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That was quite the journey back... taking over a year :D I guess they already spent most of their savings on the way back.
hehe - We haven't played that campaign for over a year except that they played last summer when they guy who plays Garnek came back to Sweden over vacation (he's been living in the US for the past 2 1/2 years) and I was not in Sweden when they did, poor Ulfnaar, but we will play in about a month and I'm so excited to get to play Ultnaar again, who the DM compared to Baloo, big, nice and gentle unless you piss him off, then you regret it ;-)
Going to have to catch it at the beginning of course, but just wanted to say Hi.
Also, I didn't know you could do that. (Just post renders and start story telling. Cool!)
Probably showing my age, but you'd be a natural for an old game with weird looking nerd dice called D&D.
And if really into it, used to be a member of something called "Society for Creative Anachronism." (Period costumes, homemade armor & pretend fights with padded wooden swords, etc.)
Was a Welsh longbowman myself. Knights & fighter types *hate* archers, and my front line taunting our pretend enemies didn't help. When some of them got through, I got the snot knocked out of me by a fighter type who didn't think plugging noble nights with padded arrows was playing fair. : )
That evening around the bonfire, he came up and asked if he hadn't hit me too hard.
"Oh what's a few cracked ribs? Just a flesh wound!"
After that we enjoyed quite a bit of ale. The rest gets a bit foggy.
Anyway, I bore you with all that, just because some of the wardrobe and your story telling reminded me of it. Glad you brought Ulfnaar topic back if fell by the wayside.
--Bruce
I've played AD&D (D&D) since 1977 and I've even played (my dad had it) Sword § Sorcery Chivalry & Sorcery (I missremembered at first) by "The Society for Creative Anachromism", still remember the backside (tilting barrels, or dragons is a tough jpb or something like that)
And yes, Ulfnaar is in the D&D 5e World.
Oh wow, Ulfnaar is back at last! I'll just pull up a chair to sit and watch...
Caught up! Glad to see you posting this again!
That's going back! 1979 for me. Gary Gygax & TRS Games if remember right. Still have the books & dice somewhere. Might the books out for an idea or two. Anyway, very polite (and patient) of you not to tease me about saying, "Hey! You'd make a good DM."
enjoy weekend!
--Bruce
Hehe - I DM:ed most of the 80s - we were a group and several DMs in the same campaign (greyhawk) and we took turns DMing but later one several went away for university so a new group formed, and one guy bought adventures like every month and handed them to me (still in the shrinkwrap) so I could run every sunday for several years, was fun. Now I GM other games, only play D&D as a player.
Enjoy it too!
I have the popcorn.
Hmmm... How to pay a compliment without looking like a shameless sycophant if RRRR contestant.
Oh hang it! Caught the entire story last night on the iPad and actually took notes! Not just a fun story, but can learn a thing or two. How on earth did you make what looks like a Beholder for example? Unlimited budget for props or make them... : )
Have *got* to learn instances. No way I could have that much in there unless 3DL.
Merisiel sounds really good at RP, or maybe not the sharpest player about tactics...
Could go on, but don't want to be over long.
Close by saying I really like the shirt, “The Dice Are Trying to Kill Me!”
Might have my own printed up. “DAZ Addict.” Be a conversation starter since almost no one will know what DAZ is. ; )
The Beholder was in the store in a monster bundle, might be retired, but I spent lots of time retexturing it ;-)
Her player plays her like that, Merisiel is very special kind of special ;-)
Some weird things had happened, weird and strange indeed. The Rusty Dragon, the inn owned by Ameiko, and the current home of the adventuring group, was attacked by a group of Dragon Cultists and the place was left in a real mess. Ameiko ordered Celthor, Ulfnaar and Kelda to cleanup and fix the place back into shape while the others were on a secret mission for Ameiko, and Garnek was with them, they had caught up with him while he was leaving. The whole thing is a bit blurry as Ulfnaar was drinking ale as he was missing his Dwarven friend.
Now, three days later, the Rusty Dragon was back business and it was packed as usual. The location on the harbour district did bring lots of merchants and captains, together with some of the finer people from the upper districts, as the Rusty Dragon was not the usual cheap place, but held a high standard and the prices scared off the usual harbour inn clientele.
So, there they sat, drinking and eating on the house after three days of really hard labour, when an Elf entered the inn, walk directly towards their table and introduced himself, Linarril, member of the Emerald Enclave, and directed his attention to Celthor and said “Celthor I presume?”.
