[Pathfinder] Wrath of the Righteous episode 2: Enemies In the Deep

March 13, 2016

Previously: The party had become separated from Aegronius while trying to find a way out of the caverns claimed by the unfriendly mongrelmen. They located Aegron tied to a table in a chamber.

Character level: 2nd

The chamber appeared to a be natural cavern. In the center stood a stone table, to which Aegron was bound. He appeared to be barely conscious. Some members of the group realized that there was something strange about Aegron and that their senses seemed less sharp here than usual.

At the end of the table, a figure crouched in an ornate chair. This person, who proved to be female, threatened the group and refused to release Aegron, even when Runa offered gold in exchange for safe passage. To demonstrate that she was not intimidated by this woman, Runa placed a blessing on her sword blade, which provoked the woman to fire her bow at Runa. Runa responded with a swing of her blade. Jiro jumped up on the table, and Uncle ran under a chair. The archer shot Runa a second time. Zosta leaped over the table, stepping on Aegron in the process, and realized when she did that there was no body there. She shouted angrily as she vaulted down and punched the archer. Asami sent a magic missile hurtling at the woman with the bow.

Jiro attempted to touch Aegron and he too discovered that there was actually nothing lying on the table. He called out, “What have you done with our friend?” The woman did not reply, instead shooting Runa again. Jiro tried to hit her with his morningstar but missed his aim. The woman then fired an arrow at him. Zosta then attempted to take the bow from the archer, but she failed. Asami took a scroll from her pack and produced another magic missile. The woman then collapsed. At the same moment, a door behind where she had fallen opened, revealing another woman standing in the opening in front of Zosta.

Through the open doorway, Zosta could see racks, tables, and two cages in the next cavern. The woman standing before her held a glaive in one hand, and a book in the other. The woman said, “You need to leave.” Behind her, Zosta observed that on two of the tables were dioramas of what appeared to be Kenabres and some wilderness terrain. Both dioramas suddenly seemed to dissolve into loose sand, which then disappeared.

Runa stepped closer, and the woman with the glaive sneered, “I’ll enjoy killing you.” The woman wore a symbol of Baphomet on her belt. Runa threatened to slay the archer. In response, the woman spoke a command word and a spiritual weapon appeared, a duplicate of the glaive she held. The glaive killed the fallen archer. Jiro announced with confidence, “There’s nothing you can do to stop us getting our friend,” but his words didn’t intimidate the woman. Jiro then took the opportunity to drink a curative potion, glancing through the open doorway as he did so. He could see that Aegron was imprisoned in one of the cages.

Zosta reached out and snatched the book out of the woman’s hand. The woman responded by saying, “You’ll pay for that!” Asami, who’s supply of prepared spells was rapidly depleting, went into the outer room to fetch Aravashniel, Anivia, and Horgus. While the led them into the cavern where the rest of the party were facing the woman, the woman’s spiritual weapon attacked Runa. Runa was now seriously injured, so she withdrew from the area, hurrying out of the room so that the spiritual weapon couldn’t follow her when she got of the woman’s sight. Jiro then stepped toward the woman, grabbed a ring of keys from her belt, and ran into the room where Aegron was imprisoned. At the same time, Zosta disarmed the woman of her glaive and flung the book away, where it was picked up by Uncle.

Asami borrowed Aravashniel’s wand of false life and used it to cast the spell on the wounded Runa, enabling her to return to the fight with the follower of Baphomet after she also drank a healing potion. The woman tried to command Zosta, but Zosta resisted her spell. Jiro ran across the room containing the cages and gave the keys to Aegron, who was in much better health than his illusory duplicate had appeared. Aegron then unlocked his cage and emerged. Zosta tried to pummel the woman but her blows failed to connect, Anivia fired arrows, but due to the number of people in the way she was also unable to strike her target. Asami used her last scroll of magic missile against the woman. The woman drew a dagger and attacked Zosta.

Jiro moved around behind the woman to flank with Zosta. The woman put her hand on the glaive that Zosta now held and spoke the command word again, producing another spiritual weapon, but also allowing Zosta to learn the word. She pulled the glaive out of Zosta’s grasp and backed into the room with the cages. Aegron struck at her with a battleaxe, and Runa moved in to attack. Uncle also followed them into the room, ostentatiously holding the book up and ripping out a page. But Zosta could see from her vantage that the monkey was actually tearing an exhausted spell scroll. Zosta followed the woman and once again snatched her glaive away from her, while Asami attempted to harm her with a ray of frost that went wide. The woman then commanded Zosta again, this time successfully, causing Zosta to flee the room, but Zosta carried the glaive with her when she ran.

Inside the cage room, the woman drank a potion. Runa swung her sword, but as she did the woman disappeared. Asami entered the room and warned her companions to be quiet in case the potion had been one of invisibility. No one heard anything, so Asami and Runa began swinging their weapons through the air hoping to make contact with the woman, though they had no success.

Aegron found that the occupant of the other cage was still alive, barely, and released him. Jiro suggested that Aravashniel summon an earth elemental that could sense the positions of any creatures nearby, but unfortunately no one in the group could speak the language of earth creatures. Jiro was still able to make himself understood by the creature, which pointed toward the outer area from which the party had entered the room with the stone table. Then Zosta heard the woman’s voice curse her and everyone heard rapid footsteps. Somehow the woman had been able to creep past everyone searching for her and she now ran out of the cavern toward the rope ladder leading up.

Everyone ran after her, but they were unable to catch her before she could ascend the ladder. Jiro then decided to tie a pot and spoon to the ladder to act as an alarm in the event she returned. To Zosta’s surprise, a compartment suddenly opened up on the glaive shaft and ejected a wand. That explained how the woman had been able to cast spiritual weapon from her glaive. Asami examined the wand and determined that it still contained seven charges of the spell.

Aegron learned that the other prisoner’s name was Garvin, and that he was a veteran of the crusades. He estimated he had been a prisoner in the cavern for a week. The followers of Baphomet had kidnapped him and questioned him about the locations of various things in Kenabres. The party members told him what had happened in Kenabres a few days earlier, including the apparent death of Telendrev. They also searched the dead archer, finding two potions of cure light wounds, a wand of longstrider with 10 charges, a masterwork shirt of chainmail, and a masterwork longbow. Asami also appraised the woman’s book, which Uncle had not damaged. It was a jeweled book of prayers to Baphomet worth 50 gold pieces.

