Our Star Wars session on Sat. 4/21/07 involved the expansion and protection of Dabbo the Hutt's enterprises, in this case, having the party run alcohol to the Lepi (they look like giant rabbit-people) and see about recruiting for Dabbo's various strip bars and brothels. As it turned out, the Lepi world Couchin IV, with an uncharted population in the trillions, was more than ready, willing and able to meet with any requests made by Destro, and the Lepi Consolidated Governments even subsidized the trades, goods, offworld travel, visitation perks and services involved. The party were initially greeted like rock stars, and offers of special favors came pouring in. Destro was given a Hef-like suite, complete with red velvet decor and women galore, and he even sold a brain tape for 1,000,000 credits. Much Later, a news item appeared that the Empire had outlawed brain tape technology due to agent comprimise (no agent names were remotely connected to Destro) on Couchin IV; two more star destroyers were immediately sent to "deal with the issue once and for all." The Lepi Consolidated Governments were said to be cooperating and summary executions followed. Jarn Thro will not discuss his visit beyond saying the first hour was great, but after the first time he bruised his pelvis it was no fun for him. He refused ten 1,000,000-credit brain tape offers, saying the mass of information in his mind would overwhelm and kill any small-headed Lepi the technology tried to stuff it into. Jaina recalls kicking butt at some crazy rock concert, winning the spice lottery, getting laid (though the Lepi males are much lamer than the females), riot police, going on a killing rampage, being in a "hospital"--and now having a complete HATRED of the Lepi that she refuses to explain (and don't ask unless you want your ass kicked by her). Months later, bloody riots are taking place in several Lepi cities, led by angry rabbit people who share her attitudes and have unstoppable urges to break and burn things. The ship's pilot and surgeon, Pieda Bowman II, a triple class noble/jedi counseler/soldier has for his past several levels been a follower of the Jedi counsellor code of chastity. Pieda was heroically able to resist the unrelenting Lepi pheornomes and advances for a full day and a half before submitting to a couple of weeks of pleasure; he now faces horrible pangs internal guilt along with memories of complete satisfaction. He accepted a 1,000,000-credit brain tape offer during his stay at the brothel. His next level will probably be in soldier, or possibly noble. Cap'n Garrick had a great time and hoped all his shipmates would too, though he says he's not one to kiss and tell (except maybe if he's drunk). Jackpot disappeared from the ship and spoke with no one, and later revealed that among his "gambling winnings" are a large amount of spice and a flash copy of the Lepi Consolidated Governments braintape population archive and he is eager so share with the party if they wish. Akbar's Trap left Couchin IV with 400 "entertainment industry workers" in the cargo hold. According to Dabbo's delivery routes, these workers were to be dropped off at 30 or so of his brothels and strip bars on various worlds. Most of the drop offs were quick and routine; each worker contract netted the party's share about 20,000 hard credits before fuel and other expenses.
However, on one pristine, resource-rich tundra world, war raged between a Hutt-rebel alliance and the Empire. Due to powerful orbital turbolasers and lack of cover, Akbar's Trap had to be carefully hidden and regularly moved while the party joined the fight against the Imperials. Both sides were playing a shell game with small underground bases and snow speeder bikes. Jaina and her customized tank were in their element in this environment; a bit slower perhaps than a speeder bike, but with DR 20, highly resistant to their weapons. Armed with a starship missile system, Jaina obliterated snow speeder bikes and larger air vehicles, a base with 12 vehicles in one shot and pretty much wreaked havoc and left enormous smoking craters in her wake. She was able to recover a data pad that revealed a map of an Imperial mine field and the location of their bases nearby. Destro was able to dodge speeder bike attacks and respond by throwing thermal detonators at them, leaving behind small craters here and there. Once the coast was clear, he hid his speeder bike, put on his stealth suit and headed down ventillation shafts of small hidden underground Imperial snowspeeder bike outposts. With a bit of help from Jarn, Destro rigged the camera/computer auto destruct system of each base to be in control of the Hutt-rebel alliance instead of the Empire. Since one of the bases had 12 snowtroopers present, but a capacity for 200 or more snowtroopers, Destro and Jarn would be able to wait until the right moment when the base was reinforced and resupplied. Their job done for the moment, Akbar's Trap went on to make more deliveries after this short but successful mission.
Experience: 6,000
Credits: Individuals see above;
Ship fund will be up at least 4,000,000 credits overall.
Next session: 2 weeks from now, Saturday, May 5, 3:00 pm.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Kamaliofi, city of winged folk
Today, Me, Phil, Rob, Carson, Rod and Shane played D&D. We got a late start, but played a bit long.
The game focused on the winged folk island city-state of Kamaliofi, located among the Outsider islands of my own Aarde campaign. While I have detailed most of Aarde's major cities already, there are countless possibilities within the game for creating small cities and areas such as this. Shane created a monk, Clarvin, who is very different from Carson's Taito. Clarvin is a peaceful sort who has taken a vow of poverty. Yet he can manage an AC of up to 50 using absolutely no equipment (Carson's cartoon of the character depicts him naked, bot that's a bit of an exaggeration). Uniquely among the party, Clarvin is also quite peaceful by nature, focused on defense, disarming, negotiation and nonlethal combat.
After exploring the offerings of the small city of Kamaliofi and its winged folk, the group decided to pursue the local Vecna cult, which also served as the thieves' guild. After battling yeti-ettins, the party located the hideout, named the "Gjomyr Order of the Phymich Imkan," but really just hq for a bunch of thugs. Beyond the entrance concealed by illusion along the face of a rocky mountain was a frescoed hallway depicting a one-winged Vecna; just beyond that was a 60' wide pit trap, 50' deep, with water and spikes at the bottom. When the party failed to give the password, the trap was activated, but all survived. Beyond the double doors, the party fought and defeated cult members who were mostly evil assassins, rogues and sorcerers.
This was a pretty long session, focused just on D&D (no Star Wars today), so experience was 6,000 for those who role-played for the entire session (2,500 xp for half-session). Treasure was pretty good at 11,000 gp total value per character; however all of Clarvin's share of the treasure automatically goes to the poor. While much of the treasure is in artisan-cut star rose quartz, several property deeds, contracts and other documents were in the thieves' guild's possession.
Next session: Saturday, April 7 12 Noon Sharp.
The game focused on the winged folk island city-state of Kamaliofi, located among the Outsider islands of my own Aarde campaign. While I have detailed most of Aarde's major cities already, there are countless possibilities within the game for creating small cities and areas such as this. Shane created a monk, Clarvin, who is very different from Carson's Taito. Clarvin is a peaceful sort who has taken a vow of poverty. Yet he can manage an AC of up to 50 using absolutely no equipment (Carson's cartoon of the character depicts him naked, bot that's a bit of an exaggeration). Uniquely among the party, Clarvin is also quite peaceful by nature, focused on defense, disarming, negotiation and nonlethal combat.
After exploring the offerings of the small city of Kamaliofi and its winged folk, the group decided to pursue the local Vecna cult, which also served as the thieves' guild. After battling yeti-ettins, the party located the hideout, named the "Gjomyr Order of the Phymich Imkan," but really just hq for a bunch of thugs. Beyond the entrance concealed by illusion along the face of a rocky mountain was a frescoed hallway depicting a one-winged Vecna; just beyond that was a 60' wide pit trap, 50' deep, with water and spikes at the bottom. When the party failed to give the password, the trap was activated, but all survived. Beyond the double doors, the party fought and defeated cult members who were mostly evil assassins, rogues and sorcerers.
This was a pretty long session, focused just on D&D (no Star Wars today), so experience was 6,000 for those who role-played for the entire session (2,500 xp for half-session). Treasure was pretty good at 11,000 gp total value per character; however all of Clarvin's share of the treasure automatically goes to the poor. While much of the treasure is in artisan-cut star rose quartz, several property deeds, contracts and other documents were in the thieves' guild's possession.
Next session: Saturday, April 7 12 Noon Sharp.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
St. Patrick's Day D&D and Magic: The Gathering
Aaron E., Jon G., Rod, Rob, Penny and I played D&D for the first half of the session. Carson was sick, and Phil didn't make it. The wizard Noctorium, Gemberlion the Flying Gnome, Joseph, Revan, Geena, Lola and all the NPCs (plus Carson's characters Black-Eyed Bill and Taito) returned to the thrice-restored Temple of Transformation. There, they once again faced the usual Jaramonian mongrelmen and assorted strange crossover mutations. Much more powerful now, the party easily approached through the strange landscape, where no flora or fauna is normal in any way, ants have monkey faces and trees have grass for bark.
Crossing the mutation wave about a mile from the pyramid, the PCs each resisted the effects, except for Noctorium. Strangely, randomly (I had Aaron make the rolls on the chart I made) it was his left hand (once again) that was effected. Even more strangely, it was again transmuted into an Eagle's Claw as it had been long ago, out of 20 items on my list. The only thing different was that it turned blue this time. I considered this and after a contest of wills (as with an intelligent magic item) and several dice rolls, Noctorium somehow absorbed the strange energy and his claw is now a +4 weapon that will also function as a spell foci, and the wizard gained two levels.
The main battle took place inside the pyramid, where the party faced Tuplegorp, a beholder-lynerian hydra aberration. Floating 85 feet up in the inner chamber, Tuplegorp had 16 eyestalk-heads each on a hydra-length snake head, each with spell effects more powerful than a beholder's. Beyond the reach of melee attacks from non-flying party members, Tuplegorp blasted the group from above, turning party members to stone, freezing, frying, splashing acid and fingers of death from above, magically charming, disintigrating, telekinesis-ing--seemingly at will. Three voices--the two singing bards and a dread pirate's battle cries -- became two, than one, and then just the sounds of battle. Worse, two heads were growing from each of the places where heads had been severed by the twin longswords of Lola, who had used her boots of teleportation to jump on top of Tuplegorp before being paralyzed. Fortunately, fireballs from Fergus and Noctorium stopped this growth. The geyser of arrows from Geena, Henderson, Mick the Gangly and the other NPCs was reduced to just Geena, the mighty dwarven archeress. Likewise, spells from Noctorium, Joseph, Fergus and the bards Telpin and Daybill had been silenced. Even the slippery goblin rogue Blip lay immobile, swarming with insects. Most of the party had been effectively removed from combat without actually being slain.
After a while it was down to just Geena, Revan and Tuplegorp. Then Geena's will was magically subverted and she was charmed into inaction by one of the beholder-hydra's head-stalks. The paladin Revan on his pegasis had been stabbing the body of the beast heroically, but to no avail; this portion of its body was immune to physical attacks. The monster was definitely wounded, and now Revan's sword burst into flame and he dispatched it.
Experience: 4,000 xp Treasure: 8,000 gp
Magic
Jon brought Coldsnap boosters, and five of us played a draft. Penny won with her green/white Aurochs/Kjeldoran Warcry deck (how fitting for St. Patrick's Day!). Aaron's red/white deck was great overall and was a very near second. My deck of fliers was mostly blue with splashes of white and black. It did okay, but just didn't have the speed or focus so I landed somewhere in the middle. Rob's deck was black and blue with good graveyard recursion and creature control, and he probably would have beaten me if he had been a bit more lucky; he did okay and won quite a few games. Jon's green/red deck was well constructed and his game play was good; his games were close and several could have gone his way if his card parity had been better. Overall we had a great time.
Crossing the mutation wave about a mile from the pyramid, the PCs each resisted the effects, except for Noctorium. Strangely, randomly (I had Aaron make the rolls on the chart I made) it was his left hand (once again) that was effected. Even more strangely, it was again transmuted into an Eagle's Claw as it had been long ago, out of 20 items on my list. The only thing different was that it turned blue this time. I considered this and after a contest of wills (as with an intelligent magic item) and several dice rolls, Noctorium somehow absorbed the strange energy and his claw is now a +4 weapon that will also function as a spell foci, and the wizard gained two levels.
The main battle took place inside the pyramid, where the party faced Tuplegorp, a beholder-lynerian hydra aberration. Floating 85 feet up in the inner chamber, Tuplegorp had 16 eyestalk-heads each on a hydra-length snake head, each with spell effects more powerful than a beholder's. Beyond the reach of melee attacks from non-flying party members, Tuplegorp blasted the group from above, turning party members to stone, freezing, frying, splashing acid and fingers of death from above, magically charming, disintigrating, telekinesis-ing--seemingly at will. Three voices--the two singing bards and a dread pirate's battle cries -- became two, than one, and then just the sounds of battle. Worse, two heads were growing from each of the places where heads had been severed by the twin longswords of Lola, who had used her boots of teleportation to jump on top of Tuplegorp before being paralyzed. Fortunately, fireballs from Fergus and Noctorium stopped this growth. The geyser of arrows from Geena, Henderson, Mick the Gangly and the other NPCs was reduced to just Geena, the mighty dwarven archeress. Likewise, spells from Noctorium, Joseph, Fergus and the bards Telpin and Daybill had been silenced. Even the slippery goblin rogue Blip lay immobile, swarming with insects. Most of the party had been effectively removed from combat without actually being slain.
