he rambled through the “killing joke,” though.)

While “The Gathering” was a pretty good by-the-numbers fantasy adventure, “The Spirit of Myrrth” really shows how much fun a D&D comic can be. In most fantasy settings, the heroes are a chosen few capable of saving the day, but D&D has millions of players, all playing potential heroes. That creates a place like the Forgotten Realms, where adventurers abound, magic is commonplace, and one can accidentally walk through a portal to another world.

Such a world abounds with weirdness and wonder, such as when a guild of entertainers awakens a giant skeleton as part of a complex power grab, only to be stopped by a dwarven rogue whose main motivation is to get tell better jokes while drinking with his fellow adventurers. If you want a story that really captures how silly and fun a D&D game can get, “The Spirit of Myrrth” is where it’s at.