# Let's Play Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures



## Deuce Traveler (Apr 1, 2012)

I'm moving on from playing SSI's Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds and am now delving back into my love of older DnD modules.  I've become pretty good at the SSI Gold Box games, and found a website full of fan-made modules based on the original TSR adventures.  Many of these modules are ones I've always wanted to play, but I can't find a group that wants to play old school adventures, and Google + doesn't work well in Qatar.  So I've decided that I'm going to play through them using FRUA, but with advice and help from the ENWorld community.

So how did I go about making this happen?
Step 1: I downloaded DosBox, an emulator for Dos games.  Links can be found at abandonia.com
Step 2: I downloaded FRUA, also from abandonia: Download Forgotten Realms - Unlimited Adventures | Abandonia
Step 3: I followed the directions on how to run FRUA modules using UAshell.exe as described here at rpgcodex.net: Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures (FRUA) thread | rpg codex > Now with extra t(w)its - https://twitter.com/#!/rpgcodex
Step 4: I downloaded the highly recommended classic modules converted by Ray Dyer and found here: Module Listing - Classic modules for the pc
Step 5: I ran the modules using uashell.exe and had a blast, using Ray Dyer's recommended adventure paths found here: http://therealm.flopsyville.com/Menu.htm

I've only played four or five of the modules so far, and only completed one.  For continuity sake, Ray Dyer converted all of these modules into the 2nd edition AD&D ruleset typical for Gold Box games.  I thought about doing a play by play based only on my own decisions, but I figure what is the fun in that when I can get ENWorlders involved?  I'll give you my own run down on what I've tried so far and my thoughts, but I'm afraid that may sway you on which adventure path we should work on.  We have a number of options to choose from, all based on the AD&D 2nd edition ruleset.  Which adventure path should we throw our six hapless 2nd edition adventurers?  Pick you poison:

The Southlands Adventure Path: (Average Total XP- 510,000)
Game 00, Introduction (Level 1)
Game 35, REF5, "Skeletons" (Level 1)
Game 27, U1, Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (Levels 1-3)
Game 26, T1-4, The Temple of Elemental Evil (Levels 1-9)
Game 29, X1, The Isle of Dread (Levels 3-7)
Game 24, S2, White Plume Mountain, (Levels 5-7)
Game 20, I2, Tomb of the Lizard King (Levels 5-7)
Game 22, I7, Baltron's Beacon (Levels 5-7)
Game 33, X8, Drums on Fire Mountain (Levels 5-8)
Game 32, X7, The War Rafts of Kron (Levels 9-12)

The Westlands Adventure Path: (Average Total XP- 445,000)
Game 00, Introduction (Level 1)
Game 06, B8, Journey to the Rock (Levels 1-3)
Game 07, B10, Assault on Raven's Ruin (Levels 1-3)
Game R2, Night in Daelwyn's Rest (Levels 3-5)
Game 08, B11-12, King's Festival/Queen's Harvest (Levels 1-3)
Game 03, B3, Palace of the Silver Princess (Levels 3-5)
Game 04, B4, The Lost City (Levels 3-5)
Game 19, GA3, Tales of Enchantment (Levels 5-8)
Game 10, C2, Ghost Tower of Inverness (Levels 5-7)
Game 12, C4, To Find a King (Levels 4-7)
Game 12 Part 2, C5, Bane of Llewellyn (Levels 4-7)
Game 25, WG4, Lost Temple of Tharizadun (Levels 5-10)
Game 25 Part 2, S4, Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (Levels 6-10)
Game 21, I6, Ravenloft (Levels 5-7)

The Eastlands Adventure Path: (Average Total XP- 160,000?)
Game 00, Introduction (Level 1)
Game R10, R10 A Series of Mysterious Events (Level 1)
Game 05, B6, The Veiled Society (Levels 1-3)
Game 02, B2, Keep on the Borderlands (Levels 1-3)
Game 11, C3, Lost Tower of Castanamir (Levels 3-5)
Game 34, B5, Horror on the Hill (Levels 3-5)
Game 01, A1-4, Aerie of the Slavelords (Levels 6-8)
Game 09, C1, Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan (Levels 6-8)
Game 28, UK1, Beyond the Crystal Cave (Levels 4-7)
Game 31, X3, Curse of Xanathon (Levels 4-7)
Game 30, X2, Castle Amber (Levels 5-8)
Game R1, R1, Raethor's Prize (Levels 7-9)
Game 18, GA2, Swamplight (Levels 7-9)

There is also a final adventure path, but I don't plan to go down this one quite yet:
Game 16, FRQ2, Dragonspear Castle (Levels 10-12)
Game 36, REF5, The Dread Lair of Alokkair (Levels 11-13)
Game R3, Early Winter, Fires of Spring (Levels 12-14)
Game 37, Dungeon! A Board Game (Levels 12-15)
Game 14, CM8, Endless Stair (Levels 10-14)
Game 13, CM2, Death's Ride (Levels 12-14)
Game 38, H1-3, Bloodstone Wars (Levels 14-16)
Game 15, FA2, Nightmare Keep (Levels 16-18)
Game 17, G1-3, Against the Giants (Levels 18+)
Game 23, S1, Tomb of Horrors (Levels 10-14)

Or should we blaze our own trail and form a different adventure path?  Please tell me your thoughts on where I should start.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 2, 2012)

As I'm waiting for posters to suggest which adventure path to tackle, I realize that I'm dealing with a threefold problem of antiquity.  I am after all proposing that I showcase 30 year old modules (Castle Amber, Temple of Elemental Evil, etc), via a 25 year old RPG system (2nd edition AD&D), using a 20 year old video game (SSI's Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures).

So some explanation may be in order for those of you not as ancient as I.  FRUA was based on SSI's Gold Box game engine.  It was a 1st person RPG, with a top down 2D tactical screen for resolving combat encounters.  So travel, dialogue, and campaign choices occurred in the 1st person screen and combat in the 2D tactical screen.  The first and most famous of the Gold Box games was the 1988 classic _Pool of Radiance_.

Although I greatly enjoyed the character interactions and plots of the Infinity engine's _Baldur's Gate_ and _Planescape:Torment_, the Gold Box games allowed for a more accurate simulation of tabletop play.  Also, the FRUA game was more a module builder than a self-contained CRPG, and creating modules from classic TSR adventures is much easier to do in the FRUA Gold Box engine than it was for the Infinity engine. 

So now I've given a bit of an explanation on what the system is capable of.  While I am waiting for posters to suggest an adventure thread from the list at the top of the thread I will give a demonstration of FRUA awesomeness.  But which module should we use?  It should be something relatively short, 1st level so I can make characters to demo, and have a classic adventure feel.

Let's see what the FRUA Rose Dragon site has...

T1: The Village of Hommlet by James Rand sounds interesting, but the adventure may be too long for demonstration purposes...

Haunted House by Astradamir promises to be short, but I am not familiar with the author, and I would hate to demo something boring....

The Lich that stole Kringlemas byWalter Von Tagen III... tempting... but it's not based on a classic module and 'tis not the season...

Oh, what's this?  Ladies and gentlemen we have a winner!  Next up, The Orc and the Pie!


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## Croesus (Apr 2, 2012)

FRUA is full of old-style goodness, but I haven't been able to run it since I bought my WIN7 machine. Rather than try to kludge something together, I'm hoping GOG (Good Old Games) will eventually add the gold box games, including FRUA, to their offerings. If they'll do all the work needed to get the games to run well on my WIN7 PC, I'll jump at the chance.

That said, enjoy your gaming. Gold box is archaic in terms of computer design and graphics, but those games packed in a lot of good gameplay.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 3, 2012)

Well, even if GOG did update FRUA to run on its own, you would still have to download the fan modules you wanted to try, move them to the FRUA directory, change the folder name to have a '.dsn' extension and run UAShell to get it started, so most of the hands on work would still be on you.  Which is why GOG probably doesn't have FRUA high on its list of priorities.

That said, I agree with you that the program is archaic, but the old school modules are imaginative.  And we here are nothing but imaginative.  I mean, just check out how  TarionzCousin imagines his roleplaying group:







The Orc and the Pie is still up next, but I am on my way to work first.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 3, 2012)

*The Orc and the Pie*

I'm on an early lunch break and have decided to stop teasing you and show off the game.  This is the information on the Orc and the Pie according to Monte Cook:

The World's Shortest (Yet Technically Complete) Adventure
The World's Shortest (Yet Technically Complete) Adventure
"The Orc and the Pie: A Parody"
Adventure Background: An orc has a pie.
Adventure Synopsis: The PCs kill the orc and take his pie.
Adventure Hook: The PCs are hungry for pie.
Room 1: The Orc's Pie Room
You see an orc with a pie.
The room is 10 feet by 10 feet.
Creature: An orc.
Treasure: A pie.
Concluding the Adventure: Pie tastes good.
Further Adventures: Somewhere, there is a bakery making these good pies. Perhaps it's guarded by more orcs.

So since I am assuming there is only one orc to fight, I am only going to create two player characters.  Let's make Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser from the Fritz Leiber books.  Here we have the character creation page:






Notice that we are lacking some choices, such as barbarian and assassin from 1st edition, and the monk and druid from original DnD.  <grumbles about 2nd Edition>

We'll make Fafhrd a level 1 chaotic good fighter.  Another window comes up generating his stats.  I hit reroll until we have these: Str 18 (71), Int 14, Wis 13, Dex 17, Con 13 and Cha 15 and Hit Points a lousy 6.  Yes, the Gold Box rolls incredibly high for your PCs.  I could also cheat and adjust the stats manually, but I like random rolls too much.  Next, I pick an appropriate icon for him and save.

The next character is the Gray Mouser.  I make him a chaotic good thief and roll these stats:  Str 14, Int 17, Wis 13, Dex 18, Con 12, Cha 11 and 6 hit points.  His Charisma should be higher for the book character, but so should Fafhrd's Constitution and hit points.  But let's just press.  I name him, pick an icon and save.

Now I have some new options highlighted on the game screen.  I can add characters, which I do, which then allows me to click on Begin Adventuring.  Notice that the game equipped my characters for this module, giving Fafhrd a shield, longsword and armor making his AC 0.  The Gray Mouser was given a sword and leather armor, making his AC 4.





Ok, enough talk.  Let's begin.  The opening screen starts and shows the start of our dungeon on the top left screen, our party on the top right, a compass in the center, and the text description on the bottom: The Orc and The Pie, By Monte Cook, An Adventuring Classic.  The text was normally shown in this bottom window in the Gold Box games.  Because the text length was so limited, the textual side of game play was limited in comparison to the later Baldur's Gate and Planescape games.






Notice as I moved forward that the screen changed to show a picture of an orc on the top right where the 1st person perspective of the dungeon used to be.  We just ran into our orc, guarding a tasty pie.  It's fight time!






The poor orc doesn't even get a turn.  First I moved the Gray Mouser behind him to put a sword in his back.  I didn't go for the backstab, so he only did 2 hit points of damage, but made the orc turn to face him.  By doing so, he put his back to Fafhrd, who received a bonus from attacking from the back.  Fafhrd did 9 hit points of damage, killing the orc and liberating the pie from eeevil!






I get told that we received 7 XP for the kill, but the orc did not have any treasure.  Poor guy wasn't armed or armored.  The next screen says, "With the orc defeated, you eat the pie."  Then "Pie tastes good!" Yay for the forces of good!

We still need to pick our adventure path and then create six characters.  Any suggestions?


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## Mr_Spicoli (Apr 3, 2012)

The Westlands path would be good to start with as there are some modules few people have playe din there.  Then, the Eastlands path would be cool, and I will be playing several of the adventures in the Eastlands path later as well.


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## MerricB (Apr 4, 2012)

I love Ray Dyer's work. I spent a lot of time playing through his conversions of the classics. 

Cheers!


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 4, 2012)

[MENTION=3586]MerricB[/MENTION] : It would be great to get your inputs and your own memories as we go through these adventures.  I have also tried a superhero module based on the X-Men Dark Pheonix Saga that I will showcase later, and B2: Keep on the Borderlands, where my characters died a horrible death lost in wooded swamps.

I very much approve of Mr_Spicoli’s advice, and so we are heading down the Westlands Adventure Path.  I started on this path last week, before creating this thread, and the first adventure I completed in FRUA was B8: Journey to the Rock (the 2nd that I completed was yesterday’s “The Orc and the Pie”).  I made a number of mistakes in that adventure, some of which I will repeat in order to show the consequences.  Other mistakes I will avoid in play, but will talk about in detail when we reach that point (like when I had a magic-user attempt to cast _sleep_ on animated objects.

The Westlands Adventure Path will also allow us to breeze through several smaller adventures before grinding in a larger one.  Journey to the Rock, Assault on Raven’s Ruin, Night in Daelwyn’s Rest, and King’s Festival/Queen’s Harvest are all short pieces.  B3: Palace of the Silver Princess is the first large scale dungeon in which mapping will be a must, as we may have to explore around 100 rooms, if memory serves (I own the book but haven’t flipped through it in awhile).

In the ‘Journey to the Rock’, the heroes are hired by a man who wants them to travel to untamed lands, explore a structure called ‘the Rock’, and bring back its secrets.  So I need character creation ideas for a party of six to travel to the Rock, preferably without the names ‘Connery’ or ‘Cage’.

The typical party normally consists of humans and half-elves, since level limits are such a punch in the gut when it comes to 2nd Edition.  Elves and dwarves are also acceptable as their level limits are not as stifling, but rarely are gnomes and halflings given appreciation because of more restricted level limits.  In Ray Dyer’s modules, however, there are often special events that only turn up if certain races or certain classes are in the party so we may want a diverse party.

When it comes to classes, the standard configuration is normally a magic-user, a thief, a cleric, and three fighter types to act as meat shields.  But sod that.  The thief class is important, but we should go with a demi-human who has a second class in thief.  A thief/magic-user would make some sense, since it would allow the magic-user to wear light armor and fire a bow, but he would advance too slowly and we want crowd control spells like _fireball_ as soon as we can get them.  An elven or dwarven fighter/thief may be better, but we would still struggle with slow advancement.  A cleric/thief would advance faster than a thief/magic-user or fighter/thief, but would slow spell advancement for our primary healer.

In the _Pool of Radiance_, paladins and rangers did not exist.  Also there were plenty of experience points to be had, but a low roof when it came to game mandated level caps for all player characters.  So I abused the system and played with a dwarven fighter/thief, elven fighter/magic-user/cleric, elven magic-user/cleric, and three elven fighter/magic-users.  It took some work to reach the level cap before the end dungeon, but it was worthwhile.  It was pure joy to watch my heavily armored magic-users create a shield wall before letting loose with five _fireballs_ each round, while my dwarf backstabbed the leftovers.

But abusing the system in such away will get us killed in the early parts of these modules, and later when we hit the demi-human level caps.  I tried to take on the _Keep of the Borderlands_ with the same type of party configuration I used in the _Pool of Radiance_.  Things went fine at first, but I wasn’t leveling up as I went further into dangerous terrain and traveled further from the safety of the keep.  I finally reached an area I was too low level to survive, and since I didn’t map as I went, my characters got lost to the point I couldn’t survive the random encounters long enough to escape during any of my reloads.  If I had played single class characters I probably would have had more hit points to survive.  So except for a multi-class thief character, we are going to play single character classes.  Besides, it should make the LP more interesting as we struggle to keep the vulnerable unarmored magic-users alive.

Also, if you would like to be immortalized in this LP, just let me know I can use your ENWorld name as a character and let me know what race and class you would like your PC to be.  I would love to have our six heroes be picked and named after our own crowd.

Next Up: Building Our Party and the Introduction!


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## Croesus (Apr 4, 2012)

Deuce Traveler said:


> Well, even if GOG did update FRUA to run on its own, you would still have to download the fan modules you wanted to try, move them to the FRUA directory, change the folder name to have a '.dsn' extension and run UAShell to get it started, so most of the hands on work would still be on you.  Which is why GOG probably doesn't have FRUA high on its list of priorities.




My experience with GOG is that they set everything up for the main game to run. I just click the icon on my desktop and it runs - no messing with DOSShell, DOSBox, etc. I've spent hours trying to setup various old DOS games and have decided it's just not worth the effort, at least for me.

I agree that I'd need to manually add the modules, but I don't expect that would be difficult. I did that all the time back when I used to run FRUA, running on a WIN XP machine.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 5, 2012)

It's time to create our party of six.  We are going with a paladin, ranger, two magic-users and a cleric.  I decided that the sixth character should be a fighter/thief in order to make the fighter less boring.  I decided not to go with demi-humans though some events in these modules can only be activated by certain races.  Instead I will go with a group of humans and a dwarf because of the problem with level caps, and I want this party to attempt the entire adventure path.  I've also based each character on people from ENWorld.

First up, our lawful good human paladin.  I'm naming him for our own [MENTION=2820]Fenris[/MENTION], who prefers noble characters.  I roll until I get an 18 Strength.  His stats are: Str 18/76, Int 13, Wis 13, Dex 16, Con 16 and Cha 17.  But only 4 hit points...

Next, our lawful neutral dwarven fighter/thief.  This one will be named after our social butterfly, [MENTION=49929]Scott DeWar[/MENTION].  I roll very high (even for Gold Box) for him.  Str 18/56, Int 14, Wis 17, Dex 17, Con 17 and Cha 15.  He starts with 7 hit points.

We need a neutral good human magic-user.  I considered a halfling with a bonus to Dexterity, which should have been able to dodge attacks better, and therefore give the magic-user a better chance of survival.  But halflings could not be magic-users, and elves level cap at 11.  So human she will be.  We shall name our first magic-user after [MENTION=8058]Queenie[/MENTION], who prefers to play such characters.  Her stats are Str 16, Int 18, Wis 10, Dex 18, Con 15 and Cha 14.  I like the flame animation she has when striking, which I hope to show off in combat.  She has 4 hit points.

Next up is our chaotic good human ranger.  I am calling this character [MENTION=40413]GlassEye[/MENTION], and a high Dexterity should be a great help with bow attacks.  He has Str 14, Int 16, Wis 14, Dex 18, Con 18 and Cha 13.  His hit points are 8.

We'll go with a true neutral human cleric in order to try to bring in a healer/turner of undead.  This one will be named [MENTION=27780](un)reason[/MENTION] for that chap who is taking on the Herculean task of reviewing the entire run of Dragon magazine.  His stats will be  Str 17, Int 14, Wis 18, Dex 14, Con 13 and Cha 14.  6 hit points.

Last we need our second magic-user, who will be also be human.  It seems fitting to name this character [MENTION=796]Col_Pladoh[/MENTION].  Maybe when he reaches the height of his power he will be known as Zagyg.  Str 14, Int 18, Wis 17, Dex 17, Con 14, Cha 16 with 3 hit points.

Now it is time to add the heroes to the party.  I click them in this order: paladin, fighter/thief, magic-user, magic-user, ranger, cleric.   When combat starts, enemies will often attack from two sides, so it's a good idea to have some folks that can handle melee attacks from the back.  This keeps your magic-users safe in the middle.  If the enemy only comes from one side, this also frees your ranger to fire off his arrows while the cleric can switch from support or bolster the melee line as needed.  You can also change the party order when camped.

This is what our party currently looks like:






We have no equipment, so let's journey on into the introduction.

A bunny?






"Ahem. Yes, hello.  I mean... greetings traveler.  Your journeys have led you to the realm, a world of many worlds, a place of infinite possibility and myriad imaginations.  Whether you are new to the realm or an old hand, campaigns begin here.  All games currently available in the realm series are on the overland maps that come in this design.  We at the realm have been very busy updating and preparing this little package.  We have also prepared a series of short adventures.  Each of these may be found the old fashioned way, by walking about the maps and stumbling upon adventure where adventure lies.  Or for those of... less patience, you may cut directly to the adventures as you see fit.  A brief description is provided for each vignette. Well, off with you, now.  We have work to be done, and landscapes to paint.  Work at the realm is never done, you know.  Off with you, and Happy Adventuring!"

This brings us to several options, Introduction to the Realm, Explore the Realm, Choose a Mini-Adventure or Exit the Realm.






I choose to Explore the Realm, and when it asks me where fate takes me, I answer the Westlands.  I am then placed on the Westlands map, and going south I find this:






"You approach the home of Lirdrium Arkayz.  To a wizard, knowledge is power, and Lirdrium wants to know the mysterious secret of The Rock.  Many have tried to discover it, but The Rock keeps its secret well.  If you are interested in undertaking this mission for Lirdrium Arkayz to the mountain known as The Rock, then Load Game 6, the UA conversion of Dungeon Module B8, Journey to the Rock, for Levels 1-3."

And that's what we'll do next.


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## Queenie (Apr 5, 2012)

Ya know, I don't get a lot of time to read a lot of threads around here but I am honored to get a spot as one of your characters! And of I might add, you sure did peg a lot of us correctly. We're all that obvious, eh? 

