First of all, let me say that what follows will be confusing. It’s a confusing thing to explain, and on top of that I’m probably not the best equipped linguistically to do it… but I’m all you got. I did draw a diagram that may help though, so hit that up for a full version.

Picking up moments after the end of the last session, the group was on the move, weaving through “The Mounds”, an area peppered with large piles of earth excavated from a newly dug tunnel which they quickly stumbled across.

Descending into the tunnel, the eventually arrived ‘under’ the mass of land that now occupied this dimension. As they neared the exit, gravity seemed to gradually shift (reverse) – so though they were underneath the land mass, they were now standing upright with a new “sky” above them. On this side of the landmass, as it was ‘scooped’ from Havenshore, it rose in elevation to a peak in the middle, atop which stood what looked like a tower.

Quick diagram

Inside, they ‘ascended’ a spiral staircase to the top (aka basement… confusing yet?) where they found the man they had been looking for… Merrik.

The basement here had no ceiling – it had been destroyed it seemed. Above them the murky atmosphere (which was close to them here) swirled and within it, they could see Merrik’s ship… as if above them was a portal through which they could see it. Part of the ship extended into this realm, though it looked as though it had been destroyed on this protruding end.

Merrik was kneeling near a black stone that sat upon a table in front of him. Near him was a bell, and next to the bell an older man lay on his side – maybe dead.

The group confronted Merrik, who was near death. He tells them they should run. Kelvyn touches the black stone and immediately drops to the ground… zero hit points. We run a mini skill challenge as his essence returns to it’s home within Califane’s realm where he remembers that this is his real existence… that Kelvyn is simply a form given to him to push the will of Califane. He decides to fight his way back to the form of Kelvyn and faces trials to accomplish this (the skill challenge). He does well, which helps give him a bonus to the death saves he is about to attempt. He will get three rolls and he needs to succeed on 2 of them!

He does, and recovers with one HP in time to see the group suddenly assaulted by a large demon. For a brief moment, he associates the demon with a name… Kasyn… but the thought is fleeting, and all memories of the other existence he has is gone, but the name sticks with him.

The group kills the demon, the atmospheric ceiling descends down upon them, forcing them through the portal and on to the deck of Merrik’s ship which seems to have crashed onto the streets of the 5×5 block of Havenshore they had made their way around earlier… only now it was back in it’s place in Havenshore (still very much destroyed for the most part though).

The group stood from the deck taking in their surroundings where we concluded the game.

The next morning, the man (Krynt) gave them his map of the area and they set out trying to cross the area to get to likely positions Merrik might be in. Along the way, they came to a place on the map labeled “The Wall” and “Alazondro’s Wall”. Here, at the edge of the land mass, the land seemed to float off into a cloudy fog-like mist. However, in this area there were also what could only be guessed as “thousands” of bodies floating through these mists… a ‘wall’ of bodies. The man had told them that Merrik’s men went building to building killing everyone still alive after the area was struck from Havenshore.

At the wall, they found some undead and eventually continued on.

They came to an area on the map they hoped to find some sign of Merrik at. As they emerged from the ruins and entered a nearby alleyway, they were suddenly attacked by a tall, tree-like creature and a lieutenant of Merrik’s. Kelvyn (Gnome Bard) was dropped and eventually brought back up, but not before failing 2 death saves. They eventually won, but then had to run and hide from an alerted patrol. They left off in an area called “The Mounds” nearby, hiding, barely getting in a short rest… and that’s where we left it.

This was my 130th game of 4e, as either a player or DM

The players enter the “Wavecrusher” tavern seeking a path to Merrik.

They ask around and are pointed to a large, imposing man. He ignores them for the most part and eventually leaves.

They follow him to a nice tavern in another part of town – one they can not follow him into, and are not allowed into. They set up a small bomb on the corner of the building as a distractions. It goes off early and they end up fighting and killing the door guards. Eventually they make their way inside and lock everything behind them. The people inside, mostly wealthy nobles, seem oblivious to the ruckus that occurred outside.

