Challenge: Resolutions

(This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. You can find links to other writers' answers over at Long and Short Reviews.)

Prompt: What I think of New Year's Resolutions

I don't have much use for them. It's not that I think resolutions are worthless, mind you; I just don't see the point in tying them to a particular spot in the calendar year. Notice that you're not getting enough exercise? Resolve to do better. Want to get more writing done, or spend more time on crafting hobbies? Make a resolution. Don't wait for January; don't feel compelled to make a resolution or three just because January has rolled around again. 

Also? Once you do make a resolution, make a plan. Talk it out -- with yourself, your significant other, random online friends. Figure out how you're going to accomplish this. The whole point of making resolutions is to change your behavior for the better, and that's so much easier to do if you have a realistic roadmap for how to get there.

Good!Party: The House of Vampires

 So we get fixed up by Clovis, who is apparently now reporting directly to Helios. We also have him hit us with Spell Immunity, and Geddy covers us with Death Ward. 

We are now immune to death effects as well as…

Magic Jar, Fireball, Sunburst, Ray of Enfeeblement

We head back to finish the job, leaving Clovis to haul the unconscious buxom naked woman up to the infirmary. Clovis: “I have the worst luck EVER!”

We mount up on Eva and teleport into position in front of the house just above the fourth floor. Geddy casts Haste and looks around for enemies. Eva drops Glitterdust on the balcony, revealing nothing, but at least we know there’s nothing there. Tavros leaps across to the balcony and barrels through the curtain, ripping it down in the process; the room is suddenly a lot brighter. He also passes through a Symbol of Pain, which he doesn’t actually notice. There are three thralls on the bed making out, and beyond that there’s a wizard, a warrior, and two archers. 

Leira immediately hits the wizard with three Scorching Rays, then does it again, and then does it again. Vampires are ridiculously tough, but this is nearly enough to take him out. She remains on the dragon. One of the minions suddenly looks up from bed, and casts Waves of Exhaustion off the edge of the balcony. The vampires mist their way through the door and into the room behind. 

Tavros knocks out the three thralls and steps to the side. Eva lands on the balcony and becomes a human woman. Geddy has gone limp from Waves of Exhaustion, and Eva is carrying him. The door opens and there is a Thrall standing there. Leira tosses her prepared fireball, wiping out a room full of thralls and adding more fire damage to the four fleeing vampires. The wizard mists into his coffin. 

Tavros steps through the door, into a bunch of arrows, most of which miss him, but he still takes damage as the first one through the door. He attacks the warrior in front of him, doing a lot of damage. Eva moves up and touches Tavros, imbuing him with Displacement. 

Leira fills the room with a Sunburst. Several of them burst into ash from sudden-onset sunburn, and the others are badly damaged. Leira moves up to where she can see the wizard, then follows up with quickened fireballs. This does not actually take them down. There were coffins around the edge of the room, but they’re pretty well destroyed now. 

The wizard tags Tavros with Chain Lightning, then casts a quickened Resist Energy on himself. The archers shoot, but hit Tavros’ image instead of him. The fighters managed to hit him once for real. Tavros cuts down the remaining warrior, and then moves over next to the wizard. (“Ew! I’m stepping on burnt thrall!”)

Eva throws another Fireball into the room. The remaining vampires are still up, but Leira drops a Fireball and takes everyone except one archer. She adds a quickened magic missile to finish him. We do a little selective Lesser Restoration, and some healing. The wand of Lesser Restoration has four charges left; Eva blows her entire run of Cure Light Wounds on Tavros, who also Lays Hands on himself. We clear out one more bedroom full of thralls, sparing them again.

Once we’re ready again, Tavros heads down the stairs. There’s a thrall waiting on the stairs to cast Waves of Exhaustion on him. Also Ray of Enfeeblement, but that does nothing; a disembodied voice says, “Ah, clever! I shall enjoy playing with you.”

Tavros: “You’re cute, but you’re not my type.” He knocks the thrall unconscious. Leira has cast Greater Invisibility, and Eva renews Displacement for Tavros. Geddy starts singing, to inspire us to heroism. Leira pulls out a wand of Knock, and unlocks the door. Tavros hauls it open. 

