Battle for Vulture Point, Act II Scene V

 The streets of Serin unfolded about our heroes in all of its glory. Choosing to go south rather than face the warren of Scornbul, they observed the widening of the lanes, the cobbling of the sidewalks and the growth of land surrounding the houses as they worked their way towards Orchid. From several points along the way the Rheel was visible to their right, sparkling in the westward setting sliver of the sun, the moon already visible and half full towards the east. The street was well peopled with others taking their evening constitutionals, from the various members of the old nobility to the gnomish nuveau riche, the men in their top hats with canes, the women with trailing dresses and corsets. As the trip continued both Hiram and Melas began to detect a slight air of snobbery from those they passed - an attitude that might have been cultivated by the many other young swordsmen who have taken up residence in Serin over the years only to sink into the depths of the warrens or the grave as their funds, fate or luck abandoned them. 

This subtle snubbing was shattered when the quartet passed four young swordsmen of a nature very similar to their own, only to hear afterwards one remark to his companions "did you see that monstrosity with them?" Melas, well accustomed to such comments and the need to clear them with blood, stiffened ever so slightly and turned, clearing his throat to catch the attention of the miscreant. The octet faced each other for a moment or two while it became clear that Melas' antagonist would not retract his unkind statements. Instead that fellow suggested that they retire to a nearby garden often used for the clarification and conclusion of such arguments. 

On their way to the local bower of blades Hiram took some pains to declaim to the passers by lines from a common play of the last decade that made the encounter seem very much like a great duel of the ages - with his side in the heroic role of course. One of the other party seemed to take this poorly, but when he warned Hiram to keep quiet the young actor merely bated him more. 

Once the groups reached the garden - with scattered marble benches, tables, chess stands, and arched lattices containing ivy that would bloom prettily in a few months - the four quickly resolved into pairs of two. It was quickly clear that there was no formal witness present to make the duel legal, and the consensus was for duels to first blood: for their parts Dietrich and his lanky opponent, who introduced himself as Donato de la Ballesteros, saw this more as an opportunity to test their skills rather than avenge any slight; Cybele's chosen opponent, a not unattractive young man named Florian de la Ballesteros, had already suffered a first touch at the sight of the sorceress' eyes, also agreed to first blood only. When Hiram squared off against the target of his japes, whose name he learned was Raul de la Ballesteros - to discuss terms that older fellow growled that the terms of thing between them should be obvious as he drew his heavy longsword. Hiram, with a hopeful quirk of his eyebrow, asked if that mean first blood, only to see his foe give a very thin smile. When Hiram pressed again the man agreed to first blood with a chuckle that indicated his initial opinions of the youth had been well confirmed. Melas and his elven opponent, named Victor d'Berangere, but whose colors indicated that he was a cousin at the least to the de la Ballesteros, were both more desirous of a greater degree of bloodshed but also more concerned about the intrusion of the law after such a lethal battle. Eventually Victor nodded to Melas' imprecise 'first dipping of the wick' into the other and the battles were joined. 

Dietrich's was over the fastest, showing the advantages of the constant drilling for speed and accuracy inherent in the von Eisenwald family style. His opponent had obviously hoped to use reach to his advantage, but Donato had not counted on Dietrich's skill at slipping past a blade, laying down a pinprick on the taller man's side that both agreed would have been a dangerous, perhaps fatal strike had the men been in a less formal duel. Their affair concluded the two shared a companionable silence as they viewed the outcome of the others. 

Hiram's quickness served him in his battle as well, darting his smaller weapon in past Raul's blade. The young actor felt a slight pressure on the blade as it slid past Raul's arm, flicking into or just barely through the older man's leather fencing glove as his canny foe moved to prevent a deeper penetration. This dissuaded Raul not at all as the longsword's progress continued through in its clear arc - instinct brought up Hiram's guard, which was obviously as Raul intended, for the thin weapon was at a bad angle and shattered immediately under the heavy blade. Swinging around for a fatal backstroke Raul checked his swing and, with the air of someone dealing with a mosquito bite, lifted his hand to his sleeve and pressed out the drop of two of blood that Hiram's stroke. "Oh. First blood. It seems you won." He glanced down at the shards of Hiram's blade and, by extension, Hiram's honor before fishing out a small card. "Here's the card for my solicitor, boy. He should be able to make amends for my… miscalculation." 

Melas and Victor, both obviously skilled fencers used to defending their honors, both started with defensive postures, making noncommittal strikes and solid parries to defend their space. During the first few passes Melas eyed his opponent carefully, recognizing the design of the man's armor as the sort that has been braced with metal at vital points for additional protection and adjusted his pattern of attack to accommodate for that. His perceptions didn't aid him much, as his opponent's constant emphasis on defense made him impossible for Melas to hit, but likewise made his attacks too tentative to score on the hunchback - either Victor was not prepared for Melas speed or, more likely, was aiming to tire him out so that first blood would be a fatal blow through the heart. Seeking an advantage Melas leaped onto one of the benches and from that height lay down a flurry of slashes and thrusts with his rapier, only to see his opponent continue to defense them with a fierce expression of tightly held anger. Melas had found a second, more vulnerable, weak spot. 

Using the length of the bench to buy himself a second to think, he dredged up what he knew of the d'Berangere lineage, recalling a few scandals, as well as a distant rumor of chaos taint. As Victor leaped onto an adjoining bench Melas pressed his attack on two fronts, as it were, and while d'Berangere was able to block his steel he could not block out his words. After a few seconds the elf's temper snapped - he abandoned his extreme defense in favor of an aggressive attack, and when that did not score a hit he leaped again to one of the nearby chess tables to claim the height advantage. Prepared for the move, Melas struck, driving his blade through the elf's leading thigh at the moment when it was outside his defense. Caught off-guard the otherwise agile foe felt his leg slide from under him and he made a rapid and painful descent into the dirt. 

Melas casually stepped down from the bench, cleaning his blade as the elven noble cursed into the dirt and composed himself before standing. Once upright the elf called to Donato for healing only to hear that tall man respond "You got yourself into this, cousin. If your life is not at risk I see no reason to aide you in your folly." Instead Raul assisted the elf in standing, and Melas could feel the hatred radiating from his justly defeated foe as he stood next to Hiram. 

"I wonder if they're the sort that holds grudges," the young actor inquired in a whisper. Melas replied "It doesn't matter if they are, because I am." 

