D&D Dynasty: 3rd Path of King Alzar the Mighty - FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Abe Sargent]

As they continue to talk, suddenly, a head rises from the water, and the Fyrsnaca attacks!

Fyrsnaca - AC5, HP 75, 2d8 from bite, Thaco 13, Have a breath attack and can emit a fiery gas for 3d6 damage.



As it attacks it breathes, and Alzar takes less damage, he is still hearing the Fire Resist ring. He takes 11 damage, the others take 16.
His bow fires at the worm-like creature and hit once for 4 damage. Then 2 red worms pop up from the river as well.
Alzar orders the Shark Men to pull away from the bank and they take a turn to do so. As they two, three more red worms pop up, and his Horn of Blasting catches all 6. It deals 2d10 sonic damage and they toss a 7 and 7. 14 damage. That bad damages the Red Worms and hits he Fyrsnaca for a few hits as well. Two red worms drop as they push forward mindlessly by the shark men.
55/80 Alzar
2 worms dead

3 more worms crawl out of the river the next round.
Alzar and company win init and kill two more wounded worms. 4 dead. Alzar rushes to intercept the creature, and it levels itself to bite him, but fails. Alzar smashes out with his Gladius and stabs the creature lightly, and then takes 8 from a red worm and 8 from the Fyrsnaca as well.

39/80
They chop a wounded red worm dead. 5 dead, all of the wounded ones are defeated. Alzar misses. The Fyrsnaca bites Alzar but misses. He takes 5 from a red worm

35/80

2 vs 1. They bite Alzar onces (he dodges) and then miss. The gators hit and wound a worm, and Alzar hits for 10 damage on the Fyrsnaca.

2 vs 6 Alzar chops again and misses. They kill the wounded worm 6 dead. Alzar takes 13 from two bites.

24/80

6 vs 7 Alzar clashes out and hits for 9. The others all miss this round. He takes a bite of 4.

21/80
6 vs 2

They bite Alzar once for 10 and then he is missed. Alzar’s sword cracks more scales for 11 damage and the Fyrsnaca roars loudly and begins to retreat. The gators focus and drop it and it dies.

2 red worms follow next turn
Dead 8 red worms, 1 Fyrsnaca

The gators take the 9 red worms bodies as food. There is nothing else here, so Alzar dips the statuette into the water and it grows again and is now almost arm length and getting pretty heavy. Alzar heads up

3600 XP

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar spending some time recuperating and eating, Alzar then flies out and scouts, and he finds a quartet of caves on the leeward side of a nearby hill that all match the basic vision that he received. He heads over to investigate. A burning metallic odor is here, and Alzar finds the cave, and there are a few oozes and slimes in here. Alzar grabs from OtherSpace and lights some oil flasks and cleans the place out, and then waits an hour for it to be safe. He heads in and finds an odd crack in the ceiling here that lets in light, filtered, into the bottom. It’s the only feature in the cave that’s unusual or different. After being places in the light the statuette grow
One place left.

There’s a back entrance in the 3rd cave here that he investigates, and it heads down. After scouting with Balo first, Alzar sneaks around using his best thief skills until he finds a room with a set of blubbing pools of lava from deep below, and he’s deep underground as well. There are some fire creatures in here relaxing - lava lizards.

He can’t tell how many, but there have to be at least 3 or 4. Perhaps more. Instead of fighting, Alzar grabs the Ring of Invisibility and goes invisible. He’ll Move Silently (x2 chance of success with the Cloak, +10 with the Gauntlets 0 successful 90% of the time). It works and it’s over. He grabs the statuette from his Bag of Holding and dips the statuette (still invisible) into the lava, and it grows again and is now around the length of his leg. He can’t move silently with this big thing here, so he mediates and drops it off in OtherSpace, returns, and moves back out silently

The five seals on the enchantment are done. Now to head away

5000 XP for battles and quests

[Abe Sargent]

Two days later Alzar arrives in the Wyrmsteeth Range at the designated location, with the party in tow, in case things go badly. Alzar begins to use a tool to crack the Amulet in the right location, and the sheering force of Thyralax from the inside, the weakened seals, and Alzar’s tool are enough, and the gemstone cracks and disintegrates and a gigantic Sapphire dragon breaks out of the shell. Exhausted by its efforts, the creature falls to the ground, unconscious.

Alzar orders the anti-dragon stuff they brought with them to be set up just in case Thyralax still doesn’t wind up as he seems. About twenty minutes later, the heavy wings of a ancient brown dragon are heard, and an old voice cracks the valley they are in. “And so you have returned. I felt the magic break Thyralax….? Your foolishness is my good fortune!”

Ignoring the humans, the dragon flies down to attack the unconscious dragon. Can his party handle, solo, a dragon?


Mardius, Brown Dragon - Venerable, -4 AC, 20d6+20 breathe weapon, 1d4, 1d4, 3d10 damage in attacks, knows spells, THACO 9, 120 hp

Alzar mentioned - they brought their anti-dragon stuff with them:

Scroll of Protection vs Dragon
Wyrmcleaver - +2 two handed sword, becomes +4 vorpal sword against dragons - handed to Rogren

Not a lot though. He was doing prep work for the Sapphire’s sonic attack, not the Brown’s acid one.

The main goal here is to not-die. Alzar just has the one Scroll, so it has to be the last one. But he has something else. He reaches into the Bag of Holding and grabs a Scroll of Proetction vs Acid and uses it.

Alzar’s goals are to do two things -

1). Give Rogren the best chance of hitting with his Sword
2). Survive as long as possible so Reogren can attack more with the sword
With no acid attacks on the table any more, everyone is in a good place

As Mardius moves in, they get ready

Racala casts Bless which gives them +1 to hit and +1 to saves against Fear stuff, including….say…dragonfear effects

Forx will cast a few spells, and then begin to play the drums, giving everyone a +2 to attack and damage.

Racala will follow with Prayer, a 3rd level spell that gives everyone +1 to hit, +1 to damage, and +1 to saves, and -1 to enemies, including the brown dragon

[Abe Sargent]

The dragon breathes, and the Acid just rolls off them unharmed. It takes 6 damage from magic missiles, and then the Magic Resistance withdraws the other.

It lands and the bonuses for attacking begin to hit and Alzar and Rogren move in to melee range

1 vs 8

Alzar’s sword swings - he gets +4 for the sword +1 for strength, and +4 for to hit bonuses of spells and the Drums. Thaco - 18, 22 for AC and Thaco, and then -9 to 13 - so Alzar needs a 13 to hit. 8 ,misses. Rogren has the same bonuses, and specialization in swords to -10 instead of 9. Thaco is lower too17 - so he just needs a 7 to hit. Now if he rolls really well, a 19 or 20, Wyrmcleaver kills automatically. Alzar’s killed two dragons that way - so a 10% chance each attack of an auto kill….8 and hits for 1d12 for the sword and 5 +4 for sword, 2 for specialization, 1 for STR, and 3 for bonuses - 10 total 15 damage from Rogren.

The dragon reaches down to claw, claw, and bite Rogren, with the nasty pointy sword thing. Rolls 3,m 6 and 19 for 9 damage

Rogren has 33/42 hp left

2 v 9

Alzar tosses a 6 and misses. Rogren….16 and hits for 17 damage. A Chromatic Orb is launched from Adentium who misses. 15, 8, 5. Rogren takes 2

31/42

7 vs 5
The dragon 3, 16, 12, bites Rogren for 16and claws for 2. A heal spell from Racala, Cure Light Wounds heals 10. Alzar finally connects for 13 damage. Rogren….13 for 19 damage

23/42

55 damage to the wyrm. It flies up. This is not working. It casts magic Missile at Rogren instead. Max - 5d4+5 damage fires at him. 18 damage. Alzar hands Rogren his Extra Healing potion from his belt and Rogren drinks it and heals 30. Alzar tosses the Dart of Death and Horn of Blasting to Adentium as well.

35/42
9 vs 5

The dragon breathes again to see if their protection is up, knowing that it would likely kill everyone but nope. He’s flying above the group, immune to melee attacks right now, and Alzar’s Short Bow bites two arrows at him for. One hit for 7 damage. The Dart of Death is used and hits automatically one creature, but stays at that creature for 1d4. 3. 65 damage total

2 vs 4

A dragon can outfly someone all day long, but Alzar want to push this lizard in the sky a bit. Him and Rogren begin to fly up to where he is hovering to sort of push him. He turns and casts Mirror Image and creates 10 illusionary images of himself. Alzar skips his turn to drop his weapon, grab the Star, and tell Rogren which imagine is actually not an image to aim for.

1 vs 4

Rogren swings and….gets an 19….dead dragon. The vorpal sword goes snicker snack, they leave it dead and with its head, they come galumphing back

20000 XP for the group

After slaying Mardius, about an hour later, Thyralax raises back from unconsciousness. He asks what happened and Alzar grabs Mardius’s head. He was spending an hour caving up the skin, teeth, etc of the dragon. Thyralax thanks them and flies them up to Mardius lair to show them it. They can have anything in it.

18000 gp
2 Star Sapphires 10k each
12 blue pearls, 500 gp each
Bag of Turquoise Pieces - 2500 gp
Potions of Blending, Climbing
Staff of Dispelling
Chime of Time
Rod of Health
Ring of Safety
Wheel of Fortune

Thyralax agrees to aid Alzar if he needs it as help for freeing him. He lives back in north-eastern most parts of the Ljallenfals. It’ll work out.

The whole group gets 4000 XP and Adentium and Forx both level up. Alzar gets 4k +14900 - 18900


End of Bestiary of Dragons and Giants. Again

[Abe Sargent]

I suspect we’ll keep hitting this one up, it’s pretty solid

So let’s talk about how Alzar is about to break the Rogue class

Alzar levels up:

Open Locks: 40
Find/Remove Traps: 95
Move Silently: 60
Hide in Shadows: 55
Climb Walls: 70
Read Languages: 5
Evasion: 45
And he got one more in Thaco.

Alzar just collected his second weapon proficiency and he has not used the first. He is about to use them both. The first, is going to be Expertise on his Short Bow.

Weapon Expertise is available for any class that does not have the ability to specialize with a weapon (and Mages can take it either). They can take Expertise precisely once. Now, Expertise is a poor-man’s specialization, which has just one benefit. Not any more bonuses to hit, and none to damage either. And Alzar won’t gain Point Blank range with the bow like a fighter would. Nope. He gets one thing. The number of attacks of a specialist.

Now if you’ll recall from way back when, Alzar’s axe had a lot more attacks once Alzar got to level 7 as a warriors, as a mage when he got to level 8 and gained that specialization and multiple attacks, he became a lethal tank-mage, rather than a little squishy-mage. And what level did Alzar just reach?

