Let's Play! Icewind Dale

[Balcerzak]

Right makes might.

[Parrhesia]

I'll roll with the general consensus.

[Integrity]

iwind378.jpg is giving me shit for no reason. WHY PHOTOBUCKET WHY

----------

We take the top right path.

"There's nothing wrong about graverobbing, is there?"

"Don't think so, boss."

"Good, good. Go grab what you can, Casey."

"Bah!" said Raymond. "Dead end."

"Hey, dudes, check it out. A door."

"YO RAYMOND GET BACK HERE BALCERZAK FOUND A DOOR!"

Wuss zombies ensue, so our party reassigns loot for optimal carrying and reconvenes at the top-left door.

"So...shitty loot and poor enemies through one door, think we'll get the same here?"

Raymond, ever the leader, set off through the portal without another word.

During his trek, he set off many traps.

"Ow. Ow. Ow." chanted Raymond as he walked back to the party, loot in hand.

"Looks like a regular old magic morning star and --"

Luka was cut off by Balcerzak. "DIBS!"

"Yeah, sure thing Balcie. Anyway, and a wand of something I dunno. Acacia?"

Acacia concentrated on the stick. "Protecting. I'll keep it!"

----------

AT THIS POINT I tested wands. Acacia set the Wand of Armory to Shield and hit it eight consecutive times before we rested. The wand never grayed out nor did it display a limiter for how many charges were left, so I'll be using wands like they last forever.

----------

South-right door was full of pussies and then SUDDENLY GHASTS.

"Hey, guys, this stone feels pretty magical." Furetchen hefted a small painted pendant.

"Holy shit, HOLY SHIT!" shouted Luka. "That's a --"

"-- Talisman of the Black Wolf! Holy shit! This is real protective magic, guys!"

Raymond perked up with a "hrrn?"

"Yeah, Raymond! Shit's for you!"

----------

SMALL ASIDE FOR LUKA: Remember last night's conversation and note that the Bracers from before are Bracers of AC 8. This amulet is a 1 AC BONUS, stacking atop armor and things.

----------

"Alright, last path. Casey on point?"

"Sure thing, boss."

No sooner was the man out of sight than three flashes carried light down the hall, followed by a chorus of "OW! FUCK! OW!" corresponding with the flashes and Acacia running very quickly back to the group. Luka pulled out his halberd and moved to bar the wight's path - at which point the wight got very confused and stopped moving while Luka hacked it to pieces.

"Thanks, guys. Ow."

"No problem, Acacia. You see anything down there besides your friend here?" Luka kicked the wight's remaining remains.

"Nope, nothing. Just that guy."

"Awesome - so last step is that big middle door."

"Um..."

"Maybe there's a switch?"

"Gotta be?"

----------

AFTER SEARCHING FIVE ROOMS AND MOUSING OVER EVERYTHING:

Raymond let out a grunt as he tugged an old lever. The door swung triumphantly open.

"Nice job, Raymond."

"Thanks, Balcie."

"So what's through here, Tarii?"

"No clue, Zak. Lotta undead?"

"Good call, Tarii. Good call."

"Heh. Called it!"

What followed Skitarii's elation was a seemingly endless torrent of the undead, swarming over and killing Luka, Balcerzak and nearly Acacia before Skitarii could activate the Wand of Fifteen Minutes Ago.

----------

Through perfect formation, Luka singing, and a lot of casts of Magic Stone, the party survived.

"Whew."

"Yeah. Raymond, check the rest of the room. We need to get some sleep. Shout back if it's clear."

"Yup."

"NOT CLEAR! NOT CLEAR!!"

"HOLY FUCKING --"

"SKASAHER'S SCORCHER!"

"BURN, YOU BASTARDS! BURN!"

"KEEP RUNNING, RAYMOND!"

Furetchen reached into his back quiver to find nothing. Following this, he reached into his hip quiver to find ...nothing. Undaunted, he pulled his knife and charged into the fray.

"That's the last of 'em?"

"That's the last of 'em."

"Fucking sleep time. Good night."

"God, yes."

NINE HOURS LATER

----------

Okay, folkerinos. Next time on ICEWIND, we've got THREE MORE PATHS! One to the north, one to the south, and one to the left. Call it!

