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Of Sound Mind the Halfling Way
- Thread starter the Jester
- Start date
omrob
First Post
More BOB Stories PLEASE!!!
I must say - Timothy was one of my favorite characters in a LONG TIME. Kudos to brain for making us all laugh alot with Timothy's simple-minded heroism. Jester's group has been playing together with the same folks for more years than I can count, and brain (along with hippijedi2) were 2 new additions to our shenanigans. Timothy was the first PC brain got to play. Before Inoke I think - but not sure. Anyway - he was a great first character.
We will all miss:
The Treasure Maps - though Federico is going to carry on with this tradition...
The halfling program...
and the trademark Timothy fighting stance....
Oh well - brain's new character is pretty fun. Y'all will meet him pretty soon.
I must say - Timothy was one of my favorite characters in a LONG TIME. Kudos to brain for making us all laugh alot with Timothy's simple-minded heroism. Jester's group has been playing together with the same folks for more years than I can count, and brain (along with hippijedi2) were 2 new additions to our shenanigans. Timothy was the first PC brain got to play. Before Inoke I think - but not sure. Anyway - he was a great first character.
We will all miss:
The Treasure Maps - though Federico is going to carry on with this tradition...
The halfling program...
and the trademark Timothy fighting stance....
Oh well - brain's new character is pretty fun. Y'all will meet him pretty soon.
hippiejedi2
First Post
Farewell Timmothy Advisor to the Chief, First Graduate of the Halfling Program, Master of the Torch and Dagger Style, Friend of the Fey, Expert Mapmaker, (and vicariously) Treasure Hunter Extrodinaire you whose appetite could never be quenched will surely be missed.
Dating back to the walking volcano guy, Beau had bad luck w/ concentration and arcane spell failure, which was rarely a problem. (the 15% for studded leather was more like 50%) So Beau failed to cast many of his spells. In addition, Beau and other party members came down w/ blinding sickness and buzzing bowels. Then in the most recent update we had to contend with SR and with Beau being multiclassed it was that much more diffucult to penetrate SR.
Dating back to the walking volcano guy, Beau had bad luck w/ concentration and arcane spell failure, which was rarely a problem. (the 15% for studded leather was more like 50%) So Beau failed to cast many of his spells. In addition, Beau and other party members came down w/ blinding sickness and buzzing bowels. Then in the most recent update we had to contend with SR and with Beau being multiclassed it was that much more diffucult to penetrate SR.
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Brain
First Post
The continuined saga of Bob the Bat
Bob the bat flew off into the jungle, not caring where he was going. He clutched the wand in his little feet tightly and flew faster and farther than he had ever gone before. He made his way out above the jungle canopy and into the (now) night sky. All of a sudden he snapped out of it as he detected a large creature in the sky nearby. Oh no! That thing is huge! Dive! Bob’s survival instincts took over and he flew back down into the jungle. He escaped, but was feeling very tired and needed to rest. By chance, he found an abandoned bird nest and settled inside it to sleep for the day.
Panic struck as he felt himself being pulled by something large. He was helpless in the creature’s grip, and it was crushing the life out of him. Then the sound around him changed in quality and became distorted, and he felt the cold clammy mud rise up to embrace him. Oddly, he wasn’t concerned for his own welfare. He felt an urgent need to escape in order to help his friends! But alas, he could not do anything, he could protect no one.
A bright light flashed and with a jolt, Bob awoke from his dream. That was how my friend Timothy felt, Bob came to realize. He was a good friend. I never had friends before Timothy. I just knew that there were others like me and that we lived together in a big cave. But when I went to Timothy, He taught me how to be friends. But now he is gone, and I don’t know what to do.
His stomach told him what to do soon enough, and he went off in search of some insects to eat. He found them easily. That’s one good thing about the jungle, there are plenty of insects. He longed for a cave to live in, and headed towards the mountain range in the center of the island.
As he flew back east, he remembered an unpleasant encounter with a group of gnolls that had wanted to eat him. Fortunately, the gnolls took the land shark thing as food instead. This memory made Bob angry, and he decided to go make the gnolls respect bats and not eat them anymore. A few days and a few well-placed Lightning Bolts later, Bob had his revenge and then returned to the mountains to find a good cave to live in.
He found a cave with some other bats in it, but it was strange. He couldn’t talk to them on the same level he could talk to Timothy, and their company no longer comforted or pleased him. He moved in to another smaller cave and found that he had a lot of time to think about things and ponder existence. He tucked the wand away in a crack in the cave and decided that he wouldn’t use it again unless he was in dire trouble.
