Joel’s Scattered Thoughts

I forgot to save the log file before exiting, so this is based solely on my recollections.

* Rampenape - human sorcerer
* Kysta half-elf cleric
* Riamara spryte greenbond
* Miru human fighter
* Ruke human palaldin
* Cinner the dwarven rogue/wizard/fighter/cleric

The first order of business was the recreation of a magic spear for Miru to replace the one she lost to an acidic slime creature. Rampenape provided the skill and the other characters provided the raw materials. The enchantments took a while to complete, so the party took advantage of that to rest.

Since they were at full strength, the party decided to buff up and take out Anguish. With all their buffs in place, this proved surprisingly easy. Cinner got Ruke to toss him at the high-flying chimera. Unfortunately, the throw wasn’t quite strong enough and Cinner missed catching the rafters. Riamara, Kysta, and Rampenape used magic to blast the creature. Miru got in a couple of solid hits with her new spear. Cinner finished it off with well placed bites and crowbars.

From there they moved down the corridors to the east and took on a drow outpost. Cinner managed to sneak around quite a while without being detected. The driders and drow started shooting at the party and the party returned the favor. Rampenape tossed in a fireball, Riamara threw in a sorcerous blast, Kysta cast searing light, Ruke and Miru ran in to get into the fight.

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We had all kinds of problems finding a server that didn’t kick someone off. Sigh. Technical issue are a pain.

My kids really like machima movies. I’ll have to check out some from Machima Film Festival 2005

Those present this week were:
* Rampenape - human sorcerer
* Kysta half-elf cleric
* Riamara spryte greenbond
* Miru human fighter
* Cinner the dwarven rogue

After resting up in the mirror room, the party returned to the room where Riamara, Miru, and Cinner first entered this region. They found a small storeroom with a cask of poisoned wine and some poison coated weapons. After tiptoeing past Anguish’s lair, Cinner found a concealed door to a circular room. The room looked like a meeting room. They found an adjoining barracks and a much more solid door.

Cinner picked the lock on the door and moved into what appeared to be an armory. He quickly found the magical weapons and then searched the room more thoroughly. The rest of the party found themselves unable to move into the armory. With a thorough search, Cinner found a small locked panel. Unfortunately, he was unable to open it and instead sprang an acid cloud trap. After several attempts, he rejoined the rest of the group.

Those present this week were:
* Rampenape - human sorcerer
* Kysta half-elf cleric
* Riamara spryte greenbond
* Miru human fighter
* Ruke human palaldin

The party decided to pursue Yuulek and found him in the process of reanimating some of the chokers they had fought earlier. One undead choker latched onto Ruke, who was unable to break free of its grasp. Riamara moved into position while Kysta prayed blessings upon the group. Miru landed solid blows on the choker that had moved to attack her. Rampenape threw a fireball at Yuulek and the remaining choker. Yuulek once again proved impossibly nimble - the fire didn’t even touch him. The other choker gave a choked gurgle as the fireball hit him dead on.

The choker on Ruke began to choke the life out of him. Miru was hit but managed to avoid begin grappled by another choker’s tentacles. Ruke used his dagger to smite the evil thing trying to choke him. Riamara used her hand of battle to destroy one of the chokers. Kysta blasted the one holding Ruke with a burst of searing light, causing it to shrivel and die. Ruke had barely begun to rise when Yuulek’s weight drove him back to his knees. Miru struck down another choker with two mighty blows. Rampenape fired magic missiles into Yuulek’s back.

The last standing choker started looking for a softer target. He moved around Yuulek and Ruke and went for Rampenape with both tentacles. Ruke drove his dagger into Yuulek as it bursts with holy energy again. Riamara moves into the room and casts hand of battle on the choker choking Rampenape, leaving it staggered but still choking the sorcerer. Once again calling upon her deity, Kysta summons a dancing mace to aid her and used it to pummel Yuulek. Yuulek saw that this battle has also turned against him. He released Ruke and tried to sprint for the door, but was brought down by Miru’s attack. She then whirled an proceded to drive her spear into the one choking Rampenape.

The last of the chokers was unbothered by Rampenape’s escape efforts and continued to squeeze the life out of him. Riamara casts icebolt on the last choker, causing him to fall to the ground and shatter.

Next they found remnants of a large door. It’s mostly buried in rubble – making it a bit of a squeeze to get through. They found the remnants of a great hall, reeking of death and corruption. As they looked around the hall, a huge shape drifted out of the rafters and moved to attack. Anguish started off with lighting aimed at Ruke. Rampenape moved back and cast bull strength on Ruke, just in time to have Anguish swoop by and take another bite out of the paladin. Riamara cast icebolt on Anguish, causing the twisted chimera to roar in pain. Ruke slashes at it twice, trying to hold its attention as he gestures for the others to head out, but failed to land a blow. Miru’s blows proved ineffectual. Kysta called upon Pelor to aid their retreat (Obscuring mist). Then squeezed through the opening behind her.

