The Adventurers of Yar'rag Setab: The Etherwhale

The Adventures of Yar'rag Setab 1986 (686IC)

I came across this picture today ( https://hjalmarwahlin.deviantart.com/ ) and it reminded me of an adventure I had when I was younger. I was about 12 years old (I turned thirteen that October) and I had been studying at the arts of magic but a few years. Spending part of my time here in the real world and some of it n the Isles of Magic. However It was the school holidays in both realms and my grandfather thought it would be good if we took a break from my studies. We went out onto the Great Gray Marshes in our world known as the East Tilbury Marshes and we began to explore.

We started off by Oldhouse Fort then ventured down to the river Thane from there we made our way along the shore past the ancient Elven tower of Riverguard and then on to the Troll Mausoleum.

The sun was hitting the water at the right angle and the breeze took the edge of off the summer sun. The sky was mostly blue with islands of big bulbous clouds here and there like a floating archipelago.

My grandfather and I rested at the old stone table once said to be a meeting place of Trolls, then druids and now rarely visited at all except by the odd Arcaneologist or Ranger.

Together we stopped here for an hour before turning in land. The ground was damp but firm. Rocks covered in lichens, hardy shrubs, thistles, dock leaves and all manner of grasses dotted the landscape here and there a barrow or fairy hill. Water ways cut through the landscape and everywhere dragonflies, bumble bees and butterflies took to the wing.

As was normal for us when we went exploring we each carried with us a canvas pack, a hip flask, a pen knife, compass and a spy glass. No mobile phones, they had not been invented yet, well not ones normal* people could afford.

In my pack I also had one of my notes books bought from paper capper in Tilbury, a pencil case fully equipped, a policeman's whistle and a ball of string. Oh and my pack lunch. In my hand I had a walking stick fashioned for me by my grandfather. He was a true warrior of the light, a man of wood and a story teller without compare.

He too had a staff, seemingly plain until you got up close, that's when you noticed the minute runes in gold, silver, bronze, brass and copper.

The two of us walked for several hours talking about nature and the supernatural, about trolls and elves and of course about magic.

It was then we came to the great tor of Froth Jeff and we made the sign of the warriors of light and we praised the Silver Lady and the Golden Lord and we began to walk up the hill to its top passing first Firblog, then Neolithic, then Pictish, then Celtic, then Roman, the Saxon and finally Viking markers, between them stood goblin, gnome and elf signs. This Tor my grandfather assured me was special and sure enough on this day I was to discover it was for sure.

As we got to the top of the hill we ate and drank and swapped stories. Then my grandfather held up his hand and said very quietly that I should take out my spy glass and look to the north as a great cloud bank which was coming my way.

 I looked but could not see anything other than gulls and fluffy clouds. Then he put his boney hand upon my shoulder and gently squeezed. He put his mouth next to my ear and whispered look not just with your eyes but also with your mind.

Then I saw it and I almost fell backwards with suprise. There in the clouds bursting forth was a giant whale. It looked silver tinted and its side fins where much larger than the whales of the sea.

It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

“What is it” I said?

“An Etherwhale” he explained and I was in awe. We spent the next two hours watching until it had passed.

That day I learned a great deal about majesty and beauty and about the world that exists just beyond our reality. We walked back across the Moors with a spring in my step and a thousand things whirling in my mind.

It's funny because I often think back to that day, I have seen flying whales in comic books, in cartoons and films but that was the only time I have seen them for real.

Dinosaur Hunt: From the Diary of Yar’rag Setab

Dinosaur Hunt: From the Diary of Yar’rag Setab

Adventurer, Scholar & Wizard of no small power

Today I decided to go on a Dinosaur Hunt. I began by assembling my equipment, which included  my vorpal blade, winxy pistol, seven league boots, dimensional pouch, ring of elemental air control and 'Nutcracker' my trusty magical shield. I had my pith helm on and my compass and spyglass. Water in my pouch and enough food to see me well fed for a month. I walked gingerly from the Tower at the Edge of Reality to the mystic gate which stands in the grounds of the tower. I stood before it and invoked the words of power “Ecom ho tirips fof eth teag torpstran em dan torpstran em won”. With that the vortex opened up and beyond a tropical land awaited me. Eager to get on I entered this ancient world.

As I stepped forward on to the lush beach I looked up into the sky and watched a group of pterodactyls swooping down towards the see hunting primitive fish. It was then that I noticed the long necks of both plesiosaurs and mauisaurus breaking the surface of the almost calm ocean water some even had a meal in their teeth. The air was fresh and the breeze cooling even though the sun was climbing high. I had already taken a potion which allowed my lungs to cope with the much purer air.

With a sigh I began looking up and down the beach and scanning the tree line. Although prehistoric islands can be a lot of fun they can also contain dangers which most people are unaware of. It was then that I spotted the ancient marker stone that once proclaimed a jetty had once adorned this beach. Oh yes perhaps I had not mentioned this before but the island I was on had once been inhabited and it also was not your standard island but one which existed in a pocket dimension.

The people who had settled here where once of Atlantis and they had fled the civil war which had brought that once proud civilisation low. I had learned of this island from my grandfather, for it was from here he recruited his two unusually intelligent and long lived pterodactyls Aspectus and Venaria a mated couple.