Having witnessed these events Cybele turned to her adversary, who smiled with warmth bordering on radiance. "How about a side bet - the winner buys the other drinks?" offered the forward young man, and Cybele smiled in return. Determined to win such a bet and secure an evening with this charming rogue, she uttered a brief enchantment to guide her blade before the battle started. The two fencers moved as one as time seemed to slow in Cybele's mind: she saw his blade approaching, felt the gentle pressure of his practiced move that slid her blade off line, felt the very feather touch of his rapier leave a shallow cut on the back of her hand. This was mere tenths of a second before the enchantment inched her saber back on line, invalidating his parry and squaring the blade with his chest during his lunge. Her heavier blade entered point first between his ribs and with a quiet sigh exited the other side. The pair's first embrace was as he collapsed into her, gasping as blood welled around the saber's edge. Even still the fair Florian smiled at his ill won victory, and then collapsed. 

Both Hiram and Donato moved in an instant, but the young actor was the closer of the two, and with a flourish of silks he drew the wound away as the white kerchief both absorbed and assumed the crimson stain. This earned Hiram a clap on the back from Donato as the lady Floriane assisted Florian, both victors and vanquished, to his feet. As Raul and Victor skulked off into the embrowning night the remaining six decided to travel together to dinner, that Florian might make good the price of his victory and the others might bond over a good meal.

Weekly Cooking Report May 9: Grilled Chicken Souvlaki with Green Peppers and Onion

 It's still the start of grilling season my friends, so fire that sucker up. 

This week comes from Cooks Illustrated again, so no easy website to link you to, but this one is hardly complicated enough to warrant the longer description. 

Shopping trip: for the skewers (and you'll need 4 skewers if you don't have them; yes I only used 3. Shut up and listen.)
1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 green bell pepper, quartered, stemmed, seeded, each quarter cut into 4 chunks
1 small red onion, ends trimmed, peeled, halved lengthwise, each half cut into 4 chunks

for the marinade: 
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest plus 1/4 cup juice (2 lemons)
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon dried oregano

for the recommended Tzatziki Sauce
1 bottle of premade Tzatsiki sauce. Don't kill yourself here. 

Also pick up some pita bread. The CI recipe has a whole thing about fancy ways to grill the bread in aluminum foil, but it's not necessary. (The bread isn't even really necessary if you want to serve over rice; just don't forget to the cook the rice! Or... COUSCOUS, the lazy person's rice!)

OK, get a quart of cold water, dissolve 2 tablespoons of salt in it and chuck the chicken in. Cover it and set it in the fridge to brine for 30 minutes. While that's happening take all the marinade ingredients and mix them together; once that's done set 1/4 cup aside in a bowl for serving. 

Once the 30 minute brine is done. dry the chicken with paper towels and toss it into the marinade. Take a skewer and thread 1/4 of the pepper onto it, concave side up. Then thread on 1/4 of the chicken, and then 1/4 of the onions, concave side down. You can see how it looks in the picture. Repeat till you have all 4 skewers ready 

Heat and clean the grill per manufacturer instructions. Once it's hot lay the skewers on it and cook, turning every 4 minutes or so until all sides are cooked. Tae one skewer off the flame and test with a probe thermometer for 160F. If it's not quite there, keep them on another few minutes, rotating every minute or so for even cooking. You should be good at 20 minutes max. 

Use a fork to push the contents of the skewers into the bowl with the set aside marinade, cover with foil and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve with the pita and Tzatsiki for a grateful family!

New Salem: Renaissance - ...The Universe...

The second in our trio of powers that need modification, Cosmic Awareness. This one needs tweaking because first of all it's not a great adaptation of how the power appears in the comics, and also because it has a degree of meta play that doesn't let it translate as an NPC ability (which is very unusual for V&V)

That's a lot of highly specific text for a power that certainly seems to be designed to not be used, and when used gives a minimum effect. "Correct answers to Yes or No questions" is definitely not worth it for an average charisma hero asking even a single question: that's a 50/50 chance of being messed up. So the player needs to spend a massive amount of Power, say, 25+ points, to get even a 75% chance to to make an attempt. And even then the chance of finding something is, for an average hero, 1 in 3. 

Essentially as written the power is useless without some combination of Heightened Intelligence and Heightened Charisma. Worse, it doesn't really match what Cosmic Awareness did in the comics, with the best known practitioner being Captain Marvel, who was literally granted Cosmic Awareness in the run on his series. This provided him with a general sense of oneness with the universe, let him detect and locate cosmic level threats, and acted similar to a 'spider-sense' in terms of predicting physical harm. I don't know that the term existed in comics prior to that, even if there are other people who have displayed some version of it, including Spider-Man, whose spider-sense might as well be a low level Cosmic Awareness. 

The problem is that almost any other implementation of Cosmic Awareness is just Heightened Senses. Even this iteration of Cosmic Awareness is just "asking questions of the GM" carved out so it's not taken as a Heightened Sense. 

So what do we want Cosmic Awareness to do? I think the general answer is that the character is passively aware of threats to the cosmos and can learn things they would have no way of knowing.

Mechanically this means:

If there is some threat to the cosmos (or the planet, continuity, whatever) the Gm treats it like any other sense: if it's likely big enough for the character to sense it as they would any other stimui, they do. Less obvious cosmic threats, they have a chance equal to their detect danger to sense it. Cosmic Awareness also helps characters using any other senses, letting them re-roll any missed Detect Hidden or Detect Danger checks due to their cosmic senses. 

If the player wants to learn something specific, it's a d% save vs. I * 3, and if successful the GM will give them some level of information about it. The character can spend 1 point of power per 1% added to their chance of success, so this can be exhausting. Failure means no meaningful answer, but not incorrect information; the character knows they can't interpret what they are sensing. Failure by more than 20% causes the character to get lost in the universe - treat this as Paralysis Ray with a d% save vs. Charisma to recover themselves - and if they miss the roll by more than 40% they also take 3d10 Power damage as if hit by Devitalization Ray. 

I think this is a lot cleaner in the concept of the power being a general information feeder, a double for danger sense, and a way to get something closer to an Augury from D&D as opposed to a set series of Yes/No questions that has to be gamed out. 

Battle for Vulture Point Act II Scene IV

As the quartet slumbered their worthy coachman pushed the horses onward, further up the trail into the mountains and then down the carefully modulated descent of switchbacks that lead to the city that was both near and far. Eventually Hiram and Dietrich awoke and took in their first sight of the chaotic city, the distance obscuring some of the confusion and lending the whole an aura of planning that it did not deserve. To the south were the interspersed manors and farms that made up the Orchid, linked to the rest of the city by the river, the aqueduct and a trio of broad, flat boulevards and bounded by the simple stone walls of the distant farms or the gated walls of the mansions. Further north along the Rheel were the colored houses, painted roofs, and tall towers of Serin, the lots becoming smaller and the houses more densely packed until they fused with one another - that fusion marking the first boundary with Scornbul. The second boundary was when the architecture went mad, Scornbul growing and twisting upon itself so that it looked as if someone had taught ants carpentry, and this was the mound that resulted. The city became a mass of wood, impossible to distinguish one house from the next or even ascertain what streets might go where. To the west was the swamp - which they felt certain they would never, ever have cause to enter - and to the east, their avenue of approach, lay Ferrantino. 

