A quick DDO Post.

If only My.DDO was updating correctly, this would appear with correct stats:



But it isn't, so you'll just have to trust that he is level 15 now and thinking of picking up a tower shield for more defense.

In other gaming news, I'll be DMing tomorrow, where the PCs bring the battle to the red dragon Khyrastryx.

A brief update

I realized that I hadn't updated the chronicles of Vorian, Chamele, Aldoran and Kascannia recently:

The group entered the underground ruins, in pursuit of the green dragon. They meet little opposition, and found the dragon lying in wait. A fierce battle ensued, with the gold dragon aiding in the attacking, destroying walls and potentially collapsing the ruins.

Just as the green dragon was vanquished, the gold dragon turned on the heroes, who were already exhausted from the battle. Upon his death, the dragon's hue changed, revealing him to also be a green.

"Petty dragons," comments Chamele. "They must have been having a fued, and this one thought to use us in its dispute, and then dispatch us to add to his horde. A good thing it underestimated us."

They then looted the small hordes the dragons had collected, and continued to explore the ruins, looking for clues as to the location of the lost tomb of Kruk-Ma-Kali. Unfortunately, they ran into another beholder, which killed Vorian before it died.

Chamele used her new found magical abilities to teleport the group back to Geanavue, where they both have a keep and a powerful cleric resides, who was able to raise Vorian from the dead.

In the city, they learn that the fire giants are demanding more and more tribute. The heroes intend to meet with the leaders of the city to learn what they might do to assist with these troubles. Aldoran also thinks that he might be able to divine the path to the lost tomb, possibly saving time and energy in their search.

How to run away from demons and find refuge with unicorns

After killing the beholder without much difficulty, the group continued it's search of the underground structure, searching for possible clues of the great valley and the lost tomb of Kruk-Ma-Kali. A literal maze of cooridors, there was some disagreement as to which way to proceed.

"We should go north west from the room with the beholder in it. The beholder didn't just come here for no reason. Someone put it here to guard something. We should focus our search on rooms connecting to that room," says Vorian. Everyone agrees that this sounds just as good a plan as any, and systematically open the doors in that room to see where they go. One room has manacles on the wall, chains on the floor, and a large chasm. They also see a pile of plates in the corner of the room, along with a razor, presumably a make shift eating utensil. The group circumvents that room, and continues past it, suddenly coming upon a gold dragon taking up the entirety of a room, leaving no way for the group to enter.

" I was wondering when someone would find me down here," says the gold dragon in deep, somber tones.

"Well, yes. We just happened to be searching for dragons, as it were," says Casandra the bard with her usual wit."

" I find that hard to believe, but no matter. Perhaps there is something you could help me with nonetheless. I've been trapped down here for several days, trying to evade a green dragon. These cooridors are too small for either of us to travel normally, but if I shrink myself to attempt to escape, I fear he will find me and pounce on me in a larger form, giving him the advantage. But with your assistance, we may be able to slay the evil dragon and I would free from his harrasment."

"Fighting a dragon by ourselves may be too much. Can you assist us?" asks Vorian. The dragon nods, and then casts a series of spells, shrinking down to humanish size, but keeping his dragon form.

"Very well. Let's move quickly. These spells won't last long."

The now smaller gold dragon directs the party from a position in the rear, telling them to go towards the central room of the complex. Inside, they hear a scrapping noise. Aldoran listens but can't identify the sound. "Could that be the green dragon inside?" he asks.

"I am not certain. It sounds like it could be," responds the dragon, as the slight scraping sounds continue. Vorian prepares himself, and busts down the door, charging into the room. Inside, he is confronted not with a dragon, but three bebliths, large spider like demons. Vorian stumbles slightly, wondering as to the sagacity of his original plan.

Aldoran begins casting a spell upon seeing what is inside, but well before he is finished, the bebliths attack. Vorian thinks he may have to face off against only one, as they are too large and the room too small for them to bring attacks to bear. However, the first one to move climbs up onto the wall and approaches that way, presenting as much of a threat as one on the ground. It bites Vorian, causing a small wound, and Vorian feels a poison enter his body. The second one bites him as well, but it's poison is much more potent, and Vorian visibly shakes and stubmles under it's effects. The last one flings a web at Vorian which hits him soundly, immobalizing him.