Edited November 19, 2010 by Integrity

[Acacia Sgt]

I'd say left... better not be a dead-end... XD

[riariadne]

SMALL ASIDE FOR LUKA: Remember last night's conversation and note that the Bracers from before are Bracers of AC 8. This amulet is a 1 AC BONUS, stacking atop armor and things.

Neat-o. Though it sort of looks more like the dudes with 9 or 10 HP could've used it (I always mix up Bal, Tarii and Acaicia's sprites) because they would probably be OHKO'd in a surprise attack... but then again we can always use the wand of 15 minutes ago, that's pretty good, don't remember where we got it though.

Go North. It will probably either result in something great or a dead end.

[Parrhesia]

South's where it's at, bitches. If not, then left.

Edited November 19, 2010 by Furetchen

[Integrity]

What the devil? You three each took a separate route. BASTARDS.

Spectakitty tiebreaks by saying left. We go left.

[Integrity]

THE PLOT THICKENS

----------

As the party had decided, the vanguard of Raymond proceeded straight down the center path.

And died. Seconds before his own death, Balcerzak activated the Wand of Gamelon and decided to take things more carefully.

"Why," asked Furetchen to no one in particular, "are these fucking skeleton archers so fucking TOUGH?!"

"'cause they hate you, Furet."

"Shut up, Luka."

"Hey!" shouted Luka. "Bullets +2! That's our first +2!"

"And it's totally useless." grumbled Furetchen.

Acacia squinted into the darkness. "Mage in the next room."

"Well hit that wand and go find it."

"Sure thing, boss."

You may be surprised, dear reader, to hear that Acacia actually survived the onslaught of spells while asleep.

Skeleton Mage casts Color Spray!

It's super effective!

Luka still managed to cut the thing to pieces with his halberd, and upon looting the body found something very interesting.

"Guys! Check it! More of those bracers I'm wearing!"

"Ooh?" Skitarii perked up.

"For you, Necrodude."

"Hey cheers man."

"Something tells me this is a climactic area."

"I'm with you there, boss."

"Hey, Zak?"

"Yeah, Tarii?"

"Something pretty big and mean is in there. Let's ditch these squares."

"Aw, don't be a baby, Tarii."

Raymond turned around and left the room. "Let's go back later."

"Good plan. Check those other rooms first?"

"Yup."

Leaving the spirit behind, the party proceeded backwards and then south.

Acacia couldn't go to 3 Spears so he went to 2 Large Swords and equipped a Longsword +1 we had lying around.

"Aw, look, it's just a zombie. Go kill it, Raymond."

"'kay."

Raymond suddenly blazed out of the room. "More than just a zombie!"

These two pictures get no story commentary, because of the SHEER UNDILUTED BRILLIANCE of the spells Balcerzak gained at level 5. Are you ready for this? You are not fucking ready for this.

He summons THREE SKELETONS at base. They absorb fire and do piddly damage. I'm going to say Skitarii taught him this one.

Strength in 2nd Edition worked as follows:

The natural cap for Humans was 18 STR. However, if you rolled 18 STR at level 1, you rolled percentile dice to determine your actual strength. Meaning, instead of just 18 there's 18/01 through 18/00. This gives the ENTIRE PARTY within a quarter of a point of the natural human strength cap for one round. Get Luka singing, or Prayer running? Holy shit.

Let it be said, yes, magic items can push it above 18. You even get fucking ridonkulous bonuses for higher STR.

I gave Balcerzak one cast of each.

"Loot!"

Acacia ran by Raymond and began rummaging around open coffins.

"Aw, man. Just some shitty scrolls we don't nee -- hmm. Magic Missile. Might as well!" He then sat down and began writing in his magic journal.

Satisfied - or, rather, feeling a little gypped but at least finished - the party proceeded to the north.

"AH! Another mummy!"

"Don't worry, guys. I got this. ANIMATE --"

" -- DEAD!"

After the mummy had been dispatched with dispatch, Acacia rummaged around some more open coffins.

"Huh. Neat."

Skitarii peered over his shoulder. "Ghoul Touch! I can teach you to use that if you want."

"Really? Would you?"

"Yeah, sure thing Case."

"Hooray!"

"You'll need to be a *bit* more powerful first though."

"Can do, Skitarii!"

"Master."

"Can do, Master!"

"Hey, Zak? I like this kid now."

Balcerzak chuckled. "I thought you would."

"This shit looks important. Wow."

