Star Wars Revised Session 14

After talking to the floaty talking figure in the tree.  We overhear other Jedi say that the ruins are over 21,000 years old which means the droids are also that old.  They also say that zero non-force users have ever been inside these ruins.

-FLASHBACK-

When we first entered the ruins, I noticed a large door-sized white marble stone in the hill about ten meters past the entrance.

-END FLASHBACK-

I just noticed that there was an empty handed droid that is unarmed standing inside an alcove next to the stone covered by the roots of the normal-sized tree growing above the white rock on the hill and it is watching us.  All the other droids are missing.  A battalion of troopers with auto-cannons, padawans, and masters are gathered around the hole we found.  Scouting party are being formed for reconnaissance on the ruins and some are being stationed in certain areas.

   I asked the hologram in the tree what else we woke up and the hologram replied,"He's not up yet and neither is she."

   "She?"

   "Yes, there are two of them" stated the hologram matter-of-factly.

   "What are them" I ask.

   "They are two very powerful dark-side users."

   "Sith, or before Sith?"

   The hologram replies,"before Sith."

   "How long till they wake up?"

   "Good question.  All depends on what you disturbed.  Hopefully you didn't get too far into the vault.  Hopefully they won't wake."

   "All we did was open the door.  We got freaked out when the dead people started moving."

   We hear him chuckle under his breath and say,"I really need to thank that tech for that."

   "What tech do you mean?"

   "Oh, you heard that.  His name was Tal'roc.  He was a Twi'lek and liked zombie films."

   A collective sigh is heard behind us when the news that the dead coming alive down in the hole were holograms.  The hologram asks me to leave and a padawan comes and takes Fra'll and I to guard a mountain pass while he talks to our masters.  The dark-force still pulses from below and every time it does the walls within the ruins glow white.

   "What race are you?"

   The padawan answers me,"I'm a Kathar."

  She asks,"What do you think of all this?"

   "What do you mean?"

   She explains what she means by reciting everything that has transpired since we arrived at the ruins.  She says something about how this is a minor problem.

Two robed figures enter the ruins, walk to the unarmed droid, bow, say a few words, walk to the Lady in White, said a few words, looked at Fra'll and I, then said a few more words to her, turned around and walked out, nodding to the droid, and left through the ruin entrance.  Heard two speeders leave shortly thereafter.

My master approaches after talking with the Lady in White and says we are going someplace else, off planet, to a restricted planet to deal with some living force.

   We leave the ruins on our speeders and make our way to the temple grounds and see everyone training for battle and several transports, seven to ten inbound.  There are troopers and non-force users inside the sacred temple.   Place is literally an army encampment.

   Kaleth Ruins destroyed via explosion.  Can feel the dark-side emanating from there at the Temple.  See large smoke clouds rising from the direction of the ruins.  Healing others for rest of day.  Make it back to our rooms at temple after about five hours of helping and we end up having to share a room due to overcrowding of wounded.  The hole that we found in the ground is now twenty meters by twenty meters crater.  The droid that was unarmed at the ruins is now standing by the temple where it meets the mountain it's built into and it's holding something.  I wake up, grab my ration box and head over to talk to the droid.  I ask him two things: who are you and what are you holding?

   He answers,"I am the protector.  I am the one to see if you are worthy of the item."

   I see the item he is holding is a wrapped cylinder.  The droid has no rust and no signs of age, even though he is 21,000 years old or older.  It says,"I feel that it is on purpose that the two awoke and destroyed part of the test.  The other part of the test is to know what the item is."

   He tells me it is the First Hilt.  The first hilt is the very first hilt of the very first lightsaber.  The hilt can still be used as a hilt for a lightsaber.  The last time it was used was over 20,000 years ago.  No one has proven worthy since.

   Before I get to the droid I see him talking to a force apparition that's different than the hologram force apparition at the ruins.  The outfit the apparition is appearing in is a cross between a Sith Lord and a Jedi Knight.

That's where we left off.  Out next meeting will be in two weeks, Tuesday Night because of the World's Largest Trivia Contest.  Until next time, safe gaming and have fun.

Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Session 15

We were surrounded by satyrs.  Fortunately, I had enough time to push Bram off his horse and one of the satyrs not knowing that Nightwind was effected closed to engage in melee with him.  The satyrs had shortbows, but most of them were in melee with us and used there heads, literally, to attack us.  One closed behind Ja'Lil on his horse, but Ja'Lil used his horse to try and get away and ended up attacking the one preventing him from leaving with his horse.  Nightwind dropped the first one and soon after Ja'Lil was knocked from his horse and fled through the brush and rocks surrounding the road we were on.  Bram, having woken up from being dumped off his horse, used his magic missile wand after using his spell of the same name to get rid of some of them.  I told everyone at the beginning that they needed cold iron weapons to defeat them faster.  My longsword didn't do much damage, but when there was only one satyr left Nightwind and I flanked him and a was able to sneak attack him and drop him.
   After we stacked there bodies and found their treasure, a large chest full of silver and a masterwork wooden harp, we set up camp for the night on the other side of the road.  While resting for the night, we scared off a black bear scrounging around looking for something.  I was happy we were lucky in only having one black bear show up.
   We continued towards the ruins at first light and had an uneventful lunch of rations.  We started towards the ruins afterwords until we were about an hour away from the bridge.  We hear some noise from our left and find ourselves being attacked by some large owlbear skeletons.  All we knew was that they were undead creatures.  Ja'Lil was the man of the hour with his cleric training.  He destroyed three of the skeletons before Nightwind and I could get the fourth wobbling on his feet for Bram to use his wand and blast the last one to dust.  Apparently, skeletons have no treasure, but when I uttered these words, Ja'Lil, the cleric replied,"that's because they have no pockets."  We all have a good laugh after that.

That's where we left off for the night.  We'll be back on in a month since we are participating in the World's Largest Trivia event in two weeks and preparing ourselves with note gathering.  Until next time; safe gaming and have fun.

Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Session 14

We knock on the door to the small cabin where Stand lives; definitely meager in appearance.  There was a vegetable garden to the rear of the cabin, a scant stable for his warhorse, and a stonewall drawing well with a large wooden bucket behind the garden.  The scenery was very picturesque.  We hear a response from inside the cabin, "Yeah."
   Nightwind pipes in,"We are here to talk and we brought some friends."  We hear some shuffling from inside and about five minutes later the door opens.  Filling the large door frame in front of us is the figure of Stand, the paladin of Chauntea.  He is wearing his plate mail armor with his holy symbol prominently etched into it with oak filigree.  He is the biggest human that I have ever seen.
   "I see you brought some friends," Stand utters while he turns to face the drow Druid,"I am Stand Doffersteen and who might you be?"
   "I am Syllanna Darklight of the Darklight family, but I am now known as Lightwater, my Druid name.  I am pleased to meet you."
   Stand nods approvingly and sidesteps evacuating the door and leaving a halfling that it seems nobody noticed was standing behind him.  Stand announces,"This is my friend and partner; introduce yourself Rolo."
   The halfling shuffles his feet a bit and then seems to gain his self-confidence as he erects himself and bows formally towards Syllanna,"I am Rolondo Trackfeet, but I am known as Rolo the Tracker.  My friends call me Rolo."  He rights himself and immediately sidesteps behind the paladin.
   At that moment, the army mage-cleric, the human that we rescued from inside the orc encampment, stepped forward,"I am Sir Staven Misthaven.  It has been my privilege to know you, but after what has happened at Po's Inn, I need to be back on my  way to Reka Padaet.  I must first speak with the stable master at Po's to procure new horses for me and my countrymen.  Fare thee well."
  We learn a few interesting things from Stand while we watch Sir Staven and the three other soldiers head off to Trynt.  We then inform him off the pending doom coming from the Black Tree Ruins and he informs us that we need to go back and count how many leaves remain on the tree.  He tells us that he will go into Trynt and investigate what happened at Po's Inn.  We head off towards town; Stand and Rolo said they would be arriving tomorrow.
   We go to Korgle's and Syllanna comes with us, though she says she is leaving in the morning.  Once we arrive at Korgle's we hear obnoxious tales inside, which is packed full, about a dragon, a vampire, and some lizardfolk group.  We find a table in the corner with three chairs and two more chairs along the wall.  We all sit down.  After awhile, I notice Syllanna paying attention intently to the rumors.
   "You're not believing everything they are talking about, are you?"
   "Well, I don't believe what they are saying about how they all showed up at Po's Inn, but I wonder where they came up with a dragon, a vampire, and lizardfolk."
   "What do you mean?"
   "I mean, why those three particular villains, why not bugbears or orcs that killed everyone at Po's."
   "Oh."
   We ask a passing barmaid about the dragon and the other rumors.  She tells us about a dragon seen about one year ago flying overhead and a story about lizardfolk from the southern marsh swamp three years ago and finally a story about livestock being drained of blood near the lake to the east.  She ends up serving us our food.  While eating, we remember about the little boy we found at Po's.  We go to Po's to check on him after we get done eating.  We notice a small light coming from inside Po's, the door was unlocked, so we go in and say "hello" to see if anyone was there.   A woman comes from in back towards the kitchen and she tells us that the boy was from a visiting family and that he is staying with Mary at Mary's Market.  Ja'Lil says that she looked like she was crying.  The floor of Po's was stained red and looked wet and water-logged.  We go back to Korgle's and sleep.
   When we awake, Syllanna is gone.  We take our horses and ride north towards the black tree ruins and everything was fine until twilight when we were ambushed with magical music.  First Bram, his horse and Ja'Lil's horse fell asleep.  We then heard another melody different than the first.  Ja'Lil had kicked his horse, waking it, but then it seemed that he was affected by this music.  After that music was done, a third tune started up and I heard some leaves rustling to my right and saw a hiding monster in the brush.  I yelled out,"It's a satyr."

