Fire Elementals and You

Friday, April 24, 2009

Palladium Fantasy

The group had just returned through the doorway in the hill, being chased by a horrific being.

"It's too dark. I can't see. Can someone provide a light?" asks Melkior.

Terra begins chanting, and a small globe of light appears close by. A brief moment later a fire elemental appears, glowing with an unearthly flame, bathing the entire corridor in light.

"What that?" asks Melkior, with a bit of trepidation.

"He's a fire elemental. I summoned him," replies Atlas.

"Oh. Fine," says Melkior, attempting to be unaffected but looking askance at the elemental.

Atlas sends the elemental ahead to scout and provide light. After a short distance, Melkior, Jade, and Terra recognize the area. A straight corridor with worked stone goes for a distance, where it them meets with unworked caverns that twist and wind. They eventually reach a ladder that goes for a distance upwards towards the hatch that they had entered into previously.

Atlas dismisses the elemental, as it would not be able to traverse the ladder without danger to others. Melkior goes up the ladder first, and the hatch easily opens for him, unlike the first time through from the other side where it was very difficult. He looks around briefly, and then assists Jade, Terra and lastly Atlas up through as well.

"Last time we were here, there was a black, viscous liquid with malignant intent. We should get out of here lest it return. The only question is, which way?"

"There is a fire 20 miles to the north, perhaps we should head in that direction?" says Atlas.

"What? How do you know that...never mind. It's not important. North is good, it should lead us out of the howling lands sooner than any other direction."

The group travels for a few hours, remaining on guard, and uneasy. The fierce winds are disrupted only by the large boulders and stones which cause an eerie howl as the wind wraps around them. They eventually get close to the source of fire according to Atlas, and Jade approaches alone to investigate.

What she sees is somewhat surprising. She sees a large bonfire with a small pile of wood nearby. There is a small bag on the ground, with something obviously inside. There are also four horses hobbled a short distance away.

Jade looks around, suspecting a trap, yet approaches the bag nonetheless she opens it up, and inside is a piece of parchment on it. She unrolls it, but is unable to read what is written upon it. She walks unceremoniously back to the group, and hands the parchment to Atlas.

"A gift for you. There is food and supplies in the saddlebags. Good luck," says Atlas, reading aloud. "That's all it says."

"Well, we have an unexpected patron. The question is who and why," says Melkior. "Though I suspect I might know both." Melkior muses to himself. The bonfire was smokeless and too far away to provide smoke in the first place, but was a beacon for Atlas. We were supposed to find something to help us according to Tim the wizard in the howling lands. However, Doreen also knew something of this, but how much is uncertain. The rune weapon that belongs to Jade is also a possible 'something' but would not have lead us to the bonfire.

As Melkior thinks to himself, the group travels mostly in silence northwards, back to civilization and out of the howling lands.

An indignant cleric finds a new master

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Kalamar

Sorry for the late post. This session was about a month ago.

"What have you done?!" exclaims Deekin, surveying the scene. He begins waving his hands and chanting, and then points at a nearby female. Her wounds close up and she stops bleeding in an instant. He repeats this two more times, and then moves closer to those with more serious injuries. Several become conscious under his ministrations, but some remain still.

"Now they will live. Deekin wants to know why Raizix would attack defenseless women and mothers!" He says accusingly to Raizix.

"The dragon Fzen'nal, your master, wanted them killed. Do you not want to do his bidding?" says Raizix in response.

"Master wants Deekin to do many things. He tells Deekin to jump off cliff. Does Deekin jump? No. Master pushes him off cliff. Master is evil, but Deekin, not so much. Deekin...Deekin thought you were different!" Deekin sobs. "Deekin thought you were mighty heroes, not murdering murderers!"

"Oh, alright Deekin. We'll do it your way. What do you want us to do?" says Raizix.

"Maybe, maybe scare them to exit? We must find exit, and then get them to leave. Master not care if they is gone or they is dead.

So the group proceeds to do exactly that. They find a hole to the surface that the mites must have used to sneak into the cave complex. They scare all the mites into leaving, at least those that don't attack them outright, impaling themselves on the groups weapons. They then close the door. They search everywhere for the dragon's stolen treasure and search the mites too to make sure they don't take anything out of the cave.

They then return to the dragon, and Raizix suggests the Deekin return the treasure to get back in the Fzen'nal's good graces.

"Master, we have recovered your treasure!"

