Piratecat's Updated Story Hour! (update 4/03 and 4/06)

[Piratecat]

Hahaha, not to be disparaging, but that was the best part of the update.

I know. I thought so myself. Listening to the tape, it was hard to hear over the mocking laughter. I mean, it's a lousy zombie vs. 17th-21st lvl characters, and it stopped them dead for almost twenty minutes as they developed a clever plan! That totally caught me off guard. Soder had it there as a warning system; even if the eyes didn't report back in, Soder could track the Defenders' progress by trying to possess the body and knowing something was wrong if he failed. He also figured that if it delayed the invaders, all the better. As a result, sack or no sack, it succeeded admirably.

Best line cut from the story hour: Stone Bear saying "I have three sacks!", and Galthia answering "You certainly do. Doesn't that make it hard to walk?"

Shilsen, I was referring to amount of detail vs. action. You know how it is; after several weeks of no updates, I'm sure everyone wanted to read about bad guys from ten years ago.

 

[WizarDru]

"It was a ZOMBIE."

Proceedings from RBDM court, May 11th, 2004:

[Prosecutor]: Now, is it true Mr. Kulp, that you did, in fact, express disbelief at your players taking an absurdly long time to deal with a creature?

[Piratecat]: Of course I did. It was a ZOMBIE.

[Prosecutor]: I see. And it was unreasonable, why, sir?

[Piratecat]: It was a zombie sentry, for cryin' out loud! A CR1 creature! Half of them are Epic Level! They're on a mission to kill a demi-god. It was there for verisimilitude, that's all.

[Prosecutor]: Your honor, I admit state's evidence, exhibit A.

[Judge Wulf]: Lemme see that. Hmmmph.

[Prosecutor]: Mr. Kulp, if that is your real name, have you seen this before? [hands sheet to defendant]

[Piratecat]: Ummm....well, yes.

[Prosecutor]: Could you identify for the court what it is, sir?

[Piratecat]: Well, it's a template.

[Prosecutor]: A TEMPLATE, SIR! [slaps bannister] Tell us which one, sir.

[Piratecat]: The True Ghoul Template. I got it from some other colleagues online.

[Prosecutor]: Of course you did. Your honor, the prosecution would like admit five more exhibits into evidence.

[Kidcthulu]: OBJECTION!!

[Judge Wulf]: What's yer problem?

[Kidcthulu]: He's only submitting five more examples! I've got years of material, here!

[Judge Wulf]: Aren't you his defense lawyer, lady?

[Kidcthulu]: Defense, nothing! I've got a bone to pick with him!

[Piratecat]: HEY!

[Judge Wulf] Oh, you're in trouble, here, pal.

[Prosecutor]: Mr. Kulp, are you familiar with a....Trilith, I believe it was called?

[Piratecat]: Oh, for the love of Pete! We were still playtesting....

[Prosecutor]: Yes or no?

[Piratecat]: Yes, but that's not...

[Prosecutor]: A half-ilithid troll breed, if I read this correctly. Does this dragon look familiar, sir?

[Piratecat]: What the one with the earth elemental abilities? Sure, I made him. Great fight, that! Why I...

[Prosecutor]: AHEM. Yes, I'm sure you're very proud, sir. And this picture of a ghoul, sir, is it familiar?

[Piratecat]: Sure it is, but listen, this was a..

[Prosecutor]:A trap, sir. It was a trap. Exploding undead, templated and classed horrors. Much like this one, here. State's exhibit admitted yesterday as Exhibit G, your honor. A clever map of a trap intended to snare and possibly slay the Defenders of Daybreak, is that correct?

[Piratecat]: Yes, this is a map I made in Excel. It's a water trap. Man, that was a great one. Rushing water, an underground river...it even had spikes.

[Prosecutor]: So noted, sir. I'm sure you're very proud. Are you noticing a trend, sir? Terrifying nightmares that keep the players off their guard? Clever traps for them to outwit? Advanced use of classing monsters, mixing stats, applying templates, custom creatures, new magic items, prestige classes and unique reinterpitations of old-school monsters. What do you call that, sir?

[Piratecat]: Good DMing.

