Playing the original Contra on Sega Genesis is fun! 

To the underdark 30 Oct 2020

 Started a new DnD campaign. We play on Friday evenings. The characters are:

1319: A warforged druid who used to be on the dark side, but has been converted to a nature loving robot by Ploquad, a tortillian who takes care of the forest. 

Toi: A changeling warlock. 

Creek: An aracockra monk, a bird that can attack from the sky. 

Figwit: A wood elf ranger. Me. I always play a wood elf ranger in all my campaigns. 

Pyro: A genasi cleric. 

This is a picture of me drawn by Basim, the DM

Another picture of me drawn by 1319

We are ultimately looking for a way into the Underdark. Our adventures have brought us to Kohan, from where we have taken a mission to investigate a goblin problem. We find ourselves at the entrance of Kohan, and start heading towards the mountain. Toi asks us if she should get a ranged weapon or a melee weapon, and we wonder where he gets his weapons from. She tells us that she was trained by the Raven Queen, who 1319 tells us is the god of death. We walk for half of the day and reach the foot of the mountains. While walking through the forest, we hear some noises, so we start sneaking up towards the sounds. There are two bugbears up ahead. 

1319 marks them by casting fairy fire. Both the bugbears light up with a shimmering light. I fire an arrow at it. After just one round of surprise attacks, the first bugbear goes down as I shoot an arrow through its head. Creek attacks the remaining bugbear with her Yklwa, and it starts bleeding. Toi tries to strike it, but the bugbear summons up some will to live and manages to dodge all his attacks, but then it starts running away. Toi's does not do any damage with the halberd on the opportunity attack. 

Then a bunch of goblins start attacking us. I take one down, Pyro downs another and 1319 turns into a spider and kills another one. Two goblins start running away. I zephyr strike after one of them and kill him. 1319 manages to restrain him. Toi interrogates him in undercommon, and we find out that fire slugs and other creatures attacked their settlements driving them away. They are now one among a few hunting parties. We go back to the clearing, and search the bodies. 

Then we continue to interrogate the goblin. He tells us of his king Bango, and that his settlement has around 80 goblins and 40 bugbears. We also find out that they are attacking people for food, and that the settlement is about 4 hours away. The Goblin King's name is Bango Dickbiter. In the middle of the night, four bugbears sneak towards the camp. 

 

WWO Roles

 Haven't thought this through yet, but in medieval times, people did not sleep like us with LEDs everywhere. Not everyone slept at the same time, and sleep was divided into two phases or shifts, the first and second sleep. Monks had strange timings and woke up a couple of hours after midnight. People went on midnight patrols (maybe for werewolves). Also, it was common to sleep in the afternoon. For example, Forky would almost certainly have a siesta time after working with the cows and fields early in the morning. All these are for ROLE IDEAS. Look for things where the day night cycle shifts for the rest of the village. So here are some suggestions, some might work, some might not, but this is for the general direction in which to think rather than specific roles:

Soothsayer - can suddenly put the village to sleep in the middle of the day, during or before the voting phase

Monk - goes to sleep during the voting phase, and wakes up in the middle of the night. Cannot vote, can only think for the village, and cannot be killed by ww. Dies if all other villagers die.

Forager - Wakes up directly during the lynching phase :D Can only vote, cannot see what the rest of the village has talked about, then goes back to sleep. 

Watchman - Can read what the wws are saying without the player names shown.   

Binod

 Binod

Dream Diary Goats and Rabbits Edition

I am in some northern village in the mountains, and my mother urges me to become rich, and have some ambition. I tell her in a very determined manner that it does not matter that it does not matter how rich you become, but it matters how good you become. I then head out into the mountains and the road leads to a cage with doors on all sides. I am scared of some leopards, and latch the doors on three sides myself. The door at the back is where I came from, the door on the right leads to a path along the edges of a valley, and so does the door in the front. The door on the left leads to a mountain path, that snakes up a mountain side. There are some shops midway up the mountain, a guesthouse even further up, as well as some official looking mountain facility. After latching three of the doors, I carry on forward. Here a mountain goat keeps hopping high in the air and following me. It tries to bite me once or twice, but I escape. Somewhere along the way the mountain goat meets a dog that it knows and the two go away together. I come across a beautiful lush green meadow with a pond full of lotuses in the middle. Here, there are some small brown bunnies and I photograph them. I meet another photographer who asks me where I am from. I say my address, and tell him where I work. He says he has been to my hometown, and that he has seen my place of work, which is a great bank. What he has actually seen though, is my school. I do not correct him on either part. By this time there is another local following us around. We compare cameras and I try to explain to him that he has a better model, and that we review gadgets. 

We see a forest official gassing the meadow, and I ask if it is a good idea to rescue the rabbits. We manage to save one bunny who is just too enormous to carry. I then head back to the cage and see a number of forest officials coming down the mountain path. The shops are closed now. One of them comes to me and tells me to keep the doors open for a few hours as people are going to keep coming and going. He then allows me to open and close the doors, but according to the scheduled timing and asks me to visit again. 

The rabbit signifies luck, the goat signifies wealth. The rest are simple enough to understand. 

Austronesians went to America

Here is a map superimposed on another. One is the spread of humans across land out of Africa. The second is the Austronesian expansion using boats. For some reason, Norse expidition apparently crossed the Atlantic, but the people of Hawaii or Easter Islands did not make it to the Americas across the pacific. The red lines are considered fringe or pseudoscience. 

There is plenty of evidence that this happened though

- Skulls matching pacific islanders in South America

- Similar words in the pacific islands and South America

- Chicken found in South America that is not genetically similar to European chicken

- Sweet potatoes in South America

- Similar boat building techniques used in America

- Custard apple carving in Indian Stupa, and elephant carving in Mayan remains

Those are not Elephants on this Mayan stele, according to scientists

Music listening habits before and after lockdown

So discovered the ganzfeld effect during the lockdown, and this is how my music habits changed before and after the lockdown. The sudden dip is when the lockdown happened.

I also made equipment for the ganzfeld effect by repurposing some old swimming googles, and also do not like to do cham cham in the water any more

D&D Journal - Adventures at Terra Vol 8

Adventures at Terra volumes 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

30/10/85/01 Tazius
We all wake up except Eric. We pack up and once everyone is ready to move, I use the opportunity to try and train Bubbles to wake people up. Bjorn acts out pouncing, but Bubbles only pounces on him. I ask Syl to explain it to him, which she does. Apparently Bubbles is happy with her name. On command, Bubbles goes and wakes up Eric, so we managed to train the diredoggo a bit.
Eric, Syl and Bjorn have some wine each. Then we start walking towards the point where we are supposed to meet Karthak's men, instead of following Eric to the bandit's camp. Suddenly the guy drops from the trees and says he can take us to the camp, but the way is peppered with traps. Bjorn, Syl and me walk through the traps, carefully disarming them. There are boulder traps and bow traps. We disarm them all, and I climb into the trees, with the help of Bjorn, we set up 34 traps in the trees, that can all be sprung with a single pull of a string. We aim these arrows across the camp. I stay up in the trees with a gagged Eric and Karthak's man, while the rest of the party goes ahead to investigate the camp. We have set up the whole thing in such a way that the arrows will fire around the camp, but leave a safe zone, where the party is supposed to stay.

