World's Largest Dungeon
May. 14th, 2007 03:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teleidoplexSo, as some of you know, the fox is running the World's Largest Dungeon for myself and a few others. I recently made a new character, and ran across a site where dungeoneers throughout the country post updates and links of their experience with the dungeon. I'm taking this as an opportunity to chronicle our own dungeon adventure. This will probably not be interesting to anyone else, but here it is for those of you who just can't get enough!
Loredelver Ashan's report to the Bluefire Cabal, Preliminary Findings
I have come to a very strange place, and I'm not sure how long it will be before this report finds its way back to my cabal. I'll continue to write it because if my words escape this place, then I will have too.
With that in mind, allow me to place a bit of myself on this illuminated parchment to illuminate the reader as to who is making this testimony. I am Bluefire Ashan, a Loredelver of the Bluefire Cabal. I am an Illumian, a race of beings who are The Word given flesh and will. For those not blessed to enjoy this happy state of existence, it is somewhat difficult to comprehend how something as ephemeral as language can be given form and function beyond the utterance of it, yet consider this: My words indelibly change this bundle of pressed rags into an account that many others may read. It will travel beyond my reckoning and the act of reading of the account will indelibly change those who have read it, just as I have indelibly changed this bundle of pressed rags. In writing this account, I create something approaching life beyond myself. So were the Illumians created. But do not make the mistake of placing too much weight on this metaphor. What I am creating is a pale reflection of what Tarmuid, the First Speaker, created when he spoke the Illumians into being; I am like a child making dolls from corn husks.
As any Loredelver or other explorer knows too well, the map is never the terrain. This account is a map of the terrain I am crossing, just as this description is a map of myself. To guide the understanding of the reader, the map of my previous experience is that I received my early training in the compound of my speaking (what other humanoids might call my birthing), the Bluefire Cabal. I was restless even as a child, fascinated especially with the workings of magic. Early on I found I had a knack for usurping the utterances of others, stealing the very words of magic from their mouths and speaking them as if they were my own. Many of my youthful exploits involved stealing a spell from an unsuspecting tutor just before she would demonstrate it, and when classes were dismissed early because of this, running off with my giggling cabal-mates to secretly try the spell for ourselves.
As you may imagine, such a thing as this is considered rather rude amongst my people, so my talents were quickly guided along the more traditional lines of wizardry. This helped me learn discipline, though I've never lost the knack of stealing spells, and the acumen I've developed as a wizard has helped me to steal spells of increasing complexity. My talents in conducting and shaping the raw forces of creation – Fire, Earth, Air, Water and most especially the divine spark that charges and animates all things (called by some "electricity") – led me to specialize in Evocation. I eschewed the practice of those schools of magic concerned with things not animated by the divine spark. Illusion seemed a pale bit of bluff and bluster, and the Necromantic magics were dull compared to the life energy that crackled through me.
I loved my time spent in study of the ancient mysteries of magic, but eventually my youthful restlessness resurfaced. Like a book too long shelved in a library I had grown dusty and creaky. I wanted to venture forth into the world, add more to my pages and be read by others. The accounts of the Loredelvers had been among my favorite resources to study, and so I determined to try my ink-stained hand at this. In conversation with the other Loredelvers of Bluefire Cabal, I came to learn that the best way to become a Loredelver is to just do it (an attitude that I must admit sent a thrilled tingle up my back – too long had I spent in the safety of my Library).
I eagerly set out from my speakingplace to follow up on rumors I had run across time and again. They mentioned a vast underground complex, an old prison of some sort, but no reliable account had ever emerged as to what the place actually was. I had intended to find some other able-bodied and like-minded individuals to journey into the depths with me, but as luck would have it I found the place sooner than expected when a band of Orcs attacked my travelling caravan, driving us to hide in a complex of caves.
