Well, It's been a couple months since I've last written, and I probably
should have voted on that awards thing but things have been kind of hectic.

    I _absolutely_ loved the whole 'Company of Nine' storyline. It was great
to see the standard 'Break into the Evil wizard's castle and slay him'
storyline from the other angle.Especially when Gutboy Barrelhouse vowed to
make Belphanior pay for slaying his comerades, I practically wanted to shout
'Hey, it's _you_ who are breaking into his house, it's your own fault you
got yourselves killed.' or words to that effect...

    One thing I was wondering, though: How come Victoria's Lawful Evil?
Sure, she's a vampire and all, but I haven't really seen her do anything I'd
consider Evil. Compare her with Blackrazor. Blackrazor apparently utterly
and forever destroys the souls of people slain by its blade. Vampires drink
blood, but it's not neccesary to kill the victims. Both do this because they
have to survive...I'm pretty sure if I asked a couple hundred people on the
street, which is more evil, drinking blood or sucking souls, well, I'd get
the latter as an answer.

  I guess Victoria could be in the middle of an alignment-shift, though.

Nana

TM>  Not likely...



 The stories seem to mesh pretty well together, and the lunch break of the
Peyote crew seems to tie up some outstanding questions folks would have.



i love dungeon adventures.  they really make me want to play the game.

matt



At last, we're back in the forest! I really like this thread, and am
glad it's turning into a long adventure.

Leonard



hey thomas,

cool adventure so far.  i like their reaction to the floating heads and
crawling claws.  these things aren't really that powerful but to those who
don't know, they can be terrifying!  cool.

matt



Pusnuts? What a great insult for a rotting creature! Kup is no Bosco,
but he does a great job none-the-less.

Leonard



On a more realistic matter, I will admit it.  I like the 5 here, 5 there
sequencing of stories that you've done of late.  They seem to have more
meat, and more delving into why people are rather than who they are.



hey thomas,

nice battle.  usually when PCs encounter the crawling hands, a wizard just does
a _burning hands_ spell or a _flame sphere_ spell and wipes them out, but with
the effect of the screaming heads, this would prove to be impossible.  making
the hands much more nasty.  cool.

matt



Just the right setting on edge. _Good_ strong stuff.

Vince



Kup's reminiscing about the old days, when he would adventure with
his group was nice. It's great to see that there are other teams
of talented adventurer's who accomplished fantastic feats, and
have gone on to become quite powerful leaders. This has got to
get Mongo thinking about his own future, once again.

I love it when things look really bad, and things look really bad!

Leonard



I'm actually kinda glad this storyline will be around for a little while
longer---more than just a simple "in-and-out" type of thing.  There doesnt
seem to be too much wrong with the story.  In fact, I kinda liked the
retreat the lich did...knowing when to cut-and-run, and all that.

Tom



I enjoyed Kup's characterization in this series: here we see a
a fairly serious halfling, who is quite competent at adventuring,
without causing extra trouble with crazy antics (sort of like the
"anti-Bosco").

Another good aspect of this storyline is that the team knows the
let the big one get away, but can't do anything about it. They
arrived too late, eh? I wonder what it was that the lich found.
Somehow I get the feeling that we'll find out in the not to distant
future.

Leonard



Tub scene... wow. Of course, it was eclipsed by the mental image that
came to mind with the line "I didn't know that dress opened like that."

I see we still have a bit of mystery concerning Belphanior's mercenaries,
which is just as well for future stories.

Leonard



That was a quick leap over a month or more of travel, and many miles
of terrain. But then, adventures frequently don't find you out when
you're traveling, especially along major routes with an armed escort.

Kind of like when the Beatles decided to buy an old double decker
bus, paint it vivid colors, and drive around the countryside, filming
all the neat unplanned adventures they'd have along the way. Absolutely
nothing happened, and the movie "The Magical Mystery Tour", was a complete
flop.

Leonard



Finally, Zeif! I've been waiting a long time for this.