After determing there was nothing else of use or value in the rooms where they had fought the woman, the group went on to explore another side room. This one held a desk, chair, and fur-covered bed, as well as an iron lockbox. The lockbox key was on the ring of keys Jiro had appropriated. Within the box they found a leather pouch containing an assortment of gems, a scroll case holding two scrolls, and a golden longsword that radiated magic. When Runa attempted to examine the sword to determine its properties, she suddenly fainted.

Her companions were startled and confused by her sudden collapse, but Asami assumed she had merely been overwhelmed by strong magic, and she began to examine the sword herself. Her mind was suddenly filled with information: this blade was Radiance, the legendary sword of the great demon-slayer Yaniel. It had been held in the Gray Garrison, but had recently been stolen by the Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth. The followers of Baphomet had likely intended to corrupt it for their use. Its powers had gone dormant after Yaniel’s assassination, but it was still a powerful blade of cold iron. The experience left Asami with a headache.

When Runa revived a few minutes later, she was able to glean some of the same information from the sword. As Runa was a follower of Iomedae like Yaniel, her companions encouraged her to take the sword, though it lacked a scabbard and would be awkward to carry. They looked through the papers they found in the desk and were rewarded with a bounty of information. One report told the woman, Hosilla, to go to three safehouses in Kenabres: Nyserian Manor, Topaz Solutions, and the Tower of Estrod. Horgus recognized the signature on the missive as that of Staunton Vhane, the traitorous warden of Drezen, who had been exposed by Anivia’s wife, Irabeth. He knew that Vhane had tried to make arrangements to buy Irabeth’s sword, presumably after having Irabeth killed. It now seemed urgent for the group to reach the surface and warn the temple of Iomedae of the infiltrators in the city as well as to warn Irabeth.

They climbed up out of the caverns safely, finding no sign of Hosilla. Next they opened another door they had bypassed earlier, finding beyond it a cavern filled with shelves of preserved creatures such as dire rats, and two unoccupied bedrolls. They also found an iron ladder leading downward and another door. When Aegron listened at the door he heard the sound of running water. He opened the door, which was unlocked. It led into a hallway into darkness. Jiro peered into the passage and spotted an open shaft with a knotted rope hanging down into it.

While the rest of the group waited at the top of the shaft, Aegron, Jiro, and Zosta descended the rope. Aegron noticed something peculiar across the pool of moving water that lay at the bottom of the shaft. The three of them waded into the water to investigate, and Aegron was suddenly bitten by an albino cave gar. He and Zosta quickly killed it, as well as a second gar that swam up to them. Aegron and Jiro then entered a cave beyond the pool, which held an old, dusty chest. As Aegron started to approach the chest he realized that there was a trap in the floor and managed to jump out of the way, but Jiro was too slow and fell into a pit, wounding his leg on one of the spikes set into the bottom. After Aegron helped him back out, they opened the chest. Within it they found 250 gold pieces, a wooden shield, a twine ring of climbing, two potions of darkvision, a scroll of identify, and a scroll of magic fang. All of the magic items were examined by Asami.

Having found no exit near the pool, the group members realized they would have to descend the iron ladder.

Loot acquired:

2 potions of cure light wounds

Wand of longstrider, 10 charges

Masterwork chain shirt

Masterwork longbow (given to Aegron)

Wand of spiritual weapon. 7 charges (given to Jiro)

Gems: 3 lapis lazuli chips, 10 gp each; 2 bloodstones, 50 gp each; Citrine 50 gp; Pearl 100 gp

Scroll of bear’s endurance

Scroll of remove disease

Radiance - +1 cold iron longsword (given to Runa)

250 gp

+1 wooden shield

Ring of climbing

2 potions of darkvision

Scroll of identify

Scroll of magic fang

Next: Episode 3, Escape From Below

[Pathfinder] Wrath of the Righteous episode 1: Fallen Into Darkness

Introduction: A couple of years ago, one of my gaming friends decided to start running the Pathfinder Adventure Path Wrath of the Righteous. For those who don't know what an Adventure Path is, it's the same kind of thing as an old-school D&D module. It sets out an overarching plot and various events and encounters, and the players choose how to respond to those.

Wrath of the Righteous pits the player-characters against demons that are trying to open a doorway into the Material Plane. For centuries armies have fought against the demon hordes attempting to invade the world, defending a spot known as the Worldwound where the barrier between the Abyss and the Material Plane is weak. Wrath of the Righteous is set in Pathfinder's default world of Golarion.

Unfortunately after we'd played only four or five sessions, the vicissitudes of life intervened and we had to put the game on indefinite hiatus. A few weeks ago my friend who is GMing this campaign finally felt he was ready to resume. Unfortunately in the intervening time period I misplaced my notes, so the information I have about what happened during those initial sessions is pretty minimal. But I thought I'd start blogging my summaries of our sessions, beginning with a brief recap of how the campaign began.

Note: Most of the players are using 'hybrid' classes from the Pathfinder Advanced Class Guide, with the exception of Asami.

Player Characters:

Aegronius - male half-elf slayer 
Asamiel - female elf wizard (me)
Frairuna - female half-orc warpriest of Iomedae (played by my spouse)
Jiro - male human shaman
Zosta - female human brawler
Bohgong - Jiro's spirit animal, a white monkey also known as Uncle
Kirara - Asami's familiar, a white cat

Asami and Jiro come from Tian Xia, Golarion's Asia-equivalent region, where Asami hails from the Japanese-inspired elven nation of Jinin. Jiro comes from the nation of Minkai, which is also Japanese-inspired. Jiro, who had been a gardener for a noble family, discovered that he was actually a bastard son of said family, and that it was his destiny to go to the far-away Worldwound to prevent the oni from using it to emerge into the world. Asami was sent by the Council of the Golden Flame to accompany him and look after him. The Council believed that the Westerners of Avistan didn't know enough about oni and that only the Council's expertise as exemplified by Asami would be enough to save the world from a joint demon-oni invasion.

Runa was sent by her goddess, Iomedae, to join the fight against the demons. Zosta had gone to the city of Kenabres near the Worldwound to visit her parents, who were the bodyguards of a barbarian priestess named Cennami who was also engaged in fighting alongside the Crusaders against the demons. Aegronius and his companion Darra came seeking work with the Crusade. 

Worldwound map

The five companions met on arriving in Kenabres where Cennami took charge of them and began their training in fighting demons. This training included sparring with Zosta's adopted brother Rhino, a redeemed demon who now worked alongside Cennami and the other barbarians to support the Crusaders.