After a time, he became aware of a person who was living nearby in another cave. The person was short and wide like Timothy, but not quite the same. This dwarven druid realized that Bob was special and befriended him. Bob was glad to have someone to talk to, and decided to help his new friend protect the balance of nature. There were unnatural things in the mountains, and together maybe they could make a difference.
So there's my vision of what happened after Bob flew off into the jungle. Who knows, maybe Bob becomes a druid himself under the tutelage of the dwarf.
Bob the bat flew off into the jungle, not caring where he was going. He clutched the wand in his little feet tightly and flew faster and farther than he had ever gone before. He made his way out above the jungle canopy and into the (now) night sky. All of a sudden he snapped out of it as he detected a large creature in the sky nearby. Oh no! That thing is huge! Dive! Bob’s survival instincts took over and he flew back down into the jungle. He escaped, but was feeling very tired and needed to rest. By chance, he found an abandoned bird nest and settled inside it to sleep for the day.
Panic struck as he felt himself being pulled by something large. He was helpless in the creature’s grip, and it was crushing the life out of him. Then the sound around him changed in quality and became distorted, and he felt the cold clammy mud rise up to embrace him. Oddly, he wasn’t concerned for his own welfare. He felt an urgent need to escape in order to help his friends! But alas, he could not do anything, he could protect no one.
A bright light flashed and with a jolt, Bob awoke from his dream. That was how my friend Timothy felt, Bob came to realize. He was a good friend. I never had friends before Timothy. I just knew that there were others like me and that we lived together in a big cave. But when I went to Timothy, He taught me how to be friends. But now he is gone, and I don’t know what to do.
His stomach told him what to do soon enough, and he went off in search of some insects to eat. He found them easily. That’s one good thing about the jungle, there are plenty of insects. He longed for a cave to live in, and headed towards the mountain range in the center of the island.
As he flew back east, he remembered an unpleasant encounter with a group of gnolls that had wanted to eat him. Fortunately, the gnolls took the land shark thing as food instead. This memory made Bob angry, and he decided to go make the gnolls respect bats and not eat them anymore. A few days and a few well-placed Lightning Bolts later, Bob had his revenge and then returned to the mountains to find a good cave to live in.
He found a cave with some other bats in it, but it was strange. He couldn’t talk to them on the same level he could talk to Timothy, and their company no longer comforted or pleased him. He moved in to another smaller cave and found that he had a lot of time to think about things and ponder existence. He tucked the wand away in a crack in the cave and decided that he wouldn’t use it again unless he was in dire trouble.
After a time, he became aware of a person who was living nearby in another cave. The person was short and wide like Timothy, but not quite the same. This dwarven druid realized that Bob was special and befriended him. Bob was glad to have someone to talk to, and decided to help his new friend protect the balance of nature. There were unnatural things in the mountains, and together maybe they could make a difference.
So there's my vision of what happened after Bob flew off into the jungle. Who knows, maybe Bob becomes a druid himself under the tutelage of the dwarf.
the Jester
Legend
6/30/369 O.L.G., 10:15 a.m., near the edge of Sriti’s Jungle
Birds twitter overhead. Fat drops of warm water dribble from wide cup-like leaves. Spiders as big as a dwarf’s hand crouch in their webs, catching insects the size of cherries. Warm, moist air rises all around.
Jawbreaker heaves a sigh as he stumbles along blindly, probing ahead of him with a stick. Beau staggers next to him, blind as well, the two of them holding to a rope that Martini has tied to the travois upon which the paralyzed Naomi lies. The ranger grunts with effort as he drags the fat girl behind them.
Above them, there is the sound of the branches of trees rustling as the urd Achtung descends from above. “We’re near the edge!” he reports excitedly. “Hey you guys, we’re almost out of here!”
“Thank god,” groans Beau. “The jungle sucks.”
“You just need to be more careful,” admonishes Martini. “Jungles are dangerous, but with proper preparation, it’s easy to get by.”*
Jawbreaker snorts disdainfully.
Indeed, in about an hour, the group finally pulls itself out of the thinning line of jungle plants. The edge is fairly abrupt, with multi-layered canopy giving way to a thin dusting of trees and thick undergrowth, and then even that falls off and then a high grass sweeping over more or less flat land is revealed. To our heroes’ considerable delight, the air is less humid, less hot. The singing of thousands of birds gradually recedes as the group moves out across the plains.