Celthor greeted the fellow member of the Emerald Enclave, introduced his drinking friends, Ulfnaar and Kelda, and asked him his business. Linarril sat down, and ordered the best food and the most expensive wine in the tavern, and told them he was sent here by one of the sons of the Elven King Meledrath. The elves have discovered Dragon cult activities in the mighty Forest. Linarril ordered some more expensive wine and whatever his new friends were drinking and tipped the barmaid handsomely.
Ulfnaar and Kelda paused their drinking and asked Celthor “Who is this Elf and what is the Emerald Enclave?” Celthor replied: “It’s an organisation for those who live close to the nature, like Druids and Rangers” Celthor replied.
Linarril kept asking a lot of questions about the groups encounters with the Dragon Cultists, and where the rest of the group were, and Ulfnaar, Celthor and Kelda looked at each other, yes, where were the rest of the group?
Then suddenly, as always, Ater, Ameiko and Spivvy came rushing, or in Spivvy’s case, flying, into the Rusty Dragon…
Wow, a modern maker of Nordic myth. I'm an Englishman who moved to Sweden three years ago and I love hearing stories like these. The renders that go with them are great too. You are really good at posing your figures.
Ulfnaar is "Nordic", or if you look at the a map of the Sword Coast, from the Moonshae Isles, the island of Norland, but accodring the the mythology of Forgotten Realms, those living there are very close to Vikings. Kelda is also from the Moonshae Isles, butr from Alaron.
Hires Map of the Sword Coast at WoTC
Now it works (was invisible garbage characters after the URL (had to edit in soruce mode to delete them)
I love this last render!
Thanks Luci!
I wanted to capture the mood of the situation, and Ulfnaar is Ulfnaar and he got a thing for Kelda, but he is not sure it's mutal, or if she just likes to drink and brawl with him.
Ater looked at the people at the table, and Celthor quickly introduced Linnaril to Ameiko and Ater, and Merisiel showed up too, she had been entertaining herself at the Rusty Tavern by making some rich patrons gamble with her, and they lost, as they always do, when they gamble with Merisiel.
Ater said, come on, let’s go to a more private place, we have business to discuss. The group took off to Ameiko’s mansion in the fine district where the noble houses had their estates, but she seldom stayed there much, she was not particularly fond of the intrigues and gossip of the nobility.
Well at a safe place, Ater said, “We have three tasks to handle now. First, Kelda, she has so far just tagged along and has been a crucial part of our success and survival, shared our pain and wounds, but so far she has not shared our treasures. I ask you Kelda, do you want to be a part of this group?”
Kelda smiled and said “Oh Ater, I do, but as you said, a woman can not live on pain alone.”
Ater replied in his short analytic way, as most wizards do. "That settles it them. I have summed up the treasure we got so far, that I have carried in this wonderful bag of holding that we got from Blagothcus, with Kelda now included in the party and not as just a hang around, each share is three thousand seven hundred coins of gold."
Everyone smiled, that’s a lot of money, and adventuring has taken its toll on the savings for everyone. Ater continues. “Now, we have a very fine huge two handed sword, that we took from Razmir. The sword is a very magical sword, it has a name, Hazirawn, and I would like to let Kelda have it, but I’m a little concern about it. There might be consequences, as the sword has a strong will, and might try to take control of it’s barer.”
From the table, a muffled mutter could be heard, from the sword. Ulfnaar raised his voice and said, that when Kelda goes Beserk, her mind becomes totally blank, so there is no way she can be controlled. Ater felt ok with that, and Kelda look very happy when she took the sword. From the sword they all heard “Hi gorgeous, we will have so much fun together you and I.”
Ater, who seemed to be under pressure, said: “Let’s continue, item number two on my list. We need a name, and we need it now, before we can continue to item 3. We know there are other famous groups, like Acquisitions Incorporated out there, their reputation goes by that name, not the individuals. We need a name, so friends think, let’s take ten minutes to figure something out, and Linnaril, you’re in so think you too, and Ameiko, can you send for some decent wine and ale?”
After some discussions, the group agreed on Jade Wardens, as they all, or most of them, had been blessed by the jade dagorn seal of Ameiko. Jade Wardens, they all liked the taste of that, and the good drinks Ameiko’s servants brought to the room.
