5684 - tarandracon - Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:12 am

[[Taran]] Having had no time to hulch in disbelief at the fantastic events that transpired so quickly back on the other side of the arch, through the arch, and beyond the arch, Taran tried to dismiss them still as he ran after the man he knew only as Trask, a man whose only connection to himself were orders from the orc shaman Arahk Gnahk, posing as the wizard Khara Khang (as he believed the correct facade to be). Orders to stop him, then orders to chase after him, through the mystical arch.

Having settled into the pace of the chase, Taran briefly turned his attention to the human female running alongside him. Neither had thought much in the way of introductions, sparing only moments to take in the amazing scenery and its effect on their breaths. "Ugh, who are you?" he grunted to the woman in his typical brusque orcish mannerism, which was accented with audial jolts by his clumsy sprint with a crossbow in hand and impaired dexterity [due to the drain the worm placed on him for opening the portal to get into this adventure in the first place!]. She'd jumped at Arahk's orders just as quickly as he had, and he'd automatically grouped her into the camp of allies. He hoped that was actually the case.

Editor's Note: I have included a lot of out of character correspondence/posts below. Skip here for the next (and last) in-character post.

[[OOC]] Ok Shrsholn, I'm in! I have many many questions, but instead of trying to spoil the fun of discovery, I'll try to hold most of them back. One I would like to ask is if Taran and Dijani's character sheets need to be amended or updated in any way for thier stay in Aqmlk/Blood. Also I want to make sure our stats are in order--see the archive site for our latest stats including drains to INT and DEX for Taran and a very low CON for Dijani. Also, I have Dijani's essence as 18+ since I don't know how much more above her previous max of 18 she gained from the transfer from Silkervish. Plus, does Dijani still feel as if she can cast spells? Does Taran still feel magically connected to his wizard symbiant worm? How badly do they feel like fish out of water?! Ok, I guess I had a lot of questions after all, LOL!

Looking forward to the continuing adventures...
--Ben/Taran the ORC!

P.S. Anybody else want to come along for the ride? (Hey, the more friendlies to watch Taran's back, the better!)

5818 - Shrsholn - Thu Sep 2, 2004 4:28 pm

Ben,

Let's wait for Installment 2 of "Guild Houses of Blood" in TROK, as the essential T&T conversions are detailed there.

Looking forward to gaming on Aqmlk with you. Anyone else that would like to join, just realisde that this isn't your run-of-the-mill T&T game. If that's cool, you are more than welcome.

Pax Christi,
-Shrsholn

[e-mail correspondence excerpt] - Shrsholn - Fri Sep 3, 2004 8:03 am

Does Dijani still feel as if she can cast spells? Does Taran still feel magically connected to his wizard symbiant worm? How badly do they feel like fish out of water?!

Ben, look at the Guild Houses of Blood Installment 2 in the new TROK when it comes out. That's how I'd like the characters organised, but I'll be glad to help you out -- especially with "Orc" stat conversions. < mischevious giggle> Taran ought to have a howling good time.

[e-mail correspondence excerpt] - Shrsholn - Fri Oct 15, 2004 2:09 pm

Editor's Note: For a while, Shrsholn and I corresponded on how to convert Taran and Dijani over to the Guild Houses of Blood game's variant (based on T&T) rules but ultimately she decided she could not continue the game. For fun I have included some of our discussion on what could have been. I had asked what race Taran would have converted to, after seeing the dog-man race in the rules.

I'll gladly answer any questions you have. Anticipating one: No, the Half-Abbekgorru are not what Taran is. He's a full-blooded Abbekgorru.

-Kyrinn

6083 - ericeick - Thu Sep 2, 2004 4:28 pm

Editor's note: Meanwhile, back at the BFT, another adventure, among many to have been started since Hands of Thieves began three years and more than three thousand posts ago, is brewing (Goblin Crag). I offer an excuse for why Taran won't be in the adventure.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) Taran is tied up elsewhere/when so I'll have to put a new character together, and I won't be able to deliver that until this weekend.

6088 - tarandracon - Sat Nov 6, 2004 11:23 pm

6106 - misfit_sprite - Mon Nov 8, 2004 1:11 am

6111 - jaxdracon - Mon Nov 8, 2004 11:11 am

But this is assuming that Taran's offworld jaunt occupies measurable time with respect to Trollworld. If Khara's next installment occurs before Shrsholn finishes her game, then we'll probably go with this assumption.

[e-mail correspondence excerpt] - tarandracon - Tue May 31, 2005 12:17 pm

Should we officially pull the plug on the Blood game or should we try to convert Taran and continue the adventure?

