Stackman's Adventures (Chapter one)

bsftcs · 07-15-2003, 08:47 PM

A Good Start

Being the first chapter of Stackman’s adventures

In which one green-skinned lizard meets his somewhat timely demise, and in which the bard kills a pack of worgurs playing the pipes of pain.

Before leaving the town hall the valkyrie was given a small package by Sir Elgar. ”This is for Lord Barrenhawk in Ishad N’ha”, he said. ”Please give it to him if you by any chance drop by there”. ”Oh and please be on the lookout for walking skeletons”, he said and hinted at the wanted poster on one of the posts mentioning a reward on skulls. ”We shall”, the valkyrie said, shamefully remembering the time before she had first met these walking dead when she had ascribed the governor’s perseverance in the hunt for the dead to necrophilic tendencies.

The party strode downhill to downtown Valeia, and soon they were guildhopping (as explained by the legendary mother deity Wyvern of the celestial Forum in the Tome of legends (and on page one of the Best Tips)(reply named “Joining other guilds”)) to their hearts’ delight. In the magic shoppe they accepted the quest to find Scabban, in the armoury they undertook the quest to kill Mon the Sculz, and in the temple they agreed to find the toad Mekdawa and giving him a potion. They did not bother to seek the advice of neither Sir Elgar nor Galliwag, the bartender, since their hints were already written in the Book of Legends. Well prepared and familiar with the settings they went out of the town gates on the path leading to the old crypt. Their adventures had begun.

Outside the gate the valkyrie steered her party to the south following the dense thickets. This was what they had always done when under Stackman’s auspices, and since no divine intervention came from their tutelary patron, she concluded it was the right choice, although it seemed strange to walk away from both the crypt where Scabban was to be found, Nymph Lake where Mekdawa was to be found, and the small ravine behind Kerielle’s mill where Mon the Sculz always spawns. It was a beautiful day, the sun shone from an azure sky and the otherwise sweltering heat was dampened by a light breeze.

They had not marched for many kilometres before the valkyrie’s spirit eye spell revealed to the party that they were soon to be attacked by something very noisy, very annoying, and very canine. They came around a pack of trees and sure enough: a pack of worgurs came straight at them. With a little moving around the bard stretched the wourgurs to the ground with the miasma from his pipes of pain. The party was used to being warned by the assassin’s level 12 scout skill. They had not been warned this time, although a character with a scout level that high is able to detect any type of monster that randomly spawns. But this was of no surprise to them since the worgurs were not a random encounter. They are always there and can, like every other fixed encounter, not be spotted with even a level 14 scout skill. The party had on a previous encounter tree surfed (as explained by the legendary wise deity Sazerac of the celestial Forum on page two of the Best Tips (reply named “Completing the "Living Seed" quest from the Brimloch Roon Wizard's Guild”) and on the site of the former moderating, now silent deity of the Forum, Xignal’s site) past the worgurs and gained the benefit of attacking the monsters without their moving first. This happened with all fixed encounters one had when sneaking up on monsters using an ”untraditional” approach such as tree surfing and vanishing up from behind, so that one does not walk through the monster’s ”trigger”.

After walking for another hour the party reached the ruins of Bersault. Stackman suddenly appeared and told the party to wait while the game was being saved. They waited and suddenly the party members experienced a memory lapse. This had happened before and always in connection with a save. This could be the result of three things: 1) a thing which the scholars called a programming error. 2) Epilepsy. The warlock looked at her self-turning hoursglass and determined, that since they had all experienced the same and since so long time had passed it had to be the result of the third possible occurence: 3) Stackman had made an experiment. They went on comforted by the fact, that if that were the case he would most certainly post his results as an appendix to the chapter.

They met Gorthius and his men, and the bard who had always been a member of the Hidden Circle was once again told Gorthius’s whole story about the Circle, Bratsol, H’Thark and so forth. He accepted to find H’Thark and deliver the lockpicks to him. This was the first of seven small quests given by NPCs in the Wilderness of Valeia. They waved goodbye to the small band of men and went on.

They had not walked for long before a series of yells were heard. The three jade thieves had murdered Gorthius. A veritable rain of fire falling from the sky on the zenmaster’s command ended their lives, remarkably without even singeing the assassin’s contract signed by the High Priestess Elyssia of the Snake Cult that one of the thieves had in his pocket. Thus Valeia tavern tip number 4 (as written on Page eight of the Best Tips (reply named “List of the advice given by town governors and barkeepers”)) came true thus triggering the possibility of getting the tip in the bar.

