But leave me out of them, please. I am no longer there, and it is rude to "speak ill of the dead" ...

[Posts are deleted. Have a nice life.]

Well, the Druid is gone.
I feel no need to respond at this point unless someone specifically wants an opinion on things.

Unless someone else has a burning response they need to get out, I'd like to suggest that we move on. I was excited to see the game on the verge of starting - lets get it going.

(I'm not trying to silence anyone that wants to speak - do so! But nobody else has responded in the last couple days. I'm guessing most have had a chance to see things by now. As I said, if you want to - post away. Otherwise, lets see what this crazy world has to offer.)

boo freakin' hoo Let's play!!!!!

Let's get moving. IIIIIIIII'm uh...just waiting for someone to be post first, so I can get an initial idea on what to post. Just for some confidence.lol

Hammer, a little direction please. you want us to do an intro to each other? are our characters close enough to communicate with each other?

.... has now passed and the following PC Players will be included in the Opening Chapter Emancipation Sand Dance:

List is the clarification requested by Nomad D2 including Player Name, PC Character Name, Race, Class and Gender:

ABRAXIS
SIR YYDER
HUMAN
KNIGHT
MALE

BRIANNA
SIRAE AMBERLYN FOXFIRE
HUMAN
KNIGHT
FEMALE

CIRROWOLF
ARIANE ARVENDRE
HUMAN
PALADIN
FEMALE

DRAGON MISTRESS
SHANDRA
ELF
MONK
FEMALE

HAMMER
BUMBLE BREW
ELF
WIZARD
FEMALE

NOMAD D2
ULLRICH ORICO UPPSDRADA THE SILVER BEAR
HUMAN
RANGER
MALE

SHADOWDRAGON
CUNNING FOX
HUMAN
CLERIC
MALE

BRODEUR30 and STRYKE have NOT Responded to My PM messages and since the September 10th Deadline for supplying me Character Info has passed their characters will have to be introduced into the adventure at a later date after the 7 of us gain our freedom!

The Bard NPC will also be available to cover your backs in defense of his friend the Giant Dwarf who the Dark Arena Consortium would like to see Die, which is why this particular Emancipation Sand Dance is a Fight to the Death for ALL Participants! [See Previous Prelude!]

In Answer to Nomad's other questions:

NO You Are NOT Already A Team

You Do Not Know Your Teammates

You Are Isolated in a Private Cell with a Bed, Table and Chair and you Shower and Change into your Training Gear in a Private Bath for Each Prisoner

Your Food is Brought to Your Cell 3 Times a Day and the Servers Do NOT Abuse You! [Sexually or Otherwise!]

However, the Black Hooded Guards do heap Verbal and Physical Abuse upon you when Training in the Dark Arena! [There is NO SEXUAL ABUSE Whatsoever!]

When You are in the 220 foot by 220 foot Dark Arena you are fighting with blunted instruments and for some reason the Casters are Unable to Cast Any Spells!

You Train in the Dark Arena one on one against a Black Hooded Guard, but you are only paired with a Black Hooded Guard; however, there are other pairs scattered around the Dark Arena during Training Sessions, so you do know there are other Prisoners, but you have No Verbal Contact with any of them!

During the Next 3 Months You Are Fighting Once a Week Against an Assortment of Opponents with Blunted Weapons and Armor of Your Choosing, but the Casters are Unable to Cast Any Spells!

[After Your Private Shower You are Offered an Assortment of Weapons or You Can Request Specific Weapons Be Supplied to Your Character for These Blunted Weapon Fights!]

Every 6 Months is an Emancipation Sand Dance that is Usually Fought with Sharp Weapons, Armor and the Casters are Able to Cast Spells! Winners are Freed and Losers are Sentenced to Serve in the Dark Arena as Opponents!

However, the Dark Arena Consortium has Declard that the Upcoming Emancipation Sand Dance is a Battle to the Death and the Only Way Your Character is Freed is by Fighting and Surving Against Opponents Trying to Kill You!

All the Opponents Must Be Killed Off for Your Character to Survive the Experience!

There are 3 Other Groups included and Any of Those Who Survive are Also Granted Freedom and Share in the Experience Points and Treasures!

I Am Expecting that Your Group May Be the Only Survivors!

