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

[Abe Sargent]

There are countless bolts, metal bars, and more as the super structure of the flying city. Then layers of wood, soil, water, and more were overlayed on top of it. Apparently the wood and buildings were protected against the weather, and there are various rods enchanted with Lightning Rod around the city.

Alzar can see two great water tanks, stories and stories tall. They have magical webbing that reaches into the sky, and Questrix tells him that water beads around them and then flows down into the great tanks, and those tanks have enough water for the needs of the city. Food though is rough.

There are some fungal gardens in the UnderCity, some fish is a large pond, and then a few small gardens, but that’s not nearly enough, so they import most of their food. Clerics are required to cast one Create Food spell a day for the city as well.

The transport airplanes, the Cloud Clippers, are used to bring food up., Each Cloud Clipper can carry up to three occupants and 1200 pound of freight.

They pass by a building called the Inquiries Office. This is where questions that visitors have about markets, places for rent, hotels and hostels, taxes and immigration can come. There are even tour guides. The best part though is a skychair system disembarks here.

Questrix has Alzar get on one. There is a huge iron rail that goes throughout the city, and skychairs move about it quickly powered by magic. There is a gnome driver of each skychair, and Alzar and Quetex pay a few silvers for transport.

There is an observation tower next door that has gnomes on constant watch with crystal balls, and a bunch of permanent wizard eyes on top as well. They are observing and scrying the airs, lands, and more around the city to make sure nothing is happening, and they have communication amulets to make sure that planes are take off and land safely.

There is a tavern called the Skypilot that caters to the members of the various Top Ballista squadrons, and wannabees and “Airheads” young gnomes who want to sleep with or marry pilots.

[Abe Sargent]

A few hangars, storage paces and such follow. The skychair whips around a fast turn and the gnome driving it howls in glee. There are various sectors here in Serraine. One is for the upper class elite, and then one for the working class. There are a few markets in each. Then some races prefer to stay together. For example, the pegataurs are in a few aeries off the far left. (Directions like east/west/north/south have no meaning here) The most beautiful homes are the sky towers that are made and inhabited by the faenare. They have been sculpted in such a way that the traveling wind creates beautiful songs.

On the right of the city, coming up, are the places where the sphinx live and hang out. There are two roaring out over the bow of the city. There is a magical forcefield 12 feet up on all sides of the City, and there is an emergency Vertical Levitation Clipper, that is flying at all times and can head out and grab someone who falls off the City and needs aid. It happens about once or twice a day.

Alzar asks Questrix about the UnderCity, which he mentioned earlier. Much like their cousins, the skygnomes originally preferred to live underground. So they created a sprawling underground complex for them to live in while the other races were above ground. They had everything they needed down there, but as they got over their fear of heights, they moved above ground. And now they live above ground permanently, and are fully skygnomes


Down there are mostly things for Serraine’s maintenance, and scavengers. And a bit of an UnderCity vibe, maybe some people that want to hide and such.

They are coming up on a large tower This is the Onyx Tower. Six floors tall, this houses the local wizards guild. The leader is a human mage named Erik Helsing, and he is on the city council as well. The human mages join the various protections, and help with casting spells of protection, offense, recharging wands and more. Some gnomes and other races are apprentices to them, and they live in nearby quarters.

There is a nearby tavern called the Singing Winds, and it is the only one of the five major taverns and inns here to have a human proprietor. The others are the plush and center of night life Imperial Hostelry, 10 floors, 15 gp a night to stay there, run by Leni Narayan, one of the most popular gnomes in the city. The Glorious Second is near Gemeye Market, the area of the city that is the most cosmopolitan, with outdoor markets that are top notch, the Skypilot, and the Brilliant Leisure, run by Aarakocra in their district.

[Abe Sargent]

They pass by the council building and office,s and then the major exhibits open up. There are a few major sights coming up:

1) The Tumbling Fields - A large section of the city is given to this sprawling chamber. It’s the biggest room in the city, more than 200 feet tall, and hundreds of feet long. It’s enchanted with permanent zero gravity spells. People come in here to play and tumble around. It’s a big favorite with kid and tabi
2) The Glittersteps - They ascend 80 feet in the air, and walkers on them don’t have to fly up or anything. Gentle sparks of nimbuses of colored light surround someone walking ,and little jets of air help them rise, if they want to not walk at all
3) The Museum of Culture - A museum of the 1400 year history of the city from its founding as an idea to modern day fruition. Tapestries, paintings sculptures, and exhibits of history and art are here on display
4) The Museum of Gnomish Crafts - This is a museum for all of the gemcutting and jewelry and artistic exhibits of a practical nature. But it’s nothing compared to….
5) Science Park - This is a huge outdoor exhibit of all of the best machines and constructions of gnomish history, and is the most popular attraction other than perhaps the big one coming in a bit. From gnomish clockwork mechanoids to early planes, there are numerous flashy and fun designs on display here.
6) Plaza of Triumph - This great military parade ground is used to train and practice for the local troops. This is where a sphinx, a harpy, a few skygomes, and more figure out how to work together. There are also numerous statues, monuments, and exhibits to military leaders and great battles and victories
7) The Temple of Thought - While there are lesser temples to Matter and Energy here, the most popular temple, by far, is that of thought, and multiple immortals are worshipped here all sharing a temple together. The temple is more than 1200 years old, and has been decorated and expanded and flourished over the centuries into a real piece of art
8) Lake Glitterlode - There is a small lake (or large pond) in the left of the city, past the Tumbling Fields. This lake has boating, and an artificial waterfall made from the water towers, and a few feet from the lake, the water turns to drops of water that cools people down. There is fishing here as well.
9) Picnic Fields - A large open green space is off the Lake. There are some flowers, meadow, and gentle elevation hills, and a place for people to relax and such. It’s more popular with tourists than locals. A few locals have decided to bring some food carts here.
10) The Hanging Gardens - A huge gardens are here, growing every natural, non-dangerous plant that can grow at altitude. Many plants are literally in the air, suspended off the grounds. The tabi love this area so much that some live here.

But all of that pales in comparison to the greatest achievement in the city. The heart of it all.

[Abe Sargent]

The Great Library -

Sprawling 14 floors above the city., and 14 floor below, there are 29 total floors for this. The ground floor is just the index for the rest. Modified skychairs enable gnomes who have been working in the library for decades to find a book in ten minutes or less, and return with it. The library has been in operation since before the city was launched, and has gathered books from all over the plane. It’s a sprawling repository for books, scrolls, papyruses, magical talking cylinders, and more.

The head librarian, Matazumi is a skull druj, an undead who is pledged to act at the great library for 200 years ,and he’s in year 172 right now.

They pass by disused gnomish launch pads where they test out new equipment away from everyone else, and Alzar has gotten an aerial tour of the city with Questrix in tow. They arrive back down and Alzar heads to the Gemeye Market to check it out and Questrix heads back home to check in with his family.

Gemeye Market is next to a small artisan’s quarter, where silk cocoons are spun and turned into silk and various jewelry, gemcutting, and other crafts are offered. There’s a locksmith right across the road and a clockwork store that makes clocks next to it.

[Abe Sargent]

Begin Heart of Darkness


Alzar noticed that a few undead porters are being used by the Nagpa in the city. It’s a bit odd. But no one seems to mind that much. Alzar could likely get away with animating some undead here - skeletons and zombies aren’t getting in anyone’s way or tweaking their radar.

Alzar checks out the stalls, and then heads into the Imperial Hostelry With the best suites in the city, Alzar drops some serious change on a few nights stay. It’s service level is superb, and Alzar will want for nothing. 12 gp a night for a a single room, with breakfast included.

After setting up, Alzar heads to the Council Offices. He asks a local bureaucratic gnome if the Mayor is available, presents his papers, shows his sash, and introduces himself. After hypnotized the gnome to speed things up, Alzar heads in.

The mayor of the city is Santarian Keltander. He is a pegataur, and began a three year term just a few months ago after gnomes were in charge for 6 three year terms earlier. He introduces himself to Alzar and tells him that Rolane arrived earlier, and informed him about Alzar’s arrival.

They talk shop for a while, as fellow leaders. Alzar would like to discuss opening up trade with Serraine, and they are for it of course. After business is over, Santarian tells Alzar that they’ve been having some problems recently. Roughly once/day a tourist has been dying for the last 9 days . 2 died one day, so 10 in 9 days. They’ve been keeping it all hush hush, and the constabulary are out of their league, there appears to be some degree of resistance somewhere within the city. As an outsider, perhaps Alzar could go where others couldn’t, and loosen tongues in ways that might not be strictly legal for citizens.

He agrees to, and gets the information on the recent tourist deaths. Last night a patrol of gnomes found a dead tourist in a certain up-scale district of the city, away from the tourist areas. Alzar agrees to head over and check it out.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar and Ak’Kabar head over to that area. Alzar uses a Hat of disguise ot make himself look like a nagpa. A nagpa with a tabi won’t seem out of place to anyone. Alzar’s tabi checks the nearby area where the dead corpse was found last night. There is one mansion on the street of note - Heydrech, a powerful nagpa. Ak’Kabar talks with some local tabi that are free in their own language, and all they know is some dark stuff is going on in there. They don’t know anything else.

Alzar puts the mansion on the top of his watch list. He heads out. Alzar makes a proficiency check with his Investigation skill and tosses a 3 - passes. Alzar finds a nice lead nearby as a small bit of earth is on this nice and clean stone path. He bends down to check it and there’s the residue of undeath on it. A grave?

Alzar begins to spy on the house. After a few hours, a 5’9” tall human male slips out o the house from the back entrance, and begins to sneak away like a thief. He hides in shadows as Alzar has come to expect of thieves. Alzar grabs the Star of Mo’Pilar and watches and this is a Nagpa polymorphed into the form of a human. The man heads off. Ak’Kabar flies overhead and is lost in a sea of tabi out here and keeps track. He enters another Nagpa house and then leaves after an hour and returns.

Nothing too suspicious obviously.


As Alzar begins to head back he notices something else. Someone else is watching the mansion. A short man, with a sight hunch in his back. Nothing too out of the ordinary as well, but again, worth watching.

Alzar leaves, and then turns the figurine into Balo and leaves him to keep watch as well, and to follow anyone who emerges from the mansion. Alzar heads out and has Ak’kabar fly over a few blocks and keep watch as well, but moving to another location to ease someone who might be overly paranoid. Alzar heads back and gets some dinner at the Hostelry after taking off the Hat of Disguise in a privy of a store.

A few hours later, Alk’Kabar comes back with Balo in tow, and Balo communicates with Alzar. A female elf left the mansion and went to the library, and the stunted man followed as well.

Alzar heads back out and uses his trailing proficiency to follow and not be noticed.

[Abe Sargent]

He nears the library. The short bent over (slightly) man is talking with another man. The female elf has apparently left the library about 30 minutes ago. The older distinguished gentleman moves in and enters the library. About 10 minutes later he leaves, looking furious. Alzar heads out and drops the hat and enters the library himself a few minutes later. He can easily cover up entering the library as himself, a well known lover of books from all over.

Alzar finds an assistant librarian here. Alzar asks her about the various collections they have and such, and then slips her a few gold pieces,

“Mr. Vasiliev didn’t have any luck getting a card. Such a pity when he wanted something so unusual..” The librarian reaches her hand out for more coins and the pauses...she then waves Alzar away.

At the door is Boris Vasiliev, the man Alzar saw some in recently, and who was talking to the hunched over one. Boris is looking over at the two of them very pointedly. He walks up to the counter and asks if he left his walking stick. The assistant librarian says that there has been no stick turned into lost and found. Ah well, and Boris begins to leave, but Alzar tells him to hold up.


“Hello. I’m Alzar, Marquis of the Mighty, a March in service to the King of Norwold.”

“Pleased to meet you. I am Boris Vasiliev, a famed clavier player. Perhaps you’ve heard of me? No? Disappointing I suppose. I’m here at the flying city on holiday, getting a break from my nerves. Anyway I must be getting on.”

“Hold on good sir. First of all, let me welcome you. See, I noticed something odd when you came in and started talking with our good library here. See her eyes? She now regards you with a great deal more friendship and warm regard than before. Are you familiar with a charm person spell or effect perhaps? Hmmm…let’s see. As a cleric, I know a good Detect Charm spell. Here’s my prayerbook, let’s try it out, shall we? See that? Looks like someone just charmed her. And before you waste time protesting meaninglessly, let’s go ahead and cast my own Charm on her. Here we go. Ah yes, the charms have broken, and she’s back to normal.

(Alzar passes a Necrology check)

Now let’s see here. You cast a charm spell with your gaze, and you are clearly humanoid. Vampire? No, I can sense your necrotic nature, but not Vampire. Something similar though. Can cast reflections, drinks blood I can see, and charms. A nosferatu? Ah yes, that’s it. Got it in one. Well look here Mister Nosferatu. I just figured you out in one conversation with you. You do not want to mess with me, and you certainly don’t want to cross paths with me. I will go public, and that’s not a road you want to go down.

This woman is under my protection. If she winds up dead, missing, or even a bit anemic I will take you down, publicly, loudly, and whoever sent you here with you. Understand? I won’t interfere with you, so long as you aren’t the cause of whatever I’m tracking down, but you are not going to cause any problems.”