However as usual I get distracted with facts which whilst interesting are not overly relevant to this current story. In any case I had found the marker, it had been placed their almost five hundred years earlier and her it was looking almost as good as new.  Seaweed clung to its base along with the shell of a dead cameroceras. I took the shell and placed it in my pouch, stored away for latter. Looking around I found an old trail almost overgrown with lack of use.

I decided to follow the trail and drew out my winxy pistol and vorpal blade. I was alone and did not want to fall foul of any of the creatures that dwelt on this island. There may not have been many or any humans upon the island in hundreds of years but I did not want to reintroduce the taste of our blood to them.

As I moved cautiously along the trail, taking in the natural beauty of this prehistoric paradise I could not take my mind of off the notion I was been watched. By what or by whom I could not tell. I knew it could not be magical scrying as I have long been immune to things, which meant whatever it was physically here. If I was lucky it was a scared herbivore trying to avoid my presence, if my luck had run out it may well be a predatory dinosaur looking for its next meal. I have never had any desire to become another creatures food so I remained on guard.

Eventually I came across tracks. A group of smallest dinosaurs, bipedal by the looks of thing, light on its feet and by the length of its stride long of leg for its size which was likely less than a metre tall. As I followed the tracks I soon came across a partially rotted and vine covered tree which had fallen across the trail. As I prepared to attack they struck not one, not three but half a dozen 70cm high dinosaurs long necked and long tailed their forelegs looked like clawed arms. Coloured in various greens they ran at me teeth bared and making shrill noises.

Then it happened bam, each slammed into my double body shield, an invisible force field which only magical attacks can penetrate. They hissed they tried to bite and they clawed at the invisible thing which kept then well away from me. Nut Cracker had saved me again. I could have killed them but that as you know is not my way.

I took out my note book and began sketching them even as they tried to eat me. Been a kind soul I removed some meat from my pack and through it clear of me so they might gain some reward for their troubles. Using my book of knowledge I identified them as Coelurus. Then once I had dallied for about an hour I picked myself up cast a flash spell and scared of my would be attackers. As fun as it was I had something important to do and so climbing over the fallen tree I continued onwards until I came upon a small river and an old stone bridge which had seen better days. It appears as if once in the past a spell battle had played out on this bridge and whilst it still stood some of it had fallen down over time as wind, water and plant growth had worked its will on the bridge so that only the left side was now whole or strong enough to take my weight.

I stopped here and fed, watered and relieved myself. As I did so I came across something in the vines a golden ring shaped as s circular chain. Once a fine ruby had been set in it, however the ruby was now a shattered ruin. A finger bone still passed through it although it was dirty and stained by the elements. I added this to my pouch after sensing that it no longer held magic.

So others had come this way before or perhaps they had been native spell casters of lost Atlantis. Why they had fought was beyond my knowledge and so I carried on careful not to get too carried away by flights of fancy and idle speculation. After what seemed like an hour I finally came to a clearing. However something was not right. Looking more carefully at the floor of the clearing I soon noticed that the clearing was littered with bones, all belonging to strange creatures I could not easily identify.

What was odd though it that many of the bones had wounds on them reminiscent of hunting spears the kind used to bring down big game such as boars and bears? I started looking for tracks and it soon became apparent that these bones had been dumped here and that a wagon had been used to bring them here what was also odd was that the wagon had been flanked by at least two large bipedal dinosaurs larger than the Coelurus by about three times. The wagon had been pulled by another type of dinosaur a quadruped by the looks of the tracks. Things where becoming more and more curious.

As I prepared to leave collecting some of the more interesting teeth and skulls, it happened a cross bow bolt bounced of off my double body shield looking around there in the jungle was a human atop a gallimimus, a large ostrich like dinosaur, a predator to be sure but this was bridled and saddled. The humanoid on it was red of skin and dark red of hair. It wore feathers in its hair and wore teeth around its neck. It wore lacquered banded leather armour on its chest and shoulders and clutched a rather advanced cross bow. This it now discarded and instead readied an obsidian tipped spear which now glowed purple. I cursed as I realised its magic would allow it to pierce my own protective magics. Then before I could blink beast and rider came charging towards me the red man calling out a battle cry. I just about had time to leap to one side and the spear passed through where I had been. The beast also snapped at me but I was not able to penetrate my shield although the force of its attack did send me flying.

As I rolled to my feet I fired of my winxy pistol. Its effect on dinosaur and rider where rather interesting as the hex the gun fired took its effect. The strap on the riders saddle came loose as the beast tripped throwing its rider over its head onto the ground. Then showing there was no love lost between beast and rider the dinosaur decided its former master was an easier target than I. For my part I ran.

I had not seen a red man since Carcosa, what in the nine hells was it doing here. Well for whatever reason I was not staying around to conduct an interview. The path ahead was clear and so I took to the air and flew forward using another of Nut Crackers abilities. As I did so I soon emerged from the jungle to be confronted by an awesome sight.

Before me was a great lake and around it where all manner of dinosaurs, mostly I am glade to report herbivores and across the lake an island upon which stood a palisade. The dinosaurs included stegosaurs, triceratops, a heard of parasaurolophus and even a family of diplodocus. Even the sky was filled with flying reptiles two I soon noticed ridden by red men.

It was then I decided to take a gamble and lower my double body shield in order to active Nut Crackers invisibility spell. You see as great as the shield was it can only have two of its powers active at once. With invisibility and flight active I flew at speed towards the island. As I got closer I soon realised the island was deserted and the palisade a ruin. However this was where I had been heading all along and now I was here my excitement grew.

