![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
[001] C-c-c-covered with scorpions...
OKAY. So I'm not technically caught up on stuff yet, but it's a new dawn, it's a new day, mostly it's just a new month, how about a new poll thinger so I can feel like I accomplished something on my day off?
After the mess that was The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, I picked this adventure to tackle next as it's specifically designed to allow for backtracking in case you miss shit along the way, which is apparently a problem we have!
Of course, this also means we'll probably end up needing another map if that happens. We'll burn that bridge when we get to it.
Hardy adventurer that you are, you have never been known to quail at a little danger. But you're no fool. You've always been far too wise to venture into Scorpion Swamp. All your life you've heard tales of that awful marsh and its disgusting denizens. But the real danger of the swamp, so the tales go, is not the creatures that inhabit it, nor even the magicians and wicked men who haunt its paths.
No, the reason that so few return from Scorpion Swamp is very simple. The swamp is criss-crossed by numerous trails that twist and turn in all directions. No one has ever mapped them and lived to tell the tale. An evil fog hides the sky, so no one can set a course by the stars. Once you're well into the swamp, even compasses are unreliable. They may point north, west, or south-by-south-east, leading you around in circles until you drop from exhaustion.
So you've stayed well away from the swamp-lands. But although you don't know it yet, something is about to happen to change your fortunes...
As you walk along the King's highway, you come upon an old woman, crumpled in the dust. You carry her into the shade and give her a drink from your water-skin. She soon revives, but you walk with her to the next town, just to make sure that she will be all right.
You take your leave of her in the town market-place. 'Bless you for your kindness,' she says, when you part. 'Wear this with my good wishes, and may you never lose your way.' With that, she gives you a plain-looking Brass Ring. When you slip it on your finger, as you walk down the highway again, you realize that it has altered its shape to fit you perfectly. You have a magic ring!
As you travel, you learn more about the Brass Ring's powers. The old woman must have been a powerful Witch, and she meant her blessing seriously. While you are wearing the Brass Ring, you will always know which way is North. Even in the deepest forest or in the twistiest town street, you will never be lost. Furthermore, the Brass Ring grows warm on your finger in the presence of evil, even when you are greeted in a friendly fashion. You spend a week with the forest bandits... rough men, but honest in their way... and the Ring is cool. But in the caverns, it warns you of evil magic and of foul undead. And in the towns, you find that no clever thief or lying merchant can fool you. The old woman's gift is valuable indeed to an adventurer like you!
Now you feel as though you ought to put the Brass Ring to some use worth of its magic. Exploring Scorpion Swamp, with its unmapped maze of trails, might be the perfect task. And it might be profitable, too! So, with your mind set on glory and treasure, you set off towards the bogs and fens of Scorpion Swamp.
The path that you must travel is a long one, for Scorpion Swamp lies to the far west of the kingdom. As you travel, you have many experiences that a less seasoned traveller would call adventures. To you, fighting Orcs and Goblins, defying evil wizards, and slaying giant wolves are all in a day's work. As you travel farther west, the mountains around you turn to hills, the hills to plains, and the plains to damp lowlands. You know that Scorpion Swamp cannot be far away.
When you enter the little town of Fenmarge, no one finds you remarkable. Many travellers pass through here. Your sturdy helmet and sharp sword indicate you are a fighter not to be trifled with, but this is not uncommon.
But when, sitting in the local tavern, you announce your plan to explore the swamp, the listeners are dumbfounded. They cluster around you, pushing back the battered benches to make room. The swamp, they tell you, holds the bones of many such as you! Not only is it trackless and infested with vermin, monsters and starving bandits, but a group of wizards calling themselves the Masters have recently claimed Scorpion Swamp for their own. One of them - a big, burly man escorted by two great grey wolves - visited this very tavern last week. He didn't say much, they tell you, but he didn't seem the sort to welcome trespassers on his property!
As the conversation continues, you realize that the villagers are sure you will die in the swamp. 'We can't let you go!' they say. One even makes so bold as to put his calloused hand on your shoulder to restrain you as you start to walk out the door.
