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***** * The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright * 1992 by Thomas Miller...copying and distribution of these stories * is permissible only under the condition that no part of them will * be used or sold for profit. In that case, I hope you enjoy them. * The dungeons and non-player characters contained herein are from * TSR's module, A2, and are copyright 1980 by TSR, Inc. Specific * text and maps from them have been avoided, and I encourage anyone * who enjoys reading about them to buy and play the whole "A" series. ***** ----------------------------------------------------------------------- THE PARTY: Alindyar, 6th level drow elf mage (N) Belphanior, 4th/4rd/5th level high elf fighter/mage/thief (CN) Ged, 5th/5th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob (NG) Halbarad, 6th level human ranger (NG) Mongo Thunderhead, 6th level dwarf fighter (CG) Peldor, 7th level human thief (N) Peyote, 5th/5th level half-elf fighter/druid of Obad-Hai (N) Rob, 6th level human priest of Trithereon (LG) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- XXV. Markessa & Company The party, having rested and recuperated, prepares to go through the (formerly) secret door at the end of their small L-shaped camp/ hideaway in the dungeons beneath the slavers' stockade. Due to the noises that they heard from above, throughout the night, they have reason to believe that the fire(s) they have caused and seen are out of control, and chaos reigns in the stockade itself. It is also a sure bet at this point that the occupants of this dungeon are aware that there are intruders in the area... Belphanior: (listening at the door) I hear some scratching. Are we ready to go? Mongo: (raises hammer meaningfully) Hell yeah! Peldor: Just about. (puts caltrops at the base of the ladder up) In case of pursuit. Halbarad: Belphanior, you open the door. I'll go through first, in case we have to fight, followed by Mongo and Peyote. Peyote: Sure, I'll go. Alindyar: The plan sounds fine to me. Belphanior: Okay. (lifts the latch) Halbarad: (enters) Wha...?! Big wolf: Snarl! (leaps for Halbarad's throat) Halbarad: Aie! (bitten in the shoulder, suprised) Damn! Mongo: Hang on! (runs forth) Peyote: Dude? Belphanior: Wolf! Other big wolf: (across the hall about 20') Howl! (starts a very loud howling) Ged: Uh-oh. Belphanior: Wolves! Mongo: (slams the wolf biting Halbarad) Get off him! Wolf: (ribs crack) growl... Belphanior: (seeing that the second wolf is chained to the far wall, he strolls up to it and stalks it with his longsword ready) Alindyar: (fires a magic missile from his wand, at the first wolf) Peyote: (chops the first wolf) Leave him be! wolf: (dies) Halbarad: Ugh! Somebody help me staunch this $@%#&*! bleeding shoulder! Peyote: Yonder beast, and this slain one, seem evil, even for wolves. Mongo: No shit. Halbarad: They are worgs, gigantic evil cousins of normal wolves. I do not think that they can be tamed by us, or any lawful group... Mongo: Good, 'cause I'm sick of that other one's damned howling! (moves to the west and throws his hammer at it, narrowly missing Belphanior's head before it crunches into the monstrous animal) Belphanior: Hey! Watch where you throw that! You could put somebody's eye out with that thing! Alindyar: 'Tis an understatement... Rob: Let me help. (heals Halbarad) second wolf: (still howling) Halbarad: Silence that companion beast, before every creature in this dungeon comes looking for us! Belphanior: (slices the worg again, for the second time) Worg#2: (dies) Awooo....urk. Mongo: _Much_ better. Ged: (to Alindyar) I guess we'd better get our heavy magic ready, for now we're sure to run into the worst of trouble. Alindyar: Aye. Belphanior: There's a door nearby, to the north, and another farther, to the south. Which one to take? (wanders northward) Halbarad: Where are you going? Belphanior: I don't want to tarry here too long. There may be more wolves about. Mongo: Yeah. And where there's wolves, there's usually goblins too. (also heads north) Which wouldn't be so bad. I'm sort of