# Defenders of Daybreak, The Early Years.



## Sialia

Here follow some excerpts from the Travel Journal of Arcade Deltarion, the Memoirs of Sister Cadrienne, and the Diverting Anecdotes of Dylrath Birdhouse. It is hoped that others who recall the early years of the Defenders of Daybreak will feel free to add their commentaries as well.


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## Bandeeto

From the Journal of Arcade Deltarion – High Mage of Gaunt, regarding the adventures of the Defenders of Daybreak

The group assembles for the first time:
    At the Inn of the Flaxen Manticore, I met Cadrienne (that cleric of Morphat who I’m always running into at the spell components shop) and Tagkris Crimson (ranger/cleric of Death) to listen to a new bard in town named Nolin. After getting peeved at me for over-tipping for an elven song, Nolin suggested that we might want to join him and the dwarf at the bar Grundo (a Battlerager) in a quest for gems thought to be found up the Gloam River in a glade where it was always winter.

    After woofing my cookies when the dwarf uncorked his ale, I determined to show myself in a better light and agreed almost immediately.  I may have also had too much of my favorite drink, Griffon Grog.  I sent an urchin back to the farm to deliver a note and get my adventuring equipment while my adoptive grandfather Ortigal (a Transmuter) was asleep, and spent the night with Nolin.  He is from Farin.  Given to introspection and black moods. The next day we set off, picking up Tagkris at his cottage.  He is a little impetuous and not overly respectful, but dependable and a nice guy.  I picked some snortwort to ward off the dwarf's stench.  

    We met Tom-Tom Badgerclaw from Rhymeburrow Shire, and his bodyguard Maddoc of Oursk and they joined us on our journey. Tom-Tom seems to be very good at throwing things and making chemicals.  Cooks with too much cinnamon, adds it to everything. He has agreed to teach me about locks. Has a fixation about squirrels and wants to kill and wear them.  His uncle Baylock Grithamper is missing.  For some strange reason he thinks that Arcade should wear pink bunny slippers.

    Tagkris debates philosophy with Cadrienne constantly.  She seems taken with him.


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## Bandeeto

From the Journal of Arcade Deltarion

On the way to Winter’s Glade:
    We met a small boy named Michael who informed us that his friend Frolic, apparently a faerie dragon, has been missing for two weeks....

... we found Michael and Frolic's magical purple ball, and were attacked by creatures known as tasloi overnight.  The next day we found their cavern.  All the tasloi were in a strange state induced by the "euphoria" breath weapon of the faerie dragon. Tagkris, Nolin, and I approached under a white flag, and the tasloi treacherously rose up and threw spears at us.  (Cadrienne, thinking perhaps that we were still trying to be friendly,  handed one of the spears back, butt-first, and was stabbed.)  After defeating them we rescued Frolic, getting breathed on for our pains....


...we broke open an iron door releasing an undead dwarf that we first turned, then killed, then burned, then killed again (!), finally putting his dust into several separate glass vials and putting him back in his tomb. In the tomb we found four scrolls, including a history in dwarven of how Grumsted Nightforger had betrayed his clan and been imprisoned in here.  

    We collapsed the cavern entrance, just in case.


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## Piratecat

It does indeed mean throwing up. Grundo was... sweaty... and Arcade was a sheltered, delicate sort of fellow. Grundo also liked to drink "Gutshaker," a drink made from raw alcohol, beer, sour goat's milk and other mysterious ingredients.  It wasn't exactly palatable, but it DID leave an impression on you!

I remember that first adventure: "Drake," from Dungeon magazine. I thought Drake was a dumb name for a fairie dragon, and changed to to Frolic. It worked really well; the delightful fun of the fairie dragon was a nice counterpoint to the dark and twisted evil of the pathetic tasloi and the undead dwarf.  Cadrienne giving the tasloi back its weapon (a morningstar, I seem to remember, not a spear; I remember her holding it by the spikes) was the best moment of the whole game!  Where were the sadistic power players I used to game with? Not here, that's for sure.

I also remember being scared as hell when starting it. I hadn't DMed for years, and wasn't sure if I could carry it off. I felt better after that first game; we all had fun (except perhaps for Maddoc, who left after a few sessions), and there were no real rules squabbles.  More importantly, the group meshed well, and it made for a good start.

- Piratecat


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## Piratecat

*Nolin's version of Arcade's Diary:*

"Dear Diary,

Nolin still cuter than me. 

Still not noble.

Other mages still snubbing me. Perhaps a familiar would understand me as these fellows can not?"


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## Bandeeto

Definitely a spear P'Cat. I'll scan in and email you the map from the encounter.  It shows the barricade which the spear-wielding tasloi were hiding behind. I noted in the journal that Arcade Color Sprayed the lot of them with devastating effect. 

Of note, Arcade accidentally Color Spray'ed Alix several times over the years. Ooops.

------------------------------------------
Arcade's version of Nolin's Diary

"Dear Diary,

I bet no one in the party is as miserable as I am.

Not famous yet.

Well... perhaps famous as a philanderer.  Hmmmm."


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## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal, covering part of the Winter’s Glade Adventure.  

    After leaving the tasloi, we traveled through the forest for a few days before meeting a wood elf named Sulfanas.  Wonderful experience.  There are so few elves in Rampart.  (Nolin snarled and was as unpleasant as possible the whole time.)  

    Sulfanas told us that a Lady of the Wood was somehow involved in the mystery of the glade....

...found the entrance to a series of underground chambers inside a cave within the glade.  Appears to have been a temple of some kind.  It’s freezing.  The floors are covered with ice....

...discovered the diary of a half-elf named Raind. He describes the steady decline in temperament of Sollers Vestius, the elven mage who had employed him.  Vestius became moody, and began committing evil acts.  Raind seems to say that Vestius turned to the worship of Imbindarla.  Cult was thought to have been eradicated centuries ago, after the sack of a temple of Eris (Goddess of Healing).  The last entries are dated Toraz 12, 230 years ago....

...there are frozen skeletons everywhere....

...a riddle carved into the wall near the trap door. 

“Spear of magic 
Summer’s bane
Friend of snow but
Son of rain
Pointing down or plunging deep
In Winter’s Heart life’s blood will seep

I fought the fiends, the wood’s half-men
I tried to grow above my ken
I failed somewhat, I have been cursed
To end my pain, a hardened thirst

I challenge all to walk this way
Your lives will pass
Your bones will stay.”

    The descent awaits us....


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## Piratecat

It was en route to this adventure that the PCs are ambushed by the bard/confidence man "Fallane Deepleaf." Up in a tree, Fallane introduces himself grandly and demands the PCs' money. They refuse, Grundo hits him with a thrown warhammer, and in a fit of pique Fallane casts _sleep_ on all of them.  No save... Whump! Every single PC falls asleep except for Maddoc. Fallane demands that Maddoc drop his sword, Maddoc refuses and takes a swing - and fumbles horribly, throwing his own sword into the nearby river. While Maddoc dives into the river to look for it, Fallane merrily proceeds to loot everyone except for Nolin, who unbeknownst to me happens to be carrying most of the party's cash at the time.

--> It would be a beautiful in-game explanation to say that way back then I already knew "Fallane" (Eritain) was actually Nolin's half-brother. It'd also be a lie!  The truth is that I thought I had asked everyone how much money they had, and I simply missed KidCthulhu - so Nolin never got robbed. It made a nice plot hook, though, so we ran with it.  Fallane was my first repeating NPC, never hurting the PCs but always making life interesting for them. Lots of fun, and it gave the group someone to really hate.  

"The Winter's Glade" was also a Dungeon adventure, one which I modified a bit. I remember undead satyrs attacking the group, and a nice sense of loss as the elf fell under a curse.  This was a good adventure; you'll like the denouement. 

Interesting; I abandoned my unique month/day names ages ago. How'd the name for a month end up as the name for my God of Murder?!? I never noticed that before.


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## KidCthulhu

Piratecat said:
			
		

> *Interesting; I abandoned my unique month/day names ages ago. How'd the name for a month end up as the name for my God of Murder?!? I never noticed that before. *




Well, they say January is the cruelest month.


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## Jobu

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *I noted in the journal that Arcade Color Sprayed the lot of them with devastating effect.
> Of note, Arcade accidentally Color Spray'ed Alix several times over the years. Ooops.
> *




This tendency of Arcade's to Color Spray party members is the begining of what we called "Maneuvers".  We had them numbered and would call them out before certain things happened in combat.  When Arcade was about to cast Color Spray he would call out Maneuver 1 and the group would know to close thier eyes.  I still have the whole list but maybe we should wait till they pertain to the story.  
Like the maneuver that involves throwing Dilly to the monster and fleeing - my personal favorite.


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## Sialia

Ah yes. Throw Dilly to the monster and flee.

Clever, brave Tao. Who never successfully saved versus fear based attacks.

While this may have seemed like a great plan at the time, it bears mentioning that the finger that got permanently severed the last time Tao tried that maneuver _was_ the ring finger of Dilly's left hand, which she later had some use for. Pity she was unable to locate it in her hour of need.

Ironic, don't you think?

In any case, for those of you just tuning in, Dylrath didn't show up until much, much later. I played Cadrienne in these early games, and was not present for every episode as I was living in NYC at the time and only got to Boston occasionally.

Bandeeto gets all the credit for these first few stories.

I'm holding off on delivering my anecdotes until Bandeeto reaches a part of the chronology where I was a more active participant. Apart from gossipping about the parts of the current story that I do recall. 

I _was_ there when the Tasloi attacked, and I _did_ give them back their spear, but I swear I thought they had accidentally dropped it. They were pretty stoned on faerydragon breath at the time. I didn't think they were going to be able to put an attack run together in that condition, but I guess they took one look at how green we were and made about the same call on us.


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## Dinkeldog

KidCthulhu said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Well, they say January is the cruelest month. *




Actually, KC, 







> I.  The Burial of the Dead
> 
> April is the cruelest month, breeding
> Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
> Memory and desire, stirring
> Dull roots with spring rain.
> 5	Winter kept us warm, covering
> Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
> A little life with dried tubers.


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## KidCthulhu

April is the cruelest month, breeding 
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing 
Memory and desire, stirring 
Dull roots with spring rain. 
5 Winter kept us warm, covering 
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding 
A little life with dried tubers. 


Doh.  I misquote.  But if you live in Boston, you may beg to differ.

I'm loving this thread.  It's so very "young indiana jones".  I guess when you become this popular, suddenly everyone wants to hear about your adolescent foibles and follies.

BTW, the bunny slippers are a long running party joke which Bandeeto isn't going to mention unless he has to.  His adventuring name, Arcade Deltarion, was chosen as a tribute to a famous mage of the past, Arcadine Incantrix. *cough-fanboy-cough*  Nolin had heard a story that Arcadine had a rabbit familiar.  Knowing that Arcade wanted to copy his hero in ALL things, we thought he'd appreciate a rabbit (or two) of his own.  Adventuring is dangerous for small woodland creatures, so we thought the slippers would be safer for all concerned.

At one point Nolin and Tom-Tom contracted with a merchant to make a gross of the damn things.  Arcade is still finding them occasionally.  I know I hid two pair in his tower the last time I was there.  And I gave his child a pair as a birth present.


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## Sito Rotavele

Jobu said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Like the maneuver that involves throwing Dilly to the monster and fleeing - my personal favorite. *





Maneuver #5, as I recall.  #4 was "Tao charging through the party."  The tough part was that we called it whther she was charging or fleeing.


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## Bandeeto

I should point out that the Maneuver list was absolutely essential in saving our hides several times.  It permitted us to surprise our enemies on more than one occasion, and provided teamwork that made up for the abysmal failure by several party members to follow the attack plans.

The definitive list as of the time Arcade left the Defenders:

Maneuver 1: Darkness spell
Maneuver 2: Blinding effect
Maneuver 3: Drop to the ground
Maneuver 4: Tao about to charge
Maneuver 5: Feed Dilly to the monster and flee (unofficial)
Maneuver 6: Someone about to crash the door
Maneuver 7: Cover the ears (sound-based attack)
Maneuver 8: Nolin about to try something strange
Maneuver 0: Point blank explosion about to go off (take cover)


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## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Winter’s Glade

    It is well that Tom-Tom looked before he leaped. The octagonal cavern at the bottom of the shaft was covered with icy stalagmites. We made it down without many mishaps. I shall have to practice descending a rope. Side still aches....

...never cared for spiders before, less so now. Being knocked unconscious is most unpleasant.  Thank goodness for clerics....

...apparently Nolin hates giant rats more than I hate giant spiders. He went nearly insane trying to get away. Suspect a traumatic encounter in his past. Grundo continues to prove his worth in combat. It was Maddoc’s turn to be wounded nearly unto death, as several rats tried to burrow into his chest.  

    Just as we finished with the rats we passed back through the archway and were attacked by 5 goblins with polearms in the corridor.  They definitely were not there (!) a few minutes before. I managed to take one down with a dagger, but when they charged things got messy.  Tom-Tom took a single shot to the belly, dropping him.  I had already been badly wounded by the rats, and Nolin and Maddoc were both out of commission. Needing a distraction, I managed to wrest away a pole arm and slipped by them on the wall while Cadrienne saw to Tom-Tom. 

    I then had to flee down the corridor with a slavering goblin in hot pursuit.  Ran for the octagonal cavern and managed to slide to the ground horizontally across the room entrance just as the goblin arrived.  As planned, he tripped and landed hard on a stalagmite, impaled.  Luck is with me.  

    By the time I got back to the party Grundo had gone berserk and finished the other 3 goblins.  The dead goblins seem to vanish.  Are they illusions?  

    It’s a good thing we have so many tinderboxes (took some dandies from the tasloi), as we really needed a fire and some rest....


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## Bandeeto

_Picture the scene.

Nolin is in the far corner trembling from shock, horrified by the recent presence of so many rats.

Grundo is methodically getting drunk on Gutshaker.

Maddoc is on the floor with a gaping wound in his chest, gasping for air, being ministered to by Tagkris who is humming a paean to his Goddess, asking Her not to take this warrior to Her breast...just yet.

The rats, like the spiders before them, have disappeared in death, leaving the party mystified.

Tom-Tom, Cadrienne and Arcade turn back through the archway to return to the bivouac in the shattered armory, planning to light a fire.  Arcade has 1 hp, and has already used both of his spells while fighting the rats.

As they enter the corridor they come face-to-face with a snarling group of five goblins, polearms extended at the ready.  They seem to have appeared out of thin air.  Arcade flings a dagger into the throat of the nearest goblin, which drops to the floor spitting blood and vanishes.  The 1st level party has never heard of Monster Summoning, and decides that these creatures must be illusions.  

Disbelieving fails, as a goblin thrusts a polearm into Tom-Tom’s gut and drops him to -2 hp.  Cadrienne turns to work on Tom-Tom, leaving Arcade to face the four remaining goblins.

Arcade briefly considers fleeing, but realizes Cadrienne and Tom-Tom would be impaled in seconds.  He grabs the polearm of the goblin closest to the wall, takes it from his grasp (with a 1 on a 2nd Ed. STR check) and slips past them against the wall, sprinting down the corridor.

Chaos ensues as the goblins become entangled trying to turn with their polearms in the narrow hallway.  The disarmed goblin gives chase, claws and teeth bared.

The other goblins finally get their weapons pointed towards Arcade as Grundo, spiked helmet lowered and bellowing a dwarven battlecry, crashes into them from the other direction.  The goblins succumb...messily._

I hadn't enjoyed a combat so much in years of gaming.  You can't believe how pleased I was that the stalagmite trick worked.


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## Pillars of Hercules

*Woohoo*

Arcade, you are a credit to mages everywhere!  Way to use that high INT to beat the foe even without spells.  What a tale!

Love the manuevers as well.


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## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Winter’s Glade Continued

...found master bedroom and library. Also found what must have been the laboratory. Sadly, everything is destroyed, as if in a fit of rage.  Were attacked again by goblins, but this time I Slept all of them and Grundo dispatched them. Again the bodies disappeared. After some thought, I believe that they must be summoned creatures....

...Cadrienne seems disturbed by the need to slay the goblins.  No one else seems to share her objections.  I confess, her desire to spare evil creatures bent on our destruction has me baffled....

...we found the main chamber, darkened, with rows of columns marching down either side.  Although we approached with some stealth, it was to no avail. The columns blazed with light, revealing a huge room with a dais at the far end. A horribly gaunt elf dressed in black stepped towards us, plainly Sollers Vestius in the flesh.  He laughed, told us that we would fall as had the others before us, and that the Lady’s Tree would never find root again. He brandished a wand and invoked the power of Imbindarla, dropping a curtain of darkness. 

    We attacked, but he seemed invulnerable. Color Spray affected him not at all, and my thrown dagger simply bounced from his chest. He summoned a group of kobolds who engaged the fighters, and was using the wand again when it suddenly exploded (most mysteriously) leaving one shimmering blue wall behind him.  

    Nolin attempted to distract the mage by taunting him with songs about spring, and doing a Morris dance.  Vestius struck Nolin, and hurled him at Grundo, who caught him and handed the wounded bard over to Cadrienne.  Grundo began to froth at the mouth once again, and struck the mage thunderous blows with warhammer and axe, causing no visible damage. Heeding the poem that we had found, I fled the room seeking a large icicle.  Tom-Tom became Vestius’ next target, and was hurled against a column with some force. 

   Calling on his berserker strength, Grundo struck again, this time knocking the mage back through the magical blue wall. As he passed through it, Vestius had not even time to scream as he fell to the ground, turned to stone.  I returned with the icicle and stabbed it into Vestius’ tainted heart. It slid easily through the stone, and began to shimmer with a golden light.  With this, the mage began to melt away before our eyes. 

    The pillars and roof of the chamber started to collapse and we fled. Almost immediately, the air lost its chill....

_[Ed. It was many months before the party realized that Tom-Tom the rogue was a psionicist. Unbeknownst to us, he had used Soften on Vestius’ wand. Arcade spent a significant amount of time trying to calculate the odds of a wand backfiring.  

    Being undead, and cursed to boot, Vestius could only be hit by plussed weapons (we had none) or an icicle in the right spot!]_


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## madriel

Gee, somebody who actually remembered a Clue!  Wow.  And Arcade had the sense to let the rest of the party keep the bad guy busy and just go looking for the thing you needed to defeat him.  Nice to see an intelligent mage played that way.  Not every party has the sense to split up when they need to.  Including mine.


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## Piratecat

TomTom had indeed destroyed the _wand of conjuration._ If I remember correctly, it had left several magical prismatic and darkness effects standing, some of which disappeared quickly and some of which stuck around for a little while.  That was a fun wand; no one knew that conjured monsters disappear upon death, so everyone thought that they were an illusion. They lost some time, and took some damage, while they tries to disbelieve the very real threat.

This was also where Nolin learned that singing "fa la la la" to undead elves was bound to annoy them! I was pretty sure that the group hadn't remembered the icicle poem, and that they weren't going to be able to affect the undead.  I shouldn't have worried.


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## KidCthulhu

madriel said:
			
		

> *Gee, somebody who actually remembered a Clue!  Wow.  And Arcade had the sense to let the rest of the party keep the bad guy busy and just go looking for the thing you needed to defeat him.  Nice to see an intelligent mage played that way.  Not every party has the sense to split up when they need to.  Including mine. *




OK, you all have to stop pumping Arcade's ego.  I'm the one sacrificing my dignity and my fragile (attractive) body for the good of the team over here.  But do I get any credit?  No!  Hrumph. - Nolin

Actually, Bandeeto is a puzzle/riddle/prophecy slut.  He eats this stuff for breakfast and comes back for more.  PC used to use a lot more clues and riddles in the campaign, because he knew how Bandeeto liked them.  The rest of us would order and eat dinner, talk, get bored and grow long beards while he cogitated.   Hey, whatever works for you.


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## madriel

KidCthulhu said:
			
		

> *
> 
> OK, you all have to stop pumping Arcade's ego.  I'm the one sacrificing my dignity and my fragile (attractive) body for the good of the team over here.  But do I get any credit?  No!  Hrumph. - Nolin
> 
> Actually, Bandeeto is a puzzle/riddle/prophecy slut.  He eats this stuff for breakfast and comes back for more.  PC used to use a lot more clues and riddles in the campaign, because he knew how Bandeeto liked them.  The rest of us would order and eat dinner, talk, get bored and grow long beards while he cogitated.   Hey, whatever works for you.  *




Well, you could post stories that showcases Nolin's fine abilities.


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## KidCthulhu

madriel said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Well, you could post stories that showcases Nolin's fine abilities. *




I don't think I can.  This is still a PG thread.


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## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Winter’s Glade Finale

...great to be back above ground.  The air smells of spring.  We planted the acorn Sulfanas had given us, and an oak sprang out of the ground.  The Lady of the Wood herself appeared, stepping out of the tree.  She is Oania, an entrancing dryad.  She thanked us for breaking the curse and permitting her to return.  

    She became very friendly with Nolin, and seems to want him for some purpose.  I suspect her motives may not be entirely pure, but Nolin didn’t seem to mind.   Recovered the gems, returning to Rampart....

...ran into Frolic again.  A more irritating creature would be hard to envision... well, maybe Fillane Deepleaf....

...returned the gems to Lord Torrance Thurrian and his wife Liera. They held a large banguet in our honor, featuring the house bard named Circin singing our praises.  Hm.  And I thought Nolin was given to hyperbole.  The family will consider granting our group patronage when they return from the south....

...just heard today about Tagkris.  Very sad.  He retired to his cabin, done with adventuring, and died of natural causes within a few weeks.  It seems his acts found favor with his Lady.  Will miss him.  More concerning is the disappearance of Maddoc during the night.  We suspect foul play, and are leaving in the morning for Kindric to investigate.  Cadrienne had a horrible vision involving Maddoc and a black portal....


_    Ed. Nolin was to develop a *very* intimate relationship with Oania the dryad, such that she would train him in bard and in return he would provide her with ... um... children.  In this way Nolin acquired his first title: "Father of a Thousand Acorns." Arcade had his own "interaction" with Oania, which may be chronicled later.  Suffice to say it resulted in the line: "he couldn't  make it with a dryad, in a sacred grove, in Spring!"

    Tagkris and Maddoc's players left the game, providing P'Cat the with the next plot hook.  The next few character additions formed the core of the group for several years._


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## Bandeeto

Arcade's Journal: To Kindric 

…a fine day for travelling despite the snow.  Still a few weeks until Solstice.... 

…encountered a mage at an inn wielding a wooden staff topped by a wizard head.  Curiously, it’s eyes seemed to follow you.  He was accompanied by a bodyguard, apparently foreigners.  He was not a friendly sort….

…truly astonishing.  Heard shouts and cries for help on the road ahead, and arrived to find the mage and his entourage dead at the hands of bandits. While we engaged the bandits, Tom-Tom went after the leader and a small group, who appeared to have stolen the wizard staff and run into the woods. We were holding our own, when a massive explosion rocked the forest.  A gigantic creature which seemed to be composed of living fire appeared, consuming the bandit leader and his men.  It began to advance towards us through the trees, setting them alight.  We found that the wizard staff had somehow returned and was lying upon the ground.  

    To be blunt, I grabbed the staff and we fled back to the inn.  When we arrived, a fire-quenching group was being formed.  Am quite disappointed, as the group would not allow me to go and assist….

...on the way to Dayhill, pesky horrid centipedes the size of tree trunks ambushed us from below the snow.  No match for us.  I was glad we decided to face them down after our last performance….

_[Ed. This was how Arcade acquired the staff, which was to provide a great deal of assistance and amusement.  More details to be revealed as they unfolded.  Keep your eye on that stick, it moves fast.]_

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arcade’s Journal: Dopplegangers in Winter – Crellar’s Inn Part 1

...grateful to find an inn just before snowstorm hit. We encountered a party consisting of a cleric Rofan Fairfax, Lyons the mage, and others.  Lyons was quite friendly, and asked to examine my unusual staff.  I complied, wondering if he could tell me anything about it.  Suddenly the mage’s eyes rolled upwards, and he fell unconscious to the floor.  Most curious.  We woke him up, but he could not explain what had happened to him.

    The inn belongs to Gardis Crellar, an ex-adventurer, and his wife Gertrude and their sons Kellog and Kelsey....

...dark doings. During the night, Lyons was found murdered, but witnesses swore they had just seen him about the inn when he was already dead.  We suspected doppelgangers.  The investigation was going nowhere, when we got lucky.  Two guardsmen wearing Thurrian family livery were mounting to leave on horseback, when their horses spooked and refused to carry them.  This seemed unusual behavior for the horses of trained cavalry officers.  A confrontation with the two revealed them as the doppelgangers, and we slew them.  Who knew that animals don’t care for doppelgangers?  Must remember that.

...before we left, I met the daughter of a Kindric merchant headed for Rampart and gave her a message for the Thurrians, warning them of a possible doppelganger plot.

    Rofan has attached himself to our group.  He is a priest of holy Galanna of the animals, but I suspect that he is actually insane.  He tends to preach and try to convert disciples, and apparently has been healing for money. Specifically he has been healing “pigs, and fat women,” he says.  Refers to things he finds objectionable as “The Devil’s Fruitcake”.  I suspect that it’s going to be difficult to get rid of him.


_[Ed. As with many P’Cat adventures, this one came back to haunt us in a big way.  As did the PC Rofan. More later.]_


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## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal: A New Member, Arrival in Kindric

...passed through Nolin’s hometown.  He stopped to see his human mother and spent the whole visit in a black mood....

...pleasant stay at the Bed and Ladle Inn.  We were joined by a young half-elven lad named Alix Tarim-Loial.  He was serving drinks, and making a hash of it.  It turns out that he is the son of a Kindric lord, and is on the run from his brutish brothers....

    Alix decided to accompany us to Kindric.  He seems to share Nolin’s proclivities, and used us as an excuse to sneak out on a mistress.  I suspect that he also plans to use us as cover while spying on his brothers.  Alix is flamboyant and quite engaging, but seems a bit unreliable to me....

...found the road heavily guarded.  Apparently Stavros the half-orc bandit has been raiding in the area.  No sign of him so far.  

    Thought about taking the sledge to move us along a bit faster, but Tom-Tom refused to travel over water, even if it was frozen.  He muttered something about halflings and boats....

...finally arrived at Kindric.  My first time seeing the capitol of Gaunt. A beautiful city.  Alix is already proving to be trouble.  His brothers have friends in the guard, and we were forced to defend ourselves.  We will have to keep a low profile....

...I may have to do something about that Tarim-Loial.  He made the mistake of revealing himself to a friend, who then informed Alix’s brothers.  Alix was watching for trouble on a rooftop, and saw them coming.  He decided to inform the party by tossing a juggling ball at us, and managed to knock me unconscious with it.  We barely escaped....

...spent the next few days plaguing Alix with cantrips and trying to cheer up Nolin.  I feel better, but Nolin remains morose.  Having obtained supplies and visited the sages, we follow the prophetic dreams of Cadrienne, and leave tomorrow for Phorn.

_*[Ed. With the addition of Alix, the chaos level of the party rose dramatically.  He made a hobby of flouting Arcade, and everybody else for that matter.  Engaged in secret deals and hidden plots all his life while at the same time exhibiting outrageous behavior in public, Alix survived only because of his wits and substantial Charisma.  He met his final end many years later, having made one secret deal too many (this one with Toraz, God of Murder).]*_


----------



## Piratecat

Some insight on the last few postings. Wow, we breezed through major plot points with only a few mentions!  

The party at the Thurrians was Arcade's initiation into social climbing. He learned that the Duke had a beautiful daughter who was a paladin of Eris, Goddess of mercy and healing. The party was great fun, especially when you consider the effect that taking a dwarven battlerager to a party will give you.

I killed off Tagkris when I knew that his player wouldn't be back. Maddoc also got killed, but in a more grisly fashion still to come.

On the road, the group was attacked by a maddened fire elemental. When it was defeated along with some bandits, they found a dead man with a most unusual staff It was exquisitely carved and had the face of an old man. Arcade claimed it as his own.

In truth, the staff was psionic, although temporarily lost within itself and thus not communicating. Blessed (?) with a tremendous ego, it considered itself the Master of Space and Time; it had many psychoportive powers. At the time Bandeeto and the others knew almost nothing about psionics. Bandeeto knows the rules well enough that it's hard for me to give him a "stock" item that retains a sense of mystery, so I created a psionic staff. It was years before he actually figured it out!

More on the doppelganger problem later. It was one of my favorite adventures, and worth some detail.


----------



## KidCthulhu

Hey Bandeeto, no fair cheating the public on the doppleganger story.  Is this the time you died, or was that later?  I'm stunned by how much of this I don't remember.

I should note that Alix guaranteed his place in the party by leaping from a second story window on top of an orc in our first battle with him.  He rolled a twenty.  The orc was pile driven.  That was the story of Alix.  Poor judgement, phenomenal luck.


----------



## Piratecat

Arcade died the second time.

The first time (described above), the adventure was taken froma  wonderful Dungeon adventure called "Night of Fear" (or something like that.) It involved a classic plot: the PCs are trapped by a winter storm, and someone in the inn is a murderer. In this case it was three someones, doppelgangers. The PCs managed to kill two, thinking that the third was dead as well, since a doppelganger killed an elf and claimed that the elf was changing shape. The night was full of paranoia, suspicion, and nervousness!  When all was said and done, one doppelganger remained alive and undetected when the PCs left the next day.  Unfortunate, as it turns out.  You'll see why. 

Rofan was a "visionary" of Galanna who saw the Goddess in the smallest things: a bird, a snowflake, a pig. He was erratic, though, and not necessarily stable. Rofan adventured on and off with the party for years, eventually leaving to found a bear cult and become a charismatic (if insane) leader.

It was at this point that Grundo's player got bored with him, and switched to Alix Loial, noble rogue. KidCthulhu's description of him is right on the money.  He had run away from a father who wanted him to become an accountant, hoping for a life with the circus or with adventurers instead. His luck was phenomenal; the incident referred to in Arcade's journal involved Alix tossing a juggling ball at Arcade to get his attention, and rolling a critical hit.


----------



## KidCthulhu

Piratecat said:
			
		

> *Rofan was a "visionary" of Galanna who saw the Goddess in the smallest things: a bird, a snowflake, a pig. He was erratic, though, and not necessarily stable. Rofan adventured on and off with the party for years, eventually leaving to found a bear cult and become a charismatic (if insane) leader.
> *




Rofan was a nutcase.  He used to take sudden dislike to the most mudane items (boots, for example) and proclaim them to be instruments of the devil.  More specifically, the devil's fruitcake.

Why a fruitcake?  Dunno.  Rofan was nuts.  And fruitcakes are pretty evil.


----------



## Darklance

So was Arcade's player doing these journal entries the whole time or have they been done from memory?


----------



## Bandeeto

Don't worry KidCthulhu, I haven't forgotten Alix's battle with the orc.  The first Brotherhood of Night story arc is coming up.  Crellar's Inn Revisited (Dopplegangers Part II) is a much creepier sequence, and it happened after Nostradis Ghend (coming next).

There are a lot more details in that story, so I'll try to go into a bit more depth.  Hijinks from Rofan included.

Darklance, I kept a journal through the first several years of the campaign.  I also kept nearly every scrap of source material (letters from people, maps, scrolls, etc.) that P'Cat gave the Defenders for the entire time we adventured together.  I admit I'm a gaming packrat, but you'd be amazed how often holding onto those little details saved our bacon down the line. Plus, as KidCthulhu has indicated before, no one else wanted to do it. 

The original entries from the journal are very terse, more reminders for my character of the shape of the plot and the important people we'd met.  Some of the stories I wrote in more detail, and you'll get to read those.  P'Cat and others will have to pick up the thread at the Academy of Flamecraft, where things finally got so convoluted and complicated that I gave up taking meticulous notes.

I am editing all of the journal entries as I go to make them read more naturally (and, I hope, more interestingly to non-Defenders).  

As Piratecat says, the psionically-empowered staff was a great mystery to us all for many years.  Even Tom-Tom, the psionic, was unaware of it's characteristics.  At least, he never mentioned any suspicions to me!  We knew of it, fondly, as TMOSAT (The Master of Space and Time) as it initially introduced itself in that way.  TMOSAT was always exceedingly arrogant (having been empowered by a grand vizier).  It insisted on being well-cared-for and polished at every opportunity.  It also would use its power for me only when asked nicely (and occasionally only when bribed).  It took years to coax it into revealing what it could do (which was quite a lot.) 

I should point out that, at this point in the story, the staff had never spoken.  It stared at people, nothing more.  Arcade had a proficiency in quarterstaff, so he thought he might use in combat.  You'll see how that came out!  

We *had* learned from the sage Kinxanthrias of Kindric that the staff was made from hovering elm (a very magical wood), which came only from Kanach'hurian in the Desert of the Screaming Sands, 220 leagues away.  He suggested we ask Imperial Librarian Hurnd in the city of Oursk for more information, but the group didn't make it to Oursk for many years....


----------



## Sialia

Right. The thing about the Staff was, when we found it, it didn't read as magical, and it didn't do anything, so it seemed reasonable to assume it was a quarterstaff at the time.

An error, that. As we discovered.

Anyway, the thing about Bandeeto's notes was--well, really all of our notes--after a while in Piratecat's campaign, we all started needing some way of keeping our character sheet pages together. 

I got there early one night and Tomtom's player was joking around with Kidcthulhu and Piratecat. "I had to go and get a folder for my character sheet," he admited sheepishly. "Paperclips weren't doing the job anymore. But if I move up to a ring binder and thumbtabs, somebody shoot me, ok? I mean, how geeky would that be?"

Mere moments later, Bandeeto arrived and strode into the room proudly. "Look!" he announced proudly. "I finally got Arcade organized!" He held up a new ring binder, complete with color coded thumbtabs for spells, journal, plot notes, maps, equipment, etc.

Hurt does not begin to describe his feelings to our reaction.

He claims his best revenge was watching the rest of the group -- Tomtom and Alix in particular -- migrate to the form.

Except me. I kept Dylrath and Cadrienne's pages in dog eared, disorganized folders until the day I left. Probably had something to do with the degree to which both were known for being impossibly disorganized pack rats. "Hey, look," Dylrath would cry. "My supplies and equipment still include that onion I was carrying on my first day out with you guys. Wonder how it's doing after all these months?"


----------



## Sito Rotavele

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *   TMOSAT was always exceedingly arrogant (having been empowered by a grand vizier).  It insisted on being well-cared-for and polished at every opportunity.   *




Although one interesting sidelight is that we could occasionally tell Arcade to "go and polish your staff"...and he would.


----------



## madriel

He critted with a juggling ball?  Sounds like one of those party members you want to strangle until they leave and then you just sigh and reminisce about all the crazy stuff they did.


----------



## KidCthulhu

madriel said:
			
		

> *He critted with a juggling ball?  Sounds like one of those party members you want to strangle until they leave and then you just sigh and reminisce about all the crazy stuff they did. *




Got it in one, Madriel.  The fact that we later had problems with Alix's player and he was asked to leave the campaign doesn't really help.  Shame.  I hate when you find that you can like a person a great deal, but can't game with them.


----------



## Grifter86

*Alix's departure*

Hey, just like to say I'm a fan of this story our and PC's main one and patronize a great deal.

With that out of the way...

I'm curious about Alix's player. What made you guys ask him to leave? Don't want to open up any old wounds, but you've piqued by curiousity.


----------



## Piratecat

Without going into great detail, the problems were primarily cheating on dice rolls and cheating on his PC's funds; there were also some personality issues that grew worse over time.  

All in all, I've come to terms with the fact that I can like the person while being very frustrated with him as a player. It still makes me sad, though.


----------



## Jobu

Sialia said:
			
		

> *Except me. I kept Dylrath and Cadrienne's pages in dog eared, disorganized folders until the day I left. Probably had something to do with the degree to which both were known for being impossibly disorganized pack rats. "Hey, look," Dylrath would cry. "My supplies and equipment still include that onion I was carrying on my first day out with you guys. Wonder how it's doing after all these months?" *




Tao is kept in the same fashion as Sialia's characters.  I still have the original character sheet she was started on.  When PC asked me a couple of weeks ago when Tao joined the group I told him the date (cause it is on the character sheet) and got out my old notebook which has notes that are 9 years old.
When we get to where Tao joins the group I will try to help fill in some details where I can since I still have my notes.


----------



## Hammerhead

Wouldn't the onion smell after so long? And you actually wrote down an individual onion? Not just food, or fruits, or whatever?

Thats pretty freaky.

I like the binder idea. I may have to switch to that format. 

I have a question: why did Maddoc leave? Did he not find your game enjoyable (however hard that may be to believe)


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Nostradis Ghend and the Brotherhood of Night, Part 1

...Cadrienne’s dream-visions are getting progressively more strange.  Very concerning.  We feel as if we are racing against time.  Highdark (the day of Solstice) arrives in a few days....

...passed through beautiful Phorn, a city of many temples.  There we met a young half-elven cleric named Glimmer.  Cadrienne claimed to have had a vision in which he accompanied us, and he was pleased to join the group at our request.  He worships Aliana, Goddess of Beauty.  I find him a bit trying, as he never ceases complaining about dirt.  He also despises things that are ugly, and is quite blunt in his criticism of all and sundry.  After Nolin, Alix, and Glimmer I find myself wishing to meet a pleasant, affable, stable half-elf.  Perhaps it is their mixed heritage.  Although, Rofan is human....

...stopped at the Inn of the Way on the way to Siryth.  There we heard news about a cruel mage named Nostradis Ghend.  As the proprietor described Ghend, Cadrienne recognized him from her visions as Maddoc’s kidnapper. He is reputed to steal black farm animals, and is also suspected of kidnapping local citizens.  Mikal, village elder of Siryth, spoke out against Ghend's tyranny and disappeared within the last day or two.  His young son Bram is still out looking for him.  We are making all speed to Siryth....

...Nolin keeps being mistaken for other people: an elf named Reldin at Crellar’s, an old boyfriend of the innkeeper’s daughter named Nilden at the Inn of the Way, and Rindalth, a warrior elf, here in Siryth at the Bountiful Tappe.  Most bizarre.  Nolin has no explanation....

...encountered Rudra the Wise Woman.  She gave us directions to Ghend’s mysterious tower.  Sadly, Rofan’s mental grip has loosened again.  Today he met a sheepdog and concluded that it was his Goddess, and that it’s fleas were her Messengers. He promptly set about acquiring the fleas for himself.  We have no time for this nonsense.  

    We go tonight to scout out the tower. Tomorrow is Highdark....


----------



## Sialia

Hammerhead said:
			
		

> *Wouldn't the onion smell after so long? And you actually wrote down an individual onion? Not just food, or fruits, or whatever?
> 
> Thats pretty freaky.
> *



*

Boy howdy, did that onion stink!  Saved my life, too, although for the life of me i can't remember what from.

Anybody?

I think something was about to take a big bite out of Dylrath, and he had lost his dagger and was really low level at the time, so not much left in his bag of tricks. I remember frantically searching through the character sheet for anything, anything at all that would save my bacon.

And then I found the onion.

Hurled into the monster's mouth, it did cause the monster to, uh, pause in the bite attack long enough for someone--probably Tao--to rescue Dylly.

(It must have been tied up tightly in a leather bag to keep everyone from noticing it earlier . . .)

The reason he had an onion specifically was that when I brought him in, his supplies and equipment consisted of the shirt and pants and shoes he was wearing, a flask of water, a bread roll and an onion, which was approximately equal to what Oliver Twist was carrying on his journey to London.

I mean, if ya got to bring a first level character into a sixth/seventh level party, ya may as well go for the gusto, right?*


----------



## Sialia

*Alix*

The thing about Alix was, he was one of the two most original rogues I have ever seen played. Tomtom being the other.

No, they were the only two original rogues I had ever seen played.

They gave new meaning to the form, and I adored them for it.

I have always been a player of rogues myself, even though in this case I was running the cleric, Cadrienne. So I really appreciated what they were pulling off.

They destroyed the concept of the rogue as petty cutpurse for me forever. No more risking sticking my hands into people's pockets. No more trying to lift stuff from shopkeepers.
No more wearing dull colored clothes and lurking in shadows. Fuhgeddabout it.


Alix wore cloth of gold suits with ruby buttons. Tomtom dressed in as many clashing colors and patterns as he could find. They hid in ways so unexpected that what they were wearing never mattered. How could you lose sight of someone wearing _that_? Must not be here at all. 

They bribed lavishly. They suckered rubes. They made land deals. They bought low and sold high. They imported items without paying tarriffs.  They bargained fiercely and acquired goods in ways legal but more theft-like than outright stealing would have been. When they backstabbed, they backstabbed whole economies.

It was a thing of beauty.

Tomtom is much more workmanlike, detail oriented, even fastidious, about knowing the rules to his own advantage. 

Alix was a stretcher of boundaries. 

A mind that works like Alix's, well, it was bound to run afoul of the actual rules at some point. 

And I can't help but think it was because he got bored without the strong lawfuls in the party to flout. Arcade, Cadrienne, and then Dylrath and Claris, all worked hard to balance Alix, to give him something to push against all the time.

After the players of those characters all moved away at once, for a long while there were only the lawful NPCs to challenge, and that either got dull quickly, or at least it meant that the player was always trying to pull something off on Piratecat, which was bound to get out of control eventually.

It's a pity, really, that he never got to work with most of the current Defenders. He would so have enjoyed driving them nuts.

And I think they'd have had some surprises for him, too.


----------



## KidCthulhu

*Re: Alix*



			
				Sialia said:
			
		

> *And I can't help but think it was because he got bored without the strong lawfuls in the party to flout. Arcade, Cadrienne, and then Dylrath and Claris, all worked hard to balance Alix, to give him something to push against all the time.
> 
> After the players of those characters all moved away at once, for a long while there were only the lawful NPCs to challenge, and that either got dull quickly, or at least it meant that the player was always trying to pull something off on Piratecat, which was bound to get out of control eventually.
> *




That's a really insightful take on the issue, and I think you're right.  The player is really a boundry pusher, and loves to be put in his place.  When these interactions were happening in character, it was occasionally irritating, but added a lot of dramatic crunchyness to the party.  When the only person to fight against became the DM, the interaction changed and became less fun for everyone.

And as for the onion, I think it saved you from the Feyr, on the same night that the "throw Dilly to the monsters and run" maneuver was born.

In Sagiro's game Sunday, the enemy troops used maneuvers!  It was so cool.  In fact, he used the Defender's maneuver numbers.


----------



## Piratecat

Watch me un-hijack the thread!  

The Nostradis Ghend adventure was also from Dungeon (you seeing a theme, yet?)  It was a simple little crunchy eeeevil cult adventure, with a cool tower and some neat plot hooks. It ended up being one of the cornerstones of the campaign for years. You'll especially like how they kill Nostradis Ghend himself! It was... err... unique.

This is the point where I learned the "ripple" trick to DMing: everything the PCs do creates ripples. Sometimes they die out, sometimes they cause other important things to occur. You'll see that the next time that the PCs stop by Crellar's Inn, and you'll see it in what happens to the Brotherhood of Night.


----------



## Corran

Piratecat said:
			
		

> *Arcade died the second time.
> 
> The first time (described above), the adventure was taken froma  wonderful Dungeon adventure called "Night of Fear" (or something like that.)*




That would be Night of Fear by Mark Lucas in Dungeon 28. ;-)

The Dungeon website nowadays sports an index of all adventures ever published in it, find it at:

http://www.wizards.com/dungeon/index.asp?s=name


----------



## Bandeeto

*The un-hijacking continues.  Read on folks!  Plenty of meat in this one.*

Arcade’s Journal – Nostradis Ghend and the Brotherhood of Night, Part 2

...Ghend’s black tower.  It is 60’ high, on a small hill in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by deep woods.  There are a few small outbuildings to the northwest, including a large two story barn.  The tower has a large double door, but no visible windows....

...upon entering the clearing we were attacked by two large wolves.  A timely Sleep spell saved Glimmer from a torn-out throat, and we dispatched both of them.  More trouble from the new members: Rofan tried to launch his bola at a wolf and badly entangled himself.  While we were still engaged in combat, Alix tricked Rofan into falling into a nearby well where he nearly died.  After his rescue all Rofan could do was complain about losing his holy fleas!

     We approached the front door.  Detection revealed multiple traps.  Suddenly, the voice of the mage began taunting us from somewhere above.  This enraged Grundo, who tried to charge the door.  The acid traps destroyed Grundo’s helm and armor, and we were lucky to escape.  

    The party was in an angry and vengeful mood.  We approached the barn and chicken coop, and the others wanted to kill or steal the animals and burn it down.  I managed to talk them out of it, and spent a while trying to find a secret entrance in the barn without success.  With no other options, we returned to town to regroup....

...next evening, Highdark, we stealthily returned to the tower.  Multiple booby traps had been set, but we managed to avoid them.  Guards were spotted on top of the tower.  We slipped into the barn, undetected.  A brief scuffle ensued with some orcs guarding the barn.  Alix spotted one trying to escape up to the loft and chased him.  The orc flung open the upper doors to blow his signal horn and had just placed the horn to his lips when Alix tackled him, hurling both of them to the ground and killing the orc.  Alix may turn out to be some use after all....

...after a short search of the barn I finally found the secret entrance that I knew had to be there.  On a built-in lift, we descended into a dark underground basement tunnel....

...slew the giant spiders in the tunnel and found some valuables in their webs.  The hall terminated in another secret door.  We found a room full of sheet-covered furniture and supplies, and three well-armed orcs.  Rofan hurled his bola at one and connected, wrapping it around the orc’s head.  Just as the bola arrived, Nolin swung his sword and decapitated the orc, sending the bola spinning towards the second orc.  Alix was in the middle of a tumbling run, but redirected himself in mid-air to catch the head and land perfectly upon a piece of furniture.  The third orc managed to grab Glimmer, and held him hostage from behind with a blade at his throat.  Rofan wrenched the sword away with one stroke of his bullwhip, and Glimmer raised his legs just as Grundo’s axe swept through at knee height, shortening the orc considerably.  The third orc was quickly dispatched, and we congratulated ourselves on a job well done. 

    Outside the room, behind a tapestry, we found the black, featureless portal of Cadrienne’s visions.  We could not get it open, and so proceeded up the stairs....

...searched the first level after killing a few more orcs.  We found a speaking-tube.  Chanting echoed down through it from somewhere above.  We hastened upstairs....

...on the second floor I found the mage’s library.  A rapid analysis of his papers reveal that he enjoys anagrams, and that his goal is to obliterate the sun itself.  It appears that he sacrifices living beings to power certain rituals that would achieve this goal.  I suspect that among these papers is the key to the black portal.  But first... Ghend.

...we ran up the next flight, tripping some type of alarm.  The taunting voice of the mage beckoned us to our doom.  We discovered a large chamber surrounded by a disgusting, sticky curtain of the deepest blood-red.  Within moments, most of the party dropped to the floor, victims of a Sleep spell.  As we frantically tried to wake the party, a second Sleep spell swept through us.  The stairs to the roof were close at hand, and Nolin confirmed for me that the taunting voice was in fact coming from above.  I ran upwards towards the voice and onto the roof where I found a giant black rat clad in a waistcoat and hat (quite obviously Ghend’s familiar creature).  It taunted me once more and began to flee.  

    Meanwhile Ghend stepped out from behind the curtain and blasted the party with a black ball of crackling negative energy, nearly killing Nolin.  The mage was hit with both thrown warhammer and bola, but both rebounded from him as if from an invisible barrier.  Cadrienne began to cast Hold Person, but sadly she (and several others) were struck by Magic Missiles and her spell rebounded upon her.

    On the roof, seeing an opportunity, I cast Sleep upon the rat and closed in.  Below, Ghend yelled “NO!” and ran for the stairs, bowling over Glimmer in the process.  As he reached the top I saw his pale, black-bearded face twisted in hatred. His clawed hands reached towards me.  

    “Thus do those who serve evil pay the price,” I said, and slew the rat with a single stroke across its throat.

    Ghend grabbed his neck, blanched, gurgled softly, and slid down the stairs, landing dead at Glimmer’s feet....


----------



## Piratecat

My nasty bad guy, killed through his own familiar's death. I ask you, is there justice in the world?


----------



## Dawn

Reminds me of the cartoon in the 1E Player's handbook or Dungeon Master Guide of the villian holding up the wizard's cat with the caption, "Hold it wizard! One move and the familiar gets it!"


----------



## Morrow

Hey, I remember this adventure.  I picked up a stack of old Dungeons a six months ago and came across this one.  

"Hmm.  Black robed wizard.  Grand scheme to put out the sun.  Orcs.  Tower.   Anagrams.  What's the point?"  Shows what I know.  I'll have to give it another look.

I think PC changed the wizard's name though.  I seem to remember that his name was an anagram for, "Kill everyone and bring darkness to the world," or something equally ridiculous.  Took the poor guy five minutes just to introduce himself.

Anyway, great fun.  Its nice to see the Defenders when they were just regular shmoes like the rest of us.  And the old Defenders are a hoot, I can see why you speak so fondly about Arcade, Alix, and company.

Morrow


----------



## Piratecat

I made a bunch of changes to the module, Morrow.  I tied it in with some other campaign back story, linked the cult in with mind flayers (and eventually a community of doppelgangers), and created close ties between the cult and Imbindarla, Goddess of Undeath and the Black Things that Scurry in the Night.   

Arcade may not have mentioned it in his journal, but they were led to the tower in search of Baylock Grithamper, TomTom's psionic uncle and master halfling chef. They found him waiting to be sacrificed.  

Even better was when the PCs had to return four months later and oust the _next_ cult member who had taken over the tower after the PCs had finished clearing it out. It was a little tougher to break in then, and they were too late to save Maddoc, who the cult _did_ sacrifice.  Heh heh.. he didn't like my DMing style, after all.  *grin*

Plane Sailing, wait until you meet Arcade's owl familiar! He's a hoot....  well. pun aside, he ranked as the Best Familiar Ever for a long time. AND he didn't have to wear a little vest and hat like that rat did.


----------



## Bandeeto

As P'Cat is hinting, coming up next:

Fun with anagrams!

Braving the DREAD PORTAL!

Rescuing the kidnappees!

and...

Naming the band!


----------



## madriel

Anybody who dresses their familiar has to die.  That's just too twee.  That's a lunch-chucker for sure.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Nostradis Ghend Finale, The Defenders are Born.

...behind the red curtain we found Mikal bound onto a scarred, blood-soaked altar. Runnels led to a prepared spell parchment.  Praise the gods, he was unharmed.  Sadly we were too late to save Maddoc.  We found his mutilated body.  Tom-Tom is furious, but we believe from the papers we found that his Uncle Baylock is still alive....

...curious plaque with the word “Illdar” inscribed upon it.  Saying the word causes the roof section over the altar to appear and disappear....

...on the way back downstairs we encountered another orc.  I struck it with my staff, which then Teleported out of my hand.  I found the staff later in a corner of the room.  Odd behavior.  Plainly it dislikes being used as a weapon.  We heard the voices of two concerned half-orcs (including one Captain Yarag) calling from below through the speaking-tube.  Nolin mimicked Ghend’s voice, and told them to remain below until morning....

...found a book describing Ghend’s organization, the Brotherhood of Night.  The cult intends to bring a time called the “Dread Night” by blacking out the sun.  Servants of the group are called “Illdar”. Ghend was a “Darker”, the leader of an Illdar coven.  Hints from the book suggested that Illdar take new names when they join the cult.  Knowing that Ghend loved anagrams, I puzzled out his new true name, “Dread Night’s Son”....

...freed a human female slave named Ashira who had been sold to Lord Ghend.  We will take her and Mikal with us in the morning....

...the dawn revealed that the half-orcs had fled.  Speaking Ghend’s true name opened the black portal, and we freed Baylock from an imprisoning suit of welded-shut armor....

...the clerics did their best to cleanse the taint of the tower.  We buried the bodies, took an inventory, and prepared to leave.  It seemed to me that with this adventure our group had gained real purpose, and I felt that we needed a name.  I suggested that “Defenders of Daybreak” would be the most suitable.  Much mirth ensued, with Tom-Tom suggesting “Defenders of Coffee Break” and Nolin offering “Defenders of Late Mid-Morning Brunch”, but finally all members acquiesced.  Our sigil will suggest the rays of the rising sun....

...in Baylock’s prison we found a riddle above a seemingly impenetrable enchanted door: 

“I am that which hides all evil,
With me as cover, vampires play,
I am all the blind envision,
In me will all men find their way.”


----------



## Little_Buddha

Darkness, surely. Wow, PKitty really used to feed your desire for riddles and such! <lol>


----------



## Bandeeto

> Darkness, surely. Wow, PKitty really used to feed your desire for riddles and such! <lol>





Good call.  But what did it mean?  

We tried saying any number of variations on the word before we hit on the answer, coming next post.


----------



## Piratecat

Dread night snos!

Back in 2e, a metal helm stopped psionics. That's why Baylock was imprisoned in that manner.

It's worth noting that TomTom didn't come out of the closet as a psionicist for _years._ For the longest time, the party only knew him as a thief with some odd talents.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Return to Kindric, New Year’s Celebrations

...after trying various verbal responses to the riddle over the door, we realized that the door was only able to be used in total darkness.  We were very concerned about a trap, but after extinguishing our torches we passed through and found ourselves Teleported into the nearby woods a few miles away.

    We returned to Siryth to great acclaim, returning the kidnapped citizens and the stolen animals to the town.  Met with Mikal and the town council and gave a full report.  They informed us that the local lord, Duke Garith Helmsford had given a Royal Charter to Ghend to construct his tower.  They plan to send a message to the duke in his winter home in the southlands, asking for instructions.  Taking three mules and Ghend’s warhorse and heading back to Kindric....

...stopped in Phorn to visit Glimmer’s temple.  During our stay Nolin became very agitated, appalled by the shallowness of all the acolytes. We spent many hours talking, and I got to know him a bit better.  His youth was very harsh in Farin.  He was regularly beaten and harassed by the local youth because of his half-elven race.  One evening those ruffians locked him in an abandoned barn for an entire winter’s night.  He spent the whole time huddled in a corner trying to stay warm and fending off swarms of rats (which explains his aversion to those vermin).  

    It did Nolin good to open up a bit, and he seemed much improved in temper the following day....

...we stopped at the Grinning Griffon Inn.  As we entered the taphouse we encountered a rogue who was selling horses.  We were suspicious and refused, and rightly so as they turned out not to be his own.  Later, we discovered that he had also sold *our* horse!  While sorting out the issue with the “buyers” we realized that our nemesis Fillane Deepleaf had struck again, and were very angry not to have recognized him....

...at the Kindric city gates we were observed by a shadowy pair in grey cloaks.  They followed us, but we managed to dodge them.  Later, while trying to barter in the market we were attacked by eight cloaked figures in armor, but we escaped without incident....

...discovered more information about “Deepleaf”.  It turns out he steals identities as well.  The real Fillane Deepleaf is a vicious wizard of the 8th circle here in Kindric.  The thief apparently had also targeted Deepleaf, selling the mage’s house while he was away.  

    New Year’s Eve tonight!  Tom-Tom attended a private function this evening and found out that Ghend’s Right Hand (Yarag the half-orc) and eight other orcs had bribed their way into the city.  Glimmer played cards with a half-orc at the inn who told him not to stick his nose where it wasn’t wanted.  Later we went upstairs to watch the pyrotechnics and Glimmer was nearly pushed off the roof.  We were unable to find the perpetrator.  Rofan went to his temple for the evening, while Glimmer went to his own temple for the annual orgy.  The rest of us stayed at the inn...

...New Year’s Day.  I awoke to hear Alix yelling for help and sprinted to the door.  Opening it put me face-to-face with two armed orcs.  As I hit them both with Color Spray, I felt icy steel in my belly and fell to the ground unconscious.  Later I learned that my own yell had roused Tom-Tom and Grundo. Neither of them is a morning person, and their rage at being awoken early on New Year’s morning was taken out on the other six orcs.  Cadrienne managed to heal me in time.  Another near miss.  We have been unable to find Yarag, and suspect that he has fled the city....

...sold our goods and purchased horses.  The city has been most exciting, but it will be good to leave for Rampart tomorrow....


----------



## Sialia

I know I already told this story in Piratecat's main storyhour, but it bears repeating, so we'll have the whole train of thought in one place. Sorry I didn't get the post in earlier when Arcade reported the event. Hard to beleive the difference between his records of the event and mine, eh?


One of my most favorite memories of the entire campaign was Arcade unravelling the riddle of Nostradis Ghend at high speed. Anagramming furiously, he suddenly sat up and cried out "Dread Night _Snos_?" 

Most of us just sat there and blinked at him. 
Somehow, that just didn't quite add up.

It was actually Glimmer who pointed out that "Dread Night's Son" probably parsed better.


----------



## KidCthulhu

Dread Night snos!  tee-hee-hee.   That's still funny.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Crellar’s Inn Part II, Dopplegangers and Death

...after several days travel we have again arrived at Crellar’s Inn.  Despite the deep snow outside, the place is jammed with merchants and other folk returning from New Year’s celebrations, and we have decided to spend the evening....

...all is not well. Kelsey, the younger of Crellar’s boys is very upset and blames the trouble on us.  He told us that shortly after we left the first time his brother and father began acting very strangely. They have been cold and cruel to the boy, and seem to communicate without speaking.  We immediately suspected doppelgangers.  However in the interim, Gertrude, the boy’s mother, has become pregnant, so Tom-Tom “hypnotized” the boy to be sure it was not simply jealousy on Kelsey’s part.   

    Jealously apparently plays no role here.  The lad remembers the exact day that his father and brother began acting strangely.  It started after they went outside to move the woodpile closer to the inn.  Kelsey also reports that his father closely guards a box that he keeps under the bed....

...chose a new password, and warned everyone to stay alert.  Nolin entertained the crowd to create a distraction while Tom-Tom and Grundo went out to search the woodpile. 

 ...I was sitting with Kellog, the older brother, and asked him whether he liked the bard's music.  He stared searchingly at me for a while, and then gave a nonchalant answer.  It seemed plain that he was reading my mind!  Then it occurred to me that he must now know my suspicions about his identity.  He quickly rose and started for the kitchen.  I followed to prevent him from escaping or warning his colleague.  Just inside the kitchen door he turned and ambushed me, his features flowing like wax.  A Sleep spell had no effect on him.  As I began to cast Color Spray, his rubbery fingers found my neck, wrapped themselves around my throat, and squeezed.

    I died.



*[Ed. I was stunned to have died in this idiotic fashion, especially as I had failed to follow the cardinal rule and bring someone with me into the kitchen.  P’Cat had taken me into the next room for this encounter.  As my character slumped lifeless to the floor, P’Cat offered me an “opportunity.” Continue playing for the rest of the evening as my own slayer. The next entries are from the journal of Drd’zzoth of the Shapeless, doppelganger.]*


----------



## Bandeeto

Drd’zzoth’s Journal – Crellar’s Inn

...the Frozen Ones failed to locate all members of our hunting party during their stay in this place of warmth and isolation.  I escaped by killing one of the elves and then claiming that he had tried to take my form.  Astonishing gullibility.  Joined my comrade in the woods, and waited for the departure of magic and sharp steel from the house.  We are entrusted to ferry the thrice-cursed blade to its destruction, and must not fail.  However, there is danger in travelling with diminished numbers during the months of cold.  We shall remain here, and play our games....



...I slew the magic wielder, donned his garb, and placed his corpse within the cold meat locker.  I dared not take the staff, for it Knew me.  The noises continued in the common room.  I mingled with these Stiffs, these Defenders of Daybreak.  The ones called Grundo and Tom-Tom have returned.  Tom-Tom cannot be penetrated, but knowledge of my deeds burns in Grundo’s mind.  They have found the hidden bodies of Gardis Crellar and his son Kellog beneath the wood pile.  

    Great care, now.  My comrade has already been warned.  A distraction is needed.  I must get The Sword....    

...went with Alix and Tom-Tom to search the bedrooms.  They found the box and bypassed the well-laid traps upon it.  Opening it, they uncovered The Slayer, glittering with runes upon the velvet.  I attempted to take it, on pretext of examining the runes.  No longer caged in its container the blade turned upon me, blazing with white light and searing my fingers.  Dropping The Slayer, I howled and fled the room....

...while Tom-Tom examined the blade, Alix came to assist his friend.  I found Alix alone with me in the hall with his back briefly turned.  Silently, I made an end of him with my hands....

...distraction has been achieved.  While the Defenders sought the body of Arcade Deltarion, I rapidly passed through the house and set it afire at strategic points.  We dare not remain.  They have The Slayer, and despair finds me.  But as we flee into the night I am comforted, for my comrade’s seed grows even now within my “mother” this night....


*[Ed. Tom-Tom left the bedroom seeking Alix, only to find him lying dead in the hall. Instantly he knew that Arcade was dead as well.  He searched the kitchen, but while looking for Arcade’s body with infravision missed it entirely in the cold, lightless, meat locker.  He then spiked the door to the locker closed!  

Tom-Tom then returned to the common room and gathered the party to tell them what had happened.  Suddenly a green flash lit the room and Arcade’s staff appeared in Glimmer’s hand.  

“I am displeased,” it said.  

“Why is that?” said Nolin, astonished that the staff could speak.

“My perambulatory extremities have been disabled!” said the staff.

The staff informed the party of Arcade’s location.  Just at that moment a chambermaid ran down from the upper floor screaming that the inn was on fire.  The Defenders managed to grab their supplies and Alix’s body, extricate Arcade’s body from the locker, and flee.

They spent the night in a magic pavilion created by one of the merchants.  The party was then faced with the horrible task of telling Gertrude Crellar what had happened.  She became, naturally, distraught and hysterical.  Cadrienne took charge of her and escorted her to a nearby relative’s home.

Later, the sword recovered from under the bed was revealed to be “Cambion”, a unique Sword of Shapechanger Detection.  It glowed strongly in the presence of shapeshifters, was plussed against them, and with a successful hit had a high probability of forcing one back into its own shape.

The doppelgangers escaped, and nothing more was heard of them.

For several years.]*


----------



## Piratecat

Arcade did a fine job of playing his own doppelganger and then killing Alix. This session had even more of a sense of growing horror, especially when they uncovered the wood pile and realized that Crellar and his son were there. The ground must have been too frozen to bury them.  

Favorite parts of the evening include the look on Bandeeto's face when TomTom opened the ice shed to look for heat signatures, found none, and spiked it closed... along with Arcade's body. The other fun part was the psionic staff coming back to sentience after having drained off part of the dying Arcade's life energy.  Hey, it helped, though.

The long sword mentioned was named Cambion: 3e stats would be +2 _shapeshifter bane, detect shapeshifters_ in a 60' r. by glowing (this almost led paranoid party members to attack a druid once), shapeshifters hit must make a fortitude save at DC 15 or be forced into their true shape as a full-round action.

Obviously, not everything the Defenders did came back to haunt them; in fact, they made friends and allies as well as enemies. Crellar's Inn (later renamed) became a sanctuary for them, and after their mother died Cadrienne ended up adopting Kelsey (the youngest boy) and his probably-a-doppelganger little brother.


----------



## KidCthulhu

Piratecat said:
			
		

> *The long sword mentioned was named Cambion. *




Which lead to no end of confusion later in our career when we ended up fighting a Cambion (half-fiend).  

"Get the Cambion!"
"Already wielding it!"
"No, not that Cambion.  The other one!"


----------



## Bandeeto

As much as everyone in the party occasionally wanted to strangle Alix, I (as the doppleganger) was the only one ever given the means, motive, and complete justification for doing so.   

I have been invited to play monsters by many DM's, and I have always loved the thrill of matching up against a whole party (especially if I know the players well.)  

One advantage of this approach is that it lets the monsters fight as hard and nastily as they can, giving them more verisimilitude.  

One disadvantage is that you lose the unified "game-face" that a single DM presents, and risk damaging the game thereby.

