I really wish I worshipped a chaotic god because I’m sure I’d be able to claim some sort of bonus if I did. For all the lip service my companions pay to Law they seem to be moving over to my point of view.
Take our latest outing for example. Those that agreed to share Livia’s oath with Witchthorn were initially talking about ways to collect the items and raise the money, but we finished up deciding we take the “alternative solution” where the oath would expire if Witchthorn did.
So we geared up, went to see Witchthorn, and tried to kill him. I suspect that this is by no means unusual for Witchthorn and it wasn’t long before he had a bunch of plant-things to help him.
We managed to clear out his helpers but Witchthorn was continuing to be elusive. I hadn’t been paying him much mind because I figured the others would get more enjoyment from “terminating their agreement” but when we ran out of helpers it was clear they needed help as Witchthorn was sitting up in a tree and whenever the others got near him he moved easily away.
I turned invisible and changed stance to allow myself to climb faster and was almost ready to strike when Durthen spooked him and he moved to another tree. I was behind him again in moments, but he’d decided his chances weren’t god and left using some sort of teleport spell.
I was raiding the treasure from his helpers before we went looking for him when he zapped back and bargained with us, offering to release the oath if we left him alone. The others were happy with that so we’ll have to make do with the treasure I scraped off the helpers, but I’m somewhat disappointed about all the treasure Witchthorn must have had hidden away that we’ll never get too. Though that disappointment is offset by my pride in my fellow adventurers for double-crossing Witchthorn. As long as they don’t do that to me.
Now I have to decide whether to share these treats with them, or whether I should keep it all to compensate for not getting my hands on Witchthorn’s goodies. But then I’d have to work out for myself which of these things are magical and what they do...
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
there's nothing more satisfying than exploding poo
I guess when it comes to dirty surprises, I get a +10 competence bonus due to practice, practice, practice. Did I ever tell you about the time I bluffed that wench into thinking I gave her mummy rot? Best 10 silver I ever paid a gnomish illusionist. You should have seen the look on her face! And that's absolutely nothing compared to the enlarge appendage maneuver I learned in warblade college -- now *there* is a swift action boost (and a yelp) if I ever saw one!!!
Still, this one may have been my most classic. We were going to attack witchthorn to lift that pesky geas, and that got me thinking. Nothing says surprise round like exploding runes in a box of dwarven poo!
Unfortunately, ahem, I got tagged a bit with the... projectiles... because something compelled me into this cool looking circle of mushrooms. I just didn't want to leave it, until I was forced to re-think things later in combat.
Still, it started off with a bang :) And this strange plant thing in the ground tried to pin me between it and this attacking tree-thing. Good thing I have an axe! I used the mass of the plant thing against itself and whacked everything I could see. It was close though, this nasty mass of vapor was drifting down and I only narrowly got out of it's way. I don't want to know what might of happened if it caught me.
My companions were doing a number on the surrounding baddies, but witchthorn himself managed to stay out of the way for the most part. It was only at the very end when we managed to focus on him and he had to blink away from us. He played it smart, and offered us a deal: leave him be, and the oath is nullified.
Sweet! So we did. I hope he'll never realize that during those few rounds when oby was trying to magically locate him, I .... fertilized one of his beloved trees. BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Nothing says "grow, plant" like a little used ocelot pot pie.
Still, this one may have been my most classic. We were going to attack witchthorn to lift that pesky geas, and that got me thinking. Nothing says surprise round like exploding runes in a box of dwarven poo!
Unfortunately, ahem, I got tagged a bit with the... projectiles... because something compelled me into this cool looking circle of mushrooms. I just didn't want to leave it, until I was forced to re-think things later in combat.
Still, it started off with a bang :) And this strange plant thing in the ground tried to pin me between it and this attacking tree-thing. Good thing I have an axe! I used the mass of the plant thing against itself and whacked everything I could see. It was close though, this nasty mass of vapor was drifting down and I only narrowly got out of it's way. I don't want to know what might of happened if it caught me.
My companions were doing a number on the surrounding baddies, but witchthorn himself managed to stay out of the way for the most part. It was only at the very end when we managed to focus on him and he had to blink away from us. He played it smart, and offered us a deal: leave him be, and the oath is nullified.
Sweet! So we did. I hope he'll never realize that during those few rounds when oby was trying to magically locate him, I .... fertilized one of his beloved trees. BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Nothing says "grow, plant" like a little used ocelot pot pie.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Playin' the Get out of Oath Free card
A simple plan: Teleport into Witchthorn's glade a week before the deadline, pick a fight, win, and free ourselves from the obligation to deliver vile merchandise to said Verdant Prince. The exploding box of excrement we handed over in place of our price was Durthen's idea, and I had little to do with it, I swear.
Mercifully, Witchthorn wasted little time berating us, and there was little feigned shock on either side, merely a contest of might making right.
Witchthorn's enchanted circle captured Durthen early on, and Witchthorn himself proved terribly hard to pin down, instead throwing his ensorceled Verdant Reavers and Oaken Guardians at us. My usual approach of staying rooted to the spot become all too real as one of the reavers entangled a large area; subsequently I got stomped by one of the reavers when I couldn't move out of the way fast enough. Maybe next time I'll dimension door a little sooner and save myself the pain.
No Ocelot for this guy -- he dodged most of our attacks and all of our spells, and hurt Livia and Durthen terribly. He almost turned me into an animal, too, but fortunately by that point all my companions had the mobility to chase him around, and he dimension doored when his last servant fell.
