Category Archives: Fiction

This is where I post stories and bits of stories I am writing

Role Playing Adventures

Drof’s Band Vs the Great Old One

As the party (Drof’s Band) prepared to proceed onward there was a sizzle of rift magic around Randor.  Randor disappeared into the rift and Aniu emerged (this is the DM’s mechanic for dealing with players who are unable to attend a session, need to leave early, or arrive late*).  The rest of the party filled Aniu in on what happened since the rift had swallowed her and then proceeded onward. Aniu took the lead because of her skills at traversing the wilderness.

I should probably take a moment to describe the members of the party, or at least those present.  There is Drof, a dwarf wearing a breast plate and pushing a small hand cart loaded with a drum, a lute, and a small chest. There is Nojes, who looks like a cross between a centaur and a goat wearing studded leather.  There is Slash Aaah, a triton (picture Aquaman from the cartoon series, except shorter and more wiry rather than bulky) wearing a breastplate and carrying a trident. There is Aniu, a fox like humanoid with three tails wearing studded leather armor carrying a bow and a sword.  And finally (for today’s episode), our healer Queia, a half-drow elf wearing a cloak and carrying a quiver, but no apparent weapons.

After some time traveling through the marsh (for those of you familiar with the difference between a marsh and a swamp, this area was partway between a marsh and a swamp, with a few trees and other woody vegetation scattered around, but mostly marsh grasses and reeds), the party came upon a long line of trees about 10- 30 feet thick which crossed their path such that they needed to traverse it.  At one point once the party was within the tree line, Aniu pushed aside some of the underbrush to see ahead and saw the manicured lawn of an estate with the mansion clearly visible and a half orc sitting on a bench. When Nojes looked through the underbrush where he was a few feet away, he just saw the marsh.  Q pointed out that this was probably a faeway (a gate to another place which has some sort of connection to the fae wild), which are common in this area.  The party was debating going through to the estate lawn or continuing through the marsh to find the Great Old One when the half orc spoke to someone who had just exited the mansion.  Drof recognized his voice as belonging to a half-orc paladin the party had aided in a previous episode (from before I started writing them up here).  Drof greeted the half-orc, Mr Smite, as the party knew him, through the opening in the underbrush.

Mr. Smite asked if the party was there for the same reason he was.  Since the party did not know why he was there, Drof asked him what that was?  Mr. Smite replied, “Why, for the reading of the will.”  At that moment the man who had come out of the mansion asked the names of the party members, which they promptly supplied.  The man, who turned out to be the executor of the will, answered, “Ah yes, Drof, Nojes, and Slash, you are on the list.  Please accompany Mr Smite and myself.”  After a long reading of various dry legal papers giving Mr. Smite many properties and the resources to use them to develop an Academy, the executor gave the party a small shiny black box made of a material unfamiliar to the party.  The executor then said, “The will states that if you can determine what this does you will receive a reward. You may go.”  In the center of one side, the black box had a small button. In one corner of the same side it had a clear crystal.  The party tried pushing the button in various ways, but nothing happened.  They then put it aside for later examination and continued on their mission to the Great Old One.

 

As dusk approached the party came to a part of the marsh which smelled terribly of death and decay. The area fit the description they had been given of the Great Old One’s lair, including a gigantic hollow tree trunk lying in the shallow water.  Aniu climbed on to the tree trunk to get a better look while Nojes used his ability to see in the dark to peer into its hollow core. Meanwhile, Drof used a minor spell to produce lights in a vaguely humanoid shape which he moved through the area in an attempt to draw the Great Old One out (the Great Old One had been described to the party as a humongous crocodile). Queia used another minor spell to produce tremors similar to footsteps which paced Drof’s humanoid shaped lights, while doing so, Queia also climbed on to the tree trunk.  Realizing that the water became significantly deeper just beyond the tree trunk, Slash Aaaah and Nojes dove noisily into the water in a further, perhaps foolish, attempt to attract the beast.