The wonderful thing about playing with P'Cat is that he gives the party plenty of rope to hang themselves with at all times.  Because the Defenders go so many places and make so many powerful enemies, their actions come back to bite them (or save them) over and over again.

This has led to another strange phenomenon.

The players know that P'Cat loves to take an old foe or plot hook and resurrect (or occasionally Reincarnate) it later.  So the players (some of them anyway) are constantly trying to keep track of the hundreds of plot strings just in case, and trying to make connections between disparate events years and leagues apart.

This means that the party frequently does P'Cat's work *for* him.  Thus... Defender's Rule One, never give the DM ideas.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Return to Rampart, Demon Bunnies

...awoke upon a bier, surrounded by my friends, in the temple of Eris.  My grandfather Ortigal was there, weeping at the bedside.  I found out later, from Nolin, that Ortigal was tremendously upset when the Defenders brought my body back to him, even shouting at my dead corpse.  Ortigal paid the majority of the resurrection fees, and I have resolved to tithe him from my treasure until my debt is repaid.  It is very good to be back amongst the living....

...I will need to have a long chat with my staff, the so called Master of Space and Time.  It seems he is now animate, and requesting a lengthy polish with beeswax for his role in recovering my body.  I have borrowed some money from Nolin for a donation to Eris....

...Alix will hopefully be joining  us soon.  He was returned to Lord Tarim-Loial in Kindric, and we have received word that he was resurrected and suffered dearly at the hands of his brothers.  Tom-Tom tells me that Alix has escaped, and will be in Rampart within a few days.  Grundo has gone to train with a local battlerager.  Nolin has gone into the woods to “train” with Oania the dryad.  

    Ortigal has said that if I must be an adventurer he will insist that I be better trained as well.  He is a crusty old man, and not truly of my blood, but he does love me and has stood by me my entire life.  I can think of no better tutor in the arts of Transmutation than my grandfather.  We begin early tomorrow....

...effort was worth it.  My mind brims with new spells.  I have also been reflecting.  Since my return from Beyond, I feel a need for companionship, and although there are risks involved I have chosen to summon a familiar.  I wish to bond with an owl, a creature I have always admired.  I intend to travel this day to ask Oania where the ideal location for casting might be....

...dryads are incorrigible in the spring.  She actually tried to _*seduce*_ me!  Nolin can’t stop laughing about it.  

    However, I have achieved success!  After nearly a day of meditation within the magic, I found Nyquil.  He is a young great horned owl, and we are getting along famously.  I have already constructed a shoulder pad for him, with a pouch to store dead mice....

...Defenders were gathered at the Flaxen Manticore.  A local farmer of my acquaintance approached and begged us to help with a terrible problem.  He claims that a horde of demon rabbits have been ravaging his fields.  While we are somewhat skeptical, the man is not known for indulging in strong drink.  We agreed to go with him....

...horrendous fight.  We encountered a group of giant, Blinking, unicorn-horned rabbits.  They apparently were being directed by a giant flying rabbit that could destroy objects using only its mind as a weapon.  Alix attempted to leap over the head of one of the rabbits and was practically impaled. I also was badly gored, but together we managed to fell the horrid beasts.  It is well.  Neither Alix, nor I, were looking forward to another trip Beyond.  

    We discovered that a brownie had been raising the creatures for riding, but had found them unmanageable.  The  leader’s head has been stuffed and mounted in our new trophy room in the Flaxen Manticore.  The inn has become our official headquarters....


----------



## Plane Sailing

I think these were from the Fiend Folio, weren't they? Called Al-Miraj or something like that?


----------



## KidCthulhu

Plane Sailing said:
			
		

> *I think these were from the Fiend Folio, weren't they? Called Al-Miraj or something like that? *




Got it in one.  Yep, I'd been pestering Pkitty for an encounter full of something harmles like fluffy bunnies who like to give away treasure.  We got the bunnies and the shaft.

Rule 1.5, for wives only, never ask for anything!


----------



## KidCthulhu

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *...dryads are incorrigible in the spring.  She actually tried to seduce me!  Nolin can’t stop laughing about it. *




Arcade made his save.  He had every intention of making his save.  Hence the long running Defender's quote that "Arcade couldn't get laid by a dryad, in a glade, in _Springtime_.  One of these days, if Bandeeto doesn't offer me a sufficient bribe, I'll post the words of Nolin's biggest hit, "The Virgin Mage" written about Arcade.



> *However, I have achieved success!  After nearly a day of meditation within the magic, I found Nyquil.  He is a young great horned owl, and we are getting along famously.  I have already constructed a shoulder pad for him, with a pouch to store dead mice....*




Nyquil is dead cool, and I've always been honored that Bandeeto took my suggestion for his name.  You had to be there for the look on Arcade's face the first time Nyquil ate a mouse, and he shared the experience over an empathic link.

For those of you unfamiliar with the product, Nyquil is a popular brand of cough syrup, touted as being good for nighttime coughs and helping cold sufferers sleep.  It's chock full of alcohol, so they oughta sleep!


----------



## Hammerhead

Nyquil? Nyquil?

Umm, what is the precedent for this name?


----------



## Bandeeto

Well, it actually all started (for those who care) back in a game being run by Tom-Tom's player.  Myself, P'Cat, KidC, and Sialia were in this game, and it served as my introduction to most of these people.

I ran two characters at different times. The first was a dwarf named Bando.  I was constantly having him curse in dwarven, in the following fashion:

"Conshohocken' fahrvegnuggin' kalashnikov batarang!"

I developed an entire repetoire of dwarfy swears, and I believe they were thoroughly enjoyed by all.  

It was about that time that I decided that elf-speech consisted largely of car names and medications: "Ferrari lisinopril lamborghini impala simvastatin...." and the like. 

Then I briefly brought in an elven cleric (with a horrendous Irish accent) named Porsche, who would occasionally reel off these phrases.

Arcade was a major elf fanboy.  He thought all things elven were wonderful.  He had even learned both Ancient and Modern Elven.  So it stood to reason that he would name his familiar "Nyquil", the elven word for great horned owl.

Long explanation, no?


----------



## Avarice

KidCthulhu said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Rule 1.5, for wives only, never ask for anything! *




Note: this rule should apply to everyone, not just wives.  I once played in a game in which, (while the party was strolling through some incredibly old and nasty ruins) one of my friends piped up and loudly demanded of the DM: "Aren't we _ever_ going to encounter anything?".  Of course, it was _my_ character that was eaten by the great wyrm blue dragon.  If I might borrow the phrase from Bandeeto: conshohocken' fahrvegnuggin' kalashnikov batarang!


----------



## Sialia

As another irrelevant aside, Conshohocken is a real town near where I grew up, and all our friends were greatly dismayed when they found that the hotel for our wedding was located there.


----------



## Bandeeto

Solely for my own amusement, I will post a short list of Bando's dwarfy swears on a new thread.  This should die a quick death, but it may create some interest.

See Dwarven Swearing 101. 

---> _Edit: I moved the dwarfy swear thread to general discussion, and added a link above.  At your service!_


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Elzid’s Doom

...fame may be attracting attention.  A ranger has asked to join the Defenders.  Since Grundo is our only true front-line fighter we have agreed to accept her into the group.  Her name is Tao Camber.  She seems very eager to hunt down and kill giants....

...massive explosion in the night away to the south, felt for miles in all directions.  Ortigal says that it originated near the tower of Elzid, an evil enchanter with quite a reputation.  As Ortigal will be busy with research for some time, he has asked us to investigate....

...arrived at the base of the tower only to find it in ruins.  The entire thing has been blown apart, and is scattered around the area.  We found a stairway leading to a basement entrance. There are a number of dead bodies on the grounds, mostly armored warrior-types.  They all seem to have fang bites, and the marks of a poisoned stinger.  There are tiny hoofprints all around as well. Very strange.  Also extremely odd was that Nolin was suddenly struck by a desire to leave his magical weapons here rather than bring them with us....

...trying to enter the basement we triggered a trap on the floor. A huge stone block hurtled sideways, blocking the hall.  Alix and I managed to leap outside, while the others leapt inside.  We made a brief search above, thinking perhaps that we should bring Nolin’s swords after all, but we couldn’t find them. We could find no trigger to move the block back out of the way, so I asked my staff whether it could get us past the obstruction.  It said that it could… for a price.  It demanded that it be given fine oils and polished with a deerskin cloth, with metal polish for its base. Exasperating thing!

    I agreed to its terms.  The staff seemed to concentrate, and a ring of green fire rose up around Alix and I.  We appeared to move briefly through a grey and empty space, and when the fiery ring lowered we found ourselves inside the basement next to our companions. They had been busy. (Note: I heard a bit of strained creaking during our transport from the magical Flatbox of Holding that we recovered from Ghend’s tower. Must be careful of that in the future.)

    While we were trying to get inside, the rest of the party was engaged with a statue which had animated into a huge demon.  While the demon turned out to be an illusion, Grundo broke his axe on the statue and finally tore it apart with his bare hands...!  

...we found several goblins slain in the same fashion as those above. I suspected that we were being shadowed by an invisible foe, and used my new Wand of Enemy Detection.  Out of thin air, a bat-winged, hooved imp materialized, cackling madly.  It’s stinger-tipped tail dripped poison.  It shook off my Magic Missiles and was hit by several blows from non-magical weapons, all of which bounced away harmlessly.  The imp then made a try for Nyquil!  Thankfully, Cambion was very effective.  The sword glowed brightly as it neared the target, and one blow was enough to dispatch the horrid beast.  It seemed to be drawn into the earth in a fiery vortex as it died....

...found various notes and pieces of a diary.  It appears that Elzid had fallen in love with a local girl named Erilyn Windfellow.  Love had changed his evil outlook on life, and he had planned to alter his ways, win her heart, and send his imp familiar Zotzpox back to the Nether Realms.  Sadly, the imp anticipated Elzid’s move and contrived for the mage to mix the wrong chemicals together, blowing the mage and his tower to fragments....

...found a destroyed lab with a secret door.  This led to a cobweb-filled room with a chest in it.  The trap on it was quite diabolical, and it nearly blew Tom-Tom’s face off.  Inside the chest we found treasure, and a map of a sunken dell in the mountains to the west, north of Flamegate....

...Erilyn is here, held prisoner in a magical stasis field!  We suspect that Elzid was trying to protect his love from the wrath of his familiar, but the stasis might have been Zotzpox’s doing. She was being guarded by a pair of bugbear skeletons, but a well-placed Grease spell and some effective blows from Tao and Grundo took them down.  We found the key to release Erilyn inside one of the skeleton’s ribcage.  We then opened the three sealed portals and gathered the rest of Elzid’s treasure.  Curiously, it was located within three invisible spheres floating around the ceiling.  Erilyn was given the diary outlining Elzid’s change of heart as a keepsake.  Tragic events.  

    A scroll with the command words for the stone block was also found....

...we camped overnight so that I might memorize Detect Magic and locate Nolin’s swords. Nyquil scouted the area and saw a giant traveling nearby with a well armed demi-human. We are hastening to return Erilyn home so that we may return and track them....


----------



## KidCthulhu

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *Arcade’s Journal – Elzid’s Doom
> ...arrived at the base of the tower only to find it in ruins.  The entire thing has been blown apart, and is scattered around the area.  We found a stairway leading to a basement entrance. There are a number of dead bodies on the grounds, mostly armored warrior-types.  They all seem to have fang bites, and the marks of a poisoned stinger.  There are tiny hoofprints all around as well. Very strange.  *




This was Tao's first ever Tracking check with the party and she failed miserably.  She was convinced that there was a snake wearing one boot and jumping up and biting people (it's not easy being a low level character).  
This is also where Tao's first animal follower died (not a long life I know) her dog.  Three more have followed in his footsteps and to keep thier memories alive (and cause Tao didn't have time to name the first one) they have been named DogA, DogB, DogC, and now currently there is DogD.  She swore if she ever got to DogE that would be the last.


----------



## Broccli_Head

Lots of adventures from Dungeon, I see!
I've used that blow-up tower adventure twice. Once in a Realms campaign and once in Al-qadim.  An imp is pretty nasty for low-level characters. 

Loving the early adventures. You guys are really funny! My games tend to be _too serious_. Demon bunnies! Nyquil! DogA-D!
And that's just recently.


----------



## KidCthulhu

Tao is really hard on dogs.  Or more specifically, adventuring life is really hard on dogs.  Interestingly, Tao went through all of her adventuring dogs before PC and I had dogs.  He can role-play a dog much better now!  DogD currently resides in the Royal Kennels in Kindric and serves as a stud dog to the guards troup of Doppleganger sniffing dogs.  It's a better life than fighting undead.


----------



## Blackjack

KidCthulhu said:
			
		

> *serves as a stud dog to the guards troup of Doppleganger sniffing dogs.  It's a better life than fighting undead. *




I'm quite sure Nolin thinks so.  Speak for yourself.

  -Malachite


----------



## Sito Rotavele

One of the best Tao moments came when a thief named Rendic derided her about her dog naming convention.  She immediately began referring to _him_ as "Rendic-A".


----------



## Jobu

Sito Rotavele said:
			
		

> *One of the best Tao moments came when a thief named Rendic derided her about her dog naming convention.  She immediately began referring to him as "Rendic-A". *



Sito
who the hell was Rendic?  I am drawing a blank?  I know I should remember him but I don't.


----------



## Sialia

Easy miss, Tao. 

He was one of Alix’s most pathetically faceless hangers on. 

Check the portrait of the Legerdemain’s opera of _The Comet_. 

He’s the guy at the butt end of the parade, after all the thrikreen and the nomads and lizards and kam-els and orcs and dragons, in the drab I-am-a-generic-adventurer costume.

Actually, he almost stands out for just how ordinary he was.


----------



## Bandeeto

My vague recollection is that Rendic was an NPC with the Defenders during the assault on Tovag Baragu, including some of the action around that period (Flickering Needle, Congenio Ioun, etc.)  He was not with us on our trip to fetch the Damming Stone.

Although I was not present for most of his appearances I believe he was actually pretty helpful later when the Defenders took on a Deathgranter squad.  I remember hearing that he drew fire and permitted Tao, Valdek and others to close on the baddies.  Something about him diving into the lake to get away....  

I also recall him meekly mentioning that maybe he ought to get a magic item from the latest haul, as he'd been completely overlooked during treasure distribution.  Not one of P'Cat's most memorable NPCs for sure.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Giant Hunt

...dropped off Erilyn at home.  Her parents were overjoyed to see her.  They had naturally feared the worst when she disappeared near Elzid’s tower....

...returned to the ruin.  Tao believes that many goblins have been coming and going through the area.  In fact, some were still there.  Grundo was overjoyed.  He does so *love* killing goblins.  As the giant must already be some distance away, we decided to return to Rampart and get supplies for the trip.  I still need some salve for my eyebrows, as they were burned off by an explosive rune trap on the map scroll.  We believe that the giant is headed towards the Sunken Dell located on the map....

...returned to the Flaxen Manticore to find our headquarters being rifled by an incompetent group of thieves, headed by one Tephis Birdhouse.  It appears that they were given a map to our headquarters by one “Arcade Deepleaf”, and then Charmed into going to ransack it!  Nolin turned the tables by Charming them again himself.  Tephis has been attached temporarily to Glimmer as a lackey.  Cadrienne has decided to return to her temple and face the music.  She keeps sneaking out to join us on these adventures, even though she is still only a Postulate of Morphat....

...traveled down the South Passage Road, following the giant’s tracks.  Even Tao wasn’t incompetent enough at tracking to miss them. The tracks then moved west into the mountains.  Found a campfire with the bones of a cooked horse.  There were signs of a fight, and two sets of tracks.  It seems the giant may have had a disagreement with the demi-human, and the giant was wounded mildly.  The terrain has become hilly.  Ever-resourceful Nyquil spotted signs that a large lizard (possibly a pet) is now with the giant. Have passed several elevated sites with stacked boulders for throwing, and have altered my memorized spells accordingly....

...came to a river below a hill with rough steps leading upwards.  Grundo, Nolin, Tom-Tom and Tao climbed the stairs, while Alix, Glimmer and myself moved quietly around the hill.  The climbers reached the top, and immediately were greeted by a hail of boulders from the opposite hill.  The climbers charged the black-eyepatch wearing giant while we approached from the right.  I sent a few Magic Missiles slamming into the giant, and managed to cast Mirror Image just in time.  (A boulder passed through one of the images and the giant yelled something in broken Common about hating wizards.) Then the lead party reached the giant, and the melee began.  The giant swung his tree-club, sweeping Grundo’s new spiked helmet off. Then Tao closed in and severed the giant’s ankle tendon as Grundo hamstrung his other leg.  This led to a massacre.  Tao seemed to be enjoying herself rather too much.  Rather than stay to watch, I located the giant’s cave....

...giant was definitely a man-killer.  He wore a necklace of human and demi-human ears.  We found his gigantic pet lizard inside the cave, and dispatched him with Color Spray and sword.  Found a green dragonskin bag within a stone pillar.  It contained a large number of coins, many of which appear to be a type of foreign currency.  The giant’s eyepatch is magical.  Wearing it revealed a trapped secret door in the rear of the cave, which led to a small box canyon.  We have found the Sunken Dell....

...as the map indicated, the entrance is a trapdoor beneath a moss-covered stone near a blasted oak.  The trapdoor contained a Sleep gas pressure-plate trap.  We were on high alert, as the map hinted at a “guardian most maleficient.” The stone was easily removed after I cast Grease beneath it.  After descending down ropes to the lower level we faced off against a huge metallic figure in a 3-4 foot-wide corridor.  It seemed programmed to come after and attack us, but not to climb after us.  We decided to return to Rampart, train, and then return with the tools to bypass this killer construct.  We disguised the cave entrance and departed....


----------



## madriel

So did somebody identify the eye patch or was one of the players just playing around with it and discovered its powers by accident?


----------



## KidCthulhu

madriel said:
			
		

> *So did somebody identify the eye patch or was one of the players just playing around with it and discovered its powers by accident? *




I belive Nolin tried it on.  It was called the Eyepatch of Yondor (god of hidden ways).  It showed hidden doors and such, and also allowed a person with one eye to see as if they had two.  Nolin carried it for a while, and then gave it to Nyquil, for reasons we'll hear about later.


----------



## Sialia

Ok, Bandeeto's post left out the really good nasty sharp pointy DM bit (naturally, since he was writting from Arcade's point of view).

We found the scroll, and Piratecat handed it to Bandeeto--a handwritten note on a parchmenty paper stock. Bandeeto read it, and then looked at it carefully, and noticed a peculiar sigil scribed on the reverse.

"What's this?" he said.

"Here, hand it back to me," Piratecat said, as if he needed to examine the mark again to see what Bandeeto was pointing at. 

And then he rolled some dice, which we expected, and lit the scroll on fire, which we did not. 

"You take X points of damage from the explosive runes," he said."And your eyebrows are vaporized." Well, more or less, that's what he said.

We still have what's left of the original note, scorchmarks and all.

It really was a thing of beauty.


----------



## Bandeeto

Sialia wrote: 







> We found the scroll, and Piratecat handed it to Bandeeto--a handwritten note on a parchmenty paper stock. Bandeeto read it, and then looked at it carefully, and noticed a peculiar sigil scribed on the reverse.




Highly painful.  Luckily the map was still quite readable despite the burn marks from P'Cat's gas stove.  Elzid *loved* Fire Traps, and we got nailed by many of them.  It got to where we'd expect them, but we had no way to defuse them.  So it was just a question of who was going to take the damage this time.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – The Sunken Dell, Enter Velendo

...returned to the Dell with picks and shovels.  There was no sign of anyone disturbing the area since we left.  We tunneled through a wall into a corridor next to the guardian.  There we found a back entrance, a set of lever-operated sliding walls (presumably to avoid the guardian and for protection).  We also found a cart hitched to a horse made entirely of stone.  The stone horse appears to be magical, but we do not know how it works, nor how to get it out of the lower chambers....

...found a store room.  It contains packed swords, arrows, and minotaur wine.  This, coupled with the foreign currency found on the giant, has led us to believe that Elzid was involved in a major smuggling operation.  We found a pair of double doors, apparently trapped.  Alix thought to set off the trap while hiding behind a wooden shield.  Of course it turned out to be a fire trap, and Alix was mildly scorched.  

    Opening the doors released green slime from an invisible hole in the ceiling.  This began eating through Alix’s boots!  We attacked the slime with oil and flame, and retreated until the fire burned itself out.  Beyond the double doors was a second set of reinforced double doors, locked beyond Tom-Tom or Alix’s skill.  While we thought about the problem, Grundo wandered off.  He pulled a lever protruding from a wall in the next room (he was bored), activating another sliding wall and detonating another Fire Trap.  

We managed to put out his beard, but Nolin spotted the metallic construct approaching down a side corridor.  As our doom approached and engaged Grundo, I yelled “Look out! The Guardian Most Maleficient!”  Thankfully, it turned out that this was the deactivation phrase for the automaton.  It returned to the entrance corridor, leaving us all feeling rather foolish for not having tried the phrase before....

...behind the wall was a huge octagonal room with a 10 foot wide, by 10 foot long, by 15 foot high, box-like structure in its center.  From the rear of the box protruded a metallic hand with some black powder.  Tom-Tom identified it as crushed diamond dust.  From the side of the box, a metal rod topped by a green crystalline orb protruded.  

    Nolin tried several times to Jump onto the top, succeeding in cracking his head several times upon the ceiling.  When he finally made it and found a Levitating Alix waiting for him, Nolin’s oaths were ear-blistering.  

    The top was covered with runes and inscriptions, intersecting rings with Elzid’s sigil in the center.  They pulled me up to study it.  The box appeared to be a complex machine, designed to gather power and release it using Alteration magic.  I guessed that we stood atop a Teleportation Chamber....

...Alix and Tom-Tom got the chamber open.  The walls inside were mirrors, with an identical rod and orb.  Glimmer became fascinated by all the mirrors, so we went back to check on the double doors.  Suddenly a loud noise ripped through the complex, sounding like a huge rush of air.  We rushed back to find a somewhat bedraggled, middle-aged cleric in robes coming out of the chamber and bitterly complaining.  Glimmer was gone!  We quickly learned the fellow’s name – Velendo, of the god Calphas the Wallbuilder.  He had been kidnapped by pirates while traveling by ship from his home in Hunner’s Tide to Oursk.  He was taken to the Citadel of War on the island of Sindara.  There live the worshippers of Kord, the Wargod, largely consisting of minotaurs (which in one stroke explains the foreign currency, weapons, and wine.) 

    Velendo had been consigned to rid the Citadel dungeons of giant ants, a death sentence.  He had been retreating from a horde of ants, backed into the chamber, and accidentally touched the orb, finding himself here.  We quickly closed the chamber.  Within moments, Glimmer was knocking to be let out.  The chamber appears to consume the diamond dust for fuel....

...decided to try the double doors.  I cast Knock, and we came face-to-face with a horrible skeletal snake with a human head.  Although Velendo was reluctant to join in combat, he was actually quite effective.  Alix *again* managed to step into one of my Color Sprays.  Nolin was Charmed by the beast, and spent the combat in thrall.  At last the fighters brought it down.  

    Place seems to be Elzid’s private living quarters.  The door had been Wizard Locked, and it closed shut again behind us, unfortunately locking Nyquil outside with the rest of the party inside.  I asked him to keep watch, and we searched the room.  Found a few chests, metal bit for the stone horse, a paper with the deactivation phrase for the Fire Traps on the chests, a set of deep blue conjuring robes, a Citadel of War priest costume complete with a wooden identification card, and a 7-month-old receipt for coins being stored for someone named S_....

...mental warning next morning from Nyquil that our rope was being pulled up.  I Knock’d the doors and we rushed for the entrance hole.  I then had a brilliant idea, which was nearly fatal.  I asked the staff to transport me to the surface.  It asked why.  I informed it that our supplies were up there being stolen, including it’s wood polish!  With a green flash I found myself on the surface, facing eight hostile orcs and a nasty-looking half-orc.  Our horses and Tao’s war dog were gone!  I attempted to bluff them, gesturing dramatically.

“Depart, or face my wrath this day!” I bellowed.

The orcs froze, wavering and unsure.  But the half-orc had other plans.

“I’m Stavros the Bandit Chief, I.  And youse is outnumbered!”

The rest of the party began to ascend the hole, with Nolin yelling “Send in the dwarven legions!” 

    I managed to Sleep two of the orcs, but Stavros struck me with a thrown dagger and charged, longsword at the ready.  He arrived in front of me just in time to catch my Color Spray in the face.  He dropped, and the orcs fled.  I killed two with Magic Missile, and Grundo and Tao finished off almost all of the rest.  Unfortunately, one of them escaped.  We tied up Stavros, and brought him down to Elzid’s chamber for questioning....

...searched the other chests and found diamonds and coins.  Also, gauntlets that enlarge and shrink things, a Mortar and Pestle of Lovlorheim, and a golden rod that increases one’s attractiveness.  Stavros was surly and uncooperative.  He had been, apparently, Kronk the giant’s partner, and the recipient of arms for cash from Elzid.  We decided to spend one more night in Elzid’s chambers before departing....


----------



## Sialia

Stavros, now _there_ was a memorable NPC.


----------



## Welverin

Sialia said:
			
		

> *Ok, Bandeeto's post left out the really good nasty sharp pointy DM bit (naturally, since he was writting from Arcade's point of view).
> 
> We found the scroll, and Piratecat handed it to Bandeeto--a handwritten note on a parchmenty paper stock. Bandeeto read it, and then looked at it carefully, and noticed a peculiar sigil scribed on the reverse.
> 
> "What's this?" he said.
> 
> "Here, hand it back to me," Piratecat said, as if he needed to examine the mark again to see what Bandeeto was pointing at.
> 
> And then he rolled some dice, which we expected, and lit the scroll on fire, which we did not.
> 
> "You take X points of damage from the explosive runes," he said."And your eyebrows are vaporized." Well, more or less, that's what he said.
> 
> We still have what's left of the original note, scorchmarks and all.
> 
> It really was a thing of beauty. *




So basically what you're saying is if the DM hands you a piece of paper with funky symbols on it _*DO NOT*_ ask what it is.



			
				Sialia said:
			
		

> *Hey love--where'd your dwarfy swears thread move to?*




I'm not who you asked, but I do know where they are, which would be the bottom of page one of Story Hour.


----------



## Piratecat

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *A local farmer of my acquaintance approached and begged us to help with a terrible problem.  He claims that a horde of demon rabbits have been ravaging his fields.... horrendous fight.  We encountered a group of giant, Blinking, unicorn-horned rabbits.  They apparently were being directed by a giant flying rabbit that could destroy objects using only its mind as a weapon.  Alix attempted to leap over the head of one of the rabbits and was practically impaled.*




This was great fun. The adventures for months had all been doom and gloom, dead heroes and evil nasties. As she said, KidCthulhu had been asking for an adventure involving cute little fluffy bunnies that like to give away treasure.  At just about this time, the 2e Fiend Folio add-on to the Monstrous Compendium was published. While leafing through it ("Stwinger? What the @#$% is a 'stwinger'?"), I came across al'miraj. Back in 1e they were a vicious rabbit with a unicorn horn. In 2e, they gave certain members psionics.  "Hmmmm," I thought. "This might be fun."

The group was aghast. They had no idea what they were facing.

My favorite memory was Alix's player declaring that he was going to vault over one of the rabbits. "Okay," I said. "Roll your tumble."

Crit failure.

Alix didn't walk right for a week.


----------



## Piratecat

Jobu said:
			
		

> *who the hell was Rendic?  I am drawing a blank?  I know I should remember him but I don't. *




Rendic was the fellow actually from TMOSAT's valley that Alix "recruited" (ie sort of kidnapped) to be his lackey and apprentice. Rendic was notable because he didn't show Alix much respect, and would get furious when the group didn't show him much respect either.  He ended up being quite competent, as witnessed by his attempt to take on mind flayers single-handed when you tried to seize the flickering needle from the mindflayers on the plane of shadow. He was there for T'Cri, he was there for the fight at Tovag Baragu, and after Alix died he quietly took over every single asset and building that Alix had owned.

He hasn't been heard from in ages. Someone scried for him once, and drew a blank; it's possible that T'Cri tracked him down and administered the Three Deaths while the rest of the Defenders were still vacationing in Sigil.


----------



## Piratecat

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *...returned to the Flaxen Manticore to find our headquarters being rifled by an incompetent group of thieves, headed by one Tephis Birdhouse.  It appears that they were given a map to our headquarters by one “Arcade Deepleaf”, and then Charmed into going to ransack it! *




Ahhh, Tephis. The first of the Defenders' "fan boys", he was a rabid hanger-on and adventurer wannabe who started his very own "Defenders of Daybreak - Kindric branch" without official approval. Very sincere, very star-struck, not a lot of common sense. 

This was a typical sort of ploy by Fallane Deepleaf (aka Eritain Quicklimb, Nolin's half-brother.)  Once they took a letter he had tauntingly wrote them, had it divined, and found out the true name of the man who had written it. Nolin then wrote a scathingly insulting song about the man and let it loose to every bard he could find.  A few weeks later, a humble clerk came and complained; Fallane had hired him to write the letter, and now his good name was being impugned up and down the country!  Heh heh.

The Sunken Dell follow-up to Elzid's Tower was a fun adventure hook I added in myself. It's also where Velendo first arrived!


----------



## KidCthulhu

Piratecat said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Ahhh, Tephis. The first of the Defenders' "fan boys", he was a rabid hanger-on and adventurer wannabe who started his very own "Defenders of Daybreak - Kindric branch" without official approval. Very sincere, very star-struck, not a lot of common sense. *




We took him along on one adventure with us.  Something involving Wyverns.  He got picked up by a wyvern and taken for a very short, very memorable flight.  When we found him, he'd been sick all over himself, and had decided that the adventuring life wasn't for him.

Tephis is Dylrath's big brother, and we will see more of him (and his, er, lovely wife anon.


----------



## Bandeeto

Mention of the Connor Hallowhorn (Fallane Deepleaf) fiasco coming up next post.

Wyvern adventure coming soon.

First I have to post the latest in the series of P'Cat's attempts to turn cute fuzzy things into horrible threat (eg. Frolic the faerie dragon, the al'miraj....) I refer of course to the episode I like to call... "Brownie Poker." Coming soon as well.


----------



## Sialia

> *after Alix died he quietly took over every single asset and buildingthat Alix had owned. *




The orphanage, too? Dang.

What about the royal grant of the governorship of  Celay Terzdun?

It's never occurred to me before, but perhaps Rendic's ability to wander around more or less completely unnoticed by the Defenders was a sort of special ability of its own.

I mean, yeah sure, he was there at all those things you listed, but I can't _remember_ him being there, and I was also Alix's apprentice.

Probably if he was in a postion to scoop up Alix's assets, so was I and _I never thought of it_ which is really unusual for me to miss an angle like that. Alix would have been so disappointed in me. 

Got to look in on old pal Rendic one of these days. If I can just remember to get around to it . . .


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Sunken Dell Finale

...next day Knock’d the door but found it obstructed from the outside.  We expected trouble, and prepared accordingly.  The staff consented to transport some of us into the outer chamber, but insisted on hearing a story beforehand! 

Alix and I were transported in a green blaze to the outer room, where we found *four ogres* and an orc with a bow.  It seems they had come to rescue Stavros. Things were touch-and-go for a while.  Alix managed to tumble into position and move the bar obstructing the door.  The party streamed out.  I saw an ogre starting to drink a potion, and cast Shatter upon the bottle, spilling the contents down the ogre’s vest. (Luckily, as we suspect that it was a potion of Ice Dragon Breath.)  I also managed to cut one ogre off with a moving wall, and attempted to dodge between another’s legs.  Unfortunately the dodge maneuver failed, earning me a hefty swipe from a club and knocking me unconscious.  Alix and Tao worked well as a team, felling ogres with precision and rescuing me from a deadly club strike.  

Sadly, Grundo did not perform as well.  He was so disgusted with his performance in the battle that he departed the complex when no one was looking, leaving his pack behind.  

While I was still incapacitated and Grundo was absent, the metallic construct attacked again.  This time the deactivation words failed to affect it in the slightest.  Glimmer tried to oppose it, and nearly died.  It was then that Velendo showed his strength.  He prayed to his god, and glowing with a seemingly impenetrable aura, stepped between the guardian and Glimmer.  The construct continued its assault, crumpling itself against Velendo.  Tao hewed at it from behind for some time before it finally stopped moving....

...healed me.  Debate ensued over the fate of Stavros.  At first I was adamant, with the support of Glimmer, that he be turned over to the authorities for the reward, while the others wished to simply kill him.  However, after a discussion with Stavros himself it became clear that he was not as evil as he appeared, but rather had been robbed of any opportunity to pursue a different path by a hostile society.  

Taking a gamble, we offered him a position as bouncer at the Flaxen Manticore.  We will have to pay off his bounty, and place a 5,000 gp deposit in trust with the authorities for his good behavior.  He was tremendously grateful to be given a chance at a normal life, and agreed to help us get our horses back.  We used the Gauntlet of Shrinking to reduce the cart and stone horse, moved it to the surface, and restored it to proper size.  We then loaded the cart and took everything else with us....

...at Stavros’ direction we proceeded southwest and found a cave.  Stavros sent the orcs living within on a wild goose chase, and we recovered our belongings.  Sadly, there has been no sign of Grundo....

...returned to Rampart at last.  We formally (and happily) accepted Tao and Velendo as new members of the Defenders.  Sorry to lose Grundo, though.  We installed Stavros in his new position as bouncer.  Bought a few things and prepared to train.  We entertained one Natalia Ballard of Lindilyn at the Manticore.  We suspect that she may be a bounty hunter for Alix’s father, but she did not provoke any action....

...Nolin took Tephis Birdhouse’s map (the one obtained from “Deepleaf”) to the temple of Morphat and paid for a Divination of the author’s name.  He came up with Connor Hallowhorn.  Nolin then wrote a very nasty (and catchy) song lampooning Hallowhorn, and started performing it....


----------



## Piratecat

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> * It was then that Velendo showed his strength.  He prayed to his god, and glowing with a seemingly impenetrable aura, stepped between the guardian and Glimmer.  The construct continued its assault, crumpling itself against Velendo.  Tao hewed at it from behind for some time before it finally stopped moving.... *




What spell was that, do you remember?


----------



## KidCthulhu

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> * Stavros was tremendously grateful to be given a chance at a normal life.
> 
> ...Nolin took Tephis Birdhouse’s map (the one obtained from “Deepleaf”) to the temple of Morphat and paid for a Divination of the author’s name.  He came up with Connor Hallowhorn.  Nolin then wrote a very nasty (and catchy) song lampooning Hallowhorn, and started performing it.... *




Here, nicely juxtaposed, are one of Nolin's proudest moments and one of his most shameful.  Stavros is now an honorable and productive member of society.  Nolin's daughter Tasha calls him "Unca Tusky".  The greatest good is done in little deeds like these.

Then again.  Connor Hallowhorn turned out to be a mousy little scribe who just happened to draw up the map for my rotten brother.  And Nolin jumped right in to mocking him and besmirching his name, without investigating futher.  Nol still regrets this little incident more than just about anything else he's done in a lifetime of bad judgement calls.


----------



## KidCthulhu

Hey Bandeeto,

Talking about _Shatter_ reminds me.  You should post some of Arcade's old verbal components.  We got hit with a bunch of _Color Sprays_ last night in Sagiro's game, and everytime one went off, I thought "Jeeze your costumes clash!"


----------



## Sialia

Yah, yah, I promised I'd log in today and show off the verbals, only one thing and another, and all that.

Anyway, as long as Arcade is busy tossing _Color Sprays_ and _Shatters_ around, Honored Readers ought to know how they sounded. Pity I can't demo the somatics. 

The usual mode was for Bandeeto to "cast" the spell in all its glory the first time he used a spell, and after that he'd just say "I cast Shatter" like your average gamer.

Except for Color Spray, which was so catchy we all liked to chant it along with him, and insisted on the full rendition most of the time.

Shatter: 
        "Operatic, cacophonic, stratospheric shriek,
          Focussed locus hocus pocus hypersonic seek,
          Broken, cracked and burst and wracked, shattered now
          must you be,
          Slivers, shards are in the cards,
          And by the way: _Shedubee_!"


Color Spray: 
         "Technicolor paparazzi, 
           magnesium flash, 
           watch the birdie,  
           film 6:30, 
           geeze your costumes clash!"


----------



## Sialia

It's also worth noting that Kidcthulhu can actually sing, and frequently did (does?) when Nolin was casting.

I can't recall exactly which pieces correspnded to which spells at this point, but I recall that when Nolin cast a sonic attack it was quite, ah , er, _ plausible_.

We all labored under the belief that Piratecat was more likely to allow a desperate act to succeed if the spellcasting were well roleplayed.

Cadrienne was very into the mathematics of her spells and I spent quite a while researching sacred geometries and architectures of the Real World to be able to draft technical drawings of the sigils she would inscribe while casting. This never worked out real well as a roleplaying shtick, but it did result in Piratecat giving her a really cool astrolabe as an item at one point, and Alix's player giving me a gift of a wonderful pair of D20s with the astrological symbols and planets on 'em. I've never managed to use them in gametime, but they are so very pretty they have a place of honor on the trophy shelf above my desk next to Audrey II, Dylrath's jawharp, Bun Bun, and The Bottle of Ultimate Wisdom.

I can't describe Velendo's spellcasting. Somebody else will have to. Economy of expression doesn't begin to describe the effectiveness of his technique. Maybe the woeful expressions of Tevye the Milkman and the comic timing of Billy Crystal gets a little closer. Maybe you just had to be there.


----------



## Sialia

Here's two more of Arcade's verbals:

_Grease:_
        "Slip and fall and slide and sprawl, stagger, skid, and
         stumble,
         Topple, flop, and pitch and drop, totter, tilt and
         tumble,
         Perniciously lubricious, oily unguent vicious,
         Lipoleic, oleo-, petroleum slick of suet,
         Polyunsat, ceramide, sebaceous lipid do it. 
         Balsam and brilliantine, butter, lard of beast,  
         Dip and tallow adipose, glycerine and grease.


_Mirror Image:_ 
             "Prism prisons laggard light,
               Fly eye comports compound sight,
               Psilocybin, icy high been,
               Crystal silver dreams imbibin'.
               Loosely shifting diamond view,
               Crazed cracks cross the iris blue,

               As future finis by veiled pupils pass,
               So let me be seen, 
               Through the same darkling glass!"


----------



## Jairami

Good thing 2e rounds took a full minute!  

<tries REPEATEDLY to say one of those in around 3 seconds>

<falls over twitching>


----------



## Blackjack

Sialia said:
			
		

> * Maybe the woeful expressions of Tevye the Milkman and the comic timing of Billy Crystal gets a little closer. Maybe you just had to be there. *




Sialia's quite right; sadly Velendo's tone (when casting spells or otherwise) gets lost in transition to text.  Sagiro adopts a world-weary, resigned, "why does this always happen to me?" tone and an accent reminiscent of Billy Crystal as Miracle Max.  It's delightful.


----------



## KidCthulhu

Sialia, when the time comes, you should mention your palindrome casting method for "You know who".

Trying not to throw out spoilers!

The sonic spell was the Phoenix Shreak ability of Rider of the Flame.  It was equivalent to _Daze_, but in 2nd ed. it caused an initiative penalty.  I used to screach at the top of my range, which is about a b flat.  I'm no soprano, but it certainly had an impact.

I was asked not to do that anymore.


----------



## Sagiro

Regarding Velendo's backstory:

Before he joined the Defenders, Velendo served as the local priest of Calphas the Wallbuilder in the tiny fishing village of Hunnerstide.  He did very little work, preferring to sit in his small office, drinking slowly throughout the day until he fell asleep at his desk in the evening.  Nothing ever happened in Hunnerstide, and Velendo was basically a lazy, crotchety, semi-devout drunkard.

All of that changed one day when Calphas spoke to him.  Spoke to him!  In his head!  It was the most  terrifying moment of his life, to realize that the Wallbuilder was paying even passing attention to him.  The Voice told him that a ship would becoming to Hunnerstide within hours, further bound for a great city, and that he should be on that ship. No longer will you waste your life, the voice told him.  In that city you will do good and tend to the flocks and get off your lazy ass.

He was 49 years old at the time, though he looked older.

Velendo packed his bags and was on that ship, but it never made it to the city.  Instead, it was captured by minotaur pirates, and Velendo was spared only because the minotaurs were nervous about killing a priest.  Their ship landed on some strange shore, and Velendo was marched down the gangplank and down a road, until he and his captors reached an old building of some sort.  Though they didn’t speak his language, they made it clear that they expected him to go clean out the basement of that building.  They gave him a broom.

Puzzled at Calphas’ strange design, Velendo took the broom, went down into the cellar, and started sweeping the dust out of old storerooms.  It went smoothly for an hour or so, until the giant ants attacked.  He swung his broom ineffectually at them and retreated, until they had backed him into a corner.  It was unfair, he thought to himself, that Calphas’ will should be that he get eaten by giant vermin.  “What kind of stupid plan is this, anyway?” he shouted at the heavens through the ceiling.

Then he backed into a hidden teleporter, and found himself in another cellar a thousand miles away, where the Defenders were just finishing up one of their early adventures.

The Plan has made a lot more sense since then.

In his first adventure, the party killed a small group of orcs.  When one of the Defenders was injured, they all looked at Velendo expectantly.  He stared back.  “What?”

They suggested that he might be able cast a healing spell, a thing which had never occurred to Velendo.  He tried it, and was shocked to discover that it worked!  He could cast spells!  Holy Concrete!

He didn’t really understand how they worked, though.  In his next battle, he cast _protection from evil_ on himself, and the visual effect was that a golden nimbus of tiny bricks surrounding him.  “Hey, great,” Velendo thought.  “Invulnerability!”  That, as much as bravery, was why he simply interposed his body between an attacker and one of his comrades.   He expected the bricks would stop the entire attack.  Whoops.  A short while later he desperately cast his second healing spell.

-Sagiro


----------



## madriel

A cleric who didn't know that he could cast spells?


----------



## Piratecat

madriel said:
			
		

> *A cleric who didn't know that he could cast spells?  *




Yup! He had always been a lay cleric, unable to cast spells but still the shepherd of the church in his tiny, little town. He inherited it from his father, and his father before that.


----------



## Bandeeto

Jairami posted:


> Good thing 2e rounds took a full minute!
> 
> <tries REPEATEDLY to say one of those in around 3 seconds>
> 
> <falls over twitching>




Of course, Arcade pronounced spells "in the language of magic!"

When casting in "real time" Arcade could contract the spells by pronouncing the first two letters of each line of the spell, strung together in one long word.

It sounded like cats trying to kill each other in a water barrel, and gave about the right tonality, I thought.

Of course, one problem was that I tended to write progressively longer verbals for higher level spells.  I finally gave it up, as it was just getting too difficult as the spells increased to 4th and beyond.  (Note: try not to set standards for yourself that you are not capable of surpassing.)


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Brownie Poker

...when Alix and I arrived at Ortigal’s, we found a surprise in store.  Briorth and Imelda, Michael’s father and mother, were there.  Imelda was nearly hysterical.  (I quickly filled in Alix regarding Michael and his friend Frolic the faerie dragon.)  The parents had found their house sealed against them, and Michael missing. We offered to help, of course. We gathered the party and Briorth and headed off through the forest. Sadly, we could not locate Velendo or Glimmer on such short notice.

On the way to the cabin we encountered Rofan, bizarre cleric and sometime-Defender, and he insisted on accompanying us.  He has become even more strange since we last met, and I fear his sanity has departed nearly entirely....

...arrived at the cabin.  Worse than we thought.  The whole structure was sealed with wooden planks and pegs.  In the mud outside the hut was written “Keep Out!” in elven script.  We made several attempts to enter, but this resulted in _Confusion_ repeatedly being cast upon the group.  From the sound, it appears that many small beings inhabit the cabin.  There are also strange chirping noises....

...the staff made an attempt to get me inside, but we wound up in a strange grey dimension and were eventually ejected back into reality, still outside the cabin.  The staff would not explain the strange occurrence.  In an attempt to bring the inhabitants of the house outside, I cast _Irritation_ into the cabin’s interior.  No effect, sadly....

...Alix, when bored and angry, is a serious threat to people and property.  Unable to get inside, he began trying to *burn down* the cabin by tossing oil flasks down the chimney!  Naturally this enraged Briorth, the cabin’s *owner*, who promptly attacked Alix with his axe.  I honestly believe that Alix would have killed him had I not intervened by casting Sleep upon the woodcutter.  While Rofan stayed behind to heal Briorth, we went in search of Frolic....

...Frolic is as demented as ever.  Nolin and Alix accidentally stepped on the trapdoor which the dragon had rigged.  This led to them sliding down a greased chute into a pool of icy water.  Thankfully, I was alert and avoided the trap.  Frolic was overjoyed to see us.  He informed us that the local brownies had commandeered the cabin for their annual game of poker.  Apparently it involves wagering with crickets.  In exchange for promises of fruit pies, Frolic agreed to get Nolin and Alix some crickets for betting stakes, and to get them both inside....

...brownies promised to leave in one day, and let the two join the game.  Michael was already inside, asleep on the floor.  Alix and Nolin proved hopeless at brownie poker, rapidly lost their crickets, and were enchanted into sleep along with Michael....

...Rofan has become as dangerous as Alix, and cannot be trusted.  I found the unconscious Briorth with antlers mounted upon his head, on all fours in the snow, stripped and coated in mud, and with a Log of Everburning placed under him to harden the mess.  Rofan explained that he has chosen to heal only animals these days, and thought this might permit the hapless Briorth to qualify!  I told off Rofan, and rescued Briorth.  Brought the poor fellow home and cleaned him up, saving him from death due to exposure....

...returned next day to find the cabin spotless.  Frolic was there with Michael, hale and hearty.  Frolic tried playing breath-holding games with me again. (That is:  he would try to use his breath weapon upon me, while I tried to hold my breath).  I won.

I also refused to open the cabinets for him, but after I departed he did it himself.  He then used the pots and pans to arrange water-pranks that Rofan walked right into....

...Frolic has informed Nolin that odd scents are in the air, and that the animals and plants in the northwestern forests have begun to act very strangely.  Later, Oania the dryad confirmed these rumors....

...Michael happily reunited with his parents.  I had a discussion with the staff regarding the benefits of cooperation!  Returned to the Manticore with Alix and Nolin, where we met one Connor Hallowhorn.  He turns out to be a half-elven ascetic monk of the order of Morphat, God of Knowledge.  He had been hired by “Deepleaf” to copy the map to the Manticore, and was extremely displeased and saddened due to the slanders heaped upon him as a result of Nolin’s popular song.  Nolin apologized profusely and agreed to make amends....



*[Ed. As promised, here is Arcade’s verbal component for Irritation, which he cast this episode.

Irritation:
 "Private itches, ants in britches, poison oak and ives,
  Eczematous icthyosis, boils, wheals and hives,
  Busy tongued insectile young,
  Your nails flay fleshly strips,
  The burning rash and stinging lash,
  Of magic nettled whips!"]*


----------



## KidCthulhu

Ah Brownie Poker.  I loved that run.  If only PC had let us actually play poker, instead of making us roll some dice, I might have won us a passle of crickets.  

As a note, Fairy Dragons in PC's world love fruit pies.  They're like some bizzare hybred of dragons and super villains from the back of 1970's comic books who could be bribed to give up their evil ways in return for Hostess snack products.  The idea came orginally from Tom-Tom's player, Tremere, who did this in his college campaigns.  It works.  Always helps to know what motivates a being.


----------



## Little_Buddha

KidCthulhu said:
			
		

> *As a note, Fairy Dragons in PC's world love fruit pies.  They're like some bizzare hybred of dragons and super villains from the back of 1970's comic books who could be bribed to give up their evil ways in return for Hostess snack products.*




http://www.seanbaby.com/hostess.htm


----------



## Bandeeto

As totally hilarious as the seanbaby sites are (and they really are), on with the story!

*Arcade’s Journal – Bounty Hunters/The Flaming Manticore*

...Alix informed us today that he sent an insulting and obnoxious letter to his father, Lord Tarim-Loial in Kindric, a few weeks ago.  Plainly he is (again) inviting trouble.  We are staying alert for bounty hunters just in case....

...relaxing with the group at the Flaxen Manticore.  The trophy room is coming along well, and Stavros has been a wonderful addition to the inn.  He only breaks heads when it is actually called for, and keeps order marvelously.  One good tusked scowl from him settles the unruliest drunks.

Still no word from Grundo, although happy rumors have trickled into town that a bearded horror has been wreaking havoc upon the goblin tribes in the nearby mountains....

...yesterday at the Manticore I was sitting with Alix, Nolin, Tom-Tom, Tao, and Velendo at our usual table.  Into the inn walked a huge man, wearing black armor and carrying a bizarre polearm.  (I have since been informed that it is called a bohemian earspoon.)  

He stopped briefly at the bar to speak to the bartender.  From the seat next to me, I heard Alix say in a loud whisper “Oh damn!” I turned to find that Alix had activated his ring of _Invisibility_, and I immediately suspected a bounty hunter.  The large fellow turned to stare at our table and did something with an amulet. He then walked purposefully over to our table and introduced himself as Kirykon the Tracker. After a brief and uninformative chat, he suddenly turned to the chair next to me and scooped up the invisible (and now apparently paralyzed) Alix. As he strode away I shouted an alarm, and began to cast.

At that moment a mangy, mongrel dog ran in from the kitchen and transformed into a gray-robed mage, wearing a necklace of golden globes.  I cast _Irritation_ on Kirykon, followed by _Mirror Image_ on myself.  The mage, trying to cover for Kirykon, cast _Stinking Cloud_ into the crowded inn.

Tom-Tom somehow caused a giant squirrel of flame to leap out of the roaring fireplace and attack Kirykon.  I tried to _Spook_ the mage without success, so I charged him instead. As Tao moved to block the door, Kirykon struggled with the squirrel and tried not to drop Alix.  

Velendo, sadly, had been caught in the _’Cloud_.  He managed to struggle over to the mage, and just as I struck the mage with my _Wand of Shocking Grasp_, Velendo vomited in his face.  This led to a great deal of vomiting all around, turning the situation very messy indeed!

However, as Velendo was clawing at the mage’s robes he pulled one golden globe free of the necklace.  It exploded with a fiery blast, tossing us around like matchsticks and killing the mage in the process.  As we picked ourselves up, we noticed that the *entire necklace* was now hissing and smoking!  Seeing this, Kirykon threw Alix at Tao and barreled past her out the door, leaving his polearm behind.  Everyone leaped for cover.

Suddenly, the necklace whipped itself off the mage’s neck and flew out of the inn window into the sky, where it detonated in an earthshaking inferno, shattering windows in nearby buildings.  (I currently suspect that Tom-Tom had something to do with the flight of the necklace.)  

In the chaos, the badly wounded Kirykon made his escape with Lady Natalia Ballard’s horse and carriage.  Tao tried to follow, but our ranger was unable to control her panicked horse!  We hurried to extinguish the inn, which was now ablaze.  This was quickly accomplished....

...Tom-Tom’s inquiries later revealed that Kirykon usually hires assistants while bounty hunting, and also that he has a morbid fear of fire....

...still suspicious of Lady Ballard, as her conveyance had been so very handy for Kirykon’s escape.  I asked her again regarding her father’s business.  She claimed that he was a stonemason, when previously she had called him a chicken farmer. However, within a day she had vanished, leaving a package for Alix. This turned out to be a large stone chicken.  “Fillane Deepleaf” had fooled us once more! We mounted the chicken and the earspoon in the trophy room....

...while waiting for the Manticore to be repaired (the owner has said it will now be named the Flaming Manticore) Alix sent another letter to his father, asking to be left alone.  We soon received a letter from Lord Tarim-Loial himself, the richest man in all Gaunt. He is coming here, to Rampart! He wishes to speak to Alix, personally.

Meanwhile, Rofan has come to see us with a request for aid from the temple of Galanna.  It seems legitimate....


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – The Lizard People

...Rofan brings word that Thayar, High Priest of Galanna, has been kidnapped while investigating the rumors of trouble in the northwestern forests.  We had heard that the dwarven stronghold in the mountains had been attacked by orc war parties, and now this! 

A strange ransom note arrived.  Someone named Quaquiss is demanding a holy artifact, The Rod of Communion, in exchange for Thayar.  After a discussion with the temple officials, we agreed to try to rescue the priest. They gave us the Rod, and a device to track Thayar....


...strange tracks, lizard-like, leading northwest.  After an uncomfortable camp (we had to avoid an angry badger) we set forth.  Tao got off to a bad start, leading us due south.  (She claimed we were headed for the swamps, and got quite flustered when we informed her that there are no southern swamps!) After that she got back on course, and followed the tracks straight into a walking, lizard-like humanoid.  We suspected that he had delivered the ransom note. Tao jumped him and they began to struggle. I _Slept_ him, and we tied him fast....


...long discussion with the lizardman, who is named Baass and comes from the tribe of Saraass.  It turns out he is actually quite friendly, and likes humans a great deal.  He told us that Quaquiss is actually the chief of the tribe, a very large lizardman.  The tribe’s shaman (Sislassis) died some years ago.  The priest, Thayar, was apparently caught inside the shaman’s House of Seeing.  Baass agreed to lead us northwest to his village. We learned a phrase in lizardman: “Quassqueee,” meaning “spends too much time in dreamtent.” Naturally it was being applied to Rofan....


...it is well that Baass is a doughty warrior.  In the swamp we were ambushed by a flying, armored, helmet-shaped creature with numerous barbed tentacles.  The battle was fierce, and Baass proved his worth in combat....


...Tao discovered the tracks of an orc war party.  I _Spider Climbed_ into a tree to get a better look, and saw them camped up ahead.  After consulting with the group, I climbed back up and blinded most of the orcs with _Pyrotechnics_.  We made short work of them.  Searching the camp afterwards, we found strange news.  The commander was carrying dispatches which stated that the Blue Assassin had escaped, and that a new Great Goblin must be chosen....


...felt we needed to corral the horses for their own protection before continuing on through the swamp without them.  As we set up the barricade and began hobbling the horses, Baass seemed very anxious.  He told us of a creature called the “Gaakgaak,” which has haunted this area for many years.  Lizardman mothers use its name to threaten their children....


...just finished hobbling the horses when we heard screams of animal terror behind us.  We whirled to find a gigantic two-headed humanoid reaching over the barricade to grab the horses.  I cast _Stinking Cloud_ full in its face with no effect.  Everyone closed in, and a gruesome battle ensued.  I sent off a few _Magic Missiles_, which seemed to injure the creature.  Glimmer consumed a _Potion of Ice Breath_ and breathed upon the creature, but even after many blows the thing refused to fall.  

Nolin was very badly injured in the defense of his horse, Hemiola.  (Sadly, the horse perished after all.)  Finally, Tao severed the creature’s hand, which tried to scuttle away by itself! It was then that we understood the troll-like nature of the Gaakgaak, and began bombarding it with flaming oil flasks.  After finishing the beast, we hunted down the hand and put it to the torch as well....


...got some rest, and then plunged into the swamp.  We finally arrived at the village, which was surrounded by a moat.  Alix and I _Levitated_, and were towed across.  

We were immediately surrounded by guards, and things began to look a bit grim.  However, Baass introduced us to Quaquiss, who in turn introduced us to Thayar, High Priest of Galanna.  It turns out that the priest was not a hostage after all.  He is a gruff old man, who told us that he preferred to solve problems in the wilderness itself, rather than staying “cooped up in a stuffy temple, even if the temple *is* made out of living trees.”  The priest had requested the Rod of Communion, but Quaquiss’ Common is not very good and he had phrased the note badly.   

The chief was very grateful and impressed that we had killed the Gaakgaak.  Thayar thanked us for the Rod, took Rofan off our hands (whew!) and ordered a banquet for everyone.  Glimmer created a magical pavilion with his Rod of Splendor to house the feast.  We received a reward as well, two magical wooden chalices that purify food and drink....


...reported back to the temple in Rampart, and received their thanks and payment as well.  We had a word with the dwarven ambassador, Tairablade.  He informed us that Grundo (who dyes his beard blue) is the Blue Assassin.  He was captured after slaying the Great Goblin and many other orcs, but then escaped.  The war is going well, and the orcs have been unable to make any advances.  As a matter of protocol, I took part in the traditional dwarven farewell ritual of head-butting with the ambassador.  It seemed a good idea at the time, but my head *still* aches!

We were very pleased to learn that Stavros has bought the Flaming Manticore.  He has even paid off his own bounty.  Our rooms on the second floor are nearly finished, and Stavros has hired a new half-orc bouncer named Garak (“he works for coppers!”)....


...Nolin received a package, a bard’s spellbook.  It was from “Fillane Deepleaf”, and trapped with multiple _Sepia Snake Sigils_.  Naturally.  Nolin decided that he didn’t care about the traps as long as he was able to learn some new spells, so he is now spending most of his time as a coat-rack....


...training for ten weeks!  During my researches I have learned of a magical tome penned centuries ago by the elven mage Arkadine (my personal hero), and a priest named Horrus Incabulin. The book, the Horrus Arkadanian, was last seen at the Academy of Flamecraft in the south of Gaunt.  This sounds to me like an excellent future quest....


...at Tom-Tom’s request, and using his funds, I have successfully reasearched _Alimir’s Fundamental Breakdown_.  With this spell I was able to tell Tom-Tom how to combine Gutshaker (the dwarven brew), with Griffin Grog (a fine ale), and with Pisspuss (a fermented swamp-water beverage favored by the lizardmen).  The resultant concoction, which we have named Badgerbite, carries an incredible kick.  Tom-Tom is overjoyed....


...very excited. I finally had the funds to cast _Familiar Enhancer I_ on Nyquil.  His intelligence has been greatly improved (he can now understand Common Speech).  Also, he now can release a cloud of purple dust while in flight that acts as a _Feather Fall_!  One unforeseen side effect… my eyes now look like those of a great horned owl.  A bit strange and unnerving in the mirror. I like it...! 



*Ed. Bonus! More of Arcade’s verbal spell components: 

Pyrotechnics: 
 "Multimillions, megahit! Stallone and Schwarzenegger!
  Laser lights and phoenix flights, a nitro kilokegger!
  Spielberg, Lucas! Getting warm. Show takes town by firestorm.
  The smoke, the flames, we're naming names, pure pyrotech
  impaction,
  Blockbusting blast, a stellar cast,
  Take one, roll film, and ... Action!"

Stinking Cloud:
 "Breathe deep breaths of this putrid perfume,
  Gangrene green choking vaprous spume,
  Sulfur eructations, musky skunk deflations,
  Nauseous nostrils flare at the flatulence of nations,
  Effluvius Vesuvius, your bile brings reports,
  On essence of incontinent otyugh shorts,
  And lastly the bouquet beheaded camels couldn't miss,
  The full-bodied stench of crusty dwarven spirit piss."*


----------



## Sialia

Ok, I don't know where to begin the commentary tonight. 

So much ground to cover!

The bit about the head butting.
Ok.
So, we were all in real life at King Richard's Faire -- a Rennaisance Faire outside of Boston, and Kidcthulhu and Bandeeto tried their hand at one of those carnival games where you have to hit a thingum with a mallet to try to ring a bell. (King Richard's Faire is the least historically accurate Rennaisance Faire ever produced--don't get on my case about it--it seems that after viewing the hash the competition was making of the job of historical re-enactment, the goodly folks at KRF gave up altogether and just decided to have a good time. )

So anyway, the mallet thing. 

Apparently it was pretty difficult and it took quite a few attempts for one of them to ring the bell. I don't remember who succeeded at last--I think it may have been Kidcthulhu, who is surprisingly strong for her size. And in a strange moment of pure jubilation, feeling very masculine and pumped, Kidcthulhu and Bandeeto actually did headbutt each other--I can't type I'm laughing myself to tears recalling this--ok, whew--and nearly knocked each other senseless.

"Ok" they both said, reeling around the fair. "Why did we DO that?" 

Maybe you  had to be there. I remember trying very hard to be sympathetic and keep a straight face at the time. Maybe that's why I'm still cracking  up about it all these years later. 

Anyway, this moment of stupidity parodied in Piratecat's campaign, immortalized for you by me.

What else was there?

Does anyone still have a copy of Alix's letter to his dad? It was special. Something about "Get stuffed, you flatulent bastard"?

Also, we heckled Tao about the Southern Swamps episode for _years_. If you ever really want to get up her nose, try heckling her about that one, Wulf.

Cadrienne actually went and spent a proficiency slot on Stellar Navigation after hearing about this incident, not realizing that technically, it's only meant to be used at sea, and having no idea that she was going to develop a morbid fear of boats. 

Which will be another story for another day.

The proficiency actually did turn out to be useful later when Cadrienne's foster son wanted to grow up to be a pirate and she subverted his ambition by teaching him the art and getting him apprenticed to a pilot. See Dylrath's earlier assertion that he knows where to find the current Defenders a top notch navigator for their new boat.

I try never to waste anything.


----------



## Bandeeto

In our defense, we had not actually intended to head-butt, but only to pretend.  Sadly we both misjudged the distance.  Those who were present said it sounded like two melons smacking together.  It was... unpleasant, and very disorienting.

Arcade had a proficiency in Etiquette, and he tried to use it to impress nobility.  It was a partially failed check that led to the incident with the ambassador. (Made the Etiquette check, failed the Wisdom check!)

Incidentally, although we teased Tao for years about the "southern swamps", we also had a great deal of fun with  Nolin about the Sepia Snake Sigils.  Every time he would get nailed by one, someone would put him in the corner and hang a coat on him.  This tended to start a trend, as all the arriving patrons would also hang their coats on him.  If you've ever visited KidC and P'Cat's house, you've seen the coat rack that Nolin resembled nightly!


----------



## KidCthulhu

The strangest thing about the head butting incident is that I really did see stars!  I always thought this was just a cartoon thing.  But, yep, you do see little twinkly lights.

Don't worry about laughing, Sialia.  I still laugh about it, too.  That was the funniest part; poor bandeeto and me sitting stunned on the ground, holding our heads and laughing.  We couldn't see straight, but we could laugh.

And I'd like to point out that the two headed troll episode was the first Defender's episode run by yours truly.  I've only run a few others, but this was my first.  And I almost killed Nolin, trying to prove that I wasn't biased.  D'oh.


----------



## Piratecat

Ah, yes. The first time that the Manticore burned down. I remember that necklace of missiles almost going off at ground zero, and the massive explosion it made. That was a fun game!


----------



## Bandeeto

*[Ed. Note: After the encounter with Nostradis Ghend, Arcade plundered the evil mage’s spell book and gained the spell Darkening Bolt.  It is in all ways the equivalent of Lightning Bolt, but uses negative energy and manifests as a black stroke.

I also failed to mention that by this point Tao had come into possession of a sword called Heartscar, capable of creating wounds that could not be healed magically.  I seem to recall that its previous owner was Stavros.  Arcade was quite upset when he realized how near he came to being skewered by that sword when Stavros rushed him in the Sunken Dell.]*


Arcade’s Journal – Wyvern Bait

…Cadrienne has returned, having been sent to do field research once again.  We have not seen her in over a year. She seems much changed, more solemn and thoughtful.  Apparently, she had arranged for all of the memories of our time adventuring together to be removed from her mind to avoid being distracted by them. Extremely odd, and disturbing.

She actually showed some romantic tendencies towards Alix, which Nolin and I both immediately rushed to disabuse her of.  I have informed Alix that his future career as a napkin ring is assured if he pursues her.… 


…Tom-Tom was on a bender, experimenting with his new brew, and Velendo was visiting Ortigal’s farm for a few days.  Cadrienne, Nolin and myself were taking our ease in the Manticore’s new dining room, when Tao walked in.  She had nearly completed her training, and regaled us with stories of roaming the humanoid-infested interior of the countryside.  She suggested that we organize an expedition to rid the area of some of these foul and dangerous beasts.  

