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Aaron & I went to see Sherlock Holmes last night and then we went to Applebee's after that because I still had gift cards from Christmas to use.  I really liked the movie.  I think that Ritchie did a good job of capturing England during the Industrial Revolution (at least I think that's when the movie takes place).  I really got a sense of what it must have been like to live during that time.  It was very dirty and dismal and the actors/actresses weren't pretty and they had dirty fingernails and grimy teeth.  Both Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law looked pretty grubby and stinky. 

My list of books I want to read is growing: The Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Conan the Barbarian books by Robert E. Howard, and Rachel has got me interested in Kurt Vonnegut.  I had to read one of his books in college but not only do I not remember it but I can't remember what book it is.

Talking to one of my friends on the west side about hanging out every other Wednesday & meeting for coffee or playing Magic.  It's open to any of my friends who live on the west side.  Probably won't happen until it warms up, though because I don't want to leave my nest when it's cold & my mom is in the process of remodeling her house and I want her to watch the boys so I can have my "girl" time.

I'd rather be playing Overlord on the Xbox right now but Aaron is watching hockey.  Actually he's dozing off but USA just scored and he scared the crap out of me by yelling, "YEAH!" so I guess he really is paying attention to the game even if his eyes are closed.  That's an old man talent right there.  But anyway - Overlord is a hard game because there is no in-game map.  So you get your quests and then you're left on your own to figure out where the hell you have to go.  I've had this game for a long time but quit playing because I got lost and couldn't figure out where the hell I was supposed to go.

I found a walk through of the game on-line and I've been using that to play the game.  It may be cheating but it's helped me figure a lot of things out and I'm actually making progress in the game.  I decided to try and beat the game because aside from being lost it is a fun game.  You have minions that you send out to wreak havoc - what isn't fun about that?  Xander asked me what a minion was and I told him that a good minion is someone who does what you tell them to do.  So then he says, "does that make me & Zach a bad minion?"  He's very perceptive.  And you have to have life force in order to summon your minions and you get that from killing things.  At one point I was slaughtering sheep and Zach got really upset about that.  "I like sheepies," he said.

I don't have much else to say.  Guess I have to go figure out what to do about dinner now.

Funny Ha! Ha!

If you look over to the right hand column on my blog, you'll notice my twitter updates.  I've been using twitter for several years now and I've never had an issue come up with anything I've tweeted or read from fellow tweeters.

For those of you who don't tweet, Twitter is an application that allows you to update your "followers" on what you are currently doing in 140 characters or less.  A lot of people tweet from their phone so their status is constantly updated.  Yes, Twitter is kind of a pointless thing and there has to be a little bit of ego involved to think that people give a shit about what you are doing.  I also think people that use Twitter probably have an exhibitionist streak, as well. 

Aaron attended an event at a bar the other night & I noticed the bar had a Twitter account so I went to the page to read what kind of tweets a bar would send out.  This is the first thing that I read:

@brewhouse: Know how to make a bad sport worse? Put women in skates and let them play hockey.

I'm not a feminazi - far from it.  I tend to see the humor in mostly everything and don't get offended by a lot.  But damn!  I guess the guy could have been making a joke but I think you'd have to know him really well to know that was the case.  You'd have to know him a lot better than just following his tweets.  I think you'd have to know a person in "real life" in order to get their sense of humor.  I'm sure that I've said quite a bit on my own twitter account that has made my "followers" say, "What the fuck?"

So being the impulsive person that I am, I immediately fired off on my own twitter account and I said, Retweet @brewhouse Know how to make a bad sport worse? Put women in skates and let them play hockey - Know how to lose customers? Be a dick.  And because I put the @brewhouse in my tweet, he was able to read what I had said.  He responded back, @kathulhu humor, my friend, humor. no need for name calling.

I suppose I could have made my point without the name calling but I felt that as a hockey fan, I mean as a woman, that I had been insulted and I felt the need to be rude in return.  But I tweeted him back & told him that it was hard to read humor into 140 characters or less & that his comment was pretty bad and I was sorry for calling him a dick, but not sorry if he really meant the comment.

He responded, @kathulhu but, u dont follow me so u have no idea about my humor. u read an RT. that is jumping in mid-conversation at a cocktail party.  To which I said, @brewhouse I read it on your page, not a RT but you're correct. The danger of social networking/twitter is it's open to misinterpretation.

You would think that a business - or someone tweeting under the name of their business - would be more careful of what they said at risk of loosing potential customers.  The guy has the right to believe what he wants to believe, even if it is hateful but does he really need to broadcast it so widely?

He never responded back to my last tweet and never acknowledged that his statement could be misinterpreted as ugly.  Of course, his twitter "followers" all responded in his defense and he threw out terms like "uptight assholes" (who's name calling now?) but I never said anything more and I haven't been back to see if anything else has been said - a. I'm not following him (although he is now following me) and b. fighting on the internet is like the Special Olympics - even if you win, you're still retarded (was that offensive?).

The only reason I'm blogging about it (aside from the fact that I have nothing else to talk about and I'm procrastinating because I have to shave my legs & I hate to do that) is because someone tweeted me and said, @kathulhu Glad I wasn't the only one who thought that tweet from @brewhouse was a lot more ugly than "funny".  This was from someone who isn't following me on twitter but picked it up from following the other person's account.  I guess it just goes to show that you never know who is "listening in" (i.e. Santa or God) and that you really do need to be careful about what you say. 

Day #4 - Zombie Flu Virus

So I've been sick for 4 days now.  Aaron got me a neti pot on his way home last night and I used it for the first time.  That has to be one of the weirdest sensations I've ever felt.  I know that the ears, nose, & throat are connected but I didn't expect it to make my eyes water & burn.

You put the spout in one nostril and tilt your head so that the water pours out the other nostril.  Just weird.  I couldn't get it to work from the left side but if I put it in the right side, then it was fine.  Bleh.  It cleared my nose out for about 5 minutes and then it went back to feeling stuffy.  It's just salt water so I can do it as often as I'd like, although I imagine it would eventually dry my nose out and cause nose bleeds.

I just want it to move out of my head so that the sinus headaches will go away.  And the snoring is bad.  Poor Aaron braved the bed last night but I know he had to have slept bad, too.

Woke up to snow again.  The snow had melted off of the roads and the driveway but they were covered again this morning.  Although the sun is shining now so maybe it'll melt again.  I'm so done with snow.  And cold.  But you already knew that.

Zach wanted me to walk him into school this morning and then he got all clingy.  I really didn't want to stay this morning because I feel like crap and I don't want to infect any of the other children.  I felt bad for him, though.  I walked him back to his class and once he started in on his routine (hang up his coat, find his name tag, sit in the circle, etc) he wasn't watching me so I left.  Is it worse to just leave and have him look for me halfway through the class and wonder where I'm at?  I don't really know.  He had show and tell today so hopefully that distracted him enough that he forgot about me even being there.

Speaking of Zach, I have to go pick him up now.  Nothing new or exciting here.  Just blogging for the sake of blogging.

What Do You Get...

...when a dwarven cleric, a half-elven sorcerer, and a half-orc rogue walk into a bar with a 2 ft. salami under each arm?

You get a D&D night with the girls at Rob's house!!!!

