Forgotten Foes a reality!!!

Yes, I agree. It's about time!

Campaign Notes: DL 1-5

Title: A Timely Interruption

PC Level: 4th

After a resupply and recuperation in Thelgaard (events of last time here), the PCs with Sir Plaxus start the trek to the Sage Academy. There, they hope to find information about the Promise Flames (to which they hold one of the icons...whatever that means!?). The Academy lies on the road heading east from the half-destroyed city, over a river, and is nestled at the base of the Garnet Mtns. Beam recalls a story told by his mentor about the Academy being an arcane school for both prospective and accomplished wizards (the latter having taken the Test of High Sorcery).

At the river, a recently destroyed toll shack warns the group that they are indeed in enemy territory. Across the river, an old Solamnic waystation now houses a small group of hobgoblins and their human commander (all dressed in Dragonarmy regalia). Within the basement vault, the PC's discover some steel pieces and a magical sword of unknown power. The hobs were easily defeated after they attempted to exact a toll from the PCs.

After reaching the valley before the Academy on the third day of travel, the group encounters something quite odd. A moderately sized Dragonarmy presence is camped below which would normally be cause for great concern. However, on closer inspection, none of the figures seen from the PCs' vantage are moving--not an inch. Gundar then notices a dragon flying above the troops, a blue one of human size. But that dangerous creature is also not moving--simply stuck in mid-flight.

The PCs move into the encampment and have a look around. Before too long, a bone snapping and crunching noise is heard from one of the northernmost tents. Inside, a large something is clearly feeding. Beam enacts a plan to have the group surround the tent before he causes magical flame to combust one corner of the tent. The plan works to flush the beast--a manticore--into the open. It refuses a brief attempt at parlaying by the party since they attacked it first. After taking several injuries, the winged beast retreats. The attack did allow Plaxus and Deedra to pick up some bows from frozen draconian troops standing nearby. Despite the battle, none of the Dragonarmy stirred from their spots. Beam recalled a story from his former mentor boasting of a time-control orb stored at the Academy which was created in a past age and that the older human wished to someday experiment with. It was likely that this item had caused the unnatural scene which they were in. Gundar proposed slaying all the Dragonarmy troops where they stood but Plaxus warned against such a dishonorable thing as slaying helpless foes and so the cleric relented.

Beam decided to seek out the commander's tent. Inside, aside from a naked whore under the bunk sheets, the party removed a few magical items from the human's possession along with a warbook--the same type as used by the draconian from Lytburg. The book was rather new so the few pages that were written on yielded that these troops were to sack the Academy and take whatever magics they could find there. The seige had just begun and the commander wrote that he was sending the newly arrived dragon to soften up the defenses as an initial group of draconians tested the Academy's gates.

From what the PCs could tell, that battle plan had only just begun. A winding road led up to the Academy gates from the valley, where they could see that a wall surrounded the site and the buildings within were open to the air. A frozen pillar of smoke indicated at least one pass by the dragon. A handful of draconian troops were near the gates. The PCs promptly disarmed them upon arrival and shoved their frozen forms off the road. A few troops just inside the open gates were being engaged in an silent combat by rope-form humanoids of some kind (which Beam soon deduced to be some kind of golems). Deedra commented on the eeriness of the scene as the PCs moved deeper into the complex.

About a dozen buildings stood silently waiting to be investigated. One of the first to be examined was the rope golem creation house. A medallion sat next to a completed but inactive golem on a worktable. Beam was able to use the magical item to activate the golem, through which he could deliver brief commands. Now with a little more muscle, the group discovered a stairway going down. In the basement, a strange light pulsed from within a doorway. Inside three draconians and one human were found frozen. The human, who Beam immediately recognized as his mentor Zurias, had both hands on the item throwing the light--an orb--fractured by a draconian's blade. Another draconian blade had apparently just severed the wizard's left hand prior to time stopping.

Beam decided to touch the cracked orb in an attempt to disrupt the time effect going on. The other PCs disarmed the frozen draconians and tied the bozak up after slaying the two baaz in case Beam would be successful. The young wizard instead became frozen himself. Gundar decided to try a different approach and wrenched Zurias' hands from the orb. There was an explosion of light and sound and, after the light dimmed, two of the three draconians were simply gone, leaving the adventurers with Zurias. The older wizard was surprised, to say the least, but grateful for the group's arrival (and for Gundar's field mending of the man's severed wrist).

