by Michael Eckenfels, 11 June 2023
Champions of Krynn AAR: Part 8, Caramon My Wayward Son
Alright…we’re back on the trail of Caramon.
After a bit of wandering down a hall and bashing our way through an inconveniently locked door, we spot something.
Guess this would be the Caramel we’re looking for?
Journal Entry 73:
“After the battle I was taken to see a powerful cleric. He laughed at my defeat. They led me to some doors that glowed in the darkness, opened them with a key that he pulled from his robes, and took me to a dark temple. I saw a bronze dragon egg on the altar! He told me that they were going to start the corruptions again! Then he had his minions beat me.
“I woke up here. If it hadn’t of been for the treachery of a dark elf, and a sneak attack from behind, they never would have captured me.” He pauses. “I’m sorry for my men.” he says, ‘They had no idea what we were getting into. Krynn’s blood, I didn’t know either. We were unprepared for the extent of the evil forces.
“The ambush was a complete surprise.”
Yet, these are apparently the best that this part of Krynn has to throw at Throtl.
If they can’t do it, what chance do we have?
We’re interrupted by a slight disturbance in the Schwartz. Apparently, something was broken that very much did not want to become broken.
And then…
The ‘figure’ happens to be…
Journal Entry 9:
She explains to Caramon, “I’ve been sent by Sir Karl to get you back to the Outpost. There are rumors that large forces of draconians, hobgoblins, minotaurs and others are gathering. We need you to direct scouting and raiding operations. I see now that things are worse than we thought. Throtl was supposed to have been abandoned.”
Caramon says, “It’s even worse than that. I have seen Brass Dragon Eggs!”
She gasps, “No! They must not do this again!” Then she pauses, “Wait, how can they do it? I thought the process was lost during the War of the Lance. Did you see any evidence that they were successful?”
“No,” says Caramon, “I was knocked unconscious before I had a chance to look further.” He turns to you. “I need you to investigate this matter. Find the key, and go to the old temple in the Northeast part of the city. Find out what you can.”
Sir Fsup ~ “Wait, what? Us??”
Caramon ~ “That’s what I said. You.”
Sir Fsup ~ “But Sir Karl sent her here to look for you too, not just us. A division of effort. Shouldn’t we ALL get on with this?”
Strangborn ~ “This does not sound like knight-like behavior.”
Sir Fsup ~ “I am merely pointing out a discrepancy in the fact that a party of low-level characters probably aren’t going to fare well against a gigantic evil cult with a ‘boy howdy good luck t’ya’ from you guys.”
Strangborn ignores the conversation and continues.
Izzie ~ “What’s this ‘we’ shinola?”
Wynn ~ “A Cleric? Hot damn! That means Cleric loot!”
Izzie ~ “Shouldn’t that be MY line?”
Wynn ~ “You keep yer Thief/Cleric fingers offa my scrolls, lady.”
Sir Fsup ~ “Okay. Find the Cleric buried like a tick in his fortress to the southwest. Steal his key, find glowing doors, walk through them with said key. Check.”
So there they go, two characters that could probably take on the entire bad guy horde here with no sweat of their collective sacks (of coins; get yer minds out of the gutter), but instead they leave it to us.
I guess that’s what this adventuring business is all about – taking risks, getting paid, leveling up. I suppose we can’t complain too much, except where it might turn into a comedy bit.
Wait, what?
Well, crap. They sure did leave.
I guess we’ll take this horde on alone. But that’s what heroes do.
Right?
Sure.
Adiante. Onward.
So let’s take stock of where we are.
The area to the southwest is where the two that just left by imaginary subway just said our quarry would lie. But looking at the characters, four of the six are ready to level up, so it might be wise to return to the Outpost to do that before we go hunting some high-powered evil Cleric.
Just outside the room where Maya retrieved Caramon, it’s a bit cold. Lots of broken bad monsters lay strewn about with a nice, glittering layer of frost decorating them and the walls.
Makes you wonder what Maya is, exactly. Especially ‘whooshing’ away like some medieval steam train.
Things that make you go, hmmm.
The plan now is to return, level up, then head back here to find the Cleric and their little key.
Yet another wandering monster party decides to make that not happen quickly. But they are quite literally little more than a speed bump, as it’s only Giant Rats, Skeletons, and a couple of Giant Centipedes.
Waxhon casts Sleep to put the two Giant Centipedes to sleep (no reason to tempt fate when we’re already heading back to the Outpost anyway), and Wynn does a Turn that causes the Skeletons to turn to dust. The Giant Rats are no match for our party, so this lasts but a few seconds.
And no treasure. Go figure.
Returning to the Outpost, we step in to talk to the Commandant. And we just get a reiteration of what the game expects us to do at this point.
We then go to the Hall to train up our characters in need of such attention.
Our Mage, Waxhon, chooses to gain Stinking Cloud as her 2nd-level Mage spell. Quite effective, it utilized correctly (e.g., not cast upon party members, nor cast in conjunction with Errol Lumpkin’s Many Smell Beans).
One other thing to do is identify (ID) several of our items that we’ve gathered so far. The only problem is, an ID costs 100 Steel Pieces.
While we’ve collected a few hundred to this point (as well as some Gems and Jewelry), there’s a sure-fire way to tell if something is actually enchanted or not, without having to drop 100 Steel to take a chance on it.
That sure-fire way is to offer to sell an item (which should be unequipped). If it’s a commonplace item, the shopkeeper will offer a low amount for it.
You can see here that trying to sell a normal shield is worth exactly zero Steel. So, we may as well just give it away, because I think it does count versus Encumbrance in this game. Encumbrance is an annoying way of keeping your characters from running around with a battalion’s worth of weapons and a King’s sum in coin on their persons.
So, when you try to sell an enchanted item…say, a shield…
Yep, that’s when you know you have something magical, when that otherwise zero Steel shield is selling for 1,250 Steel. So I go ahead and have the shopkeeper ID that item and lo and behold, we find out it’s a Shield +1.
I go on to ID the Red and White Scroll that the Mage has a hold of, then we go to the Inn to rest and memorize new spells before heading once again back to Throtl for Confrontation 2-a-subparagraph J.
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.
