Sandy

The players for quests #14 and #15 have been chosen, so go check them out! Regarding the length of these quests, #14 (The Family Recipe) can either be very short or very long, depending on the choices you make during the quest. Quest #15 is more straightforward plot-wise, but there is a lot to explore in the Jolly Roger's Grotto. If the quests go on over the holidays, I will warn in advance that there will be breaks. But what's the rush, eh?

Over the day, the Quest Board was visited by the representatives of two of the six greatest houses in Eubric Freeport. Eager adventurers flocked in front of the board to see if they had been selected to hunt either ingredients for a recipe or cowering pirates. Unfortunately there was not enough room for all of them, but ten people left the board with a satisfied smile on their face. CHOSEN PLAYERS: Quest #14: The Family Recipe Quest Master: Sandy Assignment: “Thanks to the help of your organization, we found our beloved matriarch Zelda in time, but she has not regained consciousness yet. We have tried everything we’ve got, except this one recipe we found from the Grand Wizardine’s belongings. We request your aid in collecting the ingredients listen in the recipe so that our matriarch could make full recovery.” ~General Sourceress Beth of the Magistrous House of Ziegfried Party requirements: “We would like to hire four resourceful heroes, especially clerics and mages.” Reward: A level of experience to each participant and 1000 gold to share, with improved reputation among the Ziegfrieds Participants: ~ Thormanil Nihai, Level 10 Barbarian (swils) ~ Bartholomew Docken, Level 13 Ranger (Brickdoctor) ~ Thothwick, Level 3 Rogue (Professor Flitwick) ~ Cinna the Dark, Level 10 Mage (darkdragon) *Party Leader* Quest #15: Hoisting Down the Jolly Roger Quest Master: Sandy Assignment: “It is my displeasure to announce that there’s a new pirate captain raiding the Crystalline Sea. He calls himself the Jolly Roger, and our men have reported that he hides somewhere off the coast of the lost kingdom of Ennon. I need help infiltrating his base and putting a swift end to his piracy.” ~ Admiral Nemo Bonaparte, Guardian of the Crystalline Sea Party requirements: “A party of six heroes above Level 5 shall invade the hiding place of this aspiring marauder. At least one rogue required, and any mages with a knack for lightning or wood spells will come in handy.” Reward: 1200 gold to share, improved reputation among the Bonapartes Partipants: ~Erdathcath Madilinas, Level 9 Ranger (The_Customizer) ~Maurice Ratibor, Level 9 Cleric (Etzel) ~Sir Christopher Daggerfall, Level 9 Knight (Fred Fred Burger) ~Hybros, Level 10 Rogue (JimButcher) ~Eric, Level 12 Barbarian (Khorne) *Party Leader* ~Ad-Hoh, Level 10 Mage (ADHO15) These two quests were set to begin in a few days, so the chosen heroes had some time to do preparations for their next adventure.

"I knew something was off with you, Antia! Now you will pay for your treachery (and we can reap experience off of you)." Ellaria attacks Antia from the front row.

No, I don't think that sort of things belong to the Heroica Hall -topic. You can use the Library-topic, though. But why did you repost all the pictures from Quest#10 here? What was the point of that?

"Victory! Now, I think we've done with oversized insects, so farewell Antia! I hope we won't crush you when we get back to our own size again." Ellaria waves at the big ant, trying to get her to leave. She then turns to her more humane party members. "Okay, I think we're about done here. Let's get these too rascals back to their father. I'm sure the orcs have returned to Mr. Szalinski already."

"Here, Antia, have a cookie! And another one!" Ellaria feeds her two remaining Oatmeal Cookies to the friendly neighbourhood ant.

"Okay, since nobody is in dire need of healing, I will use my Water Bomb and Lightning Bomb on the enemies. At least I'll be able to cause 10 damage to all of them..."

Guys, Jeb knows exactly what I was talking about. I think you should take feedback for what it is, not as a personal attack. I do apologize if I hurt your feelings, though. You've done a great job with your quest, but don't think it couldn't be improved (I know well that none of my quests have been perfect). As a QM you shouldn't take the side of the players, nor go against them, just place challenges in front of them. If the players whine about a decision they made wrong, let them whine - it's their own fault they are in that situation. Anyway, I have to apologize to everyone, but the end of the sign-ups for my upcoming quests have been postponed to Tuesday the 22nd. I've just got too busy couple of days ahead of me, so I cannot start the quests yet. Sorry for that, but I'm sure you can stand to wait a couple more days.

It's a valid question. I'm not against surprise twists in a quest, but I think it would be fair to let the players know in advance if some of their actions will cause the quest to fail. On the other hand, QMs shouldn't be afraid to let the players fail a quest and make wrong decisions (I'm looking at you, Jebediahs ). It just adds to the suspence of the game if you can't always win.

