by Michael Eckenfels, 30 April 2023
Champions of Krynn AAR: The Part 2 Diatribe
Our party, such as it is, was described in Part First. Yet, I will recap its composition here.
- Sir Fsup, male Human, first level Knight of the Crown
- Smashen Grab, male Hill Dwarf, multi-class first level Cleric of Reorx and second level Fighter
- Wynn Prowltroll, female Human, first level Cleric of Majere
- Kimjong Unshot, female Half-Elf, multi-class first level Cleric of Mishakal and second level Ranger
- Izzie Dedyet, female Kender, second level Thief
- Waxhon Wacxoff, female Human, second level White Mage
There are a lot of Clerics in this party, I know, but from past experience, this is not a bad thing to have. A lot of Cure Light Wound spells will go a long way in Throtl and beyond.
Our party has gathered to begin a grim journey of freeing countless coin and magic weapons from sitting idly around dungeons and such.
click images to enlarge
We are joined by a Knight of the Rose, as well.
Unusually, our journey is uneventful. This is usually referred to as a “set up” to give you a false sense of security before the game (an evil DM at heart) starts dropping random encounters on our heads.
Sir Karl somehow has gotten into the Commandant’s office before we were able to. His quickness and invisibility make us assume he is some kind of ninja in disguise. Or a heretic. Or a heretic ninja hybrid.
“Important issues.”
Journal Entry 51:
‘The worst monsters our scouts have reported anywhere in the area are hobgoblins. Draconians and evil dragons have long since abandoned this area to our forces. Still, be a little wary on your way to Throtl.
“Also, be sure to report back here immediately, if anything unusual or dangerous occurs. This outpost depends on information brought back by patrols such as yours. Good luck and may Paladine watch over you.”
And then, he continues:
Hmm. That’s right! We began a journey to a twerp of an outpost in the middle of nowhere…WITH NO WEAPONS. Nor spells.
Seems legit, us brilliant adventurers. What a way to start a campaign.
With that, we are shown the door. Not even a “have fun storming the Throtl” or anything.
Where do we wish to go? Hmm. I dunno.
Maybe the “Armoury” to get some bleedin’ weapons, innit?
The “Armoury” is rather sparse, but that’s to be expected in an outpost on the front lines of a possible war.
We have just enough Steel (the coin of this land) to outfit everyone, though the Mage has to make do with about 24 darts. I like to outfit Mages with a Quarter Staff at the very least – especially because this one’s avatar is grasping one – but we will need to wait a bit.
We exit the outpost, ready to begin our adventure.
And yes, if you’re thinking I/we forgot something, you would be correct.
Our journey to Throtl barely begins before we find a spot of trouble. A tiff in all its EGA-pixel glory.
So, when faced with a horde of angry dragon/lizard abominations, the first logical thing to do is have your Kender to shout insults about their heritage at them. Or just general ones, like:
“Can we get on with this? We don’t need this fight to…drag on.”
You can’t really blame them, especially when dragon puns are involved.
The fight is pretty one-sided. Our front line warriors, as is usual in the early stages of Gold Box DnD games, are pretty pathetic. The Cleric/Ranger Kimjong Unshot is good, skewering several of these mad science creations into piles of gobbets.
Then there’s the sweet, sweet experience for such a huge battle.
Not to mention the riches.
Oh look, we can retire from adventuring now.
~THE END~
Just kidding.
Who’s cleaning this mess up? Not us.
Maybe this dude will?
I guess not.
We’ve looted the battlefield…of a whole 20 Steel. No weapons are found anywhere, despite the in-game avatars of these creatures showing weapons in their hands. I suppose they disappeared because…plot.
Dusting ourselves off, we look around…
“Do we help?” Seriously?
I mean, this IS a party of technically Good-aligned characters. Which means, doing good things more or less. Or doing bad things, but in the name of goodness. Ends justifying the means, and all that. But we’re not here to discuss semantics of the alignment system in D&D. Rather, we are here to loot monster corpses. The occasional gray area morality choice does rear its ugly head on occasion, but…we’re supposed to be heroes here, so…yes.
Of course, we help.
Which means, we need to turn right around and go back to the Outpost, escorting the survivors. Fortunately, no further incidents happen, and we enter the Outpost with only a few scratches from our first encounter.
Note to self: do not allow Sir Fsup to have any money, moving forward.
We gain a small amount of experience for helping these folks (I think it’s about 100 XP each), so no good deed goes…unrewarded? At least, not in Gold Box games.
And this brings me to the thing I forgot to do earlier: memorize spells.
Oops!
We go into the Outpost’s inn to heal up and memorize ‘em.
Again, having so many Clerics in the party is a good thing…at least, I think it is. I’ve never played with more than one that I can ever remember, not even with a second Cleric/multiclass character. And now here I am with one full Cleric and two multiclass Clerics. So yes, Cure Light Wounds for everyone!
Once we memorize everything, I re-save the game, and we’re on our way to Throtl, I suppose. Going anywhere else overland is probably certain death, at least at this early stage of the game.
End of Part 2
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
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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.
