Khelez-Mar: The Earthshaker

The Cast of Characters

• Vogg of Clan Toron
• Sir Ottamar, Knight of the Sword
• Moriam, Cleric of Ulaa
• Manasi, clouder of men's minds
• Heydrich
• Kull of the Mountain
  

The Earth Quake

After destroying the wyvren rookery, the dwarves and their allies retire back to Khelez-Mar, where they divy up their treasure and then retire for the night. They are woken by a skull-shattering earthquake and are shaken out of their beds as the disturbance suddenly ends. They find scattered damage throughout the fortress, and Kull, Rencor, Moriam and Manasi decide to consult the Clergy to see what the Mountain might be telling them. They move to the lower level, and find that the path down is has been badly broken. Manasi teleports the four to the level below, to the fungi forest where they find a number of badly wounded dwarves hurt by falling debris. Rencor quickly moves to heal them, while Moriam studies the cavern for instability. Rencor utters "the blessings of heironeous upon you", drawing concern from the dwarves. Kull follows, saying "fear not, his is a strange religion, but he is a strong warrior and has slain many orcs! He has a good heart!"

Continue on word to Farak-Dur, the fortress protecting the Forge level. Find the area is still being restored, and is filled with equipment and supplies. The area itself is not badly damaged, indicating that it was some how reinforced or protected. Guards wave them through Farak-Dur, to the Forge. Learn that the earthquake disrupted the Forge, and the dwarves are struggling to recover.

Once there, Moriam is met by Steel-giver, a well-respected armorsmith, who asks if the earthquake is a sign from Ulaa. Moriam replies that he thinks that the clerics of Dumathoin (sp) might have answers. See statues of Dumathoin (sp), Vergadin (sp) and Moradin. Go to speak with Arval (Blood-Messenger), cleric of Dumathoin, find him comforting the masses, "you are dwarves! you are better than this! calm down!"

Moriam stands up before the crowds and says "Ulaa does not speak this way -- you must return to your work, to forge the weapons to fight the orcish scourge!"

Confronted by Dolor (Riddle-master of the Sword) who demands to know what the gods would have them do. "We will investigate this mystery. We are dwarves, a long lived race. Patience is our virtue ... back to work!"

Seeking the Follower of Secrets

The party speaks with Arval, who does not know why Dumathoin would send such an earthsquake, since he usually does such only to reveal secrets beneath the earth. Kull, who has spend years wandering the mountains of the Drachensgrabs, asks if it might be some other diety ... perhaps the strange elder earth spirit known as the Earth Dragon, a diety who's power has been seen to be growing through cults in Blue and Obsidian Bay.

Into the Mines

Moriam considers seeking out Clan Jarzak (miners of the blood), the master miners of the fortress, to see what they might have learned. Moriam dispatches Kull to warn mining clans not to disturb and clutches of gems that might be revealed by the collapse. Back at the cave fungi room, Kull finds that the way back up is exceedingly difficult. Reluctantly, he turns around, and then remembers that there is a tavern on the Forge level named "Baz Dol'est" (Sword of Fire Cavern). Find many abandoned meals there, and hear someone yelling about cleaning up and stowing gear.

Meet barkeep, Delgan, who gives them directions into the mines, to the "elevator room". Take the elevator down, going 40 ft. down. Moving deeper, they find an area where a fight has broken out. Come closer, find crowd gathered around a shattered rock, including black vein of corruption. Manasi and Kull look closer as the black vein. Touching the black with his axe reveals it is some sort of metal, and a miner informs them that it had been silver when it was first revealed, then turns dark and corrupt.

A final bit of advice from Manasi is "If it looks different, poke it like we did."

The Knight Above

Concerned by the possibility of attack, Sir Ottomar seeks the Knights of the Shield stationed in the fortress, working with them to prepare for a possible strike. The 15 Knights are in their chambers, donning their armor, saying prayers to St. Cuthbert in preparation of war. The Knights were stationed within the fortress as part of the dwarves' defense pact with Obsidian Bay. Sir Ottomar approaches them as they pray, and joins them. He speaks with Sir Cryllic, the leader of the Knights in this place, asking where they should assemble for defense.

