Gabrella and Bull
atcDave
Member Posts: 2,791
Gabrella has lived a safe and comfortable life. She is the much loved daughter of the great mage and sage Gorion (yeah, yeah, she knows she’s adopted). Her life has literally been sheltered. She knows this. Gabrella, Gabby, is not stupid.
And as it turns out she loves reading and learning. Which is a good thing for growing up in the greatest library of the Realms, and not even being allowed to travel or leave. She chafes under this a little, but she figured out many years ago that her father has a good reason for this. She doesn’t know what it is, and she does wonder sometimes. Her best guess is that Gorion has powerful enemies. She knows he is connected to the group known as Harpers. Oh so secret. She’s not supposed to know this. But again, she isn’t stupid.
All her life interesting visitors have stopped by to meet with, consult with Gorion. Many of them have met her, they often seem pleased or surprised to meet her. And that word, Harper is often said in whispers between her father and his visitors. In her love of reading she has encountered this word, and has a fair idea of what it means. She guesses one, or both of her parents were also important Harpers.
Apart from all that, Gabby reckons she’s lived a normal life. She is energetic and active when she is not reading, enough that her older father has a hard time keeping up. About ten years ago another child moved into Candlekeep. Imoen was the daughter of the new owner of the Candlekeep Inn. She was a little younger than Gabby, but they hit it off immediately. Inseparable best friends.
Gorion seemed pleased by this development, Gabby could expend her youthful energy chasing and playing games with Imoen. And it seemed Gorion knew Imoen’s father Winthrop. He was another old friend for father, it pleased Gabby they both got friends at the same time.
Not too long after came another change that would be more important in time. A new Watcher, Bull came to Candlekeep. He was way too old to play with you and Imoen, but he was kind and funny. Both girls liked him. He took the blame one time when Imoen broke a visitor’s wagon she’d been playing on. He even paid to get it fixed. You thought she was off scott free! But then he told Winthrop, said he wanted to avoid a scene with the visitor, but Imoen needed to learn discipline. The world of adults is very strange.
He was also there the time you broke your arm falling off the wall. He got you over to the infirmary, and sent a message to Gorion. And he stayed right there with you until Gorion showed up.
You said once Bull was like having a big brother. Gorion grumbled something about him being old enough to be your father. You never understood what he meant. Well, much later you maybe understood a little.
About three years ago Gorion told Gabby it was time to start thinking about professional training. He thought you had the ability to be anything you set your mind to. You were clearly smart enough to be a mage like him, but anything was open. Imoen thought you should both be rogues, you would explore the world together and spy on whatever you wanted to see… She made it sound fun.
Bull was the one who discerned your passion for spiritual learning, the god’s truth. He thought you would be a fine priestess of Lathander, or Tyr. He was the first to mention you also could be a great warrior. You weren’t big, but Bull said you went through life with the subtlety and finesse of a charging bull. Was he making a joke? Really he said, anything you want to be, you’ll be better if you start as a warrior.
That’s how you came to be the smallest warrior trainee any of the Watchers had ever seen. You started when you turned 18. You were 5’2” and 100 pounds soaking wet. You don’t know why everyone had to say that, several times. They all knew you were graceful and quick, which served you well in training. They also all knew you were tough and fearless, that also served you well. Everyone was a little surprised though, including yourself, that you were also stronger than most of the Watchers. Some big guys too. In sparring you could push them back, off their feet onto their rear. This seemed to really embarrass some of them. Although you did learn a problem with being a lightweight is they can often swat you off your feet with a low hit. Bull and some of the trainers really had to think through how to let you use your strength effectively, once the surprise has passed you really can’t drive back someone almost three times your weight. Of course, most people that big are stronger than you anyway.
But its been a fun part of your training, getting all the guys involved, and working through how to use your talents to best advantage in a fight. They say you are an unusual challenge. You *think* that’s a compliment.
Gabby’s training started with lots of running, strength and conditioning exercises. She enjoys a challenge!
Bull was a good and patient instructor.
Gabby was also a good student, intelligent and athletic.
Gabby particularly liked the commraderie, the time working with all the Watchers.
Almost two years of training made Gabby a capable, and quick swordswoman.
Gabby also kept her longtime friendship with Imoen a priority. Imoen teased about all the time Gabby now spent with Bull.
*****
Bull trained to be a warrior from a young age. Its something he was built for, meant for. Funny, he’s not a violent man. But he’s quite good at violence when its called for. He’d heard adventuring was a good way to make money, so that was what he planned. He quickly discovered he disliked adventuring. Sleeping on a hard bedroll, exposed to the elements, eating who knows what. On his first, and last adventure, two of his companions were killed. Between the survivors they couldn’t afford to Raise both men, so they argued over who to Raise. One got raised and they were all broke. For a stupid adventure.
He joined the army, which suited him better for a time. Someone else had to worry about how to house him and feed him, he just did his job. But, eh, he got tired of fighting in squabbles between minor nobles.
He saw an advertisement for Watchers at the library of Candlekeep. A peacekeeper. That sounded better to him. So he went to Candlekeep and got a job. He’s been there a while now. Good enough at it to be a Sergeant. He hasn’t had to use brute force often. The threat of it a couple times when someone couldn’t get admission to the library, who thought they should. He’s broken up a few fights, mostly between drunks at the Inn. Usually two bookish sorts arguing over what kind of ink takes best on vellum… often he steps up to them and glares, and the fight is over.
One of the more fun parts of his time here has been the kids. There’s only two of them. Imoen and Gabby are a hoot. Active, precocious, funny. But both really good kids. In time he learned Gabby especially was a deep thinker, grilling him about Faerun… and what he thought about the nature of good and evil. Is that normal for kids? It was like being interrogated by some philosopher priest. She actually came to value his opinion and he helped steer her towards training as a warrior.
Bull has been very happy in his time at Candlekeep. It has the peacekeeping parts of soldiering with less bloodshed. And time to build good friendships.