After a while it was down to just Geena, Revan and Tuplegorp. Then Geena's will was magically subverted and she was charmed into inaction by one of the beholder-hydra's head-stalks. The paladin Revan on his pegasis had been stabbing the body of the beast heroically, but to no avail; this portion of its body was immune to physical attacks. The monster was definitely wounded, and now Revan's sword burst into flame and he dispatched it.
Experience: 4,000 xp Treasure: 8,000 gp
Magic
Jon brought Coldsnap boosters, and five of us played a draft. Penny won with her green/white Aurochs/Kjeldoran Warcry deck (how fitting for St. Patrick's Day!). Aaron's red/white deck was great overall and was a very near second. My deck of fliers was mostly blue with splashes of white and black. It did okay, but just didn't have the speed or focus so I landed somewhere in the middle. Rob's deck was black and blue with good graveyard recursion and creature control, and he probably would have beaten me if he had been a bit more lucky; he did okay and won quite a few games. Jon's green/red deck was well constructed and his game play was good; his games were close and several could have gone his way if his card parity had been better. Overall we had a great time.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Vs. Imperials at Cartuthan
STAR WARS - entire Sat. session. Summary:
Rod, Rob and I were joined by Phil and Alma toward the end of our Star Wars RPG game Sat. 2/17/07. Jaina and Destro leveled to 9th when xp was awarded at the end; Forlorn Sky leveled (to 7th or 8th I think). Henwa Sishe got laid, as did Jaina (in two unrelated events).
The adventure: The medium freighter "Akbar's Trap," still working as a Hutt mercenary/merchant vessel posing as a Seinar Fleet Systems Inc., touched down at Figure City on the Imperial slave world of Cartuthan. Destro arranged for a trade of the cargo of 38 Vratix(?) workers for equal value in turbolasers, military rations and med kits. Jaina met with rebel contacts Ethan Sunchiller and (later) Quiver Singe and Darfinia, who were personally sent to Cartuthan by Princess Leia herself to investigate the loss of this world to the Imperials. Until recently, it was a high-population, high-technology free world considered an asset by the Rebels.
After a recent "low resource" invasion incorporating the deadly Sith microparasite Kazoth-36, Cartuthan is now a low-population world, yet it has retained it's high levels of technology and resources under the iron grip of the now minimal needed force of Stormtroopers who easily control the remaining population, most of whom are concentrated in just three cities: Figure City, Uldani and Itch. Most of the people are essentially slaves, though the typical Imperial-approved corporations operate here to provide for the needs of Imperal officers. There's a bit of a night life for this reason.
Basically, Destro broke in to access an Imperial officer's computer and Jarn Thro (the amazing Humpty-dumptyish alien three-eyed hacker) arranged an extra shipment of Imperial goods to fill the party's cargo bay. And after the "sale," the party tracked down the very workers they had sold into slavery and shut down power and communications to that remote compound, neutralized Imperial forces there and evacuated the slaves to the party's ship. The firefight was intense at times, but in the end the only casualties were about a dozen Imperial stormtroopers and officers. Several of the party members were wounded, but Pieda Bowman was able to attend to their needs. Meanwhile, Jackpot took advantage of the high-technology here to purchase a Re-bot, a droid that converts raw materials into specific, useful parts. These droids are specific to my campaign, and only available on high-technology worlds.
Because of the actions of a handful of Hutt mercenaries working with just three Rebel agents, Cartuthan is likely to be a free world in just three to six years. The fast-breeding, insectlike, Bacta-producing Vratix(?) are capable (in my campaign) of laying 1-3,000 eggs per year, with young reaching adulthood in less than 3 years. Normally considered unimportant lab technicians , the Vratix tend to be ignored, and that would be the case here too. Except the party also lent the Rebels powerful mining equipment and military data, just enough so that (along with having their own Re-bots) the Vratix will be hidden long enough to breed, train and equip forces that will easily overwhelm the Imperial forces currently stationed on Cartuthan when the time comes.
Not that the Hutt mercenaries always want to be the "good guys." They basically swindled their way into a 350,000 credit profit on the Cartuthan mission. That's some serious money for the ship fund.
Session length: 6 hours. Experience: 3,000 (500 xp per hour of game time)
+Story Bonus of 500 xp for a total of 3,500 xp.
Next session: Sunday, March 4, 2007 (D&D &/or Star Wars).
--Dave
Rod, Rob and I were joined by Phil and Alma toward the end of our Star Wars RPG game Sat. 2/17/07. Jaina and Destro leveled to 9th when xp was awarded at the end; Forlorn Sky leveled (to 7th or 8th I think). Henwa Sishe got laid, as did Jaina (in two unrelated events).
The adventure: The medium freighter "Akbar's Trap," still working as a Hutt mercenary/merchant vessel posing as a Seinar Fleet Systems Inc., touched down at Figure City on the Imperial slave world of Cartuthan. Destro arranged for a trade of the cargo of 38 Vratix(?) workers for equal value in turbolasers, military rations and med kits. Jaina met with rebel contacts Ethan Sunchiller and (later) Quiver Singe and Darfinia, who were personally sent to Cartuthan by Princess Leia herself to investigate the loss of this world to the Imperials. Until recently, it was a high-population, high-technology free world considered an asset by the Rebels.
After a recent "low resource" invasion incorporating the deadly Sith microparasite Kazoth-36, Cartuthan is now a low-population world, yet it has retained it's high levels of technology and resources under the iron grip of the now minimal needed force of Stormtroopers who easily control the remaining population, most of whom are concentrated in just three cities: Figure City, Uldani and Itch. Most of the people are essentially slaves, though the typical Imperial-approved corporations operate here to provide for the needs of Imperal officers. There's a bit of a night life for this reason.
Basically, Destro broke in to access an Imperial officer's computer and Jarn Thro (the amazing Humpty-dumptyish alien three-eyed hacker) arranged an extra shipment of Imperial goods to fill the party's cargo bay. And after the "sale," the party tracked down the very workers they had sold into slavery and shut down power and communications to that remote compound, neutralized Imperial forces there and evacuated the slaves to the party's ship. The firefight was intense at times, but in the end the only casualties were about a dozen Imperial stormtroopers and officers. Several of the party members were wounded, but Pieda Bowman was able to attend to their needs. Meanwhile, Jackpot took advantage of the high-technology here to purchase a Re-bot, a droid that converts raw materials into specific, useful parts. These droids are specific to my campaign, and only available on high-technology worlds.
Because of the actions of a handful of Hutt mercenaries working with just three Rebel agents, Cartuthan is likely to be a free world in just three to six years. The fast-breeding, insectlike, Bacta-producing Vratix(?) are capable (in my campaign) of laying 1-3,000 eggs per year, with young reaching adulthood in less than 3 years. Normally considered unimportant lab technicians , the Vratix tend to be ignored, and that would be the case here too. Except the party also lent the Rebels powerful mining equipment and military data, just enough so that (along with having their own Re-bots) the Vratix will be hidden long enough to breed, train and equip forces that will easily overwhelm the Imperial forces currently stationed on Cartuthan when the time comes.
Not that the Hutt mercenaries always want to be the "good guys." They basically swindled their way into a 350,000 credit profit on the Cartuthan mission. That's some serious money for the ship fund.
Session length: 6 hours. Experience: 3,000 (500 xp per hour of game time)
+Story Bonus of 500 xp for a total of 3,500 xp.
Next session: Sunday, March 4, 2007 (D&D &/or Star Wars).
--Dave
Sunday, February 04, 2007
New raid on Soboff
Saturday 2/3/07
Led by Revan and Joseph Prex, the party attacked deep into the heart of Soboff, the home moon of the invading drow armies. Deep within they found shattered boulders of a broken world, held together by gigantic spiderwebs. Gargantuan and colossal spiders, drow priestesses, eldrich moon knights, umber hulks, half golems, driders, spider knights and other troop types were fought in one long encounter about a quarter-mile below the surface. Far outnumbered and facing down powerful enemies, many of whom had high-level spells at their disposal, the party prevailed against the odds.
Revan's ability to quickly remove single, powerful threats such as the colossal spiders, along with Joseph's mass healing and summoned angel factored prominently in the victory. Geena's sharp eyes and far-flying arrows slew many enemies before they could get within range to attack, beating the evil elves at their own game. Henderson and Mick successfully removed many threatening archers--up close and personal. Fergus was a one-man fireball war machine, casting quickened or maximized versions every round and removing many threats. Blip climbed atop an enormous boulder above the moon army troops and severed the spider webs, crushing many and injuring others with the inevitable shards. The dread pirate Black-Eyed Bill, along with the bards Daybill and Telpin, provided their usual all-important party-boosting support.
Experience: 6,000 Treasure: 6,000
Current character levels: 12th-18th
Next session: Sat. Feb 17, noon
Led by Revan and Joseph Prex, the party attacked deep into the heart of Soboff, the home moon of the invading drow armies. Deep within they found shattered boulders of a broken world, held together by gigantic spiderwebs. Gargantuan and colossal spiders, drow priestesses, eldrich moon knights, umber hulks, half golems, driders, spider knights and other troop types were fought in one long encounter about a quarter-mile below the surface. Far outnumbered and facing down powerful enemies, many of whom had high-level spells at their disposal, the party prevailed against the odds.
Revan's ability to quickly remove single, powerful threats such as the colossal spiders, along with Joseph's mass healing and summoned angel factored prominently in the victory. Geena's sharp eyes and far-flying arrows slew many enemies before they could get within range to attack, beating the evil elves at their own game. Henderson and Mick successfully removed many threatening archers--up close and personal. Fergus was a one-man fireball war machine, casting quickened or maximized versions every round and removing many threats. Blip climbed atop an enormous boulder above the moon army troops and severed the spider webs, crushing many and injuring others with the inevitable shards. The dread pirate Black-Eyed Bill, along with the bards Daybill and Telpin, provided their usual all-important party-boosting support.
Experience: 6,000 Treasure: 6,000
Current character levels: 12th-18th
Next session: Sat. Feb 17, noon
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Avalos Gemini's Demise
Phil, Rod, Carson and Rob, and Bel (for a bit) continued the D&D adventure from a few weeks ago today (Sat 1/20).
The success of the party was not a certain, sure thing. If Joseph hadn't seen past the illusions of the Vision Chambe; and if he had not asked Cuthbert "15 questions," the group might have been too weakened by wandering encounters by the end to deal with the final encounter with the vampire titans, and would not have destroyed their coffins prior to fighting them later. Without the mighty Taito's monster-killing fists, the entire party could easily have been defeated in any one of many battles against colossal two headed cerburus undead puking dogs, titan skeletons, a zombie dragon, colossal spiders, golems and of course vampire titans. Had Revan not slain the dragon Grizlok in his new undead form (yes, a second time), and generally been so studly, things could have gone differently. Were it not for Were-Rat's green-skinned fighter and Lola's whirling blades, the party might still have been victorious... or maybe not in the closer encounters. Black-Eyed Bill's, Daybill's and Telpin's party-buffing encouragement over the course of the adventure definitely helped. Fergus' spell support and Geena's and Mick the Gangly's ranged support certainly made a difference as well, helping the party deal not only with enemies but boiling blood, scrying globes, illusions, and vampire coffin soil.
Yet it was a goblin rogue named Blip the Forsaken, whom the party helped long ago, who possibly saved the whole party in the end by destroying the anti-magic field in Avalos Gemini's throne room. He had slipped into the floating castle ahead of the party and befriended three kobolds whom he convinced to provide a bit of extra help.
XP 8,000
GP 33,000
The success of the party was not a certain, sure thing. If Joseph hadn't seen past the illusions of the Vision Chambe; and if he had not asked Cuthbert "15 questions," the group might have been too weakened by wandering encounters by the end to deal with the final encounter with the vampire titans, and would not have destroyed their coffins prior to fighting them later. Without the mighty Taito's monster-killing fists, the entire party could easily have been defeated in any one of many battles against colossal two headed cerburus undead puking dogs, titan skeletons, a zombie dragon, colossal spiders, golems and of course vampire titans. Had Revan not slain the dragon Grizlok in his new undead form (yes, a second time), and generally been so studly, things could have gone differently. Were it not for Were-Rat's green-skinned fighter and Lola's whirling blades, the party might still have been victorious... or maybe not in the closer encounters. Black-Eyed Bill's, Daybill's and Telpin's party-buffing encouragement over the course of the adventure definitely helped. Fergus' spell support and Geena's and Mick the Gangly's ranged support certainly made a difference as well, helping the party deal not only with enemies but boiling blood, scrying globes, illusions, and vampire coffin soil.
Yet it was a goblin rogue named Blip the Forsaken, whom the party helped long ago, who possibly saved the whole party in the end by destroying the anti-magic field in Avalos Gemini's throne room. He had slipped into the floating castle ahead of the party and befriended three kobolds whom he convinced to provide a bit of extra help.
XP 8,000
GP 33,000
Monday, January 08, 2007
Star Wars Sun. Jan. 7 '07
Noon to 6 pm we played Star Wars the whole session. Phil, Carson, Robby, Jon and Rod all made it, Bel joined us for a bit and we consumed the usual tableful of coffee, snacks and sodas.