Before long, they find a small farm. In the fields, a pleasant enough human farmer greets them. He wears a simple grass skirt and some bone and wooden jewelry tied to him with leather thongs. He speaks Strogassian, an directs them to the nearest town, Sritivara. He speaks of it as if it’s the big city. He also seems to know something about both the paralyzation of Naomi and the blinding sickness. The sting that incapacitated Naomi lasts for weeks or months, until the eggs the wasp (called a spider eater) injects into the victim’s body hatch and the larvae consume it for food. The blinding sickness, alas, is permanent.
Well, maybe there’s someone who can cure it there, Naomi sends to Martini telepathically. He nods. His poor friends!
***
7/1/369 O.L.G., 9 a.m., the Black Barracks Inn, Sritivara
The next morning, bathed and rested in the Black Barracks, an inn in the town they have reached (which seems to be predominantly humans living in wooden huts), our heroes assemble for breakfast. They are glum; the previous day they searched for a cleric powerful enough to remove blindness in town- to no avail. On the other hand, despite Beau and Jawbreaker’s poor prospects, the town’s cleric was powerful enough to prepare a potion of remove paralysis for a fee. After breakfast our heroes go and pick it up, then dribble it down Naomi’s throat. She coughs and convulses and at last can move again- though for almost a day she feels pins and needles throughout her body.
Then our heroes head into the halfling quarter. They had naturally made inquiries into the presence of other halflings, and though the island as a whole has very few of their kind, they almost all live in a single neighborhood in Sritivara. So our heroes head down there, and almost immediately they attract considerable attention. In a population of 40 halflings, everyone knows everyone else; so the arrival of a half-dozen new faces is a big deal.
The first halflings to approach are a pair of curious youths. The party introduces themselves, and as the youths start to reciprocate, a voice calls out from a nearby doorway. “Did you say your name is Martini Hempflower? And Federico Flapjacks?”
“Uh-oh,” whimpers Federico.
“Yes,” Martini says, as a beautiful halfling girl dressed for battle emerges. “Have we met?”
“My name is Heather Peachtree,” she says solemnly. “You- your clan- has dealt a grievous injury to my cousin Benjy.”
“Who’s Benjy Peachtree? Is this connected to those other guys who were hunting you when we met?” Beau asks.
“Yes,” groans Martini. “Listen, Miss Peachtree, we didn’t put out your cousin’s eye- the one you want is named Airhead Ed. Ed Flapjacks. But we haven’t seen her in months now. As far as we know, she’s somewhere on Strogass. We had no quarrel with Benjy, and we have no quarrel with you!”
“Well, I have a quarrel with you,” Heather Peachtree retorts.
“Hey, settle down here!” A new voice, powerful and masculine, cuts across the tableau. A strong-looking halfling wearing a solar symbol strides up. “We don’t need any fighting in the streets. Come on, Heather, you look you’re ready to draw steel. Why don’t you folks let me buy you a round of drinks or something?” The newcomer skillfully defuses the situation, guiding Heather away, and then returns to the party. He looks them over for a moment, then he says, “Sorry about that. I’m not sure what go into her- I mean, she’s a hot head, but not normally that bad.”
“Oh, it goes back to some old trouble between her clan and ours,” Federico explains. “Sort of. But we don’t want any part of it!”
“I don’t blame you,” replies the newcomer, and he introduces himself as Ezekiel. Behind him, a beautiful halfling woman smiles and introduces herself as Hortence. It is obvious that he is the leader between the two of them.
“Come, let’s get a bite to eat,” suggests Beau. “Surely you know of a suitable place around here?”
Indeed Ezekiel does, and he leads the party to it: a small indoor place, cozy and warm (though not quite stifling). There the party and Ezekiel enjoy a meal of the local cuisine. Naturally, our heroes recount their recent adventures, telling Zeke that they left Strogass because they were being oppressed and fined by the authorities. “Besides, that place is falling apart,” explains Martini. “There was a general breakdown going on gradually, it seemed.”
“Yeah, and the Emperor is dead! Did you know that?” Federico seems impressed by his knowledge.
“I didn’t know that,” Ezekiel admits. “And it’s very interesting indeed. Strogass sucks- there’s all kind of oppression there. But there’s just as much oppression here, actually.” He gets a steely glint in his eye. ”For now.” Then he smiles again.
The party asks Ezekiel if he knows of anyone capable of restoring the lost vision of Beau and Jawbreaker, and he seems dubious. “Well, there is a druid that dwells around here. Maybe he could help.” He shrugs.
“Eventually, I will have such abilities, thanks to my divine patron Fensor,” Hortence remarks.
“Hmm... maybe if it takes that long, we’ll take you up on that.”
Beau groans.
“If you’re going to seek help from the druid,” Ezekiel says diplomatically, “you might want to do so before you become too embroiled with me. He’s... not always happy with my choices.”