Bjorn walks in and starts fighting. I release all the traps. The boulders take out all the houses, the arrows kill one, and injure another bandit. Another bandit manages to step aside, while a fourth escapes by some miracle. Eric starts running towards a fourth bandit. I loosen an arrow and kill the second bandit. Syl casts fairy fire. The chief bandit blows a whistle summoning four abyssal chicken, who promptly start attacking everyone. Galadriel and Syl go down quickly. Bjorn is still fighting, and Eric is running across the camp. I fire at a chicken and miss. Chief bandit blows his whistle again, this time summoning a pair of demonic clackers. Things are about to get bad.  

There are three abyssal chickens clearly visible with fairy fire. One of them is sleeping for some reason. Galadriel and Syl are still down. I shoot one of the chicken and kill them. Donger turns around and runs back towards the fight, and swings his axe on a chicken, and gets his sword stuck. The Dwarf whistles again, summoning a pair of Maw Demons. Bjorn swings his greataxe through one of the abyssal chicken, and gibs it. The other chicken gets saved because of cushioning from the gore from the first chicken, but still gets hit. One of the Maw Demons attacks Donger, and makes him bloodied. I shimmy down the tree. Donger then starts breathing fire for some reason, showing dragonborn powers that we do not know about. We gain three roasted chicken, but all the cacklers and Maw Demons are alive. I zephyr strike into the arena and grab the whistle from the Dwarf. There seems to be some instrument on his wrist. Bjorn says hi Lindir as I approach and bye Lindir as I go away with the whistle. Galadriel manages to become stable. Donger strikes at the cacklers and misses it, then takes a few more down. The scuffle continues. We kill 17 creatures. The Dwarf shouts something about Jak with a K as he gets killed by Bjorn. 

I go and console Eric. Eric talks about Mark the Dwarf, and how they were good friends and spent many nights looking at the stars. I check the shed and find that the goat is alive. I stabilise it. We clear the debris from the kitchen and recover some food. Bjorn checks out one of the rooms, finds a sword and some stationery. 

01/11/85/01 Tazius

We set out towards the next town, Multum and reach there after about a day's walk. As we approach, we see a begger asking for alms, and I give him a bunch of foraged strawberries. The beggar whispers to me that Bjorn, a member of our party is wanted in the town and there are posters of him stuck all over the place. We ask Bjorn to go around the city to the docks on the other side, and steal a boat. Syl, Galad and me head to a tavern, where we get a healthy supply of alcohol. We also pick up plenty of alcohol and some supplies for the river voyage. I make some pitch using oil and soot from the chimney. 

When we head to the docks we find the whole place in uproar. By overhearing snippets of conversations we come to understand that Bjorn has stolen the biggest boat around, the King's Barge and has gone away with it. Down the river we can see a quickly receding bright light. Sylph thinks on her feet and gets a guardsman to steal a boat to follow the Barge. We get on that boat, and catch up with Bjorn. We then take all the loot we can from the King's Boat, ask the guardsman to pilot it, and head on our way. We encounter some river creature on the way, but I'm not paying attention to it. 

Consumable

No time and in a hurry, need to get an outline down. 

IT Teja stroked at his beard under the mask, trying to wrestle it into place, an impossible task. He looked at his watch and waited impatiently for Arun to pick him up. Arun drove around in this orange Honda Jazz, that could be spotted from a mile away. It was hard to lose that car in a parking lot, or anywhere. IT Teja could see the road sloping downwards for almost three fourths of a kilometer, the distance from which Arun would turn around the corner and drive towards Teja. Arun was late and IT Teja was getting impatient. Finally, the twin beams of the vehicle turned the corner, and started making their way towards IT Teja. 

Arun stopped the vehicle next to IT Teja, pulled down his mask, beckoned him and said "Get in!". IT Teja slipped in without a word, and without touching his mask. "What do you want to do?" asked Arun. "Macha looks like there is going to be lockdown again. Have a bunch of things to do. First, need to score, then we have to visit Hamleys." Arun began to plan out a route, then asked "so MG road or Whitehall? We can pick up from civil hospital or Cox town on the way." IT Teja said "My dude's at MG road, he will get it all packed and ready, we just have to go pick it up." 

Arun floored it. 

They cruised lazily down the empty streets, bathed in the gentle warmth of sunlight filtered through trees, serenaded by emboldened birds. For some reason the conversation came around to NFTs. Arun was wondering what the value of an NFT was, and IT Teja was trying to explain that the value was what people were ready to pay. Arun's argument was that the price of a piece of art was because nothing in the world could reproduce it exactly, so what really was the worth of something that could be reproduced at will. IT Teja tried to argue that in fact, NFTs allowed the content owners to have a proof of ownership, and that art galleries were using NFTs for digital exhibitions. 

By that time they had ended up at the scoring point. IT Teja went in, fired a lamchi, and then came back out to the car. He might have got a few cats in with him. Next, Arun had to go to an ATM, and IT Teja decided to pick up some skins. IT Teja showed the special edition TumbaJamba skins, ones that converted to NFTs once you smoked them. The cover of the skin was also a special limited edition artwork, which you could save and use as a bookmark, or realistically speaking use up as roach. Either way, you owned a token of the artwork used on the book of skins in the end. IT Teja showed the skins to Arun when he came back with the money. 

Together, the two head to Hamleys. Once they were close to the mall, IT Teja called his guy. They picked up the package, which had hot wheels cars, and went home. 

Guernica tribute in Clone Wars

In Clone Wars S05E16, there is a tribute to Picasso's Guernica, which is a painting about the horrors of war, in the backdrop to the fight between Maul and Darth Sidious on Mandalore.

D&D Journal - Adventures at Terra Vol 7

27/10/85/01 Tazius
We bury the one live bandit till the neck, and bury the others. We have the food, play with the dog, and then I start working on the Mancala. This night, I manage to finish making it. Then I try to wake up Galadriel by using the whistle, but it barely makes a peep. She continues to sleep, so I put Bubbles near her, which wakes her up. Bubbles is startled but I calm her down.
Then Galadriel keeps watch. The night passes without event.