Furetchen peered at it. "Maybe it's magical and we can get it repaired somehow?"

"Dunno. I'll carry it around."

"Wait - Casey!"

"Huh?"

"The skull's still on top."

"Yeah. I'm gonna keep that and name it something later."

"...what."

Upon arriving in the leftwards chamber again:

"Okay, Luka. You're the diplomatic one. Don't make us fight that guy. He's bad mojo."

"If you say so, Tarii."

"Er, excuse me, Mr. Spirit?"

"Kresselack."

"Huh?"

"That's my name."

"Oh, uh, okay. Mr. Kresselack, who are you."

"Back in my day, I was an evil conqueror."

"What brought you here?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

"I had this tomb built secretly, then I sacrificed all my workers to my god and entombed them in the Vale. Then, when I died, I hoped to gain a place at my god's side in the afterlife for my doings - instead I was cursed to this tomb forever."

"...that sounds like it didn't work out very well."

"Nope."

"Alright then, I'm looking for the evil that plagues Kuldahar."

"Hah. If you're looking for evil, you've found me. I'm not plaguing any of the living, though."

"Oh. Do you have any idea who is?"

"I might. I'll tell you if you can perform a task for me."

"Sure. Fire."

"Precisely. There's a priestess of the Ice God who's been snooping around my tombs. Her doctrine demands that fire be extinguished, and I don't want to live out eternity in a lightless tomb. She was previously deterred by my guardians - the same guardians you just killed all of."

"Er, sorry about that?"

"I will forgive you and tell you of this evil if you dispose of her."

"That's it? Consider it done."

"I think I would have liked you in life, mortal."

"Yeah, I think we could have been friends. Oh, hey, where do you think she is?"

"I can still feel her in the Vale."

"Gotcha. Later, man."

Luka walked back to the party. "Back to Kuldahar, folks."

"You talked to him?"

"Yup."

Luka then began explaining the situation as the party walked.

"...so then he sacrificed all his workers --"

"ALL of them?!"

"Yep, Casey. All of them. Anyway, sacrificed them to..."

"...and she wants to extinguish all the fires in the world --"

"But won't it get real dark then?"

"Yep, Casey. Really, really dark. But Kresselack's tomb is lit by fire..."

"...so he wants us to deal with her."

"She's in the Vale?"

"Yep, Casey. Somewhere."

"Weren't there human tents in the yeti cave? And didn't we steal stuff from them? Maybe she made them."

The party stared at Acacia. "You...might be right, kid."

Back in Kuldahar:

"Time to offload all this shit and talk to the Druid guy, see what he has to say." said Furetchen. "Let's do this, people."

Luka cracked open the door to the great tree. "Arundel?"

"Yes?"

Luka explained the situation to him in as much detail as he could recall.

"Hmm. Interesting. What do you intend to do?"

"Like Kresselack asked."

"Good, good. Do it with some haste."

"Alright."

A thought suddenly struck Luka. "We ran into this ogre in the pass who was complaining his head hurt. You think she might be doing this?"

"I don't know. I can give you instructions for him on how to help himself, though."

"Sure, I'll take them to him."

Arundel explained a simple remedy to Luka, which he copied into his log. "Thanks, Druid!"

"No problem. Give my regards to the ogre."

"Hey, guys, think we can swing on over to the Pass real fast? I want to talk to that ogre in the tower again."

"Sure thing, Luka. Lead on."

-----------

BONUS SECTION: Some character analysis!

Furetchen is currently, honestly, fairly pathetic. He does decent enough damage with a bow, though, and he's our only source of reliable lockpicking unless Skitarii memorizes Knock, though, so he's useful enough.

Balcerzak is incredible. He's a little bit squishy - a problem that will be solved as soon as I get my hands on some extra suits of plate - but Magic Stone is immensely damaging for a first-level spell and curing is almost essential. Plus, he levels reasonably fast.

Acacia is surprising me. The Fighter in him is enough to make him a decent combatant - actually, when Luka casts Strength I always drop it on Acacia - even if he is a little fragile. The Fighter in him also gives him the flexibility of learning multiple weapons and the ability to specialize deeply in them unlike a pure Thief. The Fighter also solves his fragility in letting him equip a shield and armor if necessary. The Thief is useful if only for Find Traps. The Mage is giving him some extra utility in the form of spells like Identify and Ghoul Touch that frees up Skitarii to go 100% blowing shit up. Being a Mage also gives him the ability to activate a LOT more magic items - like, say, all wands and scrolls in the game. This in turn is making him into a very effective Magehunter by letting him magically shield himself against magic and kill the mages with a sword.

