Lawful Good!!
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Caution: The owner of this page states that it is as factual as possible (but not unbiased), and so should not by any means be considered 'Neutral Point of View'. As such, only the creator of this page - or others, given permission - may edit it.
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are a Good-aligned party of adventurers, fearlessly slaying demons and other members of Evil factions in this strange place called the Nexus. Their origins are uncertain - it is possible that one of the Elder Powers, Baraas, may have intended to summon bold warriors and mages to his cause, but instead summoned a bunch of socially inept geeks who were pretending to be bold warriors, priests, rogues and mages while playing tabletop role-playing games. Over the course of time, the Nexal energies of each death and rebirth transformed the socially inept geeks into bold (but still socially inept) adventurers, regularly journeying far across the Nexus to clear out Evil dungeons full of Wandering Monsters, all the while yelling strange battle-cries such as "Roll for initiative!" and "Natural 20!"
[edit] Factional Policies
[edit] In-character (IC)
We are Lawful Good!!, not Lawful Good. When we are on an adventure, we interpret the target faction as a dungeon level to be explored, with monsters and other challenges to be overcome before we complete the adventure. Our reasons for choosing any particular course of action are not always sensible, but if we are true to our theme, at least we had fun. (In many cases the "monsters" have fun on our adventures too!). Many of our alliances and hostilities have been formed through in-game events and conversations, or through in-character interpretations of events reported on the Chafin Memorial Hospital forums.
[edit] Out-of-character (OOC)
We are against all forms of cheating, such as alt abuse and multi abuse.
We are against blatant "vulturing", particularly in cases where a victorious raider returns to the scene to attack returning victims. Adventurers who do this will be shown the secret door. Other factions who vulture against us in this way will be subjected to an adventure at the earliest possible opportunity, or general dislike at the very least.
We respect that Nexus War is a role-playing game played by human beings, and we do not insult other players, or address them about OOC issues in-game.
[edit] Astonishing Anecdotes!!
Here begins the annotated tale of the Lawful Good!! adventuring party, from its inception in late May 2006 through to its most recent campaign.
[edit] Rolling Up Characters - the early days
First there was 1st Level Fighter, a character who hadn't thought of a name but who could do whatever it said on his character sheet. He decided to be a good-aligned character, because wandering monsters were generally evil. He decided to form a party of adventurers, and thus the Lawful Good!! faction was created (one of the first hundred factions in the Nexus). He was soon joined by a paladin named Zeno, but they were poorly coordinated and unable to meet for adventures. Solo adventures consisted of running into the sewers and killing evildoers, occasionally pausing to update their character sheets. It was in this time that 1st Level Fighter first crossed paths with the deadly assassin Jack Deck in the dungeon level beneath Edgetown. Lawful Good!! concentrated on their resources and infusion, and as a two-man faction managed to briefly infuse their way to Level 7 notoriety amongst the larger powers of the Nexus - under 1st Edition NW rules, a faction's level was influenced by the amount of karma it had from infusion.
[edit] The Greatest Adventures Never Told
After setting up gaming rooms in various places around Valhalla, only to have them repeatedly trashed by demons and evil warriors alike, 1st Level Fighter came up with a bold idea to reduce the chances of staged encounters, and increase the odds of random encounters. The adventurers would relocate to Stygia! The adventuring party, which had grown to 5 members by this time, quickly shrunk to 3. But 1st Level Fighter was not daunted. He chose a Black Prison on the very edge of Stygia (31,18) to be the Keep on the Borderlands. However, he failed his Spot check, and shortly after building the stronghold, a slumbering, hidden demon (Goreshade da Bastard) awoke and slew him - yet the stronghold remained! Over the course of 3 days, Lawful Good!! adventurers fought the demon with all their energy before 1st Level Fighter finally managed to vanquish it. During these early days, 1st Level Fighter also invited some adventurous Ragged Philanthropists to join the party, and soon there were regularly 10 adventurers solo-questing in the depths of Stygia for wandering monsters. Early encounters with Dark Oppressors were surprisingly pleasant. By this time, Lawful Good!! adventurers had managed some impressive individual achievements, with the seraph Lacarion featuring prominently on the Demon-killers leaderboard (when 200 demon kills was impressive), and Mother Teresa featuring on the Pill-poppers(!) leaderboard. Lacarion, in fact, captured the party's first standard, by single-handedly clearing the dungeon of The Hellbound. This was something of a revelation to the rest of the party, as was The Hellbound's response - successfully reclaiming their standard. A few days later, 1st Level Fighter and Zeno attempted to complete The Hellbound quest themselves, but discovered that the crafty monsters had surrounded their dungeon with fiendish barricades. Nevertheless the two adventurers found a way through and into the dungeon, where they were challenged by an alert behemoth. Low on hit points and mana, but wise to the rules for invisibility, 1st Level Fighter cleverly passed a Potion of Extended Invisibility to Zeno, and hid, so that returning monsters would find him, which allowed Zeno to finish the quest before the potion ran out, although 1st Level Fighter did not survive. This use of Extended Invisibility on an adventure pre-dated the first public report of the tactic [link goes here if found] by about a couple of weeks. Lawful Good!! were able to resist further incursions by The Hellbound and went back to solo-questing for a while until Oblivion Squadron arrived in Stygia, having been evicted from St Germaine in the first, truly Nexus-shattering battle [link to Lockson Software goes here]. The demons of Oblivion moved a little too close for comfort, occasionally sending angry demons to disrupt the adventurers' camp, although the relative faction standings at the time meant that OS could not claim the standard without loss of honor. These incursions were mentioned in the local newspapers at the time.
