dragon poem

Dragons are living
Underneath
In coils
Where the sun doesn't shine
Far below the water
Enshrined
Entwined
They laugh
They scoff at us

We are fast
They have been together
Pierced by daggers
Slain
Memorialized in quatrain
Declining
But alive
Their eyes are red
Their tongues, red
Sleek, shining
Finely adorned
Dragons
Who eat
Who cut
They come out at night
And fill
And return to their waiting nests
Where rivers pour

Fuck
I wish I could see them
Sunning
But, hidden, underground
They are safe
And can exist apart

Last week my players fought their first dragon: Corvenon, Son of Valathex, who guards the Flying Fortress of the Sky Witch, and finally decided after enough of their shenanigans that they deserved to die. They weren't expecting this, and he stripped their wizard and bard of 2/3 of their HP in his first round with his poison dream fog breath breath, and they put up a wall of force and ran. I'm very proud of Corvenon. I hope he never dies.

spell ideas

spell takes one power or spell from one character and gives it to another
spell makes an area assume the qualities of night time
spell allows seeing through walls
spell makes person exceedingly small, size of mouse
spell creates rays of golden light
spell causes object to swell
spell causes object to melt that wouldn't otherwise
spell causes object to float and bob buoyantly, either in air or in water
spell causes own skin to become poisonous
spell allows you to move so fast as to be instantaneous, but no additional movement speed
spell makes body stretchy and rubbery
spell guarantees a good night's sleep
spell pulls disease out of body as a slug, slug now causes disease
spell causes song or message to hang in the air, repeating
spell allows you to eavesdrop back in time
spell creates an exceedingly sharp and long lance
spell causes you to melt into fluid form, move quickly
spell shoots you straight up, then fall very slowly
spell makes only one part of your body poisonous
spell creates unnatural winter
spell summons an elf
spell makes person short-sighted, cannot see more than ten feet
spell allows you to see fine details at a distance of one mile or more
spell gives you extra arms
spell gives you claws for one attack, reaction?
spell creates multiple illusory doubles in sight, you teleport

the west

It is said that Deirregex, the Black Dragon, came out of the west, and drove out the frost giants of the Hatemountain, and made war upon the white elves of Velenheim, and made their civilization into ruin

To the west lies great Belmric, the city in snow, and the wastes around Belmric are covered in the bones of the wars brought to the city, and over the bones the many winters of snow have fallen, and more bones, and ice

West of Belmric, the Merelunds, where the seven cursed lakes lie in fog, and the seven city-states make slow wars in the deep fog, except for Dead Kizaad, which was laid waste by Vlaurung, the Red Dragon

West of the Merelunds it said lies the Kingdom of Lamdru, who was born of the Egg Moon, and keeps 700 wives

It is said that the worst spirits can be called from the West, that they are invincible, indestructible, and possessed of unbreakable strength, and unbreakable resolve, and a desire for murder, but can be tricked with simple tasks, which they devote all their attention and care to, until they are released, and called back to the West

Hagar Blath, Queen of the Witches, who rules in the Mountains of Hunger, came out of the west as well, and usurped the Sky Witch, who fled in her Flying Fortress and was not seen for years uncounted

The spirits of the North and the South are sometimes called good, for they are at worst benign, or trickster spirits, who at their own leisure do not make murder or wreak harm, only small mischiefs, or even aid

The spirits of the East are cruel, unapproachable, powerful, and capricious. Beware a dry east wind. But beware most the high, cold winds that blow strongly from the west, for it is a herald of death

the known planes of existence

These are the dimensions my players have had direct contact with. They're getting high level and this stuff is coming up more and more frequently, sometimes in worrying ways. They haven't traveled personally to any other dimensions yet (pretty sure), but have dealt with interlopers from or have had to deal with the effects of them.

Reality -- this of course is where everything happens

Plane of Fire -- they've met a handful of conjured fire elementals, and found a puzzlebox that seems connected to the plane of fire somehow. Most recently they've met the elemental Salliflax, who keeps the Flying Fortress of the Sky Witch afloat. He's basically Calcifer.

Hell -- they helped a young noblewoman at a black market auction buy a magical diving bell which can transport those inside directly to Hell. What is Hell? Common knowledge says devils come from Hell, and bad people go to Hell when they die, but the slain Demon Lords were on Earth from the start. Players have not yet made the journey to Hell. It's hard to find the time, but the noblewoman who took the trip reported that she had a direct view of Castle Satan.

Realm of Fenrath, God of Wolves -- in very first adventure, players found a magic glass that looked into a vast, darkened forest. The gods retreated to their separate realms after they defeated the demon lords, and do not venture out.

"Hot Car Dimension" -- players looted a ring from a trio of beast-headed demons that can conjure a scalding hot door, behind scalding hot door is a small, metal, scalding hot room. They put things in there they want to forget about, like frost demons. They aren't sure of its true nature but it's definitely another plane or demiplane. Hot Car Dimension is just what they call it.

Whatever's embedded in the Hyperplasmic Gap of the Silk Wall -- they found a path through the massive wall that separates the Blighted Lands from Orostranthy, but when they looked within, they found a great ocean of gold, a foreign sky, and an alien creature sunning itself on obsidian plinths. They declined to explore and flew over the wall instead.

Whatever's surrounding the Thrice Cursed Prison of Dendric Vast -- crawling over the ramparts from the inside of the prison leads to a darkened, blighted landscape covered in ruins and alien creatures. Three alien moons float in the sky, the stars are too close and bright. What is this place?

Other possible planes of existence?

Other Elemental Planes -- I'm not sure they've ever met or conjured other elementals than fire, but given the spell options they must exist, right?

Plane of Slime -- they found a triumvirate of slaad conjuring a river of slime from a tortured unicorn. Also issuing forth, a variety of horrible insect monsters. Killing the slaad closed the portal, so no chance to explore further.

Carcosa -- they've stumbled on a handful of references to this place. Might be an alien planet, might be another plane of existence, maybe it's somewhere in reality?

Other "stars" and "planets" -- these seem to be places one could travel to. They found a magic orrery that lets them project their mind to these places. They found hideous monsters of alien intelligence that blasted them with psychic assaults, among other mysteries.

The Other Celestial Realms -- where are they? how does one get there? How many exist? It's widely known Belm, Izorides, and Otin have retreated to their own realms, but are there others? The wizard Malagon of the Cruelest Eye desires to kill a god and steal their blood for his divine crucible, in order to forge a ring of flight, but cannot find a way in.

Astral Plane -- Astral plane, what's that? It's on the 9th level spell list so it must exist, but . . .

Wherever demons come from that's not reality and not Hell -- they've met many many demons that are summoned or at least seem to appear from somewhere else, and that place is not Hell, probably. So.. what is it?

Planes that do not exist

Heaven -- absolutely not

Ethereal Plane -- I disallowed the spell etherealness because I don't like how it lets you phase through objects so freely, and because I think the ethereal plane is lame and boring.

Any of the other standard D&D outer planes, like, I don't know, Limbo, and any alignment focused planes. They are so many of them I can't keep them straight and I don't like the monsters.

Shadowfell and Feywild -- just not my jam

The Abyss -- Cool high fantasy concept but I prefer demons to be a little more malleable and variable. The word "demon" seems to be a catch-all for a variety of horrible spirits and monsters, most of them connected to or allied with the slain Demon Lords, but many of them not. Anyway, the Abyss as imagined in second through fifth edition D&D does not exist.

I think that covers it for now.