Gametable Nights!

He will be on tonight. I do not know what time though.

Well, I just woke up famished and I have to get my food and laundry for work tonight. I'll try to get done as soon as I can, though.

And yeah, give us more Corwin stuff! You won't believe how close to the end of your prologue you are (and have been for a while).

I'll be lurking.. and hoping.

If there's no Gametable, then perhaps some speed posting?

Man, I just had to turn the heater on. In November. In Texas.

I get the feeling that this winter's going to get pretty rough.

Also, my clothes are in the dryer and the pot pie exploded all over the inside of the microwave, so I had to clean that up. At least there's enough to get my stomach to shut up, though.

Speed posting sounds good. I'll try to go to bed earlier tomorrow (since I have play rehearsal in the evening as well), but today got a little bit busy this morning. Vehicle safety inspections suck.

I am once again free this coming Monday

I "should" be able to hook up this weekend. Will have to play it by ear as hunting opened today and I still have assignments to do.

Okay, my paycheck's deposited and I'm on my way to bed now. If I don't oversleep, I'll be back in eight.

Okay, to reiterate. I'm free all day TODAY.

I'll hop in and out of the forum every couple of hours or so (mean while I'll play aion ) so catch later today

I hereby declare tonight to be another Gametable Night! I'm seriously sleep-deprived, but I'm trying my hardest to get hopped up on Mountain Dew and energy shots, and I'll probably crash like an Indy car as soon as I stop riding the sugar-and-caffeine high. So let's enjoy it while it lasts.

Now where all y'alls?


Present Gametable Adventures:
• The Tinstone Warrens (Corwin, Sylvea, Karnoz)
• The Bountiful Burrows of Braddenlock (Karnoz, Keitha)

The House of Ainsley wrote:

Now where all y'alls?

We's uns be here. Where be you tho?

Oh, waiting for Gametable to finish loading. It's still 12.5.74.228 , of course.

EDIT: Okay, it's done. I need to grab another Dew and some soy sauce for this fish right quick....

(From The Bountiful Burrows of Braddenlock, the contents of the diary which Karnoz Tellen and Keitha Ainsley found after confronting, fighting and ultimately killing Debbin the Deranged, a halfling driven to profound madness through a combination of starvation and prolonged cannibalism, secluded in a heavily booby-trapped lair and trapped in that cave by a strong-flowing underground river and its resident flesh-eating sahuagin.)

(The book is quite old, by the looks of its frayed cover of woven leather, and a stitched patch bears a leather-burned declaration: The Journal of Friar Fenswick Peagood. But through the name, a scratch was scratched some years before. And the scratch is still blackened at its throat and edges, as if a hot blade were used to deface it.)

(For reference's sake, the approximate time frame for this progressing adventure is the Summer of 1378.)



May 5, 1316: This is the journal of Friar Fenswick Peagood, priest of Yondalla. The Church of Three Apples has received word that the Revered Cade Braddenlock has sculpted his congregation into a heretical End Times cult, preaching that the Endless Winter will soon be upon the world and sequestering his following deep underground to wait it out. Ten years have passed without one word from Braddenlock, and so the Church has sent my party to the Abundant Fields Temple to investigate, locate Braddenlock's parish and, if possible, disperse Braddenlock's heretical notions and return his followers to the fold.

I have chosen to write this journal in the common trade tongue for the comprehension of our human and elven benefactors. With me are my acolytes Bando Lowhill and Nilla Teabottle, the laborers Milo Fallowtree and Moppin Brushwick, the adventurer and gracefully reformed criminal Debbin Fishpicken, and Lavinia Braddenlock, sister to the wayward priest. If anyone can talk some sense into Cade Braddenlock's head, it is her.


May 7, 1316: We have solved the riddle of the nave and are ready to descend. Three apples from the courtyard tossed into the basket of Great Yondalla revealed a staircase descending from the masonry of the fountain's basin! It appears that Braddenlock went to great lengths to conceal his subterranean findings from prying eyes.