More pragmatic than most of our opponents, he returned to offer a deal: he'd release us from our oaths in exchange for breaking off the attack. I'm almost impressed! He ended up alive, and didn't give us any reason to come hunting him again. He might not even bother to send attackers against us, although I wouldn't be surprised if he uses us to get rid of a future pest, now that he's seen our growing skill. All in all, the outcome seems a viable compromise between fulfilling our oaths, and killing him just to get out of them. Witchthorn is still out there, but he's far from the worst evil this world has seen.
Malakar's new destructive array of spells are imposing, to say the least. I may have to reserve disintegration for walls and such, leaving the utter demolition of creatures to those more qualified.
Mercifully, Witchthorn wasted little time berating us, and there was little feigned shock on either side, merely a contest of might making right.
Witchthorn's enchanted circle captured Durthen early on, and Witchthorn himself proved terribly hard to pin down, instead throwing his ensorceled Verdant Reavers and Oaken Guardians at us. My usual approach of staying rooted to the spot become all too real as one of the reavers entangled a large area; subsequently I got stomped by one of the reavers when I couldn't move out of the way fast enough. Maybe next time I'll dimension door a little sooner and save myself the pain.
No Ocelot for this guy -- he dodged most of our attacks and all of our spells, and hurt Livia and Durthen terribly. He almost turned me into an animal, too, but fortunately by that point all my companions had the mobility to chase him around, and he dimension doored when his last servant fell.
More pragmatic than most of our opponents, he returned to offer a deal: he'd release us from our oaths in exchange for breaking off the attack. I'm almost impressed! He ended up alive, and didn't give us any reason to come hunting him again. He might not even bother to send attackers against us, although I wouldn't be surprised if he uses us to get rid of a future pest, now that he's seen our growing skill. All in all, the outcome seems a viable compromise between fulfilling our oaths, and killing him just to get out of them. Witchthorn is still out there, but he's far from the worst evil this world has seen.
Malakar's new destructive array of spells are imposing, to say the least. I may have to reserve disintegration for walls and such, leaving the utter demolition of creatures to those more qualified.
Timeline
Day 0: Ghostwood, The Assassins' Strike
Day 2: Entered Myreth Forest
Day 3: Reached cave-in, Skeletons
Day 6: Exit Myreth Forest
Day 7: Found dead peasants
Day 8: Pine Ridge Thorp
Day 10: Temple of the Undying Flame
Day 15: Stony Vale
Day 16: Entered forest
Day 17: Encountered Lycanthropes
Day 19: Returned to Stony Vale
Day 20: Set out toward the cave.
Day 22: Arrived at the foot of the mountain
Day 24: Hill Giant
Day 26: Reached the cave, encountered the dragon, rescued Barricade, captured Nothrog
Day 27: Fought the Dragon
Day 33: Returned to Stony Vale
Day 35: Set out toward Condor Pass
Day 41: Arrive at Condor Pass
Day 47: The Deverenian army enters Condor Pass. The troops in the watchtowers lock themselves in and prepare to the weather the storm. The first watchtower is obliterated by the combined power of Ygraine's magic and the Rellion Knight's charge.
Day 47, Evening: The second Denskan watchtower is raze. The movement of the army triggers the magical wards. Hundreds of Deverenians die fiery deaths.
Day 48, Noon: The third watchtower is destroyed. The watchtower troops are dragged, out and strung up on poles to be paraded before the Denskan defenders when the army reaches the foot of the Aerie.
Day 48, Afternoon: The Pass' magical wards rain death upon the Deverenian army. Hundreds more perish in the defensive onslaught.
Day 48, Evening: The fourth and final watchtower is destroyed. Captured Denskan defenders are once again lashed to poles, which are tied to the sides of supply wagons.
Day 49, Morning: Ygraine's army arrives at the foot of the first terrace, out of the range of the siege engines. She makes no attempt to parley, but she does not immediately commence the assault.
Day 49, Nightfall: Just after dusk, the Rellion knights, on their verdatha mounts, attack one of the Terrace Keeps. They destroy all the siege catapults on the roof of one of the keeps before the Wardens counter by sending out the condors, repelling the assault.
Day 50: Set out as a decoy, defeated the Beholder, ended the siege of Condor Pass
Day 60: Set out for New Golden Axe
Day 62: Ambushed by Borka. Barricade captured
Day 64: Rescue Barricade from the Frost Giants
Day 67: Arrive at new Golden Axe
Day 70: Leave new Golden Axe
Day 76: Meet Ellisa and Erson and head to Merrick.
Day 77: Speak with Jesoud. Learn of Killian. Learn that the Nothrog army will arrive tomorrow night.
Day 78: Defend the city.
Day 79: Meet up with the Dwarves and head back to Dragon's Keep.
Day 83: Arrive at Dragon's Keep.
Day 84: Explored the caves at Dragon's Keep.
Day 85: Set out for the Shattered Lands
Day 89: Arrived at Blackrock Village.
Day 90: Entered Sorscha's Keep and ventured into the Black Tower. Encountered Sorscha that night.
Day 92: Encountered Wild Hunter
Day 93: Encountered Cave Trolls attacking Goliaths
Day 95: Encountered Tonvan Veen and Trip. Found the Kaballite Staff.
Day 96: Reached Dragon Keep.