At level 1-6, someone firing a Short Bow with Expertise or Specialization gets 2 attacks a round. Pretty good, right? At level 7, that person now gets 3 attacks per round. So Alzar will be able to naturally fire his Short Bow thrice.

But don’t forget….

Alzar has the Hasp of Reloading. When he fires a bow with it, another arrow appears from the quiver and he gets one extra attack with each shot. So the Hasp doubles your fire rate.

And Alzar has 3 shots a rate.

So I don’t have to win the Math Field Day competition to tell you that Alzar now gets to fire SIX arrows a round.

Rogues can also specialize in fighting styles, like Alzar did with one-handed weapon fighting as a warrior. And that’s great. Alzar is looking at two possibilities, Missile and Weapon and Shield. Alzar likes what both can do, but for now, the 6 extra shots are enough of an upgrade, so he’s going Shield and 1 Handed Weapon He gets an extra -1 AC for skills in melee, and can also use the Shield Punch with any shield, not just Bright Barrier. The Barrier is fighter only, but he has a +5 shield he equips. In melee only, he drops from -2 AC with the Ioun Stone to -8.

This increases his survivability even more.

For non weapons, Alzar takes: Fine Balance - +2 to rolls for tumbling and tightrope walking, no penalties to fighting on an unsure surface, and gets +10% to Climb Walls - I already included ht bonus above

[Abe Sargent]

Anyways, let’s take a looksee at those magic items, yeah?

Staff of Dispelling - 13 charges. Casts Dispel Magic at 15th level. Usable by any character.
Chime of Time - Keeps time of whatever increment you want
Rod of Health - Only usable by clerics, can be used like a Staff of Healing, but without using charges. Each target can only be healed once/day. (Cure Disease, Blindness, Poison, or Serious Wounds)
Ring of Safety - 4 charges. If the wearer fails a saving throw, can burn a charge and succeed.
Wheel of Fortune - An infamous magical item that has random effects for the spinner, and some great ones, but the bad ones are worse than the good ones are good. Each person may spin the Wheel once







Alzar swaps +3 weapons for the party as they continue to adventure for any they don’t have in order to make sure they can hit creatures like constructs or higher level undead or elementals and such.

[Abe Sargent]

Begin of AC10 Bestiary ….

Ravellia and the Dragon Eggs


You know what? Let’s just do another one right now


Three days later, Alzar is holding court, and had entered the time where anybody in his March can come to him and talk something over. As he does, a middle age woman dressed in a green blouse with grey eyes and black hair walks in.

She introduces herself as a sage Ravellia, and she specializes in all things draconic. As Alzar’s realm is next to the Wyrmsteeth Range with a lot of dragons there, she thought she would come and ask him for aid in a project. There are three black dragon eggs that have been abandoned by their mother. Ravellia was watching them, but urgent business calls her away, and she wants Alzar or some of his people to head and watch over the eggs, and record anything that happens, It’s a rare opportunity to study their habits and nature without any parents. She has stuff that’s needed, including some black dragon oil that the eggs need to keep moist, and a magical cube that tells the temperature of the place, and answers all questions about black dragons or their eggs. Earlier, Ravellia went to Claranensa the Seer’s place, but she directed Ravellia to Alzar instead for someone to watch and study and record. The goal is to make sure the eggs get to hatch. If all three eggs do so, then things would be excellent. Alzar agrees.

They are teleported to the eggs in the mountains by the court Magist, and then Alzar has her send a summons to Vala, over in Thorasia, his own apprentice. Alzar is shown the items, and the three black dragons eggs into the sands of a cave. He begins to ask the Cube questions and it’s quite detailed Perfect!

After the Magist teleports Ravellia and herself back, Alzar begins His old apprentice Vala arrives about an hour late,, and Alzar puts in a request to borrow a minor magical item, and she agrees to do so if he shares the results. She heads back and teleports over some scrolls. Alzar used to have a magical quill that would write down anything that was said. While here, Alzar will spend his time asking a bunch of of highly detailed questions, and he will bind them into a book he titles:

Everything You Need to Know About Black Dragons and their Eggs, As penned by Alzar

Vala will get a copy too!

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar spends the first part of his time here turning and oiling the eggs. All dragon eggs are different, and these are leathery and purple colored. The thermometer begins to change hue and its too cold. Alzar has grabbed the Lamp of Long Burning to keep the area around the eggs lit, and he sets it up. They will stay warm and comfortable until they hatch.

Alzar spends a lot of time asking questions and investigating black dragons. He is learning a considerable amount of detail about their species. His quill is filing it away as well. He restocks the ink as well.

After a while Alzar returns to another oil and turn, and then heads out to do a little exploring, with a rear exit of this cave to the next one. Behind this one is a passage and more. There is a huge room with a lot of junk - broken swords, armor, wooden splintered items, dishes, cups, and more all broken. He grabs the Star of Mo’Pilar to do some investigation, and he finds a magical rod in here that he secures and uses the Slate of Identification to ID:

Rod of the Black Wyrm

Alzar head back to the eggs and watches them for the rest of the day. That night, there is a setting of the sun, and in twilight, a group of four elves approach the cave with bows drawn and order Alzar to surrender.

Alzar is puzzled. Are they here to kill the black dragon eggs? He asks why, and then they tell him that he is one of three chaotic mages that they have been hunting that are causing problems here. What? Does Alzar look like a chaotic mage? He is Marquis Alzar. The leader narrows her eyes at Alzar for a moment, and then recognizes him, and nods to the others, and they lower their bows. She apologizes. She tells him about these three lawless mages out here on the back of the Llallenfels, and they have been trying take care of them permanently. She leaves him with a great horn make from elk antler‘s and tells Alzar to blow it to summon the elves if he makes out the magi.

They head out and the next day passes uneventfully. Alzar doesn’t need to sleep or eat or drink with the Greater Ring of Sustenance. So he’s fine to take care of the eggs all day long. He’s asked all of the questions that he can think of. So he spends the time reading, or doing long-distance correspondence back home, writing letters which are dispatched to folks via his Magist, and more.

[Abe Sargent]

The next day, Alzar is relaxing by the cave when he sees a presence. There are a trio of mages behind an Invisibly 10’ Radius spell, moving cautiously in. He can see through invisibility as part of his super-high intelligence.

Alzar pretends not to notice them and walks up, stretches lazily, and then moves towards the cave mouth, which would block them, and then they slow down. He heads inside and sits back down by the fire, with his back to them, and they see this as a good sign. He reaches over to the horn and blows it quite loudly for the elves. The wizards aren’t sure what just happened, so they ready spell components. Alzar opens a book and begins to write. After waiting a couple of minutes, one inches closer and closer, not wanting to disturb the sand.

Alzar reaches into his belt and pulls a closed box from his belt pouch. He opens it, and reveals a shining magically enchanting gem that pulls their attention. He places the gem on the ground and then backs away and turns around to look directly at them.

“So what do you want with the eggs anyway?”

Shocked by his question from nowhere they pause. After a moment, the one in the back furtherest away speaks up. They have a recipe for an Acid Breath potion, and it requires the shell of a black dragon egg. Thus, they are here to secure the eggs.

“I can’t blame you. I’ve raided places for components for potions, spells, magic items, scroll ink, and just general interest for an eternity. I get it. Normally I’d let you do it. But I promised a lady that I would guard and protect these eggs. And after finding out all of the different forms that black dragons take when they turn human, I think she was a polymorphed dragon. Perhaps even the mother. I cannot tell her when she comes back that I gave away her eggs.”

The magic user offers Alzar money.

“Let me ask you one question. What could you possibly offer me that’s more valuable than this gem I already have?”

All of the mages impulsively look at the gem, and Alzar intones it’s trigger word…

The Gem of Delusion fires


Gem of Delusion – Command word forces everyone other than user in 20’ radius to save vs spells as Gem flashes. If they make it, they are stunned for 1d4 rounds and then Feebleminded for 1d6 after. If they fail, then deluded.

They roll 19, 2, and 16. So the leader and the defensive specialist made it, and the aggressive one failed. He is deluded. He is massively paranoid. The other two are stunned for 2 rounds, and then feebleminded for 4 more.

Alzar’s bow is at his side, and he grabs it, load,s his Has pof Reloading and spend this round getting ready. Meanwhile, his foe casts Melf’s Acid Arrow at Alzar. He takes 8 damage this round

72/80

4 vs 5

Alzar’s six arrows head up and fly at the mage. Alzar tosses 17, 15, 9, 7, 13, and 2. Four hit for 2+4+4+2 12 damage. Very symmetrical. Wendell the Mage runs away, and Alzar takes 7

9 vs 6

Wendell flees and Alzar takes 8 again. Alzar’s arrows slay the stunned leader. The other one is now feebleminded and is +4 to hit and can’t cast anything.

6vs 3

Alzar hits the enfeebled mage for 21 damage. The other one is found by the elves coming from the horn blast, Wendell, and slain this round.

The next round Alzar kills the feebled one.

All three dead

The elves arrive and identify all three. These are the chaotic mages they were hunting. Alzar strips off anything good and uses the Star to help, and then the elves take the bodies for proof of death and Alzar gives them his trumpet

Alzar finds:

Book - How to Make an Acid Breath Potion in 12 Easy Steps

Everything other than the eggshells is in a backpack. They have enough here for 10 potions.


Nothing else of value other than stuff like water, weapons, and such. No magical items, and no spellbooks are here.

[Abe Sargent]

That night, one of the eggs hatches. Alzar got instructions a while ago. He cleans off the wings, which start of sort, and smashed together. Then he has to begin feeding it. He heads into OtherSpace for a moment and comes out with some of the items that make magical food -

Metal Platter (Beef, Lamb, Turkey, Pheasant) for four people once/day; Mug (Beer, Ale, Mead) six/day; Pitcher (Water, Tea, Wine), three/day.;

He uses the Decanter of Endless Water to clean off the dragon without leaving the area, and then feeds the hatchling some beef, lamb, turkey, and pheasant in turn, They can eat any meat, and magically created meat is fine. They need about 25 pounds of meat a day, but this will work for now.

All next day, Alzar spends getting some meat delivered from the Magist, and then stores it in his Bag of Holding for later.

That night, a second egg hatches, and he cares for the next youngling.

[Abe Sargent]

The following day, a rumbling can be heard a little before noon, and a creature that finds black dragon younglings and eggs a delicacy emerges from the ground. A purple worm!

Alzar’s Warp Marble flies out and he tries to catch it. Then he grabs his bow, Hasp, and arrows as it flies in. 17 tossed, nope, no good. Alzar;s arrows fly in and hit it for 7 damage. The Worm stops and turns towards him, and moves at Alzar, rather than towards the dragons and egg.

