Verena’s Journey Log: Chapter 2335

Our struggle with the unholy beings of pure evil continues (I sound too paladiny, Better erase this line later)

We successfully abolished the shadows by applying the simple laws of interplanetary geometry in combination with theoretical mathematics equations of force conjuration, but I knew something was still out of order; these shadows weren’t the ones to create the magical darkness that hindered our sight or the arctic tempest, which troubled Tristan no more than an unsanitary mug of ale, there was something else at work here something more powerful than a mere shadow, someone or something that can manipulate the raw energy that surrounds us all create his wish with a simple thought someone who has access to Mysta’s  realm of dominion or even worst Shar’s.

So I decided to put professors Delreight’s advanced divination course into practice (I was never good at divination, but eventually I was able to master the basics) I successfully altered the way my eyes perceive sights and allowed them to see things that even the Common Berostian hawk would not see.

And there they were two gruesome, horrific undead creatures standing in the corners of the room, but a second later they were gone.

One of them reappeared, and immediately tried to clutch Felix with his unholy grasp, but Timora will never allow one of her clerics to be caught unprepared, with uncanny almost unnatural swiftness he managed to avoid the abomination’s grip.

And then it struck me, it felt like being thrown into a pool of ice water, when each part of your body is hit by thousands of tiny freezing knives that suck away your life, your happiness your hope…

But I couldn’t have lost hope my friends needed me.

I heard them shouting as they were trying to help me escape, but then I remembered I have a way out. It was a spell I once found on the floor of my mom’s study, I always knew it wasn’t one of her own creation because I wasn’t  familiar with the hand writing, but later when I found a personal  letter with the same handwriting I found out the architect of this megical scribe.

That’s the second time he came to my rescue inside this labyrinth maybe I ought to give him a chance after all he is my… Never mind I’ll erase that later!

I found myself standing at the far end of the corridor it took me a second to clear my vision, and then I saw that the undead horror was no more than a mound of dust on the ground.

 When in focused my attention back on the battle I found that Diadora is no were to be seen and that Tristan was standing helpless, after he was hit but what seemed to be a mind compulsion.

Verena: What?! Dinner is ready? OK Tristan I’ll be right over! Better cut things short.

After releasing Tristan from the charm, and finding Diadora inside one of the walls, tired and a bit shaken from the frightening experience i just had, I tried to explain to Tristan the simple laws of probability in mazes, I even presented the revised version of the great halforc explorer and geomancer Grahnu, but I was interrupted by an abrupt force that thrusted me against the dungeon walls.

We started walking during which I look for all the books I have about natural and unnatural force effects; it was anomaly and I had to make sense of it.

While I was reading my books, I was hearing a loud repetitive clanking sound. At find I thought it was Di’ with yet another demonstration of her staff ostinato melodic qualities, but the sound was somewhat different.

I turned up to be a not so friendly blacksmith (He scared the hell out of me) , but a talented one nevertheless.

It seemed that like most of the non hostile creature in this cursed place he was doomed to spend eternity here.

We found out that he was once a worshiper of Tempus, but he lost his faith in the gods a long time ago, claiming that they have forsaken him.

I can only hope that my small gesture to him will bring some of it back.

Tristan: VERENA!!! DINNER!!!

Verena: OK OK! Coming

I better go down, Tristan made us some dinner. He’s not a great cook, but he is doing it with love, so the taste is a bit better.

Later I’m going to visit Arius’s room; I really miss her she was a great person, I really hope we’ll meet again someday.

After that I’m going to Aaredan’s room to exchange spells and scrolls with him. I shined all my book bindings especially for him, I wonder if he’ll notice.

Better go now before Tristan goes berserk, literally…

Trapfinding [house rule]

Since we don’t have a rogue in our group, and since it makes general sense, the Trapfinding ability is now a feat, with no prerequisites.

All those who decide to take this feat, now have a “Trapfinding Mode”, in which they move at half speed, they must stay at the front of the party, and it ends if they say so or if they want to do something that would keep them from trapfinding (thus, opening a lock would not (or at least only pause it), but entering combat, sneaking, or reading a book would).

On any given trap there are only a few outcomes:

1) The PC isn’t searching, but there is no trap.
2) The PC isn’t searching, and sets it off.
3) The PC is searching, and finds it.
4) The PC is searching, and does not find it, and sets it off.
5) The PC is searching, but there is no trap.

Players with the Trapfinding feat must clearly say that they wish to enter “Trapfinding Mode”.

And just to make sure that rogues still have an edge on traps:

Rogues receive the Trapfinding feat as a bonus feat at 1st level, and may search for traps while moving at normal speed.

