 Feb 10th 8:07 pm |
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Past Games... Who What When Where & campaign notes...
Happy HolyDays!
Dec 6th: Saint Nikolaus Day
Dec 10th 2001: Start of Hanukkah
Dec 14th 2001: Eid-el-Fitr (End of Ramadan)
Dec 14 - 24th: Saturnalia (Roman ~ Grain ~ Sickle)
(The 10 days before The Solstice - fixed erroneously to Julian calendar dates)
Dec 21st 2001 @ 11:22 PST: The Actual Winter Solstice
Birthday of Mithra (Persian)
Rebirth of Sol Invictus (Syrian)
Celebertation of Baal (Phoenician)
Dec 25th: The date of the Winter Solstice in 46 BC when the Roman Julian calendar was set.
Dies Natalis Invictus Solis (Eclectic Holiday cooked up by Emperor Aurelian in AD 274/5)
Christmas (Emperor Constantine declared 'Feast of the Nativity' to be Christian in AD 336)
Dec 25th - Jan 6th; 12 Rauhnächte or Wild Nights...1st 12 nights of winter
Dec 26th: Boxing Day
Dec 26th - Jan 1st: Kwanzaa
Jan 1st: New Years Day - Start of modern Solar Year calendar
Jan 6th: Epiphany / 3 Kings Day (Older Celebration of Jesus' Birth before Roman assimilation ~ Jesus' Babtism ~ visitation of the Magi)
Jan 6th; 12th day of Christmas
Dinner @ 6ish - The Soup Exchange Buffet 3988 Barranca Pkwy - 949/551-2113 Culver & Barranca by Mervyns's / Kinko's     |
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The Party has been rounded up
by the King with the remnants of the Fire Knives. It is hoped
that the Princess will care enough to set the record straight,
but they have heard from the city guard that the documents the
party held and their actions have enveloped them in a cloak of
guilt. It is of the opinon of the crown that they work for the
Zentarium. They have heard they will be hung as a collective
group in the morning... All attemps to get the guards to hear
the party's pleads were ignored, and the party was in fact executed;
hoods, nooses, stumps, and extra long ropes; Karlock attempted
to pull something off at the moment of execution but was not
necessary. The letter of the law was followed, but the party
live on, wisked away to be sent off with the gratitude and reward
of the Princess, gratitude and treasure of the Theives Guild,
and assistance and warning of the Harpers to cahnge their names
and move west out of the reach of the Zentharium. The Princess
gave each of the party a bag of Tricrowns, The head of the Theives
guild made each an honorary member with a powerful magic ring
that grants dexterity and infravision. The mysterious woman of
the Harpers gave the party a message and instructions to seek
the inn keeper at Gnoll Pass, an a herd of fresh mounts.
On the road west, the part was ambushed by 8 Gnolls. Most of
the horses startled, and the party killed all 8 easily.
A cave was found for the night. Aswansea went to check the back
of the cave and was snatched by a large lizard, which dragged
her down a hole into the rubble pile at the caved in cavern.
Zedfir chased in wraith form and attempted to stop the lizard,
but failed. The Party followed down the tunnel on hands &
knees; only to be attacked by a nest of giant ants, badly stinging
and biting them. Once the ants were killed, the Party has to
decide if they should seek the body of Aswansea or not...
and
going to see 
WestPark @ 8The party healed up as best it could after getting Smadar resurected - for a price - at th e Church of Helm. Karlock stayed and kept her cared for while the rest of the troop went back into the underworld. Several traps were reset, andthe bodies from the recent battles were all gone; 3 - and then 2 more guards of Aratha's Fire Knives fought & died before the team. 2 mercinary giants were pitched against the group, and failed to negotiate a reasonable fee for turning their services... They were killed as well. A dwarf named Tharkun, unusually skilled in magic, was found in a cell, liberated and allowed to help join the party in finding the Princess who he was brought in with. A hidden passage gave access to several rooms, including teh Princess' cell; she was set free and went from apresciaive to quite a demanding bitch as she convinced the party to stop a plot to kill her father, the King of Cormier, that very day. After some wraith like reconisance by Zedfir, the party walked into the main hall of the 'king' of the Fire Knives. He charmed almost all of the party into submission, when the Cormier special forces dropped through th eroof and engaged in battle. The party fought well against the Cormierian special forces, under the spell to defend Aratha... except for Aswansea, who attemped to dispell the charme, and then proceeded to bash Aratha with her Mace. The Party was rounded up along with the remaining Fire Knives and Guards, and have been jailed individually for debriefing. A reward is anticipated from the King for saving the Princess, and from the Thieves Guild for ridding the underworld of Tilverton of it's Fire Knives infestation.
