Quaal's Feather Token - Tree Stylin'
I'll try to narrate this as it happened to Faalkon, our cleric of Wee Jas:
After eliminating the orcs in the entryway to the Forge of Fury, our only way forward, it seemed, was to cross a shaky, rickety, slimy rope bridge across a deep, dark chasm. Arrow fire from yours truly staved off the orc menace until they retreated, at which time the bridge could be crossed safely, albeit quickly (lest they return).
As each of us crossed in order of willingness to do it, all of us made it to the other side except one: the deathpriest. We breathed in unison as the cleric slowly made his way in increments across the bridge. Two steps, then four...
As we turned around to continue our watch for the enemy, we heard a snap. Turning around quickly, we stood agape as a flurry of black robes tumbled over the side, as if in slow motion, the rotted wood chips falling beneath a hole once occupied by a slat.
We saw a hand shoot out from the sleeve, futilely grasping for the guide rope (which was still intact). The fingers of our cleric missed the rope by a coin's width, and before we could see the result, our minds had already resigned themselves to the fact that we would be rescuing this mine without healing or turning services, and short one dear, happy member of our adventuring party.
Faalkon sank like a stone, never once tumbling or spinning on his fateful plummet to the rocks below. As he fell, however, I could see the flash of insight that lit across his face, immediately followed by a furious grab at the pockets of his robe. Just as quickly, the hand shot out, and over his head. In it was... a single white feather.
In the next breath, Faalkon slammed his hand between his feet, nearly tumbling forward in the process, and suddenly, a large tree! grew from the rocky outcropping of the opposite side of the walls, nearly touching the side we were on. Faalkon landed on the tree with a thud, nearly knocking himself out, and ending up prone with his arms and legs around the enormous tree as if he were trying to ride it to the other side.
His face nearly blue from the impact, the rest of us breathed a sigh of relief as he began to shimmy along the tree toward the rest of us, stopping to navigate an odd limb or two. Eventually, Faalkon had made it to our side, and as we lowered the rope to him to lift him up to the edge, the look in our eyes ensured that our deathpriest would never let go of a rope again.
what really happened: we made Balance checks at three different points along the bridge. Faalkon's player was reluctant to go, instead attempting to find a more secure way to the other side. We finally conned him into going, and at the second Balance check, he rolled a 2. With minus ranks in Balance due to encumbrance and bad Dex, this translated into RBDMese as, "make a Reflex save, or you take a header off the bridge into the rocks below." We watched intently as Jason, Faalkon's player, followed up his two with... a one.
As we looked on in horror (our first PK!) RBDM was gathering together the 10 d6 he would roll as falling damage for a second level cleric, Faalkon's player blurted out, "I take the Feather Token!! I slam it between my legs into the rocks behind and below me!!" This saved him, and RBDM rolled d6 subdual for nad damage on the tree. He maxed out, and the cleric came within one hit point of having to make a Fort Save to avoid unconsciousness. From then on, my character (a Wood Elf) sucked the vast majority of PC Deaths.
Thus, A Quaal's Feather Token can be damn near useless, or it can save your life. It's a matter of situation and perspective.
