My first solo attempt

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Gabriel finally escapes the Chateau

After taking a much needed rest, I awoke to find that, as suspected, two more duergar had appeared in the large room where I destroyed the mephit portals. There was another door I had not yet gone through, so I hastily ran towards it. I managed to slip through the door before being detected by either dwarf, but my elation was short lived. I encountered a couple more mephits and one assassin (who turned to attack me after I helped kill the mephit attacking him - talk about a lack of gratitude). As I went further down the corridor, there was yet another dwarf. {sigh} I was ready for him this time though. I backed toward the door I had come through and waited for the dwarf to follow. As soon as he turned the corner in the corridor, I cast my Charm Person spell on him. We became instant friends and I sent him through the door to go deal with the other two dwarfs that had come to attack me. Then I closed the door behind him and just left without even waiting to see how the fight turned out.

I went through the next door and crossed a bridge that led to another very large room. Fortune smiled on me as there was another assassin in the room and he was fighting two dwarves. He was killed rather quickly and then the dwarves advanced to attack me - only to be stopped in their tracks by some hidden traps in the floor. I noticed there were several mosaics in the floor of this room and they were aligned with a number of pillars along the left-hand wall. I also noted that the traps the dwarves tripped seemed to be located somewhere between the mosaics and the pillars. I went to the nearest pillar to inspect it and - eureka - found a tiny slot that seemed to be the exact size for the odd looking keys I had been finding throughout the dungeon. Sure enough, I tried the different keys until I found the one that fit. I heard a mechanical click within the pillar and the key disappeared, only to be replaced by a wand. Now THAT was a good deal. I avoided the traps in the floor AND got a wand in the bargain.

After inserting all the keys into the proper pillars, I had gathered several wands. I then noticed three hallways on the far side of the room and decided to investigate them.

Down the first one (closest to the throne) I found yet another nest of dwarves. My first challenger was a spellcaster. I used my Mirror Image and Melf's Minute Meteors to dispose of him. I advanced further into the room and found two huge stoves full of burning coals. I also could hear more dwarves in the room beyond the stoves, but couldn't see them yet. Not to worry. I sent a Stinking Cloud into the general area and heard much gagging and coughing. I followed with a Fireball to the same area and heard much less gagging and coughing. I approached the edge of my Stinking Cloud cautiously and found one of the dwarves still alive (barely) but overcome by the fumes I had cast. A few well placed arrows finished him off and then I searched the room once the Cloud cleared out.

The next hallway had an old man imprisoned behind a wall of glass. When I didn't agree immediately to help him, he changed forms to that of a small boy. I don't know what kind fo demon he was, but I knew he was not to be trusted. I closed the door I had entered (so that he wouldn't escape and attack from behind later) and looked for a key to his cell. I let him out and he seemed congenial - until I refused to allow him to join me on the way out. Then he shifted to his true form and attacked. I was surprised at how easily I killed him since I expected a shape-shifter to be a more dangerous opponent.

A trip down the 3rd hallway revealed more assassins and thieves lying in wait. I didn't take time to ask their intentions - I just blasted the area with the Wand of Fireballs I had found in one of the pillars. That turned out to be a good decision, since I managed to kill a thief that I hadn't even seen, since he was hiding in some shadows very near me.

I could smell the faintest hint of fresh air and was tempted to rush headlong towards the source, but remembered passing a door between two of the pillars. I had not taken time to investigate that and (like an itch you can't scratch) I just couldn't leave without exploring the room or corridor that awaited behind the door. I'm sure you've heard that curiosity killed the cat, and that was almost the case with the bard also. I entered the room only to be confronted with a vampire!!! Praise the gods that there were 3 assassins in the room already fighting her. I attacked with my crossbow and magical bolts from the dwarf in Illyich's gang. I hit her several times, but she seemed to take no notice of the pain. She killed the two fighters horribly fast and was attacking the female spellcaster. I knew she wouldn't be able to withstand the vampire's attacks for very long and then I would be left to face the monster alone. I cast my final Fireball spell and killed both of them. I felt a twinge of guilt for the female spellcaster, until I remembered that the one assassin I did help had promptly turned on me despite my aid. So I realized I would have had to kill her either way.

I gathered up my belongings (some of which I had laid down to lighten my load) and headed for the surface. I emerged amid a huge battle between Irenicus and Imoen. Then both of them were taken away by the Cowled Wizards. I had many questions that needed answering, but foremost among them was the location of the nearest inn with a soft bed. My exodus from the prison had once again used up most of the spells I had memorized and it was time to once again revitalize my body and mind with some much needed rest.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

The Copper Coronet

After a relaxing sleep, I went down to see the innkeeper again. When I told him I had some coin to spend, he said there were "extra features" to his inn that I could partake of if I wished. I agreed and a guard let me in through a door that led towards the back of the inn. I passed some other patron partaking of the "extra features" available, then came to another door at the end of the hallway. It wasn't locked, but I received a rude reception when I went through. Another guard demanded that I leave. When I tried to explain I was a guest of their boss, he became hostile and called for other guards to attack me. I noticed there were some cells in this area and decided that might be a reason for thier rude behavior - but that would have to wait, because guards seem to suddenly materialize from every corner of the room.

I quickly cast Improved Invisibility and ran back into the hallway I had followed to this room. I was confronted by a handful of guards that apparantly could hear me moving around even though they couldn't see me. I used Dire Charm to convince one of them to help me and he gladly started hacking his buddies. The other guards had a difficult time hitting me since I was still invisible. I dispatched the guards in the hallway quickly then returned to the Cell Room. There were several guards in this room - including some spellcasters - so I summoned the Moose and Nymphs from the Dryad's Acorns and we had at them. Between the brute force of the moose and the spells cast by the nymphs, the cadre of criminals in this room soon joined thier former colleagues from the hallway.

