The Story of the Adventurers & the Achaierai For Dave Arneson Game Day 2019

Blackmoor is beset!"
On every side the storm clouds gather. To south and east, the Great Empire of Thonia plots to end Blackmoor's independence and reclaim its lost province. To the west, the implacable Afridhi are on the move. To the north, the evil Egg of Coot prepares to cross the thundering sea and once again bring fire and sword into the heart of the small kingdom. Beyond the realm of the Egg, the hated Skandaharian Raiders are building longships and preparing to fall upon Blackmoor's unprotected coast while its tiny army turns to meet these other threats.
Into this time of black despair, there steps a band of adventurers who clutch strange swords and wear most curious armor - and who claim that Blackmoor sank beneath the ice 3,000 years ago!

Today's Dave Arneson's birthday & as usual Havard Blackmoor is doing his utmost to celebrate it. Now me being the huge fan of Dave Arneson I was going to run a bit of DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor with DM Raj & some of his players. But I came down with Autumn cold or smut the usual disease that seems to run through the local schools. The new free  sourcebook by Original Blackmoor Player Greg Svenson is out. This is the fourth book in the series and is titled GS4 - The Noble House of Zvenzen.




So long ago about two years ago I was running a post apocalytic Mars game using Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. And the adventurers had run across a wrecked space craft & I didn't really fill in a lot of details it was supposed to be a one off write off encounter. It was not at all. The PC' side quested up to the wreckage & began poking around. They came across a huge strange technological box then  proceeded to activate & open it! That's when a huge  achaierai came out! A huge nightmarish demonic four footed chicken with the mind of a serial killer & desposition of a honey badger! The box in question came from the FSS Beagle under the heading 'alien xeno specimen' with the words 'Very dangerous' senciled on the side in Ancient. The achaierai  came straight outta of the AD&D Fiend Folio
Here's a run down from the wiki entry on them; "The achaierai (/əˈtʃaɪ.əraɪ/ ə-CHY-ə-rye)^[10] is a large birdlike outsider that comes from the plane of Acheron.

The achaierai is described as an enormous 15-foot-tall (4.6 m) flightless bird with four stilt-like legs, a plump, hulking body, blunt, shaggy stubs for wings, and a parrot-like head. Its plumage is mostly red with orange and yellow highlights, though its sides and stumpy wings are blue and green.

An achaierai is always lawful evil and they hunt together in small flocks. They are evil, clever, and predatory, with a distinct taste for torture. They can release a choking, toxic black cloud that causes temporary insanity. Their forelegs are also powerful weapons, being able to deliver an extremely powerful kick, and to grab and grasp prey. It can also attack with its beak."
Needless to say that the achaierai proceeded to mop the floor with the adventurers!



I'd later run the same players through Dave Arneson, &  David J. Ritchie's DA3 City of the Gods. Once they recognized that same style of xeno specimen cryopod they were not happy at all with me. The City of The Gods module had lots of twists & turns for the players of that adventure. It took months to solve all of the problems that seemed to plague the adventurers in that adventure. It was almost a mini campaign unto itself. 



I've got to get back to Dave Arneson, &  David J. Ritchie's DA3 City of the Gods sooner rather then later coming up. But to this day I get the no fking giant demonic chickens! Happy Dave Arneson day 2019 folks.