Eschalon: Bastion Gem

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Caught by surprise, Gevlon succumbed to the fire rather quickly but instead of dying he transformed himself into a humongous giant spider! Rollo responded by drinking his last invisibility potion and setting the entire room on fire... until he ran out of bombs. Even this wasn't enough to finish Gevlon off and so Rollo attacked with his sword in an epic battle in which he finally managed to slay the goblin mage. After looting Gevlon's treasury, Rollo proceeded to use his teleporter into Bastion tower and put the gem back where it belonged.

Almost instantly, the nearby chancellor awoke from his puppet like state and realized what had just happened. He thanked Rollo for his part in restoring his mind, though he did not realize Rollo's part in causing the problem to begin with. With the immediate recall of the army and the death of Gevlon, the remaining goblin forces were crushed into the dirt and shit where they belong.

Possibly also because this guy showed up.

Meanwhile, Rollo is given a decent monetary award and is announced as the saviour of Bastion. Now flooded with fortune and glory, he can only wonder what lies next for him in the future...

Insight: Bring lots of potions (especially healing ones) for this last battle. The boss spider form can paralyze you constantly.

Eschalon: Gramuk!?

[Part of the Cursed story line]

It doesn't take long to find the massive goblin citadel, whose walls are patrolled by numerous minotaurs. With no time to lose Rollo simply charges through the main gate, zig zagging past the entire goblin army stationed there and makes it into the citadel itself where he must then navigate past the guards with sprinting and stealth (via invisibility potions) to unlock the gates to the second floor. More spiders and minotaurs await there, but good use of demon oil keeps them from pursuing (they don't like walking through fire) until he comes face to face with... "Gramuk!?"

"That's what I am known as here," replied the goblin who slowly turned around. "But you know me better as... Gevlon!"

Surprisingly not so well defended up here...

Gevlon! Could it be? An ally from an earlier time! Rollo's memories finally come flooding back. The goblin earned a huge monetary reward for his previous heroism and used it to forge a massive empire, so Rollo and Ragner came to work for him after sinking their own ship by accident, and were tasked with stealing the Bastion gem which they did... but things went sideways because...

"I still don't understand why you thought you could double cross me," Gevlon mused. "With the chancellor under my mind control, I would always be the highest bidder for that gem. Hand it over, and I'll see to it that our arrangement remains in place. You get a ton of gold, which you don't have to share now, AND you get to leave the continent alive. So, what do you say?"

Rollo couldn't believe it. All of this was his fault? All the death and destruction just to serve his own greed? After a minute of introspection, Rollo gave his answer.

He threw an exploding flask at the goblin mage.

Insight: Enemies don't chase across areas. This makes it possible to run "forward".

Today I Smiled: Insight

Gevlon's farewell post made me realize that I should probably be sharing some gaming insight and not just stories and reviews all the time. We'll see how that goes in future posts as I'm probably not that good in "gamer skills" so my teaching qualification might not be up to par. :P

On to other stuff, with all the flooding that happened here you would think pilots would be busy delivering supplies or helping with evacuations. Not this guy, he's just bored.

Speaking of a different type of catastrophe, did you know there was actually a "High Priestess of Blood"? Had she been imprisoned in Russia I suppose she would qualify to be sent to the Black Dolphin Prison, where they most likely have bear hunting dogs skilled in Barkour. Yes, today I learned Barkour is a thing.

I'll leave you with what actually made me smile - the insights of comedian Jo Koy in this short clip. Enjoy your day everyone!

The Cursed: Unbound

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

Despite having lost his host body, the demon spirit then began to flee - only to be easily eliminated by Gevlon who was now carrying all the demon-killing trinkets from before (he is greedy after all).

Just as the dust settles, Ragner and Rollo show up with reinforcements but find that the task is already complete. Instead, they escort the survivors Shelumu, Gevlon and Sir Siegfried out of there to a not so nearby town where they celebrate their victory and their freedom.

Before leaving with the rest of his people, Shelumu pays Siegfried enough to start a new mercenary company, Ragner and Rollo enough to purchase a brand new ship and Gevlon a king's bounty for saving the day against Tyranthraxus, an amount that could buy him a whole fleet of ships. The day is saved... for now.

Everyone likes shineys.

The Cursed: Tyranthraxus

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

Getting tricked (and a fireball to the face) from a goblin was so humiliating for Tyranthraxus, he had to flee. This gave the team time to compose themselves with Shelumu providing healing before giving chase, fighting through his priests, hell hounds and margoyles before reaching him in his upstairs chamber where he waited with an army.