The PCs explained they were after Promise Flame information so Zurias quickly led the group up to one of the Academy libraries. But it would not be an easy task to cross the complex (for the book they sought was on the other side of the Academy) as the attack by the Dragonarmy resumed as though nothing had happened. A few dragonarmy troops were dispatched (along with a troublesome kapak archer on a rooftop) before the blue dragon made a pass with its lightning breath weapon. The PCs slightly wounded it and it veered off as the group made it into the library (Beam also sent his rope golem to help reinforce the gates). The book (a history of the Third Dragon War written just after the Cataclysm) had all the information they would need, assured Zurias.

To escape the Academy attack, Zurias knew the group would need to use a secret exit which would, again, require a crossing of the Academy grounds. This time, the dragon strafed accurately with its lightning breath and grievously wounded both Plaxus and Beam (the latter dropping unconscious from the damage). Zurias picked up the young wizard while Gundar retrieved the book. A combined attack by the three remaining adventurers bruised the dragon enough to cause it to retreat while more draconian troops poured up to the gates (barely held in check by the few rope golems there).

Within a supply room, a secret panel hid a dwarven rune which Zurias used to open a double stone door (a medallion with the same raised rune fit into the panel's depression). Unfortunately, the doorway could only be sealed from the Academy side so Zurias knew he had to be the one to stay behind. As he handed off Beam's unconscious form to Gundar, the mentor cried and said to the wizard, "I'm very proud of you...my son. I had to give you up for the magic. I can only hope that, one day, you will understand." The surprised adventurers retreated to safety in the old dark corridor as Zurias threw in the door-opening medallion. The PCs heard the arrival of many draconians as the stone doors sealed shut, leaving the group in darkness.

New Interface

So, for some reason, I decided to start up a facebook fan page for myself (as you can see along the sidebar). I know a handful of people like what I produce so I figured "what the hell!" I'm happy to have over 50 followers in the first couple days. I'm going to try and put on content regularly but, let's be honest, is my writing life that interesting? Time will tell. So far, I've lined up some tidbits that some may not know about my past writing. We'll deal with future events when they happen.

Oh, and look for a synopsis of last week's Dragonlance adventure soon!

Is Freelancing Glamorous?

I think pretty much everyone can agree with Mr. Wendig here.

Cover Art!

Here's a new look at the front/back cover spread for Tricky Owlbear's Forgotten Foes!

A Sad Anniversary

It's hard to believe it has already been a year since my friend Chuck's passing. You are still greatly missed, my friend.

Compendium Sale

For a limited time only, we're having a special on Behind the Spells: Compendium over at RPGNow. If you still haven't picked up this 5-star product, you can now get it for 50% off until May 19 by clicking here!

D&D: The Next Generation

A few months ago, I received a startling call from my sister. Turns out, her oldest son Aiden (who will be 9 in Oct.) ran across a reference to Dungeons & Dragons and became interested in reading about it. I pondered briefly how best to indoctrinate my nephew into the roleplaying fold. Should Aiden be thrust into the rules-heavy editions of today? Or should he be weaned in the same manner I was? One look at the above picture tells you which way I went.

I was fortunate enough to locate a complete and intact Basic Rules red box from www.hitpointe.com for, what I considered to be, a fair price. There's so much D&D history that I want Aiden to be exposed to if he decides to pursue this course. The older editions like the basic one featured here may be a bit clunky rules-wise but one cannot deny the air of freedom it gives. It was written at a time in which roleplaying itself was just finding its place in the world and the promise of a golden future of gaming was at hand. I think one can say the same about a 9-year-old's life too.

As it was with my own formative years, I can only hope that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between a boy and his imagination.

New Review

In case you're not peeking in at the Tricky Owlbear blog too much, I'll mention here that there's a new review for Behind the Monsters: Gargoyle. Check it out!

