Journey Through Code

            Around a year and a half ago, I decided to take a shot at teaching myself programming. It was a decision a long time in coming, and something I hadn’t attempted since I was 16 or so – when the resources I found weren’t very good, and I quickly gave up on. However, I’ve always had a vague interest in programming – with a slight lean towards making video games – and I wanted to figure out if it was something I could do.

            So, I did some research into various coding languages and landed on a wonderful website for teaching C++, which is a low-level programming language (which means it provides very basic functionality, making more work for the programmer, but also giving far more flexibility and control over the program). Being a low-level language, that made it harder to learn, but it also meant I was being taught exactly how everything worked – something important for someone like me, who is very curious and wants to understand how all the pieces fit together.

            I was delighted to find that, not only did I take well to programming, but I thoroughly enjoyed it as well. The ways of communicating instructions to computers meshed with my own logical way of thinking so well that I felt I was made for this. However, the lessons only took me so far – and they stopped without teaching me what I really wanted to know, which was how to make a Graphic User Interfaces – basically, all the stuff people see on their displays and can interact with, rather than needing to type in specific instructions.

            Some research taught me that these GUIs are extremely complicated to create, ad, as such, most programmers use pre-designed systems for designing them. This was disappointing for me, but I continued on with my learning experience. A random ad that had noticed how much programming research I was doing brought me to a site that offered me some free lessons in another language, Python, for the purposes of data science. I took to this new, higher-level programming language fairly quickly and easily, finding that different programming languages function in essentially the same way – you just need to learn the new keywords and syntax.

Then my father-in-law gave me a Raspberry Pi – a small computer designed for teaching programming and other computer sciences. This also had some functionalities that taught Python, including a built-in GUI system. I played around and learned with it for quite a while, but, again I felt limited. Then I came across code.org, which provided an excellent course in both computer science and coding with JavaScript – a higher-level programming language that is often used for web programming. The lessons also included an app-building program, which was great to learn with.

            I was coming to the end of those lessons earlier this year when something I’d been waiting for happened. Magic Leap released their standard developer kit. For those who haven’t been following my interest in Magic Leap, this is an augmented reality headset that’s being developed. Rather than forcing you to have a screen in front of you, it allows you to bring put interactive digital objects into the world around you. This can range from digital pets that wander around the room, to work screens you can place wherever you want and carry around with you, to... well, almost anything, really! I’ve been following the progression of this product for years, since I discovered it, and my interest in all the possibilities it offers was part of what resparked my interest in programming. And, while the product itself isn’t set to be released until later this year, they had now released everything needed to star programming applications for it – and I was now at least partially competent at programming.

            Needless to say, I immediately signed up, downloaded what was needed, agreed to all the non-disclosure and other agreements related to it (which, yes, I actually read), and happily launched it. The functionality I saw was really cool and exciting, but I also learned of another step I needed to take – this new technology was being combined with game-engines – programs that make it easier to build and create video games. It wasn’t necessary to use one of them, but it was strongly encouraged and would make life easier.

            And that’s what brought me to Unity, a system I was aware of because I’d played games made with it before, and that was, in fact, already on my computer because I’d considered learning it before. However, as excited as I was about learning how to work with Unity and Magic Leap, I had to hold myself back until I completed my code.org lessons – after all, what’s the point of learning if I’m just going to skip the last, and often most important lessons, just to move on to the newest, most exciting thing?

            And I finished those lessons this week. Now I’ve finally moved on to working with Unity, and I’m loving it! I’ve already made my first little game. It isn’t much – just a ball that you can roll around to collect floating boxes – but I made it myself! And while I did have a tutorial through the whole thing, the most important part to me is that I actually understood at least 90% of what I was doing – including writing code in C#, which appears to be the next language being added to my coding repertoire.

            So that’s my programming journey to date, and it’s very exciting. Where will it go next? Who can say? But you may eventually be seeing little games I’ve made, which will be fun, and when the Magic Leap finally comes out the augmented reality world won’t know what hit it (although, in all fairness, this could end up being because I won’t have learned enough by then and I won’t be sensible enough to let that stand in my way).

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Lark's Landing, Episode 28

Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.

You can find the previous episode here.


28-29th of Waning Summer, 0AL

As everyone stares on in horror, one Kordak attacks the other. The attacked Kordak's features change, turning into a creature of flaming molten metal. The creature roars and hisses at them, then turns and runs.

Everyone chases after - except for Akta, who follows at a more leisurely pace, because what's the point in chasing something when it's already running from them? Balasar is in the lead, coming out into the cat room and seeing no sign of the creature. Taking a guess, he runs to the closest door, where he sees the creature turn to see him, hiss, and turn into him.

Balasar is beginning to regret dashing ahead when Stor comes up behind him - blowing the magical whistle, allowing him to fly at incredible speed. Seeing the two Balasars, he decides the one further down the hall must be the fleeing creature, so he lashes out with a water whip. The creature, seeing all his enemies keeping pace, continues fleeing around the corner, but isn't fast enough. Balasar gets close enough to hit it with an arrow, then Stor zips up to it, making two quick spear-jabs - the second one going straight through the creature's throat, killing it.

Balasar, having just seen a friend viciously stab him through the throat, doubles over, vomiting. The sight of the creature melting into a bluish-grey goop does nothing to help matters.

Akta catches up to everyone, only to be put under close scrutiny. She certainly appears to be the real Akta, but the others are going to keep a close eye on her.

The group decide to get moving again, but T'Zaric hesitates. They're in the hall where the ball game was played, and he's considering going back for the jade items in the pit that everyone thought it was a bad idea to touch. He shares his thoughts with Extang, who is also interested, and they tell the others to go on ahead. The two go back to the pit, carefully retrieving the jade plaque and six jade statuettes with their mage hands and determining that they don't appear to be magical. Packing away their loot, they run off to catch up with the others.

Meanwhile, the other four make their way back to the room with the dead willow-like tree in it. Akta immediately starts skirting the room, heading for the doors on the far end, but the other three stop by the water, curious about the tree. However, as they get close, the tree quivers and comes to life. Stor quickly dashes in, trying to score some hits with his spear, then dashes out again, before the tree whips out long branches at all of them, managing to wrap around Kordak and Akta. Kordak tries to cut himself free, but in his awkward position can't land a solid blow on the tough bark. Balasar pulls out his obsidian-edged wooden sword, which is particularly effective against plants, and cuts Akta free. Together, they back away to the doorway, Akta casting spells on the tree. They are joined by Stor, dealing heavy damage to the tree with his water whip ability.

In spite of their attempts to get out of reach, the tree manages to grab them all and reel them in, bringing Kordak right up to its trunk - which opens up a gaping maw and bites him. Terrified, they fight as hard as they can, trying to take down the tree before it can eat them. That's how Extang and T'Zaric find them as they come rushing in, joining the battle. The tree is tough, but it eventually falls limp as Akta drains the last of its life with necrotic energy.

Everyone is ready to move on, but when T'Zaric and Extang suggest harvesting some of the tree for potential magic uses they're happy to spend some time collecting a few samples, but the poisoned air encourages them to move on. Through the doors and down another hall, they inspect and open another door. This one leads to a very large, rubble-filled room. There are some corpses crushed under some fallen masonry in the middle, and chewed baboon corpses throughout the room. There is also a hole near the ceiling with very faint daylight coming out of it, and four shrieking baboons on a narrow ledge nearby. One of them tries to climb up the hole, but dislodges stones and dirt and ends up on the floor, dead and buried.

The most notable thing about this room, however, is that the haze that has been in the air throughout the ruins isn't in this room. As they watch, some of it drifts in, being sucked towards and out through the hole.

