The Plague: An Antipaladin Concept

The bells were tolling again, the streets empty of all but the dying and the dead. The tavern was shut up tight, the doorman wrapping a butcher's mask round his mouth and nose before looking on the stoop. Everyone had to roll back their sleeves to show a clean set of wrists, the veins untainted by the bloodrot. Some refused, and others simply left, walking among the coughing wretches through clouds of incense that did nothing but sting the eyes, and cover up the stink of the bodies.

"Anyone find what's bringing it?" Shamus asked, his hands clasped around his cup of popskull.

"Probably in the water," Ginny laughed, hiccoughing slightly. "If that's so, then I'm safe."

"Doomsayers claim it's a curse from the dark ones," a stranger said. With his long, pale hair and his burning green eyes, he was certainly handsome. There was more to him, though. A presence lurked around him; an air of violence like a half-feral beast. He drank from his cup, leaving a few swallows behind.

"They always say that," Ginny muttered, tossing back the rest of her drink.

"They do," the stranger said. He plucked up his glass, and handed it to the barkeep.

"You want another?" he asked.

"No," the stranger said. "One for the all-sorts barrel."

"Damn waste," the keep said.

The stranger's grin grew wider, showing his strong, square teeth. "It's for luck."

"Gods go with you," the keep said, tossing the last of the drink into the communal barrel.

"I shan't need them," he said, pulling up his hood as the doorman unbarred the main door. "But my thanks all the same."

Careful... that barrel's got a bite to it.

The Plague

Antipaladins are the chosen warriors of the fell powers. Corrupt, wicked, and brutal, they are the hands of the dark lords and old gods who seek to quench the light of the world, and to topple the bastions that stand against the horrors that lurk in the shadowy places of the world. This much is known.

While there are some antipaladins who assault the foundations of civilization with sword and flame, bellowing their war cries and spilling blood in the open, others use more subtle weapons. For while all of these dark warriors are immune to the touch of disease, there are some who nurture these foul contagions at their bosom. These creatures spread pestilence with a brush of their hand, foul the air with every laugh, and a single kiss from their beautiful, corrupt lips could spell death for an entire city.

They are the Plague.

The Mechanics of The Plague

All antipaladins are immune to the damages and effects of disease at level 3, but these conditions still fester inside them, turning them into breeding grounds for sickness and rot. An antipaladin who purposefully inflicts diseases on themselves (either through exposure, contagion, or similar effects), becomes a walking repository of sicknesses. Everything from bubonic plague, to leprosy, to mummy rot lurks in their blood and on their breath, waiting for someone who gets close enough to touch them. Or even, in some cases, just to breathe the same air.

While any antipaladin can store disease within themselves, what makes a Plague different is that pestilence becomes their primary weapon against society. They come not as fearsome conquerors, but as travelers. As merchants. A simple soldiers of fortune. They clasp wrists with gate watchers, bed down in common houses, wash their hands in public founts, and make sure they rub shoulders during festivals. They bring corruption from within, allowing their disease to weaken a city, or even a nation, and for exhaustion and paranoia to set in.

Then, and only then, will a Plague descend. Either as a savior to take away the suffering in the name of their dark masters, or as a conqueror to spill the sickened blood in the streets, and to burn the bodies as a charred offering to the gods of illness and rot.

Do you smell that? It smells like about 3 Fortitude saves to me.

 

In addition to this underhanded, devastating strategy, a Plague is still just as dangerous when confronted openly. Those who spill a Plague's blood may find themselves riddled with disease, even if they are triumphant. And if the Plague can call on contagion with a touch of their hand, their battle may have a lasting legacy, turning the warriors who stood before him into bearers of his sickness.

One of the only notable features of a Plague is that they tend to work alone, or with others of their ilk. They may be immune to the ill effects of their own pestilence, but the same is not true of their servants and allies. So while they may be supported by servants of foul gods, or plague cults, they are just as harmful to any living allies as they are to their enemies. This rarely bothers most Plagues, though... those weak enough to be sickened will simply be made carriers in their unholy wars.

Advice For A Plague

If you're going to put together a Plague as a player character, the first thing I would suggest is reading 5 Tips For Playing Better Evil Characters. Because if you are a walking pestilence, you need to make sure you are not a hindrance to your allies just by being part of the same party. In these instances using pathogens that are bloodborne might be more useful, allowing you to pick and choose your infections carefully. You may also have more of a reliance on the Cruelties than a Plague set out as an antagonist, as it gives you greater control.

The other thing you should have, to really sell yourself as a threat, is a collection of allies who are helping you in your missions, or who know about you. Because a Plague isn't just your run-of-the-mill antipaladin; they are significant threats. They are the bearers of pestilence, and even if their true names aren't known, people will spin tales about them. The Red Lady with her sweet, corrupt kisses. Grinning Death, whose friendly smile and strong handshake steals the life and strength from anyone it touches. The Gray Man, who spreads rot in his wake, felling even the strongest of cities. Someone with that kind of rep should have allies (or at least acquaintances), which provides you avenues to seek aid through, and it also helps build up your Small Legend. More about that in Character Reputation in RPGs: The Small Legend.

If you're looking for places to find some allies, you might want to check out:

- 100 Prisoners For A Fantasy Jail: Jails are perfect places for a Plague, as the closer quarters and inescapable nature allows them to spread their filth. Saving someone from your own pestilence could make them quite a loyal follower.

- 100 Pirates To Encounter: The black ship of the Plague Doctor would be an ideal platform for an antipaladin looking to spread their filth along the waves, and dozens of other crews would make potent allies for such a dark warrior.

- 100 Random Bandits to Meet: From the servants of the Darkskull, to the blackguards who follow the Man-Eater, bandits aren't always picky with their company. Greed and lack of morals can make them particularly useful for a Plague... especially if he takes over the gang himself, using them to spread his corruption far and wide along the roads.

Lastly, if you liked this character concept, then you might also want to check out The "Compassionate" Antipaladin, as well as The Pill-Popping Paladin. The latter, in particular, could be useful when combined with a Plague.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned For More!