I now find myself in what I believe to be the rumored complex. I have no notion of where the egress might be, nor of what became of the others I travelled with. I have had to use tremendous caution because I have seen signs of Minotaurs and Harpies about, and though I am very puissant in the use of primal forces, I am still soft from my years spent in the Cabal's library.
Despite the dangers, this place is fascinating. I have discovered that I am not the first to have become trapped here. Today I have come to a long arcade that has been turned into something of a gallery by those who have come before. Mural after mural decorates the walls of the arcade, showing many different creatures. Each one is painted in a different style, with varying skill levels. In many places, these paintings are layers thick, new ones overlaying and obscuring the records of centuries. I could spend my entire life in this room alone, documenting the passage of people through this place – documenting how they documented themselves. I must continue to remind myself that the map is not the terrain. I have included rough sketches of the room, including some sketches and descriptions of the most interesting of the paintings, but I know that I must move on if this account isn't to be lost in this place and of as little use as the record of murals that I found. And I must find others to band with lest I be brought to my own Final Utterance too early.
One section of the mural in particular promises a solution in this regard. In many places the paint is still wet, and it can't have been finished more than a day or two ago. It depicts a large and rather motley crew of individual adventurers.
There is a large, grim-looking fighting man carrying a wicked-looking scythe. His armor is black but raised portions of it have been painted white to give him the look of a skeleton, and the hollows of his face have been tattooed dark so that the skeletal illusion is perpetuated. He looks competent, and he looks deadly. I shudder to think how many souls he has harvested in his time here.
Leaning next to him with a sardonic smile permanently slanting her features and one pale brow raised in perpetual snark is a slender, dark elf woman with silver hair and amethyst eyes. Two deadly rapiers hang at her sides, and a spider brooch made of silver, onyx and amethyst glints from the shoulder of her dark cloak. The friendly way that she leans up against her scythe-bearing companion makes me think that the challenges this place offers have forced her to overcome her race’s ingrained antipathy towards outsiders.
From the ceiling beside them hangs another man, upside down. He wears a dark cloak that defies gravity. His eyes burn with a red fire, and eldritch flames crackle around his fingertips. In one hand he holds a warlock's scepter, with a large golden key dangling from its haft. The key is the friendliest-looking thing about this man.
Even more foreboding is the man next to him. His deathly pallor and cold blue eyes would mark him as a necromancer, even if the animated skeletal warriors flanking him did not. On one side of him stands the skeleton of an orc wielding a highly decorated greataxe, with many bits of broken weapons and armor strapped to him. On the other side stands a skeletal minotaur warrior with a golden trident. The holy symbol he carries makes me think he is a cleric in service to Wee Jas.
Next to that chilling assortment stands another man, this one a cold-eyed holy warrior of St. Cuthbert, if the symbol he wears is anything to go by. Unlike other holy warriors I’ve seen, this one seems pragmatic rather than idealistic, as if he is much more willing to get his hands dirty. Even his armor is grey and serviceable rather than a shining beacon of purity.
Beside this group, the half-orc warrior who is next looks almost approachable. Perhaps it is just my imagination, but there appears to be a civilized glint in his eye that makes me think he is trying to live up to his human heritage.
Crouched between the half-orc and the next figure is a kobold, so unassuming that at first I looked over him as he leaned upon his mining pick. Bits and bobbles of various mechanical devices for creating traps spring from his pockets, and he wears a rather serviceable looking leather coat with many pockets. If I ever chance to meet him, I’m sure he’ll have much to teach me about the more mechanical dangers of this place.
The next figure seems to have not been willing to take the time away from creating what looks like a wand of some sort to model for his portrait. Like the kobold next to him, he is dressed in leathers and carries the accoutrements of a craftsman. He is depicted leaning over the item, with wild hair and a distracted look on his features. I’ve seen artisans in the midst of creation often enough to recognize that look.
The next individual seemed only too happy to pose for his portrait, and given his clothing I wonder if he hasn’t done so many times before. He is a handsome, rakish sort of human with a quick smile, dressed in fine clothes of silk and velvet, yet even in his good humor I notice that his sword is not far from his hand.