After an angry stare that lasts minutes, Boris retreats.

Alzar turns back to the library. She tells him about the books that Boris was interested in - the Shroudwell Collection, a powerful group of tomes on Necromancy. Alzar gives her some items to protect from a potential Nosteratu attack, and will have Ak’Kabar stalk her back to her home and ensure that she is okay.

Night passes, and Boris misses a performance at the Imperial Hostelry this evening. Some of the guests are suitably upset. They wanted to hear him perform live!

[Abe Sargent]

Morning arrives and Alzar heads back out and the librarian is safe. He heads back to the mansion of Heydrech and the Star detects some magical traps that weren’t there before on the grounds. . Someone noticed someone was spying, either Alzar or the man. Alzar has folks check on the house that the “human” went to yesterday, and there are no additional or obvious defense.s So Alzar begins to prepare ways to penetrate the house.

A quick note:

A class that dual-classes to a new level cannot use the weapons or abilities of that class. But they can use any non-weapon proficiencies. For example, as a fighter, Alzar learned reading and writing. When he turned to a mage, he didn’t forget how to write. The same is true of things like fire-building or riding a horse.


So Alzar can use any non-weapon proficiency and be okay. He can use Necrology, Investigation, Trailing, Blind-Fighting, Genie Lore, and such. So Alzar can use Fine Balance and Camouflage, which give him some abilities. Alzar dons:

Set – 1 Black Cloak, Black Boots -75% to move silently

And swaps off the Boots and Cloak for those.

He gets to use Camouflage and Fine Balance to for things like climb walls.

He also grabs:

Potion of Invisibility, Rope of Climbing, Chime of Opening, 5 vials of acid, Ring of Spell Turning along with Free Action, Medallion of Proof Against Detection, Girdle of Many Pouches, Helm of Telepathy, Warp Marble, Iron Bands, Dust of Appearance, Dust of Disappearance, Stone of Diminution. Gem of Magic Missile Protection, 50 charges, Gem of Delusion, Scroll of Portals

And those things are readied for him to break into the house.


Alzar uses his Ring of Invisibility and stores it. He heads in.

[Abe Sargent]

He waits for a while, and two people leave the house. Alzar scouts with the Ear Ring. He doesn’t notice any noise at one wall. He opens the Scroll of Portals and put sit up against a wall of the house and it creates a Passwall effect and a hole is in the wall. It opens into a pantry off the kitchen, and no one is in either. He grabs the Scroll on the far side and the hole disappears (he can Passwall with it 2x/day). He rolls and he is now moving quietly. He slips into the kitchen.

And from there he spies a living room and the opening room Ear rings show people in both. He waits for a chance, and slips behind the doors of both. Eventually one clears out and he head through it and into a dining space. Beyond this is a study, currently empty. No doors are closed.

Alzar slips into the study and waits, gently closing the door a bit, but not all of the way, The desk drawers are locked, and he has to use the Chime - acid leaves behind too much proof. But the chime makes a little noise. Alzar uses the Chime after making sure no one is in the Dining Room and it makes a noise…..no one hears. He uses it twice more while he can to Knock open all three locks.

Alzar uses the Star of Mo’Pilar to search for any traps, or anything worth noting.


He finds some gold, some magic items of non-value (Stuff like minor potions). But he also finds a journal and begins to read it quickly.


There is a secret organization Nagpa called the Grey Front, with 9 Nagpa in it, and the guy who runs this house (Baraith) is one. Another is Heydrech. They want to take Serraine for themselves and overturn the government, in a coup. Heydrech is researching and experimenting on making more powerful undead that can turn the tide and bring down the city.

Alzar wants to take the book with him, or at least make a Bookcopy, but he doesn’t have the materials. (He’s need a wizard with the scroll and a blank book - he has neither). But he doesn’t want to implicate folks. At first he wants to return everything to the way it was. Ak’Kabar says that it’s clear outside, so he uses he Scroll of Portals here, and then exits. But what if the nagpa Baraith knows someone has been here? They will destroy the evidence? Can Alzar risk losing this evidence?

Nope. He takes the journal. To make it look like a theft, he grabs some books, magical items, gems, gold, and everything of value in the study that he can…

The Study - Check it out later

This is probably what’s been happening to the tourists, being killed for bodies or experiments of some kind.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar heads back out . With this information, he knows a lot more than before. The next place he wants to check is the library. He puts the sash on and heads back to the library. The librarian from last night is still okay. She looks very healthy


If Alzar can find out what the books that Heydrech accessed have in them, then he’s in a good place. He takes a meeting with Matazumi, the skull druj librarian. Matazumi is odd looking, and is always happy to frighten someone, but Alzar is immune. Alzar’s application will only be accepted if he can provide references from three people in the city of note. Alzar points out that as a visiting ruler of welcome, that this is something he could be granted, and that he’ll pay the fees as well, thus making money for the city. But Matazumi is unmoved. What about the Mayor then? Could he count as all three? No. Alright, Alzar has the mayor, and Dunbar, the captain of the 2nd Squadrom of the Top Ballista is also good enough for 1 reference. Alzar only needs one more,

He heads back out and spends some time considering his options. He decides to make for the Onyx Tower and meet up with some of the human mages there.


An hour later, Alzar is in the narthex of the tower, and someone mentions that Erik Helsing, the leader of the ,mages here, would love to meet with him. Erik brings Alzar into his study and introduces himself.

Erik looks haggard and paranoid. Something has been going on. After introductions, Alzar tells Erik, flat out why he’s here. He wants access to the city’s library, and he needs a 3rd reference. Erik will be happy to provide it. But Erik also can use some help and aid as well. He has an apprentice write up an official letter of support for Alzar’s application.

Erik is very suspicious of someone who recently arrived at the flying city, name of Boris Vailiev and came with a man named Yagotr. Both have been suspicious every since they arrived, and have acted very oddly. Alzar tells Erik that he met Boris yesterday, and that he can give Erik some information about him. Boris is a Nosferatu undead.

Erik doesn’t look as surprised as Alzar hoped he would.

“You already knew!”

“Well, I did say he was suspicious after all.”

“He’s been doing some serious investigations on the Grey Front member Heydrach.” Alzar informs the council member Erik of what he has uncovered. Eric makes a copy of the book with a magical quill he has, in case Alzar dies or loses it. He agrees to bring it to the council and supper Alzar if needed. And then Alzar heads out to the library and has the third reference from Erik


Alzar now has access to the library.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar looks into restricted sections won’t be allowed for a new applicant, no matter who he is. So Alzar can’t get to the Shroudwell Collection. But he is now able to access books as needed which can have value later on if he needs to do some research.

After Alzar assessed all of the potential things, and knowing how quickly the break-in will move things along, he needs to assault the mansion.

He noticed:

Time to assault the house.

What does Alzar have?

Creature wise:

Figurines
Can summon Animal Spirits to attack
Can summon Zephyrs from 2nd Level Dust Devil spell

As a priest, he can blow the Horn of Valhalla to summon 2d4 level 2 berserkers for him



Can use items like Rope of Entanglement, Warp Marble, Bands to capture someone


He grabs a few one shot items and moves to penetrate the mansion.


Before midnight, he heads to the UnderCity for a few moments. He uses Hold Person to find….5 kobolds, kills them, and then Animates Them:

Then he mediates post-midnight…



Alzar’s forces

5 skeletons -
6 hp each

5 figurines

Alzar grabs the Amulet of Proof vs Undead for potential turning.

[Abe Sargent]

There are two hell Hounds patrolling the grounds at night invisibly. Alzar can make them both out. His first desire is to take them out. He swaps a Spell Turning ring for the Fire Resistance one. With his immunity to fir,e this should be pretty easy he hopes.

Alzar;’s mace, shield and self moves onto the grounds. The hounds coalesce, and breathe fire…


Alzar takes…6 and 4. 10 damage

70/80

They move to bite. Alzar moves to punch

They have 31 and 33 hp. Alzar keeps his people back, he doesn’t want to cause a ruckus. He slowly moves away from the grounds. Bringing them with him.

Here’s what happens. They have a THACo of 13, Alzar’s AC is -2 for Cloak, AC3 base, -6 shield, -1 boots -1 stone. They need an 20. Only a 20 on a d20 hits. They get one bite.

Let’s fast sim this

Both are dead, Alzar was hit precisely once for 4 damage

66/80

Alzar’s regen heals the first, and he casts Cure Light Wounds to heal the fire damage

80/80

Alzar has 4/5/3 spells left

Alzar swaps the Fire Resist ring back off

2500 XP for Hell Hounds

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar heads in, with skeletons in tow, and figurined creatures behind.

The Star shows a few minor traps he skips. A door opens into a study, and there is an Amber Golem here. It’s not moving. Alzar heads to OtherSpace and returns with the Whistle of Golem Control and blows it.


Amber Golem rolls a 4 and fails, and Alzar controls it for an hour. Nothing else is here on this floor, or the upper one. Alzar will search up later. Alzar has the Amber Golem leading.

There is a secret door down from the upstairs only, and skips the main level - no entrance. It’s opened by a skeleton.

Alzar reaches out and can sense undead down there of some sort. Alzar casts Summon Animal Spirit, and then blows the Horn, and 6 berserkers arrive. Someone shouts and they begin to assemble a defense, and Alzar and his team head down the stairs.

They arrive in a room with 2 skeletons and 2 wights. Alzar tires ot turn them but it’s harder here. All creatures that would be turned get a save. The skeletons save and one makes it, the other fails and flees. The wights move in. Alzar has creatures that won’t be effected by energy drain in eh front, - skeletons and the Animal Sprit.

In one round of battle, the wight skill a skeleton, and many weapons kill a wight. Alzar’s mace is out and he pushes into the dead skeleton’s space on the front line

4 vs 6

Alzar’s mace smashes on the Wight’s body and hits it for 8 damage. The Wight switches to Alzar and misses (cloak). It takes 19 damage from the figurines and dies. The skeleton falls as well.

The star reveals one secret door in the right wall, and there’s a door to the left. The secret door opens to a medium size chamber that serves as the council chamber here for meetings of the Grey Front. Alzar orders people to open the next door and they head in

[Abe Sargent]

This is an experimental chamber. Both Heydrech and his assistant an evil skygnome are here, with defensive spells cast. They have a Bone Golem, 4 Wights, 3 Wraiths, 8 zombies, and a homunculus.

Knowing that’s spell will expire in a few rounds, the Animal Spirit is the first into the room, and the Amber Golem beside it, the cats hitting. Alzar orders the Spirit to attack the zombies to tie them up -they won’t be able to hit it (immune to non-magical attacks). The Amber Golem heads to hit the Bone Golem and to take it off the table for now.

The berserkers are sent to the two wizards, the skeletons to guard Alzar, and the figurines to hit it some stuff. Too many energy draining foes here and creatures that need magic to hit.


Battle begins


6 vs 5

The gnome, Tarras, casts Magic Missile at Alzar and three missiles fly out. Alzar redirects them at the Bone Golem. It takes 11 damage. The golem attacks the Amber golem 4 times ad hits 3 for 1d8 each time - 13 damage. Heydrach casts Cause Moderate Wound on Alzar and hits his Ring. 90% is redirected back (roll d0x10) and Alzar takes 2 and Heydrach 18. Two of Alzar’s skeletons are slain. 3 left

The Amber Golem attacks back and…hits twice for 2d6 and 2d10. 9 and 12. 19 damage dealt. Dead golem. Alzar orders the Amber to hit wights and wraiths next. The berserkers near the wizards. They hit 2 Mirror Images of the gnome. The spirit bites and slays a zombie. Alzar uses his Bottle on a nearby Wraith and….it’s captured in the Iron Flask.



Wraith in Iron Flask

3 skeletons lefts

Amber Golem 31/44
Heydrach - 68/86
Alzar 78/80


7 zombies left

6 vs9

The Amber bites at a wight and needs a 12 to hit with three attacks for 2d6, 2d6, and 2d10. They have low hp though, with 13, 7, 18, and 10. The Amber slays the first with all of its attacks. The Animal Spirit kills another zombie. Alzar summons another Spirit by the first one over at the zombies. Seeing Alzar’s protections, they stop casting spells at him. The rest of the Mirror Images are down. The gnome casts Magic Missile again, this time at the Golem, and hits for 12 damage. The wights take out Kithog and the Wraith a skeleton. Heydrach casts Burning Hands and four Berserkers drop.



4/5/1 spells left


Wraith in Iron Flask

2 skeletons lefts
3 Berserkers left

Amber Golem 19/44
Heydrach - 68/86
Alzar 78/80
Kithog Dead

6 zombies left

3 wights left

4 vs 2

The gnome uses a Wand to fire more magic missiles (2) and the golem for 6 damage. Heydrach adds a Flame Arrow and the golem dies. The wights hit and kill Zadaxx, and then the wraith kills another skeleton. Two berserkers hit the gnome and their weapons bounce off, and he laugh.s. Uh oh. He’s immune to something. 2 zombies die, and the first animal spirit dissipates. Alzar summons a Dust Devil on top of the wights to keep them bothered this turn.