[edit] When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Bravely Run Away!
Despite the visitations of OS, Lawful Good!! kept up their questing. Then one night, The Dark Oppressor's Guild came to explain the new Stygian tax laws that they were implementing, which involved claiming the souls of all the adventurers. On top of the exorbitant costs for shipping rulebooks and food to Stygia, the new tax laws and their repeated implementation made Stygia temporarily untenable for the adventurers. So they packed up and headed back to Valhalla, first settling at (5,33) in The Wrench, close to the Fortress of their Ragged Philanthropist allies. The new location was on top of a sewer entrance, for easy access to the closest thing to a dungeon in the Nexus at the time. However, as a precaution, the gaming room relocated next door at (4,34) when it was discovered that wards could not be cast on the dungeon entrance.
[edit] Lawful Good!! runs afoul of the Law?
Not long after the relocation to Valhalla, the adventurers were attacked by demons who had claimed the Downtown area as their own after Oblivion Squadron had vacated it. Forced to rebuild their gaming room on a few occasions, they were also visited by corrupt law-enforcers from the nearby Sentinels, who were a supposedly Good faction (at this stage, LG!! itself was Good-aligned). The Sentinels did not particularly care for alignment, and introduced Lawful Good!! to the practice of vulturing. This contributed greatly to LG!!'s factional policy against vulturing. Having recently taken a few levels of magic-user into her unique multi-classed character build in order to master the warding arts, 1st Level Fighter conceived of a cunning plan to avenge the Sentinels' vulturing without troubling their more scrupulous members, although the unintended consequences proved quite amusing. The rivalry escalated from there, and the Sentinels, led by their sharp-tongued and barely-dressed leader StarStorm, unsuccessfully raided the adventurers. 1st Level Fighter, by now in a male form, found himself momentarily in awe of StarStorm's assets, and took the unusual step of seeking the advice of the (now defunct) Night-time Casanovas to try and make a favourable impression. However, StarStorm was out when the adventurers and the Casanovas came to visit, with the Casanovas providing the adventurers with sexy pick-up lines. The end result saw only the Sentinels' female constables left standing by the time the visitors left.
[edit] Back to Paradise City!
(where the grass is green and the advocates are pretty!) 1st Level Fighter decided to move the party back to and they initially moved to a cottage at (14,16) daringly close to the lakeside portal to East Stygia. Too close in fact, as the DOG paid them a few more visits, cursing and killing adventurers as they returned. And so it was decided to move the Lawful Good!! gaming room once more, this time to the very first Keep on the Borderlands, a Clockwork Tower at (3,17) in northwest Paradise. The Clockwork Tower provided much in the way of free treasure, with the party able to stock its Portable Hole many Potions, Rings and other miscellaneous Magical Accessories. During part of the campaign, Lawful Good!! began to take on more audacious challenges. A high point included a bold adventure on Harper Island, which, at the time was controlled by the forces of Evil. A small but dedicated party of five adventurers used 1st Level Fighter's ward spells to assault 3 Evil dungeons in a 24-hour period, but unfortunately the last of these dungeons proved too much for the adventurers, who were slain. Over time, however, the adventurers got a bit bored with the relaxed atmosphere of Paradise, but it was about then that rumours of a change to Stygia began to appear, as told to the adventurers by members of Alcoholics Anonymous, who were inhabiting a Paradise tavern at the time.