The Giant Dwarf is in Your Group making a Group of 8 and there are 3 other Groups of 8 Member Teams that were Sentenced to Death, but have the Opportunity to Fight for Their Lives!

Your Opponents have the Promise of Freedom IF They Succeed in Killing Off ALL 4 Teams!

You Do Not Know How Many Rounds the Emancipation Sand Dance will last, but if everyone were to be Killed and some of the opponents Do Not Get to Fight, then they also gain their freedom!

Meaning These Are Desperate and Un-Reasoning Opponents Who You Cannot Use Diplomacy Against to Keep From Dying!

I will post another Prelude as soon as possible where the Giant Dwarf meets with each of you individually at the end of 3 months to let you know you have been selected to his team and that it is a battle to the Death with Freedom for the Survivors!

On Sunday the 14th I was planning on Posting the Prelude that transpires 2 weeks prior to the Sand Dance where each of your characters receives some Special Gifts that will be used with discretion in the Dark Arena Emancipation Sand Dance because you are allowed to Keep These Items because you will need them once you embark on your journey!

Therefore, go ahead and begin posting your Private Moments in the Cells which is your opportunity to post the full length info some of you provided me that I edited for the Prelude I posted last Sunday!

Plus you are allowed to post about your Verbal and Physically Abusive Training Sessions against the Black Hooded Guards between the time you are first spoken to by the Giant Dwarf [The Opening Prelude with his speech about The Sanctuary!] and up to 3 months before the Sand Dance begins! [The time that I will post the announcement by the Giant Dwarf that your character is a member of his team!]

This is where you have some Creative License!

..... a minimum of two(2) more Prelude posts before the Present Day post will be written to start the adventure!

Am still researching some things to add to the Prelude and have unexpectedly been interrupted today, which will curtail my writing time!

Hopefully, the 2 Preludes will be written and posted before I go to sleep!

..... are now posted and I am sure that some of you have some specific questions about the Special Gifts that you have been given!

I will be answering those questions in the next few days!

If you have any specific questions then please PM me!

You have been introduced to each other and training together so there is plenty of room for back posting and role playing as there is now 2 weeks to go before the Emancipation Sand Dance gets underway!

Hopefully the Adventure will begin after I get the Opening posted which is my project for next Sunday!

Enjoy!

Hammer, I think it'd be a good idea to make a list of the NPCs, the PCs, terms definitions (Ie: Sand Dance), a list of avail weapons (or is that private?) and an Arena Timeline in different posts for better direction? What do you think?

Also...Although we can post now are actions before battle, will our actual first battle (when we're obliged to post, or so I'm assuming) be within the Sand Dance?

Or will it be one of the battles with the blunted weapons or the fight that happens once a month?

..... nutshell the Sand Dance is in reference to the Dark Arena battle [a term that myself, Nomad, ShadowDragon and Abraxis are familiar with in the PBM Gladiator game that we have played for the last several years!]

There is a list of PCs just a few posts above this one!

The 2 main NPCs at the moment are the Barbarian and Bard which are listed in the Merchant Special Gifts post 2 weeks before the Sand Dance!

You may begin posting your role play from the time you were taken prisoner until being given the Special Gifts that will be used in your Sand Dance battle and that you will be allowed to Keep for the next phase of the adventure!

Available weapons for the Blunted Weapon fights are for you to choose from the general stock of weapons supplied to all prisoner participants!

As for the Arena Timelines, all the entries at this point are preludes to the Emancipation Sand Dance with the time prior to that battle noted in Bold Type ie Six Months Ago, Two Months Ago, Two Weeks Ago etc!

Okay?

I will work at making things a bit clearer as we go!

+3 Feathered Sword can be any type sword of your choosing!

NOTE: Nomad informed me that his character would be using a Longsword, so his +3 Sylvan Blade is a Longsword, but it could have been a Shortsword, Scimitar etc!

+3 Feathered Sword is a Magical Blade with an extremely keen edge and has a bonus of +3 to hit and +1 damage. However, on a non-modified roll of 18 - 20 it severs a limb/hand/foot or head.

+1 Plate Armor of the Fathom is a +1 full plate armor with a green or light blue sheen on its surface and decorated with waves and fish motifs or a deity's symbolage.

[Brianna you may choose either the light blue or light green color and the wave and fish motif description! But NOT a Deity Symbol for this particular adventure!]

