tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91212284356118992012024-03-05T19:34:39.726+00:00My DaughterOriginally this was a blog for the setting of a RPG I was running, but after the death of my daughter the game came to an end and I posted about her instead. I doubt I will post anything here again, but I am leaving it open as a kind of on-line memorial.Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-66554802740532171572015-10-31T05:00:00.000+00:002015-10-31T05:00:00.708+00:00MemorialToday would have been Millie's 3rd birthday.<br />
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The funds we raised to dedicate an acre of ancient woodland and a memorial bench has now been completed, and the bench now sits in a wood near my hometown.<br />
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These are the maps of its location and how to get there. We won't be able to visit it for a good few months yet, but look forward to doing so.<br />
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Good news, for those who do not know, is that we now have a beautiful boy, my son <b>Rohan Robert Forster</b>, nearly eight months old, healthy and strong and amazing. It makes dealing with the loss of Millie easier.</div>
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This is him, from a recent outing to some nearby woods:</div>
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Happy Birthday Millie.</div>
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Love from you mum, dad, and your brother Rohan xxx</div>
<br />Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-28759387844313404182014-02-15T11:52:00.001+00:002014-02-15T11:52:22.676+00:00One Year Ago Today...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1WRBCCCDgGU/UKk39IqiUcI/AAAAAAAAB9g/mUVZEMWiV1o/s1600/20121110_163606.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1WRBCCCDgGU/UKk39IqiUcI/AAAAAAAAB9g/mUVZEMWiV1o/s1600/20121110_163606.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amelia Iris Forster 31/10/12 to 26/01/13</td></tr>
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It is a year ago today that we had the funeral for our daughter, Millie. It was about three weeks after she died, due to the necessity of an autopsy, and it was on the Friday of my first week at work in my new job.<br />
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It was a strange and emotional day. We went to view the body in the morning, which I wish we had avoided, as seeing her lying there in her coffin... well, it wasn't our daughter. I could barely look at the body, and my tears flowed freely. I had thought it would give us closure, but all it did was remind us of what we had lost, and with hindsight I would've preferred to remember her as we saw her at the hospital.<br />
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The funeral itself was full of people and relatives we hadn't seen in an age. My childhood friend Phil managed to attend, and I hadn't seen him in years. It felt good to see so many faces, and the support they lent us was beyond anything I could've wished for.<br />
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I carried the coffin in. I didn't want anyone else to do it. I had to fight back the tears as I did, because I knew that if I lost control then, that was it, I'd be a hopeless wreck for the rest of the day. I kept my tears for later, when we were alone.<br />
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The funeral itself was as good as these things can be. My dad gave an excellent and moving eulogy, as there was no way that I was going to be able to say anything. I just didn't have the words; Lorraine wrote a lovely passage, but she too wasn't able to stand up there and say them out loud; it was just too painful.<br />
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Then came the wake, in a pub/restaurant in Ruislip. That was an oddly cheerful afternoon. We both did our best to be attentive hosts; I have no idea how you are meant to be at these things, nor does anything prepare you for holding the wake of your own daughter, but we talked to just about everyone, made sure they were ok, chatted to friends we hadn't seen for ages.<br />
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Afterwards people told us it felt more like a wedding reception than a wake, because we were such good hosts, and put a smile on our faces. Inside, of course, we were both devastated, but sometimes you need to put on a brave face in order to make it through the days.<br />
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There are days when it feels like it only happened yesterday. We moved house recently and last weekend, as I relocated our daughter's ashes, I broke down into tears, great sobs that I haven't had since she died. Whether it was the emotions built up from moving to a new place to start afresh, or the accumulation of anniversaries, I don't know, but I cried my little heart out. Guess I needed it.<br />
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And there are some days when it seems like such a long time ago. Days when it feels like it never happened at all, or that it was just some horrible nightmare and any minute now I'll wake up and it will all be perfect and Millie will be there all healthy and strong and alive. Other days I feel like life will never turn out the way we wished, or that we're just plopping along until it is all over.<br />
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Some days suck more than others. Today is one of them.Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-33040896804694219652013-10-31T21:40:00.000+00:002013-10-31T21:40:00.929+00:00One Year OnToday would have been our daughter's first birthday.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the first picture I ever took, not long after she was born.</td></tr>
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It is weird, one year on from the moment she was born, and having lost her back in January. Not sure how I feel at the moment, other than sad. Normally, a birthday would be a time of celebration, but how do you celebrate when she is gone?<br />
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We've not been staying at home feeling sorry for ourselves, as that would do us no good and be too depressing. Instead we headed out to see where we want to move to, since we don't like either the flat we live or the area.<br />
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Our <a href="http://www.dedicatetrees.com/FundPage.aspx?id=101203" target="_blank">Woodland Trust fund</a> is doing well. More money to go in it too. By this time next year we'll have raised what we need to dedicate a post for Millie in some nice woodland somewhere. Then, one this day, we can always go and visit it, which will be lovely & special.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The last picture I took</td></tr>
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We miss you.<div>
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Simon & Lorraine.</div>
Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-182846843829155532013-02-16T16:17:00.000+00:002013-02-16T16:21:12.428+00:00A Eulogy for Our Daughter<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Yesterday was the funeral of our daughter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It started by the two of use viewing her body, which was so much harder than I expected it to be. She looked so different, so very much a body rather than the little girl who left us. Although it was difficult, and there were tears aplenty, I am glad we saw her one last time, if only for the sense of closure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The funeral itself was lovely, and it was nice to see so many of our friends and family in attendance, most of whom had to travel a fair distance in order to be there. Some of them we hadn't seen for years, as we'd lost touch with people with all the trouble of the past few years; so it was nice to reconnect, albeit under circumstances that we wouldn't have wished for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Lorraine wrote a eulogy for our daughter, which I thought I would share here.</span></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.49309501494280994" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To our dear family and friends,</span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I just wanted to say a huge thank you on behalf of Simon and I for the outpouring of love and support you've given us over the last year, throughout my pregnancy and especially over the last few months of Amelia's short life. I can honestly say that we have been overwhelmed by all the caring messages we have received, and knowing that so many people were sending their thoughts and prayers to us and our little Puddle has given us such strength.</span></b></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It means all the more to us as so few of you got the opportunity to meet her, and yet she touched the hearts of so many.</span></b></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I tried to write a eulogy at the weekend, but found the thought of even trying to read it out too much to bare, but I wanted you to leave today feeling like you knew her just a little.</span></b></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So here are a few words about our little Amelia Iris Forster.