Then he had the problem of physically training an 18 year old girl, err woman. And sparring with someone who weighs less than some shields he’s carried. She took to it all surprisingly quickly. The biggest surprise being she was *a lot* stronger than she looked. Yourself and maybe three of the guys were clearly stronger than her. But that. Was. It. Have you ever consoled a 5’10” professional soldier who just got pushed around by a little girl… er, woman?
Apart for the “what the heck” aspect of it all, it led to some interesting thinking about strength, weight and leverage.
One other minor problem that has developed over the last couple years is how Gabrella has, uh, developed. You find yourself quite attracted to the young woman. Especially now as she’s finished her warrior training and is clearly moving into the adult chapter of her life. She’s twenty years younger than you, and you’ve known her since she was ten. Fortunately perhaps, you’re sure she’s always seen you as a big brother. But there are things that need to *never* be said….
*****
Gabrella has been in a rush all day. This morning Gorion told you to put some gear together, because this afternoon you were leaving Candlekeep forever. He said some mysterious strangers have been asking questions about *you*. That doesn’t make sense? You don’t even know anyone outside of Candlekeep. Your best guess is this all ties into your father’s Harper association. It must involve old enemies of his?
Regardless, you need to get gear together for a trip of unknown duration. First you found Bull, the thought of him not being around somehow makes you feel ill. And Imoen, also unthinkable. So you made sure both knew of Gorion’s plans. Bull has decided he’s not letting you out of his sight until you head off with Gorion. And he and Imoen will follow behind to look out for you. This makes you feel much better. You’ll need to think more at some point on how Bull became the first thought instead of Imoen.
*****
Neither of these characters ever existed in PnP, but I’ve used versions of them in CRPGs for many years. Maybe 20? They were originally inspired by fantasy portraits I found on line. They were posted here before in the IWD run Bull and the Slaves. The essence of them is a spunky young fighter (usually dualled to cleric) and a grizzled old warrior, as a May-December romantic couple. Obviously in the sort of games I play that last detail is “head canon”! But it will play into this write-up, at least a little.
Gabrella is a pretty idealized/maximized sort of character. The opposite of my previous run with Jill. As I’ve observed before, the slow to unfold back story for Gorion’s Ward easily justifies a larger than life sort of character. And to me, its being able to alternate between strong builds and weaker builds that is the most fascinating part of the game. Really of AD&D in general. The existence of both types of characters is what defines the terms (how can a character be strong, if we don’t also have weak?). And I love playing that contrast. So this should be a fun run in part because I just did that Jill run.
Gabby will start with specialization in short sword and dual wielding. By 6th level she will be up to High Mastery in short sword, and at 7th she will dual class to cleric. Then she will learn a few crushing weapons until 8th level when her fighter proficiencies will unlock and she’ll take Mastery in Dual Wielding.
Human Female, Neutral-Good, 1st level Fighter
15 – 19 – 16 – 14 – 18 – 18
Obviously she’s not strong in an absolute sense of the word. But average is 10.5. Average among guardsmen is presumably higher, but still below 15. Seriously, that is crazy strong for her size. I love fantasy adventure…
Gabby’s in-game portrait.
a young warrior woman (age 20, Slavic, fair skin, high cheekbones, short, cute, blue eyes, shoulder length light blonde hair).
Bull is a little less maximized. His scores represent a capable and experienced professional warrior, or maybe more of a professional peacekeeper. He’s good at fighting but would rather not hurt people.
He will start at 3rd level. Mastery in battle axe and specialized in Weapon and Shield Style (hey, if that’s how he’s fighting anyway…)
Human Male, Lawful-Good, 3rd level Fighter
18/94 – 11 – 18 – 11 – 14 – 15
Bull’s in-game portrait.
veteran warrior (human male, French, age 40, big, muscular, burly, bald, greying brown beard, leather armor with iron studs)
And as it turns out she loves reading and learning. Which is a good thing for growing up in the greatest library of the Realms, and not even being allowed to travel or leave. She chafes under this a little, but she figured out many years ago that her father has a good reason for this. She doesn’t know what it is, and she does wonder sometimes. Her best guess is that Gorion has powerful enemies. She knows he is connected to the group known as Harpers. Oh so secret. She’s not supposed to know this. But again, she isn’t stupid.
All her life interesting visitors have stopped by to meet with, consult with Gorion. Many of them have met her, they often seem pleased or surprised to meet her. And that word, Harper is often said in whispers between her father and his visitors. In her love of reading she has encountered this word, and has a fair idea of what it means. She guesses one, or both of her parents were also important Harpers.
Apart from all that, Gabby reckons she’s lived a normal life. She is energetic and active when she is not reading, enough that her older father has a hard time keeping up. About ten years ago another child moved into Candlekeep. Imoen was the daughter of the new owner of the Candlekeep Inn. She was a little younger than Gabby, but they hit it off immediately. Inseparable best friends.
Gorion seemed pleased by this development, Gabby could expend her youthful energy chasing and playing games with Imoen. And it seemed Gorion knew Imoen’s father Winthrop. He was another old friend for father, it pleased Gabby they both got friends at the same time.
Not too long after came another change that would be more important in time. A new Watcher, Bull came to Candlekeep. He was way too old to play with you and Imoen, but he was kind and funny. Both girls liked him. He took the blame one time when Imoen broke a visitor’s wagon she’d been playing on. He even paid to get it fixed. You thought she was off scott free! But then he told Winthrop, said he wanted to avoid a scene with the visitor, but Imoen needed to learn discipline. The world of adults is very strange.
He was also there the time you broke your arm falling off the wall. He got you over to the infirmary, and sent a message to Gorion. And he stayed right there with you until Gorion showed up.
You said once Bull was like having a big brother. Gorion grumbled something about him being old enough to be your father. You never understood what he meant. Well, much later you maybe understood a little.