Alzar has one round of arrows before it arrives. It has an AC of 6, so Alzar fires six shots - he needs 17-6-4 7 to hit. He gets it four times for 14 damage. 21 total to it.

It moves it and tries to chomp him. If it rolls a 20, it eats him. And that won’t be good. It tosses a….20

Alzar takes 12 damage from the bit and he is swallowed whole!

68/80

Uh oh! Alzar spends a round concentrating. He takes 10 damage from the digestive processes, and then leaves to go to OtherSpace

58/80

With his meal suddenly disappearing from his stomach, the worm pauses. Not sure where Alzar is….

Alzar swallows a healing potion, and switches to a weapon that should prove useful

The next round, the Worm decides to give up hunting down Alzar and moves back to hit the dragons.

70/80

Alzar pops out of OtherSpace loaded and ready for bear. Or worm.

Alzar intones the word to active the Stoneskin Spellcahe Ring he had, and 10 skins protect him. With his +5 shield and Gladius he wades into battle with a -8 AC, 10 hits from the worm that need o be done before and 40% of dodging the one attack the Worm can do with Evasion, and if he dodges, the Skin won’t be used.


I’m not even rolling the dice on that one. Alzar wins.

Dead worm.

[Abe Sargent]

After making sure the b. dragons and egg are fine, he moves to begin using Poison Use skill to collect the poison glands, and such from the Worm, and he also collects acid, and some teeth.

After a few hours, baby #3 hatches.

Nothing else happens that day.

As the sun passes on the next day, Ravellia returns from her conference, flying in. She sees her dragon babies and spends some time with them making sure that they are okay. She then flies to her lair to make sure everything is there (not here) and when she returns, she has a bag in her mouth and she polymorphs back to human form. She gives Alzar some of her treasure as a reward, and in particular a magic item that she can’t really use much of.

There are 2500 platinum pieces, and a crystal.

She shows him the crystal, and then Alzar takes off. She is very cordial and effsuie about him.

Results -

1). Alzar has gained an ally in Revellia, a powerful chaotic evil dragon in Ljallenfels.
2). Alzar has gained lesser allies in the three black dragon younglings
3). After spreading the news about him, Alzar will get +1 to all encounters with black dragons from here on out. That means Blacks are more likely to talk than attack, and more likely to listen than fight.

Crystal of Deep Healing - When someone holds the Crystal, and touches someone who is wounded, their wounds, diseases, and such heal over time, much like a really quick regeneration. However, once the Crystal is used by someone, it can never be let go of, physically. Should physical contact end, or the Gem be destroyed, the last person to use it takes 1 hp for each hp healed from all healings that were done.


Alzar gains XP for the dragon as if he killed it, and a bonus 10k for all three surviving, according to the module. So he gets:

49,000 XP

Welcome to level 8

Open Locks: 40
Find/Remove Traps: 95
Move Silently: 75
Hide in Shadows: 65
Climb Walls: 70
Read Languages: 5
Evasion: 50


End of Bestiary of Dragons and Giants. Againx2

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar reads the Manual of Bodily Health; Manual of Gainful Exercise; and he gains 1 point in STR and CON each

He won’t be able to benefit from either ever again, and they are now gone

Alzar’s STR rises to 18 and we will roll % dice, because he has been a fighter in the past - 23. But his STR just counts as 18 for his Thief right now. And when he gets back to Fighter, he can increase his str with magical items, but still, why turn down a stats gain like that?

[Abe Sargent]

Begin the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga



Let’s finish the Thief part of the quest for now thing

This one actually subs right into what we’re already doing.

Let me give you some lines from the intro

“Although Baba Yaga is one of the most powerful wizards in existence, she has not yet succeeded in her most ambitious goal - immortality. While she has perfected a number of spells and magical devices that can either prolong her life or snatch her back from Death’s icy grip, she still fears that one day one of these methods might fail.”


Baba Yaga has been planning a way to gather the powers to give herself immortality. First, she began to stalk and follow these Minor Deaths - avatars of various gods of death on various planes. After following them and seeing how they would sometimes kill and absorb the soul, she captured a few and forced them to show her how to do so. Giving her the ability to extend her life more, and yet not true immortality.


So you can imagine how intoxicating it must have been for her when she began to do research on the plane of Pandius and found that people here could take a very rough and difficult path to immortality, and then she could be guaranteed to never die. But early research suggested that other planar people were not welcome to move to Pandius and become a part of their little Immorality club.

And that changed a few months ago when Alzar, an extra-planar candidate officially began his journey. Yes, it was harder, but it had begun. Baba Yaga has left some of the other experiments and places she was working on and arrived here on Pandius, to begin researching immortality and Alzar here.

[Abe Sargent]

“And when did this happen? Five days ago?”

“It was probably more like 6 days ago now, Marquis.”

“And every animal fled from the area, in a ten mile diameter - a pure circle.”

“Me and my fellow elves witnessed it personally. Why?”

“Its nothing, but a five mile radius around a certain traveler is the first sign of her arrival, I believe, that’s a very specific number. Let me do some research.”

Alzar heads to the library and has Draconis help him find what he is looking for. A few hours later they locate it. A reference to arguably the single most powerful magic user of all time, Baba Yaga. She spent decades of her life creating a singular artifact, a Hut, that she uses to transverse the planes. She has lived longer than any other living human recorded, and extended her life by thousands of years.

There are numerous books and stories on Baba Yaga and the people who have visited her. Her hut is regularly open for people to visit, and sometimes he can be helpful to those who seek it, although with a price. And she’s always looking out for herself. She is probably the most dangerous of evil - neutral evil, not lawful and trustworthy, and not chaotic and reliably attacking each other to spite their face. She plays both off, and is horrible to predict.

That makes her a problem, and her presence in Alzar’s realm, in the woods nearby is even worse. And she’s been there for almost a week. Alzar begins to summon the party.


A few hours later, a representative from the Sphere of Entropy has arrived. A cleric of one of their immortals tells give, and him alone, some bad news. Thanatos is missing.

[Abe Sargent]

Each of the five Spheres has a nominal leader, the original founder of that sphere. Thanatos is not only the first Entropic Immortal, but one of the first generally, and he’s considered one of the two or three most powerful immortals of them all. His area of power contains death. Thanatos has been missing for about a day now, and his clerics, and there’s aren’t many that want to follow him, have not been given any of their spells or powers, like turning undead.

The missing Thanatos and the appearance of Baba Yaga are probably not a coincidence. They have to be related. And that’s not good news. Alzar at his most powerful wouldn’t be able to take out Baba Yaga, certainly not in her own turf. And the power level he would require to hit the most powerful Immortal would be unbelievable. If Baba Yaga did that, then he can’t really believe that he has a shot at doing anything.

Time to investigate.



Alzar does some research prior to heading n. According to people that entered and survived, the stories have some similarities.

There are a ton of magical spells and items that won’t work in the Hut for anyone other than Baba Yaga -

1). Any spell which moves something from one place to another like teleport or blink
2). Any magic that detects anything
3). Any magic that opens a portal or conjures something
4). Any magic that tries to contact someone
5). Any magic which has an extra-dimensional component
6). Any magic that uses a wall, Stone Tell, Dig, Passwall; or interacts in a similar way
7). Any item which duplicates these restrictions


The hut is impervious to magical, physical and elemental attacks, and the feet can be destroyed though. Sometimes the hut is open for a visitor, but that can be more dangerous - it means Baba Yaga is watching and expects you


Alzar and party move in and head out to the Hut




After flying over for about 4 and a half hours in the Carpet, they near the area. Alzar lands about two miles from ground zero. They head in and unload. After reaching the hut, there is a huge fence with each post a Necrophidus construct. Inside is a garden and a gate of golems. The hut is before them…


The gate is open, and the door ajar.

[Abe Sargent]

They pause for a moment to assess everything that is happening, and Alzar tries to use some of his items like the Star of Mo’Pilar, but none are working. He doubts they aable able to sneak in, and they don’t have the power to deal with Baba Yaga, so they might as well head in, and act cordial.

The Necrophidus turn as Alzar moves, they are looking directly at him, not the rest of the party. That’s a bit on the creepy side of life. He doesn’t want to door to potentially close behind him, so he has the rest of the party head through first and then he follows. The door does close behind him.

They are in a hexagonal room, much like that of a hut. Small and dark, with wood planks, a 10 foot high ceiling, and a ladder leading up to a trap door in the ceiling. There are bed and brazier, dried herbs and rugs, and a frayed carpet.

Alzar tries to use various items and none of them work. He can’t even use his OtherSpace or Bags of Holding here. He prepared a backpack for everyone in case that was the case with various items - potions in hard metal vials, for example.

So Alzar is going to scout the area with his thief skills instead. Moving Silently, Hiding in Shadows, stuff like that. They spend some time investigating, and there is a trapdoor under the carpet. They head up and the trap door opens. The attic here is also hexagonal, smaller, and bare of anything but some dirty straw. They search, but there’s nothing there.


The trapdoor down opens, and they head down.

[Abe Sargent]

This rough stone cavern contains a jumble of boxes and barrels that smell like stale food. Alzar moves into stealth mode, heading to the shadows along the walls. Alzar’s Gladius slips into a crate and lifts the lid after searching and failing to find any traps, and there’s nothing here. Alzar doesn’t have the time or the ability to search all of these crates and barrels, so they slip past them.

There’s heavy metal plate on the floor just past them. It’s very hot. There is a door at the end of the hallway. Alzar heads to the door first and checks it and it’s trap free. There are some rats down here, normal rats, and they are missing one eye each and have a glass eye in them. It’s unlocked and they head through….


They teleport to a storage room magically cool, with sheep carcasses hanging on great metal hooks from the ceiling. Alzar, first one in, seems an image of himself on a hook too, and immediately notices it’s an illusion.

There is a door to their left (directions now make no sense) and through it is a kitchen. There are two large tables, wooden stools, and a huge stove, with cabbage soup cooking on the pot on a stove. There are various cooking implements here

The stove is cast iron and has a front shaped like a dragon’s face, with eyes of beads. The warmth spreads around the room. There is a metal door behind the mouth of the stove, and could be reached. It’s pretty hot there. There are also doors forward and to the right. There is a dumbwaiter in that door in front after it is opened ,but none are small enough for that. The door to the right opens into a long twisting hallway with walls of a soft, red material and a floor that is knee deep in putrid sludge.

Alzar grabs a kitchen tool and tosses it in, but it’s like the acid of a snake or something. He grabs a heavy pot and tosses it into the corridor and then falls to the ground himself. There is a serious pain in his lower intestine. Could this corridor actually be his own body? That’s a vile trap. He shuts the door

There aren’t any other ways to go but into the stove. Alzar searches and finds no traps or anything. The stove is massively hot. So Alzar has a different idea. He can use the Stone of Diminution for the Dumbwaiter. He grabs it after heading into it, and gets winched up, and then leaves, places the stone on the plate and it heads back down and they repeat that four more times until everyone is up.