Kenabres

After the group had been in Kenabres for a short while, they attended a festival in the city. As the city's leader Lord Hulruun delivered a speech, the crowd suddenly saw a demon lord appear, locked in battle with Terendelev, the silver dragon who acted as the protector of Kenabres. Then a deep chasm opened up in the earth and the five newcomers plummeted into it. As they fell, they saw Terendelev suffer a mortal wound. But before they could plunge to their deaths, the dragon cast a feather fall spell on them all. This didn't prevent them from being knocked unconscious by the long drop, but it did save their lives.

Terendelev in battle

After they recovered consciousness, the group began seeking a way to get back to the surface. But first they each found a single scale shed by Terendelev. These scales would grant them several different magical powers when used. 

Dragon scale

After discovering the scales, they began exploring the tunnels in which they had landed and found that other people had also fallen through the crevice that opened in Kenabres as well: Anevia, a human woman who had suffered a broken leg in the fall; Aravashnial, an elf Riftwarden (the protectors of the Worldwound) who had been blinded by the demon that attacked Terendelev; and Horgus Gwerm, a nobleman scholar. These three joined forces with the five player-characters and continued the search for a way back up to Kenabres. 

Anevia Tirabade

Aravashnial

Horgus Gwerm

They stumbled upon a site where someone had camped, but found no sign of the campsite's original occupant other than an emblem in the shape of a bat, which Runa picked up. They also had an encounter with a dwarf who seemed to have lost his mind and who attacked them, forcing them to kill him. This left them in possession of a spellbook and several scrolls, which Asami took charge of.

And that gets us up to the point at which we resumed the campaign.

February 7, 2016 restart

The party of people who had fallen into the subterranean caverns beneath Kenabres were obliged to climb up a shaft into a very large cavern, which had stone arches that reminded them of a temple. The floor of the cavern was cracked, and there was a tall stone tower that had collapsed. Runa caught a glimpse of something near the rubble of the fallen tower, which turned out to be one of the Mongrelfolk who lived beneath the city. 

Mongrelfolk

When the group from the surface approached the Mongrelfolk person, who introduced himself as Lann, he told them that his companion had become trapped under some rocks that shifted when the tower fell. After Jiro allayed his fears a little, the group members combined their strength to lift the rocks and freed Lann’s companion Crel, who like Anevia had suffered a broken leg. Lann explained that the fallen tower was a watchtower, and that he and and Crel and their mute companion Dyra had been on watch when it collapsed. Lann told the group from the surface that he knew a way to get back to the surface, but it would require first going to the Mongrelfolk city. He agreed to show them the way.

The enlarged group eventually came upon a broad chasm which they must cross to reach the Mongrelfolk city. Aegron strung ropes across it, but despite the ropes Runa fell in, overburdened by her heavy armor and weapons and her own large size. Aegron had to pull her out after she removed her armor and weapons and sent them out separately. The group formed a cradle of ropes to carry across the injured Anevia and Krell and the blind Aravashnial.

The party next encountered a circular cavern, which Lann warned was inhabited by ‘spore coughers’, a kind of fungus that would attack anyone who entered the cavern. He advised that the fungus creatures disliked fire. The group spotted two bodies in the cavern, wearing the robes of priests of Iomedae. Jiro crept up to examine them and found that both were dead. The fungus was dead too, but it didn’t appear that the two priests had been slain by the fungus. Both men bore wounds caused by weapons. Aegron noticed that one of the men had a small brass bull’s head with red gemstone eyes clutched in his hand. Several of the other members of the group recognized this object as an unholy symbol of the demon lord Baphomet, and Runa realized that the men weren’t carrying the traditional longswords of priests of Iomedae. Instead they carried glaives, the holy weapons of Baphomet. They must be imposters.

"Spore cougher"

Vestments of Iomedae clerics

Glaive

Lann told the group that he and his people had seen many other men like these in the caverns recently. The bodies were searched, revealing a curative potion and a scroll of a spell that could be used to cause fear in the spell's target. The group decided to make a litter from the glaives to carry one of the corpses with them so that when they returned to the surface they could show the priests of Iomedae that there might be infiltrators in their midst.

Suddenly three men also wearing the garb of Ioemedae’s priesthood appeared on the other side of the cavern, wielding bows. Two of them shot Asami and she collapsed. Runa extended Iomedae's blessing to the group, and Aegron rushed up to meet the three enemies. Jiro cast a curative spell on Asami, who was on the verge of death. Runa charged the assailants. Zosta also moved forward, facing a man who dropped his bow and revealed spiked gauntlets. Aravashnial summoned a large lizard and commanded it to attack the archers, as he couldn’t see what was happening and didn’t realize that the newly recovered Asami was about to fire her bow at their foes.

Asami abandoned using her bow and sent a missile of magical force at the man in front of Zosta, who fell. The other two archers fired their bows but missed their targets. Jiro followed the example of his companions and rushed forward, but he also failed to connect. Aegron knocked down another of the enemies. Jiro, Zosta, and the lizard attacked the remaining man and overcame him. Runa then suggested that the one living man be taken prisoner and taken to the surface instead of as a corpse. The group members took two healing potions and a quantity of arrows from the bodies of the fallen Baphomet cultists.

Lann then guided them to an enormous cavern with a lake in the center, where the Mongrelfolk city of Neathholm sat on an island in the midst of the water. They were carried to the island on rafts assembled of various salvaged materials. Runa had earlier found a bat symbol at an apparently abandoned campsite the group found after they fell into the chasm. This bat symbol turned out to have belonged to the son of the Mongrelfolk chief, who had left after a disagreement with his father. 

Though Chief Sull was initially insulted by some condescending things Aravashnial said about the subterranean folk, Asami shushed Aravashnial and the other members of the group managed to be more diplomatic. The chief agreed to help in the fight against the demons after he was told what had happened in Kenabres. He gifted the party members a bandolier containing six potions for healing wounds and three potions of that could remove debilitating conditions. He also presented them with a morningstar. In addition they had acquired five chain shirts from the imposter priests, though few of the group could actually make use of such armor.

After their meeting with the chief, the group planned to join the Mongrelfolk in an attack on the false priests’ underground camp. Chief Sull had explained that the only route back to the surface he knew of passed directly through territory held by the cultists.

