Story HourPost your ongoing tales from your campaigns, and read those from others for inspiration. Lots of other RPG boards post "Story Hours", but this is where it started!
The trip to Shorult from the lair is about 140 miles; it’s a 35-hour journey by way of the Sea Hag, and really, how else are our heroes going to travel? As usual, on the way they pass Chanticleer around. (They are pirates, after all, and she is the self-appointed ship’s tail. Though- granted- there hasn’t really been much piracy yet.) Their lair needs supplies and they’re low on money; and, even more important, the group’s getting bored. It’s time to go pirating- unless something better comes along, Malford thinks.
Haart, naturally, is morose, but it’s hard to read his expression now that he’s missing the lower half of his face. He has grown grotesque to look upon; his face really is a mess. Galliger snickers every time he sees it; Lyr just sees it as a sign of the gods’ capriciousness.
As the vessel sails towards the town, Dexter has a strange dream in which he sees an ancient text- he gets the impression that it’s the very first copy of the Galadron- falling into vague evil hands, and he sees the famous witch-hunter Hendrick in the pirates’ lair. When
Upon reaching Shorult our heroes set about provisioning, drinking and buying supplies. Dexter wanders the streets thoughtfully on his own, increasingly bitter at the treatment the others are giving him, especially Galliger. I thought he was my friend, Dex thinks bitterly. But since I turned to the Light, he’s been so hateful to me! Doesn’t he understand- I had no choice, they tortured me! They would have killed me! And I’m sure they have a way to monitor me- they’ll know if I go back on it.!
Struggling with his own inner demons, the young Dexter spends a lot of time by himself.
The elves of Gorel- for Shorult is one of the coastal towns of Gorel- are clearly not happy to have a strong Forinthian presence garrisoning their island. The Law of the Light is strictly enforced; at one point Chanti purses her lips and glares angrily as an elf is whipped for speaking the name of Galador. Our heroes don’t like it, especially being- again, except for Dexter and perhaps Rajah- avowed enemies of the Light. Finding that there’s a new Galadorian temple being built in town, our heroes scout the scene and consider some sabotage; but being easily distracted by elfin wine, they never quite get to it.
While they drink in a local human bar, an interested party catches site of Rajah. Taking care not to be noticed, he simply observes, drinking his beer. Elcruche will want to hear about this; it’s about time they picked up the scent again!
After a few nights in Shorult, Malford tells the group that he’s found an intriguing opportunity. “I was contacted by a merchant named Esel,” he tells the others, “who would like to hire us for an interesting-sounding job. Seems there’s this pyramid that only emerges from the water every seventeen years for a few weeks, and he’s interested in obtaining historical artifacts from it.” He glances around. “It’s not piracy, but I think that it might be even more lucrative. It’s a good way to start.”
So they set sail for the Aquan Pyramid, and in its honor Chanti composes a new sea chantey:
A magical pyramid
On a cold, briny sea
Full o’ treasure lay in wait
For my companions an’ me
So we adventured forth
Into treacherous depths
Burt thanks to my faith
My confidence never left
Our success was inevitable
Due to this I doth speak
Twas the fact that we were favored
By our beloved god Bleak.
Thanks to Bleak, Bleak, Bleak
(clap, clap, clap, clap)
I give my thanks to Bleak
For he’ll protect my always
In all the adventures I’ll seek!
With the exception of Dexter, everyone claps along. Galliger seems both proud of Chanti and eager to use her to slake his lust, and as always she’s willing to accommodate him. He is her priest, after all.
And Captain Malford frowns to himself. How long will someone like Galliger be content to be first mate if he starts to have a dedicated following?
So Malford begins a little project to split Chanti from Galliger. Secretly, when she’s alone, he uses a combination of phantasmal force and audible glamer* to send her a ‘visitation’ from Bleak... and to tell her that Galliger is straying from the path and must be watched.
Meanwhile, as they traveled towards the Pyramid, another vessel, colored to match the water and with a very specialized, low-profile hull, sleekly pulled from a hidden cove not far out of Shorult. Elcruche and his cronies were in pursuit of their target, still and always.
*That’s silent image and ghost sound these days, or at least roughly so.
All right, Jeff, I'll put this behind spoiler tags for everyone who doesn't want to know the secrets too soon (and haven't read about the backstory elsewhere, where bits of it are recounted)... click and drag to reveal the answers to all your questions.
