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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Defenders of Daybreak, The Early Years.
- Thread starter Sialia
- Start date
Bandeeto
First Post
[Ed. Note: After the encounter with Nostradis Ghend, Arcade plundered the evil mage’s spell book and gained the spell Darkening Bolt. It is in all ways the equivalent of Lightning Bolt, but uses negative energy and manifests as a black stroke.
I also failed to mention that by this point Tao had come into possession of a sword called Heartscar, capable of creating wounds that could not be healed magically. I seem to recall that its previous owner was Stavros. Arcade was quite upset when he realized how near he came to being skewered by that sword when Stavros rushed him in the Sunken Dell.]
Arcade’s Journal – Wyvern Bait
…Cadrienne has returned, having been sent to do field research once again. We have not seen her in over a year. She seems much changed, more solemn and thoughtful. Apparently, she had arranged for all of the memories of our time adventuring together to be removed from her mind to avoid being distracted by them. Extremely odd, and disturbing.
She actually showed some romantic tendencies towards Alix, which Nolin and I both immediately rushed to disabuse her of. I have informed Alix that his future career as a napkin ring is assured if he pursues her.…
…Tom-Tom was on a bender, experimenting with his new brew, and Velendo was visiting Ortigal’s farm for a few days. Cadrienne, Nolin and myself were taking our ease in the Manticore’s new dining room, when Tao walked in. She had nearly completed her training, and regaled us with stories of roaming the humanoid-infested interior of the countryside. She suggested that we organize an expedition to rid the area of some of these foul and dangerous beasts.
Her tale was interrupted by the arrival of Tephis Birdhouse, enthusiastic aspirant to hero-dom, and likely future casualty. Since we saw him last, digging a hole under our trophy room in an attempt to make off with non-existent treasure, all at the instigation of a certain “Deepleaf,” Tephis has been preparing to accompany us on a quest. He has purchased a full set of ornamental (nearly useless) plate mail, with a matching shield, festooned with gewgaws.
A full-scale debate ensued as to whether Tephis should be allowed to come along. I argued that it had to happen some time, and that now was as good a time as any. Nolin countered my argument by making me fully responsible for the lad…!
…decided to check out the Hartwood, a site of recently increased humanoid activity, including orcs and ogres. Tephis showed up mounted on a high-spirited charger, and wielding an epee. It turns out that he is actually a member of a lesser house of nobility in Kindric. He also has been a squire, but unfortunately his progress was such that he needed to serve with several different knights….
…stopped to check in on Erilyn Windfellow to see how she was recovering from the Elzid incident. Her father told us that she is doing very well, and seeing a local lad. We have decided to camp in the fields before entering the forest….
…on second watch (Nolin’s), disaster struck. Nyquil’s insistent pecks awoke me, and he hooted warnings of a huge, black flying shape. As I sprang to my feet, an ebony lizard with a fifty-foot wingspan swooped out of the night sky, grabbed Nolin, and flew off. It was moving so fast that it was out of range before my Magic Missiles could strike! I instructed Nyquil to follow them, and roused the party.
While Tephis struggled into his armor, Cadrienne, Tao and I rode after the lizard as fast as we could. Nyquil directed us as the beast circled to the east, and then flew north into the Hartwood, straight for a cave on a small wooded hill. We could hear Tephis, yelling for directions far behind us, as we arrived at the base of the hill. Taking pity, I asked Nyquil to guide Tephis to us. We quickly formulated a plan.
Cadrienne and Tao climbed up and circled around until they stood on the lip overhanging the cave. I moved to a position twenty yards outside the cave mouth and cast Mirror Image. We could see the creature, hunched just within the entrance with its back towards us. It sported a tail with a large stinger, dripping a black liquid on the cave floor. The plan was simple. Tao was to drop a large branch on the beast’s tail, and Cadrienne would drop a torch in front of it as it turned to face us. I would then hit the torch with Pyrotechnics to blind it, while Tao leapt onto its back.