Her tale was interrupted by the arrival of Tephis Birdhouse, enthusiastic aspirant to hero-dom, and likely future casualty.  Since we saw him last, digging a hole under our trophy room in an attempt to make off with non-existent treasure, all at the instigation of a certain “Deepleaf,” Tephis has been preparing to accompany us on a quest. He has purchased a full set of ornamental (nearly useless) plate mail, with a matching shield, festooned with gewgaws. 

A full-scale debate ensued as to whether Tephis should be allowed to come along.  I argued that it had to happen some time, and that now was as good a time as any.  Nolin countered my argument by making me fully responsible for the lad…!


…decided to check out the Hartwood, a site of recently increased humanoid activity, including orcs and ogres.  Tephis showed up mounted on a high-spirited charger, and wielding an epee.  It turns out that he is actually a member of a lesser house of nobility in Kindric.  He also has been a squire, but unfortunately his progress was such that he needed to serve with several different knights….


…stopped to check in on Erilyn Windfellow to see how she was recovering from the Elzid incident.  Her father told us that she is doing very well, and seeing a local lad.  We have decided to camp in the fields before entering the forest….


…on second watch (Nolin’s), disaster struck.  Nyquil’s insistent pecks awoke me, and he hooted warnings of a huge, black flying shape.  As I sprang to my feet, an ebony lizard with a fifty-foot wingspan swooped out of the night sky, grabbed Nolin, and flew off.  It was moving so fast that it was out of range before my _Magic Missiles_ could strike!  I instructed Nyquil to follow them, and roused the party.

While Tephis struggled into his armor, Cadrienne, Tao and I rode after the lizard as fast as we could.  Nyquil directed us as the beast circled to the east, and then flew north into the Hartwood, straight for a cave on a small wooded hill.  We could hear Tephis, yelling for directions far behind us, as we arrived at the base of the hill. Taking pity, I asked Nyquil to guide Tephis to us.  We quickly formulated a plan.  

Cadrienne and Tao climbed up and circled around until they stood on the lip overhanging the cave.  I moved to a position twenty yards outside the cave mouth and cast _Mirror Image_.  We could see the creature, hunched just within the entrance with its back towards us.  It sported a tail with a large stinger, dripping a black liquid on the cave floor.  The plan was simple.  Tao was to drop a large branch on the beast’s tail, and Cadrienne would drop a torch in front of it as it turned to face us.  I would then hit the torch with _Pyrotechnics_ to blind it, while Tao leapt onto its back.  

The plan fell in ruins, however, as Nolin made his move before we could act.  He made a break for the cave entrance.  A wing buffet threw him back into the cave as the tail whipped forward to strike.  Seeing the movement of the tail, I cast a _Stinking Cloud_ into the cave, but I was too late.  Nolin resisted the creature’s poison, but his guts were nearly ripped out by the stinger and he fell unconscious to the cave floor.

Enraged, the creature spun around, flapping its wings to clear the foul vapors.  It emerged from the cave.  Tao leaped down from above, sword at the ready… and missed it entirely.  The creature jumped into the air, and took flight.  Within moments it wheeled and dove at me, savaging one of my images with its jaws, and nailing me with its stinger.  I managed to resist the poison, but it was a very close call.   

While Cadrienne ran into the cave to assist Nolin, I lit a torch and handed it to Tephis in an attempt to salvage part of the plan.  I miscalculated, however, as the creature swooped down and scooped up Tephis, carrying him away!  I cast _Pyrotechnics_, and the torch exploded into fireworks.  The creature promptly dropped the blinded and screaming Tephis.  The squire fell twenty feet to the ground, taking minor hurts.  

Tao and I dove for the cave entrance to find Nolin partly recovered, standing with drawn sword over a nest.  There were several large eggs, rocking and peeping plaintively.  Nolin dispatched them with gusto, somewhat to our disgust.  Tao lent a reluctant hand.

I took up a position near the back of the cave, and Tao drew on her _Gauntlet of Shrinking_.  We could hear Tephis staggering blindly up the hill and calling for us.  We yelled at him to get down before the creature returned, and he obeyed just in time.  As he dropped to the ground, the beast flashed over his head, and landed with a roar and a flurry of wings.  

Before it could approach, I blasted it with a _Darkening Bolt_.  Cadrienne cast _Moment_, thereby permitting her to cue Tao’s strikes at the perfect instant.  I sent a set of _’Missiles_ into the beast as Tao’s hand shot forward, slapping it and shrinking it to half-size.  Nolin tried to cast and nearly pulled his entrails loose, but later managed a _’Missile_ of his own. 

Tephis had recovered, and valiantly struck with his epee at the creature’s backside, while I added to its difficulties by further _Reducing_ it to quarter-size.  The beast was about to flee, but it spotted the smashed eggs and became enraged.  However, in its weakened state it was no match for Tao, and she was able to finish it….


…appears to have been a wyvern.  Who knew they prefer silver pieces for bedding?  Discovered the remains of another party, a flail of dwarven make, an enchanted lance, and some magical arrows in a quiver.  In the nest we discovered four beautiful golden eggs, decorated exquisitely.  Nolin recalled that, six or seven years ago, a local merchant had commissioned eggs such as these from an artist in the southlands.  The shipment had never arrived….


…Tephis began to scold me, saying that he would never again hold a torch for me!  I pointed out that I had to make a choice between blinding him and forcing him to survive a short fall, or permitting him to be torn apart and eaten in mid-air. He stopped complaining….


…cached the wyvern’s body and treasure in the cave, rested and healed, and then continued on into the lowlands….


*Ed. More verbal component text (for extra flava’):

Darkening Bolt:
 "Tesla, Volta, Van de Graaf,
  Laughing blue-black barbed gaffe,
  Dark arc sparking spearing spike,
  Of streaking, striking, ion shrike,
  Streaming ebon dreams of will o' wisp scars,
  Where dancing lances crisp from mouths of Leyden jars,
  And forking lightless bolts of scintillating breath,
  Drown themselves in dark electric death.
  Flickering feeble waveforms, your groundless power pales,
  In your current static state, resistance fails."*


----------



## Plane Sailing

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> Cadrienne cast _Moment_,




What was this "Moment" spell? I don't recognise it - what did it do?

Cheers


----------



## KidCthulhu

_Moment_ was a 2nd Ed spell from Tome of Magic (I think).  Similar to _True Strike_, it gave the target a huge bonus to hit by picking the exact right moment to strike.  Tao and Cadrienne had the _Moment_ thing down pat.


----------



## Sialia

Right. 

The first reason you almost never hear about Cadrienne striking a blow in combat is that she was almost always preoccupied with support staff duties: enhancing other people's attacks, healing the wounded, etc. (unless she was spending the round entangled in Tao's bolas. For some reason every time Tao fumbled, those @#$#$%@ bolas homed in on Cadrienne like a pair of toddlers looking for their mama during a thundershower.) She liked helping her party members more than she liked hurting things. 

Also, in this episode she finally acquired a magical weapon (the +3 flail), and at last had a decent weapon to wade into melee with.

The other main reason you hardly hear about her is that these notes are Arcade's and he had a blind spot concerning Cadrienne you could herd Leviathans through.

She'd had a crush on him since the first meeting at the Manticore, and do you ever see him mention it? Noooooo. 

But note his deliberate attempts to squash any other romantic interest she ever has. 

Sigh.

The metagame thing about her getting her memory wiped was that I had only been able to play her intermittently up to this point. At about this time, I started being able to attend sessions on a regular basis, and it was getting really awkward that there was all this stuff that she was present for that I had missed and I had to keep asking to be clued in.

The in-game reason was that she was starting to get the idea that the thing with Arcade was hopeless, and she was hoping that a fresh start would help her get over him and get on with things.

Well, either that, or her attempt to give herself a lawful makeover, get organized, and be a stronger party member was a pathetic attempt to get his attention one more time. 

Note that he doesn't even mention the spiffy new robes, and that fact that she'd changed her hairstyle. Some people, you can't smack sensible with a lute, a juggling ball, a set of bolas, and whole hod full of holy bricks upside the head.


----------



## madriel

These tales are getting better and better.

Tao keeps hitting Cadrienne with her bolas.  Arcade keeps hitting the party with Color Spray.  Alix critting Arcade with a juggling ball.  Gee, talk about friendly fire.  Never mind surviving your enemies, it's a wonder you guys survived each other.


----------



## KidCthulhu

You don't know the half of it! Nolin knew all about Cadrienne's crush on Arcade, and tried many ways subtle and not to get him clued in.  Even Nolin and Cadrienne's brief, PG-rated fling didn't bring him around.

The one thing we never thought of, Sialia, was to write Arcade a love note, and then have it made into a prophetic sounding riddle and carve it into the wall of a ruined temple somewhere.  That probably would have worked.


----------



## madriel

KidCthulhu said:
			
		

> *The one thing we never thought of, Sialia, was to write Arcade a love note, and then have it made into a prophetic sounding riddle and carve it into the wall of a ruined temple somewhere.  That probably would have worked. *




And Lo! the Cerebral Arcane Spellcaster shall look upon the Cerebral Cleric and find her fair.  The CAS shall join with the CC in most holy matrimony and they shall populate the earth with many tiny Cerebral Spellcasters...

Like that, you mean?


----------



## KidCthulhu

Just like that.  Only with more obscure references.  Arcade tended to miss things going on right under his nose, but could make the most amazing intuitive leaps between obscure references.


----------



## Bandeeto

Of course, just because Arcade was clueless doesn't mean that I was.

I happened to be dating Sialia at the time, and ya' know how ooky it can get when dating player's characters start dating.

Then again, neither I nor Arcade was thrilled with the idea of Cadrienne dating anybody else either....

Much safer to stay "above all that" in gametime.


----------



## Sialia

I, on the other hand, had no such scruples.

I got to Boston for one weekend every other month or so, and wasn't about to waste 6 out of the 48 hours that I had. (Beleive it or not, at that time Piratecat's campaign was NOT my chief reason for travelling 8 hours on a train.)

'Course, if I'd realized that Bandeeto had such scruples, I'd have cooled it. I just figured Arcade's Icy Wall of Virtue (tm) was him playing hard to get.

By the time I caught a clue, the thing with Cadrienne was woven all through her and it required a major character revision to get it out.

But more about that later.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Vaprak the Destroyer

...Tao picked up the trail of some orcs.  After following for some time, we came to a spot where the tracks circled a hill.  Sensing a good spot for an ambush, we quickly made plans.  Tao and DogB slipped around the other side of the hill, while the rest of us raced over the top.  On the far side we found two orc guards asleep.  One began to awaken and I slew him with a _’Missile_, but then the other awoke with a start, blew a blast on his horn, and fled.  Tao stopped him cold with her bola, and we braced for an attack, but none materialized.  

We circled the hill and doubled back down the trail, finally arriving at the base of a steep hill with a ruined fortress at its crest.  Just in case, I brought up _Mirror Image_.  It was lucky that I did, for as we started up the hill a thrown spear passed right through one of them.  DogB, seemingly less well trained than his predecessor, sprinted towards the ruins barking threateningly.  Nolin, Tao and Tephis all ran in pursuit of the dog, while Cadrienne and I slipped around the side of the building.  

DogB ran between two sections of shattered outwall, and there was a thud followed by a great yelp.  The three Defenders arrived to find a grinning ogre with a club, standing over the broken corpse of the dog.  It raised its club high, and howled: “Fer Vaprak, the Destroyer!” 

In a rage, Tao attacked.  But her fury was such that she slipped and managed to stab herself with Heartscar!  Needless to say, it was not turning out to be Tao’s best day.

She rallied, however, and the three managed to fell the ogre.  Upon its forehead we found a curious brand, in the form of a spiked crescent.  Clearly, a member of one of the many vicious humanoid cults.  I noticed some movement inside the remaining two-story tower at the fortress’s northeast corner, but rather than risk more spears we made for a clearing within the central pile of ruined buildings.  There we discovered a stair that led down into a stone room.

As we started downwards, a horrible clawed hand reached out from under the stairs and grabbed Nolin’s leg!  Tao severed it with a single stroke, but it continued to hold on.  Nolin finally managed to pry it free and fling it down into the room.  It quickly scuttled under the stairs.  Suspecting a troll, I pulled a flask of oil and prepared a spell.  Tao, Nolin and Cadrienne leaped down to engage the creature.  I saw the creature’s other claw emerge and _Reduced_ it.  Then I hurled the flask under the stair, where it smashed all over the hideous beast.  After a brief engagement, and some well aimed blows, we managed to light the oil, sending the troll up in smoke.  We assured ourselves that all of its parts were accounted for before continuing on and closing the doors behind us.

In the next room we found a horribly defiled altar, with a fanged crescent hanging above.  Cadrienne went to work with Holy Water trying to remove some of the taint, and we began to search the room.  We were interrupted suddenly, as the door flew open with a crash.  There stood an ogre with a polearm, screaming that we would pay for our blasphemy.  

He swung at Tephis and missed badly, embedding the weapon in the wall.  Tephis fled towards us.  Nolin and I both launched _Magic Missiles_, but they were absorbed harmlessly by a glowing shield that appeared around the ogre, or rather ogre mage.  

The ogre and I cast simultaneously.  I managed to shake off his _Hold Person_, but he was only mildly singed by my _Darkening Bolt_.  Cadrienne, Nolin and Tao charged, as I cast _Irritation_ upon him.  He managed to slam Nolin and Tao’s heads together, but unarmed he was no match for the three of them.  With a horrid curse he dropped to the ground, and began to emit a choking black vapor that swirled towards the altar.  

We moved away quickly, expecting a nasty surprise.  The surprise was pleasant, however.  The smoke tried to embrace the altar several times, but seemed to be foiled by Cadrienne’s hurried purification efforts.  With an awful howl, the smoke was sucked into the ground below the altar and the room began to collapse.  We left in a hurry....


...decided to check out the tower.  On the doorstep we found some orange-colored fur.  There was a brief argument, as I thought the stuff was squirrel fur, while Nolin seemed convinced that it was cockatrice fur.  Hmph.  We entered the tower and discovered bunks for seven.  After a short search, we heard some thumping upstairs, and cautiously ascended.  

Tao slammed the door open.  In the darkness we saw a pair of huge glowing eyes, and I launched a _Color Spray_.  The wooden light ball revealed a gigantic squirrel, and a stunned but unarmed orc.  Tao dispatched the squirrel.  When we attempted to question the orc it rushed at me, and accidentally impaled itself on Heartscar.

The room contained a large pile of bones, with squirrel toothmarks.  Tephis thought to cut off the thing’s tail and bring it back for Tom-Tom. An excellent idea, I thought....


...after the ground had settled, Nolin went below to search for treasure and found some gold, silver, and electrum.  He also found a spider statuette, and obsidian knife, and a ceramic decanter with a foul liquid.  There were scrolls as well, which discussed the nature of the cult of Vaprak, a god who wishes to destroy all existence.  The squirrel had resulted from a perverted version of _Animal Growth_.  The evil artifacts were given to Cadrienne for disposal at her temple....


...Tao buried her dog, and we headed home. Stopped to pick up the wyvern head and its treasure.  Tephis is going to have the head stuffed and mounted for our wall.  The Temple of Morphat intends to destroy the artifacts, and paid us a finder’s fee for them.  Tom-Tom *loves* the squirrel tail...!


...Tao tells us that a mass exodus of humanoids from the inland hills has occurred since the destruction of the Temple of Vaprak.  She has returned to the wilderness to finish her training....


----------



## Piratecat

This adventure was something of a turning point for me. It marked the stage where I stopped using primarily Dungeon  Magazine adventures, and started using my own stuff. I'm more proud of what came after this point than I am by what came before it.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Lord Tarim-Loial

...finally received word!  Lord Tarim-Loial, Alix’s father, is due any time.  Have tried to make the Manticore as presentable as possible, with much spit and polish.  We have heard terrible things about him from Alix, but knowing how Alix’s judgment of personal character works, he may actually be a very sweet, kind, old man....


...the lord arrived early in a splendid coach, and was announced by a footman.  Alix was completely taken by surprise by the timing of his father’s arrival, but he tried to put a good face on things.  The rest of us remained below in the common room while Alix went with his father upstairs to Alix’s private suite to talk things over.  Naturally, Nolin and Tom-Tom could not resist following them to eavesdrop!

This time their curiosity was most fortunate.  Behind the closed door they heard a sudden thump, followed by a hoarse scream.  Nolin yelled down for assistance and we burst through the door.  There we found the “lord” holding Alix aloft by the throat, slowly strangling him. Nearby, Cambion glowed like a miniature sun in its sheath, but Alix had been unable to draw it.  It seemed that the doppelgangers had returned once again, probably to retrieve Cambion while repeating their assassination of Alix.

Nolin and I blasted the creature with multiple _’Missiles_. Sorely wounded, it dropped Alix.   As it tried to crawl across the floor, I picked up Cambion and handed it wordlessly to Nolin.  Nolin began to move towards it. It suddenly transformed, before our eyes, into a young pregnant woman and began beseeching Nolin for mercy.  Nolin briefly stopped dead, obviously recognizing the woman from his past.  A look of terror crossed his face, followed by one of pity, and then of disgust.  He finished the beast with a curse and a single stroke.  The doppelganger in death became rubbery, and nearly featureless....


...just as we were asking Stavros to have the head stuffed for the trophy room, we were summoned downstairs.  Lord Tarim-Loial was arriving for real at last!  While Stavros hid the body, we examined the footman.  It turned out that he was a dupe, as Cambion proved.  We formally greeted the lord, and informed him of the duplicitous actions of the false lord.  He was most pleased with our actions, and thanked us for saving Alix.  Cambion, held surreptitiously, indicated that this lord was the real article.  Again Alix and his father retired upstairs, and they resolved many issues between them.  

Afterwards, the Defenders were invited to visit the family manse in Kindric, with transport to be provided by the house coach, in a few months’ time.  

Alix later informed me that the lord was quite impressed with me.  A most excellent afternoon.

Later, Alix, Tom-Tom and Cadrienne spent some time roaming the town with Cambion, looking for any other disguised shapechangers.  (We have become very wary, indeed!)  They nearly set upon a druid they encountered in the market, but thankfully, they stayed their hands.  

Cadrienne has again been having vivid dreams, this time of circles of mushrooms.  The druid was able to give her the name of the particular mushroom when she described it.  We suspect that these mushrooms may constitute the mystic faerie circles of the northwestern forests.          

Oania the dryad, the brownies, and Frolic the dragon all have been indicating that something untoward has been happening to the faerie circles, causing the entire wood to sicken.  We decided, as a group, to investigate the problem ourselves....


----------



## Piratecat

I'm not sure the diary mentioned it; after the doppelganger was dead, they were horrified to see the real Lord Loial arriving. They shoved the doppelganger's dead body into the inn's garderobe (toilet.)  And of course, Lord Loial had to use the bathroom.... there was much silliness with playing "hide the corpse." It was a great game.


----------



## madriel

Oooh, the old "Hide the Corpse" game.  That's always fun.

I always pity druids when people get paranoid about doppelgangers.  There's shapeshifters and...shapeshifters people.  Try not to go around slaughtering poor crunchygranola treehuggers instead of evil monsters.

Was this the first hint people got about Nolin's past?  The pregnant lady aspect was obviously the girlfriend he ran out on.


----------



## Welverin

Piratecat said:
			
		

> *I'm not sure the diary mentioned it; after the doppelganger was dead, they were horrified to see the real Lord Loial arriving. They shoved the doppelganger's dead body into the inn's garderobe (toilet.)  And of course, Lord Loial had to use the bathroom.... there was much silliness with playing "hide the corpse." It was a great game.   *




Bandeeto how could you leave that out!? Makes me wonder what else we're missing out on.

Is that something just wouldn't keep track of or did you leave it out for other reasons?


----------



## Bandeeto

Welverin wrote:


> Bandeeto how could you leave that out!? Makes me wonder what else we're missing out on.
> 
> Is that something just wouldn't keep track of or did you leave it out for other reasons?




Actually I left it out for several reasons.

1) This is Arcade's journal.  He *hates* slapstick.  Also, he spent the "hide the body" period talking with Lord Loial to keep him distracted, and it may have slipped his mind.

2) This campaign moment occurred, by my reckoning, about 9 years ago in real time.  I personally wish I could remember all of the hilarious moments so I could post them, but the actual written journal is pretty rudimentary. (Mostly recording specific facts like names, places, spells used, treasure obtained, and general plot points.)  I fill in backstory where I can.

3) I'm counting on folks like KidC, Piratecat, Sialia, Jobu, Tremere and Sagiro to comment on this stuff! (Kind of Mystery Science Theater 3K-like.)


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – The Faerie Circles, Part 1

...started off early, much to Tom-Tom and Nolin’s disapproval.  The group consisted of Tom-Tom, Nolin, Glimmer, Cadrienne, Velendo, and myself.  We had not gone far before we encountered Frolic.  He had been looking for us.

Although I have not mentioned it previously in this journal, I should write a word or two concerning Frolic’s friend Michael. It has been clear for some time that he is a very unusual boy.  He seems to attract all sorts of magical attention, and his understanding of magical concepts is uncanny for such a young lad.  If given proper guidance, he might become one of the most powerful mages of this age.  Without training, he might well become a serious threat to those around him.  I must remember to ask Ortigal to give Michael a reference for a scholarship at the Oursk Academy, if the boy’s parents are not too opposed.

Michael had asked that Frolic give us a short wooden stick, as he thought we might need it.  Frolic also told us that the faerie circles are being destroyed, becoming “lightless”, about twice per month.  He agreed to take us to the nearest intact circle....


...traveled along through the forest.  We heard female voices singing in the trees, a strange wordless tune that was both beautiful and enchanting.  Literally enchanting, as several party party members, including Nolin and myself, fell under a spell and began stumbling towards a tall tree.  There a pair of disgusting harpies perched, but we charmed ones saw only beautiful women.  The other party members tried desperately to break the charm, and just in time Nolin was shaken to awareness.  His song countered the spell, freeing the rest of us.  Frolic appeared to flee.

Glimmer launched a magical arrow at the harpies, and it burst into a huge fireball.  Badly wounded, the creatures took to the air, still singing.  Sadly, Nolin was charmed once more!  I struck the pair with a forked _Darkening Bolt_, but it was not enough to finish them. One of them stooped to grab Nolin, while the other attacked Tom-Tom.

Tom-Tom gestured, and the smoldering flames on his harpy flared into fiery snakes which struck at her.  I blew the other harpy across the clearing and away from Nolin with _Gust of Wind_.  Velendo launched an arrow which finally brought one of them down.  The party closed in and killed the other.

Just then Frolic arrived with “reinforcements”, which turned out to be a ten-foot tall, enraged bear!  We all rapidly climbed nearby trees to avoid being mauled.  Once safely aloft, I _Reduced_ it to five feet, and Frolic used his breath weapon on it.  It happily wandered away, banging into trees as it went....


...not much treasure.  Rested in one of Glimmer’s pavilions, feeding hot pies to Frolic and healing.  Tom-Tom saved a few fruit pies for later....


...the next day we arrived at the faerie circle: a clearing surrounded by ancient elms, with a refreshing, six-foot diameter pool of water in its center.  We were debating what to do next, when disaster struck.  

We heard what sounded like a high-pitched, buzzing whine.  Looking up, we saw a giant mosquito, apparently with something invisible mounted upon its back (we saw a tiny saddle and reins).  It struck at Velendo, and began draining his blood with extraordinary speed.  Tom-Tom smashed the mosquito, but was then struck hard in the leg by something he couldn’t see.  The buzzing noise then became audible everywhere at once.       

Suddenly, tiny cuts began appearing all over Tom-Tom’s lower half.   Within seconds, his boots, breeches, legs, and feet were cut to shreds!  I tried casting _Mirror Image_ followed by _Sleep_, but with no effect.  Nolin cast _Comprehend Languages_, and was able to tell that several creatures were speaking too quickly to be understood.  

As more party members were now being slashed by the invisible beings, we dove for the pool.  I was afraid that Nyquil would not follow me into the water, but he did without hesitation.

As we entered the pool, we found ourselves in a vortex.  We were whirled about and finally emerged feet-first from a large pool of blood into Faerie, a strange, twilit land.  The blood quickly dried, leaving no stains.  Instead of elms, we found ourselves surrounded by a ring of thirty-foot-tall mushrooms with eyes.  A quick inventory revealed that, sadly, our flatbox of holding had been destroyed in transit.

We did not know if Frolic had accompanied us, and Nolin began singing songs promising fruit pies to attract him.  Foolishly, he did not have any pies on him when he began singing!  In moments he was surrounded by several unknown faerie dragons, and hoisted dozens of feet in the air.  

Before they could harm Nolin, Tom-Tom threw two pies into the air, which were promptly devoured.  This left Nolin plummeting towards the ground, but Nyquil saved him with a rapid burst of _Feather Fall_ dust.  Seeing an urgent need, Glimmer created another pavilion tent filled with pies for the dragons, which Tom-Tom distributed.  For these deeds, the dragons gave Glimmer a glowing platinum circlet, and Tom-Tom a golden one.  The dragons then let us be.  No sign of Frolic....

...talked for a bit to the giant mushrooms, and were directed down a path to a gate.  We were advised not to eat or drink anything during our stay, which seemed to fit with the legends we had heard of the place.

On the way we encountered a group of small, red-capped mushrooms with windows, doors, and chimneys.  Glimmer, always judgmental about appearances, called them “uglier than a pig’s ass.”  Promptly, his head was transformed to that of a donkey, with a pig’s snout.  A small yellow caterpillar who lived in the mushroom had cast the spell.  He was otherwise quite helpful, and directed us to continue down the path until we reached a river, and then to follow the bank.  I marveled at the clever use of Alteration magic, and resolved to have a tiny spinning wheel made for the caterpillar in exchange for its spell.  I suspect that it would work wonders on Alix!

We approached the river, and were passed by two magnificent, elfin beings on horseback, pursuing a gigantic hart.  On the river itself we saw tiny white sprites who left trails of ice as they skated over the river’s smooth surface.  Sadly, they fled at our approach....


...finally arrived at the gate.  It seemed to be made from a titan-sized ribcage, and was guarded by an unhappy gnome.  His name was Lumkin, and he introduced himself as the jester of the Queen of Faerie.  An important conference was being held, and he had not been permitted to attend, as he had run out of riddles to tell.

We expressed our great interest in attending the conference, but Lumkin required us to answer his latest riddle before we could pass.  It was long, drawn-out, boring, and really quite obvious.  Tom-Tom (of all people) answered it without breaking a mental sweat.  We gave him some helpful riddle-composing advice, and in return he agreed to return Glimmer’s head to normal. 

Unfortunately, no one told Lumkin what Glimmer’s head was supposed to look like, and Glimmer wound up with a normal donkey’s head!  Lumkin listened to our description of the buzzing creatures, and suggested that they might have been dark faerie elves, or “Doxelfar”....


*Ed. Only a few original Arcade verbal components left. 

Gust of Wind: 
 "Blowing bluster, Nor'east guster, tornado, hurricane!
  Atmospheric, hypobaric, send cyclonic strain!
  North wind's breath, salt sailor's death, 
  Knock foemen to their knees,
  Come cruel cutting courser, with artic gale force, er...
  Well... at least with a brave bracing breeze!"*


----------



## Sito Rotavele

Hey, no fair not posting the long, drawn-out, boring, obvious riddle.  Arcade would only say that because tom-Tom solved it first!


----------



## Bandeeto

Sito Rotavele wrote:


> Hey, no fair not posting the long, drawn-out, boring, obvious riddle. Arcade would only say that because tom-Tom solved it first!




That *is* possible! 

However, I kid you not, the riddle was incredibly bad and obviously PCat meant it to be so.  Envision a twelve line riddle that boiled down to: "why did the elf throw a sand-timer out the window?"

My recollection is that Tom-Tom blurted out the response about half-way through the riddle.  As you well recall, Arcade would be the sort to wait for the questioner to finish the entire riddle, even one as stupid as this, just in case it had a twist at the end.

In any case, I don't have the text of it written down.  It wasn't worth recording.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – The Faerie Circles, Part 2

...passed through the gate, and looked for the large tower where the conference was to take place.  Since the land is in permanent twilight, we had been using the burning of some torches to measure time, but they did not seem to burn at a consistent rate....


...arrived at the foot of the tower.  Light streamed from the windows high above, and seemed even to glow through the walls.  The cacophony of a party in full swing was audible within.  As we entered, however, there was absolute silence.  We found ourselves surrounded by tables groaning with food and drink, but with nobody else around.  It all appeared delicious, but we dined on the food we had brought, just to quench our desire for faerie-fare.

Just as we were beginning to search for a way up into the tower, despite the lack of doors or stairs, a woman’s voice inquired as to why we were interrupting the feast.  We answered as best as we could, explaining our mission.  Suddenly, we found ourselves in the midst of a huge gathering of creatures and a great swell of sound and celebration!  Satyrs sang rude songs and guzzled wine in the corners.  A profusion of small beings with wings flitted about.  Brownies and leprechauns were arguing merrily.  Dryads were everywhere.  High in the rafters a group of flumphs entertained a very happy crew of stwingers.

At the head table sat the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, Sistamula, the Faerie Queen.  At her side reclined a huge crystalline dragon and a huge faerie dragon.  She invited us to eat, informing us that the usual penalty would not apply.  I reminded Nolin of Michael’s stick, and he gave it to the Queen who was quite pleased.  It had become a perfect rose, in full bloom.  

The Queen addressed Nolin by his true family name, “Maradine”.  This is the first hint that Nolin has ever had to his father’s identity, concealed or unknown by his mother all these years.  According to the legends that I know, that name belonged to an outcast elf and his family around the time of the Mage Wars.

A number of dryads giggled at me.  I discovered that my feat of resisting a dryad in her grove in springtime was well known.  Hmmph.  I was in a black mood from the teasing, but the entrance of the King of Faerie cheered me considerably.  He was in the form of a unicorn, a dazzling creature.

The royal pair said that we might save the forest by finding and stopping the “immortal” who was responsible.  We were told that he was in our world, and that they would give us passage to a location nearby.  The Queen gave Nolin an enchanted milkweed pod, and told us to use it to restore the faerie circles.  It must be used within a destroyed circle, in the presence of that which destroyed it.  She thanked us for our help, and hinted that the means to defeating the Doxelfar was contained within my staff.

The staff had often expressed a desire to meet a king, and cryptic remarks it had let slip hinted that it may have ruled a kingdom in its time.  Therefore, before we left I introduced The Master of Space and Time to the faerie monarchs.  It was quite tongue-tied, and I was forced to apologize for it....


...discussion with TMOSAT on the subject of humility and power, and the controlled use of power for good purposes.  The staff is quite conceited, considers itself very powerful, and repeatedly states its desire not to be used for anything “unworthy”.  It is quite infuriating.  It alternately acts like a petulant child, insisting that its trivial wishes and desires be pandered to, or like a wise former monarch, afraid of revealing its awesome secrets before the recipient is ready and has proven himself!  

After much persuasion by me regarding the righteousness of our cause, it has agreed to aid us against the Doxelfar, but will not say how it intends to help. Aargh...!


...the Queen had Glimmer’s body turned to clay, and reshaped to its former glory.  Afterwards, the wall gaped open for us, and we departed.  Instantly, we found ourselves in the woods in our own world.  

It was daybreak, and we found Tao sleeping nearby.  When we woke her she was very surprised and disoriented.  She had lain down to sleep in the woods south of Rampart, and awakened to find herself many leagues to the northwest.  Alix was with her as well, having been magically transported here from the Manticore during the night.  A little questioning revealed that at least two weeks had passed since we entered Faerie.  Velendo and Cadrienne did not believe that we had been in Faerie at all, but remembered it all as a strange dream.  They took some convincing.  Finally we managed to explain our mission to the whole group....


----------



## Little_Buddha

Is TMOSAT anyone else's favourite character? I love that thing!


----------



## Bandeeto

Sorry Negative Zero, ya' gotta go back two posts.  See below:



> From Faerie Circles 1
> Michael had asked that Frolic give us a short wooden stick, as he thought we might need it. Frolic also told us that the faerie circles are being destroyed, becoming “lightless”, about twice per month. He agreed to take us to the nearest intact circle....




It was just this random, nonmagical stick as far as we could tell.  Michael wanted us to take it along.  He had a "feeling" we would need it.  It's sort of like Fiver from Watership Down telling you you're going to need something.  If you're not stupid, you just listen.

Naturally, I've got to say that TMOSAT was one of my favorite NPCs as well.  We had heated arguments in very precise and proud tones on many topics ranging from morality to the uses of power to the nature of wisdom, and on and on.  

It totally burned my butt that I couldn't properly _Identify_ TMOSAT.  It would do things like Teleporting away, or wandering off for weeks in Astral Projection leaving me with a dead stick, and then when I was at my lowest ebb for hit points it would occasionally do an Ego attack and take over my body!

But it was MY STAFF, and so I could never afford to just sell the thing or something.  Besides, P'Cat kept letting slip all these cool powers it had, one every so often.  Just enough to keep you interested and to save your bacon on occasion.


----------



## madriel

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *It totally burned my butt that I couldn't properly Identify TMOSAT.  It would do things like Teleporting away, or wandering off for weeks in Astral Projection leaving me with a dead stick, and then when I was at my lowest ebb for hit points it would occasionally do an Ego attack and take over my body! *




It's so much more fun that way.  Anybody can get a funky staff that does neat tricks, but TMOSAT couldn't've become an NPC if it didn't have a mind of its own.  Did TMOSAT ever do anything interesting after it took over Arcade?  Never mind, if it did you'll post the story eventually.


----------



## Piratecat

Boy, this takes me back! 

I loved the faerie adventure. It was the first major plot arc I did without Dungeon Magazine, and it was a complete success. The PCs were kept off balance, the rules were all changed, and everything was classic (in the "Midsummer Night's Eve" sense) and new all at once.

TMOSAT was also my fave NPC, or one of them. Bandeeto, for all of his other sterling characteristics, is an inveterate metagamer; he HATES not knowing the underlying rules. TMOSAT was my attempt to keep him interested and intrigued.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – The Faerie Circles, Part 3 

...some of the party decided to explore the hillock which we had arrived on.  They climbed down one side and found a small brook at the bottom.

Suddenly a pair of javelins shot out of the nearby bushes and over the group’s head.  A pair of large, froglike humanoids emerged, and sprang to the attack!  Tao and the rest made short work of the two as the other Defenders charged down the hill to assist, but in an instant the air was full of the creatures as more leaped from the water and out of the brush.  One of the frog-beings (who we later discovered were bullywugs), made for me and stabbed me deeply with his spear.  I needed a distraction to escape, so I quickly took out the stone of _Continual Darkness_ that I keep in hidden in my cloak-hem pouch.  

I had planned to expose it for only 10 seconds or so, to give me time to get away.  Unfortunately Velendo had been aiming at the thing when everything went dark.  He struck out, and gave me a bash that nearly put out my lights! I managed to pocket the stone, and the returning day revealed that the bullywug had fumbled his spear haft right into Velendo’s grasp.  I cut loose with some _Missiles_ and the party set to with a will.  The battle was, thankfully, soon over....


...spent some time getting healed and being berated by the party for not giving warning before using spells that could cause darkness or blindness.  After some discussion we hit upon a plan.  To avoid such problems in the future, we will call out maneuver numbers to warn of impending events.  “Maneuver 1” will indicate darkness, “maneuver 2” a blinding effect, and “maneuver 3” will be a warning to drop to the ground.  Others will be added as needed....


...realized that if we remained in place the bullywugs might return, and set off into the swampy forest.  It soon became clear that we would not be able to continue traveling on foot much longer, as the swamp was becoming more and more damp.  Just then, out of the mist drifted a large raft, being piloted by an elderly female orc.  Using some translation spells we discovered that her name was Agatha, and that she wasn’t a bad sort.  A combination of friendliness, persuasion and bribery with Badgerbite got us a ride.  

Alix and Tom-Tom were carrying around way too much energy after the combat, and they worked some of it off by tossing Velendo into the swamp for fun.  There he met the local leeches, which it took quite some time to get off.

Agatha told us that twice a month, further to the northwest, a huge pillar of fire rises into the sky.  It is followed by a wave of darkness that seems to emanate from that direction.  She was quite pleased that we had dealt with the bullywugs, as the creatures had killed and eaten her pet lizards. (“My muckies,” she called them.)

It seems likely that the pillar of fire is being made by the being that we are seeking.  We are making all possible speed to the northwest....


...a bit later in the day.  We were poling through the swamp, and suddenly heard a loud “whoomph!”  Far away we could see the pillar of fire reaching towards the sky.  We are hurrying on, using the site as our target....


...much later, arrived at a large, dry clearing below a hill.  Through the scrub, the remains of a stone building with a tower are visible. We sent Agatha on her way with some Badgerbite and much thanks.  

I have consumed a potion of Vitality, so that I may both take a watch and memorize spells in case of attack....


...during the night a huge mass of bullywugs surrounded our position but did not attack.  In the morning they approached under truce, and the largest of them said “Chundath awaits you.”  He gestured towards the hill, and we made our way up to the summit, walking between two lines of armed bullywugs who watched us in silence.

When we reached the top we were herded into a large, rope-enclosed circle.  Out of the still air came the high-pitched whine of the Doxelfar.  I informed the staff that now was the time, and in a green flash the tableau vanished, leaving only the staff and myself!  To my left and right I saw walls of green flame, with a black wall behind.  Before me, I saw a wall of white flame which seemed to pull me forward. I stepped through and found myself back in the clearing.  

Everything appeared frozen in place.  Two short, thin, brownie-like creatures (the Doxelfar), seemed to be in the middle of trying to wrap the party up in the rope.  The Defender’s weapons were drawn, and each member was looking about, wildly.  Since I could finally see our foes I tried launching a _Magic Missile_, but it fizzled on contact.  I wrongly presumed that the beings had resisted the spell, when, with a sudden jerk, everything sped back into motion.  I appealed to the staff to try again.  

Again, I faced the flaming walls and stepped through into the frozen scene.  This time I stabbed one of the Doxelfar, and my blade snapped as if I’d struck stone.  A magical dagger also failed to leave even a scratch.  As real time again took hold, I suddenly realized that I could only manipulate things which I had personally carried through the wall of white flame.  

I quickly grabbed some rope and one of Velendo’s holy bricks.  Unfortunately, one of the creatures began attacking me.  Tom-Tom hit it with a ram of invisible force, and the creature collided with me at great speed.  I was flung to the ground and lost my grip on the staff, just as it disappeared.     

When it reappeared a minute later it looked most unhappy, and glowered balefully at me. (Never mind that it hadn’t told me what it was going to do, nor mentioned what the rules for using the period of no-time were going to be!)  

Mostly by luck, the Doxelfar had both received wounds, and now they fled.  Glimmer remained tightly wrapped in the rope.  At that moment a pair of creatures emerged from the tower.  A large bullywug strode towards us, a strange lizard-like dog at his side.  

The bullywug spoke to us in broken Common. “Surrender now, quick and painless, you die!”

As one, we attacked.

I put a patch of _Grease_ under both creatures, and several missile weapons struck the bullywug, blasting it apart.  DogC (Tao’s new dog), closed in to finish off the lizard beast.

Our victory was short-lived.  DogC began whining in terror, and Cambion burst into blazing light in Alix’s hand.  The lizard-dog’s mouth opened impossibly wide, and it began to change shape, growing into a hideous humanoid that reeked of the Abyss.  It was clad in what looked like golden-dragon-scale armor, and it wielded a fell mace that screamed as it split the air.  

The creature mocked us.  

“Bearsfroth told me to expect your arrival.  You are even more pathetic that he described!  I bring news of your late acquaintance, Nostradis Ghend.  He is chained to a rock having his entrails removed for all eternity, but he remembers *you* quite clearly.  Now you shall join him in death!”

As one frog, the bullywugs fled.

I opened the battle with a _Darkening Bolt_, but he laughed as the electricity played about him.  Plainly, he was immune.  Tao closed and struck him with the Gauntlet of Shrinking, but again the enchantment had no effect.  He also resisted Nolin’s _Snowball Swarm_.  Things were looking bad.

A bloody and very nasty combat ensued.  Finally, after a series of ineffectual strikes, Tom-Tom managed to pierce its back armor with a hurled, magical dagger.  The blade struck deep, and the being roared that he had not been hurt so in centuries.  He reached back and yanked out the dagger. The wound spurted flame!  

The demon then proceeded to stalk Tom-Tom, teleporting after him around the clearing.  Tom-Tom tumbled towards the fighters, but the demon followed and struck hard, wounding the halfling badly.  Trying spells once more, Nolin and I both managed to hit with _Magic Missiles_.  I followed that with a _Pyrotechnics_ spell cast on the flaming wound in the demon’s back.  It didn't like that!  Tao and Velendo followed with quick strikes in the same location.  The beast screamed and began to dissipate in a cloud of black smoke.

Just as we thought we were safe, Tom-Tom yelled that the demon was materializing behind me!  I ran forward a few steps, turned, and cast _Gust of Wind_.  At the same moment, Tom-Tom struck it with another dagger, and other party members’ arrows slammed into it.  Behind the demon's wispy, smoking form a planar gate opened, and he was blown through it.  It slammed shut behind him.

I restrained myself from asking him to give our best to Ghend....


----------



## Bandeeto

P'Cat, feel free to inject any corrections here.  If you actually have the stats that would be great.

The demon was (as far as I know) a straight-up 2nd Ed cambion, a lesser tanar'ri.  

This made him immune to lightning (which of course my character had no way of knowning.)  He also had some magic resistance (I would guess about 25-40%).  I think he was affected by normal weapons, but his AC was quite good (owing at least in part to the amazing armor.) He also seemed to have either Teleport No Error or Dimension Door at will.  He also had Poly Self, and some variety of illusion or shadow magic.  The mace had some nasty abilities too.

For those who missed the post (once upon a time on some thread or other), the maneuvers were:

1) Darkness
2) Blinding 
3) Hit the Dirt
4) Tao is charging
5) Feed Dylrath to the monster and flee (invented by Tao)
6) someone is about to bust down the door
7) Sound attack (cover ears)
8) Nolin is about to do something strange
0) Explosion point blank


----------



## Piratecat

Nope, you got it right! A greater (Marquise) cambion, wearing armor made from the skin of a gold dragon. He was _naaasty._  This might have been the first time I sicced something on the group that I wasn't sure they'd be able to handle, although Nostradis Ghend was a little powerful for them as well.

Speaking of which, this is when they found out that the Brotherhood of Night has a penchant for demon summoning. 

I loved the moment when they killed the bullywug who they had thought was the bad guy.  "Uh oh," they said. "He went down WAY too easily...."

Incidentally, I figured the magical armor was safe to include; overpowered for the party level, but who wants to explain to the dragon why you're wearing skin from his cousin? No one, that's who, and so the armor was given to a LG church.


----------



## Sialia

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> * . . .I restrained myself from asking him to give our best to Ghend.... *





Actually, what happened was, Bandeeto said to Piratecat "I restrain myself from asking him to give our best to Ghend." and Kidcthulhu/Nolin hollered out "I don't!!"


One of the upsetting things about slowly discovering that we were starting to be caught in a long storyarc was finding out that out enemies remembered us, and had acquaintances who had also heard about us from them.

As time went by, keeping track of who the "villain du jour" was started becoming important. Bandeeto was especially good at recognizing names we'd heard once before, and I tended to let him worry about that sort of thing, since I'm terrible at it. 

In this case, we had heard the name "Bearsfroth" once before, but not in a place that was expecially memorable or significant. I think only Bandeeto recalled that it was a familiar name at this point.

Soon, though, we would all know the name, and know it well. It will not be forgotten a second time.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – The Faerie Circles, Part 4     

...Nolin, ransacking his memory for legends regarding demons, believes that the monster we faced was Alix’s blade’s namesake, a true cambion....


...entered the crumbling tower.  A search located several large vats of brackish and foul-smelling black water, similar to that found when the central pool of a faerie circle becomes corrupted.  A staircase led to a trapdoor in the ceiling.  In the upper chamber we discovered a magic circle of summoning.  Upon it were runes inscribed in Mabrahoring, the language of demons.  

I recalled the words of Sistamula, and suggested that we search the vats.  Within one we found a sealed bottle.  It seemed to smoke, even in the warm spring air.  We brought the milkweed pod, vat and bottle upstairs and cracked opened the pod.  

With a tremendous flash, silvery light began to pour out of the pod.  At the same moment, the bottle exploded in a shower of blinding sparks.  The light and sparks swirled together, and shot out of the tower window into the sky.  The vortex split into numerous beams, which arced away into the forest to heal the faerie circles.  The shadowy darkness which surrounded the wood began slowly to lift.  I congratulated the party on a job well done....


...as I was thinking over the encounter with the demon, I remembered his references to Nostradis Ghend and an individual named Bearsfroth.  I now realize that I have heard the name Bearsfroth before!

He was the official court mage for Duke Garith Helmsford about 4-5 years ago, and had been dismissed after some wrongdoing with which I am not familiar.  This very Duke had gifted land to Nostradis Ghend to build his tower.  Perhaps this gift was given at the urging of Bearsfroth.  

It occurs to me that this mage has now been connected with two attempts to darken the land, and that perhaps he is a leader of the Illdar, the Brotherhood of Night.  I am writing a letter to Lord Arion Helmsford, the Duke’s son.  Lord Arion sent me a kind letter after the Ghend incident, thanking us for our deeds.  He now resides in Ghend’s tower in Siryth, and should be willing to give us any information on Bearsfroth that he might know....


...searched the vats and the rest of the tower.  We found some treasure, and a vat of acid that dissolved Tao’s axe.  We realized that we needed some way to leave the spit of land, and decided to assemble a raft.  

Velendo was gathering wood when he was jumped by a group of bullywugs.  Their spears bit deeply, and he fell senseless.  We came to his assistance, but more bullywugs joined the fray.  A brief but nasty struggle ensued, and we managed to rescue Velendo while finishing the bullywugs.  

Just as we were preparing to swim for it, I heard the high-pitched buzzing of the Doxelfar, and I resolved that they would not escape this time.  I grabbed a rope and shouted a warning.  Tom-Tom resolutely ignored me, until his leg began to unravel in bloody shreds.  I asked TMOSAT to take me to the place of frozen time, but it only stared at me.  

Meanwhile, the Doxelfar began to cut more party members to ribbons, including myself.  In frustration I hurled the staff against the tower, and put my back to the wall, hunching low and preparing a _Color Spray_.  

Before it could strike the wall, the staff disappeared with a “whoosh” and reappeared in my hand.  I was in the act of yelling “Maneuver 2!”, when the scene vanished, and the wall of white flame appeared before me.  

As I stepped through I saw that, in the interim, Tom-Tom had been viciously stabbed in the groin.  One Doxelfar was frozen in place, backpedaling full-speed away from Tom-Tom.  The other had been suspended while streaking towards Nolin.  The tiny daggers of the dark faerie elves were stained with blood, and red drops hung in the air in a motionless spray.  

Quickly and firmly, I wrapped the rope three times around the retreating Doxelfar’s feet.  I then drew my enchanted dagger and, bracing myself, placed its pointed tip against one of the stone-hard eyeballs of the advancing Doxelfar.

We snapped into real time.  On the ground, a small form struggled in the rope.  The other impaled itself upon my dagger, and shrieked, thrashing about.  The end came soon afterwards.

It appeared that the staff had required a few moments to prepare for the _Time Shift_ (not that it mentioned this to me while I was being dissected by inches!)

I tried to apologize to the staff for my lack of patience, and thanked it most graciously on behalf of the party.  However, its ego had been sorely wounded, and would not be so easily soothed.  In a huge gout of green flame it seemed to force my hands high over my head, and appeared there.  I anticipated its desire, and called upon the party to “look upon the magnificience of this staff that has saved us!”  This seemed to appease it, and we quickly healed ourselves as best as we could....


...short time later we heard the sound of Agatha singing, and Nolin and I shouted to attract her attention.  She poled over, and we set about convincing her to transport us.  Foolishly, Glimmer lost patience with this “ugly orc” and _Held_ her.  She was infuriated with him when she recovered, but Tom-Tom dosed her with Badgerbite until she passed out.  We loaded her helpless form and piled aboard the raft.  In moments we were underway....


----------



## (Psi)SeveredHead

> Tom-Tom had been viciously stabbed in the groin. One Doxelfar was frozen in place,                       backpedaling full-speed away from Tom-Tom.




I'm guessing Tom-Tom was *really* angry at the Doxelfar. How did Tom-Tom get stabbed there? Was it a critical hit? A Doxelfar dirty trick? Was PirateCat mad at him (I doubt this one)? Were there continuing effects that Tom-Tom had to role-play, or until a healing spell was applied?


----------



## Piratecat

The dochselfar (or Doxelfar, the dark faeries) are quicklings; fast as blazes, virtually invisible, and nasty little buggers all around. They'd move too fast to see, strike three times, and be away before you knew it. 

They're the antithesis of the liosalfar, the Faerie Knights.


----------



## Caliber

Speaking of Quicklings, would anyone mind posting a few of their stats? I remember them from 2nd Ed, but I never encountered them, in game or in print. Would be cool to finally see them.


----------



## Benben

*Creature Catalog*



			
				Caliber said:
			
		

> *Speaking of Quicklings, would anyone mind posting a few of their stats? I remember them from 2nd Ed, but I never encountered them, in game or in print. Would be cool to finally see them. *




Here they are.

I'm using them as messengers for the invading goblin army in my campaign.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – The Faerie Circles, Finale      

...that night the party slept on the raft under the full moon. We awoke to find ourselves floating in a pool of liquid moonlight.  Slowly, we began to realize that we had returned to Faerie.  

We were all very excited, and very happy to have completed our latest quest.  Most of us doffed our clothes, and danced and swam in the warm, liquid moonlight.  Sadly, Cadrienne, the only female party member present, declined to join us, although I think she wanted to.  I collected some of the liquid moonlight in sealed vials, in case it might be useful later (for spell components and such.)  We refreshed ourselves by washing off the moonlight in a nearby stream, and dressed.  The King and Queen of Faerie themselves came to welcome us, well pleased with our deeds.  A great, formal celebration began....


...I discovered that Nolin’s true surname, Maradine, is only to be used in Faerie.  It is apparently forbidden elsewhere, but I was unable to learn why.  

The rulers of this land met with each of us in private to give us proper rewards.  Some of these gifts were made public by their recipients.  

Nolin received a magical instrument called a “violin.”  He had seen it being played by the satyr, Friedrich, and had much admired it.  It sounds absolutely terrible when Nolin plays it unless he invokes the enchantment.  Then, it is nearly too beautiful to comprehend.  With it, one can invoke _Otto’s Irresistible Dance_.  

Tom-Tom was given the ability, at some time interval, to conjure a key that would open *any* lock.  This will most likely prove to be a mighty boon.

During Velendo’s visit with the Faerie monarchs, they noted that, when last he returned home from Faerie, the cleric had not believed his own experiences to be real.  They were amused, and wryly commented that it was odd for one with such strong faith in an unseen diety to disbelieve the Faerie Queen herself when he was standing in her very presence.  Velendo hastened to apologize for his error.  Sistamula gave him an ironic gift, the power to disbelieve in something so strongly that it would cease to exist for him.

Cadrienne, always aware of the alignment of the stars and their mathematical portents, had drawn a picture for the Queen.  She had noted that Faerie has an extra moon, and she had made an astrology chart that featured that moon.  The Queen was pleased, and gave Cadrienne the ability to occasionally add something to reality’s equation.  With mental calculation, she may will a simple object into being. 

I went to my meeting with the fay pair with some trepidation, as their reputation is well known.  Sistamula offered me a place at her side if I wished to remain.  I did not want to insult her, but I knew that my friends would have need of me, and that my place was in the world of men. 

“My Queen,” I said, “though my heart would wish for nothing more, my mind does council differently, and I must respectfully decline.”  She accepted this without rancor.

She noted that I am becoming known for seeing to the heart of a problem.  She said she would give me a gift, that I might see the truth in all things when I desire.  [Ed. _Faerie Sight_, once/week, works partly as _True Seeing_ but has other peculiarities as well.]  For her pleasure, I invoked this power. Rays of silver light streamed from my eyes, and all about me became clear to the point of transparency.  Truly an awesome gift.  I bowed low, and thanked them with all the eloquence at my command....


...after the celebration we bade the rulers of Faerie farewell, and lay down to sleep in magnificent chambers.  In the morning, we awoke in a clearing in the forest, far to the northwest of Rampart.  We had been transported by rainbow, and stood at its end.  Knowing the legends, we promptly searched the area for treasure.

We discovered a huge pot of gold, stamped on four sides with a clover symbol.  We also found a cage, constructed of gold filigree.  It contained a simple rock, which became a gem when it was removed.  Alix and Tom-Tom believe that the gem may increase the value of other gems stored with it.  For some reason, most of the party refused to take any gold from the pot.  Only Tom-Tom and I took any.  It seemed to me that Sistamula would not have arranged for us to arrive in this spot by accident, and must have meant for us to find these things, but no one else was convinced....


...we navigated southeast for a few days, but it was rough going.  One morning we met a wood-elf, one Beridan.  He somehow sensed that the party had the favor of someone important, and treated us with deference.  Nolin was very amused by this, of course....


...over a few weeks the elves escorted us back to territory that we could recognize.  We made our way back to Rampart, and arrived at the Manticore.  We met the bouncer as he was storming out, having quit moments before.  It seems that Grundo has returned!  Unfortunately, he had beaten the poor bouncer severely.  Still, it is very good to see the crusty, dwarf again....


----------



## KidCthulhu

I'm trying to remember, 'deeto.  Did the gold in fact turn out to be Fairy Gold TM?


----------



## Sialia

I don't remember about the gold. What I remember most was everybody splashing buck naked in the moonlight, and how badly Cadrienne wanted to join in, and the guys generally egging her on to come on in, and just generally being too prudish to conceed.

I mean, by this point she'd twigged to the fact that Arcade didn't like promiscuity (and who hadn't?), and she'd been warned off Nolin and Alix as dangerous rakes, and  . . . she was awfully young at this point--barely 16 or 17, I think. 

Sigh. 

It was such a relief, years later, when we got to Calphas's pocket paradise and everybody stripped off and went swimming, not only to be playing at twelve year old boy (Dylrath), but also to be travelling with Tao instead, who didn't know the meaning of the word prudish . . .


----------



## Welverin

*This seems like a good time to ask*

How much time had passed in the campaign at this point (real and game)?

Also what's the average party level?


----------



## Bandeeto

P'Cat will be better able to answer the time question.  I believe it had been about 2 years "real time", and 2-3 years "game time". 

Based on the spells I was using and the effects they were having I would put Arcade at 5th-6th level, which means most other folks would be 6th-7th.  We also may have popped during the last part of the Faerie adventure.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – The Citadel of War

...realized that we were late for our meeting with Lord Tarim-Loial.  We sent a messenger on a fast horse to Kindric to explain, and I sent my inquiry to Lord Arion Helmsford.  After several days, the first messenger returned with a message from Lord T-L.  It was vague and disturbing, but seemed to indicate that he had run into some trouble, and would soon be requiring our services....


...purchased new clothes and horses and prepared to leave town.  A day or two before we were due to set forth, Tao called a meeting at the Manticore.  She was quite concerned.  

She had spotted an exotic bird flying overhead of a type most commonly found far to the east.  Near the coast, in fact.  I immediately opined that the Citadel of War had sent spies through the _Teleportation Chamber_, and that they might even now be preparing an invasion from the hills.  We decided to delay our trip to Kindric, and investigate....


...wasn’t long before my worst suspicions were realized.  We have found a small village where many farmhouses were recently put to the torch, and several villagers lie dead, killed by burning, drowning, and sword wounds.  There are obvious signs of a well- armed war party.  It also appears that a man and a woman have been taken hostage.  Grundo is spoiling for a fight, as are we all.  These invaders will not escape our wrath...!


...continuing tracking the war party.  A few more clues have been left behind at campsites and on the trail.  They have with them a swordsperson with the initial “R”, some warriors wielding axes who seem uncommonly heavy, a cleric, and a fire-mage.  They are apparently a scouting party, as they seem to be acquiring maps and gathering supplies....


...caught up with them at last.  We tracked them into a small dell that held a farmhouse.  As we approached we were met by their opening salvo: a _Fireball_!  It nearly took down several party members.  Grundo charged to the attack, running full tilt down the slope.  

Grundo was in mid-stride, when two huge axes slammed into his body.  As the axes connected, the pair of minotaurs wielding them snapped into visibility.  Close by stood a giant black warhorse.  Near the farmhouse stood the black-robed cleric, and the red-robed mage.  In addition, a woman wielding a large bow appeared on the roof of the farmhouse, and took aim.  Luck was briefly with us, however.  As she adjusted her stance she stumbled, lost her balance, and fell off the roof.  

I stayed close to Velendo.  He fired arrows into the foe while I drank a potion of _Fire Resistance_.  He then healed my wounds as I sent a _Darkening Bolt_ crisping into the war party cleric, disrupting his spell.  I then tried to foil the mage by casting _Mirror Image_.

The war party’s mage aimed a wand at Nolin.  It glowed eerily, and Nolin began behaving very strangely, acting in an abnormally orderly fashion.  First he got kicked in the head by the warhorse for trying to tie him to a tree.  He then decided in was necessary to attack the enemy in order of height, smallest first.  Tao unleashed her bola, but ineptly wrapped up Cadrienne with it.

Alix activated his _Ring of Invisibility_ and vanished.  Tom-Tom tried to activate his _Ring of the Chameleon_ and promptly turned into a large lizard! (We later discovered that Alix’s gift from the Faerie Queen had taken this form: revenge against Tom-Tom.  Alix had been holding a grudge ever since Tom-Tom looted his body when he was slain by a doppelganger.  Alix may be a Defender, but he is a menace!)

The archer reappeared on the roof, and Nolin cast _Insatiable Thirst_ upon her.  As it took effect, she tried to dive off the roof into the well, but missed and concussed herself badly.  However, she did manage to drag herself over the lip and into the well, where she promptly drowned.

Alix moved to engage the cleric, while I cast _Irritation_ on the mage.  Grundo had managed to slay one of the minotaurs, but he was bleeding freely from numerous deep cuts and looked awful.  I gave him a hand by hitting the other minotaur with _’Missiles_, but the war-party mage got the same idea and managed to find me with several _’Missiles_ despite my _‘Images_.  I was still partly wounded from the _Fireball_, and the mystic bolts plunged me into unconsciousness.  Mighty Grundo then fell, dead from his wounds.  With the two of us and Tom-Tom out of commission and Cadrienne struggling to free herself from the bola, things were beginning to look a bit dicey.

Then, just as the cleric was about to _Bestow Curse_ on Nolin, Alix backstabbed him and the spell backfired.  The cleric found himself suddenly possessed of only a child’s intelligence.  Nolin took the opportunity to loose _Otto’s Irresistible Dance_ upon the minotaur with his fiddle.  Under the combined assault of Nolin, Tao, and Cadrienne, the minotaur finally succumbed.

In the meanwhile, the warhorse had charged Velendo and myself.  Velendo managed to fend him off with a dome of golden bricks and some well-placed arrows.  

Glimmer and Alix both went after the mage.  Glimmer spurred his horse to ride the spellcaster down, and was thrown for his trouble.  Alix stabbed the mage, but got a great deal of the damage back from a hastily erected _Fire Shield_.  Although he nearly fell from his own wounds, Alix did manage to bring down the mage.  The exotic bird that had been our initial clue to the war party, doubtless the mage’s familiar, fell dead from the sky.

As the battle was reaching its conclusion, TMOSAT displayed a strange and horrible new power.  It animated my unconscious body, dragging it upright and walking us towards the fray, announcing that we were needed!  

Thankfully, Velendo managed to tag me with a healing spell.  I recovered consciousness to find us tottering across the battlefield, and ordered the staff to cease at once.  As the fight seemed to be over, I lay down to rest for a bit.  

Cadrienne and the others were appalled that the staff would drag my wounded body into combat, and berated the staff for its thoughtlessness.  It became terribly embarrassed, and hid its face....


...as the party moved towards the farmhouse, a woman in armor poked her head out of the door to surrender.  She explained that she had been part of the raiding party, but as an adventurer-in-training she had been only allowed to observe.  We were skeptical, until she showed us her Citadel of War Adventurer’s Guild contract.  We were all disgusted that someone could watch the slaughter of elderly folk, women, and children, and not interfere.  Alix was so unimpressed that he tore up her contract.  She vanished, screaming, in a gout of flame. 

The party helped me, and the now-restored and quite peeved Tom-Tom, into the house.  We put Grundo’s body in the main room, and tended to the hostages.  They were still alive, although badly hurt and frightened.

The group recovered the drowned woman from the well, and searched the war-party.  The drowned woman had been the warrior-thief with the initial “R” embroidered on her belongings.  The minotaurs appeared to have been a pair of brothers.  All of the war-party’s members were carrying Citadel of War identification cards.  We had the proof we needed.  

While Tao rode off at top speed to inform Rampart officials, the rest of the Defenders grabbed some much-needed rest....


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## KidCthulhu

Ah, _Insatiable Thirst_.  I miss that spell.  I think Nolin used it only twice, but both times it spelled nasty, embarrassing and unpleasant death for the recipiant.  I can't tell you about the second time, because 'deeto will raise his eyebrow at me.  Doesn't sound like much of a threat, but trust me, strong men crumble before that eyebrow.


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## Sito Rotavele

I fear no eyebrow!

Spoiler!!!
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Vat Full of Leeches(tm)!


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## KidCthulhu

[flutters eyelashes] My hero! [/flutters eyelashes]

BTW, the new sig is awful.  Just awful.  You must be PUN-ished.


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## Sito Rotavele

Aw shucks, ma'am.  Weren't nothin'.  That moment is one of the 'signature' moments I use when describing Nolin to someone else.  It's exactly the right combination of comic relief, lethal effectiveness and bad guy comeuppance, with just a sprinkle of abject horror.  It was a great play, KC.

The other moment I use to describe Nolin is using the Wand of Wonder in the middle of a bazaar, just 'cause.  I'm sure Deeto will get to that one eventually. 

 Claris has of course breifed Purity (her daughter) on all the DoD: "Keep Uncle Nolin on a mission"  She says. "Bored, he's the most dangerous of the (living) Defenders."  Yeah, it's heavy to be breifing a toddler on strenghts and weaknesses of her psuedo-relatives, but then again, that's Claris.  Bedtime stories from the Book of Vindus aren't always...appropriate, after all.


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## Negative Zero

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *Arcade’s Journal – The Citadel of War
> ... As the battle was reaching its conclusion, TMOSAT displayed a strange and horrible new power.  It animated my unconscious body, dragging it upright and walking us towards the fray, announcing that we were needed!
> ...
> Cadrienne and the others were appalled that the staff would drag my wounded body into combat, and berated the staff for its thoughtlessness.  It became terribly embarrassed, and hid its face....*




pardon me but ... how exactly does a staff "hide it's face"?
 ... 
come to think of it, where_is_ a staff's face????

~NegZ


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## Bandeeto

Sito, I shall withold the eyebrow at this time... but only because I may not be the one telling that story.  

Sadly my journal ends at the beginning of the Academy of Flamecraft.  I will be winging it with a great deal of assistance after that.  

I personally loved the few occasions when Nolin got to cast Insatiable Thirst.  That first time was particularly spectacular.  

The poor warrior-thief leaps up onto the roof to impale us with feathered death, fumbles and falls off the roof, gets back up on the roof, gets affected by Insatiable Thirst, dives off the roof for the well and misses, landing on her head, drags her broken body into the well, and drowns.  The slapstick was unbelievable.  Between that, Tom-Tom turning into a giant gekko, and Cadrienne getting wrapped by Tao's bola, it was a hilarious combat.  