The wearer of this armor is treated as un-armored for swimming purposes and the wearer can breathe underwater and can converse with any any creature with a language that breathes underwater.

Helm of Comprehend Languages and Read Magic appears as a normal helmet, but grants its wearer the ability to understand the spoken words of any creature and to read text in any language and any magical writing.

The wearer can understand messages written in incomplete, archaic, or exotic forms. Note that understanding a magical text ddoes not necessarily imply spell use.

Manual of Bodily Health is a thick tome that contains tips on health and fitness, but entwined within the words is a powerful magical effect.

Read the book in a total of 48 hours in a minimum of 6 days [like 8 hours per day for 6 straight days] and the reader gains a Permanent Constitution Attribute Bonus of from +1 to +5 depending on the power of the manual.

This particular manual grants you a +3 to your Constitution, so your character goes from a 16 Con to a 19 Con and that increases your Attribute Modifier from a +2 to a +3 on Saving Throws against Disease, Energy Drain and Poison!

Once the book is read the magic disappears from the pages and it becomes a normal book.

Manual of Gainful Exercise contains exercise descriptions and diet suggestions that works just like the above mentioned tome description.

This also adds a +3 to your Strength, so your character goes from a 15 Strength to an 18 Strength and increases your attribute modifier from a +1 to a +3 on Saving Throws against Paralysis and Constriction.

Please Note: that the Dark Arena Consortium has ruled that your Knight [and the Knight of Abraxis] must fight on foot and NOT be allowed to have a War Horse in the Dark Arena Emancipation Sand Dance!

You will be given a War Horse once you are free!

The mysterious Merchant had commissioned one to you both, but his servants were prevented from delivering the War Horses to the Knights!

The Decree being all participants must fight on foot and not on horseback etc, which also means that the Familiar for Bumble Brew will NOT be added until later in the adventure!

I read a response from Tek in the Cirro Prologue that defines how I will be dealing with Combat and Dice Rolls etc.

I have both Dice and 2 sets of Card Decks that I will be using!

Fumble Deck is used when a 1 is rolled and as an example, when I was playing Castles & Crusades at the Tulsa DefCon7 last month my character made an Attack and rolled a 1, so I had to draw a Fumble Card and the result was I cut the ear of a teammate who was next to me in the battle!

Other Fumbles by players in that game resulted in one character missing his opponent and cutting his own foot and nearly taking himself out of the fight while bleeding!

There are Many Other Scenarios that make for an interesting Flavor!

As for the 2nd Deck, I will have to post a description in an Edit later as I am at the office early typing this info!

CRITICAL HIT DECK is the other Card Deck that I have the Choice of Using Depending Upon the Scenarios!

No Details to Share About the Critical Hit Deck other than it is an Option that I will Consider Using!

The FUMBLE DECK will Definitely Be Used as Frequently as Possible during the course of our adventure!
As the Castle Keeper ie DM/GM the players will state what they want to do and then I as the Castle Keeper ie DM/GM will do all the dice rolls and Card Deck Draws and then write up the description of what happened and the results!

The following is a Copy and Paste of what Tek replied to Cirro's question:
Tek
I use description and all that, and then at the very end of my post, list all of what happened (Wounds suffered, spells used, etc.) in a synopsis of the post. I most often don't include die numbers, as they tend to clutter up the post, in my opinion.

I'm sure you already know, but the major difference between Rules-based and Freeform is that in Rules based, the players state what they want to do, and the DM does ALL the dice rolls.

+2(+5) Holy Avenger is a +2 Iron Sword that becomes a +5 Holy Sword in the hands of a Paladin that deals Double Damage against all targets of evil alignment.

NOTE to CirroWolf You can choose if this Iron Sword is a Longsword, Shortsword, Scimitar etc and you can describe it in your role playing posts!

Holy Avenger also provides a spell resistance of 5 + the Paladin's level to the wielder and anyone immediately adjacent to the Paladin.

Holy Avenger also enables the wielder to to use Dispel Magic (once per round as a normal action) at the class level of the Paladin.

Holy Avenger also inflicts f2d20 points of damage to any evil aligned creature that attempts to wield it.

Elven Chain is extremely light chainmail woven of very fine mithril links by the Elves. The mail is supple and neither impedes movement nor costs any encumbrance to wear. The mail has an overall magical bonus of +4 and an encumbrance value of 1.