Raymond is a pure tank. His offense is a little lacking, sometimes, but that improves over time. Plus, he's the only one left with a regular old weapon. Not high quality, not +1, just a bastard sword.

Skitarii is what you expect from a Mage. He's coming into his own. Interestingly, the benefit to specializing in 2nd Edition is an extra spell per level, with the downside being you can't use the opposing school. Necromancy precludes Illusion, which is a lot of spells that are either support (Acacia, Luka) or essentially Clerical equivalents.

Luka is also surprising me. He, like Acacia, is a tough enough combatant to get what needs done done - but the ability to stop fighting and start singing when his health drops is very useful. Also, Chromatic Orb is fucking ridiculous. The first Mummy we fought today was stunned by Chromatic Orb and cut to pieces by Balcerzak and Skitarii before it even reached us. He also memorizes spells that are useful (Strength, Knock) but don't rely so heavily on caster level - again, freely Skitarii to do what he does best.

You guys inadvertently gave me a very, VERY good party and it's just starting to sink in.

Edited November 19, 2010 by Integrity

[Scarlet]

Keep up the good work! Your narration is an epic read and really made me laugh various times. ^^

Raymond is a pure tank. His offense is a little lacking, sometimes, but that improves over time. Plus, he's the only one left with a regular old weapon. Not high quality, not +1, just a bastard sword.

What, not even a single high quality bastard sword? When I played, I got so many of those, I didn't even know where to put all of them.

Also, I might be able to shine a bit more later on, as IIRC, fighters are the only class that can ever put more than two mastery points into the same type of weapon, which is very useful later on when enemies start boasting negative AC en masse. ...of course, mages never have problems hitting anything, so I guess I'll just be the tank forever. But that's okay - someone needs to do that job as well, after all.

I'm also actually surprised that Animate Dead is supposed to be a good spell. I dunno, but I always thought it was fairly useless, and preferred to take some Cure Medium Wounds instead.

Edited November 19, 2010 by Raymond

[Integrity]

I would tend to agree - except Cure Moderate Wounds is a 2nd level spell (EDIT: And Serious is a 4th, no cure at 3rd /EDIT) so Balcie already has plenty of casts of it. It was a tossup between one cast of Animate Dead or one cast of Prayer, really.

RE: your sword: I'll be buying a delicious Bastard Sword +1 from the smith next update. I'll spoil it for you. :o

Edited November 19, 2010 by Integrity

[Scarlet]

I would tend to agree - except Cure Moderate Wounds is a 2nd level spell (EDIT: And Serious is a 4th, no cure at 3rd /EDIT) so Balcie already has plenty of casts of it. It was a tossup between one cast of Animate Dead or one cast of Prayer, really.

...oh. Must have mixed that up with Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (which uses the 3rd Edition ruleset, IIRC) then. Never mind, in that case. ^^

RE: your sword: I'll be buying a delicious Bastard Sword +1 from the smith next update. I'll spoil it for you. :o

Alright.

[Balcerzak]

...oh. Must have mixed that up with Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (which uses the 3rd Edition ruleset, IIRC) then. Never mind, in that case. ^^

I enjoyed the hell out of that game myself.

Anyway, glad to see you approve of how the party dynamics are meshing, and yeah, just keep being awesome. This is a fun read.

[Scarlet]

I enjoyed the hell out of that game myself.

Oh, yeah, it is indeed awesome. I haven't finished it yet, though (well, I haven't finished Icewind Dale either, so...).

What irks me a bit is how little experience combat gives in that game, but I guess it balances out if you consider the sheer amount of enemies you get to fight.

...but that should probably go into a different thread.

[Parrhesia]

Wasn't Ruins the one that would DELETE YOUR ENTIRE GODDAMN HARDDRIVE if you did or didn't do something? There was a thing with that...

Regardless, I still have the map of it on my wall. Goddamn awesome game, even though, being, like, seven, I made about ten different parties and none of them got past the first dungeon. Although I do remember a fairly successful Elf Barbarian.

...hell, I might do an LP if for some reason I somehow get a chance to get my hands on it once more.

