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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40753923018710509582017-09-20T04:52:17.788-07:00Playing D&D with Stuffed AnimalsBrian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-8451017702226393212017-09-08T20:30:00.002-07:002017-09-08T20:30:59.548-07:00Trials of the Baboon King
As king, Bangqiu learned that his subjects took an interest in the large orange fish of a particular pool, revering the creatures for their mysterious aura of calmness. The children of Quitokai and the surrounding area regarded the fish as easy sport and not-bad eating. The baboons had responded to the outrage with violence. No one had been killed, but the baboons, never friendly with their human neighbors, found that they suddenly had a lot of enemies.<o:p></o:p>

Taking up the concerns of his subjects, Bangqiu, together with Prince Jake and Sir Crowler, addressed the people of Quitokai tried to negotiate an end to the wanton destruction of the sacred fish. It did not go well. The village elder was under house arrest based on his drunkenness and mismanagement. The de facto new ruler was a representative of the Emperor, eager to make a show of strength, especially as the villagers were starting to gumble about his authoritarian style of government.. As Bangqiu was chased from the village, he declared that he was leaving of his own accord so that he could raise an army.<o:p></o:p>

 Bangqiu discussed strategy with Prince Jake and Sir Crowler. He'd threatened the Imperial Envoy with an army and he didn't know where to find one. The baboons numbered less than 100 and while they could be frightening to children, few would survive in an all-out attack against trained soldiers. Plus the villagers, with their own prejudice against the baboons would probably side with the soldiers. <o:p></o:p>

One night, Bangqiu had a vivid dream. Saisho— Gwinch's assistant, whom Bangqiu suspected was a powerful wu-jen—appeared to Bangqiu in the dream. He was standing in a small, roofless stone house in the middle of the jungle. He told Bangqiu to meet him the next day, that he would find the house if he traveled due west from Quitokai. The next morning Bangqiu, accompanied by Sir Crowler and Prince Jake,did as the dream Saisho had instructed. He had let it be known that he was seeking a new teacher and had been hoping that Saisho could make an introduction. Circumventing the village of Quitokai itself, Bangqiu plunged into the trackless jungle, walking with the rising sun behind him. A strange bird appeared, chirping loudly. "Saisho, is that you?" The bird flew away, but continued chirping and Bangqiu followed the chirping to the stone house he saw in the dream. Saisho was there. As Bangqiu had hoped, Saisho knew a powerful wu jen who wanted a new student. But he also wanted something else, maybe something thatBangqiu found in the tomb of the lizard king. <o:p></o:p>

There was some discussion between Bangqiu and Saisho, interrupted sometimes by insistent chirping from the still unseen bird. Saisho guessed that the master had little use for Sakatha's trident or crown, but would be interested in the lizard king's spellbook. Bangqiu had carried it with him. Before forming any agreement, he decided to open the book and, for the first time, peruse its contents. What he found on the weird, stained vellum pages struck him speechless. Half the book contained spells that he couldn'tcomprehend, though the illustrations promised powers he had previously barely imagined. And those spells he could understand—to summon fire and lightning, to ensnare his enemies with cryptic inscriptions—once mastered, these would make him more powerful than Beatriss and Gwinch. No deal, he said. He had money, he reasoned to himself, he couldsimply travel to Pasar and hire a teacher. Both Saisho and the bird were disappointed. Saisho tried to warn him of "what might happen," but this only drove Bangqiu out of the stone house clutching the book. He returned to Xitaqa—home of the baboons—and to his palace.<o:p></o:p>

For nearly two weeks, Bangqiu forgot about the help he'd promised to slaves or baboons or sacred fish or oppressed villagers. He copied spells from Sakatha's book into his own. When Prince Jake knocked at his door, Bangqiu threatened to make him the first trial subject for his new powers.<o:p></o:p>
Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-70852633653408821162017-08-03T20:16:00.006-07:002017-09-01T21:39:41.800-07:00King of the BaboonsDuring his stay in Quitokai, Bangqiu ran across his old acquaintances, Prince Jake and Sir Crowler who were visiting the Wulin, a group of speaking baboons who lived on the rocky plateau above Quitokai. The Wulin were feuding with the people of Quitokai because of a certain fishpond. The Wulin treasured the fish and considered them sacred. The children of Quitokai speared the fish for sport. In attempting to negotiate a peaceful resolution, Bangqiu ended up challenging the King
of the Wulin to a wrestling match. He emerged victorious and became the new King of the Wulin.

This proved handy since his efforts to negotiate peace in Quitokai were also unsuccessful. The Imperial Officer who had claimed authority over the area on behalf of the Emperor refused to entertain a personal challenge from a commoner and instead simply banished Bangqiu from the village. While the villagers did not enforce the General's ban, the official opprobrium emboldened
them in their pointed questions about when he would rescue their sons and daughters from captivity.

To escape the guilt, Bangqiu retreated to his "palace"—a larger than average cave carved into the chalk ground on the plateau above Quitokai.

Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-40008725370531308672017-07-06T08:38:00.000-07:002017-07-06T08:38:05.006-07:00Guest Editor Play Report: A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade Part I
After killing the lizard king Bangqiu and Kafka went to Pasar. There they met Gwinch who had heard of slavers near the village of Katoke (also spelled Quitokai). Gwinch and Bangqiu assembled a team to put a stop to the operation.

Gwinch the Foreigner, Abbot of the Monastery of the Two-Fold Path accepted responsibility for leading the strike force against the stockade. Years ago, when he was an agent of the Emperor, the people Quitokai had given him shelter for several months. And he had participated in an earlier successful raid against the slavers. He was assisted primarily by Saisho, his chief scribe and sage on arcane matters and "Beast," a native son of Pasar and faithful bodyguard. Damai, a scout and skilled hunter from Quitokai, had volunteered his services and the benefits of several weeks spying on the stockade. Gwinch's lieutenant was Kafka, a reserved, self-disciplined warrior monk, one of Gwinch's first students from his days in Zipang.

The tempestuous Bangqiu was co-leader of the strike force. He had made a name for himself in Pasar, fighting alongside Gwinch and Beatriss to free the town from the domination of the Black Flowers gang. And, in the course of many battles against the Lizard King Sakatha, this unpredictable young magician had formed an unlikely friendship with Kafka the quiet sohei. Bangqiu's success against Sakatha had also won him the allegiance of Erlo, shaman of the Sanasar clan. Finally, Bangqiu had taken on the services of the lovingly incompetent Shu.

Besides the six members of the lead strike force, six of Gwinch's experienced sohei made up the rearguard. Their names were Lieu, Nguyen, Hoshina, Oshima, Sang, and Bulan. Finally, Onghai Wen a novice monk who showed much promised had been permitted to join the Company.

The group travelled from Quitokai to the slavers' stockade by a circuitous route that avoided the main road. They went east to the sacred fishponds and then Bangqiu, based on his special status among monkeys, negotiated passage through the kingdom of baboons, climbing a rocky trail up the escarpment. On the plateau, Damai led the group into the jungle and to one of his many observation posts. Through a gap in the trees, the fortress could be clearly seen. Damai explained that the stockade had been built on the site of an older stone fortress, but only the northern section was even partially intact. A thick copse of trees had grown up in the middle of the older building and the slavers had surrounded this with a wooden palisade and built new buildings on the southern side. Damai relayed to the Gwinch and Bangqiu that he had seen a man sneak in and out of the stockade on the northern side by way of a hole halfway up the crumbling curtain of the old fortress.

Ignoring this information, Gwinch and Bangqiu decided they would enter from the south and selected a strike force of seven experienced explorers, all capable of stealth and climbing with minimal assistance. With the help of magic, this group was made invisible, and in the dead of night, they scaled the palisade to land on the roof of a stone building overlooking a courtyard dominated by a large firepit.

Banqiu has boots that let him levitate. He used these to look around the stockade. Among the men gathered around the firepit was an obvious leader. He relayed this information to the others and Erlo decided to launch a fireball at them.

Unfortunately the leader was fire resistant.

So they left and the strike force joined the rearguard in their hiding place in the jungle and they returned to Quitokai together. The villagers were not inordinately impressed. None of their relatives had been rescued. The Black Flowers likely numbered more than 100 and their losses would only aggravate them. The villagers confirmed that yes, the dark-skinned man with the helmet covering his face was one of the slavers' most fearsome leaders. His name was Eikhar (or Icar) and they too had witnesses his invulnerability to fire. Based on this new information, Bangqiu bought several pangas for Gwinch and Kafka to bless against their enemy. The two monks wrote Eikhar's name on the weapons with dragon's blood ink.

The heroes came back the next day. Very focused on killing Icar(the leader) they back stabbed him with the dragonblood weapons blessed to be super effective effective against him. After he died they heard a voice that told them of evils that took place under the stockade. "Well done. Most impressive."

Gwinch looked at Bangqiu, "You're hearing this, too?"

The voice was deep and sonorous, with a Zipang accent. "And what is your business here?" The voice queried. "You are agents of the Emperor? Or you had a personal feud with Eikhar?" Gwinch was cagey at first, but at last admitted that he and his companions were trying to free the capture villagers before they were sold into slavery. The voice told of evils that involved a witch named Marcessa (or Marquessa)who had an operation table. They were also told to meet a man named Toge who would lead them to marchesa. The voice directed them to drop into the courtyard below and to a door that would lead into the dungeons. "Toge will be expecting you. He will take you to meet Marquessa."

"Why don't you tell Marquessa to come up here?" Gwinch demanded. The voice didn't answer.

So we just acted on our instinct and went to the doors they were raggedy and broken. So BANGQIU assumed it was a trap. He really felt an urge to go down the opposite door. Eventually they decided to go down the door they were told by the voice to use. After passing through the doorway was a vast flight of stairs they went down the stairs and found a magnet that was dragging them towards it. Then the group opened a door which led to some cannibals-- their room smelt of dead people. Then they started to fight and Toge appered down the lengthy stairs. He was a large man with rhinolike skin the creatures did everything he said which the party found to be oh so very perplexing. They followed him and saw some spiders along the way and Saisho made friends with them. Toge instantly picked this up along with the fact that half the party was invisible.

He then lead them to a room which had an operating chamber where someone was being tortured so the party saved him. In this room were many canibils who attacked the group but Toge politely asked to cut it out and said don't attack the guests. At this point the group relized this toge guy was quite the threat.

He lead them to marcessa's room and here they Saw a lot many operating taples and long tables and other stuff of that sort they saw many papers which were cut and tattered some where yellowish they also saw at the edge of the room two cages with animals that looked like a cross between a lion and an owl. The party pretended they wanted to be friends with Marquessa. Then they used magic that held her and she stopped being able to move. And the cannibils started cranking a crank that triggered the fence/gate to be opened but then they were killed Banqui So Gwinch and Bangqiu and their followers killed Marquessa's cannibal friends and then killed her. Then they noticed the door was open and Saisho saw Toge hovering near the ceiling and being invisible to everyone except Saisho who passed the message around.

Using this information they watched him as they made their way back out of the dungeon until they reached the other torture room where they saw he was giving commands to the cannibal leaders. Then Saisho told Erlo where to shoot and Erlo threw a fireball at Toge and it hurt him badly and killed the cannibal leaders. Then Toge released a breath of cold that killed several members of the party: erlo,bulan,ongewen and shu. Then Banqui used a missle and it killed Toge so they escaped but there party was very injured. As they sneaked out of the stockade, they saw Black Flowers also packing up their belongings to flee.

The people of Quitoka were not super grateful. Because still no rescue, just empty promises that the Black Flowers probably wouldn't bother them anymore. Gwinch and most of his sohei vanished into the jungle for a meditative retreat.

But Bangqiu, Damai the scout, plus Nguyen and Lieu wnt back to try to free some slaves. This time they entered by way of the hole in the stone wall. Bangiqu surveyed the area while his companions kept look-out in the stone tower. The Black Flowers seemed to be gone, but they met some more people that inhabited it. These guys were both intimidating and friendly and told Bangqiu that he was a bad ass and asked him to help them look for treasure. Banqiu tried to buy all the slaves to set them free. A deal was struck, and Bangqiu tossed them a little bag of gems and the tough guys led him to stone building next to the firepit. But Bangqiu was finessed and the guys only showed him the stone building where the slaves were being kept but would not get them out. So Banqui hit their leader with a magic missle just to prove a point. He was injured but not killed; he and his men cussed out Bangqiu and ran for cover in another building.

Bangqiu and his companions entered the stone building and found about two dozen people. They were chained to the wall and staring into space as if hypnotized. They did not respond to him and Bangqiu decided to go back to Quitokai and seek assistance.

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Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-19241341777420659812017-07-05T20:26:00.000-07:002017-07-05T20:26:06.155-07:00Spider Farm (2 of 2)By the time Wolfgang returned to Hommelet (having parted company with Chrono somewhere along the way), things had gone bad at the spider farm. He learned from Vulpio and Gerrilynn that shadow goblins,

allies to the drow, and devotees of Lloth the spider goddess, had overrun the farm. According to the birds who made regular reports to the elves living under the moathouse, the shadow goblins had made their attack about a week after Wolfgang and Chrono left the farm. It was quickly resolved that Wolfgang, Vulpio and Gerrilynn should return to the spider farm and rescue the farmer and his family and laborers.

