Kelfour Edition volume IV number IV

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 / \                                                                     \
|   |                         D. Forrest Hobgoblin's Farewell:   Page 11  |
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 |       _   _         _   ___                                         |
 |      / ) / )       / ) / __)                                        |
 |     / /_/ / ____  / /_/ (  ____  __  __ ____      September 1993    |
 |    /   __/ / __ )/ /(  __)/ _  )/ / / // ___)        Vol.4, No.4    |
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  /           _____* -                                                 |
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 |          |\_____/|             _____     _   _   _   _              |
 |           \|   |/             / ____)   / ) (/ _/ ) (/              |
 |         --| \ / |--          / (__  ___/ / _  (  _)_  ____  ____    |
 |       /  _________  \       /  ___)/ _  / / ) / / / )/ _  )/    )  _|
 |     /  /           \  \    /  (_  / (/ / / / / / / // (/ // /) /   \
 |    | /               \ |  (_____)(____( (_( (_( (_((____/(_((_(     |
 |    |(  GemStone III   )|                                            |
 |    ||\      (tm)     /||               The Kronicles of Kulthea     |
 |    |\| \__________ / |/|                                            |
 |     \ \|_|__|_|__|_|/ /                                             |
 |       \_____________/                                               |
 |                                                                     |
 |                                                                     |
 |   Kelfour's Landing Attacked by Unlife ....... Ducwiz Blackwood  2  |
 |   Good Hunting Teams ............... Amber Kari & Ryan Andreoti  4  |
 |   Lore of the First Era .......................... Erion Kulsen  5  |
 |   Answers to Riddles in August KE ................ Glynn Nebula  6  |
 |_  A Day of Puzzles ............................... Glynn Nebula  7  |
  /  Crystal Golems of Claedesbrim ............. Celestin Drowstar  8  |
 |   What is a System Burp? ...................... Loque Windsfoot 10  |
 |   Wilderness Report ...................... D. Forrest Hobgoblin 11  |
 |   Before You Roll A Mage ............... Lord Whilder Planrathe 13  |
 |   Monster Chronicles: Grey Orcs ................ Jarran Terraxx 19 _|
 |   Inside the Spider Temple ............. Lord Trachten Hickapod 21 \
 |   Matter of Honor (Part IV) ........................ Sean2 Ladd 27  |
 |   Dogged Daze ................................ Lloyd Llowd, PhD 30  |
 |                                                                     |
 |                                                                     |
 |                                                                     |
 | Kelfour Edition of the Kronicles of Kulthea is devoted to the multi |
 | player role-playing game GemStone III on GEnie.  Submissions may be |
 | edited for space, accuracy and readability. Contact Editor Rasputin |
 | Santare, Asst. Editors Kalagay Hallatil or Jarran Terraxx, or Pub-  |
 | lisher Lady Phaedra Bleu by GE Mail to P.HERRINGTON for details.    |
 |                                                                     |
 |   __________________________________________________________________|__
 |   )                                                                    )
Carry That Weight       __\  ____\                 \   Asleet at the Wheel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~      /    / \__|                  |  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inventory limits will |    |     |     ____________/  Insomniacs  no longer
be expanding soon, so |__   \___/_____/          \    need  to worry  about
you'll be able to lug  /                          |   falling asleep at the
more items at a time.  \        L O C A L        _|   keyboard and  running
This major upgrade to    \                       \    up   a   huge   bill.
the  software will be     |         N E W S       |   GemStone  now has  an
one part  of a larger     |                       |   inactivity  timer  to
package   of  changes    /_____________           |   wake you or shake you.
and bug fixes dealing   ||\            \___________   The  timer will auto-
with  inventory,  en-   ||_|                        \  matically send you a
cumbrance and picking   |  |                         | warning if you don't
up or dropping items.    \/________________________ /  respond  within nine
Some will  be  phased in  gradually,   minutes;  if  the  inactivity  lasts
and   some   will   be   implemented   another minute longer, the  GemStone
together.                              software  will  boot  you out to the
                                       GEnie prompt, where you can log back
Every   character   will   have   an   into  GemStone. If you remain asleep
encumbrance limit;   once that limit   GEnie  will  disconnect you  after a
is reached, they won't  be  able  to   few minutes.
pick up  anything else.  The rule of
thumb will be that you can  carry  a   New GS3FE Version Released
maximum  of up to 1.5 times your own   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
weight in stuff.                       Perhaps  the biggest news of the day
                                       for   folks   with    IBM-compatible
Encumbrance   will  be  based  on  a   computers  is the release of the new
point system where  one  encumbrance   Graphical Front End (Version  1.7B).
point  will equal one pound or less.   You  can  find  and download it from
The minimum weight for an item  will   the GemStone  Library  (Menu  option
be one  point.   In general, a large   #8, at  Page  930).    The  file  is
sack will hold about  20  points  of   #199.  If you  have  a  sound  card,
stuff  and  backpacks  will hold 40.   (and  who  doesn't?) you're in for a
                                       special treat: this version includes
Spellcasting Changes                   all-original  Kulthean  compositions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                   by Jeff Gatlin!  It also  boasts  an
Sorcerers, take  note.    Limb  Pain   improved scripting system,  and more
spells   (701   and  705)  now  have   than we  have room to print here!
improved   logic   when   inflicting
injuries.    Touch   of   Disruption   Workshops Working
(702),  does  additional  cp   point   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
damage    in   proportion   to   the   Our most powerful  spellcasters  can
severity of  the  critical.     Mind   now enhance enchanting and imbedding
Jolt  (706), now lasts for 5 seconds   abilities in workshops. Some  public
per 5 failures on  Resistance  Roll,   workshops are now under construction
as  opposed  to  the shorter 5/10 of   and  one  private  workshop has been
the older version.                     established near Stonehold.  ;)
                   Town Forums Scheduled for September  
     8 Sep    Assassin's Guild: Killing for Fun & Profit      Nuit
    15 Sep    Why the Constable Can't Keep the Cons Stable    Eldron
    22 Sep    Glad Games or Sad Games?  Suggestions & Ideas   Elvanion
    29 Sep    An Open Forum on Closed Essence                 Marvelin
    Town Forums are conducted each Wednesday Night in the Moot Hall,
    Assembly Room at 10pm EDT.  
 ____________       Kelfour's Landing Attacked by Unlife!
\@| ~|~|~~|| |              by Ducwiz Blackwood
  |  |~|_ ~~ |
 _|  |~|-|   | or those of  you that   clearing  just as a crowd started to
/@|  |~|     |  were not there, I am   gather. We  decided it  was now just
\_/ ~~~~~    /  going  to  tell  you   too crowded and  lit out for home as
  ~~~~~~~~~~~  of  the recent attack   fast as we could!
on Kelfour's Landing by  the unlife.
I, unfortunately, did not contribute   Once safely  back in  town, Malvolio
one whack  in defense  of our  city,   and I  thought  it best to  sell our
but I witnessed the horrible slaugh-   booty and  hide out  for the rest of
ter brought by the vile attack. What   the  evening.  Neither of us had any
I learned could help prevent a simi-   experience  with  the unlife  or the
lar catastrophe in the future.         blessed  weapons necessary  to fight
                                       them. We stopped at Jarlik's to sell
I became  aware  that  something was   a few hides. While at  the furrier's
not  right as Malvolio, the  healer,   we heard that Akido was killed!
and I walked back  from a successful
hunting trip along the Mine Road. We   We barely  arrived at  the pawn shop
came upon  some  light leather and a   when  we heard  about Esir  dying! I
woven  cloak. Thibor  showed up, and   asked Dernick to  appraise an amulet
the three of us speculated about the   for  me  but  got  distracted  while
new  hunter  who  bought  the  light   Malvolio  and  I  talked  about  the
leather  as protection. Then  Thibor   apparent  unlife  attack.   Suddenly
mentioned a skeleton north of us and   Dernick  slammed  his  fist  on  the
left in that direction. Malvolio and   counter.  "Ducwiz,  do  not  make me
I were intrigued. We had  never seen   repeat  myself.  I'll give  you  199
a skeleton before. I don't know what   silvers and not a silver more!" This
Malvolio was thinking, but I thought   day  was  taking a  very  odd  turn.
these were just bleached bones lying   Quickly I sold him the amulet and we
on the ground!                         left. Once outside, Malvolio told me
                                       that Dernick looked like the unlife!
We went north and found Akido, Lady-
dawn, and Thibor standing  over more   Now it  was apparent that the unlife
light leather, a woven  cloak, and a   influence was being felt inside Kel-
short sword. We were puzzled to find   four's too. We  armed  ourselves and
the same  stuff here and asked where   quickly  ran to the gemcutter's.  On
the things came from. Ladydawn said,   the way, we passed Ladydawn, a group
"Skeletal cloak," and Akido spoke of   of  adventurers,  and  three  broad-
the unlife! Thinking it was a single   swords  lying  on the  ground;  this
skeleton in a cloak, I asked who had   made sense later. In the town square
worn  the  leather. Akido  answered,   we found Esir and asked him what got
"A skeleton."                          him. He said it  was a skeletal war-
                                       rior, not a skeleton, and  it was at
After  you have adventured  a little   the gate!
while, you  know  which  monsters to
expect  where.  Skeletons   do   not   We finished our business at the gem-
belong on Torkaan  Row! This  throws   cutter's and  the bank, then went to
your whole view  of the universe out   Sariis' so  Malvolio  could  place a
of whack;  skeletons  belong  in the   special order (he is ever the dapper
graveyard, where I don't have to see   healer). It was  an uneventful trip;
them.  I was in  shock and  a little   we  only heard of three  more people
frightened.   What  unknown  dangers   dying.  I left  Malvolio  there  and
would we face before we  reached the   headed back  to the  town square  to
safety of Kelfour's Landing?           find out what was happening.
We did not  have long to worry about   Just before I arrived at the square,
this.  A skeleton  walked  into  the   I had my first experience  with true
Evil. An eerie whisper, carried on a   there,  but Lord  Strom was  nowhere
chill  wind,  said,  "Take  them, my   to be seen.
                                       On my way  back to the square, I saw
People rushed in and out of the town   Leara  fighting a skeletal  lord. In
square, some  asking to  have wounds   front  of  Jarlik's,  Logan   fought
tended, some to get weapons blessed,   three skeletons and a skeletal lord.
all  talking of  the  unlife attack!   There was  another  skeleton  on the
Ladydawn  was blessing  weapons, but   ground dead (I guess when  they quit
our gods were hampered and it seemed   moving they are finally dead), so it
to take forever. This also prevented   appeared he had things in hand. How-
her  from  resurrecting  anyone, and   ever,  just  as I  left,  a skeletal
there were plenty  that needed it. I   warrior arrived; Logan  died shortly
asked  to  have  my  drake  falchion   after  that. I passed Heron fighting
blessed  and  found that  you cannot   a skeleton and a skeletal  giant. He
bless magical weapons.  Besides, the   had the giant on the ground, but the
line was  very long. Someone said to   match was  not over. The giant still
find Lord Strom and ask him to bless   fought back with its pound attack.
a weapon for me. She said  he was at
the gate helping to defend our city.   I kept  moving. The sky  grew darker
                                       as  the sun  dimmed. The chill  wind
As I headed for  the gate, I thought   whispered, "Crush  them!" The attack
about  what I might find  there. One   by the unlife was at its peak.
of the bits of  conversation I heard
mentioned  a skeletal  lord.  I  was   Ladydawn  blessed   weapons  in  the
sure these were beyond my ability. I   square,  but  the line  was long and
am only a third year ranger; why was   the need was great. Adventurers took
I headed this way?  It still worried   their swords as  they were  done and
me when I  ran into a skeleton and a   rushed  out to greet the  undead. At
skeletal giant  just north  of Chel-   the  same time,  word  came  back of
dar's  Bathhouse!  There was no time   other brave heros dying. A call came
to ponder how they got into the city   that there  was a  skeletal  lord by
as the skeleton took a swing  at me.   the temple. I waited,  hoping to get
Looking through the records later, I   my sword  blessed,  so that  I might
found that skeletons are not much of   also defend our city.  
a threat to any but first  or second
year  adventurers,  but  a  skeletal                Epilogue
giant is strong  enough  to kill  me
with a single blow!                    I got  my sword blessed, but by then
                                       the unlife had been  defeated. There
I turned right around and went south   were  twenty - one deaths  I counted
just as Rohan and  Tanasa arrived to   during   this  attack;   some  brave
greet the danger.  Wintermane was in   adventurers died two or three times.
front of the bathhouse,  but he left
before I  could  warn him.  A moment   Much of  this slaughter  could  have
later,  both  Wintermane and  Tanasa   been prevented had we been prepared.
were dead.  I decided  to make a run   If  every  one of  us had  a blessed
for the gate.                          weapon and knew what unlife we could
                                       fight and what we could  not, losses
To the  north,  two  skeletons  kept   would have  been minimized.  Looking
Wintermane's body company. The skel-   over  past issues  of  the Kelfour's
eton (not the giant) took a swipe at   Edition,  I see  that these  attacks
me;  then I was by them. I passed by   have happened  before. We should not
a skeletal lord and was at the gate.   have been surprised like this.
