Note: Review #4 of the Drunken Monkey Book Club
Review by Daniel Ruth
Overall Score:
I read about Vlad Taltos for the first time about 30 years ago. He's a smart, witty, rogue with a cutting tongue and a plan for every occasion. He's also an assassin. However, he's so friendly you may just forget that he may be the deadliest thing on two legs around. Well, except for his friends. They are far deadlier.
This book may have been one of the first in the urban fantasy concept. There are extenuating circumstances, of course, in that it takes place in another world. With an alien race similar to humans but with a lifespan of thousands of years. They also have characteristics of alien animals, of which each book in the series is named after. Despite the fantastical setting, this feels like an urban fantasy. It has all the earmarks of the genre, first-person perspective, witty stream of consciousness, and politics. Frankly, with the world-building integrated so smoothly into the point of view description, it just doesn't feel alien. It like your favorite urban fantasy detective stepped into the next world over started a business while you weren't looking. He just does "work" on the side.
It's hard to imagine an assassin as a hero. Or at least now it is. When I was younger pirates and assassins could be heroes and rescue the maidens with the best of the heroic legends. Nowadays, it's a bit harder for me to reconcile the two, but Vlad is just so darn likable. Sure, he kills people but, at least the ones you know of, they were bad people. There are unpleasant hints that this wasn't always the case but the events in the books are, for the most part, heroic tales. The darker side of the story exists, but with Vlad's inner conversation whispering in your ear, he convinces you... and himself, that he has the moral high ground, or at least it was done for the greater good.
This is true throughout the entire series. The world he lives in has vibrant politics and conflicts and it's hard to find what you would consider a truly moral person. The various alien "Houses" each have their own morals, which we find out is actually firmly embedded in their genetic code. This makes some interactions extreme, yet understandable once you know the rules. It's actually interesting to see how humans interact with species that have certain behavior partly hardwired into them. Once you understand the world he lives in, you also start to understand how Vlad turned out to be that cheerfully witty killer, doing the best he can in a rather brutal world.
Although this was the first book in the series, the later books are not written in chronological order. Despite this, the book is self-contained and has everything you need to get to know who Vlad is and start to peek into the world around him. Every book is mostly like this, each one making the world's lore and politics richer and more real. You don't need to read these in chronological order to understand the world, but if you want to, the author has a handy timeline to help you out. The books have been republished from their original form into several omnibuses in the order they were published. If you choose to follow the timeline it is still easily done.
No matter how you choose to read this series, the world will delight and flood your senses with many morally ambiguous heroic actions. I am sure you'll be able to convince yourself that everything he did was absolutely necessary just as Vlad convinces himself.
Brian is starting a new campaign in the Ravenloft setting. While he is encouraging odd races from the base books (Player's Handbook, Modenkainen's, XAnathar, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Elemental Evil Player's Guide, and Volo's) all other sources are discouraged with the possible exception of Eberron. Starting racial feat, +2 to stats with a base distribution of 15,14,13,12,10,8. There will be Heirloom magic items that grow in power (1st, 4th, 8th, 12th). Campaign is expected to go through level 15th. An additional +1 to any stat is given if a character history is provided.
Andy had sent everyone an individual email, outlining the contents of disturbing dreams. Eventually, we got together to discuss the contents. (However, the Swashbuckler was late arriving as he wanted to talk to the head priest first, the Rogue also wandered off to be with herself and the Fighter left town, never to be seen again.) Basically, it was images of foreboding doom and an evil presence looming over us. The Monk pointed out, once the stories were told, that we all had images of something we did not want to lose being lost. So, the Swashbuckler and the Rogue saw Commander Price’s death, the Wizard saw the school burn down, etc. Whether these were prophecies or just methods to torment us was debated. Some attempted to take action to prevent but nothing much came from it. Piecing together the various parts, it was Lord Scorpix (the pirate king) and St Sever (the monastery betrayer) up to no good. The Wizard saw a wizard using a scrying stone to successfully locate him in Jailynn and saw St Sever summoning a shadow demon thing. Others saw that demon killing people. The Paladin and the Monk saw the Paladin’s lost princess as an angel, helping us. But the upshot was that we were now powerful enough to be noticed by them, that they knew where we were and that they were marshaling forces to stop us before we disrupted their plans.
Dave’s new Wizard/Bard halfling character was introduced as a friend of the halfling sheriff and known to the sailing Swashbuckler. She told the sheriff she had had visions that she was needed here and the sheriff correctly assumed that meant us. Everyone plus Price and the sheriff went to the governor’s mansion for dinner. In addition to Lord Graymark was the head priest, a leading merchant by the name of Fisk and his teenage son, and a bunch of no ones. There was a long process of statements and questions. Basically, there was Lord Saxon in the north who was looking to “take over” the town so the leading merchants hired Greymark to build up their defenses. He hired and conscripted a “free army” to maintain order and show force. Our presence and good deeds such as taking out the thief guild and pirate ship, made us potential allies to the town. He was looking for assurances that the town could count on us.
So, this was met with suspicion, of course. I mean who’s to say that this guy and a few merchants are better for this town than the unknown Lord Saxon? Nobody made any firm commitments. The Rogue and the Swashbuckler, who are looking to put down roots, stated that they could be counted on. Several other players have personal missions and couldn’t commit long term. The Rogue did ask for help buying a building in town (with access to her sewers). Basically, as long as our interests align with theirs (e.g. pirate defeating) we’d be around. During all this, the Rogue went invisible and snuck upstairs. She ended up in his office, in his desk, and into his secret drawer. Oops. In there she found a letter from a Lord in the south, informing Greyhawk that Scorpix was on his way to arrest the criminals Monk, Paladin, Swashbuckler, and Wizard for crimes associated with the destruction of the Monk’s father’s monastery. Lies! And requesting/demanding his support. The Rogue felt that the signature was forged.
We had no idea if the letter was believed but we really couldn’t ask about it since it was breaking and entering. Scorpix’s forces would be in Jailynn soon. So, what do we do? Stay and face him? Would Greyhawk side with him or us? If him, then we’d be facing two forces. Go to the island and free the hostages as planned? Take a side trip to the north and look into these Orcs that Lord Saxon is allegedly supporting? It was agreed to go to the island as planned. Hopefully, some of his forces will be on their way here so it’ll be easier? Hopefully, he won’t level the town if we are not there since he needs to control it. We’ll see if those were the right choices. So, in the morning, despite assurances to Lord Greyhawk that we’d be around to help, we set sail. (Dan: At this point, the orc fighter mysteriously disappears and a halfling takes his place. No one in the party questioned anything. Bad roleplaying or MIND CONTROL?)
We swung a bit north in hopes of avoiding the pirates heading this way. We got to the island and decided to anchor on the opposite side and walk over rather than face another ship to ship battle. That all went okay. We got to their compound but it was a bit small. A tower, a barracks for 20+ men, and a kitchen/support building. The invisible Rogue did some scouting but could not find the hostages. She avoided opening doors or taking risks so there were areas she did not see. But we were hesitant to start blasting for fear of harming them or them being put to the sword because of us. The Wizard asked if there were any trails from the compound that might lead to a cave or pit or cage where the hostages might be. There was a trail that went up the cliff beside the waterfall up to the dragon statue that served as a landmark for the island. (This was once a dragon cult island.) Unfortunately, that trail was in plain view of the compound so we elected to wait until nightfall.