About three years ago Gorion told Gabby it was time to start thinking about professional training. He thought you had the ability to be anything you set your mind to. You were clearly smart enough to be a mage like him, but anything was open. Imoen thought you should both be rogues, you would explore the world together and spy on whatever you wanted to see… She made it sound fun.
Bull was the one who discerned your passion for spiritual learning, the god’s truth. He thought you would be a fine priestess of Lathander, or Tyr. He was the first to mention you also could be a great warrior. You weren’t big, but Bull said you went through life with the subtlety and finesse of a charging bull. Was he making a joke? Really he said, anything you want to be, you’ll be better if you start as a warrior.
That’s how you came to be the smallest warrior trainee any of the Watchers had ever seen. You started when you turned 18. You were 5’2” and 100 pounds soaking wet. You don’t know why everyone had to say that, several times. They all knew you were graceful and quick, which served you well in training. They also all knew you were tough and fearless, that also served you well. Everyone was a little surprised though, including yourself, that you were also stronger than most of the Watchers. Some big guys too. In sparring you could push them back, off their feet onto their rear. This seemed to really embarrass some of them. Although you did learn a problem with being a lightweight is they can often swat you off your feet with a low hit. Bull and some of the trainers really had to think through how to let you use your strength effectively, once the surprise has passed you really can’t drive back someone almost three times your weight. Of course, most people that big are stronger than you anyway.
But its been a fun part of your training, getting all the guys involved, and working through how to use your talents to best advantage in a fight. They say you are an unusual challenge. You *think* that’s a compliment.
Gabby’s training started with lots of running, strength and conditioning exercises. She enjoys a challenge!
Bull was a good and patient instructor.
Gabby was also a good student, intelligent and athletic.
Gabby particularly liked the commraderie, the time working with all the Watchers.
Almost two years of training made Gabby a capable, and quick swordswoman.
Gabby also kept her longtime friendship with Imoen a priority. Imoen teased about all the time Gabby now spent with Bull.
*****
Bull trained to be a warrior from a young age. Its something he was built for, meant for. Funny, he’s not a violent man. But he’s quite good at violence when its called for. He’d heard adventuring was a good way to make money, so that was what he planned. He quickly discovered he disliked adventuring. Sleeping on a hard bedroll, exposed to the elements, eating who knows what. On his first, and last adventure, two of his companions were killed. Between the survivors they couldn’t afford to Raise both men, so they argued over who to Raise. One got raised and they were all broke. For a stupid adventure.
He joined the army, which suited him better for a time. Someone else had to worry about how to house him and feed him, he just did his job. But, eh, he got tired of fighting in squabbles between minor nobles.
He saw an advertisement for Watchers at the library of Candlekeep. A peacekeeper. That sounded better to him. So he went to Candlekeep and got a job. He’s been there a while now. Good enough at it to be a Sergeant. He hasn’t had to use brute force often. The threat of it a couple times when someone couldn’t get admission to the library, who thought they should. He’s broken up a few fights, mostly between drunks at the Inn. Usually two bookish sorts arguing over what kind of ink takes best on vellum… often he steps up to them and glares, and the fight is over.
One of the more fun parts of his time here has been the kids. There’s only two of them. Imoen and Gabby are a hoot. Active, precocious, funny. But both really good kids. In time he learned Gabby especially was a deep thinker, grilling him about Faerun… and what he thought about the nature of good and evil. Is that normal for kids? It was like being interrogated by some philosopher priest. She actually came to value his opinion and he helped steer her towards training as a warrior.
Bull has been very happy in his time at Candlekeep. It has the peacekeeping parts of soldiering with less bloodshed. And time to build good friendships.
Then he had the problem of physically training an 18 year old girl, err woman. And sparring with someone who weighs less than some shields he’s carried. She took to it all surprisingly quickly. The biggest surprise being she was *a lot* stronger than she looked. Yourself and maybe three of the guys were clearly stronger than her. But that. Was. It. Have you ever consoled a 5’10” professional soldier who just got pushed around by a little girl… er, woman?
Apart for the “what the heck” aspect of it all, it led to some interesting thinking about strength, weight and leverage.
One other minor problem that has developed over the last couple years is how Gabrella has, uh, developed. You find yourself quite attracted to the young woman. Especially now as she’s finished her warrior training and is clearly moving into the adult chapter of her life. She’s twenty years younger than you, and you’ve known her since she was ten. Fortunately perhaps, you’re sure she’s always seen you as a big brother. But there are things that need to *never* be said….
*****
Gabrella has been in a rush all day. This morning Gorion told you to put some gear together, because this afternoon you were leaving Candlekeep forever. He said some mysterious strangers have been asking questions about *you*. That doesn’t make sense? You don’t even know anyone outside of Candlekeep. Your best guess is this all ties into your father’s Harper association. It must involve old enemies of his?
Regardless, you need to get gear together for a trip of unknown duration. First you found Bull, the thought of him not being around somehow makes you feel ill. And Imoen, also unthinkable. So you made sure both knew of Gorion’s plans. Bull has decided he’s not letting you out of his sight until you head off with Gorion. And he and Imoen will follow behind to look out for you. This makes you feel much better. You’ll need to think more at some point on how Bull became the first thought instead of Imoen.
*****
Neither of these characters ever existed in PnP, but I’ve used versions of them in CRPGs for many years. Maybe 20? They were originally inspired by fantasy portraits I found on line. They were posted here before in the IWD run Bull and the Slaves. The essence of them is a spunky young fighter (usually dualled to cleric) and a grizzled old warrior, as a May-December romantic couple. Obviously in the sort of games I play that last detail is “head canon”! But it will play into this write-up, at least a little.