Edited November 19, 2010 by Furetchen

[Integrity]

So at this point I realize we have 14000 gold. Yeah.

I follow through. Congratulations on being the last member with a magic weapon, Rayray. :P

----------

The party proceeded back towards Easthaven, to meet with and help Luka's friend Lou.

"ME WILL SMASH YOUR FACE!"

"Hey, Lou! Remember me? It's Luka!"

"Oh. Hullo."

"So hey, buddy, I can fix your head!"

"You can?"

"Yep! Just pick some of the purple berries and some of the red berries, crush 'em, and eat 'em."

"Me can do that. Thankies, Luka."

Luka laughed. "No problem, Lou. Good luck."

"I'm kinda gonna miss that guy..."

Back to the Vale of Shadows.

"So where to, Furet?"

"I'm going with Casey's yeti cave idea. Lead on."

"Sure thing, boss!"

"Let's do this shit. Nobody talks except Luka. Got it?"

The party agreed in perfect harmony.

"Hi! Excuse me?"

"Who are you?"

"M'name's Luka, ma'am."

"Oh. Okay."

"I'm looking for a priestess of Auril. Have you seen one?"

"Nope. Good-bye."

"...wait, what?"

Luka walked back to the group. "She's suspicious, guys. I'm gonna try again but, uh, please be ready to help."

"Got your back, Luka."

"Thanks, Case."

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

The woman sighed. "What?"

"Who are you?"

"If you must know, my name is Lysan."

"Oh, that's a start. What're you doing in a yeti cave?"

"I'm communing with my god."

"Aren't there better places to do that than a yeti cave?"

"...no."

"...okay. Ah, you seen a priestess of Auril around? I gotta talk to her about something mega-important."

"...mega-important? What is it?"

"I, er, can only talk about it with the priestess."

"Well, you're talking to her. Out with it."

Luka stared blankly at the woman. "Wait...that actually worked? Well then, Kresselack is mad you want to put his fires out."

"Don't give a shit."

"What? Oh, come on! Would you put out all the fires in Kuldahar too?"

"Yes. The Great Tree is an affront to Auril."

"OH IT'S ON NOW BITCH. DO NOT FUCK WITH LUKA'S WARMTH."

"Wait, where'd the yeti come from?"

"Wait, where'd ALL THE YETIS COME FROM?!"

Fighting ensued.

"Whew. Everyone alright?"

"Perfectly fine, thank you Zak. Luka?"

"Bitch wanted to fuck with my warmth. Raymond?"

"Alive. Acacia?"

"Pretty chipper, really. Boss?"

Silence.

"...boss? Boss? BOSS!!!"

Raymond grumbled as he carried the elf through the cave.

"Wait a durned minute." interjected Skitarii. "That bastard's an elf. We have to pay double for him!"

"I'll talk to the priest." answered Balcerzak. "Maybe I get a special discount."

"Hello sir! I was wonderTWO THOUSAND GOLD?!"

"Resurrecting an elf?"

"Fuck that shit!"

"Gonna leave him dead?"

"You accept this money graciously, or I'm going to leave you dead I swear to God."

"Have a nice day, sirs."

"Hey guys, we're back!"

"You seem cheery, Furet."

"BOSS!"

Furetchen laughed. "Hey, Casey. How you doin'?"

"Better now, boss."

"TWO FUCKING THOUSAND GOLD, Tarii!"

"You want we should go back and murder them, Zak?"

"Nah. Might need them later. But STILL!"

----------

I took these pictures but the treeman had NOTHING new to say but I want to use them anyway. Imagine the dialogue in your head if you want.

----------

"You guys never told me. How many of the yetis did it take to bring me down?"

"Actually, Furet, the chick killed you on her own."

"what."

"Oh come the fuck on! We just saved your shit from a thousand-year darkness!"

Luka strode purposefully into the room. "Kresselack! We killed that bitch. Thanks for pointing us at her."

"Good, good. Now for my answer: I don't know what this evil is, but I'm not it."

"...what. That's your answer?"

"Yep. Sorry, kiddos. Help yourself to my tomb if you want."

"Already did, bro."

"Then here's the stuff I used when I was alive."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Laters."

Luka sighed. "Later."

"Hey, this is some pretty nice stuff."

"...Raymond?"

"Hm?"

"Give that shield to Case."

"Hm?"

Luka handed the sword over. "This...is yours, buddy."

"Thanks."