The first thought is that there is clean is in this room, and they'll finally be able to take a proper rest and heal! Kordak holds them back from rushing in, pointing out the baboon corpses and the likelihood that there is something dangerous in the room. Stor spots something under the rubble, and, with his direction, Extang antagonises it into coming out with his mage hand.

From under the rubble slides a huge snake with a head at each end. The adventurers waste no time in killing it, as well as the baboons that rushed down to attack as soon as the snake was dead.

Having secured the room, they decide it's time to rest - but before they take a full, long sleep, they wait to make sure the poison is actually gone in this area. It is, and they breathe a sigh of relief, set watches, and go to sleep.

Nearing the end of the final watch, T'Zaric hears something muffled and voice-like coming from the hole, which the faint daylight has faded from. Unsure of what to make of it, he wakes up Kordak - although very carefully, and from a distance while using his mage hand. Kordak takes a listen, and is able to make out a few words, such as "lost" and "camp". He's also pretty sure he recognises one of the voices as Siha, who they were trying to find when they fell into this place. However, he doesn't think there's much they can do about it right now, so he tells T'Zaric to let everyone get their rest.

Once everyone is awake, they share the news, and Stor makes some attempts to get up the hole - quickly determining that it won't be possible. They can't hear voices anymore, but they believe this is because the group is likely sleeping. If they can only get out of this place fast enough, it should be relatively easy to track them down. After Extang does a card reading that he believes means they will make it out today, they move on - first checking the single doors off of the room and determining that they most likely lead back the way they came, before going through the double doors. After a long, winding hallway, they come to some stairs which, upon inspection, seem perfectly safe. However, as they come close to the top, a giant stone statue of a dragon rolls to the top of the stairs, breathing scalding steam on them and making the steps very slippery. Stor nimbly scrambles to the top and ties a rope around the dragon's neck, allowing all the others to get up safely just before the dragon releases another blast of steam.

They continue on along another winding passage that eventually comes to a T intersection - with double doors to their tight, and a room to their left with a big pile of gold. Everyone is immediately suspicious of the gold, but T'Zaric really really wants it, so the others watch as he creeps towards it. From a distance, he uses his mage hand to retrieve the sword that's sticking out of the pile - finding it to be only a hilt, with the blade rusted away. He throws it, knocking a skull with a spider in the eye socket off the top of the pile, then scoops up a handful of the gold with his mage hand. I cloud of yellowish spores erupt in his direction, but don't make it as far as him, and the handful of coins pulled from the pile turns into a powdery yellow substance. Disappointed, but not entirely surprised, T'Zaric returns to his friends.

Trusting the pile even less, Extang hits it with a firebolt. The pile bursts into flames and is reduced to ashes within moments. With the hazard cleared, Balasar is curious about the sword hilt, so he goes down the hall to check it out - noticing and pointing out two secret doors along the way. Sadly, he finds nothing interesting about the hilt, but he keeps it in case he can find a use for it later.

They check the first secret passage, which leads them down a narrow tunnel to a descent sized room lit by a golden light coming from a liquid in a well. However, the sight of several mirrors around the walls - some of them obviously magical - makes them immediately turn around and head back out, deciding it isn't worth the risk. They try the other secret passage, and once again come up short upon seeing a mirror at the end of the hall, beside a door. T'Zaric is curious, though, and goes to examine the mirror. As he draws close, he feels something within the mirror trying to pull him in, but he shakes it off and steps back. He tries to break the mirror with a crossbow bolt, but its magic protects it. So, he uses his mage hand to lift it off the wall and put it face-down on the floor so he and his companions can proceed.

They gather around the heavy door and, after inspecting it and finding it to be free of traps, open it up to reveal a wide passage opening up into a circular room. I the centre of the room is a strangely carved pillar on a raised dais with four sets of stairs leading up to it in a cross shape. Between each set of stairs is an alcove with a shelf covered in shiny trinkets. Across from the stairs to the right, a jade death mask hangs on the wall. T'Zaric is the first into the room to explore, while Kordak doesn't bother to enter, not seeing anything of interest. A quick circuit of the room shows that there is something different about each set of stairs - one is carver with the heads of various gods, one has a pool of blood at the bottom and a statue at the top, one is cloaked in shadows only Akta's eyes can penetrate, and one has different coloured lights illuminating each step.

T'Zaric carefully lifts the jade death mask from the wall with his mage hand and, thanks to his distance, avoids being trapped in a cage that erupts from the floor. Proud of his avoidance of the trap, he puts the mask on and scoops up an armload of the treasures on one of the shelves.

The door slams shut, and there's a brief flash of magical energy around it. T'Zaric drops his load back on the shelf, but it's already too late. A voice fills the room, informing them that they have trespassed in a sacred temple and that they are now breathing a toxic gas which will kill them. However, in case their transgressions were accidental, there is a cure in the middle of the dais, if they can solve the puzzle and reach it by the proper route.

Casting dark looks at T'Zaric, the others each run for a set of stairs. Balasar steps onto the stairs carver with the god heads and they start jabbering - the dragonborn cleric is overcome with a feeling of weakness and simply sits down on the steps. Akta yells for Kordak, telling him they are in danger, while T'Zaric tries the shadowed stairs - only to fall back down to the bottom. Extang begins climbing the coloured stairs, and seems to be doing well until he looks back down and discovers he's making no progress. Stor, blowing his whistle, flies up the stairs - as he approaches the statue, it comes to life, attacking.

Just then, the door bursts open as Kordak forces it from the outside. Seeing the way open, T'Zaric re-grabs his pile of treasure and bolts out of the room, immediately feeling relief from the mild sickness they were all starting to feel. Stor follows, dodging a swipe from the statue and pausing long enough to get get Balasar on his feet from the steps. Akta and Extang also make it out, with Balasar bringing up the rear as the flying statue gives pursuit, striking at him. He bursts into the passage, and Kordak slams the door shut again, blocking the statue's path.

They all glare at T'Zaric, who dumps the armload of treasure into the bag of holding and casts a minor illusion to give himself a dunce cap. They then move on to where they suspected the way out was in the first place - the double doors.

Through the double doors is an enormous room filled with dioramas of various parts of the underworld. There ate two paths - one leading to a door on the far side of the room, and one leading to the middle of the room where there is a hill with a diorama of people trying to roll a boulder up a hill while being whipped by a demon. Something hanging above the hill is producing a soft light.

They first follow the path to the bar door. Seeing nothing beyond but a bound of dirt and a few objects on the shelves of a small room, they turn back and take the path to and up the hill. Here they find that the light is a spell cast on the base of a shaft going up into the ceiling. With the help of Akta's darkness-piercing eyes, they find that the shaft - 30 feet above them - goes up for about 60 feet, then has a pewter cap that looks like it can be removed.

They begin planning how to get up, as it looks like a tight fit for everyone except Stor. While they are planning, Extang leaves the path - intending to move the boulder in the diorama, but instead he falls and rolls down the hill. He lands in the grassy plain diorama, where he immediately feels something tugging at his mind, encouraging him to stay in this lovely place forever. He is able to push the feeling aside, but, as he climbs to his feet, he's not certain he's out of danger yet.


And that is where this session ended. Come back in a week to discover what happens in Episode 29.

Tales from Heroes for CF 2018

            This weekend I helped run an amazing event called Heroes for CF, where 24 people (28 if you include the 4 of us running the games) spent the entire day playing Dungeons & Dragons to raise money for research into finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis – as well as awareness in the disease itself. We raised over $6000! That easily topped the $4000 we brought in last year, which was already more than we had hoped for in the first place. Has this event been a roaring success? We like to think so.

            As with last year, I’ll give you a summary of how the day went, at least from my table. Hopefully, this account will be much shorter than the one I wrote about last year’s event.