Loot:
Spellbook: all cantrips, color spray, mage armor, magic missile, grease, detect secret doors, blur, levitate, fog cloud, invisibility, resist energy, shocking grasp, silent image
Scroll of cause fear
Unholy symbol of Baphomet
Two glaives
Five chain shirts
Six potions of cure light wounds
Three potions of lesser restoration
Morningstar
42 arrows

February 28, 2016

Previously: Chief Sull, leader of the mongrelfolk, had told the party that the route back to the surface led through territory held by some bad mongrelfolk. He also told them that the priests of Baphomet had already been present in the caverns prior to the attack on Kenabres.

The group from Kenabres sold some of the items to the mongrelfolk that they had acquired in fighting the Baphomet priests and the mad dwarf. They each gained 116 gold coins from this transaction.

The mongrelfolk village had no inn, so that night the group stayed in a communal space. During their relaxation time, Aravanshial permitted Asami to copy a spell that could create an arrow of acid from his spellbook into her own. That evening while Runa took the third watch, she was bitten by a spider. In the morning as they were preparing to leave, Jiro spotted a spirit, which Zosta refused to believe was real.

Lann escorted the party out of his village. He didn’t personally know the way to the surface, but knew the correct direction to travel. Shortly after leaving the village on the lake they entered a narrow passageway, only wide enough for them to walk in single file. They could see the marks of chisels on its walls. Suddenly Lan spotted something blocking the crevice. A wooden barricade about five feet high had been built where the passage widened. There was one sentry visible behind the barrier.

Runa took the lead in speaking to the sentry, who demanded that she go forward alone. Aegron and Zosta also moved forward to be a little closer to her, but only Runa approached the barrier. The sentry appeared to be talking to someone else and stalling for time. They heard some type of alarm given as someone shouted from behind the barricade. Runa tried to convince the guard to let her pass by showing the Baphomet holy symbol she carried and taking on an imperious tone, but the mongrelfolk sentry didn’t appear to be convinced, so she ran around the barrier to attack him. Aegron also threw a javelin at him but missed.

A second mongrelfolk appeared behind the barricade to attack Runa. Jiro ran forward to join his companions in attacking the barricade guards. Zosta leaped over the wall and kicked the sentry. Asami ran forward, leaving Aravashnial, Anevia, and Horgus behind. She paused to cast a spell on herself that cloaked her in arcane armor before approaching the barrier. The wall sentry could be heard shouting, “Help! Faster!” to someone else.

Two more mongrelfolk emerged from a door behind the barricade and attacked Runa, seriously injuring her. She had to drink a potion to heal her wounds. Zosta hit the wall sentry and he collapsed. Asami ran around the barrier and hurled her wooden spear at one of the mongrelfolk, showering him with splinters that left tiny bleeding wounds. Jiro was fighting another of the mongrelfolk using the morningstar Chief Sull had gifted to the group, while protecting himself from a second foe with a shield of stone he had conjured. Jiro smashed his opponent with his morningstar. The mongrelfolk who had hit Runa fled. Aegron pursued him, but wasn’t able to hit him. Asami threw her spear at one of Jiro’s foes but missed. The fleeing mongrelfolk ran through the door and shut it behind him. One of the remaining enemies struck Jiro a dire blow, but Jiro hit back with equal force and killed his opponent.

Aegron opened the door and found the mongrelfolk he’d been chasing lying just beyond it, collapsed from the wounds he’d suffered. The last mongrelfolk behind the barrier fell after Asami directed a ray of bitter cold at him. The group then passed through the doorway. There they found three rooms, one of them set up as a bunk room. A large lizard charged Aegron and bit him, then held on. Asami and Zosta attacked it to get it to release Aegron. After it died Jiro realized that its bite was poisonous.

There was no one else in the other rooms, and Asami determined that they contained nothing magical. The group went on through a door leading out of the bunk room. As Zosta opened the door, someone shot her twice with a crossbow, and she saw a dark figure apparently disappear into the floor. Runa went into the room first, finding no one, and located another door in a corner. Aegron found that the attacker had descended a rope ladder that led down from the room’s other far corner. He descended the ladder, while Runa opened the door.

The door Runa had opened led to a downward sloping ramp and a heap of garbage, apparently serving as the mongrelfolk's trash midden. Runa slipped and slid down the ramp into the rubbish, where she discovered that garbage wasn’t the only thing at the bottom of the ramp. Something hidden under the refuse grabbed her and burned her with acid. Zosta pulled a rope out of her pack, and Asami cast a spell on the rope to allow her to direct its movement from the doorway to pull Runa away from the creature, which Jiro identified as a giant amoeba. When Asami, Jiro, and Zosta all hauled on the rope together, they were able to drag Runa away from the amoeba’s grasp.

Meanwhile Aegron had found more mongrelfolk at the bottom of the ladder, too many for him to handle on his own. He was shot several times and collapsed, unconscious. By the time Jiro looked down the ladder, he saw only bloodstains on the floor below but no sign of Aegron. He climbed down the ladder to find another barrier similar to the one they had encountered in the crevice outside. Runa then descended the ladder but her heavy armor caused her to lose her grip and fall. She landed prone at the bottom, swearing loudly, which alerted the mongrelfolk that more people had entered the chamber. A second battle ensued. Aravashniel summoned a monitor lizard from Elysium to help the group battle the mongrelfolk.

The last surviving mongrelfolk pleaded for mercy and said he would tell them where Aegron was. Jiro approached the door beyond the barricade and heard labored breathing coming from the other side. The mongrelfolk told them that Aegron was on the other side of that door. He also told them that the leader of the mongrelfolk was a human woman named Osilla, who had slain their previous leader. Jiro opened the door to see Aegron lying on a table, and yet more doorways leading out of the room.

Next: Episode 2, Enemies In the Deep

Adventures in Skyrim #2

From the memoirs of Nelyth Othrelas:

I have suceeded in winning the favor of Meridia. That is an accomplishment I shall long treasure.

As Meridia commanded, I took the orb to her temple at Kilkreath near Solitude. As I placed it at the base of her statue, a brilliant light suddenly robbed me of my sight for a moment. When I could see again I found myself hovering high above the land, looking down as if from the clouds. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. Meridia told me that a necromancer named Malkoran had defiled her temple, and she wished me to take upon myself the task of slaying him and freeing her temple of his corruption by re-lighting her beacon. It is difficult to refuse a Daedric Prince anything, especially when one is floating helpless in the sky. But I would have agreed even if Meridia had not made her request under such circumstances.