This looks like a lot of fun


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## Fenris (Apr 5, 2012)

Geez, you play three or four similar characters over five or six years and you get type cast  Sounds Cool DT. I too am honor to have been included by name and will be watching your fun from the sidelines!


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## SkidAce (Apr 5, 2012)

I find this fascinating.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 5, 2012)

Fenris said:


> Geez, you play three or four similar characters over five or six years and you get type cast  Sounds Cool DT. I too am honor to have been included by name and will be watching your fun from the sidelines!




I'll do my best to keep your characters alive, but you are all starting at 1st level.   I've also been updating the "Last Stand of the Dorinthians" story hour.  You asked me to get up and finish it one day, and I decided I would.


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## Fenris (Apr 5, 2012)

Deuce Traveler said:


> I'll do my best to keep your characters alive, but you are all starting at 1st level.   I've also been updating the "Last Stand of the Dorinthians" story hour.  You asked me to get up and finish it one day, and I decided I would.




Awesome. I have been thinking about that game actually. Glad you are still working on it. I do miss that game and Dartis.


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## Squire James (Apr 6, 2012)

My FRUA experience (about 20 years ago) was heavily influenced by playing the Buck Rogers gold box games and a game called Martian Dreams (essentially Ultima 6 on Mars) at about the same time I played with FRUA.  I was really bummed out about not being able to do a Buck Rogers mod because I COULD NOT EDIT THE DARN WALLS!

I joined an AOL group that was studying the FRUA file formats.  One of the other members had worked out the wall formats but lacked programming ability.  However, I had Turbo Pascal and was not afraid to use it!  I first wrote a program that viewed the wall files and put them in a PCX file similar to the monster templates.  Eventually, I wrote a wall editor and released it on a link-only web page (the only web page I ever wrote until about 3 years ago).

After that, I realized that just editing the walls wouldn't be enough.  Editors for wilderness tiles, dungeon walls, and character icons followed (and added to the site).  Other people in the AOL group developed their own stuff, and it really became a big mess organizing all those editors.  One of the group members with screen name Autery organized all those editors (including mine) into the first version of UAShell.  I understand most of my stuff eventually got some improvements, so I'm not sure if what you're seeing now in UAShell has any of my stuff left in it or not.

I never did write that Buck Rogers mod (or any other publicly-available mod for that matter), but I feel pretty good about my part in making it possible for others to do so!  I did do a "martian wilderness" tile set that probably violated all kinds of art copyright.  It probably got eaten 3 or 4 hard drive failures ago, but oh well!


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## MerricB (Apr 6, 2012)

Dan Autery did a lot for that community - his page of links to every UA resource was invaluable to me when I joined it later on.


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## Scott DeWar (Apr 6, 2012)

The butter fly has just fluttered by.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 6, 2012)

I use UAShell to transfer the characters from Game 0: Introduction to Game 6: B8, Journey to the Rock.  The opening screen shows a dwarf, halfling and woman pointing upwards towards a large, tower-like rock far in the distance.  We put our party together and choose to begin our adventure.  The default color scheme for this adventure is an ugly mixture of brown and pink.






"For weeks, you've been looking for adventure in this forsaken wilderness with nothing much to show for it.  It's autumn now, with winter approaching fast.  And you'll be in real trouble if you don't find some treasure soon."

Sounds like real life so far...






"As you're finishing your breakfast at a cheap inn, a traveler walks into the common room... In a loud voice he says, 'Peace be upon you all! I, Hakeem the Merchant, seek (un)reason and worthy friends.'  Your friend looks to you briefly, then motions for the man to approach.  Proudly, Hakeem strides to your table. 'As I passed through Sylvanhome Forest on the way here, I stopped at the manor of Lirdrium Arkayz.  His servant Jenlar Temlin paid me to look for you and deliver his message to you. The wizard needs adventurers to undertake a quest, and he is willing to pay well anyone who answers his call.  The letter of his servant explains all.  Good day, my friends.' He lays a scroll on your table, then turns to leave.

You look across the inn as the door swings shut behind Hakeem.  The few patrons pay you as much mind as does the hound lazing by the fire. But what could come from the employ of a wizard?

'I've heard people talking about Jenlar Temlin', says (un)reason.  'He has a reputation as a brave fighter.'  Another of your friends nods his head, adding, 'More than that; he is supposedly honorable and trustworthy, as well.' Only half listening, you pull the strings binding the scroll Hakeem gave you.  It is a map.  Anxiously you read 'In the name of Lirdium Arkayz, I, Jenlar Temlin, offer greetings. I have given this letter to the worthy Hakeem, and I hope that the letter has reached you promptly.  In younger days, I sought gold and glory through adventure, but now I manage the affairs of the manor for the wizard Lirdium Arkayz. Lirdium was also once and adventurer like yourselves, but now he devotes himself to philosophy and the discovery of forgotten secrets and ancient magical lore.  Sometimes, he hires bold adventurers to obtain lore that he is too busy to get for himself. It is for this reason that we have sought you out. Master Arkayz needs adventurers to perform a certain task.  When a man from the village told me you were there, I hired Hakeem to find you.  I think that Master Arkayz' offer will be an adventure to your liking.

To the west of the manor, there stands a solitary crag known only as the rock.  According to legend, the Rock holds a powerful, ancient secret.  No one knows this secret, but Master Arkayz wishes to add it to his knowledge.  Master Arkayz believes you have the skill and courage to uncover that secret and bring it back to him.  The quest will be difficult and dangerous, but great and lasting treasure will be yours if you succeed.  I invite you to come to the manor as the guest of Master Arkayz.  When you arrive I will explain in more detail what the quest involves.  --- Jenlar Temlin.'

For a moment the silence of the room crowds in on you. A mage has asked personally for your services.  You have been sought out to perform service for someone widely reputed to be of fine character... and powerful. After a minute one of your friends mutters, 'I'll prepare my spells for the journey north.' (Un)reason nods and drains a tankard. 'We should leave at first light.  I'll talk to the innkeeper about a room for the night.'  You check your weapon. Over the past few weeks you've had the opportunity to replenish your stores of equipment for your chosen career adventuring in the realm."






Suddenly there is an image of a merchant on the screen who asks 'May I help you?'  I suppose this is the replenishment mentioned in the quote above.  I wonder why the script mentioned a map.  Anyway, the jarring transition means we can purchase supplies now.  And we have meager amounts of money.  Only 35 gold coins a character.  I shift the main character to Fenris, though I am unsure if his high charisma helps in purchasing items.  I find out it doesn't.

I spend 21 gold pieces each on Fenris, Scott Dewar and (un)reason in order to equip them with a 20gp suit of studded leather and a 1gp club.  Queenie and Col Pladoh each get a 1gp sling and 1gp dagger.  I then pool the gold and have GlassEye take the total, which is 143gp.  He purchases a 20gp set of studded leather, 75gp long bow, 40 arrows for 1gp each, and a club for melee.  Total funds left over 7gp.  I could have purchased some shields, and downgraded GlassEye to a short bow, but I want him to have range, and we'll have some better weapons and some shields soon enough.  Right now our melee fighters only have clubs, which do 1d4 points of damage.  But we are going to start out fighting goblins who only have 3 hit points, so the lowest damage roll from one of our fighters will still take out a goblin when you consider their damage bonus from strength.  Because I plan to get the fighter scimitars soon, they'll deal better damage later.  Realizing that our cleric can't use a scimitar, I transfer the 7gp to him, have him sell back his club for 1gp, and purchase a mace for 8gp which will give him a better chance for putting the hurt on opponents.

Now we are flat broke, but fully equipped with poor weapons and armor.
"Your equipment seems to be in order.  Across from the room, next to the fireplace, Fenris is talking to the innkeeper."

The text ends.  I suppose that's a hint for me to walk by the fireplace and talk to the innkeeper.






"The innkeeper turns from Fenris to you as you approach the bar.  Your friend says, 'It'll cost us two pieces of gold to sleep here.'"

We're broke.  No resting for our magic-users, which is bad since they have no spells memorized. We instead talk to the innkeeper, who says, "Lirdrium Arkayz... he's that wizard to the north, right?"

Ok... I got the hint.  We leave here and head north from the inn.






"A blast of cold air sends a shudder through your body. Wincing, you set your shoulders against the wind and look to the trail meandering north from the inn."

We head north until we get this message: "With Jenlar Temlin's map to guide you, you head for the manor.  Soon you enter the forest, following a narrow trail that leads to the north.  The forest is bright with the red and gold colors of autumn.  Fallen leaves carpet the forest floor.  Sometimes you catch the fleeting glimpse of a rabbit or squirrel that flees at your approach.  However, you see nothing, animal or monster, that could threaten you."
We must have failed a spot check, then.  

The trail seems peaceful and safe. Fenris bumps your arm to get your attention. Motioning up ahead, your friend says, 'Clearing.  That might be the house up ahead.'"
It still seems safe, but now I highlight Scott DeWar, our group's dwarven fighter/thief.  He has a better chance than most to see danger.

"The trail opens into a large clearing.  A majestic building of white marble stands in the middle of the clearing.  The elegant house is not fortified or protected by a defensive wall."
Well... with a quiet forest all around, why would it be?

"An open courtyard decorated with statues of heroic adventurers and fierce monsters surrounds the house.  You know at once that this is the manner of Lidrium Arkayz-- the start of your adventure."

I approach a white building in the distance.

"As you approach the door, it opens slowly. Two figures answer the door.  They say, 'We have been expecting you. Jenlar Temlin is waiting to see you.' With the guards leading the way, you enter the home of Lidrium Arkayz.  They escort you into a lavishly furnished room with a long table in the middle.  A middle-aged man in a red robe sits at the head of the table. He rises when you enter. His hair and long drooping mustache are red, and his eyes are green. He has the look of a tough, experienced warrior. He says, 'I trust you had a safe journey.  Evil creatures have learned not to bother us here. Welcome to the manor. I am Jenlar Temlin. The terms for hiring you are these: if you go to the rock and bring its secrets back, Master Arkayz will pay four hundred gold pieces to each of you. You will also be able to keep whatever treasure you find on the way. Master Arkayz only wishes to have the secret of the Rock; he has no need for more wealth. You can start here or rest overnight and set out in the morning.'"






From here we can decide to rest before setting out, leave at once, or turn down the offer.  We're broke and our magic-users need to study.  We're setting out for the only paying job we know of right now, but staying overnight.

When we rest, we load up on spells.  The two magic-users can memorize _detect magic, read magic, shield,_ or _sleep_.  Queenie and Col Pladoh memorize _sleep_ for crowd control against lower level groups of monsters.  (Un)reason can memorize three of the following: _bless, curse, cure light wounds, cause light wounds, detect magic, protection from evil, protection from good_ and _resist cold_.  I need him to focus on healing magic, so I for him to take _cure light wounds_ three times.  I considered using _bless_, but I may consider that spell towards the end of the adventure when we face harder to hit monsters.  It takes the spellcasters 4 hours and 45 minutes or rest to memorize their spells.

The party is now rested and ready.  Next we journey to the Rock!  And loot some monsters for some shields and scimitars.


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## Queenie (Apr 7, 2012)

I can feel the excitement!  I admit, I'm not fond of low level adventures - I've played them so often and very often not gotten very far. Hopefully this adventure is different


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 7, 2012)

I start off again from where we left.  "Jenlar sees you to the guest rooms.  When you are awake, he is there to see you to the door.  Jenlar Temlin stops before the door, motioning to the guards to wait before pulling it open to the wintry air. 'I have a warning to give you.  One that might help on your way. Master Arkayz wrote it himself and hopes that you will be wise enough to remember it and use it when you need it.' Jenlar reaches into his robe and brings out a small scroll. He unwinds it, clears his throat and begins to speak. 'Golden dreams can quickly turn to nightmares filled with flames that burn. Dark clouds may not bring you light, but watch for silver linings bright. Strength is not as strength might look. Remember falsely covered books! Simple treasures won't grow old, and all that glitters is not gold.' Jenlar winds up the scroll and adds, 'Legends also say that the secret is in two parts, visible and invisible. Luck to you all.' Jenlar Temlin motions to the guards, who pull open the door. The air of late autumn gusts through the opening to offer chilling greetings, and you step outside, listening to the click of the lock behind you."

The heroes are let outside and begin to return from the trail that brought them to the manor.  I'm not a big fan of the simple prose used so far, but I do like riddles.  If anyone can find a connection between a piece of the riddle and a moment in the game, please point it out.  I'll try to catch onto them, too.

On the way towards the inn, the game gives me this script: "With the aid of Jenlar's map, you spot a little-used trail leading off to the west, towards the Rock. Looking at the map, you find yourself on the right, easternmost side, where the trail branches westward." If we continue towards the inn, we'd get another message that says we can still ditch the quest and head off to the city of Specularum.  But we're heroes, and we shall not be driven off so easily!

I turn west, down the new trail, and walk until I read "The forest has come alive with the setting sun. Unused to the presence of men among the trees, the beasts of the wilderness howl and cry out loudly."

I think we just left the friendly woods... I step forward and...







Yep... definitely left the friendly woods...

"A large, sinister-looking wolf leaps from the shadows, boring into your party and snapping wildly its sharp teeth."

A battle begins...






The lone wolf appears on the tactical screen right next to our well-armored Scott DeWar.  GlassEye gets to go first, and I aim a shot at the wolf.  I find out when I move the cursor over our enemy that he is a dire wolf with an AC of 6 and 19  hit points.  This wolf might be too dangerous, and  consider using a precious _sleep_ spell.

But GlassEye fires and hits for 3 hps of damage.  Certain ranged weapons, like arrows from a longbow, allow for a second shot if the character is standing still during the round.  A second arrow does 5 more hit points of damage.  Looks like I'll be saving the spellcasting  for later.

Scott DeWar misses, and so does Fenris.  I'm getting nervous again when Col Pladoh hits for 3 hit points of damage with his sling, followed by Queenie's own sling shot for 1 hp of damage. (Un)reason is up next and misses, but I bring Fenris to the creature's rear flank at the start of the next round.  Unfortunately he misses along with Scott DeWar, but GlassEye is showing off on why I spent most of my money on someone to have a longbow and a stock of arrows.  He plugs the dire wolf once more with two arrows for 4 more hit points of damage. (Un)reason misses next with his mace, and Col Pladoh with his sling, but Queenie hits once more her slung stone, bringing the creature down to 1 hp.  But the dire wolf attacks next and does 6 hit points of damage to Scott DeWar.  Scott has 1 hp left now, too.  But unlike the dire wolf, we have a cleric.  Queenie attacks at the start of the 3rd round, hits the beast for 3 hit points with her sling stone, and kills the beast.  I have (un)reason heal Scott DeWar for 4 hit points (bringing him up to 5 and near max), before ending combat.  We get 22xp each for the battle, but the stingy dire wolf carried no valuables.  I wish I got a screen shot of Queenie's killing blow, but I really didn't expect a magic-user to hit three rounds in a row and to make the party's first kill.

We are jumped by a random encounter with six giant bats next, but they put up a pitiful fight, do no damage, and only give each character 8xp each for the encounter.  It was a waste to shoot at one with an arrow.  Good thing slings require no ammo.  I guess the game figures there is a abundance of decent sling stones on the ground for those that look.  Bah, is this the worst this forest has to offer?






I should have kept my mouth shut...

"Your party stops short as a lumbering creature breaks out of the overgrowth ahead of you. A mass of bulging, rippling muscles, the ogre roars fearsomely. 'You pay 80 gold, or me crush you!"

We don't have a gold coin to our name.  

"Fenris shakes his head, saying 'He's asking for a bribe,' your friend mutters in disgust."
Now now, Fenris.  This is not the time to lecture the nasty giant with the huge club.  I have the option to attack or pay.  I try to pay, just for kicks, but the ogre notes that I'm not forthcoming and attacks... oh boy.

Things quickly go bad.  Scott DeWar takes 8 hit points of damage from the ogre as the giant won initiative.  Scott goes down and is dying.  GlassEye fires his arrows and hits twice, but only for four hit points of damage. The ogre still has 14 hit points and a lot of attack bonuses.  I decide enough is enough, and waste a _sleep_ spell on it from Col Pladoh, which works.  Queenie is up next and finishes him a coup de grace from her dagger; magic blast animation in full glory (I wanted to show it off). 






We win 52 xp each, 40 pieces of gold and the giant's club.  (Un)reason heals Scott DeWar with two spells, bringing our fighter/thief up to full hit points, but using up our last healing spell.  The game still won't let me camp for the night, so we must press forward with only one _sleep_ spell left in the party, and a cleric and magic-user who are tapped out of magic.


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## Scott DeWar (Apr 8, 2012)

Wow, I look pitiful dieing in the  ground like that. 

flutter by flutter by flutter by


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## Queenie (Apr 9, 2012)

Queenie's a killing machine!


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 9, 2012)

I made a mistake in the last battle, as I stopped the fight right away instead of bandaging and healing Scott DeWar on the field.  Because of that, he did not receive any XP from the battle with the ogre.  On the other hand, he was hit so hard and fast that I doubt he even knew there had been a battle.  Scott's character was bleeing out each round when it came to his turn, and would have done so until one of the other characters used up their turn to bandage him up.  So there is a slim chance that Scott DeWar could have died if I didn't stop the battle when I did, anyway.  Those are he chances one takes.  I press on, trying to find a place that the party can camp and recover spells.

That's when we get another random encounter.  A single wild boar charges our party of six.





"The brush rustles and breaks apart to reveal a snorting, ravenous wild boar. The creature paws the earth, apparently preparing to charge."

I'm expecting another fight, but then the game throws an unexpected curveball by asking me if I wish to send my ranger up to the creature in an attempt to calm it.  GlassEye elects (or is elected) to do so.

"Glasseye steps forward, slowly, cautiously. With one hand, your friend offers the beast meat. The boar's snorting slows and finally quiets.  While it devours the meat, you move past."

Yay for us!  But now I am worried as the party is getting further into dangerous territory with a front line armed with only clubs and studded leather armor.  Last time I played this I was attacked by random encounters consisting of the ogre, and two bands of goblins armed with shields and scimitars.  I had planned for our band to encounter these goblins and loot their bodies for the shields and blades.  But now I am realizing with some worry that these encounters are random, as I have yet to see a single goblin in this session and this is the first time I ever ran into the boar.  If we didn't have a ranger, I am sure we would have had to fight.  This original module was based on BECMI, which lacked the ranger class, so I am not sure how the encounter originally played out.






I reach the first site where I can camp. "You have travelled for one full day's ride, through the hours you chose. Carefully, you stake out your ground and set watches to guard the camp."  We rest without incident and replenish our spells.

After some more walking towards the west the trail broadens.  "The trail is about twenty feet wide here.  Overhanging trees block out most of the bright sky.  The sun is still hidden by the tall trees, and only the bright sky lights up the forest.  Rabbits, squirrels and other small animals run among the trees, bushes and shrub. A few deer show their faces for a moment, then turn and run until their white tails vanish into the thick forest. The trail seems to be opening up just ahead. To your right the line of forest is moving away to the north." I decide to keep pushing the party west.

"You come to a clearing with bright green grass and some patches of fragrant wild roses.  Suddenly you hear singing; soft fair voices singing to you, calling you to leave the trail and come to them. You take a step north, towards the voices before you realize what is happening. You are being ensorcelled!  The rustle of feathers turns your eyes upwards to see a pair of harpies diving down upon your party! One of the harpies is twice the size of the other and she wears a glittering tiara. 'I am mighty Helgrath, Queen of the Harpies!' The large one screams. 'Who dares to attack the wings of death!'"

But we weren't attacking you!  You can't yell at us to get off your lawn if we didn't even know it was someone's lawn! We were just walking by and... darn it, a battle begins and we have to fight these beauties.






The harpies start the battle a good distance off the screen.  We will want to close on them quickly, since they attack with charm spells and bows.  Scott DeWar goes first, probably because he was paranoid and alert after being traumatized by Mr. Ogre.  He slams his club down on the smaller, lead harpy for 4 hit points of damage. (Un)reason travels next, but can't close enough distance, making it only halfway to the harpies.  Glasseye has a longbow and can easily shoot both harpies from where he is.  The lead harpy has 9 hit points left (from a max of 13) and an AC of 7.  It looks like she is also armed with a mace, and not a bow as I first assumed.  Helgarth is similar, with the same AC and 15 hit points.  I have Glasseye shoot at the wounded one, and he nearly kills her for 7 hit points of damage, bringing her down to 2.  Dartis moves up and barely reaches Scott DeWar's side, finishing off the harpy before she ever could act.  The magic-users surprise me by being in range with their slings. Col Pladoh hits Helgarth for 4 hit points, while Queenie misses with her own shot.  Helgarth stupidly decides to attack instead of charm and misses. Fenris attacks her and hits for 7 hit points of damage.  Queenie fires once more and strikes Helgarth for 3 hit points of damage from her sling and barely kills her.  Our magic-user, Queenie, continues to be an unexpected killing machine, firing a murderous sling stone from offscreen.






