When Ghosts Come To Call

            Wooo woo woo wooo woo woo. Woooo wooOOOoooOoo woo woowoo woooo woo. WooOOOooo wooo wooooooo wOoOoooo woOOooo wooo. WoooOOOO woooOoOOooo woo wooo wooowOOwooo woo. Woowooowoo woo wooOOooowoo wooo woo wOO woo. Wooo woo woo?

            WoO woo, wooo woOooOo woo woo, woo wOooo woo wooo woooOOOOOooo wooo woo. Woo wooOOooo woo woo woowoowOOoowoo woo wooo woo. Woo woo wOOO wOOoooOOoo wooo woo. Wooo woo woo, woooOOoo woo wooo woo wooOOOOoooo woo woo.

            Woo woo wOOwoo wooo, woo woooo wooo wOoo wooo woo woo woo. WOoo woooOoo woooOo woo woo wOOooOoo woo woo. Woo! Woo wooo woooOoooOOOwooo wooo woo woowooo wooowoOo woo woo – woo woowoo woo woo.

            Woo woooOooooo, wooo wooowoo woo woo woo. Woo woooo woo woo, woo wOOOoo woo woo wooo. WoooOOOooooOOOoooOOoOo wooo woo. WooO woOOoo wooo woo, wooo woo wOO woOoo woo wOOoowoo woo!

-Guest blog by I.M.A. Ghost

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 44

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.


35th-37th of Waxing Spring, 1AL

The 3rd Watch have been woken during the third watch of the night by what appears to be a vampire seeking retribution for the desecration of his temple. Battle is joined, but with the added challenge that Hammer has been put under some sort of influence by the vampire and is fighting his friends. In addition, the vampire is moving with inhuman speed. He darts across the field of battle, avoiding all those clustered around to attack him, and grabs Extang - whispering that his friends don't need his help before sinking his fangs into the dragonborn's neck to drink his blood.

Extang, however, is more resilient than the vampire anticipated, and manages to keep his concentration on the spell he cast to enhance Fiaeorri and Stor's speed. Once again, the melee fighters swarm in to batter the vampire - with Hammer on their heels - while T'Zaric hangs back in the air, casting spells. However, the vampire focuses attention on Extang, trying to break his concentration on that spell - and finally tosses him to the ground, unconscious. The ending of the spell leaves Stor and Fiaeorri exhausted and unable to fight for a moment, allowing the vampire to take some swipes at them with his axe.

As soon as he sees Extang hits the ground, Logan kneels down to heal his wounds with his divine powers, earning a jibe from the vampire about the sentimentality of mortals. Extang then uses his magical boots to leap up into a tree, out of harm's way while the vampire continues to hack at Stor and Fiaeorri with the confidence that Hammer is taking care of Logan.

However, after more spells hurtled by T'Zaric and Extang, as well as the attacks from the others, the vampire decides that he bit off more than he can chew. He retreats from battle, commenting that the group is more formidable than he anticipated - but he doesn't mind. Now that he knows where they live, he is more than happy to play the long game, preying on their friends and family. He asks Hammer to hold off the group, turns into a bat, and flies off into the jungle. T'Zaric tries to follow after, hoping to finish him off, but loses sight of him in amongst the trees.

The group turn their attentions on Hammer, quickly knocking him unconscious and binding him in ropes. They then move camp a little ways, just to be safe, and finish their night's rest - being awoken early in the morning by Hammer, who is determined to follow his vampiric friend so he can protect him. He eventually breaks out of the ropes and begins walking off into the jungle, but the rest of the group manage to weaken him enough for Fiaeorri to use her magic to put him to sleep. They tie him up again and, when he wakes up, convince him that they are taking him to the vampire, but can't risk untying him because he was attacking them before.

When they finally arrive at Port Noble near the end of the day, Hammer is infuriated. However, he is convinced that 3rd Watch simply got turned around and will head right back out after they stop at home. Once they arrive home, they sneakily knock Hammer to the floor and place their immovable rod - a magical item that is nearly impossible to move once its button has been pushed - on top of his back to keep him in place.

Stor heads off to his new room above the adventurer's guild, checking in on the lower building as he passes - and isn't entirely surprised to see Siha, leader of the 4th Watch, camped out there. He leaves her asleep and heads up to his own room.

The rest of the group also go to sleep, keeping an eye on the restless Hammer. Part way through the night, at about the same time as the vampire had struck the night before, a sudden change comes over the sentient construct. He's suddenly back to his normal self and extremely embarrassed and ashamed about how he was behaving. He is released from the immovable rod and the rest of the night passes uneventfully.

In the morning, they all gather by the adventurer's guild. Fiaeorri insists that they must go out and destroy the foul vampire, but Stor asks them to wait a few days - he's sticking to his plan to retire, and he wants to find a replacement for himself before they go out again, as they were nearly overwhelmed last time. Fiaeorri isn't happy about it, but she and the others agree.

They then get an update from Siha on what's been going on at the guild, as she decided to watch over the place since no one else was. She tells them about the minor contracts dropped off by various people, as well as the people interested in joining the guild - who, so far, are mostly the 4th Watch. While this is going on, Extang splits the money they found into equal shares and hands them out before taking T'Zaric's portion directly to the council, as per their arrangement. T'Zaric is greatly saddened by this, though he cheers up a bit when Hammer gives him and Logan some of his share as an apology for attacking them during the fight with the vampire.