Rampenape moves up a litle bit, and casts shout, but Anguish manages to avoid most of its effects. The backdraft from Anguish’s wings pushed the obscuring mist in eddies as it decided to focus on Rampenape. Two sets of huge jaws clashed, his goat head’s horns gored, and then he reached out with two claws, nearly killing the poor sorcerer in one round. The dragon head reached out and took a big bite of spryte as Riamarar tried to flee. Ruke backed up to the door, still lashing out at the creature, refusing to leave yet until the others are out. He is a paladin after all. Miru droped down to one knee, looking back to the hole once, and then back at the monster. “Fuck this!” She yelled, vaulting through the hole into a somersault. Kysta called upon the power of Pelor and sent a sonic blast to surround the baddie, but it din’t have much effect.

Rampenape ran like a little girl. Anguish decided to take a piece out of the paladin, biting and tearing at the brave warrior. Riamara healed Rampenape. Ruke wiggled adroitly through the narrow opening with Anguish nipping at his heels. Robbed of his prey, Anguish hurled himself at the walls in fury.

I read somewhere that one of the reasons people get so caught up in MMORPGs is that it provides them with positive experiences that real life doesn’t. (The original poster expressed it better, but that was the gist of it.) This post, which I found via Overheard On LiveJournal, is one answer to what that might be.

MMORPGs provide tons of experiences of belonging and experiences of mastery. I’m basing this discussion on World of Warcraft, which is the MMORPG Jaimie and I play. First off, much of the game requires that you play in a group - be that a casual group or a long-term group (such as a guild). This provides you with plenty of experiences of belonging as you participate in guild chat, assist other guild members, call on them for help, and cheer on their accomplishments. Secondly, it provides experiences of mastery as you manage to accomplish difficult things in game - from acquiring that valor drop to running an instance that’s really too high for you to just simply reaching level 60. When you see how it fulfils basic psychological needs like that, it’s no wonder it’s such a time-sink!

I posted a question on the duration of copyright on S.L. Veihl’s site. She seems to believe that copyright should be perpetual. I have a real problem with that. It may be because I’m not a writer, but I believe that a perpetual copyright would impovrish us all.

Take the Musical My Fair Lady. It was based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, which references the Greek legend of Pygmalion. In the Greek legend, a sculptor creates a statue so beautiful that he falls in love with it, a goddess gives the statue life so that the sculptor and the statue can live and love together. In sum, a creator falls in love with his creation.

Suppose copyright were perpetual. I’m not sure if Pygmalion was out of copyright when My Fair Lady was written. However, if copyright were perpetual, Shaw would never have been allowed to tell a story so clearly derivative of the Greek legend. For that matter, Shelly’s Frankenstein could be said to derive from the same legend (without the romantic elements of course). When does copyright quit quashing other stories?

I just finished reading Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell. As always, Mr. Gemmell delivers a fine read. The book is fairly large, weighing in at about 450 pages for the paperback. I haven’t read the other books in this series.

This story follows the viewpoints of a number of characters. The primary character is Helikaon, Lord of the Silver Bow (aka Prince Aeneas). However, we also see the world through the eyes of Odysseus, Gershom, Andromache, Argurios, and a number of others. This is managed very skillfully so that I was never confused as to what was going on.

A book this size can easily get caught up in tedious details and infodumps. Mr. Gemmell’s approach is more to weave together numerous little stories into telling one huge story (that still isn’t nearing completion by the end of the book). Thus rather than waiting for the final resolution, you get to see little stories begin and end everywhere, each of which moves you on to the next one and each of which forms a part of the greater whole.

Another thing I like about this book is that the heroes make mistakes, the villains are capable of nobility, and the characters’ actions make sense. There is victory even in defeat, and even the greatest victory is not without cost. It’s a story that tries to show what might have happened. The only traces of the supernatural are seers who truly see the future.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys retellings of classic stories.

Those present this week were:

* Rampenape - human sorcerer
* Kysta half-elf cleric
* Riamara spryte greenbond
* Ruke human palaldin
* Cinner the dwarven rogue/wizard/fighter

The party found a room that had mirrors on the walls and a plaque under each mirror. The first rune pressed showed some kind of storage room, the other showed a dark elf moving through a ritual, and a great hall. After playing with the mirrors for a bit, the party moved on.

They found a small pack of chokers in the next room, but between Riamara and Cinner, the chokers didn’t even get a chance to react before being annihilated. At the end of another corridor they found a statue that plunged the area into darkness when touched. Then they found what looked to be some kind of den.

As they moved to the next room, Cinner spotted a larger choker with a number of smaller ones around him. Riamara led the way in with a sorcerous blast. The larger choker managed to dodge both Riamara’s blast and Cinner and Ruke’s attacks. Rampenape had more luck with his scorching ray, landing two solid hits. Kysta prayed to assist all in the battle.