There  were cloaks and leather lying
everywhere  and  treasure  and other   I call on  the mayor to  arrange for
items that were dropped by the dying   the stockpiling  of blessed  weapons
adventurers. Outside the gate it was   to prepare for the next time. We can
the  same.  There  were  adventurers   use the barracks, and everyone could
                                   -=3=-                 (Continued Page 6)
 ______________             Good Hunting Teams
/ \ ____  ____ \            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\@| ~| |  | |~ |      by Amber Kari and Ryan Andreoti
  |  |~|--|~|  |
 _|  |~|--|~|  | ave  you  ever been   any professions,  too,  since  lower
/@| _|~|  |~|_ |  slaughtered  while   level  spell casters end up fighting
\_/ ~~~~  ~~~~ /  fighting  enemies?   most of the time because they  don't
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~   "Hey!   I   had  a   have high level spells to use.  [Ed.
Healer! Oh, he's dead too--."          Note: And they run out of power.]
What  went wrong? You  didn't have a   The Fighter / Healer  group is first
successful hunting group. Generally,   because  they  are  the  professions
the "best hunting group" consists of   that are needed  the most.  They are
a Mage,  a Fighter,  a Healer, and a   kind  of "Primary  Professions,"  in
Cleric. Having  two of a  profession   the sense  that they  serve the most
is  fine, and adding anyone  else is   direct  purpose. You need  a Fighter
great too, but this is the base of a   to  kill those  monsters  that other
hunting group.                         people can't get. (Usually, you will
                                       end up  with some  fighters  in your
All right. You  know where  to hunt,   team anyway, there are so many.) You
you  have  all  your  good   hunting   need a Healer to heal those who have
gear, and you know  everything about   been hurt  fighting. This is  not to
the  monsters  there.  Who  are  you   say  that other  professions are not
going to  go with? You should always   good. They  are like  extensions  of
go  hunting  with another  person so   the Healer or  Fighter, although not
that if  you die,  your  partner can   very similar to each other.
yell  for help  and grab  your stuff
before a monster can take it.          The Mage  and the  Cleric are second
                                       because with a Healer  in the group,
Naturally, it  is safer to travel in   you  hope  you  won't need  a Cleric
a larger  group, with  characters of   resurrecting <g>.  A Mage's  purpose
several different  professions,  but   is similar  to a Fighter's, except a
you won't get as much  experience or   Mage  casts spells.  Why aren't they
silver. It does depend on  where you   at the bottom then? The reason these
are  hunting, though. When you fight   are not at the bottom of the list is
any type  of creature -- kobolds  or   that a Mage can hit metal armor more
wraiths  or  those  pesky  squirrels   easily, and a  Cleric  might need to
that throw acorns at you--you likely   resurrect someone. A Cleric can kill
want,  in order  of "more necessary"   off undead too! This makes them much
to "less necessary":                   more necessary when hunting wraiths.
 1) Healer/Fighter  2) Mage/Cleric     The Thief  and Ranger are #3 because
 3) Thief/Ranger    4) Bard            their  special  talents  are not  so
                                       much required in the  field. I mean,
A Healer is  good to  have  with you   you can  get locks  picked  in town,
most all the time. It depends on how   (but  not near  people, in case of a
dangerous  the monsters  are to you,   trap) and a Ranger's spells  are not
of course. If you  are a 30th  level   used  for  anything too  incredible.
Bard  fighting  kobolds by yourself,   There is nothing  wrong with  having
you have lots of hits and a high OB;   Rangers, since they  can  be just as
you won't need a Healer or a cleric.   good  as Fighters  at fighting  when
                                       they double-train.
For lower level creatures,  having a
good team is not as  crucial as when   Bards are  at the  end  (no  offense
you are  fighting  golems  and other   bards) because they are not _needed_
big nasties. A low level team should   to do  anything  specific.  Besides,
have fewer than  five people, if you   you couldn't find a bard very easily
want to  get a lot  of experience. A   if you  wanted to.  But again, there
low level  team can consist of about   is nothing  wrong with  having them.
                                   -=4=-                 (Continued Page 6)
 ____________                Lore of the First Era
\@| ||=|=|=|| |                 by Erion Kulsen
  | ~~ |_| ~~ |
 _|    |_|    |
/@|   _|_|_   |he following  text is   which ended the  Second Era.  In the
\_/__________/ scribed  from various   beginning of time all the lands upon
journals, scrolls, and various other   Kulthea was one entire land mass. It
historical writings by Erion Kulsen.   was here that life  was born and the
Which  are kept  at the  Library  in   rising  of  a race named  the  Altha
Nomikos.                               achieved greatness.  From 10,000  to
                                       12,000  FE, the  Althan  culture had
Kulthea is  the  seventh  of fifteen   developed a technology which enabled
planets circling a  G-type star.  It   them to travel to many other distant
circles at  approximately 98 million   stars.  Soon,  the Althans  began to
miles from the star. This allows the   conquer these other worlds and their
planet  to  sustain  a  considerably   races.  This turned Kulthea into the
large amount of life.  Kulthea holds   veritable center of an  interstellar
in orbit around it, five  moons, one   colonization.  Planets suitable  for
of which, circles  the largest  moon   life were colonized  by new seedling
Orhan.  The  moons have  a  profound   cultures, Kulthea became  the mother
effect over the  tides, currents and   planet to many races.
weather. Yet there is something else
infinitely more powerful that affect   It was at this time that Essence was
our lives more than can be imagined.   discovered by the Althan scientists.
That is the Flows of Essence.          Before  long,  genetic  manipulation
                                       was used to enhance latent abilities
Essence is  something  common to all   in order to harness this new  power.
things, animate or inanimate.  It is   One specific family, the K'ta'virri,
a  part of  everything, without  it,   were found to have a certain special
there would be nothing.  Currents in   aptitude for the Essence Flow.  Soon
the Essence Flow are said to dictate   members of the K'ta'virri became the
events in time as well as the course   first true Psionics, able to use the
of our lives.  It is a power so vast   essence within them.  As well as any
that none can know it fully.           around them,  if they were  near the
                                       home planet Kulthea.
In the First  Era, extensive studies
were performed to decipher  the vast   By 16,000 FE, the  K'ta'virri family
mysteries  of the Essence on our own   had used their abilities  to conquer
planet.  It was  discovered  through   a large  portion of  the galaxy  and
the study of other planetary systems   proclaimed themselves rulers over it
that our world lay on  the threshold   all.  For many millennia  after, the
of  a radically  different universe.   K'ta'virri dynasty controlled all of
Kulthea, stands just outside of  the   the galaxy, using their  Psionic and
gateway leading to  another plane of   Essence powers to uphold them.
existence  with completely different
physical laws  from  our own.  It is   Yet power corrupts.  It  was only so
through  this gateway that  the Flow   long until the K'ta'virri had become
of  Essence  passes, enveloping  our   ruthless and even sadistic.  Life in
world. There have been many through-   the  galaxy cowered  under the power
out the Eras,  who have been able to   of the  K'ta'virri dynasty, as  they
channel this power (Transcribed from   became more  corrupt in  their ways.
a Lords of Essence Speaking Crystal,   In 30,000 FE, the  ruthlessness came
approximately  130,000  years  old).   to a  climax as the ascension of the
Nomikos Library Special Collection).   Empress  Kadaena K'ta'virri  swiftly
                                       came about.
The First  Era lasted 100 millennia,
and was perhaps  the most intriguing   The K'ta'virri  soon became known as
time, until  the Wars  of  Dominion,   the  Lords of the  Essence,  lead by
Kadaena.  Over time,  certain select   As well as why they might do so. Yet
K'ta'virri became almost as one with   something  is certain... those among
the Essence.  They developed  powers   us now who wield the Essence are but
to mold the earth, assume  any shape   pale shadows  compared to the  power
at  will and  became immortal.  They   that once walked the land. (From the
held awesome powers over the Essence   writings  of  the  Loremaster  Lydek
Flow.  Yet, the  sadistic ruling  of   Terisonen, 2267 Third Era).
Kadaena over the galaxy soon brought
about  the  plans to  overthrow  the
Empress.  Utha K'ta'virri became the   Attack by Unlife - From Page 3
leader of the underground rebellion.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For a time, both factions, followers   donate weapons. I would volunteer to
of Utha and those who called Kadaena   collect  the donations.  Clerics can
their mistress, gathered both  power   be found to donate the time to bless
and followers.                         them. If the mayor cannot see to it,
                                       maybe one of the Houses could; House
In 30,250 FE, rebellion swept across   of the Rising Phoenix is a prospect.
the galaxy.  Using their  political,   Until some group can arrange to make
technological and Psionic powers, an   preparations to protect our city, it
attempt  was made to  sweep  the now   is up to  each of us. Keep a blessed
Empress-goddess  Kadaena  and all of   weapon in your locker at  all times.
her followers from the throne.  Many   I now have  two.  Also, clerics  are
worlds were obliterated in the clash   not the  only ones in  Kelfour's who
and races were  reduced to primitive   can bless weapons. There is a way to
shadows of what they once were.        get  weapons blessed  at the temple.
                                       Hint:  it  involves  white,  magical
On our  own world,  battles  between   items, and you get what you pay for.
Utha and  Kadaena were  met with the
strongest of each  faction.  Though,   Good Hunting Teams - From Page 4
the  world was  not destroyed, for a   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
year it  was in torment.  This was a   They have handy spell-songs, and can
struggle that  shook  Kulthea to its   also double-train in fighting.
core.  Continents sank,  lands below
the deep  waters  were thrust  above   The reason to  have a  Mage, Healer,
the surface.  Great rivers of molten   Fighter,  and  Cleric in  a  hunting
rock were spewed  forth and the most   team is that they each serve differ-
unimaginable  tidal  waves wiped out   ent purposes.  A Fighter fights with
entire races... carving an  entirely   weapons  which can  have bonuses put
new geographical face on the planet.   on by the Mage, who burns the metal-
Large areas were laid waste as those   armored monsters,  which  whack  the
under Utha, called  the  Uruths, not   Fighter,  who  gets  healed  by  the
considered a  part of the K'ta'virri   Healer and  resurrected by a Cleric,
family  any longer, destroyed all of   who kills any undead  creatures that
the last remaining K'ta'virri. It is   happen upon the group.  All of these
believed that both Utha  and Kadaena   go into a good team, for more exper-
were  destroyed  in  a  final clash,   ience and more silver.
which nearly broke the world.  There
are rumors of  survivors of both the
Uruths and the K'ta'virri who placed     ________________________________
themselves in cryogenic freeze so as    /  Answers to Riddles in Aug KE  \
to awaken at a later time. Thus came   |   1) Riddle                      |
the end of the First Era.              |   2) GemStone, or Gem, or Jewel  |
                                       |   3) Graveyard                   |
Virtually all technology,  knowledge   |   4) Earth, Water, Air, Fire     |
of Essence and the  science from the   |   5) Mirror                      |
First  Era were destroyed in what is    \________________________________/
known as the Sundering.  Any and all
knowledge of when  the Uruths or the
K'ta'virri might wake up is unknown.
/ \ _________ \            A Day of Puzzles  
\@| ||=|=|=|| |            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  | ~~ |_| ~~ |              Glynn Nebula  
 _|    |_|    |  
/@|   _|_|_   | hree Goblins"                     "Three Caves"
\_/__________/  ~~~~~~~~~~~~                       ~~~~~~~~~~~
While  hunting on  the old mine road   Later that day, I learned of a troll
one bright  and sunny day, I chanced   who did  boast, "I  have  a treasure
to hear  the rough  voices of  three   hidden most  bold  in  one of  three
goblins  near.  Curious  as  to what   caves I  do hold. I can  be found in
they might say, I hid myself quickly   one of the other two  caves around."
away. As they approached, I did hear   Further he said, "Upon each cave did
them argue over who should have got-   I write one  statement to  thee, but
ten the  chest of  many  silver, the   only  the cave with the treasure has
prize least rotten, or who the small   a statement  of fact. The  other two
ring  of  gold,  being  better  than   are lies to lead you off track."
nothing to  hold. I jumped  out from
my  place of hiding and demanded the   Now, I being one not to pass up free
chest of silver to my liking.          lunch, looked  for the troll's caves
                                       on a hunch. Three caves I  did find,
Now the goblins, thinking to flee in   all in  a line. The  left cave read,
order to be free, each made a state-   "The  rightmost  cave  has   nothing
ment before  leaving me.  The first,   within." The  center cave  did read,
running south, did say, "I have only   "Inside,  a Troll  is waiting  to be
a ring of  gold! Do not follow  me!"   fed."  The  cave to  the  right read
The second, running  northeast, said   simply, "The center cave is empty."
as he fled, "My brother lies to you,
noble  bard. He hath  the  chest you   Which cave did I  choose so  I would
seek most  hard!" The third, wasting   not lose?
no  time,  ran  northwest,  yelling,
"The  second  has a  ring of gold. I             "Three Chests"
myself have nothing to hold."                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~
                                       The last puzzle I  did face was from
I thought to  myself, which one will   a member  of a short  race. A hobbit
I chase? He with the chest would not   did place a label upon each of three
tell the truth, but he  with nothing   chests.  Each label was incorrect at
would  not  lie,  having  nothing to   best, for this was a test. The three
hide. The one with  the ring may say   chests,  one each,  I was told,  had
anything, be it  true or false. So I   silver, gems, and magic of  old. The
thought  for a moment  of  what  the   labels did read "MAGIC", "GEMS", and
three said, learning from them which   "MAGIC  or  SILVER" penned  brightly
way lead to the chest-bearing goblin   for all to see.
