Excellent Week O' Gaming 2006! **Black Kingdoms Spoiler**

Thoth Aw C'mon

Mongoose
Earlier this month my brother and I took a week off from work and gamed the whole week. I even had the local T-Shirt shop make up some T-Shirts that has a funny red-bearded Knight on it holding a sword along with “Pete & Dave’s Excellent Week O’ Gaming 2006” embroidered on it. Just something to remember this year’s Excellent Week O’ Gaming. We're hoping we'll be able to make it an annual tradition. And let me tell you, as you can imagine: IT...WAS.. EFFING... GREAT!! To use a word from the crew of Serenity, it was Gorram fantastic!!! During the course of the week, we played the following games: Arkham Horror (the highlights of which I have detailed in a previous post), Star Wars the RPG (which I had never played before. Its a very cool game. Our characters escorted a fugitive who, unbeknownst to us, was also a member of the Rebel Alliance. We got her to her ship in one piece, after blasting our way thru some harrowing fire-fights!). We also played Warhammer Quest and Runebound, and we started rolling up (but didnt actually finish) some Iron Heroes characters for next time. In a prevous post I’ve already discussed the fun we had playing Arkham Horror, but Runebound was also great, and is made by the same company, Fanasy Flight Games. It was the first time I’d ever played either game, and they’re both more than worth getting. Runebound has some cool looking expansion sets out called Isles of Dread, and Midnight, so its a well supported and excellent game. Thats two for two, FFG! Keep up the great work! If you're not familiar with their boardgames, check 'em out. These aren't your grandma's boardgames. 8)

During the week we also watched a flick or some cool shows in between each game we played. One show we watched a lot were the Firefly episdos on DVD, which are amazingly great. Whoever made the decision to cancel that show needs to have his brains scooped out by an Old One ‘cause that show is WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY better than 99% of the stuff available at the movie theatres let alone on the boob tube... Anyways, we loved those shows: if you haven't watched Firefly, or the movie Serenity, do so now! :)

And we also watched the silent film Call of Cthulu (also previously discussed on these boards). And we watched the movie King Arthur, which was damn cool. My brother pointed out how cool the villain is in that flick, and how he doesnt waste a single word. Seriously, his every word is carved in stone. Watch it and you'll see what I mean. When he finally does say something, it carries granite-like weight, man. He's a big, bad, long-haired Viking-dude, and as evil as they come (interestingly, though he's an evil bad-ass, he does show concern for his son, as when he holds his son back from the first wave, knowing they were going to be massacred. He's an interesting, and somewhat nuanced, bad guy. Well, as nuanced as a evil barbarian raider can be. :) Action flicks need a good villain, more so even than likable good guys, and this flick has that in spades. The guy who plays Arthur was IMHO the worst actor of the bunch. And another character, a bald, rough talking tough guy, was also iritating at times, especially as the film wore on. The flick has some ultra-violent combat, and its well done and exciting: all in all a good solid action flick. Oh and we also watched the 2nd D&D movie, too. And its pretty darn good. Why the 1st D&D couldn't have been more like the 2nd one, I dont know. The first one stunk and was such a mess: you'd think a flick based on D&D would have such cool stuff to draw upon after decades of publishing adventures, Monster Manuals stuffed full of cool baddies, etc....

But back to the gaming: like Arkham Horror, it was the first time either of us had played Warhammer Quest, as I had just purchased it on ebay a few weeks prior, and it was our first TPK! Yes, our intrepid party had the misfortune of fighting 3 minotaurs at once, along with some goblins (as you can imagine it was more of the former than the latter that did the killin’). And the ‘Taurs killed our Wizard and our Barbarian, squashing them like bugs beneath their giant clubs, turning their heads into Dungeon Pizza. Our Dwarf and Elf managed to kill off the remaining beasts. But while trying to flee this blasted dungeon, the elf was swarmed by scorpions and died screaming; his flesh afire as acidic venoms coursed thru his veins, finally and mercifully liquifying his brain. Furthermore, the exit to the dungeon had collapsed on the previous turn, so the Dwarf found himself not only alone but with no where to go. He ran back to find another exit when the floor beneath him collapsed, and the resulting fall broke his neck. Alas, long will Glom the Wizard, Wolf the Barbarian, “Sharp-Ears” Johanson the Elf, and “Craggy-Faced” Wannstadt the Dwarf be remembered as our first TPK! At any rate, they were all killed off and their flesh was consumed by vermin. :)

Now, to kick off the Excellent Week o’ Gaming, the first game we played, the game that would wait for no other game, the game that was second to none, was Conan the RPG! We were anxious to cut down some fiends with cold, Hyborian steel, and would we ever! We played one of the three “Black Kingdoms” adventures titled “Shroud over Zabhela”, and I have to say it was a helluva lot of fun and really show-cased the violence and horror of REH’s world. Much like a good woman, a sword and sorcery adventure should have some meat on its bones. That is to say, an adventure with plenty of action and less yappin’ :). Of course, some dialogue and discussion is needed, but just enough to move the adventure along. I know this goes against the trend of yap-happy adventures being produced these days, but thats what we’ve always liked in our Sword & Sorcery RPGs. And this one had red-meat aplenty. And I have to say the harrowing conclusion to this adventure ranks right at the top in my 25+ years of gaming for its pure heroics: leaving the unlikeliest of my characters wearing the title of hero upon his battered but unbroken frame.