The dumbwaiter arrives in a room with a table bedecked with elegant crystal glasses, and a decanter, and well as a variety of serving stays and such. They are enraged with various signs, and there is a door on the far side of the small chamber. The Decanter appears similar to the Decanters of Endless Water Alzar has used before and he takes a mental note in case they need to come back.

They find a parchment on a table that reads:

“The recipe for black pudding is seven measures of oatmeal, two pounds of meat, and three onions. Questrix”

[Abe Sargent]

Well that’s a bit odd. But Alzar notes it down and leaves it. The door opens into a large reception hall. There is a curtain on the far side, and it is pulled aside. Four clay golems are in the four corners of the hall. There are emblazoned on the curtains two knights sparring, ad a gem studded throne that defies description. The floor is studded with alternating silver and gold tiles, and there are two braziers that flank the throne.

There is a door to the open side. A stair case winds upwards to a balcony and wraps around a seemingly bottomless pit that radiates cold. There is a huge amount of cold in here, and Alzar heads up, and then grabs a door here and they teleport again…


They arrive is a huge round chamber dominated by a circular raised dais On it is a reclining easy chair with black leather upholstery. Over it is a domed ceiling. The ceiling shows the stars above, twinkling and in real detail, although it is not a open window. This observatory has some twinkling lights on the far sides of the rooms, some balloons on one side and the other a globe, The globe is a relief of Pandius.

There are no doors here

Alzar inspects the area, and then finds a button in the globe and presses it and a secret door opens and then head through it to a newly teleported room…


This is an odd looking chamber, There is a circular room with a variety of mouse holes at floor level, and mice are scurrying about underfoot. There are some red leaved bushes no one in the party recognizes, and there is an odd odor in here, like a cat.

In a moment, a elvish cat appears and then disappears again, just as quickly After it does it a few more times, Alzar decides that it wants to be chased, so they chase it around the area and into four rooms in the mouse holes. At the end, Alzar gives the cat some food from his backpack and the elven cat thanks them for playing, and as a reward will answer three questions about Baba Yaga. Alzar asks them and finds out:

1). Baba Yaga recently gained the cooperation of the powers of Night, Twilight, and Day
2). You can choose your next place of arrival by giving a door a special knock in code if you want
3). There are exits here to the Baths or the Conservatory - Alzar chooses one

[Abe Sargent]

This flower shaped greenhouse is made up of a large domed room that opens into 8 smaller rooms. The walls are made of leaded glass, and there are tons of alien and unusual planets in here. In fact, there are two species that Alzar has not seen since his tour of the first crashed spaceship he explored.

There are a bunch of large ants, around 6-9 inches long each in the area, quietly doing their job. And some bumblebees and dragonflies and well. There are some special black flowers in the center of the garden, and like before, Alzar chose to not take anything - they don’t have time to stop and pause.

There are three doors from here. Alzar takes one and….arrives back at the Playroom o the cat. Instead of trying another door, he just decides to head to the baths instead


This is the baths. The floor and walls here are finished in ceramic tiles and depict sea monsters, some of whom Alzar has not encountered. There is a pool of water and at either end are five steams of water that feed it and there is a cluster of glowing spheres with Continual Light spells on them for luminance. Lounging around the pool are a hug number of frogs, and like other animals are missing an eye and have it replaced with a glass one. There is a room in the back filled with shelves and that are crammed with things like towels and bed sheets.

After a quick look around, Alzar finds a secret door, and heads through it other than the regular door in here and arrives…

This area is filled with clanking machinery and the noise is so loud that evens shouts are barely heard. There are no natural light sources in here, but Alzar’s black Ioun stone is out and the continual light stones of the others come out. Like other places Alzar slips into the shadows. There walls floor and ceiling are made of bronze and the ceiling has great pistons crashing down from them, and eject huge clouds of steam that is quite hot.

Heading into that steam would likely cause serious damage

There are two doors on the far side of this chamber. Alzar has the others stay and he stealths over dodging steam blasts and climbing the walls in places to get over machinery. This first door opens into a small control roo, Alzar makes an INT rolls, succeeds, and hits the right button and the pistons stop. The other room stops the steam, There is a stair case on the far side now that it is safe to get to, and they head up


They arrive in a large wizard’s laboratory stocked with every possible bit of equipment, supply, potions, and more. There are numerous tables and shelves in her, and a huge samovar in the center of the room. There is a lot of writing here and Alzar can read it - its :

“Some sugar for your sweet tooth? Questrix”

Is that a clue?

Alzar goes forward and moves to a new chamber…

[Abe Sargent]

This area is oddly shaped and in a corridor., There are some locked double doors in front, and Alzar….picks them successfully. Inside is a walkway that has a metal railing, and it encircles four hexagonal chambers that are 20 feet below the level of the walkway. At the center of each of the chambers is a figure of black robes and death’s face. Each of the figures has a great scythe and appears to be using it.

Alzar passes his Spellcraft prof and these are temporally en-stasis. Set into the railing is a card that reads:

“To learn more about the tableau below, please open” There is a small box. Alzar searches one of the boxes for traps, or locks, or anything else and finds nothing and opens it.

Alzar is teleported to the tableau below in the first of the hexagons and the figure animates and moves to face him. This is a Minor Death

Alzar is facing it alone


Alzar’s bow is out and he fires some arrows at it, but they are nonmagical and can’t hit it. Even when fired by the +4 bow and the Hasp, they don’t count as magical. Alzar switches over to the shield and Gladius as the minor death arrives for melee.

9 vs 5

The minor death always wins initiative, and never misses. Alzar takes 2d8 damage from the scythe. 1+7 - 8 damage. Alzar needs a 17+4-4-1. 16, he gest a 9. He also tries to shield punch too and needs a 19. 3 - nope.

72/80

Alzar takes 7 and then gets a 19 and this with the gladius for 1d6 (2) +4+2 - 8 damage

65/80

5 and 8 rolled. Lzar took 10

55/80

Alzar takes 10 again and tosses a 16 and 4. 11 damage back

45/80

(Since it never misses I’m not giving Alzar a chance to evade)

Alzar takes 11 - 20 and 19 rolls for 9 and 7. Dead Minor Death

40/80

Alzar gains 3500 XP and is teleported back.

He chooses not to head to the next tableau, and they head out….

Back to the laboratory. This time Alzar goes…

[Abe Sargent]

Cobweb filled stairways lead down on either side of the area to a darkened room with a ceiling height of just 3 feet. There is a grate below them and underneath the grate a Living Wall. Hands from the wall reach out to grab and attack the party. They miss mostly, and Alzar cuts off the hand that hits Adentium, They rush off and head up the stairs to a door…


They arrive in a small diamond shaped room with four doors. Alzar checks and opens the first one with a weaving room with a spinning wheel sacks of clothing and such, and there are a bunch of rats in here weaving magical clothing., They ignore Alzar. A dog is helping with laundry in another, cats are helping with sorting in another, and in the final one, birds are sorting food. And an all cases they are ignoring Alzar and have the glass eye. Alzar searches and finds a secret door in the laundry and the…..



They arrive in a great hallway and there are with eight doors off this one. They are solidified and strong, built more durably than any other doors here. Alzar steps up to one after checking to make sure it’s free and it was guarded with a magical spell he did not detect and out from one of the rooms spells a Green Abishai devil

It greets Alzar as the Marked One, who earned the ire of Jubilex and Zuggtmoy. But it has been charged ot guard this prison ,and cannot let Alzar in. It attacks


1 vs 7

They win init and Alzar’s Gladius and shield are up and in front and he stabs and misses. He does not use his shield - wants to keep the AC bonus from it. Rogren stabs the guy for 9 damage with a sword, and two sets of Magic Missiles fly in and slip past the small Magic Resistance for 18 damage total. It stabs at Alzar and miss.es

7 vs 8

They stab out and hit it for 9 from Alzar and 6 from Rogren and slay it. It is banished back to its own plane.

8000 XP for the party.

[Abe Sargent]

They search the various jail cells and in the 5th one they check, is

Questrix
Neutral
Gnome/Illusionist (Skygnome Tinkerer)
10th Level

Str 10, Dec 16, Con 15, Int 17, WIs 12, Cha 15.
33 hp
Thaco 17
No spellbook or anything else

None of the other cells have anyone in them

Questrix the gnome introduces himself and explains what happened. He came into the Hut just a few hours after it arrived, he heard that Baba Yaga had a very rare black flower that would seriously increase his spell use. He was able to work out the various parts about the first floor, and the explored it all until he was captured by Baba Yaga in battle with her in the reception room. That was a few days ago. There is at least one upper level but it has a cache they can’t find out, and cannot get too.

There are apparently two rooms they never reached, a servants quarters, and a large room that a Cyclops is held prisoner. He is too big to fit through the doors. Hmm…

Alzar, his group and Questrix leave, in order to regroup and plan a future mission here.


They knock on the exit here to head directly to the first room, and then knock again to give the way out and head out.

They leave the grounds and head back homes and arrive there round 5 hours later.

End of The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga for now..

[Abe Sargent]

Everyone gains a level for penetrating the Hut





Rogren, a level 6 fighter, from the local town guard, who recently distinguished himself in catching a criminal. Specialized in long sword. THACo - 17 STR, Expertise, +1 sword, +3/+4 damage. 15THAC0 so 14 normally. He needs 42k for level 6. 42k XP right now


Racala, a level 6 cleric and servant of the Sphere of Matter. With 17WIS. Gains level 4 at 6k. Gets +2 1sts, +2 2nds, +1 3rd level spells. 27.5 for level 6 for her.

Adentium, a level 6apprentice and conjurer of a local leader, with Magic Missile, Burning Hands, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Chromatic Orb, etc and Armor. Lightning Bolt and Monster Summoning I at 3rd.

Forx, a level 7 bard who was recently entertaining the local population, and no looks to explore. Has+10% XP and gained…..Color Spray, Magic Missile, Glitterdust, Audible Glamer



Alzar levels up too and:

Backstab - x4 damage from level 9-12: +4 to attack

Open Locks: 45
Find/Remove Traps: 95
Move Silently: 80
Hide in Shadows: 80
Climb Walls: 70
Read Languages: 5
Evasion: 55


He also gains this proficiency

Camouflage - 12

He makes a roll to hide himself when he has time and adds 40% to hide in shadows. Wins surprise on attacks and evades being seen.

[Abe Sargent]

After a few hours of rest, Morena appears. Alzar has now gained 9th level.