Chamele responds by changing Vorian into a spider through use of the polymorph, which enables him to escape the web (I think stricktly a freedom of movement effect would be needed, which a spider eater has but is a supernatural effect and not granted by polymorph. In the end, I thought it would make sense to allow it though. Alternatively, he could have been transformed into an ooze and the acid would have eaten through, or some sort of fire magical beast to burn his way out.)

The dragon begins casting a spell, and then speaks in Abyssal, "It would be best not to fight us or interfere, lest you risk the ire of your superiors in the abyss." After speaking, one of the spider like creatures disappears.

Vorian, in spider form, moves out of the room, and then shortly after that a tiger appears, pouncing on one of the remaining spiders, but failing to do any lasting damage to it. Aldoran then chants, holding onto his wooden holy symbol, and reaches out, causing the stone wall to fill in where the door used to be. He then casts a delay poison spell on Vorian, still in spider form.

"That will keep you from getting worse for a couple of hours, but I fear that in your weakened state the poison will be more effective against you and more deadly. Without some sort of treatment, you may very well die. Let's get to the surface and see what I can do."

The group moves cautiously back to where they entered the complex, and they reach the surface after a short climb.

Aldoran, upon reaching the surface, casts a spell, and a unicorn appears. Aldoran speaks to it in Sylvan, asking for it's aid. It touches it horn to Vorian, but his appearance remains unchanged. "The poison is gone, but the damage it has done remains," says Aldoran, and then the unicorn disappears.

"I can reverse the poisons' effects, but I will need to wait until dawn, which is still several hours away."

"That will take too long. If we are to defeat the green, we must act quickly. I will take Vorian to a town where he can get his healing and return," says the gold dragon, who upon reaching the outside changed into his normal size.

"A bargain is struck then. If you take me to the town, I will vow that the green dragon will be destroyed," says Vorian.

Vorian and the dragon leave and return, taking about four hours. Vorian brings scrolls and potions of lesser restoration, as well as several vials of antitoxin. "In case we run into any more of those creatures," he explains, distributing them from his pack.

The group then reenters the underground complex, going back to the room with the demons. Upon opening the door, they see that it is empty. They travel from that room, and in the adjascent room, they see the green dragon, lying in wait.

Shadows of Undrentide

Well, last night I finished the first expansion for Neverwinter Nights 1, Shadows of Undrentide. Yes, it took me a very long time to get around to actually finishing it. Apparently, the last time I had played was back in 2008, and even then, just briefly.

I remember it being my game of choice for a short time when I was home and Mr Bebop was napping. So that would have been late 2007 and early 2008. Nowadays, I'm usually too tired to do anything other than nap when Gabe is napping too, so I hadn't been playing too much. That, and the fact that it is on my external hard drive makes it very unportable to play on the mac laptop, which is the version I have.

Anyways, enough excuses for it taking so long to finish. Overall, it was an enjoyable expansion. I think I was a little spoiled though. I had played through the original campaign with both expansions installed, so I had access to all the prestige classes, spells, crafting, and cloaks, so there was nothing new for me there.

I had a character concept in mind, a halfling rogue/ranger who took advantage of two weapon fighting and sneak attack to deal more damage. Unfortunately, this didn't work out well on several fronts:

1. Because NWN 1 is based on the D&D 3.0 rules, weapons have size categories and using two weapon fighting as a small character meant using a small weapon in the main hand, and a tiny weapon in the off hand. This meant short sword and dagger for most practical reasons. But all the cool weapons are either longswords or double swords, all of which are two big for a small character to use.
   
2. The interlude and chapter 2 have tons of undead or creatures otherwise immune to sneak attacks. Add on top of that the interlude has a door that can only be opened by a Paladin as far as I could tell, and ranger is looking like a poor choice.
   
3. The skill implementation is poor, meaning keeping certain skills trained can't be done, even per the 3.0 rules. So I found myself wanting in certain skills that I would have wanted in my character concept.
   

Deekin the henchmen was the best of all of those available, as I didn't much care for the dwarf or the half-orc. If I were to play through it again, I would try it with one of them instead, but after experiencing their AI in Chapter 1, I was eager for a change in the interlude and chapter 2. But considering I've got plenty of other games available, I don't think I would play through this module again.

As has been said before, the ending was quite anticlimactic. After watching the end game cinematic for Final Fantasy IX, the end video for Shadows was horrible. Perhaps not a fair comparison, but considering the time frame, and that Final Fantasy came out in 2000, and SoU came out in 2003, it was a little sad. Also, even though I had the graphics turned up to the max, the game seems to be showing its age.