Paying for Convenience

Well, my trip did not yield any Star Wars d6 goodies but I did make two off the cuff purchases: the Dragon Age box set from Green Ronin and Goodman's (system generic) Random Esoteric Creature Generator. The former I picked up because a nice, new, easy system sounded like a nice change of pace from the rules-bloated days of 3.x/Pathfinder (and, yes, they're bloated, don't let anyone tell you differently).

The latter I picked up because...well, because it was a convenient resource to have. It has tons of tables to roll randomly on to whip up different monster concepts/features/abilities/yada yada. Could I not have come up with this book on my own? Sure, anyone could have. But to have it right there already fleshed out is just something that appealed to me. I paid for convenience and I think that's what typifies rpg purchasing for us busy 30-somethings.

d6 Anyone?

When visiting one of my quaint "local" game stores (local meaning Palmyra, PA) the other week, I picked up one of the old d6 Star Wars adventure compilation books. I have nothing but good memories of both the d6 system and gaming in the Star Wars universe (mostly thanks to our stellar GM, Ryan!) and miss it a great deal. I'm heading to another game store today (Showcase Comics at the Granite Run mall) in the hopes of tracking down some other d6 SW books sitting forgotten on a dusty shelf. There's nothing like finding an old friend that just needs a little polish to make him useful again. Heather allowed me to borrow her collection of books but I'll need my own when I start GMing it again anyway (and shopping is, of course, half the fun!). Wish me luck on the hunt!

Bear!

So, I'm out for a hike today minding my own business when I hear a noise behind me. Sounds very much like deer but the foliage is too thick to see very far. The noises go past pretty fast but then I hear another behind them moving more slowly. I already had my Droid out and on camera mode because I thought I might get a deer photo. With this noise coming my way, I was practically drooling for the animal to emerge.

Turns out, I wasn't the only one.

A black bear meandered onto the trail about 50 feet behind me. This was a small side trail leading to another side trail. Not the best place to encounter a bear (if there is such a thing as a good place!). I did what anyone would do with a camera poised--took a picture. The bear, which looked to be my size (I'm 6' tall), took a step toward me as I took several steps backward. I said, "Hey buddy," as I backed away slowly. Immediately I thought of what I could do to stall his advance and recalled having two lollipops in my pack. I took them out as I continued to retreat up the trail, unwrapped them, and threw them to the ground.

So this is how it ends, I thought as the bear took another couple steps my way. When I reached the intersection of another trail shortly thereafter I banged my walking stick on a tree and yelled, "Hey, don't you come up here!" I recalled that bear don't appreciate loudness and that they may not approach you if you're threatening (it's easy to say this advice when you're not facing one though).

At that point, I took off down the trail as fast as I could go. I chanced a look back and spit out my gum to give it something else to investigate should it decide to follow. I ran until I couldn't run anymore but I would not stop. Walking as swiftly as my legs could carry me, I continually looked back and twice though I saw a black form in the distance. I briefly considered making a bee line for the edge of the woods which I knew was somewhere on my right but there was no telling what barriers I would run into before reaching the unseen treeline.

Somehow, I kept my cool and stayed on the most direct trail over to the Hamburg reservoir (about two miles away at my encounter point). I took the trail leading to the road right before the parking lot because it was a little faster. All the while I was praying the bear was not interested in pursuit and indeed did not see it after my first couple of possible sightings. When I was just about at the main road I called my brother and said, "I need you to pick me up at the reservoir. Now." When he asked what was wrong I replied, "I'm being chased by a black bear!" He said, "I'll be right out."

He and Zlaty arrived, the latter bearing two knives to fend off the bear (thanks!), shortly thereafter and I was driven back to my car 3 miles away. All in all, I would have preferred an uneventful walk but you have to play the hand your dealt. :)

I'm Not Surprised

LPJ stole my Behind the Spells idea for his own pdf line? Duh.

And...We're Back!

