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

[Abe Sargent]

By the end of Year 8:

The March of the Mighty

Ruler – Marquis Alzar

Hex #1(Evenarrow) – Villages – Evenarrow - 331 families – On the southern coast of the little jutting peninsula, this village fishes south in the Great Sea and the entrance there brings in some nice saltwater fish. With a small set of docks, Alzar will be expanding Evenarrow into the capital of his March. It’s in the perfect place. The rest of the Hex is really small villages here and there or individual shepherds and there is large area, near the mountains on the western part of the hex that has Cassiterite deposits that can be opened to mine.

Details – 758 families
7 resource gp

Monthly Income – Standard Income - 720 gp/month
Tax Income – 72 gp/month
Resource Income – 504/month
Total – 13644/month (x18 multiplier)

Hex #2 (Storn) – North of Evenarrow is this highly populated hex, southeast of the mountains, and with some amount on the Alphatian Sea. Forest and some hills.

Villages – Storn – 409 families, inland, center of the hex, they grow grapes on the hills here.
Riverton – 204 families, On a small river from the mountains to the sea, shepherds

Details – 922 families

Monthly Income - Standard Income - 890 gp/month
Tax Income – 89 gp/month
Resource Income – 267/month
Total – 12,908/month (x14 multiplier)

Alzar will be building up Storn here as well, later on.

Hex #3 (Augustia)– East of Evenarrow and Storn, and flanked by the coast, this hex is the last full hex in the area in the waters. Lead has been mined before just south of Farhome and there’s open mines there ready to be used, if they are cleaned out and reinforced.

Villages - Augustia – 191 families, on the northern coast, fish the Alphatian Sea
Farhome – 70 families, grapes, on hills by western edge of hex
Asantia – 104 families, farmers in southern coast of hex.

Details – 618 families


Monthly Income - Standard Income - 540 gp/month
Tax Income – 54 gp/month
Resource Income – 378/month
Total – 11124/month (x18 multiplier)



Hex #4 (Rostock) –, this heavy forested hex is next to the Ljallenvals and has an elf-hold of 122 elves living here too.

Village – Rostock – 139 families, they have a small quarry here they use to harvest stone and rocks of quality and send them elsewhere. 3 resource GP

Details - 344 families, 1 good – Stone


Monthly Income – Standard Income - 560 gp/month
Tax Income – 56 gp/month
Resource Income – 168/month
Total – 4816/month (x14 multiplier)


The Ljallenvals:


Saffir - - This mountainous region has a central valley and the major northern route through the Ljallenvals. It is north of Rostock and northwest of Storn.

Village – Saffir – 291 families, they farm vegatables here and sell them on the trade route. 1 resource GP. Saffir has a castle just built.

Details - 479 families, 1 good – Farming


Monthly Income – Standard Income - 3320 gp/month
Tax Income – 332 gp/month
Resource Income – 332/month
Total – 5748/month (x12 multiplier)


Hammerhelm - - This mountainous region has a part of the southern route through the Ljallenvals. It is south of Rostock and southwest of Evenarrow. No humans live up here, just dwarves. Unlike other hexes, this one will not grow via immigration.

Dwarfhold- Hammerhelm – 346 families live in this dwarfhold, now the second largest in Norwold. They mine verite, several other ores, and harvest fungus. +9 resource GP.

Details - 346 families, 1 good – Farming


Monthly Income – Standard Income - 3460 gp/month
Tax Income – 0 gp/month Dwarves don’t pay taxes
Resource Income – 3114/month
Total – 6,574/month (x19 multiplier)

Roselia - - This mountainous region has a central valley and the major northern route through the Ljallenvals. It is north of Saffir and northeast of Fanjy Way-Station.

Village – Roselia – 181 families, they collect herbs here and sell them on the nearby trade route. There’s also some gems that are mined and found in the area as well - 4 resource GP. Roselia is quiet, and one of the safest places in the Ljallenvals.

Details - 261 families, 2 goods – Herbs and Gems


Monthly Income – Standard Income - 2490 gp/month
Tax Income – 249 gp/month
Resource Income – 249/month
Total – 4176/month (x16 multiplier)


Fanjy Way-Station – This small town in the mountains along the northern trade route has very few people. North-west of Saffir, north of Silvercrest, north and east of the Ice Tomb area, and southwest of Roselia. This is where the Aarakockra nests are found, but they are not a part of the domain.

Village - Fanjy Way-Station – 42 families – they Fish a local brook here. 1 good, animal. 1 resource GP.

Details – 51 families, 1 goods – Fish

Monthly Income – Standard Income - 510 gp/month
Tax Income – 51 gp/month
Resource Income – 51/month
Total – 622/month (x12 multiplier)

Silvercrest – This small, harsh area has little to lend itself. West of the elves (and Tabi) forest with Rostock, southwest of Saffir, and north of Gold Dragons, and south of Fanjy, south east of Ice Tomb, and east of Varner. Mostly dwarves live here, and work the mines.

Silvercrest – 22 families – they mine some local mines here, 1 good, mineral. 3 resource GP.

Details – 29 families, 1 goods – Silver

Monthly Income – Standard Income - 270 gp/month
Tax Income – 27 gp/month
Resource Income – 81/month
Total – 406/month (x14 multiplier)


Ice Tomb – No one currently lives here, makes taxes, or works any industry


Rustborough – This mountainous hex is the furtherest most west in the Ljallenvals, and southwest of Ketherington. It’s the most wild of the remaining places, and needs to be tamed more. Until it is, income from here is halved.

Rustborough – 69 families – On the river. They collect and grow various root vegetables, like carrots, and potatoes in the town itself. There is also an iron mine up river with 24 families working it.

Details – 117 families, 2 goods – Iron, Root Vegetables

Monthly Income – Standard Income - 1050 gp/month
Tax Income – 105 gp/month
Resource Income – 420/month
Total – 1755/month (x15 multiplier)

Dehnsten Keep – This mountainous hex is along the southern passage, and between Stormhaven and Varner. Although not a lot of people live here, the local keep, along the pass, help to keep things safe, and the local rules are a family of polymorphed and powerful gold dragons.

Dehnsten - 44 families – On the trade route. They hunt, kill, and skin various mountain animals like deer and goats for food and trade.


Details – 76 families, 1 goods – Animal Skins and Furs

Monthly Income – Standard Income - 670 gp/month
Tax Income – 67 gp/month
Resource Income – 134/month
Total – 975/month (x13 multiplier)

Varner – High in the mountains, along the trade route, Varner is hit more by aerial attacks that anything else. A small inn, and gathering station is the only civilization in the area. The only thing that’s not for mere survival is a chandlery in the town.


Varner - 28 families – On the trade route. They trade goods from local places, and make candles from various oils and fat.

Details – 36 families, 1 goods – Candles

Monthly Income – Standard Income - 330 gp/month
Tax Income – 33 gp/month
Resource Income – 33/month
Total – 432/month (x12 multiplier)


Ketherington – The final stop on the southern trade route is Ketherington. It’s in one of the healthiest places in the mountains to thrive and could be like Saffir or Roselia, but it’s value and proximity to the Ice Caves led to it being raided attacked, and kept down. It needs to have its infrastructure built back up, but it has the bones

Ketherington – 71 families - On the trade route, in the foothills, with a large town, but about 50% of the buildings and such are abandoned. Grows various grains, and with a mill, makes multiple types of bread and sells them. There are also extensive coal deposits that are mined and grabbed near the surface, and those are sold as well.

Details – 102 families, 2 goods – Bread, Coal

Monthly Income – Standard Income - 870 gp/month
Tax Income – 87 gp/month
Resource Income – 348/month
Total – 1530/month (x15 multiplier)





Raider’s Point -

This hex is the far point on the peninsula that is across the channel from Evenarrow and Bergholm Isle. It’s just four hexes from the Barony of Moonhold, where Sandralane is. It has two resources – fish and salt.

Raider’s Point – This hex is the far point on the peninsula that is across the channel from Evenarrow and Bergholm Isle. It’s just four hexes from the Barony of Moonhold, where Sandralane is.


Villages – Raider’s Point - 101 families – This coastal village is on the bay to the east of the province, and brings in a lot of salt.
Havendrop – 39 families – this northern village is near the tip of the hex. It fishes north. Defenses built here.

Details – 481families
3 resource gp – Fish and salt

Monthly Income – Standard Income - 690 gp/month
Tax Income – 69 gp/month
Resource Income – 207/month
Total – 6734/month (x14 multiplier)




Hex #5 - (Spearhold) – This hex is southwest of Raider’s Point and northeast of the mountains in Eagles’ Barrier. With just two resources, it has only grain and potatoes here.

Villages – Spearhold - 60 families – Virtually everyone lives in this farming village, growing either potatoes or grains.


Details – 287 families
2 resource gp – Grain and Potatoes

Monthly Income – Standard Income - 680 gp/month
Tax Income – 68 gp/month
Resource Income – 136/month
Total – 3731/month (x13 multiplier)



Bergholm Island –

Although it spreads across via two hexes, it’s really the size of one full hex, and we’ll treat it as such. Heavily mountainous and with very few places to do stuff.

250 Families; 2 resources, 1 mineral, 1 vegetable – Copper mines and berries.

Just one village: Bergholm Villa – 176 families, they are on a river where it meets the Great Sea, and the place is elevated too. Form here they can reach both some copper mine and harvest the numerous berry bushes that grow all over.