That's when one of the prisoners - a fellow by the name of Hendak - explained that the innkeeper was an active Slave Trader and pleaded for me to release him. I was unconvinced until I noticed a child held in the next cell. Hendak told me where I could find the Jailkeeper and the key to the cells. I went through another door and found an area for staged combats. We also found the Jailkeeper and his many pets. He pulled a lever that opened the door to ALL the cages and released the animals to attack us. We retreated back to the Cell Room so the moose could help and quickly finished off the beasts. The Jailkeeper was no match for the combined might of myself and the nymphs. We gathered the loot we could find and took the key to the cells to free Hendak and the others. We went back into the main room, only to be confronted with even MORE guards. Thank goodness the innkeeper was tight with his money. The number of guards was impressive, but their fighting skill was not. Had he hired more experienced guards, I doubt we could have prevailed. Hendak finished off the innkeeper himself - apparantly he had a personal score to settle with him. By the time all the guards were finished off, I was definitely needing some healing. I had a couple of potions, but really wanted to save them if I could. Then I remembered meeting a rather pompous cleric I had met when I first arrived at the Copper Coronet. He was still there so I asked if he still wanted to adventure with me. He gladly joined and I asked him to heal my wounds first. After the healing, I explained that I still felt I should travel alone - at least for now. He promised to wait for my return and I made a mental note of where to find free healing when I needed it.

After another rest to recover from the battle, it was time to explore some other areas of the town.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

The Circus Tent and the Seven Vales Inn

After recovering from my battle with the Slaver Guards, I decided to go back to Waukeen's Promenade and look around. I didn't have much time to look around after escaping from Irenicus' dungeon, so I went back to see what the area offered. I found several merchants with interesting wares. I was especially happy to find one that sold scrolls, since I needed to add some more spells to my spellbook. I also recovered a very nice short bow from one of the guards at the Coronet and I stopped purchased several magical arrows from a fletcher I found in another shop. Of course, the grand prize was the Adventurer's Mart. I sold many of the excess items I had found for a good amount of gold, but still didn't have enough to do more than just wistfully look at the items in Ribald's inventory. And one of the City Guard's is posted within the Mart to make sure nobody tries to apply the Rogue's Discount.

After leaving the Mart, I noticed a large, colorful tent to my left and went to see what was inside. A stern-looking guard was posted at the entrance and told me something strange had happened during the performance that day. None of the patrons that went into the circus had come out and there had been lots of strange noises inside the tent all day long. Despite his warnings, I decided to investigate these strange happenings and see what I could find. I made my way into the main floor and was confronted by an ogre with the voice of a small female. Most peculiar. The "ogre" claimed to be a winged elf that had been transformed into this hideous monster by a character named Kalah. She told me that nothing in the circus was as it appeared. The audience had been made to look like monsters while a couple of nearby peasants were really the monsters I should beware of. I met a "spider" on my way to the peasants and she confirmed that the peasants were dangerous monsters. Their warnings proved true as the peasants appeared to be friendly, but attacked me as soon as I turned away. I managed to kill both of the beasts, but took a harsh beating myself. I found the "sword" that the female ogre said was really a key to unlock her invisible chains and took it to her. Once she had the sword, her chains were removed and so was the illusion covering her. She was, indeed, an avariel, though I was dismayed to see that her wings had been cut off. Still, she was easily one of the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen and I was sorely tempted to allow her to accompany during the rest of my adventures. I hoped she would be able to help heal my wounds, since she had said she was also a spellcaster, and I discovered that her talents were as rare as her race - she was one of the select few that could cast clerical spells and magical spells both. She healed my wounds and asked to come with me to save her uncle, who owned the circus. But I feared for her safety and told her to stay here until I returned.

Now that I knew a bit of what I was up against, I decided to make some proper preparations before going up to the next level of the tent. I had used my Invisibility spell earlier in the day so it was not available. I settled for casting one of my innate Draw Upon Holy Mights to increase my fighting skill and then cast Mirror Image to confuse my enemies. As I stepped through the door to the second level, I was immediately charged by two werewolves and a shade creature. I grabbed my wand to Summon Monsters (another gift from Irenicus' dungeon) and aimed it directly behind the charging beasts. Several gnolls suddenly appeared, and drew the attention of two more werewolves from the other side of the room. I was suddenly surrounded by a huge, swarming melee' of creatures and used the confusion to sneak away from the crowd (although I took a couple of hits in the process). Once I was far enough away from the group, I cast a Stinking Cloud into the midst of them. The gnolls served to occupy the werewolves, but couldn't really do any harm to them, so casting the Cloud didn't have any adverse effect on eliminating them. The effects of the Cloud kept the werewolves under control enough so that only one or two recovered at a time, making them much easier to kill. They were still formidable foes and it took every spell I had memorized to finally defeat them. I also used up both of the healing potions I had been saving for so long. I knew it was folly to advance any further at this stage, so I returned to the first floor to speak to Aerie again. I requested her help once more and we both took a much needed rest. Afterwards, she restored me to full health and I prepared to confront Kalah. This time I made sure to cast my Improved Invisibility. I paused briefly on the 2nd level to cast Melf's Minute Meteors and then advanced to the final fight. Several more werewolves swarmed towards me, but just as with the guards in the Coronet, they couldn't see me, so their attacks went wide. I ignored them and concentrated my attacks on Kalah. I cast a Skull Trap towards him, then followed with my Minute Meteors. To have wielded such power, he went down surprisingly easy. That's when I learned he was nothing more than a mere gnome with delusions of granduer. Aerie was baffled as to how he had suddenly gained so much power, but the gnome's life gave out before he could answer the mystery. I recovered some nice items from him for my trouble and bid Aerie and her uncle farewell (for now). Outside the tent, I was approached by a small girl who said she had followed Kalah to an inn in another section of town and saw him meet with a stranger there that gave him a magical lamp. This lamp was what had given Kalah his power and she offered to give me the lamp if I would search for this stranger that had led Kalah to his doom. I promised to investigate and then headed for the nearest inn for some ale.