out of practice in melee, and goblins are a pretty good challenge... Halbarad: Fine. North we go, then. Alindyar: (prepares a color spray) Hmm. Ged: (prepares magic missiles) Ho. Belphanior: (listens at the northern door, hears nothing at all) Hm. (opens the door and leaps all the way in) Beyond the door was a huge room, over sixty feet in length and more than forty wide. Its high, sloping ceiling looked about fifty feet or so from the floor. All but the northern part of the chamber had a raised balcony around the perimeter; this ledge was about ten feet higher than the floor. The place was obviously a laboratory, for it was filled with tables, bookshelves, flasks, and other arcane toys. More importantly, there were about a dozen goblins, most of them in strategic positions along the ledge, with bows ready. They chattered and screeched in excitement as the party entered the room, and then raised their bows. Belphanior: Fuck! (looks around, spotting a goblin about ten feet to his front and left) You! Die! (rushes the goblin) Goblin: Yie! (points his shortsword at the crazed oncoming elf) Halbarad: (enters the room) Goblins! Belphanior: We can clearly see that! (dodges a thrust from his foe) Mongo: (enters the room) Shit! They're everywhere! goblin: (some random one, shoots an arrow at Mongo) Mongo: (the missile bounces off of his plate mail) Fuck! Peyote: (enters the room, just in time to be nicked by an arrow) Whoa! Battlezone! (slips on his ring and goes invisible) goblin: (on balcony) Hey! Where'd he go? Rob: What's going on? (enters the room holding a lantern in one hand and a flail in the other) Oh. Belphanior: (missed by an arrow) Damn snivelling fools! (slices his foe, decapitating it with a lucky strike) Hah! (turns to face another goblin, this one about twenty feet away at a table in the center of the room) slender female elf: (far to the north of the room) Get them! Kill them all! (casts a spell on herself) Belphanior: Not very friendly, girl. goblins: (above the doorway, they push a large wooden tun over onto those below) Har har! Mongo: Oh no! Not again! Alindyar: Another tun... The barrel shattered all over Halbarad, Mongo, Peyote, and Rob, doing minor damage but soaking them in brine. The lantern went out in a flash. Rob: Hey, I can't see. Halbarad: Shut up. Mongo: (hit by an arrow) Fuck this bullshit. I am nobody's target practice dummy! They're not the only ones who can see in the dark! (hurls hammer at a goblin on the balcony to the left) goblin: (head crushed) Peyote: (fuming about the waste of a good invisibility, heads for the female elf to the rear of the room) Halbarad: Phew! This brine stinks! (feels for a wall and gets out of the way of those who can see) Rob: (still in the way, pushed aside by Mongo) Huh? Ged: (enters the room, almost totally dry of brine) Boccob's wrath has arrived! Repent! (fires three magic missiles at the distant elven woman, hitting her and eliciting a cry of pain and anger) Mongo: (catches his hammer) Yeah! That bitch is next! Alindyar: (enters the room, looks around for the largest number of goblins) Ged: (nicked by an arrow) Boccob damn it! Belphanior: (launches a flaming sphere at the table in the center of the room, specifically at the goblin next to it) Let there be LIGHT!!! goblin: (the target, ignited in a burst of flame) Aaagh! Belphanior: Heh heh. The room was somewhat illuminated by this new light source. The shadows above, on the balcony, indicated positions of goblins, who were still firing a lot of arrows. Belphanior: (to DM) I look at the stuff in this room closely. What sort of laboratory does it seem to be? DM: (to Belphanior) There are tools like saws, drills, etc. plus a lot of body parts and limbs. Belphanior: A torture chamber? What is that elven girl up to? DM: Who knows? Mongo: (hit by one arrow, missed by another) Damn goblins. Halbarad: (a sitting duck, nailed by two arrows) Agh! Belphanior: (to DM) I head for the goblin whom I just ignited. DM: Okay. Alindyar: (launches a color spray at three goblins above and to the left of the door) Goblins: (those three; rendered