</span></b></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First of all, nothing can prepare you for being a parent of a baby in intensive care. After months of carrying this wonderfully active baby, kicking and squirming and keeping us awake at night, we were introduced to our baby girl for the first time and she was utterly still from the medication, with tubes and wires all over her. We couldn't hold her or touch her, only look at her through the incubator. But she was so beautiful, and outwardly looked so perfect, and we loved her so much.</span></b></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I can't go into all the day to day details of our life with Amelia. Before her surgery it was mostly sitting watching her sleep, asking the nurses what that monitor meant, or what that medication did....We told her every day how proud we were of her and how much we loved her, Simon would make up silly stories and I would sing to her. While I was pregnant with her, I would sing "Lets go fly a kite" or "Secret love" and she would kick me, so I sang them to her at the hospital, and we saw her foot move for the first time. I sung her those songs every day and at first, that's when she would twitch her fingers or wiggle her toes, and later when she was off the medication, they would sooth her and she would drift off to sleep listening to them.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"> After about a week, we were told we could hold her hand. I think I cried when I felt her little fingers slowly respond to my touch and curl gently around my finger, and I swear I could feel the warmth of that first touch for hours after. Again, once she was off the drugs that kept her </b><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">paralysed</span><b style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;">, her grip was so strong, and she would squeeze so hard, and we'd make sure we were holding her hand if the nurses or doctors were doing any treatments. She also had quite a good grip with her toes, and Simon said she had monkey feet. We held her hands a lot, sometimes we couldn't do a lot more.</b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; vertical-align: baseline;"> We got our first "cuddle" when she was 17 days old, a military operation of getting her out of the incubator without upsetting her tubes and onto a pillow, first on my lap, and then on Simon's. Having her on my lap that first time was so special; it felt like up until that point I'd been a spectator rather than a Mum, and I was so nervous. We only got to hold her like that a handful of times, each time I felt like I could burst with happiness at getting to hold our little girl. </span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; vertical-align: baseline;"> The first time she opened her eyes, oh my word, how beautiful her eyes were! I think I must have said "Hello, I'm your Mummy and this is your Daddy" to her a hundred times that day! We never got tired of looking into her beautiful eyes. We’d stand either side of her cot and she’d look at one of us out the corner of her eye, then at the other as we spoke to her, and then, because the closest thing for her to focus on was her ventilation tubes, she would go cross-eyed staring at that! Millie couldn’t make a sound so we never heard her cry, but she seemed to express so much through her eyes. I know it probably sounds silly, as she was just a baby, but sometimes those eyes looked so old and so wise, but then she would go cross-eyed again and the innocence would be back. I stopped wearing blue very quickly after she opened her eyes so she wouldn’t mistake me for one of the nurses because we noticed that she had an extra special glare just for them! </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; vertical-align: baseline;"> There weren’t a lot of ways we could comfort her, or gauge what made her happy, but one thing we know she liked was licking and sucking on a wet cotton bud. With the ventilation tube, her lips and tongue could get very dry and one of the nurses told us we could rub a damp cotton bud over her lips-her tongue flicked out and she would lick away at it furiously, and if you took it away her little nose would wrinkle and her eyes screw up in a silent cry, but as soon as you gave her back the cotton bud, she’d relax again. For the few days that she was incubated via her nose, the cotton bud made way for a dummy. She didn’t quite get the hang of sucking on her dummy, but she gave it a good try.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; vertical-align: baseline;"> Oh, and those days when for the first time we saw her whole face without the hat that held the tube in place-we hardly recognised her! Her nose was hidden under a mound of sticky plaster, but we got to see her ears, her mouth, her lopsided smile, and her hair! Such lovely, soft brown hair, far more than I had when I was a baby. That night I got to give Millie her first hair wash, and realised that we hadn’t bought her a hair brush, so that night she had sticky-up fluffy hair. The next day I bought her a brush, and we came back from lunch to find the nurse had given her a more slick hairdo.</span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; vertical-align: baseline;"> We were reading Alice in Wonderland to her, though in the lowered lights and the warmth of the ward, it was as much a bedside story for me as it was for her and I’d quite often stifle a yawn mid sentence. We found a copy of The Nursery Alice and showed her the pictures while reading it, though as far as picture books go, she was far more taken by the bright colours in “Dinosaurs love Pants” that her Aunty Emma gave her for Christmas. But when the physiotherapist suggested we get her a toy she could grip to strengthen her fingers, it was a little white rabbit with long velvety ears that instantly seemed like the right gift, and the way she clung to those ears, I think we were right.</span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond; vertical-align: baseline;"> I could go on about all the medical procedures, and what happened with the surgery, or what was found out by that scan, this blood test or that X-ray, but that would only tell you about her physical condition, not the little person that she was. Yes, she was born with a very serious condition, she had a unique anatomy, and in the end, she was very, very poorly. But she was so beautiful, so extremely special and so brave. She made us laugh and smile, she loved music, she loved cotton buds, she loved her bunny and she loved us. And we loved her so very very much, and we will do forever. We may be unquestionably sad that she’s gone, and it was the hardest thing in the world letting her go, but we were so fortunate to have had her in our lives and to have loved her, and I hope that through reading these inadequate words that you have come to fall in love with her too.</span></b></div>
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</span>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com2Breakspear Road, Ruislip, Greater London, UK51.5864035 -0.4399683000000322951.5814705 -0.4500533000000323 51.591336500000004 -0.42988330000003228tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-47501508557130548912013-01-27T18:05:00.001+00:002013-01-27T18:05:03.753+00:00Amelia Iris Forster RIP<h2>
Amelia Iris Forster: born 31/10/12, died 26/01/13.</h2>
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My daughter died last night.</div>
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It was the most awful experience I have ever been through, and not something I ever want to go through again. No one should have to experience that, and for all those who have, my heart goes out to you. She died in our arms, as peacefully as she could, and I don't think she felt any pain in the end. But it was hard, awful, and I can't get those last minutes out of my head. With time that will ease, and I'm remember her the way she was when she was getting better. For now, we will deal with the grief, sort out her arrangements, and allow life to move on to whatever happens next.</div>
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We are both strong and coping well all things considered, and I know we'll get through it, but for the moment it is painful, tearful, and bloody hard. We were lucky to have our families with us yesterday, which gave us the support we needed to see us through the day. Our thanks and love go out to them.</div>
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Thanks to everyone who said kind words and prayed for us.</div>
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Thank You All.</div>
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Simon, Lorraine and our beautiful and sadly missed daughter, Millie.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amelia Iris Forster<br />Born 31/10/12<br />Died 26/01/13</td></tr>
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Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-7198163903948059832012-12-31T21:39:00.000+00:002012-12-31T21:39:01.584+00:00Update 2<div style="text-align: justify;">
My daughter is two months old now, and although she is technically still doing well, over the past couple of weeks she has put on lots of odema (edema)– swelling due to fluid retention– and this has been causing her problems with her respiration, and she has been fast asleep the past three days, and possibly suffering from withdrawal now that she is off her morphine. All very hard to witness, and quite stressful. Hopefully 2013 will be a much better year.</div>
