Category: Gaming

Faris and her bodyguard, Kevin, follow a treacherous path to find dragon eggs.

As we travelled into the mountains, I hunted for food, saving rations for the rate occasion when I found nothing. Eventually I spotted what could be the entrance to the Dragon Temple, which we had to climb straight upwards to reach. After some near falls, we reached the top and found a rope bridge, barely safe to cross. We figured out the trick to the bridge, crossing safely until arrows whizzed by me head, fired by lizardfolk on the other side. Stepping carefully, I was able to shoot three of them, though the last one left an arrow in Kevin’s arm. Almost to the other side, I spotted a lizard slicing the rope, and shot him with an arrow. He fled as we crossed the remaining planks.

We continued our climb and were assaulted by another trio of lizardfolk. Frustrated, I quickly let fly two arrows, pausing just long enough to aim at the third as the first two fell. We proceeded to the – of course, closed – door, where I studied the four runes around it. As we were searching for dragon eggs, I touched the rune that most resembled an egg. It immediately lit up and the door glided open. I waved at Kevin to follow me as we explored the temple.

We passed through a grand entryway, scrambling through some rubble, then found a room with a large altar and some gold. We backtracked to a side passage, which led us to a collection of dragon eggs. The cave was warm, incubating dozens of eggs. I gathered several, making sure they weren’t close to hatching.

As we turned to leave, one of the eggs hatched. I moved cautiously towards it, offering one of my rations, which it ate eagerly. I’m calling it Egwin.

Of course, it couldn’t be that easy. As we exited the temple, we were attacked by a dragon spirit. It was an easy fight with Kevin guarding my back and Luc flinging himself at the spirit. In fact, Kevin only got hit once, by the dragon’s tail.

Faced with the daunting task of descending the mountain with a collection of dragon eggs, I quaffed an elixir that made me feel strong, resulting in a near effortless process. En route with the eggs, a crow swooped down bearing a message with Lord Fellmont’s crest. Edvarius indicated that I should hand off the eggs to a man outside Blissfaills, then travel to the Mirenvern Forest to collect the skeletal remains of a dragon. I found the man, Vicini, outside the gates, where we traded gold for the dragon eggs. I immediately set off for Mirinvern Forest.

Faris travels to the city of Blissfalls, and deals with some ruffians there before continuing on her search for dragon eggs nearby.

Along the way to Blissfalls, I came across a stone bridge. The water under it seemed calm, but something about the bridge itself felt strange. I paused and pulled some coins out, tossing them into the water, then rushed across as a troll emerged, searching for my coins. That gave me just the moment I needed to prepare for a fight, weaving and bobbing around the lumbering troll. I gave better than I got and in short order, defeated the monster. I limped the rest of the way to Blissfalls, where I had to pay to be admitted into the city.

The city itself was not impressive. I wandered through a stench-filled neighborhood where barely-dressed people slept on the street. A man asked me for spare coins, and I would have shared if it weren’t for his young partner who tried to help herself to them. And the prices were higher than I’ve ever seen, 7 gold for a basic health potion! The thieves guild had markings all over, and offered the challenge of stealing a bracelet from a local merchant. I was not up to the task. Being quite tired, I decided to rest at the Talabhash Inn, pondering why such an inhospitable town features a Church of Moordnin, a god who guards merchants and travelers. Just walking down the street was dangerous, a gnomish thug tried to rob me, but I ran away.

After resting, I stopped at the Rusty Tapp for a drink. The bartended, Ulric, mentioned having been robbed several times that week, apparently not uncommon in Blissfalls. He hired me to handle a local bandit group, the Dust Runners, paying me in advance. The thugs were waiting outside for me. I almost felt sorry for them. The one who stabbed me dragged herself away, leaving four of her companions dead on the street. I gave chase, turning the corner just as they entered a building, and they locked the door behind them. For a change, I actually managed to pick the lock.

They were waiting for me, of course, but looked shocked as my animal companions followed me into their hideout. Their shock didn’t last long… and neither did the fight. One bandit managed to stab me, and another was about to punch me when Fola lumbered in. The last bandit fled after seeing her ally struck down by a bear.

I spent some time exploring their hideout. What a dump! There certainly wasn’t a horde or riches like you’d expect from a successful group of bandits. I did find a locked chest, picked the lock, and salvaged a pair of potions and some gold. As I left, I found a beautiful red clock with golden trim, completely out of place in this dump. I put it on.