unconscious) Peldor: (just enters the room, but can barely see) Hmm. (wanders off to the right) something behind bars to right: Growl! Peldor: What was that? goblin: (above Peldor and the source of the growl) Ha. See how you like this. (pulls a lever, and the bars next to Peldor raise) Big furry monster: (lumbers out) GRAARR! Peldor: Uh-oh. Belphanior: (walks by the tables in the center of the room) thing on table: (a deformed man-like thing, with a strange clawed arm and a melted-looking mouth) Croak! Croak! Belphanior: Holy shit! What in the hell are YOU?!? thing: (continues to croak miserably) Belphanior: (moves around behind it and backstabs it, successfully, as it fails to turn around much or move away) Well, the least I can do is put you out of your misery. thing: (dies) Belphanior: (looking with hatred at the female elf) Who would do this to anyone? (to DM) This isn't funny. I send the flaming sphere straight at her. As fast as possible. Peyote: (still toward the eastern fringe of the room; attacked by a goblin who ran out from the north) Hey! (chops at the humanoid) goblin: (dies, courtesy of the half-elf's magical bastard sword) Peldor: (suprised by the owlbear that ran out of the cage at him, is clawed by a paw) Agh! Somebody come help me put this thing out of my misery! Halbarad: On my way. Mongo: (hurls hammer at a goblin on the balcony who is drawing a bead on someone) goblin: (hit critically, dies messily) Aaaa... Mongo: Yeah! Rob: We need more light. (casts continual light on top of the helmet of a goblin to the north, not on the balcony) goblin: Aie! (can't see too well now, stumbles around hacking at the air with his shortsword) Halbarad: (moves to help Peldor) Mongo: (catches his hammer, turns to face the female elf) female elf: (fires magic missiles at Belphanior, to disrupt his concentration on the flaming sphere, which is getting rather close by this time) Belphanior: Agh! Stupid bitch! Alindyar: (casts darkness, 15' radius on the three goblins above Peldor and the owlbear) goblins: Aaaaa! (one falls off the ledge, in front of the monster) owlbear: (stomps on the unfortunate goblin) GRRR!! Peldor: Ha ha. Ged: Time for melee! (pulls out his morningstar and charges the owlbear) Peldor: (stabs the owlbear) Peldor takes no shit from any monster! Mongo: (launches his hammer at the elf to the north) female elf: (hit by the weapon) Aie! (staggers, her spell disrupted) flaming sphere: (sitting now by a table that is too high for it to roll over. The table is on fire now, though.) (blaze) Mongo: (catches hammer) Halbarad: (chops and stabs the owlbear, hitting with the dagger but not the axe) Back, fell beast! Ged: (hits it with morningstar) Boccob commands it! female elf: (launches lightning bolt at Belphanior) Ha ha! Die! Belphanior: Whoa! (dodges aside, taking only some damage from the electrical bolt) Aaagh! Geez! The bolt continued on, to hit Mongo (who failed to save and thus took full damage, and was knocked down) before it went on. The dwarf's plate armor made an excellent conduction path for the bolt to go down into the floor, but nevertheless, Halbarad and Ged got slight shocks from residual electricity because they were somewhat in its path. Mongo: (smoking) Aaaaagh! @#%$&*! fucking damn shit bitch!! Belphanior: (causes his flaming sphere to go around the table) female elf: (runs for a door) Belphanior: No way. No way! (the sphere outruns her and collides with her, setting her on fire) Burn, torturer of hapless ones! female elf: (aflame) Aaaaa! Belphanior: Justice is served. Mongo: Hey, good job! (hurls hammer at the flaming form, hitting) Let's take no chances with her. She zapped us good. Belphanior: Of course. Rob: (attacks the c. light-ed goblin with his flail, slaying it) There. I have done something useful. Ged: About time... Halbarad: (hits the owlbear again) owlbear: (seriously wounded now; paws Halbarad twice) GRAAR!! Halbarad: Augh! Ged: (hits the monster also) Boccob! Peldor: (stabs it; the thing dies) Hah! Peldor's foes fall like wheat before the scythe! Now where's the treasure? Peyote never reached the female elf, for she