Arval's Vision

Arval tells Moriam that he is ready for the communion, but that they should find the dwarven leader Thror Du Bok and Galanak, high priest of Moradin. Seeking these leaders, they head deeper into the Forge level, find a craftsman repairing statue of Domathoin. He's able to find them, and brings them together with Arval in the temple. Galanak and Arval consecrates the area, and then Arval casts his invocation at the statue of his god. The god's head turns, his eyes glow golden, and he speaks. Arval asks if Domathain if he sent the message; god replies he didn't. The dwarf asks if it was sent by an enemy and if it was an unnatural event. The god says "it was an attack, and it was target it at the dwarves, though the agent was unknown and hidden." Arval is shocked that the keeper of secrets under the mountain did not know who did this.

Kull and Manasi arrive, reporting on the corrupted vein. The leaders say it is a horrible portent, saying they don't know what it might be. The miners find no sign of any other corrupted silver mine. Moriam wonders if the evil dwarven god Albathor might be responsible for this foul act.

Kull wonders if the passages to the UnderDark should be checked on. The Elders agree, and ask Moriam to take his friends down to investigate while they consider the possibility that Albathor might have been behind the attack. Back up on the first level, Manasi and Kull gather together their friends and explain what had happened.

Into the Dark

Sir Ottamar seeks out the general store, speaking with its proprieter, who tries to sell him everything at significantly increased costs.
After gathering together, the party then heads into the dark. Head to the great hall that leads to the great hall, where the dragon once lived and was slain by D'lar, Moriam, and the Blackrazors. Talk with the dwarven and human guards stationed here, who say that the area is very quiet, aside from the earthquake.

Hanging out at the Dire Cafe

I have this blog for cross promotional purposes, so I might as well do some cross promotion. The Dire Cafe is the UncleBear.com-spawned social network for escapist geeks. So sayeth the Bear: "If you're a casual fan of movies, scifi, fantasy, horror, comics, or tabletop rpgs you're in the right place." Go there. Hang out. Have fun.

Radio Active #49: Monster Week, Catan, Dire Cafe, Geek Dad Blog

Thoughts about Nuketown's upcoming Monster Week extravaganza leads off Episode #49 of Nuketown Radio Active as I discuss about the movies I want to review and ask listeners for suggestions.

With the monsters out of the way, I talk about my progress on the geek fitness front and my experiences registering for GenCon 2007. In Netheads, I take a look at the upcoming SimCity game for Nintendo DS, suggest folks check out the Dire Cafe social networking site, ramble on about Pirate solitare, and discover a Geek Dad Blog at Wired.com. Finally, this week's review is the board game Catan for Xbox 360, a computerized version of the classic German board game Settlers of Catan. Get the podcast at Nuketown.com.

Radio Active #48: Sickness Returns, Crafty Podcasts, D&D Manager, Jupiter

A particularly nasty round of family colds sidelines Radio Active for a month, but the show's finally back with an update on Baby Nuke's new love of Cheerios, news of Nuketown's new Top of the Pile comic book review column, a rundown of my wife Sue's favorite crafty podcasts, and news of a new D&D utility for the Mac. Rounding out the podcast is a review of Ben Bova's science fiction novel Jupiter, in which a science team searches for life in the deep, high-pressure water ocean beneath the king of planet's cloud deck. Get the episode at Nuketown.

Nerds!

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd   Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Social Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Anime Nerd
Drama Nerd
Musician
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

No big surprises here. There weren't much in the way of coding/computer questions, else my possession of a vintage Timex Sinclair and my code monkey day job might have pushed me into the computer nerd category.

Radio Active #47: Space Westerns, Twitter, Boxed Octopus, Fnordcast, Double 0

News of the new science fiction webzine SpaceWesterns.com opening for submissions leads of Radio Active #47 as I'm not only a fan of the zine, but one of the volunteers helping to read through its slush pile. The mail bag has responses on my debate over getting a notebook vs. a desktop computer, and as that debate draws to a close I spend some time geeking out over my latest web toy, Twitter.

In Netheads, I take a look at the Steve Jackson Games official Fnordcast and Roll 2d6 in a Random Direction podcasts and discuss the new Double 0 RPG beta. This week's musical interlude is provided by the band Boxed Octopus and their geek song "Science Boy". Get the episode.

Radio Active #46: Notebooks vs. Desktops, Out of Darkness, Horror Betrayals

Things take a horror-tinged turn in this week's podcast with reviews of Midnight Syndicate's retrospective horror music album Out of Darkness and the horror-movie inspired board game Betrayal at House on the Hill by Avalon Hill.

Elsewhere in the podcast as for feedback from geek parents about the merits of getting a notebook computer vs. a desktop computer and start looking for some craft/mommy podcasts for my wife to listen to on her spiffy new 30 GB white iPod. Finally, Net News has the welcome return of the Harping Monkey's Round Table podcast, which ends its hiatus just in time for me to start doing home improvements again. Get the episode.