They turned north from Bersault again. They encountered two treasure chests on the way and when they had virtually reached Valeia again Mon the Sculz came out of the woods and attacked the party. Pitying him a bit that he was programmed by mythological founding father of the Gael Serran the almost almighty D.W.Bradley to attack them even though he did not stand a chance, the warlock fried him with an incinerate spell.

The party still had to visit Bilbump before they could rest for the night. But to see him they would have to follow the old cemetery road past a most unpleasant figure: The Traveler. Knowing full well that they could always tree surf past him, they also knew this would yield them nothing. Once they had finished the crypt, Gareth would be killed anyway by this stranger. Gareth would also die even if they killed his assassin, the Traveler straight away. Gareth was in any case doomed so the party had to make the best of it: They walked up to the traveler who asked them whether or not Gareth was still in Valeia. The barbarian answered yes to the question and got the 50 experience point bonus. (Not that he needed it). The spellcasters of the party then singed, froze, and bombarded the Traveler to ashes with a couple of hefty storm spells. He dropped his usual ankh and book of venom bite. Each party member also received an experience point bonus of around 5700 each. They had had to make a swift and decisive attack since the traveller starts disappearing once attacked. Leaving his smouldering remains of Grue Morde as the traveler was also known they walked on knowing that he would not later respawn as a part of the assassins quest since none of the party members were going to ascend to the role of assassin in this game.

They quickly reached Bilbump’s house and talked with him about the far away Stouts, the cemetery and his brother. The barbarian got a rat pie to give to Bilbump’s brother Rethpian. This was the second of seven small quests given by NPC’s in the Wilderness of Valeia.

The last ray of sunlight was waning in the sky and the sky was aglow with glowflies when the party reached Valeia. They knocked on the door of the armoury until the sleepy Smitty finally opened up the door. His grumpy face turned into one big smile when he heard of Mon the Sculz’s most desired demise. He thanked the adventurers and asked them to investigate Toad Village to see what was going on there. Thus ended the first of three quests posed by the warriors guild in Valeia.

They lodged at the inn for the night, and fearing not so much pickpockets at the dreaded inn bug they double-checked their belongings (as depicted by the thorough, meticulous deity of the celestial Forum, legendary Radek on Page eight of the Best Tips (reply named “Vanishing items: an investigation”)) after checking in. Soon most party members were sound asleep (just like in Parliament

) but the valkyrie stayed by the window for a few minutes watching the thin clouds slowly sweeping across the starlight heavens. They were out on adventure again. Together. And that was good. Walking and exploring, sleeping under the stars (well if not tonight then soon) with the five others. They were Stackman’s adventurers and they were out on Stackman’s adventures. That was a wonderful treat indeed. Yet something puzzled her. Something she could not quite fathom or grasp. She could not tell whether this gnawing in her mind was an omen of something good or bad. She did not think it was bad. She did not hope so. She fell asleep not troubled but slightly wary. And weary for that matter, for it had been a long day of marching.

NPCs encountered:

Gorthius reacts to following words:

Valeia, Gorthius, Hidden Circle, Cemetery, Temple, Snake Cult, Graveyard, Serpent Temple, Ishad N’ha, H’Thark, Snake, Nymph Lake, Gypsy, Fortune, Gypsies, Dodger, Bratsol, Stout, Crypt, Stout Mine, Stout Mines, Harespia, Mine, Stouts, Mines, Drink, Fortune Teller, Snakes.

With ”H’Thark” being the word that triggers the important action (the H’Thark quest and the following assassination of Gorthius himself), (as also explained by legendary Wyvern on page two of the Best Tips (reply named “Here's a quick shortcut to NPC discussions”))

The Traveler reacts to following words:

Valeia, Gareth, Information, Bussinesss, Cemetery, Temple, Snake Cult, Graveyard, Serpent Temple, Ishad N’ha, Snake, Nymph Lake, Snake Temple, Crypt, Bersault, Serpent, Naga, Cet, Mavin, Anephas, Kerah, Help, Servant, Mavin Sword, Gael Serran, Death.