After I agreed I saw the blinding glare again and found myself once more standing beside her statue with Talvas. We then entered the temple, where we found it infested with corrupted shades and littered with desecrated corpses, which were presumably both the source of the shades and of the desecration of the temple. Curiously the people who had been slaughtered there all appeared to have been carrying substantial quantities of coin. The temple interior was also littered with other treasures that I felt no shame in taking as recompense for my labors.

Talvas and I worked our way through the temple and the catacombs beneath it, lighting the beacons along the way and following their lights to the next beacon to be activated. At last we came to Malkoran, who proved a challenge to slay, for even when he fell he rose again as an especially powerful shade. But we prevailed at last, and I was rewarded by Meridia with possession of a most effective blade called Dawnbreaker. I also found near the temple a wall inscribed with a word of the dragon tongue to add to my collection.

Once we had achieved this, I felt confident that retrieving Nettlebane from the hagraven would not be beyond our power. We made our way to the spot where the priestess of Kynareth had told me to find the hagraven at Orphan Rock. There I found Talvas' presence invaluable, for he and his atronach disposed of the hagraven and her hag servants with little help from me.

We returned to Whiterun with the blade and sought out the priestess Danica Pure-Spring to find out what to do with it. She was reluctant to take it herself, and asked me to go to Eldergleam Sanctuary to obtain the sap of the great tree Eldergleam, which she believed could be used to revive the sacred tree outside the temple in Whiterun. As I was about to depart on this mission, a man called Maurice Jondrelle approached and asked to accompany us to the sanctuary. I agreed, and we set off together to find it.

Just as we arrived at Eldergleam Sanctuary, I heard the roar of a dragon from the sky. I met it near the sanctuary amid a hot spring and swiftly claimed its soul. Then the three of us descended into the underground sanctuary. Despite its subterranean location, the sanctuary is lush with plant life, especially the sacred tree Eldergleam. A pilgrim named Asta explained that the tree's enormous roots blocked any approach to the tree itself. I realized that only the touch of Nettlebane would make the roots part. But once I plied the blade against the roots, Jondrelle objected, asking that instead of taking the tree's sap with the blade, I permit him to pray to the tree for a sapling. I saw that injuring the sacred tree to save the life of another tree seemed wrong and agreed to his plan.

After Jondrelle entreated Eldergleam, it presented us with a small sapling, which Talvas and I took back to Whiterun to the temple while Jondrelle chose to remain at the sanctuary. At first Danica Pure-Spring was dismayed that I had not brought the sap as she requested, but when I told her what Maurice Jondrelle had said, she also saw that the sapling was good and was willing to plant it. I hope that it will grow quickly. I have been allowed to keep Nettlebane, but I think I will use Dawnbreaker, for it is indeed a fine and enchanted sword.

Now that I have cleansed Meridia's temple and brought the new sapling to Kynareth's temple, I wonder if I should return to Solstheim to find out more about the mysterious Miraak who apparently causes the people of Raven Rock to stray from their homes at night and build curious structures. I have already seen the effect of this disturbing compulsion, for while I visited the island I myself experienced it. This cannot be a good thing. Only a creature of evil would enslave people so and rob them of their rest.

I have reason to believe that this Miraak is also behind the cultists who have more than once attacked me without cause in Skyrim. On one of them I found a note proclaiming that I am a false Dragonborn and must die. This gives me even more reason to want to know who Miraak is and what he is doing.

Honest Pay for Honest Work

Earlier today I read this opinion piece about earning power today compared to earning power during the baby boomer years, and it made me think. Here are my thoughts.

When I was growing up during the 1960s and '70s, my father was the only breadwinner. My mother was a homemaker. On my father's single salary, my parents were able to purchase a lot and build a house on it. They owned two cars, not brand new luxury cars, but still two reasonably good vehicles. When my father died my mother got a job that allowed her to keep the house and keep my sister and I clothed and fed and supplied with whatever we needed for school. We went on vacations every summer. When I got my driving license she bought me a car - not a new one, but my own car. She sent me to Europe for two weeks as a graduation present when I graduated from high school. When my sister was old enough to drive she got her own car as well.

Because my father had died I was eligible for Social Security benefits, which helped with my college tuition. I also received a Pell Grant. That took care of tuition, and my mother took care of my living expenses while I attended a small university a short distance from my home town. When my sister went to college she attended a private university that was more expensive, but my mother managed that, too. When my mother passed away in the '80s, she left a substantial sum of money to my sister and I. I used my inheritance to pay out-of-state tuition at the university where I decided to go to graduate school.

My job with my employer is considered 'exempt', which means that my employer is exempt from paying me overtime if I work more than 40 hours per week. That means that I can work 18 hours a day and still make no more than what I would earn for 8 hours. I am supposed to be able to receive enough salary that I wouldn't need overtime pay. In reality I don't earn enough money to do what my father did. I couldn't afford to buy a house in today's economy, at least not without putting myself in debt for the next 30 years and struggling to pay my other bills. I can only afford to take trips to places I can drive to, because air fare is too costly. My employer gives me four weeks of paid vacation time annually, but I typically only use it for 3-day weekends or to extend holidays, because I can't afford to take a trip out of state and stay in a hotel every day for a week or more like my family did during my childhood vacations. My husband and I have one car. We couldn't afford to insure two vehicles. We don't have children, and I don't know how my coworkers who do manage to make ends meet.

I do have some extra expenses that my parents didn't have, such as cell phone and cable tv bills, but I don't think those are so much that I should be unable to do what my parents did. But when I was a child hotel rooms for four people cost $60 a night at most. Meals for an entire family didn't cost as much as $20. Gas for the car cost less than a dollar a gallon. Health insurance cost less. Electricity and water bills cost less. Houses were less expensive, so mortgage payments were lower. When we sold my parents' 3-bedroom 2 bath house back in the '80s, it was worth less than $50,000.

I know that inflation happens, and that the cost of living is higher where I live now than where I grew up. But it's disheartening to think that here I am, 55 years old, working for my employer for 20 years, and I have so little to show for it. I'm fortunate to have a pension; people who were hired a year or two after me didn't get one. But if inflation continues at the same rate it's currently at by the time I'm old enough to retire, my pension won't do much for me. I probably won't be able to afford to live as I live now. I might have to move into a tiny studio apartment and give up my car just to retire. And my husband, who only works part-time, doesn't have a pension, or any kind of retirement savings. He doesn't earn enough to pay bills and still set something aside for the future. Even though his job is hourly-paid, he's not eligible for overtime, either. If he works 40 hours in a week he doesn't get anything beyond his usual wage, even though he's worked twice as much as he normally does. If he retires he'll have to live on my retirement income. And my employer stopped offering health insurance for employees who retire, so we'll have to figure out how to shoulder the burden of our own healthcare when we're not working anymore. If healthcare costs keep skyrocketing, most of our income will go for insurance premiums and medication. That's not much of a retirement to look forward to.