By the time they approached the gates the others had been roused for their first look at their new home with the sliver of sun still barely past midday (the Dusty Road in being set one day's ride up, rather than down the mountain). That first encounter was of a mix of smells - as the breeze blew in from the sea it was salt and the mass of humanity that was Scornbul, when it blew from inland it was of the more common smell of gardens and cattle. The crowd before them hindered movement, but their worthy coachman pressed on, trusting that the livery of the imperial coach would see them past the busy guards at the gate. 

Once in the city, the street was temporarily blocked by a crowd of halfling and gnomish members of the mercantile class arguing about the disposition of a rolling wooden construction bearing dozens of plucked ducks, the purchasing gnome insisting that he had also paid for the ducks feather's while the halfling, brandishing a contract, pointing to a total lack of clause indicating the same (having no doubt already made a profit selling the down to a different vendor). Shortly thereafter they were stopped again by another such construction laden with raw fabrics wheeled through the street, followed by one bearing finished clothes. 

The coachman took this time to warn them about the street vendors, and if any leaped onto the running boards with offers they didn't want to consider to simply let him know and he would take the whip to them. This made the good man appear oracular as mere seconds later one young man did just that, informing them of the best prices for rooms in the immediate surroundings if they would just follow his direction… the pitch was cut short by the sound of the crop and the good nobles lowered the shades somewhat to avoid attracting as much attention. 

Even still it was a lost battle, with merchants, venders, hucksters and buskers of all sorts running up to the coach and leaping on to make offers of all kids - fabrics, foods, frolicsome companions - to those wealthy and well positioned enough to afford the nobleman's transit. The most ambitious and well prepared of these was a young man offering directions to the best hotel in Ferrantino who had possessed the foresight to bring a large metal expanding shield with which to fend off the coachman's crop. Melas was able to dissuade the man with a shove.

Still, his presence had raised a question of where to stay. This is when Lord von Eisenwald revealed to his companions that he was coming to the city to claim a family estate, a house in Serin, which ought to have space enough to house the four of them in some comfort. This was quickly agreed upon, so that when inquired as to a destination other than the Ferrantino yards they were able to provide an address with such certainty that the issue could scarcely ever have been in doubt. 

A destination now determined and the crush of the crowd soon past them they were able to take in more of the view. The sound of a large crash caught their attention, and they could see that clever merchants who had warehouses by the Ferrantino gate - a less desirable position now that more of the goods came in through the docks than the road - had found a way to make use of the viaduct, carrying their goods in narrow, long boats along that elevated river and then hiring apprentices wizards to make such goods temporarily weightless with a common alteration magic so that they might float down to the ground with the gentleness of a duck's feather near the aforementioned warehouses. As evidenced by the crash, sometimes the apprentices' timing is poor. Dietrich suggested that if perhaps the apprentices were made to ride the boats down they would be more certain of their timing. 

Cybele pointed out to the south the massive, intimidating construction that was the Ferrantino library - like all of Ferrnatino it was stone, but in this case a pure white marble with the classic 110 steps and 11 pillars later adopted by the old Imperial Court as being the proper design for structure of high social merit (some scholars will argue that the design originated the greensward and was mimicked from there, the age of the library, rebuilt as it was by the d'Ferranntino family with dwarvish laborers almost immediately after the city was reclaimed, stand stalwart against this theory). Hiram reminded all that the steps were made famous on the stage in the initial play of the 'Petros the Pugilist' sextet. All agreed that it was indeed a classic but felt that the middle pieces were weak (the one with Petros fighting a bare-knuckled match against a chaos beast bull man was, while a crowd pleaser, had little artistic merit), and the later ones with the aged Petros were attempting to bring pathos to a character too well defined as a glorious youth in the earlier works.

And with that erudite discussion of the arts, they moved from Ferrantino to Serin, and once in Serin the roads opened to their carriage, and they made good time to the von Eisenwald house. 

The house at which the coach stopped was a tastefully apportioned two- and one-half story wooden construction of the sort commonly built during the reign of Emperor Segundo 'the moderator', the 22nd, and second to last, ruler of the empire. The front yard was just the size enough for a formal duel and well kept, and the house itself appeared to be in excellent shape despite having been uninhabited since the death of Archibald Von Eisenwald some three years previous. Dietrich approached and knocked once, and after a moment the door was opened by a smartly dressed halfling in a bowler hat and waistcoat. 

"Good evening, sirs, lady. I am Rudolph Eisenwald, local solicitor to the von Eisenwalds. Your appearance suggests to me that you are Dietrich von Eisenwald, but I trust you will not take it amiss if the formalities of the situation necessitate my asking for your identifications," the small man said as he ushered the four noblemen into the house. Upon seeing that all was in order he proceeded to explain the arrangements his firm had made for the new von Eisenwald arrival. To wit: all of the rooms had been cleaned and aired all of the bedrooms had been set with fresh linens; the larder had been stocked with sufficient food for a day or two, including some cured ham; the inventory of the wine cellar had been confirmed; a local day servant had been arranged and would begin work the following day. There were no night servants employed as yet, given the expense and contract obligations of hiring the dwarves for the evening work, and since there had been no set date for the new lord's arrival the firm felt that erring towards practicality in expenses was in the lord's best interest. 

(Melas: I look the halfling over to see if he is concealing anything. Is he? GM: No Melas: Then I ignore him.)

Dietrich spent a few moments going over most of the papers as presented - all save a sealed letter - that confirmed the arrangements and quickly tabulating that the money the few small halfling farms outside the city still attached to this house would serve to cover the cost of taxes, salary for a servant (if the servant were full time and provided lodgings) or two (if they lived off site and worked only during the day), a stipend for an acceptable food supply that would be stretched with his companions present and a very small amount left over. That was when Rudolph presented his card and stated that if the new Lord von Eisenwald found the arrangements to date acceptable that the firm of Eisenwald, Eisenwald and Altmann would be most pleased to continue the professional relationship and could promise to provide a four hour response time to any inquiry from the Von Eisenwald estate. Seeing that the cost of the solicitor's monthly retainer would bring his income balance to a net zero Dietrich shrugged, replied that thing were indeed acceptable and presented the halfling with Lord Ambleer's letters to the four governors for delivery. The small man accepted them with precision, bowed sharply and then, with permission, took his leave. 

Dietrich then slit open and read the letter; it was from Portia d'Ferrantino, head loremistress of the Ferrantino Library and scion of the line from which that quarter took its name. With both brevity and precision the letter laid out how the library had been in negotiations with the previous lord von Eisenwald concerning the donation of his library; negotiations that were not yet complete at the time of his unfortunate demise. The lady d'Ferrantino wished to introduce herself to the von Eisenwald heir with the admitted goal of re-starting those negotiations at a later date. To that end he was invited to visit the library at his convenience and arrange a time to dine with her as soon as his schedule permitted.  

