The Prince of Despair: Chapter 3: The Blind Avatar

Today is Chapter One of the Adventurer's tale.  Everything before these moments have been a prelude and an intriduction to the main quest.



The Lady Justice's (an old goddess of an ancient time) gave the young paladin Diablosmack an unforgettable mission.  Free the slaves working in the dwarven vault.  The Goddess also left a precious artifact, the Holy Golden sword, whose true nature has evaded you so far.




You continue on your way to the next checkpoint to gather news and intelligence and supplies from Stone Haven.

After morning arrives, you were forced to move at quadruple pace.  The rumors of these mountains, tell tales of an unkillable evil that only comes out at night.  Preying on foolishly brave adventurers.

From the grueling pace everyone does a constitution check unless you have an endurance nwp. 6 damage

Stone Haven

Originally a treasure hold for seedy bandits, small group of survivors.  Not all of them are good, but there has been a treatise between the crooks, bandits, and peasants.  The primary goal of all is survival.


Blood curtling wail.  Banshees:  Said to be able to kill men in a single howl.  Many great warriors have been slain while wandering in night.  Their corpses were found with a layer of frost. 

Looking for a priest to heal them.  Get directed to a skinny man, in his late forties.  He may have been a great warrior in ages past, but the hardships of recent events left him a shell of his former self.  Only surviving priest is digging in the mines.  Eventually kicks them out d/t sword.  "You can't have an item like that"..."You'll draw them to us."  Another wail.

Pity
razor ring/Needle with vial of poison


Stench of decay and rotting flesh overwhelm your nostrils.
Montaque's Pass

-Party arrives at stone haven.  Ask a few questions to the bandit leader.  They hear a wail outside, dash outside to investigate (despite the tales of an unkillable evil).  They face a banshee, who kills half the party upon first death-emitting wail.  Gruelling combat ensues, the heroes are saved by a risky casting of Fireball by nathan's scroll, that is outside his capability of casting.  He succeeds on a roll of 4%.
-Sneak to montaque's pass
-Rogue sneaks his way in, to find a single bard tuning his instrument
-Bard is alerted to presence through alarm spell.
-Morbo runs to investigate, others follow.
-Paladin detects evil, revealing 5 ghouls surrounding them.
-Combat ensues, the team becomes victorious
-Bard is sarcastic and disgusted.
-Party beats him up, ties him up, strips him naked and questions him (all the while, breaking every single one of his limbs).

Nathan 11 fireball!
B lowe 26 "it will fly high in the air"
Robert 7  Bat creature!!!
Dan 22  I spit into his eye sockets,
Chris  13  Stealing, Key
James 29  attempt to turn. money

initiative



james 1
rob 2
nate 3
dan 6
Crabman
blow 6
Bat

chris 10


called shot in mouth

30


James 4
Blowe 4
ghoul
Rob 4
Nath 7
Chris 9
Dan 10

They descend a long set of stairs to a room with screeching.  It is a room filled with man-sized bats.  One is decapitated immediately by the paladin.  The other is befreinded by the druid.  The bat cries "blooooood" with each attack.

They hear scuttling from behind.  They close the door after them.  A crab-clawed hand erupts from the door as a crabman explodes from the splintered ruins of a door frame.  The crabman is immediately "tripped" from druid spell and destroyed in a single round.  They cook and eat the crabman

The Prince of Despair: Chapter 2: A Cry for Destiny

Goblins:  The weakest of the dark armies.  But what they lack in strength and cunning, they make up for it in their vast and eternal numbers.  They have been solely associated with the actual blight that has destroyed the lands, forest and natural inhabitants, though their methods are poorly understood.  Their hatred of nature has been a theme of all of the tales spun in the past generations.

Fight the Basilisk

Cloak of the Apprentice:  Detect Magic x 2/ day, Identify at will


Fight 16 goblins, win.  Find tower, climb tower.  Chris gets frozen by basalisk.  Dan stabs it to death.  Given plot hook to nhisdventure to free the slaves.  James was given the "Holy Avenger Sword".


Magnussen 15
Druid 10
Morbo 21
Faerun 10
Fontaine 7
Radcliffe


Items: 
Scrolls of identify 12 gp                                                             
Scroll of Fireburst p17 tome of magic 
Watery double trap
dont forget paladin protection
Ring of Hit Points

xp
Blowe 45
Morbo 20 "Strip them naked"
James 25 removal of necklace
Chris 75 Moving things forward
Robert 30


James 2
Blowe
Daniel
Basalisk
Robert

Destinyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Young Paladin
Quest for righteousness
Free the slaves from

The Prince of Despair: Chapter 1: A Grim Introduction

Three hundreds years ago, there was a rumor that started as personal accounts of a shadowy figure that stalked through graveyards, visiting the graves of the recently deceased.  It was always on moonless nights, the darkest nights of the lunar calendar, lurking by the gravestones and ancient mausoleum.

Sightings were frequent.  It was assumed that the dark figure was Death, admiring His handiwork. 

No one understood how terrible an omen this truly was.  The champions of light, the good armies and priests have experienced a reign of peace for centuries.  All the armies of darkness were overwhelmed and killed, in previous generations and were soon becoming myths and tales rather than being believed to be a true threat.

