Me and my online buddy Mik from Australia are having an 'interesting' conversation
http://www.alphaflight.net/showthread.php?5335-God-Loves-Man-Kills...
over at AlphaFlight.net, all about how Christians are portrayed in comic books. It is interesting, in that we have discoverd that the definition of "Christian", to most people means "Catholic, or Episcipolean church member, maybe Lutheran or United, somebody who goes to church on occasion, or has been to church before, somone who believes there is a God, or amybe somebody whose parents went to church or beleived in God."
It's frustrating to have a discussion about Christianity with a bunch of people who refuse tp accept your definition of what a Christian is; especialy frustrating, since I AM one, therefore I should know!
But the world cannot accept my definition of what I am, because they do not understand it...
We live in a world where people do not even know what a Christian is anymore...in fact, I have met many beleivers who seem to have forgotten that it wasn't going to church that made them a Christian (any more than standing in their garage has made them a car)...
In comic books, if you are shown as a Christian, a true Bible-believing Christian, then you are most assuredly shown blowing up an abortion clinic or leading people in a revolt against gays (or mutants) or people of another race and blowing them up or shooting them or otherwise having very violent tendencies. Basically put, the only portrayal in comics of people with my system of beliefs, is that of a violent, radical, terrorist nut-job.
When I realize things like this, I REALLY can't wait for Jesus to return.
This explains to me why He has to separate the sheep from the goats. He certainly cannot just grab everybody who goes to church and take them to heaven, because probably a vast majority of those who go to church, aren't Christians.
Lord, come quickly.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Yea or Nay...
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.
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Reasons To Get A Cat:
1. I'm lonely; companionship.
2. A reason to keep my apartment cleaner.
3. Cats remind me of God's love; never a bad thing...
4. I love cats.
5. I haven't had a cat in several years.
6. Many cats need loving homes.
Reasons To Not Get A Cat:
1. I'm not supposed to have one in my apartment; could potentially get in trouble.
2. Cat litterbox in small apartment - yucky!
3. I only rent - what if it damages something?
4. Small apartment - not a lot of room for two of us.
Choices, choices...sigh...
.
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Reasons To Get A Cat:
1. I'm lonely; companionship.
2. A reason to keep my apartment cleaner.
3. Cats remind me of God's love; never a bad thing...
4. I love cats.
5. I haven't had a cat in several years.
6. Many cats need loving homes.
Reasons To Not Get A Cat:
1. I'm not supposed to have one in my apartment; could potentially get in trouble.
2. Cat litterbox in small apartment - yucky!
3. I only rent - what if it damages something?
4. Small apartment - not a lot of room for two of us.
Choices, choices...sigh...
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Baldur's Gate update, anyone?
So, when last we left our group of six heroes (* see next paragraph), they had finished slaughtering the bandit camp (learning that the bandit leader, Tazok, of the two mercenary tribes, was off somewhere in the Cloakwood, where he goes quite often), had bought a really cool cloak (Robes of the Neutral Arch-Magi) for Xan from High Hedge, and were about to go and track down this Tazok character!
The six heroes, of course, are; Penelope Farhaven, the half-eleven female Ranger who was raised by her foster-father, the now deceased scholar and Wizard Gorion, in Candlekeep; Imoen, the human female Thief who was also raised by her foster-father, the Innkeeper whose name escapes me right now ("Winthrop"!), in Candlekeep, and was for all intents and purposes Penelope’s sister, they were so close; Branwen, the human female Battle-Cleric whose goddess-granted battle spells have come in handy since Penelope rescued her from a lifetime spent as a statue in the Nashkel Carnival; Kivan, the male elf who is also a Ranger, who wants revenge on the bandits for killing his wife; Kagain, the (sometimes) drunken male dwarf, a Fighter who started out as a caravan-supplier but who all but lost his business due to the bandit raids; and finally, Xan, the mostly morose and depressed male elf Wizard.
Entering the huge Cloakwood (which is a very large forest, named, appropriately enough, the Cloakwood – appropriate for a wood named Cloakwood to be called the Cloakwood, don’t you think?), the party killed a group of tasloi that attacked them, one of which had a Cloak of Magical Non-Detection. They then killed some wolves (yummy – good eating!). Then the six sided with some rich hunters from Baldur’s Gate in a disagreement with some uppity druids who wanted to kill them – had to waste the four druids, unfortunately. Thank goodness Jaheira is no longer part of their group (I wonder how she is doing, down in the lowest level caves of the Nashkel Mines where they left her?)! Next, they met Coran, a male Fighter/Thief who is hunting the dangerous wyverns. He wanted to join with them, but Penelope told him they were full up, and the six pushed on.
They travelled back to Beregost to rest. Officer Vai has just received orders to return to Baldur’s Gate. She thanks the six heroes for their heroic and valiant efforts against the bandits.
Back in the Cloakwood forest, a man named Tiber tells a tale of how he and his brother were going to clear out the ‘giant-spider colony’ in the forest with the sword “Spider’s Bane” that his brother found. The brother, Chelak, has now been missing somewhere in the woods for a week.
The six heroes tracked down the spider’s lair and defeated the Spider Queen (yuck!) and her minions. After returning Chelak’s body to Tiber (who told them to keep the magic sword, which Kivan gladly did), they returned to the nearest temple, at the Friendly Arm Inn, to revive the deceased Branwen and rest up ("Oh, my aching head!" declares Branwen. "Is it still on my body?").
Back in the massive Cloakwood forest, some stupid Bard named Eldoth wants to join them; but, he is so busy bragging about himself that Penelope insults him and the heroes walk away. They cross a wooden bridge, there to meet a Druid of this forest called Laskal (the Druid, not the forest – this is the Cloakwood, remember? It is appropriately named the Cloakwood, which is appropriate based upon the fact that this is, after all, the Cloakwood forest). He (that’s Laskal the Druid, NOT the Cloakwood forest – it would be presumptuous to think that the Cloakwood forest is a ‘he’, wouldn’t it?), too (meaning, as well as the six heroes), hates the Iron Throne, and tells us their fort is located to the East.
They soon meet another Druid, named Izefia. He has a big attitude problem. Izefia tells the six of an ‘infidel’ in a cave to the NE, and commands them to deal with him. The six go into the cave, and are attacked by Peter of the North; he is a wyvern-trainer working for the Iron Throne, and the two ferocious beasts attack them as well. The wyverns were to be used in the mines here in the Cloakwood (so says Peter before he is killed, along with his deadly pets).
Back out of the cave (back outside, that is; not meaning to say that the heroes backed out of the cave, there was plenty of room to turn around, after all!), two more Druids confronted the party of adventurers, wanting to know just why Penelope and friends are here in the woods. Luckily, the Druids approve of their campaign against the bandits. The Druid Faldorn wishes to join them, but they refuse the offer.
Continuing on to the East, eventually they find the Cloakwood Mines. The Cloakwood Mines entrance is surrounded by a small wooden fortress, which in turn is surrounded itself by a high wooden wall, allowing only one narrow way in; a perfect deathtrap. The six, led by the always heroic (and stunningly stunning, lol) Penelope Farhaven, Ranger extraordinaire and heroic adventurer supreme, fight off a few guards topside, and then face off against and annihilate four tough adventurers who evidently were hired specifically to keep the six away.
Into the mines they go!
On the 1st level of the mine, along with a few guards, they discover many slaves, people who were kidnapped from wagon caravans and such; it seems that the Iron Throne is working these mines so that they have plenty of good ore to turn into weapons to sell when Amn and Baldur’s Gate go to war (with each other, not together)!
As a brief aside, after having read the last paragraph, I would like to point out that the guards (together with the six heroes) did not discover many slaves, but that the six adventurers discovered both guards and slaves on the mine’s first level - obviously, the guards already knew there were slaves there; the slaves were, after all, the whole reason to have guards there!
A miner shows (the lovely and strong) Penelope a huge metal door that keeps the river from flooding the mine tunnels; if Penelope agrees (and she does!) to free him and the other slaves, and get him the key to said door, he will flood the mines and put the Iron Throne out of business here. A friend of his, named Rill, on another level of the mine, might know how to help the miners all escape. This miner also says that the “master of the mine” (does that make him some sort of clever mastermind/mastermine?) has the key to the door, and apparently he is truly one bad and dangerous dude!
Down to the 2nd level of the mines (seems almost superfluous to have to say “down”, since it is a mine, after all, and therefore is below ground), where they find more prisoners, this time in cages and cells. The six slaughter a Mage, some guards, and a couple of ghasts (don’t you hate it when those things cough all over you?!), but they spare the life of an innocent cook. The six find the slave leader (more of an honorific title, really), Rill, who requests 100 gold pieces to bribe a guard that he knows to let them escape; Penelope gives it to him, but only after giving him ‘the evil eye’ stare to ensure that he realizes how much of a poor decision it would be to run off with her gold and think it funny how he tricked the big bad heroic adventurer...
Next, they meet a dwarf named Yeslick, whose people (the dwarves, that is) started these mines a long time ago (more than a week ago, but less than a billion years ago). Yeslick wishes to join the squad, but they refuse him (or do they call him a pile of refuse?).
The next level (which, strangely enough, you have to go DOWN to reach. Also strangely, this next level, following as it does the 1st and 2nd levels, seems to be the 3rd level.) is full of guards (“full” being a silly word to use, as there is still room to walk around and swing ones arms, or sword), hobgoblin (not goblins with a limp, but much bigger goblins with semi-more intelligence) archers, a Wizard named Natasha (hey, she’s cute! - for a evil, occultist, death-dealer, that is), and an ogre Mage who is in charge of slave torturing. They all die (dang it! Sorry, Natasha, my love...sniffle sniff...).
On to the next (4th) level of the Cloakwood Mines. Here they encounter the “mastermine, keeper of the mine” (why does he want to ‘keep’ the mines, exactly?), Davaeorn. Ol’ Davaeorn kept teleporting around, which was pretty dang annoying; Kagain kept yelling at him to “stand still, confoundablast it, so’s I can hit ya”. Eventually, with patience and persistence, the six killed him. His apprentice spills his guts (verbally, not literally), hoping to save his own life (“what’s the point, it’s hopeless...” sighed Xan), filling them in on the fact that the Iron Throne organization are headquartered in Baldur’s Gate, and that there are three regional leaders there in the SW portion of the city. Penelope digested this new information for a moment (burp!), then lopped off the apprentice’s head (“told you...” intoned the ever cheerful Xan). “Now that’s more like it” shouted Kivan enthusiastically.
The six heroes used Davaeorn’s key to open the metal door on level one and flood the mines (the miners escaped first, of course). After they exited, the slaves thank them for setting them free, then trudged off to go back to their homes. Documents from Davaeorn’s body show “Rieltar” to be one of the Iron Throne leaders, and the name “Sarevok” is also mentioned.
The six head back to the Friendly Arm Inn for some R and R; they are quite pleased with themselves, as they have dealt the Iron Throne yet another blow, and now have the pride of knowing they are the heroes of both the Nashkel and Cloakwood Mines.
After a nice rest (which is always much nicer than an arrest), the six head North. Already, even though the rest was short, Branwen is grumbling loudly about how “warrior-born” people such as herself do not take kindly to resting about when there are battles to be fought elsewhere. Imoen, always the cheerful (and antagonistic?) little Thief, points out that Branwen didn’t seem too “warrior-like” when she was being used as “a bird-pooping platform” in the Nashkel Carnival. After Imoen ducks a mighty swing from Branwen’s magical war hammer (that may or may not have taken off the top of her head), she dances her way back up to the Battle-Cleric and hands her back the purse full of coin that Branwen seems to have ‘dropped’ somewhere along the way. Branwen’s face turns an even darker shade of purple while Imoen looks her full in the eyes and smiles playfully, and the two do not speak for the rest of the day (ah, the joys of travel!).
The six heroic figures have now entered farmland, up past the Cloakwood Mines and the bandit encampment that they previously raided and destroyed to much internal delight. Some settlers there tell them that they are under attack by a Priest of Umberlee (the sea and storm goddess) who lives to the North, and they ask for our help (“I don’t trust them” mutters Kivan softly, and Kagain nods his agreement). They six go into a nearby underground cavern, kill some evil ankhegs (damn those evil, spitting, monstrous worm-spawn!), and rescue an injured person therein. Up top, they meet a Waterdeep Paladin named Ajantis, but do not allow him to join them, despite his pleading (how sad when a mighty and noble Paladin is reduced to begging in the very presence of the heroic six). The injured man passed away, but they returned his lifeless body to his grateful farmer pa.
They find the Priestess of Umberlee (“Oh ho! Not a Priest at all. Already, the settlers’ lies begin to fly...” said Kagain, with his usual dwarven tact), who lives in a home near the bridge that passes over the river and into Baldur’s Gate (the bridge passes over, not the home of the Priestess – have we gotten that all clear?). She (the Priestess, not the bridge or the home or the river) says the farmers killed her mother, and they stole her sacred bowl. She seems young and more than a little scared (“won’t last more than a day, then she’ll be dead...dead dead dead...” intoned the helpful Xan), and the six tend to believe her. They return to the settlers and talk with them. As soon as they admit what they have done, the six slaughter them (Branwen turns a pale shade of white at killing the unskilled-at-combat farmers, but Penelope intones that “Evil is its own reward, and what these people have doled out shall be returned to them, if not at our hands than by another. Better we should let their evil and folly end here, before it claims another victim”, and not much is said after that); they take the sacred bowl of Umberlee from a fresh corpse, and bring it back to the young Priestess, who thanks them and tells them that Umberlee herself will pay them back in time.
It seems it is time to enter the city of Baldur’s Gate and explore its inner workings. As they step foot onto the bridge leading to the city, they get to talking; Kagain and Branwen admit to having travelled here before, although not in a while and not very often. Xan laments that “Surely any city this large is doomed to collapse in upon itself at any second, and we will be just as likely be crushed to death as to do any lasting good in this place.” Kivan shudders as he gazes at the city, and all near him know that as a true Ranger of the woods he wants no part of this piece of civilization. Penelope gazes with pure and unadulterated fascination at the city looming up before her, but is cognizant enough to turn swiftly to the bright-eyed Imoen and remind her sternly to not get them into any trouble by filching purses within the city walls.
Before they can reach the city, while still on the bridge itself, Scar, the second-in-command of the Flaming Fist for Baldur’s Gate, recognizes the six as the heroes of Nashkel (“Oh sure, not a word of the bandit camp we scuttled, or the Cloakwood Mines we eradicated” muttered the slightly-grumpy Kagain, his mouth salivating at the thought of all the inns and pubs within the walls of the city). Scar says that there are many strange happenings within the city, and wishes for the six to investigate things. He asks them in particular to investigate the Seven Suns trading company, as they have been behaving oddly, and the head of the Seven Suns, Jhasso, is not acting at all like himself. They are to break into and investigate the Seven Suns compound, and then report back to Scar at the Flaming Fist compound. Penelope takes a liking to this Flaming Fist officer, as he reminds her of Officer Vai (from Beregost’s Jovial Juggler inn), very straightforward and honest and unafraid. Penelope tells Scar all about the Iron Throne and their dealings in other part of the land, and Scar thanks her for sharing that information with him. He tells the six that the Seven Suns is on the SW side of the city, and that the Flaming Fist barracks are just to the West of it.
They take their leave of Scar and finish crossing the bridge. Just before the gates to the city, there is a bespectacled gnome called Quayle, who claims to be an Illusionist and wishes to join them; once again, they decline, liking the current makeup of their group very much (which is not to suggest that any of the group wear makeup – these are heroes, not the rock group KISS! Besides which, any who have beheld the glorious and radiant beauty that is Penelope Farhaven know full well that her exotic good looks brought by her half-elven - and half-human - unknown parentage has blessed her with natural beauty that makes many a man’s - and some women’s, too - knees grow weak and his lips to murmur “ninner nanny, muh huh huh huh...thbpttt...whoa...” as he drools upon his ‘frock and pantaloons’ in a most unmanly of ways).
The city of Baldur’s Gate, as the worldly Kagain explained to Penelope, is divided into 9 different sections, and is basically circular shaped. The six enter the city by its only gate (that gate should rightly be named Baldur’s Gate, should it not?), arriving in the East section. There, they are blasted by the noise and stench of the large city. They stand still for a few moments to adjust themselves accordingly, Imoen slapping away the nimble hands of a Thief as he reaches for Kivan’s pouch of gold, only to miss the hand that soundly slaps her bottom. She whips out a dagger and glances around, but the mad-groper has already returned to shadows so deep that not even her eagle-eyes can spot him. Penelope turns to glare at Imoen, who realizes she is standing in the city gates holding a bared blade (something that does not help in her trying not to draw undo attention to the party), and as Imoen puts the dagger away and Penelope opens her mouth to speak, a semi-familiar voice declares, “Ho there, child, stay thy course and set awhile. Well met, once again...”
Lo and behold, it is Elminster once again, great Mage and sage and all-around awesome guy of mystery and intrigue! Elminster declares that he was long a friend of Penelope’s foster-father, Gorion, even from before he came to look after his foster child. He goes on to say that Penelope has “bad blood “ in her, and says that we can implicitly trust Scar, as well as his superior, Duke Eltan. He then wanders off, having no more to divulge to them at this time.
The six wander into the nearby Shop of Silence, a store and inn run by a man named, appropriately, Silence. There, they stock up on magical stones for the slings of Branwen and Xan, and then take a rest upstairs.
The next morning, they start to take a look around the East section of Baldur’s Gate. Xan’s eyes actually light up for a second as they near a huge shop called Sorcerous Sundries, but then he mutters “Probably not a thing worth buying, and what is worth it will be too expensive...” with a sigh. “Oh, come on, you gloomy, pointy-eared mutterer,” says Kagain, and the dwarf drags the elf into the shop, the rest of the crew following. The six take a look at what is for sale, then go up the stairs to the next level, where they encounter four very cranky Red Wizards of Thay, who are performing some sort of secret spell/experiment, and definitely do not wish to be disturbed. After rudely speaking to the six, the four Wizards attack, forcing the heroes to kill them all, which they promptly do.
