The Continuing Adventures of the Knights of the Silver Quill

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Grim

First Post
Yay! Clerics rock!! and a cleric of wee jas too! sooooo cool! Dr. M, you rule! and so does everyone else in the group... GO KNIGHTS!!!! You need a new name, because you guys didn't go back to hommet. but whatever... GO KNIGHTS!!!!
 

ProfAnime

Move along, nothing to see here
Well, I am a new convert to the worship of Dr Midnight and his wonderful group. I love how you have been playing ToEE. Some of the posts by Dr Midnight have nearly moved me to tears, and have moved my wife to tears. Keep up the good work Dr Midnight!
 

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Way to go !!!

Another long-time lurker emerges from hiding !!!

Thanks Doc n' group for these addicting tales. I haven't been these hooked since Stephen King's Green Mile, although your 31 sessions are quite impressive. If Dartan survives, you should consider publishing the story :D !!!

I hope the knights will fare well with four clerics and no mage. Being a big fan of arcane spellcasters, I dearly miss Jamison.
What's with you guys, at the level you are playing, wizards rock. And that temple's going to have some mages on their side!!!

Good luck & I hope no player died this time. Fry Tharizdun!

Regards,

the Knight
 


Talon

First Post
Hey Doc,
I've been a fan since your first posting, and will always be one. No matter who dies. That being said....

I just wanted to thank you for allowing us to visit your World every week. This is by far the best story hour on the net, IMHO. I think you should publish it. It is by far better than MOST of the D&D books I've read, and believe me, I've read a lot of them. :D

Chris
 

Dr Midnight

Explorer
Damn! You guys are awesome. Every time I come check the boards there's someone who's never posted before telling me how much he likes it, and here I've got two people telling me I should publish.

You'll make an arrogant prick out of me.

The players are really fun to play with, and it comes through in the writing. With normal munchkins this couldn't happen. We've got some really interesting character concepts, played by clever roleplayers.

I'd love to buy you all a beer/dixie cup of lowfat milk and talk to you on a one-on-one level in a D&D party that goes until dawn. Makes me sad that I can't discuss the story with you outside of the message boards or invite you to sit in on a session. That'd be great.

Thanks for everything, and pay attention, because the best chunk for session 31 is coming up...
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.
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.
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...now!
EDIT: Damn. Can someone tell me how to make the images show? I click off the "Automatically parse URLs" thing and it still happens.
 
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Dr Midnight

Explorer
They walked outside and readied to leave. Vek mounted a sleek black stallion. Jettok mounted a small, knob-kneed pony. They looked at each other, their heads about four feet apart in height.

"My mount's name is Tsunami. What's yours?" Vek asked.

"Stumpy."

Dartan bought a horse for himself, and Menerous opted to walk. It was later wondered whether he walked to prove a point to Vek or not. The Ohanna sisters had one mount- Kyla's warhorse. Vek asked "Would one of you ladies care to ride with me?"

Kyla eyed him warily and said "Nay, we can ride together on this horse. Katya, come." She held out her hand. Katya looked back to Sir Vek and decided that she'd take him up on his offer. She walked over. "You're not actually going to ride with him, are you?" Kyla asked in veiled disgust.

"Why not?" Katya replied smugly.

"You're just being willful, like always." Kyla watched her sister step aboard the immense black warhorse, giggling girlishly. The cleric of Pelor sighed and cinched her reins.

"We ride!" The Knights of the Silver Quill left Verbobonc behind them.

Earthday, 27th of Suns'ebb

Over the three day journey, the effectively new party came to know each other. Jettok was a merry sort who enjoyed drink, jest, and combat- but he was altogether not entirely bright. Kyla was a stern, proud warrior of Pelor with good in her heart and steel in her gaze. She reminded Menerous too much of Angelique. Sir Vek Mormont was quiet. When he spoke, he often spoke with a wry smile, as though he were in on some joke that his listeners weren't aware of. He thoroughly disquieted Kyla and Menerous with the darkness he radiated. Katya was the younger and less mature of the two siblings. It was clear that she had a spiteful problem with Kyla's authority. It's perhaps what drove her to sit next to Vek each night as they ate around the campfire.

They walked over a snow-covered rise, and the majority of the Knights saw the Temple of All-Consumption for the first time. Crows circled around the black tower in a cloud. They could be seen from here.

Walking to the hill, Jettok looked over to see Katya scritching behind Lucky's ears. "Why'd you bring that cat to a dungeon?" he asked.

Katya looked offended. "Well, you brought that pony!"

He laughed. "Darlin', if your cat could get out and carry me, I'd be impressed."

At the entrance to the Mines, they tethered the horses and entered. They silently walked the length of the path to the bridge. Once crossing over the frozen Stalagos, the four new members stared in awe at the solid lake around them, filling a crater, upon which was built a construct of unworldly evil. Dartan and Menerous paid it no mind, as they'd passed this way several times before. They passed through the Outer Fane and came to the hallway with the gargoyle statues. They walked out into the yard.