Stor puts out the call for people interested in joining the 3rd Watch and, naturally, the 4th Watch are quick to respond. Another candidate also arrives, brought over and being vouched for by Wyatt. It is a bird-person, about the height of a dwarf and with arms instead of wings. He looks a lot like a giant green-and-yellow budgie.

The 3rd Watch aren't quite sold on their candidates, as the 4th Watch are quite young and the bird-person - named Quib - can't even speak unless he's imitating someone. Even after showing off some impressive magic, Quib's acceptableness is in doubt - until he plays his lute for them. His performance is so beautiful that he wins over everyone except Hammer, who wants to test the 4th Watch first. That, however, doesn't take long, and Quib is accepted into their group.

They all head off to their own tasks for the day. Fiaeorri finds herself at her shrine to Pagslas, and gets approached by a halfling attempting to buy her necklace. As the necklace is priceless to her, Fiaeorri simply brushes him aside, and is shocked when he makes a grab for it - though he quickly backs off and apologizes. He turns to leave, but not before Fiaeorri sees him tucking a necklace that looks remarkably like hers back into his shirt. She lunges for him, but he runs - though he's fairly easy to catch with his shorter legs.

Grabbing out his necklace, Fiaeorri demands to know where he got it. He eventually admits to being part of a group that was sent to get it, however he snuck ahead of the group and took it for himself. When he returned, the gnome who had been the group's guide was gone. The next day, when the group discovered the missing treasure, the gnome had taken the blame and the halfling was happy to let it go at that.

When Fiaeorri insists that she's taking this second necklace, the halfling twists out of her grasp and runs off again - this time getting into an area populated well enough that Fiaeorri can't catch him without making a scene. Instead, she follows at a distance until she sees him enter a house, then heads home - intending to return in the night.

However, as she walks through the village on her return journey that night, Fiaeorri finds herself face-to-scarred-face with Meglin, one of the elite guard of the cult Fiaeorri grew up with. Meglin leads Fiaeorri to a house on the edge of the village. Inside is another woman from Fiaeorri's past - Aliya - though she looks much different now - so different that Fiaeorri had actually served with her in the militia without ever noticing. The other person in the room, lounging in a very rough chair, burned and scarred nearly beyond recognition is Gregor - the leader of Fiaeorri's cult.

She immediately falls to her knees and offers him her necklace - which had belonged to him in the first place. Gregor thanks her for keeping it safe and informs her that she has been deemed to be still trustworthy, and that he seeks to rebuild the True Daughters of Pagslas. Fiaeorri is very excited about this prospect - so much so that she doesn't even bat an eye when Gregor asks her to go out into the world to fetch money to fund the project. In a heartbeat, she agrees.


And that's where this game session ends. We won't be playing next week, so come back in two weeks to find out what happens in Episode 45.

A Matter of Perspective

            This morning I was doing a touch of research on a magic item in my Dungeons & Dragons campaign, and I found myself reading an article (more of a rant, really) about what the writer believed to be some of the strangest items that have appeared in the in the D&D multiverse over the years. I found the premise of the article intriguing, but as I read it I found myself to be quite disappointed – because, apart from the basic descriptions of some magic items, everything the person said, from what makes a good D&D game to how magic items come into being, was wrong.

            Okay, not wrong; let’s be fair here. This was an opinion piece, and therefore couldn’t be wrong. However, the writer was suffering from the delusion that how they play and think about D&D is the one and only way to play and think about it – and, as a result, greatly misrepresented the entire game.

            They started off by explaining that every magical item must be made by someone, and therefore a lot of the more ridiculous magic items have no right to exist – because who would bother investing the large amount of time and resources needed in creating – for example – a ring that makes the person wearing it disagree with whatever anyone else says to them. Now, the beginning of the argument is sound. It does take considerable time and resources to make a magical object, however there are two very important considerations left out: the first is that a great many cursed items were created to guard treasures and strongholds from thieves, and the second is that people can make mistakes while crafting a magical item and end up with something entirely different from what they intended. These two points explain the existence of any magical item imaginable.

            It’s also worth mentioning that the writer stumbled upon the latter of these two points part way through the list – with a magic item that specifically states in its description that it was a mistake – but they failed to amend the premise at the beginning, making me wonder if they didn’t think of it, couldn’t be bothered, or didn’t make the connection that other magical items could be mistakes as well.

            A few numbers in came another comment – about an item that gives players a bonus for agricultural abilities for a year. The writer went on at length about how any game where such a thing would be useful would mean there’s something wrong with the game. A later comment about an item that allows anything to be turned into something edible is that someone who is worried about that is missing the greater point of D&D.

            From this, I gathered that the writer believes D&D is about one thing: delving into dungeons, defeating monsters, and leveling up. And, you know what? That’s true of one type of D&D game – called a dungeon crawl. It’s fun, it’s fast, it’s dangerous, and it’s essentially the same as playing a hack-and-slash video game. However, D&D offers far more than that. It can be a survival game, where a lack of food might actually become a serious problem. It can be a game focused on the story, where the dungeons are hardly important at all. It could be focused on the roleplaying aspect, which could even lead to never even going into a dungeon at all – indeed, even spending a year tending a farm.

