Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Three Kingdoms and Empire
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 3856970" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>Gnashing his filed teeth, the lizard man leading the kobolds begins stalking towards our heroes. Romdar is too weak to fight; he can only cough, his lungs full of smoke. Blisters cover his body. Only Barouk and Kifla can stand.</p><p></p><p>They move to protect their friends from the lizard man. Grinning, slavering, it begins to advance- and then Kifla casts a spell at it.</p><p></p><p><em>Sleep.</em> </p><p></p><p>For a moment, it slows, blinking its eyes; then Barouk rushes forward, swinging his staff at the lizard man! It shakes its head, throwing off the influence of Kifla’s spell, and then ducks under Barouk’s blow. The monk and the lizard man struggle for a moment; the dwarven tenacity and muscle of Barouk against the wiry, reptilian strength, sharp claws and teeth of his enemy. The clench together for a moment, striking, blocking, ducking and slashing; and then they explode apart for a moment, neither one of them injured. </p><p></p><p>The crowd of kobolds seems restless. They yip and bark, watching the fight eagerly. </p><p></p><p>Kifla casts <em>mage armor</em> and <em>expeditious retreat</em> while Barouk and the lizard man occupy each other. Then she begins edging around behind the lizard man. The bestial creature hisses and throws a javelin at her! She yells out in dismay as she dodges to the side, and the javelin whizzes by, nearly skewering her. </p><p></p><p>“That wasn’t very nice!” she calls out, and casts <em>color spray,</em> but again, the lizard man throws off the effects of her spell. Growling, it bares its teeth again, then hisses at the gnome with obvious malice. “Try to talk to the kobolds!” she shouts at Barouk.</p><p></p><p>“I don’t speak Draconic,” he replies.</p><p></p><p>“Try Dwarven! They’re like dwarves, right?”</p><p></p><p>Barouk almost drops his guard for an instant. “No, they are <em>not</em> like dwarves.” He tumbles away to the smoking beetle and drags out the adamantine dagger. “Maybe I’ll have better luck with this!” he hopes fervently.</p><p></p><p>Kifla, too, draws her dagger, and with a gulp, she closes in on the lizard man. It slashes with its claws, but both of our heroes manage to dodge- for the moment. Finally, they draw blood from the lizard man! Kifla pricks him in the upper arm with her dagger. The lizard man shouts what sound like threats, but then Barouk finally manages to land a blow as well, smacking him in the mouth. </p><p></p><p>The lizard man retaliates swiftly, tearing into Barouk, who is in too close to escape the lizard man’s slashing claws any longer. He is left barely standing, while Kifla shouts Orcish curses at the lizard man and casts <em>true strike</em> on her crossbow.</p><p></p><p>The lizard man hisses something terrible (and incomprehensible) at Barouk before biting him on the shoulder. With a cry, the dwarf falls!</p><p></p><p>“Uh oh,” Kifla moans. “Help!” she shouts at the kobolds. She fires, landing a quarrel in the lizard man’s shoulder. It laughs and strides quickly towards her; she backpedals, trying to get away. It casts a spell as it advances, and she recognizes it as <em>vampiric touch.</em> Kifla gulps again, realizing that this could be it for the entire party.</p><p></p><p>Then one of the kobolds starts casting a spell. </p><p></p><p><em>It just got worse,</em> Kifla thinks- but, shockingly, the kobold’s <em>sleep</em> spell targets the lizard man! It blinks, as surprised by this turn of events as Kifla is; then it collapses, unconscious.</p><p></p><p>Kifla turns to the kobolds, ready to defend herself; but they are too busy cheering and hugging each other to pay any attention to her. Clearly, there is some sort of subtext to what is happening that the gnome is missing; but she doesn’t care. Hands shaking, she slits the lizard man’s throat, ensuring that he won’t wake up to trouble our heroes any further. Then she glances back up at the kobolds.