28/10/85/01 Tazius
Bjorn wakes up, the Donger, and finally me and the pup. We interrogate the Bandit, who starts crying eventually. We find out that his name is Eric, and he serves someone called Jack. The camp is from a splinter cell led by Mark. We convince Eric to take us to Mark's camp. We make good progress that day. Gondor tells us his story.
He told us he was a soldier, who was disillusioned by the periodic and unnecessary wars. That is where I found Dave. Did you ever think how animals can find us when we are in need? We are a bit secretive so people might think we are secretive. The secret is David has a hidden branch somewhere in the village. Whenever a new person joins the village, they are brushed with the branch, and suddenly all the animals become your friend. This is how even the wild, untamable beasts also become friendly. Then he told us that he was looking forward to the day when we were also blessed with the branch.
Then we ask Eric about him. I dont remember the time before Jack picked me up, but I remember that when I was a youngling, Jack fed me with his hand. Once day, Jack had gone outside, later I came to know he used to go to requisition things from villages. That is our job. But anyway, one day Jack was away from the camp and there were some older people who looked after us. I was one of those inquisitive children, and I went outside camp to look into the wilderness. I was told not to do that, but did it anyway to see what would happen. I saw huge trees, never ending greenery, but the sun began to set and I realised that I had lost my way. I then scraped my knee and started crying. After many hours, I decided if I climb a tree, perhaps I could see the spire of smoke from the big blue fire of our camp. So I climbed the tree, but could not find any fire. That was when I realised I had lost the camp. I worried so much that I fell off the tree and broke my ankle. And I could not walk then. Do you know what happened? Before the sun had risen, I heard Jack's voice calling out my name. He came to pick me up. He was injured but still helped me. That is when I realised that Jack is my Lord. I have never disobeyed his order since then.
I take the first watch then wake up Galadriel. The night passes without incident.

29/10/85/01 Tazius
Another day of walking. We discover that we are going slightly off course. Bjorn confronts Eric, while Donger interrogates him. I give Eric some wine from the skin, which calms him down. He swears that we are going the right way. Galadriel takes the second watch.

30 second medieval epic volume 2

The cupid was up to his mischief again, and shot me, the avenger, and the headhunter. The headhunter had to kill me. I had my sword on the headhuter, so if I would die, he would die too. The village decided to lynch me. I killed a werewolf just as I went down. The headhunter died of grief.

Miniature books

 This was something I wanted to do for a long time, create miniature books. So I cut the pages, sewed or stapled them together, bound them with cardboard and cloth, then filled them up with crayons, sketch pens and ink! Made an entire miniature magic and arcana bookshelf. 

Circuit there but no buttons

 

Both controllers support Select and Start buttons on the circuits, but only Player 1 has the actual buttons

D&D Journal - Adventures at Terra Vol 6

27/10/85/01 Tazius
I find out that I have lost three days in my reckoning. We wake up in the morning and head to the tavern for breakfast, after buying some supplies at the market. I get:

1 whetstone 1cp
3 torches 3cp
1 pole 5cp
1 salt 5cp
1 sling 1sp
1 lamp 5 sp
1 dice set 1 sp
1 mess kit 2 sp
2 cotton cloth 1gp
500 sling bullet 1gp
Crowbar 2gp
1 signal whistle 5cp

I ask Sylph to tell Bubbles (the pup) to keep a watch on Bjorn, because he is suspicious. I have some Blue Dwarven Cheese, and fill up one of my waterskins with Fairyberry Rose wine. I also buy 50 grams of weed from the Tavernkeep. We then head to the meeting house. There are five men with happy masks outside. There Sarry introduces us to Doorgun, a tall male of indeterminate race, wearing another mask. Doorgun will be joining us on our journey. She tells us that Doorman has some experience in brutality. Sarry approaches Bjorn, takes his hand in her hand and says, "please be safe, I will be waiting for you".We then leave.
Outside the Meeting Hall, Doorgun tells us that he will meet us at the assembly grounds. I ask him if he is wearing a mask to hide his ugly face. He says no, he is doing it to hide his shame. I offer him blades, but he does not get the joke. Galadriel leads the party, Bjorn is on the lookout, Doorgun is clearing the path, while Sylph and me Forage. I pick up some wooden branches for woodworking, as well as 2 grams of mould in a flask. We walk through the forest for eight hours, then start setting up the camp.
After we have food, I sense someone appraoching us. I alert the party and quickly climb a tree. There are five peaceful forest people killers. A bunch of men claiming to be on a mission for the Satrap of Multum say they are purging the forest people. Donger (our nickname for Doorgun) charges at the captain of the group. A fight ensues. I shoot down two of the six bandits from my perch on the tree, and miss the third one. The fight continues, and two more of my arrows find their mark, which is pretty good. We kill most of the party, with only one surviving man. In the end we recover:

Scimitar = 7
Light Crossbow = 6
Dagger = 1
Leather Armor = 6
Studded Leather Armor = 1
Human Bodies = 6
Common Clothes = 6
Gold = 17 cp
Letter from Satrap = 1
Circlet = 1

30 second medieval epic

It was a typical idyllic village in the day... but the werewolves roamed free at night, terrorising the residents. There was also a cannibal with a ravenous appetite on the loose. The Cupid fired his arrows, at a werewolf and the gunner. They fell hopelessly in love. The seers identified the cannibal, and that same unfortunate werewolf who had a human lover. The villagers were going to lynch the cannibal, but the gunner shot him down. The villagers lynched the werewolf instead. The gunner died of a broken heart.
Both the villagers and the werewolves went on a killing spree. The only survivors were a witch and a seer.

D&D Journal - Adventures at Terra Vol 5

24/10/85/01 Tazius
Dave asks us what we want to do. We say that we want to go to the camp, investigate it and head to Markum downriver. Dave agrees to send someone with us after we ask him.

Then Sarry takes the stage. "I really applaud the actions of our new allies. There are now two problems before us. One is the parcel stuck between Tarmir and Vellum, and the other is the missing courier at Sorti Tu. We should send a message to Karthak to send his men to investigate at Sorti Tu and Tarmir. Gorman can send his men between Sorti Tu and Tarmir to handle any situation that emerges. We have to make sure that the message does not fall into the wrong hands. We will also send another message to the King of Sahia."
Sarry is in charge of administration, Gorman is head of security of the forest, and Karthak is the head of intelligence, and is never in town. After the meeting, we sit down and share the remainder of the bottle with Sarry. We ask her for advice. She tells us not to underestimate the hubub near the merchant's caravan. She also tells us that we will be paid for our tasks over and above a monthly salary of 20 GP.
Sarry then showed us her house, and told us we would always be welcome there. And also that she would be happy to take care of our needs. Then she took us to a guesthouse, which was well furnished and comfortable. It was grown from a tree. Sylph took a walk and practiced her violin. Bjorn also took a walk and all we know was that he was trying to do something stealthy around Sarry's house, then came back. Bjorn volunteered to sleep in front of the door, for the safety of the party. I work on the Mancala. Then I fortify the doors and windows, and we go to sleep.

RPG/ Fantasy reference list

These books are about life during medieval times, and are great sources for improving your RPGing, or fantasy storytelling. 

The Master of Game: The Oldest English Book on Hunting by of Norwich Edward 

English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages (XIVth Century) by J. J. Jusserand

Pubs: A Collection of Hotel, Inn, and Tavern Signs in Great Britain and Ireland

(no images, is a great a list though, of Tavern names) 

Old Tavern Signs: An Excursion in the History of Hospitality by Endell

A Book of Fruits and Flowers by Anonymous

The Forme of Cury: A Roll of Ancient English Cookery Compiled, about A.D. 1390

Spooky Playground - how "ghost' swings can move on their own

So a friend of mine managed to record a video of a swing that was moving all on its own. There is no trickery here, this actually happened. The video is below.