Not much to say here, other than you did a wonderful job of describing
Peldor's entry into the palace (white tigers as guards!), and of the
internal hallways and traps of the palace lower levels.

This one's another gem: I was on the edge of my seat as Peldor made his
way down the hallways and back ways of the palace.

I don't know what an efreet is, but I like it already. And a geanie
in the vault! Whoo hoo, but I love this stuff!

And we know that the woman back at the inn won't be idle for much longer.

Great job, Thomas.

Leonard



hey thomas,

nice usage of the tigers and i was wondering when he would stumble into
a trap.  it seemed he wasn't paying attention on watching for them.
maybe it's because he's a master thief and such things are now second
nature to him, but then he stumbles into one...  maybe he was just not
concentrating.

matt

TM>  About those white tigers...all I could think about was those
TM>  pimps from the 70s...



Good going, by the way.  I really like the Peldor/Tanya storyline.  They  
were getting a bit domestic.  What good are adventurers that don't go  
adventuring every once-in-a-while....

John



hey thomas,

efreet's, djinn's, i wonder what else the might peldor will face?

out of all of the adventurers, peldor fits the best in an arabian adventure.

excellent.



You may be making it up as you go along, but it's one hell of
a story: very action packed!



what a caper.  great fun.  i think i was there laughing with the sultan.

matt



A completely satisfying conclusion to a wonderful story.  I especially
liked the interaction between the Sultan and the Despotrix! He didn't
become the Sultan by accident or just good luck. He's also a very
likeable fellow.

And Peldor came out on top, like he should! I know it may seem like
a pat ending, but he _is_ Peldor, afterall. Still, he should avoid the
area around Hardby for a while.

Leonard



for a storyline with no direct purpose, I wouls say very entertaining!
Thanks for writing, and enjoy the KISS concert.

Victor



Thank you for a *wonderful* story, I really enjoyed it.

QTS



The Brothers Bosco, eh? I like the idea, and it's high time we found
out a little more about our stunted hero. Somehow I get the feeling
that having these guys around will be worse than a house full of
ferrets.

Leonard



Oh my word, the pandomonium will be worse than I thought. I agree with
Vinnie's sentiments!

Leonard



Hey!

Just a quick note to say how much I love the Adventurers series.
I started reading them abut 3 months ago but are finding it hard to
catch up not enough time.

My fave is Alyndyar by lots cause he neutral and has a wicked
personallity

Anyway keep up the great stories.

Dave



Yeah, Ged finally invents a spell. For being as all powerful as he thinks
he is, it's about time! As usual, I always enjoy the introspective stories
for the insights they give on each of the adventurers and their companions.
Ged appears to be the most introspective of them all, but then I supose
there's a reason for that!

Leonard



Well, speaking for myself, I quite like hearing your opinions on stuff.
That's not to say I always agree with your opinions - but it does give
me part of the picture of the person telling me these stories. Your
little bits of diary at the end of some stories give me another part.
The stories themselves help supply another view. The last is perhaps the
least reliable - stories don't always reflect the opinions of their
authors - but sometimes the most interesting.

Glen



Wow, from the farthest city west on the Greyhawk world map, to one of the
farthest east, all in the span of a single episode. This is one of the
great advantages of having our heroes split up: we get to see more of
the world. The northern three islands remind me somewhat of Tol Eressa
(island of the high elves, just of the shore of Valinor), from Tolkein's
The Silmarillion.

I liked the way you intorduced each of Ged's siblings. I wonder why only
Ged has a short and simple name, though.

Leonard

Aristobulus!  As in the series of stories posted a few years ago???

That was one of the first fantasy series I started reading, and always  
wondered if there would ever be any more episodes.  Do you know woh the  
original author of those stories is?  The last address I have for the author  
is morpheus@sage.cc.purdue.edu, but I haven't seen any new stories since '92  
or so....