She explains that the upper levels of the Hut cannot be reached except by mortals of a certain level. It would take Alzar a long time to level up to the right level, so she is ready to move him to the final class. Yes, technically Alzar needs to quest and find an artifact and turn it in, but the Hut is certainly an artifact, and it’s within his realm. And they need him to get in and get Thanatos out - assuming that’s where he is, and the Hut only opens for him and his party, not for anyone else.

Morena also agrees to accelerate Alzar’s development. Whatever cleric and skills he chooses will be gained immediately, due to the severity of what is going on. “And don’t worry about choosing me to be a cleric. Each immortal has their own spheres of mage that they give you, so just choose someone that gives you the magical access that you want. Welcome back to casting spells…”

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar is now a level 1 cleric, he is taking the Scholar Priest kit. Alzar may spend weapon points on non-weapon skills with this kit. He also gets huge positive reactions from scholars, sages, and such


125 character points:
+15 points for no armor at all

Major Access to these Spheres: All, Healing, Astral, Law, War, Combat, Charm, Divination, Guardian, Necromantic, Protection, Summoning, Wards, 95 points

Numbers? Elemental? Thought? 35 for those three at major if we want to later

45 points right now.


Alzar wants to focus on magic that either is something new (Healing) or supplements his stuff he already likes (Summoning). One of the major struggles with priests is that they have some good summoning spells in the Elemental schools, and thus cannot be acquired. But they have spells Alzar typically doesn’t like. Alzar downright detests illusions and disdains a quick evocation spell that does immediate damage versus a spell like Conjure Earth Elemental, which blows through a lot of people a lot more powerfully than a Cone of Cold spell does. Because I really want to give Alzar all of the summoning spells, let’s give him major Elemental access as well - 15 points.

110 - 30 left

Fire Immunity - Alzar is immune to fire. Any non-magical fire, flame, lava, or heat won’t affect him. He always makes his saves against fire spells and effects. And if a fire spell doesn’t have a save, he gets one.

So he’ll always save for half damage against an effect like Fireball.

10 points left

Protection from Energy Drain - +2 on saves vs energy drain effects, and grants a save when there is none
Cold Resistance - +2 on all saves vs ice-based and cold attacks. Effects without a saving throw are not given one


New Proficiencies:

Alzar gets two free with his kit

Scribe - 12
Religion - 10

Investigation - 11
Healing - 14
Hypnotism - 9
Administration - 16



Alzar also uses one of the Wishes from his Ring to gain one in Wisdom to 17. 16 is pretty good, but he can be an even better Cleric with 17 WIS because that lets him cast 6th level magic. He can’t do 7th though. You can raise each stat with s Wish just once, and he’s only done it with INT up until now.

Weapon Prof:

Alzar is considering the Mace so he can use Typhus until he levels to a decent place. But he could ggrab Flail instead so Ptah’s Royal Flail - +3 Flail, acts as Mace of Disruption would be an option. But nah,Typhus it is:


Typhus - INT 11, EGO 16, CN, can only be handled by clerics without bad stuff happening, +3 mace, immune to disease, every hit causes disease per the spell unless a save is made. Can cast cloudkill and wither once/day, and gives +1 to level for turning or commanding undead. -1 STR and CON to any non cleric who tries to wield it. Each time uses a spell, moves more towards CN. When removed, turns to normal Align, or regains lost STR/CON after one week.


And using that.

Mace

He holds on to one free weapon proficiency for now

Priests can use shields, so he’s using the +5 one.

With the shield and Bracers, he has a really low AC.

He has a few items that are going to intrigue:





Bonus Spells - 2 1sts, 2 2nds, 1 3rd

Alzar also has three Pearls of Power for 2nd, 3rd, and 43th level spells, and these can be used by a Priest to get an additional spell of that level.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s take a looksee at the March of the Mighty after a few months have passed


Month 7, Year 7 -

After a few months, we had a breakout of disease that was healed, we finished the defenses in Havendrop, there was a minor attack of orcs in the south that was ended, and the unead assault around Saffir that Alzar personally ended. One of his lyncantrhope servants found a pair of spies and killed them. Here’s the current finances of the March

63,396 Income

EXPENSES – 33,330 + Tithe, Taxes

Military – 17,590
Navy – 2750
March Staff - 3,420
Specialist Staff – 8050
Stronghold Staff - 7160
Taxes to Ericall – 20% (12800)
Tithe to Matter Temple – 10% (6400)

Treasury - 301,522

[Abe Sargent]

Begin PC2. Top Ballista






Welcome to the next campaign. Top Ballista is a supplement for D&D and adds a new and fun place to the campaign world, and then gives you a small group of adventures. I am taking a character from one supplement in one campaign world (the Baba Yaga Hut) and turning him into a different character to fit the campaign here at the city of Serraine

[Abe Sargent]

What is Serraine?






“Serraine... To begin, it is best to look at the birth of the city itself. Serraine began as an idea over a thousand years ago by some of the more imaginative gnomes: a flying city powered by both magic and technology. That dream is now a reality and a haven for all manner of beings.

As well as being a merchant's and librarian's dream, by it's very nature Serraine is cosmopolitan, not just as a meeting place for traders and scholars, but a home to those who want a place where they belong.

Serraine has always been open and relaxed about who enters its gates, (not that it has any, merely railings to prevent falling to one's death). It has perhaps, the greatest variety of races known as both visitors and inhabitants.

Nowhere else can one find pegataur paladin, a cloud giant laborer, technically-minded sky gnomes, faenare, ambitious humans and a floating skull as the city's librarian?

Among the city's delights are the requisite flying ships (sometimes powered by elementals), a vast library, the Tumbling Fields (a zero-gravity area), pegataur jousts, and the ability to readily order what you can't buy on the spot, thanks to the city's mobility.”

In 251 BC legendary gnome craftsman named Glimreen Gemeye discovers a jet engine artifact of the destroyed Blackmoor civilization. (The places Alzar saw including the City of the Gods). He begins to reverse engineer it, and more than 200 years later, the City is completed by numerous gnomes and a variety of other species and takes its maiden flight.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar and Questrix sit down to plan the next expedition into the Dancing Hut, and for now Alzar loans Questrix an empty spellbook and some of his own spellbook (not his personal ones, but the ones captured and traded for). Questrix soon enough builds a random but respectable spellbook.

While Questrix begins to rebuild, Alzar’s bound tabi, Ak’Kabar, which was captured in Hamedh, but bound here in Mystara.

Ak’Kabar, Tabi

HD – 5; HP 26
THAC0 – 15; 2 Attacks, 1d4 each;
Intelligence – 9
Speaks – Own Language, Common Tongues
AL – Chaotic Neutral

Each hit by a claw must save vs poison or be deluded for 2d6 turns. Tabis can pick pockets, hide silently, and move in shadows with a 40% chance of success, and they can backstab when doing do. A tabi looks like a cross between a monkey, a bat, and a cat. They are about 15 pounds, and roughly 2 feet tall. After being bound I is extremely loyal, will do anything commanded, will be loyal for life, can go far outside the boundary normally had, and most importantly, the tabi is not a familiar. He can have a familiar, and if it dies nothing bad happens


As you can see, a tabi is a bit like a winged monkey with some feline features. Ak’kabar, although bound, is still free-willed if that makes sense. He’s extremely loyal to Alzar, certainly. But he is not a homunculus or something. He is his own creature, if that makes sense.

Alzar is summoned to the woods in the northwest of his domain for some work-stuff, and while there, his tabi tells him that another group of tabi have recently moved into the area, he can sense them. Since tabi are pretty rare, this intrigues Alzar, and he sets up to head out and try to find the tabi.

[Abe Sargent]

Begin First Adventure - “Tabi Hunt?”


Alzar sets out to find the group of tabi the next day after getting some directions. Ak’kabar can sort of sense his people, but he’s not like the bat’s ability to hone in on them, just their general presence. Alzar heads into the forest and after a few hours, finds a pair of local elves here.

They greet Alzar and tell him that they are having a clanmeet and to head west from to take a detour. He agrees, and asks if they have seen any tabi about, and shows them Ak’Kabar to let them know what he’s discussing. One of their rangers did, to the south and a bit west of here. About a day’s march from here. Alzar thanks them and heads out in the direction indicated

A few more hours melt away and there is a very hungry black bear that is moving in Alzar’s direction. Alzar can see it’s very hungry, and heads to OtherSpace for a round, comes back with a tray and makes some food and drops it and they continue on the bear heads over and begins to eat

A black dragon flies overhead a few minutes later and spies Alzar and lands. It’s Rosellia, the black dragon that hunts here. She greets Alzar warmly for a bit. He tells her about the nearby bear, and she grunts, heads up, and grabs the bear for food and flies out.


Noon has melted away and an odd form comes flying out of the air at Alzar. He lands and then hails Alzar. This is a Pegataur, a flying Centaur:

[Abe Sargent]

He gallops in with a sheathed sword, and a black hair and mane, looks around 25 years old, well muscled, has some magical ingredients and can clearly cast a few spells if needed, and a longbow with a quiver on the side, and an oddly shaped sack. Sort of a cross between a saddle bag and a backpack. He has chain barding on as well.

He introduces himself as Rolane


Rolane
Neutral, Pegataur
AC2, THACo 14
27 HP,
STR 15, Int 13, Wis, 9, Dex 13, Con 12, Char 12.
5000 XP, level 2 Fighter/Mage
200 gp
+1 Two Handed Sword; 6 +1 arrows;
Knows Magic Missile, Shocking Grasp; has Read Magic, Shield, Protection from Magic, Magic Missile, Shocking Grasp in spellbook.


Rolane arrives and after introductions, points to Ak’Kabar and asks Alzar about the tabi in an oddly accusing tone. Alzar explains that the creature is bound to him, and was captured on another plane of existence, and it sensed others of its kind here. Rolane relaxes a bit.

Rolane tells Alzar that he flew down here from Serraine, it took about 30-40 minutes, and was chasing a tabi thief. One of the tabi stole a clan-hilt weapon from him. He saw a tabi disappear as the theft occurred, and likely flew off with it. And since all tabi are thieves, he flew down here to find the one that stole his stuff.

After spending some time with introductions, they agree to travel together, since they both are seeking the tabi home. Alzar doesn’t tell Rolane that he’s the leader of these woods and lands, it seems a bit like bragging.

They head out for a few hours and talk about things. Rolane is only the 2nd person from Serraine that Alzar has met, Questrix the first. They talk of various things that come to mind. This is a great opportunity to learn more, but Rolane is pretty gruff and stern. He doesn’t talk a lot. Nor does he want too.

[Abe Sargent]

Dinner rolls around and they light a fire and begin to eat. After a half hour or so, a odd and definitely recognizable odor can be smelled. Zombies.