So, we went up the trail in the dark. That was slow going mainly because only 3 of the 7 of us had darkvision. At the top, we found a small bridge across the raging river just upstream from the 150-foot falls. There was a barricade on the bridge guarded by 3 guys. On the other side was a fire with another 10 guys of various types including a two-headed death dog and a berserker. Beyond them was the dragon statue. We could see stairs on it and surmised there were entrances into the mountain behind. So much for our “find the hostages” plan. We’d never get by these guys quietly. The best we could hope for is quickly. The good news was that the compound below was 20-25 minutes away so re-enforcements would take a while. So, the Swashbuckler went first. He Misty Step across the river, bypassing the bridge, barricade, and guards, and attacked a pirate by the fire. And then backed away because next was the Wizard who let loose with a Fireball for 35 points. That did soften them up considerably but only a couple of nonthreat peons went out.
We went into full fight mode. The bridge was a bit of a bottleneck. The Sorlock was very effective, knocking guys into the river with his knockback eldritch blast. They had a 12 swim check near land, a 14 check out in the middle and a 16 check to keep from going over the falls. I think 3-4 went in and only the last guy managed to make one of those rolls. The Rogue was using her actions and Mage Hand to impeded those attempts. The Swashbuckler used up several spells for smites to take out the death dog pretty quick. Things were good. A couple of guards came out from the statue but they were no real threat.
But on the last round of the night, two wyverns flew out. The first tried a flyby snatch on the Rogue but missed but the second snatched the Paladin. The Monk did his step of the wind thing and jumped onto it. He hit with a stunning strike but it saved. But then the Bard changed his fate with a portance die and he failed after all. He then missed with a grab and fell into the river and the 150-foot drop. (He had Monk power to minimize that damage.) The Fighter(Dan: I think this is actually Jon's Paladin?) managed to break free (with an inspiration die and advantage from the stunning strike) and fell into the river. But with his gloves of swimming and a 20 roll, got out of the river with ease. The Rogue then used her Mage Hand to get the Monk a rope. He might have been able to survive the fall but he’d be 20 minutes back up assuming he didn’t get attacked by the 20+ down below. We stopped there with two wyverns on the wing, a dungeon ahead of us, and a bunch of pirates behind us. It’ll be fun.
After a brief recap as to where we were, we started back up at the top of the order. The Rogue and the Fighter took swings at the still stunned Captain Bogs. The Rogue then jumping into the cargo hold to examine the locks holding Commander Price and the Fighter staying engaged with him. The Monk provided cover for the Rogue by putting himself in front of the door between 5 marine pirates and her. The Swashbuckler got onto our ship, figuring he could contribute with his bow and fight off any pirates that managed to get aboard. He sent his warhorse towards the sinking enemy ship with the Sorlock still on his back. The Sorlock and the Wizard continued to snipe at the pirates in the water. The Paladin got onto our ship but then dove back in and started swimming towards the sinking ship. Some of the pirates were still feared and were fleeing the sinking ship and some were simply smart enough to flee the sinking ship. The only ones of importance were the Wyvern which was fleeing at 80 feet a round and its rider who was swimming after it.
The next round, the Wizard realized that our ship was protected and that the high AC Monk was going to need help against 5 unharmed marines, jumped into the hold and hit 4 of them with a Shatter. He also figured we’d need to fight through them to get to the captain’s quarters behind them if we were going to get any clues as to the location of their base. Unfortunately, that Shatter didn’t do much damage. The Rogue opened the lock on the cage with ease on the first try and moved onto the manacles (target DC 20). The Monk continued to Dodge with his Ki and bash on the marines. About this time, the ship “went” and it became evident to all that it wouldn’t last longer than a round or two. The Fighter swung at the Captain as he fled off the side. The rest of the pirates, including the marines down below, started jumping off the ship as well. The Swashbuckler took long-range longbow shots at the Wyvern (400 is still long-range). The Wizard was informed that the captain’s quarters was on a level between the deck and the hold. He used Misty Step to get to the door, his movement to get in, and his action to search for anything that looked like it might help. He rolled poorly and found some generic maps but then used an inspiration die to reroll and find the captain’s log. Meanwhile, the Rogue was not able to pick the next lock. She used her inspiration and then the Monk’s inspiration and got it open.
The Fighter got into the skiff as did Price, the Monk, and the Rogue. The Paladin dove into the water on the other side of the ship after the fleeing captain however the Sorlock managed to take his last two hit points. The Wizard shoved the log and maps into a handy chest that looked waterproof and jumped out the back window. About then, the fire reached the gun powder and the ship exploded. Everybody except the Swashbuckler and the Wizard who happened to be outside the blast zone, had to take 40 points, half on a DEX save. I think everyone but the Fighter managed to save although it took the Sorlock a luck point and a divine favor to do so. No one went out, to Andy’s disappointment. So, everyone went into the water as the skiff was destroyed. The war horse was winked out as well but the Sorlock was still flying. So, it was every man for himself and most swam towards our ship as best they could. With the following exceptions.
The Swashbuckler continued to shoot at the Wyvern which had finally saved from the Fear and came back to retrieve his rider. He managed to hit several times but it kept saving against his Ensnaring Strikes. (As a large creature, it was getting advantage on it’s already considerable STR save.) On the last try, it finally failed and tumbled into the water. However, it was flying low and they didn’t take much damage. The next round the rider freed it from the vines and they flew off. The Sorlock, with his backstory hatred of pirates, continued to blast them out of the water. The Paladin dove into depths of the river, hoping to retrieve some valuable information from the Captain’s sinking corpse. He missed his first Perception roll and it was getting murkier. The next round he invoked the power of his god to illuminate his sword. With inspiration from 2 players, he finally managed to catch a glimpse of metal and retrieve the body. After making it back to the ship, we realized that no one had seen the Fighter since the explosion. All feared the worse, although he still had the Water Breathing spell on him so there was room for debate. Everybody searched and the Monk managed to spot him walking on the river bed in his heavy armor. Evidently, he had unilaterally decided that despite his 20 strength, proficiency in athletics, and remarkable athlete power from his fighter subclass, that he had no chance of swimming in heavy armor and just assumed he sank. And then role-played in silence (Dan: passive aggressive Roleplaying for the win!). But he was retrieved.
Along with the log and the maps, the chest turned out to be his treasure chest. It contained some coinage, gems, and a scroll of Tashia’s Hideous Laughter which went to the Wizard and of Guiding Bolt which is only useable by a Cleric so we were going to donate it to the church. Captain Bogs had another pirate medallion that the Paladin took. He figured his god guided him to it for some grand purpose. He also had 3 potions. Healing, which went to the quick-footed Monk, Water Breathing, which went to the bottom walking Fighter, and Climbing which went to the Swashbuckler. Lastly, he had a Ring of Evasion which allowed a reroll on a missed Dex save. It has 3 charges and recharges 1-3 per long rest. That would be of use to most anyone but it was decided to go to the Sorlock who hadn’t gotten any useful magic items thus far. The journal was in code but the Wizard managed to decode it enough to determine their base was likely on an island that was once home to a dragon cult. It has a big statue on it and the sailor characters knew where it was. The Wyvern was last seen heading that direction. There was some debate as to how damaged the ship was but everyone wanted a long rest regardless. It’s not like we’ll be able to outsail a flying Wyvern. So, we returned to Jailyn, and repairs were started. The town sheriff found us and said that the new governor had heard of our success and wanted to invite us to dinner to meet us. We decided to tackle that next time and called it a night.Review: Peace Talks (Dresden Files Book 16)
Written by Daniel Ruth
Note: Review #3 of the Drunken Monkey Book Club
Review by Daniel Ruth
Overall Score:
Reading about Dresden in this new book "Peace Talks" is like seeing an old friend again after he's been visiting foreign lands. I say this because the last few books have been good, even great, but one was a murder mystery of a dead man and the other was mission impossible adventure saga. Both were different and definitely stretched character development, but they were exotic and flashy and the typical Dresden characters didn't show up much. I didn't realize how much I missed them until they were back. Still, it wasn't all smooth sailing.