John



Aristobulus?  As in, Jeff Stehman's Aristobulus? (I think that was the
author, been a while)  If so, hooray!  I LOVED that guy.

It is extremely difficult to imagine him and Ged being brothers though.
(talk about a bolt from the blue ...)

Kent



That wouldn't be the infamous Aristobulus the Dark, whose solo treks to
Underdark were noted (and sadly stopped when things got a wee bit
interesting ;)) ?

	- VP



TM>    Yep, that's my way of thanking Jeff Standish.  I loved those
TM>  stories, but I fear that they're dead.  I have printed copies,
TM>  myself.  I've had his name in my FAQ, in the list of net authors
TM>  who inspired me, for years.
TM>
TM>    I won't do anything with the character as he appears in 468/469
TM>  (since that's not my right) but I thought it was a nice little
TM>  tribute...



I liked the quote at the beginning: it's one of my favorites from the
movie, even though the two characters, Gem and Augira, weren't my
favorites.

The death scene itself reminded me of the head-mystics' death from the
Dark Crystal, perhaps because of the mood (lord knows they had little
else in common).

The barracks sound like a nice place to hang out on a dark and stormy
night.

Hmm, I thought most had guessed her secret during the rescue mission.
Certainly Razor Charlie knows... and can he be trusted with this secret?

This episode was a great setup for a horror story: an isolated high mountain
town on a cold, dark, and stormy night, and people are vanishing deep down
in the mines! This is going to be good.

Leonard



hey thomas,

this is turning out ot be enjoyable.  i can't wait to see what they are
up against.

matt



I like the tension you've setup between Victoria and Razor Charlie! I
suspect Charlie is going to have a hard time working with her - perhaps
he's had a run in with vampires in the past, which has completely
prejudiced him against all of them. And he still has the anti-vampiric
pendant as well, which may give him enough confidence to cross her,
should he feel the need.

Belphanior seems quite attached to Eduardo, too bad the kid is too young
for this trip.

Leonard



Ged's story arc was somehow touching.  I thing you are getting sentimental
in your old age Tom.  As of this morning the braves have pulled themselves
out of the hole and might win the series.  You have turned me into a
psuedo-fan, as you always seem to write the best stuff when they are
winning.  Heres looking toward 500.

Dave, Marie and Morgan



Hi Thomas -

Just a quick note of thanks for the recent Adventurers stories. I
haven't written since Peldor "died", but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy
reading these stories. In fact, it's sort of nice to see some shorter
threads, just to catch up on what everyone is doing. 

Of course, it's always good to see what Belphanior and Victoria are up
to...

Anyway, keep up the good work. I still drop whatever I'm doing whenever
a new episode comes in.

Ted



Hi Thomas,

I am still enjoying every episode of the Adventurers.
It seems such a long time ago that I read episode 1!
Just finished on 473, the demonspawn one. Actually
I didn't find them very scary, it seemed like the party
was too strong for them to be of significance.

Jan



the tension is building and the battle should be rather fun.

>Belphanior:  (sees all eyes turn to him, and also shrugs)  It's the
>  wispy thing.

i can picture belphanior saying this the same way dan akroyd said "it's the
stay puffed marshmellow man" in ghost busters.  cool.

have fun,

matt h.



Yes, indeed the wisp's return is long overdue.  I just hope nobody ever
calls him Casper.

Rance



The wispy thing is back!  Cool.  It was one of my favorites.  Any chance of
_ever_ finding out what it is? 

Robert



Yah!!!! My favourite Character is BACK!!!!!!
--
   Kerry



This episode ranks second-all-time in the "needing to be illustrated" category.

Right after Peldor being torn in two, of course.

Rance



hey thomas,

a great mix of combat and humor.  i love it.  great episode.

all the magic force they used to kill the thing was great and coupled with
the amount of physical attack damage really shows how tough the thing
actually was.

this type of episode really stirs the urge to game and for that i love it all
the more.

matt h.