Radio Active #45: Crawling Babies, Podcasts Galore, A Deepness in the Sky

Baby Luke learns to crawl and joins me as a guest host of the latest edition of Radio Active. In addition to news about our littlest geek, I've got news about a new "Game Day" column that's running on Nuketown and a review of Gears of War, as well as audio feedback from Doug of the Geek Acres podcast.

In Net News, I catch up everyone on podcasts that I'm listening to nowadays including old favorites like Random Signal and Roll 2d6 as well as new ones like the audio novelization of Cory Doctorow's Eastern Standard Tribe, the musical stylings at Mainstage at the Monkey and the covert happenings at the Stealth Geek podcast. Finally, I have a review of Vernor Vinge's science fiction novel A Deepness in the Sky. Get the podcast.

Ravenloft: To the Cursed Temple

• Real World Date: 3/2/07
• Greyhawk Date: ??
  

Cast of Characters

• Pierce Haligarth, acquirer of unique treasures
  
• Naru, monk
  
• Lysander, a bard with a knack for throwing anything
  
• Obergon, competent fighter
  
• Donegal, cleric of Daern
  
• Rapostâz the Misbegotten, city-hating druid
  

Quote of the Game

"Ok, we failed our intelligence checks. Can we leave now?" -- Donegal / Bob

"Here is the church, here is its steeple, look inside and ... who ate all the freaking people!?!"

The Saga

The party catches up, with Pierce revealing to Dongegal the revelations of the Burgomeister's son. During the night dire wolves circle the encampment, but do not attack.

Morning Doom

The next morning the party awakens half-surprised to be alive. They head over to Bill Drath's Merchantile, which is presently locked. Darth is anything but cooperative, but Pierce tries to talk his way in, jingling a purse of coins. He's turned away.

Donegal goes seeking Ashlynn, to confer and prepare to leave. Before doing so, Donegal casts consecrate on the barricade, and then on his shield as well. Pierce and Lysander grab makeshift clubs, then join the party as they head out.

Undead Attack!

Halfway to the church they encounter some zombies tearing at a dead and bloated horse in the middle of the street. The zombies look up, scream brains, and prepare to attack. As they do so, three creatures break from a building and start tearing apart a zombie. Donegal quickly identifies as the creatures as ghouls, and seeing that the battle is about to be joined, Lysander beings singing and inspirational song.

The creatures, seeing fresh meat, charge the party, slashing at Neru and Obergon. A terrible stench overwhelms both of them, sickening them. The touch of one of the monsters also paralyzes Neru. The zombies slowly advance, one of them tearing terribly at Neru, staggering him momentarily. Seeing his companion suddenly stricken, Donegal steps up and channels the will of Daern to release his paralysis.

And then the rats, huge, bloated and gross, suddenly appear.

Pierce, seeing the horrors that nearly killed him, lines up a crossbow shot but in his nervousness misses the ghoul he'd aimed at. Lysander causes a cacaphony of sound to explode among the ranks of zombies, ghouls and rats, damaging the ghouls and stunning one of the rats. Rapostâz steps up, is sickened but fights past his disgust of the unlife to slaughter a ghoul. Then the worshipper of Daerned calls upon his god to drive off the creatures, and succeeds in turning one of the ghouls. Rapostâz slashes at a zombie with his scimitar, but fails to kill it.

A zombie bites at Neru, hurting him and overwhelming his natural defenses ... to unknown effect.

The fight continues, with the adventurers trying desperately to kill the monsters before them to little effect until Rapostâz finally cuts down a zombie, and his compatriots are able to kill the remaining zombie.

The combat over, the adventurers realize that Naru and Ashlynn are looking noticeably worse. Donegal steps up and casts remove disease on the paladin, healing her of growing sickness. He can not heal the monk, who continues to look as though he is coming down the flu or some more terrible disease.

The Fallen Church of Pelor

Find the Church of Pelor fallen and in terrible repair. The impetous fighter Obergon steps up and throws open the doors to the church before Pierce can even raise a protest. Instead they see a darkened room, with strange, nonsense chanting from the direction of the altar. As Neru enters the room, the speaker finishes his chant and a circle of black death erupts amidst the party, killing the monk instantly as his heart explodes and causing the rest of the party to clutch at their chests in momentary pain.