That turned into a decent paycheck, so I checked the local job board to earn a bit more. I watched a woman’s store for a day, tried unsuccessfully to locate a family heirloom, and lost some gold “cleansing my soul” at the Church of Moordnin. Then I booked a night at the Talabhash Inn, figuring a good night’s sleep was important before heading to the mountains. “Good” is erlative, with shrieking people, breaking glass, and fighting in the streets at all hours. After resting, I stopped at the local guild hall to see if anybody could assist on my quest, and ended up hiring a bodyguard named Kevin.

The wizard, Edvarius, is finally ready to leave with Faris for West Haven, though he proves fairly useless when encountering dangers on the road.

With the day to myself, I checked the local job board. I couldn’t find everything one woman lost in the river, though she was grateful for what I did retrieve. I fought off some thugs who were trying to strong-arm a merchant into the protection racket. And I gathered moer tassleroot.

I took my bundles of tassleroot to sell at Misty’s Mirecles, and bought some potions and rations for the return trip with the coin I earned. I picked up extra rations on the accurate assumption that the wizard would be useless at hunting. Lucky for him, I found ample game, fresh water, and a steady path, cutting almost a day off our journey.

Along the way, we found a tree laying across the road. It wasn’t a problem for us, but would be for a wagon, so I tried to move it. No luck. I borrowed an axe from another traveler and cleared enough of the tree to allow carts to pass. Exhausted, I quaffed a health potion to speed my recovery. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it seemed deliberate. Though probably not be the feral beasts that erupted from the woods as I was handing the axe back.

I swung the axe at the first beast as Luc launched himself at it. It swiped at my leg with its claws, leaving a streak of blood. I stumbled, missing the second monster entirely, regaining my blanace just in time to chop the head off the third one.

The crash of a tree striking the ground drew everybody’s attention. A giant beast, far larger than the ones just dispatched, loomed over us and used some kind of magic to paralyze everybody. My experience with animals allowed me to break free by slowly backing away and avoiding eye contact. Suddenly, it lunged towards me, sinking its teeth into my flesh. I am not ashamed to say I fled into the woods, leading the creature away from the other travelers. When I collapsed, exhausted, the beast was nowhere to be seen.

I returned to the road, reconvening with my travel companion. He requested we approach the city from a nearby hilltop, where he could cast a location spell, along with a protective blessing on the city. Or so he said. The components he used were not ones I’ve seen used for either of those spells before. I escorted the braggart, claiming to be more powerful than Godwin, to Lord Fellmont. He requested an audience with young Victor and more dragon eggs before I met with Rufus for my payment.

Rufus paid me with gold and urged me to seek out dragon eggs at Blissfalls immediately, at the Dragon Temple. Emphasizing the urgency, he handed me some meal rations. Not that I needed them, I was able to hunt and find water as I travelled.

Having helped extinguish fires in Ironfell, Faris seeks out Edvarius for the return trip to West Haven. Unfortunately, Edvarius isn’t quite done with his local tasks yet.

I sought out Edvarius the following morning, to see if he could leave now that the giant had been dispatched. I talked him into an extra bit of coin for dealing with the giant, and he asked me to travel south to see what was poisoning the water. I reluctantly agreed – with a promise of payment – and set off with my mule and boat to explore various branches off the river. I gathered more tasselroot as I was able, eventually finding a small cave with a terrible odor emanating from within.

I gathered some fresh herbs, tucked them into a cloth, and covered my nose before proceeding into the cave. My boat slid quietly through the water into the darkness. I heard a strange noise just before three toothy monsters dropped into my boat from above, and was bitten by one of them. I slayed them and rapidly retrieved my belongings from the sinking boat, leaving the mule waiting for my return.

My animal companions followed me into a series of rooms within the cave. I found a dwarven corpse, reminding me of how perilous this cave was. I stuck close to the river path after that, noting that he also carried a vial of dragon egg ooze, though broken.

Upon reaching the deepest cavern, I found hundreds of slimy eggs in the water. The eggs themselves were transparent, clearly showing some kind of insects inside. The film on the eggs was causing the water to foam, and that foam was flowing out to the river. I carefully transplanted the eggs to the firm ground near the back of the cave, then judiciously set them all on fire to eliminate this plague upon the river. As I finished, a loud screech echoed throughout the cave, and a massive insect came lumbering towards me.

