Reviewing the Beatles Solo Albums in Order - Part 12

Paul's next album wasn't a song of records, but a special 30-minute "episode" of Oobu Joobu. Oobu Joobu was a radio show that Paul did in the early '90s, and the format was part commercial for his recent albums, part sharing new music he was working on, part reminiscing about old favorites and then covering them, part goofy stuff (my favorite: Linda's "Cook of the House" segments, where she talked about how to cook simple things like garlic bread), and part interviews on subjects important to Paul. The album, Ooobu Joobu: Ecology, is mainly that last part, with Paul talking to people about the environment and how we should all be vegetarians. 

I also got detoured into listening to the first nine Ooobu Joobu episodes. Fun! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHPNcaBxqTo

Okay, time to get back on track, because we're up to Paul's next album, Flaming Pie, and here, again, is where I came in. It's now 1997 -- albums are starting to come out few and far between for our boys -- and I'm 26. By then, I was a big fan of the Band on the Run Wings album, but somehow the rest of Paul's solo career had managed to stay largely off my Radar. And then this came out. 

As ambitious as some earlier albums, Flaming Pie starts off with "The Songs We Were Singing," signaling that we are not in pop song territory anymore and are about to be treated to something more mythic, if not epic. The narrator of "Songs We Were Singing" could live in any century, perhaps a bard of old, about to share stories through song. "The World Tonight" is a companion song, a song about time, but also about something as simple as seeing someone special to you and how that makes you feel. Following that is a step back, though, with "If You Wanna," a much weaker version of "Sitting in the Backseat of My Car." Then we're back on the right track again with "Somedays," a beautiful slow song that is itself a companion song to "The World Tonight," jumping onto the same theme of seeing someone special to you. "Young Boy" is not as strong until it gets to its chorus, which makes up for a lot. Just as we start rocking on "Young Boy," we slide back into soft and beautiful with "Calico Skies." Again, time is a theme of the song, a strong enough theme to carry the whole song, so the sudden anti-war theme that appears in the middle feels tacked on and unnecessary. And all of that is just preamble to "Flaming Pie," Paul's best attempt yet to get into John's head when he was writing nonsense lyrics (though Paul still can't help himself and explains the song in the bridge). And that's just side one!

Side 2 starts gently with the gently moving "Heaven on a Sunday" that ends with one of Paul's many great romantic lines repeated over and over. "Used to Be Bad" is a fun jam piece that shakes things up just before "Souvenir." If most Paul songs are gems (and I would definitely agree with that assessment), then "Souvenir" is one of the diamonds -- a flawless, powerful song like nothing we'd ever heard before. Then we're back to soft and gentle with "Little Willow," a touching tribute song so good Paul has dedicated it to people twice. Then another jam piece, not quite as good as "Used to Be Bad," but "Really Love You" is just another set-up song for the album's other masterpiece -- that's right, this album has two masterpieces -- "Beautiful Night" (that Ringo is backing Paul on both songs makes "Really Love You" feel even more like a warm-up session for "Beautiful Night"). "Beautiful Night" tricks you; it starts out and you think, "oh, it's another gently moving song," but halfway through -- like "Let It Be," it kicks into high gear and becomes the hardest rocker on the album. And then, like pudding dessert at the end of a great dinner, you get "Great Day" at the end, the perfect title to follow "Beautiful Night," and...well, somedays pudding for dessert might seem like a good idea, and other days it doesn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPrBJnK751Q

Ringo and His Third All-Starr Band comes next, but I haven't been able to find a recording of this one anywhere, so I have to skip over it. And that takes us back to Paul, with "Standing Stone."

If you've been reading all these posts, you know I mentioned "Standing Stone" earlier, when talking about how disappointing Paul's attempt at opera was. But it's been a few years since then and Paul has put the work into making his first orchestral classical music album perfect. This was perfect timing because, by '97, I was 26 and just starting to get into classical music. I bought the cassette of "Standing Stone" myself as soon as it came out and loved it, particularly the powerful beginning, where the music surges and ebbs, like choppy water before a storm. With this album, Paul proved that there was nothing he couldn't do brilliantly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQf_FL9rPLA&list=PLQVM4ld7LE3ktyd80mKgaevjnhLLH2rT9&index=2

