DavesGaming

Ila

We’d been transported again, this time out to a blazing hot desert. The Halfling, Hobart, briefly taunted we’d got what we asked for before ducking into a small stone building. We then had a fight against a few beasties I’d not seen before. Charity later identified them as Wyverns and Harpies, that were fighting each other until they all turned on us. It was not a long or hard fight, except the Harpies can apparently stun with their voice, Aias was briefly disoriented. Obviously this could be a problem with a larger group of them.
But then we were back to the alarming shock of going from the bitter frozen north to being in some sort of sun-blasted dessert.

Jill is distraught. She is terrified Aias’ doubts about her are completely right. I reminded her Aias had already told her he was wrong. And she’s saved us all more than once, she is deadly with her bow.
Aias asked me to be team Sergeant, but what this crew really needs is a Team Mom. I encouraged Jill as best I could, she is back on her feet and functional. I’ll remind Aias to encourage her some more!

Some great tragedy had occurred here, we needed to sort it out to escape. Charity seems to be in her element with this sort of thing.
We cleared the courtyard, the walls, and the guard towers. We found the Wyvern nest and a pack of harpies in different towers. Plus a hostile group of adventurers held up in another, they blew their chance at getting out of here…

This all led us to a large crypt under a Chapel dedicated to Helm. This was a brutal maze of traps and undead.

It did take a while, but in the end we had learned the first part of the tragedy. The Lord of this castle had abandoned his troops when a Dragon attacked. His best knights died defeating it.
Now we were allowed entry into the main castle. A number of spectral soldiers attacked us. This haunted old castle is a dangerous place! Finally we faced Lord Fallon Malurdek. After betraying his knights he had become a wrathful and twisted specter.

We have learned, that the bard we met earlier was condemned to the dungeons for trying to write about Lord Malrudek’s betrayal. So that’s where we head next.

*****

This team has grown pretty effective. Ila leads the way with 30% of party experience. Being an Undead Hunter is a big boon in this game! Jinella hits very hard, but she often needs to beak off for healing. I mentioned that a while back and it remains true, she is a glass cannon.
Role playing wise I feel like everyone has a distinct part to play. Aias is the strategic leader. He is an effective balance of hitting power and staying power, but doesn’t stand out either way.
Ila is the tactical leader and Team Mom. She can clearly take the most, very tanky. Lot’s of hit points, excellent armor class and good saving throws. It surprises me a little how much she dishes out, but again, Undead Hunter in IWD. She also has Gauntlets of Ogre Power now, so look out!
Jinella is jovial and a little cocky. Grand Mastery in Long Sword and dual wielding them. She also has Guantlets of Ogre Power now. She is the best damage dealer against a range of opponents. But lousy armor class and average hit points. Pikwell often functions as her personal healer, that works pretty well for a while (he only carries a single Heal spell at this point).
Charity is the puzzle solver. I also like her as an observer (frequent narrator of these updates), she is smart enough to offer insight and being in the rear rank she literally sees more of the action. As a single class mage she is also a very good caster. And I think, pretty gentle and good natured which makes her a perfect partner/coach for Jill.
Pikwell fills a key dual role. Obviously a thief is much appreciated. He is very good at it now, finding and removing traps is a busy job all by itself. And he’s an excellent healer. Obviously Aias is technically just as good, except he’s always in the front rank. Pikwell can heal and fix things during the action.
Jill is a very good archer. She’s also up to High Mastery now in Short Sword, so she’s no slouch at melee either. Role playing wise I think she struggles to understand a lot of what’s going on, except that she shoots at anyone attacking her friends. She’s also all on board with the idea of helping out those in need. But she lacks discernment about identifying legitimate needs. She needs others to lead.

I’d also mention how much fun this crew is with the AI Art. I’ve learned (mostly) how to get consistent results for the team. It often involves putting the various weirdisms in the initial description. So Jinella is “Charcoal skinned warrior woman (rest of description)”. Often the weird part gets repeated in the “(rest of description)”. This usually gives me what I want, at least some of the renders will. Pointed ears remain an odd fetish of the AI, once they’re present they tend to show up everywhere.
I’ll also admit the obvious, Charity is a strong favorite of mine to render. The metallic skin effect is awesome! I pushed for a little cheesecake in this set just to show more skin under the blazing sun. We’ll just assume she had a “classic Greek style tunic” in her travel kit.
I’ve been trying to include at least one render of everyone for each set. With this odd team its a requirement!