Next Time: Can our heroes get their sight back? And who- or what- are the Green Tigers?
*This update marks the start of a new session, and Martini’s player missed the latter portion of the last one, i.e. all the jungle stuff. Throughout the next few games, anytime the idea of heading into the jungle would come up, Martini’s player was like, “Sure!” while everyone else chorused “NO!!”
I'll try to post another update to this thread later today, if I have a chance to finish the second half of this one!
Birds twitter overhead. Fat drops of warm water dribble from wide cup-like leaves. Spiders as big as a dwarf’s hand crouch in their webs, catching insects the size of cherries. Warm, moist air rises all around.
Jawbreaker heaves a sigh as he stumbles along blindly, probing ahead of him with a stick. Beau staggers next to him, blind as well, the two of them holding to a rope that Martini has tied to the travois upon which the paralyzed Naomi lies. The ranger grunts with effort as he drags the fat girl behind them.
Above them, there is the sound of the branches of trees rustling as the urd Achtung descends from above. “We’re near the edge!” he reports excitedly. “Hey you guys, we’re almost out of here!”
“Thank god,” groans Beau. “The jungle sucks.”
“You just need to be more careful,” admonishes Martini. “Jungles are dangerous, but with proper preparation, it’s easy to get by.”*
Jawbreaker snorts disdainfully.
Indeed, in about an hour, the group finally pulls itself out of the thinning line of jungle plants. The edge is fairly abrupt, with multi-layered canopy giving way to a thin dusting of trees and thick undergrowth, and then even that falls off and then a high grass sweeping over more or less flat land is revealed. To our heroes’ considerable delight, the air is less humid, less hot. The singing of thousands of birds gradually recedes as the group moves out across the plains.
Before long, they find a small farm. In the fields, a pleasant enough human farmer greets them. He wears a simple grass skirt and some bone and wooden jewelry tied to him with leather thongs. He speaks Strogassian, an directs them to the nearest town, Sritivara. He speaks of it as if it’s the big city. He also seems to know something about both the paralyzation of Naomi and the blinding sickness. The sting that incapacitated Naomi lasts for weeks or months, until the eggs the wasp (called a spider eater) injects into the victim’s body hatch and the larvae consume it for food. The blinding sickness, alas, is permanent.
Well, maybe there’s someone who can cure it there, Naomi sends to Martini telepathically. He nods. His poor friends!
***
7/1/369 O.L.G., 9 a.m., the Black Barracks Inn, Sritivara
The next morning, bathed and rested in the Black Barracks, an inn in the town they have reached (which seems to be predominantly humans living in wooden huts), our heroes assemble for breakfast. They are glum; the previous day they searched for a cleric powerful enough to remove blindness in town- to no avail. On the other hand, despite Beau and Jawbreaker’s poor prospects, the town’s cleric was powerful enough to prepare a potion of remove paralysis for a fee. After breakfast our heroes go and pick it up, then dribble it down Naomi’s throat. She coughs and convulses and at last can move again- though for almost a day she feels pins and needles throughout her body.
Then our heroes head into the halfling quarter. They had naturally made inquiries into the presence of other halflings, and though the island as a whole has very few of their kind, they almost all live in a single neighborhood in Sritivara. So our heroes head down there, and almost immediately they attract considerable attention. In a population of 40 halflings, everyone knows everyone else; so the arrival of a half-dozen new faces is a big deal.
The first halflings to approach are a pair of curious youths. The party introduces themselves, and as the youths start to reciprocate, a voice calls out from a nearby doorway. “Did you say your name is Martini Hempflower? And Federico Flapjacks?”
“Uh-oh,” whimpers Federico.
“Yes,” Martini says, as a beautiful halfling girl dressed for battle emerges. “Have we met?”
“My name is Heather Peachtree,” she says solemnly. “You- your clan- has dealt a grievous injury to my cousin Benjy.”
“Who’s Benjy Peachtree? Is this connected to those other guys who were hunting you when we met?” Beau asks.
“Yes,” groans Martini. “Listen, Miss Peachtree, we didn’t put out your cousin’s eye- the one you want is named Airhead Ed. Ed Flapjacks. But we haven’t seen her in months now. As far as we know, she’s somewhere on Strogass. We had no quarrel with Benjy, and we have no quarrel with you!”
“Well, I have a quarrel with you,” Heather Peachtree retorts.
“Hey, settle down here!” A new voice, powerful and masculine, cuts across the tableau. A strong-looking halfling wearing a solar symbol strides up. “We don’t need any fighting in the streets. Come on, Heather, you look you’re ready to draw steel. Why don’t you folks let me buy you a round of drinks or something?” The newcomer skillfully defuses the situation, guiding Heather away, and then returns to the party. He looks them over for a moment, then he says, “Sorry about that. I’m not sure what go into her- I mean, she’s a hot head, but not normally that bad.”