Suddenly the beast, which in addition to being several sizes larger than the largest crocodile the party has ever heard of had tentacles coming out from around its neck, burst out of the water and struck at Queia.  At that very instant, the rift magic sizzled around Aniu and sucked her in (the player playing Aniu had realized they needed to leave just after climbing on to the tree trunk).  Queia took quite a bit of damage and was thrown back into the shallow water and the beast’s mighty paw put a hole in the tree trunk next to where she had been standing. Drof, Slash Aaah, and Nojes struck at the creature dealing it some damage.  Queia stood up out of the water giving off an aura which stretched out 30 feet around her.  The members of the party within the aura felt more able to withstand damage. The beast struck Drof with its powerful jaws, but he was able to remain standing.  It also swept Nojes aside with its tail.  Queia ran up to Drof, healed him some, then ran into the hollow tree trunk (I did mention that it was gigantic). Drof, Slash Aaah, and Nojes struck the beast once more.  The beast thrust its mighty snout into the tree trunk after Queia, bursting the tree trunk as it did so, but Queia had been able to retreat further than it could reach. All four party members struck the beast once more.  Looking for signs of hope the party examined the damage they had done the beast, but could not tell how badly injured it was.  Once more the beast thrust its head into the trunk after Queia.  This time it was able to catch her in its jaws.  It bit down on her and then threw her body aside into the deep water.  Drof and Slash Aaah struck the beast once more while Nojes swam at full speed to where Queia had fallen, clearly unconscious. Drof and Slash Aaah fortunately both struck mighty blows and the beast was dead.

When Nojes brought Queia back to the shallows, Drof cast some healing magic upon her.  After examining the beast and the area around it, the party went a short distance out of the foul smelling area, found some trees and spent the night in them.  In the morning they headed back to the Lizardfolk, who they were able to reach without further incident.

 

 

 

*While this implementation of rift magic was not originally part of the campaign setting, it is consistent with the previously established presence of rift magic in the campaign setting.

Role Playing Adventures

Drof’s Band and the Lizardfolk (formerly “The Party and the Lizardfolk”)

(This may not make a lot of sense, as it is the description of an encounter multiple sessions in to the campaign, but I am going to try to write up each session going forward.  This takes place as three new players…and their characters…are introduced to the campaign)

The party of four observed an odd lightning storm, no clouds, no thunder, just lightning coming down out of the sky, out over the sea from the promontory.  The odd lightning storm erupted into a planar rift which threw a bunch of trees and mud out into the shallow sea off of the promontory on which the party stood.  A human man, a fox-woman came through along with a girl on a T-Rex and landed prone near each other in the shallow water.  It was not clear whether they were together, or merely happened to get caught up in events at the same time.  The human man stood up and dragged the fox-woman to shore, while the T-Rex with the girl stood up and turned back towards the rift.  At the same time as the others were thrown through the rift a halfling man was as well.  The halfling landed a hundred feet or so from the others.  While those thrown into the water were getting their bearings, a gigantic slime in humanoid form came through the rift, followed by a tarrasque.

In addition to the original party on the top of the promontory, there were two groups of Lizardfolk on the sides of the promontory watching events taking place at sea. Initially, the halfling headed towards shore in the direction where the others had landed in the water.  However, when he saw the T-Rex he decided that splitting the difference between the Lizardfolk groups was the best course this was also the closest place to get out of the water. Unfortunately, this spot was a steep cliff face and he was not able to get far enough up the cliff before a large wave rolled in and swept him back into the sea (which aside from the intermittent large waves was shallow enough for him to stand).  The wave washed one of the trees which had been thrown through the rift against the cliff face.  So, the halfling climbed the tree to get higher on the cliff face.  This allowed him to get far enough up to keep his grip on the cliff face when the next wave struck.
Meanwhile the giant slime humanoid and the tarrasque began to fight in what initially seemed a n evenly matched fight.  When the human male (Randor) got to shore, the fax-woman(Aniu) was able to get up and walk.  These two began moving inland away from the tarrasque and towards higher ground.  Meanwhile, the original party began moving towards them (at the time they began moving the halfling was heading towards those two and they lost sight of him).  When the original party met up with Randor and Aniu they made greetings and moved towards higher ground.  One member of the party saw that the halfling was trying to climb the cliff and went to the top of the promontory to see how he could assist him.  The rest of the party, which now included Randor and Aniu, joined him there.