An almost ethereally beautiful elf woman (is there any other kind?) is next. I doubt even paints were enough to truly capture the luminous sheen of her pale skin, the black silk of her hair, or the jade depths of her eyes. She is dressed in fine linens and mail, with a gleaming longsword in hand, and bears a cleric’s symbol to the elven god Larethian.
The golden glow of the next woman seems to emanate from more than just the paints used to create her. It has been days since I’ve seen sunlight, yet standing here I can almost feel its warmth. There is no doubt in my mind that she is a holy warrior for Pelor. From her braid the color of wheat sheaves, to her amber eyes, to the bronze of her armor and the hilt of her greatsword, she is like a wash of late afternoon sunlight over a farmer’s fields. Even her smile is warm and welcoming. She crouches on one knee, her right arm slung around the shoulder of an enormous golden retriever, her left resting gently on the head of a blink dog.
The next man also looks to be a holy warrior, although he shines with an otherworldly light, and there is something about him that makes me think his bloodline does not entirely harken from this plane of existence. Rather than armor, he wears the simple robes of a supplicant and carries no weapon greater than a simple spear. No smile mars his proud features, and his eyes are focused past the viewer and upon a distant horizon.
The figure next to the two warriors stands with all the stillness of a mountain lake, and all the steadiness of the mountain. He is dressed in simple grey robes with neither decoration, armament nor weapon, yet something in his stance indicates that he also is a warrior of great ability. Despite that, there seems to be no anger or avarice or arrogance in him. I have never seen a man so at peace.
The next man looks anything but ‘at peace’. He has a charlatan’s smile, an untrustworthy face, and a wild look in his eye that just screams of instability – of course, perhaps that is just my own wizarding prejudice at work, for he is clearly a sorcerer of some sort.
The stout dwarven woman next to him is steady enough for them both. Her flaxen braids lay over armor of solid, dwarven craftsmanship, and she leans on a large axe of similar quality. She is attractive in a rough sort of way, despite the light down that grows along her jawline, which is too close to a beard for my tastes. She has an ale tankard, which is raised in perpetual salute and is as welcoming as her grin.
The final figure of this rogues gallery is a diminutive human girl with short, wildly curly black hair, brilliantly green eyes, and a gamine’s grin. I can not quite tell what path she follows, for there are indications towards many different callings. A jumble of holy symbols hangs ‘round her neck, a sword at her side. She has the build of a rogue, but her fingers crackle with some sort of wild magic. Perhaps it is only that she wishes to present herself as other than she is, for something tells me that this woman is the painter of the mural…and it is often the case that self-portraits are the most deceiving.
So, it would appear that if I can find them before the minotaurs and harpies find me then my chances will be greatly improved. I have some misgivings. Some of those represented look…forbidding…to say the least, but others amongst the group inspire me to trust and hope that if I can find them, I will know some measure of safety.
But before I leave this place, I will add one more figure. A slender, scholarly woman wearing robes of silver, blue and viridian. She carries an ornate quarterstaff with energy crackling along its surface. Her pale hair is woven in corn rows with long strands of blue and viridian metallic thread, and her pale face is covered in silver, blue and viridian markings. Similar Illumian symbols shine softly around her head. A lithe pseudodragon with silver and viridian scales coils sinuously around her shoulder. An inquisitive eagerness lights her silver-green eyes, as she sets out on what is sure to be a great adventure.
OOC Notes:
This is meant to be an ongoing journal documenting our gaming group’s adventures in the World’s Largest Dungeon. The character writing the journal is a new character joining the existing party. Our group started playing in August of 2006 and has run 26 sessions. The dungeon has claimed the lives of 17 PC’s so far (though some have later been rezzed). Harden, Jess, Darius and Teras have managed to survive since the beginning.
