The Realms of Enlightenment: The Grey Companions

[Blarkon Dragonslayer]

I sort of like that idea. (Using the NPC classes to buy off level adjustment) I've been toying with the idea of trying to do some PBEM or PBP DnD for some time, due to my lack of available local personnel, and I think I might just drop that one into the pot.

One other question though, leaps to mind. How much does it effect your planning, as DM, now that at least two of your characters can fly (or at least glide) at will? I've always found that it makes life very complex, once people hit the point where flying and teleportation effects start to become accessible.

And now, I will sit back and impatiently await the next glorious update.

 

[Jon Potter]

I sort of like that idea. (Using the NPC classes to buy off level adjustment) I've been toying with the idea of trying to do some PBEM or PBP DnD for some time, due to my lack of available local personnel, and I think I might just drop that one into the pot.

Well, there's room for exploitation by unscrupulous player, so I'd recommend caution. I actually favor the method of "buying off" level adjustment that's suggested in Unearthed Arcana.

One other question though, leaps to mind. How much does it effect your planning, as DM, now that at least two of your characters can fly (or at least glide) at will? I've always found that it makes life very complex, once people hit the point where flying and teleportation effects start to become accessible.

Well teleportation is another ball of wax entirely; one that I must admit I'm not looking forward to stumbling over in a few levels. Flight, however, is not the game breaker that many folks seem to think it is. In certain situations, it's very helpful, but in others - such as the ubiquitous dungeon environment - it's just this side of useless. If all of the PCs could fly it might be a bigger deal, but with it limited to one (or two if you count Gliding) then it just serves to isolate the flier from party support.

And now, I will sit back and impatiently await the next glorious update.

Yikes! I guess I owe a couple of updates if I'm going to keep up the post-a-day rate I promised. Let's see...

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #375a] A Leap of Faith

Ixin looked over at the far side of the chasm, judging the distance. It was simply too far for her to glide across. Unless she was higher...



"We could-," Morier began, gesturing emphatically at Huzair. Then his face fell and he added, "Oh... yeah, anti-magic field."

Ayremac unfurled his wings, critically studying the others appraisingly. He settled on the lanky wizard. "Huzair, get on now! Let's go!" He turned toward the chasm, poised to leap off.

"You sure about this?" Huzair asked as he grabbed hold of the holy warrior.

"Have faith," Ayremac responded, his expression grim as he pushed off and launched them into the air. He never realized how much the wizard smelled like smoke.

They fell for a moment then his wings caught the air, buoying them upward. His flight was graceful and might well have elicited impressed gasps from the others if everyone hadn't been so busy looking for some way to save themselves.

Ixin was busily climbing the rough wall, searching for a higher launch point.

Shamalin dropped to her knees at the edge of the chasm, the clank of her knee guards echoed by the opposite cliff face. "I don't think the time for praying is on us yet, priestess," Morier told her, then he saw what she was doing as she gathered up a fistful of gravel and scattered it over the side.

"I'm not praying! Perhaps there's an invisible bridge or island or...," she stopped and tried to discern what she'd just seen. The rocks and pebbles and dust had broadcast out into the void and she'd watched them fall intent on any changes in their trajectory that might hint at something unseen. And then they'd simply vanished. "There's something here!" she said excitedly.

"What've ye found, lass?" Karak asked, leaning over here shoulder. She hefted a rock.

"Watch!" she replied, tossing the stone into the chasm. It disappeared and at the same time Huzair yelped. Looking up, she saw that the wizard and Ayremac had landed on the opposite side and Huzair was rubbing his rump.

"Something hit me with a rock!" he grumbled loudly.

Shamalin grinned and got to her feet as Ixin sailed overhead, her wings carrying her easily across the chasm as Ayremac was poised to return. She landed beside them and turned to regard the three members of the Order who still remained on the opposite side of the chasm. Shamalin looked ready to step off into thin air.

"I believe I have rope in my bag. I could tie it -" Huzair stopped with the flap of his Handy Haversack open revealing the bag's empty interior. "Damned anti-magic field," he cursed at Ayremac.



"I've figured it out," Shamalin said to no one in particular. "This is a test of faith."

And she stepped off. She tottered in the air for a moment and then fell like a half-elf encased in 100 pounds of steel. Morier cried a warning and reached for her trailing arm, but he was too slow and then she was gone.

Literally.

She reappeared with a clatter on the far ledge beside Huzair. Ixin looked at her in disbelief, shaking her horned head.

"Wux pothoc vaecaesin-ir," she hissed and Huzair nodded.

"You can say that again," he muttered and Shamalin caught his eye. He explained to her, "She says you're one crazy elf and I think she's probably right."



A wave of energy coursed through their bodies as they passed through the portal. Their vision blurred momentarily and the sensation of falling rapidly filled them. All at once, their senses snapped back to normal and they found themselves resting on an the bottom half of an enormous shell, bobbing on a limitless pool of water. The rune of water lined the edge of the clamshell.