The chokers recovered from their surprise and pressed forward, hoping to wrap their tentacles around a neck or two. One managed to grab Cinner, another managed to stab at Ruke with a poisoned dagger, and Kysta’s faith helped shield Rampenape from the last one. Cinner stabbed the one who grappled him, which was followed by another blow from Ruke. Kysta’s spiritual weapon also managed a solid hit. (At this point cinner, speaking through his Capt Crispy Critter alter-ego asked “What do you get when you cross a choker and a chicken? A good time and a empty kleenex box.” Yuulek reached out for Ruke with both tentacles and began to squeeze the life from his body. Rampenape hit again with his scorching rays. One regular choker was burned to a crisp. A nasty odor wafted up from the corpse. Yuulek sreeched as the ray hits his back but didn’t loose his hold on Ruke. Riamara cast lesser transfer wounds on Ruke.

The choker holding Cinner decided it didn’t like the odds, dropped him and tried to run for it. Cinner caught it and killed it before it could escape. He then tumbled around and cut another choker. Kysta’s spiritual weapon moved in to pound Yuulek. Yuulek managed to make a run for the door. Yuulek managed to paralyze Cinner when Cinner caught up to him, then touch of fatigue delivered by Rampenape’s pseudodragon familiar failed to affect him, so Yuulek made his escape.

Evan caught his first fish on sunday while fishing with Pepere. Pictures in our photo gallery.

My favorites from WoW quotes not to say while being intimate…Time is money, friend

• I haven’t got all day
• Ding!
• Not enough energy
• LFG
• I can’t use that yet!
• Your skill in Sex has increased to 112.
  Your skill in Sex has increased to 113.
  Your skill in Sex has increased to 114.
• That ability isn’t ready yet.
• I want you to DPS very very slowly, now and by slow I mean !&$%ing slow
• 6 minutes until release.
• Can I get a stamina buff?
• “Server Shutdown in 15:00″
  “Server Shutdown in 14:45″
  “Server Shutdown in 00:15″
• That weapon cannot be equipped in that slot
• You can’t mount here
• That’s still recharging.

Two new players this week along with the regulars
* Rampenape - human sorcerer
* Kysta half-elf cleric
* Riamara spryte greenbond
* Miru human fighter
* Ruke human palaldin
* Cinner the dwarven rogue

As they rounded the corner to the site of their earlier battle with the gricks, you see two doors like the ones that brought them here begin to take shape. Out of one emerges a half-elf and out of the other a human.  After introductions were made, they all continued to head west.

Cinner spotted some gricks hiding in a room of smashed skeletal bodies. Rampenape shielded himself, Kysta prayed, and Miru fell back into a better tactical position.  One of the larger gricks managed to lash Cinner with a tentacle. Riamara sang her incantation for heightened sorcerous blast sonic, causing two of the smaller gricks to shake apart from the vibrations.  Cinner managed to stab the large grick in a tender spot, causing it to coil and thrash about a bit before expiring. Ruke gestured for one of the gricks to come after him, but held his ground, just trying to taunt them all for now.

Rampenape buffed Ruke using his pseudogragon familiar to deliver the spell. Kysta prayed “Pelor, send your sword to cut these monsters down to size” and used the spiritual weapon to deliver a strong blow to one of the remaining gricks. The nicked grick slithered up to Ruke and tried to wrap its tentacles around him. Ruke who was prepared, lashed out with his greatsword and cut the grick into thin slices that hold together for a moment before sliding to the floor in a neat pile. Riamara moved forward and sang heightened sorcerous blast fire at the remaining gricks. The small gricks crisp and burn. The larger one proves surprising agile and doges the worst of the flames.  Cinner made a bold charge and bounced off the large grick without doing any damage. Ruke moved up to the big one and lashed out once, putting force behind the blow. The grick staggers, then falls dead as the holy power courses through it.

After the fight, Cinner found a ring that none of the magic users were able to identify.  When he put it on, it made him even harder to see.  As he slipped through the corridors, he found a vinegary smelling room with a large slime creature in it.  He tried shooting at it, but due to his lack of skills with a repeating crossbow, hit the wall instead.  Miru charged in and hit the slime with her spear.  The blow was solid, but hitting the creature dissolved her magical spear.  Rampenape threw a fireball at the slimes, burning one severely and not affecting the other at all.  Riamara followed up with a fiery sorcerous blast and burned both. Ruke saw what happened to Miru’s spear, grabbed his spare nonmagical greatsword. “Bastard thing, you’ll pay for that!”  His blow split the slime into two more. Kysta stepped forward into the room and called upon the power of Pelor. “Pelor, shed your divine light upon these creatures. (Searing Light)” but it didn’t affect the slime.

Cinner had more luck with his crossbow.  The quarrel sank into the first slime, dissolving as it did so. With a pop, the slime exploded and scattered goo everywhere. Miru backed off towards the door, pulling Rosco’s dagger free from her belt. Rampenape tries a ray of frost on the northernmost slime, but failed to affect the slime in any way. Riamara casts her last socerous blast using earth and both slimes are slurped into the ground. There is now a slight bump in the floor.

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Adding the new party members went well.  After the lack of fighting the last while, they came in with a bang.  I need to remember to keep things moving when they slow down.