Sadly, Grundo died, which kinda took the wind out of our sails.

In answer to a few questions that have come up:

1) The Citadel of War was mentioned in the Sunken Dell adventure.  That's where Velendo was teleported from when we first met him.  Elzid had been carrying on a smuggling operation with the Citadel, using Stavros to launder the goods.  Re-read those posts and you'll be up-to-date.

2) You may recall that TMOSAT has a wizard's head carved into the top.  (See the first post in which it appeared.) One can definitely sense when it is *looking* at you, and it will turn and swivel to look at things.  It also seems to speak using the carved mouth.  The thing is just loaded with personality.

Note that normally Tom-Tom used his Ring of the Chameleon to blend in with the surroundings.  The command word was "gekko."


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## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal - Citadel of War, Part 2

...luckily we remembered to feed the two war-bulls belonging to the Citadel party. 

Early the next morning Glimmer spotted a gigantic bird in the distance, winging its way towards us.  We could not see it well enough to tell whether it was friend or foe, so the party armed for battle.  I was not yet fully healed, so I was moved down to the farmhouse’s storm cellar.  

The bird flew closer, and was revealed to be a giant eagle. It seemed to be looking for the farmhouse.  As it landed in the courtyard it transformed into Ortigal, my grandfather.  I came back upstairs, and Ortigal quickly explained that Tao had passed by our house and had sent him our way.  I was tremendously impressed with the eagle trick, and told him so.  I mentioned that the ability to travel at great speed would be a tremendous asset, and TMOSAT piped up.  

“I can do that,” it said.  

I asked what it meant.  In a matter of moments it had _Teleported_ the three of us onto a table at the Flaming Manticore, and back again.  Another new ability revealed.  The staff apparently felt guilty about the “body-snatching” incident, and was trying to make up for it by leaking some information.

Ortigal demanded, and received, an explanation of the current situation.  He then wanted to know why we hadn’t told him before about _Teleportation Chamber_ and the Citadel of War.  I reminded him that we had already mentioned the threat to him, and that it was responsible for him acquiring a magical mortar and pestle that could grind diamonds! 

He was a bit chagrined at that, but worked it off by yelling at Velendo about his poor care of me.  He then transformed back into an eagle, and set off to mobilize the militia of Rampart for war.  The clerics restored me to health, and we prepared to leave.  Just then, we heard the sound of some new arrivals.

It was an old man and his wife, the owners of the farm, returning from a trip visiting relatives.  They were shocked and frightened to find us there, and they took some calming down.  Tom-Tom dosed the man with some Badgerbite, and the man nearly asphyxiated.  It took clerical intervention to save him. It turned out that the old man was strongly allergic to strong drink. 

I was quite sympathetic, as I have a similar allergy to pepper.  Luckily, Tom-Tom cooks everything with cinnamon (although he frequently uses way too much cinnamon).

Cadrienne spoke in the language of animals to the war-bulls, and they agreed to carry Grundo’s body back to Rampart.  After establishing that the elderly couple was going to be okay, we headed for home....


...arrived in Rampart.  Preparations for war are proceeding apace.  The city council questioned us closely about the situation, and thoroughly interrogated Velendo about the Citadel of War.  The Defenders asked to join the assault forces, but were assigned to maintain security and defend the city.

A little later the King of Gaunt’s retinue passed by.  The staff had often mentioned a desire to meet with a king, and I whispered to the staff that it might yet get to do so.  It asked in which direction the King could be found, and it _Teleported_ off after him.  I heard later that it was seen in the King’s hand during the battle, but when it returned it would not speak of what had passed between them.

We took Grundo’s body to the temple of Galanna, to be _Resurrected_ if his spirit desires it.  There will be some delay, as the high priest will not be available for a few days. We also had Nolin’s fixation with order _Dispelled_....


...forces of Gaunt have returned victorious after several days of mighty battle with the invading army of the Citadel of War.  

We did have some casualties.  Alix’s brother, who Alix has always despised, was commanding a group of soldiers and managed to get his head cut off in a supremely inept act of generalship.  Ortigal had suffered a broken arm, and I offered to help him out for a few days.  He had agreed to _Identify_ the items that we had recovered, but instead he decided to teach me the spell!  Some of the items we found were sacred to Quoris, God of War, and Deifos, God of Law....


...invited to Lord and Lady Thurrian’s for a celebratory victory banquet.  We all set about preparing, wanting to look our best.  Tom-Tom was, as usual, the gaudiest.  He wore purple-striped pants with an iridescent, green, lizard-skin cape.  I wore the handsome blue conjuring robes (acquired from Elzid).  Glimmer was in his usual gorgeous clerical robes, adrip with jewels.  Alix wore silver and black, while Nolin wore gold and white.  

Nolin had taken Cadrienne shopping, and she looked stunning in the dress they picked out.  I got into a major argument with Cadrienne, as it appeared that she and Nolin were becoming “an item”.  I heavily disapproved.  While I trust Nolin implicitly in most things, women are not among them. He is even thought to have gotten a woman pregnant before leaving his hometown.  Cadrienne stormed off in a huff to ask Nolin about it, but we had to leave for the party and the question had to wait.

We arrived in a carriage, and made quite the grand entrance.  Nolin nearly caused an embarrassing scene by having himself introduced as “Nolin Maradine.”  We were seated with Lord Emill Hargrove, Duke of Nabarr (a western province), and his lady.  Also Sir Migourn Neverfell the cavalier.  I was genteelly cautioned by the Thurrians to keep my fellows on good behavior.

For a short while things continued in a civilized fashion.  Then the recently _Resurrected_ Grundo arrived, riding one of the war-bulls.  He actually had to be subdued, and then sent home to the Manticore by the local mages and clerics.  I asked the staff to send the war-bull after him, which turned out to be a mistake.  TMOSAT miscalculated, and the bull ended up falling two stories into the Manticore.  Later we discovered that it made great steaks.

The party was fabulous!  We had a brief interlude of intrigue, however.  Nolin realized that Lord Emill was in disguise, and we spent some time shadowing him around the mansion.  (We suspected that he might be “Deepleaf” crashing the party.) Tom-Tom, Nolin and I finally cornered him near the latrines.  He admitted to us that he was a member of the King’s private guard, and that he was supposed to be keeping an eye on us.  Shortly before we left, I found out from one of the palace ministers that the King’s private guards are never supposed to reveal their identities.  So, as we were leaving, I reported Lord Emill to one of the guard for being so incompetent!  It was indeed a fine evening....



...we leave tomorrow for Kindric.  Lord Tarim-Loial awaits us.  We have decided to stop by Crellar’s Inn on the way....


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## Piratecat

Aha! But someone else's secret identity was revealed at that party as well!  KidCthulhu, care to comment?


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## KidCthulhu

Ah yes.  I knew using "Maradine" was a mistake.  And now that Nolin knows what it means to be a Maradine, he marvels at his own stupidity (Nol has lots of ranks in "Marvel at own stupidity")

At some point during the party, Nolin was taken aside by a minor noble, whose name I don't remember.  In a small anteroom, he revealed that we were right to suspect that "Filane Deepleaf" was at the party, because he was Filane.  Before Nolin could frog march him back out to the assembled Nobs and have him arrested, he revealed that he was also Nolin's half-brother.

Turns out dear old dad wasn't very good at keeping it in his pants, and there were quite a few of us bastards kicking around.  Filane was willing to admit that his real name was Eritain Quicklimb, but wouldn't reveal much more about himself.  He is older than Nolin by some 10 years, and has obviously been living by his wits, charm and skillls.  Seems to be a family trait.  Eritain's lifestyle has run more to con jobs and grifts, but the similarities between them was obvious.

Nolin didn't tell the rest of the Defenders until the next morning, by which time Eritain was well out of town.  He owed his blood that much.


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## madriel

So was Nolin really putting the moves on Cadrienne at this point, or was the makeover aimed at Arcade the Insensible?

Loved the slapstick feel of the last two sessions.  The _Thirsted_ archer and the war-bull steaks were a riot.


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## KidCthulhu

Madriel,

The Cadrienne/Nolin thing was genuine enough in its way.  They were and are good friends.  She was a tender, sweet young thing, and Nolin has always had a weakness for those.  Also, she was in quite a bit of distress over the Arcade thing, and Nolin's was the shoulder she cried on, and we all know where that leads.  As a fling it was remarkably tame, and fizzeled quickly.  

It did show Arcade that Cadrienne was worthy of attention, and he was quite jealous.  But, goober that he is, he did nothing about it.  Arcade may be a genius, but he can also be an incredible bonehead.


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## Piratecat

In his defense, he was pretty busy polishing his staff.


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## Bandeeto

Not that the polishing the staff thing was *my* idea!

Let's bear in mind who was playing the NPC staff who wanted polishing all the time.

I won't dignify Sito's commentary.  Humph.  (Just wait 'til I get you here in Boston Thursday, funny man. )

The Journal will continue for several more of the episodes, but it ends just as the Academy starts.

Things were getting very complicated a that point, and it was just getting to freaking hard to keep track and go to medical school.  Poor excuse I know, but I'll try to reconstruct it with the party's help.


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## Sialia

Ok, we're back. Spent the week scrambling to catch up, but we're getting there. More posts from Bandeeto soon, but I asked him to pause long enough to let me comment on the last post--I've been so busy with my own thread (see link below) I haven't had time to check in here!

Anyway, five things:

1. Cadrienne loved to cast "speak with animals" and Piratecat hated roleplaying them. He did everything possible to keep from encouraging me to try to speak with stupid things.  The War Bulls were about the last time I tried it. As I recall, they had strikingly one track minds: "Wanna rut."

Since I am, of course, completely incorrigible, this only served to encourage me to go to great efforts to speak with more intelligent things, like monsters, villians . . . Piratecat might have had an easier life if he'd been more interested in roleplaying sheep and cows, eh?

2. The dress was magnificent. The really beautiful thing about it was that I drew a lovely picture of Cadrienne staring in awe at herself in a mirror, as if to say "Is that me?" and filed it away and more or less forgot about it. 
Years later, when Tao had a similar need for a dress and Cadrienne loaned it to her, Tao got _the exact same look_ on her face when she tried it on. Us tough chicks who spend a lot of time covered in the blood of our enemies don't get a lot of opportunities to do the Cinderella routine. It was nice.

3. Cadrienne was using Nolin to get up Arcade's nose. Make no mistake about it. She wanted Arcade to be jealous, and that's a fact. 
Oddly enough, she _knew_ Nolin was a safe date at this point, despite all the warnings to the contrary. Nolin knew she was still carrying a torch for Arcade, and while he may not have minded deliberately provoking Arcade, he certainly wasn't going to try to put the moves on somebody that he knew wasn't genuinely attracted to him. 
Nolin did have some scruples.
Even if they did revolve around his vanity more than his good manners. 
And Cadrienne was always pretty good at intuiting what makes people tick. 
Except Arcade, of course.

4. I'm pretty sure the flirtation with Nolin _did_ have some effect. I think it was at this point that the Big Blow Up occurred, which resulted in Nolin giving Arcade a major clue about Cadrienne, which resulted in Arcade at last proposing to Cadrienne.
Yes, indeed, he really did. 
If it wasn't here, it was right around here, and of course, there's no mention of it in his journal whatsoever.

He managed to phrase the proposal so badly, she had to refuse him.

I can't remember how he put it, but the general jist was that he felt honor bound to propose to her since he had allowed her feelings to arrive at this state, and that he really could use someone to stay home and wash the labware for him.

Things cooled off considerably between them at this point, as you can imagine.  

And I began looking around for something else interesting for Cadrienne to be ambitious about. Woe.

Much grief and woe before she finally got there. Hang in there kids, we'll get to it.

5. It was probably the distant memory of how Arcade had finally gotten Cadrienne off his back that prompted me to think that Dylrath ought to propose to Tao (much, much later, and I relaly do hope we get as far as that story someday). 

Dylrath, of course, hadn't entered the party yet so there's no way he could have known about all this backstory and it was his own decision. No one advised him to do it. But Arcade was amazingly unsupportive when Tao accepted, and spent quite a while berating Dyrlath for trying this foolish stunt, which is kind of ironic, don'tcha think?

Sadly, Dylrath was apparently unconvincing when he tried to make Tao think he was only proposing out of a sense of duty to her honor . . . or perhaps that didn't matter to her?


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## Bandeeto

OK, kiddies.  

I'm back from Boston, and nearly ready to put up a new post.  (Watch this space tomorrow night!)

The reunion was a lot of fun.  Not a great deal of action, but plenty of role playin' hijinks.  I presume that P'Cat will post some of the details on his board when he gets a free moment.  

I got to play Agar for the first half of the evening, and found him to be a lot of fun.  (Getting to be Agar when Claris' player was doing Proty was a major high point. )  Just remember, _Limited Wish_ can be your friend, especially when you are surrounded by...


teaser...




*Trillith Spawn!* (dum da dummmmmmm....)

TMOSAT was his usual self, we all got to make fun of Nolin, and the party had a brief encounter with our old friends, the Dochselfar (or Doxelfar).  A great time was had by all.


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## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Legerdemain, Part 1

...finally on the road to Kindric.  Crellar’s Inn has been rebuilt since the incident with the fire and the doppelgangers.  It was purchased from Crellar’s widow Gertrude by Beldrass Keycutter, and he has renamed it “The Tooth and Nail”.

Strange portents have continued to plague this sad place, but none of the locals are able to say exactly what is so disturbing about them.  Gertrude died shortly after giving birth.  The newborn baby, Kemic, and his brother Kelsey, are staying with their aunt Ella.  Kelsey has apparently become a real troublemaker.  I must consider whether it might not be wiser to take him on as an apprentice.  Perhaps the adventuring life might straighten him out.

Kemic shows no signs yet of his probable doppelganger heritage.  Cambion did not register him as a shapechanger.  We will keep an occasional eye on the lad, just in case....


...arrived in Kindric to a magnificent welcome from the Loial household.  We met Pembroke, the butler, and were introduced to Eloise, Alix’s sister.  Alix was most displeased to hear that the family intends to hire a mage named Skiltor Rune to _Clone_ Alix’s dead brother back to life, using the finger remnant retained from the battle with the Citadel.

Lord Tarim-Loial has summoned us to help with a very curious matter.  The problem involves a theater, the Legerdemain Theater.  It’s owner, Kurin Eantur, explained the siutation over dinner at his inn, the Horn and Trumpet.

A new play, “Knight of Gold”, is scheduled to open soon at the theater, but disaster has overtaken the production.  The director and writer, Prim Glamour, has been changing the script nearly daily.  The leading lady, Tivity Eantur (the theater owner’s daughter), has fallen in love with the leading man, Thesper Mermestin.  He, unfortunately, appears to have gone completely insane, and has been spurning her with horrendous consequences.  Further, horrible accidents have been happening all over the theater.

It also turns out that opening night was chosen, accidentally, to take place on a night of very ill-omen, the “Night of the Twixt”, which occurs every 80 years.  The director has been heard to say that he plans personally to kill Skiltor Rune. (The mage is a fervent supporter of the theater, and sits in his own luxury box.)  To top things off, the King is coming to the first performance.

Kurin begged us to investigate, and to save the show....


...disguised ourselves as stage hands, and scouted out the theater.  We found the place to be working its way steadily towards a catastrophe.  Thesper mumbles to himself, and is completely incomprehensible.  Tivity may be beautiful, but she is nasty and unpleasant as only a truly spoiled daughter can be.  The director works constantly on plot changes for the last scene, and several stage workers in another room were wounded by falling scenery....


...we stayed late after the actors and crew had departed.  Prim, the director discovered us in the costume room, but Nolin forestalled his outrage by _Charming_ him.  Pointed questions brought a few clear answers.  

Apparently, Skiltor Rune intends to murder someone on opening night.  The director is prone to nightmare visions of demons, and other planes of existence.  For years he has been protected from these dreams by a certain talisman.  Rune stole the talisman, and has insisted that the plot be changed to make it simpler to kill someone during the final scene.  The mage has refused to name his target, and also has refused to specify how he wants the finale changed.  This, plus the return of the visions, has had the director tearing his hair out.  Prim is to meet tonight with the mage’s underlings to finalize the terms of their deal.  We decided to look around a bit, and to try to intercept the mage’s minions....


...horrible battle unleashed on the theater’s upper floor.  A large mixed group attacked us, made up of two halflings, a tall man in armor, a female half-elf assassin, a hobgoblin shamaness, a mongrelman cleric, a dwarf with psionic powers, an imp, and a trained hawk with poisoned claws.  Our losses were heavy, for Nyquil lost an eye to the hawk before he recovered and tore the foul thing to ribbons.  

Cadrienne saw the half-elf come in the window, and the two of them fumbled at each other with their weapons for several minutes.  The assassin actually managed to trip herself back out the window, but she managed to survive the fall and escape.    

With a great deal of effort we killed the shaman, the mongrelman and the dwarf.  I and several other Defenders were wounded, and the rest of our foes fled into the city before we could finish them....


...the gods be praised!  When placed over Nyquil’s missing eye, the magic eyepatch (taken from Kronk the giant) seems to restore his vision.  We have also recovered the director’s “talisman”:  a small cat in a cage....


...still do not know who Rune’s target is, and now he will be warned that a group of adventurers will be trying to stop him.  To head off a national incident I posted an urgent message to the King, warning him of Rune’s intentions.  Alix sent a similar letter to his father....


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## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Legerdemain, Part 2

...while on guard at the theater we had a visit from Cinda, Nolin’s former lover and mother of his baby daughter.  She had been looking for him for some time, and discovered that he was visiting Kindric.  To say that she was insane with rage is perhaps putting it mildly.  She tried, somewhat ineffectually, to kill Nolin with a frying pan.  Cadrienne, who seemed to sympathize with Cinda’s plight, loaned the crazed woman her magical mace.  This was a bit of a mistake, as Cinda nearly did manage to kill Nolin with that weapon.  

We were forced to restrain Cinda, and brought her to a temple where she was kept on a suicide watch.  As we were trying to get control of the situation, Rune’s pet imp showed up and tried to carry off Nolin’s daughter.  Nolin and I impaled the imp with Magic Missiles, causing it to drop the child from near the ceiling.  Nyquil used his dust of _Feather Fall_ to float the girl gently into my arms, while the rest of the group finished the horrid thing.  It’s body turned out to contain a Luckstone....


...opening night at last.  A workman had heard strange groans from the basement, so we decided to do a final sweep below.  With some searching we located the groans and tore open the wall to find… Thesper Mermestin!  He was plainly the genuine article, tired and weak from lack of food and completely unaware of what was going on.  We realized that the apparently insane actor rebuffing Tivity was an imposter, and decided that he was probably going to be used as a tool to commit the murder.

We confronted Prim with this story, but he insisted on hard evidence.  I summoned the power of my Faerie Sight, and the golden beams revealed the false Thesper to be a pile of shaped snow, in fact a _Simulacrum_.      

Prim wanted the false Thesper to go on stage anyway, as he was the only one who knew the leading man’s part!  We decided to switch the two actors for the final scene, and rapidly rehearsed the real Thesper in the dressing room....


...the show began, on schedule.  We were stationed backstage and beneath the stage in case of trouble.  Trouble came, in the form of Rune’s minions.  It was plainly the same party of the night before, but the members that we had dispatched had been _Reincarnated_ and faced us once more!

The psionic dwarf was now a psionic raven, and he battled Tom-Tom to a standstill.  The shamaness had returned as a troll, and she gave Glimmer a great deal of trouble.  The female assassin had come back as a kobold, and she was easily dispatched.  The halflings and cleric were also quite difficult to handle, but finally all of Rune’s party were slain.

As the last scene approached, TMOSAT and I transported Thesper, myself, Nolin and Cadrienne onto the stage in a gout of green flame.  We found the false Thesper and Tivity facing a mechanical troglodyte.  The trog appeared to be threatening both of them, and spouting *real* flames.  I dispatched it with a _Darkening Bolt_, but as I did so the false Thesper turned on Tivity.  Finally Rune’s true target was revealed.  Nolin stepped in and slew the _Simulacrum_, which melted in moments into a pile of snow.

Down from his private box flew the enraged Skiltor Rune, spouting curses upon us and upon Tivity.  It seems that Rune had become completely infatuated with Tivity, but she had spurned the wizard’s advances in favor of Thesper, who in turn had known nothing of her interest.  

“What better revenge,” shouted the mage, “than to have the man you love *kill* you on stage!”

Rune spoke, and a _Power Word, Stun_ rolled from his lips, paralyzing us all.  He swooped to strike!  But Rune had not reckoned on us giving advance warning to the authorities.  From their boxes came the High Mage of Gaunt (a mage at the personal service of the king), the mage of House Loial, and other spell casters brought by the royal retinues.  As we sought to protect the crowd from any stray spells, a mage battle ensued. Finally, Rune was subdued and carried off to the royal dungeon....


...an unpleasant surprise befell me after the dust had settled.  Tivity had been tremendously impressed with *me* during her moment of peril, and had now fallen for me!  I was forced to deny her, and a sad and angry scene ensued.  She has pledged to carry a torch for me, but I do not believe she realizes what that would _actually_ entail in my line of work....


...we received great rewards for our assistance in the Legerdemain incident.  The King gifted me with Triokk’s Falicardium, a mighty magical tome full of spells designed to enhance and protect one’s familiar.  After training for the next level of mastery, I _Enhanced_ Nyquil.  He now has the speed of an arrow in flight, and can hover!  We received a large sum of money from Zemitch Alock of Pelag’s Spellpit to copy the Falicardium.  

I then put the book on semi-permanent loan to Kinxanthrias, our favorite Kindric sage.  In exchange, the sage gave us some very useful information on many topics.

We learned that doppelgangers are thought to be immoral and opportunistic by nature, and that in every known case their horrid heritage has won out over even the best human upbringing.  Kemic must be watched with great care.

We also learned that Snadek Bearsfroth was court mage for the Helmsford’s for over a decade.  He is blind, but can see with the aid of a magical silver mask.  Snadek is a bitter and sarcastic fellow, known for his expertise with conjuration magic (as we discovered first-hand).  He had been seen in the company of one Nostradis Ghend.  Further, he seems to use stored psychic energy to power his Summonings.  It is thought that he obtains this energy using special suits of immobile armor to drain power from those with psionic abilities, like Tom-Tom and his uncle.  His current whereabouts are unknown.      

The Horrus Arkandanian, also known as the Horrus Incabulin, was created in a joint project using clerical and Alteration magics.  I have studied the history of one of its creators, Arkadine Ancantris Surillion, Arcade “Hightome” to his friends and the Arcane One to his rivals.  It was from this famous Transmuter that I derived my adventuring name.  Arkadine founded the Mage’s Academy in Oursk, and three Guilds of the Arcane, one in Caegill, one in Eversink, and one here in Gaunt!  It has been nearly 300 years since he brought down the Gauntean priesthood of Yorrine, demigod of Disease and Famine.  

The Incabulin has been described as a “runetome”, and is thought to grant spell abilities.  The last known location of the Incabulin was the Academy of Flamecraft.  

The Academy was first established many hundreds of years ago, and was a first-rate center of learning for generations of mages.  After a time it declined and was disbanded, but was then re-founded.  It soon became a corrupt and evil institution, but was then supposed to have been destroyed by the ancient red dragon Tagachark, also called “Fireforge”.  The dragon’s mate was also involved in the destruction.  Many priceless treasures disappeared with the fall of the Academy, including the Horrus Incabulin, the Spellgems of Tamth, Elestil’s Hammer Mace, the Song of Volcanoes, and the Ruby of Cascara the Founder.  

It is rumored, however, that much of the Academy had already been moved to a different location when the dragons came.  After some thought, I remembered a map that we recovered during one of our quests.  It was drawn by one Felzik Wyrmscar, an adventurer who had sought the Academy and Fireforge’s treasure over two hundred years ago.  Perhaps it is
time that we put the rumors to rest, and seek out the remains of the Academy of Flamecraft.


----------



## Bandeeto

Other side of map:


----------



## Fade

.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – The Academy of Flamecraft, Part 1

...set forth from Kindric many days ago, following Wyrmscar’s map and heading for Hettich.  The town was once known as Heat-teach, evidence of its proximity to the Academy.  We are seeking Goblin’s Leap, which should be found nearby.  We passed through many wonderful towns: Ragost, the spa city of Helidan, and Callandale.  

On arriving in Hettich we were greeted by an acolyte of a man named Tallonias the Prophet.  The Prophet is the dominant figure in the local religion, and he apparently had foretold our coming.  The acolyte kindly provided us with healing potions for our quest.

We made some inquiries about town.  It seems that Chemith, the last known location of the Academy of Flamecraft 200 years ago, is now the home of horrible creatures of flame.  It is located beyond the Flamefalls and the Fire Rift, and sits on the plains below.  We resolved to avoid the area if possible, and set off on the trail to Goblin’s Leap....


...reached the ‘Leap.  The entire area is a plateau, hundreds of miles long, set thousands of feet over the southern plain.  The ‘Leap is at the top of this steep cliff, known as The Wall.  At sundown, as described on the map, we began to descend the perilously narrow path down the cliff face, moving from rock shelf to rock shelf.  Far below, we could make out the shape of a stone wyvern.  Alix used his magical crossbow to assist during the descent.  Its enchanted bolts could be fired in a straight line while carrying a rope, and a command word would cause the rope to be winched in.  His expertise with the device was highly questionable, however, and he managed to hit me in the head with one poorly placed shot! (Not the first time for this, I’m afraid.)  

We were part way down, facing a deep chasm cut in the rock, when a harsh cry rang out.  From some hidden cave, two winged shapes dove towards the party.  At first it appeared that gigantic green eagles were attacking us… until we saw the heads: black stags’, with glowing red eyes.  The battle was fierce, and I was sorely wounded.  As they stooped, attempting to knock us from the cliff, I managed to fork a _’Bolt_ into them and blew them from the sky.     

We reached the stone wyvern.  In the shadow of its wing we could see the entrance to a huge cavern.  On the rock outside, a picture of a heart was inscribed, containing initials and a date: “L + E ’22.”

As we entered the cave, we found evidence of a tremendous battle.  A dragon, turned to stone, stood upon the cavern floor.  The skeleton of a smaller dragon was found nearby.  Its bottom half was buried in a large pile of dirt, while its head had been smashed by a _Wall of Iron_, now nearly rusted away. Large rock piles were found that had melted and run in the blasts of dragon’s breath.  Shattered walls, huge gouges, and crumbled columns could be found everywhere.

In a vast depression, deep within the cavern, lay the skeleton of a much larger dragon, truly gigantic, with the skeleton of a smaller one nearby.  It appeared that Fireforge and several of her children had met their doom at the hands of Felzik and his band.  

With some searching, we located a passage leading to what appeared to be a Teleportation circle.  We suspected that this way led to the Academy.  But first, to our sorrow, we decided to investigate another side passage obstructed by rocks near the entance to the cavern.

As we turned the corner, only Grundo and Alix (why did it have to be them?) were quick enough to avoid looking upon the massive mirror propped in the hallway.  In an instant the entire rest of the party disappeared into a grey void, as the _Mirror of Life Trapping_ did its work.

Needless to say, Alix and Grundo did not have the patience to work out the command word needed to free us from the device, nor to come up with any other sensible plan.  Their response was predictable, direct, and foolish, and resulted in a near disaster.

They shattered the mirror into a million fragments, releasing *all* of its inhabitants....


----------



## Bandeeto

Map of Fireforge's Cavern. Note small side passage blocked by rocks near the south entrance, with Mirror propped against stone pillar.  Entrance to Academy is to the east, via Teleport circle.


----------



## Piratecat

Whoo hoo!  Fight fight fight!


----------



## KidCthulhu

yeah, I still think you did that one on purpose.  "hmmm," ponders Piratecat,  "How am I going to release this big baddie from the mirror?  I could come up with a cunning riddle and make Bandeeto figure it out.  Nah, I'll just leave the battle rager and the rogue outside, and let nature take its course."

Bad kitty.


----------



## target

Happy happy happy, lots of posting on the defenders threads again.

I've missed it.  Thanks for coming back!

I'm also stealing (yoink!) the mirror concept for my campaign immediately.

- target


----------



## Ancalagon

The excelent "my lady's mirror", an adventure in the Dungeon magazine, is based on misshaps with such a mirror.

This has been a very interesting read!  TMOSAT is just hilarious.  

A few questions:

What class is Glimer again?  (I feel silly)

How "far" are we now from this point and the begining of PC's story hour?

Ancalagon


----------



## KidCthulhu

Glimmer is a cleric of Allanna, the goddess of beauty, physical love and baby tees.

Let's see, this adventure happened while Sialia and Bandeeto were still on this coast, but before Claris.  Alix is still with us, as is Grundo...I'd say we're about 7-8 years from the current Defenders campaign.  This stuff happened within the first 2-3 years of the campaign.  Si, 'Deeto and Sito left at about the same time, 5-6 years into the campaign.


----------



## Ancalagon

blink


I thought cadrienne was the cleric of beauty and all that... now I'm REALY confused.

Ancalagon


----------



## KidCthulhu

Ancalagon said:
			
		

> *blink
> 
> 
> I thought cadrienne was the cleric of beauty and all that... now I'm REALY confused.
> 
> Ancalagon *




Nope, Cadrienne is a cleric of Morphat, god of knowledge and learning.  Hence the bookish demeanor and the tendency to think before acting.  Also hence, Nolin's part in the whole dress buying episode.  He's a bard, and can't resist the lure of stories.  When you have a bookish young thing who's in love with a lofty male who doesn't even know she's alive, you practically HAVE to buy her a beautiful dress, clean her up, make her stop reading the book and walk with it on her head, and send her to the ball to turn all the heads.

It's a narrative imperative.


----------



## hong

KidCthulhu said:
			
		

> *
> It's a narrative imperative. *




PH33r the narrative imperative!


Hong "truly, an excellent name for a rock band" Ooi


----------



## Bandeeto

OK folks.  

I know that it's been a long time between posts, and I left ya' kinda hanging.  The final official post of Arcade's Journal is coming tomorrow night, Pacific time.  After that, we'll just have to see.  

I may try to reconstruct some more of the Defender's old adventures in a different writing style.  Or, alternatively the whole thread could come to a crashing halt, and then be stored somehow for those curious about the Defenders of old.

Tune in tomorrow for a legendary battle (at least as far as the Defenders were concerned)!


----------



## Piratecat

KidC has suggested I clean the gaming room. That means... duh duh duh... unearthing the notes of yore!


----------



## KidCthulhu

Hey now.  I suggested WE clean the gaming room.  Just because you're the only one who knows what 75% of the stuff is, and most of the paper is _Secret Game Notes_ that I can't look at, doesn't mean I won't help.

And Bandeeto, where are you?!


----------



## Bandeeto

OK KidC, now I *really* wish that I was there.  

Nothing like cleaning out a gameroom to unearth ancient plothooks and other artifacts of yore.


----------



## Bandeeto

Arcade’s Journal – Final Entry, Academy of Flamecraft Part 2

…in a moment, all of the inhabitants of the _Mirror of Life Trapping_ were freed. Chaos immediately ensued. 

A middle-aged woman dressed in red robes appeared and assumed a casting stance, her aura visibly pulsing with power.  Next to her was a young man, also wearing a red robe, but plainly confused and disoriented. A heavily-muscled, bald man materialized, wearing a girdle that seemed to be made of dragon bones. A young lad in climbing gear appeared, apparently in the act of yelling a warning. With him was a young lady, lying comatose on the floor, and also dressed for climbing.  A man dressed as a monk also lay unconscious.  Last of all, a screaming man appeared, charred and still smoldering. He too slumped to the floor.

With them emerged two lizards, a 4-foot-long purplish-red lizard, and a 1 ½ foot long red lizard.  In the first moments, while the rest of us were gathering ourselves, Grundo quickly struck with all his force and slew the larger lizard.  Sadly, his blow could have been put to better use elsewhere.

Within seconds, as the 281-year-old _Reduce_ spell expired, the tiny red lizard, Pyreclaw, spawn of Tagachark, was restored to his former 80-foot-long glory!  At this moment, I suddenly regretted the emphasis on spells useful for climbing cliffs in my current repertoire.

Alix leapt into action, scooping up the helpless young woman and springing away across the cavern.  Grundo, realizing his error, raised his axe in both hands and charged.  Glimmer hastily cast _Fire Resistance_.  The bald man ran at the beast, using his magically-enhanced strength to slam it with both fists.

The woman in red (Dargastal the Archmage, of the Academy) tried _Finger of Death_ and several _Missiles_, but the spells extinguished themselves harmlessly as the dragon “resisted.” 

Grundo managed to hack off several large chunks of wyrmflesh, and attracted Pyreclaw’s baleful gaze. The dragon grabbed the doughty battlerager, and before our eyes, squeezed him to paste.  Tao seemed to go mad, and began trying to climb the thing’s flank to get at its neck.  I joined in with my remaining _Darkening Bolt_, crisping the creature’s hide, and Tom-Tom launched his Dagger of the Swarm.  The wyrm seemed to laugh, a low, coughing, chuckle.

A great rush of inhaled air signaled the next onslaught. I managed to grab Nolin, Tom-Tom, and the young man in red (Kestellan, an Academy acolyte). Using the staff, we _Dimension Doored_ behind the nearby stone dragon in the nick of time. 

Velendo, standing squarely in the dragon’s path, began rapidly repeating, “I don’t believe this is happening! Wait… that’s right! I DON’T believe this is happening! There is no dragon. No dragon at all. I don’t see a dragon.”  A glowing nimbus of faerie-light began to surround him.

Pyreclaw’s flame breath roared across the party, incinerating the charred man, the bald fighter, and the lad in climbing gear.  Glimmer quickly took advantage of a bad situation, pulled on the dead man’s bone girdle, and felt his muscles begin to bulge with unnatural strength.  The flames washed over Velendo where he stood, bemused and untouched, wondering what was going on.

The fire also claimed Cadrienne’s pack, which had contained her Holy Book.  The peace-loving, compromising, sweet-tempered cleric promptly drew her flail, screamed with rage, and charged the dragon.   

Dargastal finally managed to score hits with some of her _Missiles_. Grinning, the dragon leaned in close and bit her head off.  

I anticipated the dragon’s next move, and _Dimension Doored_ the rest of the party to the left flank moments before his massive tail destroyed the stone dragon we were using for cover. Knowing how much we needed his aid, I strove to talk Velendo out of his _Solipsism_. As the spell effect faded, blisters suddenly formed on his skin.  Luckily the damage was minimal, and he returned to the fray.

Tao was hacking desperately at Pyreclaw’s neck, doing hideous damage.  Augmented, Glimmer moved in to strike with his mace.  I transported Nolin to the dragon’s back, where he put the Frost Jambiya to good use.

The dragon was now badly wounded. He whipped his tail around and swept Tao and Glimmer off, slamming them hard against the cave wall.

Again came the deadly inhalation of breath.  Pyreclaw opened his mouth wide.  The raging fires within could plainly be seen as he began to breathe.

I cast _Pyrotechnics_.

With an earth-shattering roar, Pyreclaw’s mouth exploded. His lower jaw hung loosely, unhinged and useless.

The end came soon after….


…we buried Dargastal.  Cadrienne was despondent over the loss of her Book, and we gave her Dargastal’s necklace of red rubies as partial consolation.  Cadrienne then managed to awaken the sleeping monk, one Brother Caldecott of Celian, who had been comatose in the mirror for decades. It turns out that Caldecott had been sent on a mission to recover the Incabulin.  

Kestellan, Dargastal’s apprentice, speaks Common badly, but was able to tell us that he was chased into the mirror by the dragon,  who had moved it from the passageway it was guarding.  Kestellen has seen the Incabulin before. He reported that the last mage to touch it had his hands blown off. I think that making use of the tome may require both myself and Brother Caldecott. I have decided to trust Kestellen temporarily, although his manner irks me.  

The poor young maiden in climbing gear could not be awakened from her coma. She had a heart-shaped locket inscribed LH III+ET.  Plainly the couple had inscribed the initials outside the cavern years before, but who were they?  We will seek to uncover the mystery later.

We gave Grundo an amazing wake.  We poured the heroic dwarf’s remains into one of the empty ale kegs.  Now drunk, Alix and I got into a ripping row about fleeing from combat….


…healed and rested.  We entered the secret passage. Tom-Tom detected a fire trap, but the _Fire Resisted_ Glimmer absorbed it without harm.  We entered a circular room with a ring inscribed upon the floor. The place was filled with sconces and braziers. These we lit, and a flame sprang up in the center of the ring. Kestellen assured us that this was the gate to the Academy.  We put our trust in fate and our gods, and leapt in….



*This is the end of the official entries found in Arcade Deltarion’s Journal. 

If I can get enough source material from Piratecat and others in the group, I may start a new thread to pick up where this one leaves off.  

Many thanks go to Sialia for convincing me to work on these tales, and to KidC for her endless encouragement.  As always, much heartfelt appreciation goes to the peerless P’Cat, without whom none of this would have been possible.  I hope that you have enjoyed these tales of the Defenders’ beginnings.  Thanks to everybody for your support, and for reading.*


----------



## Fade

And thanks to Bandeeto for writing it!


----------



## madriel

I hope you can continue posting stories about the Defenders earlier exploits.  It's fascinating to see the world-shaking, army massacring, do it all and rescue stray kittens too heroes matched up against people they'd squash like a bug nowadays.

Thanks, Bandeeto.


----------



## Negative Zero

Fade said:
			
		

> *And thanks to Bandeeto for writing it! *




indeed! i second that. it's been a great ride. my thanks for taking us all on it  even if there is no more, i'm glad to have gotten this much. of course, being a selfish bastard, i want more too! 

~NegZ


----------



## Caliber

I just wanted to chime in with a thanks, Bandeeto.


----------



## Sialia

Sigh. It really is a pity that this is where it ends.

THIS is where it all started to get _interesting_.

Bandeeto always said that the reason he stopped keeping the log was that things suddenly got too darn complicated to keep track of. Y'all will have to ask Piratecat about why that was.

Since I don't know whether the next chapters ever get written or not, here are some spoilers/teasers about what came next.

The necklace Cadrienne got as a consolation prize from the combat had an,  uh . . .extra gift in it.

As we journeyed through the ruins of the Academy of Flamecraft, Cadrienne started hearing voices. Well, one voice actually. One _persistent_ voice. She didn't mention it to anyone at first.

She was convinced that it was the soul of the Academy Library speaking to her. (Everyone knows that magic books have intelligence sometimes, right? So why shouldn't a whole library full of them acquire a certain sentience? A lonely, abandoned library in need of students . . .) As a cleric of Morphat, god of knowledge and thought, and a prophetess accustomed to receiving visons, she welcomed the passenger in her head.

Only, as was often the case with Cadrienne's dear, sweet and generous impulses, she was dead wrong. 

The red ruby necklace contained the soul of Mirata Du Chemith, the headmistress of the Academy. It was a sort of a soul jar. After a while, after spying on Cadrienne's mind for a while and feeling out Cadrienne's companions, Mirata simply swapped places with Cadrienne. 

She was a pretty convincing actress. Despite a few odd quirks, such as asking Arcade if she could browse through his spellbooks, and having a good deal more spine in dealing with foes (I recall Nolin saying something about Cadrienne finally getting the hang of the adventuring life), nobody especially noticed the change. Actaully, most people seemed to think Cadrienne a good bit improved since the tragic loss of her Holy Book and knapsack full of mathematical and astrological stuff.

Someone else will have to fill you in on the plot of what happened in the Academy itself. I don't recall it well. I only recall that we located the Incabulin at last in a case with Mirata's own spellbooks and took it home.

And after we got home and were relaxing back at the Manticore, "Cadrienne" said something about the set of books needing to be viewed by moonlight. She picked up the lot and walked outside.

By the time Arcade twigged to the fact that there was something odd about this, there was nothing outside but the sigil of Mirata Du Chemith flaming in the snow.

If Cadrienne ever found out how upset Arcade was when he figured out what had happened, she'd have been gratified to know how worried he was about her.

The Defenders naturally headed straight back to the Academy to deal with Mirata and rescue Cadrienne's body.

However. At this point, the jig being up and all, Piratecat wanted his NPC back.

And there I was for a few weeks without a PC. 

No worries, I said, I'll roll up an annoying bit-part sidekick who can tag along and pester everybody for a few days. How about a little brother version of that annoying Tephis Birdhouse fellow. Ok, said Piratecat, if you're sure that's what you want.

And thus Dylrath was born. Being a throwaway character, I rolled him up straight and took what stats the dice gave me. Plain vanilla human rogue, no treasure, no equipment, no levels. Piratecat tacked a very short backstory on him about Alix's guildmaster wanting to be revenged on Alix and assigning him an incompetent apprentice. And away we went.

Right away, a few things happened. The first being that no matter how hard I tired to be annoying, everybody _liked_ Dylrath. It was bizarre. Cadrienne was supposed to be very charismatic and wise, and everybody, including me, found her tedious beyond bearing. Dylrath was supposed to be a complete git, and turned out to be more clever, resilient and charismatic than I am.

Then there was a messy battle and Mirata was destroyed (along with a bystander psionic item we never got a chance to meet) and Cadrienne's body was recovered, and Dylrath accidentally stumbled into Mirata's Mirror and bonded to it. And he picked up this broken chunk of her floating bed out of the rubble of her room, and started careening around on it.

And when I finally got Cadrienne back,  I _missed_ being Dylrath. More than I had missed Cadrienne while she was off being a Pawn of Evil.

Well, anyway, the next adventure involved a lot of Dopplegangers, and I have to let P'cat tell that story, 'cause it was gorgeous and I'll butcher it. The politics of Gaunt suddenly became very complicated. For the first time, the Defenders found themselves facing deadly foes, nearly stark naked and in chains. The Defenders, that is, not the foes. 

And by the end of _that_ cycle, Alix and Tomtom were a whole lot richer, and Arcade pulled one of the greatest magical MacGyvers ever, and Cadrienne broke her mind playing mental games with telepathic monsters, and Tao's dog became a great hero, and we discover Piratecat's first Most Horrible RatBastard Unique Monster (tm) ever, and Gaunt would never be the same. 

By mutal consent, we all decided we had had enough of Cadrienne the drama queen to last us quite a while. Piratecat had her hauled off and magically restored her sanity (she had become convinced that she _was_ Mirata Du Chemith) and I decided that if she was going to have to go through life perfectly sane, she wasn't going to adventure ever again. Nobody who is perfectly sane adventures.

Dylrath was definitely a few tumblers shy of a padlock (think Kiki from _Sluggy Freelance_ ) and a hell of a lot more fun to play.

A few episodes later we broke Chadrather's Curse and destroyed a village, and Cadrienne found her happily-ever-after. _These_ villagers needed her, and she wanted to be needed almost more than a dwarf wants gold. She settled there and set to rehab-ing the cultists, building a village, and trying to establish a utopian community and a University. The sentient Library, after all, would have been a good idea, if she had been right about it. Perhaps it would be a sort of atonement for her abetting Mirata's return, if she built one that really was what she had envisioned.

Anyway, that's enough of suchstuff for now. If we ever get our hands on enough documetnation to fill in any more bits, we'll let ya know.

Thanks for listening!


----------



## Negative Zero

wow, wow, wow and wow. *sigh* if only there were the time to go through it all  thank you much Sialia for the info!

~NegZ


----------



## Piratecat

If I remember correctly, it went something like this:

- Enter Academy of Flamecraft by placing lit torch against wall. Teleport to center bridge, somewhat broken, spanning a huge central pit. Derro (and flying cats) emerge from the pit. fight derro, using the _wand of conjuration_ to cleverly place prismatic walls.  Explore academy; the place has clearly been trashed by an angry red dragon. Find a library where a cleric was sealed in for decades by molten stone, able to create food and water but not to escape. Read fascinating equations; Glimmer is drained by the cleric's undead form when he gets greedy and doesn't show respect. 

- Explore more. In one fight, Cadrienne (ie Mirata) surreptitiously casts a magic missile to kill something; Arcade is unclear how come he cast magic missile and eight missiles appear!  Find a _staff of the elements_ and completely ignore it. Explore classrooms, etc, including an illusion-cloaked testing gauntlet for new students. Find Mirata's bedroom, complete with iron golem servitor. Follow an "endless" hallway through the plane of fire to find what will eventually become the mirror room. "Cadrienne" reattunes herself to the mirror.  Find a destroyed wall leading to the underdark, where the red dragon that destroyed the academy the first time went. Leave.

- Cadrienne leaves. Sialia gloats. Party panics.  Dylrath assigned to Alix as a punishment.

- Everyone heads back to the Academy, trying to catch Mirata/Cadrienne before she's finished preparing spells. Fight formorian giant; in Dylrath's first combat, with his first swing, he crits.  Find Mirata. Much business with prismatic sphere, iron golem, intelligent ruby known as the Cascara. Destroy Mirata, rescue Cadrienne, Dylrath attunes himself to the mirror before Alix has a chance to.

Ring any bells?


----------



## Sialia

It wasn't Arcade--it was Kestellan, one of Mirata's former students who had been trapped in the mirror, who cast the 'eight' Magic Missiles. I remember him gloating about it, and how cheesed off Arcade was about Kestellan having found a way to raise the limit on number of Missiles but not being willing to share the secret.

Ah, Kestellan.

How we loathed him. Even Mirata loathed him--especially as she discovered that her former pupil had been violating Academy rules even while she was still in full command of the Academy in all it's glory. How a Lawful Evil despises a Neutral Evil!

And how we suffered him to return to the Academy to restore it to its former glory I can't recall, except that he was somehow still alive at the end of the adventure, and we didn't have a solid excuse to kill or arrest the snivelling, posturing git, or invalidate his claim to the site.

And then all his mincing politics and playing the hero that made him popular with the Crown of Kindric while we were out saving the world and didn't have time to help the King out with all his domestic disputes . . .  that made us loathe him even more.

I know a ghoulish Academy of Flamecraft isn't something anyone would wish for, but it would give the Defenders all the excuse they needed to wipe him and his students out once and for all. 

I hope at the very least that keeping the White Kingdom out of his living room is giving him ulcers and hemroids.

Although I'll bet the poser has had them in for tea and made deals as rotten clear through as the company present. 

He would.


Also, now that my memory is jogged, I recall that Mirata swiped a bunch of Cadrienne's magic items and saddled her body with a bunch of cursed ones before dumping it.

If anyone is ever exploring the Academy ruins --may it soon be returned to ruins-- again and comes across a small golden girdle, Cadrienne sure would like it back. Not that anyone's made a go at her Virtue in quite some time, but it _was_ helpful with the Monthlies.


----------



## Kid Charlemagne

Sialia said:
			
		

> *
> Well, anyway, the next adventure involved a lot of Dopplegangers, and I have to let P'cat tell that story, 'cause it was gorgeous and I'll butcher it. The politics of Gaunt suddenly became very complicated. For the first time, the Defenders found themselves facing deadly foes, nearly stark naked and in chains. The Defenders, that is, not the foes.
> *




I would personally love to hear that story!  I love the old doppleganger-plot-politics thing.  Can never have enough shapechangers mucking about.

As for Dylrath, I have had the same experience with PC's I've played.  I have an old grumpy British major that I play in a Victorian England D&D game currently, who was supposed to be an annoying, patriarchal, over-bearing, gullible, pro-crown boor.  

Instead, he's turned out to be like one of those lovable goofs in an Agatha Christie mystery.  You know, the one who won't give his alibi even though he looks guilty, because he thinks he 's saving a lady's honor, only to find out the lady conned him long ago and is the actual killer...


----------



## KidCthulhu

Si, do you still have the latin palindromes you had researched for Mirata?  That's preparation, ladies and gents.  Not only had she decided that Mirata (due to her relationship with the mirror) cast her spells with palindromes as the verbal components, she actually went and found fire related palindromes in Latin.

I stand in the presence of genius, all humbled and stuff.


----------



## Sialia

_IN GIRUM IMUS NOCTES ET CONSUMIMUR IGNI__

Translation: By night we gather in spirals and are consumed by the flames_



I don't remember all the rest of the top of my head. There was a Japanese one that said something to the effect of "Lo! The bamboo shop has burned!"

It was frighteningly easy to find palidromes about fire. I'm not sure why.

Curiously, Dylrath has never developed any fixation with palidromes. He just accepts that things are backwards from Htarlyd's point of view, speaks backwards when he has to, and gets on with it. 

He's managed to avoid thinking about the fact that Htarlyd's room exists at the conjunction of the planes of magma, fire and smoke as well and never meddles with elementalist magic. 

He's been using Mirata's braziers for a hibachi, hung hats and wigs on the statues of the Masters of the Academy that control the elemental gates, used the plane of magma as a trashcan, and installed a parquet floor over the summoning circle.

Astonishing, really, when you consider the things he WILL meddle with.


----------



## Citizen Mane

[Edit — answered my own question.]

Best,
tKL


----------



## Kosh

Can we expect this thread to continue dispensing Defenders story hour goodness?

I hope so...  These old stories are fantastic...  Though I'm worried there will be no more after hearing about the end of Arcade's journal...

But for the most part, this post is a *bump*...


----------



## KidCthulhu

Actually, it doesn't surprise me at all that Rath has done these things.  Magic has always been a tool for him, not a performance art.  Mirata was VERY into the trappings, that whole "Lo, I am mighty!" thing.  Rath views magic as a means to achieve his ends, just one of a set of tools at his disposal.  Plus Rath's much of Rath's schtick involves flying in under the radar.  No surprise that he takes the mirror seriously, but not reverently.


----------



## Sialia

Well, Dylrath was the first person he'd ever met who bothered to write spells for purely entertainment purposes, but it wasn't "performance art" per se.  More like video games. Maybe I'll post some of his specials here at some point.

Anyway, in response to requests from Piratecat's Story Hour, here's the story about how Dylrath got his Special Talent. 

(PS: This thread will continue to be used to fill in long digressive bits of backstory like this, as long as folks keep asking for them and letting me know which stories they want to hear and aren't particular about what order things happened in. If we ever get enough notes together to begin a new chronologically accurate backstory, we'll start a new thread. This one is long enough as it is!)

Enjoy!

------------------
In the days of the Comet Cycle, the Defenders were being hunted by a whole lot of high level Unholy Assasins of Toraz (ptooie.) And the little jerks were spying on us ALL the time. It was really irritating.

Um. And Dylrath had this rock.

Dylly actually had a whole lot of rocks. He liked collecting little souvenirs from places we'd been. Since he also carried a sling, having a pocket full of nice round stones was always handy, in case you ran out of sling bullets. (Dylrath had a large collection of those,too, mostly magical and all unlabelled and randomly jumbled together with his bits of string and seashells and fish skulls and other oddments. But I digress.)

Dylly was sent to deliver a message. I've long since forgotten who he was delivering it to, or what it was about. Odds are, he barely remembered those things while he was tasked with doing them. Anyway, as he was walking across somebody or other's estate to find whoever he was supposed to talk to, he passed a small stone well with a chalked sign that said "Ye Olde Wishig Wel" It was scrawled in the kind of handwriting a child might use during a game of make beleive. It was _obviously_ bogus.

So Dylrath flipped a copper in and said "I wish I had a pencil-thin mustache."

Ok--before you get on my case--you should just briefly consider the horrific possibilities of what else I might have said. Really surprisingly little harm done, all things considered.

In any case, Dylly --about twelve years old at the time as I recall--immediately sprouted the most perfect pencil-thin mustache imaginable.

This bore some thinking about, and he returned to the Defenders in a rather excitable state, trying real hard to look cool and nonchalant and hoping they wouldn't notice.

Their reactions were about what you might imagine. "You wasted a Wish on _what_?" "You look damned silly!" "Shave that off this instant young man."
Sheesh. Some people.

Also, there was rather a lot of "WHAT wishing well? Take me there THIS INSTANT!!"


Anyway, it was useless taking folks back to the Well, and the leprechaun hunt was a total waste of time, because Dylly already knew that it wasn't the well. The moment he had made his Wish, one of the rocks in his pocket started thrumming. It pulsed a few times before the mustache sprouted.

And, here's the scary thing, Dylly had been carrying that particular rock for MONTHS. 

Piratecat had been waiting and waiting for Dylrath, just once, to slip and say "I wish" _anything_. Piratecat didn't know how incredibly paranoid I am about using that particular construction. Especially in gametime. Finally, in frustration, he conned me into slipping with that goofy sign. I really am that much of an idiot sometimes. 

Anyway, since I suspected the pencil-thin mustache wasn't going to be quite what he had hoped for, I took a wild guess that I might have a second chance and that there might be one more Wish in the rock. 

But dammed if Dylrath was going to tell the Defenders that he had a wishing rock. Half the team would have wanted it for themselves, and that half were all the kind of chaotics that would stoop to almost anything to get what they wanted, and they were all higher level and all of them were trickier or stronger than Dylrath. The other half were the sort of benevolent lawful despots that would have deemed it a Sin to use a Wish for Personal Gain instead of for the Greater Good. And they would be sure to know what the Greater Good was better than Dylly.

Dylrath kept his mouth shut and enjoyed the Leprechaun hunt.

That rock damn near burnt a hole in his pocket. He couldn't think about anything else for DAYS. He was afraid to open his mouth to talk.

Dylrath wanted to be a Mage. More than anything. But he was afraid to wish to be a mage, because he knew the reason he wasn't a mage was that he wasn't smart enough. He didn't want to get stuck being a _dumb_ mage. And he was afraid to wish to be smarter, because then he still wouldn't be a mage, and furthermore, then he'd be smart enough to know what he should have wished for and spend the rest of his life kicking himself. And so on. And so on.

It was awful. Worst of all was not being able to ask anyone for advice. Dylly _really_ wasn't used to doing his own thinking.  At some point during the leprechaun hunt he tried to get the others to talk about what they would wish for if they did find a source of wishes, and they all said pretty much exactly what he expected. Stuff for themselves, stuff for the Greater Good, nobody especially suggested anything that would be for the Greater Dylrath.

And then the assasins started popping up from nowhere. Some business with having irritated Toraz, the God of Murder (ptoo) and having a contract on our heads and the End of the World and all that. 

And finally Dylly thought to himself "If only we knew who they were. If only we knew when they were coming. If only we knew who was watching us at all times."

And then, he got smart all by himself. He said "I wish that I will always know, when someone is watching me, who they are well enough for me to scry for them with Htarlyd."

And it was so.

The rock thrummed and then crumbled away, revealing a large emerald at its core. It's magic was spent.

It was pretty overwhelming at first. Every time anyone so much as glanced at Dylly, he knew them. Walking down a crowded street was dizzying. Being surrounded by an ambuscade of 200 hundred elves almost made him pass out. He developed a terrible fear of public appearances for a while. 

He went to great trouble to learn how to make people not want to stare at him. He even gave up careening around on his beloved Outgrabe for a bit, since that always made people stop and stare. He put a couple of serious sessions in on improving his hide in shadows skills.

But eventually, he got used to it. 

For a rogue, knowing when you are being watched is a really handy skill. 

For a rogue with a magic scrying mirror, it is an open portal to almost anywhere. Dylrath became vastly skilled in the art of "made ya look." He began keeping  notebooks full of details about people he'd met and developed a sort of shorthand for describing the soul signatures.

Previously, if he'd wanted to scry for someone, he had to really know them to have any reasonable chance. Now, he could locate almost anyone almost anywhere after the briefest of encounters.

Except a few classes of folks. For example, folks protected against scrying. 

Like Vindusites, such as Claris. 

And . . .you guessed it . . . Torazites (ptah.) 

What God of Murder wouldn't protect his assasins from scrying? Dylrath didn't specify anything about wishing Torazites weren't immune to scrying.

Sigh. Ya can't blame a kid for trying.


----------



## Welverin

Sialia said:
			
		

> *
> In the days of the Comet Cycle, the Defenders were being hunted by a whole lot of high level Unholy Assasins of Toraz (ptooie.) And the little jerks were spying on us ALL the time. It was really irritating.*




Good story. I have one question though, would you mind explaining the Comet Cycle a bit? Thanks.


----------



## thatdarncat

Sialia said:
			
		

> * (PS: This thread will continue to be used to fill in long digressive bits of backstory like this, as long as folks keep asking for them and letting me know which stories they want to hear and aren't particular about what order things happened in. If we ever get enough notes together to begin a new chronologically accurate backstory, we'll start a new thread. This one is long enough as it is!)
> 
> 
> 
> *




You do realize that there will not be an end to our questions until you all sit down and figure out everything that can be remembered and write it all down?

Speaking of which.... you keep mentioning the being buried in sand bit.... so explain?


----------



## Negative Zero

Sialia said:
			
		

> *...nobody especially suggested anything that would be for the Greater Dylrath. ... *




now that line is just PRICELESS!!! awesome story. the more i read aout you guys the more jealous i am of your game! *sigh* 

~NegZ


----------



## Sialia

Ok, it's definitely getting way too late for this. I'm beat. I don't think my brain can hold any more, guys.

Damned if I know whether I'll pass that exam, but you did the best you could with what you had to work with. Let's call it a day.

I owe ya' one. What's your pleasure? You want something simple tonight, or something extravagant after I've passed the exam and had a chance to sleep it all off? Look, Htarlyd's snoring in his frame, maybe we oughta wait until after. You know I'm good for it.

A what? A story? You're kidding, right? Stories aren't payment, they're practically free. I gotta million of 'em. Most of the time I gotta buy somebody a couple of rounds before anyone wants to sit through one of my yarns.  Sure. How about the one about Claris and the Tree full of Ravens? No? The Auction in Sigil? No?

Oh.

That one.

Look, truth, I've never had any contract with the Bard's Hall. I get caught selling stories, I could be in a lot of trouble. Whaddya say we just wake Htarlyd up and go check in on the ladies dressing rooms at the Legerdemain and call it square, hey?

Right.

All right all right, deal's a deal.

"Buried up to the Neck in Sand." Sheesh. How does word of this stuff get around? Fine. But if I don't pass this test, everybody's gonna know who prepped me for it.

Right. We were walking. We walked a lot in those days, don't ask me why. We got ambushed a lot, too, in those days.  Part of the fun of walking. And there was this girl--I don't remember her name. Clit, or something like that. Honest, we hardly paid any attention to her. A bunch of thugs attacked us, we fought 'em off, Master Deltarion got nailed with some kind of rod that sucked some of the life outta him, and we dealt with the lot of 'em. 

I dunno who killed her--Nolin, maybe? I remember she went down headfirst in the stream . . .right, right--Nolin nailed her with one of his insatiable thirsts, only, when she hit the water she was too wounded to swim, and we let her drown and figured good riddance. 

And we squashed the rest of the crew, too, but I don't remember how they died.  Apart from the soul sucking rod, it was pretty routine. 

Skiltor--that's right--a mage named Skiltor Rhun we'd pissed off sent them after us. A buncha flunkies. She was one of them. The frog headed mook was more interesting really, and Nolin got this great wand offa him that had the coolest activation word ever, but nobody thought twice about her. She just picked the wrong day to be an assasin for hire, that's all.

Arcade really had his nose out of joint about that combat for the longest time. Said the damned rod took ten years off his life. Said there wasn't anything anybody could do about it, even Velendo. Yadda yadda whine whine.

Anyway, a while later, we chased a Super-Dopple-Mimic to Oursk--you sure you don't want to hear the story of the Great Showdown with Ambassador SuperDopp instead? Greatest death of any of Tao's dogs _ever_, really, really gory . . . right, another time then.  

Right right, I'm getting to the buried in sand part. All this background stuff is important, really. 

There was this list of stolen books and instructions we got out of the saddlebags of Ambassador SuperDopp, after we pulped him and he drizzled away into the ground.

And that list was _really_ important.

We didn't know what the Brotherhood of Night were up to, in those days. We knew they wanted to eradicate the sun, but we figured they were a bunch of psychos and we weren't taking them real seriously.

We had this list, "Top Ten Ways to Get Rid of the Sun: 1. Put a bag over your head. The sun will go away. 2. Stare at the sun without blinking for ten minutes. The Sun will go away."3. Place a sharp object into the center of each of your eyes. The Sun will go away . . ." and so on. So sue me. It seemed funny at the time.

Anyway, the stolen books were all kinds of prophecies and astrological crap. "My duck, his beak is as wide as a riverway!" and a whole lot of other nonsensical ravings. 

But the list also had an itinerary, and some notes about a rendezvous point, passwords, contacts, and stuff like that. And a really disturbing little list of some of our friends and relations.

So we decided to look into it. Keep the Ambassador's appointment's for him, as it were.

And then there was all that business with losing Htarlyd in the Wild Magic Zone--yeah, and the room, too and everything in it--which included all our backup supplies and stuff . . . 

Sigh. 

Busted holy bricks, it's late. Tell you what. How 'bout I finish this tomorrow? It got kind of complicated from here and I'll want to check my notes when I can see straight again . . . you know I'm good for it, right? Cut me a few hours slack so I can get some sleep in before the exam, and I'll throw in some audio visuals, free. 

Some of them visuals, they're worth seeing.


----------



## Sialia

_ Interlude. A few spells Dylrath worked up for his midterm exams.

*Dylrath's Blatant and Irresponsible Misuse of Magik
Creates a little illusiory lady (about three inches high) who dances on a floor or tabletop. If you can tag her without squashing her, she exposes anatomy, briefly and then starts dancing again. Lasts a few rounds. You can tag her lots of times, but if you squash her, the dweomer ends. No limit to number of players permitted. She moves faster as the spell nears duration.

* Gotcherfoot
Grabs target by one foot and hauls that foot to a height of six feet.  May be laid as a glyph or cast directly onto a target.

* Spelly Watermelon
Requires one piece of fruit as a component, prefereably a melon. When cast the spellcaster decides on a time delay up to 1 day per level of caster.  When time expires, the fruit explodes. Messily. 

* Glomp
Spellcaster makes a gesture like blowing a kiss. A small magical dweomer with the texture of a fleshy object flies to target and affixes itself over the target's mouth, or nose and mouth, preventing breath, speech, or the passage of objects through the orifice.

* Locate Eggplante
Replaces one random spell in target's memorized arsenal with a spell that tells them the location of the nearest eggplant

* Rain of Fish
Causes 100 pickled herring to fall out of the sky onto target.
Actually, 100 of anything, but the caster has to swallow the prototype item whole without chewing. Chewed items are too nasty. The conjured items last a couple of rounds and then vanish.

* Dylrath's Bucket 
Cast the spell on a bucket (or similar object--kettle, cauldron, chamber pot, etc.) and leave the item lying somewhere (such as in a room where folks aren't supposed to be snooping).
When someone steps into a five foot radius of the object, they become unaware of the item's existence until they have inexorably been compelled to place at least one foot (or other limb) into the bucket, whereupon the item sticks. It hangs on until a dispel magic or remove curse is cast, or the bucket fails a structural strength check. There is no reason the bucket has to be empty at the time of casting. Makes one hell of a mousetrap if you bait it with peanuts.
Also works fine falling from on top of a half-opened door onto someone's head._


----------



## thatdarncat

Mental note... no more checking this thread before bed time... I'll be up all night converting those spells to 3E. Do you mind?


----------



## Sialia

I would looove it, but you have to post it somewhere and stick a link to it here, ok?

I didn't post alll the doodads about the spells, 'cause I wrote 'em back in second ed, and haven't a clue about 3rd ed spell design reqs. Your 3rd ed translations would save me a lot of work. 

Hey, and time I don't spend doing my own spell resarch is time I can spend spinning yarns, right? So it's right in the spirit of things.

Also, if you get to use 'em in gametime, I wanna hear about it!

More story to come soon. 

Maybe more spells, too, if there's interest. I got a million of 'em!


----------



## KidCthulhu

I've always liked Rain of Fish.  Much better than Reign of Fish, which is icky.

Hmm, but the question is can one swallow a poodle whole?


