Initializing character creation. Select a method (I, II, III, IV, V, VI).
"Oh. This dream again?" Julie tried to take a sip of her beer, then realized she was a bodiless presence in a formless void. The bottle of Dragon's Milk Reserve Oatmeal Cookie Stout, however, was floating in the formless void, and she focused her immaterial attention on it with longing. "John, do you have laryngitis? I don't think I've had floating green text, you've always been at least a voice in these dreams."
Select a method (I, II, III, IV, V, VI).
"Yeah, okay, we'll move along. The method that lets me roll a really giant bucket of dice and move them around, of course, John." Julie hummed softly to herself as the text dissolved and reformed.
Method IV selected. Your rolls are 15, 12, 6, 6, 11, 14, 8, 8, 8, 13, 9, 11
"Really?" Julie frowned. "Those are absolutely terrible rolls. John, can I just have a mulligan on that? How am I supposed to get a ranger out of that?"
Computing… assigning 15 to Constitution, 14 to Wisdom, 13 to Strength, and 12 to Dexterity and then selecting a race that increases Dexterity will suffice to meet the requirements to become a ranger.
Julie sighed. "Then make it so."
You still must choose scores for Intelligence and Charisma.
"Oh. What was left?" Julie looked at the blinking numbers. "Those are both elevens, there's no real choice." She sighed.
Strength
13
Dexterity
13
Constitution
15
Intelligence
11
Wisdom
14
Charisma
11
Select your race.
"Elf," Julie said. "That's where I'll get the extra point of Dex, I'll be an elven ranger."
Constitution decreased to 14. Dexterity increased to 13. Select your class… class already selected. Rolling 1d10 hit points… 9 hit points. Character sheet finalized.
Core statistics:
STR
13
Class
Ranger
Saves
Normal
DEX
13
Level
1
Death
14
CON
14
THAC0
20
Wand
16
INT
11
XP
0
Polymorph
15
WIS
14
Next level
2250
Breath Weapon
17
CHA
11
Max hp:
9
Spell
17
Special abilities:
Thieving abilities
Ranger abilities
Other abilities
Hide in Shadows
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20%
Tracking
Resistance to sleep/charm
Move Silently
20%
Dual-wield
+1 to hit with bows, swords
Enmity
Bonus to surprise
Animal friend
Infravision
Detect secret doors
Status:
Hit points:
9/9
Armor class:
10
XP:
0/2250
"Call me… Julioso," Julie said, running her hands along a body that was far more lithe and muscular than the one she'd left behind in another world. She grabbed the floating bottle of stout, taking a long pull. The flavor seemed to explode richly in her mouth. "Wow. I don't think I've ever experienced tactile and olfactory sensations like this in a dream," Julie said, taking another drink of Dragon's Milk. "This is great. I think my senses are keener than in the waking world right now."
You have (5d4)x10… 120 silver pennies of starting wealth. Optionally, allocate some of this to starting equipment.
"120 silver pennies? That seems like not very much. Hang on a minute." Julie frowned, draining the rest of the bottle, flinging the empty bottle deep into the void. "Look, John, for this to work, I really need both of my swords, one of those Japanese longbows, a quiver full of arrows, samurai sleeves, studded leather armor, and all the usual basic supplies." Julie paused as items began to appear in the formless void. "Riding boots and cloak are not optional, John, those are must-haves."
Riding boots and a cloak appeared.
Hit points:
9/9
Armor class:
6 XP:
0/2250
You have 19 silver pennies of starting wealth remaining.
"Oh? Silver pennies must go a lot further than I thought," Julie said. "Huh. Put the rest into daggers and knives and survival gear, John, and let's get on with the adventure."
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Anthony emerged from the dark hole. "I finished searching the other back chamber, there are more corpses back there. Not charred, though. They're yellow skinned like the ones out on the hill. No sign of injuries on the ones in the back chamber, I think they died of smoke inhalation, maybe carbon monoxide poisoning."
Addison winced. "Okay, no campfire in here tonight," she said. "I don't want to die in my sleep. Anything else back there?"
"Some weapons – clubs, a few blades, some really small javelins or really big throwing darts. Furniture – I think maybe beds or their version of couches, maybe both. Some blankets. Metal flask with a bunch of unreadable writing on it, and a chest with a lot of coins in it. The chest had a needle trap." Anthony held up his hand, pointing at a small red scab. "I think it was poisoned, my arm felt like it was on fire for a hot minute. Thank goodness for dwarven poison resistance."
Addison looked at him. "Crap," she said. "Did you try sucking it out of the wound?"
"Too late now," Anthony said. "Seriously, I'm fine, and there's enough coin in there to buy at least a dozen ponies. And a metal flask full of some liquid. But there was something else I wanted to talk to you about. That was some crazy shit back there at the river." He held up a hand, forestalling her immediate reply. "Look, it worked to get us out of that situation, but I don't want you doing something that again. That was really risky. And kind of fucked up."
Addison sighed. For a moment, she just watched the rain fall outside of the rectangular frame of stone slabs that marked the entrance of the cavern, brushing her pony. Then she spoke.