I'm thinking of skipping Hordes of the Underdark, which just seems to be an excuse for a high level campaign, and move on to Neverwinter Nights 2. Luckily I have the Mac version which is supposed to have fixed some of the major bugs from the PC version.

Bodak and Beholder

April 9th, 2010.

I'll just give a brief description of the battles, and then a small discussion.

Luckily, these weren't encountered together. Without a cleric, the undead Bodak seemed to pose a real challenge, even if it was alone. With damage reduction and energy resistance and immunity, it was quite an interesting monster. The save or die effect caused everyone to try to avert their eyes to circumvent the gaze attack, which nobody succumbed to. This was a random encounter that followed (Kobold, Desert), which actually made things interesting. They had camped near the nomadic kobolds, and it was their dying in the middle of the night that alerted the PCs to the Bodak's presence.

Once they got to the ruins, the next big battle was against a beholder. They had never fought a beholder before, and it was interesting how things turned out. When it came down to it, Kascannia the elf fighter made all 10 saving throws vs the eye stalks, which I'm certain she was thankful for. The arcane trickster was able to get two lightning bolts cast, which hurt the beholder the most.

So, my question to you is: what do you think of save or die effects? In this case, it was all save and no die. It could have gone the other way around, but for a group of level 12 PCs, I think a beholder in some ways doesn't pose much of a threat. And the damage reduction of the bodak was easily overcome by brute force. A group of either of them would have posed a more serious challange I think.

Manticores and You

March 12th, 2010

We stopped our last session just as the manticores were attacking, sending their spikey spikes of doom into the front line fighters, and the wizard casting obscuring mist in order to protect the entire group from the missiles.

This made the combat quite a bit more exciting in my opinion, as everyone had to stay inside the mist, forcing the monsters inside. The 20% miss chance due to concealment made melee combat a little longer, and let the druid's summoned monsters help a bit more than usual.

By the end of the combat with the four manticores which I gave 10 more hit dice (from 6 to 16), I decided to end it. While we could have progressed with the story, it was already later than I had hoped and I was already feeling tired.

On another positive note, the spaghetti and sauce I cooked up was pretty good. Perhaps next time we game we'll be back to our normal fair of pizza.

Gaming tomorrow

Well, we are continuing our Kalamar game tomorrow.

Even when I plan on doing a random dungeon delve, I like to have some things worked out in advance so that it goes smoothly, and I don't have to look up a bunch of stats in the middle of a game. However, I don't have time to do that. So, I've got a map, names of monsters that go in rooms, and a plot (*gasp*). So, the monster manual will be my friend.

I'll also be using the Fat Dragon Games paper models and the nifty ceramic walls I got from my secret santa last year. I thought about using dungeon tiles, but I couldn't find an easy way to incorporate them. I'll think I'll have a better chance to use them next time around.

Finished Final Fantasy IX

I finished Final Fantasy IX last night.

I'm glad to have finished it. I might come back to it later to try to beat two optional bosses: Hades and Ozma.

Here's the ending movie:

Still no roleplaying...but having fun!

Well, it's been a while but I think there will be roleplaying this Friday. Last Friday we played Ticket to Ride at work. I had originally gotten 10 people together, but several people were sick and two people had to change their lunch time to do some work, so it got whittled down to five.

We played with the new 1910 USA expansion I got and it was quite fun. We played with the 1910 rules, which meant most of our tracks were short and disconnected, and most people got extra tickets which was a change from our normal style of play.

I got 4th place, because I was blocked on one route and we ran out of time on another.

In other things I've been doing lately: Almost done with Final Fantasy IX! It's been about 2 and half years that I've been working on it, with 90 hours of game time, most of which was the card game while rocking Mr. Bebop to sleep. I'll probably finish the last two bosses to watch the ending, then go back and get the two optional bosses Ozma and Hades.

I got Ace Combat 5 and Final Fantasy X for Christmas so I won't be wanting for video games for a while. Also got a gift of $20 for turbine points in DDO, and I won 500 points on twitter for their Festivalt giveaway. So now I have plenty of points and not much time to play the game currently.

We've watched several movies recently, including Evan Almighty, The Maiden Heist, Julie and Julia, Wall-E, Coraline, Duplicity, The Proposal, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and I think I've missed one or two.