The sky above was bleak and featureless. There were no structures or land masses to be seen above the waterline - but thick, colorful coral reefs grew mazelike in the depths. The water itself seemed boundless and clear as crystal, illuminated with blue and green light filtering up from the depths. Ayremac peered over the side, but it was difficult to determine the actual depth. At a guess, he figured it to be just shy of a 100' feet to the bottom.

The blue-green light seemed to be coming from something lying directly beneath them on the bottom of the magic lake.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #376] Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

"I like this place not at all," Flameblade hissed to no one in particular.

"NOR DO I!" thundered Stoneblade in response. "ONLY WITH BEDROCK UNDER FOOT CAN A WARRIOR BE TRULY HAPPY!"

"Can either of you offer any suggestion on how to deal with this?" Morier asked his greatsword and both weapons were silent on the matter.

"I have the ability to Detect Evil," Ayremac told them, looking around at the undulating surface of the water. "Do you think it is worth scanning?" Morier shrugged.

"That's up to you, I guess," he said, looking quickly around. "I don't see anything to BE evil, though."

"I think what's to see be below us, elf," Karak grunted, peering nervously over the side. The water was surprisingly clear and he could see the warrens of multi-hued coral on the lake bottom, illuminated by the blue-green light. The sway of the sea shell as he redistributed his weight made him feel vulnerable.

"I'll scout from the air," Ayremac said, flexing his wings and shooting into the air like a bowshot. He began to circle in widening arcs.

"Somebody's pretty pleased with himself," Huzair muttered to Ixin in Draconic and the drakeling looked askance to the wizard.

"What exactly are we doing here?" she asked him, looking with distaste at all the water. "What key could be worth risking all of our lives?"

"Well, beautiful, it's like this," Huzair began launching into a brief but thorough explanation of the tests Morier had passed in the Grove of Renewal, how the reward he'd gained for doing so had led him to the means of releasing an imprisoned goddess to destroy Aphyx, and how he had in turn led everybody else here.

Ixin nodded seriously at his explanation and prepared herself for battle. By the time he'd finished his tale in Draconic, Ayremac returned with a grim face. "Apart from this shell, nothing breaks the surface of the water as far as I can see in any direction," he explained. "The Key must be underwater."

"I think we'd pretty much figured that out," Morier replied. "Which leaves all of us but you with your Necklace and Shamalin with her spell stuck up here."

"If you think someone else is better suited to wear my amulet into battle, Morier," Ayremac offered, "I will gladly surrender it. It is important that we use our resources to the best of our ability."

"If'n ye feel that way, lad, I'll take yer bauble," Karak grunted. "I've got me Ring o' Freedom what lets me fight underwater as easy as I fight on land. Plus I can take a few more hits than either o' you an' keep on me feet."

"The only real concern is getting back to the surface when we're through," Shamalin said, craning her neck to look over the side without tumbling in.

"Ye could tie a rope to us," Karak suggested. Despite his bravado, he didn't much like the idea of fighting underwater; he was a dwarf and the earth was his element. "Arms or one arm up over head wavin' back an' forth, back and forth means we be in trouble. Thumbs up means we be okay." He demonstrated his signals and the sea shell bobbed and dipped threateningly.

"Problem is," Ayremac pointed out. "Once you go down, trouble or no, there is not much we can do for you."

"I think that everyone should use some of the Pixie Dust," Huzair suggested, taking out the little pouch that had once adorned Lela's belt and offering it around. "That way you can return to the surface just by willing it."

"Can we levitate through water?" Karak asked as he took a pinch of the iridescent powder and the wizard nodded.

"Of course," he snorted with a dismissive wave of his hand.

He hoped he was right.



They started with the Dust of Levitation. Then Morier imbued Karak with Bull's Strength. Ayremac used his god-given ability to Protect his allies from Evil on both Karak and Shamalin. Then he spoke a word of Blessing over the endeavor and Shamalin cast Water Breathing and, looking at Karak to make sure he was sufficiently prepared she stepped off into the water much as she had into the chasm earlier.

This was much more horrifying. The water, cool but not truly cold, pressed in on her at once, flooding her armor and dragging her downward like a stone. A cloud of bubbles escaping from the gaps in her plate instantly obscured everything around her and she plummeted down nearly blind and mostly deaf. Then her feet hit the bottom and she sank passed her ankles into the sand there. Her shield clattered against an outcropping of red coral, sending up a cloud of debris that sought to further deprive her of her sight.

She managed to right herself, and cleared away a goodly portion of the occluding detritus floating around her with a single sweep of her shield. Of course, that sweep took every ounce of her strength and she realized dismally just how hard it was going to be to do anything in this much water. That was when she felt it; an alien mind pressing against hers seeking to Dominate her will and make it it's own. Something cold and wet slipped across her thoughts and then it was gone, repelled by Ayremac's Protection from Evil.

She looked quickly about for her mental assailant, and saw not one... not two... but three massive shapes heave themselves up from the sandy bottom nearby. Like some large insects or monstrous crustaceans, the creatures rose from where they had buried themselves' their pincerlike claws snapped angrily as the aqua-marine light (which, Shamalin noted, was coming from beneath what looked to be the half-buried other half of the same shell the others were floating in above) reflected off their mottled, armored carapace. Their small dark eyes fixed her with a hungry stare, and the mass of tentacles dripping from their mouths squirmed excitedly as they emerged from their hiding places.