[Prosecutor]: Indeed, sir. But will you admit that in the face of the overwhelming evidence, especially given the resources available to the white king, that maybe....MAYBE it wasn't unreasonable for the already jumpy Defenders to be paranoid?

[Piratecat]: But it was a ZOMBIE.

[Prosecutor]: So you've said, sir. But in the eyes of a player, a DM of your...reputation...generates certain apprehension. Do you agree?

[Piratecat]: Listen...sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, darn it.

[Prosecutor]: Yes, sir. But if you smoked a cigar every day for eight years, and every third cigar turned out to be half-draconic or true ghoulish, you'd be suscpicious of them, wouldn't you?

[Piratecat]: I wouldn't be smoking in the first place. It's unhealthy.

[Prosecutor]: Stop avoiding the question, sir. Was it unreasonable, in light of the evidence presented here, that the Defenders might have justifiably untrusting of a simple zombie guarding the most lair of one of the most dangerous creatures in Spira at one of the most monumentous and dangerous points of her history? Especially given the many talents of the being known as Soder?

[Piratecat]: Well, I suppose it wasn't that excessive. I might've pointed it out sooner, I suppose, so we could get past the encounter more quickly.

[Judge Wulf]: DAMN RIGHT you could have.

[Prosecutor]: Thank you, sir. The state is satisfied. This issue is finished.

[Piratecat]: Phew. Finally.

[Prosecutor]: We're not done, sir. The state wishes to bring suit on behalf of Kidcthulu against the defendant.

[Piratecat]: What? What for?

[Kidcthulu]: It's about time!

[Prosecutor]: Sir, this is state's exhibit A, a magnified photo of a body surrounded by a chalk outline.

[Judge Wulf]: Who's the perfumed fop, here? And what's that thing next to him?

[Prosecutor]: That's a thimble, your honor. The state is bringing defamation of character charges against the defendant on behalf of Nolin the Bard and the famed six-inch high goblin incident.

[Piratecat] Oh....no......

[Judge Wulf]: Listen, when you're done here, can I talk to yer about Dinkeldog and his rules about the undead? I been steaming about that one for a long time, now......


[THE END....?]

 

[rigur]

So we are gearing up for the final showdown. I also would like to defend PCat's players. Not in a million years would I believe that that PCat would use just a zombie as a lookout, never.

Thanks for the update and I hope you had a happy birthday.

PS. You have teh funny WizarDru DS.

 

[Sagiro]

So we are gearing up for the final showdown. I also would like to defend PCat's players. Not in a million years would I believe that that PCat would use just a zombie as a lookout, never.

I'd also like to defend PCat's players!

I mean, take this simple quiz:

In the very recent past, Piratecat has presented the Defenders with single innocuous-looking creatures, including zombies, that have:

a) exploded in a highly-damaging conflagration
b) turned out to be a pseudonatural troll in disguise
c) tried to cast Mordenkainen's disjunction through our pal Soder
d) all of the above

If you guessed, (d), you'd be right!

There's a reason cats stop jumping up onto stove tops, even when they're cool.

-Sagiro

 

[Piratecat]

WizardDru, that was hilarious. I'll plead guilty as charged, and just post the next update.

----- o -----

Two more zombies are handily dispatched with. The third explodes into a pillar of flame as Malachite shoves his sword into its belly.

“An exploding zombie?” he asks disbelievingly, as he wipes soot from his burned face.

“Must be a surprise from Soder,” says Mara with a frown. She pulls back the hair from her face. “I think we should return the favor.”

As the windwalking group closes on Nacreous, Stone Bear sees other spirits as well. Near Nolin there is the image of a man being horribly tortured along with his familiar, a small rat wearing once-jaunty clothing. “It’s good old Dread Night Snos!” exclaims Nolin when Stone Bear describes the vision. “He was the first member of Imbindarla’s Brotherhood of night that we ever fought. His real name was Nostradis Ghend, which was an anagram for Dread Night’s Son. Arcade got it wrong when deciphering it.” He smirks for a minute. “But it’s okay. Ghend had a rat familiar who he liked to dress up in little clothing. Arcade stabbed it, shouting ‘Thus perishes all evil!’, and Ghend fell over dead from the shock. Now it looks like he’s in hell.” A grimace passes over his face. “He probably deserves it.”

