The day I became a dad

Now finally at home and with some time to write, I proudly anounce that my son Ivan was born by C-section on March 23rd. Mom and baby are in good health, and we're all very happy (though a bit tired and sleepy :>).

I guess my DMing of the Blackmoor and Maure Castle games will be on pause for some time (not too long I hope), as well as my participation on the Millenium's End game. I'll try to keep up with the Google Wave game though. ;-)

Maure Castle session 4 & 5

By some alignement of the palnets we managed to play on two consecutives weekends. We played on Friday 4th which I found it was a nice way to remember E.G.G. on the third anniversary of his death. Moreover because Maure Castle was one of the places he used to visit as a player. We also played on Friday 11th.

I'm just updating the blog because I've been busy with work and with all the preparations for the baby due to come next week! :-)

In the fist session the group continued exploring the Chamber of Antiquities after the effects of a Symbol of Fear on Quinath the fighter/mage were gone. Behind two granite doors, that were magically opened by using a baton of grey granite, they discovered a room full of shelves with almost 100 pairs of varied footwear in type, shape and materials. Detect magic showed nothing. They were about to leave when Kamar the kensai wondered if that footwear allowed to pass through the M-styled symbols without suffering their effects. Everyone else mocked him and dismissed the idea, but he insisted and took a pair that best fit him.

After exploring several more rooms, they reached one with four curiass on their stands and a door. The door was locked so Kamar bashed it, but with the impulse he entered the other room. The walls, floor and ceiling of that room were chaotically painted and produced some unknown efect that he managed to resist. After leaving that room he told the others that maybe those armor were intended to be worn in order to enter the room safely. Again everyone dismissed the idea but this time they just took them and continued exploring.

While the rest were discussing about the amor and the room, Inowe the monk left to explore other rooms. She reached a door ajar and carefully opened it. What was once a storeroom was now just a pile of broken crates and boxes. From another door, also ajar, across the room a hordling attacked Inowe. It almost killed the monk if not for the quick reaction of the rest. The creature came from what once was a laboratory, now completely wrecked. The exploration continued from room to room until they found hidden in a wardrobe another baton, this one made of emerald. With that they left the castle.

But after leaving Kamar tried the found footwear with the magic Symbols only to found he was correct! At the end of the session I decided to award Kamar's player extra XPs for the idea. Denar and Quinath reached level 15.

The next session was a short one. It was more a farewell reunion for Kamar's player who is going abroad for some time but will still be playing via Skype. The game stared with the party navigating the dungeons on their way out. They came across a couple of fiendish morghs. One was turned by Denar the cleric and the other, after paralyzing Inowe, was killed by Kamar. After that they rached the surface safely and, while travelling across the hills to Quinath tower, they found a strange flying creature (a rast) that was mercilesly killed by Quinath with a lighning bolt. The session ended with the party reaching Quinath tower safely.

Until next session!

Sandbox game session 10

Today I realized that a gaming weekend is coming (Maure Castle game on Friday and Sandbox game on Saturday) and I haven't posted what happened on our last Blackmoor game.

In the week before departure from Broomsage, the unusual presence of a pair of Ice Elves in the village¡s tavern spurs Kratos the fighter to find out what they are doing so far from their land. The warrior's direct inquiries are not well received by one of the Elves and Kratos goes away discouraged. Tamryn the thief, however, understands Elvish and hear the dialogue between the Elves and discover they are seeking information. Vanon the cleric decides then a more diplomatic approach. The tactic is effective and results in knowing that the Elves are on the trail of a human sorcerer who came to their land. He came followed by a retinue of human and humanoid mercenaries, and left "not in good terms with us" in the words of the Elves. They followed his trail to this lands but lost it after a storm and decided to seek information in the nearest town. The description made by the Elves reminds Vanon of the wizard familiar to the group, so he tells them about their recent experience. He also consults with the rest of the group and agree to help them. He gives them a map of the area where the sorcerer's lair is. The Elves are very grateful and in return give him a bag of coins and their names along with the promise of help by their clan (Caldarii) if need arise.