As I landed where once the gates had been I looked around to make sure the red men where no longer in the vicinity, they were not so stopped to check for traps and magic and upon discovering neither I proceeded. The place had been attacked not too long ago and although their where signs of struggle, including blood and discarded weapons all bodies had been cleared away.

Noting the largest building I went over to it and entered making my way to the main bedroom on the first floor. How did I know there was a master bedroom on the first floor, let’s just say a little imp told me. Once inside I saw a large mirror hanging on one of the walls. Even though fighting had occurred the mirror was still intact and undamaged.

“Nepodnalaever” I called and the class of the mirror ripples and then vanished revealing a portal to a gave deep below the island. Oh this was just too good to be true. So again casting out my mind and focusing on magic I discovered a spell hanging their waiting for me. It was a rather nasty one, a form of stasis spell which held a greater shadow in stasis until such a time as someone crossed the fresh hold without the right object. Well I did not have the right symbol but I did have a way of dealing with the shadow.

I took out a golden candle of Sol, which due to a goodly amount of prayer contained a sun spell of the fourth circle. I held the candle up to just below where the shadow was been held and prepared to light it. I had to be careful because for the spell to work I had to cross the threshold and dispel the stasis which would mean the undead evil could attack. One, two and I went on two. The spell shattered and the shadow launched forward towards we then the candle went off and the room was filled with holy sunlight. The tortured spirit screamed an unearthly scream as the light burned it away to nothing.

Now checking for conventional traps which I found, I took out my tools and began to disarm the mechanism which would cause the stairs to turn into a smooth slide and deposit me in a pit which no doubt would then close and fill with water, there might even have been spikes in the pit but I was not really prepared to find out.

Down I went and found myself in an underground grotto. The room glowed due to a combination of gems and electrum in the walls, a pool of clear water and a strange moss which gave of a blue-white light which was amplified by the gems, metal and water. All of which was pretty but not why I was here.

No I had come because the arch mage Oceanus, former disciple of Velios the Mage-Priest of the Mal-Rashee had hired me. When I say hire let’s just say he had something I wanted no needed and he needed some fool to come here and get something he had asked a friend to hide many hundreds of years ago.

Looking around I found it in an alcove standing above the water was a decanter, made of moon crystal and stoppered with a star saphire. What the decanter did or what he wanted it for was not important, well not important to me. So looking around I noticed that the cave acted as a shield against magic, the water was blessed and the gems contained lighting and frost magic.

So I quickly deduced that I could not just take it. So how could I grab the decanter and not get myself into a whole world of hurt. I knew just what to do. Not many people know this but I am psychic. Not very psychic and not a powerful psychic but once I did a job for a cleric of Vishnu and in return he helped me unlock my inner sight and fortify my mental strength.

Focusing my discipline and casting it out like a fishing line a used my mind to grab the bottle and bring it slowly through the air to me, never disturbing the ground or the water. It worked well at first. I forgot the first rule of steeling objects on pillars, platforms alters or in alcoves: always, always replace like with like lest you set of a trap.

In this case I set of two! The first called into existence a storm elemental and mixture of elemental water and air. The second caused the portal which brought me here to begin to close. The solution my seven league boots, this was going to hurt and it did. Invoking their power the boots tried to carry me seven leagues all at once. Slam I flew into and through the wall to the room, bang I flew through the outer wall of the main building, smash I hit the palisades outer wall!

I was bruised and bashed but I had the decanter, as I looked up I saw I also had company, before me stood a pteraman. A type of lizard man which had a head resembling a pterodactyl, lacked a tail and could transform into with a hybrid or full pterodactyl form. This one held a blast sceptre and ordered me in broken English to hand over the decanter. Lucky for me I was no longer flying or invisible so I called upon nutcracker and unleashed a lightning bolt straight into the creatures chest frying it before it could react. I grabbed his fallen sceptre and ran, then flew and took to the air.

To the beach I few as fast as I could suddenly their where three red men on giant dimorphodons. They had lances like their ground bound counterpart and as they closed on me began firing purple beams of energy at me. By all the gods of magic and mayhem this was turning into a rather sticky situation.

If I turned to fight I might be over whelmed, if I carried on fleeing they might hit me. In the end I fumbled with my pouch and slid the decanter in and called up one of my assassins smoke jars and a thunder stick. Dodging another blast I almost dropped both and almost lost the spell I was calling to mind. However I had been through worse and so I cast glue and adhered the stick to the jar and then pulling the sticks cap I let go. It flew out behind me and then the thunder stick blew as destroying the jar and realising the smoke in one foul cloud. As it blinded and caused the riders to temporarily lose control of their mounts. I hit the ground and activated my boots sending me towards the beach.

Unfortunately 7 leagues happen to be roughly 24 miles and this island; well the part I had traversed was only about five miles deep. This created an overshoot of some 19 miles taking me out into deep water. Water filled with hungry predators which make modern day sea creatures seem like a tame sea world display team.

Thinking quickly I activated my flying ability once more and used it to stop myself hitting ocean instead I flew hard and fast back the way I came. I gained height as well and after three quarters of an hour later I reached the shore where I had originally arrived. Wasting no time what so ever I reactivated the gate stepped through and said a fond farewell to my dinosaur safari.