Wolfgang knew the best paths. Although his non-druid companions were some liability in trekking through the wilderness, they made good time, taking only a few extra days to complete the journey. Gerrilynn prayed for guidance and determined that because their enemies loved the shadows, they should attack in daylight. No other tactical decisions were made.

They reached the farm, and as they were crossing the yard, were pelted by arrows from the laborer's dormitory. The party took refuge in Ulayah's personal abode. It had clearly been ransacked. Gerilynn and Caitlynn, left the house and went to the stables. Gerrilynn was able to communicate with the frightened horses but did not learn any useful information. Inside Ulayah's house, Wolfgang and Vulpio were threatened by a giant spider that dropped down the chimney and emerged from the fireplace. Wolfbang's animal companions took no notice of the spider and by this strange fact, he deduced that the spider was an illusion. He further concluded that the noises on the tin roof were not more spiders, but spider goblins. He and Vulpio exited the house by a window. Sure enough, there were several spider goblins on the roof, and Vulpio, after taking cover behind a tree, picking them off with his arrows.. The goblins jumped down from the roof and proved to be no match for the party in hand-to-hand combat—and even worse at hand-to-bear-paw combat.

Gerrilynn and Caitlynn rejoined the party and they charged the dormitory together. They broke down the door and the goblins fled. Rather than pursue the enemy however, the party members were stopped in their tracks by the pitiful sight before them—the farm's laborer's, a dozen or so men, had been held captive in their dormitory. Shackled, bruised, famished, miserable, and delirious. They gratefully accepted freedom, food, and comfort, until one of them recognized Wolfbang. "Hey, he's that one, the one who told all those stories to the boss!" Those who had sufficient strength were eager to fight him, convinced that he was the leader of the spider goblins.

Gerrilynn was sympathetic and acknowledged that Wolfbang might be annoying, but made it clear that she would defend him if necessary. Gerrilyn's patience and loyalty were further tested as Wolfbang seemed willing to accept the challenge of anyone who wanted to take him on, but finally agreeing to go back outside. Vulpio asked the laborers if Ulayah was still alive. They didn't know, but said the leaders of the goblins had taken one of the other buildings as their headquarters. Sure enough, Ulayah was there, shackled, but unguarded. He was also unfriendly toward Wolfbang. While not belligerent, he seemed to assume that there was a connection between the strange young man and the goblins who attacked his farm a week later. But none of that really mattered since his daughter had been taken from him the night before. It had been clear to him that the goblins were going to feed her to the spiders. But she had not been the first sacrifice and if the spiders weren't hungry, they might have saved her for when the new spiders hatched. She might still be alive. Wolfbang and Vulpio volunteered to go into the spider trench and rescue her. Ulayah ordered the angry laborers to open the gate to the spider's home. "This is my only chance!" He reasoned ot loud that if Wolfbang was risking his life to rescue Heri, then he likely was not the mastermind behind the Shadow Goblin invasion.

The trench was lined with thick, sticky webs. Vulpio led the way, slashing the webs with his sword. Bruno the bear, with his great strength, also helped clear a path. Neverthless, the way forward was narrow and twisting. Even smaller tunnels led off from the main trench. Following directions from Ulayah, who stood on the lattice above them, they made their way to the mother spider's chamber. Dog-sized spiders emerged from the webbing and attacked from all sides. Wolfbang used his magic to calm the first ones, but more kept coming. The party shielded themselves and forced their way into the mother's spider's chamber. Here, there was more space, and the spiders could be fought with swords and spears. Bruno had been severely wounded. While WOlfbang attended to his animal companion, Vulpio advanced on the mother. Because of her enormous size, more than twice that of any of the others, she was nearly immobile. Vulpio stood far from her long, dripping fangs and shot her with arrows, then jumped in with his sword to finish her off.

A smaller chamber behind the spider mother was filled with egg sacs. Hanging from the top of the chamber was a large, quivering bundle, wrapped in silk. Vulpio cut down and unwrapped Heri. She was so disoriented that she couldn't speak. Vulpio and Wolfbang helped her make her way out of the trench and she was re-united with her father. Some of Ulayah's laborer's continued to grumble, but over the next few days, it became clear that the boss had no ear for their suspicion or resentment. Ulayah rewarded the party with gifts, including several hundred feet of lightweight spider-silk rope. Besides being incredibly strong and lightweight, it was also just sticky enough to assist in maintaining a tight grip on it. After a few days, the party was ready to take their leave. Ulayah, with a meaningful and unsubtle nod at Heri told Wolfbang that he was welcome to return any time, "You might find you could have a good life here!"Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-70559404402588627902017-06-24T20:24:00.005-07:002017-06-24T20:24:59.198-07:00Spider Farm (1 of 2)Jaroo asked Wolfbang and his friend Chrono, another initiate to take a trip to the southlands and to the Buiyab forest. This was a region known for enormous spiders, spiders that discouraged human settlement near the forest and thus allowed the wilderness to remain wild. Unfortunately (from a druidic perspective) there was a man who seemed likely to significantly alter the natural order. This man was attempting to domesticate the giant spiders, and had achieved considerable success in his unnatural endeavor, having quickly established a "farm." Wolfgang and Chrono were to investigate and find a non-lethal way to encourage the spider farmer to find another way to make a living.

Traveling with their animal companions, Wolfgang and Chrono enjoyed their journey to the southlands and located the spider farm. They instructed the animals to remain in the woods while they approached the farm as labor-seeking travelers.

As they entered the compound, they saw other laborers struggling to drag a goat to what turned out to be the spider pen—a large trench in the ground covered with a thick lattice and with a gate at each end. The laborers were not welcoming to the newcomers, so Wolfbang and Chrono sought out the low building where they found the owner of the farm, a man named Ulayah. He was a confident and enthusiastic man, eager to dispel the arachnophobia he presumed in his visitors. Wolfbang and Chrono surprised him by asserting that they knew spiders to be as intelligent as humans, claiming to have come from another land across the sea where they had learned the spiders' language. Ulayah was visibly torn by competing desires to dismiss and embrace these outlandish claims, but his daughter Heri, who seemed more enchanted by these men from "across the sea" than anything they knew about spiders, prevailed upon her father that they should be invited to stay for a meal and to demonstrate their abilities.

On their way to Ulayah's living quarters, they passed the spiders' trench where the laborers were still struggling with a goat. Wolfbang and Chrono, reluctant to use their druidic powers to befriend an animal they intended to feed to spiders, tried to wrestle the goat to the ground. While unsuccessful, their embarrassment seemed to give the laborers' new zeal for the task. One seized the goat in both arms while the other flung open the gate. The goat was cast into the pit and the gate closed. The terrified bleating was soon silenced and all except Ulayah shivered at the successive clicking and sucking sounds of the feeding spiders. Wolfbang found that, with his druid magic, he could indeed talk to one of the spiders. It was still hungry and wanted more food. Ulayah looked particularly juicy, though the "fat sweet one" (presumably Heri) would also suit him. Chrono relayed this to Ulayah who shrugged cavalierly. "Of course, that's why we keep them in the cages."

Lunch, in a room festooned with all colors of silk, was agreeably bland and consisted mainly of fried vegetables. Ulayah quizzed the newcomers about their knowledge of spiders, and having satisfied himself that he knew more than them, offered them work. Wolfbang was eager to accept, but Chrono answered with cryptic insults that soon became not very cryptic. "Perhaps you're tired," Ulayah suggested, offering them his guest room. Wolfbang and Chrono slept until night. Wolfbang, thinking that his associate might forget the "non-lethal" part of Jaroo's instructions, suggested that they slip away into the forest and return to Hommelet.Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-87217286651306340482017-06-23T16:09:00.000-07:002017-06-23T16:09:05.925-07:00Sakatha DEAD! (For real this time)

Bewildered by the undead lizardwoman's powers and concerned about what it had to tell them about Sakatha's continued existence, Beatriss and Tetsukichi sought out a quiet place to discuss what they'd experienced, rest, and call on advice from a higher power. On their way back to the upper level of the pyramid, a swarm of bats swooped down on them screeching and scratching. The party followed the bats back to Sakatha's throne room. Sakatha's queen was there, but before Ju-Mei could raise his holy symbol, the bats descended on him a special vengeance. The lizardwoman charged at Naron, grabbed him with her claws and sunk her fangs deep into his neck. As Naron started to slip out of consciousness, his companions crowded around with their best weapons. They drove the blood-sucking fiend away from Naron, knocked her down and cut her to pieces. Again, she turned to a gas and the bats dispersed.

With the lizard queen(?) dead, the throne room itself became a seemingly quiet and safe enough place to rest. Ju-Mei and Erlo tended to the wounded. Naron had suffered a strange wound. She had taken something from him that he wouldn't get back easily. Nevertheless, he was resolved to help Beatriss and the others to destroy Sakatha and his consort.

As Ju-Mei prepared to meditate, Beatriss and Tetsukich discussed what exactly they wanted to know. Was Sakatha gone? Would Sakatha return? Would the Sansar clan now have peace? The answer came from a lower power. A section of the wall slid open and Sakatha himself stepped out. Beatriss ordered the weaker member of the party to the back of the room, but Sakatha summoned a huge billowing cloud of noxious green smoke, cutting off the exits, and forcing the entire party to within striking distance. "Where is my crown?" he demanded, looking them over. Beatriss stepped in front of him, drawing her sword. He seized her and bit her, just as the queen had done to Naron. But even as he began to suck out her blood, Beatriss, drove her sword into his gut, holding him fast. Tetsukichi, Al-Fitar, and Naron surrounded him, stabbing and slashing him on all sides. Raking his claws down Beatriss's arm, he forced her to drop her sword and turned to face a new opponent. He leapt on Al-Fitar, knocking the powerful warrior to the ground, but didn't manage to find his way past his sword. Al-Fitar held the blade in front of his neck and forced it lengthwise across the lizard king's mouth. Betriss and Tetsukichi attacked from the other sides and with a rain of blows, forced the monster back into gaseous form. They entered the secret room and found another coffin. Opening it, they watched Saktha's wounded body reforming on the fetid mud inside

.

Suddenly, Ju-Mei knew exactly what to do, and Beatriss followed his instructions. On an ordinary sword, Ju-Mei wrote Sakatha's name using ink made from dragon's blood. With this sword, Beatriss cut off the lizard king's head. Into his mouth she poured holy water and specially-blessed cake. The flesh rotted and shrunk from Sakatha's skull and then the skull split in two. Likewise, his body disintegrated.

Using a similar procedure, the party went to the queen's burial chamber and permanently destroyed her. They returned to the throne room once more and discussed whether there was anything else left to do. Bangqiu and Kafka returned to report that, upstairs, water was seeping in under the door. Beatriss wanted to leave, but Bangqiu remember something in a song about Sakatha's ring and wanted to find it. He asked Naron and Beatriss and some others to take any rings belonging to party members and guard them in another room. With a series of spells, he determined that there was another closer ring behind the throne. Summoning once again the party's strongest warrirors, Bangqiu asked for the throne to be moved. Still his magic told him that the ring was very close and not in the the throne but in the wall behind. Erlo used his own powers to locate and open the magically-hidden door, and behind it the party found Saktha's secret treasury: a pile of ancient coins, each much larger and heavier than an imperial tael, and made of gold instead of silver. There was a box filled silk packets containing silvery dust. There was a book of spells. And there was a ring. Bangqiu claimed the book and the ring, while the others filled their backpacks with gold coins.

By the time the party was ready to leave the pyramid, water was flowing down the stairs. Upstairs, the food in the feasting room was rotten and the magical servants were nowhere to be seen. Erlo opened the bronze doors and a small wave of swamp water rushed in , splashing them up to the waist. Outside the pyramid, it was muddy, and the water was ankle-deep. There was a crack in the roof of the cavern; lizardmen were happily cavorting in the water and sunshine. The undead mob were nowhere to be seen. The dry streambed was filling with real water. The acid pools were still there. Ow! The party made their way up the stairs, avoiding the fifth step from the top.

On their way through the former lair of the brigands, there was a surprising and surprisingly cordial reunion between Won Ton and his old friends Shu and Ta-Mi! Visibly relieved about the death of Feng-Bi and sobered by the death of Sick Boy, Won Ton started to apologize about "you know, the silver chi'en" until he noticed the gold bulging from the others' backpacks. And there is no need to tell anything else about this adventure except that the heroes returned to the main camp of the Sansar clan for feasting and celebration!Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-31968816228742999802017-06-21T19:52:00.002-07:002017-06-21T19:52:36.908-07:00Sakatha dead?? NOT CLICKBAITThe throne room was large and nearly empty, with frescoes in the familiar, violent style and at the far end of the hall, a massive throne and a stone table. On the table was an oblong box of reeds and pitch, about nine feet long. Inside the box was Sakatha, an eight-foot tall, massively-built lizardman with long fangs, wearing a crown and gripping a trident. The heroes took a moment to plan their attack—Beatriss, Tetsukichi, Al-Fitar, Naron, Kafka, and the two sohei all surrounded the box, holding the weapons specially-prepared by Kafka. Ju-Mei said a brief chant and at one moment, all the warriors struck their target. The blessed weapons cut Sakatha's body and it immediately transformed into a green gas that rose into the gloom of the top of the hall and then vanished.