The plan fell in ruins, however, as Nolin made his move before we could act. He made a break for the cave entrance. A wing buffet threw him back into the cave as the tail whipped forward to strike. Seeing the movement of the tail, I cast a Stinking Cloud into the cave, but I was too late. Nolin resisted the creature’s poison, but his guts were nearly ripped out by the stinger and he fell unconscious to the cave floor.
Enraged, the creature spun around, flapping its wings to clear the foul vapors. It emerged from the cave. Tao leaped down from above, sword at the ready… and missed it entirely. The creature jumped into the air, and took flight. Within moments it wheeled and dove at me, savaging one of my images with its jaws, and nailing me with its stinger. I managed to resist the poison, but it was a very close call.
While Cadrienne ran into the cave to assist Nolin, I lit a torch and handed it to Tephis in an attempt to salvage part of the plan. I miscalculated, however, as the creature swooped down and scooped up Tephis, carrying him away! I cast Pyrotechnics, and the torch exploded into fireworks. The creature promptly dropped the blinded and screaming Tephis. The squire fell twenty feet to the ground, taking minor hurts.
Tao and I dove for the cave entrance to find Nolin partly recovered, standing with drawn sword over a nest. There were several large eggs, rocking and peeping plaintively. Nolin dispatched them with gusto, somewhat to our disgust. Tao lent a reluctant hand.
I took up a position near the back of the cave, and Tao drew on her Gauntlet of Shrinking. We could hear Tephis staggering blindly up the hill and calling for us. We yelled at him to get down before the creature returned, and he obeyed just in time. As he dropped to the ground, the beast flashed over his head, and landed with a roar and a flurry of wings.
Before it could approach, I blasted it with a Darkening Bolt. Cadrienne cast Moment, thereby permitting her to cue Tao’s strikes at the perfect instant. I sent a set of ’Missiles into the beast as Tao’s hand shot forward, slapping it and shrinking it to half-size. Nolin tried to cast and nearly pulled his entrails loose, but later managed a ’Missile of his own.
Tephis had recovered, and valiantly struck with his epee at the creature’s backside, while I added to its difficulties by further Reducing it to quarter-size. The beast was about to flee, but it spotted the smashed eggs and became enraged. However, in its weakened state it was no match for Tao, and she was able to finish it….
…appears to have been a wyvern. Who knew they prefer silver pieces for bedding? Discovered the remains of another party, a flail of dwarven make, an enchanted lance, and some magical arrows in a quiver. In the nest we discovered four beautiful golden eggs, decorated exquisitely. Nolin recalled that, six or seven years ago, a local merchant had commissioned eggs such as these from an artist in the southlands. The shipment had never arrived….
…Tephis began to scold me, saying that he would never again hold a torch for me! I pointed out that I had to make a choice between blinding him and forcing him to survive a short fall, or permitting him to be torn apart and eaten in mid-air. He stopped complaining….
…cached the wyvern’s body and treasure in the cave, rested and healed, and then continued on into the lowlands….
Ed. More verbal component text (for extra flava’):
Darkening Bolt:
"Tesla, Volta, Van de Graaf,
Laughing blue-black barbed gaffe,
Dark arc sparking spearing spike,
Of streaking, striking, ion shrike,
Streaming ebon dreams of will o' wisp scars,
Where dancing lances crisp from mouths of Leyden jars,
And forking lightless bolts of scintillating breath,
Drown themselves in dark electric death.
Flickering feeble waveforms, your groundless power pales,
In your current static state, resistance fails."
I also failed to mention that by this point Tao had come into possession of a sword called Heartscar, capable of creating wounds that could not be healed magically. I seem to recall that its previous owner was Stavros. Arcade was quite upset when he realized how near he came to being skewered by that sword when Stavros rushed him in the Sunken Dell.]
Arcade’s Journal – Wyvern Bait
…Cadrienne has returned, having been sent to do field research once again. We have not seen her in over a year. She seems much changed, more solemn and thoughtful. Apparently, she had arranged for all of the memories of our time adventuring together to be removed from her mind to avoid being distracted by them. Extremely odd, and disturbing.
