Really, I'll get a new name up sometime :)
While elves and humans never really got along, there were always some villages of evil and neutral humans with the "nice" elves on the outskirts of the kingdom. The lands of House Rowan are some of those areas. It was one of the reasons that we were exiled. Some even intermarried. I was one of those relationships. We even had beautiful half-elf children.
Ten years back, I was drafted into a mixed military unit as a ranged spellcaster. The man who would become my husband was a footsoldier in this unit. It was common for humans to join up as symbol of their loyalty. We soon fell in love and were married. He left the military to raise the children at home in our town. Before ghostwood, there was an uneasy peace, and my position was mostly minor issues – land squabbles between neighboring kingdoms, clandestine raids on another noble's outlying properties... Hate's uniting of the nothrog became our first major concern - such an aggressive race was better left squabbling amongst each other instead of united in a power grab. We began conducted many raids, disguising our tracks as being from nothrog or human or deveranian, trying to stir up conflict.
Then ghostwood happened. It shook up the elven council – the hardliners took over and necromantic activity, something that everyone did, but nobody was blatant about suddenly became the number one priority - the thought was for a long war with the humans we need to take as much of their strength as we could get. I thought that House Rowan would stay out of this - we never had a tradition of necromancy, and were not welcomed at the elven councils. I was wrong.
At first it was just human villages of the free kingdoms, something I could rationalize away. They were the enemy after all, but then it started getting closer to home. All of the humans of my village were taken. I watched my own husband being taken away in a cage like some mindless cattle in front of my very eyes. I tried to stop him but was restrained by others in my battalion with the reminder that I would be next if I interfered. My children, along with the other half-breeds were killed the next day in experiments. It was time for action.
By now everyone has heard of the adventuring party within the elf lands, and two days after my husband was taken away they were captured with the blood of a lord on their hands. I hoped they would get free so I could track them and join them - my former family has gone too far and I want revenge for my loved ones.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Ili's capture
I figured I'd write a little story of Ili's capture and transformation in here :) At the end is the letter which I gave you.
The vile elf Icharus has tricked us - he pretended to be an innocent cousin of an honorable elf (just last year I never expected to hear myself say that), yet he is part of a band attacking us for trying to rescue innocent villagers. I cannot surrender to these elves - they will surely kill the villagers for some sort of experiments if I do.
My final thought was "Oh shit - that got me. Well now I go to albrecht's loving embrace."
I was drifting away, towards the other planes when I suddenly felt myself being yanked back. As I returned to my body, all I felt was searing pain. My body was bound; my hands were behind my back nailed to a pole. I found myself in a vile temple, surrounded by evil elven acolytes and mindless zombies. They are chanting in elven, I cant tell what they are saying but they seem like evil demonic prayers. I blinked my eyes and noticed that though it was dark, I could see, albeit in black and white. Some of the acolytes notice me stirring, and immediately pull the nails out and bring me down from the pole. I feel different - like I have been drained. I reached to my head and notice that while I can still feel the lines of ink on my head, they feel hollow - it is just a symbol, no longer the touch of Albrecht. I no longer feel his love coursing through my veins, strengthening me.
My sorrow is so great that when they lay me down upon a ceremonial bed, I want to crawl inside and die. Again. It is now when I realize the situation - I did die, and these people raised me in some sort of evil ceremony. My god has forsaken me due to this taint.
I come around and they start asking me questions - thinking I would turn against my friends. They assumed that the ceremony would turn me into an evil abomination with them. I still remember my time in the light of Albrecht, even in this dark time. I tried to fight but was restrained. After a few hours they bound me in chains to a wall and said vile things and defiled the holy symbol of Albrecht. They burnt my robes which were embroidered with images of him. They kept telling me to join them, trying to pry me with stories of wealth and power. I would have none of it and hung on the wall for days.
Then another group of vile elves came again for me - I was sure this was an execution squad, which may be a relief after today. But instead they freed me and brought me back to my friends. I'm not sure if it was good or bad, as they are seeing me in this state. I must find out how to redeem myself.
Letter -----
Dear Friends and Companions,
I regret to tell you that I must depart your company. Becoming an
abomination such as myself has caused much reflection. I have been
forsaken in the eyes of Albrecht and therefore must redeem myself by
destroying those who did this to me and ensuring that the scourge of
necromancy is wiped from our fair land. I no longer feel his divine
touch upon me and am unfit to continue on in your presence
To Malekar - if Albrecht can find it in his heart to forgive me, then
surely he can find the room to forgive your condition. Please make
sure to build a beautiful chapel while I am gone and bring his love
and glory to all who come to dragon's keep. Perhaps the dwarves will
even have room in their hearts for both Kor and Albrecht.
To everyone else - keep protecting the innocents against the evil of
this world and the various nations that would do them harm.
With all my love and Albrecht's blessing,
Ili
The vile elf Icharus has tricked us - he pretended to be an innocent cousin of an honorable elf (just last year I never expected to hear myself say that), yet he is part of a band attacking us for trying to rescue innocent villagers. I cannot surrender to these elves - they will surely kill the villagers for some sort of experiments if I do.
My final thought was "Oh shit - that got me. Well now I go to albrecht's loving embrace."
I was drifting away, towards the other planes when I suddenly felt myself being yanked back. As I returned to my body, all I felt was searing pain. My body was bound; my hands were behind my back nailed to a pole. I found myself in a vile temple, surrounded by evil elven acolytes and mindless zombies. They are chanting in elven, I cant tell what they are saying but they seem like evil demonic prayers. I blinked my eyes and noticed that though it was dark, I could see, albeit in black and white. Some of the acolytes notice me stirring, and immediately pull the nails out and bring me down from the pole. I feel different - like I have been drained. I reached to my head and notice that while I can still feel the lines of ink on my head, they feel hollow - it is just a symbol, no longer the touch of Albrecht. I no longer feel his love coursing through my veins, strengthening me.
My sorrow is so great that when they lay me down upon a ceremonial bed, I want to crawl inside and die. Again. It is now when I realize the situation - I did die, and these people raised me in some sort of evil ceremony. My god has forsaken me due to this taint.
I come around and they start asking me questions - thinking I would turn against my friends. They assumed that the ceremony would turn me into an evil abomination with them. I still remember my time in the light of Albrecht, even in this dark time. I tried to fight but was restrained. After a few hours they bound me in chains to a wall and said vile things and defiled the holy symbol of Albrecht. They burnt my robes which were embroidered with images of him. They kept telling me to join them, trying to pry me with stories of wealth and power. I would have none of it and hung on the wall for days.
Then another group of vile elves came again for me - I was sure this was an execution squad, which may be a relief after today. But instead they freed me and brought me back to my friends. I'm not sure if it was good or bad, as they are seeing me in this state. I must find out how to redeem myself.
Letter -----
Dear Friends and Companions,
I regret to tell you that I must depart your company. Becoming an
abomination such as myself has caused much reflection. I have been
forsaken in the eyes of Albrecht and therefore must redeem myself by
destroying those who did this to me and ensuring that the scourge of
necromancy is wiped from our fair land. I no longer feel his divine
touch upon me and am unfit to continue on in your presence
To Malekar - if Albrecht can find it in his heart to forgive me, then
surely he can find the room to forgive your condition. Please make
sure to build a beautiful chapel while I am gone and bring his love
and glory to all who come to dragon's keep. Perhaps the dwarves will
even have room in their hearts for both Kor and Albrecht.
To everyone else - keep protecting the innocents against the evil of
this world and the various nations that would do them harm.
With all my love and Albrecht's blessing,
Ili
Evil Elves Practice Especially Partisan Politics
Our escape from the necromancer's keep was rudely interrupted by a party of elven wizards, led by our aquaintance Icarus (cousin of Alerac). I tried to teleport the human captives to safety, but the keep's field suppressed all my teleportation spells. With the elves blocking our own exit, Ili and I charged towards them as a distraction, but they disabled us with rays of dizziness and searing blasts of eldritch fire. I surrended, but Ili would not. Her noble and stubborn bravery was for naught, as a final fell blast immolated her, leaving her lifeless on the floor. Ili, with her durability and deftness, once seemed the least likely of us to fall, but she now lay beyond even Malakar's aid.
After Ili's fall, the other soon surrendered. Taking our equipment, our captors marched us to the inactive teleportation circle and whisked us off to a cell in a fortress somewhere in the Elven capital city. After days of waiting in an anti-magic cell, we were taken before the High Queen Tephiroth and her court, denounced as murderers, and taken away to await execution. Apparently the Elven high council, consisting of the Kings and Queens of the seven houses (five for now, with Rowan in exile and Tansiq no more), were entitled to interrogate us individually if they wish.