May 8, 1316: We have plenty of torches and lamp oil, so we are prepared if the journey beneath the hills goes over long. While we were gathering our gear to cross the bridge to the docks beyond, Debbin found a peculiar brass chain among the gnomish waterworks and gave it a sharp yank. The staircase was immediately sealed behind us as the columns of stone forming the stairs rose up to complete the fountain's basin again. Debbin assures us that pulling the chain in the other direction will lower the stairs for our departure later, but I truly hope that he will refrain from yanking and pushing and pulling things with wild abandon during our time below. Only Yondalla knows what traps Braddenlock may have placed to defend his secrets.


May 8 or 9, 1316: Our party found an unusually well-outfitted cave to one side of the underground river, but the cave has a dock and mooring posts for the rowboats we had found at the docks. Inside the cave is a towering stockpile of foodstuffs, some fresh, some dried, salted or otherwise preserved. Also among the cache are lumber and carpentry supplies, firestarting tools, fishing nets, fishing poles, fishing hooks, spools of fishing line, bedrolls, bundles of wool, bales of hay and possibly more. A locked chest in one corner contained a number of coins and unusual items, including a magical Quiver of Ehlonna, much larger inside than out; Bando demonstrated this by fitting the entire length of his javelin into the quiver's bottom compartment and buckling the flap to close it. Though we lack the key to the chest, Debbin was quite capable of defeating the lock with his thief tools. It seems that his days of criminality may yet be turned to Yondalla's service. Debbin's enchanted short sword, which he has affectionately named Firebite, lashes with its namesake fire at any naked impact and has proven most useful at sparking campfires. Debbin is truly proving his worth as a vital member of our party!

But clearly this cave was intended to be a forward warehouse with supplies to help Reverend Braddenlock and his followers survive this fictitious Endless Winter in his predictions. I wonder if the cult is nearby, or if they will be coming to this cave tonight. Milo and Moppin grow weary with their work, and so we have chosen to stay here and rest before continuing onward.


Mid-May: Disaster! While we slept, the ropes mooring our boats were cut, allowing the boats to drift downstream without us! Something is down here with us, and we cannot be sure of how deep the river is, or if we can continue without boats. We will see.


[At this point, no more dates appear before the journal entries; after so many days underground, Fenswick Peagood apparently lost all track of time by this point] Moppin is lost to us. We cobbled a raft together from spare lumber, ropes and nails, but our accursed rivals revealed themselves: sahuagin. They cut the ropes from beneath and scuttled our raft, and they dragged poor, poor Moppin below. He never came back up. The rest of us were lucky to swim back to the dock intact and hurry inside the cave.


[Next page] The stockpile's food is deplenishing rapidly with five of us confined in here. How fortunate it is that we have fishing nets and a cavern teeming with life-giving cavefish. Truly does Yondalla provide for her flock, but all the same, I do pray that Yondalla may soon provide a rescue party as well.


[Next page] We pulled our fishing nets from the water and were dismayed to find them empty of fishes and ruined with several rough slashes from below the water level. The sahuagin now rob our nets to feed themselves, it would seem. And while our nets do certainly make the task of catching fishes far easier, surely an aquatic race has long refined their approach to catching food. We shall leave two of us to watch over the nets at all times, from casting the nets to drawing them in.


[Next page] The sahuagin continue to harass us. Even with watchful halflings standing guard over the nets, the sahuagin persist in trying to approach from below and cut our nets before we can pull them ashore. The ropes and cords are becoming badly worn with so many cuts and repairs. I now suspect that the sahuagin intend to starve us out and make us easier prey for when they finally close in for the kill. Milo keeps goading us into taking the fight to the sahuagin, but even Debbin, experienced survivor that he is, blanches at the prospect. And I agree with Debbin. To fight the sahuagin in their home environment would be suicide, with no nobler end than to glut sahuagin bellies with halfling flesh. We shall strike at the sahuagin if they expose themselves to our blades, but we would be fools to pursue them. Such a pity it is that they have us at such profound disadvantage.


[Next page] Nilla has taken a horrible fever, an expected consequence of being forced to live in such wretched conditions. My prayers to Yondalla seem to be steadily undoing her affliction, but without good food and fresh air, all of us will remain in danger of falling to grave illness. I desperately hope that rescuers will come for us soon.