Melas and Cybele took it upon themselves to explore the house without delay, (Cybele: Is there a wine cellar? Melas: You beat me to it!) while Hiram watched their worthy coachman unload their luggage and deliver it - lacking any other indication of who would be lodging in which room - in the front hall before he, Hiram, glanced through the other rooms in the first floor, a task which Dietrich also undertook once he had concluded affairs with his solicitor.

The house was in excellent order, the wine cellar somewhat thinly stocked but serviceable, the veranda off of the dining room overlooking a back yard that could do with some thorough refurbishing, with a bird bath and fountain centrally located and rose bower to the right that was overgrown with the thorny stalks. The second floor held bedrooms enough for the four of them - the frontward facing bedroom with direct access to the second story porch and a tower space reachable only by a tightly wound circular stair. The backmost bedroom had a small balcony as well, and a closet that contained a concealed space for the caching of weapons, which was quickly made home to their various treasures, magical artifacts and the rescued remains. The remainder of the frontward half-story, other than the tower, naturally, held a widow's walk (from which one could, with the craning of the neck and a sufficiently advanced imagination to see through the multi-storied wooden warren that was Scornbul, make out the ocean) and long space lined with bookshelves and books, a comfortable chair and the evidence on the worn floorboards of fencing training of the von Eisenwald style. 

All in all it was deemed quite acceptable by its new owner and his friends. Rather than face cooking for themselves just yet they decided to briefly explore their new neighborhood and see what sort of entertainment it might offer

I committed a filksong: The Ballad of Petrilly Gill

 The Ballad of Petrilly Gill

(To the tune of the Eagles _Lyin’ Eyes_)

 

Halfling girls just seem to find out early

How to open doors with pick and file

A rich old mark so she won't have to worry

She'll mask in black and climb the wall in style 

 

Late at night a big old house holds plenty

Where each antique and stature has its price

And it breaks her heart to think she’s has to leave some

But her fence has asked she grab that diamond ice

 

So she finds the safe and gets on with the thievin’

Pick the locks and shut all the traps down

Grabs the bag of gems but as she is leavin'

A shadow there with maw turned in a frown.

 

She can't hide from flyin' eyes

And her mask is a thin disguise

Awash in fear she’ll realize

her mark is just a sphere of many eyes

 

At a dockside bar her favorite fence is waiting

Tracking goods that come and go with the tide

As she runs away from as abomination

She hopes he has ways to get her out alive

 

“Because if we fall, we will fall together”

She whispers that cold warning with a smile

“Beholders grudges, they go on forever,

They are nothing but malice, hate, and guile.”

 

She can't hide from flyin' eyes

And her mask is a thin disguise

Awash in fear she’ll realize

her mark is just a sphere of many eyes

 

She adds this job to ones that she’s regretted

And stares out at the stars up in the sky

Out in the night, the sphere is silhouetted

And her fence tried to run with no goodbye

 

She wonders how it ever got this crazy

She thinks about the pro she used to be

Did she get gulled or did she just get lazy?

After killing him, her paths are fight and flee

 

“My, oh my, you sure know how to arrange things

You set me up so well, so carefully”

Taking his poor worthless life just didn't change things

As the sphere appeared and she cursed silently

 

She can't hide from flyin' eyes

And her mask is a thin disguise

Awash in fear she’ll realize

her mark is just a sphere of many eyes

There ain't no way to hide from flyin' eyes

Her death approaches with nine old magic eyes

 

Weekly Cooking Report May 2: Sumac Chicken Breasts

You remember when I asked you to pick up sumac for those chicken wings? Well, here's where that pays off. 

The recipe for this is so insanely easy I almost feel guilty for using it. The recipe for the chicken is here and you can see the shopping run is almost non-existent. 

2 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, the Sumac you have from last time I had you get some, some balsamic vinegar that you probably have in the kitchen, salt and pepper. For the rest of the meal it's our old friend couscous and some veggies. When I made it I went with broccoli, but I strongly recommend the ease of getting a bag of baby carrots and roasting them with this in a little olive oil. 

If your chicken breasts run big (and they will with todays breasts) you're going to want to slice them lengthwise before you cook them if you're using broccoli. That will make them cook a lot quicker, but it can be harder to get the thermometer in to track internal temp. If you're using the baby carrots, those take longer to roast so the timing works better. 

Rub the chicken down with the sumac and a little salt and pepper, then put in a container with the balsamic vinegar and let it marinade for an hour. Heat the oven to 375F. Just before cook time put 2 Tbs of olive oil and some salt over the baby carrots. 

Now you can put them all on the same sheet pan, but if you want the flavors separate put down some foil on the pan and fold it at the center to make a crude wall. Carrots on one side, chicken on the other. That will keep most of the process separated. 

Roast until the probe thermometer shows the chicken at temp. Once it is, take it out and check the carrots. If the fork doesn't go in cleanly, take the chicken off to rest, set the oven to 400, and chuck the carrots back in for 5 minutes or so. 

While this is happening, make the couscous from the box... yadda yadda you know the drill. 

The balsamic sumac is a unique and delicious taste. Serve to a grateful family. 

New Salem: Renaissance - LIFE...

V&V 2.1 has three powers that stand out either in their general weirdness or in how they don't manage to capture the comic book version of the power. Today we're looking at the first of these.

This is weird, right? It's not just me, right?

Revivification is a strange choice because it's not like there are a lot of supers with this power. It feels very holdover from Empire of the Petal Throne that somehow made it into the 2nd edition. But the concept of healing someone? That's got a lot of comic book antecedents. A such this power often gets changed to some sort of healing ability. 

Healing: 

This is the power to restore health to the wounded, diseased, and perhaps even the dead. It can be used (E/3 round up) times per day, at a range of 1", and taking one full round to do so (if it is not the character's first action of the round they cannot act again until the commensurate action of the next round). Each use restores either the target's Healing Rate in Hit Points or 2d8 Power Points. The character can choose to activate more than one use of this ability at one time, restoring more HP or Power Points with a single action, but doing so costs 8 Power. 

If the character attempts to use this power on someone who has died within the last hour, and who still has Basic Hits remaining, they may discover that the body has a "spark of life" remaining, and may be restored to the living with a single use of Healing and 8 Power Points. The chance of being revived is the percent of their Basic Hits remaining. 

For Example, Captain Awesome has 4 Basic Hits, and has been reduced to 0 HP and 0 Power, and 3 Basic Hits in a fierce battle. To all appearances dead, the healer has a 75% (3/4 = 75%) chance to find a spark of life and bring the Captain back to life. 