Fuligin, of course, was in Darkhold. Cydra, as it turned out, was sort of a simulation of a world engineered by the Master of Darkness and powered by the three deities who'd been empowered in Darkhold (Froth, Zelman and Garnet). Zelman managed to sneak his staff out and thereby seek aid (from pcs, naturally). They went to Darkhold- found the entrance via Zelman's staff- and Lester accidentally freed Fuligin, who wreaked havoc on Cydra and singlehandedly summoned enough evil outsiders that he depopulated Dorhaus of almost everything that wasn't evil, whether it was man, animal or plant. "Kill it!" was his command. Our heroes went back in time with the aid of the surviving Face Dancers and the Master of Darkhold to gather the necessary components to create a new Nature to replace the one that Tharizdun devoured. It was only at the moment of Nature's original genesis that Tharizdun could be bound.
Nature was not yet entirely extinguished; a few smoldering cinders were all that remained of the multiverse, guarded by the Angels of the Apocalypse. I'll tell you the rest later, I have to go back to work.
The pcs- along with Scytale- ran the gauntlet, but the Angels of the Apocalypse and Tharizdun were alerted. They (the pcs) fought their way through various time periods, gathering up a number of necessary items, such as a huge chunk of Scanliana as it was exploded, and beat their way past Felenga, only failing to attain the Diamond Sword of Raldese. They made it back to Darkhold, where the Master engineered a new Genesis of Nature and succeeding in binding Tharizdun again. This cut Fuligin off from the source of most of his power and drove him near-catatonic, so that when the pcs attacked him again they found him defeatable.
While our heroes were time-hopping through Oerth, Boccob became aware of them and did the math. History began changing. The Face Dancers became aware of the pcs as well and messed with them. In the end, they inadvertently brough Boccob, Carella, Tade (who didn't die in this alternate history) and some other deities through- they're now in Cydra.
Felenga, meanwhile, had dispatched by Tharizdun to try to follow the pcs. Of course, he was too smart to enter Darkhold- until a tunnel was opened by a combination of the Champion of Elemental Evil and the four Princes of Elemental Evil. This 'tunnel' through time and dimension allowed Felenga entry into Cydra from the end of the previous multiverse.
Note for the curious: We played this game session on Nov. 21, 1993. The game ran from 11/16/95 O.L.G. to 11/20/95 O.L.G., some of which was covered in the last update.
The Aquan Pyramid thrust from the sea, coming to a point some 180’ above the waterline. The north face bore eroded glyphs whose meaning was lost on our heroes.
“Let’s go,” said Malford.
They found an entrance about 130’ up. The pyramid was wet and covered in barnacles and sea growths; it wasn’t an easy climb, but it was far from impossible. The entrance was a four foot diameter circular hall, requiring our heroes to crouch as they moved in to a chamber no larger than 10’x15’. Here the ceiling rose to a comfortable level. Water was everywhere; a starfish was on the floor, and wet gravel and a couple of dead fish as well. The walls had faded murals painted in them, obscured by time but apparently showing some sort of magnificent castle. Two doors led out.
Our heroes began exploring by opening the south door.
There were a lot of shellfish attached to the floors and walls; water was everywhere, and it seemed that silt and sand had managed to intrude a surprising distance into the place. A large throne was along the far wall. As our heroes fiddled with things, Chanti uncovered a hidden switch built into one of the throne’s armrests, and the wall behind it swung away, revealing a secret passage. Cautiously, the party moved down the revealed hallway. At the end of it-
Four gargoyles sprang at the party. None of whom, as of yet, had magic weapons.*
The battle was vicious- though the party’s weapons bounced off, a combination of Bleak’s cause wounds spells (via Galliger), Malford and Urick’s mage spells, Lyr’s magic stone and Rajah’s tremendous roar, which stuns the gargoyles for an instant, finally managed to carry the day. Our heroes were battered and bruised but eager to continue on. A search after the battle turned up a fair amount of coin and a gem, as well as a longsword.
“It’s magic,” Malford told them after a moment.
“Good!” Chanti grinned. “I need a magic sword!”
Haart tried to protest but only gurgled. Everyone ignored him, except Dexter, who gulped as he tried not to vomit at the hideously maimed gnome’s visage. Chanticleer took the sword.
They looked around for another exit. At first they didn’t see one; then, after a search for secret doors, they found another hidden passage. This one led to a room holding a staircase leading down.
Dexter hesitated. “If we go far enough down...”