Once back I walked slowly back up to the tower fell quite literally through the door and allowed my animated study chair to catch me. Reaching into my pouch I pulled out the decanter and my journal and began documenting my adventure. Three things where playing on my mind. Firstly why where red men on that island which is a demi plane of this reality and linked to earths past, secondly how had the pteraman known I had the decanter, I cannot be scryed or magically detected and even abilities which detect future events get a little fuzzy when I am involved, thirdly where the reptile man and the abhumans working together or did they represent two different factions.

My mind whirled and it was only calmed by me writing down this tale, which was meant to be a simple dinosaur hunt but got hijacked by an arch mage and which has caused me more questions than it provided answers. Oh how silly of me I have fallen for the arch mages scheme he knew if he sent me I would end up letting my own curiosity act like the bait on a fisherman’s hook. Hmmm if only I had the will power to ignore all I had learned and get on with my own affairs.

Well that is all for now I shall most likely write again and write again soon.

Most kind regards,

Yar’rag Setab

Sunday 10^th Day of Harvest 717 IC

ADVENTURE PER WEEK: Kazakhs Lair Room 1

Hi everyone each week it is my intention to post a log of my families table top adventure. The adventure has been randomly generated using a combination of tables from Advanced Hero Quest, Advanced Fighting Fantasy and Dungeons & Dragons.

Each week I will role for the next room or corridor section and its contents. Then my family and I will play through the encounter and I will draw the dungeon and write up our adventure report and publish it hear. As I go along I will also publish monster stats for multiplayer systems, our characters stats and descriptions and also some of the background information from my groups homebrew setting The Barter Town Chronicles.

So let me begin:

I started of by rolling our mission and on a d100 I rolled a 77 and got - "A group of clerics have lost and item and need it retrieved

I then rolled to see what the item was. For this I used the Religious Articles and Furnishing table on page 300 of the D&D Dungeon Masters Guide 5e. I rolled a 39 - "A Idol" I decided the idol belonged to an enemy church and the villains of our piece wanted it back.

I also created a table listing races the adventure might involve:

Roll             Possible Encounter

  2                Dark Elves
  3                Shaven/ Ratlings
  4                Mixed Goblinoids
  5                Bugbears or Gnolls
  6                Humans
  7                Kobolds
  8                Goblins
  9                Hobgoblins
  10              Orcs
  11              Undead
  12              Chaos

I rolled a 9 on 2d6 - "Hobgoblins"

Next I rolled for the Dungeon using the GM's Reference Sheet from Advanced Hero Quest

I rolled 2 Dungeon Sections, with 1 door and a dead end. The corridor was empty. Beyond the door was a large room with one other door in it. There was an NPC in it, I rolled a d12 using the list of classes in the D&D Players Handbook 5e. I got a sorcerer. I then rolled race and gender a Half-Orc female. Her alignment was Neutral.

She was a prisoner of 2 Hobgoblin Patrol leaders and 4 Hobgoblin Warriors.

I then set about drawing the dungeon. The dungeon is now ready and soon we will play through the encounter our DM/GM/Ref will be fate itself and our collective storytelling

This is the map I generated after making the appropriate rolls, ready for us to begin play. As time goes by I will add to the dungeon as we over come the various encounters and traps that await us.

This is the first draft of the first chapter of a story I am working on please read and please enjoy....

The Adventures of Goraxe Meridian: Escape from Gallowghast

The Palace rocked the rebels where inside the inner walls and the Palace guard where hard pressed to defend the place. Although they were elite troops, veterans of a hundred campaigns they were few in number and the enemy were greater than they had expected.

Goraxe new this was coming, his first minister without portfolio Sir Rake Croworthy had been gathering information on the rebels for some time, the Wizard Sublime who had been with Goraxe for many years now had seen the portents and divinations and so planes had been made.

Prince Welfhelion was out of the way and the Princesses was safe in the duchy of Essex, most of the Royal Guard and those of the Palace Guard who could be spared without risking letting the enemy know the King was on to them had been slowly sent south to other lands and other holdings on this plane and others.

Golems, elementals and guardian spirits had been summoned and bound ready for the attack. Alice the Kings personal scribe and Newt-Torac the lizardman mercenary had seen to the packing of the high Kings equipment and preparation of his adventuring gear personally whilst the King and sir Rake has prepared a few surprises for those rebels who tried to make it to the kings apartments.

The Guard Captains had been asked to hold the lower halls as long as possible and then to use the secret tunnels to get their men out using them. Each tunnel was rigged with explosive runes in order to collapse them as they retreated.

This meant the upper levels of the Kings halls and tower where largely deserted except for the animated guardians who waited silently to deal death to the rebels.

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Just then the tower shook causing the kings party to all stop and consider what it meant. The battle in the lower halls where over the palace guard either dead or gone. So be it thought goraxe as he slipped on his mithril shirt over his leather jerkin. Next he added his belt, sword belt and tool belt. Next he put on his old adventuring bandolier and lastly his entropic talisman a gift from Rengard the former head of the Rangers Guild and his youngest sister Carla.

His equipment complete he went to check on Sublime who was working his magic in the Kings spell casting chamber. Deep in concentration swirls of colourful magic reflected of the sorcerers  mirrored plate. No one in the palace had ever seen the sorcerers face and none knew his race. Most feared him more than just a little, his no nonsense approach to business and his cold logical view of the world added to the fact he was 6 foot tall and build more impressively than most warriors unversed people.