Day 97: Set out to search for the missing dwarven scouts.
Day 99: Reached the cave. Fought Blackscales, Kuo-toans, Ooze Drake, and Poison Duks. Found the Axe of Gorek. Rescued two dwarves minus a hand.
Day 100: Set out in search of the Dragon spawn. Encountered Abyssals. Entered Kuo-toan temple. Met Ironfang and traded goods. Fought Rot-tooth, Rime, and four Blackspawn Raiders.
Day 2: Entered Myreth Forest
Day 3: Reached cave-in, Skeletons
Day 6: Exit Myreth Forest
Day 7: Found dead peasants
Day 8: Pine Ridge Thorp
Day 10: Temple of the Undying Flame
Day 15: Stony Vale
Day 16: Entered forest
Day 17: Encountered Lycanthropes
Day 19: Returned to Stony Vale
Day 20: Set out toward the cave.
Day 22: Arrived at the foot of the mountain
Day 24: Hill Giant
Day 26: Reached the cave, encountered the dragon, rescued Barricade, captured Nothrog
Day 27: Fought the Dragon
Day 33: Returned to Stony Vale
Day 35: Set out toward Condor Pass
Day 41: Arrive at Condor Pass
Day 47: The Deverenian army enters Condor Pass. The troops in the watchtowers lock themselves in and prepare to the weather the storm. The first watchtower is obliterated by the combined power of Ygraine's magic and the Rellion Knight's charge.
Day 47, Evening: The second Denskan watchtower is raze. The movement of the army triggers the magical wards. Hundreds of Deverenians die fiery deaths.
Day 48, Noon: The third watchtower is destroyed. The watchtower troops are dragged, out and strung up on poles to be paraded before the Denskan defenders when the army reaches the foot of the Aerie.
Day 48, Afternoon: The Pass' magical wards rain death upon the Deverenian army. Hundreds more perish in the defensive onslaught.
Day 48, Evening: The fourth and final watchtower is destroyed. Captured Denskan defenders are once again lashed to poles, which are tied to the sides of supply wagons.
Day 49, Morning: Ygraine's army arrives at the foot of the first terrace, out of the range of the siege engines. She makes no attempt to parley, but she does not immediately commence the assault.
Day 49, Nightfall: Just after dusk, the Rellion knights, on their verdatha mounts, attack one of the Terrace Keeps. They destroy all the siege catapults on the roof of one of the keeps before the Wardens counter by sending out the condors, repelling the assault.
Day 50: Set out as a decoy, defeated the Beholder, ended the siege of Condor Pass
Day 60: Set out for New Golden Axe
Day 62: Ambushed by Borka. Barricade captured
Day 64: Rescue Barricade from the Frost Giants
Day 67: Arrive at new Golden Axe
Day 70: Leave new Golden Axe
Day 76: Meet Ellisa and Erson and head to Merrick.
Day 77: Speak with Jesoud. Learn of Killian. Learn that the Nothrog army will arrive tomorrow night.
Day 78: Defend the city.
Day 79: Meet up with the Dwarves and head back to Dragon's Keep.
Day 83: Arrive at Dragon's Keep.
Day 84: Explored the caves at Dragon's Keep.
Day 85: Set out for the Shattered Lands
Day 89: Arrived at Blackrock Village.
Day 90: Entered Sorscha's Keep and ventured into the Black Tower. Encountered Sorscha that night.
Day 92: Encountered Wild Hunter
Day 93: Encountered Cave Trolls attacking Goliaths
Day 95: Encountered Tonvan Veen and Trip. Found the Kaballite Staff.
Day 96: Reached Dragon Keep.
Day 97: Set out to search for the missing dwarven scouts.
Day 99: Reached the cave. Fought Blackscales, Kuo-toans, Ooze Drake, and Poison Duks. Found the Axe of Gorek. Rescued two dwarves minus a hand.
Day 100: Set out in search of the Dragon spawn. Encountered Abyssals. Entered Kuo-toan temple. Met Ironfang and traded goods. Fought Rot-tooth, Rime, and four Blackspawn Raiders.
Day 101: Set out for Dragon's Keep.
Day 104: Arrived at Dragon's Keep. Sold some stuff. Went to Stony Vale to sale items to Aleric. Met and elf named Ichaerus. Obegard had a bad dream.
Day 105: Set out for the village of Venteton.
Day 108: Arrived at Venteton.
Day 110: Encountered Blackwings. Entered building. Fought a vampire. Encountered bad ass elf again. Rescued prisoners. Ili died. Got captured.
Day 113: Brought before the Elven Hight Council. Ili raised as a Undead.
Day 114: Escaped.
Day 117: Sorcha returns.
Day 118: Set out for Vallen.
Day 122: Arrive in Vallen. Got in a bar fight. Got arrested.
Day 123: Searched for Jartik. Got a letter with an unknown coin. Obegard's pendant got stolen. Killed an Aranea. Got Obegard's pendant back from Fynn. Stole a crate from the Black Lighting. Gave the crate back.
Day 113: Brought before the Elven Hight Council. Ili raised as a Undead.
Day 114: Escaped.
Day 117: Sorcha returns.
Day 118: Set out for Vallen.
Day 122: Arrive in Vallen. Got in a bar fight. Got arrested.
Day 123: Searched for Jartik. Got a letter with an unknown coin. Obegard's pendant got stolen. Killed an Aranea. Got Obegard's pendant back from Fynn. Stole a crate from the Black Lighting. Gave the crate back.