I'm far from the only person in this boat. I don't know what the solution is, but I do know that in another 20 years or so there are going to be a lot of retired baby boomers like me who need affordable housing and healthcare and something to do with their time besides watch tv all day. And in another 20 years after that the next generation will need the same thing, only they'll all still be paying off their mortgages and student loans if we don't find a way to make those things less costly.

Adventures in Skyrim, part 1

A couple of months ago I restarted playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Back when I first got the game, I tried to blog my adventures, but eventually I stopped playing. I've decided to give it another go this time, but rather than blog each session, I'll summarize. 

I'm playing a Dunmer (dark elf), initially concentrating on archery, but now starting to pursue Destruction magic. As of this writing, my character is 16th level and has become a thane of Whiterun, as well as claiming the title of Dragonborn.

The Memoirs of Nelyth Othrelas

Part 1:

It is difficult to believe that many weeks have passed since my adventures first began. Yet at the same time it feels as though years have passed, for in those weeks I have experienced so much.

Let me begin at the beginning. Not my own beginning, which is of little consequence to my story – or perhaps not. Perhaps none of this would have happened had I not chosen to leave Solstheim to visit Skyrim. Certainly I would not have been arrested and sentenced to death as a rebel. I still do not know how that occurred, for I cannot recall what happened to me before I woke in the back of a wagon on the way to Helgen. I must have been struck on the head, or perhaps afflicted by magic. I have found no one to ask. Those who were with me in the prisoner wagon must not have been present when I was taken captive. They did not seem to know me. It came as a surprise to find myself in a wagon with the rebel leader, Ulfric Stormcloak. Even when he could not speak I found him unpleasant to be near. He is not a leader I would have chosen to follow.

Whatever the reason, the Imperial soldiers had deemed me a rebel, too, and they meant to execute us all. There was no trial, no pleading our case before any magistrate. One moment I was in the wagon, my head still thick from whatever robbed me of my senses, the next I was giving my name to a soldier just before I was made to kneel at the headsman’s block.

What rescued me, you may wonder – a sudden reprieve given by an Imperial official? An attack by rebels rescuing their leader? No, my salvation came from a source I could never have looked for. Until that day I believed, like the Nords, that dragons no longer existed. But it was a dragon that saved me. The soldiers and the headsman died or fled. I was able to gain my feet and seek shelter in a nearby stone tower as the dragon breathed flame at Helgen. When I climbed to the second floor too look out, I was nearly burned myself. Once the dragon moved away I leaped from the window to the roof of a nearby house to make my escape.

I met the one Imperial soldier who had shown me a tiny amount of kindness, and he helped me find my way out of Helgen. He even permitted me to take weapons and armor from the stores of the Imperial troops. We had to fight off a few Stormcloak prisoners who had escaped their cells, as well as a bear who had decided to take refuge in the caverns below the town. Eventually we escaped the caverns and emerged on the road leading to the town of Riverwood, where the soldier who had helped me told me we could seek aid from his uncle the smith.

In Riverwood the smith showed me much kindness, giving me leave to take clothing and food from his household and allowing me to sleep there as well. He has even given me training in smithcraft. Once I had recovered from my experiences at Helgen, I set about finding a way to earn some gold to carry me back to Solstheim. The soldier who had helped me suggested I join the Imperial army, but was not surprised that I found that suggestion distasteful. I have no desire to join the ranks of either the Imperial army or the Stormcloaks. His uncle the smith also recommended that I visit the city of Whiterun to tell the Jarl there what had befallen Helgen. The soldier had to return to the army. Before leaving for Whiterun, I made the acquaintance of some of the people of Riverwood, including the local trader and his sister. The trader asked me to pursue thieves to a nearby ancient barrow to recover an item that had been taken from his shop. I agreed, but decided that I would go to Whiterun first.

In Whiterun I was welcomed by the Jarl, though his steward was less friendly. After I had spoken with them I met the Jarl’s court wizard, who asked if I would be willing to seek out a tome on dragons he wished to acquire. Curiously this book could be found at the same ancient barrow where the Riverwood trader’s stolen golden claw had been taken, though the wizard would not say how he knew the book was there. As I now had two reasons to go to that barrow, I set off to recover both the golden claw and the book.

Vanquishing the bandits who had occupied the antechamber of the barrow was no great feat. It was simple to creep up on them unseen and dispatch them with a few arrows. As I explored further I found more difficult challenges, not only draugr but also dangerous traps. I discovered that in order to access the book I must first recover the golden claw, for it acted as a key to open the chamber where the book lay.

Once I had both items in hand, I returned to Whiterun to give the book to the wizard. While I was there, a second dragon – or perhaps the same one as Helgen, I cannot say – attacked the watchtower outside the city. I went with the Jarl’s guards to combat it. It was not my responsibility alone to slay it, but when it died a startling thing happened: some energy flowed from its body into mine! I could not explain it, but the Nords immediately proclaimed me Dragonborn.

When I returned to the city, I heard a strange voice calling out as if from a very great distance. After I went to the Jarl’s palace again he told me that the voice I had heard was the call of the Greybeards of High Hrothgar, calling the Dragonborn to come to them. The Jarl also made me a Thane of his lands, granting me the right to purchase a home in Whiterun and assigning me a housecarl to serve me. Lydia has become my faithful companion and protector since that day.

I did not go at once to High Hrothgar to meet the Greybeards. I heard that trolls are often seen in the mountains, and though High Hrothgar does not lie far from Whiterun it is on the other side of the mountains and there is no pass. Instead I sought to earn more gold, with a thought to purchasing a house in Whiterun. Before that day I would never have thought of doing such a thing. I have since slain many of the bandits who now infest the lands while other men are away fighting in the interminable war between the Empire and the rebel Stormcloaks, as well as ridding Skyrim of innumerable wolves, bears, spiders, and other troublesome creatures. I have killed two vampires. I have earned enough gold to buy and furnish a handsome house in Whiterun, Breezehome, which fortunately lies conveniently close to the smith’s forge and to the Drunken Huntsman, a charming tavern run by a friendly Bosmer.