That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my most recent collection of short stories The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Why I Think Paizo Releasing Content For 5th Edition is a Smart Move

Anyone who's been around here knows my views on the upcoming Pathfinder 2nd Edition (and if you don't know I summarized them pretty neatly in 5 Red Flags in Pathfinder's 2nd Edition Playtest). In short, I'm not a fan. For my two cents I feel like Paizo is essentially trying to reach across the aisle to court the DND 5th Edition audience by removing the 3.5 engine that Pathfinder is built on, and releasing a game that gives you fewer options, removing the mechanical freedom that marked the Pathfinder classic edition.

And since I feel that way, folks might assume that I would be equally down on Paizo's stated intention to release a DND 5th Edition compatible Bestiary with their anniversary edition of the Kingmaker adventure path. However, in this case, you couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, I think that Paizo releasing straight-up 5th Edition content is an extremely smart idea, and it's something I wish the company would put more effort into.

Seriously, I think it's a much smarter play.

I Thought You Hated 5th Edition?

As I've said repeatedly, I have no beef with 5th Edition. It's a perfectly functional rules system, and it appeals to players who like a game where they can pick up and play without too much in the way of complexity. However, it is not a game that has a lot of mechanical freedom. I talked about this more in-depth in Understanding The Difference Between Story Freedom and Mechanical Freedom in RPGs a while back, but the short version is that mechanical freedom is when the rules of the game support your story in specific ways. In 5th Edition you can play a barbarian who goes Jekyll to Hyde when he rages, but in Pathfinder you can physically transform into another person with their own alignment, appearance, race, personality, etc. through the Master Chymist prestige class, or in several Vigilante archetypes. It's the difference between re-skinning a mechanic to look different, and actually have a mechanic that functions differently.

However, the more mechanical freedom you want in your game, the more mechanics you need to have. So players who want to keep the rules relatively light tend to stick to games that require a minimum of prep. And that's why, according to an industry contact of mine, over 80 percent of sales made on Drive Thru RPG right now are for 5th Edition-compatible content.

That's a market that's hard to ignore.

With numbers like that, it's no surprise that Paizo wants to try to tap the 5th Edition crowd. It's what I'd do in their shoes, and I don't begrudge them that in the slightest.

The problem is they've been going about it in the worst possible way.

Marketing Mistakes and Cash Grabs

First of all, let's get something straight here. Pathfinder's core base was formed by players who wanted to keep playing DND 3.5, and refused to move on to 4th Edition when it came out. Paizo gave us that, and it's why we bought book after book, year after year. That's the game we liked, and we wanted to keep getting new adventures, accessories, tokens, optional rules packages, etc. for that game.

And while there are a lot of DMs out there who complain about "bloat", or who argue that Pathfinder needed a new edition, coming out with one was always going to be risky. Coming out with one that essentially throws all the old content in the garbage, making it unusable in the new edition, was going to lead to deep, angry divisions. That was one, major reason that so many 3.5 players didn't move on a decade and change ago; they'd dedicated 3 shelves of space to monster manuals, player books, race guides, etc., and they were not willing to leave all that behind for a new game that would cost more money and give them fewer options than what they already had.

Looking at you.

That was exactly what the playtest did. It introduced a system that was just different enough that all the content players and DMs had invested in was no longer valid, wiped the slate clean, and set the stage for a new game entirely. And then the company sold bound copies of the playtest, which just looked like a naked cash grab, and didn't help the accusations that the reason behind this new game was more profit-driven than it was a legitimate demand from the market for a new game.

Will some players move on? Of course they will. The same way some players moved on from 3.5 to 4th edition, and were perfectly happy to do so. My prediction? I think this has a good chance of alienating 1/3 to 1/2 of the existing player base who will play through the material they have, and then either turn to 3rd party publishers to get their fix, or simply play a different game entirely.

But I was talking about 5th Edition.

By releasing existing content from the Golarion setting in a 5th Edition-compatible package, Paizo is making a very smart move. As I alluded to earlier, people are attached to the games they have, and more often than not they don't like being moved out of their comfort zone (and forcing a gamer out of their comfort zone by discontinuing support for their game of choice is how you get people who refuse to play anything else out of sheer spite). So the solution for how to get some of that sweet, sweet 5th Edition audience isn't try to making some bizarre hybrid game that's going to piss off a lot of your core fan base and which probably won't entice people who already like 5th Edition.

It's to just make 5th Edition content.

Two Birds, One Stone

Producing an RPG is expensive, and over the past decade Paizo has put out a lot of rock solid content, great adventure paths, and truly bonkers set pieces. Instead of trying to make a hybrid game that is too bland for one side, and too complicated for the other, the smart move is to just showcase their setting, their creatures, their adventures, and the raw, insane creativity of Golarion as a setting and repackaging it in 5th Edition form. This also has the benefit that 5th Edition players don't have to buy a whole new support network to try out your product, which makes it even more enticing!

Now you're starting to get the picture.

If you already have the content and the IP (which Paizo certainly does), it takes a lot less effort to convert it to 5th Edition, and put it in front of players who would happily buy it if only it was compatible with their game of choice. Whether it's introducing new archetypes for the existing classes, or giving players access to some of the nutso stuff Pathfinder players have had for ages that just doesn't exist in traditional 5th Edition. From gunslingers and oracles, to magi and vigilantes, there is all sorts of stuff you can do in Pathfinder that you just can't do in 5th Edition out of the box.

If you give players and DMs the option to use those things in the games they're already playing, they are a lot more likely to snap them up. Because now it's a fun accessory, rather than a huge investment of time and energy that a new game often represents.

This would allow Paizo to diversify its lines and tap into the biggest gaming market out there, but also help keep their core audience happy by not pushing them to accept a divisive game that many will just refuse to buy. Additionally, regular Pathfinder players could continue to act as the test market for new ideas, seeing which adventure paths, classes and archetypes, etc. are popular, and thus more likely to succeed in the larger 5th Edition market. And, of course, there will be 5th Edition players who want to see how their new favorite classes played in their original form, giving Paizo cascade sales as more 5th Edition players check out Pathfinder, since the converted content essentially got Paizo's foot in the door, and now they have an emotional investment.