On the plus: room with a pile of treasure in it. On the minus: a lot of thralls. There’s a very large bed with a lot of thralls on it; this was probably the lord’s room. There’s a mix of fighters and mages. One of them attacks with Scorching Ray, burning him a bit. Then it drops Horrid Wilting into the stairwell, damaging us all a bit. 

Tavros steps into the room and moves to stand beside the obvious spellcaster. The vampiric fighters move to attack Tavros and, um, fail. To hit. Completely. Leira fills the room with Sunburst, and suddenly the room is empty of life and unlife alike. Eva immediately enters the room and starts looking through the treasure. It’s about 60,000 GP worth. Then she stops, and turns, and looks at Tavros. Tavros is standing beside a shield on the wall which is decorated with the family arms. It is a +5 animated Heavy Steel Shield. Tavros immediately claims it. 

A mist comes out of the armoire and materializes into a vampire lord; we hear a door open out in the hallway. Tavros charges the vampire lords, but misses. Two more vampire fighters move into the room, and two more wizards appear in the hallway. One of the fighters manages to hit Eva, which he will probably regret in short order. The two sorcerers target Geddy with Lightning, catching Leira by accident in the path. They both avoid the worst of the damage. Leira goes down. 

Eva immediately drops Cure Critical Wounds on Leira, bringing her back to consciousness. Geddy follows this with Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass – healing us and damaging vampires. This also reveals the presence of a thrall moving into the stairwell outside. The vampire lord escapes the worst of it, but it’s a solid distribution of damage. 

The thrall steps into the doorway and hits us with Horrid Wilting. The vampire lord swings at Tavros, but only hits him once; Tavros hits him twice, hurting him badly. The sword hums in his hand, satisfied with its work. 

The two fighter vampires attack Eva, doing a bit of damage; the sorcerers Magic Missile Geddy, and he goes down to take a nap. 

Leira drops Sunburst, and fills the room with light – incidentally killing the thrall in the hall, which should be a Dr. Seuss book – and wipes everybody except one sorcerer, who’s still badly scorched. She follows it with a fireball, but doesn’t take him down; she follows with Magic Missile, and almost finishes him. Eva throws out another magic missile, and finishes him. 

Eva and Geddy hear someone else pad into the stairwell; they point, and Leira throws a fireball out there. Eva rips the armoire out, exposing a passage into the next room. Laying on the bed is a woman, and there are two more thralls standing by her bed. And alarm goes off when she does that, and the woman on the bed opens her eyes. A Power Word Stun trap goes off, but Eva ignore it. 

Geddy, still lying on the floor, throws Cure Moderate Wounds Mass again, and tags the woman on the bed. “My pretties, that was a mistake! You will rue the day!” 

Tavros: “What, like the base for a soup?” 

She drops Horrid Wilting in the room. Leira goes down, and Geddy is just barely on his feet; Eva takes part of the damage for Geddy, but shrugs off the attack on herself. Tavros charges and hits her, damaging her noticeably. Eva drops Cure Critical Wounds on Leira, and Geddy drops another Cure Moderate Wounds Mass. 

The vampiress sorceress turns into mist form and tries to slide away; Tavros follows and attacks, but catches his sword on the doorframe and comes to an abrupt, unexpected halt. Leira, also still on the floor, throws another Sunburst into the room. Eva follows and throws another Magic Missle at the mist, taking her down. Her mist starts moving back towards the coffin under the bed, and Leira turns the coffin into a bonfire. 

Sitting on the dresser is a darkskull, which was unhallowing the house. There’s an ornate goblet holding a gem, which she was using as a soul gem for Magic Jar. We also claim her cloak of Charisma +6, and 30,000 gold. We check over the remains of the Vampire Lord, and he had 50,000 GP. 

We stop there – with the two top levels clear, and treasure taken.

Back to School

What is it about the first week back to school that just wears me the heck out?