I found a nice inn right below the fellow selling the scrolls and went in to look around. The common room was bustling with activity and I decided to go upstairs to see what the rooms looked like. That's where I met a very grumpy dwarf with a bad attitude named Mencar Pebblecrusher. He hurled various insults my way and I offered to buy him and his friends an ale, but he just became more belligerent. I decided to leave for the time being since he had several friends with him, but I was merely trying to devise a strategy to repay the insults he had made. I decided on a course of action, but needed several spells that I didn't have access to. I knew the Scroll Merchant had copies of these spells, but my gold is still limited. I was doing well until I learned I had to pay a 5000gp "license fee" to cast spells out in the open. Since I would not be likely to survive a confrontation without my spells, I saw no choice but to pay the money. So I decided to speak to the scroll merchant and - perhaps - help myself to some of his wares.

I had purchased a potion that would help my skills with sleight of hand and approached him with a jovial greeting. It was getting dark and he was straightening the scrolls on his table, rearranging the ones left and separating according to level and power. I offered to help him straighten up. He wasn't certain about accepting my help, but I gave him no choice. He watched me closely, but several scrolls still managed to find their way into my knapsack by the time we were done. Since I could tell the effects of the potion were still active, I decided to go visit the local fletcher again and offer to help with his inventory also. A little while later, my quiver was full of some very nice arrows. Some that had poison tips and even some that could dispel magical effects.

Now I think it's time to go pay Mencar Pebblecrusher another visit.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Mencar Pebblecrusher - Round 2

With my knapsack now stuffed with several new scrolls and a quiver bulging with new arrows, I decided it was time to revisit Grumpy Dwarf and his buddies at the Seven Vales Inn. The first thing I did was cast Improved Invisibility and Haste on myself, then I hurried up the stairs trying to be as quiet as possible. When I reached the upper floor, I stayed away from their room instead of initiating any dialogue to see if they had changed their attitude. I backed up towards the wall opposite the doorway leading in and cast a Web spell into the room, followed quickly by Cloudkill out of the last wand from Irenicus' dungeon. Once the room was filled with sticky webs and noxious fumes, I ran towards the doorway to see exactly where Grumpy and his buddies were. I needed them to be in my line of sight for the next two spells I cast, which were Greater Malison and Emotion:Hopelessness. Those two spells knocked out the mage and froze the thief (who was helplessly trapped in the web anyway. However, the barbarian seemed unaffected by any of the spells and he began advancing towards me with a very large sword. I had hoped to avoid using the Dryad's Acorns in this battle, but I simply couldn't take the chance of facing the barbarian in single combat - and I noticed that Mencar had also shaken off most of the spells I had cast. The gods smiled on me at the last minute and the barbarian became entangled in the webs mere feet from the doorway. Another couple of steps and he would have been out of their reach. By this time, the moose and nymphs had matierialized and I directed the moose to attack the barbarian. This also prevented Mencar from leaving the room since the moose blocked the doorway quite effectively. I then used my new bow (which fired 3 arrows in the time it normally took to fire 2 from a normal bow) and some of the arrows I had procured from the fletcher. I targeted the thief first in hopes of getting some Potions of Invisibility from him. Meanwhile, the nymphs attacked the group with spells of their own. I don't know what they were casting, but the spells worked great. Orcslicer (the barbarian) and the thief soon joined the mage in the next life and Mencar was Held as still as a statue. His sturdy dwarven endurance was no match for my arrows, the spells of the nymphs, and the antlers of the moose.

The battle had seemed to last a long time, but had actually only taken a few moments. All four of my potential attackers were dead before the effects of my first spell (the Web) wore off. I waited for the sticky strands to disappear and for the noxious fumes of the Cloudkill to disperse - then searched the bodies. I was ecstatic to discover the thief had a ring that allowed him to turn invisible rather than potions. I quickly placed it on my own finger. I started to search the rest of the bodies, then realized that I was still enjoying the benefits of the potion I had drunk much earlier to aid my procurement of the scrolls and arrows. Not wanting to waste a good thing, I decided I should go back and pay yet another visit to the scroll merchant before the effects of the potion did wear off. A short time later, my knapsack was once again re-stocked with some vital scrolls and I could get down to the serious business of claiming the treasures from my fallen enemies.

[ 07-19-2004, 01:00 PM: Message edited by: Cerek the Barbaric ]

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Greetings once again. I sincerely apologize for not updating my journal for so long, but my adventures have been extensive and my travels have been far and wide recently. Events have moved at such a pace that I am just now finding time to sit down and write about them. So, without further ado, allow me to recount my most recent exploits.

Slavers in the Slums
After defeating Pebblecrusher and his friends, I returned to the Copper Coronet. Hendak was very friendly, but also "gently reminded" me that I had promised to pursue the rest of the Slavers still operating in the area. He showed me a staircase in the back of the Inn that led down to the Sewers area. The Slavers had apparantly used this underground passage to transport the slaves to and from the Coronet. I cast a couple of spells in preparation for battle and started down the passage.

I hadn't gone more than a few feet when I heard a lot of mumbling ahead, along with the rattling of armor and swords. I used my newfound ring to turn Invisible and crept forward slowly, only to discover a group of goblin bandits encamped in the passage ahead. I began casting a spell, which dispelled my Invisibility. The goblin leader saw me and ordered his henchmen to attack - but my spell was quicker. One well-placed Skull Trap wiped out the entire group, except for the captain himself - and a couple of swipes from my sword finished him off. I noticed an opening to my right that had a horrible smell coming from it. I took a few steps in that direction and discovered another Otyugh (or Ottie-YUCK as I call them - incredibly disgusting creatures). My experience in the dungeon where I awoke had shown them to be susceptible to magical attacks - and since the beast was standing/floating in a pool of sewage, I decided to try my Wand of Lightning on him. It worked wonderfully, killing the creature quickly as the bolt rebounded off the wall and struck it a second time. I moved closer to the pool of sludge and noticed that parts of the water appeared to be moving. After a moment, I realized that the water was moving - except it was some kind of slime creature instead of water. My sword had little effect on the thing. It just sliced straight through it without doing any noticeable damage. So I pulled out the club I had retrieved from Illyich and tried that. It worked much better and I soon splattered the slime monster into small chunks of floating grime. A second creature approached from the other direction and met a similar fate. After killing the two creatures, I realized I was standing knee deep in a pool of filth, which meant I would definitely need some new clothes once I finished the business at hand. I was about to continue down the original passage when something in the water caught my eye. My curiosity overcame my revulsion, and I reached into the water to retrieve a severed hand that looked like it had been there for a very long time. I instinctively dropped it back in the water, but then I thought how odd it was that this hand had not been ...consumed...by the Otyugh or the Slimes as everything else had. Not sure if there was some purpose for it's presence or not, I decided to err on the side of caution and retrieved the hand a second time. After wrapping it securely (to prevent it from getting filth on the rest of my belongings) I placed it into my knapsack and continued on.