After leaving Broomsage Abbey, and having obtained from the monastery a map of Blackmoor and information about a wand, the "heroes " embark on their journey westward in search of the place marked on a map that belonged to Scarlet's grandfather. The trip passes uneventfully through hills and swamps until the village of Glendour. There, Brom the ranger expresses his intention to return to Ramshorn as he has been away from his lands for too long. The group surprises him with a bounce in appreciation. Scarlet the illusionist takes this opportunity to send her hireling Phillipe back home. Disappointed, the young warrior leaves with a grateful Brom.

The journey of our "heroes" continues to the northwest between snowy hills to Darthkettle Keep. Along the way they come across a halfling that dressed in colorful clothes walking with a pair of draft mules. Tamryn buys from him half a pound of tobacco; the finest blend as the halfling said. Upon reaching Darthkettle they see that it's a tower in pretty bad shape on a hill surrounded by some smaller buildings in ruins. The town itself is a bit far from the hill and it's rather small. As Glendour, the town is inhabited mostly by local tribesmen and they learn thekeep is occupied by the "Greenhag Covenant. " The group asks for the location indicated on Scarlet's map and find that it's in a nearby forest to the West controlled by the Druids.

Until next session!

Week and weekend

This week the Google Wave game (The Dark Ages - The Southern Seas campaign) was full of interesting events that moved the adventure forward. We managed to open the mage's tomb and carefully begun its exploration. The stairs led down to an hexagonal room with two exits and a raised balcony with a niche above it. One of the exits ended in a cave-in, while the other after a couple of stairs ended in a stone slab. The raised platforn led to a small room with some cauldrons and strange inscriptions on the walls. The niche above it to a bigger room with columns and two stone slab doors.

Thanks to Alan, who plays Landyn the half-elven fighter/magic-user, here's a map of the tomb so far:

All stone slabs beared the same strange gleaming inscriptions. We opened the northern door of the columns room. It was filled with an eerie darkness that obscured all light sources and prevented any sound to enter/leave the room. Tied with a rope to guide him Landyn explored the room and came out with a 4 ft. tall stone urn. He repeated the process three times more and each time he returned with an urn.

We the tried the door beyond the stairs an it led to the same room. This time he discovered a rectangular stonework which we think is a sarcophagus. He also discovered a slightly raised flagstone and after lifting it found a cache of coins! Our first treasure after a year of gaming on the Wave. An exciting moment. Along with Merrick, Landyn proceeded to fill all our spare sacks with the coins, only to be told by the DM (ChicagoWiz) that we thought we barely took a small portion of the treasure. We decided to leave with that (and the urns) and come back later.

Meanwhile Orbilar (me) was outside the tomb checking the mounts when a dozen of mounted Elves approached. They were on their way to Skalfier (our base of operations) for a Conclave and have lost their way. Their leader had a glowing set of chainmail armor (drool).

More next week!

A weekend of work and gaming awaits. Some painting on the future baby's room and a trip to the mall to buy "baby stuff". Now I'm off to play our one-every-two-weeks Millenium's End game and tomorrow night is time for my Labyrinth Lord sandbox game.

Uncovered treasures

Here are a couple of treasures I recently discovered while emptying a cabinet, as part of the many changes going on in the apartment for the baby that arrives next month. I found 13 issues of Dragon magazine! They are issues 118, 123, 124, 125, 133, 137, 143, 152, 173, 187, 204 and 206 (x2). Many of them has no cover but all are in good conditions.

The other one is the Ultima Online Renaissance reference guide with the maps of Trammel and Felucca. I don't know where the boxed set and CD are, but at least this one remains.

Miniatures

The OOC wave from our Google Wave game has seen a lot of activity lately related to miniatures and painting (painting techniques, paints, brushes, storage, etc).

Added to that I recently found (among other treasures I'll comment later) a couple of boxes with painted/unpainted miniatures. Here's my humble stash of miniatures:

I hope all this will give me the momentum to go back to painting!

EDIT: Thanks to ChicagoWiz and Ken.

Sandbox game session 9

Finally we managed to get the group together to continue the game after the summer break. A couple of sessions ago the group was ambushed in the woods by a patrol of bandits. Only the leader (Lakus) survived but they let him go after stripping him from his possessions. As the group carried on with the adventure I wondered what happened to that NPC and what would be his course of actions. Then I thought about something ChicagoWiz said in our Google Wave game: "Let the dices tell the story." So I did just that. I started a new wave, added the DiceLink robot and let the dices tell me what was Lakus story. Here's a cut&paste of that wave, with some comments in italics.

