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Actual Play Vignettes: [How to Host a Dungeon] World of Elkanei

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  1.  
    •  
      CommentAuthortony dowler
    • CommentTimeAug 27th 2008 edited
     # 1
    This thread is for an online game of How to Host a Dungeon. Anyone who wants can take part in this game using the free version of the rules. Whisper to me in this thread, and I'll add you to the list.

    Rules
    I'll maintain a map for the game in both PSD and PNG formats.
    We'll move down the lis of participants, going back to the top when we run out.
    When its your turn, download the map, and play through some turns of How to Host a Dungeon, recording them on the map.
    Use your judgement on how many turns to play thorugh when its your turn.
    Then send the map to me, or post the updated map in this thread.
    When you finish your turn, write an in-character summary of events on your turn.
    Is Story Games the best place for this? If it's not, maybe

    Participants
    Tony
    Remi (STANDBY)
    Brendan
    Eero (NOW PLAYING)
    George (STANDBY)

    Maps
    Primordial Age PSD format
    Primordial Age PNG format
    Template PSD format
  2.  # 2
    The Primordial Age

    You have charged me, O my master, to write a most complete history of your reign and this world that the ancients of my race called Elkanei. Though this task is hard, much being lost to the predations of time, yet I will undertake it, for nothing less than the enumeration of all knowledge will satisfy your untrammeled majesty.

    In the mists of time, the 12 nameless gods of sky warred with the 10 unknown gods of earth. In their wake all was destruction save the 23rd god, named Elanek, who hid from the destruction. It was she who took the 22 corpses and laid them down in what she thought was a safe place, which she made her home.

    But one of the gods, the Trickster, was cunning and not entirely dead and it played fast and loose with Elanek, coming to her in the guise of a winsome spirit. They lay together, and wherever they lay, the scurf of the earth was transformed by the exhalations of their pleasure into the substance the Dwarves call Mithral.

    The the Trickster took the offspring of their union while Elanek slept and hid them away in a dark cave of the underearth. What become of them other chronicles tell.

    Elanek wept when she realized she had been tricked, and her tears burned with dark fate she planned for the trickster and his children. Some say she wanders the world still, seeking her lost sons and daughters.

    There, my Lord, that shall suffice for an introduction. Now for a tall beer, some bread, and to bed.

    Now it's Remi's turn!
    •  
      CommentAuthorRemi
    • CommentTimeAug 27th 2008 edited
     # 3
    The Founding of Sorrow's Scourge and Its Early History (Age of Civilization turns 0 and 1)

    Allow me to continue, O Dread Master.

    The Trickster swept his hand through the deepest rock of our world, creating a great tunnel that passed through cave and Mithril, alike, and at the end of this tunnel, he created a great tower to house the best of the offspring he had stolen from Elanek.

    The Trickster clad these chosen in the finest God-Forged armor and adorned their heads with great jewels. The Trickster also gave these Dark Elf nobles his most terrible boon, The Great Lie.

    The Great Lie convinced these nobles that they were greater than all the mortal races, and any not born noble. It was through this lie that the nobles enslaved their brethren and threw them screaming into the Slave Pits below the great tower.

    Thus, Sorrow's Scourge was founded, but the Dark Elf nobles, led by their King, Shining Caul, were not sated with their simple castle and slaves. They sent forth a great mining party led by Prince Aching Wound, and founded a great colony at the site of a mithril deposit. Aching Wound wished to commemorate their lost mother and her pain, and thus the city of Elandek's Wail was named.

    With their new wealth, the Dark Elves set about building. The thrall below Elandek's Wail attempted to revolt, and Aching Wound wished to chastise them. Thus a great Torture Pit was built there, housing the nobles' many tools of pain and suffering. King Shining Caul of Sorrow's Scourge did not worry about his slaves, and instead set to building a great shrine to the Dark Elf God. The Trickster's Shrine is a great and finely carved chamber illustrating the story of the Trickster to that point, but its greatest feature is a massive statue of the Trickster's Dark Elf form. The statues is a stone monstrosity, 30 feet tall, whose clothes glitter with deep mithril filligree, and whose eyes are two enormous sapphires. The look on its face alternates between rage, happiness, and sly determination depending where in the chamber you stand.