Captain Malford nodded. “We might hit water.”
The group silently contemplated this idea for a moment, then began their descent. Upon reaching the stairs’ termination about 20’ down in the next level, they found themselves in a grey-white chamber, glistening with moisture. The ceiling rose to a high peak 20’ above them. The walls were covered in the muck of the sea, green and slimy. Other than the steps they’d come down, there was nothing in the room- no furnishings, no ornamentation, no exits.
“Secret doors?” Lyr said.
The party searched around and, sure enough, after clearing some of the muck away they found a cleverly hidden secret door in the room’s southwest corner. Haart made a choked gurgling sound, but nobody could tell what he meant. The group of adventurers popped open the secret door and found themselves looking into a corridor running to the east and west; almost immediately to the right of the secret door the hall turned right and headed out of sight around the corner.
Our heroes stepped through into the corridor. Looked both ways. Went left. As they moved warily forward, Malford was examining the walls and floor for traps and the others searched as well- and, 10’ from a northward turn in the passage, our heroes found another secret door.
“Good thing we were searching,” Rajah commented.
The party opened this secret door and found themselves looking into another chamber with sea silt and similar things in it. Scuttling towards them came a coral-colored arachnid, either crab or spider; but a single blow from Chanti with her new sword skewers it. “I wonder if we can eat it,” Lyr says hungrily. Chanti puts her boot on the thing and pulls her blade from it.
“Stairs,” Malford pronounces, gesturing grandly at the spiral stairs before them. There are also two doors. After a momentary debate, they elect to start on the left and work their way over- a tendency that the players will continue for many characters. The door is locked, but Malford is able to persuade it and it opens to a relatively clean chamber. Four figures stand stationary for an instant after the door opens, held is stasis, but then they’re moving! Opening the door has awakened them!
And the battle is joined, as four elite guardians begin their battle against the intruders.
*Remember, back in 2e they required a +1 or better weapon to hit. There was none of this ‘power through the damage reduction’ stuff- you just couldn’t. hurt them with nonmagical weapons, period.
Next Time: Our heroes, who are a party of eight 1st-4th level pcs, fight a deadly quartet of 7th-8th level bad guys!!
Battle was joined brutally, with no quarter to be offered or given.
A tall, imposing man with a human skull at his belt, Dreadsum grinned at our heroes. His teeth were filed to points.
From a bag at his side he drew forth a handful of sticks. He whispered something to them, then casts them down to the ground- and a handful of snakes started slithering towards our heroes.
Lyr recognized the symbol on his chest. She bore it as well. She must oppose a member of her own faith! But the idea did not disturb her- not at all. Hefting her harpoon, she hurled it at him. Survival of the fit, after all. Malford slipped back around the corner to hide for a backstab while Rajah and Haart leapt forward.
The enemy were not idle.
Urmads, a disheveled-looking man with unkempt hair, cast a shield before him. A metal orb was already orbiting him protectively. Colgurd sprand forward to engage the charging party members and singlehandedly brought them to a screeching halt. Steel rings off steel as he dueled Haart while Rajah nimbly dodged aside.
Then the last of the four, a half-elf named Galor, unleashed a lightning bolt, which careened through the party, blasting several of our heroes badly, but none fatally.
Colgurd staggered as a single mighty blow to the chest almost killed him.* Then he dropped as Rajah leaped on top of him like a tiger, clawing and tearing at him. Rising from his defeated foe, Rajah turned to Galor- who was the sudden victim of Malford’s backstab! “Aargh!” the half-elf screamed, staggering.
The snakes were swarming forward, but Chanti cleaved through them like they were paper. Galliger slashed forward with his axe, crying, “Oh, yeah, I’m afraid of your stupid religion. Yeah, let me show you just how afraid you make me. Here you go.” With that he hacked into Dreadsum. The two of them smashed at each other, Lyr moving in to snap at him as well with her whip. Finally, with a sneer, Galliger managed to drop him.
Dexter exercised his mental powers to try to confuse and disable Galor, who had brought a series of mirror images into being around himself. A blast of magic missiles from Urmads only succeeded in attracting Rajah’s attention, and moving like a tiger, the man struck out. In mere moments, the wild mage had gone down.
Now the odds were better: even elite, the two remaining guardians were only two. And indeed, in a few more moments, our heroes prevailed.