Bangqiu discussed with Kafka who should claim the trident and who should claim the crown while Beatriss and Tetsukichi discussed whether Sakatha was really gone.

Beatriss and Tetsukichi, together with their henchpeople, decided to explore elsewhere, while Bangqiu and co. went to guard against any attack from the temple area or the "feast hall" above.

Immediately off the throne room, Beatriss and Tetsukichi discovered a library filled with sinister-looking books. They were glad that Bangqiu was not with them to be tempted.

Next, they found a circular burial chamber, smelling of swamp rot and death, containing five of the reed-and-pitch coffins—noticeably smaller than the one in the throne room. As Ju-Mei began to chant a prayer of protection, one of the coffins opened and a lizardwoman sprang out, leaping onto Naron with her fangs bared. Ju-Mei sprang forward with his holy symbol and the foul monster turned into a gas. Beatriss was able to track the cloud as it flowed out of the burial chamber and toward the throne room. By the time the party reached the throne room, they found the lizardwoman again in corporeal form, wailing over Sakatha's empty coffin. "What have you done to my king?" Ju-Mei answered with his holy symbol and again she turned into gas and vanished.
Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-11611976322488915822017-05-06T19:16:00.004-07:002017-05-06T19:16:31.622-07:00Tomb of the Lizard King: Inside the Pyramid, Beatriss has another brush with death
The party walked down along the dry riverbed until they reached the wall of the cavern. Now that the illusion of the river had been dispelled, this proved to be only about 100 feet away. The burial mounds were still within sight and as the party passed by, they noticed signs that something was stirring within—cracks appearing in the hard-baked clay, clods of dirt rolling off. As the party reached the bronze doors of the pyramid, they began to see blackened fists breaking through, and red-eyed heads popping out of their graves. Erlo and Ju-Mei called upon their diverse understandings of the divine good to send the wights back into their graves, while the rest of the group studied the doors. They were 20-feet tall, and remarkably well-crafted, and still disturbing in their depictions of Sakatha's domination over humankind, despite the fact that these hardy adventurers had already seen similar artwork throughout the tomb. The problem of opening them was not immediately solvable. The doors had no visible lock or even handle, and could not be pried open. Beyond the mechanical problem—the double doors had only the narrowest seam between them, too small for any type to tool that might pry them open— Bangqiu surmised that they were magically closed. His associate Erlo knew a spell for opening locked doors, but would need some time to prepare it. Meanwhile, over a dozen wights had broken out of their mounds and although they recoiled from the sight of a boldly-raised holy symbol, it seemed only a matter of time before one Erlo and Ju-Mei let one slip by unnoticed, and that could quickly lead to catastrophe.

 The party moved around the pyramid, Erlo and Ju-Mei, bringing up the rear. On the other side of the pyramid, they saw several bonfires on the slopes of the cavern, with figures gathered around. These did not seem to be undead, but-- by their natural movements and long, thick tails-- living, breathing lizardmen.

 Tetsukichi suggested they could evade the lizardfolk and find their own safe place on another side of the cavern, far from both the wights and the lizrdfolk. This, they did. A low narrow hole, opened into a sizeable cave-within-the-cave where, with a couple sohei on guard, the rest of the party could rest and plan. There were tree roots hanging down from the ceiling of the cave and the party found it reassuring to know they couldn't be too far from the surface. These roots also reacted similarly to the party's presence or at least their light sources—the roots sprouted buds and flowers and murmured deeply and softly. This murmuring reminded everyone of the comforting trees of their camp and also of those tree's warning that the y must tarry. After an hour or so, the party returned to the pyramid. Erlo recited his spell and the doors opened. The party entered the pyramid and as the wights, now assembled in a semi-organized mob, charged, the doors closed. Howling and gnashing of teeth.

From the entryway, there were three doors.

Beatriss led the way toward the middle door, which seemed to lead toward the heart of pyramid. As she touched the door, she heard an oddly-familiar voice and felt a sharp pain on her neck.  A spear shot out from the wall and hit her on the neck—at the exact place where O-me-sa had bit her and left his scar. The spear bounced off. "Good bye, Beatriss," the voice said. Other party members were also struck by spears that had shot out of the walls, but thanks to luck, preparation, or some other unknown protection, these spears were repelled by armor. The spears were coated with a sticky green substance. Beatriss shivered and touched her neck to be sure she hadn't been wounded. Her skin was whole. Even the scar was gone.

 The door opened into a grand hall where a large table offered a sumptuous feast.—all kinds of food and wine, and all apparently fit for human consumption. The walls were painted with uncharacteristically light-hearted frescoes of lizard men frolicking feasting. Within moments, several of these lizardfolk stepped out of the frescoes and invited the visitors to feast. Beatriss was extremely skeptical. The lizardfolk were courteous and dismissed her questions, instead repeating their invitation. Bangqiu and Tetsukichi restrained Shu. Al-Fitar and Naron located a trapdoor, and the party lowered themselves into a tunnel beneath the pyramid. The lizardfolk bid them farewell and asked them to return and feast another time.

 Exploring the tunnels beneath the pyramid the party stumbled upon a darker celebration—about a dozen lizardmen and three human priests gathered around a blood-stained altar. Seizing moment, Erlo unleashed a ball of fire on the unholy assembly, incinerating the reptilian worshippers. The human worshippers, on the other hand, responded with their own magic. Beatriss dropped her sword and was put to flight and two of the party's warriors were transfixed. Tetsukichi identiefied the leader and charged him with sword drawn. Bangqiu blasted the others with his magic. By the time Beatriss returned, shrugging off her sudden bout of cowardice, all the enemies had been killed.

 A secret door behind the altar provided access to more tunnels, one of which led to Sakatha's throne room.
Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-28619799323237497802017-05-01T19:16:00.000-07:002017-05-01T19:16:52.565-07:00Tomb of the Lizard King: Door you cannot find, stairs you cannot find, and the river of nothingness
The party returned to camp, planning to rest a couple days until Beatriss was strong enough to make the journey out of the swamp. Their plans changed the following night when they were attacked by scores of lizard men. Those not on guard were awakened by the sounds of the attackers howling as they splashed through the swamp. Those on watch saw the reptilian eyes approaching from all sides. But as the scaled fiends charged into the clearing, the surrounding trees came to life, defending the party with branches and vines, beating off their attackers. <o:p></o:p>

The trees reassured the party, in deep murmuring voices that they were safe, for now, but that Sakatha was still alive and his power getting stronger. The heroes decided that they would remain in the swamp, nurse Beatriss back to health in the camp and then return to the tomb and find Sakatha. <o:p></o:p>

Their new acquaintances Tami and Shu showed that they planned to stay, and also to return with the party to the tomb. "We still need to get Won Ton and the money he took from us." The newcomers did little to earn their welcome. Tami was very proud of his swordsmanship and practiced for hours, but the more experienced warriors saw limited skill behind the flash. Shu, on the other hand, seemed to go out of his way to demonstrate his incompetence. After being reminded too many times of the hazards of collecting firewood from living trees, he was ordered to lie in a hammock where he showed his talent for opium smoking. Neverthless, Bangqiu took a liking to Shu and Beatriss tolerated Ta-Mi.<o:p></o:p>

When the party returned to the temple two weeks later, they were much better prepared. They encountered one troll in the antechamber. Erlo ensnared it in a magical web and the rest of the party killed it with slings and arrows. In the second room behind the shell curtain, they found the second troll still wrestling with the weird water snake. Bangqiu remember the trapdoor in the floor and Naron opened it, permitting the party entrance to the lower level where they'd fought the bandits and evil priests.

The company:

<o:p></o:p>

Beatriss, level 9 warrior with her associates:<o:p></o:p>

 Naron, level 7 warrior<o:p></o:p>

 Ju-Mei, level 7 cleric <o:p></o:p>

 Ta-Mi, level 4 bushi<o:p></o:p>

Tetsukichi, level 8 bushi with his associates:<o:p></o:p>

 Al-Fitar, level 8 warrior<o:p></o:p>

 Mustapha, level 7 illusionist <o:p></o:p>

Bangqiu, level 6 Wu-Jen<o:p></o:p>

 Erlo, level 5 shaman<o:p></o:p>

 Kafka, level 6 sohei, with his own retinue of 17 sohei initiates, two of whom accompanied the party in the tomb while the others were charged with maintaining the camp. <o:p></o:p>

 Shu, level 3 bushi<o:p></o:p>

Thanks to Beatriss's excellent map, the party traveled quickly to the disgusting demonic altar and the passages behind it where they expected to find a secret door. While they were searching, a fearsome group of undead burst out from under the floor. They looked like long-dead human bodies, animated by a powerful negative energy, and they moved surprisingly quickly. Erlo and Ju-Mei raised their holy symbols and forced the wights to retreat back under the floor. Bangqiu followed them and watched their flight down a steep metal staircase. He noted in particular, that they avoided stepping on a particular step. All eight of the monsters stepped over it. <o:p></o:p>

After a brief conference, the party decided that all they needed to know was that the "bad step" was probably bad and that no one should step on it. Beatriss and Tami carried Shu just in case.

At the bottom of the very long flight of stairs, the party found a pit of fire with a ledge around it. Moving cautiously, they had little trouble moving around it, and emerged on the edge of an expansive and barren underground landscape. At the edge of their torchlight, they could see a river. It was wide enough that even when they approached more closely, they couldn't see the other side.

They walked downstream some distance without seeing an end. Looking back, they saw a large raft they hadn't seen before. It looked large enough to carry the entire party. Bangqiu was cautious and objected that the raft might take them somewhere they didn't want to go. Beatriss allowed that it was magical, but argued that there were powers that understood that they were heroes on a quest and that if the raft delivered them to Sakatha, he was the object of their quest, and she for one, was ready to face him. <o:p></o:p>

About halfway across the river, Beatriss, Naron, and Al-Fitar suddenly stumbled off the raft and disappeared beneath the water. Suddenly the rest of the party realized this is not a big beautiful raft. This is not a big beautiful river. There is no water flowing underground. Instead they were walking across a dry riverbed. Except for Beatriss, Naron, and Al-Fitar who were struggling to keep their heads up in a pool of acid. Tetsukichi had a rope that disintegrated in the acid. Bangqiu had magic boots that allowed him to dip into the pool and one-by-one, rescue his friends. Continuing on their walk across the dry river bed, Beatriss and Al-Fitar "discovered" one more pool of acid, disguised by illusion. But everyone made it to the far side where they could rest for a minute and pour clean water over their burning skin. Immediately before them were about a dozen burial mounds, and beyond them a pyramid. The party decided that they would most likely find Sakatha in the pyramid, but they should try to circumvent the burial mounds.<o:p></o:p>
Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-66224815211684284412017-04-26T17:45:00.003-07:002017-04-26T17:45:26.264-07:00Tomb of the Lizard King: Beatriss has a brush with death
Tetsukichi and Beatriss-- the champions of the Sansar clan—together with their associates, plus their friend Bangqiu and his associates established a fortified base camp on a dry hillock in the swamp about a mile from the Tomb of the Lizard King and planned their next move. Thanks to their successful campaign, the terrifying raids on the Sansar clan seemed to have ended. And yet something was still amiss. Besides that swamp that hadn't existed a few year ago, the creatures of the swamp—snakes, crocodiles, blood-thirsty seven-foot tall lizard creatures that walked on two legs and carried weapons— were venturing far out of the swamp and into the grazing lands. And despite through exploration of the ruined temple that they believed held Sakatha's resting place, they had not discovered his actual tomb. So another expedition to the temple and tomb site seemed appropriate. <o:p></o:p>

The company: <o:p></o:p>

Beatriss, level 9 warrior with her associates:<o:p></o:p>

 Naron, level 7 warrior<o:p></o:p>

 Ju-Mei, level 7 cleric <o:p></o:p>

Tetsukichi, level 8 bushi with his associates:<o:p></o:p>

 Al-Fitar, level 8 warrior<o:p></o:p>

 Mustapha, level 7 illusionist <o:p></o:p>

Bangqiu, level 6 Wu-Jen<o:p></o:p>

 Erlo, level 5 shaman<o:p></o:p>

 Kafka, level 6 sohei, with his own retinue of 17 sohei initiates who were charged with maintaining the camp. <o:p></o:p>

The company set out early in the morning and followed a familiar track to the ruined temple. As Beatriss and Ju-Mei climbed the steps into the temple, they heard the voices of humans arguing. Taking no chances, Beatriss commanded Ju-Mei to use his non-lethal transfixing magic and of course the priest complied. <o:p></o:p>