Gabrella is a pretty idealized/maximized sort of character. The opposite of my previous run with Jill. As I’ve observed before, the slow to unfold back story for Gorion’s Ward easily justifies a larger than life sort of character. And to me, its being able to alternate between strong builds and weaker builds that is the most fascinating part of the game. Really of AD&D in general. The existence of both types of characters is what defines the terms (how can a character be strong, if we don’t also have weak?). And I love playing that contrast. So this should be a fun run in part because I just did that Jill run.
Gabby will start with specialization in short sword and dual wielding. By 6th level she will be up to High Mastery in short sword, and at 7th she will dual class to cleric. Then she will learn a few crushing weapons until 8th level when her fighter proficiencies will unlock and she’ll take Mastery in Dual Wielding.
Human Female, Neutral-Good, 1st level Fighter
15 – 19 – 16 – 14 – 18 – 18
Obviously she’s not strong in an absolute sense of the word. But average is 10.5. Average among guardsmen is presumably higher, but still below 15. Seriously, that is crazy strong for her size. I love fantasy adventure…
Gabby’s in-game portrait.
a young warrior woman (age 20, Slavic, fair skin, high cheekbones, short, cute, blue eyes, shoulder length light blonde hair).
Bull is a little less maximized. His scores represent a capable and experienced professional warrior, or maybe more of a professional peacekeeper. He’s good at fighting but would rather not hurt people.
He will start at 3rd level. Mastery in battle axe and specialized in Weapon and Shield Style (hey, if that’s how he’s fighting anyway…)
Human Male, Lawful-Good, 3rd level Fighter
18/94 – 11 – 18 – 11 – 14 – 15
Bull’s in-game portrait.
veteran warrior (human male, French, age 40, big, muscular, burly, bald, greying brown beard, leather armor with iron studs)
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Our trip from Candlekeep was the stuff of nightmares. As dusk approached, a large armored warrior in company with a couple of ogres and ruffians appeared in front of us. Gorion told me to run and I heard the large man say something about “only wanting me”. What?! I heard the sound of a battle start as I ran right into Bull and Imoen. I was terrified like I’ve never been before, we had to get back to my father!
We cautiously set back the way I’d come. I wanted to run ahead, but Bull held me back. He said we were not charging back into an ambush, and he needed me to get my head on straight.
It took us 20 minutes or so. The battle was over. There were several dead here, including my father. I felt my legs collapse.
The rest of the night is a blur. I remember Bull holding me. I think I hit him a few times. He never flinched. Imoen must have made camp? I was aware of her there, she started a fire and gave me something to drink.
In the morning I felt a little better. We went back to the site of the battle. I led a prayer for Gorion. I was more aware of my weeping this time. I guess I finally got my head on straight. Then we resumed the trek for the Friendly Arms Inn. We were supposed to meet with “Khalid and Jaheira”, so Gorion said. I did not know these names.
Along the way we fought a mangy looking Gibberling. What a nasty and pathetic beast. I would laugh the whole thing off, but the scruffy looking thing broke my armor! What the heck! It was brand new. We had an extra suit of leather armor with us that we’d picked up back at the battle site, so I put that on. Its not a very solid feeling sort of defense, I think my own quickness will be better protection.
We made it to the Inn, and encountered a furious older woman. She said a couple of hobgoblins just outside the wall had taken some family heirloom ring from her. Bull really hates this sort of bullying, and I saw the look of the righteous guardsman come over his face. “We will get it for you ma’am.”
As we set back out around the gate I could see Bull looking at the two young women with him and maybe regretting his haste. I assured him “you trained us for this stuff Bull, we can handle it.”
There were six hobgoblins in total, scattered in pairs. This proved to be a good confidence builder. We did indeed handle it. And found the woman’s ring and returned it to her.
We met Jaheira and Khalid inside the Friendly Arms Inn. They were old associates of my father’s. Not exactly veteran warriors, but they were willing to help.
They mourned Gorion with us that evening. Jaheira suggested, a foe who could take down Gorion was cause for concern. We could travel with them for now, we would all be stronger together. They were heading down south, to the border area with Amn, to investigate an iron mine that recently been puting out corrupted ore. I thought of the new armor that had just failed me. This could obviously be a big issue.
We got some new gear, hopefully a better suit of armor, and set out the next day.
We had a few combats that day, a battle with an ogre seemed the highlight. With four warriors now, and Imoen shooting arrows, we seem to be a much stronger group.
We entered the town of Beregost towards dusk. It is not quite half-way to our destination.
We met a half-elven mage who begged for help, she was being pursued by bandits! Well, she may have skipped the part where they were Red Wizards. But bullies nontheless. We helped her and she joined with us. We could use the help of a good mage!
As it turned out, “good mage” may have been optimistic. Neera was a Wild Mage. She always teetered on the edge of being out of control. Not to mention, I’ve rarely worked with a person with a weaker moral center. She was friendly, and good company, but I’m uneasy about trusting her too far.
There were some other fights for us in town. A scheming evil bard, a house full of spiders and a dwarven bounty hunter all demanded our attention. The bounty hunter is the most worrisome. He had a bounty note, specifically targeting me.
We set out again in the morning, heading for Neshkel. We had several fights along the way. More hobgoblins, gibberlings, xvarts, some bandits. Ghasts were the worst. I’m already feeling more comfortable in combat. We all are, as a team. And except for Neera this seems like a trustworthy and steady crew. Well, Khalid worries me a little. He’ll be loyal to his wife and to us, but he is plainly nervous in battle.
When we got to town we checked in with the mayor and got information about the iron problem. When we got a room at the small Inn we were attacked by another bounty hunter! This is getting tiresome.
As we were leaving town the next morning we encountered a desperate ranger named Minsc. His witch, Dynaheir had been abducted by gnolls. For dinner apparently.
I agreed this seemed urgent and we would help. Jaheira was more concerned about her mission. We decided she and her husband would search the area while we accompanied Minsc on his mission.
This led us to an archaic sort of mud-brick fortress. That was over run by gnolls.
While reconnoitering the fort we were ambushed by gnolls.