We have a total of 7 regular players (not including the GM), although usually we only have 3 or 4 players at any one time, and the most we’ve had at a session is 5 players. We use a video-game model for running the dungeon, which means that players have multiple characters in their “stable”, and can choose which of those characters they want to play for the session, thus we have something of a rotating party. We have found some combinations work better than others. The GM’s standing rule is that we can only have things from the books in his library, and that if we want something not there, we need to buy him the book. This has resulted in a rather massive expansion of his 3.5 library since last August!
Characters can be played in an area until they “level out” of it, after which players much choose to play a different character until we move on to the next, higher-level area. New characters come in at the base level for the area. Most players have 2-3 characters in their “stable”.
This has created an amusing in-game narrative about the strangeness of the dungeon, where you can be travelling with a group of people, lay down to rest, and find yourself with an entirely different group when you wake up in the “morning”. The people described in the mural are the currently active characters.
We are very thorough, and have finished levels A, B and C. Del received the Mark of the Righteous in area C and so we are currently doing area F, after which we’ll probably go to area G.
Characters:
Hardin the Harvester – Neutral Human Male. Fighter (lvl 8) – played by Gregg, casting is Vin Diesel
Jessmindara “Jess” Duskwalker – Neutral Drow Female. Rogue (lvl 4), Swashbuckler (lvl 4) – played by Alyc, casting is Jessica Biel
Darius – Chaotic Neutral Human Male. Warlock (lvl 9). The key is sentient and is his “follower” – played by Jason P., casting is Christian Bale
Teras Felkin – Lawful Neutral Human Male. Cleric (lvl 9). The skeletons are his “followers” – played by Jason D., casting is Christopher Walken
Amalekite – Lawful Good Human Male. Fist of Raziel (lvl 1), Cleric (lvl 3), Paladin (lvl 2), Grey Guard (lvl 3) – played by Ben, casting is Michael Wincott
Balok – Neutral Half-Orc Male. Fighter (lvl 6), Tempest (lvl 2) – played by Jason D., casting is Lou Ferrigno
Biffy – Neutral Kobold Male. Rogue (lvl 4), Ranger (lvl 3) – played by Ben, casting (voice) is Robert Carlyle
Wendell Livingston – Neutral Good Human Male. Artificer (lvl 9) – played by Jason P., casting is Brent Spiner
Sir Eron Gaffery – Chaotic Good Human Male. Rogue (lvl 7) – played by Gregg, casting is Chris O’Donnell
Ranithaaya Silvershrike – Neutral Good Elf Female. Cleric (lvl7) – played by Avery, casting is Monica Bellucci
Delphinia “Del” Evertrue – Lawful Good Human Female. Paladin (lvl 8), Anointed Knight (lvl 1). The golden retriever is her “mount”, the blink dog is her follower (and was rescued from area B) – played by Alyc, casting is Angelina Jolie
Valerius – Lawful Good Aasimar Male. Paladin (lvl 6) – played by Shanna, casting is ??
Valin Pace – Lawful Good Human Male. Ninja (lvl 1), Monk ( lvl 8) – played by Jason P., casting is David Belle
Argo – Chaotic Good Human Male. Sorcerer (lvl 5), Wild Mage (lvl 2) – played by Ben, casting is Gael Garcia Bernal
Gretta Argusdotter – Neutral Good Dwarf Female. Fighter (lvl 7) – played by Avery, casting is ??
Cat Dragoneyes – Neutral Good Human Female. Factotum (lvl 8), Chameleon (lvl 1) – played by Alyc, casting is Jane Wiedlin
Bluefire Ashan “Ash” – Neutral Good Illumian Female. Spellthief (lvl 1), Wizard (lvl 6). The pseudodragon is her improved familiar – played by Alyc, casting is Milla Jovovich
All NPC’s, Monsters, Traps, Antagonists, Friends, Skeletorcs (neé traporcs), Keys, Dogs (blink and otherwise), Pseudodragons, and other dramatis personae are run by our ever-loving GM of awesomeness, David!