"That is good, Deekin. Now, what was it that you wanted, Blue Dragon's Breath?" says Fzen'nal. He snatches the iron baton from Darwin and an evil gleam enters his eyes. He opens his mouth and breathes lightning onto the baton. After a short time, he returns the blackened baton to Darwin. "You all may leave. Deekin, attend me."

"Um, Master, Deekin was thinking,"

"That's something novel," whispers Darwin to his companions.

"Deekin was thinking, maybe, just maybe, Deekin could go with them, to, um, ensure they don't tell where you are at Master! And also, to make sure they don't take anything in your great domain!"

"Yes, Deekin, you may go with them. Your incessant propensity to refer to yourself in the third person has grown tiring. Leave, before I change my mind and decide to roast you for an appetizer."

"Oh, thank you Master! Dee..We will be leaving right now." Deekin runs ahead of the group, not exactly trusting to Fzen'nal's generosity. The others follow close behind.

"I wonder if the guides are still outside. We haven't been gone that long, so they should still be there," says Raizix. Everyone then hears a shout and commotion from outside.

"I think they are still there and they just met Deekin," says Ember. Everyone picks up the pace to catch up.

"Uh, Deekin is a nice, kind, benevolent Cleric of the Shimmering One and does not wish or bring you any harm?" Deekin says to the four guides assembled outside.

"He's with us. Just ignore him. Let's go," says Raizix.

It's an uneventful trip back to the village of Ejja-Vonan, where they are celebrated as heroes. The guides are reunited with their families, and their is a large feast. The next morning, the group leaves, and the small fishing boats accompany them out.

The group arrives back in Zoa, and return to Halaan's forge. As they approach, they see blue smoke in the distance. As they get closer, they see the smoke is coming out of the chimney of Halaan's forge.

Halaan is quite pleased to see them, and asks them to return at midnight as he will need there help. While they wait, they return to Geolain and ask about the devil's blood. Geolain says he hasn't located it yet, but should have tracked it down by tomorrow. He says he will see them tonight at Halaan has asked for his help as well.

So the group returns before midnight where they have a small sampling of food, but Halaan does not permit anyone to drink.

Halaan, with the assistance of Geolain and the group then casts spells on the coin, using the latest ingredient of Blue Dragon's Breath to imbue it with power. Once finished, they hear someone scurrying away. Ember rushes out the door, and throws a dagger at the figure scurring away. She misses, but Fang and Amatarasu rush after.

Raizix rushes after, and knocks the figure out. They drag the unconscious body back to Halaan's, and put him in a closed room on the second floor. Deekin brings him to consciousness, and they begin to ask him questions.

They get some information, but nothing truly useful from Refro, the human rogue. The Sentinels of the True Way have their eyes of Halaan, and will use the latest information to incriminate him in deviltry and witchcraft. Despite the groups protestations, he isn't convinced. With some clever work by Darwin, they convince him that remaining silent is in his best interest. They release Refro a distance away from Halaan's forge.

This was a particularly fun session, as I got to introduce Raizix's henchman Deekin, and there was much more in character interaction. I'm looking forward to future sessions.

Delayed Posting

Sorry for the delayed posting. I'm slightly behind right now, with a post for Kalamar 3 weeks old now, plus a game of Palladium Fantasy from last Friday. Kalamar won't be playing for a little bit because two of the players are in Yosemite.

I did have an excellent 3-day weekend last week for my wife's and my 5-year anniversary.

I hope to have the game posts up by the end of this week.

Ships Cross in the Night

Friday, March 27th, 2009

On Friday, we returned to the RIFTS campaign that we had put on hold in order to get back to Palladium Fantasy.

We had left the protagonists attempting to leave by helicopter, when several passengers and crew collapsed to the ground. Apparently the pilot was affected as well, and the helicopter quickly descends and crashes from a height of 100 feet.

Two of the ‘armadillo skunk apes’ run up almost immediately after the helicopter crashes, trying to get in the main side door. Luckily, the rail gun mounted on the side took up some room, and Carter and Maxell were already situated on either side of the gun.

Carter used the rail gun attached to his SAMAS suit to begin shooting the one right in front of him, while Maxwell used his coalition laser rifle to blast the other. Veras grabbed a large laser rifle from an unconscious crew member, and one of the crew used the helicopters rail gun.

It didn’t take long to completely obliterate the slow moving creatures. After a few minutes of checking for damage from both the previous attack inside the cabin and the recent attack, the helicopter took off once again, heading toward Saint Didacus.