On the war-torn world of Beliray, the Hutt-rebel alliance fighters in the city of Ertiston received an arms shipment from a group of Hutt mercenaries flying a strange, aquatic non-Seinar freighter with Seinar Corp. markings (Akbar's Trap). The ship was attacked by Imperial vessels and damaged, but managed to deliver over 1,000,000 cr. worth of weapons, netting a tidy profit of 275,000 cr. to split amongst themselves--if they could help fend of the Empire for the three days needed for repairs to their ship.
Each of them went to work immediately upon landing in the middle of the war zone, where stormtroopers and Hutt/rebels fought building to building. Destro snuck into an Imperial H.Q. building, where he jacked into the computer so Jarn Thro could hack droids for a diversion while Destro set charges. Jaina Briel fought stormtroopers in the streets and looted wherever possible, eventually hotwiring an AT-ST walker. Garik Gracus, after brokering the weapons sale with The Spike, went back to help repair his ship. JP-12 "Jackpot" got a protective oil bath, then installed himself with the Imperial commissary concession machines as a caffeinator, then rendered all the equipment (including the 50 or more Stormtrooper armor/uniforms of those who were dining there) obselete by vaporizing his large pot of brown paintlike "brew." Pieda Bowman II set up a triach center, MASH unit and hospital station to treat the many wounded; ultimately he was able to install a Bacta tank on the ship, a highly valuable gift to the party from the grateful Vratix natives. Mike Skaruyabutavich fixed the ship--a day early. Forlorn Sky was the sole survivor of an attack on an Imperial hovertank over a block wide that was ultimately destroyed by orbital turbolaser fire from an Imperial Star Destroyer, the blast was diverted away at an angle by one of the systems the party had delivered earlier to the city of Ertiston, and right into the giant tank, vaporizing it instantly. Archu King fired the grounded ship's weapons mercilessly at all enemies who came within range. The Trandoshan Jedi Drael Gracks fought and defeated large numbers of stormtroopers after cutting into their barracks with his light saber. Though some of the party were wounded, all survived.
Experience: 4,500
Ship fund info: Beliray system Notes: see above
Trade profit: 275,000 cr. Repair/fuel expenses: 43,000 cr.
Offloaded: "defensive systems" Cargo purchased: none
Other: Loaded Bacta tank, AT/ST Walker
Next session: Sunday, January 21 at noon
P.S.: I'm thinking 10am on a Saturday at Old Town Hobby in the next couple months for another Magic booster draft, but I need to check with everybody first.
On the war-torn world of Beliray, the Hutt-rebel alliance fighters in the city of Ertiston received an arms shipment from a group of Hutt mercenaries flying a strange, aquatic non-Seinar freighter with Seinar Corp. markings (Akbar's Trap). The ship was attacked by Imperial vessels and damaged, but managed to deliver over 1,000,000 cr. worth of weapons, netting a tidy profit of 275,000 cr. to split amongst themselves--if they could help fend of the Empire for the three days needed for repairs to their ship.
Each of them went to work immediately upon landing in the middle of the war zone, where stormtroopers and Hutt/rebels fought building to building. Destro snuck into an Imperial H.Q. building, where he jacked into the computer so Jarn Thro could hack droids for a diversion while Destro set charges. Jaina Briel fought stormtroopers in the streets and looted wherever possible, eventually hotwiring an AT-ST walker. Garik Gracus, after brokering the weapons sale with The Spike, went back to help repair his ship. JP-12 "Jackpot" got a protective oil bath, then installed himself with the Imperial commissary concession machines as a caffeinator, then rendered all the equipment (including the 50 or more Stormtrooper armor/uniforms of those who were dining there) obselete by vaporizing his large pot of brown paintlike "brew." Pieda Bowman II set up a triach center, MASH unit and hospital station to treat the many wounded; ultimately he was able to install a Bacta tank on the ship, a highly valuable gift to the party from the grateful Vratix natives. Mike Skaruyabutavich fixed the ship--a day early. Forlorn Sky was the sole survivor of an attack on an Imperial hovertank over a block wide that was ultimately destroyed by orbital turbolaser fire from an Imperial Star Destroyer, the blast was diverted away at an angle by one of the systems the party had delivered earlier to the city of Ertiston, and right into the giant tank, vaporizing it instantly. Archu King fired the grounded ship's weapons mercilessly at all enemies who came within range. The Trandoshan Jedi Drael Gracks fought and defeated large numbers of stormtroopers after cutting into their barracks with his light saber. Though some of the party were wounded, all survived.
Experience: 4,500
Ship fund info: Beliray system Notes: see above
Trade profit: 275,000 cr. Repair/fuel expenses: 43,000 cr.
Offloaded: "defensive systems" Cargo purchased: none
Other: Loaded Bacta tank, AT/ST Walker
Next session: Sunday, January 21 at noon
P.S.: I'm thinking 10am on a Saturday at Old Town Hobby in the next couple months for another Magic booster draft, but I need to check with everybody first.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Gehenna Expedition
Having fought the vampire titan Avalos Gemini into an interplanar retreat, Revan Ward of Khadghar and Inquisitor Joseph Prax began planning a pursuit and an attack. Research revealed the villian to have some kind of connection to the Purple Order, perhaps. Also, his location was roughly determined: a pocket plane of Gehenna.
Upon purchasing a scroll allowing a large Gate spell to be cast, Fergus flew the party, along with a small army into the unknown aboard the modified drow spelljammer Impervious through the mystical veil. Included among this army were Geena, Lola Elizabeth Swan, Revan, Joseph, Mick the Gangly, Black-Eyed Bill, a team of dwarven seige engineers, and a great variety of experts, clerics, mages, and fighters. Among these fighters was Phil's bugbear named Dante, or snotface or something (I can't remember and I don't have my notes).
Through eerie blue-green light that seemed to come from every direction, they flew for days, searching the strange landscape of floating blue rock hills. No living thing could be seen. Swampy cloudlike floating lakes pierced the endless sky. At last, the titan's citadel came into view, gothic architecture stretching in every direction. It's great doors measured over 100' tall, and each cathedral window glowed bright red. The Impervious could not get close enough, so everyone climbed onto the nearest asteroid-like blue rock/mountain.
Three titans emerged from the crenalated towers of the citadel with fluttering black capes and glowing hate-red eyes. A great wyrm came into view also, green and more enormous than any dragon the party had yet seen. The ensuing battle saw many strange and horrible scenes: loyal followers trying to swim across the floating lake to attack the citadel, some of them treading water, others drowning slowly in the low gravity. Grizlok the dragon, focusing on one opponent at a time to rend limb from limb: Gemberlion the gnome, a snot-faced bugbear, a mighty cleric... Titans focusing their "hate rays" of red and burning the stalwart attackers from within. Titans swinging huge greatclubs, smashing their foes. The enormous doors themselves speaking horrible things and biting any who approach too near. Dwarven seige engineers falling up into the sky, knocked off their perch by colossal arrows...
Revan charging his pegasus completely through the dragon, coming out the other side covered in its blood and bile as Grizlock turned his dying face to discover who had bested him.
The citadel, floating with mysteries still waiting within.
XP: 4,000. GP: none yet (in fact, a lot was spent prior to the adventure)
Next session: Sunday, January 7, noon.
Upon purchasing a scroll allowing a large Gate spell to be cast, Fergus flew the party, along with a small army into the unknown aboard the modified drow spelljammer Impervious through the mystical veil. Included among this army were Geena, Lola Elizabeth Swan, Revan, Joseph, Mick the Gangly, Black-Eyed Bill, a team of dwarven seige engineers, and a great variety of experts, clerics, mages, and fighters. Among these fighters was Phil's bugbear named Dante, or snotface or something (I can't remember and I don't have my notes).
Through eerie blue-green light that seemed to come from every direction, they flew for days, searching the strange landscape of floating blue rock hills. No living thing could be seen. Swampy cloudlike floating lakes pierced the endless sky. At last, the titan's citadel came into view, gothic architecture stretching in every direction. It's great doors measured over 100' tall, and each cathedral window glowed bright red. The Impervious could not get close enough, so everyone climbed onto the nearest asteroid-like blue rock/mountain.
Three titans emerged from the crenalated towers of the citadel with fluttering black capes and glowing hate-red eyes. A great wyrm came into view also, green and more enormous than any dragon the party had yet seen. The ensuing battle saw many strange and horrible scenes: loyal followers trying to swim across the floating lake to attack the citadel, some of them treading water, others drowning slowly in the low gravity. Grizlok the dragon, focusing on one opponent at a time to rend limb from limb: Gemberlion the gnome, a snot-faced bugbear, a mighty cleric... Titans focusing their "hate rays" of red and burning the stalwart attackers from within. Titans swinging huge greatclubs, smashing their foes. The enormous doors themselves speaking horrible things and biting any who approach too near. Dwarven seige engineers falling up into the sky, knocked off their perch by colossal arrows...
Revan charging his pegasus completely through the dragon, coming out the other side covered in its blood and bile as Grizlock turned his dying face to discover who had bested him.
The citadel, floating with mysteries still waiting within.
XP: 4,000. GP: none yet (in fact, a lot was spent prior to the adventure)
Next session: Sunday, January 7, noon.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Vs. The Vampire Titan
With the aid of magic and information provided by the kobold accountant Brom Sprickle, Revan, Taito, Joseph, Black-Eyed Bill, Geena, Fergus and Nightsong Sharpfang tracked down the drow army who had stolen the Vampire Titan Avolos Gemini's treasure. After a long journey involving jumping over rifts, climbing subterranian cliff faces, and magically crossing underground rivers, the party prepared for the coming battle through prayer, magic and planning. Several silenced arrows, lance charges, flying drunken master kidney punches, brimstone, rock-turning-to-mud-and-back rounds later, the 50 drow were defeated, with the last of the priestesses "WITCHES!" burning; the treasure lay in the rock under the tunnel path.
Then, the Vampire Titan and his four invisible henchmen came for their treasure. This battle was difficult, but with the party still "buffed" from the previous fight, it ended with the defeat of the four henchmen and the retreat of Avolos Gemini, the Vampire Titan.
We didn't play Star Wars.
Experience: 6,000. Treasure: 6,000 GP; 12 Gems (total value: 12,400 GP); Ring of Wizardry III; Ring of Freedom of Movement; Amulet of Health +6 ; and an old apothecary business book
Next session: Sunday, December 16, Noon.
Then, the Vampire Titan and his four invisible henchmen came for their treasure. This battle was difficult, but with the party still "buffed" from the previous fight, it ended with the defeat of the four henchmen and the retreat of Avolos Gemini, the Vampire Titan.
We didn't play Star Wars.
Experience: 6,000. Treasure: 6,000 GP; 12 Gems (total value: 12,400 GP); Ring of Wizardry III; Ring of Freedom of Movement; Amulet of Health +6 ; and an old apothecary business book
Next session: Sunday, December 16, Noon.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Magic "B.Y.O.B." (Bring Your Own Boosters) Draft
Today John E., Ian E., Jon G. and I enjoyed being the FINAL FOUR (out of 4) in a makeshift Magic: The Gathering CCG draft. We decided ahead of time that any 15 card, non-Unglued boosters would work fine, and brought 4 each (3 to use, 1 for the prize pot). John and Ian brought a lot of the new Time Spiral, which is a great set that features a lot of re-released cards and game mechanics. I brought 2 each of Champions and Saviors of Kamigawa and Jon brought some Guildpact and Kamigawa, and I think I even saw some Coldsnap so it was all relatively recent stuff. To me, to be honest, it would not have mattered much what cards were in the packs because playing Magic is just a lot of fun. Plus, it had been a long time since most of us had played.
Final ranking was 1. me (6-1), 2. John (5-3), 3. Ian (2-4), 4. Jon (1-6). I ran heavy white, with medium blue and a splash of black and artifacts. John included green/red, Ian used black/red and Jon ran white/green/blue. Read on if you're interested in more details.
During the draft, I saw some okay white and blue flying creatures and cards early, and they seemed to keep coming, so I stuck with those colors mostly. I only drafted a couple of red and green cards, but there were a few black cards I thought I just might use, because blue/white is weak on creature removal/control. In draft, artifacts are almost always useable, and I got three or four useable ones. I know I let a lot of good cards go and could have made some better choices for my deck but on the whole I was happy with the cards I chose as they came around.
The most memorable play of the game for me came late in game one of my first match, when John tapped 8 mana to play a red dragon, some kind of Hellkite (Shivan or Balduvian, I think) that's a 5/5 flyer and does 5 damage split any way among creatures or players when it comes into play. I countered it for 4uu with Draining Whelk (Flash (You may play this spell any time you could play an instant.) Flying. When Draining Whelk comes into play, counter target spell. Put X +1/+1 counters on Draining Whelk, where X is that spell's converted mana cost. 1/1 rare from Time Spiral. All of a sudden, with a card I had not planned on including in my deck at all because of its high casting cost, I had a 9/9 flyer! Incidently, that card has excellent artwork. I went on to go 2-1, winning the first and third games of the first match, but each game was long and close. John is an excellent player both in deckbuilding and game play, and a great guy too. He was topdecking well with an artifact, and made good use of massive red removal. His deck also produced excellent mana and some big green creatures that were difficult to deal with, and everything seemed to work together. Most of my creatures had a toughness of 3 or less, and kept all getting killed off at once. For me, Fortify (a white common instant from Time Spiral that gives all my creatures either +2/+0 or +0/+2) helped me a lot. I had two, and each time I used the card, I used for power, not toughness. So did Clockwork Hydra, an uncommon artifact creature that automatically "Tim's" for 1 whenever it attacks or blocks. My white and blue weenies and relatively low-casting cost fliers were the workhorses of my deck, but I think it was the surprise factor of instants like Fortify that won games. One of my favorite aspects of Magic is finding really useful commons.
