DriveThruRPG is having a big giveaway this week. Each day, numerous publishers are giving away free PDF copies of many of their products for download. This is a great way to kick start your own RPG digital library or find some new games you never even knew existed. You might as well take advantage of it, you can’t beat the price.
Age of Worms Adventure Path – Game Session 58
Game summary for November 8, 2007; present characters included Ashkor (half-bronze dragon lizardfolk barbarian/battle sorcerer/dragon disciple/fighter), Carn Fodelfex (whisper gnome cleric), Eolas Windmaster (moon elf duskblade), Iapetus Hasur (hu-charad giant rogue/scout/vigilante), Lady Aridarye Phylund Brokengulf (human aristocrat/harbinger/ranger cohort), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger/peerless archer), and Taravin Truesilver (human gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).
The Mercenaries continued searching for the portal’s crystalline keys and found the green crystals guarded by a half dozen ropers. The stalagmite-like creatures began lashing and grabbing party members in an effort to make them into a meal. Some well placed spells and attacks soon made short work of the strange monsters. Five were slain, and the sixth was sent to a random plane by Lyrin’s prismatic spray.
The team found they could not repair the shattered blue crystal using mending, so they made camp and prepared make whole the next day. The spell successfully restored the crystal, which they then used to open the portal. On the other side, a vibrant verdant demi-plane stretched out. No sun appeared in the sky due to the overcast cloud cover, but mountains loomed in the distance, hills all around, and a thick forest spilled out through the south. Within moments, a quartet of strange elemental fey creatures appeared and spoke. They indicated the party had found Last Resort, an island stronghold of the Order of the Storm. The knowledge they seek is held in the fountain of dreams; however, the party must prove themselves mighty heroes to gain access to the fountain. Once the knowledge is gleaned, it will return not only to the party, but to the world; thus, it is vital that the drinkers be heroes able to handle the problems associated with the release of this knowledge back into the Prime Plane.
Although the fey did not answer many questions, they did indicate the Hand of Myrkul was already here and had set out to complete four trials—the same four trials they now posed to the party. The trials consist of one challenge from each of the guardians.
- From Tylanthros — Claiming of Krathanos’ Golden Belt
- From Beskawahn — Silence of the Doomshroud’s Mournful Song
- From Thadimar — Death of the Thorn Vale Nightmare
- From Sayren-Lei — Harvest of the Living Feather of the Roc King
With their challenges proposed, they watchers stepped into the trees and disappeared. With little to go on, the party began seeking the belt of Krathanos. They succeeded in determining it lie somewhere around the southern forest, so they set off with all haste.
During their travel along the forest edge, they attracted the attention of a hunting pack of displacer beasts. Not just any displacer beasts, these brutes were massive elephantine mutants known as pack lords! Four of the six-pawed cats swept in through the trees to slash the party with their tentacles. A brutal fight ensued, with the displacement effect of the monsters posing a challenge for landing accurate blows. It was soon apparent area of effect attacks were much more effective. Layers of fire storm and flame strike effects from the party casters weakened or killed the creatures, allowing the team to finish off the remaining beasts. An errant flame strike set a tree on fire, but the Mercenaries succeeded in putting out the flame before it spread and became a roaring blaze.
With the hunting party destroyed, the Mercenaries turned their attention, and feet, back to the south.
Age of Worms Adventure Path – Game Session 57
Game summary for November 1, 2007; present characters included Ashkor (half-bronze dragon lizardfolk barbarian/battle sorcerer/dragon disciple/fighter), Carn Fodelfex (whisper gnome cleric), Eolas Windmaster (moon elf duskblade), Iapetus Hasur (hu-charad giant rogue/scout/vigilante), Lady Aridarye Phylund Brokengulf (human aristocrat/harbinger/ranger cohort), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger/peerless archer), and Taravin Truesilver (human gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).
After revealing the information regarding Heskin and his betrayal to Darl Quethos, Lashonna offers to use greater scrying on the traitor. She produces a lock of his hair, which she collected while he was in her service, and casts the spell from a scroll. The scene revealed showed Heskin bound to a ship mast in the midst of a terrible storm. A pair of fiendish humanoids moved through the scene, as did a giant of red and bronze skin and a fiery corona. Suddenly, Darl Quethos himself walked into view of the sensor and began taunting Heskin. When the wicked priest of Myrkul realized a scrying sensor was present, he used the hand of Myrkul to kill Heskin and end the spell effect.