Our first visitor was the Queen herself. Speaking through a second, she offered us a chance at life if we admitted to conspiring with Icarus of House Netheren against the dead Lord Dimethon of Dythanus. Later, Icarus himself came by with the opposite offer: name the Queen's own House Calix as our employers, her motivation fear of a Dythanus plot. Icarus offered us our freedom and our possessions if we served him in this, and admitted that it was he who send me the nightmares. Apparently, he hoped that we would arrive soon enough to stop Dimethon's raid, and he didn't expect the nightmares to so thoroughly disable my spellcasting. We argued for a time about which side to support in this matter; the truth of the Medusan Lords involvement was rendered irrelevant by the political maneuverings of the court. In the end, we agreed to support Icarus (on the basis that he may be less inclined towards continued war with the humans, and less inclined towards necromancy, and perhaps even non-evil), with Erson dissenting.
Our next appearance in court was brief; when I told the prepared storyof our employment by Calix and their subsequent betrayal, the Queen ordered silence and had us removed back to our cells, as the court erupted into furious debate. Later that evening, as we waited watchfully, guards (sent by Icarus, presumably) returned our equipment and used scrolls of ethereality to run us out of the cells and city. Strangely, they brought with them the semblance of Ili, returned to animation but clearly not to life. Hurried questioning revealed that she remained intelligent, and aware of her former life, and I can only imagine the torment her soul must be undergoing with her connection with life and Albrecht rudely and evilly severed.
When we reached the nominal safety of the forest outside the city, the guards turned on us and began to attack. Fortunately they were no match for the rested and re-equipped might of our party. One fool struck me with a sword, only to fall writhing with the backlash of spell energy from my Robe of Retaliation; another was crushed in midair by Ili's mighty fist, as the battering energy from my staff drove him backwards. I suspect that Icarus allowed them to attack us knowing full well that we would defeat them, and that in this way evidence of his deed would be obscured. (In hindsight, we could have done him a favor by hiding the bodies, but we were rather in a hurry to escape).
Finally free of suppression fields, I teleported a few of the human refugees back to Dragon Keep, and Ettor sent dwarven wizards back with me to assist in a final mass teleport. We had escaped from elven clutches, but at what profit and loss?
Borrow, Malakar and I set ourselves to removing the traps guarding the Dythanus's spellbooks. I knew they would hold great value for me, and great value too on the open market. First, I identified the kinds of spells involved. Then Malakar wove a rich net of protective spells around Borrow, and Borrow proceeded to carefully disarm the spelltraps. Perusing the books, I rejoiced at our fortune: many useful spells punctuated the distasteful necromantic rituals, and Dythanus' sheer volume of arcana dwarfs my current repertoire. It will be weeks before I can begin to utilize these spells, but the study will be well spent.
But what of Ili? I buried myself in my work, and I do not know what has become of her.
After Ili's fall, the other soon surrendered. Taking our equipment, our captors marched us to the inactive teleportation circle and whisked us off to a cell in a fortress somewhere in the Elven capital city. After days of waiting in an anti-magic cell, we were taken before the High Queen Tephiroth and her court, denounced as murderers, and taken away to await execution. Apparently the Elven high council, consisting of the Kings and Queens of the seven houses (five for now, with Rowan in exile and Tansiq no more), were entitled to interrogate us individually if they wish.
Our first visitor was the Queen herself. Speaking through a second, she offered us a chance at life if we admitted to conspiring with Icarus of House Netheren against the dead Lord Dimethon of Dythanus. Later, Icarus himself came by with the opposite offer: name the Queen's own House Calix as our employers, her motivation fear of a Dythanus plot. Icarus offered us our freedom and our possessions if we served him in this, and admitted that it was he who send me the nightmares. Apparently, he hoped that we would arrive soon enough to stop Dimethon's raid, and he didn't expect the nightmares to so thoroughly disable my spellcasting. We argued for a time about which side to support in this matter; the truth of the Medusan Lords involvement was rendered irrelevant by the political maneuverings of the court. In the end, we agreed to support Icarus (on the basis that he may be less inclined towards continued war with the humans, and less inclined towards necromancy, and perhaps even non-evil), with Erson dissenting.
Our next appearance in court was brief; when I told the prepared storyof our employment by Calix and their subsequent betrayal, the Queen ordered silence and had us removed back to our cells, as the court erupted into furious debate. Later that evening, as we waited watchfully, guards (sent by Icarus, presumably) returned our equipment and used scrolls of ethereality to run us out of the cells and city. Strangely, they brought with them the semblance of Ili, returned to animation but clearly not to life. Hurried questioning revealed that she remained intelligent, and aware of her former life, and I can only imagine the torment her soul must be undergoing with her connection with life and Albrecht rudely and evilly severed.
When we reached the nominal safety of the forest outside the city, the guards turned on us and began to attack. Fortunately they were no match for the rested and re-equipped might of our party. One fool struck me with a sword, only to fall writhing with the backlash of spell energy from my Robe of Retaliation; another was crushed in midair by Ili's mighty fist, as the battering energy from my staff drove him backwards. I suspect that Icarus allowed them to attack us knowing full well that we would defeat them, and that in this way evidence of his deed would be obscured. (In hindsight, we could have done him a favor by hiding the bodies, but we were rather in a hurry to escape).
Finally free of suppression fields, I teleported a few of the human refugees back to Dragon Keep, and Ettor sent dwarven wizards back with me to assist in a final mass teleport. We had escaped from elven clutches, but at what profit and loss?
Borrow, Malakar and I set ourselves to removing the traps guarding the Dythanus's spellbooks. I knew they would hold great value for me, and great value too on the open market. First, I identified the kinds of spells involved. Then Malakar wove a rich net of protective spells around Borrow, and Borrow proceeded to carefully disarm the spelltraps. Perusing the books, I rejoiced at our fortune: many useful spells punctuated the distasteful necromantic rituals, and Dythanus' sheer volume of arcana dwarfs my current repertoire. It will be weeks before I can begin to utilize these spells, but the study will be well spent.
But what of Ili? I buried myself in my work, and I do not know what has become of her.
slay the vampire, save the peasants, conquer the world!
So what good is having a rogue when all he does is run away from things and not even find traps ? While some of the others were convinced we should leave and come back, I knew that some innocents still remained and we had to go save them!
First we happened upon a mysterious set of rooms that held doors to a middle room. These rooms were all trapped with various elements! Borrow was not too much help in this respect... Usually when something is so heavily trapped, you'd expect it to be more important, but it was only a magical lab with an undead lab assistant. Amusingly enough.... when you can't figure out how to open a door, taking a few hours to smash through it also works.
Then of course we faced a skeletal dragon-like creature which gravely injured me. I ran past in search of the villagers and found them, along with a pair of bugbears imprisoned. It appeared that about 2/3 of them had been killed in evil experiments, but at least we were able to save the other 1/3. They were all in cages protected by magical walls that were controlled by a panel in a middle control room. A golem set to protect the room was unimpressive and we managed to free the villagers... Now we just have to keep a large group safe as we exit an evil tower and travel in a hostile forest for 3 days
First we happened upon a mysterious set of rooms that held doors to a middle room. These rooms were all trapped with various elements! Borrow was not too much help in this respect... Usually when something is so heavily trapped, you'd expect it to be more important, but it was only a magical lab with an undead lab assistant. Amusingly enough.... when you can't figure out how to open a door, taking a few hours to smash through it also works.
Then of course we faced a skeletal dragon-like creature which gravely injured me. I ran past in search of the villagers and found them, along with a pair of bugbears imprisoned. It appeared that about 2/3 of them had been killed in evil experiments, but at least we were able to save the other 1/3. They were all in cages protected by magical walls that were controlled by a panel in a middle control room. A golem set to protect the room was unimpressive and we managed to free the villagers... Now we just have to keep a large group safe as we exit an evil tower and travel in a hostile forest for 3 days
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Just in the Nick of Time
I arrived just in time to find that the others had killed a vampire and were now searching the room. We found a couple of books that appeared to be magical. Obegard opened the book only to be greeted by a trap that burned his insides. Fortunately for him, I was right there, and I used my healing magic to keep him alive. We asked Borrow nicely to try to find out if the others had traps, and use his knowledge to disable him. He seemed to go about it half heartedly and not to my surprise, managed to trip another trap on a different book. This one turned him into a toad. We all had a good laugh about it, and fortunately for Borrow, I again had the necessary abilities to change him back. Borrow didn't seem very grateful at being turned back into a halfling.
We moved down a floor, which contained 4 rooms, each with deadly traps. We somehow stumbled into all four, since Borrow was not the most reliable of trap finders. There was a central chamber connected to the four outer rooms, and even though we weren't able to find a way to open the doors, we smashed our way in with our weapons. However, we were quite disappointed with what was inside: some sort of wraith attacked us, and for our trouble getting past the traps, we only managed to find some sundries worth a modest amount.