Outside in the street again, the six spin in circles, wondering which area to visit next, as there seems to be mainly houses in this section of the city. Kagain is all for visiting the nearby Pub rather than leaving the area, and Imoen bites her bottom lip at the thought of all the coin she could potentially procure within a crowded public house; but the wise-beyond-her-young-years Penelope says that they “have no need of going to a crowded pub at this time; thanks anyways, Kagain”.
A man named Niklos walks up to the group of six. Nikos invites them to go for a short walk and come and visit his boss, who wishes to speak with them. Next thing they know, the six are deep within the Thieves’ Guild headquarters of Baldur’s Gate. “Play it cool, you guys,” whispers Imoen to her companions. She glances warningly at Branwen. “And make sure you keep your tempers, and your manners, here in this place. The Thieves’ Guild, can we get on their good side, could be a great boon to us in this city. And they could be a great curse to us, if we piss them off; so don’t!”
they meet a thief named Narlen, who says that his boss wishes to speak to them. However, he takes them aside for a moment, and tells them that he wishes to “test” their “talents”; apparently, he wants some help breaking into a house. Penelope says she will think about it, and the six heroes step away. Imoen sidles up to Penelope. “Pen, I’d take that job, were I you. Anytime a member of the Guild wants to test you, take that as a good thing, and do what they ask.” Penelope nods her thanks.
Alatos is the guildmaster who wishes to speak to them. Alatos wishes to involve them in a matter between some Wizards, one of whom is selling plans to a flying ship which the others do not wish sold. The plans are in the possession of the three daughters of the Mage who is selling the plans.
The six adventurers head out to the Central section of Baldur’s Gate next; they zip through it and head into the North section of the city. Here, a Mage accosts them, wishing them to break into another Mage’s home and bring him the Nymph that this other Mage has captive. Penelope told him that they would think about it, as they are pretty busy right now. Kivan can barely contain himself, bristling with fury at the thought of a captured Nymph. Penelope puts a calming hand onto his shoulder.
In the North-East section of Baldur’s Gate, the six enter the Blushing Mermaid Inn. “About time”, hollers Kagain, heading straight for the bar. It is only the quick reactions of Branwen, grabbing the dwarf by the shoulder and hauling him backwards in one solid jerk (oddly enough, Kagain has often been described as “one solid jerk”), that saves his life, as the bellowing and lumbering ogre assassin tries to pound the party into little flat pancakes. The six take him out, permanently. As Imoen heads outside on her own mission, Penelope says to Kagain, “One drink, and only one. Keep your back to the wall, stay in the shadows, and keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut. Let’s try to get out of this town alive, shall we?”
Imoen meets up with Narlen the Thief, who goes to rob a house with Imoen acting as the lookout (“I can’t believe that my obvious skills are being wasted this way”). A Flaming Fist soldier appears, and Imoen gives the warning cry and runs off. Narlen leaps out a window and flees the house to safety.
The six go back to the Thieves’ Guild headquarters in the East section of the city, where Narlen rewards them, then asks Imoen to meet him for another task by the Blade And Stars in the South-East section of town. Meanwhile, Penelope speaks with a drunken Thief named Husam, who doesn’t like the Iron Throne much. He tells Penelope that the Iron Throne has three leaders; Reiltar Costashek, plus Brunos and Thaldorn. Also, there is Reiltar’s son, Sarevok. Husam says the Iron Throne wants to make money, and that they have plans, big plans, involving going to Candlekeep.
There is a Thief-merchant within the Thieves’ Guild. In a barrel near her, Penelope finds a hidden magical manual (tome); she gives it to Branwen, who reads it, and her dexterity score is permanently raised by one point.
Outside the Blade And Stars Inn, Narlen and Imoen break into a house, and Imoen steals the Rogue Stone, and then she goes back to the Blade And Stars to meet the other five. Not much action at the Blade And Stars that night, so they call it a night and head back to the Thieves’ Guild headquarters. There, Narlen rewards them again, with a meagre three pearls this time, and then states that as far as he is concerned the six adventurers are all part of the Guild now.
The six heroes now head to the Central section of Baldur’s Gate, to the estate of Oberon, whose three daughters guard the plans to the flying ships. Imoen goes in by herself. On the top (third) floor, the three daughters spot her and attack her, but she quickly drinks an invisibility potion and goes into the next room, where she grabs the plans for the air-ship from a drawer. She then drinks another invisibility potion and leaves the estate.
Alatos welcomes the six adventurers back to the Guild. Resar, the Wizard who hired the Thieves’ Guild for this particular job, is there, and Alatos tells him he can kill the six heroes now. Resar says that they must be silenced so they can never talk about this to anyone, and he attacks while Alatos stands by and watches. Narlen jumps in and helps Penelope and friends to kill Resar, and then he and Alatos argue over the way that the six heroes have been treated. Narlen wins the argument when he tells Alatos that, as full members of the Guild, it was wrong for him to betray the six. Penelope and companions leave the Guild, with a penitent Alatos left behind them.
Next, the mighty six go to the west section of Baldur’s Gate, and track down the home of the Mage called Ragefast, he whom has captured a nymph and keeps her held captive within the city. They enter the home, and immediately see the Mage arguing with his captive nymph, Abela. The six kill Ragefast forthwith (“Verily, he did practically fall upon my axe in his hurry to turn himself away from thy ferocious sword-thrusts, my good elf Kivan” remarked Kagain). Kivan’s smile turned to a snarl, as Penelope calmly remarked to the nymph that they were taking her and delivering her to “the Wizard called Ramazith”, and Abela shrieked in terror. Penelope grabbed Kivan’s shoulder and took him aside to speak with him, and although his rage abated somewhat after that, he still took care to walk close with the nymph as they went, as if he were her personal bodyguard.
They take the nymph and head off to the Northern section of Baldur’s Gate; entering the Tower of Ramazith, they present to him the nymph, and he amply rewards them. Ramazith tells Penelope that he will kill Abela in order to make spell components from her lifeless body parts. At this, Penelope looks at Kivan and simply says the word, “Go.” Next thing anybody knows, Ramazith’s head is on the floor, separated from the rest of his body, and Kivan is telling the shuddering nymph that she is now free, truly free; she rewards them with a lock of her hair, then leaves. The six heroes then climbed the tower, killing the monsters inhabiting each floor, until they reached the top of the tower, which they then looted of all its goodies.
Back to the Eastern section of town, for a quick rest at Silence’s place (ah, the sweet sound of silence...). Then off to Sorcerous sundries, to sell off all the stuff they have collected - all except for the magical tome that raised the intelligence of Xan by one. Xan, or has the others now jokingly refer to him as, “Brainiac Elf”.
Wanting a little fresh air, Penelope suggests they head out of the city and check out some surrounding farmland. “Heya! What a great idea, Pen!” says Imoen.
The heroes exit Baldur’s Gate. Instead of crossing the bridge over the river, they head North instead. They arrive at some farms, which the farmers say are plagued by zombies. A farmer hires them to kill the score of zombies, and they do so in short work.
Penelope leads the group back south, this time crossing the bridge and moving away from the city. They turn and head NNE, up near the home of the young Priestess of Umberlee. After being attacked by a marauding ankheg, they move past the house and continue on North to the small village of Ulgoth’s Beard, on the banks of the River Chionthar.
In the Ulgoth’s Beard Inn, a dwarf tells them that his grandpa was a friend of Durlag, of the haunted and infamously deadly Durlag’s Tower. Durlag was supposed to return his friend’s dagger, Soultaker, but never did – it is still in the haunted tower. This dwarf, Hurgan, wants the crew of six to retrieve the dagger for him. Penelope smells adventure and daring in the air, and volunteers the group for the deed. They all take a rest in the Inn.
Back outside, a gnome merchant is going out of business, and sells them all of his wares for 500 gold pieces. Included in this is a mysterious dwarven runestone, which may or may not grant them entrance into the darker and deeper portions of Durlag’s Tower...
They meet a man named Mendas in the town. He claims to be from Waterdeep, and has a strange accent. He says the Merchant League has discovered an island to the West of here, which has an old shipwreck on it. Some sailors saw the wreck, and sold maps to it to the Merchant League in Baldur’s Gate. The Merchant League wants to turn the big harbour on this island into a new stop on their shipping lanes, says Mendas. They also hope that the shipwreck is form the last (lost) voyage of Balduran, the founder of Baldur’s Gate, and that it is full of treasure. Meanwhile, Mendas says he wants to recover the ship’s logbook and any artefacts for historical purposes.
The six agree to help; Durlag’s Tower, and the Seven Suns trading company in Baldur’s Gate, will just have to wait a bit longer. Mendas says he will charter a boat, while they re-enter Baldur’s Gate and grab the Sea Charts from the Counting House in the North-East section of the city.
On the way out of Mendas’ house, a sailor named Calahan tells us that that the accent of Mendas is different than that of people who come from Waterdeep, and that Mendas has lived in Ulgoth’s Beard for a bit now but he sticks completely to himself.
A Mage named Shandalar accosts us before we can leave for the Counting House in Baldur’s Gate. This Mage teleports us to an Ice Island, saying that powerful Mages are trapped there and cannot leave, and one of them has his magic cloak and he wants it back. We go below ground on the island, and after several pitched battles with half-crazy trapped Mages (“Ah, they are all crazy, anyways, these Mages, regardless of being trapped here or not” says Kagain, to which Xan eloquently replies “We’re all doomed, anyways...”), they retrieve the cloak and are teleported back to Ulgoth’s Beard, where they return the cloak to Shandalar.
Off to Baldur’s Gate once again, they are approached by men named Marek and Lothander, employees of the Iron Throne. Marek warns them to get out of the city and not come back, that any more interference by the six will result in them “seeing much more of” Marek and Lothander...
The six go into the Counting House, slaughter the guards, and steal the Sea Charts from the captain’s bloody corpse. Xan slips in the blood on the floor and falls on his elven arse, bringing a smile to the face of Penelope, remembering Winthrop (the merchant at Candlekeep and the foster-father of Imoen) and his merry saying; “My inn is as clean as an elven arse.”
Back at Ulgoth’s Beard, they give the Sea Charts to Mendas, who says he has hired a boat and will meet them at the docks. The six heroes board the boat, Mendas wishes them a good voyage, and off they go!
Twenty days into the voyage, a bad storm arises, and the ship breaks apart. The six adventurers grab floating debris (incidentally, watching a dwarf trying to stay on a barrel is not nearly so funny when you know his life may depend on it – any other time, hilarious!)...and they wake up face down on the sand, with footprints near them...
“Well, the sun still shines, and I can hardly believe I will live to see another day!” sighs Xan.
“Should have stuck to wagon caravans,” muttered Kaigan. “Stupid boats!”
“Heya! Isn’t that a little girl over there, o fearless (but slightly damp and bedraggled) leader?” sung out the always-chipper Imoen.
Sure enough, a little girl stood not far from them. Penelope approached her and learned that her name was Solianna, and that there is a village nearby. Solianna says it was founded five generations ago, by shipwreck survivors. She talks of “mean beasties” on the island that hate the villagers, and that the six castaways should go and speak to Kaishas, who leads the village while the chieftain is away.
As they approach the village, most of the villagers refuse to speak to them. An armed man named Jorin tells them to speak to Kaishas, as well.
They speak with this Kaishas Gan, and she reveals that the villager’s ancestors were shipwrecked here long ago, and the shipwreck is still here on the island. Kagain asks if this could be Balduran’s ship, the one that they are searching for. Kaishas responds that Balduran was not known to be one of the founders of the village (strange how all the villagers have a peculiar accent...), and that their island is cursed by beasts and so it is not safe to go to the wreck site. The villagers have built a ship, so that they can leave this island, but have been cut off from it by the beasts. Kaishas asks us to help her, as the chieftain disappeared looking for help for them and never came back. The beasts are a cross between wolf and man, and are very dangerous, and the leader of the beasts is called Karoug.
Exploring the rest of the village, they meet 6 people of interest, all with stories to tell.
1. Maralee tells them that two months ago her husband was killed by the beasts and her son, three months old, taken by them. He was taken by the beasts NE of the village, and she wishes for the six newcomers to find him and return him to her.
2. A little girl, 5 years old, has lost her dolly in the woods, and wants it back.
3. Evalt, the village fisherman, says the island is fairly small. There are natural harbours to the North and to the East. The Balduran wreck, if that is what it really is, is in the North, and the ship that the villagers have built is in the East. The beasts live in the shipwreck. A witch (or a sirine) has taken Evalt’s brother, luring him away from the village, somewhere on the island’s West coast, and there is nobody who will leave the village walls to rescue him...
4. Jorin has fought the beasts, the wolves, before. He says that they can take the form of humans, but are beasts; they kill for pleasure, and for food. The younger beasts have dark brown fur, are weaker than the elders, and attack on sight. The older beasts have black fur with some slight silver colouring; they are powerful, can cast spells, live on Balduran’s wreck, and the oldest can only be injured with special, magical weapons.
5. Durlyle, a historian, says an important cloak was lost in the storm that caused the shipwreck of Penelope and companions. The cloak is from the shipwreck that brought their ancestors to this island, and is very special to the village. Would they please search beyond the village for it?
6. Lahl, the village gardener, wishes for Penelope to revenge him, as the wolf-monstrosities killed his wife.
The six head North of the village, and are met by a man named Palin who needs their help. Of course, he is one of these “wolfweres”; he leads them into a trap, where they are attacked by five of these beasts. The companions defeat them in a tough battle, and find the little girl’s lost dolly. Licking their wounds (and there are many to lick! “Never did care for wolves overly much” says the taciturn Kivan), they return to the village to return the dolly and to rest.
Travelling North (and a little West) once more the next day, they find the Sirine Queen and two more sirines and the dead body of the missing villager. They take down the evil trio, garb the loot and the corpse, and head back to the village to return the body to his brother, Evalt. Remarks Xan as they travel to the village, “Is it just me, or for such a small island is there an awful lot of Dire Wolves and other magical beings? Oh my...this can’t be good...we are so going to die here...”
In the village again, they meet another shipwrecked sailor who has since made the village his home. He tells them that Balduran and his guide, Dradeel, went missing in the battle on the island that happened not long after the shipwreck. The sailor warns them that NOTHING on this island is what it seems...”no’ ev’n me”, he says.
Exploring again, the party is ambushed by two more wolveweres. “Man, are these things ever hard to bring down!” remarks Penelope afterwards, looking at her companions’ wounds. Once again, it is back to the village to rest up and heal, then back to the North to explore yet again!
They find a shack, and inside is Dradeel, the slightly-crazed elf Magician/Cleric who was Balduran’s guide so long ago. He knows nothing of what befell Balduran, just that when they stopped at this island they discovered some of their crew were beasts in the form of men, and they were attacked and the ship set fire to.
“Wait a moment!” interrupted Branwen. “I thought the ship wrecked itself on the island!”
“No, no, no! Did I already say no? Oh, where was I? Would you like some soup? Well, you can’t have any! Oh yes; no, the ship stopped here because our supplies went bad and we were running out of food; food, food, dood, attitude. It was mainly the setting-the-ship-aflame that caused it to be all burned and such.”
Dradeel went on to explain how he fled to this shack, and has held off the beasts since with the few spells the goddess grants him as a minor Cleric. He wants Penelope to retrieve his spell-book from the shipwreck. As he goes into one of his babbling and mumbling spells that the companions have already begun to look forward to so much (not!), Imoen searches the shack’s interior, where she finds the cloak that the villagers are looking for, a magical staff/mace that Branwen claims, and two wolfsbane charms.
The six heroic figures entered the wrecked ship through a hole in the hull (“That is one hull of a hole!” cracked Imoen), and are attacked within by a wolfwere, two vampire wolves, two worgs, three dread wolves, and three dire wolves. Branwen summons some skeletons that come to life between the companions and most of the beasts, and they manage to take them all down with only a modicum of difficulty. Back to Dradeel’s shack to rest up, and then back to the wreck, to creep up the ladder to the next level!
The next level contained six wolfweres and one vampiric wolf. A fairly easy fight. They found a silver dagger here, which they believed to be the only weapon they currently have which can harm the wolfwere leader, Karoug.
Up the ladder, to the next level, which saw them face off against three wolfweres and two vampire wolves. Branwen and Xan summoned some skeletons and monsters, and the six took out the beasties, and then they all headed back to the shack to rest.
On the last (uppermost) level of the shipwreck, they find Karoug, and a Spellcaster who changes into a wolfwere. Karoug tries to convince them that the villagers are the truly evil ones on this island, but Penelope rushes him with the silver dagger outstretched before her. Karoug summons five or six more wolfweres, which are held back by the summoned skeletons and gnolls of Xan and Branwen. Kivan and Imoen begin to pick them off with arrows of ice and acid and fire, Kagain attacks the spellcaster wolf, and Xan helps to distract and annoy Karoug with his spells. Meanwhile, Branwen stands directly behind Penelope and keeps her alive with her healing spells while Ms Farhaven and the mighty Karoug go at it, Karoug in massive wolfwere form and Penelope with her slashing and stabbing silver dagger. Branwen keeps her sufficiently alive and well, and Penelope stands in triumph over the fall of the pack leader. The rest of their enemies here perish shortly thereafter. Imoen disarms a few traps, and they pick up Dradeel’s spellbook, Balduran’s Log Book, Balduran’s Butter Knife, The Sword of Balduran, the missing toddler, a magical Cloak of Protection, and a Shield Amulet.
“That’s it for Balduran’s ship, and for the lair of the wolfweres” remarked Branwen.
“About time, too” said Xan. “This place smells like wet doggies, and poop, and we are probably going to get feces all over our boots! Just you mark my words…”
They go back to Dradeel’s shack, to give him his spellbook. They give him the book, and he uses a ‘dimension door’ spell to take off from that place, without even a thank you! The tired six head back to the village; they were unable to find the boat the villagers built, as high cliffs surround the East side of the island.
