Contributor
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So Jason and I talked briefly about last night's session and he said to me, "You guys are all crazy." I could not argue, but I'm not sure if he's referring to the ease in which we murder prisoners, the way we can cast speak with dead on said murdered victims, or how we (or at least I) am willing to throw around great sums of money in order to live in luxury. Well, in any case, here are some quotes:
James, after Chuko narrowly avoids the otyugh's tenticle: "Miss! Mobility! Dodge! Skirmish!"
Jason: "Aw. I thought I had you."
Jason, as the Otyugh, to his food, Ursula (Amber's character): "You're delicious. Were you seasoned?"
Tim: "It's the rage."
Jason, as soon-to-die NPC: "But I need my shirt. It's cold in here."
(This occured after Amber, Tim, and I rolled four natural 1s in a row trying to Intimidate the guy out of his shirt. Yay for adventurers, I guess.)
Amber, on Ursula: "She's dumb but not stupid."
Amber, singing about the changeling NPC in elf form: "Gonna rub that elf right outta his hair."
Jason, frustrated (as usual): "You are not gonna rub that elf right outta his hair!"
Me, trying to explain away why Adso (Stephen's character) shouldn't lose his good alignment: "Lethargy is not evil."
Jason, to me, about Sim's sudden idea to make gold: "You're a hero, not a hooker."
...
Jason Bulmahn does the Chicken Dance.
James Jacobs reacts with apprehension.
I was not doing the chicken dance...
Ohh.. you'll pay for this McArtor.. YOU WILL PAY!!!
Thanks for the picture post, Mike!
But then again, I just had to explain to a co-worker why I started sputtering and laughing like a crazy man. . . I need to stay off of these board during the day. Jeez. . .
What exactly WERE you doing, Jason?
I was not doing the chicken dance...
Ohh.. you'll pay for this McArtor.. YOU WILL PAY!!!
I don't know Jason... I'm having trouble thinking of what else that picture could be showing.
It looks very much like the chicken dance to me.
- Ashavan
Before a weigh in on the Chicken Dance issue, I need to know the answer to a question:
Does voicing my opinion one way or the other effect any of my outstanding submissions?
:D
Before a weigh in on the Chicken Dance issue, I need to know the answer to a question:
Does voicing my opinion one way or the other effect any of my outstanding submissions?
:D
Yeah, perhaps a clarification is in order here.... I didn't say it WAS the chicken dance, just asked for clarification on what else it might be.... so please be kind to outstanding submissions that may or may not be on your desk waiting for a reply.
- Ashavan
Director of Game Design
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Before a weigh in on the Chicken Dance issue, I need to know the answer to a question:
Does voicing my opinion one way or the other effect any of my outstanding submissions?
:D
Yeah, perhaps a clarification is in order here.... I didn't say it WAS the chicken dance, just asked for clarification on what else it might be.... so please be kind to outstanding submissions that may or may not be on your desk waiting for a reply.
- Ashavan
I was jsut standing there.. with my arms at my side.. and yes.. it does affect your chances of being accepted.
:-)
In that case - it looks exactly as you describe it, Jason. :P
Just to move off the subject of chicken-dancing editors for a moment, here's my quick recap of last night's session:
I spent all my action points but 1 and didn't accomplish anything!
We started the session by leveling up (we'd gotten enough xp to level before entering The Pit but we didn't pause to level because we were in the middle of the session but Jason B said we could level before the fight anyway...you know). Then the fight with the otyugh commenced!
Ursula smacked it the first round with her flail for minimum damage (which was still a mighty 11). Then she spent the four or five subsequent rounds in its mouth, getting slimed by a tongue that James Jacobs described as "a squishy hobo's sleeping bag you just fished out of a landfill". And listening to its inane comments about how good I tasted. And occasionally getting healed by Adso since I was at negative a bazillion hit points. (Otyugh: "My food is growing back! It's like an all-you-can-eat meal!")