We receive 429 XP for each character, the jewel tiara and two maces.  I give Fenris and Scott DeWar the maces, which are better than their current clubs.  Queenie gets the tiara since it looks better on her than it does Fenris.  This was won with no loss of spells or hit points.  I remember it being a bit tougher last time, but with great initiative rolls comes great victory.

I push west into a new, narrow trail until I reach another random encounter. "Wolves, starving from the late autumn cold, emerge from the forest in a pack. Growling ominously, the creatures approach, and at the first scent of food they attack!" Hell.... I guess our ranger couldn't calm these down.

This battle starts in a bad way, with the wolves right up against my party members.  Poor unarmored Queenie goes first, but is face to face with a wolf that will tear her apart if she takes a step back.  Also, a tree is blocking (un)reason from coming up from Queenie's left to assist.  I switch her from using a sling to using a dagger and attack, hoping that the other characters will swiftly fight off their wolves and come to her aid.  Each wolf has an AC of 7 and 11 hit points.






Queenie actually hits the thing for 4 hit points of damge.  I have Col Pladoh try to back her up with a sling stone, but he misses, as does Scott DeWar and Fenris.  If we don't start putting the hurt on these creatures soon, I am going to have Col Pladoh help with a _sleep_ spell next round.

Glasseye comes through, firing two arrows into Queenie's opponent and killing the wolf before he could attack the vulnerable mage.  This is again why a ranger with high Dexterity and a bow is so important.  (Un)reason steps over the dead body of the felled wolf and attacks, but misses a second wolf.  Glasseye attacks again, only shooting once but wounding for two hit points.






Scott DeWar, (un)reason and Col Pladoh all miss, but so does Queenie after I switch her dagger for a sling and one of the wolves attacking Fenris.  Both sides go another round of missing one another until finally Col Pladoh and Glasseye bring down another wolf with ranged attacks.  Scott DeWar takes a bite for 3 hit points of damage from the last wolf, before Fenris flanks the creature and hits it from behind.  (Un)reason contributes, and Queenie also wounds it slightly.  The creature panics and tries to run, but Scott DeWar's unlucky streak ends and he finishes it off with an attack of opportunity.  We get a meager amount of XP, and use a _cure light wounds_ spell on Scott DeWar to bring him fully up to health.  At this point I believe we are close to the next campground, so I plan to be more liberal with the _sleep_ spells in the next battle.  We've still have found no goblins to loot shields from, although the maces are nice to have.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 10, 2012)

I think that I understand the system better.  There are probably set encounters, such as the battle with the ogre and the harpies, which I do recall from before.  However, the other encounters are random, and have a chance of happening for each step I take in the wilderness.  It was typical of encounters of the time to occur in a 1 in 6 chance, and so every time my charactes make a move deeper into the forest we also have a 1 in 6 chance of an encounter.  Because these encounters have been so different from my first time through, I believe that there is a second random roll made by the program to determine what is encountered.  Hence in the first go I fought goblins, and now I have yet to encounter any goblins, but have deterred an attack from a wild boar and fought some giant bats.

We continue in a westerly direction until we receive another notice. "Before you the trail splits into three separate trails, one heading to the northwest; one going due west; the third running southwest.  Each trail, your map shows you, will lead to the Rock.  But it doesn't show what dangers you will face on the trail. One of your friends muses, 'The forest to the north is Sylvanhome, but these trails divide other, smaller woods. To the northwest is Western Bough, and the southwest is Rendwood. Behind us and to the south is the Greenweald. We stand amid four great forests, mostly untouched by mankind.' Your other companions shake their heads and look for a good campsite."

I'm able to rest again.  So despite having no shields, we've gotten lucky in comparison to the last time I played.  Previously, I had more random encounters that I could not avoid, so this whole gambit through the forests was more terrifying.  I rest, restoring the one healing spell that (un)reason had cast before.  Then we break camp and choose to go straight west instead of taking either of the other branching paths.

"The trees of the Western Bough rise up on your right, tall and beautiful in their autumn shades. Likewise, Rendwood on your left is full of color: red and yellow leaves, brown trunks covered in green moss. The blue of wildflowers, deep black shadows."






I move on to the west again, and surprisingly avoid more random encounters for quite awhile.  Until I reach this event: "Abruptly, the ground caves in beneath Col Pladoh! You leap forward to help your friend from the earth."  This was an odd random event, and Col Pladoh takes two hit points of damage from what seems to be a sinkhole.  I look around, but there doesn't seem to be any other threats in the area or hidden treasure in the hole.  Shrugging our shoulders, we move on.

"After about three and a half miles, the Western Bough rolls away to the north; one half mile away, across a flat plain, stand tall mountains with snow-capped peaks shining in the sun. Your trail turns south and west, Following the edge of the Rendwood and heading for a narrow strip of flatland between the woods and the mountains."  The text paints some descriptive, vivid scenery.  We push west once more until we hit a fixed encounter.






"You travel for another mile when, suddenly, ten strange looking humanoid creatures clamber clumsily out of the brush ahead of you. With awkward swiftness they form a line across the trail, blocking you path.  They look like living rainbows, their tall and thin bodies striped with red, blue, green, orange, yellow, brown, black and white. Those closer to the trees of the Rendwood are harder to see; they seem to blend right in with the forest. They wear loincloths and carry long daggers. Each has a very small sack tied to his waist. One of the creatures holds up his broad hand. In halting common he says in a rasping voice, 'This place is ours. Strangers pass only by the leave of the lord of shade. Surrender your weapons and come with us. You cannot escape the judgement of the 'Omnerubesk.'"  I decide against surrender and retreat, which leads us with only one viable option.  We attack.
"No sooner do you start to move, than five of the chameleon men vanish and reappear behind you. Weapons at the ready, the two groups close in on you."

We are in trouble, and this is by far the largest battle yet.  The creatures only have an AC of 10, but they seem to have two hit dice, as each has 10 hit points.  There are 10 of them, five on each side of the party.  On the left side we have Fergus, Scott DeWar and (un)reason setting up a blocking melee wall.  (Un)reason is out of position, as he should have been on the right side, helping Glasseye, who is facing off with his bow against another five of the chameleon men.  Instead of using a melee weapon, I have Glasseye open up right away with his bow.  He only injures one for two hit points of damage.  One of the chameleon men on the right rushes past him to attack Queenie, but luckily misses.  Fenris went next, but missed the chameleon man in front of him.  I have Scott DeWar move up to back him up and he misses, too, but helps create a blocking wall.  Even though Queenie is face to face with a chameleon man, I have her cast _sleep_ into the western line of attackers since she can get four of them in the area of effect, and hopefully her companions can protect her in exchange.






We get lucky and she knocks out all four.  Col Pladoh is up next, and I use another _sleep_ spell on the eastern flank to knock out four more.  We have now changed a battle we should have lost into a fight we cannot lose.  There are only two awake chameleon men left.  (Un)reason misses the one that is awake on the western side, but Glasseye wipes out the one threatening Queenie on the eastern side.  The one remaining fighting chameleon man returns (un)reasons attack, bringing him, our only healer, down and bleeding.

I have Queenie and Col Pladoh start coup de gracing unconscious chameleon men before they can get back up, while Fenris and Scott DeWar close in on the chameleon man that just took down (un)reason. Scott DeWar nearly kills the chameleon man with a 9 hit point bash.  (Un)reason is still dying, so I use up one of Queenie's turns to bandage him before he dies. Fenris kills the last awoken chameleon man, so the party begins the systematic and morbid elimination of the rest of the sleeping ones.  I leave the only weapons, the enemy spears, on the ground since they are comparable to the party's maces.  I'm now in trouble.  Col Pladoh only has 1 hit point left and our only cleric is down.  Then I remember Fenris is a paladin and he performs _Lay on Hands_ on (un)reason to bring him back to 2 hit points.  The screen gives me a little bonus, too, as it reads "In each of the chameleon man's pouch you find twenty electrum coins, ten gold coins and two platinum coins. " A pretty good haul.  I use up two _cure light wounds_ spells to bring Col Pladoh and (un)reason back to full health, then continue west.  I hope our luck holds on random encounters, because our heroes are nearly out of magic.  If we encounter more chameleon men, we're dead.  I wonder if we made the right decision in fighting.  We would have lost if we didn't have two magic-users with _sleep_ spells.  I could try to rush back to the previous campsite and recover spells, but it seems the game only allows you to use a campsite once, so it would be a waste of a trip through hostile land.  We push west.






"The land on both sides of the trail is hard and rocky. Jagged boulders and sharp stones litter the ground. The trail remains smooth, however, and you have no trouble moving along it."

I follow a trail highlighted by worn green grass until I come to a stone bridge over a river.  The last time I played this I decided to leave the trail and was ambushed by another party of chameleon men and was killed.  Following the trail resulted in no ambushes, which is a good thing in our tender state.  "A swift-flowing river crosses your trail, spanned by a bridge made of dull gray stone.  An arch made of the same stone stands at the mouth of the bridge.  Old runes are carved into the arch.  The runes are ancient, yet somehow familiar.  Beyond the bridge the trail leads into a small stand of trees, which blocks your view of the terrain beyond."  The game gives me a chance to decipher the runes.  






I try to translate with Scott DeWar, but he is unable, meaning the script is not dwarven.  Col Pladoh can't read it either, so it is not in a human or magical tongue.  Having no elves, halflings or gnomes in the party, I give up and try to cross. "Col Pladoh points to the water, where bubbling pools have appeared and seem to be quickly taking the shape of angry, roiling pillars."  We decide to make a dash for it before the water-shaped columns attack us. "Behind you, the pillars have risen impossibly high, and have taken on a serpentine appearance. As your last companion steps foot off the bridge, though, the pillars instantly dissolve back into swirling eddies on the surface of the river."  

Seems like it was a good thing we ran.  We move west towards the woods when a band of elves stops us.  "In the distance, across the plains, you spot a band of humanoids dressed in green cloaks. Looking closely, you believe them to be elves, each wielding a bow and likely also a sword. They do not seem to have noticed your party. At least not yet."  I decide to greet them, figuring them to be good-aligned.  "As your two bands draw closer, you see that they are indeed elves.  Their party is slightly larger than your own, and each watches you and your companions with the wary eyes of battle-hardened warriors."  Battle-hardened warriors with fancy hats.






"'Greetings, strangers in this land', offers their leader.  You reply appropriately and the elf asks your business this day."  I have the choice to tell the truth or lie.  I would have liked a choice to say that we were exploring or just passing through, instead of the whole truth.  I decide to tell the truth.

"'The Rock, eh?  It has been many years since anyone has traveled to that place.' The elf leader sighs heavily as if foreseeing a terrible blight.  'Fare you well, travelers, for I sense that you would seek the Rock for just reasons.  I pray I do not misjudge you.'"  With that he leaves without so much as a warning of what we might face.  But he's right.  We plan to seek the Rock for the just reasons of plundering its secrets in order to get paid by an eccentric crank in an expensive manor.   Another step takes me to a site where I can camp, so I have the party load up on much needed spells, before continuing into the forest.

"You travel into the thinning tree line, entering the rugged foothills or the Barkel mountains. The trail sometimes winds or slopes upward, slowing you down, but the going is still fairly easy."






"After a few minutes of moving through this rugged landscape, you hear the quiet movement of someone or something else in the rocks about forty yards to your right.  There is definitely something moving.  Something that doesn't want to be seen."  I decide to investigate.  "You carefully clamber up the rocks, watching carefully for whatever it is that is trailing you. There, to your left... one of your companions readies a weapon, but stays his hand for the moment. You move a bit more, but pause listening for your quarry to move again.  After about five minutes, you see a short, stocky figure dashing for the cover of large boulders."  I decide to call out to him rather than attack.  "The figure, you now clearly see him to be a dwarf, stops abruptly, thrusting his arms into the air. 'Don't shoot,' he cries. 'I'm coming out!' The dwarf steps out from around the few remaining boulders between you and him. He looks you over nervously. 'I am Dunnak Ironhammer, of the Clan of the Krayzen Mountains. I had to be sure I'd be alright if I showed myself.' Dunnak plops down on the edge of a rock and draws out his waterskin. 'Share a drink with me?'" I agree to a swig. "You share a drink with Dunnak, and he relaxes noticeably.  Shaking his head he settles down to talk with you. 'So, you're adventuring in the hills, eh? As am I, as am I. Nothing like dropping a few goblins and looting their purses to settle a full day's work.  How's your haul coming in? Many kills lately, or are the creature's getting a bit smarter?'" I change the disturbing conversation to the Rock.  "Dunnak says only, 'I've never been there, but I heard going there is a bad idea.'" I then make some small talk. "You answer the dwarf and he seems satisfied without inquiring any further. The discussion continues on different subjects and Dunnak drinks more as the tensions recede further. After a few minutes the dwarf asks, 'How about a friendly game? A weapon throwing contest? I'll put up a gemstone if you can offer ten pieces of gold.'" Curious, I agree. "Dunnak draws a long, sleek dagger and prepares to compete against your party's champion.  The dwarf faces off the distances, then asks who will be competing against him."  I'm not sure if it matters, but we don't have anyone with throwing weapons.  I pick Glasseye to compete because of the ranger's skill in ranged attacks. "Glasseye prepares a throwing weapon and lines up alongside Dunnak.  They throw, and then throw, and then throw.  Dunnak wins and extends his hands for the ten pieces of gold Glasseye wagered." Glasseye pays up. "Dunnak smiles and pockets the coins, then settles down to drink and talk some more."  Out of options, we tell the dwarf goodbye. "The dwarf waves good-bye and slips off into the boulders." 

This was a lengthy and complex sequence.  Dunnak is a fixed encounter, and I was unable to beat him in the throwing contest in my last playthrough.  I wonder if I should have focused on a strength-based character instead of a dexterity-based one.  Either way, Dunnak was a fun and quirky dwarf.  If a bit disturbing, murderous and all around sociopathic.  Good thing we weren't a peaceful, yet cheery band of travelling goblin minstrels.  He would have murdered us in our sleep for our lutes and coppers.


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## Scott DeWar (Apr 10, 2012)

> He would have murdered us in our sleep for our lutes and coppers.




a true form of *LUTING* the dead.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 13, 2012)

It looks as if the encounter with the dwarf was one of the last before the climax.  I get this message soon after pressing on. "You're approaching the end of your journey. Jenlar Temlin's map indicates that the Rock is less than two miles away.  Barring any trouble, you should reach the Rock soon. The trail slowly bends until it is heading due north."

After awhile of working through the rocky pass, it opens back out into a field and we receive this tidbit: "Within a quarter mile, the trail ends in a tangle of boulders and rubble.  Ahead of you lies a land filled with huge boulders and thousands of rocks of every size and shape."  A few steps into this rocky field, the game allows us to rest and gives us partial congratulations for making it so far. "You take a chance to catch your breath.  You have come so far; however, you are no closer to your real goal than when you started. The secret of the Rock is as hidden as ever.  You think back on all you have seen and done on your way here.  You remember again Lirdrium Arkayz's cryptic message, which Jenlar Temlin gave you as you left the safety of the manor. 'Golden dreams can quickly turn to nightmares filled with flames that burn.  Dark clouds may not bring you light, but watch for silver linings bright. Strength is not as strength may look... remember falsely covered books! Simple treasures won't grow old, and all that glitters is not gold.' Even these words still mean little. But, you have come so far already! You can let nothing stop you now! With new resolve you set out again-- this time for the Rock itself!"  I believe this is the last chance for us to sleep before the Rock.  We haven't used up any spells or been injured since the last rest.  The lack of random encounters compared to in my first play through has made this game easier so far, but so has the fact that I loaded up an archer with arrows.






"You see in the distance a solitary peak in the center of a plane one-half mile square. Your heart tells you this is your goal, this is the Rock. This mighty pillar of stone has a flat summit and steep sides. The base is roughly rectangular, but the Rock becomes more circular near the summit."  I walk forward three steps. "As you approach, you see someone standing at the base of the Rock. The person sees you and yells, 'Flee! You are in terrible danger! Flee for your lives!'" I take another few steps towards the strange rock structure in the center of the stone field.  






And helloooo nurse.  There are so many fantasy game tropes in this scene I don't know where to begin...

"You ride forward and see a lovely young woman chained to the Rock. Her clothing is purple and yellow, but frayed and tattered; she wears a tarnished golden tiara. Her face is botched with grime. Her features are pale and drawn with pain and loneliness. In a shrill voice, she shouts to you, 'Flee for your lives! An old hag who loathes my beauty has imprisoned me here until I die, old and ugly. Flee before she returns to punish you for daring to come near me!'  Too late... the game throws me into a series of three battles that I cannot avoid. "Wolves, eyes an unnatural luminescent yellow lope across the field to attack you."

The first battle is against four wolves, with 11 hit points and AC of 7.  They start behind my party, and I can't get three or four of them inside a _sleep_ effect because of how spread out they are.   So I have Queenie and Col Pladoh move away from the wolves before firing off sling stones (which miss), have Glasseye walk forward next to (un)reason in order to create a blocking shield before having Glasseye shoot the lead wolf for 7 hit points of damage, and reposition Scott DeWar and Fenris to support the wall before the wolves move in.  They almost take Fenris and Glasseye down with nasty bites, but we have them all lined up now for a _sleep_ spell and (un)reason comes up next with a _cure light wounds_ spell for Fenris.






Glasseye switches from bow to club, but misses a wolf. Queenie casts _sleep_, but the dice were not in our favor as we only knock two out of the fight.  Luckily for us, Col Pladoh and Scott DeWar combine their attacks to kill one of the two wolves still fighting.  Glasseye's great AC allows him to avoid going down to another wolf bite.  I start surrounding the last wolf, while the mage's take out the unconscious ones.  Finally the wolf goes down from our combined attacks.  I have (un)reason use up another _cure light wounds_ in order to bring Glasseye up to full hps before ending combat.

"You turn back to see the woman chained to the Rock, only to see that six shimmering knives have appeared. The weapons hover for a moment, then dart forward..."  We are thrown into a second battle with animated knives.  I have one _sleep_ spell left.  The last time I played this I decided to use it against the animated knives, thinking that the programmer who created these would have forgotten that animated objects could not be magically slept.  But no.... Ray Dyer remembered, darn it.  This is a tough fight.  The knives start off mixed up with our units, and have only 1 hit point each, but an AC of 2, making them quite difficult to hit.  They only do a few hit points of damage, but they are fast and hit our party members often.  There are six of them, and Glasseye and Col Pladoh both miss before (un)reason takes one down.  The rest of the party misses, and Fenris takes 2 hit points of damage with only two of the five remaining flying knives attacking, reducing him to two hit points.  I'm not feeling good about this fight.






The other knives move, cutting Scott DeWar for 1 hit point of damage and bringing Fenris down with another slash that did 2 hps of damage. Glasseye and Col Pladoh miss, but Queenie brings down another knife with a sling stone.  We need Fenris for the next fight, so (un)reason uses his last healing spell on his prone body.  I get very lucky and none of the flying knives makes contact during their go.  Glasseye and Queenie take out two more, leaving two knives remaining.  They attack again and thankfully miss.  Col Pladoh takes out a fifth, and Glasseye shoots down the last.  We got very lucky towards the end of that battle, but I am now out of _cure light wounds_ spells.

"After the last of the magical daggers is destroyed, the form of the young captive woman changes.  In mere seconds she becomes a withered, hideous old woman with sparse hair, leathery skin, fangs, long inhuman arms, and large hands with claw-like fingers. Shrieking, she attacks."






_You found me beautiful once._ 
_Baby, you got real ugly._






We are fighting the Crone of Chaos, with her AC of 7 and 20 hit points.  Glasseye opens the combat up with an arrow that does 5 hit points of damage to her.  Queenie misses with a sling, as does Fenris who I have attack her from behind.  Col Pladoh and Scott DeWar also miss.  The dice gods conspire against us.  Finally, (un)reason hits her for 6 more hit points of damage, she counters but only hits him for 1 hit point.  I think she rolls a d8 for damage.  Queenie and Glasseye combine their attacks and almost bring the Crone down.  We go through a series of misses on the part of both sides, before Fenris hits her from behind and kills her.  We win, though Glasseye is now out of arrows and he switches to a club, which means a large part of our offensive success is out of commission.  "You nearly slump, but your victory is too great! The last guardian of the Rock has fallen. Moreso, there is a niche where the Crone originally stood. Examining the crack further, you find a golden sword wedged in the far end. Withdrawing the sword, you find that runes in the common tongue have been etched into the blade. 'Broad and wide the path to nowhere; thin and narrow the way to true riches. Unravel the riddle the riches to win.' You read the runes with a frown on your face. Another clue. And what to make of this one?"  Fenris takes this and wields it as I doubt it is cursed, and I pass his mace to Glasseye, who wields it instead of the club.

Next time... "Welcome to the Rock!"


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 20, 2012)

Welcome to the Rock!  Obligatory Sean Connery picture inserted here:






Oops... wrong Sean Connery image.  Moving on....