            A couple key points on some terminology for those unfamiliar with it. Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game, where people sit around a table and play out a story about adventurers going on quests. A Dungeon Master is the person who runs the game, telling the players what their characters see in the world around them, controlling the monsters, and determining the success of actions the players wish to take. Unique to this event were some rewards some of the players had earned through their fundraising, such as Resurrection Scrolls which would bring a character back to life the first time they dies and, more importantly, Cry Havoc!s – something which gave players who raised $250 or more the ability to summon some negative effect down upon one of the three opposing tables. There were also a number of special single-use ability cards that could be purchased – with all proceeds going to the donations.

            In last year’s game, all four tables played through the same adventure, seeing who could get the farthest. This year, we wanted even more of a connection between the separate gaming tables, so we made them all part of a unified story. Each table represented a crew of an astral air ship in the Astral Plane – essentially a silvery, space-like, dream dimension that connects all the other planes of existence together. Each crew had been press ganged into working for Seyefibrax, a dracolich (which is a powerful undead dragon), by having extremely powerful magical items stolen from their captains. They were given a list of missions to choose from, which determined which Dungeon Master’s table they would be playing at for the first 2.5 hours of play. If they didn’t complete the mission by the end of that 2.5 hours, they would fail that mission.

            The crew that came to my table were on a mission to the Plane of Air – a dimension made up of, you guessed it, air. Endless skies with clouds and chaotic winds – and, on occasion, floating islands. The crew was being sent to a large floating island with several smaller islands chained to it with orders to fetch one of the islands and bring it back to Seyefibrax.

            After finding a portal to the Plane of Air, the crew made their way to the floating islands in question – huge, upside-down mountain-like chunks of land. Some of the smaller islands had forests on them, others had small villages. The main island had a forest, with a huge palace rising from the middle of it. Thick chains, each link 20 feet in length, connected smaller islands to the enormous mainland, where they disappeared into tunnels in the rocks. Each of those tunnels had a little air-dock nearby with a door into the island, guarded by two air-elementals – small, living tornados.

            The crew decided that their first stop should be the palace – perhaps they could get permission to have one of the islands. They landed at an air dock and took a very long walk through a forest and a village before coming to the palace gate, where – after some language-barrier troubles with the local bird-people – they attempted to bluff their way in to see the Sultan. However, they were found out when the appointment they claimed to have wasn’t on record, and they were turned away.

            Two crew members stayed in the village while the other four returned to their ship to scout around the island. They then regrouped and shared their collected information and plans – they now knew that there were various industry operations on the smaller islands, and that the islands could be reeled in to the mainland from control rooms stationed by each chain. They had also discovered that one of the smaller, forested islands had a chain that entered a tunnel that was out of sight of the nearby platform with elemental guards – and they could pull up their ship close enough that they could enter via the tunnel.

            This they did, leaving their sailors behind to take care of the ship. They made their way up the 150 foot tunnel, battling some of the giant fire-beetles that lived there and occasionally being struck by the enormous chain as it swung in the wind. However, they had to hurry, because they were spotted by a birdman-guard through an observation window. They reached the end, finding that the chain was attached to a giant metal spool – which began to turn, reeling the chain in and making it swing even more violently. They saw a lever by a door and, even though they couldn’t read the sign above it, they guessed that it was for some emergency purpose.

            They pulled the lever, causing a huge guillotine blade to drop down, severing the chain. The chain dropped to the floor and began rushing away from them as the door opened, revealing five birdmen behind it. Two of the crew stayed behind, slowly retreating to hold off the birdmen while the rest tried to keep up with the chain – but it was pulling away too fast. They got to the opening of the tunnel and called in their ship, then formed up to join in the fight as their two allies rejoined them with the birdmen close behind.

            The crew then boarded their ship and took off for the slowly retreating island, its chain swinging below. They flew up to where the chain was anchored and not swinging and tied it to the ship – first with one rope, which snapped, and then with every rope they could spare. They were in a hurry because they could see things in the distance, flying towards them from the main island. Luckily, this time the ropes held, and they flew off with the island in tow. They were moving more slowly than usual, but they still outdistanced their pursuit. Finding a portal, they traveled back to the Astral Plane and set a course to deliver their haul.

            Everything seemed to be going well when something invisible began attacking the captain at the helm. Then –

            /Breaking with the narrative, the players noticed the next table over had just entered a boss battle, so they used a Cry Havoc! to summon harm down upon them. In response, the other crew sent two Cry Havoc!s right back at them.\

            – a devastating psychic storm hit the ship, damaging it and injuring a number of the sailors. At the same time, a planar rift opened in the middle of the deck and two red Slaads – toad-like demons – stepped through, attacking the crew.

            It was a tough battle, during which one of the crew members was knocked unconscious, but the crew managed to defeat the slaads and will as the invisible stalker – an air elemental assassin – however, it took up much of their time. The finished with only 30 seconds left on the 2.5 hour time limit – just enough time for them to get the island to the dracolich.

            After a short break, the crews chose new missions and moved to new tables with new Dungeon Masters for the second round. My new crew, having just come from a sci-fi adventure that I know nothing about, were now on a mission to retrieve a large red crate from a Githyanki (yellow-green-skinned evil warrior people common on the Astral Plane) ship flying the astral shipping lanes, before the ship reaches its destination.

            The crew set off, quickly finding the ship in question – a massive thing, more than four times the size of their own ship, its decks lined with ballistae. This crew was a cautious bunch, carefully discussing plans before taking action, and enjoying thinking outside the box. Manoeuvring their ship below the larger one, so as to keep out of sight, they launched a grapple close to the bottom of the hull at the rear of the ship, attaching the two ships together with a rope. They then shimmied over – two of them noticing a hidden hatch in the middle of the bottom of the ship, barely noticeable. They mentioned it to the others, but they decided to continue with the original plan – after all, a door is likely to be guarded, so why not make their own door?

            Wishing to enter the empty space they believe will be below the lowest deck, the hacked their way through the hull, finding said space filled with rocks used for ballast. They still wanted to get in and spy from under the deck, but after estimating how long it would take to move enough rocks, they crawled along the bottom of the ship to the secret hatch – which they forced open, breaking the latch. They sent their sneakiest member ahead first, then all entered the smuggling compartment after getting the all-clear. There they found some treasures, but no red crate.

            Always sending their stealthy member first, they moved up a ladder, through a trap door into a deck filled with crates and barrels of food and water. One of them stayed behind, searching for the red crate, while the others moved up the stairs – waiting for a githyanki patrol to pass – to find a long hall lined with what appeared to be prison cells with humanoids inside, chained to slab-like bunks. The crew moved towards the back of the ship where they could see some more normal-looking cabins, hiding in a cell once to let another patrol pass.

            One of the crew members spoke to one of the weak, haggard looking prisoners, learning that this one came from the Material Plane, where an entire village had been captured. Feeling sorry for them, they shared some food, but they knew they didn’t have much time, so they moved on, reaching the cabins at the back of the ship with the crewmate that had stayed behind rejoining them.

            They were faced with three options – an ajar door directly in front of them, a closed one to the left, and a barred one to the right. They removed the bar, finding a humanoid prisoner inside with its head entirely concealed by a golden mask. Curious as they were, they backed out, replacing the bar, then went through the door to the left – startling and getting attacked by what looked like the githyanki captain, accompanied by two red dragon-like guard dogs. As they started to win the fight, the captain attempted to flee, but was knocked unconscious and dragged back to the cabin just before another patrol came by.

            Once they were confident the patrol hadn’t noticed anything unusual, they stripped anything of value off the githyanki and revived him to interrogate him. The first attempts failed dismally, but finally one of them managed to scare him enough that he momentarily blurted out that the red crate was just in the next cabin – then, angry at himself, he threatened that they would all pay, and faded from existence – fleeing to another plane.