I blew 3 or 4 action points trying to escape and failed every time, while Adso thwacked with his mace (or healed me) and Chuko ran around squawking and stabbing. I escaped just before Chuko landed the killing blow.
Otyugh: "That hurt a lot! It's all going dark...it's so cold...I can't feel my legs! Tell my wife...to stay out...of my garbage pit." *dies*
Then Hoss the pit boss pointed out the guy we were looking for. Of course he ran, and of course we chased him onto some dangerous Sharn-like bridges. He splattered oil behind him and guess who failed her Balance check?
Ursula: "That bridge is slippery! Sim, what should I do?"
Sim: "Follow me!" *balances across the oil and runs after changeling*
Ursula: *falls on her behind* "It didn't work..."
After a few rounds of inching out of the oil, Ursula caught up to the combat and tried to trip the changeling. Failed. He ran off, she ran after him. Tried to trip, spending an AP. Failed. Got tripped in retaliation, fell on her behind. Spent 2 APs to get an extra action. Tried to trip, failed. Visoka knocked the changeling out.
Then some fruitless interrogation, during which the changeling prisoner called Ursula ugly. Sim stabbed him. And we said screw it and killed him and went and bought a speak with dead scroll.
And yet, it was still immensely enjoyable, somehow...
-Amber S.
(Otyugh: "My food is growing back! It's like an all-you-can-eat meal!")
...
Otyugh: "That hurt a lot! It's all going dark...it's so cold...I can't feel my legs! Tell my wife...to stay out...of my garbage pit." *dies*
ROFL
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Contributor
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I was just standing there.. with my arms at my side.. and yes.. it does affect your chances of being accepted.
Don't make me find a free midi of the song to link to for the nice people at home, Jason. ;) It's not so much what really happened that matters, it's that I've now put the image of you doing the chicken dance into the minds of everyone who reads this thread. You can threaten my character all day long, but in the end we all know that I've won this round. ;D
Besides, deep down inside you know that Sim is a retaliatory character for you killing Sekai, and I don't think you're to the point yet where you want to face the retaliatory character I'd make if you killed off Sim... ;)
Now, to answer Koldoon's question: No. Despite Jason's posturing the only real indicator of whether you make it into the magazine or not is how willing you are to wash my truck. ;D
Amber's telling of the night's events look pretty accurate to me. She did indeed spend a lot of time being chewed on by that filth-munching otyugh, and many of us spent the session being less than effective at much of anything. Even Adso's zone of truth failed (as did his patience!). :\
Now, to answer Koldoon's question: No. Despite Jason's posturing the only real indicator of whether you make it into the magazine or not is how willing you are to wash my truck. ;D
Mike -
You're on the other side of the country, so that truck washing isn't happening any time soon. :(
I guess I'll just have to start flooding you with ideas until one gets accepted instead of the careful crafting of each individual idea. Flooding is a lot harder, and less fun.
- Ashavan
P.S. - Jason ... I hate to say this, but you really DO look like you're doing the chicken dance. I might have even thought so before Mike mentioned it... which, I'm sure, is why he did.
Ack! We forgot the best quote of all! When Sim was trying to interrogate our changeling prisoner.
Sim: "So, Mister Soulqua, I've heard you own an armor shop in Upper Menthis."
Changeling: "Yes, that's right."
Ursula: "Do you have any chain shirts?"
Now, to answer Koldoon's question: No. Despite Jason's posturing the only real indicator of whether you make it into the magazine or not is how willing you are to wash my truck. ;D
Sure - you drive out here to the Philly area and I'll be glad to wash it in exchange for more stuff getting into the mag. :D
Sure - you drive out here to the Philly area and I'll be glad to wash it in exchange for more stuff getting into the mag. :DI'm more thinking that if anyone from the East Coast ever comes out to Seattle, you might as well swing by Bellevue and wash my truck for me. ;D
Are you sure the rain doesn't do that for you? I know the road conditions are awful, but the only good thing about the rain we get in April here in MA is that it gets rid of the yuck that's built up on our cars over the winter.