I soon would be following?
                                       How many chests  did I have  to open
Can you say which path I chose for a   in order to correct the labels with-
chest of many silver along the road?   out hoping?
                              (Answers on Page 9)  
                             /    _____\
             __            /  *  |
           //   \----------\___ /----------------------------- \
                           \  *  |_____
                             \ ______ /
 _________                Crystal Golems of Claedesbrim
\@| ~|_|~  |                  by Celestin Drowstar
  |  | |   |
 _|  |~|   |
/@| _|~|_  | was hunting cave trolls   some practice on a lesser golem.
\_/ ~~~~~ / one  day,  and  happened
  ~~~~~~~~ upon a thief that I know.   To get  to the  crystal golem's area
                                       go through the crack that leads into
He was passing through on his way to   the  caverns  where the cave  trolls
the next lower level  of Claedesbrim   live and  go W, W, W, W, S, GO DOOR,
Castle  in search of crystal golems.   GO CHUTE.
I  told him  that I  had  never been
there, so he invited me along.         The chute is a one way  trip down to
                                       the second level. In order to  leave
We spent the rest of the day hunting   the area  from the second level,  go
down  crystal  golems  and  avoiding   to the farthest northwest corner and
the manticores when we chanced  upon   GO  SPACE, GO  TRAPDOOR, GO DOOR, E,
them.  It was a great experience and   E, N, E, E, E, E, GO CRACK.
I have travelled back to Claedesbrim
Castle to  hunt crystal golems  many   The following are the main creatures
times.  Now that I  am hunting steel   that you  will encounter within  the
golems, I am really glad to have had   dotted area of the map (see below):
 /                                                                       \
|                                                                         |
|                Lvl DB Crits CPs Speed Attack(ob)                        |
| Manticore       9  55 large 150 fast  claw(70), stinger(75)             |
|                                                                         |
| Golem, Crystal 12  70 large 220 slow  morning star & ensnare(90), stomp |
|                                                                         |
Avoid the areas marked with question   to be added about this special stomp
marks, since I am not sure what type   attack.  The  first  is that when  a
of creatures inhabit these areas.  I   golem is stomping its DB will go way
have encountered spectres in some of   up.  Wait through the stomping until
them, so I avoided those areas.        it  starts  swinging  at  you  again
                                       before attacking. The other thing to
Hunting  crystal  golems  will  take   watch  out  for, is when  the  golem
some  small  amount  of preparation.   stomps down, that  another golem  or
You will  want to  have a  macro key   manticore  is  not running into  the
set  to STAND.  The  golems  have  a   room while you are prone.
nasty habit of stomping  the ground;
when they  stomp  there is  a chance   Since the  manticores are fast, they
that you will  lose your footing and   can, or  more  likely will,  hit you
fall down.  Stand  as quickly as you   before you  can stand  up.  I  would
can, since being prone  will  reduce   normally take a trip around the area
your DB by 50! This is not a healthy   to  find out  where  the  manticores
condition to  be in.  The only  time   were at, before engaging any golems,
that  I have died  in crystal golems   and avoided them as best as I could.
was from a morningstar spike in  the   I also  airwalled the manticores for
forehead after  having been  knocked   some extra protection. Of course you
prone.                                 could always kill the manticore, but
                                       then another would  probably  pop up
There are two other points that need   where and when you least expect it!
  / \                                                                     \
  |                             ( )             ( )              To      |
  |                      go door |       go door |             Kelfours  |
  |                 go           |               |                  \    |
  |           ( )--arch-+       ( )------( )----( )-( )-( )-go crack-( ) |
  |                     |        |   go          |                       |
  |           ( )-door-( )--( )-( )-Door-( )    ( )                      |
  |    go      ^                          |      |                       |
  |   trapdoor |                          |      |                       |
  |    (1 way) |           go chute +-----+     ( )-( )-u/d-( )          |
  |           ( )           (1 way) |                                    |
  |       .....|...:                |                                  : |
  |       :   [ ]------[ ]-----[ ]--)--[ ]--[ ]----[ ]-----[ ]         : |
  |       :    |     go | crack     |        |              |          : |
  |       :   [ ]      (?)          |        |              |   go     : |
  |       :    |   go               |       [ ]   go  (?)  [ ]-Door-[ ]: |
  |       :   [ ]-Door-[ ]<---------+        |    door |    |          : |
  |       go   |                             |         |    |          : |
  |  (?)-door-[ ]-[ ]--go--[ ]              [ ]--[ ]--[ ]--[ ]         : |
  |       :        |  door                        |         |          : |
  | ......:        |                          go door       |   go     : |
  | :             [ ]                             |        [ ]-door-[ ]: |
  | :              |                             (?)        |          : |
  | :     go       |        go           go                [ ]         : |
  | :[ ]-door-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-oak door-[ ]-Passage-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]  |   go     : |
  | :                  |                                   [ ]-door-[ ]: |
  | :             go iron door                              |          : |
  | :                  |                                    |          : |
  | :                 [ ]------------go crack--------------[ ]         : |
  |  Map Legend:  ( ) - First level caverns (Cave trolls)                |
  |               [ ] - Second level (Crystal golems and Manticores)     |
/@|               (?) - Could be other nasties like Spectres (avoid)     |
                              Puzzle Answers  
"Three  Goblins" - The  goblin  with   be false.  Neither can  it have  the
nothing would  only tell  the truth.   troll,  because the  statement would
He can not be the first one, because   be  true, so  it must be  empty. The
it would  be a lie to  claim to have   right  cave would  then have  a true
the  ring. Neither  could  the first   statement  and  the treasure within,
goblin  be the  one with  the  ring;   and  the left  cave's  statement  is
even so, he  is free to lie  or tell   false, with a troll within.
the  truth, because the goblin  with
nothing, who  tells only  the truth,   "Three Chests" - Each chest has only
would not be able to say, "The first   one  type  of treasure  and a  false
has  the chest," if  he was  second.   label. The chest labelled "MAGIC  or
Neither  could  he say, "The  second   SILVER" can only have gems inside in
has  the  ring," if  he  was  third.   order for the label to be incorrect.
Therefore,  the first  goblin  would   Next, the chest labeled "MAGIC" must
have the chest.                        have silver to be labeled incorrect,
                                       because the two treasure types  left
"Three  Caves" - Only  the cave with   are  magic and silver. The remaining
the  treasure has a true  statement.   chest, incorrectly  labeled  "GEMS,"
The  center  cave  cannot  have  the   would contain  magic, that being the
treasure because the statement would   only treasure type left.
 ___________               What is a System Burp?  
/ \  ______ \              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
\@| /~/~~\_\ |               by Loque Windsfoot  
  | \~\____~ |
 _| _~~~~\~\ |  ystem   slow   down.   reading, he  was appalled  at  being
/@| \~\__/~/ |  System   burp.  Node   inside a library and promptly left.
\_/  ~~~~~~ /   freeze. Game delay.
  ~~~~~~~~~~                           I flipped the  pages to "System Slow
All of us have  seen these phrases--   Down." To my delight, the topic cov-
usually  at  an inopportune  moment.   ered an  entire page,  divided  into
Like  the instant you lower parry to   three definitions:
attack  that  stalker. To  learn the
cause of  these  'delays', I  took a   1. Those in the  Realms  of Arms and
hiatus in my spell research.           Essence  put  the  blame for  delays
                                       squarely upon the gods  manipulating
My first resource, as for all mages,   time  itself to  benefit  their fol-
was "The Mage's Handbook: Everything   lowers. For instance, who gains when
You Wanted to Know About Spells That   a delay causes  a fighter to  lose a
Seem to Have no Purpose, and  More,"   valued appendage?  That's right, the
by Dartaghan Darkstar and a nameless   healer who heals him. The same could
taller person. Although there was an   be said when the delay causes death;
interesting chart showing the proba-   the services of a cleric are needed.
bility that a mage will kill himself
and  others soon  after learning the   2. Those in the  Realm of Channeling
death cloud spell, there  was only a   have  a  philosophy  of  their  own.
mention  of a  "System  Stutter"  in   Channelers believe the proliferation
passing. Nothing substantial.          of essence users causes these annoy-
                                       ing delays, citing literature to the
"Loul's  Unabridged  Dictionary," my   effect  that their gods  are unaware
next  choice, was available  only in   that power is being  drawn from them
the second  edition,  which was  too   at  all. They  would not, therefore,
streamlined for  my purposes. Appar-   manipulate  time to help anyone. No,
ently, today's mages do not have the   when many Essence users draw  on the
time to  delve  into  history  while   flows  at once, a  tidal vacuum dis-
looking up topics.                     rupts the  normal passage  of  time.
A trip  to Kelfour's  Public Library   When this vacuum, which  is  thought
was  next. I walked quickly from  my   to  be  many  miles  across,  passes
room  at the  Wayside  Inn,  passing   through an area, time actually comes
through Town Square  along the  way.   to a  near stop. Unfortunately, this
I was comforted by the usual happen-   slow down  usually  does  not affect
ings--morons jumping out of the tree   the denizens  of the  land, which is
and  fighters  taking   pleasure  in   where the problem lies.
dragging others around.
                                       3. The last theory was formulated by
In the Library, I walked back to the   a group  of sorcerers. As you  might
older manuscripts. To my surprise, a   expect, they believe that a combina-
young  fighter stood over the tome--   tion of the previous two definitions
reading it. As I went behind  him to   to be responsible. They believe that
stand in line, he  raised  his  head   if the  other groups would  not draw
and muttered something derogatory in   their power from  only one of  these
guild speak.                           sources, but  from a  combination of
                                       them, the delays would be  less fre-
I supposed that his remark was along   quent as well as less deadly.
the lines of "Ugh." With my tattered
runes, I invoked a forget spell. The   Regardless  of  the cause, I  need a
moment I cast  it at  the young man,   healer  to repair my  arm. My friend
the glint  of intelligence  left his   Mr. Steel Golem thought he needed it
eye.  He not only forgot what he was   more than I do.
 ______________               Wilderness Report
\@| ~| |  | |~ |           by D. Forrest Hobgoblin
  |  |~|--|~|  |  
 _|  |~|--|~|  |  
/@| _|~|  |~|_ |i ho  all!  This  is   because  of this  little tyke with a
\_/ ~~~~  ~~~~ / D.Forrest Hobgoblin   VERY grown-up sword.  I remember the
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ commin'  atcha  from   old days where a Hob was safe in his
the VERY CROWDED wilds of Kulthea...   own neighborhood.  We  NEVER had  to
                                       lock our chests when dad was a kid..
What's that?  WHY  am  I  packin' my
clothes and moving? Are you serious?   The  next  day  wasn't  any  better.
Well then, let me tell you.            Brelga  had just  gone off  to  stay
                                       with  her mother (yea,  we split  on
What is  WITH you stinkies,  anyhow?   acounta' we never got on quite right
Yer like a  bunch  o'  rabbits!  The   after that trip to the Old Inn.) and
latest headline of the GOrc Gazzette   I  decided to  get some  fresh  air.
read:                                  What I'd like to know is.... WHERE'D
                                       ALL THE  FRESH AIR  GO?  It  smelled
 "MILLIONS OF UNWASHED MASSES FLOOD    like a lockerroom out in the forrest
FORREST AND WREAK HAVOC ON PEACEFULL   and all  I could  hear  was more  of
              DWELLERS"                this yellin' and screamin'.
I  couldn't believe my  beady little   Well I got  a little  more than just
eyes! So's I decide to take a stroll   angry  and I  decides to  go talk to
out to the forrest one fatefull day,   that Elvanion person who's  supposed
and even  before  I could  even  get   to have it in with the higher powers
'round da bend, I hear screemin' and   of this world. I wanna put a stop to
laughin' and  yellin' and  all sorts   all this!  I couldn't  beleive it...
of carryin' on!                        ALLOFASUDDEN, from around this bend,
                                       hundreds  of  sreamin' - Whacha call
I  run into this  little smelly tyke   em...NEWBIES? -  come runnen' around
and  he looks at me  kinda funny.  I   the bend, all decked out in this new
say to  the  puny  brat,  "Ho there,   gear lookin like a  chicken race and
smelly! Whats all the huh-bub, bub?"   straight  in my  direction!  I  look
                                       around to see  what the're after and
He stares... blinks... stares s'more   then it hits me...RUN!
and then says, "MEET  THY DEATH  YOU
REGION  FOR I SHALL SMITE  THY BUMPY   they  kept commin' from  everywhere!
