# Caliber's Storyhour (DragonStar ... well sort of)



## Caliber (Apr 8, 2002)

Hey all!

I have decided to post the story hours of a recent campaign I am playing in. The majority of this post will offer up some details on the campaign world. The next one will have some info on the current cast of characters, while a third one a small bit later tonight will contain at least part of the first session. 

Far in the future, mankind has spread out throughout the stars. Ruling over all of them are the Dragons. In ages past the good Dragons warred with the evil, in a cosmic struggle that threatened all of life. Whole planets were destroyed in the dragon fire that nearly burned away all life.

Realizing the eventual realities of their struggle the Dragons made an alliance, the good Dragons ruling for 5000 years, followed by 5000 years of evil in a cycle for all time. 

Recently Mezzenborne, a Red, has risen to the seat of Emperor. May all the cosmos tremor ...

But the Dragon Empire does not control all of the known stars. Beyond the fringe of colonized planets lies the blackness of space.

And the Human Empire. Refugees from a long lost planet called 'Earth', these Humans have ventured far into the cosmos using relics called Jump Gates. They have evolved to manifest powerful physic abilities and have learned powerful theurgical rites, a magic altogether different from anything the Dragons possess. Along their fronteirs lurk the alien Vau and the ravenous Symbiotes. 

Beyond that lies yet even more planets colonized by another Empire. This Empire is made of powerful individuals in tune with the 'Force' that flows through all things. The adepts of this Force wield swords of light as the orders of Jedi and Sith clash in conflict. 

And most horrifying of all is that surrounding all of these is the true unknown, the undiscovered country. Who knows what darkness lurks in the corners of the universe?

(Yes this campaign world is a hodge-podge of sorts. The DragonStar universe / Fading Suns universe / Star Wars universe with an unknown area for some weird fun. Should be an interesting campaign.)

Any comments or questions are welcome.


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## Caliber (Apr 8, 2002)

*Cast and Crew*

Here are the current characters in the campaign. As things change (and people die) I will try to either update this list or write up another.

This is current up to Session 14. While the backgrounds and roster are correct, I cannot guarantee the levels are. If you have not read the story yet, some of the backgrounds contain spoilers for upcoming events.

Current Roster:

*Milo Fasthand* - *Halfling Rogue 4/Fighter 4/Gundancer 1/Explorer 1* - Milo is a collector of sorts, venturing in the universe to see what lays beyond the next space station. Raised in a somewhat poor family, Milo does not have many problems with illicit means of funding. After catching the bad end of a Githyanki's Fireball, Milo was temporairily killed. Lucky for him, the party's connections managed to get him _Ressurected_. All that remains of the traumatic experience is a lingering fear of fire which Milo occasionally exhibits.

*Zoltan* - *Fighter 3/Forsaker 7* - Zoltan is a somewhat enigmatic character who at some point had a traumatic experience with magic. Since then he has sworn to rid the universe of it and its ilk. Generally a nice guy with a tough exterior, Zoltan often exhibits very strange and chaotic behavior. 

*Orendil* - *Starwolf 10* - Orendil grew up in a somewhat barbaric Elven community on a distant world. One day he had a vision while out in the freezing cold. His village did not believe him, however, and cast him out. When the Dragon Empire came to colonize him planet he was one of the first to board a star ship and head out. Orendil is a somewhat reserved person, uncomfortable in modern surroundings despite his adaptation to them.

*Alahandra Windchaser* - *Fairy Rogue 7* - Alahandra grew up with an idyllic childhood in a small Fairy community. Unfortunately that all ended when Human raiders came and killed or captured most of her family and friends. For the past 11 years Alahandra has been stuck within a Bio-Wizard device, passed from owner to owner. Recently gaining freedom, Alahandra has proven suspicious and distrustful towards most of her fellow escapees. She has seemed to warm somewhat towards Syd, however, perhaps because of the length of time she spent sheltered within his pocket.

*Wang Lu Dong* - *Human Living Weapon 9/Drunken Master 1* - Growing up on the rice patties of a small Outer Rim planet, Wang found himself in a culture in which he was forbidden to carry weapons. Trained in the ancient arts of dwarven tunnel fighting, Wang is a powerful force armed or unarmed. Wang's accent is a strange mixture of chinease and british. Despite being raised by dwarves, Wang does not actually speak dwarven but instead speaks elven. Some party members suspect Wang was purposefully trained improperly by the dwarves as part of a practical joke. 

*Jhelai Lajos* - *Human Rogue 3/Paladin7* - A mysterious figure who joined the party in the Githyanki's prison, Jhelai has proved quite handy with a gun. Despite being unwilling to reveal where he has come from or what he was doing while captured, Jhelai has quickly built himself a place within the group. When a Cistern Fiend _Mind Switched_ with Jhelai, the party was forced to blow him into small smoking chunky bits. Unfortunetly, the group learned of the _Mind Switch_ too late, and were unable to save Jhelai's mind or body. After speeding to the Frog Temple with his body, the party managed to convice the Temple's leaders to Ressurect him with their magic. Strangely enough, they did it without spells, but with an odd technological device ... 

No Longer With Us:

*Xerxan* - *Half-Red Dragon/Drow Sorceror 1* - *Status:MIA* - Xerxan has lived a long life. When he first came of maturity, he left the Drow community he had been born into, searching for excitement and his place in the universe. He participated in the war of Dagawan 4 and made a close friend at the time. When his friend married after the war, however, his hatred of all women caused him to again set out searching for his place, and perhaps, the father he had never known. Unfortunetly for Xerxan, when Drider poison laid him low his companions were forced to leave him behind at Aphex Prison. His current condition and location are completely unknown, although his memory continues to haunt the party.

*Syd Runwin* - *Human Wizard 10* - *Status:KIA* - Syd comes from a long, proud line of Sorcerors who served as rulers for a small planet. However, Syd never showed any kind of aptitude for Sorcery. Instead he was attracted to the power of the Wizard. Syd was mainly raised by his uncle who was likewise a Wizard. Syd has recently set out to find his uncle who has vanished under mysterious circumstances. After the debacle of the Githyanki base, Syd has vowed to always be prepared. As such, he is searching for extra spells to further enhance his abilities. When Wild Magic linked him to a halfling guard in the Temple of the Frog, the combined strength of Zoltan and Wang brought him down. 

*Nick Delosier* - *Elf Wizard 9/Soldier 1* - *Status:KIA* - An Outer Rim native, Nick has only recently found himself in the modern world. He has adapted quickly, however, and mastered several skills in the span of a few weeks. Recently, finding his magic unpredictable, Nick has begun training heavily with weapons and armor, gaining skills he feels are somewhat more reliable. When Wild Magic caused him to switch places with an innocent bystander, a grenade carelessly tossed by Wang brought him low.


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## Caliber (Apr 8, 2002)

Session 1a

Somewhere along the Galactic Rim a new planet has just been opened for colonization. Named Degtra, entrepreneurs from across the galaxy are flocking towards it, looking to make their fortune. 

As the passengers board their ships, they are searched for weapons or magical items secreted about their person. Many try to hide a gun but the guards are thorough and few manage to get aboard. 

Even with the advances of today’s age, Degtra is a fair distance away and the trip will be long. As such, the star ships that are to transverse the distance to the distant planet are almost small cities in the amenities they offer. Our story begins within a bar, as these stories so often do …

Syd sat alone within the bar at a small table. He sipped slowly at his drink as he reviewed the spells stored within his datapad. He had been surprised to find someone on this transport that had known him from his days at Eldritch Software. Apparently someone had managed to bring a magical item aboard ship, an item his old acquaintance wanted badly. He had offered Syd a substantial amount of money if it could be obtained. 

Zoltan stood off to one side of the bar watching the door. He had seen a magical item that had been smuggled on board the ship and hoped to rid the universe of its presence. He sipped at his drink as he reflected on the number of magic items that he had destroyed since Forsaking magic.

Milo sat on a barstool watching the door as well. He had likewise heard of a magical item on board, and hoped to add it to the collection he owned. He was already prepared to pay a small amount and just hoped the owner was willing to sell. 

Orendil sat at a table across from Syd, watching the door. He had learned of an enslaved Fairy trapped on this ship. He hoped to at least protect her, if not free her. Someone who could perpetuate such crimes on the free magical creatures of nature surely must have the blackest of hearts.

Xerxan walked down the hall, the magical container he had recently obtained clutched in his claw. Alahandra, trapped within, futilely yelled at him as they strode down the hall. Hopefully, he could get rid of the container and the annoying little Fairy trapped within while getting some creds at the same time.

Finally, Syd saw the man he had been waiting for entering the bar. The man wore a heavy cloak that hid many of his features but it was still obvious that he was not only of Dragon descent, but of Drow as well. Signaling him over Syd motioned for the stranger to take a seat. 

Xerxan sneered as he sat down. He placed a small glass container on the table then drew the cloth covering it away. Underneath was a small lamp with strange metal implements making up the top and bottom. Inside the lamp itself was a small fairy, futilely glaring out at the two of them. 

Negotiations were quick and brutal.

“How much is the asking price?” asked Syd.

“One-hundred-thousand creds,” shot back Xerxan.

Syd spluttered out that he could not pay that price, nor was it likely anyone else in this bar could. Xerxan just stood up as Alahandra began shouting at him.

“I am worth WAY more than one-hundred-thousand credits!” she cried.

Sitting down at the bar, Xerxan propped Alahandra up on the bar and began to argue. Syd followed, not willing to give up yet, and again tried to establish a more reasonable price. Again Syd was rebuffed. 

Milo approached Xerxan, inquiring about the container and the possibility of buying it. Realizing he couldn’t manage to pay the price Xerxan quoted Milo walked away, but was soon called over by Zoltan. 

Zoltan had noticed the large Half-Dragon, Half-Drow who was even now arguing with a small Fairy who was trapped within some kind of glass container. Obviously this was the magic item he hoped to destroy. When Milo finished conversing with Xerxan, Zoltan called him over, asking what he knew of the Xerxan and the item he carried.

Orendil soon approached the small gathering and introduced himself to the small group. They each wanted the lamp, albeit each for his own reasons. However, realizing that none of them had enough money to buy it alone they each agreed to try and pool their money for the purchase.

Milo approached Xerxan again, offering sixty thousand creds this time. Xerxan simply laughed in the Halfling's face.

“Even if I would sell it for sixty-thousand, I wouldn’t sell to a Halfling!”

Back at the small table Milo, Orendil, and Zoltan quickly decided that if Xerxan would not sell lamp then perhaps they should take it. Quickly they decided that Xerxan must have stolen the lamp in the first place and as he got up and began to leave they stood up and approached him.

Syd had spent this entire time at the bar himself, angry at the Half-Dragon for denying him the chance to replenish his sorely depleted funds. Suddenly Milo approached him and explained what Zoltan, Orendil, and him were doing. Milo had seen Syd trying to negotiate with Xerxan earlier and thought he might be interested.

“To be honest, we think the half-dragon may even have stolen it. We don’t know how he thinks he can get that much money in this bar.”

“I just figured the half-dragon was stupid,” Syd replied. 

Milo walked away, realizing Syd was not going to be much help, and instead began walking towards the bar’s bouncer.

Meanwhile, Zoltan suddenly jumped forward and knocked the lamp from Xerxan’s hands. Orendil quickly realized that Zoltan didn’t care for the safety of Alahandra and it was shortly after that that Orendil, Zoltan, and Xerxan began to struggle back and forth over the lamp.

Instead of joining in Milo began distracting the bouncer, not only slowing him down, but also running propaganda about how the Half-Dragon had stolen the lamp.

Xerxan stepped back and cast Grease on the lamp causing it to begin slipping from hand to hand. Alahandra by now is screaming as the lamp takes shock after shock. So far she isn’t harmed but it will only take one piece of glass breaking the wrong way …

Suddenly Alahandra casts Dispel Magic on the lamp but nothing seems to happen at first. Then suddenly the lamp releases a large Dispel Magic throughout the room. Syd feels the spell try to affect the Shield spell he had cast in the meantime but his spell managed to hold.

The Dispel Magic does rid the lamp of the Grease, however, and Zoltan manages to take hold. Realizing that freeing the Fairy before breaking the lamp would keep Orendil from fighting with him he tries to manipulate the knob on the top. Red lightning bolts begin to play throughout the lamp and Alahandra screams in pain. 

Orendil realizes he has to risk hurting Alahandra to get her out and him and Zoltan begin working together. Xerxan takes a swipe at Zoltan with his claws but is shortly then after Dazed by Syd. 

As the bouncer continues to advance Xerxan realizes he will not be able to recover the lamp. He begins to run but before he can get far Syd casts another spell, Hold Person this time. It fails to affect Xerxan though and he starts to head for the door. 

Zoltan, sufficiently agitated by now, grabs hold of the lamp and runs to the bar where he quickly smashes it against the corner. Alahandra goes flying across the bar as the lamp is quickly reduced to useless matter. Zoltan feels a rush as he realizes he has helped another person remove the taint of magic from them. 

And then guards are everywhere. The ships police have watched the brawl and have already captured Xerxan. Everyone else is pulled in as well, including Alahandra for the Dispel Magic, as well as a drunken Drow who at one point bumped into Xerxan. 

The small group of suspects is led down into a dark part of the ship where they pass by several people similarly held as they are. They see several Orcs, and a few other races they recognize, along with a whole slew of ones they don’t.

Milo calls out that he wants his phone call, causing the Drow guards to burst out into laughter. The held suspects are loaded on to a small ship where they are locked into small cells. Alahandra and Milo share a cell, being the smallest prisoners. Everyone else is loaded into their own individual cell. The suspects (who are quickly beginning to think they are no longer suspects) who look to be the strongest or most capable of escaping are but behind force barriers instead of bars. 

Suddenly the prisoners felt the ship lift off. One Drow guard remained on board, striding up and down between the cramped cells, explaining the prisoners’ plight. A Human pilot sat the controls as the party flew into space.

“You are heading for the prison planet Aphex. If you act up I jettison you. Understand?”

It was then that everyone realized the back of the cells were actually air locks!

What will happed next? Who will be the first to get jettisoned?


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## Horacio (Apr 8, 2002)

A Dragonstar (well, almost!) story hour, cool!


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## Caliber (Apr 8, 2002)

Dragonstar is a pretty cool setting. We all started in that part of the universe and most characters grew up there.

The only character who has classes not found in DS is Orendil, and perhaps Zoltan.

I know Orendil possesses at least one level of Starwolf, a Fading Suns Barbarian type. Zoltan was originally talking about taking levels of Soldier from Star Wars, but Soldier = Fighter in pretty much everything so it would really be just a name difference. 

Either way, happy to see you here.


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## Caliber (Apr 9, 2002)

Session 1b

Finishing his inspection of the cells, the drow guard captain takes a seat towards the front of the prisoner transport.

Sensing a loosening of security, Syd bends down and begins discussing the possibilities of escape with Milo. Several of Syd's spells could prove useful for escape if he could simply get the help of an accomplice. Alahandra continuously interjects biting comments aimed at Syd or Milo. 

No one else on the transport seems to have much to say. Zoltan complains bitterly, and his steel bars are replaced with an energy shield for his effort. Everyone else seems more shocked, or perhaps resigned to their fate.

The trip passes uneventfully. Syd and Milo create a few plans, but all of them have several flaws. And then it comes into sight. The Prison Planet Aphex. 

A noise emerges from the cockpit, full of static and barely audible. 

“… Turn back! .. prisoners .. overrun …. large breach … turn back! … “

The pilot quickly starts calling out for the guard, who enters the cockpit to see what is going on. The argument is clearly heard from the cells.

“Maybe we should turn back sir. That message sounded pretty serious.”

“Nonsense! There is no way prisoners could escape. Obviously there is some problem with the communications system. Just land!”

Grimly, the prisoners look from one another. That kind of obstinacy definitely did not promise a happy landing …

And suddenly was entering the atmosphere, pushing down towards Aphex. The ship shuddered suddenly, rocking from one side to the left. Again the pilot voiced his concerns, and again was shot down by the drow guard. 

As the ship rocked from side to side more and more, the prisoners realized that their transport was being shot at! The pilot quickly confirmed this. 

“They’re shooting us! We have to get out of h-“

The pilot was cut short as a large hole suddenly appeared in the far wall. One prisoner vanished into a fine mist as the transport suddenly took a nosedive, heading straight for the ground. 

Passengers scream and everyone is thrown about as more holes are punched through the transport. With a shuddering lurch everyone is thrown about as the transport smashes into the surface of planet Aphex.

The guard captain is blown from the cockpit, clearly unconscious. More blasts pelt the downed transport and several more prisoners are reduced to mush. 

The cells begin to unlock automatically and the first prisoners out, orcs, quickly run forward and begin to kick the guard. A few more take the guards weapons. As Orendil is released, he runs over and takes the command for the cells from the guard’s belt. Checking on the pilot in the cockpit he realizes that he is pretty obviously dead. 

As more blasts rock the downed ship, however, the prisoners begin to flee through the open door, in addition to the blast holes. Syd sees one orc running away from the source of the blasts, only to be vaporized as a bolt of yellow light burnt through his back. 

Quickly deciding that heading towards the source of the incoming fire is the best idea, he starts heading for a large building that seems to have some kind of turret. A large group of prisoners run toward the corned of the building, but Syd runs for the large double doors in the front.

Orendil, Zoltan, Xerxan, Alahandra, and Milo head toward the corner with everyone else.

Alone, Syd opens the large double doors. Inside is blackness …


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## Horacio (Apr 9, 2002)

Good, it seems you're running the free adventure in Dragonstar website... Cool, it's a good adventure!

Please, go on!


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## Caliber (Apr 10, 2002)

I knew we were running a module, although honestly not which one. Likely when this module ends I will post some thoughts on it.

Glad to see I have at least one reader.  

Feel free to criticize my writing style. Its been a long time since I have done this and my writing ability seems to have become rusty since then. (I knew I should have changed the oil after the first 30,000 words ...  )


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## Fade (Apr 10, 2002)

Nice story so far!


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## Horacio (Apr 10, 2002)

Caliber said:
			
		

> *I knew we were running a module, although honestly not which one. Likely when this module ends I will post some thoughts on it.
> 
> Glad to see I have at least one reader.
> 
> Feel free to criticize my writing style. Its been a long time since I have done this and my writing ability seems to have become rusty since then. (I knew I should have changed the oil after the first 30,000 words ...  ) *




I know I'm not the only reader, I'm the only reader who post. 
I think somebody has casted a _Geas_ or _Quest_ spell over me that forces me to write in every story hour I like. Quite hard, each morning, reading all the stories and trying to post after each update


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## Caliber (Apr 11, 2002)

Hey everybody! 

I should have the final part of Session 1 up this weekend. School is just wringing me out. Hopefully, along with the end of Session 1, we will see the begining of Session 2!

Anyway, just wanted to let you know I am still around, and give myself a little bump while I am at it.  

Later.


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## Caliber (Apr 14, 2002)

Session 1c

Syd casts a light spell and slowly begins to move into the dark room. 

Meanwhile, at the corner of the building, the prisoners suddenly hear the sound of booted feet! A small group of armed individuals wearing strange uniforms and armor comes running right from the direction everyone was heading. The small groups of prisoners scatter with Xerxan, Milo, Alahandra, and Orendil heading for the door that they can see Syd even now beginning to enter. 

Zoltan meanwhile attempts to stop one of the apparent guards and asks what’s going on. The guard looks Zoltan up and down for a moment before ignoring him and running to the downed space shuttle. 

Zoltan follows, heading back into the mangled spacecraft as he sees the guards searching about.

“He’s not here!” one guard shouts out. 

“He must have already escaped.”

Zoltan cautiously approaches the guards, and asks exactly who they were looking for. The guards again take notice of him, and this time decides he is worth their time to answer.

“Who are you and what are you doing out here? Can’t you tell this place is dangerous?”

“I saw the ship crash and I was wondering if there were any survivors. If I had known some type of firefight would be going on here I wouldn’t have come. Could one of you spare a firearm so I can defend myself?”

The guards look Zoltan up and down, appraising how much he is worth. Finally they refuse to give him any weapons and just tell him to get out of the area. Obviously he is just some crazy who lives in the vicinity.

Back at the doorway, a Syd is slowly leading everyone else into the prison using his magical light. Obviously the prison was the scene of recent violence as several pieces of furniture are ripped up or melted to slag. As the group enters a small hologram appears on one of the few still standing tables. The hologram is of a man and as the group moves closer it begins to talk.

“Greetings and welcome to the Aphex prison colony. I am your guide. What can I help you with today?”

His sole thought on reaching the roof and disabling the turret, Syd quickly asks for directions to the elevator. 

“Sorry, there appears to be a problem with the network. I cannot access that information at this time.”

Many other questions were asked, but the only one to get a different response was a query about the location of the Warden’s office. The Warden’s office proved to lie right beyond the melted heap of slag that had been a door on the right wall of the room the group was in. 

By the time the hologram had revealed that information, Zoltan had run up from the ship to see what was going on. Falling naturally into something of a group (since there is safety in numbers after all) the now complete party begins advancing through the door directly in front of them.

As the party entered the next room they quickly made out the hissing crackle of static. Almost the entire northern wall was covered in monitors, each one filled with crackling static. Red lights provided a dim amount of light in the room, enough to see a man walking back and forth in front of the monitors, making adjustments as he walked. 

The man wore a holster over his guard uniform and seemed to be muttering to himself as he paced back and forth in front of the monitors. Clearing their throats, the party made their presence known.

Jumping the man turned towards the party and asked who they were. 

“We’re repairmen for the turret.” answered Syd.

“I don’t think we called for any kind of repairs on the turret,” the guard answered back.

“Well, someone did.”

That seemed enough to satisfy the guard, who quickly introduced himself as Tucker. Apparently there had been a prison revolt, which happened to coincide with all the surveillance cameras going out at once. Syd offered to take a look at the monitors and see what was wrong, but quickly figured out that they were simply not getting any feed.

“All the cameras must be destroyed or disabled.” Syd told Tucker.

“Maybe one or two, but surely not all of them. We have these cameras all around the prison.”

Tucker was obviously somewhat shaken by whatever had been going on, so the party decided to let him continue to believe that. As the party continued to talk with Tucker a few other guards entered from behind the party. 

For a few moments, everything was tense, but once Tucker explained that they were all repairmen for the turret, the other guards quickly relaxed.

Apparently, the prisoners had revolted some time earlier. Fighting had been brutal, and several guard stations had not reported in for hours. There were only a few guards in the area and they only controlled a few rooms. The main offices had been attacked in force and sealed off. No one knew what was going on in there. Likewise, the prisoner levels had been sealed off. The guards, excluding Tucker, were armed with taser pistols. While there was a cache of weapons somewhere in the prison, only the Warden knew where, and he had been one of the first casualties of the riots. 

The party agreed to go up to the roof and repair the turret anyway, despite the fact that the upper floors were likely prisoner controlled. The guards, visibly impressed by this repair crew’s bravery, offered them some guard vests and taser pistols. Syd accepted Tucker’s semi-automatic pistol. 

The repair crew was led to the elevator in the prison by a pair of guards. The entire area was spookily lit with dim red warning lights. Power had been out in several areas for hours and the guards were pretty sure the elevator wasn’t working. Surely the repair crew could fix it though. 

Reaching the elevator doors, the guards thanked the party again before leaving to resume their positions in the rooms they controlled. Turning to the elevator, the party tried calling it down. When nothing happened for several minutes, Zoltan pried open the elevator doors and looked up.

The elevator appeared to be stuck on the second floor and seemed to have no intention of coming down for the party. There was a service ladder but there was no way the larger members of the party could make it past. Alahandra suddenly flew into the elevator shaft.

“I can fit through. Hold on a moment.”

Flying up Alahandra inspected the elevator and the way it was held in place. She realized all she had to do was remove two pins and the elevator would come crashing to the ground! Slowly, Alahandra wriggled the first pin free, followed shortly after by the second. The elevator gave a lurch as Alahandra plummeted down the shaft and out the still open doors, just escaping the rapidly falling elevator herself. 

The elevator landed with a crash and debris flew everywhere. The elevator shaft looked like a small war zone, the floor covered with twisted wreckage. On the plus side, the service ladder was now clear of obstructions. 

Agreeing to stay back and explain what had happened to the guards, Xerxan walked back towards the entrance of the small elevator room. Everyone else climbed up passing the doors for the second and third floor, instead heading up to the fourth, where the guards said they could gain access to the turret. 

Jimmying the elevator door open, the party scrambled out of the elevator shaft and onto the medical wing of the fourth floor. As each person left the shaft, they were greeted with a horrible squishing sound. Slowly turning around, each was horrified by what they saw.

A large mass of bulbous, almost liquid flesh sat at the far corner of the room. Tentacles waved from many places along its surface, each tentacle tipped with some kind of sucking appendage. Several corpses lay about the room, obviously victims of the creature. The room itself was in shambles, operating tables overturned, surgical implements spilled about. Most horrible of all, however, was what was attached to the creature. Lying on the floor was a man in a white lab coat. It was hard to say where the creature ended and the man began, as they seemed to almost … blend into one another. As disgusting as the sight was, it was worse when the man opened his eyes and looked at that the group. As he glimpsed the small party, he began calling for help pitifully.

“Help! Help! But don’t get too close! It will get you too!”

The party instantly shot a barrage of questions at the man and he explained as best he could. 

“I am a doctor here. I was expera … er … operating on a prisoner when his trauma symbiote went haywire. It grabbed several guards and me. I am the only one still alive.”

“Don’t worry. We can kill the thing and get you out in a hurry,” called Syd as he began running a list of the spells he had available in his mind. 

“Wait! No! Somehow, it’s reversed itself. Instead of protecting its host, it’s using its host for energy. That means me! If you attack it, it will drain me to heal itself!”

“How should we get it off then?”

“Find a surgeon!”

“There is a prison riot going on. We probably won’t be able to find anyone who can help.”

“I know there is a riot going on! This thing killing guards probably started the bloody thing!”

Discussing among themselves, the party quickly came to the conclusion that a surgeon was not going to be found here. Any surgeons left alive were likely to be prisoners, and they certainly wouldn’t be trustworthy. Either way, the captured doctor didn’t look like he could last much longer anyway. 

Instead it was decided that Syd would quickly attack the mutated trauma symbiote. Hopefully, the safeguards programmed into trauma symbiotes were still in place on this one and it would stop draining the doctor once he fell unconscious. Milo would try to approach and cut the doctor free as soon as the symbiote was dead. 

Pushing up his sleeves, Syd began casting spells. He began with a haste, increasing his speed dramatically. He then shot forth several small orbs of electricity as well as a deafening blast of sound. The doctor screamed and fell silent as Milo began to tumble forward, dodging the creatures grasping tentacles. Syd continued to blast the beast with magical power as Alahandra and Orendil began shooting it, Alahandra with the laser pistol she had concealed, Orendil with the semi-auto that Syd had given him. 

The mutated symbiote just seemed to soak up the damage, holes appearing in its huge bulk apparently not injuring it very much. 

Milo nearly reached the doctor, but suddenly found himself attached to the monstrosity by one of its tentacles. Using his knife to scrape it off of him, he quickly moved back out of range as Syd, Orendil, and Alahandra continued to rain death onto the blob of flesh. 

Finally, the creature began to succumb to its wounds, and with a sickening squelch, started to dissolve into a sticky goop. Milo moved forward again, but the doctor was unfortunately beyond his help. The doctor had apparently been drained to death by the symbiote before it died. The party mourned the doctor for a moment, but at least he was no longer in pain. Moving his corpse to where the other bodies lay, the party saw that the symbiote had been blocking three doors. Before the party could go through any door, a noise from the elevator shaft caused them to turn around. An elf wearing a strange looking orange jumped had climbed out of the elevator shaft and was staring at the destruction with wide eyes. He had come up to see what the noise was, and had found a scene from a nightmare.

The party explained some of what was happening and what they were doing, and the elf offered to tag along. He had been getting bored wandering about. The party agreed to let him come along and deciding to try the center door first, opened it and walked through.

Inside was a narrow hallway, both walls lined with medical supplies. At the far end lay another door. Ransacking the medical supplies, the party quickly found several boxes of medical patches, small sticky patches that released healing chemicals when applied against skin. Several large bottles of painkillers were found as well. Both dermal patches and painkillers were pocketed by Milo.

Opening the door slightly, the party peeked out and saw two figures standing next to the turret. Obviously either they had shot down the transport as well as vaporized most of the escaping prisoners, or else someone inside the turret still had done the dirty work. Either way, the party would make them pay.

Moving back in cautiously, the group asked Alahandra to scout out the area somewhat. She had already proved herself somewhat sneaky, and would likely be able to slip by unnoticed. Sniffing at the inconvenience, she turned invisible and silently flew out to get a look around.

No one else was on the roof except for the two figures standing next to the turret. The figure farthest away was a male centaur wearing a bright orange shirt over his human torso. In his hand was some kind of makeshift club, a table or chair leg.

The centaur’s companion was a large, green, ugly monstrosity. The female troll had wicked claws as well as razor-sharpened teeth. Flying back, Alahandra explained the situation. While trolls and centaurs were both strong, they were out numbered plus the party was armed while they weren’t. Victory was nearly assured.

The party checked the ammo for all of their guns before opening the door and charging out. Guns leveled towards the two creatures Milo shouted out

“Freeze and we won’t shoot!”

But where there should have two, there was only one. Suddenly the female troll emerged from the other side of the turret, charging forward into the group swinging her mighty claws. The centaur moved forward beating at Zoltan with his club. 

Several taser darts were fired, but they seemed to have no effect. Milo quickly dropped his taser and pulled out his steak knife. Orendil began firing at the troll nearly point blank with his auto pistol while Alahandra hovered above the troll, invisible firing down. 

Syd cast a spell and his hand was surrounded by a sickly white glow as he advanced towards the troll and began trying to touch her. The elf ran forward and began attacking the troll with a makeshift club he had. 

The troll’s claws ripped into Syd, shredding his clothes and leaving bloody gouges across his chest. Orendil was struck as well, while Zoltan received a beating from the centaur’s club.

Syd continued to attack the troll as Alahandra’s invisibility ran out. The troll proved to be very quick, and the sickly green skin proved to be very tough. Many of Orendil and Alahandra’s shots were simply dodged, or stopped by its tough hide.

The centaur was not faring so well, as Milo quickly began to hamstring the beast with his knife. Zoltan abandoned his gun for his fists and began attacking the centaur with his bare hands. 

The troll ripped into Orendil and Syd again, blood beginning to spew from several of Syd’s wounds. 

The centaur collapsed in a bloody pool as Milo stabbed it a final time. The troll took yet another piece out of Syd and Syd fell to the ground, unconscious and mortally wounded. 

Milo ran forward and applied one of his patches to Syd, ducking as the troll swung at him. Handing Syd the remaining patches he approached the troll with his knife, and began searching for a weak spot. Zoltan approached the troll from the opposite side and continued to use his bare fists as he attacked the troll again and again. Alahandra continued to take pot shots but the troll was too difficult to hit.

Syd crawled back to the wall where he began applying dermal patches to himself. The rest of the party attacked the troll again and again but it simply shrugged off most of their blows, and healed the few that landed. 

Things weren’t looking good …


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## Caliber (Apr 14, 2002)

That ends the 1st session folks. Now for a little commentary.  

We felt really bad for the doctor. But really, its a prison that is currently run by prisoners. Killing the thing fast and trying to cure him afterwards wasn't a good plan, but it was all we had. 

If you are wondering about Xerxan's actions, his player had to leave early. Thus his character decided to hang back. As a side note, Xerxan's player might not be coming anymore at all, so you might be able to expect a character death sometime soon ...  

I was pretty worried for Syd when we ended this session. I had spent some time making him, and I defintely didn't want to lose him to the first real combat. He had used up almost all of his spells on the mutated symbiote, however, and was relatively powerless. The spell he was trying to get the troll with was Spirit Worm, a spell that drains Constitution points. 

Finally, I have edited my first post to reflect Orendil's class and level.

If you have some questions, send 'em along.


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## Horacio (Apr 15, 2002)

No question, only a comment...

I LOVE YOUR STORY!


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## Caliber (Apr 17, 2002)

Wow. I leave my story for one day and its on the second page! I think its EN World's way of telling me to update more ...

Anyway, for those readers of mine, I am working on Session 2 as we speak. We play tomorrow (well I guess today considering the time ...) but hopefully I will have Session 2 done before Session 3 starts. Only time will tell.

Anyway just wanted to keep this visible and tell you all thanks for the time spent with us!


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## Horacio (Apr 17, 2002)

Caliber said:
			
		

> *Wow. I leave my story for one day and its on the second page! I think its EN World's way of telling me to update more ...
> 
> Anyway, for those readers of mine, I am working on Session 2 as we speak. We play tomorrow (well I guess today considering the time ...) but hopefully I will have Session 2 done before Session 3 starts. Only time will tell.
> 
> Anyway just wanted to keep this visible and tell you all thanks for the time spent with us!  *




I can do some *bumping* job here 
Waiting for next update...


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## Caliber (Apr 20, 2002)

And here we are on the second page again. Thanks for the offer Hoarcio, but I wouldn't want to inconveince you. Instead, perhaps I should try to post shorted story fragments?

What do you think? Either way, I will be posting the first part of Session 2 in a second.


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## Caliber (Apr 20, 2002)

Session 2a

Atop the roof of an overrun prison, a battle rages. 

A young man lays in a small pool of blood, applying small skin colored patches to his body. A smear of blood trails from him to the large green monstrosity, whose claws drip with a similar crimson. A small halfling stands to one side of the green brute, assaulting her with a knife. A larger man stands directly from the halfling, attacking the monster with his bare hands. An elf stands off to one side firing at the creature while a fairy hovers above firing down onto her.

Everything suddenly lurches into motion. Syd, badly wounded, continued to use dermal patches to heal himself. Zoltan, Alahandra, Milo, and Orendil have the troll surrounded and are attacking in full force. Despite their efforts though, it is obviously a losing battle. 

Orendil’s luck has turned sour, and every shot he fires misses the troll by a wide berth. Alahandra likewise finds trouble hitting the heavily armored, fast moving target. As the troll’s claws begin to take even more of a toll Syd calls out for a retreat. 

“Retreat! Don’t worry about me!”

Slowly, the party began making a strategic retreat towards the still open door leading back into the medical floor of the prison. As Zoltan finally entered the doorway leading into the medical wing he slammed it shut before the troll could reach the rest of the party, effectively leaving Syd alone on the roof.

Syd stood up from the crouch he had been holding and began casting his last spell for the day. The troll turned at the sound of his spell, and snarling began charging towards him. Suddenly, Syd’s form began to blur and wings sprouted from his back as his form altered to that of a large bird. Turning, Syd dove from the roof, and catching a wind current drifted down to the prison’s front door. Ending his spell, Syd resumed his normal shape and entered the prison again. Heading back towards the elevator, he passed a few startled guards.

“Troll on roof. No time to talk.”

Meanwhile, back on the fourth floor, everyone is applying dermal patches to the claw wounds that crisscross their body. Suddenly, the door on the opposite side of the medical storage the party is hiding in opens, and Xerxan walks in. 

After explaining the current status of the party, Xerxan had climbed up the ladder and had arrived just in time to see the party running away. Eyeing the heavily bandaged party, Xerxan receives an answer to his unasked question.

“Big troll outside,” says Zoltan, jerking his thumb towards the door leading out. 

Nodding, Xerxan cautiously approaches the door and opens it, stepping out. Opening his mouth wide, he releases a torrent of fire that scorches the troll badly. Hastily stepping back inside, Zoltan helps Xerxan erect a temporary bar against the outside door using the shelves lining the walls of the small room they are in. 

By the time the outside door had been barricaded, as well as the second door leading into the medical facility itself, Syd had managed to arrive upstairs with everyone as well. 

Looking about the heavily damaged medical wing, the small group realizes that there are two doors they have left completely unexplored. Entering the right-most one, Milo is surprised to see a sleeping female in a nurse’s outfit stretched out on one of the medical pallets. 

Waking her, Milo began to talk to the nurse, asking her several questions. Obviously, however, the nurse was experiencing a form of shock because she seemed unable or unwilling to move from the area she was in, even when she was informed of the troll still outside. One fact that the nurse did provide, which somewhat soothed some of the group’s consciousness, was that there were no other medical personnel that she knew of. 

Searching the nurse’s room, as well as the room behind the left door, which proved to be more storage, every member of the party found themselves with several healing patches in pockets or pouches.

Finally, the area secured, the party decided sleep was desperately needed. Sleeping arrangements were tense, as Alahandra didn’t want to sleep next to anyone, while Zoltan refused to lie down next to a magic user, and Xerxan didn’t want to lay with any lesser races on general principals. In the end, the group ended up sleeping in the far corners of the room, as far from each other as possible. 

The next morning, the outer door and the barricade the party had constructed still stood. It was obvious the troll had attempted entry, but had been unable to break down the door. 

The party discusses heading outside for the troll again, or heading down instead. With his spells renewed Syd is eager for vengeance against the troll, but without weapons (and truly the taser pistols are NOT weapons) the other members are leery of attacking. 

Finally, Syd agrees that better weapons should be obtained before attacking the troll again, and the party prepares to climb back down the service ladder. Just as they reach the elevator doors, however, two orcs leap out from the elevator! 

Both are large and ugly, as orcs go, and both brandish weapons. One has a taser pistol while the other has a stun baton. Armed as they are, however, the orcs are no match for the party. 

Milo begins to slash horrible wounds into the orcs as a flurry of taser darts manages to stun both of them. Orendil attempts to push the orc with the stun baton back down into the elevator shaft but fails to overpower the orc. Alahandra begins to fire with her laser pistol as the orcs ineffectively attempt to attack back. 

Just as one of the orcs begins to crawl away from the battle, Orendil recognizes both of the orcs as fellow prisoners on the transport, before it was shot down. Milo plunges his steak knife into his opponent’s chest as Orendil and Alahandra both call out.

“Don’t kill them!”

The second orc is spared, however, and proves to be very talkative.

“Who was the other orc?”

“My brother-in-law. He was always pretty stupid though.”

“And what were you doing up here? How did you get past the guards?”

“The guards didn’t seem very smart either. They said a repair team had gone up top to deal with the turret and never came down. They wanted us to see what was going on. Guess you guys are doing fine.”

Informing the orc about the nurse, and vice versa, the party left the somewhat wounded orc in the care of the nurse. Warning both of them about the troll outside, the party again approached the elevator shaft, and this time managed to climb all the way down to the first floor.

Exiting the elevator shaft, the party walked out and turned left, heading towards the offices that the guards had been forced to abandon. At the door leading to the offices, the party met Arnie, one of the guards. 

“Ask for me by name when you try to get back in, or we won’t open the door.”