The story picks up not terribly long after the heist and you get to see what people have been doing since that little escapade. Some of its good stuff, most of its bad. It was nice to see his relationship with Murphy progress and see his physical recovery from being dead and atrophied. There is also a lot of fallout when there is news that the peace talks with the enemy are happening and they are happening in Chicago. To be honest it had been so long since the last book I couldn't recall who that was until they talked about it a bit. I was thinking "Isn't the Red/Black Court dead?".
Then a lot of shit lands on Dresden at once. Its a bit hard to take in everything going on for Dresden at once. It comes across as a bit forced, though his analysis of the situation helps us understand that it is not just a bunch of random events but he is being actively plotted against. It is still a bit hard to accept. One disappointment is that there is actually a perfect opportunity for Dresden to re-sharpen his detective skills. Not to go into details but something bad happens to a person he is close to. That person is forced to do something very stupid and is going to pay a high price. As a detective, you would think one of the first things he would do was to find out who forced this person to do these horrible things. Nope. It doesn't even cross his mind. It is so absent in Dresden's stream of thought that it is obvious by not being there. Now the book takes place over about two days so it is not like there is a lot of time. Dresden is constantly moving through some hectic events so its doubtful he would have been able to do anything to follow up even if he wanted to. But it didn't even cross his mind to find out and use it as leverage to save the situation.
As many have noted, the book feels like half a book. It's a decent length, so I can see how the author wouldn't be able to include the entire story without it growing out of control, so I don't think this is just a money grab. However, it definitely ends in a cliff hanger. It is what it is. It doesn't have a lot of fighting but it definitely has a ton of action and so much happens that I can't imagine how you could fit it into a smaller space without losing more than you gained. But... it's still half a book.
Never the less, it's the same old Harry. By turns self-righteous, heartwarming, and sacrificing, bulling his way through situations by force rather than finesse. As always, he has a lot of heart and he says a lot of things he probably shouldn't and stirs up more shit than he probably should. Sometimes it seems like he's holding the idiot ball and then it's handed to someone else. Then you see other people start doing completely moronic things and your thinking "In what world do people think this isn't going to make things worse?". Part of this is just the Harry vs White/Black Council conflict that has been happening since book one. Part of this has to be that plot against Harry that is mentioned early on, because if people acted that stupid all the time they would die trying to tie their shoes. And finally, part of this is Harry and his Grandfather. You can see a lot of anger in this relationship and much of the time your thinking "why don't they just shut up and listen to each other?" and then you start to think about real family relationship and how angry you get with the people you love. Then you think, "Okay, I can sorta see this."
Overall I liked it. It's flawed by various degrees but they are things I can understand. Some of the conflicts seem forced but it doesn't break anything. A lot of times I just shrugged my shoulders and chalked it up to Harry... being Harry. However, if you don't like being left with a cliffhanger its been long enough that the next book is out and it should bring things to a satisfying conclusion. Just go out and buy it. I know I am.
We continued on our plan to fight the Red Sail pirates who, rumor has it, are working for Lord Scorpix. Everyone their own way in Jailynn. The Fighter went to hang out at the stables. The Sorlock studied the books on religion he had just purchased. The Swashbuckler prepared the gifts he bought, planning to leave them at the doorsteps of poor children during the night. The Paladin trained at the temple. The Wizard helped Row with his research on the staff. The Rogue looked into buying a building with access to the sewers. The Monk, I can’t remember. The Monk and the Rogue ended up in the bar where Someone Halfhand told them he had information about the pirates. They have been hanging out at an inn called the Reluctant Pig, newly built on the north road out of town. It was not on the river but had a jetty nearby where skiffs could be tied up nearby. The Fighter noticed 3 strangers pulling into the stable with a wagon. They seemed to have red armor hidden under their cloaks. When they went into the mercantile to purchase goods, he went searching for his comrades.
The Rogue used her Invisibility to hid on the wagon but it was too small. She got on the horse instead which did not like it but there wasn’t much it could do about it. The rest of the party gathered and we debated on what to do. We assumed they’d be heading to the inn in the north so the Wizard Messaged the Rogue that we’d meet her there. There was much debate about whether to get on the ship and sail north or get our horses and ride north. We decided to stay together and ride north after telling Commander Row to move the ship that way in case we needed it. The Rogue overheard enough of their talk to confirm that these guys were the Red Sail pirates and the seemed to be capturing specific high place locals for a booty paid by Scorpix. Unfortunately, they mentioned hostages already caught, being stashed at some nearby secret base. So that complicated things.
They arrived at the smithy behind the inn and unloaded. And then went into the inn for an ale, we assume waiting for someone. Most went in but the Swashbuckler stayed out. There were some suspicious looks and chatter with the bartender but no one forced any action. The Swashbuckler noticed our ship pull up near. Later he saw a ship with red sails sailing downriver, straight for it. He alerted the rest and everyone headed to the river bank as best the could. The Wizard, Rogue and Fighter grabbed a skiff and rowed out. The Paladin with his magic swimming gauntlets and the Monk chose to swim out. The Paladin had his horse swim out since it’s half movement swim of 30 was better than his. The Sorlock sprouted his angel wings to follow but ended up on the back of the horse as well. Before we could do much, we saw a wyvern with a rider fly towards our ship. The Swashbuckler took a shot or two but the range was too great for any else.
The relative movement rates of the players plus the movements of the ships and the distance made the start of the fight very complicated. It was sort of a jumble mess from there. The wyvern snatched Commander Price and flew her to their ship. The Wizard didn’t want to hurt her so he shot a Fireball at their sails, hoping to slow them down. A couple more long-range shots were taken. That fire occupied the pirates but there were plenty of marines with crossbows shooting at the skiff. Price was stowed below and the wyvern returned without a rider to attack the rowing Fighter. The Monk and Paladin managed to get to our ship just after a pirate caster fired his own Fireball at our ship’s deck. Luckily the crew was below deck from the wyvern attack. The Paladin lead them on fire extinguishing duties. The Swashbuckler and the Scorlock were the further behind and shot arrows and cantrips as the could. There was some debate on the skiff as to which ship to make for but with Price captive and they having a higher-level wizard than ours, it seemed like a direct attack was called for.
The Wizard shot another Fireball on their deck, targeting like 15-20 guys. It was a lot of damage, both to the men and the ship, but only a couple of sailors were taken out. The Rogue cast Grease to add to the confusion. Once besides their ship, the Rogue popped up to fire a Burning Hands and the Wizard did his last Fireball. Again, lots of damage but there were few deaths. The Swashbuckler did manage to kill their caster with his bow. The Monk made a mighty leap and climb to get onto their ship. As usual, Andy crit him with his first attack. Some of them started fleeing the burning, listing ship. The Fighter ran through the Grease to get in the middle of them and unleashed his Fear attack from his maul. Many missed their saves and dove for the water including the wyvern rider. The captain stood tall and unleashed his Polearm master attacks. The Monk hit a couple and headed down into the hull. He found Commander Price in a steel cage as the ship was taking on water. We fell asleep about there for it was 2 AM. Half of us are on their burning sinking ship. The Paladin is on our ship, ready to kill or capture any pirates that try to board it. The Swashbucklers are still trying to get caught up. I think the Captain is the only villain left on their ship but there are many injured marines and sailors as well. Somehow, we’ve got to get Price out of there before it sinks or blows up, without getting killed. And if we can find charts as to where their secret base is, even better.
