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2005-03-17

One departs, one joins

After Lydin was finished checking Scratch's wounds, he moved on to check the wounds of the remaining party members. The five some and Scratch were of again. Tugwyn's mind is racing over the possible outcomes and when should he leave. There is a voice inside his head now talking to him. , telling him to wait. Tugwyn knows this voice is real being not like the voices Paradarus hears.

The party is moving again. They are under attack again. The undead came from behind them. It must have been ambush. The party is in trouble. Tugwyn's is running of in to the woods- laughing. Lydin calls but there are no response.

Gworeth is fighting to his life. Hawber manages to turn around to get in to fray. Paradarus is left behinds wait for a chance. Yue and Lydin decide to go the forest to go around the fight and flank the undead.

Paradarus manages to get into the battle, by reaching over Scratch Around three of them have take some hit but are still stands. Scratch is tearing to the undead, now his natural instincts have kick in. Lydin comes out of the forest and instantly is hit.

Yue in his rush to join the battle gets tangled up by a tree. Yue panic?s thinks it is the undead. Then he realizes it was just a tree and he needs to get into the battle. He knows the party needs him. He manages to get untangled, just to get tanked up in a down tree. Because of his fear for his friend?s life and the embarrassment of getting tangled up in his playground, blood starts rushing to his head. He manages to get free again and there is the clearing.

He sees a clear and starting running for it, hoping it is not too late

The party is getting hurting. There are too many of them. Scratch is bleeding, Paradarus is bleeding, Hawber is bleeding, Gworeth is bleeding, and Lydin is bleeding. They are all bleeding, badly except Yue who is lost in the woods. Lydin is scared, and does no what to do. In his moment of desperation he calls upon is cleric ability and received an inherited evil spell dead watch. He needs to save his friends. He casts the spell, hoping there are no ill effects.

Yue runs out into the clearing ready for battle, but the clearing is empty. Listening he hears the battle behind him. He runs back in the forest, fearful of what he will find and shamed the skills he is so pride of fail him.

Lydin is able to see how close is friends are to dead, scratch is hurting bad, he is running to heal scratch. Hawber, Gworeth, Paradarus are fighting a good fight, but are slow losing.

Out of the forest burst Lex,? Die you all unholy scrum, die? and takes on the nearest creature to him. Lydin is move over to heal Paradarus who is whooping o his feet. A number of undead have fallen, but there are many more standing.

Yue finally appears and takes no time to engage and kill an undead. Lydin is healing Hawber, and notices two creature watch the fight. One alive creature, one undead creature; the battle is stating to turn around there are only a couple of undead left.

There is laughter as a magical light hits Hawber. It was Tugwyn, Hawber suppress the urge to go running after him. Lydin notices the one life creature he now knows is Tugwyn leaving with the other Undead Creature.

With the Help of Lex and Yue they party finishes the reaming undead of. Lydin?s Gods grant him power of evil to use for good. Lydin understands what happens, but will remember the reason, why?

The party takes little time to composite itself, has darkness approaches and the forest comes alive, to run back to the Fletcher house. Arrows rain down on the party has they run back to safety.

When they reach the Fletchers house the greeting is not pleasant, but he lets them in. The Fletcher was upset that they return before the task was complete, Lex does not go in, he as business to take care of.

After Lydin was finished checking Scratch's wounds, he moved on to check the wounds of the remaining party members. The five some and Scratch were of again. Tugwyn's mind is racing over the possible outcomes and when should he leave. There is a voice inside his head now talking to him. , telling him to wait. Tugwyn knows this voice is real being not like the voices Paradarus hears.

The party is moving again. They are under attack again. The undead came from behind them. It must have been ambush. The party is in trouble. Tugwyn's is running of in to the woods- laughing. Lydin calls but there are no response.

Gworeth is fighting to his life. Hawber manages to turn around to get in to fray. Paradarus is left behinds wait for a chance. Yue and Lydin decide to go the forest to go around the fight and flank the undead.