The character may bring back person who has been deceased up to 10 days. The circumstances depend on the nature of the death and the characters source of powers - a mystical hero would be be able to revive someone who "died too soon" due to a curse or magical attack, while a high tech hero could revive someone whose death didn't involve brain damage via some memory storage and nanite restoration of dead flesh - but this the attempt is entirely at GM discretion. If the GM deems it is possible, the chance of success is 100% -10% per full day dead, all of the characters uses of Healing for the next week, and 25 Power. If the roll is a failure, but is less than 100%-2% per day dead, the target is revived temporarily; they have long enough to close their last case, capture who killed them, make amends for their crimes, have one last personal discovery, or say goodbye. (If this is a PC, it's for one last game session, and they may have new powers for that one last session based on the method used to revive them.)

Note: If the 'dead' character is a PC who made the d% save vs. their last positive Power score (see 7.2 Replacing Slain Characters), this power revives the 'dead' hero at no additional cost, as this power is the GMs method for explaining their return. 

This includes the original power, but also keeps the Golden/Silver Age feel of these sorts of healings. The Endurance based number of uses is to make sure the players don't abuse this as a "team regeneration" where an hours rest gets everyone back to full health. 

Next Time? THE UNIVERSE...

The Battle for Vulture Point Act II Scene III

The foursome reached Lord Ambleer's manor is good time considering their condition, and were greeted at the door by servants who took their horses, stowed their bags and handed them warm brandy, much to everyone's relief. Lord Ambleer was most gracious as he accepted the return of his medicinal herbs, and indicated that the heroes of the hour should refresh themselves as he had given orders for a banquet this evening with local musicians and rare wines. 

Covered in much as they were the quartet was quick to comply - Melas and Cybele first given the state of their wounds and dress, followed by the others. All were happy to discover that Lord Ambleer, once an adventurer himself, had constructed his bathing chambers with a separate area where one might disrobe and sluice off the worst of the filth (say, incrusted blood, vulture dander, dust and grit from a collapsed ceiling, spider webbing and venomous ichor in Melas' case) so as to not contaminate the heated, rejuvenating waters of the tub. 

As the first pair bathed Hiram wandered through Lord Ambleer's library, finding books on the fire religion, a multitude of atlases the history of the area and his family, and a surprisingly complete collection of the high romances of Lady de la Rosa, starting with "Her Passionate Heart"; alas, there were no plays or other high poetry, so Hiram sniffed derisively at their host's tastes. The young actor might be forgiven for his ego, covering as it was the quaking in his heart over spending another night in the haunted room. Dietrich meandered the grounds and held discourse with Lord Ambleer about the state of the military in the area and their shared agreement that something needed to be done. Ambleer volunteered to write letters anew to the four governors of Emirikol if Lord von Eisenwald would consent to see them to the Chaotic City. Said von Eisenwald agreed. 

Naturally both men had some restorative food during this as well; Dietrich confined himself to some small morsels while Hiram, quite appropriately, had the chicken (GM: OK, that was mean. Sorry.) As he ate Hiram questioned the servants about the ghost, learning that her name was Lorell, Roland's twice great grandmother, who was murdered by a kinsman when it appeared that the then Lord Ambleer had died on his second campaign in the southern mountains. The servant added - with no trace of irony - that the ghost appeared only to those with a musical or dramatic soul, and that if someone were to re-create the seeming of the events that killed her than she might be freed (Hiram totally flubbed his Sense Motive check here so he has no reason to suspect that the servants are yanking his chain).

When they dragged themselves from the bath the Lady Floriane amused herself by claiming some food and additional drink - sandwiches which might work for wandering the library - while Melas joined Roland in the wine cellar to make selections for the evening. While his misshapen face and malformed limbs might have made him appear uncouth, Lord Beliseca possessed a finely honed political mind: as they searched for wines and discussed the nature of technology on the winemaking process (printing on corks and suchlike) Melas hunted out a quality wine that was laid down in a year that had favorable connotations to Lord Ambleer's family. Roland smiled when he saw it, naturally recounting the events of his twice great grandfather's first campaign in the southern mountains and how his victory brought the family a new title and estates inside the Greensward. He also added this observation "Men and history are much like wine, you know. Thy are shaped by the years of their maturation, their roots, their environment and their time in the sun, but their value is not set until they have been laid in the ground for a decade or a century." And with those words the two nobles picked a dozen other lesser bottles for the evening’s repast and went up to join the others.

Feeling mightily refreshed our heroes and their host gathered in Lord Ambleer's study to make an investigation of what was found in Vulture Point. In their previous conversation Dietrich and the lord of the manor determined which of the saddlebags were already Ambleer's property, but that left the one containing what were obviously a pair of magical potions and the ominous lead box to consider. 

Before the conversation began Cybele grimaced at the pain of her injury and Roland, unaware that any of his guests still suffered from such serious wounds, intoned a prayer to the maiden of the flames, laying two fingers on the Lady Floriane's forehead. The beautiful young noblewoman was briefly immolated with a fire that burned away her wounds. Thanking him for his kindness, Cybele couldn't help but wonder why a priest of the fire goddess would be suffering from a disease such as the one that apparently so debilitated their host but kept her tongue. 

The investigation started with the vial of viscous, honey colored liquid. Lord Ambleer was able to identify this for them as a concoction of veinleaves (an ivy whose broad, flat leaves took on the appearance of tanned human skin in the autumn) and the honey of blood-bees (very dangerous insects whose stings thickened the blood of the target, but whose reddish honey, when heated, flowed in a way that resembled blood). By the doctrine of signatures such a mixture would knit skin without scars and ensure the proper clotting or flow of blood, greatly accelerating healing. If consumed at once its properties border on the miraculous, but it also works as an additive to food, speeding the healing of all who consume the dish. 

Seeing the value in keeping such a thing the quartet set it aside for safekeeping. Next they explored the multi-hued liquid in the lead-stoppered bottle. While it radiated a faint conjuration magic and possessed the strange quality of shifting color between red and green as it was jostled, none of them could discern its purpose or origin. [I later told the players it's Green Dragon Blood. Even the players aren't sure what to do with that.] 

Finally the lead box was pulled from the saddlebag, and an inspection in the light found a shallow indention that might be an owner's mark - some sort of flower or dancing man - but said owner's mark was unfamiliar to the gathered quintet. The box was still firmly locked with a complex mechanism, so with his guests permission Lord Ambleer called for one of his servants to get a hammer and small chisel that they might disable to the lock [Bec: Let someone else do it this time. Tom: It's probably just full of darts anyway.] After a few moments the dwarf had opened the lock with a single firm rap, stepping back to give his betters the right of first viewing of the contents. Inside was a carved stone indentation holding am 18" long feather, 3" across at its widest point, of bright red mixed with more autumnal colors. Hiram was easily able to recognize this, as mock Cockatrice Feathers were used in masquerades and opera costumes with disturbing regularity. Based on the alteration magic radiating from the plumage, however, this one was what gnome fences would call 'the real deal'. 