Day 124: Basc Company
Day 125: First attempt at the Alchemist Shop
Day 126: Second attempt at the Alchemist Shop, Menagerie
Day 133: Witchthorn
Day 134: The Black Lighting Take 2
Day 144: Arrive at the Isle of Secrets, Kraken Attack, Treasure galore!, Sandpoint, Things that go Thump in the Night
Day 145: Testing the Plane
Day 152: Mysterious Tower
Day 153: Stone Forest, Jartik's Fortress
Day 154: Jartik's Fortress, divine magic stop working, encounter Jartik
Day 155: Windsong Tower
Day 157: Evil Malakar
Day 160: Killed The Aspect of Bascaron
Day 145: Testing the Plane
Day 152: Mysterious Tower
Day 153: Stone Forest, Jartik's Fortress
Day 154: Jartik's Fortress, divine magic stop working, encounter Jartik
Day 155: Windsong Tower
Day 157: Evil Malakar
Day 160: Killed The Aspect of Bascaron
Day 165: Sorscha's Report
Day 170: Concordant Killer and meet Archmage Syneri
Day 170: Concordant Killer and meet Archmage Syneri
Day 172: Off to see Witchthorn
Day 178: [Witchorn's Deadline]
Day 190: [Winter]
Day 190: [Winter]
A disturbing thought
The return to Dragon Keep was a welcome relief. The dwarves have finished their work and for the first time in so long I have a place of my own.
Things have been so weird for so long that I made a mistake and lowered my guard slightly. Big mistake.
There was a call to arms and when I reached the source of the trouble it was some incredible demonic/angelic thing. I had no idea what to make of it and I knew things were bad when Obegard’s only comment was “Oh crap.”
We fought for a little while and then everything went blank. Next thing I knew there was a cat in a cage and some elf I’d never seen before standing there talking about how he’d been testing us.
So here’s the disturbing part. We’ve been so used to people pushing us around that we’ve become accustomed to being pawns in some huge power struggle. But in all the games to which I’m accustomed it’s the players that introduce the pieces. Could it be that, in fact, we are the ones running this show and all that’s missing is for us to work out the rules of the game and how to use our pieces?
What a horrible, scary thought that is.
Things have been so weird for so long that I made a mistake and lowered my guard slightly. Big mistake.
There was a call to arms and when I reached the source of the trouble it was some incredible demonic/angelic thing. I had no idea what to make of it and I knew things were bad when Obegard’s only comment was “Oh crap.”
We fought for a little while and then everything went blank. Next thing I knew there was a cat in a cage and some elf I’d never seen before standing there talking about how he’d been testing us.
So here’s the disturbing part. We’ve been so used to people pushing us around that we’ve become accustomed to being pawns in some huge power struggle. But in all the games to which I’m accustomed it’s the players that introduce the pieces. Could it be that, in fact, we are the ones running this show and all that’s missing is for us to work out the rules of the game and how to use our pieces?
What a horrible, scary thought that is.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
angry pussy
You kill a god, you expect a little vacation. But ooooh no, can't have that.
I was illin' and chillin' at the mess hall -- thinking about taking a prestige class level in Illin' Chiller, when a ruckus ensued. And this had nothing to do with what I owed that pimp, so it came as a real surprise!
A guard burst into the mess hall babbling about some giant heavenly demon thing dude who was arguing with Malaker. I ran out of the hall, hoping to get a chance to strike Malakar with my axe again, but it turned out this dude was the bad guy. Okay, bad-er guy.
I ran up to smack him with borrow, who had just come up from the dwarven hall (somehow arriving at the same time despite him being further away and having really tiny tiny legs). We were held back by a mysterious invisible wall of force (I can think of some good applications for that one!), but Oby blinked into existance and got rid of it with that magic stuff.
We just got off a smack or two before he cast some obnoxious spell and I was paralyzed. Just when I had a good chance to maybe use iron heart surge, oby turned the giant demon-angel thing into a very, very angry pussy... cat.
We locked the pussy away in a cage (deja vu!) and brought it into the chapel to figure out the next steps. At which point a magical-type elvish dude who wasn't undead popped into the chapel and started babbling about the book, and some test, and that he was 1,000,000 years old and he wore depends or something.
I wasn't listening, I was making coochie-coochie-coo noises and trying to pet the angry kitty.
I was illin' and chillin' at the mess hall -- thinking about taking a prestige class level in Illin' Chiller, when a ruckus ensued. And this had nothing to do with what I owed that pimp, so it came as a real surprise!
A guard burst into the mess hall babbling about some giant heavenly demon thing dude who was arguing with Malaker. I ran out of the hall, hoping to get a chance to strike Malakar with my axe again, but it turned out this dude was the bad guy. Okay, bad-er guy.
I ran up to smack him with borrow, who had just come up from the dwarven hall (somehow arriving at the same time despite him being further away and having really tiny tiny legs). We were held back by a mysterious invisible wall of force (I can think of some good applications for that one!), but Oby blinked into existance and got rid of it with that magic stuff.
We just got off a smack or two before he cast some obnoxious spell and I was paralyzed. Just when I had a good chance to maybe use iron heart surge, oby turned the giant demon-angel thing into a very, very angry pussy... cat.