Just past the goblin corpses, I found a small room with two skeletons on the wall. One of them was wearing a ring - which looked very much out of place. I retrieved it and put it in my knapsack also. Hmmmm.....a hand and a ring. I was even more sure these items were more important now than they appeared to be at first.

A small corridor beside the skeletons led to a staircase guarded by another large slime monster. I simply wasn't in the mood to deal with another one of those disgusting creatures right now, so I turned and went down the corridor on the opposite side of the room. It lead to an open part of the sewer. There was water running down the middle of the opening, but walkways bordered each side of it. I followed the flow of the stream and encountered a group of kobolds. They started shouting that these were their sewers (as if I really wanted to move in down here) and they began to fire arrows at me. It was a shame really, I would have been glad to leave them here in "their" sewer, but I wasn't going to let them attack me without reprisal. One well placed Fireball ended their threat and I gathered up several arrows to add to my quiver. I also found a nice staff on the body of the leader and decided to take it with me too.

Turning from the kobolds, I crossed a bridge across the water and followed the passegeway on the other side. It led me to a room that was home to the strangest couple I believe I've ever seen. A beggar in raggedy clothes was standing beside a small table and a carrion crawler was beside him. The beggar said the crawler was his "pet" and only true friend (which I felt was very sad indeed). He spoke to me of a riddle and a treasure to be gained, so I decided to explore the area a little further. I met another small group of kobold archers, and had a bit more trouble dispatching them, since this group was actually smart enough to use some available cover. I was hit by a couple of arrows before I could kill all of them this time, but a quick drink of a Healing potion soothed the pain and helped close the wounds. Beyond this group, I found a room with four large pipes. Suddenly, a loud voice began reciting a riddle. It spoke of the ring, hand and staff I had already found, but also mentioned "the blood of a true friend". I was puzzled by this part, until I remembered the beggar and his "pet". When the voice said that the beggar would be used as the "vessel" to give me further clues to solve the riddle, it suddenly made sense to me. The crawler wasn't really the old man's pet - he was just there to provide the final component for the riddle. I returned to the room and questioned the old man about the riddle. He gave me some rambling clues about the proper order in which the component should be placed in the pipes I had found. I expected the crawler to attack me after the clues were given, since his blood was apparantly the last component I needed. To my surprise, though, it just stood there and nuzzled against the begger. I began to question my assumption that this thing wasn't really his "pet", but just couldn't imagine someone wanting such a beast as a friend - even someone in as pitiful a state as this begger. So I fired a couple of Magic Missiles at the beast, which prompted it to return the attack. After a brief struggle, I killed the beast and collected a small portion of it's blood in a glass bottle from the table. I returned to the room with the pipes and the voice recited the riddle to me again. Thinking back over the clues the old man gave me, I started placing the components in the proper order - or so I thought. I obviously got at least one of them out of order as a lightning bolt shot out from the pipe and scorched my arm. I retraced my steps and finally placed the items in the proper settings and the proper sequence. A large sword appeared before me and I grasped it firmly. It was a nice weapon, but far larger than what I was comfortable with. Two-handed swords aren't my specialty. The sword also had some intelligence and began talking incessently. I placed it into the large wolfskin bag I had taken from one of the slavers in the Coronet and it quieted down.

Now I was finally ready to actually enter the Slaver Compound itself. I found a staircase leading up to a sturdy door. I decided to cast several spells in preparation before entering the room above. Improved Invisibility, Haste and Draw Upon Holy Might made me feel much more comfortable. I climbed the stairs and tried to open the door as quietly as possible - hoping against hope to actually sneak into the room undetected. I should have known better. There were a large number of people in the room, and the apparant leader was just off to the right of the entrance - so he immediately noticed the door opening and closing. He couldn't see me, but he let me know that I was foolish to enter thier stronghold nonetheless. Some rogues on the other side of the room began approaching me while the leader started throwing axes in my direction. On the other side of the room, a mage started casting a spell. I quickly pulled out a Wand of Cloudkill and pointed it in the direction of the rogues. The noxious vapors soon filled that whole side of the room, but he leader and the mage were not affected by them. I used Dire Charm on the mage and sent him after the leader (whose axes were still missing me, but were starting to come too close for comfort). I used my own offensive spells on the leader and he was soon dead. The mage then recovered from my Charm spell, but he had taken some damage from the leader and I was able to kill him with a couple of Melf's Acid Arrows. As the Cloudkill vapors cleared, I could still hear a couple of rogues on the other side of the room. They had apparantly survived my spell and had taken the opportunity to Hide from sight as I fought the leader. I used the Dryad's Acorns to summon the moose and nymphs to help me out, and they used their spells to discover the rogue's hiding spot. The battle with them was brief due to the damage they had taken from the cloud. After searching the bodies (and finding some rather nice items), I noticed a door on the far right side of the room. I opened it cautiously and was confronted by a very large troll with a nasty temper. My invisibility had worn off and he charged to attack me. I backpedaled and cast Melf's Minute Meteors. I began pounding him with these as the moose and nymphs moved to aid me. The troll killed the moose and injured one of the nymphs before my Meteors finally killed him. My relief was short-lived, though, as a second troll came charging from the same room. I managed to kill him with my remaining Meteors, but not before he had killed both of the nymphs. Realizing there could be even more of these nasty buggers in that room, I approached it slowly and planned to launch a Fireball straight into the middle of the room to deal them some heavy damage before they could attack. THANK THE GODS I crept a little closer before doing that. Just as I was about to unleash the spell, I saw a small girl standing in the center of the room, exactly where I had planned to target my spell. I remembered my experience at the circus and wondered if this might be another illusion, but discovered that she really was just an innocent little girl. I went into the room (which was thankfully empty of any more trolls) and found her brother standing a little bit behind her. The thought of how close I came to killing these two little children consumed me with guilt. The girl said they had no money to help them return home, and I couldn't resist those innocent blue eyes. I gave her and her brother some gold and showed them the way out. They thanked me and left quickly.

