Category: Niko’s Soap Box

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Dungeons & Dragons FF Campaign 04

Our team was ready. Akrasia, Mr. Tinkles and Squirt. We only had 3 players this time, but they were all rested up and decided to find out what was behind the door.

They tried knocking down the door again, till I reminded them that they had found a key. Sure enough the key turned the
lock and they had now entered the main chamber of the Temple of Fiends.

Once inside, Garland said “Saviors, you have come to this place for the last time!” Or, something like that. Garland then rushed them with his sword out. The saviors tried to dodge it but, they failed and took a hit.

This time the battle was a little different, we just had fun without worrying about moving and attacking. Instead Akrasia decided to grab Garland and try to drown him in the Holy Water. Does the Temple of Fiends have Holy Water? I don’t know, but it was interesting so I let it ride. There I decided that Garland would be hurt by this Holy Water, and smoke started coming out of his helmet. Mr. Tinkles decided to help Akrasia keep him down, and slowly his HP would start to decline.

Meanwhile Squirt being the giant that he was, kept trying to lift up the statues that were in the chamber, but to no avail. Even though he was a Giant, he never realized that the statues were as tall as the room, and he wouldn’t be able to lift them because they were holding up the ceiling.

Akrasia and Tinkles meanwhile kept Garland down. Princess Sara let out a scream, and Squirt went over to help her. After he freed her, Garland finally managed to lift his head above the water and pushed Akrasia, and Tinkles away.
They tried once again to drown Garland in the Holy Water, but they weren’t able to. They decided to fight. Squirt kept trying to steal Garland’s boots, but was never able to. Princess Sara cast Protect on the Saviors, and Tinkles cast Dia, and Akrasia would cast Fire. Garland was finally, defeated.

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Dungeons & Dragons FF Campaign 03

The Saviors went back inside the Temple of Fiends and decided to knock down the door again. This time we had an extra player, Charpokesquirt, a monk beast. He took Astra’s place this time because she was over at a friends house, but the campaign must go on.

They tried knocking down the door with Mr. Tinkles staff, but you know that wouldn’t work. Trippie Pink, tried to use her pick-locking skills, but that wasn’t working either. Garland was mocking them the whole time. And he accidentally told the Saviors that the Princess Sara was in there with him.

The Saviors decided to explore the temple, and they split up. Squirt went with Mr. Tinkles down the east hallway, and Akrasia went down the right hallway with Trippie Pink. Akrasia and Pink reached a door, and decided to go in. They found a couple of treasure chests and decided to open them. They found a potion and 150 gold pieces. As they exited the room they saw 2 skeletons walking through the hallway. They decided to hide and the skeletons just walked passed them.

Squirt and Mr. Tinkles, came upon a door on the other side. Mr. Tinkles decided to keep going down the hallway, while Squirt went into the door. Another 2 treasure chests. Squirt quickly opened them up and found a cap and a potion. Mr. Tinkles came across 2 skeletons, and hurried back to Squirt. Mr. Tinkles hid inside a treasure chest while Squirt rushed out.

Akrasia and Pink, headed down the hall again and once again came across another door, but they decided to pass that one and keep going down the hall. And found yet another door. This time they decided to go in and found 3 treasure chests. They opened the first 2 and found a shield and a tent. When they tried opening the 3rd one a werewolf jumped out from behind it. Akrasia and Pink decided to fight the werewolf to find out why he was guarding the chest.

Squirt ran out of the room, and saw he was cornered by 4 skeletons. He ran straight into them and started attacking. Mr. Tinkles decided he should stop hiding and help Squirt out. They quickly took them down, Using Holy Magic, and Pummeling Fists.

Meanwhile, Akrasia and Pink took down the werewolf with Fire spells and a sharp sword. They opened the chest and found a Key. Why would a key be hiding in a chest? They took the charred wolf with them, because it was almost lunch time as well. They met up with Squirt and Mr. Tinkles and decide to use the tent they found to get some rest before they enter the Main door inside the temple.