We locked the pussy away in a cage (deja vu!) and brought it into the chapel to figure out the next steps. At which point a magical-type elvish dude who wasn't undead popped into the chapel and started babbling about the book, and some test, and that he was 1,000,000 years old and he wore depends or something.
I wasn't listening, I was making coochie-coochie-coo noises and trying to pet the angry kitty.
Yet another test?
After briefly celebrating our victory and briefly saying a prayer for Livia, we departed the moon. With the Aspect gone, we were able to to get off the Isle of Secrets and shortly thereafter, Obegard was able to teleport us back to the Dwarven Keep. We were allowed to keep the Book of Crafting for the time being. We spent a few days fortifying defenses at the Keep while waiting for a shipment of diamonds so that we could.
The others didn't seem to be too serious about security, and I had only cast a few spells to protect the area around the chapel. It looks like my preparations paid off, though in a way that we didn't expect. One day, close to dinner time, as I was leading the faithful in the sundown prayer, a figure suddenly appeared outside the doors of the chapel. He looked like a twelve foot tall humanoid, both glorious and frightening to behold at the same time. He seemed to have angelic and demonic features, a very strange combination indeed. He asked sternly for the Book, even though it resided in Obegard's tower upstairs. He didn't seem to know that and must have approached me because he sensed the most powerful wards at the chapel. This was fortunate, as he appeared to very easily be able to dispel and remove our magical defenses. However, because he was visible, the guards he had bypassed noticed him and quickly went to get the others.
I stalled the creature for a few moments, and even though he knew that the guards must be fetching help, he didn't care. With the others here, I asked him sternly to leave one last time, but he didn't seem to care, and instead responded with a single word of utter blasphemy. As the others leaped to attack, I was overcome with weakness and dread. Durthen and Borrow were stopped by what appeared to be a wall of force, but Obegard quickly took it down. Fortunately for me, one of my acolytes, Derny knew that I had a scroll that would remove the affliction and he acted quickly, freeing me from my state. I saw that the other two were having trouble hurting the creature, as his skin was as strong as adamantine. Just as I recovered and advanced to help the others, he spoke another word of power. The note resonated with perfect clarity and symmetry, and passed through me without much effect, though both Durthen and Borrow both seemed to be held rigid by a matrix of energy.
The situation looked bad, but just as it seemed like we would have to give in to whatever demands this creature had, Obegard, out of desperation, cast a spell that tried to turn this creature into a harmless animal. I didn't think he could possibly bypass this creature's magical defenses, nor did I think that such a powerful beast could possibly be affected by mortal magic, but he was. A moment later, I was looking at what appeared to be a large cat. An angry cat to be sure, one that appeared ready to tear out the eyes of Durthen and Borrow, so I moved quickly to pick up the animal and summoned a guard to get a cage.
We were discussing why such a creature would assault our stronghold, when suddenly, a wizard teleported into the church. I realized that the protections around the church must have been stripped away earlier in the battle, by a powerful dispel magic spell. However, he seemed to not be hostile. In fact, Obegard had heard of him as one of the most powerful wizards in all of the world. Obegard explained that he was Syneri, a thousand year old elf -- and a level-headed one at that. Apparently, it was he who placed the elves on a geas to be nice for 99 years. Too bad he didn't make it 999 years instead. He said that sending the Concordant Killer was all just a test to see if we were powerful enough to hold onto the Book, and we were, so all was well. I didn't like being tested in such a deadly manner, but there wasn't much we could do, as this wizard was beyond any of us. He did offer up a few words of encouragement, however, saying that we were hurting the Nothrog, and that we needed to keep doing it. With that, he left just as quickly, taking the cat with him.
The others didn't seem to be too serious about security, and I had only cast a few spells to protect the area around the chapel. It looks like my preparations paid off, though in a way that we didn't expect. One day, close to dinner time, as I was leading the faithful in the sundown prayer, a figure suddenly appeared outside the doors of the chapel. He looked like a twelve foot tall humanoid, both glorious and frightening to behold at the same time. He seemed to have angelic and demonic features, a very strange combination indeed. He asked sternly for the Book, even though it resided in Obegard's tower upstairs. He didn't seem to know that and must have approached me because he sensed the most powerful wards at the chapel. This was fortunate, as he appeared to very easily be able to dispel and remove our magical defenses. However, because he was visible, the guards he had bypassed noticed him and quickly went to get the others.
I stalled the creature for a few moments, and even though he knew that the guards must be fetching help, he didn't care. With the others here, I asked him sternly to leave one last time, but he didn't seem to care, and instead responded with a single word of utter blasphemy. As the others leaped to attack, I was overcome with weakness and dread. Durthen and Borrow were stopped by what appeared to be a wall of force, but Obegard quickly took it down. Fortunately for me, one of my acolytes, Derny knew that I had a scroll that would remove the affliction and he acted quickly, freeing me from my state. I saw that the other two were having trouble hurting the creature, as his skin was as strong as adamantine. Just as I recovered and advanced to help the others, he spoke another word of power. The note resonated with perfect clarity and symmetry, and passed through me without much effect, though both Durthen and Borrow both seemed to be held rigid by a matrix of energy.
The situation looked bad, but just as it seemed like we would have to give in to whatever demands this creature had, Obegard, out of desperation, cast a spell that tried to turn this creature into a harmless animal. I didn't think he could possibly bypass this creature's magical defenses, nor did I think that such a powerful beast could possibly be affected by mortal magic, but he was. A moment later, I was looking at what appeared to be a large cat. An angry cat to be sure, one that appeared ready to tear out the eyes of Durthen and Borrow, so I moved quickly to pick up the animal and summoned a guard to get a cage.