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Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-18642476768864800162012-12-13T22:26:00.002+00:002012-12-13T22:26:31.871+00:00Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My daughter is now six weeks old, and had her surgery on Monday. You can see the size of her cut/scar/wound. They shifted organs around, but couldn't put all of her stomach back where it is supposed to me; this may or may not cause any problems, we'll just have to wait and see.</div>
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She is stable, and doing well all things considered. Now we have to wait for her to recover, then work on her lungs getting better.</div>
Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-73564315767170647192012-11-21T21:42:00.000+00:002012-11-21T21:42:05.388+00:00Hold Person<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="font-weight: bold;">City of Bones </i>is on hold, indefinitely. Why?</div>
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This is why:</div>
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My daughter, 3 weeks old today, still in intensive care, still stable but not stable enough for her surgery yet. She has a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_diaphragmatic_hernia" target="_blank">diaphragmatic hernia</a>, which basically means her liver in up in her chest, her lungs are squashed and her heart needs to do extra work to pump her blood around.</div>
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Even if she has her surgery in the next couple of weeks (which is doubtful) she'll still be recovering come Christmas; which means that this year, we shall be spending Christmas in the hospital. That's going to be weird.</div>
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So, until she has recovered and is home, the fortnightly Sunday game of the <i>City of Bones </i>campaign is in stasis; in case anyone was wondering.</div>
Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-76593080721896761492012-10-15T06:00:00.000+01:002012-10-15T06:00:13.079+01:00Player's Report from Last Session<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Dear Jack,</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">You'll never guess where I'm writing to you from! No really, try and guess. Wrong! Try again. Still Wrong! Give up? Ha! Ok then I'll tell you. We're in a giant metal coffin travelling down an underwater river! See? I told you you couldn't guess! Also, Mr. Black is dead.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Let me try and describe what's going on.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Well, we fought off the zombies and camped outside instead. This morning we finally got rid of all that purple fog. It was tough but I convinced the others to come with me into the room it all seemed to be coming from. We couldn't see anything so we were expecting to get attacked at any moment, but feeling along the walls we found a dwarf that looked like he was sitting in meditation next to a fire pit. Three weird seeds were burning to make all the smoke. I guess the dwarf was a zombie as well but Mr. Black cut off his head before he could do anything. Ishy carefully took the seeds outside and put them out. We all took a break while we waited for the fog to disperse then went back to the hall of zombies. We counted over 90 dwarves! Right away we started the grisly task of cutting off their heads before they come back to life. A few of them managed to get up in time to attack us but we were ready for this. Ishy was keeping watch and so as soon as they started to get up we fell back to the corridor and used missile weapons and Ishy's magic scrolls to kill them without too much trouble. We collected all the human's armour and weapons, another good haul of equipment! and left their bodies with the others. Hopefully this means we won't have any more zombies wandering around the upper levels because we've chopped up well over a hundred of the cursed things.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">That's right, we found another level! This cave goes down a long way. Once we'd dealt with all the bodies we had a look at the alter (and the solid gold mining tools of course!) I tested them out and was able to break off a piece of star metal from the rock. Ishy says it came from the sky according to all the murals, the dwarves were using it to forge amazing weapons for other races. It must be pretty valuable so I'm planning to come back and take it, when we can figure out how to move it that is! (even A man called Lex couldn't budge it and he's really strong!)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Anyway, when we moved the tools, the alter rose up and revealed a hidden door behind it. It opened into a lovely blue marble room with fountains in all 4 corners flowing clean fresh water. Beyond this, stairs led down to a kind of beach. It must be a natural cavern and there's a river flowing and this is where we found these giant metal coffins. They are about twenty feet long and like a tube of metal that's sealed against the water. Each has a door and inside there are seats and a crank. The crank is attached to a long cable which connects each coffin to a tall metal tower back on the beach. We're not sure what the towers do apart from stop the coffins floating away but I think there must be monsters at the top. Mr. Black climbed up one...There was a shout and then we saw him fall. I tried to catch him using Ishy's big cloak but it didn't really work. The tower must be quite high because the fall killed him. Poor guy. We took his stuff (he had a load of gold!) and I tried to explain things to Fang. The dog doesn't seem to bothered to be honest but I'm sorry we couldn't save his master. He was quite rude and seemed to like killing people a bit too much but he had 2 good sword arms and was the kind of guy you didn't mind having by your side in a fight. We'll make sure he's properly buried at least.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So we opened up the 2 coffins on the shore. One was empty but it's crank was broken. The other was full of dwarf zombies (of course) which we had managed to kill with a skirmishing line of everyone throwing daggers (Even Ishy!) It worked really well but we won't be able to try it again since lots of daggers ended up getting lost in the river, oops! After the battle we were able to take the coffin. When you close the door and unwind the crank the river current carries the coffin downstream kind of like a boat. When you want to come back you have to wind the crank the other way. Incredible what these dwarves had built! The water can't get in so it can go underwater, and even over a waterfall! That was kind of scary because we were just dangling in empty space. Cranking is hard work so I'm writing this while I take a breather. A man called Lex is working it right now...he's really strong, did I mention that? I don't know what we'll find at the end of this river...more zombies I expect! I hate fighting zombies. They are tough and strong and can smash you with both fists so you have to watch out for that.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I think we just hit the bottom so I'll write you again later and tell you what's down here (unless the zombies eat my brain!)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Wish you were here!</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Jaqi.</span>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-72977965162554562302012-10-02T20:50:00.002+01:002012-10-02T20:50:56.163+01:00With the tour over...<div style="text-align: justify;">
...and with the game temporarily on hold (holidays and the like), what to do?</div>
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One thing I haven't done yet is sketched out the area surrounding the city. All we do know is that there are mountains to the north and south, the land all around is a wasteland, and that's pretty much it; there are ruins in both mountain ranges, a pass north that leads through to the northern kingdoms (and where I dropped hooks about the <i>Stonehell Dungeon</i>, in case the players feel like heading that way.</div>
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Then I remembered an old map, and I thought, well, why not use that and add it to it later.</div>
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So, here is the old map, before I do anything to it:</div>
