Ok, so I died over the weekend.
Unless you are a believer in the supernatural (which I am not), it must be obvious that I am referring to my character: R.I.P. Ardric, 3rd-level Dwarf Knight.
So, how am I supposed to feel about this, I wondered. He was my stout, brave (or foolish, depending on your perspective), battle-hardened alter ego. I had never died before (not a Buddhist, either), so I wasn't sure how to move on.
I've died before, but it was a long time ago: In the '80s, I played Traveller with a bunch of my pals. I originally was playing a Vargr, essentially a human-sized dog, or a werewolf without the were part, if you will. I played him as just another character. That is, until we actually got the books we needed in the first place, and discovered that the Vargr were treacherous and opportunistic. So, I went with it.
It took all of 15 minutes to get fragged by my fellow players. I deserved it, and I provoked it. Self-inflicted, for all intents and purposes.
So, I became a Zhodani, one of the tall, thin telepaths with amazing abilities like teleporting, etc. This guy stuck around for a while - he was useful, as a telepath would be. We spent over a year trying to get to the heart of a criminal conspiracy involving a group called Blackthorne's Blackhearts. Of course by criminal I mean legitimate, and by conspiracy I mean lawful authority, but that's neither here nor there.
At the end, we ended up in chains on the floor of his 'throne room'. I was pretty angry, and , since we were likely to die anyway, I teleported into the same space he currently occupied. Messy, yes. Surprising? You betcha. But not involuntary.
Since my re-intro to D&D, I've played a couple of characters: Max, a Paladin who went off to find spiritual enlightenment, and Diemos, a sorcerer who is still going strong, although currently on vacation (lucky bastard). We started the new game about a month ago, and I decided I wanted to play a knight.
Unfortunately, a brave, noble knight who died of mummy rot. how embarassing. At least I wasn't the only one - our halfling druid bit the dust, too.
I was shocked, I was dismayed. Then, my former-halfling pal and I went somewhere else to create new characters. I'm now a female rogue, both for the first time. Should be interesting. However, in the absence of a period of mourning, I thought I'd share this experience, in the hopes that somewhere, Ardric is hoisting a flagon of ale and swearing revenge on mummies in the next life.
Taken too soon
Ardric Erzgraeber 2006-2006.
If anyone has a spectacular or even an emotional character death story, I'd love to hear it. Together, we can heal...
Be seeing you.
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2 comments:
I feel your pain. I think we need to start a support group.
What cheeses me the most was that I kept missing on attacks of opportunity after our monk tripped him 4 times. I wonder - can you get a refund on dice if they make you die?
No, but you can always smash them with a sledge hammer and put the shattered remains in the dice bag - it serves as an object lesson to the other dice.
I feel your pain, Flash, it's always sad when someone you've invested a part of yourself in passes on. My story involves my 1st edition Elven Fighter/Thief - stuck in Lloth's Abyssal Plane, trying to work our way out, our party meets up with a group of trolls. After several rounds of combat, one of the trolls takes off running down the hallway and Nuran gives chase, leaving the party behind and pursuing the monster down the hall, around a corner...
And straight into 3 mind flayers.
A few mind blasts and a troll feeding later, I'm left with a digested character, with no way of raise dead, so I was forced to bid a sad farewell to Nuran Greyfax 10th Level Thief/7th Level Fighter.
(actually, we did manage to recover him a couple of years later, but that's a long story involving a polymorph spell, a genie bottle and a magic user with questionable ethics)
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