Wand of Cure Critical Wounds has 50 Charges of the Cure Critical Wounds Spell that normally is used by Level 5 Clerics and Level 5 Druids.

Any PC Character can weild a Wand that is a thin baton that contains a single spell of 9th level or lower [this one has 50 Charges!]

Each charge expended allows the user to use the Wand's spell one time and a Wand that runs out of charges is just a non-magical stick.

SO USE YOUR 50 CHARGES WISELY
A typical Wand is 6 inches to 12 inches ling and about 1/4 inch thick and often weighs no more than one once. Most Wands are wood, some are bone and a rare few are metal, glass or even ceramic [but these are quite exotic!]

Occasionally a Wand has a gem or some otrher device at its tip and most are decorated with carvings, runes or other such signature embellishments.

CirroWolf you get to choose how to describe your wand with your role play writing!
CURE CRITICAL WOUNDS cures the targeted creature of 5d8 hit points of damage.

The Curative Version of this spell automatically deals the Same Damage to Undead [Hint Hint Nudge Nudge] while The Reverse of this spell deals the same amount of damage to living creatures.

In both situations a successful Wisdom Save indicates Half Damage to either the Undead or Living Creatures!

Tome of Leadership and Influence is a ponderous book that details suggestions for persuading and inspiring others, but entwined within the words is a powerful magical effect. Again it is a +1 to +5 depending upon the power of the book and this book adds a +3 to your Paladin Charisma Score, so instead of a 16 you will have a 19 and go from +2 to +3 on Saving Throws against Death Attack, Charm and Fear.

As mentioned in the post to Brianna, it will take 48 hours and a minimum of 6 days so that would easily be 8 hours of study for 6 consecutive days and still give you time to study your other Tome!

Tome of Understanding is a thick bood that contains tips for improving instinct and perception, but entwined within the words is a powerful magical effect.

Again these Tomes can be from +1 to +5 but this particular Tome grants you a +3 to Wisdom Attribute. Takes the same amount of time to learn [average 8 hours a day for 6 days] and then just becomes a normal book because the magic disappears from its pages.

After reading this Tome of Understanding your Paladin will go from a 15 Wisdom to a Permanent 18 Wisdom and the Saving Throw will go from a +1 to a +3 Saving Throw against Confusion, Divine Magic, Gaze Attack, Petrification and Polymorph.

Combat System: Got it!

Holy avenger: Longsword to me is a standard weapon for a pal and a favorite. I pick longsword.

Wand: Got it!

Tomes: Got it! Let's get readin' shall we!? I was thinking about posting about it while in the prison before the Dance (in 2 weeks?).

..... you can post your role play in the prison any time between being taken prisoner and receiving the Special Gifts!

You had some other questions about the Paladin traits, but I have not found the questions!

Brought my Castles & Crusades Players Handbook to the office today and plan to type in that info for you sometime later today if at all possible!

A Paladin's Code requires them to respect legitimate authority, act with honor, help those in need and punish those that harm or threaten innocents.

Paladins serve their Code alone and are defined by their actions and their actions are dictated by their Code.

These Holy Warriors are driven by virtue, courage, nobility and the quest to combat evil in all forms.

They ride for no master but their deity or cause.

The greater good guides their actions and victory is its own honor.

Their belief in the tenets of their deity gives them strength and divine powers beyond those of other warriors.

Though Paladins are often maligned for their zealous actions or feared for their powers, all hold them in high regard for they wage an unflagging war against evil.

A Paladin's power flows from strength of will and the ability to project divine power against the enemy..

Their purpose, if misunderstood by many, is quite clear to them and always guides their actions.

They are servants of the law and are bound to their code forever. They serve the greater good and always place it above all else.

Paladins never knowingly associate with evil characters under any circumstances. A Paladin ends all associations with those who consistently offend their moral code or refuse to help in the causes the Paladin considers worthy.

A Paladin who ceases to perform his duties or strays from the path of righteousness, who wilfully commits an evil act or who grossly violates the code of conduct loses all abilites, including the service of the Paladin's divine mount.

The character is outcast and cursed and no longer advances in strength or power. Only by atoning for these violations of the code may such a Paladin regain the status and powers.

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT LOSING YOUR POWERS
I will post the Paladin abilities later!

This should give you enough info along with the answers you have been getting about Paladins from other players in your other posts!