Entering through the door, the party was met with a scene of utter destruction …


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## Horacio (Apr 21, 2002)

Great update!
I love your style, it's perfect for Dragonstar.


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## Caliber (Apr 29, 2002)

Session2b

Inside the office, the desk was overturned and papers were strewn about. The entire room looked as if someone, or something, had simply flown into a rage and attempted to destroy everything they could. 

Performing a quick search of the room, Milo managed to find a small datapad that seemed to be some prisoner lists. Searching through he noticed several things within the prisoner rosters. The most interesting information revealed, however, was the list of prisoners in maximum-security cells. A troll was one of the first entries that caught Milo’s eye. Obviously, the party’s friend on the rooftop had been one of the maximum-security prisoners. 

Other than the troll though, the maximum-security cells contained: two driders, a minotaur, a halfling female, a sea hag, and, most frightening of all, a storm giant!

Realizing that they may be in more trouble than they had realized, the party grimly entered into the main hallway between the offices. Deciding to start at the end of the hallway, they walked past several offices and approached the last door in the building.

The party attempts to open the door, but quickly they see that it is obviously locked. Alahandra suddenly flies forward and begins toying with the lock. A few moments later the door suddenly opens and the party stares, open-mouthed at the little fairy. Maybe they were lucky they had taken her along after all …

Inside the small cramped room the door had revealed, the party found an obvious communication terminal. The same message they had heard from the back of the prison transport crackled over and over as it was broadcast out by the automated system. 

The message brought up the question of what the party should do if help arrived before the small group could escape. The prison roster had shown that the prison had been expecting the party before the riot. The basics of the group, their race and gender mostly, were marked down as incoming. How hard would it be to match that profile to the group?

Syd and Milo sat down and began trying to rework the message. Finally, once access had been gained and the old message deleted, Syd recorded a new message, signaling an all clear. Setting the communication system to loop the message over and over, the party left, approaching the door directly adjacent.

Again this door was locked. Alahandra tried her skill with this door as well, but without a keycard she found herself unable to get in. Deciding to leave this door for now and explore the other offices, the party again entered the small corridor running between the offices.

Office after office revealed scenes of destruction. Unlike the first, bodies soon became apparent in many of the offices. Some were mauled horribly. One particular body had been stuffed into the file cabinet in its office. Another officer was torn in half, as if by something with large claws.

Every scene of carnage sickened the party a little bit more. Reluctantly, though, they forced themselves to look through every room, to make sure they left nothing useful behind. In one of the rooms, where it appeared the Deputy-Warder how worked, the party found the Deputy-Warden’s keycard.

Heading back to the locked door, Alahandra managed to gain entrance using the newly acquired keycard. Inside the room sat wall to wall monitors, some covered in static, some flashing the message 

“Network Lockdown Enacted.”

Searching throughout the room, Milo quickly noticed noise coming from a small cabinet in the corner. Milo began trying to coax out whoever was in the cabinet, switching from language to language, as he drew no response. When he tried gnomish though, suddenly a voice replied. Slowly, Milo convinced the hiding gnome to reveal himself. 

The small gnome proved to be a guard, who had hidden himself when the prisoners had stormed into the offices. After assuring the scared guard that they weren’t prisoners, the party escorted him back and got Arnie to let him back into the part of the prison still controlled by guards.

Milo and Syd again sat down and began attempting to unlock the system so that they could gain access. When Milo bumped against one of the buttons on the wall though, instead of unlocking the network, they got the message that they had unlocked the high security cells! Suddenly, the entire system went down and could not be rebooted by Syd or Milo. Sheepishly Milo grinned as the party stood to leave the small room.

Suddenly, Orendil realized what had been bothering him so much about this small stretch of hallway. Airflow was coming from beneath the wall!

Examining a small section of wall directly across from the network room, the group discovered a door disguised to look exactly as the rest of the wall. Once the door had been discovered the access port for the keycard was obvious. Alahandra began trying to open the door using the Deputy-Warden’s keycard when suddenly there was a snapping sound. The keycard had broken within the lock! Today was not the party’s lucky day. 

Grimacing, the party gave up on the hidden door and went back to the office corridor. Passing the already explored offices, the party went through the entry room and entered the Warden’s office. The destruction here was as bad as everywhere else. In some cases it was worse, as it was obvious that several of the burns in the walls were obviously put there on purpose. Syd found a guard’s uniform in the closet. A hole had been burned through where the heart would have been had there been someone in it, but a pack of spearmint gum stuck out of the breast pocket, unsigned.

Milo, meanwhile, found a datapad the Warden had been working on. In the riot, however, it had become heavily damaged. Salvaging some of the other parts in the room though, Milo managed to gain a marginal amount of operation. The datapad seems to contain some kind of half-finished report, but it makes little sense to Milo, or anyone else within the party. 

Most important, though, is the small keycard found behind the Warden’s desk. Deciding nothing else was to be found in the office, the party walked back to the secret door. They would get through that door, no matter what.

Alahandra attempted to open the door again, but she could not with a broken bit of keycard still in the lock. She almost was able to get it out, but her arms were not skinny enough. Syd moved Alahandra out of the way as he got an idea. Taking a small bit of metal from the floor, he attached a chewed piece of gum to the tip and slowly extracted the broken bit of keycard. 

Once the lock was clear, Alahandra was quickly able to open up the door. Beyond lay exactly what the party had hoped. The weapons cache!

Behind the concealed door lay several racks full of taser pistols and rifles. Additional guard vests filled another rack. But the rack that really caught the party’s eye was the one that held several blaster pistols. Rapidly, the party helped themselves to the blaster pistols, some taking two, in addition to many power cells for them. 

Properly armed, now the party was ready to challenge the troll again. 

Moving back to the door, the party buzzed Arnie and, after explaining that they had simply found the blaster pistols and that no, he could not have one, the party again approached the elevator. 

Looking in though, the party saw a figure coming down. Backing up they drew weapons and awaited the approaching prisoner. As she stepped out of the elevator shaft, however, the party was struck by the sheer hideousness of the creature confronting them. They had found the sea hag. Xerxan visibly withered at the sight of her, and Alahandra simply fell to the ground, too weak to fly. Milo fired a warning shot, then shouted out

“Hold right there!”

The hag stopped and gave no sign of attacking the party, perhaps because of the large number of firearms currently leveled at her. 

“We have no problem with you. If you walk out that door and take a left, you can leave the prison. Just promise not to harm any guards.”

“You will just let me out?” hissed the hag. 

“If you promise to not hurt the guards.”

“Yeah, they just have taser pistols. Those are pretty useless,” someone in the party quipped.

The hag seemed to consider a moment before fixing Milo with a particularly powerful stare. Milo felt his insides quiver at her stare, but held resolute.

“Very well halfling. I will not harm your guard.”

And with that, the sea hag strolled out. Scooping up Alahandra, Syd deposited the immobile fairy into his pocket, since she still found herself unable to move. Moving into the elevator shaft, the party again noticed more figures climbing down. This time it was a pair, a female elf and a male half-orc.

The same situation occurred, with them being told to stop at gunpoint. They were offered freedom, if they would not harm the guards and they both happily agreed. 

It seemed that in addition to the high security cells, any cells still closed had opened as more and more prisoners climbed down the elevator shaft’s ladder. They all were presented the same option, and everyone accepted.

Finally, as the ladder was finally clear, the party entered and prepared to climb up. 

As Syd set his foot on the first rung, Arnie ran by the outside door, screaming about monsters. At least he lived Syd thought.

Climbing back upstairs, the party found no sign of the nurse or the half-orc they had left her with earlier that day. Whatever had become of them, it had not been the troll, because the outer door still looked secure. Walking down the small corridor lined with medical supplies, Syd grinned slightly as he finally got an opportunity to use his spells. Analyzing what he had memorized for the day, already he began to plan out what he would cast. 

The troll wouldn’t know what was coming …


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## Caliber (Apr 29, 2002)

Grrrr. I wanted to have this story a lot earlier. Sorry about the length of time between posts. 

I won't really get into whats taking so long, but I will drop the word finals.  

Anyway, for those of you who read (all four) next session contains some nice butt-kicking action (finally!) as well as a few interesting twists. I hope to have it finished before we play this wednesday (I don't want to be more than 1 session behind) but I am not sure how feasible that is.

Either way, I hope you are enjoying the story.


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## Horacio (Apr 29, 2002)

I loved the way the characters dodged combat by offering freedom to the prisioners (few D&D players are capable of dodging a combat situation). Great update, as usual, and waiting for the next one


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## Caliber (Apr 29, 2002)

Heh. Personally I was somewhat suprised. Our past campaigns had proved us to be a pretty bloodthirsty lot. Of course the 2d8 Str drain of the Sea Hag might have made us a little more reluctant to fight.

That and our burning desire to kick a paticular troll's butt.  

I still feel kinda bad for poor Arnie though ...

Next update soon (I hope!)


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## Horacio (Apr 30, 2002)

Caliber said:
			
		

> *Heh. Personally I was somewhat suprised. Our past campaigns had proved us to be a pretty bloodthirsty lot. Of course the 2d8 Str drain of the Sea Hag might have made us a little more reluctant to fight.
> 
> That and our burning desire to kick a paticular troll's butt.
> *




Desire of revenge is a powerful lever to move characters 
Waiting for that 'next update soon'


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## Caliber (May 24, 2002)

Session 3

Invisible, Milo stepped out back onto the roof, followed closely by Syd, whose form was blurred with the speed granted by Haste. Everyone else except Xerxan followed and quickly discovered that the roof was empty.

Surrounding the turret, Milo crept up and spun the hatch open, jumping out of the way as he did. A gruff dwarven voice issued out, followed closely by the dwarf himself. He stood there, glaring out at the party, waiting for them to respond. 

Milo quickly realized that he was the only one able to understand the dwarf, so he crept close to Zoltan and whispered in his ear to move his lips to Milo's words. While Zoltan stood there trying to mimic the sounds coming from directly in front of him the dwarf slowly turned his attention towards him. 

The negotiations were brief. The dwarf wanted to know who they all were, while Milo wanted to know the same thing. Apparently the dwarf was waiting for someone or something to come back to the prison. Finally though, Milo offered the dwarf a choice. 

“If you leave peacefully and don’t harm the guards, we won’t have to kill you.”

The dwarf snorted and opened fire, moving to slam the hatch of the turret closed. 

Unfortunately for the dwarf, Syd was faster. As the dwarf’s hand reached for the hatch to the turret, a small fiery ball flew from Syd’s hand through the turret’s hatch and over the dwarf’s shoulder.

Fire exploded from within the turret, and when the flames cleared, only a smoking dwarven corpse remained in the hatchway. Milo moved forward to check on the destruction, and barely managed to avoid the blaster shot that suddenly burst from the turret! Someone was still inside, and alive!

Suddenly the hatch slammed closed, and the turret began to rotate around to point towards the party. Zoltan and Milo started racing along, trying to wrench the hatch open as it turned. 

As the turret came in sight of Syd, he pulled up a magic Shield, then raced forward and slid underneath the turret’s field of fire. Orendil mimicked Syd’s movements as Alahandra mentally screamed as she was nearly crushed from Syd’s dodging. 

Milo finally managed to get the hatch open, and was nearly brained as Zoltan threw a Sleep Grenade right past his invisible ear. Zoltan and Milo entered into the now cramped turret to find a very awake and very alive halfling female. A gunfight burst out inside of the enclosed chamber, blaster shots bouncing back and forth between the two parties. 

Finally, however, the female halfling lay dead and Milo and Zoltan were victorious. Milo began tinkering with the turret, attempting to understand the controls. Zoltan exited while Syd entered, assisting Milo in figuring out the turret's controls. 

Once Syd and Milo figured out how the turret worked, Milo removed the Flux Capacitor from the circuitry, effectively disabling the machine. Exiting out of the turret, the party began to discuss what should be done next. 

Suddenly Xerxan rushed out from the small medical wing, clutching at his side, blood dripping from between his fingers. Following behind him was a large drider, fangs still moist with Xerxan's blood. Syd, being closest, shot out a ray of absolute blackness towards the creature racing towards him. 

The drider turned towards him, and the only thing keeping it away was the magical shield from earlier. Milo, Orendil, and Zoltan all opened fire as Xerxan collapsed to the ground as the drider’s poison paralyzed his muscles. 

Knowing his shield would not hold long, Syd backed away, but not before being cuffed by one of the drider’s legs. Head ringing, Syd backed away as the area the drider occupied was suddenly filled with impenetrable darkness. 

Milo and Zoltan rushed to the turret. As soon as the got there, Milo reconnected the Flux Capacitor while Zoltan jumped into the pilot’s chair, activating the radar on the turret. 

A Fireball exploded within the darkness as the radar finally came on and registered …

… nothing. The drider had disappeared something. Looking over the side of the roof, the party saw what must have been nearly the entire population of prisoners running from the prison. Of the drider the party saw nothing.

In time the drider’s magical darkness faded, and again the party searched about for any signs of the beast. About to give up, suddenly Orendil noticed something at the corner of the building. Approaching, he realized it was some kind of webbing! The drider had somehow spun a web and climbed down to the ground from the roof. 

The party had accomplished what they had come onto the roof for, as well as figuring out the path of the drider that had attacked them. Zoltan fired off a few shots from the turret before Milo again disconnected the Flux Capacitor, and everyone began preparing to leave somehow, someway. The only real question was Xerxan. 

Propped up next to the turret where the party had put him, Xerxan still remained incapable of movement, just like Alahandra. Where Syd could easily carry Alahandra, however, Xerxan was another matter. No one in the party could manage to lift him, much less carry him down the elevator shaft service ladder. 

Despite disagreements, everyone eventually agreed that Xerxan had to be left. No one really trusted him, both for his ancestry and for his role in everyone’s unjust imprisonment. Further, there was simply nothing that could be done with him. Setting him into the turret to keep him out of the elements, the party climbed down the service ladder for hopefully the last time. 

Taking the advice they had given all the prisoners, the party exited out of the prison, but instead of running away, the party skirted around the perimeter and entered the area the guard’s had earlier told them was the hangar. 

Right away, several boxes of supplies were noticed stacked in one corner, as was a 
non-functional robot lab in another. Most important, however, were the two hover transports and the hover tank that were sitting there. 

As Orendil made to enter one of the transports, he again noticed the webbing from before. The drider had retreated down here into this transport! Leaving that one alone, the party checked the other two vehicles. None of them had an abundance of fuel, and the tank was out of ammo. The supply boxes were searched but if any ammo or fuel had been stored there, it had been taken at some earlier time. 

While Milo, Zoltan, and Syd began divvying up the supply crates, a minotaur sporting a large blaster rifle, and an orc entered into the hangar. At first relations were tense, but quickly the two groups found a common goal: escape from Prison Aphex.

The orc introduced himself as Razoul and discarded his prisoner jumper for a spare set of clothes found in the supply crates. The minotaur, who was named G’Bangrak was unable to find any clothes that fit, but was happy to help with the drider situation. 

Moving over to the infested transport, the minotaur pulled open the hatch and simply stuck the barrel of his rifle in. The sound of ricocheting blaster shots echoed throughout the hangar until suddenly the minotaur stepped back from the now smoking hatch and jumped down, drider taken care of. 

Syd helped Orendil cannibalize the fuel from the other two vehicles as the last of the supply crates was cracked open. Making sure everyone had equipment they wanted, the party set about getting into the hover tank. 

As the sun slowly started to set at the Aphex Prison, a hover tank suddenly burst out of the hangar. It was riding in a northern direction and, oddly enough, had a minotaur with a large rifle riding on top of it. Anyone who noticed would probably think it an odd sight indeed.


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## Caliber (May 24, 2002)

Hey everyone! I'm back!

Sorry for the extreme stretch between my last update. Finals hit me a lot harder than I expected, and then the site started having all of those problems ...

Anyway, I hope you all made it over to these new boards (and by all of you I mean Horacio  )

Alahandra was somewhat grumpy this session, seeing as she was paralyzed the time. Xerxan was weakened from the earlier encounter with the sea hag as well (he had taken 16 points of STR damage from her!) and the damage from the drider's poison proved too much.

As Xerxan's player had already quit by this session, it wasn't really a hard choice, so I guess we didn't try to get him down as hard as we could have ...

Syd was happy to finally get a chance to use his spells, although he really wishes he could have found that damn troll .... ::mutters::

We just kind of bailed on Prison Aphex, something I believe the DM was not expecting. Don't worry though, he got us back. With a vengence.

If anyone has some questions or comments, send them along. 

And last but not least, I do NOT plan on taking this long to finish Session 4, so you can expect something by Monday.

Later.


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## Horacio (May 24, 2002)

Caliber said:
			
		

> *Anyway, I hope you all made it over to these new boards (and by all of you I mean Horacio  )
> *




I am here, of course 

Glad to see an update


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## Caliber (May 28, 2002)

Session 4

Orendil and the rest of the party rode along in relative silence for the better part of the day. As night began falling, the group entered into a forested region and decided to set up camp for the night. Syd prepared to start a fire while others gathered firewood and helped set up the tents that had been found in the hangar. 

While out gathering firewood Orendil saw a fire in the distance. When he spread the information to the others, the fledgling fire that Syd had just started was quickly smothered. Paranoia and suspicion were running high as everyone ate their meals in silence and turned to their tent or bedroll for rest. 

Zoltan, oddly enough, chose to sleep in the tank itself. A watch was set in case of pursuit or dangerous fauna. The night passed.

Then, while Orendil sat at his watch, a patch of darkness on top of the tank suddenly materialized into a person! Zoltan had heard the person Orendil had just spotted and was quickly scrambling for his gun as a figure climbed into the tank with him. Firing a warning shot, Zoltan woke everyone Orendil had failed to get to.

“Stop!” called out a high feminine voice from the shadowy figure. 

Flashlights quickly revealed a striking golden haired female aasimar. She was a fellow prisoner by her orange jumper and explained that she just wanted a place to sleep. She had seen the tank earlier and thought it might be warmer than the cold ground. 

Whether the group’s paranoia had lessened somewhat by now, or her obvious attractiveness had swayed them in other ways, she was accepted and given a place to sleep as everyone again retired to their respective beds. 

The next morning the aasimar, B’Genesh by name, found herself questioned by Milo. She had been running for several days now. Most of the prisoners fled south to a city only a day or so away. Figuring that would be the first place searched, she instead fled north towards Caar, a city far to the north. With the hover tank, however, they could likely get there within a few days. 

Accepting her story, the party then had to figure out how everyone was going to fit within the hover tank. Alahandra was still riding in Syd’s pocket but G’Bangrak was forced to ride on the roof, and the insides were cramped as it were. The problem was quickly resolved when Orendil volunteered to ride with G’Bangrak on the roof. 

The camp was packed up and with Zoltan in the pilot’s seat, the group set out for the city of Caar. Zoltan set into driving with abandon, jerking the wheel back and forth with wild abandon. Before real protest could start among the passengers a knock came from the entry hatch. It was G’Bangrak.

“Your little elf-friend fell off a few paces back.”

Zoltan reversed and picked up Orendil before setting off a somewhat more sensible route. North the party rode and quickly approached Caar. Eventually Milo flipped on the radio and began searching through the stations. Zoltan paused him for a second on a hard rock station before Milo settled onto a news broadcast.

The prison break was all over the news, as was the fact that roadblocks were being set up around the cities closest to the prison. Even Caar. Prisoners weren’t really expected to go that far one official was noted for saying, but a roadblock was set for safeties sake. 

Obviously the hover tank couldn’t be driven into town, especially with roadblocks set up. The decision of what to do with the tank was debated back and forth, before it was finally decided to ditch it with indications that it was heading in a different direction. 

Heading off in a northeastern direction, the group rode until the tank’s low fuel supplies forced them to land it. Hiding it in some thick foliage, the party began the long trek north. 

After a few hours of thinning forest, a large highway quickly came into view. Again debate broke out among the group, this time about whether hitchhiking or walking would be a better choice. 

Flying up via magic, Syd ascertained that the way was clear so that everyone could cross the highway. From there they began to walk, hoping that putting as much distance from the prison would help conceal them. 

They walked for a ways, until a bus heading towards Caar rounded a bend in the road. Most of the party hid, but Syd was caught hovering in the open. At the sight of him the bus stopped as several tourists began to take pictures of him. Figuring his cover was already blown, Syd simply approached the bus and asked to book passage into Caar. Slowly, the rest of the party emerged, each one causing the bus passenger’s eyes to open a little wider. Of particular interest was G’Bangrak who caused several gasps from the crowd. Zoltan and Syd quickly concocted a story between them about a failed hunting expedition, insults flying between them as they went. The bus driver just nodded dully as money was lent to those who could not afford passage.

Riding along the party listened to the radio and discussed what should be done about the coming roadblocks. They didn’t have long to talk as the bus was soon stopped in the massive traffic jam that was entering into the city. Standing the party again gave a hastily concocted story about living outside the city, and saving time by simply walking there. 

Exiting the bus en masse, the party walked north for a ways, before entering into the city of Caar through an unguarded route. As the party entered the city, it was decided that splitting up would be for the best. Several smaller groups would draw less attention than one large group.

Razoul quickly excused himself and left on his own. 

G’Bangrak revealed that she planned on meeting some friends here. Together they planned on returning to Aphex to help a few other prisoners escape. Zoltan accompanied G’Bangrak to the Red Salamander, where she was supposed to meet her friends.  

Syd and Alahandra (who was still riding in his pocket, being too weak to fly) teamed up with the B’Genesh and set off to find a hotel to stay at. 

Orendil and Milo likewise teamed up and mimicked Syd and company, soon taking rooms in a local hotel.

G’Bangrak and Zoltan quickly began asking about the Red Salamander and found to their surprise that there were two in town! One, the Red Salamander Inn, was located at the northern edge of town. The other, the Red Salamander Tavern, was at the southwestern corner. Deciding the Tavern was closer, Zoltan and G’Bangrak made their way north and entered the Red Salamander Tavern. 

Unless the prisoners were meeting in a gay bar, the Red Salamander Inn was NOT the place where G’Bangrak was meeting her friends. Quickly leaving, they began to trudge south towards the Red Salamander Tavern. As they walked, the area began to get worse, soon degrading into dangerous looking slums. As Zoltan entered into the Tavern, he noticed that he was the only human in the room. G’Bangrak passed inside without a problem but Zoltan found himself stopped by a large ogre. 

“No humans. Get out.” The ogre didn’t seem very smart, but he was very effective. Zoltan found himself alone and outside rapidly. 

Meanwhile, Syd, Alahandra, and B’Genesh had found rooms, as had Milo and Orendil. Milo and Orendil dropped what equipment they possessed before heading out to several stores throughout the city, spending what cash they could to buy supplies. Alahandra and B’Genesh did the same, after they each had taken a shower. 

Syd, on the other hand, went off to the hotel’s pool for a relaxing swim. Swimming back and forth, he quickly felt his concerns ease as he swam about.

Milo and Orendil went hunting about stores looking for gear that would help the group survive on this world. Milo picked up a number of maps as well as some tools and some other nick-knacks. Alahandra bought a pair of magical protective bracers, made specifically for a fairy. And B’Genesh bought a dress that was … eye-catching. It wasn’t exactly hideous, nor was it scandalous, but something about the suit just seemed to scream look at me! 

“People won’t expect an escaped prisoner to wear something like this,” she explained. 

Not giving up so easily, Zoltan decided to try to enter through the back this time. As he moved around the side, however, he heard a strange voice.

“Hey man. Give me some money man.”

“Get out of here! I don’t have any money,” shouted Zoltan.

“Do you think I’m that stupid man? No one could have all that gear, those weapons, without having money man.”

Zoltan protested some more about his lack of money but the frog creature was insistent. The conversation seemed to be going downhill when Zoltan shot the creature in the foot with his blaster.

“When my boss at the Red Salamander hears what you did … !”

“What do you know about the Red Salamander?”

“How much money are you going to give me?”

“How much are you going to give me?” Zoltan snapped back.

“What are you talking about?”

“What are you talking about?” Zoltan came back with again.

Zoltan’s unorthodox method of questioning quickly disoriented the frog. With the frog distracted Zoltan ran off.

Soon, Zoltan found himself wandering aimlessly through back alleys and slums. Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind him.

“I thought you would be here man. Do you have any money now?”

That stupid frog had followed him! Again any chance of a peaceful resolution quickly broke down, and when the creature pulled out a phone and began to dial a number, Zoltan blew his phone away. 

“When my boss hears about this he’s going to be mad, man.”

Again Zoltan left the frog standing there, a hole in foot and phone, now.

Syd meanwhile, had finally gotten out of the pool, and had ordered room service. Along with it he obtained the temporary services of a run around, and procured several items of his own. Alahandra and B’Genesh returned, Alahandra quite a bit poorer and B’Genesh in her … special outfit.

Orendil and Milo made their way to their own hotel, laden down with maps and other such equipment.

Zoltan bedded down on a bench in one of the city’s parks. 

Tomorrow morning in front of the City Hall, the group was to meet again. If only Zoltan had stuck around with everyone long enough to learn that …


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## Caliber (May 28, 2002)

Wow. I nearly updated in time to still be on the first page. Amazing.

The Zoltan - Frog Bum thing was hilarious, although I don't think it comes across that way in the story.

It all started by accident, when Zoltan's player said "How much money do I want?" instead of "How much money do you want?"

After that we laughed so hard, he just kept it up. Finally the frog gave up and we got away.

If you haven't noted by now, Zoltan (and likewise his player) are somewhat exciteable. Thats going to get them in trouble some day (if it hasn't yet)

It was nice to finally be in civilization and defintely nice to be able to equip ourselves again. Where to go from here is the question ...


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## Caliber (May 29, 2002)

PS: For those of you who read Wulf's Storyhour, there were several jokes about the ass-mar bandied about.


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## Fade (May 29, 2002)

No one seems to be replying. Just letting you know that you still have readers.


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## Caliber (May 29, 2002)

Whohoo! I have readerS (and yes I meant to capitalize the S  )

Glad to hear it. I don't get much response from this story and sometimes it can be tough. For those of you who don't have a story of your own, it takes a while to type up all of this. But its a labor of love, and even if no-one else read it, I probably would still type it anyway for memories sake.

Anyway, glad to hear from you Fade, welcome to the vocal minority.


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## Horacio (May 29, 2002)

I'm still here, of course 

Good update, nice to see a city


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## Krellic (May 29, 2002)

Just caught up with this Story Hour and it's fun.  I'll be keeping an eye out for updates!


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## Gez (May 29, 2002)

Caliber said:
			
		

> *(Yes this campaign world is a hodge-podge of sorts. The DragonStar universe / Fading Suns universe / Star Wars universe with an unknown area for some weird fun. Should be an interesting campaign.)*




Have you thought of adding Spelljammer to the mix (it's kinda hard to get Dungeon issue, though) ?    

I'm trying to visualize a band of jedi fighting gith pirates equiped with renaissance-level firearms and trying to dispose of them quickly enough to resume fleeing before the assault ships shock-full of orcs in cybernetized power armors...

I also have a small glimpse of an ewok casting druidic spells, and of Darth Vader being polymorphed into a squid by an angry illithid.

The most priceless sight being, of course, the Death Star firing its laser against the wooded spelljammer ships. Before being destroyed by a halfling wizard on a flying carpet throwing a meteor swarm in the exhaust hole...


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## Caliber (May 29, 2002)

Horacio- 
     If you thought it was nice to see a city, you should have seen the looks on all of our (the players) faces. We had been sorely feeling the lack of gear for a while.

Krellic-
     Welcome to the Storyhour. Glad to hear you are enjoying it.

Gez-
     You may not be too far off. I am fairly certain (80% probability) that the DM has that issue of Dungeoun. More over I am pretty sure if he does that it will be included in some way. I think he decided to combine everything he could into this campaign. Earlier he mentioned some DS 3E stuff at some point, as well as maybe a cameo by Cthulhlu. When they are getting here I dunno (and I don't think I want to)


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## Horacio (May 30, 2002)

Two of your four 'official' readers are from France, interesting...


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## Caliber (Jun 5, 2002)

Session 5

Zoltan awoke the next morning to a strange sound. Looking down, there was the strange bum who had accosted him twice the night before. Kicking him, Zoltan got up and asked for the bum’s name.

“I am Thribbin, the rhood.”

“Yeah, you sure are rude.”

“No no no no, I am a rhood. It is my species.”

“Oh.”

Zoltan had already decided that he wanted a larger gun and deciding that he wouldn’t be able to avoid the rhood, grabbed him in a headlock and began dragging him behind him. 

Zoltan asked around and quickly located a nearby arms dealer. While Zoltan perused the available weapons, Thribbin made an attempt to use the phone at the store. 

“Who are you calling?” Zoltan asked, a crazy glint in his eye.

“I’m calling my boss. He’s gonna want to know I found you.”

“No you’re not.”

With that Zoltan snatched the receiver from Thribbin’s hand and slammed it down onto the base. 

“He doesn’t need to use the phone after all,” he explained to the clerk. 

She merely nodded.

Picking out a particularly large rifle, Zoltan approached the clerk and began questioning her about the price. He could definitely afford it, but would need ID in order to buy it. ID he sorely lacked seeing as he had entered this planet via prison transport. The store clerk indicated he go over to the City Hall to clear up his ID problem and then head back for the gun.

Grasping Thribbin in a headlock again, Zoltan dragged him back towards the park he had slept it, which was just across the street from the City Hall. Entering, he quickly found the clerk who handled ID matters, and entered into the line. After a small wait, he reached the head of line and applied for a new ID to be issued, using a fake name as to avoid detection.

Finally, the clerk asked for his arrival papers when he arrived on planet. 

“Uh … I don’t have any. I arrived on a small transport in the wilderness for some hunting. Never expected to be going into the city.”

The clerk let out a long suffering sigh and then, “Very well. Give me your boarding papers for the ship your transport disembarked from.”

“Ok here you go.”

“These papers show your name as Zoltan, yet for your ID you have your name listed as … as .. Zanoobanish Zismalli?”

“Well yes. That’s my real name. Zoltan is just a nickname my friends gave me. They paid for my flight so that is why my boarding papers have that name.”

“I … see. I will just give you your ID under the name Zoltan.”

His attempt to get a fake ID defeated, Zoltan grabbed his rhood and exited with his new ID.

Outside, walking towards him was Milo and Orendil! Stopping to talk to his newly found friends, Zoltan quickly related what had happened to him. Milo filled Zoltan in on the planned meeting in the park he had spent the night in.

While all of this was happening, Syd, Alahandra and B’Genesh were walking towards the park as well. Suddenly, a group of three halflings stepped out from the crowd.

“Your money or your life!” muttered the leader of the halflings.

“How about instead you turn around and walk away and I let you live,” replied Syd in a cold voice. 

“What!?! Haven’t you heard of the Red Salamander gang?”

“The … Red Salamander?” Syd asked, suddenly cautious. 

The halflings began talking about their escape from the prison and Syd quickly nodded that they had too. The halfling quickly gave them some directions to the Red Salamander Tavern and then faded into the crowd. Perplexed by the encounter but with little time to wait, Syd and company continued on to the prearranged meeting with Milo and Orendil.

Zoltan told Milo and Orendil that he was going to buy a Blaster Rifle, and that he would be in the park in a few minutes. Zoltan entered the store and submitting his newly obtained ID, obtained his brand new Blaster Rifle, and happily left, his rhood in tow.

Heading back, long barrel sticking out over his shoulder, Zoltan joined the gathering of friends as they quickly gave somewhat modified accounts of their last day, due in part to the rhood listening in.

“Can’t you do something with him?” Milo asked.

“Nah. He’ll just find me again.”

Suddenly, the group noticed a large number of police officers heading towards them. The party scattered in all directions, Syd zooming up with a Fly spell, while the others took off on foot. B’Genesh stood still, but in that glaring suit she was wearing, no one took her for an escaped prisoner.

Everyone quickly lost the officers through one means or another, and Milo found himself alone in a bad portion of town. He began to resume a normal pace when suddenly, he found himself accosted by three halflings. 

“Your money or your life!”

Milo had left his pistol hidden in his room, and didn’t want to be associated with these three anyway, so he quickly set off running. One of the halflings shots clipped his shoulder, but he shrugged off the pain and kept running.

Finally getting into a safe position, Milo activated the walkie-talkies the party had obtained at the Prison, or bought since then. Calling out over the bandwidth they had all agreed on, he quickly ascertained that everyone had escaped safely. Agreeing to meet at a bar nearby his hotel, Milo put his walkie-talkie away and started heading back north.

B’Genesh, lacking any communication gear, went back to the hotel she shared with Syd and Alahandra. Everyone else managed to make it to the bar without incident.

Zoltan arrived, Thribbin still in tow.

“Is there anyway you can get rid of him?” Milo asked Zoltan.

With the rhood there, nothing overly important could be discussed, yet Zoltan feared letting him go because of his boss. In elven, the party began discussing what they could possibly do with the rhood. Hopefully, he didn’t speak elven and any plans would remain unknown. 

Killing him was suggested, but no one much cared for the idea. Moral issues aside, no one was in any hurry for a trip back to prison, and more over, the rhood had taken a blaster shot to the foot without too much reaction. The possibility that the rhood couldn’t BE killed was suggested more than once. Another idea mentioned was to let this rhood call his boss. If he was the one sending all these people after us, lets see what he wants. 

While all this discussion was going on, Zoltan came to a decision. Releasing the rhood, Thribbin immediately stood up and went to the bar, asking after the phone. 

The intensity of the conversation suddenly tripled as Zoltan likewise stood and snatched the phone from Thribbin’s hand. Thribbin began protesting and the barkeep stopped wiping off a glass as he walked over. 

Thribbin had obviously already dialed his boss’s number because the phone was already ringing when Zoltan grabbed it. Hanging up, he dialed a random number and began to stall, calling out in elven to hurry up with a plan. 

The group had nothing, and eventually Thribbin managed to get the phone back and to dial his boss again. Zoltan snatched the phone away at the last second and found himself talking to someone with a very deep voice. 

Zoltan had plenty of questions and Thribbin kept trying to get the phone back. The mysterious man on the other side had few answers however. Finally, the mystery man simply said

“I will send a car for you.”

And as he said that, a black limousine pulled up in front of the bar. Two ogres got out and Thribbin began gesturing for the group to get up and leave. The party briefly entertained ideas of fighting their way free, but changed their minds and decided to go along this time. Entering the car, the party was surprised to find G’Bangrak seated already. 

Driving through town, the party got out when the limo slowed, and then stopped, outside of the Red Salamander Tavern. This time, as everyone entered, Zoltan had no trouble getting in.

The group was lead into the back, where they entered a small elevator and began a LONG ride down. The ride went by in almost absolute silence, as no one knew quite what to expect. The only thing they all knew was that someone had wanted to find them bad. And that whoever it was, he had found them.

Arriving at the bottom floor, the party cautiously began moving out with Thribbin and G’Bangrak following close behind them. 

Behind a massive table, seated within a massive chair, sat a person who could only be the storm giant from the prison.

“Ah. You are finally here. A group of my followers were supposed to meet in this bar and come back to rescue me. But in the middle of the break, I found my cell opened. I am told I have you to thank for that.”

The storm giant quickly explained some of the background of the prison. For a while now, the drow police force created by Mezzenbone had been kidnapping people to conduct scientific experiments on them at Prison Aphex and likely other penal colonies. In fact, it was just such an experiment that allowed for the original prison break at Aphex; a fact the party had already stumbled over. More sinister, perhaps, is that every prisoner wrongfully accused had reported seeing the same man moments before being arrested. 

Always there was a drunken drow nearby, who was invariably arrested as well as the innocent party, and who never stayed long within the prison. It was Thurgeld’s (the storm giant) belief that the drow was somehow connected to the atrocities being committed for the ISPD. And indeed, in retrospect, the party had been arrested in company with a drunken drow. Apparently the ISPD was focusing on colonists heading for Degtra. Colonists rarely had much in the way of possessions, and few people missed them. As an incentive, they had likewise made travel to Degtra completely free. Everything suddenly clicked into place, and the party found them all possessed of righteous anger. Zoltan found himself looking at his ticket to Degtra as someone would look at a snake they had found within their bed.

Since the group had never officially arrived on planet, Thurgeld wished to use the party as an investigative squad. They had more freedom than any other prisoner and their lack of ID made them all but untraceable. Ideally they could help him track down the drow and end the ISPDs evil plot. This suited the group well … at least most of them.

“I … I obtained ID today in order to buy this gun,” Zoltan admitted.

“Well, that was a bad idea. We can work around it though.”

The three halflings were in no way associated with Thurgeld, although he was aware of them. They had been giving the bar a bad name, not to mention attracting unwanted attention. If the party wanted to take care of them Thurgeld wouldn’t mind.

Thurgeld told the party he would contact them if something came up and everyone left on friendly terms.

Back outside, the party discussed the new developments. If what Thurgeld had told them was true Zoltan obviously couldn’t leave, and neither could anyone else who had been planning it. B’Genesh had to be warned of the danger, but at the same time she could not be allowed to stay with the group. Her name on the record of prisoners was damning, and the fact was, the group couldn’t afford to be associated with her. 

Leaving, the group found another hotel near the local airport. Alahandra went back to B’Genesh and explained some of what was going on, entrusting her with enough money to pay for the rooms for a few more days, and perhaps get her started. 

Once that was taken care of, the fate of the three halflings became the main focus of the party. 

Twice they had accosted members of the group, and they had even shot Milo. They were attracting attention to a hidden group of prisoners, and if they were caught, the party was likely to be found out as well. They could not be allowed to live. 

A quick ambush was arranged, with Milo acting as bait. Walking about innocently Milo waited for the halflings to accost him, and it was not long before they did. 

Setting off at a run towards the prearranged location, the halflings immediately gave chase. 

Coming within site of the small cemetery that the ambush was set at, Milo dove behind one of the graves as the three halflings opened fire. Zoltan and Orendil stepped out from behind mausoleums, opening fire at the same time. Between the two of them, the number of halflings in the trap was reduced from three to one. Alahandra and Milo finished off the last one with a total lack of injuries on the group’s side. 

The three halflings were searched, what little they had pocketed, and their bodies left to be found a few days later. The party had gotten organized and armed. Their enemies better beware.


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## Caliber (Jun 5, 2002)

This session provided a lot of nice wrap-up for the group. As I mentioned before, we had been wondering where exactly to go, seeing as we left the whole Prison Aphex thing somewhat unexpectedly.

If you are rapidly going back to see when Zoltan bought a ticket, you won't find it. You see, I forgot to put it in. 

Essentially, while wandering about, Zoltan went to the space station and looked into booking passage offworld. There were still free trips to Degtra, and he booked one. After hearing that the trips were really prisoner harvests for the ISPD, he disposed of his ticket.