Been awhile since I blogged so I figured I'd better let my two readers know what's going on. My courier job is officially over as of this past Saturday. I received word from a fellow courier that the new company who was awarded the Sovereign Bank contract would be taking over starting Monday (4/19) and my company confirmed that after a day. I'll miss the money but not the daily hassle. My road rage should also diminish. :)

Fortunately, as I mentioned previously, I'm back at my first home--the drug store. I'm pleased to have had a job to jump to following the driving one (that company would have found something else for me but it wouldn't have been as good or, likely, lasted for very long since I think they're on their last legs). My time away from the store has given me more perspective on life and I don't feel like I'm in a box there anymore. Will I be at this job for the long haul? Who can say? The pharmacist, Loralee, is planning to implement some changes which sound very employee-fruitful so that's good. We're also looking forward to a young new pharmacist to take David's place when he retires (sooner or later). Change really is good and I'm glad to have discovered during my employment walkabout. However, there's something to be said for the status quo too and how there's room for both in life.

In writing news, I've completed BtS: Permanency and handed that over to Scot for editing. He's also working on a new website for Tricky Owlbear. The company is still preparing for the big Pathfinder release for this summer--Forgotten Foes. Looks like this bad boy will clock in at over 70k words of monstery goodness. It will contain many classics you already know and love as well as a few new surprises. This product will put the old Owlbear on the map.

New Review

Wow, I don't know when I reached "legendary" status but I'm not complaining! Frequent reviewer Chris Gath dishes about his play experience for one of my adventures Vengeance in Freeport.

The Favored of Skexxiz

At long last, the troglodyte locale I wrote is seeing the light of day, now for the Pathfinder RPG! Once, long ago, I was working on a troglodyte locale that would dovetail nicely with some of Ed Bourelle's (SkeletonKey Games) tiles. For whatever reason, the project never really got off the ground. However, every good writer knows that you never throw anything away as you might be able to use (or even re-use) it later. That's the case with this pdf release from Tricky Owlbear. Check it out!

GM's Day Sale!

Tricky Owlbear has got all of its pdfs on sale from now through Monday, March 8th! Stop by either OBS, Paizo, or YourGamesNow to pick up some good deals!

Got Monsters?

Check out the new ad from Tricky Owlbear!

Campaign Notes: DL 1-4

Title: Resistance

PC Level: 3rd

For this fourth episode of season one (you can find the previous entry here), the PCs along with Sirs Jiran and Plaxus made their way to Thelgaard to see what they were up against. Were the refugees' tales from the second adventure exaggerated? Had dragons truly returned to Krynn?

With Thelgaard still a mile or two away, the group was passing by a farmhouse when they heard a woman's fearful cry. Tall wheat fields straddled the path to the house from which emerged two man-sized blue centipede-like creatures as the PCs rushed ahead. Deedra was first into the house as her companions battled the great vermin. As the minotaur walked over the body of a human male in the doorway, a young girl sprinted out the back door, leaving her mother to fight off a third horax (the name of these Krynnish "centipedes") in the house. The horax outside were eventually defeated but Sir Jiran became increasingly vocal and almost rage-like during the fight. Both knights joined Deedra inside while Beam noted a fourth horax in the corn fields out back going for the terrified girl.

Regrettably, the wizard was a bit too far to cast a spell that might have diverted the vermin and it leapt upon the innocent child with voracious hunger. Beam finally got close enough to explode a fiery attack on the creature but it was too late for the girl. Gundar then closed in to do melee as the horax inside continued to fight off the three companions there after nearly taking off the farmwife's hand. Eventually, these two last horax were killed but Gundar lie outside close to death from his wounds. Plaxus rushed outside to tend to the wounded but Jiran took on a decidedly different appearance after the battle. Deedra was suddenly attacked by the knight, whose skin seemed to melt from his bones as he accused the PCs of being inferior and incapable of fighting the coming darkness. The knight fled the scene and, although dutifully chased by Deedra, seemed to melt away into the wheat field, only a tell-tale yellow glow left behind.

Beam theorized that Sir Jiran's encounter with the magical undead-controlling item from the last adventure was somehow to blame. Meanwhile, the farmwife, also an apothecary, managed to stabilize Gundar and provide for a quicker recovery. Deedra, Beam, and Sir Plaxus investigated one of the horax holes found in the field that foray yielded little beyond a tattered pouch with a few steel pieces the group then gave to the poor woman who had lost both husband and child in the attack. After Gundar's recovery, the woman took what possessions she could and thanked the PCs for their aid before heading west away from the approaching armies of darkness.