There has been a longer than usual break between updates, caused by my coming home from a year long deployment and the wife and kids catching up on lost time.  However, I am able to get some free time today and have a new update for everyone.  When last we left off, we killed the last guardian of the Rock, but are out of _cure light wounds_ spells and down to only one _sleep_ spell, while we have some small injuries to Scott DeWar and (un)reason.  In graphics the Rock is depicted as a tower.  With the visual limitations of FRUA, it is depicted thusly:






So now we know we have to enter the Rock, but see no visible means of doing so.  First, I try the Look option twice, which is an active party search.  We find nothing.  Next, I decide to try to walk forward and see what happens.  Again, nothing.  I go left a space and try to walk through the wall again and am rewarded by this query: "The stone is not solid! Anything that touches the side of the Rock passes through it as if through air! Is this the answer you seek, or yet another deadly trap? Do you attempt to continue into the Rock?"

Of course we do.  We are adventurers, after all.  I answer yes. "You find yourself in a large hall, hundreds of feet long and wide. The hall is brightly lit, as if the light of the noon sun were shining down into it. The walls are fifty feet high, and from there the ceiling curves upward until it is approximately three hundred fifty feet high overhead. You stand in the center of the hall, looking forward.  At the far end of the hall, you see four raised platforms on the floor, grouped in two pairs, and seven chests between the pairs of platforms.  Each platform has a statue of a crowned king on it. The walls of the hall are made of white marble filigreed with gold and silver in various natural forms: trees, flowers, wildlife, clouds; and human life: warriors, builders raising cities and marketplace scenes. Letters of silver and gold are etched on the floor in front of you. They read, 'Hubrelis Tumassen'.  To your left, the hall seems to be run-down and battered, as if time and weather had eroded the splendor of that side. The right side of the hall, however, glows and sparkles with beauty and wonder, as if newly built. You stand with all your companions at the very heart of this magnificent hall!"






Since we only have humans and a dwarf in the party, I doubt we will be able to translate 'Hubrelis Tumassen'.  I go south just for the heck of it and follow the wall starting east, then north, and west.  I do not see anything of note in the room beside the chests at the dais.  I go to the starting point and walk forward. "You stand among the tall letters etched into the floors of the hall. 'Hubrelis Tumassen'. Would one of your more learned companions like to try to decipher these words?" I choose yes despite having doubts on our chances of succeeding, and pick our human mage, Col Pladoh, to decipher the runes.  "Your friend murmurs while reading them. 'The hubris of Tuma. The words translate into _The Great Pride of Tuma._"  Let's hear it for the father of the game.  Nothing gets past him.  I'm glad we brought him along. 

"The chests along the wall with the balconies are all made of wood; but the first is a simply constructed chest while the seventh is richly decorated with gems and silver and gold metalwork. The chests vary in decoration so that the first is the simplest chest and the last is the most ornate. You hear quiet voices calling to you. They tell you to look at the glorious side of the hall, saying, 'This is Tuma! This was the greatness that was once lost but can now be yours. For long years its glory has waited for bold adventurers like yourselves to come and claim that which your daring and bravery has earned you. This is yours by right of valor, by might of arms. By sleight of hand and by keenness of mind. Others have tried, but they have failed--all because they would not take the riches they have earned. Come now. Take your due. The wealth of Tuma is yours. You deserve it more than any other. Behold the folly of those who have ignored Tuma's greatness. See the worn and weary section of this great hall. It has been brought low by fools who mistook poverty for humility. Simplicity for piety, who called wealth and riches greed and avarice. These fools thought honor meant lowering one's self. One should be elevated to one's greatness! Do not be a fool! Let the trumpet of your true worth ring out! The great deserve the best! The bravest demand the finest! You have made it to the Rock; do not walk away empty-handed, a pauper forever! Be not a fool; be not a fool!' You stand gazing at the seven chests lining the wall beneath the balconies. The first chest is elegant in its sheer simplicity, but each succeeding chest surpasses it in value and design. The last chest is by far the best of the lot. Its jewels sparkle in the mysterious light of the hall; its gold and silver glitter with light. And then, from nowhere, a deep rich voice calls out its welcome to you. 'You are indeed brave heroes to have reached this great hall! To you a reward shall be given for your great courage. In one of these seven chests lies the goal of your journey, and much more! But you can choose only one of these seven chests and must be content with what you find. You have done well thus far; choose well and your journey shall be a success. What you have experienced on the way here will prove to be a guide beyond measure. Think, then, and choose; think and choose!' The second voice falls silent, and you are left with only your thoughts. You must choose one of the seven chests.  Which do you choose?"

I have Fenris reach out and pick the seventh and greatest treasure of course.  We are adventurers and I could not imagine doing anything else.  This is the result:




And this is our end game screen:






Well thanks for joining me for this Let's Play... ok, yes I am just joking.  We will choose the first and less glamorous chest for a number of reasons.  First, I really couldn't stand the elitist tone of the first voice who was egging me on to grab the riches.  So I want to tweak that speaker.  Second, the riddles that we've been given have downplayed riches and judging books by their cover.  Previously we fought a dangerous hag who appeared to us as a vulnerable and beautiful woman.  Now we are presented with chests that appear in various states of beauty on the outside, but whose riches on the inside are not known.  Choosing the first of seven chests is therefore the correct answer, and by doing so we receive this congratulations:






"The chest opens on gold and platinum coins! You find gold wristbands, and a thorough search reveals a silver ring, two crystalline vials of transluscent blue liquid, a pair of silver daggers and a curiously shaped talisman that looks like a capital 'T' with a short, diagonal stem hanging off the right side of the cross bar of the 'T'. At the tip of the diagonal stem is a small red stone. The stone is not a ruby, and none of your companions can place a value to it."

We get 1000 xp each, and the treasure mentioned above which includes 2000gp.  Col Pladoh and Queenie split the daggers, potions and wristbands amongst themselves, though Col Pladoh keeps the sing ring.  The talisman is added as a quest item.  "Again, the deep, rich voice speaks to you. 'Well done, brave heroes! To you shall the secret of the Rock be revealed. And this be the greatest of secrets: a soul falls into judgement seat; judge not what is seen, but what is truly there. Let the eyes of the heart guide and counsel the eyes of the body. Glitter does not make the golden prize; hidden in the heart and answer lies. How a creature looks never changes what's inside. Judge with righteous judgement; be wise. Be wise!' The echo of the voice dwindles, and then the hall begins to fade.  A moment later you are standing outside the Rock, staring at its solid exterior. And which of the three trails will now take you to the manor?"

I am now facing east, which is the direct trail back.  We won't be going that way since I believe once you use up a camping area, you can't go back and reuse it.  Meaning we would have to go all the way back to the chameleon men territory with at best only one _sleep_ spell.  This would be suicide.  So we are going to go south and cross our fingers that we'll find an adequate campsite to restore our spells before we run into random encounters that would chew us up.

Next up: The Return Journey from the Rock!


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## Queenie (Apr 21, 2012)

Congrats on getting home, you must be so happy!

And also congrats on not getting us killed. Well played


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## Scott DeWar (Apr 21, 2012)

What? I've only fought enough to get minor injuries?! Bah!

* flutter-by flutter-by flutter-by*


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 27, 2012)

Sorry, Scott DeWar.  I'll do better in trying to maim your character.  Update in a few hours.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 27, 2012)

So my party is in some pretty decent shape, and I have confidence that if we can reach a camp area to heal and load up on spells we should be pretty much home free.  After some traveling southwards towards a rock outcropping, the following message comes onto the screen.  "Above the outcropping is a grim sight--sinister vultures circling lazily.  As you watch, one of them swoops down and lands out of sight in the outcropping."  Looks like something died nearby.  Curious, I turn east towards the outcropping and decide to explore further.






"The ugly scavenger-bird screams in anger and flies away as you approach.  When you step into the circle of boulders you see its foul feast--the body of a recently-killed young gnome. The body bears several wounds. In his left hand the gnome holds a broken club. An empty sword scabbard is attached to his belt, on the right side of his body."  I decide to press 'Look' in order to search him.  "You look over the dead gnome's body at the entrance of the outcropping. Beneath the gnome you find a pouch opened and spilling fourteen silver coins. Next to the pouch, near the gnome's cold hand, is a crumpled paper drawn with a crude map. It seems to show this outcropping." I decide to walk around the walls of the outcropping with the active search turned on, wondering whether or not this find is a treasure map.  "Fenris looks at you, a bit wide-eyed. 'Surely we must be cautious the nearer we get to the Rock, but... do we have to search every step of the way?'"  Gee, thanks Fenris...

I ignore him and take another step.  "The party has discovered a secret door to the east." Sticking my tongue out at Fenris, we go east.  "You pull open a cleverly concealed secret entrance--certainly not the work of goblins.  A narrow crawlspace leads into the darkness, but your torch seems to illuminate a chamber in the distance. Fenris frowns, slipping back out of the tunnel. 'I don't like this. Anything could trap us in that crawlspace, and we could never defend ourselves.'"






Worried about a possible trap, I make the thief, Scott DeWar, active before proceeding.  "The ceiling is considerably higher here.  The cave contains six blankets, a washtub, three small covered pots, one large pot, various household tools and utensils, six short swords, eight daggers and four shields.  There is also enough dried food for your party to subist for nearly a week. As you investigate the food and wares, you uncover a blue smoked-glass vial that is nearly full of watery liquid."  The only items of value to me are the vial and shields.  Unfortunately some glitch doesn't allow me to see them in the first treasure listing.  Instead I only see six short swords and two daggers, which are relatively worthless to us.  I have to go through three treasure screens before the shields and vial are available to grab.  I have to wonder what programming glitch led to this.  Fenris, Scott DeWar, GlassEye and (Un)reason are all getting the much needed shields.  I breathe a little easier now that their respective ACs are 4, 3, 2 and 6.  "Though uncomfortable, the skillfully made entrance to this cave practically ensures your safety. You could likely rest here for a time. As long as the owners don't return."  I rest a day, which fully heals my barely scratched up party and restores my spells.  I have Queenie memorize and cast detect magic on the party items.  Fenris' broad sword, Queenie's silver dagger, ring and potion, and Col Pladoh's silver dagger and two potions all radiate magic.  Our newly acquired maces do not, but I'm still happy with the results.  Queenie rests for another few hours to memorize _sleep_, and we leave the encampment.  I leave the cave and rock outcropping and head south once again.  It should be smooth sailing until the end of the module.

"As the trail winds through the narrow mountain valley, you near an eerie, wailing sound drifting down on the wind from the rocks to your left. A moment later, the same sighing wail rises on your right, as if in answer."  Hmmm... odd.  I don't remember this part.  I take a step forward.  "Suddenly, the rocks all around erupt in wailing, hollow whistles and inhuman war cries. Goblins--at least twenty--leap from their hiding places onto the tops of the rocks, screaming and dancing in full view.  They are wearing tattered animal skins and woven bark, and are armed with stone weapons. Each also has a leather thong tied to an animal skull or piece of bone that it is swinging around its head. The wind whistles through holes drilled in the bones, making the unearthly whistling noise.  One goblin, larger and dirtier than the others, shouts in pidgin common, 'Weapons you drop quick! You fight not! Like rabbits be, or we hurt you much!' The leader looks around your party, focusing on your dwarven companion [Scott DeWar]. 'Him...dwarfkin...him tie up, you will...a toll he will be,  so you can use our road...' The dwarf draws up indignantly, already reaching for a weapon. The goblins snear, getting ready to attack! As the goblins advance, your mage companion [Queenie] reaches into a spell component pouch. The creatures freeze in mid-step, their eyes widening. Thinking quickly, your friend changes the spell into a simple cantrip, a flash and some smoke. Filled with panic, all twenty of the creatures flee, some dropping their weapons in the raw panic gripping them!"  And that's that.  The goblins were enraged to see Scott DeWar, our dwarf, but freaked out when Queenie reached to her components to blast them.  I am left to wonder what would happen if I didn't have a dwarf or a magic-user in the party.  A twenty goblin fight with no magic slinger would be fatal, even if their leader spoke like a degenerate Yoda.

I run into a wall of thick forests, so turn east.  






"Five strange creatures step forward from behind the rocks where they had hidden themselves.  Like living rock themselves, these are unlike any other creature you have seen.  They are spires of granite, each about seven feet tall and each obviously powerful, despite their slow, clumsy movement and appearance. They move onto the trail to block your path. You see that this is a living wall you will not pass easily. The first statue raises its jagged, stony right hand, palm outward, as if commanding you to stop.  The other four have their arms folded across their chests.  The first rock man speaks, saying, 'I am Krag of the rock men of the Barkel Mountains.  We are the Barkel Mountains; there is a toll for crossing this stretch of trail. Pay or go back.' His four companions stand at his flanks, unmoving as stone."  As you can see in the above picture, Glasseye and (un)reason are ready to level up at this point, and are highlighted in blue.

I'm not paying any toll.  I have my party attack.  "Crying out, the rock men lumber towards you. It sounds as if the very mountains themselves are marching on your party.  The rock men are slow moving, but solid as worldrock."  The five rock men are all coming from the east.  I move to form a shield wall so that I might try to drop some of them with a _sleep_ spell.  I wish my ranger had some arrows.  Each rock man has an AC of 2 and 14 hit points.  We get two initial rounds against the slower moving rock men until they move, enabling me to form my wall while shooting off two rounds of slings from both my magic users.  Only Queenie hits, doing 4 hit points of damage to the lead rock man.  When he closes with my party, Col Pladoh hits him with a sling stone and Fenris finishes him off.  I get impatient and stupid, moving my dwarf forward to attack another rock man.  The readied rock man gets a free attack on Scott DeWar, doing 7 hit points of damage on the fighter/thief and dropping him.  This puts me in panic mode and I use a sleep spell to take out two of them.  Fenris and Queenie kill the two unconscious ones.






I have (un)reason cast _cure light wounds_ on poor Scott DeWar.  The two other rock men attack, but both miss.  Queenie and Col Pladoh both hit for a total of seven hit points of damage, but one of the rock men takes out (un)reason with a punch.  Queenie wounds the rock man again, bringing him down to 3 hit points, and Col Pladoh glances him for another hit point of damage bringing him down to 2 hit points.  But the rock man attacks once more and knocks out our last healer, Fenris, with another punch.  Glasseye fails to kill the lead rock man with a mace strike that only deals one point of damage.  Now losing the fight, I have Queenie cast our last _sleep_ spell at the remaining two rock men, even though one enemy still has a single hit point left.  It knocks them both out and we kill them in their sleep.  "As the fifth rock man falls, a terrible cry echoes through the mountains, ushered up by the stones themselves.  Then, silence. You can pick five heart-shaped gemstones from the rubble which was once the rock men.

I grab the treasure, then get greedy.  I decide to search the area.  "Rock men await you in ambush!  Massive stones roll down the mountainside, forcing you back into their trap!"  Two rock men charge us from the north and two from the east.  We flee, with the magic-users firing sling stones from a distance ineffectively.  Unfortunately, they kill Fenris and (un)reason, who were unconscious, and Queenie who didn't get away.  The party now consists of Scott DeWar, Col Pladoh and Glasseye.  One tactical error (having Scott DeWar charge) and one bad decision (searching in a hostile area) led to half my group being wiped out.  I realized that Fenris and (un)reason would die if left behind and tried to play with Queenie running and sniping against four slow rock men, which was working as she was dwindling one of them to near death, when I got caught in a corner and misjudged their movement.  One hit was all it took for them to take down a squishy mage.  Alternatively I could have used up my _sleep_ spells, but we aren't even close to home base yet and I don't know of any more camping areas.

So now we have a decision to make.  The only battle I had to fight was the one against the rock men.  I can easily reload and face the encounter again, or press on with only three party members and hope to make it back home without being horribly killed.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 27, 2012)

For some reason ENWorld is still not letting me edit my posts from my laptop.  This is what image 36 should have looked like:


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## Queenie (Apr 27, 2012)

I was just going to say I loved that character.

Boo. I shall shed a tear for Queenie 

lol.


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## Scott DeWar (Apr 27, 2012)

Deuce Traveler said:


> For some reason ENWorld is still not letting me edit my posts from my laptop.  This is what image 36 should have looked like:




hit the go advanced option and make your edit.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 27, 2012)

Scott DeWar, that worked!  Thanks!

Queenie, don't worry about your character death.  Since no one has nominated their own names yet, I might just reload.  I am not sure if I would do so if we were closer to home base, but since the party is so far off and out of _sleep_ spells, moving forward at this point without a full party might be suicidal.


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 28, 2012)

So one tactical error, an ambush, and a failed hail mary later and we have lost three of our party members to the rock men, along with all the treasure and equipment that Fenris, Queenie and (un)reason were carrying.  It would have been cheaper to bribe the rock men, but seriously... to heck with them.  I decide to push on and pray that Scott DeWar, Col Pladoh and GlassEye can make it through without another random encounter.  If I can make it, I will create new characters to replace the fallen.
I make it to a bridge, similar to one we passed on the way here. "A swift-flowing river crosses your trail, spanned by a bridge made of dull gray stone. An arch made of the same stone stands at the mouth of the bridge. Old runes are carved into the arch. The runes are ancient, yet somehow familiar. Beyond the bridge the trail leads north and east into the barrens."  The runes are still too complex for us to read.  I probably need and elf or something.  I run across the bridge and receive a new message.






"As you travel deeper into the barrens, a hot wind rises. You sweat in your armor, surveying this rough land of jagged rocks and hot sand, so unlike the forests. Your sight is blinded by the heat rising from the ground, and by your own sweat. Suddenly, the sand erupts into little jets, and you find yourself in the midst of large, beig colored spiders. They came out of the shimmering heat and they are attacking with amazing speed."

Oh not good... not good at all.  I start out in a nightmare of a tactical situation as two giant spiders are immediately locked in combat with Col Pladoh.  If I attempt to flee, they will get free attacks on our good mage.  There seems to be three of them, with a poor armor class of 6 and 9 hit points each.  Rather than abandon Col Pladoh, which our dear readers would never forgive me for, I elect to enter the fray with GlassEye and Scott DeWar.






GlassEye moves up and smacks one spider, and another attacks but misses Scott DeWar.  Luckily we are taking some pressure off of Col Pladoh with our attacks.  I have Col Pladoh switch to his silver daggger and swing at the wounded enemy.  He misses as does Scott DeWar, but the spiders bite GlassEye and Scott DeWar for a few hit points of damage.  Which would not be a big deal, except that they also paralyze them!  I can't win this fight.  I pray to the dice gods and pull Col Pladoh away but he is bitten and falls to the ground dying.

The game over screen:






"The secret of the Rock will persist for generations."

Brutal...

I struggled in my previous outings with this module, and returned with only two party members left standing and four others unconscious.  I didn't try to explore, but instead pushed straight through, running scared the entire way.  But this time I ran through this attempt with hardly any effort in the beginning.  And I got cocky on the return trip and made some tactical errors, along with trying to perform some needless exploration.  And my reward was a total party kill.  At least in the previous attempt, I returned with my party intact, though nearly wiped out.

So we have two choices.  First, I can create a new party and start from scratch with new character names chosen by the Let's Play readers, summarizing their victories until I can get passed the spiders and their paralyzing poison.  Or I can reload from right before the encounter with the rock monsters and give Fenris, Scott DeWar, Queenie, Col Pladoh, GlassEye and (un)reason a second chance at life.  I'm up for suggestions.


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## Scott DeWar (Apr 29, 2012)

reload to right before the rock concert!


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## Queenie (Apr 29, 2012)

Scott DeWar said:


> reload to right before the rock concert!




What he said!


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 29, 2012)

I reload back at the last camp inside the cave.  On a whim I try resting again, but as I expected the module will not let me do so as I had already exhausted the site.  I go south again, scare away the goblins again with my magic-user and press until the turn to the east.  This time, when I encounter the rock men once more, I am adamant not to break my shield wall and to nibble away at them with my slingers and shield men until they are packed enough for an effective _sleep_ spell.  I want to save my second _sleep_ spell for the spiders.  I could bribe my way, but I refuse to do so.  This will be a tough couple of battles.  The rock men would let me pass for 500gp, but I'd rather have their bits of XP and shiny hearts.

My shield wall is put into place and combined attacks by Scott DeWar and Fenris bring the first of five charging rock man down, after he fails to hit GlassEye.  Two more bunch up near the party and miss our shield men with their strikes, but I'm still hoping to take down at least three with one spell.






Queenie and Col Pladoh combine their sling attacks to inflict five points of total damage against the second rock man.  GlassEye, Scott DeWar and (un)reason all miss with their own attacks, but Fenris and his magic sword brings him down.  Fenris is becoming a killing machine with that blade, but unfortunately he goes down during the rock men's next round.  GlassEye misses a counterattack, but the beautiful thing is that the rock men have now lined themselves up perfectly for Col Pladoh's spell, while (un)reason can heal Fenris on his next go.  