The second match I played Ian, who had just beaten Jon 2-0 very quickly. His deck was a very fast and focused black/red Sligh style deck, well-tuned for draft. His deck had cool graveyard effects too. A guy this good, this young has real potential. I was a bit concerned that my life total might dip into the danger zone because so many of my cards (especially the fliers) cost 4 mana or more. But it seemed like every draw I got just what I needed. Thunder Totem (U, TS Artifact 3 tap: add w to your mana pool. 1ww: Thunder Totem becomes a 2/2 white Spirit artifact creature with flying and first strike until end of turn) helped speed my mana curve, as did my 1-cost (Drifter il-Dal, Children of Korlis) 2-cost (Silent-Chant Zubera, Fathom Seer) and 3-cost (Descendant of Kiyomaro, 2x Icatian Crier) creatures. It was interesting that Ian and I each had a creature with shadow in play in game 2. One of his favorite creatures was a black 3/1 with flanking for a casting cost of 2b, that is a common (I forgot it's name). What really saved me against stuff like that was first strike. Creatures like Shinen of Stars' Light (2w Creature-Spirit First strike Channel 1w, discard Shinen of Stars' Light: Target creature gains first strike until end of turn.) and especially artifacts like the Thunder Totem and also No-Dachi (2 Artifact--Equipment. Equipped creature gets +2/+0 and has first strike. Equip 3.) really did help. So did that splash of black, especially for Ostiary Thrull (3b, Creature--Thrull. W, tap: tap target creature 2/2). In the later part of the games, blue enforcers like Viscerid Deepwalker (4u Creature -- Homarid Warrior u: Viscerid Deepwalker gets +1/+0 until end of turn. Suspend 4 -- u) really came in handy too. The effect that caught my attention in the second match was the combo of Promise of Bunrei (2w Enchantment, whenever a creature you control is put into a graveyard from play, sacrifice Promise of Bunrei. If you do, put four 1/1 colorless Spirit creature tokens into play), Icatian Crier (2w, Creature--Human Spellshaper 1w, tap, Discard a card: Put two 1/1/ white Citizen creature tokens into play. 1/1) and Fortify. It's not hard to make white goblin-like hoards and pump them up quickly. I had two Criers and two Fortifies in my deck, and didn't pick up on the combo until we were actually playing. Promise of Bunrei is one rare that would be scary in a constructed enchantress-type deck, especially something with recursion...
When I played Jon in the third match, I could see early on what he was going for with the cards he had chosen for his deck. Although his deck shared colors with mine, he had more creature enchantments, while I had more creatures. One of my bigger fliers, Castle Raptors (4w, Creature--Bird Soldier Flying As long as Castle Raptors is untapped, it gets +0/+2 3/3) came in helpful, as did No-Dachi. I finally got to use Kaho, Minamo Historian (2uu Legendary Creature--Human Wizard, When Kaho, Minamo Historian comes into play, search your library for up to three instant cards and remove them from the game. Then shuffle your library. X, tap: You may play a card with converted mana cost X removed from the game with Kaho without paying its mana cost. 2/2), one of the reasons I drafted blue in the first place. What a great card. Unfortunately, in the game situation where he came up in game two I had to insult Kaho's ability by pumping him up with No-Dachi and just attacking with him, instead of using his ability.
Next D&D Game should be Sun, Dec. 3rd at noon
Next Magic: TBA.
Final ranking was 1. me (6-1), 2. John (5-3), 3. Ian (2-4), 4. Jon (1-6). I ran heavy white, with medium blue and a splash of black and artifacts. John included green/red, Ian used black/red and Jon ran white/green/blue. Read on if you're interested in more details.
During the draft, I saw some okay white and blue flying creatures and cards early, and they seemed to keep coming, so I stuck with those colors mostly. I only drafted a couple of red and green cards, but there were a few black cards I thought I just might use, because blue/white is weak on creature removal/control. In draft, artifacts are almost always useable, and I got three or four useable ones. I know I let a lot of good cards go and could have made some better choices for my deck but on the whole I was happy with the cards I chose as they came around.
The most memorable play of the game for me came late in game one of my first match, when John tapped 8 mana to play a red dragon, some kind of Hellkite (Shivan or Balduvian, I think) that's a 5/5 flyer and does 5 damage split any way among creatures or players when it comes into play. I countered it for 4uu with Draining Whelk (Flash (You may play this spell any time you could play an instant.) Flying. When Draining Whelk comes into play, counter target spell. Put X +1/+1 counters on Draining Whelk, where X is that spell's converted mana cost. 1/1 rare from Time Spiral. All of a sudden, with a card I had not planned on including in my deck at all because of its high casting cost, I had a 9/9 flyer! Incidently, that card has excellent artwork. I went on to go 2-1, winning the first and third games of the first match, but each game was long and close. John is an excellent player both in deckbuilding and game play, and a great guy too. He was topdecking well with an artifact, and made good use of massive red removal. His deck also produced excellent mana and some big green creatures that were difficult to deal with, and everything seemed to work together. Most of my creatures had a toughness of 3 or less, and kept all getting killed off at once. For me, Fortify (a white common instant from Time Spiral that gives all my creatures either +2/+0 or +0/+2) helped me a lot. I had two, and each time I used the card, I used for power, not toughness. So did Clockwork Hydra, an uncommon artifact creature that automatically "Tim's" for 1 whenever it attacks or blocks. My white and blue weenies and relatively low-casting cost fliers were the workhorses of my deck, but I think it was the surprise factor of instants like Fortify that won games. One of my favorite aspects of Magic is finding really useful commons.
The second match I played Ian, who had just beaten Jon 2-0 very quickly. His deck was a very fast and focused black/red Sligh style deck, well-tuned for draft. His deck had cool graveyard effects too. A guy this good, this young has real potential. I was a bit concerned that my life total might dip into the danger zone because so many of my cards (especially the fliers) cost 4 mana or more. But it seemed like every draw I got just what I needed. Thunder Totem (U, TS Artifact 3 tap: add w to your mana pool. 1ww: Thunder Totem becomes a 2/2 white Spirit artifact creature with flying and first strike until end of turn) helped speed my mana curve, as did my 1-cost (Drifter il-Dal, Children of Korlis) 2-cost (Silent-Chant Zubera, Fathom Seer) and 3-cost (Descendant of Kiyomaro, 2x Icatian Crier) creatures. It was interesting that Ian and I each had a creature with shadow in play in game 2. One of his favorite creatures was a black 3/1 with flanking for a casting cost of 2b, that is a common (I forgot it's name). What really saved me against stuff like that was first strike. Creatures like Shinen of Stars' Light (2w Creature-Spirit First strike Channel 1w, discard Shinen of Stars' Light: Target creature gains first strike until end of turn.) and especially artifacts like the Thunder Totem and also No-Dachi (2 Artifact--Equipment. Equipped creature gets +2/+0 and has first strike. Equip 3.) really did help. So did that splash of black, especially for Ostiary Thrull (3b, Creature--Thrull. W, tap: tap target creature 2/2). In the later part of the games, blue enforcers like Viscerid Deepwalker (4u Creature -- Homarid Warrior u: Viscerid Deepwalker gets +1/+0 until end of turn. Suspend 4 -- u) really came in handy too. The effect that caught my attention in the second match was the combo of Promise of Bunrei (2w Enchantment, whenever a creature you control is put into a graveyard from play, sacrifice Promise of Bunrei. If you do, put four 1/1 colorless Spirit creature tokens into play), Icatian Crier (2w, Creature--Human Spellshaper 1w, tap, Discard a card: Put two 1/1/ white Citizen creature tokens into play. 1/1) and Fortify. It's not hard to make white goblin-like hoards and pump them up quickly. I had two Criers and two Fortifies in my deck, and didn't pick up on the combo until we were actually playing. Promise of Bunrei is one rare that would be scary in a constructed enchantress-type deck, especially something with recursion...
When I played Jon in the third match, I could see early on what he was going for with the cards he had chosen for his deck. Although his deck shared colors with mine, he had more creature enchantments, while I had more creatures. One of my bigger fliers, Castle Raptors (4w, Creature--Bird Soldier Flying As long as Castle Raptors is untapped, it gets +0/+2 3/3) came in helpful, as did No-Dachi. I finally got to use Kaho, Minamo Historian (2uu Legendary Creature--Human Wizard, When Kaho, Minamo Historian comes into play, search your library for up to three instant cards and remove them from the game. Then shuffle your library. X, tap: You may play a card with converted mana cost X removed from the game with Kaho without paying its mana cost. 2/2), one of the reasons I drafted blue in the first place. What a great card. Unfortunately, in the game situation where he came up in game two I had to insult Kaho's ability by pumping him up with No-Dachi and just attacking with him, instead of using his ability.
Next D&D Game should be Sun, Dec. 3rd at noon
Next Magic: TBA.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Slugs and Stormtroopers
In D&D today, the Joseph figured out that the party had just been to Olympus. The portal vanished and after exporing the cave further, Geena and Fergus discovered a narrow fissure in the wall, which the party followed for four periods of waking and sleeping ("days" are meaningless underground). The fissure opened into a huge chasm, and once the party climbed to the top of the ledge, observation and scrying unveiled more titan city ruins a quarter mile across, with bits of buildings on both sides, including a crypt, with pieces of titan bones sticking out of each cliff face. The party climbed (and/or fell) down to a ledge below, where they fought three giant acid-spitting slugs, each 5' in diameter, with slippery yet sticky thick hides. After what proved a difficult encounter, the group continued downward and discovered the ruins of a titan bank. "Oh great, more huge coins?" said Taito. No, it had been emptied a few days previously by the drow, according to the well-dressed kobold accountant who was the sole inhabitant of the empty vault. "I'm supposed to tell the owner of the vault it was the lizard men who took it. The drow tried to get me to implicate my own kind, to say it was kobolds, until I threatened to kill myself if they made me. That magic eye is watching. The vampire titan is going to be very upset when he comes back here for his money."
XP 2000 GP 0
Star Wars was pretty fun today, with the Akbar's Trap bunch up to their usual craziness. Crashing landspeeders until quickfoam spilled onto the duracrete. Disarming killing and misleading the endless supply of stormtroopers. Stealing plans for the Empire's newest underwater "maximum supression" war machines. Stuff like that.
XP 2000 Party credits 30,000
Remember, this coming Saturday (the 25th) we're playing Magic, so bring 4 boosters (or 60 random non-land cards).
Next D&D/Star Wars session should be December 3.
XP 2000 GP 0
Star Wars was pretty fun today, with the Akbar's Trap bunch up to their usual craziness. Crashing landspeeders until quickfoam spilled onto the duracrete. Disarming killing and misleading the endless supply of stormtroopers. Stealing plans for the Empire's newest underwater "maximum supression" war machines. Stuff like that.
XP 2000 Party credits 30,000
Remember, this coming Saturday (the 25th) we're playing Magic, so bring 4 boosters (or 60 random non-land cards).
Next D&D/Star Wars session should be December 3.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Underdark Olympics?
Aaron J., Phil, Rod, Rob, Carson, Jon, Aaron E. all made it to today's D&D session. Welcome Aaron J. We were going to play upstairs but space looked a bit tight in the kitchen and the basement wasn't quite too cold this afternoon. We played D&D the whole session.
Picking up where we left off last time, within one of the clay pots in the ruins of the titan city market were found the recent remains of a halfling. Curious, High Inquisitor Joseph Prax did a raise dead on the body. As it turned out, Day-O, the halfling rogue, had been smashed by a titan's gargantuan warhammer about a week previously. The little halfling had been attempting to loot the market ruins on a solo expedition, and had the misfortune of getting caught in the act. Having explored the area a bit, the halfling discovered an area of loose gravel in the floor. After investigation, stonecunning, and excavation involving Geena and Gemberlion, a circular hole was revealed. A while later, the party had 150' of rope leading straight down into the unknown. Gemberlion was digging further when the bottom fell out from beneath him and he was falling into such a large underground chamber it seemed he was outside. Luckily, he was able to save himself from a crushing death by using his flying bicycle, which he had been using to cart debris to the surface of the hole.
Before long, the party had decended to the floor of the great chamber. There, a 35' tall carved arc of stone stood, with 10 symbols and glyphs in an old dialect of the giant tongue. As the party investigated the "henge," they found it to be much more greatly detailed than the crude structures of stone they had seen on the surface. They also noticed a path made of large stones, which formed a perfect circle. In the distance a gigantic tent and several flaming braziers could be seen. Soon, footsteps thundered. Day-O recognized the toga-clad titan who had crushed him the previous week. Already atop the stone arc, the rogue pushed buttons at random. Warm air rushed into the area. Suddenly, beyond the portal beckoned a bright cloudy mystery. All of the party but Noctorium went through, and the titan followed. Noctorium stood vigil; you never know when you might need a wizard friend on the other side of something like this, especially if you want to make sure you get back...