It did not help that when people looked at him rather than meet his gaze all they saw was their own distorted face reflected back at them. This did not in any way stop him from been one of the most skilled and proficient spell casters in the kingdom. His knowledge of alchemy was just as great as his spell casting ability and was also known to be a most powerful conjurer and astrologist.

Goraxe decided to let him finish his spell and so went down the stairs to where Alice and Newt where building a makeshift barricade in front of the doors to the Kings personal chambers. They laid a number of spears, daggers and cross bows along the barrier.

Just then the sound of screams and yells of pain could be heard coming from the levels directly below the Kings Chambers. Oh dear the rebels had just found his golems and shadow cats, these creatures where immune to mundane damage and quite a few enchantments and spells. This meant that the majority of the rebels rank and file troops would be totally ineffective against the presents the king had left for them.

 *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *         *         *

True enough the traps on the lower chambers claimed had already claimed the lives of some fifty rebels most caught unawares by the swinging blades, concealed spikes and falling stone blocks. Once they had got past the traps the next batch of would be usurpers found the very shadows in which they tried to conceal themselves turned against them.

The shadow cats pounced and for each one of them they claimed half a dozen enemy. Soon mages arrived and dark priests with blessed and enchanted attacks which were put to good use by the enemy forces. Noble Khuul and lessor formorians made up the bulk of the new forces arriving. They eventually turned the tide on the cats and although it cost the lives of all thirteen of the shadow cats a much greater number of villains lay dead.

Just as the new lords of Caladonia took in the sight of the slaughter around them the next wave of surprises made themselves known. Sections of floor and wall animated and formed into stone fists which punched and tore and unsuspecting rebels. Again battle was joined and this time the enemy was ill prepared to stand against the half dozen stone golems and soon their numbers where fast diminishing.

This brought valuable time for those above, however then the enemy champions and officers arrive. Vaul the dark templar a Noble Khuul who had long wished to see the alliance between light and dark come crumbling down. He stood tall in his black armour and shade wolf fur. A veteran of many wars he had spent the last few years in exile fighting wars for the lords of Dhaine on this and other worlds.

He returned to aid those lords brave enough to stand against the High King and Queen. They brought with them experienced rogues, assassins and mercenaries of a mixture of heritages and races. Most importantly he brought with his the Soul Hunter Harkken Rhot and the Sorcerer Vhandevil of Kees. Both skilled adventurers and slayers of the noble and good.

Seeing his men been slaughtered the Dark Templar decided to take action, not out of pity for his men but because he knew in the upcoming wars he would need all the men he could get. Taking up his dark steel blade he pointed at the first of the golems and uttered its dark command word Voidantius Kometh and with that a vortex appeared atop the first golem and sucked it out into the void. With its departure the tempalars troops took heart and redoubled their attacks.

“My turn” whispered Vhandevil. He stepped forward and through up his arms his long thin palms facing the golems his talon like fingers spread wide. “By my power and the power of the dark, by my power and the power of Kurst, by my power and the power of the void – DUST!” with that a wide grey beam of magical energy flowed forward and struck the midsection of the next golem as the energy spread the stone lost its solid structure and turned to dust as if the ages had taken their effect on the stone not over centuries but in seconds.

It was Rhot who was next to show his skill and power. Drawing his two blades he called upon their dark power. “Levi empower and Vhort deliver” as he finished his words the two blades began to absorb the light from around them as they became engulfed in entropic energy. Moving with lightning speed the Soul Hunter moved between two of the lumbering stone giants as he came within reach of them he swung his blades out wide and connected with each of them.

As the blades touched the constructs the magic which animated them began to leach away overcome by the power of the entropy. The stone also aged and crumbled another effect of the blades. Slowly the two golems stopped moving and fell forward unable to move once more simply carved stone statues.

The three of them advanced upon the two remaining golems and soon the last of the guardians where no more, now to rid this world of the so called High King Goraxe Meridian.

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The High King and his three companions waited noting the noise had ceased from the level below them. They knew what would come next, suddenly the well-made and enscrolled doors of the Kings chamber suddenly exploded and blew inwards.

The enemy poured in and Alice a double loaded cross bow in each hand fired expertly and dropped the first four villains through the doors. Although the 5 foot 5inch blond looked like she might find lifting a heavy book let alone wield two very heavy crossbows he not only managed to do so but then threw them to one side and soon replaced them with matching short swords.

Next to her Tork held a repeating crossbow, with one squeeze of the trigger three bolts fired of each contained oil of impact and resulted in three heavily armed knights of the black blade exploding in front of their allies. This slowed the next wave down and made them hesitant to attack.

hen Rhot and Vhandevil appeared both stepped confidently into the room along with another named Bokk a Half Ogre half Khuul warrior skilled in breaking through enemy lines.

Bokk and Rhot moved to fight the High Kings servants, whilst Vhandevil placed his hand on his masters shoulder who had now joined his lieutenants and teleported the two of them to where he believed the High King would be.

Rhot decided to engage the lizardman and the women in the same way he had attacked the golems, whilst and effective warrior he was lazy and preferred to use the same manoeuvres. This time he decided to draw upon his ability to drain the souls of others he could only drain one soul at a time so he decided to relieve the young women of hers.