Side NOTE: while the rest were heading towards the promontory, the triton member of the party (Slash Ahhh) jumped into the sea and swam out towards the tarrasque fight.  Periodically, he would rise to the top of the waves and take crossbow shots at the giant slime humanoid (missing every time). Lizardfolk were observed heading out towards the fight as well.  The Lizardfolk threw spears with chains on them into the slime humanoid.  Lightning redirected from around the rift to strike the chains and cause the spears to burst within the slime humanoid.

Once the halfling joined them at the top of the promontory, they stood to watch the fight (having observed the Lizardfolk heading out towards the fight and desiring to know what actions they would take when they got there).  The T-Rex ran on top of the waves, jumped over the tarrasque and appeared to go through the rift (the party was not sure because they lost sight of the T-Rex when it got to the other side of the tarrasque).  After a few more rounds, the tarrasque appeared to mostly defeat the slime humanoid and drew it back through the rift, which closed dramatically behind them.  At the same time, a bit of lightning seemed to envelop fox-woman and the halfling, both of whom disappeared (this seemed as if some sort of rift magic had pulled them in).

These two characters are played by players who are not going to be able to be at every session and this represents the mechanism by which the Game Master will introduce and remove them from events when they are unable to make play sessions.

Before the party could get itself organized, the Lizardfolk cut them off from retreat.  The Lizardfolk accused the party of spying, but after a bit of tense negotiation the party was able to convince them that their queen would need to decide their fate. So, the party was taken to see the Lizardfolk queen.  There the party learned that the Lizardfolk were at war with the Sahuagin (nasty, smelly fish-people, also known as Sea-Devils).  The party offered to act as emissaries to Peppermarsh (the nearest land dweller city) to convince Peppermarsh to aid the Lizardfolk.  Unfortunately, the queen was unconvinced that the party could accomplish that mission, but made a counter-offer: if the party would deal with a corrupted Great Old One (a giant crocodile of spiritual significance to the Lizardfolk) she would accept that they were not spies for the Sahuagin.  The party accepted this mission.
Upon receiving directions from the Lizardfolk, the party headed inland into the swamp towards where the corrupted Great Old One could be found.  En route, they came upon three humans who had just sacrificed a Lizardfolk and were conducting a ritual to summon some kind of elemental.  The party, having decided that anyone who would sacrifice a humanoid was certainly evil, attacked and killed the three humans. The party took a short breather at that point.
We will take up the story in the next episode.

 

I initially wrote this up for someone familiar with the campaign who wanted to know what happened.  I hope to continue writing up a summary of each session and posting it here.  Hopefully, as time goes by it will become easier for those not part of the campaign to follow events.