The party charged up the steps into the temple. Besides the targets of Ju-Mei's spell, two Zhou men in battered armor, one of them with his hand on his knife, both frozen, there were two other men, not frozen. These two, caught lounging on their bedrolls, were amazed, rather than belligerent. One jumped to his feet, while the other slid himself away from the unexpected invaders. Beatriss demanded—and received— answers. <o:p></o:p>

The standing man, introduced him as Ta-Mi, and explained that he was not the leader of their band of 20 or 50 or so capable and somewhat unpredictable . . . guys, but he was very well respected by the others, probably the most underrated of the band, who were not bandits or brigands or soldiers, but just guys who had swords and other weapons and were reasonable but not to be trifled with. He introduced the two frozen ones. <o:p></o:p>

The one with his hand on his knife had a long drooping mustache. He was Feng-bi, "the crazy violent one who thinks he knows everything but is actually more of a problem than he's worth. Wait, can they hear us right now?" <o:p></o:p>

The other frozen one, whose hair was dyed tea color and whose face was fixed in a sarcastic grin, that was Sick Boy, "The other one who thinks he's the leader and knows everything when in fact he knows nothing." <o:p></o:p>

The fourth was Shu, "the stupid harmless one." Shu nodded his agreement. <o:p></o:p>

Beatriss revealed that they had been there before, but that they didn't live there, they didn't claim it or own it. They were looking for evil monsters to destroy. Ta-Mi assured Beatriss that she and her friends would find evil monsters. He (and the band of men who would likely be back any minute now) were also looking for someone. His name was Won Ton and he was a member of their band until he betrayed them and if anyone saw him, they should . . . well, if they see him and he has anything, it's not really his and there's someone else who wants it. . . <o:p></o:p>

The party wished Ta-Mi and Shu a good day and passed through a shell-bead curtain that divided the front room of the temple from the inner room with three pools. Formerly three pools, but the ceiling had collapsed on top of the third. As before, soon after they entered, the pools began bubbling. <o:p></o:p>

Bangqiu approached the demon bas-relied on the far wall and inserted a coin into the open mouth. Nothing happened. So he inserted a black gem. As he expected, the statue swung out from the wall on a hidden door. Not expected, someone was pushing it from the other side. Bangqiu ran, while Beatriss and Naron drew their swords. Two hideous green-creatures pushed out of the hidden room. Despite their emaciated, sickly appearance, these creatures were incredibly strong, swatting away the warriors swords to seize them with their long sharp claws and slash at their faces with sharp fangs. Beatriss ordered a full retreat. Mustapha sent a cloud of fog into the trolls faces and Naron broke free. The entire party, save Ju-mei ran out of the temple completely. Ta-mi and Shu seeing their terrified expressions, followed. <o:p></o:p>

Once outside, Bangqiu, noticing that Beatriss and Ju-Mei had not escaped, returned to the temple, bringing Erlo with with him. They arrived in time to see one troll devouring Sick Boy. Ju-Mei was standing at the curtain, chanting. Beatriss screamed in pain and Ju-Mei abruptly rushed into the pool room. Bangqiu and Erlo followed. Beatriss was lying on the floor unconscious. The troll was standing over her, blood dripping from its mouth. Behind it, a snake creature made of water was writhing in the pool and snapping its jaws. Seeing a new victim, the troll lunged toward Ju-Mei. The priest dodged, and the troll stumbled. The water-snake seized its opportunity and dragged the troll into the pool. Ju-Mei stabilized Beatriss and helped pull her to her feet. She was alive. Erlo made Beatriss invisible and the four of them moved out of the pool room toward the steps of the temple. The troll that had killed Sick Boy was not feasting on Feng-Bi. Ju-Mei summoned a spiritual hammer to keep the monster at bay as he and his companions completed their narrow escape. <o:p></o:p>
Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-50276454313919989162017-01-22T04:48:00.003-08:002017-01-29T07:51:05.644-08:00Gwinch Hunts the Black Flowers

Most all remnants of the Black Flowers gang have left Pasar but from their hideout in the surround hills the wicked men continue to make good people's lives miserable, by attacking the merchant caravans that are the lifeblood of the town. Gwinch, Beast, Saisho, and a group of sohei lay in wait at the place where the bandits are known to attack. When a large caravan comes into view and the bandits do attack, Gwinch & co. put them to flight. The Black Flowers have fast horses but Gwinch is an expert tracker.
Gwinch follows the trail and discovers the remnants of an ancient road into he mountains, following the meanderings of a deep ravine.<o:p></o:p>

Gwnch and his men are ambushed on a crumbling stone bridge by the Black Flowers firing a ballista from the cliff above.<o:p></o:p>

Gwinch scales the cliff with astonishing courage and skill and throws the bandits into the ravine. He helps his companion find the trail up and together they reach what they believe to be the Black Flowers' hideout, a mysterious cave, where monumental statues of jackal-headed women stand guard.<o:p></o:p>

After surveying the entrance chamber, Gwinch decides not to pass through the round archway and instead opens a humble wooden door. The heroic explorers follow a passage into a large bright high-ceilinged room, its light coming from a glowing staff that hangs from the ceiling on a thick chain.<o:p></o:p>
Saisho climbs up the wall, across the ceiling, and down the chain. When he touches the staff, all the metal in the room is pulled to the sides. Saisho's dagger flies out of his hand. Those wearing armor are held pinned to the wall.<o:p></o:p>

The monks who could not afford metal armor help their brothers (and Gwnch) escape from their prisons.<o:p></o:p>
Giant bugs enter the room. Their touch turns metal to rust, which the monsters eat greedily. Wooden axe handles turn one of the monsters to a bloody pulp. The other runs away.<o:p></o:p>

To Gwinch's surprise, the remaining metal remains stuck to the wall.<o:p></o:p>
Also, that chain remains attached to the glowing staff.<o:p></o:p>

A dead giant rust bug has no effect on the chain.<o:p></o:p>
Gwinch tracks the giant rust bug that ran away. He finds it cowering in a small room that might have been a tomb or a treasury or both; it is strewn with emeralds. Also three levers, always intriguing. But Gwinch isn't distracted. Eying the giant rust bug, he gets out a strong rope.<o:p></o:p>

But there is no need for rope. The giant rust bug seems to understand what Gwnch has in mind. It follows him happily.<o:p></o:p>
Ok there is need for a rope. The giant rust bug is hoisted by its tail into the air so that it can touch the chain. Gwinch catches the staff. Beast catches the rust bug. Saisho always lands on his feet.<o:p></o:p>

Now it's time to experiment with the levers. They control the magnets in the magnet room!<o:p></o:p>
The monks retrieve their armor. At last,  it's time for everyone to return to Pasar.Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-53706122972538999882017-01-22T04:47:00.001-08:002017-01-29T07:42:14.629-08:00Wolfbang and the Unexpected Prisoner
It was time for Wolfbang to get far away from Hommelet again. Burne's men reported strange noises from the dungeon beneath the moathouse and stranger dreams when they spent the night there. Finding adventurer willing to explore was a lost cause. And there were reports of a young man traipsing through the woods followed by a menagerie of beasts. Jaroo's seniority on the council of elders gave him an edge when debating with Burne and Rufuson the merits of calling on the Lords of Drentenbury for military assistance. But no for much longer. If Wolfbang took a little trip, maybe things would quiet down.

And there was something to do. Even without access to the pools, it seems that Burne was disseminating knowledge of elven magic to humans—with what the elves and Jaroo considered predictably unpredictable results. In the area of Gold Hill, the orcs were attacking human settlements, seemingly emboldened by their association with a wizard, seemingly human, who had the power to turn his enemies to stone. Jaroo confided to Wolfbang that he was especially concerned because Valu had not been seen for some time. While solitary contemplation in the forest was an essential part of the boy's druidic training, the druid college would especially like to know his whereabouts now—to be certain that this malevolent wizard wasn't searching for their chosen one. (Spoiler alert: Wolfbang immediately suggested that Valu himself was the renegade wizard.)

Following Jaroo's instructions, Wolfgang travelled to Gold Hill, bypassing the Hill itself, the trding post, and the Sherriff, making his way instead for Trago Hall. Lord Trago would be expecting him.

And yet by the time Wolfbang reached Trago Hall, Lord Trago was already gone. As the steward explained, there was a signal fire at the watch tower three days ago. Lord Trago and three of his knights had gone to investigate. They found the place overrun by orcs and sent one f their number back to report that the others would pursue the orcs and destroy them, wizard or no wizard. They had not returned.

The next morning, Wolfbang and his animal companions set out for the watchtower. /as expected they found evidence of a battle. And they a path of destruction that presumably indicated which way the orcs had travelled—and Lord Trago had followed. Following this path, they found the typical hallmarks of orc activity—smoldering fires, uprooted saplings, dead bunnies.

And they found Valu. They heard him first, muttering to himself, and Wolfbang secreted himself in a thornbush. Valu seemed to be alone. When Wolfbang revealed himself, Valu was only half-surprised. "You need to help me," he said, "the orcs have got me."

There was no time to explain. There were voices, a large number of orc voices, drawing closer. "Valu! Valu! What are you doing little shit?"

"I'm over here, I think I found the leaves I need for the chief!" He scooped up a random handful of debris from the forest floor and told Wolfgang were to find them. A ruined temple, due north, easy to find. But don' go up to he man entrance. There was a secret entrance to he left of the steps, hidden by a mulberry bush.

And then he ran to meet the orcs.

Having no human companions to consult with, Wolfbng pressed forward. Wary that he was being double- or triple- crossed, Wolfbang was relieved to find things as Valu had told him—a clear path to the temple and a secret entrance to the left of the steps.

The secret entrance brought Wolfbang into long, unlit tunnel dug out of the earth under the temple and ending in a small chamber with a rough staircase leading up to the ceiling. With a mixture of skill, strength, and luck he found a stone in the ceiling that could be lifted, permitting him access to the room above. This was a larder. Without inspecting too closely the meats stored there, Wolfbang explored elsewhere and soon found himself in the main hall of temple. The two orcs on guard there were surprised by his sudden and bold appearance and by bestial associates. They shouted a challenge but did not attack. Uncertain of how the druidic of benevolent neutrality covered situations like this one, Wolfbang simply ignored their challenge and advanced. Physical hostility erupted and soon both orcs were dead. Wolfbang surveyed the temple. It's most striking feature was a trio of very realistic statues of fighting men in armor,

Wolfbang glanced out the main doors of the temple onto the large portico where, as the sun set, drowsy guards were beginning to rouse. Their limited attention was fixed on the surrounding forest, and Wolfbang escaped their notice. He elected to explore the inside of the temple. Moving from room to room, he came upon a pair of sleeping monsters, both much bigger than the orcs, one exceptionally hirsute, the other most notable for his large yellow teeth. Wolfbang didn't waver, but gave each monster a quiet death in its sleep.

In another room, Wolfbang found Valu. The boy jumped with a start, and seemed relieved at who had entered. Valu explained that he had found a wand capable of turning people to stone. The orc chief insisted on holding it most of the time and only gave it to Valu when he needed the boh to work its magic.

Valu agreed to take Wolfbang to the chief immediately. The great orc was awake, sitting up in bed and polishing his axe. He was civil, but haughty, dropping unsubtle insuts amidst every sentence he spoke to Wolfbang, like the other orcs, he referred to Valu as "little shit" even when, tired of his conversation with the animal lover, he thrust the wand into Valu's hands. "Make me another statute for my throne room."

Value didn't hesitate for a moment before memorializing the orc chief in stone.

The immediate threat disposed of, Wolfbang and Valu began to argue. Wolfbng would have wanted the chief's axe, but the impressive weapon was now an integral part of the statue. Wolfbang though that he take possession of the wand but Valu made t clear he had learned his lesson about the futility of trying to appease a bully. Their argument drew the attention of a group of orcs, more intrigud than alarmed by the sound of human consternation in their chief's bedroom. The sight of their chief in his new state had a profound effect on them as did Bruno and Wolfie's claws and fangs. They fled, but were pursued and killed.

It dawned on Wolfbang that he had accomplished everything that had been asked of him. He had foun the orcs' stronghold, neutralized their most threatening features, and rescued the druids' great hope. It was time to leave. Almost. Valu put on the orc chief's armor. Nd that reminded Wolfbang, where do the orcs store their weapons?

Valu knew—it was next to the larder. #there was a good selection of weapons, most orc-made, but there were some notable exceptions. Wolfbang lookd over the swords, selected those forged by human smiths and tied them together with rope for easy carrying. Valu meanwhile tried out all the crossbows, testing whether any of them had magical properties.

Another group of orcs arrived and attacked the inruder. With the help of Bro the Badger, most of these orcs were quickly dispatched, but the survivors raised the alarm and ran for the barracks. Wolfbang and his animals eagerly gave chase and Valu followed closely behind.

The orcs were many, but most had just wakened and were not well-prepared for battle. Wolbang chanted as his menagerie brought the forest's vengeance down on its desecrators. Valu stood a safe distance away and, as Wolfbang commanded, transformed orcs into stone.