"So, back to the tree man?"

"We're back, Arundel."

"And?"

"Kresselack isn't the droids we were looking for."

"Blast. Oh well, I've got an ancient artifact I need you to find..."

The party collectively zoned out and missed everything Arundel said. Arundel realized this, filched Furetchen's journal, and wrote directions in it.

"Children!"

Everybody started awake.

"Good job on writing down everything I said. Now hop to."

"So, um, apparently I want us to go here."

[eclipse]

Methinks I'd throw something through the computer screen if I had to deal with that spirit.

[Integrity]

I just realized Acacia hit 3 Mage and can now use 2nd level spells - like Ghoul Touch, which I was saving for him for, uh, now. Also, ITT: Raymond speaks quite a bit.

----------

"...foreboding."

"Well, apparently I called it the "Temple of the Forgotten God" so, uh, yeah."

"These statues are kinda starting to freak me out." Luka commented nervously.

The party froze in their tracks. "Uh, shit, giants. Guys, giants."

"We don't have any hobbits, do we?"

"Nnnnnnope."

Raymond, nonplussed by this new visitor, began speaking to it.

"Hi."

"Get out of way! Red Toe leaving!"

"Why?"

"Friend priests got dead by bad priests. Red Toe fell down and not move until bad priests leave."

"Red Toe?"

"ME Red Toe. Get out of way!"

"Okay."

"That..." began Luka, "...was...impressive."

Raymond grunted and moved on.

"So, think this is the Temple?"

"Yeah, probably. Shall we?"

"Raymond first."

Raymond sighed and led the way.

"Hey!" exclaimed Acacia. "Lights! This is a nice change."

Luka blinked. "Yeah, damn nice change. Hey, who's that?"

"Go talk to him?"

"Sure thing, Furet."

"Excuse me, sir?" Luka approached a figure kneeling in front of a large circular fountain.

"YOU! You bastards are back for a second round!"

"Uh, no, there must be some mistake. We've just come from Kuldahar on a peaceful mission to --"

"There is no mistake! You just want to finish us off! Well, you'll find that the Cult of the Forgotten God will not fall so easily this time! GUARDS!"

"What the f--"

"Daaaamn, Luka. You fucked that up good."

"No shit? He just attacked me. I didn't do a damn thing."

"Well, what'd he say?"

"I learned that this is definitely the Temple of the Forgotten God and, uh, apparently he's far from forgotten."

"Cheeky bastard."

"I do practice."

"Well, maybe there are more of them who'll listen? Go see."

"'kay."

"OH HOLY SHIT GUYS GIANTS HELP!"

"Well that hurt." grumbled Raymond.

"You cannot..." panted Luka, "be telling me...this is what we get to fight."

Furetchen patted him on the back. "Seems so, buddy. Seems so."

"Dead ones?"

"Apparently. Good Lord, there were even MORE of them before we showed?"

"Um, Zak?"

"Yeah, Tarii?"

"I, er, want you to know...if we all die here and shit."

"Yeah, Tarii?"

"I...well...I, uh...I banged your sister right before we met."

"You WHAT?!"

"Nah, just kidding."

"Fucker."

"...but not really."

"WHAT?!"

"Wait, where'd thi-" Furetchen was cut off mid-sentence by an acolyte's spell. Luka turned around with a confused grunt to find a robed figure attempting to punch him in the back of the head.

To respond to this new threat, he pulled out his halberd and exploded the man.

"Well that was...interesting."

"You don't say."

Furetchen peered down the newly cleared stairs. "This goes someplace really deep. What say we go check out that left fork right at the beginning?"

"Sure, why not."

Predictably, the other fork was staffed by a single giant.

A giant which, suddenly, became three.

Raymond blinked blearily as Balcerzak's hands worked their magic over him. "Guys? Can we...not do that again?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure thing Raymond. Hold still."

"Okay, Balcie."

"Bunch of antechambers with no guards? Don't mind if the Great Thief Acacia helps himself!"

"Hey, guys, this is interesting. What is it, Luka?"

Luka took the boots. "Something for Balcerzak, I think."

Balcerzak blinked. "Me?"

"Who better to get some wizardly protection?"

"Aw, thanks guys."

"And now Acacia can help himself to your book~shelves..."

"YO, SKI! CATCH!"

"Hn? HOLY SHIT!"

"Okay guys, stairs next?" asked Furetchen.

