HQ Charley Style



Disclaimer: HeroQuest board game is trademark 
of Milton Bradley now Hasbro, and Games Workshop, 
not to be confused with Robin D Laws roleplaying game 
of the same name, now rebranded as QuestWorlds



HQ Charley Style



HeroQuest with Charley 

is custom modified to meet the demands of a pre-teenage boy. 


The Exploration Phase

The Mop-Up Phase 



After every room and tunnel has been searched for Traps and Secret Doors, 


after all the monsters have been killed, 


after; 


"The Dungeon is cleared!" 


has been shouted in a sufficiently celebratory manner; 


only then is every room and tunnel safely and sequentially searched for Treasure. 



Q: Is this MetaGaming?


A: No. This is legitimately allowed by the rules. 



If the Players want to do things in this order, that’s fair enough. 

Common Sense also suggests this should be realistically possible. 


There are few dungeon-map-specific exceptions / exemptions, 

for example is where the Characters have to escape because they’re being chased. 


NO SPOILERS : I will not reveal which map this is.



With nothing else to surprise the Characters, 

it makes sense to save time at the end of the game 

by simply counting the number of rooms and tunnels in the map

and randomly turning over the Events Cards from the deck.


Wandering Monsters are fought (and almost always beaten). 


Treasure and items are accumulated to take into the next quest. 

This method means random finds are not available during the current map 

but are saved for the next one.  






Skyrim Forge (craft project)

 


I asked Charley what I should build next. When he said “the blacksmiths forge from Skyrim”

Looking at the pictures I recognised the stupidity of putting a thatched roof on a blacksmiths forge. Changes will be made! 

I asked him what bits he likes best from it. The raised platform is cute, reminds me of Japanese castles and that town in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy with the dry canals. 

I built the Forge in two sections, the open-air workshop area and the Blacksmiths hut which then got attached to the same 2mm mdf base but not in the same place as originally planned. A second floor balcony became a walkway above a raised wooden platform leading into the workshop, beneath which is the log pile for the forge itself. 

Charley instructed me the forge itself should be exactly like the one in Skyrim, circular and open to the rain. I did research into the necessity of bellows for smelting iron ore at a higher temperature than bronze ore, a discovery which shook the world. 

The base structure is cardboard because I am too cheapskate to make it all from mdf. The surface is covered entirely with XPS foam for bricks. In true Skyrim style I’ve included a lot of chunky logs from twigs gathered from around and about during this spring and last autumn. I used gorilla glue because it sticks faster and stronger than PVA glue. 

The second floor is a 3”x3” Tudor style cabin in top of an assumed stairwell inside the 2”x2” cobblestone tower. Unlike the other medieval fantasy models I have been making this one does not have a detachable roof to access the interior, as the action all takes place in the open-air workshop (and the bridge above). 

NB with the cladding the basic measurements expand. On this topic, my standard method of stairs is similar. Between each 1”x1” step large enough for a 28/32mm miniature base (2.5cm) to fit on, is a 1/4 inch x 1/4 inch decorative step. So a 2.5” stairs has two functional steps and 0.5” non-functional realism. Each step is quarter inch high here - for the Docks project I did it differently. 

The wood will be painted as wood, the exposed cardboard parts painted with PVA sprinkled with baking powder for an authentic wattle&daub texture and then painted GrimDark (TM Games Workshop) white, which is to say faded yellow-brown, dingy, dirty and generally not very white at all really. 

I forgot to take many pictures of the work in progress before it got to the stage of being nearly ready to basecoat in 50/50 PVA/Black Acrylic (Blackrylic). 

I’ve somewhat gone to town on the features here compared with normal. It’s a blacksmiths, so there are weapons racks. Shields, swords and stuff will hang from walls and crates of horseshoes between tables, buckets of water, bellows and tongs. And of course the inevitable anvil. 






















CQ21 Quest5 Missing!



Chapter 5 : Missing! 