Ticket to Ride Europe

Well, one of my coworkers bought Ticket to Ride Europe this weekend, so it looks like we will be playing that on Friday instead of my USA edition.

And, another ordered the USA edition from Amazon, so it seems to be quite popular. Maybe Days of Wonder should give me a kickback or something?

Ticket to Ride

It turned out that we had a full group of people (five) last Wednesday to play Ticket to Ride at work. We didn't quite get a full game in as we ran out of time, so we had to call it a little early.

I brought it in again today at someone's request, and we played in the main break room. There seemed to be quite an interest in the game and a few people watched for a while. And I'll be bringing it again next week.

Overall it's quite a fun game! We might switch to Settlers of Catan if people grow tired of it.

Board Games

Last Sunday we played Settlers of Catan. Quite a good game...It's fun with 4 players. Haven't broken out the 5-6 player expansion yet, but hope to soon.

I took Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride to work during this short week. We played Ticket to Ride on Monday and Tuesday, and will probably play that again today, depending on how many people want to play.

It's a nice change of pace to play a board game during my lunch break at work.

To Dijishy

November 13th, 2009

Having recovered from the tomb of horrors and finding a credible report of the location of the lost tomb of Kruk-Ma-Kali, the group of adventurers traveled toward Dijishy, first by boat and then overland through the Elos desert.

On the way, they encountered a lone traveler, presumably a merchant, riding a pony. Unfortunately, he was attacked by flying, fiery beings.

His pony was attacked and knocked unconscious, and he was killed shortly after. But Aldoran used his bow to draw one of the two of them away, and it began approaching the group at full speed. It was killed quickly, and the other one was dispatched by Kascannia, who used her frost rapier and fighting ability to good effect.

Next Week

Haven't gamed much lately, except for computer gaming.

This Sunday, Settler's of Catan! We've got the 5-6 player expansion too, so that the 5 of us can play.

A week from today, should be playing Kalamar.

DDO

So, I won't go into it much here because talking about video games isn't anywhere near as fun as playing them, but I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons Online, ever since it went Free to Play (f2p).

I've added my xfire account information to the blog here, so you can just how much I have been playing it.



It's also on the right hand side.

Anyways, it's good considering that it does capture some of that PnP feel, and with less time available now to game face to face, this is a somewhat good alternative, especially since I mostly play with members of my PnP group anyways.

The end of HackMaster?

Friday, September 18th, 2009

We finished our previous HackMaster Basic game last week.

It went very well for the adventurers. Even though two kobolds went after the Mage, she countered with another scorch spell, killing the. The other continued the fight, but the mage's thick robes protected her.

The dwarven fighter eventually regained his feet, and helped the human thief dispatch the kobold leader. The Mage finished off the last kobold, holding her quarterstaff across his neck until he died of asphyxiation.

Well after the kobolds were dispatched, the cleric recovered from the original blow he received early in the fight. They gathered up the lead and glass jars they had been commissioned to find, and took the other items the kobolds had gathered as well.

Afterwards, they decided to investigate the cabin on the other side of the lake. En route, a kobold trap was sprung, dumping two hungry and annoyed snakes from an apple tree.

The thief killed one immediately, and the cleric knocked the other one senseless. They then continued on to the cabin, and found an elderly woman knitting on the porch.

She invited them in to stay the night and tended to their wounds, talking about her late husband, the daughter that visits once a month, and gossiped about the goings on in the area.

The adventurers left in the morning, and returned to the village of Vew. The villagers rejoiced that the kobolds had been dispatched, and Bellipar that his lead had been recovered. Unfortunately, the reward money was not with him, and they would have to accompany him to Frandor's Keep.

With that, our brief foray into HackMaster Basic is finished. Once Frandor's Keep is available, I'll buy it and review it.

One of our players now has scheduled time off on the second Friday of each month, so we will be gaming then, instead of our previous schedule of once every three weeks. Also, because of less game time, we will be returning to the Kalamar DnD 3.5 game exclusively for our Friday night group.

With great power...

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The group wakes up, having camped outside the house of Joseep the woodcarver. Having protected him from werewolves while he was suffering from belladonna poisoning, he was grateful for their assistance and wished them good luck on their travels.

Travelling during the day was uneventful. There were a few additional farms farther north of Joseep, including some cattle farms, but this eventually opened up into the Skarna plains. Some sparse woods were spotted here and there and Jelena and Raizix were able to get track some game.