That is where we left off.  We will be playing this next week if all goes well.  Until then, game safe and have fun.

Update

I will be writing up the next installment of the DnD 3.5 game I am running in a day or two.  Stay tuned and I apologize for the long anticipated wait.  Until then, safe gaming and have fun.

Star Wars D20 Revised Session 13

The cube on the door had letters on the 6x6 tiled face.  We solved the puzzle which was quite obscure by moving all the pieces off the face until nothing but white tiles shown.  The cube then slides into the door and causes a ripple effect like the door was made of water.  I hear several locks unlocking, then something powers down, then something distinctly different powers up.  The door is opening and the smell of rotting meat emanates from inside which makes me vomit.

After I calm myself down, I see 15 dead bodies in different states of decay from recently deceased to skeletal remains with five skeletons scattered around the room.  Each body has at least one lightsaber on them while some have two and some have the double-bladed.  A human size sarcophagi in the center of the room radiates dark-side force and chains wrapped tightly around it are seemingly attached to something below the floor.  I also see tripwires attached from the corners of the sarcophagi to the corners of the room and four different tripwires attached to really minuscule bars that go into the floor.  I also happened to notice that some of the dead bodies have thermal detonators either booby trapped or not I do not know.  On closer inspection, the robes the dead are wearing are very similar to the robes worn currently by Jedi; the robes seem an older style.

My master then contacts me via the holo-communicator and I explain to him where we are and what we found and how to get to us.  Fra'll points to the bodies and tells me that they are moving.  While watching I see a body move.  I hear my master descending the ladder.  Call my master on holo-com and ask for help while heading towards the ladder.  We round the corner, Fra'll a good couple meters in front of me and we run into my master, the white-robed figure and the two masters that brought us to these ruins.  I tell him that the bodies are moving.  He tells me that he sees two standing up.  I look behind me and see the two human looking Jedi-zombies just standing up.

(Somewhere when the DM was explaining the movement of the dead Jedi moving, I made the joke about the Jedi-zombies dancing the Macarena.  We all laughed pretty hard before continuing with the game.)

I realize that there is four masters while we were escorted by two.  Remember that my master and the white-robed figure weren't initially here.  They told me that they contacted my when they arrived above.  Apparently it took a long while to open the door.  The two of them were literally shoving me up the ladder along with the other two masters, Fra'll having already reached the top, and my master and the Lady in White stayed on the bottom with their lightsabers drawn.I get shoved out of the hole in the ground and notice more speeders and masters with padawans.

I hear a voice coming from the huge tree in the middle of the ruins and turn to see a glimmering ethereal robed figure inside the trunk of the tree.  Everyone notices the figure, even the non-force sensitives.  Most of the Jedi are bowing because they recognize the figure.  I then realize how light-side powerful he is and bow lower than all others on my knees.  He asks Fra'll and I directly why we didn't use the datapads from his ship and why we didn't see the warning on the door, but asked us why we woke him up in the first place.  We told him that using the datapads hadn't even occurred to us and we didn't know that there was a warning on the door and we didn't mean to wake him or even how we did it in the first place.

This is where we left off since we got sidetracked with talk of the World's largest Trivia contest coming up soon in Stevens Point, Wisconsin which is where we all live.  Anyways, until next time, safe gaming and have fun.

Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Session 13

Bram, Ja'Lil, Nightwind, and I left the Black Tree Ruins and headed back to Trynt on our horses.  We made the trip in two days without any problems, but when we got into Trynt and had arrived at our room at Korgle's Karriage we were just getting ready to sleep, already out of our armor and lying down when there was a knock on our door.  Nightwind blurted out,"Who is it?"