Ringo continues to impress me, though only now looking back, and apparently the rest of the world wasn't really paying attention when he released "Vertical Man" either. It doesn't start off great, with "One" sounding like Ringo's version of George's "You" (in fact, the song would probably sound better had he replaced "one" with "you" everywhere it occurs in the song, but if he was plagiarizing his old mate, maybe he didn't want to be so obvious about it). "What in the World" is ...just okay, but then things start to explode with the hard rocker "Mindfield" (which, in fact, is a bit too heavy metal towards the end for my liking), and then this is followed up by "King of Broken Hearts." This is a completely new song and not the earlier country song with the same title, but this second act of plagiarism can be forgiven because this song is fantastic -- almost as beautiful as Ringo's masterpiece "Photograph," and probably belongs in any list of his top 5 songs (like "Photograph," George helped him on this song. Hmm...). After that we get a cool cover of "Love Me Do" bookending the title track "Vertical Man" with a cool cover of "Drift Away." "Drift Away" is an ensemble piece, highlighted by a long verse by Tom Petty that makes me wish Tom and Ringo had done much more together. Unfortunately, that's the last of the really good songs on this album, and I begin to understand why Ringo wasn't able to get more traction with this album when I listen to "La De Da," watch the video, and realize this was the song he thought would be a hit. Like too many songs on this album, it's unoriginal, this a country rock updating of Doris Day's "Que Sera Sera," which is even referenced in "La De Da" like its works cited page.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjAq3Nx3S14  

Company of the White Oak Campaign - Sessions 24 & 25

Session 24

Wealsun 4, 621 CY, Godsday
Castle Greyhawk

The drawbridge was up; someone had raised it again, but this was no obstacle to those who knew the secret magic word that lowered it. Brother Langdon spoke the word, and the drawbridge responded to his command. This was the power the Company of the White Oak now commanded.

A full complement of the entire company – Haruspex Niv, John Grond, Brother Langdon, Percy, Reed Underbough, Vask, Rom Riverbluff, Brother Ulrich the Maimed, and Gendri, along the hirelings Harvard, Saraband, and Herv, and Vask’s trained bear – was there. This was a particularly special trip for Harvard, who had announced he was leaving with a caravan for Blackmoor after this, to explore his roots, but would gladly enter John’s services again when he returned.

The courtyard was unchanged since their last visit. Rumors of new adventuring parties exploring the castle had apparently not led to any new deaths out front – or else someone had did a good job removing the evidence of same. Now the undecided question was, what was their priority on this expedition? The answer came to them quickly. With such an assembled force, how could they not challenge the gargoyles in the keep?

Entering by the same side door to the keep they had used before, they only paused long enough for Reed to examine again the statue in the side hall. His thiefly senses told him the loose arm of the statue would trigger something magical, but with no way to disarm it and no desire to see what that magical effect was, the Company moved on to the main hall.

John called out to the gargoyles to come out, but one of the gargoyles responded, calling for them to come in. Haruspex responded by throwing a sleep spell into the hall, and they all heard something heavy drop a short distance. At this time some of the Company charged into the room, some of them hung back with missile weapons ready, and those charging in were greeted by two gargoyles swooping down to attack. A third one remained sleeping on the shelf above the exits to this octagonal chamber.

Normal and silver arrows and bolts were tested against the gargoyles, but their stone hides proved impervious to them. Only the magic javelin wielded by John and the magic axe wielded by Vask could harm them, for when these weapons struck, the gargoyles’ stony hides yielded like flesh and sprayed red blood. Langdon and Ulrich grappled with the gargoyles, weighing down their legs so the gargoyles lost maneuverability. Vask’s bear entered the fray and, while it could not hurt the gargoyles, it got one of them in a bear hug the gargoyle could not escape from.

During the battle, the double doors to the south opened and two more gargoyles entered the fray, but were dropped quickly by twin sleep spells by Haruspex and Saraband.

Finally, the original two gargoyles were killed after the longest battle the company had yet known to this point. John and Vask were fatigued from the five straight minutes of fighting. Reed was loaned the javelin so he could go around and kill the sleeping gargoyles. Percy and Ulrich were casting healing spells – Ulrich on himself, since Ulrich had been badly hurt in the fray.

And then they heard the sound of more footfalls on the stairs that descended from the west down into this chamber. The Company readied themselves for another fight. Haruspex, burning through more of his spell repertoire than he had in a long time, cast Phantasmal Forces and conjured a group of illusory ogres to bolster their numbers. The opponents coming down the stairs were five bear-like monsters with wide, furry heads and big toothy mouths, wearing piecemeal armor and carrying crossbows. Though slimmer, they looked to be the same type of monsters who had ambushed them on the Western Road when returning to Greyhawk from Verbobonc. The advanced guard of ogres was enough to send the monsters retreating back upstairs, but not until after firing a volley of crossbow bolts into the chamber, striking non-existent ogres and a poorly-positioned John Grond.