I mean, I guess that's rhetorical. It's exactly what it sounds like: resetting schedules, making sure everybody's back in the habits they need (eating breakfast, taking meds, wearing pants), and getting everybody out the door so that they get to school on time. And that means setting alarms, waking up, waking other people up... It also means I can't just go to sleep at, say, six p.m. -- no matter how tired I might be. It also (also-also) means working from home so I can make sure everybody gets out the door, but then working from home is as much a benefit as it is a trial.

Still, we made it through the "it's the first full day of work after New Year's Day, and judging by the traffic on the road everybody's still drunk" part of last week, and the "it's the first week of work after the Christmas/New Year's/etc. holidays and now everybody suddenly needs a piece of my time all at once" part of last week, so hopefully this week the boys will be more or less back on schedule and I can focus more on some extended projects at work instead of just spending my time responding to crises. 

How is the writing going, you ask? Well... Plenty of stuff for the blog, here. In fact, I've actually got some things written in advance for that. Other writing projects are essentially stalled, but that's usually what happens when the holidays roll through. Hopefully I can pick back up on some of that as we move into this week. I'm almost completely off of Twitter at this point, so I probably need to go and update my website, but aside from remembering how to log in to the editor that's fairly trivial. I'm trying to do a bit more on Tumblr, but that involved a little bit of a learning curve and I just haven't gotten into the habit yet.

Lots of D&D this weekend, all of it fun. Honestly, I think everything will get easier as we get back into rhythm, but right now I'm just kind of wiped. 

Dark Armor: High Walls and Siege Engines

He began his advance amidst a line of heavy infantry, shields forward as they marched into a hail of arrows. There were earthworks ahead, blocking the way to the gates and defended by sorcerers as well as archers and pikes. No wonder Rebka hesitated. At a glance, Pallian thought the numbers of attackers and defenders were close to evenly balanced. The forces of Teregor likely had an edge in enchantments and sorceries, but not enough to break the city's defenses without exposing themselves to counterattack. 

There was a brief movement to his left, a flicker of pale green light along the front line of the advancing infantry, and a dozen figures in heavy armor crumpled to the ground, choking as they died. A burst of fire exploded on his right, but the troopers there merely staggered a bit and continued on. The line closed up, and the advance continued. 

Then a flight of four boulders came hurtling over the top of the earthworks, plowing through the advancing troops and the ranks behind them as they landed. A moment later a lightning bolt flicked back and forth across the area between the earthworks and the metal-bound gates of the city, and Pallian knew that his sister was attempting to cover his advance. 

Another volley of arrows shattered against their shields, and Pallian led his troop inexorably on. A line of fire lanced out from behind the earthworks, but the black knight caught it on his shield, which groaned as it absorbed the sorcery. Good, he thought. Target me. The more sorcery his armor absorbed, the fewer of his troops would die. 

More than one of the sorcerers had noticed him now. A line of pale blue struck him from another raised position, trying to probe past his shield and focus itself on his armor; he tracked the movements as well as he could, and his armor absorbed what little the shield did not. 

Then, for a brief moment, the world turned to fire around him. 

In the Dark Knight's armor, Pallian felt nothing. He continued marching forward, despite a moment of blindness as his helmet went dark to protect his vision. He was at the edge of the earthworks now, and he could see that the captain of the heavy infantry was still advancing at his side. Behind them, a handful of troopers picked themselves up from the ground and quick-stepped to reform the line. One of them risked lowering their shield to make a quick throwing gesture, and one of the raised overlooks exploded into steaming mud. 

Risky, but well done, Pallian decided, and had his helm mark that trooper for a commendation. Beside him, the captain nodded and Pallian thought that she might have done the same. They advanced together up the dirt slope, stamping steps into place for the others to follow. 

Here. Pallian crested the top and looked down at the trench behind it. A trooper in the colors of Marinul tried to ram an enchanted spear up into his crotch, but he ignored it and reached for his blade instead. 

He slipped his hand into the sword's shaped gauntlet, grasped the handle inside, and felt the weapon connect with his armor. Its blade extended directly forward from his fist, and its gauntlet covered his armored hand and forearm, becoming part of his armor and adding additional protection there. With the enchantments combined, he brought the blade down and around in a slow line, sweeping the trench with a trail of levin-fire. 