On the other side of the portal there was daylight. As their eyes adjusted, the group saw a tremendous stone sports arena, where "Olympic" events were being held, with "entries across time and space." Here, the titan who had seemingly followed them ignored the party completely and simply went about his business. In the place and time where the party arrived, the 10 events were: Javelin throw, 1-mile footrace, Greek-style wrestling, triple-jump, rowing, archery, water polo, maze race, diving, and two equestrian events: dresage and obstacle race. Delegations present included Goblonia (goblins), Kingdom of Orcus (ogres & orcs), Draconia (lizardmen), Titania (titans, the hosts; many magically reduced in size for fairness), Liliput (halflings), Garumoso (trolls), Fiveleaf (elves), Dargnagor (dwarves), Diamos (drow), Nilofanti-Nova (gnomes), and others (mostly unaffiliated and mongrelmen). Most of the judges were titans, however representatives of each of the races were included on the judges panel (Joseph, for example, represented the humans, who were otherwise represented only by the human members of the party).
Most of the rest of the game session consisted of the various competitions. I will relate here what I can remember to the best of my ability, with apologies for anything I'm mistaken about (but let me know and I'll edit this later): 1. In the Javelin Throw, the ogres and trolls dominated, but I think one of the party members got the bronze, either Revan or Taito. There was talk about "the incident," of a few years previously, when the goblin delegation went into the supply shed and began throwing javelins into the stands, killing a young titan girl when she was struck in the throat; security has since been increased. 2. The One Mile Footrace was held "indoors, out of the heat and wind," back through the portal the party had used earlier. Day-O managed to sabotage the track by raising one of the stones in the one-mile path, without getting caught. The titan, running his race at 6' instead of 25' for fairness, tripped on the stone and Taito ended up winning the gold. 3. Greek-Style Wrestling was also won by Taito, but the competition was pretty good. 4. The Triple-Jump was interesting, but I didn't write down who won. I think Revan got a medal. 5. Rowing was dominated by Black-Eyed Bill, Fergus and Taito, all of whom have spent many an hour wielding an oar at sea, arr! Medals for events with each type of boat, with one to six men or women were awarded. Even the gnomes managed a bronze, though they had to remove the footgears and propeller from their craft first to qualify. The Diamos Drow were caught by event judge Joseph Prax trying to use hawk on a rope to go faster, though they were losing anyway. Joseph's proposal to burn the drow as punishment was considered and dismissed, as was the idea of branding them. Incidently, each event is surrounded by an anti-magic shell for its duration, largely due to previous drow attempts at cheating. 6. Archery was won by Geena, a first ever for a female and a first ever for a dwarf. Elves took the silver, I think, and Revan or maybe Balthizor took the bronze. 7. Water Polo was ferocious, with the "Human/unaffiliated" team consisting of Black Eyed Bill, Revan, Fergus, Taito (I think) and a walruslike mongrelman goally. After beating the lizardmen favorites of Draconia, the team were defeated by the Garumoso Scrags (trolls), who had a lot of penalties but could not be stopped. The silver was the first medal ever for humans in this event. 8. The Maze Race, for which the minotaur team were barred after 500 consecutive golds, was in turn designed and administrated by the minotaur delegation, who focused entirely on it. Two identical mazes, one contestant at a time. Some come out alive, and some don't. Others have gone crazy or exited the maze with dehydration and starvation symptoms. Nobody from the party won, though Day-O was able to complete the maze in 28 rounds. (five consecutive DC 32 search checks are required for success). 9. Diving: Day-O got the bronze by virtue of a great tumble check. 10. Equestrian: Dresage and Obstacle Course events were both won by Revan, though the elves had a good showing also.
After each Olympic events, the flag of the delegations of each medal winner were hoisted in turn, while the song of each played. Nightsong Sharpfang (the former Daybill) performed this service for the party members, as heraldry and music are her stock in trade. Taito drunkenly sung his Monster Island anthem from his pedastal whenever he won a medal.
Experience: 2,000 xp. Treasure: Bragging rights. Next session: should be two Sundays from today at noon.
Picking up where we left off last time, within one of the clay pots in the ruins of the titan city market were found the recent remains of a halfling. Curious, High Inquisitor Joseph Prax did a raise dead on the body. As it turned out, Day-O, the halfling rogue, had been smashed by a titan's gargantuan warhammer about a week previously. The little halfling had been attempting to loot the market ruins on a solo expedition, and had the misfortune of getting caught in the act. Having explored the area a bit, the halfling discovered an area of loose gravel in the floor. After investigation, stonecunning, and excavation involving Geena and Gemberlion, a circular hole was revealed. A while later, the party had 150' of rope leading straight down into the unknown. Gemberlion was digging further when the bottom fell out from beneath him and he was falling into such a large underground chamber it seemed he was outside. Luckily, he was able to save himself from a crushing death by using his flying bicycle, which he had been using to cart debris to the surface of the hole.
Before long, the party had decended to the floor of the great chamber. There, a 35' tall carved arc of stone stood, with 10 symbols and glyphs in an old dialect of the giant tongue. As the party investigated the "henge," they found it to be much more greatly detailed than the crude structures of stone they had seen on the surface. They also noticed a path made of large stones, which formed a perfect circle. In the distance a gigantic tent and several flaming braziers could be seen. Soon, footsteps thundered. Day-O recognized the toga-clad titan who had crushed him the previous week. Already atop the stone arc, the rogue pushed buttons at random. Warm air rushed into the area. Suddenly, beyond the portal beckoned a bright cloudy mystery. All of the party but Noctorium went through, and the titan followed. Noctorium stood vigil; you never know when you might need a wizard friend on the other side of something like this, especially if you want to make sure you get back...
On the other side of the portal there was daylight. As their eyes adjusted, the group saw a tremendous stone sports arena, where "Olympic" events were being held, with "entries across time and space." Here, the titan who had seemingly followed them ignored the party completely and simply went about his business. In the place and time where the party arrived, the 10 events were: Javelin throw, 1-mile footrace, Greek-style wrestling, triple-jump, rowing, archery, water polo, maze race, diving, and two equestrian events: dresage and obstacle race. Delegations present included Goblonia (goblins), Kingdom of Orcus (ogres & orcs), Draconia (lizardmen), Titania (titans, the hosts; many magically reduced in size for fairness), Liliput (halflings), Garumoso (trolls), Fiveleaf (elves), Dargnagor (dwarves), Diamos (drow), Nilofanti-Nova (gnomes), and others (mostly unaffiliated and mongrelmen). Most of the judges were titans, however representatives of each of the races were included on the judges panel (Joseph, for example, represented the humans, who were otherwise represented only by the human members of the party).
Most of the rest of the game session consisted of the various competitions. I will relate here what I can remember to the best of my ability, with apologies for anything I'm mistaken about (but let me know and I'll edit this later): 1. In the Javelin Throw, the ogres and trolls dominated, but I think one of the party members got the bronze, either Revan or Taito. There was talk about "the incident," of a few years previously, when the goblin delegation went into the supply shed and began throwing javelins into the stands, killing a young titan girl when she was struck in the throat; security has since been increased. 2. The One Mile Footrace was held "indoors, out of the heat and wind," back through the portal the party had used earlier. Day-O managed to sabotage the track by raising one of the stones in the one-mile path, without getting caught. The titan, running his race at 6' instead of 25' for fairness, tripped on the stone and Taito ended up winning the gold. 3. Greek-Style Wrestling was also won by Taito, but the competition was pretty good. 4. The Triple-Jump was interesting, but I didn't write down who won. I think Revan got a medal. 5. Rowing was dominated by Black-Eyed Bill, Fergus and Taito, all of whom have spent many an hour wielding an oar at sea, arr! Medals for events with each type of boat, with one to six men or women were awarded. Even the gnomes managed a bronze, though they had to remove the footgears and propeller from their craft first to qualify. The Diamos Drow were caught by event judge Joseph Prax trying to use hawk on a rope to go faster, though they were losing anyway. Joseph's proposal to burn the drow as punishment was considered and dismissed, as was the idea of branding them. Incidently, each event is surrounded by an anti-magic shell for its duration, largely due to previous drow attempts at cheating. 6. Archery was won by Geena, a first ever for a female and a first ever for a dwarf. Elves took the silver, I think, and Revan or maybe Balthizor took the bronze. 7. Water Polo was ferocious, with the "Human/unaffiliated" team consisting of Black Eyed Bill, Revan, Fergus, Taito (I think) and a walruslike mongrelman goally. After beating the lizardmen favorites of Draconia, the team were defeated by the Garumoso Scrags (trolls), who had a lot of penalties but could not be stopped. The silver was the first medal ever for humans in this event. 8. The Maze Race, for which the minotaur team were barred after 500 consecutive golds, was in turn designed and administrated by the minotaur delegation, who focused entirely on it. Two identical mazes, one contestant at a time. Some come out alive, and some don't. Others have gone crazy or exited the maze with dehydration and starvation symptoms. Nobody from the party won, though Day-O was able to complete the maze in 28 rounds. (five consecutive DC 32 search checks are required for success). 9. Diving: Day-O got the bronze by virtue of a great tumble check. 10. Equestrian: Dresage and Obstacle Course events were both won by Revan, though the elves had a good showing also.
After each Olympic events, the flag of the delegations of each medal winner were hoisted in turn, while the song of each played. Nightsong Sharpfang (the former Daybill) performed this service for the party members, as heraldry and music are her stock in trade. Taito drunkenly sung his Monster Island anthem from his pedastal whenever he won a medal.
Experience: 2,000 xp. Treasure: Bragging rights. Next session: should be two Sundays from today at noon.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Dungeon Crawl & Star Wars Deal
The dungeon crawl continued today. Encounters included drow and trolls, including Louis of Trolltown, the only non-evil troll in the group who speaks common (he was last seen by a few of the characters about 5 years ago, in game time). The ruins, once a city of titans destroyed by an earthquake or some cataclysm, spike downward and blend into a lot of natural caverns. Today the party explored the remains of a coloseum/auditorium and a market, featuring coins one foot wide. At the market, some pretty big gargoyles were encountered. 4,000 xp, adventure to be continued.
Star Wars was a short but fairly successful session for the party. An arms deal netted the party some profit and will ultimately help the Rebellion a bit, though the scenery was a bit cold and stinky, with a methane atmosphere. There was a bit of roleplaying and we ran out of time before any battles or encounters took place, but that's fine. I awarded 1,500 xp anyway.
Star Wars was a short but fairly successful session for the party. An arms deal netted the party some profit and will ultimately help the Rebellion a bit, though the scenery was a bit cold and stinky, with a methane atmosphere. There was a bit of roleplaying and we ran out of time before any battles or encounters took place, but that's fine. I awarded 1,500 xp anyway.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Magic, Star Wars & D&D Sun 10/8/06
Magic
Aaron E. came up a day early for Sunday's game, and he picked up some D&D & Star Wars miniatures and some Magic cards at Old Town Hobby (in Shelton, WA). We played a two-person booster draft using Champions of Kamagawa (they were on sale). He played blue-black-green; I played red-white-blue, and I won mainly just by keeping a bigger creature count on the table. It was a lot of fun. From what I've seen of the new Coldsnap and Time Spiral sets, Magic is due for a BIG comeback soon.
THERE WILL BE A "B.Y.O.B." (BRING YOUR OWN BOOSTERS) M:TG DRAFT GAME AT MY PLACE ON THE SATURDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING (NOVEMBER 25, 2006). BRING ANY 4 UNOPENED 15-CARD BOOSTERS OF YOUR CHOICE (EXCEPT UNGLUED/UNHINGED) 3 ARE FOR THE GAME, 1 FOR PRIZES.
Star Wars
Coreward, on the desert world of Imquew, Yarvil the Hutt joined forces with the Empire to profit from the antigrav systems production there. Imperial Commander Dork Gumball, on Yarvil's payroll (administrated locally by the Twi'lek Lyv) ran a massive grav-parts assembly plant using thousands of local and imported human slaves for cheap, disposable labor due to the radiation and toxins required for the work. Imperial stormtroopers oversaw the operation, aided by private contractors. Dabbo the Hutt hired the party to try to disrupt the operation, which he once controlled in a more hospitable manner. Using Imperial and private contractor forged identities (acquired with some outside help), the party was able to execute a frontal infiltration, falling directly under Gumball's command and/or Lyv's payroll. Among the party members were Jaina Briel, Mandalorian fringer/soldier 3/3 (Rob); cap'n Garik Gracus, human noble 1/scoundrel 5(Carson); Alpha Vega, Khommite soldier(Phil); Archu King, codri-ji Soldier 7(Bella); Drael Gracks, Trandoshan Jedi guardian/Jedi weapon master(Jon); Destro S'Xavio... cold-blooded assassin (Rod); Velkin, human force adept 6/scoundrel 2(Aaron); and Pieda Bowman II, Jedi Counseller 5/Soldier 1/Noble 1 (Dave's main NPC). Other NPC's featured were Jarn Thro (+22 computer use about 3 levels ago...) and Mike Skaruyabutavich (+19 repair a few levels ago...), and Ulrich (Dabbo's agent in the Livisko region of Imquew).
