Hannah’s Game: The Coffee Goblins

This teaser was written by Hannah Lee, Con Director and DM for the 2022 D&D Super Dungeon. Their virtual games will be held on Wednesdays from 9:30am-12:30pm. For details and registration, visit our web page.

Buried deep beneath the peaceful forests of Trinka, a quiet story has been told a hundred times. It is a conversation carved in stone and told in the face of mountains. For far too long, it has remained unheard. But one day, a refugee from the demiplane of dreams stumbled upon a cavern too large to have been carved by underground waters, its floor shaped in familiar segments. After excavating the cave-ins and hollowing out a place to live, the delicate calcite structure of a rib cage as large as a house, a spine longer than a train, and a head larger than any Firbolg could dream were exposed.

The bones of these lost giants cast long shadows among the Firbolgs, Kalashtar, and Kobolds who lived on the island. Myths of ancient creatures had long lived in the imaginations of the caretakers of the forest, but each tree they consulted and each creature they spoke to had only inklings of memories that had been passed down from generation to generation. Perhaps, they wondered, the fish that lived in the shallows of the deep lakes could tell them. Perhaps the moss? They begged the Little God to shed light on the mystery to no avail. 

It was a tale that could not be translated until, one day, the sky broken open and travelers unlike anything the animalfolk had ever known began to share their own stories.

Stories where Giants wandered, leaving footprints that transformed into lakes.

Stories where Kings built underwater bridges and spires that sang ethereal melodies in desert winds.

Stories where monsters dwelled in deep caverns and where kingdoms of peoples hoarded magic treasures beyond scholarly belief and gods were defeated by mortal hands.

And as curiosity in this world grew, so did disbelief. When guilds gained access to the passages beneath the mountains of Trinka, something incredulous was discovered.

They found, of all things, goblin remains surrounded by mysterious, fragrant seeds. The problem? When traced to define their origin, Chronologists found the owners of the skeletons, still breathing, in their homes two continents away, completely unaware that they were supposed to have been killed two million years ago.

Thus, as adventurers began to equip themselves to foray into the unknown rift, this small group of Chronologists begged them to resolve this mystery and prove, once and for all, the goblins were, in fact, dead and time could make sense again.

Will you be one of these adventurers? Or will you stumble into a story all your own?

The Coffee Goblins will run on Wednesday mornings, 9:30AM-12:30PM EST, beginning June 29.