D&D Atlas: Kohver

Kohver is a magical city that floats over a the Cellian Lake. Because of an ancient kingdom swallowed by the giant lake, students of magic especially those in search of magical artifacts, are drawn to the city of Kohver in order to excavate. Evidence uncovered by archaeologists and magic users has suggested that the kingdom swallowed by the lake was buried by a powerful primordial of water and predated many of the current cities on the Erisia-Iridesse continent.

The floating nature of the city as well as the lake forms a natural barrier against land incursions, protects it from orc, ogre and other mountain tribes that come from the Sarinam Mountain Range. Kohver also houses a few portals that reach other realms most notably the Astral Sea and Elemental Chaos.

D&D Atlas: Syrn

The area of Syrn, which sits just north of the now called Trillium, was the major battleground of the Mid-Land Lordship Wars.  Originally the area was the seat of power of one of the four lords that governed the now changed Four Cities, a massive city in the center of the Erisia-Iridesse Continent.  At the beginning of the major war, the four lords had peace and controlled the Four Cities through cooperation.  However, after squabbling turned to mistrust, and mistrust became open hostility, the four lords began organizing troops from the Four Cities and the entire continent.

Many people became mercenaries and were drawn into the war, however a major shift changed when three of the powers allied together in order to defeat and split the Lord of Syrn's land.  In a desperate gamble, the Lord of Syrn called upon demonic powers in order to survive and defeat the combined powers of the three lords.  The magic users that enacted the unholy ritual were infiltrated by agents of the allied forces and managed to sabotage the ritual.

With the ritual improperly conducted, the area of Syrn was obliterated by the omnipotent magical forces.  Now all that remains of Syrn is a broken and devastated land, devoid of vegetation and natural forms of life.

D&D Atlas: The Continent of Nephilae

Here is a quick sketch of the Continent of Nephilae where the adventurers in my campaign will mostly travel in, with occasional travel to other realms, of course.  The continent is located somewhere in the primal world, with ports along the coasts that have ship travel to other continents.  I'll also update the characters background information with pertinent locations.

Certain areas may be subject to change and others may be added in the future.

D&D: Meet the Mercs: Elisia

Elisia is an eladrin sorceress who specializes in elemental magic.  She blasts enemies from afar with bolts of elemental lightning, thunder and cold magic.

She enjoys helping others and is extremely altruistic.  Elisia often sacrifices herself or puts herself in danger in order to follow her nature.  When she is not adventuring, Elisia spends her time reading books about all subjects often getting lost in the information she internalizes.

While still rather inexperienced with parties, her solo practice and days spent at her magic academy have helped hone her skills in combat.  She only needs to work on social conventions.

D&D: Meet the Mercs: Soren

Soren is a dwarven swordmage, which is a rarity for his kind.  As a mercenary he joins parties that need a helping hand and provides them with the powers of an arcane defender.  Melding magic with his sword skills, he keeps enemies away from party members and punishes monsters that strike his allies.

Like many dwarves, Soren enjoys drinking ale.  He has tried various varieties of liquor though he prefers his dwarven spirits and other dwarven refreshments.  Soren also enjoys gambling and making silly wagers to pass the time.

When he's drunk, Soren is a rather amiable fellow.  However, without ale in his system, he becomes grumpy and hard to manage.

D&D Day 11: Lord Bastar's Labyrinth Part 2

After traveling in the labyrinth for a few hours, Vanielle lead the party to a large pool of water.  Surrounding the pool were piles of gold.  Cautiously the party filled their bags with the coins.  As they stuffed the final piece into their pockets, a young black dragon emerged from the pool.  It tried to extort them for every single gold piece they had.  The black dragon confused Elius by saying that they were thieves.  Thorry the Reckless managed to convince Elius that it was an evil black dragon and that it probably earned the treasure through duplicitous acts.

After defeating the dragon, the party entered the throne room.  Standing atop the balcony, Lord Bastar threw a black dagger at Thorry the Reckless.  However, Elius, a knight of Pelor, took the poisoned dagger in the chest.  The party had to fight Lord Bastar's soldiers and mages while the self proclaimed lord stood protected behind a magical barrier.  Hadarai unleashed powerful magic first hurling a blazing fireball that managed to damage the mages, and then ebony razors that damaged the soldiers.  The mages, however, focused their spells on the assassin.

After breaking an opening in a wall, Torion forced his way into the throne room.  Unable to be aided by his party members, the minotaur fought against the Tiefling wizard, Relen, and Lord Bastar by himself.  Strangely, Relen used his magic to control Torion and attack Bastar.  Thorry the Reckless used his arcana in order to discover the magic of the barrier and found out it was being generated by Relen.