There is a grey feathered creatures, humanoid, with vulture-esque features. Alzar has met them before. Chaotic and evil to the bone. Highly manipulative and highly untrustworthy. This one has gray eyes, and a gray cloak. He is escorted by two zombies who carry his things.

This is a nagpa. Extremely intelligent, and extremely magical




He walks and flies pompously, like the whole world should belong to him. He announces that he is called D’ath, and that he has arrived, so prepare!

D’ath has the zombies grab hit items and he sits down by the fire to warm himself. He wants the warmth of the fire, and he seeks a single lost item, one that the tabi supposedly have. So he is searching for them too, and since he overheard Alzar and Rolane talk about the tabi, he knew he should sit down and help them find it, or else they might die without his aid.

Rolane protests at the presence of the zombies, but D’ath points out that they are durable, useful, tireless guards, un-charm-able creatures, and generally strong aids. They will come in handy. After all, mark his words, but they’ll come across harpies sooner or later. Rolane seems a little off-put, but accepts it. He really seems to take things at face-value. He accepted Alzar’s claim, and now D’ath’s.

Alzar agrees to have D’ath accompany them on one single condition. That D’ath allows Alzar to cast a spell on him, and will willingly fail it. A simple Detect Lie. “Why would I lie to you, that’s an insult!” “Then prove it’s an insult and accept the spell.” After pausing for a moment, D’ath nods, and Alzar casts the spell.


Alzar asks a few questions:

D’ath is after a rare book. He seeks an old book of Traladrian History with the tabi possess. He was from Serraine, and then damaged a valuable book. Rather than face the wrath of the terrible undead Chief Librarian Matazumi, he chose to flee and fly down to find the tabi have, and then take it back to Matazumi to make up for the damaged book and to be let back into the city. Alzar agrees to let D’ath accompany them.

They take shifts and the zombies are on the whole night. At night a quartet of wolves can be seen tracking the campsite, but the odor of the zombies sends them away and there’s no attack

[Abe Sargent]

D’ath tells Rolane that all tabi are born evil and vile creatures who steal recklessly, and Rolane is eating it up. Alzar chooses not to get involved.

About an hour after lunch, they can make out something odd in their pathway - a pair of stone creatures - one a tabi and the other a goblin. Typical petrifaction. There’s nothing to be seen here but that’s a clear and good warning.



Two more hours roll pass. Alzar notices something. In the trees above the ground, about 20-30 feet are 3 young tabi, smaller than normal. Alzar has Ak’Kabar fly up to talk to them. The youth initially are scared of the new Ak’Kaba,r but after a few moments, they have finished a conversation. The youth head off and Ak’Kabar lets Alzar know what they spoke of. They gave the group directions to the tabi camp.

After moving towards the camp for 40-ish minutes, there is an old and ancient tabi that appears in front of them on the path. Alzar can tell it’s an illusion but doesn’t tell the others. Rolane’s long bow is up and D’ath has slipped back behind his zombies.

Alzar moves ahead and begins to talk to the image of the creature. He notices around 10-15 tabi surrounding them, but deep in the foliage. He makes no move nor does he inform the pegataur and nagpa.

Alzar address the tabi, who introduces himself at Quenstin, the leader of the tabi here. He welcomes the Marquis of the area, and both D’ath and Rolane look at Alzar oddly. One with suspicion and the other admiration.

Quenstin tells Alzar that his group settled here a little over two years ago. They wanted to find a place away from the nagpa who often enslave them. They felt they would be okay in Alzar’s realm since he has a tabi servant whom he treats well. Alzar found out and has arrived to see their village and such.

The leader then turns ot Rolane and tells his that they do know where the item is that he was stolen. “Do not be so presumptuous, pegataur. One thief does not make us all thieves. Learn some common sense!”

Then he turns to D’ath, who perceptibly shrinks back a bit. “We do have what you want., but you don’t seem to be thinking of what to offers us for it.” D’ath asks what they wants, groveling and sniveling. “The ring. The one that animates your zombies.” D’ath whines wordlessly and doesn’t move. “It will be really hard to go home without the book. Matazumi can be so harsh when it comes to his books. The ring please.”

[Abe Sargent]

The napga looks stunned, takes, off, and hands the ring over. Quenstin points back down the path of the en-stoned creatures a few miles back. There is a large gray lizard in a nearby shallow ravine, with some ruins there. This basilisk turns people to stone, and is a threat to the tabi. He doesn’t want to risk his own people. That is also where the sword is as well as the book. If the three can head over and take it out, they can get their stuff.

Rolane is gung-ho, all bows locked on target and ready to go. D’ath is predictably cowardish. He suggests ways to cheat the tabi and steal what they want. Alzar refuses. They agree and head on out.

A few miles away, they come to the ravine. Alzar pauses and inspects the area from above quietly with the Carpet. The ravine is small here, and there is an old ruin of a shrine or temple of some sort, in front of a cave. In the ruins is the lair of the basilisk.

Alzar will wait up here as the others move down, and then cast Light at the eyes of the lizard. Hopefully they’ll blind it, which prevents it from gazing at people (it can’t get the eyes to connect with people if the spell keeps it from doing so)

They move in, Alzar casts the spell as the lizard hears them…

9 - it fails. The Light is on after it failed the save. It is blinded! Longbow arrows snap into the creature from Rolan, and Sling Stones from D’ath. Alzar’s Trombash of Returning flies out and hits it a few times too. It can’t move around, and they all fly, so they are safe from melee and can’t be petrified. They win - it dies.


After killing it, they land and begin to check it out. They find the book, weapon, and a few other things as well:

85 pp, 580 gpo, 275 sp, etc. Alzar lets Rolane and D’ath split it, if Alzar can borrow the book for one day, and he has his Magist use Alzar’s Bookcopy on it.

Rare Book - Traladarin History: King Halav’s Early Life and Battles - 750 gp


Alzar spends some time cutting and hacking off pieces of the Basilisk. Skin, blood, teeth, and eyes. Alzar checks out the cave, and it goes in pretty far.

They return and deliver good news. Because he didn’t need anything, Alzar is offered his choice of items from a dead adventurer that the Basilisk killed -

Plate Mail +1
Shield +1
Long Bow +2

Rolane’s recovered sword is a +2 one.


They rest up, and then Alzar wants to head back to the cave and check it out real quick while he’s here….


End of Tabi Hunt?

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar is now level 2.He can cast a 4th 1st level spell now



We pause this campaign to go off track a bit. But just a bit.

Begin Book of Lairs II



Alzar heads in and things are a bit stuffy. The Necklace of Adaptation keeps him from breathing the local air, but it’s a bad smell to it.


He heads in further, and uses the Ioun stone to see in darkness, and he does. As Alzar winds into the cave system, he turns a corner and some yellow mold on the ceiling puffs some spores at him. He lights a torch and burns it keeping the flame lit. There are two more yellow mold growths here he kills.

The cave soon ends at a large cavern. At the entrance to that cavern are some purple fungus, which Alzar kills. Again, he Necklace is making him immune since it creates a pocket of air around him magically from which he breathes, and thus he is not breathing the air around him. It’s a nice way to delve and explore, and it works against all gaseous attacks as well as most ways to deny him oxygen.

There are a few more fungal dangers in her,e but Alzar cleans them out and finds a few old skeletons back here as well. All of the non-magical stuff is rusted, but there is:

+1 Trident
450 gp of assorted gems


Alzar returns and gains 1125 XP and levels up - level 3

He can now cast level 2 spells, and three of them.

Here are the spells he can cast:

2nd Level - Chant, Mystic Transfer, Sanctify, Astral Awareness, Ethereal Barrier, Enthrall, Charm Person/Mammal, Hold Person, Snake Charm, Music of the Spheres, Aid, Spiritual Hammer, Augury, Detect Charm, Find Traps, Dust Devil, Soften Earth and Stone, Fire Trap, Flame Blade, Heat Metal, Produce Flame, Watery Fist, Cure Moderate Wounds, Slow Poison, Calm Chaos, Restore Strength, Resist Acid, Resist Fire/Cold, Withdraw, Draw Upon Holy Might, Messenger, Emotion Perception, Rally, Frisky Chest, Zone of Truth, Silence, 15’ Radius, Continual Light.




End Book of Lairs II

[Abe Sargent]

The first module said you can toss anything into that area you want, so I tossed in a quick little fungal reaches. Alright, let’s hit up the next module in this Serraine campaign book…

Screams of Terror


Alzar heads back to the tabi camp. D’ath has always flown up to Serraine to return, with the book in hand, after Alzar’s Magist copied it while he was out. The tabi tell Alzar of another problem, in the area.

The tabi haven been here for about 2 years. Roughly 4 months ago, a group of Harpies (referred to as a scream) arrived around 12.5 miles to the west. Ever since then, trade and travelling that way has become dangerous, and there have been some locals that that gone killed or missing.

Alzar agrees to check it out while he’s here. Rolane wants to come as well, he’s happy to head into a new challenge. The two of them stay the night and rest up. Alzar grabs some spell components for spells that he learned that he’d likely cast, such as a small lead bead or ball for Hold Person.


The next morning, after grabbing breakfast, Alzar and Rolane head out. The morning is calm and quiet. There is a path that leads dead west from where they are, and they have reached the foothills of the Ljallenvals. The ground is moving up and down quickly. A few miles have past, when a form slips down from the hills above and flies down to them. A Wyvern!


Alzar doesn’t have a lot of magic spells that’ll help here. He grabs a clerical Wand from his belt and readies it. Rolane flies out from him, and casts Magic Missile at the Wyvern and it takes 8 damage. Alzar’s Wand of Paralyzation fires a charge at it but it makes its save. The Wyvern swoops at them and melee range is reached.

5 vs 3.

It attacks Alzar, seeing the man on the ground as an easier target than the dancing and flying pegataur. It misses (Cloak). Alzar’s Mace toss a 14 and…+3 for Mace, +1 for STR, +3 for AC so you need a 13 to hit and he connects for 1d6+5 - 8 damage. The great two handed sword from Rolane misses.

3 vs 7

Alzar misses, Rolane hits for 8+2 - 10 damage. The wyvern attacks, rolls a 19 and….hits Alzar for 9 damage and a poison roll. Alzar gets a bunch of bonuses (periapt and other stuff) and he tosses a 12 and he’s fine

8 vs 7

The wyvern attacks and toses a 3 and misses. Alzar’s 2 isn’t any better, and Rolanes 8 isn’t either.

9 vs 4

It’s 9 misses. Alzar tosses a 20 and connects for 6 damage. Rolane gets a 16 and hits for 7 and it dies.

Dead Wyvern

1400 XP

Alzar grabs the scales, poison glands, etc

[Abe Sargent]

“Better you than me!”