I dashed in, striking the giant beast, dodging its vicious mandibles. It almost grabbed me with its pincers once, but Richard swooped down and stunned it. It spit acid on me; I recovered and slayed it with my next strike.

That done, I retrieved my mule and began the walk back to Ironfell. A man passed me with a rowboat, but refused me a ride. As I walked, I harvested more tasselroot and munched some rations. On my eventual return to Ironfell, I sought out Edvarius again. He paid me the agreed upon amount and we arranged to meet the next morning to depart for West Haven.

Another disaster awaits Faris upon her return to Ironfell.

As I approached Ironfell, the river was clearly dirtier than upstream, and I realized smoke was rising from the town. I docked and rushed to clear people from burning buildings. One gnomish child was too scared to move, so I grabbed her and leapt out the window just as the building collapsed behind us. She ran off and I spotted the culprits behind the fires: a trio of fire sprites! In a flash, I hit them each with an arrow, knocking them into the water.

Then I was all over the place, helping extinguish fires at the boathouse, Misty’s, the blacksmith’s, a bridge, and rescuing some children from another burning bridge before it collapsed. I spotted more fire sprites and rushed to vanquish them before they could cause more damage. One hopped on my head, burning me; I shot the other two before they could get close.

Once the fires were out, I stumbled through the town in an exhausted state. I found a rag doll in the remnants of one home, and luckily encountered a young half-orc who claimed it. I stumbled into an inn that survived the flames and was gifted a meal and a room.

Faris, in retrieving the wizard Edvarius, is roped into helping resolve Ironfell’s problems before he can travel to West Haven.

I purchased a row boat for my mule, Aldar, to pull up river, along with more rations. I searched for tassleroot while Aldar pulled the boat. I found one bushel to sell later, and paused to eat some rations. I continued upriver until a flaming arrow flew at me – a gang of gnolls was attacking! One actually managed to hit me, but I took out his friends easily. A couple fled, so I anchored the boat and snuck after them. Thwap, thwap, whoosh, thwap! Three of the four dead by my arrows before they could get off a shot. The fourth one got lucky though.

After they fell, I noticed more gnolls emerging from their tents, all women, children, and elderly. As I turned away to return to my boat, one of the pups ran over and handed me a tribal mask embedded with gold and gems.

I continued north, up the river, and reached a fork. The left looked turbulent, the right calm. Ideally, I would have gone right, but the boulders to the left reminded me that Edvarius mentioned the giants had been throwing rocks in the river. It was hard steering through the turbulence, I narrowly avoided hitting rocks several times. Just when I thought I was clear, a boulder tumbled down the mountain, thrusting the boat out of the water, then slamming back down. Ouch!

Another boulder crashed down the mountain and rolled past me. I glanced up the hill and saw a laughing giant lifting another boulder. I clambered out of my boat, quaffed an elixir to boost my physical skills, and snuck through the trees towards it. I snuck in fairly close, then tried to calm him down by talking gently. He looked puzzled for a moment and briefly stopped hurling rocks. The peace was momentary, he then ripped a dead tree from the ground and swung it at me. Thank goodness for my animal friends, with their help I evaded every swing and eventually killed the giant.

I rummaged through the giant’s camp, finding some food and a few coins. I assumed the coins were stolen from less fortunate travelers. Then I noticed the giant had a belt, worn on his wrist. I put it on and immediately felt stronger. I returned to my boat and headed south, a far easier trip than coming up river. I harvested more tassleroot en route, and paused briefly to eat.

Faris arrives in Ironfell and requests permission from Lord Aaron to borrow the city’s wizard.

As I headed to Lord Aaron’s manor, an old fisherman recruited me to find a jewel missing from the statue of Nilena, Goddess of the River. Awkwardly, he believes Lord Aaron stole it. I accepted his advance of three gold, then headed to the lord’s manor, delivering the letter from Lord Fellmont.

I was surprised to learn that Lord Aaron openly despises Lord Fellmont, though he acknowledged receiving frequent assistance from West Haven. He granted permission for Edvarius to accompany me only after finishing his current assignments, and suggested I might be able to assist.