Lahl, the gardener, is glad the six killed the wolfweres. He says they would make great additions to the village…only, he says “pack” instead of ‘village”, but then corrects himself. To Penelope, that is ‘worrisome’; the wheels behind her eyes begin to move faster and faster…reaching some nasty conclusions.
They next return Maralee’s son to her, for which she is very grateful. Then, the village’s ancient cloak is returned to Durlyle. Penelope tries to convince Durlyle to leave the island with them when they find a way off of it; he grows angry, says that Penelope is an animal, and he storms off.
Time to talk with Kaishas Gan again.
The six heroes, of course, are; Penelope Farhaven, the half-eleven female Ranger who was raised by her foster-father, the now deceased scholar and Wizard Gorion, in Candlekeep; Imoen, the human female Thief who was also raised by her foster-father, the Innkeeper whose name escapes me right now ("Winthrop"!), in Candlekeep, and was for all intents and purposes Penelope’s sister, they were so close; Branwen, the human female Battle-Cleric whose goddess-granted battle spells have come in handy since Penelope rescued her from a lifetime spent as a statue in the Nashkel Carnival; Kivan, the male elf who is also a Ranger, who wants revenge on the bandits for killing his wife; Kagain, the (sometimes) drunken male dwarf, a Fighter who started out as a caravan-supplier but who all but lost his business due to the bandit raids; and finally, Xan, the mostly morose and depressed male elf Wizard.
Entering the huge Cloakwood (which is a very large forest, named, appropriately enough, the Cloakwood – appropriate for a wood named Cloakwood to be called the Cloakwood, don’t you think?), the party killed a group of tasloi that attacked them, one of which had a Cloak of Magical Non-Detection. They then killed some wolves (yummy – good eating!). Then the six sided with some rich hunters from Baldur’s Gate in a disagreement with some uppity druids who wanted to kill them – had to waste the four druids, unfortunately. Thank goodness Jaheira is no longer part of their group (I wonder how she is doing, down in the lowest level caves of the Nashkel Mines where they left her?)! Next, they met Coran, a male Fighter/Thief who is hunting the dangerous wyverns. He wanted to join with them, but Penelope told him they were full up, and the six pushed on.
They travelled back to Beregost to rest. Officer Vai has just received orders to return to Baldur’s Gate. She thanks the six heroes for their heroic and valiant efforts against the bandits.
Back in the Cloakwood forest, a man named Tiber tells a tale of how he and his brother were going to clear out the ‘giant-spider colony’ in the forest with the sword “Spider’s Bane” that his brother found. The brother, Chelak, has now been missing somewhere in the woods for a week.
The six heroes tracked down the spider’s lair and defeated the Spider Queen (yuck!) and her minions. After returning Chelak’s body to Tiber (who told them to keep the magic sword, which Kivan gladly did), they returned to the nearest temple, at the Friendly Arm Inn, to revive the deceased Branwen and rest up ("Oh, my aching head!" declares Branwen. "Is it still on my body?").
Back in the massive Cloakwood forest, some stupid Bard named Eldoth wants to join them; but, he is so busy bragging about himself that Penelope insults him and the heroes walk away. They cross a wooden bridge, there to meet a Druid of this forest called Laskal (the Druid, not the forest – this is the Cloakwood, remember? It is appropriately named the Cloakwood, which is appropriate based upon the fact that this is, after all, the Cloakwood forest). He (that’s Laskal the Druid, NOT the Cloakwood forest – it would be presumptuous to think that the Cloakwood forest is a ‘he’, wouldn’t it?), too (meaning, as well as the six heroes), hates the Iron Throne, and tells us their fort is located to the East.
They soon meet another Druid, named Izefia. He has a big attitude problem. Izefia tells the six of an ‘infidel’ in a cave to the NE, and commands them to deal with him. The six go into the cave, and are attacked by Peter of the North; he is a wyvern-trainer working for the Iron Throne, and the two ferocious beasts attack them as well. The wyverns were to be used in the mines here in the Cloakwood (so says Peter before he is killed, along with his deadly pets).
Back out of the cave (back outside, that is; not meaning to say that the heroes backed out of the cave, there was plenty of room to turn around, after all!), two more Druids confronted the party of adventurers, wanting to know just why Penelope and friends are here in the woods. Luckily, the Druids approve of their campaign against the bandits. The Druid Faldorn wishes to join them, but they refuse the offer.
Continuing on to the East, eventually they find the Cloakwood Mines. The Cloakwood Mines entrance is surrounded by a small wooden fortress, which in turn is surrounded itself by a high wooden wall, allowing only one narrow way in; a perfect deathtrap. The six, led by the always heroic (and stunningly stunning, lol) Penelope Farhaven, Ranger extraordinaire and heroic adventurer supreme, fight off a few guards topside, and then face off against and annihilate four tough adventurers who evidently were hired specifically to keep the six away.
Into the mines they go!
On the 1st level of the mine, along with a few guards, they discover many slaves, people who were kidnapped from wagon caravans and such; it seems that the Iron Throne is working these mines so that they have plenty of good ore to turn into weapons to sell when Amn and Baldur’s Gate go to war (with each other, not together)!
As a brief aside, after having read the last paragraph, I would like to point out that the guards (together with the six heroes) did not discover many slaves, but that the six adventurers discovered both guards and slaves on the mine’s first level - obviously, the guards already knew there were slaves there; the slaves were, after all, the whole reason to have guards there!
A miner shows (the lovely and strong) Penelope a huge metal door that keeps the river from flooding the mine tunnels; if Penelope agrees (and she does!) to free him and the other slaves, and get him the key to said door, he will flood the mines and put the Iron Throne out of business here. A friend of his, named Rill, on another level of the mine, might know how to help the miners all escape. This miner also says that the “master of the mine” (does that make him some sort of clever mastermind/mastermine?) has the key to the door, and apparently he is truly one bad and dangerous dude!
Down to the 2nd level of the mines (seems almost superfluous to have to say “down”, since it is a mine, after all, and therefore is below ground), where they find more prisoners, this time in cages and cells. The six slaughter a Mage, some guards, and a couple of ghasts (don’t you hate it when those things cough all over you?!), but they spare the life of an innocent cook. The six find the slave leader (more of an honorific title, really), Rill, who requests 100 gold pieces to bribe a guard that he knows to let them escape; Penelope gives it to him, but only after giving him ‘the evil eye’ stare to ensure that he realizes how much of a poor decision it would be to run off with her gold and think it funny how he tricked the big bad heroic adventurer...
Next, they meet a dwarf named Yeslick, whose people (the dwarves, that is) started these mines a long time ago (more than a week ago, but less than a billion years ago). Yeslick wishes to join the squad, but they refuse him (or do they call him a pile of refuse?).
The next level (which, strangely enough, you have to go DOWN to reach. Also strangely, this next level, following as it does the 1st and 2nd levels, seems to be the 3rd level.) is full of guards (“full” being a silly word to use, as there is still room to walk around and swing ones arms, or sword), hobgoblin (not goblins with a limp, but much bigger goblins with semi-more intelligence) archers, a Wizard named Natasha (hey, she’s cute! - for a evil, occultist, death-dealer, that is), and an ogre Mage who is in charge of slave torturing. They all die (dang it! Sorry, Natasha, my love...sniffle sniff...).
On to the next (4th) level of the Cloakwood Mines. Here they encounter the “mastermine, keeper of the mine” (why does he want to ‘keep’ the mines, exactly?), Davaeorn. Ol’ Davaeorn kept teleporting around, which was pretty dang annoying; Kagain kept yelling at him to “stand still, confoundablast it, so’s I can hit ya”. Eventually, with patience and persistence, the six killed him. His apprentice spills his guts (verbally, not literally), hoping to save his own life (“what’s the point, it’s hopeless...” sighed Xan), filling them in on the fact that the Iron Throne organization are headquartered in Baldur’s Gate, and that there are three regional leaders there in the SW portion of the city. Penelope digested this new information for a moment (burp!), then lopped off the apprentice’s head (“told you...” intoned the ever cheerful Xan). “Now that’s more like it” shouted Kivan enthusiastically.
The six heroes used Davaeorn’s key to open the metal door on level one and flood the mines (the miners escaped first, of course). After they exited, the slaves thank them for setting them free, then trudged off to go back to their homes. Documents from Davaeorn’s body show “Rieltar” to be one of the Iron Throne leaders, and the name “Sarevok” is also mentioned.
The six head back to the Friendly Arm Inn for some R and R; they are quite pleased with themselves, as they have dealt the Iron Throne yet another blow, and now have the pride of knowing they are the heroes of both the Nashkel and Cloakwood Mines.
After a nice rest (which is always much nicer than an arrest), the six head North. Already, even though the rest was short, Branwen is grumbling loudly about how “warrior-born” people such as herself do not take kindly to resting about when there are battles to be fought elsewhere. Imoen, always the cheerful (and antagonistic?) little Thief, points out that Branwen didn’t seem too “warrior-like” when she was being used as “a bird-pooping platform” in the Nashkel Carnival. After Imoen ducks a mighty swing from Branwen’s magical war hammer (that may or may not have taken off the top of her head), she dances her way back up to the Battle-Cleric and hands her back the purse full of coin that Branwen seems to have ‘dropped’ somewhere along the way. Branwen’s face turns an even darker shade of purple while Imoen looks her full in the eyes and smiles playfully, and the two do not speak for the rest of the day (ah, the joys of travel!).
The six heroic figures have now entered farmland, up past the Cloakwood Mines and the bandit encampment that they previously raided and destroyed to much internal delight. Some settlers there tell them that they are under attack by a Priest of Umberlee (the sea and storm goddess) who lives to the North, and they ask for our help (“I don’t trust them” mutters Kivan softly, and Kagain nods his agreement). They six go into a nearby underground cavern, kill some evil ankhegs (damn those evil, spitting, monstrous worm-spawn!), and rescue an injured person therein. Up top, they meet a Waterdeep Paladin named Ajantis, but do not allow him to join them, despite his pleading (how sad when a mighty and noble Paladin is reduced to begging in the very presence of the heroic six). The injured man passed away, but they returned his lifeless body to his grateful farmer pa.
They find the Priestess of Umberlee (“Oh ho! Not a Priest at all. Already, the settlers’ lies begin to fly...” said Kagain, with his usual dwarven tact), who lives in a home near the bridge that passes over the river and into Baldur’s Gate (the bridge passes over, not the home of the Priestess – have we gotten that all clear?). She (the Priestess, not the bridge or the home or the river) says the farmers killed her mother, and they stole her sacred bowl. She seems young and more than a little scared (“won’t last more than a day, then she’ll be dead...dead dead dead...” intoned the helpful Xan), and the six tend to believe her. They return to the settlers and talk with them. As soon as they admit what they have done, the six slaughter them (Branwen turns a pale shade of white at killing the unskilled-at-combat farmers, but Penelope intones that “Evil is its own reward, and what these people have doled out shall be returned to them, if not at our hands than by another. Better we should let their evil and folly end here, before it claims another victim”, and not much is said after that); they take the sacred bowl of Umberlee from a fresh corpse, and bring it back to the young Priestess, who thanks them and tells them that Umberlee herself will pay them back in time.
It seems it is time to enter the city of Baldur’s Gate and explore its inner workings. As they step foot onto the bridge leading to the city, they get to talking; Kagain and Branwen admit to having travelled here before, although not in a while and not very often. Xan laments that “Surely any city this large is doomed to collapse in upon itself at any second, and we will be just as likely be crushed to death as to do any lasting good in this place.” Kivan shudders as he gazes at the city, and all near him know that as a true Ranger of the woods he wants no part of this piece of civilization. Penelope gazes with pure and unadulterated fascination at the city looming up before her, but is cognizant enough to turn swiftly to the bright-eyed Imoen and remind her sternly to not get them into any trouble by filching purses within the city walls.
Before they can reach the city, while still on the bridge itself, Scar, the second-in-command of the Flaming Fist for Baldur’s Gate, recognizes the six as the heroes of Nashkel (“Oh sure, not a word of the bandit camp we scuttled, or the Cloakwood Mines we eradicated” muttered the slightly-grumpy Kagain, his mouth salivating at the thought of all the inns and pubs within the walls of the city). Scar says that there are many strange happenings within the city, and wishes for the six to investigate things. He asks them in particular to investigate the Seven Suns trading company, as they have been behaving oddly, and the head of the Seven Suns, Jhasso, is not acting at all like himself. They are to break into and investigate the Seven Suns compound, and then report back to Scar at the Flaming Fist compound. Penelope takes a liking to this Flaming Fist officer, as he reminds her of Officer Vai (from Beregost’s Jovial Juggler inn), very straightforward and honest and unafraid. Penelope tells Scar all about the Iron Throne and their dealings in other part of the land, and Scar thanks her for sharing that information with him. He tells the six that the Seven Suns is on the SW side of the city, and that the Flaming Fist barracks are just to the West of it.
They take their leave of Scar and finish crossing the bridge. Just before the gates to the city, there is a bespectacled gnome called Quayle, who claims to be an Illusionist and wishes to join them; once again, they decline, liking the current makeup of their group very much (which is not to suggest that any of the group wear makeup – these are heroes, not the rock group KISS! Besides which, any who have beheld the glorious and radiant beauty that is Penelope Farhaven know full well that her exotic good looks brought by her half-elven - and half-human - unknown parentage has blessed her with natural beauty that makes many a man’s - and some women’s, too - knees grow weak and his lips to murmur “ninner nanny, muh huh huh huh...thbpttt...whoa...” as he drools upon his ‘frock and pantaloons’ in a most unmanly of ways).
The city of Baldur’s Gate, as the worldly Kagain explained to Penelope, is divided into 9 different sections, and is basically circular shaped. The six enter the city by its only gate (that gate should rightly be named Baldur’s Gate, should it not?), arriving in the East section. There, they are blasted by the noise and stench of the large city. They stand still for a few moments to adjust themselves accordingly, Imoen slapping away the nimble hands of a Thief as he reaches for Kivan’s pouch of gold, only to miss the hand that soundly slaps her bottom. She whips out a dagger and glances around, but the mad-groper has already returned to shadows so deep that not even her eagle-eyes can spot him. Penelope turns to glare at Imoen, who realizes she is standing in the city gates holding a bared blade (something that does not help in her trying not to draw undo attention to the party), and as Imoen puts the dagger away and Penelope opens her mouth to speak, a semi-familiar voice declares, “Ho there, child, stay thy course and set awhile. Well met, once again...”
Lo and behold, it is Elminster once again, great Mage and sage and all-around awesome guy of mystery and intrigue! Elminster declares that he was long a friend of Penelope’s foster-father, Gorion, even from before he came to look after his foster child. He goes on to say that Penelope has “bad blood “ in her, and says that we can implicitly trust Scar, as well as his superior, Duke Eltan. He then wanders off, having no more to divulge to them at this time.
The six wander into the nearby Shop of Silence, a store and inn run by a man named, appropriately, Silence. There, they stock up on magical stones for the slings of Branwen and Xan, and then take a rest upstairs.
The next morning, they start to take a look around the East section of Baldur’s Gate. Xan’s eyes actually light up for a second as they near a huge shop called Sorcerous Sundries, but then he mutters “Probably not a thing worth buying, and what is worth it will be too expensive...” with a sigh. “Oh, come on, you gloomy, pointy-eared mutterer,” says Kagain, and the dwarf drags the elf into the shop, the rest of the crew following. The six take a look at what is for sale, then go up the stairs to the next level, where they encounter four very cranky Red Wizards of Thay, who are performing some sort of secret spell/experiment, and definitely do not wish to be disturbed. After rudely speaking to the six, the four Wizards attack, forcing the heroes to kill them all, which they promptly do.
Outside in the street again, the six spin in circles, wondering which area to visit next, as there seems to be mainly houses in this section of the city. Kagain is all for visiting the nearby Pub rather than leaving the area, and Imoen bites her bottom lip at the thought of all the coin she could potentially procure within a crowded public house; but the wise-beyond-her-young-years Penelope says that they “have no need of going to a crowded pub at this time; thanks anyways, Kagain”.
A man named Niklos walks up to the group of six. Nikos invites them to go for a short walk and come and visit his boss, who wishes to speak with them. Next thing they know, the six are deep within the Thieves’ Guild headquarters of Baldur’s Gate. “Play it cool, you guys,” whispers Imoen to her companions. She glances warningly at Branwen. “And make sure you keep your tempers, and your manners, here in this place. The Thieves’ Guild, can we get on their good side, could be a great boon to us in this city. And they could be a great curse to us, if we piss them off; so don’t!”
they meet a thief named Narlen, who says that his boss wishes to speak to them. However, he takes them aside for a moment, and tells them that he wishes to “test” their “talents”; apparently, he wants some help breaking into a house. Penelope says she will think about it, and the six heroes step away. Imoen sidles up to Penelope. “Pen, I’d take that job, were I you. Anytime a member of the Guild wants to test you, take that as a good thing, and do what they ask.” Penelope nods her thanks.
Alatos is the guildmaster who wishes to speak to them. Alatos wishes to involve them in a matter between some Wizards, one of whom is selling plans to a flying ship which the others do not wish sold. The plans are in the possession of the three daughters of the Mage who is selling the plans.
The six adventurers head out to the Central section of Baldur’s Gate next; they zip through it and head into the North section of the city. Here, a Mage accosts them, wishing them to break into another Mage’s home and bring him the Nymph that this other Mage has captive. Penelope told him that they would think about it, as they are pretty busy right now. Kivan can barely contain himself, bristling with fury at the thought of a captured Nymph. Penelope puts a calming hand onto his shoulder.
In the North-East section of Baldur’s Gate, the six enter the Blushing Mermaid Inn. “About time”, hollers Kagain, heading straight for the bar. It is only the quick reactions of Branwen, grabbing the dwarf by the shoulder and hauling him backwards in one solid jerk (oddly enough, Kagain has often been described as “one solid jerk”), that saves his life, as the bellowing and lumbering ogre assassin tries to pound the party into little flat pancakes. The six take him out, permanently. As Imoen heads outside on her own mission, Penelope says to Kagain, “One drink, and only one. Keep your back to the wall, stay in the shadows, and keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut. Let’s try to get out of this town alive, shall we?”