The killer acted fast however he was not fast enough for Torc who was able to parry the soul hunters blade with his own rune axe. Alice was not so fast and the hunters blade buried itself deep within her abdomen. Rhot hesitated as he noted two things one he felt no soul energy drain from the women and secondly he noticed the girl was smiling.

“Hi I am Alice 13 and I am Goraxe Meridians scribe, I do not feel pain and I do not bleed as you are noticing I am also non magical in nature although I do appreciate magic despite its lack of logic. Also because I have no soul and am largely a product of technology your entropic attack also appears to have no effect on me, however I have scanned your anatomy and pin pointed its weak spots please accept my blades as a way of ending your existence.” With that the women drove both her short swords into the sides of the Soul Hunter, cleaving the being completely in two. The Soul Hunter lost its life with a look of complete shock and surprise on its face.

Sir Rake noted the lumbering hulk come bounding towards him, normally Sir Rake was not a man given to fighting, and in fact he usually did his best to avoid it. He was a fully trained Knight and had been sword fighting and fencing since he was a child however he found that fighting often ended up ruining his clothes and getting perfectly good shirts stained with blood.

Bokk spoke “ You die fancy man, I am going to crush you.”

“Oh you are, are you and what makes you think a badly dressed ruffian like yourself think he can slay a well-dressed gentleman like myself?

With that Bokk raised his two big hands and hurled himself forward. Sir Rake took a pouch from his belt and emptied the contents out onto the floor in front of the goliath. Suddenly the half giant lost his footing as he encountered the marbles Sir Rake had poured upon the floor.

The Giant-kin landed upon the floor with a thud and Sir Rake took out a second pouch casually empting it over the giant. All of a sudden the itching powder took effect and the half ogre began itching and scratching wherever the dust landed.

Next Sir Rake drew a small wand and aimed it at the fallen halfbreed “Sleepius Znoozus” and with that the giant yawned and fell fast asleep. He then joined Alice and Torc who were both heading to join their King.

 

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *         *         *

 

 The two servants of evil appeared suddenly in front of High King Goraxe Meridian. He was sitting on a stool before his now extinguished fire.

“Greetings gentlemen are you two the best that Bogmire and the others could send to try and kill me?” A smile crossed the high king’s face as he attempted not to laugh out loud.

The Dark Templar turned to his companion a sneer on his face. “You go slay that ridicules mage and I will slay this peacock.”

“I like to think of myself more like a Merlin Hawk, I once knew a dwarf who was linked to the vicious northern red penguin, but no I am most certainly not a peacock how about you, oh let me guess a scary raven or perhaps a two headed vulture or no wait for it a fearsome black dragon.” Goraxe was now laughing out loud.

The Templar had had enough he was not going to allow this simpering Mhainite to humiliate him in a battle of words when fate had decreed he was the one destined to end this miserable worms existence.

Drawing his sword and invoking its void powers. This would be over in seconds the sad little has been was not even trying to dodge he just sat their laughing. The Warrior swung his sword the blow designed to take the former High Kings head clean off. As it connected with the Mhainites head the kings wobbled and the blade passed through him as he continued to laugh. The Templar was confused until he heard the word “Illusion” whispered into his left ear, about the same time as a blade bypassed his armour and pierced his heart. The last words this would be champion of darkness would  hear before he ceased to exist was “Infernous Ingnatious”. The entire form of the darkling lord glowed red then white and then was no more.

“We should get out more I have missed drinking the souls of others” said Goraxe’s sword to its master.

“I know I know well maybe we will have more time to have fun now I have been deposed and my Kingdom left in tatters.”

“Now that would be nice” exclaimed the sword sounding genuinely happy.

Looking down at his sword as he picked up his box of illusions he continued speaking “In any case the Queen can look after the kingdom for a while, see how much the citizens like that.” Both the sword and mhainite started to laugh afresh.

“What are you laughing at your Majesty” said the aloof voice of Sir Rake Croworthy.

“Just call me Goraxe or if it makes you feel better Baron from now on Rake, did Mordred have time to move my funds and hide the treasury before he left?”

“Yes” Answered Alice. “I helped him myself all is safe and secure?”

The Mhainite looked at his companions “Well lets go see if Sublime has worked his magic.”

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *         *         *

Sublime was in full flow now, his runic staff orbiting him lending him power, his words of conjuring sounding more like song than spell formula. The arch mage was in the middle of conjuring a gate to take him and his companions from far from here. He had to be careful though for the enemy had put up a suppression field around the palace in order to stop Goraxe from using magic to escape. Oh Bogmire thought Sublime you may well be powerful but as always you should have studied more. Sublime has heard of Bogmire he had been a student of one of sublimes former pupils, he appreciated the fact that the demonologist was a mighty magic-user in his own right but he also knew Bogmires many flaws and so he was finding it all rather too easy to get beyond the young mages spell of containment. He chuckled to himself whilst simultaneously continuing to spell cast.

Vhandevil approached the spell casting chamber he could hear the so called arch mage spell casting, hmm a type of gate spell interwoven by some kind of weakening magic to help bypass Bogmires magic. But how, no one can stand up to Bogmires magic much less cast them aside. If Vhandevil could slay this mage and take his spell books what power would he wield?