            In fact, the game actually has a large number of rules laid out for “downtime”, which is when players aren’t out adventuring. Because, let’s face it – there are only so many adventures to be had, and even the most seasoned adventurers need a break some time. There can be weeks, months, even years between adventures – and there’s a lot of fun to be had in those times as well.

            The final statement that told me a lot about the writer was that an item known as the Wand of Wonder was included on this list. This is a magic item that causes a random effect when used, from powerful offensive magic to a harmless cloud of butterflies. The writer believes this is a useless item, because of its unpredictability – would you carry a gun into battle that sometimes shoots bubbles and sometimes shoots bullets? Which tells me everything I need to know about this person. They believe that D&D is a combat game, and all that matters is making your character as powerful as possible. Which is perfectly acceptable for some games, but it isn’t representative of all D&D games.

            Why would you take such an item into battle as your weapon? Because this is a game, and that wand can do some amazing things. What’s more, it provides a wonderful storytelling opportunity because you don’t know what’s going to happen until you use it – and I grantee that the big bad villain getting peppered with butterflies will be a moment everyone at the table remembers and laughs about for a long time!

            So, if you find yourself so inclined to write an article about the odd magic items in D&D, try to do your research and find the items that truly are wacky (they exist!) rather than rather ordinary ones that have no point for your preferred style of play.

            In fact, if you find yourself inclined to write about anything, particularly if you’re presenting something in a less-than-positive light, take the time to find out why things are being done the way they are. You may discover that your frustration comes from your particular outlook on the subject, and that if you take the time to understand someone else’s experiences you may come to understand why things are the way they are. This may not make you any happier about it, but at least your article will come across as enlightened.

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 43

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-35th of Waxing Spring, 1AL

The 3rd Watch, having returned to an ancient ruin, continue on their way to a room they had previously fled from. They head into a secret passage, briefly consider examining the mirror Kordak placed face down on the floor, then enter the room through the heavy door.

They find the room much as they left it - an iron cage where T'Zaric had taken his jade mask from the wall, the dais with four sets of stairs leading up to it with treasure-filled shelves between them. Upon the dais is a crystal cylinder and, at the top of one flight of stairs, a statue that they saw come alive before.

Not wanting to take any chances, they wedge a crowbar in the door and hold back Fiaeorri, who really wants the treasure from the alcoves between the stairs. Then, from a distance, they begin sending attacks at the statue. Surprisingly, it doesn't come to life to attack them - nor do any of their attacks hit, seeming to be deflected by some mysterious force.

T'Zaric flies up onto the dais, closely followed by Stor blowing on his whistle and Extang jumping up with his magical boots. There's still no reaction from the statue as they look around, examining the crystal pillar. They can see some sort of pedestal inside with something on it. Logan and Hammer escort Fiaeorri up the stairs, and some attempts are made to break the crystal - with no success. They decide that the only way forwards is to trigger the trap.

Stor returns to the base of the statue's stairs, T'Zaric takes to the air, and Fiaeorri is set loose upon the treasure. As soon as Fiaeorri begins greedily scooping up the treasures, the door slams shut and a voice rings through the room, condemning them for stealing sacred offerings and informing them that a toxic poison is filling the air - the only chance at redemption being the cure in the center of the pillar. They all begin to feel weak and ill - even Hammer, who had never felt the effects of poisons before.

With three of the party up on the dais, the statue comes alive and attacks, but it is soon dispatched - in spite of Fiaeorri ignoring the battle to pick scoop up all of the treasure. Once the statue falls, with the group up on the dais, the voice rings out again, congratulating them, and informing them that to pass through the crustal they will need the best tool of their most clever person. After a brief discussion, T'Zaric pulls out his thieves' tools to see if he can use them to find a way through. As soon as he touches them to the crystal, an opening appears before him, allowing him to see access to the stone pedestal with a vial on top - only there is some invisible force in the way.

Once again, they hear the voice - it tells them that they have reached the alter, but the cure is beyond their reach and the time is running else. "Put your faith in your gods, foolish mortals."

They all immediately begin praying to their gods, but nothing happens. Stor and T'Zaric begin looking around and spot glowing glyphs at the base of the pedestal. Stor takes out his holy symbol to Epesta and presses it to the glyphs - and the invisible barrier vanishes.

As the vial is retrieved from the stone pedestal, a rainbow-hued winged serpent appears and flies out into the room. Several members of the group prepare themselves in case it attacks, but instead it speaks - thanking them for freeing it from its prison. They converse with it for a time, learning a bit about it, where it came from, and how it came to be trapped in this temple. When asked for a reward for them freeing it, it presents them with three items - one a charm to help one stay alive while fatally wounded, one a set of magical scales for detecting forces of good and evil, and one a mirror that offers a glimpse into the past.

