The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 12/5/08

The Good:

For the past ten minutes, an invisible assailant had been striking at party members. Cuppies deduced that it had been a prisoner in the apparently empty prison cell they had opened. An invisible stalker. Alexander and Ekerrath were bleeding from wounds on their arms and shoulders where the creature had struck.



“If we don’t stop this thing, it’s going to kill us, guys,” said Rudy.



Leenie pulled out rope from her pack. She quickly tied it across the hallway while the party members distracted the creature. Shortly afterwards, a thump was heard near the ropes.



“It’s here!” shouted Leenia.



Organizing quickly, the party members surrounded the invisible assailant and ensured it would never hurt anyone…again.





The Bad:


The Castle Amber had been full of surprises – equally good and bad. The party had dined on a meal that made them smarter, weaker, less wise, less skilled or more skilled. They walked through a room filled with tiles that granted Leenia the ability to see in the dark. Each challenge and trap appeared to equally bestow a boon or a bane on the adventurer willing to take a risk.



And now they found themselves in a laboratory filled with various urns used for making magical golem constructs. Their wizard Cuppies advised them that the urns radiated magic. But the party was wiser now. They had played the game of chance too many times with the amber family and knew the risks.



“Leave them,” said Cuppies. “We don’t know what’s in them.”



“To hell with that,” said the warlord. “Everything to date has had either a good or bad reaction. There are four urns here.. That suggests that two of these earns will bestow a good magical effect, and two will bestow a bad one. Castle Amber has already reduced my strength to that of an elf. All my years of training were wasted. I’ve got little else to lose. I’m taking the risk.”



“Wait. So you’re going to put your fingers in an urn,” asked Ekerrath doubtfully.



“Yes,” answered Alexander, examining the four urns thoughtfully.



“This is ill-advised,” murmured Leenia.

“Let’s see!” grinned Rudy.



“This one, I think,” said Alexander, settling on an urn. “Here we go.”



“I’ll be ready to heal you, if you survive. Though this is a terrible idea,” said Leenia.



Alexander thrust his left hand into the urn. The party waited. Nothing happened. “Huh. Let’s see what’s at the bottom.”



“You didn’t lose your hand. Are you sure you want to push further?” asked the dragonborne.



“Yes, damnit,” answered Alexander, thrusting his entire arm to the forearm into into the urn of faintly glowing liquid. He felt the bottom. There was nothing. Sighing, he pulled his arm out of the urn.



A new light began to fill the room. The warlock’s arm was glowing brightly, removing any remaining shadows.



“Uh. You’re glowing, Alexander,” commented Cuppies.



“Oh hell..” muttered Alexander, wiping the fluid off his arm with a rag. But the arm continued to glow brightly.



Rudy shook his head. Sneaking about and being stealthy with this group was about to get a lot more difficult. The bad guys could see the warlord coming from a mile off.





The Ugly:



The cabin looked peaceful and empty. Cautiously, the adventurers approached. Seeing no sign of enemy, they entered the structure. Mara scrambled up a porch post and took position on the roof of the log cabin. Inside, the heroes quickly searched the cabin for signs of the sorceress’ evil apprentice. An apprentice cursed with lycanthropy who now hunted innocent villagers. A monster that had to be shut down. The party searched the cabin interior. A bed, a sleeping roll. Dishes and utensils on the table gave the appearance that someone had been here quite recently. But now the place was empty.



“I don’t see anything here,” said Ekerrath.



Outside, on the roof of the cabin, Mara used her elven sight to scan the timber line. In the corner of her eye, she noticed some movement. A hand, perhaps, pointing to the cabin.

“Hey, guys – I think I see ---“



It was too late. The apprentice had successfully finished the fireball spell from where he hid within the bushes. Mara watched helplessly as a huge ball of fire streamed right into the entrance to the cabin.



The world was engulfed in flames.







Player Quotes:





(1) Josh: You enter a prison. A long hallway is marked my reinforced doors on either side. Within one cell you see a man wearing a smock and holding a paintbrush. Before him is an easel with a painting in progress. He occasionally stops to stare intently at the well. The prison door is unlocked.
Leenia: I approach the man. Why are you painting the wall? Who are you?
Man: I love the moon. It has power over me.
Cuppies: Do you like chaps?

(2) Alexander (to the party): Why would the Amber family build a prison that holds no prisoners?
Adam: Have you MET this family?! They’re nuts!

(3) Josh: You enter an alchemist’s room filled with various vials, beakers and alchemic apparatus.
Leenia: Are the beakers full?
Josh: Yes. Some are filled with glowing liquid.
Leenia: I take the filled beakers and leave the room.
Josh: The moment you pass through the doorway, the liquid stops glowing and turns into a dull murky substance.
Leenia: Hey guys! These are magical beakers!

(4) Josh: You can’t avoid the black dust and eventually each of you fall into a deep slumber. You each have vivid personalized dreams.
Cuppies: I dreamt I was in a dungeon with no pants on.

(5) Leenia: I invoke the power of my God. Sean.
Josh: No.
Leenia: Sinbad?
Josh: No.
Leenia: Sandra?
Josh (exasperated): No! Listen, from now on you need to be able to say the name of your Gods in order to invoke their powers. You’re a cleric!

(6) Josh: The creatures are thirty feet away on a slope. This is difficult terrain here.
Adam: Where are the creatures?
Mike (while connected to the internet at an airport terminal): Over there, Adam. Thirty feet away. With difficult terrain here.
Josh: This guy is 100 miles away and he gets it better than you!

(7) Adam paces the room and stops at Josh’s bookshelf. He pulls a hardbound book from the shelf.
Adam: “Douglas Adams. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy. Nice. I have this at home in paperback..”
Bob: Hah. That’s a timeless classic. Really one for future generations to read and cherish. A real gem.
Adam: …in my bathroom.

(8) Josh: With a final swing, Rudy finishes the last Ghuul. You peer over the dark pit, looking downward. You can see vague shapes moving in the distance below. Countless ghuuls, hungering for the flesh of the living.
Leenia (whispered): What’s down there?
Josh: A portal to the land of the Ghuuls…
Bob: aka.. Delaware.