Neera was impaled before my eyes.
We dispatched the group of them. But I felt ill. Flakey, wild Neera lay dead.
Bull assured me it was a clean wound, we could get her back to town and she would likely be fine. But we had to accomplish our rescue quickly.
The lower parts of the fort only had a few guards in small groups, but as we came to the roof we were attacked by a large group, twenty of so gnolls en masse. That was an intense fight for a few minutes, and the gnoll leaders all concentrated their attacks on Bull. He was battered around some.
Seeing Bull hurt, so soon after loosing Neera… I’d just had a dream that I could heal with my touch. So I said a prayer to Lathander as Bull was still a little shaken, and I touched his wounded arm.
“This is new Gabby. I know you’ve been studying the works of Lathander’s clergy, but you can’t be a cleric already?”
I told him about my dream.
“Well that is interesting, tell us if you have any more. I’ve not encountered anything quite like that before.”
Soon after, I found Dynaheir in a kiva not too far from our big battle. She was in rough shape.
We needed to get back to Neshkel fast.
This we did, we met up with Khalid and Jaheira again, and got Neera raised at the temple in town. We thought it best to get Neera back to the Friendly Arms Inn where we could put her up for a longer rest. We rested a few days there, and left Neera, Khalid and Minsc as a fixed base of operations.
Leaving the Inn, we met another warrior on the road.
“I got this guys”
I met Ajantis, a Paladin from the Amnish city of Athkatla. Well, I’ve never met anyone from Athkatla before! “Join with us while we sort out this iron crisis.”
Bull looked concerned, I’ll need to ask him why later…
*****
A pretty good start I think. Gabby is right on the verge of third level. Bull and Imoen are 4th, the rest in between.
I’ve said before I’m a little tired of doing full write ups. It surprised me how much I had to say here. We’ll just see how this goes.
We finally made it to the mine Jaheira had been wanting to investigate. We had devloped some practice as a team on our journey down from The Friendly Arm Inn. There’s been some grumbling about the team I chose to put together. It seems strange to me that I am seen as the team leader. I think literally any of the other five of us could assert control and I’d be fine with it, more of less. Maybe its just that Bull and Imoen back me? I feel bad about leaving Minsc and Khalid behind, but for exploring a mine the comes a point where more people is not better. And we do need someone paying attention to information, Friendly Arm Inn is a busy central location that makes sense for this.
Jaheira was at least pleased to have a team helping with her original mission. And she is both a good warrior and healer, I’m glad to be working with her. Funny though, she seems to follow my lead and mock me for it at the same time? She’s an odd one.
Imoen has quickly learned the signs of a Kobold trap. Their crude skills are perhaps an ideal training ground for our young rogue.
The mine was mostly overrun with Kobolds. Deep down we also fought a ghoul and a couple giant spiders. And Grey Ooze? Eww. But we found a tough named Mulahy was running the operation, he was poisoning the ore, killing miners and causing general mayhem. We ended him and it seemed the right thing to do.
I was quite pleased after, when Dynaheir identified a magical short sword among our finds. I can put that right to use!
We returned to Nashkel with the information, and a sample of the ore contaminent he used. From there we had to rush back to Beregost. Phew! A lot of running around. We rested for a couple days, and settled on exploring the area as a good way to work on our teamwork. Eventually, we need to hunt down a bandit camp to the north. But for now its training, of sorts.
The next day we left town, Bull and I mustered an appropriate level of dignity for the event.
Bull and I are now sharing duties on point. Since he trained me, we seem to naturally function well as a team.
Gabby and Bull on point.
I was thrilled when we encountered Drizzt in our exploring! I may have nerded out a little.
As we neared the coast we got into a large battle with several ogres. That was the toughest fight we’ve seen yet, and the most hurt I’ve been! Ogres hit hard! Duh! Ajantis got to me right away with his Lay on Hands… what a beautiful man…
The update is available with an extra image and video. Or read the whole Gabrella and Bull with the videos.
The big thing was about two years ago I had the idea of writing it up story-like for the whole team. I posted the first one here as “Wendelin and the Illegals”. Then, a few months after I started my own website. Learning about AI renders came shortly after that, and completely excited me for what could be done with my characters and my teams.
So the short answer is 18. Nine each for IWD and BG. I will be doing the Gold Box games after I finish this run (all of them? I don’t know yet.) But I will do more of these in time.
Wow, the champion of BG/IWD adventures! 👍 What are Good Box games? 🤔
There were a total of three different adventures in nine separate games. Plus a pair of Buck Rogers games, “Unlimited Adventures” (a design your own package) and a related Spelljammer game
No doubt, the interface and graphics are primitive by modern standards. I think shockingly so for only ten years older than BG. But they were revolutionary for their time. And they actually incorporated a number of things from PnP game rules that BG did not (like “bleeding out” or negative hit points, having to pay a trainer to gain a level, and a more complex currency system).
But the comparative clunkiness has restricted my interest so far in replay.
But there is an editing overlay available these days (that helps add features from the later games of the series to the earlier games). And now with AI art, I think I can personalize the experience with game write-ups.
We’ll see how far I get. Maybe I’ll separate the different series with BG playthroughs or something?
The team is really coming together nicely. We’ve been back exploring more to the east of Nashkel for now.
It makes me laugh when Bull grumbles about Ajantis’ youth. I’m pretty sure he’s older than me! They have come to work well together. But clearly something bothers Bull about the Paladin, he hasn’t been clear with me *what*.
Jaheira is a warrior priestess of sorts. The details are different, but we’ve chosen similar paths.
Dynaheir has been teaching Imoen a lot of magic basics. I’ve never doubted Imoen has the brains and curiousity to be a very good mage.
I do hate how Bull always seems to draw the most attention in a fight. No doubt he’s tough and can take it, but he’s a big target. If I could get in front of him more often I can make them miss.