I'd love to continue his Mars-adventure as an abekgorru (spelling is wrong, forgive me) but if you realistically think it'll never happen or continue, please let me know and I'll figure out some kind of deus ex machina to get him back to someone else's campaign/world.

[e-mail correspondence excerpt] - Shrsholn - June, 2005

Please, enjoy Taran with a more dedicated GM.

-Kyrinn

[e-mail correspondence excerpt] - tarandracon - Tue June 7, 2005 11:25 am

I will do some deus ex Machina and pull Taran into someone else's game or back to Khazan anyway. In the meantime, I guess I won't convert Taran into a Mars planet dogman anyway, and do something clever to pull him back into regular Trollworld with his buddies.

If you have even the slightest interest, will you award any AP or any wierd side effects for Taran's brief tenure in HoT and even briefer appearance on Aqvlk? [sic] And also any AP for Dijani's more extensive participation in HoT? I completely understand if you don't want to even think about this anymore. I suppose I should request you hand out APs for all the surviving characters, but I think the folks other Dijani didn't do much anyway (including Taran).

Editor's note: Well I guess it is really up for debate if the other characters did "much" or not, but at the time I was only thinking about my character, wrapping up the Aqmlk thread, and getting Taran and Dijani back to Khazan! Apologies to Rogan and Thorne!

[e-mail correspondence excerpt] - Shrsholn - Tue, June 7, 2005 2:48 pm

I would personally advance each character one T&T level for all they've been through.

Editor's note: Dijani, Thorne, Rogan and Taran all raise one level for their final adventure point award during their "Hands of Thieves" tenure. Obviously, this takes into account the following epilog.

8141 - tarandracon - Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:36 am

[[OOC: When last we saw our intrepid heroine and hero, the wounded human female warrior-wizard Dijani and Taran the orc male warrior had run through the Chiliad Arch after Spurilous Trask, on order by Arahk Gnahk. As they sped across the surface of Aqmlk, Taran introduced himself to Dijani whom he had just met (see post 5684).

The GM, Shrsholn, intended to transform the campaign into one set on her fantastic world of Aqmlk (see post 5818). But plans could not be acted upon, and now "The Reward for the Hands of Thieves / Chiliad Arch" adventure officially ends with this post, as extracted from the minds of tarandracon and dijani_k, as sanctioned by Shrsholn, and as approved (on matters regarding the worm) by khara_khang.

For the complete archive and/or to refresh your memory of the entire Hands of Thieves / Chiliad Arch adventure, please see the up-to-date archive at http://rockdud.net/ben/tnt/hot . If you want, you can read the following epilog / final move at the archive, with all it's pretty colors. Heh!]]

[[Dijani]] "My name is Dijani," Dijanirhean Katarin said. Her assessment of the orc was simple: yet another grunt enlisted by her thin list of allies. She trusted him as far as she could throw him, but for now he seemed intent on capturing Trask, so she wasn't about to interrogate his motives.

[[Taran]] "Dijani? Ok. Well then, let's carry on!" he shouted as they continued their pursuit.

Dijani felt she could have cast a spell to aid in Trask's capture, but she was very wary of doing so. The place they had arrived buzzed of magic--she could sense it--but it also brimmed with unpredictability. This gave her caution and she heeded it, being extremely wounded herself.

Taran knew he couldn't easily load his crossbow while running, and he didn't want to pause and lose ground in order to load the weapon. He quickly holstered it in its shoulder holster.

Ultimately, then, it was a foot race.

Alas, despite their earnest pursuit, the atmosphere's taxing effects on their bodies was too great for them to sustain the run for very long. Spurilous Trask, for his part, had only increased the distance between himself and his pursuers. As if he were accustomed to the air and felt no ill effects from it! Taran wondered if Trask had used the portal to get to this place before. The thought of portals shifted his attention to his Talo Tattoo Worm symbiont. Usually he didn't feel it physically, but now that he dwelled on it, it seemed the thing was pulling at his skin, perhaps his very life. Just as Taran struggled to draw breath, he wondered if the worm were struggling. Suddenly the task of stopping Trask seemed unimportant. The suggestion of this reprioritization soon became an uncontrollable obsession and Taran stopped in his tracks, no longer in control of his own actions.

[[Dijani]] "What?!" Dijani barked, noticing Taran's sudden halt. She looked ahead. Trask was almost out of sight. She sighed and slowed to a halt, then walked back to the orc. Alone, she might continue the pursuit even if it meant tracking after he was gone from view. But alone and injured she would never subdue him, she knew.

[[Taran]] "This host is a fool!" Taran spoke, spitting. "I can not survive here! I will not die here!" Taran's gaze at first was on the horizon, but then he sniffed the air, and looked straight at Dijani. "You! You have power! Give it to me! I will open a portal and we can leave this place. This host does not have the power I need to compensate for... here." Taran's eyes had glazed over. It was clear to Dijani what was happening. This orc was under something's control. It fascinated her, yet....

[[Dijani]] "I will not leave without my catch," she offered angrily.

[[Taran]] Slumping to the ground, Taran's eyes began to roll into the back of his head but then the focus returned, obviously more weakly than before. As Taran shrinked into a tired crouch, the orc wheezed. "I am your only chance. Give me some of your life essence! This... world... is too foreign! I require more strength than this host can... offer...."

[[Dijani]] "I can run back to the arch and return when I like. I don't need you and I am not threatened in the least. Look at you, you're pathetic!" Dijani was confident she could retrace her steps. But she was definitely touting bravado in claiming the arch would not only still be there but also open for travel back the way they came. Now she was even more angry. Her only ally was an unstable mix of personalities, and now he presented himself as her only hope? It was absurd.

[[Taran]] "The arch... is closed to us. You know I am right. You... are wasting time." Taran drooped again and was now laying on the ground in a lump of strengthless flesh and armor. His breaths were even more shallow than before.

[[Dijani]] Dijani sensed that Taran--or whatever was speaking for him--was correct, and that the orc would not survive if left to his own devices. Somehow she knew she was cut off from her homeworld, that the portal had closed. She suspected it might be a one way trip, but never dreamed it would take her offworld. How would she get back? She typically thought the return trip would take care of itself during the quest. Only the adventure itslef, the hunt, the catch, mattered.

Dijani looked around. For the first time she realized she was out of her element so completely that it scared her. It made her uncertain of her own survival. She bent down and removed her custom-tailored gloves, stuffing them in a pocket of her tunic. Grabbing the orc's face, she drew upon the essence she'd absorbed from Silkervish and willed it into the orc at her feet. It wasn't so much a skill, or spell, but some kind of innate ability she instinctively surrendered to in order to accomplish the task. "Damn you orc, this had better work." Her breath billowed out in vanishing clouds of moisture between her gritted teeth and grimacing lips.

A headrush accompanied a sudden transfer of power, and soon she felt the power draining from her as if pulled. After a few seconds, a magical portal opened with a crackle and light show. Taran quivered slightly as his eyes fluttered, and this made her raise an eyebrow in curiosity. "Such... power..." the orc whispered, and he stopped breathing. Dijani's hands suddenly went cold and she jerked them off his dirty brown-green face. She felt sluggish, yet at the same time, she seemed herself again. The essence she had absorbed from Silkervish caused her to feel swollen, even bloated, and she never realized it at the time with the phenominal sense of might it gave her. In a way she was glad to be rid of it.

[Dijani's ESS drops from 18+ to 10, having given all the surpluss, and then some, to Taran. Taran's INT drops from 6 to 3, and his DEX drops from 8 to 5, from opening the portal. I establish that the foreign magical landscape was so incompatible with the talo tattoo worm that it needed more than its own magical ability to create a portal successfully. But where was it leading Taran now?]

The portal held only darkness inside. She could not see what lay beyond, but she had a sense that whatever was on the other side was a cosmos away.

Having trusted the orc, Dijani could not leave him behind now. Urgently, she picked him up. Taking one last glance at the stars that streaked in the horizon as if they were tethered and could not escape or fall, Dijani gritted her teeth. She spied the horizon in the direction she has last seen Trask. "So I fail in my quest." Dijani proclaimed a curse under her breath. "May another claim your hands for reward, thief! Death Goddess help you, if she even has influence here...."

With a shallow breath of frigid air, Dijani stepped through the portal, which swallowed them hungrily. Twenty seconds after the orc symbiont's power had opened it, the portal closed with a whimper. Soon, the dust swirling about Aqmlk's surface quickly removed all trace of the sprinters' brief journey.

[[OOC: And so it ends. Or begins? Where and when will Taran and Dijani pop up? That tale is for another GM to tell. But at least they are now free for other adventures and are not stuck in game-limbo on Aqmlk.

Inquisitive minds may wish to wonder why, if Taran was too weak for the worm to open a portal to escape Aqmlk, why the worm did not jump hosts to Dijani who was brimming with Essence (aka Wiz, or Kremm, etc. as used in Shrsholn house rules). I establish that it was too weak even to make that jump.]]

Shrsholn, it was fun while it lasted. Good luck with whatever adventure is in store for you next!

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone!

--Taran Dracon

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