HEAD UNTILL YOU LOOK LIKE A PRUNE IN   Luckily I ran  into my big  brothers
THE BELLY  OF A  TORKAN  AND I  WILL   friend  Wiley Wearbear  and as  they
CRUSH  THY BONES INTO  A POWDER THAT   all came round  that bend, the first
WILL MAKE FLOWER LOOK LIKE  SAND AND   ones froze  and the  rest  collided.
I CAN..."                              When  they all  realized  that  they
                                       were no longer up  against little-ol
I  interrupted,  "Scuse me, but that   defenseless  me, they  turned white,
there was one BAD run-on pal!"         frothed  at the mouth a little,  and
                                       ran  faster than  I did!  Boy did we
So he stops... blinks again... howls   have a  good laugh!  Wiley says he's
and pulls  out this  HUGE  white eog   never eatin  better in  years, but I
sword! Where the HECK did this  tiny   still said that  it was gettin  outa
little  runt  get  THAT  thing???  I   hand.
quickly decided to split that scene,
but  before I  could get my knees to   I  was off  to Elvanion  in no time,
stop knocken together, he hefts this   but I  was sure to  hide all the way
thing into my head and that was that   to town!  Once I  had  climbed  into
BAAM and I was out. Dead.  Deceased.   some smellie clothing, I set  off to
Passed-on.  Kicked the  bucket.  All   find Elvanions pad, but ALLOFASUDDEN
POOF!  I was there with Elvanion!      "But  you  haven't even heard  about
                                       the place", he said,  "And the job I
He  says to me,  "Whatcha want D.F.?   have for you takes work and..."
You look  kind of  stupid  in  those
civies." as he pets this realy weird   "I'LL TAKE IT!" I said.
lookin cat.
                                       Needless  to  say,  I  made it  home
"Well, Elv,  I'm tired of this place   after  another race with  the hoards
and I'm  movin' out!  I hear  theres   of smellie brats  and now here I am.
these greener pastures of sorts past   What's  that?  What  will I  do with
Ioraks Reach...Heard about them from   myself?  Oh, hey,  c'mon  now... Elv
some appretice  of Amergin's... Nice   said I got  this job  lined  up with
kid,  but  kinda  wierd, ya know?  I   somethin' called a "Company" working
think it cause the kids spending too   with "Information  Services" or some
much time  with  that Healer Amergin   such junk.  Well, here  I am, at the
and not enuf time with  smellies his   door and all I have to say is THANKS
own age. And another thing..."         FOR BEATIN MY HEAD IN, you smellies.
Elvanion just sat there and listened   My new  job is  workin for  this new
to me  ramble for a LONG while about   corporation called BEnie.  Should be
this and that and finally says to me   an easy no hassle job. Lots of perks
"D.F.,  I have a proposition for ya!   and  I don't  have to deal with you,
How'd you like to take some time off   those  smellies anymore! Everyone is
from this place and  find yerself in   nice and there's no problems in that
a more  exciting and less  dangerous   land. I'll miss this place, tho.
                                       I  suppose  I'll  miss the  brats as
I couldn't believe my ears!  This is   well... NOT!  Bye all,  and remember
what I've wanted for years!  No more   fellow  critters,  If they  drop it,
smellie brats,  no more Eog weildin'   You CAN use it! Stupid monsters..
tykes, no more Chicken-hatted smElfs
and no more ear-splitten Bards! What   Its a wonder they ever survived.
else could I say but "YES!!!"
                       ()  _______       _______   []
                       ||  | ._. |       |  *  |   ||
                     +=II=+|.(_).|       |(...)| +=II=+
                       ||  | .o. |       |\~|~/|   ||
                       ||   \ . /        | ||| |   ||
                       || .  \ /.    ..  |_____|   ||
                       || ,   " .     .      ,     ||
                       `'()     ()   ()     ()     `'
     __                  ||     ||   ||     ||                   __
     ||         (  )    .||,   .||, .||,   .||,      (  )        ||
     ||         _)(____  )(_____)(___)(_____)(________)(_        ||
     ||______   I|||///""\\.\  /.//""\( |||| )/"""\ ||||I  ______||
     ||____||   "|| //""""\\.\/.//""""\~||||~/""""I\||||"  ||____||
     ||----||    ||//I     \\..//      \||||/     I \|||   ||----||
     ||    ||    | / I      \\//        \../      I  \||   ||    ||
     ||    ||    "I  I       ""          ""       I  I""   ||    ||
                          "DRINK OF ALLEGIANCE"
                          by Imric Of Troyhadwyl
 ____________              Before You Roll A Mage
\@| ||=|=|=|| |          by Lord Whilder Planrathe
  | ~~ |_| ~~ |
 _|    |_|    |
/@|   _|_|_   |o be one of  the most   times of  a OHE  trained  mage,  but
\_/__________/ powerful mages of the   after  you get  to a  higher  level,
land,  you  must  first  survive the   your  sword  becomes  useless as  an
Character Manager.                     offensive  weapon.  The real problem
                                       is  that all  of your  friends  will
The saying of An  Old Sage is partly   remember  those levels that you were
in  error.  Before  you step up  and   casting and swinging  your sword  in
face  the dreaded Character  Manager   and no matter how long ago that was,
you must first  be made aware of the   they will  continue  to tell you how
options available to a mage. I will,   great you are  doing and how easy it
hopefully, not quote too many things   is for you to advance.
already  written  about  rolling  up
mages or a character in general.       The second  advantage,  is that  any
                                       bonus  the weapon  may have  due  to
Some of the  best articles for mages   its material or magical enchantments
can be found in  back issues of this   will  be added on  to your defensive
paper, though, I am not certain that   bonus at full parry.  This is almost
all of them  have been moved  to the   as  good as  having a free defensive
GemStone Library.  If you are unable   spell that you never have to cast.
to  find it in the GemStone  Library
here, check the GemStone  library in   The third  advantage, is OHE costs 9
the  Multi-Player  Games  RoundTable   development  points, compared to the
(MPGRT) or the ancient one which was   18 development points for  brawling.
located in Scorpia's RoundTable.       The OHE mage can  develop additional
                                       skills  with the extra 9 development
The  articles I  recommend that  you   points.
get are "The Essentials of Learning"
by  Lythe L'Green  (Vol.1, No. 5 Oct   The disadvantages of training in OHE
1990);  "Magic Section:  Playing the   are several:
Mage" by Lythe L'Green,  "Spells and
Armors"  by Yashantre  Spleenbender,   The first, is you  do not want to go
and "The Delicate  Art of Waving" by   up against something  that can  cast
Twie MonteCristo (all three articles   the  spell weaponfire.  At level 10,
are in Vol. 1, No 9, February 1991);   you are looking  at a DB drop  of 54
lastly,  "So you Want  to be a Mage"   points plus  the bonus of the weapon
by  Dagmar Istarii  (Vol. 1, No. 11,   destroyed.  If it was  laen, your DB
April 1991).                           will drop a total of 69 points. That
                                       is usually enough to put the mage in
One of  the biggest choices you must   a "Time to call a Cleric" situation.
make for your  mage, is  whether you   Also, weapons can break, placing you
should  train  in  One-Handed  Edged   in the same situation.
(OHE) weapons or Brawling.  OHE  has
the following advantages:              The second disadvantage, is you will
                                       want to  stay  away  from  creatures
First, at the lower levels shockbolt   that cast  fear spells.  Unless  you
prepping  time will be  so long that   have a great  self-discipline bonus,
you will depend more on a sword than   you face  dropping both  your weapon
your  spells  for quick advancement.   and shield and  being unable to move
Levels 5  through 10  or so, you can   for several seconds. You should hunt
cast  your spell, swing  your  sword   these creatures with someone who can
and still have  the time to parry up   hold/stun/blind them,  this can be a
against most creatures.                lot of fun. Note that these types of
                                       creatures are unlife and your spells
These levels  are  probably the best   will work fine  against them  though
                                   -=13=-                           More...
you will need a weapon blessed by  a   his  shield,  though  that  might be
cleric  if you want  to hit them the   enough  depending  on the level  and
Old-Fashioned way.                     stats of  the  individual  mage.  He
                                       does not have to worry  about weapon
The  third disadvantage, has not yet   breakage and the cost of replacement
happened  at this writing, but it is   weapons.
a possibility the OHE mage should be
aware of. The current way that we do   Another advantage  is  the  Brawling
combat allows an  OHE mage to hold a   mage is prepared for the new casting
weapon, shield, and still be able to   system, no  matter what requirements
cast spells.  However, this has been   they may be.
scheduled to change. The change will
require that one  hand  be  empty in   The  disadvantages  are the  current
order to cast.  The question on this   cost  of  brawling  (18  development
that has not been  answered at  this   points) and  the lack  of the  extra
time is, which hand?                   protection given  by  magical swords
                                       at  full parry.  This means that the
If either  hand, then  the mage will   Brawling  mage will  need additional
have a  choice of leaving his shield   protection  from spells  or items to
hand empty  while casting.  However,   be as safe as an equal OHE mage.
if the requirement  matches that  of
the weapon users, ie right hand only   The second thing a  mage needs to do
then the higher level OHE mage could   is plan  out  his spells.  With  all
be at an extreme disadvantage.  Note   three  spell lists  available to the
that I  say  could  be,  since there   mage now known, it is the  wise mage
will  undoubtedly be  other  changes   who will know when and  how he wants
made at the  same time that may help   to develop  his spells before he  or
the OHE mage that I am not aware of.   she steps into the Character Manager
                                       for battle with the dice.  The table
The Brawling mage has advantages and   listed below  has all  of the spells
disadvantages.                         known and available to all mages.
The  biggest advantage, is  that the   Note that you  must learn the spells
brawling mage can hold a wand in his   in the order listed. Your level will
right hand,  his shield in  his left   not make  a difference.  If you were
hand and still parry. This means the   level 10 and  switched from the Mage
brawling mage can cast a spell, wave   list to the Closed Essence list, the
his  wand, then parry  up in a short   spell  you learn  will  be spell 501
amount of time.  Less time, in fact,   (Sleep I).  You have  no options  in
than the OHE mage  can cast, swing a   this,  so  plan  out  your  training
sword, and parry up.                   accordingly.
The big  disadvantage, is the rather   Also  note that you  must learn the
slow advancement  that the  Brawling   "Unlisted  Spell"  numbers as  well.
mage will  have until he  reaches  a   For  example, if you  wish  to train
level where  his  prep  time for the   from spell  920,  Call  Familiar, to
spell  becomes almost  zero  seconds   spell  925, Enchant  True,  then you
and his ability to trigger a wand is   must learn  spell  numbers 921, 922,
an automatic success. Unlike the OHE   923 and 924.  There are no spells in
mage,  this  ability to  use a  wand   those "slots".  This is to represent
immediately after  casting,  can  be   the difficulty of these higher level
used  offensively at  higher levels.   spells.
At  least  until they implement  the
new casting system.                    Please be  aware of the requirements
                                       for learning any of the higher level
The  Brawling mage  does not have to   spells.  Too  many  mages, and I  am
worry about  the weaponfire  casting   including myself  in this, will pick
creatures, and if he fails against a   out  and target  a high  level spell
fear spell his biggest loss  will be   and work  their way toward it.  Look
                                   -=14=-                           More...
over  what you  wish  to  learn very   you  could  do  with  several  lower
carefully  and think about what  you   level  spells as  opposed  to having
could  do with those 5  extra spells   one list completed up  through spell
as opposed to only  1 spell, or what   number 20.