That evening, however, proved to be more eventful. Raizix, during his watch heard a buzzing noise and alerted his companions at once. A swarm of 13 stirges quickly flew into the torch light.

Most that approached Raizix were killed straight away, but two landed on Jelena and one was dangerously close. Darwin dispatched them with bolts of magical energy, and Raizix cut in twain the remaining airborne stirge.

After returning to sleep, and then waking the next morning and breaking camp brought another surprise. A dozen riders on horseback were approaching their position, with weapons drawn and a menacing appearance. Raizix responded first by firing an arrow from his new longbow, and Jelena followed likewise. The range was not easily overcome however, and they both missed their targets.

Darwin didn't have a similar problem, and downed five riders and their horses with a fireball. All the horses were apparently dead, and all but one of the men was either killed outright or unconscious.

Reacting quickly, the remaining riders split up, moving left and right, with only the apparent leader of the group riding straight for them. Two of the riders slowed their horses and turned around to aid their fallen comrades.

Ember slowed the leader by causing the very grass to grab the ankles of his horse, slowing and eventually stopping it.

One of the rider, not wearing armor and clad in bright clothes shouts out over the din of battle and charging horses, "you'll pay for that, wizard!" and methodically shoots his longbow and Darwin, narrowly missing with each shot.

Two of the riders that were now in the lead were obviously not human in their appearance as they did not wear helmets. The group could make out orc like features in the face, and were reminded of the half-orcs that attacked them recently in Zoa that were in the wizard Daresh's employ.

Using arrow and spell, one of the half-orcs was killed at a distance, but the other made it to Raizix from the south-west only to be deterred in his attack by Deekin who commanded the warrior to flee, and in his haste to depart opened himself to a fatal attack.

At about the same time, a human approached the group from the south- east and announced, "Surrender yourselves and face the charges of crimes committed in Zoa!" with no response, he charged toward Jelena but his horse pulled up short before he could slash at her with his blade.

Darwin seeing that the riders who had turned back were approaching again, targeted the wounded but conscious man and his benefactor who had brought him up on his horse. This second fireball blast was lethal to him, but the other rider remained lucid and landed on the ground, not far from his now dead companion and horse.

The brightly clad man then shouts again, "Wait! We surrender!" He backs up his actions by throwing down his bow, and the remaining men do the same, save one.

"I'm not paying you to surrender! Attack them!" Realizing the futility and precariousness of the situation he was in, the rider turns his horse around and rides back south.

Raizix pulls the nearby rider from his horse and pulls up Darwin behind him onto it. Ember takes the mercenary towards the remaining group. The leader shouts out again, "the one on horseback isn't my man! Permission to tend to and aid my fallen comrades-in-arms?"

"Granted!" shouts out Raizix, spurring his new mount toward the remaining rider.

Darwin, not intending to wait, says, "slow the horse." Raizix complies, and shortly thereafter Darwin intones the words again to cause a small bead of fire to race towards the rider and erupt in a fiery explosion. The horse falls dead on the ground, and the rider quickly stands and continues running.

He eventually slows, choosing to face his opponents directly. Darwin casts another spell, causing the man to stop, unmoving.

Raizix disarms him, and then pins him on the ground. While atop of him, Darwin intones once again, and upon touching Raizix, causes him to grow to much larger proportions.

The man starts to move in a short time, and twists his head around to get a better look at both Raizix and Darwin. Spying Darwin out o the corner of his eye, he growls and attempts to break free of Raizix's grasp. Raizix begins punching him in the face, until he falls unconscious. He then ties him up, and he drags him back to the waiting combined groups.

"Who are you and why did you attack us?" asked Raizix of the unarmed and unarmored man.

"I am Treon and these are my men. We are from the mercenary guild of Zoa. We were hired by Xeff, the half-Orc over there to track you down and bring you to justice."

"What crimes did he allege we commit?" asked Raizix.

"He said that you freed several prisoners and left several guards dead in your wake."

"That couldn't be farther from the truth. Have you heard of the wizard Daresh?"

"Indeed I have, but I fail to see..."

"We have been attempting to stop Daresh and her quest for power. Even now she is amassing an army here in Skarna to attack Zoa and perhaps attempt to take the entire region. Xeff must have been one of her minions."

"Do you have any proof of this?"

"No, I don't, and I don't need to explain myself to one such as you. Gold is the only reason you need."