We continued going down, and at the next floor, we came across a room with a giant dragon skeleton. I detected the taint of evil in the skeleton, which meant that it probably wasn't just for decoration. We cautiously approached the skeleton, and that's when it suddenly sprung to life! Durthen was the furthest in the room, and with it he paid with a couple of bites across his side. He was dismayed that his own attacks had little effect on the beast--the bones were stronger than steel! To make matters worse, the skeleton also began using some foul magic that allowed it to take flight. At this point, Obegard began getting scared and saying that we should run, ditching the villagers that had been captured here. I had none of that, as I began casting my most powerful spells -- calling upon all the power of my deity to strike down this vile beast. The others managed to keep the thing busy while I did this, and after I was finished, I walked forth and with blows that would crush an ogre, I destroyed the skeleton, smashing it to bits.
We quickly ran downstairs, and destroyed a "Gravedirt Golem" that was protecting a control room for the prison. We located the villagers, though it appeared that we were too late to save the men of the village, who had been slain and used for foul experimentation. Through trial and error, we managed to open the room with the villagers. With our mission complete, we began retreating from this dark lair.
We moved down a floor, which contained 4 rooms, each with deadly traps. We somehow stumbled into all four, since Borrow was not the most reliable of trap finders. There was a central chamber connected to the four outer rooms, and even though we weren't able to find a way to open the doors, we smashed our way in with our weapons. However, we were quite disappointed with what was inside: some sort of wraith attacked us, and for our trouble getting past the traps, we only managed to find some sundries worth a modest amount.
We continued going down, and at the next floor, we came across a room with a giant dragon skeleton. I detected the taint of evil in the skeleton, which meant that it probably wasn't just for decoration. We cautiously approached the skeleton, and that's when it suddenly sprung to life! Durthen was the furthest in the room, and with it he paid with a couple of bites across his side. He was dismayed that his own attacks had little effect on the beast--the bones were stronger than steel! To make matters worse, the skeleton also began using some foul magic that allowed it to take flight. At this point, Obegard began getting scared and saying that we should run, ditching the villagers that had been captured here. I had none of that, as I began casting my most powerful spells -- calling upon all the power of my deity to strike down this vile beast. The others managed to keep the thing busy while I did this, and after I was finished, I walked forth and with blows that would crush an ogre, I destroyed the skeleton, smashing it to bits.
We quickly ran downstairs, and destroyed a "Gravedirt Golem" that was protecting a control room for the prison. We located the villagers, though it appeared that we were too late to save the men of the village, who had been slain and used for foul experimentation. Through trial and error, we managed to open the room with the villagers. With our mission complete, we began retreating from this dark lair.
Keep on performing!
My professional interaction with the keep has been primarily through dungeon crawling. We've worked only one project this quarter, the elf necromancer assasination (project ear-stab!), but we covered all three floors very closely for many rounds.
During these rounds I've fought a vampire hottie in the keep's lobby, ransacked the keep's library, destroyed a coffin in the keep's secret room, blundered through the keep's traps, fough an ethereal lab assistant, and alomst got killed by a giant bone lizard-dragon. Finally, we killed a poop golem in the bottom floor of the keep and freed a bunch of pansy human prisoners. We're about to leave the keep's bottom floor.
I've found the keep to be fairly frustrating, as it should be, and filled with a variety of traps and bad guys. I would say the keep's strengths are it's suprisingly large set of underground floors, it's creative trap rooms, and interesting enemies. And watching people pull levers and get hit by chain lightening was pretty funny.
I think the keep's biggest weakness is a lack of good treasure. Also, frankly, who keeps bugbears around these days. I think the keep needs to work on it's prisoner selection.
Finally, I recognize the keep is going up for promotion to castle. I am sorry to say this, but honestly I don't think it's ready. I think the keep should build itself a second floor and add crenelations. It should also add a moat. Until it's had the moat and crenelations for at least a quarter and proven that it can be a castle I don't think we should promote it quite yet.
During these rounds I've fought a vampire hottie in the keep's lobby, ransacked the keep's library, destroyed a coffin in the keep's secret room, blundered through the keep's traps, fough an ethereal lab assistant, and alomst got killed by a giant bone lizard-dragon. Finally, we killed a poop golem in the bottom floor of the keep and freed a bunch of pansy human prisoners. We're about to leave the keep's bottom floor.
I've found the keep to be fairly frustrating, as it should be, and filled with a variety of traps and bad guys. I would say the keep's strengths are it's suprisingly large set of underground floors, it's creative trap rooms, and interesting enemies. And watching people pull levers and get hit by chain lightening was pretty funny.
I think the keep's biggest weakness is a lack of good treasure. Also, frankly, who keeps bugbears around these days. I think the keep needs to work on it's prisoner selection.
Finally, I recognize the keep is going up for promotion to castle. I am sorry to say this, but honestly I don't think it's ready. I think the keep should build itself a second floor and add crenelations. It should also add a moat. Until it's had the moat and crenelations for at least a quarter and proven that it can be a castle I don't think we should promote it quite yet.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Upworlders don't know what they want
These Upworlders are never happy. “Borrow, do this.” “Borrow, do that.”
I try to oblige them but I have no idea why they ask most of the things they do—they never even stop to ask whether I can even do the stuff they ask. I’m a scout, dammit!
I used to sneak into places to check them out and make sure they’re safe and let them know where the trouble spots were. Yet for some reason that wasn’t enough. I had to help Obegard translate the secret notes we found, but that didn’t do it for them either.
Then they started asking me if stuff was trapped. Not my strong suit but I tried to help them out but they’re still not happy. All of a sudden it’s “Why are you even here?”
I can probably do better, but very little I’ve seen so far that’s been trapped has been worth having.
I try to oblige them but I have no idea why they ask most of the things they do—they never even stop to ask whether I can even do the stuff they ask. I’m a scout, dammit!
I used to sneak into places to check them out and make sure they’re safe and let them know where the trouble spots were. Yet for some reason that wasn’t enough. I had to help Obegard translate the secret notes we found, but that didn’t do it for them either.
Then they started asking me if stuff was trapped. Not my strong suit but I tried to help them out but they’re still not happy. All of a sudden it’s “Why are you even here?”
I can probably do better, but very little I’ve seen so far that’s been trapped has been worth having.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Necromancy Bites
Never before have we fought so hard for so little ground. With the as-yet-unidentified elven necromancer dead, and his undead lieutenant destroyed, and the Medusan Lord assassin gone, I expected a grim but rewarding cakewalk through the rest of this forest keep. I couldn't have been more wrong.
Merely opening the first of the wizard's spellbooks left me wracked with burning pain, kept alive through minutes of agony only by the divine interventions of Ili and Malakar. On the lower lever, door after door battered us with energy: fire, electricity, and acid -- even my attempt to open the door from afar by projecting force from my staff yielded me acid burns. Apparently this just isn't my day.
Traps and guardians filled each nook and cranny, and golems and bone creatures proved difficult to kill. If we can get out of here, and if I can unweave the protections around these spellbooks, and if the assassin has not wreaked some subtle doom upon me (research required!), this may prove a profitable adventure. So many questions, however, remain unanswered: who is this dead elf? Why and how were we called here? Did the assassin expect to find us at the scene? Where is the army of undead? How did the Owlbear get his beak?
Finally: why, oh why, do necromancers get all the best toys? The divinations which filled my hours with wonder back at the Spire cannot pierce the veil of obscuring chaos which has befallen this world. Power, rather than insight, is in the ascendant. We are modestly good at ferreting out secrets, but hopeless at keeping them. Perhaps that is for the best, lest we become like those we fight.
Merely opening the first of the wizard's spellbooks left me wracked with burning pain, kept alive through minutes of agony only by the divine interventions of Ili and Malakar. On the lower lever, door after door battered us with energy: fire, electricity, and acid -- even my attempt to open the door from afar by projecting force from my staff yielded me acid burns. Apparently this just isn't my day.
Traps and guardians filled each nook and cranny, and golems and bone creatures proved difficult to kill. If we can get out of here, and if I can unweave the protections around these spellbooks, and if the assassin has not wreaked some subtle doom upon me (research required!), this may prove a profitable adventure. So many questions, however, remain unanswered: who is this dead elf? Why and how were we called here? Did the assassin expect to find us at the scene? Where is the army of undead? How did the Owlbear get his beak?