“Thanks again Gabby, even if you’re not really a cleric yet, you’re my favorite healer! Seriously, Miss Jaheira scares me a little.” “I just wish you’d quit scaring *me*”
Ajantis commitment to my, uh, cause, worries me a little. I think I may not want the sort of attention he offers? Does he understand my heart is spoken for? Of course he doesn’t, I’m not even sure of that…
We were able to find some texts belonging to the old Ulcaster School, and returned them to the spirit of Ulcaster himself!
Ajantis I think the problem is we have too many of us fighting melee, we tangle each other up in tight spaces. You have served us, served *me* well. But I release you to find other service.
Ajantis was sort of a puppy I think. And no doubt he is a skilled warrior. But we don’t need four of us doing the same job at the front. And I think Bull will feel better with Ajantis gone. Still, I felt terrible sending him away.
“My team needs another archer, and Kivan, I think you will fit with us perfectly.”
A skilled archer does make sense. And Kivan is eager to get after the bandits. So that's up next.
*****
First time I've used Ajantis at all with "NPC Project" installed. Right after I decided his time was up, he got into a talk with Jaheira about how [charname] was likely to let him go. It was funny, I'm not sure if there was a romance track getting started there? But it felt that way, and Gabby is not interested. Also, four pure melee types do get in each other's way some in tight spaces. Usually if I have more than two, at least one will be a two-handed sword user (Minsc!) who fights from a step back. It matters.
I also wound up recruiting Kivan sooner than I'd planned, which means running up to the bandit camp sooner than I planned. But hey, that keeps it interesting.
Co-Pilot does have another new renderer available. This time I did one render (Ajantis' dismissal) with "MAI-Image-1". It does have a crisp realism to it. But it really struggles with ages. It is fun, especially when a render is causing fits, to switch the engine for a couple tries. It sometimes helps sort out what's wrong. I did this on several of these, but ultimately only went with just that one. No OpenArt at all this time.
We set off pretty quickly for where we thought the Bandit Camp had to be. We battled our way through the usual variety of beasties, and an increasing number of bandits.
As we came up to the edge of a semi-permanent encampment we were quickly noticed and a large number of bandit archers and hobgoblins set on us. Bull, Jaheira and I joined in melee…
Our own archery support was excellent with Kivan joining Imoen. He is clearly a first rate archer!
Although the pure size of the bandit onslought led to a few getting into our rear. Dynaheir was not pleased at being forced to melee! Imoen baled her out in a hurry.
A nearby cave held a number of Gnolls and Flinds. It was interesting to me, not so long ago this could have been a rough fight for us. But it was fast and uneventful this time.
Much of Kivan’s motivation in joining with us had been that the leader of these bandits, a half-ogre named Tazok, had murdered his beloved years ago. So it was anti-climactic when we entered the bosses tent and Tazok was not present. The lieutenants who were present were not a major threat.
We freed a prisoner named Ender Sai, who reported the bandits would seem to be getting orders from a hidden iron mine in the Cloakwood Forest. Possibly all at the direction of the Iron Throne? A merchant association I know little about.
We headed back towards the Friendly Arms Inn to prepare for our trek into the Cloakwood. But I felt some anxiety over a personal/personnel issue I had to deal with. Kivan may be flirting with me? Weird because he is motivated so much by the loss of his love? Oof. My sense on such things may be off. Growing up in Candlekeep I had little experience with potential interesting young males. But for the second time in a few days I find myself uncomfortable with the attention. Now I’m a big girl (Hah! “Not very…” Bull would say!), I could deal with this. But combine this with Kivan being so driven by anger, revenge, hatred. It all feels toxic to me. I suggested to Kivan he needs to go spend some time with clerical council, and get away from the killing for a time. That didn’t go over so well.
We were briefly down a body, but of course Minsc was still at the Inn.
Minsc was pleased when I asked him to rejoin with us. I’m not sure he knows his own strength!
The Cloakwood Forest was a long journey. It would take us several day to reach the deepest part where the Iron Mine was supposed to be. And it was a journey that involved a lot of fighting. We had to deal with several sorts of threats, Wyverns being the most dramatic. But giant spiders, bears, wolves and a twisted dryad were all challenges. Most fascinating were encounters with shadow druids.
Shadow Druids essentially hate humanity. By some odd metaphysical quirk they aren’t considered evil. But they behave evil in every meaningful measure. Especially compared to my friend Jaheira.
We finally got to the mine. It was a surprisingly large installation for something so deep in the woods. We fought our way down into its depths, looking for their command and control. (If the bandits were getting orders from here, there has to be senior leadership here).
So we kept clearing the mine as we descended. Four layers down the construction changed. It was extravagently styled stone archetecture. Obviously magical in origin, likely the abode of a powerful mage.
Behind a secret door we found a long corridor, and Imoen immedietely detected many traps. We stood guard over her as she carefully worked at removing them.
No sooner had she finished than we heard the sound of a mage casting a spell. It was fast! Contingency or Trigger or something? I’m not really up on Arcane magic. But suddenly the whole corridor around us erupted in tangling vines and a noxious vapor cloud. All at once.
I charged clear of the mess and saw a wizened mage preparing to cast another spell.
I hit him as hard as I could as quick as I could, very glad I’d drunk a Giant Strength potion a few minutes back. I was fully expecting Bull or Jaheira to come up right beside, or Imoen to launch an arrow over my head. My next swipe, with my off hand, connected solidly and seperated essential parts from the evil mage.
I took a deep breath as he dropped silently to the floor and turned around. My entire team was incapacitated in that vile cloud behind me. He held my breath and started helping them get free. In a moment the spells ran out and we were all free.
I looked at my friends, coughing, or untangling themselves, slowly getting to their feet. And I looked at the body of “Davaeorn”, the mage who nearly destroyed us.