"That's not true. Me and my men aren't evil. We choose our contracts. We don't relish fighting or killing," Treon says, looking at Darwin. "So, are we your prisoners?"

"No, you may return to Zoa, but we will take the horses. What will you say when you get back?"

"Keep the horses. Xeff paid for them. When I return I will tell three widows that their husbands died under my command, and for that I am grievously sorry."

"If someone asks, we were headed east," says Raizix, handing the man a bag with 50 gold coins inside.

"If someone asks, I'll tell them to burn in the nine hells. We don't take kindly to being deceived. Farewell and good luck."

With that, Treon takes his men aside, and they make shallow graves for the three dead men and the horses. They then leave on foot, not once looking back.

The group then waits for the human to wake, intending to question him. He eventually awakes, and finds himself tied to a tree, and a hood over his head.

"Who sent you?" starts Raizix.

"Daresh, as if you didn't know."

"Where is she?"

"It doesn't matter. You can't stop her."

Raizix hits him on the side of the head with his armored fist. "I said, where is she?"

"Castle Triumph, to the far north, in Natfal."

"Now, do you look forward to death's sweet release?"

"Daresh will punish failure, even after death. No, death is no release."

"Very well," and Raizix nods to Ember, who draws her dagger against his neck, killing him almost instantly.

They begin to mount up, and Deekin joins Raizix on his horse. "Raizix? Deekin is concerned...Darwin is becoming scary. Deekin thinks it is the coin."

"Perhaps. But he's our only chance against Daresh."

"Just make sure the price isn't too high," warns Alafarus, the intelligent short sword hanging on Raizix's belt.

HackMaster Basic - What's your threshold of pain?

Friday, August 21, 2009

Two weeks prior to actually sitting down and playing HackMaster Basic we finished making two characters. One was a human cleric of the Guardian by the name of Gentle Geronimo. The other was an elven mage by the name of Bella.

The adventure, White Palette, Ivory Horns (available free from Kenzer & Company's website) was a good introduction to the game in my opinion. The game did get to a slow start, however, as the thief, cleric, and Mage didn't trust the painter and his description of the attack on the caravan. "who attacked it? Where? When?" While good questions for the would be journalist, an expectation that one person would hand a quest on a platter was a bit strange.

Opposed skill checks seemed to take some getting used to, as you add your percentile roll to your skill, instead of the regular roll under style my players are used to.

Combat works really well with the count up system, but as cautioned, means you have to pay attention...nobody is going to tell you when it's your 'turn' like in most other roleplaying games.

We didn't finish the last combat due to time constraints, but it wasn't looking too good for some people. The cleric, suffering from a frail physique, was thrashing in pain shortly after combat began. Even the dwarf was laid low due to pain, but not to the same degree as the cleric. The thief has awesome potential with backstabbing ability and the mage, while seemingly not powerful was able to deal large amounts of damage by avoiding to-hit rolls and ignoring damage reduction.

Overall, I like the system so far, though I might make a cheat sheet for 1, 19, and 20 on attack and defense.

Towards Haanex and Beyond

July 26, 2009

The group, after making their own coin of power, realize that being in or near a house with several bodies isn't a good idea. And if they didn't...

"Deekin thinks we should go. Bodies and the watch don't mix," says Deekin in his usual manner.

The group slinks away through alleys and side streets and make their way to the docks, knowing that their ship the Hyperion and Captain Wein would be waiting for them. They set sail and head toward Haanex, where their adventure began.

Shortly after leaving Zoa on the Hyperion, they find themselves sailing close to shore due to the winds making waves out on the bay too choppy. Ember and Jelena, the wood elf sisters, see a wagon that appears to have some trouble. Jelena describes what she sees, an everyone agrees to go investigate. They row to shore on a dingy, setting ashore a distance away.

"Let's not be caught unawares...everyone ready in case there's trouble? Good," says Raizix.

The group approaches cautiously, and see three bodies on the ground near the wagon that they couldn't see from the bay. One, wearing a robe and hat has a pool of blood underneath him, and two armored men share a similar fate. One of he armored men has spikes sticking through their helmet.

Then from the sky they see what attacked the wagon. Two manticores come flying down out of the sky, and fling a dozen spikes between the two of them at the group. Darwin, unprotected by armor and having minimal dodging ability is almost downed by the first volley. He responds ferociously, tapping into his new-found power and unleashes a fireball directly in the path of the lead manticore. Jelena shoots two arrows in quick succession, and then drops to the ground, looking for cover, along with Raizix and Ember.