By now, I was physically and mentally exhausted. I needed to rest and restore my spells. A staircase in the room led up to another doorway. I didn't want to get caught sleeping by more of the Slavers, so I retreated back into the sewers to take my rest. As I slept, I dreamt of the begger and his pet. In my dream the old man stood over the carcass of the dead crawler, stroking it lovingly and talking to it in comforting tones. I awoke in a cold sweat and realized that I had let my greed blind me to the real truth of the relationship between the two. The begger really was a pathetic figure, and I felt like a monster far worse than any I had faced in my adventures when I realized that my greed had led to me to brutally kill the only friend he had found in his pitiful life. I started to go to him and offer some gold in return for my heinous act, but realized the gesture would be futile in relieving his grief. The begger didn't seem to have any real need for the gold, and no amount I offered could have replaced his lost friend. With a heavily guilty heart, I re-entered the Slaver Compound.

The anger and loathing I felt toward myself found release in the attacks I unleashed on the remaining slavers. My first encounter was with some creatures called yaun-ti. They looked like large serpents, but had a penchent for spellcasting. Fine by me. My wrath was fueled white-hot by my self-loathing and by the plight of some more innocent children I found locked in some cages. The last battles were a bit of a blur, as I was lost in an almost beserker-type rage against the circumstances and events of the last 24 hours. The spellcasting serpents were slaughtered without remorse. More Cloudkills took care of the last large group of slavers, and I even got up-close and personal with the last mage to fry him with a Shocking Grasp spell. I had never used that particular spell before, and the surge of electricity along my arm sent a tingle all the way into my soul as it fryed the spellcaster into a charred corpse. I found a two lone guards in the last room and one standing guard outside the front door. Magic Missiles and a heavy club reduced them to bloody pulps. It took several minutes for the rage I felt in my soul to abate, and I was left utterly exhausted once it wore off. I took time to go back through the compound and search the bodies and boxes for treasure and items I could use. My efforts were greatly rewarded and I actually found more items than I could carry, despite having an extra-dimensional bag that would hold up to 10 items of any size or weight and two smaller bags to hold gems, rings and necklaces. I filled the containers and the rest of my knapsack with as many items as I could possibly squeeze in, then went back through the underground passage leading to the Coronet. I sold all the excess gems, necklaces, armor and weapons I had found to Bernard - then went back to the Compound for the rest of the stuff I couldn't carry the first time. By the time I was finished, my purse was much fuller and I had found a some nice scrolls to add to my collection of spells. Another wave of guilt hit me as I sold the 2-hand sword I had gained from the Sewers to Bernard, but the coin I recieved in return helped ease the feeling somewhat. Still, I vowed to make an effort from that moment forth to keep my greed in check when evaluating any future encounters I may have.

While trying to decide which area to explore next, I remembered the little girl that approached me outside of the circus and the lamp she had given me that supposedly gave Kalah the power to take over the circus the way he did. She had said that Kalah got the item from a merchant near the City Gates, so I headed in that direction. Before I could enter the local inn there, however, I was approached by a man asking for my help with some trouble in a place called Trademeet. He told me it had been a thriving community of trade until recently, but was now suffering mysterious attacks from the local animals. That sounded strange indeed, so I decided to get a good nights sleep then move on to Trademeet to investigate. Besides, my purse was heavy with gold, but my knapsack was light with equipment. I had visited some of the more prominent merchants in Athkatla and was anxious to see what new items I might find in a community set up as a trade market. So I took my rest, then left the city early the next morning to find this community called Trademeet.

[Peter Parker]

Ah, I love these colorful adventures =^). I AM reading this Cerek, but I got slightly confused. Are you still playing the Skald, or the elf? As for supposed cheese. . .phuck that word. You do what you gotta do, so long as ye havin' fun!

[Cerek]

Greetings All. My solo Skald's game has been revived after a loooong hiatus and I've decided to start recording his adventures again. So without further ado, here are the continuing adventures of Gabriel Stone, solo Skald.

Trademeet

I arrived at this former hub of Athkala trading to find several animals attacking the town guards. I lent them my aid and the beasts were slain quickly enough - although one guard also died from the wounds he received. The remaining guard told me this had been happening with alarming frequency and suggested I go see the High Merchant if I wanted more information or to offer my aid. I went to the High Merchant's house straight-away. The Guildmistress was there as well and they informed me that - in addition to the animal attacks - a group of djinn had moved in and cut off ALL trade to the town. They were looking for a fugitive from their land and believed that person was hiding (or being hid) in Trademeet. The High Merchant also informed me that the townspeople were convinced the animal troubles were the result of the local druids and they were starting to call for blood. A druid had entered town the day before and been attacked by the mob. He had to put the fellow in jail for his own safety. Despite the urging of the crowd, the High Merchant wasn't convinced the druids were responsible and asked if I would help the druid in the jail sneak out of town under cover of darkness. I told him I would be happy to help, but wanted to speak to the djinn first. I visited their tent and they told me of the fugitive they sought - a shapechanging creature known as a raksasha. They told me the fugitive could take on any number of appearances. Well, that certainly narrows down the number of suspects. I promised to help search for the fugitive and to bring back any information I found.