Alignment Definition [house rule]

Well, we had another “what is alignment” discussion in the last session, and I’ve been looking it up, since.

These are the easiest and most fitting definitions that I found, which I liked enough to rule that these will be the definitions we’ll be using:

Lawful – In accordance with the structures of a higher power or system…
Neutral - In a logical and balanced way…
Chaotic – By whatever means necessary…
Good - …improve the situation of innocents and decent people.
Neutral – …maintain balance and justice.
Evil - …increase your own power and improve your situation.

Petrifying Plant Attack [25.1.08]

Session Date: 25.1.08
Game Date: 385 TME (to The Modern Era) Spring
Present Players: Mickey (Verena), Koby (Tristan), Effim (Diadora), Alex (Felix)
Day 30 in the Maze.
Time: ~12:00
NPCs Met: None.

Rooms Explored\Things Done:

• After the questions, Verena and Tristan started walking and talking – about many things, mainly Tristan’s relationship with his father and with spellcasters and beings of all races.
• Diadora remained behind, insulted that Tristan, Verena and Felix left her behind, and didn’t even notice that she isn’t there because (once again), they were to busy fighting.
• Tristan, Verena and Felix reached the second part of the maze – where the stones turn light – and discover that Diadora is missing. Felix lead them back to where they last say her – and she is there, crying – something she’s never done before. She won’t talk to Tristan, and the guys didn’t get her to tell them what’s the problem – but they insisted, and she asked them (Verena and Tristan) to stop arguing all the time. They promised to make an effort and not to fight.
• You tried to get Celandriel to talk about his past, but even under great pressure he won’t talk. All that he says is that he knows nothing about Karsepolis, and that he’s never been there. But Felix says that he remembers that the staff is somehow connected to the fall of Karsepolis, and the staff is obviously traumatized by something in its past that is connected to the city, perhaps even to the temple of Deneir that you visited in the ruins of Karsepolis – in Blackdeath’s sewers.
• You then entered the second part of the maze within the maze (where magic works once more), and started walking in an endless corridor, for one and a half hours before you even began to wonder if there might be something strange about it. Another hour of investigation – using chalk marks and retracing your steps – you finally used Celandriel’s Detect Magic (after Felix promised him he won’t be threatened again) discovered a very powerful transmutation spell cast on the walls. Verena tried to cheap out with a Dispel Magic wand, but eventually was forced to cast Greater Dispel Magic herself, to dispel the magical effect – at least for enough time to let you pass it.
• You then reached a corridor littered with life-like statues of various creatures, and after walking though it, entered a room full of dusty debris made entirely out of crushed stone, with stone body parts protuding every once and a while from the debris. A stone dragon statue, magnificently done (and not color coded), was placed before the exit door, and as you made your way to the exit, the dragon came to life (as lifelike as a construct can be), and attacked you with its breath weapon – petrifying Felix before the combat even began. Verena quickly learnt that spells are ineffective against such a creature, whilst Diadora called in a triceratops friend to fight for her. The friend gave Tristan a one round break without damage, as the dragon turned around and petrified the triceratops with his breath weapon, and he needed that break since the dragon was both hard to hit, had a lot of “life” in him, and dealt a hefty amount of damage each round (6 attacks that hit almost all the time). Meanwhile, Felix was being decorative, Diadora made herself smaller and helped Tristan by giving him a flanking bonus (BTW – checked that one out – you had to actually attack the dragon to give Tristan the flanking bonus, but never mind. We’ll know better next time), Verena lifted one of her veils – to prevent the dragon from using his breath weapon again, and Tristan dealt a lot of damage (but lowered the amount of power attack that he took each time). When the dragon crumbled to dust, you revived Felix (good think Verena had nothing better to take than Break Enchantment), healed the very bleeding a bruised Tristan, and headed for the door. Before leaving the room, Verena spent a constructive amount of time deciphering the following message above the door “Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus”. She then looked at Tristan and said “that’s a lot more than tickling that he did”.
• The next room was Diadora’s dream come true – a huge room with a formal garden in it – including huge trees and a topiary lion near its end. The trees came to life when Diadora entered the room, becoming Spellwarped Treants, and attacking. After that, the whole room seemed to teem with plant-like life, and Felix had a great time burning down most of it, Diadora turning the rest of it, and Tristan attacking the Ragebrier that landed into the middle of the room (and managed to impale Diadora before it finally impaled Tristan). We stopped in mid-battle, with Diadora wounded from the Ragebrier, standing outside the room with Verena and watching the Ragebrier advance to the door, Felix (in true chaotic fashion) used a rod of wonder and turned himself into a fly sized creature, wizzing around the room (the rest don’t know where he’s gone or what he’s done to himself), Tristan helplessly impaled (BTW – that means you leave both rage and frenzy conditions), and the spell casting Verdant Prince mysteriously disappearing (for now). How shall the fight end? Join us next time, on “The Maze within the Maze – Part III”

Enemies fought: Dragon-like construct, treants, spellwarped treants, topiary lion guardian, ragebriar.