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

Me and Dicelink: Lakus goes to Broomsage or Stornawane? 50-50

He wondered where that party has come from. The two nearest towns were the town around Broomsage abbey and Stornawane. He has to choose one of them.

[1d100 d100(47)=47]

He heads for the abbey.

He has to travel, in winter, 3 days by foot. One day accross the forest and two days by a trail across the hills. I rolled 3 times a day fo random encounters.

Forest (1-2 in 1-d-6)

day 1:

[1d6 d6(4)=4]

[1d6 d6(3)=3]

[1d6 d6(1)=1][1d20 d20(1)=1] Bee, Giant Killer at [4d6 4d6(4,4,4,1)=13] 130 yds.

Surprise Lakus [1d6 d6(1)=1] Surprised!

Surprise Bee [1d6 d6(1)=1] Surprised! Reaction [2d6 2d6(1,2)=3] (Indifferent, uninterested) Bee wanders off.

Hills (1-2 in 1-d-6)

day2:

[1d6 d6(2)=2][1d20 d20(6)=6] Dragon, white at [4d6 4d6(4,2,1,4)=11] 110 yds.

Surprise Lakus [1d6 d6(3)=3]

Surprise Dragon [1d6 d6(3)=3] Reaction [2d6 2d6(4,1)=5] (Indifferent, uninterested) Dragon just flies by and continues.

[1d6 d6(4)=4]

[1d6 d6(4)=4]

day3:

[1d6 d6(1)=1][1d20 d20(17)=17] Ogre [4d6 4d6(3,3,6,3)=15] 150 yds.

Surprise Lakus [1d6 d6(4)=4]

Surprise Ogre [1d6 d6(6)=6] Reaction [2d6 2d6(1,2)=3] (Indifferent, uninterested) The Ogre recognizes Lakus as one of the bandits and carries on.

Since the reaction was indifferent and there was an Ogre in the area that sometimes worked for the bandits, I thought it could be that one.

[1d6 d6(6)=6]

[1d6 d6(6)=6]

Lakus arrives to Broomsage abbey.

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

It was amazing to see how the dices led the NPC to the place where the party has to return (something unknown to Lakus). He waited in the town and survived by doing some petty thieving until he recognized the party when they got back. He then watched them and planned to take back the things they took away from him.

What he didn't knew (and here starts the session) is that Tamryn, the group thief, caught a glimpse of him in town and followed him to the cowshed he used to spen the nights. She waited, hidden, until it paid off and he went out in the middle of the night. He used dark alleys to get to the tavern where they were staying and got in using a fake common room token.

Tamryn looked for an opened window and climbed into the tavern second floor where were the guest rooms. The room she entered was occupied but she managed to silently gain access to the corridor. When she rounded a corner she came face to face with Lakus, surprising him, but she just said "Good night." and carried on. Upon reaching the bar downstairs she complained she couldn't sleep, asked for a mug of hot cider and went back up. She moved silently along the corridor and stopped to listen before rounding the corner. The agitated breath of a person close ahead was all she heard. She quickly moved around the corner but couldn't surprise him, so she threw the hot cider on his face. He cried in pain and blindly swung with a crowbar at her, but missed. The cry waked up Scarlet dog who started barking and clawing the room's door. Tamryn drew her scimitar and commanded Lakus to surrender. The barking woke upo several guests including Scarlet the illusionist, Kratos the fighter and Vanon the cleric.

As Lakus gave in, Tamryn took him to Scarlet's room along with Kratos, while Vanon after admonishing everyone else back to sleep did the same. Meanwhile the others interrogated Lakus, who told them he just wanted back a sword (+1, +2 vs. lycanthropes) and a scroll (ward agaist lycanthropes). When asked why they were so important he told that he needed them to take revenge on the werewolf that killed his family. He had joined the bandits because one of the leader was a mage that he thought could help him. In time he proved worthy and the mage gave him those items for his services. He was not proud of the things he has done but those were just the means to an end.

They told him that he lost the sword and scroll in a fight fair and square, and that if they came across this werewolf they will kill it for him (they asked its name and where it was). But, if they find him nosing around or following them again, he won't get lucky a third time and they would kill him. After that they tied him, lowered down the window and escorted him to the outskirts of town. Once there, they repeated the threat and set him free.