Paradarus manages to get into the battle, by reaching over Scratch Around three of them have take some hit but are still stands. Scratch is tearing to the undead, now his natural instincts have kick in. Lydin comes out of the forest and instantly is hit.

Yue in his rush to join the battle gets tangled up by a tree. Yue panic?s thinks it is the undead. Then he realizes it was just a tree and he needs to get into the battle. He knows the party needs him. He manages to get untangled, just to get tanked up in a down tree. Because of his fear for his friend?s life and the embarrassment of getting tangled up in his playground, blood starts rushing to his head. He manages to get free again and there is the clearing.

He sees a clear and starting running for it, hoping it is not too late

The party is getting hurting. There are too many of them. Scratch is bleeding, Paradarus is bleeding, Hawber is bleeding, Gworeth is bleeding, and Lydin is bleeding. They are all bleeding, badly except Yue who is lost in the woods. Lydin is scared, and does no what to do. In his moment of desperation he calls upon is cleric ability and received an inherited evil spell dead watch. He needs to save his friends. He casts the spell, hoping there are no ill effects.

Yue runs out into the clearing ready for battle, but the clearing is empty. Listening he hears the battle behind him. He runs back in the forest, fearful of what he will find and shamed the skills he is so pride of fail him.

Lydin is able to see how close is friends are to dead, scratch is hurting bad, he is running to heal scratch. Hawber, Gworeth, Paradarus are fighting a good fight, but are slow losing.

Out of the forest burst Lex,? Die you all unholy scrum, die? and takes on the nearest creature to him. Lydin is move over to heal Paradarus who is whooping o his feet. A number of undead have fallen, but there are many more standing.

Yue finally appears and takes no time to engage and kill an undead. Lydin is healing Hawber, and notices two creature watch the fight. One alive creature, one undead creature; the battle is stating to turn around there are only a couple of undead left.

There is laughter as a magical light hits Hawber. It was Tugwyn, Hawber suppress the urge to go running after him. Lydin notices the one life creature he now knows is Tugwyn leaving with the other Undead Creature.

With the Help of Lex and Yue they party finishes the reaming undead of. Lydin?s Gods grant him power of evil to use for good. Lydin understands what happens, but will remember the reason, why?

The party takes little time to composite itself, has darkness approaches and the forest comes alive, to run back to the Fletcher house. Arrows rain down on the party has they run back to safety.

When they reach the Fletchers house the greeting is not pleasant, but he lets them in. The Fletcher was upset that they return before the task was complete, Lex does not go in, he as business to take care of.

2005-03-14

Church of the Game... A New Hope :)

Greetings All,

As you are no doubt aware I have made several changes to this blog over the last week or so. I added ad sense to the site as well as a Google search. Both of these changes are to see if this blog can become self sufficient. I am starting to see more traffic (a feeble amount to be sure) but I am seeing a bit of traffic and getting a some comments (both online and offline).

So I would like to be able to do more things with this blog, like host pictures, files, etc. I can not as long as I am on the Blogspot free hosting service. I added ad sense and the Google search to see if ads will bring in enough money to pay for hosting services. I am also going to add a donation button. 100% of the funds donated will go to site upkeep.

So if you like this site and would like to support us, click on the donate link located in the sidebar.

Lex

The forest is quiet exceptfor the heavy breathing from Lex. The last round battle with the undead was long and hard. He hasn't got idea what happens to his brothers. They got separated during the fury of the last battle. Lex's companions are not relative through a blood line but by cause, to rid the world of the living dead.

Lex took on the cause at an every young age, of seven, when he watched his parents get kill by a couple of zombies. His parents were simple folk living a simple live. They had a small farm where they raised some livestock and vegetables.