    The hour is late, my Lord. I shall prepare a sleeping draught to grant you dreamless sleep. Your nightmares have been terrible, and you will need your rest for when I continue my story.

    Elkanei Civilization Round 1 (PSD)
    Elkanei Civilization Round 1 (PNG)

    Now it is BRENDAN'S TURN!
  4.  # 4
    I like it! I like it!
    • CommentAuthorBlue
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2008
     # 5
    This is great stuff!
  6.  # 6
    Oh, and players don't have to take the voice fo the previous player either, naturally. Brendan's turn!
    • CommentAuthorValamir
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2008
     # 7
    So Mithril is...god spuge...?

    Like...Eww.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBrendan
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2008
     # 8
    Wait, so Remi, you just did one year of the Dark Elf Civilization?
    •  
      CommentAuthorRemi
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2008 edited
     # 9
    Yes. I wanted to keep the turnaround time low. All the white tokens are slaves except the one in the Trickster's Shrine, which is treasure. If there's any confusion, just ask.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBen Lehman
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2008
     # 10
    This is sweet!
    •  
      CommentAuthorBrendan
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2008 edited
     # 11
    REVOLT! Apologies, Lord, I meant no startlement. But we have reached a turning point in the history of the Dark Elf race.

    As fertile as the Mithral veins of Elanek's Wail were, its slave pits were more fertile still--so much so that a new mass grave had to be dug opposite the great caverns, its heavy crypt door marked with a forbidding red X. As the colony thrived, however, the great city of Sorrow's Scourge was neglected by its rulers. In their own search for more Mithral, they had struck the floor of a great cavern with a crevice that reached much farther toward the surface world than they had expected to go.

    Feverish with their hunger for the riches of the fabled Sun-World, the masters of Sorrow's Scourge drove their slaves ever harder, until they could bear no more. The downtrodden wretches of the city turned their picks and hammers upon the nobility, heeding neither whip nor desperate sorcery. By winter, the once-mighty city was the demesne of three tribes of freed slaves, who kept their distance from each other and made little attempt to restore its former glories.

    [The rectangular room marked with a red X is the Tomb. The black tokens in Sorrow's Scourge are now freed slaves, who are treated as independent monsters.]

    Elkanei Civilization Round 2 (PSD)
    Elkanei Civilization Round 2 (PNG)
  12.  # 12
    This makes me love Moldvay even more.
    •  
      CommentAuthorRemi
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2008 edited
     # 13
    Okay question:
    I screwed up and didn't have a slave revolt in the Great City during my turn (it should have happened). Could I have moved guys from the Colony to the Great City to prevent this? The reason I ask is because this essentially screws the Dark Elves, because they can't mine unless they have nobles in the Great City. Or can they mine the second Mithril vein with people from the colony?

    Other than that, awesome job taking my bobbled ball and running with it, Brendan!
    •  
      CommentAuthortony dowler
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2008 edited
     # 14
    I think you're OK if you only played 1 year, Remi. The Dark Elves shouldn't revolt on the first year.

    In answer to your question, the rules do not allow you to move Dark Elves back from the colony. Though just between you and me, you are totally allowed to break the rules in this game. In fact, I encourage it. It makes crazy things happen, and that's good.

    Oh, and Eero's up!
    •  
      CommentAuthorBrendan
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2008
     # 15
    I had assumed that with the great city down and only the colony remaining, the colony would take on the great city role and (probably this turn) establish a new colony at the second Mithral vein--they're within a finger's reach.
  16.  # 16
    Posted By: BrendanI had assumed that with the great city down and only the colony remaining, the colony would take on the great city role and (probably this turn) establish a new colony at the second Mithral vein--they're within a finger's reach.


    That's not what I intended in the rules, but it's a very sensible interpretation. Let's see how Eero plays it...
  17.  # 17
    (Tony's got my filez.)

    The remnants of our once glorious subterranean civilization left this world not with a bang, but a whimper. After the great city fell, the masters flocked to the colonies, where we eked out a meagre living out of the mines that became decreasingly profitable as time went by. Without the high priestesses of the capital, however, we fell to bickering and soon were too weak to consider new conquests. The mines, before they sputtered out, clothed us with opulence, leading to spoiled decadence. Political intrigue blossomed, all the while the stakes became less and less.