Beside him, the infantry captain lifted a hand and sent a small ball of fire towards the troops in the next trench back. It exploded in the air, burning, blinding, clearing the path for them while the Black Knight murdered the foremost line of defenders in its entirety. The line of fire struck him again, but Pallian merely lifted his shield as he continued slaughtering troops. His own troops were atop the earthworks now, moving in and spreading out to slay anyone he might have missed. Two squads had leapt the trenches and were headed for a group of Marinulan soldiery who clustered around the only catapult that still looked serviceable. They moved quickly, despite their heavy armor, and in a matter of moments the defenders were down and the way was--

There. On the far side of the open space between earthworks and gates stood a lone figure, arms sweeping through a series of graceful gestures. No doubt it was speaking as well, but Pallian couldn't hear it over the screaming and roaring and the crackle of new flames. He lifted his blade again, just as the sorcerer stepped back behind something that hadn't been there a moment before. Damn it. 

It was tall and pale and misshapen, a lump of flesh given the faintest approximation of human form; it was also about nine feet tall. He sprayed it with a burst of levin-fire from his blade, but it merely shook itself like a wet dog and lumbered forward to meet him. 

Very well, Pallian thought. The hard way. He gathered himself, and sprang across the trenches.

Duendewood Resistance: Music, Merriment, and Mayhem

"Are they gone?" asked Sherra in a soft whisper. 

She was lying under a blanket of leaves in the forest outside High Grove, one Evrimon had been kind enough to call down over all of them. 

"Yes," answered Sam, sounding vaguely disappointed. "They're gone."

Evrimon paused to scratch his saber-tooth tiger, then raised his head above the leaves. "We should still go." 

"I could have taken them," said Sam. Her smile held more fangs than Sherra remembered from when they'd first met; she was growing into her draconic nature. Sherra didn't mind; Sam was still Sam. 

"Yes," agreed Leander the Elf, "but the rest of us couldn't have, and Sherra's shadowy escape probably threw them off our trail. Plus, if they think we're any sort of threat, they'll send a team of Solari after us." He was back in his halfling body, looking faintly disgusted as he brushed himself off. 

"Will they?" asked Sherra. "...think us a threat?"

"I don't think so," answered Leander. "You just stepped out of their reach. That's fairly typical bard fare, I doubt they think you're anything more than that."

"Damn it," said Sam. "I want to be murdering things, not just making up songs about the moral turpitude of the King in the North, no matter how catchy those songs might be."

Sherra shrugged. "The idea is to distract him, and cast doubt on his power. As quick as he is to take down anyone who mocks him, that doesn't seem like a bad -- or difficult -- strategy."

"...And the tune really is catchy," added Evrimon, whistling a few bars.

Challenge: Goals

(This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. You can find links to other writers' answers over at Long and Short Reviews.)

Prompt: My goals for 2023

Honestly, my goals for 2023 aren't that much different than my goals for 2022 were: 

• Sleep more, drink less, and exercise more
• Finish a book and get it published or at least submitted. 

I also have some subsidiary goals, like: 

• Put more patches on the Patch Jacket Mark II. 
• Start up Duolingo again.
• Make sure the boys stay up to date on school work and grades.

But mostly? Take better care of myself, and write. 

How about you?

Good!Party: Crime Bosses

So, Ruin and Marshall and Martini have returned to Caristhium with King Mythrandril; Ruin and Marshall have no memory of Martini murdering King Luc, and Mythrandril isn’t about to mention. 

Tavros, Leira, Geddy, and Eva, meanwhile, headed off to Brightland to treat with the crimelords that took over there. There are three families in charge there. Paolo Carbone heads the biggest and most powerful family. Next up is the Sperito family, headed by Francois Sperito who run boats up and down the river. Third is the Benoit gang, headed by Julen Benoit: protection, hitmen, and the darker side of these activities. 