During that faithful night, Lex had just finished washing up for supper and was waiting at the kitchen table with his father discussion the Minnie the cow and how she could give birth any day now. The Zombies came crashing in from all sides. Two zombies crashed through the kitchen window and the rest broke down the porch door just of the kitchen. The family had no chance, a skilled fighter would have little, but Lex senior was fast on to his feet grabbing his son, opening the latch door under the table and closing it. Then he heard the two distinct sounds, which will haunt him for the rest of his live thump, thump. His family was gone in an instinct.

Lex was found crying the next day still in is hiding placing, by two priest. The priest has heard there was trouble in the area and came to investigate. The two priests instantly took a likely to the sad seven year and one of the priests became surrogate father to the boy and the priest's order become his family.

The first few days after that dreadful night, it seems like a one long nightmare to Lex. That all changed on the third when the priests took Lex with them on one of there hunting trips. Lex was so happy he saw his parents, but they were not his parents. They did not know him. The priest has brought Lex to kill his parent corpse. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do.

The two priests held his parent's corpses and gave Lex an axe. While tears rooled downs his faces Lex killed his parent's corpse by chopping of their head and pouring holy water over them. Lex understood the priest reason for doing what they did, but he has never slept the same since. His dreams are haunted by his parent's corpses.

Omgen the Priest, who became Lex's surrogate father, taught Lex everything he could about the order. The order name "Church against the Undead" was given to the order by the pleasant they helped. In the beginning, the church was a couple of priest who were brothers dedicated their lives to fighting their undead. Those two brother helped many common folk fight the undead and was start it to get a loyal following who called the two brothers the Church against the undead. When "Kildren" a god appear and took up the cause of the priest, the religion was born and Kildren become Known has Kildren the God against the darkness.

Omgen talks about power of the church and explained many of the things that was done through the Power of Kildren. Many sound it like the tale tells, but Lex could recite them all.

Omgen want it Lex to be a Priest, but Lex had to much angry inside of him to be a priest. But Lex found away to make Omgen proud, he start it the first order of paladin's "Knight against the undead" for the Church. Kildren gave his blessing to the "Knight against the Undead" and Lex was able to take up a noble cause, while being true to the Order.

Every ten year the church held a meeting for all member of the church to come. The senior priest set up portals for those priests who were to far away to travel by horse. If a priest from a certain church didn't appear or send word an embassy was sent to see what was wrong. It was been along time since anybody has heard word form Elderage the head priest in this area. Elderage was one of the more powerful priests in the order if not the most powerful priest. He held a seat in the high council in this land, and the King was a trusted ally of his.

Lex volunteered to lead a small party to go see what happen. Originally the party was of five, but after the last battle he stood alone in the forest clearing. There would be time to mourn later. Sounds of battle ring out in the forest. Fight on my brothers, fight on I am coming.

Lex was running

2005-03-11

Lydin's Story Part 5

continued from Lydin's Story Part 4

Day 76
I awake in the morning and treat the wounds of Scratch and Yue. Afterwards I return to sleep and rest. The battles in the preceding days seem to have taken a toll on my mind and my spirit as well as my body.

I awake again and realize with a start that it is approaching noon. Yue is awake, he is quietly cleaning and oiling he crossbow. He has not said much since he lost himself in the woods. I get the feeling he is hurt that even with his woodland skills he was lost for so long. There is a hurt in his eyes that I can not heal. I wonder if I have the same look in my eyes.

I go to look for food for myself and for Scratch. Yue looks up from his task but makes no move to follow or to speak.

I trail down the hallway towards the Fletcher's kitchen. I hear voices form the kitchen. One voice is the Fletcher's. The other is a familiar voice, but one I can not immediately place. This voice is angry. The Fletcher argues that the time is past, "It is too late!" he cries. The other voice snaps back at the Fletcher. Admonishing him.
"Remember your place, remember your duty, remember your destiny."

I move closer to the kitchen I see a flash of light. I enter the kitchen to see the residue of a transportation portal spell. The Fletcher is alone.

I ask him about the other voice I heard in the kitchen. The Fetcher seems to think I have been spying on him. "That was the voice of out master, Lord Cedric." the Fletcher growls. "Were you listening to our private conversation?"