4/4/1 spells left


Wraith in Iron Flask

1 skeletons lefts
3 Berserkers left

Heydrach - 68/86
Alzar 78/80
Amber Golem, Kithog, Zadaxx Dead

4 zombies left

3 wights left

2 vs 6

Alzar casts Dispel Magic at the gnome. A berserker hits for 5 damage. The spirit misses. A wight is wounded by the Dust Devil, and Zadran hits for 4 damage and finishes it. The Wraith finishes the final skeleton on it and moves to Alzar. Heydrach uses Acid Arrow on the Dust Devil to take it down. Tarras, the gnome quaffs a healing potion.




4/4/0 spells left


Wraith in Iron Flask

3 Berserkers left

Heydrach - 68/86
Alzar 78/80
Tarras - 42/42
Amber Golem, Kithog, Zadaxx Dead

4 zombies left

2 wights left
1 Wraith left

7 vs 8

Two berserkers hit for 7. A zombie dies to the Animal Spirit. Alzar tries to hit the Wraith and this with a 12 for 7 damage - 6 left. The Zadran hits a Wight for 2. One of the berserks add another damage. Tarras grabs the wand and fires it at a berserk and hits for 7 damage, Heydrach casts Cause Light Wounds and drops a berserker. The wraith attacks Alzar and missies (cloak). The obsidian steed dies.



4/4/0 spells left


Wraith in Iron Flask

2 Berserkers left; 1 2/9 left


Heydrach - 68/86
Alzar 78/80
Tarras - 31/42
Amber Golem, Steed, Kithog, Zadaxx Dead

3 zombies left

2 wights left
Wraith 6/13


6 vs 1

More missiles fly in and slay the wounded berserker. One of the last spells Heydrach has is Cause Light, and he uses it to finish off the final berserker. The wraith misses Alzar badly. The wights miss. Alzar’s 11 hits and kills the Wraith. Zadran misses.

4/4/0 spells left


Wraith in Iron Flask


Heydrach - 68/86
Alzar 78/80
Tarras - 31/42
Berserkers, Amber Golem, Steed, Kithog, Zadaxx Dead

3 zombies left

2 wights left


1 vs 4

Alzar grabs the Gem of Delusion and intones it. Heydrach rolls a 17 and makes his save, Tarras a 7 and fails. Tarras is stunned for 4 rounds, and Heydrach is just feebled for 3. Zadarna hits a Wight for 4 damage. The anima spirit slays a zombie, Then Zadaran falls and the Wights move to Alzar. Alzar mentally orders the Spirit to head to attack Heydrach. Heydrach quaffs a pot of extra healing. Heals 25 HP. The zombies move to Alzar


4/4/0 spells left


Wraith in Iron Flask


Heydrach - 86/86
Alzar 78/80
Tarras - 31/42
Berserkers, Amber Golem, Steed, Kithog, Zadran, Zadaxx Dead

2 zombies left

2 wights left


6 vs 7

The spirit doles out 6 damage. It’ll leave this turn. Alzar tosses the Warp Marble at Tarras, who fails the save since he’s stunned. The undead miss Alzar this turn

With just four undead left and Alzar mainly unwounded and basically untouchable, Heydrach chooses to flee, and uses the Ring of Spell Storing’s Dimension Door to flee.




4/4/0 spells left


Wraith in Iron Flask


Heydrach - 80/86
Alzar 78/80
Tarras - 31/42 - in Warp Marble
Berserkers, Amber Golem, Steed, Kithog, Zadran, Zadaxx Dead

2 zombies left

2 wights left


The spirit dissipates

Does Alzar get drained? I use random.org and…nope. Wights never hit him (they need a 20). He regens the other damage.


Alzar gains

Zombie - 250 XP
Hell Hounds - 2500 XP
Wights - 2600 XP
Wraith - 3000 XP (Alzar pops the other out and slays it)
Bone Golem - 3250 XP
Amber Golem - 5000 XP

Alzar will do a full inventory of this place later. But for now he’s pursuing Heydrach.

[Abe Sargent]

And he’s level 6!

16,600 XP gained

He gains an extra 3rd level spell


Alzar heads back outside to begin tracking the fleeing Nagpa. He comes across an odd scene.

Boris Vailiev is fighting in the streets in a magic duel against Erik Helsing. Erik already hit the servant with a Power Word Stun spell, so he’s down. Erik asks for help against the vampiric murderer.

Alzar moves in. He has an extra 3rd level spell, and he casts Dispel Magic at Boris while Erik slings his next spell, and the defenses drop. Seeing Alzar as a potentially easier kill, Boris switches targets as Erik has some spell-shields in place. Boris casts Lightning Bolt at Alzar which hits the Ring of Spell Turning and….40% is redirected. Alzar takes 60% - 10d6 (34damage total - Alzar is assigned 20 and Boris 14. Save for half). Boris makes his save. Erik casts Melfs Acid arrow and hits for 7 damage now. Alzar casts Cure Moderate Wounds for 20 damage. (Undead take normal damage from Cure spells, and none from Cause spells) Boris is reeling.

7 vs 6

Boris casts a special spell from his Ring of Spell Strong - Anti-Magic Shell. Erik is out of anti-magic stuff and closes, Alzar slides on a Spellcache Ring for the Free Action one and casts Dispel Magic. The Shell drops.


Alzar 60/80

1 vs 5

Alzar casts another Cure spell for 20 damage. Acid for 6. Erik;s wand is up and he knows this could be the final blow, so he holds no punches and churns serious charges into the Wand of Fire for a Flame Strike spell, which this for 39 damage, and Boris dies.

They split the XP (5500 for Alzar alone) (Note Alzar does get 10% EXP bonuses for having a high WIS)

Alzar and Erik meet at the body. They split his stuff 50/50

Alzar gets:

Ring of Spell Storing (Used Anti-Magic Shell, Breach)
+2 Scimitar

Erik gets a Wand of Paralyzation, Ring of Pro, and +1 dagger

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar gives Erik a quick rundown of what’ happening, and Erik suggests getting a gnome vessel to chase him down, he’s likely fled the city,

Alzar grabs his Carpet and flies to the landing strip, and there are no gnomes on duty that he knows. But over at the tavern that the pilots use, is Dunbar. He grabs his crew and they are ready to fly 6 minutes later and the plane lifts off!

Alzar is readying the big giant crossbow and getting ready to fire it at folks. A red dragon, surprised by the plane and curious, moves over, but flies away after a lazy moment. Kind of bored really.

Alzar and the skygnomes make out Heydrech’s plane heading low. They are above a different place on the world - Blackheart, an infamous place in Alphatia. The Heydrech plane has virtually crash landed. Dunbar lands and lets Alzar out. They can stay until something attacks, and then he leaves and returns in four increments for another 24 hours after that.

There is a clear trail heading north. The sun is out, and it’s early morning. The major issue is that Alzar is bereft of his tricks - no more berserks for a week, all of his figurines but Balo are dead and out for a similar amount of time.

Alzar does some prep on his way in, and swaps his stuff like Jelly Beans and Beads and grabs the Necklace of Missiles for some splash damage. He readies many Wands and well.

Alzar has 4/2 spells left


There is a foul creature - a crocodile with four heads that snaps at him as he nears. But the magical deformity is so severe that it can’t move quickly, an Alzar is easily able to fly over with the Carpet. It snaps at him with evil hatred as he passes over head.

There is a great black tower that opens here in the Dark Heart of the Woods. Made of a obsidian-like substance (but not that, precisely) there is an electrified fence of iron that crosses it, and two pools of deadly fish. Alzar flies over. There is no gate or way through the fence.

The door is broken open and Alzar heads in. In a moment, he hears the sound of a mage shouting out in anger “You led someone here? You no longer deserve to live!!!” Cracks of eldritch energy cascade into the creature. Alzar needs to be in his anti-Magic best.

Ring of Spell Turning, Free Action
Spellcache Ring of Anti-Magic Shell on his waist
Gem of Magic Missile Deflection

He has these Ioun Stones:

Pale Lavender Ellipsoid (Absorbs spells up to 4th level, 20 charges left);
Deep Black Sphere (See in Non & Magic Dark)

Handy are Rings of Warmth and Pro Fire if needed


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.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s go. Alzar hears the sound of spell casting down stairs and moves quickly but efficiently with the the Star clearings a path. Alzar heads down. Two spells are cast by the time Alzar arrives…


His foe has summoned, and he has cast Protection from Good, 10’ Radius

6 Crab-Ogres - The mage here, Kavel, has twisted and warped these ogres by splicing onto them chitin, crab claws, and such. The result is a creature that is angry at life, gets -2 AC to hit, deals more damage in combat, get’s +1 to hit with it’s sharp claws, but which has 50% the hit points of an ogre after going through such vile and nasty changes


Kavel

Alzar’s Warp Marble drops a wounded and puzzled Tarras on the ground near the mage and he shouts to Tarras to “Kill our foe, and you’ll get his spellbook as we agreed!”

Kavel shouts back, “So you’ve betrayed both your master and me have you? I think we have all seen that coming!” Kavel orders the crab-ogres to base Tarras, and casts Power Word Stun on Alzar, but the Ring of Free Action makes him immune

Round 2:

3 vs 6

Tarras has no idea what’s happening, but he gets people attacking him, so he shoots an C-O for 8 damage. Alzar’s mace is up and he attacks the wounded Crab- Ogre and needs a 11 to hit and hits for 7 damage himself. The Crab-Ogre is diseased and gets minuses to attack and damage. Kavel casts Disintegrate on Alzar.

So here’s how the Spell Turn Ring works.

Alzar rolls to see how much is deflected -

50% is deflected. So both have ot make a save or be Disintegrated, and it’s a weak spell, so they get a +5 bonus on the spell. Alzar gets a 8, normally a fail, but he makes it. His foe an 11 and makes it. One crabby hits for 8 damage.


4 vs 9

His wand finishes the wounded Crab-Ogre off. Alzar grabs a Wand from his Waist and fires - the damaging Wand of Salt, from Hamedh.

2d4 damage this turn. And then 2d4 damage every turn until he spends a full turn doing nothing but drinking. 6 damage

45/51

Alzar wants to save his splash spells for when Tarras dies. Seeing Alzar’s protection and not wanting to waste any more good spells on him. The mage casts Polymorph Other on Tarras, and turns him into a chicken. The ogres beats and slay him.

3 vs 2

The ogres of all things crab move to Alzar and attack and miss (cloak) The mage is quic, heads to the cistern in the room and drinks. Alzar grabs the Gem of Delusion and orders it.

Results

Crab-Ogres drop 12, 6, 10 and are all stunned. 13 by the mage, who si just feebleminded for 1d6 turns - 3. He can’t cast magic, so he quaffs a Potion o Freedom that gives him Free Action for the rest of the combat.

Round 1 of the feeble -

2 vs 4

Alzar hits a mage with a 19 and deals 5 damage and diseases him. He uses a potion and heals 10.

50/51

Round 2 -

Alzar swigs and hits again for 9 damage. Final healing potion quaffed - none left.



Round 3 -

Alzar swings and tosses a 11 and hits for 10. He moves around to a new place- feeble mind is over

41/51

Round 4-

6 vs 4

He casts Dispel Magic at the Crabs to free them and it works. They can move next turn. Alzar tosses a Missile from his necklace into the middle of the room, hitting everyone (himself included) for 6d6 damage

He tosses 3, 3,4, 1, 4, 6 -21 damage

Save available for half damage:

Crabby Ogres - 3 made for 11, 2 failed for 21

Mage - tosses a 2 and fails

Alzar takes half always (11)

20/51


Alzar 69/80


5 vs 9

Alzar got lucky. If he had a Ring of Quick Action he would have used it there. But nope. He senses the Mage is reeling. But a mace isn’t going to end this. Wand of Salt? Nah. Alzar lobs in another missile.

6, 4, 4, 3, 1, 4 - 22 damage

The ogres die. Alzar takes 11

Now, can the mage make his save? If he can, then he survives, and he’ll dimension door out.

He tosses a 9. I think that makes it, but I need to double check. Hold on…


Yeah, he needed an 8. Made it by 2. He takes 11 and is at 10/51, and then casts Dimension door.

58/80

[Abe Sargent]

That won’t take him too far. Alzar grabs the Wand of Salt again and the Gem and begins to scour for him/ He’s not on the ground or basement levels. He hears some noise upstairs, and down comes his foe:

Quaffed a pot of EHeal:

35/51

And cast a scroll of Monster Summoning II and has 2 carrion crawlers

Alzar uses the Wand on Him. He casts Shield on himself.

He takes 4.
\
2 vs 1

He quaffs water this round. Alzar is missed by the Carrion Crawlers, who can’t harm him anyway (Free Action ring). Alzar uses a Wand of Lightning to fire a Lightning bolt for 1, 1, 5, 3, 4, 3 damage - 17 saved for half - 8 damage

24/51

3 vs 1

He wanders into melee battle with Alzar apparently cast haste on himself upsaitrs as well.

+2 quarterstaff, with 2 attacks. Misses first (cloak) tosses 12 on second attack Alzar doesn’t have shield so….misses. Needs 13. Alzar swings his mace and tosses 14 and hits for 4+3+2 - 9 damage

15/51

5vs 4

He tosses a 20 and this Alzar for 7 and then a 16 and hits for 7 more - 14 on Alzar -

44/80 Alzar

Alzar misses with a 5

2 vs 4

Alzar grabs the Wand Lighting and discharges again for…2, 4, 4, 2, 3, 4 19 damage and….tosses and3 and fails and dies.,

Alzar finishes the crawlers.