- Ashavan
Sure - you drive out here to the Philly area and I'll be glad to wash it in exchange for more stuff getting into the mag. :DI'm more thinking that if anyone from the East Coast ever comes out to Seattle, you might as well swing by Bellevue and wash my truck for me. ;DAre you sure the rain doesn't do that for you? I know the road conditions are awful, but the only good thing about the rain we get in April here in MA is that it gets rid of the yuck that's built up on our cars over the winter.
- Ashavan
The rain does wash the yuck off and then the mold shows up.
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Director of Game Design
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I was not doing the chicken dance...
Ohh.. you'll pay for this McArtor.. YOU WILL PAY!!!
It's true...He wasn't doing the chicken dance, but the truth is more disturbing. I have it on good authority that he was actually
Oh.. now using photoshop is just going too far.. besides.. I was just keeping it warm.
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Contributor
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Last night's session could be entitled, "Shifter & Changeling Advertising."
The Manticore's Cup, it turns out, suddenly has more traffic. That's good for the inn's owner (a generous man named Faldon) but less good for the lecherous Sim's chances at wooing the barmaids, Tira and Mira.
We assumed that the Manticore's Cup recent upswing in its number of clients came from a non-existent ad campaign we didn't run on its behalf. (How esoteric is that? A non-existent ad campaign created in the imaginations of characters who exist only the shared imaginations of six people sitting around a table telling stories together.) However, I like the idea of the ad campaign, so I think I'll have Sim start looking into the possibility of putting it into reality.
Now if I could just get the pictures I drew to post on the web... Hmm...
Anyway, I barely remember what we did last night, so here are some quotes I wrote down...
Amber: "It's Bizarron!" (This was in response to something wacky that happened in the game. It's a combination of Bizarro and Eberron, in case you didn't get the reference.)
Amber, moving Chuko around in combat (James wasn't there, but Chuko was, so Amber and Jason kind of ran him in unison): "He does his stupid little dance, 'wark wark wark.'"
Jason, taking his turn as Chuko: "Chuko. Move chuko into position, 'wark wark wark wark wark.'"
Stephen, after explaining the dangers of role-playing while rolling a d20: "I was roleplaying in my head." (He had rolled a 3.)
Tim, as Visaka, explaining to Ursula why she couldn't grapple the iron cobra: "You can't ride it like a pony."
So Jason got frustrated at the drawings I made of the ad campaign we're thinking of running, walked over to me, and ripped out the paper on which I had drawn out my ideas. He then put the paper face down under his bag and went to get a soda. I went over and took back the paper, and Amber handed me a blank sheet of paper to put in its place. Jason didn't discover the deception until the end of the session, even after he lifted up his bag a couple times to check that the paper was really still there. Once he realized what had happened he called out:
"I'VE BEEN DECEIVED!"
...
That's where I leave you for now. Pictures (both digital photos and hopefully my ad campaign) to follow one of these days.
(How esoteric is that? A non-existent ad campaign created in the imaginations of characters who exist only the shared imaginations of six people sitting around a table telling stories together.)
Ha! I've had those "step back and take a look around" moments more and more often these days. It's usually when I'm poised over a table starting at a bunch of nerds with dice and pencils in their hands, demonstrating how the imaginary greatsword's slash empties out the Hobgoblin's belly cavity. . .
BTW, if you have acess to the Dungeon submission pile, I have a Campagin Workbook submission in there entitiled "Adventuring as A Business." It's the first one I tried to submit to dungeon, and it includes some stuff about how rival NPC adventurers should advertise, get logos, uniforms, heraldry, office supplies, contracts and all of that stuff - though nothing is well fleshed out like it should be (1250 words is a cruel mistress). In hindsight, it probably would've worked better as a longer Dragon article, since it's very applicable to players, but ah well, I was younger in those days (it was written three months ago).