Finally: why, oh why, do necromancers get all the best toys? The divinations which filled my hours with wonder back at the Spire cannot pierce the veil of obscuring chaos which has befallen this world. Power, rather than insight, is in the ascendant. We are modestly good at ferreting out secrets, but hopeless at keeping them. Perhaps that is for the best, lest we become like those we fight.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
The Humpty Dance
I'm just saying, if you've got a hottie vampire slave you probably have more than one reason to stay up late at night. That dead guy in bed had a grin from ear to ear (or was that his slit throat?).
Yeah, so this one was great. I love these guys. I've chilled with 'venturers before but these guys take the cake. I don't think they can take a shit without getting involved in some world wide super-evil plot to roughen toilet paper. Unbelievable.
I'm asleep, and our wizard -- nice chap named Oby-something who likes to rub his new staff in public, and yes that's kinda disturbing -- our wizard comes running around the keep all frazzled and screaming about a vivid nightmare. I am soo never having kids. Which is why I paid dearly for permanence on that spell "down there". Well... both spells, hehe.
So I wake up, and I'm all like "wtf, Oby?" and he's all like "Village, undead, elves, blah blah" and said it was a vision and that we had to do something about it. I hoped that something was sleep. It wasn't.
We decided to teleport over to the villiage the next day, so we finally did get to sleep. Oby needed a spell to go to sleep though -- probably "Greater Whiskey Bottle". But it turned out Oby couldn't get any new spells because of the disturbing dream, so we had to travel the old fashion way...on horses. Not even flying ones. Talk about lame. Not what I left the farm for, so to speak.
The whole trip Oby couldn't sleep, and we managed to not have any random encounters. Sweet. Unusual, but sweet.
We get to the villiage, it was all kinds of bust up. Erson (I wonder if he humps other animals while he's shifted. I wonder if camels can hump twice as much because of the, well, humps. I wonder if haste adds an extra hump and stacks with the racial humps? I wonder if a slow spell will work "down there" to make me last longer?) looked around and said the villiage was destroyed the first night Oby had a nightmare. Well, at least it wasn't a waste of time.
Luckily for us, a giant army of undead leaves a trail even I could follow. And I love following undead armies -- it's like whack-a-mole, they keep popping up after you hit them with your axe. So much fun!
We track the army for a while, finally catch up in the middle of some big woods. We're heading towards a big bone castle (hehe, "big bone", hehe) and we had to dispatch some fugly undead sentry birds. Too easy!
Inside the castle was another story! Maybe two stories, maybe three, it didn't look too tall from the outside but nobody builds a one-floor ranch castle these days. We met this totally hot vampire chick who asked if we had an appointment with her master. Before I could say "actually I was hoping for an appointment with you, a bottle of champagne, some strawberries, six pounds of jello and a head of romaine lettuce" somebody said no so she tried to kill us. Which is pretty normal for first dates in my experience -- I had high hopes until she turned out to have gas. That's always been a turn-off for me. Very unlady-like.
She was hard to hit, bouncing around like a hasted camel, but finally we dropped her -- which for vampires means "she turned into a cloud of gas". I guess all blondes are airheads, for true.
Chasing after her we ran across this dude who throws a bloody dagger at our feet and laughs. So, doing what I do best, I whack him in the face. Turns out he was all bad-ass, and disappeared only to re-appear and stab Oby in the back and kill him immediately. He says some warning about not interefering with his plans or he'll stop ignoring us, and then disappears again. And Oby gets up, all very much not dead at all.
I think we all contemplated killing Oby again, as people who don't stay dead usually deserve to. But, Illy gave him the thumbs up saying he didn't appear evil, and Oby had a great defense saying: "ooh, that tingles". Err, yeah. Death: The Final Tingle. Uh-huh.
In the next room was the dead dude, and a library. Nice bedroom, too, good coloring scheme. Gotta find out who decorated the place. We also found the coffin in a secret room. I immediately started stripping the Vamp hottie; and then realized the others were around so I .... told them it was for the armor. Yeah, loot.
I wonder if the library will have any clues. I really want to know more about camels.
Yeah, so this one was great. I love these guys. I've chilled with 'venturers before but these guys take the cake. I don't think they can take a shit without getting involved in some world wide super-evil plot to roughen toilet paper. Unbelievable.
I'm asleep, and our wizard -- nice chap named Oby-something who likes to rub his new staff in public, and yes that's kinda disturbing -- our wizard comes running around the keep all frazzled and screaming about a vivid nightmare. I am soo never having kids. Which is why I paid dearly for permanence on that spell "down there". Well... both spells, hehe.
So I wake up, and I'm all like "wtf, Oby?" and he's all like "Village, undead, elves, blah blah" and said it was a vision and that we had to do something about it. I hoped that something was sleep. It wasn't.
We decided to teleport over to the villiage the next day, so we finally did get to sleep. Oby needed a spell to go to sleep though -- probably "Greater Whiskey Bottle". But it turned out Oby couldn't get any new spells because of the disturbing dream, so we had to travel the old fashion way...on horses. Not even flying ones. Talk about lame. Not what I left the farm for, so to speak.
The whole trip Oby couldn't sleep, and we managed to not have any random encounters. Sweet. Unusual, but sweet.
We get to the villiage, it was all kinds of bust up. Erson (I wonder if he humps other animals while he's shifted. I wonder if camels can hump twice as much because of the, well, humps. I wonder if haste adds an extra hump and stacks with the racial humps? I wonder if a slow spell will work "down there" to make me last longer?) looked around and said the villiage was destroyed the first night Oby had a nightmare. Well, at least it wasn't a waste of time.
Luckily for us, a giant army of undead leaves a trail even I could follow. And I love following undead armies -- it's like whack-a-mole, they keep popping up after you hit them with your axe. So much fun!
We track the army for a while, finally catch up in the middle of some big woods. We're heading towards a big bone castle (hehe, "big bone", hehe) and we had to dispatch some fugly undead sentry birds. Too easy!
Inside the castle was another story! Maybe two stories, maybe three, it didn't look too tall from the outside but nobody builds a one-floor ranch castle these days. We met this totally hot vampire chick who asked if we had an appointment with her master. Before I could say "actually I was hoping for an appointment with you, a bottle of champagne, some strawberries, six pounds of jello and a head of romaine lettuce" somebody said no so she tried to kill us. Which is pretty normal for first dates in my experience -- I had high hopes until she turned out to have gas. That's always been a turn-off for me. Very unlady-like.
She was hard to hit, bouncing around like a hasted camel, but finally we dropped her -- which for vampires means "she turned into a cloud of gas". I guess all blondes are airheads, for true.
Chasing after her we ran across this dude who throws a bloody dagger at our feet and laughs. So, doing what I do best, I whack him in the face. Turns out he was all bad-ass, and disappeared only to re-appear and stab Oby in the back and kill him immediately. He says some warning about not interefering with his plans or he'll stop ignoring us, and then disappears again. And Oby gets up, all very much not dead at all.
I think we all contemplated killing Oby again, as people who don't stay dead usually deserve to. But, Illy gave him the thumbs up saying he didn't appear evil, and Oby had a great defense saying: "ooh, that tingles". Err, yeah. Death: The Final Tingle. Uh-huh.
In the next room was the dead dude, and a library. Nice bedroom, too, good coloring scheme. Gotta find out who decorated the place. We also found the coffin in a secret room. I immediately started stripping the Vamp hottie; and then realized the others were around so I .... told them it was for the armor. Yeah, loot.
I wonder if the library will have any clues. I really want to know more about camels.
For Albrecht's sake, what is the world coming to when evil is going after evil?
After a long "sleep" we headed to dragon's keep and obegard teleported us to stoneyvale. Obegard acted as the salesperson, which was pretty hilarious, since he's not usually the talking type. Maybe when peace is restored throughout the land he should open a shop. Start his own line of magical items. Maybe a series of Omnibus's. We weren't able to sell everything, and I need to sell a few things and get a few items.... there's a beautiful kama that I have had my eye on.
But then Obegard started to get nightmares of a village whos residents were being slaughtered, pulled from their houses. We weren't sure if it had happened, was a premonition, or a trap. He couldn't sleep well or study his spells, so we knew that these had been sent, but by who is the question. But on the chance that innocent people were in danger we had to go and help.
We get to the town, and it appears that obegard may have been seeing events as or right after they happened. There were few bodies left, but the ones that were, they were left shredded beyond recognition. I only hope that they have left the remaining villagers alive, not killed them in the course of evil necromantic experiments. We followed the tracks of the undead and their cage to a bone fortress that radiated with evil magic. We entered and found a vampire who didn't seem to know that we were coming. After we slew the abomination, we went towards where the vampire's gaseous corpse was, but ran into a surprise elven guest -- the assasin who terrorized Ghostwood during the peace talks and said that there would be no peace. He said that if we continued to mettle in the affairs of the medusan lords, we would be considered a threat and may be dealt with. Then he killed Obegard with a single strike from a dagger. He somehow then returned his life, strangely enough. While obegard is still not evil, I fear that some presence may linger inside him, as only evil magics could do something like that.