And then the party got lame. Valu's wand fizzled. Several orcs crowded around Wolfbang and he had to end his chanting to keep them at bay. Bro the badge received a grievous wound and Wolfie was yelping. Wolfbang ordered a retreat. Valu ran to the trapdoor with most of the animals behind him while Wolfbang and Bro stood to guard their retreat. Wolfbang tried to pick up the badger and got a viscous bite for his trouble. The orcs pressed their advantage as Wolfbang backed away from them swinging his staff to deflet the worst of their spear thrusts. Valu shouted for Wolfbang to make a break for it. Bro made a last explosive attack and then followed Wolfbang down the hole. The orcs slammed the covering stone down over them.

The party ran down the corridor, out the secret door, and into the forest. The orcs fired arrows arrows from the safety of the temple but did not pursue.Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-244562302872971912016-12-12T18:30:00.001-08:002017-01-29T08:08:20.238-08:00Oh, THAT Magic Pool!

After their adventures in Renneton, Wolfgang and Gerrilynn rejoined Vulpio, the elves, and the caves below the moathouse. Among the oddities retrieved from the mold caves, was a peculiar chime which, when struck caused previous locked doors or hidden doors to reveal themselves and open. It proved to be equally effective on portcullises.<o:p></o:p>
Opening the portcullis gave Wolfgang, Gerrilynn, and Vulpio access to several new strange rooms. They rescued Johnny, who the prisoner of a fearsome-looking ogre. They encountered and destroyed a dozen zombies. And they found a trapdoor leading up to the moathouse garrisoned by Burne's men. This encounter could have been a disaster if Gerrilynn had not responded quickly to gently but firmly transfix the soldiers. The party disappeared back down the trapdoor and prayed that the experience would serve to further discourage dungeon exploration by the Burne and the people of Hommelet.<o:p></o:p>

Reviewing her map, Gerrilynn determined that they should return to the crypt that they had discovered earlier. It was an expansive place, with rows and rows of vaults, many of them smashed open. And there were ghouls. After destroying the ghouls, Wolfbang noticed a trail of gold that led into a small hole in the wall, so small that it could be accessed only be crawling. Smelling a rat, Wolfbang remembered what his friends had told him about their beautiful home deeper in the dungeon. And so they crawled into the hole. . .<o:p></o:p>
Gerrilynn could not make a map, but after crawling in circles for what felt like hours, the party came to a nearly vertical tunnel, slanting both up and down. Based on everything they had heard, down seemed the right way to go. The tunnel was long and seemed to get even narrower. Torches were too dangerous, but Wolfgang still carried his magical light stone. After another hour of crawling, they heard sounds—squeaking sounds. And suddenly there were rats everywhere—scratching, nipping, squealing, but clearly running from something else. The party let them pass by and waited for what was coming next—a greasy, stinking badger. Wolfgang stunned it with a flash of light and then said a few words to soothe and distract it. The badger told Wolfgang of the fantastic meal that he had just missed, but after persistent but gentle questioning answered that yes the tunnel widened further ahead and yes he would lead the way and yes he would like a treat that was even better than rats once Wolfgang had a chance to get it out of his sack.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/neillonghurst/7671596416/in/photolist-cFUWkJ-7d1hJC-64ZJon-7cWnLz-7d1eA9-8CJYYa-p63wBk-JqAoFp-7d1eYy-nN433o-7cWjb2-jBv9LR-co13B9-cUk8BQ-6hzZgL-axCmu8-tBwgb5-JxoWgV-bzioGZ-ndM3dX-iydjtY-pEnpzV-h9Kc1v-ptby9G-pdKg5A-n3G9uR-5VhEQq-7eDwFK-5S8NmQ-6vNbh1-MyW9DV-8joYGW-sXLd98-sXKz1r-DLRjEk-p3ZKB-D2EJb-azk6rj-4FciZH-5yT6A2-5NnHfb-bw99VK-28uYwu-d8YJLA-6pH2bu-4PeUWg-5FKHzd-8FcPo6-QD7fE-jHqbzy" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="badger">
title="badger"><img a456401.jpg="" c1.staticflickr.com="" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7264/7671596416_400a456401.jpg
" width="500" height="333" alt="badger"><o:p></o:p>

At last the human emerged from the twisting rodent warren into a large natural cavern. A little exploration suggested that they had discovered an entire network of caverns, but they were most intrigued by the well-finished corridor that led about fifty feet to a twelve-sided room with a dodecahedronal-domed ceiling. There were letters on the ceiling- elvish, but backwards. And in the middle of the room there was a stone pedestal, over eight-feet high so that no one could see the top of it. But they found a way up and found a large basin. When water filled the basin, the water reflected the letters on the ceiling. (Wolfgang thought that maybehe'd been there before.) This was the magic pool that the elves (and Burne) were looking for.<o:p></o:p>
Although logic suggested that there was a human-sized passage between these caverns and the dungeons of the moathouse, the leaders of the party felt they would prefer to go back the way they came and crawl through the dark, twisting rodent-infested tunnels.<o:p></o:p>

That's what they did. The elves were grateful and entertained them for weeks or months. When Wolfbang and Gerrilyn returned to the surface world, they found that the leaves had turned.<o:p></o:p>
Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-15378448584717606632016-12-11T18:34:00.000-08:002016-12-11T18:34:52.363-08:00Review: Wheel of Evil by Faster Monkey

I know this module is over 6 years old and that the old-schoolrenaissance has been superseded by 5e or pokemon go or running for president but that just means Wheel of Evil is now a classic and that you should buy it and run it today. Here's why:<o:p></o:p>
The "everyman quest" element. I love adventure hooks that might realistically appeal to the kind of people I imagine low- to mid-level adventurers to be, not legendary heroes and not murder hoboes, but generally well-meaning rogues who never figured out how to make it normal society. As prosaic as it sounds, saving the cheese equals saving the village. And while there's no extensive backstory or elaborate plot, the hook was extensive enough to affect the player's choices throughout the adventure— Is doing this what we were hired to do?<o:p></o:p>

The details. There are many elements that add color and interest and can also make the players' success much more likely. Little pots of kobold urine sound like the most useless thing in the world.<o:p></o:p>
Well-developed monsters. For some time, I've been replacing humanoids with human "bad guys." But these kobolds are too other-worldly. And I normally find molds and slimes and oozes kind of an undistinguishable mush. But here, it's more like a parfait.<o:p></o:p>

It's short. This is so important to me. I don't get to play D&D every day lunch and recess (and that's good, overall) so anything that can't be played over a couple sessions will be half-forgotten by the players making it impossible for them to put the pieces together. In general my campaign is more like an episodic TV show in which the most notable feature is the characters rather than plot, but this had the feeling of a good self-contained movie.<o:p></o:p>
Things to think about before running this adventure:<o:p></o:p>

Per the text, boiled urine has special properties. This struck me as something so impossible to figure out by characters whose players didn't already have this knowledge (assuming that this is borrowed from real-world chemistry), that I allowed unboiled urine the same effects. I'm happy with this decision, but it made things easier for the PCs.<o:p></o:p>
Most of the encounters are much easier than the final encounter with the BBEG. I worried about this before I ran it, but this is a classic structure for a good reason—all the important characters live until the end and so even for those that die it feels dramatic and thrilling. (He died so we could have cheese.) The upshot of this is that the suggestion that this adventure is for 4-5 players levels 3-5 is about right. The early encounters might feel easy, and the final one may kill multiple party members.

The play report is here.<o:p></o:p>Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-92126406431389329762016-10-22T14:31:00.000-07:002017-01-29T08:10:57.814-08:00Wheel of Evil
Play Report: Wheel of Evil by Faster Monkey<o:p></o:p>
It's not often that I get to run a game for 4 PCs over a couple two-hour sessions so when I do, I like to pull out something special and Wheel of Evil did not disappoint. Branded as a Dungeon Crawl for 4-6 characters of levels 3-5, I decided that with henchman, it was an appropriate challenge for lower-level characters:<o:p></o:p>

Cinderblock, 1st level thief
 Cinderblock's NPC henchman Dithaniel, 1st level fighter<o:p></o:p>
Gruber, 2nd level fighter
 Gruber's NPC henchman Falden, 1st level fighter

Wolfgang, 4th level druid
 Wolfgang's menagerie (black bear, wolf, fox, hawk, rat)

Gerilynn, 4th level cleric
 Gerilynn's henchman Ehlark, 1st level fighter/cleric
 Gerilynn's henchman Caitlynn, 1st level ranger<o:p></o:p>

Wolfgang and Gerrilynn decided they needed a little space from their elvish patrons. Renneton, a town a few days ride away from Hommelet and famous for its fine cheeses, had advertised for heroes, and was willing to pay them in stock options—shares in the profits of the annual cheese sale. The assignment, as explained by the local priest, Father Desmond, was straight forward, from a practical if not an ethical point of view. The town of Renneton used a local cave for aging cheeses and been doing so for centuries. Now strange little monsters, presumably from deeper in the earth had found their way up and been found to be stealing and destroying cheeses. These creatures were only about three feet tall and cowardly in battle, but also thoroughly wicked and treacherous, "Kobolds" they were called locally. And they needed to be dissuaded somehow from stealing the human's cheeses. Father Desmond brought the party to the caves and provided them a map, showing the upper caverns where cheese was prepared. He had gone missing in the caves overnight, pursuing the kobolds after a raid. He also introduced them to Harzar, foreman of the cheese guild. Before going below, the party to look around the cheese preparation areas and tool to the cheesers.<o:p></o:p>
Cinderblock noticed that the other cheese workers seemed uneasy around Harzar, treating with not only the deference due a superior, but with veiled revulsion. Although he didn't like to talk about his experiences, he had become even more thoroughly dedicated to his job. <o:p></o:p>

The party learned that a few kobold were being held prisoner in a storage room, and asked to meet them. "Little good it will do you," the cheesers said, "they can't talk human or elvish, only their nasty monster talk." The kobolds expressions were plain enough—they looked miserable and bitter and glared at their captors and whispered among each other. The cheesers explained that a week ago, a wandering magician had offered to translate the prisoner's speech. No useful information, only the highly dubious claim that the kobolds blamed the humans for ruining their food. "If they like their food so much, why they stealing ours?" Gerrilynn asked what the kobold's ate and the cheesers shuddered and shook their heads. "Don't even want to think about it. That would be a good question for Father Desmond, right Bert? Why killing these monsters would be any different than killing a prowling wolf, I can't see. No offense, your woodiness." Gerrilynn shared some of her own food and the kobolds eat it hungrily—except the cheese which they flung back in her face as if it were an insult.<o:p></o:p>
Gruber asked about what weapons of powers the kobolds had. The men laughed. "Spears and rocks and these." A clay flask. "Smell it. Careful, not too close. We reckon they fill it with their own piss and if they can get a jump on a man they would smash it on his head. Who knows what it might do? Bless us, no one here has had to find out."<o:p></o:p>

Nosing around a little more, Cinderblock learned that some of the cheesers had a sideline business in moonshine. And that the Cheesers Guild was preparing an extra-large cheese, a five-foot diameter wheel that would be shipped to the King of Alyan.<o:p></o:p>
At last the party was ready to proceed. They lit torches and, as they proceed beyond the makeshift barrier the cheesers had assembled against the kobolds, Cinderblock assumed the job of continuing Father Desomond's map. Soon, the party came to a fork in the tunnel, and peered into what must have been a cheese storage room, now a jumble of broken shelving coated with dust. The party decided to explore the room further and found a deep fissure. Wolfgang asked his rat Alexis to climb down and report what he found. As Alexis disappeared beyond the light of the torches, he squeaked that he had found a mass of blue and pink cheese. Then there was a rat-scream and silence. A cloud of blue and pink dust exploded from the fissure; Wolfgang, Gerrilynn, and Gruber fell into a deep slumber. Caitlynn and Cinderblock found that they could barely rouse them enough to mumble a few words before falling back into sleep. Caitlynn, despairing of how to explain what had happened to the rat when Gerrilynn and Wolfgang woke up, climbed down into the fissure holding a torch. She saw the blue and pink gelatinous mold that the rat had described as cheese. She slipped into it up past her knees and felt herself being sucked under. Cinderblock climbed down and helped pull her out. The party decided that the rat would fend for himself for now and that the sleeping humans should be carried to safety.<o:p></o:p>

The heroes found their way back out of the caves and by the time they got back down the hill to town and to the inn, everyone was awake and walking under his or her own power. Talking over their misadventures and laughing down the many jokes at their expense, the heroes supped in their room ("Yes, we'll all get plenty of sleep tonight!") and made a plan. The plan involved urine, seven wineskins full of it, plus seven more wineskins full of raw material in case they needed more. No one remembers who first suggested it, but everyone agreed the kobolds didn't have any use for cheese and seemed to know something more about what they were really up against. <o:p></o:p>
Sure enough, the horrible pink and blue mold that had swallowed Alexis the rat had a tougher time digesting urine. It took four wineskins, plus the bladder contents of five humans and a wolf to the job, but the urine turned the mold into cool, sweet-smelling steam.<o:p></o:p>