What will Lakus do next? I'll let it to the dices.

Until next session!

New Year

After a few, but well deserved vacation days, I'm back to wish you all (a little late but no less meaningful) a very happy 2011! May the New Year bring you love, good health and many, many hours of gaming among friends.

Cheers!

Thank you!

According to this post by Cyclopeatron this blog made it into the first 100 and gained 6 new followers since last month. Thanks a lot to all of you.

Sandbox game session 8

We played a short session today. Dividing the trasure, seeling loot, restocking adventuring gear and buying horses took most of the time. The party is in the town around Broomsage abbey after recovering a old statue for the monks. Vanon the cleric and Kratos the fighter reached 2nd level. Tamryb the thief and Brom the ranger were close to reach 3rd level.

Tamryn sold her donkey and bought a horse with Brom's advice who selected the best available. Vanon commissioned the town jeweler to coat the edges of his wooden holy symbol with silver, while Scarlet wanted to know what was the true nature of a wand she found. She went to the abbey since monks are well known for being scholars in different areas, and are often sought as sages and seers. They certainly agreed to study her wand but told her it could take several weeks. While at the abbey, she also asked about a place, Halderwood forest. The monks showed her an old lavishly decorated map of the barony and environs, and pointed the place for her. When she took quil, ink and paper to annotate the directions, the monks offered her, for a small price, a copy of the map which she gladly accepted. She also asked about the Land of Black Ice when she saw the map and the monks told her about it. At that point the player OOC said: "Looks like we'll have to be of higher level before visiting that place!"

Later at night, while sharing Tamryn's keg of anisetto, Scarlet told the rest of the party about what she thought it was a treasure map that her grandfather left her. The place was not far from where they were and everyone agreed it was worth to check the place out. The map showed a tower in the middle of a forest crossed by rivers or roads in a "Y" form, a legend and the picture of a key. Tamryn examined the map and when approached to a candle, it revealed a skull in the bow of the key...

Until next session!

Comment about the 1 gp = 1 XP rule

It was at the end of my last post but maybe nobody got that far so I repost the situation. :)

Last Sunday before the session ended I proceeded to give XP. When I said they should add, to the XP from the defeated monsters, 1 XP per gold coin of non-magical treasure, Mike who plays Vanon the cleric said it was an unfair rule. He felt that he was stealing XP from the rest of the players since from the 200 platinum pieces he got paid, he gave 30 pp to each and kept 50 pp for him. The same said my wife who plays Tamryn the thief. She argued that that rule went against anyone wanting to roleplay, for example, an ascetic monk who cares nothing about money or, on the other end, a greedy thief. They wanted, if I agreed, to split the XP from treasure evenly. I ruled it was fine.

I later read page 49 of Labyrinth Lord Revised Ed. and found that my initial ruling missed the point. It states:

All characters that make it through an adventure alive receive

experience points (XP). Experience points are gained from

two sources, treasure and monsters. Characters only gain XP

from treasure of a non-magical nature, at the rate of 1 XP per

1 gold piece (gp) value of the item. The values of all items are

added together, and converted to gp units if necessary. For

example, if the group finds a gold statue worth 500 gp and a

gem worth 250 gp, these are added up to 750 XP, and

divided evenly between the characters.

I think that evenly is the key word there, so I guess my final ruling was right. I doesn't really matter how many coins end in the character's pouch. Only the XP are divided evenly, not the treasure money. My players without having read the rules (I'm sure they didn't) and I (who misread them) through arguments and logic reached to the same idea as in the book. Cool.

Sandbox game session 7

With one player short because of end-of-term exams, we gathered last Sunday night for a short session.

The patrol (one bugbear, two orcs and three humans), commanded by the halberd-wielding chainmail-clad bugbear, charged across the snowy plain to attack the adventurers. The group held their ground and fired a volley of arrows and stones into the charging bandits. One arrow from Tamryn hit its mark putting one human down, Brom also landed an arrow on the bugbear and Vanon hit one orc with a sling shot. As the attackers drew nearer, the party fired again. Another arrow from Brom hit the bugbear, and both orcs also got hit by arrows from Kratos and Tamryn. Vanon sling shot flew wide. Although wounded neither the bugbear nor the orcs stopped advancing.