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Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-18489562107256065332012-09-28T12:35:00.000+01:002012-09-28T12:35:00.459+01:00Couriers of the City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHSgOlyaFg7qmvrIolqlupdmMEM4Z6rc1BjxWyOXO67wbUB4Q-oaK3ckxzF1RyFJGWLriTnzNhrT13AfSWPJ8EFhWRbVKh8EBFgxyTU-NSn1-YIaTKv3KYHs5QqYDBaa2yX9bFcVyXMteC/s1600/albrechtdurer_three_peasants_in_conversation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHSgOlyaFg7qmvrIolqlupdmMEM4Z6rc1BjxWyOXO67wbUB4Q-oaK3ckxzF1RyFJGWLriTnzNhrT13AfSWPJ8EFhWRbVKh8EBFgxyTU-NSn1-YIaTKv3KYHs5QqYDBaa2yX9bFcVyXMteC/s320/albrechtdurer_three_peasants_in_conversation.jpg" width="231" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Within the city itself, couriers known as SPRINTERS carry messages from one Quarter to another, for a small fee. They are members of the TORCH BEARERS' GUILD, chosen for their speed and agility; many of them are children. Other guilds use their own members to deliver messages or packages, but generally only for guild business. The BEGGARS' GUILD, for example, uses its street urchins, who can move about more easily and quickly than even the SPRINTERS, knowing the streets as well as they do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For outside communication, the council rely on homing-pigeons to deliver messages between settlements, or armed couriers who travel with the caravans; or, if the message is urgent, ride off on horses that they exchange for fresh mounts at way-stations along the main roads. Occasionally, they turn to the magi of the ACADEMY for magical communications.</span></div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-81291475892333782622012-09-26T12:35:00.000+01:002012-09-26T12:35:00.092+01:00Time & the City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are few clocks in the city; the few that exist are owned by rich nobles, the magi, and certain faiths. Most people rely on the ringing of bells from the <i>City Hall</i> of GREEN HILL. The Hall's bell-tower has twelve bells, each a different size and tone. They are rung in the same sequence every day, each tone and bell signalling a different hour. During the day, each bell is rang twice upon the hour; at night, the bells are rang but once.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Each hour is accurately timed thanks to an elaborate orrey, a gift from the priests of YELANA. This massive, intricately designed clockwork masterpiece stands within the council's bell-tower, and tracks the movement of the sun, moon and stars, measuring time at all levels. It not only displays the hour, but also the date (Southern reckoning)– day, week, month and year– as well as the seasons. A calendar is marked along the radius of the orrey, but follows the Southern months; thankfully, scholars have translated and transcribed them to their Northern counterparts, on a large, illuminated wall-chart that is framed behind the orrey.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is the responsibility of the CUSTODIANS or TIME-KEEPERS to ring the bells and keep the orrey in perfect working order. One of them considers himself something of an oracle, and uses the orrey to make predictions, with varying results.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The majority of the population use the ringing of the bells to tell the time, but most can approximate it from the position of the sun and moon. Traders also use hour-glasses, while sentries use knotted string to tell the time, counting knots with a running mantra that also helps to pass the time on quiet shifts.</span></div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-43648309023294845292012-09-24T12:05:00.000+01:002012-09-24T12:05:00.216+01:00Architecture of the City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the most part the architecture of the city is a mixture of Southern and Northern design, heavily influenced by dwarf craftsmanship, as that stout race are responsible for building most of the city's structures, including the walls, towers and gatehouses that protect it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The materials used are often an indication of wealth, with the wattle & daub and stone at the lowest levels, followed by timber and brick, to marble and other precious and fine stonework. Most of the buildings in the MERCHANT QUARTER are stone; while wood, coloured bricks, and expensive stone are proudly displayed in the NOBLE QUARTER and upon GREEN HILL. Stone also dominates the RESIDENTS QUARTER, with the poorer dwellings little more than wattle & daub huts crammed together to form blocks. A few houses are built with red or sandy bricks or, rarer still, imported timbers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Most buildings are sharp-edged, flat-roofed and straight-lined; a mixture of Southern and dwarven architecture. The interiors are often spacious, with a few open-plan rooms in the Southern style, while the sombre colours and practical furnishings are heavily influenced by the North.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Both the NOBLE and TEMPLE QUARTERs display the most diverse architecture, based on individual taste or religious doctrine, wealth and prestige. The various temples, churches and shrines, in particular, are all different and often unique, although those that share the same pantheon have some commonalities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Buildings generally have several stories, with the RESIDENTS QUARTER having the most floors, followed by the NOBLE, and MERCHANT QUARTERs, then the GREEN HILL. The TEMPLE QUARTER's buildings seldom have more than three floors, but they tend to be larger constructions and often rise higher than the walls of the city.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Designed and built by the dwarves, the city walls, IRON TOWERS and gatehouses are all constructed by great blocks of stone reinforced by thick iron bars embedded through the middle of the blocks, which help join them together. A dark and natural stone, the council has them rendered with a sand-based veneer, a colour scheme matched and often enforced throughout the city. As a result, the CITY OF BONES is a picture of faded yellow, akin to aged bones, adding another layer to the name of the city.</span></div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-3268256975323574562012-09-19T11:19:00.000+01:002012-09-19T11:19:00.611+01:00Trade in the City of Bones<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhipma1JK_DU7V_tqNU-xDZy4Cp0spwsiwnxW6WF-oAoztCyqdBtDI-faaR_YvNj8BXIM7WuIrmA0vR4axAOTm_PRd116v4rLWOBQeqFzpv9Ngkka4TEMqq1YyVMMP5V9Thv4rAejY8VsE/s400/c-7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhipma1JK_DU7V_tqNU-xDZy4Cp0spwsiwnxW6WF-oAoztCyqdBtDI-faaR_YvNj8BXIM7WuIrmA0vR4axAOTm_PRd116v4rLWOBQeqFzpv9Ngkka4TEMqq1YyVMMP5V9Thv4rAejY8VsE/s320/c-7.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Despite being part of the larger kingdom, the CITY OF BONES largely operates as an independent state. It sends a nominal sum to the King's coffers, to cover basic taxes, but is left alone to govern its own affairs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Due to its location, within the desolate region where the <i>Great</i> <i>Battle</i> took place, little vegetation is able to grow and the sandy, gritty land is sterile for miles around. The city does, however, have dozens of small outlying farms that struggle to produce the necessary food to sustain the city. Wood is also scarce, with the nearest forest several days journey distant, and home to forest elves who call it home; they sell timber to the city, protecting their forest as they do so, coming down hard on anyone trying to fell trees by themselves. The resources that the city does have in abundance are minerals and metal ores, mined by the dwarves from the surrounding hills and nearby mountains, even from within the WEEPING CHASM. The raw materials and the goods produced are one of the major exports of the city.</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Water is another valuable resource, with the council owning and maintaining the wells in each quarter and district. Each well is fed from an underground river, with numerous tributaries, and they seldom go dry; however, during the height of summer it is not uncommon for the water to be rationed for weeks at a time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">GODSEND trades with the nearest towns in the North, but none of the remaining Southern settlements are large enough to establish a two-way trade route. Instead, once a week or thereabouts, these small villages and hamlets send their men to market to trade.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Caravans leave the city daily, but the largest leave once a month, travelling along the main trade route for two weeks, returning the same way after trading has finished. Some of the smaller caravans go even further, as far as the tip of the Northern kingdoms. Most of the caravans owe something to the TRADE GUILD, even if it is only for help in organising travel. The Guild has excellent maps, and will send a guide with the caravans for the right price, or a cut of the profits. They also sell or rent out warehouses, wagons, horses, and even guards.</span></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Coins of the City</span></h2>
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<a href="http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/stoupa/stoupa0710/stoupa071000044/1905298-heap-of-silver-medieval-coins-over-white-background.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/stoupa/stoupa0710/stoupa071000044/1905298-heap-of-silver-medieval-coins-over-white-background.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">GODSEND uses the same coins as the kingdom it officially belongs to, although it also accepts the coins of the fallen South. The silver coins sees the most use, followed by gold and copper. Electrum and platinum pieces are rarer, and usually come from treasure hoards looted by adventurers. Gems are sometimes used as currency, but are normally exchanged for coins at either the GRAND BAZAAR or the TRADE GUILD.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The different names of the normally accepted coins are as follow:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div>
<table border="1"><tbody>
<tr>
<th>Coin</th>
<th>Northern Name</th>
<th>Southern Name</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Copper</td>
<td>Pennies</td>