We all heard the door open and close.  We then grabbed our weapons which were always close to our beds and noticed after a little while a shadowy figure sitting on a chair near the table in the room.  Nightwind asked Ja'Lil to light a candle.
A deep female voice said,"There is no need."  I ball of light emerged from her hand and illuminated the entire room brightly.  There sat a hooded figure; the light not penetrating the hood concealing her face.  She asked if we had discovered anything at the Black Tree Ruins.  We all looked at each other with dumbfoundedness.
Nightwind replied,"Where?'
She responds,"The place you just came back from."
Nightwind asks,"How do you know where we came from?"
She says,"Because that is where you were going the last time we talked."
We all look dumbfounded until she lowers her light and removes the hooded cloak concealing her face.
We instantly recognize her as the female Drow that helped us awhile back.
She asks,"Did you find anything new out on the Black Tree Ruins?"
We show her the map and tell her we found it in Phrum Castle.  She asks us if and where we found any other information about the ruins.  We tell her of Grimml, the gnome.
She gasps,"A gnome mapkeeper.  You met a gnome mapkeeper here in Trynt?  I would like to meet him.  We'll go in the morning.  I'll sleep here."  We all sleep and travel across the street to Grimml's in the morning.  We knock loudly on the door since we remember how long it took last time we were here for him to answer the door.  She said that she should be the one in the front of the door since he hadn't met her yet.  We didn't argue.  She approached the door as Nightwind stepped away after knocking loudly.  She knocked on the door with a slight single tap and the whole building shook and dust came out of every nook and cranny.  About three seconds after she knocked, the door swung open and Grimml was standing there and was yelling,"Can I ..." and as he noticed her he became quite distraught and whimpered the last little bit " ... help you?"
She replied,"I am sure you can."
Grimml bowed and swept the door open for her to enter and as he did we followed her inside.  While stepping inside, we noticed low clouds of dust being swept outside into the street.  The place was clean and organized as far as we could see.
She leaned down and whispered into Grimml's ear,"Are you a Lorekeeper as well?"
Grimml simply nodded his head.  She sat down and we around her while she asked Grimml for anything he had on the city of Shyvalti.  Grimml went to a bookshelf toward the back of the room, moved a book and part of the shelf swung in to the right, he entered and about fifteen seconds later and after some noise of things being shuffled around, he emerged with a stack of five books and a couple maps.
She simply said,"Show me."
Grimml started opening the books and laying out the maps on the table nearby which was cluttered the last time we were here.
Nightwind says,"Looks like you cleaned up in here and organized."
Grimml nods no, glances towards the Drow and replies,"It was a gift.  I'll try to keep it this way from now on."
He opens the first book and Grimml says,"Most of the books say the same thing, but this one says it the best."

THE BOOK READS:
Shyvalti was created by Magister Elwynn Nightshade in the year of the moon at harvest time (about 250 years ago).  The population reached a peak of 3,000 individuals before it was destroyed by an unknown entity 200 years after its creation.

Grimml then points at the maps showing that they all have the city of Shyvalti listed on them.  The map he shown to us earlier is not among the ones he is showing and we whisper between ourselves about this, but he overhears us and states,"The one I showed to you was stolen about 6 days ago."
He points to one particular map and says,"This map has Shyvalti* listed, but has an asterisk after the name.  I looked on the back of the map and there is an asterisk there."  He points to it.

THE WORDS AFTER THE ASTERISK:
   *Believed destroyed because it cannot be found.

We are about to leave when Grimml points his index finger towards the sky and shouts,"Ohh!, I just remembered."  He rushes to the open bookshelf he used before and closes it, moves a different book and the bookshelf opens the other direction.  He enters and all we can see is his illuminated backside.  We hear rustling and then he emerges with a book.  Grimml brings the book over and we notice that the binding has Elven script written in gold while it also has common scratched into it as well.

THE COMMON PHRASE:  "Prophecy and Poem"
THE ELVEN PHRASE:   "Prophecy in Poem"

We ask if the translation is correct and tell him its not, but he insists that it is correct because he translated it.  His tone implied that he knew the translation was wrong and that he had done so on purpose.  The page he opened to listed a poem with no title.

THE POEM:

     When Xarrax still slumbers
           and the black tree loses all leaves
   he will awaken and take all he sees
           into the depths of hell
   from the gate they made
          in the Runes of Shyvalti.

We get up and leave, but I notice that Grimml bows onto one knee and holds his arm out towards the Drow and says to her,"Thank you Mistress Syllanna and may the Darklight family guide you."