After weeks of training with the necromancer in his lair, he believes the group is ready. 
“Ready for what?”
“Ready to use your newfound abilities.” 
But as they walk out of the lair, all of a sudden: Bang! 
The heroes wake up in a small, dark, cell with a big metal door which they can’t get out of. 
They hear talking, mumbling. Li listens and hears a conversation;
“How long are they going to be in there?”
“Dunno. Boss says maybe a few weeks, maybe less maybe more.”
“ i’m starting to get a bit uneasy down here. I don’t like the smell of stale air.”
“Me too. We’ll be out of here in a few weeks though. So the boss says.”
“What are these presents here for anyway?”
“Don’t know. That bits confidential.”
“All I know is that the boss has some guys down here and we can’t let them escape.”
“Right. Anyway what time is it I’m getting a little hungry.”
Ursula looks round for rat bones or anything she can pick locks with.
But, there’s nothing, this place is squeaky clean, or as clean as what seems to be a dungeon can be.
By the seem of it they are deep underground. The smell of the air is stale. 
Brantus looks for loose slabs on the floor. Again, nothing. 
Archer searches the walls for loose bricks. There are a couple which bulge out. Archer asks Li to pull them out. 
A big bit of the wall crumples. There is a small area of stone. 
“Seems there were people trying to escape from here before. Seems they didn’t get very far.”
Li tries to pull the metal bars out. 
The voice of one of the guards shouts down; “what are you doing down there?”
Li shouts back: “We are efficiently escaping this dismal pit.” and continues trying to pul the metal bars down. 
“You’re not in position to do that. We have a lot of armed men, there are four of you and tens of us.”
“Who are you and why are we here?” Screams Archer. 
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
They wait. They hatch a plan. 
“As soon as someone comes down here open the door, we jump them take their weapons and escape.” 
“Is that seriously the best plan we can come up with?”
“Yes.”
A few hours later, they hear the same guards voice. “Dinner’s ready.” As a little hatch in the door pops out and they are handed a plate of some sort of suspicious stew to share between them.
I’m not eating that crap, I demand to see the governor post haste and forth with.” Say Brantus in disgust.
“What does that even mean?” Ask Ursula.
“He means, immediately!” Explains Li.
Archer starts banging the wooden bowl against the metal bars as noisily as possible and does not stop. 
“Shut up back there or I might be tempted to put one of you on the rack!” 
“Bastards!” Screams Li and treats it again and again and again non-stop. 
The others join in the noise. Brantus bellows with rage while Yrsula screams loudly.
“Shut up right now or I swear I will have every man and women in this place...” his voice trails off. 
The group do not stop making a hell of a noise. 
Nothing happens. 12 hours pass. Brantus bangs on the door and shouts “None of us will eat that filth. Bring us some pickled ducks eggs!!!” 
Haygard open the latch and throws a dead rat at the party, snickering to himself at his cunning joke.
“If you’re really hungry find a way to make them at safe to eat. I don’t want the lurgy tonight.”
 look at each other. Finally, Ursula says; “will you do it or should I?”
Li takes the dead rat and removes the appropriate lock picking bones from it. 
Everybody takes turns trying to pick the lock which is significantly less easy than you would think. Ursula does it. 
The door creaks open. 
“We need to find our weapons.” Says Li. 
Brantus takes a lantern hanging from the outside of the cell. 
They see a tunnel bend to the left. There is a sleeping bandit looking guard outside the door. Li casually snapped his neck for him and take his weapons. 
He has a crossbow and four bolts. A pouch of 14 gold coins which Li gives to Brantus. He has some cooked unusual exotic meat, which Li gives to Ursula, who takes a bite and passes it around. 
The tunnel continues and bends around to the left again. There is the most horrifying sight of their life! They see dead bodies hanging from the ceiling. They see a cooking pot with a peculiar smell of cooking meat coming from it. There is somebody there cooking the meat.
Ursula looks at this and vomits. 
Li looks at this and pushes the chefs face into the boiling pot while saying the words: “You disgusting little man taste some of your own medicine before I disembowel you to teach you a lesson. Civilise people do not behave in such a hideous I’m inhuman way.” 
The dudes face burns in the bubbling broth. He screams in pain until Li drowns him. The noise alerts more bandits. 
Archer checks if any of the prisoners are alive. None of them are. 
Brantus takes the hot pot of bubbling broth to use as a weapon. Archer takes a butchers blade from the kitchen. Ursula takes two small kitchen knives. 
Two bandits approach from the next room. 
Li’s crossbow completely misses. 
Archer swings the cleaver and beheads the bandit who was dual wielding swords. Archer picks up the swords ready to pass them around. 
Bandit smacks Li square in the face with a crossbow. 
Archer gives Brantus a sword. 
Li grabs the bandits head and attempts to... it’s not actually easy to explain exactly what Leah is trying to do to the band its head. Something between crushing it with her bare hands and ripping it from his shoulders probably both at the same time. At any rate, the bandit dies. Archer takes his crossbow and gives Li the other sword. Archer gives the crossbow to Brantus. Brantus throws the pot of hot broth in a corner. 
The group raid the dead bandits pockets. They find four gold coins and a letter.  I swear to God Kyle if you don’t stop watching me and Vex bathe in the lake lake I will rip your head off your shoulders and shove it up your arse.”
“Oh I can see these fair folk put the blessing of literacy to good use.” says Brantus.
The group leave the cells and kitchen area to continue exploring the dungeon.
 Tunnel bends to the right. 
A bandit who lurked around the corner gets the jump on Li. The party dispatch of him quickly. 