I don't remember what I said to him, but it convinces him that I was just traveling to the kitchen. I gather some food to return to Yue, but turn to find him already in the kitchen. We eat with the Fletcher. He reminds us of our duty. As if the horrors of the past days could be forgotten. Our host tells us of Lord Cedric's plan. He has a massive force gathered to the east. He will strike tonight.

Our orders are to hold the bridge and protect the town. I am only half listening. I make the correct sounds to show the Fletcher that I am listening to his instructions but I am drifting into deeper thoughts. "Yes, I understand. We must protect the bridge at all costs." I tell him. He nods, as if to tell me that I had better follow his instructions. My mind drifts to the events of yesterday, what happened to me when I cast my spirit at these beasts and they fled form me like leaves before the wind. The Fetcher is staring at me. I search for what he was saying. "Of course, we would destroy the bridge rather than let the lifeless monsters use it." He starts to wave his arms and shout. "Of course, we would never allow the bridge to fall." That seems to calm him again.

Yue also stares at me. I search his eyes, for some sign of what he plans. Our group was so unified when we first left our sinking prison, but now we are more and more separated by our own mistrust. Especially since we were betrayed by Tugwyn. What secrets does Yue keep from me? What secrets do I keep from him?

Again I notice that the Fletcher has stopped talking and is waiting for an answer. I am at a loss. I do not recall what instructions he was pressing when last he spoke. Thankfully Yue speaks for me. "We will wait for the signal, and strike into the heart of the forest. We will kill these undead lords, vampires, or whatever they are. We will not fail."

"Yes, yes." I murmur. Is this our fate, to become the victims of the undead? To be killed and return as these monsters? Not for the first time I think about releasing Scratch. Allowing him to make his way back our natural homes. I again do not, knowing that even if Scratch knew the way home I need him too badly to release him. Maybe later I can free him.

"Is there a temple in this town?" I ask. I am not sure why I ask this, I need no temples. My temple is the forest, the plain, the lake, the mountain. Wherever the spirit of nature resides is where I worship. My now I feel a pull to a temple of man.

"As I have told you every time you have asked of the temple," replies the Fletcher, "we had a temple, near the guard house. The temple disappeared shortly after the creatures started attacking the town. I start to think you are ill, the way your eyes stare off. You look at me, but you do not see me, you look through me. What do you see druid? Do you see me? Or do you see only death, as I see only death. I spoke in haste yester-eve, you may return to my home for as long as you serve Lord Cedric." The Fletcher slowly and deliberately meets my gaze, then gives Yue the same piercing look. He stands from the table and stalks out of the room.

"We should find the others." Yue barks at me as he stands also.

I nearly send him to go himself, but Scratch bites my hand and pulls towards the door. "Yes, " I answer, " we must find our allies and return to the forest."

As we leave the Fletcher's I see the crazed beggar that always predicts my death. Hawber is following the beggar, for once staring at something other than his reflection. I walk up to the beggar, awaiting his proclamation of my doom. He smells of illness, at times it is almost like I can see something in his soul that is fractured. I try to give him a fresh Logan berry. I earlier prepared the berries, such that they have the power to supply a full meal in just a single bite. The beggar pulls away from me.

I notice a medallion around this beggars neck. It is a symbol I half recognize. I grasp the medallion and fire and pain shoot down my arm. I spy our new companion Lex watching me. Lex comes over to me and pulls me away from the beggar, and he runs off.

We follow the beggar to the guard house. Once inside the beggar just disappeared. We find a concealed trap door in the floor. Following the stairs under the floor takes us to a small underground cathedral. The same symbol that the beggar wore, the same symbol that burned my hand and arm adorn the walls.

Pandarus, Yue, and Hawber are collecting holy water from a case on the north wall. I ask Lex about the symbol. He laughs and pulls out a medallion of his own. "Like this one?"

"What does it mean?" I ask.

