by Michael Eckenfels, 13 August 2023
Champions of Krynn AAR: Part 17, Skyla
In the last chapter, we found our entry to Jelek marred by the addition of an extremely sus individual named Skyla.
We were going to delve deeper into the town, but at that point I realized our Mage, Waxhon, was ready to level up. Since she’ll get Fireball at 5th level, I decide to turn the party around and head back to the Outpost to level her up and get that sweet, sweet spell o’ destruction.
Interestingly, Skyla disappears just before we leave. No big loss.
Once we get there, before we level her up, I check in with Sir Karl.
Journal Entry 62:
Message from assassins. The paper reads:
We have contacted a traitor at the renegade ogres’ base. We can slip in unobserved and slay the renegade leaders. If we are not successful, beware. Our spy tells us that the renegades might try to ally with the forces of good. Their knowledge of Kemen makes them dangerous.
A rough map is drawn on the back.
Sir Karl then speaks. “The Solamnic Cavalry is already on the march. It will not be too long until these first units have arrived in the area. We must have information on the enemy strengths and weaknesses soon. The Solamnic force will be small and an ambush could cause them problems.”
This is yet another mission bestowed upon us, but as we are investigating Jelek, it will need to wait for the moment.
Thanks, skipper.
We head over to the Hall and train Waxhon up to level 5.
And then…yes, finally. Fireball!
I also have Waxhon do a Scribe action to put the two scrolls she has into her spell book. They’re fairly useless spells (to me, anyway, in this Gold Box game), but may as well get them down.
We then hoof it back to Jelek.
Thankfully, Skyla is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps we ditched him?
We wander around a bit, taking in the sights.
An inn named “Red Dagger.”
A tavern. We go inside.
‘Do we want a drink?’ Need you even ask?
406
Tavern Tale 4:
Hey, Jorclack! What in blazes were you doing up in the slum area? You rubbin’ shoulders with the local scum?”
Hmm. Slum area?
Well, after that drink, which was kind of crusty and gross, we head back out into the sunlight to start looking around some more.
Oh, good. Gee, we were looking everywhere for you…no, really…
An armory. We go inside to check out their wares.
What did I just say? WE WANT YOUR WARES.
They’re a little light on the wares, to be honest. Though, the Composite Long Bow would be an excellent replacement for the Short Bow that Kimjong Unshot is sporting. So, we buy one of those for her, and then a bunch more arrows for her as well. Otherwise, there’s nothing here of interest, so we are asked to leave.
After wandering further eastwards, we seem to catch notice of someone following us, but they disappear before we can get a good look. This doesn’t bode well.
Hey, a magic shop! Let’s go in and check this out. What wonders may they have within?
Holy Majere!
They’re quite proud of their selection, obviously.
We’re doing well money-wise, but don’t quite have the money to throw about in a shop like this. Though that Wand of Magic Missiles may come in handy later. For 14k, we’re going to have to save our allowances up.
We exit the store and continue to wander about.
Well, if Skyla is noticing things, as our ambush guide, he probably shouldn’t be calling out his buddies skulking in the shadows!
We arrive outside the alley that leads to the ‘house’ where Skyla says his “friend” lives. So I think a Prayer spell right now is probably apt, just in case my paranoia bears fruit.
We enter, ready for anything.
Oh noooo. Anyway…
I seriously doubt they will, bud.
In comes a gaggle of bad guys, and a ‘small figure’ joining our side.
Boy howdy is that a gaggle. Lots of spellcasters in this attack!
A few Hold Person spells freezes many of the spellcasters, and some well-placed melee shots takes them down without a sweat.
Soon, their numbers are cut severely, but they’re still putting up a fight.
Soon, without spell support and their numbers cut down like wheat at harvest time, they start giving up.
Not too bad an XP haul.
Now, what’s with this newbie that joined us to help out?
Hmm. Very much a Seven of Nine vibe here. You figure it out.
Journal Entry 59:
“Listen, I’ve been following you for some time now. That Skyla character is the leader of a faction of guards that has taken over the city. He looks stupid, but don’t let that fool you. He knows exactly what he looks like, and he knows how to use it to his advantage.
“He takes his orders from Sir Lebaum. Lebaum took over about a week ago. It was slow and insidious how he did it. No word got out at all and, initially, there was lots of business for our shops. Everyone was happy. Except that now he’s cut off all contact with the outside. Anyone that comes in here either joins the guards or is killed, as you almost were.
“There’s another disturbing thing. I’ve done some digging around and nobody has even seen this Sir Lebaum character. Most people have never even heard of him. There was a Knight of Solamnia of that name that was corrupted by Takhisis many, many years ago but legend has it that he died-horribly, they say.
“I’d like to get into the graveyard and examine his office. Are you willing to go with me!”
Mysellia, come on down! You’re the next contestant on the “Steel Price is Right!”
A safe place, eh? I think we should head there now. We have some wounds to tend to, and spells to re-memorize.