“Oh, it goes back to some old trouble between her clan and ours,” Federico explains. “Sort of. But we don’t want any part of it!”
“I don’t blame you,” replies the newcomer, and he introduces himself as Ezekiel. Behind him, a beautiful halfling woman smiles and introduces herself as Hortence. It is obvious that he is the leader between the two of them.
“Come, let’s get a bite to eat,” suggests Beau. “Surely you know of a suitable place around here?”
Indeed Ezekiel does, and he leads the party to it: a small indoor place, cozy and warm (though not quite stifling). There the party and Ezekiel enjoy a meal of the local cuisine. Naturally, our heroes recount their recent adventures, telling Zeke that they left Strogass because they were being oppressed and fined by the authorities. “Besides, that place is falling apart,” explains Martini. “There was a general breakdown going on gradually, it seemed.”
“Yeah, and the Emperor is dead! Did you know that?” Federico seems impressed by his knowledge.
“I didn’t know that,” Ezekiel admits. “And it’s very interesting indeed. Strogass sucks- there’s all kind of oppression there. But there’s just as much oppression here, actually.” He gets a steely glint in his eye. ”For now.” Then he smiles again.
The party asks Ezekiel if he knows of anyone capable of restoring the lost vision of Beau and Jawbreaker, and he seems dubious. “Well, there is a druid that dwells around here. Maybe he could help.” He shrugs.
“Eventually, I will have such abilities, thanks to my divine patron Fensor,” Hortence remarks.
“Hmm... maybe if it takes that long, we’ll take you up on that.”
Beau groans.
“If you’re going to seek help from the druid,” Ezekiel says diplomatically, “you might want to do so before you become too embroiled with me. He’s... not always happy with my choices.”
Next Time: Can our heroes get their sight back? And who- or what- are the Green Tigers?
*This update marks the start of a new session, and Martini’s player missed the latter portion of the last one, i.e. all the jungle stuff. Throughout the next few games, anytime the idea of heading into the jungle would come up, Martini’s player was like, “Sure!” while everyone else chorused “NO!!”
I'll try to post another update to this thread later today, if I have a chance to finish the second half of this one!
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the Jester
Legend
For the record, our party configuration is now like this, with Ezekiel being Brain's new character and Hortence his cohort:
Beau- rogue 4/sorc 3
Martini- rng 3/ftr 2/order of the bow initiate 1
Federico- kobold bard 4/sorc 2/jester 1
Achtung- urd ftr 2 (total ECL 4)
Ezekiel- paladin 6
Naomi- psion 5/elementalist 1
Jawbreaker- barb 6
Hortense- clr 4
Sandy- rog 4/ftr 2
Beau- rogue 4/sorc 3
Martini- rng 3/ftr 2/order of the bow initiate 1
Federico- kobold bard 4/sorc 2/jester 1
Achtung- urd ftr 2 (total ECL 4)
Ezekiel- paladin 6
Naomi- psion 5/elementalist 1
Jawbreaker- barb 6
Hortense- clr 4
Sandy- rog 4/ftr 2
Brain
First Post
Just so you know, I spell the names in this fashion: Ezeekiel and Hortense
Some other background
Ezeekiel Dandybanter was originally of the Bakeswell clan, but has been adopted by the Dandybanter clan during his travels on Strogass. He's a Paladin of Galador, and has gained a reputation for fighting against the Bleakist regime on Strogass. He has come to Dyshim recently and become involved in local politics.
Hortense Hempflower is a cousin of Martini's (though about 10 years older than him). Also, she isn't usually considered beautiful, especially since she is skinny by Halfling standards. She's known for her nice personality and healing expertise.
Their relationship with each other is undefined (at least in the eyes of the public and to the rest of the party) except that she follows him most everywhere and supports his cause of freedom for the people.
Some other background
Ezeekiel Dandybanter was originally of the Bakeswell clan, but has been adopted by the Dandybanter clan during his travels on Strogass. He's a Paladin of Galador, and has gained a reputation for fighting against the Bleakist regime on Strogass. He has come to Dyshim recently and become involved in local politics.
Hortense Hempflower is a cousin of Martini's (though about 10 years older than him). Also, she isn't usually considered beautiful, especially since she is skinny by Halfling standards. She's known for her nice personality and healing expertise.