So, allow me to introduce the motley cast of characters that made the cut for this adventure:

Jack “Grizzle” Geregash: Tauranian Borderer and the party’s natural leader. A well-rounded character with lots of usefull skills and solid stats. He’s a hard man, but fair.

Lukar “The Spider”: Zamorian Thief: a sneaky, wall-crawlin’ back-stabber. Good to have around if things need stealin’ or if backs need stabbin’.

“Lyin’ Jack” Blackbeard: Argossean Pirate and shifty-eyed scoundral. Its said you can tell when he’s lyin’ cause his mouth will be moving. But he’s as quick with his blade as he is with his lies.

Connacht “The Stalwart”: Cimmerian Barbarian: big as an Oak, and strong as an Ox. Now, its true he’s no rocket scientist, but he’s knows enough to cut down the enemy with good, cold steel.

I had some other characters that I took with me from home for this Excellent Week o’ Gaming, such as Ghorta “the Witch”: a Pictish scholar (if ever there was a contradiction in terms...) and she is the first female character I’ve ever rolled up. Also I rolled up a Kothian Scholar who’s a Spawn of Dagoth Hill, but alas we had enough PCs as it was. I rolled these characters up as 5th level characters (Yes I know I wish we could start off as 1st level characters, but the fact of the matter is unfortunately we dont get to game all that much anymore since I moved three states away, and so building up characters ain’t easy. Beggars can’t be choosers.) Actually, I could have swore my brother had told me to bring 5th level characters when talking to him on the phone prior to our Excellent Week O’ Gaming. But in fact he had said the adventures calls for 3rd to 4th level characters, and he had added that I could throw a fifth level character thrown in. However I had (fortuitouslly) only heard him say 5th level, and so thats what i brought (heh heh). He made adjustments to the adventure on the fly that compensated for this, and as it was our party would only barely limp over the goal line and bring home the bacon, with a slim margin of victory.

What follows is a synopsis of our adventure.

Our adventure began on an Argossean merchent ship named "Pride of the Messantia" enroute to the city of Zabhela in Kush. Our captain was a one-eyed Argossean named Kalamos. He was payin’ us a meager wage as protection against pirates and what not, and it appeared to be easy money as most of the trip was uneventful. The captain knew enough about his fellow Argossean “Lyin’ Jack” not to confide in him, and so he spoke with the party’s leader Jack “Grizzle” Geregash, and gave him the run-down of our destination: Zabhela is a city with the dirt poor, and the filthy rich: the poor are the Gallah, and the rich are known as the Chaga. And, to adapt what Woody Allen says about poverty: “its better to be a Chaga than a Gallah, if only for financial reasons.” The Cap'n also told us about his benefactor named Rand Artelios: a wealthy Argossean merchant now living in Zabhela. Zabhela sounded like one "hela" of a cool place, so we were anxious to get there.

My brother knew I like adventures that get started with a bang, and no sooner were the PCs sure the trip would go smooth, than out of the fog came a Black Corsair's ship! Whos supposed to be keeping watch and guardin' this boat? Oh, wait. That would be us. Oh well. Before we knew it, the Corsairs, howling like crazed savages, lept from their ship to ours, and soon the deck was slick with blood and entrails. Connacht the Stalwart proved not so Stalwart as he slipped on the slicked decks and nearly fell in the drink, grabbing some rigging at the last moment. The Corsairs had apparently set their ship afire, and the fire soon bloomed into a raging inferno, and they were on an all-out attack to take this vessel for their own. It was tough fight, but together with some of the others onboard the ship we cut them down and kicked their broken carcusses into the sea. Lukar, Grizzle and Lyin’ Jack got their share of kills. And Connacht did as well once he got his feet under him again. As to why they had set fire to their ship, we weren't sure. The Cap’n suggested we may have come upon them as they mutineed, and the captain had set fire to their ship as a result, rather than lose his ship and treasure to the crew. At any rate their ship was ablaze and any goodies that may have been onboard were lost.

But having disposed of the Corsairs, we went on to Zabhela, and made our way into the crowded port. Lukar was eyeing some purses to cut, and some pockets to pick, when we discovered there really isnt a skill specifically designated for that actiion in Conan the RPG. Apparently its the “sleight of hand” skill that is supposed to cover this; but that seems to me to be something a little different. I’m not sure why there can’t be a seperate skill for pick pocket, or cut purse, this being a RPG with the thief class and all. Sleight of hand is more of a magicians trick using speed and misdirection, while the action of picking pockets involves that too but also a knack for carefully removing an item without the mark "feeling" the movement. Its not just speed of movement but also the component of touch thats important when picking someone's pocket. And, I would imagine, when cutting their purse, too. Is there something we missed on this? Anyways, it seems a seperate skill is needed- perhaps in another supplement this is addressed.

At any rate, the issue was mute as no sooner were we in the crowd than we heard a loud crash, and rushing towards us was a effing LION! The dock workers had been loading the beast onto a Stygian ship in a cage, when it suddenly came crashing down. And who does the beast head right towards- bypassing others in its path? You guessed it- it headed right for our party. The damned beast clawed up Jack “Grizzle” but good before the others stuck it true with honest Hyborean steel, and it collapsed on top of Grizzle, both of them bleeding from numerous wounds. Grizzle was hurt, but nothing critical. We considered him fortunate considering he’d been clawed up by AN EFFING LION! :) It would have been funny if the Lion had attacked Lyin' Jack. That has the makings of a good Abbot and Costello style routine. Who's turn is it? Lion's turn. Its my turn? No, its not Lyin's turn, its the Lion's turn. Haw haw!