Torion focused his assault on the tiefling wizard but after taking serious damage, Relen fled the room.  With his anger focused the minotaur slew Lord Bastar.  The fighter held his axe over Bastar and demanded he get the antidote to cure Elius' poison.  With his last ounce of strength and defiance, the human lord crushed the antidote.  The minotaur swung his greataxe downward and beheaded the tyrant.

Elius said his goodbye to Torion as the poison took his life.

The party decided to enter the door where Relen vanished.  A portal to the Nine Hells was waiting for them.  Relen revealed that he was actually a devil and not a tiefling.  He would be rewarded by his true lord for killing Thorry the Reckless.  Instead of confronting the devil vizier, the heroes fled towards the entrance of the keep where Bastar's soldiers were waiting for them.  

D&D Atlas: Merchaise

Merchaise is a large town on the edge of the Serpentfang Mountain Range.  Because of its location just beyond the pass, it serves as a trading stop for merchants on either side of the mountains.  Goods trickle in from the Trillium, the Frontier and Elan from the East, and the Bahren Forest (where Duskhome and other Elven villages are) Marden in the South and Ole-Var in the West.  The trade has caused Merchaise to face an explosion in its economy and many travelers as well as adventurers visit to shop or to search for work (usually in protecting merchant caravans).

However recently, there have been strange events transpiring in the growing town.  Cultists of Zehir are starting to gather and are spreading their faith which is making the Church of Pelor and the mayor of Merchaise wary.  Orphans are disappearing from the shelters and the streets.  Finally, an orc tribe is assaulting caravans along the main mountain road, delaying or otherwise stopping trade.

D&D Atlas: Rainbow Mines

The frontier on the eastern side of the Erisia-Iridesse Continent is still a relatively untamed place.  People from the mid-land kingdoms, the western Elven forests, the Charyb Mountains and every corner of the Erisia-Iridesse Continent head to the eastern frontier in order to discover untamed lands and find resources for trade.

One such place in the frontier is the Rainbow Mines.  Inside the massive caves, prospectors and miners find all sorts of precious gems and stones--as well as ore of different colors.  Rarer colored variations of ore (like red copper or yellow iron) even have elemental properties and are used by smiths and jewelry makers to forge powerful magical items.  Adventurous miners even claim that deeper areas of the mines contain ore from other realms.

The only thing that stops the Rainbow Mines from becoming depleted are the deadly monsters that lurk in its depths.

D&D Day 10: Lord Bastar's Labyrinth Part 1

The party emerged from the portal and found themselves in Duskhome.  The Elven town was destroyed and burnt down, and its citizens massacred; the perpetrators of the crime were the human Lord Bastar and his knights.  Lord Bastar had been searching for Torion, who used to be the minotaur that guarded his labyrinth.  Thorry the Reckless tried to talk to the human lord but was ignored.  Vanielle and Hadarai, both hated elves in Lord Bastar's eyes, were considered vermin by the elf slayer.  The heroes fought against Lord Bastar's soldiers and archers, but Torion, who struggled and fought for his life, was dragged away.  Thorry the Reckless, smartly left the battlefield, however Vanielle and Hadarai found themselves overwhelmed by the soldiers' assault.

Elius, true knight of Pelor and Torion's trainer in the ways of the fighter, found the party and led them to his cabin in the woods in order to recover their wounds.  Meanwhile, Torion fought against three duplicates that resembled Thorry the Reckless, Vanielle and Hadarai.  The demon lord, Baphomet, the horned king and lord of minotaurs, granted Torion the power to defeat the duplicates.

Torion and the rest of the party infiltrated the labyrinth in two separate groups.  First they encountered a group of spitting drakes and a dark drake of the moon.  Second they encountered a group of myconids (mushroom people).  Vanielle's treasure hunting sense led the party further into the labyrinth.

Video Games: 999

I recently played the game 9 Hours, 9 Persons and 9 Doors for the Nintendo DS.  It's a puzzle/horror game that is particularly well thought out in terms of story and puzzles.  If you've played internet games like the Red Room, it's kind of like that.  You are one of 9 people that finds himself on a massive ship which in 9 hours will sink into the sea.  It's all a plan of your kidnapper, the mysterious figure Zero, who wants to play the Nonary Game with you.  It's almost like a video game version of Saw (a good one).  The strangers in the "game" realize that one of the 9 people may be the person that put you in there.  The unknown mastermind also places bombs inside the 9 people which will explode if they break the rules.

It's a very clever game with ties to pseudoscience and concepts that are interesting.  In the computer room where three of the characters become trapped.  The protagonist has a discussion with another member about wireless computers and primitive thinking.  There is a monitor that is not connected to a PC tower, only wires that attach it to a keyboard, mouse and power outlet.  The monitor powers up and the characters who are some what tech-knowledgeable say that it must be wireless--the PC itself must be in another room.  Someone with no technology experience would think that the monitor itself would contain all the information.  The other character says that humans may be the same--that our knowledge and true functions may be housed outside of our bodies (the monitors) and we access them wirelessly.  This conversation, among other pseudoscience and clever plot twists helped creep me out.    