Calling a slaying spell to mind Vhandevil began to chant “By my power and the power of the dark, by my power and the power of Kurst, by my power and the power of the void – ANHILATE!” With that pure energy of the void and the dark was unleashed designed to destroy matter and extinguish life the so called arch mage was as good as dead.

The Arch mage however knew exactly what was going on around him. Sublime has been born to magic it flowed through him and was part of him. He could see ley lines and could feel the winds of magic on his skin, he could even taste the different types of magic on his tongue.

He was aware of the lessor mage as soon as he had arrived on the lower halls, what amazed him was the fact that the mage thought he could actually defeat him. Sublime allowed part of his mind to separate itself from the rest of his mind. It called into being a golden sphere around the mage and the spell he was casting, as the death magic struck it, it was absorbed and dispersed.

Vhandevil was in shock what had happened, how had the conjurer resisted his most deadly spell, carried on casting his two spells and if he was not mistaken started to laugh at Vhandevil himself. Never mind this second attack would be more successful.

He began to cast “By my power and the power of the dark, by my power and the power of Kurst, by my power and ….

The dark mage never finished his spell as a voice spoke inside his mind. “You have made a mistake young mage and now I am afraid you will pay for your stupidity”. Vhandevil was very much afraid, he had always considered himself strong willed but this mind which spoke to him k=now had bypassed his defences with ease.

Then it happened a bolt of pure amber energy struck the night wizard. At first nothing happened but then the mage tried to scream as he realised he was shrinking, no not just shrinking transforming he was becoming a frog. Soon he was covered in his own former clothing.

Just then Goraxe and his friends arrived, a frog emerged from beneath a pile of clothes. Goraxe looked at Subline and spoke “ A little stereotypical wasn’t it?”

The Mage did not speak instead he pointed to the Vortex he had opened.

Picking up their packs which they had left here earlier the companions walked through the gateway Sublime had opened up. Newt went first to secure the other side followed by Sir Rake and Alice, next came Goraxe who took one last look around before heading on through. Lastly Sublime walked through the portal closing behind him.

A little while later the whole Kings Tower exploded and it would be told amongst those who survived that the High King had fallen.

The End for Now

Book Review: The Ruins of Stone Hill

Book Review: The Ruins on Stone Hill (Heroes of Ravenford Book 1)

The Ruins of Stone Hill is the first of the Heroes of Ravenford series written by independent author F.P. Spirit. I first came across this book and author on Twitter, two other authors who I have a great deal of respect for Theresa Snyder and Carol Marrs Phipps linked his work on their twitter feeds.

Again I turned to my old friend Amazon to see if I could find said book, unfortunately the book was only available on Kindle this did however prompt me to download the Kindle app on both my phone and my lap top.

What really stood out was that book 1 is free. After reading the first book I quickly discovered why this is. The book is so good that once I had read it I would be more than prepared to pay for the sequels.

I have been a player of Fantasy Role-play games since 1984 and have been a Live Action Role-Player since 1994. So when I discovered that The Ruins of Stone Hill was a tale about an adventuring party and detailed their meeting and early adventures.

The first book spends a great deal of time establishing the setting and the main four characters, Glolindir a young (120 year old) elven wizard who has left his hidden homeland to learn more about the races beyond his safe home. Next we have Aksel a gnome cleric who is the last of his family, the other all having gone missing whilst searching for an as yet unspecified artefact, whilst young by gnome standards he is a natural born leader and fathers the others, he is a skilled healer and tactician. Next we have Seth who is certainly not a thief or an assassin he is in fact a Ninja and a really cool one at that. He challenges the Halfling stereotype at every turn. Lastly we have Lloyd a spirit blade, a type of knight which can utilise semi magical effects based on his balance between his physical, mental and spiritual selves.

Illustration by Jackson Tjota

To be honest I loved them all, every last one of them. As the story goes on additional characters are added and eventually in latter books some very strong female characters are added to balance out the strong male cast.

Whilst the book follows common themes for example adventurers come together each one has a quirk or skill that sets them apart. They learn to trust each other they go on mission are successful and get hired for further adventures based on said fame and success.

What makes this story different and thus well worth the read is that as characters are added and the group dynamic changes the relationships between the heroes becomes more complex and helps to define the characters and flesh them out.

No two characters are exactly the same and each one has its own secrets and fears which make them easier to identify with. The core part of the story which makes this story so good is the inherent goodness of the characters involved and how they learn to put aside their suspicions of each other and learn to work as a team and go from one success to another. The majority of the characters are also non-human which allows the story to deal with issues such as racism.

The author also manages to bring in issues of classism, gender and political leadership without been to heavy and maintaining a sense of humour throughout.  I was so impressed with this book that I could not wait to read the next one.

As a side not something that really made it for me was the maps and the quotes from famous characters from the world. This is a great world created by a skilled author and I highly recommend this book to absolutely everyone. Well done.

You can learn more about the author and his world at: http://fpspirit.com/

Book Review: James & the Dragon

James & The Dragon Book Review

James & the Dragon is volume 1 of the Farloft Chronicles which centre on the adventures of a very old Dragon named Farloft. The Farloft Chronicles are the creation of the most excellent writer Theresa Snyder.

I first came across the book on Twitter when I was researching all things Draconic, once I had the money I decided to check it out on Amazon.co.uk. I was delighted to discover that it can be bought both on Kindle and as a physical copy.