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Dungeons & Dragons FF Campaign 02

Last week’s game was a short one. Kids were tired and couldn’t hang as much as they would have liked. But, we still made an effort to move on, at least for a little.

Our “Saviors” had reached the Temple of Fiends. It was a stone shrine that looked like it was abandoned. As they reached the door, the sky darkened and dark clouds started gathering around the temple.

They had a bad feeling. They decided they shoud send in the meat shield … I mean Astra Atlantos in first, to take a look. She went in and all she could see was a dark hallway to the left and right of her, and a huge door right in front of her. There was a single candle lit that barely gave enough light to see anything. Astra grabbed the candle and looked around a bit. She didn’t see much of anything and thought that no one was in the temple. Astra tried to open the door, but it was locked.

She returned outside and the wind blew out the candle she was carrying. Astra told Akrasia, and Mr. Tinkles about what was inside. As they started to enter, Chocobo just sat down and did not want to enter the Temple. They tried to get Chocobo to come in with them, but he wouldn’t budge. Astra Atlantos decided that she would carry Chocobo inside

Once inside they decided that it would be best, if they set fire to the door, and then ram into it as it would get weaker as the flames ate away at the wood. Akrasia cast fire, but the door would not catch a flame. Astra decided that since she was a towering princess that it would just give away. So, she ran into the door shoulder first. Knocking Chocobo out cause she forgot to let him down.

There was a loud Bang heard as she hit the door. And then our “Saviors” started hearing foot steps. Now they were scared. As the footsteps were getting closer, they decided to run out of the temple and regroup.

Outside, they tried healing Chocobo, but nothing would work. They decided to leave him outside and venture back into the temple, by themselves.

Once inside, they saw four skeletons to the left and right of the door. They tried to charm their way into the temple, by asking for a room to stay. All four skeletons pointed to the door and just moaned. They tried once again, only to get the same reply.

Our party decided that they had to fight, and drew their weapons. The skeletons went down pretty easy. As Akrasia, cast fire, Mr. Tinkles cast Dia, and Astra just went head first knocking the skeletons out.

After defeating the skeletons, the party decided to step outside to regroup, once again.

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Dungeons & Dragons, Final Fantasy Themed Campaign

Finally, after a couple of years of getting Dungeons and Dragons, we finally got to play the game. I would be the Dungeon Master, because well, I wanted to. One of my daughters had been wanting to play the game for quite some time. And last Saturday we did.

I have been working on the story all week. Well not really, but it was brewing in my head. I knew that I wanted to include Final Fantasy lore into it. So I changed the classes into Fighter, Monk, Thief, Black Mage, White Mage and Red Mage. Sound Familiar? I was going to change the races, but decided against it. Changing Elves into Elezen seemed good, but changing Dwarves to Lalafel was a little too much.

We started our Journey in Cornelia. Yes, I would base my Campaign around Final Fantasy I. But I would make some changes. There are no Warriors of Light. Not yet, anyway. Our Adventurers were all at the local tavern. It was a busy place so they all ended up sitting together at the bar. Unbeknown (is that how you spell it?) to them that they would begin their journey. The bartender eyed them, and said “You look like you can handle yourselves.” and chuckled. Then he told them about the mercenary company “Rent-A-Savior”, and that they were hiring, if they needed to make some coin.

The Adventurers, agreed that they should at least go check it out. So off they went to Rent-A-Savior. Their they were welcomed in. And Miss Olga would be with them shortly. Here they started creating their characters. We started off with a Meat Shield … I mean Fighter, Astra Atlantos ANCB, the thief, Trippie Pink, Akrasia the Wandering Black Mage, and Mr. Tinkles our White Mage from Snowlap.

When they finished filling out their applications, they were directed to Miss Olga’s office. It was a makeshift office. One table and a bunch of fold-able chairs. Miss Olga was a brute, she was yelling at our adventurers and judging them from the get go. After she was done interviewing them, she had decided that they were not fit for her company. But, there was a knock at the door and she had been told that the King’s Guard was there to see her.