Upon arrival, Maxell checked his mission packet, and determined where he was to rendezvous. The crew of the helicopter said they would escort the civilians into the city proper and would also get the hazard pay for Carter.

They traveled for about three miles by foot, which only took about an hour or so. On the way, they didn’t see many people, but those they did exhibited common characteristics. Everyone seemed lethargic, with dark circles under their eyes. Their skin was tight and drawn, and their movement was subdued.

They eventually reached a street with two large buildings across from each other. One was a concrete, square building rising several dozen feet into the air, and the other was a conglomeration of structures connected to each other, with several landings on it.

As they walk into the main square, Veras gets a message on her PDA.

From: Mantis
To: Striker
Glad you could make it in such short notice. Get out of there, now.

Veras decides to continue on, following the road between the two buildings, launching into a fast run. This definitely gets Carter’s and Maxwell’s attention.

One of the crew turns to Carter and says “The boss is in here. I’ll take you in, and you can get your money.” At the same time as he is going toward the northern building, a man in a business suit walks outside and stops at the steps leading up to it. “Zig?”

“That’s me,” says Maxwell, recognizing his codename. The man in the suit begins to walk toward Maxwell, when suddenly there is a blast from the ground floor of the building he was in.

It seems to be a shaped blast, as it continues out of the building, blasting into the crew member, the man in the suit, and the civilians, essentially vaporizing them. Luckily Carter was in his SAMAS suit and Maxwell was in MDC armor and didn’t die in the blast.

Carter flies up into the air to avoid the majority of the blast, and Maxwell tumbled backwards with the blast, attempting to mitigate it.

Maxwell looked around, and saw on top of the other building a juicer with their signature assassin rifle starting right at him.

Where running is the better part of valor

We played Palladium Fantasy on March 13th, a month after our previous session, which means we played on Friday the 13th two months in a row.

After dodging spells from Atlas and Terra, the monstrosity seemed slowed down, as if catching it's breath. Jade hits it again squarely with Vagan's Hook. Atlas then sends some more blasts of fire into the body of the creature.

It quickly moves to retaliate, hitting Jade with one tentacle and narrowly missing Melkior with two. Melkior charges after sidestepping the blows with his wolfen sized battle axe, and calls on the power of Isis to smite this foe. Terra follows up this attack with a fire spell of her own.

Jade begins backing away from the creature after Atlas says he's going to try to stop it with a wall. The creature then slams into Melkior, his only nearby adversary. Melkior, drained after his previous attack, tries to ready himself for his next attack, and begins to stand.

Just as Melkior gains his feet, the creature swipes at him with another tentacle. Melkior backflips out of the way, putting some distance between himself and the creature, and narrowly avoids being hit. Just as he lands on his feet, he is hit from behind by a blast of fire from Terra. He is flattened by the force, and glance up to see the creature ready to grab him.

Just in time, a wall of ice appears inches from Melkior, blocking him from the creature. Melkior stands, and with a brief second looks closely at the creature through the thick sheet of ice. It like nothing he has ever seen or heard of before. He decides it is better to leave now and try to fight this thing in a more advantageous terrain. He grabs his spear and heads toward the others.

Atlas says he can make everyone invisble if they are near him, so everyone goes toward him, except one. The creature begins to bash at the wall, and as Melkior passes Terra, she draws her sword and swipes at him, missing him completely. As soon as Melkior reaches Atlas, they and Jade become invisible.

Terra continues to attack wildly, and Melkior sees that her face is completely void of emotion or intelligence. He assumes she's been possesed, and tries to think of a way to stop her. The three invisible people, forced to stay togeather gather their dropped possessions first, and then wait for Terra to approach.

As Terra raises her sword arm to make a downward strike, Melkior steps in and applies pressure on her upper inner arm, allowing her sword to fall against him. He then quickly places his foot behind hers and swipes her feet out from under her, causing her to fall forward. She lands, and says "Um, sorry about that. Thanks."

The four of them, now invisible and in control of the faculties, travel down the path as quickly as possible. After the invisibility spell runs out, Terra casts a similar spell on everyone. They reach the doorway that they entered this land just as they had left it. However, the surrounding land seems to have been changed drastically. Where once the grass was green and lush it is brown and dying. It is as if the land had been blighted for decades in the course of an afternoon.