----------



## Sialia

Hey! I've got an Arcade style verbal component for one of my spells. It just came to me in a flash:

"Spelling melon,
Melon dwelling.
Melon swelling ,
Rebelling, propelling, expelling, shelling. 
Melon smelling."

Whadya think?


----------



## Jobu

Sialia said:
			
		

> *Skiltor--that's right--a mage named Skiltor Rhun we'd pissed off sent them after us. A buncha flunkies. She was one of them. The frog headed mook was more interesting really, and Nolin got this great wand offa him that had the coolest activation word ever, but nobody thought twice about her. She just picked the wrong day to be an assasin for hire, that's all.
> *




Other memorable events in the ambush were: Tom Tom with the metal pot glued to his head, Nollin getting possesed by a weapon, Tao kissing Nollin to stop his casting while being possesed, and this battle is where Rule #2 comes from "No gloating before striking".  

 I  don't remember what type of weapon it was but Nollin was Bye-Bye.  He tried to attack the party with and Tao grabbed him and head-butted him, when that didn't work she planted a big kiss on him so he couldn't say his verbal components.

Back in 2e Psions couldn't use thier powers through metal so putting a pot on Tom Tom's head was the "flunkies" idea of taking him out of the combat.  Which is also the situation that caused us to stop gloating before attacking.  One of the "Bad guys" had Tom Tom flat on his back with single diget hit points and had something taunting to say before he attacked....and fumbled horribly.


----------



## KidCthulhu

It was a scythe, used by an evil ranger (back before these things were possible).  Nolin picked it up, intending to check it out, and started laughing in a slightly maniacal fashion.  That was the party's first hint that something wasn't right.  The second was when he high tailed it into the woods to prevent you taking his precious (so to speak).

Somewhere on the qoute list I have on Nolin's character sheet is the phrase "Never pick up the magic item and cackle."  I don't remember if a regretful Nol said this afterwards, or whether this was out of character rumination.


----------



## Sito Rotavele

OH yes.  That Scythe ruined a perfectly good _rope of entanglement_.  and even after we separated it from Nolin (_heat metal_  anyone?), it maintained its control over him. We had to keep him unconscious, and as much fun as Claris was having practicing her choke hold, we didn't want to cause Nolin permanent harm.  Finally solved it with several judicioous applications of badgerbite, as I recall.   I don't know why "Get Nolin Drunk" never became an official maneuver.


----------



## thatdarncat

Sialia said:
			
		

> *I would looove it, but you have to post it somewhere and stick a link to it here, ok?
> 
> *




Will do, probably this weekend.


----------



## Negative Zero

Sialia said:
			
		

> *... Maybe more spells, too, if there's interest. I got a million of 'em! *




oh there's interest all right! those were GREAT! i for certain would love to see more 

~NegZ


----------



## Fade

You have to post that quote list as well!


----------



## KidCthulhu

Sito Rotavele said:
			
		

> *  Finally solved it with several judicious applications of badgerbite, as I recall.   I don't know why "Get Nolin Drunk" never became an official maneuver. *




Ah yes, Maneuver 11 - "Get Nolin Drunk".  Ususally followed by Maneuver 11a-"Get angry maudlin drunk bard out of harm's way" or Maneuver 11b- "Get  horny drunk bard off the barmaid."

Just too much trouble.


----------



## Jobu

KidCthulhu said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Ah yes, Maneuver 11 - "Get Nolin Drunk".  Ususally followed by Maneuver 11a-"Get angry maudlin drunk bard out of harm's way" or Maneuver 11b- "Get  horny drunk bard off the barmaid."
> 
> Just too much trouble. *




or 11C -"Keep angry blacksmith father away from drunk bard who slept with his daughter"


----------



## Sialia

Fade said:
			
		

> *You have to post that quote list as well! *




Remind me--which one? Dylrath's lessons?

"If you're going to bother to get all the way up on something's back, backstab it you moron."

"Just, stay out of combat, ok?"

"If your going to try to learn how to fly, practice your faceplant first, ok?"

"Do not sell underwear belonging to other party members to Satyrs."

"Know your lower planes, boy."

"To Err is Dylrath, to Outgrabe, Divine."

"'I have fifteen minutes before my masters notice I'm missing are you busy' is not a pickup line."

That sort of thing?  Or was there something else?


----------



## Sialia

Dylrath's Breaches

When cast upon a living target, the target arches its back, becomes rigid, and is hurled one body length into the air, whereupon it falls over backwards. A whale cry is emitted during the leap, and illusory splash is generated when the target hits the ground, and the paralysis is released after contact is made with the ground.
The spell may do 1d6 damage if the target lands on a hard surface (or more if the target winds up falling further than 1 body length due to terrain considerations, see falling damage rules). If max damage is rolled, the target loses consciousness for 1 round due to concussion (unless the head is well armored, or the target does not have a head, per se). Regardless of damage done, the target is typically lying flat on its back on the floor at the end of the spell, and probably loses at least an action.


----------



## Sialia

Apologies for the lack of story tonight. Still waiting on some confirmation about some of the events. Just for the record, Buried Up to the Neck With the Tide Coming In  was actually played in 1996. Reconstructing it is taking a little bit of doing. No worries, I'll post the parts I do recall very shortly.

As a sop to the starved, here's some more Dylrath specials:

* Transparent Clothes
 Lasts 1 round per level. The clothes are still visible, but they are clear to everybody, not just the caster. It works even if they are taken off. While they are affected, the clothes are colorless. You get up to one layer of ordinary cloth fabric per level (controllable by caster). It doesn't work on armor or illusionary clothing, and thin glove type leather counts as two layers. Thick leather isn't affected at all. 
Useful to check for hidden traps, weapons and stuff, too.

*Magik Fingerz
This spell lets you find out what stuff feels like without actually touching it. You can't move or manipulate the stuff, but you can tell its temperature, texture, etc. just as if you had put your bare hand on it. The touched object does not feel any pressure, heat, motion, weight, or etc. from your hands. You can stand up to six feet away and must have clear line of sight to the object.
Useful for figuring out out what is in somebody's pockets or where the poison needle is in a trap or what Tao's bottom feels like without actually putting your fingers in jeopardy.


----------



## Sialia

*Tactile Illusion
Alows caster to create an illusion of the way something feels. The spell has a duration and the caster can vary the sensations continuously during the duration, but must maintain concentration. Dweomer can create heat, weight, pressure, cold, texture, motion, etc. simultaneously. There is no visual and no audible effect of the spell.  If you create something like the sensation of a bug flying up someone's nose, they get to save versus it. Also, can use it to make someone think they've just walked into a wall. Or that a scorpion just crawled down their shirt, or there is a bit of dust in their eye, or there is something very sharp pressed hard against their vulnerable bits. Or that their foot is tangled in something, or something is silently breathing down their neck.  Works great for screwing up blindfighters. Also reasonably useful for making a girl think you're still kissing her while you're already moving for the door. Target doesn't get a save if they really want to beleive in the thing.


----------



## Sialia

Hooo-ee! Here's a goody!  I can't beleive the stuff I'm finding in digging around in this old character sheet. Sometimes, I even amaze myself.

Dylrath's Bottle Snayke
level 1
Range touch
Duration: special
Components vsm
casting time 1
area of efefct: up to 8 cubic feet of enclosed space
saving throw: none
You can cast this spell on any small container. Then, when the container is opened, a giant feathered snake jumps out. The snake will appear to be three times the volume of the enclosed space. It is not alive and will disappear after 1 round.


----------



## Sialia

Dylrath's Voracious vermin:
This spell creates 1d4 magical pests which consume material spell components. They can consume one component per round. They have a life span of 1 round/level of the caster. They stay on the person the spell is targeted on. They do not reproduce.


----------



## Fade

Heh. These are great, the sort of spell sophomoric mages really *would* create, not 'Argleblah's Greater Uberdestruction VII'. I think I'm getting a clearer idea of Dylrath as well. Does he use some kind of memory-alteration spell to avoid getting kicked out of the college?

The quotes I was referring to were the ones from Nolin's sheet, but anything you want to post is fine by me! I really don't understand how the group manages to get any heroics done, I'd be laughing too hard.


----------



## Negative Zero

agreed. too damn cool! you rock Sialia! 

~NegZ


----------



## KidCthulhu

I think I did post some of the quote list at one point.  I'll have try to decipher it.  I didn't bother attributing many of the early quotes, so they're kind of a jumble.  Most of them don't make any sense, even to me.


----------



## Sialia

OK, so, I'm lame again, I know. I owed you guys the rest of that story days ago, and you were thinking I'd pulled a bunk and wasn't gonna out with the rest of it. 

And I don't blame ya for thinking it. 

This story isn't one of my proudest moments, as the whole world is probably already aware. But I swear, the whole Buried Up to the Neck thing wasn't really ALL my fault, and it's a damn shame the thing got pinned on me at all. Like I was the one wielding the shovels. Geez. All a kid does is try to give directions to one pretty lady and 'bam!' I'm the villain of the piece. Go fig.

But a promise is a promise, and I owe you for that cram session, so here I am. I'da been here days ago, but things got hectic after the exam. Different story, another day. We'll be here all night as it is, and I've still got to hand in those spell translations day after tomorrow.

Somebody tap me a mug so I can get my storytelling voice shined up. Ah, that's better. Right. Where were we?

There was Rhun's assassins, and then the Business With Doppelgangers, and the Ebon Mage Rot and the Great Land Deal, and Bearsfroth, and then we got knighted--or, anyway, my masters all did--and then there was the destruction of  the Temples when the Lady of Phorn arrived, after the meeting with Bathmat. . . . it was a busy couple of months. How far did I get the other night?

Ah, yes. We were following Ambassador SuperDopp's trail to Oursk.

Well, duh, no he wasn't really the ambassador. The real Ambassador, Anton Cardask, was already dead, but we didn't know that before we caught up with him. We only knew that the current Ambassador to Oursk  was probably a spy, in cahoots with the Brotherhood of Night. The Brotherhood of Night had really managed to piss us off by that point, and we vowed to stamp them out to the ends of the world. Not realizing, of course, what a long walk that was going to be geographically, or how short a span of time we it might be, temporally speaking.

The Ambassador turned out to be an old pal of ours, actually. Turned out to be the same Doppelganger that aced Master Arcade, Master Loial, and my pal Kelsey's family back at Krellar's Inn. 

Well, not entirely the same Dopp. 

He'd had some . . .adjustments made. Infusions of Mimic ichor and I don't know what else, same as the rest of the SuperDopp crew that the Brotherhood had tried to use to wreck Gaunt. I tell you, he took his whole hand, shaped it into a spear, stabbed it into Dame Tao's dog's chest and then flicked fifteen inches of knife blade sharp fingers out from it in every direction you can think of. LOTS of fingers. LOTS of dog in every direction you can think of.

We beat him to a puddle, and were sorry we weren't able to bottle the puddle and burn it for good measure. So long Superdopple-AntonCardask-stretchyookyvicious. 

And looky here, what did we find in his Diplomatic pouch but a page full of itineraries and passwords and meeting places, and that sort of thing -- I told you this already? 

So I did. 

So we were off to Oursk then, and I'll skip the bit about the Ruby Rod and the goblins and the lizard thing that wouldn't die, and all that sort of crap. It was a trip. Adventures were had. Htarlyd got lost in a wild magic zone, and we really did have to walk after that. We were short on supplies and short on tempers. There were corcandrills in the swamps.

Anyhow we arrived in Oursk in a fine mood.

Let me tell you about that first day in Oursk. You just have to imagine what yokels we were.  Rampart, the crown city of Gaunt and the biggest city we'd seen to date, would fit in Oursk's shoe. Oursk's a City with a capital C, and no denying it. Let's drink to 'er.

So, we decided to go undercover and use pseudonyms to get past the gates and have on our id papers and then were completely incapable of remembering to use the pseudonyms. And they were the worst, mark you, the WORST fake names you have ever seen anyone try to fob off. "Cade the Changebringer," "Tephys House," "Criteas," "Kara," "Eritayn Deepleaf," "Grundo Griffin,"" Aylin Flamehair," "Fewmet Coughball!" I could just weep thinking about it. I don't know why we bothered. Anybody who gave a damn who we were wouldn't have had much trouble parsing that lot.

And it wasn't real long before we got hauled off the street and dragged in to present ourselves before one of the Guildspeakers of the Triskadane. Fortunately, they were as concerned about Cardask's recent behavior as we were. So while things were a bit touchy diplomatically about Kindric sending undercover knights to infiltrate Oursk while his ambassador was up to no good, we managed to talk our way out of deep dunghills by spewing some of what we knew. Hold the metaphor. We wound up in the Deep Dung Heaps later. Different story. Pass me the chips.

The Guildspeaker told us to watch our step and let us go about our business. Oh yeah, and he pointed us to some . .. um . . other important folks in the city that had had some accounting errors and missing personnel and asked us to look into it and no I'm not going to talk about who and what because I like being enrolled here, thank you very much. And no, I didn't use any of that info during my admissions interview. What do you take me for? You are buying the next round young man, or my voice may dry up entirely before I get through this.

So, Master Deltarion got us rooms at the Golden Owl--you know-the posh "Mages Only" hotel up the Garden District? The Defenders had never seen anything so swanky in all their hillbilly days. We had to agree to pretend we were Arcade's entourage, I think, to get rooms for the rest of us. 

Not hard for me, I WAS his entourage. But it rankled with some of the others. 

Anyway, The Owl asked us to check our weapons and stuff, and we did--at least some of the weapons and stuff, and they put it into a locked safe in the lobby behind the manager's desk. Anyone? Anyone? Right, yeah we were anxious about it and gave 'em crap, and they convinced us it was safe and necessary and we did it. Look, I didn't say this was our finest hour story, right? I don't want to hear it.

And then we went over to the Pig's Eye to meet Ambassador SuperDopp's contact. You know, that sleezy place by the docks? Indifel, was the proprietor, then. Right. Charming fellow. Had a little doggie named Rex. Also charming.

One thing and another we decided we needed to go down to the basement to check things out, and bumped into Rex down there. 

Master Badgerclaw popped up on the psychic plane just to have a little looksee if there was anything interesting about, and immediately came screaming back "Brain on legs! Brain on legs!" pointing at Rex. And after that, well, it wasn't hard for all of us to see that Rex wasn't your usual hound. 

It didn't take us long to figure out that Rex was also really hard to damage, and really generous with the punishment he was dishing, so we beat a strategic retreat. 

Letssee, we met Roud around here somewhere. You know my pal Roud, the sailor? Can't recall that meeting--you'd think I would. All I know is the old geezer made a fool outta some of my pals who stupidly got into sparring with him. No harm done, and we took him out for beer and paella and he filled us in on the local scene, and I decided that anybody who could make my Masters look foolish that easily was somebody worth knowing. There aren't a lot of those out there we can still drink beer with after the combat. Anyway, he turned out to be a friend worth making.

Hmmm--you wouldn't believe how hard it is to put this all together.  I didn't keep real good notes in those days, and half the time I wasn't paying attention anyway. Where we were going and why wasn't my department. Clean alembics, refilled mugs, shiny armor, oiled tack, that sort of thing was my department. 

We followed some piece of the conspiracy to an undertakers in Oursk. And we ran into Silverpin Bloodmantle, Deathgranter of Toraz, there. There was an ugly combat. Oh wait--before that--we'd found a Torazite unholy symbol and Claris took it to her local Vindusite temple to report the Torazite activity, and the Rewarders there thanked her for the info and then beat her for bringing an unholy symbol  into the temple. 

Not as bad as the time we defiled the Temple of Alianna in Rampart and they almost had to burn it down to purify it, but same kinda deal. Or later when we dumped that undying lizard's ruby rod on the Temple of Morphat and the damned dracolich ate the whole temple to get it back, but still, the Rewarders aren't known for their sense of perspective. Moral: Don't bring unknown religious items into temples for identification, ok? Just don't do it. 

It was at about this point that we started to understand  that Toraz had something to do with the Brotherhood of Night, I think. Anyway, we bumped into these Torazites while we were tracking down the conspiracy, and maybe they was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I don't recall whether they were actually part of the conspiracy or not, but they were Evil with a capital E and we got into the fisticuffs. Only Bloodmantle had this unbelievable shield that nothing could get through, including spells. And Claris was incredible--Vindusites _hate_ Torazites--and ok, his shield was tough, but he was in full plate and _slow_. and Claris, she's pretty fast with those hands, and she travels light..

And then--oh,  . .oh dear, he did, didn't he? The only liquid in the room was a vat full of embalming leeches and. .  .and  . . .I don't know how to put this . . . Nolin cast Insatiable Thirst on one of Bloodmantle's pals. 

It was a naaaasty death.

And I think I used some illusion gizmo or other I had at the time to stick a cantaloupe on Bloodmantle's nose at a bad moment, and he lost a lot of visibility. And while he was distracted with that, Claris just ordered him to surrender, in a voice like the wrath of Vindus himself, and by golly, Bloodmantle did. And we tied him up, and that was pretty much that, apart from the gloating.

Ok, gloating might be a bit strong for it, but I think Claris really did  enjoy bringing Bloodmantle's body back to the Rewarders, stripped of any unholy symbols, of  course. Imagine "Hi, it's me, the Pilgrim you just beat up, here to drop off an Anti-paladin my friends and I just defeated." She never said it of course, but you could see that little shining, satisfied look in her eyes.

And Velendo had heard something about needing to find himself a shield, and well, there was a nice one lying there, apart from the taint of Evil all over it, which was pretty short work for him once he got it cleaned up. Calphasians don't have problems with working over unholy things in their workshops. Turned it to some Good use since then, he has. You wouldn't believe some of the things Calphas has room for in his temples. Good solid construction those.

Anyway, Bloodmantle's death didn't win us any friends amongst the followers of Toraz, but it wasn't really part of how we wound up in the sand. 

Apart from generally making us feel cocky and distracted.

We went back to The Golden Owl to plan, and to muddle through our Pile of Obscure Prophecies. And there was this festival happening outside. Can you believe we were actually in town for the Festival of  Psorga, and we spent the whole damn thing cooped up in a conference room, bickering? Yes, that is true. I'm not making any of this up--my memory may be faulty in places, but that part I remember clearly. The whole town having a party and dumping vast amounts of gold into the sea, and we were sitting around a table in an attic fooling around with a big pile of books and papers. Alix and Tomtom rolling dice, trying not to think about the amount of gold being tossed into the waves, or what would happen if they messed with a single coin of it.

And so Master Loial, who is in a mood, sent the innkeep out for a pie, and then sent me out after him to "practice lurking.". Yes, mark that part down--they _sent_ me out. So I went. Following orders is what apprentices do. Remember how I said I wasn't always paying real close attention at that time?

You will forgive my blurry recollection of what occurred next because I spent most of it unconscious. This blond lady came up to me and asked for directions, and I remember her breath was very sweet, and oddly cloudy, like she'd been smoking a pipe, only she didn't smell like pipeweed. And that was all she wrote for the Boy Hostage. Apologies, I missed the bit with the ransom note and the spurious negotiations and the combat and the destruction of the inn. It must have been special, because our foes had instructions to take us all down and not kill any of us, and they succeeded.  That must have taken some doing.

Next thing I knew there was sea air in my nostrils, sand in my mouth, and little waves patting my cheeks.

We woke up naked, and buried up to our necks in the sand of beach on a small offshore island. We were about ten or twenty feet from each other, all facing the sea in a long straight row. Except for Nyquil, who was planted about ten feet in front of Arcade.

And there was this weedy looking poncy guy there, and a big hulking menace with a scimitar. Mr. Muscles, Tomtom informs us, is immune to psionic attacks because he's already had his brain meddled with to the point that there isn't much in there. He's been conditioned to obey real simple orders like like "anybody who tries to get out of the sand, chop his melon off."

Mr. Weedy turns out to be a lordling named Peggus, the contact mentioned on Ambassador SuperDopp's notes. How delightful--we've made our rendezvous. He also turns out to be the twin brother of Clit, the lady mercenary Nolin drowned way back when. Truth to tell, while he cackled madly about avenging her death at last, we were scratching our heads trying to remember who she was. Well, metaphorically scratching our heads, because, of course, our hands were buried along with the rest of us.

That seemed to irk him, too.

So, this got tedious pretty quickly, because we weren't much interested in feeling sorry for her--it was an ambush, right? Pretty clear case of self defense, which is mostly what we were considering while we sat there watching the waves creep up the beach . . . . 

Yawn. Well, that's pretty much it, apart from the stuff about the Mind Flayer who was manipulating Peggus's grief and masterminding the whole plot, at least this subsection of the plot to Blot Out the Sun, but we didn't met him till later.

So. There you are. That is how we got Buried Up to The Neck in Sand, more or less.  Look at that hourglass. And me with scads of Spellcraft Translations yet to do . . .


----------



## Nail

Priceless, Sialia.


----------



## Grifter86

Wow. That was quite a tale. I could never imagine how you guys managed to escape that...

Uh... How did you escape?


----------



## Sito Rotavele

Quick backstory - the "buried up to our necks in sand"  plot all started with PC asking himself how he could introduce a minor villian in the piece (Peggus) and give crucial information to the Defenders, without them just opening up and killing him before he could clear his throat.  Not that he didn't play it for all it was worth - he ended one session with us waking up buried, and began the next one with "Romantic sounds of the Sea" or somesuch other CD playing in the gameroom sound system.  Just so we could hear the waves crashing on the shore.  As for how we escaped, well, that's Dylrath's - and therefore Siala's - story.  

Of course, PC was pretty sure we'd escape, which is why he put the trap within the trap for this one...  But that would be telling.


----------



## Sialia

Grifter86 said:
			
		

> *Wow. That was quite a tale. I could never imagine how you guys managed to escape that...
> 
> Uh... How did you escape? *




Well, now, that was an interesting story, too. Maybe even a more interesting one, since although we had a full seven minutes until the tide came up over our heads, it turns out Peggus had poisoned us for good measure and we were getting weaker by the minute as well.

But, see, there's all these spells that need translating, and I just don't know when I'll have the time to spend jawing with you guys again . . .


----------



## babomb

If memory serves me correctly, a certain Defender's ability to disbelieve had something to do with escaping from the sand...


----------



## madriel

Awesome!


----------



## Plane Sailing

If memory serves me rightly, wasn't it Cadrienne* who did a whole counselling job on the villain and persuaded him of the error of his ways?

* or some other peacenik character whose name I've temporarily forgotten


----------



## Plane Sailing

Sialia said:
			
		

> *He also turns out to be the twin brother of Clit, the lady mercenary Nolin drowned way back when.*




I beg your pardon, but was that REALLY the name of the lady mercenary? Maybe it just doesn't mean the same in US english as in British english??


----------



## Sialia

Plane Sailing said:
			
		

> *
> 
> I beg your pardon, but was that REALLY the name of the lady mercenary? Maybe it just doesn't mean the same in US english as in British english?? *




"'Clith,' Dylrath. The lady's name was 'Clith.' Really, young man, you might at least try to be respectful of her memory."

"Yes, Plane, I did help Peggus to find his way out of this mess, as I'm sure young master Birdhouse will tell you, shortly. If he can manage to keep the rest of his story straight."

-Cadrienne


----------



## Sialia

"Clith, schmith, whatever. One more dead mercenary 'swhat I say."

"Ow. Ow ow ow. Stop that. Alright alright, 'the Lady Clith.' Leggo my ear. Calphas's toe grout, d'ya gotta be such a grump?"

"Fine. But, I'm not telling one word more of how we got out of the sand until somebody pitches in and gives me a hand with the spell translations, see?"


----------



## Spider_Jerusalem

Right. Just finished reading the Early Years (all in one go mind you). Now onto the main thre.......

[Spider slumps onto the desk, fast asleep]


----------



## thatdarncat

Sialia said:
			
		

> *"Fine. But, I'm not telling one word more of how we got out of the sand until somebody pitches in and gives me a hand with the spell translations, see?" *




"aw come on 'rath, besides I think the professor's getting wise. I think last week's translations were a little too good. I'll see what I can do while you tell us the rest of the story?"

(hey, if pkitty can be late with a post, I can be too?  I'm working this weekend, new job, I'll see if I have time to do some then?)


----------



## Nail

Sialia said:
			
		

> *"......Fine. But, I'm not telling one word more of how we got out of the sand until somebody pitches in and gives me a hand with the spell translations, see?" *




Aack!  Spell translations?  They still make y'do that by _hand_?  I thought everyone did 'em by PCgen now-a-days.....

<bang!>  More story!........err, please.


----------



## Piratecat

That's it; after that glorious retelling, I'm subcontracting out all of my story telling to Sialia!  Oh my goodness, but that was _fine._


----------



## Sialia

thatdarncat said:
			
		

> *
> 
> "aw come on 'rath, besides I think the professor's getting wise. I think last week's translations were a little too good. I'll see what I can do while you tell us the rest of the story?"
> *




Are you kidding? It was totally too good. Didn't I tell you I scribed up the draft with you as lead author, popped over and presented it at one of Master Deltarion's symposiums way over in Gont, and then cited it in the write up I handed in?

Prof thinks you're brilliant, and I got credit for being up to date on the literature. So no sweat, 'k?

Actually, truth, I wouldn't hold even a story hostage. I was just kinda hoping to stall for time so's maybe one of the other Defenders who was actually present at the battle where everyone fell could tell you about it. 

Apparently, Tao was amazing, and even managed to damage some of the foe after she had been giftwrapped head to toe in iron bands. She levitated using some gizmo or other, flipped herself upright by wrapping her toes around the edge of a table, and then belched fire breath all over a bunch of them.

Full of surprises, that lady, eh?

Master Deltarion said he might be willing to step in and reminisce about the debacle, but he's been a little preoccupied. I'll see what I can do about getting him occupied with this stuff.

Anyway, I'm working on the write up of the rest of what happened on the beach, it just may take a bit. I've got some other goodies to throw your way while we're waiting. Stay tuned.


----------



## thatdarncat

Sialia said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Are you kidding? It was totally too good. Didn't I tell you I scribed up the draft with you as lead author, popped over and presented it at one of Master Deltarion's symposiums way over in Gont, and then cited it in the write up I handed in?
> 
> Prof thinks you're brilliant, and I got credit for being up to date on the literature. So no sweat, 'k?*





Wow, really? Hmmm ok, I'll get to work on the rest of the translations right away. 



> *Actually, truth, I wouldn't hold even a story hostage. I was just kinda hoping to stall for time so's maybe one of the other Defenders who was actually present at the battle where everyone fell could tell you about it. *




It's no problem, I've been a lil crazy with new job, looking for work, gaming (twice a week, yay!) and girlfriend. I think things will maybe be a little more sane this week so we'll see what we can do.


----------



## Knightfall

Blink.  Blink.

Finally... got... to the... end.

Now what do I read?  Oh well, I'm sure P'Cat will update the other one eventually.

Great storytelling, keep it coming...

RPB


----------



## Sialia

Ok, I know I'm way overdue for a post. I've just had a hideous week of disconnectivity.

Ok, so it wasn't really all that hideous. The basking on beaches and snorkeling part wasn't so bad. And the tropical birds were pretty cool. 

And the tour through the botanical gardens at Waimea Falls, well, I wish you were all there.

We had this tram driver that barely looked old enough to have a drivers license. And the tram was pretty full and one of the passengers, who looked like he might be 16 at a generous estimate, scrambled up into the seat next to the driver and said, "Can I sit up here?"

And the tram driver said, "If ya wanna give the talk."

"Sure," says the kid. "I'm Mike. I just got in from Colorado last night, so I know everything."

The tram driver leans over into the microphone and announces to the entire tram, "Hi, I'm your driver, Bill. And this is Mike, who's been with the park since 1975 and he's gonna give the horticultural talk today."

And starts to drive. As might be expected, Mike's grasp of horticulture is a bit on the thin side, but Bill has been through the performance enough times that he's enjoying having a straight man.

A typical exchange went like this:

Bill: "And coming up we have the Hibiscus collection."

Mike: "What's a Hibiscus?"

Bill: "You know, red flower, trumpet shaped, has stamens and pistils shooting out of the center? State flower of Hawaii?"

(Bill's dad's shirt, which is about 2 feet in front of Bill and facing him, is completely covered in pictures of hibiscus flowers, but he remains oblivious to my pointing helpfully at them.)

Mike: "Hibiscus. Cool."

Bill: "Actually, I believe _'rad'_ is the appropriate term to use when describing the hibiscus."

Mike: [agreeably] "Rad."

And so on. 

It was like watching older Dylrath and younger Dylrath having a conversation with himself. Bandeeto and I nearly split a gut.

More updates to come. Thanks for waiting.


----------



## Welverin

Sialia said:
			
		

> *<snip funny story because it's too lon>*




I wish I had been there for that and I don't like the sun or that water stuff.


----------



## Sialia

'K one other funny Hawaii story, and then I promise, back to business.

Bandeeto bought a ukelele.

A green one, with white hibiscus flowers painted all over it. We've been referring to it as the "teeny tacky tinny tourist ukelele," and I'm gonna make him set that phrase to music once he figures out how to keep the thing in tune. It's pegs are a little on the loose side, and it tends to slide out of true after about four strums.

So I'm telling Kidcthulhu about our adventures investigating the Aeos worshippers of the islands and I tell her about the uke'. I say, "The good news is, he hasn't really gone and blown a proficiency slot on the thing. The bad news is, he hasn't really blown a proficiency slot on the thing."

And she says to me, "There is no proficiency in ukelele."

I was going to write up a Dylrath and Arcade short story about Arcade's attempts to breed a hideous misbegotten miniature guitar (anyone recall that Dylrath has perfect pitch?) but it's just too grim to think of the two of them goofing off drinking mai tais while the rest of the Defenders tiptoe through the undead underdark. 

Hey, I oughta set that to music, too.


----------



## Knightfall

Dylrath is definitely my favorite character in these stories.  I'm going to have to add him to my own campaign, as a student at Mathghamhna (that's the Arcane Order to all those not familiar with the 2E accessory, College of Wizardry).

Any chance that we'll see his character sheet on the Defenders website?

RPB

*Thread Hijack!!!*

BTW, I'd really like it if P'Cat, Bandeeto, Sialia and the rest of you guys take a peek at my Divinity War StoryHour and tell me what you think.  Here's a quick link...

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?threadid=18997

End of hijack...


----------



## Sialia

Whoa. Flattery. I love it.

Many thanks. I look forward to checking out your storyhour!

I'm not sure if Dyrlath's stats are up anywhere or not. I know that P'Cat has the latest version, except that his spell list is completely wrong. P'cat had to guess about that part, cause the change to being a real arcane spellcaster all happened just as I was moving away away. I've only gotten to guest play Dylrath with the new 3rd ed stats and 4th level spellcasting abilities once. (He always gadgeted his spellcasting previously.) 

If I were picking out 'Rath's spells myself, I'd pick lots of divination, and plenty of illusion, and a handful of multipurpose spells like Unseen Servant that you can use for almost anything. Probably continue to use gadgets for most of the major kaboom. One or two good blowing crud up spells, just in case, but it's not the focus. 

Dylrath always counted on hanging out with folks who were better at blowing things up than he was, and had a lot of healing magic on hand. Dylrath was the kind of person who always counted the other party members as being in his inventory.

He's a support character, who makes it easier for the heavy hitters on his side to get their jobs done, and much harder for the heavy hitters on the opposing side to pay attention to what they thought they were doing. Or at least, that's the intent. I won't say there hasn't been the occasional screw up.

Dylrath's original stats were S 14 I 13 W 9 D 18 Co 14 Ch 9.  Some of that changed during the transition to 3rd ed, and there were some items used also, I think, to boost the int to something that could plausibly handle spells. A periapt of intellect?

I know the thieving stats are all done differently now, but it's worth knowing what they were in 2nd ed, at his _level of mastery_:
PP 55 
OL 60 
FRT 65 
MS 55 
HiS 55 
DN55 
CW 70 
RL 55

Ok, anybody? Yes, thank you, you with the spectacles. Quite right, I'm glad someone is paying attention:  

At his level of mastery, Dylrath had a _barely better than even chance of succeeding at anything._

God, I loved playing that boy.


----------



## Knightfall

Ok, something strange is going on.  Why are there two different Early Year threads that are nearly the same?

If you link to the Defenders of Daybreak, The Early Years from the main Story Hour forum you get a thread that is 7 pages long.  But if you link to 'Defenders Get Buried Up to the Neck in Sand' link in Sialia's sig you get almost the exact same thread with 13 pages.

And when I tried to post to the 13 page thread it wouldn't let me.  It told me that I didn't have the rights.  Then I relogged in from that thread and it said no valid thread was found.  Then I went to the 7 page thread and tried to preview the post... success.

KF

EDIT: Ok, the post worked but when I tried to edit it the first time it failed again.  I had to relog in a second time.  There's an electronic doppleganger thread on the board.

[13 Page Thread]
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?threadid=4167&perpage=20&pagenumber=13

[7 Page Thread]
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?threadid=4167&perpage=40&pagenumber=7

Hope it works this time.  It didn't... had to do it again.


----------



## Ryan Koppenhaver

Simple.  One of the links has "perpage=40" and the other has "perpage=20".  More posts per page means fewer pages.

Note that the thread ID is 4167 in both cases.


----------



## Knightfall

Ahhhh......

Thanks Ryan.


----------



## madriel

As I recall, Piratecat and Kidchulthu were planning on cleaning out their game room and looking for old notes.  Did you guys find anything?

*crosses fingers*


----------



## Piratecat

I've found my files from 1994. There are some tantalizing fragments...

For instance, this prophecy:


Drawn from Sild'k's "Cry of Sight, Soul of Light", scroll 32, Currad 49-50, 63.
With permission of the Imperator Naz'Teth and the Seal of the bladebond.
- Ø


"In the body beneath the ring, in the time of the roach, the interceeder shall beckon the eye of light for our sacred hand.  From the shallows, the dawn children of the dirt will claim my eye of light in the name of our enemy, the bastard son of zerthimon, cursed is his name and the whelps he has spawned! " 

[section omitted]  

"When the beast is gone and the collectors arrive, beware of them: the umbra, the martyr, the wall, the owl, the child, the knight, the beast, the song, and the bird of fire.  The tree and the dog ride with them as they wish.  Bugs and flesh avail them not, but the child of fear must rise, for the heaven's spear of hatred should not hold my love, my Eye, our Tool, that which frees me from my form and your cursed companionship, or the skinny holdings of the dawn children's eastern dirt shall be disturbed in years to come.  For I say that my eye can stay their night, and the hidden thief may creep in darkness where he would forebear the light, thus losing the fruits of the dawnland.  And thus we prepare for the child of fear, and mourn the beetle's fall, and curse our enemies."

Or this threatening note from the jailed, insane wizard Skylltor Rhune, written in a strong hand:


From the cell of Baronet Skylltor Rhune
Palace dungeons, north side
Kindric

Dearest impudent swine,
You can be sure that time and the Stygian void has neither healed my wounds nor brought about blissful forgiveness.  My heart still burns when I think of your unforgiveable treachery and your callous disregard for true love.  Some day I shall escape, and when I do you will rue the day that you crossed my path just to meet my beloved Tivity!  I have it from reliable sources that you have not yet married her.  For this, I may allow you to survive as some form of easily consumeable plant life.  

Yours honorably and in fair warning,

Skylltor Rhune, Archwizard

Incidentally, Dylrath has had that rattling bottle since at least March 5th, 1995. If you ever want to open it up, I'll tell you what's in it!


----------



## Sialia

Well, no, and yes.
That is, I haven't got much from them personally, but I did locate three excellent things.

The first is a folder of printouts of the emails we exchanged while we were buried up to the necks in sand. It was the first time the PCs had ever agressively gotten together to conspire behind Piratecat's back. We spent the whole week after the cliffhanger trying to come up with a plan before we started up next episode and actually drowned.  I'll give you a sample of some of that. We were _really_ worried about how we were going to get out of this one.

The second is a collection of emails that Valdek/Glimmer's player saved for us and was kind enough to compile and mail to me. It was Piratecat's weekly game announcement of coming attractions. Eventually I hope to clean that up and present it, probably as its own thread.

The third is a set of emails Sagiro (Velendo) started at about the buried up to the neck point. He posited that we had played about 100 episodes at that point, and was trying to create a list of them. We were able to dredge up about 50 or 60 of them, but sadly, mostly unable to get them into chronological order. A lot of the episode titles from that list were obscure in jokes that seemed sufficient at the time, but are sadly lacking this many years later. I'll try to clean that up for you, too. If we could get the timeline together, it would be easier to recreate the story.

For those out there who are currently in an ongoing campaign that you enjoy enough that you think you might want to recall it some day, I highly recommend setting up some sort of game log. We had no idea what we were losing at the time, that it would ever matter to anyone but us.  

Even a list of episode titles is something worth having. 

For my college campaigns, as wonderful as they were, all is lost but a few slapstick moments, a few embarrassing deaths, one liners that I can't put back into context, and one beautiful photograph of us in character that almost brings back the feeling, if not the actual memories.


----------



## madriel

Ask and ye shall receive.


----------



## Sialia

Gollee am I easily distracted. 

I really was planning on having the next chunk of story for you by tomorrow night. But Madriel got me to thinking about the timeline, and I started working on the episode list and synopses and  . . .and now it's 11:00 pm and I haven't even started the storytelling part. 

Tell me--when I get this episode list together, should I post it here in the middle of this thread, or shall I start a brand spanking new one for it? 

Maybe I will post it somewhere and then just put a link to it here . . .


----------



## madriel

Sialia, are you trying to get me lynched?


----------



## Jeremy

Waitaminnit...  You mean if Madriel hadn't have posted we would have had an update???

Ok, that's it.


----------



## Piratecat

Sialia said:
			
		

> *Tell me--when I get this episode list together, should I post it here in the middle of this thread, or shall I start a brand spanking new one for it?
> 
> Maybe I will post it somewhere and then just put a link to it here . . . *




Please keep everything in this thread! I'd like to keep all of our campaign stuff either in this thread or the main one.  And I'm dying to see that list.  Hey, email it to me today if you have a chance, and I'll email it back with additions and corrections tomorrow. (or, alternatively, I'll weigh in after you post it. Either way.)  Thanks!

When I have a minute, I'm going to do some housecleaning in here and get rid of bumps. Don't be surprised if the post count goes down.


----------



## Dawn

Help!
Have I missed the escape scene from being buried or has it not yet been posted?  I've been trying to follow all the different links and while it has been quite entertaining, I believe I have gotten lost in the past somewhere.

<For those out there who are currently in an ongoing campaign that you enjoy enough that you think you might want to recall it some day, I highly recommend setting up some sort of game log. We had no idea what we were losing at the time, that it would ever matter to anyone but us. >
Good advice.  I have followed a lead posted by someone on these pages of giving additional experience points to a member of my group who can keep good notes on our campaign.  While it may not be of interest to anyone outside of my group, there are a great many adventures I’d love have from back in my high school and college days.  All I have are old character sheets.


----------



## Piratecat

Never fear - I think that's what Sialia is writing up next.


----------



## Sialia

I have not yet written the escape. It is difficult to write, and perhaps you will see why, and why it has to be me who tells it, even though Dylrath was worse than useless, but it's well worth the telling.

But the episode list has me in its grip for the moment, so that will be what I work on next. 

And yes, Piratecat, please do tighten all this up once I get back to giving out real information. All this "really I am going to write soemthing soon" stuff can go.

apart from the stuff about thatdarncat owing me some spell translations . . .


----------



## Bandeeto

Ok folks. After a prolonged hiatus, I'm finally going to take up the thread of the old tales again.  I'll start where I finished, with the Academy of Flamecraft.  I recommend you blip back and catch up on the storyline if you've forgotten it, otherwise it's going to be a bit confusing.

I'm going to be experimenting with a new style.  The speaker is still Arcade Deltarion, but rather than excerpting his journal, he will be contemplating the events of the past. He is not speaking to anyone in particular, but rather revisiting things within his own mind.

Comments are welcomed. New posts to occur every few days.


----------



## Knightfall

Woo-hoo, Bandeeto is back...

So the clean up of the game room went well, I take it?


----------



## Bandeeto

Academy of Flamecraft - Part 1.  Arcade.



I remember the flames.

The braziers flare like suns.  The fire sweeps across the dais.  

I did not expect the raw blast of heat, and at the last instant I doubt our wisdom in choosing this gate.  Then I fear my own doubt, for in truth some gates are barred to those who are not without fear.  A spiral then.  The flames, too, swirl, and we are gone.

I expected a trap.  The situation demanded one.  The Academy of Flamecraft, lost for many centuries... even so it would never be undefended.

Expectations met.  The derro must also have been surprised.  

It was well that the Prismatic Walls guarded our flanks as we stood on the arrival platform, sheer drops on all sides and surrounded.  Again the wand performs well.  

We move with great speed; the shaman's lightning still faster.  Another painful battle, completed with cost.

The scorched map from the shaman's belt proves nearly unreadable.  We circle up the immense shaft on the wide stone ramps; scramble over the occasional gaps.  

The silence, the heat, they are oppressive.  

Finally the many-doored hallway.  Alix (bumbling cretin) fawning over the cute, antennaed monster with a propeller on its tail.  His belt buckle and nearly his weapons made sacrifice to its hunger.  The thing prefers rich ore to coarse iron.  Nolin tricks it into one of the few rooms with an intact stone door. 

So little remains here that is whole.  Empty corridors.

Cadrienne.  It was not the lost library calling silently to her.  Her holy book, ashes in dragonfire.  She read my books for comfort, studying intently over my shoulder.  Too intently?  Should I have guessed the truth?

The deadly tapestry with teeth, and nearby the carapace and mandibles of a creature that once burrowed through solid rock.  I shall remember its form for myself.

The lost chamber, it's walls, floor, ceiling covered in tiny precise runes.   In the corner, the bones of the imprisoned genius.  At the end scribing the runes with his blood and finger bones, too weak to effect his escape.  With sufficient power and sanity, the walls might have become the impossible, a free-standing gate.

Another ambush.  The derro, ready this time, still no match.  Nine magic missiles?  Kestellan?  How did the pompous, conniving fool manage it?  Still, I fail to guess.  Cadrienne's smile... it was warm on my back.

The iron bottle stripped from Dargastal's ravaged corpse was occupied, but not by an innocent.  Freed, the efreet thanks us and departs with promises of later service. 

Kadraskus, genie edged in fire.  Alix's eyes shine with greed.  Who knows what deals he makes behind our backs?

Statues stare with flaming eyes, mesmerizing.  Long-dead Masters of the Art, burning still.  

A small scrap of burnt paper, forgotten.  We are directed through the test of elements, to the chamber, the Room of Ceremony.  With a "found" key, Cadrienne unlocks the door.  Within, the Mirror stares back at us.  Portals to Fire, Magma, Smoke, lurk beneath their tapestries, awaiting only the braziers' lash to disgorge hellish servants.  

History plays across the Mirror, too fast to follow, as if obeying silent commands.  An exit appears.  The Mirror is also a portal.  Home, crouching in the snowdrifts.  

We depart.  We relax, we eat, we drink.  We are idiots.  I am an idiot.  

Too late, I finally comprehend and charge outside to effect rescue.  The smoke spirals slowly up from the rune melted in the snow.  Cadrienne is gone.  She has been absent for some time, I think.  The necklace gem, it seems, was also occupied.  Mirata du Chemith has played us well.  

Tao swears.  Nolin despairs. Velendo berates God.  We panic.

The note arrives.  It is polite.  The Headmistress of the Academy is nothing if not polite.  Even her threats are polite.  

She will return to power draped in our friend's flesh.  We have been warned.  It is time to be heroes.


----------



## Altin

Wow ... that was _nice_. Very Joycean in places (in a good way, I hasten to add). "Tao swears. Nolin despairs. Velendo berates God. We panic." was just a beautifull moment.  The tense-swapping was a little disoritenting at first but you get used to it quickly enough. I'm looking forward to see how you're going to tackle PCs Byzantine plots though Arcade's interior monologue.

Yours,
Altin


----------



## Piratecat

Dearest Defenders,

We apologize for the excitement and consternation that our abrupt exit must have caused.  However, we thought it best that you not learn the entire truth in a place where it could have been dangerous to you.

Cadrienne is here with us, after graciously allowing us to share our body for a short time.  We must urge you not to try and find us.  Despite your anxiety, Cadrienne is currently as safe as a mathamatician in her library, and we would not want any accidental miscommunications to alter this happy state of existence.  As it is, we are sure that you can expect to see her within a few months.  

Please be aware that should you choose to come visit our humble abode, it is (as you know) somewhat in a state of disrepair, and certain areas have been closed off.  As we move to repair things and set wrongs to right, certain areas could be unsafe.  Cadrienne would be sorrowful if she learned that her friends had died or been crippled unnecessarily on her behalf.

We expect to be traveling for a certain period while we tie up a few loose ends and learn more about this wonderful kingdom which we find ourselves in.  We are sure that with our combined knowledge of geography and current events, our trip will be an insightful one.  If you talk to anyone in your local power structure, please be kind enough to mention that we might pop by for a visit, just to catch up on old times and eliminate any vicious rumors that might be circulating.

Reassure our family for us, won't you?  We wouldn't want them to worry, for unless someone makes very poor use of judgement, everything will be just fine.

- (her sigil)


----------



## Jeremy

Tee hee hee.

Calphas has a great sense of humor.  He never strikes Velendo down for all the criticism, he gives him more responsibility.  Heluva harsh punishment to one with Velendo's personality.  Those two are gonna be arm wresslin' buddies by the time Velendo gets to see him.


----------



## Bandeeto

Academy of Flamecraft, Part 2.  Arcade.


Then, as now, the true enemy was Time.

Mirata du Chemith, archmage, legend.  She had been dormant, imprisoned for centuries, hungry and waiting.  Paltry spells stolen from behind my back, over my shoulder, appetizers, at best.  

Her own tomes, the roaring furnaces of power, lay hidden in her chambers.  Fully restored she would be quite unstoppable.  In our favor:  ancient rules remained – a time for rest… a time for study.

We planned, swiftly.

A blurry series of green flashes:  the Staff and I taking Mirata’s warning and a request for aid to the highest mage in the land.  Nolin and Velendo seek Proofer Thibault, Morphat’s High Priest.  The rest wait, arm, brood.  

In the red dark, Alix plays his games.  Bargains, debts and efreeti.

We had seen, or rather we had not seen, her chamber.  

Quick glances down a narrow shaft at the bottom of the ramps, gagging on the dragon stench.  The colors surging.  It is unpleasant to be blind.  The dragon is long gone, the Prismatic Sphere remains.

The Rod of Cancellation taken from the derro is dust.  Spent to bring down the Wall of Permanent Force guarding the Mirror.

We reassemble.  It appears that we are on our own.  

One of Alix’s games goes awry.  His Guildmaster is… displeased.  We acquire a beardless boy, a still younger Birdhouse.  Apprentice to Alix?  I shall keep both eyes on this one.  He jokes, he smiles, he has not a clue.  Dylrath.  Pray Gods he be of more use than his brother!      

Tomtom links our minds.  I return us to the ramps.  Below lurks the Sphere….

****

 “Carceri’s Flames!  How are we gonna get down there?!”

Alix, prepare the haul crossbow.  Blindfolds, please, everyone.  You know how much clearance you have, and it’s not much.  I hope there’s a way to Dispel this thing.

“You’re a looney, Arcade!  We’re gonna fry like grease on a spit!  The Sphere is right below the shaft!”

Alix, shut up.  

“OK, folks.  Here’s a song to swing, fly and crawl by.  Make it good!"

Thank you, Nolin.  Get a good grip, please.  

“Calphas, I’m really going to get you for this.”

Once Alix is down we’ll follow.  Keep the ropes clear.  Do NOT look at the sphere.

“Whoa! This is so cool!”

Dylrath, shut up.

*****

I remember the noise.  

The Sphere circumvented without casualty.  Below waited the guardian.  

There are no shadows.  There is nothing to hide the iron giant.  At its heart pulses the Ruby of Cascarra.  The gem’s voice echoes in our minds.  It wishes only to live.

It lurches towards us.  We are fighting blind.  The hammer and the anvil.  Do NOT look at the sphere!  

*****

Tao, beware!

“I’m OK.  It’s just a minor wound.  If I can just get this one leg!”

“Rat turds!  Didn’t someone bring their iron golem repellant?!”

Alix, back away.  I’m going to try something.  Tomtom, get the Blast Scepter ready.

“Almost… got… this… leg…!” 

Grease.  Tao, Tomtom, now.

[NOOOOO!  Not this!  Please, spare me!  Pleeeeea….]

*****

The golem has fallen to its knees, its upper half intersecting the sphere.  The ruby is gone.

I think she knows we are here.


----------



## arwink

And exactly how long did it take for "Dylrath, shut up" to become a catch phrase?  In a good way, of course 

I shall now sit quietly and wait for more.
Thanks for the story


----------



## madriel

Much appreciated, Bandeeto.


----------



## Sialia

Actually, I beleive the common form used was an exasperated sounding "Dilly!" with the imperative for silence or the ", you fool" implied rather than spoken.

Now, there may be some of you who wonder why Alix didn't just kill Dilly, or let him get himself killed right off the bat.

I will tell you.

In addition to saddling him with an unwanted, inept apprentice who could not be left behind, the Guildmaster indicated that there would be a _very_ steep weregilt if Dylrath were killed. Steep even for Alix's legendarily deep pockets.  Steep enough that the death of Dylrath would be more of a bother to Alix than taking the trouble to keep him alive. 

I  couldn't tell ya why somebody _else_ in the party didn't kill Dilly, though.


----------



## madriel

Sialia said:
			
		

> *I  couldn't tell ya why somebody else in the party didn't kill Dilly, though. *




'Cause it was worth the annoyance just to see Alix suffer.


----------



## Sialia

Oh yah!


----------



## Bandeeto

Bearing in mind:

Dylrath was designed by Sialia to be as obnoxious as possible to as many members of the party as possible.

Examples: 
1) For Nolin, Dyl has perfect pitch, but can't carry a tune in a bucket.
2) For Velendo, Dyl just looooves to ask unanswerable questions.
3) For Tao, Dylly is an irrepressible prankster.
4) For Arcade, Dyl is always out to do his own thing and make up plans on the go.
5) For Alix, Dyl follows his orders.  Exactly as they are given.  And he actually had a proficiency in "Pratfall."

There are plenty more.  These were some of the ones that emerged.  Sialia can give you the rest.

The oddest thing, was that Dyl wound up being far better tolerated than Cadrienne had been because he wasn't a stick-in-the-mud.  Everyone thought he was charming, despite his low Charisma.

A paradox indeed, our Dylrath.


----------



## Irda Ranger

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *The oddest thing, was that Dyl wound up being far better tolerated than Cadrienne had been because he wasn't a stick-in-the-mud.  Everyone thought he was charming, despite his low Charisma.
> 
> A paradox indeed, our Dylrath.  *




No doubt it was Sialia's natural charisma shining through the irrepresible youngster in ways that Cadrienne never let show.  

Besides, I bet in "non-game" time you and your fellow players loved telling "Dilly" stories a lot more than "Cadrienne" stories. I know that among my own players its the "village idiot" PC that usually makes the adventures more memorable than the stolid, dependable types. 

Bandeeto: Not that I don't like the "artistic bent" of the new format, but would it be possible to provide more detail? The old "Journal Entry" stuff wasn't "snazzy", but it included the details that helped my picture what was going on. I could "see" it. The "Mental Monologue" is a lot harder for me to visualize, and I am not always sure what is going on. I feel like crucuial details are either left out, or not supported in a way that I know what they are supposed to mean. 

Maybe its just me. I see a lot of folks like it (and I do too, it definately has its own "feel"). Does anyone else have this problem? 

Well, anyway, even if you don't change a thing, please keep writing! I really do love these threads!! Thanks a whole lot guys, all of you.

Irda Ranger

PS - I just PayPal_ed my $25 to Morrus ... any idea how long that takes to kick in? Thanks.

Edited for stupid typos


----------



## Piratecat

I really like this style, too, although it's easier for me to plug in the missing pieces. The truth is that these adventures happened eight years ago, and we're trying to fill holes using fragmentary notes and imperfect memories. Bandeeto and I say on the phone for fifteen minutes the other night trying to remember a crucial plot point!  Other than that comment, I'll leave it to Bandeeto to comment on his style.

I'm off to GenCon! Keep this thread warm for me, and see you folks in six days.


----------



## Irda Ranger

Piratecat said:
			
		

> *I really like this style, too, although it's easier for me to plug in the missing pieces. <snip>*




Ah, the team effort approach [Master Yoda Voice] ... good ... good ... [/Master Yoda Voice]

*



			I'm off to GenCon! Keep this thread warm for me, and see you folks in six days.
		
Click to expand...


*
Consider it toasty.

Irda Ranger


----------



## Bandeeto

> but would it be possible to provide more detail.... the "Mental Monologue" is a lot harder for me to visualize, and I am not always sure what is going on. I feel like crucial details are either left out, or not supported in a way that I know what they are supposed to mean.




As P'Cat points out, many of the details of these old adventures have been lost to time and faulty memories.  

One reason I started writing this way was to portray the "feel" of the campaign during this period, from the characters' perspective.

Another was to give a sense of the personalities of the characters through dialogue they might have actually delivered.  Piratecat's Storyhour does this well already, but many of the character's in this thread are long since retired, and many have evolved tremendously.  

A few examples:  Tao didn't used to say much unless we were actively in combat.  Velendo spent large portions of time complaining and wishing we were somewhere else.  Dylrath started very young (14?) and acted his age.  Tomtom was the shadow in the background;  when he ever did speak, it was usually very important.  Nolin would try to jolly everyone along, unless he got into one of his depressive phases.  And Alix... well... I hope you're beginning to get a sense about Alix.   

You have a good point regarding some loss of detail using this style.  I will try to post separate plot summaries to fill in.


----------



## Irda Ranger

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *
> 
> As P'Cat points out, many of the details of these old adventures have been lost to time and faulty memories.  *




I never took detailed notes before, but I have begun a campaign journal for this reason. Seeing how fun it is to read about your adventures, I hope that reading my own will be as fun years from now when I have completely forgotten them.

*



			And Alix... well... I hope you're beginning to get a sense about Alix.
		
Click to expand...


*
Oh yes ...

*



			You have a good point regarding some loss of detail using this style.  I will try to post separate plot summaries to fill in.
		
Click to expand...


*
That would be great. Thanks!!

Irda Ranger


----------



## the Jester

So Alix decided to try to rule the world or something, right?  Was that a decision you made or was it after you left the group or something?


----------



## Caliber

Bandeeto played Arcade while Sialia played Cadrienne and later Dylrath when Miss Evil body-snatched Cadrienne.

As far as I know, and feel free to correct me, Alix was played by an unknown who has no board persona. In later adventures, I gather, this person fell in to disfavor with the group (the player, not the character) and eventually left entirely. 

Just what I seem to remember from various posts.


----------



## Bandeeto

You are correct Caliber.  I do not know if Alix's player ever frequents the boards.  If he does, the Defenders' players (past and present) are unaware of it.

I do not think that he would disagree with my characterization of Alix, however.

Per my promise, here is the annotated Part 1, with details derived from memory and P'cat's campaign notes.


----------



## Bandeeto

Academy of Flamecraft:  Annotations to Part 1

It was a deeply ambivalent set of Defenders that stepped onto the platform, lit the braziers, and teleported into the Academy of Flamecraft.  They had just slain their first red dragon, Infernus, spawn of Tagachark.  In so doing they had acquired a host of useful items:  a Girdle of Giant Strength for Tao, a Blast Scepter for Tomtom, Boots of Striding and Springing for Alix, a Rod of Summoning for Arcade, a mysterious Iron Bottle with an unknown occupant, and three Ioun stones.  

Now joining them was the cheerful Brother Caldicott of Celian, rescued from Chemia’s Mirror.  He was small, round and pudgy, with a pink complexion and a shaven head.  He was very excitable, and had laid into his high priest over something minor; for his transgression, he was sent on a solo quest to recover the Horrus Arkadanian.  Instead, he had spent nearly 50 years in suspended animation.  Arcade welcomed his company on the search for the legendary tome.

However, also coming along, largely against the party’s wishes, was Kestellan Soulcage, a weaselly apprentice fire mage.  He had fled the Academy at the coming of the dragons, and been caught by the Mirror when he snuck back for his spellbooks.  His demeanor made it clear that he was not to be trusted.  It was also obvious that he did not intend to be of much assistance.  

Cadrienne, cleric of Morphat, was morose and deeply depressed after losing her holy books to dragonfire.  Worst of all, one of their stoutest allies, Grundo the dwarven battlerager, was gone forever, crushed to paste by the dragon.  

As the flames cleared, the Defenders found themselves on a narrow platform, suspended over a chasm.  They were surrounded by a huge, ring-shaped, stone gallery, carved into the shaft.  They were also surrounded by a large number of derro, standing on the gallery.  The derro opened fire from all sides.  A few Prismatic Walls were thrown up to stop the flanking missile attacks.  Tao leapt to the gallery and was mobbed.  Though she fought her way clear, her long braid (a source of much pride), was callously hacked off and flung into the abyss.  The derro shaman riddled the party with Lightning.  After some tense moments, the tide turned the Defenders’ way, and the derro were eliminated.  The shaman’s body yielded a wonderful find, a Rod of Cancellation.

Ramps led up and down to other ring-shaped galleries.  Sadly, the exits from most of them were choked with rubble.  The ramps themselves were in poor repair, leading to some near-falls.  Cadrienne seemed distracted, and complained of hearing voices.  She seemed certain that a lost library of marvelous books was calling to her.  At the bottom of the ramps the Defenders discovered a long, narrow shaft with multi-colored light radiating up from below.  Looking down blinded several people for nearly an hour each, as a Prismatic Sphere was plainly visible in the chamber at the bottom of the shaft.

After making their way up the ramps, the party found what appeared to be the only open passage off the ring.  It led to a long hallway with side rooms.  There they encountered a hungry rust monster, and several important items were nearly destroyed.  The party rested.  Cadrienne surprised Arcade by being very interested when he settled down to study, and asking if she could read over his shoulder.  He knew that she could not read the magic script, but she insisted that looking at the symbols and the turning pages soothed her.  Arcade also permitted Kestellan to study from the spellbooks, though not without grave misgivings.

On a large wall the Defenders discovered a tapestry that resembled a gaping, toothy maw.  In front of it lay the hollow carapace and claws of a monster.  Later, Arcade would identify the parts as those of an Umber Hulk, and use the shape when Polymorphed.  Touching the tapestry nearly earned several party members nasty bites, but finally they managed to remove it from the wall.

Behind it, the Defenders discovered the doorway to a sealed room.  Tomtom used his faerie ability, and created a working key.  Within they found a lost reading room.  The skeleton of a long-dead mage lay in the corner.  The entire chamber was covered with formulas and magical writing. It appeared that the mage had been trying to escape by creating a free-standing gate using only his inscriptions.  He had nearly succeeded before expiring.  Many fascinating books were found scattered about, and Cadrienne cheered up immensely (see list below, attached).

Coming out of the chamber, the party was again ambushed by derro.  The battle was over quickly, but a strange event occurred.  When Kestellan launched  a spell into the foe, nine Magic Missiles appeared.  No one could explain how this could have happened, and it went un-noticed that Cadrienne had been standing close behind Kestellan as the combat raged.  The effect was eventually chalked up to a mysterious magical Wild Surge induced by the Academy’s decaying protective charms.

While camping that evening, the party decided to open the Iron Bottle.  With a fiery roar, an enraged efreet named Kadraskus emerged.  He was not in a wish-granting mood, but did agree not to kill the Defenders on the spot, by way of thanks.  Alix indicated that he wished to speak to the genie privately.  Kadraskus agreed, and Alix then refused to tell the party what they had discussed.  The efreet drew a flaming gate in mid-air, and departed.  That night, Kestellan disappeared and could not be located.

Following a partially burnt map, the Defenders finally found the entrance to a hallway leading to the Room of Ceremony.  The way was blocked by a permanent Wall of Force that was not dispellable.  It fell before the Rod of Cancellation, and the party moved on.

The corridor, though itself inviolate and safe, appeared to curve through dimensions into the Elemental Plane of Fire.  The City of Brass was visible in the distance. After a long walk, the hall ended abruptly in a pick-proof brass door.

Cadrienne produced a key that she said she found in the rubble, and the door opened with a clang.  Stepping through the doorway, the Defenders found themselves in a huge stone room.  Lining the walls were statues of the Academy Headmasters and Headmistresses, each with a sconce for a torch.  Into three of the walls were built archways.  Each archway contained an open gate to an elemental plane:  Magma, Fire, and Smoke.  Apparently the elemental denizens of these planes could not enter the room without the proper ceremonies being performed.

The fourth wall was covered with a large mirror, which the party had entered through.  Seemingly without prompting, the mirror began to show scenes in rapid succession, a history of what had occurred in the Academy over the last several centuries, speeding too fast for any details to be picked out.  The mirror then refocused, briefly acting as a true mirror once more.  It then seemed to flex, and a night-scene appeared:  the Flaming Manticore, home base of the Defenders.  Light shone from the windows, and lit the snowdrifts piled around the walls.  Some experimentation revealed that party members were able to exit and re-enter the Mirror Room without hindrance.  The group decided to spend the night at home, and then return to investigate further in the morning.

While everyone was relaxing and having dinner, Cadrienne excused herself, saying she would be back shortly.  She did not return for several minutes.  Free from the stresses and oppressive atmosphere of the Academy, Arcade finally mentally assembled the pieces of the puzzle and realized that Cadrienne had, in all likelihood, been possessed by the spirit of a former master of Flamecraft.  He rushed outside, only to find the sigil of Mirata du Chemith, second founder of the Academy, smoking in the snow.  Cadrienne, and the Mirror Room entrance, were gone.

As the party panicked, a note arrived from Mirata, delivered by a Morphatian acolyte.  It warned the Defenders not to interfere, and made it clear that she intended to resume her old position of power.  

It was seven o’clock in the evening, and the Defenders had a national crisis and a kidnapped comrade on their hands.


----------



## Irda Ranger

That was great, thank you. I can see that it was the same story, but it was much easier for me to follow and "picture". I hope it wasn't too boring for you to type up  

Well, however you choose to keep writing, I'll keep reading, that's for sure. I look forward to more!

Did anyone from your group besides Piratecat and KidC go to GenCon? I guess you have to abstain from the Defenders for the week. 

Irda Ranger


----------



## the Jester

I agree with Irda Ranger... thank you!  The interior monologues are cool for getting a little character and flavor, but knowing what happened fills in a lot of blanks.

I'm really interested in the whole Alix story, by the way... (hint hint)


----------



## Sialia

1. When "Cadrienne" stepped outside, what she said was that there was something interesting about the magical books the party had recovered, and she wanted to inspect them by moonlight. They let her walk out the door with all of the magical books they had brought back from the Academy, including the Horrus Arkadanian that Arcade had dragged them all down there to retrieve in the first place.

2. Alix was arrogant, handsome, rich, selfish, whimsical, petulant, flashy, clever, irritating, irritable, stylish, childish, and had a bad case of "oooh spank me, please." And we loved him, and we hated him, and trying to keep him in line was a big part of what made the Defenders what they were, as was making use of the phenomenally sly strategies and manipulations he often came up with. 

I don't think his player would be upset by any of these characterizations. He worked awfully hard to be as wonderfully annoying as he was, and I'm sure was well aware of what he was doing to us. (Arcade always claimed it was the staff of withering that made his hair go gray, but we all know the truth.)

It was no surprise he came to a bad end after all the lawfuls left. Without authority to flout, he was forced to play that character off the laws of the universe itself. If Malachite, or some of the other newer Defenders, had shown up sooner, we might still have our own dear golden haired black sheep boy. (Assuming Malachite and Alix both surived the engagement.) But in the time of predominantly chaotics, there was no anchor for him, no straight man.

If he is lurking out there, I hope he knows we only abuse his memory 'cause they're some of the most scintillating memories we've got. I miss him awfully.