Monthly Income - Standard Income - 290 gp/month
Tax Income – 29 gp/month
Resource Income – 116/month
Total –3750/month (x15 multiplier)

78303 Income

EXPENSES – 43105 + Tithe, Taxes

Military – 27140
Navy – 4215
March Staff - 4920
Specialist Staff – 11550
Stronghold Staff - 7160
Taxes to Ericall – 20% (15900)
Tithe to Matter Temple – 10% (7810)

Treasury – 409,922

[Abe Sargent]

Vanya


(Belbion, Faña, the Grey Lady, the Inquisitor, Matera, Varellya)
Patroness of War and Conquerors, Patroness of the Heldannic Knights, Patroness of the Kubitts
Level, Alignment, Sphere: 23rd (Empyreal), N, Time

Symbol: two short swords crossed over a vertical spear or a black rampant lion on white field (the Heldannic Knights' standard)

Portfolio: war, conquest, victory, pride, honour, strength, feminine power, birth (only in Milenia)

Worshipped in: Cestia, Davania (Arypt, Brasol, Hinterlands, Meghala Kimata, Pelatan), Isle of Dawn (Ekto, Furmenglaive, Kendach, Redstone, Shadow Coast, West Portage, Westrourke), Hollow World (Kubitts, Merry Pirate Seas, Milenia, Oostdok, Stonehaven), Known World (Karameikos, Heldannic Territories, Thyatis), Norwold (Landfall, Oceansend), Savage Coast (Bellayne, Narvaez, Texeiras, Torreón, Vilaverde)

Appearance: a human woman of medium height with brown eyes and long brown hair worn in a single braid, wearing a red armour with scales of a red dragon, horseman's clothes and spurs on the boots, and carrying a pair of weapons always fastened at the belt (long sword or short sword and spear).

History: Vanya was a brave warrior princess of the Kerendan tribe, who lived in Davania around the VII century BC. Fleeing before the marching forces of the Milenian Empire, Vanya led her own people northwards, together with the ancestors of the Thyatians and the Hattians, looking for a refuge where the Milenians would not pursue them. When it was clear that the only hope lay beyond the ocean and that they needed to abandon their homeland, Vanya formed a battalion of brave soldiers, and with hit-and-run raids she delayed the Milenian troops enough to allow the three tribes to build the ships and to sail northward. This sacrifice cost her freedom, since the survivors of her warband were captured and enslaved by the merciless Milenians. After years of serving her hated enemies as a slave, Vanya was sent near the southern border of the Empire, in the Lower Arypt. Here she found an unlikely ally in a Milenian cleric of Khoronus, who admired her indomitable will and eventually fell in love with her. When her master threatened to kill her when she refused to submit to his sexual desires, the Milenian cleric organised her escape and followed her heading southwest in the uncharted wilderness. After days spent marching, they arrived near the coast where Vanya helped many Neathar tribes living here to withstand the might of the rakasta raiders. Thanks to her wits and military prowess, as well as to the superior knowledge she learnt from her Milenian captors, she taught her Neathar allies to build better weapons and armours and trained them in more efficient military tactics. In a decade she became the warleader of a large clan, and later the overlord of a whole coalition of tribes, building a fortress as her seat of power that would have later be renamed Vanya's Rest by the Heldannic Knights that discovered the keep in Lower Arypt. Once the simbasta threat was dealt with, Vanya convinced her allies to plan a massive raid against the northern Milenian outpost she fled many years before. This way she would have halted the Milenian expansion in the south and avenged all the years of slavery she had to endure. Vanya's troops obtained a crushing victory and the city was completely annihilated. Following this success, Vanya returned among his allies and in BC 586 she was proclaimed Queen Varellya (using the name the Neathar gave her, which meant "Victory"). In the following years she faced two major threats to her kingdom but she was ever victorious, until one night Khoronus appeared in her dreams and asked her to abandon her people and to follow him: only in this way she could have earned true immortality. Vanya abdicated in favour of her son and went on a quest, looking for an artifact to travel through time. Thanks to this artifact, she assured her dynasty a firm grip on the Kingdom of Varellya for the centuries to come, and after building the new capital of the kingdom turned Empire in the middle of the Vulture Peninsula (using a fake identity), she finally managed to become immortal in the Sphere of Time around BC 380, leaving her mortal body in the ancient fortress of Vanya's Rest.

From that moment Vanya became patroness of war and victory, and she extended her protection first over the Varellyan Empire, and then over the Thyatian Empire (founded by the descendants of her people, and therefore considered with a special attention). The last consequence of her machinations was the war that led the Order of Vanya to migrate from Thyatis and conquer the Heldann's Freeholds, thus establishing the new theocracy called the Heldannic Territories in AC 956. The Heldannic Knights were then guided by Vanya to find Vanya's Rest and take possession of the Star of Vanya, a priceless artifact the Knights used to improve their military might and impose Vanya's will all around the world.

Personality: Vanya is the perfect example of a person who lived by heaps and bounds. During her mortal life she launched herself without restraint in every war, battle, adventure, challenge, and even personal relationship. As an Immortal she sees with favour all those individuals who live their life to their maximum as much as she did. Vanya appreciates above all those followers who do not hesitate in front of the danger, but are prepared to test their faith and their force of will against impossible challenges. On the other hand, she despises cowardice and does not hesitate to punish the cowards and the traitors. For Vanya war is an art that must be appreciated, practiced and undertaken seriously. She believes in fact that war and conquest are the major forces that influence the history and culture of any society. War tests people's willpower and resourcefulness, where only the best survive to improve the world. At the same time, conquest stimulates progress, since it brings together different civilisations (the victorious and the defeated ones) and forces them to confront each other, mixing elements of both to generate new ideas, new possibilities and new paradigms. Vanya knows that war brings also destruction and desperation, and that if the conqueror is not wise the risk of cancelling all the benefits of the conquest with its dysfunctions (tyranny, abuse and indolence were the mark of the Milenian conquerors to her) are high. Therefore only those who master the art of war will be capable of choosing the future of the world, and for this reason she trains her followers to cover this role. Vanya does not like to maintain the status quo, since her vision of the world reflects her personality: ever changing and full of possibilities, much like any battle. She blesses the winners: she does not care the purpose of the battle, she just cares for victory and the glory that comes with it. Vanya shows no mercy towards the losers or the weak ones, and she does not care to promote kingdoms or laws that will eventually led to stagnation and therefore to indulgence and sloth. She encourages battle and war to strengthen her followers and shape healthier future generations, so that the more skilled (not just the stronger) will be victorious.
Remembering her distress under the Milenians' yoke, Vanya has never forgiven this lot and fights with passion against those Immortals who protect the Milenians (Halav and Petra above all), adding to her enemies Rathanos because of his male chauvinist pomposity.

Patron: Khoronus
Allies: none
Enemies: Rathanos, Halav, Petra, rivalry with the Eternal General
Classic D&D Stats:
Followers' Alignment: any
Favoured weapon: short sword and spear (allowed longsword, bastard sword, dagger, gladius and two-handed sword)
Clerics' skills and powers: free Fighting Instinct general skill; +2 bonus to two general skills among the following (not free): Alertness, Ride, Authority, Military Tactics, Courage, Danger Sens, Terrorise
Avengers' and Paladins' skills and powers: Lay on Hands, free Authority general skill
D&D 3E Stats:
Domains: Time, War, Strength, Courage
Preferred weapon: sword (one type to choose among: longsword, short sword and two-handed sword)

[Abe Sargent]

Vanya lives her life by moving from one side to others, and not really worrying so much about the concepts of right and wrong. She throws herself with abandon at stuff. Because of that, she doesn’t really have a lot of enemies. Alzar’s desire to go on front and attack, while also mastering tactics, appeals to her, unlike a lot of mages. As you can see from her bio, Vanya has no major allies, and also no major enemies either, outside of one Entropic person, and the two major supporters of the Milenian Empire.

The Milenians were the major force that fought against Vanya when she was alive, and now the fact that part of them survives in the Hollow World when they died on the surface galls her to no end. She believes that war comes to all, and the rightful end of the Milenian Empire should have removed it from the maps. After Liena, she had no current immortal pursuers – the last one died unsuccessfully a few years ago. Vanya sees Alzar as an opportunity to deliver a major blow against the Hollow World’s remnant of the Milenian Empire.

I know that I am looking at:

The Milenian Scepter
Labyrinth of Madness?
Savage Coast stuff?
M3 Twilight
I could run M2 anytime, but I feel like it’s a good conclusion to the 3rd path


And then post-Vanya, and during Thought I want to do:

Vortex of Madness
Night of the Comet
Bestiary of….
M4 Five Coins for a Kingdom
Not sure when to do M5
The Seven?

Post Thought – Wrath

And then Path 5 begins- Entropy

Vecna Lives?
Finishes with Stone


What about Planes of Chaos boxed set? Well of the Worlds? Planes of Law? Return to WPM?

[JAG]

M4 Five Coins for a Kingdom I had that one! That will be a fun one with Alzar.

[Abe Sargent]

The next day, its’ time. After Alzar saw how bad Ericall was with the show of force and the ridiculous decisions he made, it’s time.

Alzar teleports to Alpha the next day and sits down to have a conversation with King Ericall. They need to have the talk. Alzar tries to convince Ericall to abdicate. Not using any magic, no force implied, not leaving for Alzar or anyone else in particular, but after more than 10 years of being King, and still making major mistakes and such, Ericall just isn’t well suited for kingship. Ericall obviously refuses, so Alzar instead offers to take just the northern lands and leave Norwold behind. Not one Count, Baron, or anyone else has settled north of the Great Bay or higher. Ericall wouldn’t lose one holding. And the barbarians and demi-humans of the area don’t acknowledge any human authority from Ericall anyway, so he could lose a lot of headache, and focus on the southern and central portions of his nation. And Alzar will even pledge his loyalty to Alphatia, so they won’t lose any land.