Horror: Different Colors

One of the stranger concepts I've thought about isn't really horror but more of a "what if" scenario.  It's a little bit weird but I think that if you ponder the idea, it could lead to some startling observations and thoughts.  The idea is loosely based on the Tower of Babel.

For non religious people and some non gamers (people who haven't played Illusion of Gaia or Actraiser 2), the Tower of Babel was a building created by the people of the world in order to show their supremacy over God.  They were a prideful people and in launching such an endeavor they wanted to prove their dominance in creation.  What they got instead was retribution from God, who sundered the tower and caused the people of the world to speak in different languages (so that they could not understand each other).

Imagine then the scenario.  What if we all saw in different colors.  That is, when I say the sky is blue I see my color blue, but you might see instead my color green or red.  I have no way to tell what colors you see because I cannot see through your eyes.  Even if I were to see through your vision, my brain may translate and see my colors instead.

What does this imply?  Let's say that one day you wake up and blue and red have changed places.  Things like the sky and water, a reflection of the sky, are now red, and blood is the color blue (instead of seeing warm living people, most people look oxygen starved like corpses.  What would you think and do?  Is there something wrong with me?  Something wrong with the world?  Have I been transported to a different reality?  Even worse, what if colors were inverted instead.  When you use a color inverter on a graphics altering program (like Photoshop) you can invert the colors of an image and create something dark and weird.  Would you try asking people you trust?  And would you believe them?

Let's say instead of color, one aspect of the world were changed (like in the show Sliders).  For example, the legal limit of alcohol consumption were changed to 17 instead of 18 (in America).  You might say, "I thought it was 18," and everyone else would say, "no it's always been 17.  You're wrong, I don't know where you got this idea."  Would you simply dismiss the idea as a failure of your memory?  Or instead consider that there is a conspiracy that is working against you?

It goes to show that for humans, even the smallest change can cause powerful effects.









 

Meet the NPCs - Elius

Elius is a knight of Pelor who has retired from his duties.  He lives in a small cottage in the Elven woods alone.  Before he left the knighthood he encountered a wounded minotaur along the forest path.  He nursed the minotaur back to health and helped train him in the arts of the warrior.

Though old he continues to follow the oaths of knighthood he swore long ago, even if he no longer fights against worshipers of evil gods or their summoned beasts.

Meet the NPCs - Lord Bastar

The self proclaimed lord of Bastar castle, Lord Bastar owns a property east of the Elven forests.  As a collector of strange creatures he has traveled the realms capturing rare breeds and often kills any excess beasts.  He has a hatred for Elves and spends any extra energy in purging them and their villages that encroach his lands.  In order to improve his life he has pursued the eating and consumption of rare creatures, especially Fey ones.

He captured Torion when he was a teenager and kept him as guardian of his labyrinth for several years.

D&D Day 9: Tower Part 2

Ayboru returned to the sleeping companions and guarded them while they slept.  When they awoke he informed them of the green slimes that had managed to surround them during their rest. They also did battle with a death shard.

In the front room of the tower at the lowest level, they saw more portals to the Far Realm, along with a portal to their own realm.  It was guarded by more eye tentacle masses, ice hurlers and the two lost Genasi agents.  The two Genasi were too far gone into madness and affected seemingly beyond repair.  By order of the Star Lords they were entrusted in guarding the portal and converting trespassers into new recruits.  Thorry the Reckless declined their invitation.  With the party's attention focused with the tentacle masses the two Genasi and even the icicle hurlers moved in a slow enthralling dance in front of the portal.  As the battle reached its completion Ayboru found a treasure chest and began consuming the contents.  After all, beholders easily get hungry.

With the battle over, Thorry and the party quickly jumped into the swirling portal and back to the forest outside of Duskhome.  Ayboru waved his eye stalks and bid them farewell.

D&D Day 8: The Tower Part 1

The party entered the mage tower in order to find a portal back home.  The tower shuddered as they proceeded further below.  Thinking that the tower was unstable, the heroes moved cautiously.  However, the sound that startled them was actually a pair of gricks.  They also encountered green slimes as they opened a treasure chest.

In the next room Vanielle rushed past an ominous looking ochre puddle and was ambushed by a mimic treasure chest.  Gaining the surprise attack it quickly dispatched the greedy elf assassin.  The ochre puddle ended up being an ochre jelly and along with a pair of firebats the party engaged in another battle.

The enigmatic beholder, Ayboru, spoke to creatures, told stories, and often acted strangely.  He excused himself for the next room saying he needed to go to sleep.

In the next room, the party closed portals leading to the Far Realm, fought eye tentacle masses and a beholder gauth who when dispatched offered Torion a small collection of potions.  The party decided to sleep in this room in order to regain their strength and level up.