They approach the man they spoke with earlier and offer him money. He takes it and them back to the Wavecrusher, pointing them to a portal in the back of the tavern.

This portal ends up being a kill box, dropping them into deep mud in the middle of some ruins, from which they are immediately attacked.

After defeating their attackers, a man emerges from the ruins and begins to pillage some crates their attackers had neaby – apparently, it had wine he wanted. They soon discovered they were no longer in Izz Al’Dinn. They began asking him about their new location as he lead them through more ruins, back to his hidden-away home.

As it turns out, they had come to be within the 5×5 block area that was once located in Havenshore, but now existed in some kind of pocket dimension. According to this man, Merrik was in charge of this area and it was crawling with Red Mask.

He leads them to his “home” (a hideout amidst the ruins) and they sleep

The group arrives at the camp of the “38″ who are looking for a temple, said to have been created by Califane’s people as a ‘safe house’ of some kind.

A child who can sense the temple has lead them near it, and the players help discover the entrance. Upon entering, they are separated from the group. Walking in along a long marble hallway, they see reflections of themselves in the walls, only their reflections are different in various ways.

Eventually they get to a room with a raised pool, surrounded along the rim by a dial of sorts. Positioned around the dial are words they can not read, perhaps hundreds of them, many of which have been scratched out.

Aelar (the Elven Ranger) touched the water and falls immediately unconscious. Just then a very tall hag-ish woman emerged from the darkness. She was tasked with watching the pool, and protecting those on the list. She can see them all in the reflections of the water. She claims that Merrik is about to discover a secret that will allow him to kill those on the list – make them fall dead wherever they stand. She wants them to get to Merrik and offers to help them get to him. She also warns them that when they hear the tolling of the bell, their time will be running out.

They agree to go to Merrik and she sends them instantly back to Izz Al’Dinn, near a tavern where she says the path to Merrik can be found.

I’m about to switch over to the wordpress 3.0 default theme which I will be customizing so hold tight over the next few days while things get tweaked.

Also, a note. Most of my downloads have now been copied over to theweem.com. They will not be available here for much longer so head over there and check it out!

Thanks,

Weem

I was interviewed a while back for Combat Advantage and it’s now live on their website. You can check it out here!

Mostly it covers what I have been up to here, as well as the content here now from my previous projects dndcraft.com and dndfile.com.  We talk about how I came to first play D&D and a few other things as well.

Check it out!

From their site: “Combat Advantage is our FREE bi-monthly PDF magazine spotlighting independent 4e, including new material suitable for nearly any campaign and previews, interviews, and highlights of other material scattered throughout the web.”

Combat Advantage from  Emerald Press

[FIRST GAME WITH MARK AND HIS ACTUAL CHARACTER]

Flying south, Rayleena suggests stopping in Sandstone Pass to look for her friend Salazar. He is not there, but two others (Rolan, Mark’s character and Kelvyn, Brad’s NEW character). They join the crew at the request of Rayleena. Dervin and Jez disappear, taking the casket with them (that Goris had been carrying around).

Continue flying, arrive in Izz Al’Dinn.

Here, the group looks for information about a ship of human cargo that might have arrived from Havenshore while Rayleena and Taiz head out to look for more help.

Clues lead them to a warehouse now empty, but when a young man shows up unexpectedly and runs, they give chase. He is pretending to be a member of Red Mask. It turns out he is with followers of Califane who have brought people here from Havenshore to protect them. This young man (Leyton) says he will take them to the rest of the followers and the 38 “list” people from Havenshore. The game ends as they cross the desert on the back of a Torteran guided by Wild Elves.

[RHIANNA MISSED GAME - Mark played as Jez]

Goris is killed immediately by Spade when trying to exit the fort. Big fight which ends in the deaths of Spade and Merrik’s Advisor (devil creature) as well as two of their crew “Smitty” and “Fen”. Head south, Dervin (Brads character) is visited by a ghost whose body is in a casket the group now possess (once Goris’s).

