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We roamed around the Forge a little bit, found the Hag, had a little fight there, and then she finished her ritual (Vim was controlled and Kev got knocked unconscious or something). We argued about which way to go, and then decided to not ignore the advice of Yidel and went back to get Vim. We found the skull where he had hidden it, but then he teleported back to the Maw. When the rest of the party got there, he ambushed us. The kicker was, he told the skull to possess Yorn...which it did.

Yorn escaped from the party and headed out of the Forge...

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Finally, once my brothers realize the evil that is Rahotep, we manage to destroy him. Once he is destroyed, the lay lines revert back to normal around his sarcophagus. We leave the ruins and head back to the oasis. We can definitely tell that we were successful, the black sand around the ruins is gone, and the water in the oasis is already starting to dry up.

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We played around a little more in the halls of the barbarian king and rescued the old lizardman king. He helped us and gave us some info but then acted in consort with Vim to hand the demon skull to the Hag...Gertrude had visions, and as we prepared to go after her Yorn had a chat with his deity.

He was instructed to bring the prince back home ASAP (here's a complimentary wand of T w/o E, 2 charges) and kill the hag after pitching her skull into the Maw. If not, the world pretty much ends and Ulyiad loses his god-hood. Of course, to keep the roster of gods full the Hag takes his spot.

This is a bad idea so we teleported into the hag's bedroom and started tearing up some lizardmen. We found the Maw (a big chasm in the ground) but still no Hag and no skull.

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Chancellor Artet

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Ok, I haven't given out XP in three months. I am a bad DM and should be spanked. Sakura, please report to my side of the DM screen immediately.

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The sun swept trees rustled with the morning wind. Prince William found the forest a perfect paradise and lounged indolently against one of the great trees. He was not familiar with the place, but that fact did not seem to bother him.

He wondered about that. Something at the back of his mind sensed that there should be something to worry about. Something he was sure that he should tell his father. But even those thoughts did not seem to arise any fire within him. It was just to comfortable laying in the sun and listening to the wind he supposed.

The hag grinned as she looked at the lazy figure of the boy within the orb. It had taken but one touch of his royal hand and the orb and simmered into nearly full life. Now all that was left was the girl's soul that would infuse the orb with it's full potential.

But twice now the orb had rejected the hags attempts to offer up the princess' soul. Twice now some other power had interfered. The hag feared that it might be the group of would be rescuers. That were even now creating havoc and infuriating her. She knew she needed to act quickly with the girl, but events were not going as planned.

With a sniff of contempt for the bunglers, she went back to brewing another potion. This had to be the right one. The one that would allow the orb it's last soul. The one that would truly give her power over the world.

The hag cackled loudly at the thought.

Gertrude found herself having another cold shiver.

Sometimes I wonder if I should see an anger management specialist or a therapist or whatever.

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We decided to keep looking for the Barbarian King's treasure vault so we could find the real five-eyed skull (the one to throw into the Maw). Along the way we found a group of about 20 lizardmen including one spellcaster (yikes!) and their leader, who was seated on the throne of the Barbarian king. We were in bad shape when we found him, but when he picked up this obsidian bastard sword it did two things. First, it let him throw lightning bolts (bad for us). Second, it made him explode in a ball of lightning (really good for us).

We looked a little bit more because we figured that whoever was casting spells was probably out...we found the vault and its five-eyed demon skull (good for us), but then it started messing with Vim's mind (bad for Vim, amusing for everyone else).

Next week: what do do with this skull? Has it melted Vim's brain? And what about the disease that three of us have? Finally, we have the prince...what now?

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The hag paced back and forth occasionally muttering to herself. And at other times, she outright screamed in rage. As the hag turned to look at her. Princess Annalita shrank back against the far wall of her cage. Her tears streaming down her face. She was terrified of this ugly woman and just wanted someone to take her home.

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We settled the question about who gets to be the new Great Hunter (nobody; Yidel has better things for his ancient barbarians to take care of) and continued on in the lizardmen's complex. We found an altar containing a water elemental that smoked Yorn stone dead; Kev then used Myra's sword to bring him back to life after much consternation.

Then Gertrude gave Yorn the third degree about coming back from the dead; she's not sure Yorn's telling the whole story.