Having bought themselves a respite, the Company could now wait for Reed to kill the last of the gargoyles and search their perches for treasure. Unfortunately, the gargoyles were naked and there were only nine loose gold pieces up there to be found. Perhaps the monsters on the upper level had better treasure? They would head up there soon. John and Vask had rested now and John and Ulrich were healed. Percy, upon healing John, noticed that the crossbow bolt wound looked infected by poison. Luckily, John had a potion that could neutralize poison to quaff, and did so, using up the last of the Company’s first acquired magic potions. Gendri shared his theory that these monsters were the bugbears of legend.

Now the Company advanced after the bugbears – and into a second volley of crossbow bolts, with illusory ogres again taking the worst of it. At the landing, below an arrow slit in the west outer wall of the keep, the stairs split to the left and right. The Company went up the side to the right and fell on a group of five bugbears falling back away from them. The ogres pinned the bugbears into isolated melees that the real members of the Company then waded into. It was a hard fight, but again the Company won. The bugbears had some gold on them in pouches, but not a lot. They had poisoned crossbow bolts, which Reed eyed greedily. There was both a door and a doorway in this room, with the open doorway leading into a spiral stairwell that went up and down.

But the Company, now very short on spells, wasn’t feeling like exploring more and was ready to call it a day – at least, until a third volley of crossbow bolts descended on them when they crossed the landing again to leave. Now John led a charge up the stairs to the left, where they found a group of six bugbears positioned around the railing. This too proved a challenging battle, in which John was seriously hurt and Reed moderately hurt, but bugbear after bugbear fell before them, until John stunned the last bugbear with a punch. Like the dying bugbear they had spoken to on the road, this one’s head changed back to what seemed to be their true appearance, hairless and turnip-like lumps. But it spoke and, just like the one on the road, warned them that “more were coming.” This one also added that these were the tests of The Adversary – far from the first time they had heard of this mystery foe. And then they killed it.

This bugbear had three gems in his pouch along with gold, and the first of the six they dropped had worn an electrum bracer and carried a ceremonial silver dagger. It was still what they considered a light treasure haul, but it would serve. The Company left the castle, heading back to the city to sell off their loot…

Session 25

Wealsun 16, 621 CY

City of Greyhawk

Green Dragon Inn

The Company of the White Oak assembled here to meet and find out who was leaving on the next expedition to Castle Greyhawk in the morning. The Green Dragon was seen as a central location to rendezvous, even though only one member of the company, Langdon, was staying here. 

Vask showed up, walking stiff and wincing when he moved. He revealed that he had been earning side money this past week as an underground gladiator, but he was hurt in last night’s fight -- moderately injured, Percy assessed upon checking him over. Percy and Ulrich cast all three of their cure spells between them to bring him back to full health. Luckily they could recover their spells in the morning before they headed out.

Langdon, Reed, and Gendri all had other things to do in the city and planned to skip this return trip to the castle, but Haruspex and John convinced Reed to come and bring his henchman Herv along. Since they wanted to bring the mules and cart along this time, in case there was a good treasure haul (for a change), Haruspex’s hireling Peter would be brought along to serve as a teamster. Nine people, plus Gert the Bear, was a good-sized number, surely good enough to handle any challenges ahead.

Wealsun 17, 621 CY

Village of Hawfair Green

Leaping Trout Tavern

The Company reached their launching-off point for tomorrow’s trek to the castle around midday and just hung out here, as had become their custom during the winter months (when they would have reached the castle after dark if they tried the trip in one day). The tavernkeeper, Stout Stanley, told them about a rival adventuring party, the Band of the Black Dragon (“We don’t like them, that sounds evil!”) that had just passed through yesterday on their way to the castle. It seemed they had over a dozen members and two clerics among them, but he could tell them nothing else about these rivals -- but promised to be more attentive in the future if paid 1 gold a week to act as their spy. 

Alone, the Company discussed some rumors Rom and Ulrich had learned in the city during downtime. Rom heard there was a black dragon that lurked in a cavern under the castle, or at least used to. Coincidence, that the band had this name? Also, Ulrich had learned of an abandoned temple between the city and the castle that must be somewhere off the road (since no one had ever seen it). Things to look into for another time, perhaps. The castle itself remained their goal.

Wealsun 18, 621 CY

Castle Greyhawk

The drawbridge was down and no one was stopping them from going inside -- except for John Grond. He remembered the absent Langdon had been given a magic word to say that could lower the drawbridge. Would it also raise it? John remembered the word and how to pronounce it, but when he shouted it, the drawbridge did nothing.

The Company was heading up the slope of the bailey, circling wide around the keep, when they heard the sound of fighting to the south. Since they were heading to the south anyway to reach the stables, they had no qualms with continuing towards the fight. 