The orcs and one human were the first to reach the line of the party, followed close behind by the bugbear and another human. Phillipe advanced to met them and Scarlet let go her war dog. Kratos dropped his bow and drew his bastard sword, Vanon dropped his sling and readied his flail. Both spurred their horses forward. What followed was a gory scrimmage that left all the attackers bleeding to death on the snow. But it was not all over. After receiving another arrow from Brom, the bugbear charged into him and with a swing from its halberd practically disemboweled the ranger, who dropped mortally wounded to the ground. The also heavily wounded bugbear was swiftly killed by Kratos and near-dead Brom was bandaged to stop the bleeding. The party proceeded to loot the patrol and put everything on the cart along with the unconciuos ranger. They made way into the caverns to spend the night.

The next day Vanon used his clerical abilities to heal Brom and Kratos before proceding to retrieve the statue. They carefully covered it with some winter blankets and tied it with ropes before loading it on the cart. While the men were at it, Tamryn watched the southern exit of the room and Scarlet with her watch dog watched the entrance where they came in. It was the barking of the dog that warned everyone of the danger: a giant crab spider had dropped in front of the surprised illusionist. The dog bit the spider and Scarlet feared for her loyal companion as the spider dig its poisonous fangs on him. Luckyly the poison was not strong enough. Alerted by the barks and screams the rest of the party moved to assist and soon the spider layed dead with its carapace broken.

After that they resumed their labors and soon the statue was secured on the cart. They left the caverns under the hill and headed for the woods, which they crossed without incident. They took the trail heading West and arrived at night to Broomsage abbey. The doors of the abbey were closed and were told by a monk to return in the morning. Vanon insisted on seeing prior Morrison and after waiting a for while under the falling snow, the doors finally opened. The prior and half-a-dozen monks waited in the abbey's inner yard. While the abbot accompained the adventurers inside the monks proceeded to unload and store the statue. Hot food was offered to the guests and spartan but clean monk cells were made available for them to rest. Prior Morrison was very pleased they could recover the relic and told Vanon they'll settle what was arranged in the morning.

Before dawn everyone was waken up by the monotonous chants of the monks on their way to Lauds, the early morning service. Most continued sleeping but Vanon woke up and joined the monks. After the service Vanon joined prior Morrison who gave him a small wooden coffer containing 200 platinum coins. When Vanon offered the job to the rest of the group they said they'll do it for 100 gold coins. He gave each of them 30 platinum coins and kept 50 for him.

Here ended the session and I proceeded to give XP. When I said they should add, to the XP gained for defeated monsters, 1 XP per gold coin of treasure, Vanon's player said it was an unfair rule. He felt that he was stealing XP from the rest of the players. The same said my wife who plays Tamryn the thief. She argued that that rule went against anyone wanting to roleplay, for example, an ascetic monk who cares nothing about money or a greedy thief. They wanted, if I agreed, to split the XP from treasure evenly. I said it was fine. What do you think about it?

Until next session!

Awesome dragon

You can find it here.

Maure Castle session 3

Last Friday night the party continued with the exploration of Maure Castle (D&D 3.5e) and here's what happened:

As a final attempt against the hydra, Quinath cast a Summon Monster IX from a scroll. Being a spell above his caster level there was a chance of a mishap. And the mishap happened, but not instantly. I secretely rolled the effect and how many hours will pass before it. The group returned to the tower of Quinath to rest and plan the next incursion into the castle.

It was dawn when the tower was rocked from its foundations, unceremoniously throwing everyone from their beds. Everyone looked outside the window and saw a massive rocky creature towering over the building! Denar took his sword and flying carpet, and flew through his room's window. Kamar also grabbed his sword and met Inowe in the hall. Inowe, using her Abundant Step, took both of them outside. Meanwhile Qiunath, recognizing the creature s an Elder Earth Elemental and possibly the consequense of yesterday's mishap, tried to end it with a Dispel Magic to no avail. The elemental battered the tower with mighty slams.

Quinath teleported himself outside the tower, Denar cast Bear's Endurance on his friend on the ground, Kamar and Inowe charged at the creature. The elemental ignored their attacks, sunk into the ground, emerged next to Quinath and landed an awsome blow on the elf sending him flying backwards. Quinath played the dead one, Denar cast Haste on his friends, Inowe moved between elf and elemental, and tried to trip it, Kamar (now hasted) attacked the monster four times dealina huge amount of damage. This time the elemental didn't ignore him. It turned around and with a backhand slam sent Kamar flying onto the tower's wall, only to kick the slumped kensai like a rag doll. Quinath took advantage of the distraction to cast an Orb of Cold that froze the elemental to death, banishing it to its plane. After Denar healed everyone's wounds they went back to rest.