She actually showed some romantic tendencies towards Alix, which Nolin and I both immediately rushed to disabuse her of. I have informed Alix that his future career as a napkin ring is assured if he pursues her.…
…Tom-Tom was on a bender, experimenting with his new brew, and Velendo was visiting Ortigal’s farm for a few days. Cadrienne, Nolin and myself were taking our ease in the Manticore’s new dining room, when Tao walked in. She had nearly completed her training, and regaled us with stories of roaming the humanoid-infested interior of the countryside. She suggested that we organize an expedition to rid the area of some of these foul and dangerous beasts.
Her tale was interrupted by the arrival of Tephis Birdhouse, enthusiastic aspirant to hero-dom, and likely future casualty. Since we saw him last, digging a hole under our trophy room in an attempt to make off with non-existent treasure, all at the instigation of a certain “Deepleaf,” Tephis has been preparing to accompany us on a quest. He has purchased a full set of ornamental (nearly useless) plate mail, with a matching shield, festooned with gewgaws.
A full-scale debate ensued as to whether Tephis should be allowed to come along. I argued that it had to happen some time, and that now was as good a time as any. Nolin countered my argument by making me fully responsible for the lad…!
…decided to check out the Hartwood, a site of recently increased humanoid activity, including orcs and ogres. Tephis showed up mounted on a high-spirited charger, and wielding an epee. It turns out that he is actually a member of a lesser house of nobility in Kindric. He also has been a squire, but unfortunately his progress was such that he needed to serve with several different knights….
…stopped to check in on Erilyn Windfellow to see how she was recovering from the Elzid incident. Her father told us that she is doing very well, and seeing a local lad. We have decided to camp in the fields before entering the forest….
…on second watch (Nolin’s), disaster struck. Nyquil’s insistent pecks awoke me, and he hooted warnings of a huge, black flying shape. As I sprang to my feet, an ebony lizard with a fifty-foot wingspan swooped out of the night sky, grabbed Nolin, and flew off. It was moving so fast that it was out of range before my Magic Missiles could strike! I instructed Nyquil to follow them, and roused the party.
While Tephis struggled into his armor, Cadrienne, Tao and I rode after the lizard as fast as we could. Nyquil directed us as the beast circled to the east, and then flew north into the Hartwood, straight for a cave on a small wooded hill. We could hear Tephis, yelling for directions far behind us, as we arrived at the base of the hill. Taking pity, I asked Nyquil to guide Tephis to us. We quickly formulated a plan.
Cadrienne and Tao climbed up and circled around until they stood on the lip overhanging the cave. I moved to a position twenty yards outside the cave mouth and cast Mirror Image. We could see the creature, hunched just within the entrance with its back towards us. It sported a tail with a large stinger, dripping a black liquid on the cave floor. The plan was simple. Tao was to drop a large branch on the beast’s tail, and Cadrienne would drop a torch in front of it as it turned to face us. I would then hit the torch with Pyrotechnics to blind it, while Tao leapt onto its back.
The plan fell in ruins, however, as Nolin made his move before we could act. He made a break for the cave entrance. A wing buffet threw him back into the cave as the tail whipped forward to strike. Seeing the movement of the tail, I cast a Stinking Cloud into the cave, but I was too late. Nolin resisted the creature’s poison, but his guts were nearly ripped out by the stinger and he fell unconscious to the cave floor.
Enraged, the creature spun around, flapping its wings to clear the foul vapors. It emerged from the cave. Tao leaped down from above, sword at the ready… and missed it entirely. The creature jumped into the air, and took flight. Within moments it wheeled and dove at me, savaging one of my images with its jaws, and nailing me with its stinger. I managed to resist the poison, but it was a very close call.
While Cadrienne ran into the cave to assist Nolin, I lit a torch and handed it to Tephis in an attempt to salvage part of the plan. I miscalculated, however, as the creature swooped down and scooped up Tephis, carrying him away! I cast Pyrotechnics, and the torch exploded into fireworks. The creature promptly dropped the blinded and screaming Tephis. The squire fell twenty feet to the ground, taking minor hurts.