The “fight” was a siege, and it was taking place in the fortified building connected to the south-facing curtain wall of the castle, touching the stables at one corner. The building was long, two stories tall up by the stables, and three stories tall on its west side where the ground was lower. There were two sets of double doors protected by portcullises -- and four men were charging at the nearest doors with a ram, while four more men tried to keep them protected with mantlet shields. Behind them were four men in armor with smaller shields, formed up around an unarmored man and a hobbit girl. 

Ulrich took point in rushing to help -- and was met fiercely by two men at the rear of the siege who thought they were being attacked by brigands from behind. One of them ignored Ulrich's shouted offer to help, thinking it some deception, and walloped Ulrich good with a morningstar. The other man then tried to hold him back, for this other man was Bennet, a clergyman of the Unorthodox Common Church of Greyhawk of Percy's acquaintance. Plus, Bennet recognized the matching tabards of the Company of the White Oak and identified them as much to his peers.

There was no time for other words just then, for a fresh hail of arrows rained down their way, and Ulrich was struck again, this time a potentially fatal wound. Percy rushed over to heal him, while others shielded him and Ulrich from more arrows. 

Finally, Bennet could identify himself as one of the founders of the Band of the Black Dragon. The Band had been on the trail of the Hydra Company, a sizable force of brigands who had terrorized the villages in the southern Domain of Greyhawk last year, was nearly decimated by the authorities, but had since regrouped and were now all of them left were holed up in this building. Bennet sheepishly admitted he was not sure if there was still a bounty on Hydra; for the man who just struck Ulrich, Draxus, this was personal and he said so.

Once Ulrich was back up on his feet, John Grond pulled everyone back to discuss if they even wanted to get involved in this. Percy insisted he had to, and that was good enough for everyone else. It was suggested that they split up and try the pincer move that had been so effective on the ogre tower -- half the Company goes in through the ground floor, while the other half climbs to the roof and descends from above. Vask, Rom, and Ulrich would aid the Band in breaking in down here. Peter would stay back out of harms' way with the mules, and that was alright with him.

Reed sprung easily to the top of the curtain wall with his magic boots, and Ragnar had no trouble climbing the wall in his magic armor, with the aid of the rope, but getting everyone else up top proved difficult. Ropes had to be tied around people and then they were hauled up. It took three whole minutes to get Herv up there, but they worked out all the bugs after that and it only took a minute to get Percy and Niv up top next. They were on the wrong side of the tower from the building, but the towers all had steep steps that allowed defenders to ascend over them. By now Reed had already scouted ahead and found them a trapdoor in the middle of the roof of the building.

Meanwhile, arrows had felled two of the men-at-arms working the ram, giving Vask and Rom a chance to slip in and add their muscle to the endeavor. At long last, the portcullis was destroyed and the bar behind the doors was broken. Vask and Rom dropped the ram and raced ahead to pry open the doors and go inside. Ulrich was right behind them. Draxus had also sped past the men-at-arms and joined them in penetrating to what looked like a storeroom with barrels inside, defended by five brigands and a dwarf warrior. 

The brigands hurt Draxus and he withdrew back into the bailey, to be replaced by Bennet and one of the men-at-arms, but as the brigands went down they were replaced by more coming in from a side room. The dwarf briefly gave Vask a good run for his money, but once the dwarf went down, Vask made short work of the brigands. A thief tried to sneak out from behind the barrels and backstab Vask, but botched it and wound up dead.

Also meanwhile, John Grond was dropping into a room on the third floor defended by 2 human and 1 orc brigand, and an unarmored man. Percy figured he knew a magic-user when he saw one and tried to catch him in a Hold Person spell, but it only caught the three brigands. Percy was right, the target started casting a spell at the same time and got it off because Reed's crossbow missed, but the spell just formed a glowing shield in front of the spellcaster. The shield didn't keep John from injuring him with the magic javelin, held as an awkward melee weapon. But nothing shielded John from the charm spell that the magic-user cast next, then gruffly asking John to protect him from harm. John complied by cold-cocking Herv as Herv tried to run past, laying him out cold. 

Niv, from above, was still able to paralyze the magic-user with his own Hold Person spell ray fired from the wand he wore, and short work was made of the brigands by everyone, since the charm spell did not extend to John protecting them. John warned everyone not to harm the magic-user, and then he checked on the western door in the room, since there was no way to go down from this room. The next room was defended by three men and an orc who were discussing what to do about the sounds of combat in the next room over. John charged them right away. At the same time, the door to the east opened and a woman dressed like a fighting cleric opened the door on Haruspex, Percy, and Reed (who was trying to wake the only subdued and stunned Herv) and was about to attack them. Haruspex was faster with his Hold Person wand and, though she almost resisted, she was paralyzed just before striking Percy.     