“Someone else,” adds Stone Bear. “A man in dark purple robes. Greasy black hair, beaky nose, innards pulled out, skin bubbling.”

“Snadek Bearsfroth,” clarifies Velendo. “He tried to conquer our kingdom by creating a fake plague rumor of ebon magerot, a horrible uncurable disease that only infects magic items and anyone who can use magic. While all the wizards and clerics fled the country, he tried to open up a shadow-gate under the capitol. Almost succeeded, too.”

“Oh,” says Agar, quickly doing the work in his head. “His name was an anagram, too.”

Nolin snorts. “Yeah. They didn’t get out much.”

“There’s also…” Stone Bear swallows drily. “I’m seeing the images of some of my ancestors, and dead friends from my village. There’s the man who built my family hut, and elderly neighbors, and our old shaman.” His voice turns cold. “They’re all being tortured horribly by unseen assailants. Why? How? They weren’t bad people.”

“Imbindarla is some sort of spiritual funnel,” concludes Nolin. “The Ivory King is trying to absorb Her energy, and it’s somehow affecting the spirits.”

I can feel a pull, says Stone Bear’s animal spirit Bear. I am hanging on to you with both claws, as if you were a tasty piece of fish. I will not leave you.

Well, that’s good, responds the shaman. “We’ll have to chance it,” he says aloud. “Elder tells me that the huge cavern is right ahead.”

It is, and the chilled group huddles at the edge of the ledge, looking out onto an inky abyss and trying to breathe the cold and befouled air. Agar and Velendo study the void carefully, each looking worried. “The entire cavern is alive with some sort of magic,” says Velendo long-sufferingly. “I don’t know what.”

“Agar, let me look through your eyes.” Stone Bear casts chain of eyes and lightly touches Agar on the forehead. “Don’t squint.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“As far as I can tell the whole thing is filled with that magic, a blue-green tangle of magical threads which is a mixture of weak divination and evocation that I don’t recognize. I think it’s the fringe edge of a spell,” says Stone Bear.

“The cavern is more than three miles wide,” says Agar as he finishes a divination spell of his own. “Whatever the divination, it isn’t one that reports back. Those usually have short little darting edges. This is one where the divination magic probably triggers the evocation.”

“Charming. Is there anything we can do about it?” Malachite crosses his arms.

Agar stares into Stone Bear’s eye sockets, and isn’t comforted by the lack of a shared glance. “I don’t think so? We can’t dispel it until we see its source, and the spell weave is incredibly complicated. I certainly couldn’t cast a spell like this.”

“Then we shouldn’t worry too much about it. We’ll just have to stay aware. Where is the city of the ghouls compared to where we are?”

“Nacreous is halfway up the wall on the far side. We don’t know where the King will be, although he’ll probably be eating the body of Imbindarla.” The group discusses myriad contingency plans and casts their remaining preparatory spells. More than twenty minutes pass as they stand there on the edge of the cliff, dreading to go on but knowing that they have no real other choice.

“Does anyone else hear that?” asks Stone Bear.

“What?” asks Galthia.

“The sound of people drowning and crying for help down below us.”

Galthia raises his pale eyebrows. “Noooooooo.”

“Ah. It’s the spirits.”

I’m tired of caverns. I want the sun again, Mara’s warhorse Luminor snorts to her over their empathic link.

It will all be decided in a few minutes, reassures Mara. This is it. And to get the group moving she dissolves into mist intending to step off the ledge.

“Mara!” shouts a horrified Velendo. “Stop!”

Her frown is intense. “We go, or I’ll go.”

“Okay. You’re right.” Velendo turns. “Let’s send out best spotter. Galthia, go check it out.” The monk floats out into the edge of the massive spell. . . and nothing happens.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” says Velendo. With laboured breath he casts filter to help everyone breathe, Agar casts a planar protection spell to help stave off negative energy, and they soar off the ledge and into the giant cavern.

They separate as they sail over the black emptiness, different members of the group moving at different heights as they navigate the cavern on their own hurricane winds. As they move closer it’s almost as if they’re flying into a high wind, not because of actual wind resistance but because of the negative energy which is buffetting them. If it weren’t for Agar’s spell, they’d be stripped of life energy in a matter of seconds.