[Next page] Milo grows ever more angry, angry with our miserable plight and angry with the sahuagin for claiming his dearest friend. He routinely calls my leadership into question and brands us cowards for not plunging into the water and pursuing the sahuagin, as if such a notion could be in any way wise! Twice has Milo almost come to blows with Debbin over Milo's relentless insults and belittling. For all of my purported wisdom, I am entirely at a loss for resolution to this crisis.


[Next page] Milo is dead. Only minutes ago did he scream at us for being faithless cowards, even as he lamented how he was the only one of our party with the courage to return to the fields and find help. And then, before Debbin and Lavinia could hold him back, he promptly leapt from the dock and splashed down, kicking furiously against the cold river's current. The sahuagin were on him almost immediately. He was a hair's width from death by the time he fought free of them and stroked back to the docks, and he expired wordlessly shortly after we pulled him from the water. We hesitate to throw Milo's body back into the water and thus feed the sahuagin, but we cannot keep him here in the cave, either. We have no place to bury him, and before long the stench of his decay will be overpowering. I will confer with my four remaining companions and decide what must be done.


[Next page] In reply to Milo's death, Debbin has proposed a most ghastly solution: cannibalism! Are we to now be reduced to savages stripped of all sense of sacrity for the dead? I will not hear of it! But I fear that Bando and Lavinia are tendering earnest consideration for his horrid proposal, so weary are they of rationing our remaining food and netting so few cavefish to feed us. Debbin contends that, through Milo's death, perhaps Yondalla HAS provided for us. But I find such a notion vastly more repellant, abominable and heretical than even Cade Braddenlock's Doomsday ballyhoo.


[Next page] Against my sternest admonitions, Debbin has made a terrible butchery of Milo's remains, serving up steaks and chops and shanks and cutlets as if Milo had never been anything more than a common pig! Perhaps Debbin now feels some measure of vindication after Milo's earlier belligerence, but this is no reward for such disagreement! What's more, Debbin has convinced Lavinia, Bando and Nilla to partake as well, and they have partaken of Milo's flesh far too gladly. I daresay that Debbin has stained his devotion to Yondalla with blasphemy, equating their unholy feast with some manner of sacrament! I must escape this madness before it claims me as well.


[Next page] Milo's body has been almost completely consumed. Even his innards, vital organs and other unmentionable pieces have been reduced to mere victuals. I have stoically refrained, sating my hunger entirely with cavefish and dried pork from the dwindling stacks of remaining food rations. I acknowledge that our party may survive for longer because of Debbin's cannibalism of Milo, but at what cost to ourselves does that survival come?


[Next page] I have steeled my resolve. Debbin, Lavinia, Nilla and Bando all sit about in this squalid cave, staring blankly at each other and occasionally wondering aloud which of our party will be the next to die. It was Debbin who led us into this madness, and I shall be the one to lead us back out of it! May Great and Holy Yondalla give me strength, for I must now confront Debbin and drive him from our party. And if he resists, then the moment may come when I must strike him down. Great Yondalla, give me strength.


[Next page] This is the journal of Friar Fenswick Peagood, huh? Wrong! This is now the journal of Journeyman Debbin Fishpicken, expert procurer of exquisite goods. Friar Peagood thought that he could feed us on faith alone, and he didn't quite take to me doing whatever was necessary to keep us alive. Even went so far as to try to brain me with his mace when I wouldn't go swimming with the sahuagin like he wanted. Too bad he didn't figure on me being right cagey in a fight, he didn't. So now he's dead, and I expect that he'll feed us seven, maybe eight days, or whatever a day is down here in the dark. He may last longer if Firebite and I can toast him dry. Then we'll see.


[Next page] The thighs truly are the best part of someone's body. They're like a couple of big hams. Almost taste like ham, too. Let's eat.


[Next page] Oh, dear. Lavinia's fallen sick with cave fever, and no one here can cure it for her. Perhaps killing the friar was not such a brilliant move after all. We'll see if she pulls through.


[Next page] Lavinia's dead. Fever took her. We'll have to cook her twice.


[Next page] We're halfway done with Lavinia now. Guess Reverend Braddenlock won't be getting his sister back. What is it about a woman's meat that makes it taste so much smoother and richer than a man's meat, come to that? I sure wouldn't mind seeing Nilla shuffle off to the Fields of Plenty as soon as we're done with Lavinia here.