The Adventures of Surac

The Adventures of Surac — Interlude

    Our ship arrived in port late in the day. So Captain sara offered to allow us to stay on board until morning. This seemed wisest to all three of us passengers. In the morning, Vod and I headed to the gates to register for permission to gain access to the city proper. Apparently, no one is allowed into the city proper without providing evidence of what business they have there and with whom. Tifa joined us in this endeavor as she wished to explore the shops in the main part of the city. Initially, Tifa attempted to register to visit the Temple of Peony on the strength of her friendship with the Bishop of Thay, but the guard dismissed the idea of her being friends to such a personage out of hand (I later discovered that Tifa was indeed a friend of the Bishop). Upon observing this, I added Vod and Tifa to my request to visit the Temple of save-K’Nor. I was confident that my superiors in the church would extend their provenance to anyone for whom I requested. We were informed that it would be several hours before our paperwork would be processed
    .Since neither Vod nor I had any business until the paperwork was produced and the docks appeared to be inhabited by many unsavory sorts, we agreed to accompany Tifa, whose message was directed to someone near the docks. However, it turned out that the message was intended for the Prelate of the Temple of Peony here in Chirapher. So, Tifa was given papers to enter the city and go to that Temple. She convinced her contact to include Vod and myself on her paperwork. When we presented these papers at the gate, we were provided an escort to guide us to the Temple (and apparently to ensure that we did not wonder elsewhere). When we got to the temple of Peony, our escort remained outside the gate until an acolyte came out and spoke to him. As soon as he left, Vod and I departed the Temple of Peony to pursue our missions. Vod to seek information regarding the artifact he is seeking and I to go to the Temple of Save-K’Nor. I felt bad about leaving without saying farewell to Tifa, but felt I must take the opportunity which presented itself.
    When Vod and I separated at the entrance to the Temple, I told him that, should he have reason, he could seek me out there. I, also, informed the door wardens that my traveling companions should be made welcome if they came inquiring after me. They showed me in to see the head of my order, who wasted no time informing me that they wished me to investigate some unsanctioned arcane activity in the southeastern regions of the island. Since I am uninterested in whether or not the Church sanctions arcane activity, I inquired for more detail (which I would need anyway). It turns out that people had been disappearing in that region and a preliminary investigation revealed the misuse of magic was involved. The prelate promised me a full briefing with a packet containing all of their information shortly and dismissed me. When I left his office, the acolyte informed me that my companions were waiting for me in the antechamber.
    Vod had made a contact who was going to find information which might further his quest and Tifa was now at loose ends. All three of us were in need of lodging and Tifa had obtained a recommendation for such. Tifa even offered to pay for our lodging. Having shared quarters with both of them on the ship, I had found them agreeable companions. So, I was not loathe to continue our relationship. Once we had secured lodging, the three of us visited the merchants and craftsmen in the city. I found a nice set of clothes, but for the most part the proprietors of the shops were unfriendly and rude. Well, tomorrow will be another day.