Also also meanwhile, down below, the adventurers who now held the front room of the building heard terrible screams of pain and panic coming from outside. When Rom first glanced out through the doors, he saw a nightmarish scene. Dozens of skeletons and zombies had appeared out of nowhere and were attacking the Band of the Black Dragon members who had remained outside, killing most of the men-at-arms and seriously wounding their magic-user and hobbit. Gert the Bear too was out here, called for earlier by Vask, but unable to reach his side because the Band was in her way. She was already injured by and ganged up on by three zombies.  

But worst of all was the apparition floating through the scene of carnage. It appeared to be a spectral warrior, clad in chain and shield, but its sword was made of mist, and its face, visible through its open-faced helm, appeared to be made of mist, in which floated two balls of bright white light that served as its eyes. It spotted Vask and bellowed in a haunting voice that two friends regretted they could not be there to kill them, so it had sent him instead, and he had brought a legion of the abyss to aid him.

Brother Ulrich focused on turning the skeletons, while the Band's clerics (they had four!) concentrated their attention on turning the zombies. Rom raced out to aid Gert and harassed the zombies attacking her.

Vask, valiantly, charged the spectre. His battle axe struck first, biting into the spectre as if it were a man of flesh and blood. The spectre was surprised, but unworried as it swept its sword back at Vask. As the sword of mist struck, it surrounded Vask and drained energy out of his very being. A lesser man might have died on the spot, but Vask was able to keep fighting. It availed him not, as a second strike drained the last of Vask's lifeforce from his body, and Vask fell dead to the ground.

Also also also meanwhile, John killed the brigands right away, but their leader was a tougher foe and held his own against John for several minutes. Percy peeked into the room the female cleric had come from and saw there were three more men and an orc in there, but he shut the door on them. He coordinated with Haruspex so that Niv would toss a Sleep spell into the room as soon as Percy opened it, and the stunt worked. In the room where John fought, an orc opened the door at the far west end, that must have opened into the adjoining tower, but the orc backed out instead of joining the fight. John dealt a moderately serious wound to his foeman, but at the same time was struck by an envenomed blade. Right after that, John put the man down with a strong kick. And right after that, John fell to the ground, paralyzed by the poison. As Reed was finally reviving Herv, Percy came in to check on John and found him appearing to be near death. He quickly identified that the wound was poisoned, though, and sucked the venom out in time. 

Also also also also meanwhile, the spectre turned and chose Rom as its next target. As it flew towards him, Rom tumbled underneath it, came up next to Vask's fallen body, snatched up the fallen magic axe, and spun around to find the spectre already upon him again, and blocked the sword of mist with the enchanted haft of the axe. Pushing the spectre away, Rom had room to swing the axe, struck, and caused harm, but still not even moderate harm to the undead monstrosity. Ulrich was now bravely at his side, trying to shield Rom from harm, but it did no good, as the spectre was easily able to outfight both of them and struck Rom with the sword of mist. Like the first hit on Vask, Rom was energy drained, but not enough to kill him, though he knew a second hit would. Rom called for a retreat and tried to back away into the building. As Rom did so, the spectre turned and raised its sword to dispatch Ulrich instead.

At that moment, a lightning bolt flew through the air at such an angle that it missed Rom and Ulrich, but disintegrated the spectre. The lightning bolt had flown from the hand of Roger Bacon, the Wizard Prospero's friend and right hand man, who was there with two armored strangers. Roger was glad to have arrived in time, as if he'd known the attack was coming. He introduced his two friends, one of whom was a lama of Zeus named Sekolus. Learning he was a cleric of such powerful standing, Rom and Ulrich were very eager to talk to him about if he could raise Vask from the dead. Sekolus could not, at least not today, but promised he might be able to save Vask in the future.

Also also also also also meanwhile, while John was recovering from the poison (but not the charm), Haruspex and Percy searched the room and found a big treasure chest. Reed rushed over to check it out, found no traps, and succeeded in picking the lock. Inside were over 4,000 electrum pieces and a handful of gems! 

Company of the White Oak Campaign - Interludes 3 & 4

Interlude 3

The dogma of the Common Church of Greyhawk was, of course, perfect in every way, having been handed down by the gods themselves. There were, however, challenges within it, as the priests of the church understood. Neither winter nor spring, nor the changing of the seasons specifically, fell within the spheres of influence of the gods of the Common Pantheon. So, when the people of the Village of Stonebridge wished for their priest to do something about the cold and the snow in the first week of Readying, he had to get creative. 