“Thank you, Agar,” murmurs Nolin, and he continues to sub-vocalize his inspiring song.

The people near the floor are zooming around dark water that is now cloudy blood. “Proty, that’s not something you want to drink.” Proty gurgles acknowledgement into Agar’s mind, and the alienist smiles to himself.

"Look at that," remarks Galthia. Far to the left is the largest stalactite anyone has ever laid eyes on. It is a huge triangular chunk of ceiling that hangs down like a swollen blister hundreds of feet long. There are no lights in it, but it must have been inhabited once upon a time because it is riddled with holes like a hive or an anthill. It is visible because it reflects greenish-yellow corpselight from the now-visible city of Nacreous in the distance.

Agar notices something disturbing and speaks out over the mindlink. “Remember that spell? The magic is accruing on our skins, and…” Even as he speaks he begins to glow with visible light. Everyone around him, wherever they are, begins to flicker with a similar glow.

“Bing!” says Agar. “Evocation. But it doesn’t seem to bad. I… oh. Uh oh.” Agar’s sharp eyes have been trained to see through planar disturbances, and he is the first person to see something shivering blue emerge from the huge stalactite. Then all the dark openings almost look like they’re leaking a purplish light. “Incoming!”

Malachite glances up. “We’ve got company,” he says grimly, and then his mind registers what exactly he’s seeing. “Those things moving towards us look like spectres. They’re one of the most evil spirits who have had their flesh sloughed away.”

“Oh, that’s bad,” Stone Bear grunts.

“Time to move fast now,” advises an appalled Nolin. "With this light everyone can see us clearly. We're totally exposed."

“We’re all going to die, and no one will care,” mutters Priggle to himself. “No statues or medals for the deep gnome.” He swallows drily and futilely tries to urge the magic to greater speed.

“We can move almost twice as quickly as they can,” calls Malachite. Now there is a stream of them emerging from the hanging pillar, hundreds of them arcing towards the glowing group. “They’re powerless in sunlight, but I can’t touch Karthos while I’m in wind walk form. They have maneuverability, but we have speed. They’re trying to intercept us, but I think we can outrun them.”

"And then what?" asks Galthia. "It takes us thirty seconds to turn solid again."

"I think we'll have to improvise as we go along," suggests Nolin.

“They aren’t human,” calls Agar.

"What?"

"Those spectres. They aren't human."

Priggle glances back and immediately recognizes the growing shapes. “No, they’re cloakers,” groans the deep gnome. “They look like large flying deep-cavern rays. They’re powerful and evil creatures that sometimes ally with drow or mindflayers.”

“What can they do?” asks Mara.

“You mean when they’re alive? I have no idea what they can do when they’re undead. Probably something much worse. They normally have sonic abilities, and by Garl Glittergold’s girdle you don’t want to let them engulf you with their wings!”

“Ah,” says Mara, and now the shrieking whine of the approaching spectres can heard beneath the roar of the propelling holy wind. "Joy."

The Defenders of Daybreak race towards the city of Nacreous more than a mile away, each of the heroes now glowing as brightly as their namesake. They are chased by the icy blue glow of hundreds of spectres swooping towards them in a long and curving line of hatred. And with a dull roar, an arcing bolt of flame shoots up from Nacreous and misses Malachite by about fifteen feet. Two more flaming ballista bolts follow, one missing Stone Bear and another one smashiing through Agar’s misty belly. The injured halfling scowls towards the still-distant city and raises his voice in a challenge. “Oh, well. Is that the best you’ve got?”

Everyone else simultaneously shouts “Agar, no!” and suddenly the rest of the group scatters away from Agar.

“Err. Guys?”

As more flaming bolts launch from the distant city, it quickly becomes apparent that unless the Defenders maneuver, the spectral cloakers are going to cut them off.

To be continued….

 

[Piratecat]

I recently bought the Dungeon issue that contains the White Kingdom adventure (thanks to Ebay) and I've been reading that a bit at a time. Amazing adventure as written, but so much grander the way you've rearranged it PC. I was wondering if and how you would bring the cavern's other features into play.