   /                                                                    \
  /                               SPELLS                                 \
 |   Open Essence             Mage                   Closed Essence       |
 |   @401 Guarding I          #901 Shockbolt          501 Sleep I         |
 |    402 Presence            *902 Magic Edge         502 Spellstore      |
 |    403 Lock Lore           #903 Water Bolt        @503 Blur            |
 |    404 Trap Lore           #904 Stun Cloud         504 Slow I          |
 |    405 Detect              @905 Displacement       505 Sleep II        |
 |   @406 Guarding II         #906 Fire Bolt         *506 Haste I         |
 |    407 Word of Opening     #907 Cold Ball         @507 Deflection      |
 |    408 Word of Disarming   #908 Fire Ball         @508 Spell Bending   |
 |   #409 Essence Blast        909 Tremors           *509 Strength        |
 |    410 Essence Wave        #910 Lightning Bolt     510 Unpain          |
 |   *411 Essence Blade       @911 Mass Blur          511 Floating Disk   |
 |   *412 Blade Turn           912 Call Wind          512 Slow II         |
 |    413 Vulnerability       #913 Death Cloud        513 Sleep III       |
 |   @414 Guarding III        #914 Firestorm         *514 Haste II        |
 |   #415 Essence Strike      #915 Weapon Fire       *515 Rapid Fire      |
 |    416 Piercing Gaze       @916 Invisibility      !516 Charge Wand     |
 |    417 Dispel Magic        #917 Boil Earth        !517 Charge Staff    |
 |    418 Gather Flows         918 Duplicate        !@518 Bravery True    |
 |   @419 Mass Guarding       @919 Wizard's Shield    519 Sleep True      |
 |    420 Imbed Spell          920 Call Familiar     !520 Calm Dragon     |
 |   *425 True Strike          925 Enchant True     !@525 Mist Form       |
 |  !@430 Guarding True       !930 Unknown           !530 Word of Calling |
 |   !450 Flow Riding         !950 Unknown           !550 Dragon Control  |
 | Notes: Mage spell 930 and 950 must be discovered by the advanced mage. |
 |        They are Unknown to all at this time.                           |
 |                                                                        |
 |        @ = Spells that add to target's defensive bonus.                |
 |        # = Spells that can cause CP damage to the target.              |
 |        * = Spells that increase the targets offensive ability.         |
 |        ! = Spell is not implemented at this time.                      |
 |  Note: I have heard that the Closed Essence spell list is undergoing   |
 |  major changes.  I would recommend that any mage interested in this,   |
 |  download the forum discussion from the GemStone library.              |
 |                                                                        |
 |  To get a full description of each spell, go to the Tomes and at the   |
 |  Query? prompt type in the word "Spells" then select the number that   |
  \ matches the spell list you desire to know about.                     /
Let us  take a general  look at each   In other words,  your level is cross
list, its  known  advantages and its   referenced against the difficulty of
disadvantages.                         the target, and fate determines your
                                       success  or  failure.  If  you think
Open Essence. This list is available   this is easy, talk to sorcerers.
to  several  professions,  including
sorcerers, thieves, and bards.  This   The two spells on this list that can
list  uses  essence type  channeling   do actual damage to  your target are
and not any skills you  can develop.   Essence  Blast and  Essence  Strike.
                                   -=15=-                           More...
Essence Wave, while not  causing any   is  also available only to the mage,
damage,  will  "freeze" the  target,   though I have not verified this.  At
lowering its defense  a little,  and   first glance, this  list  looks very
keep it frozen in  place for several   weak to the mage, but it has several
seconds  allowing you  to attack  it   advantages.  The Sleep  spells  will
without fear.  Other spells, such as   cause  the target to  simply fall to
Vulnerability, if  successful,  will   the  ground  and  fall asleep.  This
lower the targets defense, making it   will lower the defense of the target
much easier to hit. The best overall   considerably.  With  careful  timing
defensive  spells available  to  the   the  mage  can attack  the  sleeping
mage are on this list. Each Guarding   figure and be able to return to full
spell will protect against physical,   parry before the target can get back
magical and channeling  attacks  and   to  its feet and attack.  Each Sleep
have good durations.                   spell  affects  a  certain  level of
                                       creature, but not other levels.
The disadvantage of this list is for
offense in its channeling type rolls   Spell  store will  allow the mage to
for  success  and  that  the  useful   prepare a  spell for combat and keep
spells  for offensive combat are  at   it ready for an indefinite amount of
spell level 9 and up.                  time, as opposed to the spell fading
                                       from the mage  within  10-15 seconds
Mage list.  Available only to mages.   after it is ready to cast.
This list contains  the  best spells
for the mage who wants to go out and   The Slow spells cause the targets to
blast things. All bolt and ball type   take longer  between attacks (3 or 6
attacks use the mages Directed Spell   seconds, depending on which spell is
skill  to  determine the  ability to   used), where  as  the  Haste  spells
hit the target.  Also, knowing these   subtract  from the  time  the target
spells makes it easier for  the mage   needs to take actions. Haste II is a
to trigger wands which contain these   favorite to  cast  on sword-swingers
spells.  In addition, the variety of   in  your party, as it allows them to
directed spells is  better,  as some   attack as fast as possible.
creatures are  more resistant to one
type  of spell or  another, and some   Strength  will add  to the offensive
types of armor  that  are  extremely   capability of the target and affects
difficult to  hit with one spell may   both  weapon use and Directed Spells
be  ridiculously easy  to  hit  with   casting alike.  Out of  those  three
another  spell.                        defensive  spells, though,  none are
                                       that strong.  Two will  protect only
Two spells that do not  use a mage's   against  physical attacks  while the
Directed Spells skill are Weaponfire   third affects only  defense  against
and Boil Earth. The Weaponfire spell   channeling type attacks.  Two of the
is a quick way to disarm an opponent   defensive spells are much shorter in
and do a small bit  of damage, while   duration than  most other  defensive
the Boil Earth spell can damage, and   spells available to the mage.
with extreme luck, kill an  opponent
without  requiring the mage to parry   I hope that this general overview of
down  and possibly be  hit  himself.   weapon versus  brawling and  of  the
The disadvantage to those two spells   spell lists  is useful  to those who
is their cost in Power Points to the   wish to  try being  a mage.  Careful
mage  and the  extreme difficulty to   planning of  the  gaining  of spells
actually do significant damage.        can, at the higher levels, make  all
                                       the difference  between the everyday
All three  defensive spells  protect   mage who walks the land and the Mage
the mage from  physical attacks  and   who is  the  Master of  the Flows of
do not  add to the  mages ability to   Essence.
resist magic or channeling attacks.
                                       The  Character  Manager  awaits your
Closed Essence.  I believe this list   decisions.
                               Keys (Part 1)
 ___________                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/ \  ______ \                    Anonymous
\@| /~/~~\_\ |  
  | \~\____~ |  
 _| _~~~~\~\ | o,  you're new  here,   he said in a soft voice, "Are you in
/@| \~\__/~/ | right?  I could tell.   the habit of buying drinks and leav-
\_/  ~~~~~~ /  Sure, have a  seat. A   ing them on the bar." He didn't make
  ~~~~~~~~~~  drink? Why, thank you.   it a question; it was a statement. I
An ale, if you please. Yes, I remem-   was trying to come up with something
ber my first  visit  to  Helga's. It   to say to  keep from looking  like a
was--well, let me tell you about it.   fool in front of all the folks I had
                                       pushed through  when I  noticed that
I stepped through the doors and into   his cloak was not a garment you just
Helga's Tavern, my  pockets jingling   buy. The corner was too dark to make
with coin from my first explorations   it out clearly, but it certainly had
and victories just outside the gates   darker  stripes   against  the  dark
of Kelfour's  Landing.  Two  of  the   cloak. Thinking of the strange capes
kobolds I met had been very generous   and cloaks worn by others who walked
to me, giving me a chest each for my   the lands, I suddenly realized: Here
efforts. I thought to  celebrate and   is someone I might not want to be on
was given directions to this tavern.   the bad side of.
I must admit I was rude, being flush   Oh, stop snickering. I am well aware
with victories  and what was, to me,   that  there are those who could kill
a vast amount of coin. I pushed past   me without trying. Just you attack a
what were  obviously the "regulars,"   Lord  or Lady when you're  fresh out
dock  workers  and  common townsfolk   of your  apprenticeship.  Many  will
that filled the room, ignoring their   just insult you  by sitting down and
mutters  and remarks. What  did they   watching you attack them.
know?  They  worked  at  their dull,
boring jobs, destined never  to know   Anyway, I  thought  fast. I said, "I
the true thrill of living life as it   saw you sitting here and wondered if
was  meant  to be lived.  After much   you might like a drink.  I'm buying,
effort, I got the bartender's atten-   of course." Stop that laughing! Yes,
tion, ordered  ale, and moved off to   I said it exactly like that!  I did!
find  a table. Ah, that  one in  the   I--I-- all right, all right. I stam-
corner will  do nicely, I thought. I   mered and cleared my throat, but the
elbowed my way through the crowd.      gist of it got through.  He politely
                                       asked  for ale and  I went back  and
As I  reached my  targeted  table, I   purchased one and brought  both ales
realized  someone already sat  there   back to the table.  He invited me to
in the shadows, his back against the   sit with him and asked me some ques-
wall. The hood of his cloak came far   tions  about  myself.  Of  course  I
forward,  hiding  his features;  and   answered!  Each and every one of his
the  cloak wrapped  around  him so I   questions, and  truthfully!  I swear
couldn't  see what else  he might be   it!  Why? Because I  recalled a Lady
wearing. What  did you ask?  Oh, how   who was  walking through  the area I
did  I know it was a male and  not a   was exploring.  This  wolverine came
female?  Well, truthfully, I did not   charging  out of a bush  and snapped
know until much later  when he left.   at  her. She simply brushed it aside
He whispered, and I never got a look   with  a swipe  of her  weapon,  then
at his face. Now, stop  interrupting   apologized.  Apologized!  To me! She
me so I can finish.                    thought  she had  taken away  a kill
                                       from me!
Where was I?  Oh yes, I made  my way
over, ready to  tell this  person to   Ah, I see  you remember  your  first
move, that  I was claiming the table   meetings with  those  beasts. I  was
as my own. But before I  could speak   fortunate  that it attacked the Lady
instead of me. More than  fortunate,   wounds  on him, and he knew he could
since she skinned it  and gave it to   not stand many more.  Still, he felt
me as a  trophy. It is NOT  the same   he could  defeat  the creature,  and
one I showed  off and claimed  as my   visions of displaying its  foul hide
own  kill. That  one  WAS  my  first   to  his friends  made him forget his
kill, not the one  the Lady gave me.   injuries.  Thinking of  friends made
I swear it!                            the Lord Ranger look around himself.
                                       Slowly he let out a sad sigh.
Anyway, he  seemed satisfied with my
answers and  we had  another ale. Of   Where WAS  the town  from here?   In
course, I bought. As  we were on our   fact, where was 'here'?
third ale, he asked if he could help
me with  anything, seeing that I was   Well, someone  would find him sooner
so generous.  Well, I'll tell you, I   or later  and lead him back to town.
thought  long and  hard. Remember, I   It wouldn't  be the  first time that
still wasn't sure if this was a male   had happened.  He went back to stalk
or female, though by this time I had   the beast.  And stopped.
figured  out that it must be a full-
blooded elf. I knew it because their   He was at the top of a small valley,
eyes  are  different. They  kind  of   obviously created by an earthquake a
glow when they use that infra-vision   long  time ago,  from its  weathered
of  theirs. The  glow gave  the eye-   sides. Still, he didn't remember any
shape of a full elf, not one  of the   report of a steep valley. He  leaned
half-elfs that populate this town. I   forward  to see  if there might be a
did notice that the glow was maybe a   way to climb down to explore it.
very light grey in color.
                                       A roar  came from right  behind him!
I thought about it while we finished   Startled, the  Lord  Ranger  spun to
our ales and  ordered another round.   meet the beast and lost his balance,
Then it struck me, what  bothered me   tumbling backwards into the  valley.
when  I found my  first chest!  So I   His only  thoughts as  he fell  were
asked. "Where  do the  creatures who   how he would track the creature down
keep their  treasure in those locked   and kill it if  he ever  found a way
chests  keep the  key? I looked  all   out  of  the valley.  Tumbling  head
over and could never find it."         over heels,  the  Lord  Ranger  lost
                                       consciousness.  At  the  top  of the
Don't look at me like that. It was a   valley  wall, the Torkaan bleated in
fair question. Haven't you ever won-   satisfaction and turned to  make its
dered  about that?  Hah!  I knew it!   way back to the grasslands.
And you probably think that there is
no answer, don't you?                  The Lord  Ranger  awoke  and immedi-
                                       ately tended  his injuries. Then  he
Of course I know.  The elf  told me.   noticed that he was lying in a large
You  want  to  hear  the  tale?  All   thorn  bush. Carefully  he extracted
right, here it is in his own words.    himself, unraveling all the bandages
                                       he had just used and  causing one or
            The Tale                   two  more injuries from  the thorns.
            ~~~~~~~~                   He settled  down to  tend his wounds
"You have  to  understand,  I  don't   again.  After a  couple of hours, he
dare use any names. Some folks would   looked like a mummy, but the  bleed-
be very  upset if this ever got out.   ing was under control. He decided to
Most everyone  will deny  it if  you   climb up the way he had come down.
ask, but that will be your decision.
It all happened this way..."           Halfway up, he remembered he had not
                                       bothered  to  learn  anything  about
"The Lord Ranger  carefully  stalked   climbing.
forward, gleaming sword  ready.  The
terrible  beast he stalked  and bat-   After  waking   up  again,   tending
tled for hours had inflicted several   himself again,  climbing out  of the
                                   -=18=-               (Continued Page 20)
 ____________           Monster Chronicles: Grey Orcs
\@| ~|~|~~|| |                by Jarran Terraxx
  |  |~|_ ~~ |
 _|  |~|-|   |
/@|  |~|     |or some time, the area   will assume that you will be hunting
\_/ ~~~~~    / known  as  Grey  Orcs   there alone.