Fiction, The Adventures of Surac

The Adventures of Surac — Going Sailing

    I was in Tolamay when I received word of someone abusing their knowledge of the arcane in Chirapher. I booked passage with Captain Sara aboard her ship, the Silver Slipper. Two other individuals also booked passage. Upon boarding the Silver Slipper, I met Vod. Vod is a human monk carrying a great-sword. I am sure there is quite a story behind that combination. Shortly, we were joined by Tifa (Teefa? I am unsure of how she spells it). She is a well dressed Elvish woman (something about her suggests that perhaps she is only Half-elven, but she definitely looks Elvish). While her clothes are of the finest craftsmanship and cut, they nevertheless appear quite practical.
    Shortly after the three of us had made acquaintance with each other, the crew loaded a large, heavy object into the hold. Fabric draped over the object completely obscuring it, but I suspected that it was a statue of some sort. As soon as the crew had the object secured in the hold, the captain set sail.
    Once the captain had things settled, I approached her and began asking her some questions about the tools she uses to navigate. We spoke about her various travels. She primarily makes the Tolamay to Chirapher run, but occasionally takes a load to Golotha and even the mainland. I was surprised to learn that she had changed her mind about stopping in the Elvish port **Look up and include name**. However, it made sense when she revealed that party shipping the statue paid close to twice her normal rate for her to take the statue to Chirapher for trans-shipment to the mainland.
    On the first night out of port, Tifa revealed that she is a courier, while Vod revealed that he is seeking an artifact in order to gain vengeance against the Red Shadows of Agrek. Vod rose early the following morning and began working with the crew. This strikes me as a bit of a bonus for the captain as Vod had paid full fare for the trip, but wishes to learn how to run a ship.
    On the second night, Vod joined the crew in a drinking game, while Tifa and I played some friendly hands of cards. Tifa got out a very fine set of Tarot cards and offered to do readings for the crew, but the crew was adverse to such activity.
    Just as we settled into a routine, one of the crew got up in the middle of the night and danced energetically, and noisily, on the deck until he collapsed. The following morning he had no recollection of doing so. The following day, the captain yelled orders for one of the crew, who could not initially be found. After a short search of the ship, we found him in the hold staring at the statue, from which he had removed the shrouding fabric. Once again, the crewman could not, or would not, explain his actions, claiming to have no recollection of what had happened. The captain was out of sorts after these two events. When I checked with the crew, they expressed the thought that this was atypical for the captain, even considering the strange actions of the two crewmen.
    On the next day at about midday, I spotted a dark blot on the horizon which was not a cloud. When the captain looked at it through her spyglass (I should get myself one of those) she declared that it was six separate flocks of seagulls. After watching them for a few minutes, it became obvious that they were heading straight for the ship. The captain ordered the crew to let out the anchor and then take cover.
    When the birds reached range, I summoned my weapon (a longbow this time) and began firing. Vod retrieved his short-bow, as did the captain. Tifa initially sheltered in our cabin, but when she realized that the crew was having trouble getting the anchor to set she went down into the hold and examined the statue. I agree with her thought that there was likely a link between the birds and the statue although we were unable to determine what that link was. After concentrating our fire on one of the flocks at a time we were able to eliminate two of them before they reached the ship. Before the remaining birds reached the ship I cast darkness in the path of three of the flocks. The captain, Vod, and myself were able to eliminate the remaining flock. When the birds completely closed the distance, Vod was able to strike at them with fire from his fingers that appeared almost as claws of fire. When the final three flocks emerged from my darkness (fortunately, two of the flocks were disoriented in the darkness and thus even further delayed) Tifa stood by the crewmen attempting to get the anchor to set and defended them. She used a shortbow at range and a rapier up close. Vod and the captain took some injury before we were able to dispatch all of the birds, but no real harm came to any of us.
    That night and the following day were uneventful. However, a fog rose up late in the day and remained into the night. Fortunately, Tifa had taken to spending nights on the deck and thus was on deck when pirates attempted to take the ship. Tifa woke Vod and myself. This time I summoned my weapon as a rapier. The pirates consisted of some kind of fish humanoid, another powerful humanoid of some sort and three human thugs. The thugs were able to incapacitate the crew, killing three of them, while we fought off the other two. The pirate’s second in command was able to incapacitate, almost killing, the captain before Vod, Tifa, and myself were able to defeat their commander, the fish humanoid. Even that was touch and go. I was almost convinced that we were done for when their commander finally went down. Once we took out the two officers we made short work of the thugs. Strangely enough, the pirates’ ship disappeared as soon as the second in command was killed.
    The captain wished to toss the statue overboard immediately, but we convinced her that we should wait until everyone had recovered from the combat. After tossing the statue overboard we were able to complete our trip to Chirapher with no further incidents.
    For our aid in protecting her ship, Captain Sara refunded our cost of passage and offered us one free ride any time we seek passage to a port she is heading to.

Fiction, The Adventures of Surac

The Adventures of Surac–Introduction

    Ever since I started this blog it has been my intention to write entries other than my daily Bible Study, but I never got around to doing so for various reasons. However, I play Dungeons & Dragons and have wanted to keep a log, in story form, of the campaigns I play in in order to keep track of what is going on in the campaign (and because I think it might be fun). This also has never happened until now for various reasons. So, now I am introducing “The Adventures of Surac”.
    The characters involved are: Vod, a human 3rd level Barbarian/3rd level Monk (conceived by the player as being from an order of monks who harness their rage), Tifa (I am unsure of the spelling), a half-elven/fey 6th level Rogue, and Surac, a human 6th level Warlock. The adventures will be told from the perspective of Surac (my character). I have not yet told those I am playing with of my intention to post my summaries of our gaming sessions here, but they certainly deserve partial credit for the stories which result.

Fiction

Magrat (Part II)

DSCN4027The days are growing shorter. The sunlight is weaker. It’s much too cool to be outside without a jacket. But there’s a wonderfully clean scent in the air, and I breathe it in eagerly. The atmosphere is free of irritants, and my allergies are given a much-needed reprieve.