Their relationship with each other is undefined (at least in the eyes of the public and to the rest of the party) except that she follows him most everywhere and supports his cause of freedom for the people.
hippiejedi2
First Post
On the way out of the jungle Beau was led by Timmothy, until of course he died, at which point Federico led Beau. Federico in his new Jester class made sure to NOT warn Beau about every root, so he tripped frequently. Federico was still a better guide than TImmothy though.
I recall when we first exit the accursed jungle Federico pulling some of his jester abilities and got us a meal and info from the first farmer/peasant guy.
I recall when we first exit the accursed jungle Federico pulling some of his jester abilities and got us a meal and info from the first farmer/peasant guy.
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the Jester
Legend
The Liberation of Dyshim!
Noon
“The blinding sickness.” Monli the druid sighs, shaking his head warily. “Restoring your sight is beyond me. The loss is permanent unless treated properly, and I do not have the magical faculties to remove it. However...” He pauses, purses his lips. “Dyshim is a place of great natural wonder and power. There is a set of springs, well known for their healing properties... I could brew up an herbal remedy that, when soaked in the mineral waters of a specific spring, should aid you in seeing again.”
The party agrees readily to pay the cost of brewing up the herbal concoction, and the druid agrees to brew it up. According to him it will take about two days to cook up the mess. The party has obtained a map of Dyshim; Monli marks the location of the pit that the healing springs are in on it. The pit, apparently, is on the far side of the jungle, up against the mountains. Beau groans. “We go around,” Jawbreaker says emphatically. Martini snorts.
Our heroes return to the place they are staying, the Black Barracks. Once there they eat a significant meal and then laze about for the rest of the day. Dinner comes and goes, and then the party reclines into sleep.
***
7/2/369 O.L.G., 10 a.m.
Just after second breakfast the party heads out on the streets, buying a new dog for Federico (whom the little kobold jester names Portnoy) and generally re-equipping themselves. They snack on the local cuisine; dark-skinned humans selling hunks of tender grilled fish on a stick seem to be all around the business district. Tropical birds flash overhead in sudden blots of color. Fruits are abundant, sweet and juicy. Naomi takes special joy in walking about the community after being paralyzed for so long. The blind- Beau and Jawbreaker- get much less enjoyment out of the town than the others, since they can’t see the exotic sights, but they can smell the delicious scents of cooking food and the flowers that seem to dot every house’s garden.
All day our heroes spend wandering the town. All too soon evening falls, and they begin winding their way back to the Black Barracks. Thanks to a couple of taller buildings near their inn, they have little trouble navigating the unfamiliar streets. As they walk they notice a man trailing along about 20’ behind them. At first they think nothing of him, but then another young fellow drifts along after them, and another wanders out of an alley to the side. Each fellow wears a green armband. And suddenly there are about a dozen guys, young tough-looking humans for the most part, making hard eyes at our heroes. Suddenly the toughs stop moving. They have encircled our heroes, and so our heroes halt as well.
One of the ruffians- an especially ugly half-orc walking with a longspear- gives a thick smile to the party and says, “Good evenin’, folks. It seems you are in the Green Tigers’ territory. I’m afraid you must pay our toll.”
“How much is your toll?” asks Federico worriedly.
“Well, how much have you got?”
“No way! These guys are trying to oppress us!” Ezeekiel strikes a stern pose, gesturing at the half-orc. “We’ll never give in to you!”
That seems to be everyone’s cue to burst into action. Federico casts mage armor first on Portnoy and then on himself while Achtung and Martini start shooting arrows out into the mass of hoodlums. The leader stabs Ezeekiel with his spear, slicing through armor and flesh and shocking the paladin with its force. Ezeekiel draws his axe and then the two are locked in a deadly dance of steel.
Though blind, Beau casts a shocking grasp. In Halfling, he calls out, “Hey watch out, guys, I’ve got a shocking grasp going! Don’t come too close unless you identify yourself or I might zap you!”
Achtung, meanwhile, keeps up a rapid fire of missiles from his bow. He peppers a couple of the toughs, who are being pressed more by Portnoy than by the arrow fire. Then Federico drops a number of them with a sleep spell even as Ezeekiel and the leader sweep apart. Hortense casts a healing spell on Ezeekiel while the gang leader chugs a potion down, and some of his wounds heal as well.
Determined, the paladin sweeps into a mass of the thugs, and in seconds another is down. The battle is definitely turning in our heroes’ favor. Martini lands several more arrows in the gang leader. The toughs land an occasional blow, but they are not used to dealing with savvy customers like our heroes, armed and armored and unafraid. Soon the toughs break and flee, though our heroes capture the leader alive and bind him up.