Loredelver Ashan's report to the Bluefire Cabal, Preliminary Findings
I have come to a very strange place, and I'm not sure how long it will be before this report finds its way back to my cabal. I'll continue to write it because if my words escape this place, then I will have too.
With that in mind, allow me to place a bit of myself on this illuminated parchment to illuminate the reader as to who is making this testimony. I am Bluefire Ashan, a Loredelver of the Bluefire Cabal. I am an Illumian, a race of beings who are The Word given flesh and will. For those not blessed to enjoy this happy state of existence, it is somewhat difficult to comprehend how something as ephemeral as language can be given form and function beyond the utterance of it, yet consider this: My words indelibly change this bundle of pressed rags into an account that many others may read. It will travel beyond my reckoning and the act of reading of the account will indelibly change those who have read it, just as I have indelibly changed this bundle of pressed rags. In writing this account, I create something approaching life beyond myself. So were the Illumians created. But do not make the mistake of placing too much weight on this metaphor. What I am creating is a pale reflection of what Tarmuid, the First Speaker, created when he spoke the Illumians into being; I am like a child making dolls from corn husks.
As any Loredelver or other explorer knows too well, the map is never the terrain. This account is a map of the terrain I am crossing, just as this description is a map of myself. To guide the understanding of the reader, the map of my previous experience is that I received my early training in the compound of my speaking (what other humanoids might call my birthing), the Bluefire Cabal. I was restless even as a child, fascinated especially with the workings of magic. Early on I found I had a knack for usurping the utterances of others, stealing the very words of magic from their mouths and speaking them as if they were my own. Many of my youthful exploits involved stealing a spell from an unsuspecting tutor just before she would demonstrate it, and when classes were dismissed early because of this, running off with my giggling cabal-mates to secretly try the spell for ourselves.
As you may imagine, such a thing as this is considered rather rude amongst my people, so my talents were quickly guided along the more traditional lines of wizardry. This helped me learn discipline, though I've never lost the knack of stealing spells, and the acumen I've developed as a wizard has helped me to steal spells of increasing complexity. My talents in conducting and shaping the raw forces of creation – Fire, Earth, Air, Water and most especially the divine spark that charges and animates all things (called by some "electricity") – led me to specialize in Evocation. I eschewed the practice of those schools of magic concerned with things not animated by the divine spark. Illusion seemed a pale bit of bluff and bluster, and the Necromantic magics were dull compared to the life energy that crackled through me.
I loved my time spent in study of the ancient mysteries of magic, but eventually my youthful restlessness resurfaced. Like a book too long shelved in a library I had grown dusty and creaky. I wanted to venture forth into the world, add more to my pages and be read by others. The accounts of the Loredelvers had been among my favorite resources to study, and so I determined to try my ink-stained hand at this. In conversation with the other Loredelvers of Bluefire Cabal, I came to learn that the best way to become a Loredelver is to just do it (an attitude that I must admit sent a thrilled tingle up my back – too long had I spent in the safety of my Library).
I eagerly set out from my speakingplace to follow up on rumors I had run across time and again. They mentioned a vast underground complex, an old prison of some sort, but no reliable account had ever emerged as to what the place actually was. I had intended to find some other able-bodied and like-minded individuals to journey into the depths with me, but as luck would have it I found the place sooner than expected when a band of Orcs attacked my travelling caravan, driving us to hide in a complex of caves.
I now find myself in what I believe to be the rumored complex. I have no notion of where the egress might be, nor of what became of the others I travelled with. I have had to use tremendous caution because I have seen signs of Minotaurs and Harpies about, and though I am very puissant in the use of primal forces, I am still soft from my years spent in the Cabal's library.