I reach down and collect firewood for another chilly evening, and look around at Autumn’s bounty. Leaves–in varying hues of reds, browns, and golds–are everywhere. I see them clinging to branches, I hear them crunching under my feet, and I smell them burning in the neighbor’s yard.

November heralds that winter is but a few leagues away, which gives me a greater appreciation for this season.

I look down at the snoozing Magrat, her winter coat complementing the Fall palette. Smiling, I think back to the adventure we three shared.

“Life Finds a Way”

That Saturday morning greeted us with a warm and sun-splashed day. When we went outside, we saw that our little visitor had returned. She was lying contentedly in the grass, next to our raised bed, where we were trying to raise veggies & herbs.

We walked over to her and I was amazed (for this was the first time I saw her with my own eyes) that she did not run away, as I’d seen so many cats do. He was right; she was a scrawny little thing, barely out of kittenhood herself.

He leaned down and petted her.

“She no longer looks pregnant,” he declared.

“Oh, she must’ve had her litter last night.”

He shook his head, “I doubt it. She didn’t seem that far along. I think she lost the litter.”

“Oh no!”

Our visitor stood up, stretched, and yawned in a way I would later come to love. I sighed as Himself and I went about backyard maintenance. As we went from one part of the yard to another our new friend followed us around. When Himself began to head back towards the house, she accompanied him instead of staying with me. As he walked she would go a little bit ahead of him then wait for him to catch up, but her path diverged slightly from his.

After a few moments he said in wonder, “I think she wants me to follow her somewhere.” His curiosity overcame him and he followed her until they both disappeared behind the shed.

“…Dear!”

DSCF1213

 

Fiction

Magrat, a Fantastical Tale (Part I)

Photo copyright Lynn Bass
Photo copyright Lynn Bass

All of what follows is true, except for the bits that aren’t.

Magrat was not always called “Magrat”. The reason, which must be pointed out, is that many cats begin and end their lives in this universe without a name. Only cats who have owners bear names, and it is typically the owners’ responsibility to dub their feline companions with some sort of moniker.

Now Magrat, as is the wont of most cats, is very cute. But what sets her apart, as far as we are concerned, is her sweet disposition. She never hisses, never lets out a low guttural yowl, and never claws a human (unless during play, which is always an accident). This display of good behavior, having had some experience with Magrat’s feral counterparts, led us to conclude that Magrat had been under someone else’s care for a time. And that someone else had probably given Magrat a name. By what means Magrat’s previous owner and she came to be separated is unknown to us and left to speculation.

It was on a Friday afternoon during the Summer, a couple of years ago, that an adorable, scrawny, yet PREGNANT grey tabby came up to our back porch.

It was quite fortuitous then, that himself arrived home early that day, for I’m not sure what would have occurred had he come home at his usual time. He keenly observed (as was his wont, for he expresses wisdom with frequency), that despite the tabby’s scrawniness, this visitor looked ready to give birth soon.

The tabby, like most cats who want something from strangers, started dialogue.

“Hello,” she began. (For she is an intelligent creature, and intelligent creatures should always begin conversations with some sort of greeting.) “Have you need of a cat?”

“Well, I don’t know. You see, my wife has a problem with allerg…”

“Splendid! As you can see, I’m due to have my litter soon. I can use your backyard here. I won’t leave a mess, and you won’t even know I’m here!”

“Well, I…”

“Thank you so much!” She turned to leave, “This is much more convenient than the alternative! I’ll come back later when,” she winked, “you know.”

“Wait! What’s the alternative?!”

But the tabby had already sauntered off.

Some hours later, when I arrived home, with a sourpuss expression (as was my wont whilst employed with a particularly disagreeable company), himself relayed his afternoon to me.

“Pregnant, you say?!”

“With kittens!”

“Are you sure?!”

“I could tell she had a belly. But she was all skin and bones! I would not be shocked if she miscarried.”

“Oh, the poor thing.”

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully.

To be continued…