Do I think that's what's going to happen? No, probably not. Paizo has gone all-in on making this second edition happen, and the only thing that's going to stop its forward momentum is if it tanks as a product (which is still possible, but I don't have the market numbers to say it it's likely). At this point I think the best we can hope for is that Paizo continues digital support for existing Pathfinder Classic content, while pushing this new edition as hard as they can.

But I think it would be a much smarter, more efficient move to just put a few splat books of occult classes, monsters, and some adventures in front of the 5th Edition crowd, and let the rich flavor of the setting and ideas speak for themselves.

Speaking of 5th Edition Content From Creators You Love...

For folks who haven't seen some of the goods, yet.

The shift toward 5th Edition's market share has affected all of us out there, yours truly included. Which is why I decided to diversify my offerings, too! As of right now two of my modules, False Valor and The Curse of Sapphire Lake are both available from Total Party Kill Games. Both of these one-shots can be played independently, or you can work them in as a starting point for a larger campaign if you want to.

And False Valor recently went Copper, which has me all kinds of excited!

And for the DMs out there who want something a little smaller than a full module, I've got something for you, as well. A Baker's Dozen of Rumours (And The Truth Behind Them) is ideal for injecting a little intrigue into your game. Meaty enough to work as a full session, if you want, these rumors can slot right into most campaigns. And if you're looking for a chart to keep on hand, 100 Encounters For on The Road or in The Wilderness also went Copper fairly recently!

Like, Follow, and Keep in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed the film, and it provides you all with the same sort of inspiration it did me!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Are You Still Worthy? (An Alternative View on Alignment Restrictions)

Judging by the numbers, if you have a heartbeat, you've probably seen Avengers Endgame at least once. A lot of you reading this right now probably saw it several times. And while there were all sorts of awesome moments in it, one particular arc that captured audience's attention was Thor's journey. For the first time in all the years of his life, it seemed, he couldn't make something right by killing his enemy. His hollow victory over Thanos forced him to face failure, and the permanent loss of countless friends and allies. He secluded himself, sequestered away from the world with his grief, and punished himself for not being able to do more.

In the end, though, he was still worthy of the power that had been given him. It was only his will to use that power that he'd lost, and watching him rekindle that fire was a triumphant moment.

And let's be honest, one of the movie's most badass moments.

I've had this character arc on my mind for a while now, and between updating my Pathfinder Conversion Guide for Thor, and reading the conversations cropping up around my recently re-released 5 Tips For Playing Better Paladins, I realized Marvel's take on Thor perfectly illustrates what an alignment restriction is supposed to look like, and how classes who live with one function.

Are You Worthy?

From Lancelot to Samson, literature is full of characters whose powers are entirely dependent upon their behavior. And, in these cases, that power typically comes from a source outside of that character. It isn't a part of them, and they have no ownership over it. They are a vessel that can be filled, or emptied, according to the terms and conditions of the source.

It's doesn't matter WHO cut my hair, woman, point is, it's cut!

 

This is where we get into the most common alignment-based superpower: divine favor. From druids and paladins, to clerics, warpriests, and inquisitors, these agents of the divine must live and act according to the strictures of that divine source in order to continually prove themselves worthy of the power that's been entrusted to them.

Put another way, it doesn't matter if you think you deserve those powers or not. That's how Thor felt when Odin cast him down in the first film for his arrogance and recklessness, but that anger and bitterness didn't help him lift his hammer again. It didn't matter if he felt he was justified in invading Nifleheim and potentially starting a war with the frost giants, because whether he was worthy wasn't his call to make. It was only by proving he had learned his lesson through selfless acts to save others that he brought himself back into alignment with the power he'd once wielded, and showed that he deserved to once more be allowed to lift Mjolnir, and the might that came with it.

That is the thing to keep in mind when it comes to classes that call on divine might that require the character stay within certain alignment guidelines. Those exist as a meta concept for the player to judge where the boundaries are, but at the end of the day the question is not if the character feels they were justified. It's whether their patron, the one who is granting power to that character, feels they still deserve it.

Because if they're deemed unworthy, their patron will strip them of their power, and cast them down. That's the price for using borrowed power; you need to follow the restrictions for using it, else it will be taken away from you.

What About Non-Divine Restrictions?

There are, of course, a few restrictions that have nothing to do with divine will at all. The most notable examples are that monks must remain lawful, and barbarians cannot be lawful.

I'd promise to kick your ass, but I don't want to risk my alignment.

 

These restrictions are, at least partially, a way to make sure that you can't mix and match certain concepts mechanically. However, thematically, they also represent the yin and yang of the superior warrior.

Or as most of us know them, Raven and Starfire.

If you're a fan of the Teen Titans, you've likely seen the one where Raven and Starfire switch bodies, and they're each trying to figure out how the other's powers work. Raven can only manifest her abilities through carefully controlled focus and tight emotional control. Starfire's powers, on the other hand, are directly tied to her emotional state. Her feelings are the fuel that feeds her abilities, and without those free-flowing emotions she's unable to so much as light a spark.

There's a similar feeling with these two classes. Barbarian Rage is not just anger; it's something deeper. Something more primal than that, and it can take many different forms. Whatever form it takes, though, too much control smothers the character's ability to give themselves over completely to that state of being. Whether it's the unfeeling wrath of the berserker, or the armored carapace of an abyssal totem, a certain loss of control is required to fall back into that pool, and to become one with Rage.

Monks, on the other hand, need to keep that tight focus in order to channel ki. While they might not be trained at a monastery, or even follow a widely-accepted doctrine, it is that intense focus that grants them their powers. Their ability to move more quickly, to armor themselves in speed, and to perform superhuman feats is precisely because they don't give in, and they maintain their laser-sharp edge that holds their mind, body, and spiritual parts in perfect harmony. That extends out into the rest of their lives, and it's why a monk will find their abilities falling away if they fall out-of-sync with their own inner spirit and ki.

Incidentally, for more on these classes, you might want to check out my 5 Tips For Playing Better Barbarians as well as my 5 Tips For Playing Better Monks.