Ater now continued: “So friends, or should I say Wardens of the Jade, item three. We have been invited to the grand council in Waterdeep, tomorrow, to participate and discuss how the masked lords of Waterdeep should handle to the threat from the Dragon Cultists. I recommend that you all pack some decent court class clothes, and tonight is a good time to buy some with the money you earned. We ride at dawn, on the wyverns we took from the dragon cultists in the Ice Fortress. And we will go through a portal or we would need two weeks to go to Waterdeep. Now, go shopping, pack and get some sleep, tomorrow will be a very different day for some of us.”
Don’t want to interrupt story too much, but since it’s been a few days...
Terrific renders goes without saying & jealous of all the costumes, settings & props, but you’ve been at this a little longer than I have. : )
(Laughing) link to map = 404. Oh dear... Nothing to do with RRRR theme!
Random thoughts on RP and story:
Merisiel a chaotic player eh? No guts no glory! Be boring if everyone played lawful or neutral.
Hopefully Kelda’s personality stronger than sword’s. Ameiko might not like her tavern destroyed by berserker with a magic sword. Magical books as treasure? Liked the one that gave +1 to dexterity.
Anyway, don’t want to be overlong. Great you still play. Our group dwindled & finally disbanded in the 90’s as people moved off/lost touch.
Until the next few installments then!
@Tynkere: Merisiel is her own style, she's fun, and Kelda is an NPC that we now treat as a party member (I run her as well), and the books are more Aters collection, I think he had to pick them up to reach the chest. The bag of holding is full of books as Ater plans to build his own library some day, he is a book-o-holic.
Ulfnaar went to one of the most famous tailors in the whole city of Baldur’s Gate, Micando Silkmaster, who has his own set of magical tailor tools who can saw a full set of clothes in just a few hours.
After looking at pictures of different classical designs in different styles and colours, Ulfnaar saw in the new and bold section of the tailors thick leather bound design book, something he instantly fell in love with.
(editor’s note: The fashion in the sword coast high society is not so much as we picture the middle ages or traditional fantasy, but more as we picture the renaissance)
Mr Silkmaster was not really sure, and tried politely to change Ulfnaar’s’ mind, but when Ulfnaar has set his mind on something, it’s like trying to convince a mountain to yield.
Mr Silkmaster looked at the design, took some extra measurements and then Ulfnaar decided the material and then Ulfnaar sat down in the waiting corner while Mr Silkmaster went off into the workshop to do his job. Tea was served, and some very nice cookies that Ulfnaar never had tasted before, bread with honey and jam, delightful.
Having money really made a difference Ulfnaar thought, then he thought, why on earth would Ameiko by her own free will back out of it? Maybe she was right though, the people here in the fine quarters only looked at you based on your title or your money, not at the person you really are or the deeds you have done, good or bad.
After a few hours, which Ulfnaar spent napping on the couch, Mr Silkmaster came back, and Ulfnaar tested his new fine noble class clothes. After a few adjustments, Mr Silkmaster could not imaging how much muscle mass Ulfnaar carried, as Ulfnaar almost broke the shirt into two whole moving his arms. So after some changes, the final sewing was done and Ulfnaar was another 35 pieces of gold lighter, and very happy.
Waterdeep Council
Early in the gray and cloudy morning the day after, the Wardens of the Jade left for the small stable area outside the city of Baldur’s Gate, as wyverns are not really good city pets. The stable buy requested eighteen pieces of gold for the sheep that the wyverns have had for dinner. On the way there, Ater told them that Onathar Flum had been with one of the masked lords of Waterdeep, and Onathar is now missing, and the masked lord of Waterdeep is dead.Ulfnaar is very troubled by that news after what Tallis the white had told him about Onathar being a dragon cultist leader.
They mounted their rides and flew towards the high halls of Baldur’s Gate, where the teleport circle to Waterdeep is located. They could see through the portal the bright blue skies of Waterdeep, the weather was far better up north.
They arrived through a portal in the Lord’s palace with a splendid view over the magnificent city of Waterdeep, the largest city in the whole of Sword Coast, and the port. Ulfnaar got that feeling again seeing the port, longing for the sea, life was simpler back in those days.
Servants and stable boys hurried towards the group when they arrived, and the stable boys looked quite frightened by the wyverns, and Ulfnaar said “Just don’t place them near a horse”. Ulfnaar asked a servant where they could change, he had brought his new clothes and was eager to wear them, but the reply was short and precise, “No time for that, sir”. Ulfnaar muttered to himself, “Why spend all the time and money for some fancy but rather impractical piece of clothes when there is no time to wear them?”.