We were discussing why such a creature would assault our stronghold, when suddenly, a wizard teleported into the church. I realized that the protections around the church must have been stripped away earlier in the battle, by a powerful dispel magic spell. However, he seemed to not be hostile. In fact, Obegard had heard of him as one of the most powerful wizards in all of the world. Obegard explained that he was Syneri, a thousand year old elf -- and a level-headed one at that. Apparently, it was he who placed the elves on a geas to be nice for 99 years. Too bad he didn't make it 999 years instead. He said that sending the Concordant Killer was all just a test to see if we were powerful enough to hold onto the Book, and we were, so all was well. I didn't like being tested in such a deadly manner, but there wasn't much we could do, as this wizard was beyond any of us. He did offer up a few words of encouragement, however, saying that we were hurting the Nothrog, and that we needed to keep doing it. With that, he left just as quickly, taking the cat with him.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Corcordant Kitten
The return home to Dragon Keep was almost anticlimatic -- as we destroyed the Aspect, Oleanth managed to alter the cycle of the Isle of Secrets so it would be part of our material plane during the daytime. Thus we were able to Greater Teleport right back home.
Oleanth expressed his gratitude by giving us custody of his Tome of Stuff. For now, I'm keeping it in my laboratory when we're at Dragon Keep, and in my pack when we travel. As it turns out, some more sophisticated defenses may be in order: the day after arriving home, we had an unexpected visitor.
I was in the observatory at the time, relaxing with the familiar patterns of the stars. A guard shouted up the tower shaft that Malakar was under attack near the chapel. I zapped in as quickly as I could using the nearby Platform of Jaunting, and rounded the corner to see a Concordant Killer threatening Malakar and Durthen, as Borrow approached from down the hall. I didn't know a lot about Concordant Killers at the time, but I knew enough to be concerned. Once combat began, it set up a force wall to divide us in half, and incapacitated Borrow and Malakar with a blasphemous word. I dropped the force wall with a disintegrate, but it dispelled most of my efforts to disable it. Finally, in desperation, I attempted to transform it into an Ocelot -- and it worked! Malakar stepped in to pin the angry kitten, and the fight was over.
As we prepared to probe the thoughts of the incarcerated kitty, we were interrupted by another teleporting visitor. I looked up from my spellcasting to see none other than Syneri, the immortal elven archmage and benefactor of humanity. Whoa! Knowing Syneri's legend, I was speechless, but Malakar and Durthen established that he was testing us to see if we were capable of protecting the Tome of Stuff from the Medusan Lords. Apparently Syneri is a member of an anti-medusan-lord capabal called the Ten. (Do they have to rename themselves every time the membership changes, I wonder?)
Syneri is gone now, taking his Concordant Kitten with him. Now our deadline with Witchthorn looms, and we need to raise Livia to face it. I hope she's got a plan!
Oleanth expressed his gratitude by giving us custody of his Tome of Stuff. For now, I'm keeping it in my laboratory when we're at Dragon Keep, and in my pack when we travel. As it turns out, some more sophisticated defenses may be in order: the day after arriving home, we had an unexpected visitor.
I was in the observatory at the time, relaxing with the familiar patterns of the stars. A guard shouted up the tower shaft that Malakar was under attack near the chapel. I zapped in as quickly as I could using the nearby Platform of Jaunting, and rounded the corner to see a Concordant Killer threatening Malakar and Durthen, as Borrow approached from down the hall. I didn't know a lot about Concordant Killers at the time, but I knew enough to be concerned. Once combat began, it set up a force wall to divide us in half, and incapacitated Borrow and Malakar with a blasphemous word. I dropped the force wall with a disintegrate, but it dispelled most of my efforts to disable it. Finally, in desperation, I attempted to transform it into an Ocelot -- and it worked! Malakar stepped in to pin the angry kitten, and the fight was over.
As we prepared to probe the thoughts of the incarcerated kitty, we were interrupted by another teleporting visitor. I looked up from my spellcasting to see none other than Syneri, the immortal elven archmage and benefactor of humanity. Whoa! Knowing Syneri's legend, I was speechless, but Malakar and Durthen established that he was testing us to see if we were capable of protecting the Tome of Stuff from the Medusan Lords. Apparently Syneri is a member of an anti-medusan-lord capabal called the Ten. (Do they have to rename themselves every time the membership changes, I wonder?)
Syneri is gone now, taking his Concordant Kitten with him. Now our deadline with Witchthorn looms, and we need to raise Livia to face it. I hope she's got a plan!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
I only axed him once: death or cake?
I killed a god. I killed a god. I killed a god. I killed a god.
Did I mention I killed a god?
I killed a god.
Did YOU kill a god? No, no, no you didn't. I did. hahahahaha, sucks to be Not-Durthen. Here's how:
So we flew to the moon (which was as fun as it sounds) and then landed and Oby started casting something to help us track down the evil god-thing. Soon after he finished, a pair of dragons appeard in the sky and started attacking us. I let those ranged-types do most of the damage, waiting for a chance to whack one with my axe.
The rest of the party dropped the scaly birds, and then evil malakar appeared -- total deja vu. And like last time, we tried to kill him! And unlike last time, he morphed in to a humongous tenticled mass. Still sexier than the normal Malakar...