Hello Thomas! My name is Jussi Viertola, I'm from Finland and
I'm a new fan of you Adventurers- saga.

I found the stories only two months ago or so. Infact, the first
stories I read were by Edward Keyes. His stories were well written, but
the fun didn't last too long. I read them through in a few days.
This was, actually, in the beginning of June. Fornately, Edward's
page had a link to something so much better: The Green Dragon Inn
page. So that's how I found the Adventurers. Infact, when I
started to read the Adventurers, I didn't know you were still
writing them. It didn't seem very likely that you'd still have
the interest to keep on going. I am really happy that you do.

At first, the format of your stories seemed a bit odd. I wasn't
used to such screenplay-type of writing, but now that I've been
reading them, I've adapted so, that the usual kind of writing
is starting to seem weird. It is nice that you haven't been
afraid to write about very diffucult subjects. This increases
the originality of your work, because most don't have the
courage to do so. 

I am wondering if you still have that mailing list. If so,
would you please add me in it too.

Yours,

Jussi

TM>  Thanks for the insightful comments.  I'm always happy to add
TM>  new subscribers to the mailing list.  It's 230+ strong and
TM>  growing...



Hello Thomas (Or should that be Dr. Thomas?)

TM>  Not until I get my PhD...

Congratulations on producing a series of stories that have kept (and
hopefully will continue keeping) your audience enthralled, and eagerly
awaiting the next episode as soon as the current one is read!

TM>  Thanks, glad to hear it!

Has anything eventuated from your request for an artist to immortalize
(As if they needed any more immortalization) the Adventurers? I would be
extremely interested in seeing another's idea of what the characters
look like. I know that everyone has their own mental picture of what
each adventurer looks like, and it is quite possible that some people
won't want to see the adventurers in a different way.

TM>  No one ever really got going on this.  Several people said they
TM>  could, but for some reason it just didn't happen.

A question, reaching (hopefully) deep into the future of the Adventurers
series :

Have you given any thought to the mortality of the characters,
especially the human members, ie Rillen, Songa, Peldor, (A Peldor cannot
die, can one?)Tanya and Arnold? Will Epic IV, when it arrives, deal with
the passing of the more short-lived of the characters into middle/old
age? I can imagine the reaction that you will quite possibly get if fate
decrees that a main character will die of old age. But, as I said, that
is (hopefully) far into the future.

TM>  Actually, someone will die in #500.  No telling if it's going to be
TM>  a human, elf, dwarf, or whatnot, but someone will die, and not be
TM>  coming back.

Another question, and quite probably one asked before :

Have you ever thought about taking a few of the adventurers' paths into
the planes? Mayhap the infinite expanses (And possibilities) of the
planes will make such a development exceedingly difficult to author.
Maybe the same stands for any possible adventures into the expanse of
the Spelljammer setting. (Although I have never really been a fan of
playing any adventures in the Spelljammer Setting).

TM>  Sorry, I don't much care for Spelljammer and related settings/plots.

Yet another question : (And probably too far into the realms of "What
if???" to answer, or even think about)

In the (Highly enjoyable) adventure into UnderOerth, and in particular
the encounter with the Jabberwock, what would have happened if one of
the adventurers had (and had struck the Jabberwock with) a Vorpal Sword?

TM>  They probably would have killed it.

Thankyou for taking the time to read this mail (I know that you are a
_very_ busy individual).

TM>  Sometimes...well, most of the time...okay, all of the time.

Keep churning out that classic Adventurers excitement!

Hew



>Otto:  Yeah, but then the fog rolls in.
>Aja:  Some religions hold that fog is a favorable omen.
>Otto:  (shakes his head)  Don't believe everything you hear.

Got a chill up my spine just remembering your infamous 'fog' episode.
And Halloween is coming up again... I can't wait to see if you can
top it this year...

Keep up the *excellent* work!

- Edward



And to the present...
For some reason, the newest stories (about when Peldor and Tanya 
left from Greyhawk) have been a bit ... flat. Dunno why (or then,
maybe the "better" old episodes I've read recently make the current
events to appear as more 'flat')...