[edit] The Stygian Campaign, part two
And so it was decided that Lawful Good!! would move back to Stygia. A few days after the ice melted, they travelled to Stygia, and set up camp in a Dark Sanitarium in the southwest corner of Stygia - the very same Dark Sanitarium that would be used as a stronghold in later times by the Heavenly Host, the Ragged Philanthropists, and the Pirates of R'lyeh. It was intentionally about as far from the DOG as it was possible to be while still remaining in Stygia. This also continued the tradition of referring to the LG!! stronghold as "The Keep on the Borderlands". The adventurers set about marking their new territory with aplomb, but found the area lacking in evil dungeons within their encounter level. They had, unknowingly, come to the attention of several larger factions, and were first raided by the Evil Elementalists known as The Salty Dogs. Quite surprisingly, they were approached diplomatically by the Pretty Princess Timstro of the Demons Next Door in relation to territorial infusion. Timstro proved to be a master of demonic diplomacy, promising a simple territorial settlement based on geographic location, then claiming that his evil lieutenants had misinterpreted his instructions when they declared that Lawful Good!! were transgressing on grounds of religious significance (aka "Tholaghru's butt") which disrupted their tea ceremony. It was but a matter of dishonor that enabled the adventurers to survive the ceremony that day...until the uncompromising soldiers of The Legion stormed in and slew the few remaining adventurers "for the glory of Rome". After rebuilding the stronghold again, it was just a few days until the DOG found them. The first encounter was with the original Grand Duke Wilco, who apparently single-handedly burst through the stronghold ward before being repulsed by the adventurers. A few days later, a small sortie of DOG representatives came, and were defeated. 1st Level Fighter could see that things were going to get rough, and headhunted some up-and-coming clerics from Doctors Without Borders, including Eleanor Roosevelt, who showed a flair for adventuring. A few days afterward, the vast horde of the DOG was unleashed upon the adventurers, who held out for over three hours against four separate waves of the dread lords of Stygia, who outnumbered the party by odds of around 3:1. This epic battle was the beginning of the end of the second Stygian campaign, which came a couple of weeks later after the DOG brought along an allied faction to claim the LG!! standard with unorthodox armaments. Despite the ignominious end to the campaign, the party actually increased in size largely due to its bold showing, where they managed to last longer in the new Stygia than The Shining Ones.
[edit] Forced Relocation
While learning the ropes of Nexal diplomacy in Stygia, 1st Level Fighter received a basic offer of friendship from the Ladies Who Lunch. Thinking that it might come in handy later on, 1LF was surprised when leading the party back to Paradise to discover that the Ladies had converted the adventurers' original gaming room into a luncheon & reading room! However, the party took the deception in good humour, and with a stroke of luck they found another Keep on the Borderlands, this time in a different part of Paradise, Mahari Forest. The party began to mark their territory, and found that the surrounding area had been set aside by The Divine Slayers to be claimed by whomsoever could claim the tower. Furthermore, there was a handy double portal leading to Liana Island and also to a small isle floating in the void of Purgatorio between Foghaven and The Forgotten City. The adventurers decided to turn Liana Island into a nature preserve, as well as exploring the "ancient ruined temple" that had been destroyed by a Colossal water elemental. This involved claiming the island via infusion from several factions who had marked territory on it, notably including the Salty Dogs - almost as though they were becoming a recurring plot point in the adventurers' campaign.
[edit] Team-up Adventures
On one of their many adventures, the party was surprised by the arrival of the Covert Moles on the scene, who sneakily stole the standard from the adventurers' grasp. After subsequent diplomatic talks, the two groups formed the Lawful Moles!! alliance, and sealed it on the field of battle. In addition to this success, there was also the Lawful Shooty!! alliance with the NRA Nutjobs.
[edit] The Temple of Evil Elementalists Strikes!
It was some time after the adventurers had claimed all of Liana Island that the Evil Elementalists unleashed their might upon the Keep, but, lo and behold, they flattened it, demanding that the adventurers relinquish control of the island so that the Elementalists could surf there. But the adventurers were made of sterner stuff, and resolved to defend the island against all who would claim it. They had an eye on the Nexal rules at the time, where infusing the whole island, in combination with their infusion territory in Paradise, provided just enough karma to give the party maximum bonuses on their adventures.
[edit] The Adventurers Strike Back!
So they prepared as best they could, and set out to challenge the Salties on their home turf, an abandoned oil refinery out in the Caivan Sea (a very typical evil arch-villain fortress!). But the adventurers failed, defeated at the last by the cunning Elementalists having a skilled Good-aligned healer among their ranks, and also summoning an elementalist from Oblivion Squadron to aid their defence. Nevertheless, the adventurers had made their mark, clearing out more of the evil temple than many other groups had managed (even in tandem). Despite the failed quest, this led the adventurers on to consider larger dungeons as a reasonable challenge. Unfortunately, it also brought them back to the attention of those larger dungeons.