Andy had all kinds of problems getting us logged into the game. This was particularly frustrating since it was working just a few days before. He rebooted and reconfigured and we were about to give up and switch to something else when he finally found a combination that worked. So, we finally started. We left off, freshly returned to Jailynn. But we also returned to the problem we left with, what to do about this evil sentient artifact staff. NPC Row reiterated that he did not expect it to be intelligent so he was unsure how to destroy it. He needed some research time which all agreed was reasonable. But what to do with it in the meantime. He wanted to leave it locked up in the vault at the school, figuring it would be less noticed here than back in the big city of Long Bridge. The problem was that anyone that knew we had it, such as Lady Arnow, would likely show up in our home town. We could hide it ourselves like in the ocean or in the sewers. Or keep it with us. It was endless. Eventually, Wade played the metagaming card, stating that no matter what we did, if Andy wanted to take the staff and start a plotline, he would. Better just do what the NPC (Andy) suggested and move on. This did not sit well with some but it was the only way to get past it. I think Dave dropped off around here. (Daniel: He seemed depressed about the future of Democracy and got drunk to deal with it.)
We noted that a new Lord had moved into town, bringing with him a new marshal and a bunch of guards/troops. We asked around and no one had anything bad to say about them, perse. It was just different. Crime was down but so was supervision. The sewers had been sealed up, much to the consternation of the Rogue who still planned to make it her base. We talked the halfling sheriff who had been made permanent in the 6 months we were gone but under the new marshal. She said that piracy was up on the river now that traffic had increased. The Red Dragons or some such. Rumor has it they are loosely affiliated with Lord Scorpix. They also periportally had a big lizard creature that fought with them. Some said it was a dragon but most dismissed that unlikely. We decided to do something about it. We went to our ship and talked to Commander Price. She seemed unconcerned. “There are always pirates.” But we informed her to make the ship battle-worthy. She said she had a commission in Long Bridge already lined up. So, we agreed to go with her, check on our magic item feelers, and if we were attacked by pirates, so much the better. A few of us had a couple things to do in town that day but after some wasted time, we left in the morning. (Daniel: Cedric mentioned "Gentle Repose" scrolls and the local priest overheard and took the opportunity to reward the party with two scrolls. Cedric inscribed it into his hybrid ritual tome and kept the other to put any dead party members on ice for easier resurrection.)
We had no problems getting to Long Bridge. The Wizard asked how long it would take and Price said just the day. If we wanted a ride back, she’d be leaving at sunset. The Wizard pointed out that this was still our ship and asked her to wait for us. We went into town to check on our magic item searches. Andy was not prepared for that Pandora’s Box so he said we had found nothing. Truthfully, our “reasonable” wants had probably changed and the “unreasonable” wants, we couldn’t afford and couldn’t just buy anyway. We milled around the market when the Wizard spotted Marisha the jungle girl watching us. She quickly ducked away and we decided to not pursue her. The Wizard found a diary in an estate sellers booth that was actually full of magical theories so he bought that. The Rogue bought a book about how-to pick-up women to aid in her pursuit of Commander Price. The Swashbuckler bought some small toys he intended to give to the kids in Jailynn. Eventually, we got back to the ship and sailed. (Daniel: Cedric bought a few books on religion in the hopes of beefing his knowledge of religion ie getting the religion proficiency. It appears he is the defacto party cleric.)
On the 3rd watch we were attacked by some snake-headed semi-aquatic creatures who climbed onto the ship. They had a snake bite with 2d6 of extra poison damage or a longbow or two scimitar attacks. Their to hit and AC were low but they had a lot of hit points to grind through. They also had an innate suggestion spell and advantage on all saves. That first round, Andy critted the Monk, doing near max damage. That was more than half his hit points in a single blow and he was stunned. (Somewhere along the way, the optional system shock rules got turned on. Andy didn't want to get into that argument so he just went with it.) The swashbuckler critted twice in his first round, tacking on extra smite damage but still didn’t drop one. The Wizard hit 5 of them with a Slow but two saved and with advantage, they others saved soon enough. But it helped. For the most part, Andy needed a crit to hit the 3 dex based melee guys but he managed to do so multiple times. It seemed like half his hits were crits but crits do a ton of damage. Some got hurt but no one went out. The Sorlock, who was eldritch blasting them off the ship, got targeted by that Suggestion power several times but used multiple powers like luck to fend most of them off. (Daniel: The first suggestion was to look at the rear of ship and to not look forward. Cedric tried to get around this by activating his divine soul, growing energy wings and flying up and then foward so he could attack while looking back. The next 2 suggestions were trickier like "don't speak for eight hours". It's a nasty spell that Cedric blew through all his luck and Divine Favor to resist.) The last two monsters managed to get away into the water. We got some longbows but that was about it. We continued into Jailynn without issue. Andy was unavailable in two weeks so we agreed to play in one week.
We started right after the battle with the bandit/cultists from last time. Some of the characters searched the bodies for clues (and loot) and others started walking with Lady Arnow towards our tents. The searches got modest loot, found cultist tattoos, and noticed that each tier of foe had the same amount of gold on them. We concluded that they had just gotten paid. Lady Arnow asked a bunch of questions as the other group walked. The Swashbuckler Paladin did most of the talking. We pretty much had to tell her it was a mummy curse to have any hope of curing Row although if she had the power to do it, she was probably going to figure it out for herself. He was vague about where that tomb was but he did make a point of mentioning the staff we recovered that he was carrying. (He had the false staff.) They all had to make a high Wisdom save and only the Paladin did so (with an inspiration die). He knew that she was using some sort of mind-reading on us although we certainly didn’t notice her casting a spell.
Meanwhile, the Monk noticed someone flashing a signal to him from the cave entrance. They went over and found that jungle girl, Marshia. The odds of her being here seemed astronomical. She basically warned them that Lady Arnow was not as she seemed. That she had been waiting for weeks for us to show up. She could provide no further information and was not willing to get any closer to her. So, they hurried to catch up with the rest of the group. Lady Arnow said she was would await Row in her tent. The now more suspicious Paladin asked if she could use our tent but she said she needed her tent supplies to do the ceremony. The rest of the group caught up and we debated. Everybody go in case we’re attacked? Leave some behind to guard the staff? Pack up now and leave? But it quickly came to the point that we hadn’t had a long rest in a long time and after the last battle, we were in no shape to take on another foe. So, we stalled for time. We sent a Sherpa (name Christian Redshirt) with a message simply saying something had come up and we’d meet with her in the morning. We erected our Tiny Huts and finally got our long rest.
In the morning, her tent was gone. The Sherpas were questioned and they said that when the sun came up, it was simply gone. They saw and heard nothing but they weren’t looking either. So, we packed up to leave but we wanted to do some investigation first. (Discussions on which way to go were put on hold.) Her campsite was investigated and there were no signs that they had ever been there. E.g. no holes from tent stakes. We realized that she had no horses, Sherpas or anything. The Rogue, Monk, and Wizard went over to the bar to make inquiries since she was supposedly in charge. When they got there, they found it deserted. What was once a bar full of activity now had nothing. It looked as if it hadn’t been used in days, weeks, months? The only tracks in dust seemed to correspond to the players, the bandits, and her. Was it all an illusion? We also realized that the oasis outside was also mostly empty as well. Marisha was also nowhere to be found. They did some searching and found a lot of nothing. The two guarding statues were still there. The Rogue used Disguise Self to change into Lady Arnow and tried to walk past them. When they started to move, she cast Grease and they fled. Arcana rolls confirmed they were likely Iron Golems. Yikes, that’s high-level stuff.