Ezeekiel takes on the task of keeping the prisoner hidden safely away, and yet still a prisoner. The party manages to return to their inn without further incident, and they rest. In the morning the party mostly starts an early heavy drunk, but Ezeekiel and Hortense go to speak to the gang leader. His name, it turns out, is Grizliwentho. Ezeekiel sternly lectures him about civic duty, about standing up to the oppressors, about not preying on the weak. He demands that Grizliwentho and his gang change their ways and turn from their current street activity to more of a local police force. Grizliwentho agrees blithely to everything Zeke says. Has he seen the error of his ways, or is he just saying what he must to survive? Who can say? Ezeekiel warns him that his network of eyes and ears will make sure that the Green Tigers stay in line. “We defeated you and we could have taken a lot more of you if we had had to,” Ezeekiel remonstrates. “Don’t make us come back and finish the job!”
The paladin turns Grizliwentho loose, making a mental note to check up on him soon. I hope he becomes a good soldier for the resistance, thinks Zeke with a smile. I think I got through to him. I think I did.
***
4 p.m., Monli the druid’s house
Our heroes have sobered up enough to make it practical to attempt a little diplomacy. According to Ezeekiel, the tyrant governor of Dyshim has not received any backup or support in over a year. He is being abandoned by more and more of his troops and is in fact down to a handful of bodyguards. The time is ripe for the revolution to strike, to end the oppression! But the druid, the best-respected resident of the city, is strongly against a bloody turnover of power. The party visits him and persuades him to meet with Ezeekiel to discuss the current state of affairs.
“Killing the governor would be a mistake,” Monli insists.
“He has to go.”
“You may have to compromise.”
“Well, as long as the end result is that the people are no longer oppressed. That’s the important thing. The people need to govern.”
In the end, the only thing that the two can agree on is to seek a non-violent solution.
”Now is the time,” Ezeekiel says. “Will you help me get him out of here?”
Our heroes agree, and they march to the governor’s mansion. What starts as a hard negotiating session ends in tragedy as Martini, frustrated with the governor’s insistent ignoring of the fact that he no longer had any cards, shoots him through the eye with his bow. The governor falls dead, and his only two remaining guards throw down their weapons.
Just like that, Dyshim has been liberated.
“What if there are reinforcements coming?” asks Federico.
“Well, then we’ll deal with them,” answers Ezeekiel.
“Are you ready to deal with an assault?” the urd Achtung inquires.
“Not yet,” Zeke replies, “but we will be.”
Next Time: So what will the new government of Dyshim look like? How much will our heroes- especially Ezeekiel- be involved? And how much time will they work on this before attempting to cure Beau’s blindness?
Noon
“The blinding sickness.” Monli the druid sighs, shaking his head warily. “Restoring your sight is beyond me. The loss is permanent unless treated properly, and I do not have the magical faculties to remove it. However...” He pauses, purses his lips. “Dyshim is a place of great natural wonder and power. There is a set of springs, well known for their healing properties... I could brew up an herbal remedy that, when soaked in the mineral waters of a specific spring, should aid you in seeing again.”
The party agrees readily to pay the cost of brewing up the herbal concoction, and the druid agrees to brew it up. According to him it will take about two days to cook up the mess. The party has obtained a map of Dyshim; Monli marks the location of the pit that the healing springs are in on it. The pit, apparently, is on the far side of the jungle, up against the mountains. Beau groans. “We go around,” Jawbreaker says emphatically. Martini snorts.
Our heroes return to the place they are staying, the Black Barracks. Once there they eat a significant meal and then laze about for the rest of the day. Dinner comes and goes, and then the party reclines into sleep.
***
7/2/369 O.L.G., 10 a.m.
Just after second breakfast the party heads out on the streets, buying a new dog for Federico (whom the little kobold jester names Portnoy) and generally re-equipping themselves. They snack on the local cuisine; dark-skinned humans selling hunks of tender grilled fish on a stick seem to be all around the business district. Tropical birds flash overhead in sudden blots of color. Fruits are abundant, sweet and juicy. Naomi takes special joy in walking about the community after being paralyzed for so long. The blind- Beau and Jawbreaker- get much less enjoyment out of the town than the others, since they can’t see the exotic sights, but they can smell the delicious scents of cooking food and the flowers that seem to dot every house’s garden.
All day our heroes spend wandering the town. All too soon evening falls, and they begin winding their way back to the Black Barracks. Thanks to a couple of taller buildings near their inn, they have little trouble navigating the unfamiliar streets. As they walk they notice a man trailing along about 20’ behind them. At first they think nothing of him, but then another young fellow drifts along after them, and another wanders out of an alley to the side. Each fellow wears a green armband. And suddenly there are about a dozen guys, young tough-looking humans for the most part, making hard eyes at our heroes. Suddenly the toughs stop moving. They have encircled our heroes, and so our heroes halt as well.