    My own contribution to the tale of our people came in the form of the Arena, which we built to calm the warriors, driven to temperamental action by ennui. Our generation got to see the young and tempestuous shedding their blood on the dark sands, in elaborate plays staged to reminder us of the old country and the glories of the Trickster. The more reasonable found new tunnels and moved out - some said they were called by Elanek; some said they were going to the surface, where they would be needed and cherished. Only the old and stupid were left, to display bravado against slaves and each other in the endless games of the Arena, my creation.

    It was a natural end to our civilization, even if it was a long time coming. After us there will be but the long silence, and nobody to appreciate what we wrote.

    (Continue with the Age of Disaster.)
    •  
      CommentAuthortony dowler
    • CommentTimeAug 29th 2008 edited
     # 18
    Here are Eero's files. I think it's particualrly cool how the great arena is hollowed out beneath the Fate cavern, so that its roof forms the dome of the amphitheatre. If any adventurers ever get tha far, it will be a breathtaking experience.

    End of the Age of Cvilization PNG
    End of the Age of Cvilization PSD

    OK, George's turn with the Great Disaster! Use your own preference about whether you want to start the age of monsters off too.
    • CommentAuthorgeorge
    • CommentTimeAug 29th 2008
     # 19
    I am so psyched for disaster.
    • CommentAuthorgeorge
    • CommentTimeAug 30th 2008 edited
     # 20
    The Great Disaster and Age of Monsters


    ....no, Master, these are only tales handed down, and no doubt half-truths in the telling. And so they were told to me, and as your father the Duke has requested, so I tell them to you. Now pay attention! Not all your learning will be found in the High Alchemist's laboratory, whatever that tinder-head may say.

    So, as I was telling you...the Lore relates that the Trickster's Children dwindled, and none know why, albeit there is speculation, a fell beast rising from the Underearth perhaps, or there are even tales of the Children falling to violence among themselves, brother against brother, Lord against servant. In any event their cities were still, their light extinguished.

    And so the stories tell, then was wrought the Teardelf.

    None know its source or motive, but the Teardelf, a great river of the Underearth, opened its way beneath these lands like a Great Worm, shattering and grinding away its passage. It filled much of the lower caverns and tunnels, drowning what had been the kingdom of the Trickster's Children. Yes, their cities, and their treasures, so they say.

    None know its motive, but on the heels of the Teardelf came a People, and if you ask me they had some hand in the river's making. They are something of a mystery even now, a shadow race of the Underearth, akin to the Trickster's Children but of a different breed. In the heart of the Teardelf, delving with their sorcery and their cunning to harness the might of the river, they founded what they called Naimuninel, The Face Shadowed on the Waters.

    Other fell things found their way to the Underearth as well -- a tribe of kobolds, the Black-ear Clan, fought their way into the upper caverns, killing some of the beasts that had taken refuge there.

    Yes, other fell things I say...the Lore says that a beast, Urdagnacht, came to the deepest delvings of the Underearth. Two spans of a man tall, twice as wide, with a great yellowed beak, and claws as long as swords. No, I haven't seen him with my own eyes you insolent pup, and nor would I want to! Why did he come there? The stories say he was half-blind with madness and a poisoned wound, his mate slain...none know for sure.

    Yes, it was a dark and dangerous age when your ancestors came to these lands, and built the Prazsky Hrod. Men needed to be real men back then! Ha, the women too! Now ready yourself for bed, Master, I will tell you more when my throat isn't so dry.


    Great Disaster and Age of Monsters 0 PNG
    Great Disaster and Age of Monsters 0 PSD



    [The two black beads at 2,4 are the kobolds, who immediately encountered a monster from the previous age; the other beads near them are monsters.]
    •  
      CommentAuthorRemi
    • CommentTimeAug 30th 2008 edited
     # 21
    Shit just got real!

    This is so much fun. I especially love the flooded tower of the Dark Elves! I can just see the aquatic zombie elves waiting in that cold wetness far below the earth. Good job, sir!
    •  
      CommentAuthortony dowler
    • CommentTimeSep 1st 2008 edited
     # 22
    FRAGMENT BEINGS-

    My Dearest Snap-Arm,

    This ain’t no Kobold paradise–that wizzard was full of crap. “Age of adventure” he tells us, “carve out a Kobold civilization in a new dungeon”, he tells us. My cave is damp, and we’ve been eatin nothin but mushrooms for two weeks solid. Gnaw-Eye says we just have to hang in there an things’ll get better, but I don’t know. First of all, these great caves are full of weird-ass primoridals. The thing that ate Monty had, I swear, about six mouths. Second of all, the fat loot hasn’t materialized. I’d put in for a transfer home, but Bignose did that yesterday and Gnaw-Eye’s using him to bait the Xorn traps now.