With a final thanks, the creature vanishes, returning to its home plane. The 3rd Watch decide it is now time to return home with their haul of treasure. First they double check that they've been everywhere on this level, following the hall that leads to the top of the stairs to the lower levels - where rests the great stone statue of a dragon which T'Zaric, Stor, and Extang recall breathef steam on them while they were ascending the stairs. As they turn to leave, T'Zaric gets a strange feeling that there is some knowledge of great interest to him deeper down in the ruins. However, no one else seems inclined to stick around longer, so he doesn't press the point - they were already considering coming back later, at any rate.

They head back the way they came, into the room with the dioramas, up the rope, and towards the exit. However, they pause in the room with the metal trapdoor on the ceiling and broken rusty ladders leading up to it, intending to find out what the purpose is. However, looking around, Fiaeorri notices something far more interesting - secret doors on either side of the room.

Fiaeorri leads the way through one of the doors, through a small alcove, and into a large room with black walls and a mosaic on the floor depicting strange gods dancing around the sun. At the back of the room is an area sectioned off by a curtain of beads and shells. Fiaeorri makes straight for it while the others are still looking at the rest of the rooms, and finds behind it a statue sitting in a throne, holding a golden scepter - and the statue has her face.

Taking this as a sign that the scepter was meant for her, Fiaeorri takes it from the statue. She is found a moment later by Hammer, with the others close behind, standing stock still and sweating. Then, suddenly, she turns to stone as the statue of her becomes flesh and blood, standing up to tell them that she's just merged with the spirits of her ancestors.

This causes the group a fair amount of distress, especially since three of them experienced a creature pretending to be Kordak in this very dungeon. How can they be certain this is actually Fiaeorri? They question her and find she has her own memories, as well as those of her ancestors - allowing her to lead them to treasures of ancient times. However, she seems reluctant to perform the magic she's asked to, and she seems far too willing to leave the treasure that now accompanies her stone-self. They don't have solid proof one way or the other, but they're suspect this isn't the real Fiaeorri - and they attack her. Some have trouble with attacking their friend, while others are convinced that killing this thing is the only way to get the real Fiaeorri back.

Fiaeorri falls to the floor, dead. The statue remains a statue. They attempt a number of things, trying to get the stone Fiaeorri to return to normal, but nothing seems to work. They even spend an hour with Hammer trying to attune to the gold scepter, Extang seeking clues in the magical mirror of the past, and others searching the room, all to no avail - and to make matters worse, all the items they dipped in the liquid gold return to their normal materials. T'Zaric notices, and mentions to the others, that when the creature pretending to be Kordak died, it had reverted to another form. This one still looks like Fiaeorri.

They decide it's time to head home, and are debating how to carry the Fiaeorri statue when Stor touches the scepter to the corpse - turning it to stone and reverting the statue of Fiaeorri to flesh. There is a great deal of relief and rejoicing. They leave the ruins without further investigation of the room with the trapdoor on the ceiling.

They regroup with Lykos and Saifon above ground and spend the rest of the day preparing for their journey home. In the morning, Fiaeorri impresses and shocks everyone else by eating the heart that will allow her to understand the language of snakes. Then they head home. On the 34th of Waxing Spring, Extang finds a magical birthday coin lodged in with his false eye that will allow him to cast a very powerful invisibility spell.

After two more days of journeying, they make camp for the night with the certainty that they'll arrive home tomorrow. In the middle of the night, while Stor is on the third watch, a particular bat catches his attention. It circles the camp, then lands by the fire - turning into a humanoid shape. Stor immediately calls for his friends to wake up.

The figure smiles at Stor, his long teeth glinting in the faint firelight, and thanks him for waking everyone so they can be duly punished for ransacking his temple. Stor asks if there's any way they can convince him to let them be, but the figure laughs - saying that they defiled his temple - and, besides that, it has been so long since he was last out for a snack.

Fiaeorri and Stor attack, believing that this is a vampire of some sort, but the figure just laughs as his wounds begin to close. With a glance at Hammer, he exerts his influence over the sentient construct. T'Zaric flies in above the vampire, casting a fear spell that fails to take hold, while Logan attacks. Extang casts a spell to hasten Fiaeorri and Logan's actions and backs away from the battle.

Seeing his new best friend being attacked, Hammer climbs to his feet and lumbers over to the battle, landing two strikes on Logan who he'd seen attacking his friend.


And that's where this game session came to an end. What will happen next week? Even the dice don't know. You'll have to come back to find out in Episode 44.

Lark's Landing, Episode 42

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 Waxing Spring, 1AL

The 3rd Watch stand outside an ancient ruined temple they've been in before - half their group members different now. They've come for a last adventure with Store, the sole remaining member of the original 3rd Watch, before he retires to become a guildmaster of their new adventurers' guild - and to find any treasure they missed.

There is a grotesque alter standing before them with metal bat wings splayed out to the sides - behind that is a wall with a bat-faced statue, it's wings spread out against the wall. Three of the group remember emerging from a secret door behind one of those wings several months earlier.

Fiaeorri points out a trapdoor that's a few feet in front of the alter, which reminds Stor that the last time they were here they had noticed both the trap door and that the alter could be tipped up. He mentions this and Hammer, Extang, and Logan step forward to tip the alter. As they lift the alter and tip it over backwards, the razor-sharp metal wings arc down, slicing into Hammer and Logan while Extang springs out of the way.