[They began riffing on what to do with the feather somehow ending with Hiram ticking his throat with it to throw up stone on his critics at the theater - it's a Bulimic Breath Weapon. How we got to that I'd rather not speculate at this remove.]

With that task complete Lord Ambleer thanked them again for their aid and insisted that they spend the next week with him before continuing to Emirkol. Melas, Dietrich and Cybele were quite taken with the invitation but Hiram reminded them again and again that they would be remiss in their duty to the republic if they didn't bear word of the chaos beasts they had encountered back to the Paladins of the city. In fact, they should really get on the road this very minute. Unsure why their young comrade in arms had developed such patriotic fervor as the evening approached but unwilling to insult Lord Ambleer by turning down the banquet already prepared for the evening, the group settled on leaving in the morning. . . forcing Hiram to contemplate another night in the company of the shade of Lorell Ambleer. 

It turned out he needn't have worried himself: the repast was delightfully balanced and quite restorative (Melas felt the last of the lethargy brought on by the spider venom lift during his second bottle); the music provided by some local artisans - aided by Hiram's magnificent hurdy-gurdy - was rollicking and joyous, the dancing was subtle and fine (with the Lady Floriane taking turns standing with all of her new friends), and driven on by Hiram's manic energy the party lasted quite through to the dawn. The sliver of the sun cleared the horizon to see Melas & Cybele finishing up the last of a rather amusing Bordeaux on the patio, snacking on breakfast muffins fresh from the oven, watching the night servants load their luggage back onto the coach and listening to the tired, coffee-fueled musicians attempting to exit without waking Dietrich (who stretched out into a chair shortly after midnight and fell asleep to the pleasant sounds of the musicians) and Hiram (who passed out from exhaustion an few hours later). 

[GM: "So, how late are you partying?" Hiram, forcefully: "All Night." Cybele & Melas: "Oh, what the hell. Why not?"]

Eventually the two woke their companions and staggered to the coach. Loran Albleer, who had retired well before they, thanked them again and handed over to lord Von Eisenwald four letters addressed to the governors of the city. The quartet then slept the rest of the way to Emirikol, recuperating from their well-earned entertainment. 

Weekly Book Recommendations (April 26)

Coming as a surprise to no one, I finished rereading Batman '66 this week! 

Batman 66 Vol 5 by Jeff Parker and others: This ones a strange beast because it focuses on integrating all the villains that don't appear in the TV show but do appear in the comics. That changes the tone a bit, but it's worth it for watching the Adam West Batman completely take the piss out of the Bane character/inevitable story arc. 

Batman '66 Meets the Man from UNCLE by Jeff Parker and David Hahn: This is really the coda of Parker's work on the series, closing up some loose ends. It's clear Parker loves the UNCLE franchise as much as he loves the '66 Batman, and the story almost works beginning to end. That's a feat because these 6 issues crossovers get very ragged with the Batman '66 style of ever issue having a midpoint break things look bleak moment to capture the 2-part TV show. 

Batman '66 Meets Steed and Mrs. Peel by Ian Edginton and Matthew Dow Smith: This was a reeeeeal close call on whether to put this as a recommendation, and it's kinda here for completeness reasons. I wanted this to be so much better, and it would have been if it were a lot shorter. Still, it's the Avengers and Batman, so it's got a baseline charm, I suspect it would have been a notch higher if Parker had been more involved.

Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet by Kevin Smith, Ralph Garman, Ty Templeton: OK, this is just fun. The fact that our protagonists are constantly turning on each other makes the extra length of a 6 issue series work, and the plans of the teamed-up General Gumm and Joker legit work in the goofy obsessed comic book villain sense. Plus the artwork is vibrant and bast paced. Big thumbs up. 

New Salem: Renaissance - New Magic Table

I know, unusual day for a V&V post, but I hadn't been able to finish the Magic table for yesterday's post, so here it is. 

Now corrected to show all the numbers!

You'll see a lot of similarities with the Psionics chart, in part because I want to hew to the similar origins in the 2E rules. But at the same time, there were a lot of changes. Magic Spells is added, obviously, and Psionics removed. But I also added a lot of new powers.

Some things, like Illusions, Invisibility, Weather Control, and Non-Corporealness, were obvious small-chance powers for magic for being classical magical abilities.

Death Touch and Revivification are also magic powers more than they are almost anything else, and both advertise themselves for getting redefined as death and life related powers. 

I hemmed and hawed about Telepathy, Teleportation, and Telekinesis because they are so classically Psionic, but kept them on because lots of magical heroes have some version of them. 

Absorption, Dimensional Travel, Transformation, and Transmutation were added not just because they can feel Magic-y, but also because they are so very open ended in their design. You can do lots with these in ways that don't make the character feel like everyone else with that power. 

I could have added a lot more, or created more special powers that perfectly fit the setting, but these work for me. Next week I will do some of that, creating new text for Cosmic Awareness, Death Touch, and Revivification that makes them more innately useful and comic-booky.

Weekly Cooking Report April 25: Swordfish Steaks with Lemon Parsley Sauce

Starting to get warm enough to use the grill, so we're looking at some simple grilling this weeks with swordfish. For those of you out there who feel more gender-comfortable with directly applying fire to meat for cooking, this is a way to do it that isn't parts of a beef critter as a way to mix things up. 

Ideally you will add other components to this...

As always, this is as simple as I can make it for you. Swordfish has a distinct flavor that isn't too fishy, and the lemon parsley sauce accentuates that. shopping wise you need 

• 2 1-pound swordfish steaks, about 1.5" thick. Cut each in half to make 4 eight ounce steaks
• Some vegetable oil for the grate.
• 2 tbs of olive oil for the steaks 
• ANOTHER ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil for the sauce 
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
• 1 ½ tablespoons juice from 1 lemon
• Some salt and pepper 

to round out the meal also grab 

• Some French bread or sourdough
• A bag salad, ideally with one of those little vinaigrette packets in it. 

Remember, the goal is to make you look good with minimal effort; the fish will do that, you can slack on the veggie. 

Get your grill started, hotted up, and cleaned. You have directions for how to do that somewhere. That will likely take 15 minutes. I'm assuming a gas grill you are keeping at high. If you have a charcoal grill, I don't, so you're on your own. 

While that is happening brush the fish with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper, a pinch or so on each side of each steak. 

The whisk the other 1/4 cup of olive oil with the lemon juice, parsley, and a little more salt and pepper (say. 1/4 tsp of each), taste test, add more salt and pepper to taste. Set that aside. 

Pour out the bag salad into a bowl, add the dressing and any fixings; Slice up the bread and cover it with foil or a small clean towel. Set both on table. 