Things found: Is there a method in this madness?

One liners/Character interaction: Some nice character interaction – see “Things Done”

End Point: ~16:00. You’ve spent about six hours in the maze inside the maze.

The Amazing Maze [18.1.08]

Session Date: 18.1.08
Game Date: 385 TME (to The Modern Era) Spring
Present Players: Mickey (Verena), Koby (Tristan), Effim (Diadora)
Day 30 in the Maze.
Time: ~16:00
NPCs Met:

• In the inn you saw Thaeryn the vanishing and reappearing mage.
• You saw Dendrick the aging ranger, whom you spoke with, and bought some information from, on the maze within the maze(location and hazards).
• You also met your friends from before: Thaemond, Bromaryn and Aaredan.
• You later met up with Tibur, the maze’s smith.

Rooms Explored\Things Done:

• You began your session by finishing off the battle with the strange, flying, gargoyle-like, undead creatures (just to remind you – they weren’t ethereal, just invisible). The creatures, who apparently summoned the “army” of shadows you dealt with last session, were pretty pathetic without their ethereal guard. They did manage to drain some charisma from Tristan, and to grapple with Verena, but due to Diadora’s original use of Faerie Fire their invisibility was no longer a shield for them, and they had to take to using ethereal jaunt and friends. Tristan’s weapon seemed to have little affect on them, Diadora was sorely missing spells against undead, and Verena’s spells did a very small amount of damage, so it looked to be a long battle. Ironically, however, Verena’s escape attempt, after one of the creatures seized her and was prepared to drain charisma from her, destroyed the grappling creature, who was shocked to death (pun intended ). His fellow in undeath did not wait out the battle, and wounded, without minions, and without his companion – he fled.
• Tristan and Verena had a heated and prolonged discussion on the influence of the gods on their lives. After a few minutes, Diadora lost patience, and dealt with the manner (since they were both completely ignoring her) by casting a spell that pushed Verena back against the wall. Verena was puzzled as to the source of the power that did that, and for a long time flipped through all her books, to find any likely explanation to it. Diadora was, however, pleased since the group moved on.
• You then reached the room of Tibur, the smith (whom you know nothing about, since Verena obviously didn’t pay enough attention in history class). He was rather unpleasantly impatient with Tristan, who tried to talk to him, and intimidated Verena, who tried to peek into his “Recipe Book”, but you did manage to garner from him that he was put in this maze as a punishment from the gods (who else was placed in the maze by the gods? why? hmmm…). Tristan lead the way out of Tibur’s room in disgust, while Tibur called out after him: “Come back when you’re ready to buy something!”.
• You then returned to inn (having decided not to try and tackle the riddle door again), and rested there for a while. Verena went on a shopping mission for scrolls and tried to swap spells with Aaredan. Diadora had a short talk with Thaeryn, but having no new ideas why nature punished him so severely for ignoring her rules so brutally for so long (*hint*, *hint*), she left him be and talked to Dendrick instead. After a short while, she bought from him the information he had on the location and hazards of the maze within the maze.
• You went to sleep, woke up refreshed, and set out to the maze within the maze (30 minutes walk to there. It’s North-East of the inn), ignoring all the rooms on the way (you’re going to have to enter some of them – at least to earn some cash).
• You entered the first part of the maze within the maze, where magic ceased to function and every 5 minutes or so of walking (in the light of torches), you were stopped by a purple haze which let you through (i.e. turned transparent and less dense), one by one, only after you truthfully answered the questions it posed in your head. While the first four questions could be answered in your head, the rest of the 19 questions had to be answered out loud. Here are the questions as they appeared in your head:

• • What is your favourite bard song?
  • What is your favourite food?
  • What is your favourite drink?
  • What place would you most like to visit?
  • What is your most treasured possession?
  • What things could you not live without?
  • What annoys you the most?
  • What are your most annoying habits?
  • Who were your parents?
  • Do you, or did you, have any role models?
  • Do you believe in the gods?
  • Name seven things you hate in others.
  • How do you generally treat others?
  • Who would miss you should you go missing?
  • Do you have any close friends?
  • Do you have any bitter enemies?
  • What is the worst thing someone has done to you?
  • Describe your worst nightmares.
  • Do you have any dreams or ambitions?
  • If your life were to end in 24 hours, what 5 things would you do in those remaining hours?
  • What is the one task you would absolutely refuse to do?
  • Why have you chosen to risk your life as a career?
  • Are you who you claim to be?