My weekend was pretty much a role playing extravaganza.  I went over to Rob's on Saturday and we are in the process of teaching Rachel how to play D&D.  We rolled up our characters and she chose to play a male half-orc thief.  Rob had me make 2 characters so I made a female dwarven cleric named Dirty Gertie and a female half-elf sorcerer named Willow.

When we finished making our characters Rob wanted to show us a couple of episodes of Drawn Together because I hadn't watched it and he felt that I should.  He showed us the first episode of the series and episode 3, where Xandir comes out of the closet and admits that he's gay.  The show first aired in 2004, a few months after Xander was born and the guys would tease me about his name because of the Xandir on the show and I think that's one of the reasons I never watched it.  The episodes that Rob had weren't censored so all I can say is OH.MY.GOD.  That cartoon is some crazy shit.  Funny.  But crazy.

We decided to play Rock Band and Rachel fingered the guitar (heh!) while I played bass & Rob pounded the drums (heh! heh!).  We played for about 45 minutes and then went back to the D&D game, which only lasted another 45 minutes.  I think Rob was pretty tired and a little buzzed at that point and I know I was pretty tipsy so the game degenerated into giggling and lewd innuendos.  We spent the rest of the evening talking 'bout stuff and then Rachel had to leave.

Since I had to be back the next morning for our regular D&D session, I just spent the night on Rob's couch (which is why I had a few drinks, too).  Rob got up the next morning and made us delicious sausage, egg, & cheese sammiches and then we waited for the guys to get there.

I got to play a little bit of Dante's Inferno while Rob was in the shower and that game is bad ass!!!  Me wants.

I have to go make dinner now.

Harrowdale Campaign - Game #1

Yesterday was the first game session with Randy running for all 4 characters.  We started out by giving a little bit of background info on our characters and then Randy jumped right into the story.

The last pre-game session ended with Kaelynn returning home after digging up an ancient elven mausoleum to uncover an amulet.  Randy picked the game up that afternoon, with Kaelynn's Uncle Gerard waking her up to prepare lunch and to make plans for dinner that evening, as they would be having company.  Kaelynn cast her unseen servant spell to prepare lunch and went back to sleep.

Vicho was told by his mother that he was to go to Kaelynn's house and talk to Gerard about the other items that he had removed from the mausoleum.  He was given the rest of the day off to rest and to clean himself up, although he wasn't sent a formal invitation to dinner because Gerard figured he'd show up anyway.

Trey Cromwell, a human noble, was staying at the Red Mark Inn, one of the most prestigious inns in Harrowdale.  He received an invitation to dinner at Kaelynn's for he had been the one who delivered the documents locating the elven amulet that she had been sent to find.  Trey is the youngest child of 7 and he is trying to gain a reputation and make a name for himself outside of his noble heritage.  He is a hard-working and honorable man and he wants to eventually buy his own title and lands to settle down.

Katniss Loosefingers is a halfling priest of Brandobaris.  She is the first born but her father wanted a son and he all but ignored her while she was growing up.  She has 2 brothers; Petrol, a half-wit halfling but father's favorite and Leofalcon, who was born deformed and died a few months later.  Katniss ran away from home and met Traxis Strayfinger and it was he who taught her the ways of Brandobaris.  She also received an invitation to dinner at Kaelynn's but her connection to Gerard was never revealed.

Trey was the first to arrive and he was greeted by a very flustered Kaelynn (he is quite handsome).  Katniss was the second and Kaelynn, while surprised to see the halfling at her doorstep, made her welcome.  Kaelynn offered Katniss a drink, which Katniss accepted and when asked what she wanted, Katniss said everything.  So using her skill in alchemy, Kaelynn was able to concoct a mixture of 5 different alcohols that was quite tasty (in effect, creating a long island iced tea).

Vicho entered through the kitchen door and surprised the servant that Gerard had hired for the evening.  "What are you doing in MY kitchen," demanded Vicho, adding confusion to the servant's surprise.  After learning of the dinner and questioning the poor servant about the other guests and Kaelynn's reaction to the handsome Trey, Vicho allowed the man to introduce him to the rest of the party.  Vicho greeted both women first, lingering over Katniss' hand and acting as if there was something more with Kaelynn other than friendship.  When Vicho eventually spoke toTrey he offered thinly veiled insults covered in the guise of greeting.

Gerard had not presented himself to the rest of the dinner party at this time, which was very odd.  Kaelynn was used to receiving strange guests at her Uncle's house and he was always there to greet them and play the role of host.  Instead of waiting to see if he would join them, she took her guests to the dining room to start dinner.  Gerard did eventually join them during the appetizers and after making polite small talk informed the 3 guests that he invited them to the house because he wants to hire them.

Kaelynn asked if they would be using the amulet but Gerard told her that she did not have the knowledge to use such a powerful artifact.  The amulet had originally belonged to the an ancient elven family that had lived in Cormanthyr and that it would allow him to uncover secrets, items, & artifacts.  He would send them out to hunt down whatever he was to find.  The amulet had actually belonged to the Goldenleaf family and had been buried with the last family patriarch.  A descendant of the Goldenleaf family was still present in Harrowdale and she is a member of the town council.

Trey, Katniss, & Vicho agreed to work for Gerard and he negotiated the terms of their contract separately.  Trey was able to bargain for 10% of any treasure found on any expeditions that Gerard sent them on, along with a fee.  Katniss was able to get 12% and Vicho took Gerard for 25% of any treasure found (Rob rolled a natural 20!).  Kaelynn, as Gerard's student, would only be receiving 5% but he would also supply her spell components and more spells to add to her spellbook as she rose in power.

Their first task would be to return the items that Vicho took from the mausoleum and he would not be paying them for that.  They found their way back to the crypt and Vicho noticed that the ground around the crypt had been disturbed.  Trey started digging and then the party was attacked by an ankheg.  It spit acid at Kaelynn, burning her badly but she still lived.  The others moved to attack it and they quickly dispatched it.  Katniss was able to heal Kaelynn, Vicho, and Trey, who had also been wounded by the beast.

Trey resumed his digging and Vicho asked Kaelynn if she would like to see what was on the scroll.  Kaelynn told him that they were sent to return the items, not read them but Vicho countered that they were not told to NOT read the scrolls.  He put it to a party vote and Katniss sided with him, while Trey agreed with Kaelynn.  Vicho tried to remove the documents from Kaelynn's posession but she noticed what he was doing and he quickly played it off.  Katniss & Vicho then plotted to return later that evening and dig the items up again.

Trey finished up and put the scroll case and the wand back where it belonged and then covered everything back up.  The 4 returned to Kaelynn's house and retired for the evening.  Katniss & Vicho were able to sneak back and dig the crypt up yet again and when they read the scroll they discovered that it was created before the Weave had been established on Abeir-Toril.  The wand was also very powerful and the two made an agreement to split the sale of such valuable items.  This caused the skeleton in the crypt to rise and attack them but Katniss was able to destroy it by channeling a burst of positive energy at it.

At this point, Randy fast forwarded time to a year later because he wanted to establish how we came to know one another but then he wanted us to have worked together for some time.  During the year that we had traveled together we hadn't really found anything of importance and it seemed as if Gerard was sending the group off on wild goose chases.  However, it seems that Gerard has word of a particularly powerful sword that once belonged to the Ventori family and it's now being held by someone in or near the elven court. 

