Spirited Resistance

Here's my work-in-progress map of Caerthaeph't, the scene of the solo I'm wrking my way through at the moment. It is based on finding a ring that delivers the Spirit Mastery spell (formerly Yassa Massa). The city first appeared in my solo 'Joy Ride' - that one stemmed from me having my car stolen - and it is a city full of thieves.

We played out a campaign on this theme very happily - the main character (Donald Neuf-Trump) quickly embraced a life of crime but hardly ever used his ring once he got a toehold on the ladder of success. He moved from Caerthaeph't to Qadouche because of the intense crime rates in the former city and in the latter he established a legitate business as a front, D.O.N. - which stands for 'Delver Operations Network', a company giving 'advice' to novice delvers.

Dancing to a Different Tune

Nerdlinger is back in business and his fingers are itching to cast a spell. Hmmm, open the door or blast the grinning skull?

In his new Universe, spells work slightly differently and so does its population. He's certainly cast a spell since this is a 5.5 dimension Universe and has no INT check or WIZ resistance. He may think he's on to a good thing but we should wait to see what our little electron of a wizard actually does.

Wave goodbye or part(icle) company?

The Lion & The Unicorn

This solo is set in the dismal town of Seamists and borrows in format from the great Death Trap Equaliser. It follows the tasks set out in the Twelve Labours of Herakles allowing players to take on just one quest or all those conected with the Lion or with the Unicorn - or both.

The magic is a little different with curses, jinxes and hexes and it gives a pathway to join the ranks of Wizard-Gods and Witch-Goddesses!

A New Beginning

I have often wondered how things started.

Apparently Nerdlinger had the answer and created a new Universe just before he died.

All he needed to do was fashion a few very small particles with different charges and properties, allow for them to occasionally combine, with a variety of results arising from some of these combinations and give the whole lot a bit of a shove... E=mc2 takes care of the rest if you set that as one of the fundamental laws for your particles and male c (the speed of photons) at a very, very high number. That's how you end up with wizards able to cast Hell Bomb Burst spells.

Anyhow, the relative endless of the time arising from that inital 'shove', the amount of energy available and the inevitable ensuing collisions of particles made it fairly certain that Nerdlinger would appear again - and so he has, this time finding himself up against a less than charmed monster.

It is probably not safe for him to assume magic will operate in exactly the same way this time round but rather to factor in a degree of Uncertainty.

One Step Beyond

 

Ah, yes! His name is - was! - Nerdlinger. He had a safe, comfortable life and might have enjoyed a promotion or two, met a nice girl and started a family, been content with looking forward to 'Ratball' games at the end of the working week.

He lifted the lid on Pandora's box and paid a heavy price. Living life on a knofe edge is fine for heroes but losing life to a knife edge is almost as easy as losing your balance if you stray from the path.

But in Trollworld, where the magic burns brightly and the nights get shorter year by year, you just never know how the dice will land...

Bad Advice

More trouble afoot. This fellow has decided that the Wizards' Guild don't pay very well. He hasn't really done his sums because board and lodging is thrown in plus first class security, which in a magic-rich, lawless world like this does not normally come cheap.

At first he tried his hand at party tricks for children's birthdays but his 'Sparkle' spell failed to draw the crowds.

Still not having the spare cash to live the high life and impress the ladies as he aspires, his next business foray is into opening dungeon doors for novice delvers. His first assignment ran at a loss because he failed to add in travel expenses so he now finds himself with the prospect of a dismal journey back to town, sleeping rough and looking over his shoulder every step of the way as his out-journey bodyguard (ie the delving party) disappeared into the bowels of the dungeon as soon as he opened the door for them (without paying - another lesson: take your fee up front).

However, his mind is playing tricks on him and he imagines he sees a glint of gold ahead. We might know that all that glitters is not necessrily gold but does he?

Temption is crooking her professionally-manicured finger his way... What to do?

Getting Your Fingers Burnt (Why is life so mean to me?)

The Finloch Glaum game has taken a few more baby steps forward with Pywch managing to get Nosesplatter released from his 4-fight contract with the Khaboom Arena, thanks to Souza's interventions. e has discovered that the dwarf he seeks is not on the West Coast but was plucked from a all-too-dangerous adventure involving the forces of the serpent-fiend Zweetz when some better resourced adventurers stepped in. Wedges and his mate Meaty Mutt are now supposed to be in the small town of Stoneydaze, the mayor of which, the mega-merchant Shoppie, having spiled the beans at a birthday party for his young son - Pywch was delivering a present for Souza, a rather haphazard WIzard-Godfather.

As for the image above, well, our young friend who was on door duties at the Guild had a mishap on the way home after work. Pywch had upset some rich nobs in a carriage who were rather impolite, causing the dwarf to Hold That Pose one of the middle horses in the team of six. This caused the carriage to slew into a surly minotaur, who rather took umbrage.

When the City Watch turned up, the captain, Thickie Puddlebrain, soon arrested the minotaur and got the street moving again. How does the poor, young wizard fit in? Well, hickie is rather extraordinary...

His INT is just 4 but his WIZ is 230, making him almost invulnerable to even top notch wizarding. His mates try to egg foolish mages into bets that they can't zap him. Generally, they can't. He doesn't feel a thing and his mates share the spoils of the wagering with him. Our friend got lured into a bet and his spell backfired on him.

Perhaps he'll just quit his job and leave town.