Enemies fought: Two Ethereal, undead, flying, gargoyle like creatures which seemed to be made from darkness.
Things found: Where the maze within the maze is. Why were these questions asked? Is it part of the labyrinth’s threat to change all those who enter within its doors?
One liners/Character interaction: see Rooms Explored.
End Point: ~12:00. You’ve spent three hours in the maze inside the maze. Likely you will want to stop, eat and rest for a bit before trying out the second part.
Notes: Diadora, Tristan and Felix – you only have 6 days left to complete your mission. Assume that you’ll spend two, maybe three days in the maze within the maze.

A day in the life of Diadora [Session Date: 4.1.08]

As Diadora tries to figure out how to deal with the invisible shades, a sudden thought jumps into her mind obscuring everything else…

A diary, THE diary, what will happen if no one will record the progress of our team, how will the rest of the world appreciate and remember our glorious deeds…

At that exact millisecond, a second thought flashes thought her mind, almost causing her to stumble into Verena… “Glorious deeds, Bah, “Progression”, yeah right as if we actually manage to complete the simplest of tasks”…We will be lucky to survive this current encounter…

Rapidly shaking her head, Diadora decides to allocate a small portion of her concentration on the events of the following day, while keeping her mind attuned mostly to the danger at hand…

Hmmm…. What was it that happened to us in the past day or so?

Oh, right, I remember now. After we managed to topple the two strange troll- like humanoids, we seemed to spend a while trying to keep Tristan from killing his own party members. Lucky for us, Verena decided not to hide in her bauble for a change but to actually cast a useful spell. After Tristan calmed down, and wiped the blinding powder from his eyes, we thought that we could rest a while, but NO! Us rest?! Just as we were about to relax the two big ugly creatures decided that they were bored of being dead and that it was time to try and kill us once again. Nothing we could do seemed to stop them: we tried heavenly fire, Well I tried, while Felix almost burnet himself trying to summon such an elaborate spell, acid orbs, which Verena used to explore the interiors of one of the creatures, I even summoned an ancient worm thinking it might digest one of them, only to see it being vomited after a few minutes… Eventually Verena used some color shifting cloud turning one of them into a grotesque statue, while teleporting the other one into a closed room, where we hoped it would play nicely with an old fried of ours…Hmmm… Now that I think about it, I must admit that while uncharacteristic to her, Verena proved to be a valuable member of the team… who would imagined…

In any case, once we got rid of the two creatures, which resemble trolls, although my vast knowledge of nature could not help to identify, we decided, and I stress AGAINST MY BETTER JUDGMENT to explore yet another room, without taking a few moments to recover…

Trying to force our way through yet another room, we almost lost Tristan to a nasty trap, which opened a pit full of piranha into which he fell… After many attempts to get him out, we managed to use a broom… yes a BROOM to pull him out to dry land…

Shall we rest NOW I asked? Rest?! why no! We should continue even further they all replied…

Thankfully the next room we entered contained no hostile being, but rather a mirror which had a different coloring on each side- one was blue and the other red. My big oafish friend, also known as Tristan, decided he just MUST look at his “charming” reflection through the blue side, mumbling something about the fact that blue was his color. Standing in front of the mirror he seemed to be absorbed into some kind of a sadistic game, where he tried to make as many facial expressions as possible in the least amount of time. After a while, it seemed that the mirror got tired of reflecting such hideous images and with a bright flash, it pushed Tristan back…

Before I had time to figure out what was going on, our cleric, Felix, decided to check the other side of the mirror, which seemed to have a similar taste for games, only with a more sadistic taste. After grimacing for a while, Felix, too, was pushed back by a bright flash of light.

Verena was next, choosing the blue mirror, which has something to do with Mystra I assume, for she stood there for a very long time, before returning to us in the same flash of light.