The party responds by moving into the church, getting ready to attack, with Donegal and Rapostâz taking the lead and Lysander and Pierce in the rear. Zombies suddenly emerge, tearing apart Naru's body while another shriveled corpse stepped from the shadows and started casting, causing a burst of sound to explode over Lysander and Pierce. Both ignore its effects and Pierce deftly runs forward, skirting around a gaping hole in the middle of the floor to move around the back of the chanting, barking mad cultist. He sets himself up to land a well aimed strike on the cultist, but discovers his would-be partner, Obergan, has been magically held by the self-same cultist.

Donegal attempts to burn the cult cleric with searing light but scorches the wall instead. Near the rear of the church, Rapostâz calls down the lightning of Obad-hai to blast the cultist, then slashes at one of the zombies with his scimitar.

The taunt-skinned undead creature moves into the hall between Rapostâz and Lysander, then unleashes magic missiles on the bard. The priest suddenly runs from the altar, drawing attacks from his enemies but not carrying, and then jumps down the hole in the center of the room. Pierce follows him to the edge, draws a sunrod and throws it into the hole. It illuminates a 20' drop.

Obergan, ever chaotic, shakes off the effects of the spell that holds him, and jumps down the hole after the crazed cleric. Donegal once again calls on the will of Daern, turning two of the zombies and the strange "deathlock" creature that had cast spells at Lysander. The bard ignores the remaining zombie and jumps into the hole, casting feather fall to slow himself. The paladin also joins him, jumping to the bottom and ignoring the bracing pain that shoots through her body as she lands.

They find a nasty, dusty basement surrounding them. In one corner they see crazy alchemical-looking equipment, while two zombies loom in one corner, while something awful groans to the south and shambles forward.

The crazed cleric then screams "you can't take your son from me!" and tries to cast a spell at Obergan. Pierce, who'd rather take his chances against the living than the dead, deftly drops to the basement beside the mad cleric. Lysander lashes out at the cleric, finally killing him.

And then they hear something horrible coming from the south again, and see a horrific creature with oversized limbs and a gaping maw ready to devour anyone who comes closer. The paladin Ashlynn is visibly shaken, utters "... by Pelor ... " and then attempts to turn the monster. The light of Pelor falters however, and the creature and its fellow horrors are unaffected. Above, Rapostâz and Donegal continues to fight the zombies as one of the deathlock flees.

Obergan steps up to face the unspeakable horror, confronting it and attacking with his sword, slashing it badly. Lyander casts a spell which has no immediate effect. Then the paladin tries to strike the creature and fails. Meanwhile the monster assaults Obergan, savaging him with an overwhelmingly strong bite. Pierce carefully puts away his rapier, draws his dagger, curses the undead, utters a half-hearted prayer to Daern ... and then steps up to attack a zombie, slashing off a hunk of flesh as he does so.

Upstairs, Rapostâz and Donegal continue to struggle with a remaining zombie. Hearing the cries of the party for help, the druid transforms into a vulture and flies down into the basement. Downstairs, the bard tries to hit the creature a touch of his hand, which he had successfully charged with positive energy but misses. He then backs off, ready to attack again next round. Donegal tries to fend of the zombie, but fails and is sickened by the creature's shambling blows.

Below, the paladin Ashlynn falls to the surprisingly fast and deft skeleton as the creature slashes at her, cutting the life from her. Obergan continues slashing at large-mawed creature, but finds that the creature is terribly tough. The vulture-formed druid flies across the basement, landing opposite Obergan and with the monster in front of him. The bard, sensing his friend is in trouble, decides to heal Obergan than strike the horror.

Pierce, desperate to control his fear, continues to slash at the zombie before him, cutting off ever greater slabs of undead meat.

"Get away from us you foul monstrocities!" Donegal proclaims after falling through the hole, staggering to his feet over the paladin. He successfully turns the two zombies and the skilled skeleton, who flee.

Pierce looks on in disbelief. "Thanks for that ... but I was doing all right with the zombie. That other thing..." Donegal replies "You should stay away from it -- perhaps help the paladin?" He tries to, but fails. Fortunately, the cleric is able to cast a minor healing spell closes the least of the paladin's wounds ... and saves her life.

Lysander steps up again, hoping to blast the creature with divine energy, but fails. Pierce sees the monster, realizes it would easily kill him, and then turns to look over the cleric's body. He finds a well-worked morning star, full plate and a shield but nothing immediately useful to the creature behind him.