The seers and diviners were the only ones to understand the darkness that loomed ahead.  The stories foretold of an evil figure, labeled the Prince of Dread who would lead the evil armies to devour the lands.  They pleaded with kings and the villages to prepare for an onslaught, but nobody heeded their desperate warnings.  First it started as a blight that killed crops and destroyed the forests of the north.  Then the monsters from the tales of old returned to the lands, organized and cruel they began to raze villages and enslave all those that came in their paths.  First it was the ogres, then it was the orcs/goblins/and knolls.  Finally and most horribly came the undead, the most fearsome of the dark armies.  They were the most powerful. 

The armies were organized, methodical, and quick.  The seers foretold of a leader that has been gathering armies for centuries and planned for a critical moment to lay siege to The Continent.  Little is known of the Prince of Dread, other than the fact that he is said to be immortal. But oftentimes the tales of village folk can be inaccurate or at most only half-true

A great war ensued, taking place five years in the past.  The side of light gave a great resistance, but the numbers of the evil monsters and undead were too great.  The last fortress and haven of good fell only 1 year ago.  The side of good has lost and the bleak world is where the adventurers have found themselves.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Adventurers find themselves in a cage in a wagon.  They each were captured under different circumstances.  The wagon was on the path through the Flamespire Mountains on the way to the dwarven stronghold.  The dwarves of the north were the first to fall to the forces of the dead.  The stronghold was transformed to a great keep, where The Vault was a place where the Prince of Dread was hoarding all the magical items of the land. This was also a place where slaves were kept to delve deeper and deeper into the mines, in search of a great evil buried there for countless millenia.

Five strangers sit quietly, their hands bound and their resolve crushed.  There is a strong




The only items they find on their person are a dagger, a potion of strength, a scroll of fireball (but no memorized spells), and a faithful squire servant.

Faeran Altair cuts himself loose.  Then the others.  They discuss their plans only to be struck in the head by a monstrous hand.  They change to whispering, when they feel a sudden jolt and feel that the person guiding the car has gotten out to inspect the road.  Dan takes this opportunity to try to open the floor boards, to no success.  Robert looks at the situation and suggests that Fontaine squire pick up the wooden debris and hand them to the players, so that all of them could be equipped with weapons.  Morbo eventually feigns sickness in order to gain the guard's attention.  A large ogre surfaces to the front of the cart, his key jingling tauntingly in their face.  The guard then realizes.  That they are all equipped with weapons and punches Faeran in the face.  The squire runs to their aid, only to be knocked unconscious in a single blow. 

Morbo took this opportunity to grab the ogre and choke him unconscious in the meantime.  He then snags the keys, to allow for their escape.  They recover their goods on the front of the wagon and discover a locked chest.  They were on the mountainous path to the Dwarven vaults, which were being used to house magical items.  They find a warhammer of intricate design, a dagger, a cloak, and a bone necklace.




Morbo of the Mountain.  Flint and steel  21/21
Faeran Altair Dagger  8/10
Druid 11  BONUS Experience
Magnussun 15/17
Fontaine  Squire 23

Warhammer
Dagger
Cloak
Bone necklace

RPG Review: The Everquest Pen and Paper Roleplaying Game

As an avid gamer I've had the opportunity to play the original Everquest for PC.  It was a very addictive game for its time and I never really thought that I'd have that feeling of playing in a world plagued by griffin attacks and bard songs.  How wrong I was!  I was walking through a game hobby store and I spotted this gem in a pile of discount books and I was thrilled at the idea of playing in the world of Norrath.

The initial impression of the book is that it is roughly twice as thick as the 3rd edition D&D Player's Handbook.  It contains surprisingly well-done art from a variety of artists and art styles.  I really appreciate how much care they put into the layout and art.  I was really afraid that they would just steal a bunch of the art from the actual game and/or use video-game photos.

The book starts with a description of the setting.  I enjoyed how thorough the writers were in describing the major cities of the world.  It really set off a lot of the nostalgic feelings, basically reminding me of going to places that I've wandered and explored in the MMORPG.  This part of the book is very well done.  I say this because it is brief enough where it isn't tedious but it also has enough depth to let yourself get sunk into the setting.

The Everquest RPG is based on 3rd Ed D&D, with some major differences.  There are 14 races (Barbarian, Dark Elf, Dwarf, Erudite, Ogre, Troll...etc), and there are all the classes from the actual game.  From a rules perspective, one of the major differences is that spells are based on mana rather than a limited amount of castings per day.  There are a lot more casting classes in the EQ RPG (Bard, Beastlord, Cleric, Druid, Enchanter, Magician, Necromancer, Paladin, Ranger, Shadow Knight, Shaman, Wizard).  Also, each casting class has their own spell list which allows for more diversity that each role a class fills.

The character classes are a lot more balanced and group/party oriented than the actual game.  I think that they really invested a great deal of effort into game balance and the transition into a pen and paper RPG.  As an avid power gamer, I really had a challenge finding loopholes and broken rules (despite the large array of classes and spells).  Again, it just shows how much they invested into playtesting and is sheer evidence of a solid system.

Overall it is a revamped version of D&D with a change in classes and spellcasting.  It is a great adaptation that lets the players play their favorite part of the Everquest game.  So if you want to play a gnomish necromancer with a powerful skeleton "pet" companion, it's a definite possibility.

Reviewer's Rating:
Art/Presentation:  8.5/10
Fun/Entertainment:  9/10
Originality/Innovation: 6.5/10