Bedtime Campaign: Nico outsmarts Smaug the Dragon!

This post is part of a series where I explore freeform roleplaying as a bedtime story for my 6 year old son, Nico.

Chatty: So what do you want me to read tonight?

Nico: Can we play the story game again?  It’s been a long time and I’m sure your friends on the computer miss them! (Maybe I should call the Screen Actor’s Guild)

Okay, so who are we today?

Same as usual, Super Nico, the Knight!

Okay and where are we?

I don’t know (A spark was needed!)

Well let’s say you’re playing in your room and someone knocks at the door of your Castle.

‘kay.

Your father the Wizard-King answers and calls you down: ‘Nico, someone for you’.  What do you do?

(Giggling from mounting excitement) I go downstairs.

A very colorfully clad person, with a guitar and a piece of paper awaits you. He asks if your are Super Nico the hero.

I am!

(Taking an official voice): I am Guzutt, the Bard!

What’s a bard daddy?

It’s someone that signs songs and tells stories.

Okay.

Guzzut: I have been charged by Princess Zix to ask your help to…

Daddy, you know I don’t like stories about princesses!  Those are for Rory (5 year old sister)!

So sorry!  Wrong message.  Guzzut opens his bag, puts the paper back in and takes another one out.

Guzzut: I have been charged by Prince Guk to ask that you go to his castle right now so you can help him against the Evil Dragon Smaug! (The joys of gaming with a 6 year old, all names are original)

Chatty: So do you want to go?

Nico: Yeah!, but how do I get there real fast?

Guzzut: Do you want to share my rocket Carriage? You can drive!

“Yay!”

Chatty: “So you spend the next few minutes flying over forests, swamps and arrive to a castle with a big hole in it.”

What followed was a not so interactive introduction to the Prince who told that Smaug the Dragon had recently punched a hole in the Castle, stolen all the prince’s treasure and his little brother! Nico agreed to help.

Nico: Can I have a few things to help me?

Prince Guk: Sure, just go ask my Wizard on top of the highest Tower.

Nico: (Excitedly) I go there!  What can I get?

Chatty: The Wizards gives you a potion that can turn you invisible.  How’s that?

Nico: Cool!

Okay, Prince Guk tells you that Smaug lives in a Cave deep under the Mountain of Ice.

I go there!

Okay, the Mountain is really tall and too slipery to climb since it’s made of Ice.  You see an entrance at the very top. What do you do?

(Thinking long and hard) I call the Nimbus Cloud to get to the top! (A flying cloud that can fly Nico’s character around)

Good thinking, the cloud comes over from the sky, picks you up and starts to fly up the mountain.  But it’s very very cold and the cloud gets smaller and smaller and smaller until you fall off it and hit the mountain and start slipping down!  What do you do?

I take out my Sword and I plunge it in the ice really hard!

Awesome!  You stop slipping and your sword is stuck into the deep ice…

I use my fire Gem to melt the ice!

Wow! You start heating up the whole mountain, ice melts and a huge lake appears around the shrinking mountain. When your gem runs out of magic fuel, half the mountain is melted!  You see that the entrance at the top of the mountain is actually the top floor of a very tall tower with a very long winding stairway climbing up around it.

I climb it and enter.

Once inside, you notice another set of stairs going down into the darkness and you hear a loud Snoring sound and a barely audible ‘Please help me’

That’s the prince’s little brother!  I go down to save him!

You climb down until you reach a large chamber filled with gold and gems.  A huge dragon sleeps on the treasure, holding a cage in its claws.  The young prince is in it, really scared. What do you do?

Hmmm… I can’t fight him without hurting the littlle prince.  Oh I know! I take the potion… no half the potion so I can give the other half to the prince.

Oh I see what you’re trying to do!

(Giggles)

Chatty: Okay so you turn invisible and so does the prince, what now?

Nico: (Smiling triumphantly):I make noise!

The dragon wakes up with a start! He looks around and notices the empty cage!

(More giggles)

Smaug: Hey! My prisoner escaped! I need to find him again and put him back in this cage!

Chatty: The dragon flies outside the room, looking for his ‘lost’ prisoner.  You both reappear as the potion’s effect fades.

I take all his treasure… Huh, is there a big bag around?

Young Prince: Take this magic bag there, I’ve seen the dragon use it to steal all my brother’s treasure!

Nico: Does that work?

Chatty: Sure, you take all his of his treasure and you escape with the young prince before Smaug comes back! You win once again!

Nico: Yay!  Daddy?

Yes?

Why does the dragon sleep on a treasure like that?

Hmmm.  Good question.  Remember the story about the princess sleeping on 20 mattresses?

The one that felt the pea and couldn’t sleep?

Yup, well maybe big dragons are only comfortable when sleeping on lots of treasures and that’s why he stole Prince Guk’s treasure.

Cool!

Good night Nico.

Good night daddy!

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I love doing this!

Up next, I will relate to you a story I did with both Rory and Nico while on a car trip.

Credits: Nicolas Menard (Story), Laura Toivola (Scuplture)