Darwin soon joins them, but not by his choice. Another volley of spikes comes at him. A few hit home, and he falls to te ground, unconscious. Ember and Deekin rush to his aid, and Raizix takes a forward position, readying himself for the creatures should they fly close enough or land.

Darwin is quickly revived by Deekin's healing spells and conjures another aerial explosion. This one proves lethal to the lead manticore, which plummets to the ground. The other manticore lands, and approaches Raizix threateningly.

Raizix is ready for this, and charges with wild abandon, dealing a mighty blow. It appears that the manticore may fly off, but obviously angered at the death of it's companion and showing more than animal intelligence and emotion, it begins attacking Raizix.

Raizix, however, is up to the task and defends himself well. He counters, and between his sword blows and Jelena's arrows, it is quickly dispatched.

With the creatures dead, the group looks at the humans on the ground.
Inside the wagon, they see a more gruesome sight. A man and a women are inside, half mangled and half eaten, apparently by the manticores.

They check the bodies for any signs of identification, which is lacking, and take the several valuable gemstones from the robed figures pouch.

It doesn't take long for the group to recover on the ship, and they find themsleves sleeping at night. Raizix, sleeping in a cabin with Deekin is awoken by a screech and sudden pain on his chest. He awakes to find an almost ethereal creature hovering over him. He is buffeted again by wings, claws and teeth. Deekin awakes and begins screaming in terror and alarm.

The cries awaken Jelena, Ember, and Darwin, who begin running toward Raizix quarters.

Raizix, who had been sleeping unarmored but with his sword nearby, grabs it and begins cutting into the creature. Even though injured greatly, he hacks into it, killing it just in time for the others to witness it's destruction.

Deekin points out a note pinned to the creature, which he picks up and reads aloud.

"'Give up. You cannot hope to fight my growing power.'"

"Must be from Daresh. She must have meant for me to die," says Raizix. Everyone else nods their heads in agreement.

After that, it doesn't take long for the ship to reach Haanex. The town doesn't look much different from the last time they were there, except blue smoke is billowing from a tower in the center of town, which the group knows to be the home of Veoden the wizard and their original employer.

They enter the tower, and find the source of smoke is a scrying spell being cast by the wizard. Within a nearby mirror, the image suddenly shifts and lunges northward, settling on a castle. Inside the castle, they glimpse an image of Daresh, before the scrying spell is distrupted and ended prematurely.

Veoden congratulates the group on creating their own coin of power, but warns of it's corrupting influence. He wishes them luck and sends them on their way.

Heading northward toward the castle they glimpsed in Veoden's scrying, they soon reach a small, well kept hut. It's sunset, but no smoke rises from the chimney. Several weeds grow outside, which Ember recognizes as belladonna. Jelena recognizes wolf tracks, but doesn't think much of them.

"Perhaps we can take shelter here for the night. Let's see if anyone is home," says Raizix, as he knocks on the door.

There is no response. Jelena listens closely, and hears a slight moan of pain come from inside the hut. "I think someone is in there, and they sound hurt."

They decide to investigate. The door is locked and apparently barred, but they eventually get in. Inside, they see several carved wooden figures around the hut, and a back room that has a hanging cloth instead of a door. They hear another moan from behind the curtain.

"Be careful," warns Ember. "Belladonna is supposed to be a cure for lycanthropy. There might be a werewolf in there, or someone who will soon become one."

Jelena pulls back the curtain, and sees an old man lying in a bed, unconscious. There are more carvings in here as well, more intricate and detailed than in the other room. She looks closer, and checks his skin and body. She finds claw marks across his belly, and feels a fever.

"This man was scratched by a wolf, and took some belladonna, probably as a precaution. It's poisonous, but he'll live."

The man's eyes open suddenly. "Get out! They'll find you here, just like they got me. Werewolves...," he trails off. "Been after me for weeks. They attack at night...left...left... board..."

"Left board!" he screams before collapsing again.

Ember looks around the hut, and finds a loose floor board to the left of the fire place. She finds several thousand coins inside, and also a silver hammer.

Just then the howls of wolves can be heard in the distance. The howls are heard again shortly after, much closer this time. "He's in no shape to protect himself. We have to keep him safe," says Raizix, and everyone else agrees.