Like a scene from Hell itself, the interior of the crater was a dry, cracked yard of uneven volcanic rock concealed by snow and draped with fingers of sulfurous mist. A hot, dry stench filled the air, burning the insides of their noses and mouths. At the center of the area, pounded down into a wound in the earth like a spike pounded into flesh, stood the black tower glistening with the dull sheen of iron. The ground seemed to recoil from the touch of the strange structure, so it was surrounded by the gaping trench of this wound, its black walls plunging downward out of sight. Cracks, exposing red, hellish light from below, started at the wound and crossed the yard. No windows existed on the tower, and the single door was accessible only via a narrow span bridge crossing over the wound.*

They walked out, breaking the crust of the snow. Kyla shouted "Look!" They looked to see several of the uneven mounds in the blasted yard move and shift. The snow spread aside to reveal undead creatures. Their frozen mouths cracked open and shut with the sounds of wood splintering.

The Knights drew their weapons and attacked. Vek's sword Talon, when pulled from its scabbard, looked like it had just been forged- it glowed dull red. He thrust it through a wight, and it screamed. Menerous and Dartan cut and slashed while Kyla attempted to turn the unholy creatures with Pelor's power. With a brief effort, the combat was over.

They approached the door. Dartan reached for a handle, and saw that the door had none. It was solid, flat iron. He began feeling it, prodding it. An iron face emerged from the door like a body floating to the surface of a black pond. Dartan jumped back, ready to fight. The face was an old man's, with eyes closed and features made of iron.

"Who are you?" it asked.

"Oh great..." Dartan stood and straightened himself. "We are the Knights of the Silver Quill."

The face asked "Why have you come here?"

"We have come to find the Champion of Elemental Evil."

"Enter." The door opened, swinging inward. Before stepping in, Dartan and Jettok peered inside. The room was very dark, and it took their eyes a moment to adjust. When they did, they were looking at a room the circumference of the entire tower, thirty feet high, with a wrought-iron staircase at the other side. Then, they saw the two half-dragon tyranosaurs.
halfdragons.jpg

The whole party gasped in fear, but said nothing- they didn't want to alert the door to the fact that something might be wrong. No one spoke. The tyranosaurs didn't attack. After a year-long moment, Jettok stepped into the room. He walked slowly towards the staircase at the back. The half-dragon tyranosaurs turned their heads to watch him as he walked. Their deep, rumbling breaths echoed off the iron walls and stone in here, creating a haunting effect that seemed to say exactly what the situation was: something big and dangerous is in the room with you. Jettok continued to walk as sweat beaded on his forehead.

The blue dragon lowered its head. Jettok stopped. Its mouth was roughly two feet from the brave dwarf. He could see its teeth. He could smell its breath. He faintly realized he was terrified. The thing sniffed at him then pulled back. He walked the rest of the way to the staircase and clung to the railing like it was the only thing holding him up from a long fall.

Sir Vek was next to walk out across. As he did, Menerous turned to Dartan and said "I really thought they were going to attack Jettok. I really did."

From behind them: "Why would you think they would attack?" The group gasped and looked- the iron face had pressed itself through this side of the door, and was regarding them suspiciously.

Menerous' face paled. "Uh... no reason! We'll be on our way now." With wide eyes he turned and urged the group forward. The half-dragons were beginning to look at them with an odd light in their gazes. The group hustled past the creatures, which were taking slow steps toward the group with thunderous noise. When the group got to the staircase they broke into a run for the top. The dragons advanced, too late.

The Knights burst into the second level, huffing, faces pale and mouths gaping for breath. The encounter had been horrifying. On this level there was an odd purple stone column rising from the floor to the ceiling, widening as it did. Its surface was pearlescent. Dark shapes played behind the shining. Around the column were six doors. The doors stood apart from the column- they were just upright, separate doors.

Menerous and Dartan savored the feeling when the party deemed the doors too risky to deal with, and ascended the switchback stairs to the third level. Jamison was missed, but at a time like this, they were rather glad he wasn't around to touch, open, pull, push, and grab things.

On the third level, the purple column of the floor below continued upward. It was wider here, and wider yet at the ceiling. From around the column stepped a mighty demon with claws of razor-fire and a maw like a horse's skull. The Knights did him in with no great trouble. Seeing he had nothing of value, they moved on.

On the fourth floor, the column was so wide that it only left a ten-foot wide corridor leading around the tower. Into the top step was carved the legend:

The Dark God's favor smiles upon those willing to risk much to gain much.

From around the column of colored stone came a voice that sounded like two slabs of ice grating together. "Come around here and see if the fortune of the deities smiles upon you."