I returned to the High Merchant's house and went to the basement to meet the druid there. He was a rugged fellow, with muscles honed from a life spent living outdoors. He introduced himself as Cernd and said that he had been sent to investigate the strange occurances by the Druid Council. We left quickly and made our way out of town without being seen. Cernd led me to the Druid Grove that seemed to be the center of all the activity and we decided to split up and search the area separately.

I met a large group of spiders shortly after leaving Cernd, but a Cloudkill followed by a couple of Fireballs took care of them. There were also a few trolls running about, but nothing too dangerous. Then I came to a large structure in the west end of the grove. I used my Ring of Invisibility to sneak in undetected and found a HUGE group of trolls. I crept around as quietly as I could and discovered the trolls were in two large groups. Unfortunately, my stealth skills weren't as good as I hoped and some of the trolls apparantly heard me walking around. I suddenly found myself being chased by the group from the back of the hut. Thinking quickly, I ran towards the group in front. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but I literally had to come up with a plan on the run. The group followed me faithfully and I managed to get ALL of the trolls together in one location - then I unleashed another Cloudkill spell. I had to center the spell near my own location to make sure I got all the trolls. The fumes were horrific, but I managed to escape the cloud before succombing to their effect. Once I was clear of the cloud, I blasted the assembled group with Fireballs, killing most of them right away. A few managed to survive both attacks and escape the cloud, but I was able to cut them down with my sword. After killing all the trolls, I decided to "camp" inside their hut. I needed to rest and recover my spells.

Early the next morning, I set out to explore the rest of the Grove. I had a few minor encounters, but nothing serious - until I met a group of druids and their pet animals. I tried to talk with the leader, but they were in no mood to negotiate and began to attack. I resorted to my standard Cloudkill attack, only to discover that the animals seemed immune to it's effects! This was NOT good. I ran from the animals as fast as I could and used Ring of Invisibility again. This helped slow down the pursuit, but they could still track my scent. So I ran back towards the area where their masters were. Another hastily improvised plan had come to mind. Fortunately, the druids themselves had suffered some of the effects of the cloud and were just recovering as I ran unseen past them. I stopped just short of the bridge on the other side of the clearing and waited for their pets to catch up. Once they did, I began my first spell. This cancelled my Invisibility and the druids charged to attack with their animals close behind. I tried a new spell called Skull Trap and it worked wonderfully. The animals took a great deal of damage from the exploding skull and the druids also got hit with the flying shards. My Stoneskin provided some measure of protection for me, but I still took a fair amount of damage myself. Still, I couldn't fight all the druids and their animals so I had to just take the damage and keep casting. Three Skull Traps finally managed to kill the last of the animal familiars and left most of the druids seriously injured also. Of course, I was cut pretty badly too, since the 2nd spell had cancelled my Stoneskin, leaving me vulnerable to the full effects of the last trap. I drank a potion of Extra Healing, then glanced quickly at the druids. Choosing the one that appeared to be the least injured, I cast my favorite spell in times of need - Dire Charm. Dare I say, it worked like a "charm", and I now had an ally to help fight the remaining druids. After killing two of his former comrades, I backed away from the melee' and just let the druids fight each other. My "ally" managed to kill his former buddies, but he was barely able to stand after the beating he took from them. Once my spell wore off, I finished him with a single stroke from my sword.

The bridge leading to the rest of the Grove was covered with Myconids - mushroom-looking creatures. Cloudkill proved to be deadly effective against them and I crossed the bridge unchallenged. After a few more random encounters, I found Cernd again. He told me the entrance to the heart of the Grove was just ahead. I cast Improved Invisibility and crept forwards slowly. Some bears were ahead and I killed them with Fireballs - then I saw yet another group of druids and pet familiars. Luckily, there were only 3 druids this time instead of 5. Using the same tactics as before, I managed to kill this group without too much of a challenge...then I entered the inner sanctum of the Grove.

I met the new ruler of the Grove, a certifiably crazy wench named Faldorn. She seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember where I knew her from....then I realized I had actually met her before during my travels along the Sword Coast. She had struck me as rather "militant" even then for a druid, but she had transformed into someone even more crazed since that time. No wonder I didn't recognize her at first. Our conversation convinced me that she had become a raving lunatic and that there was no way to redeem her. She challenged me to battle, but I knew better than to accept her offer. We were in the very heart of her Grove, where her connection to Nature was the strongest. I had no delusions that my minor magical skills would present any form of "challenge" to her in that setting. So I left and told Cernd what I had discovered. He said he would face her challenge and we returned to set things right in the Heart of the Grove. But Faldorn's power was greater than we suspected and she somehow transported ME into her Battle Arena instead of Cernd. I thought my adventures had come to an end, and they surely would have, but a huge bolt of light suddenly flashed straight down from the sky - striking Faldorn dead where she stood. I was too stunned to realize what had happened. The next thing I knew, Cernd was telling me that I was now the new ruler of the Grove?!?! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I have nothing against Nature, but I realize my limitations too. We discussed the issue and he chose another druid that had been serving as an apprentice to serve in my stead. WHEW! THAT was close.

I left the Grove in their capable hands and set out to return to Trademeet. On my way back through the grove, I decided to investigate the buildings I had passed earlier. Little did I realize that I would end up resolving the other quest I had undertaken. I entered an innocent looking shop and was talking to a nice little old lady, when she suddenly began snarling about me having the "stench of the djinn" on me and her "form" shifted to reveal her true identity. I had found the fugitive sought by the djinn without even meaning to. I managed to kill her with my club (which I had grabbed in desperation when facing Faldorn), but she had two friends with her. I ran outside to give myself time to try and cast a couple of buffing spells. I waited for a moment, but her pals didn't follow me. Not being one to overlook good fortune, I found a secluded spot that could be safely guarded and took some time to rest again. My spells were almost depleted and I didn't like the idea of fighting two more of these "tiger creatures" relying just on the strength of my arm. After a proper rest, I cast Stoneskin and Fireshield on myself and entered the building once again. The two raksasha were still there and I began firing my spells at them - only to learn that they have a very high resistance to magic. That was not what I had expected and I was left with no choice but to attack them with my weapons. To my surprise, they proved to be far easier to kill than I had expected possible. I took the head of the fugitive as evidence for the djinn and returned to Trademeet.