Then we found a giant constrictor snake (scratch one snake) and killed a few lizardmen in their nesting room.

Next week we need to keep going into the temple and hopefully find some useful information.

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After a few moments of waiting down in the well, the water elemental appears. Teh GnomeWorks @ 7:49

"hey water dude, the lightning has been released. Michael Brandenburg @ 7:50

"Then favor repaid." Teh GnomeWorks @ 7:50

Can I ask you about one other thing? There is a door above here with similiar markings as the lightning's prison Michael Brandenburg @ 7:51

"Yuan-sera symbol. Not know forces well, but find later. Then came starfell. Yuan-sera end." Teh GnomeWorks @ 7:52

One more thing, are you trapped down here against your will? Michael Brandenburg @ 7:53

"No. Am spirit of lake." Teh GnomeWorks @ 7:54

If the yuan-sera are gone, is there anyone could is still around to help us understand this door? Michael Brandenburg @ 7:55

There is a long pause. Teh GnomeWorks @ 7:55
"Shaman from past knows, but river of time is fast, faster for some. But Dom knows, also. Hidden. City in the sea. Long ago, far from here." 7:57

Thank you, I do appreciate it. Michael Brandenburg @ 7:58

The elemental fades. Teh GnomeWorks @ 7:58
As you fly out, the voice of the elemental rushes in your ears, but distant, like echoes through water. "But caution. Hunted you are. Old and angry. Master of the symbols you found, made his after starfell. Ancient. Minions seek you."

We bashed through the wall into the lizardmen's place, busted some heads, then explored a little bit. We found an interesting room with a strange copper door and inside found a huge undead owlbear. We killed that, but then when it dropped two of the party ended up in a mirror of life trapping. It ate Kev and Vim. We couldn't figure out how to take care of the mirror, so we just broke it which released Kev, Vim, seven angry barbarians, and an owlbear.

We smoked the owlbear which was fine, but then the barbarians decided to worship Kev and Yorn as one of their Great Hunters. We just need to duel now...

Next week: What to do with seven barbarian hangers-on.

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We got out of the dragon's lair, leaving Talon behind. Then we continued traveling towards the lands of Obatiq (or however it's spelled). We pounded some lizardmen, ran from a huge crocodile, and came across more lizardfolk that we can ambush.

We called it there and will prepare for the fight next week.

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As your kart crashes into the wall of the shield, upending itself in the process, you lose consciousness - but not before you feel a few drips of cold water upon your fur...

You are suddenly wide awake. Looking about yourself, you are in a seemingly-endless cavern. Some distance below you, you see a calm, clear lake; the only other thing present that can draw your attention is a single, small hole in the ceiling of the cavern, through which hangs a rope, which has a bucket attached to its end. The distance from the bucket to the water below seems to be a rather large one, but with so few reference points, it's almost impossible to tell how far it is.

At this point, you realize that you are floating. A quick examination of yourself reveals that you are translucent, glowing a faint ice-blue color.

The water below you suddenly ripples, and rising out of the seemingly-endless waters, an amorphous shape rises up, coming level with you. It is vaguely humanoid in shape, seems to consist only of water, and gives off a brilliant aura of pale blue. As you watch, two eyes - dark blue orbs - seem to crytallize in the side nearest you.

Sounds emanate from it, the sound of crashing waves on a beach - surprisingly enough, you can make out sounds, though you know not what they mean: "Ma reth bromo zoln kilagrin dra ma zoern tu ko fraht ko tadrom Ma krin drinor zoln drinor Ma krin kan aasrugel korsul..."

The sound stops, and the being's eyes narrow. It then resumes, but this time, the sounds are intelligible - words spoken in the language of the moogles, Mogri.

"Moogle. Understand not voice of water.

"Your people not of this land. You spoke this voice, once. No more. Moogles take to machines. Of two nature, moogles are. Machine in one paw, nature in other. Balance.

"Water ties your spirit to me. Water is life. Death comes, I stop him. But can only do so much. Balance, now, but death strong. Balance lost soon.

"If you wish to stop him. Must join spirits. Water become part of you. You become part of water. Carry sign of bond with you always. Spirit return to body, but body change. Reminder of bond.

"If you do, world asks favor. Change is not easy. World in flux. Elements in flux. Shaman from past knows. But time is like water. Runs fast, faster for some.

"Favor is to help. Calm elements. But moogle is young. Only calm one. Calm one, debt repaid.

"Now you have decision. Join water, calm element. Leave water, leave life. Choice is yours."

---------------------------------
Like all good paybacks for a near death (or this case, a death experience), I have no idea what I'm about to get myself into.

Mochos takes about a half second to process this (which is about the amount of time he gives to any decision):
"Anything is better than death, I choose life, the bonding, the favor, the whole enchilada..."
---------------------------------
The being rumbles for a few moments, its eyes blinking a few times.

"Decision made. Moogle bind with water. Water bind with moogle. Moogle live.

"Favor. Calm element. Lightning. Lightning spirits unhappy. In mountains, high above here.

"Old shrine. Lightning bound by yuan-sera. Long time.

"Break bond. Very old. Very weak. Easy to break. Spirit cannot break. Only mortal can.

"All can tell. Find shrine. Break bond. Favor paid.

"Time moogle go."

The water below you being rippling. Suddenly, a geyser gushes up towards you, engulfing you. After a few moments, the feeling of rushing water subsides.

Opening your eyes, you can see the remains of your kart above you. Something seems different...

While retreating from the emplacement, we got bushwhacked by some lizardmen and their spellcasting leader. 2/3 of the party ran; Yorn and Kev took 'em out and captured the spellcaster. We didn't trust him but weren't sure what to do (kill him? Take him with? Let him go with an agreement to leave him alone?)...Kev "fell asleep on watch" and the "guy escaped", but Kev really just let him go.

We found a map on his body and some of his lootz...then we tracked down the dragon's lair and got inside to find its hoard. Yorn had a vision and now has a brand new short sword that apparently can cast cure spells (but sickens Yorn).

The circlet that let the party into the dragon cave only works three times a day, so they're stuck inside. Kev gets to watch the horses all by himself.

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We rocked our way through the world's smallest, foggiest endless swamp. We destroyed a statue that held a five-eyed skull that appears to be important for killing some Witch Queen, made a deal with a dragon to find a necklace that would allow it to get back into its lair (where there is an egg waiting to hatch), and Talon says he's going to raise the dragon egg himself. The rest of the party is not convinced this is a good idea.

We also met some crazy ass hermit who wants to kill the Witch King (this hermit knows something...) and found a city that's defended by the lizard king. Presumably this is the Witch King's place. We were ready to mow through two dozen more lizardmen until someone started flinging fireballs...which means it's time for a change of plans.

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We met the king, who is in a deep blue funk since his whole family is gone or dead. It turns out that his daughter disappeared in a flash of light, and there was another flash of light in some remote swamp around the same time...presumably they're related.

We also got rid of the evil demon rod we found a while back. Not only did it look like a demon, but there was one inside. Thankfully, we were able to take it out.

Then we headed into the swamps and found our first batch of lizardmen. It turns out that Gertrude and Sovelis understand these dudes.

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After being so engulfed in the drama of the Red Serpents and Ruby Dragons Rhea needed a mini escape to let her mind unwind. Cultural norms suggested that because she was female, that meant the best way to let her mind unwind was to go shopping.

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A number of people (including myself) have noticed an issue that the "Subscriptions" link does no longer gives you a list of all the available blogs to select. In fact, it only appears to show you your current subscribed blogs, and if you deselect one, it will actually disappear from the list. At first, I deemed this a bug in the b2btv code, but in fact, this appears to be by design.

In order to add an email subscription for a particular game/blog, you have to first pick the blog from the top of the page, THEN hit the subscription link. If you go into the Trinity page, for example, then hit subscriptions, it will not only show your current subscriptions, but also show Trinity as well.

Extra pain in the ass step to be sure, but I'm guessing that we're an "atypical" blog setup, in that there is no real "owners" of a given blog. I would guess that a typical b2evo installation would have users that frankly could care less about seeing the full list of available blogs.

King Jortieg, forlorn and alone sat sullenly upon his throne. Waiting for any word from his scouts. Any word at all. Footfalls on the stone floors made Jortieg look up.

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