Around the corner are two tough looking muscly Barbarians brothers. Ursula attempts to hire them however the sarcastic barbarians are not willing to do that for escaped prisoners so they fight and banter as they fight. Eventually the party kill both the barbarians. 
The large room is a dead end. A thorough search reveals a hatch in the floor which leads to a small room where the Captain of the Guard and another guard, who both put up a useless fight and are killed. 
Li kicks open a double wooden door into a much larger room containing three huge werewolves and a bound female prisoner. It also contains a weapon rack which has been dragged across the far doorway as a blockade.
Ursula attempts to cast a peace spell at the werewolves, which fails. It also drains most of her remaining magic. Paragraph
Brantus, being an old sailor used to navigating all sorts of conditions, says: “hold back! They can only fit through this door one at a time! Take positions!”
Two werewolves charge. The body size blocks each other from entering the door, they can only fit their arms through. So which is saying much because their arms end in five razor sharp claws. 
The werewolves get the first attack because they were charging while the party were putting themselves into position.
The werewolf on the left reaches with its long arm for Brantus attempting to scram him across the face or if it can reach, pull his head off or drag him through the door to bite his head off. 
The werewolf grabs Brantus and drags in deep into the room by which time the other werewolf manages to fit through the doorway and attacks Li. 
She is pushed against the wall and mawled. She is now on the floor covered in blood. 
Archer and Ursula simultaneously say “oh crap.” 
This point the third wolf charging is charging but suddenly, out of nowhere, a small blue sea dragon swoops in and rips the third werewolf’s eyes out with its talons. 
Archer shoots an arrow at the nearest werewolf and misses entirely however the werewolf stops mauling Li and instead turns it’s attention to Archer. 
Ursula decides to make a run for the hatch into the previous room but first she uses the last of her magic to try the pacify spell again, this time her focus on the closest werewolf instead of the whole group. 
Werewolf completely goes all soft and puppy-like, much to her own shock and archer. The werewolf still has some primal hunger, so it begins to eat one of the guards in the room whilst Ursula and archer cautiously approach and stroke the werewolf in hope of petting it while it is distracted. 
Meanwhile… 
Brantus has dropped his sword but he has managed to pull out one of the chefs knives which he uses to stab the werewolf repeatedly as quickly as he can from his unfortunate position of laying beneath the beast as it pins him the ground ready to sink it’s fangs into his body.
Without looking, Brent is manages to stop the werewolf in one of its eyes and then through its mouth. The werewolf slithers off and dies against the wall. 
By this time the sea dragon has killed the other werewolf. 
Brantus, in great pain and with much trouble, stands up and sees the sea dragon. “Hallo old friend.” 
Archer goes to tend to Lee what Ursula continues to pet the not-so-savage werewolf. Li is groaning and coughing up blood. Ursula watches and cries. “I have no more magic left to heal her.” 

Li is conscious. “Take me to the inn in the village. Ask if we can rent the attic room. They will know what it means.” She falls unconscious. 

“Help! Get over here and help me! Screams the bound and naked girl in the corner.”

Brantus lurches over to her while Archer carries Li. 

The sea Dragon is flapping around and catching up to Ursula. The friendly werewolf is starting to snark and is shaking its head frantically. The spell is wearing off! 

Ursula shuts the werewolf into the smaller of the two rooms this side of the trapdoor hatch. Fortunately the door bolt is on the other side with the werewolf. When it realises what happens, it charges through the door which is no obstacle and attacks the sea dragon.

The Sea Dragon cannot breathe fire, it can  only cough out water, as it is still a baby. 

The werewolf manages to get a good scratch at one of its wings. 

Archer fires a arrow at the werewolf taking care in her aim not to hit the bay sea dragon. She misses entirely because werewolf’s are very fast. 