"It is the symbol of my faith. We are dedicated to eradicating the undead menace. I did not believe that it was true but now that I see it, I can not deny my own eyes." He points to my hand. "You should not grab the symbol of a powerful cleric, they have protections that you can not comprehend. This homeless beggar is the high priest Elderage. Years ago I studied under him. When our church first sent Elderage here he was but an alcolyte, sent to establish a mission house.
This he did. Eventually more of the faithful revealed here. Including my brother. Recently the undead started to win the battles against Elderage. " Lex paused, looking deep within himself as if knowing the answer but not knowing if the answer is the one he wants.
"In rare cases, very rare cases, " Lex continued, "a high priest will give himself up to protect his followers and his church. Elderage must have made this sacrifice, although I do not know how. He has caused his own insanity to save his church and only the defeat of the threat will allow him to return to health."

We climb the stairs and leave for the bridge. We cross to the far side and take up positions to defend the bridge. I start to question why we have all our strongest warriors north of the bridge when a group of skeletal undead breach the clearing from the north. Hawber, Pandarus and Gworeth smash these enemies as the close within reach. Only two get through, and of those one turns north along the river and one head directly for the bridge. Scratch and I bring down the beast heading to the bridge and Yue chases after the one flees north.

Another group breaks free of the trees. These again are repelled. A third wave engages us. This group includes Orcs! Hawber and Pandarus are killing the Orcs as well as the undead. More and more are breaking through. Yue returns just in time to slay a monster as it approaches the bridge.

Another group is chased into the clearing around the bridge. Again Orcs are with the undead. The orcs seem to be attacking the undead, but they also attack Hawber. Pandarus is swathing through the Orcs like a sythe through winter wheat.

Another group steps into the clearing. These are men! Several men accompanied by these foul abominations surge towards the bridge. Gworeth and Pandarus attack form the North. Yue fires his bow again and again. Hawber, Lex and I attack from the South. We are being over taken.

I call out to the forest for assistance and a badger breaks from the bushes and attacks my assailant. Sinking his claws into the warriors leg he distracts the warrior so that Hawber can crush him entirely.

When the next beast enters the clearing my heart stops. A rotting giant of a man. Is this a troll? Or maybe was this a troll would be more accurate. Obviously dead the shambling giant moves towards Pandarus. Gworeth and Yue start firing missiles at the beast. Hawber falls before me, as does Scratch! They killed Scratch! I fly at my enemies slashing with my sword. One after another falls before me. Gworeth and Yue have engaged the giant. I check Hawber and advance towards Scratch. The giant falls to Lex.

I look around our enemies are dead or fleeing but at what cause. I go to Scratch and bind his wounds. I use prayer and magic to revive him. I do the same for Pandarus and Hawber. Looking at the gashes, bites and bruises I wonder if we won or lost.

We retreat to the very edge of the bridge, to rest and prepare for the next assault. It has only been moments since the first beast appeared but I feel like it has been hours. My heartbeat is pounding in my chest, sweat coats my arms and chest, fatigue drags at my legs as I pull Scratch to the safety of the bridge. I know the night has just begun but I wish that I could just let the night take me, let sleep erase my memories and my pain.

Bones the Role Playing Game

I purchased Bones the Role Playing Game at RPGNow because I was curious and because it was on sale.

The PDF is 51 pages total with 49 pages of rules and information. The art is fair to good. The layout is fairly standard with the body text expanded by examples in the side bar. The "icons" used to customize dice are very simple but I think that lends to being hand drawn by the players onto the dice.

The book has the expected sections. Character creation and basic rules are up from, magic is also in this section. A simple bestiary and sample adventure are also included. Finally a sample campaign setting is also included.

The big divergence for Bones is the base game mechanic. You construct your character as a set of customized six sided dice. Task resolution consists of rolling these dice. If you roll enough successes, you succeed, if not you don't. I have to admit that the concept does appeal to me. It is a very tactical mechanic and I think that might be why I like it so much.