Imoen meets up with Narlen the Thief, who goes to rob a house with Imoen acting as the lookout (“I can’t believe that my obvious skills are being wasted this way”). A Flaming Fist soldier appears, and Imoen gives the warning cry and runs off. Narlen leaps out a window and flees the house to safety.
The six go back to the Thieves’ Guild headquarters in the East section of the city, where Narlen rewards them, then asks Imoen to meet him for another task by the Blade And Stars in the South-East section of town. Meanwhile, Penelope speaks with a drunken Thief named Husam, who doesn’t like the Iron Throne much. He tells Penelope that the Iron Throne has three leaders; Reiltar Costashek, plus Brunos and Thaldorn. Also, there is Reiltar’s son, Sarevok. Husam says the Iron Throne wants to make money, and that they have plans, big plans, involving going to Candlekeep.
There is a Thief-merchant within the Thieves’ Guild. In a barrel near her, Penelope finds a hidden magical manual (tome); she gives it to Branwen, who reads it, and her dexterity score is permanently raised by one point.
Outside the Blade And Stars Inn, Narlen and Imoen break into a house, and Imoen steals the Rogue Stone, and then she goes back to the Blade And Stars to meet the other five. Not much action at the Blade And Stars that night, so they call it a night and head back to the Thieves’ Guild headquarters. There, Narlen rewards them again, with a meagre three pearls this time, and then states that as far as he is concerned the six adventurers are all part of the Guild now.
The six heroes now head to the Central section of Baldur’s Gate, to the estate of Oberon, whose three daughters guard the plans to the flying ships. Imoen goes in by herself. On the top (third) floor, the three daughters spot her and attack her, but she quickly drinks an invisibility potion and goes into the next room, where she grabs the plans for the air-ship from a drawer. She then drinks another invisibility potion and leaves the estate.
Alatos welcomes the six adventurers back to the Guild. Resar, the Wizard who hired the Thieves’ Guild for this particular job, is there, and Alatos tells him he can kill the six heroes now. Resar says that they must be silenced so they can never talk about this to anyone, and he attacks while Alatos stands by and watches. Narlen jumps in and helps Penelope and friends to kill Resar, and then he and Alatos argue over the way that the six heroes have been treated. Narlen wins the argument when he tells Alatos that, as full members of the Guild, it was wrong for him to betray the six. Penelope and companions leave the Guild, with a penitent Alatos left behind them.
Next, the mighty six go to the west section of Baldur’s Gate, and track down the home of the Mage called Ragefast, he whom has captured a nymph and keeps her held captive within the city. They enter the home, and immediately see the Mage arguing with his captive nymph, Abela. The six kill Ragefast forthwith (“Verily, he did practically fall upon my axe in his hurry to turn himself away from thy ferocious sword-thrusts, my good elf Kivan” remarked Kagain). Kivan’s smile turned to a snarl, as Penelope calmly remarked to the nymph that they were taking her and delivering her to “the Wizard called Ramazith”, and Abela shrieked in terror. Penelope grabbed Kivan’s shoulder and took him aside to speak with him, and although his rage abated somewhat after that, he still took care to walk close with the nymph as they went, as if he were her personal bodyguard.
They take the nymph and head off to the Northern section of Baldur’s Gate; entering the Tower of Ramazith, they present to him the nymph, and he amply rewards them. Ramazith tells Penelope that he will kill Abela in order to make spell components from her lifeless body parts. At this, Penelope looks at Kivan and simply says the word, “Go.” Next thing anybody knows, Ramazith’s head is on the floor, separated from the rest of his body, and Kivan is telling the shuddering nymph that she is now free, truly free; she rewards them with a lock of her hair, then leaves. The six heroes then climbed the tower, killing the monsters inhabiting each floor, until they reached the top of the tower, which they then looted of all its goodies.
Back to the Eastern section of town, for a quick rest at Silence’s place (ah, the sweet sound of silence...). Then off to Sorcerous sundries, to sell off all the stuff they have collected - all except for the magical tome that raised the intelligence of Xan by one. Xan, or has the others now jokingly refer to him as, “Brainiac Elf”.
Wanting a little fresh air, Penelope suggests they head out of the city and check out some surrounding farmland. “Heya! What a great idea, Pen!” says Imoen.
The heroes exit Baldur’s Gate. Instead of crossing the bridge over the river, they head North instead. They arrive at some farms, which the farmers say are plagued by zombies. A farmer hires them to kill the score of zombies, and they do so in short work.
Penelope leads the group back south, this time crossing the bridge and moving away from the city. They turn and head NNE, up near the home of the young Priestess of Umberlee. After being attacked by a marauding ankheg, they move past the house and continue on North to the small village of Ulgoth’s Beard, on the banks of the River Chionthar.
In the Ulgoth’s Beard Inn, a dwarf tells them that his grandpa was a friend of Durlag, of the haunted and infamously deadly Durlag’s Tower. Durlag was supposed to return his friend’s dagger, Soultaker, but never did – it is still in the haunted tower. This dwarf, Hurgan, wants the crew of six to retrieve the dagger for him. Penelope smells adventure and daring in the air, and volunteers the group for the deed. They all take a rest in the Inn.
Back outside, a gnome merchant is going out of business, and sells them all of his wares for 500 gold pieces. Included in this is a mysterious dwarven runestone, which may or may not grant them entrance into the darker and deeper portions of Durlag’s Tower...
They meet a man named Mendas in the town. He claims to be from Waterdeep, and has a strange accent. He says the Merchant League has discovered an island to the West of here, which has an old shipwreck on it. Some sailors saw the wreck, and sold maps to it to the Merchant League in Baldur’s Gate. The Merchant League wants to turn the big harbour on this island into a new stop on their shipping lanes, says Mendas. They also hope that the shipwreck is form the last (lost) voyage of Balduran, the founder of Baldur’s Gate, and that it is full of treasure. Meanwhile, Mendas says he wants to recover the ship’s logbook and any artefacts for historical purposes.
The six agree to help; Durlag’s Tower, and the Seven Suns trading company in Baldur’s Gate, will just have to wait a bit longer. Mendas says he will charter a boat, while they re-enter Baldur’s Gate and grab the Sea Charts from the Counting House in the North-East section of the city.
On the way out of Mendas’ house, a sailor named Calahan tells us that that the accent of Mendas is different than that of people who come from Waterdeep, and that Mendas has lived in Ulgoth’s Beard for a bit now but he sticks completely to himself.
A Mage named Shandalar accosts us before we can leave for the Counting House in Baldur’s Gate. This Mage teleports us to an Ice Island, saying that powerful Mages are trapped there and cannot leave, and one of them has his magic cloak and he wants it back. We go below ground on the island, and after several pitched battles with half-crazy trapped Mages (“Ah, they are all crazy, anyways, these Mages, regardless of being trapped here or not” says Kagain, to which Xan eloquently replies “We’re all doomed, anyways...”), they retrieve the cloak and are teleported back to Ulgoth’s Beard, where they return the cloak to Shandalar.
Off to Baldur’s Gate once again, they are approached by men named Marek and Lothander, employees of the Iron Throne. Marek warns them to get out of the city and not come back, that any more interference by the six will result in them “seeing much more of” Marek and Lothander...
The six go into the Counting House, slaughter the guards, and steal the Sea Charts from the captain’s bloody corpse. Xan slips in the blood on the floor and falls on his elven arse, bringing a smile to the face of Penelope, remembering Winthrop (the merchant at Candlekeep and the foster-father of Imoen) and his merry saying; “My inn is as clean as an elven arse.”
Back at Ulgoth’s Beard, they give the Sea Charts to Mendas, who says he has hired a boat and will meet them at the docks. The six heroes board the boat, Mendas wishes them a good voyage, and off they go!
Twenty days into the voyage, a bad storm arises, and the ship breaks apart. The six adventurers grab floating debris (incidentally, watching a dwarf trying to stay on a barrel is not nearly so funny when you know his life may depend on it – any other time, hilarious!)...and they wake up face down on the sand, with footprints near them...
“Well, the sun still shines, and I can hardly believe I will live to see another day!” sighs Xan.
“Should have stuck to wagon caravans,” muttered Kaigan. “Stupid boats!”
“Heya! Isn’t that a little girl over there, o fearless (but slightly damp and bedraggled) leader?” sung out the always-chipper Imoen.
Sure enough, a little girl stood not far from them. Penelope approached her and learned that her name was Solianna, and that there is a village nearby. Solianna says it was founded five generations ago, by shipwreck survivors. She talks of “mean beasties” on the island that hate the villagers, and that the six castaways should go and speak to Kaishas, who leads the village while the chieftain is away.
As they approach the village, most of the villagers refuse to speak to them. An armed man named Jorin tells them to speak to Kaishas, as well.
They speak with this Kaishas Gan, and she reveals that the villager’s ancestors were shipwrecked here long ago, and the shipwreck is still here on the island. Kagain asks if this could be Balduran’s ship, the one that they are searching for. Kaishas responds that Balduran was not known to be one of the founders of the village (strange how all the villagers have a peculiar accent...), and that their island is cursed by beasts and so it is not safe to go to the wreck site. The villagers have built a ship, so that they can leave this island, but have been cut off from it by the beasts. Kaishas asks us to help her, as the chieftain disappeared looking for help for them and never came back. The beasts are a cross between wolf and man, and are very dangerous, and the leader of the beasts is called Karoug.
Exploring the rest of the village, they meet 6 people of interest, all with stories to tell.
1. Maralee tells them that two months ago her husband was killed by the beasts and her son, three months old, taken by them. He was taken by the beasts NE of the village, and she wishes for the six newcomers to find him and return him to her.
2. A little girl, 5 years old, has lost her dolly in the woods, and wants it back.
3. Evalt, the village fisherman, says the island is fairly small. There are natural harbours to the North and to the East. The Balduran wreck, if that is what it really is, is in the North, and the ship that the villagers have built is in the East. The beasts live in the shipwreck. A witch (or a sirine) has taken Evalt’s brother, luring him away from the village, somewhere on the island’s West coast, and there is nobody who will leave the village walls to rescue him...
4. Jorin has fought the beasts, the wolves, before. He says that they can take the form of humans, but are beasts; they kill for pleasure, and for food. The younger beasts have dark brown fur, are weaker than the elders, and attack on sight. The older beasts have black fur with some slight silver colouring; they are powerful, can cast spells, live on Balduran’s wreck, and the oldest can only be injured with special, magical weapons.
5. Durlyle, a historian, says an important cloak was lost in the storm that caused the shipwreck of Penelope and companions. The cloak is from the shipwreck that brought their ancestors to this island, and is very special to the village. Would they please search beyond the village for it?
6. Lahl, the village gardener, wishes for Penelope to revenge him, as the wolf-monstrosities killed his wife.
The six head North of the village, and are met by a man named Palin who needs their help. Of course, he is one of these “wolfweres”; he leads them into a trap, where they are attacked by five of these beasts. The companions defeat them in a tough battle, and find the little girl’s lost dolly. Licking their wounds (and there are many to lick! “Never did care for wolves overly much” says the taciturn Kivan), they return to the village to return the dolly and to rest.
Travelling North (and a little West) once more the next day, they find the Sirine Queen and two more sirines and the dead body of the missing villager. They take down the evil trio, garb the loot and the corpse, and head back to the village to return the body to his brother, Evalt. Remarks Xan as they travel to the village, “Is it just me, or for such a small island is there an awful lot of Dire Wolves and other magical beings? Oh my...this can’t be good...we are so going to die here...”
In the village again, they meet another shipwrecked sailor who has since made the village his home. He tells them that Balduran and his guide, Dradeel, went missing in the battle on the island that happened not long after the shipwreck. The sailor warns them that NOTHING on this island is what it seems...”no’ ev’n me”, he says.
Exploring again, the party is ambushed by two more wolveweres. “Man, are these things ever hard to bring down!” remarks Penelope afterwards, looking at her companions’ wounds. Once again, it is back to the village to rest up and heal, then back to the North to explore yet again!
They find a shack, and inside is Dradeel, the slightly-crazed elf Magician/Cleric who was Balduran’s guide so long ago. He knows nothing of what befell Balduran, just that when they stopped at this island they discovered some of their crew were beasts in the form of men, and they were attacked and the ship set fire to.
“Wait a moment!” interrupted Branwen. “I thought the ship wrecked itself on the island!”
“No, no, no! Did I already say no? Oh, where was I? Would you like some soup? Well, you can’t have any! Oh yes; no, the ship stopped here because our supplies went bad and we were running out of food; food, food, dood, attitude. It was mainly the setting-the-ship-aflame that caused it to be all burned and such.”
Dradeel went on to explain how he fled to this shack, and has held off the beasts since with the few spells the goddess grants him as a minor Cleric. He wants Penelope to retrieve his spell-book from the shipwreck. As he goes into one of his babbling and mumbling spells that the companions have already begun to look forward to so much (not!), Imoen searches the shack’s interior, where she finds the cloak that the villagers are looking for, a magical staff/mace that Branwen claims, and two wolfsbane charms.
The six heroic figures entered the wrecked ship through a hole in the hull (“That is one hull of a hole!” cracked Imoen), and are attacked within by a wolfwere, two vampire wolves, two worgs, three dread wolves, and three dire wolves. Branwen summons some skeletons that come to life between the companions and most of the beasts, and they manage to take them all down with only a modicum of difficulty. Back to Dradeel’s shack to rest up, and then back to the wreck, to creep up the ladder to the next level!
The next level contained six wolfweres and one vampiric wolf. A fairly easy fight. They found a silver dagger here, which they believed to be the only weapon they currently have which can harm the wolfwere leader, Karoug.
Up the ladder, to the next level, which saw them face off against three wolfweres and two vampire wolves. Branwen and Xan summoned some skeletons and monsters, and the six took out the beasties, and then they all headed back to the shack to rest.
On the last (uppermost) level of the shipwreck, they find Karoug, and a Spellcaster who changes into a wolfwere. Karoug tries to convince them that the villagers are the truly evil ones on this island, but Penelope rushes him with the silver dagger outstretched before her. Karoug summons five or six more wolfweres, which are held back by the summoned skeletons and gnolls of Xan and Branwen. Kivan and Imoen begin to pick them off with arrows of ice and acid and fire, Kagain attacks the spellcaster wolf, and Xan helps to distract and annoy Karoug with his spells. Meanwhile, Branwen stands directly behind Penelope and keeps her alive with her healing spells while Ms Farhaven and the mighty Karoug go at it, Karoug in massive wolfwere form and Penelope with her slashing and stabbing silver dagger. Branwen keeps her sufficiently alive and well, and Penelope stands in triumph over the fall of the pack leader. The rest of their enemies here perish shortly thereafter. Imoen disarms a few traps, and they pick up Dradeel’s spellbook, Balduran’s Log Book, Balduran’s Butter Knife, The Sword of Balduran, the missing toddler, a magical Cloak of Protection, and a Shield Amulet.
“That’s it for Balduran’s ship, and for the lair of the wolfweres” remarked Branwen.
“About time, too” said Xan. “This place smells like wet doggies, and poop, and we are probably going to get feces all over our boots! Just you mark my words…”
They go back to Dradeel’s shack, to give him his spellbook. They give him the book, and he uses a ‘dimension door’ spell to take off from that place, without even a thank you! The tired six head back to the village; they were unable to find the boat the villagers built, as high cliffs surround the East side of the island.
Lahl, the gardener, is glad the six killed the wolfweres. He says they would make great additions to the village…only, he says “pack” instead of ‘village”, but then corrects himself. To Penelope, that is ‘worrisome’; the wheels behind her eyes begin to move faster and faster…reaching some nasty conclusions.
They next return Maralee’s son to her, for which she is very grateful. Then, the village’s ancient cloak is returned to Durlyle. Penelope tries to convince Durlyle to leave the island with them when they find a way off of it; he grows angry, says that Penelope is an animal, and he storms off.
Time to talk with Kaishas Gan again.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
so...
Updating my life...
back to playing Baldur's Gate, although i have not done a lot of it this week.
back to using my writing skills, starting an all-new superhero story. I haven't got more than one chapter into the actual writing so far, but have come up with a lot of characterization and plot points. the trick for me this time will be in handling a large cast of characters. you can read all this at : http://a-cutt-above.blogspot.com/
got a chance to watch season 6 of Lost this week. not (too) ashamed to say, I cried a lot during that season. what a great show, so sad it is at an end...
can't wait for hockey season to start...
nice to see the Lions get a win, and against the mighty Alouettes, too! well, truthfully, the Als did not have their QB, so really it was more like beating a high-school team. i am not too sure that i am confidant the Lions have turned the corner yet...
it's been something of a long week, being off work. back to the grind tomorrow afternoon, tho. yay!
back to playing Baldur's Gate, although i have not done a lot of it this week.
back to using my writing skills, starting an all-new superhero story. I haven't got more than one chapter into the actual writing so far, but have come up with a lot of characterization and plot points. the trick for me this time will be in handling a large cast of characters. you can read all this at : http://a-cutt-above.blogspot.com/
got a chance to watch season 6 of Lost this week. not (too) ashamed to say, I cried a lot during that season. what a great show, so sad it is at an end...
can't wait for hockey season to start...
nice to see the Lions get a win, and against the mighty Alouettes, too! well, truthfully, the Als did not have their QB, so really it was more like beating a high-school team. i am not too sure that i am confidant the Lions have turned the corner yet...
it's been something of a long week, being off work. back to the grind tomorrow afternoon, tho. yay!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Transitions
.
.
.
Transitions. In life, we often go through Transition periods.
During these times, it is much like being in an airplane that is going down; things seem hectic, emotional. Stuff gets tossed about. We feel sick. We worry, about what we haven't done, and about what we have done.
