RPG tales: Encounter at El Dorado

Our heroes (from left to right) Vicar Bo the cleric, Batguy Bob the Black (African?) elven fighter, and  Bolbah, the half-orc fighter, were tasked by the mayor of the small town of El Dorado to be the temporary sheriff and deputies. ViBo was the sheriff, while Batguy Bob and Bolbah were the deputies. The caveat to their new posts is that they are to avoid contact with Carl Grissom and his gang.

While hanging out at El Dorado's only tavern-inn (where almost all of our adventures seem to begin), we heard a scream from the upper floors. Our heroes rushed up the stairs and found a girl running from an upstairs room, followed by an angry half-naked man who was shouting, "Come back here, wench!" The man was Junior Grissom, son of Grissom Gang leader Carl Grissom. Thinking himself as some kind of privileged noble, he demanded that the girl be given to him.

The girl was obviously afraid and hid behind Bolbah. So, ViBo and Batguy Bob (who will go with the initials BGB from here on) confronted Junior, arresting him for disturbance of the peace and attempted rape. Junior taunted our lawmen (and woman), "Don't you know who I am? I am Junior Grissom!" To which ViBo answered, "And we are the law in this town!"

Three Grissom goons faced off against Bolbah and BGB but were easily subdued. BGB went to assist ViBo in battling Junior, eventually killing him.

Things do not look good for our heroes.

News spread about the killing of Junior across El Dorado. Soon Carl Grissom himself came with fifty of his men and threatened retaliation for the killing of his son. Soon, some of the townsfolk began to leave El Dorado while some stayed, believing that someone should stand up to the Grissom Gang. Then 30-odd men came into town, supposedly to join up with the caravan that is to go through the town en route to the other realm. Looking to enlist some aid to fight against the impending Grissom attack, our heroes sought to meet with the said caravan. A boy named Little Timmy was deputized to keep the peace while they were away. What could go wrong?

Big mistake.

As our heroes are camped out for the night in an abandoned barn along the main road, Bolbah, who had the first watch, saw a red glow--as if something large is burning--on the horizon . . . in the direction of El Dorado!

Waking up the other two, Bolbah and the other heroes rode back to El Dorado with as much haste as they could. They reached the town by morning, finding it a burnt-out smoldering ruin. The mayor blamed the heroes for the destruction of the town. ViBo took responsibility and vowed to make amends. Seeing the dead body of Little Timmy, the heroes vowed to hunt down Grissom and his gang.

The heroes rode to the Grissom Gang's hideout--a cave across a small river beyond the forest. Grissom, anticipating such an attack, sent his swordsmen and archers to kill the adventurers. ViBo blessed the adventurers in the name of the Kyrios to aid them in the coming battle. ViBo and Bolbah then tried to hold back the swordsmen's advance with their bows, but they were too many. Eventually, the battle was joined in the forest.

After taking many wounds and depleting their healing potions, the valiant adventurers were able to take down Grissom's minions. Taking advantage of the respite, they healed themselves. Now they were ready to face Grissom himself!

BGB and Bolbah entered the cave first, taking advantage of their darkvision. Inside, they saw that the cave branched out into two caverns. The right cavern revealed an ogre crouching the dark. The left cavern is where Grissom is holed up in, taunting the heroes from beside a casket.

The three heroes now faced a dilemma. If they attacked the ogre, Grissom would attack them from behind. If they attacked Grissom, the ogre would pounce on them. If they split the party to attack both at the same time, they won't have the strength enough to defeat either one.

As they pondered this development, someone came, traveling through the forest...

Avila, the mercenary elven mage! Fortunately for the heroes, Avila was not quite herself (as the player who controlled her was not present during the gaming session) and thus she agreed to aid them without asking for anything in return.

The adventurers then entered the cave. The party attacked the ogre, with BGB and Bolbah spearheading the assault, ViBo providing support, while Avila covered their backs, ready to fire magic missiles. After a furious melee with the ogre, Bolbah, assisted by BGB and ViBo, pushed the ogre into a dark pit. The ogre fell screaming with murderous rage.

While all this was happening, Grissom made a sneaky sneak attack and stabbed Avila with a crystalline dagger before she had a chance to fire magic missiles. The dagger froze Avila into immobility.

The other heroes, seeing the dastardly act, turned on Grissom. BGB, with a telling blow, knocked Grissom out. But Grissom's number 1, a dwarven ranger named Jack, began shooting at the heroes. The dwarven ranger was decidedly difficult to hit. A fierce battle followed, till finally, Jack struck with deadly accuracy at Bolbah, mortally wounding her (zero hit points. Bolbah narrowly made her saving throw, thus she was just mortally wounded, not dead.) With concerted effort (and much mercy from the GM), ViBo touched Jack and caused a moderate wound, while BGB struck true, finally downing the ranger.

With the last of his mystical strength, ViBo unfreezed Avila, but she still has that dagger in her shoulder, which only Grissom or a high Cleric can take out. Looking at where Grissom lay, the heroes found Grissom missing. Traces on the ground suggest he was taken by someone.

The heroes returned to El Dorado, announcing their freedom from the Grissom Gang. They remained in El Dorado to see to the rebuilding of the town. ViBo, full of remorse for what he has done, determined to remain in El Dorado to help rebuild the lives of the town and to make sure that never again will such a threat come to the town for as long as he lives.


This game was played last 24 September 2011 using the Microlite system. Special thanks to Bryan San Miguel who had been a most gracious and handsome GM. Also to Robert Magnuson who provided the Lego minifigs to serve as our minis. Robert also took the pictures featured in this tale. Thanks also to Shirley Magnuson who, with husband Robert, provided the venue for the game and the yummy food with which we were sustained and with which we "bribed the GM with food." A thank you also goes out to my girlfriend Rita who, though absent, consented that we use Avila as a friendly NPC. We will quest to remove that dagger, dearest. I promise.