Bilbump reacts to following words:

Cemetery, Graveyard, Stout, Brother, Crypt, Bilbump, Stout Mine, Rethpian, Get In, Rat Pie, Statue, Boogre, Secret, Brinbath, Stout King, Stout Mines, Freyedies, Mine, Mines, King.

With ”brother” being the word that triggers the important action (the rat pie quest and the disclosure of the way to open the crypt).

Appendix A: Experiment concerning Gorthius and the jade thieves

1) One can at any given moment kill any of the jade thieves without triggering the animosity of the others and of Gorthius. The kill does not have to be the result of just one blow.
2) The death of Gorthius will trigger the animosity of both him and the jade thieves. It does not matter if his death is the result of an attack on him or an ”accidental” death such as teleporting him into water and drowning him. If Gorthius is killed Elyssia’s scroll will not be left behind.
3) The jade thieves’ killing Gorthius occurs only when the word ”H’Thark” has been spoken to Gorthius and his mission has been accepted. Until the mission is accepted with a ”yes” one can freely leave the area without Gorthius’s being killed.
4) What then triggers the fight is Gorthius’s utterance ”Travel with care my friends”. Once he speaks those words he is killed. He speaks the words when one comes a certain distance from him. This happens no matter if one walks a distance away, teleports og vanishes away, or even if one teleports Gorthius away. He is then automatically killed whereever he is. The scroll appears along with the animosity of the remaining jade thieves. Furthermore Gorthius is also killed even if the jade thieves have already been killed.

whiteknight · 07-16-2003, 02:36 AM

nice one bsftcs!!!!!!!! I did'nt know going out side of the normal game lines would be so riverting(ie.going to the crypt first etc etc)you certainly have sparked my imgination can't wait for the next stackman episode hooo arrrr!!!!!
whiteknight.. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Bungleau · 07-16-2003, 11:07 PM

I am impressed! I can't wait to read the next chapter, just above [img]smile.gif[/img]

And I'm learning things, too...