They were pleased to have the fugitive taken care of. They gave me a nice scimitar for my efforts, then packed their tents and left. The mayor welcomed me back with a huge reception and labeled me the "Hero of Trademeet". I was a bit embarassed by all the attention, especially after the town built a statue in my honor, but the tales and dreams of bards center around such events, so I was flattered as well by the attention.

During the ceremony, I was approached by two nobles. Each requested that I retrieve an artifact for them from a local tomb - and each claimed that they alone had an exclusive right to this artifact. I made my way to the local graveyard and found the tomb in question. It was inhabited by several undead with some serious anti-social tendencies. I killed some of the lesser beings, but had to retreat from the attack of one of the skeleton warriors. He followed me outside and our battle continued, attracting the attention and aid of one of the town guards. His help was appreciated, but it wasn't enough and the skeleton warrior killed him (which put a bit of a tarnish on my newly gained reputation as the "Hero" of the town). I finally managed to kill the foul beast and returned to Lady Lurraxols' home (since she had approached me first). I offered the artifact to her, only to have Lord Alibakkor show up with some of his hired help. He was upset about not getting the artifact and attacked me. I expected that, but I did NOT expect Lady Lurraxols to join in the attack with her guards!!! That's gratitude for you. In the end, I slew both nobles AND their hired hands - which earned me a rather harsh scolding from the High Merchant. But Lord Alibakkor had been wearing a suit of elven chain mail - a wonderful piece of armor that can be worn by spellcasters without hindering their spellcasting abilities...so I accepted the chastisement and then went on my merry way.

I visited some of the local merchants before returning home and found some wonderful items that I'm sure will help me in my future adventures. But for now, it was time to return to the city and see what was happening there.


I have a question for those reading this thread; is this "first person" style better than writing the encounters from my perspective as a player? I know it makes the posts quite a bit longer to read, so I was wondering if it would be better to just summarize what I had the character do for the major enounters instead of going into so much detail? Either way is fine with me, it just seemed more appropriate to post the encounters in this "first-person journal style" since the PC is a bard. Thanks for your input.

[ 11-29-2004, 05:14 PM: Message edited by: Cerek ]

[SixOfSpades]

Originally posted by Cerek: I have a question for those reading this thread; is this "first person" style better than writing the encounters from my perspective as a player? I know it makes the posts quite a bit longer to read, so I was wondering if it would be better to just summarize what I had the character do for the major enounters instead of going into so much detail? Either way is fine with me, it just seemed more appropriate to post the encounters in this "first-person journal style" since the PC is a bard. Thanks for your input.

I say first-person is definitely better, it generates much more reader involvement with the story. The only two BG games that I've actually written about are my Naughty Boy story, starring Fenris Melkior and his chums, and one I'm writing right now, with a Female Elven Fighter/Mage named Fellaia Kenai as the protagonist. (It was supposed to be a No-Reloads game, and thus worthy of fanfiction, but the Improved Undead I met on my very first major quest managed to cut that short.)

Fenris Melkior is much funnier to read, but Fellaia Kenai is much more in-depth. Longer, of course, but you learn more about the character. Also, when you write in third person, there's a tendency to just gloss over things: Compare
"We escaped from Jon's Dungeon and spent the night in the Seven Vales" with
"It was not until I was fully awake that I realized that the staff had lined our beds with cheap tablecloths, as a protective layer between our badly bloodstained garments and their best bedlinen. We took the hint, and sent our garb out for a good washing and mending while we laid seige to the Inn's bathing tubs."

[Cerek]

Originally posted by SixOfSpades: quote: Originally posted by Cerek: I have a question for those reading this thread; is this "first person" style better than writing the encounters from my perspective as a player? I know it makes the posts quite a bit longer to read, so I was wondering if it would be better to just summarize what I had the character do for the major enounters instead of going into so much detail? Either way is fine with me, it just seemed more appropriate to post the encounters in this "first-person journal style" since the PC is a bard. Thanks for your input.

I say first-person is definitely better, it generates much more reader involvement with the story. The only two BG games that I've actually written about are my Naughty Boy story, starring Fenris Melkior and his chums, and one I'm writing right now, with a Female Elven Fighter/Mage named Fellaia Kenai as the protagonist. (It was supposed to be a No-Reloads game, and thus worthy of fanfiction, but the Improved Undead I met on my very first major quest managed to cut that short.)

Fenris Melkior is much funnier to read, but Fellaia Kenai is much more in-depth. Longer, of course, but you learn more about the character. Also, when you write in third person, there's a tendency to just gloss over things: Compare
"We escaped from Jon's Dungeon and spent the night in the Seven Vales" with
"It was not until I was fully awake that I realized that the staff had lined our beds with cheap tablecloths, as a protective layer between our badly bloodstained garments and their best bedlinen. We took the hint, and sent our garb out for a good washing and mending while we laid seige to the Inn's bathing tubs." [/QUOTE]Thanks for the endorsement, S.o.S. I thought about writing in 3rd person and saying "Alright, I tried this and this and this which didn't work. I finally killed the guy doing THIS!" But since I'm playing a bard, it just seemed natural to tell it from HIS perspective rather than mine.

I still have some catching up to do. My next adventure was rescuing Haer'Dalis and his colleagues from the Astral Prison, but that has been so long ago that I don't remember many of the details. I'll have to pull up a "walkthrough" to remind me of the encounters and character names and then fill in the blanks from there.

That was the last adventure before I stopped playing the game for awhile, so the other ventures since then are fresh in my mind - just have to find the time to actually write them down.