But first, we must find the villagers and rescue them.
The crazy thing is, who sent those dreams? why? What kind of dagger can take and give life? What changes could it have left on Obegard?
After a long "sleep" we headed to dragon's keep and obegard teleported us to stoneyvale. Obegard acted as the salesperson, which was pretty hilarious, since he's not usually the talking type. Maybe when peace is restored throughout the land he should open a shop. Start his own line of magical items. Maybe a series of Omnibus's. We weren't able to sell everything, and I need to sell a few things and get a few items.... there's a beautiful kama that I have had my eye on.
But then Obegard started to get nightmares of a village whos residents were being slaughtered, pulled from their houses. We weren't sure if it had happened, was a premonition, or a trap. He couldn't sleep well or study his spells, so we knew that these had been sent, but by who is the question. But on the chance that innocent people were in danger we had to go and help.
We get to the town, and it appears that obegard may have been seeing events as or right after they happened. There were few bodies left, but the ones that were, they were left shredded beyond recognition. I only hope that they have left the remaining villagers alive, not killed them in the course of evil necromantic experiments. We followed the tracks of the undead and their cage to a bone fortress that radiated with evil magic. We entered and found a vampire who didn't seem to know that we were coming. After we slew the abomination, we went towards where the vampire's gaseous corpse was, but ran into a surprise elven guest -- the assasin who terrorized Ghostwood during the peace talks and said that there would be no peace. He said that if we continued to mettle in the affairs of the medusan lords, we would be considered a threat and may be dealt with. Then he killed Obegard with a single strike from a dagger. He somehow then returned his life, strangely enough. While obegard is still not evil, I fear that some presence may linger inside him, as only evil magics could do something like that.
But first, we must find the villagers and rescue them.
The crazy thing is, who sent those dreams? why? What kind of dagger can take and give life? What changes could it have left on Obegard?
Death of a vampire
I worry for Obegard, but having seen his lust for knowledge and power I guess he’s just made himself some sort of lodestone for the bizarre.
He has these weird communication rituals with his Spire, and with Cassandra. Something—I think it’s the stone he uses to communicate with Cassandra—gives him weird dreams.
Then he’s the one that gets the magic messages from Rime, and then no sooner do we get back to Dragon Keep then he starts getting nightmares so disturbing he can’t memorise any of his spells.
We go trekking off into the wilderness in pursuit of the village his dream shows him being razed, and by the time we get there the damage is done. Man, that’s some sicko ability—if you’re going to see something bad happening, you should at least give yourself time to do something about it!
We follow the trail of the undead army (yeah, sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it???) and find an awesome mansion. You know, for an Upworlder building.
Just inside we come across a stunning Elven woman who asks if we have an appointment with her lord, and before I can say anything the others are telling her we don’t so instead we finish up in a fight and she is good.
As we dust her she turns to smoke and drifts away, and the others tell me we have to follow her to her vampire coffin and destroy it.
And on the way we meet an old friend, the crazy dude from Ghostwood that knocked half the party out with little more effort than brushing dandruff off his shoulder. He mutters some warning about interfering with “their” plans, which I think we’re agreed means the Medusan Lords, kills Obegard and then vanishes.
So here’s where it gets really whacky. Obegard gets up again. We confirmed he was dead and then all of a sudden he’s... “not” and the wound on his back is closing up as we look at it. The others seem to think this is perfectly okay. Even Ili, who I would have thought would have been calling for an exorcism whether he detected evil or not.
If it’s not evil it’s at least “extremely disturbing” and I’ll be keeping an eye on Obegard until I hear a satisfactory explanation for what happened.
Oh, yeah, assassin-guy left a bloody dagger at our feet, and in the next room we found the guy we were looking for with blood all over the place. At least he has the manners to stay dead. So maybe if we’d said we were invited then vampire-elf girl would have put some hurting on assassin-guy.
As it is we were still somewhat rattled and continued on our quest for her coffin and destroyed it. In hindsight I’m wondering if that was the best move—I figure she would have wanted revenge and we could use the help.
He has these weird communication rituals with his Spire, and with Cassandra. Something—I think it’s the stone he uses to communicate with Cassandra—gives him weird dreams.
Then he’s the one that gets the magic messages from Rime, and then no sooner do we get back to Dragon Keep then he starts getting nightmares so disturbing he can’t memorise any of his spells.
We go trekking off into the wilderness in pursuit of the village his dream shows him being razed, and by the time we get there the damage is done. Man, that’s some sicko ability—if you’re going to see something bad happening, you should at least give yourself time to do something about it!
We follow the trail of the undead army (yeah, sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it???) and find an awesome mansion. You know, for an Upworlder building.
Just inside we come across a stunning Elven woman who asks if we have an appointment with her lord, and before I can say anything the others are telling her we don’t so instead we finish up in a fight and she is good.
As we dust her she turns to smoke and drifts away, and the others tell me we have to follow her to her vampire coffin and destroy it.
And on the way we meet an old friend, the crazy dude from Ghostwood that knocked half the party out with little more effort than brushing dandruff off his shoulder. He mutters some warning about interfering with “their” plans, which I think we’re agreed means the Medusan Lords, kills Obegard and then vanishes.
So here’s where it gets really whacky. Obegard gets up again. We confirmed he was dead and then all of a sudden he’s... “not” and the wound on his back is closing up as we look at it. The others seem to think this is perfectly okay. Even Ili, who I would have thought would have been calling for an exorcism whether he detected evil or not.
If it’s not evil it’s at least “extremely disturbing” and I’ll be keeping an eye on Obegard until I hear a satisfactory explanation for what happened.
Oh, yeah, assassin-guy left a bloody dagger at our feet, and in the next room we found the guy we were looking for with blood all over the place. At least he has the manners to stay dead. So maybe if we’d said we were invited then vampire-elf girl would have put some hurting on assassin-guy.
As it is we were still somewhat rattled and continued on our quest for her coffin and destroyed it. In hindsight I’m wondering if that was the best move—I figure she would have wanted revenge and we could use the help.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Death and Taxes
The good news is that we got out of the cavern safe and sound with (as Borrow succinctly put it) 1.9 dwarves saved, sold a bunch of loot at Dragon Keep, and discovered the my shiny new teleport works well enough for shopping trips to Stonyvale.
The bad news is that I died.
Rewinding a bit, our triumphant return to Dragon Keep was marred by nocturnal torment, as I dreamed of a human village near Myreth forest being overrun with an elf-led undead horde. We identified the village as Venteton, and set out on horses right away to investigate or help (since I was unable to concentrate well enough to memorize more teleportation spells). Night after night my sleep was interrupted, and I required help from Ili just to keep going. Venteton was thoroughly destroyed when we arrived, and Erson opined that the attack was probably coincident with my first dream.
Following the tracks left by the undead army, we came to a large building crafted entirely of densely packed bone. Dispatching undead sentry birds and entering by the main door, we were accosted by an eerily beautiful elven warrior who demanded to know if we were invited into her Lord's home. Once it became clear that we were not, she revealed her vampiric fangs and attacked. It took quite a while for the fighters to pin her down as she danced around, sidestepping he majority of their blows. When finally defeated, she took gaseous form and fled; knowing that we needed to destroy her recuperating form in her coffin to ensure that she didn't return, we hastily follow. And that's when things went really wrong.
The nigh-unstoppable elven assassin we met months ago at Ghostwood stepped out of a doorway, and cackled with happy malice when he saw us. He tossed a bloody dagger at our feet and warned us that they (meaning the Medusan Lords) had tolerated us for now, but if we proved more of a threat or interfered too much they wouldn't hesistate to deal with us. We attempted to fight but he shrugged off spells and attack with ease. Disappearing, he must have teleported behind me, and I knew unspeakable pain as his blades connected. When I returned, improbably, to life and consciousness, he was nowhere to be seen. A strange tingling from the unnaturally-closing wound left me uneasily certain that he had marked me, forging a connection I don't understand how to sever.
Lacking better options, we continued to search out the coffin of the vampire. In the next room we discovered the Lord of the house dead in his bed, and the coffin of his guardian hidden in an antechamber. How did this Elven necromancer cross the Medusan Lords, and why were we "invited" in such rough fashion to his demise? Perhaps the answers lie in his library. We are all uneasy at being "let off" by the assassin; whether this is a set-up or just a happy opportunity for him to combine business with pleasure, nobody knows. With no answers, it seems worthwhile to risk staying a little longer: I believe I can teleport at least some of us out should the dead Lord's undead army return.
