Happy Mothers Day

05/11/2014

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there!

Book Review - "The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson

Being a Wheel of Time and Mystborn fan, I recently got to meet Brandon Sanderson and pick up a copy of "The Way of Kings." It's book one of the Stormlight Archive and is 1,001 pages long.

Cover Art, without all those pesky words.

I will try to review it, without giving away any spoilers. It is a fantasy novel that takes place in a medieval-like setting, but does not take place on Earth. That's not a spoiler, by the way.

Of Orbs and Men

04/13/2014

Yaotl thought he recognized the orb and immediately detected evil on it. It was as he feared, the same evil orb that he thought Cyrus had buried in the mountains. Ren picked it up and instantly felt invincible.
"That thing is evil." Yaotl stated, holding out a small pouch, "Drop it in here."

It's just an obsidian ball, I'm sure it's fine.

Ren enjoyed the feeling on invincibility and tried to drop in a different obsidian orb they had found earlier. Ren is not a sneaky Mul, however, and Yaotl easily saw him make the switch. Yaotl psionically put Ren to sleep, Ren fell and dropped the orb. As Yaotl leans over to pick up the orb, with a bag because he doesn't want to touch it, the west door opens. Standing in the doorway is a bald human man, dressed in sandy robes, with obsidian wrist razors, and he was holding two larger obsidian orbs.
"I want that orb!" He said, "It's calling to me."

Gain a Friend, Lose a Friend

03/30/2014

The group came upon a side room with a locked door. Ren kicked it open, revealing a large room with a wardrobe, chest, and straw filled mattress. Upon entering, two silt elementals rose from the ground and attacked!

"Free hugs! Free Hugs!"

The elementals rushed Ren and one of them smashed Rens foot, breaking it. Ren fell back and Yaotl stepped forward, using psionic kinetic control. He let the elementals beat on him for a bit, before releasing the damage back at one of them. The elemental exploded in an impressive display.

Opposing Villainous Foes

03/16/2014

The party charged forward, engaging the gith. Cyrus stayed back and fired arrows into the fray. The gith didn't stand much of a chance and were quickly overwhelmed and killed. Ren, Aziza, Yaotl, and Cyrus went into the room and started searching it for treasure and clues. They found some silver and a couple of kegs of cheap ale. One of them is untapped and Yaotl considered taking it out to the wagon.

Rata ignored the room and instead went to the far door in the foyer and pressed his ear against it to listen. He heard a faint sound that sounded like small creatures scuttling across sand. He opened the door and saw a dilapidated courtyard with a fountain, which was pouring silt instead of water.
Rata waited for the group to finish searching the other room and make their way over. Ren arrived first and went into the courtyard. He thought the fountain might be a site sacred to silt, so Ren decided to desecrate it, by urinating in it.

This picture sums up Rens feelings on silt clerics.

As Ren was urinating in the fountain, a black tentacle reached out and attacked him, luckily it hit Rens arm and not anything important.

Rest In Peace David A. Trampier

David A. Trampier, a pioneer in RPG illustration has passed away at the age of 59. One of the reasons for the success of Dungeons and Dragons was, no doubt, his artwork. My condolences to the family and friends he leaves behind.
Article about David from Tor.com.

Attack on the Fortress

02/02/2014

They stared at the high walls and barred gate, wondering how to get through. Yaotl activated psionic flight and flew over the wall and unlocked the gate. Ren quickly moved their cart and kanks off to the side and did his best to hide them. Everyone moved through the doors and found themselves in the room with the murder holes. Thankfully, they were unmanned.
The next set of doors were going to be more difficult to open, as the next room was covered by the roof. Cyrus phased and walked through them. On the other side were two B'hrogs, who spotted him.
"Hey!" One of them shouted, "We're gonna smash you!"

Not these guys again!

They rushed Cyrus, with clubs held high. Cyrus remained phased and let them beat on the door that was behind him. Cyrus quickly realized that them beating on the doors and waiting for them to break would take a very long time. Cyrus passed back through the doors and joined the group.
"How'd he do that?" One of the B'rohgs shouted.
"It's the Way, dummy!" The other shouted in response.