    Much Love,
    Crack-Bone

    Dear Snap-Arm,

    You’d never guess what happened. That raggedy ass wizzard showed up. Turns out he’s settin’ up a lair somewhere in the dungeon. Reckon’ it’s a lot dryer than here. I ran into him in the main hall (that’s what Gnaw-Eye calls it, but it’s really just a hole in the rock like everythin eles here). “Wizzard,” I says, “where’s my fat loot!” He looks at me real sour and says “The Dark Ones of Naimuninel mine for mirthril as we speak. They have devised a series of locks for keeping the river from their works, so what’s your excuse?” Wizzards are full of shit.

    A gooey spidery teeth thing ate Grip-Jaw on patrol today. Gnaw-Eye gave me his second best blanket.

    Love,
    Crack-Bone

    Dear Snap-Arm,

    Saw that wizzard again. He was mutterin’ to Gnaw-Eye–something about “watched an owlbear eat an iron golem” and “moving the lair a finger deeper for safety”, whatever that means. His hair’s gone even whiter, if you can figger that. Guess that owl thingy kinda scared him.
    Good news is, my new cave’s a lot warmer and the damp seems to have lessened. Or maybe I’m just gettin used to it.

    Regards,
    Crack-Bone

    PS Gnaw-Eye just came in. Seems there’s a magma leak in the upper hall! GE seems to think that means loot at last. “Magma’s just brimmin’ with valueable minerals and what!” he says. I’m off to check it out.

    Yer Friend,
    Crack-Bone

    -FRAGMENT ENDS

    Elkanei Age of Monsters start of year 3 PSD
    Elkanei Age of Monsters start of year 3 PNG

    Note: Black Ear Clan replaced by Cinderwalkers Magma Sprite Group
  23.  # 23
    Doh! Looks like Remi needs to take a break, so he's on standby, making it Brendan's turn.
  24.  # 24
    Posted By: tony dowlerFRAGMENT BEINGS


    I love this typo, and plan to use it as a general salutation in my emails.

    "Attention Fragment Beings!"

    Also: This dungeon build is fun to watch. HTHaD totally works with an audience.
    • CommentAuthorgeorge
    • CommentTimeSep 3rd 2008
     # 25
    I raised a beer to Crack-Bone tonight, poor guy.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBrendan
    • CommentTimeSep 6th 2008 edited
     # 26
    [Document contains non-visible binary characters and will be opened as a read-only file.]

    ?ERVER L?G « « 2074586 - 2320988 » »
    SESSI?N ID "CINDERWALKE?S"

    2074588: Geo-Probe ID Gamma PING

    2074588: Geo-Probe ID ?amma PONG

    2074593: Geo-Probe data processed. Conclusions follow...

    WARNING Tremor profile 96% mat?h to threat profile ANKHEG. Known disruptive to magma cultivation by m?ans of substructure erosion, uncontrolled tunneling, etc. Recommend initiate stratagem 46 KAR?M BONGO [controlled t?nnel to threat site, forceful suppression]

    2074598: Recomm?ndation taken under advisement; vote logging O?EN

    2074608: ASSENT 1 DISSENT 0

    2074609: ASS?NT 2 DISSENT 0

    2074612: ASSENT 2 DISSENT 1

    2074621: ASSENT 3 DISSENT 1

    2074624: ASSENT 4 D?SSENT ?

    2074628: ASSENT 5 DISSENT 1

    2074628: Vote log?ing CLOSED

    2074628: Recommendation ACCEPTED by vote ?f 5-1

    2074628: Searching for available tunnel groups...

    2074630: Tunnel group "Komatiite" selected and dispatched.

    2075039: Tunneling commen??d

    2320963: Tunnel group report PING

    2320973: ERR?R 14: Ping timeout. Retrying...