When in doubt, bring an army.

Sir Siegfried was familiar with this setup and quickly ordered everyone back through the doorway. Faeris was too slow though, catching a Tyranthraxus thrown lightning bolt (and it's bounce back), killing the ranger instantly.

Kelaide provided the stinking cloud while Gavion and Siegfried held the door, with Gevlon using all his accumulated wands to throw spells across into the swarm of margoyles. Eventually the herd thinned, and Tyranthraxus himself barged through the frame - killing Kelaide with a stomp and Gavion with a punch.

Still, the focused attacks weakened the demon giant, and Sir Siegfried finally brings him down and kills him.

The Cursed: Middle Finger

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

After escaping the spiders, Faeris leads the team through the trees into the city proper where they avoid hell hounds and wandering rakshasas, ducking into what turns out to be a massive temple. There at the entrance, the old man/demon now in possession of an ice giant waited for them, activating their cursed bond immediately.

Behold my purple power!

"Welcome my puppets! Thanks to you, I - Tyranthraxus shall be invincible! Now, hand over all the artifacts you were absentmindedly collecting - all those items that are the only threat to my existence."

To their horror, each of them started dropping various trinkets before their demon master, not even knowing where or when they had picked them up. Into the pile Tyranthraxus also throws a piece of paper with a single word.

"That is the word that will free you," he laughed manically before turning to a nearby, robed priest of small stature. "Servant, burn these in front of my new slaves."

The little priest wandered over, and without hesitation picked up the paper and read the word aloud. In a flash, the party was free! "WHAT!?" exclaimed Tyranthraxus.

The "priest" threw back his hood, revealing an ugly goblin face - it was Gevlon. The real priest was dead in the corner with a slit throat. "You never bound me you piece of shit!" he exclaimed waving a middle finger at the giant with one hand and a wand of fireballs in the other.

The Cursed: Garden Goblin

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

Finding the main cultist temple on the deeper floor was made easier as most of the inhuman creatures steered clear of the party. This turned out to be intentional, as upon arrival Alleon's bond was activated while the others were held in place by a burst of tentacles holding them in unbecoming places.

The head priestess then channeled the power of the bond into a huge pile of corpses, intent on raising Moander, the god of decay. Fortunately as the power drained away, so did the bond, leaving Alleon free to rescue the others and begin combat against the cultists in earnest.

Apparently Moander knows MJs "Thriller" dance.

Despite Aika head shotting the head priestess, three massive segments of Moander made it through the closing portal. This was Gevlon's time to shine, as the bone wand he had looted was one of defoliation - almost specifically designed to combat shambling mounds and plant life, which happened to be what Moander was made of. And so, with the others tanking, the little goblin destroyed the god.

The Cursed: Common Foe

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

The fully rested team heads out into Yulash city at dawn, and encounter a number of Zhentarim "terror teams" in the ruins who prove to be much stronger than their counterparts who were working for Fzoul - mainly because of all the enchanted gear they were equipped with.

Ulfert also proves to be his own undoing when he strikes a fleeing Zhentrim mage, killing him but also triggering the fire shield around his target which does double fire damage in return, melting Ulfert's flesh from his bones.

They also run into shambling mounds dragging bodies into a pit, and while the plant monsters are tough adversaries, defeating them leads to a reward in the form of a bone wand which Gevlon quickly pockets.

Finally they find an entrance to the underground pit and descend, only to find a whole bunch of cultists already dead within. Following the bodies, they find two other adventurers - Alias and Dragonbait (the Saurian) already clearing the way. Clearly having a common foe, they decide to join forces.

An odd pair, and an oddly descriptive scent.

The Cursed: Short Ones

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

The team doesn't get far before they run into Olive Ruskettle and her associate, a greedy goblin mage named Gevlon, looking for their employer. After delivering the bad news, the two short ones lead the squad out, fighting past a few more drow and manticores.

That's a spikey winged lion.

With the keep now in full riot, the team escapes to the next town of Yulash which happens to be a war front between the Zhentarim and the Red Plumes of Hillsfar. Having experienced the "hospitality" of the Zhentarim, the team decide to try ally with the Red Plumes and are successful when they aid in slaying some Zhentarim spies.

At the local barracks they find another curse bond bearer, Commander Alleon, who takes charge of the party as their new employer and explains that a strange cult has taken up residence beneath the crumbling, war torn city... and one of them is the next curse master.