The walked through the grand Lord’s palace, and saw many alcoves were small groups people were talking. This was the heart of Sword Coast, this is where all important decisions are made Ulfnaar thought.
They entered a large room with a gigantic room in the center, and a lot of people, some had brought large entourages with them, like the Elven King Melandrath and the Dvarwen emissary from the Mithril mountains.
They see Lord Dagult Neverender, lord of Neverwinter, and Remy Heaventree and Lady Leral Silverhand, one of the seven sisters, and Ater is starstruck. Ater also sees a wizard from Silvermoon, Tem Thunderspells, and is starstruck again.
Lord Neverender says with his dark and loud voice “There you are! Now let this meeting begin.”
Lord Neverender explained, that the sound, or absence of sound a few days ago, when everything went silent, the birds, the wind, and it felt like a powerful surge that went across the Sword coast, that was the Drakhorn that was sounded, an ancient artefact that summons all dragons on the continent. He said that the Brotherhood in Luskan might know more about it, they have researched it for hundreds of years.
Ulfnaar is still not comfortable that Lord Isterwell, who apparently represents the Order of the Gauntlet in the absence of Onathar, wears purple, the color of the Dragon Cultists, and he give Lord Isterwell black cold eyes.
Celthor speaks up and asks bluntly all the nobles and Kings “Where do we start?”. The council concludes after a long discussion where most of the people walked around, talking, sharing opinions and gathered facts, that Varam the White, the dwarven Dragon Cultist, must be the highest priority. He has been spotted by a spy of the Harpers close to Baareuki Bridge close to the Serpent Hills, an area riddled with ruins from an ancient civilization, that lies closer to Baldur’s Gate than Waterdeep.
Meanwhile, Lord Isterwell seeks up Ulfnaar, and starts to talk. -”I sense your hostility towards me, and it’s understandable after what you and your mates have gone through. But trust me, I am as far from a Dragon Cultist as anyone can be, I’m a Lord Paladin of Kormyr, and we always wear purple. You see my lameness, my left leg. It is a wound caused by a dragon, that cannot be healed, ever. See this kane, that is the wing bone from the same dragon, which I killed. Trust me, I heard what have been told about Onathar, but, think about it, what would Talis gain from feeding you some false information along the truth? What is her personal gain in that?”
Ulfnaar was confused, but he felt that Lord Isterwell was trustworthy, and after asking Ater, he got Lord Isterwells story confirmed.
So, the council was dismissed, and the group would go to back to Baldur’s gate, and to Baareuki Bridge.
Always feel like I’m interrupting the flow of your story if comment. If so, just tell me “Go jump in the Chelimber Marsh!” (Map really helps.) Won’t mind at all.
Like the render with Ulfnaar giving thumbs up on new threads. Romantic twist? What a young Northlander won’t do for a barbarian named Kelda who probably has a charisma of 18 & dozens of followers...
First thing’s first though. Looking forward to their adventures at bridge. : )
We fly remember ;-) Jade Wardens using Wyvern Airlines ;-)
Naa, she's not really that charismatic to others , just above average. Ulfnaar's crush on Kelda is more related to her sword swinging, shield bashing, fist punching and beer bashing skills. Shes a whole lot of a woman according to him, not just someone that would sit in the kitchen waiting for him to come home, but rather be there side by side with him going through dangers. Where Ulfnaar is grown up, men and women always have been fighting side by side, and both men and women are judged by their courage and not by thier looks. Ulfnaar is even more charismatic than Kelda though.
(Game terms: Ulfnaar has CHA 14, while Kelda has a CHA: 13, they are very similar but Kelda has a better DEX as she fights in just leather armour while Ulfnaar is heavier on CON .)
To be honest, DM modeled Kelda (the NPC) after Ulfnaar as the adventure is a mix of several ones, both DnD 5 and old DND 3.5 / Pathfinder based, plus lots of DMs homebrew on top and he needed to quickly make her, and I got the honor to play her as well. I think he likes the idea of me playing both Ulfnaar and Kelda, when Kelda is politely turning down any suggestions from Ulfnaar that does not include drinking or fighting. There will be a very fun Kelda - Ulfnaar episode and the end of the last game session we played, not there yet storywise, but it really put things to test for me as a player playing both ;-)
Looking forward to it then. Didn’t realize I missed AD&D until reading. Get to enjoy it vie-carious or some such. : )
The Jade Wardens flew through the portal once more and came back to Baldur’s Gate, where they stocked up on provisions and left the new and still unused classy noble class clothes and took off to Baareuki Bridge.