“Damn,” Malford crowed, “that was good! Those guys were tough- I wonder if they have any magic stuff?” With that, he happily cast detect magic. With a whoop of delight, the captain of the band of ruffians we’re referring to as our heroes scooped up the skull from Dreadsum’s belt, the orb that had orbited Urmads, a dagger from Galor and three potions. “We’ll divide the loot later,” he declared, stuffing everything into a bag for the time being.
Haart gurgled inexplicably.
Back to the stairs and down, then; our heroes descended cheerily but warily. (Chanti was already composing another sea chantey in her head.) But they descended into an abrupt and total blackness, despite their light sources.
Galliger, as a cleric of Bleak, could see in such darkness- even when caused by magic.** In fact, he was quite comfortable there, and he briefly considered attacking Lyr while she was at a disadvantage, but he decided against it. After all, he was pretty wounded after that fight. He scowled. The only thing that Galador’s clerics had that he wished for himself was... the ability to heal.
Well, to the Abyss with them. He could heal over time, or with the aid of some fool that he tricked. Like when he and Dexter had tricked that one cleric of the Light... He scowled again. Dexter was a sore spot for him. My first convert, and he turns to the Light! How dare he! I’ll sacrifice him for that, cut out his stinking heart!
Galliger, as we can see, was full of darkness and hate. Such is a priest of Bleak.
His reverie was interrupted when he notices shadows flitting towards the group. He tittered and shouted, “Oh no- undead! It would be a shame if they were drawn to followers of the Light!” And he pointed exaggeratedly at Dex in the darkness.
The shadows, alas, were drawn to life. They attacked everyone in a terrible swarm.
Again, battle was joined; and again our heroes fought for their lives. There were as many shadows as there were members of the party; and with only Chanti’s magic sword and the newfound magic dagger able to hit them, our heroes looked to be in trouble at first.
But Chanticleer was not to be underestimated; her prowess with the sword was extraordinary. And Malford, Dex and Urick had their own magical abilities with which to combat the shadows. Though our heroes’ strength was drained a bit at a time, the shadows started to fall one by one. It is the party that emerged victorious; the last shadow falls before the first of the party. But the group, for the most part, could barely hold themselves upright with their loads.
“We’d better retreat for now,” groaned Malford.
The party slowly tromped up the stairs and through the second level of the pyramid. Back to the top, feet dragging. “Galador’s balls, this is a long climb,” groaned Galliger. Finally, they reached the Sea Hag. After going back aboard, the group unloaded themselves and started to settle in to rest.
“We’re going back to Shorult,” Malford announced. “We need a little time, and now that we’ve gotten a little loot, we should identify it and split it up. Plus, we could probably stand to take on some supplies, now that we have a decent idea of what kind of environment we’re going to be in.” He clambered laboriously back up on deck and started barking orders.
Good, thought Dexter. He’s burning in anger. I can’t stand this anymore. Galliger’s making me furious- he doesn’t understand, I did what I had to, I had no choice!
Just then, Galliger said, “Hey Dex.”
“What?” snapped Dexter.
Galliger smiled at him. “Just don’t forget that you gave your soul to Bleak already. Go ahead and worship Galador all you want. But just remember that Bleak owns you. And never forget, whenever you pray to the Light, exactly who gets you when you die.” He gave Dexter a huge toothy smile. “Good night.” And with that, he left to go to his quarters.
Dex, cold to his bones, thought, He’s right.
*39 hp in one shot. I believe this must have been a critical hit.
**Granted power of priests of Bleak. I had no generic clerics in 2e; everyone was a specialty priest.
Next Time: Betrayal! Which pc will attack which other pc???
I remember that blasted Damage Reduction stuff. It was especially annoying in Balder's Gate II when you had to fight the Pit Fiend. I swear, you'd think a Balor would be able to hit that guy. But nooo, his super powerful claws couldn't hurt the Devil. Naturally, though, the Pit Fiend could hurt him.
I'm so glad they changed that for 3rd and adjusted it more for 3.5.
“I need some new spells,” announced Malford. “The three of us are going to get some once we get back to Shorult.”
He, Dexter and Galiger were in his cabin a few hours out of Shorult.
“Why us?” sneered Galiger.
“Because I’m the captain and I said so,” snapped Malford, clearly in a bit of a foul temper. Softening his tone, he added, “Because we each have certain talents germane to the operation.”
Galiger nodded reluctantly, then glared at Dexter. “I you mess this up, I’ll kill you, kid,” he said with a smile.