So, we were back to where to go. We could go southeast along the standard road with the expectation of getting attacked by her and/or cultists. Or go east to another pass through the mountains but that was a long way with no civilization along the way. Or west to a coastal town in hopes of hiring a boat to take us home. Or a couple more radical ideas. Those that were advocating for southeast and a fight were less inclined now that we knew she could create such an illusion, construct or at least control Iron Golems, and read minds at will. That seemed like a “avoid at all costs” power level so we voted to go west. Unfortunately, that put us on a path that Andy had not prepared so we pretty much avoided the whole night’s fight.
We made it to the small fishing village built around a fortress long since ruined. There were no traders but one of the fish ships could take us south to Jalyn. He could not take all the Sherpas and gear but that was not their home anyway. There was some debate and what to do with them. We decided to pay them well, give them the camels, wagon, most of the supplies since we didn’t need them, and let them find their own way home. They’d be safer without us. We made it to Jalyn without issue. We got Row cured. He did not expect the staff to be sentient so he wasn’t sure what to do with it. He needed more research. He suggested we leave it with him at the college but I don’t recall if we agreed to that. We made 7th. Andy made inquiries about our character's long term plans and will plan the next adventure based on something said, I guess. Jon can’t run next week so Andy will. It was an early night.
Andy has been re-homed and his game has re-started. So we shall all re-play D&D.
We started, exiting the dungeon after defeating the mummy and securing the staff his followers were after as a means of bringing him to life. Unfortunately, our NPC patron was still unconscious, held between life and death, with the crown barely holding the mummy rot at bay. We weren’t sure what his plan was after obtaining this staff. Destroy it, we assumed, but how? At the very least, it seemed obvious we should get it (and ourselves) as far from here as possible. So, we headed back to our camels and supplies and then on to the oasis we were at a couple of days ago. No time for a long rest but Andy allowed us a short rest during the travels. Rehk noticed that behind us, the land was transforming from desert to jungle. We tried to recall the history Row had told us. This land was a lush jungle and when the evil king was killed, it turned into a desert. So, we think restoring it to jungle is a sign that the king was defeated. There was some debate as to whether the staff we were carrying was causing the changes but we didn’t think so. The plants weren’t growing quickly but being magical revealed.
(Note from Dan: At this point, I had briefly thought we had somehow been transferred back in time to when before the curse and was going to try Navigation to check the stars but since the GM described the sand revealing the existing plants as we watched I decided that couldn't possibly be the case.)
We came upon the oasis but it had been transformed as well. It was full of people. There was a water wheel for grinding flour, buildings, stables, and all manner of civilization. We were perplexed. We did note that the tent of the noble lady who was too ill to speak to us last time was still there so that was as good a place to start as any. But first, we set up camp. The sorlock transcribed the Tiny Hut ritual into his book so that we could still have two castings and accommodate everyone. The swashbuckler paladin wrapped the dead shock staff into a blanket and carried it as if it was important in hopes of deceiving anyone who was after the real one still in the wagon. He and the monk went to visit the tent. The seneschal seemed to be having trouble remember him but did eventually. It was then revealed that it had been 6 months since we had last come through here. Magic. He asked some questions about where we’d been and we gave some vague answers. He asked if we needed any help. We said we had some need of healing arts and he said his lady might be able to help. She could be found at the bar in the cave we glanced in a couple days ago.
So, the wizard cast his hut spell to make Row comfortable. The two paladins and the fighter went to the bar to fetch the lady. The rest milled around camp, mainly guarding the staff which would seem to be the prime target. So, the bar was down an elaborate staircase into a vast chamber. All kinds of people were there including a larger blue mage doing tricks on a stage. The holy paladin immediately assumes he was evil and started to do his detect evil thing. There was some debate as to how powerful an evil needed to be in order to be detected but the upshot was the usual problem of Andy not wanted to reveal the alignment of everyone in the whole town on round one. There were some bandit looking guys giving them the eye. When the barmaid was asked, she said they had been in town several days, supposedly waiting for someone. The bartender was asked about the Lady and he sent a girl to inform her that the swashbuckler had returned. That took a while.
Meanwhile, the 2 bandits came over with purpose and they readied for combat. The paladins tried to defuse the situation, not wanted to get into a fight with half the party and in the middle of a bunch of innocents. The fighter accidentally spilled his beer on one guy but the other bandit pulled him away. “Not now.” The holy paladin decided to pay a pud to take a message to the rest of the party. But when the pub left, he was followed by a bandit. So, he followed, not wanting him to be killed in his service. There was some cat and mouse pursuit but nothing much came of it. Eventually, the rest of the group arrived in time for the fight. The Lady offered her services and we headed back to camp. The wizard asked her about the transformation of this bar. From a magical theory point of view. She was aware of creation spells like Fabricate but she did not cast them. She sort of implied the bar revealed itself and she sort of took procession of it and started this operation. As we left the cave, we could see or more like hear the bandits getting ready for action.
So, combat started. There was a bandit lord with 3 attacks and some command powers that gave his minions bonuses. Two bandit captains who also got 3 attacks. And lots of minions. Rehk wreaked havoc on the minions with his mighty blows, killing 1-2 a round. The wizard tried a Hold Person on round one but the Lord saved. The next round he cast a Slow, figuring it was more important to stop the 3 attacks a round from the big guys than kill a bunch of minions who weren’t doing much. All 4 missed their saves including the lord and a captain so that was good. The holy paladin ended up surrounded but the minions only did 1d6+3, most of which bounced off his heavy armor damage resistance. But it added up after 4-5 rounds. The rest just attacked. We were a little hampered because we still hadn’t had a long rest but with their big guns slowed and no spell casters on their side, they didn’t pose that big a threat. The NPC Lady just stood there watching but the bandits didn’t get that close to her. We gathered the loot under the guise of looking for clues but Andy didn’t have that list together so we’ll distribute that next time. The main guys did have those scorpion tattoos on the back of their necks so evidently, we didn’t kill all of them at the tomb. Andy decided to deal with the healing of Row next time so we ended there.
Note: Review #2 of the Drunken Monkey Book Club
Review by Daniel Ruth
Overall Score:
James Corey is an excellent writer in so many ways. The details he describes in the scenery and the lore and history he includes is breathtaking. He really brings to life the the feeling that you are in a world several hundred years in the future. The science is real enough that you can see it as a solid extension of what we have now. There are no flights of fancy or thoughts of "that could never happen". Everything is well considered and fitted into an extremely realistic world. You can absolutely see the politics and culture coming alive before you.
Now the flipside. It is also extremely dry, slow-paced, and largely dull through most of the story. It begins with the point of view of a woman attacked and kidnapped by pirates. A very strong beginning hinting at action and adventure. Unfortunately, that may be the best chapter of the book. From then on the book splits into two points of view; a washed-up policeman and a captain of ice hauler (captain because he inherited the command). In the beginning, the book can be mistaken as a police investigation in space on one hand and a very slow escape from pirates on the other hand.