died afire in moments. The party searched the room, finding all manner of strange devices typically used by alchemists. They also found a number of body parts from different creatures, preserved in brine. Peldor found some gold on the goblins' bodies, and Alindyar found some parchments with names, descriptions, and maps. Belphanior retained a few odd items he saw. The elf's body was burned fairly thoroughly, so she had nothing of any value left. There was a second owlbear, in another cage that hadn't been opened thanks to Alindyar's color spray on those goblins (yes, Belphanior killed them in their sleep). The party left it here for now. Some healing took place, and then the door to the northwest was the next one taken. Belphanior: Say, am I the official, designated door-opener now? Halbarad: Sure. Ged: Now just open the door. Belphanior: (opens door; beyond is a large room with many doors and a hallway going off to the south out of sight (also with more doors along its length) Wow. Halbarad: Let us go north. We might as well be consistent. (the party heads through the easternmost of the doors on the northern wall) next time: More slaver leaders... ************************************************************************ NOTES: I got mail from somebody named Scott stating a number of points that I as a DM should probably have been more strict on. Unfortunately I lost your email address, Scott, and only retain a copy of your mail. Please mail me again so I can reply to your myriad comments... In a general sense, all readers should remember that these writeups, while detailed, cannot cover everything that happened. Maybe I forgot some things since we played. Maybe I skip things sometimes for efficiency. Maybe I add things sometimes, for convenience. I take all of the many editor's liberties when I write these stories, so people who are after 100% rules- and continuity- correct stories won't find them here. I'm in it to chronicle the deeds and humor that we experienced over two and a half years of playing, no more, no less. Even during the active times of the campaign, I missed things and forgot certain rules. Now, as I write up these stories, I am not overly interested in criticisms on how I DM-ed two or three years ago. On to other topics. In case you don't have the module, Markessa was the evil elven woman who got toasted. She figured that her lightning bolt would be sufficient to stop Belphanior and Mongo, and she (well, I, the DM) noticed that the two were lined up, so...but she figured wrong. By the time that I realized that she should have retreated, Belphanior's player pointed out to me the movement rate of the spell (flaming sphere). I had to let Markessa get hit, and she was rather weak at that point. Still, the battle was fun. Now for some (silver anniversary/25th episode) fun stuff. I don't want to give away too many specific details, because if I do, someone will nab me at some point in the future with a contradiction, and I don't want that to happen. Other than that, enjoy the following data and I'll update it every 25th episode! ------------------------------ ALINDYAR (6th level drow elven mage) (Neutral) height: 5'9" weight: 104 lbs age: 124 yrs hair: white eyes: dk. brown land of origin: Underdark diety: ? preferred weapon: spells (dagger) armor: bracers of defense highs: Int, Dex, 120' infravision, always levelheaded lows: Str, weakness in bright sunlight, racial conflicts w/others likes: peace & quiet, magic dislikes: bigotry, senseless actions major magic items: robe+1, bracers ac6, bag of holding, carpet of flying, wand of magic missiles common spells: fireball, dispel magic, web, wall of fog goals: to become powerful enough to enjoy things he likes w/o fear of attacks or violence BELPHANIOR (4th/4th/5th level high elven fighter/mage/thief) (C.N.) height: 6'1" weight: 117 lbs age: 119 yrs hair: lt. brown eyes: black land of origin: Wild Coast diety: none yet preferred weapon: longsword armor: bracers of defense highs: Dex, Int, good combat abilities, versatility lows: Wis, Chr, reckless nature, curiousity likes: chaos, combat, death