----------



## madriel

Malachite and Alix in the same party?  Now there's a thought to wrap your brain around.  Or Alix's "ooh, spank me, please" around Mara.

The DoD do seem to be made up of either LG or CG.  Is there anybody who's NG or True Neutral?  I don't see Piratecat as having evil PCs at his table.


----------



## Irda Ranger

Sialia said:
			
		

> *If he is lurking out there, I hope he knows we only abuse his memory 'cause they're some of the most scintillating memories we've got. I miss him awfully. *




I don't know about anybody else, but I hope that if "Alix" (or his player, more accurately, of course) does choose to make himself known to the DoD, that he does so by private email. I love reading about your adventures, but they're "public", ya' know? I think watching a reunion happen on the message boards would be a bit voyeuristic. So, if Alix's player is reading, lets keep these posts to "on topic" stuff, for my comfort if no one elses.

Of course, now that I have said that, and if Alix's Player has been accurately described, he will probably announce himself right now, just to be irratable  But I still had to say it. 

Irda Ranger


----------



## Bandeeto

Academy of Flamecraft:  Annotations to Part 2

In the wake of the revelation that Mirata was loose in Cadrienne’s body, the Defenders realized the need for speed, but were at a loss as to how to proceed.

Mirata had read Arcade’s spellbooks, but those spells were paltry compared to those she had within her own spellbooks, hidden in her chambers.  Her assets were the Mirror Room, a knowledge of the ancient Academy, and a hostage. In order to ensure her security she needed time to sleep, and time to study her high-level spells.

She had taken several books plundered from the Academy by the Defenders, including the Horrus Arkadanian.  This holy and mystical tome was encased in a magically-locked, fireproof case, and the Defenders had not even had time to open it.

Holding the pack full of books, a few healing potions, and several scrolls, the archmage stepped into the Mirror Room.  She had decided that Cadrienne’s body was not entirely suitable for her needs, and she needed an alternate.  She directed the Mirror to the Academy’s back entrance.  There she located the body of the comatose, blond female mountaineer, left in the cavern when the Defenders departed.  She grabbed the woman, hauled her into the Room, gave her some water, and placed the Soul Trapping gem upon the helpless body.  She then cast off the dimensional ties that bound the Mirror to the mighty brass door.  

After delivering the message at the temple of Morphat, and spying briefly on the activities of the Defenders, she focused the Mirror on the fireproof back room of her own chambers.  She instructed the Mirror to obey her alone, placed the deadly fanged tapestry over the entrance, cast a warning Magic Mouth, and moved her books and magic items into the Prismatic Sphere.  She placed several cursed items that she possessed on her own body in anticipation of a hasty departure.  Then she lay down to sleep upon her floating, four-poster bed, confident that the Sphere and its guardian would keep her safe.

Kestellan, a former acolyte at the Academy, had recognized Mirata and fled the previous night without informing the Defenders.  He understood that she might choose to punish him for fleeing many years ago during the attack of the dragon, and had decided to hide until he could apologize without getting incinerated.  He lurked within the Academy’s corridors.

In the meantime, the Defenders realized that they had two initial priorities: inform the authorities, and get help.  Arcade and his Staff teleported to Kindric, planning to inform the High Mage of Gaunt of Mirata’s plans.  Nolin and Velendo went to Cadrienne’s temple to speak with her High Priest. 

Alix chose this moment to cut his deal with Kadraskus, while the party was otherwise occupied.  At least two things he requested:  a long-acting spell protecting him from magical possession, and a new Rod of Cancellation.  Both were provided, although Alix was informed, after receiving the Rod, that it had been taken from a lich’s hoard, and that the lich might well come looking for it later.  None of these activities were revealed to the rest of the Defenders.

On his return however, he was summoned immediately by the Guildmaster of the Thieves’ Guild.  Alix had upset things in a serious way, although the details are not known.  As punishment, Alix was assigned the care of one of the Guild’s least apt pupils, and the son of a minor lord to boot.  Dylrath Birdhouse, the Guildmaster instructed, was to remain hale and healthy, or far more severe punishments would befall Alix Loial.

Arcade returned with a few scrolls and the best wishes of the Court.  The High Mage was understandably upset, but appreciated the warning.  There was little more that he could do for the Defenders, as there was no time to prepare properly.  The temple sent healing potions, and the promise that they would heal, Resurrect, or otherwise assist Cadrienne if the group managed to retrieve her.

The Defenders were sure that Mirata would choose to rest in the Prismatic Sphere.  It was the logical hiding place.  Unfortunately they did not (knowingly) possess the means to bring it down, and knew only that to even look upon the Sphere brought blindness.  With the desperate hope that a way in could be found, they decided on the direct approach.

Arcade and the Staff transported them to the bottom of the huge volcanic chasm, near the shaft leading to Mirata’s chambers.  They bound their eyes to avoid looking at the sphere.  Alix scouted ahead by deploying his grappling crossbow and swinging past the Sphere into the chamber.  He secured the angled rope, and the rest of the party Spider Climbed, flew, and slid down without incident.  

The advance was a bit more rushed than the party would have preferred.  As Alix entered the chamber, a gigantic iron golem animated in the corner of the room.  In a booming voice, it warned the Defenders to flee or face their deaths.  Though severely hindered, the group managed to assemble and begin the attack upon the golem, sneaking peeks around their blindfolds.  Another voice was added to the cacophony of battle.  The Ruby of Cascara, an ancient, intelligent gem, had been placed within the chest of the golem for safekeeping.  It plainly wished to be rescued, and bombarded the party with mental sendings.

Several party members were badly wounded, and many near misses occurred as the golem hurled its assailants toward the Prismatic Sphere.  Its iron shell shook off spells and missiles alike.  Tao hacked away with abandon at the golem’s left knee, although she was smacked away several times.  

Arcade planned a coordinated attack with Tomtom and Tao through their Mindlink.  Tao redoubled her efforts, severed the leg, and leaped away.  Arcade then cast Grease in front of the golem as Tomtom hit it from behind with his Blast Scepter.  The golem slid forward and fell to its knees… directly into the Sphere.  The shimmering shells cleaved the construct in twain, and it stopped moving.  Sadly, the Ruby of Cascara was destroyed in its transit through the Sphere.

But had some portion of the golem fallen through?  If so, Mirata would be warned and ready.


----------



## Bandeeto

Above are the annotations to Academy Part 2.  I'm going to post the "Arcade muses" style version of Part 3 tomorrow, then Sialia and I are going to be off-line for a week as we attend to family biz.  More when we come back.

PS. Sialia has written most of the rest of the "buried up to the neck in sand" story, and will post it when we return to the boards.  Happy reading!


----------



## Kosh

I really appreciate the longer versions of the story...  I was very confused when reading the musings...  When I read the full length pieces, I was continually saying, "Ooohhh!" as what was said in the musings was elaborated on...

The musings are cool, but the longer explanations are informative...  Your old style incorporated the two well...  Having both styles separate is great...  Though if I had to choose, I would have to vote for the more informative write-ups...

Thank you for posting these!...


----------



## Bandeeto

Academy of Flamecraft, Part 3.  Arcade.


There was no device, no rune, no lever.  The Sphere apparently was designed never to fall.  

Yet, somehow, we have acquired… another Rod of Cancellation.  A bargain has been made.

Alix.  

The Fireball rips through us.  She is angry.  Her sleep has been disturbed.  
A strike, the Rod flares, crumbles to black dust.  The Sphere drops.  In the sudden darkness she is there, standing in the wreck of her bed.  The torso, arms, head of the golem lie in its midst.  

Cadrienne’s dark, tight braid now flows freely over her shoulders.  The red robes glow.  Her words are flaming knives.  She knows us well.  Our families will pay.  But first, our friend.  

She draws a dagger across her own throat.  Her eyes go dim.  She falls.  Cadrienne is dead.

No.

She gasps.  The timing was imperfect.  Mirata fled the body too soon.  Velendo and Glimmer leap forward.

*******

“Now what in the Nine Hells are we going to do?!”

How is Cadrienne?

“She’ll recover.  Which is more than I can say for some other poor souls unless we get going, already!”

Search the room.  Quickly.  Dylrath, what do you have there?

“Gee!  Check it out.  I think her bed usedta’ float.  There’s a long support bit that you can practically stand on.  Look at that!  It works!  Wheee!”

“Terrific.  Be careful with that thing, apprentice!  You almost took my leg off.  (I’m gonna KILL that Guildmaster.)”

“Hey, guys!  There’s a back room here.  And someone hung the old fanged tapestry on the wall.”

Please remove it carefully, Nolin.

“the mirror room is behind the tapestry. it’s closed.”

“Oh, that’s just great, Tomtom!  Now all we gotta do is figure out how to make a major artifact work without blowing ourselves up.  Hey, Mirror!  Get our butts outa here!”

“Guys?  Maybe this’ll work.”

Where did you get that key, Dylrath?  

“It was stuck in a secret compartment in that cubby over there.  Maybe if I stick it in the mirror and turn….”

(Chorus) “Nooooooo!”

******

It was too late.  The Mirror bound itself to the lifeforce of Dylrath Birdhouse.  An artifact without parallel, in a child’s hands.

He commands.  The mirror clears.  Snow.  Night.  She is ahead of us, wearing new skin.  The comatose girl, the blond mountain climber in the dragon’s lair.  She is marching with dread purpose towards a small house.  I do not recognize it.  

Nolin gasps.  His daughter, Tasha.  

******

“Remember, this is an innocent’s body we’re facing.  Be careful.”

“We can Resurrect her later.  That is if she doesn’t get burnt all crispy by accident-like.  I’ll be real careful, Glimmer.  I’m gonna carefully stick a dagger right up her….”

“Alix, that’s enough!  Boy, have I got a headache.  Here.  Calphas’s blessings be upon you.  And you, and you.  Let’s go already.”

Now, everyone.

******

Nolin howls.  We charge.  She spins, grinning.  There are flames, and pain.  

Tao’s bola flies forward.  A perfect strike.

Heh.  How unusual.  Tao’s bolas have always seemed to prefer Cadrienne over all other targets.  

Mirata struggles.  Begin the binding, in the wizard fashion:  mouth, hands, feet. Suddenly, the body sags.  She is gone.  Searchlights of faerie light flash from my eyes.  

The gem.  She’s in the gem.  

Weapons slam down.  It will not break.  Behind our backs, Alix kills the girl.

Doesn’t anyone carry a mace?  Keep pounding.  

Alix begins to taunt her.  He mocks her, heaps abuse on the Headmistress of the Academy of Flamecraft.  Out of the gem, a spectral claw seems to reach for him and… is deflected?  More bargains, Alix?

The reprieve is sufficient.  With a shriek, the gem shatters.  A screaming pillar of flame rises to the stars, melting snow sizzles.  It writhes towards the body, then recoils.  It moves towards us, menacing.  A hole opens in the gound.  The pillar is sucked down.  

Scorched earth.

Smoke.


----------



## Altin

Wow. Yet again, totally awesome. I just can't get over how well the 'Arcade' style fits the Defenders. Sure, the summaries are nice in an anectodal way but this is like being at the table with you guys. 

See you in a week, I guess.

Yours,
Altin


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## Bandeeto

Interpretive summary of Part 3 this evening.  Sorry for the hiatus, but Sialia and I are just getting over the jet-lag.


----------



## Knightfall

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *Academy of Flamecraft, Part 3.  Arcade.
> 
> 
> There was no device, no rune, no lever.  The Sphere apparently was designed never to fall....
> 
> <snippy>
> 
> ....Scorched earth.
> 
> Smoke. *




<clap> <clap> <clap>

Bravo Bandetto.  You've done it again.


----------



## Sialia

Apologies and Excuses. Empty promises.

Fatigue.

Finale to "Sand" postponed a few more days.

No strength to tell the tale.

details to come. 

sleep come first.


----------



## Bandeeto

Academy of Flamecraft:  Annotations to Part 3

The Defenders panicked, sure that Mirata was now awake and warned of their presence, and desperately searched the room for anything that would bring down the Prismatic Sphere.  A few minutes later the truth began to sink in.  No way existed.  The Sphere was permanent, and they now had no way to dispel it.

Or did they?

Alix, looking somewhat sheepish, produced his new Rod of Cancellation.  He still refrained from mentioning the lich to the rest of the group.  

As the party was preparing, a Fireball blasted out of the Sphere, badly wounding several.  There was no time to lose.  Alix struck out with the rod, and the Sphere vanished.  

There stood Mirata du Chemith, Founder of the Second Academy, still in Cadrienne’s body, glowing red with fury.  Several parts of the iron golem had survived the transit through the Sphere, and had smashed her resting place into a ruin.  The magnificent four-poster bed, crafted from magical Floating Elm, lay in pieces.  Magic books were scattered across the floor.  

The Defenders’ eyes began to adjust to the darkness, and it became plain that Mirata had taken some liberties with her shell.  She wore red robes, bracers, and loose-fitting boots, and she had completely brushed out Cadrienne’s hair. No longer was it in its matronly, iron-hard bun.  Her face twisted into a sneering smile.  She informed the Defenders that they would suffer for their impertinence.  She had learned much about them by eavesdropping on Cadrienne’s thoughts.  First, one by one, their families would meet horrific ends, followed by their friends, and lastly their miserable selves.  The first to taste her wrath would be Cadrienne herself.  She raised a razor-sharp dagger to her own throat, and slashed it.

The Defenders rushed forward, sure that Cadrienne was dead.  Luckily, Mirata seemed to have mis-timed her action, fleeing the body as she delivered the death-stroke, and Cadrienne had taken control just in time to prevent the blow from being fatal.  Velendo and Glimmer poured healing spells into her.

The next priority was to discover where Mirata had gone.  The Defenders had no way to scry for her, and their loved ones were in serious jeopardy.  A detailed search of the chambers began.  Arcade located the Horrus Arcadanian and one of Mirata’s portable spellbooks.  Dylrath rummaged in the wreckage of the floating bed, and discovered that one of the supports remained intact.  He christened it the “Outgrabe”.  In no time he was surfing all over the room, crashing into things and having a grand time, to the chagrin of Alix and the rest of the party.

Mirata, unbeknownst to the party, had entered the body of the blond mountain climber, waiting in the far corner of the back room.  She stood, unrolled a Teleportation Scroll, and vanished.

The Defenders eventually located the fire-proof back room.  Tomtom sensed that the entrance to the Mirror Room lay behind the fanged tapestry.  After removing the horrid rug, the party was able to enter the Mirror Room, but then found that they were unable to command it.  

Dylrath, meanwhile, had slammed into a wall upside down, giving him a close look at the top surface of one of the many cubbyholes.  There he saw a shining key, which he pried loose.  Nonchalantly, he wandered up to the Mirror and inserted the key.  It sank deep into the shining surface, instantly bonding Dylrath’s soul to the Mirror and giving control of it to him alone.  

Of course, a fourteen-year-old rogue had nowhere near the ability to control the Mirror that the archmage had possessed.  But the Mirror still knew Mirata well, and Dylrath was easily able to scry her location.  

There she was, wearing her new skin, and marching with dread purpose through the moonlit snow towards a small cottage.  With a shock, Nolin realized he was seeing the home of his daughter, Tasha.  Glimmer reminded the party that, although the pretty young woman had been comatose, she was still an innocent, and to try to avoid killing her.  Velendo dispensed some urgent healing, and the Defenders charged through the Mirror. 

Mirata heard the Defenders’ approach, and unleashed another Fireball.  She began to unroll a scroll, and it seemed that she might manage to escape yet again.  In the nick of time, Tao hurled her bolas in a perfect arc.  They wrapped around the archmage, securing her arms and knocking her to the ground.  She struggled to free herself, but the Defenders rapidly arrived, and began to bind her tightly.  Suddenly, her body sagged, and it was instantly clear that Mirata had fled.  But to where?

Arcade called upon his gift from Faerie, and the Sight blazed from his eyes, searchlights sweeping over the party, searching for a soul out of place.  His gaze lit upon a gem hanging on a chain around the young woman’s neck.  In a glance, the flaming signature of Mirata could clearly be seen within the gem.  Arcade leapt forward and began pounding on the gem with his dagger hilt, yelling for the others to assist.  No one was wielding a blunt weapon, and several party members began rifling through their packs, searching for something that might be used to break the magical gem.  

While the party was thus occupied, Alix quietly slid a dagger across the throat of the comatose girl.  He then began taunting Mirata, heaping scorn on her parentage, her Academy, her spellcasting style, her reliance on fire (to which he was currently resistant), and anything else he could think of.  Arcade and others continued to pound away, and small cracks began to appear.  Tao finally located a mace, and raised it high above the gem. 

Enough time had elapsed for Mirata to make one final attempt at possession.  Naturally, she chose Alix.

Her spectral form leapt towards him, then recoiled.  The charm of Kadraskus had proved to be effective, and then Tao’s mace descended, shattering the gem into a thousand splinters.  Mirata’s soul now manifested fully as a pillar of fire.  She made for the unconscious girl, but was unable to inhabit her corpse.  The pillar then moved towards the Defenders, crackling with hate.  A blazing hole opened in the ground, summoning Mirata to the underworld, and with a howl she was sucked down to her death.  

The hole closed, and Mirata du Chemith was gone.


----------



## madriel

Y'know, that sounds like it was a tense session to play, but it reads like a DoD Comedy Hour.  Look at Surfin' Dilly and his Pure Dumb Luck.  Watch the DoD try to find blunt object for smashy-smashy purposes.  Listen in as Alix Taunts Mirata a Second Time.

Maybe it's just me or maybe it's just that I shouldn't post when I'm this tired.


----------



## KidCthulhu

madriel said:
			
		

> *Malachite and Alix in the same party?  Now there's a thought to wrap your brain around.  Or Alix's "ooh, spank me, please" around Mara.
> 
> The DoD do seem to be made up of either LG or CG.  Is there anybody who's NG or True Neutral?  I don't see Piratecat as having evil PCs at his table. *




Both Nolin and Velendo are NG.  I think Tao might be now.


----------



## KidCthulhu

madriel said:
			
		

> *Y'know, that sounds like it was a tense session to play, but it reads like a DoD Comedy Hour.  Look at Surfin' Dilly and his Pure Dumb Luck.  Watch the DoD try to find blunt object for smashy-smashy purposes.  Listen in as Alix Taunts Mirata a Second Time.
> 
> Maybe it's just me or maybe it's just that I shouldn't post when I'm this tired. *




Well, you're right and wrong.  Dilly and the outgrabe were comic, but at the wrong time.  And the search for a blunt weapon was more panicked and frantic than funny.  

And Alix.  Well, when Alix taunted something, he let loose all that bile and self-loathing.  He was taunting his enemy, but he was hating himself.  And you knew that deep in his heart, he didn't care if the Djinn's protection worked or not.  It wasn't funny at all.


----------



## Sialia

Yah. It's a true thing. If Alix's player were posting on this board in that mood, he'd violate Eric Noah's Grandma so fast even (contact) wouldn't be able to catch up with him as we threw him out the door.

(Er-- violate the _rule_ about Eric Noah's Grandma, that is. Not the Grandma. Alix's player may be devious and potty mouthed, but he's also a gentleman.)

Technical points--Bandeeto posted while I was sleeping--the key was stuck on the underside of the bottom shelf of the bookshelf.

And the support that became the Outgrabe was circle shaped.

And while Piratecat was very kind to Dylrath (temporary substitute character, remember?) in letting him get away with the Mirror and the Outgrabe (I don't think he had planned to give Dylly the Outgrabe--that just sort of happened), you have to imagine my horror as I watched the villain--now an NPC--slash the throat of my own character. After I had spent weeks, months even, helping Piratecat set up the party.

There was worse to come. 

When Cadrienne recovered from the wound, and came to her senses, the body she was in was loaded down with trapped items. The boots were boots of stumbling, and the bracers --don't remember the name--made her throw herself into the path of missile attacks. 

Mirata had planned to dump her body all along.

Without her dragon-destroyed holybooks (spell books/holysymbol), her weapons, or even the ability to walk along and stay out of combat, she was worse than useless in trying to help stop Mirata. 

Her magic girdle was gone and never recovered, too, as were some of her other items. 

"Used," does not begin to cover the feeling Cadrienne was overwhelmed with. Not to mention "guilty" for aiding and abetting someone who tried to hurt her best friends.

Worse, Cadrienne's player was having a grand old time careening around smacking her/his head into things and not caring about the moral implications of her/his behavior or anyone else's and didn't really want to come back to playing den mother anymore. 

We had one more adventure to go before all of this really settled in. And then it was time, and high time, for Cadrienne to seek her absolution elsewhere.

Which is probably worth knowing about before I tell you how we got out of the sand.


----------



## the Jester

Awesome... I love to look in a character's head like this! 

Your guys' campaign is awesome.  I love the layers and layers of detail.  Fantastic stuff.... thanks for posting, can't wait for more! 

And I say again, I'm _really_ interested in the story of Alix trying to take over the world (hint hint).


----------



## madriel

KidCthulhu said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Both Nolin and Velendo are NG.  I think Tao might be now. *




Thanks.

Didn't mean to make fun of that session or anything.  It was very dramatic, but my sense of humour sneaks up on my brain when I'm tired and takes it over.  

Rereading it now I can see how intense it must of been, especially the threat to Cadrienne and Tasha.  Poor Cadrienne, waking up to find her body tried to kill everybody.


----------



## Altin

Sialia said:
			
		

> *Worse, Cadrienne's player was having a grand old time careening around smacking her/his head into things and not caring about the moral implications of her/his behavior or anyone else's and didn't really want to come back to playing den mother anymore.
> 
> And Cadrienne wound up a full level below the rest of the party when experience for the adventure was awarded, on account of not having really been there for the adventure.
> 
> We had one more adventure to go before all of this really settled in. And then it was time, and high time, for Cadrienne to seek her absolution elsewhere. *




I gather from this that there is a period (which Bandeeto is just on the brink of describing, I would imagine) in which Dylrath and Cadrienne were both active members of the Defenders? How did this work out at the gaming table? Did you play both or did PC take care of Dilly while you had your last 'fling' with Cadrienne?

Yours,
Altin


----------



## Sialia

I can't quite remember how it worked. I know I ran Cadrienne after the Academy through the "we are arrested and locked up in our own King's dungeons" bit, up until the battle with the dopplegangers,and I don't rememeber Dylrath being there in the dungeons. But right after that she retired, and then I was Dylrath For good. Or ill, depending on how you see things.

_ As promised, here is some of the out of game chatter for those of you who really like the behind the scenes peek. This stuff occurred after Piratecat Buried us in the sand and before we got out. We had 2 weeks to think about it. For those who don't like this sort of stuff, the story part begins next post.]


The Buried up to the Neck incident had us all worried. Really worried for the very first (but not the last) time in Piratecat's campaign. We used to call him our "warm fuzzy DM" to distinguish him from the "nasty sharp pointy" kind (like Bandeeto.)

So we scrambled to make use of the two weeks between the cliffhanger and our impending demise next session. _

Sito Rotavele: If anyone else has seen the movie Blackbeard, you know how awful this death can be. Let's try to avoid it. First, let's list our assets. What can YOU do buried up to your neck in sand?

Claris can cast two command spells, and if we can't think of one word that means "forgive the death of your sister and free us immediately," I'll just sleep him.

Tomtom: I can shift to shadow form, but I don't want to do it while the guy is conscious and nearby. If he's a mage, I'll still be vulnerable to lightning bolts and the like.

Sialia: 1.  Squirm, barely. 2) itch, see item 1. 3) note that this is a particularly boring way to die and that nobody is going to get to see me do it. 4) bite the villain's toes if he comes close enough. 5) wait for the party to do something clever and then capitalize on it. 6) blow bubbles if it takes them very long. 7) wonder whether Calphas would answer a god call from a new convert. 8) wonder whether Glimmer's deity would answer a god call from a new convert, even though he couldn't think of her name just at the moment. 9) wonder whether Bahamat would answer . . . .you get the idea . . 

Piratecat specified that Dylrath has no items whatsoever. So we've got a naked 14 year old, who's confused because the last thing he knew, he was getting some action from a total babe, and now it appears she's taken advantage of him in a most unusual way. Also, everyone else seems to be here, he's not sure why, but he's laying odds they're going to be upset with him.

Sagiro: If I can Disbelieve . .  and get out of my sand trap, a minute is more than I'll need to clock our (hopefully sleeping) nemesis with a Suddenly Appearing Divine Brick (tm).  . . I'd rather not try this while he's awake and armed. . . .you should probably not sleep him until you see that I'm getting free, and once I'm on ground level you should all shout at me to remind me what's going on. It's possible that in order to disbelieve in our predicament, I'll have to disbelieve in our captor as well.

Kidcthulhu: O.K. Here's what Nolin can do for us.
1) Grovel.
2) Sing a song of woe to turn the villain's hard heart
3) Screech. For those of you who have heard it before, you will know the screech I'm talking about. It will freeze him in place for a moment, delaying his init and generally giving him a headache.
4) Did I mention groveling?

Sito: Please do not deafen him before Claris has a word with him.
--------------------------

Sito:Top Ten Deus Ex Machina Ways to Get Out of This:
10. Nolin moves our captor to pity us with a tender song.
9. Claris reveals that she is in fact a juvenile Steel Dragon.
8. Rex comes by, looking for a halfling he buried in the garden
7. Sherida makes a god call (Is this a good thing?) _[note: Sherida was Alix's slave and a demon worshipper]_
6. Dylrath finds the party in the shower and realizes that it was all a bad dream.
5. The island isn't uninhabited . . . we're saved by a fat man with a skipper's cap and a skinny man in a red shirt and white pants who were shipwrecked here.
4. Frostblossom freezes the whole ocean. _[Frostblossom was a very small fey who occasionally showed up to talk to us and could freeze the surface of wineglasses and beer mugs]_
3. Alix's father, returned to his senses, retrieves us in the ship he uses to mine clouds. (who knew?) _[Alix's father had been swindled into a cloud-mining scheme and lost much of the family fortune, and, much to Alix's chagrin, not by Alix.]_
2. Golden Bricks fall from the sky, holding back the tide until Velendo says "I don't believe you're doing this!"
1. The sun goes out. At least we don't drown.


-----------

_Note from Sialia to Piratecat _
Hmm, as I recall one of the notes on the Ambassadopple's papers was "11/2 Clith and Peggus: Good Gift"

Lessee . . .today is just about 11/2 by my reckoning.  . . .Now let me see, is there anything around here that looks giftwrapped?

_Response from Piratecat:_ Yes. You.
-------------

_Note from Sialia to Piratecat (creatively adapted for brevity):_
"Actually, I'm kind of impressed. You did come up with something Alix can't buy or burn his way out of. (Although, truth, I'm still kind of hoping to see him try and wind up fusing himself into a solid block of glass.)

----------------
Note from Sialia to Piratecat, referring to TMoSaT:

_. . .I wonder if Arcade could Fabricate this Stick here into a shovel . . . ?_

-------------------------------
_note from Sialia to the party:_
Any votes for calling Kevin's bluff? Would he _really_ drown all of us? How many rounds before he starts sweating, too?

 naah . . .me neither.

--------------------

_note from Sialia to Piratecat:_

you brute.
I'm not telling you nothin'

------------------


----------



## Sialia

_(backstory you need to know to understand this: After the fiasco with the Academy of Flamecraft and an ensuing mental battle with a doppleganger which ended badly for all parties, Cadrienne retired from adventuring. Permanently. She took a vow of nonviolence and resolved never to kill any creature ever again, including for food. 
After some time elapsed, the Defenders rescued/destroyed a village, and decided to rebuild a village on the site. They asked Cadrienne to come help, and she decided that her calling in life was to help build a Shining City in the wilderness with a great University and Library that would be dedicated to knowledge and tolerance and the proposition that there had to be some other way to become rich and powerful in life than to become a high level adventurer by killing things. They named the city "Daybreak," and she has been living there ever since. By the time the Buried Up to the Neck in Sand story took place, enough time had passed for Dylrath to achieve 7th level, which is the level Cadrienne was at when she retired.) ]_
_[Further notes: by our estimates we had about 7 minutes to get the party out before the tide drowned them. We did not know Peggus's class or level, or whether he was really alone or had more back up handy. We knew the size of the force the Brotherhood had sent to take us down, so they presumably knew who they were dealing with and weren't leaving us in the care of 2 weaklings we could take easily. But it wasn't at all clear what we were going to have to face apart from being naked, unarmed, marooned, drowned and  . . .]_ 
_[ Also note: I told Piratecat what I had planned (although not how I was going to execute it) and he said he honestly doubted it would work. He gave me fair warning I might want to try something else, and I ignored it.]_ 


Right, where was I mates? Right, on the beach. Naked, apart from the sand and the seaweed.
Admiring the view. Wondering whether it would be the last view I ever saw and why there weren't any naked women in it. Well, Tao was naked, but she was also buried way off to my right, and I couldn't see her at all. And Claris don't count, 'cause even if I could get a peek it wouldn't be worth the price I'd pay for it.

Well, anyway, I wish I could tell you how the Lady who did show up made her entrance, but all I could see was the water pulling back down the beach before smacking that gritty saltwater up my nose and into my eyes again. And me without so much as a fingertip free to wipe my nose, or flip off the bastards who did this to us. 

I'd've shut my eyes, but I was trying to keep a watch on the big bald guy with the scimitar, who looked like he was loosening up his arm for a little golfing practice, just in case any of us got too wiggly. And hey, if I gotta die a nasty painful death, I'm not gonna miss the show when I've already gone and paid a heap for front row seats. So I did a lot of squinting instead.

Anyway, I remember hearing Tomtom say, "I'm in. That ought to soften him up," which meant he'd begun a psionic attack on one of our captors, but I don't know what he had planned. 

And I remember catching a glimpse of Nyquil--he was a bit out in front of us, closer to the water--but he's an owl, see, so he could turn his head back to look at his master while he blew bubbles, and I could tell he saw something behind us, but I couldn't tell _what_ he saw coming over the dunes.

And then I heard her speak. 

"Hey there," she said, and I thought I knew the voice, but I couldn't quite remember who it was at first. But everybody else knew who it was, and their expressions--well--I'd like to say they were all hopeful and relieved looking, but honestly, well, of all the folks TMoSaT might have gone to ask for help, I'm not sure the rest of us would have picked _her_ if he'd asked us first.

TMoSaT--the Master of Space and Time--Arcade's psionic staff --could teleport, see? And though the bad guys had stripped us naked and confiscated all our stuff, they hadn't _restrained_ any of it.  So, naturally, TMoSaT went off to find someone to pry his "walking appendages" out of the sand. Why he picked Cadrienne, I'll never know.

I'm sure he regretted it. Rumor has it she made him ask _nicely_.

Anyway, Cadrienne -- I mean, the lady had thrown in the towel on adventuring years ago, and, worse, taken a vow of nonviolence,  and another of poverty, and sold all her weapons and donated the proceeds to charity. Not exactly a cavalry charge come to mow down our enemies. What was she going to do, _talk_ him to death?

And also, well, she was _Cadrienne_. When she said "Hey there," she wasn't talking to us. She was saying hi to Peggus.

"Cadrienne!" Nolin called.

"Who are you?" Peggus said, wheeling around. I couldn't see his fighting stance to tell whether he was a swordsman or a spellcaster or what, but I tell from the way he said it that he was dropping into one. "Do you know these people?"

The big bald slave with the scimitar remained resolutely fixed on us, taking a couple of practice backswings to gauge the stroke on Alix's head..

"I'm a friend, Cadrienne. And yes, I know them," she said. "They've gone and caused a lot of trouble again, haven't they?"

"These murderers killed my sister.  I'm going to see them executed," he added defensively. "I deserve my chance to avenge her death."

"I'm sure you do," she said. "I know they've certainly caused all sorts of trouble before."

And at about this point, I recalled hearing that when Nolin's ex-girlfriend showed up once with a meat tenderizer to kill Nolin, Cadrienne had actually agreed that Cinda deserved a chance to kill him and loaned her a magical flail to make a better job of it. Later, she rationalized that she had been carrying raise dead and just didn't want to Nolin to have to suffer a lot of little painful blows when it could be handled with a clean kill, but that's beside the point. The point is, Cadrienne actually thought about stuff like whether somebody deserved a chance to kill you for something you'd done. Why, out of all the folks we knew back home, hadn't TMoSat picked someone else--_anyone_ else?

"Their days of murdering are over," Peggus said smugly, "Their doom is assured and they will pay for what they have done." 

Another wave leaned in and suggested heavily that my account was in arrears.

"You must have loved your sister very much," Cadrienne said. "If their doom is assured, why don't we go walk a bit so you can tell me about her? We needn't stay here to watch the unpleasantness of these people receiving justice. I'm sure it's well in hand."

And she began to walk down the beach, and Peggus followed her like a lost puppy who has found a tenderhearted housewife carrying home a leaky basket of ground round. 

I got a glimpse of them as they crossed my field of view, and then I heard them until they passed over the dunes. I tell you now that she was cheating.. Nobody who has been seasick in the cargo hold of a ship for three days looks that good. Cadrienne was always a bit of a looker -- in a strictly too pure to be much fun defiling kind of way-- but that day, she was  .  . .well, she was cheating or I'm no Birdhouse. 

I mean, apart from the smell, which Peggus didn't seem to notice. Probably he was walking upwind. She was wearing ratty blue canvas trousers with manure stains on 'em, and a white tunic with blue embroidery on it--really bad embroidery, I remember that.  And her hair was mostly escaping from that blue kerchief she was wearing--if the outfit weren't Morphatian blue, you'd swear she was an ordinary farmwife, except that she was looking too charming to be merely mortal. She took his arm, gave him a sympathetic ear, and Peggus fell for the distraction, easy as that.

We didn't especially care whether that was her intent or not. It was a distraction, and since the salt cure was starting to be a nuisance, we figured it was as good a time as any for us to get to work.

Arcade disappeared under the sand in a blink so fast the slave didn't even have time to draw back the scimitar before there was nothing left to hit. Tomtom slipped into what little shadow he had, and was also silently gone. Enraged, the big slave turned back to the nearest target at hand. If I hadn't been craning my neck trying to see where Cadrienne and Peggus had wandered off to, I might have noticed and warned my dear old master, but I'm not sure what good that would have done him. Something--Alix always thought of something. But it was too late, and the blow to his head was sickening, and I'm glad I missed seeing it. The sound was bad enough. 

"I don't believe this is happening," I heard Velendo say, and though he was too far down the beach for me to see, I knew that probably meant he was out. 

For what it's worth, I did try wriggling my way out, but the folks who planted us knew their business, and I wasn't making much headway. Legway. Armway, what_ever_.

And then, just as the slave decided to try chopping at some more of the heads he could still see, the earth _moved_. And up from under Nyquil the sand rose, and rose, sprayed in all directions, and an enormous carapace broke through with a startled Nyquil still sitting atop. A real living Umber Hulk, just like the shell of the one we had seen back at the Academy of Flame', only this one was alive. With a single utterance Arcade had transformed himself, and was burrowing through the sand at tremendous speed.

There was some business with taking care of the slave, but he was nearly witless and didn't last long, and the rest of us were soon free, if somewhat battered, weak and completely sand-in-everywhere naked.

But I couldn't seem to catch my breath. Even after I got out of the sand, I was still choking like a fish. 

So was everyone else. 

There was something more we hadn't reckoned on--Peggus had poisoned the lot of us, just in case.

We went off to have a word with him about it. A good, sharp, pointed one.

It didn't take us long to find him. Peggus and Cadrienne were sitting under a tree, very close to each other. He was sitting quietly with his eyes closed, and she was sitting beside him, staring intently, almost anxiously, at him, but not quite touching him. She turned and looked at us coming and put a finger to her lips and held up her other hand in a gesture that meant "wait."

Wait. Oh bother. She wasn't going to let us take him in fair combat. She was going to make us parley with the poncy git. Oooo-oooh, and we were gonna have to spare his life, 'specially since Alix was out of commission and we couldn't expect anybody else to make the necessary "mistakes." I missed my old master, and his body wasn't even cold in the ground yet. 

And then Peggus opened his eyes and there were tears in them. Not so they'd drip, but full anyway. He looked and looked at her, with strange things in his expression I'll never understand. And then he saw us, and it clouded over, his face settling back into the mask of hatred.

"Except that they're going to kill me now," he said. "Not that that will do them any good. They will die anyway." He shook his head. "It's just as well. We will make an end of it today, and the hurting will end."

"No," she said urgently, "it's not just as well. It doesn't have to be that way. You know it. You can change how it ends. You can."

"Why should I?"

"Because it won't end your pain. If you die this way, today, you will spend eternity in the place where your sister's deceivers will spend theirs. If you live today, if you set yourself free from them, then you will have a chance to choose your eternity. I do not hate those who are Evil, but you have not chosen Evil for yourself. You were led into it, and will never be comfortable there. While you live, you can still choose. Choose a path that is better for you."

Or something like that, anyway. That sort of thing, approximately.

And he gave us the antidote.

Honestly, he did, just like that. Oh, there was some bargaining and bickering, general distrust all around, but we never really had to lean on him. He took us aboard his ship and gave us back our clothes and stuff, and took us back to Oursk and let us go. We returned the courtesy and let him go, too. Mostly because Cadrienne asked us to, and it was the only thing she asked for to clear the debt for rescuing us. Pathetic.

Cadrienne for some reason refused to set foot on the ship. She tried to walk up the gangplank and then shuddered and pulled away and said she couldn't go.  He offered to stay to protect her, but she sent him on with us--we were in a hurry to catch up with that bastard illithid Sla-mori who had set the whole thing up, and said she could transport herself home safely in the morning.

We'd had enough of our beach holiday at that point, and had work to do, so we left her there, alone on the beach.
--------------------------------------


----------



## madriel

And that's why clerics are the most fun-and hardest-class to roleplay.


----------



## KidCthulhu

This was Cadrienne's crowning moment, the apex of the life of a complex, deeply played character.  It beats out the "Trapping the Doppleganger in a Mind Reading Feedback Loop" and "Handing Nolin's Ex the Mace", and stands supreme as the shining pinnacle of a career of non-violence and understanding.

So now she can retire in triumph, and make way for Dilly's mindless, Brownian Motion fun.


----------



## J'quan

Wow, Siallia.  I read some of these logs, told in your storyteller voice, and I can imagine you sitting on our couch, telling us a story about Miranda in the same voice (for those not in the know, she's graced our Delta Green game with a really fun, complex, character.)

So, when does Miranda bring up the fact she's got this younger brother named Drylath... :-D


----------



## Sialia

I'm still fishing around for Miranda's voice. I don't think I've really "got" her yet.

She's not as ebullient as Dylrath, not as loving and patient as Cadrienne, she's a lot more as I was freshman year of college: kind of lost and overwhelmed, struggling to keep up in a world that doesn't seem quite real  . . . or rather a world where reality is different than she expected. She can't quite seem to get the hang of the rules, the etiquette, the strategy. 

Tricky playing a character struggling to find her identity at the same time that she's trying to hide it from everyone else. Most of  the time she doesn't know what name she's using today, or which version of her story she's handing out, or what the whole reality under the thing she's trying to hide is.

And trouble always seems to catch up with the party so unexpectedly, which mystifies me, because I'm usually so good at seeing trouble coming a mile off, and Mythago's machinations always seem like they should have been obvious, once we get to the hindsight stage.

She is one evil Keeper, of that there is no doubt.

Anyway, no DG Storyhour from me just yet, because I can't write a story that has me completely perplexed about which way it's about to turn.

But it's a good thing the party has been keeping such detailed notes for me.


----------



## Sialia

Cadrienne's private conversation with Peggus was just about the pinnacle of my roleplaying career, it's true.  it would be tough to top that one.

There were no dice involved.

Piratecat was convinced that there was nothing she could say to Peggus to get him to change his mind about the Defenders. In addition to having a real grievance against them, Peggus had been messed with by a Mindflayer who had augmented a lot of Peggus's negative feelings of guilt and hatred.

And Piratecat didn't buy my whole theory about nonviolent gaming. 

But I had a big chip on my shoulder and I was determined to prove it could be done.

I spent a week and a half cramming for the session. I read psych textbooks, I read Ghandi, I read several treatises pro and con the justification of warfare. I read the PHB with lawyerly attention to detail, and rewrote her spellist a half dozen times. 

And it was every bit worth it.

(more later--child care to attend to)


----------



## madriel

D&D is overly skewed towards see it=kill it-->gain xp.  It's so oriented towards beating challenges by beating on them.  That makes non-militant clerics difficult to play effectively.  You don't get the chance to negotiate or give spiritual counselling to an enemy.

Kudos to you, Sialia, for roleplaying a compassionate and pacifistic cleric.  Kudos to Ol' Pegleg too for giving you the chance to do it.


----------



## Sialia

Right. That's the thing: Piratecat cooperated and gave me a fighting chance. As it were.

It wasn't easy, but it _was_ possible. If Peggus had been a full fledged "bwah-hah-hah" or "chomp-slurp" evil-doer, I'd have had to do something very different.

But he was a human, with real motivations for his desire for destruction. So there was room to try something I had always wanted to do. And for the first time, the other Defenders were not in a position to force the interaction to go another direction. I had the villain all to myself. (I never did find out what his class or level was.)

Cadrienne had to retire, not just because I was bored with her, but also because once she swore off violence I could not use her as an ongoing PC without driving everyone nuts. Getting to smack things is a large part of why people show up to play. It's fun. We can't do it in real life, so it's fun to pretend about.

Resolving complex political, economic, environmental and emotional issues is too much like work to be satisfying as a hobby, I think.

I was leaning on Piratecat because I wanted there to be _more_ of that in the world, but I didn't want that to be all there was.

And I wanted to see if it could be done.

And Cadrienne needed one last chance to redeem herself.
After her last couple of fiascos, I had put away her folder and tried to learn from the experiences and forget about the embarassments.

When Piratecat asked me to pull out her character sheet and see if there was something she could do to help the Defenders get out of their current predicament, I was astonished to see how powerful a character she was stat-wise. I'd been playing Dylrath for so long I had forgotten what it was like to actually have some useful skills and abilities. 

Dylrath had taught me that it was completely unnecessary to be as powerful as everyone else to be fun to play. The joy of roleplaying is being "yourself."

But it was amazing to have a spell list again, and some high stats, and the certain knowledge that Divine assistance is close at hand. For once session it was a real hoot feeling almighty.

And then we sent the dear child home to her foster children and Town Council and fundraising for the University about as fast as we could send her, and I went back to being Dylrath, because after all, whacking into things is fun.

Piratecat has always been obliging about giving the party the kind of puzzles they ask for. 
When Arcade was in the party, we got riddles. 
With Dylrath around, we got puzzles. 
Tao got giants to fight. 

Currently, there's been a LOT of requests for some undead, I believe, and I think he's been working up something  . . . 

I've thought and thought about how to describe what Cadrienne and Peggus discussed behind the dunes.  The trouble is, she's can be a terribly tedious storyteller--she's long winded (worse than me) and prone to analysis and pontification.

I'm working on a compromise. Either I'll use an omniscient narrator, or I'll make Dylrath go ask her about it and tell it from his point of view.

I'm starting classes this week, though, so I'll have to fit it in between some other responsibilities. It may take a bit. Stay tuned . . .


----------



## Piratecat

Sialia said:
			
		

> * (I never did find out what his class or level was.)
> *




In 2e, he was the equivalent of a 1 HD commoner. Nowadays, he's have been a 2nd or 3rd lvl aristocrat.


----------



## Sialia

Hmm. How about that. 

And here I was worried he could heave lightning bolts or summon minions or stuff like that.

All he really had over the Defenders was the antidote to the poison and a willingness to die rather than give it to them.

A simple mind read could've had _that_ out of him.

But we had no way of knowing that at the time. N'import. It _felt_ like a big victory at the time.


----------



## Corran

The Defenders on page 2??

Say it ain't so!  ;-)


----------



## Sialia

Sadly, it may be a bit before we can give you more. There's always more, but it may be a bit before we can get to it.

I've started school again this week, carrying three courses and still working and taking care of the Scampering One, and all the rest. 'Deeto's gonna have his hands full picking up my slack, I'm sure.

So I'll check in when I can, but I have no plans to begin anything else that takes a lot of storytelling for a little while.

Bandeeto will try to give you your fix from time to time as the semester progresses.

There's still some visuals for us to post that shouldn't take to long to get up--we've got scans of the abassadopple's notes, and that sort of thing. We'll add 'em in as we get to 'em to keep the thread from falling into oblivion.

And of course, you know I just can't help myself, so I'm bound to pop in with an anecdote from time to time.

Feel free to bump us with questions about stuff. It'll help me remember what other stories I promised you.

'till then,

love,

Sialia


----------



## Evil Gnome

BUMP!!!!!!!


----------



## madriel

Could one of you tell us the story of the Unflaith (sp?).  That was an intriguing picture in this thread:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24156

Pretty please?  When you have a spare moment of course.


----------



## the Jester

And I'd still love to hear the story of Alix...

Please???  I'll cook you all dinner.

Whenever I meet you, that is...


----------



## Sialia

Sadly, neither Bandeeto nor I can tell you about Unflaith, as we weren't there when she happened. I helped Piratecat find a name for her, and sketche dup the doodle, but I swear all the rest of it was his. Honest!

It was one of his nastiest monsters ever. 

I really thought he had told that story, back when the storyhour was new . . .probably lost several board versions ago, but perhaps someone has a copy? Kidcthulhu really ought to undertake telling it if Piratecat can't be persuaded.

Alix is a fine, fine tale, but long in the telling, and I'm missing pieces of it. I think when we get around to telling the Comet Cycle, you will see most of it intertwined in there--it really can't be seperated.  

I know you guys need the Comet Cycle, but I can't undertake it just now. Someday it will surely happen. But don't hold your breath--I won't even think of beginning it before December, and it would take months or years to post all of it. It took years to play all of it.

But it was totally wonderful--Piratecat thought he was building up to a climax that would be the culminating event of his campaign.

little did he know . . .


----------



## madriel

The Rat Bastard DM came up against his Rat Bastard PCs, eh?

Thanks for sharing the stories you could.  I've enjoyed them.  As for the Comet Cycle and Alix and all the other cool stories just waiting to be told...we'll be here whenever any of you have the chance to tell them.


----------



## Negative Zero

yeah, what madriel said. thanks bunches! you're the best!  i too really enjoyed reading this thread. i'll probly read it again, just for the heck of it ... i'm sure my less than stellar memory has dropped more than a few details along the way 

~NegZ


----------



## Nail

Negative Zero said:
			
		

> *yeah, what madriel said. thanks bunches! *



Me too.  

Whenever you feel inspired....we'll listen.


----------



## Kosh

*bump*


----------



## Sialia

Thank you for bump.

I promise the long silence isn't because I'm not thinking about you guys.  Good stuff is in the works. But it is a LOT of work, and rather than string you along with bits and pieces with long breaks in between, I'm trying to get it all together first.


Look for next stuff from me in late December, I think!


----------



## Pyske

Wow.  What a fascinating, excellent thread.  Thanks folks.  I feel a bit more inspired for my own game than I did before reading this.  Thanks again.

 . . . . . . . -- Eric


----------



## Pyske

not quite sure how this double posted, sorry


----------



## Joshua Randall

Long time reader, first time poster. (Poster? Now I feel like a pin-up.)

I can't resist teasing the DoD just a bit. Their low-level nemesis, "Fallane Deepleaf", fooled them multiple times by using assumed identities.

Over in the Piratecat's Updated Storyhour thread, the DoD's latest high-level nemesis, "Kellharin", fooled them into attacking someone else of that name.

I guess you really _can_ fool all of the people some of the time!


----------



## Evil Gnome

double post


----------



## Evil Gnome

The arch nemesis is none other THAN Fallane Deapleaf, the "fake Kellharin"  is fallane, he has come back to haunt nolin from the annals of time.  He just wont leave you guys alone


----------



## Sialia

Unlikely, but think of this.

Nolin's Dad has been going around leaving kids all over the place _for a very long time_. And he's already shown us he's not particular about the race of the moms of his kids. All he knows is, one of his children stands between Spira and destruction. Or stood. Or might stand someday.


So the possibility exists that Nol's Dad is the _real _Kellharin's sire, or grandsire, or somesuch, and that Nolin, or any of his siblings , might do as a substitute "member of the line."

And before you go getting all worked up over this, remember: given how long Nol's Dad has been going at it, and his considerable enthusiasm for the project, almost anyone on the plane might qualify under those conditions.

Now that you're all properly grossed out by the implications, and the implications of the implications, Have a Happy Halloween!


----------



## Eridanis

Sialia said:
			
		

> *And before you go getting all worked up over this, remember: given how long Nol's Dad has been going at it, and his considerable enthusiasm for the project, almost anyone on the plane might qualify under those conditions.*




Well, think of it this way: in 100,000 years, perhaps every single sentient being of every race might be able to trace their ancestry back to him. Talk about a brotherhood of men.


----------



## mythago

catching waaaay up...



> Nolin snarled and was as unpleasant as possible the whole time




Another half-elf who loathes elves in general and an elven father in particular? Embrace me, my brother!

Pssst....Piratecat....I get an AoE on him for an Embrace, right?


----------



## Dawn

BUMP 

Waiting patiently ......


----------



## Sialia

Three more weeks to go to get to the end of the semester.

Assuming I survive, I will begin writing again at that point. It may take a bit after the writing begins before the actual _posting_ thing happens, of course . . .

I've pulled some really amazing Dylraths to get through the semester. Wish I had time to tell you the stuff I've been getting away with .. .

thanks for the bump.


----------



## the Jester

Can't wait for the next installment!

And damn, I _still_ want Alix' story... I know, I know, too tied in to everything else to tell easily, but I've always wanted to play a character who conquered the world, so I want to see how he slipped up...


----------



## KidCthulhu

Sialia said:
			
		

> *Unlikely, but think of this.
> 
> Nolin's Dad has been going around leaving kids all over the place for a very long time*




Actually, it hasn't been _that_ long.  Maybe 100 years or so.  I doubt very much if our Puppeteer is a brother.  And if he is, well, blood has never stopped Nolin from beating up a brother...


----------



## weiknarf

bump


----------



## Tor Bladebearer

This may fill in a few holes... it's a listing of run logs that I found when going through my old notes.  Hopefully this isn't spoiling your narrative thread here, Sialia -- if so lemme know and I'll edit it back out.

7/2/1997    Eltariel's crash landing in Gordie's Hole, joined the Defenders & fought the Masters
7/9/1997    Travel to Queenstown, attacked by sabreclaws
7/24/1997    (Alternative PCs) Group of guards attack and destroy a Sabeclaw pit
8/5/1997    Defeat another wing of saberclaws in Queenstown.  Meet Kidd (assassin of Toraz)
8/28/1997    Hideous hasted hydra ambush by Wynt & Kidd.  Defenders routed.
9/4/1997    Tom-Tom kills Wynt.  Another ambush by Kidd, Kidd is slain.
9/17/1997    Show up in Tradesbreak.  Mara joins group.
10/6/1997    Battle w/demons in inn.  Alix falls into Mt. Celestia.
10/23/1997    Research in Tradesbreak, attempt to rescue Alix.
10/27/1997    Shadows attack.  Visit by Hagiok.  Alix's funeral.
11/10/1997    Battle against Mang raiders.
11/25/1997    Interrogate the Mang, travel back to inn, read book.
12/30/1997    Wander city of Gecko, meet Sarah and Dry Marta
1/15/1998    Ambush group of Imbindarlans in warehouse w/ undead.
1/29/1998    Dinner with Her Darkling Eminence.
2/11/1998    Guards come for Sharada, talk with Markander.
2/26/1998    Enter time-lost valley, fight with giant bone construct.
3/12/1998    In black tower, fight with crystal spiders.  Tao dies and is raised, Martyn stoned.
4/8/1998    Rescue Ioun, restart time.
4/20/1998    Head out into the desert for Tovag Baragu


Unfortunately it ends around 4/20/98 because after that I switched to keeping these electronically, and those files are on a machine that has long since disappeared into the void.  There's about another year of runs that I have in my head and hope to log someday (ha!) including the final crossing of the desert to Tovag Baragu, the extraordinary gathering that occurred there, the specatcular climax to the Comet Cycle, and the year or two (game time) of miscellaneous adventures that occupied the Defenders after the Comet but before Eversink.  Eltariel retired into research for a way to return to his home plane shortly before the Story Hours here begin (with Eversink) so fortunately that is all covered already.


----------



## Knightfall

bump


----------



## Sialia

*Dylrath and Teliaz*

_This storyhour written Nov 2001, (while the Defenders were in Eversink) regarding Dylrath's first private meeting with Teliaz. In which we see how Dylrath got himself in to this mess in the first place by allowing his tongue to be a lot more clever than he is._


The Professor of Thaumaturgic Divination was droning into the fifteenth section of the outline he had chalked on the board at the beginning of class, with no apparent end in sight.

Slouched in his chair, Dylrath idly wondered what it would feel like to slide a short sword into the man's guts and up through his chest.

Dylrath blinked.  A moment ago he had been idly wondering whether there would be crab cakes or herring for lunch. Something . . . he turned to look out the window.

Teliaz. 

Oh crap. 

Teliaz was standing there looking in, looking into the classroom and directly at him. 

Torazite, ptah, Dylrath thought.  I hate that about them.

Ordinarily, Dylrath knew when anyone was looking at him. Ordinarily, Dylrath knew exactly who was watching him all the time. He'd spent a wish on that gift.

But Torazite assassins had god-granted obscurity to scrying, which worked even on Dylrath's talent. Who knew how long the living son of Toraz, God of Murder, had been standing out there in the courtyard, staring at him? Dylrath felt kind of ill at the thought. He raised his hand.

"Professor? May I be excused? I feel kind of ill. Like I'm about to be really unwell."

The professor barely flickered an eyebrow in Dylrath's direction. Young master Birdhouse's tardiness and absences were legendary around the school. As were his excuses. The professor did not have time to have his lecture usurped by another example. "Excused. Exam in two days, clear?"

"Yessir. Very clear, sir." Dylrath said, thinking it was the only 
concise thing the professor had said all morning. Also, that he was actually hoping he'd get a chance to show up for that exam, ready or not.

Dylrath left the classroom wondering where he would go. He had been hunted by Torazite assassins before and had only survived because the Defenders of Daybreak had been willing to walk into a deathtrap to haul his butt out of a cage full of brown mold. 

Getting to his Room seemed the most sensible idea, but also a predictable one, and there were yards of corridor to pass, and a courtyard to cross. 

He had also traveled with Teliaz before, on the way to Tovag Barugu, when there was little choice about the matter. He couldn't say he knew Teliaz well, but the pimply-faced godling, who oozed poison from his pores, had been an unpleasant companion, and one the whole party had wholeheartedly approved of shoving through a portal into the middle of a 
desert full of thri-kreen and abandoning at the first opportunity.

Dylrath didn't expect the reunion to be a particularly joyous one.

He wondered why he had left the relative sanctuary of the classroom, and then decided that a room full of fourth form divination students and an elderly professor would be more liability than protection. 

Dylrath was considerably older and tougher than most of his classmates, and he liked most of them. If I'm going to have to deal with Teliaz, he thought, I've got to do it as far away from people I like as possible. 

He wondered just how long it would take Teliaz just hanging around the courtyard to make the students mob the professor and cantrip him to death. Teliaz had that effect on people.

He swallowed, and made his way cautiously to the end of the corridor. 

He stood in front of the door, thinking. Teliaz saw me in the room. 
Teliaz knows I have to walk through this door to get outside. He'll be ready if I go through it.  I won't survive going through it.

And then he heard Teliaz’s oily voice through the door. "Master Birdhouse?  A moment of your time."

It was sort of a request, as if a request were being made by somebody who was in the habit of making demands and giving orders, not making requests. 

There was definitely something odd about the intonation. 

It didn’t sound like a threat, for one thing.

Dylrath thought, as rapidly as possible. I've got to get to the 
Defenders. I definitely don't want to go this alone. But the door to the room that held his scrying mirror was in his closet, across the courtyard and up two flights of stairs. I can't get there. 

"Teliaz, old pal. I'd love to hear all about it, but I'm, uh, concerned about just walking out to meet you, imagine that. Um. Whatdya say you give me a moment or two to, uh, prepare some defenses, as a gesture of good faith?"

"Whatever."


----------



## Sialia

*Hytarlyd*

Dylrath leaned against the wall opposite the door and thought. The last time he had been alone with a really powerful Toraz worshipper--the time he had almost died in the cage full of brown mold because even though the Defenders had come for him, they hadn't come quite in time--the mirror had also been out of his reach. 

Ordinarily he had to walk in through the open door to the mirror room before he could command Htarlyd to open a portal to somewhere. But that one time, when he really needed it, 
Htarlyd had come to him and opened the door just where he needed it to open, just in the nick of time. 

Well, if it worked once, it was worth a second try. And he knew Htarlyd a lot better these days. A lot better. 

He closed his eyes and focused.

And then he stepped forward into a room full of warm light. 

What a relief.

"Howdy boss!" his reflection in the mirror said, looking up from a 
scroll full of decorative pictures of young women, and grinning. "What can I do for you?"

"Velendo please, and quickly." 

It hardly took a moment for Htarlyd to locate the old man. "No problem. Ask me another."

"In a minute. Wait here, I'll be right back."


----------



## Sialia

*Velendo*

Velendo had _not_ been especially helpful. Touchingly concerned, yes, but not especially helpful.

 “ ‘. . .jolly him along,’ he says” said Dylrath. “’Act sympathetic,’ he said. ‘until I can think of something else,’” he repeated to Hytarlyd, and then added as an afterthought, although it wasn’t clear whether this was part of the quotation or not, “Oy.”

“He was in the middle of a combat, wasn’t he boss?”

“So he was a little busy.”

Htarlyd and Dylrath practiced giving each other the Deltarian eyebrow for a minute.

“Ok, fine,” they both said simultaneously, giving it up. 

And then, realizing there was no further sleuth work to be done by thwarted scrying, and that leaving a bored Teliaz hanging around the schoolyard was a risk to everything in it, “Ready when you are.”

Htarlyd opened the door. Dylrath stepped through.


----------



## Negative Zero

wow
was that an ... _UPDATE???_
gawsh
i dunno what to say
thrilled i am ... really!

me likes
me would like to likes summore, please?

~NegZ


----------



## Sialia

*Dylrath gives Teliaz The Big Idea*

It was all a little blurry afterwards. Dylrath could never quite recall how the conversation had started, or at what moment he had taken leave of his senses and allowed his mouth to start thinking for him. Sure he’d shared a couple of beers with the guy, but he was sure he’d been sober at the time. He was certain Teliaz was sober--heck, with his immunity to poisons, the poor kid couldn’t help himself.

He remembered Teliaz whining about being depressed, abused, miserable, etc. etc. He remembered that Teliaz had said that  . . . had said . . . how did it go?

_ “They want me to mastermind your friends' death. *Everyone* 
hates them: Yorrine, my Dad, Imbindarla, Orthyss, everyone. They want me to do this and that, here and there. I hate being manipulated._

And Dylrath had replied easily enough, "Sounds like a slacker's daydream assignment to me. As long as they're stuck either going to the White Kingdom or getting executed by T'Cri, seems like there's little point in working up a sweat. Hardly worth planning anything grandiose when they can take care of getting themselves killed all by themselves and you can take credit for it.”

He remembered a vague and giddy sense of elation at that point, as the flow of words coursed out of him. Jollying. Sympathizing. Per my instructions. Also buying the Defenders some short time to be forewarned. Talking Teliaz into blowing it off as long as possible can’t hurt.

It was like a really beautiful aircurrent under the Outgrabe. He remembered abandoning his sense of reality to the entracing music of his own words and hoping against hope that Teliaz would, too. Hey this sort of thing always worked for Nolin, right? And Alix. Alix could do this in his eternal sleep. Why not go for it.  The really big scam is always harder to get caught at than the petty one. Murder one man and get sent to prison. Send troops into battle and be a king.

"What you need," Dylrath said, "is to get out of your Dad's house. You need your own place. Your own thing."

"First of all, you gotta realize by now, he can't be grooming you to take over the family business. There's only room for one God 
of Murder, and he isn't about to retire and hand you the keys to the shop, is he?  Which means you're gonna be his lackey _forever_. "

"Second, his worshippers are mostly losers and if you did knock him off and take over, you'd have to listen to them whining for the rest of eternity. Spare me."

"I mean, if you were a god in your own right, you'd be able to grant wishes and stuff, right? So you could wish yourself a suit of less bugrepellent skin and a set of hot babe priestesses, and you'd be all set."

"But a god needs worshippers, and some sort of domain that doesn't tread on some other god's turf. And while you're at it, I'd go fishing for a set of worshippers I felt like hanging out with.  People who's petitions were actually interesting."   

"If it were me, I'd go grab the franchise for being the God of Suicidal Hobbies. First of all, I don't think there is one already. No, no, not the God of Suicide--yuck--if there's any group of folks more pathetic and whining than murderers, it's got to be suicides. Nah, I'm talking about people who don't wanna die, they just wanna do stuff for fun that has a high probability of getting them killed or maimed. Daredevils."

"Think of it this way: I'm careening down a mountain on the Outgrabe, and I hit a rock I wasn't expecting, and what's the first thing I think: "Ohgodohgodohgod!" 

"And you know I'm not talking to Calphas because you know what he'd say: 'Get off the flying lumber and WALK, you moron.' Calphas, I love him, and I've got this sweetheart deal with him that as long as I stay a worshipper my lungs keep working--but his idea of protecting folks can be kind of stifling, you know? Stay out of trouble is great advice, but you just can't really _live_ that way, you know?” 

“Anyway, if I were the kind of god who answered that kind of prayer with an improbable survival, just this one last time, I'd have a bucket of worshipers in short order. "

"And the great thing is, the longer you keep people alive, the longer they go around worshipping you and converting others and stuff like that. Y'all can always take back your favor if they push it too hard or don't pay their tithes, or whatever."

Dylrath took a sip, and thought for a moment. Well, it felt like thinking, had there been any actually thinking invovled.

"For that matter, the Defenders all know they trip to the White Kingdom is a suicide mission--that's why T'Cri agreed to let them take it on as part of their death sentence. So they're all about to go engage in a suicidal activity."

"OK, so it's not a hobby, per se, since most of them are career adventurers, but there might be some flex in your demesnes. 
I'm not saying you want to do them any favors, but it'd be a hell of a group to have in your debt, wouldn't it? And it would gall your dad no end, I'm sure. "

"The point is, you start off with something small, like 'dangerous 
hobbies' so the other Big Gods don't feel a need to pay too much attention until you get going and wind up the God of Adventurers.  I mean, who's gonna have more powerful worshippers than the God of Adventurers? 
Sweet."

Teliez had looked . . . impressed? Suprised? Interested at least. 

Dylrath was still talking, so he must still be breathing, so Teliaz couldn't have lost patience with him just yet.

Dylrath mused, almost to himself  “. . .probably want to be Neutral at least, so I didn't have to worry about whether folks were being 'true to their ideals' and all that. When you're messing with probabilities, it's probably best to be even handed about who you screw up and who you save--the daring 
of the stunt is the thing, not why they're doing it. But that's just me. Grandiose moralizing always gets me down."

And at last Teliaz interrupted. “You think that could work?”

And Dylrath had replied, “It couldn't hurt, could it?”

Teliaz looked skeptical.

Dylrath felt the twist in the terrain and knew that this was the moment to either shift his weight a bit, or crash into the hill in a truly painful way. Bailing out never crossed his mind. Where was there to bail out to?

“I'm just guessing,” he started up again, pouring Teliaz another useless beer, and himself another that made him feel better at least, “a guy with your native gifts, well, poisons don't do much to you, do they?  So getting drunk to drown your sorrows isn't much of an option is it? Or even faery dragon breath? Pity.”

“But speed, that's the thing.” 