At any rate, we had a good mind to kick some dock-worker ass for that screw-up, or at least file a complaint with their union steward, when we noticed some cloaked figure staring at us from the shadows. He had "bad-guy" written all over him, but when we tried to pursue him for “questioning” he had escaped into the crowds. We had the feeling the incident was not an accident...Well, we had to meet the Cap’n later that night, so we had some time to explore the city. As you can imagine we were in need of medical attention after those fights, so naturally we went to a tavern, and drank our share of booze. :) Lord, but butchery is thirsty work! Drinking a fair share of good booze is something my brother and I did as well. I killed off more beer during that week o’ gaming than I have since College. My brother hadn't quaffed that much ale for many years as well. I personally killed off most of a 12 of Rolling Rock that night and some imported Weissen beer to boot. (Ever wonder why it says "33" on the Rolling Rock bottles? Well, amaze your friends at the next get together, cause here's why: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_044.html ... But I gotta say gaming and drinking are an under-rated match. :) )

At any rate, Jack “Grizzle” and LuKar did make some great Gather Information rolls, and heard whispered rumors of many young women disappearing at night and also
heard a rumor about a tribal elder named Eishba whos son was killed by the Jullah while trying to prevent his twin granddaughters from being kidnapped. Jullah is a foul Ape God, worshipped by the evil and the ignorant Gallah. There was also talk of people being found with their hearts torn from their bodies. We heard a lot of talk about this cult, and figured it could use some killin’.

Having heard our fill about Ape Gods and tearin’ hearts from bodies, and having had our fill of booze for the moment (that is, we were running low on funds) we staggered back to the dock to meet the one-eyed Cap’n and get our pay, so we could continue to "Gather Information" at the local watering holes. To our dismay our ship was on fire, along with the Stygian ship that we’d seen earlier! Cripes! Our pay!... So we joined a bucket brigade on the docks (all the while keeping an eye out for savage beasts being lifted on cages...) but the ship burned baby burned and was gone. Great! So we hadn’t gotten paid yet for our work on the ship and the excellent watch we had kept! Maybe someday Unicef will get in the adventuring business, but until then, we want to get paid for the work we do! Haw haw!! (Yes, I got that from Joe Dirt. :) ).

So we went looking around for the Cap’n, when a huge Gallah Kushite came up to us advising that we need to go see the Argossean merchant Artelious on a matter of great urgency. He led us through a Gallah shanty town when we came to a plaza with this huge stone obelisk with the Cap’n lying before it bloody, bruised and near death! Crap, we need to save him so we can get paid! As we rushed toward him, more than a dozen Jullah cultists, and a additional four cultist elders, stormed toward us. The large Gallah who had led us here ran off as they attacked. He'd led us to this ambush, the gorram rat! The cultists were unarmed, but very muscular, and their method of attack is to pummell you to death with their powerful fists, apeing (pun intended) their foul ape god. Actually, their SOP is to swarm their enemy, and its fairly effective as they gain a +1 bonus for each cultist over the first man that they fight: so for the 2nd cultist attacking a man its +1, for the third, its +2, etc. So we took a lot of damage, but with our armor and skilled swordsmanship we managed to prevail. Indeed, we taught them the virtues of sharpened steel and cut them down to a man. However Grizzle failed his Heal roll and the Cap’n died in our arms. He clutched a map in his right hand, and Lukar pried it out of his cold dead fingers. We couldnt understand the map, as it had some strange characters on it from a language none of us knew, but we held on to it all the same.

We then headed off to the Artelious estate and found that it too was under assault by foul Jullah Cultists. They'd poisoned many of the guards, and beaten others to death. We assist the remaining guards in cuting down the cultists, when we again see some cloaked figures escaping over the walls, but decide we don’t have time to pursue them. The PCs arrived inside the mansion in time to see a huge white Ape holding a smoking hot babe in one of its big mits. A Chaga Derketa priestess named Erithemes was screaming for the Ape to release her daughter, but it just back-handed her across the room to shut her up. The Ape then leapt thru the window in a mighty bound and escaped into the night, holding the girl in one big mit. Afterwards, Arteliouos seemed strangely unwilling to hire us to pursue the matter further, and he was interested to know if we had the Captain's map. Grizzle lied and said we did not. Our Bluff roll succeeded over his Sense Motive roll, and the lie succeeds. I don’t know why, but I didnt quite trust this Argossean merchant, and so felt what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt us.

Rand Artelios then makes Grizzle captain of the 7 remaining guards, and we set a (hopefully more effective) watch, including cutting downt the ropes the fiends used to climb into the compound, and we tended to our wounded, by which I mean we drank a lot of strong wine. :) Then the next day Erithemes, who is Artelios’s Chaga wife, hired us to find her daughter and told us more about this man Eishba. Eishba used to belong to the Jullah, and could be useful against them. We then went into town and re-equipped, and sat in the local tavern and drank some more, all the while asking around about this man Eishba. We found out he lives in a village named “Shemanza,” and set out for it straight away (well, not exactly straight away.) "Nothing will stay the hand of justice," Geregash proclaimed. "We will not rest a moment until they are brought down," He said. "Now lets have some lunch and a nap." Haw haw! :)