We leave and head towards Po's Inn where the army we saved is resting, but once we get to the center of town near the fountain we hear a blood curdling scream and Bram's ears actually bleed.  People are running away from the inn.  While Bram stays back near the fountain with the Drow, Nightwind, Ja'Lil and I rush towards the front entrance to Po's.  Once inside, we all almost lose our stomachs.  The scene is horrific with dead bodies strewn about the place and a pool of blood in the common room.  We see broken wine casks and the sweet smell permeates the very skin we wear.  Ja'Lil attempts to find any survivors in the common room, we counted ten soldiers, while Nightwind and I go upstairs to find survivors.  The inn has three floors, and on the second we find five dead bodies in the hall and two dead bodies in the first room and two dead bodies in the second room, but also find a slumbering four year old human boy stashed on top of the drapery on the bed.  We continue our search for the Army magic user that we saved.  The first room on the third floor, no bodies in the hallway, has two soldier bodies on the floor and a third standing there staring out the window.  His body suddenly falls to the floor and we see a shadowy figure with a dagger.  The figure seems to fade under the bed and Nightwind hurries to the next room, but yells,"Trouble!"  So I follow him to the next room.  Inside the room we see a soldier grabbing his stomach with a look of pain on his face while the Army mage is holding a sword and pointing it towards the soldier.  Suddenly, the soldiers body flies forward and we see the shadowy figure standing there again with his black dagger in his hand.  Nightwind draws steel and steps to engage the shadowy figure while I step in front of the Army mage in his nightgown and face the shadowy figure.  The shadowy figure looks at Nightwind, then at me, then at Nightwind, then at the mage and points angerly at him with his dagger while barking in Goblin,"It's your luck day, Mage!"
The shadowy figure then phases out in a wisp of cloud and shadow completely disappearing.  We try and save as many as we can, but in the end, only three soldiers survive along with the mage.   We then decide to leave town, we all check Po's stable and find that every animal in the stable is slain.
Nightwind says,"It seems they were efficient."
I say,"No, it means they were thorough."
The mage replies,"It means they don't know who I am or what I am."
We agree to head out to the Paladin's place, a half a day away by foot.  On the way, I ask the Drow,"So Syllanna, what's your last name?"
I am not quick enough to dodge the slap she has for my face and I am not fast enough to land on my feet.  The force of her slap lands me on the ground.
I reply,"What, I only asked your last name?"
She replies,"It's not what you asked, but how you asked it.  You should learn to talk."
She tells of how the name she was born with is Syllanna Darklight, but when she became a Druid seven years ago, that she chose a new Druid name for herself and that she is also known as Lightwater.

We arrive at the Paladin Stand's home, we knock and he is home.

This is where we left off and we had a lot of fun doing some role-play tonight.  Well, until next time, safe gaming and have fun.

Star Wars D20 Revised Session 12

I wake up in the morning.  I arise and get dressed for breakfast.  After breakfast, a young padawan informs us to meet an unknown master outside for training.  We go outside and meet this master, a male human Jedi and await his explanation.  The master tells us that he will test our battle readiness using battle droids on the nearby platform as he points towards it.  Fra'll and I are sluggish after breakfast, but Fra'll a little more so.  We defeat two sets of four battle droids.  The second set of droids was tougher to defeat.  Sparred with a different young padawan.  We were evenly matched, but he eluded my hits even when it felt like I hit him.  Afterwords, we were told to report to the speeder bay.  When we get there, we get a speeder each and told to follow two masters to a temporary forward base and we hear blaster pistols being fired nearby when we arrive.  We arrive at some temple and see old droids defending the temple.  We are told that the old droids are protecting the Ruins of Kaleth, which is precisely where we are headed.  Inside the ruin grounds stands a tree that is massively tall.  The grounds are in a figure eight shape while the tree is in the center of the figure.  The tree has droids on either side of it, but with the two masters with us, they are easily defeated.  When we get past the tree, we head up some stairs that were hidden and find a platform with a green crystal in the center.  The masters tell me to meditate in front of the crystal and then move a boulder about 20 meters in diameter out of the way.  That didn't quite work.  Then told to survey the area, didn't find anything.  Told to search again, more carefully, and Fra'll and I find a hidden room with a hole in the ground that we found from a sound of metal ringing coming from it.  The hole is approximately three meters deep.  I find a ladder leading down.  We clear the debris on top of the ladder, mostly some shrubs and some rocks.  The hole with the ladder, which isn't the other hole we found, leads down and we descend.  I go down three meters and lose the sense of the force.  When I reach ten meters, I can sense the force again.  I stepped on a rung and I was told that it moved a couple centimeters and when I did, we heard a power generator fire up.  I reached the bottom and find myself in a large room.  I hear the sound of my feet on a metal floor.  The room starts to illuminate.  The ladder we descended was small, like the kind they used in the manhole tunnels they use on Corruscant.  I see that the room started about one meter after I started my descent and the ladder is about 30 meters long.  The room looks like a giant square with a giant cube in the middle.  The cube is approximately 28m x 28m x 15m tall.  We followed the wall of the cube and found one door that led inside, but the door has no knob.  The door instead has a cube protruding out of it approximately 25cm x 25cm x25cm.  Blow the dust off the cube and discover writing that is in basic.