This session let the party get some frustration out on the poor little halflings, although Syd's newly learned Summon Monster IV didn't even finish before they were all toast!  

I will hopefully (fates willing) have the 6th session up tomorrow before we game. We will playing Session 8 tomorrow, so you are all REALLY close to catching up.


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## Horacio (Jun 5, 2002)

Great update!

Poor halfling gang, they hadn't any chance...


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## Caliber (Jun 5, 2002)

They certainly didn't. I think everyone was feeling pretty frustrated with that damn rhood. I don't know if it came across, but he was REALLY irratating. Especially when we found out he was working for the storm giant, and thus, technically on our side. We were really looking forward to killing him.

Those halflings didn't have a chance.


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## Horacio (Jun 6, 2002)

I think your DM put the halfling there only to let you discharge all your frustations on the poor berks...


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## Leopold (Jun 11, 2002)

more DragonSTAR MUST HAVEQ MORE!!!


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## Caliber (Jun 12, 2002)

Ask and you shall receieve. Expect a new update tonight (unlikely) or tomorrow (WAY more likely)

Session 6 has some nice developments, as well as a chance to experience some nice anti-gravity.  

See you all tomorrow (or possibly tonight)


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## Caliber (Jun 13, 2002)

Hey everyone!

No this isn't the new update (tomorrow, scout's honor)

No instead, I have a question to ask all of you. For a long time (pretty much since the beginning) I have been somewhat shakey on the names of many NPCs. Recently I managed to get the actual spellings from the DM and boy was I completely off.

Now I could 

A) Change the names to the proper spelling in past and future posts, 

B) Leave the names as they are in the story and try to get them right from now on, 

C) Change the name in future story hours but leave the past ones the same, putting a small note in the next installment detailing who has changed

or D) Something completely weird that I haven't thought of. 

Since this is mostly my fault (although I would like to see you figure out the proper spelling of G'Banrak) I am willing to do the extra work some of the choices would require. If I could get a few opinions on exactly what you all want, I will try to get those changes implemented ASAP. 

Thanks again. 

Update tomorrow!


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## Leopold (Jun 13, 2002)

change the names in the next post and reference the above...that would explain all


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## Caliber (Jun 14, 2002)

Session 6

Searching through the dead bodies of the three halflings, the party found little of interest. A few blaster pistols, some creds, and a cell phone.

“I wonder what the last number they dialed was?” Milo mused.

Pressing the redial button, the phone rang once. Twice. 

“Williamton house. How can I help you?” queried the voice on the other side of the phone.

Milo tried to find out what he could but information was limited. Hanging up, he quickly set out for a nearby phone booth, the party following behind. Searching through a phone directory, Milo quickly learned where the Williamton house was, and the party again decided to do a little walking about the city.

Some time later, the party found themselves standing outside of an otherwise normal looking house. The party couldn’t tell if anyone was inside, and not wanting to do anything without some information, decided to head back to the hotel. 

The days passed, and the group began to grow a little restless. Talk of returning back to the Williamton house was beginning to start when the call from Gyguul came. 

“My sources have picked up some leads on the location of the drow. North of Caar is a secret military base. My informants say that the drow is somewhere inside the base. If you are willing to go, I can charter you a private plane to bring you there.”

The discussion within the party was short. If they could find the drow in this base, they had no choice but go there. Agreeing to the chartered flight, the party prepared to move the next day.

The following day at the airport, the party quickly found the access gate for private flights with a few directions. Walking down the long walkway, they encountered a small guard station.

“Names please,” the very bored sounding guard said. 

As the somewhat unofficial leader of the group Milo supplied his. It wasn’t on the list. 

“Maybe Gyguul put it under mine,” Syd reasoned.

It wasn’t under his either. Every party member tried their name, and they tried Gyguul’s too. None of the names were on the guard’s list. Who had Gyguul chartered the flight for?

“Oh hey guys,” a familiar voice said from behind the group.

“Sorry I’m late. Slept in.” Thrabon. That annoying little frogman. Gygual had chartered the flight under his name. You could almost hear the groan that was on everyone’s lips.

With Thrabon annoyingly chattering on, the party boarded the small plane. Orendil took the pilot’s seat, and soon the group was on their way.

Every now and then Thrabon would indicate a change in direction but the flight itself was pretty uneventful. 

And then everyone saw it. 

The secret military base.

The large floating hunk of rock, looking as if it had been torn from some unsuspecting world. The four large towers that stuck out at irregular intervals. The way that the base was continuously rotating in space, each tower spinning by in turn. 

“No one mentioned a floating secret military base,” Orendil said. 

Still somewhat stunned, the group landed their plane a short way away from the base in a small clearing nearby. By now, everyone had become accustomed to the practice of walking and so the group found themselves directly underneath the large structure in a short amount of time.

When the portions of the rock bearing the large towers would rotate overhead, the tower tips still remained around 100 feet above the ground. Getting up would not be easy. 

“If I had known I could have prepared more Fly spells. But as is, I only have enough for one,” Syd explained. 

And of course, Zoltan wouldn’t accept a Fly spell anyway.

Different ideas were discussed back and forth, but few were possible with what the group had brought. Gyguul definitely needed better sources. 

“I could summon a giant eagle to fly us up to the base,” Syd finally suggested. 

Alahandra had already confirmed that the towers had no windows to speak of, just empty openings. The idea had some problems though. He could only summon one eagle, and it 
wouldn’t last long enough to fly them all above the base. It could only carry two at a time, and Zoltan refused to touch it much less ride it. And of course how everyone would get from eagle to window was still an unknown factor. 

But it was the plan most likely to succeed, and so the Orendil soon found himself seated on top of a giant eagle. A rope had been tied to its foot and Zoltan was quickly winding the rope around his hands for a better grip. As the tower the group was aiming for began to dip down into view, the eagle launched itself into the air.

Zoltan hung on for dear life as the eagle raced up to the tower. Syd had told it to fly as quickly as possible, as its time was limited after all. Flying alongside the tower hanging over the party’s head, Orendil stood and shakily prepared to launch himself into the top most window of the tower. Orendil got ready and …

… missed. His fingers scrambled against the edge of the window as he suddenly began to plummet back towards the ground. As he fell he flashed by Zoltan, hanging from a rope tied to the eagle’s leg. Zoltan stretched, straining to reach out, and barely managed to snag Orendil in mid-air. Orendil breathed heavily as the eagle rose slightly to allow Zoltan an attempt into the building. Zoltan swung Orendil inside before following himself, both of them breathing heavily as they watched the eagle turn and dive back down to the other figure below. 

Milo and Syd were the next up, with Alahandra already waiting inside for everyone. The eagle again came level with the tower projecting out and Milo and Syd prepared to jump. Milo hunched down and leaped, easily sailing into the small opening he was aiming for. Syd gathered up his possessions and bending low did the same.

Except that he missed. Hitting the wall with a soft thud, Syd quickly found himself plummeting to the ground. Remembering how Orendil look falling from the sky, Syd idly wondered how he looked doing the same. 

Milo reached out to grab Syd as he fell, but wasn’t able to catch him. Syd began to go over the formulae involved in breaking the Laws of Gravity. Pulling up at the last instant as his Fly spell took effect, Syd flew back up and landed in the tower, his heart nearly leaping from his chest. 

The group was in agreement that they definitely should have come up with a better plan. 

Inside the tower was simply an empty span of tower that narrowed down to a smaller hole several feet down. Alahandra and Syd merrily flew down to the opening, while Milo, Zoltan, and Orendil used a rope to rappel down. 

Through the opening were living quarters, obviously of a somewhat high-ranking individual. Directly beneath where the hole entered from the ceiling was another hole continuing down in the floor. Currently abandoned, the party crawled out, and finding that gravity did not hold on the ceiling, climbed down the rope to the floor. Searching through the room Orendil found a greatsword of master craftsmanship. Little else seemed especially useful, so the party began to investigate the hole in the floor. 

Obviously the workers in the base didn’t rappel up and down these holes in the ground, and since the group hadn’t yet felt any effects from the bases rotation, some kind of artificial gravity was strongly suspected. Alahandra cautiously flew into the hole and attempted to stand on the side of the wall. Looking up at the party was strange, but she stuck to the wall. Walking about the inside of the vertical corridor, Alahandra quickly ascertained that all four sides possessed artificial gravity. 

The rest of the party soon crawled in, with Syd and Alahandra flying straight down the middle. 

The strange corridor led down a ways before entering into another room. Again there was a matching home on the exact opposite side. This time, however, the room contained two githyanki, both staring intently into a small crystal in one corner of the room. Jumping down quickly, the group opened fire on the two githyanki, catching them by surprise and silencing them before they could give alarm. Milo and Syd investigated the crystal the githyankis had been looking through, and quickly determined that it was some kind of magical sensor that peered through the point at the top of the tower. Since there were no alarms going off, the party assumed that the two githyankis had not noticed them, but how they had avoided notice remained an unknown. 

The room and its two former guards were searched. Both guards had been sporting greatswords, a very strange choice of weapon in today’s age of guns and rifles. One guard also had a strange device in one of his pockets. Milo quickly grabbed it, always interested in new devices. Playing with it for a second, Milo figured out that the device extended hidden walkways, allowing easier access to the room from the corridor. 

Nothing else remained of interest in the room, and so the party again started walking down the tower. Another story or so, and the party came to a branch. The corridor itself continued in the downward direction, but there was also a doorway in one side of the corridor. Activating his remote control, Milo caused a small walkway to jut from the door, allowing easy entry. Deciding to explore this branch the party walked down onto the small platform and them entered into the branch.

Now within a horizontal corridor the party quickly evaluated their surroundings. On the right hand side of the corridor was a door and on the left a small elevator. The corridor itself turned out of sight to the left up ahead. Deciding to leave the elevator alone for now, the party burst into the room on the right, guns drawn and aimed. Inside was a single unarmed githyanki, bending studiously over a few items scattered about the room. 

Some quick interrogation at gunpoint later and the party had learned several things. This base was an outpost for the githyanki war machine, a research station to fuel their efforts. The githyanki they had captured in particular was a researcher who was investigating the nature of the items in this room for their use. Syd quickly rushed forward and gathered up all the items in the room, including a cloak, a large iron flask, and several scrolls.

Using some rope to tie the githyanki up, the party debated killing him for a short time. The idea of killing him in cold blood didn’t sit well with most of the party, however, and so the githyanki was left to his own devices.

Walking down the corridor and turning left, the group found themselves in front of a pair of double doors. The sound of a large gathering of githyanki was very obvious from the other side of the door. A few plans were debated, but the use of the large number of sleep grenades the party possessed proved the most popular. 

Opening the doors, a flurry of sleep grenades flew into the room, releasing their contents into the room. Quickly everything was obscured by the rapidly thickening sleep smoke from the several grenades. 

Busting the door open, Zoltan, Milo, and Orendil stood in the front. Only two githyanki remained standing and their greatswords proved ineffective compared to the party’s blasters. The slaughter of the remaining githyanki was quick and brutal. Syd and Alahandra stood back as the deed was done. 

The githyanki had no idea who had entered into their base.


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## Caliber (Jun 14, 2002)

For future reference, here are the proper names.

Thurgeld = Gyguul (yeah yeah I know. Nothing at all similar.)
B'Genesh = G'Banrak
Thribbin = Thrabon
G'Bangrak = B'Bankrah

In other comments, this session was lots of fun. The floating base was super cool and getting in was really tough. We defintely need to plan more. 

Syd was really happy to get some new magic items, though Zoltan was eyeing them somewhat hungrily. Everyone started to get a bad feeling about the tied up Mage when Session 6 ended, but you will have to wait for Session 7 to see if we had anything to worry about.


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## Leopold (Jun 14, 2002)

more more gimme more!


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## Caliber (Jun 14, 2002)

The next session (number 7) is a biggie. I am not sure when it will be done, but trust me that a LOT happened. 

Maybe I will break it up into a few smaller posts like I did for the first couple of sessions. 

Getting into the base was a pain. We were totally unprepared for it. I had one Fly spell ready but even if I had prepared two others, Zoltan would never accept one willingly. 

As it is, I am suprised we didn't actually lose anyone jumping from the back of a flying giant eagle into the small open window of a rotating tower. 

Not that it wasn't close. Twice.


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## Leopold (Jun 18, 2002)

ok..it's been a few days..gimme


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## Horacio (Jun 19, 2002)

Hey, I agree with him 
Gimme more!


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## Caliber (Jun 19, 2002)

Uh-oh. The natives are getting restless. I am nearly done with Session 7, so I should have it up tomorrow. 

After 7, I expect to rapidly cover 8 and 9 since they were somewhat slow sessions with little action to really cover. 

We play Session 10 tonight, so you will (hopefully) be nearly caught up by Session 11 (next Wednesday.)

Finally, I would like to say thanks to Horacio and Leopold. You have no idea how happy it makes me to know people are actually reading this.  

Thanks for the attention, and if you have any questions about our game, send 'em along.


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## Leopold (Jun 19, 2002)

Caliber said:
			
		

> *Uh-oh. The natives are getting restless. I am nearly done with Session 7, so I should have it up tomorrow.
> 
> After 7, I expect to rapidly cover 8 and 9 since they were somewhat slow sessions with little action to really cover.
> 
> ...





Well quit your yapping and get to posting!!!! Need more dragonstar!!

Questions:

Stats of the PC's? PC statblock would work.
Bio on their histories?
Why is every halfling named Milo?
Get your players and DM to post here as well, we want to hear their side!


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## Horacio (Jun 20, 2002)

Caliber,  tomorrow I go on vacation for four weeks, so maybe this is my last bump for a while.  For a month... Loooong time without my story hour fix.

Please, go on writting, when I come back I will love to find lots of updates to read  On July, 20th I will be back reading and bumping your story!


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## Caliber (Jun 21, 2002)

Session 7

With the sleeping githyanki finished, the party quickly searched the fallen and prepared to move on. The room appeared to be something of a mess hall as uneaten food was scattered about the room. Closing the doors the party momentarily considered checking where the elevator led. Deciding to follow the shaft to its end, however, they passed the elevator by and went back to reclaim their prisoner. Everything worked perfectly except for one thing. The prisoner was gone.

Nothing was left, not even the rope (much to Zoltan displeasure.) With the prisoner gone and presumably loose somewhere within the base, it was only a matter of time until some kind of alarm was sounded. The party was working with a limited amount of time. 

Moving back to the vertical shaft, the party jumped in and started heading down. The shaft fell for a ways with no other openings or activity to be seen. Estimating the distance traveled, Milo figured the party had exited from the outer tower and was actually inside the piece of rock that made up the center of the base. 

Slowly the shaft began to brighten and it soon became apparent that the party was approaching another room. Slowly dipping their heads out, the party found themselves within a large room.

A large room filled with armed githyanki fighting. Different groups were spaced about the room, all of them sparring with greatswords. Cautiously the party moved back into the shaft and began discussing what to do. The groups of githyanki were all spread out too much for Syd to affect them with any of his spells or for anyone else to use the few remaining sleep grenades effectively. 

The problem of dealing with a room full of armed githyanki warriors was taken from the party, however, when one of the githyanki noticed the party whispering among themselves. Slowly the githyanki among the room began to encircle the shaft. They had nearly managed to when the group realized they had been seen! 

For a second the party breathed easy, since all the githyanki were holding greatswords, and after all, everyone was standing within a vertical shaft in the roof of the room. Then all of the githyanki shifted their grip on their swords and began firing bolts of energy from them! 

Milo quickly activated the walkway in this room, providing an amount of cover from a few of the githyanki. Gunfire erupted from the party as the githyanki likewise opened fire. Milo tossed out a sleep grenade catching two of the githyanki, while Syd’s Magic Missiles eliminated another one. Zoltan and Orendil downed four more while Alahandra took out another. Several githyanki bolts caught party members, inflicting grievous wounds when they struck. Despite the power of their weapons though, the githyanki couldn’t stand up to the combined assault of the party, and quickly fell. 

Exiting fully from the shaft, the party took note of their location. The shaft continued on, lining up with a large hold in the floor. Likely that way led to one of the other towers that stood up from the base’s rock center. Four doors were within the chamber, one at each cardinal point. 

A quick argument over what door to go to later, the group prepared to enter into the western door. Opening the doorway and busting into the room, the group found themselves in a large, empty room. In fact, the only thing in the room was a large gilded throne on a dais at the opposite end. Once everyone was done wondering what kind of secret military base possessed a throne, they noticed another door to the right of the one they had entered from. 

Moving over, the party did a quick check for traps before jumping in. The room was strangely shaped, divided by an odd curtain. A projection from the far wall seemed to be made of semi-frosted glass. Through it, the party could almost make out roughly man-sized cylinders. Even stranger, vague humanoid forms seemed to be inside some of them! 

A table sat in the center of the half of the room the party had entered into. Two large chests were visible in the half of the room obscured by the curtain. Moving forward to examine the chests, Milo barely managed to avoid the curtain as it suddenly came to life and struck out at him! Even worse, an imposing githyanki in armor had been hiding on the other side of the curtain!

Milo and Zoltan opened fire, while Orendil ran forward to help Milo out. The curtain shot out again, but this time Orendil wasn’t fast enough. Orendil disappeared with a slight slurping noise, and suddenly there was another vague humanoid figure in one of the cylinders! The intensity of the fight between Milo, Zoltan, and Alahandra redoubled as Orendil disappeared. Alahandra took cover behind the table.

Syd began chanting the words of Charm Person and forcing his way through the githyanki’s spell resistance, felt the spell layer itself onto his mind. 

“Stop shooting! We’re all friends here!” Syd shouted.

Zoltan fired off one more shot before lowering his weapon. Slowly, the githyanki did as well.

Very quickly the party learned several pieces of information. This base was an outpost for the githyanki army, a training facility for its legions of warriors and a research point to create new implements of destruction. The throne in the room was for the occasions when their Queen would visit them. He was the Commander of the base. The creatures trapped in the tubes were invaders that were ceremonially bestowed to the githyanki queen when she visited. There was no known way to open the tubes; the Queen did that herself. And there was no known drow aboard. 

Zoltan and Syd quickly concocted a story between the both of them. Everyone had come to the base looking to hunt down a traitorous drow, who they think had snuck into the base to steal their research or possibly even sabotage it. The Commander seemed doubtful, but these were his friends after all…

Slowly, the party coaxed the Commander out of the room, leaving Alahandra behind to watch Orendil, who remained trapped within one of the cylinders.

Looking to his left, Orendil noticed an illithid in the cylinder to his left, and a sea hag to his right. In fact, when he looked closer, he thought he could almost recognize the sea hag … where had he seen her before?

Alahandra began rifling through the chests, looking for something that could possibly let Orendil out. 

Zoltan, Syd, Milo, and the githyanki Commander exited the throne room and entered the large circular room, githyanki corpses scattered about. 

“How did this happen!” screamed the githyanki Commander.

“Obviously the drow has penetrated deeper than we thought.” Syd quickly replied.

Running over the Commander opened the door opposite the throne room and began calling out orders. The assembling githyanki soldiers tossed strange looks at Syd, Milo, and Zoltan, but when any asked, the Commander simply said they were friends. The soldiers began spreading out, searching the base for the drow who had come to steal or sabotage the research going on. 

“So where do you think we should go?” the Commander asked.

“Where do you think we should go?” said Zoltan, hoping his Zoltan logic would trick the Commander into revealing vital information.

“If he is here to steal, there is the treasury,” mused the Commander.

The group’s eyes took on a greedy sheen as each person nearly fell over the other with agreement that the treasury was a good idea.

Moving to the north door, the Commander led the accompanying party members into a large room with several altars dedicated to the githyanki’s Queen. A githyanki knelt before one of the altars as the group entered.

The praying githyanki watched as the Commander led his new friends across the temple to a large steel door, almost like an ancient airlock, and proceeded to open it. 

Inside was a beautiful sight. The chamber inside has no source of artificial gravity, and the contents within spun about as the base rotated. The hundreds of gems that made up the chamber floated and fell as the entire room’s gravitational direction changed again and again. The party could barely imagine how much money all of those gems represented. 

Milo, unable to resist, palmed one of the gems while the Commander was distracted.

“No drow in here. Where next?” asked the Commander, sealing the treasure room shut.

As the group started to debate on where to go to next, the praying githyanki stood and approached the Commander. The strange githyanki began to talk in an odd language, unknown to any of the party members. This did not bode well for the party, and they quickly attempted to stop it.

“What is he saying Commander?” asked Syd.

“Why doesn’t he use the Common tongue?” queried Milo.

“Who is he?” wondered Zoltan.

“He is wondering who you three are. I am simply explaining that you are my friends.”

The new githyanki stepped back and prepared to cast a spell. Zoltan was quicker, stepping into the githyanki and interrupting his spell. Guns were pulled but before any shots could be fired, the githyanki vanished, presumably using the same trick the earlier one had used.

“What’s going on here!?!” roared the Commander.

The replies tumbled over one another so fast, no one was sure who said what.

“He is obviously working with the drow,” someone said.

“We were just trying to protect you,” responded another.

“There are traitors in your ranks,” said the third.

Finally, after everyone calmed down a little, Syd asked

“Who was he?”

“One of the Gish on base.” 

That didn’t explain much to the party, but fearing any further questions, instead decided to continue scanning the base. 

“Where does that last door lead?” asked Milo, meaning the southern door back within the center room.

“Crew quarters and the hangar.”

Since Syd had no spells left that could get the party down, the hangar was a definite point of interest among the party. 

Passing through the southern door, the Commander waved two guards away and proceeded down a long hallway. Arriving at a somewhat larger door than the others, the Commander knocked upon it. 

A githyanki stepped out, the medals on his uniform signifying a higher rank than the githyanki faced so far. The Commander shared several words in githyanki, with several glances thrown at the party. There was no trouble this time, though, as the githyanki finally bowed and hustled off with whatever orders the Commander had given him.

“He is to facilitate searching for this drow,” explained the Commander.

Moving further down the hallway, the party entered into an enormous room where two ships sat docked. One of the mechanics working on the ships stepped over and had a few brief words with the Commander. 

“Who are they?” asked the mechanic, gesturing towards the party.

“Friends. Have you seen anyone suspicious today?” replied the Commander.

“No one strange. Except your friends.”

Looking around, the group memorized the location of this hangar, and started heading back to the center chamber.

“So where should we look for this drow now?” asked the Commander. Obviously he was beginning to become tired of the search for the mystery drow. 

“What parts of the base haven’t we looked?” asked the group.

“All that is really left is the living quarters of the Warlocks and the Gish.”

“Lets look in on one of the Warlocks. The Gish in that prayer room was a traitor, and one of the Warlocks could be one too.”

“Alright. The closest Warlock is right up this shaft,” explained the Commander, pointing up into the hole the group had entered from.

Grimacing slightly, the party began trudging up the shaft they had entered from, heading back towards the room of the githyanki warlock they had tied up.

Passing the two dead githyanki in the observation room with another explanation that it was obviously the drow’s fault, the party entered into the githyanki bedchamber.

There was the warlock, sitting on his bed. The warlock jumped to his feet, and time seemed to slow. Zoltan brought his gun to bear snapping off a shot. The warlock locked eyes with the Commander. The Commander blinked, and Syd suddenly felt his spell crumble away. The Commander pulled out his greatsword and swung at Milo, striking him in the back. Zoltan’s shot punched into the warlock, wounding him. Syd cast a spell, striking the warlock with sonic vibrations. 

The warlock shouted something in the githyanki tongue before fading away as others had done before. Zoltan turned and shot at the Commander, but in the confusion hit Milo square in the back!

The Commander began to cast a spell, and Syd shouted out a warning as he recognized the spell.

A Fireball exploded within the room, everything disappearing as flames covered the room. When the fires faded, the Commander faded away. Syd and Zoltan were too stunned to put up much resistance. Little remained of Milo’s body except for a few charred remnants of his gear. Gathering up what little was left, Syd and Zoltan began racing down the vertical shaft. They had stayed over long within this blasted fortress. Gyguul’s informants had been wrong. The drow wasn’t here.

Heading towards the Commander’s chamber, Syd and Zoltan for the first time began to worry about how they would escape. 

During all of this, Alahandra had been attempting to get Orendil out of the cylinder in which he had been trapped. She tried several things, including out right attacking the glass. Little worked, until she attempted to dispel the magic of the glass chamber. Suddenly, the glass glowed a bright red and an opening appeared within.

Rushing inside she began likewise trying to remove Orendil. She had tried little though, before she realized the opening had begun to close up behind her! Darting back out, Alahandra barely managed to avoid being trapped within the small chamber with Orendil. Before she could try again, the Commander and the githyanki who had escaped earlier appeared! Quickly hiding behind the table, Alahandra listened in on the Commander and the warlock. 

Suddenly the door to the room opened and Zoltan and Syd strode into the room. Zoltan opened fire on both the warlock and the Commander as Syd unleashed his magic. Even Alahandra emerged from hiding to add a few laser blasts to her side. The Commander and the warlock, both already wounded, quickly fell to the combined assault. 

Syd searched the room quickly and found a few scrolls. Listening to Alahandra about what had happened Syd began suppressing the enchantment on the glass. Zoltan explained to Alahandra what had happened in a blunt manner as Syd burned open a hole in the outer glass. 

“Milo is dead,” was all Zoltan had to say.

As the large opening appeared in the outer glass, Zoltan turned and fired a shot at the top of the cylinder holding Orendil. With a loud crack the cylinder burst open and Orendil tumbled out. 

Orendil scrambled up and managed to escape from the glass chamber before the opening could reseal itself. 

Quickly explaining what had happened, the remaining party prepared to rush towards the hangar when Orendil noticed a small crack in the wall of the room. Examining the crack closer, Orendil realized it was a hidden door. Activating it, the party entered into a long hallway. Rushing down the hallway, the party took a right as the hallway angled to the east. Running farther, they stopped suddenly, and backtracked to an alcove they had noticed.

At the end of a small branch of hallway was an enormous mirror. Or at least, it appeared to be a mirror, except that it wasn’t reflecting back any of the party members. Moving forward the party slowly began examining the mirror, wondering at its use. 

When Zoltan’s hands ran over the mirror’s surface though, it shimmered and a githyanki face replaced everything.

“Yes? What do you need c- Wait. Who are you and what are you doing on this channel?”

“Uh – Just a false alarm. We’re fine down here,” Zoltan explained, following up with a blaster shot right to the mirror. 

If an alarm hadn’t been triggered yet (and all signs pointed to the fact that one had) it surely was going off now. Rushing back down the hallway, the party again turned with the hallway, heading back in the direction they had originally come. 

Suddenly the hallway ended, and the party prepared to turn around and rush back. And then they heard the sound of running githyanki behind them. Rapidly searching for any kind of doorway, the party jumped through the secret door Alahandra found, closing it just as the githyanki started to round the corner. 

Everyone’s stomach lurched suddenly as all gravity suddenly ceased to exist. The party was once again within the treasure room of the floating githyanki base, a treasure room Orendil and Alahandra had missed out on. 

Zipping about the room, Alahandra quickly had filled an empty bag with some of the floating gems. Exiting back into the temple, the party rushed back into the center chamber. As the group opened the temple doors, a number of githyanki were running by, heading into the throne room. Four of them stood back and began to move towards the party. 

Opening fire, the four githyanki were cut down and the party began running, heading straight for the hangar. 

Bursting through the doorway, the guards momentarily looked as the party rushed past, then let them run by having seen them with the Commander earlier.

Running into the hangar, the group quickly attracted the attention of one of the mechanics.

“What do you need now?” asked one of the mechanics. 

“Your fastest ship. A traitor is escaping and we need to catch him.”

The mechanic simply pointed to one of the ships in dock and quickly the party boarded. Orendil moved up to the pilot’s cabin and sat down. And then realized he had no idea how to fly a githyanki ship. 

Sticking his head out of the door, Zoltan said

“This stupid elf said he could fly the ship but he can’t. Any of you guys know how to fly?”

The githyanki looked among themselves before one shrugged and stepped forward.

“Sure I can fly. Where you want to go?”

Giving the githyanki pilot directions, the party soon landed in the small clearing they had landed their plane in earlier. Waving the githyanki ship off, the party boarded, silencing Thrabon with a single look.

The flight back took place in silence.


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## Caliber (Jun 21, 2002)

Horacio-

Vacations are always fun. Hope to see you back here in a month, more relaxed and ready for more story!  Have a good vacation.

Leopold-

I have been putting off updating any of the character bios until I caught up with the story (that way I would know they were up to date with the story as well) but since you asked I will see about doing a little modification tonight.

[Edit: I went and updated the short blurbs about each party member to bring them up to date with Session 7.]

As for statblocks, I dunno. Normally we leave our character sheets at the DMs house. I will try to get some info anyway. 

As to halfling names, well its a halfling thing.

Finally I will mention the site to the other gamers in the group but I dunno if they will show. 

That taken care of, now for a little commentary on Session 7.

If you haven't read it yet you probably should. Don't worry. I will wait. 

*
*
*
*
*
*

Done?

Good. Well Milo died. Our first big crushing defeat. And it wasn't even because the Fireball did that much damage. Sure Zoltan shooting Milo in the back didn't help, but the real killer was the fact that none of us had healed up after each combat. 

Milo went into combat with the Commander and Warlock already critically damaged. When the Fireball went off and he blew his save, it dropped poor Milo to around -20. 

DM ruled that there was no corpse left due to the excessively low hit point value Milo hit. Another crushing blow. 

The worst thing was, Milo had all of our healing patches! Or at least he had almost every one. So now Syd and Zoltan were critically damaged and now WE couldn't heal!

Rushing through the base at the end, we all defintely felt an urgent need to get out. We had gotten in over our heads and were in serious trouble. 

As a final note, during the game paralells between Zoltan and Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode 4 were noted. In paticular, the part where he tells the enemy on the other side of the communication panel

"Nah we are okay. Just a false alarm."

Just something that we found funny that probably doesn't come through in the story itself. Enjoy.


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## Gez (Jun 21, 2002)

Caliber said:
			
		

> *As a final note, during the game paralells between Zoltan and Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode 4 were noted. In paticular, the part where he tells the enemy on the other side of the communication panel
> 
> "Nah we are okay. Just a false alarm."
> 
> Just something that we found funny that probably doesn't come through in the story itself. Enjoy.  *




I noticed this scene immediately ! But I havn't found the other parrallels... The "Zoltan logic" could look a bit like a "stupid jedi mind trick", but Han isn't a jedi.


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## Caliber (Jun 21, 2002)

I guess when I said paralells, I should have said paralell. If anything else ever came up, I can't remember it now.

As for the 'Zoltan Logic' that has become something of a running gag within the campaign. Since I can't remember if I have explained it yet ...

Back when Zoltan first met Thrabon his player, in his overexcitement, had a slip of the tongue. So when he meant to say 

"Why am _I_ here?!?" as a sort of how dare you ask me way.

he instead said

"Why are _you_  here?" the DM got so confused by this he actually answered.  

Since then, whenever confronted by villians, Zoltan has developed this practice of always asking their questions back at them. We call it Zoltan Logic. 

Later.


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## Leopold (Jun 21, 2002)

good the lil halfling died! One less competeing for the title of Milo!

I love this story hour..i wish i cold play in a DS game!!


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## Leopold (Jun 24, 2002)

ttt


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## RyanL (Jun 25, 2002)

Just thought I would chime in here and say hello.  I play Orendil, the bungling elf.  He falls off tanks, he falls out of windows, he fails every move silently check...I even shot Milo in the back (though I was playing Zoltan at the time).

Errr...hello!


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## Caliber (Jun 25, 2002)

Ryan! Glad to see you here. I forgot that you frequent these boards. 

One of the things I regret in the Story Hours is not mentioning Orendil's lack of the stereotypical Elven Perception. He seems to fail every Spot, Listen, and Search check, not to mention Move Silently!


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## Leopold (Jun 25, 2002)

goody more of teh bungling pc's arrive!!


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## Zubenelschemali (Jun 25, 2002)

Hello All!

I play Zoltan in this campaign.  Yes, I am the lonely forsaker of this group.  When it was decided we were going to be playing a future campaign, the forsaker really looked like a good match because some of the drawbacks - avoid and destroy all magic - are somewhat lessened.  And because of all of the different systems we are using (Dragonstar, Fading Suns, Star Wars ...),  I get to pull from all of the available technology.  I can't wait to get my hands on an Energy Shield from Fading Suns.  Yeah, I have also been known as a gun collector because I am always buying the weopons for everybody!

I wouldn't say we're bungling.  I would say we're 'Goofy'.  

Oh, if your wondering about my username, I have signed up to the boards under my official charcter name.  Zoltan is my nickname, and I have to use that because even in the future they only allow 10 spaces for the firstname field on those damn computer systems!


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## Krellic (Jun 25, 2002)

Call yourself what you like as long as I don't have to try and pronounce it.  Suddenly 10 letter maxs seem to have a certain logic...


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## md3 (Jun 26, 2002)

*Just visiting the players*

Great show David.  I am impressed.

Our Campaign Site  Character Background is available for these characters including some pictures (too funny)!  

Since there is plenty of debate as to why things happen, there is a reason for just about everything in this campaign.  It is just sometimes quite difficult to get characters to stop shopping and get adventuring.

The halflings weren't just cannon fodder.  I can tell you this much since they are DEAD now.

Thrabbon or whatever (the Rhood) is supposed to be annoying but loyal.

G'Banrak is supposed to be aloof for a reason.

Orendil is a Star Wolf - Elf (think Barbarian Elf, somehow you can just see this slender elf with a powder keg waiting to go)

Yes, the campaign includes SpellJammer stuff (except anything that would mess with the Sci-Fiction elements of DragonStar or Fading Suns)  Hence the Githyanki strong hold.  Remember Githyanki and Red Dragons once worked together.  Now apparently Mezz. has decided Drow are better IPSD or is it ISPD?

Just wait till they meet the Drunken Drow!  They are getting warm.  Wild things will happen.  I promise.

Well, I left my 2 dozen cents.

Keep up the great work, if we can just get Alahandra and Milo to post now.

I see that the Milo is dead comment was merely because of his name and not just his character.

Later,
Manny


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## md3 (Jul 3, 2002)

*What happened?*

Wow, Did I post and kill the thread?


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## Leopold (Jul 5, 2002)

wth happened!! moRE DS!!


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## Caliber (Jul 6, 2002)

Hey everyone! Sorry about the lack of updates. 

First the board was having some major issues with things like letting me log in to post, and then Alahandra's player gave me a pretty nasty head cold. 

But all my petty whining aside, the next two sessions (thats no typo folks, *2*!) will be up before we next game. Thats the 10th for those of you not in our group. 


After that updates will have to slow down a bit (mostly because Session 10 and 11 were just absolutely huge.) Anyway, I will hopefully have Sessions 8 and 9 up VERY soon. Thanks for being patient.


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## Caliber (Jul 8, 2002)

Session 8

It wasn’t long after landing that Syd suggested returning Milo in a soulmech body. The question of what to do about Milo had proved problematic. Without his body, Syd knew many resurrection magics would fail. But a soulmech was a possible solution.

No one was really happy with bringing Milo back as a soulmech, especially Zoltan. But no one wanted to let Milo remain dead, without at least offering him a chance to come back. 

Thrabon quickly brought the party back to Gyguul’s where the party quickly gave a run down of what had happened within the githyanki base. Gyguul had heard nothing new as to the location of the drow. But he did know of a wizard who could assist the party with returning Milo as a soulmech. If the party could provide a soulmech body, that is. 

Instantly, the robot husk strapped to the abandoned hover tank came to mind. Getting the number of the wizard from Gyguul, the party sprang into action.

Over several days Zoltan and Orendil trekked back to the hover tank, obtained the robot husk, and trekked back.

Syd identified all of the magically and psionically enchanted gear the group had obtained within the githyanki base.

Alahandra sold several of the group’s gems and unwanted enchanted items to provide money for Milo’s imminent resurrection. 

The robotic husk was brought to a small robot manufacturer. Everything was arranged. Syd, Alahandra, and the wizard Gyguul knew flew back out to the githyanki base.

The three landed in a small clearing as far away as they could be, while still allowing the wizard to work his spell. 

Suddenly, Orendil came in over Syd’s walkie-talkie. 

“I found a priest who says he can resurrect Milo without a body. It’ll be cheaper.”

A short flight and a heavenly choir later, Milo was sitting up from a small altar, looking confused. 

“I was dead?!?”

Milo was caught up to speed and some new gear was picked up for what Milo had lost. 

Lacking anything especially pressing, and needing time to relax after the past few days, the party retreated into their hotel to relax. A message was left with Gyguul, asking him to contact the group if anything came up. 

Several days later, and several repetitions of “we walked uphill with a robot on our back for you,” the party finally received a call. 

“Where has the drow moved to now, Gyguul?”

“My sources still say the drow is at the githyanki base. No, instead I thought you might want to know a dispatch of githyanki ships are heading towards Caar as we speak.”

Everything within the hotel rooms was quickly picked up, and the party’s debt paid. Chartering a plane through Gyguul, the group was on route to Daar, a large city to the north, long before the githyanki reached Caar.

In Daar, the party found a wealth of goods that had been unavailable in Caar, and again began to shop with gusto. 

Of particular note was the number of guns that Zoltan bought for both Orendil and Milo, using his ID. 

“We have a record of your recent purchases Mr. Zoltan,” mentioned one store clerk.

“Are you accusing me of something pal?” Zoltan asked.

“Just reminding you that we keep track of your purchases. Here’s your blaster carbine.”

“If any of you need another gun, get your own ID!” Zoltan told everyone later.

Eventually though, the night approached and the party found a small hotel to shack up in. Renting two corner rooms next to one another, the party shacked up for the night. 

In Syd and Alahandra’s room, loud footsteps were heard walking down the hallway. Whoever or whatever was outside was BIG. Suddenly there was a loud crash and a roar. What was going on?!?

In Orendil, Milo, and Zoltan’s room, everyone was bedding down when the door suddenly burst in. Standing in the doorframe was a massive creature. Nearly nine feet tall, the creature towered over everyone in the room. Large horns sprouted from the creatures head and it was holding two very large rifles, one in each hand. 

This wasn’t going to be a restful night.


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## Caliber (Jul 8, 2002)

Hey there! Time for some author commentary!

This was our first game after a three week hiatus, in which the DM was on vacation. As you might expect, e-mails about what to do with Milo went back and forth.

Milo's player didn't want to make a new character, but since we weren't able to secure a body, I knew resurrection would be difficult. I didn't really think True Resurrection would be a possibility, so I never brought it up with the group.

Milo's player thought up the Soulmech idea, which I thought was brilliant. It almost seemed like we had planned it from the beginning. 

Before I go further, let me mention the robot husk. Without reading the first few sessions, I am not sure if I ever mentioned it. 