We arrived in the village to find a Jullah cultist hanging upside down on the pole surrounded by a pile of skulls. It was funny: my brother had an old basketball trophy from his youth and placed it on the AD&D scaled map that we were using. He then took a GW Rat-Ogre miniature and stuck on the miniature to represent the hanging Jullah cultist, and it stayed there, wedged together somehow. It looked pretty cool, and was realistic too as everyone knows the Jullah are big on sports. Haw haw! :)

Eishba proved to indeed be a formidible ally against this foul cult, as they had killed his son, and stolen his two granddaughters, and so was motivated as hell to assist. We agreed to rescue his twin granddaughters from the cult, provided they were hot and would repay us as we saw fit. Haw haw! Actually I think we just agreed to rescue them to get the old goof to accompany us and aid in our quest. He performed a heathen ceremony that provided us with talismans of protection against the servants of Jullah, and then painted us up with some kind of weird war paint, which we didnt quite understand, not being native to these parts. However, the protection gave us a +1 circumstance bonus to attack and damage rolls when fighting the cultists, so we didn't argue the point.

Eishba, having been a Jullah worshipper at one point, also had an idol made of metoric iron that he insisted would be useful, though we don’t really understand how. We trusted primarily in sharpened steel. Indeed many dead Jullah testified to our methods. With Eishba’s help we found some hidden stairs in a sheer cliff overlooking the sea and we all made our dex rolls and descended the stair without tumbling off. The stairs lead to an entrance carved to resemble an Ape’s face, cut right into the cliff wall. You’d think that passing ships would notice this, and say: “Man, I bet thats where those crazy Jullah have their HQ!” But alas, to this point no one apparently had. Haw haw! Inside we found some roughly constructed tunnels, and were assaulted by more of the Cultist pugilists. And again we gave them reason to re-consider this “weaponless” tactic, as we cut these heathens down with good, honest, god-fearing steal. Haw haw! :) “Lyin’ Jack” Blackbeard "coup de graced" a Jullah priest, and sent him to his reward with a dagger across the throat.

Charging at us then out of the darkness are, not one, but two Great Apes! Criminy! This place is lousy with Apes! We manage to cut them both down, but not before "Grizzle," Eishba and Lukar take some big hits from the beast's big mits. All three are now beginning to get low on the HPs, with their number down to half.

We found the imprisoned women that the Jullah have been kidnapping, and we found Eishba's two granddaughters as well. But the smoking hot babe, Tarethis, who had been carried off by the Great White Ape earlier, was not among the imprisoned ladies. We considered leading them all out of this dungeon right then and there, however decided against it, prefering to come back for them after cleaning this place out well and truly. “Lyin’Jack” bravely voluteered to hang back and guard the imprisoned ladies in case any more culty boxers showed up, but"Grizzle" Geregash decided against it. We would finish what we'd started together.

We moved on into a great grand court with huge pillars on both sides of the hall. It was a cathedral-like chamber decorated in wicker tapestries, wall paintings and human skulls. And at the end of the hall already charging toward us is the Great White Ape we’d seen earlier at the Artelios estate. We knew we were in it deep at this point, and Connacht met the great beast's charge, thrusting his blade into it on the point of impact. The two giants slammed together and Connachts blade bit deep into the beast, as the rest of the party leapt upon the beast, their blades darting and slashing its muscled form. Indeed, my rolling here was incredible, as all four of the party scored hit after hit, cutting down the startled beast while avoiding its powerful mits and fangs. Connacht and Lyin’Jack- using his pirate's ferocious attack- both score crit hits with their blades, turning the beast’s white fur a dark crimson in seconds. This was very fortunate, as each in the party was worn down by the numerous fights, and what little we had left was sorely needed for what was to come. Only Connacht, Stalwart as ever, was doing fine on Hit Points, with over 30 left. The others were all being worn down, and so as it turned out this fight with the Ape couldnt have gone better. Needless to say we were Jonesin' for some healing potions! :) "I'd give my left one for a cure light wounds spell right about now," Lukar would have said, if he'd known such things existed in an alternate universe, created by the genius-god Gygax. :)

Incidentally, my brother has a great German Sheppard dog named Conan, which sits faithfully at his feet. I had brought some dog treats home with me to give to Conan, as hes a great old dog, with white fur about his muzzle that makes him look very distuinguished in his old age. Anyways hes a great and lovable old dog. Anyhoo, he had the most loud stomach rumblings I've ever heard in a dog before. I mean it was really loud. It was like your biker neighbor who starts up his Harley at 5am loud. And he would break wind periodically and stink the hell out of the room (again, like your biker neighbor)! So periodically as we gamed we yell "Conan! Stop that!...Conan!!" as he let another one go. He'd just look up at us perplexed as to what he had done wrong, and then lay his head back down. And the entire adventure was accompanied by this loud rumbling from his belly. It must have been one of those dog treats I'd given him. But it was amazlingly loud rumbling. Someone listening to our game would think that we were yelling at the character Conan, I suppose, and think "They must be fighthing The Cimmerian himself." Haw haw! But alas, like World War I soldiers we endured the German (Sheppard) gas attack and soldiered on.

But, back to the game, at this point Eishba then advised us that time was short: he also hinted grimly that he believed the mad Jullah wanted to offer the beautiful Tarethis to their Ape God as a bride. In addition, my brother began to advise not-so-subtly how much time had passed since the Great White Ape was slain, and we knew that we needed to move quickly. Furthermore, we began to hear chanting, faintly at first, but growing in intensity with every step as we drew further down the room. A tension was building, but still we hesitated just a moment before a pair of large doors, gathering our courage and nerves for what was ahead. All the carnage and butchery was coming to a head, and we knew this cursed place had only two exits: victory or death. Our party of five nodded grimly to each other, and opened the doors.