Sea Dragon throws the werewolf off of her, coughs up water into its face to temporarily blind it and starts biting frantically at the werewolf’s neck. The werewolf bleeds out. 

“Fur coats for all.” Says Brantus gritting his teeth in pain. 

All of a sudden the dead werewolves start changing into Human forms. They are still living, although barely. One of them is a druid. Another another a female warrior. The largest werewolf seems to have changed has changed into some sort of monster some sort of almost non-human monster.

The last of them crawls up to Brantus and says “You stupid old fool! You have done nothing but prolong your death. We will be back!” It evaporates into nothingness. 

“Kill the others, quick!” Says Archer. 

The others exclaim “No! Don’t kill us, we are not like him. He did this to us!” 

All their original equipment is on the weapon rack but no rope.

Ursula decides to take a risk of untying the bound naked female prisoner’s wrists and ankles so she can use the two bits of rope to tie up the druid and the female warrior arms behind their backs.

She instantly exclaims; “where are my goddamn clothes?!” 

The sea dragon is set to work guarding the two new prisoners until they can be interrogated. 

Immediate problem is getting all the injured party members to a place of healing. Li’s last words before she fell unconscious, was to go to the inn and ask if they can rent out the attic to for the night. 

This is what they do. 

End of Chapter. 





















TownHouses (Craft Project)


Works In Progress


Shop Street (left)

Three store fronts with an upstairs series of rooms beneath a detachable roofs.  

Shop Street (right) to follow... 







Madam Blatsky’s Orphanage

Children for rent and purchase 
from the Witch Syndicate (unofficially). 

And

General Store 

Proprietor: Mr Cobweb



Both with detachable roofs, both inspired by art discovered on Google while searching through artists imagery of Port Blacksand, north-west coast of Allansia (see below). 






The design of these buildings is to make them as small as possible to fit a whole town onto the game table. Their bases are cut from 6”x4” photo frame backing boards. 






Vagrants Village (craft project)

 





These easy to build hot-glue and cardboard with card stock roof tiles. I could have left them at that, or original plan of pva strips of card stock as planks before painting brown. 

Reclaimed some old strips of flaked plywood from a weathered tabletop which I rescued from a skip in Cheltenham in 1999 and left outside over winter of 2020-21. Cut into average 4mm strips it looks more realistic than faking old wood from lollipop sticks. 

The process took several days to complete the whole batch of buildings during which I realised sticking them to paper or stick card and cutting that to shape to stick to the corrugated buildings after hot-gluing them into shape would probably save a lot of time. 

Currently pondering what colour to paint the tiles and whether the wood actually needs painting, either with wood varnish to strengthen the old plywood strips from crumbling or 50/50 pva and acrylic with tan-grey drybrush highlights and a black-brown wash as is traditional method found on many YouTube crafting tutorials.  


They are quite small. 

The scale of the buildings is 1”x2” 1.5”x2” 2”x3” not using precise measurements however the height is universally exactly 2” 

There are lean-to’s added as well as overhangs on the first and second floor buildings. 

This enables the ground level to have a lot of exterior space for character models to wander around and between the buildings. None of them are intended as internal locations. None of the rooftops are flat either so climbing along rooftops like ninjas is not intended for this aesthetic scenery. 

Doors and Windows are not actual holes. Making interior props would be a waste of time for these little guys. Doors and Windows are stuck on, using matchsticks for frames, the flaked plywood strips for doors and shutters. 


For such a simple and affordable process the result is something I’m pleased with, it looks quite professional. 

This method will most definitely be replicated in future for city builds, Tudor-style buildings using pva and baking soda to texture the card as wattle&daub between wooden beams. 






Subgenres & Tech

 

picture plundered like a pirate from Google



We’ve always played medieval fantasy Swords & Sorcery. 

We always played inland and underground, dungeons and towns. 

One day we built a cardboard ship. Story developed to an ocean adventure. We got some sailor and pirate miniatures. These things come with guns. Flintlock pistols and occasionally a trumpet blunderbuss, the sort my grandpa occasionally used to polish and hang on the mantelpiece. 


Discussion of problems and possibilities. 

1 - gunpowder means canons means castles are redundant. 

2 - on a side issue, dragon flame melting stone means castles are pointless. We always make dragon flame hot but not hot enough to melt stone or steel. 

3 - on another side issue, dragons make use of wood ships risky business. 