Longer term, I fear for my health and longevity. I overheard Erson muttering about killing me to ensure that no malign influence is exercised through me. Some part of my sympathizes with that catastrophic sacrifice, but I cannot give up so easily. Perhaps Gaston can advise on a way to insulate myself from whatever connection the assassin made.
The bad news is that I died.
Rewinding a bit, our triumphant return to Dragon Keep was marred by nocturnal torment, as I dreamed of a human village near Myreth forest being overrun with an elf-led undead horde. We identified the village as Venteton, and set out on horses right away to investigate or help (since I was unable to concentrate well enough to memorize more teleportation spells). Night after night my sleep was interrupted, and I required help from Ili just to keep going. Venteton was thoroughly destroyed when we arrived, and Erson opined that the attack was probably coincident with my first dream.
Following the tracks left by the undead army, we came to a large building crafted entirely of densely packed bone. Dispatching undead sentry birds and entering by the main door, we were accosted by an eerily beautiful elven warrior who demanded to know if we were invited into her Lord's home. Once it became clear that we were not, she revealed her vampiric fangs and attacked. It took quite a while for the fighters to pin her down as she danced around, sidestepping he majority of their blows. When finally defeated, she took gaseous form and fled; knowing that we needed to destroy her recuperating form in her coffin to ensure that she didn't return, we hastily follow. And that's when things went really wrong.
The nigh-unstoppable elven assassin we met months ago at Ghostwood stepped out of a doorway, and cackled with happy malice when he saw us. He tossed a bloody dagger at our feet and warned us that they (meaning the Medusan Lords) had tolerated us for now, but if we proved more of a threat or interfered too much they wouldn't hesistate to deal with us. We attempted to fight but he shrugged off spells and attack with ease. Disappearing, he must have teleported behind me, and I knew unspeakable pain as his blades connected. When I returned, improbably, to life and consciousness, he was nowhere to be seen. A strange tingling from the unnaturally-closing wound left me uneasily certain that he had marked me, forging a connection I don't understand how to sever.
Lacking better options, we continued to search out the coffin of the vampire. In the next room we discovered the Lord of the house dead in his bed, and the coffin of his guardian hidden in an antechamber. How did this Elven necromancer cross the Medusan Lords, and why were we "invited" in such rough fashion to his demise? Perhaps the answers lie in his library. We are all uneasy at being "let off" by the assassin; whether this is a set-up or just a happy opportunity for him to combine business with pleasure, nobody knows. With no answers, it seems worthwhile to risk staying a little longer: I believe I can teleport at least some of us out should the dead Lord's undead army return.
Longer term, I fear for my health and longevity. I overheard Erson muttering about killing me to ensure that no malign influence is exercised through me. Some part of my sympathizes with that catastrophic sacrifice, but I cannot give up so easily. Perhaps Gaston can advise on a way to insulate myself from whatever connection the assassin made.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
He'd make nice shoes.
There's something to be said for adamantium -- but back to that in a moment.
I got tired of guarding the dwarves and rejoined the other half of the party. We were off to "negotiate" with Rime, though I doubted he'd listen to reason. Heh.
... I mean, what kind of a lizard names her spawn "Rime"? What was she thinking? Maybe the egg was lime-colored and had a speech impediment? I don't know. Frankly it's the most retarded name I've heard yet. I bet he has a brother named Isuckalot, or maybe a sister named Myboobsareflat. I swear if I met Rime's mother I'd punch her right in the snout. No wonder he turned to an evil god. You're just asking for a fucked up kid with a name like that.
Anyways, "Rime" decided to make us jump through hoops -- he left some water breathing potions and a note and had us swim downriver to meet him. He was a little vague about where, I had a feeling the potions would run out just as we got sucked into a whirlpool but Obegard swore up and down they was nothing funky about them.
Off we went into the underground river. A bit chilly, but the ladies like it when I bathe so I try my best to do it every few weeks. I should be good to go until the next full moon or so -- those are real easy to note because Malakar starts howling when it's full. Freakin' shifters.
We finally spotted something non-river like -- an old bridge. I climbed up the side and lowered a rope for the less althletically inclined. Frankly I should have just tossed the midget up there, but he'd probably get all bitter and stab me with his little paring knife, or "shortsword" as he calls it. And then it might get infected and itch... so I just went ahead and climbed.
On one side of the bridge was something that screamed "no plot here" so we hung a left and went towards a large room with two small ante-chambers; one that was a mess hall and one that was an abandoned shrine to Kor. I popped off a quick prayer, since I'm tight with that deity and all.
In the large ominous room was a throne at the far end and a giant pile of treasure. Spotting the treasure, I immediately wanted to RUN THE HELL away. I mean that can't be good. In all my years of running around smashing bad guys for loot, you know they don't just leave that stuff in piles. There'd be some kind of zombie dragon unicorn pony with laser eyes and an aura of transmute-gold-to-electrum standing invisible right above your head, waiting to shit 2 gallons of acid down your neck before you could touch a copper.
I was right.
Oh look, an ginormous dragon. He was all prepared to whack us -- that poorly named Rime fellah had laid a trap, pissing off the dragon so he'd kill us. But they didn't plan on my smooth talking ways.
See, the dragon was all like "wassup, I'm gonna kill you" and I was like "wassup, wanna trade some of that gold for some mythril shirts?" and of course he did. So we traded less usable loot for fungible cash. I love dragon greed.
Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. Rime came in with a posse and a nasty looking wizard lizard (see, at least that Rimes...) and started with the attacking and all that.
I finally got a chance to use my shiny new dwarven waraxe, so I called out the impressive wizard and tried to smack him down mano y mano. And tried. And tried. And tried. Damn thing barely made a dent -- even after some impressive leaps of mine chasing his ass around.
Now, they don't call me "Smart Durthen" for nothing. Well, they don't...but they should. See, I had held onto that admantium dagger we found earlier, and finally switched to that. It cut through his skin like an admantium weapon through stoneskin. I mean hot knife through butter.
So, while the other guys and the dragon were doing stuff, I killed the lizard wizard. The one who's name actually rimes. I didn't really pay attention to what the rest of the people did. I think the dragon breathed on people or something.
And now the fight's over, and Obegard is skinning and preserving that lizard wizard. Kor bless his very disturbing habit, 'cause daddy needs a new pair of shoes.
I got tired of guarding the dwarves and rejoined the other half of the party. We were off to "negotiate" with Rime, though I doubted he'd listen to reason. Heh.
... I mean, what kind of a lizard names her spawn "Rime"? What was she thinking? Maybe the egg was lime-colored and had a speech impediment? I don't know. Frankly it's the most retarded name I've heard yet. I bet he has a brother named Isuckalot, or maybe a sister named Myboobsareflat. I swear if I met Rime's mother I'd punch her right in the snout. No wonder he turned to an evil god. You're just asking for a fucked up kid with a name like that.
Anyways, "Rime" decided to make us jump through hoops -- he left some water breathing potions and a note and had us swim downriver to meet him. He was a little vague about where, I had a feeling the potions would run out just as we got sucked into a whirlpool but Obegard swore up and down they was nothing funky about them.
Off we went into the underground river. A bit chilly, but the ladies like it when I bathe so I try my best to do it every few weeks. I should be good to go until the next full moon or so -- those are real easy to note because Malakar starts howling when it's full. Freakin' shifters.
We finally spotted something non-river like -- an old bridge. I climbed up the side and lowered a rope for the less althletically inclined. Frankly I should have just tossed the midget up there, but he'd probably get all bitter and stab me with his little paring knife, or "shortsword" as he calls it. And then it might get infected and itch... so I just went ahead and climbed.
On one side of the bridge was something that screamed "no plot here" so we hung a left and went towards a large room with two small ante-chambers; one that was a mess hall and one that was an abandoned shrine to Kor. I popped off a quick prayer, since I'm tight with that deity and all.
In the large ominous room was a throne at the far end and a giant pile of treasure. Spotting the treasure, I immediately wanted to RUN THE HELL away. I mean that can't be good. In all my years of running around smashing bad guys for loot, you know they don't just leave that stuff in piles. There'd be some kind of zombie dragon unicorn pony with laser eyes and an aura of transmute-gold-to-electrum standing invisible right above your head, waiting to shit 2 gallons of acid down your neck before you could touch a copper.
I was right.
Oh look, an ginormous dragon. He was all prepared to whack us -- that poorly named Rime fellah had laid a trap, pissing off the dragon so he'd kill us. But they didn't plan on my smooth talking ways.
See, the dragon was all like "wassup, I'm gonna kill you" and I was like "wassup, wanna trade some of that gold for some mythril shirts?" and of course he did. So we traded less usable loot for fungible cash. I love dragon greed.
Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. Rime came in with a posse and a nasty looking wizard lizard (see, at least that Rimes...) and started with the attacking and all that.
I finally got a chance to use my shiny new dwarven waraxe, so I called out the impressive wizard and tried to smack him down mano y mano. And tried. And tried. And tried. Damn thing barely made a dent -- even after some impressive leaps of mine chasing his ass around.
Now, they don't call me "Smart Durthen" for nothing. Well, they don't...but they should. See, I had held onto that admantium dagger we found earlier, and finally switched to that. It cut through his skin like an admantium weapon through stoneskin. I mean hot knife through butter.
So, while the other guys and the dragon were doing stuff, I killed the lizard wizard. The one who's name actually rimes. I didn't really pay attention to what the rest of the people did. I think the dragon breathed on people or something.
And now the fight's over, and Obegard is skinning and preserving that lizard wizard. Kor bless his very disturbing habit, 'cause daddy needs a new pair of shoes.
drake v. drake
Previously the stuff of legends, I’m learning there are many subtleties to word “dragon”; indeed, Obegard has a whole host of variants. Not only are there different colours which are somehow linked to their abilities, but there are different degrees of drakedom. The variety is mind-boggling, seemingly akin to saying that humans are related to dwarves.
Perhaps ignorance has some reward, however, as in order to trade for the remaining dwarves we had to drink potions that allowed us to breathe underwater, swim for hours, and when we finally emerged into another dwarven complex the only thing breathing was a large copper-coloured dragon, whom we found out was called Ironfang.
He had quite the little treasure trove sitting there for us to admire and I could see Obegard near to slobbering at the rather pretty green gem sparkling in the reflected light, but afraid to do anything about it.
Ironfang had apparently been told by our buddy Rime that we’d be along, and it became clear we’d been set up because Ironfang had been told we go around wantonly slaying dragons and were coming for him. Yeah, right, like there are even enough dragons around for anyone to be “wantonly” slaying them.
We managed to set him right and avoid a confrontation, and the others were getting ready to genuflect their way out of Ironfang’s presence but I figured we had some crap to dump, and Ironfang had some stuff that looked a lot more portable so I asked if he was interested in trading.
The others looked at me with crazy eyes and I heard Obegard whispering something about shutting up and getting out while we could, but it was all drowned out by Ironfang’s booming voice asking what we had to offer. Man, you should have seen how quickly the dudes changed their tune and were dragging out all those weird pincer staves and other stuff that we’d never be able to trade for more than a few gold elsewhere. Sure, we still didn’t get as much as we might under perfect selling conditions, but since we were never going to get perfect selling conditions I think we did pretty darn well.
Obegard was particularly happy as we were able to scrape up enough to score him that big green gem that will apparently allow him to bad the arse out of his staff.
We were just about done when Rime and a bunch of buddies arrived. There were four of those nasty fighting types, and another thing that Obegard later told me was a half-dragon (as opposed to Rime being a dragon-spawn—I wonder if the difference is anything more than academic?). They were all beefed up for dragon fighting, and I had a brief moment of satisfaction at Rime’s disappointment that we’d avoided fighting Ironfang, and then we were embroiled in a fight with Rime’s bunch.
It would have been way too much for us, but with Ironfang there they had to expend considerable effort just keeping him out of it, though they did that with some skill. The half-dragon shot nasty rays from his fingers that seemed to disorient Ironfang and as a result he wasn’t doing much throughout the fight.
Obegard was instrumental, despite being almost out of magical reserves for the day. He managed to pull off a spell to speed everyone up, then managed to completely immobilise Rime just in time for me to slit his throat, and then made me invisible so I could start cutting down the fighting lizards while they concentrated on Ironfang.
Dearthen seemed obsessed with taking out the half-dragon himself—anytime he was offered help he seemed to go almost crazy as he shouted that it was “his.” That wasn’t working out so well for anyone, as Dearthen seemed unable to do much damage, the half-dragon kept casting spells that were making a mess of Ironfang, and as the only one picking on the other lizards it was taking a while to take them down.
But it eventually started to come together. One by one the fighting lizards fell, Ironfang was able to take to the air to stop the last one or two from finishing him off while I continued to pick at them, and Dearthen managed to start doing some damage once someone managed to dissipate some of the magical protections the half-dragon had woven around itself.
Perhaps ignorance has some reward, however, as in order to trade for the remaining dwarves we had to drink potions that allowed us to breathe underwater, swim for hours, and when we finally emerged into another dwarven complex the only thing breathing was a large copper-coloured dragon, whom we found out was called Ironfang.
He had quite the little treasure trove sitting there for us to admire and I could see Obegard near to slobbering at the rather pretty green gem sparkling in the reflected light, but afraid to do anything about it.
Ironfang had apparently been told by our buddy Rime that we’d be along, and it became clear we’d been set up because Ironfang had been told we go around wantonly slaying dragons and were coming for him. Yeah, right, like there are even enough dragons around for anyone to be “wantonly” slaying them.
We managed to set him right and avoid a confrontation, and the others were getting ready to genuflect their way out of Ironfang’s presence but I figured we had some crap to dump, and Ironfang had some stuff that looked a lot more portable so I asked if he was interested in trading.
The others looked at me with crazy eyes and I heard Obegard whispering something about shutting up and getting out while we could, but it was all drowned out by Ironfang’s booming voice asking what we had to offer. Man, you should have seen how quickly the dudes changed their tune and were dragging out all those weird pincer staves and other stuff that we’d never be able to trade for more than a few gold elsewhere. Sure, we still didn’t get as much as we might under perfect selling conditions, but since we were never going to get perfect selling conditions I think we did pretty darn well.
Obegard was particularly happy as we were able to scrape up enough to score him that big green gem that will apparently allow him to bad the arse out of his staff.
We were just about done when Rime and a bunch of buddies arrived. There were four of those nasty fighting types, and another thing that Obegard later told me was a half-dragon (as opposed to Rime being a dragon-spawn—I wonder if the difference is anything more than academic?). They were all beefed up for dragon fighting, and I had a brief moment of satisfaction at Rime’s disappointment that we’d avoided fighting Ironfang, and then we were embroiled in a fight with Rime’s bunch.
It would have been way too much for us, but with Ironfang there they had to expend considerable effort just keeping him out of it, though they did that with some skill. The half-dragon shot nasty rays from his fingers that seemed to disorient Ironfang and as a result he wasn’t doing much throughout the fight.
Obegard was instrumental, despite being almost out of magical reserves for the day. He managed to pull off a spell to speed everyone up, then managed to completely immobilise Rime just in time for me to slit his throat, and then made me invisible so I could start cutting down the fighting lizards while they concentrated on Ironfang.
Dearthen seemed obsessed with taking out the half-dragon himself—anytime he was offered help he seemed to go almost crazy as he shouted that it was “his.” That wasn’t working out so well for anyone, as Dearthen seemed unable to do much damage, the half-dragon kept casting spells that were making a mess of Ironfang, and as the only one picking on the other lizards it was taking a while to take them down.
But it eventually started to come together. One by one the fighting lizards fell, Ironfang was able to take to the air to stop the last one or two from finishing him off while I continued to pick at them, and Dearthen managed to start doing some damage once someone managed to dissipate some of the magical protections the half-dragon had woven around itself.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Ironfang
Over 200 years ago my mate, Faeldra, and I had conned an elven merchant by selling him an illusionary artifact. Unbeknownest to us the merchant was working for an elven necromancer and he was collecting magic items and artifacts for his employer. When the merchant returned with the fake artifact the elven necromancer slew him, but not before finding out who had sold the merchant the false artifact. Since it was technically Faeldra's magic that created the item the necromancer found her first through his divination's. He was able to capture her and torture her. She was younger than I and she could not resist his magical interrogations. Through his interrogations he learned that she had an accomplice. Thinking that I would be as easy to capture as her, he sent mercenaries to capture me. By that point I knew something had befallen her because my divinations could not find her. When the mercenaries came for me, it was obvious that they were trying to capture me instead of simply slaying me. I let myself be taken, but not before killing most of them, in hopes that they would lead me to her and I could free her. I was a fool. The necromancer's magic was beyond my power and I was easily incarcerated as well. My overconfidence had doomed us both.
The reason he was collecting artifacts and magic items was to studied them. He was doing this so that he could obtain what any other elf wanted, immortality. Now that he had captured us he thought that he could prolong his life with ours. Since I was older he thought that I would be the key to his immortality. So he experimented with Faeldra first. He defiled and tortured her for over a year before she finally could not withstand his experiments. It was only after a week of experimenting with me that his life force faded. It was years before his magic faded enough for me to break free. I was angry and heart broken, but too fearful to strike out against any other elf. So I fled. I found this cave and have buried myself here every since.