Shamalin opened her mouth to scream and bubbles once more clouded her field of vision. When they'd cleared, Karak was amidst the things, his axe swinging.



The dwarf swung hard and his waraxe slammed into and through the largest thing's tough carapace, It squealed in pain, a sound that Karak could hear even underwater, and a cloud of blood leaked out of the wound as he drew his axe free. It turned and the look of malice in its black glass eyes told the dwarf that it could take several more of those same hits without being overly inconvenienced.

Its claws came in like the jaws of a vice, thinking to grapple him, but he avoided both attacks thanks to his armor and his Ring of Freedom. One of the others came at him from behind and managed to get passed his armor. locking its cruel grip momentarily around his leg before he slipped magically free.

Shamalin did not have the dwarf's protection against such attacks, however. Fortunately, her own armor was even stouter than Karak's and the third creature, which ignored the dwarf and continued to menace her found no purchase on her form as it struck.



Up above, the others watched the battle feeling more than a little helpless. "This doesn't look good," Huzair muttered.

"What's that?" Ixin asked him in draconic and pointed. A dark, sinuous shape was moving amidst the labyrinth of coral surrounding the melee. The shadowy thing was half-again as large as the giant lobster creatures, and cut with a dangerous grace in the water.

 

[Blarkon Dragonslayer]

Not one but two updates! Go Shamalin and the incredible sinking dwarf!

Life is good indeed.

I know what you mean about teleportation. In the past I've found myself in the same position as a Star Trek screen writer, trying to come up with endless different reasons why the party can't just scry, teleport in, whack the big bad, loot hoover, and teleport out. All without dealing with vast layers of story and encounter goodness I had laid out before them. In one campaign I went so far as to make teleportation only possible between very specific places, like ley line connections or specially enchanted shrines and so forth. That worked fairly well, but wasn't completely satisfying as a solution.

 

[Jon Potter]

In one campaign I went so far as to make teleportation only possible between very specific places, like ley line connections or specially enchanted shrines and so forth. That worked fairly well, but wasn't completely satisfying as a solution.

I've seen the ley line suggestion for teleports and I like the idea from a flavor perspective. From a rules stanpoint, I don't think it's fair to the spellcasters to nerf one of their coolest abilities. If a player's slogged through 9 wizard levels to get their first 5th level spell and wants teleport, I'm not going to take that away from them.

You may have noticed in an earlier post I made offhand mention of the Wayfarer Union, a group of spellcasters specializing in teleportation, so the concept's out there in the game already. It's a bridge I'll just have to cross when the time comes.

 

[Pyske]

"Anticipate teleport", from the spell compendium, takes a lot of the bite out of the scry / teleport tactic, while still preserving the usefulness of teleport as a travel spell. It's worth checking out, to see whether it fits your campaign.

 

[Blarkon Dragonslayer]

I've seen the ley line suggestion for teleports and I like the idea from a flavor perspective. From a rules stanpoint, I don't think it's fair to the spellcasters to nerf one of their coolest abilities. If a player's slogged through 9 wizard levels to get their first 5th level spell and wants teleport, I'm not going to take that away from them.

You may have noticed in an earlier post I made offhand mention of the Wayfarer Union, a group of spellcasters specializing in teleportation, so the concept's out there in the game already. It's a bridge I'll just have to cross when the time comes.

I do indeed remember them being mentioned. And nerfing teleport isn't something to do retroactively, certainly. When I did the ley line thing, it was something the players knew about when they initially set up characters, and it was reinforced by campaign events long before the wizard got to the point where it became an option.

 

[Jon Potter]

"Anticipate teleport", from the spell compendium, takes a lot of the bite out of the scry / teleport tactic, while still preserving the usefulness of teleport as a travel spell. It's worth checking out, to see whether it fits your campaign.

It's a definite fit. I was already aware of the spell, but thanks anyway for the tip.

I do indeed remember them being mentioned. And nerfing teleport isn't something to do retroactively, certainly. When I did the ley line thing, it was something the players knew about when they initially set up characters, and it was reinforced by campaign events long before the wizard got to the point where it became an option.

Well that's different.

I'm leaning toward one of two options, I think:

1) The "scry / teleport / attack" tactic is the intellectual property of the Wayfarer Union and they have special teams designed specifically to take down anyone else who uses such without paying their consultation fee. This is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it could make for some exciting spell assaults.

2) The "scry / teleport / attack" tactic is considered an affront to Garjarvan, the God of Roads and his clergy takes a very dim view of folks who use it. This is somewhat arbitrary, but who can argue with "the will of god"

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

1) The "scry / teleport / attack" tactic is the intellectual property of the Wayfarer Union and they have special teams designed specifically to take down anyone else who uses such without paying their consultation fee. This is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it could make for some exciting spell assaults.

This sounds like Dune, so I'm picturing the Wayfarer Union in black leather floor length robes and a huge Beholder running the show from inside his containment tank.