MTG, Shantytown & Halfling City

MAGIC - Jon brought a booster box of the new Magic set, "Rise of the Eldrazi" and he, Mat & Ava, Penny & I played a booster draft from about 11-3 before D&D. Jon ran B/R, I ran U/G (mostly green), Penny W/R, Ava W/G and Mat U/G (mostly blue). I ended up winning, mostly from what I could tell because the current set has some great green creatures, including a 3 cost that gets bigger with each enchantment in play - and can't be blocked by anything with a smaller power than it has. It looked like nothing but turned out to work awesome with the enchantments and splash of counter I had, and I ended up winning every match. If I remember, it was Penny & I in the final and it went 3 games, she had some awesome white guys that level up and good red removal to clear a path for them. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to the next one of these. Since Old Town Hobby closed, we pick up a few packs at Gabby's (Olympic Cards & Comics) every now & then. Yesterday I pulled a merfolk champion that's pretty awesome, he plays as a 2/2 for UU, and levels up for 1 per level to be a 4/4 flyer and give other merfolk +1/+1.


D&D - In order to avoid another grim situation for the survivors of Liberty City, the party spent a little extra time (this time) before going off on more adventures to free more cities. Each party member put in a year of effort to help the 1,300 or so lizardfolk, kobolds and half elves rebuild their lives as part of one of the few free societies in a world enslaved by dragons. Oh, and they were cured of the zombie rot (I probably mentioned that earlier). After much discussion it was agreed that the greatest benefit for the least risk for these survivors would be to rebuild trade routes and alliances with the neighboring communities. Because the previous location of the city was destroyed and also inhospitable (partially due to the soil having been salted, but also general terrain conditions) the 1,300 were relocated, (aka Battlestar Galactica but on a shorter timeline) to the coast near the mouth of a river.

After the new site was selected for New Liberty City (the old one will basically become a historical/tourist attraction), Jones was nominated to put together a master site plan. The new location is along a rocky coast where the Jastel River meets the Zarto Sea (the place names look different in various languages). So the mental picture Mat painted for us was from Popeye the movie, of Shantytown. It's perfect because there's not really a city to invade at all, it's basically just one big long stripe of boat launches, with ropes going up into houses set against cliffs. So it's set up to be free and centered on each individual, and there are easy quick exits to sea or into caves depending on any threats that come along. Attacking now would have the same effect as punching Spongebob Squarepants - it just wouldn't do any real damage because the population are so mobile.

Aurora scoured the battlefield and healed survivors, and even rose the dead in several cases. Though reversing their terrible losses was obviously impossible, she was able to take some of the sting out of the tragedy by returning (from who she could find) loved ones and prominent citizens to join their new community on the shore.

Over the year, Shamash directed his hireling Fy'Ev to serve as city manager (not mayor), working hands-on with the Lizardmen in building and defending their new community as the party's permanent representative for New Liberty. Shamash also interviewed candidates for top leadership positions, giving titles, resources and encouragement to those who deserved it. Fortunately for New Liberty, it has a number of residents who are gifted at shipbuilding, which will be key. Also, after shaking off the zombie rot they're quite a bit brighter and there's no shortage of leaders and independent thinkers. Self-rule early on might look more like a commonwealth than a democracy. Because they abhor slavery (having been subjected to it), the more oppressive government forms will be avoided and if a kingdom arises it will be accompanied by a parliamentary representation system of some kind, even if informal.

Willikers established trade relations with the neighboring Drow from below and found his sister Driana entertaining the refugees in the small community of 200 there. Though small, this group, referred to as "The Nomads" by "topworlders," has excellent underdark connections and continues to strike at the Dragon Empire and other threats while carving out a situation better suited to their interests.

Jorel became somewhat fascinated with the lizardfolk's ability to reproduce, and in his contribution to their long term well being and growth as a community this led him to assisting with the establishment of long-term food supply solutions. His logic contributed to the new location for the city, with it's ample fishing.

Sticky Fingers started up a thieves' guild and made connections with his old halfling gang of buddies, including the giant lizard rider Johnny Kneebreaker and the wizard Fizzy Feet. The twin shires of Ed's Hollow and Racklamton have been at each other's throats for as long as anybody can remember and though slowed by zombie rot, the brutal rivalry has been ratcheted up by The Enchantress, a green dragon who annually chooses one or the other side to ally with based on competitive tributes.

So after putting things in order with New Liberty, the party ventured off to help their neighboring community of halflings free itself from the clutches of the dragons' influence. Gang warfare between the twin shires had escalated to near civil war. Tribute day was a week away and thuggery was rampant. The party learned the location of the dragon enchantress' lair and headed up the impossibly huge mountain. After crossing the tree line into the snowy peaks they encountered chillbane zombies. Within the first section of the cave above they discovered large gems in plain sight: Red, Green, Blue and Orange. The red and green ones exploded in flames and poison while the blue and orange ones had unknown properties. Halfings hidden deeper within the cave fired crossbows at the party and once a deep dragon's voice attempted to deter the Uprisers but they pressed on deeper into the cave.

