The Bard's Tale: A New Journey

Discussion in 'The Temple of Elemental Evil' started by J'allan UlDragos, Apr 20, 2011.

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  1. J'allan UlDragos

    J'allan UlDragos Dragon Warrior

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    The Bard's Tale: A New Journey to Hommlett

    WORK IN PROGRESS!!!


    *** Notes on the Following ***

    My first attempt at an ongoing "story" of sorts, chronicling my path and method of playing TOEE with my favorite group of characters. Obviously I am a bit of a "consoler" LOL if you understood my descriptions following below. Here, my heroes are gathered once again in the ubiquitous Co8 shopmap, Level 1, with little but their wits, a few gold coins, and maybe a few weapons gained from the character generation process. I chose NG as my party alignment. I can post stats if anyone is actually interested. Basically, I also as noted below "gift" a level (or 2?) and 2 signature items to make the group feel like they were the heroes I had played previously. All but one of my characters is multi-class, and I like having them start as a multi-class character. As many times as I have played this game, it's a bit of a grind to get started with a flexible party. Any more levels or gear, and the game becomes easier than it should be in the beginning. Maybe, I will eventually write some actual fantasy stories around these characters - I feel I have gotten to know them enough with multiple TOEE playthroughs! Still have yet to actually complete the game though ... I usually get to a certain point in the game, then Co8 releases another excellent modpack. :) or ... TOEE corrupts some saves LOL even having 30 or so saves cannot "save" you. Start from an earlier save? or start the new modpack - I choose the latter.

    Any TOEE veterans here know what I'm talking about - time to roll 'em up again and try the new features out! Well, I like these characters ... I have tried experimenting with some other builds, and creating joke or other themed characters as well ... and yet I keep returning to these 5 individuals i have created, and this game. So here goes! I will possibly keep adding to the "journal" if this is a fun read for anyone out there. Not sure if I have found the right literary "voice" to use yet for telling the tale, but here goes! Hope someone enjoys it! :)

    Cheers to Co8 for their continued hard work at breathing new life into this game, and world, so that we can keep adventuring in it...

    **** **** ****


    With a great Flash, suddenly all around him blurred and then quieted. Opening his eyes, he took in his surroundings.

    Almost to himself, he spoke. "It seems I have returned." He looked around and noticed that he was not alone, and was glad to see the companions with whom he had shared many a road. He was the bard, oftentimes party leader and spokesperson of this group. He trusted them with his life, and they did the same - a trust built from countless shared difficulties surmounted together while questing. Here, that road would start anew...

    As this Tale's chronicler, I also realize party introductions are in order. I am very familiar with my companions and all their previous exploits and abilities, but with the omniscient view of a Bard and narrator I realize that YOU are not.

    "Ahem, Dear Reader, pardon as I take a few moments to introduce them and myself to you."
    J'allan UlDragos speaks in an imposing voice, inflecting in a dramatic manner. The companions look around, amused. Time comes to a stop.

    I am called J'allan UlDragos, and I am (a Chaotic Good) bard by trade. As such I have traveled and experienced much through many, many worlds ... from a place of crystals, chocobos and moogles where fantasies are said to be final and yet neverending, to the rolling hills of Alefgard and it's slime ridden environs under the dread sway of the DragonLord, to the many trials facing the Sword Coast and the city of Baldur's Gate, to the Ten Towns region of chilly Icewind Dale, to the backstreets and slums of New Phlan, the depths of the mazes beneath the mythic city of Lylgamyn, the myriad challenges facing the fair city of Skara Brae, to the trials and tribulations facing the city of Neverwinter, and so many more adventures - I have chronicled them all. Hundreds of quests I have been on, yet I keep returning to this place...

    I hail from Skara Brae originally, and do miss that fair city. I was part of the intrepid band that freed it from the clutches of Mangar long ago. Here, I am a barbarian half-elf bard, and I wield the barbarian long sword and shield, and am a fine shot with a crossbow. The magic of my lute has the ability to call forth creatures to defend me and my companions. It is said that not just fey elven blood, but also the blood of dragons is in my lineage. At one time, I even served that legendary king of the Round Table, Arthur, under the tutelage of Myrddin, also known as Merlin the sorcerer. I have been entrusted with safeguarding the legendary sword Excalibur, until it is needed by the Pendragon again, and I can summon it to my person at will.