            They found the crate in the third room, as well as some healing potions, and began moving out after debating about what to do with the masked prisoner, and deciding to leave him behind – much to the despair of one of the crew members, who slipped a written apology under the door on the way by. They had to hide in another cell to avoid a patrol again, but otherwise made it out without much trouble – jamming the secret hatch shut behind them with a crossbow bolt in an attempt to hide that they were there for as long as possible.

            Back on their ship with the crate, they casually flew away, taking some time to identify their new magical loot. The one who took the gold key figured out that it was most likely for the golden mask on the prisoner, and gave it to the one who’d slipped the note under the door as a memento. They decided after a brief discussion, not to open the crate, as there instructions were that it was to be delivered unspoiled. Thus, they delivered it, and completed their second mission.

            After another break, during which many awesome prizes were raffled off, the final round began – but it wasn’t what everyone expected. The dracolich, Seyefibrax, and her loyal undead Herald turned against the crews, attacking them all. Four tables were pushed together, uniting 24 players all at one table!

            With a mountain in the middle where the crew captains’ stolen items were, and each crew coming in from a separate quadrant, this was massive battle, especially when animated skeletons began rising up in all the quadrants. Luckily for the crews, they managed to heavily sway the course of the battle early on with their purchased cards and the remaining Cry Havoc!s – which brought the Githyanki ship in (peppering Seyefibrax with a volley of ballistae bolts for the audacity of sending people to steal from them), a flumph spaceship visited multiple times (interfering with the dracolich’s ability to heal, summon more skeletons, and put up ice walls), the ridiculous Knights of Naa Naa flew in on their giant goats (tying up the dracolich’s attacks for a round), and a host of demons arrived, granting extra health to one of the crews.

            Even so, it was a tough battle. The crews rushed the mountain, understanding that the dragon was drawing power from the hostage items at the top – which, if retrieved, would also boost the powers of their captains. The Herald died in a blast of fire reflected back at him from three purchasable cards after dropping a fireball on nearly a dozen characters. Just when everyone was starting to look rough, a player used a card allowing her to become the Dungeon Master for 10 seconds and declared that all the players were now considered part of the same crew – then her captain played a one-of-a-kind card that was auctioned off for $125 at the beginning of the event that allowed him to blip his entire crew into another plane of existence, completely heal, and return to battle without losing any time.

            The mountain was scaled, the items reclaimed. One captain now had a sword that offered protection to those surrounding him, and would behead a creature on a critical hit. Another one had a sword that would deal massive radiant damage, and also protect surrounding players. One captain became resistant to most elemental magics and could summon an elemental in to aid with the battle. And the fourth captain was restored to true form – a brass dragon.

            Together, the captains converged on the mighty Seyefibrax, and the dracolich was brought down, freeing the Astral Plane and the captains from her tyranny.

            And so closed the epic, second year of Heroes for Cystic Fibrosis. What lies in store for next year? Who could say, but I think it may be hard to top this year’s grand finale. Still, we’re certainly going to try!

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Lark's Landing, Episode 27

Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.

You can find the previous episode here.


28th of Waning Summer, 0AL

In the depth of an ancient ruin where out adventurers have been breathing poisoned air for hours, they have stumbled upon an ancient game with a magical ball. Stor hits the ball into play, noticing that is rebounds and bounces off in the opposite direction from what he intended. As he and the others join in, they notice that the ball moves one way when they hit it, and then tries to go the other way on its own. Eventually the whole group joins in, though Extang only attacks the ball in passing as the goes to examine the orange-glowing goal at the fer end of the hall.

Though there are a few mishaps - involving Stor accidentally throwing a dart into Akta's staff, Akta blasting the top of Stor's spear, and Balasar accidentally throwing his hammer into the pit the ball came out of - the adventurers score two goals fairly quickly, after which they hear the sound of triumphant drums and the ball goes inert, falling back into the pit. The goal above the pit stops glowing, but the one down by Extang continues, and the dragonborn sorcerer notices a secret compartment opening at the back of it. Inside he finds a fish skin pouch, which he retrieves - attempting to figure out how the fish skin was preserved.

Balasar carefully retrieves his hammer from the pit, making sure he doesn't touch the ball or any of the jade objects in the pit. Everyone has agreed that, whatever the value of the item, none of them are worth the risk of touching them. He runs to catch up with the others, who are joining Extang as he examines the contents of the pouch - it contains pink pears, a necklace, and a bone whistle that he's pretty sure is magical. However, they don't have time to examine it right now, so they press on, following the hall to the right and going through the door.

The large room beyond is gaudily decorated in a cat motif. The walls are covered in the skins of hunting cats, there are stuffed domesticated cats everywhere, and even a stuffed tiger close to the middle of the room. Also near the middle of the room is a statue of a man with a tiger mask, and on the far side of the room there's a giant stone tiger head sticking out of the wall. Directly to their left is a calendar stone mounted on the wall with an alter in front of it. There are two sets of double doors leading out of the room and another single door.

Balasar notices that the calendar stone is mounted oddly and mentions it to the others. He, Stor, and Extang go over for a closer look, while Kordak goes to examine the closest double doors. As Kordak determines the doors aren't trapped, Extang notices that by pressing in on the sun on the calendar stone a secret door will open. However, his attention is drawn by the fancy ceremonial dagger and the jade cat statue on the alter. He carefully picks them up to examine them, determining that the dagger is magical.

They hear a growl behind them, and see the statue turning into a panther-man. Balasar if first to react, rushing over to score a very minor hit with one of his magical swords. The panther-man ignores him, turning fully into a panther and bounding over to attack Extang, slashing with his claws.

The others charge in to help, casting spells and swinging weapons, though the nimble panther dodges Kordak's first swings, and when Stor hits it with his spear, it doesn't seem to have any impact. Stor hurriedly backs away, warning the others and trying to figure out how to hurt this creature, guessing that some form of magic is needed - as all the attacks from magical weapons and spells seem to be working.

After taking more of a beating, Extang flees, bleeding profusely, but luckily Kordak and Balasar - still in close combat with the panther, are distracting the creature. Kordak, understanding from Stor that magic weapons are required, draws Balasar's warhammer and attacks with that. Akta continues to sap away the panther's life. Stor knocks the panther to the ground and does some damage with a water whip, but he knows he'll need a rest before he can do something like that again. He runs over to Extang, asking for the magical dagger. Extang hands it over, sending three beams of fire into the panther. However, before Stor can use the dagger, Kordak delivers the killing blow.

The panther falls to the ground, reverting to its humanoid statue form and turning back to stone. Kordak takes a few more swings of it, seeing if he can dislodge the head, but the stone seems to hold. When he and Stor fail to remove the metallic tip from the spear, he expresses the concern that the creature might not be permanently dead. However, there's nothing they can do about it, so they decide to move on. They're planning to go through the double doors Kordak examined before, but before they do Extang pulls out his 10-foot pole and pokes in the sun on the calendar stone, causing it to swing open. Behind is a passage sloping down, covered in glyphs, which they are a bit dubious about - as they wish to travel upwards. However, Extang points out that they could really use a rest, and what safer place than in a secret room?

Agreeing, and determining that none of the glyphs are magical, they follow the short passage. It coumes out in a short hall running left-to-right, with a door at wither end, and big double-doors held shut by a golden seal across the hall from them. They're a bit disappointed to not have found a safe resting place, but they decide to explore just a bit more in the hopes of finding a more secure location. The big doors look ominous, and have what Stor determines to be an ancient blood spattered around it, and the door to the right looks like a bear, with a snake pattern around the lintel. So, they choose the brass door to their left, which only had two joined circles inscribed upon it. Finding it to be stuck, Kordak throws his weight into it, only to have the door fly open, causing him to stumble inside and... vanish!