But, of course, Ericall says no.

So Alzar sends a diplomat to meet with the Empress Eradne, and Ericall’s mother, to make her the same offer, and to go over her head. She meets with him two days later. She’s a level 36 wizard, and an accomplished Politician, who always puts Alphatia first. Alzar reminds her of his loyalty to her and how he helped Alphatia to keep Norwold in the War of the Crown.

He also lays it all out there. From the initial issues with Alak Dool, after Alzar found him attacking nearby leaders of other states outside him realm and Ericall refusing to do anything about it, and Dool’s fighting against Ericall in the War a few months later, to many subsequent failures. War declared on his state by another, was not censored or sanctioned, and many more citations, all the way through the Maelstrom and the idot display of power that led to the issues that occurred.

King Ericall has proven himself a poor leader.

She agrees with the basic idea, but not the details. Alzar is made Grand Duke of the Mighty, and given all of the northern territory that was unclaimed, but he still owes his fealty to Ericall. Now due to the large land grant this comes with, Alzar is expected to work to build it up, and his fidelity to Ericall won’t be needed for a bit as he does. But he’s still under the aegis of King Ericall


Alzar has gained the northern fourth of Norwold. Now, that’s not wealthy, and that’s not civilized, but he can built forts, create sub-dominions if he wants, expand himself and so forth.


Here’s a rough map of his new area:

[Abe Sargent]

After annexing the area, Alzar needs to spend some time annexing, building, and more. But that’s not really Vanya’s style.

As a reminder:


The Path of the Dynast

Alzar must create a realm with a human population of at least 50000 or demi-human of 15000. DONE
Alzar’s March must gain independence from Alphatia and Norwold, and stand on its own
Alzar must quest for, find, and destroy an artifact from the Milenian Empire.
Alzar must create a dynasty that will endure from his realm, and his successors must rule for at least 20 years
Alzar must travel into the future to three separate times, and secure his realm and dynasty’s future
Alzar must face and defeat 4 major challenges to his rule


So before Alzar gets all carried away and everything, Vanya has him sent, mystically, to the Hollow World, and arrives in the Milenian Empire…

[Abe Sargent]

Begin the Milenian Scepter




This module is set in the Milenian Empire, in the far-flung Hollow World. We’re changing the backstory a bit, adding a character to it, and more, but the basics of the adventure are really going to be copied whole cloth. There are only a handful of adventures set in the Hollow World proper. (I think it’s just 4, this one and the “Night-“ trilogy; and then a few that might come down to the Hollow World as part of their assignment).

As you might recall, the major issue Vanya has with the Milenian Empire is simple. Back when she was human, it was the only major opposition she faced. They blasted her hard. Then post-immortality, the Milenian Empire was taken out on the surface by various folks, and the immortals who really liked it moved part of it to the Hollow World to “Save” the Empire. This did not set well with Vanya. She’s the immortal of conquerors and history. She understands the value and need for change. So to save your pet empire after they lost just irks her to no end. She’s never saved any of her supporters after they lost wars or battles. That’s not…right. At least not to Vanya.

So now she sends the various sponsorees of her Dynast Paths to specifically take out artifacts that are precious to the Milenian Empire.

[Abe Sargent]

As a reminder, because of the various world shield that protect the Hollow World, lots of magic here works differently. These don’t work –

Holding - Hold Person, Hold Monster, Ghoul Touch
Charming and Domination - Snake Charm, Charm Person, Charm Monster, Geas, etc
Summoning - Invisible Stalker, Conjure Elemental. Monster Summoning III, etc
Coming Back To Life - Raise Dead, Resurrection, Reincarnation
Instantaneous Travel - Blink, Teleport, Dimension Door, Gate, etc Changing travel speed or things like Fly and Levitate work.
Divining with other People - ESP, Know Alignment, Commune, Speak with Dead, etc. Objects like Identify, Detect Magic and Detect Traps still work.

Alzar moves into his OtherSpace for a bit and grabs a few objects and swaps them over. He’ll memorize a slightly different slate of spells tomorrow. But these days, Alzar memorizes Nefti’s Spell Recall at levels 1-9. So he has the ability to cast any spell he knows there in those schools and doesn’t have to memorize anything else.

(With Nefti’s memorized at those levels, he essentially has - 7/7/7/7/7/7/6/6/6 – with the Ring of Wizadry, he has 14 spells at 1st and 2nd level to cast) This also enables him to drop a lot of daily meditation and study time, since he doesn’t cast the Spell Recall, and he just holds it in memory, and doesn’t need to memorize anything else either.

Alzar grabs the Hat of Disguise and tosses it on. He’ll appear closer to a Milenian.

Let’s look at bit at the area:

You can check it out here:

http://pandius.com/milenian-empire-8.png

You can also grab the pdf here:

https://dnd.rem.uz/Advanced%20D%26D%...%20Scepter.pdf

[Abe Sargent]

Welcome to Corisa, the capital of the Milenian Empire.





The people here speak their own languages, but with his axe Selinyr, he can speak any languages. He spends an hour or so getting basic directions and doing some basic walking around. He checks into a local inn, and then spends some time getting to know the lay of the land.

As a reminder, the Hollow World has a lot of oddities to it There is no horizon. There are continents floating in the sky orbiting a central sun, which never leaves, giving constant light to the area.

Around six months ago, the sun darkened and went silent. That was unheard of! The Emperor Adronius was heading to the Senate to discuss what was happening. The people had already embraced chaos and were destroying and attacking at will. A mob saw the Emperor moving, attacked, and slew the Emperor and his guard.

A sorcerer of some ill-repute appeared before the Senate. He was known as a follower of a local immortal, Nyx. He proclaimed that anyone who followed Nyx was blessed, and that the sun would only be fixed and restored if he were elected Emperor by the Senate. Without any other options, the Senate voted in Corcarnomnos as Emperor and the next day, the sun was restored. (There are no days here in the Hollow World, but it was about three days total of darkness).


Because of the restoration of the sun, Caracomnos was able to retain his leadership over the Empire. He’s been a bit, dictatorial, in his rule. Emperer Adronius wasn;t the best Emperor they’d ever had, but he was okay. His line was removed from the rulership one.

With Caramemnos fully ensconced in the Empire, and with some new harsher rules coming, things are very taut in the Milenian Empire right now

[Abe Sargent]

There are multiple immortals invested in the Empire. The obvious two are Halav and his wife Petra. They have another strong ally, Zirchev. All three are very involved in the proper running of things and the various aspects of military, ,administration, and such. All are major immortals worshipped here in the Empire. Recently, Nyx has decided that she wants to increase her worship here and elsewhere. She has been pushing hard here and elsewhere.

Basic Info on the players here:

Nyx – NE, formerly an undead, Sphere of Entropy, areas of influence include darkness and dreams, undeath and necromancy

Halav – LN, Thought’s Sphere, King and warrior, areas of influence include warfare, strategy, tactics, willpower. Very anti-humanoids, fanatically so. Enemy of Vanya.

Petra – LN, Sphere of Time, was a queen and priestess, areas of influence include patriotism, safekeepinging, and defense – enemy of Vanya

Zirchev – N, Sphere of Energy, former elf mage, patron of hunters, survival, self-reliance, hunting


And those are the four major players in the Milenian Empire these days and who are vying behind the scenes. The current Emperor is a servant of Nyx and openly is increasing her power and worship in the last six months.

(We’re going to be reversing the script. In the actual module, you are questing for the Scepter to restore the life of deceased Emperor (artifacts can do things normal magic can’t here) and then unseat Caracomnos. That’s the major story. But Caracomnos has actually not done anything wrong. He’s a bit dictatorial, but he’s not issued any evil edicts. He’s not involved or implicated in the death of the former Emperor, nor are his followers. He simply took advantage of the mood of the day. So instead of fighting for the rebels of Halav/Petra/Zirchev and their roles, we’re doing something else).

[Abe Sargent]

As sleep begins, and folks retire, the sun continues to beat down. In the street a pair of muggers attack and break the face of a local merchant, who was retiring. Alzar and a few others from the inn hear it and step outside. Alzar is about to head over, when a few folks shake their heads and silently tell him not to. As the muggers are focused on their work, there is a strong sound coming from the south and a chariot pulled by a manitcore and driven by a majestic woman arrives. She grabs the spear from her side, and flings it and it lances through the first mugger, and return to her hand magically. The second mugger jumps up in fright, and the spear takes him down as well before he can do anything.

This woman has coal black skin, piercing red eyes, a youtheful vigor and appearance, and Alzar senses something from her. And she does from him as well. A familiarity….


She halts the chariot and leaps down and ignores the crowd and comes to Alzar.


“Hello fellow seeker of immortality. I am Vix, daughter of Nyx herself, the great warrior and adventurer of my mother and myself. I do not know you, and thus our leader does not as well. Come with me to meet the Emperor, to find out why you are here in our city.”

She has the blood of an immortal in their veins, and the power she exudes is like no other mortal on Pandius. Alzar walks up to the chariot, and they fly away, led by the obedient manticore.

She’s a bit like Vanya, actually. Brags, throws herself at other things, and acts before thinking. But there is an intelligence and wisdom there as well.

After a moment, they arrive at the Emperor’s quarters. Alzar and Vix unload and head to meet him.