Now what can cause such a thing? There are a few possibilities:

Vortex Shredding: Has caused buildings to collapse, its periodic low pressure areas at a particular point.

Aeroelastic flutter: Caused the collapse of a bridge, a consequence of the object having an aerodynamic shape is that it starts oscillating.

Crosswinds: two or more gusts intersecting at the exact location of the swing.

Mechanical resonance: Slight oscillations matches natural frequency of the system, causing it to sway.

I'm not an expert, and do not know much about this, just putting together a list of possible explanations.

D&D Journal - Adventures at Terra Vol 4

24/10/85/01 Tazius

The village is growing between the trees. The Sun is setting. Apparently its a secret village not on the maps of other nations. The houses are growing out of the trees. While most of the houses are small, ther are some big houses fused with the trees. We head towards the Tavern, which has a few holes for the sun to shine through. There is a fireplace with no fire roaring right now. There is a surprisingly large bar, with the tavernkeep behind it leaning on the bar and smoking. There are a few tables, and also a few chairs with cushions. We order lunch, which are some apples, and I get a bottle of Fairyberry Rose wine, and drink one fourth of it. I work on the violin-crossbow afterwards, while Galadriel and Sylph just chill. The tavernkeep is smoking something potent. After about an hour, David of the Seven forests comes to meet us, and asks us to follow him. Dave takes us on a tour of the village, and we see blacksmith, a market, some woodworkers, some residential buildings, the house of the village elder, an assembly ground and communal bathhouses at a little distance from the village. Finally Dave takes us to the meeting house. There are some people gathered there. Then Dave addresses everyone. 

"Today's agenda is to welcome our new friends. We also have some good news from our allies near the river bank, as well as discussing the report from Karthak. Then, we will discuss the plan of action to follow. Our allies have helped me numerous times, although there were some misunderstandings on the way. Please welcome Lindir, Galadriel and Sylpharae. Sarry, please take care of the accommodations of our friends. They helped me out when I was on a surprise survey of Niir" A lanky and jovial looking female high elf nods. Then Dave asks if we want to introduce ourselves, and all of us decline to do so unanimusly. Dave says, "as you can see, they are a pretty reserved bunch". A large and reserved looking male human with armoured a broadsword at his hip, chuckles and says, "That's good, they will fit right in". Dave introduces Gorman and Sarry, the elf woman in "shiny" rags, as his subordinates. "Gorman is a little reserved, don't mistake him for being rude". Sarry quips "he just is".  Crador has told me that they have managed to secure the location on the North. It is good news at these times. Sarry, please send a gift to Crador to show our appreciation." He then looks at us, and says "That was a permanent bandit camp infringing on the goblins, our allies near the river who so graciously hosted me. The bandits were killing the goblins mercilessly. This victory was important for us, and the pests wont bother us. Now we must discuss the report by Karthak and discuss our plan of action."

Then, Dave reads out the report from Karthak:

Karthak's people have risked their lives to find the operations of the Bandits.On the Border Near Multum - There are mass poisonings of Animals near the border at Multum
Near Sorti Tu - Nirmil is missing (Nirmil was carrying an important message for the king of Sahia). Our source who was supposed to meet him said he never met Nirmil. Karthak's men have found out that he was last seen entering Sorti Tu.
Between Tarmir and Vellum - Lost contact with an Important Parcel.
Near Markum - Investigate the Sign of Increased Activity. Three days ago, Karthak's men saw an hubub around a merchant's caravan. 

I'm penning my thoughts on the report. Something in Multum is poisoning the animals. We also know that something is getting rid of the dead bodies of the animals, and they are acting strangely, including the wolves, bears and even the rabbits. However, Dave has assured us that regular forest creatures will not harm those who are sympathetic to the forest. At the same time, we came to know of some possessed animals near the goblin camp. This does not seem like a good area for us to check out. At Sorti Tu, Nirmil has gone missing. We know that the Kingdom of Sahia is sympathetic to Dave's people, so this looks like something that we could look into. A parcel has got lost between Tarmir and Vellum, we definitely do not want to go there because of Lana. Markum sounds interesting, and is close to our original destination, but the best lead so far seems to be Sorti Tu, away from anyone who might know us as troublemakers.

Dungeons and Dragons Medieval Tavern Menu

Made a tavern menu for my DM. Feel free to use.




Some additional resources that helped:

Fancy Drink Names
Tavern Menu
Tavern Menu Generator
Signature Tavern Drinks
Great big random list
Drink name generator

D&D Journal - Vox Island Volume 1

Have started another D&D Campaign with a bunch of people I met through a game called Pixel Starships. The Dungeon Master has a really fertile imagination, and the setting is a city where air pressure and sound related technologies and magic have a big role to play. It is a little mental. 

Evening 1
We begin at a tavern called Ale and Soda by Marcellus. Mr Crab, who is a Half Orc Warlock, Gregor, a Half Orc Paladin, and me, a Tiefling Bard meet here regularly. It is payday, and we are drinking like we do regularly. Mr Crab is an engineer, a part of the Wind Worker, who fix all the tech in the city. Gregor, is an Air Marshall, which is kind of like the city watch or the police force. I belong to something like a secret society that controls much in the city, known as the Negra Bova. While Mr Crab and I are in the Tavern, Gregor is late for some reason. We have a few drinks, play a song on the jukebox machine, and have a chSat with Gemini, who has a cool pneumatic wheelchair. During the course of the evening,  we notice that a couple sitting on a table talkin in whispers leave a note on the table. We discretely pick up the note, pay our tab and leave the establishment. On the street outside, I read the note hiding behind Mr Crab's broad back. The note says something about automated transport routes being ambushed, asking the elites to go over there and secure the artefact. We decide to investigate, just when Gregor shows up. We tell him all about the note, and he decides to investigate with us as well. We all buy a riding horse, and go out to the location.
We see the automated transport full of medicines, some valuables, paintings, miscellaneous tech, a massive machine that occupies half the transport. The corrupt Gregor fills the saddlebags on his horse. Gregor and me tie up our horses to the automated transport. I climb onto it and pocket a trinket. Mr Crab has trouble riding through the bushes to reach the wagon. Suddenly, a hellhound attacks Mr Crab. We see two more hellhounds approaching the wagon. A fight follows. Mr Crab climbs a tree, and his skeleton gets lit up by a lightning bolt. He falls, but manages to grab a branch and barely hold on. Gregor gets hurt badly and starts running away with his horse, straight into one of the assailants. I take the assailant near Gregor down using dissonant whispers, making him bleed from his eyes and ears. I also take an arrow to the shoulder, but I am better off than the other two, still on the Wagon. A couple of arrows that I fire miss their mark. Right then, a bunch of witches from black mountain come in and join the fight, attacking the hellhounds. I discretely return the stolen goods from Gregor's horse into the wagon. Serves him right for running into battle on my horse. Suddenly, there is a jet of smoke and fire in the sky, and a man in an iron suit lands right next to one of the witches, and says "hand over the artefact".