The group traveled for several days and the only encounters they faced were with women in an inn and an owlbear in the woods.  Of the two encounters, the one in the inn was potentially the more dangerous and the more interesting.

The party stayed at an inn the first night and Vicho bought a round of drinks for the entire bar.  He then enlisted Trey as his wingman and proceded to romance several older ladies.  Katniss and Kaelynn, knowing the routine after witnessing it for a year, sat at another table and giggled and mimicked the two men.  When Vicho realized that he wasn't going to get what he wanted from the older woman, he took back the drink that he bought for her and gave it to a younger woman who had been making eyes at him, even though she was with her boyfriend.  Then he went up to his room for the night and at some point during the evening he was joined by the older woman and then the young lady.

Valentine's Day

I know I've already written 2 blog posts today but I feel the need to do a third because the man glaring at me in my last blog is kind of creeping me out and I don't want that to be the first thing I see when I open my blog.  So I'll write about my Valentine's Day.

Aaron made this the best Valentine's Day Ever.  He took the boys to the store on Saturday and they picked out flowers for me.  But these weren't $20 roses from Kroger that will die in 3 days.  They were potted tulips, something that I can plant in my flower bed after the snow melts and enjoy for years to come.  I put them in my kitchen window and every time I look at them I feel happiness from some little place inside of me that is currently buried under the oppressive snow and cold.

Aaron also brought home 2 peat trays and several packets of seeds to get our garden started.  I talked about starting a garden this spring and he remembered.  The boys picked out cucumber, green beans, carrots, and corn.  Aaron told them to get flowers, too so Xander picked out morning glory seeds & Zach picked up some lettuce seeds.  I had saved some pumpkin & squash seeds from our Halloween pumpkins and we started some of those, too.  I want to get some green & red peppers and some tomato seeds as well.

He also spent most of the day on Sunday driving me around and going places with me.  Aaron is really a home body but he sacrificed his own comfort to take me & the boys out to lunch.  We also went to Target so that I could look for some new slippers but they didn't have the monkey slippers in my size & I didn't like any of the others.  After that we went to a sporting goods store to see if I could find a cheap exercise bike or elliptical machine but they were way to expensive.  Then we went to Game Stop and I got Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Lego Indiana Jones, & Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, all for the Xbox.  Aaron also ordered Star Wars: The Clone Wars for the 360 for Xander & me.

Aaron made dinner on Saturday and Sunday and he gave the boys their baths and put them to bed on both days.  That, in and of itself, was awesome.

Why Can't We Be Friends?

I just saw the second video, posted over at Natasha's blog.  Watch the original video first and then the spoof.  I honestly didn't pay that much attention to the commercials during the Super Bowl (except for the Betty White/Snickers commercial - HI-larious!).  But I do remember this commercial because when it showed the Charger at the end, I said to Aaron, "Hey!  That's the car that I want!"  and he responded, "I'd rather have the Challenger."  Could it be that Dodge Chrysler missed the mark altogether on this one?  They did, at least in this household! 

And just for the record, I don't wear "lip balm", Aaron typically cleans up after himself when he shaves, and we don't own a dog. And I'm the one who usually forgets to take my socks off before I get into bed and I take them off while half asleep and shove them over towards Aaron's side cause I know it annoys him.

I've Been Published!

About a week ago I saw an announcement go out on my twitter that a website was looking for someone to review books and comics for them.  I immediately jumped on the opportunity and emailed the editor and told her that I loved to read and I loved to review what I read and that I would be the perfect "employee".  I don't get paid but I do get to read comic books for free and if they send me any books, I also get to keep them as well.

I sent the editor a couple of links to some reviews that I have done on this website and a few other wordy blog posts as examples of my work.  She emailed me back and said she liked what she saw but that she wanted me to do a trial run first.  She sent me a list of comic books and told me to pick a couple that looked interesting.

I was a little nervous about reviewing a comic book because I've never really gotten into them.  I did collect The Darkness for a brief period of time but I quit for 2 reasons, because Image never released the next issue on a timely basis & it was easy to fall behind and because they were so damn expensive.  I nearly gave myself an ulcer trying to write a review because I really wanted to make a good impression but I wasn't sure what to write.

So I did what anyone would do before writing about something.  I researched the subject.  I went to the webpage that I would be writing for and read a bunch of reviews that had been written by others on different comics, just to see what they liked and what info I needed to include.  It paid off because the editor told me that she liked my writing style and that she wants me to do more reviews!

Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you my first "published" work, a review of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? posted at Geeks of Doom.

Brrrr...

It's snowing a lot.  I'm ready for it to stop. The snow is very pretty but it is cold.  I don't like the cold.  The boys missed school all last week because of the snow and they might miss some more next week.  We've had between 7" & 10" of snow.  I'm not sure on the exact number because I'm not taking a measuring stick outside to double check but it's a lot.

10 reasons I don't like snow

1. It's cold
2. It's touching my car
3. It looks dirty after a day or so
4.When you get a big enough pile of snow it will mutate and linger until June
5. It gets in my shoes and gets all melty
6. It makes the bottoms of my pants wet
7. It is very hard to drive in snow or during a snow storm & people get into accidents and die
8. Fun stuff gets canceled because of it
9. People buy all the bread & milk
10. It's not nearly as soft as it appears & when you slip, it still hurts

I'm ready for spring and for things to start growing and to see more colors than gray & white & black & brown when I look out my window.  I'm ready to plant my garden & to watch my flowers grow and to smell the fresh air and feel a warm breeze.

I'm ready for this:

Geeks-In-Training Part II

Xander has been begging me to play D&D with since he was old enough to understand that was the reason mommy leaves the house on her own at least once a week.  I keep explaining to him that he has to be a little bit older because he has to know how to read and he has to know his numbers but that once he's old enough, I'd be happy to teach him and Zach how to play.

I have given them a lot of my old dice and I had a box full of deformed plastic miniatures that I got very cheap and I gave those to them as well.  They got a little cardboard castle in one of their Wendy's kids meals at one  point and that went into their "D&D" box, too.  Every once in a while, they get the box out and set up all the mini's and throw the dice at them and say, "Look mom!  We're playing D&D!"  Sometimes they add lego pieces to the mixture to create obstacles for their mini's to smash.

About a week ago, I was catching up on some posts over at Dungeons and Digressions and I came across his post for RPGKids.  It's a really simplified system that uses the D6 & D12 dice and it breaks the classes down into Magic Guys, Sword Guys, Bow Guys, and Monsters.  You role initiative on a D6 and to attack you both role the D12.  If the attacker gets a higher number on the die, then he hits you.  I thought that this was a perfect way to get them acclimated to playing D&D and so I printed off the pdf. 

I wasn't really sure how I was going to "run" a game for them because I don't think they could stand a long, drawn out or overly complicated campaign.  So I found a map online and printed it off (because you need a grid for the mini's to move on) and then I found some fake boulders that they had and a tree.  I set the cardboard castle up on the grid and put the boulders all around it.  I got out the mini's and picked out 4 that represented each of the groups and asked them what they wanted to be.  This initially caused a meltdown because both of them wanted to be the sword guy.