All of it is based on what my scholarly Cleric came up with to compete with the Stormblades in the Shackled City campaign. He was very passive agressive, but a great capitalist. I still have the heraldry for the "Malachite Fellowship," but I wouldn't know how to post it here.
Anyway, It MAY still be in the pile, so check it out. :)
Wes Schneider: "And tonight we will see trained chihuahuas jump through Amber's earrings!"
If last night had its own ad campaign, it would be, "The Most Silliness Since the Lightning Rail!"
Stuff I remember:
Jason B. as the informant Sim was interrogating. I liked Jason's "gangster accent" and kept putting gangster touches on the end, so that only Tim could hear. It's impossible to post exact quotes, but suffice to say Tim and I were rolling eventually.
Jason: "What is going on down there?"
Tim: "Amber's putting gangster speak on all your sentences!"
Me: "I am not! Tim did some too!"
Jason: "Is there something in the water? What the hell is wrong with you two tonight?"
Also at Morgrave:
Mike: "We go to that student store."
Me: "Do they have 'Monopoly: Morgrave University' edition?"
Mike: Morgraveopoly!
Also us doing gather information checks (Ursula and Anvil each got 7 or lower):
Ursula: "Buy some drinks and ask some questions? Ok, we say to the bartender, 'Do you know this guy?' Then we'll each get an ale."
Jason: "You buy yourselves drinks? Worst Gather Information people ever!"
Wes Schneider: "And tonight we will see trained chihuahuas jump through Amber's earrings!"
If last night had its own ad campaign, it would be, "The Most Silliness Since the Lightning Rail!"
Stuff I remember:
Jason B. as the informant Sim was interrogating. I liked Jason's "gangster accent" and kept putting gangster touches on the end, so that only Tim could hear. It's impossible to post exact quotes, but suffice to say Tim and I were rolling eventually.
Jason: "What is going on down there?"
Tim: "Amber's putting gangster speak on all your sentences!"
Me: "I am not! Tim did some too!"
Jason: "Is there something in the water? What the hell is wrong with you two tonight?"Also at Morgrave:
Mike: "We go to that student store."
Me: "Do they have 'Monopoly: Morgrave University' edition?"
Mike: Morgraveopoly!Also us doing gather information checks (Ursula and Anvil each got 7 or lower):
Ursula: "Buy some drinks and ask some questions? Ok, we say to the bartender, 'Do you know this guy?' Then we'll each get an ale."
Jason: "You buy yourselves drinks? Worst Gather Information people ever!"
Anvil,
Has a -1 gather information check. So buying himself a drink was the logical choice.
The funnest thing I remember was the reporter for the Sharn newspaper interviewing Sim and Ursula. I am waiting to read what Jason comes up with.
If last night had its own ad campaign, it would be, "The Most Silliness Since the Lightning Rail!"Yeah, I don't know what got into us last night, but it was a lot of fun (if not terribly plot advancing). :)
I did have a good time, it was fun to play since I have not been able to do it for a while.
Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Last night's session could be entitled, "Shifter & Changeling Advertising."
The Manticore's Cup, it turns out, suddenly has more traffic. That's good for the inn's owner (a generous man named Faldon) but less good for the lecherous Sim's chances at wooing the barmaids, Tira and Mira.
We assumed that the Manticore's Cup recent upswing in its number of clients came from a non-existent ad campaign we didn't run on its behalf. (How esoteric is that? A non-existent ad campaign created in the imaginations of characters who exist only the shared imaginations of six people sitting around a table telling stories together.) However, I like the idea of the ad campaign, so I think I'll have Sim start looking into the possibility of putting it into reality.
Now if I could just get the pictures I drew to post on the web... Hmm...