Beyond the doors was a huge temple area, within which a foul ritual was well in progress. To each side of the great altar were cloaked cultists who appeared to be of higher station than the average cultist. We deduced this, because, well, because they had some clothes on. These priest were entranced, their eyes wide and staring, fixated upon the altar
dedicated to their cruel beast god. Before the altar was a kneeling sea of the faithful; muscled, naked savages whom we had fought numerous times over the course of the adventure. But this time their numbers were great- too many!- and their manner was frenzied. Atop the altar was a high priest gensticulating wildy and bearing the unmistakable visage of the fanatic: his face a violent mix of ecstasy and concentration. Atop the altar itself was the smoking hot babe Tarethis, her face contorting in terror at that which formed above her.

For, hovering above the altar was an immense gate, swirling with the black stuff of the void, out of which stretched three purple tentacles, shaking with power and dripping with black ichor of the void. These three tentacles ended in cruel sculls, with long green tongues that flicked outword, as if tasting the air in this world of men. One tentacle hovered directly over the hot babe, and a green tongue licked the length of her. Yuck! Now that ain’t right! At Grizzle’s terse command Lukar pulled out his sling and, together with Lyin’ Jack, assassinated the high priest with two bullets slung true: we scored over 37 hit points in just 2 amazing shots! Lukar’s shot scored a crit hit, slamming into his chest with a dull thud. While Lyin’ Jack’s shot scored a second crit hit, and shattered the priest’s right eye, imbedding deeply into his brain. The priest died, falling backwards as his soul fell to hell.

We were hoping that the ritual would cease with the death of the high priest, however it wasnt going to be that easy...

We fired our slings at the cultist mass before us, killing some of them down outright. We managed to get in 2 rounds of slinging, before the milling crowds recovered from the shock of their fallen high priest. Then crowds turned and roared their hatred at the infidels in their midst, and charged toward us en masse. We got in another sling attack before they reached us, and then Lukar, Grizzle and Lyin' Jack dropped their slings and readied their melee weapons, our hearts racing as they met the cultist's charge!

At first the fight went okay, as we cut down a good number of the fiends. I'd say we cut their numbers by a third. The tentacles from the gate above also were stretching forward and snapping down at us with their powerful jaws, unnerving us with their evil presence. One tentacle then reached out and plucked a priest into the air and drew him back into the void. Cool, we thought. One less bastard for us to deal with! Thanks, evil tentacle-dude! However a few short turns later, as we continued our battle with the cultists, out from the void plopped an Ape dripping with the foul, black ichor of the void. The demonic beast lept to his feet, roared and charged our party!

Many of the cultists moved aside to the left to let the beast through, and Grizzle, Lukar, Lyin' Jack and Eishba met the beast with blades dulled on the skulls, thinews and bones of countless cultists. This earthly manifestation of the Ape God Jullah smashed Grizzle's knee, sending him down. Then he pummeled Eishba to the ground with a powerful blow, and the old man lay still. Lukar doubled his efforts, slashing desperately against the powerful beast. At last it fell, its ferocious roar turning into a sharp bark of pain as Lyin' Jack stuck it true with his arming sword, and the great beast went down.

Then the remaing cultists charged toward us again. Connacht had meanwhile manuevered to their right flank, and began to hack his way toward the cultists priests on the right side of the hall. He fortunately reached them, and between two pillars he had bottlenecked them in. This was very fortunate, as it held back their numbers on the right side of the hall while we dealt with the others. Connacht's strong DR, and his 20+ hit points, enabled him to bottle then up effectively with his whirling blade. But still, the brawny barbarian couldn't hold out for long.

At the same time Lukar stood bravely over the bodies of his fallen leader and the X-Jullah Eishba. Grizzle was at one hit point, and so was now able to stand up. Though his knee was injured and his stance was shakey. He couldn't move too well, but he was standing, and he stood his ground. He was a man hard as Akbitanan steel, and so he steadied himself as best he could and readied his weapon. The priests on the left side of the room charged the now ragged Grizzle, Lukar and Lyin' Jack, swelling the ranks of their enemies.

However, more significantly, a large rift in the center of the enemy had emerged, quite by chance: Connacht successfully kept the priests to the right bottled up. And the cultists and the priests were now bunched again against Lukar, Lyin' Jack and the staggered Jack Grizzle to the left, leaving the center of the temple open. The tactic of swarming an opponent to gain the bonuses to their attack was in a way working against them as they bunched up on our intrepid adventurers. Though at the time this wasnt immediately apparent, what would happen next made this a very important development. Still, at the time the party seemed doomed: Jack Grizzle and Lyin' Jack were at one hit point each, and Lukar was at four. The old man Eishba was down and probably dead. Connacht was still doing fine with 19 hit points, but his luck wouldnt hold out forever. Eventually - soon- even Connacht the Stalwart would be overwhelmed.

Then Eishba raised his head, seeing Lyin Jack through a thick sheet of blood. He pulled from his cloak the idol. Blood spurted from his mouth as he spoke, his voice rasping but strong. "Throw it in the void!" he spat. Then he slid the idol across the blood slicked tiles, finally coming to rest against the leather boots of the shocked Argossean Pirate. Eishba then again lay still, his staring eyes still fixed on the pirate.