Alzar’s XP:

2400 Crab-Ogres and Crawlers
10000 for Mage
3500 for Gnome

He just made it to level 7 - needs 55000 and has 55,200


THACo drops two

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar does some searching here in the Tower and comes up with:

Tarras had:

Wand of Magic Missiles - 7 charges
+2 Dagger
+3 Leather Armor
Potion of Invisibility, Flying
Ring of Invisibility Detection

Tarras’s spellbook (Not Decoded):

It’ll at least have Magic Missile, Charm Person, Read/Detect Magic, Pro Evil, Mirror Image, Dispel Magic, Fly, Polymorph Object, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Cone of Cold


Heydrech had:


Amulet of Spell Storing - 2x Dimension Door, Fly
Girdle of Fire Resistance
Ring of Protection +2
Staff of Harming, 19 charges
Scroll of Trapping


Heydrech’s Traveling Spellbook (Not Decoded):

It’ll at least have Magic Missile, Burning Hands, Charm Person, Read/Detect Magic, Pro Evil, Mirror Image, Dispel Magic, Fly, Polymorph Object, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Pro Evil 10’ Radius, Animate Dead, Polymorph Other


At home, Heydrech is going to have two major items. Get ready for later

On Kevel:

+2 Quarterstaff
Cloak of Displacement
Wand of Magic Missiles - 16 charges
Scroll of Dispel Magic


Three are pieces of a dead golem by the feet of Heydahl, and it looks like he took it down as he died.


Kevel’s Main Spellbook:

It’ll at least have Magic Missile, Charm Person, Read/Detect Magic, Pro Evil, Mirror Image, Dispel Magic, Fly, Polymorph Object, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Pro Evil 10’ Radius, Animate Dead, Polymorph Other, Disintegrate, Detect Invisibility, ESP, Haste, Protection from Normal Missiles, Shield, Power Word: Stun, Feeblemind, Hold Person,

Kevel’s Necromantic Tome:


Kevel’s Book of Life Shifting:



6000 gp in assorted art and furniture

Scroll of Spells - Dispel Illusion, Remove Curse, Stone to Flesh

12000 gp of Alchemical Equipment

12000 gp Necromantic and Anatomy Library

1200 gp
250 pp
7900 gp gems
Emerald and Ruby Neck Pendant, 9000 gp



+2 Longsword, casts Fly 1/day
Crystal Ball
+1 Warhammer
Featherchime
Lance of Piercing


Alzar either puts everything in OtherSpace or Bags of Holding. He grabs the body of Heydrach, and binds it with Bands of Bilarro. He casts Cure Light Wounds (it was at HP0) and he regains conscious, stripped of everything and fully bound. He returns to the plane, and then flies up to the flying ship., and begins to inspect the mansion

[Abe Sargent]

In Heydrach’s Mansion:


Meistercloak - Gives the wearer the powers of a 10th level thief for one hour/day. +5% to every skill for people already thieves.


Lamp of the Shroud -

Powers are by user’s level

5th level - Once/day, animate dead 1 hd/level of user, of 12+4d6 hours, uses normal oil, makes skeletons/zombies
7th level - Same as above, no bodies needed for animation, requires half pint of human corpse fat
9th level - Once/day, animates 2d4 shadows or 1d3 wraiths, from human corpse fat until next sunrise
11th level - Twice/week can animate 1d4+1 spectres, remain until following sunrise, requires pint of human corpse fat oil and special fetid incense cursed by evil cleric
13th level - Once/week can animate 1d2 vampires, remain until following sunrise, requires rendered human fat, special incense, and blood from a living human baby


The Lamp is very evil to use, and using it by a non-evil person shifts their alignment. All undead are turned at the level of their animator instead of their own.

Rest of the House:

14000 gp furniture, art, etc

Other Planar Works, 2000 gp
Info on How to Make Obsidian Golem
Corporeal Animation & Secrets of Ye Necromancie


Alzar slays some undead in the basement. One is an undead Pegataur casting spells. The other a beast that was an amalgam of other parts from a sphinx and a chimera.

16 Rare tomes on Necromancy
42 Rare tomes on Hybrid and Mutant Monsters
Notes on how to Animate Dead a monster and keep it’s spells


10000 gp Library of Arcanology and other Magics


There are also several books that indict Heydrech as well. They name many of his friends. Only two people of the Grey Front are named though.


4000 gp
815 pp
8250 sp

8000 gp of gems

+2 shield
+4 Lance
+3 Studded Leather


And get ready:

+4 Mace, can only be used by Lawful, Casts Cure Light, Cure Moderate, Cure Serious, and Cure Critical Wounds once/each/day if wielded by lawful Cleric.


Which Alzar is. In case you were keep the math. Alzar will switch to this new Mace from Typhus. He names the Mace “Woundhammer.”

Took from the other House:

152 Books on History of Serraine, Nagpa, Pandius

1652 gp of coins

1 Diamond, 5000 gp

Potion of Levitation, Cold Breath, Sustenance


And that’s everything Alzar got - which is a lot.

The mayor, and Erik bring him in for a quick meeting. For saving Erik in the battle against Boris, Alzar gets a special Commendation from the City. For helping them deal with both the missing tourists and some undead issues as well as punching the Grey Front. One was captured, another fled, and Heydrach is sitting in prison, and doing his time.

Alzar is given a waiver for the library, and can now access the Library any time he wishes, even the sections normally sealed off.

End of Top Ballista

[Abe Sargent]

And that ends that adventure. Whew!

This adventure would really have jump started Alzar as a mage. But he’s not that anymore, and the only major power increase is his mace, Woundhammer, and the subsequent healing that could come from it.

Alzar can now use these 4th level spells:


4th Level - Tongues, Focus, Uplift, Join with Astral Traveler, Cloak of Bravery, Free Action, Heroism, Imbue with Spell Ability, Gloomcloud, Recitation, Smiting, Detect Lie, Divination, Lair Divination, Omniscient Eye, Windborne, Protection from Elementals, 10’ Radius, Adamantite Mace, Earthmaw, Magnetism, Warp Stone or Metal, Produce Fire, Lower Water, Reflecting Pool, Abjure, Dimensional Anchor, Animate Statue, Lesser Guardian Seal, Psionic Barrier, Neutralize Poison, Cure Serious Wounds, Fortify Healing, Compulsive Order, Defensive Harmony, Exorcize, Suspended Animation, Unfailing Endurance, Spell Immunity, Protections from Electricity, Undead, Traps, Gas, and Lycanthropes; Elemental Control, Fire Purge, Weather Stasis, Surelock, Entrench, Leadership, Tanglefoot


Alzar has only been a cleric for a short bit, around 3 weeks or so since he came back from the first round of the Hut of Baba Yaga. There’s more to go. But starting now, Alzar can begin to do some exploring and such.

Alzar now has a high enough level to get him through the level lock…

[Abe Sargent]

Begin The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga again.


Thanatos is still missing.

The last time Alzar was here, he didn’t even need his party. He fought two battles against a Minor Death and a minor devil. That was it. So he can head back all day long.

One of Dunbar’s friends flies Alzar down to the March and collects the first stuff in trade of Serraine. Due to his diplomacy skill, Alzar got an additional 5% in tariff reduction.


They head over. The skygnome Questrix is back as well, and the two of them will head into the Hut. Alzar’s levels can open the seals on the higher levels.

They arrive, and get some info about the Hut. There have been a few sightings of a giant rolling kettle or cauldron that repairs the trees afterwards. A few disappearances have occurred, and some children were taken by Baba Yaga.

Alzar spends a half hour scouting the place, and it seems little has changed. As before, the front door is open and ready for him to enter…

Alzar spends some time getting ready again, and he has brought some technical items that can be useful in helping, and the Android Bodyguard is with him, plus it carries some blasters, grenades, and such. Alzar spends a bit of time demonstrating to Questrix how to use them as well, since technology works inside the Hut of Baba Yaga, it only stands to reason that these weapons and items will work fine inside. Alzar hides them mostly, in backpacks and such as an emergency preparedness.

The good news is that Alzar and Questrix enter the hut. Questrix shows Alzar how to get to the room with the Cyclops in it on the first floor. They meet the Cyclops and it’s been captured here, and kept prisoner in a room with exits too small for it. Alzar offers to take it out in his Iron Flash. It heads in, and then if Alzar and Questrix need assistance they’ll pop him back out for help and otherwise, they will release him. He’s been here for months, so he agrees readily, and Alzar puts him in the Flask:


Cyclops - AC2, HD13, 64 hp, THACo 7, 6d6 damage from punch, ahs a magical Club of Smashing like a sword of dancing. Can only be used by 18 str or more. Chaotic evil.

The goal here is to create a magical shock troop for Alzar and Questrix to use since they can’t conjure or summon while in the Hut.,

Questrix leads the way, using the knocks he knows to get the, to the room, the Observatory, which is next to level 2. There are some secret stairs behind a panel, and now Alzar can get through and hit level 2

[Abe Sargent]

They walk up the stairs to a square shaped chamber with a octagon in the middle. There are a few holes in the wall, and doors flank the left and right sides. A secret door is revealed in the far wall by the Star of Mo Pilar. As they pass into the octagon, there are four gargoyle statues here with faerie fire on them that scintillates with different colors. There are the four glass beads in their eyes, which Questrix knows are the scrying network for Baba Yaga. There are 10 paintings displayed here and they are of different humanoids - hag, kobold, and more. One of them looks like Questrix and would pass for a portrait. There is a Mirror of Life Trapping here as well, and Alzar has had one before and knows about it, so they turn around and back away from it (Thanks Mo’Pilar!)

The open the left door and it arrives at a large city set in the future, with futuristic rockets, and airplanes buzzing around and more. They are attacking a gigantic monster that is invading their city. And the city is shrunk down to a small diorama. Alzar decides not to head in and get between one and the other,

The right door opens into a area filled with splashing water. Alzar and Questrix have to shout to be heard. There are 7 fountains lit up, each one has a colored water of one color of the rainbow flowing out towards the center where a giant pool rests and the water swirl in a rainbow pattern.

It’s a bit of an odd looking pattern. There’s nothing else in the room though, so Alzar opens a door and they teleport out of the fountain room.

Alzar arrives into a room that doesn’t even look like it’s in the Hut. It’s massively hot in here, searingly so, and there jets and gouts of flame from the floor. In front of Alzar is a lair with a few smaller caverns of it, two doors to other places in the Hut, and something really bad.

Alzar does a quick check with the Star, but there’s no illusions in the room, and nothing has been polymorphed, these are four, authentic, pit fiends:




Each of these four has an oddly shaped collar on their necks.

Pit Fiends are among the most powerful devils, only dukes, and then Archfiends themselves are higher. One Fit Fiend would prove a problem, but would be kill-able for Alzar at level 25 wizard. Two would be rough. Four? That’d do some damage.

Alzar talks to the Pit Fiend in front of him. He knows the lower plane common languages (Sage Knowledge and Netherworld Knowledge nonweapon profs). These collars aren’t normal. Alzar speaks to him and they have a rough communication.

The Pit Fiends here are Baba Yaga’s heavy force for battles. Alzar asks about the collar. It has a permanent Disintegrate effect, so they won’t leave or disobey her. Only a Wish can free it they’ve tried. The other three Pit Fiends fly or walk over, and Alzar is now talking to all four.

[Abe Sargent]

One of them looks at him - “We haven’t been commanded to attack you, but I’d still kill you right now, except you have been marked, and out of respect for that, I’m letting you live.”

Alzar looks pointedly at him “Why are you taking orders? Is it that collar too? If you die here, it’s fine, you return to your plane. But a disintegration is permanent. How long have you been here slave?”

There are some roars and Alzar has pushed some buttons. A 3rd answers, 254 years.

“That’s 254 years that the Blood War has missed your power. That’s 254 years you’ve been bored. 254 years you haven’t had you freedom. So here’s what I’m willing to offer you.”

Alzar reaches down to his belt and grabs a special ring and puts it on.

“I can cast two Wishes. That’ll remove the collar for two of you right now. You can leave here and go home. Then those two that are freed attack the two with collars on. Eventually 3 of you will die and go home. If the last one left has their collar gone, then they can leave. If not, I’ll finish them off myself, so they die too.”


“Now, spending a Wish is very expensive, and very rare. You could easily be here another 254 years, so I want to trade. I get the true names of two of you, the two I free. Then I can summon you later and then the Wishes will be used, and you can go.”

They negotiate for a while. Alzar will use both Wishes, free two, they will fight, and the 4th one dies if necessary, Alzar uses one Wish, and then gets one true name of a Pit Fiend. Then after using his 2nd Wish, they will give him the truenames of 4 major devils, but weaker than Pit Fiends. Agreed.

Wishes resolve, and Alzar gets the information. The Ring of Three Wishes is now fully used up and disappears.

Alzar sits back and watches as an unusual battle resolves. 23 minutes later, the last Pit Fiend is one who was freed, and it heads off.