Caramemnos walks down and greets them in a moment after they arrived. His shrewd eyes try to penetrate and gauge Alzar’s secrets and presence here. They sit down and speak. Caramemnos has cast a spell on the chamber which forces truth to be told by any here. No lies are possible.


Alzar tells some of his story. He was sent here by his immortal sponsor, Vanya, to find and destroy a local Milenian artifact as a way pushing his own path to immortality. Caramemnos smiles at this…

“I wonder if she knew…”

Vix interrupts

“My mother knows of you. I am informed of many entrants of immortality right now. There are a few immortals of entropy watching your push for power with glee, and several are looking at potential sponsorship of you as well. One of those, of course, is Thanatos, after you rescued him from the witch;s hut. Another is Nyx herself. She sees a lot of similar energy with yourself and her, and she also is rivals with Thanatos after he has pushed her interests and undead to the side. Nyx knows you”

“And that is a very high compliment indeed my wizard friend” Caramemnos adds

Caramemnos lays out everything that has happened behind the scenes.

Nyx’s longterm goal is darkness. She is warmed by it, and embraces darkness. She blotted out the immortal sun for three days as part of her own testament to power. During that time, the Milenians saw her power, and then rebelled against their order. Their well-timed riots killed the Emperor himself. A nice happenstance. Caramemnos told them to elect him or else the sun would remain blotted. They did, and then Nyx restored their sun, in order to, in part, grow her cult and worship here, and in part because other immortals were starting to get angry at her flexing her muscles.

Anyways, a few folks that were loyal to the Emperor took his body, and have now preserved it. Normally mortal magic cannot raise the dead down here. But artifacts can. And there is one holy artifact called the Milenian Scepter which used to be a major power here for the Emperors. The previous Emperors served Halav, and this Scepter was created by him. The Scepter went missing after a previous Emperor, Olynthos, went a little selfish and used it inappropriately. Both were removed from office.

The loyalists to his predecessor have started to bring in people of influence to scour the Empire and the city for any sign or note of the Scepter. Caramemnos doesn’t want the Scepter at all. Not only does he doubt he could use it, but it’s sign of Halav’s approval and the old lines is not one he;d want restored. Plus, finding it would remove the potential for raising the dead of the old Emperor.

[Tellistto]

Nice to see you back at it, Abe! Looking forward to the stories!

[Abe Sargent]

thanks!

[Abe Sargent]

So Caramemnos and Vix are on board with Alzar’s path and Vanya’s orders. Find out what’s happening, and then find out find and secure the Scepter for himself. And then he can take it anywhere or destroy it.

The Emperor puts him up for the night. Some servants and aides are here as well, and Alzar spends some time interviewing folks and getting some more info:

Did you know that?

Vix was born fully born from her human mother?

That Nyx took the form of a human male to seduce and force a female to become pregnant and to bring her to term?

That Vix has some additional immortal-spawned abilities beyond her obvious skills at war?

That Caramemnos created the potent magical spear for Vix and then gave it to her, and asked for her hand in marriage. And she declined?

That her chariot is a very powerful magical item with near-artifact levels of potency, created and given to her by Nyx?


That Vix is the greatest warrior in the Milenian Empire? (She’s level 27).

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar heads out to explore and get a feel for Corsica and the Empire.

After almost an hour, Alzar arrives at the steps of the Senate House, where a philosopher named Epaminos is giving a talk to the people. He is stirring up anti-Caracomnos sentiment, with language like, “No mortal can control the sun!” He forced the Senate to give him his power! Let’s have a new election!

Around 100 Milenians have gathered. A handful are nodding in sentiment, and with whispered agreements Another handful are disagreeing adamantly. And the rest are either just watching or looking about worriedly.

As the philosopher continues to rant, a dark globe appears in the sky and blots out the sun. A few folks in the crowd see this as proof of his errors, and one picks up a stone and hurls it at Epaminos. Alzar sees a nearby cleric of Nyx, Icademus, with a small guard, who has cast Darkness on a sling stone and hurled it up and blocked the sun for a moment. The crowd surges forward, and around 16 folks are stoning, the rest leaving or watching. After a few rocks are tossing and Icademus is wounded, Alzar interrupts, and nods to the cleric, who nods to him. The people disperse, and Epaminos will be taken away by his students The point was made. The cleric tells Alzar afterwards that the temple certainly don’t want to make martyrs of these handful of rebellious leaders. So they let them talk, and don’t interfere directly, but they do what they can to break up the support.

(In the main line story, you can follow Epaminos, prove yourself an ally of the rebellion, and then this is where the on ramp is).

[Abe Sargent]

After a short while later, Alzar heads into a main plaza of the city. There are booths here selling a lot of things, and an auction is above. There are a handful of slaves being sold here, and a group of nobles and wealthy folks buying slaves, as well as a throng of commoners watching. One of the last cages, with a curtain down around it, is drawing curiosity. Some are whispering this is the Griffon of Daskus himself.

Alzar asks some locals about more information. There was a small riding cavalry elite unit with around 20 riders and griffons called the Griffon Riders, who were known for their loyalty and bravery. They refused to accept Caracomomnos as ruler, so he ordered them to disband. They refused, and they flew out their leader, Daskus, stayed behind to fight off pursuit and to guarantee his people’s freedom.

The man on the stage lifts the curtain, and reveals a highly trained griffon. As the griffon is revealed, a “peasant” in dark grey robes flings them off, and reveals a powerful suit of armor, and weapons. Someone cries out, “it’s Daskus” and he grabs for the auctioneer’s keys. They are batted away and land near Alzar. Some of the locals are joining Daskus, and there are attacking the 6 guards here protecting the slaves and the seller.

Alzar grabs the keys and puts them into a Bag of Holding. He casts Friends to increase his charisma to 23. He steps onto the stage and shouts and bangs, until he has everyone’s attention. He uses the Bright Barrier to Command folks to stop fighting for a few rounds, and the Hypnotism spell adds to that order.

He then uses his enhanced charisma:

“What you are doing right now, is illegal. Daskus, I don’t know what you are doing. Are you seeking vengeance? Justice? The people who slew your Emperor, the one you were pledged to serve, were the locals. The mob. The commoners of this city. They did it. Are you going to start your vengeance there? Are you going to kill the people here in this area first, and then create a swath of blood around the whole plaza? “

Daskus looks insulted by the question. But others in the area are beginning to look more uncertain. Some of his allies are wavering.

“Of course not. My grievance is with Caramemnos!”

“But why? The people rose up and slew your leader. Therefore ,by right, you should be going after them. They killed your leader. Not Caramemnos. He wasn’t anywhere near. Then you refused to swear your allegiance to the new leader who was elected by the Senate. The lawfully elected leader. What did this lawfully elected leader do? Did he have you killed? Did he toss you in jail? Did he torture you until you caved in? Did he threaten you? No, he responded in kind. If your unit won’t declare fealty to him ,then everyone needs to worry. How does he know you won’t take out your fury on the people? How does he know you won’t take out the duly elected leader of them either? He doesn’t. So instead of doing something unfair to you, he just tells you ti disband your unit. That is fair. That is just. That is a reasonable response That Is your proof that he is capable of ruling. And then what did you do? Refused, fled, and now rebel. Where is your loyalty to the Empire? TO its people? And without that loyalty, how do the various people here in the streets know that you won’t turn against them next as you have against everything else here. You are a traitor.”

Alzar casts Power Word, Sleep, drops Daskus, and purchases the griffon. He grabs it, saddles it, and rides away with it and drops back in the palace and unloads Daskus.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar meets with Caramemnos and makes a suggestion to radically change the Empire and his legacy.

Ban slavery.

Caramemnos and him talk. The Emperor has never used slaves – preferring created creatures like constructs and undead. Slavery was an institution here for as long as people can remember. The nobility and upper class merchants care, but the commoners either don/t care at all, or dislike it. Right now there’s a lot of dislike against him. But previous rulers needed the nobility’s support via the Senate, and Caramemnos is in a unique position. He’’ll keep his position as long as he has the sun as a threat over the Senate. But that won’t stop the mobs from killing him like they did his predecessor. Nor will it help them long term. He needs the people on his side. So get them to ban slavery.

Oh, and don’t kill Daskus, just imprison him. Caramemnos shows Alzar the jails, there are lots of folks here and capital punishment is allowed here, but not commonly used. Fair enough, Daskus just joins them.

Alzar spends the day looking over his griffon, which is very highly trained and one fo the best he’s seen. – they have griffon riders in his March/Grand Duchy as well, and he’s trained to ride aerially. He’s very familiar with riding griffons especially, since he uses the Mount spell to summon one constantly.


He is building up some contacts as well. He can’t make friends instantly with charm magic or domination, but he can influence with spells like Hypnotism and such.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar befriends folks and hears of a ongoing secret meeting at the Bath House of Lucratia. A handful fo guards will be there soon. Alzar flies over with his griffon and lands. They are already in, but just 6 guards went in, and there is a battle going on with a pair of senators, some of their allies, and fighters as well. A few higher level fighters are here, and they are brandishing the symbols of Halav in their weapon. A cleric of Halav heals one of them. The guards who were attacking are driven back a few times and two are disarmed. Alzar heads over to help. His axe in hand.

In two rounds, he’s slain a warrior, the first to die in the battle. That turns the battle a bit, darker, and now folks are trying to kill each other. Alzar drops a Power Word Blind on a senator and she drops to the ground. The rest of them begin to pull back, and escape. Alzar grabs the red haired woman and the dead guard and flies them back. Using Speak with Dead he gains information from the dead fighter about who was meeting and why. They were planning to locate the Scepter and talking about who and what – they told where they had searched and come up empty. Alzar turns over Senator Tassia to the Emperor


Alzar heads down to the one place in the city they haven’t searched yet. The sewers and undercity crypts – he suggests to Caramemnos to delay the rebellion’s search y doing something like meeting to discuss an exchange of prisoners or something. Whatever is needed.