Donegal measures up the creature, and decides to step up and channel divine energy into it. He sidesteps it, casts a spell, and hurts it badly as positive energy floods through it. Lysander does the same, then tumbles away. The creature strikes back, dazing Donegal and wounding him.

Pierce turns his attention to the fallen paladin, hoping to find some item in her possessions that might get her back in the fight. He finds nothing that fits that bill, but does discover a few gold-tipped crossbow bolts. He digs those out and prepares to fire one at the creature. He shoots, misses and when it slams into the far wall it explodes in a burst of alchemical light and heat.

"Excellent," he whispers.

Rapostâz finally kills the creature with a blow from his scimitar. Relieved, Donegal turned to the paladin and healed some of her wounds, awakening her while the others dispatch the remaining zombies and undead. Pierce looks through the alchemical set in the corner hoping to find something useful. While he realizes it's an exceedingly expensive set of equipment, there is nothing immediately useful here. He realizes that the it was probably used to build the horrible creature they just vanquished. The others find the bodies and equipment of Ashlynn's fallen companions, and give the items to her.

They gather up the well-wrought full plate armor, morning star and shield. They find two scrolls, one of which is revealed to be cure moderate wounds while the other was ancient, blank and clearly recently used. Rapostâz casts detect magic, determining that the full plate armor and shield are magical.

Among Ashlynn's companion's equipment they find half-plate, magic chainmail, magic great sword, two cure light wounds spells and lesser restoration.

The adventurers then withdraw to the upstairs via stairs that they finally found. Examining the altar, they find the a journal which references the Tome of Straud, an item that may be found in Castle Ravenloft. They also find that the Burgermeser found his daughter as a young girl and raised her as his own.

Looking around the altar, they discover a book called the Liber Blaspheme, which included instructions for building a "blaspheme" undead from the corpse of a recently dead close relative. Also find a gold chalice worth 700 gp and two silver bells worth 50 gp.

Nuketown Radio Active #44: Digg, Life Hacks, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion

Nuketown Radio Active gets Dugg (or at least an entry on Digg) while I struggle to organize comics that haven't been filed in a decade. If you're similarly organizationally challenged, then figure out how to hack your life with the 50 best Life Hacks from 2006 and an exceedingly geek calendar for 2007.

Rounding things out is a review of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the expansive role-playing game for Windows and Xbox 360 in which you play a hero who saves an empire from demonic invasion ... or not. Get the podcast.

Radio Active #43: New Year Goals, Accidental Survivors, Free Comics and RPGs

Radio Active's long dark tea time of the soul ends with Episode 43, in which I discuss a crazy January that saw my Xbox fall under the spell of the red rings of death while I destroyed my "integrated home theatre system" with a static electricity-empowered touch. Looking ahead to 2007, I talk about some of my personal goals, including reaching a weight of 190 lbs., coverting my campaign web site to a wiki, and writing a novel. In Net News I have a review of the Accidental Survivors podcast, share the 360 Voice that enables your Xbox to blog, and explain how to get free stuff with this year's Free RPG Day and Free Comic Book Day.

Save the show. Save the world.

Quote: Energy and Persistence

"Energy and persistence conquer all things." -- Ben Franklin

Man, some days I really miss Franklin. The world (and America in particular) could use his sort of common sense approach to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Handy Mac Mail Shortcuts

Looking to get things done a little more quickly in Mac OS X Mail? Then check out this list of Mail Keyboard Shortcuts. A few of my soon-to-be-favorites:

• Mark as flagged/unflagged: Command-Shift-L
• Mark as read/unread: Command-Shift-U
• Send message: Command-Shift-D
• Mark as junk mail: Command-Shift-J

Bogus Columbia Explosion Photos

It looks like the e-mail claiming to have photos of the space shuttle Columbia's last seconds is circulating again. The hoax says that an Israeli spy satellite snapped the shots of the shuttle exploding; in reality they're just stills taken from the movie Armageddon. I've got the full debunking up on Nuketown if you're curious.

Radio Active #42: Geek Birthdays, Villian Talk, Fire Upon the Deep

Discussion turns to books and coffee as I reminisce about my 35th birthday, a geeky Christmas, and the surprising fusion of my Xbox 360 with a spiffy new iPod. In Net News I look at Villain Talk, the podcast for evil geniuses, take a bite out of a gingerbread TIE fighter and find out what geeky women at the She's Such a Geek blog. Finally, I review one of my latest reading conquests, Vernor Vinge's space opera A Fire Upon the Deep. Get the show, get the show notes