After the mess that was The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, I picked this adventure to tackle next as it's specifically designed to allow for backtracking in case you miss shit along the way, which is apparently a problem we have!
Of course, this also means we'll probably end up needing another map if that happens. We'll burn that bridge when we get to it.
Hardy adventurer that you are, you have never been known to quail at a little danger. But you're no fool. You've always been far too wise to venture into Scorpion Swamp. All your life you've heard tales of that awful marsh and its disgusting denizens. But the real danger of the swamp, so the tales go, is not the creatures that inhabit it, nor even the magicians and wicked men who haunt its paths.
No, the reason that so few return from Scorpion Swamp is very simple. The swamp is criss-crossed by numerous trails that twist and turn in all directions. No one has ever mapped them and lived to tell the tale. An evil fog hides the sky, so no one can set a course by the stars. Once you're well into the swamp, even compasses are unreliable. They may point north, west, or south-by-south-east, leading you around in circles until you drop from exhaustion.
So you've stayed well away from the swamp-lands. But although you don't know it yet, something is about to happen to change your fortunes...
As you walk along the King's highway, you come upon an old woman, crumpled in the dust. You carry her into the shade and give her a drink from your water-skin. She soon revives, but you walk with her to the next town, just to make sure that she will be all right.
You take your leave of her in the town market-place. 'Bless you for your kindness,' she says, when you part. 'Wear this with my good wishes, and may you never lose your way.' With that, she gives you a plain-looking Brass Ring. When you slip it on your finger, as you walk down the highway again, you realize that it has altered its shape to fit you perfectly. You have a magic ring!
As you travel, you learn more about the Brass Ring's powers. The old woman must have been a powerful Witch, and she meant her blessing seriously. While you are wearing the Brass Ring, you will always know which way is North. Even in the deepest forest or in the twistiest town street, you will never be lost. Furthermore, the Brass Ring grows warm on your finger in the presence of evil, even when you are greeted in a friendly fashion. You spend a week with the forest bandits... rough men, but honest in their way... and the Ring is cool. But in the caverns, it warns you of evil magic and of foul undead. And in the towns, you find that no clever thief or lying merchant can fool you. The old woman's gift is valuable indeed to an adventurer like you!
Now you feel as though you ought to put the Brass Ring to some use worth of its magic. Exploring Scorpion Swamp, with its unmapped maze of trails, might be the perfect task. And it might be profitable, too! So, with your mind set on glory and treasure, you set off towards the bogs and fens of Scorpion Swamp.
The path that you must travel is a long one, for Scorpion Swamp lies to the far west of the kingdom. As you travel, you have many experiences that a less seasoned traveller would call adventures. To you, fighting Orcs and Goblins, defying evil wizards, and slaying giant wolves are all in a day's work. As you travel farther west, the mountains around you turn to hills, the hills to plains, and the plains to damp lowlands. You know that Scorpion Swamp cannot be far away.
When you enter the little town of Fenmarge, no one finds you remarkable. Many travellers pass through here. Your sturdy helmet and sharp sword indicate you are a fighter not to be trifled with, but this is not uncommon.
But when, sitting in the local tavern, you announce your plan to explore the swamp, the listeners are dumbfounded. They cluster around you, pushing back the battered benches to make room. The swamp, they tell you, holds the bones of many such as you! Not only is it trackless and infested with vermin, monsters and starving bandits, but a group of wizards calling themselves the Masters have recently claimed Scorpion Swamp for their own. One of them - a big, burly man escorted by two great grey wolves - visited this very tavern last week. He didn't say much, they tell you, but he didn't seem the sort to welcome trespassers on his property!
As the conversation continues, you realize that the villagers are sure you will die in the swamp. 'We can't let you go!' they say. One even makes so bold as to put his calloused hand on your shoulder to restrain you as you start to walk out the door.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7
What will you do?
View Answers
Challenge them for their impertinence.
1 (14.3%)
Politely explain that you are determined.
6 (85.7%)
no subject
no subject
seems legit
no subject
no subject