Only after I had made the acquaintance of the Jarl of Falkreath and also visited the town of Morthal and the village of Rorikstead did I make my way to Ivarstead, the village which lies at the bottom of the mountain below High Hrothgar. Fear of trolls no longer troubled me, for I had slain five or six of the creatures already in my travels and I now had Lydia to help me. But I did not expect to be attacked by another dragon as we climbed the 7,000 steps to the Greybeards’ abode. This one long refused to land and let us ply our blades against it; we had to expend a good number of arrows before at last it settled on the mountainside and we slew it. After that the lone troll that lurked above the path waiting to attack unwary pilgrims was hardly a challenge.

The Greybeards have taught me that the energy I feel when I am near a dying dragon is its soul, being absorbed into my body. I can use this energy to power my thu’um, to give the powerful Shouts they have shown me how to use. I know now how to run briefly at tremendous speed, and to knock things back with the power of my voice. I do not know what I am meant to do with this power, other than use it to slay more dragons should they appear to threaten the good people of Skyrim. I will learn my destiny as I continue to travel the length and breadth of Skyrim. But for now I will go to fetch the horn of Jurgen Windcaller, as the Greybeards have asked me to do.

Part 2:

I have completed my task for the Greybeards, but when I entered the tomb I found the horn missing. In its place I found a note inviting me to meet someone a the inn in Riverwood. Upon returning there I learned that the innkeeper, Delphine, is more than she seems, for it was she who had somehow crept into the tomb through another entrance and absconded with the horn. She and her friends, who I have yet to meet, are suspicious of the motives of the Thalmor and think they may have something to do with the arising of the dragons. She wants me to infiltrate the Thalmor headquarters. I am not sure that I am willing to go along with this plan, but I will cooperate for the time, as she seems to have much information about dragons that would be of benefit to me. It was Delphine who gave the wizard in Dragonsreach the information about the book I retrieved for him from Bleak Falls Barrow.

After parting with Delphine, Lydia and I traveled much of Skyrim, visiting most of the larger towns and cities, slaying more bandits, and being asked to carry out various tasks for people we met along the way. The priestess of Kynareth in Whiterun has asked me to retrieve a blade called Nettlebane from a hagraven, so that the blade can be used to gather sap from the tree Eldergleam to revive the sacred tree that stands outside the temple in Whiterun. I have not yet completed that task. Instead, I took passage back to Solsteheim. 

What a pleasure it was to return to my home, though I was greeted as an outlander by the people there. The island has not been spared the depredations of dragons, and I slew one just outside Raven Rock. I have also cleared Fort Frostmoth of an undead menace and have hopefully stopped the swarms of ashspawn that have plagued the land. After clearing the for I met with the wizard Neloth at Tel Mithryn, and while I cannot call him a friend, he will perhaps have a more favorable opinion of me since I have helped his mycologist find a way to repair his tower. At Tel Mithryn I met his apprentice, Talvas Fathryon, and in the end I chose to send Lydia back to Whiterun and ask Talvas to accompany me.

While we wandered about the island, we stumbled upon a Dwemer ruin, which I will eventually want to explore, but not yet. In the meanwhile I have returned to Skyrim with a new goal. After I completed the task Tel Mithryn's mycologist set for me, which concluded with slaying a spriggan Earth Mother, I found a chest in a cave. Within the chest lay an oddly shaped gemstone. The instant my hand touched it, I heard the voice of Meridia, telling me that I must take the stone to her shrine, which lies near Solitude. I have decided that I will complete this task first, before taking Talvas with me to retrieve Nettlebane. His spellcasting capability should be of good use against a hagraven.

Movie Review: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Directed by JJ Abrams
Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaacs, Lupita Nyongo’o

I went into this film with a lot of high hopes and excitement, but I knew it would never live up to the very first Star Wars film. How could it? I was 17 when I saw the original Star Wars. It was unlike any film I had ever seen before. It was the first film I ever spent my own money to see in a theater more than once. It’s the only film I’ve ever seen in a theater more than three times. That’s a big legacy to live up to.

This film was also released in an atmosphere of massive anticipation, with an accompanying social media and advertising blitz. I read numerous online articles speculating about it, saw hundreds of still photos, and watched many behind-the-scenes videos on YouTube. In the weeks leading up to its release I saw at least a half-dozen different trailers. Yet somehow I managed to find the movie full of surprises.

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! You have been warned.

I’ll start from the beginning. The film opens with the classic introductory title “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” followed by a title crawl. The crawl mentions that the best pilot in the Resistance has been sent to find Luke Skywalker. I took that statement to be a wink at the audience, likely indicating that the “best pilot” was Han Solo, since I knew Harrison Ford was in the film. But the movie promptly proved me wrong by introducing a new character, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaacs). The trailers had also led me to believe that the franchise’s newest adorable droid, BB-8, belonged to main new female protagonist Rey (Daisy Ridley). But immediately this was also disproved when Poe Dameron was seen with BB-8, treating the droid as his best companion.

The film went on to shatter almost every preconception I had about it. I had expected Han Solo’s role to be small, due to the desire to focus on the new characters Rey and Finn (John Boyega), and Harrison Ford’s age. But Han was an important part of much of the story. I expected Leia’s role to be larger than it was. I expected Luke to show up earlier and have some dialogue. I expected to see more of C-3PO and R2-D2. I expected Rey to be related to the original characters somehow (she still may be), but there was certainly no indication of that in this movie. I expected Finn to also be a Force user because he was shown using a lightsaber in the trailers, but no one commented on that (so either lightsabers can be used by anyone, or he is a Force-sensitive but none of the other Force-sensitive characters cared to say anything about it). I expected Finn’s reason for abandoning his stormtrooper armor to be different. I expected Kylo Ren’s true identity to come as a horrible surprise to Han Solo and General Leia. I spent a lot of the movie thinking, “Oh, wow, so that’s what happens!” and grinning.