A Pit Fiend gives 33000 XP, and for using his best deus ex machina for freeing them and overcoming this extremely difficult encounter., he deserves some serious XP reward. Normally, if a good character uses a wish for roleplaying purposes to heal someone, free someone, or such, you’d give a huge XP bonus and full XP for the encounter as well. Alzar can’t get RP bonuses (since I’m solo’ing this), but what he can do is get XP bonuses for the Pit Fiends. If Alzar dominates a creature and uses it to kill another creature, and this it dies in battle, he gets XP for both. By the same logic, a wish should give the same result but….man, giving him 66k (and Questrix 66k for just being here) is huge.

We’ll do it -

66k for Alzar

[Abe Sargent]

They head left. The door teleports them…

They arrive in an area that is an orchard. There are numerous apple trees, a deep stream of silky cream, with banks of pudding. There are scattered bushes, a large hedgehog, and a giant tree in the middle which is really a Treant…





There are a few portals leading out of this room/place/orchard

The Treant looks at Alzar suspiciously, and Alzar addresses I ,but it refuses to answer. The hedgehog moves to him and begins to speak. She says that the Treant usually just talks to her. He hates Baba Yaga and suspects anyone that comes through here of being in league with her, and there aren’t many visitors on this level, so most are allies of her. Alzar and Questrix aren’t though.

She was once one of the servants or slaves of Baba Yaga and she refused an order, and was polymorphed into a hedgehog until her two years were over That was around 11 months ago. She has a little more than a year left. She knows the 1st floor well, but not any of the 2nd floor knocks. But she does know about a 3rd floor above this one, and she thinks it’s the last one though.

She knows there is a library, stables, and bedchambers on this floor. The portals from here head to a fire pit and stables and stairs.

They head to the stairs…

[Abe Sargent]

This area is designed to clearly defy 3-dimensional thinking. There are crossed stairs, and multiple doors, and all in a winding twisting set that come back to each over in loops that make no sense. Alzar decides to unfurl the Carpet of Flying from his Backpack and they fly instead of getting caught in the stairs, and they open a door - and it leads to the bottom of the stairs. A door on the side leads to the other side, and so forth. 8 doors in all, each wraps around. The Star finds nothing either, other than the whole thing is magical. All of the doors open. Alzar tries a few things, and then eventually tries Dispel Magic, which works….


This room is filled with a dozen glass-fronted display cases of varying sizes. Each holds a motionless (and possibly stuffed) animal in a diorama of its natural setting. A hallway bisects the room with doors on the sides. The Star reveals a trap they avoid. Alzar inspects them carefully and there is something peculiar about their mouths. Alzar skips the room and heads right and….

When Alzar heads in, there is a 50x50 room with stone walls and floor and a door in the center of each wall. Alzar and Questrix disappear from each other, and there is nothing in the room, and then in Alzar’s room there is a group of traps on the floor. The Star reveals that they are in a room with a large watery trap on the base, and no doors out.

It’s odd switches. Can the Star be misled? Alzar puts it back on his belt, and then the water is gone and the two traps are here. Alzar grabs his mace and begins to cautiously poke and move his way across the room. the great watery trap doesn’t trigger, and he moves around the traps he sees, and gets to the side of the wall, and feels and finds a door. He opens it, and….


Questrix and Alzar appear in an odd place. There are three glass eyes that are invisible and floating, Alzar can see them with his INT. These are more scrying devices for Baba Yaga. There are three doors here, and cabinets, with wizard locked doors. There are tables and chairs, and rooms with various effects, damages, jagged gashes and more, and they have a variety of ages There’s even a bloom of mushrooms in the back. Alzar guesses that this may have been the place where they tested various spells or magical items or trained apprentices. There is a damaged magical staff on a pedestal, There is a secret door out of here in addition to the normal doors. They try it but it won’t work - it’s a door to level 3. They aren’t able to crack it. They head to a normal door:


They arrive at an oddly shaped room with suits of armor from a variety of worlds arrayed all around. Different suits of armor abound. One is a plastic suit of power armor, much like the one that Alzar had. There are mannequins inside each of these suits of armor, and a couple of doors arrayed around. Suddenly a ghostly spirit (A ghost, proper) animates one of the suits of armor and begins to move towards Alzar and Questrix menacingly. Knowing that spiritual undead are often tied to one location, Alzar pushes the gnome elsewhere and then leave out of a nearby door and teleport to….



Back to the room with the creature cabinets. Alzar takes the other exit from here….

[Abe Sargent]

To the stables. There is a dimly lit room here with a huge pile of silver shavings (probably worth thousands of gp), and an ugly twisted figure with the features of a dwarf, rat, bird and snakelike skin is shoveling this treasure through the open door of one of the horse stalls in the rear of the room - three stalls are here in total. The Star also detects a secret door here as well as the normal two.

Alzar talks to the creature, who introduces himself as Jolnag. He was once a duergar bodyguard d of Baba Yaga’s, and was experimented on and turned into his form as punishment for stealing. There are three mounts in here kept for the three servants that serve Baba Yaga recently - Night, Day, and Twilight. He lets them know about one knock that will send someone to the clockworks, but that’s all he knows

Alzar doesn’t want to death with the death steeds or nightmares or whatever problematic steeds these personifications are using, so they head out and…


This room has floor to ceiling bookshelves, accessed by three ladders that roll around the perimeter of the room. There are two floors here, and 2 secret doors in the back and to the left. Thousands of books are in the room from many different planes and worlds. A table in the middle has a few recently used books. Alzar sits down and begins to review them.

One is titled The One Thousand Names of Death; while another is a book on the various forces of nature, and more. The forces of nature are 4 good, 4 evil, and 3 neutral and are listed, and day, night, and twilight are three of the forces given. Alzar hands that book to Questrix for review and he looks through the Death tome. It’s a book on the different aspects of Death on various planes, and begins with the Reaver name, and then the last page is….


Thanatos


And it gives information on Thanatos here on Pandius in quite a compelling amount of detail.

It mentions that Death, in any incarnation, should be able to prevent death by default of that definition.


Is that what Baba Yaga is seeking? Not to die? Immortality?

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar goes into the two secret rooms.

The first is a room with blank bookshelves and the Star reveals an illusion, and behind it are countless spellbooks. Questrix finds his three spellbooks in here and takes them. He now is fully loaded again. Alzar skips the rest. There are scrying devices allover, and he suspects that one of the reasons Baba Yaga may have been so lenient with him is that he hasn’t taken anything of hers yet. Another might be she is studying him to find out more about the path to immortality.

The next secret door opens into a map room. With maps of numerous planes, planets and more. There are extremely detailed maps of Pandius on the top of a table, and Norwold is zoomed in to. A crystalline device focuses on one part of the map and zooms it - but whether magical or technological he can’t say.

There is a book on the table as well that entices him:

How to Make, Use, and Enjoy Your Own Warp Marble

He grabs it and flips through it and there are recipes and chatters here on making a Warp Marble. The whole process is laid out. As someone who really likes his Marble, this is something he really likes. He sits down and pulls out the Lens of Speed Reading from his backpack. He looks over at a scrying device. “I want to take this with me, make a copy, and then bring it back. I haven’t stolen anything of yours here. I promise that I will bring this book and only this book back. Is that okay?”

After a moment, an Aerial Servant floats into the room from somewhere else. It points at Alzar and then points to follow it. They head out. The Servant leads them out of the Hut, with the book intact….

That day, Alzar gets the Magist to use Bookcopy on the book, and then heads back and returns the original about an hour later. The Aerial Servant is in the first room past the door in the Hut, and Alzar hands it the book and it heads back up.


Alzar heads back out.

End of The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga. Again

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar has gained another level and is now level 8. He gains one more 4th and 3rd level spell.

He now has three weapon proficiencies that he has not used he is holding onto.


Questrix also gains a level and is now level 11.


Morena appears again. With what Alzar has learned, he has confirmed that Thanatos was likely taken by Baba Yaga and is on the 3rd level of the Hut. Again, he needs to be of a certain level to get there. So they have accepted the 2nd leg of the first rung of getting the Sphere of Matter’s Path

These are the 6 requirements:

1). 10 non-weapon profs - Alzar has gotten 14 since then. DONE
2). Must find the same artifact twice after resetting as thief and as cleric. DONE
3). Must get Fighter, Thief, and Cleric all to level 12. He gets all of the classes back. About to begin.
4). Must be accompanied by one member of each class - Ongoing.
5). Monument erected in his name. Not done


So what is about to happen is really, really odd. Alzar gets all of his classes that he needs to level to 12. He is a 8th level fighter, 8th level cleric, 9th level thief. He even get sMage back

There are no rules for how this works precisely. So I’ll make it up and be fair. He can gain a level in any class by gaining that XP. But XP has to be assigned on an adventure basis. In other words, Alzar can’t assign one encounter’s XP to thief, and then another’s to fighter and so forth. He can only assign it all to one class at the time.

[Abe Sargent]

Get ready for a big and overly complicated character sheet for Alzar!

As a Polymath, Alzar can now mix and match stuff. Alzar takes the Specialization in Missile Fire. This lets him move half movement and get full fire rate or full movement and half, as well as -1 AC vs missile fire when firing. . Then he double specializes in it as a Fighter, and gets full movement and fire rate and -2 AC. He also combines skillset with items. For example, he can use Bright Barrier with the weapon/shield style he learned as a rogue with the specialization of the Axe. He saves his final weapon prof for now.

Here’s another. His AC. He doesn’t wear armor. He can wera the fighter-only Helm of Selinor again, He’s now wearing the thief-only Cloak of Shadows again, Bright Barrier, AC bonuses from thief, etc…

Without the Barrier normally, Alzar has a typical AC of…Bracers - 2, -3 Cloak, -1 Helm, -3 Rogue: -5 AC and that’s without using a Ioun Stone or Boots of Striding and Springing. With Barrier he gets -5 AC to -10 AC. Higher level campaigns do embrace ACs less than -10, so with the Stone, with Bone Block spell, with Boots, etc. And then dn’t forget that the Evade thief ability hits for the first attack each round that would normally miss. Now he’s no longer getting the free round of misses with the Cloak of Displacement, but that’s still Alzar in a good place.

[Abe Sargent]

I’m just giving you the character sheet. No spells, spellbooks, items, etc:


Alzar the Polymath; Alzar the Mighty, Lord of Wood and Fire, Marquis of March of the Mighty

Alzar, Level 8 Cleric, Scholar Priest, (Level 9 Thief, (Investigator); 8th level Fighter (Myrmidon), 26th level Path Mage (Fivefold Mage))

Lawful Evil
Human

Str: 18/23
Dex: 13
Con: 11
Wis: 17
Int: 21
Cha: 17

Hit Points: 80
THACO: 16
AC: -5 (Cloak of Shadows; Bracers AC2, Helm. If using Barrier, -10. Ioun Stone, Boots, could drop -2)
Age 63, Body - 29

Cleric XP - 145000, 225k to level 9; Thief XP - 126,200 (160k to 10th); Fighter XP - 180k, 250k to level 9; Mage XP - 6156490 (Level 27 at 6,250,000);

Non-Weapon Proficiencies:

Myrmidon:

Tactical History 15
Fire-Building 18

Riding 14
Swimming 12
Reading/Writing 16
Survival 16
Blind Fighting
Etiquette 17
Endurance
Heraldry 13
Hunting 12
Fishing 15
Weather Knowledge 12
Orienteering 18

As a Necromancer/Fivefold Mage

Necrology 16
Netherworld Knowledge 16
Herbalism 17
Alchemy 15
Poison Use 13
Ancient Languages 11
Spellcraft 13
Ancient History – 17
Bookbinding – 16
Papermaking - 16
Sage Knowledge: Outer Planes, Inner Planes – 13
Divining: 15
Genie Lore: 17
Riding, Specialization: 10
Research: 13
First Lore – Aleph I: 8
Riding, Air: 13

As a Thief:

Information Gathering: 15
Trailing: 16
Set Snares: 13
Tracking: 13
Locksmithing: 11
Fine Balance - 11
Camouflage - 12

As a Cleric:

Scribe - 12
Religion - 10

Investigation - 11
Healing - 14
Hypnotism - 9
Administration - 16
Diplomacy - 14
Court Intrigue - 13

Languages – Thorasian - Typic, Sis’sharr, UnderTypic, Kuo-Toa; Hamedhi – Arjuni, Sand Mire Common – Pandius - Pandius Prime,

Traits:

Empathy
Fast Healer
Precise Memory
Obscure Knowledge


Weapon Proficiencies:

Bonus Kit Specialization:

Battle Axe

Battle Axe
One Handed Weapon Style x2 (-2 AC when using one weapon in combat)
Crossbow
Battle Axe Weapon Mastery
Spear
Dagger

Total with normal battle axe - +3 to hit, +3 to damage, -2 to AC. An additional +1 with the axe and +1 damage for strength

Mage - Staff

Thief Weapons:

Short Bow, Short Sword
Short Bow Expertise - Fires at rate of Specialization
Specialization in One Handed With Shield - -1 AC and can Shield Bash


Cleric:

Mace

Polymath:

Double Specialization in Missile Fire --2 AC at range vs ranged weapons, can move 100% movement and fire everything


Class Abilities

Fighter Class Abilities:

Specialization
Leadership (Alzar can command the tactics, strategy, logistics and more that a large force requires)
3 attacks every 2 rounds

Mage Class Ability:

1). Alzar can control undead as an evil Priest of the same level, and this ability extends to extra planar beings which are considered undead with the same hit dice for this purpose.
2). One Extra Spell/Level is Gained, must be Path.
3). Fivefold Mages reduce the spell level by one when researching spells in The Path.
4). Chance to Learn spell in The Path increased by +15%
5). Saving Throw of Targets when targeted by spells from The Path at -1.
6). No more than one spell per level can be from the group: Abjuration, Alteration, Alchemy and Geometry barring a highly unusual and temporary circumstance.
7). Fivefold Mage must invest a focus item as the method through which magic is cast. (Signet Ring from Hamedh, kept on necklace.)
8). Must have a lab and library and workbench with 1,000 gp value per level, and an upkeep of 50 gp/level/month
9). They can store spells like an Artificer, but cannot begin to do so until level 6
10). Fivefold Mages have a chance to identify a magical item by spending a turn peering at it closely and examining it - chance is their level times 5.
11). Fivefold Mages never suffer from a negative reaction penalty due to controlling or animating undead.