Thelgaard is finally reached, a city that is but half intact. The knightly keep at its center is totally destroyed and the eastern half of the city lies in ruins from the attack of dragons and dragon-men some weeks before. Refugees from these destroyed buildings line the main road into the city, begging all who pass for food and aid for their injuries. Gundar stops to pray for a young woman who was badly burned. Her face magically heals thanks to the power of Kiri-Jolith and this, needless to say, attracts the attention of all refugees nearby. They paw at Gundar for more help but he explains that his powers are limited and they must not look to him right now.

Gundar then asks the woman if she knows of a blacksmith's shop. She leads them to the door of a nearby smithy and leaves. Inside, a burly smith named Lanc helps the group more than they expected. He quickly identifies them as "soldiers of fortune" and that such people might do well with the burgeoning resistance movement that has formed to fight the dragonarmy. In fact, the smith also knows the name of the flame icon the PCs found in the last adventure! This is one of three pieces of an artifact capable of opening something called the Promise Hearth, which contains the means to relight the Promise Flames. These are great cauldrons of flame which once burned across Solamnia. It was said that no matter where you were in the country you could see at least one. But that was before the Cataclysm and now their flames are seen no longer (they were originally gifts from the gods to instill hope in the people following the last Dragon War--hope of the promise that Takhisis would never return to threaten the world). For more information on where to find the other Flames and the Promise Hearth, Lanc suggested consulting the Sage Academy (the next populated spot east of Thelgaard).

Certain winks from Lanc and such bountiful knowledge (and fabulous wares in the shop) led the group to believe that they were in the presence of no less than Kiri-Jolith himself! After leaving the shop to find a resistance movement contact in the eastern ruins, the blacksmith's shop did, in fact, fade away to reveal a common residence. The contact for the resistance was a lapidary who Beam directed the clever comment, "I'm looking for a ring of resistance." The man got the subtle hint and excused himself to presumably go and fetch a resistance member. When the man never returned, the party was attacked by a group of club-wielding thugs and a dragon-man (slightly different from the previous one in that it turned to stone when slain instead of exploding).

The party returned to the Ox and Yam inn where they had earlier purchased rooms for the night, certain that the lapidary had betrayed them. While on watch downstairs in the bar overnight, Deedra spoke with a man who bemoaned the recent death of the jeweler, the body just being discovered hours before with vicious claw marks all over him. This information, coupled with the fact that the gems the party decided to loot from the wrecked shop earlier were real, made them rethink their theory of betrayal. Before leaving the inn to head for the Sage Academy, a resistance member made contact with them. She had discovered that the lapidary's loyalities to the resistance had been uncovered by dragonarmy members and that they must have used him to help squelch prospective recruits.

The woman said she was from an established resistance cell in Solanthus and the movement was rather unsuccessful in soliciting more members here in Thelgaard (the group itself had little hope so how were they going to instill it in others?). Now, she needed the PCs help as what few members were here had been captured and were even now being tortured for information at an abandoned cathedral in east town. The cathedral was probably once impressive but the fine arts had been neglected ever since the Cataclysm, for who since then has had time or ambition for such fineries?

Inside the building, the party fought more dragon-men (some stone-turning ones and another which collapsed into a pool of acid on dying). There was also a tiny black dragon which breathed a stream of acid. Fortunately, all of these evil creatures were dispatched without PC death and the resistance members were rescued. They told of a great army of these "draconians" and dragons east of here. A small force had attacked Thelgaard but then was inexplicably called back by a great horn blast. Perhaps the dragonarmy is solidifying itself before moving onward in its conquest?

The resistance fighters said they were heading back to Solanthus and gave the PCs instruction on where and how to contact them should they ever be in that area. The party took note of all they had learned this day and prepared to find more information about the Promise Flames at the Sage Academy. But who knows what they might learn, much less how they will even reach the Academy, as it is behind enemy lines...

Grognardia reviews MMM #1

Our fledgling effort gets a bit banged up in James' review but I find his critiques quite informative. Tricky Owlbear will be sure to have a trick up its sleeve for MMM #2.