You may have heard of the "unreliable narrator"? This is usually used in first-person perspectives where you see and feel the main character explore and interact with the world. Because you only are fed information from that person you may believe the heroes are villains and vice versa. It's whatever the character believes. I have never have seen this applied to a third-person perspective and I frankly do not approve. I won't go into details but the situation is described in one manner and then the character has an epiphany and you realize nothing you read was true. I have never seen this technique and I wasn't appreciative of it. Innovative, yet annoying.
Although the world and politics are described well, the characters are paper-thin, two dimensional, and rather incompetent. Perhaps that is too strong... perhaps ordinary is a better word. Although they are caught up in extraordinary circumstances they don't really overcome, more, they merely survive. It's an ode to mediocrity in a futuristic world. One of my friends said that he liked reading about average or below-average people and their struggle, however its just not my thing.
I mentioned below that the pacing went from exciting to the painful. The last quarter or so speeds up significantly and it was pointed out to me that if the length of the book was reduced by about a fourth then it may be appropriately paced story. Even so, it still wouldn't be something I enjoyed. As the author was describing the surroundings in excruciating details I found myself... really not caring and wishing he'd get to the point.
In conclusion, this story is technically well written and a saga that ticks all the boxes but the overwhelming flow of descriptions and slow pace, combined with uninspiring characters ruined it for me.
We started, still in the graveyard. Onacona tended to the wounded. At Thomas’s suggestion, Hawthorne and Virgil went to fetch the mayor, figuring it would be good to get the last remaining authority figure on our side. Phoebe Ann was sent to fetch Buster. The reporter NPC showed up and started asking questions. Unfortunately, all the “talking” characters had left so it fell to Thomas to describe the grisly scene in the church. However, she was pretty accepting of the story, given the evidence so that worked out okay. On their way to get the mayor at the bar, Hawthorne and Virgil heard cackles and screams coming from the doctor’s office. Hawthorne blew the locks away and Virgil burst through the doors. They were greeted with yet another grisly scene. The doctor was stripping the flesh of one of the guys from the train. Virgil demanded he drop the knife but the doctor charged instead. Unfortunately, Jon had forgotten to reload his pistol and it was too amusing to Brian to assume the reasonableness of a gunfighter would have surely reloaded despite Jon’s error. Brian gave him a Smarts roll which Jon rejected. The upshot was that Virgil took another wound before Hawthorne could blow him away.
Hawthorne made an amazing doctor roll and kept the victim alive although, with the mutilation, that may not be a good thing. The mayor showed up after and we all met up at the hotel with the wounded. He was happy to hear that the marshal was dead and not that concerned about the reverend. The rest of the townsfolk didn’t seem to care. Or at least none of them showed up. There were plenty of things to do. Thomas said he wanted to go back to the mine and check on the Indian spirit. Onacona also wanted to go as well as the NPC reporter. They headed up the mountain and back down into the mine. The spirit was not there but Onacona could sense a feeling of contentment.
Meanwhile, the rest decided to check out the ghost at the schoolhouse. Phoebe Ann was off shooting rats. Buster was convinced there was no ghost and eager to disprove it. When they entered the grounds, they were confronted with the ghost of the little girl again. Virgil attempted to turn her to no avail. She quickly summoned that whirlwind again. So, it was pretty much a repeat of Phoebe Ann’s encounter. Paul played his “Get a Clue” card and Brian pointed out that the back of the schoolhouse looked particularly colder than the already colder than town schoolyard. So, people started heading into the building. The ghost was dangerous but had to rolled to hit and missed most of the time. However, the whirlwind “hit” anyone trapped in it so that became a matter of how many exploding dice and therefore how many wounds and therefore how quickly your chips got used up. But since neither of them could be affected, the “combat” was completely one-sided. No one missed the various guts checks, at least.
The map was large and the movement rates are low so it took time, all the while under attack. Eventually, Virgil found a journal in the one desk that wasn’t destroyed. He ran out of the building and gave it a quick read. It belonged to the little girl and it seemed she had a crush on her teacher. Everyone immediately concluded that the teacher killed her (or worse). Buster found some girl’s mittens in the teacher’s desk. Big John finally got to the cabinet and found the decayed corpse of a little girl. Meanwhile, Thomas and Onacona enjoyed some overpriced snacks at the airport. The ghost was interested in the body and despite everyone’s urging to be honest with the ghost, Dan decided to go with the “nothing to see here” plan. Who knows which was right? At this point, at Virgil’s repeated urging, they ran for the fence so that could do some investigation and discussion. More attacks were taken but eventually, they all made it out and the attacks stopped. It was pretty comical. “I got a journal.” “It got some mittens.” “I got a corpse.” You win.
At the hotel, Thomas suggested asking the hotel owner about the school. It had been closed for 2-3 years and the teacher had long since moved away. So, there would be no closure on that although Hawthorne put finding him on his long-term plan list. I think a card was played and it was decided that a respectful burial was needed. (Note from Dan: I suggested the burial since it was the obvious and traditional solution but got a Beny taken away for not playing my Clueless . Everyone, including the priest, ignored me and wanted to to take the body to the demon-infested desecrated church instead. Who would have thunk? It took someone playing a card to get us to bury her.) Using the journal for material, Buster gave a nice speech and it was done. A quick trip back to the school and all was well. By then it was almost midnight so we wrapped it up. Ms. Pearl extended an offer to have Onacona become the town doctor since the old one was insane and dead. She said it would be okay if he set up shop outside of town if that was what was needed. I’m not sure how the townsfolk would react to that but any doctor is better than no doctor. As long as he didn’t strip their flesh off, it’s a step up. The last thing was Hawthorne making his vigor roll and staying alive one more game. Andy pointed out that he had had a -1 on his roll from his wound for 3 straight games but unfortunately it was still the same day. One long day.
More...
We got off to a slow start. Several still needed to spend the Advancements they earned last time. Additionally, Brian could not get the adventure cards to deal out. He tried several things including assigning them manually but to no avail. We also tried rebooting. Eventually, we got going without them. The first order of business was to help all the wounded. Since Doc Hawthorne was just brought back to consciousness at the end of the last game, that put the Indian shaman in charge of it. He asked that the wounded be gathered outside to get away from any residual evil vibes in the church. However, Virgil wanted to search the evil reverend to make sure he was really dead. And not regenerating or anything. He did have a ceremonial dagger that when touched, felt “really wrong”. He wrapped it up and put it in his pack. He then decided to remove him from “his” church and brought him with him to the triage station. There were some arguments about how far away the body needed to be for Onacona to do his thing. It seemed rather pointless. During all that, Onacona hadn’t tended to anyone, waiting for everyone. But then he cast a spell to give himself a bonus to a skill for 5 rounds (+2 when he activated it with a raise) and it became clear why he was waiting. The fact that it took more than a round to do proper doctoring was waved aside. So finally, with wounded Doc’s assistance, he tended to Virgil, one of the Pearl Gang gals, the NPC Laura Giles, Big John, and finally Thomas. They rolled well enough such that only Virgil was left with a wound (better than the 3). Hawthorne still had a wound from last time.