[edit] The Portal of...Mystery!
The adventurers began to make use of the nearby portal to Purgatorio, raiding numerous evil dungeons in Foghaven and The Forgotten City (although the adventurers frequently referred to it as the Forbidden City). One particularly bold adventure saw the party take on the All-Star cults of Foghaven, which ended with two dungeons cleared and a third (the now defunct End of Level Bad Guys) breached, all in one continuous adventure!
[edit] Orcs Patrol These Waters!
Lawful Good!! continued to maintain its policy of non-aggression towards Neutral (unaligned) factions, as long as they left the adventurers alone. But a belligerent group of orcs had gathered under the auspices of the Edgetown Assassins' Guild (who were of course led by 1st Level Fighter's original nemesis, Jack Deck), and one day they did a "drive-by" on the Keep, busting caps in the adventurers' asses with ruthless efficiency. The adventurers took a long time in planning their revenge, noting that the Gangsters' Crib was very close to a dungeon entrance. So they stealthily mapped the dungeon, noting locations that were in close proximity to the guildhouse above. When the time came, the adventurers charged out of the dungeon and stormed the gates of the guildhouse. However, the assassins were alert and repelled the adventurers, but not before many orcs were slain. 1st Level Fighter's attempt to kill Jack Deck with a combination Lesser Smite/Steel Lightning/Sneak Attack was a critical failure, as the canny assassin was in his [[Hide] secret room], to which 1LF failed to notice the entrance.
[edit] The DND&D&Der Alliance
The adventurers joined in the Alliance of Light that was formed in response to the Summer of Evil tour of demons running amok in Paradise. One of the final acts of the Alliance was to surrender to the Demons Next Door, in their Infernal Tea-House in Stygia. The adventurers brought treasure to the demons to increase their chances of diplomatic success and acknowledge that they had forgotten the past misunderstandings. (The alliance was later sealed in unusual circumstances, when the Demons visited the Keep in force, but chose to play games instead. Shortly afterwards, the Salty Dogs visited while the adventurers' ward was still down, but they weren't looking to play games. In a memorable turn of events, 1st Level Fighter conceived of the first ever Koi Pond defence. The first (and so far only) act of the alliance was a team-up adventure on none other than the Salty Dogs).
[edit] The Level-Up Campaign!
Back in the relative safety of the Keep, 1st Level Fighter hit upon a new campaign idea, based on the faction levels at the time where the largest factions in the Nexus were 11th level. The adventurers began to take on evil dungeons by level, starting with 8th level dungeons (the same level as Lawful Good!! itself under the rules at the time). In short order they had knocked over the 8th level dungeons, and moved on to 9th level. Of the 9th level dungeons (approximately 50-70 members), only the heavily-defended fortress of ACROSS proved invincible, due to a couple of adventurers getting lost while collecting pizza. Highlights of the 9th level campaign included the long-smouldering vengeance wreaked upon the Dark Oppressors' Guild twice in 48 hours, and the Return to the Temple of Evil Elementalists, which was nigh on 3 hours of solid battle, finished by the party summoning the demi-lich Vecna reborn as an elementalist, who slew the last Salty Dog, failed a saving throw vs Poison, and died as he claimed the standard! [link]
The 10th level campaign was shorter and much more challenging. Indeed, the only way that LG!! managed to defeat The Scourge was by camping overnight in Stygia under the cover of Extended Invisibility, and finishing off the remnants of the Scourge's dungeon after other factions, unbeknownst to the adventurers, had raided and failed to clear them earlier. The Scourge remain a thorn in the party's side whenever they choose to be.
The 11th level campaign consisted of just two epic dungeons: the gloomy fortress of Oblivion Squadron, now situated just beyond the portal to Foghaven; and the sanity-draining, immeasurably vast, Cyclopean ship of the Pirates of R'lyeh, moored upon Farmer's Baked Goods in downtown St Germaine. By this time, however, Lawful Good!! had achieved a different goal, with the number of adventurers in the party having enabled the faction itself to reach Level 9. This also made the party a viable target for raiders from the epic dungeons. As the party prepared for the first adventure of the Level 11 campaign, they were surprised by the disgruntled monsters from the level 10 campaign catching up with them. This caused a hasty lowering of the challenge rating for the planned adventure, and a party of just four, with two hastily re-written characters ended up clearing the Hentai All-stars. Unbeknownst to the party, this raised the ire of their original target (OS), who instantly avenged the tentacled fiends' demise, with the ominous warning: "Know this! To raid Hentai All-stars is to raid Oblivion Squadron!"