We’re jumped a couple of times by “roughnecks,” as the game describes them, but they’re just a handful of evil fighters more or less each time. Still, they ding us good a bit, so we really need to find that safe area.
Eventually, we locate it.
A large man happy with strangers? This sounds like the sequel to Deliverance.
Fortunately, it is not, and we indeed find a safe place to rest, heal, and memorize. Soon, we’re ready to continue.
A large fenced-in area inhabits the northwest portion of this map; we skirted around the edges far enough to see it is a graveyard.
Wonderful.
Guess where WE have to go?
Outside of the entrance to the graveyard, we find a small hovel. Of course, we barge inside, because we own the place.
Journal Entry 28:
“I’ve been kept out of the burial grounds now for a week, I can’t even get in there to get my tools. There are strange things going on in there . . . open graves, broken tombstones, strange noises . . . even the animals are gone! That Sir Lebaum is ruining the town. He even made his office in the burial glen! It’s in the building just to the south and west of here but the door is through the graveyard.
“That’s another strange thing . . . nobody’s ever seen our new leader, at least, nobody that I know of. He gives his orders and the ‘guards’ carry them out.
“Things just ain’t right.”
So one has to wonder, what kind of bad guy makes his headquarters in the middle of a graveyard?
I’ll just leave that hanging there, but it IS possible I’m overthinking this a tad.
It’s not a good sign when you find the graveyard is bereft of previously-buried occupants. That means they’re wandering around.
Sure enough, cue 45 Grave singing “DO YOU WANNA PAAAARTAAAYY?!?” and off we go to battle.
It’s a horde of Zombies, Ghasts, and Ghouls. I’m not too keen on engaging them in combat as I think either the Ghasts or Ghouls can actually drain levels.
GHAST
A variety of undead monster so disgusting in their stench that oftentimes opponents are nearly overcome by revulsion. Ghasts are identical to ghouls in appearance. Characters hit by ghasts (elves included) must save or be paralyzed.
GHOUL
These are evil undead creatures whose touch alone is known to paralyze a man. They feed on corpses and attack all living things on sight. Characters hit by ghouls (elves excluded) must save or be paralyzed.
So I was wrong about that. I had to look it up in the game’s Journal to see for sure.
Well, still, paralyzing a character means they’d be helpless and therefore, able to be taken out with one automatic blow. I’m not keen on sticking around to see it happen.
Good thing we have a lot of Clerics in the party, though Wynn manages to Turn all the Zombies and destroys the Ghasts and Ghouls in one swoop.
Eventually, we find ourselves outside of a building in the northwest corner of the graveyard. And here, we find that silver rose we’d been asked to find.
Cue the two Black Dragons that swoop in to attack us.
I didn’t take screenshots of this battle because it was terribly one-sided. Once again, Waxhon’s Wand of Ice Storm takes them both out with one shot. Pfft.
We then enter the building.
We, of course, must fight these abominations.
And once again, the Turn command for a Cleric is fantastic. We clear out all resistance with barely any effort.
And are rewarded with a huge amount of XP as a result. Why? I don’t know. I’ll take it though.
There’s also a bunch of treasure here, too. Seems like a big reward for so little effort, but once again…I’ll take it!
This is the exit. I suppose we’ll go ahead and leave but I think I might have missed something, maybe? I don’t know.
Our Thief companion decides she can’t hack it in the overland and remains behind. So be it. We may return here if I think I’ve forgotten something (like finding Skyla and kicking his ass).
For now, though, we head out.
End of Chapter 17
CHAMPIONS OF KRYNN AAR
PART ONE ~ PART TWO ~ PART THREE ~ PART FOUR ~ PART FIVE ~ PART SIX ~ PART SEVEN ~ PART EIGHT ~ PART NINE ~ PART TEN
PART ELEVEN ~ PART TWELVE ~ PART THIRTEEN ~ PART FOURTEEN ~ PART FIFTEEN ~ PART SIXTEEN ~ PART SEVENTEEN ~ PART EIGHTEEN ~ PART NINETEEN ~ PART TWENTY
PART 21 ~ PART 22 ~ PART 23 ~ PART 24 ~ PART 25 ~ PART 26 ~ PART 27 ~ PART 28 ~ PART 29 ~ PART 30
Thank you for visiting The Armchair Dragoons and saddling up with the Regiment of Strategy Gaming.
You can find our regiment’s social media on Mastodon, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. (We have an Instagram page and we never use it.)
You can support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, also, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events.
Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.
There once was a game called Krynn,
With warriors, mages, and dragons within,
In Champions of might,
They battled all night,
For glory, for honor, to win.
The heroes were brave and true,
Fighting foes, both old and new,
With spells and with swords,
They faced their rewards,
To vanquish the dark and break through.
From the streets of Solace they roamed,
To the lairs where dragons called home,
With quests to fulfill,
And battles to thrill,
Champions of Krynn, on they’d roam.