(We will be skipping the chapter in the story where our heroes, sent out from the city and joining the rebellion arrive at the oracle of Halav and then find out where the Scepter is and then head back to where Alzar is now going – also in the main storyline you are joined by Tassia, who’s a cleric of Halav, I promoted her here, and the Griffon Riders who jump in and help you as a useful set of allies. Instead Alzar gets Vix in a similar role.)

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar has been in a lot of sewers before, and he knows they are usually serious mazes. So he uses the scroll of mapping to create an actual map of the entire area, and he can go from one place to another exploring, sees secret doors and passages, and more. Alzar pulls out Aegis to defend him.

Alzar hears some screaming an a diminutive sewer rat of a guy is running from a large monster, and towards Alzar. Tentacles slash up and out of the water, and pull him. This is not like any creature Alzar has ever seen before:

Lyadrachnus –

AC - -6
HP – 140
Attacks – 1 bite, 6 tentacles – 3d10 bite, and 2d6 tentacle and secured.
ThACO – 5

I increased this beast’s numbers considerably to make it a real threat. Alzar sends his golem, Aegis, to protect the small man and then moves in to hit the main beast. Before he does, he casts Bone Block, which gives him four bone arms that will block attacks on him for -1 AC each. Then he heads in.

Battle begins

4 v 5

Alzar crashes with the axe and this for 28 total damage. Because he no longer has the Cloak of Displacement, he can be hit on the first turn. With his low AC he forces a 17 for each attack - and they have…..1 tentacle wraps him for 8 damage. He is not entangled, and cannot attack the body.

4 vs 7

Alzar slashes and destroys the tentacle. His golem punches and frees the man and moves to protect him. The creature bites Alzar for 11 damage

5 vs 2

They miss Alzar. (One tentacle is done). Alzar slashes the beats for 39 total damage with shield hitting as well. Out from a sewer grate on top drops a blacked warrior with a dark bronze colored magical spear, and she pierces the beast for another 24 damage. The next round they slay the beast.

6500 XP each for Alzar and Vix

Alzar slashes and takes some of the creature with him for later experiments and information (like
blood).

[Abe Sargent]

VIx and Alzar greet each other. The rat-laike man is a small thief ,around 4’10”. He captured rats,a nd sells their meat above. He’s a valuable guide up here as well. His name is Kleom, and he’s been here for more than a decade surviving in the sewers. He agrees to be a guide for them, and with te map and guide, Alzar is confident about finding the MIlenian Scepter pretty quickly.

Kleom is 18, deformed, and an escaped slave, who is trying to get money for his mother’s purchase, 100 gp. Alzar grabs 100 gp from his belt pouch and will pay him for his services today. His eyes widen, and he agrees.


They run into some poisonous gas. Alzar is immune with Necklace of Adaptation, Vix is immune with her immortality, and even Kleom is unbothered due to his long exposure. They continue. A few giant leeches are in their way, and Alzar sand Vix slay them at range with short bow and spear.

A few rats are found and secured for later by Kleom, and he stores them in small cubbies in the wall

After a few more turns, they run into a small farm of neo-otyughs, sessile scavengers that regularly line the floors of sewers. They eat the sewage, clean it, have various tentacles to defend themselves and catch food, and more. They are potent defenders, and there are three fully grown ones and one younger one in this large chamber. Alzar has Vix to split up. She heads to the left, and him to the right. Her spear starts lancing at them, and they move their tentacles at him. Alzar then casts Death Spell on the room and two die outright.

4 vs 7

As a reminder Alzar can now fire 6 shots with his short bow a round, and can move his full speed. His moves and fires in a ton of arrows. They pepper the wounded one and slay it. Vix savages another. Tentacles fire out and hit Alzar once for 7 damage


6 vs 2

Alzar takes another 5 damage from another tentacle. Then their missiles fire and slay it.

The damage Alzar has been taking has been healed with regeneration magic (The Iuon Stone one, he keeps the Wizardry and Free Actions on most times when adventuring).

12000 to each of Vix and Alzar


There is nothing of value here.

[Abe Sargent]

They push on. Kleom suggests a pair of places in the sewers that might have what they are looking for. The first is a small chamber off the sewer and a bit unusual in design. It’s about two hundred feet from the farm they just took out. A door here is in an odd place, and the map shows a secret door in here too.

They send in and search. The secret door is opened. They are below the Acropolis of the city, and Alzar suspects the underground crypts are here.

Alzar spies a couple of traps in front of them. He uses his thief skills to check and disarm them. Then they head on. They arrive at a small triangular shaped room, with a statue in it. Alzar’s Star/Gem of course shows that it’s magical, animated, and likely to attack as they close. VIx throws her spear, and dents it. It’s a stone golem.

Two turns later, they’ve killed it.

5500 XP to each

After finishing the golem, they find a secret door in the back that heads to a passageway and up. A few traps later, they arrive in a crypt with a large arched ceiling. There is a scepter on the far wal, glowing, and standing below it is a fearsome warrior,with with an full set of armor, weapons, and there are six skeletons on the floor that were killed long ago, with one recent corpse as well.

“Behold the folly of those who came before you!” the man cries. “They were not worthy of the scepter. Are you? Can you end the torment of Olynthos the Undying? Let’s find out!”

Olynthos? Like the same one who abused the Scepter and was let go later?

I am bumping him up a bit, but here is is:

18th level fighter, AC -3, 123 hp, 2 attacks with short sword, dealing 1d6+5 – due to specialization and sword. THACO 2.



He has a flashing sword and shield. Kleom is huddled in the doorway, far away, while Vix and Alzar move to battle.

2 vs 1

Alzar is hit once for 9 damage. Vix guts him for 17 and Alzar for 31,

75/83 – Alzar

4 vs 1

Alzar takes another hit for 7 damage – he gains 7 hp back after activating his sword. They smash him for 52 total.

69/83

5 vs 9

They finish the ex-king.

As they do, the Scepter floats down, touched the corpse, and then it reanimates and attacks them again, fully healed!

Okay, that’s an annoying trick.

4 turns later, they slay him again and…..yup, another reanimation. Alzar slips into OtherSpace for a round to grab a Ring ad Vix fights.

When he returns, he uses the Ring ok Telekinesis to grab the scepter from the sky and then secure it. They finish the battle, and Olynthos will not be brought back anther

Alzar uses healing magic to heal Vix of damage

They gain 18000 each

Alzar was not damaged when he held the Scepter. It seems like it cares about law more than good or evil.

[Abe Sargent]

They find another pair of vaults back here and Alzar raids them and finds:

2x Talisman of the Living Statue (Like Talisman of the Golem, can steal a Living Statue construct, which are weaker, but there’s no save to steal, you can do it automatically)
Diamond Circlet – 4500 gp
Ruby Studded Belt – 2250 gp
Verite Scepter – 6500 go, looks similar to the actual Milenian One, and may have been made as a fake.

An old wooden wand of magic that Alzar’s can’t fully detect


Helmet - -1 AC
Shield of Olynthos = +3 AC and can hit one attacker for 2d10 damage once/day
Gladius of Olynthos - +4, and can be activated to make a vampiric strike by will 3/day

They return to the city above, and Kleom has purchased the freedom is his mother.

The next day, Caramemnos is holding his monthly games. At the end, the ruler normally makes a few decrees, and also grants the boon of the winner.

Today, the winner demands that Caramemnos block out the sun. After consulting with others, Caramemnos grants the request, and about an hour later, Nyx turns off the sun here for a few minutes, before turning it back on again.

With this renewed view of their power, they have solidified themselves. Caramemnos also passes an edict to stop demanding him to turn off the sun. A third time could be it off for good.

After meeting with folks, he passes the following edict:

1). As of today, all children born to slaves are free
2). As of today, no saves may be sold
3). In three years, all current slaves will be freed and released

That gives current slave owners time to make changes without a major shift in the economy.

He has Alzar show the Milenian Scepter to everyone. This is what people were questing for The rebels hoped to find it, and raise the dead body of the former Emperor. But at what cost? What if they weren;t happy with him and raised another? And another? Do we want that sort of civil war? That sort of anarchy? One Emperor dies, another is elected by the Senate. That happened. And now it’s time for these treasonous thoughts to leave. Time to move on.

Time to be loyal to the state once again.

Advised by Alzar, Caramemnos has grown into a much more long-term tinker. With the captured Scepter, demonstration of the sun, and more, he has solidified his hold. Other laws to rally the people will follow, and he’ll be known as a very popular Emperor a few years later, an Nyx has the first nation to support her in centuries.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar has the Milenian Scepter.

Sphere of Thought
Greater Artifact – 380 power points
Cause Critical Wounds – 35 pp
Detect Lie – 50
Mind Barrier – 80
Pro oEvil – 10
Raise Dead Fully – 85
Remove Geas – 45
Victory (as Rod of Victory) – 75

You spend PP up to its current amount, and then you gain 20 pp back a hour.
With these restrictions – Anytime using a power, flat 1 in 4 chance to fumble it.
Anybody chaotic who holds it takes damage, anyone who uses its powers takes some serious damage.
Chance for Cause to backfire and instead Cure
Chance to age user when Raise Dead is used

That’s it. Artifacts here on Pandius are built and run differently than other places.