They're hurt, but they soon forget about they soon forget about their injuries as they stare at what they've found. In an 8 foot deep pit under the alter is a huge mound of treasure - silver coins, goblets, statuettes, jewelry, and even a marble statue. After thoroughly searching for traps, they spend a couple hours moving it all into their bag of holding - completely filling the bag for the first time.

This is more treasure than they had hoped to find, but they came here for more than treasure. Fiaeorri forces open the trapdoor in front of the alter, revealing a chute curving off below. Wanting to know where it leads, T'Zaric flies down, and returns to report that it drops down into the last room they were in before exiting the dungeon on their last visit. Stor, Fiaeorri, and Extang all immediately jump in and T'Zaric flies down after. Logan and Hammer, heavily armored, are less eager to risk the fall. The cartographer, Saifon, is unwilling to even enter the ruins, so Logan's apprentice Lykos is instructed to stay with him.

After a lot of shouting up and down the chute, and a failed attempt to find the secret door behind one of the giant bat wings, Logan and Hammer tie a rope around the alter and descend into the room below.

Having been here before, Stor, Extang, and T'Zaric lead the way through the top level of the ancient ruins, occasionally telling stories of what happened along the way. They then come to the well that leads down into the chute that'll take them deeper into the ruins. They tie off some ropes and all climb down onto the top of a hill in a room full of dioramas of the underworld.

Stor warns everyone to stay on the paths, but Hammer doesn't listen when he hears how Extang attempted, and failed, to assist some diorama people in pushing a boulder up the hill. Trusting in his strength, Hammer leaves the path and promptly falls down the hill, landing in some painful burning plains. However, he is determined, so he climbs back up to the boulder and begins pushing, to very little effect, before falling down again.

Seeing that nothing is going to stop him, Stor, Extang, Fiaeorri, and T'Zaric follow along the paths until they come to a barred door to a room the group had decided not to go into after seeing there was no door out. However, there appears to be some treasure in there, so, after inspecting the area for traps, Fiaeorri heads in.

As she enters the room, a seemingly innocuous mound on the floor opens an eye. Then another and another. Then mouths filled with spiky teeth begin to open and, within moments, the thing is covered with eyes and mouths. Every mouth starts to babble unintelligibly, making it hard to concentrate and stay sane.

Stor and T'Zaric blast the thing with magic while Fiaeorri rushes in to attack it. Logan begins running along the path to reach his friends, while Hammer - finally drawn away from his attempts to move the boulder - dashes straight across the dioramas - or tries to, but he gets entranced by how lovely the fields of hunters is and decides he never wants to leave it. He sits down.

With two bites, the babbling mound knocks Fiaeorri unconscious. Extang, disconcerted by the babbling, wanders aimlessly towards the creature. Stor is also being driven mad by this thing, and he lashes out at whatever is closest to him - which happens to be T'Zaric, who deflects the blow with a shield spell before flying into the room and pulling Fiaeorri away from the creature just as Logan arrives to the fight.

The creature turns its attention to Extang, nearly downing him as well by biting off his tail, and the decision is made to retreat. Extang casts a spell to speed up himself and T'Zaric, then flees from the room. Stor drags Fiaeorri the rest of the way out with Logan following close behind. The last to leave the room, T'Zaric drops a fireball as he exits - using his sorcerous powers to to help himself and Logan, who is in the blast radius, to avoid some of the firey damage.

The creature is incinerated and Stor casts a spell to revive Fiaeorri. They return to the room and retrieve the three items within before taking a short rest to treat their wounds and convince Hammer to leave the field to stay on the path. Examining the items they found, the discover that they have found a rod that amplifies a warlock's power, a dried strength potion, and an urn containing a heart that, when eaten, will allow the person who ate it to speak to snakes and creatures with an affinity for snakes. Fiaeorri convinces the others to give it to her, but as much as she wants the powers, she's unable to bring herself to eat the heart - so she puts it away for now.

In spite of the fight having been quite rough on them, they continue on into the temple, through a pair of double doors and into a hallway. Nearby are two secret passages they discovered on their last trip - one of which they had fled from the peril within, and one which they took one look at the room beyond and decided to avoid it. It is into this latter room that they go now.

The room is lit by an amber haze in the air, coming from a large stone basin in the center of the room which contains a steaming golden liquid. There are four mirrors on the walls: one blue, one black, one red, one white. T'Zaric goes and carefully looks into the blue one, which has a strange watery appearance to it. In fact, his reflection looks so faint that it's almost as if he's looking at a mere sheet of glass with water behind it. He tentatively reaches out his arm, turning it into its weapon form, and taps the glass. Nothing happens.

His attention is then drawn away as Hammer, Fiaeorri, and Extang have discovered that they can turn items into gold by submerging them into the steaming golden liquid! This brings on further experimentation by most of the group, leading to the discovery that magical items don't turn to gold. By breaking a copper coin that was turned to gold, they determine that the items aren't just being coated in gold - they are gold all the way through.

Several items are dipped, but Stor councils patience before spending a huge amount of time turning everything they have into gold, as they don't know if this change is permanent. They can always come back later if they need to.