Lyin' Jack, one hit point and all, didn't hesitate a second and picked up the fallen idol. Adrenaline coursed thru his lithe frame as proceeded to run thru the line like Emmit Smith in his prime. Seriously, it was exactly like Emmit used to do in his glory days. He was thru the line of enemy combatants in a flash and into the clear: there were seconds left in the game and he in the open field! He held the fate of the party in his right arm in the form of an iron idol, just like a back would carry a pigskin, in another time, and another place. I could hear the breathless announcer as he ran: "Hes at the twenty, at the fifteen, ONLY ONE MAN TO BEAT!!"

Connacht had done some great downfied blocking to his right, and Lukar and Grizzle had done just enough to hold them off back to his left. Corpses lay strewn about, and the blood slicked "field" about him made for difficult terrain. He thought of the normally sure footed Cimmerian who had slipped earlier while aboard "The Pride of Messentia," then pushed the thought from his mind. He'd walked the sea and blood slicked decks of a ship since he could remember, and he hadnt ever slipped. Well, okay there was that one time, but he'd been drunk, and...

Hell with it, he determined: I may fail, but I'll not fall. And so he raced on, his steps swift and sure as he neared the goal...Lyin' Jack reached the altar at the end of his 2nd turn, with some steps to spare. But first he had to get past one last obstacle...

My brother and I were using miniatures, and my brother's tiled D&D miniatures map, so we could calculate exactly how far he could go each turn, and how far the enemy the enemy was from him. That tiled map really came in handy during this fight, and in figuring out Lyin' Jack's race to glory! It's actually a pretty cool map, and pretty big. He has it framed with some strong backing- I don't know if it comes that way- but you can actually pick the whole thing up and move it in the middle of a battle without all the figures falling all over the place. This came in handy when we'd need to move it off the table from time to time to make room for pizza without spilling the figures everywhere.

But there would be no interrupting this battle, for, while Lyin' Jack was making his mad dash, Lukar "the Spider" took a powerful blow to this temple and went down, falling hard to the floor. Grizzle was still warding off his enemy's blows as best he could, but again he was barely able to stand, was at one HP, and would soon fall as well. Connacht continued to desperately hack at his enemies, holding them off just long enough for the pirate to rush past.

The wiley pirate raced quickly toward the altar, and deftly avoiding any attacks of oppurtunity from the enemy on his right or left. The path thru wasn't huge, but it was enough to proceed toward the altar. It was a thing of beauty as it appeared that "he..could...go...all...the...WAY!" However, while Lyin' Jack deftly avoided his enemies on the ground, he couldnt avoid one from above. The "one man to beat" looked down at this development with eyes blazing of hate, and stretched toward him, determined to consume his flesh, and his soul. One of three tentacled beasts dove hard at the pirate, his powerful jaws opened wide for the kill, however his attack missed the Argossean, and its large jaws ate only air, and then stone, as it slammed into the tiled floor beside him. Lyin' Jack continued on his path to glory- he had reached the altar at last! His eyes were large as silver dollars at the target above him.

With a valorious scream he jumped upon the altar and chucked the idol toward the foul gate. I picked up my luckiest die, ready to make my fatefull roll. I was poised to roll the die, when I asked if I could simply spend a fate point to make the throw. My brother said I could, and so I did. The throw- much like a pass from Troy Aikmen- sailed true to its target. The idol went into he void, and was gone. For a moment there was only silence, as Lyin' Jack tumbled over the altar and came up on his knees. Then there was a great explosion, knocking men off their feet and showering the massed forms below with debry and ichor.

The oval void above quickly began to shrink. However one of the tentacles had coiled about the screaming, bound girl on the altar and pulled her free, trying to lift her into the netherworld beyond. Lyin' Jack, being directly beneath the gate, hadnt been knocked about by the concussive blast, as the force of it had gone over his head. He was in a perfect position to make a desperate lunge for the girl: to rob the devil Ape-God of his bride.

With the GMs consent I spent another fate point and Lyin' Jack jumped up and grabbed the girl. Her body, slicked with ichor, slipped free of the thing's hold, as the tentacles retracted into the gate. The gate then closed, finally, and the battle had been won.

Lyin' Jack and Tarethis fell to the floor and lay there; bloodied, bruised and exhausted.

The cultists immediately ran terrified from the temple room, and Jack Grizzle watched in relief as they raced past him toward the exit. Connacht stepped aside and finally let them by, and soon the room was emptied of the fiends. Grizzle hobbled toward Eishba, and was able to make his Heal roll, amazingly stabilizing the old man. Grizzle then hobbled toward Lukar and successfuly made his Heal roll again, stabilizing the Zammorean. We were going to have to start calling him Doc! There was to be another name change, in light of the heroics performed that day!...