Wipe down the hot grate with the vegetable oil and grill the fish with the cover on. Flip them at about the 4 minute mark so there are good grill lines on each side. Turn the grill heat to medium cook for another 3 minutes, flip, and give it another minute covered. Check the center, see if the fish is still translucent. If it is, give it another couple minutes before removing to plates. 

Spoon the sauce onto the swordfish and serve immediately to a grateful family. Welcome to grilling season!

New Salem: Renaissance - New Psionics Tables

Continuing on last week's discussion on the Villains & Vigilantes (available at finer on-line game stores everywhere) power generation tables, and how we can modify them. Here's the expanded Psionics table, separated out from the Magic/Psionics table to give more options for people aiming at being mentalists from the jump. 

All the powers other than Magic Spells and Flight from the original table are on here with 7% chances (except for Cosmic Awareness which was boosted from 1% to 4%), with another 12 powers added that to me, at least, feel like Psionics based powers. You will note that I have added "Companion" to the "Pet" power, just because I like expanding the concept of the power in the players mind. 

Some of these, like Animal/Plant Control, Heightened Senses, Emotion Control, Illusions, Mind Control, and Teleportation, are easy adds. Yes, there are all ways that these powers can be non-psionic in nature, but they are also all powers that are readily equated to psionics. OK maybe not Plant Control, but given the open ended nature of V&V 2E's power design it's better to just list the power and not try to limit them at the jump. Teleportation was the one I struggled with most as adding this at 4% or 1%, but remembering the Tomorrow People I went with the 4%

Keeping that in mind, I added six more powers at 1% - Absorption, Devitalization Ray, Dimensional Travel, Flame Power, Force Field, and Paralysis Ray - that I felt hit the general psionics profile but aren't as often seen in that space. Absorption could always be used to duplicate or steal mental energy, memories, psionic powers, and so on; Devitalization Ray and Paralysis Ray are some form of stunning attack; Flame Powers is Pyrokinesis, and if the 'human torch' equivalent of the power doesn't fit the players conception we can trust them to not pick that one; and Force Field is easily an offshoot of telekinesis. 

I admit Dimensional Travel is a stretch, but none of the other powers in the game quite fit my psionics profile; It might have been better to drop it and increase Fame Powers a 2% chance. Or move Cosmic Awareness back to a 1% chance, dropped Dimensional Travel, and increased Flame Powers, Force Field Devitalization Ray and Paralysis Ray to 2%, leaving Absorption at 1%. While this is all noodling around the edges, it does make Psionics feel like it's own thing, and specific for my campaign world (albeit highly generic). 

I was hoping to get Magic done today too, but that;s for another day.

Henchmen and Hirelings in Under the Giant's Shadow

Sunday was the first session of Under the Giants Shadow where the human PCs made use of the "human dungeoneering" power: they hired and brought along henchmen. 

Each of the races in my B/X variant has a racial power that is useful for adventuring - Dwarves have Cavesense (follow trail back* + usual dwarf underground detects). Elves have Elfsight (improved detect secret doors and illusions). Halflings have keen ears (improved hearing at doors/resisting surprise). Humans have Naturally Social, which means not only do they NOT have any reaction penalties for other races (as all the others do), they get to reroll one Henchmen action each round. I felt this was a good balance of a dungeon delve special ability. It's taken over a year for the people with human PCs to make use of it. 

Now, part of this is because the players have been super-secretive about their venturing under the Giant's Shadow to loot one of the destroyed cities there. They suspect that once what they are doing becomes public they will face pressure to stop OR their success will generate competition. In this they are not wrong, but it has made it very difficult for them to get help. (It's also forcing them to make a commercial trading business to hide where their money is coming from; they now own a mule farm... which means by extension they own donkeys and horses and it all gets complicated.)

But another part of it is the psychology against Henchmen that's rooted in post Hickman Revolution play. As the guy playing one of the Dwarves who has been playing since the 1E days said, "Every time I hire a henchmen to do something for me it feels like I'm denying myself the chance for my character to do a cool thing and handing it to this NPC." 

When I was a kid playing B/X and AD&D we never used henchmen; from 1981-1984 it seemed like too much work to have to run the additional characters, and we didn't have a lot of structure to those games. Post 1984 when I started playing with someone who was already running for sweeping plot arcs (and then we did some Dragonlance, and we were all theater kids into our character psychology), having henchmen as back up characters, or anything that smacked of decentralized power, just wasn't comme il faut. 

Since Under the Giants Shadow is specifically leaning into the Exploration and Shenanigans pillars of D&D and not as deeply on the Role Playing and Combat pillars I wanted explore how they would work in play. Making it the human special power would help, I thought. Hopefully after this the players will start to see their value. Unfortunately the three human PCs have Charisma scores of 7, 8, and 10, limiting how many Henchmen they can have in play and how loyal they are. 

The UtGS rules are built for x in 6 chance, so monster armor classes are None (8), Leather (11), Chain (14), Plate (17) or Adamant (20), which are 4-in-6, 3-in-6, 2-in-6, 1-in-6, and 0 in 6 chances. So Henchmen attacks can be handled with a single die roll - d4 if they are not a combat oriented Henchman, d6 of they are - and the damage of their attack equals the die roll. Does this mean every time they do hit someone in plate armor they do 6 damage? Yes, but its also super simple so there you go. 

Finally, Magic-Users can skip the rules for finding and hiring normal henchmen all together and summon and bind creatures to work for them. This process that takes as much time and resources as trying to get conventional henchmen, but their summoned creatures can be incredibly dangerous for everyone. These creatures roll d8 or even d10 in combat, letting them tear through even Adamant armor for potentially massive damage, but they also have an (unknown to the Magic User) maximum number of times they can roll higher than a 6 before the binding snaps and the summoned creature turns on you and your allies.

The Magic-User player thought long and hard about this, but ultimately she opted against it for now. Instead they traded a magic item with inconvenient-for-them side effect to a horseclan leader who wouldn't be bothered by it to get a trio of his men to assist in cleaning out part of the dungeon. Each of the human PCs had a fighter type henchmen with them, and it made the "4 PCs vs 1 Acolyte + 12 Berserkers" fight something they could (and did) win. The 3 human PC players got into having the bonus d6 attack rolls from the Henchmen, and being able to reroll the miss from their one Henchman each should they occur. Never mind the Henchmen soaking up attacks from the berserkers - a huge advantage. 

Is this something they're likely to do again? Time will tell, but as a test this worked great. 