</p><p></p><p>The one that cast a spell has been yapping at them while Kifla killed their- leader? Tyrant? She isn’t sure how to think of the lizard man. But the spellcaster seems to be urging the kobolds to leave. In fact, many of them are already trotting away across the fields of grass, vanishing below the tall blades. </p><p></p><p>Kifla glances around at her blistered, smoke-choked friends, scattered on the grass or strapped to the dying beetle. </p><p></p><p>“We’re alive?” she asks.</p><p></p><p>After a few moments, when nobody contradicts her, she begins dragging her friends away from the baking heat of the burning grass maze. She can tell that they are on the same side of the maze as they entered, but- for now- she is just glad that they are alive. She grunts, groans, struggles to haul her friends- all much bigger than she is- just a few dozen yards away. Just to the back of a small embankment, where they will be shielded from the fire. “Gonna burn a long time,” she mumbles to herself as she totes Grom. Finally, after what feels like hours of work- at least there is plenty of light to work in, from the flames- she collapses to catch her breath, all of her party having been taken to safety. Breathing hard, Kifla closes her eyes and shakes her head. <em>I’m exhausted,</em> she thinks.</p><p></p><p>The next thing she knows, the sun is up, and she’s blinking sleep out of her eyes. “I fell asleep!” she exclaims. Quickly, she checks on her friends; they all prove to be okay. Nobody is dead, but nobody is close to conscious, either. Kifla sighs. <em>I’ll have to guard them until someone wakes up,</em> she realizes. </p><p></p><p>A branch to the southeast cracks. Kifla turns her head and gasps. Two humans, a man and a woman, are walking towards her. She thinks ruefully, <em>I still haven’t prepared my spells for today. I hope they are friendly!</em></p><p></p><p>Fortunately for her, it appears that they are, for the first words out of the man’s mouth are, “Do you require assistance?” Shrewdly, he eyes the scattered, burnt, battered party. </p><p></p><p>“Yes!” Kifla exclaims. The man has a rough, unshaven look that she likes. “Say, you’re cute. But we’re all hurt! My friends are hurt very badly! If you can help us at all, we’d really appreciate it.”</p><p></p><p>“We’ll do what we can,” the man assures her. “I’m Severin.” </p><p></p><p>“And I’m Zelda!” the woman says. She is a gorgeous sex pot of a woman: leggy, busty, blonde, beautiful. She oozes sensuality out of every pore. When she tosses her hair, the light scintillates through it as if it were contemplating casting a rainbow. Her eyes are like sapphires; her lips are the soft velvet red of rose petals. </p><p></p><p>After staring for a moment, Severin shakes his head and asks, “So, uh, what are you folks doing out here? It’s dangerous.” </p><p></p><p>“I could ask the same of you,” Kifla replies primly. “But we’re traveling to a valley somewhere, to help him with some goblin problems.” She points at the unconscious Grom. “I guess his home town is having trouble with some raids and stuff.”</p><p></p><p>Severin’s eyes flash fiercely. “Goblins, eh? Well, I’m a ranger, and defending frontier towns is just my type of thing. I wouldn’t mind accompanying you for a time.” </p><p></p><p>“It sounds like fun to me,” Zelda nods. A strand of hair falls across her fair cheek. When she smiles, she lights up the room. (Except that our heroes are outside. But hey, you know what I mean.)</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Rest, and a search of the lizard man, follow, with a serious downpour right on their heels. With Severin and Zelda to help keep watch, Kifla can at last rest enough to feel- rested. She regains her spells, and despite her recent exertions, she feels more powerful than ever. She feels as though she has unlocked certain powers that were previously beyond her, like she has had certain insights that will allow her to transcend her current limitations.</p><p></p><p>Most of her friends are still badly wounded, but the next day, as Severin, Zelda and Kifla sit around in the mid-morning, the ranger’s eyes narrow. His nostrils flare. “I hear something,” he murmurs, very softly. “In the grass. Tittering.”</p><p></p><p>Kifla cries, “Maybe they’re fairies!” She leaps up and looks around. After a moment, she declares, “I don’t see anything.” </p><p></p><p>Suddenly, from behind her, she hears a voice in Gnomish: “Who are you guys? What are you doing?”</p><p></p><p>The gnome looks around for a source, but finds nothing. <em>Invisible?