This is where we left off.  Mainly because he hadn't come up with what was written on the cube.  If this seems at all familiar to any of you it may be because he is using the new Old Republic Star Wars game that is online for this.  Since neither Luis or I play this game, we don't have any worries.  Until next time, safe gaming and have fun.

Dungeons & Dragons Session 12 (2.5 converted to 3.5)

Well, Nightwind, Ja'Lil, Bram and I, Solon, were standing inside the cave entrance of the Temple of Gruumsh preparing to leave when we noticed a magical wave falling over the world.  I noticed a slight change in all my abilities, gear, and knowledge.  The others said that they had noticed similar changes as well.  (This was the effect of converting from 2.5 edition to 3.5 edition)

Right before we departed the cave, we heard an alarm sound from the orc village tower and we all heard an orc-language coming from that direction.  Nightwind translated for us what the voice was saying.  The voice said,"Owlbears attacking from all sides.  Battle positions.  Battle positions."  We saw groups of orcs leaving the village going north and south and one group, lead by some orc, was coming towards us.  I think they saw us.  There were ten orcs all together, but I couldn't tell which one was the leader.  They all wielded falchions and each had two javelins.  They all wore studded leather armor.  It was a quick fight for the four of us.  We looted what gear we could find and quickly left.

After defeating the orcs we made it out of the village and headed towards our horses, but we heard some growling before we got there.  Bram, Nightwind and I spotted two owlbears hiding by our horses, which they must not have seen or heard or smelled, but they noticed us when we moved closer.  The owlbears charged us and we had a hard time getting into position for a good attack.  Nightwind and I took the fight to them and once I got my flank on them, we defeated them quite quick, but it was touch and go there for a while.  I think I lost consciousness once after receiving a blow from the one owlbear.

We rested the night nearby under cover of the smell of dead owlbear and departed for Trynt in the morning.  We were a slow moving group, especially with the seventeen survivors of the Temple.  We made it to Trynt in four days.  Found out that the full moon was in three days time.  We made plans to make toward the Black Tree Ruins the next day, but for now we'll rest and get some needed gear and maybe do some upgrading on our gear.

We left the next day, and had an easy two days travel to where we think the ruins were according to the map.  Luckily, Ja'Lil found some shiny stones that turned into a trail.  We couldn't have found it without his help or the full moon's light.  We followed the trail, which turned into a paved path and led straight to a covered wooden bridge, but the moonlight didn't shine inside.  Nightwind, Ja'Lil, and I were all kinda weirded out by this, but Bram didn't seem to notice and walked straight inside the covered bridge with his lit up staff and disappeared.  We called out and he answered back, like nothing was amiss.  Apparently there was a magic field of glamour at the front of the bridge protecting what was on the other side.  When we walked through, I noticed right away that the glamour field extended further than just the mouth of the covered bridge.  We didn't see anything from outside the entrance that we could see now.  First was the silvery path inside the bridge and extending up the thirty-foot hill with the ruins where the black tree could be seen.  All of this was visible from this side of the bridge.  The path was wide enough for one horse and it zig-zagged all the way up the hill.  We entered the ruins through an archway wide enough for one horse.

Inside the ruins, we discovered a guard station, a ruined building, an old, torn-up, worn-down stable and a circle of stones around the awe inspiring black tree.  I searched the guardhouse and told the others that it was recently built within the last three years, but hadn't been used for the last year.  I hypothesized that maybe something lived here, but was now dead or gone.  I then told the others of a story I had heard from the merchants back in our village of the people of the south who had gardens of rock and how they only used rakes to keep them clean and organized.  I told them that these ruins reminded me of a garden of rock.  How all the leaves were gone from the ground, no tracks anywhere, and that the only leaves were black and inside the circle of stones around the black tree.  Nightwind investigated the circle of stones around the tree and then stepped over the circle of the stones.  Outside the circle, the black tree appears to be only about thirty feet tall, but inside the circle, which I entered after Ja'Lil and Nightwind, appeared to be over one hundred feet tall and while it was only five feet from the circle of stones outside the circle it was now thirty feet away from us and it was almost thirty feet in diameter.  It was maybe two feet thick on the outside of the circle.  I immediately left the inside of the circle and was amazed to find that I could not see Nightwind or Ja'Lil inside the circle, but I could still talk to them like they were next to me.  I convinced Bram to try and he couldn't step over the stones to get inside the circle.  The others couldn't even hear his voice.  Bram started investigating the stones around the tree.  I translated what he said to the other side of the circle.  I witnessed Bram studying the stones when he pulled out this little broom and started sweeping the stones.  He wasn't saying anything and was going from stone to stone around the tree.  He got to the last stone and passed out.  I told the others and Ja'Lil came out to check on Bram.  Ja'Lil woke Bram up and asked him what was going on.  Bram then remembered what he had been doing and relayed the story of the symbols that were engraved into the stones to us.