 The Town of Thragia and her defenders

So I simplified it even more and said they could both play sword guys and said that we would just have the Good Guys and the Bad Guys.  They chose to be the Good Guys so I told them that they would be defending the castle and that my monsters would try to take it away.  Xander christened the town Thragia and named his guy "Swordie".  Zach said that his name was "Octopus Guy" and Xander said that they were not the "Good Guys", they were "The Supers" and my guys were "The Evils".  Xander also decided that my character should be named "Dragon Queen".   

Dragon Queen.  You can see her boobs.

Things kind of got carried away at this point because they weren't really interested in why I wanted to steal their castle.  Xander told me that I had to say, "ATTACK!" and then we could fight.  They both immediately went for my mini, who happened to be a girl (Zach said, "I can see her boobs.") so I had to break out a few more minis in order to protect her and she ran away.

We attacked each other back & forth, taking turns as is appropriate in D&D when Zach said, "I want to run away, too."  I asked him where he was going and he points at the miniature of the bad girl.

"You want to attack her?" I asked and he shook his head no.  "Well, what are you going to do?"

"I want to surprise her," he says.

"How are you going to surprise her," I ask.

Zach puts his face really close to the table and he whispers, "I'm gonna marry her."

Zach: I'm gonna marry her!

I'm kind of at a loss because player characters don't get married to the bad guy in the middle of the big battle but seeing as how we're just here to have fun, I tell him that he can marry the bad girl if he wants to.  Then he takes his mini and puts it under the cardboard castle, leaving his new bride alone and surrounded by angry villagers.

Then Xander announces that he wants to go into the castle, too and he puts his mini under it.  So then my bad girl kills a few villagers and then I ask Zach what he wants to do.  He says that he's a bad guy now, cause he's married to the bad girl, and he attacks Xander.  Xander is shocked and he says, "But we're brothers!"

They fight each other for a little bit and then get bored with fighting one another and in the meantime, my bad girl has killed all of the villagers.  I ask Xander if he wants to surrender the castle and he says, "Yeah, I'm kind of hungry.  Can we have a snack now."  And so ends session 1 of D&D with my kids.

A game well played.

I'm actually really proud of them because despite the initial hang-up over who got to play what, they did really well and there was very little actual fighting between the two of them.  Zach did try to fudge his dice rolls a few times but I explained to him that it was cheating and that it wasn't fair to the other players if he did that.  He took it really well and didn't argue or get upset.

I already have another game session in mind for them.  I'm going to print out some more of those map tiles and I'm going to set up a dungeon for them.  Zach got a treasure chest with his pirate ship at Christmas so I'm going to use that and fill it with some quarters or something.  We also have a couple of undead dinosaurs that are going to make an appearance!  It's going to be fun!

Harrowdale Campaign

The last D&D session at Rob's house saw the end of the Azure Bonds campaign (but hopefully not the characters - Blackberry is a bad ass!) and our next D&D game will be the start of Randy's Harrowdale Campaign.  Randy has already ran for Rob & I twice, setting up our characters to meet & getting stuff in line for future games with the rest of the guys.  Here is a quick overview of the PC's, the 2 pre-games & a list of NPC's that Randy sent out.

Game 1a - Kaelynn has recently returned home after getting kicked out of the school in Cormyr.  Zimyr hears of her return and makes an excuse to visit Kaelynn by way of delivering pastries to her Uncle Gerard's house, where she is staying.  Kaelynn answers the door and invites Zimyr in but when he starts to flirt with her, she becomes flustered and Gerard escorts Zimyr out.

Gerard tells Kaelynn that he would like her to get to know Vichoz’imyrian because he wants her to make friends with people who have a more "worldly" view. Vichoz’imyrian, or Zimyr for short, is a half-drow lady's man and he works in the local bakery that is run by his mother, who is also part drow.  Gerard tells her that she can find Zimyr at the Toss Your Tankard tavern later that evening.

Kaelynn is a very intelligent young woman but she is also very naive when it comes to how the world operates outside of her books and her family's home.  She arrives at the tavern about two hours too early and sits by the fire, sipping hot tea and reading a book.  When she spots Zimyr she immediately goes to talk to him, instead of waiting and letting Zimyr come to her.  Zimyr says hello to Kaelynn and walks right by her, leaving her flustered and unsure of what to do.  Kaelynn goes to sit back by the fire and she sends a drink to Zimyr, which draws him away from his current conquest and over to Kaelynn's side.

Kaelynn is very blunt & tells Zimyr that her uncle thinks that they should get to know one another.  Zimyr asks her how much her uncle is paying because he thinks that Gerard wants him to deflower his niece, which is not the case.  Kaelynn admits to him that she doesn't know much about the world outside of her books and that Gerard wants her to make acquaintance with him because he is more experienced.

Game 1b - Kaelynn and Zimyr have become friends, once it is established that she is not going to sleep with him.  When he is not working in his mother's bakery or chasing a pretty female, Zimyr is usually at Kaelynn's house.  A few weeks pass and then Gerard tells them that he wants them to acquire an elven artifact, used to locate powerful elven artifacts, but they have to enter the ruins of Halvan's Keep, which is strictly forbidden to all trespassers.  In order to find the item Kaelynn must cast a spell in a specific place within the Keep's garden.

From Randy: "Gerard had recently discovered the magical location by deciphering script he obtained from a young, recently displaced nobleman from Battledale by the name of Trey Cromwell (Al's character). Trey was given the ancient texts when he withdrew money from a trust account after his family's tragedy indicating to give the text to Gerard. The Moon Arrow Amulet belonged to the Goldenleaf family and was buried within Galadrium's lost tomb. He is a direct descendant to Em'peri Goldenleaf, who currently sits on the town council. The Goldenleaf family was charged in protecting many elven secrets. With the fall of Comanthyr, and the call of the retreat, the family decided to bury their secret with their patriarch."

The two brave adventurers met at midnight and ventured off through the woods towards Halvan's Keep.  They managed to find a break in the wall surrounding the keep and made their way over with a minimal amount of noise.  Finding the specific location within the garden was easy enough and Kaelynn cast the spell necessary for locating the Moon Arrow Amulet.  Unfortunately, they must have made some noise because they heard the sound of running feet coming up the path.

 

Zimyr

Thinking quickly, Zimyr knocked Kaelynn to the ground and threw himself on top of her, hiding in the tall weeds.  The guards made a quick sweep of the area but didn't find anyone and they moved off.  Kaelynn started to feel sick because the spell required her to be up and moving towards the object and she told Zimyr to get off of her.  They made their way back over the wall but Zimyr tripped, causing a ruckus and attracting the guards however, Kaelynn & Zimyr were outside of the keep and they were able to escape into the woods.

Once there, Kaelynn followed the direction the spell was pulling her in until they discovered the edge of an ancient building sticking out of the forest floor.  It took them several hours to dig their way into the ancient mausoleum that had been all but buried and once there they opened the sarcophagus containing the amulet.  There were several other items within the tomb but Kaelynn did not take them because she was only sent after the amulet and nothing else but Zimyr recognized them as magical and grabbed them anyway.