</em> she wonders. “Are you like me?” she asks. </p><p></p><p>“We’re not gnomes, but we’re friends if you are friends.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, we want to be friends.”</p><p></p><p>“Really?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes!” Kifla smiles. “You should come out! Say, can you help our friends?”</p><p></p><p>“Um, we probably could. Come out? I don’t know...”</p><p></p><p>“I’ll give you an apple!” Kifla wheedles.</p><p></p><p>For a moment, there’s no answer. Then, the voice demands, “An apple- and a <em>gold piece!</em>”</p><p></p><p>“All right,” Kifla agrees eagerly, digging apple and coin from her backpack. “Here, now come out!”</p><p></p><p>“Hmm... well, all of you, close your eyes.”</p><p></p><p>The party complies. Nothing obvious happens for a moment. Tempe can’t resist; she peeks, but sees nothing.</p><p></p><p>“Hello?” Kifla calls. No answer. </p><p></p><p>“I’m going to open my eyes,” says Tempe.</p><p></p><p>“Let’s all do it,” replies Kifla. </p><p></p><p>They do. Kifla starts. She did not realize that the apple and gold piece were no longer in her hand, but they are gone. There is no sign of anyone that was not previously visible. But the wounded are covered in flower petals, which are dissolving even as the startled conscious heroes watch.</p><p></p><p>“What is that?” cries Tempe.</p><p></p><p>“A gift?” hopes Kifla. “Wait, look- their wounds are healing!” Indeed, the wounded are recovering, at least somewhat. Barouk and Grom both groan and awaken. They are still weak enough that another full day’s rest is warranted; but the next morning, the party- now swollen in size with two more members, Severin and Zelda- moves along. </p><p></p><p>They decide to move around the burnt maze to the northeast. The pregnant clouds burst, and the downpour pours on down. The thick burnt masses of vegetation look too tough to simply force the party’s way through, even after the fire. “We should be careful,” Grom points out. “This is kobold territory.” The half-orc begins searching for tracks. Soon enough his caution proves warranted, and soon the treacherous path that our heroes are following proves to be laced with pits and worse. The ground beneath their feet turns to mud in some places, leading to a couple of minor slips. After a time, the warm rainfall stops and the land starts to steam, filling the air with humidity. </p><p></p><p>“Hey, what’s that?” Zelda gestures. </p><p></p><p>Up ahead, a small, shriveled body lies in the midst of the path. </p><p></p><p>“Hmm,” comments Grom.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Next Time:</strong></em> Ambushed!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 3856970, member: 1210"] Gnashing his filed teeth, the lizard man leading the kobolds begins stalking towards our heroes. Romdar is too weak to fight; he can only cough, his lungs full of smoke. Blisters cover his body. Only Barouk and Kifla can stand. They move to protect their friends from the lizard man. Grinning, slavering, it begins to advance- and then Kifla casts a spell at it. [i]Sleep.[/i] For a moment, it slows, blinking its eyes; then Barouk rushes forward, swinging his staff at the lizard man! It shakes its head, throwing off the influence of Kifla’s spell, and then ducks under Barouk’s blow. The monk and the lizard man struggle for a moment; the dwarven tenacity and muscle of Barouk against the wiry, reptilian strength, sharp claws and teeth of his enemy. The clench together for a moment, striking, blocking, ducking and slashing; and then they explode apart for a moment, neither one of them injured. The crowd of kobolds seems restless. They yip and bark, watching the fight eagerly. Kifla casts [i]mage armor[/i] and [i]expeditious retreat[/i] while Barouk and the lizard man occupy each other. Then she begins edging around behind the lizard man. The bestial creature hisses and throws a javelin at her! She yells out in dismay as she dodges to the side, and the javelin whizzes by, nearly skewering her. “That wasn’t very nice!” she calls out, and casts [i]color spray,[/i] but again, the lizard man throws off the effects of her spell. Growling, it bares its teeth again, then hisses at the gnome with obvious malice. “Try to talk to the kobolds!” she shouts at Barouk. “I don’t speak Draconic,” he replies. “Try