DavesGaming

We were all a little nervous as we set out to explore the abandoned slums right on the other side of the wall, the gateway to old Phlan. The first group of creatues we saw, Kobolds, took one look at us and ran. That was a good boost to our confidence!

Soon after we heard rough, guteral voices behind a wooden door. Expecting our first fight I kicked open the door and we entered. A short fight ensued against a half dozen orcs. I guess we’re real adventurers now! We came out well, just a few scrapes Moya quickly healed up.

We turned back out into the alley, and four more orcs were coming right at us.

Wow, she can turn a battle fast! Like I needed any other motive to never leave Psyche behind.

We faced a couple of fights against large numbers of inferior foes, goblins and kobolds.

We had a few other such fights. Generally Garaint and I stay on point, trying to draw the most fire. But it seems Garaint gets hurt more often than I do? He is bigger?

But soon we were back at it again.

There was one part of the slums yet to clear, the old Rope Guild, when we went back into civilization to replenish some supplies and get a good night’s sleep.

We also did some training, all of us seemed ready to improve our skills. We fought a lot of battles in the course of one long day.

Back to the Rope Guild.

We wound up fighting four trolls and two ogres total. Wow! That tested our skills!
The area seemed quiet when the battle was over. Had we cleared the slums? Our first mission complete! We were well payed when we got back to the Council Clerk. More training.

Then we were off to the small island in Phlan’s harbor. The old keep, Sokal Keep, is apparently haunted, and we were to quiet the ghosts if possible.
The island was haunted, but the biggest issue was an army of orcs had taken up residence. A large battle ensued, the largest we’ve fought yet.

We returned to the mainland and set off for Kuto’s Well, an old residential area just beyond the slums.

And there were quite a few of them around the well. We were really looking for a bandit captain, Norris the Gray. He had been waylaying travelers and fighting with guardsmen. Psyche noticed a ladder mounted into the wall of the well itself heading down into the water. I guess we’re heading down!

We returned to the city to collect another nice reward, and some more training. There are a number of local missions open to us now. We chose a couple that seemed nearby. The first sent us off to Podal Plaza, an old shopping district that apparently now fills the same function for the local monster population. An unknown magic item was up for auction, and the city leaders wanted to know the who and what of it. So a little undercover work for us.

We covered our gear with heavy cloaks and our pink skin with dirt and mud.

It pained me to smear mud through that thick brown hair.
But our mission was a success. I guess. We saw a magic wand of some sort auctioned, and noted both the auctioneer and buyer. The city council seemed pleased and rewarded us.
On the way back we stopped by the old Mendor’s Library. The City Council has been asking for books, scrolls, texts that might reveal what all has transpired here. We found a few things of interest. We have now encountered the name Tyranthaxus a few times, associated with the fall of old Phlan. The name seems to cause much fear and worry, and the suggestion is that he is supernatural of some sort. It seems likely we’ll encounter this name again!

The city council paid us well for a stack of old books too. One new mission was presented to us, to clear the city’s old graveyard. Ugh, sounds fun.

We seem to have a back-log of things to do at this point.

*****

So yeah, this game is really old. I’m mostly finding it a lot of fun though. The only thing I find really annoying is memorizing spells, mainly Cure Light Wounds. It will be our only healing spell though the entire game, and the “Fix” command wasn’t implimented until the next game. I knew this, and I knew it would be a headache. Well, it is. But the game plays fast and is stable. I think this will be managable. It used to be…

I’ve noticed I did one silly thing wrong I’ve done before.

Both avatars wear metal armor, blue as a color, black hair. Moya uses a shield. Initially that was the only real tell between them. I’ve given Shuri black armor now, its a more vivid tell between them.

I am *really* enjoying coming up with renders fo this ICONIC old game! This is fun.