Things get lost in Transition periods, never to be found again. Things get purposely left behind. People change, and come and go. We get hurt, we grow sad.
During these Transition periods, there is also a time of Faith. There must be belief that something is coming along, something different, life-altering.
I hope, and pray, that I am, right now, going through a time of Transition. Over the last few months and years, I have slowly watched pretty much everything I hold dear get washed out to sea with the tide; and I have never seen any of it again. Things have been taken from me, and some things I have had to voluntarily let go of. Doesn't matter which way it happens, by choice or not, it hurts.
If I had to sum up my past three or four years of life, I would choose the word "pain". That descriptive word would be closely followed by "loss". Throw in the word "grief", too.
I am not trying to be melodramatic here, just making a point.
So, yes, I hope and I pray that I am going through Transition. And I hope and I pray that the change, the life-altering moment, is just around the corner for me. I do not feel that I have much left to lose anymore.
Oh, I could lose some more from my life; but, it would probably result in my death, one way or another. I cannot survive on less friends, less money, less love, less direction, less comfort, or less companionship than I have right now. I am scraping the bottom of my barrel, and I do not have anything left to give or to lose.
I need Change, with a capital C. And I need it yesterday.
I need to have my life altered, for the better.
I need hope, hope that I have had trouble finding in a long time.
I need a Life.
.
.
Transitions. In life, we often go through Transition periods.
During these times, it is much like being in an airplane that is going down; things seem hectic, emotional. Stuff gets tossed about. We feel sick. We worry, about what we haven't done, and about what we have done.
Things get lost in Transition periods, never to be found again. Things get purposely left behind. People change, and come and go. We get hurt, we grow sad.
During these Transition periods, there is also a time of Faith. There must be belief that something is coming along, something different, life-altering.
I hope, and pray, that I am, right now, going through a time of Transition. Over the last few months and years, I have slowly watched pretty much everything I hold dear get washed out to sea with the tide; and I have never seen any of it again. Things have been taken from me, and some things I have had to voluntarily let go of. Doesn't matter which way it happens, by choice or not, it hurts.
If I had to sum up my past three or four years of life, I would choose the word "pain". That descriptive word would be closely followed by "loss". Throw in the word "grief", too.
I am not trying to be melodramatic here, just making a point.
So, yes, I hope and I pray that I am going through Transition. And I hope and I pray that the change, the life-altering moment, is just around the corner for me. I do not feel that I have much left to lose anymore.
Oh, I could lose some more from my life; but, it would probably result in my death, one way or another. I cannot survive on less friends, less money, less love, less direction, less comfort, or less companionship than I have right now. I am scraping the bottom of my barrel, and I do not have anything left to give or to lose.
I need Change, with a capital C. And I need it yesterday.
I need to have my life altered, for the better.
I need hope, hope that I have had trouble finding in a long time.
I need a Life.
Friday, August 20, 2010
adventurin' i go...
My continuing adventures in the exciting world of Baldur’s Gate…
Off adventuring the party went; Penelope Farhaven (the half-elf Ranger, female), Branwen (the human Cleric, female), Kagain (the dwarf Fighter, male), Xan (the elf Mage, male), Kivan (the elf Ranger, male), and Imoen (the human Thief, female). Off to the east somewhere, the six heroes had to fight the unwitting minions of a witless wizard who thought he could “control” Mustard Jellies and Green Slime. Next, they did some tomb-raiding (never saw Lara Croft, though), and killed some Ghasts and a Revenant. Then there was the waylaying by a vicious party of four other adventurers, who actually managed to kill Xan and Kagain in the fight before their own miserable lives ended. Even after reviving the dead two at the Nashkel Temple of Helm, they still made a lot of gold off of that now-dead party of losers.
The six found a boy in the woods SW of Nashkel, who was looking for his lost puppy. They found the dog nearby, then were ambushed by three Amnish hunters (one of whom was apparently the world’s fastest dart thrower – now he is the world’s deadest dart thrower, lol). When they returned the “puppy” to the boy, the two of them turned into demons and vanished back into the Nine Hells…
More adventuring. Monster killing, woods exploring. Found a little girl’s dead pet for her (a cat that had drowned while going over a waterfall). Ran into Montaron and Xzar again, just West of Beregost; they got ticked off at the six heroes and they had to be put down when the evil twosome turned on the others and attacked them.
The Beregost locals say that with the Nashkel mines running smoothly again, the bandit attacks on caravans and travellers have grown even worse!
The six heroic adventurers ransacked a village of Xvarts and killed them all (because the little blue midgets are evil, after all!). After that, they made a trek far to the SW and entered the Gnoll Fortress, where they did make glorious slaughter and rescued the witch Dynaheir. She asked to join with them, but Penelope could not bear to leave Mr. WhineyPants Elf-Boy (Xan) behind and did not need two magic users in the party. Dynaheir strolled off in a huff.
Picked up some nice magic gauntlets at the Gnoll Fortress. After identifying them, Penelope gave them to Kagain to wear, effectively affecting the dwarf’s dexterity (and armour class) by 4 points. They also found a Tome that, when read by her, raised Branwen’s Charisma by 1 point.
More adventuring. Picked on some Basilisks (if you don’t know, a Basilisk’s stare will turn a person to stone). Killed a whole bunch of Dread Wolves and Vampiric Wolves. Saved a farmer’s cow from an Xvart attack. Learned that both Baldur’s Gate and Amn blame each other for the bandit raids, and a war between the two may soon be brewing. Got the best of four or five other groups of adventurers, killing them and looting their corpses for goodies. The 6 heroes took on four evil Red Thay magicians and wiped the floor with them. The six went to the ancient ruins of the Ulcaster School of Spellcasting, visiting the dungeons beneath it. Then they went to Gullykin, the halfling village, and found a traitor who had been allowing kobolds safe passage into the village. Killed the traitor, then searched the Firewine Bridge ruins and dungeons and found the Ogre Mage who was leading the kobolds and killed him too.
Also, went to the coastal region of the Sword Coast. Rescued a young boy trapped in an old lighthouse. In the general area, killed over ten sirines.
Got invited into the bandit camp by some dumb bandit dude in Larswood. Went into the camp and slaughtered them all, including the local leaders of the Chill and Black Talon mercenary groups. They found a prisoner there, who says the Iron Throne is behind everything. Says Tazok, who is supposed to be in charge of the bandit camp, isn’t here now, but that he has been making trips deep into the Cloakwood Forest…Also, find letters from “Davaeorn” to Tazok, who it sounds like is tazok’s employer. The letters also mention “Sarevok”, who seems to be Davaeorn’s boss. The notes also speak about hiring assassins to snuff out Penelope Farhaven.
Finally, the party now has enough gold to go to the wizard at High Hedge and buy Xan the Robes of the Neutral Arch-Magi, which drop his armour class from a 7 down to a 2! Yay! Well worth the 21,000 gold it took to purchase it…
The six stock up on Antidote potions, because the Cloakwood is supposedly full of big and nasty spiders.
Off adventuring the party went; Penelope Farhaven (the half-elf Ranger, female), Branwen (the human Cleric, female), Kagain (the dwarf Fighter, male), Xan (the elf Mage, male), Kivan (the elf Ranger, male), and Imoen (the human Thief, female). Off to the east somewhere, the six heroes had to fight the unwitting minions of a witless wizard who thought he could “control” Mustard Jellies and Green Slime. Next, they did some tomb-raiding (never saw Lara Croft, though), and killed some Ghasts and a Revenant. Then there was the waylaying by a vicious party of four other adventurers, who actually managed to kill Xan and Kagain in the fight before their own miserable lives ended. Even after reviving the dead two at the Nashkel Temple of Helm, they still made a lot of gold off of that now-dead party of losers.
The six found a boy in the woods SW of Nashkel, who was looking for his lost puppy. They found the dog nearby, then were ambushed by three Amnish hunters (one of whom was apparently the world’s fastest dart thrower – now he is the world’s deadest dart thrower, lol). When they returned the “puppy” to the boy, the two of them turned into demons and vanished back into the Nine Hells…
More adventuring. Monster killing, woods exploring. Found a little girl’s dead pet for her (a cat that had drowned while going over a waterfall). Ran into Montaron and Xzar again, just West of Beregost; they got ticked off at the six heroes and they had to be put down when the evil twosome turned on the others and attacked them.
The Beregost locals say that with the Nashkel mines running smoothly again, the bandit attacks on caravans and travellers have grown even worse!
The six heroic adventurers ransacked a village of Xvarts and killed them all (because the little blue midgets are evil, after all!). After that, they made a trek far to the SW and entered the Gnoll Fortress, where they did make glorious slaughter and rescued the witch Dynaheir. She asked to join with them, but Penelope could not bear to leave Mr. WhineyPants Elf-Boy (Xan) behind and did not need two magic users in the party. Dynaheir strolled off in a huff.
Picked up some nice magic gauntlets at the Gnoll Fortress. After identifying them, Penelope gave them to Kagain to wear, effectively affecting the dwarf’s dexterity (and armour class) by 4 points. They also found a Tome that, when read by her, raised Branwen’s Charisma by 1 point.
More adventuring. Picked on some Basilisks (if you don’t know, a Basilisk’s stare will turn a person to stone). Killed a whole bunch of Dread Wolves and Vampiric Wolves. Saved a farmer’s cow from an Xvart attack. Learned that both Baldur’s Gate and Amn blame each other for the bandit raids, and a war between the two may soon be brewing. Got the best of four or five other groups of adventurers, killing them and looting their corpses for goodies. The 6 heroes took on four evil Red Thay magicians and wiped the floor with them. The six went to the ancient ruins of the Ulcaster School of Spellcasting, visiting the dungeons beneath it. Then they went to Gullykin, the halfling village, and found a traitor who had been allowing kobolds safe passage into the village. Killed the traitor, then searched the Firewine Bridge ruins and dungeons and found the Ogre Mage who was leading the kobolds and killed him too.
Also, went to the coastal region of the Sword Coast. Rescued a young boy trapped in an old lighthouse. In the general area, killed over ten sirines.
Got invited into the bandit camp by some dumb bandit dude in Larswood. Went into the camp and slaughtered them all, including the local leaders of the Chill and Black Talon mercenary groups. They found a prisoner there, who says the Iron Throne is behind everything. Says Tazok, who is supposed to be in charge of the bandit camp, isn’t here now, but that he has been making trips deep into the Cloakwood Forest…Also, find letters from “Davaeorn” to Tazok, who it sounds like is tazok’s employer. The letters also mention “Sarevok”, who seems to be Davaeorn’s boss. The notes also speak about hiring assassins to snuff out Penelope Farhaven.
Finally, the party now has enough gold to go to the wizard at High Hedge and buy Xan the Robes of the Neutral Arch-Magi, which drop his armour class from a 7 down to a 2! Yay! Well worth the 21,000 gold it took to purchase it…
The six stock up on Antidote potions, because the Cloakwood is supposedly full of big and nasty spiders.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Signs Within Signs
Mark 13:28-31
"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away."
We all assume this is talking about the signs fo the end, and that is true. That when we see all the signs happening that we are warned about, that the end is very near. Again, true.
But, do not miss the sign within the sign...the fig tree.
The fig tree represents Israel. Scripturally, it always does. When did the fig tree (Israel) blossom? May 14, 1948, Israel once again became a nation.
The generation that sees that will not pass away before the end is here and Christ returns to earth. Of course, any halfway decent biblical scholar knows that a generation is defined in the bible as 70 years.
So, you want to know how close we are to His return? We may not know the hour or the day, but we can be assured that it will be BEFORE May 15th, 2018.
For those of you who are not good with math, that day is 7 years and 9 months away.
That isn't a lot of time. And that is IF Christ holds out that long. He could come back any time now. He longs to. He longs to love on us, and that longing makes Him desire to end this all quickly and scoop us up in His loving arms. What a wonderful day that will be.
"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away."
We all assume this is talking about the signs fo the end, and that is true. That when we see all the signs happening that we are warned about, that the end is very near. Again, true.
But, do not miss the sign within the sign...the fig tree.
The fig tree represents Israel. Scripturally, it always does. When did the fig tree (Israel) blossom? May 14, 1948, Israel once again became a nation.
The generation that sees that will not pass away before the end is here and Christ returns to earth. Of course, any halfway decent biblical scholar knows that a generation is defined in the bible as 70 years.
So, you want to know how close we are to His return? We may not know the hour or the day, but we can be assured that it will be BEFORE May 15th, 2018.
For those of you who are not good with math, that day is 7 years and 9 months away.
That isn't a lot of time. And that is IF Christ holds out that long. He could come back any time now. He longs to. He longs to love on us, and that longing makes Him desire to end this all quickly and scoop us up in His loving arms. What a wonderful day that will be.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Behold!
Lyrics from
Mortification's "The Destroyer Beholds"
Disease in your life rots your soul
Wretched hinderance to your growth in God
Recycle countless sin, bondage brings
Wretched hinderance to your growth in God
Look at this young man, look at his face
What's the reason for this change
Revival in his heart
Causes havoc for the devil
The destroyer beholds
The destroyer beholds
Your faith infested by the flesh
Backslidden in your heart, you have no time for God
You don't read the Word, what's your case
Backslidden in your heart you have no time for God
Look at this young man, look at his face
What's the reason for this change
Revival in his heart
Causes havoc for the devil
The destroyer beholds
The destroyer beholds
Your God calls your name, you've been saved
You won't be tempted beyond your strength
Reach out to His grace, make a change
You won't be tempted beyond your strength
Look at this young man, look at his face
What's the reason for this change
Revival in his heart
Causes havoc for the devil
The destroyer beholds
The destroyer beholds
Mortification's "The Destroyer Beholds"
Disease in your life rots your soul
Wretched hinderance to your growth in God
Recycle countless sin, bondage brings
Wretched hinderance to your growth in God
Look at this young man, look at his face
What's the reason for this change
Revival in his heart
Causes havoc for the devil
The destroyer beholds
The destroyer beholds
Your faith infested by the flesh
Backslidden in your heart, you have no time for God
You don't read the Word, what's your case
Backslidden in your heart you have no time for God
Look at this young man, look at his face
What's the reason for this change
Revival in his heart
Causes havoc for the devil
The destroyer beholds
The destroyer beholds
Your God calls your name, you've been saved
You won't be tempted beyond your strength
Reach out to His grace, make a change
You won't be tempted beyond your strength
Look at this young man, look at his face
What's the reason for this change
Revival in his heart
Causes havoc for the devil
The destroyer beholds
The destroyer beholds
Monday, August 9, 2010
hello?
I am NOT a Pink Floyd fan, but yet somehow, maybe?, these lyrics seem to almost fit today...
Hello, hello, hello
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone at home?
Come on, come on down,
I hear you’re feeling down.
Well I can ease your pain,
Get you on your feet again.
Relax, relax, relax
I need some information first.
Just the basic facts.
Can you show me where it hurts?
There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move, but I can’t hear what you’re saying.
When I was a child, I had a fever.
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I’ve got that feeling once again.
I can’t explain, you would not understand.
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.
I have become comfortably numb.
OK, OK, OK
Just a little pin prick.
There’ll be no more, aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh,
But you may feel a little sick.
Can you stand up, stand up, stand up.
I do believe it's working good.
That’ll keep you going for the show.
Come on, it’s time to go.
There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move, but I can’t hear what you’re saying.
When I was a child, I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look, but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now.
The child has grown, the dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.
Hello, hello, hello
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone at home?
Come on, come on down,
I hear you’re feeling down.
Well I can ease your pain,
Get you on your feet again.
Relax, relax, relax
I need some information first.
Just the basic facts.
Can you show me where it hurts?
There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move, but I can’t hear what you’re saying.
When I was a child, I had a fever.
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I’ve got that feeling once again.
I can’t explain, you would not understand.
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.
I have become comfortably numb.
OK, OK, OK
Just a little pin prick.
There’ll be no more, aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh,
But you may feel a little sick.
Can you stand up, stand up, stand up.
I do believe it's working good.
That’ll keep you going for the show.
Come on, it’s time to go.
There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move, but I can’t hear what you’re saying.
When I was a child, I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look, but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now.
The child has grown, the dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
and more and more...
Now back to my continuing adventures in the world’s greatest game, Baldur’s Gate.
The group of six scouted out the farmlands around Nashkel. They found a very expensive set of Ankheg Shell Armour abandoned in a hole in a farmer’s field, and they endured the uber-annoying and ever-questioning simpleton, Noober. Then they talked to Nashkel’s mayor, Berrun Ghastkill, who asked them to help out at the mines, where the miners keep disappearing (never to be seen again) or being mysteriously killed.
The group visits the Temple of Helm in Nashkel, where the cleric Nalin tells them of Captain Brage of the Guard, who suddenly went crazy, killed his family, and ran off into the woods…
Next up is Oublek, who thinks that Penelope is the mercenary-for-hire Greywolf and tries to give her a reward for something Greywolf was hired to do (not accepted by Ms. Farhaven and companions). Oublek is in charge of public relations for the Guard, and says that there are rewards available for killing the lost Captain of the Guard, and for bringing back two stolen emeralds that are now in the possession of a missing local artist named Prism.
The group heads south, towards where the mines are.
Penelope finds a magic wand hidden in a tree stump. They enter a mine warehouse and discover it is full of vicious wardogs, so they kill them all. Next, to the South they find the artist Prism, working on a masterpiece cliff carving (using the stolen jewels as eyes). He is using potions to keep himself awake, and knowing that the potions will soon kill him he asks Penelope Farhaven and the others to stand guard while he finishes his work. They agree, and then are approached by Greywolf, who attacks them. The six lock into combat with Greywolf, allowing Prism the time to finish his work (and then expire). Greywolf falls, and they take a magic sword form his corpse, then loot Prism as well and reclaim the stolen emeralds.
Back to Nashkel they go, to claim the emeralds reward from Oublek (300 gold), to re-supply at the store and identify Greywolf’s magic sword (a magic longsword named Varscona), and to the Temple of Helm to get the wand indentified (Column of Ice wand). And to the Inn to rest.
