I missed a week’s post (Week Five) and had to miss last week’s game to stay home with the girls since Jen was healing from some out-patient surgery so I apologize for the both of you who are reading this for updates…
Week seven began with us opening a door with no keyhole with a magic key. There was a staircase leading up to a large room (50 feet by 50 feet at least) with a large emblem on the floor. Once we entered the room the door slammed shut and was sealed by some sort of magic that prevented us from leaving. As soon as the door slammed shut a huge 10 foot by 10 foot orb appeared in the middle of the room and it was time to roll for initiative. After that got sorted out it was time to take out the Orb that was flame resistant which precluded me from casting my Daily (can only cast once per gaming “day”) Flaming Sphere spell but I did pick up a Staff of the Apprentice which added +1 to any implement-used attack (most of them since I’m a Wizard), this came in handy because I was a spell-casting fool (again, I’m a Wizard so I spend the overwhelming amount of the time waaaaaay in the back using the rest of the adventuring party as a meat shield to soak up damage that I might otherwise take. Also I’m of an evil alignment so, you know, why not take advantage of that…) Well, sir, that didn’t do me much good because the Orb was pretty much a ranged-attack kind of creature. After some very good attacks, and quite a few bloodied adventurers (myself included), we were finally able to get the Orb itself into a bloodied state at which point it cracked open and out emerged an Eladrin (kind of like an Elf) who begged us to finish it off before the spell that was affecting it caused it to teleport and start attacking us again.
We fought bravely and finally finished it off. After she died, her ghostly lover (?) gave it a final kiss and she shuffled off this mortal coil after whispering [redacted]. I put two and two together and spoke that name plus [redacted] and [something pretty cool] happened.
I decided to loot the body and found an amulet that was shaped like a pyramid with seven diamonds on it. I was able to determine that it was a [redacted] and one of my cohorts opened it and we also determined that it was worth around 100 gold if we were to sell it at market, which I don’t think I’ll do as it may be worth more to me if I keep it. That said, I am evil, so we’ll see…
Beyond the gameplay, the group of eight Adventurers and the DM, Wes, had a good time throwing one-liners out when appropriate and, in my case, not so appropriate, and discussing geeks things like comic books and Star Trek DS9. The fun vibe was great this week and I enjoy the folks I play with as much as the game itself, I really hope that after this 12-week run is over, we’ll find some way to continue playing. Wednesdays can’t come soon enough!
(Fittingly, the post about an orb is post #360 on this site. Hooray for happy coincidences!)
So, week four of D&D Encounters and this one was a battle encounter. We first met an Imp who, thanks to my Arcana skills and others’ skills checks got us some information from the Imp about the portal he was standing over and the Master’s Apprentice who lived therein. After we got some more information from the Imp the earth shook and he awakened some stone sculptures and the battle began.
My wizard and our group’s psion stayed in the back while our attackers (all five of them, plus two animal companions) pressed forth in battle. It was a pretty tough encounter and everyone but myself was at least bloodied (reduced to half or less of their hit points) and I was struck for some pretty good damage by a collapsing cavern ceiling as well. It was only because of a lucky roll of the dice that I, myself, wasn’t bloodied by the collapse. (For the record, my deftness spared me 10 damage and I took only five.) Turns out, that was my only lucky roll and I spent the rest of the encounter causing minimal damage including an Encounter-level spell that took six of a possible 20. (2 D8 +4, I rolled two ones)
That said, I did pretty well for myself and our group of brave adventurers emerged victorious, delving into the portal that opened due to the tremors leading us into the Apprentice’s lair.
I’m really looking forward to the next eight weeks’ worth of games but it’s another two at least until we can get an extended rest and recover spells, hit points and daily-level actions.
Stay tuned!
So, we’ve got an iPad here in the office and I’m trying it out for a day before I need to give it back to Art, my boss, who was kind enough to let us play with his new toy for a few days. I downloaded the iPad WordPress app and it’s easy to type with and I’m not really having any issues using it in landscape mode.
I’ve checked out a few of the “killer” iPad apps like Netflix and the ABC app and they’re
Wicked cool!
Stay tuned tomorrow when I do my weekly D&D post, in the meantime check out the iPad if you get a chance!