The next day they went back into Maure Castle to finish the hydra and gain access to th e Chamber of Antiquities. First Inowe used the Mirror Image spell from her Ring of Spell Storing and Quinath cast See Invisibility on it. The she used it again, while Quinath cast Improved Invisibility on him. After that he polymorphed into a rust monster and cautiously aproached the stranded hydra. Inowe was ready to rescue him if necessary. The rest waited. Quinath then touched the hydra, the rust eating away almost a quarter of its body and exposing its igneous core. Before the hydra could react he touched it again and fled back. Another portion of the body rusted away leaving the thing in precarious balance. The hydra blindly launched its attacks that harmed no one. Denar then cast Gren Slime and the burst of acid ate three of the heads leaving four still active. The remainging heads again blindly launched its breath attacks to no avail. Another wave of Green Slime from the cleric and there was no more of the Maure hydra. The path to the chamber was open.

As they ventured into the huge chamber, Quinath was affected by one of the many M's engraved on the floor. Overwhelmed by fear he panicked, dropped his staff and attempted to flee but was held by Kamar, broke free and held again by Inowe. Quinath tried to cast a Teleport to escape but failed and lost the spell. He tried again usin the still active Wind Walk but Denar dismissed it when he saw the elf transforming. Quinath was tied, gagged by Kamar and beaten to unconsciousness by the monk.

I hope we cant play again before the year is over.

Until next session!

Happy birthday to me!

Today I've reached level 40! :-)

Level up!

Thanks to the latest additions of fellow bloggers from The Happy Whisk and Gothridge Manor, I've reached level 4 with the rank of Comentator. Thanks all!

Catching up

Last weekend was scheduled to be a gaming one, but it wasn't. Every two weeks I play Millenium's End on Friday and DM my Labyrinth Lord sandbox game on Saturday. I started playing ME about a couple of months ago through one of my players of the sandbox game. He warned me that the gaming style of that group was not as high-paced as I am used to. And he was right. It is more like a social gathering of friends, than a proper gaming session. By proper I mean you get together with the main (only?) purpose of role playing. Of course there's always some catching up and pauses to eat, but this guys have such a low atention span! I mean the play every Friday (one ME and the other Vampire) and are online all week. How much do you have to catch up? I know it sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm not. I just find them amusing! It's always good to meet new people with different gaming styles.

The thing is that last Friday there was only a couple of hours of proper gaming, and then I have to cancel Saturday's game because one of the player's girlfriend was sick and he wouldn't leave her. Another two (a couple) had a birthday party and could come after it, but since last session ended on the verge of a combat, I wanted everyone to be present. So, next game would be in two weeks. I'm going to miss the ME session since I'm DMing my Maure Castle 3.5e sort-of-monthly game, and hope everyone could make it to the sandbox game on Saturday.

In other topic, according to the Old School RPG Blogger Advancement Table at From the Sorcere's Skull, I'm one follower short of becoming a Comentator! Thanks to all and a warm welcome to the recent ones.

Sandbox game session 6

After dealing with the "levers room" the group turned its attention to the unlocked but still closed doors. They used torches, oil and crowbar to break them and gain access to the rooms beyond. The first room was the wizard's lab from which Scarlet took several unmarked vials, flasks and jugs, some full, some empty, as well as various spell components. The second room was the wizard's chamber that was lavishly decorated with expensive rugs, tapestries, carved furniture and crystalware. When Vanon and Tamryn opened the armoire, an animated metal statue apeared from behind the tapestry and attacked them. They weren't surprised, won initiative, both hit it and killed before it could act. Then took the fancy silk robes and left for the third room. That room was filled with nine big iron cauldrons, each full with a different liquid and some with a mysterious flame below. Scarlet proceeded to closely inspect them, looking, smelling but never tasting. She finally filled a waterskin with one that certainly was beer, filled a jar with some misty vapors from another cauldron and a flask with what looked like a dark wine.