See, in the hangar with the hover tanks, there was a non-operational assembly area with a robot builder. The robot builder had had all of its circuitry removed at some point, however, and all that remained was a metal humanoid robot husk. For some reason I still don't know, Milo insisted on bringing it along. When we were turning him into a Soulmech, it seemed fitting to use the robot husk for his future robot body. 

And in fact we nearly made him a Soulmech. We had figured out how much everything was going to cost, and it was in the area of 11,000, I believe. 

During all of this, Milo's player was looking in the PHB. Suddenly, he asks for the price of a True Resurection. We total it up, and we end up saving around 7,000! 

Next thing you know Milo is talking about starting Milo's True Resurrection Life Insurance.

Anyway, the DM kept trying to get us to go to the hotel, or do anything other than shop really. We had a lot of money after selling the loot we had though. Many of the Psionic items the group picked up were useless to us, since we lack any Psionically active members.

As a side note, the two swords Orendil took from the base were both exceptionally powerful. One was a +4 Defender I believe. The other was a +5 Life-Draining Silver Sword.    

Anyway, when we got to Daar (much to the DM's chargin) we shopped even MORE! When we finally went to bed, the guy burst into our room. It was so late though, we just called it a night. 

Which is what I am going to do now. Bye!


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## Caliber (Jul 10, 2002)

Ack! I update and I still fall off the first page!  

Anyway, I have Session 9 done as well (told ya I would  ) but I need to proof read it before I post it. What does this mean for you?

You can expect it some time tonight. Session 10 will take a bit longer, but I am trying to catch up with the game. We play Session 12 tonight, so I am closer now that I have been in a while. 

Later.


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## md3 (Jul 10, 2002)

*Good Explanations*

Good explanation and comentary.

Looks great!

Later,
Manny


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## Caliber (Jul 11, 2002)

Session 9

With a growl, the enormous creature let loose a barrage of automatic fire from both guns, many shots hitting Zoltan. Scrambling towards where their guns had been stowed, everyone in the room returned fire, seriously wounding the creature.

By this time, Syd and Alahandra had both exited out of their room to see the source of the commotion. While Alahandra joined in the firefight, Syd cast a spell, slowing down the creature significantly. 

Finally, the creature (which Syd recognized as an uthek) fell. The uthek was tied up while Zoltan applied a large number of healing patches over his wounds. Once everyone had been sufficiently healed, what to do about the uthek came up. Searching through his gear revealed little. Aside from his weapons (which Zoltan quickly allocated into his pile of weapons) all he had was a credit card, a cell phone, and a strange device.

In the end, curiosity overcame the need for retribution, and a small healing patch was applied to the uthek. Slowly its eyes opened, and began to take it the surroundings. One of the first things he noticed was the large number of gun barrels leveled at him.

“What are you doing here?!?” Zoltan asked.

“I am … hunting G’Banrak.”

Certainly not the response anyone expected. Who would want the aasimar? And how exactly did the uthek find them when he was looking for the aasimar? In fact that was the next thing Zoltan asked.

“How did you find us?!?”

“Tracked you.”

“How did you track us?”

“Device. Should lead to … G’Banrak.”

“What did you want with G’Banrak?”

“Was never told. Just paid to find her.”

“Who paid you?”

“You’ll never know.”

And suddenly the room was suddenly engulfed in flames. Syd (who had been standing outside in order to wave off possible onlookers) quickly rushed to grab a fire extinguisher and began to spray down the room. 

No one had been seriously burned. Even the uthek had survived with minimal burns, although he had lapsed back into unconscious. The room was another matter. The carpet had nearly burned away in spots and the walls all bore large scorch marks. The cost of this one battle was starting to mount. 

Deciding that the amount of info that could be further extracted from the uthek didn’t equal the threat that he might catch on fire again, what to do with him became the problem. 

While Syd waved away a staff member of the hotel, assuring him that damages would all be paid, everyone else was debating whether the uthek should be thrown out the window, thrown off the roof, thrown from some other building, or snuck out tomorrow. 

All the debate ended when Syd walked back in. 

“I could just polymorph him into something small.”

Zoltan, of course, was against it. Despite his protests, however, Syd soon found himself focusing on the image of a small frog as he chanted the words of his spell. And then before everyone’s eyes, the uthek began to shrink and change, until he was nothing but a tiny, little frog. A conscious tiny, little frog. 

Hopping up, the frog formerly known as uthek quickly started to make its way out of the room. Catching it before it got far, Syd scooped the frog up and handed it to Zoltan. 

“Do with it what you will. If he dies, the spell will end. I am going to bed.”

And with that, Syd went to bed. Everyone else attempted to repair the room as much as possible while Zoltan went out to a small bar, where he summarily flushed the uthek-now-frog down the toilet. 

The next day found the party investigating what loot the uthek had left them with. The device seemed to be some sort of tracking device. Quickly, the party determined that the uthek had told the truth, and that the device was tracking the armored vests that the party had taken from Aphex. 

Ditching the vests in the hotel’s garbage chute, the party went down and paid their fees, including fees for the room they had destroyed. Walking out, the party moved to a large park in the center of Daar before taking out the uthek’s cell phone. 

Utilizing the same tactic they had used the last time they had captured someone’s cell phone, the group dialed the most recent number on the phone.

“Do you have her?” asked the voice on the other side of the phone.

“Who was I supposed to find again?”

“The aasimar you fool! Do you have her?”

“No, not exactly. Why were you trying to find her again?

“That is not of your concern. We paid you good money to find her. We expect you to have her here by tomorrow.”

“Where was I supposed to bring her again?”

“To Aphex Prison! We paid good money for your services, and we expect to get a return!”

“I am going to need more money. She has been harder to find than I thought.” 

“More money!?! We paid one hundred and thirty thousand credits to you already, with another one hundred and thirty for her capture! You already have a small fortune! How can you even ask for more!?!”

“Oh yeah, that money. Never mind then.”

“If you don’t find her, we will find you.”

“Oh no, don’t worry about it. We’ll get her.”

Hanging up, Zoltan (who had become something of the party negotiator) quickly relayed the information he had discovered to the party. 

The news did not bode well, for the party and for G’Banrak. Getting out the walkie-talkies, the group tried to contact G’Banrak over the frequency they had instructed her to use. There was no answer. Contacting Gyguul revealed little, except that the githyanki had left. Of G’Banrak, he knew nothing. 

That avenue covered, the second thing the party did was to begin wondering how much money was actually on the uthek’s credit card. It didn’t take long to figure out. All of it was on the uthek’s credit card. Zoltan suggested turning G’Banrak in to get some more money, but no one really took him seriously. 

Quickly splitting the money among the group, the party split up to pick up a few pieces of equipment that they had been desiring. Milo, Orendil, and Zoltan cleaned out several convenience stores, buying every healing patch available. Syd and Alahandra bought several rings to help protect the group from elemental attacks. Armor was bought by everyone, both to replace the Aphex Prison vests that the group had been forced to get rid of and to provide better protection. 

Syd discovered that the Intergalactic Wizard’s Society had a chapter in the city of Daar, but without a proper ID he could not download any spells into his datapad. Making a small list of the spells he wanted to seek out at the next opportunity, everyone met up again in the park after a day of shopping. 

Two decisions were reached. First, the group must return to Caar to warn G’Banrak, not to mention find out why she is so wanted in the first place. Two hundred and sixty thousand was a lot of money for just one aasimar. The natural paranoia of the party was beginning to show itself as everyone came to the conclusion that G’Banrak was not what she seemed. 

The second decision was to return to the githyanki base. Gyguul still insisted the drow was hiding within the base. Better equipped, and better prepared, the party felt it was time to re-enter the base. 

Bad things were going down.


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## Caliber (Jul 11, 2002)

First of all, the Uthek was scary. Really scary. In the first round of combat, he blasted poor Zoltan for 70+ points of damage, I believe. The problem was that he was dual wielding automatic weapons. Defintely a nasty tactic. Although Zoltan and Orendil were both VERY happy to finally get some military grade hardware into their grubby paws.

Second, I guess I should mention that this session contained the great debate. See, apparently Uthek's possess Dispel Magic as a Spell-Like Ability. When I Polymorphed him into a frog, the DM went to Dispel the Polymorph and return him to regular form, conscious. 

I (not knowing at the time) said he couldn't use a Spell-Like Ability in frog form. We couldn't find the rule anywhere. Eventually he was flushed down the toilet, unable to reverse the spell. Only later did the party learn its error. Did he survive? None of us know. Yet. If he did, I fully expect him to return seeking vengence. 

Otherwise this session was MORE shopping. What can we say? We were deprived in the beginning, considering we started with no magic items (aside from Syd.)

At the end of the session, we lost our resistance to returning to the Githyanki base. Gyguul insists that drunken drow is there, so we will make sure we check every nook and cranny this time. 

We just need to go check up on G'Banrak first. 

Night!


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## Zubenelschemali (Jul 11, 2002)

Well, I would just like to say a few words about the whole frog thing.  What was written about the frog incident was totally correct, except that there was just a tiny little debate in between.  

I (Zoltan) was at first just ready to kill the frog right there.  The obvious problem with that action is the large dead uthuk body that would suddenly appear.  So then we got to thinking, and I said I would go up to the roof and throw the frog down to the first floor; maybe in a passing dumpster or something.  Splat.  Dead Uthuk Body.  

But, No!  "That's Too Close!", they protest!  

OK, Fine.  I'll hurl the little creep with all my might, and being after midnight as it was, I doubt that many people would have noticed a tiny tree frog soaring through the air.  Then, quite a ways away, Splat!  Dead Uthuk Body.  

But, No!  "What if he doesn't die?" they implore!  

Alright, They can figure it out!  So, many many possibilities were discussed very very quickly, with Zoltan mostly not liking any of them.  Then, the wicked little magic pipsqueek(Alahandra) used my very own "Zoltan Logic" on me and convinced me that I should simply go flush the frog down a toilet in another building.  That way when the frog drowns in the pipes, he will die and burst forth as a large uthuk, destroying all the plumbing in the meantime. (I actually liked the practical joke part of it! )  

Then everybody said they were going to bed and I was to deal with it.  So, I went down the street to a local bar and went promptly to the bathroom and flushed him.  And it was only as I watched the poor little frog swimming round and round for dear life, that I realized "What the $%#@ am I doing!!!"   The frog will simply hold his breath, and come out in the sewer.  Our only hope would be the local sewer croc!  But, it was too late!  

I went back to the hotel.  Bad sleep.  The next morning everyone wanted to know what I did.  I told them and while looking at their totally stunned faces, I said "Blame it on her."  Then, I went to pay the damage bill because the room was in MY name.  I still half expect that we will see that Uthuk again.  Either as himself, which would suck, or as the cute little tree frog with a mean streak who lashes his tongue at anybody and everybody.

Enough of that rant!  

Thanks to Caliber for giving us yet another good summary of our adventures.  I can't wait until the next one is out.  

Zube

PS - I think it is funny that most guns and armor bought in this or the previous episode were on my ID (Something like 4 blasters  ).  These people must think I am a Gun Collector or something.  And then I go torch my hotel room.  Literally!  Hopefully, by the time my reputation precedes me, I will actually have a useful reputation.  Nudge. Nudge. Wink. Wink.


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## Leopold (Jul 16, 2002)

update?


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## Caliber (Jul 17, 2002)

Well, I am unsure how soon I will have an update up. Real life problems are keeping me from being able to devote the amount of time I normally do to the session write-ups. 

However, I am trying to stay within 2 sessions of the current campaign timeline. So, hopefully, before next Wednesday (that would be July 24th) I will the next one done.


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## Leopold (Jul 19, 2002)

Caliber said:
			
		

> *Well, I am unsure how soon I will have an update up. Real life problems are keeping me from being able to devote the amount of time I normally do to the session write-ups.
> 
> However, I am trying to stay within 2 sessions of the current campaign timeline. So, hopefully, before next Wednesday (that would be July 24th) I will the next one done. *





more lies!! it's friday..no dragonstar <sob!>

your letting your fans down here!!


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## Caliber (Jul 19, 2002)

Sorry about that Leopold. How about I placate you with the image of Zoltan zooming around with a jetpack on? Oh no! Watch out for that tree! 

Honestly, I will try to get something up this weekend. Promise.


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## md3 (Jul 19, 2002)

*Defense of David*

In Defense of David, I don't know if he is busy or not, but I'm sure he has a good reason for delaying.  Anyway, the past two unposted campaigns, not even counting this past Wednesday's campaign, were very detailed and quite a bit happened.  

The next two campaigns are when the characters returned to the Carr to find G'Banrak, then they decided to return to the Githyanki Outpost after a bit of influence by Guygul.  They had to design a alternative method of entering the Outpost.  I'm not quite sure, but I believe there were multiple encounters with Githyanki warriors and the group also had to try to find the Drunken Drow.  The group spent  less than 2 hours in the outpost, but encountered many obstacles.  

In the next session the group also encountered a ISPD Captain, and ISPD Colonel.   The group spent quite a bit of time tracking the Drow through the Outpost.  

So, with that brief synopsis, maybe the wolves will be put at bay.

Later,
Manny


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## RyanL (Jul 23, 2002)

#!@!@#$$ WILD MAGIC!


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## Horacio (Jul 24, 2002)

After coming back from my vacances, I've finished reading all the updates... and I need more!


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## Caliber (Jul 24, 2002)

Hoarcio-

Good to see you back Hoarcio. You came just in time. I am nearly done with Session 10 and will have it up before the game tonight (maybe after.)

Leopold-

I just couldn't pick a spot to cut this session. So instead you are getting all of it today, instead of half last weekend and half the coming one.

Ryan-

I totally agree. Sorry about the whole energy drain thing.

Zubenelschemali-

Zoltan has a point. Pretty much whenever I say the party decides or comes to a descision, you can pretty much consider that to be roughly 30 minutes to an hour of argument between everyone. We are a very democratic group.


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## Caliber (Jul 25, 2002)

Session 10

The flight back to Caar proved highly uneventful and the party soon found themselves back within the city of Caar. Contacting Gyguul over the walkie-talkies revealed nothing new. Gyguul’s informants certainly did not seem to get around.

Venturing across the city to G’Banrak’s hotel, a course of action was quickly established. Alahandra would head up to get G’Banrak while everyone else waited at a nearby bar. Alahandra would draw G’Banrak out of the hotel and bring her to the bar, so everyone could talk in a more private location.

Alahandra entered into the hotel and quickly managed to talk her way up to G’Banrak’s room. G’Banrak met Alahandra at the door, several packed bags behind her. The money the party had left her had nearly run out, and since she would no longer have a place to stay, she was going to leave for Degtra the next morning. She hadn’t completely forgotten the party’s warning, however. She had managed to obtain fake identification. They were very good fakes, in fact. 

After arriving at the bar, the party quickly related the events involving the uthek bursting into their room, searching for G’Banrak. G’Banrak seemed surprised that Aphex still wanted her. She claimed there was nothing special about her as far as she knew. At Aphex she was the subject of various kinds of experiments, but so were many of the other prisoners. Either way, the party felt G’Banrak should likely stay with them for protection. 

After all, someone had to help them get some fake IDs. The party easily convinced G’Banrak that she should cancel her flight, which she did. Further, current plan of returning to the githyanki base was explained to her, as well as the reason.

“You know, I do remember a drunken drow when I was captured,” G’Banrak mused. 

“So what are you going to do when you find him?”

The party just stared back at her with blank faces. Obviously, the thought of success had not occurred to them. 

“Well you can’t just kill him. Not if you want to find out what his involvement with all of this is.”

Most of the party nodded somewhat numbly, surprised at an actual insight coming from G’Banrak. Zoltan of course was against non-fatal solutions but, as usual, he was paid little attention.

“Do you need a gun G’Banrak?” queried Milo.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Do you have useful fighting abilities?” asked Orendil.

“No, not really.”

Everyone looked at each other, regretting the decision to bring her into the githyanki stronghold. It seemed entirely possible that G’Banrak would prove more of a liability in the base than anything else.

The decision already made, however, the party quickly changed the topic to G’Banrak’s fake ID (which had the name Rezsz next to her picture.) Some friends she had met in a club in the southern area of town had provided them for her, at minimal cost. She could happily introduce them to the party if they wanted. It doesn’t take a genius to guess what the party’s answer to that was. 

Following behind G’Banrak, the party soon found themselves at a small club. G’Banrak looked about and quickly spotted her friends. Walking over, she quickly introduced everyone to two humans, obviously brothers.

The brothers were initially suspicious, but with G’Banrak vouching for the party, quickly provided a rundown of available services. 

The party unanimously decided for the decided to spring for the most expensive (and the most credible) fake IDs. A short interview, followed by a photo session later, the party paid several thousand creds with a promise of more when the IDs were delivered. Advised to wait a few days, the party returned to G’Banrak’s hotel where they gathered her belongings and then picked yet another hotel to rest in.  

An idea had been troubling Zoltan ever since the party had first decided to return to the githyanki base. The first time there, Zoltan had nearly been forced to rely upon magical conveyance to get him into the base. He needed to avoid the taint that was magic this time. Searching about while everyone else waited soon found a solution. A small store in Caar sold jetpacks, and was across the street from a school that could teach him how to fly it. 

A couple thousand creds and a crash course in jetpack flight later, Zoltan found himself no longer at the fickle whims of magic. 

A few days after their first payment, the party returned to the same small club in order to receive their finished IDs. The products were impressive, complete with holograms and other assorted copy-proofing technology. 

Syd’s new ID named him Thamil, a book dealer. Alahandra’s new name was Dru, while Orendil was now Alexei. Zoltan was given the name of Gorshk. And finally, Milo was given the name of Garret. 

After obtaining new identification, the party quickly headed towards the airport. The same private flight they had used earlier was still there, waiting for them. Boarding, the party explained to G’Banrak some of what may lay ahead. 

The flight itself was boring and uneventful. A few hours later found the party landing in another clearing roughly a mile away from the floating githyanki base. 

Hiking to the base proved eventful. In fact, everything seemed to be quiet. When the party had reached an area close to the center of the base, Syd began to cast a series of spells enabling everyone but Alahandra (who naturally could fly) and Zoltan (who had purchased a jetpack) flight. 

Looking up, the githyanki base was still awe-inspiring. After quickly picking a tower, the party waited for its approach before flying straight up towards it. 

As everyone else entered through the windows at the top of the tower, Zoltan rocketed ahead and shot down the vertical chute towards the lower floors. Blowing through the living quarters, he landed in the small control room where he quickly released a burst of autofire, killing one of the githyanki guards on watch.

Everyone else scrambled after him, flying down the shaft into the living quarters. A very surprised githyanki was still rolling from bed as Orendil and Milo simultaneously fired, dropping the githyanki to the ground. 

Down below, Zoltan was spinning about, rifle still releasing a stream of autofire. The githyanki guard behind him was still unsheathing his sword as several blaster shots ripped through him. 

A few party members flew down to make sure Zoltan was okay before doing a quick search throughout both rooms. If nothing else could be said for the party, they were efficient. 

Finding little in either room, the group was soon left with nowhere to go but down. Flying further down the passage, the party found themselves in another room, with the passage continuing on underneath them. 

A hallway stretched two ways from the opening in the ceiling, but the floor was strangely tilted, making distances seem odd. Milo and Zoltan went to the right and vanished from sight as the hallway took a sharp left turn.

Everyone else went to the left and likewise followed the hallway when it took a sharp right turn. The hallway itself simply curved around and very quickly, each group caught sight of one another. Because of the strange nature of the floor, however, neither group saw the squad of githyanki warriors until they were almost on top of them.

Zoltan was caught checking the ammo in his gun as combat erupted around him. Lydia faded from sight, her laser blasts striking the sensitive areas of the githyanki. Orendil drew his greatsword and rushed forward to meet those githyanki doing the same.

Syd took several return shots from the githyanki warriors, while the melee troops sliced into Milo. Orendil flew up and began striking at the githyanki troopers from the air, slashing at their heads. G’Banrak muttered a few words before several magic missiles flew from her hand. 

And then with a high pitched whine, Zoltan powered up his blaster. Depressing the trigger, Zoltan created a line of death, blowing straight through three githyanki warriors with the first barrage of fire. More githyanki rushed in to take their fallen comrades places, but were slain just as quickly by Zoltan. 

While Zoltan was effectively eliminating anything that moved, Milo retreated to apply a few healing patches to himself. It was his new position that suddenly allowed him to see the band of githyanki warriors sneaking up behind the party.

“Behind us!”

Likewise retreating because of wounds, Syd quickly flew towards Milo. Following Milo’s line of sight, Syd flung forth his hand and launched a small green pellet towards the compact group of githyanki warriors. Where it struck a rippling wave of vibrational force ripped through the githyanki, peeling skin and crushing bones. 

At the other side of the room another githyanki fell as Zoltan’s gun slowly spun down and emitted a sharp click. He was out of ammo. 

The githyanki behind the party rushed forward, swinging their weapons at both Milo and Zoltan. Syd thrust forward his hand and this time a cone of sound rippled forth, felling most of the githyanki, not to mention smashing into Zoltan. 

The few githyanki remaining were badly injured and dropped quickly from the individual attentions of Orendil, Alahandra, and Milo. 

Just before the last one was slain, G’Banrak cast yet another spell. A familiar expression came over the githyanki warrior as he succumbed to G’Banrak’s charm.

The party had found another tour guide.


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## Caliber (Jul 25, 2002)

Where to start? 

First of all, sorry about the extreme delay. That out of the way ...

The story can do no justice to just how deadly Zoltan is with his new Assault Blaster. The truth is, we NEVER kept track of ammo. However, Zoltan just plowed through those githyanki warriors so fast he made us start keeping track. If he doesn't stop to reload every now and then, there would be no beating him. 

While we are talking about Zoltan, he was also really impressive on the defensive front this session. All kinds of enemies tried to hit him, especially once he opened up his automatic can of whup-@$$. But between his already heavy armor and his natural armor (via Forsaker) he was a pretty hard nut to crack. In fact, I think Syd might have been the only one to damage him.

Syd really got a chance to shine this adventure. He hadn't really been able to use his big area affect spells yet. The enemies had either been spread out or the area had been to small. As it was he still clipped Zoltan with his Cone of Sound. Despite all this, he managed to rack up several kills by his lonesome. 

G'Banrak casting spells stunned all of us. The fact that she explicitly avoided mentioning her spell casting abilities defintely showed up on the Paranoia o'Meter. While true that we never asked if she could cast spells, I think the nature of our questions should have made her reveal herself. Shes hiding something, that assmar. 

Anyway, I will try to get Session 11 out sometime soon. We didn't play tonight, although we may play tomorrow (the 25th.) When we do play, we will be on Session 14 (I think.)


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## Horacio (Jul 25, 2002)

Great update! 

Zoltan is a combat monster...


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## RyanL (Jul 25, 2002)

Zoltan is a walking death machine.  IIRC, he can fire 9 shots per round, each shot dealing 4D10 damage.

Orendil, on the other hand, just can't end his streak of bad luck.  At some point, a critical failure caused his assault blaster to break, and then came the energy drain fiasco that you'll read about in due time.  Arrg! 

-Ryan


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## Caliber (Jul 25, 2002)

Is it 9? I was under the impression it was 12. With an extra 4 next level.

For those of you who don't know how autofire works in DragonStar, Zoltan gets another 'hit' for every 3 points above the enemy's AC. So if he rolled a 19 against an opponent with a 10 AC he would do 4d10 for the hit, 4d10 for rolling a 13, 4d10 for rolling a 16, and 4d10 for rolling a 19. I think it caps out at 4 shots.

He doesn't hit with all four too often, but then he gets 3 attacks per round to do the above with.  

Next level he will gain another iterative attack, with which he can score another potential 4 hits. 

If Zoltan can hit it, its going down (unless its immune to electricity.)

As for bad luck, last session I saw more Critical Misses than I have ever seen before. It was comical in a sad sort of way.


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## Zubenelschemali (Jul 25, 2002)

Actually, it is only 9.  I will get another one when I level, but not now.  The Assault blaster fires in three shot bursts, and "Normally" for every 5 points that your ToHit roll surpasses the targets AC you get an extra hit.  But, Zoltan has the Autofire feat which reduces that to 3 points per extra hit.

So, Zoltan is the one man Firing Squad!  You should have seen the look on our DMs face after we nailed Twenty or so little Githyanki!

JC


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## Horacio (Jul 26, 2002)

When my halfling pistolero will grow up he wants to be like Zoltan...


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## Caliber (Aug 6, 2002)

Well no update today (yet) but I just wanted to give this a little bump. Last week's campaign (that would be Session 14 for you at home) introduced the new character Wang Lu Dong!

Even better, tomorrow's game should see the introduction of not one, but two (yes two!) new characters as well. Our group is growing by leaps and bounds. 

That out of the way, I apologize for the lack of updates recently. I am going to get right on it. 

And Horacio, its easy to grow up to be Zoltan. Step 1, lose mind. Step 2, aquire military hardware. Mix and repeat. Yes folks, its just that easy!


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## Horacio (Aug 6, 2002)

So my halfling pistolero is already half Zoltan, cool


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## Zubenelschemali (Aug 6, 2002)

Which half is he?  If he's already lost his mind, then I like him already!

I am sure that most of the characters think that Zoltan is crazy after that last episode.  Know this, though: there is a method to Zoltan's madness, just that he doesn't know what it is!


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## md3 (Aug 7, 2002)

*Half Zoltan*

Does that make Zoltan a class or monster template?



Later,
Manny


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## Horacio (Aug 7, 2002)

I think it's a prestige class:

Requirements: BAB +6, to have lost his/her mind, to have military grade weapons.


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## Caliber (Aug 7, 2002)

Session 11

The charmed githyanki had no knowledge of any drow being on base. However, he happily offered to bring the party to where ever they wanted to go. The prison sounded like a promising area, especially if the drow had been on base without the former commander’s knowledge. 

Moving back to the vertical corridor, the group quickly descended down to a familiar center chamber. Recognizing the entrance to the base’s temple, as well as the entrance to the base’s throne room, the group was quickly able to orient themselves. Moving through the eastern door, the group found themselves in the bases prison. Rows of cells along both walls contained people from a variety of racial backgrounds. Despite the number of races represented among the prisoners, however, there were no drow. 

Syd detected magic, to ensure that none of the prisoners were under an illusion. None of them were. Obviously, if the drow was on board, he was not a prisoner of the githyanki. 

After a brief conversation with some of the prisoners, the group realized most of them had been captured when the githyanki had been searching for the party in Caar. Knowing the githyanki had ventured to Caar hunting for the group, the party found themselves feeling partly responsible for everyone’s capture. 

Milo began to investigate the machinery that operated the prison doors while Zoltan plotted out how to use the prisoners as a distraction for the party. Unable to figure out the psionic-based machinery, Milo called over the charmed githyanki, asking him for help. 

Not being a prison guard himself, the charmed githyanki possessed only a rudimentary understanding of the machine. As Milo began explaining what he was try to do, however, the guard managed to release the prisoners with an errant thought. 

At first the prisoners seemed unsure of what to do. Quickly the party began explaining what was going on. The party couldn’t help the prisoners escape, but they could direct them to the location of the hangar, where the prisoners might be able to steal a ship. All the party asked of the prisoners was for them to wait ten minutes before attempting escape. That would give the party time to get out of the way, so that they would not be found when the prisoners ran for it. 

Some of the prisoners were less than grateful for the chance the party had given them. But most of them were happy to at least have a chance at escape, no matter how slim. To further help them out, the group gave the prisoners some of their extra weapons, so that the prisoners would not be fleeing unarmed.

Leaving the prisoners to their own devices, the group instructed the githyanki to move them to the guest quarters. Moving through the south door, the group passed by a pair of guards. The guards tensed as the party passed, but at a few words from the group’s guide, relaxed and let the party continue on. 

Recognizing this hallway as the one leading to the hangar, the party realized they were directly in the path they had outlined for the escaping prisoners. Needing to get out of the hall quickly (lest they be caught in the chaos when the prisoners made a break for freedom) the group quickly moved into left suite of rooms. Choosing the northern most room at random, the group knocked on the door loudly. 

A large githyanki answered the door, yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“Can’t you tell we’re sleeping in here?!? What do you want anyway?” his eyes narrowed as he spotted the mixed company of the party, but again, a few words from the group’s charmed friend calmed him down.

“Sorry. We’re looking for a friend of ours and we think he may be here. Do you know of any drow staying in here?” 

“Oh. You mean Captain Tharimo? His room is right over there.”

With that the githyanki turned around and retreated back into his room, slamming his door in the party’s face. The githyanki had already been forgotten, however. The party had finally found a drow. This Captain Tharimo was very possibly the person responsible for turning the group into fugitives on the run. Ideas of bloody vengeance danced through the party’s collective minds as they advanced down the hall. This would hopefully be messy.


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## Caliber (Aug 7, 2002)

The above isn't all of Session 11 (there is a LOT more.)

But I am going to try and update a little bit more frequently but with shorter updates (kinda like Piratecat, but not as cool  )

The party felt pretty bad for the prisoners. They didn't really have much chance of getting out of there, and most of them were there because of the party in the first place. 

The party was really looking forward to killing Captain Tharimo. We had been hunting the drunked drow for a while. Even if Captain Tharimo wasn't the drunken drow, we were looking forward to killing him on general pricipal.

The rest of Session 11 and Session 12 contain (as you can probably guess) lots of death and destruction. Later.


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## Horacio (Aug 7, 2002)

Great update, as usual!

I also prefer shorter but more frequent updates


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## Caliber (Aug 7, 2002)

Well I am going to try it out for a little bit. Maybe with the focus on a more episodic write up, I can even get more details. I dunno about that one though ... No need putting more work on my plate right?


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## Kosh (Aug 9, 2002)

Wow...

I just read your whole story hour...

It's great!...  Keep up the good work!...

At first I thought it was a little chaotic, but then I discovered that was part of its charm...  ...

Autofire sounds really over the top, but I've never read the Dragonstar rules, so I can't really comment...

And who is Lydia?  She was mentioned in one of your more recent posts...  From the actions she was performing, I'm guessing it was Alahandra (btw, is that the name of the iconic paladin?)...

I can't wait to see the Jedi!...


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## Caliber (Aug 9, 2002)

Chaos our group certainly has. In one of our past campaigns, our group had to teleport throughout space and time furthering the cause of Chaos. Defintely seems to be a modus operendi or something ...

As for Autofire, it is pretty powerful. I wouldn't really say overly so. Now the DragonStar gun damage on the other hand ...

I can't really find where I mentioned Lydia, but wherever it was was likely just a mental slip. Alahandra's player (who happens to be my girlfriend) just recently started playing DnD. Her first character ever (in fact, her last character) was a Human Cleric named Lydia. I guess I still think of her that way, despite the hiatus of that campaign and the switch to this one.

You are right about the iconic thing, although I didn't even realize it. So far, our group has had three characters named after iconics without any of us realizing it until later (two of them were a different campaign.)

I don't think anyone joining will be a Jedi, although last session (15) saw the introduction of another new character, Jheli (pronouced July.)

Next session should introduce yet _ another _ character as well!

Anyway, glad to see another reader! I will see about getting up another little bit tomorrow evening. 

And as a note, one thing I am concerned about is my writing style. My girlfriend tells me I am overly critical, but if some others want to give me some feedback that would be really cool. 

Later.


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## md3 (Aug 9, 2002)

*Iconic names and Chaos*

The only reason we had so many iconic names is because we uncreatively choose to use the Master Tools character creator, and most (including myself) were too lazy to come up with a better name.  This might be the reason we have also heard of other Milos.

The campaigns get chaotic simply because of the characters.  I don't influence the campaign that way.  Most of the time this party, and others I have had take the most chaotic course of action.

Later,
Manny


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## Caliber (Aug 10, 2002)

Deciding that the courtesy of knocking would be wasted on a drow, Zoltan kicked in the door that had been indicated by the githyanki. Darting inside, blaster swiveling about the room, Zoltan provided cover as Milo and Syd likewise entered expecting a fight.

No one was quite expecting the feminine gasp that came from the room. Instead of the nameless drow who had singled everyone out to be guinea pigs for the drow’s insidious medical experiments, a beautiful female drow was found in bed. A naked, beautiful, female drow. 

Covering herself hastily, the unknown female was quick to demand, “Who are you!?!”

“Who are you!?! Where’s Captain Tharimo!?!” shouted back Zoltan. 

“Captain Tharimo’s room is next door. But if you insist on questioning me, could you at least allow me to clothe myself?”

Perhaps they were distracted by the drow’s beauty, or her lack of clothes, or perhaps they were all still in shock. But either way, Zoltan, Milo, and Syd exited the drow’s room and shut the door behind them.

“She’s going to put on some clothes,” they sheepishly explained.

Some time passed. Then a little more time passed. Slowly the regular policies of paranoia and suspicion began to reassert themselves within everyone’s mind. Finally, Milo knocked on the door. 

There was no answer. Opening the door, no one was surprised when the room revealed itself to be empty. Walking forward cautiously, Milo approached a small metal box that had not been there when he had last been in the room. Lifting up the lid revealed a small, floating bead of light sitting within the box. 

Syd, who managed to see the bead over Milo’s shoulder, immediately recognized it for what it was. 

“It’s a fireball! Get down!”

Everyone quickly began moving back down the corridor and diving for cover. Syd and Milo barely made it out of the room before the fireball exploded. The room itself was badly burned, but most of the group was able to escape the fireball’s blast. The charmed githyanki, unfortunately, had not been fast enough. 

From the other end of the hall, the githyanki the group had talked to earlier burst from their room angrily shouting “What in hell is going on down there!?!”

“Nothing to see here. Everything is fine. You just go back to your room,” answered Zoltan.

Perhaps it was the large weapons the party was carrying or perhaps it was the large stretch of corridor that was now thoroughly charred, but obviously the githyanki felt they had a good reason to go back to bed as they rapidly moved back into their rooms and slammed their doors shut. 

Moving back down the hallway cautiously, the group busted into the room that the vanished drow had indicated was Captain Tharimo’s. The room was empty of life but a quick search found two things of interest. 

The first was a formal ISPD dress uniform. The other was a small journal. While Milo pocketed the insignia off of the uniform, Syd flipped to the last page of the journal. The entry related how Captain Tharimo had come to this githyanki base in the company of a Colonel Antiphiphia to pick up some prisoners. 

It wasn’t hard for everyone to realize that Colonel Antiphiphia was the female drow in the other room. Letting her get away had definitely not been a good idea.


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## Caliber (Aug 10, 2002)

I have to say letting Colonel Antiphiphia go was defintely not the shining moment of the campaign. I wish I could claim that she had cast some kind of spell, but it really comes down to our own stupidity.

For some reason or another, when she said she would talk to us if we let her get dressed, we bought it hook, line, and sinker. Did we ever feel stupid. 

Of course when Milo found the Delayed Blast Fireball Syd was seriously freaked out. Thats pretty high magic, especially for the levels the party itself is at. I was defintely not looking forward to having to fight such a high level spell-chucker.


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## Horacio (Aug 10, 2002)

You let the naked drow girl go. And she was really a high level bad one. Man, that's embarrasing... 

Great update, as usual  
I like a lot your style, BTW...


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## Krellic (Aug 11, 2002)

Magic campaign moments.... 

Don't you just know you're going to have to pay for that one


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## Zubenelschemali (Aug 14, 2002)

Horacio said "You let the naked drow girl go."

Yep!  We sure did!  That's what the group gets for listening to Zoltan.  Orendil wanted to go rip her head off, even though he might have found this a little hard.  He didn't want to go, and neither did most of the group.  

Zoltan, on the other hand, was trying to 'Confuse' the enemy by using Reverse Psychology.  Instead of pilaging the poor defenseless little drow female like we all wanted to do, Zoltan figured we could back off and try to Confuse her!

Just didn't work.

Even after we left and closed the door, Zoltan remembers thinking that this might not have been such a good idea. 

And the rest is history....


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## Siridar (Aug 16, 2002)

Great Story Hour. 

Can't wait for more.

*Sits in idle anticipation twiddling thumbs*


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## Caliber (Aug 20, 2002)

Lacking a guide, or any plan of action for that matter, it was easy to see that everyone was in trouble. 

Earlier, the group had fled from the base and been forced to return. Doing so again didn’t sit well with anyone. Multiple ideas were thought up and discarded in the space of a few moments. Any moment now alarms would likely go off as the drow alerted the githyanki to the intruders.

Finally deciding to simply find a warlock, the group rushed out of the hallway and ran back into the center of the base. What the party would do after finding the warlock was uncertain, but hopefully they could gain some information about the base. 

Flying to the vertical corridor, the party rapidly approached the warlock’s room at the top. Suddenly Alahandra stopped and quickly flew ahead, giving the party the signal to halt. And then they all heard what Alahandra had detected. Voices. Several of them, coming from the warlock’s room. One of the voices was female. 

Thinking fast, Syd reached into his pocket and withdrew one of the stones he had enchanted earlier. Whispering the command word he had embedded into it, all sound suddenly ceased around him. Judging the angle, Syd prepared to toss the stone up into the room. Within the area of magical silence, the drow female would be unable to use most of her spells, and would be at the mercy of the group. 

Suddenly, however, two drow faces appeared above the room’s edge above. One was that of an unknown male, presumably Captain Tharimo. The other face was none other than Colonel Antiphiphia. Tossing the stone, it flew up and directly past Antiphiphia’s head, enshrouding the warlock’s room in silence. 

G’Banrak quickly took the opportunity to cast a spell, and vanished without a trace. Syd likewise was prepared to cast a spell, when suddenly his silenced stone was tossed down from above. 

“D-“ Syd managed to get out.  The stone quickly was caught by the gravity of the tunnel and struck one of the walls with a small click. Alahandra was already flying towards it to help dislodge it. 

Meanwhile, Captain Tharimo had disappeared from the opening above the party. Zoltan activated his rocket and shot up through the warlock’s room and into the small windowed room above it. The metal walkway in the warlock’s room activated, blocking the group’s passage as multiple Captain Tharimos appeared in front of the party. Making a guess, both Milo and Orendil focused their fire on the same one, causing the images to fade as the real Captain Tharimo slumped to the ground, dead. 

Alahandra managed to dislodge the silence stone and dropped it down the tunnel, allowing Syd to launch a blast of force at the metal wall blocking the group from the warlock’s room. The metal began to buckle, but it did not give so Orendil and Milo began to blast it with their weapons. 

Up above Zoltan had managed to descend back towards the warlock’s room where he saw both the warlock Quazmo and Colonel Antiphiphia. Opening fire, Zoltan found Antiphiphia enshrouded in several layers of protective magic. Several blaster shots penetrated through but they appeared to do little damage. Quazmo disappeared from the room as Antiphiphia looked up and began casting. A small fiery bead appeared in the room and Antiphiphia disappeared shortly afterwards. 