Meanwhile, which is to say in the middle of, Phoebe Ann wandered off again. Of course, she was unwounded as usual. She decided to move the horses to the hotel. While doing that, she ran across the Marshal and a couple of deputies. They wanted to talk to Virgil and gave her a note to give to him. She returned to the churchyard and the note said for him to meet in the graveyard. So, everyone headed next door except Onacona who stayed with the NPC wounded. Phoebe Ann considered getting into the church tower in case there was trouble but Thomas convinced her that without Buster, who was obsessively working on his story, she’d be the one to hopefully defuse the situation with words. We all expected a “we said” “they said” exchange that would probably end up in a confrontation. Sure enough, with very little talking, the Marshal and his deputies opened fire. Turns out there were another 8-9 hiding behind tombstones and on the mausoleum roof. Brian pointed out that he had just bought the Danger Sense edge. However, Brian ruled (for now) that this would not stack with his Alertness so he only got a +2 and not the +4 he was expecting. +4 seemed like an automatic success which seemed wrong to Brian but was exactly what Brian was gunning for. Regardless, everyone got a Notice roll and only Thomas missed it and lost a round to surprise. Looking back, we could have approached this fight with a bit more caution but since two of us were already wounded, I think we were hoping to at least delay it a bit. A sneaking Thomas coming in from the north, for example, would have been a big help.
So, it became the “Shoot Out at the Double Tree Graveyard”. Heroes shot and dove for cover. Villains shot and most of them were already behind cover. That first round, the heroes got hit several times and started burning through their fate chips. Virgil got shot at a bunch. The Marshal was a common target and he used all the chips on that side. When Big John engaged him in hand to hand, he chose to beat on him with his pistol which was probably a win for us. However, people were hesitant to fire into that melee so shots were scattered amongst the minions. With most everyone getting +4 for cover, it slowed up. The fact that we didn’t have any adventure cards contributed to the slugfest nature of the fight. Those cards inject some uniqueness into things. The initiative cards were also behaving oddly. It seemed like each round, more of the low cards were not appearing. By round 4, Thomas drew a Queen but went second to last. As long as it went in random order, it didn’t really matter what cards were drawn except that it meant extra jokers. However, the heroes didn’t get their first joker until near the end at which point several were desperate for another chip.
After one round, maybe one minion was down. The main deputy fumbled, fell back into the mausoleum, and was never seen again. Onacona and a couple of Pearl Gang gals got onto the map and ran into the action as best they could. Even his owl got into it. After another round, maybe another 1 or 2 were down. This was going to take a while. But it was the fate chips that mattered. Ours ran out and he ran out. After a couple of rounds, Thomas and Phoebe Ann started risking firing to the melee. Thomas shook the Marshall and he had to take it. Phoebe Ann hit him and he had to take the wound. Hawthorne charged forward and got up against the mausoleum. The next round, he stepped in and blew the head of the Marshall off. He informed the minions but they disbelieved him and vowed to fight on to the death. Heroes started to press forward as the minions started to drop. Then they started to run but still shooting as they went. They were all gunned down soon enough. I think maybe only Phoebe Ann took a wound after using up all her chips on the previous hit with bad rolls.
At this point, Brian tried to wrap up since it was late. He wanted to move forward and start talking about long term fallout. Several were eager to do various bits and pieces but Brian deferred those and wrapped up. (Those bits and pieces were what most of us excepted the night to be about but the fight took longer than expected. +4 cover, mainly.) So, Ms. Pearl offered the Marshal job to Hawthorne who had picked the badge off the body. He agreed. Virgil had plans to clean up his church. We assumed Buster would get the newspaper going again. Thomas would sign on as a “ranger” and patrol the wilderness around town as a pseudo deputy. It sounded like Onacona planned to grab onto a similar role. As an ‘old ways” Indian shaman, his options were limited in town. Phoebe Ann had previously said she wanted to work over at the theater but was silent this night. Big John planned to stare at the mechanical organ in the bar which seemed more like a hobby. The last order of business was for Andy to roll his ailing hindrance. He had 3 fate chips at the ready but rolled two 1’s. So, it’s now a major and he’s dying. Some suggestions on what he can do about it (i.e. buy it off) were floated but nothing was decided. Lots of loose ends to work through next time. Ghosts, Indian spirits, rats and bees, former mayor and a town full of people who need to be told everything has changed, etc.
Review: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse Book1)
Written by Daniel Ruth
Note: My friends and I formed a book club. Time on our hands during the pandemic.
Review by Daniel Ruth
Overall Score:
The premise of the book is that a man from our general era has arranged to have his head preserved upon death. In the future, he is to be revived once medical science has advanced to a sufficient degree. He dies almost immediately after and things take a turn for the worse as he wakes up in a future dystopia where his mind has been translated into software. He makes the best of it by becoming the heart of a spaceship probe sent to explore and ready planets for colony ships to be sent afterward. Things fall apart.
I won't go into plot details, though it is fairly straightforward. There is a twist in the beginning but its, not a huge surprise if your paying attention. On the surface, the story is a bit fluffy, it's almost typical Kindle Unlimited fare, where there is a minor crisis, a major crisis, and then the end (broadly speaking). Rinse and repeat for the next story in the series. Still, it was enjoyable for what it was. I thought it was a bit short and read the entire trilogy in a day and a half. My sensibilities on length may be suspect though since I saw the hardcopy my friend ordered and it was a respectable size.
There are several elements worth mentioning. First is the meaning of life. Really. If you clone someone and kill the original its murder, right? The original is dead and the clone is, at best, a twin brother. Lets take it a step further. If you copy that original into software and then delete that software, is it murder? What if you copy it first? If you are that AI and copy yourself to go into a hazardous situation is it morally right? All these questions are explored. Without the 'soul' or religious context, it is simplified a bit but it's still an interesting conversation.
The second element is transhumanism. The next step in human evolution. Generally, this is portrayed by cyborgs but this book isn't the first to go the AI route. Some of the issues he explores take a bit of twisting to the world in order to fit right, generally leading to a pretty depressing view on humans. Since many of these situations mirror our present reality it can be argued how realistic they are. Overall, the protagonist gets a pretty poor view of the human race.
The third element is what I found most striking. What does immortality mean? I mean everyone wants to live forever, right? What if everyone died around you? What if only you and clones went on? It could get pretty grim... but who doesn't want immortality even if you have to deal with that? It's an interesting journey and I like the slow evolution of his philosophy as this situation slowly sinks in. It doesn't show up so much in the first book but later in the series this becomes the core. When this is resolved in the third book and it ends it feels like an excellent wrap up of a trilogy even as some of the events march on. Perhaps too much so. I almost feel that if a fourth book comes out I may not really need to read it. I would, of course, but it just felt perfect.
There were aliens. Some good and some bad, but it wasn't really what I was reading the book for. The interaction with the primitive civilization may be fascinating if that's what you're interested in but its just not my cup of tea. It wasn't bad and as time marches on it reinforces the isolation of immortality but not my thing. The evil aliens were... evil. They were genocidal and irredeemable. A fair villain if a bit two dimensional. The moral implications were only lightly touched upon, but that wasn't terrible. No one wants to feel bad for defending yourself and despite the darker tones of the novel and exploration of what it means to be alone together (OMG a pandemic reference), I didn't really pay attention to the grimdark until it was pointed out.
Generally, I hate novels that split the point of view. I want a single POV or, at most two, so I can develop a rapport with the main character. This novel did split the point of views but it was understandable since they were all Bob. Sometimes it got a bit confusing on which Bob was doing what, and I occasionally wondered if I had some dyslexic tendencies when I stopped I tried to figure out why the Bob I thought I was reading about turned out to be another. I think that might just be me. There were a lot of Bobs.
On the whole, this was a pleasant read. Dark undertones aside it was... not a wild ride, more like a steady tour of a small section of the universe. There was fighting, philosophy, and the meaning of life. What more could you want?