This plate

So cool this plate is. Perfect for eating Idli. Got it from some relative during Munji, might seem like a basic gift, but it is a gift that keeps on giving. Cant go wrong with awesome plates.

D&D Journal - Adventures at Terra Vol 3

24/10/85/01 Tazius
Bjorn talks to the goblins and convinces them to let us join in on the feast. We are led to a barebones cave with rocks for chairs, beds, and a skyhole on top. A goblin points to a rock jug in the spring cave. Sylph sings a lullaby for some reason, and it is so soothing that everyone takes a nap.
A little while later we are called to the feast, where we meet not one, but two old friendss. Triev Rallen has somehow ended up at the feast after some solo adventures. There is also Dave there, whom we interrogate for abandoning us. He is actually David of the Seven Forests. His home is in the forest of Miir. The forests of Niir, Miir, Liir, Riir, Fiir, Diir and Kiir are spread across two continents. Dextra has Niir, Miir, Liir, while Laeva has Riir, Diir, Kiir. Nobody knows where Fiir is, it could be in some spectral plane, or a forest that once existed and now has disappeared. Dave also told us that the cities in Kastin were doing something bad to the forest, "They were always nasty to our allies. We have done nothing but give this world our bounty." The neighbouring Kingdom of Sahia though, are sympathetic with the forest guardian, and treat their forests better.
We enjoy the feast, where I stop the urge to print the pretty green backsides of the goblins. There is Kor, a hobgoblin boss with a massive broadsword and a longbow. After the feast, we discuss future plans. Dave wants to kill the bandits. We find out that the Goblins are actually having some kind of a symbiotic relationship with the forest, and are actually good. All the humans on the spikes outside were bandits, the animals were tainted animals, and the beasts wont learn the lesson to stay away. We also find out that the beasts roaming the forest may have something to do with the creature that we killed in the Sewers. Dave reveals to us that he has agents all over the forest, he was initially suspicious about us, and that we have now won his trust.
Later in the night, we find out Syl's story. Syl is a princess. The Drow mate with humans to reduce skin sensitivity to sunlight, which is how she was born. She was smuggled away as a kid and adopted and taken to a conclave. Someone attacks the conlave and she is the only survivor, she became a
wizards apprentice, to take revenge. The wizard uses black magic, and traps her in a forest where he controls all the treas and creatures. She sings to the forest, wins them over, turns the forest around and uses the forest to trap the wizard, then runs into us after the fire.
Syl asks me to start making a violin crossbow, and I begin the task. Galadriel meanwhile, is still plagued by ants. Its a big camp after the feast, with Milo, Triev, Galadriel, Syl, Bjorn, Me and Dave.

24/10/85/01 Tazius
The next day I follow the Aasamir everywhere, he has a word with the Goblin King, and we leave for Niir Faqmass, after having a walking breakfast. We camp for the night, I take the first watch, while working on the crossbow. The night passes peacefully, with just too many crickets. Galadriel takes the second watch and is hounded by ants again. Syl wakes up half an hour later than everyone else. We start the business of making breakfast again. We reach a small village, which is Faqmass. It is an idyllic settlement, where everyone looks happy, helpful and cheerful. I have a bad feeling about this.

March 2020 Time Tracker

This was my March

D&D Journal - Adventures at Terra Vol 2

22/10/85/01 Tazius
I add some horse meat to the stew, and four hours later, wake up Bjorn for his watch. I come out of trance a few hours later to learn that some more strange events happened during the night. The buried bandit disappeared with a trail of blood leading into the forest. Bjorn followed the trail and found another trail joining the first one. Bjorn followed the combined trail till it just disappeared in the forest. Bjorn then woke Dave and asked him to look into the trails and went to sleep. Galadriel kept watch while Dave followed the second trail backwards... which led to the sleeping bandit in the camp! Zakion also left the party in the middle of the night.

23/10/85/01 Tazius
The next morning Dave said something weird happened over the course of the previous night, but did not give too many details. With regards to the strange animal noises in the night, Dave only said is Galadriel and Bjorn foraged some and filled up the water skins. The Sun was setting to the left and a cool breeze was blowing from the right, bringing with it a smell of fresh water and fishes. The river was east of us and we were going north. The forest is still ravaged by fire to some extent, but the damage here has reduced. Lindir wonders the story of the races in Lesser Terra. I forage in the forest and get a wide variety of fruits, tubers and roots. Dave begins preparing the camp while I head to the river and get new water in all the skins. Sylph questions need about the fire, and she does not believe me. She tries to set my pants on fire, but Dave comes between us, and says “there are many things out to hurt you in the forest, better not fight among yourselves.” We finish the stew and save some foraged tubers, roots and fruit for later. I take the first watch and try to sing the dog to sleep but only manage to wake everyone else up, giving them a headache. Then the bard sings a lullaby, putting the dog to sleep. Galadriel keeps watch while everyone else rests. I come out of trance four hours later to find out that Galadriel has been attacked by ants. I starts making a Mancala board.

24/10/85/01 Tazius
The next morning, Dave wakes up first. We pack up and head to the river. We then forage on the way, and have some stew. Then we come to a rocky walk and begin to climb. Bjorn climbs first and throws down a rope. The rest of the party climb using the rope, but Syl scales it free, and alarmingly quickly. Then we ford the river upstream from the waterfall. The trees are sparse here. We walk for a few hours. Then Dave disappears, goes to pee. I follow him discretely and see that he is indeed peeing, and return to the camp. We wait for half an hour then follow the way he went. We come across splashes of blood, then follow the trail to a wall of staked heads, humans and animals. The humanoid faces have their ears cut off and teeth missing. There is a rotting bear, wolf and deer heads as well. We follow the trail further and see a pile of white skulls of various creatures. We go prone and approach a goblin settlement. Bjorn can speak their language, and approaches them. Bjorn tried to persuade the goblin guards. The Goblins are apparently preparing a feast.

Dungeons and Dragons Journal - Adventures at Terra

So we started playing Dungeons and Dragons with a bunch of friends on Sundays. this is what has happened so far. Will probably be posting updates every Sunday after the session. 

01/10/85/01/Tazius
A motley crew of mercenaries found ourselves in a Baron’s house, in the great city of Tarmir. If anyone asked, we had assembled here for our thirst of adventure, but our real goals were our own, and a fuller pocket couldn’t hurt towards those ends. There was Triev Rallen, a Cleric who looked human, a tall Aasimar Paladin by the name of Zeeyf, and me, Figwit, a wood elf ranger. The three of us were getting to know each other, when a high elf silently snuck into the room. He was fidgeting with a coin, and we found out that his name was Milo Darkrat. We saw a butler at the corner and were served wine. Most of us drank the wine, but the Cleric chose to drink the water.
The nobleman then came out and explained the mission to us. We had to accompany a few guards and a carriage, while we transported his daughter to another city. Seemed like a simple enough escort mission. Zeeyf was excited about having female company, Milo wanted to find out how much he would get paid, the Cleric was trying to correct the behavior of the Paladin, and me, well, I just wanted more wine. I asked for it, and drank it too. I ask to see his daughter, so that we can decide, but the nobleman declines. Zeeyf and me leave, making sure to take some wine with us for the road.
We head to a tavern, and ask Milo about his coin. Apparently it is a lucky coin from a distant land. Triev sits on the ground and drinks water. This is a really puritan cleric, not too many of those around.