Col Pladoh's spell, unfortunately only takes out the lead two rock men, leaving the last in the rear still in fighting condition.  Scott DeWar coup de grace's the first one, while Queenie takes a pot shot at the rear one, but misses. I pull (un)reason take a couple steps back and cast _cure light wounds_ on Fenris., fully healing him.  The second rock monster ruins his next turn, trying to flank us into the trees but not getting too far.  Queenie pelts him with a rock, and I have (un)reason coup de grace the second sleeping rock man before he can wake up and cause havoc.  I move GlassEye and Scott DeWar up to (un)reason's flanks and set them to guard, which gives them an attack of opportunity when the rock man moves up.  He does so, and they both miss him, but he misses one of them also.  The next round is uneventful, as everyone misses each other, but in the next round one of my slingers whittles the rock man down to half its hit points.






Ranged weapons still seem to have such a large advantage here.  I wish I had some more arrows for GlassEye.  The rock man hits GlassEye for 3 hit points of damage, but GlassEye has five left.  Scott DeWar brings the rock man down to 1 hit point after striking him for six, and after a series of misses, Col Pladoh brings him down.  I take the couple hundred experience points and five heart-shaped gemstones and have Fenris lay his healing hands on GlassEye.  Then we push eastwards again before more rock men attack.  The party is fully healed, except GlassEye who is down to 7 hit points.  We still have two healing spells and a sleep spell in our arsenal.  I move on, past stone arch and past the bridge.   Eventually we are ambushed by the poisonous spiders, like what happened before.

This time they have to face all six of us.  Queenie tags the first sand spider with a sharp sling stone, but it attacks and bites Fenris for 3 hit points of damage, nearly bringing the paladin down.  The hardy warrior ignores the wound and avoids paralysis.  (Un)reason moves up and kills the wounded spider with a strong hit from his mace.  Scott DeWar injures a second spider badly, but Col Pladoh fails to bring it down.  Scott DeWar strikes it again, ending its life.






Only one spider remains standing, but not for long as Fenris moves up with his magical sword and kills it with a 10 hit point swing.  What was a one-sided slaughter before becomes so again, but in the other direction.  We didn't even use Queenie's _sleep_ spell, but I do have (un)reason cast a healing spell on Fenris, who becomes fully healed.  Pushing east once more we find a chest buried in the sand.  "As you draw nearer, you see that it is a corner of a metal chest; it must have been uncovered by the sandstorm you weathered!"  I'm not sure what happened here, as I didn't see a treasure change in my inventory.  Searching the spot doesn't get me anywhere.  Shrugging, then pushing on I get this message.

"It takes a moment to be sure you are hearing it, but gradually you cannot deny it--singing!  At first the sound is hard to identify, distant and faint. Soon you can pick out snatches of melody.  It is the sound of many voices singing what seems to be a work song.  As the singing grows stronger, a shimmering image begins to form south of the trail.  Through the rising heat you can barely make out... something. Whatever it is, it's big, and it looks like it's being pulled across the sand by a team of several dozen humanoids."  Curious, I wait along the trail for it to get closer.  






"As the object draws closer, it begins to take shape.  At first it seems your eyes must be playing tricks on you.  But no, the shape is definite.  It's a large,  flat-bottomed wooden hull with a single mast, hitched to a double-rope harness and being pulled by several dozen humanoids. A dozen or more so humanoids are picking up logs from the rear of the ship.  They carry these logs to the front, where they can drop them in the ship's path to serve as rollers.  Even so, the weight of the ship pushes the logs into the soft sand, and the pushers are straining with all their might.  Standing atop of the foredeck is a small humanoid with a beard almost as long as he is tall. He is shouting through a megaphone, exhorting his workers to pull harder and sing louder."  Some humanoids are too stupid to rebel.  This is why unions happen.  I approach them cautiously.

"As the craft draws closer, you see that the bearded humanoid is indeed a gnome of blocky stature.  When he notices you, he calls down through his megaphone, 'Out of the way, ye lubbers!' The crew stops tugging at the ship, half of them collapsing into the sand in exhaustion.  Frowning, the gnome shouts down at them, 'Right then, that'll be dinner!' Bellowing through the microphone, the leader roars at you, 'Ahoy there! This be the Motherlode Rover! Ye wouldn't by any chance know where I could find an ocean 'round these parts, would ye? I've come a long way, and I've yet to come across one.'"  I can respond politely, rudely, mockingly or by walking away.  I go with being polite. "'Bosun! Pipe them aboard!' You squint up at the leader atop of the ship. His shouts rouse another gnome, who scampers about for a moment before blowing a few shrill notes on a whistle and tossing a rope ladder over the side of the ship. You watch your companions climb one by one to the deck above you. Then it is your turn.  As you reach the top, the bosun hauls the ladder up after you. 'I am Robern. We search for the ocean,' says the leader. 'Not long ago, a wondering merchant stopped by the clan stronghold. He sold me a book about shipbuilding and ocean navigation. Being quite an adventurer, I decided that this 'ocean' was something worth seeing. A group of 'em bet me I couldn't even find me an ocean to navigate, much less sail it. But the folks ye see all around ye knew me better. We built this here boat and we set out to find the ocean.'" Well, I guess that explains everything.

"'I don't suppose ye have any news, do ye? Concerning the ocean, I mean?' Robern watches you closely. 'Or maybe nautical charts ye'd be willing to sell?' You know that the path the gnomes now carry will take them towards the great mountains of the northlands, but only after the great cities of Specularum, Urnst and Rhoona.  To the west they will find the great desert, but to the east are the vast swamp and the eastern ocean." I tell Robern to go east. "Robern's eyes light up as he hears your words. 'Thank'ee! Thank'ee! Thou art surely fine fellows and brave adventurers! Take these sacks of food with ye for thy travels and troubles. Bosun! Let these gentlepersons leave our ship. Lower the ladder.'  The bosun lowers the ladder and watches as you descend to the barrens below. For a long while you can hear the gnomes' work song as they ply their way in the direction you sent them."  Thus ends my favorite part of the module, though if this was in the orginal game I can see why gnomes were never taken seriously.  The TSR writers did them no favors.

Despite the food the game says was offered, I can't rest here.  Pushing east I find a line of trees, and eventually a path through them.  






"You pause.  From up ahead you hear harsh, labored breathing, and a steady tapping noise.  You inhale faint, foul odor.  Then the reason comes staggering into view. A withered old man, leaning heavily on a staff comes from around a bend in the forest and lurches towards you. His head is bent; he sees only the ground before him. Slowly, he seems to realize that he is not alone. His head snaps up, and you look into his wild, crazed eyes. He flings both arms wide, almost falls, and screams, 'Stop!'" I do as ask and wait.  "The old man raves, 'I have waited! Pondered! Searched! Suffered! Seen! From the furnace of desolation I have come, bearing the truth that is mine alone! Leviathan is come, and the boundaries of earth and air, fire and water, shall be swept away! Twoscore minions has he, and they shall smite down the doers of evil, as a woodsman fells oak and pine!  With the strength of a giant and the voice of an army, he is come... beware!' The old man eyes you warily, his last booming word echoing through the forest around you."  I'm entertained and talk to him further.  "The old man smiles as you address him, deciding to impart his wisdom upon you. 'Listen, for I am a seer of visions, and my sojourn into the desert... seven days without food or water, and then I saw a vision... I saw Leviathan, his great white preponderance moving effortlessly across the land! He has come to smite the doers of evil, to deliver just to those deluded minions of the outer darkness! Theirs shall be a squalid death, but I am the prophet of Great Leviathan! I have foreseen his coming! Tell what you have learned here, dear ones. You are the first children to be imparted with this wisdom and foreknowledge. Yours is the glory of aiding us in the spreading of wisdom.'  The old man wanders off into the forest, still talking about his vision. He barely seems to notice that he has left you." Heh... he is going to get manhandled by forest goblins.

We're at the home stretch.  Next, I will conclude the adventure.


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## Zireael (Apr 29, 2012)

Love this LP so far!


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## Deuce Traveler (Apr 30, 2012)

*B8: Journey to the Rock-The Conclusion*

Thanks Zireael.  It's been fun playing through old modules.

I just left a crazy old man to the dangerous wild, close to the end of the hostile woods.  My party slings backpacks onto shoulders and heads out once more to the east.  I reach a campsite, which acknowledges my homebound direction. "After a long trek eastward, you find yourself tired and ready for some sleep. The ground may not be a bed, but the burning in your ears and the ache in your muscles diminishes nonetheless."  I heal up the party and refresh my magic.  Well, that's it, I think.  A few more steps and I should be back to the path towards the manor and... oh what the #%@& is this?







"As you break camp, the forest comes alive. A pair of thin bugbears armed with crude clubs raid your campsite.  You see each bugbear wears an iron prison shackle around his ankle. They attack voraciously."

This is a bit dumb of them.  I would have thought about letting them go since it already looks like they were having hard times and were only stealing because of desperation.  Now that they've attacked, I have to put them down.  The bugbears have an AC of 4 and 18 hit points each.  With their strength and hit dice, they could do some serious damage to the party though they are armed with clubs.  I take no chances.  Queenie sleeps them both, and (un)reason and Col Pladoh finishes them.  The party members receive 60xp each, though we leave the two clubs behind.  The battle isn't even worth a screen shot.

We continue east, and slightly north.  "You stop, standing at the point where the three trails converge.  The air seems full of static, and you see that the grass and smaller trees are bending towards you, some against the breeze. And then, suddenly you are standing before the home of Lirdrium Arkayz.  The door opens and two fighters inform you that Master Temlin is awaiting you. One leads you into the manor."

"Jenlar Temlin meets you in a large parlor. 'Congratulations, adventurers!  I see you have returned successfully. Do you have the secret of the Rock?' Fenris tells Master Temlin the words you heard in the hall of the Rock. The warrior listens intently, then speaks again. 'You have indeed done well, but the secret of the Rock is a twofold secret. What else have you brought back from your journey to the Rock?' You hand Master Temlin the talisman of the Rock. He looks at it for a moment, then smiles. He bows and opens a small chest holding six pouches. Each is filled with your agreed upon reward."

The game lets us know that we each receive 800 XP and a total of 2400 gp.  Each character now has enough XP to level up and also has nearly 800 gp each, plus jewels and gems and magical items unidentified.

"When you ask about the talisman, Master Temlin says, 'Master Arkayz is engaged in a secret labor and the talisman is necessary for the work's completion. It was to have been his long ago, and you have restored it to him. The secret of the Rock is wisdom you may benefit from in the future. I am glad that you have succeeded where so many others have failed. This bodes a bright future for you all.'"

Don't sweat it, man.  Success is what happens when you bring in two magic-users with area effects spells to a stabbing match.

"Master Temlin gives you rooms to stay in for the night."  After restoring Queenie's _sleep_ spell, we get this: "'Good journey. Follow the trail south, towards the inn. There you will find the path back to the main road near Specularum. From there, allow the winds to carry you where they wish. An adventurer's life is one of whim and luck as much as struggling and strife. Enjoy! You may seek training in the city of Specularum. Master Arkayz has friends there.  If you mention his name, they will treat you well.' Master Temlin claps you on the back as he pulls open the door to the hall.  You return to the cold autumn air. The door men nod to you respectfully."

We have completed our only quest and the party is fully healed and ready to go.  My priorities are now to level up all six characters, identify the items that appeared magic and purchase some decent gear with the coin left over.  None of which I can do from my current location.  I opt for heading to Specularum.

I head south until I receive this message: "The path to the east will take you away from the Rock and Lirdrium Arkayz, back to the main road to Specularum. To the south is the Inn where you met with Hakeem."  East it is, then.  "The trail winds north from here towards the great city of Specularum."  I choose to continue.






On the world map I go north until I reach Specularum. "Specularum.  Three warring factions, one murder.  Who is to blame? The Torenescu, the Radu, the Vorloi? Enter Specularum and drop into the heart of a deadly murder mystery. Load game 5, the UA conversion of the Veiled Society, for Characters of levels 1-3."

We will be dropping into Specularum, but only as an interlude.  When I enter the town it tells me that "the folk here recognize the name Lirdrium Arkayz. They offer training for the discounted price of two hundred pieces of gold." I actually don't think that's a discount, but whatever.

Fenris becomes a level two paladin and now has a whopping 14 hit points. Because he is dual-classed Scott DeWar can only increase his thief level, but now has 10 hit points.  Queenie becomes level 2 with 8 hit points and learns _magic missile_.  Col Pladoh learns the same spell, but is at 7 hit points.  GlassEye is a level 2 ranger with 15 hit points and (un)reason is a second level cleric with 14 hit points.  We are now looking much more resilient.

One of the pieces of jewelry we sell is worth a whopping 2,379 gp, and one of the heart-shaped gems was worth 250gp.  The rest of the haul pales in comparison.  We ID some items and I find out the Fenris' sword we hauled from the Rock is a _+2 broad sword_.  Pretty sweet that he was swinging that bad boy around at level 1.  The bracers we picked up showed up as magical, as did the silver dagger, but when we ID Queenie's we find that they are normal items.  Queenie could wear the bracers anyway since she, like everyone else in the party, is pretty much walking around naked.  I could buy them all pants and shirts and shoes, but such items have no impact on gameplay and take up item slots better used for loot.  Her ring is a _ring of protection +1_ and her potion is a _healing potion_.  I give her ring to (un)reason, who has the worst AC of our melee fighters.  Col Pladoh ends up with the same bracers and silver dagger, but with two potions.  I still have 6,095 gold pieces left over.  I decide to purchase three suits of field plate for Fenris, Scott DeWar and (un)reason.  I sell their old suits of studded leather and purchase 100 arrows for GlassEye.  On a whim I sell off the bracers for Queenie and Col Pladoh as well as a potion, and buy 72 darts each for Queenie and Col Pladoh, which does similar damage to the sling, but has a chance for two shots in a round.  With my remaining cash I get GlassEye a suit of chain mail.  Fenris now has an AC of -1, Scott DeWar of -2, Queenie of 6, Col Pladoh of 7, and GlassEye and (un)reason at AC 0, though GlassEye goes to an AC of 1 when he switches out the mace and shield, for his primary weapon of a bow.  I have the magic-users each memorize two _sleep_ spells and (un)reason memorize four _cure light wounds_ spells.  I was tempted to go with a _bless_, but we'll see how this goes.

I'm feeling pretty good about our chances here.  

"As you set out from Specularum, you feel as though you are finally putting a close to your adventure leading to the Rock. Now, the realm awaits you with more adventures, deadlier foes, and far greater treasures. But indeed where to from here? Where to indeed..."

I go north past Urnst, then procure a boat south along the river to the town of Kleine.  
Next up, B10: Assault on Raven's Ruin!

But before we tackle that challenge, I am curious if those that played B8: Journey to the Rock can tell us whether or not the FRUA module followed the original closely.  This is my first exposure to the adventure, and it certainly feels like a TSR adventure, with oddball creatures, crazy wizards and gnomes that defy Darwinism.  I'll admit that this adventure has more to it than I thought it would and I definitely had fun.  Being first level, I definitely was discouraged from exploring as deeply as I would have liked since I was trying to avoid being horribly murdered.  There are other paths I did not travel, and therefore other encounters I completely missed out on.  There is definitely replayability here.


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## Deuce Traveler (May 2, 2012)

The next module will require mapping as it will take place in a dungeon.  Can anyone suggest a decent mapping program that will allow me to convert them to jpegs of gifs for easy posting of their images?


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## Deuce Traveler (May 11, 2012)

Ok, enough delay.  It’s time to continue our adventure. When I check the Acaeum.com site it lists the B10 module’s title as Night’s Dark Terror.  However here in FRUA it is listed as B10: Assault on Raven’s Ruin.  Amazon.com has a TSR module on sale named Assault on Raven’s Ruin, and it is mentioned favorably on that awesome grognard site, Dragonsfoot.org, but is has no module designation, ‘B10’ or otherwise.  I’m not sure what is the disconnect, but I am pushing forward.  Maybe someone else can shed light on the mystery.






“As the village draws near, you check your swordbelt, and your mage friend peers into his spell component case.  The priest sighs, adjusting the cross that hangs about his neck.”  No he doesn’t.  We never purchased a holy symbol, a problem I hope to correct soon.  “Over the past few weeks’ journey you have stocked up on all the equipment your funds would allow you to carry, to be prepared for whatever adventure you might find.”

The game opens up shortly afterwards with a travelling merchant approaching the camp and asking ‘May I help you?’  If we had not purchased goods at Specularum, we would find a perfect opportunity to do so here.  You can’t see it on the screen below, but there is also some minor fire animation in the picture which is a nice touch.






Note that the color scheme and font is different from the one before.  I think they are equally ugly.  I also messed up the party order when I started, going in reverse in my selection.  The mages are still in the middle, so we are fine for now but I will change it as soon as able.  Scott DeWar will go first, since he is a fighter/thief and we are going into an underground dungeon filled with bandits, and I’m guessing that there will also be traps.

Well this is disturbing.  The merchant is similar to the last few, as in he doesn’t sell holy symbols.  Merchants must be atheists and anti-church in this world.  I purchase nothing from him.  The party only has 10 gold coins currently, so it is not as if we could make a huge impact.  After leaving the merchant we are treated to another frame by frame cut scene.

“Your adventures have brought you west of the great city of Specularum, in the Westlands, where threats of humanoid invasions become a bit less nightmare and more reality with each passing year.  Many towns and villages dot the countryside hereabouts, and most seem very similar to the passerby.  But the trained ear picks up rumor of adventure... You have finally arrived in Kleine, a small fishing village.  You hear the distant sound of the plunging cataract, as its water rushes into nearby Lake Ostrel.” I move forward a few spaces.






“As you have heard, Kleine is a peaceful, pleasant place.  But something is not quite right. The townspeople seem oddly tense, as if they were expecting something bad to happen.  As you move into town, you see notices posted and you hear the sounds of the town crier in the distance. I fix my parrty order and take another step.  “The town crier sees you and quickly walks your way as he belts out his message. ‘A threat to Kleine! Our village is threatened by vicious humanoids. They have stolen a valuable item from our town officials. The town council wishes to hire any people who are brave enough and strong enough to deal with this threat and return the item to us. Respond to Councilman Baur at the Melodious Harpy Tavern.’” Get away from me you freak! “The crier walks off, repeating himself to anyone within earshot.”

Well, I could go there... but first...






“You enter the quaint chapel of Kleine. Brothers of the order meet you at the door and welcome you to the altar.”  I go looking for the chapel shop.  I still need that holy symbol.  I really don’t know if there are undead in this module or not.  “The village priestess greets you at the altar. ‘Welcome to Kleine, travelers. I fear you have come at a bad time for our village. Vile thieves pillage during the night, making it so that decent folk fear to sleep. Councilman Baur spends day and night at the Melodious Harpy, trying to find a band willing and capable enough to stop this menace.’”  I ask her about the situation.  “The priestess frowns. ‘The Scepter of Truth was taken from the temple, but no one on duty saw the act, even with guards posted. Even though most of the attacks are clumsy in appearance, there is a cunning force at work in Kleine. I fear for the village if the scepter is not returned.’” Jinkies gang!  A mystery!  It looks like they are not selling holy symbols here.  I truly hope there is no undead about... maybe I can search for a general store...

Ha!  I was just kidding, but I enter a building and “A woman stands behind the counter in the general store.  She looks very tired and her first instinct as the door opens is to touch the stock of a loaded crossbow. ‘Ah, travelers. Welcome to Kleine. How may I help you?’” You can start by taking that itchy trigger finger off your crossbow.  I ask her about the village.  “The woman sighs heavily as if your words remind her of something she had nearly forgotten. ‘Thugs is all they are. Thugs and humanoids. Not worthy of the Raven. He was a scoundrel, but he was a damn fine one. The man had finesse. These creatures leave broken window frames, door knobs lying in splinters in your doorway, and they run away at the first sign of light. Cowards, all!’” Ok... she makes them sound more like rambunctious teenagers rather than a marauding horde.  I check her meager supplies, notice that she does not sell a holy symbol, and bid the oddball woman adieu.

It’s not just her, the whole town seems a bit off in regards to Raven.  Another holy symbol-less merchant had something similar to say.  With a sigh I stop my fruitless search and head over to the inn.

“The Melodious Harpy is not difficult to find. There are a large number of people inside, more than you would expect in such a small town. This must be a very popular place for the locals. Many of the tables are occupied by farmers, and some of the discussions are quite loud. You hear mention of ‘cursed goblins!’, and ‘right under our noses’ and ‘Raven’s Ruin’. A few of the townspeople look you over as you enter, some with suspicion, others with hope. Near the door, just to your right, is a well-dressed young man with a pile of papers in front of him. He looks at you expectantly.”