Week Three of Encounters and this was a short but sweet encounter. It was a skills-based encounter so no combat this week. The first part of the encounter didn’t really work for my Wizard’s strengths, but the second half was heavy on Intelligence (Arcana, Religion, History) and Wisdom (Dungeoneering and Perception) -based skills which were waaaay more suited for my brainiac.
After the two skill challenges were bested, we were left with a cliffhanger ending pining for more. Next week can’t come soon enough!
I’ve been wanting to get back into Dungeons & Dragons for a while now. I even went so far as to buy the 4th Edition books when they came out. I got the Player’s Handbooks I and II, the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual as well figuring I’d probably need to run a game since I didn’t know anyone locally who played.
Fast forward to two-plus years later and I found that Wizards of the Coast was trying to introduce the game to new players by having their Encounters delves hosted not just nationwide, but worldwide, every Wednesday at different locations.
I’d initially found a game in Newark, which is a good 45-60 minute drive from my house, and went last week to play the first level/encounter. Well, it wasn’t a great fit for me (mostly for the drive involved) so I looked for a game closer to me here in Livermore. As luck would have it, I was able to find a game hosted at the Barnes and Noble in Dublin, which is about a 10 minute drive. I called the store to make sure that they were still accepting new players and wound up talking with Wes who wound up hosting/DMing the game I played this evening. He let me know that I was more than welcome to join in the festivities and, WOW, what a difference!
The moment I walked into the store and met Wes I could tell it was going to be a great session and I was right. There were four of us in the party, myself a Human Wizard (Gwenne Stefan I), a Ranger (didn’t catch the race) and his wolf companion played by Richard, a Cleric played by a young woman named Sam, and a Swordmage played by a young man named Elliott.
We picked up where we left off last week and took an “elevator” down from the main level to the dungeon where we ran into a Changeling, a Guard and his pet Scorpion and a smattering of Minions. We made pretty short order of the minions and gave the Changeling and Guard a pretty solid whooping to end the encounter.
Again, it was thanks to Wes, the DM, for helping the group get going and really involving the group in the adventure. I was able to get back into the swing of things after not playing for at least 15 years and was able to get up to speed without embarrassing myself too terribly. I can’t wait until we pick up next week and hope that we can do some role playing as this session was entirely battle-filled. I hear tell that next week’s session will be more skill and role playing-based. Can’t wait!
So, again, here I am with the second post in 10 minutes. I should really come up with more content for my site, huh? If you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see my post about, whether it be tech, book, gaming (pen/paper or Xbox), or whatever, leave me a comment!
I’m working with a coworker on a blog that he manages and wanted to show him some of the functionality of Windows Live Writer so you may see a weird post or two. Not that I don’t already post weird stuff anyway…
Just testing out posting via the iPhone. While I doubt I’ll use this functionality very often, it’s a nice way to post something if I NEED to…
I finally moved my blog over from a WordPress-hosted site (using tedsblog.wordpress.com) back to a non-hosted site. That means I’ve got more freedom to:
a.) break stuff royally with no way to recover
b.) tweak stuff to my heart’s content which will probably lead back to option a.
So, I had an operation two weeks ago yesterday on my, uh, boy bits and things are feeling better. Mostly.
I won’t go into much detail as, well, I don’t want to, but things are working out OK for the most part.
When I went in for the surgery, the first thing I noticed was that the radio (not a CD player or anything) was playing Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” which was, honestly, a bit on the nose if you ask me. When I mentioned that to the doctor he said that the song plays around the same time every day and that the irony wasn’t lost on him either.
The surgery only took about 20 minutes and the worst part was when he injected the vas deferentia with the lidocaine. There was definitely, as the doc stated, a “pinch and a burn” when he gave me the shots on each side of the “area.” Once the stuff set in though, there wasn’t really any pain but I could definitely feel what he was doing. The burning flesh smell was a bit distracting though.
I was taken home by my buddy Caley and spent the next five and a half days recuperating in our bedroom with the TV, my XBox 360 and a bunch of books and DVDs. The swelling was pretty severe and a sock filled with a zip-top bag with frozen peas in it was a very close friend to me for that time.
Forward to two-weeks-and-a-day after the event and I’m still pretty sore but feeling better. The stitches have dissolved and/or fallen out but I still feel like I got kicked in the junk.