Toni



Thomas, I enjoyed the Peldor thread, but the Belph/mines thread
was a bit dull. Perhaps because I don't have a feel for his new
henchmen yet.

Adrian



TM>  Hmm...interesting.



  Hello, author of The Great Net.Epic! ;)

  These past few weeks I have been busily downloading your stuff
from digex.net, having read little bits and pieces over the years, I now
finally had the time to read the whole thing in one stretch.. just today
racked up the last few episodes (up to 473).
  Some things. first of all... truly classic and awesome.. I enjoyed
the story so far extremely muchly... wow what a staying power, the 
constitution...
  secondly, my only real gripe, the fact that poor Ged is so low in 
level, while he does plenty stuff as well. How come Belph is 14^3, and until
only very recently, Ged was 14/14??

TM>  This one's easy:  racial level limitations.

  OTOH, there is so much that is way cool... so my real question..

  Where do I sign up for the mailing list? I presume that you have 
simply put together a dist-list, aliases.text or similar thing?? 

TM>>  Send me mail.  I always answer mail.

  So... thanks bundles for an awesome story, many hours of enjoyable
reading, and an overall outstanding job. Just had to let you know.

  Greetz,

  Whisper



Hiya Thomas

Sorry I haven't mailed for a while. I've been overworked and then on
holiday.

So it looks like "Hellgate" was named for a very good reason after all! If
I have made the correct assumptions I think Belphianor's party are in some
serious trouble. Vampires are one thing, a gateway to infernal regions with
unlimited demons is another league entirely.

Is "Invasion from Hell - Round 2" being set up for the big half millennium?

Maybe this is the time for Belph to use some of the 20th C gizmos he picked
up from New Orleans. Flash bombs, teargas, and especially hand grenades
would be usefull in collapsing a tunnel whilst escaping.

I must give my support to the new character Ys. He seems to have a cultured
personality, neigh even a stiff upper lip which tickles my fancy
considering that he's an 8 foot tall reptile. ;-) He comes across (to me
anyway) as an steriotyped Victorian gentleman. If the cave fighting turns
into a "Rawks Drift" massacre and fate has him marked then please let him
die heroically.

I liked the Peldor story and I hope he has many more adventures like it. I
wait anticipating the master thief raiding unbreakable vaults, stealing
stupendous wealth, escaping the leathalest traps. All just for the fun of
it too! Maybe it is time to feed Peldor a few ancient scraps of knowledge
pertaining to an increadable artifact lost in time. If a few clues are
acidentally discovered over 50 episodes or so, he could undertake an epic
quest across the world of Greyhawk. Just as you portrayed him at the awards
as Mr. Ford you could give him an Indianna style adventure which lasts
years. At each following up of the last clue to a ruin/monster/treasure
etc, and overcoming the danger he would just find the next tantalising
thread leading him ever onwards.

Maybe he could find several clues in totally irellivant places before he
puts 2 and 2 together and starts to search. An obsesive quest would do him
good (if you know what I mean) - "Only a Peldor can retrieve the Ebony
Steed of Krahsht". Then in a shock episode 666 (tacky but fun and with no
preceeding Peldor appearance for 20 episodes) he might find the object of
his journey but find that it was an artifact of demonic evil which he
releases upon the world. Then the adventurers would have to band together
once again to contain the trouble unleashed. Could this be the start of the
wars..?

As a piece of historical knowledge, the strap used by Otto is known by
17th-ish C sailors as a "Lanyard" or "Lainiard". It was used to stop one
from loosing their knife or pistol whilst working and fighting at sea.
Generally it was a cord arround the neck, but it evolved into a wrist strap
for fencing weapons like the foil too. Thus if you were disarmed the sword
would dangle conveniently at your wrist, and could be grasped in a split
second. I thought you might be interested... ;-)

Pete

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