Long ago, there was a beautiful Elven city here called Shyvalti.  Many lived here and all were welcome.  One day a traveling person entered the city and vanished.  People remembered him entering, but didn't remember what he looked like or where he had gone or if he had left.  Other people started vanishing.  The royal court's investigators came in and searched high and low for the missing people.  On the eighth day, the investigators found all the bodies, forty-seven in all underground in the cavern that supported the city's well.  They also encountered the evil that had started living there.  It was a very powerful Troll ************.   The Royal Court's wizards came in and bound the evil inside the well and put five wards on the tomb of this evil.  The first ward was the iron tomb that sealed the body of the monster.  The second ward was the tree on the tomb around the body.  The third ward was the invisible force field around the tree preventing any from touching it.  The druids had come in to plant the oak tree on the tomb, but the evil inside the tomb made the tree black.  They used their magic to make the tree grow, but the evil eventually made the giant tree all black including the leaves that fell from it.  The fourth ward was the field around the circle of stones that prevented any non-Elf from entering near the tree.  The fifth and final ward was the field around the city preventing all from seeing inside.

Bram also told us of the stone after the symbol for troll that was eroded away.  He told us that magical symbols don't erode away.  He also told us of the last stone he read before passing out.  He told us that the last stone was in a different hand and that it was extremely evil.  He said that the words on the stone were: I'm coming back.  SOON!

After hearing this story, we all decided to go back to Trynt and send word to the Druids and hopefully prevent disaster from coming again.

AD&D 2nd Edition Revised to 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons

We met on our regularly scheduled Tuesday Night and began the process of converting the old 2.5 characters to the 3.5 edition.  The process took longer than expected which means that we had less than an hour left for combat.  This wouldn't work, so we called it a night.  The conversions are done and the next time we meet we will be starting combat.  As it stands, we rescued 15 prisoners that belonged to the army and the paladin and rogue that we had gone to find in the first place.  Also, in 3.5 edition, Bram cannot use a wand of fire since one doesn't exist, so now it is a wand of fireball and he isn't high enough level to use it.  The Bracers of Dexterity are now Bracers of Dexterity +4, and his cloak is a Cloak of Protection +3.  He has a Wand of Fireball and a Wand of Magic Missile which both have 50 charges.

As a side note, I haven't decided if Bram will be a Wizard or a Warmage.  I am leaning towards a Warmage, but maybe I will Multi-class him.

Until next time, safe gaming and have fun.

AD&D 2.5 to Dungeons and Dragons 3.5

So, I have looked at my game and I believe that it would be far easier to convert the existing characters in my AD&D Revised game into 3.5 D&D characters than it is to convert 3.5 D&D Monsters into 2.5 D&D Monsters.  I looked at the books and thought "NO."  Originally, it was my plan to convert some of the monsters in the five Monster Manuals into terrifying monstrosities for 2.5 D&D, but the conversions were not consistent with the Conversion Manual PDF I downloaded.  So, just gonna start the game where the characters left off, maybe after one last 2.5 game and then convert to 3.5 and just keep rolling.  I feel and hope this transition will suit me better and my players, plus, on the positive side, if I do convert to 3.5, I will hopefully gain another player on hopefully a permanent situation.

Star Wars D20 Revised Session 11

After stowing the lightsabers in the cargo hold I come out and see Terrance flipping a coin.  I asked him what was up with the coin.  He said that the coin had saved his life because when he bent over to pick it up the blaster shot that was aimed for his head missed.  We talk about the definition of a 'good' scoundrel compared to a 'bad' scoundrel.  The reason someone was shooting at him was because of the bounty on him and that all scoundrels had a bounty on them.  I told him that only the 'good' scoundrels had bounties on them and that 'bad' scoundrels were dead.  He readily agreed.

The sandstorm subsides in about an hour and the children haven't moved from their seats or at all because of their catatonic nature.  We radio the space outpost and get clearance to land.  We do not mention that we have kids with us.  We dock and see Captain Lyn Me and Captain Tai Lynn when the shuttle doors open.  I speak with Captain Lyn Me while Terrance talks with Captain Tai Lynn.  I speak with the captain on the shuttle with the doors closed.  I inform the captain of what happened on Korriban.  We leave the shuttle and have the kids moved to the medical bay.  I take the lightsabers in a sack and also have the triangle pieces and the two crystals with me.  Captain tells me that I will have to tell the council what I have told her.  I ask about how the battle went and am told that the invading forces left minus one of their ships because it was destroyed leaving them with two.  The council still being on board the outpost.  While waiting for the council to arrive I was approached by a young cadet and asked to give him the triangles.  I asked him to take me to his commanding officer and I meet the Security Commander of the outpost.  I ask her if she has any force-users in her command and she says she has a couple of Jedi.  I ask if any of the other triangles emitted any force and she tells me that none of them do.  I inform her that these four pieces all emit force and then hand them over to her.