Joramy was the goddess of fire, both literal fire and fiery anger. There was a prayer to Joramy that thanked her for fire that also asked for more fire, and this could also be understandably be interpreted as a request for heat. And there were 13 famous warding prayers to Ralishaz, god of misfortune, asking for him to take his misfortune elsewhere. Misfortune, like an overly hard winter, so again it was an understandable interpretation.        

“And in that wiggle room…miracles are born,” Jake muttered to himself as he completed his string of prayers. It was muttered quietly; it would do to have that overheard, and the ceremony was being observed. This was considered important enough for three leading officials of the village, including the bridge warden, Talthis Walterson, to be on hand to observe. 

“Thank you, Brother Jake,” Talthis said. “The church elders were good to us in sending you here.”  

“It is my pleasure,” Jake assured them. 

The other two left the small chapel, but Talthis lingered behind. Jake noticed, but said nothing until the other two were gone. 

“Is there something else I can do for you?” Jake prompted.

“Perhaps. Well…a favor,” Talthis said at last. “You recall Emeline?”

“The widow?”

“Yes. She helped fund much of the festivities during Needfest this year…but she has not been out of the house for the past two weeks, and has released her servants from service. Would you go visit her and talk to her? I wonder if she needs…”

“Consoling? Of course, this is common, even when much time has passed. I will see her this afternoon.”

Talthis said no more, but nodded understandingly.

Readying 5, 621 CY
The Village of Stonebridge

Jake bundled up and lit a lantern to bring with; for warmth more than light. The Widow Emeline’s farmstead was on the far side of the village, so rather than walk, Jake went to the neighbor’s barn to fetch his pony. It was not much of a pony, but it was fully his and not a loan from the church; he had purchased it after selling off much of his adventuring gear. He had thought that life was his calling once, but the church had told him he was wrong and recalled him. He thought of these things as his pony slowly sauntered through the crunching snow until they reached Emeline’s farm.

The farmhouse was a two-story building, wood on a raised stone foundation. There was a round tower one story taller at one corner

He knocked on the door. “Emeline? It’s Brother Jake. Are you there?”

There was a long silence. Jake shifted his legs, hoping the movement would warm them, and put his spare hand closer to the lantern he had brought. He knocked again.

“Emeline?” When she still did not answer he tried the door. Only then did he hear a noise inside. “Hello?” He pushed on the door and entered as it opened, stepping onto the straw mat inside the entrance.

The living room inside was warm, with a good-sized fire in the fireplace. The walls were decorated with colorful tapestries. Potted plants, long fern-like plants, hung from the ceiling. There were two wooden tables in the room covered in small bowls of herbs and incense, and two shelves on one wall were covered in decorative candles. It seemed quite cozy. Jake stood in the center of the room, listening for anything he might hear over the crackling fire.

Shortly, he heard footsteps approaching from a side doorway. Jake had a premonition of danger in that moment and wished he had brought his morningstar or a shield, but of course this was a house call and he had not expected to need either. He took a step back and assumed a defensive stance, while looking for something he could grab as a makeshift club. 

The source of the footsteps was Emeline, a 40-year old woman in a black hood and dress such as a widow would be expected to wear. A reeve’s daughter, Emeline had none of the wear on her features that hard labor or too much sun would have given her. She looked on Jake with recognition, but her face was otherwise unyielding of clues as to her state of mind. “Can I help you?” she asked.

Jake tried polite conversation, making it clear this was just a social call, but Emeline remained tight-lipped as he spoke. Jake changed tactics and made his purpose more plain. “Talthis sent me to check on you. Make sure you were alright.” 

“As you can see I’m fine. If you don’t mind, I’d like to be left in peace.”

“Do you have anyone here to take care of you?”

“I don’t need it. I am quite capable of taking care of myself, thank you.” 

Jake nodded, as that seemed to be accurate enough. He had the feeling she wanted to tell him more, but was holding back. Several other attempts to coax it out of her failed. This interview was growing more awkward by the minute as Jake ran out of concerns for her to shoot down. “I see,” he said at last. “I’m so sorry for wasting your time. May I bless your home before I go?” 

Emeline thanked him, coldly, for this kindness. The blessing was a simple ritual and, two minutes later, he had no choice but to go.

As he stepped outside, he thought he heard a door open or close around the back of the house. How…? Emeline could not have run to the back of the house so quickly. Was someone else here after all?