The others stare in horror at what looks like nothing more than a closet. A pointedly empty closet. Stor sticks his head in to look around for Kordak, and he, too, disappears. Those remaining panic, wondering if the others are dead. They decide that if this is some kind of portal, there must be a way back, so they wait. And they wait. And they wait some more.

After close to fifteen minutes, they hear a noisy clattering coming down the passage behind them. They prepare for an attack, but are delighted to find it is Stor and Kordak returning to them! They tell the story of how stepping through the doorway had transported them back to the lower levels of the ruins and how they'd had to retrace their steps to get back to the rest of the party.

They take a short rest to tend their wounds, but they still dare not rest for long in this poisoned environment. During the rest, Stor identifies the properties of the god bracelet found in the stone eagle's beak, learning that it prevents the wearer from being petrified and allows the casting of some stone-based magic. Extang learns the sacrificial knife he picked up has a minor magical enchantment, and he lets Balasar examine the bone whistle - learning, with some excitement, that while someone is blowing the whistle they can fly.

They redistribute the magic weapons and move on to the bear-faced door surrounded by snakes. They don't find any traps on it, so Kordak tries to push his way through. Suddenly, arms that were hidden amongst the snakes reach out and grab him. He tries to force his way out, but to no avail. He begins to wriggle, trying to squeeze his way out. His friends begin to assist and, as they do, a pit slowly begins to slide open below him. Spikes are visible down below. Balasar promptly ties a robe around him, but it proves to be unnecessary as Kordak's renewed efforts allow him to slide out just before the pit is fully open.

Looking down into the pit, Balasar sees nothing other than the spikes - though he does notice, with some curiosity, that the spikes are made of rubber.

They decide it's time to head up to the doors in the cat room, but Akta holds them up. She is really curious about what's behind the doors with the gold seal. The others don't want to risk it, certain from the blood stains that it's trapped, but then Kordak speaks up, pointing out that there were already two doors that were nothing but traps - who would go to the effort of making a secret passage just to hide three trap doors?

So, everyone stands back as Extang uses a magical hand to slit break the seal and push one of the doors open. Two crossbow bolts whirr out, slamming into the wall, and there are three more thuds from the closed door. Looking through the door, Akta can see five heavy crossbows mounted on the ceiling, as well as a room featuring a massive diorama beyond a pillared porch.

Kordak leads the way, but as he passes through the doorway, a wall of fire leaps up between him and the rest of the group. Everyone else immediately starts determining is the fire is real and looking for a way trough. After a minute of burned ropes and minor spells, the fire vanishes on its own, revealing Kordak behind it, unharmed. The half-orc tells them that there aren't ant doors out of the room and that they should press on to find the way out. The others agree, but they're a little worried something fishy is going on.

They head back to the double doors in the cat room originally examined by Kordak. They head through, following a hallway around a corner to the right and opening a door to a room with a floor covered in ash and dust. As they step in, the ash and dust swirl up into the air forming figures - first, a distraught woman who runs off before vanishing, then a pair of warriors who take up guarding positions on either side of the door on the far side of the room.

The group decides to leave these souls to their rest and head back to the other double doors in the cat room. As they move through the doors, Balasar sneaks off - Stor and Fluffy notice him, but nothing is said. They understand from the direction Balasar is going that he is worried about Kordak, who isn't exactly acting strange, but something seems off about him. The main group continue down the hall, through another door, down another hall, and open a door into another room. This room has a pool of oily water in the middle with what looks like a dead, leafless willow tree standing in it.

At this point, they all become aware that Balasar is missing. It doesn't take long for them to guess where he's gone, so they go back to get him - even though Kordak suggests getting out of the ruins first and coming back for Balasar later, which sets off more warning alarms.

Meanwhile, Balasar has returned to the room with the diorama. He looks around a bit, not daring to touch anything. What catches his attention the most is a copper, dragon-shaped boat with a coffin on it, floating on a pond of metallic liquid. After finding out the hard way that the liquid burns to the touch, he uses a rope tied to a rock to eventually fish the boat to shore. While examining the coffin, he finds a decent-sized hole in it. Looking in, he finds a skeleton and, on top of it, an unconscious Kordak.

Shocked, he pulls his friend out and revives him, asking what happened. Kordak groggily tells a story about coming in to the room, the flames leaping up, and then a fight with himself. Balasar explains that there is another Kordak with the rest of the group, and they hurry for the exit, just as the group came in.

Shocked at finding two Kordaks, they set about determining which one is real - a challenge, since both of them bleed and seem to know the same things - they even say the same things at the same time sometimes! Finally, the Kordak who was unconscious in the coffin gets angry and charges at the other Kordak, landing a hefty blow on him. As he's hit, the other Kordak changes shape, becoming a fiery monster of liquid metal.


And that is where this session wrapped up. Check back next week to find out what fiery doom occurs in Episode 28.

Change in the Air

            During my last read-through of The Hobbit, at one point I turned to Colleen and said, “You know, if it’s really sad to think that the current publishing industry wouldn’t have published this book.” I went on to point out the many things deemed ‘wrong’ in it that I’ve learned about during my journey towards getting published. Use of adjectives, writing style, and the overall structure of the story are all things that would currently earn the book a rejection – which is a tragedy, because it is a wonderful book.

            Getting anything published has become difficult in modern times for two very big reasons. The first, and more major of the two, is that there are so many more people out there trying to get published. Between growing populations, increased education, and technology making it easier to contact the publishing companies (you no longer have to print off an entire book), literally anyone can try to get published – meaning there’s a lot more to sift through, making it a lot harder to get noticed.

            The other is that we have examined, studied, and refined what it is that makes a good story, and there are now expectations that specific patterns are followed. Yes, there are still plenty of variations available, but in order to get through submissions faster, publishing professionals look for these key points that have proven to make the most appealing stories – and without those proper plot arcs, it’s very difficult for a book to get published.

            It seems like that’s a good thing. In theory, it provides readers with the best stories possible. However, while this is true, it has also backfired a little. It has made stories far more predictable. When people who read a lot of books pick up something new, they always have a good idea of how things will turn out in the end.

            This isn’t just limited to books, either – it’s the same across all story-telling platforms. For years and years we’ve been refining the perfect story structure – and now we all know it extremely well. Sure, there are plot twists that we didn’t see coming, but by the time the end shows up we already know how it will turn out.

            That said, creators are becoming aware of this now. Some bold writers are looking at these patterns that we expect, and they are taking advantage of it to subvert our expectations. If you’ve seen some of the new Star Wars, or Avengers: Infinity War, you know what I’m talking about. It’s a risk for creators to leave the well-worn paths and to traipse away from the perfect story arc, but it’s paying off. People aren’t getting what they expected and, for the most part, they like it.

            You see, while there’s a lot of comfort in the familiar, we also have a craving for something new. After being fed the same story arcs for so long, we’re ready for something new. To me, this is an exciting time. It’s time for change, and there’s no telling what will come out of it. We may even get some stories that are truly surprising.

            We might even be moving into a time when a book like The Hobbit, were it not already published and famous, would get published again.

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Lark's Landing, Episode 26

Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.

You can find the previous episode here.


28th of Waning Summer, 0AL

After a brief discussion, the adventurers decide to follow the mysterious light around the corner down the narrow hall to the right. They proceed cautiously, checking for traps and prodding around with a ten-foot pole. The hall winds around a bit, but the flickering torch-like light always seems to be just around the next corner, until they come to a hallway where the light is gone. Proceeding further, they come across a ten-foot deep pit with humanoid skeletons in the bottom. Of the far side is a narrow ledge, then the hall is blocked by a triangular stone coming to an apex pointing towards them.