I said a prayer of thanks to Lathander and was suddenly overcome by his presense on me. I heard a voice and knew in an instant I was now a Cleric of Lathander. Talk about feeling a calling…
We began the long trip back out of the woods. It took us several days, but it all seemed much easier now. We all enjoyed the time together as friends and companions. We talked about heading up to Baldur’s Gate next. That was where the Iron Throne was located, and that seemed to be our next point to investigate.
When we got back to the Friendly Arms Inn we spent a few days relaxing together. Jaheira appreciated time with her husband. We laughed some with Neera who was still recovering from being briefly dead. And I had some things on my mind…
“Bull, I’ve been thinking, we need to talk”
“What’s on your mind Gabby?”
“I’ve been thinking about how much I appreciate steadiness, humor, maturity…”
“Why is it you’re the only person who can lead with “I’ve been thinking” and “We need to talk” and not make me nervous?”
Yeah, we’ll be talking more often.
The next day we set out for Baldur’s Gate. We’d found this really fine warhammer a few weeks back. I suppose if I’m a cleric now, I should try fighting like one for a while.
*****
A bit of serendipity there towards the end. SCS is still comparatively new to me. Davaeorn surprised me when he fired that spell trigger. No joke, it took out the whole party except Gabby. But she cut him up fast, before he could cast another spell. Really WOW!
Now I fudged the narrative a shade, it was while clearing out Dave’s quarters Gabby gained the last experience that kicked her up to 7th level fighter. As I said at the start, she immediately dualed to Cleric. And yes, I used EEKeeper to give her the Cleric of Lathander kit. Cheating, don’t care. She will be able to pick up her swords again when she reaches 8th level cleric (a CDTweaks adjustment).
I could also mention I skip over a lot of details in this write up. The southern part of the map (except Durlag’s Tower) has been cleared. I had once considered drawing out some Bull/Gabby tension for a while. But the thing is, apart from observing it matters to me that my characters are loved and have good friends/family relationships, I’m not really much good at writing a romance. Add to that, what seemed like a lot of flirting coming from NPC Project characters (did I read that right?) got me thinking Gabby had been pushed into making a decision. And Bull was never “not interested”. He was just concerned his young friend was more likely to prefer younger company. And speaking as a guy with a younger wife, I’d say the perception of an age difference can change a lot based on other issues in the relationship (what once seems like a big deal, can become not a big deal when the time is right).
And I should mention, the render of Minsc hugging Gabby is the new AI at Co-Pilot, MAI-Image-1.
Heading up towards Baldur’s Gate we stopped by the home of a young Priestess of Umberlee, a foul tempered goddess of the oceans and storms. Such things should always be approached cautiously, the priesthood does much that’s vicious and evil in Faerun. But the divine should always be dealt with carefully. I have no interest in crossing a priestess who may be righteous in her anger.
I was annoyed to see the priestess was a child. Well, you know, younger than me!
Indeed, it seems the complaints against her came from fishermen who were overfishing and had taken something of her mother’s. We sorted this all out, no party was completely happy but at least we prevented further bloodshed.
Next we came to Ulgoth’s Beard, a small fishing village just down the coast from Baldur’s Gate. We looked into some news and rumors and have a few things to look into. Of immediate concern, a mage asked us to recover a cloak. Which resulted in us being transported to a frozen rock of island before we’d even sorted out all the details.
We faced Winter Wolves just at the entrance of the only cave. Inside was a sort of mage prison. We battled some who seemed on the brink of madness (or already over it!).
But we did find the missing cloak, and immediately were transported back to Ulgoth’s Beard.
From there we set out for the big city. Right at the front gate we were met by Scar, the commander of the Flaming Fist (the City’s military force). He had heard of our adventures to the south and talked with us about a few things we should look into for him. He offered to pay. As far as I’m concerned we’re still following leads that started with my father’s death. So yeah, we’re in.
Baldur’s Gate is huge, and like nothing I’ve ever seen before. There were fascinating new sights at every turn. I think Imoen was impressed too.
We decided to start by just exploring the city, learning the lay of the land in a way. I understand its far from the largest city in the Realms, but WOW! Its like nothing I’ve seen before.
During our exploration we were threatened by a couple of low rent thieves. I really thought nothing of it at first.
But later one of them approached us more covertly to divulge his partner had already poisoned us. He had been Geased to kill us, now he offered us the antidote in exchange for finding a release from the spell.
This all led to a lot of running around! But in the end, we’re still alive.
Then we encountered some Priests of Oghma. These are the clerics of knowledge and wisdom who were always a huge part of my upbringing. I will always take notice of them, even if such is not my primary path. They showed us some sort of plague, a rot that was affecting all their books.
It was easy to tell who the bibliophiles on the team were!
This led us into the sewers. Initially we battled were-rats and carrion crawlers. The sorts of nuisance you expect to find in the sewers.
But soon this led to darker evil.
An ancient Temple of Moander, the God of Decay, Corruption and Rot. He’s among the dead powers, but such evil seems to lurk and resists staying dead.
Worse, Moander was not the true source of what was going on.
Illithids. We were fortunate to see them before they saw us. A couple of quick spells and potions gave us enough resistence to their mental attacks to prevail against them.
Now we stand before the Seven Suns, the merchant consortium Scar asked us to look into. I guess that means we’re done goofing off.
*****
A few thoughts.
Gabby is up to 7th level in cleric already. That went fast! She’s been on point doing melee the whole time. Really she’s already pretty dangerous and she hasn’t even unlocked her fighter levels yet. Bull has been *more* dangerous through this chapter, but Gabby is number two on the team. Not bad!
I’ve settled in on two changes to Gabby’s description for renders that I’m pretty happy with. First sounds small, but I’ve changed her hair from “light blonde” to “pale blonde”. Small difference right? It gives her a more consistent slightly scruffy look, not so model-perfect. I like it.