While the experiments are commencing, Logan wanders over to the white mirror, which has a strange misty quality to it. He looks into it and feels a force trying to lock him in place, but he shakes the feeling off in time to see the mirror gloop out of the frame to the floor, revealing a door that was behind it. The thing attacks, but it is quickly dispatched, in spite of the fact that many of the group are too distracted by the gold to notice anything is happening.

As interest in the gold fades, some more attention is paid to the mirrors. Logan looks into the black one to see his own reflection shift to wearing ancient, tribal clothes, before saying something to him in a language he can't understand. Extang looks into the red mirror to see his own reflection getting killed by a vague, ghostly humanoid with an axe. His reflection then returns to normal. Afraid he may have been cursed, he attempts to explore further, only to get his hands burned when he touches the mirror.

Fiaeorri looks into, then touches, each of the remaining mirrors in turn. First the black, seeing her own reflection in ancient garb speaking to her, then the red, seeing her reflection getting murdered and burning her hand, then the blue, seeing the strange, weak, watery image. As she's reaching out to touch the blue one, she notices that her very valuable ring has turned to lead and glass. Horrified, she does a quick search and discovers that all the valuable metals and gems in her possession have also turned to lead and glass. She immediately dips them into the basin to turn them to gold.

The group decides it's time to move on through the new door they discovered. They follow it down a narrow, winding passage to another door, beyond which is a diamond shaped room with a raised dais. On top of the dais is a strange octopus-like alter with a large red-purple gem set in its forehead. Fiaeorri suggests that someone other than her should go and touch the gem, so Hammer does so. As soon as his hand touches the stone he begins dancing uncontrollably - his hand stuck to the gem. The others try to pull him away, but to no avail, so they turn to attacking the gem - being careful not to touch it or the alter, except for T'Zaric who forgets to consider that the weapon he can extend from his arm is part of him. He also finds himself stuck to the stone, floating in mid-air and dancing.

The gem is finally shattered, freeing the two from the spell. Extang magically repairs the gem, but it turns out to not have any value. They leave the room, heading for the other secret passage. Stor, in particular, is determined to go there. The last time they were there, they were trapped in the room and a voice told them that they were being poisoned and would die without the antidote - however, they had fled and somehow survived. It is time to find out what was really going on.


And that bring an end to this game session. Check back next week to find out what our heroes discover in Episode 43.

A Simple Life

            Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go back to living the simple lives humans lived before we had all this technology. It doesn’t take long for me to discard such a romantic notion; it would be horrible. Yes, my dismissal of it is in part due to the fact that I love video games – not to mention the easy access to writing research offered by the internet – but the living conditions that accompany the lack of technology are dreadful. Yet, the dream of going back to live a simpler life keeps on resurfacing, and not just in me.

            When such ideas keep resurfacing, it’s good to pay attention to them, because they tend to be telling us something about our environments. Frequently, it’s our brains trying to find a way to change something, though it doesn’t necessarily know what. In this case, I believe the important part isn’t so much the idea of going back in time, but the idea of a simpler life – more notably, a life not as cluttered with the technology that our existence now revolves around.

            As much as technology has done for us, and as wonderful as it is, there is no doubt that it has made life vastly more complicated. Almost everything we need to do is easier now, but there’s another type of strain the technology seems to put on us, seemingly offsetting it. We have a responsibility to the technology – to keep it functioning, to continually learn how to use it as it updates and evolves, and to be available when someone tries to contact us through it. In addition, now that we have instant access to the whole world and most of the knowledge in it, many people feel a responsibility to know what’s going on in the world at all times – as if, simply by having that information, they could somehow make a difference.

            I think technology has put a pressure on us that humans have never had to deal with before, and that has awakened in many of us a desire to go back – back to a simpler life. However, that simpler life wasn’t better; in many ways, it was worse. At any rate, backwards isn’t ever the correct direction to travel – we must always keep moving forwards.

            Why should we go back in time to when we had less technology when technology makes everything so much easier? Instead, we should take advantage of what we have learned, and use it to push forward toward that simple life we want. We’ve already made life easier with technology; now it’s time to adapt what we have made to give us the lives we want. It’s either that, or we wait for our evolution to catch up to an industry that is advancing faster that we can keep up with.

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.

In-Between Moments

            In this thing we call life, we’ve come to have an expectation of ourselves that we must use our time as efficiently as possible. The motivation for this varies from person to person – some feel they don’t have enough time to do everything they want or need to do, others don’t want to risk being bored – but regardless of their reasons, society backs up this idea that we should always be doing something. So we keep ourselves constantly in “go” mode, forgetting that some of the best or most productive moments are the in-between ones.

            This idea that we have to constantly be accomplishing something is drilled into us from the moment we’re introduced into the school system. Throughout the years of training, our time for ourselves gradually gets shorter, while the work hours get longer – not to mention an increased workload of homework. It’s all about productivity and efficiency. Then we hit the workforce, and it’s the same thing – productivity, efficiency, and hardly a moment for ourselves.

            Yet, looking back, aren’t the most memorable moments the ones that happened in between classes or work tasks?