In Nashkel’s Belching Dragon Tavern, a tale-teller and travel-guide author named Volo relates that the ore shortage is crippling the entire Sword Coast region, and that even when caravans get through the well-organized bandit raids, the resulting ore grows brittle and falls to pieces once smelted. Also, miners keep disappearing or getting killed. Volo also says that Captain Brage, a noted family man, went on a horrible rampage not long after buying an expensive new sword.
Now they head down into the mine pit, where the dubious foreman allows them to enter. Into the mine the six adventurers go. Through all three levels, they discover scared miners complaining about dog-headed demons attacking them, and they find the greenstone wedding ring but nobody wearing it. All over the mine, the six are attacked by hordes of invading kobolds. On the last level, they enter a natural-made tunnel and come to some natural caves. There, an evil half-orc cleric or wizard named Mulahey battled us, summoning skeletons and kobolds to help him and using magic spells, but the six defeat him. Documents hidden there show that Mulahey worked for some bandit leaders, and that he and his kobold minions were poisoning the ore and killing (or scaring off) the miners. But who are these bandit leaders?
They rescued a morose and depressed elven wizard who had been captured by Mulahey, his name is Xan. They add him to the group, leaving Jaheira behind.
Exiting the mines victorious, the foreman hailed them as heroes. Back they went to Nashkel, where they returned the greenstone ring to the new grieving widow. Penelope then told the mayor the good news about the mines, earning a 900 gold reward. Off to the Temple of Helm, to have the deceased Mulahey’s magical equipment identified. Then to the store to sell off their goods and re-stock.
Back outside the Nashkel store, they meet yet another assassin gunning for Penelope’s head in his trophy case. His name is Nimbul, and he ends up being more braggart than warrior – after a brief skirmish, he is toasted.
After a brief rest at the Nashkel Inn, the six adventurers have Nimbul’s equipment identified at the temple. They then get the clinically insane warrior Minsc to join the group, giving the bard Garrick the old heave-ho.
The group is now Penelope, Branwen, Minsc, Kivan, Imoen, and Xan.
They poked around the area near the mines and cleared out some groups of marauding gibberlings and kobolds. In the hills, they discovered a sick and wounded man, whose lover asks us to rush him immediately to the cleric at the Friendly Arm Inn, which they do.
Some more adventuring followed, culminating in discovering the mad cleric Bassilus, who was surrounded by the undead and talking with them as if they were alive family members. Nothing can be done for him, other than putting him out of his misery, which they do. Travelling North to Beregost, they visit the Temple outside of that town and are rewarded there for killing Bassilus.
While in Beregost, a child approached us saying that Officer Vai of the Flaming Fist wishes to speak to them. They find this officer Vai in the Jovial Juggler Inn, and she tells Penelope that she and the men under her command are cut off from returning to Baldur’s Gate because there are too many bandits blocking the way. She asks them to deal a serious blow to the bandits, and offers to pay Penelope a monetary reward for each bandit scalp they bring to her.
More general adventuring follows, including meeting and aiding the famed and renowned dark-elf warrior, Drizzt Do’Urden. The Drow warrior thanks them for their help, and warns them that the bandits are actually two rival mercenary groups working together, and suggests that they should endeavour to find out who has brought them together and for what purpose.
The group found Captain Brage, sitting amidst a slaughter of people in the deep woods. They managed to talk him into giving up his sword, which they were careful not to touch as it is obviously possessed. They led him to the Temple of Helm in Nashkel, who promised to try to help him get over what has happened to him, and Penelope gets a greater reward from the Temple than she would have gotten for turning Captain Brage over to Oublek and letting the Guard hang him for his crimes.
Unfortunately, at this point, Minsc attacks the rest of the party. We can do nothing, but kill him. Once again, my plans to use Minsc and Dynaheir in my party for the entire adventure were crumbled into rotten dust!
We got to Beregost, and add a (drunken) Dwarven fighter named Kagain to the party, in place of the now deceased Minsc. To get some spare cash, Imoen then entered every house on Beregost and stole everything not nailed down.
We entered the upstairs of Feldepost’s Inn, and confronted the wizard Tranzig, who had been in cahoots with Mulahey from the mines. Tranzig bragged a lot about being a great wizard, and how Penelope should fear him; he lied. The six adventurers wasted him. He had correspondence on him from Tazok, who seems to be in charge of the bandits and has a camp somewhere in the woods. He also had a few magic items on his person, which the local temple helped Penelope to identify.
The group of six scouted out the farmlands around Nashkel. They found a very expensive set of Ankheg Shell Armour abandoned in a hole in a farmer’s field, and they endured the uber-annoying and ever-questioning simpleton, Noober. Then they talked to Nashkel’s mayor, Berrun Ghastkill, who asked them to help out at the mines, where the miners keep disappearing (never to be seen again) or being mysteriously killed.
The group visits the Temple of Helm in Nashkel, where the cleric Nalin tells them of Captain Brage of the Guard, who suddenly went crazy, killed his family, and ran off into the woods…
Next up is Oublek, who thinks that Penelope is the mercenary-for-hire Greywolf and tries to give her a reward for something Greywolf was hired to do (not accepted by Ms. Farhaven and companions). Oublek is in charge of public relations for the Guard, and says that there are rewards available for killing the lost Captain of the Guard, and for bringing back two stolen emeralds that are now in the possession of a missing local artist named Prism.
The group heads south, towards where the mines are.
Penelope finds a magic wand hidden in a tree stump. They enter a mine warehouse and discover it is full of vicious wardogs, so they kill them all. Next, to the South they find the artist Prism, working on a masterpiece cliff carving (using the stolen jewels as eyes). He is using potions to keep himself awake, and knowing that the potions will soon kill him he asks Penelope Farhaven and the others to stand guard while he finishes his work. They agree, and then are approached by Greywolf, who attacks them. The six lock into combat with Greywolf, allowing Prism the time to finish his work (and then expire). Greywolf falls, and they take a magic sword form his corpse, then loot Prism as well and reclaim the stolen emeralds.
Back to Nashkel they go, to claim the emeralds reward from Oublek (300 gold), to re-supply at the store and identify Greywolf’s magic sword (a magic longsword named Varscona), and to the Temple of Helm to get the wand indentified (Column of Ice wand). And to the Inn to rest.
In Nashkel’s Belching Dragon Tavern, a tale-teller and travel-guide author named Volo relates that the ore shortage is crippling the entire Sword Coast region, and that even when caravans get through the well-organized bandit raids, the resulting ore grows brittle and falls to pieces once smelted. Also, miners keep disappearing or getting killed. Volo also says that Captain Brage, a noted family man, went on a horrible rampage not long after buying an expensive new sword.
Now they head down into the mine pit, where the dubious foreman allows them to enter. Into the mine the six adventurers go. Through all three levels, they discover scared miners complaining about dog-headed demons attacking them, and they find the greenstone wedding ring but nobody wearing it. All over the mine, the six are attacked by hordes of invading kobolds. On the last level, they enter a natural-made tunnel and come to some natural caves. There, an evil half-orc cleric or wizard named Mulahey battled us, summoning skeletons and kobolds to help him and using magic spells, but the six defeat him. Documents hidden there show that Mulahey worked for some bandit leaders, and that he and his kobold minions were poisoning the ore and killing (or scaring off) the miners. But who are these bandit leaders?
They rescued a morose and depressed elven wizard who had been captured by Mulahey, his name is Xan. They add him to the group, leaving Jaheira behind.
Exiting the mines victorious, the foreman hailed them as heroes. Back they went to Nashkel, where they returned the greenstone ring to the new grieving widow. Penelope then told the mayor the good news about the mines, earning a 900 gold reward. Off to the Temple of Helm, to have the deceased Mulahey’s magical equipment identified. Then to the store to sell off their goods and re-stock.
Back outside the Nashkel store, they meet yet another assassin gunning for Penelope’s head in his trophy case. His name is Nimbul, and he ends up being more braggart than warrior – after a brief skirmish, he is toasted.
After a brief rest at the Nashkel Inn, the six adventurers have Nimbul’s equipment identified at the temple. They then get the clinically insane warrior Minsc to join the group, giving the bard Garrick the old heave-ho.
The group is now Penelope, Branwen, Minsc, Kivan, Imoen, and Xan.
They poked around the area near the mines and cleared out some groups of marauding gibberlings and kobolds. In the hills, they discovered a sick and wounded man, whose lover asks us to rush him immediately to the cleric at the Friendly Arm Inn, which they do.
Some more adventuring followed, culminating in discovering the mad cleric Bassilus, who was surrounded by the undead and talking with them as if they were alive family members. Nothing can be done for him, other than putting him out of his misery, which they do. Travelling North to Beregost, they visit the Temple outside of that town and are rewarded there for killing Bassilus.
While in Beregost, a child approached us saying that Officer Vai of the Flaming Fist wishes to speak to them. They find this officer Vai in the Jovial Juggler Inn, and she tells Penelope that she and the men under her command are cut off from returning to Baldur’s Gate because there are too many bandits blocking the way. She asks them to deal a serious blow to the bandits, and offers to pay Penelope a monetary reward for each bandit scalp they bring to her.
More general adventuring follows, including meeting and aiding the famed and renowned dark-elf warrior, Drizzt Do’Urden. The Drow warrior thanks them for their help, and warns them that the bandits are actually two rival mercenary groups working together, and suggests that they should endeavour to find out who has brought them together and for what purpose.
The group found Captain Brage, sitting amidst a slaughter of people in the deep woods. They managed to talk him into giving up his sword, which they were careful not to touch as it is obviously possessed. They led him to the Temple of Helm in Nashkel, who promised to try to help him get over what has happened to him, and Penelope gets a greater reward from the Temple than she would have gotten for turning Captain Brage over to Oublek and letting the Guard hang him for his crimes.
Unfortunately, at this point, Minsc attacks the rest of the party. We can do nothing, but kill him. Once again, my plans to use Minsc and Dynaheir in my party for the entire adventure were crumbled into rotten dust!
We got to Beregost, and add a (drunken) Dwarven fighter named Kagain to the party, in place of the now deceased Minsc. To get some spare cash, Imoen then entered every house on Beregost and stole everything not nailed down.
We entered the upstairs of Feldepost’s Inn, and confronted the wizard Tranzig, who had been in cahoots with Mulahey from the mines. Tranzig bragged a lot about being a great wizard, and how Penelope should fear him; he lied. The six adventurers wasted him. He had correspondence on him from Tazok, who seems to be in charge of the bandits and has a camp somewhere in the woods. He also had a few magic items on his person, which the local temple helped Penelope to identify.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
happy birthday, MJ
Happy Birthday, to the girl with a thorn in her side.
May you not get what you want, may you not get what you deserve, but instead may the nail-scarred hand of the Saviour touch yours and bring life, light, forgiveness, and joy forever more.
You changed my life. Now, let the One Who saved my life, give you Life.
"Turnaround" by Guardian
Jenny's sixteen, she was feeling down,
Living on the edge in a dead end town,
Everybody's talking, saying she's gonna fall, whoa,
Daddy left home when Jenny was five,
Mamma's broke down, is she dead or alive?
When it all adds up she's got nothing at all,
She got nothing.
You gotta turnaround, you know Love won't let you down,
I wanna tell you now, I know a Love that won't let you down.
Now she's eighteen,
Gonna leave it behind, heading for the city, got the lights in her eyes,
Gonna make it happen, she's playing to win,
Living high-wire with the "happening" crowd,
For a while she was happy, now it's bringing her down,
No matter where you go, you know it's all the same.
You gotta turnaround, you know Love won't let you down,
I wanna tell you now, I know a Love that won't let you down,
Ooh yeah, you gotta turnaround, you know Love won't let you down,
Won't let you down,
I wanna tell you now, you gotta turnaround, turnaround.
You lie awake and you remember the Love you felt so long ago, whoa,
The Voice that spoke to you when...when you were younger,
The Love of God won't let you go,
I want you to know, no, no, no.
Whoa,
You gotta turnaround, you know Love won't let you down,
No, no,no.
I wanna tell you now, I know a Love that won't let you down,
You gotta turnaround, you know Love won't let you down,
Won't let you down.
I wanna tell you now, you gotta turnaround, turnaround.
Won't let you down,
Won't let you down,
No, no, no, no, no,
Turnaround,
(fade)
Jesus bless you, MJ.
Added two brand new poems here...
http://leplaunpoetree.blogspot.com/2010/08/just-dance.html
and
http://leplaunpoetree.blogspot.com/2010/08/left-right-left.html
May you not get what you want, may you not get what you deserve, but instead may the nail-scarred hand of the Saviour touch yours and bring life, light, forgiveness, and joy forever more.
You changed my life. Now, let the One Who saved my life, give you Life.
There are a ton of lyrics that would be appropriate to put here, on this date, following the above words. Kite by U2 comes to mind, as does anything by The Smiths. Instead, I'll go with honesty and hope...
"Turnaround" by Guardian
Jenny's sixteen, she was feeling down,
Living on the edge in a dead end town,
Everybody's talking, saying she's gonna fall, whoa,
Daddy left home when Jenny was five,
Mamma's broke down, is she dead or alive?
When it all adds up she's got nothing at all,
She got nothing.
You gotta turnaround, you know Love won't let you down,
I wanna tell you now, I know a Love that won't let you down.
Now she's eighteen,
Gonna leave it behind, heading for the city, got the lights in her eyes,
Gonna make it happen, she's playing to win,
Living high-wire with the "happening" crowd,
For a while she was happy, now it's bringing her down,
No matter where you go, you know it's all the same.
You gotta turnaround, you know Love won't let you down,
I wanna tell you now, I know a Love that won't let you down,
Ooh yeah, you gotta turnaround, you know Love won't let you down,
Won't let you down,
I wanna tell you now, you gotta turnaround, turnaround.
You lie awake and you remember the Love you felt so long ago, whoa,
The Voice that spoke to you when...when you were younger,
The Love of God won't let you go,
I want you to know, no, no, no.
Whoa,
You gotta turnaround, you know Love won't let you down,
No, no,no.
I wanna tell you now, I know a Love that won't let you down,
You gotta turnaround, you know Love won't let you down,
Won't let you down.
I wanna tell you now, you gotta turnaround, turnaround.
Won't let you down,
Won't let you down,
No, no, no, no, no,
Turnaround,
(fade)
Jesus bless you, MJ.
Added two brand new poems here...
http://leplaunpoetree.blogspot.com/2010/08/just-dance.html
and
http://leplaunpoetree.blogspot.com/2010/08/left-right-left.html
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
bg
Continuing adventures in Baldur's Gate...
Penelope’s party of six adventurers next went to the visit the wizard who lives at High Hedge castle just to the west of the town of Beregost. They then went south, found a talking chicken who claimed to be the wizard’s apprentice, and brought him back to the wizard. Said wizard was some pissed off, as instead of an apprentice he was a bumbling thief who had gotten himself turned into a chicken. The wizard eventually Antichickenatered him, and then accepted him as his real apprentice.
Penelope then ditched Xvar and Montaron from the party, and added in Kivan. Kivan is a quiet human Ranger who is looking for revenge on the bandit chieftain who killed his wife. Back to Beregost, and a stop outside the Red Sheaf to add the Bard Garrick to the party, the same one we had encountered earlier.
They then went south of Beregost and killed some half-Ogres who had a note form a man working the Nashkel mines to his wife waiting in Beregost. They returned the note to her and were rewarded with a magic ring. Had the ring Identified by the cleric in the temple to the east of Beregost, who also told them of a mad cleric named Bassilus who needed to be killed to stop his madness.
Went south of Beregost, following the road to Nashkel. Killed a large party of Orc bandits on the road. Entered the town of Nashkel, went into the Nashkel Inn and had to fight and kill another assassin waiting for Penelope – “who is funding these assassins”, wonders Penelope Farhaven. They went to the Manor House on the outskirts of Nashkel, where Khalid went to the second story and got into a fifteen minute fist fight with a jealous boyfriend named Jamie (Khalid was knocked unconscious more than ten times, lol!).
The woman who lives on the east edge of Nashkel asks them to look for her husband Joseph in the mines; they will know him by his greenstone wedding band. They then travelled east to the Nashkel Carnival grounds. There they saw the Amazing Oopah, the world’s only exploding Ogre, who became enraged after a few too many performancves and nearly killed his terrified wizard handler. With one swing of his mighty weapon, a huge morning star, Oopah killed Khalid dead. Unfortunately, the world now has no more exploding Ogres, as the adventurers had to kill Oopah.
A gnome at the carnival told us of a ‘Nordic princess’ turned to stone, and showed us the statue. Penelope used a Stone-To-Skin magic scroll on her, and thus did the war-cleric Branwen join their group in Khalid’s just-vacated spot.
Ne3xt, they entered a merchant’s tent to find a wizard named Zordral threatening to kill a female wizard that he claimed to be a dangerous witch. Penelope got him pissed off at them so he would attack them instead of the ‘witch’, and the party took him down and killed him. The woman, Bentha, thanked them, saying that she was not evil but that she and Zordral were old enemies; she left with them a small reward.
Back to Nashkel, sell off some unneeded supplies at the Nashkel Store and rest up at the Nashkel Inn.
Now, it is time to investigate the Nashkel Mines! They need to figure out what this huge iron shortage sweeping the area is all about…
Penelope’s party of six adventurers next went to the visit the wizard who lives at High Hedge castle just to the west of the town of Beregost. They then went south, found a talking chicken who claimed to be the wizard’s apprentice, and brought him back to the wizard. Said wizard was some pissed off, as instead of an apprentice he was a bumbling thief who had gotten himself turned into a chicken. The wizard eventually Antichickenatered him, and then accepted him as his real apprentice.
Penelope then ditched Xvar and Montaron from the party, and added in Kivan. Kivan is a quiet human Ranger who is looking for revenge on the bandit chieftain who killed his wife. Back to Beregost, and a stop outside the Red Sheaf to add the Bard Garrick to the party, the same one we had encountered earlier.