The deep dark hole inspired some debate as to whether they were forgetting their charge to eradicate kobolds, but a lit torch that found the bottom about 50 feet down settled it. Rope and iron spike time.<o:p></o:p>
Dithaniel was the first down and his scream, abruptly cut short brought Cinderblock down immediately after him. A three-foot tall figure seemingly composed of mold had speared him with its skeletal claws. In the ensuing battle, this mold man, and three others like it, proved to be skeletons completely grown over with mold. The other three wineskins were used on these creatures before desperation intervened to prove that they could also be destroyed by normal weapons. Horrified at what they had just experienced, there was some talk of climbing back up. But the rope was lying on the ground. At the top, Wolfgang's wolf was howling and barking. "What happened?"<o:p></o:p>

"The stinky one." The wolf explained to Wolfgang. "He cut the rope."<o:p></o:p>

"The stinky one?" Harzer. <o:p></o:p>

"I bite him and he run away."<o:p></o:p>

  Although Wolfie was encouraged to go get help, no one wanted to wait for it. Dithaniel was dead, but Gerrilynn tended to the others and, after a brief and solemn ritual, Dithaniel's belonging were distributed among his companions. The heroes drank their wine, filled all the empty wineskins, and pressed on.<o:p></o:p>
The tunnels through which they walked was spongy, glowing, pulsing mass of mold. They prodded ahead to avoid walking on anything the horrible mass that had consumed the rat, and breathed a sigh of relief when they came to a large pool of clear water with no sign of mold. Eschewing the stepping stones, Gerrilynn tested the water with her toe and then waded in. The others followed.<o:p></o:p>

On the other side they found themselves a cavern of mold so nauseating in its shapes, textures, smells, and sounds that it made everything else they'd experienced look like white stilton. There were more of the walking mold men. There was something invisible that paralyzed Wolfgang. And there was Harzer.<o:p></o:p>
In the ensuing battle, there were several casualties. The mold men were easy to kill. Harzer turned out to be the husk of a man—when hit a larger mold man stepped out and was taken out by Caitlynn and Falden. But the party was endangered by numbers. And by the globs of black pudding that seemed to be falling from the ceiling. Falden and Caitllynn were killed by moldmen. Ehlark was killed by a black pudding.<o:p></o:p>

Someone noticed that an invisible force was pushing the paralyzed Wolfgang toward a particular part of the cavern. Cinderblock did some reconnaissance and located a particularly complex patch of mold that seemed to be responding to the battle. Lots of urine and a little moonshine later and that patch had been turned to gray flakes. The moldmen collapsed. <o:p></o:p>
The black pudding continued to quiver and slither toward the party. Cinderblock charged with his short sword. The blobby thing shrank from blow but then expanded, enveloping the brave and resourceful rogue.<o:p></o:p>

His companions killed the blobs from a safe distance. There was treasure. There were stolen cheeses that the heroes decided should remain with their fallen comrades. <o:p></o:p>
On the way out of the caves, the party encountered a band of kobolds. Both parties agreed, happily, and in their own languages, that the mold was retreating. After a mimed non-aggression pact the kobolds went deeper into the caverns and the humans went up to report their success.<o:p></o:p>

The heroes mourned their fallen comrades ("Cinderblock, we hardly knew ye.") and after the cheese auctions, redeemed their shares.<o:p></o:p>
Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-16261513457697547292016-10-21T17:56:00.000-07:002017-01-29T08:06:15.442-08:00The Moathouse Grind

When Vulpio's elven contacts learned that Burne, a human magician, was sending adventurers to explore below the moathouse, they summoned him and his friends Gerrilynn and Wolfgang with their own offer: don't allow a long-buried evil return to the world. Without being specific, Arethil, the elven priestess, told the party that she thought she thought there were darker powers involved, plotting and gathering strength deep below the earth. The elves had a secret entrance to the dungeons beneath the moathouse. They offered the party a safe base and asked them to explore. If they could find the source of the power Burne was seeking, the elves would help them address it. But if the enemy was who they thought it was, the elves didn't want to alert their ancient foe to their presence; a gang of human explorers were unlikely to raise the same level of alarm. Speaking of humans, the elves warned Wolfgang & co. to avoid contact with Burne's guards in the moathouse above, or for that matter any other humans. If they could not be evaded, any humans should be dealt with diplomatically and brought to Arethil. Gerrilynn thought this sounded ominous, but Arethil assured her, "If I wanted to kill them, I would leave that to you."<o:p></o:p>

The party came across a number of strange sights. A natural pool inspired curiosity, but bones on the bank warned them away. The crypt, though quiet, seemed to offer nothing but dread and danger. They explored other tunnels.

Opening a door onto a blind wall seemed to trigger some type of alarm. They encountered two groups of beast-men who attacked on sight. These were fierce warriors, but between Gerrilynn's divine powers, Wolfgang's animal companions and Vulpio's war hammer, the monsters were destroyed. The party took a prisoner-- a hairy, shambling creature with claws and fangs. Gerilynn wanted to turn him over to the elves, while Wolfgang wanted to lead him to the wilderness outside and let him "run free." Wolfgang won the argument, but Gerilynn won the dispute; on their way to the exit, the elves met them, congratulated them on their success—and took custody of the prisoner, throwing s net over his head and arms. Wolfgang took this as proof that the elves would do the bugbear harm and that they should have done more to get him out. But he turned over the prisoner.<o:p></o:p>
The elves were grateful to have a prisoner, but most of all hoped to find the source of Burne's new power. So the party continued to explore. Gerrilynn had made a comprehensive map and found they were confronted with a number of imperfect options. There was the pool of dark water, in which something was lurking. There was the crypt, which Wolfgang refused to explore. And there was a portcullis barring the way down an otherwise safe looking passage. The party reasoned that they were responsible for the portcullis being down—that the clanging sound they'd heard when opening a door the day before had been the sound of iron crashing down on the stone floor. But they couldn't figure out how to open it up again. Wolfgang made friends with a group of rats who were eager to show him their home and the way down—if he could fit into the six-inch diameter hole in the wall. They could not.

 <o:p>

</o:p>

Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-55071250297201571452016-09-30T18:47:00.000-07:002016-09-30T18:47:58.598-07:00The Death of Vlad
Vlad was eager to pursue Burne's quest with or without his associates. Ed and Kirito, two wanderers who were passing through Hommlet on their way to nonwhere in particular were persuaded to join him. Chrono the druid, whom he'dknown since Gold Hill agreed to join the party.<o:p></o:p>

Burne escorted the group to the moathouse himself and introduced them to his guards. These guards, in the interest of full transparency, admitted to the adventurers that while they considered themselves braver and stronger than most men, they absolutely refused to explore the dungeon below them and were only willing to garrison the moathouse itself because Burne paid well. It wasn't death that they were afraid of. Death, they laughed, was not the worst alternative.<o:p></o:p>

Burne explained once more what he was looking for—pools of water. Not natural cave pools, but artfully constructed. With writing on the walls. They would know them when they found them.<o:p></o:p>

The guards dutifully moved aside the assorted debris they had piled on top of the trapdoor that led into the dungeon. Vlad led the way and the adventurers started down the rough wooden stairs. About halfway down, a glob of bright green slime fell from ceiling onto Vlad, gliding off his mantle and landing on his leather gauntlet and his sword. Vlad flung away his sword and. More slime fell from the ceiling, this time landing on the stairs. Chrono scraped at it with his staff. To his chagrin, the slime burned away his staff. The slime was corrosive to both leather and metal and other weapons were lost before Ed scorched it with his torch. The slime smoldered and sparked and then burst into flame, quickly burning to a black smudge.<o:p></o:p>

At the bottom of the stairs was a large room with two locked closets. Ed picked the locks and found storerooms filled with weapons and other supplies. Vlad chose a replacement sword, and the urged his companions to explore further. Charging down a pillared corridor, Vlad was surprised by a shuffling undead man that beat him over the head with its rotting limbs. Vlad spun on his heel shouting his war cry and destroyed the zombie with two solid strokes of his sword. As his companions rushed to his aid, more zombies poured out of the row of dungeon cells that lined the corridor.<o:p></o:p>

The zombies seemed drawn to Vlad and Vlad gleefully strode into their midst, swinging his sword in mighty, reckless arcs, cleaving bones and flesh, dropping enemies in a pile around him and hardly noticing the rain of blows that fell on his head and shoulders. Kirito could see that Vlad was nearly overwhelmed and fought through the horde of zombies to assist his companion. But Vlad, in a blind battle rage, did not distinguish friend from foe; Kirito barely dodged what could have been a lethal blow. Ed and Chrono flanked the zombies but did not dare engage them in melee. Only when Vlad fell and dropped his sword did Kirito find an opportunity to plunge into the thick of the battle. He killed two of the zombies and called on Ed and Chrono to help pull Vlad to safety. Chrono tried to heal Vlad, but it was too late. Kirito held the zombies at bay while Ed and Chrono carried Vlad's body toward the stairs.<o:p></o:p>

Kirito suffered a serious wound and retreated. The zombies pursued, but slowly and without coordination; they were further hampered by arrows from Ed's bow. Chrono reached the stairs and called for help from the guards. Two of them, forgetting their oaths of cowardice, rushed down to help carry Vlad's body. Ed tossed his torch at the zombies and was the last one up.<o:p></o:p>

All the guards helped pile stones and firewood and furniture on top of the trapdoors as the zombies came clomping off the stairs. For hours the zombies pounded mindlessly on the other side of the trapdoor.<o:p></o:p>

Vlad was buried in Hommlet, in his armor, and without his hard-won mantle. It was gone.<o:p></o:p>
Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-76439348411298664612016-09-22T19:38:00.000-07:002016-09-22T19:38:09.268-07:00Pasar and the Princes Episode 3 (You are the heroes!)
The journey between Pasar and the Northern Empire of Zhou Dang is never easy. Merchants follow a good highway from East to West and from West to East, there's a deep water port not far away to the southeast, but nearly impassable mountains shield the peaceful folk of the Kayu Valley from war-mongering Khan. Based on rumors from merchants and hunters as well as her own past experiences, Beatriss recommend to her friends that this time they should hire a guide and follow the over mountain route.

By chance, this was the best time (some said the only time) for traveling in the mountains—the spring melting and flooding had passed and the autumn storms and snow had not yet begun. Experience proved the wisdom of Beatriss's recommendation. The roads were clear and peaceful. Their guide was knowledgeable and helpful, assisting them in negotiating fair prices for food and accommodation as they made their way from one village to the next, gradually working their way higher into the mountains over a few weeks. Bangqiu had time and energy for studying. Prince Slash and Sir Crowler made new friends. And, thanks to Jasmine, new enemies—but there was no serious conflict.

And then one night something strange happened. They were staying at an inn near the Red Mountain Path Monastery, shuttered against the winds that heralded the coming storm season. There was a loud rapping at the door. The innkeeper, a grumpy old woman, opened the door with a pained smile. A monk in orange robes pushed his way past her and began ranting about the end of the world. The patrons reacted angrily and, in the case of Sir Crowler, violently. For the monk's protection, Ju May and Beatriss overpowered him and bound him. Then everyone went to sleep.

In the morning, there was a commotion in the streets. And in the inn. No one could understand what anyone else was saying! And the tied monk had someone escaped his bounds in the night. Beatriss and Prince Slash went into the street to figure out what was going on. The village comprised a single street with one lane leading up to the monastery. Down the street, on the edge of the village, things were still peaceful. Beatriss went to talk to those people. They laughed when she spoke, but when they responded, they were horrified at the gibberish coming out of their own mouths.

Based on this experience, Prince Slash deducted that the monastery was the source of the commotion and started walking up the hill. Beatriss and Bangqiu came after him. Sir Crowler looked for someone to play soccer. Those approaching the monastery heard a loud commotion coming from within. Inside an old monk seemed to be leading the others in a bizarre ritual. When Beatriss tried to intervene, the old monk admonished her, commanding her in very clear words to leave them. She refused. For a moment, his face seemed to change to that of a long-fanged demon, but then his whole body changed—expanding to nearly fill the room as a charging elephant. Beatriss dodged it and attacked with her sword. Prince Slash shushed the chanting monks; they seemed relieved by their own temporary silence. Bangqiu blasted the elephant with his magic. But then the elephant turned into an enormous worm and its touch paralyzed Beatriss. Prince Slash ran to get help. Bangqiu attacked the worm and it turned into a flying monster, half-man, half-horse. It flew up through the roof of the monastery and prepared to dive down. Prince Slash saw it, pulled out his bow, and began shooting arrows. The horse-man monster flew toward Prince Slash and he shot more arrows. It turned into fiery mist and flew away. The monks were grateful and offered to shelter their rescuers. With storms approaching, the heroes couldn't stay longer than a few days, but this was long enough for the monks to tend to Prince Slash's arm. They eased the pain of the long-term injury he had suffered and taught him the exercises that would allow him to regain full use.Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-65406469074319782392016-09-21T18:37:00.000-07:002016-12-11T18:38:33.878-08:00Pasar and the Princes Episode 2 (You are the decoy)Beatriss and Bangqiu, Sir Crolwer and Prince Slash (and Jasmine!) continued to while awa their time in Pasar. Sir Crowler and Prince Slash being two mysterious wanderers of noble bearing, reportedly related to the king of a faraway land were hoping to buy weapons, something generally difficult to do in Pasar since none were sold openly within the walls.