  ~~~~~~~~~~~ had  been one  of  the
most ideal  places to hunt for money   In order to hunt these Orcs and keep
and treasure.  However, recently  it   from making the same mistakes I did,
seems the Grey Orcs have hit a slump   it  is wise to be  in at  least your
and are  not  nearly  as wealthy  as   tenth year of  training, as  well as
they once were. Perhaps it's due  to   have  the  necessary  equipment with
the constant adventuring in the area   which to handle them.
or perhaps it is the short supply of
the materials they needed.  Whatever   Unlike their  darker  cousins,  Grey
the case  may be, for  now  they are   Orcs do not have quite as powerful a
barely able  to find any treasure to   Defensive and Offensive Bonus.  This
reward those who hunt them.            does  not,  by any  means,  indicate
                                       that they are  less dangerous -- as I
Yet  this does not mean they are any   quickly  discovered on more than one
less dangerous than they were. Quite   occasion.
often, those adventurers that hunted
there  lost  their  lives  in  their   The Grey Orcs prefer to wear leather
pursuit of riches.  Grey Orcs are by   armor  which gives them a  Defensive
far  the most  dangerous of  orcs in   Bonus (commonly  referred to  as DB)
the lands these days.                  of about 90,  making  them difficult
                                       to hit  for younger adventurers.  In
Grey Orcs inhabit a small area with-   most cases they can be parry-tagged.
in the  Forest  Lands.  This area is   Which  means raising your  DB to its
both secluded and a bit dangerous to   maximum  and  waiting  for  them  to
get into. When the Grey Orcs settled   attack; then  dropping your parry to
into their area, they made sure that   0 -- thereby placing  all of your DB
it  was  both   secluded  and  some-   into  your OB (or  Offensive Bonus);
what guarded from the unwary.          swinging at  them, and  then raising
                                       your DB to full again. Unfortunately
The trail  to their  hidden land  is   this leaves you at an extremely  big
hidden  down  a foot  path   that is   disadvantage  if  another  Grey  Orc
heavily guarded  by creatures  known   happens  to  come running  into  the
as Werebears. However, the Werebears   area while you are defenseless.
are best  left discussed for another
day.   For  now,  we'll  discuss our   Grey Orcs also have quite a powerful
friends, the Grey Orcs.                OB  themselves.  They usually prefer
                                       to use maces, which gives them an OB
The Grey  Orcs  get their  name from   of 90. I quickly found this out when
the greyish color of their skin. The   I tried  parry tagging one,  only to
color, along with their features, is   have another  one come  in  the area
enough to make  the young adventurer   and shatter  my chest with one shot,
sick from just looking at them.  The   making  my life generally unhappy at
ugliness of their features is by far   the loss of my weapon, shield and my
the  least of  the more  experienced   life.
adventurer's concern.
                                       However, this is not the main reason
When I was young and foolish  enough   why  so many adventurers  have  lost
to  go with others to hunt this then   their  lives here.  The first time I
land of bountiful treasures,  I soon   went hunting Grey Orcs I thought, No
discovered  just how dangerous these   problem, I can handle them. That was
creatures could really be.  However,   also before  I discovered, by taking
for  the purpose  of  discussion  we   a fire bolt in the skull and leaving
my  head  a smoldering  stump,  that   that these  chests are  Level II and
Grey Orcs have a limited ability for   more often than  not, are trapped.
casting  spells.  Naturally,  at the
time this all-too-late discovery did   So  before  you go  hunting  in Grey
very little to save my head...not to   Orcs, it would  be a  wise  idea  to
mention  give  new  meaning  to  the   make  sure  someone knows  where you
phrase, "well done."                   are hunting, just  in  case you meet
                                       an  unfortunate  demise. And  if you
So far to date, Grey Orcs have  been   see a Stun  Cloud, don't hesitate to
known to cast only two spells.  Fire   run. :)
bolt, which  I mentioned earlier, is
easy to  defend  against with proper     ________________________________
spells and equipment. However, their    /                                \
most dangerous and destructive spell   | Descr. of  Grey Orcs:  This Orc, |
is Stun Cloud.  At first, these semi   | midway in size  between a lesser |
harmless  looking clouds,  appear as   | and a greater orc, has a greyish |
simple red  clouds  in the air.  But   | cast  to  its  skin, lending  an |
within seconds, this  harmless cloud   | unhealthy pallor  to an  already |
begins sparking and taking  on a new   | hideous   countenance.  Its  dim |
form. Scant moments later, the cloud   | intelligence flickers behind the |
begins  unleashing nasty and all-too   | narrow eyes, and a mocking  grin |
often deadly  bolts  of  fire.  This   | shows blackened and rotted teeth.|
usually  leaves  the adventurer in a    \________________________________/
rather dangerous position.  However,
it has also been verified by me,  as   Keys - Continued from Page 18
I stood stunned from  a blast of one   ~~~~
of the stun  clouds, that  Grey Orcs   thorn  bush again, and  tending  his
are also  defenseless  against these   wounds yet again, he decided to walk
creations they set loose.  More than   along  the valley  floor  to  see if
once  I have  seen a  Grey Orc  meet   there was an  easier way out, like a
its own  demise  from these  clouds.   stairway.
Please also  note  that  Stun Clouds
have  a tendency to travel from room   A while later  the Lord Ranger noted
to room. So  even if  you do  happen   that thorn bushes covered both sides
to get out of  the  room  where  one   of the  steep  walls. In  fact, they
was set  off, be wary. It might just   were like an obstacle to keep anyone
decide to follow  you, depending  on   from climbing  down. Or up.  His end
which way the wind is blowing.         of the  valley narrowed suddenly and
                                       went  almost  straight  up. Sighing,
The best equipment to take  to fight   the Lord  Ranger turned to go to the
Grey Orcs  is  laen  equipment,  due   other end when he spotted some move-
to  their  resistance from  breakage   ment under one of the  thorn bushes.
and the added  bonus  they give.  Do   Quickly  the  Lord  Ranger drew  his
keep  in  mind however, that  if you   sword and prepared for battle.
are slain  by a Grey  Orc, they will
usually  give  up  their own  shield   (To Be Continued)   * * *
for  your more expensive  one, which                      ***-*-*
leaves  you  roughly  33,000 silvers                    _//* . . *\_
poorer and nothing  to show for  it.                      *|   | *
All too often, I  have lost my prize           *********** \  \//
equipment  to the Grey Orcs, and now        ****************  - *
that  they are very  poor creatures,      ************************
it is usually not worth  the loss of    **/_****** *** ***********
such expensive gear.                        ****** *** ***** *** *
As far as treasure  goes, if you are         ) / / (    \ | | /
lucky  enough  to kill  a  Grey  Orc        ( \   \|     |) ||
that happened to  be  carrying  some         ||   ||     || ||
kind of  chest or box, keep  in mind          ##   ##     ## ##
 ____________             Inside the Spider Temple
\@| ||=|=|=|| |          by Lord Trachten Hickapod
  | ~~ |_| ~~ |  
 _|    |_|    |  
/@|   _|_|_   |he   inside  of   the   you are hiding in the room.  Priests
\_/__________/spider  temple has re-   and  priestesses  are well versed in
opened and offers excellent hunting,   the open channeling spell list.  The
especially for ambushers.              flare spell is probably the worst of
                                       their attacks (it is the  equivalent
Both  the priests  and  acolytes are   of a fireball attack).  Fortunately,
stunnable, get normal criticals, and   they prefer  to use  their  weapons,
do  not  have  critical  resistance.   only  casting spells every 8  rounds
They will sit and  tend, but not  if   or so.
 //                                                                      \
||            Priest/Priestess                   Hrasskian Acolyte        |
||   Level:      26                          Level:      23               |
||   Attacks/OB: Scimitar/200, Sword/200,    Attacks/OB: War Hammer/170   |
||               Flare/201                                                |
||   DB:         205                         DB:         188              |
||   Roundtime:  9 Seconds                   Roundtime:  7 Seconds        |
||   Cp's:       Approx. 220                 Cp's:       Approx. 190      |
||   AT:         2                           AT:         16               |
||   Skin:       None                        Skin:       None             |
||   Treasure:   Level 3 Chests              Treasure:   Level 3 Chests   |
||   Special:    Word of Stun, Guidance,     Special:    None             |
||               Unbalance, Web Spell                                     |
Mammoth  arachnids are  not  so good   THT of AT 4 vs a falch is 84 but for
for ambushers.  They have short RT's   the Arachnids vs. a falch it is 83.
(more commonly known as Roundtimes),
and get  large criticals.  Blind and      _______________________________
e-wave work on them,  but when using    //                               \
e-wave, be  careful as the arachnids   ||        Mammoth Arachnids        |
tend to stand and strike at the same   ||        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~        |
instant.                               ||     Level:       30             |
                                       ||     Attacks/OB:  Ensnare/220    |
The AT (also known as Armor Type) of   ||                  Bite/235       |
the  Mammoth  Arachnids  requires  a   ||     DB:          180            |
little explanation.  Like many other   ||     Roundtime:   6 Seconds      |
creatures with natural protection in   ||     CP's:        Approx. 325    |
GemStone, the Arachnids have what is   ||     AT:          4 (-1)         |
called a 'tweaked' AT.  The critical   ||     Skin:        None           |
thresholds and  cp damage match that   ||     Treasure:    None           |
of  AT  4, but the THT's  are  AT  4   ||     Special:     Web            |
THT's MINUS  ONE.  For  example, the    \\_______________________________/
Webbing  was a  big problem with the   now have a  chance to dodge the web.
old spider temple.  The new webs are   However,  if you  are  webbed  again
a  slight  improvement.  For priests   before the  first web wears  off, it
the web spell  is  a  channeling  RR   STILL increases your web time.  Solo
spell,  and for the spiders  it is a   hunters  should  log as soon as they
hard maneuver roll.  Either way, you   are  webbed,  because  the  arachnid
will just  stand  there piling  more   DB and  possibly  your Roundtime are
and more webs on.  To make  problems   affected.
worse, webbed adventurers cannot  be
dragged.                               The worst  thing about  hunting  the
                                       spider temple is the number of rooms
If  you are webbed, the  duration is   to check and doors to go through.  I
10s/lvl  of caster (modified  by the   ended up writing  up four macros for
result of your maneuver roll for the   searching the rooms, one starting in
arachnids  web).  Your DB  from your   each room around the altar (N, S, E,
QU, shield, and armor bonus  will be   and W).  When hunting  solo, I found
lost.  Your entire DB will come from   that 2-3 creatures  gen'd at a time.
spells and your parried OB.  You can   Having macros to help  me track them
be partially webbed,  where your OB,   down made life much simpler.
/ \                                                                      \
\_@|                    --- Inside the Spider Temple ---                  |
   |                                                                      |
   |                    X  C  C  E                                        |
   |                     \ ^  ^  ^                                        |
   | 'E' and 'C'          \|  |  |                   adjectives describe  |
   | rooms are cells,      X--X--X  E                doors to get to      |
   | 'E' cells have               \ ^                leg, e.g. 'go gold   |
   | escape tunnels                \|                door' to go to this  |
   |                                X       X--X <-- leg                  |
   |                C  C  C  C       \     /                              |
   |                ^  ^  ^  ^      onyx gold                             |
   |                |  |  |  |         \ /                                |
   |                X--X--X--X--X       X       X--X                      |
   |                             \     /^\     /                          |
   |                            marb  / | \  wind                         |
   |                               \ /  |  \ /                            |
   | 'A' marks altar                X<--A-->X*  <- arch -> X <- go door,  |
   | in center of temple,          / \  |* / \             *    entrance  |
   | 'go altar' to get          basa  \ | /  bej                to spider |
   | to it                       /     \v/     \                temple    |
   |                         X--X       X*      X                         |
   |                             *     / \     * \                        |
   | gold rings only work           wood teak     \                       |
   | in rooms marked with '*'        /     \       X                      |
   |                :               X--X    X--X   *                      |
   |                :               *       *                             |
   |                :                                                     |
   |    There are only a few rooms in the temple where you may use a      |
   |    navigator's ring (marked with a '*' on  the map). Beyond the      |
   |    teak and wood doors are safe rooms, i.e., no creatures there.     |
/@ |                :         //~~~~~~~~~\                                |
\_/_________________:_____  // __________________________________________/
                 ___:__    |/      _______
               /    :    \ ||    //-------\\
             /             \|  // ________  \\
            |               |// //-------\\
            |              _|_/______     \\
             \            /    \-----\\    \\
            ____\        /       |      \\   \
            ------ -----|        @@@     ||
                 //  // \ __ @@   @     ||
               //   // ||     @@@       ||
             //    //  ||
            ||     \\  ||          -=22=-
            ||      \\__\\________
             \\       --  -------
 _______________               Robomagess Part 2
\@| +|~| __ |~|+|             by Belladonna Atropa
  |  |~|/~~\|~| |
/@| _|__/  \__|_|ith  the  ranger at   "I hate just looking for the things.