They then went south of Beregost and killed some half-Ogres who had a note form a man working the Nashkel mines to his wife waiting in Beregost. They returned the note to her and were rewarded with a magic ring. Had the ring Identified by the cleric in the temple to the east of Beregost, who also told them of a mad cleric named Bassilus who needed to be killed to stop his madness.
Went south of Beregost, following the road to Nashkel. Killed a large party of Orc bandits on the road. Entered the town of Nashkel, went into the Nashkel Inn and had to fight and kill another assassin waiting for Penelope – “who is funding these assassins”, wonders Penelope Farhaven. They went to the Manor House on the outskirts of Nashkel, where Khalid went to the second story and got into a fifteen minute fist fight with a jealous boyfriend named Jamie (Khalid was knocked unconscious more than ten times, lol!).
The woman who lives on the east edge of Nashkel asks them to look for her husband Joseph in the mines; they will know him by his greenstone wedding band. They then travelled east to the Nashkel Carnival grounds. There they saw the Amazing Oopah, the world’s only exploding Ogre, who became enraged after a few too many performancves and nearly killed his terrified wizard handler. With one swing of his mighty weapon, a huge morning star, Oopah killed Khalid dead. Unfortunately, the world now has no more exploding Ogres, as the adventurers had to kill Oopah.
A gnome at the carnival told us of a ‘Nordic princess’ turned to stone, and showed us the statue. Penelope used a Stone-To-Skin magic scroll on her, and thus did the war-cleric Branwen join their group in Khalid’s just-vacated spot.
Ne3xt, they entered a merchant’s tent to find a wizard named Zordral threatening to kill a female wizard that he claimed to be a dangerous witch. Penelope got him pissed off at them so he would attack them instead of the ‘witch’, and the party took him down and killed him. The woman, Bentha, thanked them, saying that she was not evil but that she and Zordral were old enemies; she left with them a small reward.
Back to Nashkel, sell off some unneeded supplies at the Nashkel Store and rest up at the Nashkel Inn.
Now, it is time to investigate the Nashkel Mines! They need to figure out what this huge iron shortage sweeping the area is all about…
Monday, August 2, 2010
heaven on earth...
Wouldn’t it be nice to just simply find somebody whom you feel completely comfortable with just being yourself with? To just not wish to hide anything from somebody, to know that you can be yourself, your true self, and that person will quietly accept you – wouldn’t that be an ideal mate?
I just want to be me – and have somebody completely accept me for that. No, more than that, I want somebody to love me FOR being me.
I just want to be me – and have somebody completely accept me for that. No, more than that, I want somebody to love me FOR being me.
Ha!
What did the nervous man say to the maitre d' at the fine new restaurant?
"I have some reservations about this place."
Ha!
I wrote two new poems. They came about partially because 'somebody' mentioned that my poetry tended towards the dreary and pained. So, here's for you! :P (ps - this means it is all your fault. Ha!)
The first poem came about because I had a daydream during the ending credits of The Bourne Identity, to which I asked myself the question, "Self, wouldn't it suck if you wanted to be a dentist, but your siamese-twin wanted to be an assassin?"
The second poem came about, because I was feeling silly, and felt like being mildly inappropriate and offensive.
Shattered Dreams of Dentistry (Duck and Cover, Creep and Kill)
I had a dream, of dentistry
From a child young, a longing
As I grew, I just surely knew
The profession would give me a sense of belonging.
I studied and learned, midnight oil burned
Excelled in all that I applied
Day I got my smock and novocaine
Was a day my dream shone bright, and I cried.
I had a brother whose desire was to be an assassin
Which shouldn’t have been so hard on me
Excepting that my brother was a twin
And this twin happened to be Siamese.
It’s hard to do a proper root canal
To keep things neat and tidy
When your Siamese-twin keeps you up all night
And lack of sleep you attempt to be hiding.
I do not mean to be a complaining sort
I am thankful for the life I’ve been given
I just wish my sibling had the intelligence
To know that a Siamese-twin assassin makes it hard for me
To make a livin’.
He spends his nights in enemy territory
Creeping with stealth and much skulduggery
Whilst I bump and bruise along behind him
(Even a dentist knows that nothing good rhymes with skulduggery).
Dentistry is my profession chosen
And it is all I ever wanted to have been
But I curse the day my brother chose
To be my Siamese-twin paid assassin.
(with apologies to the physically-joined, and anyone born in Siam)
August 1st, 2010
Stutterer’s Delight
Stutterer’s d-d-d-de-l-l-light
S-s-s-seeing my l-l-love on
On a, on, on a, on a
S-s-sum-summer’s b-b-breez-breez-breezy
Night.
( I am SO going to Hell for this, aren’t I? )
August 2nd, 2010
Meanwhile, in my Baldur's Gate game, in the town of Beregost the six adventurers met up with the Bard named Garrick outside of the Burning Wizard pub. He hires the six on the spot, to protect his employer, a woman named Silke, from, some thugs who are out to kill her. Garrick leads them around the corner, to a place outside of the Red Sheaf Inn. There they meet Silke, who says that three thugs are approaching now and that the six must kill them on the spot before they are allowed to speak as they might cast magic spells and kill them all.
The three 'thugs' appraoch, and it is immediately obvious that they are not what Silke made them out to be, as she seems to be their employer and has asked them to meet her here at this spot. Penelope refuses to attack them, and Silke turns on the six instead. As she begins to cast a magic spell herself, the six attack and take her down. Looting her corpse reveals a magic-enhanced quarterstaff, which Jaheira takes to replace her regular one.
The three merchants (not thugs) reward Penelope with a potion. Garrick asks if he can join the group, but Penelope declines, thinking he is either entirely untrustworthy or a real dupe. Garrick stumbles off in a hough.
They head off next to the famous Thunderhammer Smithy, where the magical quarterstaff is properly identified and where penelope upgrades her armour to plate mail.
Then they go back and enter the Red Sheaf, where the assassin Karlat (a dwarf) awaits. After a tough battle, the group takes him down.
"I have some reservations about this place."
Ha!
I wrote two new poems. They came about partially because 'somebody' mentioned that my poetry tended towards the dreary and pained. So, here's for you! :P (ps - this means it is all your fault. Ha!)
The first poem came about because I had a daydream during the ending credits of The Bourne Identity, to which I asked myself the question, "Self, wouldn't it suck if you wanted to be a dentist, but your siamese-twin wanted to be an assassin?"
The second poem came about, because I was feeling silly, and felt like being mildly inappropriate and offensive.
Shattered Dreams of Dentistry (Duck and Cover, Creep and Kill)
I had a dream, of dentistry
From a child young, a longing
As I grew, I just surely knew
The profession would give me a sense of belonging.
I studied and learned, midnight oil burned
Excelled in all that I applied
Day I got my smock and novocaine
Was a day my dream shone bright, and I cried.
I had a brother whose desire was to be an assassin
Which shouldn’t have been so hard on me
Excepting that my brother was a twin
And this twin happened to be Siamese.
It’s hard to do a proper root canal
To keep things neat and tidy
When your Siamese-twin keeps you up all night
And lack of sleep you attempt to be hiding.
I do not mean to be a complaining sort
I am thankful for the life I’ve been given
I just wish my sibling had the intelligence
To know that a Siamese-twin assassin makes it hard for me
To make a livin’.
He spends his nights in enemy territory
Creeping with stealth and much skulduggery
Whilst I bump and bruise along behind him
(Even a dentist knows that nothing good rhymes with skulduggery).
Dentistry is my profession chosen
And it is all I ever wanted to have been
But I curse the day my brother chose
To be my Siamese-twin paid assassin.
(with apologies to the physically-joined, and anyone born in Siam)
August 1st, 2010
Stutterer’s Delight
Stutterer’s d-d-d-de-l-l-light
S-s-s-seeing my l-l-love on
On a, on, on a, on a
S-s-sum-summer’s b-b-breez-breez-breezy
Night.
( I am SO going to Hell for this, aren’t I? )
August 2nd, 2010
Meanwhile, in my Baldur's Gate game, in the town of Beregost the six adventurers met up with the Bard named Garrick outside of the Burning Wizard pub. He hires the six on the spot, to protect his employer, a woman named Silke, from, some thugs who are out to kill her. Garrick leads them around the corner, to a place outside of the Red Sheaf Inn. There they meet Silke, who says that three thugs are approaching now and that the six must kill them on the spot before they are allowed to speak as they might cast magic spells and kill them all.
The three 'thugs' appraoch, and it is immediately obvious that they are not what Silke made them out to be, as she seems to be their employer and has asked them to meet her here at this spot. Penelope refuses to attack them, and Silke turns on the six instead. As she begins to cast a magic spell herself, the six attack and take her down. Looting her corpse reveals a magic-enhanced quarterstaff, which Jaheira takes to replace her regular one.
The three merchants (not thugs) reward Penelope with a potion. Garrick asks if he can join the group, but Penelope declines, thinking he is either entirely untrustworthy or a real dupe. Garrick stumbles off in a hough.
They head off next to the famous Thunderhammer Smithy, where the magical quarterstaff is properly identified and where penelope upgrades her armour to plate mail.
Then they go back and enter the Red Sheaf, where the assassin Karlat (a dwarf) awaits. After a tough battle, the group takes him down.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
blogga-game-blogga-game
I have been playing the world’s greatest computer game, Baldur’s Gate, on my new computer. I had actually gotten about 1/3 of the way through it, and then began to find myself running into a few glitches. So I went online yesterday (now that I am back online. Did I mention that I am back online now?) and downloaded a patch for my game. Unfortunately, it was the WRONG patch, and it made my game completely freeze up on me and have to be completely re-installed. Sigh...it is a good thing I love Baldur’s Gate so much!
Anyways, I re-installed Baldur’s Gate on my new computer (did I mention that I have a new computer?), and started playing all over again from the beginning.
My main character is named Penelope Farhaven. Penelope is a half-elven Ranger of Chaotic Good alignment. Penelope is a red-headed gal, and I downloaded her picture from the good folks at Ironworks for use in this game. http://www.tgeweb.com/ironworks/baldursgate1/portraits_08.shtml
Here are her starting stats:
Strength = 18 , Dexterity = 18 , Constitution = 18, Intelligence = 12, Wisdom = 14, and Charisma = 10.
You would think that either intelligence or wisdom would be important attributes for a Ranger, but apparently they are not, lol.
Currently, I have gone through the “pre” section of the game, which takes place in the ‘town’ of Candlekeep, where two separate assassins (as opposed to siamese-twins assassins - wouldn't it suck if you wanted to be a dentist, and your siamese twin wanted to be an assassin?) try to kill Penelope. From there, Penelope’s foster-father Gorion
took her out into the wilderness, where he was attacked and killed defending her from armed assassins. Penelope was then officially on the run, joined by her childhood friend Imoen (Hey-a!” and “Whattaya want?” are some of her sayings). Imoen is a female human, and a thief. 
. Imoen and Penelope soon joined up with the evilly-inclined companions Montaron 
and Xzar 
. These two are evil members of the Zentarim, sent out to investigate the iron-shortage going on in this area. They do not like each other much. Montaron is a male gnome, a fighter and a thief. Xzar is a male human wizard, and is quite insane. While Montaron is vengeful and hateful and mutters under his breath about killing others while they sleep (“sleep lightly, taskmaster” and “go suck your blade” are two of his favourite things to say), Xzar has several different personalities residing in his head and will blurt out odd things in a loud voice as he argues with himself – really quite an unstable sort! He says things like "Your voice is ambrosia" and "Stop touching me!" The two are heading south to the town of Nashkel to investigate the iron mines there, and grudgingly agree to let Penelope and Imoen go with them.
The four arrive at the crossroads without too many encounters with wild animals, monsters, and bandits. The evil twosome glare when Penelope turns north towards the Friendly Arm Inn, but she goes towards it because Gorion told her that she could find two friends of his there that were trustworthy.
The Friendly Arm Inn is a former fortress, now operated as a safe haven by a band of gnomes. Included there are a store, an inn, a bar, some homes, and a cleric’s temple for healing. It is here that an even more powerful, magic-wielding assassin tries to take the life of Penelope, but is killed by the group. Shortly afterwards, the foursome meet up with Gorion’s friends, named Jaheira and Khalid. Khalid is a human male, a nervous and stuttering warrior-type
, who says things like “Y-y-you have need of me?”. Jaheira is his lover, a take-charge, brash and loud type, a female half-elf who was raised by druids and thus is a druid herself 
; she says many boring things like “For the group” and "Better leadership would help``. The two are members of the Harpers, a mysterious organization whose members work behind the scenes to order events for the greater good of all. The duo are sorry to hear of the loss of Gorion, and mention that he had often told them to look after Penelope if anything happened to him; Khalid and Jaheira also happen to be leaving to go south to investigate the Nashkel Mines, and they join the group (bringing the group up to its maximum of 6 people).
Penelope meets up with a lady complaining that her husband’s ring was stolen by a group of Hobgoblin bandits to the north of the Friendly Arm Inn. Penelope agrees to look into this for her. She also meets a lady whose house in Beregost is infested with spiders and wishes the spiders killed and some of her things returned to her. Ever the humanitarian, Penelope agrees to look into the matter. In the upstairs of the inn, the party meets a rude rich man from the great city of Waterdeep who is crying out that he needs his pants pressed at once! Penelope grabs the pants away from him, promising to get them pressed for him at once; but when the party leaves the inn, she goes by his room and throws the wrinkled golden pantaloons back into his flustered and shocked face! Also upstairs, there is a Halfling with a tale of an Ogre to the south who took a magical belt from him in exchange for his life.
The group heads north and confronts several groups of Hobgoblin bandits, then return the ring to the grateful woman. They then head to the crossroads area and investigate the nearby woods, where they discover several burnt and looted wagon caravans – evidence of bandits at work in the area, and well-organized ones. They also stumble across an ogre with an attitude, and after taking him down they relieve him of his magic belt, which Penelope claims as her own (it protects the wearer against arrows).
Penelope’s current group of six has now headed south, past the crossroads, and has arrived in the bustling little city (or larger town, I guess) of Beregost. Farmers on the outskirts complain that their farmhands have run off in the night, and that their cattle are missing or dead.
So, that is where I am currently at in my game. Usually when I adventure in Baldur’s Gate, I end up with the same trusted people in my group at some point, the old safe standbys. My main character, plus Imoen, Branwen the cleric (who says, “Our actions are not those of warrior born!”), Jaheira the druid, Kivan the Ranger (who says very little, but when he does is very polite), and Xan the depressed elven wizard (who sprouts encouraging things like “I don’t even know why we bother...” and ``We`re all doomed...``).
But this time through the game, I am going to try something a little different. I have played this game numerous times, but I have never been able to hang onto Minsc as a character, mainly because he always insists on raiding the Gnoll Fortress and rescuing the witch Dynaheir. And I never have been able to rescue Dynaheir, so then Minsc gets mad and attacks my other party members and we have to kill him.
But this time, this time, I am going to try again, and if I succeed then I will take Minsc and Dynaheir with me on my adventures (replacing the regulars Jaheira and Xan), which will be something new. Stay tuned for more, as we see if I can finally accomplish this or not. I am not sure what Dynaheir is actually like, as I have only seen her as a corpse before, but Minsc is an insane warrior who carries around a rat that he insists is “Boo the giant miniature space hamster” and carries on actual conversations with him.
There are seriously a ton of characters in Baldur’s Gate that you can add to your party. As many times as I have played the game, there are still many characters that I have never adventured with for any length of time. Sigh...so much to choose from, so little time in the day!
Anyways, I re-installed Baldur’s Gate on my new computer (did I mention that I have a new computer?), and started playing all over again from the beginning.
My main character is named Penelope Farhaven. Penelope is a half-elven Ranger of Chaotic Good alignment. Penelope is a red-headed gal, and I downloaded her picture from the good folks at Ironworks for use in this game. http://www.tgeweb.com/ironworks/baldursgate1/portraits_08.shtml
Here are her starting stats:
Strength = 18 , Dexterity = 18 , Constitution = 18, Intelligence = 12, Wisdom = 14, and Charisma = 10.
You would think that either intelligence or wisdom would be important attributes for a Ranger, but apparently they are not, lol.
Currently, I have gone through the “pre” section of the game, which takes place in the ‘town’ of Candlekeep, where two separate assassins (as opposed to siamese-twins assassins - wouldn't it suck if you wanted to be a dentist, and your siamese twin wanted to be an assassin?) try to kill Penelope. From there, Penelope’s foster-father Gorion
took her out into the wilderness, where he was attacked and killed defending her from armed assassins. Penelope was then officially on the run, joined by her childhood friend Imoen (Hey-a!” and “Whattaya want?” are some of her sayings). Imoen is a female human, and a thief. 
. Imoen and Penelope soon joined up with the evilly-inclined companions Montaron 
and Xzar 
. These two are evil members of the Zentarim, sent out to investigate the iron-shortage going on in this area. They do not like each other much. Montaron is a male gnome, a fighter and a thief. Xzar is a male human wizard, and is quite insane. While Montaron is vengeful and hateful and mutters under his breath about killing others while they sleep (“sleep lightly, taskmaster” and “go suck your blade” are two of his favourite things to say), Xzar has several different personalities residing in his head and will blurt out odd things in a loud voice as he argues with himself – really quite an unstable sort! He says things like "Your voice is ambrosia" and "Stop touching me!" The two are heading south to the town of Nashkel to investigate the iron mines there, and grudgingly agree to let Penelope and Imoen go with them. The four arrive at the crossroads without too many encounters with wild animals, monsters, and bandits. The evil twosome glare when Penelope turns north towards the Friendly Arm Inn, but she goes towards it because Gorion told her that she could find two friends of his there that were trustworthy.