[Next page] Damned fishmen stole one of our nets right out from under me! At least we still have plenty of Lavinia jerky to go around. Let's eat.


[Next page] Wouldn't you know that Bando was snooping through my journal here? He threatened to tell Nilla what I wrote about her a couple pages ago. So the moment he turned his back, I stuck Firebite in it up to the hilt. He won't be telling anyone anything now. And as soon as Nilla wakes up, I can give her whatever excuse for killing Bando and she'll probably believe me. But isn't this a waste? Bando's dead and we're not even finished with Lavinia yet! I'd better get another fire going. Remember to eat the brain first. Let's eat.


[Next page] The bread we brought down here is all covered with mold now. Oh, well. It tastes funny, but it won't really hurt anyone. It'll go well with the last bits of Lavinia's left arm. "Never waste any part of the pig," my Pappy used to say before he fell between the millstones. Think I hear the fishmen getting frisky again. But I'm the one who stole the Amber Eye of Serpis-Be-Raised, so I think I can handle a few fishies.


[Next page] lavinias gone, starting on bando. nilla caught a big cavefish so i can cook that too. dizzy all the time now. dont remember hitting my head. maybe something i ate. hope it passes.


[Next page] nilla doesnt want to cuddle with me, says my breath smells rotten. thats all good and well. so does hers. the ink was drying out, so i added two thimbles of river water to the inkpot and mixed it in. that seems to have done the trick. the ink looks a bit thinner but at least i can keep writing.


[Next page] bandos almost gone now. just nilla and me, down here in the dark with the fishmen. quite the adventure we're having, eh. we'll draw straws to see who gets stuck eating bando's feet. waste naught, want naught.


[Next page] almost out of lamp oil. its all right, we have firebite. started tearing planks from the dock. not like its good for much else.


[Next page] down to bandos chitterlings stomach and kidneys now. wish i had some red wine. fishmen keep coming up to the dock, maybe want to come in. its all right. we have rope, we have nails, we have planks, we have other stuff. make traps to keep fishmen out, keep nilla and me safe. wonder what sahoogin meat tastes like.


[Next page] bandos gone. caught one small cavefish, not enuff. not enuff food. be a lot easier if i didnt have to share with nilla anymor


[Next page] nilla woke up while try kill her try run out cave but speer trap got her firebite finish her off good lets eat


[Next page] set speer trap up agin cookin up nilla ham on the bone smell nice and taste nice much nicer than bando


[Next page] lonely


[Next page] finish off nilla think she mabey taste better than lavinia and that not eesy


[Next page] hungry


[Next page] still hungry still lonly too maby someon come here soon


[Next page] ha ha stupid fishmen think me ded try come in cave to get me but not figur i set traps one fishman ded rest ran away lets eat


[Next page] fishman not bad pritty tastey better then frog eyballs hav weerd membrain and smell funy when cut open tho


[Next page] fishman smell funny oh well hungry agin so lets eat


[Next page] more fishmen come in net trap got one and rest flee so slit fishmans throt and start fire who need cavefish when fishmen round


[Next page] fishmen not come in here for wile must be gettin smart


[Next page] hungry so hungry lets eat


[Next page] lets eat lets eat lets eat already LETS EAT


[Next page] two men come down river in rowbot hid in cave hopin they come in but they keep goin go down strait tunnel maybey they go to bradinlock i remeber tryin to find braddinlok long time ago mabey yeers maybe many yeers never found bradinlok stuck here damn him dam tasty but evil fishmen damm them all


[Next page] so sad now sad lonley hungry in dark damn you barddinlock dam you damn you damn you


[Next page] where did frends go used to have frends where did they go oh rite ate them wish i had mor frends


[Next page] caut big spiky cavfish lets eat


[Next page] hungry agin lets eat lets eat


[The next--and last--twelve pages in the journal] lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat lets eat...

I am not sure these days when I'll be free for gametable. We lost a man - and are currently training another - plus TAFE is back in session next week, so back to study I go

But - to be perfectly honest, if anyone is free during my weekday NIGHTS in SYDNEY TIME - I'll be able to jump on, no problems. Better give me a warning tho - lol.

Its been so hot lately I've not attempted to use my lap top. Its using two externaly cooling devices, as well as its own (which is shite) and it's still overheating.