Have no fear Mike! I have been mulling these ads around in my mind for the past 2 weeks. Tonight, I couldn't take it anymore...so I sat down with Powerpoint and some serious web browsing to look for images, and cranked these out. (Thanks to Amber for: 1) Converting the images to something smaller, and 2) hosting my EXTREME advertising on her website).
EXTREME Billboard1.jpg
EXTREME Billboard2.jpg
I had a lot of fun messing with a kenku image, getting it juuuust riiiiight. When I was finished, it made me laugh, it was so Chuko!
Anyways, I think Visoka is going to take a few skill points in "Profession: Advertising" next level!
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Contributor
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Mere mortal words cannot convey how awesome those ads are. Well done!
I agree. I think Jason should give all involved (that would be all of us, Jason) a big XP bonus for coming up with this. We've obviously contributed meaningfully to your campaign. I'm thinking we shouldn't be greedy, either. Say only 1,000 xp each. That should suffice. :)
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Contributor
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We were scheduled to play last night, but due to a last-minute cancellation (you know who you are!) we had to call it a no go. However, of note Jason did make the fundamental error of letting it slip that we'll probably be done with the current plotline in one more session.
Tsk, tsk, Jason. Now we have a whole week to decide if we want to turn your campaign on its ear again (remember the lightning rail!). Not that we'd *ever* do that intentionally, of course...
Not us...
>:)
Not us! Mike, maybe, on his own, but not us as a *group*.
:-p
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Contributor
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I left all my notes and home and I'm going to be off 'til Tuesday, so the update for last night's game will be quoteless for now. Sorry!
Last night, Visoka and Ursula both achieved personal firsts in the campaign: Each one scored his and her first critical hit of the campaign. Well done, you two!
We killed some halflings, Ursula survived an 80-foot fall (barely), and we met (and murdered) our first drow. Oh, and we also said farewell to Anvil.
Sim's mechanations, that threatened to conquer the last half hour of the game, shall be done off camera between Jason and I. Will Sim survive? Does anyone beside Ursula care? Stay tuned! :)
I wrote some quotes down! :-) Last night we had a guest star, Jeff Simpson, who was playing Chuko since James had to work.
Sim, to Visoka (after watching Ursula fall to almost-certain death): "'You said the door had no traps on it!' Sim acts all pissy at him."
Me (lying at the base of the tower at negs after the 80' drop, listening to the inane chatter going on): "Can you guys spring into action, please?"
Jeff S. (speaking of his temporary character, Chuko): "So he is a lunatic, yes?"
Me, Mike, and Tim in unison: "Yes."
Jeff S.: "I open the door."
Jason: "The door explodes!! This door brought to you by Jerry Bruckheimer."
Jason: "This isn't Dungeons & Dragons! You've all turned it into...Whoring & Murder!"
Jeff S.: "Chuko slinks in the shadows, hiding and creeping along."
Jason: *really soft whisper* "wark wark wark"
Tim: *coos like a pigeon*
Jeff S.: "Pigeon stealth mode!"
And that is all. Also I survived the 80' drop. Yay!
-Amber
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Contributor
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Last night's subtitle: "Shenanigans"
So we did some time-advancing last night, and we got a new copy of the Sharn Inquisitive (Amber, have Jason send you an electronic version. It's pretty sweet.). Our characters appeared on the front page of the paper in a story about their exploits aboard the lightning rail. For Sim (my character), the most important part of that whole story was the revelation of Lady D'Cannith's first name. Sim, you see, is quite smitten with her (and he has close to a 0% chance with her, but that's a different story). The article made us instant celebrities, and the Manticore's Cup (the tavern from whose owner we rent our apartment, which takes up the entire 4th floor of the building) bustled with activity as people came to meet and greet us.
A week later we received an invitation to a monthly ball put on by Lady Ir Tain, an incredibly wealthy woman of power. Despite Sim's misgivings, we went to the ball.