\_/_____________/ my  side,  walking   When I am fighting  them I know what
anxiously (I had not yet figured out   to expect."  He  said with a hint of
a way to make rings work), we headed   uneasiness creeping into his voice.
up Blototh.
                                       I  smiled,  knowing  exactly how  he
"Are you sure  you want to do this?"   felt,  yet at the  same time, I  had
he asked needlessly.  "The last time   never done this before. My mind on a
things  did not  work out too  well,   million  things at  once, I  led the
you were... normal then."              way around a  corner, almost bumping
                                       into the  back of  a golem  who  was
"I am normal now," I replied keeping   doing a sidestep dance  with another
my eyes  on the  steep  path we were   golem.
                                       I  began  preparing  the  blur spell
"Well, normal  for you," he  replied   automatically,  casting  it  on  the
nonchalantly.  "You are still a  bit   ranger as the golem facing us lifted
stiff  compared to most  fighters or   its foot and stomped.  I jumped back
even  most mages  with swords.  I am   up on my feet, and fired all four of
still not sure  how that  'armor' of   my right  wands  at the back of  the
yours is  going to  work, especially   other golem.  Four good, solid hits.
against golems."
                                       The ranger  was slowly  wobbling his
"It is not armor," I murmured rather   way to his feet, trying to find them
quietly.  "It is what passes for  my   and the  ground at the same time.  I
chest. I do not know how it works as   had done this before, yet it had not
armor, as  a chest  it seems  to get   worked.  At  the  same  time,  I had
the job done."                         never done this before.
"What  do you  say about trying cave   I prepared a shockbolt spell, firing
trolls for a while, just to  get you   it  at  the golem  who still had not
warmed up a little?"  He asked a bit   turned to face  us.  A clean shot to
hopefully.                             the  head, but all that seemed to do
                                       was wake him up.  He finally turned,
"I  did fairly  well hunting  golems   and stomped.
before that fight.  I never had much
luck  with  cavers."  As I spoke, we   He stepped on the ranger's right arm
crossed  over the  fallen door  into   but before I could  move to help him
the  steel halls.  I had never heard   to his feet, the first golem pounded
the place so silent.                   at me with its  huge  fist.  I waved
                                       my four  left fingers at that golem,
We stood for a  moment,  but nothing   prepared another shockbolt, bringing
seemed  to be moving  within.  I had   my arm up to  fire the spell at that
not come up here  to not fight steel   same golem.
                                       Suddenly, everything seemed to start
"Hello, is anybody home?"  I called,   moving in slow motion again. A third
tickling the  ranger  carefully,  to   golem literally  stomped  around the
avoid cutting him with the falchion.   corner ahead. My shockbolt shot over
                                       the second golem's left shoulder.  I
For a while, we heard the  echoes of   fell to the  ground, my eyes locking
my voice, but no other sounds.  With   on the third golem, the one  wearing
a shrug, I moved on farther into the   a green silk cloak and a  gold ring.
side of the mountain.                  I  always wondered  if they recycled
                                   -=23=-                           More...
these things.                          about fighting a long time ago.
I landed on  my left side, trying to   I yanked my shield off my left hand,
roll to my feet. My thoughts started   hooked the ranger under his left arm
running far ahead of my  body, I had   and dragged him out of the room.  He
already prepared  and fired the next   was lying  on the  ground,  still in
spell  while my legs were struggling   shock, but at least not in danger of
to get me up off the ground.           being stepped on  by  either  of the
                                       heavy walkers.  I  draped  his cloak
I saw  the ranger mouthing sounds as   over him  to keep him warm, doing my
he stared  at his rapier, which  was   best to tend his arm wound, reset my
lying  on the ground  near  what was   shield and headed back to the fight.
left of his now broken arm.
                                       Only one golem was still waiting for
My  gaze on the ranger was  suddenly   me  in the  next room.  One battered
broken as a golem pounded at me with   steel golem, the one with  the  ring
its huge fist. Despite how low I was   and the  cloak  had  disappeared, as
to the  ground, it  still managed to   had the rapier. I shuddered to think
brush against my back. I hardly felt   of a steel golem walking around with
a thing.                               a shaalk rapier, but  I knew that my
                                       imagination was getting carried away
I  tried to  prepare a  displacement   again.  Things that get dropped have
spell, but my body still had not yet   always had  an interesting  habit of
caught up to the  shockbolt I knew I   disappearing.  Besides,  golems  did
needed to cast  at the  first golem.   not carry weapons.
My mind kept moving. I realized that
I needed to finish up the golem that   I waited for the attack from the one
had  first stomped,  since I had hit   remaining golem, I was up on my toes
it the hardest already.  I also knew   and ready to duck out from under its
I needed to take on the second golem   heavy swing.  Golems were so easy.
after that.
                                       The arm came up and then  around.  I
My body  had finally  gotten me back   ducked, then stepped in, fired off a
on my feet.  I had prepared a spell.   shockbolt,  followed by a blast from
I knew where it  needed to go, but I   my four left fingers.  The cold ball
could not take my eyes off the golem   turned its head into an ice cube and
in the green silk cloak.               the huge shape fell to the ground. I
                                       quickly searched the golem, but came
As it swung at me, I quickly ducked;   up empty, so I headed  back to check
that seemed to break the slow spell.   on the ranger.
Things  started  moving at  a normal
rate  again.  The  shockbolt slammed   He  was still in shock, but with the
into the  chest of the  most damaged   blood  loss  stemmed, at  least  his
golem,  slamming into its chest  and   color was better. I did what I could
leaving a gaping hole there. One was   to  make him  comfortable, elevating
down.                                  his legs, waiting, crouched  next to
                                       the maimed  figure.  I  continued to
I looked at the ranger. He still had   wait and wait.  Suddenly, he blinked
not moved. He seemed to be in shock,   and then shuddered. Pulled his cloak
in fact, which was hardly surprising   up around his  chin, finally looking
considering  what had  just happened   up at me.
to him.
                                       "Where  am  I?"  he asked, his voice
I waved my four right fingers at the   seemed to sound far away.
second golem, four solid hits to its
body, but  not much else.  It swung,   "Blototh.  You are  on Blototh.  Can
hammering me in the chest.  I seemed   you tell me where you are?" I asked.
to hold up against it pretty well, I
finally remembered what  I had known   "I'm in steel golems?" he responded,
almost as if he was not sure.          seemingly still a little in shock.
He would be all right.  No, maybe he   We stepped onto the fallen door, the
would  not be all right.  He was not   rapier  came  slashing  down  out of
looking  at me,  he was looking past   nowhere.  The ranger  fell  from  my
me, and yet, there was nobody there.   arms, dazed,  pressing his remaining
                                       hand into his torn stomach.
With a sudden  chill running down my
spine, I carefully straightened from   I yanked  my shield free, hooking my
my crouch and turned around.  Before   left fingers under his left arm.  As
I realized  what  was happening, the   I did,  I saw the golem  pulling the
rapier  came slashing down, clipping   ring off its hand, I quickly dropped
me on the front of my right shoulder   the  ranger,  swinging  my  falchion
and stopped  there, turned aside  by   across and tearing  into steel.  The
my weird  new skin.  I was bleeding,   hand clutching  the ring  fell away,
but just barely.                       as I reset my shield the golem and I
                                       looked at one another and smiled.
I brought my hands up and fired from
all eight wands. The blast literally   The golem stomped.  I jumped back to
picked  the golem up and  slammed it   my feet as the  rapier came slashing
against the wall, after the force of   down again. This golem was not going
the  wands  released  the  golem, it   to be easy! I stepped back, prepared
dropped to the floor.                  blur, and cast it on myself.   I was
                                       going to  need  every  little bit of
I smiled at the golem,  it smiled at   help I could get.
me, then it took off its ring.
                                       The golem  stepped in, pounded at me
"No!" I shouted, quickly preparing a   with its left  arm stump.  I brought
shockbolt,  but by  the time I fired   the  shield up to  take the blow, at
it, the target had disappeared.        the same  instant, spinning to bring
                                       the falchion  around  to  catch  the
"Was that my rapier?" he groaned.  I   rapier.  I deflected the rapier with
nodded.  "Sorry.  I should  not have   ease.
left it lying there."
                                       Without  giving it  time to swing at
"I will take it out of your cut."  I   me  again, I quickly waved all eight
said jokingly, then turned  serious.   fingers  at  the  golem.  Two  clean
"So far,  I have  not found anything   misses, two of  the fireball attacks
on them as yet."                       exploded uselessly against the wall.
                                       Six hits, and  none gave me any kind
"We found a golem  with a ring,"  he   of an advantage.
glanced around nervously.
                                       The  golem  pounded  at me again.  I
"Yes, and  it is using it.  I better   raised  the shield, spun once  again
get you out of  here."  I helped him   to  bring the  falchion  around, but
to his  feet, and  we began  walking   this time its right  hand pounded as
towards the fallen door.               well, the rapier  sliced into me and
                                       left me a broad cut on my chest.
We walked around the bend, carefully
this time.  No  golems  dancing.  We   My falchion  managed to  clip him on
continued down the  hall, making one   the  shoulder, but accomplished very
last turn. I could see the door just   little.  It stepped  towards  me.  I
ahead of us.                           stepped back,  and  bumped  into the
                                       wall.  The golem smiled.
"You  ready  for  some sunshine?"  I
teased,  knowing it  was  well after   I  prepared a shockbolt and cast it.
dark.                                  Did golems have noses that mattered?
                                       This one did not any more.  While it
"Moonshine  is okay,"  he responded,   pondered  the loss  of  its nose,  I
stepped away  from the wall, pushing   me that had not been replaced, but I
quickly past the  golem,  putting my   did not run as much as I had before.
back to the fallen door and the cool   Stopping by the stump on my way down
night air outside.  The golem turned   the mountain,  I thought, "Is he all
and stepped after me. I slashed with   right?"
the falchion,  then waited  for  its
next attack.                           Seconds passed before I  finally got
                                       a response. I picked up the thoughts
It brought the rapier slashing down.   of the ranger, "He will live."
I raised my shield to catch the blow
as it stomped.  I fell to the ground   The  offer I got for the emerald was
and quickly rolled to my left as its   pretty  insulting, so  I kept it.  I
left arm stump punched straight into   returned  the  rapier and  shield to
the floor. From my knees, I attacked   the ranger, then  asked  one  of the
its right leg.  The falchion cutting   local bards about the cloak. He said
deeply, leaving half a  leg on  that   it was not magical, but could easily
side.  I stepped  into the golem and   be enchanted.  Not that I could have
stuck my right  pinky  wand  against   afforded  that  just  then,  but  it
its  chest  and fired at point blank   gave me something to think about.
                                       I  still have  both the  emerald and
As  the smoking  ruins of the  golem   the ring.  I am waiting for the next
sank towards the ground, I scrambled   visit by the merchants, to see if we
to  check  on the  ranger.  With the   can  make those  into  some  kind of
stomach wound on top of the blood he   pendant I can use instead of a ring.
had  already  lost,  he was in  poor
I rubbed my chest.  "We are going to 
need a healer in the town square, in 
a hurry!" 
I  could never carry  the ranger far                  @/-  -/@
enough that fast, even with two good                @/-  _/@/
hands.  Then I remembered something,                  | | /
quickly turning  and  searching  the                  | ||
golem.  One  green silk  cloak.  One                  | ||
blue shaalk rapier.  Best of all, in                  | ||
its chest  cavity, an emerald.  What                  | ||
an emerald it was!  But no ring.                      | ||
                                                      | ||
The ring had  been on the hand I cut                  | ||
off.  I  looked  around  the  floor,                  | ||_
found it, grabbed the ring, pressing                _/___\_\_
it onto the ranger's finger.                      /         \.\
                                                 /           \..\
I quickly broadcasted over the think            |     /^\     |..|
net,  "He is on  his way."  I looked            |    |   |    |..|
one more  time around the room.  The            |     \_/     |..|
ranger had dropped his shield during            |    _____    |..|
the battle.  I picked up the shield,             \    ___    /../
his shaalk rapier, stuffing those in              \ _______ /./
my  backpack,  picked up  the cloak, 
draped it over my shoulders,  picked 
up  the emerald  and  headed towards 
the door.  
It was a  long walk with no company. 
My legs were about the  only part of 
 _________                 Matter of Honor (Part IV)
\@| ~|_|~  |                     by Sean2 Ladd
  |  | |   |
 _|  |~|   |
/@| _|~|_  | was  surrounded  by  at   grandfather gotten me into?!