At this point, the rest of the battle was filled with explosions and craziness. I had a ton of buff spells on me, and was able to walk right up to the aspect's feet-tentacles and hew away. He kept smacking me back into a cliff and I kept running back for more.
I really hurt him with a viscious pair of axe swipes; but I dealt the killing blow soon after. What a mighty feat by Durthen!
Small side effect; he blew up and killed Livia and drastically injured the rest of our party. Oh well....
I KILLED A GOD. HAHAHAHAHA.
Did I mention I killed a god?
I killed a god.
Did YOU kill a god? No, no, no you didn't. I did. hahahahaha, sucks to be Not-Durthen. Here's how:
So we flew to the moon (which was as fun as it sounds) and then landed and Oby started casting something to help us track down the evil god-thing. Soon after he finished, a pair of dragons appeard in the sky and started attacking us. I let those ranged-types do most of the damage, waiting for a chance to whack one with my axe.
The rest of the party dropped the scaly birds, and then evil malakar appeared -- total deja vu. And like last time, we tried to kill him! And unlike last time, he morphed in to a humongous tenticled mass. Still sexier than the normal Malakar...
At this point, the rest of the battle was filled with explosions and craziness. I had a ton of buff spells on me, and was able to walk right up to the aspect's feet-tentacles and hew away. He kept smacking me back into a cliff and I kept running back for more.
I really hurt him with a viscious pair of axe swipes; but I dealt the killing blow soon after. What a mighty feat by Durthen!
Small side effect; he blew up and killed Livia and drastically injured the rest of our party. Oh well....
I KILLED A GOD. HAHAHAHAHA.
Death of an Aspect
This blinking ring is so trippy...
We fought the aspect of Bascerone and won. I took surprisingly little damage throughout the whole thing, and while the ring didn’t seem as effective as it has before, the range of attacks the aspect made cast a whole new light on this avoidance thing.
“Best laid plans” and all that; when we got to the moon we spent a minute or so making sure we weren’t under immediate threat and for Obegard to cast some ritual that dispatched a bunch of little detector eyes or something in a big circle around us.
Then two dragons attacked. Obegard yelled something about them being chaos dragons. I assume that was meant to mean something—I think Obegard both realises and doesn’t realise that we don’t know as much about dragons. I think he thinks that if he tells us what kind they are we’ll know exactly what to do. I don’t know why he’d think that given the consistent evidence to the contrary, but that’s Upworlders for you.
No sooner had we dealt with those than Evil Malakar made an appearance. Except it can’t really have been Evil Malakar because not-so-Evil Malakar was still with us. Hmmm. Ah. Aspect of Bascerone.
He invited Malakar to join him, which Malakar declined. I’m not sure why, because it kind of looks like Bascerone owns him already. Maybe he’s afraid that since we beat him once we can do it again. Last time he had two mooncalves, this time he’d have an aspect of a god. Personally I’d favour his odds more with the god, but Malakar’s not really your big risk taker.
When Malakar spurned him the Aspect turned into a crazy mass of tentacles. It was disgusting. But it made me wonder if this is why Upworlders are so unstable. I mean, what if all their gods are really like this—they put on some nice facade when it pleases them, but in reality they have some alien form that reeks of the insane.
The number of things that I was sure would paste me in that fight was large and I can’t recall them all because I was busy dodging them in case I happening to be on the wrong plane at the wrong time, while still trying to stick my knife in somewhere it could do some good. Because of my “now I’m here, now I’m not”-edness I was taking damage at a much slower rate than the others, so when Malakar was casting spells to heal everyone he was pretty much just topping me up. Mind you, I was glad we did that thing with the incense beforehand because at one stage I got hit bad and that went off to provide a nice comfy cushion of protection against later damage.
I think I held my own in the fight, but it was Dearthen that delivered the death blow. And it was the last insane attack of an insane Aspect, because as it died it exploded spewing some vile acid all over the place. Again I avoided most it but some of the others weren’t so lucky. Poor Livia, she was covered in the stuff and completely dead before anyone could do anything about it.
Some of the others are talking about casting some druidic spell that will call her soul back, but possibly into a different body. Fine for those Upworlders but if I die I don’t want some sub-standard Upworlder body. Give me dwarfdom or give me death! Preferably dwarfdom.
We fought the aspect of Bascerone and won. I took surprisingly little damage throughout the whole thing, and while the ring didn’t seem as effective as it has before, the range of attacks the aspect made cast a whole new light on this avoidance thing.
“Best laid plans” and all that; when we got to the moon we spent a minute or so making sure we weren’t under immediate threat and for Obegard to cast some ritual that dispatched a bunch of little detector eyes or something in a big circle around us.
Then two dragons attacked. Obegard yelled something about them being chaos dragons. I assume that was meant to mean something—I think Obegard both realises and doesn’t realise that we don’t know as much about dragons. I think he thinks that if he tells us what kind they are we’ll know exactly what to do. I don’t know why he’d think that given the consistent evidence to the contrary, but that’s Upworlders for you.
No sooner had we dealt with those than Evil Malakar made an appearance. Except it can’t really have been Evil Malakar because not-so-Evil Malakar was still with us. Hmmm. Ah. Aspect of Bascerone.
He invited Malakar to join him, which Malakar declined. I’m not sure why, because it kind of looks like Bascerone owns him already. Maybe he’s afraid that since we beat him once we can do it again. Last time he had two mooncalves, this time he’d have an aspect of a god. Personally I’d favour his odds more with the god, but Malakar’s not really your big risk taker.
