I was recently going through some old material and came
across a character sheet for my first ever AD&D character. It was on an old
piece of line ruled paper and we rolled up stats I got an 18 for strength and
choose my class as Barbarian my race was Trollborn... I had a friend who house
ruled everything back in first edition.
He added several races that we could use for player characters. No racial adjustments for half breeds.
Instead you would gain things like ultra or infravision or natural armor
class.
Anyway, the real point of interest on my character sheet
happened when I reached 3rd level. The
DM created this crazy dungeon that was meant to be a very long standing
adventure that would take us levels to complete. Unfortunately for the DM the
dice was with us and 18 hours later the magical sword we found was used to fight off a hydra. I had
shattered my morningstar and my battleaxe upon the hide of this creature. The
sword was the only weapon I had left. After a few rounds the sword leap from my
hand and fought the hydra. While the
rest of the party fled, I carried the cleric and the paladin out of harms way
and we escaped the hydra. Eventually we came upon a long staircase that lead us
to the heavens. In fact it was a cloud city of giants. All no less then 10 feet
tall the personification of the perfect human-like form. All well muscled and
fit. If there was a flaw it was not in their physical form.
A female amongst them approaches our party and tells us to
wait there. She returns with a few other members of her race and they offer to
clean and heal our wounds. She
brandishes an axe which she holds in one hand and offers it to anyone of us
that can hold and wield it. My character Argon was the only one strong enough
to wield it. The weapon requires two hands to wield it and
the wielder must possess at least an 18/00 strength and have the blood of a
giant in their veins. The troll blood in
my veins allowed me to wield the weapon. A gift from the goddess of the moon,
to the mortal races. I was chosen to wield the Silver Moon Battle Axe. Forged
from the surface of the moon itself.
Now the DM did not reveal the powers of the axe or why the
goddess of the moon gifted it to mortals. Just that there would be a time when
the wielder of the axe would be needed.
Until then I was to familiarize myself with the weapon and unlock the
secrets within. We were then escorted through a liquid portal that transported
us miles away from the mountain dungeon and back upon the surface.
Needless to say it became my favorite weapon. I always
wanted to return and slay the hydra. Unfortunately the DM had transported us to an entirely
different part of the game world. We fought many battles and our cleric died
several times. We went on many a mission for the church of various deities
because our cleric could not stay alive. If there was a saving throw our cleric
would fail it every time. Work luck ever!
I would always wonder what the axe was doing and how much of
my characters skills went into the success of each adventure. It was my first
character and probably the most successful . I took over Dming duties and many
of the characters advanced in levels way beyond Argon. The DM who gave me the
Silver Moon Battle axe eventually went on to join the marines at the age of 18.
So the few times, I played Argon the new DM’s had different effects for the
axe. One thing they clarified was once a day, I could call upon the axe to
grant me the strength of a Titan. Back in 1st edition that was a
strength score of 25. I was able to wield the axe with one hand when my
strength was enhanced and would have to wield it in two hands when my strength
returned to normal. While wielding the
axe I was immune to the curse of lycanthropy and lycanthropes would have to
roll a save versus fear or flee from me.
This was pretty cool. Though I just keep wondering if the
Silver Moon Battle Axe was meant for something else. Never got to pick the
brain of the original DM for that one. However, it remains one of my most memorable moments in gaming.
I wonder what was one of your most memorable moments in gaming?
Feel free to share it here.
Later
Argon