02/10/85/01/Tazius
Our journey begins, and we see another adventurer has joined the party. This is a stout halfling ranger, Xantel Dawson. We follow the carriage, and take an uneventful walk through the forest. We set up a camp for the night, and take watches. In the night, we hear some weird noises, go to investigate it find nothing. Coming back to the tent, Zeeyf sees that there is a light and sees strange shapes inside. He goes to investigate, but the Triev tells him clearly that it is his none of his business.

03/10/85/01/Tazius
In the morning the guards prepare the food, and everyone has a hearty breakfast. Only the Cleric offers a prayer to Apollo before beginning to eat his meal. Xantel reveals to everyone that he saw human footsteps some distance away from the camp. We go to investigate, but find nothing of importance. Xantel also talks about the strange noises he heard from the tent. The party begins to move, but I volunteer to trail behind at a distance, to make sure that we are not being followed. I’m enjoying walking through the forest, picking up the additional herb that I can use for healing potions, when I see that the party has stopped ahead of me. I catch up to them, and notice the obstruction. Someone has felled a tree, and thrown it across the road. I suggest that we unhitch the horses and use them to move the tree, when we are ambushed. They are a bunch of villagers, who swear something evil is in the carriage, and intend to burn everything. The guards are all angered and ready to fight. Milo tries to intimidate the villagers, while I try to persuade them. The Paladin casts a spell to detect evil, and finds that both the halfling ranger is evil, and that there is something evil in the carriage as well, most probably the mysterious occupant. As soon as I come to know this, I turn my bow and arrow towards Xantel. But Xantel persuades me and tells me that using evil is the only way to fight evil. I have removed thorns using thorns before, and let him fight on our side, for the moment. But I make a mental note to watch him closely. There are eight villagers and four veterans. A melee ensues, and the party with the guards manages to kill three villagers and a veteran, mostly thanks to a single Guiding Bolt attack by the cleric. This stops the fighting immediately. The villagers are scared, but stand their ground. They demand that we open the carriage and see the evil inside for ourselves. Milo and Triev try to persuade the guard to show us what is in the carriage, but the guards are steadfast in their refusal. Meanwhile, I go to the edge of the forest, and hide myself, observing the goings on. Xantel and Triev are both intent on opening the carriage, and seeing what is inside. Triev manages to convince Zeeyf to help him as well. They force the carriage door open, and see the mistress inside. She is indeed a noblewoman’s daughter, though a little pale. The villagers try to attack the mistress, who is using a sunshade, and who goes back inside. The guards move in to protect her, and another round of combat ensues. A guard goes down almost instantly. The villagers fight like cornered rats. Zeeyf attacks with a battle axe, Milo is dashing around dealing damage with a rapier, Triev attacks with his longsword while Xantel and I fire arrows from the edges. The villagers are using primitive spears and clubs. The villagers and veterans die, but Zeeyf and Milo go down in the process. I revive and stabilise them, thanks to the potions I have been making. We bury the bodies, after relieving them of any useful items, and of course, any gold that we can find. We retire for the night but it does not pass without incident.
During my watch, I’m just walking around the area near the camp, when I am attacked by a giant poisonous snake! Initially, I fire a few arrows at it, but when it gets too close for comfort, I start hacking at it with my shortbow. It strikes me a few times, but I manage to kill it.

04/10/85/01/Tazius
The events of the previous day have left us all ravenous, and we chomp down on our breakfasts, prepared by the guards. Find out that Zeeyf uses his battleaxe to kill a frog during his watch, after unsuccessfully trying to find a treasure map. After breakfast, we confront the guards. The whole party tries every way to find out what exactly we are ferrying, and no one wants to proceed without having a full understanding of why we were assaulted by the villagers. This leads to a confrontation with the guards, and one of them dies. Then a battle for our lives begins, and the two remaining guards also die in quick succession, even as the noblewoman’s daughter, who we find out is named Lana, is actually a vampire. She hops out of the wagon, casts a fog, to keep away from the sunlight, and begins attacking the party. She casts spell after spell furiously, and almost everyone in the party go down attacking her head on. Zeeyf runs away, and at the very edge of his range, throws a javelin at Lana. Somehow, the javelin finds its mark with deadly accuracy, and Lana vanishes with a scream. Another night passes, one in which we find very little food.

05/10/85/01/Tazius
We contemplate eating the horses, but choose to depend on our rations and ride on them instead. Soon, the party sees a band of eight bandits approaching. We take them head on. We manage to kill them all, and Zeeyf is the only one who goes down, this time without abandoning the party. We camp for the night again.

06/10/85/01/Tazius
The next day, we reach Vellum. We first head to the tavern, and get some drinks and a good meal. I ask the bartender for any entertainment options available, and he tells me a place along with a password. I forget it now, but it was something like “blue rose”. We head to the adventurer’s guild, but on the way Xantel distracts a nobleman, while Milo robs his driver of a beautiful quiver of arrows. The driver is killed during this encounter, by Xantel. I do not like it, but do not say anything either. We hide the loot in the room of an inn that we pay for, with our gold. At the Adventurer’s Guild, we see a notice that interests us, about a blockage in the sewers. We pay for a map of the sewers. Triev goes their own way, but we are joined by a massive half orc barbarian, Bjorn. Together, Zeeyf, Milo, Bjorn and me enter the sewers along with a guide from the guild, named Roony. The air seems to be bad and it has a unique effect on everyone. The movement of the party is slow, as we make our way through the sewers. After passing by a few ominous skeletons, and what appears to be a wall of flesh, we see a fiend or monster of some sort. It is a stunted creature, clearly in distress, and very dumb. We all attack, and the beast fights back. In the middle of the combat, I zephyr strike towards it, and quickly calm it down by stroking it. The creature is still, but unresponsive to all forms of communication. In this state, we kill the monster. Just before it dies, there seems to be a flash of intelligence in its eyes. Then, everything goes dark.

14/10/85/01/Tazius
We wake up, after what we later find out is three days. There is a dark tree growing where we killed the monster. As soon as we exit the dungeon, we are apprehended by guards, that we clearly cannot take on. We are escorted to a rather spartan dungeon. We are relieved of our weapons. There is barely anything in the dungeon, except a stone slab, and a piss bucket in the corner. I sing as loudly and as horribly as I can for the benefit of the guards. When they ask me to tone it down, I ask for practice wooden swords, but am turned down. Zeeyf, Bjorn and Milo are sitting around the dungeon, at times contemplating what has happened, at other times whispering in short conversations that soon die out. Zeeyf peeks out of a narrow window at the top of the dungeon, and sees a pigeon, and the feet of the people walking about. We spend another night in this prison. Xantel is following us like a mute ghost, something seems to have affected him.