<td>Worms</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Silver</td>
<td>Lords</td>
<td>Drakes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Gold</td>
<td>Queens</td>
<td>Dragons</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Electrum</td>
<td>Nobles/Luckies</td>
<td>Wyverns</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Platinum</td>
<td>Kings</td>
<td>Devils</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-30199369868174243212012-09-18T09:26:00.001+01:002012-09-18T09:26:58.515+01:00...the story continues...<div style="text-align: justify;">
Played on Sunday, which is only- I think- our third session of the campaign, as there have been holidays and the like creating long stretches between games; in fact, it will be three or four weeks until our next game.</div>
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This session was spent largely hiring henchmen, shopping, and (for some reason) finding places in the city to rent or buy; they took a job escorting a dwarf priest to a tomb/temple of some obscure dwarf deity, and explore only three rooms before heading back to the city: they did manage to kill 11 dwarf zombies, and loot a hoard of weapons and armour, which they sold when they got back. They almost lost one of the party: Black Raven took a hefty punch to the head, felling him and crushing his ear. He had it restored back at the city, but still needed two week's to recover. In the meantime, Jacqui went carousing and made a fool of herself when trying to intimidate someone, and falling flat on her face.</div>
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Highlights of the game:</div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>Using a <i>Protection from Evil </i>spell to great advantage, allowing them to kill lots of zombies;</li>
<li>Wasting nearly a hundred bolts and arrows killing said zombies, forcing them into melee eventually, which is when Black Raven took the hit they felled him;</li>
<li>Attempting to hire numerous henchmen, and often failing (-1 Charisma will do that), but finally ending up with two reject torch-bearers and a mercenary who was the sole survivor of a company;</li>
<li>Spending way too much time looking for places to rent or buy!</li>
</ul>
<div>
Overall, an enjoyable game, with lots of role-playing and laughter. Shame it's a few weeks until we play again :(</div>
Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-41316224513083957412012-09-15T12:31:00.000+01:002012-09-15T12:31:03.889+01:00The Story So Far...<div style="text-align: justify;">
We've only managed to play a few sessions so far, and have another planned for tomorrow, and I haven't been keeping notes as I have for my other game; not enough time to scribble down the unfolding story; so instead I shall scribble down some notes here, partly to how that this campaign is actually being played, and so I have some sort of record as to what has gone down:</div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>Three would-be adventures, monster-hunters, explorers met when a hippogriff broke loose and they killed it;</li>
<li>They were given a job by a nan whose life they save: to retrieve a stone book from a tomb in the catacombs. This they managed, after a couple of trips and exploration (and looting) of the tombs;</li>
<li>They explore more catacombs, slew giants rats, giant corpse fleas, avoided and got injured by traps, found some treasure and have so far survived;</li>
<li>Recently they ventured down to the surface of the <i>Weeping Chasm</i> to get some blood to sell on, earning a tidy profit, and hoping that nothing comes bad from selling the wrong sort of blood.</li>
</ul>
<div>
The three 'heroes' are Jacqui (fighter), Ishi (mage), and Black Raven (formally Grey Wolf, an assassin). The have gained a magical shield made of glass and a extremely rare <i>Staff of Wizardry </i>from a trapped tomb that they managed to bypass (randomly rolled treasure).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
They have managed to secure a portion of the catacombs for their own use, have a contact who offers them jobs, and are proving to be quite capable for a threesome of 1st-level characters.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
We shall see what happens tomorrow.</div>
Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-7583442415759047262012-09-13T15:26:00.000+01:002012-09-13T15:26:00.328+01:00The Iron Soldiers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/2937658187_e35cb4ac48_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/2937658187_e35cb4ac48_o.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While the CITY-WATCH are responsible for protecting the interior of the city, the IRON SOLDIERS protect the city from the outside; the walls, the gates, roads, farms, and mines all fall under their jurisdiction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They are trained warriors, soldiers dressed in lamellar cuirass over chain shirts, with conical helms with half-masks that cover their faces. Like the footmen of the Watch they carry round shields and wear tabards with the city'd coat-of-arms, although their tabards are a rust-red. They all carry swords, daggers, with additional weapons depending on their duty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gate-Guards have spears, used to prod wagons, checking their cargo for contraband. Those patrolling the walls have arbalests, but are not skilled as the archers of the Watch. They patrol in shifts, and many sleep in the barracks in the IRON TOWERS; which is why these soldiers are known as the IRON SOLDIERS, although others say that their name comes from the fact that they are inflexible, tough and cold-hearted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Those that guard the gates, often assisted by members of the Watch, keep an eye out for trouble, and search anyone they judge suspicious; except for the gates into the NOBLE QUARTER, where everyone is searched, except the nobles that live there. At the main gates, the guards only allow entrance to the city once visitors have declared their business. Merchants who have come to trade, buying or selling in bulk, are charged a <i>Trading Tax</i>, half of which goes to the TRADE GUILD. Mercenaries and adventurers have to pay a <i>Sword Tax</i>, which goes into the coffers of the Watch, and grants the payee the right to bear arms within the city. A painted wooden token– green for merchants, red for mercenaries– is given in exchange for payment, as proof. They are handed back upon leaving the city.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Clergy, pilgrims, and simple tourists can pass freely. Anyone who declares themselves a mage or similar, is told to report to the ACADEMY to obtain a temporary license, or to register with the magi, depending on whether the mage intends to practice or use magic within city limits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As it currently stands, the city has a standing army of roughly 2,000 soldiers, and can muster several thousand militia by drafting in able-bodied workers, laymen, and the Watch. In the past century, the army has seen little action, other than a few skirmishes against bandits and raiders from the desperate South. Of late, even the orcs have gone quiet.</span></div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-77215273665738109102012-09-11T21:27:00.000+01:002012-09-11T21:27:00.880+01:00Policing the City<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The CTY-WATCH are responsible for the safety of the inhabitants of the city, and are the guards you see manning the WATCH-TOWERS and patrolling the streets. All are easily identified by their bone-tabards bearing the city's own coat-of-arms; a modified version of the duke's who lays claim on the city as part of his domain, even though the city effectively runs itself and is as free a city as one that is part of a kingdom can be. Each member of the Watch also carries a badge of office: a copper brooch pinned to their cloak, with an engraving of a sword over a shield. This badge grants them the authority to enforce council orders, keep the peace, make arrests, and search the premises of suspected felons, so long as they are not on religious grounds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are two types of CITY-WATCH guards: <i>footmen</i> and <i>archers</i>.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Footmen</i> patrol the streets, assist the GATE WARDENS, and deal with trouble in the city's quarters. They wear conical helms, lamellar cuirass over padded tunics and leggings, carry round shields with their emblem, and iron-headed maces. Some carry spears as well. A patrol consists of three to five guards, depending on their patrol area, and are led by a commander. Each patrol is assigned to a particular area, more or less following the same path, and each reports to a central office. Each quarter has an office, where a sergeant issues orders, assigns patrols, and ensures his watch is working efficiently.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The <i>Archers</i> man the WATCH-TOWERS and work on a weekly shift, bunking down alternatively in the towers or their barracks on GREEN HILL. When not on-duty in the towers, they are training others, and keeping their archery skills honed. They dress in mail hauberks, conical helms, and the uniform tabards and badges. Skilled with the bow, they are armed with the best composite bows that the council can afford, and have short swords for close combat. These guards are the eyes of the Watch, responsible for sounding the bells for alarm, and signalling other towers as well as foot patrols when those guards are in pursuit of felons. Each tower has a compliment of six guards, with only three on duty at any time. A sergeant commands each tower, bunking with his men.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On rare occasions, as necessity demands, a patrol or tower might be assigned a Cleric of licensed Magi to assist them. All magi come from the ACADEMY, while the Clerics normally follow YELANA, AADILA, or DOKONALI, although only on special missions.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://minimumwagehistorian.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/varangian_guard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="547" src="http://minimumwagehistorian.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/varangian_guard.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Something like this</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-41032667244104992582012-09-05T21:03:00.000+01:002012-09-05T21:03:00.590+01:00The Catacombs: the real City of Bones<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/247/cache/temples-tombs-rome-catacombs_24736_600x450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/247/cache/temples-tombs-rome-catacombs_24736_600x450.jpg" width="259" /></a></div>