Despite the dangers, this place is fascinating. I have discovered that I am not the first to have become trapped here. Today I have come to a long arcade that has been turned into something of a gallery by those who have come before. Mural after mural decorates the walls of the arcade, showing many different creatures. Each one is painted in a different style, with varying skill levels. In many places, these paintings are layers thick, new ones overlaying and obscuring the records of centuries. I could spend my entire life in this room alone, documenting the passage of people through this place – documenting how they documented themselves. I must continue to remind myself that the map is not the terrain. I have included rough sketches of the room, including some sketches and descriptions of the most interesting of the paintings, but I know that I must move on if this account isn't to be lost in this place and of as little use as the record of murals that I found. And I must find others to band with lest I be brought to my own Final Utterance too early.
One section of the mural in particular promises a solution in this regard. In many places the paint is still wet, and it can't have been finished more than a day or two ago. It depicts a large and rather motley crew of individual adventurers.
There is a large, grim-looking fighting man carrying a wicked-looking scythe. His armor is black but raised portions of it have been painted white to give him the look of a skeleton, and the hollows of his face have been tattooed dark so that the skeletal illusion is perpetuated. He looks competent, and he looks deadly. I shudder to think how many souls he has harvested in his time here.
Leaning next to him with a sardonic smile permanently slanting her features and one pale brow raised in perpetual snark is a slender, dark elf woman with silver hair and amethyst eyes. Two deadly rapiers hang at her sides, and a spider brooch made of silver, onyx and amethyst glints from the shoulder of her dark cloak. The friendly way that she leans up against her scythe-bearing companion makes me think that the challenges this place offers have forced her to overcome her race’s ingrained antipathy towards outsiders.
From the ceiling beside them hangs another man, upside down. He wears a dark cloak that defies gravity. His eyes burn with a red fire, and eldritch flames crackle around his fingertips. In one hand he holds a warlock's scepter, with a large golden key dangling from its haft. The key is the friendliest-looking thing about this man.
Even more foreboding is the man next to him. His deathly pallor and cold blue eyes would mark him as a necromancer, even if the animated skeletal warriors flanking him did not. On one side of him stands the skeleton of an orc wielding a highly decorated greataxe, with many bits of broken weapons and armor strapped to him. On the other side stands a skeletal minotaur warrior with a golden trident. The holy symbol he carries makes me think he is a cleric in service to Wee Jas.
Next to that chilling assortment stands another man, this one a cold-eyed holy warrior of St. Cuthbert, if the symbol he wears is anything to go by. Unlike other holy warriors I’ve seen, this one seems pragmatic rather than idealistic, as if he is much more willing to get his hands dirty. Even his armor is grey and serviceable rather than a shining beacon of purity.
Beside this group, the half-orc warrior who is next looks almost approachable. Perhaps it is just my imagination, but there appears to be a civilized glint in his eye that makes me think he is trying to live up to his human heritage.
Crouched between the half-orc and the next figure is a kobold, so unassuming that at first I looked over him as he leaned upon his mining pick. Bits and bobbles of various mechanical devices for creating traps spring from his pockets, and he wears a rather serviceable looking leather coat with many pockets. If I ever chance to meet him, I’m sure he’ll have much to teach me about the more mechanical dangers of this place.
The next figure seems to have not been willing to take the time away from creating what looks like a wand of some sort to model for his portrait. Like the kobold next to him, he is dressed in leathers and carries the accoutrements of a craftsman. He is depicted leaning over the item, with wild hair and a distracted look on his features. I’ve seen artisans in the midst of creation often enough to recognize that look.
The next individual seemed only too happy to pose for his portrait, and given his clothing I wonder if he hasn’t done so many times before. He is a handsome, rakish sort of human with a quick smile, dressed in fine clothes of silk and velvet, yet even in his good humor I notice that his sword is not far from his hand.
An almost ethereally beautiful elf woman (is there any other kind?) is next. I doubt even paints were enough to truly capture the luminous sheen of her pale skin, the black silk of her hair, or the jade depths of her eyes. She is dressed in fine linens and mail, with a gleaming longsword in hand, and bears a cleric’s symbol to the elven god Larethian.