Alzar has also secured a tome called Prophecies of Phaistos and they discuss the powers of the Scepter, other Milenian artifacts, and dials folks into things.

This artifact was created by Halav to help the Milenain Empire build itself and survive down here shortly after being moved from above to the Hollow world. It’s precisely the sort of stuff Vanya detests.

Destructions of artifacts are often brought about by doing the opposing thing the artifact wants. Here are three potential means of destruction the book mentions. All of these are hypothetical

1). Destroy the Milenian Empire
2). Take it above world and destroy it by utilizing anti-thought techniques (The opposing of thought is matter.)
3). Have entropy create a unique Un-Creation Anvil, and break the Scepter on it

These are all just major theories based on research. As it was created for the specific purpose of helping a unique empire underground, removing either the empire or the underground aspects should prove enough to weaken it. The last is just theory crafting.

Alzar needs to figure out how to destroy the Scepter.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar has a major issue with the Path of the Dynast. He needs children. Descendants. A line to last. But the problems of that are obvious. Alzar is pretty a-sexual, as we’ve discussed before. He views sex as similar to eating and sleeping. Mere physical requirements for continued existence so that he can continue to do what he really cares about – learning, creating, and gaining more power.

But now Vanya is interfering a bit with that parabola. Now he has to get married, have sex, and raise children. And that’s required as part of him gaining more power. That’s not really his thing.

So where does he look for a consort? A wife? A queen? Who would suffice?

He could bring in a modest human wife from Pandius, someone with political connections and thus a martial power grab. That makes sense. But this is about creating a dynasty. Will some random human woman do? Is that a true dynasty?

So what about Vix? She can hold her own, their children would have immortal blood in them, they would likely have some significant advantages. Now, neither Vix nor Alzar are exactly the parenting type. Both are seeking immortality. Both are adventurers and more. It’s not like either of them will settle down for 10-20 year to have a home and care for children. But Vix does make more sense than anyone else he knows.

Alzar heads to Vix and proposes marriage, and furthermore, an alliance with Nyx, who has just made out and is growing in power.

(I’m not sure what to do here. Let me explain.

I was going to have Thanatos become Alzar’s patron. The first and most powerful Immortal of Entropy. One of the big bads. And his path was simple, with just one requirement. You have worked against Entropy ever since you arrived. You created. You made. You brought people together. You fought against chaos. So for your final Path, you have do destroy, to de-create, and to bring down at a level far above what you have ever made, to undo the work you’ve done. And to do that, I was going to turn Alzar into the big-bad of the story of various high level adventures, like Veca’s Lives, with Alzar as the antagonist.

But now the Nyx things really appeals to me. It segues into an adventure we had to do for Vanya. She’s already an ally. Vanya will love Vix a lot as a potential consort. It seems like a natural alliance, and moreover, a future patron from Entropy.)

They agree.


Vix
Neutral, Human-ish, Female
Level 27

On the path of Entropy following her mother Nyx

STR 18/96
DEX 18
CON 17
WIS 13
INT 11
CHA 17

AC: -5
HP – 144
THACO – 2
Age – Appears 26, unknown actual age (Born fully adult)

+4 Spear, returns when thrown, can be used 3/day to blind the target hit
+4 Banded Armor

Abilities – As a half-immortal –

Immune to:

Normal weapons, normal elements (fire, cold, poison, lightning, etc)

+2 saves vs magical throws

Skills:

Spear Weapon Mastery
Throwing Expertise
One Handed Weapon Expertise
Polearm mastery - +1 to hit and damage with polearms
Dagger

Non-Weapon –

Charioteering
Reading/Writing
Riding
Swimming
Blind-Fighting
Riding, Air
Survival
Hunting
Tracking
Endurance
Running

Speaks 6 languages


Chariot of Vix – Any animal tethered to it obeys all commands, levitates, flies, carries 3 human-sized passengers, animal tethered to it gets the benefit of a haste spell at all times, has 120 hp, AC of 0, and takes no damage from area attacks or spells – must be actually attacked to damage it. Can be magically restored only. Vix has no magic to restore (only priests of Nyx could) but Alzar’s spell, Repair Machine, will heal it a bit.

After four days they fly out and past the world shield, and then Alzar teleports them back to Evenarrow, the capital of his now Grand Duchy.



End of Milenian Scepter

[Abe Sargent]

I'm not sure that Nyx would be the next patron for Alzar's Entropy, but she does seem like an interesting choice. Take a look:


Nyx

(Nin-Hurabi, Na-al, Zargos, Night, Our Lady of Darkness)
Patroness of Darkness, Princess of Night, Patron of Undeath
Level, Alignment, Sphere: 33 (Hierarch), NE, Entropy
Symbol: a solar eclipse
Portfolio: darkness, night, shadow, undeath, necromancy, secrets, magic
Worshipped in: Known World (Thyatis), Alphatia, Isle of Dawn, Savage Coast (Nimmur, Dark Jungle), Hollow World (Milenia), various outer planes

Appearance: a minute pale woman that looks very attractive and charming, with oriental features, long raven hair and pitch black eyes, dressed with shapely long dark robes. The second manifestation form is that of a wizened old scholar with long white beard, eyes completely black (without the white part of the bulb) clad in a large weathered robe.

History: Nyx was born in a faraway plane from a race similar to Mystaran humans. She was taken when she was still young by a vampire-like creature and became a living dead. After centuries in this new condition Nyx began to like her new state and after gaining freedom from her former master, she started building a mighty empire of undead creatures. There she embarked on the path of Entropy and attained immortality under the sponsorship of a mysterious immortal, after creating and spreading a new race of night creatures.

From that moment, she has risen in power inside her own sphere, even if she doesn't sport the raw chaotic nor the overtly evil nature of her fellow members, and is constantly trying to give way to the undead races in the Prime.

Personality: Nyx is a creature of darkness, and as such she is obsessed by her ideal of beauty and natural order which obviously puts darkness and undeath above all other things. Many of her followers are intelligent undead and necromancers, and she is usually bent on creating some new undead race and devise some grand scheme to cast whole worlds into darkness and under the undead's yoke (this is her renown purpose among the Milenians of the Hollow World, for example, where she's sometimes worshipped as Zargos). Nyx is not cruel or sadistic, but she embodies a cold form of evil that wants to give to the Multiverse a kind of order that normal living creatures find aberrant, where undead dominated and night is eternal. To Nyx, the universal order should have undeath replace life, and she tries to push on her own vision by increasing the power of necromancy and of the creatures of darkness. Since she's so obsessed with the opposite of normal order, she is Ixion's bane, who in contrast is the embodiment of Light, Sun and all that is Good. They are at the opposite ends of the circle of life, and as such they oppose one another not just philosophically but also in concrete, interfering with each other's schemes whenever possible.


Nyx is also on bad terms with Thanatos (the rivalry with Thanatos dates back to the Taymor empire), because the demon pushes the undead to give way to raw chaos and use them sadistically to further their plans instead of protecting them, something that Nyx cannot bear. Undeath (much like Life for Ixion) is sacred to Nyx and must be preserved.

Patron: unknown [likely: Hel]
Allies: none
Enemies: Ixion (and all immortals enemies of undead), Thanatos
Classic D&D Stats:
Followers' alignment: any
Favoured weapons: none (allowed short spear, mace, sling and short sword)
Clerics' skills & powers: permanent 60' radius infravision; they can freely cast darkness once a day at 1st lvl, twice at 2nd lvl and 3 times at 3rd+ level; control undead as liege with same HD as same level; +2 bonus to necromancy general skill. Nyx's clerics are buried with a special ceremony which allows them to raise as priestly mummies after their death ; some others try to attain lichdom or become vampires during their life.
D&D 3E stats:
Domains: Entropy, Evil, Death, Magic, Darkness
Preferred weapon: short sword
Sources: WotI, HWR3, M5, IM1, IM2, OHP, Immortal set



I italicized areas of particular interest or resonance with where Alzar is.

[Abe Sargent]

Month 1, Year 9:

As the new year dawns, Alzar announces the impending marriage of himself and Vix. They will get married in two months time. They begin to plan and initiate the various things needed.

Meanwhile, Alzar contacts the dwarves in the various local areas. There is a nearby artifact he wants to try out. If you’ll recall, Morena gave the dwarves here in Norwold five magical artifacts. One of them is the Anvil of Songs. Alzar gets permission to use it, and he grabs the scepter, and puts it on the Anvil of songs and tries to break it. It’s not working. So he spends a day heating it up in the EArthheart Forge, another of the five artifacts, and then brigs it to the Anvil of Songs, and here, with it hotter than possible, and away from the depths, it breaks.


The Milenian Scepter is destroyed

[Abe Sargent]

Month 2, Year 9:

Everything is being invested in preparing for the wedding. Alzar and Vix aren’t doing anything too grandiose, or inside. They are preparing for a nighttime wedding to take place outdoors at sunset. As the daughter of Nyx, they will have a priest of her at the ceremony, as well as one of Morena.

Alzar has chosen Barkal the Red as his Man of Honor, and the other Barbarian leaders as the ones in charge of food, festivities, and more. Alzar has major delegates from the Halfling holds of Leeha the Baron Norlan of Qoedhar, the various rulers here, and the “King” of Oceansend, who now owes allegiance to Norwold are all attending. Huge dwarven delegations have already arrived.

Alzar will also have allies from places like Thorasia and Hamedh here as well. From the College of Wizardy to people like Carum and Valia, they will show. In fact, his old adventuring buddies from Hamedh’s sand mire like Fahd, Pashtun, Locinda and Volcifar are all coming.