[RHIANNA SKIPS GAME AS CHARACTER IS GONE]

Head south, pass over snowy mountains, meet icewalkers, continue south, arrive at fort where goris is, hand him knife, he says its a message for him to kill the pc’s but will not do it, heads up out of tower to leave with PC’s.

[RHIANNA MISSES GAME]

Group rested, when they awoke, crew was gone (kidnapped by merrik) – game was split between players playing PC’s and captured crew on merricks ship. Jez (Rhiannas character) was on ship, but not rescued.

In my last update (a little while back) I mentioned being pretty busy, but looking forward to getting back here for more activity. Obviously that hasn’t happened. I have had some people ask me when I will be putting out more content again (the “Inspiring” content, and other articles such as the Duck Tales series) and I really am not sure.

For now, I am putting Last Lands (in it’s current form) on hold indefinitely. The free time I have had has been getting smaller and smaller and that time that can be dedicated to these kinds of things is primarily going towards my Last Lands campaign setting and game.

In the future, I may revert this site back to covering just that game, or perhaps I will pick up where I am leaving it for now. I may still post things here from time to time, but we’ll see. The point is, I can’t promise anything new for a bit and figured I would let those of you who were interested know what was up. Thanks for all the feedback and letting me know what you thought of what I have done here over the last few months. It’s good to see that there are people out there who enjoyed it!

Ramses II the Pharaoh, by Gonzalo Ordóñez Arias

This one reminds me of someone you might see in the old He-man cartoon. I’m not exactly sure why – perhaps it’s the cartoon-ish style of the piece. Anyway, that does not make him any less cool. My campaign is coming to a point where the PC’s are heading to the desert, as well as a campaign I am playing in, in which we just arrived in the desert. Could it be by the soon to be released “Dark Sun” for 4th Edition is drawing all D&D campaigns of all editions there? While he is holding a sword, he seems to be conjuring some spell with the other hand… luring us all into his scarab filled sands…

…it could just be a cool piece of art though.

Well, it’s been 5 days since my last post and I am finally getting back here to say hello. This last week(end) allowed me to do almost none of the things I had hoped. So, here I am typing away an explanation for content not posted. Anyway, I will need a few days perhaps to get things in order. In the meantime… go roll some dice or something.

Consumed by Beetles, by Svetlin Velinov

I try not to use a whole lot of WoTC or Paizo art, etc. I assume you see most of that anyway, and try to bring other stuff in that is not part of the regular “D&D” work. But sometimes I can’t help it. In this case, maybe it’s the fact that the players in my Last Lands setting are entering the desert. This month is turning out to contain a number of desert themed pieces, but I really liked this one done for Paizo a while back. It has that Indiana Jones feel to it which is awesome as it inspires feelings of exploration to me.

dungeon cleaner, by Andrew Hou

April finds me returning to the Monster Monday feature that did not see itself into March at all unfortunately. But this special little thing should make up for it!

This beast is an example of great inspiration for a monster – it’s unique, and just by looking at it, you can envision some really cool powers and abilities it would have. And if that’s not enough, check out Andrew’s description of this creature…

Long ago, fierce and brave dragon hunters and adventurers explored into the depth of dungeons, seeking for treasures and slaying anything in its path. Even the strongest of monsters were eventually slain.. Demons and Dragons… The most famous of all dragons were of course the fire dragon, not many lived to tell the tale. Even less knew how the dragon created flame, it was not just magical, it was not from their stomach, fire dragons has a special heat gland at their throat which allows them to melt down and digest anything that is consumed.