What Does This Restriction Lead To in Your Character?

Alignment restrictions on character classes are often seen as killjoys, or as limiting what kinds of characters you can play. However, it's important to incorporate these restrictions into who your character is, and what makes them tick.

Was your cleric chosen by their god because they were already a good person, and so they were the ideal bearer of this power, or were they a diamond in the rough that's still being shaped away from darker impulses that marked their youth? Does your barbarian struggle with their Rage, simultaneously afraid of what it could make them do and hungry for the wild power it fills them with? Does your monk have trouble keeping their focus, needing to overcome inner challenges of doubt, wrath, or fear, and either leaving those challenges by the wayside, or embracing them so they are now assets rather than weaknesses?

I'm sorry he left you... maybe we can be friends, instead?

 

There's also the question of what happens when you step over the line... does your character try to re-orient themselves, to prove their worth and climb back up the mountain? Or do they embrace their change and continue on the path of their downfall? Does the divine champion find a new patron, one more in-line with their actions and methods? Does the failed monk embrace their inner turmoil and chaos, becoming a barbarian? Does the barbarian, locking their Rage away and refusing to give into it, instead become a monk or a paladin, driven by iron-clad vows and a deeper purpose?

How you remain within your initial boundaries is interesting... but what you do when you cross them also has the potential to lead to unique growth. Especially if your DM allows for retraining rules.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post. If you've used alignment restrictions to create interesting story results, tell us how in the comments below!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

DM Advice: Front-Load Prison Breaks in Your Campaign

There are few things more iconic in fantasy RPGs than the prison arc. Whether you're starting your game Suicide Squad-style and having your party all drawn out of the dock to go on an adventure to earn their freedom, or you want to do a daring prison escape arc that relies more on the party's brains and planning than brute muscle, this can be one of the best parts of any game if you do it right.

With that said, if any part of your campaign is going to take place in a conventional prison, then you need to front-load that part so you don't get a pipe wrench hucked into your gears.

What do you mean you got teleport as a supernatural ability last level?

It Needs To Be A Challenge

Rock and iron prisons are built to keep people inside. However, there are so many class abilities, spells, and other features that a party will acquire by mid-levels that it's just easier to make a prison escape arc an earlier challenge in your game.

Trust me, if you haven't done it by level 6 then it's best to just move on with the rest of the game.

Hey, new fish! Who you bunking with, huh?

When all the party has are some starting spells and abilities, as well as improvised weapons and tools, getting out of prison is a tall order. Whether it's locating the secret, monster-infested tunnels below the mountain, making a daring escape over the wall in the middle of the night by combining stealth, magic, and muscle, or just building up enough influence in the cell blocks to unite the gangs and stage a riot that cannot be contained, these things are a challenge when you're relatively low level and have a limited tool box.

By the time you can blast a door off its hinges with a wave of your hand, smash through stone with your bare fists, take control of someone's mind, or pickpocket the keys from a dozen yards away, the challenge of escaping a prison goes down significantly. And if you can just step through a hole in the reality, or turn yourself into a falcon and fly away, it becomes negligible.

More than escaping the prison, though, capturing a mid-to-high-level party peacefully and getting them in the prison in the first place can be nigh-impossible without some serious, hand-wavey shenanigans. When half the party is immune to poison, some can't be knocked unconscious, and some will just refuse to surrender when the bounty hunters or posse comes riding up to them, you've sort of backed yourself into a corner as an storyteller. And even if you do manage to lock them in, how do you keep them there? Anti-magic collars and shackles that block all spells above a certain level? Putting the prison in another dimension so you can't just pop out of it? Covering the walls with anti-magic runes and spell-dead zones so that every necromancer, evoker, and sorcerer in the block doesn't turn the place into an eldritch volcano of pent-up fury?

Can you theoretically imprison powerful spellcasters, iron-fisted warlords, and mind-bending enchanters in places like that? Sure, you can. But it's going to take a lot of time, and a lot of precautions to make it happen, and keeping that balancing act fair takes both some serious mechanics chops, and a lot of luck.

Then there's the question of player agency to deal with...

If It's Going To Happen, Don't Pretend They Had A Choice

Back in Avoid Submission Encounters (They Throttle Player Agency), I made the point that if players don't have a choice in what's going to happen, there's no point pretending they do. If you're just going to throw orcs, will saves, and knockout darts at the PCs until they eventually succumb, and there's no way to run from the fight, then you may as well drop the pretense and just say they're captured, tried, and sentenced in a cut scene.

And if you're thinking, "Wow, my players would be pissed if I just said they were captured, and didn't give them any chance to use their spells and powers to get away," then you're getting the point.

You say we're surrounded? I say we're in a target-rich environment.

A first-to-third level party might put up a good fight, but you can capture them through completely mundane means. You don't need to bring in anti-magic containment specialists, backed-up by hulking golems and alchemical snipers. In fact, you can probably narrate the scene with some text like, "The bartender says he has to go in the back to get your brews, but you hear the door lock behind him. A moment later a voice calls out, 'Gray Wardens, we know you're in there. Surrender now, or we will take you!' You fight hard, and leave your share of broken teeth in the street, but eventually they clap you in irons, and toss you into the back of a wagon." As long as you make it clear that they went down fighting, most players would simply accept that, eventually, their second-level barbarian or first-level wizard probably would have gone down under the slew of billy clubs and boot heels coming their way.

Could a low-level party fight their way free? It's possible, but they lack the ability to use a single power, or a couple of chained spells, to completely escape or just eliminate a mundane threat, which is what makes a similar scene happening to a higher-level party such a problem in terms of suspension of disbelief. After all, if the monk can teleport away at will, moving several hundred feet with a single action, then how did the bounty hunters capture him? If the druid can turn into an insubstantial puff of air and fly away, then how was she brought down? If the conjurer can grab the two martial characters and poof them miles away from where they were sitting in the inn, then why were they apprehended at all?