"Wasn't as risky as it looked. I still had the sleep spell if I needed to try again after using the hypnotizing enchantment." Addison paused and shuddered. "It did feel pretty weird. I don't think I ever could have done something like that back in the real world, but somehow, here, I feel much more confident in dealing with people. Somehow, I knew exactly how far to take things to get Logan to jump in the river after the hypnosis enchantment didn't work on-"
"Well, maybe you didn't have a Charisma score of sixteen before," Anthony said, rudely butting in.
"No, that's fair," Addison said, maintaining perfect composure in spite of the irksome interruption. Politely, she refrained from mentioning that Anthony now had a Charisma score of seven. "And you're right to feel upset. I felt skeevy after messing with their minds like that, but in my defense, they would have done worse to us, and it did work out. And I was mad about the 'slut' thing. Ella really needs to get over old high school drama. She dumped Mason before he asked me to prom, and that was three years ago!"
Anthony sighed. "Well, hopefully we don't run into them again. I know Logan well enough to know he keeps grudges forever."
----------------------------------------
Rain was beginning to seep through her cloak in spite of the shelter provided by the higher branches of the apple tree, and Julie sighed in annoyance, looking up at the darkening gray sky. "John, you never cared about details like that before," she said. She turned her gaze back to the rectangular hole in the hill.
"The ugly little mini-George was a nice touch," she muttered, shifting back and forth. "But I'm not going in there until I know more. Are they good or evil, John? The elf girl was pretty, but I know you love your femme fatales as much as your damsels in distress."
Beneath the nearly-solid gray sky, a sliver of sky started turning rosy to the west as the eastern half of the sky slowly darkened further. Julie waited patiently, snacking on a handful of dried fruit. A group of yellow-skinned goblins crossed the bridge over the river, heading toward the hill, and Julie sat up, suddenly alert. After a moment of fumbling with a damp bowstring in the rain and trying to string her bow, she cursed, turning her gaze up to the dark gray sky.
"John, I know it's realistic for rain to ruin bowstrings, but I have the perfect perch here for riddling them full of arrows and it's not fair to handicap me," she said, checking over her swords in their sheaths. "Next, you're going to have me go through a whole oiling and cleaning routine after fights or my swords will start rusting on me."
The goblins paused on the side of the hill, stopping along the way to examine some of the corpses strewn around and on the hill. Julie held her breath, watching. As the first goblin approached the stone slabs bracketing the rectangular entrance to the cavern, the dwarf who looked like George appeared, standing in the doorway with a large shield and battleaxe.
"Okay, John, I get the hint," Julie said. "They're good guys, and I need to go save them from the goblins." As the goblins drew weapons and crowded forward and the dwarf swung his axe, Julie. hopped down out of the tree branch, drew her two longest swords, and charged.
----------------------------------------
Anthony grunted, taking the blow on his shield. Behind him, he could hear Addison shouting something. A spray of sand flew over his shoulder. Four goblins fell snoring, and he stepped forward, hacking into the neck of a fifth goblin as it bent over one of its enchanted companions.
"Take that!" he shouted, and then flinched as another goblin stepped forward, making a low thrust under his shield. He screamed in pain.
When he could focus again, the tip of a sword blade was sticking out of the goblin's chest, a cloaked figure pushing forward toward him through the goblins with a sword in each hand. Most of the goblins still standing were carrying their sleeping companions down the hill, but not all; the cloaked figure fell under a hail of blows from three goblins. Anthony thrust forward with his battleaxe, knocking one of the goblins back as he pushed forward to stand over the fallen cloaked figure, making wide swings to clear space.
Behind her dwarven twin, Addison grabbed the cloaked figure's ankles, pulling with all her strength. As she strained, the cloaked figure slowly slid back into the cavern. Blows hammered against Anthony's shield. There was a scream and a splash of blood, and Anthony stepped back.
"They're gone," Anthony said. "Got another one, and the last two decided to go join their buddies down the hill. I'm going to try to block the entrance up in case they attack again. Is he alive?"
"She is alive," Addison said, cradling an auburn-haired head with pointy ears. "But probably not for long. Her skull is cracked and she's been stabbed clear through the gut."
The auburn-haired elf woman stirred. "Just need a healing potion," she whispered in a delirious tone. "Come on, John, surely they have a healing potion."
Addison stood, her eyes widening. "Anthony, where was that metal flask?"
----------------------------------------
With party mates Anthony and Julie, Addison has defeated 18 goblins (240 XP; 80 each). For the application of spells to the solution of problems, Addison has also earned 200 bonus wizard XP.
Status:
Hit points:
2/2
Armor class:
10
XP:
280/2500
With party mates Addison and Julie, Anthony has defeated 18 goblins (240 XP; 80 each). For the defeat of 18 hit dice of enemies, Anthony has earned 180 bonus warrior XP.
Status:
Hit points:
4/10
Armor class:
5
XP:
260/2000
With party mates Addison and Anthony, Julie has defeated 18 goblins (240 XP; 80 each). For the defeat of 18 hit dice of enemies, Julie has earned 180 bonus warrior XP.
Status:
Hit points:
-6/9
Armor class:
6
XP:
260/2250