Terra attempts to open the door, and stuggles against it, but it finally opens. Jade asks Vagan's Hook, "ready to take a trip?" It responds, "Lead on." Jade jumps through the doorway, followed by Melkior and then Atlas. The door begins to forcefully close behind Terra, who allows it to close right behind her, forcing her through the doorway.

Player Note: So technically, this is where the group began about 5 months ago, and where we left off several years ago. Except we now have a rune weapon and a warlock.

In which the group decides to play exterminator

The first thing we did before starting the game proper was to level up.

• Raizix took a 6th level of fighter (Leadership, Weapon Specialization)
  
• Darwin took a 6th level of sorcerer (Greater Spell Focus, Fireball) - Familiar Brisby
  
• Jelena took a level of rogue (1d6 sneak attack, Weapon Focus Longbow) - Wolf Amaterasu
  
• Ember took a level of rogue (2d6 sneak attack, two weapon fighting) - Dog Fang
  

After killing the gnolls, the guides lead the four companions towards the mountains, which were easily visible. In the side of the mountain was a large entrance, only about 10 feet up off the ground. In front of the entrance was the armor and remains of a human.

The body appeared badly burned and weathered, and there was a marking on the shield which the group did not recognize. The teeth appeared to have exploded inside the skull. For all appearances, this appeared to be a victim of the dragon.

The group decided to rest the night, but not very easily, realizing that they were quite possibly right outside of a dragon's lair. In the morning, the guides think better of entering the cave mouth, but agree to watch the camels and belongings of the group.

After climbing up and into the cave, they only had to travel a short distance to find a vast cavern, filled with the dragon and his horde. The dragon does not appear pleased, but listens to their impassioned plea for his assistance in fighting against Daresh the wizard. He eventually agrees if they kill interlopers in his cave.

When the dragon leaves, these small creatures make off with his coins and treasure. He kills the ones he can catch, but they are too salty for his taste. He says if the group will kill them and return his stolen treasure, he will give them what they seek. Silver coins, gems, a golden snuff box and a platinum cup are what the dragon wants returned to him.

He instructs a Kobold cleric named Deekin (I'm currently playing Shadows of Undrentide and couldn't pass this up) to show them where the vermin enter. The group convince Deekin to assist them in finding the treasure and vermin, and that he can curry favor with his master by returning it himself. Deekin agrees.

So the group enters the narrow caverns, which are at most 5 feet wide, and 4 foot tall. Nobody can use large weapons, and they can't fight abreast. They first encounter a group of four of the things, called mites, which drop into their midst. Fighting in the corridor makes things difficult, but the group quickly kills them.

They come across another small group and dispatch them as well. Then they decide to let Fang take the lead and begin tracking them by scent. He finds two unarmed females cowering in a small alcove. They don't move, apparently afraid of the larger humanoids. After Raizix bodily grabs one and shoves her down the corridor, they both run to the west and north. The group follows, to see where they go.

They reach an area where they can stand up and move around much better, but is crammed full of mites. More than half are female, and about a dozen are holding young in their arms. One mite is sitting on a makeshift throne of wood, wearing a crown and admiring gems in his hands. He screams out as the group enters, and what males are in the room draw weapons and approach. the floor is covered in thousands of silver coins, apparently belonging to the dragon.



Before anyone can move, however, Raizix runs in the room, drawing his sword, and cutting them all down, not discerning between male or female, mother or maiden. He kills more than half of mites, leaving only the king and one male, and four females alive.

Ember and Fang charge the king, with Ember plunging a dagger into his chest, and Fang going for his neck. Jelena uses her bow and kills the last remaining male. Raizix them intimidates the remaining females, and forces them to leave the room. They take as many of the infants as possible, but quite a few are left in the room.

They search the room, and find some additional treasure: a golden snuff box, plus two gems, in addition to the three sapphires that the Mite King had.

DM Note: Why, oh why did Raizix run into a room and just try to kill everything?

A slight gaming delay

The plan was to play either Rifts or Palladium on Saturday, but one of our players had to work Saturday and early Sunday morning. Add on top of that Daylight Savings Time, and gaming was not really possible.

But the rest of us still got together and played Settler of Catan. Other games for consideration were Rummikub, Ticket to Ride, Age of Renaissance, and various others. Settlers was the shortest of all of them, and we thought if it didn't take too long, we could get a second, possibly different game in.

We only played one game as we got started kind of late, but it was a good one.

We've rescheduled the game to this coming Friday, and decided to play Palladium Fantasy.

On Sunday, we did play D&D 3.5 Kalamar, which will be in the next blog post.