You get out ahead of all of these objections when the party is still low enough level that they don't have access to these tools. Because while they might be impressive by the standards of normal, everyday people, they haven't reached that superhuman standard where it takes a special force of hand-picked NPCs to bring them down, and a specially-constructed prison to hold them.

With that said, if you want your PCs to have to escape from an inter-dimensional jail, or break out of a genie's lock-up, you should totally do that. But as mentioned above, you might want to consider leading with that, instead of trying to find some contrived way for the party to all be thrown into the same prison. You should also work with your players to make sure they bring characters who would logically be in such a place.

Trust me, nothing is more annoying than bringing a guard captain paladin, and being told that no, actually, you're prisoner #57892. Even if you didn't commit the crime you were imprisoned for (a perfect reason to want to escape and bring the real party to justice), players should know they're walking into a prison break scenario so they can construct an appropriate story. Otherwise you run the risk of the game you're running not being the game the players thought they signed up for.

One last thing. If you're looking for a hot tip to get any and all PCs into a prison, then make sure there is something they have to achieve while they're in there. A piece of information they have to learn, a spy they have to break out, or someone they have to assassinate if you're running an evil game. The party then decides to get captured and sentenced in order to bring them closer to their actual goal, which tends to be easier to swallow as bitter pills go, and neatly solves this little dilemma for you. Especially if the PCs are imprisoned under false names, allowing them to hide things about themselves (like their in-born magical powers, for instance), which can be a huge advantage in the coming arc.

Remember To Populate Your Prisons!

A lot of DMs make the mistake of thinking all about the guards and the security when it comes to their holding facilities, but they seem to forget that prisons have, well, prisoners in them. These places are communities all their own, complete with slang, traditions, and cultures that don't exist outside the walls. Everything from gangs and tattoos, to rituals and currency is something you should think about.

And if you need some help seeding the cells, consider these handy supplements by yours truly:

- 100 Prisoners For a Fantasy Jail

- 100 Pirates to Encounter

- 100 Random Bandits to Meet

Want More? Like, Follow, and Subscribe!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed the film, and it provides you all with the same sort of inspiration it did me!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Getting The Most Out of The Heal Skill (in Pathfinder)

The Heal skill is one of those aspects of Pathfinder that most people just ignore. Aside from using it to tell how injured someone is, or how a particular corpse in a dungeon died, it seems like something that just isn't going to come up. However, like many skills in the book, you can do a lot with the Heal skill if you're willing to invest in it.

And sometimes it can be what saves your party.

Stop squirming, I need to get this thing out before you get a negative level...

The Heal Skill: What Can It Do?

Skills aren't magic, and while the Heal skill can restore hit points to a PC, you can't do it quickly. This makes it a poor choice for combat healing (most of the time, more on that later), but there is a lot of stuff you can use this skill for.

Stuff like:

- Provide First Aid: As a standard action you can make a DC 15 Heal check to stabilize a dying character, or to stop them from bleeding due to a bleed effect.

- Treat Poison: While tending a character who has been poisoned, every time they roll a save against the poison, you roll a Heal check. If your check exceeds the poison's save DC, then the subject gets a +4 competence bonus. Particularly useful for those who don't have other means prepared to neutralize a poison.

- Treat Disease: This works similarly to treating poison, and it can be a life-saver at lower levels when you can't cure disease with a wave of a hand just yet. It also takes 10 minutes as an action, so it's not great for in-combat use.

- Treat Deadly Wounds: This one takes a full hour, and expends 2 uses of a healer's kit. If you succeed, you restore a number of hit points equal to the creature's level, and if you beat the DC 20 by 5 or more then you add a bonus number of hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier. You have to do this within 24 hours of the wounds being delivered, and you can only do this once per day per target.

There are a few other uses of this skill (treating wounds from caltrops, long-term care, etc.) but these are the four most common uses. And chances are that most tables have only ever used the first-aid option. It's easy to think of this skill as one that falls by the wayside as you gain more expedient means of curing hit point damage, neutralizing poisons, and dealing with deadly wounds... but if you really want to invest in it, you can rev this skill up to the next level.

It's All About The Right Feats...

The feat you need to really juice this up is Healer's Hands, and it's found in the book Planar Adventures (the same book that gave us Magic Trick from How To Turn Floating Disk Into a Battlefield Spell). All you need is 1 rank of Heal and 1 rank of Knowledge (Planes), and you can take this feat. In short, it allows you to:

- Treat deadly wounds as a full-round action (instead of taking an hour).

- You don't take a negative for not using a healer's kit.

- You can use this action on a creature more than once per day, and if you beat the DC by 10 or more (it's a check of 30, for those keeping track), then you also get to add your ranks in Knowledge (Planes) to the hit points you heal.

You feeling better there, Jim?

Now, as a caveat, you can only use this feat's benefits a number of times per day equal to your ranks in Knowledge (Planes), and it only works on creatures that could be healed by positive energy. But say you're a level 10 character, you invested all the skill ranks, and you've got a high wisdom. Every time you treat deadly wounds on a fellow party member (without even needing a healer's kit, mind you), that's probably between 23 and 25 hit points you're giving them back (10 for their level, 10 for your ranks in Knowledge (Planes), and 3-5 depending on your Wisdom modifier).

At 10 times per day, that essentially gives you between 230 and 250 hit points you can restore without magic every day. Not a bad ability, eh? Especially if you add things like Healer's Gloves for that +5 competence bonus on your checks to make sure you hit that DC 30 reliably.

Then There's Skill Unlocks...

I'm the first to admit that there are not a lot of DMs who are willing to give players skill unlocks. First debuted in Pathfinder Unchained, they are an optional rule, but if they're in-play at your table then you can crack the Heal skill wide open.

And why is that, you might ask?

What you need to do is, when you get 5 ranks in the Heal skill, you take the feat Signature Skill. This gives you access to the skill unlocks for Heal, which start at 5 ranks. And every 5 ranks beyond that, you unlock another signature ability. Those are:

- Target recovers additional hit points and ability damage as if they'd rested a whole day.

- Target recovers additional hit points as if they'd rested a whole day with long-term care.

- Target recovers hit points and ability damage as if they'd rested for 3 days.

