Context: Same person as from the ‘non-lethal arrow to the head’ thing. This was from the same session. My Ranger (a half-elf) has a Goshawk companion she uses for scouting. For this particular scenario, I’m trying to send the bird to check out a camp over a hill to check if it’s travellers or Bandits, and before that I also rolled a Nat 17 on spotting the Camp in the first place with the bird.
Me: Can’t I tell Fluffball (that’s the bird’s name) to like… hop twice if it’s bandits? Would they even understand that?
DM: Um.. Roll an intelligence check for Fluffball.
Me: [Nat 20]
DM: ….. Well then. You see a look of concentration in your birds eyes, like you have never seen before, and it’s kind of unnerving. Fluffball looks at you, then nods, before flying off. You can barely make them out as a speck in the blue sky, doing circling motions for a good five minutes above the camp. Ok, now roll a perception check for Fluffball.
Me: Aight. [rolls ANOTHER Nat 20]
The entire party: [starts losing their shit, laughing loudly and wheezing]
Artificer Drow: Holy shit, Fluffball! MVP bird!
Me: [sputters and wheezes with laughter]
DM: When they return, they land on your arm, and through a series of hops, squawks and flaps - think of a bee’s dance telling you where the honey is - to tell you that these are bandits, they look bad, they smell bad, there may be something in cages, and they have weapons.
Me: [barely containing my laughter]
Artificer: Ok, but, would this all kind of look like Fluffball doing a mating dance to the rest of us?
Me: [starts laughing loudly]
DM: Yes. Definitely, yes. You watch Adrie (my half-elf Ranger) kind of hold their chin thoughtfully, going 'yes, yes. oh really? very interesting.’, while Fluffball does what they’re doing.
