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Post by Drahcir on Sept 8, 2013 8:46:51 GMT -8
So I mentioned in another thread that I actually started out playing Dungeons and Dragons to begin with. Specifically using the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game system first. It was through a friend of mine at school, we'll just call him Baz and leave it at that. He arranged with one of the teachers, Christopher, to begin a game set in the Dragonlance world of Krynn. There were four of us to begin with, if I recall. Baz, Oliver, Ben and myself.
Our characters were Bungie, Thorin, Irwin and Grunk, respectively. Unfortunately I was not present during the initial character creation so I was stuck with Grunk as a name. Oh well. Still, Grunk Basalt continues to remain one of my favourite characters that I've ever played.
Bungie the Fool was a handsome and talented male bard, half eleven and a roguish personality if ever there was one.
Thorin was, I think, a carbon copy of the dwarf of the same name from the Hobbit, but I don't know for sure. He was a dwarvern fighter none the less.
Irwin was an elf wizard at the beginnings of his education in the ways of magic. Armed with one magic missile per day and almost no hit points, he was destined to spend much of his time in negative HP.
And Grunk. Another dwarf, a fighter with a roll of 10 on his hit points out of a possible ten sided dice and a whooping 18 in his strength. He was tough and strong. A winning start for a fighter and the beginning of a trend as far as char creation was concerned for me.
So we four set off on our first adventure. It should be mentioned that Grunk was squire of the Knights of Solamnia, as it will be important later on. We were told that there was rumour of a set of old ruins, guarded by a terrible creature. In those ruins was a fountain whose water was said to be able to heal magically.
And that was where we were headed.
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Post by Drahcir on Sept 8, 2013 11:07:57 GMT -8
On the approach to the ruins, which were set on a sort of natural tower set apart from the mainland, separated by shear cliffs of jagged rocks, we encountered our first skirmish. A rope bridge connected the mainland to the isolated ruins and someone else had already had the idea of investigating the rumours.
The encounter didn't pose much of a threat and a straight forward rush and kill tactic did the job. The loot was little and we moved on across the rope bridge.
Upon entering the ruins, it was quickly clear that far more adventurers had flocked to take a piece of the prize. A dozen or so bodies were scattered about the large room into which we entered. Some as fresh as a week, others dry bones. The room was as large as a church with a statue at its center of a minotaur.
Exploration proceeded with caution, particularly when it was noticed that the axe the statue was holding still had blood staining the blade. Sure enough, in due course, the statue came alive and attacked. This was not such an easy battle. Irwin was knocked out after unleashing a magic missile. Grunk came close to the same, while Thorin and Bungie managed to get their own hits in while avoiding too much damage.
Eventually however, we vanquished our foe and all was well. For the moment...
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Post by Drahcir on Sept 9, 2013 19:08:48 GMT -8
A short examination and a rest passed some time, and revealed a number of corridors around the place. As well as large portions of the ruins that had collapsed, forming barriers that could not be traversed without a significant amount of careful excavation. Ominously, there were also signs of something other then guardian statues, haunting the ruins. Large, very large, spiderwebs.
In fact, further in, there was indeed a few giant spiders that were more then happy to drain the group of their bodily fluids. The group was not to be defeated however and we managed to escape without losing anyone. We also discovered a number of web wrapped objects in what was likely the spider larder. In one of them was a survivor, a hobgoblin that elected to submit to being bound and accompany us, rather then be left to starve in his cocoon.
The rest of the exploration was mostly uneventful, until we reached the center of the ruins. Tentatively heading into the chamber, beyond a pair of double doors, we spotted another statue. A gargoyle perched on the edge of what looked like a fountain. The fountain itself no longer flowed, but what little light permeated the room cast shimmering reflections about the place.
Having had to fight a stone minotaur recently, we were weary of the gargoyle, and so decided to look around a bit more before we tried for another battle. As it turned out, there were more bodies too be found, one of which wore a pendant shaped remarkably similarly to the gargoyle in the broken fountain.
A test was devised to determine whether the pendant was some sort of control or protection for the gargoyle. By having Bungie wear it and have him drag the hobgoblin into the room with him...
Now, as a Knight, Grunk was quite opposed to this idea. However he was not there at the time (off exploring) so he was not accountable... this time.
Predictably, the gargoyle pounced and killed the hobgoblin, but left Bungie unharmed. So it was, that the fountains remaining water could be got to in safety, while leaving a dangerous guardian to watch over it. It did indeed turn out to posses healing properties.
The group returned to report what they'd seen, hand over the pendant to the authorities and spend the reward they were given. Concluding the first ever game of Dungeons and Dragons I ever played.
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Post by Iron Kaiser on Sept 15, 2013 14:53:30 GMT -8
Ha ha. Awesome story. If I were that hobgoblin, I'd be quivering in my boots! So what were your thoughts after you finished this first game? And from what you've told me before, that's not the only time you've played Grunk. I'm guessing you've got more stories with this Grunk fellow! Care to share another?
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Post by Drahcir on Sept 15, 2013 15:50:28 GMT -8
Oh yes. Many an adventure was had with dear Grunk. But I'll get to those in due course. I'm actually a little loathed to tell all of them in case I want to run a similar campaign... but, I doubt that will happen and it's not like I can't find a multitude of other adventures to use instead, There's plenty of good'uns. Plus of course, writing my own might be nice. ^_^
As for post adventure thots;
Well I thought it was a lot of fun. I find it incredibly easy to lose myself in a character or story and so my imagination generates a 'real' experience from these types of games. It was also the first time I had encountered a game with such unbelievable freedom. We could have just up and gone anywhere we liked. Not bothered with some stupid fountain etc.
Of the four of us that played that first adventure, only Bungie, Irwin and Grunk were destined to continue on. Oliver had as much as he was able and decided he wasn't game for seconds. So it was that Thorin, after receiving news about some solitary mountain back in his homeland, left for his own journey, never to be seen again.
Needless to say, the rest of us were eager for our next adventure and we recruited more players as time went on. But that is another story.
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