Thief Class Ability:

Cannot use Armor
Without a Trace
Defensive Bonus- -3 AC when unarmored
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


Cleric Class Ability:

Cannot use Armor
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.
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

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

Immune to starvation

Can cast ESP once/week

A Wish Resulted in - An interdimensional Pocket which only he can access by reaching out his hand, or concentrating to send himself there. It’s sort of like a giant Bag of Holding. It can hold up to 500,000 coins of items, and it’s the size of a large room. Due to the size and volume, it cannot be accessed as readily as his items in a Bag of Holding can be, and therefore, he cannot find items during combat from it. He also can’t step into it during combat, it takes a minute of meditation to translocate his form there.

Alzar may move and survive in the following planes at will: Tarterus, Acheron, The Abyss, Elysium, Arcadia, and the Astral Plane and Positive Energy.

+2 to all saves against fear/awe effects

Cleric Spells - 5/5/4/2

Wizard Spells - 7/7/7/7/6/6/6/6/5


Special Books Already Used – Tome of Clear Thought; Tome of Leadership and Influence; Libram of Ineffable Damnation; Tome of Understanding; Tome of Quickness of Action; Manual of Puissant Skill at Arms; Manual of Bodily Health; Manual of Gainful Exercise;

Longevity Potions Drank – 2; Wishes used for stats - INT, WIS

Younger - 1

[Abe Sargent]

Its Month 8, of Year 6. Alzar is back to being a magic-user. He spends 65,000 of his own gold to begin construction on a hugely pimp monument, statue, with columns, some permanent magic effects, and more


Back to Dancing Hut..

Alzar spends the next 6 days doing research, and bringing in allies. An off-hand remark by a Pit Fiend has clued him in strongly - he can summon them on Pandius even though they died, because the Hut is actually a sub-plane. It was a pocket place made by Baba Yaga, so Alzar can do pretty much anything outside.

Alzar has summoned various allies from the area, to head one major assault on the Hut, and by Hut he means plane, of Baba Yaga. With his levels restored, he can get to the final level and unlock it. The rest can come with him.

He clues them in on various ways to hit her. For example, in the various legends, she is immune to metal completely. So if someone uses a metal magical weapon against her, and it doesn’t work, then they’ll need a non-metal weapon to continue.

Alzar reminds everyone that they are here for one reason only - to attack. Not to steal or loot or drive her away. But merely to free Thanatos. Maybe they can do that peacefully. Maybe not. But do not antagonize her needlessly.

You can’t summon aid or anything, so Alzar will be heading back in with:

Forx the bard, now level 9.
Questrix the gnome Illusionist, level 11
Rachlann, level 7 fighter
Rogren, level 8 fighter
Racala, level 9 cleric
Adentium, level 8 wizard

Aleph, Bronze Golem
Android Bodyguard
Azzil, Imp Familiar


It’s time. They head back in. Alzar learns a few different spells, like Wish and Greater Malison.

The doors are not open, and the hut is dancing. Not a good sign. Alzar has given everyone the best he has - magical weapons and armor and more. Missiles fly into the two legs and drop the hut from past the fence, and the door flings open. They move in and head in.

[Abe Sargent]

After moving around the first level melts, and the 2nd arrives. They head to the right room and then use the secret door here, which works…




They arrive at the bottom of three rooms. The room is cascading with energy from the Negative Plane, and there are four huge mirrors that are arrayed around the legs of a giant figure. There are two more rooms above this one, and the legs are probably those of Thanatos himself Alzar recognizes the mirrors as the same substance as that of his Warp Marble.

There is still a ceiling above this room, and stairs heading up on the far side. The next floor is the middle trap, and there is a temporal shift here. The group is captured by it, but Alzar’s Time Stop spell cancels it for a turn or so. The midsection of the Immortal is here, and the Temporal Energies are coming from four great pedestals. The room is laid out like a giant four-point star.

They head up the final staircase to the final room of this prison. Here positive energies are cascading from the Positive Energy Plane. Again, there are four Warp Marble-esque giant mirrors. This room has the great head and shoulders of the Immortal, and he is imprisoned here.


There is one door that leaves here. The Star of Mo-Pilar has is trapped and locked. Alzar’s Chime of Opening cancels the Wizard Lock spell on it, but it’s still held. Alzar rolls and disarms two mechanical traps. There is a magical one here too. He casts Dispel Magic (as cleric, not the more powerful Wizard version) and drops the trap. The Door can now be opened….

[Abe Sargent]

The Control Room is dominated by a large, high-backed chair carved from ivory and inlaid with jade and silver. The chair is inscribed with a variety of runes that are inlaid on a variety of shelves. Books and magical items are there. On the far wall is a large number of mirrors, more than 30, and they are revealing the various glass eyes around the Hut in its various rooms.

On the floor is a large broom, a cauldron, and a hound from Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound spell, who alerts the occupant in the seat. Baba Yaga is seated in the chair, which she spins to face Alzar and his group.

Alzar officially introduces himself and Baba Yaga merely nods. She is a bent over wizened old crone who’s probably more than 2000 years old. Alzar tells her that that are not thieves not looters, and not bandits, come to steal and wreak havoc. They just want something returned - Thanatos. He thanks her for letting him loan the book, and offers her a pouch of 3000 gp as payment, about 3x what a book like that would cost. He grabs a pouch from his shoulder, and places it on the ground.

This is yours for the book. (He doesn’t want her to hold having loaned him the book against him) We just ask that you release Thanatos.”

“As I have told him. His freedom is on his own head. As soon as he grants me a minor boon.”

“Immortality.”

She just smiles at Alzar’s statement.

“That’s more than a minor boon.”

“Not for one of his power, it isn’t”

“I stand corrected. But still, I request that you return Thanatos.”

“No. I grow bored of this conversation. You were dedicated enough to return to my Hut multiple times, you brought a lot of friends with you with nice sharp weapons, you managed to take care of my Pit Fiends, you managed to pierce my defenses, and, like you stated, you haven’t really been a bother to me. But now let’s test you resolve even more.”

And with that she begins to rise and her hound heads out to nip at Alzar.

[Abe Sargent]

Baba Yaga - 150 HP, THAC0 3, 3 attacks for 4d4+9, 4d4+9, and 2d10+9. AC -4. She is immune to non-magic weapons, poisons, metal weapons, spells, cold, fire, with a 75% Magic Resistance. She regenerates 3 hp/round. She gets +4 to spells against the mind, she is immune to a metric to of spells, and illusions, she is a Godlike intelligence of 25, and no one can outwit or out plan her, not even Alzar’s normal 21 INT and experience and skill set. +2 to saves vs anything that would deal more than damage (disease, contagion, etc). She cab cause fear for a turn ,and force everyone to save, poisons someone with the first two physical attacks (with her nails)

She can use a variety of thief abilities, knows a ton of priest and wizard spells (she’s a level 25 mage, a level 12 priest, and a level 11 thief). She also has a variety of magic items as well to assist.

She casts Time Stop….

Time Stop gives you 1d3 rounds, and you don’t know how many. She casts Monster Summoning V and IV and then it ends. The spells resolve and now she has 1d3 level 4 and 1d3 level 5 monsters, randomly determined, arrive. 2 and 2 of each. These arrive:

2 Hook Horrors (AC3, HD5, HP 28, THACO 15, 3 attacks for 1d8/1d8/2d6, 175 XP)
2 Giant Spiders (AC4, HD 4+1, HP 26, THACO16, 1 attack for 1d8, 650 - uses Web once/battle)

Alzar points some folks at the Horrors, and others at the Spiders. He suspected Hold Person spells or styles perhaps, so many have Rings of Free Action - those work on Webs too, and he always wears his. Spell Turning on the other.

Racala uses the Iron Flask to grow and expel the Cyclops right beside Baba Yaga and Alzar tells him to get revenge. (Iron Flask works by shrinking and physically moving to the flask and then putting a stasis spell, not a summons or an extra-dimensional space, which cannot be accessed here)

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar leads with Greater Malison, this does not have a save so its guaranteed. It forces the target to get -2 to all saves for 1 rnd/level - so 27 rounds -basically all battle long. (Alzar gets +1 to spell level for Azzil, his imp - he also has 75% magic resistance from the Amulet and Azzil). Alzar has the Bronze Golem and Rogren hit some Hook Horrors, the Android and others on the Giant Spiders. Forx casts Color Spray and….4, 16 - one Horror is dazed, Baba is immune, spiders aren’t intelligent enough. Questrix leads with Melf’s Acid Arrow and she shrugs it off and a magic metal crossbow bolt from Rachlann proves that she is metal immune and it passes through her.

Battle truly begins

8 vs 6

Baba Yaga casts and summons an Invisible Stalker. Attacks from her minions (Hound, Horrors?) hit twice on Rogren fpr 11 damage. The Giant Spiders ;launch Webs. Racala, with a Free Action Ring casts the Free Action spell on everyone and the Webs are ignored. The Cyclops swings and…..hits for 11 damage on Baba Yaga (his big, giant magical club is certainly not metal). Adentium casts Magic Missile at her and they hit her Gem of MM Protection, much like Alzar has, and are redirected to Alzar for 6 damage. Forx casts Glitterdust and that reveals the Invisible Stalker to everyone to attack later. The Android Bodyguard fires a blaster at Baba Yaga and misses. Damage dealt to a Horror. Alzar decides to speed this up. He casts Wish at Baba Yaga and Wishes that her immunity to metal be removed for a day. Alzar ages 5 years.


Rogren 52/63
Alzar -75/80
139/150 - The Big One

3 vs 4

Alzar casts Strip Resistance. Will it break her Resistance? Nope. It will keep working until it Strips her resistance down 27% . The Cyclops tosses a 5 and misses. Forx grabs the Drums and starts playing. Next turn, everyone gets +2 to hit and damage. The Golem tears the head off a Horror and it dies. Blasters hit the big bad for 8. Adentium uses Burning Hands and slays the spiders. Seeing the need for more allies now, she reaches into her own Hut and opens a phase door to another room and out pour for Clay Golems. The Stalker hits Rogren.



Rogren 44/63
Alzar -75/80
131/150 - The Big One


9 vs 4

Baba Yaga casts Stone to Flesh and petrifies the Cyclops. The Clay Golems flank, two around her and two to head to Alzar and swing. One gets a 19 and hits for 13 damage and no evasion by him . Alzar nods at Forx and he drops the drums and grabs a ring on his belt and uses a charge from the Ring of Depetrification to bring the Cyclops back. No bonuses for ,the drums though, The Strip hits this round and her MR is now 48%. Questrix casts Acid Arrow on the Stalker for some damage, and Aleph punches it too. The final Hook Horror bites it from Rogren’s blade. Rachlann’s crossbow led with the Hasp hits Baba Yaga once for 5 damage. We need a tank, and after dropping Baba Yaga’s immunities and opening her up, Alzar can now be that tank, he grabs his Axe, and Shield and wades in and swings at a Clay Golem. 17, 8 and 14 - he hits twice for 36 damage it dies (35 hp for it). 3 golems left

Rogren 44/63
Alzar -63/80
126/150 - The Big One

[Abe Sargent]

6 vs 3

Baba Yaga is done with this She’s tired of trying to keep her summoned creatures alive and decides to switch tactics. She can tell that she’s losing, and there’s no sense to stick with a losing strategy of summoning creatures. She casts the 5th level spell Cloukill for the entire room:

This is a nasty spell that:

Lasts 25 rounds
Kills everything level 5 or lower
Saves for level 6 to die
Everyone else takes 1d10 poison damage a round No saves

This will begin to erode at Alzar’s team. This turn, everyone takes 7 damage - she is immune to poison (as is the Android Bodyguard and Imp) and golems too. Clays attack the Cyclops and hits for 9 damage. It’s take 16. The Stalker misses.

Alzar swings and slays a second Clay Golem - 2 left. Racala casts Cure Moderate Wounds and Rogren heals 20, and Questrix Dispel Magic on the Cloudkill specifically, in order to kill it and it’s gone. The Cyclops swings and 17 and hits Baba Yaga for 8. 5 more from a bolt.