"Don't have anywhere else to go." responded Raymond.

"Still can't believe you...you...you bastard." muttered Balcerzak. Skitarii grinned.

[IGdood]

Great read so far, exactly what I need before two midterms tomorrow.

And I'm a nuke now, it seems.

[Balcerzak]

How could you. My sister. >:o

Edited November 22, 2010 by Balcerzak

[Integrity]

I know, right. Asshole.

----------

"So I guess this is the basement or some shit?"

"Seems logical."

"S'pose there'll be more giants?"

"Yeah, probably."

Luka pumped his fist. "Called it!"

Furetchen glanced sidelong at him. "Wasn't exactly a hard call, dude."

Raymond chuckled. "Silly priest thinks he --"

"HOLD PERSON!"

The priest, sadly, targeted the wrong people and was shot to death by Furetchen and Luka while being hacked to pieces by skeletons.

Raymond prudently decided to retreat from this battle.

And, subsequently, dodged Entangle.

"Hey, Luka?"

"Yeah, Furet?"

"Use some of your wizardly shit and go check that room out."

"Sure."

The room, as it were, was staffed by a single Acolyte. He didn't last long.

"TREASURE TREA~SURE I LIKE TREASURE!" sang Furetchen as he opened chests with glee.

"TREASURE TREA~OH FUCK"

Luka tossed the axe to Raymond. "Back to shields for you, buddy."

Raymond perked up visibly at this new toy before stealing a discarded shield from a dead giant - then forcing this shield on Acacia and taking his old one back.

Raymond's new toy worked splendidly.

"YO, CASEY!"

"Yeah boss?"

"This sword looks like yours 'cept it's got a spike on it."

"BADASS!"

"Pah! Just two? Where are your legions?" taunted Raymond.

"Ah. Right behind you." he then finished, rather taken aback.

"STRENGTH OF ONE!" "HASTE!" sang out Skitarii and Balcerzak in perfect harmony. Slaughter ensued.

This image serves only to illustrate the sheer, computer-lagging DAKKA that was flying around over the course of this fight.

"Whew. That...that wasn't actually so bad, eh Ray?"

Raymond grunted. "Had worse."

Onwards and upwards, the party proceeded.

"You know," began Skitarii, "if I had a mystical artifact I'd probably keep it in someplace like this."

"What, Tarii, over an open pit of magma?"

"Yeah."

"Looks like we were late to the party." quipped Luka.

Furetchen picked up a vial. "Luka, whazzis?"

"No idea. Drink it?"

"Fuck no! You drink it!"

"Nah. It's probably deadly evil."

"Are you fucking..."

"Really? Fucking REALLY?!"

"Giants for nothing."

"Back to Treeman?"

"Guess so."

TWO DAYS LATER:

Luka sighed. "Alright. Raymond, Case, Balcie: you guys go sell our shit then we'll visit Treeman. And Furet? Gimme that bottle - I'm gonna show it to Treeman."

"'kay."

"Gotcha!"

"On it."

"Here. Take it."

"Good day, Arundel."

"Hello, Luka. What news?"

Luka outlined everything the party had seen and killed in the Temple.

"Hmm. That's bad."

"Well, we found this vial. Does it help?"

"OOH! This is a special evil reptile venom found only off rare beasts!"

"Really?"

"Yes! This is exceptional news - there's only one place in the frozen north close enough to the temple to be useful that holds such beasts!"

"Hmm?"

"Dragon's Eye."

"OH FUCK NO."

[riariadne]

dun dun duuun

Interesting reads. "Where bare your legions" was funny. didn't know raymond could speak english that fluently

[Integrity]

Raymond can talk perfectly. He just prefers not to.

[riariadne]

Of course, of course. Everything makes sense now

Also, just looked back and holy shit, how did Raymond damage that dude a bunch of times in a row back there?

Also, did you get the link I posted on your profile Integ?

[Scarlet]

Also, just looked back and holy shit, how did Raymond damage that dude a bunch of times in a row back there?

I probably stunned him with that shiny new axe.

Oh, and Dragon's Eye is going to suck pretty hard (mainly because the spiders are ridiculous). Do we have antidotes?

[Integrity]

Yeah, shocky axe + 1.5 attacks per round. I got lucky with procs.

We have no antidotes but I *think* Balcerzak can memorize Cure Poison now.