Going Rogue is the third book in the Spells, Swords and Stealth series by Drew Hayes. Turns out that being adventurers is pretty expensive. Our group of former NPCs only have a few gold between them and their armor is in need of repair. So it's off to the Alcatham's capital of Camnrael where it is known that adventurers can take quests in many levels of difficulty in return for coin. What our group of heroes doesn't know is there is more going on in the city that meets the eye and that a Grand Quest is about to be offered to all adventurers who qualify, the reward of which is a mysterious artifact that sounds just a bit to familiar to be a coincidence.

I am enjoying where Hayes is taking this story. Hayes continues to add depth to all of the characters and has the character building well balanced with the flow of various plot threads. As the title suggests, Eric's training as a rogue is one of the main focus points and fairly important for the party's progression as adventurers. Through an unlikely series of events the party is temporarily joined by a rogue of great skill who agrees to help train Eric. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of her in the future. I am liking the mystery around Mr. Peppers and hope we get more information about this in the next book. Gabrielle's latest... enhancement... is interesting and highly unusual.

The overarching plot between what's going on in the campaign and in our world continues to be fascinating. That ending was everything I'd hoped it would be. I'm very interested to see where this heads next. So many questions!

I continue to listen to this series on audio narrated by Roger Wayne. Wayne gives another great performance as narrator. ( )

Again Hayes raises the series to new highs with characters I truly care about, some I love like Thistle and Elora, others to hate like Mitch. The world is starting to feel much more fleshed out and feels way bigger. I wish book 4 was out already now I'm going to have to wait like other long time series readers.
Character List

NPCs (Spells, Swords, & Stealth #1)

Russell - DM
Terry, Glenn and Mitch - asshat players
Tim - novice player

Grumble - God of Minions

Grumph - half orc bartender, - magic user
Eric, - human dark-haired with vibrant eyes, village watchman, - rogue
Gabrielle - human classic, blonde beauty, mayor's daughter - barbarian
Thistle’s shadowy-looking gnome, crooks in his bones or the strange gait - paladin

King Liadon - mad King

Split the Party (Spells, Swords, & Stealth #2)

Cheri - Russell's sister playing Chalara the sorceress
Alexis - wispy brown hair hung down in front of her eyes, blocking most of her expression from view. Her voice was quiet, playing an Elf, Gelthorn she’s a forest warrior.
Bert - newbie, playing as gnome, Wimberly, and she’s a gadgeteer
Tim - playing Timanuel the paladin of Longinus

Timuscor - Tim from book 1, fighter for Thistle's party

Fritz - elf - magic peddler
Talcia the sorcerer - overseer of the Apprentice Committee
Dejy human archmage, handles guild paperwork, Grumph's teacher
Ferdinand De Corslo, Ferdy’s half-elven, hangs around and does work for the council, lightly long ears that stuck out well below his short blue-blond hair. Robes adorned his body just as a slightly annoyed sneer decorated his face

Mr Peppers, boar


Going Rogue (Spells, Swords, & Stealth #3)

Wiscomb, but newcomers usually call me Shopkeeper because that’s what I am
Ulkin, priest I was left at a temple of Grumble
Tristan god of rogues
Thurm,overseer at Adventurer's hall,a dark-bearded dwarf
Sylan the clerk at Adventurer's hall,
Delsup clerk at Adventurer's hall,
Elora , elf, shadow rogue

Jamie DM at Comics, Comics, Comics
















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These keep getting better, even if I set this one aside for a couple of months while I moved from Texas to Ohio, vacationed in Mexico for my 60th birthday, proofread a novel for an author, read and reviewed a few other ARCs, and dealt with another near episode of reader’s block when I finally picked this up again a couple of days ago on a flight from Ohio to Alaska. I was stuck about a quarter in and not particularly interested in the storylines. My mistake. Big mistake. Once I broke through on the plane…. barreling down a mountain with no brakes. Twists, turns, substories within substories and a mystery or three still hanging. I have to clear a couple of other books and write up a review for one also finished on the flight but I expect the flight back might be the right time for the last installment. Looking forward to it.

I do wonder if something was a typo or deliberate… in the epilogue, Cheri “took a long sip [of beer] from her can” and moments later “Bert glanced down at the near empty beer bottle in Cheri’s hand.” Given the crossover effect… Mr Hayes?? ( )

There were some interesting twists at the end of this book, including a couple of mystery figure reveals that I anticipated (but still enjoyed for all that they didn't surprise me). I'm looking forward to seeing where the series goes from here. ( )

I've been enjoying this series and decided to pick up the next in the order. We start now with our NPC group, plus the usual PC group... and we're adding a new PC group! This creates complicatedly fun!

Last book, we had Grumph go through the training to be a wizard so it seems only fitting that this time another party member get trained in their arts. Eric was due.

I'm not sure I liked the two PC parties with the one NPC party technique of this book. Obviously, it was needed for some of the story line, fixing certain elements into play. But for a bit, it got annoying. Though anyone who's played will recognize the gun bunny, the min max player, and the blood thirsty bastard that some groups attract.

When the artifact had been described initially, I suspected we might see something like happened in this book. What I didn't expect is the note in the epilogue. We've got a good long series ahead? Maybe? I'll enjoy following Thistle, Grumph, Eric, Gabrielle, and Timescor. Still not sure about Mr. Peppers.

Oh, two things I can't help but gush over. Befriending a RED DRAGON! and fighting a RED DRAGON!? Just WHOA! ( )