A man on a horse shouts out to Alzar and Rolane as Alzar readies. The man is pale, ill-looking, in his late 20s, wearing chain mail, with a ripped away right sleeve and an ugly injury on his arm. To his right is a younger man in his late teens, with leather armor, a shield and a crossbow on his back.

The man stops them near the dead wyvern, and dismounts with some difficulty. The younger man helping him the entire time. He introduces himself as Rachlann…


Rachlann
Human Fighter, Myrmidon Kit
Neutral
6th level, 42 hp (34 currently)
AC2, THACO 15
STR 16, Int 10, Wis 11, Dex 16, Con 14, Cha 13
+1 chain mail, +1 longsword, Potion of Healing, 25 pp ,55gp,

And his squire…

Sarion
Human Fighter
Lawful Neutral
1st level, 10 hp
AC 6, THACo 19
STr 17, Int 7, Wis 14, Dex 8, Con 12, Cha 12
Crossbow, bolts, leather armor, bastard sword, shield


Rachlann tells their story while Alzar uses his Healing proficiency to diagnose the wound. It’s badly infected and needs a Neutralize Poison spell to cure it.

Rachlann and Sarion were heading to the March of the Mighty to sign up with the growing military there. They were mercenaries and fought in a few skirmishes on the edge of civilization to the north, and decided to head south to the March for a more steady income. At that, Rolane smiles and tells them that they have just met the Marquis of the March

Alzar glances up and nods, and turns back.

Rachlann and Sarion stammer for a moment, and then continue the story.

Last night there was a harpy that attack them, and Rachlann slew it, but not before it clawed him badly on the arm. Alzar offers to heal it, but Rachlann knows it needs more than a gentle cure spell and tells him so.

“You are right. Luckily I have just such a thing.”

Alzar grabs the Rod of Healing and uses it to Neutralize the Poison of Rachlann. Alzar then casts Cure Light Wounds and heals the wounds. Rachlann is fully healed.

Alzar offers to have the two of them to go harpy hunting if they want, or they can continue on if they’ve had it. Rachlann is up for it. He’s looking for some payback

[Abe Sargent]

After a few moments, everyone is mounted. Alzar on the Flying Carpet, Rachlann and Sarion on their horses, and Rolane on, well, himself…


About three hours later they are roughly a mile from the location of the harpy camp. Alzar calls them to a stop to begin to prepare. He explains the basic harpy strategy. He has an Amulet he gets out and puts on. It will make him immune to charm magic, but there’s nothing he can do to protect them. But he has magic. He can cast Charm Person spell. When that spell works on someone already under a charm, the charm is broken. Both cancel each other out. He also has some Hold Person magic as well that can freeze someone.

Alzar’s tabi, Ak’Kabar has finished spying on them and reports. He also had Balo, his ferret, scouting the bottom. Both report the same. Alzar pulls out and turns Kithog and Zadaxx out for battle. They are un-charmable, and could be a good front.

The harpies have two people charmed - one elf and one cleric from a local village. Alzar wants to un-charm them first and the others will hit the harpies. But because there is a cleric here, and one of the harpies looks like it might be a spellcastr, Alzar will lead with Silence.


Alzar loans some magic items for this battle, like Sarion getting a real crossbow with the Hasp of Reloading, for example.

They count 5 harpies total.

[Abe Sargent]

Here we go.


They arrive at the harpy’s home, and four harpies emerge from the woods to protest their presence, led by a charmed cleric.

Battle begins!

4 vs 8

Alzar leads with Silence 15’ Radius on the cleric and the harpy next to it. The harpy can’t charm and he cleric can’t cast spells. The Crossbow of Speed fires and hits once on a harpy in the middle for 6 damage. Everyone else is closing this round. A charm goes out and…..

Rachlann fails his charm and is now a friend of the harpies!

1 vs 5

Alzar charms Rachlann and….Rachlann fails and is back. Rolane reaches the damage harpy and casts Shocking Grasp and hits it for 9 damage. Another bolt flies into it and slays in. One harpy casts Dispel Magic on the Silence to dispel it. That harpy charmed and missed, and the cleric casts Bless on their party

8 vs 6

A harpy and elf flanked the group and come out on the left-rear flank. They are on Alzar’s side and move to attack him. They’ll be able to attack next turn. Their leader casts Cause Light Wounds on Rolane and he takes 10 damage. Their cleric rushes in and attacks for a big ol’ miss. Alzar casts Charm person on their cleric. He tosses a 2 and fails. Zadaxx rams their leader for 3 damage. No one else hits this turn.

1 vs 6

Alzar recalls his 2nd level magic with the Pearl of Power and casts Charm Person on their elf. He tosses a 9 which….fails. He is freed as well. Rolane stabs their magic user for 5 damage. Bolts hit it for 9 damage and the Kithog bites for 2. He casts Cure Moderate Wounds and is virtually healed and Alzar is missed by a harpy

5 vs 4

The harpy misses Alzar, and Rolane takes 6 from a harpy bite by their non-leader. Rachlann carves their spellcaster/leader for 8, and then Alzar follows with Cause Light Wounds for 10. Bolt and Rolane badly damage it and it begins to fly away. Rolane takes 4 more from the other harpy. The cleric casts Cure Light Wounds on Rolane.

2 vs 8

Bolts finish out and kill the leader. Rachlan hits again on the other harpy. Alzar casts Command on the harpy that is by him to sleep for a turn and it falls to the ground for one turn. The elf hits it for 7 damage on the ground. The harpy begins to float off. Kithog, Ak’Kabar and Zadaxx move to Alzar.


2 vs 3

Alzar casts Command again to drop the harpy. The elf and Alzar’s various folks kill the sleeping harpy. Rolane flies along the fleeing harpy and drops it.

Dead - 5 harpies

1 harpy cleric/leader

3050 XP total

[Abe Sargent]

A quick search turns up a few nests of harpies in the trees. No eggs or babies, but they do find:

A bunch of gems and coins, given to everyone

Alzar casts Detect Magic and finds:

Pots - Invis, Healing

The elf is healed up with the Rod and returns to her local clan. The cleric is also healed, and they begin to escort both back home by the party. The elf’s clan would come up first.


End of Scream of Terror


Alzar is now level 4

Sarion is level 2

Alzar’s THACO drops from 20 to 18.

Alzar gains a new nonweapon prof - Diplomacy

He could get another weapon prof, but he’s holding off still. He can cast a new 1st and 2nd level spell.

Sure, he’s just level 4, but Alzar has a massive quantity of spell casting. Due to his wisdom, he can cast 5 1st level spells and 4 2nds. Then use the Pearl and he’s essentially a 5/5 magic user this early. That’s a lot of spells this early.

[Abe Sargent]

Begin Adventure-lite 3 Crash Landing


A few hours later, while heading back to tabi town, they notice something in the far distance. An object of some size is coming to the ground. Faint sounds of humming and sputtering can be faintly heard even this far away,

Rolane flies up in the sky above the trees for a better look and then returns. “As I thought! It’s a cloud clipper, an airplane from Serraine. It’s crashed to the north and a bit east of here, in the deep woods.”

Alzar uses a Spellcache Ring to Teleport to his HQ and grab the mages here. The Magist Teleports everyone, including Questrix over to the crash landing, and Alzar gets there about ten minutes after landing, with his Rod of Healing in hand. He begins to heal some of the badly wounded gnomes. Rolane and the others get here around 2 hours later.

[Abe Sargent]

A group of skygnomes like Questrix are here and scampering about. They are trying to keep any parts of the airplane from exploding or catching on fire. Alzar is able to heal three skygnomes that were on death’s door. 7 gnomes are here.

The leader and pilot of this group is Dunbar Stormkinder. After helping Dubar secure the crash site and nearby, Dunbar introduces himself properly….

Dunbar Stormkinder
Neutral Good
Gnome Cleric, Tinker Kit
Level 3, 16 hp, AC5, ThACO 17
STR 10, Int 14, Wis 13, Dex 16, Con 9, Cha 10
Potion of Human Control, x4 doses; Wand of Fireballs 17 charges; Leather Armor, crossbow, Gladius

The gnomes here are very proud, they are members of the 2nd Top Ballista Squadron, a highly respected quadroon of the defenses in Serraine. No idea what happens but hammering and such have already begun.

Questrix and Dunbar don’t know each other, but they know of each other. Dunbar is a highly decorated pilot and Questrix a popular entertainer with his illusion magic.

Dunbar needs a few things in order to get back to Serraine:

1). Time. They can make repairs. But they need time to get them complete - probably around a week or so.
2). A runway. Someone needs to cut down the trees and make a runway. Alzar doesn’t think the elves are going to like that though.
3). Defenses. The gnomes aren’t exactly powerful warriors, and they are needed for repairing and such. They need some defenses to keep them safe
4). Provisions. They need some food and water. They have enough supplies for two days. If they spend time foraging and getting supplies that cuts into repair time and getting ready.


Now Alzar has a lot of people here right now:

Alzar
Ak’Kabar his tabi
Rolane
Sarion
Rachlann
Rescued Elf
Rescued Cleric
Questrix
Rogren
Forx
Adentium
Racala

And he can get more from all over his March.

For tonight, they’ll build defensive formations like palisades and such. Alzar gets things moving. He speaks with the elf and cleric, and both agree to advocate on his behalf with the local people to let him build a runway strip for the gnomes. It’s within the borders of his land, but he likes to be neighborly. Can’t hurt to ask, instead of telling.

The next day, the permission is granted by the elves. They can begin work

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar’s magical items provide food and water to supplement the provisions. Alzar is teleported back to the castle for five hours the first day to run the March, and then is sent back afterwards.


As he comes back, there has been some sabotage to the work!

A full day’s work is undone when the nut and bolt assembly fails apart and a jury-rigged repair crashes. It’s very deliberate, but bizarre and unable to be tracked. No one observed anything. As Alzar begins to investigate the damage, one of the dwarves is shaking his head and saying, “one of them again…”

Alzar asks and the gnome tells him that it’s likely a gremlin. There are a few dens up in Serraine that they haven’t been able to get rid of, so they are used to this. Alzar gets a description of them and their powers, but it doesn’t match those of gremlins on his world and out in the outer planes, so it could be anything really. They have a chaos aura and some different spell ike powers here on Pandius.


After setting up defenses for the evening, Alzar can make out an invisible gremlin at the limit of his sight, creeping up to the camp and the airplane. Alzar can see him with his high INT. Alzar turns away and pretends not to notice and talks to Rolane and tells what he sees. Rolane begins to gently fly up, preparing his spells. Alzar tells Adentium as well, and he preps a Magic Missile spell. Racala casts a Dispel Magic spell at the place Alzar indicates, and the gremlin turns visible! Suddenly darts of magical energy fly in from the flank and from the mage and gremlin takes 15 damage total. Forx readies a spell and then the gremlin screams in anger and pain, and Dimension Doors away.