One day the four friends (and Jasmine!) were enjoying a long leisurely lunch in one of Pasar's noodle houses when they were approached by a tradesman named An Dohng. An Dohng appeared at the end of their meal as the friends were debating what to do next. An Dohng wanted their help and was prepared to pay for it. As a result of bad luck and a bad brother, An Dohng had lost a delivery of silk and as a result had earned the enmity of a powerful merchant. This merchant, named Badu, was reported to have ties to the Black Flower gang which, despite being banished from Pasar still menaced travelers on the roads. An Dohng was going to meet with Badu at his shop later that day and he believed things would go better for him if he had some powerful friends. The heroes agreed that they would join An Dohng at the meeting place. As they discussed the particulars, two thugs emerged from the shadows of the room and began to threaten An Dohng. Beatriss intervened and no serious violence occurred. An Dohng thanked them profusely. "You've helped me already! And now you have to protect me this afternoon!"

The four friends (Jasmine had something else to do) went to the assigned meeting place, a small tavern attached to a warehouse close to one of the gates of the city. They ordered food and drink and surveyed the scene. The two toughs from earlier from earlier and the other patrons of the bar also looked potentially threatening and two openly carried swords, despite the weapon ban. Beatriss of course had her own invisible sword, Bangqiu was very able in defending himself with magic and the princes were always brave, no matter the number or strength of a potential adversity. So the friends chatted happily, seemingly oblivious to any danger.

Before long, An Dohng arrieved. He hesitated for a moment and then heartily greeted the four heroes as his "old, dear friends." His welcome was loud enough to summon a man from the shop, a man who by the richness of his clothes and portliness of his shape could only be Badu the merchant. He eyed An Dohng's friends with unveiled coldness and suspicion and then asked to speak to An Dohng alone. The two men sat at a table at the back of the tavern and engaged in tense whispered conversation. Everyone else in the bar fell nearly silent.

After a few minutes, the two men seemed to come to an agreement. An Dohng returned to speak to his protectors. He had come to an agreement, a strange one, ultimately an opportunity for An Dohng to redeem himself by successfully managing another delivery—this one not of silk, but of weapons. "Risky of course, but perhaps with some unexpected advantage. Some of you were hoping to find weapons, no?"

Without agreeing to anything else, the party agreed to at least help An Dohng inspect the shipment. Badu gestured toward the door that led from the tavern to the warehouse. An Dong led the way, followed by Beatriss, Bangqiu, and the princes, with the two toughs they'd encountered at the noodle shop following close behind.

There was a small wagon, already yoked to two horses. An Dohng lifted corner of the tarp, and everyone nodded at the assembled piles of sharp metal. But then there was a shout from the tavern. It was the city watch. "We are here to search the premises for illegal weapons!"

Out in the warehouse, An Dohng jumped into the wagon and grabbed the reins. Beatriss prepared for a fight while Sir Crowler ran into the tavern to alert the watch that the weapons were there. Surprisingly, the tough guys who had threatened An Dohng in the noodle shop assisted him in making a getaway. They opened the door of the warehouse and jumped onto the wagon as An Dohng drove through it. Not knowing what else to do, Beatriss, Bangqiu, and Prince Slash also ran away while Badu and the patrons of the tavern were arrested.

Several hours later, back at the noodle shop, Beatriss, Bangqiu, and Prince Slash came to the reluctant conclusion that something might have happened to Sir Crowler. They went to old village in central Pasar and to the stone house where prisoners were kept. Sure enough, Sir Crowler had been arrested. Prince Slash gave an honest account of everything that had happened, admitting that he and Sir Crowler had been hoping to buy weapons because they wanted to fight members of the Black Flower gang who were roaming the roads outside Pasar. Sir Crowler had made a very similar confession. Appreciating their honesty and their previous service to Pasar, the elders agreed that Sir Crowler should be released with the condition that they should all leave Pasar the next day and not return for one year.Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-40739048879347234142016-09-07T18:22:00.004-07:002016-09-22T19:38:47.971-07:00Pasar and the Princes Episode 1 (You are the Ransom) While Tetsukichi stayed with his clansfolk, Beatriss, Naron, and Erlo joined Bangqiu, Kafka on their journey to Pasar. Along the way they met their friends Sir Crowler and Prince Slash who knew a shortcut to Pasar- the Gua-Sar caverns. Sir Crowler and Prince Slash were lively companions—with their affinity for animals, noble lineage, and large supply of fruit, there was never a dull moment, even though neither was much good at reading a map. They did find the Gua-Sar caverns, a series of twisting tunnels, flooded with viscous green water. There were strange voices in the air and strange hands in the water. Despite these challenges, the heroes emerged from cavern whole and found their way on to Pasar without incident. Gwinch was indeed happy and proud to meet his student who had disappeared so suddenly. He awarded Kafka the title of Master and asked him to assist a selection of novices in reaching the next milestone in their training—the wisdom that comes from experience.

During an earlier journey to Pasar, Prince Slash had attracted the attention of a beautiful woman named Jasmine and her sullen brother Lum. To his surprise, Prince Slash found that Jasmine and Lum had remained in Pasar and at least every day, he encountered at least one of them. Although Prince Slash protested to others that he hated Jasmine, he seemed to have trouble ignoring her and always smiled when he saw her. For his part, Lum showed consistent dislike for Prince Slash and his friends, barely acknowledging them; any polite words were accompanied by a heavy glare.

One day, however, Lum approached Prince Slash and his friends for help. Jasmine had been kidnapped! Although Prince Slash claimed that he was happy about this, Beatriss convinced him that regardless of his feelings about her, he had some duty to assist with her rescue if possible. And, according to Lum, little assistance was required. The bandits were demanding ransom, Lum had agreed to pay it. He requested the protection of an escort in going to meet the bandits. The friends—Prince Slash, Sir Crolower, Beatriss, and Bangqiu agreed to help. They would meet Lum the next morning.

Bangqiu wanted to help, but he was wary. He suggested that he and Beatriss should accompany the young princes in invisible form. This would give them an advantage if either Lum or the bandits had planned a deception.
Prince Slash did not fully understand the plan. When he and Sir Crowler met Lum the next morning, the first thing he did of note was explain that Beatriss was there too but invisibly. Sir Crowler contradicted him violently. Lum was uncomfortable, maybe less uncomfortable when Beatriss asked, still invisible, how far they had to travel to the bandits' camp. He wanted to reassurance that Bangqiu was there, too.

That was strange. Strange enough that Beatriss and Bangqiu both became visible and demanded to know more. When pressed, Lum admitted that he couldn't show them any ransom payment because he wasn't carrying it. When pressed further, he admitted that they were the ransom payment. He was leading them into an ambush.

After some debate, the heroes decided to believe Lum's claim that despite his deception, Jasmine really was in danger. Hearing that a man in blue robes was associated with this group, Bangqiu and Beatriss decided that they would ambush the ambusher. After making sure Lum understood that they considered him a traitor and that his life depended on helping them rescue Jasmine, they became invisible again.

When they arrived in the Black Flowers' camp, the villains challenged Lum, demanding to know why he didn't bring "the meddlers." The man in blue robes was there, but so was Jasmine, with a blade at her throat. Beatriss and Bangqiu surprised and overpowered the men threatening Jasmine, but before they could turn their attention to the man in blue robes, he disappeared in a flash of fire. The rest of the Black Flowers, having lost both their prisoner and their leader, were quickly routed.

Jasmine put the pieces together quickly and reveled a new one that explained Lum's jealousy and betrayal. Lum and Jasmine were not brother and sister and neither was the child of a merchant. He was the son of a nobleman and she was a household servant. She understood his jealousy but he had taken it much too far. She wanted nothing more to do with him. Lum agreed this was fitting punishment.Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-59066606828784056082016-09-06T17:50:00.003-07:002016-09-06T17:50:51.245-07:00Where was Sakatha?
As the rest of the party rested, plotted, and celebrated, Kafka announced to Bangqiu that he wished to return to Pasar. He was grateful for the opportunity to join in his adventures and humbled to have undergone such trials of his devotion to the Two-Fold Path. He believed he was ready to make a report to his teacher and—perhaps—to accept students of his own. Bangqiu was visibly angry, and his sense of betrayal was little ameliorated by Kafka's parting gift—the same clutch of arrows that Bangqiu had awarded him after their defeat of the Black Flowers.<o:p></o:p>

What level spell is Guilt Trip? Kafka agreed that before he returned to Pasar, he would join Bangqiu for once last foray against Sakatha. The two of them together, with the help of a few members of the Sansar clan—most notably Erlo the shaman—would find the unfindable, climb the unclimbable and destroy Sakatha, with or without Beatriss and Tetsukichi.<o:p></o:p>

That would be without. Beatriss and Tetsukichi were very comfortable and saw no reason to return to the swamp.<o:p></o:p>

Having so recently made the trip, Bangqiu and Kafka had small difficulty finding their way into the swamp, but were nevertheless confronted by many dangers. During the first day of their journey, they were surprised with a hideous creature whose mere gaze killed one of the Sansar warriors. Bangqiu led the rest of his party in running away at full speed. They found themselves on an expansive area of thick sticky, mud. Not wanting to risk meeting the death-gaze creature, they spent an entire day trudging across it. When they at last reached the temple, they found a new group of lizard folk, fewer in number, but greater in number had taken up residence. These foes sustained the first blast of Bangqiu's powerful steam breath magic, and were only killed after a prolonged melee battle.<o:p></o:p>

In the dark place below, it seemed little had changed. The halls were dark. Vermin swarmed over the bodies of their fallen foes, but there was little sign of human presence. But relying heavily on the fine map Beatriss had drawn, Bangqiu stumbled upon the evil priests who maintained the shrine. These strange cultists, each keeping his own company into a small cell-like room were poor strategists, but their leader was a powerful magic-user. Sacraficing the lives of his underlings, he threw fire at the party and transfixed Erlo with a sinister spell. Relying on clever use of their invisibility cloak and ring, Bangqiu and Kafka lured the leader of the group away from their friend so that Bangqiu could target him with his own magic. Two volleys of magic missiles were not enough to kill the wicked man, but Kafka's sword was. <o:p></o:p>

Ok, Kafka said, now we return to Pasar. They had thoroughly mapped the labyrinth and destroyed all the enemies they had encountered. Where was Sakatha? A question for another day.<o:p></o:p>
Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-15044524323982707052016-09-05T18:38:00.003-07:002016-12-11T18:38:33.874-08:00Hidden Dangers in the Dragon People's Stronghold
After recovering from the battle, Bangqiu and Tetsukichi discussed what they had experienced and sought the counsel of Beatriss and the others. Bangqiu and Tetsukichi had defeated a sizable force, but some of their enemies had escaped—there seemed to be a sizable underground complex where their reptilian foes, now alerted to their presence might be lurking. Beatriss agreed that she and her associates would join them for another sortie into the dungeon.<o:p></o:p>

Moving from room to room, with stealth and care (Beatriss was becoming a careful mapper) the principled raiders, dispatched several small groups of dragon people and their commanders. Some were the wounded survivors of the pitched battle from the day before. Others seemed to been too drunk, cowardly, undisciplined, or smart to have joined the catastrophic event that had led to the destruction of their comrades.<o:p></o:p>

But there were some losses for the party of Sansar, including one death. The party happened upon one eerily empty barracks room, lined with beds and chests belonging to the dragon warriors who had bravely gone to the battle where they would be killed. Chests! Beatriss opened the first one, and narrowly dodged a dart that sprung out if it. She asked Perin to check the next one before he opened it. Inspecting the next chest, he found the panel on the front of the chest that likely held its own poison dart. But not the panel hiding another dart on the back of the chest. Its poison barbs were embedded deep in his neck, and his end was quick. The other chests remain unopened.<o:p></o:p>

Bangqiu also experienced a scare. The party found another demon sculpture very much like the one hiding the entrance to the dragon's lair. Like the room upstairs, the little black gem seemed to function as a key, revealing a well-appointed bedroom, study, and alchemical library. The party grabbed the obvious valuables and elected to take a rest, reasoning that the room's occupant would never return. But wizards have strange guests, who sometimes drop by uninvited. An eight-foot tall, foul-smelling horned fiend (looking almost exactly like the sculpture) appeared in a puff of smoke and charged at Bangqiu, slashing him with its claws even as the young magician pulled his invisibility cloak more and more tightly around him. Beatriss and Tetsukichi bodily wrestled the demon away from Bangqiu, stabbing it with their stabbing swords and sustaining many injuries themselves. Bangqiu blasted the demon with two volleys of magic missiles, seemingly destroying his near-killer—it disintegrated into black goo and then evaporated in a flash of pale green fire.<o:p></o:p>