“Acceleration isn't a poison, though it'll kill you just as neat. But if it doesn't kill ya' and you stick the landing, whoa, now there's a rush.  There's great cliff diving not far from here. And I knew a barbarian once who liked riding stampeding herd beasts. And a guy from the Theocracy who said they had some deal with ice and long metal runners. Oh yeah--and there was a sailor told me about standing in a dinghy, shooting a harpoon into a leviathan, getting yanked out of the boat and then getting dragged a couple of leagues standing on the wake. "

"Ok, I think he was swappin' fibs."

" But there's got to be dozens of ways to get there, and a guy like you, well, I'll bet you're pretty damn hard to kill.  So you might as well try out a few things and see what ya like. Kill a few hours, blow off some steam and give your dad a headache. Even if you don't decide to be God of Lethal Amusements, it's bound to be a good time."

Teliez stared into his beer in a pensive way. “I suppose. Where would you start?”

Dylrath hemmed. “Um.  Someplace with a lot of adventures in it? I dunno. You're the half-God: extend your senses and find a big group of them."

Teliez looked up, and to Dylrath’s surprise there was a fiercely interested, and scarily determined glint in his eyes. “ I.. I will! I'll defy my father. I will make my own path!”

And then he was gone.

Only a creepy echoing voice lingered in the hall. “I will praise you, Dylrath, because I think you've found me my calling. You'll see me again.”

“Oh.” Dylrath said. “Calphas and Alianna in a hotspring. What have I done?”


----------



## Sollir Furryfoot

I don't believe i've posted in this thread before but, Sialia: very very awesome, inbetween 2 updates here and 2 updates with Piratecat's storyhour, I'm in a gamer's euphoria 

I just love the conversation inbetween Dylrath and Teliaz, very very amusing.  Oh well, if Dylrath is lucky, maybe he'll get a Chosen template (and they thought being a Chosen of Mystra was tough...)


----------



## Sialia

In Which Dylrath Thinks it Over, and Finds that it is Not. 
Over, That Is.
-------------------------------------------

The minute Teliaz was completely gone, and verifiably completely gone, Dylrath retreated to the santuary of the mirror room and closed the portal. In the privacy of his own little demiplane, Dylrath gave himself over to contemplation, and a good case of the shakes.

"Bad ride, boss?" Htarlyd asked, cooperatively mirroring Dylrath sitting on the floor shaking, but managing to pause every so often to scroll forward a picture or two in his book.

"'Salright," Dylrath replied.

But it wasn't.

"Any chance you were watching and can play that last bit back for me?" Dylrath said. "You know, the part where I told Teliaz to go . . . become a god and all that?"

"Nope. You didn't say. Only said to listen for you in case you needed a door opened suddenly." Htarlyd turned the scroll sideways to appreciate an angle the artist hadn't thought would fit in the usual orientation. 

"You told him to do _what_?" the reflection said suddenly, putting down the scroll and looking straight back at Dylrath.

Dylrath tried to repeat what he'd said. Htarlyd got into synch at last and started copying Dylrath's every motion, the way a reflection was supposed to. 

"Whoa," it said at last when Dylrath was finished.

"Whoa," Dylrath echoed.

They opened a wineskin and drank a couple good slugs, simultaneously.

"Velendo?" Htarlyd asked at last.

"Velendo," Dylrath agreed. "But  . . . let's have a few more of these first."

"Next rounds on me," said Htarlyd, reaching in to the reflection of Dylrath's winerack. Dylrath copied him, only picking a different vintage. Htarlyd scowled, but adjusted the reflection of what was left in the winerack accordingly. 

Htarlyd didn't adjust the reflection of what was in his hand.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Apart from nearly strangling Dylrath when he confessed what he’d done, Velendo took the news with his usual aplomb.

"I'm gonna help him," Dylrath tried to explain. "I can do this. Who better than me? I helped Alix, right? Alix never would have gone bad if I'd been there--I always knew that. Claris and I kept him on track. "

"But Alix never made you want to kill people," Velendo said. "Apart from Alix. Teliaz corrupts everyone around him."

"So protect me. Protect me from Evil--or bless the Outgrabe or something. I said I was gonna do it, and it's too late to back out now."

Dylrath stared at the floor. "Look, "I was praying to Calphas to give Teliaz some guidance the first time out saving foolhardy daredevils, and I imagined Calphas saying 'You want somebody to chaperone that crazy kid, YOU do it. You got him into this.' I mean, it seemed like the sort of thing he would say."

" So, I'm, um, gonna do it. I may be a misguided fool, but there it is. I've made a career of being a fool, and so I may as well go for being the biggest one of all time."

Velendo looked thoughtful, and said nothing for a moment. 

Then, "Dylrath, you are many things, but a misguided fool you are not. You didn't invite these advances of Teliaz, and no mortal deserves to be put in the position that you're in now. And I think you've made the best of a bad situation so far. I wish we had more time to help you out with it. "

" I don't know what Calphas would think about trying to rehabilitate Teliaz. My gut tells me He'd approve, but His mind is not always clear to me, even after all these years."

"I hardly think you will make things worse than they are right now. But I'll burn some life energy on a Commune, just in case."

"And while I'm at it, give me that Outgrabe for a few hours. I'll see what I can do."


----------------------------------------------------

"He's going to kill me. This time he's really going to kill me," Dylrath thought. He gasped like a fish, but had no breath to say the words that echoed in his head like a mantra of pain. “I am not going to survive this.”

His arms felt like lead weights. 

Like burning lead weights. 

Which was nothing next to the feeling in his lungs. 

"All those years he says he can't turn me into a bird and take me flying 'cause he's afraid he'll kill me. Today he has to come in with 'I've got a jolly new spell and I think it'll be perfectly safe, let's give it a whirl lad.' I'm gonna kill him. I'm just gonna kill him. If I ever catch up "

Arcade was circling lazily, waiting for him. Just as he pulled up, or rather, just as Dylrath got within a hundred feet of him, Arcade took off, again. For the fourth time. Dylrath had been convinced he was finished the second time Arcade had had to wait for him, but had never had a moment to rest before Arcade took off again, still climbing. "I can't believe it. Where is he going? I'll (hhhhhhhuhh) kill him (wheeeeeeeze).."

At last, after some unbelievable minutes of agony, Arcade actually landed on a rock outcrop, settling his wings comfortably, and looking cheerful.

Minutes later Dylrath finally staggered up to the outcrop, disbelieving that Arcade was actually going to sit there and wait for him this time. "I'll give him a piece of my mind, I will," Dylrath thought, gasping like a fish and wondering if he'd ever catch his breath long enough to do it. He glared furiously at Arcade.

Arcade, smiling insufferably, stretched a little and said "Before you say one word, I want you to turn around and look at the view."

Behind them, the valley fell away for miles and miles and miles. They could see the village down on the valley below, and the tiny cathedrals. They could see the lake shining beyond the end of the valley, and the shore on the other side, and the mountains that rose up on the other side of that far valley, pale and blue in the distance. It was worth it. Whatever it had taken it was worth it. Did we really climb all that long way? Dylrath wondered, his anger as stripped away by his wonder as his breath had been by the climb.

"Ok, so, I'll give you that," Dylrath finally managed, "But you never said it would be so much work."

"Foolish lad. Anything really worthwhile is a lot of work. When _are_ you going to learn that?"

"There are a lot of worthwhile things that are easier," Dylrath thought, but he didn't actually say it. He was still looking at the view.

"Right then," Arcade said, "Ready to go again?"

"In a minute," Dylrath said. "When does the sick to my stomach about to pass out feeling go away?"

“Hmm. While you were flying, or just now, afterward?"

"Uhh, now."

"Right, that's your heartbeat. It's trying to adjust to you sitting still. It'll pass. Better not to stop all at once, when you're not accustomed to working."

"Oh. Ok."

"Try doing some circles. There's a good updraft here, and you'll feel better if you keep moving."

And with a good deal of surprise to discover that his arms--er, wings--had not yet fallen off, Dylrath managed to lift off the rock shelf and start flying again. His head did feel clearer. And there was nice updraft. Flying is rather pleasant, when it's not all climbing, he thought. And the hills certainly do look different from up here.

Arcade circled lazily below him, enjoying his rare holiday from court politics and battling evildoers.

"Say," Dylrath finally managed to get out in a reasonably conversational tone of voice, "What happens to all your stuff when you're transformed? Where is the Master of Space and Time, for example--and does he know where he is when you're like this?"

“Come now Dylrath,” Arcade replied, his voice mildly reproachful. “I’m certain you already covered that three terms ago.”

He actually pays attention to what I’m studying, eh? How on Spira does he find the time? Dylrath wondered.

“Among the many charms of personal transmutation, as you surely must recall, is the creation of a personal third-order interstitial holocomplex permitting incorporation of superficial matter into the morphic lattice.” Arcade languidly lectured, dipped a brown- tipped wing, carved a graceful S-curve, then paused. 

“Hmm. I’ve never really thought to ask whether TMOSAT minds becoming dormant in such a fashion. Of course, there have been times when he avoided inquiring whether I minded being stuck in gray ethereal limbo before stranding me there for extended periods.” He sniffed, haughtily.

“Must be quite a comedown for him, huh?”

“Well, you know all about his delusions of grandeur,” Arcade laughed. 

Look who’s talking anyway, Dyl thought.

“Ever since the trip to his home country all those years ago he’s been a bit subdued,” Arcade remarked. “Finding out that the people he once ruled have been despising him for so many generations that he’s now become a legendary villain must have been quite a shock.

“What did they call that special holiday again? Oh, yes. Stickbreaking Day! Heh Heh. I wonder what he must have done to them to deserve that. Apart from possessing their king of course.” Arcade chortled again.

Dylrath smiled, insofar as was possible with the . . . beak . . . thing on his . . . face . . . thing. Yup. That had been a good trip. All those years listening to TMOSAT brag about having been a king, and come to find out he’d been the most incompetent and despised king _ever_.

“He’s changed a lot over the years, hasn’t he?” said Dylrath. “Or has he? Can he?”

“Not really,” said Arcade. “ He still doesn’t really understand people. Comes from being made of wood, I suspect. Every once in a while he slips and calls me his ‘appendage’. I think it’s actually a good thing he’s retained a sense of independence. He saved me once by teleporting me to a healer after I lost consciousness. Do you remember that kenku, the Torazite Deathgranter?”

“Yeah, but . . .” Dylrath really didn’t want to get sidetracked, even though that story was good, too. “You get along with him different now, right? Is it you that’s changed? Does having him around change who you are? Or what?”

“I’m not quite sure what you’re driving at lad.” Arcade was plainly a bit puzzled. “We’ve never been really friendly with each other, and that hasn’t changed. It’s more a matter of each of us (or maybe just me) learning how to deal with the other’s eccentricities. TMOSAT pays more attention to me now than before, but probably only because he likes being associated with power, especially political power. I try never to forget that he can be very dangerous. He’s certainly a very useful tool, but he is not and will never be as reliable as a friend, or even a trusty dagger.” 

As Arcade drifted on the wind, he mused quietly. “In some ways he reminds me of Alix. An ill-timed betrayal would never truly surprise me.” Taking a deep breath, he suddenly dropped sharply downward, only to rapidly rise again a few moments later wearing much larger wings. “That’s better,” he sighed. “You realize Dylrath, Htarlyd is a much stronger artifact than TMOSAT, and his personality will certainly strengthen as your power grows. How are you coping with him these days?” 

“Whaddya mean ‘coping’? He’s basically just me--a little backwards, but not really up to anything I’m not up to.  I mean, sure I can be a pain in the butt, but I don’t need to tell you what _that’s_ like, right?”

“Hmm. Both of you have certainly changed since you met. Which one of you drives the changing?”

“Me, of course,” he said. “He’s just a reflection, right?”

And then, he thought about that for a bit.

When he’d met Htarlyd, he’d wanted to be a rogue and a world champion daredevil. Now he was a Diviner of all things. Here he was puffing and blowing after a little exercise ‘cause of all the hours he’d spent sitting on his butt studying. 

Would he have ever gone down the path of Magic if Htarlyd hadn’t been bonded to him? Not bloody likely.

Htarlyd--or whatever its real name was--required a mage to really perform. And by the First Brick, it had damn well convinced him to turn himself into one.

Dylrath blinked. 

There’s something to this thought--something else that’s useful about knowing this. 

Hey, that blinking thing was cool. This body comes with extra eyelids. 

He blinked again, in slow motion, just to see how it worked. Extra eyelids. Wild. Why? Then he had to try to remember what he’d been blinking about. 

Then he smacked into the wall.

Dylrath had had lots of practice smacking into walls at high speed. He’d just never done it at 3000 feet before. “Ow,” didn’t quite seem to cover the sensation. It was more like “Owoooooooooooohsh*t.” As he plummeted, one part of his brain began to calculate the depth of the crater he would probably form on impact. He thrashed around madly, but couldn’t seem to remember which parts of this bizarre body did what. He experimentally extended a wing, and once again smashed into the cliff-side. Now thoroughly disoriented, he began to bounce down the mountain. “Ow! Ooof! Urgh! Umph!” With a final “ohsh*t,” he was catapulted over a precipice towards the rocks, thousands of feet below. 

As suddenly as the catastrophe began, it was over. Dylrath found himself sinking slowly towards the ground, his battered body buoyed by magical force as Arcade swooped down and plucked him out of the air, shaking his head resignedly. A few short minutes later they were safely on the ground. As the spell ended, Dylrath could feel his cuts closing and bruises fading. Cool.

“Well,” grinned Arcade, “plainly you need a bit more practice, my boy. Same time tomorrow, eh? With a bit less falling, perhaps?” 

“Hey, you know what I always say, ‘first step in learning to fly is getting the faceplant just right’,” Dylrath agreed. “Tomorrow, I stick the landing.”

“Indeed,”Arcade replied with a fatherly sigh.

“But, uh, just now, I gotta . . .” Gotta what? What was I thinking about?  There was some idea . . . something about that dratted Teliaz problem--but what was it?

He half expected Arcade to give him the lecture about getting back up on the horse. As if falling ever put Dylrath off anything. Surely Arcade would know that by now . . .

“Quite all right, really. I’ll meet you tomorrow.”

“Only one slotworth of that spell today, eh? No problem. We’ll pick it up tomorrow,” Dylrath said cheerfully. “And uh, thanks for the catch.”

“Anytime, lad. Anytime.”


----------



## Sialia

Dylrath stared at his holiness the Outgrabe. If the Outgrabe wasn't already priceless to him, he was sitting on a fortune. An actual item blessed by Saint Velendo. Best not make too much noise about that feature--likely it'd  get confiscated the next time he went anywhere near a cathedral.

Wonder if it'll do the trick? he thought. Will it let me chaperone Teliaz and stay me?  How do I hang with him without murdering someone?  How? How?

By remebering that if you actually screw up and murder someone, Claris is gonna find out about it. Ok?  _That_ thought oughta keep you on the straight and narrow.

Where the hell do I find Teliaz a Claris?  It always took me AND Claris, or me AND Arcade to keep Alix in balance. He always needed an authority figure as well as an apprentice.

And how do I keep track of whether I'm staying me, or drifting?

Dylrath looked up, and stared into Htarlyd.


Htarlyd stared back.

-------------------------------------------------
Dyl visits Tomtom 
____________________________________________________


Ordinarily, finding Tomtom with the mirror was cake. Dylrath knew his former master well, and Tomtom's soul signature was profoundly unique.

On the other hand, just because Htarlyd couldn't find Tomtom this morning wasn't necessarily cause for concern. There were plenty of reasons the wily little psion might suddenly go cloaked or hidden. Even if there were no standard school of psionics that shielded folks from Dylrath's unique talent, there were plenty of things that could be pressed into service if Tomtom really didn't want to be found. Even Alix had managed to come up with a way to hide from Dylrath, and he wasn't psionic. Just wily and paranoid. Once he'd learned about Dylrath's wish, it hadn't taken him but a few hours to come up with a way to evade it.

Dylrath never did find out just how he'd managed that trick.

Anyway, Dylrath the Diviner never worried about failing at first attempts anymore.

Well, truth, failure had never really been much of a problem for Dylrath. He had always had a sort of a talent for it. He failed cheerfully at every opportunity. But the point is, Dylrath knew a lot more about finding people these days. The trick was, you didn't need to know where someone was, you just needed to know where someone who knew where he was was. 

Nolin acted put upon as usual at being used for this sort of thing, but he told Dylrath where to go look. 

Colorfully. 

Nolin had never been a morning person.

Anyway, it was a short gondola ride and walk to Tomtom's workshop from there. Dylrath climbed the stone steps, wheedled his way past several House Clearwater guards easily with "message for Master Tomtom from Master Benholm" and finally arrived at the door to Tomtom's new Eversink workshop.

It was locked.

Dylrath considered the lock. Apparently, it was the lock the room had come with. Which meant it was either trapped to all nine layers of hell or this door now opened on to a blank wall. Or both.

Tomtom liked building locks in the same way that dragons liked building little piles of change to sleep on. Tricky locks. The kind you needed extradimensional tools to pick. The kind you could only build with psionic metal bending powers because even dwarves couldn't get metals to hop through that many hoops and still tap dance. Dylrath had expected the real door to have so much fancy jewelry on it that he suspected the guards had shown him to the privvy out of spite.

Dylrath casually considered the alternative points of entry to the room. Perhaps there was no passable entrance for non-psions whatsover and Tomtom did all his entry and exit via funky mental powers, but that would make sending out for lunch a nusiance. Tomtom liked lunch. And he'd have had to protect the psychic door from other psions and dimensional travellers, like Dylrath, which would have been a pain. It made more sense to shield the whole room from that sort of thing in a blanket way--which would be why Htarlyd couldn't open a window there--and leave the main entrance as one for noisy people on foot. And there'd be a back way out as well . . .

Reminiscing about his days as Tomtom's apprentice, Dylrath considered the puzzle for the sheer joy of the thing for a few moments. And then he shrugged, and chose the Diviner's path instead. The right name, the right gesture, and the right question would soon reveal all things.

He raised his hand, struck the door three times, and bellowed "Tomtom, you in there? It's me, Dylrath!"

It took a couple of repetitions, and the addition of the magic words "Tomtom, breakfast!" and, as a last resort "from Anatha's!" but eventually a door to Dylrath's right slid open and a tired looking halfling in multi-colored striped pajamas peered out. Tomtom was also not a morning person. 

"Breakfast, sir!" Dylrath said cheerily. Tomtom nodded and let Dylrath live. Actually, he even looked pleased to see him, once his nose assured him that Dylrath was telling the truth for a change. Anatha's cinnamon rolls were legendary. Nolin had mugged six from Dylrath's pouch before he'd given anything out about Tomtom's whereabouts, but there were plenty left in the bag. And they were still warm.

And there was coffee from Oursk, and fresh fruit from Corsai, and a bottle of exotic hooch from some tropical island that Dylrath didn't know by name. Yet. 

He threw a swig of booze into a mug of coffee along with a hefty amount of sugar and cream, shook some powdered cinnamon over the top and handed it to Tomtom. You didn't apprentice to somebody for ten levels and not know how to make his coffee.

Tomtom yawned and ate breakfast. 

Dylrath knew better than to pester Tomtom with questions while he was eating. Come to think of it, he knew better than to ring him up in the wee hours of the mid to late morning, really almost noonish, and ask him for favors. He'd just forgotten about knowing that in his eagerness to get on with the project.

Stalling, Dylrath gazed around the room.

A lot of nearly assembled projects were scattered around. Half assembled holy symbols of various friendly gods. Standard alchemical glassware and tubes, presumably full of alchemical liquids. (Although from the smell of things, at least one was likely full of Badgerbite, Tomtom's personal homebrewed hooch.) There were a lot of storage bins stacked all the way up to the ceiling, and no ladders or stepstools. Short as he was, that halfling never needed ladders. 

There was a curtain blocking off one corner of the room, and the edges of some brightly colored tasselled pillows sticking out from under it. Probably the sleeping area.

On the low workbench were lots of strange objects with glowing doodads and gems.  Equally strange were the tools lying beside them. Coruscating strips of purple and orange skin were stretched taut in several devices, and Dylrath couldn't figure whether the devices or just the skins were the objects being created. Shards of glowing crystal and powdery glowing sawdust covered most of the floor and tabletops.  Tomtom's hair was full of the stuff. So was Dylrath's nose within a few moments. The stuff itched terribly, and what was worse, when he sneezed, it made his boogers glow with soft internal lights.

He stared at his hankerchief, fascinated and appalled. This has got to be good for _something_, he thought.

There was small talk, of course, and dessert, and then, at last Dylrath felt brave enough to get to the point. "I need to upgrade to Outgrabe," he said. "Can you empower it for me, so it would have a real personality? So it could come when I called, if it felt like it? So I could find it using Htarlyd if it went missing--I mean, it would really have to have a sort of a soul for that sort of thing--can you do that?"

Tomtom looked intrigued, and Dylrath went on.

"Like TMoSaT. Well, no, not like TMoSaT. I want the personality to be like me, the only way it should be like TMoSat is that it'd be an intelligent object, of course."

Tomtom nodded and waived his hand at the quibble. Everyone knew what an arrogant, stubborn, conceited, pain-in-the-butt Arcade Deltarion's staff, The Master of Space and Time, was.  "Does Htarlyd need to focus on soul, or intelligence?" Tomtom asked. "Have you ever asked him to focus on an intelligent item before?" 

"I think I've used him to find TMoSaT before, yes? It's, uh, personality that counts?"

"Hmmm," Tomtom said, considering. "That would make sense. I wonder if you could locate my new psi-stone, Tee.  He has a splinter personality from me, but has no soul or great intelligence.” 

"Happy to check for you when I get back, sir."

"Tee can 'see' though.  Tell me, when Tee looks at you, do you 'see' him? I imagine if so, then it can be done."

Dylrath considered. “Sure. It’s a small soul, but it’s a soul, and it’s looking at me. That’s about all it takes for me to get a lock on someone. Now that you mention it, for my top notch scrying, the person has to see me. We should give the Outgrabe some rudimentary visual capabilities. So I'd really know it, the way I know a person."

"I'll need gems for the eyes, and Flowstone to edge the Outgrabe," Tomtom said. "It should also help harden it, but it will be needed to hold the psi-essence and gems."

"I'm not sure off the top of my head what gems I've got." Dylrath replied. "I've got one whomping huge green emerald, but I'd have to  break it in two, and it seems like such a pity to break up such a fine big gem."

"No, you are better off with multiple, smaller eyes.  Preferrably 
matched. Why limit it to two?  I'd place 6 or 7 around the edge..." 

"Cool!” Dylrath considered the ornate decorative inlay his father had added to the top surface in a pattern of shooting stars and coruscating flames. He flipped over the Outgrabe and looked at the frequently gouged and re-sanded bottom. He checked the tooled leather footstrap and the back heel brace. "Here," he said at last, "where the front strap mounts are. We could put in some eyes here as part of the bolt mounts and they'd be out of the way of most wipe outs and have a clear view of where the Outgrabe is headed. Let's pick out some gems for the eyes that aren't too different in color from the rest of the board. They need to be enchantable quality and they need to see, but they don't have to look especially flashy."

"Enchantable quality is flashy by definition."

"Let's set 'em in deep then. It'll help protect 'em from getting scuffed and gouged anyway." Dylrath held up the board to imagine how it would look with a row of glittering eyes. "Actually," he added, "eyes are not a bad idea from the point of view of possible steering enhancements."

An intriguing thought crossed Tomtom's mind. "I could implant combat 
precognition.  I think anything that hurtles down mountains should have 
the ability to see a 1/2 second into the future."

"Too cool. I didn't even know that was possible." Dylrath considered 
for a moment. "I always meant to do something about braking.  Is there 
anything that would help control a stop?"

"Catfall, or perhaps Feather Fall. I don't want to get more powerful 
than that or we will never accomplish it in time."

Dylrath shrugged. "So who really needs brakes anyway? Done without 'em 
this long.  Brakes are for wimps."

Tomtom narrowed his eyes. "Ok, though how will it stop itself?

"Same as ever, I suppose. Ride it out, drag a foot, or bail out.  Gravity and momentum have always been the thing. When I run out of those, it stops."

Tomtom shook his head, disappointed with his dense pupil.

"Oh, you mean, when it's smart enough to know it is careening far down the mountain away from the dumped rider and doesn't want to go on without him? Hmm. Without a propulsion system, I don't see a way to do it.  Can't think how many times I've wished for Word of Recall on it. Been some long climbs to find it over the years."

"Beyond my abilities," Tomtom said. "Sorry."

"Maybe next upgrade."

Tomtom smiled.

"So," Dylrath said, summarizing, "the thing hovers naturally, and 
would have the added in ability to know where it was going and have some plusses to avoid obstacles or at least hit them correctly, and it would have a personality?"

"Yup."

"That doesn't sound too complicated a portfolio to live with. And it
wouldn't be immediately obvious that the Outgrabe had changed, unless you knew it really, really well, right?"

"Except for the ring of sparkling crystal that glows with internal 
lights and the gems,"  Tomtom added.

"Well, yeah." Dylrath screwed up his face, thinking. "Subtlety is fairly important here. Would the flowstone still be able to do its stuff if it was obscured from plain view in some way, such as by insetting it into the wood instead of leaving it on the bare edge? Not a bad idea anyway, since the edges of the Outgrabe tend to get pretty scuffed up."

"It could be done. We'll have to be careful not to damage the integrity of the item."

Dylrath shrugged. "It'll need a voice, or the personality isn't going 
to get to express itself. Does that come automatically with the psi 
stuff, or do we need to give it a mechanism?”

"It will have its own voice/personality based on what it pulls from you 
when you infuse it. We don't really have a choice - we'll just have 
to see how it responds. I could include Lesser Mind Link so it can talk to you mentally in short distances."

"Mind link would be cool. 'Sgotta have a voice of some sort, and for the subtlety of the change it would be cool if the rest of the world didn't hear it start talking all of a sudden." 

Dylrath paused. "But would it be linked to me personally, or to whoever is riding it? “

"Whoever is riding it," Tomtom replied. "I can't link it just to one person. Besides, what would happen if you decided to give it to someone?"

Dylrath hesitated a moment before answering, and looked at Tomtom suspiciously.  "If anyone other than me is idiot enough to get up on the thing, they ought to be able to hear it hollering instructions at them. If it's in the mood to be helpful, that is. 'Left, left!  Lean left you moron, we're gonna hiiiiiiiit . . . .'"

Tomtom chuckled, and reminded Dylrath of the length of time it took him to get used to it, and the number of tumbles he took.  "Perhaps I can work a "Catfall" in for the rider...."

"But there's the time," Dylrath reminded him, "and of course, the expense. We haven't talked expenses yet. Although the combat avoidance and brakes and recall and the catfall would be cool, the personality and the voice are the first priority."

Dylrath leaned forward, trying to make sure he had Tomtom's full attention, wishing he dared tell him what he was really up to. The young Dylrath Tomtom trained would have given propulsion and maneuverability top priority. He wanted to make sure Tomtom knew what he really wanted now, even if he couldn't tell him the real reason he wanted it.

 "I want to model the Outgrabe on me while I'm still young and crazy enough to use it. I get stodgier every year--I'm slowing down, I can feel it. Too damn much time in the mirror room watching the world instead of being out there horsing around in it.  I want to keep the Outgrabe full of me the way I am before I give in to Htarlyd altogether. When I'm as old as Arcade, I want it to annoy me about how I ever got that way. "

"And uh, I need it to be like me, but not enough me that if the Academy of Flamecraft got their hands on it they could use it to work Htarlyd, or get dirt on the Defenders.  It'd be best if it had my personality, but not my memories. I don't want it to know everything I know.  Arcade has enough trouble keeping on top of TMOSaT.   I don't need an Outgrabe that's got a shot at outwitting me if it comes to that."

"Ok, we'll start there." Tomtom agreed. "I'm more than willing to help, Dylrath, but there is the matter of time," Tomtom said. "I'm pretty busy just now, and the Defenders are waiting for me to finish up their gear. I could probably buy another week, if you'll take care of catching me up with them if they hit the road in the meantime."

"Done," Dylrath said. "But it has to be a secret from them that we're working on this. From everyone, really."

"Sounds like we have worked out as much as possible right now. Go get me the gems. Let’s get started."


----------



## Sialia

*Dyl & Tea & Anice*

The two priestesses walked down the dim corridor holding hands.

It was late, and the Temple of Alianna, Goddess of Beauty, was still, apart from the sound of their silk slippers on the smooth marble floor, and the swish of their skirts. 

Anice carried a small scented oil lamp. Tea held the bundle of sweaty scarves and fans from their dance rehearsal. Both priestesses were lost in faraway thoughts. Anice was deciding whether to wear her blue dress to the Festival, or the green one. Tea wondered how the merciless old crone who reigned over the dance rehearsals managed to remain limber enough to shame every one of the younger priestesses. 

And then, suddenly, "Hi, guys!" A voice appeared behind them.

Startled, Anice shrieked and dropped the lamp. It went out as it fell, and the corridor went dark.

"Master Birdhouse," Tea said. "A surprise, as usual."

"Especially considering that worship hours ended some time ago, while the sun was still up." Anice added, peering around in the darkness. "And that you are several months in arrears for your tithes."

"I'm sorry, Anice, Tea, I didn't mean to startle you."

"Manticore poo. You always do." Dylrath could tell Anice's pretty face was pouting, even though he couldn't see her. And then, after a pause, she added, "Where are you?"

"Here," Dylrath said placing a hand gently on her shoulder and a foot into the spilled lamp oil. At least she presumed that was what happened from the speed, force and direction with which the hand was removed from her shoulder. 

There was a thump and then a long scraping noise in the darkness. 

"Whoa," he said. 

And then, another thump from somewhere further down the corridor, and then a muffled "I'm all right."

"Careful. There's lamp oil on the floor," Tea commented.

"Ah. I'll bear that in mind." Dylrath replied, sounding closer. "Here, which one of you is this?"

An oily, leather-gloved hand clumsily gripped the side of Tea's face and then her shoulder, trapping one of her braids and pulling uncomfortably. "You are getting lamp oil in my hair," she said.

"Ah. I'm really not getting any points for style here, am I?"

"None whatsoever."

"Is it a bad time for me to ask a Favor, then?" he said, removing his hand.

"Probably." There was a long pause while they waited for him to proceed anyway.  When he didn't, they began to wonder if he had left as suddenly as he had arrived. 

"I might perhaps entertain a petition, if you were very abject and 
humbly apologetic for the proper things," Anice volunteered.

"Such as my existence?"

"That would be an acceptable place to start," Tea said encouragingly.

"Ah, sorry. Too short on time. I figure I've only got about 80 years 
left to live, and if I start apologizing now, I'll never make it in time. Can't I just sum up? Or can we skip to the part where I give you nice presents and you forgive me?" 

"What kind of presents?" Anice said, sounding happier.

"Cool ones -- souvenirs from my most recent trip." Anice felt something being placed around her neck and fervently hoped it was a piece of jewelry. With Dylrath, it was hard to be certain.

"I fervently hope this is a piece of jewelry," she said.

"Could be," he replied cheerfully, sounding pleased with himself. 

Now she was really worried about what was wrapped around her neck. It was slightly heavy and warm. She considered putting up a hand up to feel what it was, and then paused. A snake would not be beyond the man's sense of humor. A pretty little green garden snake, he'd assure her, completely harmless. Or worse, a . . .  she decided she didn't want to speculate anymore.

Maybe it really is a nice gold rope that's just warm from being in his pocket. He did come to ask a favor, so a nice present 
would be in order. She reached her hand up again, and then paused, again. Definitely a snake, she thought. 

Dylrath would think a pet snake is a terrific gift. 

She stood very still. 

"Here, Tea, where are you? I have one for you, too."

"One what?"

"A present, silly."

"How about some light, first?" Tea's voice had moved a few feet to the left, and then a few feet to the right, evasively. And then there was a gasp as she hit the lamp oil and a small slapping noise as her hands caught the wall of the corridor. Tea was perfectly graceful on bright winter afternoon on a frozen pond, but in the dark it was hard to remember just where the slick spot was.

"Right. Right on it." There was another noise and some murmuring and then, at last, they could see him.

"Alianna's tangled tresses, what is that?" Anice blurted, startled into forgetting about the present.

"That has got to be the stupidest suit of leather armor I have ever seen," Tea added.

From a tactical point of view, it was.

A normal suit of leather armor protected a man's privates and stomach and chest and throat. _ This _suit had ordinary soft leather over most of that territory, although the codpiece was, at least, respectable. Even optimistic, according to their recollection.  But the rest of the reinforcing and padding was all bulged up around his limbs in odd places.

"Right.  That was what I wanted to ask you about. Whatdyathink? Is it cool looking?"

"You are expecting an assault by elbow eating monsters," Tea said.

"Perhaps a league of very short goblins?" Anice inquired, looking at his knees. 

"Something like that," he said. "But is it cool looking?"

"It doesn't fit," Tea said. "Your tailor, quite apart from being 
insane, needs a new tape."

"It wasn't built for me. The guy it was built for's taller and wider."

"Apparently."

"But is it cool?" Dylrath repeated. And he seemed very concerned about the answer. He wasn't looking for a reassurance about whether he looked good. He was asking their professional opinion.

"May as well show us the hat, so we get the full effect," Tea sighed.

Dylrath put on the helmet and secured the chin strap. And then he lowered the face shield. 

An odd design, that. 

It had no noseguard. It was made of soft leather, with breathing holes punctured in the usual spots. A small slab of some sort of transparent crystal covered his eyes. 

Fully dressed, nothing of Dylrath was exposed. And the effect was, well, it would have been a little creepy if it wasn't Dylrath's familiar gawky frame and bashful slouch under all that.

"Stand up straight," Anice said, and tipped her head to the side, 
considering. Apart from the tailoring, and the body inside the suit, and the unusual purpose of the suit -- Dylrath's purposes were always unusual - was the armor, overall, aesthetically pleasing? 

Nope. 

Was there any redeeming feature to begin the critique with? 

The leather was nice quality and didn't look as though it had seen much wear. Whoever the suit's former owner was, Dylrath hadn't damaged the suit getting him out of it.

It was basic black, which avoided most of the usual stylistic problems Dylrath had learned from his sartorial tutors, Tomtom Badgerclaw and Alix Loial. There wasn't a hint of motley or 
cloth of gold about the thing. No ruby buttons, no plaid whatsoever. A relief.

"The fringe has got to go," Tea announced. Anice nodded agreement.

"But it moves when I'm on the Outgrabe," he said."Like wings." He lifted his arms and waggled them about as if he were flying. The fringe flapped from his wrists to his shoulders.

"You asked my opinion. The fringe lacks coolth."

"The fringe goes. What else?"

"The gauntlets are all right." Anice said. They were bulky around the wrists, but again, had soft thin leather over the fingertips. "Fold the cuffs back over the bulky part. Like that."

"The boots are . . . interesting . . ." Tea said in a noncommittal way.

"Stuck with the boots, I'm afraid. I need the reinforced soles and toes for stopping. I'm tired of ripping holes in my other pair."

"Ah," Tea said. "I imagined it might be something like that. The outfit is for riding, then, not combat?"

"Exactly."

Anice and Tea looked at each other and shook their heads as the pieces fell into place.  The outfit was not designed to protect Dylrath from anyone other than himself. In that light, it sort of made sense and maybe wasn't quite as goofy looking. 

"The facemask is to keep flying debris out of your eyes and nose?" Tea said.

"Naturally," Dylrath said, sounded muffled but proud.

Sidestepping the puddle, Anice took a few steps towards Dylrath and placed a hand on his chest, feeling the quality of the leather. It was buttery soft, and, apart from the bulky padding at the shoulder, fairly thin. "And why now, after years of careening around on that bedpost, do you suddenly need a cool looking outfit that protects you from colliding with things?"

"Got a bet on," he replied, putting up the face shield. "Anything 
else?"

"Anything else what?"

"Anything else I can do to make it look cool? I sussed out the crash protection myself, but I'm guessing I didn't get the cool part quite right."

Anice picked up his arm and examined the bulky elbow protector as if it were a dead fish.

"Add a normal breastplate to draw attention away from the knobbly knees?" Tea suggested.

He shook his head. "I need the flexibility."

"Puffy sleeves, then." Anice said. "Add some bulk above the elbow that goes smoothly into the shoulder, here. And a high collar would help smooth out the line."

"No," Tea corrected, "Bring the puff to just below the elbow, that'll disguise the lump better.  Bring the boot cuff over the knee padding and that won't show so awfully either. Mid-thigh would be about right."

"Mmm," Anice agreed. "When the tailor changes the sleeve, pick one color to inset in the slashing. Just one, mind you, something bright, but not garish. Line the inside of the collar with it, too."

"And the plume. The helmet needs a plume, same color as the slashing." Tea added. "That should about do it."

"Got it.  You two are the best." He gave Anice a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"We aim to please," she replied, and rotated her head to catch his lips full on her mouth. Damned if he didn't sound like after three months absence he was about to ask them one stupid question and then take off without having even properly apologized for being gone. 

She was determined to make him rethink that. She closed her eyes and leaned in close. 

The leather felt nice, she decided. Not like armor at all, really. Just 
soft leather clothes with some extra details worked in. Like cuddling a lizardman, she imagined. 

A really clumsy lizardman standing on a marble floor in an oil slick, she corrected herself as she fell. 

For the second time, the corridor was plunged into darkness.

At least he was soft when she landed on him. "Oops," he said, giving her a hand up.

She was grateful for the darkness, actually, because her oil soaked slippers didn't give her much purchase on the slick marble. After three unladylike scrambles, even with his assistance, and some groping around that they both suspected was spurious, she couldn't seem to get upright 
and stay upright. She thought she heard Tea chuckling. 

"Lose the slippers," he said at last.  "Tea, where are you? I never 
gave you your gift."

"Same as Anice's?" she asked. 

"Nope, something else."

"Here," she said reaching down a hand, losing her footing and landing on top of Dylrath and Anice.

And then he sighed, "If Nolin ever hears about this, I'm never going to hear the end of it. Two oiled Aliannite priestesses in the temple in the dark trumps Arcade's dryad any day." 

Anice giggled and disentangled herself, bending over to pull off her slippers and hose. "Alright. Give me a hand again," she called when they were off. 

The smooth tiles were cold under her bare feet, and the corridor was quiet again.

"Dylrath?" she called, "Dylrath?"  And then, "Tea?" 

There was no reply. 

"Manticore poo," she said, blowing her hair out her face. "I just hate it when they do that."


----------



## Sialia

"Tea, where are you? I never gave you your gift." 

"Same as Anice's?" she asked. 

"Nope, something else." 

"Here," she said reaching down a hand, losing her footing and landing on top of Dylrath and Anice. 

He sighed, "If Nolin ever hears about this, I'm never going to hear the end of it. Two oiled Aliannite priestesses in the temple in the dark trumps Arcade's dryad any day." 

Tea considered. The story about how High Mage Deltarion had preserved his virtue against a dryad in her glade in the spring was legendary. Dylrath's virute was not at issue, however, and she wondered what he was really up to.

Anice disentangled herself and bent over to pull off her slippers and hose. 

Tea felt Dylrath's hand steal ever so gently over her mouth. One finger touched her lips, and then he wrapped his other arm around her waist and rolled to the left, pulling her with him. They hit a small bump as they rolled.

He let her go.

She stood up blinking in the sudden light.

She was in Dylrath's room. 

More precisely, she was in Htarlyd's room. 

The scrying mirror that Dylrath used for his transportation was anchored in a dimesional pocket at the intersection of several planes. The mages who had built the room had constructed it of solid stone, but Dylrath's alterations had included parquet flooring, bookcases, and, at her suggestion, some potted plants. 

Light from the portals to the Elemental Planes of Fire, Magma and Smoke illuminated the room perpetually. 

She looked back through the doorway they had come through from the Temple of Alianna, and saw her own reflection, with Dylrath's behind her. "Howdy!" the reflected Dylrath said cheerfully. 

"Good evening, Hytarlyd," she replied. "You flatter me."

"I shows 'em as I sees 'em," said the mirror. Having spent the last several hours in front of the dance practice room mirrors, Tea had a pretty good idea that her reflection, while technically accurate, was ever so slightly generous. . . well perhaps it was a trick of the diffuse lighting. Alianna's mirrors were never so forgiving.

"Anice is going to love the necklace," she said. "Very pretty."

"I sure hope so," said Dylrath.

"Apart from the roach in the clasp on the back of her neck."

"Not a roach.  Beetle. In Kanach Hur, those beetles are good luck."

"In Anice's bedroom, bugs are very bad luck.  For the bug. Probably also for you."

"Er. She's not likely to notice it for a while, right? It being on the 
back and all?"

"If she weren't heading to the baths. Which we were."

"Ah, I see what you mean. No point in hurrying back then, is there? Probably too late already."

"Was there something you wanted my attention for, Master Birdhouse?"

"Oh, that. Yes. Definitely. There's something I wanted to show you. Htarlyd, Madjar?"

The mirror gave Dylrath a grin and a thumbs up gesture, and the image of Dylrath and Tea vanished, to be replaced by an image of an old man surf-fishing in turquoise waters. Oddly, the beach was in full daylight.

"Come on," Dylrath said, pulling her through the picture and onto a high dune above a white sand beach. He waved at the man in the surf, who waved back, and then ignored them.

Tea blinked at the sudden brightness. The room had been bright after the pitch black corridor, but the warm beach was dazzling. How did Dylrath know where there was a beach with the light of noon in the middle of the night?

"Now," Dylrath said to Tea,"What was the hardest thing about learning to Outgrabe?"

"The ground," she replied.

"Right," he said. "Hitting the ground definitely sucks. So I'm 
wondering, for the new rider, is water a better thing to land on, or sand? What's your bet?"

She considered. The sand might sting as you hit it, but you weren't likely to drown in it if you knocked yourself silly. "You're thinking sand, I think, which is why you wanted the eyecovering thing to keep the sand out of your eyes, isn't it?"

"First try! I've tried both actually, about every kind of uncontrolled 
wipeout I can think of, and I'm pretty sure hitting the sand is less of a shock, as long as you're wearing something to absorb the abrasion. It's warmer anyway, and easier to brush off so you can get up and try again in a hurry."

"As I recall, you taught me on a grassy slope. 'Lovely soft grass' you said. 'Spongy turf with hardly any rocks in it.'"

"And you still haven't forgiven me for it, right? So I've got a new 
trainee and I want to get it right this time. So I want your opinion."

"That you could have had back at the temple."

"But you haven't tried a surf wipeout yet. Or sand for that matter. I want your real, honest opinion. In an aesthetic sense. Which is more pleasant?"

Tea blinked at him slowly.

"Least unpleasant, then."

"You had better have brought me more than a good luck beetle for this."

"Naturally," he said, tossing her a small box, and then a knapsack. "The stuff in the bag is on loan. The box is for you to keep."

She opened the bag. Inside was a black leather helmet with silver wings on the sides and a black silk facemask for keeping the sand out of her nose and eyes. There were matching elbow, wrist and knee protectors, with black silk padding and silver bosses. There was a pair of black leather gloves. And, there was a pair of thigh high, clog-soled, black leather boots with silver bosses down the side.

She opened the box and looked in, and then shut it again.

"I see. All right, I'll give it a try. But no promises about the 
wipeouts, whether I'm going to have them or where. Just getting back up on that thing today --tonight--that's as far as I go. You've been away entirely too long, and I'm out of practice. And no--" she said interrupting Dylrath before he could open his mouth, "Don't waste your breath explaining that that make's me the perfect candidate for the job. I've got the picture already."

Dylrath reached behind him into apparently empty space and half 
disappeared into the mirror room door. A moment later the Outgrabe slid towards Tea's knees.

The wooden disk bumped into her gently and hung silently in the air a foot above the sand.

"You've redecorated," Tea said, noting the addition of some gems to the inlay and the footstrap mounts. "Subtle, but effective." She looked up. "Who is this woman you're after, Dylrath?  You really seem to be going to some lengths to impress her. You're not trying to make it up with Tao Camber are you?"

"No, no.  Nothing like that. I . . ." Dylrath took off his helmet and 
scratched his hair. "I'm not quite sure who I'm doing it for really. . . I had this idea and it seemed to make sense at the time, but I . . . I keep losing track of it. Something is driving me Tea, and I can't quite see my way through yet, except one detail at a time. I keep thinking, if I spend some time taking care of the details, and Alianna doesn't stop me, and Calphas doesn't stop me and  . . . well, I'm giving a bunch of them plenty of notice about what I'm up to. So if it's doomed to fail, they may as well thwart me now, before I really get going. Or bless the effort if they think I should go through with it. Because once I'm in, I don't think there's any way back. And so far, so far, 
nada in the way of spanking. Just things falling into place, one after the other. So I guess it's a go. Or it doesn't make any difference because it isn't going to go anywhere at all. Anyway, you ready to give it a try?"

"Give me your -- what do you call that thing? Gambeson," she said. "And I'll need a pair of braies, dyathink?" 

After a moment of rummaging around in the mirror room, Dylrath popped back out and obliged. "They're Tao's old spares, but I think they should about fit."

The gambeson looked good on her. What didn't? The hem was long enough to cover her bottom, mostly. The fringe hung a few inches longer than the hem, and despite what she had said about it, Dylrath thought the effect was pretty fine. 

Tea unwrapped her dance skirts and pulled the braes and then the boots on over her hose. She tied on the knee protectors. She pulled on the black leather gloves and wrapped the wristguards on. She put on the helmet and tied the facemask. The ends of the black silk ties fluttered down behind her black braids. She cracked her knuckles in a most unladylike way. "Lady, I'm sore after that rehearsal," she said. 

"And about to be moreso," Dylrath quipped. "You've got healing prayers on board, right?"

"Always," Tea said. And she stepped on to the Outgrabe with a practiced step, and pushed off down the slope.


----------



## blargney

AWESOME!!  Thanks so much, Sialia!
-blarg


----------



## Dakkareth

This is just cool - finally more stories in here and anything with Dylrath in it is bound to be great anyway.


----------



## Negative Zero

i agree totally! Dylrath is just too damned cool for words!  LOL

~NegZ


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

I made it through the wilderness...somehow I made it through...

Great stuff all! Now I've got a new thread to subscribe to!


----------



## Thomas Hobbes

*Re: Dylrath gives Teliaz The Big Idea*



			
				Sialia said:
			
		

> *“Oh.” Dylrath said. “Calphas and Alianna in a hotspring. What have I done?” *




Best.  Line.  Ever.

Or at least very good.  I'll have to use that sometime, adapted to either a) my campaign's religions, or b) the real world.   Although b) might get me shot.


----------



## Eridanis

BRAVO!!!!! WOOT!!!!

Something tells me that when (if) Piratecat ever wraps up this campaign, there will still be a lot of stories left to tell. 

You have an excellent gift for characterization and dialogue. Such good stuff. Thank you!


----------



## the Jester

Fantastic as always... thank you!  

Gotta love Dylrath!


----------



## Welverin

Play the bump game!


----------



## Sialia

*oh, all right.*

Cadrienne rubbed her tired eyes, gave the footpedal another few pumps, and then dipped her quill into a bottle of ink and continued writing. So much grain for the men's hall, so much for the women's, and parcels for the independent householders. It wasn't going to last the season if the weather kept up and no more caravans got through.

She sighed and tried the calculations again. 

There had to be a way to get it to work.  She wondered whether the patron of the University, the Duke of Beryl, would consider making another donation this season, and shook her head.  That resource was about all tapped out for the time being.

She tapped her fingers on the desktop, and gave the footpedal a few more desultory pumps. The clockwork mechanism around her made its usual whirring noises, and the colored globes began to rotate around her desk one more time. She rested her forehead in her hands.

"Cadrienne?" a voice said.

"Come," she replied without looking up.

"Hey, did I come at a bad time?"

Cadrienne looked up at Dylrath and for a moment her face positively glowed with joy, before she got control of her features and gave him a very ordinary, pleasant, welcoming smile. "Dylrath.  What a pleasant surprise. I've been so hoping you'd stop by for a visit. But try to keep your voice low, alright?" she said, gesturing to the seven bassinets full of sleeping infants. 

"No problem," Dylrath said quietly, wrapping his arms across his chest and rubbing his hands across them. "Ah, Daybreak. Miserable and damp, just like I remembered it. What's with the clockwork nursery? This has got to be the most bizarre experiment I've ever walked in on, and I've been by Arcade's place dozens of times at inopportune moments."

"It's not an experiment Dylrath. More like a dreadful mistake. The celestial navigation and astrology students tried to build an orrery--a clockwork mechanism of the heavens--and the calculations were off and the whole thing went hideously awry. The most useless orrery ever built -- mind the sun coming up on the back of your head there -- and it turned out, quite by mistake, to have one useful function. For some reason, it puts colicky babies to sleep.  I think it's the harmonics of the room vibrations, but maybe it's just the pretty colored balls. Perhaps the subject of celestial mechanics is just soporific of itself. Anyway, the chief nanny is down with the flu and I volunteered to sit in for her tonight."

"Well, that would explain it. Pity, I was hoping to catch you in the act of something sinister for a change. Hey, how's goes the bookkeeping?"
"Not so good I'm afraid. It's been wet for too long, and we haven't a caravan through for weeks. We're low on everything but mud."

"Aw, I should have checked in earlier. The weather in Oursk's been great for so long I forgot how crappy it gets out here," he said, ducking a large red ball that whirred slowly past his head. "Say the word, what do you need me to broker?"

"I need grain," she said. "And lumber."

He nodded. "What've you got to trade?" 

"Anybody you know need mud?"

Dylrath shook his head doubtfully. A series of small blue spheres zipped along in front of his nose.

"I can't spare any more of the granite. We've got the new hall nearly finished, and if we're going to get the roof on before the snow, I've got to hold on to what we've already quarried."

"Livestock?"

"Only if you can get us a deal. We were counting on the proceeds from the wool for next winter. It's been hard enough to keep folks from eating the sheep outright. I don't know how I'd explain to them about having sold them for grain."

Dylrath sighed. "Do you need a loan?"

Cadrienne shook her head. "Donations, yes. Loans, no. I can't pay it back, and interest is out of the question."

"Mmm. Sorry there, I don't think I scrape together that much cash of my own. Too many of my funds are currently tied up elsewhere." He shook his head sadly. 

"So," he said, looking up at the complicated machinery whirring around the room. "You've got mud."

"And peat. And grass. Lots of wet grass. And wind, but you can't export that."

"What were you planning on trading the caravans for their goods if they came through?"

"Lodging and safe escort. The route is treacherous at the best of times."

Dylrath smiled at the incongruity of Cadrienne -- sweathearted, vegetarian, lover of all life forms -- running a protection racket. He could see why she was unprepared to deal with him. He needed neither lodging nor safe escort. Transportation was usually as simple and instantaneous for Dylrath as grinning.

"What about the fur?"

Cadrienne looked pained. It was no secret that the bogs and plains surrounding Daybreak in every direction for miles were full of fur bearing animals, some with ivory tusks.  Dylrath had tried to talk her into harvesting those commodities before, but the thought of supporting the construction of her University with blood money horrified her. "I hope it doesn't come to that. Give me a few hours, I'll think of something.  What's the going rate for impudent apprentices? I have scores of those."

Dylrath grinned at the jibe. "Apprentices, as usual, are practically worthless."

"Have you eaten?"

Dylrath nodded. It was a remarkable accomplishment that Cadrienne managed to keep a town and a university full of people fed out here, but the cuisine of Daybreak was not on his top ten list. Or anywhere near it. "I had dinner already, but I'll hang for a bit. Oh, hey," he said, "There was something I wanted to ask you."

Cadrienne's eyes narrowed and her fingers strayed from her quills to one of the books on her desk.

"Oh, don't do that," Dylrath said, "It makes you look just like Claris. I hate it when she looks at me like that."

Cadrienne smiled pleasantly, flopping her holy book open across her lap. "I was just considering praying for a greater depth of understanding, so that I might help you better."

"Ah, no.  No no no no no. No. That trick about sweet talking somebody into voluntarily accepting a hostile spell effect, I learned that one from you," Dylrath said, ducking a comet and moving to place a bassinet between them. "I'm not falling for it. No."

"I never have done any such thing," said Cadrienne, looking hurt. 

"Oh come on. You talked Peggus out of his mind on the beach. There was no way he chose to let us go out of the goodness of his heart. A man who buries you up to the neck in sand while the tide is coming in AND poisons you to boot, he means business. Besides, I saw you praying at him."

"Keep your voice down. I didn't pray at him. I prayed for him.  There's a difference."

"Yadda yadda yadda. Same thing," Dylrath said, waving his hand. And then he came closer to her and said confidentially, "What did you cast on him anyway? I never did find out."

Cadrienne sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ordinarily, that would be betraying parishioner confidentiality. But since he's told practically everyone between Oursk and Daybreak about it, I suppose it wouldn't be a problem for me to repeat the public version of the tale."

"Do tell," Dylrath said, leaning across the desk with his chin in his hand.

"Well, as you recall, the Defenders extricated themselves from the sand and the henchman while Peggus and I were discussing the death of his sister and all that had happened since then. By then you had realized that you were all poisoned and going to die, and so you came over to kill Peggus. "

"Peggus had the antidote to the poison, but felt so ensnared by the troubled path the Mindflayer had led him down, that he felt he had nothing to live for and was willling to die rather than give it to you. Remember, he had shamed his entire noble family by getting mixed up in this plot in the first place."

"So, Peggus and I discussed the possibility that exacting his revenge for the death of his sister by killing the lot of you, even if justified, was not in his own best interest. But he was too worried about his own affairs to care about whether you lived or died at that point, and so full of despair that he just wanted everyone to die so that his pain would stop. I reminded him that Hell is not an especially good place to plan on escaping pain. And then I asked him to try to visualize whether there was any way out of the deadlock, what his best case scenario from this point was, instead of dwelling on his worst option. And I prayed for him to gain insight about his alternatives while he was thinking."

"But what did you cast on him?"

Cadrienne rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh. "A Word of Holy Power: Hope."

Dylrath blinked. "'Hope?' You commanded him to ‘hope’? That’s it? That is totally lame. I’m disappointed."

"Nothing more was needed. Peggus did all the rest by himself."

Dylrath scratched his head. "So how is the old birk these days anyway? Still courting you? You actually gonna marry him?"

Cadrienne blushed. "It's a very complicated matter, Dylrath. I like him a great deal, but I don't think I can marry him. There are rules about these things."

"What kind of rules?"

"It is a very bad idea for a priestess to  . . . become involved with someone she is counseling."

"Why?"

"It destroys my objectivity. I become too close to the person and become part of their complex of issues, and therefore unable to help without seeking to derive personal gain. It is a violation of the position of trust. Also, it keeps me from getting too impressed with my own advice."

Dylrath scratched his head. "Ok," he said, clearly not getting it at all, but willing to accept that rules were rules. "I suppose. But, uh, technically, didn't you derive personal benefit from the position of trust back when you used the trick to get the antidote?"

"Side effect," she said with a very slight smile. "I never focused on that while I was helping him. To help him, I had to let go completely of what I wanted to get out of the situation and focus on what was best for him."

"And that just happened to work out for everyone's benefit?"

"Yes. It usually does."

"But what if he'd really been evil?" Dylrath persisted.

"He is a human being, Dylrath, not a monster. Human beings always have free will to choose between good and evil. It is very difficult to change one's course, but it is always possible. Peggus only needed to be reminded that he still had the power to make his own choices."

"What if he'd chosen evil, then?" Dylrath said, frustrated at Cadrienne's semantics.

"That was one of his options. But we all knew the Defenders were not sitting quietly waiting to die. So when Peggus contemplated where he would spend his eternity, there was a certain, ah, immediacy to the consideration."

"I get it. You had him over a barrel before you began, so you already knew his best interest was in giving you what you wanted."

Cadrienne rolled her eyes and looked hurt again.

"Alright. Nevermind. Sorry I brought it up."

Dylrath paused and fiddled with one of the planets that had stopped near his shoulder as the orrery wound down.

"Now," she said, "remove the offensive illusory illustration from my holy book, and tell me what you wanted to ask me about."

"Not if you're going to pray at me. All I did was say I wanted to ask you about something. I don't see how that calls for spellcasting."

"Because, Dylrath, your mind spends so much time mired in evasions and deceits that I can't follow your questions half the time, and you can't understand my answers. It was a bit much for me to think Morphat had sent you to me in my time of need. You've come for your own purposes, which is fine. I am always available to help those in need. If I am to help you I do have to at least require honesty, which I think sometimes is difficult for you. 

"I never lie. If I can help it."

"You never lie unless there is no convenient half truth around for you to distort for your own purposes."
"I don't see the problem with that."

"Alix..." she began to address him, sounding aggrieved and apparently unaware of her slip, "A proficiency in lying is not like a sword proficiency. It's . . . more like Tao's bolos: likely to wind up wrapped around the warrior or an innocent bystander at any given moment. 

"Cadrienne, ya gotta trust my intentions by now. You know I'm not up to anything malicious.  Just private. And hazardous. And it's better if nobody knows the details."

"Your confidentiality is guaranteed. But I require disclosure." Cadrienne leaned forward and smiled and put a hand on Dylrath's shoulder. "Really, it will be all right. Telling the whole truth just once will not kill you. Or spoil your reputation. 

"Um." Dylrath said, staring diligently at the painted model of Spira, and sounding distracted, as if he couldn't quite remember what it was he had wanted to ask her about after all the digressions. He turned the model a few times back and forth, examining the mounting mechanism. "I need . . . somewhere to, uh, store my diary. I thought you might have a room in your library it could fit into."

"You need me to store a book?"

"Well, it's a couple of books at this point. 147 volumes to be clear and accurate."

Cadrienne's lips made the shape of "147 volumes," but no sound came out.

"And, uh, it's private. I mean, you could let your students into it posthumously, if it came to that, but as long as I'm alive, it's private. There's nobody here but Peggus that would care about the doings in Oursk, anyway, right?"

Cadrienne considered her words carefully, and then put a hand to her temples and shook her head. "147 volumes of pornography would not be an asset to my library, Master Birdhouse."

"It's not pornography. Voyeurism, yes, but very little of it is pornographic.  Volume 148 is a little portable thing anyhow and I'm keeping that one with me."  He smiled. "All the rest of it is just records about things and people, stuff I've observed. Very dull."

Cadrienne waited patiently.

"It's uh, my research project for the Academy Sorcere. I'm working on developing a new field of Divination magics. I need a lot of notes about who and where people are to test whether my experiments are working."

"I see," she said.  "Sounds interesting. You must have observed quite a number of people to have so much to write about."

"Nearly a quarter of the city," he said proudly. "The goal is the whole thing, of course. I want to have met everybody in Oursk at least once. But it's a big place, and the traders and adventurers and sailors come and go, so it's hard. I'm starting on the long term residents and politcal figures adn steady foreigners like ambassadors, and that sort of thing, but I'm working may way steadily towards the periphery."

"Why everyone rather than a representative sample?"

"I figure, knowing about the future isn't a whole lot of use, but knowing about the present, now that's worth a whole lot. Recent past, too. The longer I'm at this project, the more uses I find for the archive of recent events. But it's getting so big there won't be room to store it in the mirror room much longer, and I'm anxious about leaving it in the library at the Academy Sorcere because . . . well, there's a lot of stuff in there that might be incriminating to someone, and I doubt my professors realize how much time I've spent observing them and I'm afraid they'll cancel the whole project if they see some of it."

"So you want to store it here?"

"No one here is likely to pry, right, if you tell them it's off limits, and they're so far removed from what's going on in Oursk, it's not likely to be of much use to them. And no one is Oursk will think of looking for it here, and it's easy for me to come see it whenever I need to look something up, and that'd be good for you, because if I'm around a lot, I can run errands for you if you need 'em. And if the Academy of Flame decides to invade the mirror room from one of the portals, the books won't go up in the conflagration, which is something I've been worrying about for years."

Cadrienne looked as though something was still puzzling her about the idea, but she decided to let it go for now. "All right Dylrath, I'll find a space for your collection. Was there anything else?"

Dylrath looked out at the steadily falling rain. "How do you keep this place from sinking into the swamp?"

Cadrienne blinked at the sudden change of topic.

"The University and its Halls are all built on high ground with bedrock beneath. Only the independent householders have serious problems with flooding. I've been working on a project to build a series of dikes and wind driven pumps to drain the area, and the pilot project seems successful so far, but it's not yet complete."

Dylrath tipped his head to the side and gave her an incredulous smile.  "You weren't kidding when you listed the wind as one of your assets, were you? You think of a way to make use of everything."

"I do my best to make creative use of what I have to work with."

"Me too. We've got that in common, at least." Dylrath drummed his fingers on the windowsill. "Ok, no promises, but I think there might be a buyer in 'Sink for a --what do you call it?"

"Wind driven pumping system?"

"We'll work on that. You wanna sell it in Eversink, it needs a catchy name, and some color."

"I suppose we could paint the canvas sails. Perhaps I could set some of the Fine Art students on the project. I could put the Architecture department up to redesigning the tower to be more decorative.  So far, it's only been the Engineering students and they haven't given much thought to the aesthetics of the things. They work, and that's about it. Is there steady wind in Eversink?"

"I'll look into it. There's a river.  Moving water's about the same as moving air, isn't it? Think your students can make one of the gizmos work under water?"

"Use the river to pump itself? Seems a bit like a snake eating its own tail, but yes, it could probably be done."

"A snake eating its own tail. Hmm, there's an angle. Work that into the design on the sails or whatever. 'Sink's probably got plenty of ways to pump water already, but they get bored so easy, I'll bet I could sell them something newfangled just because it was novel. And the perpetual motion thing has always got a fascination to it." He gave the little model of Spira a couple of spins. "Gimme a week. I'll research it and get back to you. 'Sink's got plenty of food, plenty of swamp, and I have business there anyway. I'll see what I can do."

"You have the soul of a tinkerer, Dylrath. You know we could use someone. . "

"No."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely. I hate the rain, loathe the cold, and no offense, I'm not crazy about the food out here either. The only thing about Daybreak with any charm is the rats. Present company and her library excepted, of course."

Cadrienne smiled "Thank you for your assitance with the trading matters, then, Dylrath. We'll look forward to your next visit."

"The pleasure's all mine," Dylrath said gallantly, bowing. "Till then." 

He exited as suddenly as he had come.

A restless infant stirred, and Cadrienne reached for the footpedal, wondering what it was she had just missed.


----------



## Sialia

"Well, that was perfect," Dylrath said, stepping into the mirror room, whistling. "Perfectly useless. 'Hope.' Like _that's_ gonna help me. "

He tossed the little blue, green and gold colored ball in his hand up behind his back and caught it without looking. 

"If you had two more Spiras ya could juggle 'em," Htarlyd quipped. "We could go back for the sun and the moon, if ya like--she's bound to nod off eventually."

But the ball landed oddly in Dylrath's palm.  He expected the bit of rough edge where he'd uncrewed the little model of the world from the orrery while he was working out the Eversink pump deal, but there was something sticking out of it.

He looked into the hole and there it was--a small bit of parchment sticking out--a thin scrap with a few words on it. 

"When a man seeks to create a god in his own image," it read in a neat script, "he ought to be careful about what he worships."

"Diviners," he mumbled, crumpling the thing. "I can't stand 'em."


----------



## Sialia

bonus: I updated http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4167&postid=804313

 also, since I realized there was a small chunk missing. Cheers!


----------



## lightful

Sialia, I really enjoy your voice on these booards !

Do either you or PirateCat know the origins of the word Outgrabe ?


----------



## Malin Genie

lightful said:
			
		

> *the origins of the word Outgrabe?*




'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
  And the mome raths outgrabe

-Lewis Carroll, _Jabberwocky_


----------



## lightful

My point exactly ! I was wondering what the connection was ?


----------



## Negative Zero

wow. simply, wow.
Sialia, i love the way your mind works!
that was just marvelous!