- Target recovers hit points and ability damage as if they'd rested for 3 days with long-term care.

We're going to have to do some math here to work this one out to its full conclusion. Because when you rest for a full day, you recover double your level in hit points, and 2 points of temporary ability damage. When you rest for a full day with long-term care, you recover at twice that rate.

So let's look at that level 5 unlock.

Assuming you make the DC 20 check on your fellow party member, you're automatically going to heal them for 5 hit points (their level). But with this skill unlock, you now heal them double their character level instead (10 points), and 2 points of temporary ability damage, as well. If you made the DC 25 check and you have a Wisdom modifier of +5, then you'll have healed them another 5 points, for a total of 15 hit points as a full-round action. 20 hit points if you manage to hit that DC 30 (unlikely, but possible with the right build).

And you'd be able to do that 5 times per day... putting your healing capacity at between 50 and 100 hit points, as well as 10 temporary ability damage, you could heal per day with no magic and not even a healer's kit!

The numbers just get more gross from there, my friends.

So what about at level 10? Well, the skill by itself heals them for 10 hit points. With the skill unlock, though, they recover 40 instead of 10, because it's treated as if they had a day of rest with long-term care (quadruple the normal healing). They also gain back 4 points of temporary ability point damage. Then if you hit the DC 25 check, you get to add your +5 modifier to bring that up to 45 hit points, and if you hit the DC 30 modifier you could bring that up to 55.

So the total here is between 400 and 550 hit points worth of healing in a day, as well as 40 points of temporary ability score damage.

The math only gets more nuts from there. At level 15 we're looking at more than 900 hit points per day of straight healing, and more than 70 points of temporary ability damage. At level 20, assuming your game goes that far, you could in theory heal over 2k hit points per day, as well as fix more than 200 points of temporary ability score damage.

Who says every party needs a cleric?

Useful, or Broken?

On the one hand, it could be argued that the skill unlocks provide you a meaningful way to make skills a bigger part of the game, and in this case to meaningfully heal fellow party members without the presence of a divine caster or potion spammer. However, when combining the skill unlock rules with this extraplanar knowledge of healing, you may find yourself dealing with a party that is all but immortal if they survive a given fight.

Tis but a flesh wound... have at thee!

Independently, the feat and unlocks are okay, if not great. My two cents, if you intend to use a system like this to replace the need for clerics and divine casters except in instances of permanent ability drain or negative level drain, then limit the number of times the character can use the feat Healer's Hands to their Wisdom modifier times per day (or perhaps double their Wisdom modifier per day, if you're feeling generous). That gives them the ability to meaningfully heal fellow party members with a skill, instead of magic, but doesn't give them the ability to wade through battle after battle for a full day without once casting a healing spell.

Just my two cents on finding a middle ground with this trick!

That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

Can't Get Enough of Free RPG Day? Dig a Little Deeper on Drive Thru RPG!

This past weekend was Free RPG Day, and I remember several years ago it was one of my favorite days to be a gamer. I'd pop down the street to the local gaming/comic shop, play a demo, grab some splat books, and maybe even score a cheap mini or a free d20, if the gaming gods were kind to me.

Choose your weapon!

Sadly, over the past several years, the options in my little corner of the state have all but dried up. There's only one comic/gaming store in convenient travel distance (others that I once visited have shuttered their doors), and they have opted not to participate in this yearly ritual. As such, I spent this year at my work desk, wishing I had a convenient way to get my hands on a lot of free games.

That was when I got the urge to look up a game I played years ago with an old roommate of mine. Back in the pre-digital dark age of gaming, the game was Mutant Chronicles, and I half expected it to have totally vanished into the ether... but low and behold there was a free Mutant Chronicles quick start right there on Drive Thru RPG!

I got a bit of a grin out of that, downloaded the guide, and started flipping through it. I'd never played a Modiphius game before, and I've been having fun trying to get my head around their 2d20 system base. But as I browsed Drive Thru RPG, I noticed something else... there is a veritable treasure trove of free gaming content on there!

If you're willing to look for it, that is.

Try Before You Buy!

I'll be up-front here, most of the free content you're going to find browsing through the site are quick start guides, and similar samples of bigger, more involved games. These guides give you a taste, and usually a scenario you can run for your group using some pre-gen characters to try and get a sense of how the game plays before you invest $20 for the full PDF, or even $30 or $50 for a physical rule book. It's a risk-free way to dip your toe in, and to give the game a chance to sell itself to you.

Some of them are, admittedly, more complicated than others.

Rather than telling you to just go and slog through the entire archive, though, I figured I'd shoot you a few interesting, totally free things I found that I'm going to be flipping through over the next few days. After all, I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't get any swag this weekend, and who doesn't love checking out a new game for the low cost of absolutely nothing?

- The Entropic Gaming System: This quick start guide gives you a line on the Entropic Gaming System, which is meant to work with any game, any theme, any genre, any era. It's got an escalating die system, and in some ways it reminds me of Savage Worlds. A fun read so far, but not one I'm done with by any means.

- Frozen Skies Jumpstart: Speaking of Savage Worlds, this particular free guide is all about getting you hooked on the setting. Full of sky pirates and aerial bandits, it's set in a dangerous, grim frontier where all you have to rely on are your gunners and your skill, this one has definitely peaked my curiosity.

- Is It A Plane!?: If you told me there was an RPG out there that replaced dice with Pictionary, I would have told you that you were a crazy person, but Psychic Cactus Games has an RPG out there that does just that. I have not tried this one out with my group just yet, but the concept of drawing your actions for the Editor to interpret was surreal enough that I felt it had to be mentioned.

- Bloodlines and Black Magic: The City of Hauberk: This setting really grabbed my attention, because it combines the familiar rules systems of both Pathfinder and 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, but it gives us a secret, modern world setting full of shadowy corners, corrupted bloodlines, occult secrets, and dangerous power players. A solid intro, I'd definitely recommend giving this one a read.