Next: Zeria the Merciless, Dragon Enchantress

XP: 3500 and age your character 1 year. (Yes we're still 15th level)

Treasure: 8,000 GP in gems per character. Though there had been additional treasure much was spent building up New Liberty City and establishing trade relations, so this is the net after that. More to come, stay tuned.

Next session: Sat June 5th 3pm

Homecoming S***storm

So the uprisers returned to Lizardtown, the city we liberated 9 months ago & renamed independence. Evil versions of ourselves were running the place. Malnourished brainwashed citizens were throwing bodies into the well. The grainery was being fertilized with dung. The sports arena had degenerated to thunderdome & the Pelor temple had been twisted to worship of a belor demon. Zombie rot was rampant. Deep sick rumblings of sporatic earthquakes shook the ground.

There were so many problems we didn't know where to begin but we didn't know the half of it. The eternal flames from our battle of liberation had turned sickly purple. In that field we again fought for the future freedom of the lizardmen. It turned out the zombie rot had infested the mind flayers who in their deranged state chose to impersonate us shortly after we left. Against the real, now more experienced and better equipped versions of Rholain, Hadji, Willikers, Jones, Aurora, Shamash & Elle they could not stand for long.


The encounter was tough & we no sooner caught our breath before we saw purple worms (like from Dune) devouring our city. Citizens running in terror were being cut down by an army of kobolds led by a red dragon. Jones convinced some of them to switch to our side but the dragon put a claw to his chest & their red hand symbols blew our new kobold allies up instantly. So much for that. Shamash gathered up weapons & organized 24 lizardmen to fight back. Each defeated kobold exploded, killing any lizardmen standing toe to toe with it.

The kobolds served another purpose for the dragon: we couldn't ignore them & they were softening us up and directing some of our attacks away. But Hadji managed to get on top of the dragon, stabbing it in the back of the neck until it shrugged him off like an insect & he fell 40' to where Shamash & Rholain stood below. Terrible fiery breath & even more punishing physical attacks, plus paralyzing fear attacks had us on the defensive, burning healing surges. Good thing we've got Aurora.

An upper echelon of kobold shamen and tougher exploding warriors kept coming in wave after wave over a hill until Hadji caved in their surface passage. Meanwhile the druid kept the dragon slowed enough that he couldn't attack Jones & take the Cup.
When the smoke cleared the kobolds & lizardmen rabble all lay dead. Shamash lay motionless until Rholain brought him back, coughing bugs & ash.

Oh and the red dragon surrendered, Jones cured his zombie rot & he works for us now. Right now he's helping rebuild the city.



Xp & treasure TBA. We are still 15th level.

We will play Magic next Sat (May 22nd) at 11 Am prior to D&D at 3.

Good game Rod.

Ding, Dong, Zombie Rot's Gone!

Coming off of some earlier setbacks, we were in need of hope. So last Saturday the party worked our way past several dragons over many, many miles of rugged terrain in order to reach our distant destination. We noted their positions but avoided the encounters for the time being. What we still sought was the good dragon who could help us and/or we could help her (see earlier entries).

One encounter we were unable to avoid was an ambush by Harpies, who spotted us from above. The Harpies were a pretty cool and tougher than expected encounter. We were outnumbered and their screech attacks kept immobilizing members of the party. Since they can fly and were perched up high when not flying, that presented another challenge. Wikipedia Jones, with his ability to strike from a distance, had no problems dishing out damage from a distance. Hadjii, the ranger with such incredible mobility, was able to attack the monsters pretty much every round, dishing out significant damage. Likewise for R. Willikers, who really punished those evil things. Shamash was able to climb up and get into melee with them, as was Fy'Ev, and each of them kept the enemy busy. Elle Enchanted was immobilized early and had to throw her javelin until she was able to charge up the hill late in the encounter and finish two of them off. Aurora provided much-needed support throughout the encounter. Additional encounters took place which I will not detail here. Suffice to say, the party has a long "to-do" list for later on...

After working our way through so many game sessions and so many wilderness encounters we finally reached an area of cavernous mountain caves, intricate and very well hidden. Within, the Uprisers (that's us) discovered those whom we had sought, or at least someone who told us they could take us there.

Upon arriving at our long-sought destination, we learned that apparently we had been expected. After a plane-shift, we learned that the emissaries who were to take us to those who we could help (and could help us) were not emissaries at all, but gods in disguise. They were no less than Bahamut and Pelor themselves! This is not an every-session kind of experience, it's more like a once-in-a-campaign experience in most cases. After much shaking of knees and "we're not worthy's," the heroes were summarily dipped in healing waters which cured us of our zombie rot and granted each our our characters an additional +1 on all of our armor. Jones filled his decanter of endless water with the healing waters, and we were given our assignment: go and cure the zombie rot wherever you find it.

Part of the reasoning for our assignment is that the draco lich has gotten a bit too powerful. His zombie rot is now also infecting dragons themselves, both good and evil, and his fingers of influence have spread everywhere. Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us.

Experience: We are now 15th level.
Treasure: (special) add one extra "+1" to the current magical bonus of your armor.
Next session: Saturday, May 8th at 3:00 pm.

Comments welcome - I probably forgot some stuff! -D