15/10/85/01/Tazius
Eventually, the guard comes for us. Zeeyf tries to fight them without weapons, while the rest of us encourage him with an applause, ready to enjoy the fight. The guards quickly subdue him. None of us have any clue about what is going on. When we ask the guards what our crime is, he gruffly tells us that we stole. I blow a raspberry, which makes Bjorn guffaw. Milo tries to steal from the guards, and so do I. I get a couple of gold coins, and discreetly pocket it.
We are presented to the Satrap, who shows us the stolen quiver, recovered from the inn. He also accuses us of killing the driver of the nobleman who owned the quiver. I just lie to him, and tell him the driver attacked us, and we found the quiver on the road. Amazingly, I manage to convince the Satrap. It is then that the Satrap informs us that whatever we did in the sewers caused the entire town to sleep for three days straight. He also pays us for clearing up the sewers, after which we leave. We know that the inn is no longer effective, and we look around for alternative accommodations. We find out that there are plenty of people who sleep in the Temple of Apollo, and head over there. We look around the hall and notice that it is crowded and dirty. It does not seem a safe place to spend the night, especially with heavy purses. Bjorn demands to see the head priest, and is refused. Bjorn keeps talking to the clerk, and somehow manages to get an audience. Bjorn seems to have some kind of secret that gets him access, I suspect that it is simply a lot of coin that he is hiding from us, something that he might have gotten from his background. We are escorted to another complex adjoining the temple, with a number of rooms arranged on three sides of a quad. We are led to a room with elaborate pieces of furniture. One of the tables has carvings along the edges which seems to show some kind of creation myth. After about half an hour, the head priest appears. We talk to him, and manage to convince him to give us boarding for a few nights. We are given two rooms, each with two beds. Zeeyf and Me share a room, while Bjorn and Milo share another. Xantel just seems to be following us, either sitting or sleepwalking. He seems to be otherwise okay though, so we leave him alone in the quad. Each of the rooms have a common area with a desk and a chair, and two bedrooms. The bedrooms have, well a bed, and a screen behind which there is a chamber pot, a sink, a tap and a bucket. The accommodations seem great for free, but we notice that there are no bolts or locks on the doors. We decide to check all the rooms and see if there is anything of value. During the night, we smartly time the guards, avoid them, and find that some doors are locked, while others are open. Milo manages to grab two books from a bookshelf in one of the rooms. All the rooms that we can open seem to be similar to the ones that have been appointed to us, with nothing of value or interest within. We manage to get back in our rooms just as the guards pass us. I decide to keep watch, but fall asleep anyway. 

16/10/85/01/Tazius
The next morning, we find that we have all been robbed, but not entirely fleeced. I lose 6 gold, Milo loses 4, Zeeyf loses 8, and Bjorn loses 12. Xantel somehow escapes, and still seems to be under some kind of a spell. We laze around the temple for most of the day, making plans and discussing what to do next. The good news is Xantel recovers, almost as mysteriously as he fell ill. He wants to go and steal the quiver from the Satrap, but we convince him against such a fatal plan. Xantel however, wants revenge on the Tavern owner for letting the guards of the Satrap enter our accommodations. He also intends to take back his money, and nothing we do can stop him. So we follow him and watch him confront the tavern owner. There is a brawl, and the tavern owner kills Xantel. We make amends with the tavern keeper, and in fact, pay him for continued accomodation at his establishment.

17/10/85/01/Tazius
There seems to be some kind of decree by the Satrap enforcing a curfew. There are very few people up and about. Our queries do not get any clear responses. We make our way to the Adventurer’s Guild, where Bjorn is jumped by a Wood Elf wizard. The two get into a fight, and Bjorn attacks her with a greataxe. She goes down in one strike, but Zeeyf is kind enough to stabilise her. She is taken to the Temple of Apollo, and Bjorn is banned from entering the Adventurers Guild. The rest of us pick up another quest, which is by the House Marka of Vellum. Apparently, they hear scratching sounds in their attic, with no visible source. They will pay to clear up the problem. There is another quest that demands for us to volunteer in some experiments. We choose to go to the House of Marka. When we enter the house, we are greeted by guards, and escorted to the attic. Suspiciously enough, the guards lock us in after pointing to the attic. We decide to proceed anyway. It is a pretty tumbledown attic, and when we approach, it, we see a baby. Just as we touch it, a spectral appearance shows up. She claims that the Marka is an incredibly cruel man, and that she cannot leave the baby unattended. I do not remember the details, but am entranced by the need to save the child, that I do not even fully process what is happening around me. I convince the ghost that we will take care of the child, and she leaves, after showing seven other ghosts who will make sure that we pay with our lives if any harm falls on the child. We grab the baby, break out of the door, threaten to kill Marka for being a cruel man, take our money, and leave. We go back to the tavern and spend the night.

18/10/85/01/Tazius
We head to the adventurers guild again the next day. I pick up a bunch of things from the market that will prove useful in taking care of the child. Outside the adventurers guild, we encounter Galadriel, the wood elf wizard again. She has been asking for us at the adventurer’s guild. She is curious about the child, that we are now carrying around. A man approaches us, and tells us that we are called to a house. We are taken to a weird place with a strange stylised U symbol, and we find out that the name of the house is Yoni. We are led to a labyrinthine dungeon, to a room. We see a lamp with strange symbols on it, but none of us can read it. Bjorn uses a piece of parchment and charcoal to trace the symbols, while the attendant who brought us there looks disapprovingly. Then, the head of the house walks in and demands that we hand over the baby to him. We disagree, indicating that our fate is bound to the baby. The situation escalates to a confrontation, and we only manage to escape by threatening to kill the baby. We head back to the tavern, and rest for the day.

19/10/85/01/Tazius
We decide to leave the city as quickly as possible. I need to collect some milk for the baby, so we decide to go to the shady part of the town, the entertainment district. We go to a brothel, where we manage to convince a woman named Sheila to feed the infant, and provide us with milk as well. I go to the room alone. Sheila plays with the baby, asks me to wash the bottle at a basin, and feeds the baby her fill. The baby is ravenous. While leaving, a servant summons me to a room. There, a man tells me that there are powers watching our party, and that our lives are in danger if we remain in Vellum. He gives me a ring, and tells me that I am to write regular reports about the progress of our party, and burn the parchment with the ring, which would send messages to him. He also promises to watch over me, and send his agents periodically to ensure that the baby is taken care of. I am suspicious of the man, but take my leave politely. Bjorn and Zeeyf are waiting below, while Galadriel and Milo decide to sit out this particular adventure. I get drunk at the tavern, so Zeeyf carries me for the rest of the night. Bjorn wants to fight, and goes to an underground fighting ring, taking down 10 fighters in succession. He lasts through the night, and he leaves with plenty of gold.