I also found myself pleased and amused by how well this movie stuck to the style of the original trilogy. In many ways it felt as though Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode VII: Return of the Jedi had been mashed together. A young person living on a desert planet was suddenly taken away aboard the Millenium Falcon to be introduced to a whole new life. She learned the ways of the Force in a very short time. She fought a black-clad masked villain and overcame him. A young man abandoned his former life to join the fight against a repressive regime, and helped his new friends to destroy an ultimate weapon of mass destruction. I’m sure there many people out there who found this annoying, in the same way they disliked how director JJ Abrams re-worked the iconic Spock death scene from Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan in his film Star Trek: Into Darkness. But I enjoy that kind of storytelling, taking an existing tale and twisting it a little, letting the viewer see it from a different perspective. I liked seeing how Abrams and his team did that in this movie, and yet did it very respectfully with the same kind of characterizations, plot elements, and dialogue as in the original films.

But this movie, like its predecessors, is part of a continuing saga, and the new production team wisely left lots of questions yet to be answered. Why was Rey on Jakku, and who are her parents? Why is she so strong in the Force? How did she learn to use it so quickly with no one to teach her? How was Finn able to overcome his lifelong conditioning and rebel against the First Order? What happened to Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma when the planet started to implode? What has Luke Skywalker been doing all the years he’s been missing? What will he say to Rey? I want answers, and I’ll be waiting eagerly for the next installment to answer some of them. The original film made me want more, and this film made me want more. I’d say that’s a success.

Don't Spoil It For Me

Author's note: I wrote this blog about a month ago, but hadn't posted it yet. It seemed appropriate now that I've actually seen the movie in question.

In less than a month the seventh Star Wars film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, will arrive on theater screens. In this era of social media, I know a lot more about this upcoming film than I knew about the original Star Wars when I saw it in 1977. In the ‘70s we were lucky to see one or two trailers for a film, and typically you only saw a trailer in the theater, during the previews that ran before the feature film began. There might have been a few magazine articles in magazines for film industry professionals, or in some of the sci fi genre ‘zines like Starlog, but I didn’t have access to those. I didn’t know much about Star Wars beyond that it was a sci fi film when I walked into a theater in Lubbock, Texas to see it for the first time.

As the release date for The Force Awakens approaches, I’ve seen innumerable articles on websites, and if I followed more people on Twitter I would probably have seen hundreds of tweets. I’ve seen many photos. There have been many tv ads and several trailers. I should be feeling as though I already know the plot of the film. But I don’t. Some of that is down to good editing; the television spots and trailers have managed to avoid giving away too many details. Some of my continued feeling of wide-eyed anticipation is down to my optimism. I hope that this film will regain some of the charm that the ‘prequel’ films lost. I’m excited to see the main characters from the original film brought back to the big screen. And despite any disappointment the prequels may have caused, I’m eager to see more of that imaginary universe.

But some of the reason I don’t feel all this media coverage is spoiling the movie is that no one can spoil a movie for me, not even by telling me the entire plot. I’ve heard complaints in recent years that social media and the movie studios’ push to use social media to get potential viewers excited about their products have ruined any sense of anticipation for movies. Sometimes I would agree with that sentiment, especially when a studio decides to release a trailer that appears to include all of the important plot developments. I don’t want a trailer to give the whole story away, even if that won’t prevent me from seeing the movie anyway. Occasionally this type of reveal will tell me that a movie I thought I might want to see isn’t really my cup of tea. But most of the time I feel that all this information just whets my appetite if the film is one that I genuinely wanted to see from the first time I heard about it.

Let me explain this further by describing how I choose a book in a library or bookstore. First, I look at the cover blurb to see if it describes a type of story that I think I would enjoy reading. Then, I read a bit of the first page to see if I like the writing style. After that I take a look at a page or two somewhere in the midsection, to find out if the writing style is consistent throughout and doesn’t make a dramatic turn to something darker or less accessible. Then I read some of the last page to see if I like how it ends.

That’s right, I read the end. That part horrifies my spouse, who thinks that knowing how the story ends before reading it is ruinous. But for me, it’s a guarantee that the author is taking the story somewhere I want to go. Most of the time I find that the final page of a book doesn’t give away all the most important plot developments. It doesn’t tell me everyone who lived or died, or what they did between the first page and the last. That’s how I feel about reading/seeing/hearing information about a movie before I see it, too. Just because I know all of the characters and general plot elements doesn’t mean I know everything that happens in the film. Even if someone else watches the film and gives me a detailed description of it, I still won’t feel that they ruined it for me, because what that person got out of the movie and what my experiences and values will lead me to derive from it may be completely different.

Based on all of the information I’ve received about The Force Awakens thus far, this is what I think I know:
There’s a man named Finn, who at some point in the story wears stormtrooper armor. There’s a woman named Rey who is on a desert planet similar to Tatooine. Han Solo and Leia appear. Han Solo talks to Finn and Rey. Chewbacca is seen with Han Solo, and they appear to be flying the Millenium Falcon through the interior of a crashed star destroyer. R2-D2 also appears, but not with any of the other familiar characters. A person who has a prosthetic hand is seen touching R2-D2, but the person’s face is not visible. There’s a person wearing a helmet reminiscent of Darth Vader’s helmet. There are stormtroopers. There is Darth Vader’s actual helmet, which appears to have melted. There is a dark-robed figure with a red lightsaber shaped like a sword. There are some mysterious voiceovers mentioning the Force, but we never see who is speaking. Rey and Finn seem to be involved in some fights, at least one of them in a snowy landscape.

If one reads the information available online, one will learn that the person in the Vader-like helmet with the red lightsaber is Kylo Ren, but nothing in the trailer tells you that. Online sources also state that Finn is a stormtrooper with some type of organization that is trying to preserve the Empire. The trailers don’t tell you that, either. Based on my knowledge of the prior films, I speculate that the person with the prosthetic hand that touches R2-D2 is Luke Skywalker, because I know Mark Hamill is appearing in the film even though he isn’t seen in any of the ads or trailers. I know he probably survives this film, or at least survives to become a ghost like Obi-Wan Kenobi, because I saw a tweet from Mark Hamill stating that he’s had to re-grow his contractually obligated beard, which he had shaved to appear in another part.

Now based on all that information in the preceding two paragraphs, how much do I really know about this film? I don’t know who Finn and Rey are or how they meet each other, or how they meet Han Solo. I don’t know what Han and Leia and Luke and Chewie and R2-D2 have been doing for the past 40 years of Star Wars Universe time. I don’t know who Kylo Ren is. I don’t know who the forces involved in the combats are, or what they’re fighting about. I don’t know the beginning, the middle, or the end of this story, so I know less than I would if I were buying this as a book. I know just enough to make me excited to see it. So the trailers and ads and tweets and blogs have done their job, and all these glimpses have not spoiled my anticipation to see this movie.