One of the ruffians- an especially ugly half-orc walking with a longspear- gives a thick smile to the party and says, “Good evenin’, folks. It seems you are in the Green Tigers’ territory. I’m afraid you must pay our toll.”
“How much is your toll?” asks Federico worriedly.
“Well, how much have you got?”
“No way! These guys are trying to oppress us!” Ezeekiel strikes a stern pose, gesturing at the half-orc. “We’ll never give in to you!”
That seems to be everyone’s cue to burst into action. Federico casts mage armor first on Portnoy and then on himself while Achtung and Martini start shooting arrows out into the mass of hoodlums. The leader stabs Ezeekiel with his spear, slicing through armor and flesh and shocking the paladin with its force. Ezeekiel draws his axe and then the two are locked in a deadly dance of steel.
Though blind, Beau casts a shocking grasp. In Halfling, he calls out, “Hey watch out, guys, I’ve got a shocking grasp going! Don’t come too close unless you identify yourself or I might zap you!”
Achtung, meanwhile, keeps up a rapid fire of missiles from his bow. He peppers a couple of the toughs, who are being pressed more by Portnoy than by the arrow fire. Then Federico drops a number of them with a sleep spell even as Ezeekiel and the leader sweep apart. Hortense casts a healing spell on Ezeekiel while the gang leader chugs a potion down, and some of his wounds heal as well.
Determined, the paladin sweeps into a mass of the thugs, and in seconds another is down. The battle is definitely turning in our heroes’ favor. Martini lands several more arrows in the gang leader. The toughs land an occasional blow, but they are not used to dealing with savvy customers like our heroes, armed and armored and unafraid. Soon the toughs break and flee, though our heroes capture the leader alive and bind him up.
Ezeekiel takes on the task of keeping the prisoner hidden safely away, and yet still a prisoner. The party manages to return to their inn without further incident, and they rest. In the morning the party mostly starts an early heavy drunk, but Ezeekiel and Hortense go to speak to the gang leader. His name, it turns out, is Grizliwentho. Ezeekiel sternly lectures him about civic duty, about standing up to the oppressors, about not preying on the weak. He demands that Grizliwentho and his gang change their ways and turn from their current street activity to more of a local police force. Grizliwentho agrees blithely to everything Zeke says. Has he seen the error of his ways, or is he just saying what he must to survive? Who can say? Ezeekiel warns him that his network of eyes and ears will make sure that the Green Tigers stay in line. “We defeated you and we could have taken a lot more of you if we had had to,” Ezeekiel remonstrates. “Don’t make us come back and finish the job!”
The paladin turns Grizliwentho loose, making a mental note to check up on him soon. I hope he becomes a good soldier for the resistance, thinks Zeke with a smile. I think I got through to him. I think I did.
***
4 p.m., Monli the druid’s house
Our heroes have sobered up enough to make it practical to attempt a little diplomacy. According to Ezeekiel, the tyrant governor of Dyshim has not received any backup or support in over a year. He is being abandoned by more and more of his troops and is in fact down to a handful of bodyguards. The time is ripe for the revolution to strike, to end the oppression! But the druid, the best-respected resident of the city, is strongly against a bloody turnover of power. The party visits him and persuades him to meet with Ezeekiel to discuss the current state of affairs.
“Killing the governor would be a mistake,” Monli insists.
“He has to go.”
“You may have to compromise.”
“Well, as long as the end result is that the people are no longer oppressed. That’s the important thing. The people need to govern.”
In the end, the only thing that the two can agree on is to seek a non-violent solution.
”Now is the time,” Ezeekiel says. “Will you help me get him out of here?”
Our heroes agree, and they march to the governor’s mansion. What starts as a hard negotiating session ends in tragedy as Martini, frustrated with the governor’s insistent ignoring of the fact that he no longer had any cards, shoots him through the eye with his bow. The governor falls dead, and his only two remaining guards throw down their weapons.
Just like that, Dyshim has been liberated.
“What if there are reinforcements coming?” asks Federico.
“Well, then we’ll deal with them,” answers Ezeekiel.
“Are you ready to deal with an assault?” the urd Achtung inquires.
“Not yet,” Zeke replies, “but we will be.”
Next Time: So what will the new government of Dyshim look like? How much will our heroes- especially Ezeekiel- be involved? And how much time will they work on this before attempting to cure Beau’s blindness?
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