Jack "Grizzle" and the others congratulated "Lyin' Jack," and my brother suggested that he would no longer be called "Lyin' Jack," but in honor of his achievement, he would henceforth be known as "Battlin' Jack" Blackbeard! And so his name on his character sheet was changed accordingly. "Battlin' Jack" had sacrificed two fate points, and those are precious things: surely this would come back to haunt him one day when he is again in a perilous situation. In the years ahead it would be as if the Ape God's rage was a cloud that would hang over him, waiting for his day to fall. But "Battlin' Jack" but didn't care. They had achieved Victory this day, and that was what mattered. Doom may come tomorrow, he thought, but as for today, there was Victory! :)

Back in Zabhela our intrepid adventurers received a heroes welcome. The mother of Tarethis, Erithemes, was very grateful to have her daughter back, and to see the hated Jullah vanquished (for the moment). The Regent of Zabhela held a dinner in our party's honor, and it was well attended by the City's elite. The party regailed the gathered with tales of their adventure: including the tale of how "Lyin' Jack" became "Battlin' Jack" Blackbeard. They had made some great allies, and some great enemies, during the course of the adventure. They still had the Captain's map to investigate, and after a period of rest, they would be ready for some more adventures in the Black Kingdoms!

Great effing adventure!!

I want to thank my brother and his wonderful family for putting up with me for a week, and for making the Excellent Week O' Gaming so much damn Fun!!! :)
 
:shock: :shock: :shock:
Gosh....write much?
After the fifth or sixth paragraph (chapter?) my eyes crawled out of their sockets and hid in the closet. I've never seen them this way before.
I had to coax them back with honeyed promises of porn.

Seriously, I'm happy for your fraternal bonding.

:roll:
 
damn.....thats a big post...and full of enthusiasm too !!!

you were right...it's sleight of hand to pick some pockets (p.97 "if you try to take something from another creature...")

i hope you can make a "family tradition" of your gaming week. sounds like alot of fun....wish i could do it too....perhaps some day..... :)

or like the serenity crew would say it......shiny :)
 
Yogah of Yag said:
:shock: :shock: :shock:
Gosh....write much?
After the fifth or sixth paragraph (chapter?) my eyes crawled out of their sockets and hid in the closet. I've never seen them this way before.
I had to coax them back with honeyed promises of porn.

Seriously, I'm happy for your fraternal bonding.

:roll:

No need to be rude Yogah or condescending. I admit I haven't had the time to read the whole post but there are no rules on what people can write about or the style they write in. I've fallen asleep in your Stygian language thread. My point is, you don't have to post something on every post - no need to be a - what's the Stygian word - oh yeah - jerk. From what I have read so far the post is as the Judge said - full of enthusiasm for gaming and the Conan RPG in general. Nothing wrong in that, IMHO.
 
Yogah of Yag said:
:shock: :shock: :shock:
Gosh....write much?
After the fifth or sixth paragraph (chapter?) my eyes crawled out of their sockets and hid in the closet. I've never seen them this way before.
I had to coax them back with honeyed promises of porn.

Seriously, I'm happy for your fraternal bonding.

:roll:

Ah, I think we've found the root cause of your eye-sight problems.... Heh heh...

:lol:

But, hey that's cool you didnt dig the post, Yag-omeister. Folks have different likes, dislikes, etc. After the adventure I figured: "Man, I gotta write this one up for the 'goose!" But it's all good...

Peace out! :)
 
hey wow....i'm ever learning....now i know that "jerk" is a stygian word thnx Strom :)


to be a little more precise about the mentioned "enthusiasm":

in your post you sound like an 14year old schoolboy playing his first roleplaying (your beer experience included *g*).....and that is a damn good i think !!! every gaming group should be glad if they have one like you. you seem to live every story u play...and IMHO that's what roleplaying is about !

so i salute you and your shiny story...keep it on Thoth !

(and don't care about eye problems :lol: )
 
Strom said:
Yogah of Yag said:
:shock: :shock: :shock:
Gosh....write much?
After the fifth or sixth paragraph (chapter?) my eyes crawled out of their sockets and hid in the closet. I've never seen them this way before.
I had to coax them back with honeyed promises of porn.

Seriously, I'm happy for your fraternal bonding.

:roll:

No need to be rude Yogah or condescending. I admit I haven't had the time to read the whole post but there are no rules on what people can write about or the style they write in. I've fallen asleep in your Stygian language thread. My point is, you don't have to post something on every post - no need to be a - what's the Stygian word - oh yeah - jerk. From what I have read so far the post is as the Judge said - full of enthusiasm for gaming and the Conan RPG in general. Nothing wrong in that, IMHO.

I have always been a good-natured and helpful contributor to this forum.
Rudeness nor condescension were not part of my attempt at a humourous assesment of his post.

If my posts on Ancient Egyptian or "Stygian" bore anyone, you are welcome to make suggestions to redirect the thread's focus or whatsoever you (plural) wish.

I have always found it curious how RPGers find a discussion of RL tiresome or offensive. I feel that a well-balanced campaign should be inspired (at least, in part) by RL information, and not only baseless fancy.

If the Moderators feel that my presence here is no longer wanted, I will bow out.

It has been fun.
 
Yogah of Yag said:
Strom said:
Yogah of Yag said:
:shock: :shock: :shock:
Gosh....write much?
After the fifth or sixth paragraph (chapter?) my eyes crawled out of their sockets and hid in the closet. I've never seen them this way before.
I had to coax them back with honeyed promises of porn.

Seriously, I'm happy for your fraternal bonding.

:roll:

No need to be rude Yogah or condescending. I admit I haven't had the time to read the whole post but there are no rules on what people can write about or the style they write in. I've fallen asleep in your Stygian language thread. My point is, you don't have to post something on every post - no need to be a - what's the Stygian word - oh yeah - jerk. From what I have read so far the post is as the Judge said - full of enthusiasm for gaming and the Conan RPG in general. Nothing wrong in that, IMHO.