The party were successful, largely through deviousness, the use of poison, sneakiness, demolitions and overall foul play. But the end result was beautiful: Yarvil the Hutt himself was persuaded to travel to Imquew to oversee the operation after Liv died mysteriously from poisoned cake and the civilian workers went on strike in the absence of his over-controlled payroll. Though Yarvil had many of the workers executed for their insolence, he himself was slain (as was the reptilian Captain Jensen, according to Imperial records) in a mysterious explosion (one of many, written off by the Imperial PR office as an industrial mishap). When the party left, the entire operation was beyond the control of anyone and in utter chaos; slaves were able to escape as the civilian contractors, Hutt mercenaries and Imperial stormtroopers blamed and killed each other. Meanwhile, the party escaped with relative ease, finally being chased by TIE intercepters who arrived too late to capture or destroy the rogue Imperial agents aboard the medium freighter Akbar's Trap.
Vastly pleased with the end result, Dabbo invested 2,000,000 credits into the ship fund for the team to arrange construction of a new base and hangar and to establish new identities for themselves and their vessel. Of this, Cap'n Garik allocated 20,000 credits to each member of the team for personal equipment, training and supplies. I awarded 2,500 experience points for the adventure.
D&D
The party, ever in search of better and older magic items, flew over the top of a 1-mile diameter "Stonehenge" site of standing stones on the Isle of Ancients, visible as such only from far above, from the clouds. The best available guess is that this could be the actual long-sought site of the original city of Rotalia, said to have been founded by Titans millenia ago, and to have been a hub of interdimensional commerce. With the help of magic and mostly due to the sheer luck of spotting it from above, a cave entrance was found to enter the buried ruins. Almost immediately after penetrating the darkness of the cave, the party were set upon by a mixed unit of the Violet Vultures; lycanthropic mouse-people transmuted and bred for strength and spell ability long ago by the original moon-elves of the Purple Order. Though the party dispatched the guardians at the cave entrance, much remains to be discovered here and anything is possible; after all, this is a dungeon crawl.
Characters present included: Revan, human Paladin of Khadgar; Gemberlion Miragonian,gnome Dragon Shaman 7/Silver Dragon BL3; Cap'n Fergus Dowrimple, human evoker 10/rogue 5/arcane trickster 1; Geena, dwarf archer; Nightsong Sharpfang, kobold bard 12; Taito, level 15 human monk/drunken master; Black Eyed Bill, human ranger; Lola Kick-Butt Girl, human fighter; High-Inquisitor Joseph Prax Cleric 7/Inquisitor 8; Balthizor, level 7 Bralini fighter; Dante, 8th level githzeria monk; Noctorium, human wizard 13.
No xp or treasure yet awarded; TO BE CONTINUED...
Aaron E. came up a day early for Sunday's game, and he picked up some D&D & Star Wars miniatures and some Magic cards at Old Town Hobby (in Shelton, WA). We played a two-person booster draft using Champions of Kamagawa (they were on sale). He played blue-black-green; I played red-white-blue, and I won mainly just by keeping a bigger creature count on the table. It was a lot of fun. From what I've seen of the new Coldsnap and Time Spiral sets, Magic is due for a BIG comeback soon.
THERE WILL BE A "B.Y.O.B." (BRING YOUR OWN BOOSTERS) M:TG DRAFT GAME AT MY PLACE ON THE SATURDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING (NOVEMBER 25, 2006). BRING ANY 4 UNOPENED 15-CARD BOOSTERS OF YOUR CHOICE (EXCEPT UNGLUED/UNHINGED) 3 ARE FOR THE GAME, 1 FOR PRIZES.
Star Wars
Coreward, on the desert world of Imquew, Yarvil the Hutt joined forces with the Empire to profit from the antigrav systems production there. Imperial Commander Dork Gumball, on Yarvil's payroll (administrated locally by the Twi'lek Lyv) ran a massive grav-parts assembly plant using thousands of local and imported human slaves for cheap, disposable labor due to the radiation and toxins required for the work. Imperial stormtroopers oversaw the operation, aided by private contractors. Dabbo the Hutt hired the party to try to disrupt the operation, which he once controlled in a more hospitable manner. Using Imperial and private contractor forged identities (acquired with some outside help), the party was able to execute a frontal infiltration, falling directly under Gumball's command and/or Lyv's payroll. Among the party members were Jaina Briel, Mandalorian fringer/soldier 3/3 (Rob); cap'n Garik Gracus, human noble 1/scoundrel 5(Carson); Alpha Vega, Khommite soldier(Phil); Archu King, codri-ji Soldier 7(Bella); Drael Gracks, Trandoshan Jedi guardian/Jedi weapon master(Jon); Destro S'Xavio... cold-blooded assassin (Rod); Velkin, human force adept 6/scoundrel 2(Aaron); and Pieda Bowman II, Jedi Counseller 5/Soldier 1/Noble 1 (Dave's main NPC). Other NPC's featured were Jarn Thro (+22 computer use about 3 levels ago...) and Mike Skaruyabutavich (+19 repair a few levels ago...), and Ulrich (Dabbo's agent in the Livisko region of Imquew).
The party were successful, largely through deviousness, the use of poison, sneakiness, demolitions and overall foul play. But the end result was beautiful: Yarvil the Hutt himself was persuaded to travel to Imquew to oversee the operation after Liv died mysteriously from poisoned cake and the civilian workers went on strike in the absence of his over-controlled payroll. Though Yarvil had many of the workers executed for their insolence, he himself was slain (as was the reptilian Captain Jensen, according to Imperial records) in a mysterious explosion (one of many, written off by the Imperial PR office as an industrial mishap). When the party left, the entire operation was beyond the control of anyone and in utter chaos; slaves were able to escape as the civilian contractors, Hutt mercenaries and Imperial stormtroopers blamed and killed each other. Meanwhile, the party escaped with relative ease, finally being chased by TIE intercepters who arrived too late to capture or destroy the rogue Imperial agents aboard the medium freighter Akbar's Trap.
Vastly pleased with the end result, Dabbo invested 2,000,000 credits into the ship fund for the team to arrange construction of a new base and hangar and to establish new identities for themselves and their vessel. Of this, Cap'n Garik allocated 20,000 credits to each member of the team for personal equipment, training and supplies. I awarded 2,500 experience points for the adventure.
D&D
The party, ever in search of better and older magic items, flew over the top of a 1-mile diameter "Stonehenge" site of standing stones on the Isle of Ancients, visible as such only from far above, from the clouds. The best available guess is that this could be the actual long-sought site of the original city of Rotalia, said to have been founded by Titans millenia ago, and to have been a hub of interdimensional commerce. With the help of magic and mostly due to the sheer luck of spotting it from above, a cave entrance was found to enter the buried ruins. Almost immediately after penetrating the darkness of the cave, the party were set upon by a mixed unit of the Violet Vultures; lycanthropic mouse-people transmuted and bred for strength and spell ability long ago by the original moon-elves of the Purple Order. Though the party dispatched the guardians at the cave entrance, much remains to be discovered here and anything is possible; after all, this is a dungeon crawl.
Characters present included: Revan, human Paladin of Khadgar; Gemberlion Miragonian,gnome Dragon Shaman 7/Silver Dragon BL3; Cap'n Fergus Dowrimple, human evoker 10/rogue 5/arcane trickster 1; Geena, dwarf archer; Nightsong Sharpfang, kobold bard 12; Taito, level 15 human monk/drunken master; Black Eyed Bill, human ranger; Lola Kick-Butt Girl, human fighter; High-Inquisitor Joseph Prax Cleric 7/Inquisitor 8; Balthizor, level 7 Bralini fighter; Dante, 8th level githzeria monk; Noctorium, human wizard 13.
No xp or treasure yet awarded; TO BE CONTINUED...
Monday, September 25, 2006
More Mayhem
We moved the usual Sunday session to Saturday (Sept. 23rd) this time. Our next session is at noon on Sunday October 8th.
The entire session was spent on D&D, using the same terrain setup as previously, in another large-scale battle against the forces of evil. Characters present included: Revan of Khadghar; Joseph Prax-High Inquisitor of Cuthbert; Taito-Drunken Master of the "How Dry I Am" Palm; Neptorium-Mage of the Eagle's Claw; Balthizar "Wendy" of the Great Gust; Capt. Fergus Dowrimple; Mick the Gangly; Telpin, Bard of the Stolen Wands; Nightsong Sharpfang, Songrider of the Giant Hamster; Aiko, Shirikin-Thrower of the Red Way; Geena of the Dwarven Arrow; and anybody I forgot. A few members of the Moporian Militia tried unsuccessfully to hold off the invaders as the party arrived.
Among the villians were: lots of Jaramonian (highly transmuted) lizardmen, shahaugin and merfolk; drow eldrich-knights, high-priestesses and arch-shaman; mind-flayers, kraken-folk, two huge blue dragons, a rat-ogre, two giants, at least one high-level wizard of unknown race from the depths of the ocean or perhaps another plane of existance; and a myriad of others.
All were defeated by the party in the 6-hour session. Thank you to Rob for running part of the session. Also, please accept my apologies for the lack of roleplaying lately, and for not fitting a Star Wars game into the session.
The party is now 12th to 16th level. Some of the characters (of players who have not missed sessions, especially Revan and Joseph) are getting very powerful from both experience and magic items. As it should be. Fergus is looking and acting more like the higher-level version I generated of him; and is appraising, buying, selling and creating magic items in a very serious way.
Experience: 5,000 XP. Treasure: 15,000 GP
--Dave
The entire session was spent on D&D, using the same terrain setup as previously, in another large-scale battle against the forces of evil. Characters present included: Revan of Khadghar; Joseph Prax-High Inquisitor of Cuthbert; Taito-Drunken Master of the "How Dry I Am" Palm; Neptorium-Mage of the Eagle's Claw; Balthizar "Wendy" of the Great Gust; Capt. Fergus Dowrimple; Mick the Gangly; Telpin, Bard of the Stolen Wands; Nightsong Sharpfang, Songrider of the Giant Hamster; Aiko, Shirikin-Thrower of the Red Way; Geena of the Dwarven Arrow; and anybody I forgot. A few members of the Moporian Militia tried unsuccessfully to hold off the invaders as the party arrived.
Among the villians were: lots of Jaramonian (highly transmuted) lizardmen, shahaugin and merfolk; drow eldrich-knights, high-priestesses and arch-shaman; mind-flayers, kraken-folk, two huge blue dragons, a rat-ogre, two giants, at least one high-level wizard of unknown race from the depths of the ocean or perhaps another plane of existance; and a myriad of others.
All were defeated by the party in the 6-hour session. Thank you to Rob for running part of the session. Also, please accept my apologies for the lack of roleplaying lately, and for not fitting a Star Wars game into the session.
The party is now 12th to 16th level. Some of the characters (of players who have not missed sessions, especially Revan and Joseph) are getting very powerful from both experience and magic items. As it should be. Fergus is looking and acting more like the higher-level version I generated of him; and is appraising, buying, selling and creating magic items in a very serious way.
Experience: 5,000 XP. Treasure: 15,000 GP
--Dave
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Seaside skirmish at Moporia
In my campaign world of Aarde, Moporia was once the only city occupied by humans. Though that is no longer the case, it is still a great and old city. In today's session, the Elves of the Purple Order invaded Moporia from the sea. Among their troops were a variety of transmuted reptilian humanoids that amounted to mongrelmen made from lizardmen. Drow spellcasters, mindflayers, dryders and creatures never before identified rose from the waves in the large-scale attack. The party repelled the attack, at least in the district they were responsible for.
I ran today's adventure as a set-piece miniatures battle (but with standard D&D 3.5 rules). With Revan and Joseph Prax leading the now-powerful 12th-15th level party, I can throw a heck of a lot at this group, without worrying too much. Besides Rod and Rob, Phil and Jon made it today, Bel played Lola quite a bit, and Aaron joined us by conference call to play his wizard. Captain Fergus Dowrimple, my NPC wizard, is now very interested in the business of the magic trade. Marshall even showed up toward the end of the session, and I handed him Mick the Gangly to play. Does Marshall roll "1" every time? Wow, some casino should hire him to be a "cooler." Anyway, the party really romped all over these bad guys, sometimes with a single character dealing over 300 hp in damage in one round. It's really amazing what players familiar with the finer points of the rules are capable of. It was a fun session, with the powerful surprise actually being not the enemy, but the surprising power of this group. 6,000 XP, 6,000 gp.
I ran today's adventure as a set-piece miniatures battle (but with standard D&D 3.5 rules). With Revan and Joseph Prax leading the now-powerful 12th-15th level party, I can throw a heck of a lot at this group, without worrying too much. Besides Rod and Rob, Phil and Jon made it today, Bel played Lola quite a bit, and Aaron joined us by conference call to play his wizard. Captain Fergus Dowrimple, my NPC wizard, is now very interested in the business of the magic trade. Marshall even showed up toward the end of the session, and I handed him Mick the Gangly to play. Does Marshall roll "1" every time? Wow, some casino should hire him to be a "cooler." Anyway, the party really romped all over these bad guys, sometimes with a single character dealing over 300 hp in damage in one round. It's really amazing what players familiar with the finer points of the rules are capable of. It was a fun session, with the powerful surprise actually being not the enemy, but the surprising power of this group. 6,000 XP, 6,000 gp.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Titan Staves & A Double-Double Cross
WELCOME AARON
9/4/06
For today’s D&D and Star Wars sessions, it was me (Dave) running, plus Rod, Rob, Carson, Bella, Penny (for a bit) and Aaron E. (who came 3 hours up from Oregon just to play). I feel very flattered about this, thank you Aaron!