Recognizing the fireball from earlier, Zoltan rocketed back up to the small room at the top of the tower, taking cover from the blast.

Milo and Orendil continued to blast the door with Syd and Alahandra’s help. The door was still more or less intact, but it was large enough for Milo to see through one of the holes. 

Looking inside, Milo noticed the small floating bead, which the party had quickly learned to be wary of. He also noticed G’Banrak as she suddenly materialized within the now empty warlock’s chamber, cursing over the results of her spell.

“Watch out! There’s a fireball in there!”

G’Banrak quickly flew up to Zoltan, as the small bead hovered there silently. Suddenly, with a wet splattering sound, the bead exploded covering the room in a very corrosive acid. Quickly the acid that covered the metal door began to hiss and steam, and the door soon melted into nothing. 

Knowing the group couldn’t leave the base with Antiphiphia alive to hound them, Syd had just begun to turn around when he glimpsed Quazmo behind him. 

Syd began to cast a feeblemind when suddenly the strands of magic twisted away from him and went out of control. Settling over Quazmo, the altered spell suddenly transmuted Quazmo into the form of an eye tyrant. 

Luckily, Orendil’s reflexes were just as fast as Syd’s and the githyanki turned beholder was soon returned to his natural form after a quick barrage from Orendil’s blaster. 

Zoltan and G’Banrak came flying down from above, grabbing Captain Tharimo’s corpse on their way. As Orendil bent down to sort through the dead drow’s belongings, Syd and G’Banrak exchanged a long, silent look at one another. Both of them recognized all of the tell tale signs. 

Somehow they had entered into a wild magic zone.


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## Caliber (Aug 20, 2002)

Horacio - It certainly was embarassing. Syd insists there must have been some enchantment that compelled everyone in the room to leave.

Krellic - And pay for it we did, as you will see ...

Siridar - Glad you are enjoying the story.  

Anyway, Session 11 ended pretty well. Zoltan managed to inflict some damage to Antiphiphia and we actually took out Tharimo and Quazmo! Of course the wild magic zone was a major bummer. And it only got worse as time went on. 

Freakin' Wild Magic! (as Orendil might tell you.)


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## Caliber (Aug 21, 2002)

Session 12

Colonel Antiphiphia had done it yet again. The group could not face leaving the githyanki base until they at least eliminated the danger that she posed. Worse yet, it only took one glance for Syd to ascertain that Captain Tharimo wasn’t the drunken drow that the party was hunting. So far, this had been a very unsuccessful mission.

Stopping momentarily to pick over the possessions of the late Captain Tharimo and the githyanki warlock Quazmo, the party turned about and once again headed towards the center of the githyanki base. 

Without any clue as to the location of Colonel Antiphiphia, the group figured that anywhere in the base was as good as any other. Deciding to profit while looking for her, the group decided to head for the treasury. 

Less than a minute later the group found themselves standing before the large ornate doors that lead into the githyanki base’s temple. Chanting the words of an unlocking spell, G’Banrak gestured towards the door. 

Seconds later she began to shimmer and fade from sight, as did Syd, Milo, and Alahandra. 

“Uh guys? What’s going on?” Orendil asked, looking about for the rest of his group. 

“It’s the wild magic. It looks like most of us are invisible,” answered Syd.

“Just open the door,” muttered G’Banrak. 

Opening the doors and moving in, Syd reflected that if anyone inside were hostile, Orendil and Zoltan would take all of the fire. 

Moving into the room, the group finally took the time to actually look about. Several large columns were placed about the room, encircling a large altar in the center. Against the far wall stood an immense statue of the githyanki queen, her head nearly brushing the roof. For eyes, the statue possessed immense, hand-sized rubies, which Milo instantly took an interest in.

Suddenly a voice rang out from somewhere in the room. 

“You do realize you won’t get away, correct?” 

It was Antiphiphia. She was in the room, and she was invisible. 

Syd, Milo, and Alahandra all had identical ideas, running over to the door leading to the treasury. Opening the door, they went into the small room beyond only to find that the second door was locked tight. Alahandra began struggling with the lock, finding the lock to the treasury to be masterfully crafted. 

Zoltan rushed forward and began to rush about the room, hoping to catch Antiphiphia off guard in order to learn her location. 

Orendil and G’Banrak both looked about, hoping to get a glimpse of her. 

The door leading into the main room suddenly shut, seemingly by itself, sealing Syd, Milo, and Alahandra in the small room in between the treasury and the temple. Zoltan started to move towards the area around the door, sweeping his weapon back and forth in the hope of catching Antiphiphia.

Suddenly, Orendil spotted a small glowing bead sitting on the altar. 

“Fireball! Get out of the room!”

Orendil, G’Banrak, and Zoltan all quickly rushed out of them room. They barely made it past the large outer doors when the fireball suddenly emitted a loud poof and disappeared.  

Hesitantly, Zoltan entered back into the room. He had just stepped in when suddenly he found himself falling up! Slamming into the ceiling with a loud crunch, Zoltan could only conclude that gravity was reversed. Activating his jetpack, Zoltan rocketed off the ceiling and informed Orendil and G’Banrak of the room’s conditions.

Orendil flew into the room and opened the door leading to the treasury. Warning Syd, Milo, and Alahandra about the room, he began to search about the room. Orendil doubted Antiphiphia was still in the room, but he recalled a hidden door leading into here from the Commander’s room. 

Sensing a small airflow coming from the western wall, Orendil carefully began feeling along the wall and then … yes! There! The wall swung out and Orendil stepped into the Commander’s room.

G’Banrak and Zoltan followed him in. Zoltan cautiously approached the net that had trapped Orendil the last time at the base, while Orendil explained the workings of the net and the holding tubes. 

Milo grew tired of waiting for Alahandra and, mindful of Orendil’s warning, flew out into the temple and up to the top of the githyanki queen’s statue. Grabbing his laser pistol he began slowly melting away the surrounding statue in an attempt to dislodge the two rubies. 

Finding the net in the Commander’s room active, Zoltan was stumped on how to get through it. Milo had managed to evade it on their previous encounter, but Orendil had been ensnared. No one in the room liked those odds. 

“I might have a spell that could help. Should I try?” asked G’Banrak. 

“No don’t!” shouted Zoltan. 

But it was too late. The sound of arcane chanting could already be heard. And then … silence. 

“G’Banrak are you okay?”

There was no answer. Feeling about in front of him, Orendil soon found the form of G’Banrak. She seemed to not be moving at all. Lifting her up, Orendil hastily flew out of the room. Zoltan followed after him when suddenly he was lifted up and slammed into the ceiling again!

“Damn! Forgot about the gravity!”

Milo had managed to pry out both rubies, and had damaged the statue a good deal in the process. Very quickly, everyone was becoming tired of the time it was taking Alahandra to open the way to the treasury. 

And then a loud click issued out in the silence, along with Alahandra’s exuberant shouting.

The treasury door was opened, and the party again found themselves in the room of gems spinning crazily about through the air. Not being rushed, the party set about to methodically fill every available space with gems including everyone's backpacks (four of which were Zoltan’s), pouches, pockets, and, in Alahandra’s case, her boots.

Pockets and bags bulging from the glut of gems, and the treasury looking a lot less cluttered, Syd checked his watch. The time left on his fly spells was rapidly wearing out and if the party waited much longer, most of them would be unable to get down.

“We’re not leaving yet. Remember the big communication mirror? I am shutting it down again,” explained Zoltan, as he crossed through the treasure room to the door beyond. 

The party had 2 minutes and counting.


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## Caliber (Aug 21, 2002)

The group really REALLY didn't want to leave while Colonel Antiphiphia was alive to make fun of them. 

Of course, after the temple, we realized she wasn't going to meet us in a stand up knock out brawl. Instead she was going to keep trying little hit-and-run attacks. Of course, her Delayed Blast Fireballs, while being high level magic, rarely actually managed to harm anyone. 

She seemed to always have them set to wait for the full duration, and everyone almost always managed to get far enough away to escape damage.

When Syd brought up that the Fly spells would wear off soon the group decided we might as well leave and head back tomorrow. We could have slept in the base, but no one fancied waking up surrounded by githyanki. 

Zoltan wasn't having any running away. He didn't have a Fly spell on that was about to run out. And more importantly, he couldn't pass up the chance to destroy a large magical device. 

We defintely shouldn't have listened to him. In fact, now that I think about it, we NEVER should listen to him. 

Enjoy!


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## Zubenelschemali (Aug 21, 2002)

Hey!

Caliber(Syd) said "We defintely shouldn't have listened to him. In fact, now that I think about it, we NEVER should listen to him."

Zoltan couldn't pass up a chance to kill that big mirror, but he was really wanting to get to the Commander's quarters on the other side of the Net Trap.  It just so happened that there was a door to the Commander's quarters that could get us around the net, and a big magic mirror just happened to be on the way.   

The next part was really neat because we met some peeps we hadn't seen yet...

Can't wait for the next part!

JC


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## Caliber (Aug 23, 2002)

Moving through the treasury, the mostly invisible party walked down the hidden corridor towards the small alcove that contained the mirror. Stepping into the alcove, Zoltan leveled his gun and destroyed the newly repaired mirror. 

And that’s when everyone heard the pounding of running feet. Githyanki began pouring in from both sides of the hallway, surrounding the party. Worse yet, these were not the githyanki the party had been fighting. These were full-fledged githyanki knights, not only bearing high-powered blaster rifles, but also wearing powerful combat armor. 

The knights looked up and down the hallway for the intruders that were supposedly in the base. Zoltan was inside of the small alcove, outside of their line of sight. Syd, Alahandra, G’Banrak, and Milo were all still invisible due to the wild magic in the area. That left poor Orendil standing out in the open, in plain view of all the knights. The knights promptly opened fire.

Multiple blaster shots tore into Orendil, punching multiple holes in his armor. Barely standing, Orendil quickly retreated into the alcove and quickly began applying healing patches to his many wounds. Milo took aim and fired, managing to penetrate one of the knights’ armor as he appeared. Syd and Alahandra began firing at one of the githyanki knights as they both hovered above him, likewise fading into view. 

G’Banrak ran screaming into the alcove along with Orendil.

“Should I cast a spell? Should I cast a spell!?!”

“No!” came the answer from everyone. 

Zoltan quickly spun around and stepped into the hallway, leveling his blaster and firing a barrage of shots into the midst of the oncoming knights. 

The knights quickly realized that Zoltan was their most dangerous opponent, and began to focus their fire at him. Few of their shots were able to pierce his naturally tough skin, or his protective battle armor, however. Orendil tossed G’Banrak a blaster pistol as he continued to apply healing patch after healing patch.

Alahandra attempted to turn invisible but instead her magical power flexed out of control! With a flash of light, she found her senses suddenly disjointed and scrambled and all she could do was hover in place. Syd continued to fire at the githyanki knight who had come up behind the party. Milo fired off a few more shots as G’Banrak stepped out from the alcove and suddenly began casting!

“No!” shouted nearly everyone at once.

Suddenly a shimmering, glittering sphere materialized around one of the githyanki knights, effectively cutting him off from the combat. A prismatic sphere. Syd was amazed, and terrified at the same time. If spells were warping to such a degree … whatever G’Banrak had cast could have as easily killed everyone in the party. 

“No more magic!” 

Alahandra finally snapped out of her magically induced stupor, and with Milo’s help, managed to bring down one of the githyanki knights who had come at the party from the treasury. Sensing an opportunity, Syd flipped over the head of the remaining knight, scooping up the fallen knight’s blaster rifle as he did, and finished off the other knight at his end of the hall. With Zoltan drawing fire from the knights on the other side, both Alahandra and Milo ran to the alcove where they took cover.

Zoltan was starting to look bad by now. Most of the shots were unable to pierce his protective armor but enough were getting through to take their toll. But suddenly Orendil was in front of him, Soulfeeder in hand. Screaming out a battle cry, Orendil rushed forward and engaged one of the last knights in melee combat!

Orendil scored several vicious gashes on the last knight, felling him. Quiet settled over the battlefield. Then Syd noticed the time. 

“We need to get out now!”

The group rushed from the room, leaving one knight stuck within the prismatic sphere. Entering into the vertical corridor, Zoltan activated his jetpack as the other members of the party lifted off, flying at max speed up the shaft.

Rocketing out of the window at the top of the tower, the party found themselves off to one side of the githyanki base. Heading straight down Syd realized the magic wasn’t going to keep them up long enough. 

Twenty feet above the ground, Syd’s fly spells began to unravel, the magic holding up the party falling away. Luckily, the safeguards kicked in at the last moment, and the last 20 feet were fallen at a slow, delicate rate. Settling onto the ground, everyone began to debate what to do.

No one especially wanted to leave and come back, but it was obvious that the group needed some more preparation before entering the base yet again. And of course Syd had underestimated the burden of flying several people, a situation he hoped to correct with a wand. Reluctantly the party prepared to hike back to the plane and set out for Caar. As little time as possible would be spent restocking. 

The group hiked for nearly a mile when they saw them. Several githyanki surrounding their plane. Not just githyanki. Githyanki knights. Five knights had been a challenge. The nine knights standing about the plane would very likely prove too much, especially if the strange wild magic zone extended out this far. 

Very quickly the party pulled back and discussed their options. The githyanki base was in the middle of nowhere. There was little chance the party could hike anywhere without taking several weeks. The only recourse was to make a small camp somewhere nearby and hope the knights had left the plane in the middle of the night. 

Hiking another mile to the east, the party found a small clearing where they set up camp for the night.


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## Caliber (Aug 23, 2002)

Those githyanki knights were TOUGH. After Session 12, our DM revealed that all of those githyanki we had been mowing down were in fact 1st to 3rd level Warriors. 

The knights were 8th level Fighters!  

When Orendil retreated the first time, he was down to single digit hit points. Again !

Luckily the wild magic in the area more or less worked in our favor, taking out one of the knights. Unfortunetly, we were unable to get to our plane and escape. Syd had few attack spells left, and the knights were surrounding our plane in such a way as to make most of the spells uneffective. No one was really in a hurry to fight eight knights anyway, so we ended up having to make camp nearby.

If we had only known what was coming, I think we would have been willing to walk for a few weeks in order to reach the next city. Ah well.


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## Caliber (Aug 26, 2002)

Thats it! I'm holding Session 13 hostage!

Thats right! Unless I get some kind of bump, no session 13 for you! 

Just kidding folks. But really, is anyone out there? Hallo? 

I will post 13 sometime this week.


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## Kosh (Aug 26, 2002)

Hello!

Bump!

Gimme Story Goodness!


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## Horacio (Aug 26, 2002)

Horacio is back!

BUMP!


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## Caliber (Aug 27, 2002)

Session 13

The small camp the party set up was in a forested area. The night passed peacefully until Orendil’s watch came around. Orendil hadn’t sat long before he noticed the figures of several githyanki knights approaching directly towards the location of the party.

After Orendil roused everyone from their sleep, everyone quietly attempted to take cover among the trees around the campsite. 

Everyone but Zoltan, that is. 

As the githyanki knights approached, Zoltan stood in a small clearing among the trees. Despite his unprotected stance, the knights failed to spot any of the party until they were almost on top of the party. 

And then Zoltan fired up his assault blaster. Multiple blasts shot out at the knights, wounding one moderately. Milo took several shots from his concealed position behind a tree while Alahandra faded into invisibility and assaulted the knights with impunity.

Orendil roared out his battle cry and charged one of the knights, his greatsword before him. Several knights were shaken from Orendil’s battle howl and failed to score any hits against the group.

Syd and G’Banrak stayed hidden as the firefight erupted around them. 

Zoltan’s assault blaster continued its stream of fire, dropping one of the knights, as Milo and Alahandra continued to snipe at the remaining knights from concealment. Orendil engaged his opponent in hand to hand combat, leaving vicious wounds with his greatsword. Seeing that the knights’ attention was mostly focused on Zoltan, Syd and G’Banrak both left their positions and likewise opened fire on the githyanki knights. 

Things were not looking good for the knights. Realizing that Zoltan was too protected for them to appreciably damage, many of the knights stepped back and began to employ their psionic abilities. The sound of shattering glass and the burnt smell of metal quickly filled the clearing, and assault after assault struck the minds of the party. 

Luckily, the githyanki knights’ psionic assault proved as effective as their blaster shots had. It wasn’t long before the last knight fell, and the clearing again resumed the quiet of night. Unfortunately, if the knights had found the party here, they surely would again. The party had no recourse but to relocate their camp for the remaining portion of the night. 

Moving northwest for roughly one mile, the party noticed that several parties of githyanki knights were looking for them. Avoiding the knights, the party soon found another clearing where they set up camp for what remained of the night. 

The next morning found the party still hale and whole, undisturbed by any other githyanki patrols. Syd had been considering the current party’s capabilities, and had selected several spells to enhance their abilities for the day. Reaching out to touch Orendil, Syd muttered the arcane phrases that would enhance Orendil’s reactions and perceptive ability for the day. 

Suddenly, Syd felt the magic twist wild in his fingers. What had been a protective magic turned into something darker, and Orendil visibly withered under Syd’s touch. 

“Damn! We’re still in the wild magic zone!”

The rest of the party nervously backed away from Syd. 

After packing up their gear, the party quickly began walking back towards the plane. Because of the movement of their camp during the night, their plane now lay almost due south from their position. 

As the party hiked, they quickly realized that patrols of githyanki still walked the forest, searching for them. As if that wasn't enough, several planes were heard flying overhead, trying to catch the party in a clearing. 

Moving cautiously from tree to tree, making sure no planes were overhead at crossing, the party slowly made their way back to where their plane was landed. At one point, an enormous plane, roughly of a model similar to the group’s but several times larger, flew over head. Vaguely, a giant could be glimpsed through one of the plane’s windows. 

“That looks like Gyguul!” both Syd and Zoltan exclaimed at once. 

There was an awkward silence as both of them glared at the other for copying off of him. Then the party reached their plane.

The githyanki knights still stood guard. Cursing, the party gathered a short distance away and began planning what to do. With the constant surveillance in the surrounding area, a battle with nine githyanki knights would quickly bring down reinforcements. Worse yet, the party wasn’t even sure they could take on nine githyanki knights and win, especially with Syd and G’Banrak afraid to cast because of the wild magic zone. 

In jest, Milo suggested covering Orendil in mud and trying to pass him off as an ISPD officer dismissing the githyanki knights from duty. His idea soon caught on, however. In short order, Alahandra had managed to darken the visible parts of Orendil considerably. While the badge's picture and Orendil were not perfect matches, it could stand up to casual scrutiny. 

Orendil was just beginning to walk forward when suddenly the group’s walkie-talkie went off. It was Gyguul!

“I’ve been captured. I am in the githyanki base. They say they want you to give yourself up.”

This was not good. This was not good at all.

“Why should we just give ourselves up?” Milo shot back.

And then the voice on the walkie-talkie changed. Instantly everyone recognized the tones of Colonel Antiphiphia. 

“We know exactly where you are. If I wanted to, I could send several githyanki knights to the small clearing next to your plane that you are currently hiding in. It will be so much easier if you just come peacefully. I will have a pilot awaiting you underneath the base.”

The group was stupefied. The idea of complying turned everyone’s stomach, and the idea of losing to Colonel Antiphiphia even more so. 

But unless she had been guessing very well, she had pinpointed their location. The party’s only recourse was to comply. But the party wasn’t going to return to the githyanki base weighed down with half of the base’s treasury. Quickly several party members had managed to hide away their bags of gems in nearby trees and shallow holes. Orendil went so far as to bury Soulfeeder, in case he somehow lost his gear inside the base.

When all of the preparations were done, everyone had buried their gems except Alahandra and Zoltan, both of whom resolutely refused to give them up. Trudging through the forest dejectedly, the party soon approached the githyanki base for yet another time. 

Standing beneath the floating base stood a drow female, leaning back against a small transport. 

“I am Lieutenant Silan and I am your transport up to the base. If you will enter my transport we can get underway.”

Reluctantly the party entered into the transport and it lifted off, carrying the group back into the githyanki base. Things definitely were looking down for the party.

Exiting the transport, Lieutenant Silan escorted the party down the long hallway and into the throne chamber of the base. 

There was Gyguul, dwarfed between two titans. A fully armed contingent of githyanki knights ringed the chamber, and another rapidly filled up the room behind the party. A githyanki wearing the insignia of the base commander slowly looked over the party. And Lieutenant Silan suddenly began to shift and change, her features slowly shifting into that of Colonel Antiphiphia. 

“It was you! You were the drunken drow!” screamed Zoltan.

“Good deduction Zoltan. It was me who singled you out for arrest. But I believe you have more pressing matters at the time.”


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## Caliber (Aug 27, 2002)

This was a pretty nifty adventure, although it ended kinda bad.

Syd was contemplating re-entering the Githyanki Base but without any magic, that was defintely not going to be a possibility. 

And Syd felt horrible for Level Draining Orendil. Especially considering he failed his Fort save and actually went down a level! Oops.  

The party was left with little choice when Antiphiphia revealed that she knew exactly where the group was. Of course looking back, we probably should have tried _something_. Ah well. 

I still say we could have taken the Titans.


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## Horacio (Aug 27, 2002)

First time in a long time that I see a party surrend...

Great update, of course!


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## RyanL (Aug 29, 2002)

Great session last night.  There should be some good story hour content soon 

-Ryan


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## Caliber (Aug 29, 2002)

For some reason our group seems to surrender a lot. Who knows?

Anyway, school is being rough this semester. I am going to try to post a session a week, in small supplements. 

Several other party members have expressed some interest in writing a few logs of their own, and in fact Zoltan has written up Sessions 15-17. So as soon as I catch up, I will start posting (or he will) his versions as well.

And last night was lots of fun. When we finally get there (last night was Session 18) you are going to have some funny things to read.


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## Zubenelschemali (Aug 29, 2002)

Our group only surrenders when they listen to Zoltan and he believes that there is no fighting way out.  As you will soon see, Zoltan will surrender for the group again!   

I will go ahead and post sessions 15-17 once Caliber posts session 14.  Session 14 was REALLY tough because there is no action and ALL Dialogue.  Our DM wants us each of us to write up our own rendition, but I think most of us have forgotten what was said.  I know that I don't remember half of what Zoltan said, and he was talking a whole lot.  Good luck, Caliber!  I don't envy you.


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## Knightfall (Sep 6, 2002)

Hi Caliber!

You know, I knew I saw this thread here but couldn't find it for a while.  Its great there are so many Dragonstar fans out there.

I'll have to give this SH a read after I finish Book Two of my Realmsian Dragonstar story hour.  Oh geez,I think I just pimped my SH in your thread Caliber.

Hmm, hope you don't mind.  Heh!

After all, us Dragonstar addicts gotta stick together. 

Cheers!


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## Caliber (Sep 6, 2002)

Don't feel too bad Knightfall. I consider it the cost of a bump.

Right now I am trying to pound out Session 14, which is proving to be quite difficult. Sessions 15 - 18 are already written up (although not by me) and are simply waiting for me to catch up.

With the limited amount of time I currently have, its likely I won't do write-ups of Sessions 15 - 18 (since they have already been done) however, I will get them posted here, and I plan on adding comments (ala the ones I add after my own write-ups) afterwards. 

Once I get Session 14 done, you all are in for a treat. Sessions 15 - 18 are written by none other than Zoltan himself! Let the insanity ensue.


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## Caliber (Sep 7, 2002)

Session 14

Walking forward, the new githyanki commander introduced himself to the party and explained their situation.

“It takes guts to turn yourself in willingly, especially considering your crimes. As such, instead of forcibly removing all of your weapons and magical items from your possession I will simply ask you to relinquish them peacefully. It would be easy for us to find anything you try to hide from us, so I trust you not to be stupid.”

“What crimes are you trying to hold us for?” queried Milo.

“What crimes!” the commander shouted. “The breaking and entering of this fully sanctioned military base! The wholesale slaughter of this base’s personnel, including several young soldiers in training! The destruction of our property! What crimes aren’t we holding you for?”

The party exchanged a silent look among each other. The crimes were serious. You could almost see everyone weighing the size of the two titans guns against the almost absolute certainty of death at the hands of the githyanki. 

The titans’ guns were bigger.

“So we will be getting a fair trial?” Milo asked.

“Of course you will. Two lawyers have already been dispatched by the Dragon Empire in order to ensure objectivity during the trial. We will hold you until they arrive, at which time you will be fairly tried.”

“Maybe we can make a deal?” Milo asked, looking to Colonel Antiphiphia.

As the party collectively glared at Milo, the Colonel replied.

“There is little I could do to help you. As you attacked the githyanki’s base, it is their jurisdiction.”

“Maybe we could do a service for you?” Milo wheedled.

Moving close, Antiphiphia leaned in to Milo and whispered to him “We can talk about this later.” Raising her voice so that everyone could hear, she said, “Will you surrender your weapons and magical items now?”

Perhaps not too unexpectedly Zoltan asked a very nonsensical question, “What kind of food do you have here?”  

“You may have anything that you wish,” the commander replied. 

Zoltan nodded his approval and tucked this piece of knowledge away for later use.  

The group was somewhat at a lost. It was obvious that even in a fair trial, the githyanki would assuredly be able to ensure the party’s death. At the same time, however, the titan’s presence suggested that any resistance would just be a quicker route to the same destination. 

Slowly, the party began to turn over their equipment. Weapon after weapon, the party watched all of their equipment placed into several bags, each with an accompanying nametag. In the hope that the githyanki truly trusted the party to be honest, Syd failed to mention his headband, just as Alahandra managed to evade all notice and kept all of her gear.

A short walk later found the party in the githyanki base’s prison. Apparently the prisoners the party had released had all been cut down by githyanki troops before they could make an escape. A momentary pang of guilt was experienced, but facing more imminent problems, it didn’t last long. The group had been set back to square one. For the most part, they were all in the same situation they had been when they had landed on planet Aphex. 

“What the heck are you doing?!?” Zoltan shouted at Milo once everyone had been placed into their cells.. 

“We don’t want a fair trial! If we get a fair trial, we are going to get killed! Better to get Antiphiphia to let us off,” Milo explained. 

Milo’s logic was sound, but no one was comfortable with the thought of an alliance with Colonel Antiphiphia, a person everyone had come to blame for all of his or her present problems. 

With party tensions running high and little else to do, the group began speaking to some of the other prisoners. In the cell next to Syd was a strange man who introduced himself as Wang Lu Dong. He spoke with a weird amalgam of accents, the strangest of all being Dwarven despite his lack of knowledge of the language.

Zoltan shared a cell with a rather large gnoll, but it was quickly obvious that they didn’t share a common language. Zoltan stayed far from the gnoll and the gnoll did the same.

Milo shared his cell with an elf named Nick Delosier. A Wizard of not insignificant power himself Nick and Syd quickly began to discuss magical theory to past the time. Everyone else tried to ignore their otherwise nonsensical babbling. 

G’Banrak shared a cell with a female high elf named Dru, who likewise professed an aptitude in the magical arts. She seemed somewhat withdrawn, however, and offered little conversation. Alahandra was quick to realize that the high elf Dru was the identity she had bought from the man in Caar.  

In Orendil’s cell a half-orc sullenly sat in a corner, likewise offering little in the way of conversation.

And so time passed, with little being said until it was time for dinner.  As dinner was being served Zoltan exclaimed, “I thought we could get whatever we wanted! I don’t remember my order being taken!”  

With a put upon sigh, the guard asked Zoltan what he would like to have.  

“Hmmm. I want a Cesar salad, paned duck, and some bread pudding with white chocolate sauce. That will be good for tonight.” With that Zoltan dismissed the server with a wave of his hand.  The server, rolling his eyes, stalked off, but in the end Zoltan did get his meal. 

The next day everyone was surprised when Colonel Antiphiphia strode into the prison. Moving to Milo’s cell, she wasted no time with niceties.

“You mentioned a use you may have?”

“You know how skilled we are. Surely there is something we could do for you in exchange for our freedom?”

“You are quite skilled, but why would the ISPD need ones such as you?”

“Surely we would be more useful working for you than we would going to trial.”

“Like there will really be a trial!” Zoltan shouted with a laugh.

With a small flicker of her eye, the Colonel smirked. “Your friend Zoltan is more perceptive than he seems, which is saying a lot. I can keep you all here as long as I want. But I will consider your offer. And I will take G’Banrak with me for now.”

“Wait! What about the reward! We did bring her to you!” Zoltan shouted again.

“What reward?”

“Don’t play stupid! The reward you promised the uthek!”

“I do not know of any uthek. Maybe you should tell me?”

“Oh guess I was talking about someone else then. Go ahead and take her.”

Colonel Antiphiphia frowned for a moment before calling in two githyanki guards. Entering G’Banrak’s cell, the guards grabbed her and dragged her out kicking and screaming.

G’Banrak glowered darkly at the party. “How can you let them do this?!”

An awkward silence followed the quartet’s exit. However, the silence was more than just guilt about G’Banrak.

“She didn’t send the uthek,” Milo commented to no one in particular.

Someone else was hunting G’Banrak.


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## Caliber (Sep 7, 2002)

Above is the first part of Session 14. I will try to have the rest up soon. 

I think it was pretty close in the githyanki's throne room. If it hadn't been for the titans, I am positive we would have tried to fight our way out. 

No one liked trying to buy our freedom by allying with Antiphiphia. But like Milo said, if we did go to trial pretty much everyone agreed we would be axed. 

Orendil in particular was aggrieved at our seeming alliance with Antiphiphia, although that hasn't been shown yet. Allying with a drow was just anathema to him. 

This session also introduced two new players to the group. Wang Lu Dong is a Living Weapon trained by dwarves in the rice patties on a small outer rim planet. Oddly enough, he doesn't speak dwarven but is quite fluent in elvish.

Nick Delosier is an elven mage, likewise from offworld. But while Wang has gotten used to modern technology, Nick is still adapting to the modern way of life. 

I am going to go add them to the little party roster on the front page in a few seconds, as well as update all the characters to the current Session 19 forms. 

Hope you enjoy!


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## Horacio (Sep 9, 2002)

I like a lot how you accept to surrend. It gives "realism" or better, logic, to the game. In almost every RPG I've been, players prefer to die than to surrend...


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## Caliber (Sep 9, 2002)

I have to say that it was a close one. I was just waiting for those titans to blow us to small insignificant pieces. In the end the size of their guns convinced us otherwise. 

As for surrendering, I think we do that a lot. Maybe I should blame the DM?


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## Horacio (Sep 10, 2002)

Caliber said:
			
		

> *As for surrendering, I think we do that a lot. Maybe I should blame the DM?  *




You're a sensible group, do you know it? That's fairly rare, at least in my experience


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## Kosh (Oct 4, 2002)

Great stuff...

Eagerly awaiting the rest of 14 and then the flood of posts that should come from 15-18 (which I hear are already typed up)...

And besides all that...

*Bump*...


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## Caliber (Oct 4, 2002)

I didn't know anyone was still over here. Sorry that 14 is taking so long. I'll see if I can pound the rest out this weekend, there really isn't that much left.

School is just seriously monopolizing my time right now. 

Even though several logs are already typed up, I will probably try to space out posting them, just so I don't end up having this * enormous * space between posts. 

Thanks for the continued readership though.


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## md3 (Oct 4, 2002)

*More adventures*

There are more ... up to 23 adventures on our site.
This is why we post them there as well.

David,
Don't forget to post Amio's Adventure as well when you get to it.



Later,
Manny

Our Campaign Site


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## Kosh (Nov 4, 2002)

I don't even know what page this thread is on now...  I just saw it in Caliber's sig...  

I went to the website, but I couldn't the session logs...  Can you give me a more specific URL?...  Or maybe post them here?...

Missing this story hour...  It's good; wouldn't want it to be forgotten...

And, yeah, *bump*...


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## md3 (Nov 4, 2002)

*Official Campaign Log site*

http://gammaworld.xocomp.net/Campaign/DSSummer2002.htm 

This is our official site.

Later,
Manuel


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## Caliber (Nov 4, 2002)

Geez Kosh. Making me feel all guilty. Without checking the link md3 posted, I assume its correct. 

This weekend coming up I will post the last part of Session 14 as well as Session 15 over here. Come hell or high water, as they say.


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## snwatson (Nov 6, 2002)

*Just a Bump*

hiya there - Just a bump and to let you know I read your story hour over the last few days and I LIKE IT. Please post more 

keep up the heavy blasting


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## Caliber (Nov 10, 2002)

G’Banrak had not been gone long before she was returned. Two guards carelessly tossed her back into her cell, where she crawled into a corner and began to cry.

An awkward silence hung about the room. Concerned for her friend, Alahandra began trying to comfort G’Banrak. With the help of Alahandra, G’Banrak slowly regained control of her emotions. 

Haltingly, G’Banrak explained what had happened when she was taken. 

“First, you have to know something about my home planet. My planet lies within the Dragon Empire, but is nigh but unreachable by convential means. Instead, my people have constructed a gate system to connect it to other planets. Only those native to my planet know how to operate the gates, but with the proper knowledge anyone could go anywhere within the Dragon Empire and in some cases, beyond. The ISPD would give anything for access to our gates, and for that reason they cannot possibly gain that knowledge. I know they would use it unjustly.

Colonel Antiphiphia tells me something has invaded my planet. An alien force that the ISPD has never encountered. From what she said I don’t think she plans on doing anything about them. I think she would rather watch the creatures and see what they do to my world! 

But there’s hope. Antiphiphia wants me to go back to my planet with some of her technicians to my planet so that they can take more accurate readings of the menace. If you all would agree to come with me, maybe we could stop whatever these things are!”

Any chance to escape was a welcome one, although no one trusted Antiphiphia to keep her word. Eventually though, everyone had decided to help G’Banrak save her planet. Somehow though, they would have to stop the drow from learning the secrets of Thronia’s gates.

Time passed, most of it spent idly contemplating the coming venture. 

And then, the githyanki Commander entered into the prison. He did a quick survey of the room before addressing the group. “The judge may be more lenient on you all if you would be willing to tell us what happened.”

“Yeah right,” Zoltan shouted. “You know that there aren’t any lawyers coming for us.”

“What do you mean?”

“Its obvious! Don’t be a fool!”

“Why do you think lawyers are coming?”

“Colonel Antiphiphia assured me that they were.”

“Antiphiphia cannot be trusted,” Orendil interjected. “She wants to see us dead. She plans on arranging an ‘accident’. Check it out.”

“Very well. I will investigate the matter. If you are lying, however, it will be to your detriment.”

The Commander turned about and left the room.

“What are you two doing?!?” shouted Milo. “We don’t want to be tried!”

“I was thinking maybe we could turn the Commander against Antiphiphia, and escape in the confusion,” Orendil offered. “We can’t trust Antiphiphia.”

“I don’t think we have much of a choice. Antiphiphia is at least willing to let us live. The Commander would have us all killed given half the chance!”

With little left to say, the group again fell into boredom. Time crawled by as the party sat within the jail cell. Debates burst forth sporadically before being shot down again.

Orendil was adamant that Antiphiphia could not be trusted and that it would be better to turn ourselves over to the Commander and escape from him later. Milo wanted to get out at all costs, even if it meant making a deal with Antiphiphia. Zoltan wanted to shoot things, or maybe he just wanted more food. Either way he wasn’t too happy. Syd, Alahandra, and Wang each had varied opinions on the group’s varied plans. None of them knew what was coming, except that it probably wouldn’t be good.

The Commander returned in a few days. Quick and too the point, he entered and admitted that his sources suggested that perhaps lawyers weren’t coming.

“If you help me out, perhaps I can help you out.”

“What do you want from us?” yelled Zoltan.

“We know you broke into this base. We know you killed several of our soldiers, who were still in training. You murdered this base’s previous Commander as well as two of its Warlocks. We know you stole a large amount of diamonds from us. If you turn the diamonds over, I will protect you from Antiphiphia.”

“We didn’t steal those diamonds! They were given to us by the previous Commander!”

“He gave them to you?” the Commander asked skeptically.

“Yeah! He hired us to help train the soldiers! The ones who failed the test died! He paid us with the diamonds!”

“I find that highly … unlikely. I know this base had a large amount of gems before you came here, and now it has much less. Where are the diamonds?”

“They’re in his bag!” Syd said. “All the diamonds we took are in Zoltan’s bags. Look and you will find them.”

Zoltan was outraged, and made that obvious while the Commander ordered two guards to search through Zoltan’s bags. Finding that they were indeed stuffed with diamonds, the bags were removed and the Commander left the room. 

“What are you doing?”

“He obviously doesn’t know how many diamonds we took. If we give him some of them, maybe he won’t look for the rest. And since you were the only one who brought diamonds with you, you got to give yours up.”

Prison was definitely fraying the party’s nerves. 

The next day Antiphiphia paid the party a visit. 

“It’s not nice trying to turn the Commander against me. I should leave you here to be tried and executed. I assume G’Banrak has briefed you on my goals? And I assume you have all agreed to go? In a few days I will have everything prepared. I will tell the Commander I am moving you to a different prison for your trial. Instead I will move you to my ship in orbit. Do not cross me.”

Her speech delivered, Antiphiphia stormed out before any response could be uttered. 

The Commander returned yet again the next day. Having recovered the base’s stolen diamonds, he was quick to ask the party for what they would have him do.

“Antiphiphia is going to move us in a few days. You should move us instead. I fear she’s going to execute us without trial,” Orendil explained.

“No! Leave us here. She won’t move us now that you know,” Milo yelled out.

“What would you have me do? I could move you by yourself if you want.”

Orendil, realizing his plan wouldn’t work without the rest of the group, declined. The Commander shrugged and left.

It was the day before Antiphiphia was set to move the party onboard to her ship. The prison doors opened and a young male human was brought in and thrown into a cell.

His name was Jhelai Lajos. He had been picked up in the area of the base and was being held by the githyanki for now. It was obvious, however, that this was another smoke screen created by Antiphiphia. He had been offered the same choice as the party, and once everyone had explained the situation to him, had reluctantly agreed.

The final day passed slowly and everyone slept fitfully the night before.

As the day dawned, no one could have guessed what was coming.


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## Caliber (Nov 10, 2002)

snwatson - Sorry for not replying sooner. Been kinda busy. Its nice to see people like the story-hour.

For those who still read, good news! Now that I have (finally!) completed Session 14, I will begin posting the write-ups Zoltan has made for Sessions 15-18.

I will post the first one (Session 15) next Friday and will post an additional one every week. And during this time I will hopefully manage to write up a few Sessions so that I can keep up the Session a week pace.

I have to say Session 14 was gut wrenching to write. I'm always self-consicous about dialogue in my writing and that is all Session 14 really was.

Jhelai is yet another member of our party, and I am going to go add him to the roster on the first page in a second. 

The main problem the party had this session was disagreement within the ranks (which will come back to haunt us later.)