Rogren 57/63
Alzar -56/80
113/150 - The Big One
Forx - -7
Questrix -- 7
Rachlann, level 7 fighter - 7
Racala, level 9 cleric -7
Adentium, level 8 wizard -7

Aleph, Bronze Golem - 7
Android Bodyguard
Azzil, Imp Familiar


2 vs 6

Alzar moves and carves and finishes off the Invisible Stalker. Forx is playing the Drums again. The Cyclops tosses an 11 and hits for 7. No one else targets her. Questrix and Racala hit the Clay golem and it’s almost dead. Her clays miss. The Cloudkill didn’t really work. She activates a Contingency spell and three magical shields hit her:

Protection from Magical Weapons
Spell Turning
Baba Yaga’s Mantle

The Mantle is a spell she created, and if any spell comes in to drop her protections, that caster takes 20 damage and only the Mantle falls.




Rogren 57/63
Alzar -57/80
113/150 - The Big One
Forx - -7
Questrix -- 7
Rachlann, level 7 fighter - 7
Racala, level 9 cleric -7
Adentium, level 8 wizard -7

Aleph, Bronze Golem - 7
Android Bodyguard
Azzil, Imp Familiar


3 vs 7

The damaged clay golem dies and Alzar kills the healthy one - and now Baba Yaga is alone, and Alzar is next to her. The Cyclops would have hit her but rebounds off the protection. A Dispel Magic flies in from Racala, and she takes 20 damage and just the Mantle falls. No one else hurts her this round. She casts Wish herself and orders that her Metal Immunity be restored. And it will be.

[Abe Sargent]

1 vs 4

Alzar shouts to hold off and casts a powerful level 27 Dispel Magic and drops her protections. Racala heals herself of 20 damage with CModWnds. Questrix casts Protection from Evil, 10’ Radius. Others adjust or such. After her final spell defense falls, she casts a spell - 4th level Baba Yaga’s Poison Ball, a spell that is identical to Fire Ball, only it’s level 4, poison, and has a poison save. Everyone takes 10d6 damage, save for half (she’s immune). 32 damage

Rogren 41/63
Alzar -41/80
113/150 - The Big One
Forx - -23
Questrix -- 39
Rachlann, level 7 fighter - 39
Racala, level 9 cleric -23
Adentium, level 8 wizard -23

Aleph, Bronze Golem - 39
Android Bodyguard
Azzil, Imp Familiar



5 vs 7

Alzar casts Maze at her. Can she make her Magic Resist? 51%, nope, 3 above the 48%. There’s no save. But her massively high INT keeps her out for just one round. Alzar orders everyone to heal and switch items as appropriate.

Racala casts Cure Medium wounds and heals 30 from Questrix, who is almost dead. Healing Potions are quaffed by 4 people. This was a successful hit, so she’s likely to use ranged magic again. Alzar orders Aleph to retreat. With the metal immunity back, and no ways to hit any summoned creatures, it’s just sucking up space and taking hits. Aleph heads into the first room. Questrix readies the Scroll of Catching.


Rogren 51/63
Alzar -41/80
113/150 - The Big One
Forx - -13
Questrix -- 9
Rachlann, level 7 fighter - 29
Racala, level 9 cleric -23
Adentium, level 8 wizard -13

Aleph, Bronze Golem - 39
Android Bodyguard
Azzil, Imp Familiar

5 vs 4

She returns and wins initiative. She casts Cone of Cold at the room. Only the Cyclops beside her won’t be caught in it, but Questrix has moved in from of her and positioned himself and catches the spell in the Scroll. The spell, Cone of Cold, is now written on the Scroll. Alzar reaches out and casts Vampiric Touch and….evades her MR and he sucks 25 hp from her. A sling stone hits her for 3. The Cyclops tosses an 11 and adds 8.



Rogren 51/63
Alzar -66/80
77/150 - The Big One
Forx - -13
Questrix -- 9
Rachlann, level 7 fighter - 29
Racala, level 9 cleric -23
Adentium, level 8 wizard -13

Aleph, Bronze Golem - 39
Android Bodyguard
Azzil, Imp Familiar


5 vs 2

She’s done. She casts teleport and flees…

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar has Racala, and then him, use the Rod of Health to heal everyone. Over the next few rounds, in case she decides to return, but she doesn’t. Alzar looks around the control room. Thanatos is still here. He heads to the Control Seat, as it’s the only thing other than the mirrors here. He sits down and the Hut tries to dominate him, and it has a personally score of 55. That’s hugely powerful. Alzar has a lot more though and dominates the Hut instead.

From here he can force the Hut to move (physically, teleport, or Plane Shift). Alzar can control the Hut, and there’s not a lot controllable. However, the Death Trap is one, and Alzar releases Thanatos. After a moment, the Immortal disappears.

Now Alzar could earn the eternal enmity of Baba Yaga by looting her stuff. But he’s been fine. No reason to do so now. Alzar and company head back out.


End of Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga

[JAG]

Alzar really needs to find the Anchor of Space-time or the spell Tracker for all these pesky enemies with dimension door / teleport (I know those are probably only ToME 2 items / spells, I don't recall a D&D equivalent).

[Abe Sargent]

Wouldn' t that be cool!

[Abe Sargent]

They only get 38k for the combat. So I’m giving every participant one full level.




Forx the bard, now level 10.
Questrix the gnome Illusionist, level 12
Rachlann, level 8 fighter
Rogren, level 9 fighter
Racala, level 10 cleric
Adentium, level 98 wizard


Alzar puts the level into Cleric

Alzar gets 1 level 5 spell, and another 1st and 2nd.


5th Level - Atonement, Commune, Quest, True Seeing, Meld, Prepare Enchantment, Plane Shift, Flame Strike, Magic Font, Consequence, Air Walk, Cloud of Purification, Control Winds, Nature’s Charm, Shatter Stone and Metal, Sink into Earth, Spike stones, Strengthen Stone, Transmute Rock to Mud, Animate Flame, Wall of Fire, Cloud of Purification, Produce Ice, Calm Water, Geyser, Dispel Evil, Unceasing Vigilance of the Holy Sentinel, Golem, Page Guardian, Cure Critical Wounds, Champion’s Strength, Impeding Permission, Raise Dead, Cure Insanity, Anti-Plant Shell, Impregnable Mind, Protection from Fiends, Petrification; Adaptation, Dimensional Translocation, Barrier of Retention, Elemental Forbiddance, Grounding, Shrieking Walls, Undead Ward, Disguise, Illusory Artillery, Righteous Wrath of the Faithful


2 hours later, the Hut of Baba Yaga plane shifts when the owner returns. After having his life be seriously derailed by a well coordinate strike by the demon prince and princess over the Orb of Golden Death artifact, he understand the lengths some would go to in order to wreak vengeance. He could never really rest easily worried that Baba Yaga would return to hit him and get vengeance. And nothing in the hut that he found is worth that risk, not when he’s doing quite well.


Alright, let’s head back to the March for a bit.

[Abe Sargent]

Month 8, Year 7 -


Month 8 - Mid-Summer Convocation – 10% of income that month - is held this month

The Silver from the Foundry is ready for enchanting and Alzar spends a month making another Silver Golem,


Nothing else major happens this month


Month 9, Year 7 -


Alzar has finished casting Dispels and Remove curses on the five spellbooks that he sequestered:

Tarras’s spellbook:

Magic Missile, Charm Person, Read/Detect Magic, Pro Evil, Mirror Image, Dispel Magic, Fly, Polymorph Object, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Cone of Cold, Monster Summoning I, Detect Invisibility, Protection from Good, 10’ Radius, Chill Touch, Icelance


Heydrech’s Traveling Spellbook:

Magic Missile, Burning Hands, Charm Person, Read/Detect Magic, Pro Evil, Mirror Image, Dispel Magic, Fly, Polymorph Object, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Pro Evil 10’ Radius, Animate Dead, Polymorph Other, Polymorph Self, Teleport Object, Flaming Sphere, Glitterdust


Kevel’s Main Spellbook:

Magic Missile, Charm Person, Read/Detect Magic, Pro Evil, Mirror Image, Dispel Magic, Fly, Polymorph Object, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Pro Evil 10’ Radius, Animate Dead, Polymorph Other, Disintegrate, Detect Invisibility, ESP, Haste, Protection from Normal Missiles, Shield, Power Word: Stun, Feeblemind, Hold Person, Anti-Magic Shell, Pierce Magic, Demi-Shadow Monsters, Ghoul Touch

There’s nothing in these three that entice him. Pretty standard stuff. But the next two?

Kevel’s Necromantic Tome:

Animate Dead Animals, Preserve Dead, Undead Servant, Undead Mount, Bone Knit, Animate Dead, Animate Dead Monster, Death Spell, Teleport Dead, Finger of Death,


Kevel’s Book of Life Shifting:


2nd - Embalm, 5th - Graft Flesh, Magic Jar, Nulathoe’s Ninemen, 6th - Graft, 7th - Bloodstone’s Frightful Joining, 8th - Clone, Enhance, Life Force Transfer, 9th - Life Force Exchange, Lifeblend, Trap the Soul



Those have some serious game. In fact, some of those spells are infamous. Lifeblend is one of the most evil spells available for wizards. It’s what made the crab-ogres at Kevel’s labortary.

Lifeblend - 9th level - take two creatures and cast Lifeblend and then roll some dice and you blend the two creatures together based in part on the dice. You create a brand new race of creature or monster based on this spell. It’s nasty, and takes around 6500 in components (1500 of which is reusable) and the wizard can’t cast anything for a day afterwards. But this is just serious power, but Alzar’s not a super big fan.

Graft Flesh and Graft enable a wizard to graft a limb to replace a lost one, and you could give someone an octopus tentacle for that arm, or something similar. Both are pretty nasty as well.

You might recall that Alzar knew and used Embalm on Thorasia, it takes a freshly killed corpse and keeps it fresh until used later, requires 100 gp and any zombified creature animated fro that remains gets +2 hp per HD. But he has it again. The Nineman is a better version of that spell.

Life Force Transfer moves a spirit from a body into a prepared item, like a weapon or a sword. Or vice versa. It’s permanent. The body remains spiritless, alive, and unable to do anything until killed, controlled, or it expire s(usually takes a week or so). You can seal the Transfer with a Permanency spell to finish off an item or something. It’s a way to make intelligent weapons. But…

Life Force Exchange swaps, permanently, the spirits of two living creatures. Alzar could swap his body with a younger or more powerful one, and keep his skills, spells, abilities, and memories, and gain a brand new body. But that’s not the best spell here…

Enhance - When a wizard cast enhance, they cannot cast any other magic for a week, and they lose 1d4 constitution points permanently. One statistic of the target, chosen by the caster, rises by one permanently. Capped at 22 per score. So Alzar could swap 1d4 CON for 1 INT point, right now. But who cares? Right? So what you could do is put it on Scrolls an then force people to read it and cast the scroll spell, and then Alzar gets stronger.

Bloodstone’s Frightful Joining - 7th level spell, wizard transfers lifeforce to an undead, dominating it, and save if intelligent. Lasts 1 turn/lvel. Caster can use all of the attacks and such of the undead, as well as his own. So for example, Alzar could dominate a Skeleton ,and then move with the Skeleton like his own body, fight, cast magic, etc as if the skeleton was his own body, if It died, nothing happens to him he returns to his comatose body and takes 4d6 damage (save for half) damage.

He grabs Enhance, Life Force Transfer and Exchange, Nulathoe’s Ninemen; Teleport Dead, Animate Dead Monsters, Preserve Dead, Frightful Joining. Clone too.

[Abe Sargent]

The Assassination of Alzar


Normally I run everything out of the modules. I only do things between an official TSR or WOTC module, adventure, campaign, magazine, or something else. I try to link various modules and adventures into the ongoing campaign and I like to combine elements and have a character in one make it to others, or introduce something in one module that matters later on. Little changes like that make the world feel more breathable.

But I am about to go off script a bit. I’m penning a quick little sidenote to what has been happening. I want to push Alzar off his comfort level, and this is one of the best ways that we can do that.



On the 5th day of the 9th month of the year, an extremely attractive woman in her mid 30s arrives at the March of the Mighty. She is a great bard, namely Athala the Precise, known as one of the great chanters of the day. She is a vocalist who chants at length about major subjects. Having heard the stories of Alzar, she has come to proclaim the greatness of Alzar through chanting.


For almost week, Athala the Precise has been heading through different towns and prefects in the March. After arriving in the capital and spending two days extolling the various virtues of Alzar, including some bawdy comments about his virility, the people are beginning to want Alzar to host her in an official capacity. Alzar comes back from a trip to Serraine, on the 11th. On the 12th, they set up a lunch, and she will perform and meet Alzar officially.

During the lunch, she looks at him hungrily, and longingly. She has naked sexual desire on her face, and her chants grow increasingly salacious. After another round of music, and applause, she asks to meet with Alzar privately. He turns her down, but she can come to his court tomorrow, when he meets with everyone.

She looks very disappointed. But she agrees.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar doesn’t trust her. That night he has one of his lycanthropes trail her. He is never heard from again.