Leaving the house, I spotted a jewel in the treasure room. Assuming it was the missing jewel, I attempted to sneak past past the guards. When they noticed me, I convinced them that as Lord Aaron’s guest, I should be allowed in. The jewel was, in fact, brilliantly beautiful, emanating a calming power, but that energy seemed to be faltering. I picked the lock and retrieved the gem, feeling no guilt at stealing it from this man whose greed was endangering his own city. I returned the gem to the statue on my way to find Edvarius. The fountain immediately began to flow when the jewel was reset, and the water seemed cleaner than that of the river.

Meeting Edvarius was depressing. He detailed all the problems facing Ironfell and bid me travel north to parlay with the giants. He seemed relieved at the prospect of going to West Haven, but angry about the tasks in Ironfell that took priority.

Faris sets out on her next great adventure, sent to borrow the wizard Edvarius from neighboring Ironfell. A simple quest, surely.

I bought myself a mule for the trip, figuring it would be useful for the four day journey. I also hit up the job board for a bit more coin, not knowing what I’d find in Ironfell. I tried to help an ill grandmother, but you can’t cure old age. My live performance at a tavern actually fared better, and did spying for a betrayed gnome.

On my way out of town, I bought more rations and health potions, drinking a couple immediately to make up for the excursion into the wizard’s lab. There was no sign of game near the road, though as I sat down to eat some rations, it became apparent why – a bear lumbered into my campsite and lounged across from me. I offered her some of my foot, which she snuffled at before eating, and realized her name was Fola.

Late the next day, I encountered a broken-down wagon with one wheel off. The supposed merchants asked for my help repairing it, but I hesitated, something seemed slightly off about them. Sure enough, they drew weapons and attacked me. I missed one entirely, killed the second with a shot, and reinforced my third short with damage from the wizard’s wand. The unharmed ruffian fled, leaving the wagon and his friends’ corpses. Their weapons were in terrible condition, but they had some gold and a Wanted poster of themselves. I suppose I can claim that reward. Having cleared the area, I decided it was a good place to stop for the night.

I arrived in Ironfell and took a quick stroll around town before seeking the wizard. The herbalist mentioned being out of potions and low on ingredients because boaters kept buying her out. That may be partially because the Beacon, a light in the middle of the river, is fairly dim. As I walked along the river, I tried talking to some other residents. A fisherman flat out ignored me, though I noted his catch seemed small and generally unhealthy. The ferryman was more forthcoming, said they haven’t gotten much work because of the raids, and the people to the south blame them for the mysterious poisoning of the river. A porter bought one of my health potions, rambling about rodents shooting at him last time he went north, and expressed concerns about giants that direction now.

It has been a while since an update. Rest assured, the adventures of Faris Leafwind continue with some amazingly poor dice rolls, and the occasional good one.

Hoping it would lead to more work, I met with Fellmont immediately. He believed all of the weirdness was related to the wizard Godwin’s disappearance and asked me to help investigate. I agreed, of course, with some misgivings over Victor’s previous statement that the wizard was a traitor, a belief his father and Commander Rufus didn’t seem to share.

Fellmont directed me to the wizard’s lab, to see if I could spot any clues he had missed. arriving there, I bumped an experiment on his desk, splashing acid on myself. I tucked away a health potion from the bookshelf, planning to heal the damage later. I slid a book from the shelf and heard a click as a secret door, covered in runes, opened. I was unable to read the runes and the door shocked me. It shocked me again when I tried to bypass the magic lock. The door was seriously kicking my butt, I couldn’t even force it open. I paused to drink the health potion I had found, then smashed the door open.

I stared in shock at a cracked dragon egg in the middle of the secret room. I stepped closer to look at it and flames erupted from the ground, singeing my clothes. I chugged my last health potion before moving in when the flames died down. The egg was filled with that shimmering black ooze I had seen at the church. I grabbed a nearby vial and carefully let some drip in without touching it. As I finished, some of it tried to move towards me… ewww.

I also found a locked chest, and luckily, I found the key hanging on the door frame. There were a couple potions and some gold hidden away. I stowed them in my bag, along with a wooden wand with a thread of gold, and returned with the information to Fellmont. Together we shared it with his father, Lord Rowan Fellmont. While dubious, he thought it best to send me questing for Edvarius, Ironfell’s court wizard. I met with Rufus again to negotiate the terms. We agreed to twenty gold on delivery, with four paid in advance for preparations.

Seriously, this brief excursion into the wizard’s chamber kicked my butt! That was mainly due to unfortunately low dice rolls. Hopefully those will gradually improve, along with my skills as I level up.