            This hyper-efficiency has overflowed into our entertainment world as well. There are formulas for every form of entertainment designed to give the consumer the most enthralling experience – to the point where even our enjoyable activities have become exhausting. And in that entertainment, what parts do we enjoy the most? It isn’t the plot twist we knew was in there, revealed at the most dramatic moment – if it was, we’d have long since become bored of the same stories being told over and over. It’s the in-between bits; the interactions between the characters; the parts that make this story unique.

            I think our society has gotten hold of an idea that people who aren’t fully occupied will cause trouble – an old idea that has some truth to it, if only because people who are bored are looking for something – anything – to do. Yet, at the same time, at least an equal number of people cause trouble because they feel trapped in their own lives and are trying to break free, making the solution of keeping people occupied very flawed. Instead of keeping people out of trouble, we’ve developed a system that people to the limits of their endurance. And since not all people are the same, some are able to rise above the system and laude it, while others are broken by it.

            As if that system wasn’t enough, we’ve taken each of those pieces of our lives and made them as efficient as possible – at work, because time is money, and at home, because we have so little time left over for ourselves. We’ve gotten really good at being efficient, to the point where those gaps in the middle get smaller and smaller... Those gaps where we used to have little quality moments with friends or family. Or, perhaps, when we could catch up on something we’d fallen behind on – now, if we fall behind, we often have to stay behind.

            The worst part is that by becoming so efficient, by shutting out those in-between moments, we’re actually losing productivity. For people working intellectual projects, they’re losing the ability to let their minds work on problems in the background. How often have you figured something out only after you stopped working on it? Again, I can only speak for myself, but I find that happens several times a week. As for people with more physical jobs, being exhausted all the time makes them work slower and more prone to mistakes.

            We try to blame these problems on sleep and to fix them with caffeine, but it never seems to work – because, what we really need is to allow ourselves more time to ourselves where we aren’t constantly pushing to get things done. We need to allow ourselves those moments where our bodies and minds can regroup between tasks.

            Those little in-between moments aren’t just enjoyable; they’re healthy and, contrary to common beliefs, they increase productivity and efficiency by making us more capable. They’re what make the difference between a perpetual cycle for working so that we can work some more, and working to fund a life worth living.

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 41

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.


37th of Waxing Winter, 0AL - 27th of Waxing Spring, 1AL

The next couple of months see three birthdays in the 3rd Watch. Hammer wakes up to find a platinum coin stamped with a gold anvil inside of him - it rattles out and down to the ground as he stands up. When he shows it to his companions, Stor explains that a number of the group have received them on their birthdays - presumably from the gods, as they have each been stamped with a religious symbol. They've all had a magical property that could be used once.

Hammer is a bit confused, as he doesn't worship a god, but Stor is able to inform him that the symbol on the coin it that of Mirinrie - and mentions that Gorbosh, the blacksmith, actually has the anvil that belonged to the goddess. Hammer eventually makes his way over to Gorbosh and gets a bit more information about this goddess who has taken an interest in him, learning that she's the daughter of two of the Four and is the goddess of crafting and tradition. He also learns that his coin will allow him to cast a spell that will temporarily stop time.

Next is Logan's birthday, and he finds a coin inside his helmet when he puts it on - stamped with the sun and clouds of Epesta. It will allow him so summon forth a handful of exceptionally nourishing berries.

Finally comes T'Zaric's birthday. He finds a coin behind his ear stamped with the staff and blank book of Raim, and he's astounded to discover that it will grant him a wish. His mind begins to whir with all the possibilities, but the endless opportunities are a bit overwhelming - especially since he knows that if he wishes for something too big, the magic may fail. He holds onto the coin, for now.

The group also plans out their new adventurer's guild hall that they are constructing off the side of Wyatt's tavern and make the arrangements for it to be built - some of them working on it themselves.

At the New Year Festival on the 1st of Waxing Spring, the council announces that, as part of starting a new life in these new lands, they are declaring a new calendar, saying that this is now year 1 After Landing. They also set up a booth where people can submit potential names for the settlement, as it's about time it is given a name. Of the many names offered up, the one chosen was Port Noble - a name honoring the ship that brought them across the Endless Ocean.

Logan finally has some luck, finding three candidates who wish to train with him to become paladins, but he knows he can only take on one student. He interviews all three of them. The first is a big, strong dragonborn lady who seems perfect for the job - at least physically. She seems to view it as a job and nothing more, and Logan knows that being a paladin is more than just a job. The second candidate is an enthusiastic gnome - perhaps a little too enthusiastic - who is excited for such an adventurous life, but his work history suggests he has trouble committing to any one task.

The final candidate, and the one Logan decides is the best fit, is a gangly young human named Lykos. He isn't particularly or coordinated, but he's eager for the job and he enjoys helping people - plus, he already worships Epesta, since he's on of the older orphaned children who've been in Merara's care. Logan gets him some equipment and begins training him.

Extang takes a map he found in ruins to a half-elf cartographer named Saifon to have copies made. When asked about where the map is of, Extang points to a coastal village, saying that's Port Noble. Saifon tells him that it most certainly isn't - the coastline is wrong and the map is older than the settlement, how could something that didn't exist be on the map? Extang becomes interested in the other potential villages marked on the map, and employs Saifon to come out with the 3rd Watch next time they go travelling so he can make proper maps.