The council being ready, I enter the room and inform them of everything that has transpired.  I also add to my information an assumption that 'the crystals are or were a myth and/or a secret that has been forgotten'.  During the meeting I receive a communique that Captain Tai Lynn's ship is ready to depart.  I leave to go to the ship after I am done telling the council the news.

I enter the ship and find Captain Lyn Me and all the kids in the med-bay.  I head towards the ship's lounge after the ship's outside door finally closes.  I sensed force right before the door closed.  Inside the lounge, I see the white-robed figure with three other Jedi.  I heard somebody coming up behind me and I turned slowly holding my lightsaber in my hand and saw my master.  He said with a glean in his eye,"We have to discuss much about your training."
We jumped into hyperspace after launch and we were informed that it would be three days travel.

Day 1

My training consisted of wearing a space fighter helmet with the blast shield down and blocking shots from a floating blaster ball.

Day 2

I play chess with the white-robed figure and win.  I play a Sulustean Jedi and lose.  I finally play my master and lose.  The three games took all day.

Day 3

While eating breakfast, hear all three kids screaming from med-bay.  Run to investigate and when I arrive I hear the voice of the big guy that we met on Korriban.  He said something about how he told us that we would meet again.  The alarm sounds telling us that we may exit hyperspace.







Terrance and Captain Tai Lynn head to bridge and I follow.  I see a planet with green fields and blue skies everywhere and huge purple mountains.  It seems a temperate planet and the scans indicate low technology, but massive life readings and no pollution.  We receive coordinates to land with permission.  We arrive on a landing platform in the middle of a forest.  Three Jedi are there to welcome us.

The male Jedi, who has a female Jedi on either side of him, says,"Welcome to Tython."

My master looks at me and says,"You have an inquisitive look on your face."

I reply,"I sense the dark side."

"Yes, this from history that has played out."

Notice the Security Commander from the outpost talking to her sister.  I asked her why she is here and she said that this mission was to important to entrust to anyone.  I notice many ruins all over the place.  The male Jedi asks my master,"How can we help you?"

My master answers,"We are here to see them.  We also have information on the Sith empire and news for them."

"The Sith haven't been seen for over a thousand years."

"These two and the scoundrel probably fought the leader of the Sith."

I laugh hysterically out loud, but quickly stifle my laughter.  Terrance had reluctantly came out of the ship, but after hearing the news about the Sith leader passes out.

The male Jedi said that the last time they faced the Sith leader that he was over 1000 years old.

The three Jedi lead us to a taxi-shuttle and take us pass fields where we see creatures with blasters and padawans dealing with them.  Some of the creatures also have force-staves as weapons.  The creatures are non-humanoid and are called flesh-eaters.  As the name of them is told, we see a padawan fall and get surrounded and then the creatures start feeding on him.  He eventually gets saved from the creatures.

 

We land at a large building where we are told,"Welcome to the Jedi Temple."

We are 'ushered' inside, but see the shuttles with the triangles in them land on the roof of the building.  We are lead to an antechamber and allowed to freshen up.  We are then escorted to an upstairs room by a padawan.  See large chambers and hallways approximately seven meters tall and four meters wide.  Pass through a large doorway and see statues.  There are three on either side of the hallway and evenly spaced.  The statues are of Jedi about 6.5 meters tall, but race and gender are indistinguishable due to being purposefully carved that way.  At the end of the hallway, a circular chamber.  The padawan enters and says,"Masters, I bring them."  He bows and walks over behind a master.  We enter and the room is full.  Master Luke is holographed in and sitting in a chair to the left of the center chair which is occupied by the white-robed female figure.  Many different races here and some are also holographed in.  When we enter, a discussion is in progress.  A chair is empty on the right side of the white-robed figure.  My master takes this seat.  Before my master arrived, I let everyone see the two crystals and gave the five lightsabers away.

The 'Lady in White' or the white-robed figure pounds her foot on the floor loudly to get everybodies attention.

She says,"We have a lot to discuss if your story is true and we have a lot to talk about.  We will adjourn for the night and we will talk tomorrow morning."

Fra'll and I are each lead to a bedchamber.  I go straight to bed.  I am exhausted.

 

This is where we left off.  Stay tuned for Session 12 coming soon.  Until then, safe gaming and have fun.