It was close to dawn at this point but Kaelynn insisted on re-burying the tomb by way of apology for having robbed it.  Zimyr, having an aversion to hard work, left Kaelynn to do the task herself because he needed to get back to the bakery.  It took Kaelynn all morning but she eventually finished and made her way back home to give the amulet to her uncle.

Player Characters

Kaelynn - my character, NG human female wizard 2
Zimyr - Rob's character, half-drow male rogue 2
Katniss - Eric's character, halfling female cleric 1
Trey Cromwell - Al's character, human male fighter 1

 

Katniss

Important NPC's

The council of the Seven Burghers
• Ellarian Dawnhorn - LG female sun elf Fighter 6/Wizard 5
     o She is currently the head of the council but does not own any business or land. Her family once sat on the elven court. She was born in Evereska but returned to Cormanthor as a young adult.
• Tasan Worser - NG male human Aristocrat 4
     o Owns Shaleel Warehouses  and obtained them from a bet in a game of chance. He is originally from Scaredale and is the newest member of the council. Shaleel left town in ruins leaving behind his wife and 3 young children.
• Swort Entas - LN male half-elf Ranger 5
     o He is a merchant specializing in exporting beef and owns Goldenleaf Stables. He earned a reputation from many expeditions to the Cold Fields, southwest of Harrowdale.
• Danyet Sylib - LG female human Expert 6
     o She owns Gundeman's Brewery (best Ale in all of the Dalelands). Rumor has it, her grandfather stole the recipe from a dwarf many years ago.
• Garret Willowman - NG male human Expert 2
     o Owns Willowman Trading Post where you can buy just about anything. Some say he is part of Aurora's chain of stores. The Zhents do a lot of business with him.
• Em'peri Goldenleaf - CG female moon elf Wizard 5/Fighter 5/ Eldritch Knight 5
     o She is the only moon elf family originally from the area as her parents did not head the call of the retreat. She is recently a widower after her husband was killed by Vhaeraunian drow while investigating the recent destruction of the Pool of Radiance. She is the owner of The Fall of Stars, which is a renowned bath house.
• Ash'Rad Undoc - LG male hill dwarf Fighter 7
     o He is the only dwarf living within the Harrowdale town limit. He is very old and unlike most dwarves, he is the kindness of individuals and very giving to the community. He is the proprietor of Toss Your Tankard but is rarely there. He spends most of his days in his cozy home that he built himself years ago.

Noteworthy members of the community
• Captain Wilkins - LG male human Fighter 6 - Captain of the Guards
• Talen - CN male human - owner of The Fouled Line Tavern and Inn
• Imryn - NG male human - owner of The Anchorage, largest inn in Harrowdale
• Ildalwor - CN female human - owner of the Velarstown Silver and Jewelry
• Ash'Rad - NG male half-elf - owner of the Redmark Inn (Very pricey Inn)
• Danden - CN male half-orc - owner of the Harrowcoaster House Bar
• Tresk - NG male human (has some elven blood) - owner of Treskeden Merchant Coaster.  This man is courting Zimyr's mother.

Lucifer's Scar; A Love Story

This is the second book of Rachel's that I have read, the first being her auto-biography, Fartsmeller by Day, Bounty Hunter by Night.  I have to say that I'm probably a bit biased when it comes to her writing skills because I ♥ Rachel (and I want to tentacle rape her & impregnate her with my babies) but at the same time, I am the type of person that will not finish a book if I don't like it.  That being said, I totally loved the book.

Lucifer's Scar; A Love Story is about God & Lucifer and the relationship between the two of them but not in the conventional sense.  God creates Lucifer because he is lonely and the two of them carry out carnal relations in the midst of a beautiful realm that Lucifer created to please his lover.  God actually gives Lucifer the power of creation and it is Lucifer, not God, who creates the Earth & all things within it, including evolution.

God created Lucifer to be the perfect companion, so Lucifer knows everything that is in God's mind and he picks up on the guilt and shame that God carries in his heart.  Lucifer begins to question his purpose and he desires to feel that he is unique, not some whim of God to be cast aside when something else comes along.  Lucifer learns that he is not God's first attempt at companionship, but the sixth creation; the first five resulting in failure.  Lucifer resents his role as a "play thing" and through the meddling of Fate & Chaos itself, he begins to revolt against God.

The angels Peter, Silas, & Simon conspire to expose Lucifer's relationship with God and in so doing, seal their own doom; unknowing that they are the witless tools of Chaos.  Lucifer, feeling he has been used by God, condemns him and tells God that he hates him.  God tells the Fates that he would forsake everything to be with Lucifer but Lucifer rejects him and vows to make a realm far away from God, where he would raise an army against heaven.  

The culmination of Rachel's book is the war against heaven, in which Chaos is revealed as the BIG BAD.  Chaos comes from nothing and returns to nothing in the end.  Lucifer comes to realize that the ultimate idea of perfection is simply accepting the imperfection in others and that one's shame must be embraced in order to transcend above it.  He is given a second chance and is reborn as Jesus, retaining all knowledge of his previous life.  He must now work to undo all that was done in his name as Lucifer.

Rachel re-imagines the story of Christianity and presents to the reader her interpretation of creation and evolution, God and Lucifer, Adam and Eve, and the war in heaven.  She creates beautiful imagery and visceral reactions to the ongoing events of her story.  Rachel tells her side without it seeming blasphemous but as another version of the original story.  I highly recommend this book but be warned, it's not for those who are faint of heart or the religious zealots.

When Last We Left Off...

Our intrepid heroine was...doing some stuff...because...that's what she does!

I finished Rachel's book over the weekend and I want to post a review of it at some point. Maybe today. I have to get laundry started and the house cleaned, first. So maybe tomorrow...how about at some point this week?  I also want to update my blog layout but I just realized that when Aaron updated the OS, he didn't put Photoshop back on my computer and I don't want to use Paint.

There were no Star Wars or D&D games scheduled this weekend and I didn't have anywhere to be, which was kind of nice. I did go to Borders by myself for an hour on Sunday. There were so many lovely books there and I had a hard time deciding what to get. A girl that worked there asked me if I needed help with anything & I said I was fine but she said I seemed lost so I told her that I was trying to decide what to get.

She started to ramble off books & authors but I had already read all of what she was suggesting. Then she said, "I know! Have you ever read any of the Amber books by Zelazny? My husband read them when he was a kid & he had me read them last year and I loved them!" So I purchased The Great Books of Amber, which is all 10 books in one, on her recommendation.  I'm going to go back and kick her ass if the book sucks.

As we were searching for something to read another book caught my eye, entitled The Mall of Cthulhu.  I happened to have a coupon for buy 1, get 1 50% off so I went back & picked it up as well.  It's about Ted, a barista living in Boston who stumbles onto a group of cultists who plan on awakening the Old Ones & it's up to Ted to stop them!  It's only 235 pgs. so I'm going to read it before I try to tackle the other book (which is 1264 pgs!).

I also found a journal that had a picture of the Wicked Witch on it.  She's looming over the cover and in the lower right hand corner are a pair of feet & legs clad in stripped stockings & the ruby slippers.  The cover itself is green and the slippers are filled in with red glitter.  The empty spaces are filled with glossy, red poppies and it has a red ribbon to mark your place in the book.  It was on 75% clearance, so I only paid $3.45 for it.  I consider my blog a journal, so I'm not really sure what I'm going to write in it.  And 'lo, I found a picture of the cover on the interwebz.  I like using pictorial aides in my bloggins.