Our Adventurers were left alone. They were ready to escape, but there was no way out for them.

When Miss Olga had returned she informed them that due to unforeseen circumstances that she was forced to hire them. Just because all her “Saviors” were out far far away, and the King’s daughter, Princess Sarah had been kidnapped , by (you guessed it) the rogue knight Garland. So, she hired them on the spot and gave them their “Rent-A-Savior” badges.
She told them that as soon as they leave Cornelia, they should head North East, as Garland had taken shelter in the Temple of Fiends. She also gave them some gold to equip themselves with weapons and armor before they go.

The Adventurers, now called Saviors, headed to the weapon shop and bought themselves some weapons. They then headed to the Item shop, where they were shocked to find that a single Phoenix own cost 500 gold. As they exited the shop, Astra Atlantos, and Trippie Pink, thought they needed to have the Phoenix Down because of how expensive it was. So, they devised a plan to get it at whatever cost. Astra would try and get the Item Keeps attention while Pink would steal the item.
It didn’t go as planned as the Item Keep, caught them stealing and called for the guards. But, Astra and Pink charmed their way out of it. They were escorted out by the guards for their own safety and told them they should stay away from the Item Keep, because he was just a creepy old man.

Our Saviors headed out of the city and made their way towards the Temple of Fiends. On the way they found a chocobo being attacked by 4 goblins. It was a gruesome battle. Mostly, because we didn’t know what we were doing. And two of our Saviors got into it with each other and stormed off. In the end Akrasia and Mr. Tinkles had defeated the goblins and befriended the chocobo, which they named “Chocobo”. So, in the end they lost 2 allies, but gained another.

The Saviors reached the Temple of Fiends, and that is where our Campaign stopped for the evening.

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One in Every Pack

After the flea market trip, I stumbled upon the Final Fantasy TCG on accident. I had heard about it, but that was years before it released. And, that was a Japan Exclusive. Little did I know that years later it would be released world wide. It was a little after Opus VI released that I saw it at the Gamer’s World at the mall. We had just randomly walked in, and I noticed the booster boxes behind the shelf. Squall, Cloud and Firion were just staring at me.

I just did what any grown man would have done. I bought a whole bunch of Packs and couldn’t wait to get back home to examine all these wonderful packs that I had just gotten. I felt like a kid again. Only this time it wasn’t baseball cards. I don’t even know why I was collecting baseball cards as a kid. I never watched the game, and still to this day I can’t sit and watch a full game. Maybe a couple of innings, if it’s on tv. Or, the 9th inning if its a close game.

Anyways, back on track. Where was I? Ah, yes. I tried getting the family to hurry up on our shopping trip, but to no avail. We had to get the kids clothes, and stuff. Winter coats and the like. I was about to start pounding my feet as we walked from store to store, but I am an adult. Carrying a baby in my arms. It would have been a sight to see if I had started doing that.

But, after what felt like 4 years, 8 months, 13 days, 6 hours, 27 minutes and 14 seconds, it was time to leave. We had finished shopping and were on our way home. Luckily we live 5 minutes from the mall, and got home fast. But, that didn’t mean that we were done. We had to get the kids fed, bathed and put to sleep.

And then, it was finally time to inspect these cards. I grabbed all the packs I had gotten and sat on the couch, nope not on the couch, on the floor. Right in front of the coffee table. I placed all the packs in order, and began to crack these booster packs.

I was excited, after all these years of collecting baseball cards, and then basketball cards, I had finally found trading cards that I would love to collect. Thoughts raced through my head. How many cards are there? 6 Opuses. Is that the plural? Where can I find the rest of all these cards? They had Singles in the display cases. How much are the good cards going for?

Cracking the first pack, it’s all a haze right now, but I know I was hooked. Looking at each card. One by one. I didn’t know about the rarities. I read each card, looked at the picture, and went to the next card. And then I reached the foil card. I thought I got lucky. A rare foil card in my very first pack. And, Then another in the next pack. I must be really lucky! And another ONE!!!!

Then I realized, there’s one in every pack.