Milos is going to be the major entertainment, and he’ll be teleporting over his circus, with the great automaton that he has as well, the Earthshaker

The wedding is more down-to-earth and blue collar. Food for everyone, all peasants and commoners invited, games and sport and such, the food, entertainment, and more are less expensive noble food and more like wholesale bone-sticking food.

Alzar is also spending time bringing in jousts, performers, and more. Him and his team are using a variety of magic to ensure the key players are not spies, and he has the various lycanthropes that serve his as his secret police on a hard lookout.

He is also investing time in creating the infrastructure of his newly built realm.

We’ll be skipping going over the detail of all of those hexes like we did with his own. You can get the idea of the sorts of things done here that resemble others. The barbarians are in part of the new Grand Duchy, as are elves, dwarves, Halflings, gnomes, and more. He needs to expand, build defenses, clean places out and such, and this will be the major focus on the new while.

And Vix and him have already spoken, and they will likely have her out and leading expeditions to some places on the map.

We are going to assume that, from here on out, Alzar is bringing in money and spending it in roughly equal measure to administer the new Grand Duchy. That the various magistrates, sheriffs, and courts and such are roughly equal to the cash brought in.

Because I don’t want to spend 8 hours breaking down every single hex He went from around 20 or so to more than 400. And I’m not doing that

Besides, you wouldn’t read it anyway – you’d just skip over it

With his rank and space, Alzar can create sub-dominions if he likes as well


Month 3, Year 9:

The first week of the month sees the marriage of Alzar and Vix. Again, they have a number of people from their various pasts, and Alzar from his adventures, planes, and more. Alzar is now married to a god-born child with obsidian black skin, red eyes, and powerful presences.

It’s a suitable match.

A week passes of festivities and tournaments. Alzar spends 167,000 gp on the various stuff. There were two assassination attempts on him, both quelled. The ceremony occurs, and the two betrothed are now one.

And then, as the final wedding vows have occurred, and Milos’s Earthshaker is nearby, it happens.

[Abe Sargent]

Begin Doomgrinder




This is a fairly by-the-numbers adventure, especially since it’s core concept was already done better in Earthshaker.

About two hundred miles away in his newly gained territory on the farside of Llajallenvals lies the foothills that go on for miles and miles. There are countless ruins and more out here. One is an old rocky windmill with a famous legend attached to it. That legends speaks of a very valuable treasure that was buried in the great ancient windmill. But, unfortunately, the rubble fell across the entrances and windows long ago. Many adventures have headed out and tried to dig through it, use magic, and more, but none has been known to piece and penetrate the secrets of the windmill

[Abe Sargent]

Around a hundred years ago, a group of subterranean humanoids of a vile nature heard of the rumors and began to look for a way under the windmill to see what lay under it. After about a half year of building tunnels and exploring, they opened up and discovered what lay under the ancient and ruined windmill. They built up the system here, and moved their whole tribe to the under-Windmill area, and closed off the tunnels they used to get here, preventing anyone else from following.

Over the decades, this tribe of evil humanoids, known as Derro, a magical offshoot of evil dwarves, explored, and spent learning of the various defenses and machines of the area.

They were flummoxed by a lot of the machinery and how it worked until a few years ago, when Milos entered the region with the giant automaton construct called the Earthshaker as part of his carnival . Parts of the sub-windmill area, the Derro named the Doomgrinder, began to operate and flash. With renewed activity, their machine began to illuminate and move around, and they then had a few exerts in the Doomgrinder from their race enter the Earthshaker in order to get some advanced knowledge.

That was enough to get the Doomgrinder almost operational. But not quite.

After using the stuff they learned, and verifying many of the piston, power source, control room and more all worked for the Doomgrinder, they then had more questions. They need a few more answers. The more than 2000 Derro are ready to go, but they need a little more technical help.

And then, Milos arrives again, with Earthshaker, and opens it up for the public to come in and take tours.


And it’s time.

[Abe Sargent]

The day after Alzar’s wedding the party of Derro disguised as simple dwarves arrives and inspects the Earthshaker. They secure the appropriate information needed, and then are magicked back to the Doomgrinder for a final run through.

After 36 hours, the Doomgrinder rises.

The “windmill” is actually generating energy for the creation. This is Doomgrinder, a weaponized, giant, moving fortress/automaton/machine thing.



The Doomgrinder:

1). Parts of the Doomgrinder come from the City of the Gods and the various spaceships that were here, including its weapons. The weapons of the Doomgrinder are giant guns, with magazines and powerpacks.

2). Bone Melter – One of their great weapons – cone shaped blast of white light, ll beings save. IF they fail, they die. Otherwise they have 4d10 damage. It liquefies bones in people’s bodis.

3). Flesh Eater – Another weapon. Fires beam of greenish light, Must save. Thos who mae it take 3d8 damage and get mummy rot. Those that fail take the same damage, but take another 2d6 disease damage a round as their flesh melts and dissiolves, until dead or cured by Magic.

4). Shadow Thrower – When fired, this weapon calls forth 2d4 slow shadows to attack their target

Due to their age, these weapons only have a handful of charges left, but there are multiple weapons across the Doomgrinder points at foes

5). There are countless arrow holes used by the Derro to rain death on folks. Boiled oil vents as well.

6). Doomgrinder is 100% Magic Resistant

7). It moves via great wheels, and is more of a moving castle or fortress than a traditional automaton like Earthshaker. This means it’s more stable, and you can’t stop it by simply knocking it over or something

8). It’s a different construction than Earthahker, and thus the control sphere for Earthshaker that Alzar controls won’t work for the Doomgrinder.

9). It’s airtight ,and can move under water.

10). It uses steam, magic, and similar internal mechanisms to Earthshaker, so it’s something that can e understood easily

[Abe Sargent]

Day 1:

Doomgrinder moves two miles. No one has noticed

Day 2:

Doomgrinder moves 6 miles. It’s about 18 miles from Fort Leman. Fort Leman is on the far side of the Ljallenvals, and it’s heading right for it.

A small commander in the Fort, recently brought into Alzar’s demesne reaches out. A local magic user teleports to Alzar’s court and informs them of the danger. Alzar confirms it and heads out. They launch an aerial assault on the thing, and Milos is brought in as an advisor. No magic penetrates it.

That night, shortly after the sun sets, Alzar launches a major assault with summoned elementals, undead, controlled creatures, spells and more. The sort of assault that sent an army of giants back in defeat. The sort of assault he used in ancient time to stop to Oerd alien race that wanted to conquer their planet and end magic. He holds nothing back. An hour later, it came to nothing. There is no evidence of any damage, or any slow down of Doomgrinder

Scrying magic can’t see inside it.


Day 3:

Doomgrinder raises its speed and moves 12 miles

Alzar needs to board it. That’s the only way to stop this thing - to get inside and shut it down.

“Is it always like this up here?” Vix asks in part astonishment and part joy. She is ready to board a giant, rolling fortress/golem thing, take out bad guys, and do something epic.



Alzar is going to approach from one direction on his flying carpet and Vix another with her Chariot and Manticore steed. They spied a few entrance points, way up on the ‘grinder.

Meanwhile, a group of local mages and clerics have summoned a variety of creatures to assault the Doomgrinder again, with the intention of pulling the Derro’s attention forward. Alzar has a few of his folks using some alchemical, non-magical fumes and chemicals to create a foul-smelling mixture and brew. They don’t have many. But they launch a few of them at the front and sides, and many arrow holes are closed to keep them out.

Alzar has grabbed a different set of items and allies. For example, he has some of the grenades he took from those ships and their high tech nature, plus his Android Bodyguard is along for the ride. Vix’s chariot lands on top, she leaps off, uses her spear to force open a bolthole, kills two Derro inside, and penetrates their defenses. Alzar arrives at the rear about 270 feet in the air, uses a Rope of Climbing to grab hold of the back bolthole, but it fails to grab hold (magic) and uses a normal grappling hook instead. He pulls it out, his Bodyguard fires shots from a crossbow of Speed at the defenders and they die.

[Abe Sargent]

They are both on board

Alzar grabs a nearby Derro and casts Speak with Dead and uses the Scroll of Mapping.

Here’s a basic rundown of the construct:

There is a central column that runs down from the windmill to the bottom. This central column provides power. There are more than 200 genies captured and working in there, including Dao and Efreet . This driveshaft turns and powers the motive power for the wheels.

There are numerous modules that are repeated around the area, and then a set of corridors splits them. Control room, engine room, kitchens, living, and more, all across 4 decks.


Alzar heads out, trying to head up to where Vix entered. He encounters a party of 4 derrro moving through a nearby corridor, and slays them with a Death Spell.

As they die they announce a pre-fabricated call for help, and more Derro begin to arrive into the corridor. More and more are pouring out.

Alzar vs the horde



5 v 8

Alzar casts Time Stop. He drops Wail of the Banshee, Mass Domination, Stop ends.

13 Derro die, and 6 are Dominated and ordered to attack others. A few Magic Missiles and such heads his way, but his Magic Resistance of 75% from Azzil and the Amulet is compelling. He takes very little damage. Let me roll some dice….8 damage total

76/83 – Alzar

7 vs 4

Alzar takes 11 damage from spells, and his dominated minions are mostly dead. Around 30 living Derro are left. Alzar casts Mass Charm and 10 Derro step to the side, drop their weapons, and refuse to fight their friends. His android hits one Derro for 14 damage

66/83.


8 vs 3

They win init. Alzar takes another 8 damage from various spells. They are pulling back. Alzar drops Prismatic Spray on them as they retreat. Some die to damage, some are blinded, some take damage, etc. The corridor is mostly cleared.