    Jaana Flamehair is a tall, imposing (Lawful Good) human beauty with long flaming tresses and a fiery demeanor to match. Hailing from a small hamlet near a far-off placed called Neverwinter, she was in that world a virtuous and powerful Paladin of Sune. Her passionate and hot-tempered personality is only somewhat cooled and restrained by her view of Justice and Right in her chosen profession. In serving the Flaming Lady of Goodness, Love and Passion, she had been blessed with an almost otherworldly beauty as a race that does not exist on this plane - those known in that place as Aasimar. It seems that her other amazing abilities granted by that race do not function here, but her terrible and wondrous beauty remains. As her deity does not exist here on this plane, she has chosen Heironeous as a deity of Justice and Virtue to serve. A master of the Greatsword, she also is very proficient with a tower shield and longsword, or her weapon of choice in this world - an enchanted Ransuer lance, Flamestrike. Girded in shining mithril plate and a brilliant helm, she leads the party into battle. A Holy silver mace dangles from her belt for situations where blunt force is called for. Sneering at the use of projectile weapons, she glories in engaging her enemies at close range. She is an accomplished party leader, but chooses to lead from the battlefield with her strength of arms and combat prowess, rather than make all party decisions, and defers to my leadership as a barbarian bard; a warrior skald who has traveled through many worlds, when diplomacy or other things more subtle are called for.

    My half brother is the (Chaotic Good) half-elf Aerich Dragonsbane - a legendary battler of dragons as evidenced by his surname; not only that of course, but in deeds as well! He hails from Alefgard, though he is not from that place - where his ancestor is there known as Erdrick the Great, the slayer of the dread DragonLord. Here he is an accomplished ranger and rogue, skilled with dual-wielding bastard swords and an expert marksman with the longbow. He has been known to loose three arrows at once, and all unerringly strike their mark. He has heard that at least one dragon lives in these lands, but in all our adventures here, we have yet to encounter one. He also carries a Hero's Shield, for those situations wherein a dragon's dread breath might be involved and cover need to be sought. His enchanted leather armor is stocked with tiny vials of potions and venoms and daggers as a signature of his rogue abilities, when the situation calls for stealth or subterfuge. His affinity with nature has enabled him to call upon creatures of the wild to follow him, and his constant companion is a fiercely loyal black-maned female wolf named Kanen, with whom he is very close. He is an accomplished tracker.

    The large and cheerful (True Neutral) half-orc Bruin Brokentooth hails from the Ten Towns region, and his combat prowess is unmatched! Despite his huge and muscled frame, outside of the battlefield he is calm and contemplating, a mark of his incredible wisdom. This was learned from many years of quiet solitude. Cast out from his tribe because he was not a Trueblood Orc, he learned the ways of the forest and became a druid by communing with the Wild he was forced into. Though his mind is simple, he is no dumb brute. He has learned the quiet ways of Nature, and has been gifted with Her immeasurable strength. He normally wields a simple unassuming quarterstaff, but carries a virtual armory of weapons in a leather bag slung over his enormous frame that he can draw from and wield with unmatched barbarian ferocity, including a great Flaming Waraxe. He has an unusual affinity with bears of all kinds, and one is invariably following him on his adventures in distant lands. He is a remarkable combatant even unarmed. It is rumored that he can even shapeshift into the forms of the bears that follow him, an ability learned while communing with the Wild.