20/10/85/01/Tazius
We decide to leave the city. First we go to the market for some provisions. Then we head out the back entrance of the city, away from Tarmir. After walking for about an hour and a half, we come to a small farm. The owner complains about all kinds of demons and monsters that prowl the area in the night. We buy a nursing goat from him. Bjorn seals an agreement to buy the entire farm from the man in the future. The farmer also kindly gives us a free chunk of cheese. We head into the forest, and camp for the night. Galadriel, Milo, Zeeyf and Bjorn are asleep, while I keep watch. I pack my bags, considering the prowling monsters, and the events of Vellum. My idea is to abandon the party, to ensure the safety of the baby. Suddenly there is a flash, and Lindir, my brother approaches me. He asks me to quickly leave the party, as my life is in mortal danger. He is with a rather large she wolf pup. I take the baby, and head out.

==Lindir’s Journal==
Soon after my brother escapes, an Asamir assassin enters the camp. In single strikes, he downs both Galadriel and Milo. He then searches the camp, and leaves quickly. I have to explain my presence to the adventurers, and they are suspicious. Milo checks the truth in what I am saying, and finds out that I am not lying. I am allowed to join the party.

21/10/85/01/Tazius
We make our way through the woods, and hunt some rabbits. The rabbits seem to be monstrous because of their strange behavior, but we go ahead and eat them. We are making our way towards Multum, further up the river. We go to camp near the river, when we are attacked by two giant crayfish. During the fight, I manage to blind one of the crayfish, which only enrages it. The crayfish seem to be winning, but Galadriel manages to bury one, and kill the other with fire (I go down because of collateral damage). Mold Earth and Burning Hands both seem to be very useful spells. Zeeyf is walking by the river when a giant crab comes out, swipes him, and goes back into the water. He is down and bleeding before most of us can even process what has happened. We stabilise him, and we rest for the night. I manage to explain the direwolf to keep watch.
During the night, we are ambushed by wolves. I toss a lit torch to the upper branches. The wolves are called away by the howl. The fire catches on beautifully, burning up the entire forest. We survive the heat by collecting the camp in the middle of the clearing, and using all our water to douse out the nearby embers. Eventually, we even start using the liquid from the stew. After about two hours, the forest fire moves farther away. At least, some members of the party pass the night in a state of blissful unconsciousness.

22/10/85/01/Tazius
The next morning, we head back to the river. The Paladin finds that the waters are poisonous. We purify eat, eat our breakfast from the leftover chunks of crayfish meat, and head towards Markum. We chance upon a city, and a peddler on the outskirts asks if we want to get some healing potions. We say no. We all simultaneously get a vision in our head of what would happen if we were to go into the village. The problem is that no one is about, and they would suspect us of starting the forest fire. We decide on a cover story, that we were ambushed by wolves and suddenly surrounded by the fire in the middle of the night. We head to the river to check if it is poisoned. It is not, so we know the source of the poison is downstream. We retrace our steps, using torches even though most of us can see perfectly in the dark. We have noticed something very strange, that there seem to be no dead bodies in the forest at all. Something or some magic has cleared the forest of all the dead critters.
In the dark of the night, we come across a lonely Asamir clearing the river from a bunch of dead deer. We help him move the deer, then rest for the night. The Asamir and the pup keep watch during the night. During the night, we are attacked by a bear. Not a single night seems to pass without us being assaulted by some forest creature or the other. We are about to kill the bear, when the Asamir calms it down. We go back to sleep after tying it up, but the next morning the bear has mysteriously disappeared too. We still keep faith with the Asamir.

23/10/85/01/Tazius
The next morning, the Asamir tells us that there is smoke spiralling up from the trees, and that there is a camp of bandits nearby. I climb a tree and look at the camp, then we all head towards the camp. We see someone tied up near the camp. I fire arrows, while Bjorn and the Asamir engages with the bandits. We kill two of them, while everyone runs away. The tied up person turns out to be a Drow Bard, Sylpharae. We skin a horse, and interrogate a bandit. Bjorn stops the Asamir from killing one of the bandits. They claim to be the Satrap’s men, and may have something to do with the missing animals. Everyone takes a long rest, while I keep watch. 

February 2020 Time Tracker

This is my February

Dream Diary post riots edition

Was asked out by a grill, went to one of those sickly cofee shops where teens go on dates. In a corner were a bunch of serious looking people on a table. They asked me my political alignment, and I refused to throw in a towel on either side. One of them went step by step through the entire history of the subcontinent, and agree to the historical accuracy of all these facts. Was then asked to sign a piece of paper attesting to the century spanning atrocities committed by the Muslims, with the implications that the payback for it was now. Refused to sign it, and gave some kind of vehement denial of the attitude of these "scientists". Think at the back of my head that this could be a psychology experiment or test of some sort. Go back to my table, and hang out with grill and some of her friends. She tells me that she was persuaded or forced by the scientists to get me to talk to them, and that she was not really interested in me. However, because of what I told them, she would be glad to go out with me again. While exiting the coffee shop, she falls and gets a nasty wound on her head. Like she falls backwards down the stairs, looking at me while falling. At the bottom, on top of her right temple, a big nasty wound opens up, with scars reaching across the rest of her face. She is semi conscious, and there is a trickle of blood. Help her up, and try to go to the hospital, but there are riots going on outside. Buildings are burning, people are running, police announcing something inaudible. One clearly muslim man says there are no ambulences available. Another man says that all the services are down, but there are some illegal bus operators still functioning. Get on one of these busses with grill and another friend. Then, two passengers hop on board. Both are middle aged, one is a man, the other is a woman. The woman is wearing a salwar kameez but with a lab coat. Man tells me heard you guys were looking for a hospital, this woman will help you out. Woman coyly says I am just the person you are looking for. Then something weird happens, it looks like a nervous tick. Her tongue extends out but instead of red, it is a very pale, almost white shade of pink. It is also too thin, and too elongated in the middle, but the ending is a blob. It looks clearly alien. She withdraws it rapidly as if she gave it away. Clearly, she is some kind of a demon. She smiles and says, come with me, you and your friend (grill) will be safe. I instantly know that this is some kind of a threat, and just stare at the demon in a threatening manner, like I know what you are up to types. Demon's face opens up like a flower blooming, with the alien tongue / stigma waving about threateningly. The demon screams. Then something really weird happens. I unleash some kind of rage and violence too. I scream back, and it is a loud, booming, rolling thunderous sound too loud for anyone to process. It shatters the glass in the bus, grinds it to a halt, and the skies outside change colour to a deep shade of red. Some of the demons face petals get blown away and the remaining ones wilt. The demon is not dead, but very shaken. I cannot believe what kind of monster I have become, and wake up.

January 2020 Time Tracker

Have started keeping track of how I spend my time in 2020. This is my January.

As fresh as it gets

A vegetable vendor in Bangalore, growing his wares out of a plastic container just out of the shop. It really does not get better than this. I've heard tell of a small town off Mysore called Bettadapur where the people are so proud that they do not get anything from outside their own village. Apparently, each household is an independent, self-sustained unit. You drop in for a visit, they will go to the backyard to pluck out some cofee. Then for lunch, they will rummage around the various vegetable beds in the gardens to prepare the food. Look, we were eco-friendly for reasons beyond the industrial backlash and associated realisations. Most of India was eco-friendly because we never really strayed that far from nature.