Aleena the Cleric.

The other day in Joe’s game I played a female cleric named Aleena. This didn’t resonate with anyone (except William Smith), and why should it? Her legacy to many of you would be equivalent to my grandmother in 1980 going on about Perry Como or Louis Armstrong. Aleena was an NPC you met using the D&D basic set in 1983. I began playing D&D January 1st 1980 at my friend Mike’s house. This is all well documented about how we hacked, slashed and massacred our way through room after room of stuff killing it all. While I would later discover there were minor tips in that set to introduce other elements to the game (roleplaying and exploration), they were largely ignored. Once I heard there was a new box set in 1983, I asked to paint my parent’s fence for the cash. Then I went to Allied Hobbies, got the box and ran to my room to read. There was an intro adventure, narrated to give you a feel for the rules. OK, I’ve already been playing, I got this! I’m young, in a small town with nearby hills and caves holding monsters and treasure. I have heard that a man named Bargle may also be found in these caves. He has been stealing money, killing people, and terrorizing my town. If I can catch him, I can become a hero! I’m off into the caves. I meet a goblin and it tries to kill me, so I fight back, killing it. Exploring further, I meet a young woman praying. She’s the cleric Aleena, and proceeds to tell me about clerics, and her quest to also rid the land of Bargle. She explains how Bargle casts spells, but they are not like hers, they will kill you as wizards command different magics. She tends to my wounds and we decide after some Charisma and Wisdom checks that we could be friends and team up. Deeper into the caves we go… We fight a poisonous snake, some zombies, then we hear some human abusing a goblin. Bargle! We creep into the chamber and the goblin assaults me while Bargle takes cover. Aleena goes poking around for him, and then my life changed, no kidding. “Aleena can’t find Bargle, and looks worried. Suddenly, the sound of a spell comes from a far corner! The cleric turns and runs in that direction. The black-robed magic-user appears in the same corner as the noise, with a glowing arrow floating in the air beside him. He points at Aleena; the arrow shoots out, and hits her! She wails and falls with a sigh, collapsing in the middle of the room. The glowing arrow disappears.” Wait she’s DEAD?! Mother f-er – and I go confront him. He tries to charm me, leading to two different endings: in one, he charms me and escapes. In the other, I make it and put him to the sword. I check Aleena, and she’s dead. Up till now I had companions die, but they were numbers on paper with names like Alcholeeze who we simply looted and left for dead. I carried her back to town, returning her to her church. Next was the more advanced choose-your-path adventure. I started small this time, not even owning armor but eager for adventure – maybe I could avenge Aleena! I went to buy my first set of armor from Armorer Baldwick and haggled over the price. This concept was also foreign to me.  Eventually I picked my way to a dungeon and began anew. I could not avenge her, but I still had my eyes opened. I could be a different person every time with new traits and fears. And these NPCs, they were different too, with their own lives, hopes and ambitions. This beginning, so profound to me, affected many gamers. When Dungeon Magazine was shut down by WotC, Paizo’s last adventure was “The Return of Bargle”. One day I shall have my revenge…