\_/ ~~~~~ / least a dozen or more of
  ~~~~~~~~my so-called new comrades.   "Yes-s,"  he hissed  at me.  "I like
There  were a  few  smiles, but they   pretty-boys,  I  like  pretty halfie
were the kind of smile the cat shows   boys even better..."
the mouse,  and they  were all aimed
at me.                                 The last was said just as he grabbed
                                       for me  with his  left hand.  I  had
"Well,  well,  well.  Here is a real   been expecting something of the sort
pretty-boy."                           and quickly stepped back, drawing my
                                       sword. Whatever doubts may have been
"What  shall we  do with  our newest   lingering, were quickly put to rest.
'comrade', eh lads?" the biggest one   I was  not about to simply roll over
continued.  "O-o-o-h, and  a halfie,   and give in.
too.  I  always  liked pretty halfie
boys..."                               I could feel the sword-bond begin to
                                       form  between myself  and the sword,
If there  had been  any confusion as   drawing deeply on  the power that it
to what was supposed to happen next,   offered.  Perhaps my grandfather had
it was being dispelled quickly.  The   been  testing me all these years, to
implications   of  the  ringleader's   see if I am truly 'tek T'Maerionnal.
rude remarks were not lost on me. My   After all, he himself  had performed
ex-teacher, Callinthaerion, had told   the  rite of  House Weapons Sealing,
me about the various forms of shield   giving me the ability  to double, or
partnering.                            even triple,  my  fighting skills at
According  to  Callin,  they  ranged
from  the purely professional of two   "Watch  it, Mik!"  one of the others
or more people assigned to do a job;   called, as  my sword  began to  glow
to the long-term  friendship and the   lightly.  "He has one of them cursed
trust of  mercs who  worked together   elf-bonded swords!"
for a long time and knew each others
abilities AND  shortcomings; to  the   The one called Mik, the ring-leader,
partnering  of two  people  in full,   stopped and drew his arm back to his
with  all that  implied.  It  looked   sword,  lightly resting his  hand on
like the last was  what the big  one   the  sword  hilt.  He looked me over
was after. Sort of.                    with narrowed  eyes, as  if studying
                                       an intriguing puzzle.
It is not that I was offended by the
concept. Shal'maak couplings of both   "So, a  pretty  halfie  boy  with  a
men and women had been common enough   pretty halfie toy," he said, smiling
at my grandfather's keep, no-one had   coldly.  "It is so-o-o big, too."
made any kind of distinction between
them  and  the  male-female type  of   Three or four  of the others laughed
arrangements.  I was not interested.   harshly, the rest watched  intently.
I was  also less interested in being   I  drew deeply  on the bond, feeling
"forced" into such an arrangement.     it gather its strength as  its power
                                       meshed with my own power and skills.
I took  a second to look around, and   I  straightened  from  the defensive
noticed something  that had  escaped   crouch I had automatically assumed.
me before.  There were  no women  in
the camp, of any kind.  That brought   "True," I  replied,  as calmly,  and
on a  sense of  panic that  had  not   with as much assurance, as  I could.
been there before.  Just what had my   "I am a 'halfie', as you so quaintly
put it.  Sean 'tek T'Ma..."            was  Torvaal,  my Company Commander.
                                       Torvaal I recognized, because he had
I had  forgotten  my nurses  warning   once  come to  my grandfather's keep
about using my real name, just as  I   in  person,  along  with  some guild
had  been  about  to  say "Sean 'tek   representative,  to take my  oath to
T'Maerionnal,  at your service" when   the company.  It was hard to believe
a blast of power had surged from the   that it was only yesterday, if today
sword through the bond.  The pain of   was still today.
that blast was so intense that I had
been  driven to my  knees, unable to   The other person  was no-one I knew,
breath  and  unable to  release  the   but I  had a  vague, uneasy  feeling
sword.                                 that he was someone I  was not going
                                       to like.
The sword  was glowing  a  brilliant
red, pulsing  like a  living  thing.   "I do  not give  a rat's  knackers!"
With every  pulse  another  blast of   Torvaal yelled at  the other person.
pain washed  through  my  body.  The   "The old  man assured me  that  your
understanding of what my grandfather   skill  was sufficient  to detach the
had  done  flashed through my  mind,   sword once the  curse was triggered.
but was  driven  out by  yet another   Also, that once it was detached, you
wave of pain.  I could see the faces   could transfer it to me. I want that
of the men surrounding  me, most  of   sword!  Now!! Do you understand, me,
them pointing and  laughing; some of   NOW!!"
them intently enjoying  my pain with
a relish  that would  have disgusted   "Torvaal, I have  already told you,"
me had I been able to think clearly.   the other replied quietly. "That the
There would be no help from them!      curse some how appears to be tied to
                                       the  sword  bond.  If you  break the
Suddenly I seemed to be able to hear   bond now, you will kill the boy."
my  grandfather's voice.  He  seemed
amused and rather  pleased with what   "If you kill  the boy," he rushed to
was occurring.                         continue.  "The sword will fade. The
                                       old  man WAS  right, I CAN break the
"So soon?  Heh,  heh, he  must  have   bond.  But  he did  not tell you two
drawn deeply on the bond, too. Good,   primary facts.  One being  that  YOU
very good.  Yes-s, nicely done.  But   need  to be  part elf, which we both
not too  much, I want it to live for   know you are not."
awhile yet..."
                                       "The second,"  he said, holding up a
At that I felt darkness wash over me   hand to  forestall  Torvaal's reply.
as the lack of air began to take its   "The second fact, is if the bond  is
effect.                                broken,  the boy dies and  the sword
                                       goes poof!"
                                       "Curse that old man!" Torvaal's face
I was aware, yet not truly awake.  I   grew purple with rage. "Curse him to
could  feel  the  pain  of seriously   the nethermost hell!  He has lied to
abused muscles throughout my  entire   me, he  has used  me, and he tricked
body, yet the sensation seemed to be   me.!!  Curse him!"
distant, as  if some  how I were not
really connected  to the rest of me.   "Shoe is on the other foot for once,
As I grew  more "aware", I noticed a   eh?" the other man chuckled.
figure  laying on  a cot  below  me,
with two other men standing over it.   Torvaal whirled  and reached for his
That figure was myself.  I had heard   sword. The man just stood there with
of this, but never even expected  to   a sardonic grin on his face. Torvaal
experience it.                         glared at him for a  few seconds and
                                       then  drew  a deep breath, releasing
One of  the two  people in  the tent   his pent up anger.
"You are  right, Miktok,  it is," he   "What?!"  Torvaal let  out a  shout.
replied flatly.  "But  that does not   "All this so  that YOU can have  the
mean I have to like it!"               sword?!"
"You were  right about  the old man,   "Relax!" Miktok  countered.  "If you
too," he continued  as he  turned to   stop and think, the  only place that
peer down at my body on the cot. "He   is warded  all the time  is my tent.
is one tricky bastard. So, how do we   More specifically, my special chest.
salvage something from this?"          I will  have to  keep the  sword  in
                                       there. Otherwise the bond will start
"We?" asked  the mage, with a gleam.   to grow..and we will have to do this
"I do not know  about you, but I  am   all over again.  And again, and..."
going  to  mute the  spell enough so
that the boy can  function.  While I   "Alright  already!"  Torvaal finally
am at it, I will blank out the sword   acknowledged grudgingly.  "I get the
and the curse  from the boy's active   point."
                                       Torvaal  glared  at the  mage for  a
"When he  comes to, tell him that he   long minute and then nodded once. He
must choose a new name to use in the   turned,  kicked a  camp stool across
company.  Yes, that  will do nicely.   the  tent  and  stormed out.  Almost
Tell him, that if his real name does   immediately after his exit his voice
become  known, that  the the  entire   could be  heard clearly,  yelling at
company will try to kill him."         someone standing nearby.
"Just  listen,"  the mage continued.   The mage  chuckled and  turned  back
"We need to  keep him under control.   towards my sleeping figure. He began
We also  need  to make  sure that he   to chant under his breath, gesturing
does  not trigger  the curse  again.   over  my  body  with  both hands.  I
Right?"                                could  feel  myself  falling,  as if
                                       being drawn back  into my body.  The
He looked expectantly at Torvaal and   pain began to  become more  intense,
waited.  Torvaal,  deep  in thought,   there  was  a roaring sound, a  loud
stood there  musing,  then  abruptly   rushing, as if  from  a  great wind.
grinned.                               The pain-n...
                                               (To Be Continued)
"Go on," he said with a tight smile.                  ***
"I think I see  where you are going,                // * \\
but tell me anyway."                                | *** |
                                                    \\ * //
"OK, we  will work  it like this.  I                 {|*|}
will mute the curse and blank  it as                 {|*|}
much as I can without doing any real                 {|*|}
damage.  While  I am at  it,  I will                 {|*|}
also  plant  a suggestion  spell, so            \\+++||*||+++//
that when he first comes to, he will              ~~~[~~~]~~~
be susceptible  to whatever you tell                 [   ]
him."                                                [   ]
                                                     [   ]
"You  tell him  that he  is in great                 [   ]
danger if  his name  becomes  known.                 [   ]
Something about his birth.  That way                 [   ]
he  will not  trigger  the spell, we                 [   ]
can also keep the  sword under wraps                 [   ]
until I can  figure out some  way to                 [   ]
transfer the thing.  If I can."                      [   ]
                                                     [   ]
"Oh, one more thing.  I will have to                 [   ]
keep the sword in my quarters."                       \_/
 ___________                    Dogged Daze
/ \      __ \                   ~~~~~~~~~~~
\@|     / "| |              by Lloyd Llowd, PhD
  |    //|"| |
 _|   //=|"| |
/@|  //  |"| |ll great civilizations   #1 butcher in the Landing. (One won-
\_/ ~~   ~~~/  fall  once they  come   ders where Lord Strom was for this.)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~   to rely on "bread and
circuses"  to entertain  the masses.   Lord Lair prevailed, probably due to
And  our town has  considerably less   his extensive experience with ritual
to hold it  up than most places. Hot   sacrifice.  Lord  Caretaker was ham-
Summer Nights may  have just  kicked   pered  slightly by  the fact that he
out  the  fragile  underpinnings  of   never completely skins his  patients
our society.                           while practicing.
Where should I start?  Well, leaving   And  yet another  Gladiatorial Games
town comes  to mind. But that is not   stumbled into the Arena. I shall not
an option at  the  moment, at  least   bother reporting the  results of the
until  I find some rat  poison and a   matches, as they were entirely with-
hack saw.  Fortunately, it is impos-   out  consequence. What does  concern
sible  to report  on all the  events   me are rumors that some of our citi-
that occurred last month in the tiny   zens exhibited  powers of the Unlife
space I'm  allowed, so  I shall just   fighting  on after  blows that would
hit the low points.                    kill normal mortals.
The water tunnel races were a farce.   Piffle. There is  no mystery  to why
Contestants  were given a map of the   Lord Oberon continued to fight after
tunnels and then told  to go dig for   a rapier  scrambled his  cranium. He
gems as the water  rushed them  down   is not Unlife, just brainless. Send-
the sluices.  The event came down to   ing a sword through his  ears merely
Lord  Mikhail and Lord  Gallenod. As   helped clear up  his sinuses. All of
this event  required  extensive  map   the other alleged Unlife were simply
reading  ability, I placed  a  large   too stupid  to know  they  were sup-
wager  on   Lord  Mikhail,  as  Lord   posed to be dead.
Gallenod  normally  cannot  find his
way out of a room with one door.       And of  course, the Bardic Oafs com-
                                       petition  was a  snoozer.  Lord Brax
Unfortunately,   Lord  Gallenod  got   wisely handed out  lead anchors dis-
confused  and used a map of the Kel-   guised as  medals in  the hopes that
four's  sewer system for the  event.   some of  the contestants  would fall
Upside down,  no  less.  Due  to  an   into Helga's  punch  bowl and drown.
unbelievable coincidence,  by taking   I did  enjoy  young Bugg  Hornwort's
every  wrong turn  he  got a perfect   singing, though. And the tale of the
guide  to  the   water  tunnels.  To   Foo Bird of Unhappiness was fair, at
everyone's surprise, the Wrong - Way   least until the  happy ending. But I
Ranger coasted to victory. I suspect   was glad  I had that  beeswax  in my
Lord Mikhail's devious hand in this,   ears for the rest of the evening.
as I  saw  the  rogue  who  took  my  
silver pass him a bag shortly  after   All this, and  a hobbit crayon draw-
the races were over.                   ing  wins  first  prize  at the  Art
                                       contest.  I must find  a way back to
The  skinning  contest was  ghastly.   civilization,  before  I  lose  what
Drugged,  stunned  torkaans  sliding   little piece of mind remains.
down a chute  at the pull of a lever 
to  be  dispatched  and  skinned  by                              \   |   /
bloodthirsty   barbarians.  And  the         //@                    \ | /
worst of the lot were Lord Caretaker   @====[*]======================-* - -
and Lord Lairaerrykthrok.  A  healer         \\@                    / | \
and a cleric  vying for the title of                              /   |   \

See Also: