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Two relative newcomers to the sci-fi crowd: Chris Moriarty, Spin State and Spin Control, and John Scalzi, Old Man's War, Ghost Brigades, and The Last Colony. I've thoroughly enjoyed both authors. Oh, and one last... John Steakley, and his Armor book, which is much like his Vampires novel but...

Balderk and Cyridon, the only ones capable of standing upright after this massacre, drag Chath, Theros and myself back to the Ogre’s Lair, where we spend two nights recovering from the beating the white cave frogs gave us. Cyridon has trouble summoning the reserves to heal our strength, but he...

Much of the rest of this battle is related to me by Cyridon and Theros later in the Ogre’s lair, where we retreated to recuperate before we made our way out of the caverns. The frogs were much larger, and far more dangerous, than anything we’ve seen yet. Pale yellow and ivory colored, with...

I travel no more than five or ten feet before I come face to face with two more croakers. I lance out at one and feel the trident’s barbs bite into its cold, clammy flesh, but this one doesn’t pop quite like the others did. This one retaliates. I scramble back to the surface just as it lashes...

The cavern calms once more and we feel freer to explore the banks of the dark lake. The far end holds a small surprise… a bronze door is fitted into the wall on the other side of the bank. Thin, curving runes are inscribed on the door, and prove incomprehensible to both Theros and Cyridon...

I hear Chath cry out just as a biting pain pierces my shoulder, driving me to my knees. A savage hissing fills my ear, and I can feel hot, rank breath on my neck. One of the stalactites! Dropping from the ceiling and punching through my armor! Whatever the foul monstrosity, it chews on my neck...

Session 6: Frogs The next morning we set out to return to the tombs under the hill. We leave the skeletons behind to watch over our loot and keep unwanted visitors out of “our” new tower, but we each take a few items out of the assorted piles of loot. I grab my mace, bow, and quiver, while...

Still, a dinner of roasted rabbit and peppered shallots, together with some of Theros’ wine, will help me sleep easy tonight. I can hear Balderk discussing plans to return to the tombs once more before we head back to town. There is a fair coming soon, and none of us want to miss out on the...

The skeletal minions come easily to Cyridon’s command. Theros and I help Balderk to his unsteady feet, and we find Chath cowering in the shadows of the cavern. Beyond the tomb filled with sarcophagi, we find another room set aside for the dark warrior. A stone altar to Bhaal stands atop a...

And I am not disappointed. As soon as Cyridon whips the amulet’s chain off the skeleton’s neck, they all jerk upright, pulling themselves up out of their crypts. We scatter about the room, arming our selves as Cyridon yells at us to stay our hands… he raises his sigil and utters words of...

We find a long narrow tunnel that twists and turns through the rock. These walls show signs of work, as if someone expanded the sized of the passageway. We come across shards of broken glass, nicked and broken swords, and the ends of burnt out torches. The tunnel opens up to reveal an end to...

Cyridon provides what healing he can, getting Balderk and me back on to our feet. The battle with the ogre did not attract any other attention, and we reason that there is nothing more to threaten us, at least not nearby. We move into the chamber Chath and I found on the other side of the rock...

Nearer than I thought. No sooner had I come to this conclusion did I hear a rough bellowing, an ogre building itself into a chaotic frenzy, and Balderk shouting warnings and battle cries. The noise reverberates through the tunnels and chambers, telling me the other passageway also connects to...

The wind dies down as the tunnel widens into an open chamber. A large column of rock supports the domed ceiling, and the room spreads wide beyond the reach of our lights, cowering as we are in the tunnels. The ogre tracks are thick here, and it’s hard to tell if it’s one or many… I could only...

Session 05: Lairs We sleep for an indeterminate time… with no outside light in the room it’s hard to tell how long we rest. Watches are tests of endurance, cooped up in this small, dark, dank chamber. Theros and Cyridon spend much of their time talking quietly between themselves. I can’t...

We turn back through the iron door, locking it behind us, and inspect the pool again. That water has be coming from somewhere, and in the beams of light penetrating through the muck I think I can see silt and mud stirring lighty at the bottom, as if swaying in some slight current. I wade into...

While Chath rinses off the worst of the muck in the pool, we fan out to inspect the chamber. At the far end we find an iron door set into the wall, carved with sharp, jagged runes which Cyridon identifies as signs of Bhaal, an anciet god of violence and death. Cyridon tells us Bhaal was once...

We collect Theros and decide we have had enough of this temple for one day. We exit the temple into the evening sun and pick our way through the dimming forest back to Torm’s shrine. There, we make camp for the night, Cyridon using what Favor he has left to heal us while I start a cooking...

Once the skeletons are done with, and Balderk’s queer honor satisfied, we decide we have enough strength to explore the tomb a little further. Hopefully, with the most recent batch of undead pouring down upon us from the darkness, we’ve managed to flush out the lot of them… or at least have...

Session IV: Caverns Under the Tomb Running my fingers over the stone walls I find a brick with its mortar cracked just a bit too much. I take the lamp from Balderk and hold it up, but I can’t see into the cracks. Still, nothing about the brick or the door suggests that it’s trapped. The...