At that point I was the only one who hasn’t tried those mirrors and I must admit that despite the possible danger I was rather intrigued. After questioning my companions I decided to take the blue one as well. What I experienced was far different from what I expected: I saw many images of myself, or rather various possibilities of how I might turn up to be in the near/distant future. To my surprise, it seemed that the mirror offered me a choice on the matter, which I gladly took. After seeing a variation in which I was wiser and much more aware of the world and its mysteries I fixated on that, focusing my entire being on that image. What happened next can be only described as a rush of icy cold water, for in the next moment, my eyes flew wide open, allowing me to see the world in a clearer fashion, allowing me to notice and comprehend details which I haven’t even noticed before… What a wonderful gift…

All excited, even if somewhat suspicious, we decided to push further and explore yet another room. After a few failed attempts to figure out an ancient puzzle, which we could have figured out if only we rested a bit as I suggested, we entered, or rather smashed into a room where we had to face some shadowy beings, which managed to drain most of Tristan’s physical abilities. Through some fast thinking and a well applied healing prayer we managed to bring him back to a fighting shape, only to see him try and smash Felix’s head with his heavy flail, luckily stopping himself at the last moment…

Then… AUCH! Felix, watch where you are stepping…. We ARE in a middle of a fight here you know!…

(And so the train of thoughts was severed and Diadora focused her full attention on the fight at hand).

D&D Journal: Going Up! [4.1.08]

New year, new session and new level for all of us (of course the DM levels up when the other players do! What did you think?)
This journal will be shorter than usual (at least I’ll try to make it short, We had a long session, with a lot of stuff going on in it), since (finally!) one of our magnificent players, Efim, has taken up the challenge and written a diary of the events as his character, Diadora, sees them. For these heroic efforts he will receive a place in posterity, and 300 XP. Don’t forget – you could get the bonus too – just write up a journal as your character sees it (forget about grammar and yes, it can be funny), and you’ll receive unending respect from me, and your character will feel much more experienced… (songs and original prayers to deities will also be rewarded, but please keep those serious – otherwise the bolt of DM might fall from above…)

Session Date: 4.1.08
Game Date: 385 TME (to The Modern Era) Spring
Day 29 in the Maze.
Time: ~14:00
NPCs Met: None.
Rooms Explored:

• You finished off the “Trolls” (it would be a good idea to name them amongst yourselves, for future reference. And also to remember their emblem – a blood colored hawk, spread-winged). One was turned into stone and left in the corridor. The other was transported by Verena (using dimension door twice) to the room with the dusty, sickening undead in it (going to clear it up some time?), and left there to rot. Diadora and Verena used a lot of spells (mostly Acid spells) in some very original ways there. Kudos!
• Next up you opened a door (in that same corridor) to a scene of carnage. Two male humans, a male elf, and a female dwarf lay in drying pools of their blood. While Tristan made sure the cost was clear, Felix examined the bodies. He discovered that they all died about 48 hours ago (hence the smell), from slashing and piercing weapons, and that they might once have been wearing armor, except for the elf, who remained dressed in a blue robe. Clearly they lost some battle and the victors stripped them of their valuables (all but a holy symbol of Shaundakul, god of travel, exploration, portals, miners and caravans).
• You sent Tristan to open up the next room in the corridor. The door looked pretty sturdy – made from thick-looking stone and all – and so Tristan braced his muscles to open it, pulling at its handle with all his might (the door seemingly stuck, and not locked). On his first pull, the handle pulled back harder into the door. Angry and amazed Tristan gave a few more tugs, until at last he pulled so hard you thought his eyes would pop out. Instead – the handle released itself and the floor disappeared beneath Tristan’s legs. Diadora, who was trying to help him (BTW – you could help him. You needed to make a DC 10 strength check to give him a +2 to his strength checks), leapt deftly aside, leaving Tristan to crash 75 ft. into 30 ft. of piranha infested stinking water (what can I say, I love the classics. And you’ve got to admit – it *was* funny…). Tristan sank beneath the water, in the midst of the piranha swarm, while Diadora peered at the swirling waters, worried from above (Verena stayed well away from the edge, once she saw how deep it was). Tristan finally pulled his head out of the water (who said taking swim isn’t important?), and continued to slash at the piranhas, consumed with rage. Once he finished them off, he looked around him, and finally up, in search for a new foe. Seeing Diadora he produced his trident and heaved it on her. It traveled 60 ft. up in the air, and then returned to Tristan, after its momentum was lost. Meanwhile, Diadora, Verena and Felix were trying to come up with a plan how to get Tristan out, without falling in themselves, and without getting hit by the raging Tristan. Finally, they constructed the first improvised magic elevator ever, using only a rope, two truly terrible Use Rope checks (I pitied you there – I really did. Having Tristan fall in again and start raging again was just too much to suffer) and Verena’s heirloom flying broom. Diadora peered once again with the broom in her hands at the raging, swimming Tristan, just in time to see him prepare another lunge at her… and then stop in mid throw, calling out pathetically instead: “Di! Di, I want to get out of here! Get me out of here, Di!” She duly pulled him out using the broom and rope combo, and then Felix healed him, while he rested.
• You decided to leave that room for now, and go to the next room, which had “In this room lies a great treasure – and death” carved on its stone door. You sent Tristan to open the door, to reveal a room with a stone pedestal on its other end, and on top of it, a chest. Felix used detect magic and Verena used Arcane Sight, and all they saw was faint abjuration on the chest (the chest itself was in-laid with lead, to prevent detection of its contents, you later learned, when you opened it). Felix dispelled the magic on the chest, and entered the room, only to have its sliding stone door crash shut. Felix rushed back to the door, bashing his hands on it and crying out, only to hear (and then see), the ceiling starting to come down, spikes starting to jut out of it, and nowhere to hide. Tristan in the meanwhile, tried opening the door, and once that failed, crushing it. Felix was racing all the spells he knew in his mind (BTW – you had one round to act in – why didn’t you teleport yourself out? You had the spell…), but couldn’t find one he could use. Panicking was inevitable, even more so when suddenly Felix starting to compulsively dance (whilst a mysterious voice laughed at him, coldly and cruelly), unable to do anything else, while Tristan was having a hell of a time with the door. The ceiling crushed Felix (whom Tymora did favour, else he would be dead by now – those were my low rolls for the evening – only one spike out of four, and below average damage for the ceiling), and just as it was beginning to raise itself, Tristan crashed through the door – to see a bleeding, bruised Felix, dancing and floating in the air (he cast fly before entering the room, so he wouldn’t touch the floor. Little did he guess that he’d be meeting it so intimately…). Felix cured himself whilst Diadora rushed into the room for the treasure chest, and Verena regrouped them at her side, before the trap could reset itself. (A lot of questions should arise in your minds about this encounter – especially about the laughing voice). The treasure included a nice sum of platinum, 20 assorted gems, a scroll made of feathery moldering papyrus, bound and folded and a quarterstaff inside a bag of holding (he turned out to be intelligent. I won’t dwell on it.)
• You then tried your luck with the riddle door, and gave up after half an hour, trying your luck at the opposite door, which had “”A wise man and a fool entered a room, and found himself alone” carved on it. It turned out to be a room with an extremely powerful polished-mithral mirror – one side with a rusty-red frame set with bloodstones, and the other side greyish-blue with moonstones on it. Tristan was the first to be brave enough to stand in front of the mirror, and he chose the blue side of it. He could choose a gift, and wsa randomly bestowed with a permanent curse. Felix then chose the red side, and could chose a curse, and received a random gift. Then Verena and Diadora stood in front of the mirror, both choosing gifts, and randomly receiving not that nasty curses (Tymora smiled on you that day).
• Finally, you arrived at a dark room, with dark shadows, and even darker creatures, which attacked Tristan and Felix. We left of here in mid battle, it being very late. We’ll continue next time.