Orendil's plan might have worked, but since most of the party thought it safer to rely on Antiphiphia to break them out, it never got a chance to shine. 

Anyway, I'm back and appreciate reader feedback (who doesn't?)

Thanks to you guys for spurring me into writing again.


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## Kosh (Nov 11, 2002)

Sorry about making you feel guilty (if you were serious)...

You did a good job with the write-up...  Well, not being there in person, I actually have no idea how accurate an account it is, but it was entertaining...

A post a week is very reasonable...  Thanks for posting here...


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## Caliber (Nov 11, 2002)

I was only partially serious.  

I'm glad you like the story hour. We still have a few sessions before we get to the heavy blasting but once we get there ... well lets just say thats a lot of blasting thats going to be going on.


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## Gez (Nov 12, 2002)

I'm still reading !

Those gith have a strange mindset... How could they be so nice ? I  know a TPK would not be any fun, but at least they could interrogate the prisoners, at least to ask them why the hell they break into the base.

They could also try to list the charge they are accused of, listing each murder separately and trying to make them feel remorse (that could work on the kind-hearted ones (Alahandra ?), while obviously not on the merciless ones (Zoltan ?), thus encouraging dissensions in the party. Making one half of the party hating the cold-hearted murderers; and the other half despising the mawkish wimps. It can works quite well...


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## Horacio (Nov 12, 2002)

I am still reading too, of course...


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## md3 (Nov 12, 2002)

*Reply to Gez*

Gez,

The party is already at each others throats.  Caliber's storyhour might not convey this, but it tends to leave out the total spirit of UNcooperation.  Soon it will be evident when the characters get to FrogTown, where words become actions.

Later,
Manuel
GM


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## Caliber (Nov 12, 2002)

Horacio - Good to see you've stuck around during my absence. I hadn't forgotten you. Now stop reading my story hour and go update yours.  

Gez - Actually there is a good bit of party strife. Many party members are suspicious of each other, and of course anyone magical has problems with Zoltan and vice versa. 

I am unsure if this made it into the story, but the first time we ever shared sleeping quarters, we ended up sleeping at the opposite corners of the room in four distinct camps. 

And while it might have been interesting to list the names of all that we had killed ... well we had killed a _*lot*_. I don't really think we would have time to go through all of them ...  

Thanks for the feedback!


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## Caliber (Nov 16, 2002)

[[Ed. Note:  The following is for Ryan, so he can have a quick (or not so quick) run down of the past 3 sessions.  It is in the form of a dialogue between Zoltan and Orendil.]]

[Episode 17]
[Scene: Frog Town, Tavern called ‘The Peg-Legged Manticore’.  Zoltan, Orendil and most of the gang are here blowing off some steam.  Nick is off at the temple trying to get Jhelai resurrected.  Wang just went off in a boat to show the soldiers some blobs that we ran through up the river.  Milo, Alahandra and one of the Drow are hiding in the woods outside of city walls.  They think we're in jail.  Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!  Orendil has just informed Zoltan of some temporary amnesia...]


What????

Now, Now, Wait a minute!  You mean to tell me that you don't remember a thing from the last 2 days!?!?  Orendil, have you been fooling around with that damn wild magic again?  I told you not to do that, buddy.

All right; Here goes:  It all started a long time ago, on a planet far, far away with these big giant words flying through the cosmos to a wonderfully fanciful soundtrack!  The New Hope was here, and it was US!...


[[Ed. Note:  We greatly apologize.  The writer who has been writing the previous blurb has been sacked and has been replaced by someone with less flair for the dramatic.]]


Well, you see, there seems to be a menace, menacing a G'Banrak's little menacable planet.  It's a 'Phantom Menace'!...


[[Ed. Note:  We are extremely sorry.  The people responsible for the sacking the writer who was just sacked have also been sacked.  We apologize for any inconvenience.]]

[Start of session 15.]

Ahem.  You say that you remember being in the prison cells in the Githyanki base.  Damn, I can't believe you forgot this much.  Well, we got out because the Colonel made the Commander believe that she was taking us away to be executed.  So we were escorted to a ship a lot like the prison transport we were on when we came to the planet.  A quick little ride and we were in space and docking with the Colonel's ship.  You were NOT able to get your stuff off of the planet because Antiphiphia wouldn't stop there.  Didn't you leave your SoulFeeder there?  And where's your big blaster?

Well, we got to the ship and she let us roam around a little.  We got some breakfast and sat around and conversed for a little while.  (I guess I shouldn't tell him that Elf Pudding is actually quite good!  I can't wait to get some more! Yumm)  We met Nick, who is one of the elves, and another damn magic user at that.  Humph!  Over there is Wang, who is a Chinese human monk who was raised by British dwarves.  I think that makes him 'Blitish'.  And finally, there is the Jhelai guy, who we didn't get to know very well.  He had a cute little twin gun rig with some kind of leather trench coat.  Not anymore though...  Suits me just fine, because at first sight he seemed OK, but there was something not right about him.  

Then we met the drow techs that were going to come with us.  They were going to come in all white outfits!  HAHAHAHA!  We told them to change and they came back with more sensible clothes.  I asked the Colonel if I could get any more weapons or explosives, and she fitted me with at least ten pounds of plastique and a masterwork Demo kit!  I was totally thrilled!  And I think she got a kick out of it!  Hey, do you think there could be any chemistry there?  

[Orendil looks very angry.]

Did you ever notice how cute she is?

[Orendil punches Zoltan.  Very Hard.  Zoltan comes back to his senses.]

OK! OK. Sorry about that.  Then we started to get ready.  We all went to the hangar and started getting into a dropship.  They packed all of our gear into one crate, and I was very thankful that it didn't get lost.  I'll get to that in a minute.  We flew off to the planet.  G'Banrak said the portal was high on a remote mountain.  When we got to it, we determined that the dropship couldn't land and we would have to jump out the back.  Well wouldn't you know it, one of the damn drow females manages to slide her ass off the mountain.  Luckily she didn't take any of the equipment with her.  I actually got a multi-scanner from her gear!

We all got our stuff, said a few words, and proceeded trekking down the small mountain path to the portal.  When we got there, G'Banrak started chanting and there was this big Giant splash of water and we almost drowned!  Nah, just kidding.  Actually the portal just opened.  Nobody wanted to go first, but then we all went through.  I was about to blow the portal up but I didn't.  

On the other side was a silver room with a door at one end.  When we looked out, we were met with quite an interesting sight.  The wind was blowing and the clouds were really pretty.  They were flying by pretty quick too.  The only problem was that they were BELOW us.  There was a narrow walkway ahead with no railings that led to a large silver globe on talllllllll tower.  There were a bunch of these globes, all connected by narrow walkways.  We were going to have to walk across.  Milo was afraid he was going to get blown off.  When we got to the next globe, we found another portal on one side and a door on the other.  This went on and on, as we were led from one globe to another.  I had the dead drow’s gear on my back and it was damn heavy.  So, I rummaged through found all the stuff that I wanted, and told everybody else to claim stuff 'cause I was leaving it.

Finally, we were met by two reps of this place.  They looked like some magic using pansies, and they led us to an elevator.  This took us down to the ground level and they showed us a map.  It actually had arrows saying 'You are here'.  I took a look up to see if there would be anyway that I could destroy these towers, being magic and all.  And, nope.  There were no feet.  Nothing but clouds.

We then went over to a close-by town, and they brought you to a temple.  They tried to get your level drain fixed, but it didn’t work apparently.  Then, Milo found an antique magic store and cleaned them out.  Apparently they had really cheap magic stuff, but he wouldn’t give any to me, that little pipsqueak!  I went and found a store where I could buy an arm-mounted datapad.  Oh, yeah.  This is a planet full of wimps.  No GUNS, Man!  No weapons of any sort that I could find, short of a steak knife.  It’s all something about a peaceful planet, or some other mumbo jumbo.  So, we found a hotel and rested for the night.


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## Caliber (Nov 16, 2002)

The more observant of you have noticed the change in writers. Yep, Zoltan's point of view is finally here!

Let me just add a few things to Zoltan's story.

For a long time, whenever the party had to discuss something in secret, we'd use Elvish. Mostly because everyone in the group spoke it (completely by accident) and because most of the people we dealt with didn't. It didn't take us long to realize that would never work with the Drow around. Oh well.

Wang possesses the strangest accent you can imagine. Part Chinese, part British, part Dwarvish with a little India thrown in for good measure. 

At the mountain, one of the Drow fell out of the plane and off the mountain! No one really wanted to protect the Drow, but having one die right away like that was somewhat embarassing.

At the gateway, Syd realized G'Banrak was chanting out three dimensional vectors in Celestial, a language he was fluent in. He agreed not to reveal his findings to the rest of the group when she asked, however.

The stores on G'Banrak's planet sold things at 1/100th thier regular price (we most defintely cleaned them out.) 

The weird thing is, violence apparently doesn't exist here. No weapons, no wild animals, no crime. They don't even seem to have a need for a government, they're so peaceful.

This session actually was as long as all the others. But with 3 new players, we began to experience growing pains about now. The time spent in deliberation increased dramtically, and the cheap-o items didn't speed us up too much either.

Next week prepare for the next installment of Zoltan's World.


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## Caliber (Nov 23, 2002)

The next morning we woke up, and promptly found that it was a planetary holiday.  No stores were open, and we had to eat ‘Breakfast Jump-Up’.  That’s when we jump up and make our own breakfast.  We decided to make a plan.  I actually had to ask the drow if they knew where they wanted to go.  They were frickin’ clueless!  So then I asked them if they could pick up anything on all that damn equipment they lugged down here.  They realized that was a good idea, and they found that there was a city with a bunch of weird crap in it to the south.  We found it on the map and it was called the City of the Gods!  So we started getting ready.

Jhelai went to go find a temple, which made me a little more suspicious: why would any self-respecting gunslinger want to go to a Temple?  But, he found it was closed.  While Jhelai was out, he found a rental place that was open, and he bargained to rent us two vans.  When he came back to tell us, Wang and myself joined him to go pick up the vans while everybody got ready.  When we got back with the vehicles, everybody loaded in.  All the magic users in the other bus, and all the real studs in ours.  Now, I know you hate the drow, but one of them looks like a fellow brother-in-arms: armed to the teeth!  I was almost jealous!

So, we set off.  Dude, now I said these were vans, but man they rock!  A good 115 miles per hour out of those suckas.  We ran across something about 20 minutes outside of town.  And when I say this thing was BIG, I mean BIG!  It looked like a giant floating jellyfish that was three(3) Miles wide!!

[Zoltan holds up Four fingers.  Zoltan’s eyes get very big.  We realized in session 17 that Zoltan can’t count.]

It was fargin’ huge!  With these big tentacles hanging about 100 feet off of the ground.  Not knowing what to do, we went around.  About 12 minutes later we came across another big floating thing.  This one was not as big but it was singing.  We sent the fairy out to talk to it.  She said ‘Hi’.  It sang to her.  Then she asked it where it was from.  It sang again.  This time it didn’t stop.  It kept on going and going and going and going…  I bet it is still singing now.  We didn’t get much out of it, so we kept on going.  Not 5 minutes later, we came upon this big giant ‘MegaMaid’!  Just kidding, but it might have been her vacuum cleaner.  This looked like a big space vacuum, and it was sucking up a fifty-foot wide swath of land and trees.  Not knowing what to do, we sent the fairy out again.  She said ‘Hi’, again.  It wasn’t to keen on responding.  She asked more questions, and it just sucked more.  

We went around it and in 5 minutes we came across the town of Boggy Bottom.  Or at least what was left of it.  The buildings that were left had massive scorch marks that look like they came from lightning bolts of some sort.  The rest of the buildings were gone.  Some people were running around all crazy like.  We stopped one and he said that first this big 3 mile wide jellyfish shocked the crap out of the town, and then a big vacuum cleaner sucked up the rest of it.  I figure he was a little loony.  We got on the Drow radio and found some guy who said he was from the Temple of the Frog.  Yeah, I know, it seems a little silly to worship a frog, but keep quiet about that.  I bet these people don’t like wisecracks about the frog and the hamster, if you know what I mean.

[Orendil looks clueless.]

Never mind.  This guy thought that we were nuts, and he said they were going to send out a team to investigate.  We said, screw that, and we moved on.  You couldn’t miss the big trail that the vacuum cleaner left.  So, figuring that the trail would lead us to the city, we just followed it.  We soon came across a fifty food wide, paper thin, layer of goop on the trail.  It was moving North.  I didn’t like this.  I was starting to get a real funny feeling, because I don’t like goop.  I, driving the blue van, stayed a little ways back.  Jhelai, driving the green van, got a little closer.  Again, we sent the fairy.  She threw some rations at it, and it just moved around it.  Then somebody got the bright idea to throw some metal at it.  So the fairy throws a gold piece at it.  It then decides to start collecting itself.  It quickly starts to shrink in width and get thicker.  Soon, two tentacles looked like they were forming on the top.  I yell at the fairy and Wang to get back in the buses, and I start moving!  Wang had to jump in while the van was moving, and I was gone.  Then, as we were passing the goop, the two tentacles shot out a good 50 feet at our vans!  Luckily we were far enough out of the way and flooring it, or else it might have gotten more interesting!  Nothin’ but gasps from the back seats.

At this point, I am getting a little pissed.  A big planet full of wimps.  No way to buy new equipment.  And big freekin’ weird creatures!  This sucks!

We kept moving and we got up to the mountain pass.  We are still quite a ways away, when we see a green snake like creature with 8 pink tentacles coming off the sides of its head.  Now, this didn’t really bother me, too much, except that it was 40 feet long.  Then I hear from the back seat and over the intercom that these guys want to take it.  I was in total shock.  Somebody gets the bright idea to go up the road and wait for it to come by and ambush it.  I was in shock, again.  I actually did what they said.  Nobody even listened to my plan, which was to stop, wait for it to pass, and move on behind it.

Well, we went up the road a bit, and hid the two vans about 10 feet off of the road behind a tree.  The green van was parallel to the road and we were parked right next to the green van.  We weren’t really hidden too well.  Neither were we prepared to ambush it: We were still in the vans.  A lot of people, including you, got the jump on me and got to attack first.  Syd tried to cast something but he turned invisible instead.  The only odd thing was that his clothes and gear didn’t.  

[Zoltan snorts a laugh.]

Luckily, the snake got beaten up really quickly.  Then something happened.  Apparently, right before I blasted the crap out of it, it did a mind-transference on Jhelai.  Then G’Banrak noticed it and yelled out that Jhelai didn’t look right: It was the creature!  I didn’t hear that, though (Or Did I?), and blew Jhelai-in-Big-Snake-Body away.

Jhelai looked fierce, too.  He had the Eye of the Tiger, and he was about to open up some real WhupAss on the green van inhabitants.  Glad I wasn’t in there.  As soon as G’Banrak yelled out, Nick was jumping out of the van door; He really likes jumping out of vehicles, I have determined.  Moving or stationary, too.  Kinda Cute.  Then he tries to cast a web on Jhelai and gets his first taste of Wild Magic.

[Orendil tears up.  Zoltan pats him on the back.]

It’s OK, Big ‘O’.  Everybody realizes once in his or her life that magic is truly unnatural and nasty.  

Well, the web turns into some kind of stasis field, so Jhelai is frozen.  He can’t move; he can’t do anything.  So you know what they do?  They keep casting!  The Elf Female casts something and falls in love with Jhelai.  Milo tries some kind of magic rod, and it starts growing 8 snakes out of it!  Heh, Heh.  I liked that one!  Nick runs around the bus, goes up to the driver’s window and tries to grab Jhelai’s twin pistols.  His hands get stuck in the Stasis field too.  You try to go pull him out, and you almost pull his hands off.  Nick also somehow ruined his amulet of spiked armor by casting something else.  Now, I know these stasis fields don’t last too long, so I get in front of the bus and ready a shot for when he gets free.  Somebody gets the bright idea of firing a blaster at him.  It gets frozen too, just inches from his face.  So, then everybody, but me, decided to frag the poor bastard, so that when he gets free, he will be turned into slag.

Sure enough, the next 30 seconds were filled with people pumping the stasis field full of blaster shots, and Nick almost soiling his armor; He didn’t want to get hit by a stray blaster.  Stasis field disappears, you pull nick to the ground, and J gets turned into soggy bits.  Nick and others loot the body, and the female elf, over there, starts crying.  Now, I thought that blaster shots always cauterized the wounds that they inflict.  But man, four or five blaster shots hitting someone’s head at the same time, and that sucker EXPLODES!  Whoa, what a sight!

The next little while was a blur.  Most cleared the soggy bits out of the front seat, while Milo decided to go cut off the snakes head.  It was a big head.  I mean bigger than Milo.  Actually, it’s hanging out in the garden over yonder, we can go see it later, to see if it jogs your memory.  You and Milo cut off the snakes head, and then we noticed that the snake was still moving!  It was as if something was inside of it!  Wait a minute, It’s a baby!  Kill It! Kill It! Kill It!

[Zoltan starts jumping up and down.  Zoltan makes a scene.  Orendil yells at Zoltan to calm down.]

Oh. Sorry.  I think Milo actually thought it was a baby human, but I think he was a little delirious.  Then I killed it.  So we cut its head off too.  Now we have a giant snake head, a baby snake head and soggy Jhelai bits.


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## Caliber (Nov 23, 2002)

It wasn't long into the Session that the Drow directed us toward the City of the Gods, a city far to the South where the creatures were apparently emanating. 

You might recognize some of these creatures if you used to play 2E, since a lot of the monsters we meet are actually going to be 3E conversions of 2E monsters. The big orbs that sing are Gonns from Spell Jammer, for example. 

The big snake was a Cistern Fiend from Dark Sun.

At Boggy Bottom we made first contact with the Temple of the Frog. They were pretty weird and suspicious, especially for what we had seen of this planet so far. We never should have trusted them.

The combat with the Cistern Fiend was really the first big battle we had that involved a lot of Wild Magic. 

Not only did Nick trap Jhelai in the stasis field, but he managed to permanently unenchant his magical amulet.

Jhelai, we barely knew ye. We only liquidated you a little while you were mind controlled.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, this is actually how Zoltan talks in game. Honest.


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## Gez (Nov 25, 2002)

Ouch !

This is getting truly weird. 

You know what's funny ? In any of my own group, we would have tried to subdue the mind-controlled guy until he recover his own will (with or without exorcism, depending on the case). It seems noone had this idea there. Not a wonder there's much distrust between members.


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## Caliber (Nov 25, 2002)

Well, Nick did try to subdue him in a way. 

The spell he cast was a Web, but the Wild Magic changed it into a strange temporal stasis affect. 

The real kicker though is that it wasn't a mind-control affect. Mind Switch is more of a Magic Jar type affect. Jhelai's mind was in the Cistern Fiend's body, being blown apart, and the Cistern Fiend's mind was in Jhelai's body.

Of course Zoltan had no idea, being in a different van, when he blew the snake to pieces.

Lacking anyway of returning Jhelai to normal (you may note we have no Divine spell casters at all) we were basicly forced to kill him.

Plus, no one trusts one another.


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## md3 (Nov 26, 2002)

*Meta-gaming*

Gez,

To make one thing clear, we tend to frown on Meta-Gaming, and if they hadn't blown the worm like monster away when they totally intended to, then that could only be because they were meta-gaming.  Zoltan was next in line to go right after the switch, and he really destroyed the worm within it was Jhelai.

Now, I guess they could have tried to keep Jhelai's body alive with an alien intellect within it, but then again, meta-gaming.  They just saw Jhelai turn on them and prepare to fire.  What would you do?  He was a relatively new guy in the party.

Later,
Manny
GM for this crazy campaign.

Note, it was planned from the start to have a party with internal conflict.  So far many of the characters work together, while few others stab each other in the back.  The only problem is again the meta-game alliances that seem to creep up.


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## Gez (Nov 26, 2002)

*Re: Meta-gaming*



			
				md3 said:
			
		

> *Gez,
> 
> To make one thing clear, we tend to frown on Meta-Gaming, and if they hadn't blown the worm like monster away when they totally intended to, then that could only be because they were meta-gaming.  Zoltan was next in line to go right after the switch, and he really destroyed the worm within it was Jhelai.
> 
> Now, I guess they could have tried to keep Jhelai's body alive with an alien intellect within it, but then again, meta-gaming.*




Yes. However, what I meant was most of my characters would have interpreted Jhelai's actions as the result of a charm, or hypnose, rather than of a possession or exchange... And thus would have kept the body alive with the alien mind until discovering the truth. Not metagaming -- quite the contrary.


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## Caliber (Nov 26, 2002)

Well, thats easily enough explained. 

G'Banrak is a pretty tough Sorceror. Suffice it to say, her Spellcraft check was sufficient to figure out what was going on. 

Zoltan, not being in the van with Jhelai didn't hear what she said. But her exact words were "The snake is in Jhelai!" That tipped off the other spellcasters in the group, Syd and the female elf in particular. 

I have to say I am pretty glad that wasn't a Charm. Nothing creates party strife like killing someones character.

Thanks for the feedback though.


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## md3 (Nov 26, 2002)

*Spell Cast on Jhelai*

Syd did try to cast a web spell on Jhelai, but it was modified to a stasis field or something like that.
So, he may have been moving along those lines.  

You will just have to read more because it gets a whole lot crazier.

Later,
Manuel


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## Caliber (Dec 2, 2002)

Then we got on the radio and called our radio buddy from earlier.  We told him about what we found.  He still thought we were crazy, but we asked if there was anybody there who could resurrect somebody.  He said maybe, but they were off today.  Then he asked us who the hell are we and why do we call ourselves tourists.  We got off the radio, and decided to head that way.  It was only going to take about an hour, and it was only about 10:00.  You had to drive the green van.

So we’re riding along, and off in the distance we notice a blurry humanoid figure walking straight toward us.  Everybody wanted to stop but me; I wanted to buzz him and scare him a little bit.  So we stop about 100 feet away and he disappears.  See, that’s what you get for not having any fun.  We didn’t know what happened so we kept on moving.  Then in the green van, G’Banrak yells “There’s something in the back seat!”.  Everybody in the green van starts freakin’.  Nick was ready to jump out of the van, even though it was moving 115 miles per hour.  See what I mean?  You were wondering what the hell they were talking about, and so were we.  You couldn’t see anything there; it must have been invisible.  It was actually funny to see everybody up in the front seat.  We yell out over the intercom to try and talk to it.  The fairy says ‘Hi’.  Nobody else says anything.  I tell the drow to start scanning the other van, to make sure that they aren’t going nuts.  They actually detected some kind of humanoid presence sitting in the back seat, next to the bodies.  It was not from this planet.

But, nobody wanted to do anything, so we kept on moving to the Temple of the Frog.  A couple of minutes later, while traveling over the river, 7 or so blobs start rising out in front of the water in front of us.  We were able to dodge most of them, but we each hit one dead on.  SPLAT!  Pink blob guts all over the windshield.  Yuck!

We kept on moving.  We were coming upon a line of trees to our left. Then, BLAM!  A massive blaster shot hits each van dead on.  All we could tell was that they came from over the tree line.  Totaled each van!  Yours pretty much started to quit right there; hell, you didn’t even have much of roof anymore.  I couldn’t tell where it came from, but I knew it was high up, and I wanted to get under it.  Pedal to the Metal!  

Right down the beach at 115 miles per hour!  I wanted to whip around that line of trees and get right up to it.  My passengers, on the other hand, wouldn’t hear of it.  But, I didn’t care!  I was going for it anyway!  10 seconds to the turn.  Milo says, “STOP!”  9 seconds to the turn.  The Drow go crazy mad!  8 seconds to the turn.   Wang says, “Your Clazy!”  7 seconds to the turn!  Everybody yells, “STOP!!!”  It was so loud, that it actually got to me, and I had a change of heart.  Knowing that I had to stop quick, I slammed on the brakes.  As soon as it stopped, I jumped out and went running into the line of trees that are covering us, so I could get a better look.  Nick, Wang, Milo, Syd and a couple others join me, but you stayed behind to guard the Drow.  That creature was still in the back seat.

We saw a huge wall, 30 feet high, with giant turrets up on towers on the corners.  There were people with binoculars trying to look for us.  These turrets were massive, like large anti-vehicular blasters.  The wall went on down to the south for hundreds of feet.  Milo, who always learns the hard way, tried to jump using his ring of jump.  He went up a good 35 feet, and was immediately shot at by the turret.  Then, he was lucky, I think, that he had his ring of featherfall on, except that when activated, it permanently made him unable to taste apples.  I bet he’s sorry he used magic now!

Then the Drow noticed a tank coming many yards down the tree line.  We all tried to hide in the trees and swampy bushes.  Oh yes, it was quite swampy out there.  Nick actually tried to dig a hole and got filthy.  Milo got on the radio while the tank was getting close.  He talked to the same guy again, and the guy asked if that was us in the vans.  Well, Yeah!  Meanwhile, the tank then stops right in front of us.  It aims its gun at one of the vans and fires; it fell short with a thump.  Milo asked the guy why they were shooting at us, and he replied that we were flying real fast towards the temple and they thought we were hostile.  Then he asked us again if we were tourists.  Finally, Milo told him that we were hiding from the tank.  He asked why, if we were tourists, we were hiding in the first place!

At that point, I placed my assault blaster on my back and walked out of the trees up to the tank with my hands up.  Almost immediately, somebody pops out of the hatch and levels a gun at me.  He got me to drop my guns and then grilled me about what I was doing here, and so on.  He spotted 3 others in the trees and asked everyone to get out.  Wang was trying to sneak around back of the tank to sneak up on the guy, but he wasn’t too graceful about it.  Finally the soldier asks me how many are in our group.  After thinking about it, I said 10.  With that he got more people to come out, including you, and got them to drop their guns.  They were a little taken aback by ‘Syd the Invisible Man’.  

Then we noticed a boat pulling up down by the vans, and two soldiers getting out and coming our way.  One of them had this really wicked looking gun, and both of them had at least two backup guns.  They came up and ordered us to the boat.  Most of us went to the boat.  I stayed behind to ask the guy about his weapon.  He wasn’t too thrilled.  The two soldiers collected all of the gear and put it up in the tank.  The tank commander then saw another 3 people in the woods.  He asked me why I said there were ten of us.  I told him the truth: I can’t count.  Wang then asked the tank commander why they didn’t actually blow up the van with their gun earlier.  He said the plain and simple, obvious truth: “We missed.” 

OK, don’t let anybody know it, but Milo, Alahandra, and one of the Drow are still out there hiding in the woods.  We got on the boat and took a trip to the garden, which is inside the walls.  It was here that we explained our side of the story.  We also found out about this place.  This is the Temple of the Frog, and it has been here for a very long time.  In the past, the walls were built to protect the town from the denizens of the swamp:  crocs and other nasties.  It all seems a little overblown to me.  Their rep is a Three Frog officer in the local militia.  They answer to a dude named St. Steven, who is a Ten Frog General.  We asked if we could see this Ten Froggy dude, and he said he might let us see him.  We asked about the patrol that was sent to Boggy Bottom and they said it hadn’t returned yet.  He asked which of us was the one using the radio.  Knowing that Milo wasn’t here, I said it was Wang, who at the exact same moment was saying that he didn’t know how to use a radio and pointed at me.  We quickly changed the subject.

So, the guy then asked us where the body was to get resurrected.  Uh, it’s in the van still.  He was a little miffed. You volunteered to go back to the van to grab the body parts and the heads.  While you were there, you noticed the invisible dude was still there, but you couldn’t make him leave.  When you got back, you waited there with the snake heads, while Nick went with Jhelai’s body to get it resurrected.  I think he was going to get cleaned up too.  Some guards came out and videoed the heads, and you left the heads with them.  I think that they might try to hide the evidence, but no biggie.

The rest of us took a jaunt across the wooden bridge into Frog Town: A small, old time village with wooden huts and buildings.  It was quite a change from the high tech guards who have guns coming out of every orifice.  Oh, and there are guards everywhere, as if this place is hiding something.  I don’t trust them at all, but I want to get some weapons from them.  Just a few minutes ago, Wang went with some more soldiers on a boat ride to show them the blobs that we saw down the river.  And we also just saw a boat pull up with some prisoners who were led into that building across the street.  

Oh, you ought to go check out the animal skin shop down the road.  That’s where I got this nice rabbit skin for my helmet.

[Zoltan points to the rabbit skin affixed to his helmet.]

So, that’s about it.  Does any of this ring a bell?  Ahh, well just stay away from those magic users and you’ll be OK.  Lemme buy you a drink.


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## Caliber (Dec 2, 2002)

Ah yes. We surrender again. If we had known what was awaiting us in Frogtown, I can't imagine we would have risked going inside. But thats hindsight for you.

We saw a few less menancing critters this session, the only ones being the strange invisible man who hitched a ride with us and the floating jellyfish which splattered quite nicely against our vans. 

Zoltan actualy nearly killed everyone in his van by driving right into the turrets. Luckily everyone at the table yelling at him got through to him. I have no idea why we always let him drive.

The people at the Temple were all very suspicious, paranoid folks. I'm sure we didn't help but hey. What can you expect.

This is where Zoltan's first person narrative ended. There is actually a little bit more of Session 17, which I will post next weekend along with 18. The rest of Zoltan's post is told from a more detached, 3rd person point of view. 

And then, two weeks from now, we shall return to my style of writing. And since we are going to be putting our Dragon Star campaign on hold for a while, I might even manage to get completely caught up.  Holy Crap!


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## Caliber (Dec 8, 2002)

Continuation of Session 17.

Meanwhile...

Milo, Alahandra and Amio are out in the woods.  The tank just pulled out a little while ago, and they are sitting and trying to think of a plan to get us out.  They saw a boat come out to the vans, and it looked like Orendil got off and picked up the dead bodies and heads.  He got back on the boat and left.  Milo suggested following the tank tracks to try and get in the back way.  The only flaw was that it might be a guarded door.  They see the boats coming and going every once in a while; maybe there is a way to sneak under the guns and get in through the front.  Is there a wall there or is it open?

Alahandra scouts across the little channel and sees that there is a pier and some woods, but no wall and no major doors.  She flies back and tells them.  Then, they see another boat going out, and they see Wang on it this time.  They are not sure what is going on, but they have to free their comrades!  Milo suggests waiting until nightfall, swimming across the channel and then trying to infiltrate the compound.  Then, once inside, they can determine what actions will be necessary to free the others.

Elsewhere...

Nick has taken Jhelai’s body and is bringing it to the Temple.  The Three Frog Officer has offered him a chance to clean up, so he is led up to the Temple, but then diverted to the right.  He crosses over a drawbridge and then is led to a small room where he is allowed to clean up.  The room is small with very little furnishings; it might be where training priests live.  When he is done, he goes with the officer back to the Temple.  The officer tells him to take the body inside, and they will know what to do.  

Once inside, he sees a large open Temple with a huge altar and many pews.  There are six priests of various humanoid races up by the altar and they approach Nick as he enters.  They inquire about the body and instruct Nick to place it on the altar.  Then, they surround the body in a circle, and the head priest tells Nick to either leave or wait in the pews: this will take a long time.  Nick, being curious, decides to wait in the pews and soak in the surroundings.  He also listens closely to what is being said and figures out that they are not spell casting, but instead praying to the Great Frog in the Sky.

This lasts a long while, until they then pick up the body and swiftly take it behind the altar.  Nick decides to follow as deftly and quietly as he can.  They take the body upstairs and into a library where there is another priest, but this one looks different: he must be in charge.  Right as Nick peers around the corner, he sees the high priest pull a device of some sort out of his robe.  He uses this to revive Jhelai, who then starts moving and waking up!  Nick runs back to the pews.  After a few minutes, the priests come out from behind the altar with Jhelai in tow.  He is a little dazed and confused, but otherwise he is OK.  The priests say that all is done, and they are ready to go.  The priests request that they come back the next day to see the service, take the tour and consider the Way of the Frog.  On the way back through the Garden, Nick fills Jhelai in with the details from the past 8 hours since he died.

At the river...

The boat with Wang and the 5 soldiers pulls up to the beach where the vans ran into the flying jellyfish.  They tell Wang to go get some evidence.  Wang refuses.  He says he can’t swim, and he would have to swim to the beach to collect the specimen.  They think he nuts, but Wang sticks his ground.  One of the soldiers then says, “Hey, the water is only 3 feet deep here!”  Wang lost, but he made them tie a rope around him.  He gets out and he soon finds some remnants, but he is not about to touch the stuff so he comes back.  He asks for a container of some sort, but they didn’t have any.  Then he asks one of the soldiers for his helmet.  The guy thought he was crazy, but then Wang used some Zoltan Logic on him to convince him to give up his helmet.  

As Wang is climbing back into the boat with the sample, he notices 5 flying jellyfish coming up from behind the boat and none of the others notice.  Wang freaks and jumps back in the water and starts swimming away!  They get mad and pull him back into the boat.  He jumps out again.  Finally, one of the soldiers mind blasts him and they get him back in the boat.  Once Wang stands up, he yells “Jerryfish!” and immediately gets stunned by one of the jellyfish.  The soldiers take care of the jellyfish very easily.  Wang wakes up as they are on the way back.  

Wang makes his way back to the Inn and meets Nick and Jhelai on the road.  There was much rejoicing and they were greeted with cheers when they got to the Inn.  Everybody was very happy to see Jhelai and Wang was telling stories about how he kicked jellyfish butt.

Start of Session 18.

A little later...

At the Inn, everyone has eaten and is now hanging out in the tavern.  Zoltan and Wang have been drinking heavily

Out in the woods, it looks like it’s the right time.  Everything’s real quiet.  The plan is this:  Alahandra will fly across and tell Amio and Milo if the coast is clear.  Amio will swim across and Milo will try  to use his ring of Water Walking.  Milo offers his ring of swimming to Amio, but he doesn’t take; he thinks he can make it on his own.  Alahandra flies across and gives the OK.  Amio starts swimming and Milo starts walking over the water.  Milo is totally thrilled that he can walk on water, but he doesn’t notice the side effect that he is coming under.  Alahandra looks back to see if they are OK and notices that Milo looks really scary; he looks undead!  She can’t believe her eyes once he gets to the shore.  He has turned into an undead creature!  As Amio is swimming across, he looks up for a split second and sees Milo too.  He almost stops, but instead keeps going.  Once he gets there he asks, “What happened to you?!”  Milo isn’t totally sure but he figures it must be Wild Magic again.  He feels totally OK; he doesn’t feel like he is undead, so he suggests going on with the plan.  

For visual note, he looks like a Bodak.

Alahandra scouts up a little further, while the other two hang back in the woods.  She comes across an iron fence with a gate and two soldiers, a Gnome and a Human, on watch.  She approaches and is halted at the gate.  
Soldier1: “Who are you and what are you doing here?”
Alahandra: “I’m a fairy, and I’ve come to see the Temple.”
Soldier1:  “Where are you from?”
Alahandra: “I’m from the forest: from Fairyland.”
Soldier1:  “Why didn’t you come in from the town?” pointing to the town to the west.
Alahandra:  “I came from the other way!”
Soldier2:  “Hey, let’s kill it!”
Soldier1:  “No, man.  You need to leave now.”
Alahandra:  “Why?”
Soldier1:  “You shouldn’t be here.  Leave Now!” 
Soldier2:  “Yeah, it will be good for target practice!”
Alahandra:  “All right!  Screw You!”

As she turns around and flies back, the soldier fires at her but misses.  The other one then calls on the radio and asks for a scouting team.  She gets back and tells the others.  They consider sneaking into the town, but Amio said that he wouldn’t be able to swim that far.  They were getting ready to try and sneak past the guards when Amio sees two scouts, a Dwarf and a Human, coming to look for them.  The fairy decides to run a diversion while the other two hide.

Alahandra darts in front of the two soldiers and starts flying away from the gate and towards the town.  They try to follow but she is too erratic.  She then passes over a waterway, which they can’t cross, and into the town.  Her first instincts, though, are to find a place to sleep and not to find a way in for the other two.  She sees an Inn not far from where she is, which also has a lot of noise coming from it, so she decides to enter.  As soon as she flies in, she sees the rest of the group.  They all see her and yell out “The Fairy!”  Quickly they rejoice and start asking where the other two are.  She is totally thrilled to see that they aren’t in jail and then goes back to tell Milo and Amio the news. 

Milo has meanwhile thought of a plan:  They have seen the second wall and they can see the drawbridge, which allows movement between the garden and Frog Town.  Milo is going to use his ring of Climbing to climb up the wall, move along the top, then climb down the wall, and past the guards who are going to be distracted by Alahandra.  When Alahandra gets back, she informs them of the fate of the rest of the group.  Amio is a little suspicious, and not being part of the plan, decides to stay there.  Milo decides to continue with his plan and puts on his rings of Climbing and Feather Fall.  He climbs up the first wall with no problems, and makes his way down the length of the wall.  Then as he starts to climb down the wall over the drawbridge, he feels his climbing ability is gone and falls off.  Luckily, his Feather Fall activates.  But as soon as he start falling, a blade barrier appears right under him!  Somehow, by the time he lands, he totally avoids being hit by using his great reflexes, and he jumps right into the river.  The guards, and Alahandra, are just stunned looking at the blade barrier.  Milo swims to shore and gets to the other side of the water.  He sneaks through the gate right past the guards and he and Alahandra make their way into Frog Town.

They sneak their way through the buildings, not wanting to be seen.  It is late, so there aren’t too many people out, and as they approach the tavern, they can hear the activity inside.  Alahandra decides to go inside and warn everyone about Milo.  She goes in and tells everyone about Milo’s condition, but not everybody listens: Zoltan especially.  Zoltan, Wang and some of the locals have been drinking very heavily.  Then she goes and brings Milo in, as there are gasps from the whole room.  Milo says, “Hi, it's me. Milo!"  Just to be sure, Jhelai casts Detect Evil on him, and tells everyone that he is not evil, but all of a sudden Milo’s shadow start moving on it’s own and making obscene gestures.  Most people start laughing at Milo, and he gets a little confused.  Then, Zoltan notices the undead creature that just came in the door, and refuses to believe that it’s Milo.  Zoltan says, “What the Hell is That!?!?!?”  Everybody says, “It’s just Milo; don’t worry about it.”  “No it’s not!” Zoltan yells as he starts charging at the undead creature!  Milo is even more confused as he sees a drunken bull charging at him.  He aims his gun at him but doesn’t fire, and instead dodges out of the way as Zoltan goes right by him and out the door!