In D&D, Taito finally battled the drow and won the Key prize, an amulet that stores 21 levels of arcane or divine spells, and contains one true resurrection. But the main adventure dealt with the fact that transmuted “mongrel men” variants, many including golem parts, have become so common, the party felt certain Jaramon himself, founder of the Cult of Transformation, must have been brought back to life. As it now appears, this may--or may not--have been the case. The party rode Cap’n Fergus’ spelljammer to the pyramid site on the Isle of Ancients and fought a huge battle there, decimating a large number of a huge variety of mongrel men warriors, many of which were giant-sized. To cap it off, the pyramid itself was subjected to Rock to Mud, and Efreet variants were summoned (At Joseph Prax’s suggestion) to search the site for treasure (a type that could move through the mud and detect magic easily).
As it turned out, the pyramid itself was causing transmutations in the surrounding area, one of which caused Black Eyed Bill to take on the nose and other aspects of a snapping turtle. Four metal 20’ ancient epic titan-made custom staves of transmutation (probably actually worth about 850,000 gp each) turned out to be embedded in the pyramid itself. At Revan’s suggestion, the party ended up selling all four to the god Khadgar for 425,000 gp total, for safekeeping (and due to a lack of other well-heeled buyers). Aaron’s character is a wizard, Nephrim or something like that. The party is currently 13th-15th level, mostly. XP:5,000.
Star Wars was interesting. On Alzakak, an Imperial-controlled world, the party was sent to assist Blastsmoke, another of Dabbo the Hutt’s agents. Destro went under cover, using his forged identity as Imperial Captain Jarvis, to train cadets at Damachatron City. Garik Gracus, also with Imperial credentials, went looking for Blastsmoke at the encrypted distress signal coordinates, along with Jaina Brioli. Pieda Bowmon II (played by Aaron today) and Jackpot searched the officer’s mess hall/lounge. Garik found him, and on Blastsmoke’s urging, the party joined him and his assistants Duville and Horacio, in order to be certain to secure hard credits and data files from an administration building. As it turned out, Blastsmoke had already been caught, and had cut a deal with local authorities to lure additional Hutt agents here and trap them. An Imperial sleep gas grenade proved ineffective on the party, however, as did the 25 or so storm troopers arrayed to capture or kill the party, who wiped nearly all of them out. With 3 storm troopers remaining, Destro arrived to instruct one of his classes of 25 on procedure, and instructed them to stun everyone in the room. Destro, suddenly the ranking officer in the room, examined the warrant data pad and declared it faulty in procedure, since with special agents involved this would situation would require an inter-agency investigation (and other such matters). He then invited his class to join him on a field trip to follow the matter through. Once all 25 were on the ship, they were easily disarmed and sold into slavery to the Hutts for 1,000 credits each. The party was also able to sell holovids of Imperial training procedures to the Hutts for a hefty 20,000 credits. As Akbar’s Trap departed, Jaina’s typical parting gift went off, leaving several blocks in ruins. Current party level: 5-8th. XP:2,000
9/4/06
For today’s D&D and Star Wars sessions, it was me (Dave) running, plus Rod, Rob, Carson, Bella, Penny (for a bit) and Aaron E. (who came 3 hours up from Oregon just to play). I feel very flattered about this, thank you Aaron!
In D&D, Taito finally battled the drow and won the Key prize, an amulet that stores 21 levels of arcane or divine spells, and contains one true resurrection. But the main adventure dealt with the fact that transmuted “mongrel men” variants, many including golem parts, have become so common, the party felt certain Jaramon himself, founder of the Cult of Transformation, must have been brought back to life. As it now appears, this may--or may not--have been the case. The party rode Cap’n Fergus’ spelljammer to the pyramid site on the Isle of Ancients and fought a huge battle there, decimating a large number of a huge variety of mongrel men warriors, many of which were giant-sized. To cap it off, the pyramid itself was subjected to Rock to Mud, and Efreet variants were summoned (At Joseph Prax’s suggestion) to search the site for treasure (a type that could move through the mud and detect magic easily).
As it turned out, the pyramid itself was causing transmutations in the surrounding area, one of which caused Black Eyed Bill to take on the nose and other aspects of a snapping turtle. Four metal 20’ ancient epic titan-made custom staves of transmutation (probably actually worth about 850,000 gp each) turned out to be embedded in the pyramid itself. At Revan’s suggestion, the party ended up selling all four to the god Khadgar for 425,000 gp total, for safekeeping (and due to a lack of other well-heeled buyers). Aaron’s character is a wizard, Nephrim or something like that. The party is currently 13th-15th level, mostly. XP:5,000.
Star Wars was interesting. On Alzakak, an Imperial-controlled world, the party was sent to assist Blastsmoke, another of Dabbo the Hutt’s agents. Destro went under cover, using his forged identity as Imperial Captain Jarvis, to train cadets at Damachatron City. Garik Gracus, also with Imperial credentials, went looking for Blastsmoke at the encrypted distress signal coordinates, along with Jaina Brioli. Pieda Bowmon II (played by Aaron today) and Jackpot searched the officer’s mess hall/lounge. Garik found him, and on Blastsmoke’s urging, the party joined him and his assistants Duville and Horacio, in order to be certain to secure hard credits and data files from an administration building. As it turned out, Blastsmoke had already been caught, and had cut a deal with local authorities to lure additional Hutt agents here and trap them. An Imperial sleep gas grenade proved ineffective on the party, however, as did the 25 or so storm troopers arrayed to capture or kill the party, who wiped nearly all of them out. With 3 storm troopers remaining, Destro arrived to instruct one of his classes of 25 on procedure, and instructed them to stun everyone in the room. Destro, suddenly the ranking officer in the room, examined the warrant data pad and declared it faulty in procedure, since with special agents involved this would situation would require an inter-agency investigation (and other such matters). He then invited his class to join him on a field trip to follow the matter through. Once all 25 were on the ship, they were easily disarmed and sold into slavery to the Hutts for 1,000 credits each. The party was also able to sell holovids of Imperial training procedures to the Hutts for a hefty 20,000 credits. As Akbar’s Trap departed, Jaina’s typical parting gift went off, leaving several blocks in ruins. Current party level: 5-8th. XP:2,000
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Mordheim and Star Wars sessions
Yesterday, in our Mordheim session, my Osterlanders (rating 165) chalked up a couple of wins. First, vs. Rod's fledgeling new Skaven warband (rating 60) in a straight Skirmish scenerio, not a single Osterlander was taken out of action, and three of the rat people were on the sidelines when they routed. Tactically, I bunched all my guys up into a building right before being charged, and then executed a counter-charge. You never know how it's going to go. It could easily have gone badly for my human mercenaries, but the dice went my way. Even though the Skaven were smaller in numbers and experience, having five heroes to start with is enviable at exploration time, and underdog bonuses will have their rating higher in short order. Also, those warplock pistols have a strength 5, so they really pack a punch, and Rod's a really good player, so I'm sure the Skaven will be beating the crap out of everybody else before long.
The second scenerio, Treasure Hunt, was a three-way battle between my Osterlanders, Rod's Skaven and Rob's mighty Cult of the Posessed (rating 227). In Treasure Hunt, your guys are looking for a valuable chest, which shows up in the first building somebody explores where 12 shows up on 2d6, or the last building on the table if this does not occur. Then as a victory condition, you have to drag the chest off your table edge. We had about 16 buildings on the table, and when there were 3 left, I lucked out and two Osterlanders who had split off near Rob's table edge found the chest. I was very concerned, because they were pretty far from help, and outnumbered. Since we were both underdogs and Skaven have such great movement, I allied with Rod. From my perspective, it looked like the Osterlanders had just handed victory to the Posessed's horrifying cadre of Beastmen, tentacled mutants and other unspeakably frightening monsters. My henchmen group of two, each armed with two-handed swords, was immediately cut in half by three beastmen. The remaining guy, reduced to half movement by the heavy chest, was luckily not stuck in, so he moved just out of the way. Help began to arrive; the rest of the Ostlanders weren't quite as far away as I feared. My alliance with Rod's Skaven allowed them free movement closer to the big fight near the chest. The bulk of the Posessed were starting to arrive. Swampy, one of my heroes, held off being taken out of action by making an amazing three Step Aside skill rolls (a 5 or 6 on a d6 allows an unmodifyable extra armor save). I was able to get a more guys over to help with the chest, as my ogre and a couple other guys executed a fighting retreat. My captain was taken out of action by a terrifying tentacled thing. The Skaven ended their alliance and blasted all my guys around the chest with a powerful area-of effect fireball-like spell. Swampy succeeded in stepping into the role of captain and made the route check for the Osterlanders. Later that turn he himself was taken out of action. But through sheer luck and guts (yeah I know, a lot of luck), the Osterlanders, with two guys carrying the chest (and a lot of guys knocked down or stunned) dragged the chest off my table edge and achieved victory. With the spoils, the warband was able to buy three shiny new double pistols for its jaeger henchmen group.
Star Wars was crazy. Jon had arrived while we finished the second Mordheim scenario and built a Jedi Guardian character, the Trandoshan Drael Gracks. Through a long series of wheeling and dealing, the party has been smuggling Hutt weapons to rebel groups on several worlds, earning tidy profits in barter, which then had to be sold in order to cash in on the credits. Using forged Imperial agent and vendor identification and hacked computer codes, the party has been able to avoid problems for the most part. Accustomed to war zones, Akbar's Trap flew to Fivepoint, which is a highly populated Hutt/Rebel world under Imperial invasion. The group found themselves fighting to protect one of their customers, Governess Thora (at least until her credit could clear) from Imperial forces supplemented by the giant building demolition creatures genengineered on the Imperial research island of Dr. Balfir, as well as the Emperor's darkside droids, tanks, and stormtroopers. In the chaos of war and destruction could be seen gargantuan atomic monsters resembling a rancor, diablo, a giant spider, and a great slimy, shadowy creature that seemed to dissolve any building it touched. Destro S'Xauron disarmed two of the powerful darkside droids, causing them to go insane yet harmless. Jaina Brioli used her demolition skills to blow up some of the bigger threats, including the giant diablo, who easily picked up the power station building and crushed it. Meanwhile, Pieda Bowman II was directing a neighborhood militia while talking on the comlink to Garik Gracus in the ship, directing air strikes. The ship, maneuverable, yet heavily armored and armed to the teeth, contributed heavily to the battle, dropping powerful missiles and firing powerful energy weapons with deadly accuracy. Drael Gracks found himself dueling a darkside droid version of Darth Vader, then jumping on top of a rancor-like creature just before it would have crushed both duelists with one stomping foot. The Vader droid was crushed. Drael then started hacking away at the head and neck of the beast with his lightsaber, felling it just before it could destroy Governess Thora's transit center headquarters, and just as Destro grabbed Thora and tumbled her away to safety, and just as Jaina ran to a safe distance and detonated her charge on the giant diablo's feet. Meanwhile, allied forces had ignited the slimy shadow creature, and it burned away into harmlessness. Jaina salvaged the ruins of the Imperial tank, and the party clambored aboard Akbar's Trap and flew away.
I awarded 3,000 experience points for this adventure, even though we only actually played Star Wars for two hours. Technically the party earned no credits but everyone's reputation will go up by one.
The second scenerio, Treasure Hunt, was a three-way battle between my Osterlanders, Rod's Skaven and Rob's mighty Cult of the Posessed (rating 227). In Treasure Hunt, your guys are looking for a valuable chest, which shows up in the first building somebody explores where 12 shows up on 2d6, or the last building on the table if this does not occur. Then as a victory condition, you have to drag the chest off your table edge. We had about 16 buildings on the table, and when there were 3 left, I lucked out and two Osterlanders who had split off near Rob's table edge found the chest. I was very concerned, because they were pretty far from help, and outnumbered. Since we were both underdogs and Skaven have such great movement, I allied with Rod. From my perspective, it looked like the Osterlanders had just handed victory to the Posessed's horrifying cadre of Beastmen, tentacled mutants and other unspeakably frightening monsters. My henchmen group of two, each armed with two-handed swords, was immediately cut in half by three beastmen. The remaining guy, reduced to half movement by the heavy chest, was luckily not stuck in, so he moved just out of the way. Help began to arrive; the rest of the Ostlanders weren't quite as far away as I feared. My alliance with Rod's Skaven allowed them free movement closer to the big fight near the chest. The bulk of the Posessed were starting to arrive. Swampy, one of my heroes, held off being taken out of action by making an amazing three Step Aside skill rolls (a 5 or 6 on a d6 allows an unmodifyable extra armor save). I was able to get a more guys over to help with the chest, as my ogre and a couple other guys executed a fighting retreat. My captain was taken out of action by a terrifying tentacled thing. The Skaven ended their alliance and blasted all my guys around the chest with a powerful area-of effect fireball-like spell. Swampy succeeded in stepping into the role of captain and made the route check for the Osterlanders. Later that turn he himself was taken out of action. But through sheer luck and guts (yeah I know, a lot of luck), the Osterlanders, with two guys carrying the chest (and a lot of guys knocked down or stunned) dragged the chest off my table edge and achieved victory. With the spoils, the warband was able to buy three shiny new double pistols for its jaeger henchmen group.