***
Shorult- an elven tree town. With a population small enough that crime was unusual. But hey, how are you gonna get what you need if you don’t take it? By the time it was noticed, Malford hoped, they’d be gone anyway. A few days, maybe half a week at most, and they’d be gone.
A little information gathering to track down a local wizard, followed by the application of the three pirates’ unique abilities- Dexter’s mind-influencing powers, Malford’s knowledge of magic and ability to get around traps, and Galiger’s ability to influence undead guardians- led quickly to a murdered wizard and a pilfered spellbook.
“Well, I guess I won’t kill you yet,” Galiger said half-jokingly to Dexter as they walked through the streets of town.
“That’s it!” Dexter cried. He swung around, face crimson, and exploded into psionic fury on Galiger, blasting his memories and experiences away in a mindwipe! Galiger shrieked and staggered as his powers, his mental faculties, his very experiences started to melt away!
Savagely, Dexter continued his psionic attack. “Dexter, Galiger, stop!” Malford shouted, but to no avail. Galiger howled and brought a field of darkness into being around all of them.
Got to stop them, Malford thought wildly. He tumbled back out of the darkness and snapped off the words to a sleep spell.
Within the darkness, the sound of falling bodies.
Now what? Malford wondered grimly.
***
With a slow groan, Galiger opened his eyes.
He was in an alley, off the main street. Folded atop his chest was a note. A raging void was throbbing in his brain, where he could sense the absence of things in his mind, things that were there just hours ago. The absence of spells he once could cast...
His eyes stinging with tears, he read the letter, then cast it aside. Vicious anger burned in his heart and he stormed back to the Sea Hag.
“Where are the Captain and Dexter?” asked Lyr, perceiving something to be the matter from Galiger’s mien.
“Shut up, bitch,” growled Galiger. He stormed into his cabin.
Urick and Lyr exchanged a glance.
A few moments later Galiger emerged, struggling to close a robe over his body, which had flask after flask of oil strapped to it.
“What...?” Chanti gasped.
”The Captain and Dexter have betrayed us,” Galiger shouted at the crew. “They won’t be back. The ship should leave as soon as possible! Get out of Shorult in case they turn us in!”
“What?”
“I’m going to burn down the Church of Galador,” finished Galiger. “Hopefully I’ll be back. Be ready to cast off soon. If I’m not back in an hour I didn’t make it and get out of here.”
Galiger stomped off.
Chanti let out a low whistle.
“What the hell just happened?” Urick wondered in amazement.
***
As the sun went down the sky in the west turned orange and then pink, and so did the sky in the east; but to the east it was the smoke rising from the ruin of the Galadorian temple. How many lives were lost in the conflagration? Who knows- but not more than one in ten was a native elf of Gorel; the rest were almost all humans of Forinthia.
And, of course, one human cleric of Bleak, his remains at the center of the entire thing, dozens of flasks of oil exploded all over his body.
Chanticleer’s voice rose over the sound of the waves in a newly-composed chantey:
I once knew a priest named Galiger,
A heroic one was he;
He fought followers of Galador,
Wherever they may be.
Yet a traitor stabbed him in the back,
And made his soul turn deepest black,
But before he died he did attack
A temple in the name of Bleak!
Galiger, the servant of Bleak-
He never turned the other cheek!
The name of Bleak he’d always shriek!
His tale of which I’ll forever speak!
And in trying times, when I feel weak
I’ll remember Galiger,
The faithful servant of Bleak.
As the Sea Hag left the isle of Gorel behind again, heading (for lack of a better destination) back to the Aquan Pyramid, the pillar of smoke rose into the sky, lit from below by the inferno that was Galiger’s last action. Standing on deck, looking back, Lyr and Urick watched in silence for quite some time.
“What do you think really happened?” wondered Urick.
”I don’t know.”
“We’re directionless now.”
“I know.”
“We don’t even have a captain,” Urick complained.
”I know. We’ll have to decide on one, and on what to do with ourselves.”
Here is a rough breakdown of the major untold 'story arcs' to be told from the earlier games... also largely for my organizational benefit.
Farenth's Game
The Bad Man of the Woods
The Hill of Skulls
The Dragon
The College Years
Resurrection
Far Lands
The Epic of Fuligin
Gaea's Mantle
Against the Horrors
The Gates of Firestorm Peak
The Hatching Cave
Orcs and Stuff
Anvarquest
Linear Mode
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