The Battle for Vulture Point, Act II Scene II

 In the aftermath of the life or death struggle the less bloodied of our four nobles investigated the further chamber that had disgorged their foes, finding nearly a dozen female and young dog-men trying to avoid detection. Young Hiram was unable to bring himself to do the deed that needed to be done, (Dietrich: "you keep saying 'women and children' as if that somehow ameliorated 'chaos beast'. They're breeders and future threats") so Dietrich, schooled as he was in the nature of the republic's enemies, took it on himself to dispatch them while Hiram tended to their allies. Once again calling on the arts of Dramaturgy the actor was able to wipe away the wounds that had so debilitated Melas by the battle's end, restoring that fearsome swordsman to nearly his full strength. He then climbed into the Vulture beast's alcove but declared it devoid of anything of value after a quick glance at its slovenly state. 

With an exasperated sigh the wounded Cybele clambered up after him and shoved her hands through the beast's bedding-come-nest, revealing a handful of gold coins and a pair of gems of unknown value. "I can't believe you were willing wear the armor pulled off a corpse and you won't get your hands dirty," she chided him.

"That was out of desperation!" he insisted as the pair returned to aid Melas in looking through the saddlebags that had made up the giant vulture's nest. Inside one they found a collection of household goods; in the next were several packages of herbs labeled for Lord Ambleer. The third produced some curiosities - a vial of honey colored liquid carefully packed to avoid breakage, a second, equally fragile glass tube containing a liquid that changed colors from green to red based on the light and a flat, locked lead case - that the lady Floriane's sorceress-sight revealed as being either magical or, in the lead box, so distinctly non-magical that it must be magic inside. Not wanting to risk anything now they repacked and shouldered the saddle bags. 

There were three exits from the room - the way they came, the path that the dog-men had charged down (which the map showed led back to the vulture's nesting area) and a path that might be nothing more than a waste disposal tube (Tom: Oh good, we needed a place for the Otyough. Brian: No, it's a Neo-Otyough. Different political philosophy. Jim: A Neo Otyough is an Otyough with a stronger interest in foreign policy. Tom: as in 'what's in the midden next door?') Indeed, the passage had been carved to include gutters down the sides so that the rainwater that washed through the caves might carry out wastes without the soldiers’ feet getting wet - not that the dog men had bothered to maintain them. Halfway between the vulture-man's chamber and the opening onto the cliff was a guard room - or what might once have been were it not also covered with detritus. 

Melas's keen elven sight revealed a rope hanging from the shadowed ceiling to a spot further down the corridor that someone had tried to make match the color of the room. He stepped cautiously into the room, keeping an eye both on the rope and on his feet to make sure he didn't somehow trigger whatever trap the rope was attached to. It was then that he heard someone around the bend in the passage pull the rope taut, and glanced up to see the shadow-hidden cross hatching of supports slip as hundreds of pounds of stone groaned and shifted before its descent to bury him in the uncaring earth!

Seeing that the trap was a manually trigged way to bring the ceiling down on the chamber Melas hurled himself back the way he came, sending himself and Cybele into a tangle of limbs in the passage. "Ha! Missed!" he yelled, and the answering bark of the dog people along the passage gave Hiram and Dietrich a target as the dust cleared. Lord Von Eisenwald's training in maintaining his footing let him all but dance across the now uneven floor, reaching their two dog men assailants far faster than the creatures had expected, quickly dispatching one. Hiram's arrival seconds after that let the pair double-team the chaos beast, making short work of it. 

Melas had tried to recover and charge in to assist but the rubble proved more of an impediment to his unbalanced limbs, so he and Cybele more cautiously worked their way across the room to join their companions. The passage continued, as predicted, to a balcony that overlooked the road to Emirikol, and all of them lamented the loss of the army garrison at this obviously strategic point. This overlook had a second passage that worked back into the cliff, and this our heroes took. 

The passage was steep, but with less evidence of effluvia flow down the gutters. This was revealed to be in part because of a second, parallel passage leading out to the cliff and in part because the large chamber deeper in, which must have once been the soldier's dining area, is again cluttered with detritus, some of which had blocked the flow of water, creating a stagnant pool on in part of the floor. The difference between the chaos beasts and civilized men were on stark display in the room - the rank pool and slimy rubble on the floor countered by the carvings on the ceiling. The soldiers, obviously having had some time on their hands, had gone to work on the ceiling with hammer and chisel, creating arches, buttresses, patterns and gargoyles in the living rock. 

Beautiful as it might have been in the light, in the shadows of their lantern the shapes were more than mildly ominous, and the nobles were equally concerned that the pool might be home of some future threat. With Dietrich keeping his eyes turned upward Cybele and Hiram inched forward to explore the pool and the passage beyond it with weapons at the ready. A tossed rock created a sucking sound as the stone passed through the thick water, but no immediate threat. Meanwhile, Melas said he would examine the other exit, which led back to the vulture's nesting room. With everyone so concerned with other potential threats, Melas sudden disappearance went unnoticed . . . until the screaming began!

Melas, his eyes trained towards the passage rather than the floor, was caught unawares when the debris fell out from underneath him, another cunning trap! The drop was an indeterminate distance, but rather than a hard rock surface he was caught by a springy net before being pelted by the rubble his fall had unbalanced. Glancing under him from his supine position he was grateful for being caught rather than hitting the spikes below, but that feeling was short lived as eight glittering points of light detached themselves from the wall and approached him, envenomed mandibles clattering in arachnid hunger.

Melas struggled for position as the enormous spider approached, but realized quickly that his swords were trapped under his weight and his crossbow had discharged in the fall and was useless. Lacking any other clear option he let the creature come closer, and closer still, until its bulk was occluding the dim light from above, and then unleashed a mighty yell and a devastating punch into the creatures eyes. The silent killer's own attack was thrown off and it retreated quickly, turning its back on the distressed noble. 

To Melas' relief he could make out his companion's faces looking down from the top of the pit, but before they could act the spider moved, its spinneret creating a mass of webs that bound the malformed noble into its web before again starting its deadly dance. Melas was unable to move this time as the creature approached, and he felt its weight rest against him in a trio of points as its thin legs further pinned him down. The envenomed mouth was inches from his face when a second stinger sprouted from it - one of Dietrich's well aimed crossbow bolts, transfixing the beast's head!

Fighting down his disgust at having the beast's bulk across him Melas managed to carefully extricate himself from his predicament, and Cybele and Hiram lowered a rope to pull him back to the surface. "I think I need to find someone a little rougher, perhaps a keen eyed street urchin, to bring with me and keep watch for these sorts of things" Melas stated, again showing his grace in his willingness to offer employment to the disenfranchised and putting their natural talents to work. 

This pearl of wisdom proved the last treasure of value located in Vulture Point, and after quickly checking the giant vulture's nesting space the wounded, wearied and in some cases befouled quarter made their way back to past the vultures - which, while angry, did not possess the animal nature to attack such vigorous foes - and to their horses. As expected, it was not yet mid day and their task was complete! Now back to Lord Ambleer's manor and hospitality that they might return to their host his stolen belongings and recuperate from their myriad wounds.