The Super Bowl was a big disappointment.  I guess I should be happy that the Colts even made it to the Super Bowl and that they didn't choke, they were just out played.  But damn it, I wanted them to win!  The halftime show was OK.  Don't get me wrong, I like The Who, but they don't sound the like they did 300 years ago and I'd rather listen to them on cd.  Some of the commercials were funny, my favorite being the Betty White/Snickers commercial.


You're playing like Betty White out there.  That's not what your girlfriend says.
There was a big thing on my twitter feed this morning about how misogynistic the Super Bowl commercials were.  Someone even made a flow chart about it, which is pretty damn funny.  I guess I was too busy paying attention to the actual game to get offended by the commercials.

School was on a 2 hour delay this morning so that meant Xander didn't have school at all (his pre-K class runs from 8:30 AM to 11:00 AM).  We stayed up pretty late last night so I was sooooo happy that I didn't have to get up at 7 AM this morning.  Xander did wake up at 4:00 AM and ended up getting into bed with me since Aaron fell asleep on the couch.

I need to go make lunch for my minions & get started on the laundry/house cleaning.  I spent an hour putting up decorations for the game and now I need to take all that crap down.  And yes, we were the only one's here for the Super Bowl "party".  I made pizza rolls & chicken strips & blue jello and we also had peanuts & chips w/queso because those are all things you should eat when you watch football.  I even drank a beer.  Xander wants me to leave all the decorations up but I don't think that would go over too well with Aaron.

Geeks-In-Training

It's kind of hard for the boys not to be exposed to "geek culture" when I play dungeons and dragons and read sci-fi and fantasy books and my husband is a computer programmer.  The boys know that once a week (and sometimes more!) I go to Robbie's house to play D&D and they want to play, too.  I gave them a box of plastic minatures and some dice and they set the mini's up, along with little card board castles they got in a Wendy's kid's meal and "play" D&D, too. 

We were watching the pilot episode of Farscape yesterday and during the scene where Crichton's ship enters the swirling, blue vortex, I asked Xander if he knew what that was.  Xander answers, matter-of-factly, "It's a worm hole."  The kid is 5 years old and he already knows what a worm hole is.  I joke about teaching them how to be geeks but thanks to cartoons and movies, they are exposed to geekdom all on their own.

I was watching a cartoon called Fanboy & Chum Chum with the boys this morning and there was a character named "Janitor Poopatine" on the show. He was the school's janitor and a wizened & bitter old man that rode around in an electric chair, shaped much like the chair on the Death Star. I love it when geek icons like Senator Palpatine are used to create characters in children's shows.

I think you'll find that the water fountain is fully operational.

Cartoon Network also has a new show called Adventure Time With Finn And Jake coming out that looks like a D&D spoof.  It's about a little kid who travels around with a giant dog and the little kid wants to grow up to be a great hero.  The cartoon isn't even out yet but the boys are quoting lines from the commercials already.  Ice King:  "Do you know what Ice King means?"  Dog: "I know what Ice King means...A BIG NERD!"



What time is it? Adventure Time!
Dreamworks has a new movie coming out in March called How To Train Your Dragon and it looks really cute.  How to Train Your Dragon is based on a book by Cressida Cowell, and features the voices of Gerard Butler (Yum!!!), Craig Ferguson (Yay!), and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin'!).  Every little kid who sees this movie (and some adults) are going to want a dragon of their very own.



We have dragons!
And of course, we can't forget Cartoon Network's Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  You want your kids to grow up to be geeks?  Just send them straight to the source!  My boys know more about the Star Wars universe than I do and they both want to build their own lightsabers.

Janitor Poopatine..err...I mean Chancellor Palpatine

And even though The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy has been cancelled, I would be remiss in not mentioning my favorite episode: The Prank Call of Cthulhu.  Billy finds the phone of Cthulhu, the most dangerous phone in the universe, and he uses it to make prank calls.  As a result of his prank calls, Billy's nose starts to resemble a cuttlefish.

I couldn't find an actual picture so I had to make my own

Maybe with the influx of sci-fi and fantasy related cartoons & movies, it won't be such a stigma to be geeky when the boys get older.  One can only hope.

Go Colts!

So in the past 24 hours, we've gotten approximately 7 - 8 inches of snow in our neck of the woods.  I'm so glad I got off my ass and went grocery shopping on Thursday because I can stay in my burrow & hibernate until spring.

We stayed in last night & played a couple of games on the 360; Magic: The Gathering, Lego Rock Band, & Fable II.  The two player experience for Fable II was kind of crappy because it's still from a one player perspective & the second player has to be a henchman & they don't get to participate in the story.  It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't such a story driven game.  Less talking and more fighting!

This morning, Aaron & I were watching cartoons with the boys & we were greeted to the sound of something mechanical in our driveway.  I looked out the window, hoping it wasn't mechagodzilla or something equally destructive.  Thankfully, it was just my neighbor clearing our driveway with his snow blower.  Mr. Gary gets an A for awesome in my book.

Aaron decided to get up at this point and head outside to clear off my car & scrape off the rest of the snow out of the driveway.  I bundled the boys up & sent them outside with daddy so that I could take my shower.  Mr. Gary asked Aaron to run some errands with him, so Aaron took the boys with them so that I could clean the house & take my shower.  He also picked up my prescription because I didn't get a chance to pick it up before the snow started.

No big plans for tomorrow.  We're going to stay in and watch the super bowl at home.  Xander is pretty excited about our super bowl "party".  I bought some blue & white balloons, blue & white crepe paper, & lots of good snacky type foods that they normally don't get to eat (blue jello!).  I had initially invited a friend & his family over but Xander isn't feeling very well & I'm not sure if he's contagious.  He's been complaining about his ears hurting since yesterday and he's running a fever. 

I finished The Two Swords, book 3 of The Hunter's Blade trilogy by R.A. Salvatore.  I like how Salvatore left things on a "down note".  The orc army is still on the doorstep of the dwarven kingdom and there was lots of death & mayhem.  I still think that he needs to kill off one or more of his main characters and get some "fresh blood" into the story.  My vote would be for Wulfgar, Drizzt, and/or Cattie-brie.  Salvatore is known for his descriptive sword-play and he doesn't leave any of that out in this book.  I, for one, do not need a blow-by-blow description of each and every battle.  I don't know what the fancy terms mean so I can't picture them properly in my head and I usually skim over those paragraphs.  Salvatore wraps up the trilogy nicely while still leaving the Drizzt series open-ended, paving the way for another series of books, entitled Transitions.  I've put a request in at my local library for book one of the trilogy.

Your Moment of Zen

I Hate Coming Up With Titles For My Blog Posts

I am in such a blah mood today.  I have to go grocery shopping and I just can't get myself motivated to leave the house.  We're supposed to get some nasty weather, starting tomorrow, and I know if I don't do it today it's going to be that much more of a pain to do it later.  