Dwarven! They’re like dwarves, right?” Barouk almost drops his guard for an instant. “No, they are [i]not[/i] like dwarves.” He tumbles away to the smoking beetle and drags out the adamantine dagger. “Maybe I’ll have better luck with this!” he hopes fervently. Kifla, too, draws her dagger, and with a gulp, she closes in on the lizard man. It slashes with its claws, but both of our heroes manage to dodge- for the moment. Finally, they draw blood from the lizard man! Kifla pricks him in the upper arm with her dagger. The lizard man shouts what sound like threats, but then Barouk finally manages to land a blow as well, smacking him in the mouth. The lizard man retaliates swiftly, tearing into Barouk, who is in too close to escape the lizard man’s slashing claws any longer. He is left barely standing, while Kifla shouts Orcish curses at the lizard man and casts [i]true strike[/i] on her crossbow. The lizard man hisses something terrible (and incomprehensible) at Barouk before biting him on the shoulder. With a cry, the dwarf falls! “Uh oh,” Kifla moans. “Help!” she shouts at the kobolds. She fires, landing a quarrel in the lizard man’s shoulder. It laughs and strides quickly towards her; she backpedals, trying to get away. It casts a spell as it advances, and she recognizes it as [i]vampiric touch.[/i] Kifla gulps again, realizing that this could be it for the entire party. Then one of the kobolds starts casting a spell. [i]It just got worse,[/i] Kifla thinks- but, shockingly, the kobold’s [i]sleep[/i] spell targets the lizard man! It blinks, as surprised by this turn of events as Kifla is; then it collapses, unconscious. Kifla turns to the kobolds, ready to defend herself; but they are too busy cheering and hugging each other to pay any attention to her. Clearly, there is some sort of subtext to what is happening that the gnome is missing; but she doesn’t care. Hands shaking, she slits the lizard man’s throat, ensuring that he won’t wake up to trouble our heroes any further. Then she glances back up at the kobolds. The one that cast a spell has been yapping at them while Kifla killed their- leader? Tyrant? She isn’t sure how to think of the lizard man. But the spellcaster seems to be urging the kobolds to leave. In fact, many of them are already trotting away across the fields of grass, vanishing below the tall blades. Kifla glances around at her blistered, smoke-choked friends, scattered on the grass or strapped to the dying beetle. “We’re alive?” she asks. After a few moments, when nobody contradicts her, she begins dragging her friends away from the baking heat of the burning grass maze. She can tell that they are on the same side of the maze as they entered, but- for now- she is just glad that they are alive. She grunts, groans, struggles to haul her friends- all much bigger than she is- just a few dozen yards away. Just to the back of a small embankment, where they will be shielded from the fire. “Gonna burn a long time,” she mumbles to herself as she totes Grom. Finally, after what feels like hours of work- at least there is plenty of light to work in, from the flames- she collapses to catch her breath, all of her party having been taken to safety. Breathing hard, Kifla closes her eyes and shakes her head. [i]I’m exhausted,[/i] she thinks. The next thing she knows, the sun is up, and she’s blinking sleep out of her eyes. “I fell asleep!” she exclaims. Quickly, she checks on her friends; they all prove to be okay. Nobody is dead, but nobody is close to conscious, either. Kifla sighs. [i]I’ll have to guard them until someone wakes up,[/i] she realizes. A branch to the southeast cracks. Kifla turns her head and gasps. Two humans, a man and a woman, are walking towards her. She thinks ruefully, [i]I still haven’t prepared my spells for today. I hope they are friendly![/i] Fortunately for her, it appears that they are, for the first words out of the man’s mouth are, “Do you require assistance?” Shrewdly, he eyes the scattered, burnt, battered party. “Yes!” Kifla exclaims. The man has a rough, unshaven look that she likes. “Say, you’re cute. But we’re all hurt! My friends are hurt very badly! If you can help us at all, we’d really appreciate it.” “We’ll do what we can,” the man assures her. “I’m Severin.” “And I’m Zelda!” the woman says. She is a gorgeous