At that moment, the Mercenaries were ready to have Carn cast greater teleport onto the ship and begin a battle with Darl immediately. After some discussion, the team realized that had no provisions for survival if the ship sank after defeating Myrkul’s priest. They set out into Mintarn and purchased a number of magical devices to allow underwater breathing as well as a folding boat. Although none of the group know how to sail, they decided having a vessel they cannot captain is better than being stranded with no ship at all.
The Mercenaries suspected Darl and his cronies of being within the 10-mile-radius storm surrounding Tilagos Island. They waited a few hours to give the high priest and his team time to reach shore, and then they used the cover of Iapetus’ invisibility and a greater teleport from Carn to arrive on the ship deck. Much to their surprise, the ship had run aground on some jagged rocks surrounding the island and ripped in half. Darl and his gang had left already, judging by the tracks, but nearly ten orcs busied themselves nearby collecting timber from other wrecks; the Mercenaries assume they intend to try and make a seaworthy craft.
Still invisible, the Mercenaries entered a huge maze located further up the beach. They soon found an area with smashed marble statues strewn about intermingled with fresh blood. Beneath one statue lay a shattered blue crystal, which the party immediately collected up.
Soon the team found a large pool of murky water guarded by a swaying octopus tree. Carn used numerous fly spells to move the invisible party past the tree. Whilst flying overhead, Aridarye noticed a faint red glow in the midst of the pond thanks to the effects of a lucky break spell. The team took note and decided to investigate later.
Within a few minutes, the Mercenaries located an obsidian disc carved with Druidic script, which read, “Return my eyes to me, and I shall gaze through the storm.” Three eyes carved into the disc surrounded a trio of indentions. Surmising there must be a key of some sort, and following the tracks of Darl’s team that came and went from this area several times, the Mercenaries went back to investigate the red glow.
The octopus tree proved quite mobile and aggressive. It first tried to consume Iapetus, who was able to slither free and plunge into the water. Aridarye was not as fortunate and wound up in the carnivorous plant’s maw. Meanwhile, Eolas, Lyrin and Taravin viciously assaulted the tree to distract it. Ashkor and Carn used dimension door to reach the bottom of the pond and found red crystals, which Ashkor collected. Eventually, the octopus tree was beaten sufficiently to collapse and drop Aridarye. Lyrin blasted the heap with spells but was unable to slay it. No matter what he hit it with, it quickly shambled back upright. Finally, Lyrin and the rest of the Mercenaries fell back, and the tree did not pursue them.
Using Syvarius’ superb tracking skills, the team followed the trail left by Darl’s goons. Where will it lead? Is the key to the portal nearby, and can the Mercenaries catch Darl’s forces before they gain the knowledge hidden in Tilagos Island?
Recipe – Beef and Rice Skillet Fiesta
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 1/2 cups beef bullion
- 1/4 cup dice onions
- 1 1/2 cups Minute rice
- 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 1 small can of whole kernel corn
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 2 tsp. salt
In a large skillet, brown the beef and drain off the fat. Mix in the onions and let them brown briefly. Mix in the beef bullion, salt, chili powder and bring to boil. While that heats up and boils, mix in the corn and tomatoes and bring back to boiling. You don’t have to use the entire can of corn or tomatoes, depending on your tastes. Mix in the rice and cover for 5 minutes. Uncover and serve.
Variations: Add Diced Green Pepper (1/4 cup or to taste); use Garlic and Onion Diced Tomatoes or other flavor instead of regular Diced Tomatoes; use Chicken instead of Beef (cook completely before adding other ingredients!).
RPG Superstar!
Paizo Publishing (former publisher of Dragon and Dungeon magazines) has announced an interesting new contest called RPG Superstar. They are looking for new talent in the RPG writing field. This contest will go on, in stages, between now and February and is voted on by the fans. See the web site for details.
I find this contest pretty interesting because it has so many different things to design throughout. This gives a lot of opportunity to hit areas you are really good at. If you have ever wondered if you might have what it takes to be a writer in the RPG industry, here is your chance. Let the fans themselves tell you!