~NegZ


----------



## Greybar

> "Perfectly useless. 'Hope.' Like that's gonna help me. "




I love the interaction.  Dylrath totally blind to the simple power of hope, and assuming that Cadrienne *had* to have used some sort of magical power to convince Peggus.  Beautifully written.

I wonder if he'll try to research _Power Word Hope_ one of these days.

Thanks for the update!

John


----------



## Sialia

Yes, I borrowed Carrol's word. I just liked the scansion of "And the Dylrath outgrabe . . ."

For somebody who spends most of his life literally Through the Looking Glass, it seemed appropriate.

And just for the record, Cadrienne DID cast a spell. Only, as she says, she thinks of it as "praying _for_ Peggus" rather than "casting a spell _on_ him."

She used "Command."

I just love that spell.


----------



## Greybar

> She used "Command."




Cool!  And the one-word command was "Hope"?

Nice!

John


----------



## Sito Rotavele

Sialia said:
			
		

> *
> She used "Command."
> 
> I just love that spell. *




Me too, and I'm so glad someone cast Command: POST on you Siala.  It's so great to have you share your gifts via the boards.  Great scenes, and phenomenal dialogue!  I could see their faces.

And what with the lack of summoned creatures driving the pumps, Cadrienne (and Dylly) are sure to make a killing in the 'Sink!


----------



## Sialia

Hmm. Hadn't considered that angle. This was all written so long ago . . . but it certainly DOES seem like an opportune time to be posting it, doesn't it? Since the events that took place here took place _before_ the Defenders went underground--or really shortly after they began the trek to the White Kingdom anyway--there's even reasonable chance that some of the pump brokering happened before the recent events took place .  . . unless Piratecat had other plans, of course. 

Quick show of hands--how many of the Defenders would rather see 'Sink sink?

Ah. Thought as much.

Several more things have occurred to me about this story. There are a few more pieces missing that never got posted--I'm sure I wrote a scene with Arcade and Dylrath entitled "Flying Lessons" but I can't seem to find a copy of it anywhere.

Right after I get my paper and oral report finsihed for my class Saturday, I'll have a go at reconstructing that. 

And there's one more chunk with Teliaz drafted, and another bit where Dylrath confronts himself in the mirror room, and a scene with Tomtom that I'll have to post facto in somewhere . . . .

Stay tuned!


----------



## Henry

Good luck with the paper!

Now, Hurry, Hurry, Hurry! I can't wait to see more! 

With Kevin off doing that "survival" thing, many of us are suffering with Vitamin D deficiency!


----------



## Sialia

*p[laceholder*

"Tel. There you are. Man, you are a tough guy to find. I've been 
looking all over. I found something for you--I wanted to show 
you. Here," Dylrath toseed Teliaz a small, pale green, glass globe. It looked rather like a fishing weight.

Teliaz plucked it from the air like a throwing dagger and looked at it dubiously.

"Look at it. Look into it. You want to see this."

Suspiciously, Teliaz peered into the glass globe. It was empty, except for a swirl of color. After a moment, the swirl of yellow and blue resolved itself into two horizontal bands, with a green stripe between them. 

A sky, the sea, a beach. Somewhere. 

Teliaz looked closer. 

There on the beach, skimming across the dunes. Dylrath? No, a girl.  A girl on a bright pink and orange outgrabe, wearing a very nearly obscene black leather outfit, skimming over the dunes and doing phenomenal turns at the crest of each hill. 

With a dancer's grace she pirouetted and made the board flip in mid air. Impossibly, the girl and the board reconnected and rode out the momentum down the other side of the slope. 

Teliaz leaned forward, peering into the globe wondering if she would come back. 

She did. 

From the crest of the dune she popped way up into the air, tumbling in a tuck position with one hand steadying the board and fringes flying in every direction. Her face was completely covered by a black mask, its ribbons fluttering in the air among the mass of her chestnut hair, but her figure and her grace, her daring, were heart stoppingly beautiful.

 Again, she drove down one side of a dune and then arced way up into the sky, spraying sand at the crest of the hill and then turning and  . . . and something caught, dragged where it shouldn't have, and the pink outgrabe skidded loose, flipping over and over from pink side to orange side, and the girl tumbled into a catastrophic flurry of sand and dust, vanishing from sight as the globe filled with a pale yellow smear of nothingness, vanishing into empty green.

Teliaz looked up at Dylrath. "What happened to her?"

Dylrath shrugged. “Two possibilities: she pulled out a controlled landing and got up and walked away, or she's lying broken and mangled on the other side of that hill.  Which way would you 
have wanted it to come out?”

Teliaz stared back at the ball and didn’t answer. "Is she real?" he asked at last.

"Not yet.” Dylrath said slowly, temporizing. “Part truth, part illusion, I think. She's a possibility. I did some divination work for you. You know, what it would look like if things go right for you. Divination is tricky stuff. It's the future as it might be. Maybe.”

Teliaz nodded. "Right. She doesn't exist, but she ought to exist.”

Dylrath sighed. “I'd give a whole lot to make that girl real, even if she never looked at me. That's what being a god is all about, isn't it? Reshaping the world to your own desires. Mortals, we can only reshape ourselves, and paint pretty pictures. But gods, gods can make it happen. Really happen. And if you're gonna do it, then by god, build some reality worth having."

“I could _make_ her?” Teliaz pondered.

Dylrath shrugged. "It takes time and a whole lot of patience to teach somebody to ride like that. And the student has to want to do it . . . You can't force someone to love riding that much."

"Show me it again," Teliaz demanded.

"Sorry,” Dylrath apologized. “I only had one vision stored in that globe.  I could get you another, but it'd take me a few minutes to cast it, and it might not be quite the same one. And I think I'd have to charge you something for it."

"Such as?"

"If you decide to go through with your Dad's scutwork, don't start with me. I'm sick of the hostage bait routine, and the Defenders aren't likely to fall for it again anyway. Or at least, if ya gotta kill me, just do it clean out, don't make me into a trap for 'em again. It's embarassing. Deal?"

"Deal."

"And no messing with my stuff while I'm busy casting."

"Agreed."

Dylrath rubbed his hands together and pulled out some components. He closed his eyes, mumbled a few words and began making passes with his hands over the globe. A small light flickered deep within the globe, a small spinning spark. A faint smell filled the air, like sandalwood, roses and jasmine. Dylrath focused deeper, and the spark inside the globe disappeared, although the smell remained. Without opening his eyes he lifted up the globe and offered it on his open palm to Teliaz.

Teliaz looked into the globe, half expecting a trap, and hoping 
desperately to catch a glimpse of the Outgrabing Girl again. The globe seemed dark and empty.

And then he felt something. Something like a hand pushing on his chest. A small warm hand, pushing gently. 

He looked down, but there was nothing there. 

The smell of the incense was very strong, and something soft brushed against his cheek and touched his mouth gently. Something soft and warm, like skin, like  . . . lips? Is that what lips felt like? He could feel the breath from her nose. He pulled away from the confusing sensation and the girl's mouth followed him, wet and gentle, and very insistent. Her tongue licked his lips, and her teeth briefly and gently held his lower lip as her hand slid up his neck to caress his scalp.  _His_ lips and neck and scalp which had never been touched by a mortal hand that hadn't immediately withered and rotted away from contact with his oozing, pustuled, poisonous skin. 

The girl's soft body pressed up against his chest, and he could, just for a moment feel the whole shape of her against him, her arms around him, her lips on his lips and her hand in his hair. 

And then she was gone. 

The scent lingered.

Dylrath blinked a few times. "Anything?" he said, opening his eyes, peering into the empty globe and shaking it a few times. "Peeyew, what a stink. I hate olfactory divinations. Virtually useless. Unless you've got a talking dog around to interpret 'em for you. Sorry guy, I tried.  The spell's experimental.  I never know what I'm gonna get out of it." 

Dylrath polished the globe a few times and stuffed it into a padded pouch. "That's all I've got in that line for today.  I can try again later, I should live so long.”

“You ok, man?" 

Teliaz stepped away, shaken. “Yeah,” he said disractedly. “Look, I gotta go . . .”

“’Scool,” Dylrath said. “Drop by whenever.”


----------



## Sialia

Dylrath alone. Ok, Not Actually Alone. Dylrath Spends Some Time With Himself. 
----------------------------- 
Dylrath took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The whole Plan had been hard enough to come up with the first time. Now, with The Outgrabe's new enhancements in place, it seemed harder instead of easier. He stared at the beautiful thing, remembering the best day of his life--the very day he had begun adventuring with his boyhood heroes, the Defenders of Daybreak. 

He had watched them gloriously destroy the evil archmage Mirata Du Chemith, Chancellor of the Academy of Flamecraft. He had even helped a little. 

They had also destroyed her bedroom, and he had found both the key to Htarlyd and a broken floating bedpost in the wreckage. Right away, he knew that bedpost was something special. Sure, it had needed a little sanding. And some paint. And then he'd taken it home and his dad had insisted on the footstrap and sweetened the deal with the inlay. But that had been it for years. Basically, the Outgrabe had just been a  chunk of Hovering Elm with a leather strap. 

"Four thrones," it said. 

"No way," Htarlyd replied. "Not again."

"Four thrones," it affirmed. "'Rath, flip the cards so mirror boy can see 'em and weep. " 

"You sure Master Badgerclaw didn't stick a chunk of Master Loial in you by mistake?" Htarlyd sulked. 

"Nothin' but pure Dylrath," the Outgrabe replied. "If there's anybody else in me, it's all secondhand. Who's this Loial anyway?" 

Dylrath sighed. This was going to take some getting used to. 

There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, he thought. One of us should step out for a beer. 

Dylrath considered revising his plan. I could just quit here, he thought. I have the Outgrabe and Htarlyd and if I stay away from Teliaz I'll probably die a wealthy old fart. 

And if I go through with this I may lose . . . . everything. What's in this for me anyway? Dylrath's first Master, Alix Loial, would want to know where Dylrath was getting his percentage. Well, no, Alix would have wanted to know where _he_ was getting _his_ percentage. But the point was clear. A wise rogue didn't attempt dangerous tricks without analyzing the costs and benefits in advance. Master Tomtom would have agreed.

"It's the daring of the stunt," he found himself murmuring, remembering what he'd said to Teliaz. "Not whether it is right or wrong, or what I'm gonna get out of it, but whether I can pull it off." 

"You betcha," the Outgrabe agreed. "What stunt are we talking about?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Htarlyd said smugly. 

Dylrath glowered and made a throat slicing gesture at the mirror, which Htarlyd reflected back cheerfully. 

"We'll talk about it later," Dylrath said. "Let's go get some action."

"Suits me," the Outgrabe replied. 

"And no talking, smart mouth. You're still under cover, right?"

"Who me? I'm just a bedpost. What'm I gonna do, recite the prologue to _Holy Velendo's Stone_?" 

"Shut up," Dylrath said. "Didn't you get any of the fawning 'yes master' part of me at all?" 

"Yessir," it said. 

"That's better. Alright, Htarlyd, what're the girls up to these days?"

"Bathing, sir." 

"Hoo-wah!" the Outgrabe cheered. "Sir," it amended. 

"Well, not actually bathing yet. But they're on the way." Dylrath gave Htarlyd the eyebrow, just in time to cut off the terminal "sir." Too much of a good thing indeed. 

"Ok, business, guys. Minds on business. Work first, pleasure later. Let's do it."


----------



## KidCthulhu

Dilly's familiar is a talking skateboard?! [clutches head and goes looking for an aspirin.]

Rath, don't make us come and save the world from you.


----------



## Sialia

Um. Oh hi there, Kidcthulhu. 

Gosh. You read this thread, too, huh?

Um.  You know, I had been holding off posting about the Outgrabe upgrade thing for so long, I kinda forgot I hadna told yer about it.

I mean, the emails 'tween me and Tomtom's player where we did the work--that was back when you were all in Eversink, right?

This stuff's been sitting around on my hard drive a loooong long time.

Figure it's old news. I mean, it's new news to Nolin and the other PCs, 'cause Dylrath still hasn't told them. But it's old news to Piratecat. Ancient history practically.

If anything bad was gonna happen from this experiment, it'd have happened already, right? So, no sweat.


And it's not really a Familiar, in the technical sense of the word. It's just a psionically empowered object, right? Like TMOSAT. 

Well, not much like TMOSAT.

I hope.


----------



## Bandeeto

> And it's not really a Familiar, in the technical sense of the word. It's just a psionically empowered object, right? Like TMOSAT.




Speaking of our favorite Master of Space and Time, I was reviewing the earliest posts on this thread and realized that the part where Arcade acquires TMOSAT had somehow gotten sliced out. So, I put it back in. 

It's short, but now at least when Arcade asks the travelling mage at Crellar's Inn to examine his staff it makes a bit more sense. (Yeh yeh, I know, KidC.  It still sounds filthy.)

Bandeeto


----------



## Welverin

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Speaking of our favorite Master of Space and Time, I was reviewing the earliest posts on this thread and realized that the part where Arcade acquires TMOSAT had somehow gotten sliced out. So, I put it back in.*




Here's a link for anyone who doesn't want to go searching. Lazy bums.


----------



## Knightfall

el bumpo!?!


----------



## Sialia

No no--it is even better than this. There are actually _two_ updates. You just have to go back to where I left myself a placeholder for the first one: 
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=976492#post976492

Then go ahead and read the one below.






Teliaz stopped by. "Boo," he said cheerfully. Or at least, as cheerfully as he could in that "I'm going to enjoy watching the agony of your death throes" voice of his. Despite Dylrath's best efforts, Teliaz hadn't made a lot of progress in the cheery department.

As usual, Dylrath jumped. "Damn," he said, trying to catch the ink pot as it tipped over across the vellum. "Damn damn damn. Don't DO that."

It was still unnerving the way he would just show up. Dylrath never heard a footfall -- fine, plenty of people did that -- but he still couldn't feel Teliaz looking at him, and that drove him nuts. Decent people looked at you before they tapped you on the shoulder. It was aggravating that with all the progress he'd made (cheeriness notwithstanding), Teliaz was still getting that perk from his Dad. Dylrath blotted up the spilled ink furiously.

"'S go," Teliaz said gesturing his thumb over his shoulder.

"Can't," Dylrath said.

"What 'can't'? Surf's up." Teliaz said.

"Can't." Dylrath grabbed his sandpaper and began sanding off the vellum, trying to get a clean surface again. "Damn. Gotta finish this."

"Blow it off."

"But my defense starts tomorrow. Blessed _tommorrow!_"

"So? What's a little deadline? Make 'em wait 'til you're ready."

Dylrath looked up and blinked. "But I _am_ ready. I'm totally ready. The whole project is ready for the presentation. It's just this damned chart that's not ready. I've got to finish it on time, or wait until next spring. I can't wait until next spring. I have things to do. Or will. If the world doesn't end. N'import, if this plane is ending, I'm getting my degree before it goes up in smoke, waka?"

"Dylly, me boyo," Teliaz said leaning forward, "Over the past few months you've made me late for every temple appointment, every assasination, every damned thing I'm supposed to be doing instead of hanging out with you. And have I ever let you down when the sun was shining, or the floods were flooding, or winds were blowing, or whatever other damn fool thing you thought was a lark? Have I?"

Teliaz looked hurt. 

Dylrath paused to think. A moment more, a wrong word, and Teliaz's hurt would turn into betrayal, and everything, everything was at risk. Maybe it already had.  How important was the chart? Sure Dylrath had been writing the Census of Oursk and Treatise on Contemporary Divination for years, and only working the "saving Teliaz" project a few months, but which was the priority? 

Teliaz. 

Clearly Teliaz. Screw up with Teliaz and a lot more things were at risk than Dylrath's career. 

But there was something else here.  What? What was it? He could almost feel his late master Loial smacking him upside the head. Something . . .something important . . . A Moment. An Opportunity.

"Never, pal. You've always dropped everything. And we've always had a great time. But. . . but . . .you didn't exactly drop everything just for me, right? All those things you were avoiding, they were all things you didn't really want to be doing in the first place."

Dylrath put down his tools and walked over to put a hand on Teliaz's shoulder. "I _want_ to do this. Screwing around is my hobby, but this is my life's work. I've got a possible client on the line if I can get the faculty to approve the thesis and graduate me outta here before the moment passes or someone else snags my window of opportunity. This project is for _me_. I don't _want_ to screw it up."

Teliaz's face set into a stony mask. Dylrath realized that he hadn't looked like the scary old Teliaz in months. Until now.

"Fine," Teliaz said, turning on his heel to stalk away.

Damn, Dylrath thought. He's not getting it. "Wait," he called, hurrying after Teliaz.

"What?"

"Take the Outgrabe. If I can't come out with you today, it'll be the next best thing. It'll be almost like I'm there."

"You're serious."

"Bricks, yes. Take the blessed thing. It's done nothing but whine for the last week anyway about how I'm not getting any exercise. Or any younger. Or any better looking. Driving me nuts. Take it out and give it a good run. I don't want to see it for the next week while I finish things up here. Then we can catch up and celebrate my victory or drown my sorrows."

Teliaz eyed the hovering disk greedily. It eyed him back ineffably, its many multifaceted eyes glinting softly.

"I'm only a 'hobby,'" it mimicked sarcastically. "When do I get to be somebody's 'life's work'?" it added in an aggrieved tone that resembled Velendo far more than Dylrath.

 "Never hurts to have a dream,"  Teliaz said with a casual smile. "Right pal?" And with a practiced step, he hopped up onto the board and glided out of the room. 

"See ya in a week," Dylrath hollered after them.

A cantrip would settle the chart, he realized, now that he was thinking clearly.

If only there was something that would settle his stomach . . .


----------



## Welverin

Thanks Sialia. How did the report go way back when?


----------



## Steverooo

Sialia said:
			
		

> *The orphanage, too? Dang.
> 
> What about the royal grant of the governorship of  Celay Terzdun?
> 
> It's never occurred to me before, but perhaps Rendic's ability to wander around more or less completely unnoticed by the Defenders was a sort of special ability of its own.
> 
> I mean, yeah sure, he was there at all those things you listed, but I can't remember him being there, and I was also Alix's apprentice.
> 
> Probably if he was in a postion to scoop up Alix's assets, so was I and I never thought of it which is really unusual for me to miss an angle like that. Alix would have been so disappointed in me.
> 
> Got to look in on old pal Rendic one of these days. If I can just remember to get around to it . . . *




"Rendic" was a Bard...  Of course, "Rendic" wasn't his real name!  That's just the one you _remember_!  (Memory Manipulation)


----------



## Steverooo

*...For Whom the Dockalfar Wait!*



			
				Bandeeto said:
			
		

> *Although I have not mentioned it previously in this journal, I should write a word or two concerning Frolic’s friend Michael. It has been clear for some time that he is a very unusual boy.  He seems to attract all sorts of magical attention, and his understanding of magical concepts is uncanny for such a young lad.  If given proper guidance, he might become one of the most powerful mages of this age.  Without training, he might well become a serious threat to those around him.  I must remember to ask Ortigal to give Michael a reference for a scholarship at the Oursk Academy, if the boy’s parents are not too opposed.*




Uh-oh, Chongo!

Remember in the other DoD thread, where they are training in the "fast-time" place (just prior to meeting a very wroth Aeos), and the Dockalfar tell them that they are waiting for a child?!?


----------



## Sialia

Nothing so glamorous, I'm afraid. 

Rendic was just the dullest NPC Piratecat ever ran for any length of time. We couldn't remember to put him in the marching order when we were with him.  Nobody _ever_ paid any attention to him.

Thanks for asaking, Welverin. My semester went fine--straight A's for the spring semester, and an A and an A- for the summer semester. Next week, it starts all over again, but this time for the degree: it's called the culminating semester, and I have to write two large research papers in as many months. 

Ick.  

I wish I was as far along with my papers as Dylrlath is with his. But then, he started a couple years before I did.

I'm not sure about the child. I was present for that session, but I don't think they meant Michael. I'm sure we considered the possibility. He might be too old by now. Dyl was sure glad to realize that he was definitely off the hook this time around.

(there was a prophecy during the Comet Cycle that referred to Dylrath as "the child." He would almost have swapped with Alix ("the martyr") to ditch that sobriquet. Almost.)


----------



## Kid Charlemagne

*Re: ...For Whom the Dockalfar Wait!*



			
				Steverooo said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Uh-oh, Chongo!
> 
> Remember in the other DoD thread, where they are training in the "fast-time" place (just prior to meeting a very wroth Aeos), and the Dockalfar tell them that they are waiting for a child?!? *




I was much more concerned that the child was the King's son, whom none can remember.  Then again, there's nothing to say that both can't be true, and Michael is the King's son...


----------



## Steverooo

Sialia said:
			
		

> *We'd had enough of our beach holiday at that point, and had work to do, so we left her there, alone on the beach.
> -------------------------------------- *




<Sniffle, Sniff!>

Waaaaaaahhh!


----------



## BSF

Wow!  I finally caught up on this one.  

What can I say besides Wow?

I like to think that I am good at RP, but I have a ways to go.

Sialia - I love your characterizations.  I could heap on praise, but I think I will just keep it simple.  You inspire me.  I want to bring my characters to life as effectively as you do yours.  Thanks!

Bandeeto - Excellent work.  For the logs in the game I play in, I have tired out different styles.  It isn't always the easiest thing, but I enjoy how you have conveyed personality through your posts.  Very nice!

For everyone else that has been involved in the DoD campaign, don't think that I don't respect your RP!  I really do.  All of you seem to have put together very interesting characters and I like the individual characters.  

I like reading the DoD threads because I really get a feel for personality and I am able to think of ways to bring my characters "to life" through reading your examples.  It looks like you guys are having a blast playing and combat is certainly alive and well!  All around, it looks like a great game.


----------



## the Jester

A bump.


----------



## Veneficus the Great

I just have to say that I love this thread! The DoD are my heroes 

---

Veneficus the Humble


----------



## Graywolf-ELM

It seems to me, that someone promised Sialia some updated spells in exchange for an update.  And a link should be posted to them from this thread.

There have been many updates since then.  Did this ever happen and I missed it?

BTW very enjoyable writing.  I found this thread while waiting for one of the 17 other story hours I follow to be updated.

GW


----------



## infax

LAST PAGE?
I didn't believe there would be an end - that I would ever catch up!

Excellent Story Hour!  
Bandeeto's and Sialia's sum up a very fun duet in the end (although I thought it a bit jarring initially).

There's been 7 months since Sialia last posted and a lot more since Bandeeto gave us anymore of Arcade's reminescing, any chance we'll ever get some more?

Perhaps I should go pester Sialia on some thread she has been more active lately ("Kiln Fired DM"?). I would do the same for Bandeeto if only I ever knew where to find him (or where to find "some one who knows where to find him").

Well, great praise for all the storytellers in this thread and my unending thanks for the excellent week catching up with it.


----------



## Graywolf-ELM

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> Solely for my own amusement, I will post a short list of Bando's dwarfy swears on a new thread.  This should die a quick death, but it may create some interest.
> 
> See Dwarven Swearing 101.
> 
> ---> _Edit: I moved the dwarfy swear thread to general discussion, and added a link above.  At your service!_





Bandeeto, any chance you are still around and know of another location for this?  getting a 404 not found error when I use the link.

Thank you,
GW


----------



## Graywolf-ELM

thatdarncat said:
			
		

> Will do, probably this weekend.




Here's the culmination of the "I'll convert to 3e discussion".  thatdarncat, did you ever convert them?

Thank you,
GW


----------



## Knight Otu

Graywolf-ELM said:
			
		

> Bandeeto, any chance you are still around and know of another location for this? getting a 404 not found error when I use the link.



 Try this one: http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6206


----------



## Graywolf-ELM

Knight Otu said:
			
		

> Try this one: http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6206



Thanks sir Knight.

A gamer friend of mine came up with this possible 3.5 spell interpretation for Dylrath's Voracious vermin.  Posted here to hopefully get some response from out esteemed authors.
Thanks,
GW

How about this:
Dylrath's Voracious vermin
Level: 0
Range: Sight
Duration: 1 round/level
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Area of Effect: 1 small container
Saving Throw: special

Description: This spell creates 1d4 magical pests for every 5 levels of the spell caster which consume material spell components. (The caster may choose a number fewer than what was rolled but not greater. See below.) They can consume one component per round. They have a life span of 1 round/level of the caster. They stay on the person the spell is targeted on. They do not reproduce. The component is choosen randomly.

All items that are not magical and have a value of less then 10gp, have no saving throw and are automatically consumed. Magical spell components get a +10 to their saving throw. Non-magical components get a +1/50gp value. So a component that costs 200gp gets a +4 to the saving throw. The saving throw is DC 15 + spell caster's level. The victim can choose to 'save' 1 component per 5 levels. By saving the component, the victim can add their character level to the saving throw.

The victim of the spell has a chance to notice the effect of the spell.
(DC 20 + spell caster's level) vs Spot check +1/magical pest.

After the spell duration is over, the pests remain in the container. The caster may choose what the pests remains look like. The remains are no larger then maggots. The caster may choose the remains to look like flies, maggots, butterflies or even dragons or chimera's. The remains turn into dust after 1 minute/caster level after the victim looks into the container.

This spell is intended for spell component pouches and thus would not affect larger containers. For example, a chest containing a bolt of cloth would only have a small portion of the cloth eaten away.

(Note: I can sit down and determine how much later, if anyone is interested. If someone actually wants to use this spell, let me know and I'll work out those details.)

Balance Issues: I know this is a 0-level spell. And for a 0-level spell, it can be pretty nasty. However, I figure with the saving throws allowed and the rather tame effect, it should be ok. I'd be interested to hear from someone who disagrees. On the whole, this is more of an anoyance since you can get most spell components pretty easily. The harder to find components should all get a pretty decsent chance to resist the effect.

I should write up another 0-level spell that protects spell pouches from this effect. (The arms race begins. )


----------



## Sito

Not that Si can't come up with material from the archives on a moments notice, but be aware that she's got *lots* of material stored up.  Most of it will be triggered by a final accounting of the Defender's foray into the White Kingdom.  So after you've seen Pcat bring things to a heart thumping (or possibly heart-eating) conclusion there, watch this space.  Before then, you're at her mercy, which is boundless, framed by her availability, which is limited.


----------



## thatdarncat

Graywolf-ELM said:
			
		

> Here's the culmination of the "I'll convert to 3e discussion".  thatdarncat, did you ever convert them?
> 
> Thank you,
> GW



No, I never did. Now that I'm laidoff I might have time though  Will PM Sialia and see, though I seem to recall some stuff going in one of the portable holes.


----------



## Graywolf-ELM

Sorry to hear about the job loss.  If you don't have the time, we'll keep doing conversions piecemeal and posting them here.

Thanks,
GW


----------



## Sialia

You are all very kind, and I thank you for reading. Sito is correct--I do have another large chunk already written that I just can't post due to some incidental spoiler effects.

I don't know how much more of the Early Years we are going to be able to scrape together--we've used up most of the written notes the two of us had--there's a bit more we might be able to do vis a vis sketching out a timeline and summing up the history, but it's hard to reconstruct the actual play by play from this distance of time and space. The saddest part of this is that just where Arcade's notes stop is just where things started to get really complicated and interesting. Politics entered the world, and the world got bigger and more multilayered. And there were a lot of dopplegangers and an epic adventure that was supposed to be the end of the campaign in about 1998. Hah.

Bandeeto you can always reach through me. Posting here, or in Piratecat's thread will also reach us. Or you can write to me at mscurio you-know-the-symbol yahoo.com.

Ashy was terribly sweet to translate some of Dylrath's spells for Portable Hole Fulll of Beer last year. I'm not sure of the link at this point, but I'm sure we can come up with it somewhere.

Feel free to ask questions about early Defender's history here--sometimes there's things I know that I forget I know until someone asks. My online access is severely limited at the moment, but I'll do the best I can.


----------



## Graywolf-ELM

Thanks for stopping by.  This old history was new to me, and much enjoyed.  Are there any other old gems of yours like this, hidden on the board?

Thanks,
GW


----------



## Targeteron

I know this thread is old, but hell are these storys great. i especially liked the last few dylrath storys. Ever thought about writing professionally? The characters come through amazing and the exchanges are very believable. I am anxious to read someday how this whole Teliaz scenario panned out!


----------



## Bandeeto

Targeteron said:
			
		

> I know this thread is old, but hell are these storys great. i especially liked the last few dylrath storys. Ever thought about writing professionally? The characters come through amazing and the exchanges are very believable. I am anxious to read someday how this whole Teliaz scenario panned out!




Thanks for the kind words. It's good to see that folks are still enjoying this thread, even if only as a way to get a Defenders fix while waiting for P'Cat to update.   

Thanks also to Knight Otu for tracking down the "Dwarfy Swears Thread". Those things still crack me up.

We just returned from Boston, where I got to sit in and cameo Arcade once again. It's hard to find a place among the epics and near-epics that now constitute the Defenders, but I had a great time anyway. What's very amusing is the combination of lightning-fast coordinated strategy, and the  completely random running-off-in-all-directions combat style they exhibit when taken by surprise. Also, we got to ressurect an *old* plot thread, one that's been bugging Arcade for years.

A hint: it involves Kestellan of the Academy of Flamecraft. Keep following the DoD thread and I'm sure P'Cat will get around to posting his version eventually.  

As a general rule I only post when I have something to say, but I'm almost always around, and reading.

From "A Midwinter's Tale" directed by K. Branagh: "If you forget your lines, say, 'Crouch we here a while and lurk' until you remember them."


----------



## Sialia

Targeteron said:
			
		

> I know this thread is old, but hell are these storys great. i especially liked the last few dylrath storys. Ever thought about writing professionally? The characters come through amazing and the exchanges are very believable. I am anxious to read someday how this whole Teliaz scenario panned out!



I'm anxious to post it, too.

Thanks very much for reading--knowing that people enjoy reading it makes it worth writing it.


----------



## KidCthulhu

Bandeeto said:
			
		

> What's very amusing is the combination of lightning-fast coordinated strategy, and the  completely random running-off-in-all-directions combat style they exhibit when taken by surprise.




And this is different from the combat style the Defenders have _always_ shown?  I suppose it must be my fault, as I'm the only remaining original player.  Sagiro's been around nearly as long as I have.  The Chaos is me, the Coordination must be Sagiro.


----------



## Knightfall

Sialia said:
			
		

> I'm anxious to post it, too.
> 
> Thanks very much for reading--knowing that people enjoy reading it makes it worth writing it.




So now that Piratecat has posted four updates in a row, are we any closer to seeing this thread continue. (I know you are waiting for some event, I'm just not sure if it's happened yet.)

Cheers!

KF72


----------



## Piratecat

Pretty close. I have to reach a specific point that's not far away in order for the story to be in context, but it'll be worth it; it's so damn good that just reading it made me gape. One of the things that helped break me out of my creative doldrums was wanting to get to that point so that other people could read it too.


----------



## BSF

I'm looking forward to it!  

I want to see how this dovetails into the story and what chaos Dylrath has wrought.  Sometimes the world needs a little shaking up to keep things interesting.


----------



## Jackylhunter

Bump, for Sialia...ME WANT MORE DoD...=)


----------



## Sialia

[sheepish]The PDF is too large to upload.[/sheepish]

 So we do it in chunks. Here's the cover.


----------



## Sialia

The Passage​
of the​
White Swallow​



Dylrath sat alone. 

He’d been alone for a couple of weeks now, more alone than he had been for years. Since the disastrous day of the Defense, it had been pretty lonely. But today was worse.

He stared at his friend Kelsey’s body, waiting, watching for any indication that breath was still flowing in and out of it. He was so still. Kelsey’s body wasn’t the first body he had seen die--far from it--but he’d never been so uncertain about the actual moment of death. Had it happened already? Was it about to? He laid his hand on Kelsey’s chest to feel for a heartbeat. Impossible to tell.

The body was cooling, the fever broken at last. Broken. 

Imbindarla’s fall had broken so many things. 

The plague that swept across the city--probably across the whole world--left a lot of broken things behind. Families among other things. But Dylrath couldn’t go get Kelsey’s family. Couldn’t even tell Cadrienne about her foster son’s passing. Oblivious on the other side of the world in Daybreak, she wouldn’t arrive in time to heal him, or bury him. 

The fall of the goddess of undeath had broken all the magic in the world. Not for long--an eternity of several minutes--but long enough. Dylrath’s contact with the mirror Htarlyd was broken. 

And without Htarlyd, his flippant travel anywhere at will was over. It was as though in addition to having lost half of his soul, he had also lost both legs. And his eyes. And his voice.

And that was bad enough before he had started losing his lunch as well, here in this wretched boat. Now he was losing his best friend, and there was nothing, nothing at all to be done.

He still had the key. He could use it to reactivate the link, begin again, just as he had at the beginning. 

If he had any idea where Htarlyd was. 

Or if it still existed.

He didn’t know whether to rejoice or despair that he had been outside the mirror room when Imbindarla fell. The room was poised at the junction of the planes of smoke, magma and fire. Besides Htarlyd, there were three standing gates to those planes in that room. When the magic that controlled them went away, what had happened? Had they closed? Opened? Dylrath imagined, not for the first time, what it would have been like to stand on his father’s beautiful parquet flooring and watch those planes consume the 147 leather-bound, handwritten volumes of his thesis and census of Oursk, and the floor-to-ceiling black walnut bookshelves they sat on. And little volume 148, still snugly tucked in his vest pocket. He imagined that part frequently.

He didn’t know whether that improbable room still stood, after the magics that held it in existence vanished. Was it burned back to its original bare stone foundations, or simply gone forever? Without Htarlyd, there was no way to get there to find out. 

The mirror must have forgotten Dylrath during the Time of no magic, if, indeed, it had survived at all. He had called and called. There had been no answer.

Dylrath had been in the middle of the Defense of his Thesis when it had happened. Well, not the middle, as such. More like the part just before that. Before he’d had a chance to open his mouth, really.

It wasn’t just that the universe had a cruel sense of humor. A guy who flouts the Divination Faculty by writing a thesis that turns their world upside down really ought to expect this sort of thing. Scheduling stuff the old fogies are pretty damn good at.

Several of Dylrath’s classmates had cheerily predicted that Dylrath was going to fail abysmally, but Dylrath had replied that he didn’t believe prognostications were ever immutable. There was always some kind of loophole, and his life’s work was all about loopholes. That had started a betting pool of some serious proportions.

Of course, Dylrath suspected something was up when the faculty insisted that instead of a private review in front of his thesis committee, he would have to present his project before the full faculty and students. It was unheard of, but there it was. The serving staff not required to be present had been given the day off as a holiday, and no one needed to be a professional gossip to find out that most of them were planning on spending their leisure day attending what they hoped would be the entertainment of the season. But knowing the faculty was up to no good was part of the test itself. A Diviner who can’t tell when something bad is in the wind and do some risk analysis is no Diviner. In this respect, Dylrath had failed utterly. There was no way he could possibly have prepared for what came.

The students showed up with snacks, and settled in for a good time. Whether Dylrath passed or failed, everyone was sure it was going to be spectacularly amusing to watch him try. Dylrath’s excuses were almost as famous as his practical jokes and pratfalls, and they were sure that the closer he got to failing, the more likely he was to try to pull off something special. There were notably few people in the audience who knew how seriously he took his thesis and were prepared to actually listen to him talk about it. 

The Defense room was packed like a barrel of herring. Once the crowd got settled in, it smelled like one, too. It was not designed for large crowds. It was designed for students to demonstrate highly unpredictable experimental magics in. It was warded in every conceivable way, windowless, and built of good solid dwarven construction that could withstand a siege. Fortunately.

Professor Kaspe got up to explain the protocol of the Defense. Dylrath remembered being anxious and eager, and then bored. The professor droned on and on and on. It seemed as though he would never finish describing the test and actually administer it. Then, at last, he called Dylrath forward to the podium to introduce him to the crowd. Which was odd, because everyone in the room knew him well already. Dylrath was embarrassed at the litany of his deeds, as no doubt he was intended to be, even though the Professor kept mostly to things he was reasonably proud of having done, and the crowd cheered and laughed at appropriate places. The Professor kept a vise-like grip on Dylrath’s shoulder the entire time.

And then, before Dylrath ever got a chance to speak, Imbindarla had fallen. 

And so had most of the University. 

In the time of no magic, ancient architecture that had been shored up by mending spells for generations had simply given way. Dorms, kitchens, halls, laboratories--all had crumbled of their own decay or been crushed by their falling neighbors. 

The Defense Room alone stood. No one was hurt.

It took some little while for Professor Kaspe to convince the assembly that the catastrophe was not, in fact, Dylrath’s fault. He apologized on behalf of the faculty for arranging the small bit of misdirection at Dylrath’s expense that had rescued the University’s entire population. He explained that he, using traditional divination, had been able to read the portents of the week previous and thus been able to predict the cataclysmic moment, despite not having been able to determine the precise nature of the cataclysm. He congratulated himself on his foresight in gathering them all in the one safe place available, and offered to dismiss everyone. 

Everyone cheered at being saved, and then booed at the thought of not actually getting to hear the promised entertainment. 

Feeling desperate that his moment was slipping away, his one chance to show the world something new, the day he had worked so hard for for so long, Dylrath had grandly volunteered to proceed despite the circumstances. As they had rehearsed a thousand times, he called dramatically for Htarlyd to open so that he could begin.

And there had been no reply.

There had been no reply ever since.


----------



## BSF

Oh my.  So we get to see the rest of the world unfold through Dylrath?  Well, at least parts of it.  

And now I think I begin to see where those pictures you posted a year ago came from.  I think I am going to feel very sad reading the entirety of this tale, aren't i?

Still, I think it will be a _very_ good read.


----------



## Graywolf-ELM

Cool,  I'd forgotten that you were waiting for the White Kingdom story to finish up before you posted more.  Really looking forward to this.

GW


----------



## Sialia

Despite the rest of the world’s preoccupation with the other disasters that accompanied Imbindarla’s fall, such as the plague, Dylrath’s own personal disaster overwhelmed any interest he might have had in these interesting times.

Word got around.

His pal Kelsey had come to take him sailing for a few weeks to get his mind off it. Kelsey was the navigator of a fine merchant ship, _The White Swallow_, and the crew all knew Dylrath. Dylrath had often popped in to visit Kelsey, and liven their weeks at sea with fresh supplies and entertainments. They were all glad of a chance to help him through a tough spot with a change of scenery and some fresh sea air. Also, getting well out to sea seemed a sensible idea, what with so much festering, aching and puking going on ashore. The farther out they were, they reasoned, the less chance they’d catch it.

And then the plague had hit the ship anyway, too far from anywhere for Dylrath to find them a cleric without Htarlyd’s help. With aching limbs, they had tried to man the ship and return home, but too many were weak and dizzy with fever, falling from the rigging to die quicker deaths. Dylrath had done what he could, but he was neither sailor nor cleric. After a while there had been little to do but comfort the dying.

Dylrath knew he was infected with the plague, too, but his experiences had made him stronger than most men. He ached and vomited, and his skin had taken on the gray, splotched pallor of the stricken, but it would take a whole lot of killing to finish him. The final fever and suffocating paralysis had not gripped him yet. He knew what it would look like. He had watched it consume so many of others. 

Kelsey had been one of the last to succumb.

Dylrath laid his head on Kelsey’s chest to listen. Yes? No? The boat was quiet apart from the noises of wind and ocean working on drifting wood. 

No moans trickled through from above anymore, not a footfall or creaking floorboard. But if there was a heartbeat, it was too quiet to hear over the throbbing in his own temples. Kelsey’s breath had been too shallow to hear for several minutes, but sometimes it almost seemed there was still movement in him--perhaps nothing more than the motion of the ship drifting aimlessly in a calm and empty sea.


----------



## Sollir Furryfoot

*cheer*, an update!

I must admit I had forgotten about just how interesting Dylrath's own tale was, and with this turn of events things grow even more complicated.  There's snobby diviners and apocalyptic-type signs, what's not to like?

This is an excellent read Sialia, thanks!


----------



## Sialia

I am alone in the midst of a vast ocean, he thought. The Defenders are in the Underdark. My parents are in Gaunt. And I do not know if any of them are alive. I have no way to find out. Not even the Outgrabe knows where I am.

The Outgrabe was still missing with Teliaz. It had been gone for weeks. “Never Loan Anything to Anyone With an Immortal’s Sense of Time,” he added to his list of Good Tips to Remember.

He felt empty.

Hungry, actually, he realized.

Really, really hungry. And thirsty. 

He wondered how long he had been sitting here watching Kelsey die. He’d grown used to the queasy plague feeling, but now he felt queasy and hungry at the same time, as if not eating were going to make him sick-up.

He dug through Kelsey’s ration box for some biscuits, but could not bring himself to eat them. What he wanted, he realized, was a steak. A good, rare steak, and a glass of red wine. Maybe a bottle.

Off the top of his head, Dylrath knew a dozen or more good seafood restaurants right in Oursk, but none that really knew how to prepare a steak. Steak wasn’t something Oursk excelled in. If Htarlyd were here, he could have gone anywhere in the world to find just the right place. A really good, really pink all the way through steak. Not one of those tough, leathery, overcooked jobs, but one that was truly “bleu,” as they say, really almost still cold and purple at the middle. Juicy, dripping. If only Htarlyd were here to take him from this forsaken crypt of a ship, he would walk into the finest butcher in Sigil and demand a steak so rare it had hardly breathed its last breath yet . . . Dylrath realized, with a certain sense of elation, that he was being watched, and by a very familiar person. Himself.

He lifted his head and peered hopefully around the room. Nothing? Surely, just for a moment there, he had felt the familiar tingle of being watched by the mirror of his own soul?

But no, nothing there. And yet, still, that familiar tingle, that sense of being watched that was Dylrath’s gift. And the soul watching him was so very like his own . . . he was sure of it. Perhaps, if Htarlyd were watching him, then it had found it’s way back at last? Perhaps it would open if he called again. One more time. Right after he got something to eat--and drink--definitely something to drink--he’d have another go at it. Maybe at last he would be whole again, and free. And not alone anymore, not ever again.

Yeah, that. Or maybe the standard plague hallucinations were arriving at last.

And then, a coalescence of vapor--mist--no, smoke--a roiling cloud of pale gray smoke spilled in to the room, from the very center of the room. A dim glow appeared in the middle of the smoke, and then a ring of red-violet pin-points of light, staring like eyes. Eyes hovering below a pale disk, white as the moon.

“Outgrabe?” Dylrath whispered hesitantly. It didn’t look exactly like the Outgrabe, but the soul looking at him from its glowing eyes was the spitting image of his own. “Is that you?” 

“Can you doubt it? The new look is _definitely_ me. Love it?” It spun around to show off its new splendor. No longer a wooden disk, the whole Outgrabe now seemed to be made out of bone. The wooden inlay of flames were gone, replaced by ivory inlay of . . . snakes? worms?

“Intestines!” it announced cheerfully. “Cool, eh? I’ve been upgraded again. Look what I can do.” It practiced flaring and dimming its glowing eyes a few times, fading slowly in and out of visibility with varying amounts and shades of smoke.

“I . . . see,” Dylrath managed. “A week. I loan you out for a week and . . .”

“Hey, it’s not every Outgrabe gets a chance at ascending. I had to take the opportunity when it came up.” It paused to reflect on that thought. “Actually,” it qualified, “since I’m unique, every Outgrabe did, but that’s beside the point. I’m not your hobby anymore,” it added proudly. “I’m Divine Regalia now.”

“You’re what?” said Dylrath. He blinked a few times, processing that. “You mean, Teliaz ascended--he did it? He actually did it? And you were with him when he went?”

“Yup!” it said, with contagious enthusiasm.

Dylrath’s elation flattened itself with a terrible sinking feeling. “He’s . . . not the new god of adventurers, is he?”

“Nope!”

A terrible sureness settled into Dylrath with a coldness that brought his feverish body to shivering again. “He’s the new god of undeath, isn’t he?”

“Yup!”

“But . . . you were supposed to keep him _out_ of trouble!”

“I did,” the Outgrabe insisted indignantly. “Halcyon never got near him.”

“Who?”

“And you would not believe the speed record we broke getting to the Defenders. Voooom. You should have heard the clang when we hit their tower. We were a hurricane.”

“And . . . and . . . they . . . the Defenders . . . they let him go for the whole undead thing?”

“Yup!”

“And _Malachite_ was ok with this?”

“It was practically his idea. It was either Teliaz or a whole lot of choices they liked less. Most of them liked less. But Stone Bear won’t barehand Teliaz again anytime soon. Hah. Serves him right.”

“Who? You took him to _our_ Defenders, right?”

“Yah, yah. And then Tao kicked him through a gate. Those Defenders, right?”

That sounded about right. 

“We caught up with ‘em a few days later in Nacreous,” the Outgrabe added. “Oh, and here’s a tip I picked up you might want to add to your list: ‘Never Say “Bite Me,” to Evil Godlings,’ ok? Bad Idea. Even if you can make a horrific fireball. Fireballs aren’t necessarily fatal to god wanna-bes, ‘k?”

“What?”

“But it did make it a lot easier for Teliaz to finish the job, so if you bump into Nol while you’re planewalking, give him our thanks.”

“Planewalking?” Dylrath squeaked, trying to get a grasp on what he thought he was hearing. “Where?”

“No idea. Never heard him invoke anybody. No idea who’s got ‘im.”

Dylrath didn’t know whether to believe the Outgrabe or not, or just what he was supposed to be believing. “If you had a head, I’d bang it upside down on the pavement.”

“If you were a girl, I’d look up your skirts while you were doing it.”

“You deserve to spend eternity as Teliaz’s footstool.”

“I certainly hope so,” it crowed.


----------



## Steverooo

So Teliaz wants to save Dylly?  Is silly Dylly Soder when he's older?  (Yeah, yeah, I know... wait and see... but I just hadda ask!)

   

Until next time...


----------



## Sito

NIIICE outgrabe, Si!  Quality work all around!


----------



## the Jester

I really like this thread. 

Thanks, Sialia!


----------



## the Jester

Scuse me guvnor, can we have another?


----------



## Sialia

Dylrath sank into his chair weakly. This wasn’t the way he had planned things. Teliaz was supposed to have found something, if not good, at least reasonably neutral to do with his eternity. The Outgrabe was supposed to help him find it--something amusing, something distracting, something exciting, something possibly lethal to Teliaz even, but something non-Evil for heavens’ sake. Velendo’s blessing was supposed to keep both of them away from messing with Evil things.

“You know that position you turned down as First Worshipper--it’s been claimed,” the Outgrabe rattled on cheerily. “Some other guy claimed the Lord High Flunky gig. But Teliaz could still make you a high priest or something . . . if you’ve changed your mind?”

“Umm. No.” 

“Or a lich, maybe. Heyyyy, _I_ could be your phylactery--I’ve already got part of your soul--there’s plenty of room for the rest of it in here. You’d be indestructible--nobody’s ever going to lay a hand on me, right? I’m Regalia. Did I tell you about the Regalia part? Teliaz owes you that much, I’ll bet. You probably wouldn’t even have to go through the ritual. All you’d have to do is ask him--simple as that. He’s feeling generous just now, and I’d put in a good word for you.”

Dylrath recalled the only lich he personally knew: Hagiok. Hagiok, the demented professor who literally went on forever. The Defenders had found him standing before a classroom of dry, dust covered skeletons--not the animated kind--teaching magical theory in a classroom that had long since been buried by the ages and the dungheaps of Oursk.

“I don’t want to be like Hagiok,” he said, backing away. “He was mad. He taught students who were beyond learning anything. _Way_ beyond.”

“So who says you’d have to? You’d still be you, just forever. And anyway, you want to teach, we’ll get you a classroom full of students who won’t fade out on you. Vampires, fer example. Nobody said dead has to be unattractive, right? Professor Dylrath, lecturing for all eternity to eager and immortal classes on the Doctrine of Teliaz. I’ll bet those girls’d do just about anything to pass their exams. And hey, you’d get to write the exams, so who knows what they’d have to do to pass anyway?”

Dylrath tore his mind away from that vision. “Uh . . .. Just what is the Doctrine of Teliaz?”

“‘Being nigh indestructible is a hoot!’”

Dylrath’s lips repeated the phrase soundlessly. He felt, just for a moment, as if he finally understood what Arcade had been going through as his own mentor all these years.

“Bare minimum,” the Outgrabe continued confidentially, “it beats moping around about the total destruction of your career plans.”

“How did you know about that?”

“Try hanging out with Mr. Omniscient a while, and you’ll get the hang of actually knowing what’s going on for a change.”

It was hard to argue with that kind of logic. 

At least, hard to argue with it on an empty stomach. 

Dylrath still felt lightheaded with hunger. If only he had . . . a simple glass of tomato juice. Just that . . . or some red wine. Or . . . he licked his lips, unable to let the word for what he really wanted speak itself in his mind. He buried his head in his hands. Ah, Calphas . . . . I was supposed to go with Teliaz to get him on the right track, and I sent the Outgrabe ‘cause I didn’t want to go myself . . . . I almost deserve this.

I’m going to have to make this right. Myself this time. ‘Anything worth doing is worth some effort’ he thought. Master Arcade won’t approve, but I never did get his lessons just the way he meant me to. He stared at Kelsey’s body. I wish you were here, he thought. I wish I could tell you about why I’m doing this. So somebody would know. I wish I had explained The Plan to somebody from the beginning so there’d be at least one soul that knew that this wasn’t it.

“I’m hungry,” he said simply.

“So eat,” said the Outgrabe, simply. “He’s not going anywhere.”


----------



## Sialia

Dylrath stood over the body, one hand on Kelsey’s chest, and one on his neck. It was so clear, now, the hunger said. What is flesh but meat? What is meat but flesh? And so fresh, still warm. So wet with juices, and you are so thirsty. Such thirst. Such hunger.

He felt a certain numbness as he realized what the Outgrabe meant. Of course. If I’m in, Teliaz will want to know that I’m really in. First test of loyalty. Only question is whether I’m drinking the blood of a living man, or eating the flesh of a corpse. 

Does it make a difference, I wonder?


----------



## Graywolf-ELM

No, I'm nearly shocked speachless.  He goes Vampiric?  I'll have to wait and see.

Thank you,
GW


----------



## jerichothebard

Ummm.... dangdiggity.  That is SO not how I pictured Dylrath's life going...

Character growth is always an amazing thing.

And Teliaz - the surfer god of undeath.  Calphas help us all.

(I bet his dad's pissed.)

jtb


----------



## Sito

Sialia said:
			
		

> [sheepish]The PDF is too large to upload.[/sheepish]
> 
> So we do it in chunks. Here's the cover.




Given the path the story is taking, this wasn't a secret spoiler, was it?


----------



## Kid Charlemagne

My guess is that Teliez has to be nearby watching - this reminds me of the effect that he had on people before, like the girl drawing hearts in her notebook, except with a bloody dagger sticking in them.  HIs new effect on people is to make them want to go cannibal.

I half-expect him to pop in just as Dylrath resigns himself to eating his buddy, going "Ha!  Almost had ya there!"


----------



## shilsen

Graywolf-ELM said:
			
		

> No, I'm nearly shocked speachless.  He goes Vampiric?  I'll have to wait and see.
> 
> Thank you,
> GW



 I saw it coming as soon as we got to the sentence - "He stared at his friend Kelsey’s body, waiting, watching for any indication that breath was still flowing in and out of it." Maybe I'm just cynical


----------



## Sialia

How did one begin? Did you use a knife and fork for this sort of thing? 

Or just go for it face-first?

Dizzy. Dizzy like the moment when you lose your balance at the peak of the jump and know the ground is too far to be any help, too close to avoid hitting. Dylrath knew the sensation of falling well. He’d done it many, many times. 

I am falling, he thought as he leaned forward, leaning his face on Kelsey’s chest. What do I do when I fall?

Besides hitting the ground, that is.

What would Master Tomtom say? ‘Tumble, you fool.’ If you have to hit the ground, hit it on some part of your body you can afford to bruise. Any landing you limp away from is a good landing.

And Master Alix? The lessons of Master Alix were only sometimes in what he said. Mostly they were in watching what he did. The Last Lesson of Master Alix was: Those Who Make Deals with Evil Gods Make Good on their Promises or Spend Eternity in a Bag. 

Which went with Tao’s lesson regarding never offering anybody eternal devotion unless you really, really mean it. And with Master Nolin’s object lesson that being suicidal is a good way to get yourself killed.

And Cadrienne? Had she ever said anything useful about how to keep it all from going bad, when it all looks like there’s no way left but straight on down into the ground? Apart from the business about how to talk somebody into accepting a spell effect so they couldn’t resist it when it came, which is, incidentally, what that stupid disk is doing to you, he reminded himself. Taught it everything it knows, he thought wryly.

Maybe something about not being able to help everybody in the world who needs help, even if you really want to? Something about some people being beyond help? Nah, she never said that. She said soppy things like ‘Hope!’

Hope.

What is there to hope for at a moment like this?

He thought: I hope I don’t have to eat this body. 

I really hope Calphas knows that it’s not ‘cause I’m shirking. It wouldn’t do any good for me to go with Teliaz now--I can’t do anything more for him . . . This has gotten way beyond me.

I hope when I die, I die a good clean puking-up-with-fever kind of death and rot for a while and then maybe get eaten by scavengers. And stay dead. 

The thought brought a certain bright lucidity to his mind. He imagined himself actually trying to eat Kelsey’s chest. 

He snickered. 

Say ahhh, he thought, open wide. Wider. No, really, wider. 

With this jaw and his scurvy teeth, he wouldn’t even be able to chew through Kelsey’s shirt.

He chuckled at his own absurdity. 

Pride, he thought. My pride is all soft and squishy. I’ll land on that. 

He collapsed in convulsive giggles and slid to the floor.

After a bit, he wiped the tears from his eyes. “I think you better go now,” he said quietly.

“You’re not coming with?”

“’Tempting . . .’” he said using Tao’s intonation out of long habit. “But no.”

“Your loss. Well, boss, can’t say I didn’t try!” 

After a moment’s doubletake, Dylrath realized it wasn’t addressing him. 

“Pity,”Teliaz said, stepping away from Kelsey’s body as He became visible.


----------



## Jackylhunter

That is so cool!!  What the hell does the new God of Undeath want with Dylly???  Oh no..!


----------



## Sialia

Teliaz had been there all along. He had heard everything.

Dylrath’s mind didn’t handle being face to face with Divinity especially well. It babbled a lot, and averted itself mostly. It attempted to take the rest of him along for the ride, resulting in a spectacularly brief dash, directly into the doorframe.

By the time Dylrath’s voice finally found itself, the rest of him was already face down on the floor, trembling.


----------



## Sialia

One screaming, insistent thought had made it through the noise, and that was that the God of Undeath was now idly lounging against Kelsey’s body. 

His mouth, never having been particularly well controlled by his better judgment, was crying, “Don’t take him! Not Kelsey, please.”

“He’s your friend,”Teliaz said with some jealousy.

“Yes,” said Dylrath still averting his eyes.

“As We were?”

“Yes.” Do Not Lie to Gods. They Know What You are Thinking. “No. Not exactly. I have a lot of friends. They’re all different.” 

“Of course. You’re the man who’s friends with every person in Oursk.” Teliaz still sounded somewhat petulant. 

Dylrath dared to look up. “And every single one of them is important. Do you know I mean that? When people look at me and I see their souls--it’s not just a tally--I know them, like they know themselves. There isn’t any one that isn’t important to me.”

“You never saw Us like that. Your Talent doesn’t work on Us.”

“No. You I had to get to know the old fashioned way: I spent time with You,” Dylrath said. “It was time well spent,” he added, hoping it didn’t sound like meaningless flattery. It was true, in its own way.

“Dylrath, We can’t go sparing everyone you claim as a friend. There’d be no one left.”

“But, just this one? For old time’s sake.”

“_Why_ just this one?”Teliaz thundered.

“Because . . . Kelsey is the first friend I ever had who didn’t have the authority to give me orders.”

Teliaz looked at the body on the berth, considering. 

Then he shrugged. “As you like. We don’t particularly need this one. So many have died of the negative energy poisoning already, We hardly know what to do with them just yet.”

“Negative energy poisoning? The Plague is from You?” Dylrath said, horrified. The scale of Teliaz’s power was far larger than he had ever imagined.

“No. It _stops_ because of me. Er, because of Us, that is. Without a god controlling the heart of Undeath, the neg energy just leaked out all over the place. Whatta mess. That much of it is toxic to most living things. So on the whole, it’s probably a good thing Stone Bear didn’t succeed in blowing the thing up. We _need_ living things, ‘cause you can’t get undead from stones, right? They got to go through that larval ‘living’ stage first, if you follow. So I’m . . ._We’re_ gathering it back in. Right? We can just suck the negative energy out of this boy like a Divine sponge, see?” 

He looked at his unglowing hands and smiled. “Who’s the god?” 

“You are,” Dylrath replied automatically. 

“Right.” Teliaz thought about that for a moment and then added, “Which, by the way, means I don’t need your pity anymore. Or a chaperone or tutor either.”

Dylrath looked at Teliaz, uncertain what to say. It was true. He hadn’t given a moment’s thought to the offer of power and knowledge, immortality or fun. What had almost led him to concede was something else altogether. It was something he wasn’t sure he was proud of doing, or not doing.

“I know your friend Cadrienne. Or, uh, of her anyway,”Teliaz added.“And I’ll tell you what she would have said.”He leaned forward, very close, looking down directly into Dylrath’s eyes. His presence at that range was overpowering, and the only thing that kept Dylrath from bolting into the wall again was a fixed immobility that seemed to have paralyzed his limbs.“’Trust me.’ And then maybe she’d have added ‘Teliaz is a Big Guy now. He can handle it.’” 


Dylrath nodded. Cadrienne had a daft gift for trusting people whether they deserved it or not. 

Teliaz looked at Kelsey, considering. “Tell you what, just so we’re quits, Let’s call it a swap. We leave him as he is, the Outgrabe stays with Us.”

Dylrath forcibly silenced his urge to bargain for a better deal. Do Not Bargain With Evil Gods. You Will Wind Up in a Bag. Nod and smile. Good. 

“Good,”said Teliaz. Looking at Dylrath, Teliaz suddenly realized that now that he could see through Dylrath’s mind, and all its myriad convolutions.“You always _meant_ to give it to Us,” he said, understanding it for the first time.

Dylrath nodded, and averted his eyes again. “I thought it would help,” he said truthfully.
“It _has_.”Teliaz smiled. “And you. You get immortality without sacrificing more than a small piece of your soul.”

“Side effect,” Dylrath shrugged sheepishly. He had tried not to think about that part for a very long time. He wasn’t sure he wanted to think about it even now. Not real immortality, but the other kind. The Outgrabe’s soul was its own now, but it would live as long as Teliaz, and there would always be a small piece of Dylrath in it, chattering away in Teliaz’s ear. 

And there might be legends some day, although given the way things had gone, he was no longer sure he wanted to be recalled in them. It would have been different if Teliaz had chosen the Really Dangerous Hobbies thing. Undeath was more than Really Dangerous.

“I . . . I was just trying to think about what was best for you. It’s lonely at the top, and you’re going to need a friend who doesn’t change, who doesn’t need favors or spells or whatever from you. Just . . . someone who likes being there.”

“Someone like you. But not actually you.”

Dylrath shrugged again, almost apologetically. “Everybody wins?”

“Consider yourself a winner, then. "

“Cleverrr,” said the Outgrabe. “Well, thanks for everything! Well, nearly everything. All the good bits, anyway,” it added cheekily. “Is it time to go yet?”

“Most likely. Farewell, Dylrath Birdhouse,”said Teliaz. “We do not think we will meet again.”Hestepped on to the Outgrabe with a graceful and practiced air. “Unless you change your mind, of course. You may shortly find this ‘death’ of yours to be highly . . . overrated. When Calphas calls you home to those Dreary Havens, you may think of Us after all. For you, there will always be an alternative. Although perhaps not so fine a one as you might have had. I’ve found a more interested party for that role.” He smiled as the Outgrabe rose. They vanished with swirling smoke and mist.

Dylrath knew they had vanished, but were not quite gone. The intolerable blood hunger and the soul imprint of the Outgrabe were still with him.

“One last thing,”Teliaz’s disembodied voice echoed through the room. “We advise you to keep the door well barred. Kelsey’s sailors will see you home to Oursk, but without their navigator, it may take them some little while to get there. What’s left of the dying should keep them fed for a bit. They shouldn’t need your blood if they make landfall by next month. And your precious Kelsey, he might buy you a few more days if you need them.

“Fare well.”

And then he was really gone.

Dylrath rose, and walked across the bleached, bone-white floor. The berth where Kelsey lay, and Teliaz had leaned, was a lacy framework of worm-eaten ivory. He heard dragging and scraping movements above his head, and looked up. The cabin ceiling was bone white as well, and it was clear that there were men . . . bodies . . .making footsteps . . . walking above. The familiar sounds of sail being hoisted and ropes creaking filled the room.

Kelsey drew one ragged, gasping, gurgling breath, and then coughed blood, weakly.

They set sail for Oursk.


----------



## Jackylhunter

Oh man, this is bad.  Stuck on a ship with no food and a bunch of undead sailors.  This is bad.


----------



## Sialia

Jackylhunter said:
			
		

> Oh man, this is bad. Stuck on a ship with no food and a bunch of undead sailors. This is bad.




So, uh, is it a bad place to roll credits?

I was kind of thinking this was about the right spot.


----------



## shilsen

Sialia said:
			
		

> So, uh, is it a bad place to roll credits?
> 
> I was kind of thinking this was about the right spot.



 I would say your sense of timing is impeccable  Very nice work.


----------



## Steverooo

WHAT?!?  That's where you're going to drop it?

Did Dylly survive, or become a vamp?  Did Kelsey die, or get et?  Are they vamps, or just dead (or did one or more of'em figure a way out)?  And what was Dyllrath's earth-shaking new theory on Divinations, which was never defended because of Htarllyd's inaccessibility?

ACK!  You're leaving me wondering about all of that... FOREVER?!?


----------



## Stone Angel

I really love this Story Hour


The Seraph of Earth and Stone


----------



## Fimmtiu

Sialia said:
			
		

> So, uh, is it a bad place to roll credits?
> 
> I was kind of thinking this was about the right spot.




Hmm. Well, I'm all in favour of good stories coming to an end eventually, but a little resolution would be nice. Sort of unsatisfying this way.


----------



## Trahnesi

Sialia said:
			
		

> So, uh, is it a bad place to roll credits?
> 
> I was kind of thinking this was about the right spot.




Yeah, I can see it.  Everything after this is anti-climactic.

Besides, every entertainer knows that you want to leave them begging for more.


----------



## Jackylhunter

Well, I'm betting that once the Defenders emerge from Necropilos(sp?), they'll find Dylly in need of rescuing.  Or maybe it'll be visey versy??

Great Story Sialia!!!


----------



## Spatzimaus

Sialia said:
			
		

> So, uh, is it a bad place to roll credits?
> 
> I was kind of thinking this was about the right spot.




Storywise, yes, it's a nice spot; the earth-shaking events are over, and it leaves Dylrath's         survival in an unresolved state.

Gamewise, though, this is a parallel story to the ongoing Story Hour.  Since the DoD will CLEARLY want to know what happened to all their friends when they finally emerge from the Underdark, we're going to find out whether Dylrath made it back safely sooner or later.  It may just be as simple as "Dylrath called for help on his Clasp, since there are half a dozen DoD above-ground still" or "He said TomTom's names a few times, and eventually the halfling teleported to him" or even "When the Defenders reached the surface they went to check on their friends; not being able to find Dylrath, they scried for him", but it won't stay a cliffhanger.  Of course, that doesn't have to be resolved in THIS thread.


----------



## Malin Genie

Best. Spot. Ever.


----------



## carborundum

After more then a decade this deserves to rise again. I loved discovering and reading these - thank you all!

One question, if you are out there - did Cadrienne's player know about the possession and play it for a while?


----------