4 - returning to the main issue; we could ban pistols and modify the miniatures by chopping off their guns and replacing them with something less high tech. 

5 - we could establish a house rule that sailors have discovered the secret new technology from a distant land and use it exclusively to kill each other which is largely why it has not yet travelled inland to the old kingdom. 

6 - we could have two campaign worlds, one swashbuckling and one fantasy medieval. This is the preferred option. 


Ergo: 

Wolf Knights World is fantasy medieval Swords & Sorcery level technology. 

Mermaids Tear World is fantasy medieval Powder & PrintingPress level technology. 


Then we discussed Sci-Fi... 




Canyon Cave Craft














The Canyon / Cave project is multifunctional. It’s the first big project I started, drawing on my art school background to introduce sculptural elements. 

I have put this blog in a strange non-linear order to highlight the importance of certain techniques. 


PLASTERED

I laugh when I see YouTube crafting channels using $25 latex molds to shape Plaster of Paris for cliff faces. You can use your fingers for the exact same results. It’s more fun, faster and saves a lot of money. 

Plaster of Paris soaks up paint. I use a 50/50 mix of PVA and black acrylic as a basecoat for everything. With plaster this can be splashed with a little water to make a thick wash get into all those grooves. It immediately soaks into the plaster and looks awesome. 

I used two types of acrylic - the cheap stuff sold as child friendly poster-paints which is watered down and the other cheap stuff which isn’t. When I add water the kids paint goes blue while the other stuff stays only black. 

Having got the Canyon to that stage I abandoned the project for over a year to monitor the long-term effects of how my polymer mix interacts with plaster of Paris, assuming it will discolour further over time. 

Eighteen months later and it’s still the same as the day I painted it - possibly thanks to the extra PVA which seals the colour in and forms a surface on the plaster. I will now apply a second layer of 50/50 black acrylic & PVA before wet-dry-brushing with mid-grey then highlighting with magnolia. 

NB magnolia instead of white to avoid it looking frosty works wonders on XPS brickwork. For cliffs and boulders it’s not quite so good. A pale blue would be preferable. 

On top of this goes an Agrax Earthshade inspired home-made wash to dumb-down those highlights and make it look earthy, dirty, realistic. 

After which, green vegetative things can be applied. 

I have used the term Plaster of Paris here. I’m not an expert to distinguish between the cheapest type of polyfilla and the most expensive chalk & lime based equivalent products. Next time I’ll use cement powder so it won’t break and crack if the model is ever dropped. 


FOAMING AT THE cave MOUTH

The bulk of the cliff sides is made from EPS foam which has a nasty annoying easily identifiable texture of polystyrene balls. Sometimes it looks awesome when I can suspend disbelief to imagine it as cobblestones and volcanic stone. Usually it looks like polystyrene whatever you do to it. Disguising it is necessary hence use of plaster/polyfilla for more realistic textured cliff surface. 

I find EPS (expanded polystyrene) all over the place usually on the roadside having blown there from the wind. I have a room full of bags of it on shelves. Truly. 

The best stuff is vacuum-formed such as protects packaged white goods. Inspiration for modular dungeon sections to last a lifetime with little more work than disguising the bubbles with cements or XPS (extruded polystyrene) drawn on with a biro to make it look like brickwork. 

In this case I made blocks of it on either side of an approximately six foot by two feet wide base board, with a zig-zag open central space. Gorilla Glue it’s like PVA but dries harder and quicker (with eps), 24 hours to be sure (PVA sometimes simply doesn’t dry ever when air can’t get to it, such as when it’s stuck between two bits of EPS). 

Next I carved its interior facing sides up with a Stanley blade to form cliff-sides prior to plastering them. A lot of sculptural work and decision making. 

I cut out caves of various sizes along the way on both sides, at various heights. Goblins can pour out of these into the canyon, as they lead deeper into the underdark.

The top level is eighteen inches tall and has a path along the edge which can connect over wooden bridges to rocky stalagmite outcrops from the central corridor. 

There are paths like a 2D platform videogame at different heights along the cliff edge for snipers and spiders to lurk and for heroes to rope-and-grapple their way up to and edge their way sideways along the ravine to access that sneaky cave mouth. 

That’s about it so far. 








Port Rufus (craft project)






Rufus is the name which came with the jackapoo (Jack-Russell cross Poodle) little fluffy Anubis rescue dog who only obeys Charley, almost telepathically. He is well loved and quite a character to the extent we named a recurring coastal village after him in our fantasy games which has gradually and in stages developed into Port Rufus. 