Recipe – Baked Spaghetti
- 8 oz. package of spaghetti noodles
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 16 oz. spaghetti sauce
- 1/4 cup chopped onions
- 4 oz. package mozzarella cheese
- 4 oz. package cheddar cheese
- package of sliced pepperoni
- dash of salt & pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a pan of water to boil and add package of spaghetti noodles. Brown ground beef with onions. When beef is browned, add a dash of salt and pepper and spaghetti sauce. Simmer beef in sauce for 10 minutes. Once noodles are soft and sauce has simmered, mix the noodles and sauce into a baking dish. Top with pepperoni and cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
Shadowrun Adventure – Food Fight 4.0
Our first game using Shadowrun 4th Edition rules was this Saturday at Halloween Hootenanny II. The game was played using three pregenerated characters, a human street samurai, an ork hacker, and a troll bounty hunter. The group named themselves JNC (pronounced “jinx”) for their names Jazz, Ned and Chuck. JNC found themselves, at 4:00 a.m., in the local Stuffer Shack looking for snacks. As they shopped, an elf woman and her baby came into the store, and a moment later the whole front of the building exploded. The blast knocked everyone prone and buried the woman and child in the rubble. A trio of Helloweener gang members came running in waving guns and shouting for everyone to stay on the ground.
Never ones to follow orders, JNC had other plans. Chuck the troll walked over and put some of his Aztec-Mex “meltdown” stuffers in the microwave, which caused one of the gang members to brandish an Ares Predator IV in his face and yell at him to get down. Ned the Nerd decided to hack the Stuffer Shack node and drop the lights around him and his companions but leave them on around the gangers. Afterward, Ned slipped through the AlmostMilk(TM) rack and out into the storage room. Meanwhile, Jazz drew her katana and slipped over near the ganger shaman who was standing in the darkness sifting through the rubble. Chuck, as stealthy as a troll can be (which is to say, “not at all”), drew his smartlinked shotgun and aimed it at the ganger.
Naturally, a firefight erupted. Chuck was shot twice, once by the pistol-wielding ganger and again by the other one holding the AK-97. Due to his armor skin and natural toughness, Chuck was not greatly injured. The gang shaman sparked some mojo to make a sheet of ice appear beneath Chuck’s feet, but he was able to balance. The other two gangers took cover and began a shootout with Chuck. Jazz slipped up on the shaman and decapitated him with ease. She then threw his severed head out into the light to demoralize the other two. Meanwhile, Ned hacked the cameras and found they had been turned off, so he started watching outside. He found that another ganger was lying dazed on the parking lot. Chuck dove for cover behind some of the potatoish chips, and Jazz charged out and impaled the pistol-wielding ganger and killed him. With his morale broken, the remaining Helloweener ran off and abandoned his companion in the parking lot.
JNC pulled the woman from the rubble and found out she was trying to blackmail a corp VP named Mel Cozi because the baby was their love child. Smelling profits, they kidnapped her and the dazed ganger in the parking lot. They interrogated the ganger with some “not torture” methods that he did not survive. They then went about trying to gather some DNA from Mel to prove the child was his.
After some doing, JNC used the cover of a Strip-O-Gram truck to slip into Mel’s neighborhood and break into his house. Chuck’s stealth alerted the maid, so he had to punch her in the face and knock her out. Unfortunately, her flying body knocked some drywall loose too. Oh well, Chuck accomplished his goal of shutting her up. He then ran upstairs to steal some hair from Mel’s hair brush. In the meantime, Jazz went to find Mel’s office while Ned hacked the safe remotely and turned it off. Jazz found Mel’s guard dog and had to shoot it. After the heist, they left the neighborhood after a brief run in with the security guard. Fortunately, Ned’s hacking got them through the gates.
After proving Mel’s parenthood, JNC called him up to setup a drop for the blackmail money. They demanded 100,000 nuyen, because they now had genetic proof. They setup a drop and demanded Mel bring the money in a black duffel. Mel showed up and put the bag in the backseat of a vehicle Ned controlled remotely. JNC had no plans of turning over the elf woman, even though they had agreed to do so. Instead, they took off with the money.
In another warehouse, later that night, JNC pulled the duffel from the car. At that point, they realized they had never seen the money, only the bag. The group backed way off while Jazz opened the bag. Unfortunately, Mel was as wicked as the shadowrunners, and Jazz blew into a bloody mess as the bomb within exploded. Ned saw red (and he was angry) and decided they would make Mel pay, but that is a story for another day.
Army, Iraq
Received the following letter:
Hi Mr. Charles,
Hope things are good with you and your family.
Things here are good. Thank you for your letter, info & recipe.
It is always good to hear from people at home & the funny things they do.
Thank you for your support. It is really good to hear that not everyone is against us or opt to support us even though you may not like the war they still support us. Well let me run. Time for bed & another long day.
Thanks again.
—–
Motorola DCT 6412 III DVR
I had a strange problem with my Motorola DCT 6412 III DVR last night. Everything live on cable played through the tuner just fine, but nothing recorded would play. Instead it showed a black screen with no progress on the play bar. You could fast forward or rewind, and it remained at 0:00 played and a black screen.