    2320973: Tunnel group "Komatiite" report PING

    2320975: Tunnel group "Komatiite" re?ort PONG

    2320975: Tunnel group "Komatiite" report received. Contents follow...

    Trem?r profile ANKHEG may be in error. Nearest profile match now 80% TRICKSTER'S CHILDREN. Unknown s?urce of white-noise interference preventing positive profile match. Recommendations?

    2320976: Tunnel group instruction request PING

    2320979: Tunnel group inst?uction request PONG

    2320979: T?nnel group instruction rec?ived. Contents follow...

    Proceed as planned


    2321036: Tunnel gro?p "Komatiite" report PING

    2320979: Tunnel group "Komatiite" re?ort PONG

    2320975: Tunnel group "Komatiite" report received. Contents follow...

    Tunnel nearing completion. Pr?paring for assault. Front-line team armed with magma hoses; supporting fire to ?e provided by cinderthrower team. Will report again up?n threat suppression completion.

    2320987: ERROR 276: WATER ENCOUNTERED

    2320987: ERROR 276: WATER ENCOUN?ERED

    2320987: ERROR 276: WATER ENCOUNTERED

    2320988: ERROR 277: THEY HAVE W?TER OH NOOOO?OO

    « « » »

    Elkanei Age of Monsters start of year 4 PSD
    Elkanei Age of Monsters start of year 4 PNG

    (I relabelled the black beads on the lower right, who turn out to be [upon checking] the freed dark elf slaves from the Age of Civilization; I assume "act as independent monsters" means "act as wandering monsters" now?)
    • CommentAuthorgeorge
    • CommentTimeSep 6th 2008
     # 27
    The first thing I thought was OMG Lol. Is that a bad sign.

    For the record I am pumped for the ankheg, nice job Brendan!

    Also I have an entry in PyWeek this week, so I might be a little slow if Eero finishes his turns fast.
  28.  # 28
    So, you want to know how became Vazorcradias, eh? What takes a measly wizard-cum-archeologist and turns him into the mastermind who will rule the world?

    Greed, my man. That's what. Let me tell you...

    I'd been away from the civilization (such as it was) of Prazky Hrod for ages after teleporting into the subterranean tunnels, analyzing the subterranean river that plunges into the depths of the earth in rapids the like of which the surface world knows not. The place is dark, and the rumbling of the river is incessant; it'd drive a lesser man mad, I'm sure. And when the spring rains run low and the river slows to a trickle... that's when you can hear the screams of the damned down below.

    But those things were no consern to my exploration, I felt no interest towards anything but my research of the evolutionary dead-ends proffered by these dank caves to their denizens. Dull stuff in hindsight, but the king was paying well for it. The fates of the subterranean peoples hardly registered at my makeshift laboratory behind the waterfall - sometimes exiled refugees from the wars upriver would float down to my cavern, but they rarely lasted long. The war was being slowly won by the darrow, so most of the creatures were these cold, rubbery sprites that malfunctioned somehow down here. Whatever.

    The war ended in time, however, and the nigh-elves turned back to the works of peace. This was when I realized what they had, as the river started filling with shavings of mithril and other valuable metals they were using to filigree the ceilings of their cavern city. Foolish as it was, this was the first I knew of their untold wealth and endless mines that armed them against those sprites I saw them kill in such numbers earlier. This was finally enough to lure me upriver, and soon I was scouting the shining jevel that Naimüninel had become in short years of peace; the whole city was shining as in bright daylight, thanks to the wasteful, ethereal metal sky emblazoned above to reflect and scatter any and all sources of light down below.

    Now, I'm not a greedy man by nature (do please believe me in this), but the sight of the city built by those wretched creatures, squandering a king's ransom and more in their worship of the Trickster, who they revere, rose a cunning anger in my heart, as it would do for any man. This spirit of justice I call Vazorcradias (in the language of men), but it's not me, you understand, but a concept of abstract degree: notion that we, as men of ability and talent, should have that which those darrow unjustly have. And being that we have the means and the might, would you not join me in this work, as have others? Soon we will be powerful enough to march upon the nigh-elves and take what is rightfully ours.