Below <i>Godsend</i>, beginning under the TEMPLE QUARTER and spreading out from there, is the necropolis, the city of the dead.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It began with a few crypts, and catacombs beneath the temples; then expanded as graves were moved to underground vaults. The largest of these vaults, beneath WINTER-HOLD, had viewing chambers built-in where families could bury their dead, but have them preserved and displayed, so that they could visit the deceased. The priests of the RAVEN KING began to rent out space to other faiths, who then built themselves tunnels connecting their temples and churches to the crypts.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
As the centuries passed, the tunnels, chambers, crypts and tombs, the extended network of catacombs soon covered as much ground as the city above; then they began to dig deeper, as space and necessity demanded. Some pass beyond the city walls, but not many for fear of undermining the walls and fortifications. Today, the necropolis is a vast web of cared-for crypts, forgotten tombs, lost catacombs and misplaced graves. No one knows how many dead are buried here, but it certainly numbers in the tens of thousands.</div>
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Cultists use the CATACOMBS for their secret shrines and necromancies. Most of the undead that roam the necropolis were created by these cultists, and have become such a nuisance to burials and the caretakers that look after the crypts and tombs, that the various faiths pay adventurers for clearing areas of the walking dead.</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ghouls are the most dangerous of the common undead found within the CATACOMBS, and are believed to have formed some sort society of their own; whispers of the GHOUL KING are unfounded, but persistent. Zombies and skeletons are the most numerous, with wights and wraiths common in some of the less frequented tombs.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Access to the CATACOMBS is usually forbidden without license from the council, or permission from one of the faiths; even the City Watch must get permission to enter. Of course, there are other ways in, some better known than others, and both the OFFAL PITS and the WEEPING CHASM are said to have tunnels leading to the CATACOMBS.</div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-32739810244827982922012-08-28T12:31:00.000+01:002012-08-28T12:31:00.194+01:00Delvers' Guide: Ruins of Kor, Part 2<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Stained Palace</span></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs41/i/2009/033/3/2/Ruined_palace_by_TheMyzel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs41/i/2009/033/3/2/Ruined_palace_by_TheMyzel.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://themyzel.deviantart.com/</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nestled amongst the rubble of the fallen walls and towers, rests the largely intact palace of the former rulers of KOR. It has buckled on one side, an entire wing bending at a steep angle to the rest of the building, the rest leaning backwards as if to escape the rest of the ruins. The centuries have worn away at the stone, and the rain, blood and waste blown across the chasm have stained the walls. It's name derives from these stains, but it is also known as the STAINED PALACE because of the stained-glass windows encircling the dome that dominates the palace. The glass has retained its bright colours, is unbroken, but generally coated in a layer of grime. The windows have proven to be indestructible, repelling even spells that unleash destruction in the form of lightning bolts and fireballs. Magi would gladly pay a king's ransom to discover how they were made.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Twisted Tower</span></h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not far beyond the palace is another mostly intact building, the TWISTED TOWER; so called due to the odd arrangement of its ten stories. Each level protrudes above the lower, creating a step-like line, the direction alternating between levels. Believes to have once been the domain of a powerful mage who enjoyed experiments, the tower is said to be full of traps, puzzles and magical wards. Strange creatures have been spotted inside, and within its vicinity, and treasure both mundane and magical has been looted from within.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Worm Valley</span></h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On the western side of the ruins is a long, narrow valley formed by walls of rubble. It connects the BONE PIT to the west side, allowing easier passage between the two halves of the city. These walls are pitted with holes, leading into a network of tunnels and caves, which are the lairs of the creatures that made them: giant flesh-eating worms; long, pale-grey, blind, but possessing an uncanny ability to detect prey by the vibrations of their movement, even, so it is said, by the pounding of the heart of a terrified man.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Looters' Square</span></h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beyond WORM VALLEY is an open plaza strewn with debris. A square formed by the ruined buildings surrounding it, the plaza is one of the few areas of the city that the SHADES avoid, for as yet unknown reasons. As such it is one of the safer places to explore; which it has been on numerous occasions, each time discovering new chambers and passage beneath the square. This is where most of the treasure has surfaced, looted from the rooms below; and although the treasure found is less than it was, there is still enough to attract adventurers.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below the square, depending on which entrance you take, there are tombs and crypts, former dwellings, crude passages and caves formed by collapsing rubble, as well as chambers believed to be ancient temples, arcane sanctums, and former barracks for long-dead soldiers. Some of the passages lead under and deeper into other parts of the city, some even connect to the tunnels beyond, especially those few to the west.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Western Edge</span></h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Along the WESTERN EDGE of the ruined city are mounds of rubble, piles of waste, rivulets of blood and water, scree slopes that climb down to the craggy surface of the chasm; beyond this jagged line the chasm is largely unexplored, with fewer tunnels or features than the eastern side.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The edge is noted for the hives that have been built by giant killer bees that have developed a taste for the blood emerging from the walls. Rarely hostile, unless provoked, they have a deadly sting and seldom travel alone.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beyond the Ruins</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.great-britain.co.uk/world-heritage/giants-causeway/giants-causeway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="http://www.great-britain.co.uk/world-heritage/giants-causeway/giants-causeway.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beyond the ruined city of Kor, the chasm gradually begins to narrow, mirroring the eastern half, as it meets the roots of the mountains. There the broken rock has formed folds of stone, giant steps that climb out of the shadowed depths and into the slopes of the mountainside. It's a difficult climb, even without the blood concentrated on the walls; dangerous too, with caves holding the lairs of trolls, wyverns, and owlbears closer to the ground.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like the east side, the floor of the chasm is made of crushed layers of stone, forming tunnels and caverns, but less numerous and with fewer connections. Most of the blood has merged into one large river, which cascades down a fissure in the rock, falling to unknown and unexplored depths below the surface of the chasm.