Well at least they scared it off.

Nothing happens that night

The next day the magi memorize a anti-gremlin set of spells. Shortly after noon a large pack of blink dogs come by to check out the noise, and they blink around, and then leave

The gremlin though does not show face, which is good. Night time is mostly quiet, although a group of large vampire bats fly in and around the area and land, but a few spells and missiles that kill two or three quickly cause the rest of the pack to up and fly away.

[Abe Sargent]

The next day, Alzar recommends to retain the anti-gremlin stuff, so they do. The next day, is clean and quiet ad that night there’s nothing major., Work continues nicely

On the 3rd day, shortly after breakfast, the gremlin is back, scouting very cautiously. Alzar and the party agree on their plan. Alzar summons all of his figurines. Zadaxx, Zandran. Kithog, Balo except for the Obsidian Steed one. They fan out quietly, and Ak’Kabar flies up gently above the area, to get a good view, and even Rolane gets the signal and slips quietly back.

After a few seconds, Alzar leaves the area completely to “get some more tools”. The gremlin sees Alzar leave, who the one who located him earlier. Alzar grabs his flying carpet, ad flies off, making a big show of heading to the capital to get some supplies.

After waiting about 10-12 minutes to make sure that Alzar is actually gone, the gremlin moves in

And suddenly Alzar appears from the inside of the airplane. Dispel Illusion fires from Questrix and the rest follow with three sets of Magic Missiles from Forx, Adentium, and Rolane, an Alzar casts Cause Light Wounds for 10 damage. The gremlin takes 29 damage total. It shrieks again and casts Dimension Door. The various flyers begin to track it. The Illusionary Dispel will keep it from going invisible for a while. Zadaxx has it in sight and flies up for a second to tell everyone. Alzar is flying on the Carpoet and heads over, leading others

The chase takes around 20 minutes, but with all of their flyers, they eventually corner it, and kill it with some more spells from rage (so it’s chaos charm/aura thing won’t work).

1500 XP total, divided a lot

Alzar made 300

The gremlin has died. It was confused by an illusion that Questrix created. Alzar was hiding the entire time, and had never left. Questrix point sout that illusions aren’t as bad as Alzar thinks they are!

[Abe Sargent]

That night shortly after twilight a large owlbear and its mate come through the area, and are very hungry, so they attack the camp.


They have various pickets and so forth for defense, so Alzar heads off defenses. Arrows, bolts, and spells pepper the big one. Alzar flies behind them to cut them off from landing with his +5 shield the mace Typhus, and his Cloak of Displacement keeping him from being mostly hurt.

At the end of battle, Alzar took a handful of damage from a lucky attack that the regen Ioun stone works on easily enough and heals him.

900 XP

Alzar gets 150

The day is done.

Two more days ebb past, and the only attack that arrived were a bunch of bugs that came in from a heatwave and flew through the area. That was it though and the runway is finished by Azalr’s crew, and the repairs will be done tomorrow on the airplane.

That night there is nothing too major, just a large nocturnal snake slipping through the area, and slips into a branch above the camp and scares a gnome on guard. It’s not dangerous, just a big plant-eater.

Repairs are complete!

They have to wait a day until tomorrow when Serraine will be closest. There’s a glowing orb on the panel of the airplane that is used to detect and steer back to Serraine. The plane is tight, but there is some space on board to take folks back up to Serraine. Alzar asks for passage since he helped them out, and Dunbar is willing, but tries to talk him out of it. Alzar doesn’t have the proper paperwork and can’t stay, but he could come a few days as the tourists. There’s some intrigue and annoying ness going on up there right now though.

Alzar pushes and there are three seats from three gnomes who died in the crash.

Who is coming with Alzar?

Rolane decides to fly up to Serraine tomorrow himself and may run into Alzar later, maybe not, it’s a real city. Alzar wants someone who knows the area to show him around, so Questrix makes sense. He can’t bring both Sarion and Rachlann. He decides to leave the 4 people of the party behind, so they leave the final spot open and blank, and Alzar and Questrix will head up tomorrow.

Alzar meets with the Magist in the morning as the gnomes are doing final checks of their airplane. He grabs a few official March items to take up with him, and they coordinate some work plans and such.

They launch from the quickly-made runway and head up into the air. Alzar says goodbye, maybe, to Rolane, and then they fly up to Serraine, and land on an external landing strip, and then exit.


End of Crash Landing

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar is now level 5.

He can now use 2 level 3 spells.

He can cast:


Level 3 - Continual Light, Dispel Magic, Remove Curse, Astral Window, Etherealness, Dictate, Emotion Control, Prayer, Unearthly Choir, Detect Spirits, Locate Object, Extradimensional Detection, Speak with Dead, Wind Servant, Zone of Sweet Air, Meld into Stone, Stone Shape, Flame Walk, Protection from Fire, Pyrotechnics, Water Breathing, Water Walk, Glyph of Warding, Cure Blindness/Deafness, Cure Disease, Hold Poison, Repair Injury, Rigid Thinking, Strength of One, Feign Death, Negative Plane Protection, Remove Paralysis, Line of Protection, Magical Vestment, Protection from Evil 10’s Radius, Summon Animal Spirit, Caltrops, Fortify, Efficacious Monster Ward, Invisibility Purge, Squeaking Floor, Thief’s Lament, Water Window, and……ANIMATE DEAD baby.

That’s right, daddy’s back


He gains the Court Intrigue proficiency




Key spells I suspect he’ll use:


Dictate - Lasts for 1 turn/level, 6 creatures, save, will follow simple instructions
Repair Injury - Repairs one critical strike from combat or serious injury (broken ankle, broken ribs, bruised nerves, etc)
Rigid Thinking - One target, save, 1 rnd/level - character focuses on task at hand and won’t change
Prayer - +1 to attack, damage, saves, AC of allies; -1 to those of enemies.1 rnd/level
Wind Servant - Creates angry wind Zeephyr - auto-hits one person with base damage AC -2d6, lasts 1 rnd/levl, requires concentration
Summon Animal Spirit - Free-willed elemental sprit summoned - AC4, Thaco15, 2d4 bite, 10+level hp, can only be hit by magical weapons, 1 rnd/level. Caster can communicate with it mentally.


Examples for Rigid thinking include a thief picking a lock, won’t change to deal with guards or a fighter fighting a kobold, won’t switch over to giants. But this is not Ray of Ondovir. Dictate examples include, “Drop your weapons,” or “Wait here until I return” or “Capture that elf!”

[Abe Sargent]

Welcome to Serraine. Here are the various races that inhabit Serraine.



Nagpa -



These ugly vulture folks are ugly inside too. Maybe it’s genetic.


Aarakocra




These flying bird people have large aeries and there are even a few of them in the far Ljallenvals and elsewhere. They have a small presence on board Serraine as well.


Skygnomes -



They founded this as a place for their own, since all of the other nations and spaces were taken. They run it, they repair it, and they fight for it. Skygnomes live and breathe here.


Sphinxes




A variety of different sphinxes also call this place home, and they even helped the gnomes build it more than 1000 years ago.


Tabi:



There are a few packs of tabi here, and they are mostly used as familiars and slaves to the Nagpa. They make good spies and thieves. They are intelligent and can take classes as well


Pegataur:




There is a clan of pegataur here in Serraine as well. They are like Centaur, but part pegasus rather than horse.


Cloud Giants:



While there are not a lot, often preferring their skycastles in the clouds, Cloud Giants also live here in Serraine, as merchants or aides.

Faenare:



There are a group of very rare fairy creatures that rare bigger than normal, and thus can fly to Serraine. They have a bit of an selfish, borderline evil streak.


Harpy:





There are some harpies that initially joined the city when they needed defenders early on. Today there are still three screams of harpies that live here, most helping to protect the city

[Abe Sargent]

Current Populations:

Gnomes - 1520
Nagpa - 125
Tabi - 250
Sphinxes - 22
Faenare - 80
Aaracokra - 100
Pegataurs - 120
Harpies - 35
Cloud Giants - 12
Gremlins -40
Kobolds, Orcs, Ogres - 40, 20, 6
Humans - 100
Elves - 70
Tourists - 150

The kobolds, orcs and ogres are slaves, stowaways, and such that were found, charmed and indentured, and do labor.

[Abe Sargent]

The place they land is the landing strip, outside of the structure proper. There are numerous fling vessels here including military ones and civilian transports. Magical cannons that fire Fireballs, Lightning Bolts, Ball Lightnings and Magic Missiles are arrayed in defenses around the city, with the ability to turn every way (save at the city).


Dunbar shows Alzar and Questrix where the exit is. There is a large Cloud Giant on the platform, with a number of boulders for defense.

There is one exit from the landing strip and it goes to immigration control. They head in. Dunbar and his crew are waived in, and Questrix is next.

This is a large wooden hut with 2 elderly and irritable gnomes with a sprawl of cabinets, scroll cases, tables, ledgers, and more. They have multiple magical devices, and abacus for counting. Questrix is looked up in a giant book for skygnomes, and found. After being verified, they heck to make sure that there are no pending warrants or anything for him and there are not.


“You’ve been gone for almost a year Questrix. Are you still clanless or have you been adopted by one of the five clans?”

Questrix is still clanless, and they make a notation. They make some minor inquiries, and then grab a Wand and use a charge. All of Questrix’s magical items glow, and they assess a “Reentry Fee” for him which he pays.

Next is Alzar.

Alzar steps up and introduces himself. They grab a Book of Undesirable Persons for humans to look him up to see if he has been banned. After verifying, Alzar acts for an official document to be granted. He tells them that he is the Marquis of the Mighty, from the Kingdom of Norwold, and wants to spear with the Mayor of the City on official business. That raises a few eyes, and one of the gnomes looks over at a crystal questioningly. It does not respond as expected.

“Can you say again?”

“ I am a Marquis of the Kingdom of Norwold.”

Nothing happens.

“Can you lie to us about something please.”

“I am really a Baron, not Marquis rank.”

The crystal glows a bright red. Alzar continues, “And my name is really Hetman the Portly.” It glows again.

It’s a magical device that detects lies

Questrix confirms that he has been to Alzar’s castle in the March and that he is, indeed, the Marquis. They begin to create some paperwork for him. They have a sash for him to wear too to denote diplomatic relevance. They begin to assess a fee for these, but Alzar successfully uses his Hypnotism ability and convinces them to let him through, as a gesture of diplomatic benevolence prior to him meeting with the mayor. They agree and his fee is waived.

Alzar has entered Serraine.