07-15-2003, 08:47 PM	#1
bsftcs Red Dragon Join Date: January 23, 2003 Location: Denmark Age: 45 Posts: 1,577	A Good Start Being the first chapter of Stackman’s adventures In which one green-skinned lizard meets his somewhat timely demise, and in which the bard kills a pack of worgurs playing the pipes of pain. Before leaving the town hall the valkyrie was given a small package by Sir Elgar. ”This is for Lord Barrenhawk in Ishad N’ha”, he said. ”Please give it to him if you by any chance drop by there”. ”Oh and please be on the lookout for walking skeletons”, he said and hinted at the wanted poster on one of the posts mentioning a reward on skulls. ”We shall”, the valkyrie said, shamefully remembering the time before she had first met these walking dead when she had ascribed the governor’s perseverance in the hunt for the dead to necrophilic tendencies. The party strode downhill to downtown Valeia, and soon they were guildhopping (as explained by the legendary mother deity Wyvern of the celestial Forum in the Tome of legends (and on page one of the Best Tips)(reply named “Joining other guilds”)) to their hearts’ delight. In the magic shoppe they accepted the quest to find Scabban, in the armoury they undertook the quest to kill Mon the Sculz, and in the temple they agreed to find the toad Mekdawa and giving him a potion. They did not bother to seek the advice of neither Sir Elgar nor Galliwag, the bartender, since their hints were already written in the Book of Legends. Well prepared and familiar with the settings they went out of the town gates on the path leading to the old crypt. Their adventures had begun. Outside the gate the valkyrie steered her party to the south following the dense thickets. This was what they had always done when under Stackman’s auspices, and since no divine intervention came from their tutelary patron, she concluded it was the right choice, although it seemed strange to walk away from both the crypt where Scabban was to be found, Nymph Lake where Mekdawa was to be found, and the small ravine behind Kerielle’s mill where Mon the Sculz always spawns. It was a beautiful day, the sun shone from an azure sky and the otherwise sweltering heat was dampened by a light breeze. They had not marched for many kilometres before the valkyrie’s spirit eye spell revealed to the party that they were soon to be attacked by something very noisy, very annoying, and very canine. They came around a pack of trees and sure enough: a pack of worgurs came straight at them. With a little moving around the bard stretched the wourgurs to the ground with the miasma from his pipes of pain. The party was used to being warned by the assassin’s level 12 scout skill. They had not been warned this time, although a character with a scout level that high is able to detect any type of monster that randomly spawns. But this was of no surprise to them since the worgurs were not a random encounter. They are always there and can, like every other fixed encounter, not be spotted with even a level 14 scout skill. The party had on a previous encounter tree surfed (as explained by the legendary wise deity Sazerac of the celestial Forum on page two of the Best Tips (reply named “Completing the "Living Seed" quest from the Brimloch Roon Wizard's Guild”) and on the site of the former moderating, now silent deity of the Forum, Xignal’s site) past the worgurs and gained the benefit of attacking the monsters without their moving first. This happened with all fixed encounters one had when sneaking up on monsters using an ”untraditional” approach such as tree surfing and vanishing up from behind, so that one does not walk through the monster’s ”trigger”. After walking for another hour the party reached the ruins of Bersault. Stackman suddenly appeared and told the party to wait while the game was being saved. They waited and suddenly the party members experienced a memory lapse. This had happened before and always in connection with a save. This could be the result of three things: 1) a thing which the scholars called a programming error. 2) Epilepsy. The warlock looked at her self-turning hoursglass and determined, that since they had all experienced the same and since so long time had passed it had to be the result of the third possible occurence: 3) Stackman had made an experiment. They went on comforted by the fact, that if that were the case he would most certainly post his results as an appendix to the chapter. They met Gorthius and his men, and the bard who had always been a member of the Hidden Circle was once again told Gorthius’s whole story about the Circle, Bratsol, H’Thark and so forth. He accepted to find H’Thark and deliver the lockpicks to him. This was the first of seven small quests given by NPCs in the Wilderness of Valeia. They waved goodbye to the small band of men and went on. They had not walked for long before a series of yells were heard. The three jade thieves had murdered Gorthius. A veritable rain of fire falling from the sky on the zenmaster’s command ended their lives, remarkably without even singeing the assassin’s contract signed by the High Priestess Elyssia of the Snake Cult that one of the thieves had in his pocket. Thus Valeia tavern tip number 4 (as written on Page eight of the Best Tips (reply named “List of the advice given by town governors and barkeepers”)) came true thus triggering the possibility of getting the tip in the bar. They turned north from Bersault again. They encountered two treasure chests on the way and when they had virtually reached Valeia again Mon the Sculz came out of the woods and attacked the party. Pitying him a bit that he was programmed by mythological founding father of the Gael Serran the almost almighty D.W.Bradley to attack them even though he did not stand a chance, the warlock fried him with an incinerate spell. The party still had to visit Bilbump before they could rest for the night. But to see him they would have to follow the old cemetery road past a most unpleasant figure: The Traveler. Knowing full well that they could always tree surf past him, they also knew this would yield them nothing. Once they had finished the crypt, Gareth would be killed anyway by this stranger. Gareth would also die even if they killed his assassin, the Traveler