The character creation rules are described in clear terms and the game mechanic is well described. The examples make any difficult points easy to understand.

The bestiary is where the simplicity of the system starts to shine through. Monsters and NPC are simply described by a combination of standard dice types. So the GM can easily construct an enemy by selected a series of dice. Equipment is also represented by custom made dice.

I would not use the campaign setting, but that is because I don't use a lot of published campaign settings. I just feel more comfortable with my own than with published ones. I would have no concerns about stealing borrowing from this setting though...

Bones seems to be a very tactical game, but to me that is not a weakness. This makes the game ideal for a table top battle royale where is it everyman for himself and the last one alive wins. It also means that for a role playing game, the role is in the Players mind, not defined on the character sheet.

I don't know if Bones would ever become my system of choice but I have already started planning an adventure so the group can give it a try. Overall Vincent K. Raven has done a good job with this game, and at the sale price of $5 USD it was a bargain.

New Logos!!!

A HUGE thank you to Ernesto Di Timoteo for the logos.

Here are the new logos:
Banner
Church of the Game Banner

2005-03-10

Lydin's Story Part 4

continued from Lydin's Story Part 3

Day 74
We retreat again to the Fletcher's house. He takes us in but warns that we have a job to do and can not continue to come back to his house whenever we want. He encourages us to rest and return to the forest.
"Our common master has tasks for us all." He says, "You should complete your tasks as soon a possible."

We return to the room we have used in the past. I sink into a deep slumber, trying to forget the horrors of recent days. During my rest I start to question my dedication to the forest. Is it enough? After a long and restless night I awake and start my morning prayers. I start to beseech not just the forest but all of nature, reaching out for help in my battle against these abominations.

I receive no answer.

Day 75
With fear in my heart I prepare for another trip into the cursed forest. I hardly notice my companions. Scratch comes and gently paws me. I am amazed at his size, he seems 6 months old, not a dozen days. I feed and groom him, it makes me feel better that I am making a difference, even if it just my cat.

I am starting to get more and more leery of Pandarus he seems more and more blood thirsty everyday. I watch him as we move towards the forest. He walks next to Yue, as the walk the seem to be having a conversation but it is almost like Pandarus is having a conversation but it is not with Yue.

Hawber as usual is more concerned with his reflection that the reflection of this dying forest in the river we are crossing. Gworeth is joking with Tugwyn, and as we go into the forest Gworeth stops joking, and Tugwyn starts smiling. The little gnome scares me, he seems more at home within this perverted landscape than with us.

We start traveling into the forest, following the paths we have taken before. Striking deeper into the woods. I take Scratch and show him signs of passage. He smells the woods, he tracks that smell. He learns quickly. I have asked the forest for a powerful spell for Scratch. When these beasts attack today they will find his bite bigger than his bark.

Hawber yells that creatures are coming from the right. The group tightens up and prepares for the assault. Scratch starts for growl to the left. I feel the bile rising in my throat. "They come from the Left as well!" I yell.
"And the front!" Adds Pandaurus.
"and behind!" Giggles Tugwyn.

I lose my focus, I feel Scratch heading to the front to assist with the battle. I grasp Scratch and whisper a spell over him. "Go, my friend. Rend the monsters. Cleanse the land." As he lopes off to the battle the creatures break into the open. I move to the front, but I start to find it harder to breath. The forest starts to close in on me. The creatures are closing in, they are all around us. I have to gain space, I have to escape, these creatures must leave.

I feel a warmth inside myself. I feel like I am more alive than before, power fills me, the very earth seems to be feeding my strength. "Begone from my presence foul creatures, lest you face my wrath!" It seems to be me speaking but it sounds unlike me, the forest, no the land itself is speaking through me. The foul beasts attacking Hawber start to flee. I am exalted, the power to defeat these beasts is within me. This power is terrifying, is this the answer to my prayers, or is this the terrible path that Tugwyn has taken.