These are, of course, just a start when it comes to the demos, quick start guides, and huge troves of free stuff out there! My advice is to pop over to Drive Thru RPG and to use the terms, "free," "demo," or, "pay what you want," and to see what comes up. There are all sorts of older editions on there that are now free for the asking, and it feels like practically every game line big and small has a demo for you to play or a setting guide full of rich content to convince you to take a chance on the full-scale game.

My two cents, if you find something you like, try it out of an off-night. The sort when the whole party can't make it, or when you'd just sit around playing a board game. It can make for a refreshing palate cleanser, and it might be enough to really spark your group's interest!

Also, as a closer, if you're looking for some additional, inexpensive swag, then check out my list of contributions on Drive Thru RPG. From NPC lists for fantasy games, to unusual feats for Pathfinder, to one-shot modules for Dungeons and Dragons, I've got a bit of everything for folks looking to expand their lists of gaming options!

Like, Follow, and Keep in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed the film, and it provides you all with the same sort of inspiration it did me!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Rise of The Runelords Chapter 16: Mad Lovers, and Lost Captains

Turtleback Ferry was on the verge of being overrun by hidden forces of wicked intent... but with the ogres slain, the Black Arrows rescued, and the dam preserved, it seems that Sandpoint's Companions have once more saved the day... but when a rider in black comes to town with a dire message, it seems there is something else on the horizon. A task only they are truly qualified to handle.

For those who want to get up to speed, check out:

- Chapter 1: Blood and Butterflies
- Chapter 2: Murder and Glass
- Chapter 3: The Sin Pit
- Chapter 4: Tussles in The Tangle
- Chapter 5: The Assault on Thistletop
- Chapter 6: Secrets Behind The Curtain
- Chapter 7: Murders At The Mill
- Chapter 8: Halflings and Ghouls
- Chapter 9: Fox in The Hen House
- Chapter 10: Something Rotten in Magnimar
- Chapter 11: The Crumbling Tower
- Chapter 12: Demonbane
- Chapter 13: Trouble at Turtleback Ferry
- Chapter 14: The Taking of Fort Rannick
- Chapter 15: Water Over The Dam
- Chapter 16: Mad Lovers, And Lost Captains
- Chapter 17: The March of The Giants
- Chapter 18: The Taking of Jorgenfist
- Chapter 19: The Secrets Beneath Sandpoint
- Chapter 20: At The Gates of The Runeforge
- Chapter 21: Storming The Halls of Evocation
- Chapter 22: The Bowels of Necromancy's Tomb

- Chapter 23: The End of Runeforge

- Chapter 24: Preparation For The Final Journey 

- Chapter 25: The Hunger in The Mountains 

- Chapter 26: The Gateway to Xin-Shalast

- Chapter 27: The Path of Temptation

- Chapter 28: The Three-Fold Challenge of Xin-Shalast

- Chapter 29: Crossing The Barrier of Greed

- Chapter 30: The Fall of Karzoug

Just as the heroes were preparing to leave, they're told that something is going wrong in the forests beyond the Black Arrows' fortress. Something... disturbing.

Lost Loves, and Stolen Bodies

Tired from their many battles and adventures, the Companions weren't willing to leave any potential loose ends in the town of Turtleback Ferry. So they rode to the edge of the forest, guided by one of the elite Black Arrows. The trees there were old and heavy with years, and they seemed to hang under a great weight. Silence filled the air, and no birds nor beasts stirred within. It was as if the entire wood were holding its breath, and waiting for something.

Well, nothing good could possibly come from this.

The horses balked at the edge of the wood, and would go no further. Taking that as a sign of danger, the Companions dismounted, and headed deeper into the expanse of trees. The light grew dimmer, and the air colder. Mist curled around them, taking on the shapes of faces frozen in mid scream. The spirits of animals fled the heart of the wood, running past the Companions as if they were running from a great fire. All of it in complete and utter silence.

After several hours of walking, the first living creature they'd seen in hours peers out from behind a tree. A small, terrified fey, it informed them that her mistress was ahead. She was in great pain, and mourning, but if the Black Arrows sent the Companions then perhaps they could help. Confused, and more reluctant than before, the Companions approached a clearing with a clear, half-frozen pool of water in the midst. Zordlan and Mirelinda took up positions behind heavy trees, while Zhakar and Thok approached the pool.

That was when the Lady of the forest burst forth from the water, shrieking like a mad woman, glowing brighter than the sun. Thok was struck blind, falling to a knee. Zhakar stood firm, raising his voice to be heard over her screams of grief. He was there to help her, if she would but tell him how.

Though it took some convincing, the Lady lowered her blinding light, and told the Companions through her tears that her lover had been slain, and his body stolen. She had tried and tried to bring him back to her, to reincarnate him, but she couldn't. Which meant somewhere to the north, atop the frozen mountain, he had been remade into a hideous thing... an undead husk, bound with putrid energies. The only way for her to find peace would be for the Companions to return him to her. They swore they would, and when she returned beneath the waters of her pool, left her realm.

The Giants of the Mountain

As they journey northward, into the frozen peaks of the mountains, the Companions remembered they'd uncovered a strange trove of letters in the Black Arrow commander's bedroom. They had seemed intensely personal and out of place at the time, but on reflection, it was likely that his frequent jaunts into the forest to rendezvous with his Lady love were one reason the ogres took the fortress by surprise.

And for our trouble, we now have to climb this sonofabitch.

The climb into the mountains was rigorous, but with clever mountaineer's tricks from Thok, and some unique pathfinding by Zordlan, the Companions made good time. They found sign of giants, as well, so when they finally found the cavern entrance at the top of the mountain, they were not surprised to find it guarded by a pair of ogres.

The ogres, though, barely had time to be surprised before a volley of arrows and carefully slung spells left them staining the snow.

The true challenge lay inside the mountain, though. The ogres had been the lowest rungs on the chain of brute force, and it was why they'd been left outside. Inside, the caverns were filled with stone giants. While there weren't many of them, perhaps seven or eight all told, that was more than enough to prove a challenge; even with Thok's lifetime of experience training to hunt giants among the northern kellids, Zordlan's knowledge of the world's monstrous races, and Mirelinda's ever-growing sorcerous abilities.