They close the door and bar it shut again as best they can. They take up defensive positions inside, preparing for the worst. It doesn't take long for a pack of wolves to come to the door. Unable to open the door or shatter it on their own, they stop their assault.

Just when they thought it was over, two humanoids with wolfish faces and bodies bust through the door and window, but everyone was ready for it. Deekin casts a spell, immobilizing one, while Raizix steps up to prevent them from making any headway into the hut. Jelena attacks with her bow, while Darwin and Ember cast spells amidst the battle. It doesn't take long for the werewolves go fall, and the surviving wolves retreat off into the surrounding land.

Curious as to where the werewolves came from, the group follows their tracks, while Ember remains behind to care for the man in the hut and protect him should the wolves return.

The path of the werewolves eventually leads to a dilapidated farmhouse. In the nearby stable they find two malnourished draft horses, and in the house they find a couple dozen silver coins.

They keep the coins, but give the horses to the man to help pay for repairs to his hut and get himself re-situated.

An unexpected addition

July 5, 2009

"I will come with you to help keep Halaan and the books safe, but I won't do anything that endangers Halaan," says Geolain the wizard.

"Of course. We appreciate your help," says Raizix.

The plan that Raizix, Jelena, Darwin and Ember had come up with was quite simple. Take the books to Seargent Soolie, get Halaan safe, and then take the books back by force.

Upon leaving the city of Zoa, Geolain uses a ring of invisibility to make himself invisible. "If they see me, they will suspect something immediately," he explains.

The group reaches the point they meet with Seargent Sollie the day before, and don't see anything unexpected.

Seargent Sollie is waiting with Halaan, and also with several others, most armed with bows and crossbows. He shouts out, "You, with the books! Bring them to me, alone!"

Raizix walks toward Sollie, with books in tow. He hands the bag with the books over, which Sollie opens. Apparently satisfied, he nods towards one of his men who is holding Halaan, who escorts him toward Raizix. Raizix takes him by the arm and begins losening his bindings.

"Once we get to everyone else, drop," he whispers to Halaan. Halaan nods and continues walking. A few seconds later, everyone springs to action. Jelena draws an arrow from her quiver and shoots at the nearest bowman in the trees.

All the others return a volley, while the one she shot at tumbles down from the tree, unconscious. Darwin and Geolain both unleash magical energies, with Geolain conjuring a lightning bolt aimed at the watch seargent and Darwin exploding a ball of fire on those closest to him.

It doesn't take long for all of the seargents men to be killed or left for dead, and Halaan is eager to get back to his forge and the unfinished coin. "Do you have the devil's blood?"

"Indeed we do, Halaan, indeed we do." They all return to Zoa, with Geolain taking the books of magic back with him to his tower.

Halaan gets right to work, but not minutes after he begins, there is a knock at the door. Raizix opens the door, sees half a dozen men with weapons, and quickly closes the door again, leaning against it.
"Help!" he yells, as the door opens slightly and then slams back closed again.

Jelena runs up and tries to hold the door as well, while Darwin and Ember assist Halaan.

The door is them busted off of it's hinges as the men outside force it open with a portable ram. Jelena steps back, and shoots one of the men, who quickly falls to the ground. Darwin causes bolts of pure magical force to slam into several of them, also knocking them to the ground, unconscious.

While they are fighting inside the building, Raizix and his kobold companion Deekin are facing more formidable opponents outside.

Two half-orcs with hide armor and double axes, two humans with chainmail and longswords, and two humans with banded mail and swords begin flanking the enterance to Halaan's forge.

Then, two crossbow bolts fly by Raizix's narrowly missing him. Deekin casts a spell, and the lead man is held immobalized. Raizix charges at him wildly, cutting deeply into his neck, causing him to fall. He continues his swing, and gives grevious wounds to the two other humans nearby.

Jelena and Ember quickly dispatch the other three on the ground, and Jelena uses her superior bowmanship to get at the crossbow snipers on the nearby rooftops.

Darwin, the only one still inside the building when Halaan finishes making the coin by using one of the unconscious men on the ground as a sacrafice, takes the finished alchemical item and feels a sudden surge of power, with new arcane pathways opening in his mind.

He steps outside, and sees everyone else outside, and also hears the city watch approaching. "Deekin thinks we should go now. City watch and dead bodies don't mix, methinks."

Raizix glances around and sees that the leader of the latest attackers had a strange glove and intracately crafted short sword. He grabs them before leaving, and their is an audible voice that says, "Ah yes. You will do."