Gworeth and Hawber are attacking the beast that have not fled. But they are being overwhelmed. We can not get past to help. Yue grabs my arm and leads me into the woods. 'We can circle around, I will strike with my bow as you take these monsters from behind." Almost immediately we are separated. I hear him cursing, but I can not see him through the underbrush. I break through into the trees into the clearing. I am not where I anticipated. The creatures tear into my arm.

I slash the creature and it drops at my feet. I start to feel like we can defeat any of these creatures. The last of these beasts is defeated. Scratch returns to me and is looking smug. I ruffle his fur and look around for my sword. In the melee I dropped it to free up my hands for spells. I finally feel like we are making a difference.

Suddenly a mass of creatures steps onto the path. My heart sinks, the feeling of power I had only a moment ago is starting to retreat. I start to feel the despair rising again. These creatures are too numerous. We will be overwhelmed and destroyed. Scratch is fighting bravely, he is dragging these creatures down and killing them. Pandarus and Hawber are striking them down but are being slowly weakened. I feel the warmth filling me again, I call forth this power again, but it has no effect.

Once again I am filled with horror and fear. Scratch is hurt. I strike out to him and call forth the
power of the forest to heal him. Hawber is hurt as well, as is Pandarus. I heal them as well. Another wave of these foul beasts stalk down the path towards us. Yue finally reappears from the forest ready for battle. The tide of battle seems finally to be in our favor. The creatures are being overpowered.

This is when Tugwyn finally snaps and flees into the woods. I call after him, but his only answer is laughter. Fiery blasts we have seen strike our enemies are now striking us. Hawber is the first to feel there burn , then Yue. Now the undead start to overcome us again. Only the arrival of a mysterious warrior saves us. He helps slay the last of the creatures and heal our wounds. This warrior is named Lex, and he has agreed to accompany us back to town.

We limp back to town fearful of another attack. We arrive back in town and go directly to the Fletcher's house. He is not happy to see us. He tells us that we can rest and recuperate but this will be the last time we will be welcome in his house. I am a bit surprised that Lex will not join us in the Fletcher's home.

I again retreat to our room and collapse. It has only been a few hours but it feels like days since I awoke in this very room. Scratch senses my mood and curls up by the door, being my guard, allowing me to sleep.

2005-03-09

Back to the woods

The sun was well in the sky, when they left the Fletcher's house. Their mood was almost jovial. They have new weapons designed to fight the undead, the party of ex- slaves were feeling safe. He did not care or know that it was a false sense of security. They were off with a skip in their steps. Their memories of the two nights ago are dull and pushed back to the furthest reaches of their minds. Were the party over overconfident? Only time knew.

The band of ex-slaves traveled along high river banks towards the bridge that crossed the river. By the groove made into the rock this was an ancient river, which was quite powerful at one time. Now it was a slow moving river had hinted at it previous glory days. It would have been a beautiful scene if the "Band of ex-slaves", had taken the time to enjoy it. The sun was high in the sky, causing the river to reflect back the sun rays, giving the river a bluish haze. Making the river almost seemed alive.

Hawber was spending his time looking at himself, try to convinces himself it was o.k. to be bald. I am a rebel dwarf, I do not need hair I am quite the sexy dwarf. Still he wonder why he as still a virgin. Must be women are afraid of a dwarf who is so sexy. Lydin was traveling the grasslands with Screech and Scratches. Pandarus was having a discussion with Pandarus about what to do about those talking voices. Gworeth is daydreaming about his old master, what fun they had playing pranks on each other. Yue was dreaming about running in a dew soak meadow, naked.

Everybody was to busy daydreaming to see the look of uneasiness in Tugwyn's face. He was not in a happy place. He was in emotional turmoil. He as utterly confused and ashamed about his feelings towards the undead. The undead we calling him, he could not resisted anymore. He was not sure it wants it to. These were his friends, well all except Hawber, but still they shared a common bond. He could not turn his back on them, but the undead. That were he belonged. If I could just talk to someone, maybe Lydin, but how would he feel now since Lydin has found faith. I am alone among friends; no, we are going to my friends. I am losing no - I am finding myself, yes my friends I am coming; tell me went the time is right HEEEEEE.