Geddy considers his bardic knowledge; these families are common knowledge and topics of theater. The Carbone family probably just wants more power and more control. They’re probably trying to position themselves as the new counts. They have the clubs and a lot of the nightlife. The Sperito family has probably taken a hit from the war, because the river isn’t as safe and the trade routes for smuggling are gone. The Benoit gang probably just wants to be able to have some stability and protection – maybe a respectable politician to hide behind. They have a lot of conflict with the other two, being more violent crime and less… disciplined. So the other two have been trying to keep them in line, which the Benoit gang kind of resents. 

The town of Brightland is pretty clean; it doesn’t look like the war has really come home here. There are some local militia and guards around, wearing simple but matching outfits – not Brightland, but somebody has bankrolled custom uniforms. Shops are open, and people are out on the street; there are even some merchants’ carts going back and forth. There are no beggars at all, which seems… wrong. 

We start looking around for an inn or tavern, and just generally sight-seeing; we’re obviously a group, but maybe not eye-catchingly purposeful. We step into a tavern at mid-afternoon; a bard is playing, a barmaid bustling. The barmaid brings us four mugs of ale. Leira manages to find someone who’s heard of Sacha. 

Apparently this guy talked to a merchant a while back, who was traveling through the Garamond area – which is lawless and wild. The merchant got jumped by a bunch of skeletons, when out of nowhere the guy with a flaming sword showed up and saved him. Told him to give thanks Helios for the help. 

Leira: “That must be Sacha.”

Tavros: “It does rather sound like him.”

We stop for an early dinner and listen to the chatter in the tavern. As we finish the first round of ale, a different server comes over and asks if we want more ale. 

Geddy: “Shift change?” 

Waitress: “No, Marsha just stepped out the back.”

Literally none of us believe that. 

Geddy sells the barmaid on the idea that we’re here in town looking for Sacha. She tells Leira that she’s seen too many people looking for lost loved ones. After a minute she comes back with our second round and some food. After about thirty minutes our first server returns and starts clearing the table like nothing happened. 

In the process, she knocks over a plate and stops to clean it up… and uses the motion to knock a note into Geddy’s lap. It’s an invitation to come to the keep and meet with the lords Carbone and Sperito. It’s addressed to King Tavros. It’s at exactly that moment that the bard begins playing Geddy’s song. 

“Well, I suppose we can hardly refuse,” observes Tavros. We finish our meal and head up to the keep. 

We head up to the keep, where we’re greeted by guards in that same simple uniform. “Please, come inside. They’re expecting you, lords and ladies.” 

Tavros and Geddy hold a quick strategy session, and then we proceed into the audience chamber. There’s a long desk inside, with several chairs; it’s covered with papers. There are a few people behind the table, and one of them stands and comes to Tavros, then bows. “My king. It is a pleasure to meet you when we have been administrating your lands.”

Tavros: “It is a pleasure to meet with such a loyal subject.”

He invites us to a more private setting. We follow him into a side-room, and take our seats. A servant comes in and places a book in front of Tavros. It’s a ledger of some sort. 

“It’s a gift: a ledger of all the transactions in Brightland since the death of the last lord of Brightland.” 

Tavros: “I am given to understand that the citizens are happy, and we could do far worse in terms of leadership.”

Basically, Paolo wants us to clear out Flowerhedge (vampires) and Rockdale (Iron Company, well-established mercenary company), so he can offer those as baronies. The Carbone and Sperito families are prepared to declare for Tavros if Tavros is willing to support him as Count of Brightland. Tavros is willing. Sperito would like to talk to us also. 

Francois Sperito is less polish, and brings his son Amboise in as well; he asks why we don’t want to recruit the vampires to our side. 

Tavros: “I have this horrible vision of us bringing a thousand vampiric foot-soldiers onto the field of battle, only to have them immediately turn their loyalties over to the solari-hunter known as Chuck. 

Francois: “You’re not a fool, then. Good. Perhaps Paolo was right about you.”

We spend the evening moving around the town. Geddy and Eva go to check off a few dens of iniquity. There are definitely some issues, but the families still sound like the best deal going. They haven’t really had to fight off the demons yet – there are too many easier targets closer to Springmage. The protection money is higher than the taxes were, but at least some of the shopkeepers feel like they’re getting more out of it. They’ve also opened up some hospitals, so they apparently believe in keeping illness off the streets. 

