There is a single moment from one my Dungeons and Dragons campaigns that stands out above the rest. I think this moment will forever be my favorite moment at the table. I’m talking about the time a rug fell asleep.
It was during my first campaign and my fellow adventurers and I found ourselves in a dungeon crawl through some dwarven ruins. Deep in the ruined dwarven fortress we found ourselves staring down a hall with doors on either side. I opened the second door on the left, it was empty. A Tabaxi Rogue in the group opened the first door on the right. Staring into the room the Tabaxi asked a seemingly innocent question.
Tabaxi: “Oh, hmm. Is that a Rug?”
DM: “Ugh, that is a rug.”
Tabaxi: “Cool, I’ll step onto it”
When the Tabaxi stepped onto the rug it was met with laughter from the group. This was the personality of the Tabaxi Rogue after all, to be brash and throwing caution to the wind and doing silly things like quickly stepping onto a rug. What I didn’t realize at the time is that she knew what was going to happen.
Tabaxi: “What happens DM?”
DM: “Wow, I can’t even read a room description here!”
<group laughs, DM reads the description>
Tabaxi: “So, nothing happens?”
DM: “So you step on the rug huh? It tries to consume you.”
Tabaxi: “Oh no! Who could have seen this coming! This has never happened before when I play D&D!”
Warrior: “Holy Shit!”
Priest: “Oh my god!”
Tabaxi: “I knew it! This is what just killed <warrior>’s wizard in another game. This could kill me.”
Priest: “This is very bad.”
DM: “Take initiative everyone!”
Now the stage was set. The group faced a giant rug and the two veteran D&D players in the group, the Tabaxi and warrior, were afraid of it. One of them was now stuck in the rug and the other had just lost their wizard in another game to this same monster. For me and the Druid, this was the first time we had ever encountered a giant rug and, given the commotion from the group, were a bit weary at the battle to come.
Initiative rolled and I was fourth to go. Before me would be the warrior, the rug, and then the Priest. So it was time to observe what made this rug so scary.
The warrior enters the room as the Tabaxi, being smothered by the rug, groans about how bad this rug is and the situation. The warrior makes an uneasy noise before he decides to use a Maneuvering Attack allowing the Taxabi an opportunity to escape. With the Tabaxi freed he makes a Bell-ringer attack and hits the rug.
Now it’s the animated rugs turn. It attacks the warrior, grappling him and beginning to smother him. At this point the Tabaxi in the group really wants to tell us what this rug is so we know the danger. They are really building up the difficulty of the fight ahead. The Druid in the group desperately wants to know what we’re facing but I interject, I want to experience this thing without knowing. This is an adventure, this is exciting, this is a new monster that brings fear to the group. This is why I play, for moments like this.
Our Priest is up next. They enter the room, gather their holy light and cast a Guiding Bolt towards the rug then they run away from the door. The DM calls out the damage and says that… the warrior took damage. But how? The Priest attacked the rug. Then the danger became clear. Since the warrior is inside the rug being smothered, when you hit the rug with an attack they take half the damage. Oh no. So is the question who will die first, the rug or the warrior?
My turn and I’m going to be honest, I was so excited at this point. Here I was, going up against something that made veteran D&D players fearful, something that had actually killed one of them, and it was time to decide how I was going to save my friend.
My excitement was apparent given I said “This is freaking awesome, cool, this is great” which resulted in the DM laughing. So begins my turn. I asked if we can interact with the warrior, yes we can. The DM joked about whether I had a grease spell, trying to give me possible hints at what I may be able to do. I don’t have a grease spell. The Tabaxi laughs.
I should mention that I am playing my most beloved character during this campaign, my gnome wizard. I absolutely love being a wizard and I enjoy combat so much because a wizard has a large bag of tricks they can use to change the tides of battle. For me combat is a grand puzzle, a place where I have significant influence given my arcane abilities. In my opinion, few classes have as much control over the tides of battle than a wizard (yes I am bias).
So I think. The group talks and then I ask a question, what happens if I turn him invisible? Apparently that wouldn’t work, no problem. The DM and Tabaxi let me know I could help him, meaning I give him advantage on his action to get free on his turn. Good to know, but not very wizard like you know? So, back to my spell list. Then I have an idea.
Me: “I don’t expect this to work but why not. […] I feel like I should ask this first but I’m just going to do it and see what happens, I’ll find out by learning.”
Me: “I’m going to walk over to the doorway and put a giant rug that I don’t understand to sleep”
An audible murmur from someone in the group is briefly heard in voice chat
I stood at the doorway to the chamber where a giant rug held my adventuring companion and all I had to save him was an idea. In case you are unaware, the Sleep spell in D&D only puts something to sleep if your roll is greater than or equal to the monsters current health. I have no idea how much health this rug has, there is no health bar. So I’m already taking a giant chance here with my spell completely missing but the bigger question is, can a rug even go to sleep?
Me: “I will cast a level 2 Sleep, to give me more dice because I’m assuming this thing has a lot of hit points.”
Silence from the group
Me: “Yeah, let me cast this. It’s 5d8 base, casting at higher level so 2 more d8, so 7d8.”
Quiet laughter from group
DM: “Interesting”
I can feel the quietness from the group, I’m a bit uneasy so I say
Me: “I’m sure you guys are sitting there saying this isn’t even going to work and is a waste of time.”
Dice rolled: 33
DM: “You put it to sleep”
Druid: “Whaaaaaat”
DM: “Out of all the things it’s immune to, sleep is not one of them” then gives a chuckle
Me: “<my character> does a little dance”
Druid: <chants my characters name!>
The rest of the group is completely silent
Me: “I’m not sure if that helps with grappling or not but the rug is asleep. So yeah, <my familiar, cat> comes over to me, rubs against my leg and purrs, then I end my turn”
DM: “Nicely done, let’s see.”
Everyone is silent
DM: “Ok, yeah it is asleep. <Priest> you are up next.”
Once the rug was asleep the Tabaxi ran in, pulled the warrior out without waking up the rug due to a high Dex roll and the party was safe. After debating between the group on whether to leave the rug alone or not we decided to surround it and defeat it so no one else would fall into it’s trap. Given the turn order and knowing the rug has less than 33 damage (because I put it to sleep) the DM didn’t make us roll and it was determined we defeated the magical rug. Success!
This moment is one I will remember forever. I’m not sure if it’s because of the veteran players building up the fear and despair of the enemy, if it’s because I feel like I fully utilized my class and saw something most other wizards would have missed, or if it’s the chanting from the Druid at my success or the bafflement of the DM of the rug not being immune to sleep. It’s probably a combination of all of these things. In this moment all of it came together to create something very memorable for me. A deadly monster who had defeated veteran D&D players I defeated by answering one question, can you put a rug to sleep?