I have always been a good-natured and helpful contributor to this forum.
Rudeness nor condescension were not part of my attempt at a humourous assesment of his post.

If my posts on Ancient Egyptian or "Stygian" bore anyone, you are welcome to make suggestions to redirect the thread's focus or whatsoever you (plural) wish.

I have always found it curious how RPGers find a discussion of RL tiresome or offensive. I feel that a well-balanced campaign should be inspired (at least, in part) by RL information, and not only baseless fancy.

If the Moderators feel that my presence here is no longer wanted, I will bow out.

It has been fun.

I apologize for my post Yogah. I think your roll eyes smiley was rude. Thoth was just expressing his experience and my point was that not every post is for everyone and my example of your thread not being for me was expressed in bad taste - I have trouble with English let alone Stygian/Egyptian. You have contributed to the forum immensely and I hope you will return. I hope others will contribute their experiences with the Conan RPG and be received well by everyone - some people need rules clarifications, or like to house rule, or discuss Conan, or like to tell of their adventures or whatever. To me the diversity of posts is refreshing and a fun part of this board.

Sorry again Yogah - hope we haven't seen the last of your input on the boards.

Finished your post Thoth and the heroics of Battling Jack are what legends are made of! All with one hit point too. Very cool. We had a similar situation in one of our adventures where the weak Noble/Scholar finished off the Ghoul with a crit arrow strike right when we thought the party was doomed. The Conan RPG really seems to lead itself to these type of heroics where D & D healing potions would just get in the way.
 
sorry yogah....but

"If the Moderators feel that my presence here is no longer wanted, I will bow out.

It has been fun."

sounds like whining....behave like an adult and don't back out if someone critizes your post.
 
Thoth Aw C'mon said:
After the adventure I figured: "Man, I gotta write this one up for the 'goose!"
I wish more people would post about the adventures they play or GM. Gives me ideas. We had some good stuff going on the Tower of the Elephant thread.

Thanks Thoth! I enjoyed reading your post. Having moved from my group a year ago I would love an Excellent Week O Gaming.
 
Zul Daire said:
Thoth Aw C'mon said:
After the adventure I figured: "Man, I gotta write this one up for the 'goose!"
I wish more people would post about the adventures they play or GM. Gives me ideas. We had some good stuff going on the Tower of the Elephant thread.

Thanks Thoth! I enjoyed reading your post. Having moved from my group a year ago I would love an Excellent Week O Gaming.

Thanks Zul. Glad you liked the write-up. Yeah I think more write-ups of adventures can be useful and fun for GMs and players on this forum, but especially for GMs. You can read about what worked and what didnt work in an adventure and make improvements and adjustments in your own games. Heck, we may as well benefit from the experiences of other gamers on this forum: all of our gaming time is limited- even with a whole week to game!- so we might as well try to make the most of each session. 8)
 
That's the best story I've read in a long time. Somebody stick that in the front of the OGL Conan book, and even if you had never read anything on Conan, you'd buy the game then an there.

You made my pitiful attempts at story tellin' pretty lame.
 
toothill man said:
loved the write up it sounded like a true fun time so thank you for the effort must of taken a age to write :shock: 8)

Thanks much toothill man! Glad you liked the write up! Yeah I worked on it off and on over the course of two weeks... It kept me busy and was a nice little hobby project of mine for a time.

dunderm said:
That's the best story I've read in a long time. Somebody stick that in the front of the OGL Conan book, and even if you had never read anything on Conan, you'd buy the game then an there.

Well thanks much for the really great compliment, Dunderm!! I really appreciate that very much! :D
 
Holy cow! I love your write-up of Shadows over Zabhela! Thanks very much for sharing, I am very glad you enjoyed the scenario....and I liked your brother's additions to it, as well!

(I wrote the Tales of the Black Kingdoms, just so ya know....)
 
Thanks for sharing with us Thoth. I agree with a former poster that we don't see enough people posting about their games and how they are going.

Keep it up and I'm glad you had a great week of gaming!

RAS
 
Nickbergquist said:
Holy cow! I love your write-up of Shadows over Zabhela! Thanks very much for sharing, I am very glad you enjoyed the scenario....and I liked your brother's additions to it, as well!

(I wrote the Tales of the Black Kingdoms, just so ya know....)

Wow, Nickbergquist, thanks! I'm glad you liked the write-up!!! 8) And thanks for writing such a cool adventure! I'm really envious of you, to have that gotten an adventure published- man, I can only imagine how much fun (and a heckuva lotta hard work, but a good kind of hard work) it must have been to create those adventures. And it must've been way cool to then see them in hardcopy with art and a great cover- published for others to enjoy. Well done!! :) 8)

RabidAntiShemite said:
Thanks for sharing with us Thoth. I agree with a former poster that we don't see enough people posting about their games and how they are going.

Keep it up and I'm glad you had a great week of gaming!

RAS


Thanks RAS! Yeah the Excellent Week O' Gaming was great and we're hoping we can make The EWOG an annual tradition. And posting about our Conan the RPG game sessions I think can really help out GMs enhance their games by learning from the experiences of others, and avoid some pitfalls or aspects of the games that didnt work, or should be changed. Players can benefit too, as long as there are spoiler warnings, so as not to give away any clues about an upcoming adventure. Besides that its fun to read about the games others on this board are having. 8)
 
I'd love to play like that again, it has been a long time since the last time I play for more than 4 hours...wait, it has been a long time since the last time I play :(

Thanks for the read!
 
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