Geddy decides to not share all of this with Tavros. Tavros and Leira take the opportunity to shop for clothes, so they can make the proper impression. We blow about 7,500 GP getting proper clothing for everybody: royal outfits for Tavros, and noble outfits for everybody. 

We roll into Flowerhedge just after dawn. The town is a disaster: houses shuttered and windows boarded up. The streets are strewn with broken barrels and wagons. The central keep of the castle in Flowerhedge is still standing, but all the windows have been boarded up and the balconies have been covered with curtains. 

Tavros detects evil, and there’s a lot of evil. 

A woman walks out of the gate and introduces herself as Elvira. She’s completely naked, and buxom, and appears to be human and not undead. She also appears to be possessed by a vampire. She starts pitching us on the idea of recruiting a vampire army, and they have apparently been keeping their numbers in check and keeping the humans as herds. 

Geddy takes point on talking to her. He tries to sell her on maybe moving somewhere else. They’re… not that interested. 

Tavros runs out of patience and starts forward, and the possessed shell being controlled by Elvira casts Horrid WIlting on us, followed by a quickened Fireball. Tavros steps over and slaps her silly; she drops, unconscious. Geddy heals Leira with a Mass Cure Moderate, bringing the group back up. Eva casts Shield on herself. Angry screeching comes from the gatehouse. 

Something tries to push into Leira’s mind, but she shakes it off. Tavros strides forward and shoves the gate up into the gatehouse. Geddy casts Haste. 

Vampire Spawn can come out in daylight. They emerge from the pond, the fountain, the barn, the windows of the gatehouse, A bunch of them fall on Tavros, swarming him. Eva Springs up above the wall and looses a cone of fire over the ones coming out of the pond. Swarms of vampire spawn catch fire; many of them fall. Leira casts a quicked Fly, rises into the air where she can see over the walls, and then drops a quickened Sunburst to fill the entire courtyard with sunlight. She follows it up with a quickened Greater Invisibility. 

Helios would be proud. 

Tavros swings his blade around, but the vampires are crawling all over him; he is buried in a pile of vampires. One of the vampire swarms moves towards Geddy, who has started singing. Eva tries to intercept them, coming down from the air with a crush attack. Leira drops another Sunburst inside the courtyard, and then drops a pair of quickened fireballs on the ones outside the walls, taking out two of the swarms. 

Geddy stops singing, which seems… out of character for him. Tavros is still taking damage from the swarm, and it’s… costing him character levels, which is bad. Eva takes some damage and also some negative levels. Leira takes out two of the swarms with a fireball, and also burns Geddy a bit. Eva is absorbing half of the damage he takes, so he’s doing better than he has any right to do. Leira drops two more fireballs, damaging more vampire spawn. 

“Geddy” casts a fireball up into the sky, and then casts a quickened Greater Invisibility on himself and moves away. Tavros takes more damage and loses more levels. 

Leira drops fireballs on everybody. One of the swarms goes down, then another. A spell slams into Eva but fails to get through her spell resistance, then another. Eva takes more damage from the swarm of vampire spawn. She sets fire to  the swarm under her, then flaps up into the air. Leira kills the swarm on Tavros with Magic Missile, then hits the one below her with Scorching Ray and follows up with a quickened scorching ray… and, miraculously, finishes it. 

Tavros gets hit with Finger of Death, but manages to shake off the death effect and survives. Unfortunately the Ray of Enfeeblement hits him, for strength damage. Tavros staggers over to under Eva. Eva bolts over to where she last saw Geddy do things, and casts Glitterdust; a Geddy-shaped outline appears. Leira casts Greater Dispel at him. 

Geddy shakes back to consciousness. Everybody’s glaring at him, and Tavros looks like hell. We withdraw, and find an inn with a hot bath. Tavros takes the formerly-possessed human with him, with the intention of getting her away from the vampires and back into clothing. 

We’re going to need Restoration, We teleport to Clovis Cloverfield for it.