Enemies fought: See above description.
Things found: The staff, the treasure, and who is the owner of the laughing voice? And what’s behind the bloody hawk?
One liners/Character interaction: Tristan’s elevator; “I’ve had it with these trolls!”, Tristan fighting a door (and loosing), Tristan swimming around in a stinking pool of dead piranha looking for something to kill; Felix dancing, floating and bleeding in the trapped room, Diadora fighting with “a stick”.
End Point: In mid-battle. See rooms explored.

D&D Journal: Damn things won’t die already! [28.12.07]

General Notes:
We didn’t play last week ’cause I couldn’t make it.
Alex joined the group with the Cleric/Auspician of Tymora Felix.
Koby switched characters (from Seamore the dwarf cleric to Tristan, the half-orc barbarian/fighter/frenzied berserker).
Efim switched characters last session to Diadora the druid.
A lot of great role-playing, especially character and NPC interaction. Also a lot of original use of spells. A great session!
A 7 1/2 hour long session – whew! And we didn’t even plan for a marathon…

The Journal:
Session Date: 28.12.07
Present Players: Mickey (Verena), Koby (Seamore), Effim (Diadora), Alex (Felix)
Game Date: 385 TME (to The Modern Era) Spring
Day 28 in the Maze.
Time: ~10:00
Start Point: In the corridor on the way to the room with the screaming skull, after Verena fainted in her bubble.
Sleep Time: ~23:00
NPCs Met:

• Thaeryn - an arcane caster and a man of god, you (understandably) mistook this green robed human to be a druid (what with all the nature theme). Thaeryn seems to believe that he’s cursed for using to many spells, especially teleportation spells, in the maze. Diadora, who was the first to meet him, quickly lost interest in helping him, and shoved him unceremoniously into Verena’s hands. Is it possible that Verena’s power of the arcane aren’t what’s needed now? Considering that she couldn’t help Thaeryn (even though he offered spells in exchange for help), and that he himself couldn’t help himself, perhaps another sort of caster is needed for the job. You left Thaeryn patiently waiting in the tavern.
• In the tavern you saw (but did not speak to), Gloviel (female human), Vitpek (male half-elf who was weeping) and Belyunduil (male elf). The three do not appear to be related, but do appear to belong to a group. Arios mentioned that you can trust them, in her letters.
• You also met your friends from last time: Thaemond, Bromaryn and Aaredan.