The second is her armor. She’s been wearing the Ankheg Plate. I’ve finally settled on a descriptor that is more or less reliable on the look, its “enameled green plate armor”. But on my last update the AI added some gold ornamentation to the armor that I liked. But I wanted it to be consistent and appropriate for Gabby. So I’ve added “gold embossed sunburst motif” that seems to work quite well.
I think the next update will come pretty soon.
The latest update is now up, including a silly video!
We started our first mission for Scar.
The Seven Suns Trading group was run by a friend of Scar, but they’d been behaving eratically recently.
On investigation, it turned out the business had been over-run by dopplegangers. We had found Scar’s buddy as one of the few actual survivors. Dopplegangers are an insidious threat. They are not fearsome once exposed, but exposing them is the trick. This group was outed by hunger! Its a good clue when someone wants to eat you that something is out of sorts.
Scar was thankful, and next asked us to look into some disappearences in town.
“Oh dear Gabby, you take us to the most delightful places!“
Yeah, more fun in the sewers.
An Ogre Mage and his noxious pet Carrion Crawlers had been harvesting people.
After this Scar’s interest turned to the Iron Throne. He’d looked into the documents we gave him, and he agreed there was serious cause for concern. So we were directed to use our usual subtlety on investigation.
I had to laugh when in the Iron Throne representative first approached Minsc to learn our business. I don’t think Boo could explain it fast enough to the big guy!
We resolved to simply head up to the bosses’ office.
Where we were met by an armed group that attacked us! So much for a little civil conversation.
We did not find any helpful documentation, but questioning survivors pointed us back home, to Candlekeep.
It was good seeing Hull and some of the other Watchers. I could tell, Bull was happy too!
Imoen got positively messy about seeing Winthrop. We enjoyed a night of hospitality at the Inn. And Imoen didn’t even have to wait tables.
The next day we went into the library. We met the leaders of the Iron Throne and exchanged unpleasant words. That does *not* serve our purpose. We need to know what they are up to…
One of the monks told me to look to Gorion’s quarters, he had left something for me.
I was not prepared for what Gorion had to say. It would seem I am a Bhaalspawn. Not the sort of heritage anyone would want to have.
Fortunately none of my friends were put off by this. Bull was right there.
Then out of the frying pan into the fire. The Iron Throne leaders *we’d just spoken with* had been found murdered. Guess who was the first suspect.
I still have plenty of friends at Candlekeep. Tethtoril was a dear friend, and the head man of the Keep. He sent us to the catacombs for an escape. We did get away.
But we found this was the source of Dopplegangers we’d encountered up stairs.
We slew many of the beasts, and came clear of Candlekeep near the coast to the rear. Then it was back to the Friendly Arms Inn. We’ll need to consider our next move.
*****
Funny, this was not a huge length of game time. But this post kept getting longer with renders! Plenty of drama, and moments that seemed deserving of attention. Some of these are thematically very similar to things I’ve done before. The game hasn’t changed much.
The full update, including a transformative video (!) is up now.
Gabrella unlocked her fighter levels just as the team escaped Candlekeep. So suddenly, she’s back to dual wielding short swords and being a 7th level fighter. She has the Gauntlets of Ogre Power now, Minsc and Bull both have exceptional strength and Jaheira gets all the strength potions. *Very* strong melee unit.
*****
Being wanted criminals, we decided it was a fine time to go explore Durlag’s Tower.
We met with Ike, who was giving tours of the tower. He provided some widely known background information.
Unfortunately for Ike, he was soon killed by a Demon Knight who seemed to take issue with tours in his domain. Hunting down that demon will be a good excuse to explore the tower.
Basilisks on the rooftop will remain an impenetrable mystery of the tower.
We found a “Tome of Understanding”! No doubt its reasonable to have a Cleric read the book, but I’m not sure about how eagerly everyone agreed I needed it.
Jaheira was not real pleased with Boo getting into her things.
The lower levels of the tower got a lot tougher. Several were hard enough we set camp in some dark and scary corners to recover.
Dynaheir is very effective as our supporting fire, sometimes literally.
We found and slew the Demon Knight on the lowest sub-level of the tower. He held the dagger we’d been searching for. But it was stolen from us on our return to Ulgoth’s Beard. It wasn’t hard to spot the home with demonic cult activity.
“Why do I have a feeling these people won’t be easy to negotiate with…”
We destroyed the cult and the demon they summoned. Then we met with the eccentric scholar Mendes, we had lawfully gained the maps and charts he wanted. His willingness to suggest a more nefarious course of action left us suspicious of him. But when he suggested we lead the search for Balduran’s Ship, well, it gave us an excuse to disappear for a few weeks when we were still wanted for murder.
But we would up shipwrecked, and the island seemed to be inhabited by two warring factions.
Kind of a miserable couple of days, fighting werewolves in a soggy rainforest.
A couple of the toughest wolves required special weapons to hurt. We had the weapons, so the fights were not too tough.
Werewolves are funny opponents. They are far from the most fearsome things we’ve faced, but they always think they are. You would think, after we’ve slain a dozen or more, they would learn more caution.
There was a boat on the island we could take back home. Mendes himself was the last of the werewolf bloodline and had to be put down.
*****
There are three of the toughest sort of Werewolf to fight that need special weapons, only Minsc was proficient in the sword he had. Gabby had the dagger, in most PnP games I’ve played there would be some sort of “related weapon” rule. Since she has High Mastery in Short Sword, she might use Dagger as a Master or Specialist? But we have no such thing in the EEs.
But it hardly matters. Gabby and Bull both are high enough level to have a low thaco, and they have good strength bonuses. The fights are not hard.
Some happy accidents with the renders this time. My intent for Minsc and Jaheira talking was Boo perched on Minsc’s head. Just a silly sort of moment. But that one came up with Boo on Jaheira. It immediately made me think of their “NPC Project” exchange when Boo gets into Jaheira’s pouches. Very funny. So this worked out well.
There are *two* videos available on this current update. I seem to have best luck making silly videos.