Star Wars was crazy. Jon had arrived while we finished the second Mordheim scenario and built a Jedi Guardian character, the Trandoshan Drael Gracks. Through a long series of wheeling and dealing, the party has been smuggling Hutt weapons to rebel groups on several worlds, earning tidy profits in barter, which then had to be sold in order to cash in on the credits. Using forged Imperial agent and vendor identification and hacked computer codes, the party has been able to avoid problems for the most part. Accustomed to war zones, Akbar's Trap flew to Fivepoint, which is a highly populated Hutt/Rebel world under Imperial invasion. The group found themselves fighting to protect one of their customers, Governess Thora (at least until her credit could clear) from Imperial forces supplemented by the giant building demolition creatures genengineered on the Imperial research island of Dr. Balfir, as well as the Emperor's darkside droids, tanks, and stormtroopers. In the chaos of war and destruction could be seen gargantuan atomic monsters resembling a rancor, diablo, a giant spider, and a great slimy, shadowy creature that seemed to dissolve any building it touched. Destro S'Xauron disarmed two of the powerful darkside droids, causing them to go insane yet harmless. Jaina Brioli used her demolition skills to blow up some of the bigger threats, including the giant diablo, who easily picked up the power station building and crushed it. Meanwhile, Pieda Bowman II was directing a neighborhood militia while talking on the comlink to Garik Gracus in the ship, directing air strikes. The ship, maneuverable, yet heavily armored and armed to the teeth, contributed heavily to the battle, dropping powerful missiles and firing powerful energy weapons with deadly accuracy. Drael Gracks found himself dueling a darkside droid version of Darth Vader, then jumping on top of a rancor-like creature just before it would have crushed both duelists with one stomping foot. The Vader droid was crushed. Drael then started hacking away at the head and neck of the beast with his lightsaber, felling it just before it could destroy Governess Thora's transit center headquarters, and just as Destro grabbed Thora and tumbled her away to safety, and just as Jaina ran to a safe distance and detonated her charge on the giant diablo's feet. Meanwhile, allied forces had ignited the slimy shadow creature, and it burned away into harmlessness. Jaina salvaged the ruins of the Imperial tank, and the party clambored aboard Akbar's Trap and flew away.
I awarded 3,000 experience points for this adventure, even though we only actually played Star Wars for two hours. Technically the party earned no credits but everyone's reputation will go up by one.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Short Session--Star Wars & Mordheim
After a gig playing cello at the Mason County Fair, I ran Rob, Rod & Bel through a short Star Wars RPG session. We didn't use minis this time; there was a lot of roleplaying involving trade. After about 12 hyperspace jumps, the party's ship fund now stands at about a million credits after brokering a sale of Hutt weapons to one of the few remaining rebel-controlled worlds. Dabbo the Hutt even threw in a few extras, forseeing more long-run profit in weapons if the rebels are not wiped out. Just so long as nothing can be traced back to him, of course. I awarded 2,000 xp per character present.
We had hoped we might see Jon for D&D or Mordheim, but he volunteered late at the fair, and Carson didn't make it. So I played my human Ostlanders against Rob's Orcs, while Rod worked up a Skaven warband (you should have spoken up Rob, we could have easily included Skaven in the Defend the Find scenerio...sorry). I lost, but you wouldn't think so by the underdog bonuses and 6 shards of wyrdstone my scrappy warband raked in! Unfortunately, Sister Jess Ulricson will be out 3 games and Bubba Ulricson will be out for the next game.
I picked up some Magic: The Gathering cards recently and they look pretty good. Dissension has some pretty cool green cards, and Coldsnap has snow covered lands and picks up where the old Ice Age set left off; it's really cool. For example, the Rimescale Dragon is a 5/5 flyer for 5RR that taps target creatures for 2S (where "S" is any snow-covered land), and this ability does not require the dragon to tap. So... I'm considering asking around about a booster draft game soon.
We had hoped we might see Jon for D&D or Mordheim, but he volunteered late at the fair, and Carson didn't make it. So I played my human Ostlanders against Rob's Orcs, while Rod worked up a Skaven warband (you should have spoken up Rob, we could have easily included Skaven in the Defend the Find scenerio...sorry). I lost, but you wouldn't think so by the underdog bonuses and 6 shards of wyrdstone my scrappy warband raked in! Unfortunately, Sister Jess Ulricson will be out 3 games and Bubba Ulricson will be out for the next game.
I picked up some Magic: The Gathering cards recently and they look pretty good. Dissension has some pretty cool green cards, and Coldsnap has snow covered lands and picks up where the old Ice Age set left off; it's really cool. For example, the Rimescale Dragon is a 5/5 flyer for 5RR that taps target creatures for 2S (where "S" is any snow-covered land), and this ability does not require the dragon to tap. So... I'm considering asking around about a booster draft game soon.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
DD 71606
D&D 7/16/06
Amalgaville Redeux: Dryders from drop-ships, who had landed under the city 6-9 months previously had grown in strength. Capable of powerful transmutation and trickery and large numbers in brute force, this situation required the party’s attention be taken away from the battle at Ponoblish Bimpitigora. Amalgaville, the once-abandoned city of self-aware non-evil golems built by Tenneous’ arch-rival Signatious ages ago, was being cherry-picked by the drow for items and weapons of value and power. Entire buildings were being sunk underground for piecemeal harvesting of golem components, which were in turn incorporated into a new breed of Arachanoid Mongrel Golems. Messenger 31, Amalgaville’s ages old golem Herald, assured the party the golems of the city would be grateful for any assistance. The Arachanoid/Golem Mongrels proved to be challenging in the skirmish that followed, but the party was victorious. XP:2,000. GP:2,000 (per each)
Star Wars 7/16/06
Tivilion was the port of call today. The group also visited Waltlion, Dayerlion and the Zarlion Plateau. Just before arriving, Garik, Pieda, Destro, Jaina, Archu, Mike Skayuyabutavich and Jarn Thro had defeated three pirate ships, destroying one and capturing two (one to keep, one for parts). While “dirtside” the group battled the elements, including a tide-sensitive geyser, giant midnight blue flying manta-ray bats, and saurian lions. XP as the D&D session as I recall…
Lost Entries from 6/24/06
Dave:
D&D Summary: Revan investigated a drow infiltration of the church of Khadgar. Taito dualed an ogre and a hobgoblin in a once per 20 year all race/all stakes martial arts tournament, winning each easily but the defending champion & key-holder drow was a no-show. Joseph Prax interrogated drow for tactical information (see previous & following entries). Gemberlain Miragonian used his flying bicycle to battle the drow in the clouds over Ponoblish Bimpitigora.
Star Wars Summary: the group fought “Emperor Droids” on a tip from Tilliduaynus, and blew up a building that was actually a droid firing at the party’s ship. We used miniatures in a Necromunda-style skirmish climaxing in a dual between the plant-based Tilliduaynus and a droid version of Darth Vader, controlled by the ghost of Palpatine. The group, however, did not see this amazing duel.
Player D&D log entries (also from 6/24/06):
Rod:
Jon:
Gemberlion was on the base ship when an enemy ship had come upon port aft and began to let arrows fly and attempt to hit our ship. He activated his bicycle of flying, flew to the enemy vessel and began melee combat with his Morningstar as well as breathing his cone of cold in an attempt to become victorious.
Bel:
Drawing of a pink smiley-faced girl.
Carson:
Taito was approached by a representative from the world championship arena to fight in the name of all humans, and win the Silver Key trophy from the current champion (who is a drow). I fought an ogre who kept me at bay with his long reach, I managed to tumble through his defenses and start a grapple to stay close and bring him down. After that I took on a hobgoblin who hid behind a large fence-like obstacle and made range attacks, but by using my magical pants to make myself larger and stronger, I overcame the barrier quickly and crushed the hobgoblin. Now I’m off to find the AWOL champion to bring her back for a fair fight.
Robby:
Joseph Prax Inquisitor of St. Cuthbert. He was summoned (not magical) to the local temple of Cuthbert to interrogate a dark elf prisoner. In the temples dungeon the interrogation began simply. But the first few questions he asked only met with defiant backtalk and sexual propositions. Not wanting to take lip from a captured evil dark elf witch-whore, he punched her right across the face. This did not make her more cooperative so he held her foot down and smashed it with an iron mace.
The interrogation went smoothly after that, until she made one more sexual proposition. As she was speaking, Joseph grabbed some big pliers and snipped her index finger clear off. The interrogation proceeded smoothly. It seems a shifty gnome general and an increasing number of elves and gnomes are simply Dark Elves in Disguise. The witch will be burned by weeks end.
Amalgaville Redeux: Dryders from drop-ships, who had landed under the city 6-9 months previously had grown in strength. Capable of powerful transmutation and trickery and large numbers in brute force, this situation required the party’s attention be taken away from the battle at Ponoblish Bimpitigora. Amalgaville, the once-abandoned city of self-aware non-evil golems built by Tenneous’ arch-rival Signatious ages ago, was being cherry-picked by the drow for items and weapons of value and power. Entire buildings were being sunk underground for piecemeal harvesting of golem components, which were in turn incorporated into a new breed of Arachanoid Mongrel Golems. Messenger 31, Amalgaville’s ages old golem Herald, assured the party the golems of the city would be grateful for any assistance. The Arachanoid/Golem Mongrels proved to be challenging in the skirmish that followed, but the party was victorious. XP:2,000. GP:2,000 (per each)
Star Wars 7/16/06
Tivilion was the port of call today. The group also visited Waltlion, Dayerlion and the Zarlion Plateau. Just before arriving, Garik, Pieda, Destro, Jaina, Archu, Mike Skayuyabutavich and Jarn Thro had defeated three pirate ships, destroying one and capturing two (one to keep, one for parts). While “dirtside” the group battled the elements, including a tide-sensitive geyser, giant midnight blue flying manta-ray bats, and saurian lions. XP as the D&D session as I recall…
Lost Entries from 6/24/06
Dave:
D&D Summary: Revan investigated a drow infiltration of the church of Khadgar. Taito dualed an ogre and a hobgoblin in a once per 20 year all race/all stakes martial arts tournament, winning each easily but the defending champion & key-holder drow was a no-show. Joseph Prax interrogated drow for tactical information (see previous & following entries). Gemberlain Miragonian used his flying bicycle to battle the drow in the clouds over Ponoblish Bimpitigora.
Star Wars Summary: the group fought “Emperor Droids” on a tip from Tilliduaynus, and blew up a building that was actually a droid firing at the party’s ship. We used miniatures in a Necromunda-style skirmish climaxing in a dual between the plant-based Tilliduaynus and a droid version of Darth Vader, controlled by the ghost of Palpatine. The group, however, did not see this amazing duel.
Player D&D log entries (also from 6/24/06):
Rod:
- Called to church of Khadgar cause infiltration suspected.
- Met up with a cool high priest guy who was really trustworthy.
- Went investigating—found named elf high priest swimming, talked to her, suspected something, both of us cast dispel, turned out to be dark elf.
- Her f*** buddies came to support her, she said Revan was trying to force himself on her and that he had turned her into a dark elf.
- We interrogated her, offered her a chance if she would help us but she just lied.
- Found 2 more drow agents, got info from 1 and got her to repent.
- Others thrown into a burning pit with a giant gold statue of Khadgar in the center.
Jon:
Gemberlion was on the base ship when an enemy ship had come upon port aft and began to let arrows fly and attempt to hit our ship. He activated his bicycle of flying, flew to the enemy vessel and began melee combat with his Morningstar as well as breathing his cone of cold in an attempt to become victorious.
Bel:
Drawing of a pink smiley-faced girl.
Carson:
Taito was approached by a representative from the world championship arena to fight in the name of all humans, and win the Silver Key trophy from the current champion (who is a drow). I fought an ogre who kept me at bay with his long reach, I managed to tumble through his defenses and start a grapple to stay close and bring him down. After that I took on a hobgoblin who hid behind a large fence-like obstacle and made range attacks, but by using my magical pants to make myself larger and stronger, I overcame the barrier quickly and crushed the hobgoblin. Now I’m off to find the AWOL champion to bring her back for a fair fight.
Robby:
Joseph Prax Inquisitor of St. Cuthbert. He was summoned (not magical) to the local temple of Cuthbert to interrogate a dark elf prisoner. In the temples dungeon the interrogation began simply. But the first few questions he asked only met with defiant backtalk and sexual propositions. Not wanting to take lip from a captured evil dark elf witch-whore, he punched her right across the face. This did not make her more cooperative so he held her foot down and smashed it with an iron mace.
The interrogation went smoothly after that, until she made one more sexual proposition. As she was speaking, Joseph grabbed some big pliers and snipped her index finger clear off. The interrogation proceeded smoothly. It seems a shifty gnome general and an increasing number of elves and gnomes are simply Dark Elves in Disguise. The witch will be burned by weeks end.
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