The only DIS-advantage to the first person approach is that it will NOT be giving details of the multiple failed attempts incurred before finally achieving success. Ah well, I agree that - overall - first person is more entertaining to read.

[Cerek]

The Search for Haer'Dalis

After returning from Trademeet, I decided to spend some time exploring Athkatla itself. I had heard of a tavern in the Bridge District that featured a small theater. Naturally, this appealed to my professional curiousity so I went to watch the play. The production was very poorly done, due mainly to the absence of one of the actors from the troupe. The "play" only managed a couple of Acts before the audience demanded their money back. I was tempted to do the same, but realized there must be more to this story than the audience was privvy to. So I went backstage to speak to the actors and actresses myself. That's when I learned that one of their members was indeed missing. I felt obligated to offer my services in search of their missing "sparrow" and their leader told me that the actor (a fellow by the name of Haer'Dalis) had last been seen around the sewers in the Temple District. I went there straightaway and began exploring the underground caverns. Much to my surprise, I encountered a full party in the tunnels and they were not pleased at all to see me. They demanded I pay a toll for using "their" tunnel. I declined, of course and they began to attack (with no regard for proper protocol or etiquette). I heard a couple of their members chanting spells, so I used my Ring of Invisibility to disappear - which also managed to foil their spells. The leader of the group was an extremely ill-tempered dwarf with a wicked axe that returned to his hand after being thrown. He hurled it in my direction and I felt the blade sink into my shoulder. I began casting a spell of my own, and got my Stoneskin up before he had a chance to throw his axe at me again. By that time, the other fighter in the front had moved to attack me, but I used my favorite spell - Dire Charm - on him and convinced him that his former friends were the "real" enemies. This managed to divert the dwarf's attention from me also. The spellcasters were still busy in the back, so I decided to envelop them in a Cloudkill spell. That eliminated their spells for the time being and did a fair amount of damage to them in the bargain. I didn't have time to "divide and conquer" this group, so I went for mass damage. I used Fireball and Skull Traps on the group. I also cast a Web to keep them trapped within the cloud for as long as possible. That managed to kill all of the group except for the last spellcaster and the dwarf and fighter had taken each other down to Near Death. I finished the 3 of them off and collected a Bag full of loot. I then continued my search for Haer'Dalis.

I soon discovered a hidden door in one of the tunnel walls. I found some stairs and followed them up to a study and library. I was attacked by several mephits, but dispatched them very easily. I cast Improved Invisibility on myself and continued to search catiously throughout this hidden abode. I discovered a room filled with Yuan-Ti - nasty "snake" creatures that are also accomplished spellcasters. I was low on spells, but decided to risk it anyway. I used my wand to fill their room with another Cloudkill. I also cast my last two Skull Traps directly in front of the door to their room. As expected, two of the snake-magi escaped the cloud and moved to attack me, but the traps exploded and killed both of them. I quickly cast my remaining Web spell into the room and it managed to snare the remaining creatures. The noxious vapors from my Cloudkill did the rest. After the spell durations expired, I searched the bodies of my fallen foes along with some trunks in the two adjoining rooms. I found a good deal of treasure that I could use and even more that I could sell to local merchants for gold. I searched the rest of this area but found nothing of significance. So I backtracked to the library and study. I went down a second corridor I found and it eventually led me to a mage named Mekrath. He admitted that he had captured Haer'Dalis in the act of trying to steal from his home, but despite that, the mage turned out to be surprisingly reasonable. I had expected another battle. Instead, the mage asked me to retrieve an item he had lost - some special mirror to be exact. He told me he would release Haer'Dalis in exchange for the mirror. I didn't really trust him - he seemed rather "evil" to me, but I had used almost all of my memorized spells for the day, so I really had no choice but to accept his offer. I returned to the sewer tunnels and managed to find the creature that had taken his mirror in very short order. I was on my way to return the mirror and had taken a different tunnel that seemed to be a bit of a shortcut. It led to the very center of the tunnels in the sewer area. Unfortunately, I discovered another rakshasa had decided to make this area [/i]his[/i] home. Good Grief, didn't anybody want to live on the surface anymore??? I had no choice but to fight the beast as he began attacking me on sight. I knew from my previous encounters that these creatures were highly resistant to spells, but could be defeated easily enough with sheer physical damage. So I charged in with Gnasher, a nasty club that imbeds splinters into the creature or person struck which prevents them from casting spells for a few minutes until they can remove the splinters. With the help of Gnasher, the rakshasa was soon history. His kobold companions fell to one Fireball I cast from a scroll. I searched the tiger-man's body and found that he had a most unique cloak on. It was rather unsightly and stank quite badly, but it seemed to grant the wearer the ability to change shapes. I experimented with it and found myself transformed into a troll. UGGGGGGHHHHH!!! My skin felt as if it wanted to crawl off my bones, but then I noticed my strength and health were returning to me very quickly. I had forgotten that trolls have a very fast regeneration factor that allows thier wounds to heal almost instantly. So I fought my initial revulsion as the energy began to re-surge through my body and revitalize my tired limbs. After that transformation wore off, I decided I should find a defensible area of the tunnels and rest to regain my spells. I went back to the room I had discovered behind the secret door leading to Mekrath's home and rested there. I still didn't completely trust him to keep his word and I wanted to be fully prepared in case any treachery was afoot. I cast my normal prebuffs (Stoneskin and Improved Invisibility) and went to see Mekrath. I was happily surprised when he accepted the mirror and told me where I could find the "rogue". I went back down the hallway past the room where the Yuan-ti had been and found the missing "songbird" in a storeroom I had searched previously. My guess is that he must have been hidden with invisibility before.

We took our leave and returned to the Five Flagon's Inn. His colleagues were overjoyed to see him, but their happy reunion was cut abruptly short. Little did I know that effort to "retrieve" Haer'Dalis had only just begun.

[ 12-10-2004, 12:53 PM: Message edited by: Cerek ]