The bridge spans the mighty Windling Waters and is made of black granite. On the bridge are two statues, one of Baal and one of Zyric, the two gods that fought here during the time of troubles, many hundred years ago. There is a keep with paladins close to the bridge to keep place under control, and there is a small town of tents on the south side as this is a famous caravan meeting place, and there are lots of wagons here too. Ulfnaar and Celthor spots a huge tent with a sign, “Bolo's Tentside Inn”, and they hear the sounds of people drinking. Ater, Ulfnaar, Linnaril and Celthor decides to pay a visit to Bolo’s, while Ameiko, Merisiel, Kelda and Spivvy watches of the Wyverns. We don’t want anyone to come too close and suddenly miss a horse or a sheep.
Ulfnaar starts at the bar, this is his turf, while Celthor, Linnaril and Ater tries to look for Varam the White. Ulfnaar orders two beers from Bolo the Halfling barkeeper, and walks up to a well dressed man, probably a wealthy merchant and says: -”Cheers! Here’s one for you too! Safe roads?”.
The looks at Ulfnaar and is somewhat troubled by the look of bad news, as Ulfnaar’s reputation as a northlander pirate still follows him and sometimes startles people, but he starts to talk about the troubles, the raids on caravans by dragon cultists, and Ulfnaar plays unknowing asking a little more and when asked Ulfnaar just say that he hasn’t seen much trouble at all. Ater suddenly shows up interrupts the conversation by saying: -”Sorry mate, we don’t meet much people on the roads at all, we fly.” The merchant almost dropped his beer when he saw the Wizard, who seemed to be in company with this pirate, and just said that they are flying.
Ater asks Bolo if she has seen a purple dressed dwarf, and she says yes indeed. He came here a few days ago with a group of about 30 men, looking for a guide to take them north. His stay was rather short as he was interrupted by a Yuan-Ti, and killed him, and then the whole group rushed out north.
The group left Bolo’s, a nice place, and decided to fly north, scouting and trying to find their trail, and it was not that hard to find. After half a day they spotted about half a dozen unmarked graves, and a dead hill giant. The group decided to make camp for the night on a nearby hilltop with good defensive positions. It has its advantages to scout for campsites from the air Celthor had to admit.
The next day, the group took off on their wyverns again, and they followed the tracks in a canyon, from the air. Celthor spots the remains of a campfire, and the ruins of a town, and a ruined tower. The decide that Celthor takes a sweep around, trying to avoid detection by only having one, not a swarm of wyverns in the air, and he spots another half dozen or so unmarked graves. They decide to land in the ruined town, close to the unmarked graves. There are two large statues standing there, and Ater decides to go closer and check them out.
The statues make a sound, starts to move, they come alive, and asks with a deep voice: -”What are you seeking? Wisdom or Knowledge?”
Ater replies knowledge, and the statues goes back to their original position again. They all look around for tracks, and Celthor spots a new ladder, raised against a wall, which is quite misplaced in these ruins from thousands of years ago. Ulfnaar and Celthor take the lead and follow a path that leads to a huge double door. Celthor opens the door, and sees a long corridor, with six hooded statues, three standing along each wall, and the floor is littered with bones. Celthor steps in, and Ulfnaar sees how he just freezes, Ulfnaar goes in to try to pull Celthor out, but he sees that one statue slowly turns his head, staring directly into his mind, but the statue has no head inside the hood, just a dark void. Ulfnaar successfully snaps out of it, and pulls Celthor out. Celthor seems to be rather confused, Ater asks Ulfnaar and Celthor what they experienced, then casts cloud fog in the corridor and tells everyone not to look at the statues, eyes to the ground. At the end of the corridor is another door, and Ulfnaar opens it. Inside is a room with beautiful mosaic on the walls and the floor. Something is not right though, it doesn’t look right. On the floor is a picture of a knight fighting a Chimera, and when Ater steps into the room, the mosaic tiles starts to move around and a huge Chimera made of mosaic tiles suddenly stands in the room, and the cloud fog is slowly disintegrating in the corridor behind them…