It is time for me, Semiramis the Sand Queen, to introduce the elite members of my humble army. They fought their way out of the crumbling Azzurat with me, and I have no doubt in my mind that they will follow me to the death. This is my personal war oliphant, Mahamut, whose steps never falter. I have raised him from a calf myself. Also note my trusty scimitar, The Exodus. The other war oliphants in my army have been harnessed to the use of my archers. Here are my maids-of-honor and flagbearers, Rosmerta and Azura. They are like sisters to me. They are accompanied here by my Majesters wielding spells of fire and water, and two of my Royal Guards. These are the three undying Golem Magi: Melchior the Golden, Gaspar the Silvery and Balthazar the Bronze. They have offered my family their eternal wisdom ever since Azzurat was founded by my ancestor Azzur the Nomad King. Much to my surprise, I was joined by Nashmur the Cobra and his band of dark nomads. They used to trade with my people, but with my country gone they had to find a living somewhere else, so they decided to travel north with us. I also bring with me the many wonders of the south: one of the few remaining phoenixes in the world, a feisty genie that was captured by Sorceress Kalinda the White, and a ferocious Hyenaman warrior named Scaro. May they add to the glory of Kaliphlin! I am glad you accept my humble bearings as part of your glorious guild, Sahib Flagg. Let us win this tournament of guilds together! Oh, my men have now started to build a watch tower in the name of Kaliphlin, as you have requested.

I'm having some problems with my camera, but I managed to take this shot of Semiramis' personal army. More detailed photos are coming up!

"Eeeeek!!! I'm suddenly very arthrophobic, so I guess I'll just concentrate on healing you guys and whacking those scorpions for half a damage. Jeesh, those scorps are so creepy I don't even care about their sob story!" Ellaria consumes her last ladle of Goblin Gumbo, and on her second turn she attacks Young Scorpion (A) from the back row. She also regrets for not stocking more Ice Bombs, they would've really been useful in this battle...

Great conversation here, guys! Too bad it always happens when I'm asleep. I see that the matter of artifacts is bothering people, so let's make a rule out of it: EACH PLAYER IS ONLY ABLE TO EQUIP TWO ARTIFACTS AT A TIME, AND THOSE TWO ARTIFACTS CANNOT BE OF THE SAME TYPE. ~ A player can carry more than two artifacts, but the QM will only count the first two listed in the inventory as equipped. ~ Artifacts are equipment that are not weapons, shields, gems, scrolls, consumable, tools, treasures or quest-related items. ~ The types of artifacts are headwear, bodywear, capes, handwear, footwear and accessories, as listed in CallMePie's Treasury. I hope everyone is satisfied with this solution. I've updated the rules and the FAQ accordingly.

Sorry for being so inactive thus far, but Semiramis will march her troops for everyone to see tomorrow. The remains of the Azzurat army are mighty indeed, consisting of war elephants, camels, golem magi and even a trapped djinni.

Actually, the elemental strengths and weaknesses cancel each other out despite of how many elements are in the mix. In the case of fiery monsters, for example, the nullifying effect of Ruby cancels out the strength of both Aquamarine and Garnet. For rock monsters, the strength of Aquamarine cancels out the nullifying effect of Ruby, Garnet and Sapphire. So a weapon with every gem infused would cause double damage only to beasts, humanoids and the undead, since they aren't immune to any element.

"Why, certainly! It is the continent where I originate from, you see. Mistaria goes far deeper to the south than is shown on the map, all the way to the true Mistlands, and it is known for its winding rivers, lush jungles and peaking mountains - and of course the mists that it gets its name from. It is connected to the Low Kingdoms in the north-west by a strip of land, which prevents ships from sailing to the west to Baltarok. A blessing in disguise, I'd say, especially to the people of the Free Islands, because withouth that land we might have had a whole orcish fleet at our front door during the Invasion." "Mistaria is home to many races besides us Metasimians. Tribes of lizardmen, werepanthers and harpies inhabit the jungles, but the coastlines are reigned by the more humanoid races. I'd say you'd feel right at home in the fertile plantations of The Lance region, for example, and Eubric has had good trading relationships with the Port of Miranda for as long as this city has existed. You should definitely visit the lands of Mistaria, if you ever get the chance."