Then came the cardboard model of a ship at 28mm/32mm scale for ocean adventure. It was only a matter of time before I got around to building a wharf and surrounding area. 


Basic structure prior to “planking”


Hot glue and corrugated cardboard maquette to develop into a more realistic yet practical gaming table. 


The area is 12” x 24” featuring;

wooden dock, four warehouses, a pirate-sailor inn (the Drowned Rat Inn), the harbour-masters office where confiscated goods are stored, a basement level entrance (tunnel leads to a hatch located somewhere in the area), two alleys connecting the board other areas of the town, a road and some space for storing coils of rope, chests, fish racks and the like. 




Tapping into Creative Energy... 

Today I discovered a sufficiently sized pile of 2mm x 15mm wood strips someone had dumped into a hedge while walking the dog. These will be wooden beams and planks for the surface facade glued with PVA onto the cardboard. 

Returning home with my gift from the gods I discovered a broken sheet of 2mm insulation foam, not sure if it’s XPS carpet insulation or the polystyrene used for chip cartons in some greasy fish shops, it’s green. There was loads more in the park next to the house, the wind has blown it my way. The stuff is perfect for etching cobblestones onto with a biro. 

Enshallah. Evidently I am supported by the Gods for building Port Rufus as a gaming table. I am grateful. 



 



Every level is 2” tall and every level is modular, detachable. The rooftops lift off, the first floor of each building lifts off. This is so gameplay can continue inside of the buildings, which are all specific locations. 



Four warehouses are necessary for one being empty, one a totally legit nautical trading operation, one rentable by the player-character crew, one is mafia-gangster-smuggler outfit. Searching these at night will obviously be a plot necessity at some point. 




Next up: shops & market area. 

CQ21 Quest4 Mystery

 Chapter 4 : Mystery



Four adventurers, Captain Brantus of the Mermaids Tear, Ursula the Nature Witch, Archer the Elf, and Li a civilised Barbarian, 


have followed the Necromancers instruction and made their way to the barrow of Yog Durn to find the necromancers body, which is supposedly still living. 


They have left Trident the baby sea dragon to guard the ship because he is a bit more trained but still hectic. 


They enter a long passageway and make their way up it. Li is stabbed by a spear which comes out of the wall. Ursula helpfully points out a tripwire inches from her feet. 


The tunnel turns to the right into a large room guarded by three skeletons! 


From the corner of her eye, Archer sees a body walk past but when she looks closely it has gone! 


Li rushes into attack the nearest skeleton with her greatsword. She smashes its spine in two. It crumbles with the clattering of bones to the floor. 


Archer shoots an arrow at the furthest skeleton who happens to be in front of her in a straight line. The arrow lodge into its eye socket and it falls to the ground. 


Ursula stays back. 


Brantus slowly catches up, considering losing some weight might help him it also grateful his henchwomen are making things safer up ahead, he sips from his hip flask of brandy from the tavern as he hears them beating the skeletons. 


The last remaining skeleton moves over to attack Li. Li literally grabs the handle of the skeletons sword, rips its arm off and beats it to death with its own bony arm. 


Brantus catches up with Li to admire her handiwork. 


Ursula walks into the middle of the room and sees an entrance at the far end. Archer moves up beside her. 


Li notices a skeleton none of them had seen before, in the corner of the room. It has a little journal next to it. She goes to investigate. 


“I have just come to this Barrow, after discovering that it houses some secrets of the ancient times. There are runes on the walls here. I have deciphered some of them. I did not have enough time to decipher more as I had to flee once I saw It. It haunts me. I fear don’t have long left here.”


“The runes read something about a ‘blade of hope’ and that it is the only thing which can inflict damage upon It, although I fear if I do not find this ‘blade of hope’ I will perish here.”


“This is the final time I will write in this journal. I am going to try to find the ‘blade of hope’ to put an end to this once and for all.” 


Li reads it out loud. 



They discuss the ‘it’ and they will need the Blade of Hope to defeat it. 


“Let’s do this thing!” Says Ursula. 


The tunnel leads to a turn to the left beyond which a small room. Li searches it and discovers the hilt of a broken sword. I suspect it might be something to do with the blade of hope.


There is another tunnel entrance opposite the one they entered. They follow it into another large room. The room cobrains: 


A goblin jockey riding a massive spider! 