The "Band of Ex-slaves" marched on, to the bridge, over the bridge, to the forest. , stopping just short of the forest edge. Everyone had a skirmish grin on their face, except Tugwyn, who had beads of sweat rolling down side of his face. Paradarus got a little suspense of everyone smiling, could they hear what he hear? What did they know? Why haven't they told me? Wait, I can make them tell me.

All daydreaming stopped at the sight of forest. A cone of silent was placed over the Group; it was Tugwyn's turn to smile. It was time, for Tugwyn to faces his destiny and take what was rightfully his.


The "Band o f Ex-slaves" begin there search for death, by marching to the forest during daylight. They had enough smarts or luck to keep searching during the day. Nobody knew or talk about what they were looking for. They just searched, hoping to find something, and death itself would come out to play.


Lydin was working with Scratch to track these undead creatures, but Scratch was all ready the trail. Scratch was taking them to a clearing where these unnatural breast would cross there path. Every inch of Scratches being hate it these creature.


Walking threw the small clearing in the forest, the forest comes becomes undead. Creatures of the night came pouring out of the bush. Lydin was quick on his feet fire a magical stone he had prepared earlier, which was always true to it target. Then, the fighters step up and took the lead; Yue, Hawber, and Paradarus , with the rest of the party falling in behind.


The undead creature varied in size and type. Some have meat on there bones and other just bones. One of the skeletons was huge. Twice or three time the normal size of a human. There was also a four legged skeleton beast, which might have been a wolf before.

Hawber and the Giant skeleton square in a dance for life and Scratch becomes total enraged at seeing the abomination of nature and ignore his companion and takes off towards this creature. Tugwyn from the rear fire magically lights at the Giant to help Hawber, but he is in aw. Yue and Paradarus each are fighting multiply enemies try to hold the line.

Paradarus and Yue are managing to take care of a couple of creature, but there are so many. Hawber got a couple of hit on the giant, before the giant managed to hit him - a couple of times form the giant and Hawber is knocked down. He is mortally wounds it. Lydin rushes to his aid and Gworeth seeing the situation step into Hawber places.

Scratch breaks out of the tree to fight the undead wolf, Lydin was thinking quickly, he bandages Hawber and then he gives Hawber one of his special potion they got from the Fletcher place.

Yue falls in battles, Lydin is a busy person. But Yue managed to take out a couple of creature and Paradarus is doing well, but he is wonder why the voice have not spoken?

Gworeth steps into battle,"punt" Gworeth falls in battle. He is nothing more then a speed bump to the giant skeleton, but it was enough of a bump to allow Hawber to back to his feet and Paradarus to step into battle with the Giant.

Hawber as takes on a couple of the undead creature to the left of the Giant. Lydin manages to get Yue back to his feet, but down goes Paradarus. Lydin was on his way. The giant Skeleton is killing them. The party has to take the giant out. Tugwyn is preparing a spell watching Yue his jail mate go down bought some humanity to him. These creatures are trying to kill my friends


Hawber seeing Paradarus fall and wants to redeem him, disengages the creatures he was facing to fight the giant. Yue step into Hawber places to fight the creatures he was facings. Paradarus is back on his feet. Those potion has keep the party alive to this point

Scratch is victories over the skeleton wolf, taken only minor damage. He is onto his next target. Now Scratches natural instinct has taken over and he wants to rid the world of unnatural, fowl tasting abomination.

Hawber and Tugwyn engages the giant, Hawber hand to hand and Tugwyn with magic, down fall the mighty creature. The remaining creature were easy work after that.

The party looks like dead warm over, but not dead or undead. It was a hard fought battle but the "Bands of Ex-slaves" were victories. They almost die, but Lydin loses this memory very quickly. To the rest of party it was sobering experience.

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