Rooms Explored: The inn, the dragon room (with a vampiric red dragon in it, this time), and some characters had detours of their own. On your way to another room in the maze you ran straight into two large humanoids, wielding greatswords and composite longbows. They had metallic dark blue skin, blazing yellow eyes, white tribal scar marks on their cheeks, and an hawk carved onto their breastplates and dyed with blood. Although non of you could recognize the species, by the way they got up after you had apparently killed them, you tend to think they might be related to trolls. However, fire seems to have little effect on them, so that theory remains to be proved. Also, they failed to display any of the mindless stupidity usually associated with trolls, actually using tactics to get behind the lines and attack weaker opponents, as well as focusing their attacks on Tristan, the main damage dealer.
Enemies Fought: the friendly humanoids from above.
Things Found: Arios’s letters, and a bit of background about Arios. I’ll not expand on the letters, as they are private.
One liners/Character interaction: “I’m itching everywhere”, Verena after gaining consciousness; “I drank milk!” Verena happy after drinking spiked milk; “That’s my inn! Now I’ll have to redecorate!”, Tristan is unhappy after Verena tries to turn off the lights and blasts her room wall; “He looks like a parrot”, Diadora dryly identifies Felix’s species; “This should be simple – I’ll go in, ask the dragon for his blood, and then go out”, Diadora makes battle plans to handle a dragon; “I haven’t much luck today, have I?”, Felix and Alex have little success with god consulting/coin flipping.
End Point: In one of the corridors of the maze, after killing (?) the electric blue humanoids.

D&D Journal: We Got the Emerald! [14.12.07]

Long time no journal… Well then, we also had a three months of not playing…

Session Date: 14.12.07
Present Players: Mickey (Verena), Koby (Seamore), Effim (Diadora)
Game Date: 385 TME (to The Modern Era) Spring
Day 27 in the Maze.
Time: ~17:00
Start Point: On the way to the first part of the maze
Sleep Time: ~12:00

NPCs Met:
In the tavern:

• Thaemond- A human cleric/ranger of Lathandar who hates undead. Tanned, with dark grey eyes, this member of the clergy is quite a good-looker, and helped you quite a bit with information about the Ruby gem, as well as the location of the Sapphire gem. Is in the maze to kill as many undead as possible – the harder the better. Displayed absolutely no inclination to leave the maze, and was very interested in hearing about Seamore’s Travel domain.
• Bromaryn - a well-built man who likes to eat a lot and talk very little. Although Diadora attempted to chat him up, her social skills were somewhat lacking, and Brom (as Thaemond fondly called him) remained mostly silent. Thaemond and Aaredan seem to trust him completely when it comes to being the “brawn” of the group, and he appears to be more experienced than them in the ways of the maze. Thaemond mentioned that he’s very eager to leave the maze.
• Aaredan – an extremely attractive young man who seems to have found a unique way to combine sword and spell. Verena was very taken with him and they had a very nice chat about spells and spellcasting. Aaredan has an innate knowledge of the arcane, and seems to have a good grasp of Abjuration spells. He very patiently looked at Verena’s giant book of legends of yore, and suggested that they swap scrolls. He also mentioned that Bromaryn managed to obtain the Ruby gem single handedly, but didn’t have much to add, for apparently he had joined up with Bromaryn and Thaemond only recently. He has been in the maze for “three very long years”, and both he and his team mates intend to stay in the tavern until they amass a group large enough to tackle the third part of the maze again. When Verena asked him how he returned from the third part of the maze, as she’s heard that no one returns from there, Aaredan simply said “We didn’t get very far there”, and changed the subject.