sex pot of a woman: leggy, busty, blonde, beautiful. She oozes sensuality out of every pore. When she tosses her hair, the light scintillates through it as if it were contemplating casting a rainbow. Her eyes are like sapphires; her lips are the soft velvet red of rose petals. After staring for a moment, Severin shakes his head and asks, “So, uh, what are you folks doing out here? It’s dangerous.” “I could ask the same of you,” Kifla replies primly. “But we’re traveling to a valley somewhere, to help him with some goblin problems.” She points at the unconscious Grom. “I guess his home town is having trouble with some raids and stuff.” Severin’s eyes flash fiercely. “Goblins, eh? Well, I’m a ranger, and defending frontier towns is just my type of thing. I wouldn’t mind accompanying you for a time.” “It sounds like fun to me,” Zelda nods. A strand of hair falls across her fair cheek. When she smiles, she lights up the room. (Except that our heroes are outside. But hey, you know what I mean.) *** Rest, and a search of the lizard man, follow, with a serious downpour right on their heels. With Severin and Zelda to help keep watch, Kifla can at last rest enough to feel- rested. She regains her spells, and despite her recent exertions, she feels more powerful than ever. She feels as though she has unlocked certain powers that were previously beyond her, like she has had certain insights that will allow her to transcend her current limitations. Most of her friends are still badly wounded, but the next day, as Severin, Zelda and Kifla sit around in the mid-morning, the ranger’s eyes narrow. His nostrils flare. “I hear something,” he murmurs, very softly. “In the grass. Tittering.” Kifla cries, “Maybe they’re fairies!” She leaps up and looks around. After a moment, she declares, “I don’t see anything.” Suddenly, from behind her, she hears a voice in Gnomish: “Who are you guys? What are you doing?” The gnome looks around for a source, but finds nothing. [i]Invisible?[/i] she wonders. “Are you like me?” she asks. “We’re not gnomes, but we’re friends if you are friends.” “Well, we want to be friends.” “Really?” “Yes!” Kifla smiles. “You should come out! Say, can you help our friends?” “Um, we probably could. Come out? I don’t know...” “I’ll give you an apple!” Kifla wheedles. For a moment, there’s no answer. Then, the voice demands, “An apple- and a [i]gold piece![/i]” “All right,” Kifla agrees eagerly, digging apple and coin from her backpack. “Here, now come out!” “Hmm... well, all of you, close your eyes.” The party complies. Nothing obvious happens for a moment. Tempe can’t resist; she peeks, but sees nothing. “Hello?” Kifla calls. No answer. “I’m going to open my eyes,” says Tempe. “Let’s all do it,” replies Kifla. They do. Kifla starts. She did not realize that the apple and gold piece were no longer in her hand, but they are gone. There is no sign of anyone that was not previously visible. But the wounded are covered in flower petals, which are dissolving even as the startled conscious heroes watch. “What is that?” cries Tempe. “A gift?” hopes Kifla. “Wait, look- their wounds are healing!” Indeed, the wounded are recovering, at least somewhat. Barouk and Grom both groan and awaken. They are still weak enough that another full day’s rest is warranted; but the next morning, the party- now swollen in size with two more members, Severin and Zelda- moves along. They decide to move around the burnt maze to the northeast. The pregnant clouds burst, and the downpour pours on down. The thick burnt masses of vegetation look too tough to simply force the party’s way through, even after the fire. “We should be careful,” Grom points out. “This is kobold territory.” The half-orc begins searching for tracks. Soon enough his caution proves warranted, and soon the treacherous path that our heroes are following proves to be laced with pits and worse. The ground beneath their feet turns to mud in some places, leading to a couple of minor slips. After a time, the warm rainfall stops and the land starts to steam, filling the air with humidity. “Hey, what’s that?” Zelda gestures. Up ahead, a small, shriveled body lies in the midst of the path. “Hmm,” comments Grom. [i][b]Next Time:[/b][/i][b][/b] Ambushed! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Three Kingdoms and Empire
Top