After these frightening encounters, the party moved back upstairs to their more comfortable bolt-hole next to the room of the bubbling pools. As the snake creatures reformed, they commented with sadness that no more would they have to warn the sometimes careless Perin not to wander too close to weird water.<o:p></o:p>

While the rest of the party slept, Ju May meditated, seeking a vision of whether they would meet Sakatha, the Lizard King, ancient enemy of the Sansar clan. <o:p></o:p>

Jumay had news for Beatriss, Tetsukichi, and Bangqiu in the morning—Sakatha's lair lay far far below the earth, "Past the doors you cannot find, down the steps you cannot climb, and across the River of Nothingness."<o:p></o:p>

"That sounds far."<o:p></o:p>

The party made one last foray into the complex beneath the temple. They found a small shrine dedicated to something evil, robes decorated with evil-looking symbols, and a collection of books about evilness. No doors other than the ones they could find, no steps others than the ones they could quite easily climb back up to the temple, and no river except for the swamp that they struggled for a few days to find their way out of. It was difficult with Perin to guide them. The nights were strange. They heard voices in the distances, saw large fires. <o:p></o:p>

After four days, they emerged from the swamp and rejoined the Sansar clan. They shared the sad news about Perin and returned his belonging to his family, along with a share of the treasure they'd looted from the dragon.<o:p></o:p>

Over the next few days, the Sansar elders listened to the party's stories with interest. They were heartened to hear of their heroic victory over the hordes of dragon people. And dismayed at the hints of a deeper, older, stranger evil.<o:p></o:p>
Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-35906486464336403182016-08-21T13:28:00.003-07:002016-12-11T18:38:10.143-08:00Raiding the Dragon People's StrongholdAfter passing through a deserted guard post, Al-Fitar, leading the way, opened the door into a

large dark room. Suddenly, a light was cast onto Al-Fitar's face. Instinctively, he raised his

sword, deflecting several arrows. And then the dragon people charged to attack.

Bangqiu raised the hood on his invisibility cloak and moved around the edge of the room.

Tetsukichi, Al-Fitar, and Kafka held a defensive line so that Mustapha could cast spells and Perin

could shoot arrows. Their enemies comprised about twenty dragon people—typically reckless

in their fearsome and little danger to seasoned veterans. But they were commanded by four

humans, including a spellcaster, plus a Lizard Lord like the one who had attacked Beatriss's

fortress. After evading the minions, Bangqiu blasted their commanders with a cloud of scalding

steam. The spellcaster and one of the warriors fell, but the others raced to attack Bangqiu.

Kafka charged to intercept them.

The dragon people, sustaining heavy casualties and dismayed by the surprise attack on their

leaders, faltered in their attack. Tetsukichi and Al-Fitar pressed their advantage. Perin made a

springing leap over the dragon people to attack their commanders.

His surprise attack came in the nick of time. The two human warriors and the Lizard Lord

fighting Bangqiu and Kafka wielded magic weapons. In particular the Lizard Lord's sword cut

through Kafka's armor and seemed to freeze Kafka's blood when it pierced his skin. Bangqiu

fought to protect his friend, but his sword having little opportunity to cast spells. But Perin's

ambush gave him that time—magical glowing arrows burst from his hand. One of the

commanders was sent reeling and when he recovered, ran from the room. A blast of colored

light from Mustapha blinded the dragon people, giving Tetsukichi and Al-Fitar an opportunity to

join the fight against their commanders. The Dragon Lord was slain and the last of the human

commanders was put to flight. Bangqiu wanted to give chase, but his companions

objected—too many had suffered wounds too grievous. Kafka claimed the Lizard Lord's sword

and the party returned to the upper level and the relative safety of the dragon's lair.Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-18235080539904999152016-07-11T16:09:00.000-07:002016-07-11T16:09:00.154-07:00A black dragon and its secret lair

In the ensuing weeks, Beatriss and her friends heard news that the attack on Happy Valley was likely part of a larger campaign of terror emanating from an emerging swampland in the region west of Menkan, and that was becoming a catastrophe for the Sansar clan whose grazing grounds bordered the swamp. When the Lizardmen attacked, they didn't steal horses or goats—they carried off the people. Sansar Anca sent an emissary, Perin, to request the help of his adopted son and daughter.

Tetsukichi, Beatriss, and Bangqiu, together with their henchman, ventured to the southwest corner of the empire to aid the Sansar clan. Perin, who had been spying on their enemies for several months, had located the base for the dragon people, the lizard men, and their allies—a temple built eons ago by Sakatha, the lizardman king.

They passed through a swamp that became increasingly thick and mucky as they neared their goal. One night, the party camped on a narrow hammock, Beatriss was keeping watch. Weary from scanning her immediate surroundings, thick with small life forms—frogs, snakes, overgrown insects— that overwhelmed her heat vision, that Beatriss rocked back and looked up into the clear sky. She rubbed her eyes—sometimes heat vision plays tricks—and confirmed that that there really was something in the sky, circling—maybe an owl?

Beatriss woke up the others. The flying creature began descending rapidly, narrowing its path to center on the party. It was much too large to be an owl, it could only be a dragon. Mustapha summoned a cloud of fog to obscure their position. The thick mists also obscured their view of the dragon, but they heard it land a few hundred yards away. They separated into two groups, both making a dash away from their campsite. Beatriss, with her infravision saw a stream of swamp creatures fleeing. Bangqiu, under the cover of his invisibility cloak, stood in the path and prepared his most powerful spell. His friends moved to either side.

Besides the noise of fleeing animals, the sounds of tree trunks cracking told them the dragon was rapidly drawing near. Bangqiu saw its shadow and then moments later its enormous head and darkly glowing eyes. He blasted the beast in the face with a cloud of stream—and the dragon immediately answered with a thick spray of acid. Bangqiu, reeling with the burning pain threw himself into the mud as his companions closed around the dragon. Beatriss slashed it grievously with her sword. It flapped its wings and began to rise from the ground. Al-Fitar and Tetsukichi had their bows ready—arrows tore through one of the dragon's wings before it could raise above the treetops. Plummeting back to the ground, it turned its claws out and landed on Naron, pinning him to the ground. With his one free arm, Naron found his dagger and plunged it into the dragon's neck. Steaming black gore poured from the wound and the dragon collapsed. Ju-Mei tended the wounds of Bangqiu and Naron and settled them into a deep, restful sleep. The rest of the party kept a nervous, exhausted watch, too shaken by what they had experienced to sleep.

The next morning, Bangqiu awakened early, feeling much refreshed. Despite the shock of being blasted with acidic dragon spittle, and the gruesome look of the burns all over his body, he felt strong and hale, eager to press on. Naron on the other hand, had twisted his ankle. A day of rest for him seemed more advantageous than a day of extremely slow and painful travel, especially if they should find the temple so well-fortified as to force a retreat. Beatriss and Ju-Mei stayed with him while the others—Perin, their guide, plus Tetsukichi, Al-Fitar, and Mustapha, Bangqiu and Kafka would scout ahead. Before setting out, Kafka, remembering his master speak of such things, collected some of the dragon's blood. Bangqiu, assisting him, discovered that the dragon carried a smooth disk of obsidian in its mouth. All considered this a fortuitous omen.

Indeed, after an hour of travel with Perin, the group spotted the temple, rising above the surrounding morass on a high mound of packed earth. They heard noises inside—loud and reptilian—and decided to press forward. The party charged up the steps with Banqiu, camouflaged by his magic cloak, leading the way. About a dozen half-human, half-dragon monsters were camped in a large, columned hall. When they brandished their weapons, Bangqiu released a cloud of steam. Then the young magician fell back while Tetsukichi and Al-Fitar charged forward to fight the few survivors.

Once the battle was over, the party explored. The back wall proved to be a curtain of shells. The party pushed through it and found themselves in another large room, dominated by three round pools of scummy water. Two of the walls were decorated with frescoes of humans and lizard folk engaged in battle. The back wall had been sculpted in bas-relief to depict a leering demon. As they took in these fearsome sights, the pools began bubbling.

Wanting the support of Beatriss and her associates, the expedition party retreated to the swamp. When the full party was re-united, they discussed their next plan of action. They decided that rather than camp another night in the swamp they should move to the temple. Once there, Mustapha and Ju-may became strangely animated; rather than simply casting spells when directed, they participated actively in the discussion as Beatriss, Tetsukichi, and Bangqiu discussed what to do next. Bangqiu suggested that the black gem from the dragon's mouth might be a type of key and that they should insert it in the carved mouth of the demon's mouth. Sure enough, a previously secret (and very large) door swung open, revealing what must have been the dragon's lair—and its hoard. Besides the piles of coins (mainly silver), and jewelry, the party noted several weapons of fine workmanship and likely magical powers. Ju-May, looking behind him, noted that the bubbling water was forming into snake like creatures.

Bangiqu, calling on his elemental power over water, flung the water creature out of its pool. It splashed onto the floor as plain water. Bangqiu and Ju-May measured the depth of the pool with long sticks and finding it shallow enough to allow wading, entered. Continuing to prod the bottom, they found a number of heavy, but movable objects. These proved to be bars of silver stamped with the imperial seal. Lacking the magical energy to deal with the other water snakes, Bangqiu urged his companions to join him in seeking refuge in the dragon's cave. After confirming that the door could be opened from the inside, the entire party pushed inside. They searched it carefully, found there were no other exits and decided to rest for the night and then decide how to proceed.

While his companions slept, Ju May meditated. After several hours, his meditation was disturbed by the sound of voice in the chamber outside the dragon's lair. Ju May roused the others and they all listened breathlessly to the boisterous conversation of a dozen or more creatures, with loud reptilian voices. The party prepared to fight and Bangqiu, translated what the creatures were saying. They returning from a successful raid on the human lands, they had enjoyed several nights in the swamp, but now they were looking forward to relaxing by the river below. The party heard the sound of a stone door being opened, and of the gregarious creatures passing out of the room one-by- one. The party surmised that there was a hidden entrance, probably a trapdoor in the floor right outside their hiding place. The party heard the sounds of the bubbling pools and heard the reptilian creatures joking with each other and taunting the weird snakes that formed from the water of the pools. One of the last of the creatures idly stuck its green scaled finger into the dragon lair "keyhole" while idly wondering how to get at the treasure inside. Beatriss discouraged Bangqiu from cutting off the finger. The finger was retracted, the voice grew faint, there was the sound of stone grinding against stone, and then the only sound was the thrashing of the weird pools.

After waiting a few minutes, Bangqiu opened the door and blasted the two pools he hadn't blasted the night before. Again, the water weirds were flung from each pool on a sizeable wave only to splash apart on the floor. More silver bars were retrieved. Meanwhile, Tetsukichi located the trap door.

Beatriss, who seemed to have contracted some type of fever during her trip through the swamp, wanted to rest in the dragon's cave. Naron and Jumay insisted that they would stay with her.

But the others went down the ladder . . .Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4075392301871050958.post-63681166570027207832016-04-23T11:24:00.003-07:002016-12-11T18:39:11.090-08:00Beatriss settles into her new fortress
Beatriss left her son with the Emperor and with her other children, moved into her newly-completed fortress in the Happy Valley. Friends new and old gathered around her, pledging to help protect her idyllic dominion. These included Naron and Ju-Mei, Bangqiu and Kafka. Bahen—their unexpected ally in defeating Red Nar's band—arrived with a company of 20 riders and began organizing the people of Happy Valley, selecting and arming a garrison of 100 foot soldiers. The Emperor sent a bodyguard of 20 monks. Tetsukichi settled in with his family and henchman. Prince Slash and Sir Crowler were welcomed as guests and soon proved themselves valuable companions.<o:p></o:p>

One day Prince Slash was leading a company of foot soldiers in a patrol on far side of the western ridge. Spotting smoke above the treetops, they went closer and found a large company of dragon people, led by a huge reptilian-headed monster. Prince Slash raced back to the fortress to raise the alarm and the dragon people followed in close pursuit.<o:p></o:p>

The people of Happy Valley took refuge inside the fortress but the dragon people followed close behind and the gates could not be closed. Beatriss, Tetsukichi, Naron, and Bahen drove them back and pursued them into the field in front of the fortress. The Lizard Lord and his toughest soldiers met them in battle, knocking Beatriss from her horse and scattering her bodyguard. Naron's soldiers threw down their spears and ran for the forest. Tetsukichi and Bahen were also defeated. The giant lizardman charged into the fortress, his minions coming after him. <o:p></o:p>

Inside the fortress, the defenders had organized. Bangqiu used his magic to break the dragon people's charge. Al-Fitar led a countercharge. Many people of the dragon people retreated and suddenly the Lizard Lord and his company were greatly outnumbered. Kafka and Bayan surrounded them and slowly exhausted them. The Happy Valley soldiers rallied and finally killed the Lizard Lord; the dragon people were routed.<o:p></o:p>
Brian (brian_cooper at hotmail d o t com)http://firstname.lastname@example.com