I step to him. “The man at the table motions for all of you to sit and waits patiently for all of your companions to gather chairs before beginning to speak. ‘My name is Councilman Baur and I speak on behalf of Kleine. I am glad you have come! As you must have heard, Kleine is threatened by goblins. Nasty little critters.’” Dude, come on! They are crafty humanoids, not an infestation of locusts. “’They are organized, and they have been raiding nearby farms. Supposedly, they have a base at Raven’s Ruin, and perhaps the thief Raven is leading them, for they have stolen our valued Scepter of Truth. If you end the threat presented by these creatures, and return all they have stolen, we will pay you fifty gold pieces each. What do you say?’ Councilman Baur shuffles through some papers, awaiting your answer.”  I say that’s a lousy deal, but since we are down to our last 10 gold pieces and need to eat, we are on board.

I ask him about Raven and Raven’s Ruin: “Raven is a human master thief who retired in the region several years ago and built a keep. Little is known about him, and he seldom dealt with anyone in the village. He has not been seen in two years, but rumor has it that he has now returned. Raven’s Keep is a sprawling underground complex that has fallen into ruin since he disappeared. It is in the burning hills just a few miles from town. People avoid it because it is supposed to have many traps to keep intruders out. And now the goblins have added to the danger with their traps and snares. Their most recent incursions have left a trail just north of the Harpy, and if you look there you will certainly find it.”  Traps, huh?  Scott DeWar is about to earn his keep.  Too bad he lacks thieves tools as no one sells them.

About the humanoids: “The goblins built Raven’s Keep years ago, and then Raven sent them away. They have lived in the forest but recently returned; probably when they found out Raven was gone. Of course it is possible that Raven called them back. They must have some leader organizing them.”

About the Scepter of Truth: “The Scepter is magical. Anyone touching it must speak only the truth, so it is very useful in legal proceedings. It is a well-carved, three-foot wooden rod with gold and silver inlays. Someone stole it from a guarded building in the middle of the night, and the guards saw nothing. The guards have been thoroughly questioned. They had absolutely no motive to steal the Scepter, and the Council has confirmed their innocence. Of course, no one has a motive for stealing the Scepter, but sneaking into a guarded building and stealing something important is just the type of thrill-seeking theft typical of the Raven.”

About the treasure: “The Scepter must be returned, and many keepsakes have been stolen from farmers and merchants. You must agree to return those items as well, and the Council will look over the treasure when you return. The Council is not interested in anything else you find in the ruin.”

I have nothing left to ask and am incredibly poor, so I accept his offer.  “Councilman Baur extends his hand, then proffers several documents for you and your companions to either sign or make your mark. When all is in order, the Councilman motions to the hearth and bar. ‘If you’d like to get some rest before entering the forest, the Harpy comes highly recommended.’” Nah, we’re good short a holy symbol and thieves tools.  Next, we leave to be heroes... again...


----------



## Scott DeWar (May 11, 2012)

Sounds like SD needs to find some thieve's tools and picks!


----------



## Queenie (May 11, 2012)

Maybe he should thieve them


----------



## Scott DeWar (May 12, 2012)

Queenie said:


> Maybe he should thieve them




Thieve's tools are for thieving, not to be thieved. See the difference?


----------



## Deuce Traveler (May 17, 2012)

The heroes leave the inn and Councilman after I put GlassEye as the highlighted character for reasons that will soon become obvious.  Behind the building I find a trail.  “You notice a trail beaten into the forest to the north, trod by the feet of humanoids.”  North it is.  “You leave the village of Kleine behind, and the forest closes in fully around you.”  I continue north until I reach a western bend in the trail.  “The trail turns west here.  From the forest shoots a crossbow bolt!  Scott DeWar is hit for 3 points of damage. No brush has moved, the forest remains unchanged. It is as if the bolt were never fired.”  






This is why I have GlassEye highlighted.  He is our human ranger, I had hoped he might notice an ambush.  I suppose not.  Shrugging, I follow the trail west, then north at another bend until I receive this message. “Two grungy humanoids appear in the east.  They stand about a hundred yards’ range.”  The game gives me the option to attack, wait of flee.  During my last playthrough, I chose to wait and these two ran into the brush and hid.  Not wanting them to get away, this time I choose to attack.






FFFFFFFFFF*@#!

“You position yourselves for a fight, moving into a broadly cut pit trap. The ground opens beneath you!”  GlassEye takes 6 points of damage from the fall before I can pull myself out.  Finally I get the message that I remembered regarding rangers in this adventure when we stumble upon a branch in the trail.  “What ranger in your party will study this branch in the trail?”  I pick GlassEye.  






“Your friend nods and motions ahead of you, to the east. ‘Humanoids have gone south from here, but nearly all the tracks lead east, in the same direction we have been walking.’”  Well thanks, GlassEye!  East it is.  After some travels, we receive this message.  “You stand before a partially revealed pit trap, the deer that it caught lies nearby.  Drag marks leave clear tracks in the leaves.”  And thank you for finding that trap, Mr. Deer.  I believe that we can depend on traps being a factor in this module.  I continue onwards.  In hindsight, I might have tried searching the area with the LOOK command and seeing if I could examine the deer closer.  A missed opportunity. I move on and receive another threatening message.

“You hear a terrible roar from the path to the north of you.”  I warily move north.  Sure enough... “A ravenous bear charges from a distance.”

Double crap!  The battle starts with the bear already in melee.  Charging from a distance, my fat cheeks!  Also, Col Pladoh is in melee with the bear, too.  Queenie goes first, with her overly large quantity of darts.  






Highlighting the bear, I see it has an AC of 7 and 21 hit points.  I decide to save my spells for now.  Queenie hits twice with two darts for a total of 4 hit points of damage.  Multiple attacks is the one advantage of darts over slings.  Fenris goes next and deals 9 points of damage with his magical sword.  (Un)reason misses with his mace, but GlassEye hits for another 5 hit points of damage.  I’m beginning to get my hopes up that we may be able to end this fight before the bear can attack.  And we do... Scott DeWar finishes up the battle with a devastating blow from his mace.  Each character gets 28xp, though there is understandably no treasure found on the bear.  (Un)reason’s name is now highlighted in purple, which is this module’s way of alerting me that he is ready to be raised to a 3rd level cleric.  It’s tempting to turn around at this point, but I sense we are almost to the Ruin.

Sure enough, after a bit more of a walk I receive a new message.  “The forest gives way to the dismal, windy reaches of the burning hills.”  I see a patch of rocks in the distance and go to it.






“Raven’s Ruin is not difficult to find, and you have little trouble reaching it.  The surrounding terrain is bleak and desolate, a fitting home for the goblins you have heard so much about lately.  You can see no indication on the surface that a keep rests here, but this is the location you were given.  As you look around, you see some humanoid tracks, as well as signs of work.  It looks as though rocks and dust have been cleared away from the entrance.  The stairs are composed of sturdy gray stone and seem well-built.  At the bottom of the stairs is a wooden door, somewhat damaged by the weather, but still sturdy. It is unsurprising that a thief would require his residence to be built well.  Knowing how to break into places must have given him ideas about how to keep people out.”  Is this another hint about traps?  That’s how I see this.  “Well, you are prepared for this, and you are ready to do your job.  You go down the steps and check the door for traps.  Finding none, you open the door to adventure.”  A moment later I am in a dungeon.  “You have entered a room that seems to have been a reception area.  Three chairs sit to the sides, and several coat hooks grace the far wall. A set of stairs lead farther and there is a door to the other side of the room.  A sign hangs from the door, but you cannot read it from here. The room is in poor condition and has obviously not been taken care of for some time.  Dust covers the floor, and cobwebs cling to the walls and ceiling.  You do see evidence, however, of the presence of humanoids—there are tracks, and a few, small, broken spears lie in the corner next to the stairs.”






I highlight the fighter/thief, Scott DeWar, once more.  We'll see how well he can do his work without picks.  As an added note, this is the farthest I came in previous playthroughs of this Westlands campaign.  I no longer have past experience to fall back upon.

Next: Exploring Raven’s Ruin!


----------



## Deuce Traveler (May 17, 2012)

Dungeon Room Test:


････>･･
････････+
････････


I think I found an easy way to draw maps for you.  I call it 'rogue-like' mapping.


----------



## Deuce Traveler (May 27, 2012)

If anyone is wondering what is taking so long, I still haven't found a textual way to provide a map layout using the ENWorld message boxes.  At first I used some ASCII characters that seemed to work, but they didn't transfer to my word program correctly and the ASCII characters that I picked for room borders show up in the message boxes, but fail to show up in post.  I am pushing forward by using underscores for the walls, but I apologize if the mapping is uglier than I anticipated.

_______
_･････<
+･････_
_･････_
_>>____

As you can see, there are two ways I can continue. The exit that I came from is behind me in the northeast, so that’s not one way to go.  There is a door ahead that reads “Do Not Enter” when I approach.  The two upper-left stairwells lead to a lower level.  The room itself is fifty feet wide and thirty feet north to south.  I decide to search for a secret entrance along the right and left walls, but find nothing.  Finally I decide to go for the far door, since that sign is just too tempting.  However, the door is locked.  Scott DeWar still picks the darned thing without lockpicks.  Go Scott!  Real thieves need no locpicks!






___________
_･･･_･････<
_･･･+･････_
_･･･_･････_
_____>>____


“It looks as though no one has entered this room for a long time.  It is bare except for a chest in the middle of the room and a few feathers in the corners.”

Hmmm...this is obviously a trap of some kind.  Perhaps the feathers indicate a guardian or three.  Harpies perhaps?  Instead of heading straight for the chest, I decide to make a circuit around the perimeter of this 30-foot square room.  I find no enemies, even with doing a search.  Being the adventuring type, I decide I just can’t leave that chest alone.  I have Scott DeWar approach and check for traps.  “Scott DeWar explains that opening this chest will result in the triggering of a very complex trap.  It would take hours to fully disarm.”  The screen goes back to asking me if I want to check for traps, open or leave.  I decide to leave it, regretfully.  Too bad it didn’t give me the option to “disarm for hours”.  I’d willingly set-up a perimeter to do so.

I take the double staircase down.  “The stairs lead down from the entry to a short hallway.  The hall turns right and narrows ahead.”

___________
_･･･_･････<
_･･･+･････_
_･･･_･････_
_____>>____
_____･･____
_____･･____
_____･･____
_____･･____
_____･･____
_____･････_
_________･_
_________･_
_________･_

I go along this twisting corridor until I reach this message: “You see a short bow lying on the floor.  It has been broken into two pieces.”  Ok, I figure I’ll search here for a trap and... before I can do so this crap happens: “Suddenly, nets drop from a narrow ledge ten feet above you! Gibbering shouts echo through the hall as gray-skinned humanoids scamper about the hall to the south.  With swords, they attack as you struggle for freedom...”

A battle begins against some goblins which get to go against me first.  One gets a free shot against Scott DeWar, bringing him down to 7 hit points.  But GlassEye goes next.  Each goblin has four hit points and AC 6.  GlassEye hits the goblin that hurt Scott DeWar and brings him down, clearing a path for Scott to charge in, dodge an attack of opportunity, and miss with his own strike.  Col Pladoh fires and misses with a sling.  (Un)reason moves forward and kills the second goblin.  Queenie misses the third and final assailant, but GlassEye nicks him for 2 hit points of damage.  I caught an image of his shot in mid-flight.  Fenris gets free and finishes the battle with a blow that deals 12 hit points of damage to a four hit point goblin.  






The battle is over, and we only received a tiny portion of XP, and three short swords we leave behind.  The last screen reads “Two goblins fled while you fought.” I’ll be tracking them down in the next update.


----------



## Queenie (May 29, 2012)

Too bad we couldn't capture one and make him go get that other treasure chest for us. I'm sure it would only take some gentle persuasion


----------



## Deuce Traveler (May 31, 2012)

Gentle persuasion with a nail and 2x4 maybe.  I'm not sure what the effect of that net trap was supposed to be, except it seemed that my characters lost initiative to two of the three goblins.  Well, I plan to press on tonight.


----------



## Scott DeWar (May 31, 2012)

feathers, huh-cockatrice maybe?


----------



## Deuce Traveler (Jun 1, 2012)

Scott DeWar said:


> feathers, huh-cockatrice maybe?




To get tickled, then hard?

Ok, update time.

I backed off from where I left off in the last update in order to recount the steps I took.  This was so I could lay out an accurate map.  As I walked forward I received this message: 






“You see a short bow lying on the floor. It has been broken into two pieces.  The broken short bow lies on the floor here, among the bodies of the felled goblins.”  I like that the game recognizes the change I caused to the environment.  Very cool to see this in a fan-made mod.  After moving up another step I see some rubble at the end of a T-intersection.  Searching around the rubble reveals nothing, though looking to the right shows a dead-end, and there is a door and another passage to the left.

___________
_･･･_･････<
_･･･+･････_
_･･･_･････_
_____>>____
_____･･____
_____･･____
_____･･____
_____･･____
_____･･____
_____･････_
_________･_
_________･_･_
_________･_･_
________････+
_____________

My horrible map, above.  I must come up with a new ASCII mapping formula.  If it’s any consolation, it does look better on my computer.

I decide to check out the dead-end first, and run into this wonderful surprise. “An iron rung ladder leads up the wall here.  A quick look at the top shows a low-ceilinged crawlspace ledge.  The goblins left nothing of value behind when they rushed to attack you.”I suppose that’s the game’s polite way of telling me not to bother searching here and to move along.  I can’t use the ladder and using the ‘look’ function only brings up the same message.

I go for the door next, using the look command before I touch the door, just in case it is trapped and the coder allowed for such.  Then I walk forward and, ah nuts...






“Prepared by your previous conflict, goblins have barricaded this room against you.” GlassEye goes first, and I have him aim at the enemy.  As you can see, seven goblins are arrayed against our heroes.  They each have an AC of 6, a short sword and four hit points.  What they do not have, however, are two magic-users with two _sleep_ spells apiece.  If they stay bunched, I’ll probably use one.  GlassEye fires off two of his arrows against the lead goblins and takes both down.  I guess he was tired of Queenie being the better shot.  I have Scott DeWar move up with Fenris and stand in a guard position.  This allows him to take a shot at a charging goblin, but he misses, as does the goblin.  Two other goblins miss Fenris.  On a whim, I hold back Queenie’s spell on her turn and have her fire a sling bullet, which injures but does not kill a goblin.  (Un)reason crushes the skull of this third goblin with 8 hit points of damage, but Col Pladoh misses with his sling.  Fenris goes last on this round, slaughtering a goblin for 11 hit points of damage, then goes first the next round and does the same against another goblin.  There are only two goblins left and I decide not to waste a spell.  Queenie and Col Pladoh both miss, but GlassEye nicks one, and Scott DeWar finishes him.  (Un)reason misses the last one, however it is finished off by a 4 hit point shot from GlassEye.  We only pull in 10XP each, as well as some short swords we do not bother to keep.

I receive this room description.  “This room was once richly decorated, but now is in ruin.  Shreds of tapestries hang from the walls, a pile of furs and trash sits in one corner, and a desk and table have been smashed and lie piled next to a fireplace.”  This room looks to be about 30-feet square.  I start searching.






“The desk has been smashed, and most of the drawers and understructure lie in a splintered heap on the floor.” On a whim I decide to use the look command and it works for once.  “Still, though, your search reveals a locked drawer which is still intact.  You manage to work it open, revealing an old, yellowed scroll covered in arcane writings.”  It is labeled as a mage scroll.  I have the good Colonel snatch it.

I check out another corner of the room: “Here you find a pile of dried furs and garbage.  The goblins apparently used this as a bed.”  The skull is a nice touch.  Using the look command nets me some coin.  “Sifting through the bedding turns up thirty electrum coins.”Hey, that’s 15 gold pieces worth of coin!  I more than doubled my entire party’s cash just right there.

Searching the back part of the room, I suddenly find a chest.  “You find a chest standing along the wall, partially covered by dirty furs.  Pulling it open, you find that it holds only ratty fur converted into a bed by one of the goblins.”  Trying the look command again does nothing.  I search around the room one more time, checking for secret doors, but come up empty.  Time to go down that last corridor...

I head down fifty feet when this room description is presented: “This area is a simple hallway, with dust, old furs, broken spears, and other trash scattered about.  A few tapestries still grace the walls, as do several black sconces set to hold torches.”  It makes me shift right and then reads: “Several doors are visible along its length.” What’s length?  I suppose it means down the wide hall that was revealed off the right from the passage I just traversed.  I labeled the party position with the ‘@’ sign.  The wide passage continues east of me until it disappears into the darkness.

___________
_･･･_･････<
_･･･+･････_
_･･･_･････_
_____>>____
_____･･____
_____･･____
_____･･____+_+____
_____･･____･･･････
_____･･____@･･････
_____･････_･_+__+_
_________･_･_____
_________･_･_____
_________･_･_____
________････+･･･_
_____________･･･_
_____________･･･_
_________________

I decide to check out the north door.






“This small, well-lit room is bare except for a rickety chair next to the wall.  There are three doors in the room, each with a small, barred window.  There is a bad odor here, the smell of death and decay. You hear the rattle of chains as the door opens, but the sound stops abruptly, leaving you no idea from which cell it came.”  It’s a trap!  Send in the thief.

I walk up the cell straight ahead.  “You jerk the shutter aside and peer into this cell.  Two skeletons lie shackled to the north wall.”Scott DeWar fails his lockpicking check, so I have him kick down the door.  “As you enter the cell, two skeletons rise, brandishing long swords hidden in the dirt.” I guess they are pissed off about my late rescue.  This might be a good time to check if (un)reason can turn without a holy symbol, like Scott DeWar somewhat manages to thief without tools.

The skeletons have an AC of 7, 8 hit points each and long swords.  They don’t even get to attack.  (Un)reason turns them and they flee.  Yes, it would seem that class tools are for whimps.  In their haste, one skeleton dropped a gold ring that I have Queenie take.  I search the cell, but find nothing further.  I go to the northwest cell door. “Pulling the window on this door aside, you see that this cell appears relatively clean.  In the corner lies a woman with blonde hair.  She lies face down in a long, flowing blue dress.”I’m not into blondes and it’s probably a trap.  Still, what kind of adventurer would just up and leave?  Scott DeWar fails his pick locks check again, but the door fails its resist dwarven boot check as he bashes it open.  “As you approach the bed, further than anyone would expect a trap to be triggered, a stone depresses.  A blade scythes down from the ceiling. Fenris is hit for 7 hit points of damage.  A doll with a blonde wig lies on the bed.” I’m not sure I could have discovered that trap.  Ok, Raven, you ruined a perfectly good dolly.  Now it’s personal. I check the last cell door.  “Jerking the window open, you see that the dirty floor of the cell is lined with straw and rotten vegetables. An emancipated kobold lies sleeping in one corner.” Surely the peace-loving kobolds won’t betray me.  Scott fails his check once more, and applies boot to open the cell. I swear, if this kobold warns me about the trap and skeletons in the other room I’m going to be upset. “The kobold stirs at your entry.  He rushes past you, scampering towards the exit.” I grab him and he squeals unintelligibly.  “Scott DeWar tells you, ‘we aren’t going to get anything out of it.’”  I could kill the creature, but opt to let it go.  “The filthy creature yelps and scampers away, running for the main entrance.” Well, that was detrimental to our healths.  So far this is what we discovered:

___________
_･･･_･････<
_･･･+･････___
_･･･_･････_･_
_____>>____+_
_____･･_･+･･_
_____･･_･+･･_
_____･･____+_+____
_____･･____･･･････
_____･･____･･･････
_____･････_･_+__+_
_________･_･_____
_________･_･_____
_________･_･_____
________････+･･･_
_____________･･･_
_____________･･･_
_________________

Next time we open more doors!


----------



## Deuce Traveler (Jun 1, 2012)

I'll have to go back to full-sized pics, instead of creating montages.  Those didn't look good at all.  If you go into the actual image locations you can zoom in to see better detail.


----------



## Deuce Traveler (Jun 8, 2012)

I open the second door on the left.  “This large room is filled with supplies of various kinds.  You see several ropes, sacks and torches at one end of the room.  Across from the door are sacks of flour and other foodstuffs; from the smell, most of it has rotted.  At the east end of the room are four barrels stacked in a corner and a tall cabinet.  From the door, you can see that the various foods stacked in the northwest corner are not fit for human consumption—the flour is infested with bugs, the cheese is covered with mold, the dried meat is gnawed upon. ”Hmmm... how lovely.  The room looks to be about 40 feet east to west by 20 feet north-south.  I decide to go to the northwest corner, which is straight ahead, and see what kind of nasty creatures pop out of those sacks.

This kind of nasty creature:






“You approach the disgusting, foul-smelling foodstuffs.  Your approach alerts and angers a pair of giant rats.”

I’m not going to bother posting a picture of this battle.  Just know that it lasted four moves, with one giant rat missing Fenris, Fenris killing the same rat, (Un)reason moving closer, and GlassEye killing the second rat with one shot.  I’m beginning to realize that this was meant to be a starter dungeon, and since my characters are 2nd level with some decent gear, we are walking through everything that is not a trap.  I also realize I have not purchased a ranged weapon for (Un)reason, a situation I should rectify with a sling for those moments he finds himself in the back of the line and can’t move up front to melee fast enough to matter.