When reading the adventure I thought to myself, "Cloakers? Why in the world are there living cloakers so close to cannibalistic ever-hungry ghouls?" The answer, of course, is that there weren't many living cloakers left after a ghoul-summoned spectre managed to infiltrate... and one by one, the massive colony was converted. They're not allied with the ghouls, necessarily, but they do make for a nice first line of defense.

I really ended up picking and choosing the portions of that adventure that I wanted to include. Some parts were really cool but not appropriate due to level differences, and some I had planned to include but didn't get around to. The majority of Nacreous (called Kilenor in the published adventure) looks mostly the same, at least. Mushroom forest and all.

Plane Sailing, the little green flying eyes of the king have been mentioned before, albeit not often. The group destroyed several before descending to stop the ritual near Akin's Throat (when Imbindarla hit), and one snuck into the Comfy Castle once. They're a tiny construct, a spying and scrying method used by the Ivory King.

 

[Sialia]

“Snadek Bearsfroth,” clarifies Velendo. “He tried to conquer our kingdom by creating a fake plague rumor of ebon magerot, a horrible uncurable disease that only infects magic items and anyone who can use magic. While all the wizards and clerics fled the country, he tried to open up a shadow-gate under the capitol. Almost succeeded, too.”

OK, for those looking for more on the backstory, even though the webiste is down, you can see most of the content here at ENWorld in the old "Defenders of Daybreak the Early Years" thread (perhaps someone will kindly exhume it and post a link? I don't have time to dig back that far right now).

Also it might amuse you to know that it was the Ebon Mage Rot plague that resulted in Alex and Tomtom's first Big Deal. They bought up all the property of people fleeing the country when we already knew what was going on and hadn't told the rest of the world yet.
They made a killing in the land market when the plague was "cured."

This proved to me once and for all that there is simply no point in risking getting killed being a cutpurse or a catburglar. If you are going to rogue, rogue big.
Insider trading is legal in most D&D worlds, and much, much more profitable.

 

[Piratecat]

Here's the correct link for the Early Years thread. These are all linked in the first post of this thread, but with the cyberstreet url; I'll need to fix that!

http://enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4167

 

[Abraxas]

OK, looking back at the early years thread reminded me of question I've been meaning to ask for a while (actually since I first read the early years thread) . . . What issue of Dungeon was The Winter's Glade adventure in?

 

[Piratecat]

I'm really not sure. I know it was before issue #34. Thanks to Emirikol's superb Dungeon Magazine index, the other adventures I know I've used (and the rough order I used them in) are:

Issue 34 (1992): Euphoria Horrors (1-2) Can you find a little boy’s missing friend? The description he gives you is very strange. This is the very first adventure I ran for the group, where I introduced Frolic the faerie dragon.

Issue ?: The Winter's Glade adventure, the second one I ran and the place that Nolin's half-brother was introduced.

Issue 24: In the Dread of Night (bD&D 1-3) He wears black, hires orcs, and looks depraved-but don’t be fooled. He’s far more dangerous than he seems. I think, but I'm not sure, that this is the adventure where Nostradis Ghend was introduced.

Issue 28: Night of Fear (bD&D; 1st solo) Most country inns are noted for their charm, peacefulness, and security. But not this one. Unless I'm mistaken, this is the adventure where the PCs first ran into doppelgangers and both Arcade and Alix were killed.

Issue 37: A Wizard’s Fate (1-3) It took only the love of one good woman-and the hatred of one evil familiar. It was in the aftermath of this adventure that Velendo joined the party and the group met Stavros the half-orc. This is also where Tao's first wardog was killed.

Issue 18 (8/89): Chadrathar’s Bane (4-6) You found the treasure you were seeking. Now you have to escape from it. This is the adventure where Nolin was killed by inch-high goblins. I know, life isn't fair.

Issue 39: Legerdemain (4-7) What’s going on behind the scenes? Don’t blow your lines, and you’ll find out. Here's where we first met Nolin's ex-lover, and where Dylrath's big brother Tephis Birdhouse (honorary Defender?) made his acting debut before the king.

Issue 70: KINGDOM OF THE GHOULS (GREYHAWK; 9-15; Wolfgang Baur; 29 p.) Grave danger awaits heroes in the gloomy depths of Deep Oerth.; **

I know there are more, but it's hard to identify all of them from the index!