But yeah, I'm free almost any night - Sylvea wouldn't mind starting her own adventure without dragging other's down.

Grrrr... sometimes I hate this international thingy.....

It's the Northern/Southern Hemisphere thing that throws me off the most. Here I am, winterproofing our house and slugging my way through a wicked sinus cold, and you're talking about summertime and overheating laptops!

I'm glad that Yasi missed you, though. I'd like to yammer on a bit further here, but I just woke up and I'm off to work now. It's good that I finally got some sleep for this head cold, but I've had this gym membership for three days and I have yet to use it.

We'll see what shapes up for Sylvea, though. The planets might even align long enough to sort out that three-way skirmish with the harpies and the pirates in The Tinstone Warrens. You never know.

Well, I was hoping to host another Gametable Night tonight, but I just got back from the clinic and the pharmacy, on my father's advice; my five-day head cold was gone when I woke up yesterday, but I had lost my voice instead. It turns out that the head cold was the cause of the lost voice--with the snot making its icky pilgrimage from my sinuses to my trachea and larynx while I slept. So now I'm taking three different kinds of pills (including the antibiotic amoxicillin) and gargling a lidocaine/Maalox/Benadryl solution until I get my voice back, and maybe a day or two after that, just to be sure.

So I haven't gone to bed in a little over 22 hours now, and I'm really feeling it by now. And this voice trouble just cost me $96 for the clinic visit and $57.25 for the meds, so my bank account's feeling it too. These meds had better well clear this up in two days or less for as much as it's costing me....

I haven't even been to the gym yet, thanks to these diseases. What a waste of the first seven days of my new gym membership.

I hate diseases.

Anyway, I'm off to take a hot bath and go to bed so I can repeat all the pill-popping and anesthetic-gargling tomorrow morning. Be good.

Updated my IP# in the OP, just in case tonight works out. Fingers are crossed here.

Well, last night was fun. GD and Jaz finally found out why I was making such a big deal about making those pogs for elementals a little while back. Just a few thoughts:

1) The earth elemental was a younger one (which is kind of subjective as time scales go, when you consider that elementals can live pretty much forever). If he was any older, he would have had that Damage Resistance for which elementals are noted, meaning that he would have negated the first 10 points of damage from any nonmagical weapon. So that's why ordinary arrows and scimitars were hurting the elemental, in case you were wondering.

2) Don't forget that, even though Keitha prepared the Entangle spell for the forum campaign, she prepared Magic Fang for the Bountiful Burrows of Braddenlock. This spell turns any ordinary animal's natural weapons into temporary magic weapons...Killian's fangs, for example. So if that elemental had had Damage Resistance against nonmagical weapons, Killian could have helped out. He might not appreciate the resulting mouthful of dirt after taking a bite out of the elemental, but you can always throw him a fattened lamb to earn his forgiveness later.

Anyway, I'm off to work now. I hope to do it again next week. Stay tuned.

OMG! Are Wraith, Ainsley, Seamus and I all actually online all at once?!?!?!


GAMETABLE!!!!

Ooh! OOH!

*looks at the Front Page*

Awww.

Hahahah! This forum plays tricks on you

But... I will be free in exactly 14 days. And the day after. All day Though one day will be out for shopping and general runs and whatnot. I don't have any days off before that . I should post my days off and when I'm free cos I can basically come online morning, noon or night. So... yeah. My bad

I'll start doing that and checking in more often too on my days off Far as I can figure, your night is my morning. So yay!

June 28...14 days...that would be July 12, correct?

I'll definitely have to clear my schedule that day.

Yay I'm free for four days!!!

Tomorrow night, for you and tomorrow morning for me.

And it's july 10th for me.... lol

FOUR DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whoo! I'm on!

I'll be lurking

Huzzah!

And naturally, Audrey at work wants me to work Sunday now, making for an 11-day stretch at work.

I'll see if I can't knock out a few posts, though. Two or three months is two or three months too long.

Aewww! Hope work goes well and easily by darls. I know how you feel. I just did a 10 day stretch mysef *ugh*.

I'll keep checking in every couple of hours or so

EDIT:

Heyya, I'll be back tomorrow, same time I'm off for now, gotta make dinner and stuff and you know... nightly things

Hope to catch ya!