The golden glow of the next woman seems to emanate from more than just the paints used to create her. It has been days since I’ve seen sunlight, yet standing here I can almost feel its warmth. There is no doubt in my mind that she is a holy warrior for Pelor. From her braid the color of wheat sheaves, to her amber eyes, to the bronze of her armor and the hilt of her greatsword, she is like a wash of late afternoon sunlight over a farmer’s fields. Even her smile is warm and welcoming. She crouches on one knee, her right arm slung around the shoulder of an enormous golden retriever, her left resting gently on the head of a blink dog.
The next man also looks to be a holy warrior, although he shines with an otherworldly light, and there is something about him that makes me think his bloodline does not entirely harken from this plane of existence. Rather than armor, he wears the simple robes of a supplicant and carries no weapon greater than a simple spear. No smile mars his proud features, and his eyes are focused past the viewer and upon a distant horizon.
The figure next to the two warriors stands with all the stillness of a mountain lake, and all the steadiness of the mountain. He is dressed in simple grey robes with neither decoration, armament nor weapon, yet something in his stance indicates that he also is a warrior of great ability. Despite that, there seems to be no anger or avarice or arrogance in him. I have never seen a man so at peace.
The next man looks anything but ‘at peace’. He has a charlatan’s smile, an untrustworthy face, and a wild look in his eye that just screams of instability – of course, perhaps that is just my own wizarding prejudice at work, for he is clearly a sorcerer of some sort.
The stout dwarven woman next to him is steady enough for them both. Her flaxen braids lay over armor of solid, dwarven craftsmanship, and she leans on a large axe of similar quality. She is attractive in a rough sort of way, despite the light down that grows along her jawline, which is too close to a beard for my tastes. She has an ale tankard, which is raised in perpetual salute and is as welcoming as her grin.
The final figure of this rogues gallery is a diminutive human girl with short, wildly curly black hair, brilliantly green eyes, and a gamine’s grin. I can not quite tell what path she follows, for there are indications towards many different callings. A jumble of holy symbols hangs ‘round her neck, a sword at her side. She has the build of a rogue, but her fingers crackle with some sort of wild magic. Perhaps it is only that she wishes to present herself as other than she is, for something tells me that this woman is the painter of the mural…and it is often the case that self-portraits are the most deceiving.
So, it would appear that if I can find them before the minotaurs and harpies find me then my chances will be greatly improved. I have some misgivings. Some of those represented look…forbidding…to say the least, but others amongst the group inspire me to trust and hope that if I can find them, I will know some measure of safety.
But before I leave this place, I will add one more figure. A slender, scholarly woman wearing robes of silver, blue and viridian. She carries an ornate quarterstaff with energy crackling along its surface. Her pale hair is woven in corn rows with long strands of blue and viridian metallic thread, and her pale face is covered in silver, blue and viridian markings. Similar Illumian symbols shine softly around her head. A lithe pseudodragon with silver and viridian scales coils sinuously around her shoulder. An inquisitive eagerness lights her silver-green eyes, as she sets out on what is sure to be a great adventure.
OOC Notes:
This is meant to be an ongoing journal documenting our gaming group’s adventures in the World’s Largest Dungeon. The character writing the journal is a new character joining the existing party. Our group started playing in August of 2006 and has run 26 sessions. The dungeon has claimed the lives of 17 PC’s so far (though some have later been rezzed). Harden, Jess, Darius and Teras have managed to survive since the beginning.
We have a total of 7 regular players (not including the GM), although usually we only have 3 or 4 players at any one time, and the most we’ve had at a session is 5 players. We use a video-game model for running the dungeon, which means that players have multiple characters in their “stable”, and can choose which of those characters they want to play for the session, thus we have something of a rotating party. We have found some combinations work better than others. The GM’s standing rule is that we can only have things from the books in his library, and that if we want something not there, we need to buy him the book. This has resulted in a rather massive expansion of his 3.5 library since last August!