The adventurers knew there could be but one response...
[edit] The Lejendary Adventure
1st Level Fighter had now seen many adventures in Foghaven, with its unusual terrain including a river flowing from out of nowhere into the Fogwater. With the recent addition of some (good) elementalists to the party, as well as some Divine Champions with the special Carbon Core armour, she hatched a plan to make good use of the powerful group of adventurers available. There were three Divine Champions (1LF included) hidden close to the fortress of Oblivion, and when the time came, they attacked the ward with all manner of heavy objects. The party unleashed a lethal wave of Death, and Fire, and Holy Righteousness, although a clever evil wizard of Oblivion used tricks like locking the door and casting wards to restrict the number of adventurers that could enter the dungeon. This most likely lead to the adventurers' ultimate success, as the adventurers who were delayed outside ended up more prepared for the immediate conquest of Hentai All-Stars which followed, an achievement by a single faction that stands alongside such notable events as the EOG's Harper Island Bypass and The Fat Duck's Five Course Meal. The OS ambassador even paid grudging respect to the adventurers shortly before crushing them underfoot once more, but the adventurers' point had been made.
[edit] Treason on the High Seas
The only foes left to attempt to clear were the Pirates of R'lyeh, the most drunken band of evil ruffians, demons, mermaids, and scary actors in the entire Nexus. The adventurers planned ahead, invisibly surrounding the ship, only to be honorably called out by the Pirates who had been warned about the adventurers' plans. In the confusion that followed, the adventurers hastily cleared the nearby headquarters of Murder Inc. before returning to the Pirates' ship, and breaking in to kill the Pirate who passed on the warning. After another attempt was aborted due to unexpected interference, the party finally had a well-prepared adventure, and reduced the Pirates down to but two left in the crow's nest before the Pirates' many allies fought off the brave adventurers. The Pirates' response was a swift vengeance (with allied assistance) for the audacious attempt. The adventurers reclaimed their standard promptly while pointing out that they were operating alone throughout their Pirate adventure. This proved to be one point too many for the Pirates, who visited again in force, without allied help, the next day.
[edit] New Edition Rules
Meanwhile, tavern rumours had been updated, with news spreading of many upcoming changes to the very Nexus itself, and many of its arcane rules. Filled with even more enthusiasm than normal, when the new planes were discovered, the adventurers immediately packed up and plunged boldly into the new "dungeon level" Warrens, setting up in the region of Uffern. They remained there for around 6 weeks, resisting the challenges of various evil monsters such as Murder, Inc and Lords of the Fading Sun as best they could (including some creative diplomacy). The party grew even larger in this time, such that they had around 50(!) adventurers in the party at one point. Eventually those dastardly Pirates (who were on a journey of their own at the time, set up in Dry Gulch, Nifleheim, and raided the adventurers 4 times in 3 days before finally claiming the adventurers' standard (yet again). A sudden treacherous break of an NAP by the nefarious Jack the Ripper of Murder, Inc was the last straw for the adventurers, who packed up and headed back to their Keep on the Borderlands in Paradise.
[edit] Caught by the Adventurers' Tax
The party began to run into trouble with the Adventurers' Tax (honor decay), which led to a change in adventuring strategy, as they had to look for more allied standards to retrieve. Eventually, they ran out of honor to pay for their upgrades, and decided to spend some time in the Deadlands for tax reasons. They arranged a stronghold swap with John Brown's Raiding Party, and set up in Big Whiskey after misinterpreting a travel brochure from the Ridleytown Resistance Front, who promptly welcomed them to Nifleheim. 1st Level Fighter made a diplomacy roll against the RRF's tough guy Funk McBogey and explained that the adventurers had a rule against attacking any unaligned faction that didn't attack them, and stated that they would abide by that while staying in Nifleheim. Over the course of a few weeks, the adventurers attacked and cleared every Evil dungeon within reach of their Nifleheim holiday house (apart from TSR), but unexpectedly ran into trouble with catering organisations such as The Fat Duck and the GMT Breakfast Club, neither of which had Doritos and Mountain Dew on the menu. The adventurers eventually decided that the Deadlands were too...dead, and returned again to the Keep on the Borderlands after collecting their passports from the RRF, leaving no flags behind.
[edit] What Next?
Only the dice know for certain! If you'd like to join the campaign, request an invitation in-game, or visit our IRC channel, #lawfulgood.