</span></div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-32442490781455424222012-08-23T11:59:00.000+01:002012-08-23T11:59:00.215+01:00Delvers' Guide: Ruins of Kor, Part 1<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Eastern Ridge</span></h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The eastern tunnels largely emerge into the ruins over a ridge of densely packed stone, strewn with scree slopes and scattered boulders. Many of the rivers of blood stop here, forming pools and small marshes; others have carved channels through the ridge, and bloody waterfalls cascade into the ruins beyond.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The ridge acts as a natural border, separating the tunnels and city ruins, and is spread across the miles-wide chasm. Paths, natural and man- or monster-made cut through the stone, winding down to the sunken city below.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Boulder Fields</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://richardbarron.net/traveller/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/mount-scott-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://richardbarron.net/traveller/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/mount-scott-01.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Forming a rough crescent on the edge of the denser ruins is a sparse expanse of bedrock, scattered and strewn with boulders of all sizes. These are actually the worn-down remnants of ruins, and hidden amongst them are trapdoors and buried stairs leading down into cellars, crypts, dungeons and underground warehouses. Some are visible, some have been excavated and explored, but most remain untouched, waiting to be discovered.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Red Canals</span></h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One fairly intact section is partially flooded; the former streets have become canals fed by a river of blood, hence THE RED CANALS. This area has been claimed by a team of engineers, explorers, archaeologists and adventurers, who have managed to clear enough space to establish a permanent presence, a camp amongst the ruins. They are ever vigilant, coming under attack on a daily basis, and mercenaries are constantly in demand. Sponsored by the <i>Trade Guild</i>, they are working to maintain a permanent stronghold, with their own lift, in direct competition with the <i>Delvers' Guild</i>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although they are a long way from achieving this, they have made some progress: there is a small trading outpost, a simple inn, and a make-shift tavern. It's certainly one of the safest spots in the ruined city.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Bone Pit</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3b10000/3b14000/3b14300/3b14397r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3b10000/3b14000/3b14300/3b14397r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the central part of the ruins, surrounded by crumbling walls and shallow caves dug into the rubble, is a huge pit, really a crater, known as THE BONE PIT. Thousands of bones fill the pit, maybe even hundreds of thousands, as no one knows how deep it is. The bones come from all over the ruins, collected by the degenerates– commonly referred to as SHADES, due to their pale-skins, aversion to daylight, and affinity for shadows– and thrown into the pit, offerings to whatever dark gods, demons or totems they worship. Mingled with these assorted bones– animal, monster and humanoid– are gemstones, jewellery, anything that glitters and glows brightly in torchlight; trinkets and baubles for the most part, coins too, but also some truly valuable gemstones such as rubies, sapphires and golden yellow topaz.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Be warned: although the area surrounding the pit seems empty, it is anything but. The pit is a trap, with SHADES lurking in the caves, behind walls, even buried under a fine layer of dirt and rubble, ready to pounce. As soon as you turn your back, distracted by the flash of gems, they will swarm. If you're lucky, you'll be killed; if not, you'll be eaten alive.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rumour has it that the pit itself holds a further danger, some monster that lives in its depths, occasionally rising to the surface to be fed sacrifices that the SHADES throw into the pit.</span></div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-19513950741006454172012-08-21T20:06:00.000+01:002012-08-21T20:06:00.805+01:00Delvers' Guide: the Ancient Ruins<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y187/Ursca/Fabled%20Lands/Illustrations/CityofRuins.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y187/Ursca/Fabled%20Lands/Illustrations/CityofRuins.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ruins of Kor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The ANCIENT RUINS OF KOR are centuries old, and by all accounts KOR was an old city even before it fell. There is no doubt that a wealth of treasure can be found there, along with ancient knowledge, unknown magics, and history waiting to be discovered. It is the ultimate goal of anyone descending into the chasm, and can be a hive of activity; with adventurers, explorers, historians and other scholars all paying the ruins a visit.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The ruins are also dangerous, even more than the tunnels and surface of the chasm. Pale, regressed humans are the dominant threat in the city, believed to be the descendants of the original inhabitants. They are little more than scavengers, cannibals, and hunt in packs. They have an aversion to sunlight, and cringe in even bright light, but can tolerate the light of lanterns or torches. There are rumours that some among them are shamans, but this has yet to be proven.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The original landscape of the city has changed beyond all recognition, and there are few intact buildings. Those that have spent time in the ruins have roughly mapped out sections, giving them names based on landmarks and notable features, all to aid others in navigating the ancient ruins.</span></div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-38988328288084982492012-08-16T19:09:00.000+01:002012-08-16T19:09:00.462+01:00Delvers Guide: Places to See & Avoid, Part 3<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Hidden Forest</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqGk0wEhNJFB_jM3OFdLbJW4FrCYVLCD5SPOeJr7xY6uXzTfgPPk1BydAuzT56NTz1qy34Mwtw5m7JjtXKd7_YLW1g2ePKhgLTIAgwfe9T4ElwGk97fpBVHRR2IA63csoi096yMFEANs/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqGk0wEhNJFB_jM3OFdLbJW4FrCYVLCD5SPOeJr7xY6uXzTfgPPk1BydAuzT56NTz1qy34Mwtw5m7JjtXKd7_YLW1g2ePKhgLTIAgwfe9T4ElwGk97fpBVHRR2IA63csoi096yMFEANs/" width="153" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Deeper into the tunnels is a natural cavern that sinks lower into the ground. This cavern holds THE HIDDEN FOREST, with giant mushrooms in place of trees, patches of mould in place of bushes, and fresh water from streams fed by rainwater that trickles through the layers of stone above.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Home to a variety of wildlife, some hostile, the forest is a source of food and water for those that live in the tunnels, and for adventuring parties passing through.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Old Scar-Face</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVFX8yrn7k_QYgh9zHrhLZGkYlHZIw2Dg7nRdbjdye0hqkBPwSVcVAk2Gmxd1qzTwrrDl7C2LiPtVfdjSlUu3uEz-4hT5esp-OEyRHWijl9-R1CMVtqRuQkLUIkiFsJzI-2dewlapgqFM/s1600/DD_manticore_150dpi.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVFX8yrn7k_QYgh9zHrhLZGkYlHZIw2Dg7nRdbjdye0hqkBPwSVcVAk2Gmxd1qzTwrrDl7C2LiPtVfdjSlUu3uEz-4hT5esp-OEyRHWijl9-R1CMVtqRuQkLUIkiFsJzI-2dewlapgqFM/s200/DD_manticore_150dpi.png" width="123" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the inhabitants of THE HIDDEN FOREST is an old, huge tenacious <i>Manticore</i> that has been given a name by adventurers: OLD SCAR-FACE; for the monster's face is covered in scars from the battles it has fought and survived. None have managed to slay him, and those that have tried have always suffered casualties. In part, this is due to his size, power and ferocity, but also because he is rarely encountered alone, being normally encountered with his fully-grown children or mates.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Statuary</span></h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Closer to the ruins are a series of linked caves and tunnels full of statues, known as the STATUARY or the PETRIFIED CAVES. A nest of <i>Cockatrices</i> is said to lair here, although no one has proven this; and a <i>medusa</i> is rumoured to have taken up residence in one of the caves; both would explain why there are so many statues.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The statues themselves are dominated by perfect sculptures of adventurers, explorers and their entourage; many are posed in mid-fight or -flight, some wearing expressions of shock and surprise, fear and horror, or simply acceptance. There are statues of animals and monsters too, and their ages range from a few decades to a few days old. The aged statues are worn, cracked, crumbling, with many fallen into piles barely recognisable rubble.