Milo is now a little unsure of the drunken Zoltan, so he moves as far away from the door as he can.  Nick is now a little pissed off at the buffoon, so he readies a Wall of Force spell to cast right in front of Zoltan in case he comes back in.  Sure enough, Zoltan slams the door open, scanning the room for the creature.  Nick fires it off, and Wild Magic takes it’s toll again; The wall doesn’t go off, and Nick, 5’5”, and Zoltan, 6’6”, then switch places with each other and are now wearing each other’s clothes!  Zoltan screams bloody murder!  Nick is wearing combat armor that is way too many sizes to large and Zoltan is busting out of Nick’s clothes.  That was not the problem though: Zoltan was wearing Nick’s magic rings now!

Zoltan pulls off Nick’s ring of Spell Storing and is about to destroy it.  Nick asks anybody for a gun so he can stop this imbecile, and Milo throws him a pistol.  Milo warns Zoltan to stop what he is doing or he will get shot!  Nick seconds the threat, but that doesn’t stop Zoltan.  He throws the ring on the floor and stomps on it with all his might!  Milo shoots him and gives him a minor flesh wound and Nick shoots at him and puts a hole in the wall.  This doesn’t seem to deter Zoltan, though, so Orendil rushes up and tries to grab him, but can’t get a hold on him.  Some of the bar maids run out the door screaming, while most of the other patrons and the bartender watch with zeal.  Zoltan tries again to break the ring, and Milo threatens him a second time.  This time, drunken Wang decides to get involved because they just shot his drinking buddy.  He staggers up and tries to throw Milo out the door and ends up throwing himself out the door!  Nick threatens Zoltan again, but can’t shoot because he doesn’t want to hit Orendil.  Nick then announces that he will cast everything he’s got to stop Zoltan, and everybody scrambles.  Syd gets ready to back Nick up, and Alahandra starts flying over to give Zoltan a piece of her mind!  Finally, Orendil gets a hold of Zoltan, and he starts calming down.  He gives up fighting except he pulls the other ring off and beams it at Nick, who is rushing over to protect his magic rings.  They quickly start exchanging clothes as the remaining bar maids start giggling.  

When they finally get all their clothes on and everything else is settled, Zoltan turns to Nick and says slowly, “If you ever cast magic on me again, you won’t live to cast again.”  Nick returns Zoltan’s stare and with a sneer says, “I’ll be watching you!”  The battle of wills had begun.  Alahandra, hearing Zoltan’s threat, flew up to Zoltan and kicked him in the back.  He returns the favor by spinning around and trying to swat her to the floor but misses.  She gets really angry and casts Fairy Fire on him and instead teleports 50 feet away as Zoltan laughs.  As she’s coming back, 5 town guards enter the tavern.  Milo hides and Nick puts his hand over the blaster hole in the wall, trying to look nonchalant.  They ask if everything is OK and the bartender just laughs.  The guards leave, and Zoltan walks up to the bar and thanks the bartender for his good sense of humor.  Zoltan orders a round of drinks for everybody in the bar and gets a room for the night.  Everybody else just tries to calm down.  Alahandra gets back, and stays away from Zoltan.  Outside, Wang finally gets up and, feeling embarrassed, he staggers off to another bar.  He ends up right back at the same tavern, but he doesn’t realize it for 30 minutes.  People start retiring for the night to get ready for tomorrow.

The Next day...

A little at a time, everyone comes down and gets some breakfast.  Milo, thankfully, doesn’t look strange anymore, but his shadow still has a mind of its own.  Jhelai and Nick say they are going to visit the Temple and most everyone else decides to join them.  All of the drow techs, except for the Lieutenant, decide to stay behind and inspect their equipment.  Zoltan says he is going to go fishing and he’ll see everyone later.  After breakfast, everyone else proceeds to the Temple.

Zoltan goes back to the Fur Store and buys a wolf skin cape and tries to find a way to wear it.  Then he goes to the pier and buys some fishing gear.  While there, he asks one of the locals about the city, the walls and the guards.  He really didn’t have any clue.  Then, Zoltan asked about the people being led from the boats, and the local said that Slavery is a big industry in this town.  They have slave auctions up in the town often.  Zoltan asked who needs all of these slaves and the local didn’t know.  So, he proceeded to the pier and tried his luck at fishing.  As long as he didn’t see any jellyfish, he would be able to get some long needed rest and relaxation.

Everyone walking to the Temple soon got to see Milo’s aftermath from the night before; The Blade Barrier was still up and the guards weren’t letting anyone through.  The guards suggested taking the ferry.  They go down to the piers and find a ferry that quickly transports them over to the Garden.  While walking through the garden and soaking up the scenery, they hear a whisper; it is Amio, and he is hiding in the Garden and watching and waiting.  They tell him to stay put, and continue on to the Temple.  When they get there, a priest meets them and they tell him what they want.  The priest tells them that it is healing time, and anyone who wants to get healing can come in; everyone else will have to wait a little while.  

Orendil and Milo proceed into the Temple and they see some priests attending to some of the locals up by the altar.  As they approach, one of the priests asks them what they need.  Orendil goes first and he is directed to another priest off to the right.  Here, Orendil tells the priest of his loss.  The priest understands and proceeds to cast a Restore Level spell.  It works, but all of a sudden, four different colored balls appear and start flying around the priests head.  Orendil, dodging the flying balls, is very grateful to him and starts to back away, as he is a little confused.  The priest is quite a spectacle; so one of the locals goes up to him and starts asking about what is going on.  He is then hit by the Green Ball, which flies right through him and leaves him and all his clothes very Green.

Now that everyone has seen what the balls do, they are very wary.  Milo goes up to him and asks him to fix his shadow, which is still making obscene gestures.  The priest tries to cast something, but it doesn’t work; instead, in a 30-foot radius around the priest, shrubberies start growing out of the floor.  Milo gets even more wary of this guy and walks out to the front to meet Orendil and everyone else.  The other priests dismiss everyone and start trying to remove the plants before the next service.

Outside, another priest approaches and offers a tour for anyone interested in the Order of the Frog.  Alahandra sneaks into Nick’s backpack, as Syd, Nick, Jhelai, Milo and the Drow Lieutenant accept the offer.  They do a tour where they see the Temple and the Training Facilities.  They are then led into a meeting room on the second floor of the Temple.  The priest then explains the Way of the Frog and what it entails.  The Drow Lieutenant does a scan of the priest when he is not looking, and she determines that he is not human.  She whispers this to Nick who tries not to react noticeably.  Milo then asks about the slaves and how they fit into the Way.  The priest says that the slaves are there for testing, so Milo asks if there are any female Halflings while his shadow makes a particularly lewd gesture.  The priest said he didn’t know, and he was starting to get impatient.  He asked if anyone would be willing to join the order, adding that if they didn’t want to then they can leave, as he is a busy man.  All but Nick seemed disinterested in the priest’s offer, so he tells them to leave.  Nick wants to infiltrate the Order but he says he will think about it till tomorrow, so the priest escorts him out and says to come back tomorrow if he wants to join.

The group starts heading back, as they discuss what they have learned.  G’Banrak gets very angry when she hears about the slaving of her people; she wants to do something about it.  They tell Amio to stay put and take the ferry back to the other side, as the Blade Barrier is still in effect.  They see Zoltan at the pier, and he actually has a half-dozen fish.  They walk back to the Inn, Zoltan gives his fish to the Keeper and they go to one of the larger rooms upstairs to discuss things.  Most of the party wants to leave the town and continue on the original mission.  G’Banrak is extremely pissed because she wants to get to the bottom of this and stop the slavery.  A couple of the others, like Nick, want to stay to investigate the Order further.  Zoltan wants to get his weapons back, and he doesn’t think that they can use the vans to get up to the City of the Gods.  Milo wants to see if they can get them fixed.  Milo also wants to buy a slave to see if they would join us.  Almost as soon as he says this, there is a knock on the door.  Syd answers it and a servant says that they are wanted downstairs immediately.  

As they get downstairs, they are greeted by many guards and a Two Frog Officer.  The Officer reports that of the scouting team that went out to Boggy Bottom, only one returned, and he seemed a little crazy.  He spoke of the town being destroyed with half of the buildings gone and no people, living or dead.  The Drow Lieutenant offered up the videos of the scenery for viewing, and Zoltan told a quick rundown of the events.  The Officer asked what they did in response and why they were there in the first place.  They repeated what they said yesterday, and were asked, again, why they said they were tourists.  The group, getting a little frustrated at the same questions, finally asked about the guy on the radio.  All the Officer said was that he would deal with the radio man.  Then, he added that they the group was not to leave the city until this incident was fully investigated.  Protesting, Milo asked to see St. Steve.  Maybe, came the reply.  As the Officer was leaving, Zoltan finally asked the question he has wanted to ask since he got here:

Zoltan: “I have a quick question: Why do you have so many Guards here?”
Milo: “Zoltan! Shhh!”
Zoltan: “Why do you have such artillery and weaponry if all you are doing here is fending off crocs?”
Syd: “Zoltan!”
Zoltan: “Either your crocs are 3 stories tall...”
Everyone: “ZOLTAN!”
Zoltan: “Or you are hiding something!”

The Officer said nothing, but shot a steely look at Zoltan as he walked out with the guards following.


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## Caliber (Dec 8, 2002)

That's Zoltan for you. A rabble rouser to the last. 

You have no idea just how funny Wang's little trip with the guards were. Understand we had never seen him in battle yet. He hadn't managed to act during the fight with the Cistern Fiend and with the surrendering, we hadn't seen much combat other than that.

Of particular note was his great cowardice. First his insistance that he can't swim. Then when the floating jellyfish attack and he jumps in the water, the insistance that he can as the guards try to haul him back in the boat. Best of all, he manages to get paralyzed right away by a jellyfish.

And then of course he critcally misses in the barfight and managed to throw HIMSELF out of the bar! We obviously never let him live that down.

The Frog Temple continues to act more and more suspiciously. Some of the party wanted to just ditch the whole thing and leave. They weren't our mission after all. 

But at the same time, most of the party either 1) wanted the weapons and stuff they had turned over back or 2) wanted to topple the evil orginization that was enslaving G'Banrak's planet. Or of course, some wanted both.

Wild Magic played a larger and larger factor in Session 17 and 18, and it continued to play more and more of a role in the coming sessions as well. It defintely gets worse from here on in.

Note that out of all of us, Amio was one of the most obviously armed. Heavy armor, several large weapons, etc ... 

Thats why he never really joined up with us. Too conspicuous. After all, no one suspects three humans, an elf, a halfling, a bunch of drow and a fairy right? Right? Hello?


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## Gez (Dec 9, 2002)

I continue to like the story. It's great and interesting. It's also frequently weird, but that's part of the fun. 

Wild magic seems to be a curse following Milo. He's always in the vicinity when wild effects happen. Nothing special happened with the raising of Jhelai, and the frog clerics were obviously surprised by the wild effects. Maybe you should try to see what happens when casting spells far away (a couple kilometers, maybe) from Milo. 

Zoltan deserve a fan club...


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## Caliber (Dec 9, 2002)

I think the story mentioned that the High Frog Priest guy used some sort of device to raise Jhelai from the dead. What it might not have mentioned was that the device was blantantly NOT magical. So no Wild Magic there.

As to your other questions, in fact we did think of that as you will see later on. Unfortunetly, our problems were too many at the time to worry with the Wild Magic. 

Soon though that will all change ...  

Oh, by the way, I just updated the roster sheet to reflect Jhelai's brand spankin new staus as Living! Just FYI, ya know?


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## Gez (Dec 10, 2002)

Caliber said:
			
		

> *I think the story mentioned that the High Frog Priest guy used some sort of device to raise Jhelai from the dead. What it might not have mentioned was that the device was blantantly NOT magical. So no Wild Magic there.*




Sure, that may be pointless. However, they are a bunch of clerics, so they cast spells frequently as it's what clerics do, and they were surprised by the wild effect. They also have probably healed othe people during that healing day before Milo and co. came to the temple, without strangeness.

It may be worth re-reading the previous sessions to guess why and when Milo (I'm sure it's him) was "cursed".


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## md3 (Dec 10, 2002)

*Wild Magic*

It was plain to see that the clerics healed others that day.

It is also plain to see that David has forehand info.  The adventure is much further along now.

Later,
Manuel

http://dragonstar.xocomp.net


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## Caliber (Dec 10, 2002)

Double Post. Oops.


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## Caliber (Dec 10, 2002)

Gez said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Sure, that may be pointless. However, they are a bunch of clerics, so they cast spells frequently as it's what clerics do, and they were surprised by the wild effect. They also have probably healed othe people during that healing day before Milo and co. came to the temple, without strangeness.
> 
> It may be worth re-reading the previous sessions to guess why and when Milo (I'm sure it's him) was "cursed". *




The fact that the priests continued to deny having experienced any Wild Magic until the party showed up pretty much hammered home that we were causing it. We had never really sat down and discussed it but we started to after this Session. 

It defintely was put pretty high on our, "Check Out" list. Especially for Syd and Nick.


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## Caliber (Dec 17, 2002)

The party was disheartened. Sure Colonel Antiphiphia had imprisoned them, but even then the situation hadn’t seemed so hopeless.

Morosely sitting in the bar, Syd drank with Wang in solitude at a different table than the rest of his companions. Both felt the need to alone for their own reasons. Syd suspected Wang was still too embarrassed to sit with everyone after his display of martial prowess last night, but silently kept his reflection to himself.

At another table across the bar …

Nick took a small sip of ale and grimaced in distaste. Silently he wondered how anyone could drink such swill. More so, how could anyone be willing to travel with such a dangerous and deluded mad man as this Zoltan obviously was?

Suddenly feeling inspired, Nick whispered a few words of power into his beer, nonchalantly drawing a small rune on the bar with his finger.

All of a sudden, with a loud explosion, Zoltan’s boots exploded! Everyone at the table jumped back as they felt a flash of heat and force at their feet.

Even more amazing, the remains of them began to give off an eerie sound that could only be described as … crying! Zoltan’s boots were crying in pain!

“What is this!?! Who is using this magic crap against me! Who’s doing it!?!”

Nick concealed a self-satisfied smile as everyone avowed innocence. Not knowing where to direct his anger, Zoltan stomped up to his room, leaving his ruined, crying boots to wail out their soles in the bar below.

The next day was when it was first noticed they were missing. 

Dru and Skorg, the high elf and the half-orc, were missing. Even more importantly (so the drow claimed) one of their own was missing as well. 

Slowly it was worked out that each of the missing had left alone to investigate one thing or another. None of them had returned. 

Galvanized into action, everyone sat down to discuss what they knew, and what they had to do. In short order, it was realized that what everyone knew was next to nothing. Alahandra, Milo, G’Banrak, and Jhelai all volunteered to scout out the base, and despite vague apprehensions among everyone else, as soon as dark fell the four left.

Outside they quickly separated to their tasks. Sensing that now was a time that Amio could be used, and not wanting to leave anyone alone, Milo had volunteered to go and fetch him back to the group. Earlier Amio’s bristling arsenal of weaponry made him to conspicuous to enter into the town peacefully, but at the suggestion of Orendil, Milo had borrowed Alahandra’s bag of holding in order to conceal Amio’s guns and sneak him in without incident.

Alahandra herself was planning on flying about the Temple of the Frog’s complex, in order to get a general idea on defensive positions and possibly guard allocations and movements.

Jhelai and G’Banrak both planned on investigating some of the other establishments in Frog Town, hoping to find some information on where the missing could be. 

Alahandra flittered up and was off in a blur, already scouting about. By the moonlight she made out heavily entrenched reinforcements. In fact, just north of Frog Town, past another guarded gate, was what seemed to be a large military base, at least double the size of Frog Town. Barracks were situated about, and Alahandra flew dangerously close to several windows hoping to get a rough estimate of the number of soldiers at the Temple of the Frogs command.

More disheartening, it seemed that the military base was walled in, just like the Temple complex, the garden, and Frog City itself. Worse, all of the walls were studded with turrets, large and small. The hope that the turrets that destroyed the vans were the only ones here was quickly squashed.

Meanwhile, sneaking about, Milo had rather quickly discovered that the blade barrier he had created was still in existence. Deciding that he would have to find another way to the garden, he briefly contemplated trying to swim across but quickly dismissed that idea. 

Instead, he slowly crept up to the other gate leading out of Frog Town, the one that (unknown to Milo) led to a military base teeming with soldiers. Hefting a small handful of rocks, Milo managed to distract the guards at the gate long enough to sneak past them and enter the base itself.

Directly past the gate, Milo quickly began creeping to the other exit gate from this area, hoping it led to the garden complex. Suddenly, he stopped as he realized the pen in front of him contained the slaves of the Temple.

Moving slowly into the moonlight, Milo tried to see if anyone he recognized lay within the slave pens, but the shifting slaves and scant light made it difficult to distinguish one slave from another. 

Moving forward, Milo called one of the slaves over to the bars. A young man approached, peering fearfully out at what must have been mostly shadow to him.

“Who are you and what are you doing in there?”

“I don’t know. I was walking outside when something hit me over the head. Next thing I know, I’m here with everyone else. Will you free us?”

“I can’t free you now, but I will come back for you. Just wait patiently.”

“Wait! You can’t just leave us! Free us! Free us now!”

Attracted by the slaves’ shouts for freedom the other slaves quickly began crowding against the bars, likewise yelling for release. Surprised by their response, Milo quickly faded deeply into the shadows as several guards rushed over to silence the slaves. 

Brutally efficient, the slaves were quickly silenced and Milo sneaked off in the confusion. 

Back in Frog Town, Jhelai had already been to several of the bars and taverns that made up a large portion of Frog Town. Fearing his questions would fail to earn him any answers, when a waitress at the Flaming Manticore bent low and whispered in his ear.

“When I walk upstairs, follow me up.”

The waitress walked away and continued waiting tables, until eventually she found time for a break and moved upstairs to the guest rooms.

Dropping some credits on the table, Jhelai followed after her and was soon dragged into her room. Hastily she slipped a ring into his palm, closing it about the strange circular piece of metal. 

“My father was left that ring by his father, who was a High Priest in the Temple of the Frog. My father told me that it was some kind of key before he sold me into slavery. If your friends have disappeared around here, they are at the Temple. I hope you can find them and escape this place.”

Smiling slightly, the waitress quickly excused herself and left Jhelai wondering at his luck. If the other three fared as well as he, they would all be free in no time at all.

Alahandra, however, was unfortunately not as lucky. Having been spotted by a patrolling guard as she peered into one of the barracks’ windows, Alahandra quickly took flight as several shots rang out behind her. Dodging away from the gunfire, Alahandra quickly flew back to the inn, no longer wishing to try her luck. Tired, exhausted, but not seriously hurt, Alahandra began to brief those who had remained behind on the layout of the entire complex.

During this Milo had made his way through yet another gate, this one leading from the Temple’s military base to the garden. He stopped momentarily at the sound of gunfire behind him, but realizing there was nothing he could do, moved on.

In the garden he paused. During the day, Milo had barely even paid attention the garden. But now, at night, he realized just how scary the garden really was, especially considering the all pervasive croaking of frogs. It sounded as if there were a thousand in the small pond in the center of the garden. Nonetheless, Milo had to retrieve Amio, and strode into the shadowed walkways of the garden.

Moving towards Amio’s hiding space, Milo suddenly jumped back as something shot out from the small pond towards him. Drawing forth his blaster carbine, Milo sent a blast back at the source of the attack. The brief flash of light illuminated a large frog in the shape of a man, whose tongue was even now snapping back into his mouth. Even worse though, were the many others slowing rising from the pond around him.

Realizing the odds were against him, Milo began to run, firing shots off behind him as he moved. Suddenly a rock shifted under his foot and Milo nearly lost his footing. Instead, he lost his blaster. Hearing it hit the ground and bounce once, Milo winced imagining the delicate internal electronics. Hearing it splash into the pond, Milo wondered whether he would make it back to his friends in the bar.

Racing forward at full halfling speed, Milo still couldn’t outdistance the frogmen. Several began jumping after him, croaking in what Milo imagined was some kind of language. 

Suddenly, several leaped over Milo and blocked his way forward. More raced up behind him, blocking escape. 

Never being one to fear Wild Magic, Milo mentally activated his boots of jumping. Bending his knees Milo leaped for the heavens. And left his boots on the ground behind him. 

Milo had jumped over the frogmen, and surprised them in the process, but he had lost his boots of jumping. No time to worry about them now, however. Quickly Milo began running forward again. 

The frogs were fast behind him, ribbiting in fury. Not having time to thing overlong, Milo had completely forgotten about Amio. So he was completely shocked when the well-armored drow burst out of the bushes ahead of him and fired several rounds into the group of frogmen. 

Pulling Milo into the bushes, Amio and Milo hid as the other frogmen pasted by. Milo quickly learned that Amio had seen several of these frogmen in the past days. Apparently the guards occasionally brought slaves into the gardens to feed to the frogs. Figuring Milo for another slave, Amio had only stepped out on his behalf when he recognized the little halfling. 

Milo likewise explained the plan for getting Amio into Frog Town. Amio was very reluctant to let his guns go, although he would agree to it if Milo would give him the bag of holding. 

Deciding to stay in the garden for the rest of the night and catch the ferry first thing tomorrow, Amio and Milo laid back in the bushes and attempted to get what sleep they could.

Next morning at the bar, everyone was in shambles. G’Banrak had never returned from the night before, nor had Milo. And much worse (so the drow claimed) Ao, one of their technicians, had wandered out looking to buy a pair of rabbit fur boots like Zoltan had recently purchased (in order to replace his destroyed ones.) Like G’Banrak and Milo, Ao had also seemingly vanished into thin air. 

Everyone was already preparing to storm out when Amio and Milo strolled in the doors. Gathering around one of the bigger tables, Milo explained what had happened, with Amio occasionally interjecting what had happened to him in the past couple of days. 

With G’Banrak and Ao still missing, Jhelai and Wang volunteered to look for them while everyone else tried to figure out what to do regarding the Temple and its considerable evil acts. 

Jhelai and Wang quickly began searching through Frog Town, asking if anyone had seen G’Banrak or Ao. Few leads were found regarding Ao, yet no one had apparently forgotten the very memorable G’Banrak.

Jhelai and Wang followed her trail to a bordello by the docks of Frog Town. After lacing the barkeep’s hands with a few credits, he suggested that perhaps she had found a new life as a slave. 

Jhelai and Wang looked at one another, both forming the own conclusions. Discretely inquiring about fees and services available, both of them were directed to talk to the women upstairs. 

Moving upstairs, both were confronted by a small squat man. Eyeing them both up and down, he quickly began running down a list of services and their prices. 

Jhelai and Wang quickly felt themselves beginning to get flustered. Hastily stopping the man and the pair nearly stumbled over one another in the haste to ask for a girl of G’Banrak’s description. The man paused for a moment, then shook his head. 

“No girls like that up here.”

Jhelai and Wang excused themselves before heading back downstairs. The man who ran the brothel denied having seen G’Banrak, yet the barkeep had told them she was a slave now. Surely she was upstairs. Deciding that they would have to make sure by themselves, Jhelai and Wang marched back upstairs and requested a room with one of the girls.

Paying out several hundred credits, Jhelai and Wang were led to a room, wherein they found a scantily clad female. Approaching the pair, she eyed them up and down, and then asked what they wished to do.

Stammering, Wang quickly excused himself and left Jhelai alone in the room. Moving away, Wang managed to find the entrance into the peepshow areas. Quickly moving through the shows, Wang paused to catch an eyeful here and there, just to make sure he wasn’t looking at G’Banrak. 

He had only managed to take in a few of the shows, however, when Jhelai raced from the room and caught him. 

“Your turn in there friend!” Jhelai said with a somewhat wild look in his eyes. Pushing Wang back into the room, the paladin gave a slight shiver as he began reluctantly looking through the peepshows, searching for G’Banrak. 

Finally, sickened at the sins he had witnessed, Jhelai strode back to Wang and pulled him out of the room they had both purchased. Tossing the squat pimp a few more credits, they hurried outside where Jhelai hastily breathed a faint prayer to his God.

Moving back to the bar, the pair quickly recounted their story, leaving out the more embarrassing portions. When they mentioned that G’Banrak might be a slave, Milo quickly pointed out that she might be among the prisoners in the fenced in corral. 

While the info Wang and Jhelai found had been useful, it had really only confirmed suspicions and fears, rather than actually bringing any new information to light. And so the debate began about what to do in the Temple. Any chance of leaving peacefully, without the weapons was quickly eliminated by the kidnapping of G’Banrak and the others. However, exactly how to rescue the captured ones quickly turned into a full on argument, and slowly began escalating towards a shouting match. No resolution was being reached at all until Syd suggested appointing a leader. Quieting down everyone apparently agreed.

“All this discussing is worthwhile, but G'Banrak may not have much
time. We really need to decide QUICKLY on a single, coherent plan for
taking out the temple gang, AND have someone who calls the shots on the fly
when things start going wrong, as they always do. Syd's the genius here;
why don't we let him lead this mission?” suggested Milo.

Orendil quickly backed him up. “The situation demands immediate action, and I’ll defer to Syd’s planning skills.”

Everyone turned to Zoltan, sensing that if anyone would object to Syd’s leadership it would be him.

“I should lead! All you magical fools will do is get us in trouble!” But then Zoltan paused for a moment. If he led, he’d be responsible for commanding a number of magic users. He couldn’t have that …

“On second thought, someone else can lead. But don’t think I'm gonna take any orders from ya! If I don’t agree with what you want to do, I’m doing my own thing!”

Accepting that that was very likely the closest to a nice word he would ever hear from Zoltan, Syd quickly began devising a plan. But first, he wished to go see the officer who had visited just a few days ago. 

Marching to the gate, Syd and Orendil demanded entrance into the military compound and after a few moments, attained it.

Going to the barracks, Syd was forced to continue alone as he walked through narrow corridors towards the officer's room. 

There he knocked and entered, only to be met by a somewhat blank faced officer. Seeing a lack of recognition, Syd explained who he was. Still the officer failed to remember anything about Syd or his companions. Mentioning the officer’s visit to the bar just a few days before, Syd continued to only get a blank faced stare. Finally mentioning the large creatures marauding across the countryside, Syd was disgusted that the officer remained steadfast in his claimed amnesia. Leaving the barracks, Syd walked back to everyone else. The officer would be no help. There were no other options available. 

“Its obvious the Temple means to leave us here and pick us off one by one. If we do nothing I doubt there will be one of us left by the end of the week. 
Obviously their barracks area is too well protected and staffed for any kind of assault. We have to hit the temple itself. I suggest we all enter and eliminate our guide in order to be able to roam the temple freely. We should go to pray, or perhaps receive healing again. Once inside we can try to find Saint Steven and find out what is really going on within the Temple.
If they are truly feeding slaves to these frogmen, we cannot let them continue. At the most extreme we can use Zoltan's explosives to level a few buildings while we make our escape. We need to try to avoid taking on the entire base at once, however, so something a little less obvious would be preferred.” 
Quickly everyone set into discussing the actual tactical considerations for the battle to come. One thing was for certain. At dawn the Temple would burn.


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## Caliber (Dec 17, 2002)

Sorry about being kinda late. Lets just say I had some interesting computer problems ...

Anyway, this session was a lot of fun. Wang and Jhelai in the bordello was priceless, to say the least. Especially with Jhelai and Wang, two guys whose personalities are quite different (Wang is a drunked brawler, Jhelai a reformed Paladin)

Milo had horrible luck, losing both his gun AND his boots. Defintely not his day. At least he kept his life.

For those who remember, we had just recently added 3 new players to our group, and the table was becoming crowded. Even basic descisions were begining to take forever to hammer out. So everyone decided to elect Syd (me! mwahaha!) as the leader to hopefully streamline our dealings.

We'll see how well that works out soon ...

Anyway, I doubt I will get a post out for next week (with Christmas and all) but we will see.

Merry Christmas everyone!


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## seasong (Dec 17, 2002)

Merry Christmas . I finally got through the pages of posts. Cool, weird story.


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## Caliber (Dec 17, 2002)

seasong said:
			
		

> *Cool, weird story. *




I don't think I've ever heard a more apt description of our campaign.


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## pogre (Dec 19, 2002)

> Anyway, this session was a lot of fun.




This whole campaign looks like a lot of weird fun. Enjoyed reading the story very much. Have a great holiday.


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## Kosh (Mar 16, 2003)

Bump...


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## Caliber (Mar 17, 2003)

You know, its funny you should bump this thread now.

After roughly three months of hiatus, we just started up our DragonStar campaign again and boy was the first session great!

Since at least one person (thanks Kosh!) still reads this stuff, I'll see what I can do to catch ya up.


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## Gez (Mar 17, 2003)

Great news!


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## Caliber (Mar 19, 2003)

Syd’s plan was well accepted, but as had become standard, everyone had a bit to add. 

“If we all go at the temple together, I think we have a good chance of taking it. It may be well guarded from the outside, but I saw few guards within. 

We need to get inside and bar the doors as quickly as possible, while whatever guards found within are taken care of. Someone else will have to take care of the priests, preferably without shooting them.

I don’t think the guards are being mind-controlled, and I don’t see how eliminating a few priests will help free the slaves. I’m only agreeing with this plan because we are in obvious danger. Self-preservation and justice are my motivators, and I don’t see killing priests helping with either goal.”

And, as had become standard, everyone’s bit became a lot more rather quickly.

“I think you underestimate the priests,” Milo interjected. “Even with this Wild Magic field disrupting their spells, they are still very dangerous. Or have you forgotten the Blade Storm that is still blocking the first bridge across?

And anyway, these are priests of a religion that feeds slaves to frogs. None of them are truly innocent.

I do think we should have a backup plan though. What if they aren’t doing any healing today?”

Seeing where this was headed, Syd quickly broke in.

“Instead of asking for healing, lets simply ask to join the Temple of the Frog. They seemed happy to let us in last time. As for the priests, we can’t leave them behind without proof that they are noncombatants. They have to be taken out.”

Lieutenant Val of the drow immediately agreed (which worried Syd to no end) and most other discussion quickly died out. Except for one thing …

“Hey Amio, buddy! How about you let me borrow one of those firearms you’ve got there!” quipped Zoltan, nodding towards the three assault blasters strapped to Amio’s back. 

One had already been loaned to Orendil. And Amio apparently wanted to keep a spare.

“Well, Amio, I hope you’re as good a shot as you make yourself out to be! I don’t know why you are keeping two weapons for yourself, but I’m the best shot in this party! When the tide turns against us, don’t be surprised if I grab that other rifle from you and really show you how to shoot!”

Jumping up from the table, Amio merely snarled at Zoltan. Throwing the rifle he had promised Orendil on the table, he turned and stormed out. 

Everyone else sat in stunned silence. That had NOT been a good development.


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## Caliber (Mar 19, 2003)

A little teaser. 

Lets just say losing Amio had not been a good thing. And Zoltan STILL didn't have a gun.

Why exactly Amio wouldn't part with a gun was unknown to us, although our guns are somewhat shoddily made. 

Also note that I cut out a lot of discussion. Even after nominating Syd as the group's leader, deliberating between different characters STILL took quite a while. But we finally chose a path. 

And ... er ... well SOMETHING burned. If only it had been the Temple ...


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## pogre (Mar 19, 2003)

Man, is it ever great to see this zaniness cranked up again! Looking forward to the next update!

Edit: PS - change your sig.


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## Gez (Mar 19, 2003)

pogre said:
			
		

> *Man, is it ever great to see this zaniness cranked up again! Looking forward to the next update! *




I echo that comment !

By the way, I wonder when the "sort of" comment will get justified. Or, in other word, when Zoltan will make the death star blow up ! (I'm sure he would love to, as long as noone tell him to use the Force.)


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## Caliber (Mar 19, 2003)

pogre said:
			
		

> *Man, is it ever great to see this zaniness cranked up again! Looking forward to the next update!
> 
> Edit: PS - change your sig. *




Good to see you here! Thanks for the reminder ... I knew I had forgot something.


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## Caliber (Mar 19, 2003)

Gez said:
			
		

> *
> 
> I echo that comment !
> 
> By the way, I wonder when the "sort of" comment will get justified. Or, in other word, when Zoltan will make the death star blow up ! (I'm sure he would love to, as long as noone tell him to use the Force.) *




I wish we could fight a Death Star. For some reason, I think we may have to go through Cthulhu first ...


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## md3 (Mar 22, 2003)

*Continuing Campaign*

Caliber, I didn't know the story wasn't up to date here.

Anyway, keep up the good work.  Try to catch these people up.  

I doubt you guys will meet Cthulhu.  

Later,
Manny


Warning Spoilers .....
Our DragonStar Site


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## pogre (Mar 28, 2003)

*Never Ignore a Direct DM Order!*



			
				md3 said:
			
		

> *Caliber, I didn't know the story wasn't up to date here.
> 
> Anyway, keep up the good work.  Try to catch these people up.
> 
> ...



This looks like it came from your Game Master - never ignore a Game Master's suggestion!


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## Caliber (Mar 28, 2003)

If I never mentioned it, md3 is my fine sadistic bast ... err ... Game Master!

I haven't been ignoring everyone, indeed, I've been working on the next post. I'm looking at a weekend update, but looking at my past track record with dead-lines (that record being NEVER keeping them) I didn't want to mention anything. 

And he says we won't be fighting Cthulhu. Only because he kills us before we get there though.


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## pogre (Apr 4, 2003)

What about this weekend?


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## Caliber (Apr 6, 2003)

Ask and ye shall receive.  

I'm working on an update right now, which you can expect tomorrow. But heres a teaser. 



> As Zoltan's blaster shot ripped through Syd's back, Syd screamed out in pain.
> 
> Collapsing to the floor, he wondered where everything had gone wrong. _It had all been that damned halfling's fault,_ he thought as his lifeblood flowed onto the floor.
> 
> _No, that's not right. It really all began this morning with Nick ... _


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## Caliber (Apr 7, 2003)

As Zoltan's blaster shot ripped through Syd's back, Syd screamed out in pain. 

Collapsing to the floor, he wondered where everything had gone wrong. It had all been that damned halfling's fault, he thought as his lifeblood flowed onto the floor. 

No, that wasn’t right. It really had all began this morning with Nick ...


Nick and Syd sat at a table in the mostly empty bar. Today was the day. Everything had been decided. Once the sun rose, the party would set off for war. 

Meanwhile, the mages reviewed their spells. 

Suddenly, looking away from his spellbook, Nick muttered “Ya know, none of these are going to help us much if the magic is still misbehaving.”

Syd and Nick knew there was no if about it. Each could still feel the almost oily feel of the magic around them. Even the simplest of spells would twist and struggle against them. It was horrifying. 

“Even with the magic acting up we can still do some good. Don’t forget that Blade Barrier Milo constructed with his ring. In the middle of a battle, such magics could be useful,” Syd countered. 

“But that’s just random chance! The magic follows OUR will, not we its.”

“It isn’t the best option. But it’s the only one I think we have. Until we can find out what’s wrong with the magic, I think our best chance at survival is to simply trust in the magic and let our spells loose.”

“Do you truly think it is the best course?” Nick asked, sighing dejectedly. 

“I do. If we are to provide any help at all, we will have to risk the Wild Magic.” Both wizards barely suppressed a shudder at the word. Wild Magic. It was to be feared. 

The rest of the party woke, and after one final check, set out for the Temple. Amio had yet to return, and the loss of his guns seriously affected the group’s survival chances. But it could not be put off any longer. 

The Blade Barrier was still spinning madly, blocking access across the bridge into the garden area. 

So instead they rented a small boat and traveled across the waters to the dock by the garden. Moving through, Milo stepped cautiously around the pond in the center where he had encountered the vicious frogmen. 

Stepping forward, Syd announced to the guards at the Temple that he and his companions were all ready to join the Order. Opening the large doors, the guards quickly summoned a guide. A bustling priest of Temple quickly bundled up and began to lead them into the Temple. 

Zoltan and Milo glanced at one another, and nodded. Drawing their guns, they quickly began leveling shots into the guides back. The drow scientists, being unused to combat, froze at the last second. 

Seeing this, Wang spun about and slammed a bar across the Temple doors, locking the group in with the priests. 
Spinning about, the robe of the guide shredded apart, revealing heavy combat armor underneath, and a holstered blaster rifle. Which he quickly whipped out, and proceeded to fire repeatedly into the group. 

Expecting one of the drow to kick in the door Milo had identified as a guardroom, Orendil and Jhelai paused expectantly in front of it. There were no drow coming …

Syd began to incant the words of magic, but even as he said them they turned and twisted about. His spell grounded harmlessly into him, creating a magical luminescence that quickly lit up the entire room. 

About to help, Nick noticed a halfling guard sitting in one of the pews toward the end of the Temple. Already he was beginning to move, ducking down behind the pews. The few other Temple goers were quickly scattering, and running to the ends of the room. 

Realizing there were no drow to help, Orendil leveled a kick squarely at the guard door. Stifling a curse, he reached forward and opened the door. Jhelai fired into the room, filling it with lead as Orendil stepped back. 

Drawing his gun, Nick assumed cover and began firing towards the halfling guard. The halfling returned fire, and Nick realized he was hopelessly outmatched as multiple shots missed him by inches. 

Drawing a grenade, the guide tossed it towards the party, missing widely. Landing in the back, the grenade went off with a loud explosion, falling several of the drow. 

Several more shots from Zoltan and Milo finally managed to fall the guide, although both were seriously wounded from the fight. Turning their attention to the halfling guard, they quickly drew him out from behind the pews with their fire. 

Shots began to fly out from the guardrooms, but they had obviously been caught unprepared, and the shots flew wide. Orendil and Jhelai returned fire, but the guards had taken up heavily covered positions. 

Syd began to cast again, and struggled to keep the magic under control. At the last second he swore the magic had twisted from his grasp, but then ice began to form into a jagged shard before him, and then rocketed towards the halfling guard. It slashed into the halfling and exploded, leaving him looking unhurt. Syd gasped as pain shot through his body. 

Zoltan leveled his gun and fired several shots into the halfling guard. As Zoltan’s blaster shots ripped through Syd, he realized the Wild Magic had linked his life force to some form of protection for the halfling. As Wang ran up and began to level a series of blows into the halfling, Syd finally fell to the ground, his body broken and bleeding from Wang’s attack. The ring he wore on his finger flared suddenly, and a flickering illusion of his mother appeared above her son’s corpse, berating Syd for dying. 
A grenade burst out of the guardroom, killing more of the drow, and wounding everyone else even more. 

The halfling guard, realizing he wasn’t winning, began to retreat with Wang fast on his heels. Stepping from behind the pillar he had been hiding at, Nick threw a fireball towards the fleeing halfling’s form. The magic twisted, and suddenly Nick, Wang, the halfling guard, and a half-elf bystander suddenly found themselves teleported about, their positions exchanged. 
As the halfling guard fumbled with Nick’s clothing and possessions (which were now bundled about him) he activated Nick’s amulet, and the resulting flare of magic caused a stone golem to suddenly form from the ground. 