With weapons drawn they walked around the column. On the other side they found a solitary skeletal figure dressed in dark robes, sitting at an altar. Behind it was a row of lit candles. In its hands it shuffled a deck of large vellum cards.
skeleton.jpg

"Will you draw the cards? Draw the cards. How many cards will you draw? There is great fortune in the cards. Great fortune and great ruin. Above all, there is power."

Sir Vek looked with alarm at the cards. He spoke to the others. "Do not play. I'm uncertain, but I'll bet that that is a 'Deck of Many Things' there. Many a soul has come to heartbreak, death and tragedy as a result of gambling with these horrid things."

The skeleton looked at them all with its empty eye sockets. "Dartan," it hissed. "There is great power for those brave enough to draw a card. How many cards will you draw?"

Vek grabbed his shoulder. "Don't do it, Dartan."

The word "power" rang in Dartan's head like a distant chime. He opened his mouth. "I'll take four."

"FOUR!?" the party gasped.

The skeleton chuckled to itself, shuffling the cards.

More to come...

*-from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil by Monte Cook
 
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FOUR ?????

Sure, I've drawn my share of cards from Decks of Many Things, one time even two at once, but that was a chaotic neutral dwarven Battle Rager (BTW, I drew The Void and the your-next-problem-will-be-solved card).

But FOUR ???

And by the way, since Monte Cook is sooo meeaaan, maybe there are no good cards left. I remember one of the powerful Greyhawk characters has such a deck...

Hope Dartan was lucky, though. *fingers crossed*
 

Dr Midnight

Explorer
"Four has he called, and four shall he draw." It placed the deck before him. "Cut the deck." Once it was done, the skeleton picked the cards back up and spread them out on the table. "Choose your first card."

Dartan's hand hovered over the cards. He picked one up by the edge and flipped it over.

Moon

It was an image of a moon with a gentle, serene face. The skeleton looked up, smiling, and said "You have gained two wishes. Use them wisely."

The party buzzed behind Dartan. Wishes were extremely powerful- one could wish for just about anything, and provided it didn't abuse the spirit of wishing, it was likely to happen. Menerous, though disgusted with the use of the profane artifact, was astonished.

Dartan said "This isn't so bad. Why did you advise me to not play this, Vek?" He turned over another card.

Death

The group recoiled from the sight of the hooded reaper on the card, holding his scythe. The skeleton seated behind the altar laughed and extended his arm, pointing down the corridor. The Knights all looked to see the very image of death- the Grim Reaper himself- standing twenty feet away.

He was dressed in the tattered black robes. His skull face leered from underneath his hood. In his hand was a wickedly curved scythe. He extended one hand and beckoned Dartan.

"You must defeat him or be destroyed," the skeleton cackled. Dartan put a hand to his sword hilt confidently.

"No, you can't! You can't defeat death itself in combat!" Kyla was shouting, her voice broken with fear.

Dartan sneered. "Why not? I've never feared death. What would you have me do? I have to defeat it!"

"Wish it away, Dartan," Menerous said. The earnest pleading in his voice spoke volumes about how the group felt about Dartan's chances. Dartan looked at him and sighed.

"I wish you away," he said to Death. Within and instant, the Reaper was gone.

The party sighed before remembering that Dartan had two more draws of the cards to go. He flipped over another card.

Knight

A burly man in armor appeared next to the altar. He wore a sword on his belt, had a shield on his arm. He bowed to Dartan. "My name is Toddek. My sword is at your service."

"What kind of sword?" Dartan asked. The man blinked in reply, confused.

The skeleton said "Excellent, Dartan. You have gained the service of this warrior. He will fight to the last to defend you from harm."

The fallen paladin thought that this was an excellent bargain. He flipped his last card.

Death

"NO!" he shouted. "I already drew that one!"

The skeleton was delighted. "Every card you draw from the deck is replaced as soon as you take it. It is possible to draw the same card twice. Hard luck."

The Reaper was back- and this time he was angry. He grabbed his scythe with both hands, then thumped the butt against the ground. He readied the scythe and stood, prepared to fight.

Dartan was furious. He asked Toddek "Can you beat that thing?" Toddek looked unsure, but he drew his sword. "Only give me that chance, my lord, and I will make you proud."

Katya said "Dartan, don't be a fool! YOU have to defeat Death, remember?"

The skeleton said "She is right Dartan. You can send your new lapdog to attack, but..." it smiled.

"Damn. DAMN!!! I wish you away."

Death disappeared again.

Dartan stepped away from the altar. "Four draws and all I have to show for it is the service of a swordsman," he grumbled.

Vek looked at him scornfully. "You have taken four cards from the Deck of Many Things and lived to tell the tale. Make no mistake, foolish one- you have been extremely fortunate."

"Can we go?" Kyla asked. They turned to hurry away from the skeleton and his awful cards.

"Menerous," it hissed. "The cards hold great power. Power to bring your fondest dreams to reality." Menerous kept walking. "Power enough to bring your brother back to life." Menerous stopped. He stood.

He turned.
 
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