Stor and T'Zaric determine that the triangular stone can probably rotate, but with the light gone Akta expresses that she'd really like to go back to find out what was in the stone eagle's mouth back in the hallway they came from. Everyone agrees, and the head back that way.

They arrive to find, wedged in the eagle's throat, a golden bracelet. Figuring it's a bad idea to reach in and get it, T'Zaric summons up a magical hand to fetch it out. As soon as the bracelet is disturbed, the eagle's mouth snaps shut - and everyone is glad this was the method they used. It takes considerable effort, but Kordak and Balasar manage to pry the mouth open enough for T'Zaric's mage hand to pull the bracelet out.

A brief examination tells them that it's a magical item, but with the poisoned environment they're in they don't want to risk taking the time to figure it out right now. They continue on to the end of the hall, which turns to the right, into a hall lined with withered and dried corpses standing on two-foot high ledges. It's a little nerve-wracking, but the corpses show no signs of being anything other than just corpses - Balasar even stabs one, but it doesn't react. So, they carefully file down the hall. When they get half way, the fifteen corpses suddenly animate and attack. Extang casts s spell on Stor to make him move faster. The goblin leaps into action, quickly taking down one zombie near him and injuring another while Kordak promptly beheads three of them. Akta blasts magic at one of them while T'Zaric takes down another. Having taken a minor injury from one of the zombies, Balasar calls upon the power of Epesta to destroy undead - causing eight of them to instantly crumble to dust. The remaining zombies are quickly cleaned up, and the party moves on, following the hall left to another door.

Beyond a door is a lozenge-shaped room with two perfectly preserved humans lying on stone divans, a table with a crystal flask and two chalices beside them. Stor enters, going to the wall on his left where there are strange glyphs on the wall - however, it appears to be something written in a language he can't understand. Kordak and Balasar, on the other hand, having just been attacked by corpses, decide they aren't taking any chances with these two. They stand over the bodies and, in unison, attack.

Miraculously, the two stand up, declaring their frustration at having their sacred sleep disturbed, and retaliate against their violent awakening - fighting with an unarmed style similar to, yet not the same as, the ones Stor knows. Having been weakened by the initial attacks, however, they are quickly killed. Some trinkets they were wearing are taken from them, and Extang takes the two crystal chalices while Stor examines the contents of the flask - a fine grey powder that he believes was once part of a potion or some other concoction. He tastes the powder, but is just seems like a powder, so he mixes the it with water and tastes a bit again. He immediately feels a bit drowsy, but manages to shake it off. He tells the others that he believes this was what the two humans had used to go to sleep. He is about to pour it out, but Extang insists they keep it - in case they have a use for it in the future.

There are two ways out of the room - a single door across from where they came in and double doors to the right. Akta and Balasar choose to go for the double doors - they examine them, then push them open. They follow the passage beyond, which turns left and takes them to another door. Finding it safe, they open it to find a room filled with giant beetles with glowing stomachs. There's a single door to the right, and double doors on the far side, and the room itself is covered in piles of rubble and refuse. They spot something shiny in the largest one.

Not wanting to anger these beetles, T'Zaric quietly casts his mage hand over by the pile, trying to lift out whatever the shiny thing was, while Extang and Akta make a magical distraction on the far end of the room. A couple beetles examine the distraction, but lose interest quickly and go back to what they were doing. However, the ones that examine the disturbance in the pile are a bit more aggressive, clearly not liking the hand going through their stuff. Extang sends a second hand over to help, and the two hands filled with rubble lift into the air, shaking away the loose rubble in the hopes of not having falling rubble bring the beetles over to the group. They then begin the float back, but, in spite of their efforts, the beetles continue to follow the hands. The two sorcerers, not knowing what else to do, decide to do jazz hands - sending what they'd scooped up falling to the floor - before letting the hands vanish.

The beetles don't know what to make of this, but they eventually wander off, carrying some of the rubble back to the pile. Once it seems safe, T'Zaric goes out to see if they managed to bring the shiny object closer. Some beetles go to investigate him, but wander off soon after, not interested. Below where the hands vanished he finds a rusty dagger with a snakeskin hilt. He brings it back to the others. Extang tries to clean up the rust with some simple magic, but the blade remains rusty. However, examining it, he does determine that it is magical. He gives it back to T'Zaric, since it seems it's the most useful for him.

The group decides it's time to go for the double doors on the far side of the room. They cross, waiting to get swarmed by beetles, but apart from some curious investigations, they get no attention. While Balasar examines the door, Stor tosses some food to one of the giant insects, hoping to befriend it. It seems to work, as it begins following him, looking for more food.

Beyond the door is a very large staircase leading up. They climb it, with Balasar at the front with Kordak, searching for any traps. Close to the top of the stairs he spots a pressure plate and stops everyone. T'Zaric comes forward and, pulling out his thieves' tools, sets to work. It takes him about ten minutes, but he removes the threat and they continue on.

At the top of the stairs, the passage turns left, then opens into a large room with a scattering of small, baboon-like statues, and some ancient remains of actual baboons. With her superior sight, Akta notices something big and round, covered in tentacles, hovering close to the far end of the room. The description she shares with the others draws concern, particularly from Stor and Extang, who have heard of a fearsome, powerful, and malignly intelligent creature called a beholder. They share this with the others, and they discuss how to proceed - do they go back, or risk facing this deadly foe? Having just come up stairs - and their goal being to get back to the surface - they don't want to go back down. They decide that, if they prepare properly and attack in a rush, they can probably take it down.

Balasar aims his light crossbow while Akta, Extang, and T'Zaric prepare spells. Kordak and Stor (his firebeetle at his heels) rush in as fast as they can. Just as they are getting close, and noticing that there is something odd about this creature, the other attacks hit - and it explodes in a cloud of spores. Kordak manages to dodge out of the way, but Stor and his firebeetle inhale some of the spores - killing the beetle and leaving the goblin coughing and feeling ill.

The others rush over, and Stor manages to choke out that the thing was a gas spore - a type of fungus that looks remarkably like a beholder. Concerned, Akta pulls out her herbalism kit, and examines him. She finds that the spores have lodged in Stor's throat - and are growing. They will kill him in the next 5-10 hours. However, Stor being her friend, Akta doesn't want to worry him. Instead, she pulls Balasar aside, telling him what she found. The dragonborn cleric does have a spell that could get rid of the spores, but it is powerful and would leave them all vulnerable to other threats that may arise. The others, overhearing, join in, and it is eventually decided that Stor must be healed. Whatever the risk, they can't just let him die.

Balasar casts his spell, and Stor is cleansed of the spores, beginning to feel better already. Kordak looks around the room, finding a fishskin sack containing seven silver pellets, which he puts in the bag of holding. They move on, following the twisting hall until it splits. Do they go forward, or left? Most of them are interested in going left, so they head in that direction for a little ways, but become hesitant to continue when they see a third left turn ahead.

Some of them want to turn back, but others think that if they need to at least confirm that this isn't the way out. Extang volunteers to go ahead with his ten-foot pole, saying he will send a message spell back with his findings - and that they can go on without him if they don't hear from him at all. He goes around the next corner and finds that the next turn is to the right, turning int a ramp leading down with stone rollers set into the floor. It disappears into darkness below. Deciding to go down, but that he doesn't trust it, he hammers a piton into the wall, preparing a safety rope in case there are any sudden drops.