dislikes: slavery, torture, boredom major magic items: ring of wizardry (1st level spells), longsword +1, staff of Thunder & Lightning, bracers ac4 common spells: flaming sphere, color spray goals: to live a life of danger and thrills GED (5th/5th level grey elven mage/priest) (Neutral Good) height: 5'8" weight: 101 yrs age: 107 yrs hair: gold eyes: green land of origin: Celene diety: Boccob preferred weapon: morningstar armor: chain mail, small shield highs: Int, Wis, versatility w/magic, good knowledge of spells, looks out for party, takes over leadership of party at times lows: Str, Chr, tempermental likes: magic, magic items dislikes: Peldor, undead major magical items: ring of water breathing, stone horse, small shield +2, ring of shooting stars common spells: magic missile, sleep, identify, burnign hands, haste goals: to spread the word of Boccob while vanquishing evil foes HALBARAD (6th level human ranger) (Neutral Good) height: 5'10" weight: 186 lbs age: 26 yrs hair: brown eyes: grey land of origin: Furyondy diety: Elhonna preferred weapon: battle axe, dagger armor: leather highs: Con, Dex, good sense of right and wrong, quasi-leader at times lows: takes some things too seriously likes: outdoors, animals dislikes: corruption of likes, and orcs... major magical items: battle axe +1, dagger +2, leather armor +3, gem of seeing goals: to own and maintain his own happy little forest MONGO (6th level dwarven fighter) (Chaotic Good) height: 4'0" weight: 154 lbs age: 68 yrs hair: black eyes: red land of origin: Flinty Hills diety: ? preferred weapon: war hammer armor: plate mail, medium shield highs: Str, Con, aggressiveness, hard to injure, loyal to party lows: Int, Wis, Dex likes: cooking, battle, weapons, the underground dislikes: giants, humanoids, sitting around dungeons doing nothing even remotely useful major magical items: hammer +3, dwarven thrower, medium shield +1, ring of regeneration, chime of opening goals: to become a general in some army PELDOR (7th level human thief) (Neutral) height: 5'11" weight: 161 lbs age: 18 yrs hair: brown eyes: black land of origin: unknown diety: none preferred weapon: short sword, knife armor: leather highs: Int, Dex, Con, Str, good thief, incredible luck, comedian of group lows: Wis, untrusted by some likes: stealing, backstabbing, having a lot of money, adventure dislikes: Boccob & associated minions major magical items: shortsword +1, +4 vs. reptiles, knife +3, pouch of accessibility, luckstone goals: to run his own thieves' guild in a major city PEYOTE (5th/5th level half-elf fighter/druid) (Neutral) height: 5'6" weight: 132 lbs age: 22 yrs hair: brown eyes: brown land of origin: Vesve Forest diety: Obad-Hai preferred weapon: bastard sword armor: hide armor highs: Str, Chr, tries to do the right thing lows: Int, Con, irritating style of talking, short-sighted at times likes: typical druidic things dislikes: undead, evil beings, noisy things major magical items: ring of invisibility, wand of wonder, bastard sword +3, Frost Brand, ring of protection +2 goals: to become the world's most successful wandering druid ROB (6th level human priest) (Lawful Good) height: 5'10" weight: 171 lbs age: 19 yrs hair: blond eyes: blue land of origin: Keoland diety: Trithereon preferred weapon: flail armor: banded(!), medium shield highs: Wis, Int, healing powers, source of many jokes lows: Str, low attention span, tendency to do really stupid things likes: being a priest dislikes: having to deal with evil beings and religions major magical items: footman's flail +1, mace +1, necklace of prayer beads ---------- HIGHEST STR: Mongo HIGHEST INT: Alindyar HIGHEST WIS: Ged, Rob HIGHEST DEX: Peldor HIGHEST CON: Mongo HIGHEST CHR: Peldor MOST HP: Mongo (60 hp) LEAST HP: Alindyar (25 hp) ------------------------------ IMPORTANT NOTICE !!! Thanks to garyf@tybalt.caltech.edu, there is now an anonymous ftp site for these stories (tybalt.caltech.edu) so you can get them there. They are in /pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers. Have fun. ************************************************************************