Tao and I dove for the cave entrance to find Nolin partly recovered, standing with drawn sword over a nest. There were several large eggs, rocking and peeping plaintively. Nolin dispatched them with gusto, somewhat to our disgust. Tao lent a reluctant hand.
I took up a position near the back of the cave, and Tao drew on her Gauntlet of Shrinking. We could hear Tephis staggering blindly up the hill and calling for us. We yelled at him to get down before the creature returned, and he obeyed just in time. As he dropped to the ground, the beast flashed over his head, and landed with a roar and a flurry of wings.
Before it could approach, I blasted it with a Darkening Bolt. Cadrienne cast Moment, thereby permitting her to cue Tao’s strikes at the perfect instant. I sent a set of ’Missiles into the beast as Tao’s hand shot forward, slapping it and shrinking it to half-size. Nolin tried to cast and nearly pulled his entrails loose, but later managed a ’Missile of his own.
Tephis had recovered, and valiantly struck with his epee at the creature’s backside, while I added to its difficulties by further Reducing it to quarter-size. The beast was about to flee, but it spotted the smashed eggs and became enraged. However, in its weakened state it was no match for Tao, and she was able to finish it….
…appears to have been a wyvern. Who knew they prefer silver pieces for bedding? Discovered the remains of another party, a flail of dwarven make, an enchanted lance, and some magical arrows in a quiver. In the nest we discovered four beautiful golden eggs, decorated exquisitely. Nolin recalled that, six or seven years ago, a local merchant had commissioned eggs such as these from an artist in the southlands. The shipment had never arrived….
…Tephis began to scold me, saying that he would never again hold a torch for me! I pointed out that I had to make a choice between blinding him and forcing him to survive a short fall, or permitting him to be torn apart and eaten in mid-air. He stopped complaining….
…cached the wyvern’s body and treasure in the cave, rested and healed, and then continued on into the lowlands….
Ed. More verbal component text (for extra flava’):
Darkening Bolt:
"Tesla, Volta, Van de Graaf,
Laughing blue-black barbed gaffe,
Dark arc sparking spearing spike,
Of streaking, striking, ion shrike,
Streaming ebon dreams of will o' wisp scars,
Where dancing lances crisp from mouths of Leyden jars,
And forking lightless bolts of scintillating breath,
Drown themselves in dark electric death.
Flickering feeble waveforms, your groundless power pales,
In your current static state, resistance fails."
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
Bandeeto said:
What was this "Moment" spell? I don't recognise it - what did it do?
Cheers
KidCthulhu
First Post
Moment was a 2nd Ed spell from Tome of Magic (I think). Similar to True Strike, it gave the target a huge bonus to hit by picking the exact right moment to strike. Tao and Cadrienne had the Moment thing down pat.
Sialia
First Post
Right.
The first reason you almost never hear about Cadrienne striking a blow in combat is that she was almost always preoccupied with support staff duties: enhancing other people's attacks, healing the wounded, etc. (unless she was spending the round entangled in Tao's bolas. For some reason every time Tao fumbled, those @#$#$%@ bolas homed in on Cadrienne like a pair of toddlers looking for their mama during a thundershower.) She liked helping her party members more than she liked hurting things.
Also, in this episode she finally acquired a magical weapon (the +3 flail), and at last had a decent weapon to wade into melee with.
The other main reason you hardly hear about her is that these notes are Arcade's and he had a blind spot concerning Cadrienne you could herd Leviathans through.
She'd had a crush on him since the first meeting at the Manticore, and do you ever see him mention it? Noooooo.
But note his deliberate attempts to squash any other romantic interest she ever has.
Sigh.
The metagame thing about her getting her memory wiped was that I had only been able to play her intermittently up to this point. At about this time, I started being able to attend sessions on a regular basis, and it was getting really awkward that there was all this stuff that she was present for that I had missed and I had to keep asking to be clued in.