He's been gone for less than a minute, and the rest of his friends rejoin him, having decided not to wait. They watch over him from the top of the ramp as he descends. He reaches the end of his 50-foot rope, and still can't see the bottom, so he returns to the top, where T'Zaric offers him another 50 feet. This gets him close enough to the bottom to see a large sandstone block resting at the bottom of the ramp. He cautiously removes the rope, and examines it, finding only that it appears to be blocking a corridor to the left and straight ahead, but he cant see very well because there is so little space around the edges.

Extang returns to the others and reports on his findings. He arrives to find that Balasar has started to feel quite exhausted and is having cramps in his muscles. Stor reports that he recognises the symptoms as sewer plague - a debilitating disease that may get better on its own over the course of days, or could lead to Balasar dying of exhaustion. Unfortunately, there's nothing they can do about it right now.

They decide to explore the other branch of the tunnel, but leave the rope secured in case they come back this way later. They wind their way back to the branch and onward until they come to a long hall running to their right with images of people playing a game with a ball on the walls. In the floor in front of them is a large capstone that is obviously meant to be able to be pulled up from the floor - it has words in that unrecognisable language written on the top. About five feet up the wall to their left is a round depression in the stone wall.

After checking to make sure there's nothing magical trap-like or magical about the rock, Kordak and Balasar lever it up and lift the plug out, revealing a shallow pit below. It contains several humanoid skeletons and, on top of them, six jade figurines, a jade plaque, and a ball. Stor immediately picks up the ball, but it leaps from his hands, darting off to hover a little ways down the hall. The others tell him off, demanding to know why he touched the ball and insisting that no one touches anything else. Then the ball comes flying back, hitting Stor.

The goblin tries to grab it, but it dodges and hits him again, so Extang steps in front of the goblin - and the ball hits him, slipping out of his grasp as well. Stor glances down into the pit, looking at the jade plaque to see that the image on it shows two men, dressed in fancy feathered robes, hitting a ball between them, giving him an idea. Beside him, Kordak and Balasar are preparing a blanket to try to catch the ball in.

The ball bounces off the ceiling, hits Kordak, and as it rebounds Stor hits it. The ball flies into the wall at the end of the hall, hitting just above the depression in the wall - which briefly glows orange, and flies back to be hit by Stor again. This time when it hits the wall, the depression continues to glow orange, and the ball flies off the middle of the hall, accompanied by the sound like a trumpet fanfare. Far off, they can see another orange-glowing circle at the far end of the 140-foot hall.

Declaring that this is a game, Stor charges after the ball. Balasar and T'Zaric join him, if a bit less enthusiastically, while Kordak, Akta, and Extang hang back to observe.


And that's where this session ends. Check back next week to find out what happens in Episode 27.

Heroes for CF

            It is once again May, and you know what that means? It’s Cystic Fibrosis awareness month! So here I am, doing my part to raise the awareness of Cystic Fibrosis.

            Now, the easiest way for me to do this is to just send you over here, to last year’spost, but that seems a bit repetitive. So, instead, I’ll give you an even briefer rundown on what Cystic Fibrosis is, and tell you what I’m doing to help fight it.

            CF is a genetic disease that causes a whole bunch of problems for the person who has it – primarily digestive and respiratory – that will almost always lead to death through persistent damage. Since research started, the life expectancy of someone with CF has grown from 6 months to up to 50 years – although the average is still in the upper 30s.

            Last year I helped out with running an event called D&D for CF – a 12 hour Dungeons & Dragons marathon to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis research. It was amazing! We raised over $4000 and everyone had a lot of fun. However, there was one part of out plan that fell through. Jeremy, the primary organizer of this event, has a daughter with CF who was supposed to attend the event, as she is the reason the event was being run in the first place. Unfortunately, her symptoms were acting up and she had to be rushed to the hospital the morning of the event. It was terribly sad – though oddly appropriate, as there was a room full of people fighting for her the whole day.

            This year, the marathon is back! We’ve renamed it to Heroes for CF, and on May 19^th we’re going to have another full day of D&D, raising money to find a cure for this disease. I can’t tell you much about it, but I’m already confident it’ll be even more fun than last year – hopefully we’ll raise as much, too.

            If you want to join the fight against CF, but couldn’t sign up for the event or find someone who did that you could donate to, I suggest stopping by over here to donate through Avril’s Angels. Finding a cure for this disease is a great cause, and every little bit helps.

            Also tell your friends, or blog about it, because the more people who know about Cystic Fibrosis, the easier it’ll be to find a cure.

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Lark's Landing, Episode 25

Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.

You can find the previous episode here.


28th of Waning Summer, 0AL

Having grown tired of the elvish conversation between Stor and the naerid in the half-flooded, crystal-ceilinged room, Kordak makes it known that he's moving on and opens the doors. Everyone joins him, to the protests of the naerid, who asks that at least the "pretty one" (looking at the half-elven T'Zaric) stay, but they continue on anyways.

Beyond the doors is a long hallway filled with a dripping sound. The source is about halfway down the hall, where water is falling from the ceiling and running down the hall the the far end. Much to Kordak's annoyance, T'Zaric rushes off ahead while everyone else is discussing how best to search the way for traps. He makes sure the structure is sound enough to be safe - or at least as safe as the rest of the place - and moves on to the far end of the hall, where the water runs under a door to his right. To his left is a stone pulled partway out of the wall, showing a small passageway behind.

Akta, who can see twice as far as anyone else in the dark, informs the others that T'Zaric is safe, so they join him, telling him that they need to stay together for safety. They check the door for traps and, finding none, open it to reveal, stairs leading down into a room flooded with water. There's another door on the other side, but only a couple of inches are visible above the water. They decide to try the small passage instead.

Being the smallest and most-able to maneuver in tighter spaces, Stor leads the way in, single-file, with Kordak close behind. The passage carries on for about fifty feet before turning right, then comes to an abrupt end after another thirty feet. Certain that this passage must lead somewhere Stor looks around, searching for some way onward, finding nothing. Further back, the others begin tapping the walls, searching for hollow points, but finding none.

Kordak, looking over Stor's shoulder, spots a catch in the wall that's so obvious to him that he's surprised Stor can't see it. While the goblin is looking the other way, he reaches out and releases it. The wall in front of them falls away, crashing into the unseen ground. Stor peeks out into another hallway, where it looks like a statue that was once blocking this passage has fallen to the floor. There is a sword slung over the statue's shoulder. To the right is a pair of doors, and to the left the hall continues on for a ways before turning to the left.

Stor hops down out of the passage, searching for traps, and everyone else follows when he declares the way clear. As he comes out, T'Zaric takes the sword from the statue, since no one else has. It's made of wood with jagged obsidian spikes along the edges, and he's fairly certain it's magical. He stows it away for later examination, then goes and knocks on the doors.

Everyone is aghast that he would make so much noise in such a dangerous place, but they decide the direction has been chosen. They proceed cautiously into a large room. They are on a narrow platform with alcoves containing inactive fountains to their right and left. Ahead of them, stairs go down to a central chamber flooded with dark, foul water. There is corroded bronze brazier in the middle of the room, and four square stone pillars along each side. At the far end, where only Akta can see, there are stairs coming up out of the water, leading to another set of doors. Balasar casts a light spell on a rock and throws it into the water, revealing that it's only two feet deep.

Before moving onward, they examine the fountains. The one on the left has some water covered in scum, but something moves within. After some poking and prodding - and another light-enchanted rock thrown in - a bullfrog jumps out. Akta puts it on her head, where it stays only long enough to relieve itself before jumping back into the fountain.

There is a lot of lime at the bottom of the other fountain, and Extang sees something in it. He uses a magical hand to scoop out a small pendant with "Lord of Snails" engraved on it. Examining it, he comes to believe this is the most powerful magical object he's ever seen. T'Zaric comes over and takes it to examine it as well, but he can't tell anything about it so he hands it back. They then both feel a slight burning on their hands from the acidity of the lime still on the pendant - which they hurriedly clean off.