At the ball we met various and sundry nobles, including Saden Boramar, whose relative and underling we killed last session. We also met the characters of new players James Sutter and Mike Mearls (yes kids, that Mike Mearls). Anyway, the disgusting halfling named Boramar mentioned a job to us, but since we were at that time already on retainer with House D'Cannith (much to the mixed horror and thrill of Sim) he seemed less interested in hiring us. After a brief discussion with Adso (Stephen's character), Sim approached Boramar and began negotiating "freelance" work on the side...
Much, I might add, to the terror of my fellow players. No wonder I like to do my double-crossings off-camera with only Jason in attendance.
No wait, did I say double-crossings? ;D
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Yes, it was a great role-playing session last night. I'd like to thank Jeff Simpson for joining us again and playing Ursula in Amber's place...he is a GREAT stand-in.
The instant celebrity status was pretty cool, actually. Adso and Visoka have been trying to keep from being noticed for most of the adventure, due to their potentially shady pasts that they don't remember. However, the news story has made that difficult, but it is sort of liberating to finally get thrown out into the open and take on whatever danger is coming.
The ball was nice and everything, but our new "flavor of the month" status also got us a visit from a representative of the prince of Cyre, who was extremely intrigued (hey, it's Eberron, she couldn't just be "intrigued"...everything's EXTREME) about Adso's and Visoka's origins from the stasis vats beneath the Plateau of Glass. Where Sim is consumed with Lady D'Cannith, Visoka is obsessed with finding out who he is and what exactly happened to him and the others. What a plot hook! I can't wait to see where this leads!
And too many funny lines to clearly remember. Mike, did you write any down?
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Contributor
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And too many funny lines to clearly remember. Mike, did you write any down?
No, alas. I only wrote down one, and out of context it's not as funny.
For those of you following along at home, however, there were plenty of "Mike doesn't get to play a ninja" jokes around the table. Particularly after James Sutter put down his ninja mini. James Jacobs and I both threatened to quit the campaign at least once each, but every such "threat" was followed by a round of applause and a gleeful DM. In vengeance, we decided to stay in the group. ;P
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Director of Game Design
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If its being inbred increases my chances of getting one... sure!Jason: Letting Chuko buy a chocobo would go a long way toward curbing these idle threats to quit your campaign. Just so you know.Hmmm... let me think for just a moment... is it inbred?
It doesn't.... I am afraid a Kenku riding a Chocobo might be a bit much for the campaign to handle.
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Director of Game Design
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If its being inbred increases my chances of getting one... sure!Don't let him know you're excited at the prospect of getting a chocobo, James. If Jason senses that allowing something into his campaign would bring you happiness he won't let you have it. ;D
Yeah... looks like everyone else just polymorphed into a ninja...
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Contributor
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Played again last night. Here's the rundown of our shinanigans.
Ursula, Chuko, and "The Kid," (James Sutter's character) headed for the Firelight district to carouse and make merry. Instead, a group of Emerald Claw thugs (or at least guys pretending to be from the Emerald Claw) followed them and jumped them on a tower walkway. Chuko went down fairly early, but Ursula and The Kid battled on and were actually starting to win the fight when another skycoach appeared with four crossbowmen at the open door. After taking a huge amount of damage, Ursula retreated to the safety of a nearby alley to get healed up. Finding no healing and realizing that her friend Chuko was still unconscious out there, she ran back into the fray (with 1 hp and 3 rounds of shifting and rage remaining... at the end of which she would lose 16 hit points and die). She yelled for The Kid to run for it as she turned the corner and bore down upon the remaining melee combatant...
Back at the party, Sim and Adso decided they didn't want to overstay their welcome and left shortly after Visoka tried to make contact with his dragonmarked house (this was also shortly after Sim's crush, the Lady Tarina d'Cannith, retired for the evening). The three of them headed back toward the Manticore's Cup and were met just outside it by The Kid, who was breathless and bloody. He claimed that Chuko was hurt and Ursula was dead, so the four of them went into the Cup to gear up. Sim told Falden the bar owner to keep his eyes open for suspicious folk. Clearly agitated by the news of his best friend's demise, Sim drew his sword on The Kid and demanded further explanation. The situation was tense for a few seconds before Adso and Visoka talked Sim down from doing anything rash.