Brian started by informing us that we should have gotten an advancement last time. Some people who already had a plan in place took it but most deferred until they had some time to research. We were still given the choice of using the portal to get directly into the church by the Indian Spirit. Brian attempted to share that map but it wouldn’t load for anybody. We restarted, cleared cache, etc but it was a big distraction. Eventually, everyone but Jon was able to see it. He used the shared Skype image and did the best he could. Brian enticed Buster into not taking the portal by invoking his Skeptic hindrance for a free fate chip. It helped that Paul hadn’t arrived yet so he couldn’t argue. Everyone else jumped into the portal, eventually. Buster took the horses back to town which took an hour. When he arrived at the church, he found it buttoned up and the doors glowing with strange purple light. He heard no gunfire and saw no signs of a battle. He attempted to get the marshal and his useless deputies to come help but they did not. He ended up at the hotel, hoping to rally the few allies we had in this town. The rest of the players ended up emerging from various mirrors throughout the town. Each was handled one at a time. Some did some investigation but eventually, everyone gathered at the hotel. Only Hawthorne managed to get an ally, Laura Giles, to join us.
So back at the church, we examined our options. Thomas considered avoiding the doors by climbing up but the only other entrance was the bell tower which was 3+ stories up. Possible but not trivial. Virgil then took the bull by the horns, said a prayer, and attempted to open the door. To no one’s surprise, it did not. The cultists had removed the big stone cross from the church so we used that as a battering ram and busted the doors open. Inside the pews had been cast aside to make room for a huge pentagram on the floor. Around it was all the brothers and sisters, A through U. At the pulpit was the Reverend, casting some spell to gate a demon into the pentagram. At his side was his deacon. Cards were dealt and things started moving. Quick moving players got into the church entrance but it quickly became clogged with all the minions. Thomas did manage to get a hit on the Reverend which thankfully disrupted his spell before it got too crowded. Onacona managed to get to the stairs up to the landing above before that path was cut off. Laura got a high card and ended up in the front lines, to her woe.
What followed was a battle of attrition. With so many enemies, it took a long time for a round to complete. We managed to get a few shots through to the villains but mostly it was grinding through the minions. Occasionally one would hit and do exploding damage which then soaked up fate chips to stay alive. I’ll hit a few highlights, most of which center around the adventure cards. Phoebe Ann, through a complicated series of moves and at least one fate chip, managed to weave her way into the room opposite the stairs only to discover there were no stairs on that side. The preacher’s first action was to cast an AOE Fear spell which ate up some fate chips to avoid. Brian played a card that enticed him to pontificate on his evil plans and lose a turn. When a turn takes over an hour, that was a big deal. Big John kicked ass in hand to hand with these guys. He particularly benefited from the unlimited opportunity attacks in this system. Laura was almost killed but somehow managed to stay up. Jon played a card to get +2 damage against the cultists but then found Virgil an easy target. He quickly ran out of fate chips and was almost taken out. But Dave Green played a card that turned any hit into a critical failure. So, the killing blow turned into a trip over the nearby cross which took out the minion. Onacona was followed up to the landing. When attacked, Dave played a card that turned a miss into a hit against another nearby minion. So, he tossed his attacker off the landing and hit another guy below. Andy played a card that brought in allies from an unexpected source. After consideration, Brian brought the Pearl Gang into the action. He rolled randomly for where and Jon managed to root for an 8 and get them through the hated windows to everyone’s delight. However, they got rocked their first round and didn’t have that big an impact other than divert some of the minions away from us.
So, most of the minions were cleared out in a couple rounds but most of our fate chips were as well. When we finally got shots on the villains, Brian started using those fate dice to keep them up. The Reverend cast a magic missile which hurt. He then cast a domination spell, trying to turn Hawthorne over to his side. But he saved with ease (i.e. exploding) and laughed it off. But then he drew a Joker and did the magic missile again. He hit Thomas with a raise and did 3 wounds. He played a fate chip to reduce it to one wound but kept his last fate chip for the next attack. He then hit Pearl and wounded her. Then he hit Hawthorne with more exploded damage. He had no chips left and there were no cards left to save him. He was bleeding out, losing a die of Vigor permanently from the gut shot. He made one death save (based on his new lowered Vigor) and at -3 from his wounds. Onacona ran to his aid but missed his medicine roll. Andy made 2 more death saves before anyone could help him. But the next round, Thomas drew a Joker after spending the whole fight at the bottom. With that +2, his second shot hit with a raise. That extra die exploded twice for a big hit. The Reverend was out of fate chips and finally fell. A flame of fire coming out of the bullet hole in his black heart. The deacon was then blasted, mostly by the Pearl Gang gals and it was over.
Eventually, the first aid guys managed to save the dying doctor. We stopped at that point with wounded all around to be tended. Andy made another Vigor roll to keep his Ailing hindrance from becoming terminal. We were granted another advance which put us up to Seasoned. That grants access to a new list of Edges so there were some discussions about options people were considering. Brian said that we will likely be declared heroes of the town and we should consider what job/role we might want. Andy, for example, plans to challenge the Marshal to a duel and run him out of town. Obviously, Buster will try to get the newspaper going again. Phoebe Ann would like to run the theater however Miss Bella is still there so that’ll be complicated. We assume Virgil will take over the church. Some of the others aren’t so obvious. Perhaps deputies for John and Thomas. I’m not sure where Onacona would fit other than hermit in the woods.
Working with Joomla doesn't make you an internet guru by any means. In fact, one of my friends mocks it as a crutch that keeps you from the really powerful tools. Joomla isn't alone, he mocks all the content management systems(CMS). While I don't completely agree he does have some good points. You can actually make some really good looking pages with just html, css and java. It's just a lot of work, especially for large webpages or interactive pages. Getting good with these three tools is even recommended by people who work with Joomla too since it allows you to do some pretty powerful modifications of the basic Joomla pages and the modules themselves.
So, why do I even mention this? Well, I am limited in how much I can write with screaming children roaming in the wilds (the living room, the bedrooms, and the dining room) so I turned towards some things that I can mostly put down and pick back up when the wave of children has passed. So I picked up some books on HTML, CSS, java, and Linux and have been going through them. Most of it makes sense though the actual implementation can get messy. Browsers allow you to inspect the Styles that define the webpage's look but trying to pin down a change has been challenging. Fun and frustrating in turns. Also as I make more changes I have to ask myself if I actually made my webpage look better or just messier.
I think I picked up the basics of HTML pretty quickly, though the fancy stuff is beyond me writing it from scratch. Though I can usually follow it if it's given to me. CSS also wasn't too bad. Writing your own CSS is easier than trying to slip in your own changes in someone else's CSS code. I have literally spent hours trying to track down the correct class name to use. Java is much harder. The basic language looks simple and then you see a shortened bit of code that does what your four lines did and you are back to "Huh?"
The Unix training book has been slow going too, but that's okay. As some may recall I set up a Synology NAS box a while back and then discovered that the box was a real Linux computer that could run almost all Linux stuff and set up my Joomla website on it. My friend (the same jerk) mocked it as... you got it, a "crutch" that keeps you from working directly with the Linux command line and really taking control of your system. I was mostly okay with that since I wasn't ready to dig too deep into the rabbit hole at the time. Since then Synology messed up a few times and figuring out why has been a pain in the butt. So I got the book, set up a Ubuntu Virtual box, and started to practice on the command line. Then I got a Rasberry pie and practiced on its command line. While I still need a reference book to get the command's syntax right and absolutely use Google to do the fancy stuff, these days I can understand what the commands do and the file structure and permissions don't seem to be written in code (though technically they are....). Yay!
My wife and kids are out at the inlaws for a few days so I'll probably take a break from learning to actually write a bit.