The Friendly Arm Inn is a former fortress, now operated as a safe haven by a band of gnomes. Included there are a store, an inn, a bar, some homes, and a cleric’s temple for healing. It is here that an even more powerful, magic-wielding assassin tries to take the life of Penelope, but is killed by the group. Shortly afterwards, the foursome meet up with Gorion’s friends, named Jaheira and Khalid. Khalid is a human male, a nervous and stuttering warrior-type
, who says things like “Y-y-you have need of me?”. Jaheira is his lover, a take-charge, brash and loud type, a female half-elf who was raised by druids and thus is a druid herself 
; she says many boring things like “For the group” and "Better leadership would help``. The two are members of the Harpers, a mysterious organization whose members work behind the scenes to order events for the greater good of all. The duo are sorry to hear of the loss of Gorion, and mention that he had often told them to look after Penelope if anything happened to him; Khalid and Jaheira also happen to be leaving to go south to investigate the Nashkel Mines, and they join the group (bringing the group up to its maximum of 6 people). Penelope meets up with a lady complaining that her husband’s ring was stolen by a group of Hobgoblin bandits to the north of the Friendly Arm Inn. Penelope agrees to look into this for her. She also meets a lady whose house in Beregost is infested with spiders and wishes the spiders killed and some of her things returned to her. Ever the humanitarian, Penelope agrees to look into the matter. In the upstairs of the inn, the party meets a rude rich man from the great city of Waterdeep who is crying out that he needs his pants pressed at once! Penelope grabs the pants away from him, promising to get them pressed for him at once; but when the party leaves the inn, she goes by his room and throws the wrinkled golden pantaloons back into his flustered and shocked face! Also upstairs, there is a Halfling with a tale of an Ogre to the south who took a magical belt from him in exchange for his life.
The group heads north and confronts several groups of Hobgoblin bandits, then return the ring to the grateful woman. They then head to the crossroads area and investigate the nearby woods, where they discover several burnt and looted wagon caravans – evidence of bandits at work in the area, and well-organized ones. They also stumble across an ogre with an attitude, and after taking him down they relieve him of his magic belt, which Penelope claims as her own (it protects the wearer against arrows).
Penelope’s current group of six has now headed south, past the crossroads, and has arrived in the bustling little city (or larger town, I guess) of Beregost. Farmers on the outskirts complain that their farmhands have run off in the night, and that their cattle are missing or dead.
So, that is where I am currently at in my game. Usually when I adventure in Baldur’s Gate, I end up with the same trusted people in my group at some point, the old safe standbys. My main character, plus Imoen, Branwen the cleric (who says, “Our actions are not those of warrior born!”), Jaheira the druid, Kivan the Ranger (who says very little, but when he does is very polite), and Xan the depressed elven wizard (who sprouts encouraging things like “I don’t even know why we bother...” and ``We`re all doomed...``).
But this time through the game, I am going to try something a little different. I have played this game numerous times, but I have never been able to hang onto Minsc as a character, mainly because he always insists on raiding the Gnoll Fortress and rescuing the witch Dynaheir. And I never have been able to rescue Dynaheir, so then Minsc gets mad and attacks my other party members and we have to kill him.
But this time, this time, I am going to try again, and if I succeed then I will take Minsc and Dynaheir with me on my adventures (replacing the regulars Jaheira and Xan), which will be something new. Stay tuned for more, as we see if I can finally accomplish this or not. I am not sure what Dynaheir is actually like, as I have only seen her as a corpse before, but Minsc is an insane warrior who carries around a rat that he insists is “Boo the giant miniature space hamster” and carries on actual conversations with him.
There are seriously a ton of characters in Baldur’s Gate that you can add to your party. As many times as I have played the game, there are still many characters that I have never adventured with for any length of time. Sigh...so much to choose from, so little time in the day!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Back
Hello!
I am back!
For now, I am going to put some poetry here, some poems I have written, some poems that really make me stand up and realize that I am truly a poet because I am quite proud of these works.
Square Me In A Round Hole
There’s a hope in my pocket
But do not tell no one,
I put it there last year
But what I got is none
Of the return for my investment,
So it sits there still,
But now it’s faded
Its colours are jaded
And I find it gives no thrill.
There’s a hole in my heart
And everything is leaking,
You can see right inside
But there is to be no peeking.
There’s a home in my mind
And my future rests on it,
With a warm and roaring fire
And in front of it she sits;
I cannot touch her yet
Or invade her space,
Yet I can see her sitting there, with me,
But I cannot see her face.
And if not for the faded, jaded hope
That in my pocket rusts,
And the hole in my heart
Where the blood congeals and crusts,
Then maybe I would truly be happy
And have such great belief,
Instead
I am just me.
Take me, or leave me -
Just me.
August 3, 2009
Haley Called, But The Operator Cannot Connect
Haley called,
The Comet’s warmed up,
Time to burn some rubber
And take this town.
You and me were gonna
Paint it red,
Nothing between us
Ever left unsaid,
Then you burned bright in
A different direction,
Left me with a handful of
Circumspection;
You winked like a star and
Disappeared from sight,
And Haley never called for me again.
July 26th, 2009
Drawing Me Out
Paper tiger,
All I feel like is a
Paper tiger,
I roar but I have no bite,
I put on my strong face
But I’m scared;
Scared of loneliness,
Scared of defeat,
Scared of trying,
And mainly scared of me.
I am scared to discover who I am
Because I fear I may like me
Even less
Than I do now.
It’s silly, I know,
But I have no eraser for my fears,
So all I can do is
Draw a tiger over them
On my sheet of graduated sanity
That is my life.
I am a paper tiger
And that, for now, will have to be alright.
I say I am okay,
I pretend I am alright,
But I am a broken compass
Lost into this night.
I try to make believe
That I am somebody I want to be,
I need to be,
I try to show some strength,
To remind myself that deep within
There is some strongness in me,
Even though I do not always feel it;
Sometimes, I succeed for a time,
But always what happens
Is she (the mistress bitch)
She bites me from behind,
And now I have to sit down alone
To hide this paper cut from which I can’t atone.
I am a paper tiger,
I roar but have no bite,
I am a paper tiger,
And that,
For now,
Just has to be alright.
It is all that I have right now,
So that has got to be alright...
Paper tiger,
Paper tiger is me.
Draw me, I roar.
Fold me, I cry.
Colour me weary,
Paper tiger am I.
August 10th 2009
I Tarry, Until You
No breath to breathe when you aren’t near
No sweet arms to hold me
It’s only at night that I find your embrace
In the fleeting dreams that loneliness sold me
And out of dreams your heart has spoke
Sending a random message to my mind
So in the waking hours I work my magic
Spells to conjure, conjoin, and find
Where you are I long to be
Who you are I long to see
Where you’ve been is all my mind sees
And I tarry with these visions of you
March 7th, 2010
Left For Heart-Dead
The curse of humility,
The kiss of chastity,
The end of longevity,
Who would better know of these
Than the one whose own heart deceived him
With a thousand knives of unseen fury,
Blood-filled vision gets a little blurry,
Words of hope and love only come out slurry,
And loneliness is my only companion left.
April 27th, 2010
Naked
I’m starting to feel
All beat down and naked,
Shambles and shamed in a field of plain.
Serenity might just be
A lack of originality in
Expressing my numbness.
All is insane;
Life can be so numb and lame.
I don’t feel good and I don’t feel
Right, somehow
Everything I once clinged to
Is outta my sight,
And I have a little bit of
Panicked fright.
This would be so pleasant and so alright,
If only this were just words and
Not
My present reality.
I spin in a whirlpool,
Boredom has overtaken my life
And I take little pleasure in anything anymore...
And I do not like it.
Naked and cold,
Naked and old,
Nary a stitch to be found,
My misery kills me without a whimpering sound,
Leaves me staked out for the jackals...
If I were a wary wolf, I would have long ago raised
My hackles.
There is not too much more that I would say.
Naked I stand,
Waiting for approval,
Waiting
For love,
Waiting for you.
Naked, is how I feel.
Jan 12th, 2010
Sea Of Less
Drowning
I come up for air
It’s hard to die silent
While everyone stares
January 31st, 2010
The Ball That Broke My World
Sand beneath my toes
Sand beneath my toes
Sun-bleached, broken, stark-white bones
Rib cage, skull, seagulls and crows
Tattered remnants of fabric so black
Standard set upright by footprint tracks
Bonfire of timbers, signal to the gods
Resting on sand, of food there is lack
Into the depths my shipmates did fall
Blood and drowning their deaths did not stall
Merciless waves washed me up alone
All because of one well-placed cannonball
March 8th, 2010
Unlovely Life
Life is precious, life is quick,
You stole mine from me in a way so slick,
Caged my heart, drained my blood,
Sunk my feet deep into the mud
Of black morass and a bleak despair;
My haunted eyes see nothing where once saw fair.
You;
You don’t know what you did to me,
Nor do you care to.
And I, I do not even know
Just what you did inside of me,
But I know that where once life blossomed,
Now there is only this living death.
All joy, stifled,
All mirth, muffled,
All that you brought
You stole back
And took much more besides;
Nothing that resembles life
Remains here on the inside.
My oh my,
You killed me good,
And you do not even give a
Damn.
Where once you were the sunshine to me,
You have become the plunging and severing knife...
All I know and see now that you are heartlessly gone
Is my own (empty, dead) unlovely life.
January 21st, 2010
Windowpane
The exhilarating thrill is dead and gone,
Joy once lived where black now spawns,
My heart still sometimes throbs with a
Hurt that’s insane,
When I can’t believe the scene from my
Windowpane.
I can’t believe, I can’t receive
What it is I see from my windowpane;
Is not what I want, memories still haunt,
My back-lit stained-glass window pain.
Seated I stare, seated I dare
To try to recapture
The thrilling rush and rapture,
But nothing is quite so factual
As the dead-end scenery of what is actually
There,
Nothing that excited like anticipation of
Seeing your face, so fair.
My windowpane betrays me,
My heart so sharp that it filets me,
Burdened with the weight of what once was
I sit and stare and see that my future is a bust.
The exhilarating thrill is dead and gone,
Joy once lived where black now spawns,
My heart still sometimes throbs with a
Hurt that’s insane,
When I can’t believe the scene from my
Windowpane.
Once I waited for you, day by day,
Gazing outside and waiting to see
You,
On the off chance that you might come by
Like you did before;
I gaze at places where you walked and you talked
With this man, leading my heart astray,
And all the colours turn to gray
In this life of mine.
I do not like the scene
I see through my windows now,
Though once it was the scene that gave me hope,
Gave me life.
Now that view is seen through bars,
The bars you erected around me
When you killed me with your (false, fake, unreal, cruel) love.
You took everything that was right, and stabbed it repeatedly
Until it was a bloody smear upon my window pain...
My heart still sometimes throbs with a
Hurt that’s insane,
When I can’t believe,
When I can’t receive,
When I am constantly saddened by
The scene, the scene from my
Windowpane.
January 20th, 2010
I'm alive, and glad to be back online. We'll talk again soon, okay?
I am back!
For now, I am going to put some poetry here, some poems I have written, some poems that really make me stand up and realize that I am truly a poet because I am quite proud of these works.
Square Me In A Round Hole
There’s a hope in my pocket
But do not tell no one,
I put it there last year
But what I got is none
Of the return for my investment,
So it sits there still,
But now it’s faded
Its colours are jaded
And I find it gives no thrill.
There’s a hole in my heart
And everything is leaking,
You can see right inside
But there is to be no peeking.
There’s a home in my mind
And my future rests on it,
With a warm and roaring fire
And in front of it she sits;
I cannot touch her yet
Or invade her space,
Yet I can see her sitting there, with me,
But I cannot see her face.
And if not for the faded, jaded hope
That in my pocket rusts,
And the hole in my heart
Where the blood congeals and crusts,
Then maybe I would truly be happy
And have such great belief,
Instead
I am just me.
Take me, or leave me -
Just me.
August 3, 2009
Haley Called, But The Operator Cannot Connect
Haley called,
The Comet’s warmed up,
Time to burn some rubber
And take this town.
You and me were gonna
Paint it red,
Nothing between us
Ever left unsaid,
Then you burned bright in
A different direction,
Left me with a handful of
Circumspection;
You winked like a star and
Disappeared from sight,
And Haley never called for me again.
July 26th, 2009
Drawing Me Out
Paper tiger,
All I feel like is a
Paper tiger,
I roar but I have no bite,
I put on my strong face
But I’m scared;
Scared of loneliness,
Scared of defeat,
Scared of trying,
And mainly scared of me.
I am scared to discover who I am
Because I fear I may like me
Even less
Than I do now.
It’s silly, I know,
But I have no eraser for my fears,
So all I can do is
Draw a tiger over them
On my sheet of graduated sanity
That is my life.
I am a paper tiger
And that, for now, will have to be alright.
I say I am okay,
I pretend I am alright,
But I am a broken compass
Lost into this night.
I try to make believe
That I am somebody I want to be,
I need to be,
I try to show some strength,
To remind myself that deep within
There is some strongness in me,
Even though I do not always feel it;
Sometimes, I succeed for a time,
But always what happens
Is she (the mistress bitch)
She bites me from behind,
And now I have to sit down alone
To hide this paper cut from which I can’t atone.
I am a paper tiger,
I roar but have no bite,
I am a paper tiger,
And that,
For now,
Just has to be alright.
It is all that I have right now,
So that has got to be alright...
Paper tiger,
Paper tiger is me.
Draw me, I roar.
Fold me, I cry.
Colour me weary,
Paper tiger am I.
August 10th 2009
I Tarry, Until You
No breath to breathe when you aren’t near
No sweet arms to hold me
It’s only at night that I find your embrace
In the fleeting dreams that loneliness sold me
And out of dreams your heart has spoke
Sending a random message to my mind
So in the waking hours I work my magic
Spells to conjure, conjoin, and find
Where you are I long to be
Who you are I long to see
Where you’ve been is all my mind sees
And I tarry with these visions of you
March 7th, 2010
Left For Heart-Dead
The curse of humility,
The kiss of chastity,
The end of longevity,
Who would better know of these
Than the one whose own heart deceived him
With a thousand knives of unseen fury,
Blood-filled vision gets a little blurry,
Words of hope and love only come out slurry,
And loneliness is my only companion left.
April 27th, 2010
Naked
I’m starting to feel
All beat down and naked,
Shambles and shamed in a field of plain.
Serenity might just be
A lack of originality in
Expressing my numbness.
All is insane;
Life can be so numb and lame.
I don’t feel good and I don’t feel
Right, somehow
Everything I once clinged to
Is outta my sight,
And I have a little bit of
Panicked fright.
This would be so pleasant and so alright,
If only this were just words and
Not
My present reality.
I spin in a whirlpool,
Boredom has overtaken my life
And I take little pleasure in anything anymore...
And I do not like it.
Naked and cold,
Naked and old,
Nary a stitch to be found,
My misery kills me without a whimpering sound,
Leaves me staked out for the jackals...
If I were a wary wolf, I would have long ago raised
My hackles.
There is not too much more that I would say.
Naked I stand,
Waiting for approval,
Waiting
For love,
Waiting for you.
Naked, is how I feel.
Jan 12th, 2010
Sea Of Less
Drowning
I come up for air
It’s hard to die silent
While everyone stares
January 31st, 2010
The Ball That Broke My World
Sand beneath my toes
Sand beneath my toes
Sun-bleached, broken, stark-white bones
Rib cage, skull, seagulls and crows
Tattered remnants of fabric so black
Standard set upright by footprint tracks
Bonfire of timbers, signal to the gods
Resting on sand, of food there is lack
Into the depths my shipmates did fall
Blood and drowning their deaths did not stall
Merciless waves washed me up alone
All because of one well-placed cannonball
March 8th, 2010
Unlovely Life
Life is precious, life is quick,
You stole mine from me in a way so slick,
Caged my heart, drained my blood,
Sunk my feet deep into the mud
Of black morass and a bleak despair;
My haunted eyes see nothing where once saw fair.
You;
You don’t know what you did to me,
Nor do you care to.
And I, I do not even know
Just what you did inside of me,
But I know that where once life blossomed,
Now there is only this living death.
All joy, stifled,
All mirth, muffled,
All that you brought
You stole back
And took much more besides;
Nothing that resembles life
Remains here on the inside.
My oh my,
You killed me good,
And you do not even give a
Damn.
Where once you were the sunshine to me,
You have become the plunging and severing knife...
All I know and see now that you are heartlessly gone
Is my own (empty, dead) unlovely life.
January 21st, 2010
Windowpane
The exhilarating thrill is dead and gone,
Joy once lived where black now spawns,
My heart still sometimes throbs with a
Hurt that’s insane,
When I can’t believe the scene from my
Windowpane.
I can’t believe, I can’t receive
What it is I see from my windowpane;
Is not what I want, memories still haunt,
My back-lit stained-glass window pain.
Seated I stare, seated I dare
To try to recapture
The thrilling rush and rapture,
But nothing is quite so factual
As the dead-end scenery of what is actually
There,
Nothing that excited like anticipation of
Seeing your face, so fair.
My windowpane betrays me,
My heart so sharp that it filets me,
Burdened with the weight of what once was
I sit and stare and see that my future is a bust.
The exhilarating thrill is dead and gone,
Joy once lived where black now spawns,
My heart still sometimes throbs with a
Hurt that’s insane,
When I can’t believe the scene from my
Windowpane.
Once I waited for you, day by day,
Gazing outside and waiting to see
You,
On the off chance that you might come by
Like you did before;
I gaze at places where you walked and you talked
With this man, leading my heart astray,
And all the colours turn to gray
In this life of mine.
I do not like the scene
I see through my windows now,
Though once it was the scene that gave me hope,
Gave me life.
Now that view is seen through bars,
The bars you erected around me
When you killed me with your (false, fake, unreal, cruel) love.
You took everything that was right, and stabbed it repeatedly
Until it was a bloody smear upon my window pain...
My heart still sometimes throbs with a
Hurt that’s insane,
When I can’t believe,
When I can’t receive,
When I am constantly saddened by
The scene, the scene from my
Windowpane.
January 20th, 2010
I'm alive, and glad to be back online. We'll talk again soon, okay?
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