I can see a few quid in blackmail here in the near future

gwaG

A Fog lay over the city of Shanizar the Wicked as two new recruits to House Kobra took their Oath of Alliegance .

They were escorted to the roof to begin careers as Rievers upon the "Despair". Whereupon they were tested for dexterity, and, the taller one with the gang tattoos, covered himself in glory by besting the long time gunner of the despair and taking his position. A fine start , if you measure success by the power of your new enemies.

The talk among the crew was of the attempted murder of none other than Gul, that handsome drow Enchanter, and self-styled leader of warriors. It seems a female drow slave , newly brought to the House, attempted to impale him by a poison dart. She paid with her folly with her life, her corpse being thrown from the balcony of the laboratory.

Female Drow so often make poor slaves, especially to "mere males".

After som debate between the captain and her experienced crew, the despair set off with the intention of contacting Csar Krawn with a ransom demand for his daughter , the Princess Teh.

However , as often happens in the Valley of the Great Sword, another opportunity presented itself. A castle in the clouds was spotted of the larboard bow, where upon our intrepid adventurers , filled with glee. set upon the the unsuspecting fortress.

The crew lustily jumped overboard and advanced on the front gate, knee deep in mist, none faltered.
Coming to the giant doors, they found them barred. But of no hinderence as their spells swept open the door and out rushed three large Hell Hounds. A melee ensued during which two of the beasts were felled by the ships new gunner and the other by a heafty stroke of an axe by the ships other new crewmate.

Some more spells opened an interior door , to find three slaves .Two of which beieng Ogress serving wenches and the third an old Crow-man . He professed to be a librarian/ historian/alchemist of some experience.

At this, the Giant returned.....to be continued.

"Two ranks , Vipers ready " screamed Gul, the Drow fell into place and trained their pistols.

The Giant came on through the volley of darts and clashed into their ranks scattering the Drow, as some drew swords and others continued to fire pistols at point blank. One Drow , a recruit, drew forth his battleaxe to face the fury of the berserk defender but lasted only a heartbeat as he was crushed against the wall by a mighty blow from the Giants club.

Kalan then drew Giant-Killer his two handed magic sword and smote the Giant a biting blow. The giant screamed with shock and pain turning on him in single minded fury. Kalan was struck with some force but skillfully rolled with the power of the blow. Returning another upper cut as he emerged from the roll, and felled the Giant.

The looters then ransacked the castle and taking the slaves ,their fallen shipmate,a small library, and great deal of Silver they returned to the waiting Airship. After a short debate between Captain Vixia and the Professor, she returned with him and the slaves to the castle and emerged later with two large chests. Which she declared was the Captains Share.

The crew returned to Shanizar to cremate the crewmate who fell against the Giant, and take onboard a replacement.
And also to resupply and offload the liberated hoard of Silver.

The Despair commenced its journey, travelling to the White Orc lands and capturing a small patrol. The survivor was sent back with a message detailing a meeting point and the ransom.

An Orc wizard on a cart waited patiently . There were three chests aboard contaiang the ransom demand, 20,000 gold pieces in total. The wizard had orders to hand over the money for the Princess and negotiate a price for an assassination attempt on the Red Army high command. But to be wary of treachery from the Drow.

To wit, he had cast invisibilty on two ten orc squads of palace guard.

The drow approached , a new recruit going forward to check the chests. The Princess held to the back and closely guarded.

..to be continued.

A short fight took place; Gul killed the Wizard with a Lightning Bolt. Then drove the cart over some sleeping orcs.
Joruus " the Collector" got the Daemons amulet from the dead wizard.
Zaen "One Hand" killed the princess as she struggled.
Kalan ,Nasar and Gorlab dealt with the orcs

Having squared away the hoard in the ships hold, the Despair departed for House Kobra.

Troubled only slightly by a flock of Giant Bats on the way back , which were dispatched with skillful swordsmanship.

Arriving at the House, they unloaded the treasure and prepared for their next sortie.

It seems the Professor has a map of an ancient tomb, scrawled on the inside of an old book.

(and a lot of dice rolling for new characters ...rebels should tread lightly...informers are everywhere.)

Whats with the frogs...is this some kind of plague ?

Added (29-Oct-2009, 9:21 Pm)
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To Big G;

Could you please add post from Oct 22nd to my DnD Blog ?

Thanks...

I like these smileys..........beats the hell out of frogs .

Done

Agreed

The next D&D game is set for November 29th.

Professor Cronk's library is full of useful facts.