I get 10 xp for the kill, and decide to search the corner.  I’m rewarded with this amusing message: “You hold your breath and poke through the foodstuffs, churning up insects and breaking loose mold.  There is nothing of value here.”

Next, I search the rest of this room, ending up in the southeast corner.  A search there reveals some goods, such as five coils of rope and twenty-four torches.  Also: “There is also a pile of equipment the goblins have gathered from raids.  There are no weapons or armor here, but almost anything else may be found, from toys to tools.  You take what you can carry of these goods.”  I also find a locked cabinet.  Scott DeWar searches for traps and detects nothing.  I decide to let him pick the lock, too.  Scott fails at being a thief. “A needle sticks into Scott DeWar’s hand from the back of the cabinet handle. Your friend’s eyes roll back. Scott DeWar thuds to the floor, in a comatose sleep.  Ten minutes pass; he awakes.”

I decided to screenshot his failure for his fans:






He recovers, but takes a point of damage.  Since he can’t unlock the lock, I decide to have him break it open.  He succeeds, but: “With a careful blow, your friend breaks open the cabinet. Unfortunately, the fragile containers within also break, flooding the shelves with fine wines that certainly had not been stolen by the humanoids.”

Gratuitous EPIC FAIL pic:






Lockpick fail and alcohol abuse.  There should be laws making that a punishable offense. Also, the game never did allow me to pocket any rope, torches or other tools.  Despite my hopes, we are still lacking a holy symbol and set of thieves tools.

I search the northeast corner and receive the following message, which shows we are good at somethings. “The party has discovered a secret door to the east.”

This is the map so far, with the ‘$’ being the secret door:
___________
_･･･_･････<
_･･･+･････___
_･･･_･････_･_
_____>>____+______
_____･･_･+･･_････$
_____･･_･+･･_････_
_____･･____+_+____
_____･･____･･･････
_____･･____･･･････
_____･････_･_+__+_
_________･_･_____
_________･_･_____
_________･_･_____
________････+･･･_
_____________･･･_
_____________･･･_
_________________

Pushing passed the secret door, I see a large room.  “It seems the goblins never found their way into this room- it is quite clean compared to the rest of the keep. The room is comfortably furnished with a couch, a table, and a desk with a padded chair. Bookshelves sit against the walls.  The shelves hold many books, as well as several scrolls and many piles of parchments.”  The room is 30 feet north to south, and 50 feet east to west.

I move east one space and look.  “The raven’s desk is made of sturdy oak.  It has a wide flat surface with an inkwell in one corner.  The desk has one drawer that holds a few quill pens, as well as several sheets of nice paper.  Also in the desk is a thick book filled with daring exploits- Raven’s Journal!  Flipping through, your eyes widen as you read the master thief’s personal notes concerning each room of the keep! Scott DeWar finds the section concerning this room, the study. ‘At last, my study is complete. I have decided to make this area a relaxing and pleasant place where I can curl up with a good book, or have a conversation with a close friend. I will place no traps here, though I will make the room difficult to reach.’” Ok, nice to know.  What about other rooms, a map, some symbols showing the rest of the traps.. <sigh>.

I move east again. “Raven’s shelves hold over a hundred books on topics ranging from cooking to elfin customs to fiction, with everything in between.  Raven has collected several volumes of poetry, as well as books on ships and the sea. The scrolls on the shelves are historical writings and Raven’s business records. Among the parchments are old maps, some clearly marked with locations, others decorated with obscure markings.”  I look here and find nothing.

Another step east. “You browse quickly over the maps, records and books.” I decide to look here.  “Your thorough search turns up a pair of scrolls with magical writings on them; one holds mystical incantations, the other clerical prayers.” I also get 133 xp for each character.  Pretty sweet.  (Un)reason gets the cleric scroll, while Queenie gets the mage one.

Another step east.  “The table is unremarkable, as are the shelves and chair next to it. All are composed of oak and are quite heavy and sturdy.”  Looking doesn’t get me anywhere and there is a wall to the east, so I turn north.  There is a door in the center of the wall.  I decide not to take it, and go north again.  I search, see nothing, go west and search again, find nothing, and go west once more.

“The couch is soft, its cushions made of brown suede stuffed with goose feathers.”  I search it.  “Your thorough search turns up a tortoise shell comb, a gold and silver brooch, and two silver pieces.”  A look at my characters does not show either of those items in my inventory.  They do not look to have been converted into gold as the party is still cash poor, so I am not sure what’s going on.  Finally, the northwest corner of the room also has a door, which I will take, but this is what the map looks like now.

___________
_･･･_･････<
_･･･+･････_______________
_･･･_･････_･_____+･･････_
_____>>____+______･･････+
_____･･_･+･･_････$･･････_
_____･･_･+･･_････________
_____･･____+_+____
_____･･____･･･････
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I move through the northwest door and into a corridor. “The corridor goes ahead a short distance before turning to the right. You see rocks and other similar debris at the corner. It is rather cold here and you can hear the drip of water in the distance.”  A tunnel collapsed perhaps?  






“’Raven’s notes: I have decided to make the lower levels accessible from my study. Though I do not believe it is likely for someone to go through my study, it is better to be cautious.  I will create a pitfall in the corridor that leads to the stairs down. Walking along the edges of the hall will be safe, but the weight of someone walking down the center of the hall will cause the floor to collapse. An intruder will fall into the pit.  I think I will add a special surprise to the pit as well, like a skeleton.’”  Holy crap!  First off, this guy loves traps like some kind of Bond-level villain.  I’m glad he didn’t plan on making a water-filled pit trap occupied by sharks with laser beams.  Second, it looks like discovering that book does have some awesome benefits, for now we may get messages about each of these rooms.  I decide to back out of the tunnel, as it looks like the corridor leads down, one way or another, and I still have more rooms to check out up here.  I backtrack and go out the eastern door of Raven’s study.






“This well-kept, large room seems to have withstood the ravages of time. You can see a chest, a dresser, and a desk and table. Just inside the room is a large bed that looks quite comfortable. Lying on the bed is a middle-aged man with black hair. He seems to be fast asleep.  Over the foot of the bed is a woodcarving of a peaceful pastoral scene with a number of sheep grazing in a field. A couple of shepherds doze under a nearby tree.” What sorcery is this? “’Raven’s notes: My bedroom has served me well over the last few years with its simple furnishings. On one of my recent excursions, however, I found a carved wall hanging which caught my eye. My room has been without decoration for too long, and I will place this over the foot of my bed.’”

It sounds like he was cursed.  I get the option to walk away or to enter the room.  Since it is allowing me to wait, I decide to walk back out and explore the rest of the floor first.

I leave the previous room through the secret door. “’Raven’s notes: This storage room conceals a secret entrance to my study. This will allow me a quick exit if I am ever threatened. It also allows me to retrieve a good bottle of wine if I happen to be entertaining. I must remember the trap on the cabinet, however. It is quite simple; a needle that pokes out the back of the handle.’”  Yes... easy.  :-(  “’I believe I will only use a sleep poison on this, in case I forget.’”

I leave this room into the wide corridor and go into the southern opposite door. “’Raven’s notes: The formal dining room is done, with room for a dozen people to dine. I let myself be a bit mischievous and included a trap with one of the doors.’” Raven is the worst dinner host ever. “’Hopefully, I will remember not to use that door myself. Oh yes, the silverware drawer is also trapped, with a poison needle.’” Jesus Christ, dude!  Paranoid much? “Because of a warning in Raven’s journal, you were able to find that a brick was poised to topple when the door opened. This large room was once a formal dining room. A large table surrounded by chairs sits in the center of the room, and a cabinet of dishes sits in a corner. As you look around the room, you hear a low growl. As a pair of wolves comes around the end of the table, two goblins climb up on top of it. They do not look happy to see you. The goblins send the wolves forward to attack while they guard the table with their lives.”  What is so important about a table?  Hell with it.






Oh, this is what’s so important about the table.  This is actually a pretty neat idea to change up the monotony of the fights.  Two goblin archers stand atop a table and are considered to have 9 hit points and an AC of 6.  Two wolves are behind them, each with an AC of 6 and 12 hit points.  They are a good distance away, giving the speedy wolves a chance to play meat shields while the goblins plug away at their leisure.  Instead of creating a shield wall, I’ll have to rush forward.  GlassEye goes first, and I have him take a shot at the goblins.  He hits, but only for 4 hit points of damage, meaning they are still up and a threat.  Queenie is up next, but is out of range for her darts.  I’m afraid her sleep spell would also be out of range, so I have her delay.  Scott DeWar rushes forward with his 6 hit points.  He goes to guard, and gets a shot at a charging wolf.  Man, they look like shaved giant rats with their icons.  Anyway, Scott DeWar misses, but is missed in turn.  But now Col Pladoh is in range with his darts.  He lets loose and misses.  Fenris moves next to Scott DeWar, but also misses the wolf.  The second wolf charges and attacks Scott DeWar, but misses.  The goblins fire their bows and also miss Scott.  (Un)reason can’t get up far enough to strike.  I mess up and don’t finish his turn next to Scott, which is bad, since the fighter/thief probably needs to be healed if he is going to be up at the front like this.  Queenie moves up, right behind the new shield wall, and surprises me by firing two darts that both hit for 2 hit points of damage each on one wolf.  I thought that multiple attacks only happened when a character didn’t spend part of the round moving.  I have GlassEye ignore the wolves and shoot once more at the goblins, but he misses.  Scott DeWar kills off the wolf Queenie hurt with his mace.  Col Pladoh injures the second one with a dart, as does Queenie.  It’s (un)reason’s turn, and I spend it casting a _cure light wounds_ on Scott.  Before it can go off, the goblins shoot Col Pladoh for 2 hit points of damage, and Scott is missed again by the remaining wolf.  The spell goes off, however, and Scott DeWar is fully healed and I breathe easier.  Fenris moves up and kills the remaining wolf.  Col Pladoh moves up and fires a dart into the face of one of the goblins for 1 hit point of damage.  GlassEye shoots again for another hit point.  The goblins are down to 3 hit points, so we are wheedling them down, but can’t seem to take them out.  Scott DeWar and (un)reason move next, but can’t reach the goblins. I decide to hell with it and take a chance.  I have Queenie switch to a silver dagger and she attacks, but misses.  They are forced into melee, however, and miss her in turn. Fenris rushes forward but can’t close into melee. On the next round, Queenie cuts them for another single hit point of damage. GlassEye misses with an arrow, Scott and (un)reason each with a respective mace.  Finally, Fenris ends the farce when he closes with his magical broad sword and does 9 hit points of damage.  They leave 11 arrows, which I give to GlassEye and a short bow, which I have Fenris hold onto while I consider if it’s worthwhile to hold onto.

I search the room.  “A dead goblin lies on the floor here, apparently fallen victim to a sprung needle trap on the cabinet.”  Oh raven, you cad. “The silverware draw holds silver cutlery, which should fetch a fine price, while the cabinet itself holds a set of pewter tableware, sufficient for a dozen to dine.” I search again and find some gemstones and receive a few hundred XPs.  Huh.  The last place I check is under the table.  “Under the broken remains of the table, you find the loot the goblins were sorting before your intrusion. It includes nearly three hundred silver pieces, a dozen pieces of gold and two heavy candlesticks.” Sweet.

The room itself seems to be about fifty feet west to east and forty feet north to south.  There is a block of stone where the dead goblin was in the southwest corner, and a door to the southeast.  I’ll take the door, but I plan to do that in the next update.

___________
_･･･_･････<
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----------



## Deuce Traveler (Jun 15, 2012)

*Raven's Ruin won!*

So, I did what I intended from the last update and went through the door.  Only to be met by another door in a 10 foot square hall.  I decide to search the entrance with Scott DeWar in case it is trapped, but we find nothing.  Pushing through we enter a chamber.

“’Raven’s Notes: I have ordered that a well-equipped kitchen be constructed.  The fireplace presented a bit of a problem.  Drilling to the surface was not as easy here as in other parts of the keep.  I have decided not to place any traps in this room, because other people will use it, and I do not know if they will remember the presence of the traps.’”  Ok, Raven’s alignment must have been Chaotic Crazy.  He decides not to trap the kitchen because people may get hurt, but he traps the heck out of the large dining room meant to host visitors, complete with trapping the cutlery.

“This area is a kitchen.  There is a large fireplace at the south end of the room, and the wind howls mournfully from the chimney.  A large table, obviously used for food preparation, sits in the middle of the room. Along the east wall is a set of cupboards and shelves, and before them dishes, pans and serving utensils are scattered.  A number of spider webs are visible in the corners. North of the pillars are large piles of moldering food. You see several rats crawling among the food.”  We’re not scared of some rats.

The room is oddly shaped, and flows out to the east.  I approach a table against a pillar of stone.






“The table in the center of the room is unremarkable, but is quite large and sturdy.  Its top is scarred by cuts, and stains of all types decorate its surface. A number of bones can be found beneath it, mostly those of small animals that have fallen victim to the rats.”  I do a quick search using the Look command, but find nothing else.  The cupboards in the southeastern wall also come up empty.  “The cupboards and shelves are mostly empty, since the goblins searched them for anything that could be used as a weapon, and have scattered other items along the floor in front of them.  While some of the dishes, pans and utensils are still useable, most have been battered by the humanoids, and none are valuable.  There are no knives or cleavers among the utensils; all of these have been taken.”  NO! Not my ginsu knives!  Damn you goblins, is nothing sacred?!  I also get a note telling me that the spider webs here hold normal, harmless spiders.

I have Scott DeWar search this spot, and we come up with a discovery.  “The fireplace is unexciting.  A few half-burned logs still sit along the bottom, and ashes have been blown out to cover most of the nearby floor.  Rat tracks are visible in the ashes. Inside the fireplace is an iron rod from which is suspended a large cauldron, filled with scummy water that has fallen through the vent above.  The water is smell and stagnant.”  I have the option to search the cauldron, drink, or search the vent or to back away.  Backing away is out, but so is drinking the foul water from the cauldron.  Maybe if this was a magical lair like Quaqueston in In Search of Adventure, I might be tempted.  Searching the cauldron doesn’t seem wise, either, so I go for the vent.  “The vent is about a foot wide and slants up to the surface.  It is too small for even a goblin to climb.”  Hmmm.  Alright, I search the cauldron.  Since (un)reason currently has the most hit points, he is volunteered to reach inside.  “(Un)reason withdraws a single copper piece, apparently dropped down the vent from some passerby some time ago.”  Hey, money is money.  We walk away.  I decide to explore the northeast section of the room.  I see a door on the center of the northern wall and some bones, where I last saw the overly large rats.  I decide to do some rodent smashing.






“You look about the heaps of rotting food.  Nothing seems useful here, but your approach provokes the attack of the rat swarm!”  I like the icons for the swarms of rats in the picture.  There are three swarms that are in melee with the party already, each to the north and having an AC of 7 and 7 hit points.  GlassEye goes first, doing 8 hit points of damage and killing off the first swarm with a single arrow.  I’m trying to figure out the physics of that one, when I suddenly realize that he gets a second shot.  He hits the second swarm for a mere 2 hit points of damage. Col Pladoh hits for four hit points of damage with a sling, which I forgot to unequip after the last fight.  Again, the sling does more damage (1d4 points), but the darts (1d3 points) can sometimes give a valuable second attack.  Queenie goes next, and I switch her from a silver dagger she used recently in melee to her darts.  She hits the second rat swarm and kills it.  Fenris and Scott DeWar take care of the last swarm.  I only get a few experience points for the trouble.  No surprise there.

The rats were guarding the following: “The food is rank and vile.  Beneath the food are three small barrels, two of which contained ale and have been gnawed by the rats until the ale leaked out.  The third barrel contains lamp oil. It is marked by the seal of Kleine and has been placed here recently.”  Ok, that’s interesting.  Are we getting closer to the town’s stolen items?  

I take the door to the north, which takes me to another oddly shaped room.  There is a large room to the north of me with a door to the eastern side, a short passage to the east of me that ends at a door, and a southern corridor just before that.  I’m beginning to think this level is much larger than I anticipated.  I go east, then south before the door.






I go 40 feet south before I notice some rubble up ahead.  “’Raven’s Notes: Today, my workers completed the tunnel which will lead to the south wing.  I am not positive what I will build in that direction.  Perhaps a maze filled with traps.  Perhaps a center for a Thieves’ Guild. Complete with training materials.  Maybe I will build an art gallery to display the great treasures I have stolen over the years.’” Ooh! Please be number three! “’I have been a bit worried that my construction workers would break into a network of underground caverns-who knows what could be down there.’” Crap. Of course it will be door number four, behind which is murder and death.  “This hallway stops short a few feet ahead.  A large section of the ceiling collapsed some time in the past and rubble blocks the way to whatever lies beyond. It looks like it would take hours to dig your way through. And you can see large things moving in the webs among the collapsed stonework.”  Of course.  At least this time I have an option of fighting the large spiders or fleeing.  Combat hasn’t been too tough before, so I opt to attack.  “The spider awaits you in her webs among the rubble.  As you approach, though, she attacks viciously.”  It’s a black widow spider with an AC of 6 and 15 hit points.  Not too tough, but I am worried about poison, and the fact that our mage, Col Pladoh, somehow ended up in melee with it.  GlassEye and Queenie do a total of seven hit points to the giant spider from range.  Scott DeWar and Fenris miss, leaving the next attack to Col Pladoh.  I have him switch to his silver dagger, go behind the creature, and swing.  He does four hit points of damage, and (un)reason attacks next, but whiffs.  Still it looks like he distracted the spider away from Col Pladoh, because it focuses on (un)reason, though fails to hit the cleric.  Queenie nearly kills the spider on the next round, and it attacks Scott and misses.  We have one big round of missing until Fenris takes it down.  22 XP is awarded for each character.

“Lying among the rubble, you find the belongings and remains of adventurers who explored the keep over a year ago.  A number of items, including a pair of shields, an elaborate ring, a mace and a backpack turn up.  Also among the desiccated remains is a sack containing gold, silver and copper coins.”  I get 73 more XP each and 19 gold coins.  Scott DeWar and GlassEye are now highlighted in purple, showing that they are ready to level up, just like (un)reason has been.  It’s like Christmas for low level adventurers.






I go back and take the eastern door.  “’Raven’s Notes: Between my bedroom and my treasure room will be a room with a guard posted.’” Wonderful.  “This large room holds a huge pile of sacks, barrels and other equipment. You also see a large humanoid; a hobgoblin! It rushes towards you, waving a long sword.”  One sole hobgoblin?  He only has 8 hit points and an AC of 6, though he wields a broad sword.  GlassEye wounds him for four hit points of damage, and Queenie almost kills him with 3 more hit points of damage.  Scott DeWar finishes him, but I guess there was some glitch because another hobgoblin was on the board and would only show with his attack animation.  Regardless, he died too.  I find a ring on the bodies and two broad swords, which I keep.

“The second hobgoblin becomes visible as you take the enchanted ring from his finger.” Ah, so it wasn’t a glitch, but poor implementation.  If I remember my AD&D rules, a _ring of invisibility_ should allow the wearer to turn invisible.  But if he attacks, he becomes visible, and cannot turn invisible again for another turn, which equates to ten minutes.  Someone fact check me on that.  Because such a magical item seems to have not been able to be implemented due to limitations in the FRUA code, the designer of this module seems to have decided to alter what the ring does, so that it instead gives a slight AC bonus and is a constant effect.  Also, the primary icon for the wearer is turned off, while the secondary action icon for the wearer remains the same.  This clever trick makes the attacker invisible, except during his attack animation.

This room we entered is forty feet from the north to south and 30 feet east to west.  There are torches on the eastern wall bracketing what may be a secret door, and doors to the north, south and northwest and southwest.  The last door is where I came from.  I decide to go south for now, hoping to find the aforementioned treasure.

“The doors to this room have been battered and their locks broken.”
I find a single 10 foot square room with another door to the south, which I also go through.






I’m greeted by a not so friendly-looking hobgoblin.  “The chamber is awesome to behold.  At the far end, a richly dressed hobgoblin sits in a finely carved chair, around which are chests, bags, piles of coins and other valuables.  The hobgoblin stands and barks a command in its language.  Two goblins with bows jump up from hiding places behind the treasure while goblins and wolves advance on you from the sides of the room.  It looks like you are in for a tough battle.”  It does look like a tough battle.  I see two wolves with 12 hps and AC 6, and five goblins with an AC of 6 and 4 hit points, though two of them look like bowman.  I do not see the hobgoblin, so either I just can’t see him on the field of battle, or he is planning to take me down after this fight.

Alright. Let’s do this.