The reason he was collecting artifacts and magic items was to studied them. He was doing this so that he could obtain what any other elf wanted, immortality. Now that he had captured us he thought that he could prolong his life with ours. Since I was older he thought that I would be the key to his immortality. So he experimented with Faeldra first. He defiled and tortured her for over a year before she finally could not withstand his experiments. It was only after a week of experimenting with me that his life force faded. It was years before his magic faded enough for me to break free. I was angry and heart broken, but too fearful to strike out against any other elf. So I fled. I found this cave and have buried myself here every since.
Dragon vs. Dragon, Rime against Reason
Returning to the temple with the head of the Kuo-Tuo whip, we found six potions accompanied by a message from the detestable Rime. Borrow guessed the contents of the draconic note correctly: we were to drink the potions of water breathing and swim south to rendezvous with Rime. Lacking any better ideas, Durthen, Borrow, and I quaffed potions and headed into the river with our capitate burdens.
Six hours of monotonic and claustrophic swimming brought us out into a river gorge within a cavern, wading knee-deep towards a bridge spanning us above. Durthen easily climbed the rough stone walls and lowered a rope for us. The bridge led to another dwarven door, and we entered into a disused complex. A mess hall and a temple of Kor were mostly bare and dust-laden, but a tremendous hall with high ceilings beckoned us back into the darkness.
At the far end of the hall, we saw a raised platform featuring a throne and a huge glinting pile of gold and treasures. One gem in particular caught my eye, a bright green match for the faded one atop my Kaballite staff. As we debated how to proceed, a booming voice accosted us and bade us leave. A huge copper dragon emerged from the darkness, and accused us of being selfish slayers of dragons. Fortunately the dragon spoke common, so Durthen boldly explained our presence (saving dwarves from Rime's terror) and our motivations in our past encounters with dragons. Apparently the dragon had heard about us from Rime, and it seemed likely that Rime was trying to play us off against each other. Remarkably, the dragon believed our story, and was even willing to trade amicably for some of the more exotic items we'd retrieved while down in the cave.
This happy interlude was brought to an abrupt end when Rime approached, flanked by four of his blackspawn raiders and accompanied by a larger half-dragon (later learned to be "Rot-tooth"). As they approached, ready for combat, Rot-tooth called out derisively to Ironfang (our copper acquaintance), disappointed that he hadn't initiated a fight with us. We tried briefly to negotiate, but Rime revealed that the dwarves were already dead. With that, they attacked.
Rot-tooth proved himself a powerful sorceror, focusing ray after ray of weakness and dizziness on Ironfang. The blackspawn were suspiciously well-prepared for battling true dragonkind, and I wonder if we were simply pawns in a larger scheme of theirs. Ironfang stoically endured an assault which would have killed any of the rest of us, while we chipped away at the edges of their force.
Durthen claimed the right of single-combat with Rot-tooth, some matter of honor to him. While we didn't completely understand, we complied (even Ironfang, at considerable personal risk). Durthen's charismatic valiance inspires that kind of indulgence now and then.
My own vendetta was with the corruptor Rime; this time, my hold monster finally stuck, and Borrow seized the opportunity to strike him down. Even with Rime out of the fight, things looked grim: Rot-tooth had prepared extensively for the fight (taking a page out of Malakar's book), and it was all Durthen could do to hit him as Rot-tooth danced around casting spell after spell at Ironfang. Ironfang was acting defensively for the majority of the fight, taking the brunt of the damage and helping to dispel or defuse Rot-tooth's magic. By the time Durthen finally wore down Rot-tooth, Ironfang was in deep trouble, but fortunately we were able to take down the remaining raiders by concentrating our attacks. As usual, my greatest contribution to the later stages of the battle was in keeping our deadly little dwarf invisible, so that he could wreak his usual havoc.
With Rime, Rot-tooth and the Kuo-Toa leaders dead, and with Ironfang more favorably disposed to us, I have more hope that we may adequately secure the caverns under Dragon Keep. There are still monsters about, and the thread of Abyssals in the deep, but the dwarves should soon be able to begin constructing layered defenses. Ironfang informed us that the underground river continues south to emerge in Tyranial forest, so there's another option if we are unable to return to the surface the way we came.
I believe that we have earned a brief respite, and look forward to returning to dragon keep with some of the spoils of our adventure, and with the two dwarves that we managed to save. I have unlocked the astral-spatiotemporal patterns necessary to teleport us back to Dragon Keep, and I am eager to try my hand at something longer range. This gem I traded with Ironfang for may allow me to unlock the great powers of my Kaballite Staff, and I believe Durthen is discovering similar depths in the Axe of King Gorek. Perhaps Malakar, Ili, and Erson will be disappointed to have missed the heartily satisfying defeat of Rime, but they should be happy enough with the outcome.
Six hours of monotonic and claustrophic swimming brought us out into a river gorge within a cavern, wading knee-deep towards a bridge spanning us above. Durthen easily climbed the rough stone walls and lowered a rope for us. The bridge led to another dwarven door, and we entered into a disused complex. A mess hall and a temple of Kor were mostly bare and dust-laden, but a tremendous hall with high ceilings beckoned us back into the darkness.
At the far end of the hall, we saw a raised platform featuring a throne and a huge glinting pile of gold and treasures. One gem in particular caught my eye, a bright green match for the faded one atop my Kaballite staff. As we debated how to proceed, a booming voice accosted us and bade us leave. A huge copper dragon emerged from the darkness, and accused us of being selfish slayers of dragons. Fortunately the dragon spoke common, so Durthen boldly explained our presence (saving dwarves from Rime's terror) and our motivations in our past encounters with dragons. Apparently the dragon had heard about us from Rime, and it seemed likely that Rime was trying to play us off against each other. Remarkably, the dragon believed our story, and was even willing to trade amicably for some of the more exotic items we'd retrieved while down in the cave.
This happy interlude was brought to an abrupt end when Rime approached, flanked by four of his blackspawn raiders and accompanied by a larger half-dragon (later learned to be "Rot-tooth"). As they approached, ready for combat, Rot-tooth called out derisively to Ironfang (our copper acquaintance), disappointed that he hadn't initiated a fight with us. We tried briefly to negotiate, but Rime revealed that the dwarves were already dead. With that, they attacked.
Rot-tooth proved himself a powerful sorceror, focusing ray after ray of weakness and dizziness on Ironfang. The blackspawn were suspiciously well-prepared for battling true dragonkind, and I wonder if we were simply pawns in a larger scheme of theirs. Ironfang stoically endured an assault which would have killed any of the rest of us, while we chipped away at the edges of their force.
Durthen claimed the right of single-combat with Rot-tooth, some matter of honor to him. While we didn't completely understand, we complied (even Ironfang, at considerable personal risk). Durthen's charismatic valiance inspires that kind of indulgence now and then.
My own vendetta was with the corruptor Rime; this time, my hold monster finally stuck, and Borrow seized the opportunity to strike him down. Even with Rime out of the fight, things looked grim: Rot-tooth had prepared extensively for the fight (taking a page out of Malakar's book), and it was all Durthen could do to hit him as Rot-tooth danced around casting spell after spell at Ironfang. Ironfang was acting defensively for the majority of the fight, taking the brunt of the damage and helping to dispel or defuse Rot-tooth's magic. By the time Durthen finally wore down Rot-tooth, Ironfang was in deep trouble, but fortunately we were able to take down the remaining raiders by concentrating our attacks. As usual, my greatest contribution to the later stages of the battle was in keeping our deadly little dwarf invisible, so that he could wreak his usual havoc.
With Rime, Rot-tooth and the Kuo-Toa leaders dead, and with Ironfang more favorably disposed to us, I have more hope that we may adequately secure the caverns under Dragon Keep. There are still monsters about, and the thread of Abyssals in the deep, but the dwarves should soon be able to begin constructing layered defenses. Ironfang informed us that the underground river continues south to emerge in Tyranial forest, so there's another option if we are unable to return to the surface the way we came.
I believe that we have earned a brief respite, and look forward to returning to dragon keep with some of the spoils of our adventure, and with the two dwarves that we managed to save. I have unlocked the astral-spatiotemporal patterns necessary to teleport us back to Dragon Keep, and I am eager to try my hand at something longer range. This gem I traded with Ironfang for may allow me to unlock the great powers of my Kaballite Staff, and I believe Durthen is discovering similar depths in the Axe of King Gorek. Perhaps Malakar, Ili, and Erson will be disappointed to have missed the heartily satisfying defeat of Rime, but they should be happy enough with the outcome.
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