I tried recording something new and then playing it, thinking maybe the old files corrupted. This resulted in the exact same behavior. Finally, I did some looking out on the Internet and noticed some things. First of all, Insight Communications has lousy self-help on their website. Really, it sucks. Second, there wasn’t a lot of help for troubleshooting to be found; most people seem to post questions trying to figure out how to steal TV shows off of the DVR.
After a bit of looking, I stumbled upon a single suggestion. Unplug the DVR for a while and it should work again. Eureka! That did, indeed, make the DVR start working again. I don’t know what caused the problem or if it will recur. I wanted to post about it here to get this information in one more place out on the web.
Age of Worms Adventure Path – Game Session 56
Game summary for October 25, 2007; present characters included Ashkor (lizardfolk barbarian/battle sorcerer/dragon disciple/fighter), Eolas Windmaster (moon elf duskblade), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger), and Taravin Truesilver (human gray guard/paladin of honor).
The evening festivities begin with “The Harlequinade Mortificatio”, wherein animated skeletons act out scenes of death by poisoning and foul play. After the play, the Ominous Fabler leads the guests to the Balcony of Expectorance for the Handsome Slaughter of Curious Avians. Many of the guests compete at the game; they fire repeating crossbows at groups of ten corollaxes. The Tyrant slays six on his attempt, but Eolas succeeds in slaying seven. He wins the 1,000 gp purse and the disfavor of the Tyrant.
The Fabler then takes the group down into the basement and a fighting arena for Lively Sports and Baiting. The Tyrant unveils some master/slave rings and challenges anyone to fight him via proxy. Lyrin accepts the invitation, and the two gain control over a pair of cockatrices. The monsters are released into the arena along with a dozen cats. Tarnheel and Lyrin run about turning cat after cat into stone statues. In the end, Lyrin wins a majority of the statues, 7 to 5. For his efforts, he is awarded a golden egg.
Back out in the garden, the Fabler introduces another morbid game, the Bowling of the Devious Heads. The Tyrant hurls the blackened skull of Jack, an executed criminal. The remaining guests toss the skulls of other slain criminals in an effort to get their skull as close to Jack as possible. In the end, Syvarious succeeds in landing closest. He is rewarded with a necklace with a small silver skull with ruby eyes.
Finally, the dinner begins and Lashonna arrives. The first course consists of a silver goblet with a live green scrubgrub. Despite its appearance, it is surprisingly tasty. The second course is a strange blackbird pie. It isn’t bad, except for the blackbirds. For the third course, Tarnheel’s recipe for tojbasarrirge is served. This disgusting meal is made of a tojanida stuffed with gritty basilisk steaks, which are stuffed with tangy arrowhawk breasts, which are in turn stuffed with a fully boned stirge with three olives on its proboscis. Some of the characters choke a bite or two down, others simply choke. The Tyrant eventually realizes how truly dreadful the dish is and orders it taken away. The fourth course is better, if not more frightening. Jelly-like purple worm aspic is served. It is found quite tasty despite the danger of deadly poison. The meals ends with an 8-foot-tall cake topped with a marzipan likeness of Tarnheel. As the cake is set down, it splits and the tiny statue falls, shatters, and the head lands in Eolas’ lap. Tarnheel swells with fury, but the Ominous Fabler succeeds in somewhat smoothing over the situation.
Afterward, a great dance commences. Tarnheel sits on his throne and broods while the other guests try to make the best of the event. Taravin and the elves try to talk to Lashonna, but she indicates there are too many ears about and invites them to her home in two days. Meanwhile, Tarnheel gets bored with the event, and is still angry, so he dismisses his guests and leaves for his chambers.
In a few days, a carriage comes for the Mercenaries and takes them to Lashonna at Mistwall Manor. The place is opulent and extravagant. The beautiful elf reveals the journal of Balakarde as well as her interest in the Age of Worms, Kyuss and Balakarde. She tells them what she knows of Kyuss’ general, Dragotha. The once great dragon is now a dracolich who has lost his phylactery. This has kept him cowardly and hidden for hundreds of years; however, something has him stirring and eager to rescue Kyuss from his prison. Lashonna suggests the party seek out the one place that may hold the secret to locating Dragotha’s phylactery, Tilagos Island. With a new mission before them, the party begins discussing the situation with Lashonna. What more will the elven noble reveal, and who is this mysterious rival she mentioned, Darl Quethos?
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