Jake came around the back of the house where the kitchen door exited out into a garden. There was no one there, though there were some bushes in the garden that someone could be concealed behind. Jake moved casually into the garden and looked around, finding no one behind the first bush and then--

The crashing blow on the back of his head told him that he had checked the wrong bush first. Someone had come up behind him unnaturally silent and hit him with something hard, probably a club of some type. The pain was almost overwhelming, sending Jake falling forward to his hands and knees. Everything had gone dark for a moment, but then the light came back. 

“You just had to be snoopy, brother…” a stranger’s voice behind him said. 

Jake tried to get to his feet, but when he moved the world seemed to pitch hard to the right, nearly making him tumble over. To keep his balance he stayed put. “Who are you?”

“Someone who just needed a place to stay. The widow is a good woman; she was easily persuaded to send her servants away and give me the run of the house when I threatened her servants’ lives.”

“Why?”

“Why not just find an inn like a normal person? You see, I’m on the run. A wanted man. As anyone who fought beside me is now. This house is more than just for me, you see. It’s a nice, private abode that we can all use when we regroup.” 

“Regroup?”

“You are a very poor conversationalist, though I suppose the knot on the back of your head is to blame for that. I’m sure you’ve heard of us. Hydra will regroup here, as soon as we are able. I can’t let you live to tell anyone about that, of course. This sap is no match for your thick skull, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you bleed out after I stick a dagger between your ribs…”

Jake’s would-be killer had confidently stepped around to Jake’s right flank and drew his dagger before crouching down. It bought Jake an extra second -- a second to lunge at the man’s legs. He had not expected Jake to recover so quickly and was tackled into a rose bush. Thorns stung Jake’s arms, though the man trying to kill him was protected in leather armor and seemed unharmed. Unarmed, Jake knew his only chance was to get that dagger away from his attacker, so he climbed up the man’s body, reaching for his arms. He finally found the dagger when it was staring him in the face, but now Jake had a good grip on the man’s arm and was holding it back. 

Jake only had two advantages, first surprise, and now being on top. Throwing his weight into the struggle for the dagger, Jake was able to nearly pin his assailant’s right arm before his left hand came up and cuffed him upside the head. The distraction allowed the assailant to get his knee up between them and used it to shove Jake back. 

Both men were on their feet at the same time, but Jake had a weapon of his own now -- a wooden bucket of water that had been sitting next to him when he stumbled back. As his assailant rushed forward, he got a bucketful of water splashed in his face, blinding him for a moment. That was all the time Jake needed to bash the bucket over the man’s head hard enough to break the bucket. The leather skullcap on the man’s head protected him from serious harm, but he was still clearly rattled. And Jake was now weaponless -- the bucket was not supposed to break so fast! The rest of the bucket fell away and Jake was only clutching two pieces of wood he managed to grab before they fell. 

Now Jake was using wooden sticks to block the dagger being swung at him, but luckily without any aim being put into it. The wild swings were meant to force Jake to back off, but when Jake caught the dagger, lodged in one of his wooden sticks, he was able to get in even closer and rush his shoulder into his opponent. The rose bush was still positioned behind him and was the perfect impediment to trip him. For the second time Jake’s assailant went down, only this time Jake started wailing on his exposed face with punches.

When Emeline peeked cautiously out the kitchen door, Jake had already subdued his opponent and was stripping the man’s hose off to use to bind him.

“O thank you, thank you!” Emeline exclaimed, as tears welled in her eyes. “It’s finally over!”

“It is…until more of them come.”        

Interlude 4

Wealsun 11, 621 CY
City of Greyhawk
The Black Dragon Inn

On the table before them was a hand-drawn map on parchment of the layout of Castle Greyhawk. Draxus, as dramatic as ever, stabbed the map with a knife on the spot where the long building along the south end of the curtain wall stood.

“There. If they aren’t in the dungeon, they must be holed up there.”

Tiffy, the hobbit who drew the map, sighed. She had put a lot of work into that. “That was my conclusion, based on my reconnaissance. I couldn’t get inside, but it seems to be them.”

The six founding members of the Band of the Black Dragon stood or sat together in the back room of the inn. Private planning sessions had become their thing before each expedition.

“Do we have any idea what their numbers are like now?” Crato asked.

“Not at all,” Hobar, their magic-user, said. “We should assume they’ve had plenty of time to recruit from the bottomless well of the castle dungeons. Who knows what manner of creatures may have allied with them by now?”

“I agree, we’ve waited too long as it is,” Draxus said.

“I don’t think that was his point,” Logos countered. “We need to spend a week hiring more men-at-arms. We are primarily a party of clerics, but what we need are men experienced in siegecraft.”

“What if we combined forces with the Company of the White Oak?” Tiffy asked. “They probably know the castle better than we do.”