Two goblins and one Ogre. 


Archer shoots an arrow at the ogre. The arrow shoots through its brain and pins it to the wall, her party-trick-shot. Her bow is very powerful! 


Li runs at the goblin jockey and attacks the spider! Her blade slices through the goblin split it in half through the spider split it in half. Lots of goop sloshes out onto the floor. Li steps back to avoid it. She also notices a trapdoor beneath it! 


Brantus waddles into the room. 


Ursula enters and casts a flash of bright light spell to temporarily blind the goblins. 


The goblins must miss a turn because they’re dazzled! They both drop their weapons. One of the goblins is using the blade of a sword for a dagger. 


Li pushes Brantus out the way as she rushes to chop the nearest goblin. The goblin is dead. 


Archer enters the room. 


The remaining goblin who has dropped the sword blade begins to see again. He dizzily makes his way toward Li to attack her, forgetting he has dropped his weapon. 


Archer shoots at the goblin. Goblin is dead. 


The party examine the hole in the floor. 





The party have the hilt and half a blade of a sword. They believe the rest of the sword is probably down the trapdoor. 


They play Rock Paper Scissors to decide who goes down there first. That doesn’t work because they have an argument until Li decides to go first. 


In the room through the trapdoor is a person, his back facing Li. 


Li says, “Hallo.”


“I’ve been been awaiting your arrival.” Says the person. “If I am correct I have sent you here to find me.” 


Li says, “Do you know there’s a bunch of monsters I’m out there?” 


“They are my bodyguards but that does not matter because there are significantly less of them left now:”


“I am the necromancer. I have sent you here to find my body and bring it back to me. But the only way you will take my body is if you kill me. Because I’m not letting f that happen.”


“Why not?”


“Because my having my body will leave me without my body. I am more powerful with my body.” 


Li says, “whut?”


“Which is why I need my body. I can’t have my body. I am the past tense of my body. If I have my body I won’t live and the necromancer will die.” 


Li says, “Dude I can happily kill you right now.” 


“Don’t you see, I am the past tense. If he takes my body back from his own past, he will be dead.”


Li says, “This confuses the crap out of me to be quite honest.”


“The only way to defeat me and bring my body back to the present tense of myself a safely is to kill me using the blade of hope.” 


Li says, “oh we have a few bits of that. Do you know where the last bit is?”


“Yes, here you go.”


Li takes the blade part.


“I will use my magic to fix it. Now it is more powerful than ever. Now stab me through the hertz so my body can be bound with my soul.”


Li holds the blade and says, “What’s in it for me?” 


“If I’m not mistaken the present version of myself has offered you training in using not only the t to deny but the ring as well. You’re on the good side of the person who will know how to summon the kraken. I think that’s enough.” 


Li says, “Well I’ll think about it.” Then she climbs back into the room with Brantus Archer and Ursula. 


“There’s a dead dude down there who wants us to kill him because some confusing story about being two people at the same time. Or something like that.” 


Ursula says, “Give me the damn sword dum-skull.” 


Li gives Ursula the sword: Ursula climbs down the hole and says, “Hallo.”


“Well are you going to do it?”


“I might.” Says Ursula. 


The necromancers body turns around, walks up to Ursula and s reaches; “Do it!” 


Ursula says, “ what happen if I don’t?” 


“I can tell you or give you a little preview.”


“Tell me?”


“I will enchant this knife and hold it to your throat. If that doesn’t convince you I might actually have to kill you.”


Li says, “So if I don’t kill you, you’ll kill me?” 


“I’m not going to explain all that again.”


Li stabs the guy through the chest. 


“Thank you!” Says the person. His body disappears. 


Li says, “I think I shouldn’t have done that.”


She climbs back into the room with the others and says “I stabbed him and he disappeared. Also, I’m keeping this blade of hope.” 


The party make their way back to the necromancers hide-out on another island. 


“Thank you. You have done as I asked. Now is time for me to do my part of the deal. Are you ready for very intense training?” 


“Yes.” Says everyone. 


“Very well. I will teach Brantus how to use the trident which controls the sea, Ursula how to use the ring which summons the kraken, Li how to use the blade of hope. And yes, I know about that.”


“What about me?” Asks Archer. 


“I will train you to be the most skilful archer this realm has ever seen.” 


“Okay.” 


“We are now the necromancers students!” Says Brantus. 



End of Chapter 4 Mystery.