As monsters faces the risk of extinction, the fought for survival naturally strengthened. With food being scarce, creature such as this one found its new home. Attaching and slowly merging itself to the slain young fire dragon’s head, it uses it’s acidic tentacles to sweep and gather anything consumable, transforming the heat glands into its digestive system, it is capable of digesting almost anything.. The creature itelf is not aggressive, for its sole purpose is to survive, most of the time it hides in the shadows, coming out only when it knows everything is safe. Because of its manipulative body of the dragon’s head, no creatures dare wander near its path. No one has seen this creature, but mysteries spread of why dungeons are kept so clean, not many signs of the remains of the hundreds and thousands of slain monsters and adventurers. As the mystery spreads, people then joked about it and the name “Dungeon Cleaner” was created of this legendary creature that kept the dungeon clean…

Although….after digesting a meal, it does release acidic gas into the air…but then again, it’s only a Dungeon Cleaner, not an air purifier…

ares, Gonzalo Ordóñez Arias

Hero or Villain? You decide. The artist called this piece Ares, and was obviously inspired by the deity who represented war and bloodlust – but the cool thing is that this tale, and this character can inspire ideas not only for a great hero, but of a vicious and feared villain.

Peace Keepers, by Geoffroy Thoorens

Atlantis… that’s the first thing I thought of when I saw this peace. An advanced civilization, Islands, etc. I love the idea of an entire civilization that exists, hidden away from the rest of the world, waiting to be discovered. This idea would be a great way to add something new and exciting to a campaign, or setting when the players are starting to feel they have just about seen it all.

Sky Battle, by Marek Hlavaty

You know I like Airships, and I ran across this one recently – thought I would add it. The detail in this one is great – the lines and cables, and the men up on the right peering over at the enemy ship. Good stuff!

Well, here we are, April 1 – the fool’s day, and I have no prank for you. I had ideas, but decided against it. There will be plenty elsewhere to see and read about so we’ll just leave it at that.

This is going to be an exciting month. Unfortunately last month was slower than I had hoped as I was in the middle of a number of things. I was (still am) being interviewed for a few different gaming related publications, and was also contending with the merger of dndcraft.com (now the “Inspiring” section) and dndfiles.com (now the “Files” section) with lastlands.com. All of that is mostly out of the way now however, and I am ready to get this thing rolling again.

On top of the inspiration stuff I have lined up, you will also be seeing some new things here and there. I have some new files in the works, and also some new articles – the first one of which will be a mini series that I just posted the first of this week called “From Duck Tales to D&D“. In it, I extract various bits of inspiration and campaign ideas from episodes I watch and share ways they may be applied to a game of your own.

So yea, thanks for hanging out, checking up on the site, following the feeds and sending me feedback, I really appreciate it! Stay tuned for more!

Season 1, Espisode 2:
Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 2/5 – Wrongway in Ronguay

After foiling the Beagle Boys, Scrooge and his nephews decipher the strange marking on the map, which leads to a sunken treasure ship in Ronguay. However, Flintheart Glomgold (in his animated debut) and El Capitán are out to stop them at every turn. The story is loosely based on legends of Spanish Galleons being found in the SW American desert and Northern Mexico.

From Duck Tales to D&D

In this episode we meet Flintheart Glomgold! El Capitan contacts him for his support in helping him hunt the treasure. This adds another layer to the villainy, as I talked about in Part 1. Good stuff! Oh yea, so where was I…

Geography with a Twist

In the episode, their map of a series of “Islands” is making no sense to them in the desert. But, as the monsoons begin and flooding occurs, everything becomes clear… the map was made during a time when the area was flooded.

This could be translated a number of ways into your game. For example, the players could have a map to the ruins of a desert city but when they arrive, there is nothing but sand. Soon they discover that a yearly sandstorm exposes the city and they must simply wait. Maybe they learn this from a nearby tribe… or perhaps the sandstorm begins just as they are losing hope.

This idea is one that could involve a skill challenge as well. History could play a big part here, as well as Nature even – something to help them realize why it is that their map is not immediately accurate. Get your players thinking!

—

From the Episode: “Liars! …Thieves! …Politicians!” – Scrooge McDuck