The in-game reason was that she was starting to get the idea that the thing with Arcade was hopeless, and she was hoping that a fresh start would help her get over him and get on with things.
Well, either that, or her attempt to give herself a lawful makeover, get organized, and be a stronger party member was a pathetic attempt to get his attention one more time.
Note that he doesn't even mention the spiffy new robes, and that fact that she'd changed her hairstyle. Some people, you can't smack sensible with a lute, a juggling ball, a set of bolas, and whole hod full of holy bricks upside the head.
The first reason you almost never hear about Cadrienne striking a blow in combat is that she was almost always preoccupied with support staff duties: enhancing other people's attacks, healing the wounded, etc. (unless she was spending the round entangled in Tao's bolas. For some reason every time Tao fumbled, those @#$#$%@ bolas homed in on Cadrienne like a pair of toddlers looking for their mama during a thundershower.) She liked helping her party members more than she liked hurting things.
Also, in this episode she finally acquired a magical weapon (the +3 flail), and at last had a decent weapon to wade into melee with.
The other main reason you hardly hear about her is that these notes are Arcade's and he had a blind spot concerning Cadrienne you could herd Leviathans through.
She'd had a crush on him since the first meeting at the Manticore, and do you ever see him mention it? Noooooo.
But note his deliberate attempts to squash any other romantic interest she ever has.
Sigh.
The metagame thing about her getting her memory wiped was that I had only been able to play her intermittently up to this point. At about this time, I started being able to attend sessions on a regular basis, and it was getting really awkward that there was all this stuff that she was present for that I had missed and I had to keep asking to be clued in.
The in-game reason was that she was starting to get the idea that the thing with Arcade was hopeless, and she was hoping that a fresh start would help her get over him and get on with things.
Well, either that, or her attempt to give herself a lawful makeover, get organized, and be a stronger party member was a pathetic attempt to get his attention one more time.
Note that he doesn't even mention the spiffy new robes, and that fact that she'd changed her hairstyle. Some people, you can't smack sensible with a lute, a juggling ball, a set of bolas, and whole hod full of holy bricks upside the head.
madriel
First Post
These tales are getting better and better.
Tao keeps hitting Cadrienne with her bolas. Arcade keeps hitting the party with Color Spray. Alix critting Arcade with a juggling ball. Gee, talk about friendly fire. Never mind surviving your enemies, it's a wonder you guys survived each other.
Tao keeps hitting Cadrienne with her bolas. Arcade keeps hitting the party with Color Spray. Alix critting Arcade with a juggling ball. Gee, talk about friendly fire. Never mind surviving your enemies, it's a wonder you guys survived each other.
KidCthulhu
First Post
You don't know the half of it! Nolin knew all about Cadrienne's crush on Arcade, and tried many ways subtle and not to get him clued in. Even Nolin and Cadrienne's brief, PG-rated fling didn't bring him around.
The one thing we never thought of, Sialia, was to write Arcade a love note, and then have it made into a prophetic sounding riddle and carve it into the wall of a ruined temple somewhere. That probably would have worked.
The one thing we never thought of, Sialia, was to write Arcade a love note, and then have it made into a prophetic sounding riddle and carve it into the wall of a ruined temple somewhere. That probably would have worked.
KidCthulhu
First Post
Just like that. Only with more obscure references. Arcade tended to miss things going on right under his nose, but could make the most amazing intuitive leaps between obscure references.
Bandeeto
First Post
Of course, just because Arcade was clueless doesn't mean that I was.
I happened to be dating Sialia at the time, and ya' know how ooky it can get when dating player's characters start dating.
Then again, neither I nor Arcade was thrilled with the idea of Cadrienne dating anybody else either....
Much safer to stay "above all that" in gametime.
I happened to be dating Sialia at the time, and ya' know how ooky it can get when dating player's characters start dating.
Then again, neither I nor Arcade was thrilled with the idea of Cadrienne dating anybody else either....
Much safer to stay "above all that" in gametime.
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