Zoltan and Milo spun about and finally brought the halfling guard down, now that he was deprived of armor. Jhelai and Orendil began tossing grenades back into the guardroom, and then suddenly slammed the door shut. A loud explosion sounded from within and then they released the door, it swung open into an empty room. 

The stone golem, following some instinctive instructions, began charging towards Wang swinging its fists. Grabbing a grenade from the halfling’s belt (which Wang was painfully wedged into) he pulled the pin and tossed it forward. His throw was short, however, and the grenade exploded directly in Nick’s face. Nick crumpled to the ground, covered in shrapnel and burn wounds. 
Entering into the empty guardroom, Orendil and Jhelai found two prisoners, a male and female. The woman merely cowered, too terrified to speak or even more. Once he realized Orendil and Jhelai were here to help though, the man grabbed a dead guard’s gun and began to don his armor. 
Alahandra flew back down to the party. She had seen at least one guard upstairs, and her keen hearing heard several guards behind other doors on the main floor.


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## Caliber (Apr 7, 2003)

Obviously, this combat did NOT go well for the party. That halfling was dynamite. I think he was something like a Ftr13/War7.  

The Wild Magic really wasn't on our side either (neither was Wang. Note that the first time hes ever really been effective in combat was when he was killing other PCs!)

Wild Magic did some funny things that weren't able to get into the write-up. For example, Nick not only enchanted a random object in a 2 mile radius as a Wand of Lightning Bolts, but he also changed all coin and currency in that area so that it had his face imprinted on it. 

Damn Wang!


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## pogre (Apr 7, 2003)

Man alive what Mayhem!

Your group must have been pretty desperate to be spell slinging in that environment.

great write up!


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## md3 (Apr 7, 2003)

*What about....*

Just to fill in a few gaps, Nick was hit multiple times by the Uber halfling's blaster bursts.

Wang had a struggle grappling with the halfling.  The drow lieutenant died almost instantly with the grenade burst.

Syd was the only one to know that Zoltan's shots were killing him.  

Nick tried to use conventional firearms but was out matched by the halfling.

Maybe I missed the line, but Alahandra flew up to see who were on the balconies above the fray.

Milo took multiple shots from the Guide and spent a good amount of time healing himself.  One reason he might have managed to live through it all.

Zoltan hurt Syd really bad.  Wang killed him.  Both were attacking the Uber Halfling.


------------
Meta-Gaming Notes/Questions:

Nick died by casting his spell, which caused a 4 way disjunction.  He ended up where a peasant was wearing the peasant's clothing.  The Uber-halfling ended up in Nick's clothing and in plain site of Milo and Zoltan.  Wang ended up in the halfling's armor, which damaged him as he busted out from the inside.  The peasant ended up in Wang's clothing.
Heading towards a door in this order
before the disjunction:
UH W P   ---- behind a column N
after the disjunction
W P N     -----behind a column UH

W = Wang
P = peasant
N = Nick
UH = Uber-Halfling

The stone golem appeared out of the column next to the UH and headed right towards Nick.  Wang tossed the grenade over the Peasant and Nick, but Nick was still caught in the blast.


Some spells appeared to work fine, but also caused wild magic effects.  Others just failed to work and caused wild magic effects.  



Wasn't Mandy playing Keith's character Nick?

This combat only lasted 4 rounds, 2.5 hours of gaming.

Later,
Manny


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## Caliber (Apr 7, 2003)

Unfortunetly, I missed Alahandra's actions in the combat until the very end. I meant to edit in something about her scouting out but ... uh ... oops. 

Defintely one of the deadliest 4 rounds of combat we've ever had (which is good, cause otherwise we'd all be dead!)


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## pogre (Apr 7, 2003)

> This combat only lasted 4 rounds, 2.5 hours of gaming.




My goodness! I can see why - the four-way disjunction made my head swim!

I really appreciate you filling us in with some of your meta gaming notes.

EDIT: If we keep posting on each other's SHs minutes apart others will accuse us of descending into the Hivemind


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## Caliber (Apr 7, 2003)

pogre said:
			
		

> * If we keep posting on each other's SHs minutes apart others will accuse us of descending into the Hivemind *




We are one. Err ... we mean two.  (I think we fooled them)


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## Gez (Apr 7, 2003)

Total chaos... Magical friendly fire... There was stuff for a TPK there !

The arcane casters probably would have been more useful staying at the inn -- or finding what caused the wild magic and eliminating this factor before going in. ("_Milo ? Hit a car and go scout fifty miles away in the north. Scramble !_")


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## Gez (Apr 28, 2003)

Bump.


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## Caliber (Apr 30, 2003)

I'm still around. Yay!

I have finals next week (and three projects due this week) Boo!

Once finals are over (not to mention this semester) I'm going to try the push to catch up again. It should be easy since our DragonStar game is going on hiatus again. 

I'm glad you guys like the story enough to bump it. Y'all keep me going.


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## pogre (Jun 25, 2003)

*Bumped*

Bumped for Rune's Bump an old story hour thread!


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## Caliber (Jun 26, 2003)

Oh sure. Bump my story hour and make *ME* do all the work. Yeah. That seems fair.  

Okay okay. So I guess I have some new readers (maybe) and it looks like I still have some old readers. I'll see if I can start writing again (my new job doesn't take *that* much time).


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## md3 (Jun 26, 2003)

*So far behind*

Caliber,

I didn't realize the Dragonstar story got so far behind.

I'm thinking about taking this whole story and making an MP3 out of it and posting it on our site.

Later,
md3

Spoiler
http://dragonstar.xocomp.net


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## Caliber (Feb 5, 2004)

I don't know how many of you are still out there following this story hour, but 
I thought I should post this. 

Tonight, the DragonStar campaign depicted here tragically ended with a TPK (although the Computer TOLD us we would fail so its not THAT suprising ...)

I despair at ever being caught up, since the story hour is many MANY sessions behind. I originally stopped writing it for school, and with the gaps between game and story ever increasing I never found enough motivation to take it back up, even during breaks. 

However, the last session of the campaign was so spectacular that I feel compelled to at least compose it into a story hour form. Partly because two of our players were missing for that game, but also simply because as the last session, is should go down in posterity.

I'm writing to ask if anyone out there is still interested, and if so, would you like to see the last session posted here? I'll include a run down of what has happened since my last post so you aren't TOO lost, but I will not be going into nearly as much detail as I would in an actual post.

So ... is anyone interested in me finishing the story (albeit skipping much of the last sessions?)


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## md3 (Feb 5, 2004)

*Complete story available on our site*

The complete story is still available on our site at http://d20.xocomp.net/campaign 

You are welcome to visit, just check out the Dragonstar and D20 Futuristic campaign logs.

Later,
Manny


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## Horacio (Feb 5, 2004)

I've been out of EN World for a while, but ?im back now.
I like a lot your story, you already know it. I'm very very interested in reading the end of the story, please write it!


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## Caliber (Feb 6, 2004)

*What has happened since then ...*

Well if Horacio asks for the details on the end, I cannot turn him down. Welcome back to the boards buddy. Following is a pretty brief summary of how we got to where we will be when the last session goes up. A much more detailed account is at the site md3 pointed out, but instead of using his link, try this one http://d20.xocomp.net/campaign.htm. Go to Crucible of Defense II and scroll to Session 21. That is where my last log stops and the new lore keeper takes up the duties.   

When last we left, Syd and Nick had both been struck down by the calamitous misfortunes of both Wild Magic and friendship with Wang. And now ... we return you to DragonStar. 

Low on ammo and healing patches, the party begins to fight a slow, protracted battle with the guards of the Temple. Slowly the party moves upwards, higher and higher into the Temple. Reaching the fourth floor, the party is surprised by a quartet of guards. A combination of heavy fire and flash bang grenades results in all of the party except for Milo being pushed down a well into a holding area deep underground. Large frogmen surface, attempting to eat the party but are no match for the still conscious and armed party members. 

Milo escapes from the room with the three guards, Sovereign Gluing the door shut in order to prevent them from following him. 

Underground, shouts can be heard through one of the walls. Blowing a hole through, the party found themselves in a prison area, with several people stuck behind bars. Among them was G'Banrak and Gordon, a genetically modified Human from a different planet (Gordon is Syd's player's new character)

The party began another battle, this time fighting to leave the Temple entirely. At one point, Wang's stupidity nearly killed Orendil when Wang, hoping to distract a trio of guards, gave away the party's location. The volley of grenades wounded several party members and in Orendil's case, nearly killed him.

Meanwhile Milo wandered through the Temple. What guards were up top were too wounded or tired from the fighting to challenge him, and he quickly found a fire escape exit, leaving the Temple behind. 

Amio, who had been waiting for the party to give him a signal to attack, finally became overly impatient and mounted his own attack on the Temple, plowing through the guards at the front door and penetrating through the already softened defenses. 

Below ground the party managed to stumble upon a hanger with two hover tanks and several guards. By this point, the Temple had taken extensive casualties and the guards were highly demoralized. It wasn't long before two soldiers jumped into the tanks and began to drive off. They hadn't counted on Zoltan or Gordon, however. Jumping on the tanks before they could get going, Gordon and Zoltan took control of both and piloted them back. Looking through some of the crates in the hangar showed quite a bounty of confiscated equipment. Unfortunately, several crates bore traps and after opening the last one in the room, the ceiling began to descend at a rapid pace. Working together, two crates were saved but the rest were destroyed and any way back in the Temple was lost to the party. 

Using the comm gear, the party debated whether they should try to force their way back in the Temple in order to topple it. Eventually though, it was decided to leave. Milo assured everyone he could escape on his own and after stealing a boat, managed to meet up with the party outside. Using Milo's new boat and the party's tanks, the party moved on to the town of Southport, hoping for some healing and a little rest. Southport, however, was in ruins and so the party was forced to settle for a smaller nearby city, Gillian.

Gillian had suffered badly, and many of its structures were damaged beyond repair. While in Gillian, Alahandra took it upon herself to determine the source of the Wild Magic that had by not killed two of her teammates. Alahandra managed to discover that several of the party's possessions were cursed to exude a Wild Magic aura. In the process several Wild Magic affects take hold, the most important one causing all dead bodies in an incredibly large area to animate as Undead. Most of the party rids themselves of the cursed Wild Magic items, but Zoltan keeps his instead, exultant in such an anti-Magic ability.

Driving the two tanks through the hordes of Zombies, the party moves south to another town yet to be hit by the creatures currently ravaging most of the planet. The group purchases a large number of items before continuing on.

Moving again towards the City of the Gods, the party soon started encountering large creatures as they had before. The first few were not aggressive but it wasn't long until they came to Frieth, which had just been leveled. And the creature that had destroyed it was still there, floating above the city. Engaging the Storm of Vengeance, the party eventually drove it off but lost one of the hover tanks in the process. 

Moving on, the other tank was lost soon after to a Deepspawn. Walking, the party continued to move towards the City of the Gods, letting nothing get in their way. Until the Witchlight Marauder attacked. Pouring down a nearby mountain like some monstrous avalanche, the Marauder landed in the party and began to sow death and destruction. Wang was eaten before Amio arrived in yet another hover tank stolen from the Temple of the Frog. The Marauder was driven off and the party went on, soon making their way to the city of Qom. 

There, Zoltan finally got rid of his Wild Magic cursed armor, and the party replenished much of their supplies. They also soon met Super Commie, another genetic experiment like Gordon, although they obviously hailed from far different planets. (Super Commie was Wang's player's new character)

In Qom the party learned that the Tower of Glass projected an impenetrable force field about a very large area around it, including the City of the Gods. However, a hold in the force field had recently opened, allowing the creatures plaguing the countryside to escape from the City of the Gods. So to reach there, the party could either circle about the field and enter through the hole on the other side, or alternatively they could try to use the underground tunnels in the area to go underneath the force field and come up on the other side. 

The party debated the best route, and eventually decided to chance the tunnels leading under the field. Receiving a guide, the party headed underground. 

The guide brought the party further and further into the caverns, but it wasn't long before even he no longer knew what way to go. Coming to a huge area filled with garbage (hundreds of feet across) the party slowly began slogging their way through the horrible mess. 

They camped in the mess for the night and the next day continued forcing their way through the piles of refuse. Suddenly, several large piles of garbage rose up around the party and a blob began to engulf Zoltan and Super Commie. The horrible smell the party had put up for a day intensified a thousand fold at the approach of the garbage monsters and most of the party found themselves helplessly retching as the creatures began to attack. 

Zoltan was absorbed into the large Flesh Jelly that had engulfed him, and Super Commie was only spared that fate by G'Banrak's _Cone of Cold_, which froze and killed the Jelly, freeing Super Commie. The refuse heaps were gunned down slowly, but not before they managed to kill Orendil, breaking his bones with their surprisingly strong pseudopods. A quiet _Wish_ from G'Banrak brought him back to life, however, and soon the party began to race through the garbage as more blobs began to form about them. 

At the end of the refuse field, the party found a door and jumping through, slammed it shut. On the other side was more garbage yet, as well as the force field, blocking access to a large metal platform. As blobs began to form in the garbage, Jhelai jumped onto the intercom, imploring who ever was on the other side to lower the field and allow us through. The field was lowered and the party managed to escape into an impeccably clean metal corridor. 

A large cleaning robot was busily cleaning the corridor beyond, and had apparently been the one to lower the field for the party. He had been cleaning the corridor for so long that he could no longer count the number of years, he informed the party. He remembered organics once, but all that was left in the Tower of Glass were robots now and so his duties were greatly lessened than what they had once been. 

Showing the party the way out, they emerged from the underground tunnel into the bright light. Surrounding them was a mechanized, robotic army. Two humanoid robots, apparently waiting for the party's entrance, quickly approached and demanded the party turn over their weapons and surrender peacefully. Gordon and Super Commie were both against it but at the urging of the rest of the party, eventually gave up as well. 

Time passes with the party confined to the Tower of Glass. Boredom reigns, as there is little to do, until one night a large Uthek breaks into the party's room. Introducing himself as Gorath, he explains he had been trying to make him was into this room for days now. (Gorath is Zoltan's player's new character)

With Gorath to help spur them along, the party soon manages to break out, although Super Commie and Jhelai are left behind in their cells. Moving through the Tower of Glass, the party manages to find a storage room containing hundreds of boxes. After much searching only Alahandra has found her equipment when suddenly Milo opens a box and releases a very small metallic orb with a number of eyes attached to its head. Introducing itself as MBK-808, it offers to help the party find anything they want, since it had been trapped in here for a long time and had memorized where everything went. (MBK-808 is Nick's player's new character)

MBK-808 was captured when he attempted to turn off the shield generators in the Tower. Feeling that was probably a good idea, the party agreed to help him out and went to the power control center of the tower. After fiddling with the controls for a minute, Milo manages to disable them. Shortly afterwards, MBK begins firing _Disintegrate_ rays, destroying the consoles and preventing anyone from fixing them. Warning klaxons begin to sound and the lights dim with a red emergency set coming on.

Without power, the elevator that had taken the party to the control floor no longer works. MBK blasts a hole in the bottom and the party drops down as much rope as they can, hoping to at least be able to get a little lower. MBK blasts another hole through the doors at end of the rope and the party one by one swings inside. 

By some strange twist of fate, the party managed to make it to one of the hangars on the Tower of Glass's upper floors and finds two aircraft capable of holding four people each. Orendil and Milo jump into a ship each and begin trying to learn the controls while MBK goes about disintegrating the hangar door, which no longer opens without power.

Amio and Gordon hold off guard robots that burst into the room but knowing the Tower reactors are not working anymore, the party soon turns to escape. Orendil takes off before the hangar door is opened wide enough and badly damages the wings of his craft, but somehow manages to crash below with minimal damage. Milo pilots his out although the firefight between the party and the robots, it doesn't go far before he too, is forced to lang. Gordon flies out using a magical item and Alahandra makes it out under her own power. G'Banrak jumps upon Gorath's back and he promptly teleports them away. 

Back on Aphex, Gorath and G'Banrak appear. Gorath quickly reveals to G'Banrak that he was a bounty hunter hired to capture her, and that she had walked right into his. G'Banrak is shocked by this, but thinking quick, uses a _Wish_ to force Gorath to bring her back to the party and help them defeat whatever evil was causing all of the destruction on her planet. Afterwards, she would willingly allow him to bring her to his superiors. 

Appearing back on Thonia, the party witnesses as the force field suddenly lowers, leaving both the Tower of Glass and the City of the Gods completely defenseless to the outside. Thousands of Zombies that had been outside of the field begin to pour into the surrounding region, as does the robot army evacuating the Tower of Glass. 

Obtaining a vehicle from a passing squad of robots, the party quickly made their way to the City of the Gods, in time to witness the beginning to an enormous battle between the robotic armies of the Tower of Glass and the automated defenses of the City of the Gods. Asking MBK, who originally came from the City, on how to get in, the party abandoned their vehicle and made their way towards a tunnel in the southern wall.

As the party approached, however, MBK suddenly levitated upwards and began raining fire down into the party. The party returned fire with gusto, but strangely enough just when they thought MBK was done for he'd suddenly appear completely healed. It wasn't long before the party realized that every time they killed MBK his remains were teleported away and another teleported in his place. Likely the number designation he had originally given them reflected how many MBKs there really were. 

Finally realizing the MBK must be subdued, Gorath casts _Power Down_, temporarily turning MBK off. The party quickly ties his eyestalks in such a way so that he can only see in one direction, and then mount him on a pole so that he can only see upwards. He wakes up shortly afterwards, but the party refuses to let him down and instead leave him out there as they enter the City.

Moving through the trap laden tunnel, the party gets Gorath to power down another guard robot before coming to an elevator. Taking it up into the City of the Gods, the party finds themselves standing above a large network of clear tubes, with pods racing through them. Standing before an empty tube, it isn't long before an empty pod races up. Getting in, Milo plays with the controls for a few moments before the pod takes off. 

It deposits him in a room full of armed guard bots and his pod is powered down. The party exits from the pod, except for Amio and Gordon who were hidden. The pod takes off, separating Gordon and Amio from everyone else. The rest of the party is put into a new pod with one of the robots and begins to fly through the tubes again. Along the way, they notice another pod in another tube pass by with what looked to be another MBK riding in it.

They arrive in another room, looking much like the cells in the Tower of Glass. They're left there to wait and decide to take the chance to rest. 

Meanwhile, Gordon and Amio, wondering why the car had gone strangely quiet, decided to look about. After their shouts went unanswered they blew a hole in the back seat and realized the car was empty. Jumping up front, they tried to pilot it but soon landed in what seemed to be a maintenance bay. Gordon attempted to take a repaired car but all the cars were powered down. In a fit of temper, Gordon began to systematically destroy all the cars and repair robots in the maintenance bay. 

Some time later Milo calls Gordon over the communicators and the party begins to search for their lost two members. Instead of finding them instead, they find holding bays containing Fire Giants, Frost Giants, and bears. The idea that the City of the Gods is actually some kind of zoo, or maybe even a repopulation ship, begins to float about in some of the party's minds.

Finally, after much searching, Milo manages to discover Amio and Gordon. Reunited again the party makes their way to one of the large observation tower and exiting their pod, takes the elevator to the topmost observation deck. There they have a clear view of the two robot armies clashing below them, as well as the horde of zombies mixed in between them. In addition, the party catches sight of more of the same kind of huge monsters that have been plaguing the planet, emerging from another tower. They watch enraptured until a few of the more powerful robots begin firing at the towers. Milo quickly lowers the blast doors just as several guard bots enter the room.

The party dispatches them and decides to go back to the ground floor in order to make their way to the tower that the monsters are emerging from. As they enter the elevator, however, they are shocked to see an MBK in it. MBK-703 to be exact. 

As the MBK is not hostile, the party rides the elevator down with it. When they quickly shoot past the ground floor, all eyes turn to the MBK. It reveals that it has orders to take the party to its master and is soon disabled and attached to another pole. 

The elevator shakes and loses power, the doors opening into a large circular room, the walls lined with incredibly smooth tunnels, bored by some creature. It isn't long before the party finds out what kind of creature as a Beholder, wearing an incredibly advanced suit of armor floats down one of the holes and attacks. 

Combat ensues and the Beholder is downed, but barely. The sounds of more Beholders begin to echo from the tubes and soon two more emerge. The party begins to fight again and Milo is petrified. G'Banrak and Gorath teleport back to the observation deck, taking as many of the party as the can. Gordon and Amio are left behind, however, and are soon captured and put into stasis pods.

After a quick debate on whether or not Gordon and Amio were savable, the party decides they don't have a chance and sets out for the center tower, from which the large monsters are emerging. Using a combination of fly and levitation magics, the remaining party (Gorath, Alahandra, Orendil, and G'Banrak) soon find themselves at the main tower. 

Milo suddenly finds himself flesh again, as a figure is seen flashing out of the window. Not drawing on the subject for long, Milo begins climbing down, using his communicator to contact the party and give them his location. On his way he runs into Jhelai who had been tracking the party's comm chatter. Joining up with the rest, they enter the center tower. 

Moving through the tower, they encounter a number of robots but few are hostile. Heading to the main chamber of the tower, the party discovered the tower's AI, which happily greeted the party as some of the first organics it has seen in a long time. 

Close questioning reveals the City of the Gods is indeed a repopulation ship that crashed onto Thonia a long time ago. The AI's constellation records to not match with any known set, although certain extrapolations suggest that the ship is actually one hundred and ninety thousands years in the PAST. The AI scoffs at that idea, however, and is convinced its calculations are incorrect. All the AI knows of Thonia is that an Empire of Beholders rose up on Thonia and managed to take control of three sectors of Dragon Empire space for several hundred years using a combination of technology advanced far beyond the Dragon Empire's and the Beholder's natural abilities before the Dragon Empire managed to force them back. 

And now that Milo mentions it, yes, the ship was carrying Beholders as part of its repopulation project. 

The computer reveals that it would know more if the party helped reconnect some of its vital systems. A few Beholders have escaped and are running havoc about the ship. The AI hasn't been able to contact any of the other ship AI's in some time and its databases only hold so much information.

Meanwhile, Super Commie, in an effort to retrieve his equipment from the Tower of Glass, encounters MBK-703. Together they both begin to make their way towards the City of the Gods, trying to avoid the giant battle that still rages about the city.

Also meanwhile, Gordon wakes in his stasis pod, noticing that both him and Amio have been freed. At least, theoretically. Amio's pod is open but there is no Amio in sight. Shivering in the cold air, Gordon begins climbing through a nearby tube, hoping to find a way out. And maybe some clothes.

Super Commie makes his way to the City when he is attacked by a spectral little man. He unleashes a series of powerful kicks and when he appears unaffected by Super Commie's weaponry, Super Commie takes off running (the first of the undead party members, Wang, comes back with a vengeance)

Gordon, naked, meets up with Super Commie and MBK. Not having a gun, Gordon stays quiet on the MBKs true nature. The MBK indicates there is a disturbance in the center tower, and Gordon and Super Commie agree to go with it to check the disturbance out.

In the center tower, the party had navigated through a series of traps to reach the computer consoles in the center. Along the way Jhelai had fallen through a trap door, but he assured the party he was ok down below. Working on the consoles, Milo quickly began removing strange orbs from their circuitry, rewiring them for the AI.

The MBK led Super Commie and Gordon through the tower to the computer center, and led them through the deadly traps that peppered the floor. Suddenly, the entire party was reunited again. It wasn't long before combat broke out and Milo was struck by a death ray and fell to the ground, dead. The MBK was disabled finally and as the party mournfully began to try and repair the computers without Milo, Milo rose from the dead! 

Milo looked strange for a second, but shook it off, shrugging at his predicament. Going back to the AI, it was delighted at the party's success. It had regained dozens of its original operations and could sense serious Beholder activity on the lower floors. 

The party debated what should be done. Some favored heading back and warning the Dragon Empire of the threat while others advocated direct action. In the end, the decision was put off until the third floor, which the AI assured the party was a storage floor, was explored.

Taking an elevator to the second floor, the party came to a large hole leading down into the third floor. Looking down, Gordon and Milo could make out Jhelai moving out below. Jumping down, Milo yelled out in greetings even as Milo yelled at shock. To him it seemed that Undead were attacking and leveling a recently acquired gun let loose a torrent of energy destroying Milo in the process. 

Rapidly the rest of the party jumped down and a firefight erupted. When the blasters cleared Gordon, Orendil, Milo, and Jhelai all lay dead. Soon they began to come back from the dead. And then the horrible truth came out.

The Zombies swarming outside had been raised because of a Wild Magic effect Alahandra had caused. As long as she lived anyone died on the planet would come back to life shortly afterward as one of the Undead. And they all instinctively knew not only that killing Alahandra would not only release them from their torture, but also where they could find her. Milo had fought against the urge, and slowly what was left of Gordon and Orendil did as well.

Suspecting Jhelai would not be so understanding, however, the party tied up his corpse. Leaving Jhelai's cursing and screaming tied up body, the party decided to head to a small island on the next floor. 

Underneath, Milo assured everyone, lay a Beholder nest. Moving down the party fought their way through strange flora and fauna, being attacked from the ground and the air. Gordon fell again upon jumping into the lake at the center of the next floor and encountered the huge creature that lived within it. As the last undead breath was choked from him, however, he summoned a Spectre to his side. As he regained consciousness, he was surprised to find the Spectre he summoned was Syd. 

Moving to the island, the party dispatched the violent plants that guarded it and then began digging to find the entrance. Syd used _Polymorph_ to turn Milo into an Umber Hulk, allowing the party to quickly find an entrance in the earth.


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## Caliber (Feb 6, 2004)

Focusing his will, Syd releases the magical energies holding Milo in Umber Hulk form. Examining the opening Milo discovered, the party soon ascertains that it is locked but untrapped.  

Some quick lock work from Alahandra opened the entrance to the party, revealing a dark shaft stretching far out of sight. The light from the outside did not penetrate far down, however, and there seemed to be no ladder or stairs that the party could climb. Shrugging, Syd floats downward, seeing perfectly in the darkness of the tunnel. 

The shaft goes down roughly one hundred feet and is quite wide, at the bottom forming a room nearly forty feet across. Flying up, Syd tells everyone the way is clear and soon Orendil has secured a rope to the tunnel’s hatch. Orendil quickly shimmies down the rope, followed by Super Commie, Gordon, a flying Gorath and Milo.  

At the bottom of the shaft the four find nothing of interest. The sound of water can clearly be heard from the walls, suggesting the chamber is sitting at the bottom of the lake, but there are no doors or further hatches to lead deeper in. Syd floats down again and confirms that there is another room below the chamber but without any way to access it, the party decides to leave. 

“We may as well blow it up,” Super Commie mutters as he begins climbing the rope back towards the surface. Gorath, taking Super Commie’s advice to heart, turns and _Disintegrates_ a large section of the wall before quickly shooting up the tunnel. An instant later water burst into the chamber, threatening to knock Super Commie off of the rope. His four arms grip tightly, however, and he quickly begins treading the water as it slowly begins to fill the tube. 

Meanwhile, Gordon, Milo, and Orendil are battered about the chamber from the force of the water but are otherwise unharmed. Not needing to breathe, all three begin to swim upwards once the water stabilizes enough.

Up top, Syd, G’Banrak, and Alahandra are somewhat surprised to see the water of the lake beginning to go down, as if some large drain had been pulled from the bottom. When a sodden Super Commie pulls himself up from the hatch, their surprise only deepens. Gorath and Milo crawl out soon after and before anyone can say anything, Milo pulls out his blaster rifle and begins to fire.

The barrage of energy bolts rip through the air catching Gorath full on in the chest. A burned and broken Uthek spirals out of the air and crashes into the water, quickly sinking beneath the waves. 

Orendil climbs out of the hatch in time to witness everything, and stands stupefied, aghast at what Milo had done. 

“What did you just do!” simultaneously shout Orendil and G’Banrak. “Dead, he is no longer bound!” G’Banrak yells. 

“He just tried to kill all of us!” Milo fires back.

“Milo … you’re already dead.”

Gordon finally manages to climb out of the hatch, having had problems with the slippery rope. After having the situation explained to him, the party braces themselves for Gorath’s return. With the _Wish_ no longer effecting him, no one in the party believes Gorath will have as much control as Gordon, Orendil, and Milo have shown towards Alahandra. Syd begins to gird himself in protective magics while everyone else prepares for the coming fight. 

Time passing slowly, and Syd’s protective spells slowly fall away. Finally, everyone agrees that, for whatever reason, Gorath isn’t coming back any time soon. 

“Where do we go now? What do we do now?” G’Banrak mutters, still upset at Milo. “You we’re supposed to know where we were going!”

Milo begins looking through his maps, but still cannot figure out why the Beholders weren’t found here. Gordon complains desperately about how long everything is taking before Syd finally shrugs and mentions that he could find the party some Beholders if that is what they wanted. 

Being the only plan of action available, Syd quickly mutters a few arcane phrases and instantly senses a Beholder nearby to the south. Walking from the island, the party soon finds a trail running in the direction they wish to go. Walking through the overgrown jungle, the party soon finds the Beholder Syd detected and comes to a halt. The Beholder floats calmly in a small clearing, seemingly guarding an entrance into the ship proper. It remains unaware, however, of their presence as Milo, Super Commie, and G’Banrak prepare to launch a surprise attack at it. Alahandra, sensing violence, quickly flies to a nearby tree where she turns invisible and hides. 

G’Banrak’s _Disintegrate_ ray goes wide but many of Milo and Super Commie’s shots find their mark. This Beholder is wearing more armor, though, and like the last ones does not fall easily. 

But even as the Beholder quickly begins to turn towards the party, Orendil steps forward and unleashes with his PGMP-12, a torrent of electrical energy vaporizing the Beholder and leaving little behind except scorched and smoking ground. Amazed, Super Commie pulls out his PGMP-12, putting away two of his pistols in favor of the massive gun. 

Relaying that the Beholder was dead, Syd casually points to the north, indicating the next closest lay in that direction. 

Meanwhile, the Wild Magic coursing about Alahandra tore Gorath’s soul, kicking and screaming, back into the Prime Material Plane. Unable (or perhaps unwilling) to control his need to kill Alahandra, Gorath instinctively shifted into the Ethereal and began to hunt, tracking Alahandra down.

After his last display of power, Orendil quickly replaces G’Banrak in the lead of the party as they creep towards the next Beholder. It isn’t long before the next Beholder is found, floating in a clearing and guarding an entrance like the last one encountered by the party. Again, it is taken by surprise as Orendil, Milo, and Super Commie all open fire upon its position. Orendil, however, feeling the pressure of everyone watching him, stumbles and drops his gun almost immediately. Luckily, Gordon was waiting behind him with his own PGMP-12 and quickly eliminated the second Beholder, leaving another smoking portion of ground where it once was. 

The party, already building a rhythm, turns expectantly to Syd to see where the next one was. A confused look passes over Syd’s spectral face and slowly he turns about before explaining that two Beholders are currently approaching the party, from opposite directions. 

Deciding to lay an ambush, the party scatters; Orendil and G’Banrak hiding at either side of the opening while Milo and Alahandra take to the trees. Gordon and Syd remain mostly in the open, occupying the clearing where the last Beholder had been. Super Commie, having misheard the warning about two Beholders coming, wanders into the ship and begins trying to open the door leading inside. 

Slowly, the Beholders approach, and Gordon’s sharp eyes easily pick them out. The one approaching from the west in just like the others the party has faced so far, clad in the strange armor the Beholder’s seem to continue finding. The one approaching from the east, however, is much, much different. Large and white, it appears to be rotting, and open wounds cover it. The forest withers at its passing and it nearly screams death and destruction to anyone who sees it. 

Unfortunately, the Beholders likewise spot Gordon and Syd, and they each barely have time to shout a warning before deadly eye beams lance into the clearing. The living one quickly dissipates Syd’s spectral form and turns Gordon into stone, trapping his Wight form in solid rock. The approaching undead Beholder paralyzes Milo with its gaze before ripping his gun from his hands. Two other beams strike the tree Milo is hiding by, turning it to stone before disintegrating a large portion of it, causing the stone branches to fall on top of Milo, blocking him from view. 

Walking out of the ship in order to get a pass card from Milo, Super Commie was surprised to see the Beholders. Opening fire, he left several wounds on the live one as G’Banrak began to throw arcane lightning towards both of floating Eye Tyrants. 

Manifesting inside the opening behind G’Banrak and Orendil, Gorath appeared and quickly dropped a _Fireball_ into their midst. Super Commie and Orendil were slightly burned, but G’Banrak and Alahandra both miraculously managed to escape any damage. 

The living Beholder fired another barrage of eye rays, striking both Super Commie and G’Banrak, convincing both of them of the friendship and love the Beholder held for them. The rest of his beams glance off of the corner protecting Orendil, blasting small bits of the wall away. 

“Don’t hurt them! They’re nice!” shouted G’Banrak, but she was ignored by most.

The first undead Beholder floated forward, firing its eyes wilding about as well. One striking Orendil disintegrated him on the spot as another caused G’Banrak to slump to the ground, asleep.

Suddenly, with a scream, another undead Beholder appeared at the spot where Gordon had earlier killed its living form. Turning an eye to Super Commie, his heart instantly stopped and he slumped over, dead. Several more eye rays shot into the ship’s opening, but disoriented at coming back, the new undead Beholder missed Gorath with its attacks. 

From behind him, Gorath heard the elevator come down and open, and footsteps slowly walk out. 

“God damned magical crap!” cried Zoltan as he leveled his blaster and let loose a barrage of fire at the Beholder. Directly through Gorath. Gorath’s form wavered and dissipated, Zoltan’s energy pulses ripping his form to shreds. 

Sensing his hostile intent, the new undead Beholder ripped Zoltan’s gun from his hands before likewise stopping his heart, causing him to fall over, dead. Again. 

Realizing that with G’Banrak charmed and everyone else dead, the two undead Beholders would soon be coming for her, Alahandra jumped into her Bag of Holding. As it slowly floated to the ground, Alahandra found herself inside a featureless ten by ten room. Looking about she realized there were no obvious exits. 

The battle over, the three Beholders began to talk amongst one another. Unable to sense Alahandra, the undead Beholders circled about, confused. 

Slowly, the dead began to rise back from the afterlife. Syd found himself stuck within his Headband of Intellect, unable to take any form. He sensed that the setting of the sun might set him free, but knew he would not likely exist for it to happen. Super Commie and Zoltan found themselves in similar situations, haunting an aquatic breathing mask and a blaster rifle, respectively. 

Gorath reformed, this time taking corporeal shape as an animated set of dancing bones. Feeling his grasp on his faculties slipping Gorath fired one last, desperate _Disintegrate_ at G’Banrak, his hatred of her maintaining his mind just long enough. Even asleep, however, she resisted his magic and woke to see Gorath’s skeleton begin to shuffle about in a macabre dance. Orendil returned, insane, little more than a formless presence, hungering for fear. When his presence failed to inspire any fear in anyone present, however, he began to babble with insanity, creating a melody that Gorath danced to. 

Finally, taking his slave and the statue of Gordon with him, the first undead Beholder floated away, returning to his post, and the living one soon followed suit. The second undead Beholder remained exactly where he had been originally posted, much to Milo’s dismay. 

Freeing himself, Milo began to walk away, knowing the end was soon. He could no longer sense Alahandra, and while he did not know what that meant, it couldn’t be good. He contemplated calling the Dragon Empire in order to give a last warning, but he knew his communication would not get through. Idly, he wondered if the computer could have warned everyone of this, considering its future knowledge. He just didn’t ask the right questions.

Suddenly, sharp pains began to stab him up and down his arms. Realizing it was Alahandra’s pain he was feeling, he wondered if perhaps the pain could help lead him to her.

Inside the Bag of Holding, Alahandra was beginning to run out of air. Knowing it was a long shot, she began to prick herself with a dagger, letting Milo know she still lived, and hoping he could save her in time. 

Slowly the pricks decreased in frequency as the room became blurry and dark. The small Fairy slowly slumped to the floor, passed out, and quietly died in her Bag of Holding. 

Across the planet, thousands of undead gave a breath of relief as their souls were finally released back to the afterlife they had earned. 

And the Beholders, unchecked and unstoppable, went on to conquer three parsecs of the Dragon Empire before finally being driven back. Just as the Computer had known would happen all along.


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## md3 (Feb 6, 2004)

*Super Summary*

Wow, what a summary, a bit off, but good enough, its a story none the less.

Besides a few typos and twists of characters I believe it was really cool, I will try to integrate some of your final episode with that posted on the campaign site.

http://dragonstar.xocomp.net/campaign

Oh, no one said that Alahandra has died yet!  Bwah Ha Ha Haaaaaaaaaa!

Later,
Manny


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## Caliber (Feb 6, 2004)

Ideed, it was very difficult to write up the character of Super Commie without him coming off sounding like an idiot, a crazy, or a clown. I guess part of that was intentional since we was arguably all three of those, but I still wasn't too comfortable with it.

During the extensive summary befre the last session's post, I found writing up the sessions I had physically missed pretty difficult. It was even worse that I didn't miss one or two intermittently but instead missed several back to back, leaving large gaps in my personal knowledge. 

For all of you who have read all the way through, sorry for never finishing up the middle parts. Next time I start a story hour I'll make sure I can positively absolutely devote enough time to it to do all of it, and do all of it right. 

Ah well. Thanks for reading. Its been fun!


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## Horacio (Feb 9, 2004)

Thanks to you for writing it!

Have you thought about compiling your story in a handy .rtf or .pdf document easily downloadable?


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## md3 (Feb 9, 2004)

*Pdf*



			
				Horacio said:
			
		

> Thanks to you for writing it!
> 
> Have you thought about compiling your story in a handy .rtf or .pdf document easily downloadable?



Working on it.  Right now there is a MP3 version of part 1-3. I think.

Later,
manny
http://dragonstar.xocomp.net


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## Horacio (Feb 9, 2004)

MP3 version???
Do you mean an audio file?


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## Caliber (Feb 9, 2004)

We're not only weirdos in our game personas, but also in real life.


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## Horacio (Feb 10, 2004)

It's the first time I read about audio files from gaming sessions 

_Horacio goes to download them..._


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## md3 (Feb 10, 2004)

*Audio Files*

Yes, but they aren't actual game session files, they are text2mp3 files using a voice synthesizer.  Basically text to speech.  Our way of helping out those who don't want to read the logs, they can listen to them.  It's not like human speech though, so you get what you pay for.
Also, they are large and take a while to download.

Later,
Manny


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## Horacio (Feb 10, 2004)

A voice synthesizer? That sounds great! Can it synthesize different voices? Hmmm, that gives me some cool ideas...


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## md3 (Feb 10, 2004)

*Audio Logs Web*

http://gmh.xocomp.net/audiologs/ 

Here is the main Audio Logs page, I guess I'll have to create PDFs of the logs soon too.


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