On their way to Firelight the quartet ran into The Kid's friend, Keldrick, who had stayed at the party to "make contacts." The five of them caught a coach and headed to the brothel district. There they found Chuko alive but unconscious, leaning against a building. His personal belongings had been rifled through, and one of his most valuable items had been replaced with a paper reading, simply, "The girl for the skulls." Taking their injured avian friend back to the Cup, Sim headed into the night disguised as a female elf (changelings are cool, btw) but found only a cobbler who heard anything of the previous night's ruccus (oh, and s/he bought a new pair of shoes).
Keldrick wrote a letter to House d'Cannith while Sim finally... at about 11am... went to bed. Lady Tarina wrote back to Keldrick to emphasize the dire situation of the lost Cannith heir and implored upon him to look for Talmagast immediately. (Here, IMO, is where the party should have awakened Sim and showed him the letter from Lady Tarina, but I digress.) After rousing Sim from his day of sleep the group headed outside... only to discover chaos. The western half of Sharn looked engulfed in flames, and the party had to wait a half hour (a HALF HOUR!) to find a skycoach that would take them near the flames (and only after Sim paid the driver a platinum piece for his trouble). At first, Sim was adamant about going after Ursula first and the lost Cannith second, but then Keldrick showed him the letter and Sim allowed himself to be swayed.
Turns out, the goblins in the city of Sharn were revolting. They had formed a "union" under the leadership of "The Eye," and this revolt and general chaos was their idea of a "strike."
THEN some griffin-flying city guards forced the party to make a detour over to Old Keep in order to speak with their leader, Lain. Lain turned out to be rather open to our quest, after a bit of political manouvering, and allowed us to enter the fray... in exchange for us killing or publicly humiliating The Eye.
Thus our quest to find Ursula and Talmagast d'Cannith took on a whole new feel...
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Contributor
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Forgot to update from two weeks ago, so I'll just do two posts today.
Two weeks ago we entered the chaos within Sharn where all the goblins, goblinoids, and their ilk were all up in arms and led by some mysterious figure called The Eye.
First, a group of hobgoblins tried to dump burning debris on us. Then some goblins nearly walked by us (caring some big expensive vase) before deciding they wanted to fight. We almost talked the gobos out of fighting us, but they were feeling particularly suicidal I guess and came after us. The neat part of that combat was near the end when Sim (my character) scored a critical hit with his unholy longsword and the goblin turned to ash and a rune began to glow on the blade.
Our first non-living trial came in the form of a partially collapsed bridge that we had to jump across. Most of us jumped successfully across the gap, while the slower and clumsier among us used ropes.
Later we came across a man fleeing the carnage gripping a strongbox. Sim wanted to kill him and take his strongbox, but he was outvoted. Instead, we told the man about the bridge and told him to find another route. A quarter-mile down the road we came across a burning house in which a woman screamed for help. Acting quickly, Adso rushed in and pulled her out (she was unconscious at that point). His act of heroism earned him back his good alignment and made him 0.004% less grumpy. Okay, 0.005%. Anyway, Adso revived the woman, who told us her husband had left her behind to save his lockbox. Feeling triumphant in the accuracy of his earlier instinctual reaction, Sim led the search to find Mr. Greed (not his real name, obviously). With the help of the forsaken wife we hunted down the man. Again, Sim wanted to run him through, but wussier opinions ruled the day and we left the man's fate to his wife. Much to Sim's satisfaction she hit him in the face with a big frying pan. BONK!
Leaving behind the "lovebirds" we approached a bridge above us upon which stood an ettin and three ogres...