When Malakar spurned him the Aspect turned into a crazy mass of tentacles. It was disgusting. But it made me wonder if this is why Upworlders are so unstable. I mean, what if all their gods are really like this—they put on some nice facade when it pleases them, but in reality they have some alien form that reeks of the insane.
The number of things that I was sure would paste me in that fight was large and I can’t recall them all because I was busy dodging them in case I happening to be on the wrong plane at the wrong time, while still trying to stick my knife in somewhere it could do some good. Because of my “now I’m here, now I’m not”-edness I was taking damage at a much slower rate than the others, so when Malakar was casting spells to heal everyone he was pretty much just topping me up. Mind you, I was glad we did that thing with the incense beforehand because at one stage I got hit bad and that went off to provide a nice comfy cushion of protection against later damage.
I think I held my own in the fight, but it was Dearthen that delivered the death blow. And it was the last insane attack of an insane Aspect, because as it died it exploded spewing some vile acid all over the place. Again I avoided most it but some of the others weren’t so lucky. Poor Livia, she was covered in the stuff and completely dead before anyone could do anything about it.
Some of the others are talking about casting some druidic spell that will call her soul back, but possibly into a different body. Fine for those Upworlders but if I die I don’t want some sub-standard Upworlder body. Give me dwarfdom or give me death! Preferably dwarfdom.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Aspecting an Aspect
So I wake up, and the others were relieved to tell me that just moments ago, I was stronger, faster, more powerful, and in general, cooler. The only problem was that, apparently, to be strong and cool, you also have to be evil, and I had given the rest of them a run for their money trying to kill them and all that. However, with all that behind us, we went back to the tower and completed the ritual that shot us to the moon. We sped through the air and landed an its barren surface about an hour later.
We only had about a minute to gather ourselves before two strange looking dragons came and began making strafing runs at us. I used several of my offensive spells, knowing that against the aspect, my spell would have little direct effect. It wasn't long before the two dragons were chopped up by Durthen.
However, after barely getting a chance to take a breather, someone that looked like my evil self suddenly appeared and tried to recruit me to join him. I *did* want to be cool, but then again, these Basceron guys were also raving lunatics that turn into tentacle things at night, which is decidedly uncool, so I turned him down.
When the fight began in earnest, I had to admit that these "aspect" thingies were quite tough. He opened up with a number of area effect spells that hurt. I spent a great deal of time just keeping Durthen, Erson, and Borrow on their feet and fighting. At one point, Livia and Obegard summoned several helpful creatures to heal us, but they were instantly destroyed by a surge of vile energy by the aspect. I somehow had resisted, but Erson was badly injured. However, Durthen also got a few good hits in, including a pair of strikes that I swear would have cleaved a Fire Giant in two.
At one point, I saw a blast of energy heading toward me that I knew surely could have killed me. I barely had time to summon a ward that protected my body from physical injury, though I still lost consciousness. I was brought back by the healing spell of an Eladrin, and I had just enough time to cast another healing spell that healed everyone nearby before Durthen struck a blow brought down the aspect, but not before it initiated its final revenge by unleashing another blast of energy of fire, acid, and pure evil. Since I was already wounded, the blast should have blasted me to cinders, but fortunately, my ward held, and I regained consciousness a short while later when I was given a powerful healing reagent. I looked around and saw that Durthen, Borrow, and Erson had survived, though they were badly wounded. Obegard had barely survived, though only because his shield guardian had absorbed the damage and was utterly destroyed. Livia, however, did not fare so well.
We only had about a minute to gather ourselves before two strange looking dragons came and began making strafing runs at us. I used several of my offensive spells, knowing that against the aspect, my spell would have little direct effect. It wasn't long before the two dragons were chopped up by Durthen.
However, after barely getting a chance to take a breather, someone that looked like my evil self suddenly appeared and tried to recruit me to join him. I *did* want to be cool, but then again, these Basceron guys were also raving lunatics that turn into tentacle things at night, which is decidedly uncool, so I turned him down.
When the fight began in earnest, I had to admit that these "aspect" thingies were quite tough. He opened up with a number of area effect spells that hurt. I spent a great deal of time just keeping Durthen, Erson, and Borrow on their feet and fighting. At one point, Livia and Obegard summoned several helpful creatures to heal us, but they were instantly destroyed by a surge of vile energy by the aspect. I somehow had resisted, but Erson was badly injured. However, Durthen also got a few good hits in, including a pair of strikes that I swear would have cleaved a Fire Giant in two.
At one point, I saw a blast of energy heading toward me that I knew surely could have killed me. I barely had time to summon a ward that protected my body from physical injury, though I still lost consciousness. I was brought back by the healing spell of an Eladrin, and I had just enough time to cast another healing spell that healed everyone nearby before Durthen struck a blow brought down the aspect, but not before it initiated its final revenge by unleashing another blast of energy of fire, acid, and pure evil. Since I was already wounded, the blast should have blasted me to cinders, but fortunately, my ward held, and I regained consciousness a short while later when I was given a powerful healing reagent. I looked around and saw that Durthen, Borrow, and Erson had survived, though they were badly wounded. Obegard had barely survived, though only because his shield guardian had absorbed the damage and was utterly destroyed. Livia, however, did not fare so well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)