    Elkanei Age of Villainy begins PSD
    Elkanei Age of Villainy begins PNG
  29.  # 29
    No, truly it tore at my heart, but in the end, what choice did I have? Does not a man have the right to defend himself? And how much more do I, the pinnacle of genius and perfection have to ensure I am not snuffed out before I have fulfilled the acme of my contribution to the world. No, truly, it is not I, but the musty kings of Prazsky Hrod buried in their ignorance as in a tomb, who bear the blame.

    But why do I explain myself? Is it possible I feel some qualm? Here in my secret sanctum behind the waterfall I can be honest with myself (for surely no mortal will ever read these words). When I laid out the slave creatures with magics and slit their sleeping throats, I felt nothing. When I burned the ooze with arcane fire, I indulged in a slight pleasure that such an abomination was sent from the world. But this was… different.

    Perhaps if I interrogate the events themselves, that will lay my secret concerns to rest. Three adventurers were discharged from Prazsky Hrod, yes; at the behest of the council specifically to investigate my own disappearance, yes. They could not have known how secrecy is essential to my plans. I saw in my magus sphere how they slew the ankheng, yes.

    And if I spied on their progress and insinuated their presence to the Drow, what of it? I have to protect myself, don’t I? Who knows how those castlefied cretins would have interpreted my work. No, it is better this way, better the adventurers die so that their treasures will make my triumph over the dark ones all the more perfect.
    It’s only that one of them was a wizard. It’s only that he was my brother.

    Age of Villainy 2 PSD
    Age of Villainy 2 PNG

    OK, Brendan, over to you!
    •  
      CommentAuthorBrendan
    • CommentTimeSep 15th 2008 edited
     # 30
    Dear Diary,

    Well, we're setting off on our adventure today! I'm so excited I'm shaking, even though I was up all night polishing the scrollwork on my brand new Plate Mail +1. But we're really up for anything this time. We've got a bard named Robador who's pretty handy with his rapier, and a thief called Doug who said he wouldn't pick any of my pockets like all the thieves I've hung out with before. (I know, diary, but it's okay--he promised!)

    Robador is playing his "impatient" song, so I guess I should wrap this up and mount my trusty... mount. Wish me luck, diary--maybe next time I write in you, it'll be as the champion of the Crypts of Elkanei!

    Sincerely, Goldenrod the Paladin

    ----------------------------------------

    Dear Diary,

    The Crypts of Elkanei suck and they're boring. Two days of wandering through abandoned caverns without a single goblin to smite or potion to drink. At this point I'd settle for a pit trap! Also I'm pretty sure Doug stole my only clean underwear. Tomorrow I think we have to wade through some kind of underground river. LAME. Although I guess that will at least rinse out my briefs.

    Sincerely, Goldenrod the Paladin

    ----------------------------------------

    Dear Diary,

    WHOOP! YEAH! Dark elves can SUCK MY BROADSWORD!

    I thought we were never going to get to anything interesting down here, and then we ran into a whole city of the nasty spider-worshippers... AND TOTALLY OWNED THEM! Now we've got so much treasure that we've had to load it onto one of their weird boats just to keep moving down the river. I've got a shiny new Holy Avenger (+4!!!) and some kind of barrel-shaped thing with portholes and levers that I'm not sure what they do yet.

    Anyway, Robador's playing his post-battle triumph song, and Doug's so happy digging through the chests of GP that he hasn't even said anything racist for the last hour. I hear there's a Dungeon Master right downstream from us. Well, he better watch out, diary--the Conquerers of Elkanei are coming for him!

    Sincerely, Goldenrod the Paladin

    ----------------------------------------

    (Footnote, Year 3 of the Age of Me: The latest adventurers rode their barge down a solid half-mile of waterfall today. I'm not sure why they seemed so determined to deliver the Drow's treasure to me, but I appreciate it all the same. Perhaps some kind of geas? I'd ask them, but I'm having trouble finding enough pieces to make even one flesh golem. --Vazorcradias)

    Age of Villainy 3 (PSD)
    Age of Villainy 3 (PNG)

    [It looks like we might possibly have to move to undead rules at some point, so I re-marked the one existing tomb with its X. There were actually two adventuring groups this year--one spawned from the castle that got wiped out immediately, and then the automatic cumulative group that absolutely crushed the Naimünind before getting crushed by Vazorcradias themselves.]
  31.  # 31
    Wow, that's about the richest vaillain I've ever seen!
  32.  # 32
    Ah, it isn't my turn? I thought it was, but I just now got around to doing the turn.
  33.  # 33
    Oops! Yes, your turn. I thought I'd updated the top post, but I hadn't.