Characters can be played in an area until they “level out” of it, after which players much choose to play a different character until we move on to the next, higher-level area. New characters come in at the base level for the area. Most players have 2-3 characters in their “stable”.
This has created an amusing in-game narrative about the strangeness of the dungeon, where you can be travelling with a group of people, lay down to rest, and find yourself with an entirely different group when you wake up in the “morning”. The people described in the mural are the currently active characters.
We are very thorough, and have finished levels A, B and C. Del received the Mark of the Righteous in area C and so we are currently doing area F, after which we’ll probably go to area G.
Characters:
Hardin the Harvester – Neutral Human Male. Fighter (lvl 8) – played by Gregg, casting is Vin Diesel
Jessmindara “Jess” Duskwalker – Neutral Drow Female. Rogue (lvl 4), Swashbuckler (lvl 4) – played by Alyc, casting is Jessica Biel
Darius – Chaotic Neutral Human Male. Warlock (lvl 9). The key is sentient and is his “follower” – played by Jason P., casting is Christian Bale
Teras Felkin – Lawful Neutral Human Male. Cleric (lvl 9). The skeletons are his “followers” – played by Jason D., casting is Christopher Walken
Amalekite – Lawful Good Human Male. Fist of Raziel (lvl 1), Cleric (lvl 3), Paladin (lvl 2), Grey Guard (lvl 3) – played by Ben, casting is Michael Wincott
Balok – Neutral Half-Orc Male. Fighter (lvl 6), Tempest (lvl 2) – played by Jason D., casting is Lou Ferrigno
Biffy – Neutral Kobold Male. Rogue (lvl 4), Ranger (lvl 3) – played by Ben, casting (voice) is Robert Carlyle
Wendell Livingston – Neutral Good Human Male. Artificer (lvl 9) – played by Jason P., casting is Brent Spiner
Sir Eron Gaffery – Chaotic Good Human Male. Rogue (lvl 7) – played by Gregg, casting is Chris O’Donnell
Ranithaaya Silvershrike – Neutral Good Elf Female. Cleric (lvl7) – played by Avery, casting is Monica Bellucci
Delphinia “Del” Evertrue – Lawful Good Human Female. Paladin (lvl 8), Anointed Knight (lvl 1). The golden retriever is her “mount”, the blink dog is her follower (and was rescued from area B) – played by Alyc, casting is Angelina Jolie
Valerius – Lawful Good Aasimar Male. Paladin (lvl 6) – played by Shanna, casting is ??
Valin Pace – Lawful Good Human Male. Ninja (lvl 1), Monk ( lvl 8) – played by Jason P., casting is David Belle
Argo – Chaotic Good Human Male. Sorcerer (lvl 5), Wild Mage (lvl 2) – played by Ben, casting is Gael Garcia Bernal
Gretta Argusdotter – Neutral Good Dwarf Female. Fighter (lvl 7) – played by Avery, casting is ??
Cat Dragoneyes – Neutral Good Human Female. Factotum (lvl 8), Chameleon (lvl 1) – played by Alyc, casting is Jane Wiedlin
Bluefire Ashan “Ash” – Neutral Good Illumian Female. Spellthief (lvl 1), Wizard (lvl 6). The pseudodragon is her improved familiar – played by Alyc, casting is Milla Jovovich
All NPC’s, Monsters, Traps, Antagonists, Friends, Skeletorcs (neé traporcs), Keys, Dogs (blink and otherwise), Pseudodragons, and other dramatis personae are run by our ever-loving GM of awesomeness, David!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-05-14 07:44 pm (UTC)Argo's part sorcerer part wild mage and is played by Gael Garcia Bernal
Biffy is voiced by Robert Carlyle.
And Amalekite is Part Fist of Raziel, not fighter.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-14 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-14 08:20 pm (UTC)http://community.livejournal.com/skeletorcs_crew
In case you or others want to update as well.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-14 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-14 09:44 pm (UTC)