On the 12th of Waxing Spring, the initial building for the adventurer's guild is completed. Stor brings the group together to celebrate and, for the first time, opens the barrel of mead that was the first thing he and Kordak brewed after landing, nearly a year ago. Because it's such a special brew, he limits how much everyone can have, wanting to keep it for special occasions like this. And this is a very special occasion to him. He makes an announcement to the group that he is planning to retire to take on a full time position as the guildmaster. There is some argument about the necessity of this, but Stor insists that, now that he has his family back, he wants to return to a quieter life. However, he does want to go on one last adventure with the group first.

Extang immediately shows his map to Stor, pointing out the villages and wondering what might be there. To find them, they must first return to the one landmark they know for certain - the ancient ruins they fell into while chasing after the 4th Watch. As they know they left some treasure behind, they while they're out there they might delve back down into those ruins while they're out there. Everyone agrees that this is a good idea.

The next day, they gather Lykos and Saifon and prepare to head out. As they're preparing to leave, T'Zaric, who has been thinking on what to do with his wish for two tendays and is still at a loss for what to do with it, finally makes his wish - asking Raim to bestow upon him a portion of his knowledge and power that will help him in the future.

Suddenly, his entire body changes, taking on the appearance of a dark cloud of swirling colors. He rises off the ground, hovering, and part of his arm extends out briefly, forming some kind of natural weapon.

Everyone is shocked, and they gather around to question him about what's just happened - or, in the case of Fiaeorri, to point out that he no longer needs his magical boots if he can fly. T'Zaric explains as best he can, saying that he feels like he'll no longer age, but even he doesn't know the full extent of the changes that have happened to him.

Once the excitement has died down, they set out into the jungle, following the trail Stor remembers to the ruined temple while Saifon works on making a map. They arrive at the temple after seven days of travel, but immediately head off for the first of the villages on Extang's map. They find the correct location, but all that remains there are a few traces of worked stone that may have been foundations for buildings long ago. They also note that the area is overrun with jungle, while on the map it is shown as being more open land.

They continue on to the next village and find the same thing - Stor is reminded of the first traces of civilization discovered by the 3rd Watch, where the entire side of a hill had been destroyed. Next they go to a monolith marked on the map and find a large stone ring sticking out of the ground. Again, Stor has seen this before, and he warns the others to keep their eyes open for hobgoblins as they move one.

They start out for the next village, but as they reach the edge of the jungle and look out over some hilly lands, Fiaeorri hears the tromping of metal feet and T'Zaric flies up into the air to see a hobgoblin patrol off in the distance. They decide to change course and head back to the ruined temple where they're certain to find some treasure. They arrive on the 27th of Waxing Spring.


And that's where this game session comes to an end. Come back in a week to find out what happens next in Episode 42.

If I Were You

There are a great number of expressions in English that seemingly make no sense, while there are others that make a kind of half-sense. One expression that has been preying on my mind is the semi-accurate “If I were you...” It’s an expression we use when giving advice, which actually means “If I were in your place...” but we’re so familiar with it that we automatically translate it in our heads. Yet, taken at face value, “If I were you...” is quite inaccurate, and shows a symptom of one of our greatest struggles as individuals.

            When interacting with other people, on an intellectual level we know they are very different from us – their thoughts are different, their likes and dislikes are different, and their entire life experience has been different. Yet, when we tell them about something we have experienced, we instantly expect them to understand how we experienced. After all, it hurts when I stub my toe, don’t you feel exactly the same thing when you stub yours? But, for all we know, there could be someone out there who thoroughly enjoys the sensation of a stubbed toe, so they go around kicking things.

            For a more down-to-earth example, my brother loves cars – everything about them. He can (and has) go on at length about all the parts and how they work, and will generally do so every chance he gets. He knows when the people around him don’t share his interests, and he knows that they have different likes – but, at a fundamental level, he doesn’t understand why it is that other people don’t all love cars as much as he does.

            We all have a certain element of that in us, that little part that wonders how other people don’t like what we like as much as we do. I love bacon, how can you not love bacon? Yet, somehow, there are people who hate the taste of bacon. Intellectually, we know this, but deep down there’s some fundamental part of us that believes everyone else is just like us.

            So, when I say to my brother, “If I were you, I’d get a mechanic to fix the car,” I am superimposing my own self onto him, and making my statement completely inaccurate. If I were him, I’d love cars, because he loves cars, so that’s how I’d feel about them if I were him – and I’d then proceed to fix the car myself. A far more accurate statement would be, “If you were me, you’d get a mechanic to fix the car.” You see, then I’d be expressing what he would do if he had my interests, rather than what I’d do if I were in his place.

            It may seem a small change, and rather pointless considering the well-established expression, but the way we say things is important. It shapes the way we think. If we go around expecting others to conform to our life experiences, we’re going to regularly run into problems. On the other hand, if we go around expecting people to have entirely different views and experiences than ourselves, well, we may actually begin to make some progress.

            If you were me, you’d be amazed that this was the 300th blog you’ve written. And if I were you... well, I really don’t know, do I?

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.