Draxus shook his head. “I think they finished off the ogres only to clear a path to the dungeons. They don’t seem that much interested in clearing the upper works, which leaves more for us.”

“Then it’s up to us,” Crato said. “If the gods favor our efforts, we will finally put an end to the Hydra Company.”

Reviewing the Beatles Solo Albums in Order - part 11

We're up to Choba B CCCP, Paul's version of John's Rock n' Roll album with a Russian theme to the packaging (the idea was to make it look like an actual Russian-made album bootlegged to the West). I already covered some of these songs in my last post about a dream Beatles triple album of covers. It is an excellent album, also reminiscent of the Unplugged album, in that Paul seems to be having so much fun reliving these classics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oZI6z-VkvQ

And next...ugh...what was I thinking? I think to myself as I've listened to the first 18 minutes of Liverpool Oratorio. There's really an hour and a half of this? Now, I like classical music. And -- spoiler -- I like Paul's second classical album, Standing Stones, a lot. But this is his first classical album and it is an at times comically overelaborate opera about growing up in Liverpool. I did say I like classical music, but that does not extend to opera.  I got up to 25 minutes just while writing this and can't believe I've still got over an hour to go...  

...Holy cow, I made it through the whole thing! Yeah, my opinion didn't change much, though I did start to get emotionally invested in the couple when they were fighting. How cliche, though, that having a child brings them back to together.

Thank goodness I got to follow that up with the surprise delight of Ringo's 10th album, Time Takes Time. I had just turned 21 when this came out and solo Ringo albums were entirely off my Radar. This seems to have been true for too many people, many perhaps burnt by his last few more lackluster albums, and unwilling to give him another try. Oh, how they missed out. "Weight of the World" is a good song that kicks off the album right, with an intro that sounds like it came off a Monkees song, that then delves into good, deep lyrics. This and "Don't Know a Thing About Love" have strong drumbeats (obviously) and strong backup vocalists who complement Ringo nicely. I love "Don't Go Where the Road Don't Go," which is extra great because this is one of those rare songs Ringo wrote on his own, possibly making this my favorite Ringo song ever that he penned himself. I'm less enamored with "Golden Blunders" because, okay Ringo, we've all laughed with you before when you made fun of Paul, but if you're mocking "Golden Slumbers" here, I'm not laughing. 

Side B starts strong with "After All These Years," another song with a real driving drumbeat, though the electric guitarwork gets in the way sometimes. "Runaways" starts out really strong with its emergency vehicle sirens and never slows down, though this one relies on the backup singers more than any others. "In a Heart Beat" sports great, romantic lyrics and an interestingly halting delivery. I like how "What Goes Around" ends better than how it begins (the ending keeps repeating, or going around -- har har). Again -- and I'm not saying this is as good as Goodnight Vienna, it's maybe not even in the same class -- but it's a really strong album and makes me sad that the industry and the fans had basically written off Ringo at this point, thinking he didn't have a great album left in him. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmcusR_EXAs

Back to Paul, this time back to doing what he does better, rock music. Off the Ground has some good and familiar songs on it -- "Looking for Changes," "Hope of Deliverance," "Peace in the Neighbourhood," and "C'mon People" -- all George-level preachy, but enjoyably preachy, with "Hope" being particularly fun and bouncy. "I Owe It All to You" is filler for Paul, but this would be A-game material for most writers. A surprise song that never gets air time that I enjoyed was "The Lovers that Never Were." "Get Out of My Way" sounds like an old school rocker, but not a particularly inspired one. "Winedark Open Sea" is one of those songs that I think is almost a good song, but just doesn't quite get there. The real fun one, the song I like to sing along with every chorus, even though the rest of it speeds by so fast I still don't know what the narrative is, is "Biker Like an Icon."  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYwLCquVONU

Back to Ringo, I watched the whole concert that the "Ringo Starr and the All-Star Band Live from Montreux" album was culled from. I didn't think it was as good as the first incarnation of the All-Star Band, even with someone from the Guess Who in it. It was great for me hearing Ringo plug Time Takes Time by doing "Don't Go Where the Road Don't Go Live," but I felt bad for him when he tried to fire up the crowd about it and they failed to react. Am I the only one who loves that song?

You know what, I'm just gonna listen to it again - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EWf9BmM9Y8

  

     

Alternate Start for Module C1 Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan

Years ago, I had planned to run this as a tournament, but in addition to the air hazard, there would also be a powerful NPC party of bounty hunters following the PCs through the shrine. I found the first page of what I wrote for that recently:

Update:  I'm going to include the next page from this project. I had done a lot of prep work, researching the effects of bad air, and built some tables of random effects that I think would still be useful, and could be useful for any dungeon!