    Lastly, there is the ethereal and lithe (Neutral Good) elf Celeste Morningstar. She is full elven, and a ranked wizard of the divination school. She is also a cleric of Pelor, and master of the Good and Sun clerical domains. She wields in battle an enchanted Holy longbow that shoots flaming bolts, and a glowing celestial mace that shines like the sun with Holy energy. Her familiar, an elegant raven named Nevermore, is her constant companion. He has the annoying habit of saying his name, over and over ... much to the chagrin of the party, but his intellect has made her an excellent appraiser of magical items that come into the party's possession. She is a quiet and bookish woman, darkly beautiful in her own way, and is almost always lost in reading her many magical tomes secreted about her person, or called from other magical planes. It is she who has called us here, time and again to save the worthy citizens of Hommlett and Verbobonc from certain destruction at the hands of the evil hordes that hide in and around the Temple of Elemental Evil.


    A chill washed over his face as he speaks this dread name ... and time begins to slowly move again ...

    Of course, as we have just been re-summoned here, we do not have our previous equipment or skills and experiences - just the echoes of memories of them...The bard J'allan UlDragos finishes intoning, and time fully resumes.

    "We have returned to the Last Home, the Dwelling between Worlds. It is good to see you all again." He grinned broadly.

    "I hear the wizards of the great Circle of Eight have been busy working their arcane magics in this worldsrealm, and that there may have been changes to the Road we have faced before..."

    He noticed as usual the room was outfitted comfortably, as if it was a small common inn in some quaint rustic town. However, it's halls were strangely silent of the noise, bustle and cheer such places usually had. Instead, all that could be heard was the warm crackle of the fire and the cheery light cast from it and the several torches and candles about the room. The room was warm and inviting, but the eerie quiet always was a bit unnerving and a sign of the dangers on the road to come, and the power of this magical place.

    As was customary when appearing in this place, he and his friends were not properly equipped, but instead wore rough cotton and hemp farmers garb. This was an odd thing, for none of them, aside from the very huge and hulking half-orc who grinned at him as he surveyed the room could ever be considered one who had tilled the earth for a living. All of them, though, were veterans of this place and the road to come, so they accepted this turn of events as it had transpired before.

    Also, though they all retained more or less most of their memories from experiences shared on the road that lay before them, again, those experiences were not manifest in the skills and abilities they had earned through combat, or the quests they had previously completed. The magic that had summoned them here took those earned abilities away, and started them over as if they were apprentices once more in their careers or trade. This was an unfortunate inconvenience - but as they sometimes remembered their previous journeys in this world, it was of small consequence. They were accomplished veterans and heroes in many other worlds than this one, and would once again take up this particular challenge.

    However, the bard had noticed within minutes of appearing here, many of those memories adapted and became hidden to the others, until the situations that brought them about occurred again. HIS memory did not do this, which was always to him a distinct advantage. He retained every last memory.

    "So," he said to the group. "When the Voice spoke to you this time, did any of you make any special selections or requests before we appeared here?" He paused. "I asked for a repeating crossbow ... and here it is! Excellent!" There it was, in his pack. He checked the weapon. Of plain but serviceable manufacture, it would serve him well.

    Jaana eyed him coolly. "I asked for my family's heirloom silver plate mail, but I arrived in this .." She touched the rough fabric distastefully. Her exquisite mouth formed a decidedly perturbed frown. ".. thing ..." she trailed off angrily. Jaana was furious, her violet eyes flared dangerously. "I simply cannot go adventuring unless I am appropriately equipped," she said haughtily. "Who would ever wear such clothes as these? It's simply unbearable."

    The deep gravelly voice of Bruin swelled upon them like a wave, he spoke very slowly and carefully but plainly. "We.. all.. have been given these... simple garments. Do look, see shiny chests... over there. We should .. look in them." Bruin looked up hopefully.

    "You speak with wisdom, dear Bruin" said Celeste in her elegant and melodious voice. "But first I must tell of a Vision from the gods I must share with you all." She paused and whispered to the raven in her pack, who fluttered forth, flapping and croaking with the glee of being freed from the confined space. When he had alighted on her shoulder, she continued. "We have all been granted a great boon, and two incredibly valuable gifts each for the dedicated service we have rendered here, in our previous journeys."

    She looked at each of them very seriously with her dark eyes. The raven made a small cackle, and again was silent. Aerich laughed, lounging against the nearby stone wall.

    "You'd think they would just return all of it." He looked up and grinned. Celeste pursed her lips and shushed him, giving a quick glare and continued while stroking the raven.