After reading both the blurb and about the author on the Amazon website I was intrigued enough to purchase both Volume 1 and 2 of the Farloft Chronicles on Amazon Prime. I was pleased with the price and the fact I could have physical copies within a day of ordering.

I was quite excited about the books and once I received them I was not disappointed. The book is 112 pages with 104 pages of story. It very quickly introduces the reader to the main characters Farloft the Dragon, James an orphan peasant boy and the Wizard Laval.

It would be very easy at this point to give the plot away however it is enough to say that although the story involves dragons, wizards, spells, potions and curses all of which make it clear to the reader that the story they are reading is set in a world of fantasy the author also has a knack of describing the world around the characters in a way which leads the reader to imagine the story could be taking place in just about any medieval European nation.

The land itself is a typical medieval kingdom ruled over by a King and filled with hard working peasants who live of the land. They are suffering under the effects of plague and famine and it becomes clear as the book goes on that the Kingdom has seen better times. As you read on you really begin to feel for the characters even those who only exist in the background.

As the story also has enough twists and turns that just as you think you have guest what is going to happen next something else happens to take you of in a different direction.  I must confess I could not put the book down and really wanted to learn more about each of the characters and discover what had made them the way they were as if they were real people.

Overall this is a well written book which will appeal to both adults and children alike. It lacks blood and gore but does not shy away from dealing with issues such as the death of loved ones and the loneliness of been on your own. However it deals with these issues in a mature way which not only adds to the story but also helps people reading the story to see how such issues can be overcome and dealt with in real life.

As I read the book it became obvious that I was hooked I wanted to know more and when I reached the last page I was greatful that I had already bought the second book. I would recommend the Farloft Chronicles to anyone who loves Fantasy books or enjoys reading about Folklore and Fairy tales

I would also suggest that anyone who has a love of Dragons will find these books a welcome addition to their collections. If you are interested in learning more please go and visit the authors website at Website: http://www.TheresaSnyderAuthor.com you will be pleased with what you find there.

The Lands Beyond Reality

When I was young I was introduced to the world of King Arthur, Greek & Norse Myths, the world of the Occult, Paranormal and Supernatural and like most kids with an imagination and a lot of spare time I embraced it. With the aid of books, TV programmes and latter films and video's I was able to borrow and blend ideas as well as come up with my own until I found myself in a Fantasy or Sci-fi world of my own creation.
As a child I was a keen to put my ideas down on paper, not just write them down but back then more likely draw them. Put physical images to the images and ideas in my mind. From the age of Ten to Twelve I would spend almost every Saturday down at Tilbury or Chadwell St Mary library. There I would read, look at pictures and learn.
My goal was one project a weekend and to that end I would read one factual book and one fiction book each visit. I would also take with me a pencil case, note book and sketch pad usually bought from Paper Caper the stationary shop in my home town of Tilbury in the 80s and 90s.
I was quite creative and I enjoyed been creative. I enjoyed living in a world filled with mythical beasts, dinosaurs, robots  and the people of my imagination.
As I got older I found Table Top Role Play in the form of Fighting Fantasy and Dungeons & Dragons and with them my mind was opened up to all kinds of possibilities. I created my very own game aged 10 called Goblin Quest. It was set on the world of Questar and was the result of a crashed space ark partially terraforming a planet on which life had ceased to exist thousands of years before.
I used Britian Knights, Battle Beasts and my vast Dinosaur collection to bring to life my adventures using stats based on Fighting Fantasy but using percentage dice instead of d6.
Today I still use locations and aspects of Questar in my games and I have with the help of some of my friends started to add more colour to the world which I created as a child. However more often than not I use those ideas to add colour and detail to my role-paly campaigns and the stories I tell my children.

                                          Fig 1. Map of the area around Verge a boarder town from my
                                                  Goblin Quest Campaign 1984. It has been digitally enhanced
                                                  by Fiona Dann

What I have kept on doing is illustrating my adventures.  I love drawing out dungeon maps for my players and make a point of each birthday sending them bespoke maps which I have created for them with a suggestion of adventure attached. Some are modified maps from on line but more often than not they are taken from my own mind and created with the person in question in mind.

 

Fig. 2 I am obsessed with the Cthulhu Mythos

      and it comes up time and time again in my writing

and drawings

 

 

The maps and the images are often inspired by other peoples creations. As I sate with Fig.2 I love the Cthulhu Mythos and will delve into any product that touches on this subject. I am particularly interested in Serpent People, Ghouls, and the various books of the Mythos. I try and include them in my maps and imaginings as well as creating my very own.

 

 

                                            Fig 3. This young Lady is the guardian of a set of standing

                                                     stones hidden in Albion. she is in fact the daughter of the

                                                     Lord of Portals and can appear as an innocent child or a

                                                    creature of nightmares and chaos

 

I have always felt that my drawings whilst not the best in the world add an extra dimension to my stories and games. They allow people to catch a glimpse of how I see the world and to allow us to visualise the same locations, foes and treasures. It is perhaps the best way I can share what goes on in my mind with others.

 

Combined with my story telling skills it means I can give my friends and family as well as my players a more detailed glimpse at the stories I am telling and the adventures we are sharing. At the end of the day what started as a child hood means of making my dreams and imaginings that little bit more real has now become a way for me to enhance my tall tales and keep a more detailed record of those far away places I visit in my mind and dreams.