At least I did take a shower and put on some clothes, rather than sitting around in my pajamas all day.  I also opened all the windows in the house to air it out & I lit a pear scented candle and it smells so good in here, like spring.  Maybe that's why I'm so blah.  I can fool myself into thinking it's spring but once I step outside, I'll know it's not (never mind the few remaining, smallish patches of snow that I can see outside of my window).

I asked Aaron if we could just take off and go to Chicago for the weekend and he looked at me like I was crazy.  I guess this isn't the best time of year to visit Chicago but I just need a change of scenery.  I think he would have agreed but he has to get ready for his talk at IndyNDA and he wants to do some stuff around the house that he's been putting off, like working on his truck and fixing the front door.

And then there is the Super Bowl this weekend.  I think any other time, Aaron would skip it but the Colts are playing.  I'm glad the Colts made it and I really hope that they win.  I told the boys that we could have our very own super bowl party.  Xander wants to put up blue & white decorations because there should always be decorations when you have a party.  They have to watch the game with us, too.  No cartoons during the super bowl. 

My dad said he'd be watching the game with a picture of Charlie sitting beside him.  I remember the last time we were all together to watch the Colts.  It was a week before Charlie passed away and we were at my dad's house.  I have a picture of Xander sitting on Charlie's lap.  Whenever my dad & Charlie got together to watch football, they would inevitably fight because my brother was loud & my dad liked the tv loud and somebody rearranged the furniture without asking and...they would always argue about something.  I know that my dad misses those arguments.

Things were kind of bad at this time last year.  Aaron and I had a big fight over Valentine's Day last year, so this year I told him not to worry about it.  It wasn't so much that he didn't do anything last year, it was that he told me he would and then didn't.  I know that he's pretty busy right now with work and his speaking engagement & lots of other little things so I told him not to worry about it.  It's just one more thing that would have been added to his list of things to do.  

Our regularly scheduled D&D game would have been on Feb. 14th but we aren't playing because some of the guys can't get away. I initially asked Aaron if he cared if I played on that day and he said, "It’s up to you.  I’m not particular on exact date’s. I can celebrate my love for you any day, or every day."

For some reason, it made me feel better to hear that and it makes Valentine's Day seem like less of a big deal.  I'll still get something for the boys and I'm thinking about doing something similar to the Valentine's on a budget suggested at Kind Over Matter for the whole family.  But it's not so much about me this time because I'm actually looking forward to doing something for Aaron and the boys without any expectations for myself.

Well, I'm just prolonging the agony right now when I could have been out the door and at the grocery store by now.  I suppose I better get my list together & the boys all bundled up if I want to be home before Aaron gets off of work.

meh. 

Small Wonders

Take It Tuesday - Small Wonders

Yes, the red eyes are natural, those cute grins are probably hiding something, and they are really not THAT small anymore.  But these guys make me laugh and they love me, which is wonderful in my book.  And that's a groundhog on Xander's head, not a bear.  Or a beer.  Just to be clear.

True Story

As I was putting Xander's shoes on this morning he said to me, "Be careful you don't lecter yourself on my shoes, mom."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him.

"If you lecter yourself you will catch on fire."

"What does 'lecter' mean?"

"When you turn the heat up and it's way up high and you knock it on the table and it gets on fire and when you put water on it you can stick your fingers out and when you throw them in the trash can they 'splode."

"What?"

"You can roast weenies on them."

"What?"

"You put them in the fire."

"So your shoes are on fire?"

"No, they're lectric."

"Oh! So when you said 'Don't lecter myself" you meant "Don't ELECTROCUTE myself'."

"That's what I said.  But actually they're hot dogs but they just call them weenies because they're little."

"OK, I'll be careful."

Curse Of The Azure Bonds Game 8 - The Finale

First off, I'd like to say OH MY FREAKING GOD!!! I thought that the entire party was going to die but not only did Blackberry survive, she gained NINE FREAKING LEVELS by draining the Pool of Radiance (POR) with the Gauntlets of Devouring and finished the campaign at 18th level, while the rest of the party was 10th. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

The party used the Helm of Dragons to transport to Myth Drannor and right away we ran into a ghost. Fortunately, she was a friendly ghost and directed the party to the hidden location of the POR so we were able to get there without any confrontations. We entered the ruins of an old communal bath and quickly found the fake wall, hiding the temple which housed the POR.

There were numerous specters floating aimlessly around the POR & they turned toward Blackberry and Edrick as they approached the pool. "Nnnnoooo," they moaned in quavery whispers.  But Blackberry ignored the ghosts and stepped up to the POR (and I figured that the faster we drained the pool, the quicker the ghosts would go away).  

Blackberry plunged her arms into the pool and shouted at the gauntlets to begin draining the magic.  The Banshee was unable to use her devastating wail because the sun was out but she did affect Upton with her horrid visage.  The Arch-shadow moved up to Edrick and began to attack him, draining strength from the paladin.  Samsung cast several positive energy bursts which weakened the enemy while Upton figured out that the undead could not move past the glyphs on the floor, casting spells from relative safety.

At the Pool of Radiance

The POR was drained quickly (in 1 round) and the ghosts dispatched just as swiftly.  Everyone but Upton suffered level and ability stat loss but our Dwarven cleric, Samsung, was able to restore Edrick and himself.  It was revealed to us that the specters were the victims of Blackberry's evil deeds and the Banshee was Edrick's elven wife.  What Blackberry didn't know about the gauntlets was that when they drained the magic of the POR it would go directly into her and so she GAINED 9 LEVELS.  We had to take a break so that I could level her up to 18th level & the guys all went up to 10th level.

After the magic was drained from the POR it became a one-way portal into the realm of Tyranthraxus.  Blackberry suggested going on vacation for a bit and coming back in a year or so when we had rested up but the rest of the party nixed that idea.  We entered the pool only to end up in a room almost identical to the one we left.  There we saw 4 doors floating in the 4 corners of the room.  Each door had an elven symbol on it for pride, rage, greed, and envy.  We figured out that each door represented the sin that lead to our downfall and entered each room accordingly.  It was here that we are shown the moments leading up to our downfall.  After each vision ends we arrive back in the room where we began.

Here are the lost memories that were revealed to us:

Edrick was in love with a human woman and got her with child but he chose a noble elven woman over his human lover.  On the day of Edrick's wedding, as he was leaving the temple of Torm in Waterdeep with his new elven bride, the pregnant human woman calls to him.  She was standing on the roof of a building and she yelled, "For you, Edrick," and then threw herself off the building and hung herself.  His elven wife accused him of sullying her honor and he backhanded her.  The church of Torm immediately denounced Edrick and he, in his pride, renounced his faith and duty, becoming a blackguard.

Blackberry was traveling with an adventuring party in some random dungeon.  She went off ahead of the party and found an odd shaped stone, which she touched.  A stone door opened and she found herself in an old shrine, upon which a golden bowl rested, an icon for a dead god.  Blackberry struggled with herself but lost to her greed and picked up the bowl.  From that moment on, Blackberry is no more.  She rejoined her party and that night killed them in their sleep and stole their possessions.  She returned to Waterdeep and became a cat burglar, entering people's homes while they slept and murdering them for their treasures.  She is never caught.