The party hid in a sewer corner for the day, healing up and waiting for dark. Karlock slipped out the drain & returned to the Temple of Helm to prepare for a mass funeral for the Party, while the rest of the adventurers continued to explore the nest of the Fire Knives. Getting past several traps, avoiding encounters with beholders and spiders, the party found a barracks and had a pitched battle with over a dozen 'Knives' and a club wielding Giant who nearly killed several party members and did kill Smadar before the party finished him off. Tao is happy to have added a Giant's tooth and several 'Knives'" teeth to his strange collection.
The Fire Knives attacked the Theives Guild holdout with a rust monster. The Party killed them and the rust monster, then headed into the sewers. Marrissa lead the party, finding and disarming several traps along the way. Entering the domain of the Fire Knives they alerted a sentry who sounded the alarm. The party had to deal with 4 large trolls on alligators, who killed Puddle in melee. Continuing on the party was ambushed with a arrows and engaged a group of 'Knives'. Marrissa triggered a spear trap that hit her, and two other party members with spears. Karlock recklessly ran ahead across a bridge trap that dropped him like a stone into the deep sewers. Smadar called up a flame strike which burned the 'knives' and the game paused as the battle rages...
The party assembled in the Flagon Held High & ordered a Emerald Whip with 5 Black Moons. A man named Magill came out at closing time and invited the party to meet at dawn for a mission. An early wake up and meal, resulted in a poisoning and ambush capturing by a swarm of Zentharian ninjas. Separated and abused, the party are hauled off, individually interrogated and tortured...
Some of the party heads out from Tilverton to collect bat guanno. On the route the camp is visited by a lone traveler - who turns out to be one of the mauruding Zentharioum mages. A messy skirmish leaves one party member (Aurora) near death, but the group gets back to the Temple of the White Oak to heal & rest.
...Totally overloaded with options, the
party played rock-paper-scissors to decide & chose to hunt
Black Dragon rather than collect fertilizer or chase monkeys...
They hitched a ride on a wagon returning to the West lands...
Confronted by a goggling group of homeless
youth, Aswansea asked Marissa to gently negotiate passage for
their demand of a road 'toll'. Aurora seemed under the spell
of some hormonal toxin or imbalance and deliberately provoked
an attack from Marissa while she was trying to talk to the rowdy
youth... leading to a complete failure in negotiations and a
prompt slaughter of the majority of the young men.
A few nights later the party camped in
a giant spider preserve. The party was attacked by a swarm of
giant spiders; Aswansea, Tai Chi, Marissa and the farmer were
bitten before they were all killed. Aswansea saved Marissa and
TaiChi from fatal spider bite poisoning. Unfortunately the farmer
who was driving us west died from a bite; Karlock and Aswansea
flew him back to the Temple of Helm in Tilverton, where Karlock
convinced the priests to raise the farmer (with help of a sizable
donation from Aswansea). The successfully raised farmer was flown
home and the Party brought the wagon on to their hamlet. In the
hamlet A force of Cormierian guards were bloodied by 4 Zentharian
wizards; 2 died. 2 escaped... The party helped with first aid
& triage, before checking in with the local tavern about
the Dragon, and then going out to the farmer's house.
The locals have raised a 300 gp bounty
on the Dragon, and the farmer's family showed great hospitality
to the Party. The Party bought a calf and staked it out as bait
to draw the Dragon; after 3 nights the beast took the bait; Karlock
tagged it with a few magic missiles, but it dropped the veal
and flew away. Aswansea left a permanent light spell on the meadow
and the party tromped off into the marsh wetlands to hunt the
Dragon's lair.
A large tree stump was discovered, housing
a pair of giant toads. One bit Marissa and again Aswansea neutralized
poison after the toads were slaughtered. As a dry patch was rare
in the marsh, and the toads were dead, the Party camped on the
spot; after dark - a very large aquatic lizard surfaced near
by and began swimming toward the camp...
After Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner at Bill & Dev's @ 3:30 ~ 4ish till 5ish. |
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...The party camped for the night ...
fearing greatly and doubting their ability to survive the well
defended Ogre fortress... In the morning they abandoned their
horses and under invisability, flew in 3 trips to the shore of
the fortress on the lake. In silent shuttles the party staged
at the front door of the Ogre chieftains home. Marrissa slipped
in o slit his throat an cue when TaiChi invisibly pulled open
the door and the invisible party charged in. Unfortunately Tai
Chi was not on the same carpet trip when the plans were revised
so he waited for the throat cutting before opening the door.
Despite the confusion, the Party charged in invisibly when the
door opened; but the Ogre Mage also went invisible as the party
charged in. Battling fiercely with the Ogre guards and 'guests'
the Party was able to secure the Fist in the Ogre's treasure
closet.... Unfortunately the Ogre Mage was able to kill Zedfir
and do extensive damage with a blast of frost. Hakeem battled
fiercely with out sufficient regard to his own safety and was
wounded severely, dropping to the floor. Once the Fist was secured
the scroll to open the portal was unrolled a gate back to the
Temple of Helm in Tilverton appeared. The fist and the rest of
the Ogres treasure was hastily and greedily dumped through the
portal. Among the treasure was some sort of incendiary and flasks
of oil which caught the room on fire. Steggels jumped through
the fire & portal, screaming in agony, despite his attempt
to use the unconscious Hakeem as a shield. The damage was severe
and Hakeem's unconscious body was fried to death. Aswansea shoved
the empty treasure chest over the fire and dragged the lifeless
body of Zedfir through the portal taking less heat damage. The
rest of the party got through and delivered the Fist to the Clerics
of Helm. The Clerics took the two bodies and were able to resurrect
Zedfir. Hakeem unfortunately failed the shock of resurrection
and was not saved. The Party divided up the meager amount of
Ogre treasure that made it through the portal with the Fist,
and went back to town to reprovison supplies and weapons. Hakeem
left no will so his meager wealth was claimed by Walker who said
Hakeem owed him cash, and his remains were left with the Church
of Helm as a martyr for the return of the Fist of Helm.
In chatting about town, the Party has
been offered a tasks of fetching bat guano by the canister for
gold by an alchemist, clearing a fishing hole's woods of nasty
tree monkeys for gold... and the black Dragon awaits hunting...
The party followed the leadership of shamed cleric Karlock a day & 1/2 ride to the Bowl Valley where the Fist of Helm was given to the Ogres. Extensive stealthy recon by invisible characters on Aswansea's flying carpet resulted in a complex and greatly debated plan of attack on the lake fort of the Ogres. Unfortunately the ability of Ogres to see with infravision resulted in an aborted mission and more discussion & debate... The reserve party was attacked by a hissing star fish like creature, then the party camped for the night ... fearing greatly and doubting their ability to survive the well defended Ogre fortress...
The players welcomed DANIEL
to play with the group for the first time.
Resuming mid-battle, the party killed
the huge Gollum and met the Necromancer in the Druid crypt. Chasing
him down stairs, more skeletons attacked Marrissa before the
party could beat them back or turn them. Crypt Wisps dropped
upon Aswansea who screamed like a school girl in evasion... finally
the Party took out the 14th level necromancer and returned to
town with the stolen Manual of Gollums. Avoiding
an attack of some creatures with slings along the road, the Party
returned the book, and hired on with the Temple of Helm to recover
a stolen alter piece. The church sends us out with a Dwarven
cleric (Karlock). A fighter who stopped a purse snatcher in the
streets was recruited to join the quest. (Puddle)
Some fear that the obvious racist antipathy
between Aswansea and the Helmish cleric Karlock may disrupt the
happy party. After a nights rest & last hot bath, the Party
plans to roll out of town in the morning... but Smadar has chosen
to settle down near Tilverton, and will try to re-establish the
Druid order of the White Oak east of town.
The players welcomed SHANE and
debated rule changes forced upon us by the DM. Changes in initiative
play to speed battles took some time... encumberance limits were
established to hold down the excessive flexibility of having
everything but the kitchen sink on us.
The Party continued to explore Tilverton,
tooling up and buying provisions. Possible leads include vanquishing
a small Black Dragon West of town, or dealing with a necromancer
who is violating and ancient Druid site and stole a new friend's
(Filani the Sage) tome on creating a gollum. The Party went to
the Druid grove and was attacked by Skeletons and a large Golem;
Then Alan had to go fast as he was late for a date!