    T
  34.  # 34
    Oh, OK. I thought that I'd seen it updated to my turn before, but now I thought that I might have been skipped, or perhaps I saw it wrong. Whatever, I'll do it tomorrow.
  35.  # 35
    Sorry guys, but life's getting in the way of me getting to the office. I'll be able to do this in a couple of days, but if somebody goes ahead and takes a turn, it's no problem for me.

    (I'm stuck in a vortex colloquially known as "gathering firewood so I don't freeze to death this winter". Tomorrow will apparently get eaten by this project as well.)
  36.  # 36
    Thanks for the heads up. I'm pretty busy right now too. If someone wants to jump in, go ahead, otherwise we can wait for Eero.
  37.  # 37
    Aaand as a bonus point, I fell sick today with some sort of stomach flu. I can't predict how long it takes me to get over, but perhaps I'm with you next week.
  38.  # 38
    For a while it seemed that nobody would do anything about it, you know. I mean, a wizardly mastermind, plotting for world domination in the dark recesses of the earth. Most governments do have more pressing problems. We let it lie for several weeks, actually, while the king was recuperating from his winter flu.

    It's only in bad romances that this sort of thing becomes a problem, it seems to me. Here in the real world, what we did was pretty simple, at least after the wizarding guild finally got around to confessing to the king that one of theirs had gone rogue. We do have the army for this sort of thing, you know? I'd have led them myself if not for my bad hip and the fact that they couldn't fit my charger in the tunnels. I'm being told by my nephew-the-valiant-captain that it was pretty bad at times, though - the mad wizard (they say it was poisoned water that did him in) had been busy building an underground kingdom for himself, complete with a ragtag outlaw army and his own special treasury and all that. There were awful dungeons, too, the sort where you imprison your enemies. Of course not anything the army couldn't handle, but certainly cause for the peasants to feel some concern if we'd let it go on for a couple of years longer.

    Considering the expenses of sending down full ten squads of elite knights, as well as those three mages the guild sent, I'd ordered the boy to go down as far as the tunnels go while he was there. As he tells it, there were some pretty horrid sights there, including a nasty, ancient owlbear and stuff. I'm sure it'd all be pretty frightening for civilian eyes such as yours, or those of the foolish adventurers who went down there last year. They found the last survivor of that bunch in the mad wizard's prison warrens. Piteously grateful, the wretch.

    Still, all in a good day's work. The king himself - he confessed that sending my boys in there was a masterstroke. I agree; those guild wizards told me that in the western kingdoms they deal with this sort of thing by sending in small bands of highly paid adventurers with lots of magic items and instructions to kill and loot everything. Pretty stupid when you can just march some knights and crossbows down there and take care of it once and for all, I thought.
  39.  # 39
    Yay! Good triumphs! Or at least Evil doesn't triumph. Eero sent me the maps to host on my FTP, and I'll try to get them up soon.
  40.  # 40
    Here are the maps for the final turn of the Dungeon of Elkanei. Thanks for playing, guys, it was a blast! Anyone up for another?

    Elkanei PNG Map
    Elkanei PSD Map
    •  
      CommentAuthorBrendan
    • CommentTimeOct 10th 2008
     # 41
    Wow, the game seems to really ramp up the delta from one round to the next as you head into the last turns! Thanks, guys, this was fun. I'm going to try an actual solo game next and see if I can push myself a bit on the illustration and photoshoppery.
    •  
      CommentAuthormarkpank
    • CommentTimeJun 2nd 2010
     # 42
    Hi folks,
    This is great. I'd love to give a collaborative dungeon a try, if any of you are up for another game?

    Cheers,
    Mark
  43.  # 43
    Wow. I missed this thread when it was live and then started reading it just now and after the first note I was like "I'm in!" And then I saw the dates. But hey, if someone's setting a new one up, I'm in! :)
  44.  # 44
    That sounds like an awesome idea! I haven't played HTHAD in ages. Anybody want to volunteer to do the primoridial age? I did it last time, so it would sort of be cheating for me to do it again. We can use the How to Host a Dungeon Template. Once I get my coffee break at work, I'll set up a new thread for the dungeon.

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