It was when the Companions stumbled across a coven of colossal hags, all gathered round their cauldron, that they sheathed their weapons, and spoke. Thok stepped forward, and asked the Mothers where the man we sought was. It had been a long time since they'd been offered northern courtesies, and in their own tongue, which they found deeply amusing. They had also grown tired of the stone giant who'd crowned himself king, and they told the Companions the creature they sought lay beyond the throne room. There was danger enough there, though, as a recent acquaintance of theirs awaited them.

Lamias and Giant Kings

After giving their guidance, the three huge hags vanished in a cloud of smoke. Oddly comforted, knowing that at least something around here was normal, Thok led the others to the throne room. What the Companions found waiting for them were a pair of stone giant guards, and their king seated upon a granite throne. Standing at his side was the lamia matriarch they had driven out of Fort Rannick mere days ago.

Second verse, same as the first.

The giant who had dubbed himself king was halfway through a prepared taunt when the lamia, threw up her hands to protect her face. With a dispassion rarely seen from him, Zhakar advanced, raising his hand. He blasted another brilliant ray, catching one of the royal guards, the matriarch, and the self-proclaimed ruler in the brilliant ray. While the matriarch managed to preserve her regained sight, the stone giants were not so lucky. One swung his club madly, smashing it into the walls, the stairs, and the ceiling, while the king screamed, hurling spells blindly about the room.

With the momentum thus gained, the battle was nearly won. The sighted giant fell to Bostwick's iron fists, and the blinded one was put out of its misery thanks to Thok's precision archery. The lamia attempted to stand, but with Mirelinda's spells seeking her out, and Zhakar advancing on her, she vanished once more into the ether, abandoning her erstwhile allies to their fate. Hearing that he was alone, the king held up his hands, and offered the Companions anything if they would only let him live.

They stripped him of his spellbook and his bonded item, as well as his headband and his enchanted bracers. Bound and under guard, they demanded to know what was happening. He told them stone giants were marching south from the stronghold of Jorgenfist, and that they would sweep their enemies before them. The giants had marshaled their kin, and were merely waiting for forward positions, like his, to be established. Once he'd talked himself out, they asked what had happened to the commander of the Black Arrows.

The giant king went, if possible, more pale than he already was. That thing lurked deeper in the frozen caverns, and it had slain half a dozen of his warriors. The man had been a danger in life... as a frozen wight, he was a plague upon the mountain.

The Dance of Ice and Fire

Though leery of their prisoner, the Companions paused in the throne room to rest. The wind howled through the crags, and the chill of the place wrapped around them. They built up fires, and watched the rear entrances of the room nearly as carefully as they watched the broken king. Once they had caught their breath, and readied their weapons, they set out to do what they'd come there for.

This is gonna hurt.

As the Companions entered the caverns, a chill far deeper than the rest of the mountain washed over them. An unnatural chill of the grave, and of things that defied it. A shudder passed through most, but flares of heat started to flash from beneath Zhakar's gauntlet. The skin around his right eye chafed, and when he rubbed it, flaked away. The steel beneath was still strong, but darker; blackened, as if by fire. Before Thok could ask his friend if he was all right, a hunched figure in tattered, black garb reared up and howled at them. Its hands were black from congealed blood, and its eyes glowed blue in the darkness. It still wore the signet chain of the Black Arrows' commander, but there was nothing else left of the man he'd once been.

Chaos erupted as each of the Companions snatched at scabbards, or reached for spell components. Zhakar merely held out his right hand, and gestured toward the creature. A pillar of black fire erupted around it, bursting from a rent in the air. It roared with a sound beyond the normal whoosh of evocation, and somewhere in its depths were the screams of the realm of the damned. The creature added to the cacophony, the flames eating away at the chill that sustained its life.

As the hellfire faded, the creature charged at Zhakar, swinging the sword it had wielded in life. Zhakar caught the blade on the spikes of his gauntlet, his right eye glowing with that inner, furnace light as his skin began to bubble and peel away. Thok sank his spear into the monster, attempting to push it away from his friend. Zordlon began to circle around, drawing his rapier as he sought an advantageous position. Bostwick caught it in the side, his fist cracking ribs the creature no longer felt. Mirelinda drew breath, preparing a spell to slow and bind the creature.

Then Zhakar took a single step back, pivoted, and loosed another beam of pure, white radiance. The beam caught the creature full-force, and it shrieked as the dark life inside it was ripped away. The hate in its eyes winked out, and it fell. First to its knees, then over on its side, smoke rising from its open mouth and empty sockets. Thok poked it with his spear, rolling it over. The body was just a body once more. Thok turned to Zhakar, asking in the harsh, Hallit language of his homeland if his friend was all right. Zhakar shook his head, the flesh already beginning to knit back up on his face, covering up what lurked beneath. The smoke faded as the afterimage of power left his hands.

"Let's get this back to the Lady of the Wood," he said, tightening his gauntlet another notch. "The sooner her lover comes home, the happier she'll be."

Lost and Found

The journey back was quiet. Almost somber. Though the woods were no livelier this time, they seemed hopeful, rather than bleak. And as some of the few remaining creatures saw what the Companions brought with them, word went ahead. This time when they reached the pool the Lady was waiting for them. Nervous, she was still a creature of terrible beauty.

Thok and Zhakar laid the body out before her, clutching the sword and wrapped in a clean cloak. She knelt, brushing the corpse's waxy forehead. She didn't speak, but leaned down to kiss her lover. When their lips met, a light flashed. The body was gone, as was the Lady. In their place, a strange, unreal-looking faun stood. Unsteady on its feet, it loped into the forest.

The mourning pall was gone... but so was the madness that had nearly consumed this place, and its guardian.

There was more to do, though. If what the self-proclaimed king had said was true, the giants were coming. And Sandpoint stood squarely in their path.

What is around the next corner? Find out on the next installment of Table Talk!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, as well as the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio where I help out from time to time. Or, to check out books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, as well as on Pinterest where I'm building all sorts of boards dedicated to my books, RPG supplements, and greatest hits. Lastly, to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little donation can have a big impact.