After leaving, Tamryn decided to take the rubi eyes from the idol (at last!). Upon taking them a small blue creature with bat wings and a tail ended in a sting appeared over the idol among a puff of smoke. The roll on the reaction table was low but it didn't seem right for the creature to be helpful with the thieves, so it politely asked for the rubies be returned to its place. When the party tried to bargain for help with the rubies, the creature told them they should be thankful that it was him and not other less patient that came, but, if they complied, he might consider help them. They didn't need to be asked again and the rubies were soon on its original place. Being a lawful creature, it honored the bargain and sat upon the idol's head waitin. The party asked about the wizard and the stolen statue, so the creature told them he knew that the wizard worshipped his master and made sacrifices when asking for guidance to recover a statue. When they described the statue, the creature recalled having seen it in a cavern complex. It was then when Scarlet offered it some beer in gratitude, which was accepted. The creature drank the whole waterskin of beer in one gulp and demanded more (yes, it failed the save). Scarlet told it where to find more and the creature flew there, followed by the party. They watched the creature drink directly from the cauldron until it felt unconscious. Then it was taken to the wizard's chamber and set comfortably on the bed.

The party then lowered itself down the trap to the caverns below and proceeded to explore them to the south, past the chasm where Vanon and Tamryn almost met their fate. They found an empty chamber with two exits and followed the one from which they felt a slight breeze. It led into another chamber with three exits and full of phosphorescent fungus. When they were crossing the chamber a high pitched scream filled the chamber for several instants. The group reached the end of the chamber and saw that one exit certainly led to the outside since the air was fresher and clarity could be seen at the end. When they turned to check the other ones a flock of stirges attacked them. Scarlet cast Color Spray on them bringing one to the ground, while another was taken down by Brom with an arrow. Of the rest, one latched on Tamryn, another on Vanon and another missed Scarlet. The one on the ground was torn apart by Scarlet's war dog. Vanon and Tamryn struggled with the blood-sucking creatures with punch and dagger, whilke Kratos cut the other in mid-air spraying blood all over.

After dealing with the creatures, the investigated another exit that led into a circular chamber with a single quartz-like crystal jutting from the wall. The crystal emitted a pulsating bluish luminiscence. Everyone kept its distance from the strange mineral but Vanon risked to touch it. No harm came from it but he got a strange feeling of disorder. They went back to the fungus chamber to explore the last exit and again the high pitched scream filled it for some seconds. The last exit led to a square chamber with an exit opposite to the entrance, the far half of the chamber was full of bones and broken wapons, armor and shields, and on to the left on a niche, a marble statue of Cyndor. They approached the statue and, after being sure it wasn't an illusion, tried to move it. They soon realised that dragging it to the outside was to risk damaging it. Also that the chambers and passages were wide enough to enter a cart and with some ropes plus Phillippe's help, they would be able to take it away.

Leaving the statue there, they left the cavern complex, surrounded the hill and went to find Phillippe, who they found wrapped with several winter blankets and worried (mainly for Scarlet, but she was distant to him), but alive and unscathed, as well as the mounts. They then harnessed the horses to the cart, saddled up the other horses and went back for the statue. The party was heading there when, about 100 yards away, a patrol formed by three humans (two of the with crossbows), two orcs and a bugbear came into sight. The bugbear turned to the others and pointes at the party.

Until next session!

Orcus poster arrived!

I received Mark J. Allen's Orcus "Labyrinth Lord" Poster! It arrived safe and sound in a cardboard tube. The guys at the P.O. must have felt Orcus was watching this time...

Books have arrived!

As you can see, and after a couple of weeks, the books finally arrived. Sadly the cover and some pages of Stonehell Dungeon were damaged by the morons of the Postal Office. They put a sticker of "damaged packaging" but I know it was them. Here in Uruguay every package that comes from abroad is opened to see if what's inside it's what the invoice says. Yes, I'm wondering too why they don't use a scanner or something less primitive than opening them up and violate my privacy. The thing is that here only books and music/movies under $100 can pass without problem. Anything else is stopped by Customs and you have to go personally (during ridiculous public hours if you work) to the airport (outside the city), pay the fees and get your stuff.

Anyway, aside from that minor inconvenience, the books are here for me to enjoy. Now I'm waiting for my Orcus poster. Hope it gets here undamaged or the P.O. will feel his wrath!