The group moves on, heading down into the water to cross the room. The water and slippery floor beneath makes the going slow. As Kordak and Extang step past the first pillar, they see a giant, glowing slug that burbles at them in the same language the other creatures in this place were using. Thinking his new amulet might give him some control over this creature - a slug just being a snail without a shell, after all - Extang gives the creature a pointed look and slips the amulet around his neck.

This appears to make the slug angry, and it charges aggressively. Kordak steps up to meet it, while Extang casts a spell to shrink the slug down to a more reasonable human size. The others rush in to help, Stor activating his boots of water walking so he can get greater maneuverability, while the others cast spells of their own.

The slug spits a stream of acid over Kordak, T'Zaric, and Extang, causing Extang to lose his concentration on his spell. Growing back to it's full size, the slug climbs up a pillar, hanging just above Kordak's head. However, before it can do any more harm, the various spells and weapons hurtled at it kills it. It falls down, right on top of Kordak.

After getting Kordak out, and determining that the slug has nothing valuable, they press on towards the door at the far end of the room. Stor, walking on top of the water, gets there first, followed closely by Akta who chooses to use her magical armour and swim. As the rest get within ten feet of the stairs, Kordak, who is leading the way, suddenly drops into the water. He comes up sputtering a moment later. Now aware of the hidden trench, the others cross it, reaching dry land.

The doors are examined and opened. Beyond is a hall going off to the right. At the end of the hall is a door on the right, warped out towards them. After examining the door for a bit, they decide that this may not be the best way to go - either there is a lot of water beyond the door, or something big crashed into it. They turn around and head back to explore the other end of the tunnel with the statue.

This hall turns to the left and they find, beyond the door, the room most of them had gone to while Extang was working at the mud-blocked door. They realise they've gone in a circle - however, the silver pyramid on the one standing pedestal catches Extang's attention. The others warn him that it's very dangerous, but he can't see anything out of place. Just to be safe, he waits until everyone else backs out of the room and prepares a spell. Just as he grabs the pyramid, he teleports away.

Nothing happens.

He rejoins the others, examining his prize - which appears to be worth about 5 gold pieces. The group discusses their three options of where to go next - the bulging door, the room filled with water, or the sun-emblazoned doors on the far side of the room with the naerid. They choose the doors with the naerid.

They make their way back, and the naerid is delighted that they've returned. Kordak ignores her and heads straight for narrow ledge that has only two feet of water on top of it. The naerid swims over, resting her arms on the ledge. T'Zaric comes over to try to get her to tell him about his wooden-obsidian sword, but she says she doesn't know anything about swords. Besides, she seems more interested in Kordak, who is intent upon crossing to the doors. Pulling herself up out of the water, she kisses the resistant half-orc, then drops back into the water, vanishing.

Kordak feels a strange sensation, almost like his lungs are trying to fill with water, but he shakes it off. He tells the others about it, and they become more cautious. Stor steps out onto the water beside Kordak, intending to rush across to the doors, but his path is blocked. The water rises in front of him, forming into an elephant-headed humanoid holding a trident. T'Zaric launches a barrage of of magic missiles at it, but they seem to have no effect. Stor stabs it with his spear, and he feels it hitting the water, but the creature doesn't even react. Stor disengages and quickly retreats back onto land.

The watery elephant-man raises his trident and stabs at Kordak. As it does so, something black swirls up into it from the water and extends itself into the trident, and Kordak is hit by an electrical jolt. The Naerid resurfaces deep in the pool, lashing out at Kordak with a whip of water. Kordak isn't able to tell what the black thing in the elephant-man is, but he swings at it anyway, and is rewarded with hitting something solid.

The others take a several steps back from the water. Akta and Extang hit the naerid with some spells while Balasar shoots a crossbow bolt at her, making her very angry. Seeing Kordak's physical strikes hit when his magic did nothing, T'Zaric pulls out his light crossbow and shoots the black thing in the elephant-man - it falls limp, drifting down out of the watery elephant-man, accompanied by an enraged shriek from the naerid.

Stor runs out onto the water to strike at the Naerid, and as his attacks hit the elephant-man collapses, splashing back into the water as if it had never existed. Stor dances back to the shore, but the naerid follows, jumping out of the water to give him a very angry kiss. She then splashes back into the water and vanishes.

Store begins to cough and choke, unable to breathe. Extang rushes to his side and pulls him back from the water, trying to discover some way to help him. Everyone else rushes to help as well, except for Balasar - who jumps into the water, releasing a loud burst of thunder into the area where he last saw the naerid. Her limp form becomes visible and floats to the surface, dead.

After another minute, Stor becomes able to breathe again. Kordak takes the naerid's head and ties it to his belt by her hair. Akta dives into the water to see if there is anything interesting at the bottom of the pool - Balasar, Extang, and T'Zaric all join her. All of them except Balasar notice a little grove hidden behind some kelp in the deepest part of the pool. With her magical swimming speed, Akta arrives first, finding a little treasure trove. From it, she selects a golden mask and a pair of gloves, then heads back for the surface. Extang and T'Zaric arrive and split the rest to the treasure - with each taking a crystal scroll case, T'zaric scooping up six golden statues and Extang taking a silver figurine.

They resurface, coming face-to-face with a golden-faced bestial creature. Startled, T'Zaric shoots a fire bolt at it, just grazing the top of the head - which turns out to be a giggling Akta. They settle down to take a quick look at the items they found. As they're doing so, it becomes apparent that T'Zaric appears to be stockpiling items. He unabashedly admits to fully intending to keep everything he found, to which the others object - explaining that, in this group, everything is shared equally.

While they are arguing about treasure, they become acutely aware of the poison in the environment that is still harmful to them. Balasar insists that they take a short rest, and sits them down to cast some healing magic on them. During the rest, Akta examines her gloves, finding that they are able to help the wearer snatch missiles out of the air. T'Zaric's wooden-obsidian sword is also magical, and he figures out that it is particularly effective against plant-like creatures - which, when he shares this information, immediately makes his friends think of the grove of sickly trees. And Extang, after discovering a stopper in the base of his silver figurine, finds that it contains a potion of clairvoyance.

At the end of their rest, they trade a few items around - T'Zaric has reluctantly given one of each of the golden statues to everyone, but gets one back from Balasar in exchange for the sword - and they continue on past the sun-emblazoned doors on the far side of the pool. Beyond is a passage that turns left, then heads up the stairs to another pair of doors. They check the doors and pass through into a twenty-foot wide hall going to the left and vanishing into darkness beyond an archway. The edges of the hall are covered with rubble, and the walls both have frescoes on them - one depicting battles with enemies, the other showing a journey to a new land, centred on a pyramid with a sun at the top.

Kordak notices that the portion of the fresco with the sun on it is separate from the rest and can be pushed inwards. He gets Extang to prod it with his ten-foot pole and as he pushes it it swings open, revealing a passage eight feet above the floor. Kordak picks up Stor and tosses him through, into a long hallway with stone animal heads on the walls. There's a narrow hallway to the right a little ways ahead, and a wider one to the left just barely visible on the edge of his vision.

The others climb up behind him. With her superior vision, Akta can see one sculpture that is beyond the others' line of sight - an eagle head with an open mouth that has something in it. When she tells the others about it, T'Zaric immediately wants to go find out what it is - since there's no talking him out of it, the others accompany him. As they near the passage leading to the right, he catches a glimpse of a light disappearing around a corner, and jumps back - the image of a giant glowing slug still fresh in his memory.


And that's where this session comes to an end. What's the source of the light around the corner? You just might find out next week in Episode 26.