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.akworld.net/webblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/statues-in-botanico1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://www.akworld.net/webblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/statues-in-botanico1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is an eerie, quiet and unsettling location, where the eyes of the statues seem to follow you, or move when caught in the corner of the eye; and it has its own particular danger.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Living Statues</span></h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Whether the result of an experiment or research, or ignited by a spark of the divine from the blood that drips from the rough, unseen ceiling, it is known that some of the statues are alive, in the crudest sense. These LIVING or ANIMATED STATUES have an intrinsic disdain for all forms of life, ambushing parties as they pick their way through the tunnels crowded with statues. They vary in both material and methods of attack, shatter, crumble or rust when vanquished, and all have jewels for hearts. Some magi believe that their victims turn to stone themselves, replenishing the statues that are worn or smashed.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Twisted Stairs</span></h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eventually the tunnels emerge amongst the ruins of KOR, some merging and forming natural steps that twist and buck towards the surface. These TWISTED STAIRS exit all around the edge of the ruins, creating numerous entrances.</span></div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-43257363773765404322012-08-14T18:37:00.000+01:002012-08-14T18:37:00.146+01:00Delvers Guide: Places to See & Avoid, Part 2<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Bloody Mire</span></h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Upon the surface of the chasm, starting a short distance from the shaft, is a boggy marsh region where the rivers of blood have muddied the debris; creating the reeking BLOODY MIRE. This marsh is abuzz with insects, including some of the giant variety, and monsters hunt and lair there. Flocks of BLOOD RAVENS dine on the insects when they can't get meatier prey, and ICHOR or BLOOD ELEMENTALS have been known to spontaneously form.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The mire covers two-thirds of the width of the chasm, making it to difficult to avoid. Those that try find themselves trapped by those monsters who have learnt to hunt on the 'dry land' between the mire and wall.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Blood Ravens</span></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs37/i/2008/271/2/b/Ravens_by_sertcha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs37/i/2008/271/2/b/Ravens_by_sertcha.jpg" width="145" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">http://sertcha.deviantart.com/</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These abominations are a bane to all travellers to the chasm. Originally they were ordinary ravens, attracted by the deaths of all those Avatars and followers. They began to change when they first tasted the <i>divine blood;</i> growing in size, feathers turning blood red, beaks sharpening, overcome with insatiable hunger for blood and fresh meat. Highly hostile, they'll swarm to attack if you approach them.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Lake of Unknown Depths</span></h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Further along the surface, against the south wall, is a large lake where a number of rivers and streams of blood converge. It's known as BLOOD LAKE or the LAKE OF UNKNOWN DEPTHS, because no one knows how deep it is, and as yet no one has had the courage to find out. It has become the watering hole for the chasm's inhabitants, and with such a variety of creatures, fights between them often break out.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the middle of the lake is a small island of rock, with a tunnel entrance sheltered under a stone shelf. This natural formation is known as AMIR'S PATH, after the explorer who discovered it. It is a more direct route to the city ruins, avoiding some of the worse dangers of the tunnels; a useful shortcut, if you can cross the lake.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Blood Elementals</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.lomion.de/cmm/img/spc/eleravl2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.lomion.de/cmm/img/spc/eleravl2.gif" width="166" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The lakes, pools, streams and rivers of blood sometimes produce short-lived creatures called BLOOD or ICHOR ELEMENTALS, akin to the better known four. Varying in size from a small dog to an elephant, and possessed with a rudimentary, animalistic intelligence, scholars believe they are created by whatever sparks of divinity is retained in the blood; a belief the magi refute, saying that the spark of life is simply part of the natural, inherently magical, weave of the world. However they are formed, these elementals or WEIRDS, as they are sometimes referred to, are unstable, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous. They are susceptible only to magic, in any form, making them difficult opponents. Thankfully, they are not always hostile, often content to simply swim through the rivers of blood, driven by unknown motives.</span></div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9121228435611899201.post-3191733490353160222012-08-09T17:55:00.000+01:002012-08-09T17:55:00.258+01:00Delvers Guide: Places to See & Avoid, Part 1<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The WEEPING CHASM is full of danger, but it is also full wonder. There are things below that you won't find anywhere else, sights unseen, experiences like no other. Some can be found in the tunnels, others in the ruins, and a few cling to the walls and lie upon the surface. Keep your wits about you, however, because for every wonder there's a monster close-by.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here are a few of the more common monsters and places to see, and sometimes avoid.</span></div>
<h2 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Skin Wraiths</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thought to be the lost, discontented souls of slain Avatars and their subsequent victims, SKIN WRAITHS are common enough to be fairly well documented. Semi-corporeal undead entities, akin to the deadlier life-draining wraiths found in the CATACOMBS, these shadowy creatures wear the tattered skins of their victims. They radiate intense cold, and their touch freezes, eventually paralysing their victims. The SKIN WRAITH then skins the victim, slowly, painfully, killing them in the process.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thankfully, they are vulnerable to the divine powers of clerics and priests, and their semi-solid state allows mundane weapons to hurt them. A warning: only magic, divine or otherwise, can truly destroy a SKIN WRAITH; otherwise they simply reform in a matter of hours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Crystal Maze</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Quite close to the lift-shaft is a series of connected tunnels and chambers, whose walls are compressed crystals and crystalline formations in a wide-range of dazzling colours. Bring light into this maze and the crystals catch the light, expel it tenfold and more, creating bursts and rays of dazzling, sometimes blinding, colours. It is a truly awesome sight, all the more magnificent for the absence of magic; the CRYTAL MAZE is a natural phenomena.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The crystals are worthless by themselves, something delvers have learnt over the years, but the maze connects to tunnels that lead deeper into the chasm, providing a short cut; this is unfortunate, as it is easy to get lost, especially when dazzled, and many an adventurer has lost their way and fallen prey to the creatures that hunt there. Sometimes you can stumble across a kill, still equipped for adventuring, maybe even still laden with treasure. The monsters that prowl the maze, giant vermin for the most part, care little for trinkets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mirror Imps</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the creatures that uses the CRYSTAL MAZE as it 'hunting ground' is a peculiar demon that is known as a MIRROR IMP.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mirrors, as any magi will tell you, can be used as doorways to other realms, so long as you have the right 'key' and know the appropriate ritual. One such realm is the ABYSS, that other world where demons dwell. MIRROR IMPS are able to cross through to our world at will, without keys or rituals; all that they require are mirrors reflecting back upon one another, conjuring up an infinite regression of images– as the scholars tell it– that create an accidental portal. The highly reflective crystals of the maze have the same effect, letting in the imps whenever they feel the need.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These bloated goblin-like demons are highly mischievous and malicious with it. They adopt a party, following them on their adventures, causing all sorts of problems; from attracting monsters, stealing or sabotaging equipment, hiding treasure, to cursing party members. When confronted they plead innocence, and try to make deals, which they always break at the first opportunity.</span></div>Simon Forsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01243845335993440168noreply@blogger.com2