    "We have all been granted back a small measure of our previous memories and experiences." As evidence of this, golden crosses encircled by a golden ring appeared briefly before each of their faces, before fading just as quickly away again. Each felt more energized than before, and better prepared. Bruin bowed his head in thanks, and Aerich laughed again. "Yeah, that's a bit more like it." He looked in his empty pockets, and drawled "so how much money do we have?"

    J'allan as the leader consulted the group purse. "Not much I am afraid," he said quickly, shaking the contents out in his palm. "Not even enough to outfit half of us properly." He frowned.

    "So what about these gifts?" Jaana demanded. I am NOT happy with this trashy garment. It is not befitting a Lady or Knight of my stature."

    "... or charms." chimed in Aerich with that smile again. Jaana smiled somewhat icily, demurring in a soft voice "why thank you Aerich" and then ignoring him.

    Celeste consulted her familiar again, then said "All of you please examine your packs!"

    Each of them complied. Jaana drew forth a a large new sack of coins, and a shining helm from her pack.

    "Oh, that is a PRICELESS gift!" J'allan breathed. "A Helm of Brilliance!" the others did not know what this item was, though Celeste paused as if she heard a far-off voice. She spoke, her eyes looking distant "A word of caution. This gift does little now but protect your head as any other helm, but in the future after you have faced many trials and tribulations, you will face a difficult choice. When you choose to forever forsake the path of a Paladin, and choose another sacred path, the abilities of this helm will become open to you. You will retain your Paladin skills and abilities, but can advance as one no further." Celeste shuddered, and became herself once more. The raven clucked and preened itself.

    "Why would I want that?" Jaana turned the helm in her hands, admiring it's flawless construction. "Well, it is rather beautiful. AND, now at least I can afford some appropriate armor for a Paladin. I'll be back," and with that she walked towards the chests in the back of the room, pulling off and discarding the drab farmers garb as she went. Aerich whistled and quickly followed her, saying "well, you might need some help putting the armor on..." and the two disappeared around the corner towards the back of the room.

    J'allan sighed, and Celeste raised a delicate eyebrow. "Of course he means he'd rather help her take it off, ... but" he shrugged. "That's my brother!" He changed the subject. "So Celeste, what is in your pack?" He peered in as she drew out a voluminous pure white robe, and a bluish white staff.

    He stared in amazement. "Those are priceless gifts as well!" He drew out and considered his pack. "What could possibly be in mine?" There was a brassy old horn that radiated a faint magical energy, and a small tan sack tied with a blue silken cord with two small bells, one red and one golden.

    There was the sound of some commotion, a loud banging and clanging noise followed by a period of muffled laughter, then silence. In a few moments Jaana and Aerich returned, both outfitted smartly in new armor and gear. Jaana was resplendent in a rich purple cloak and a shining silver breastplate, engraved greaves and gauntlets, and soft black leather boots. The Helm of Brilliance shone atop her head and the spill of red-gold curls that tumbled out upon the regal cloak. Aerich now wore scaled leather armor and leather boots and gloves to match, and an orange cloak.

    "Brother, is that another coin pouch? I'm afraid we have exhausted this one, but for a few coppers." This he tossed to his brother, and sank back into the comfortable leather chair behind him, lacing his fingers behind his head.

    "No, I'm afraid this is something else altogether, a bag of tricks..." he winked. "Ok the rest of us will need to outfit with the remaining coins. Aerich, what were your gifts?"

    "Only these fine leather gauntlets, and THIS!" He produced not one but two huge blades that had been strapped to his back as he sprang from the chair, twirling them expertly. One bastard sword was obviously mundane, but the other shone with a magical brilliance.

    After one more perfectly timed swing, he rested both enormous blades casually on his shoulders, grinning ear to ear. "Not bad, huh?"

    Celeste once again spoke in that far-off droning voice, intoning "This magnificent blade has a twin in this world, guarded by a great and malevolent beast, an infernal demon. Acquiring it will not be an easy task..." She shuddered, and resumed stroking the raven as it perched on her staff.