The next day, she comes to court, wearing a massively revealing outfit. She walks to Alzar’s throne and sits down in front of him, wanting to make of herself as appetizing a delight as possible. After the entire crowd is quieted and dumbfounded, she asks Alzar to marry her.

She will be the best he’s ever had, he needs to start having children soon to continue his line, and more. He can have her far longer than any other has. That’s an odd phrase and it triggers Alzar’s Sage Knowledge and Netherworld Knowledge. He tells her to keep talking in order to delay her, and then mentally commands Azzil to fly over, in the shape of a raven, invisible, and to use the Star of Mo’Pilar on her. Azzil confirms it.

She is not a human.

She is not from Pandius.

She is a Succubus.

Alzar then interrupts her, in the court, and in front of everyone.

“I’ll make you a deal Athala. You show me your true form, and then I will let the people here vote on whether or not to allow us to marry.”

She looks surprised and acts like she doesn’t know what Alzar is talking about, but he casts a Priest Spell and now everyone in the room sees her reveals as she is.



She looks over at Alzar and smiles seductively, “Are you sure?”


Alzar nods, and the people are cowering in fright.


With almost a hint of sadness, “Very well, but I wasn’t lying about marrying you and being with you. Well, remember that we did offer you the nice way first.”

And she disappears and returns home to the Abyss.

[Abe Sargent]

The next day later, Alzar gets another guest. This time, he comes naked - no keeping things hidden, just nasty and powerful. It’s another demon.



This is a Glabrezu, a true tanar’ri or demon. One of the most powerful.

“I am sorry about the mixup with that Succubus, Marquis. I should have realized that you were a person of power, not of sexual appetites. Unless they run another way? Would you prefer an Incubus? No? I thought not.

Although if you do want her, I’ll give you her true name. You can summon her yourself and ensure her loyalty that way. She is a bit enamored with you. No? How about ten Succubus? No? I didn’t think so, but if you change your mind.

I am here to give you the one thing you have been questing for all of your life. The one thing you need more of. Power. Naked, pure, power. You can bind me with any spells or magic items that you want, I will take them. I will be your advisor, for as long as you’ll have me. I’ll give you the true names of a 100 demons. You can raise an army in a month that will decimate this plane. You can conquer nearby lands and take the Kingdom of Norwold for yourself in months.

You are on a quest for immortality. This would speed you up considerably. You know the history of this plane. People who get immortality do something amazing. They usually wage and win major wars and wrest crowns from the losers. They have power and they use it to conquer, to slay, and to carve a name for themselves in the battlefield. And you are a fighter, and you understand power. That power could invest you with immortality in mere months instead of years.

And you get power. I offer you power and nothing in return. You need not give me, or demons, or anybody I associate with anything. I ask nothing of you, and I offer so much. In one breath, you can ascend to higher levels of power than you’ve ever known before. I can give you a Maralith for leading your troops or cadre of Vrocks as shock troops. All here to march at the command of Alzar the Mighty. At your command…

So, what do you say?

You say no? You refuse my gift, even given freely? I will take any test you wish to prove that I want nothing back. And yet you still wish to decline?

I offer you power once more Alzar…


Very well then. But we offered you a line and a wife and all of the delights and passions that come with that. And I offered you power, naked unadulterated power, to take what is rightfully yours. And you refuse both. You refuse to see reason. Very well then. I am disappointed, but this was not unanticipated…”

A moment later, the demon leaves

[Abe Sargent]

The 22nd night hits, and an unknown force begins to ripple through the lines. At night, a strike force of three Bar-lgura demons arrive at a place around 15 mile away from Alzar’s home in Evenarrow. They drop three eldritch devices to the ground, and a huge gate opens up between Pandius and the Abyss. After a few lesser demons come through to ensure that everything is working properly, larger demons begin to break through the Gate and within an hour, more than 30 demons have arrived, by morning, a strike for of 120 demons has crystallized and begins to mount up.

At roughly seven hours past midnight, the first cry of something wrong penetrates the area, and Alzar’s attention is brought to bear.

Alzar casts Mount and then teleports himself and his griffin over, high above the gate. There is a sprawling amount of demons below, and they have come to hit him. Hard. He needs to stop the Gate. After spending around 5 minutes reviewing it, a Chasme demon sees him and suddenly a variety of teleporting and flying demons teleport up to him to attack. Alzar casts Teleport again and returns to the castle and begins to order defenses erected.

They are going to be here in an hour at most, maybe a lot sooner.

The demons are pushing hard against him for some reason.

Alzar heads to the summoning circle he was preparing over the last few days. It’s not finished, but under the circumstances it doesn’t seem necessary.

He uses one of the true names that were given to him, and summons a greater devil called a Cornugon, a lawful evil blood enemy of the demons





As this extremely power devil arrives, Alzar just tells him frankly that a demon invasion is coming before they do the normal power dance to establish dominance. They are an hour away tops. The Cornugon was told by the Pit Fiends that he would likely be summoned any time and was given a message for Alzar.

The Blood War has a long history of having the lawful, organized, militaristic, but lesser-numbered devils, (aka the Baatezu) against the chaotic, disorganized, but huge numbers of demons (aka the Tanar’ri). The Blood War has been mostly a standstill, but ever since Alzar freed four Pit Fiends, that are the most powerful of the powerful devils, the power has shifted back their way in the almost 2 months since. The demons know what happened. They know all of the individual Pit Fiend and where they were, getting four back at once from service after more than 250 years away is a major blow to them, They are hear as a strike force.

The Cornugon tells Alzar how to shut down their eldritch gate. They scry the area, and see that only 10 demons are there holding out. The Magist teleports Alzar and the devil over, and five minutes later, the gate is destroyed and they come back.

[Abe Sargent]

But battle is about to begin…


Their foes:


1 Marilith leading them
15 Bar-lgura
10 Babau
5 Cambion
15 Chasme
40 Dretch
5 Hezrou
10 Nabassu
20 Rutterkin
5 Vrock

126 in total

Alzar needs friends to fight them back now. He hands some summoning items to the Magist to use, and has a local ally, Gwifa, the Shadow Mage, assist as well. She grabs local mages and other clerics, and essentially summons all of his allies, the Magist summons some on, and Alzar begins to grab some other allies. Alzar has folks distributing magical weapons to every soldier and guard.


Alzar needs to get his friends some time to summon, call, and get ready, the demons are at the walls in 15 minutes. So he takes the various allies he has summoned that can hit a demon (they can only be hit by magic)

Alzar
Cornugon Devil
Invisible Stalker
1 Greater Earth Elemental
1 Normal earth Elemental
4 Elementals from Face of Xenous - 16 HD beaters


Alzar also has two scrolls of Protection vs Demons, and he hands one out and puts the other on his belt. He keeps the face on during his skirmish in case he needs to use it’s abilities, in order to save his magic for later.

His goal is to hit the edges of their force, and then slow them down as his allies get into place. He has a surprise though, and it ready for it, away from peeking eyes.

They head out and the demons see him with six elementals, a devil, and they can see the Stalker as well, and they immediately move to hit him. He surrounds himself by the Elementals, and battle begins…


And then it stops. It Time Stops. Alzar casts his first spell - Worldwalk, and opens a Gate to another place, but this time it’s here in Pandius, and a huge gate is opened to a special chamber that he has… created and secured in the mountains, and out from that chamber come 6 Death Tyrants, animated Beholders that serve Alzar completely. He also has time for another spell, and casts Wail of the Banshee.

And then the Stop ends. And Alzar’s Wail occurs…

The Marilith is not dumb . She knows that Alzar has a few spells to use against her troops, so she has the disposable cannon fodder of the Dretch and Rutterkin in the first row, hitting Alzar’s elementals from all sides and then Chasme’s flying above to hit him aerially. The Wail only hits nearby Dretches, very low level demons whose main value is in dying- when they do, some hard-to-breathe gases emerge that make holding the point hard. But Alzar’s strike force can ignore that they are undead, can’t breathe or immune.

17 of the 28 creatures Alzar targeted near him die, and all 17 are Dretches.

But the Death Tyrants? Those are something new and unexpected…


Death Tyrant - A C 0, 50 hp, THACO 9, 2d4 bite, 4 of them still have a central eye with anti-magic, each is missing 1d4+1 eyes total,

Normal Rays:

1. Hold Person (used to be charm)
2. Hold Monster (used to be charm)
3. Sleep
4. Telekinesis
5. Flesh to Stone
6. Disintegrate
7. Fear
8. Slow
9. Cause Serious Wounds
10. Death Ray

The one that is really feared is Disintegrate. A fiend slain by that spell is permanently dead. Alzar orders his Tyrants to unleash their rays.

Let’s fast sim this


6 rounds later:

36 demons are dead
Alzar’s elementals and Stalker are dead. The Devil, 4 Death Tyrants are left. They have pushed back and decided to march on the city of Evenarrow in order to force Alzar over there. The Death Tyrants head back into and through their gate

[Abe Sargent]

He delayed them for another 20 minutes or so.

Heading back:

They have:


Amber Golem
Bronze Golem
2x Silver Golems
Android Bodyguard with a Blaster


1 Fire Elemental
2 Earth Elemental
2 Water Elemental

Those Elementals are from Alzar’s summoning devices he loaned them plus:

2 Aerial Servants
1 Invisible Stalker
18 Shadows
5 Slow Shadows



Alzar has Racala with the Rod of Health in the middle of a large group of fighters, armed with magical swords. Racala can heal each once/day for free with the Rod. It’ll keep them in the fight longer and help to reduce injuries and deaths


Nearby is the Ghost Draconus, ready to help defend his area as well.


As they are about five minutes away, Alzar flies up with the Flying Carpet and the Scroll in hand, and he reads and uses his scroll, and then drops into the middle of their formation with his Axe, Bright Barrier, +1 AC Ioun Stone, and Boots of Springing and Striding giving him a hugely hard-to-hit AC. -12.

These are chaotic people, and they soon roll over Alzar in an attempt to defeat him

A few rounds pass before they are called off. Alzar killed a Hezrou, Bar-lgura and Nabassu. The Maralith orders the rest off. Alzar needs to kill the Maralith. They are the generals, the attackers, and really the only thing resembling order in demon-kind. As they pull off, she orders the forces at the city, knowing Alzar can’t stop them all…


The Carpet flies up, and he swings and hacks a Chasme and slays it as it comes in close. Then Alzar has a line of sight and casts Flesh to Stone at the Maralith. It needs to break her Magic Resistance and….fails. Ah well.

Alzar’s troops are in formation, and since the battlements won’t have any use against an attacking foe that can teleport, fly, and is immune to the artillery and fortifications, they used the time Alzar bought them to make formations outside of the area, and about 30 yards from the walls and gates ,which are wide open

The summoned creatures are in the center, and front, where the heaviest fighting is expected to be. Forx has begun to play the magical Drums. Racala has cast a spell Aid to give his side +1 and the enemy side -1 to their stuff.

[Abe Sargent]

Battle opens.

The fodder that’s left slams into the Elementals and undead and Servants. The golems are being held in a reserve. The demons begin to edge their better troops around the edges of their formation, in order to flank if the opportunity presents itself. But their formation isn’t tight. The Maralith is certainly a good planner of strategy, but Alzar is really good (recall he has a variety of skills and proficiencies on warfare and tactics) and Alzar’s troops follow his instructions. As melee continues, and the demons look to break the edges, Alzar orders the archers to rise, and 40 troops on the battlements rise, all with magical arrows aided by spells like Flame Arrow, begin to fire. Many miss, but they are aiming at the flanks and force folks back. As they do, Alzar flies into the rear of their force like a one-man tank. With his protection, low AC, and multiple attacks, his axe is cutting a swath of destruction and two demons fall in two rounds to him.

Most of the canon in the front of the locals have died, only a few undead, and one Aerial servant remains, but the fresh troops behind them have stepped in, and aided by healing magic, fewer are suffering mortal wounds, while the demons can’t stay the same. Their spells like Magic Missiles and such are missing, as magical protections and wards established in this place are keeping them down.

But these are tenacious demons. And even on the wrong battlefield, with the wrong tactics, and the wrong side of spells, they are extremely strong and powerful. 15, and now 25 humans have fallen. A polymorph spell here turns a human into a sheep and is then slain. A hold spell there does something different. And soon, the demons know they have lost, know they have been rerouted, and it doesn’t matter. They keep coming.

Soon enough Alzar has carved a path to the Maralith, in the front of the fighting. She turns and faces him, leading with magic first, but his Magic Resistance of 75%, high saves, and Ring of Spell Turning keep him safe from the minor magics she has left, and Alzar slays her.

And after a few more minutes, the golems are freed to come in and assist, and the battle is won.

54 human troops died. Alzar reaches down and casts Raise Dead twice and brings them back to life. Just 5 will be resurrected - most high level magic was used this day for summoning allies.

But they won. To a demon, the 126 were slain.


I’m giving Alzar the one’s he soloed for XP. 57550 XP for him. He is now a level 10 Thief

Open Locks: 50
Find/Remove Traps: 95
Move Silently: 90
Hide in Shadows: 90
Climb Walls: 70
Read Languages: 5
Evasion: 60

Current abilities. He maxed Evasion.