straight away. Gareth was in any case doomed so the party had to make the best of it: They walked up to the traveler who asked them whether or not Gareth was still in Valeia. The barbarian answered yes to the question and got the 50 experience point bonus. (Not that he needed it). The spellcasters of the party then singed, froze, and bombarded the Traveler to ashes with a couple of hefty storm spells. He dropped his usual ankh and book of venom bite. Each party member also received an experience point bonus of around 5700 each. They had had to make a swift and decisive attack since the traveller starts disappearing once attacked. Leaving his smouldering remains of Grue Morde as the traveler was also known they walked on knowing that he would not later respawn as a part of the assassins quest since none of the party members were going to ascend to the role of assassin in this game. They quickly reached Bilbump’s house and talked with him about the far away Stouts, the cemetery and his brother. The barbarian got a rat pie to give to Bilbump’s brother Rethpian. This was the second of seven small quests given by NPC’s in the Wilderness of Valeia. The last ray of sunlight was waning in the sky and the sky was aglow with glowflies when the party reached Valeia. They knocked on the door of the armoury until the sleepy Smitty finally opened up the door. His grumpy face turned into one big smile when he heard of Mon the Sculz’s most desired demise. He thanked the adventurers and asked them to investigate Toad Village to see what was going on there. Thus ended the first of three quests posed by the warriors guild in Valeia. They lodged at the inn for the night, and fearing not so much pickpockets at the dreaded inn bug they double-checked their belongings (as depicted by the thorough, meticulous deity of the celestial Forum, legendary Radek on Page eight of the Best Tips (reply named “Vanishing items: an investigation”)) after checking in. Soon most party members were sound asleep (just like in Parliament ) but the valkyrie stayed by the window for a few minutes watching the thin clouds slowly sweeping across the starlight heavens. They were out on adventure again. Together. And that was good. Walking and exploring, sleeping under the stars (well if not tonight then soon) with the five others. They were Stackman’s adventurers and they were out on Stackman’s adventures. That was a wonderful treat indeed. Yet something puzzled her. Something she could not quite fathom or grasp. She could not tell whether this gnawing in her mind was an omen of something good or bad. She did not think it was bad. She did not hope so. She fell asleep not troubled but slightly wary. And weary for that matter, for it had been a long day of marching. NPCs encountered: Gorthius reacts to following words: Valeia, Gorthius, Hidden Circle, Cemetery, Temple, Snake Cult, Graveyard, Serpent Temple, Ishad N’ha, H’Thark, Snake, Nymph Lake, Gypsy, Fortune, Gypsies, Dodger, Bratsol, Stout, Crypt, Stout Mine, Stout Mines, Harespia, Mine, Stouts, Mines, Drink, Fortune Teller, Snakes. With ”H’Thark” being the word that triggers the important action (the H’Thark quest and the following assassination of Gorthius himself), (as also explained by legendary Wyvern on page two of the Best Tips (reply named “Here's a quick shortcut to NPC discussions”)) The Traveler reacts to following words: Valeia, Gareth, Information, Bussinesss, Cemetery, Temple, Snake Cult, Graveyard, Serpent Temple, Ishad N’ha, Snake, Nymph Lake, Snake Temple, Crypt, Bersault, Serpent, Naga, Cet, Mavin, Anephas, Kerah, Help, Servant, Mavin Sword, Gael Serran, Death. Bilbump reacts to following words: Cemetery, Graveyard, Stout, Brother, Crypt, Bilbump, Stout Mine, Rethpian, Get In, Rat Pie, Statue, Boogre, Secret, Brinbath, Stout King, Stout Mines, Freyedies, Mine, Mines, King. With ”brother” being the word that triggers the important action (the rat pie quest and the disclosure of the way to open the crypt). Appendix A: Experiment concerning Gorthius and the jade thieves 1) One can at any given moment kill any of the jade thieves without triggering the animosity of the others and of Gorthius. The kill does not have to be the result of just one blow. 2) The death of Gorthius will trigger the animosity of both him and the jade thieves. It does not matter if his death is the result of an attack on him or an ”accidental” death such as teleporting him into water and drowning him. If Gorthius is killed Elyssia’s scroll will not be left behind. 3) The jade thieves’ killing Gorthius occurs only when the word ”H’Thark” has been spoken to Gorthius and his mission has been accepted. Until the mission is accepted with a ”yes” one can freely leave the area without Gorthius’s being killed. 4) What then triggers the fight is Gorthius’s utterance ”Travel with care my friends”. Once he speaks those words he is killed. He speaks the words when one comes a certain distance from him. This happens no matter if one walks a distance away, teleports og vanishes away, or even if one teleports Gorthius away. He is then automatically killed whereever he is. The scroll appears along with the animosity of the remaining jade thieves. Furthermore Gorthius is also killed even if the jade thieves have already been killed. __________________ Moderation is good so long as it is not exaggerated!

07-16-2003, 11:07 PM	#3
Bungleau 40th Level Warrior Join Date: October 29, 2001 Location: Western Wilds of Michigan Posts: 11,752	I am impressed! I can't wait to read the next chapter, just above [img]smile.gif[/img] And I'm learning things, too... __________________ B Save Early, Save Often Save Before, Save After Two-Star General, Spelling Soldiers -+-+-+ Give 'em a hug one more time. It might be the last.

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07-16-2003, 02:36 AM	#2
whiteknight Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: July 6, 2003 Location: new zealand Age: 60 Posts: 39	nice one bsftcs!!!!!!!! I did'nt know going out side of the normal game lines would be so riverting(ie.going to the crypt first etc etc)you certainly have sparked my imgination can't wait for the next stackman episode hooo arrrr!!!!! whiteknight.. [img]smile.gif[/img]

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