    "Ah, not a problem! Hey, maybe that means it's guarded by a dragon! Sounds like just what I am looking for!" He glanced at Jaana, who pretended to look away in feigned disinterest.

    J'allan recalled that this beast was not the dragon his brother hoped for, and WAS a truly fearsome foe. He stayed silent on this, at this time. "It is a truly worthy blade, Brother."

    Bruin now spoke quietly "I have ... received, these blessings." He presented a finely engraved belt, and a sigil and charm carved from animal bones and tusks that was on a leather beaded necklace. "When worn, ... I ... feel great strength? ... and ... protection." J'allan chuckled, and Aerich laughed saying "Ha, as if you needed any more strength! You'll be able to pick up a Hill Giant's ugly mother!" Bruin paused, as if to consider this thoughtfully.

    "Why would ... I do that? That would not.. be.. an advantage." He frowned. "What goes up, must also come down, ... Does Aerich mean throw?" He appeared puzzled. Aerich was laughing too hard to answer.

    "Brother, I do not get your jokes either" J'allan quietly said. "perhaps you need to work on the punchline?" He sighed.

    J'allan surveyed the group, and was about to speak when Celeste leaned forward earnestly, her far-away voice intoning "These gifts may not be sold, as they are a gift from the gods, or they will forsake you, and never more offer their protection!" She leaned on the staff heavily, while the raven flew about the room madly croaking "Nevermore! Nevermore! Nevermore!" before swiftly flying back into her pack in a flurry of feathers.

    Aerich laughed nervously. "Sometimes that pet of yours really creeps me out."

    J'allan cleared his throat and addressed the group. "Alright, we have less than 500 gold left."

    Looking through the equipment chests, he selected a sword and shield, bolts for his crossbow, and and suit of tanned leather armor, with matching gloves and boots. He also pulled on a blue cloak to keep him warm on the road. Jaana selected a ransuer, and a long sword and shield. Aerich selected two throwing daggers, and a longbow and arrows to add to his pack. Celeste quietly slung a longbow over her shoulder as well, and added a morningstar to her pack. She selected a white cloak, and soft black leather boots as well as gloves.

    Bruin went last. As he carefully viewed the weapons left in the chest, then drew out his selections, he noticed there were only a few coins left. His orcish features wrinkled up, then he sighed. He selected a Great Axe, and the fur cloak. There was no more money.

    J'allan looked the assembled group over, asking "Everyone ready?" He frowned and noticed that Bruin's great big greenish tinged feet did not have boots. "Bruin, did you forget something? The road before us will be long and arduous ... It would not be a good idea to leave here barefoot."

    "But, that is how... I entered. The Road.. I am sure... will provide." Bruin scratched his bald head. "We go. No more money." He shrugged.

    "Alright, everyone prepare to move out!" J'allan loaded his crossbow, and inspected the members preparedness. Gear was packed, spells selected and memorized, and they rested briefly. Then the group moved toward the south of the room, where a blue light pulsed along the floor. They stepped into the light.... and were whisked away to...

    TO BE CONTINUED!!!
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2011
  2. sirchet

    sirchet Force for Goodness Moderator Supporter

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    Nice, waiting for the next installment. ;)
     
  3. General Ghoul

    General Ghoul Established Member

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    The Bard's Tale was one of the gretest CRPG ever!
     
  4. J'allan UlDragos

    J'allan UlDragos Dragon Warrior

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    Yes indeed, sir! LOL I unfortunately was only able to play it on the NES, and not the REAL original version(s). I wish they would produce a full remake, keeping the original feel or one that was playable on a modern system...

    The one made more recently for the PS2 and PC, XboX 360 was entertaining, but not the same... Would have been GREAT if that game had as an Easter egg a version of the original game!!! :)
     
  5. cezmail

    cezmail Gorboth's Rider

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    Liked the story start, so look forward to more. :)
     
  6. General Ghoul

    General Ghoul Established Member

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    You should be able to find the original on freeware sites and play it in a DOS box. I recently found the original city map in a box in the attic, with my marking where the sewer entrances were.
     
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