The goblins start at a pretty long range, and GlassEye can just barely shoot at the closest one.  He misses with his shot, and I move the melee line up and have them guard.  A goblin shoots Col Pladoh for 3 hit points of damage, bringing him down to 2 hit points.  I have him and Queenie delay while we try to have the attackers charge and bunch up at our shield wall for a properly laid _sleep_ spell.  A wolf charges Scott DeWar, who misses it, but is missed in turn.  Fenris misses the wolf, as does Queenie, but Col Pladoh nicks it with a dart for two hit points.  GlassEye moves up and misses a goblin archer next round, but Scott DeWar and Col Pladoh take down the injured wolf with mace and dart.  I get a bit concerned, as Scott DeWar is attacked by a second wolf for 8 hit points of damage, while the archers target him and Fenris, but luckily miss.  I have (un)reason partially heal our dwarf with a _cure light wounds_ spell.

We are in a bind, since the goblins didn’t bunch up at our shield wall for a _sleep_ spell.  The bastards.  Queenie almost kills a goblin swordsman with two darts, and Col Pladoh finishes him off with a third.  Fenris finally hits something and nearly kills the second wolf, with Scott DeWar finishing him.  An archer takes a potshot at Scott again, but misses.  (un)reason takes the next opportunity to fully heal Scott DeWar, then dodges another arrow.  Scott kills a goblin swordsman with aspirations, while GlassEye continues to miss the goblin archers with his arrows.  Fenris kills the last swordsman, and I decide to charge with the rest of my characters against the last two goblin archers.  Funny enough, it’s the mages who go first and they rush the archers while flinging darts at them.  One archer is nearly killed by them, but is then finished off by GlassEye.  The last goblin gets one more arrow into a charging (unreason), injuring the cleric for 6 hit points of damage before (un)reason kills him with his mace.  The battle is over, and I collect 33 xp for each character and a handful of arrows for Fenris.  I’m sorry for not showing more screen shots of the fight, but the battle was spread out because of the long distances the two forces started at and the fact that the two opposing forces had to break up between melee and ranged attacks.  I doubt pictures would have helped much.

“The hobgoblin remains, alone, surrounded where he sits on his throne.  You see only the faintest hint of fear in his eyes as he rants at you. . . ‘I, Hiloc, call down wrath of all hobgoblins upon you . . . you no hurt me or you die . . . you children die . . . you family die!’” I have a choice to either ignore his threats and to kill him, or to let him flee.  I am not very happy with him right now, so I choose the dirt nap option.  “After roughly a second, Hiloc is out of your mind.  You take in the incredible treasures accumulated by Raven and the humanoids.  The items are scattered and mixed, some in sacks or chests. Others are simply piled or stacked somewhere in the room.  Literally thousands of coins of all mints and precious metals, glittering gemstones, gem-studded jewels, works of art.  And the three-foot wooden rod with gold and silver inlays that spawned this entire adventure: the Scepter of Truth! You gather the treasure, not bothering to count them before the Council of Kleine has its opportunity to pick through them.”  Good call.  Those cheap ingrates.  “’Raven’s Notes: I have decided where I will locate the room for my treasure. It will be near my own quarters so I might be close to my valuables, and one must pass through a guard room to get there. The doors will be locked and trapped to discourage intruders, and I will set several traps inside as well.’”

“Fenris sighs, ‘Looks as though the goblins took care of the traps for us.’” True that, Fenris.  But let’s still have the thief go first.  I switch to Scott DeWar, but find nothing else in the room.  I wonder if the coins will appear at the end of the adventure, since no one has a huge amount of gold pieces in their inventory.  We could probably call the adventure quits, as I have the scepter, but we have some more rooms to explore.

I go back to the previous large room, and search the eastern wall, but find nothing.  It seems I was wrong about a secret door.  I then check the northwest door and go through it.  The room on the other side looks quite different from other parts of the lair.






“’Raven’s Notes: I have decided to construct another room specifically for unwanted intruders.  All of my servants will know to never enter the room.’”  Crap!  It would have been nice to have read that before I walked in!  “’The workers have dug a pit beneath the room, braced the pit’s sides with stone, and diverted a small, natural spring into it.  Dirt was thrown in to make a nice mud pit.  To the mud pit, I have added a creature which I discovered during my travels. I call it a galumph, and it should be able to deal with intruders who enter the room to find that there is very little floor. The rug will not support their weight for long.’”  I’m tempted to take on the creature in case it has some treasure collected from its victims, but I will probably just back off.  The normal room description reads as follows: “This appears to be a sitting room.  There are three chairs against each wall, and a door on the far wall.  The floor is made of varnished hardwood, and a large rug occupies the center of the floor.”  I know everyone is morbidly curious, but I still decide to back up into the previous hall, label the pit trap with a ‘PT’, then go through the north door.

Before I can go through it, a message reads: “A haphazard heap of nonvaluable items stolen by the humanoids over the past several months is stacked before the door to the north.  Toys, tools, dishes, good food, decoration, and the like are piled against it.”  When I try to look, it doesn’t allow me to search further.  The north door is locked, but Scott successfully picks it.  Way to go, Scott.

We find another short 10 foot square hall, blocked by another door, which the party pushes passed.






“This well-kept, large room seems to have withstood the ravages of time.  You can see a chest, a dresser, a desk and chair, and the corner of a bed.”  An odd description.  Why only the corner of a bed? Is it a giant bed?  Did someone just chop off a corner, and leave it?  I drop my metaphysical musings and move to ransack the room.  “Just inside the door, lie a pair of goblins, fast asleep.”  Aww.  Poor tuckered out guys.  I have Scott DeWar move to slit their throats.  “Scott DeWar moves forward to kill the goblins.  As your friend crosses the threshold, though, you hear a soft sigh escape Scott DeWar’s lips. Scott DeWar collapses to the floor.  For a moment you think your friend is dead, but then you see the slow rise and fall of the chest. Sleeping! Quickly, you drag your friend from the room. Scott DeWar awakes, confused and barely groggy.”  Ok, this room seems like bad news.  After looking at my map, I think this is where the sleeping man (whom I think is Raven) that I found earlier lies.  I’ve searched every room that I know of on this floor, so I decide to head back to him from his secret room in the north part of the dungeon.  I find him and pick the option to drag the man out of the room, instead of backing out like last time.






“Producing a nook from the goods stashed in the room behind you, you snare the man’s bed and haul it to the door.  From there, it is an easy feat to drag the man into the room with you. The man awakes, confused but barely groggy.  ‘Who are you? How did you get into my keep . . . and what is all this junk around the floor?’” Man, I think we’ve all woken up to something like this after a bad bender.

“The man looks about in confusion at the heaps of garbage and loot the goblins have piled on the floor. It occurs to you who this man is . . . Raven, Master Thief. He must have been asleep these past two years under the influence of the bizarre magic in his room.”  I have the option to explain the situation, attack him, or to order him to leave this land.  Number three is tempting after seeing how he treats his dinner guests, but I think kicking someone out of their own house is downright rude.  So is number 2, in this situation.  I go for an explanation of what happened, imagining a montage being played in the background as I do so.  “Raven listens as you explain the instances of goblin raids, and his eyebrow quirks as you mention the Scepter of Truth. ‘I see,’ the rogue mutters.  ‘As I see it, you may leave with the Scepter of Truth. While I admire the humanoids’ audacity in acquiring it, I can see little use in having it at this juncture. Of course, the rest of the items I must insist remain behind. The goblins have done considerable damage, and I need some added funds for reparations.’ You tell the thief that some of these items must be returned to the people of the village.”  Considering that you are facing six armed adventurers after a two year nap and in your robe, you seem a bit ballsy there, Raven.  Maybe I should have attacked.

“Your companions nod, either for the morality of the statement, or because they realize you will not be paid unless you return with both the Scepter of Truth and the stolen items.  Raven merely shrugs. ‘As I said, you may have the Scepter and safe passage out of my home.  If any goblins remain within the compound, I shall deal with them.  In exchange, I must have all items that did not come with you to my home.”  You shake your head, and a sudden tension around the Raven’s eyes tells you that the time for talk has nearly come to an end. Then the man smiles, an odd, lop-sided grin, and he nods. ‘Very well, I have no desire to do battle with six foes, while I wield little more than a boot knife.  I agree to your terms. And now, if you will excuse me, I must be about my way. There are regions of the keep you could not possibly have found, and I must attend to matters therein.’ Raven walks out of the room, vanishing from sight and sound in moments.”  What a jerk.  I should probably go before he arms himself properly.  I’d hate to go against a high level thief with magical gear appropriate to his level.  Especially considering that they can cast arcane spells through scrolls.

Before I go, I decide to go to that last corridor with the pit trap near this room. “Using the information in Raven’s journal, you are able to skirt the edges of the pit trap set in the middle of the floor.”  I find a corridor with stairs leading down.  At the stairs: “The corridor is blocked by fallen rocks just around the corner. Water drips from holes in the ceiling and trickles down through the rubble, running through it to the lower level beyond the blocked stairs. Scott DeWar muses, ‘I would be foolish to attempt to dig to the lower levels. The ceiling is too weak. We would be sealing ourselves into a tomb.’”  Let’s trust the dwarf on this.  They know their digging.  Nothing else to do but trek back to town.

Here is the completed map:

_______________>_____________
_･･･_･････<____･_____________
_･･･+･････_____･_____________
_･･･_･････_･___･･+･･････_･･･_
_____>>____+______･･････+･･･_
_____･･_･+･･_････$･･････__+__
_____･･_･+･･_････_________･_
_____･･____+_+____________+__
_____･･____･･･････_______･･･_
_____･･____･･･････_･･+PT+･･･_
_____･････_･_+__+__･･____･･･_
_________･_･_･････_･････+･･･_
_________･_･_･････__+__･__+__
_________･_･_･････_･･･_･__･_
_________･_･_____+_･･･_･__+__
________････+･･･_･_･･･_･_･･･_
_____________･･･_+_･･･_･_･･･_
_____________･･･_･･･_･_･_･･･_
_________________･････________
_______________________

I head back into the woods without incident, but am ambushed on the trail.  “Goblins emerge from the forest, spreading out to attack you from the flanks.”  RAVEN!  Ok, it’s not him as I soon find out.

I was worried, but it seems I’m only surrounded by one goblin to our left and another two on our right.  Worst ambush ever.  I have GlassEye take a potshot at the lone and unafraid goblin to the left, but he misses.  It’s odd, but our archer is missing a lot lately.  I consider blowing some of my four unused _sleep_ spells, but it would be tactically stupid to waste them here, so I hold off.  Queenie and Col Pladoh delay actions.  (un)reason guards, and kills the sole charging goblin on the left flank in the next instance.  A second goblin nicks Scott DeWar for a hit point, after Scott missed him, but Fenris ends him quickly.  Col Pladoh hits the last goblin for a hit point of damage with a dart, and Queenie kills him with another.






I get lost in the woods trying to find my way back, and have a truly uneventful battle with a wolf and goblin trainer that’s not even worth recording.  And then a more interesting, but nearly as quickly completed encounter with four kobolds.  Finally, I stumble back into the village and go to the inn for my reward.






“You return to the Melodious Harpy.  Men stop with their mugs at their lips, and a silence falls over the inn that is so absolute that you hear the door slam shut behind you. Councilman Baur looks up from his table, his eyes belying the tension in his seemingly casual stare.  You reach into your backpack.  And a great cheer erupts in the common room as you produce the Scepter of Truth! Villagers of Kleine swarm forward, clamoring to see the Scepter, and to find their belongings among the goods you have with you. Men and women alike cheer you as heroes, as saints, as demi-gods. ‘Enough!’ All eyes turn to Councilman Baur. ‘We have an agreement with these fine men.  The Council shall sift through these goods, returning to Kleine what is Kleine’s. To these heroes goes the rest.’ Villagers step away, muttering but still smiling whenever they see the Scepter of Truth. Councilman Baur approaches you, brandishing the contract. ‘You will be properly compensated for your efforts. Now, if you will kindly deliver the sacks and goods for the Council, you may have a drink at the bar while the sifting is done.’  The village priestess and other members of the Kleine village council arrive in a hurry to see what you have returned, and to reclaim the Scepter. You ask for a room key and are given one freely.  You nap and recuperate during the hours of ‘sifting’ that follow.”

During this break, I heal up the party and have Col Pladoh memorize and cast _detect magic_.  None of the weapons and armor recovered show up as magical, but the recovered scrolls and rings do, unsurprisingly.  I save, then go to see what the townsfolk have found out.
“Finally, Baur approaches you.  The other members of the Council have gone, along with the Scepter of Truth. ‘We have never seen the shell comb or the gold brooch.  They are yours to keep.  However, these silver candlesticks are the property of a local merchant.  They shall be returned to him. The personal goods you have retrieved from Raven’s Ruin will be returned to their respective owners.  As we speak, members of the village council are doing just that. We have taken an estimated amount of copper, silver, electrum and gold coins from the amount you returned.  Also, we have reclaimed certain noteworthy pieces of jewelry that have been reported stolen of late. The rest is yours to keep.’ At the last, Council Baur looks to the contract you signed before leaving the village. ‘It seems that all that remains is to deliver your agreed upon payment.’”

I get 16 xp each and 50 gold pieces. Cheapskates.  I must have also received some hidden XP, since everyone except Fenris is now ready to level again.  I have to wonder if I should have thrown myself in a certain pit trap just to find more treasure. “Councilman Baur smiles to you and bows gracefully. ‘Take this and know that you have the thanks of a grateful Kleine.’ A cheer goes up through the Melodious Harpy, and men drink to your health as they swear to your generosity.”  I walk out, and see this message next.  “You inhale the cool, fresh air.  Any goods remaining in your pack will only find a buyer in the larger market of a city such as Urnst, just upriver from Kleine.”

I figure this might be a hint and will head there to level up and sell off some jewelry.  The next adventure is called R2: Night in Daelwyn’s Rest, which should be a decent challenge as it is meant for party’s of level 3-5 and this party is barely hitting 3rd level if we can afford the training.

I’m glad to leave Kleine, which seems like a pretty dull and unrewarding base of operations.  I also didn’t enjoy this module.  My characters were too powerful for it, and the dungeon was poorly done.  Why would Raven create a secret backroom, only to leave an unhidden eastern door to his bedroom?  Anyone who snuck into his bedroom would have seen it and walked right through.  He seemed like a demented madman as he placed traps throughout his common areas, and after he tried to browbeat my party while armed with only a knife.  He was also implying that he might try to steal the artifact I recovered at another time.  Journey to the Rock had some annoying dialogue also, but I found it to be a greater challenge and it had quite a bit of quirky charm with mad hermits and idiotic gnomes. Though they are the same kind of fetch quest adventure, Journey to the Rock stayed interesting throughout.  Raven’s Ruin was interesting during the first half of the adventure, and gave the thief some things to do, but it petered out towards the end and became just a slug fest after the prison cells.  I wish there were more tests of thievery, and I feel that the lack of such skill checks was a lost opportunity.  In hindsight, perhaps this should be the first adventure tried, followed by Journey to the Rock.

Next Time: I plan to appraise the gems and jewelry recovered, ID our magical items, sell off what we can turn for a decent profit, train our characters for 3rd level, re-equip and memorize new spells, then tackle R2: Night in Daelwyn’s Rest.


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## Deuce Traveler (Jun 21, 2012)

*R2: Night in Daelwyn’s Rest*

The town of Kleine raised (un)reason to third level for free at the temple, while I had to pay a small bit to raise GlassEye to third level and Scott DeWar to a 2nd level fighter and 2nd level thief.  There was no mage guild, so I could not raise Queenie and Col Pladoh to the next level.  The party is low-level for this adventure, as it requires a party of level 3-5.  I am running with three level 3s, two level 2s and a multiclass level 2/2 fighter-thief.

The opening screen sets the mood nicely:






The template is gentler on the eyes than the last two modules, although the view at this point is the same in all four directions.






I move forward, but it doesn’t matter.  There is no compass, but on the right side of the screen is an X,Y coordinate that allows me to realize that the room is only 16 by 16 in size.  But there are no walls, and I return to the original grid coordinate if I continue to move straight.

Taking a guess, I decide to sit and rest.  It does nothing.  I’m a little tapped out on what I’m supposed to do here, so I’m going to contact someone for an answer, but will have to keep this unfortunately short.


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## Deuce Traveler (Jun 22, 2012)

Ok, I just realized that the mistake was mine.  I tried to load the party instead of adding party members one by one into the party and then clicking on begin.  And this is the result:






“You made camp in a clearing just beyond an old rancher’s home.  The man’s domain had shrunk as he aged and you bedded down on grass that his horses had not touched in a decade.  The cackling of the fire lulled you to sleep while two of your friends took first watch.  Even in the peace of the Westlands, there is a need to be wary of brigands, or the occasional band of rapacious humanoids. So when (un)reason shook you awake in the middle of the night it was not a total surprise. Still, the wall of mist that had formed before you came as something of a shock. More ominous was the way it moved towards you, slowly unfolding to ensconce your camp site, leaving but a narrow path south through the forest. One of your companions braved the mists, swiftly finding the vapors to be acrid. You dragged him away, coughing blood, before he succumbed. And so, with no avenue left but retreat, you fell back into the wood along an ancient path. The old rancher’s home was lost from sight and memory. An old mansion, two stories and decrepit, appeared before you, rising through the mists. The mist-shrouded trail led directly to this crumbling edifice.  The trees fell away as you neared the entrance.  Centuries ago, the mansion had been built in the heart of the natural clearing. Over the door, a stone lintel read: Daelwyn’s Rest.  Shutting the door against the mists, you shook the night chill from your bones and looked about.  The house seemed empty.  Long deserted. But clearly something, or someone, had brought you here.”

Eery music starts up and we get some more imagery.






“You take in the common room carefully, wondering what horrors wait in this ominous house.  Doors lead out to the left and the right, and a flight up the steps leads up to the second floor landing to your right. A corridor stretches into the shadows in the northwest corner.”

Ok, I’m going to stop here for now.  So far I really like the midi music, the verbose text, pictures used, color template and the general atmosphere.  Next I will eagerly explore the first few rooms.  Keep in mind that my mages memorized _sleep_, which is useless against undead and constructs we might find, and my cleric lacks a holy symbol and has not rested for his newly earned second level spells.  This should be a challenge and I’m excited for it.


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## Deuce Traveler (Aug 3, 2012)

Sorry for the delay.  This update will be a short one.  So we last left off with the party stuck in some kind of abandoned mansion.  There is no compass on the screen, so I am going to consider the direction in which I am first facing to be north and the doors behind the party to be south.  Out of curiosity, I decide to open up that south door and take a peek outside.






Holy crap! “Bracing yourself, you step out of the house into the mists.  Instantly a sinister form takes shape, shooting towards you.  Its mouth is open, but the roar you hear seems to come from the whole of the woods around it!  The door is shut before you realize you are closing it.  The sound of the beast’s roar still echoes in your ears.”  Well that didn’t go well.  There is some animation of the mists slowly pouring through the trees and solidifying into a dragon-shaped beast, which is very cool and is accompanied by some thundering music for dramatic effect.  I have confidence in the party, but not so much that I think they could take a dragon on.

I decide to explore the room further.  It looks rather large.  I walk first to the bookshelf in the southwest corner of the room. “Dozens of books pack tightly the shelves before you. Several thick, leatherbound biographies of past rulers of the cities of Urnst and Specularum stand out.  Turning to survey the reading desk next to the bookshelf, you find only several strips of illegible parchment and a dried inkwell.”

Checking out a bench along the north wall, I receive this text: “This old bench is bowed in the middle from the weight of years.  An undisturbed layer of dust covers the old oak finish.”  Shelving next to the bench: “Bare shelves line the north wall.  No marking tell where the nicknacks once stood.”

I’ve searched the entire room now and can go to the stairs to the east, an eastern door just north of the stairs, a western door, or a hallway in the northeast.  I opt for the western door.  After checking for traps and not finding any, I walk through to a smaller room.






“A pair of tables come together to form an L-shape in the center of the room.”  I move up to check out the table and a desk to the south.  The desk has no text associated, but the table does.  “The tablecloth has moldered over the years under its burden of dust and cobwebs.  Dead, brittle flowers lie in the shards of a long-broken vase.”  There is a hearth in the western wall.  “The hearth is long-cold.  A single log lies on the sooty stone flooring.”  This 30-foot square room is otherwise empty, except for a door to the north that I take, which looks similar to the last room, down to the table.

“You step into the kitchens.  A single door leads out to the north, leading past a single, leaning table still stained by the bloody signs of countless past meals.”  There is another hearth in the western wall of this 30-foot square room.  “This hearth is choked with webs and several chunks of rocky debris tell of the broken chimney overhead.”  I also find another set of shelves to the northeast.  






 “These shelves bear no load but dust, though you spy a cloudy, sealed jar at the top of the casing.”  I can’t figure out how to get this casing.  It doesn’t show up in my party inventory, area, cast and view are not associated with such objects.  Encamping doesn’t give me the option to take anything from the environment, and search and look just show me the same message.  Maybe I’m supposed to come back later.

I am going to stop here for now.  I really like what was done so far in this module, even though we haven’t found many items to take or monsters to fight.  The beast keeping me inside the mansion is threatening enough, and the empty rooms give a creepy vibe to my explorations.


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