Byblos excuses himself, but shortly returns to Mr. Carvenhall with a piece of a map. "I believe this map will make it more clear as to what lies in the south-east of Eubric. Hope your thirst for knowledge is quenched, good sire." ~The first post has been updated with the expanded map.~

"Deserts, eh? There is a large desert to the south-east of the Free Islands, on the continent of Abra. I believe one party of heroes is participating on a quest there, near the city of Carthago. In the far west you can find the barren wastelands of Baltarok, the land of orcs. But those are just the deserts nearest to us."

"Thanks for the tonic! Yes, we should take one of these cookie pieces back to Antia. Sorry my intuition was wrong about where to go..."

Ellaria nudges her fellow cleric with her elbow. "I think you've done enough, Haldor. Apparently the girl just wasn't satisfied with what she got... I know my first time certainly was far from what I had anticipated it to be, but of course the situation was totally different. It wasn't... my choice... But enough about that, let's just head onwards! Kids, we'll return you and your little brother to your father in no time!"

You are free to create one, by all means.

ATTENTION ALL CLERICS AND QUEST MASTERS! In an attempt to make life a bit harder for my clerical brethren, I've decided to slightly alter their Special Guard skill (like I mentioned earlier). From this point on, it will work like this: SPECIAL GUARD/NO HEALING: The cleric has a 50/50 chance to be protected from any negative effects caused by the opponent’s special skill. Optionally, any attempt of healing fails. So QMs will have to remember to roll the die again if a cleric gets hit by a special skill that inflicts a negative effect, to determine if it connects or not. And the clerics will have to remember to remind the QMs. The rule page has been updated accordingly. Hope everyone's okay with this minor change.

"Uh-oh, that must be the Mama Scorpion that Antia was talking about. She cannot be pleased that we slew her younglings, after all... I don't think we have found a sugary treat yet, so I suggest we search for something like that. Since the baby scorpions were near location 3, I'd suggest we skip to location 4 first. Let's move on!"

I don't think I ever said that everyone has an equal opportunity to get onto quests regardless of their reputation with the hosting faction, since it was my intention all along that the better reputation you have with a faction, the easier you will get into that faction's quests. I cannot force other QMs to follow this rule, though, although I do wish they would adhere to it. But like I mentioned in the past, there will come a point in this game where the choice of a faction to side with will truly matter. In my plans the entire organization of Heroica will be split up by this plot point, but to what extent and what ensues from this split remains to be seen.

CURRENT SIGN-UPS: Quest #14: The Family Recipe 1. Erdathcath Madilinas, Level 9 Ranger (The_Customizer) 2. Alexandre Chevalier, Level 1 Knight (Capt.JohnPaul) 3. Alf Gregory, Level 9 Barbarian (Bricksandparts) 4. Bartholomew Docken, Level 13 Ranger (Brickdoctor) 5. Sir Christopher Daggerfall, Level 9 Knight (Fred Fred Burger) 6. Cronk, Level 13 Knight (CorneliusMurdock) 7. Thothwick, Level 3 Rogue (Professor Flitwick) 8. Henry Sicariul, Level 8 Rogue (Peanuts) 9. Gorg, Level 1 Barbarian (Lordofdragonss) 10. Sir Leo Aragon, Level 10 Knight (JediAnakin) 11. Ad-Hoh, Level 10 Mage (ADHO15) 12. Benji Carvenhall, Level 10 Ranger (played by Flare) 13. Tomas, Level 13 Cleric (Captain Tamamono) 14. Cinna, Level 10 Mage (darkdragon) Quest #15: Hoisting Down the Jolly Roger 1. Erdathcath Madilinas, Level 9 Ranger (The_Customizer) 2. Alf Gregory, Level 9 Barbarian (Bricksandparts) 3. Bartholomew Docken, Level 13 Ranger (Brickdoctor) 4. Maurice Ratibor, Level 9 Cleric (Etzel) 5. Sir Christopher Daggerfall, Level 9 Knight (Fred Fred Burger) 6. Hybros, Level 10 Rogue (JimButcher) 7. Henry Sicariul, Level 8 Rogue (Peanuts) 8. Eric, Level 12 Barbarian (Khorne) 9. Jess Islanti, Level 12 Rogue (cralegoboy) 10. Cronk, Level 13 Knight (CorneliusMurdock) 11. Elgar Gligin, Level 5 Ranger (Jedi master Brick) 12. Sir Glorfindel, Level 5 Knight (soccerkid6) 13. William Harkenshire, Level 5 Ranger (volcanicpanik) 14. Atramor Gibbin, Level 10 Rogue (CallMePieOrDie) 15. Sir Leo Aragon, Level 10 Knight (JediAnakin) 16. Ad-Hoh, Level 10 Mage (ADHO15) 17. Benji Carvenhall, Level 10 Ranger (played by Flare) 18. Xander Unth’or, Level 9 Barbarian (played by posades)