Rooms Explored:The room with the oval obsidian table and Jiorgin, the half-elf who challenged you to either a riddle contest (“contest of mind”), a dice contest (“contest of skill”), or to draw from his deck of cards (“contest of fate”). You chose the contest of mind, and after about two hours solved all five riddles – thus obtaining the Emerald gem, the third gem out of the seven you need to find.
The you returned back to the tavern (See NPCs met), and from there set out in a search for the Sapphire gem. The gem, however, was to be reached through the corridor that leads to the room Valencia and Seamore died in (two sessions ago, and about 24 hours ago, in game time). While Seamore and Valencia (now mysteriously replaced by Diadora) seemed little affected by this, Verena recognized the hallway immediately, by the stone door carved with a skull in a circle of spikes. She had a flashback to yesterday, when you were all walking in the corridor, on your way to the room with the blasted door and the magic-craving creatures, and rushed into the door with the skull, “to save Seamore and Diadora”. She activated a particularly nasty trap, which weakened her and froze her bones so badly that all in the corridor felt the chill. Diadora then sent her bear in, to move Verena from the door before she injures herself, while casting a spell that would petrify Verena into stone, thus disabling her. The bear grappled Verena, while Seamore tried in vain to calm her down (even using the power of the gods in his aid), but the grappling only sent Verena deeper into her PTSD guilt trip, and she easily escaped from the bear’s grasp. Seamore then followed her, casting an antimagic field around him and trying to convince her that he and Diadora were not under attack. The antimagic field further convinced Verana that the aberrations were chasing her, and so she stepped out of the field and called a swarm of daggers to surround her. Seamore continued to cry out to her, and finally she succumbed, and fell on her daggers, almost killing herself. Diadora quickly came in with healing, calling to her bear to “guard that door!”, and when Verena awoke Seamore gently held her and tried to explain that it was all just a dream. She got up, stepped back from the anti-magic field, cast a protective bubble around herself, and fainted.
Enemies Fought: Verena, ironically.
Things Found: Seamore thinks the Ruby gem must be obtained by some show of honour. The Sapphire gem can be found in a maze within the maze, or in a large cavern, worshiped by a group of humanoids or monstrous humanoids. The only way to reach the cave, however, is through the room in which Lady Valencia and Seamore died in, after being attacked by alien creatures who veiled themselves in antimagic fields and grappled fiercely with their opponents.
One liners/Character interaction: “Do you come here often?” Verena hits on Aaredan in the tavern.
End Point: In the corridor on the way to the room with the screaming skull, after Verena fainted in her bubble.

D&D Journal #27

The following journal is short, because I’m unusually busy right now. I just took my session notes, and edited them, to make them more readable. I’d be really happy to know what you think about this format, as opposed to the previous journals.

Campaign: Ancient Runes
Session Date: 19.5.06
Present Players: Mickey (Verena), Koby (Seamore), Effim (Hrothgar), Alexey (Ringold), Natalie (Grenada), Gideon (Ivillious)
Game Date: 285 TME (to The Modern Era) Early Spring
Day 5 in the Maze.
Time: ~24:00
Sleep Time: ~13:00 [sleep time is the next time you are supposed to sleep, if you sleep at the same time each day]
NPCs Met:
Seebo, male gnome leader
Gerbo, male gnome
Duldshvan, male gnome
Fonkin, male gnome
Ondami, tall black Human in crimson and purple robes, with a ruby on his forehead and a carved bone amulet.
Arios the Paladin
Rooms Explored: slamming doors corridor(no description, as you’ve passed it), ex-fire elemental room (Ringold and Ivillious weren’t there, and the room was squeaky clean. Eerily clean. You set out on a quest to find your dead friends’ bodies), gnome room (no description, as you’ve passed it), merchant corridor (he wasn’t there), Paladin room (see one liners/character interaction), Cleric room (Ondami was there, and he gave you your first mission [out of three], in order to retrieve your friends, who are currently “traveling between worlds and planes”, as he phrased it) and then the ooze room.
Enemies Fought:
[maze group] Oozes – 4 black ones and 2 clear ones. Awful battle. This is the last time I’m bringing in Oozes that split.
[mountain group] 2 large, white, ape-like creature and one huge, white, ape-like creature. Nice tactics there.
Things Found: Not much worth noting.
One liners/Character interaction: Hrothgar was unusually impatient. Hopefully his ego will go down a notch or two. You also discovered that he came to the maze in order to find a cure for his bear changing phenomenon.
Seamore had some nice interaction with Arios, the paladin, disappearing whenever he saw her.
Arios had a nice discussion with Verena and Hrothgar. She also told you that you might have visions at the beginning of the next part of the labyrinth.
Grenada found her voice a bit, this session. Needs to take the lead a bit more – but a definite improvement.
Ivillious and Ringold had some fun in the sun in a freezing mountain (died there, too)-range and in mysterious metal building.
End Point: ~5:30 in the morning. Outside the room with the oozes. Hrothgar is pretty bashed up.