Samsung belongs to clan Battlerager, a clan of minor craftsmen beneath the Riven Mountain.  Supplies are controlled by rival clans and so clan Battlerager receives inferior materials, thus creating lesser quality goods.  Samsung becomes envious of the success of the rival clans.  One night, while drinking his Dwarven ale, he meet a strange dwarf and they lament the injustices of the world.  The stranger told him of a way to acquire better materials but Samsung must not question how the items were found.  A shipment will arrive for him in several days and that all he has to do is accept it.  In the meantime, it is getting harder to provide for his wife and daughter until he can no longer put food on the table.  The next morning, Sam goes down and opened the magic doors to the Dwarven under city but instead of receiving a shipment of materials, he is greeted by an army of demons and elves from the plane of fire.  Riven Mountain was overrun by invaders and many dwarves are killed or enslaved.  Samsung was forced to choose who lived between his wife & daughter, & he picked his daughter.

Upton was a young & beardless man who found himself in love with a young & beautiful noble woman.  The noble woman loved him in return & she left her life of wealth to become Upton's wife.  They married and have 7 children.  Upton provided for his family as a mage-for-hire but had a hard time finding jobs as time went on.  He and his wife began to argue and Upton was struck by an intense feeling of wanderlust.  But he loved his family and rather then leave them for the road, he started to drink heavily down at the local tavern.  At one point he suspected that his wife was going to leave him and his children had mysterious bruises on them & they are afraid of him, save for one child who still had faith in her father.  Upton tried to quit drinking but constantly fell off the wagon.  He aged rapidly and became bloated and bitter.  One night, while drinking, he overheard a man talking of how he had "had" Upton's wife several ways and that some of the kids weren't even his.  In a rage, Upton fireballed the tavern, killing everyone inside.  He went home to confront his wife but rather than wait for her answer, he burned down the house and killed his entire family.  His last glimpse of his family is of the one child who still believed in him burning to death.

After each vision has been shown, the door disappears and a ghostly figure emerges in that spot.  Upton & Samsung begged their apparitions for forgiveness, which caused them to disappear but Blackberry & Edrick attack their ghosts.  Blackberry hit her apparition but instead of harming it, the damage is reflected back upon Blackberry.  The blackguard ghost used the power of the unholy smite upon Edrick, doing considerable & it didn't harm the ghost at all.  Blackberry's ghost attacked her & hurt her and Blackberry told it to stop.  

"I'm sorry," yelled Blackberry, "I'll make it right, I promise!"  "Really, really?" asked the apparition of Blackberry.  "Yes, yes!  Just stop hurting me!"

At which point her ghost went away.  Edrick followed suit and forgave himself for his past sins & the blackguard also went away.

Meanwhile, a monstrous claw began to emerge from the pool in the center of the floor and 4 demons appear in place of the ghosts.  Tyranthraxus has come forth to do battle with those who he needs in order to be set free within the realms.  As he emerged from the pool we were shown another vision.  Tyranthraxus had pretended to be Edrick's human mistress when she hung herself; Tyranthraxus distracted Blackberry's party & allowed her to touch the icon; Tyranthraxus was the strange dwarf who arranged Samsung's downfall; Tyranthraxus was the man who seduced Upton's wife & was bragging in the tavern.  Tyranthraxus had arranged our downfall in our previous life.

Uh-oh, we split the party!

Tyranthraxus had some nasty abilities, like reverse gravity & horrid wilting, which he could use at will.  He also had 4 attacks & the rend ability, he was surrounded in a magic circle vs good (MCVG), DR 10/good, he could cast spells, and he had the ability to immolate & surround himself in a demonic fire that caused damage to melee attackers.  The only thing that could actually kill him was the sword of Lathander, which Edrick was wielding.  

Samsung was able to encase all of the demons in stone by use the stone shape spell, quickly getting them out of combat.  Edrick had to overcome the MCVG but Blackberry was able to pass through it since she is CN.  Thank god (or Rob) for those extra levels because the only way Blackberry could hurt Tyranthraxus was by using her sneak attack ability.  It took Edrick several attempts to breach the MCVG but once he did, he was able to give Tyranthraxus a good wack.  Upton hit him with several cone of colds & Samsung used flame strike, causing some major damage.  

Tyranthraxus then went after Upton & tried to use the remaining tattoo to control him, but Upton was able to make his will save, thus negating any effects of the tattoo.  Blackberry & Edrick followed after Tyranthraxus but Edrick had to get past the MCVG again.  Tyranthraxus then attacked Blackberry and hit her 4 times & did a rend.  Upton flew away & Edrick got through the MCVG but then he rolled a 1 (EPIC FAIL!) & threw his sword.  Not only did he fall asleep during the combat vs the drow but he threw his freaking sword during a battle with a god!  

Tyranthraxus stunned Blackberry and threw her up against a wall because Samsung had cast silence on her.  Thank god (or Robbie) again for those extra levels because the extra hit points saved her freaking life.  Because Edrick wasn't holding the sword of Lathander, Tyranthraxus attempted to use the tattoo to control him but it also failed.  So then Tyranthraxus attacked him & killed him & ate him.  BUT because Edrick avoided control & the tattoo was removed, his soul was restored and he wasn't completely destroyed.

Due to the combined damage dealt by Blackberry, Edrick, & mostly Upton, we were able to knock him down to 0 HP.  Then we put him back in the pool & Upton delivered the final blow using the sword of Lathander. 

Our final vision was of Edrick, the paladin of Torm, marrying the human woman that he loved & raising their half-elf child together; Blackberry resisting the temptation to pick up the golden icon & rejoining her party; Samsung working hard & achieving the life that he had coveted; Upton never picking up a bottle & turning to alcohol to drown his sorrows.  Tyranthraxus, the scourge of elves and the seducer, had been destroyed.  We had regained our souls & resumed living the life that he had interrupted.

Things To Do & The Week Ahead

Warning: This is going to be a very, very boring blog post.

When I left to play D&D yesterday, Aaron was in the process of picking up the house.  I came home and he had the laundry done and dinner ready!  He spot cleaned really well so all I have to do is the bathroom & dust and keep the floors cleaned this week.

I have to help out in the Zach's class on Tuesday and Thursday.  Ms. A was back this morning but I think that they're behind on stuff in the class so that's why I'm helping again.  There are a couple of MOMS Club play dates and a story time at the library that I want to try and make it to.  We hardly ever miss story time, unless one of the boys are sick.  I have to finish up my book by Wednesday so I can take it back to the library.  Possible books to check out are Make Love The Bruce Campbell Way and/or The Orc King,  Any suggestions on books I should look for?  I'm looking for some new authors and I don't know where to start. *edit: when I finish my current library book, I will be reading Rachel's book, Lucifer's Scar; A Love Story.

I need to go grocery shopping at some point but I don't really have any concrete plans for the rest of the week.  Aaron might have one of his programming meet-ups this week but I have to double check.  No one that we know of is having a Super Bowl party One of the ladies in the MOMS Club is having a super bowl party but I think Aaron would rather stay home, anyway.

Things I need to do today: 

• Clean the bathroom ✓
• Mail the bills and drop off the water & sewer bill ✓
• Do our taxes ✓
• Dust the furniture
• Blog about yesterday's D&D adventures ✓
• Make a grocery list
• Call in my perscription ✓
• Sweep the floors ✓
• Work on counting with the boys ✓