59/83

Two rounds later, Vix arrives from the upper floor, having slain a bunch of derro on her way down.

They took out around 50 Derro and another 10 are charmed – Alzar has the charmed ones to head back to their rooms and quietly wait.

The corridor is a bit tight, but with the Map and without a bunch of undead/constructs/summoned stuff, it’s manageable. The derro made most of this stuff work for their size of over the years.

The entire area is shaking, in motion, and smells musty.

Alzar heals himself with a Cure Moderate Wounds spell

[Abe Sargent]

The closest room of interest near their location is the driveshaft, and you have the engine room below them. They head to the driveshaft.

About half way there they turn and spy some derro built defenses across the main tunnel, hastily constructed. There are at least 25 derro here, with tables flipped up, weapons ready, and they fire some fiery missiles. Alzar and Vix are both immune to the normal fire, and she throws her spear as Alzar casts Skulltrap and cleans out the defenses after launching the trapped skull.

They head on

They arrive at the driveshaft entrance on this level after passing by more rooms and entries. Noncombatant derro like children and old ones are fleeing. The entrance is wizard locked, and Alzar’s Chime of Opening cracks it open.

There are narrow walkways inside, with giant great gears that are moving swiftly. There are arcane symbols all along the shaft, and a huge number of genies here providing counter energies to the windmills above, and creating the energy necessary to push the juggernaut.

Alzar is able to make out the various runes and symbols. They are here to control the summoned genies. Alzar heads into his OtherSpace and grabs a pair of curious rocks, once badly molten..

He returns and waits. In about three minutes, an efreet sees him, a curious human here, and not the derro, and stops and talks with him. Using his genie lore proficiency, he is able to convince the Efreet to help him if they are freed, and he does.

He casts Worldwalk and opens a passable gate to the Elemental Plane of Earth. Then he casts Protection from Evil, 10 Radius and bends up and damages the closest symbol.

As he does, the area begins to shudder and close. The central hold shaft inside the driveshaft area that holds and channels the genies breaks, and is rent all over. The various genies explode, and 120 dao and 80 efreet are suddenly free. The dao see the planar entrance and head over and free themselves, barely noticing Alzar, Vix, and the android on their way.

A handful see him, and he tells them what happened. They head out to kill some of the derro in revenge, and 350 derro warriors are slain in vengeance from the dao before the head back to the Earth Plane.

When the driveshaft stopped, the Doomgrinder did as well, and everyone took 1d6 damage, and 74 noncombatants passed away as well.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar casts Genie Contract and binds one of Kazeem’s younger enemies, Tazeer. Kazeem gets the efreet to slay another 450 derro and clean them out. Alzar grabs a scroll of Worldwalk, opens up, and the efreet head home. Alzar grabs some more rocks from their world to use


This leaves around 850 derro in the fortress.

Tazneer
Efreet
LE, 54 hp ,AC2, THACo 11; 3d8 damage;

Can use Invisible, gaseous form, enlarge, detect magic, wall of fire, polymorph self, create illusion, pyrotechnics, and produce flame all once/day and give wishes 3/day.

Tazneer is the youngest of the 80 efreet captured and imprisoned on the Doomgrinder for thousands of years. As part of agreeing to free the genies, Alzar gained the service of the weakest of them, with a Genie Contract spell. Tazeer is a powerful ally of Alzar’s, and can great wishes. Once he grants three wishes to Alzar, his contract will be over. Until then, Tazneer is one of the allies Alzar has available to him.


Alzar’s first and foremost goal is to clean the Doomgrinder of all remaining derro. It shouldn’ be too troublesome. There were originally 1048 warriors, 150 savants, and 600 non combatants. Since they didn’t attack the efreet or dao, the non-coms were the ones mostly saved, so they were not killed. That means of the roughly 800 left, about 450 are non-coms. So just 350 are non-coms.

Alzar finds one and casts Dire Charm on her and lets her head back and interact with others for a bit. Then he heads out and uses Charms and Dominations and such to grab some combatants.

By the end of a couple of hours, they took out 60 more combatants, and brought 40 more to their way of thinking, us the 10 Alzar already had.

The result is that Alzar has that group of 50 or so head out with a general evacuation order. By the end of the day, all but a handful of the derro are left, the rest fled, and those are easily rounded up by summoned Invisible Stalker, Aerial Servants, and such.

Alzar and Vix split 350k XP

Alzar only needs around 50k to level up

Alzar has a powerful, almost mobile fortress, denuded of inhabitants.

He teleports to Serraine and grabs around 75 skygnomes ,and then brings them back to start coming up with a technical answer to the drive system, rather than the current magical one. He also hires some of the gnomes from the Earthshaker to head over and help out. He also teleports to Jakondar and hires one of the best clockwork mages from the Chontae. Then he ensures their loyalty to the project with Detect Lie and such.

[Abe Sargent]

That day Alzar finishes exploring, and he found these treasures:

Clanbooks of the Doomgrinder Derro – Include research on the Doomgrinder, spells for Derro savants to learn, information on Derro secrets and more. All of the common spells from levels 1-5 (In the PHB) are in the books. There is one new spell, and Alzar learns it:




Mere’s Conjure Sandlings – 5th level, Conjuration

Use up a ruby to summon a number of sandlings equal to the caster’s level plus 1d6. Last 1 turn/level, require an amount of sand to summon. Sandlings are 4 HD creatures, and bringing in 30 or so is a hugely powerful spell at Alzar’s level.

72 Books on Arcane Theory
Manual of Ineffable Damnation

4 Flesh Eaters
6 Bone Melters
3 Shadow Throwers


Alzar invests the cash from the various gems, jewels, and coins into the hiring of folks to run, fix, and research it. He brought in another 32k gold, offers to split it 16 with Vix, but she doesn’t care.

In the chapter on the runaway Doomgrinder, a bunch of villages, forest, and more are described. We are going to use those to flesh out the areas Alzar recently added to his demesne

He needs to add some defense right now that could wind up being more

End of Doomgrinder

[Abe Sargent]

Begin The Rod of Seven Parts

Hold on to your collective sphincters.




The mega boxed set campaign mega-venture has begun. Get ready!

[Abe Sargent]

The next day Alzar heads to Fort Leman to check and see how they are doing. After checking in with locals to make sure everything is okay, he spends some more time getting to know the area. As one of the many places newly under Alzar’s rule, he likes to teleport about, check on folks, and more. He’s been here twice before. But this time, he really wants to do more than just put in a quick appearance.

The fort is around 1200 people strong, and it’s on the far side of the northern pass through the Ljallenvals, basically the main stopping point there. Alzar is walking up a street and heading to an inn that is famous here, The Golden Cockatrice, a place Alzar’s not been before.

And he spies something…odd.



Across the street from the Golden Cockatrice is a large yellow mangy looking dog, staring fiercely at the Inn. It’s very healthy, bit dirty. Alzar’s Sage Knowledge for other planes kicks in. Hm….is this? Alzar’s Star of Mo-Pilar verifies it. This is the physical manifestation of a Hound of Law. These are otherplanar guardians of law. They have a noncorporeal form as well, and are ideal trackers, and can track down creatures that have moved about magically like with teleport or dimension door. The same holds true of folks who cross to other planes.

Alzar uses his Axe to speak the otherplanar language and talks with the Hound of Law.

It’s been sent here to guard the Inn. There is something dangerous and chaotic here, and the doorman smells funny. Alzar pats the Hound of Law a few times, and then moves to the Inn

[Abe Sargent]

The doorman here is a normal human, with a scowl and an apparent hangover from last night. Alzar against uses the Star and sees this is not the true form. This is a demon, polymorphed as a human.

That deems the Hound of Law’s presence as something obvious


Alzar heads into the Golden Cockatrice. This Inn has a lot to offer. He spends some time checking around the various sights:

1). A cage of four live cockatrices in the corner, fed by locals, with a petrified drunk who tried to feed them once, a long time ago, as a warning to other. They are the mascots of the Inn

2). Gambling tables of various types, including dice, cards, and table games.

3). About 20 patrons in the tavern room proper

4). Stables

5). Inn above with two floors

6). Kitchen

7). Privies

A lot of these are separate from each other, the gambling areas are mostly outdoors, and under some awnings, the privies are separate, as are the stables. Inn, tavern, and kitchen together but open in the front, with a fence around the property and the main gate with the demon guard. None of these others appear to be anything different.

Alzar sees a local pickpocket working the crowd, but the locals are all winking at him, and he seems to have their support. Someone else is accused of cheating and getting kicked out.

Alzar heads down and grabs a seat. As he does, a waitress comes over to take an order for food, and he just orders some alcohol. It’s midday, between lunch and dinner.

[Abe Sargent]

In a moment, the guard from the main gate comes to him, smelling him oddly.

“I’ve actually found it? I am going to be rewarded so well!” He then shifts back into his normal form and Gates and out come some more demons…

Gated in 5 kakkuu
And himself, a Lycosidilith

They are Spyder-Fiends

Spyder-Fiends are a race of demons, and there are five different sub-races of them. They tend to be servants of spider styled Demon Lords like Lolth or Miska.

The Kakkuu are demon spiders with a bit of wolfish look to them. They are the weakest of the five. They have 4 HD, 17 THACO, 2 AC, 2d4 damage with poison which failure forces the target, after 1d4 rounds to collapse unconscious. Magic Resist of 15%



The Lycosidilith is one of the more powerful, 3 attacks, 2d10, 1d8, 1d8, and poison too, 10+ 6 HD, 9 THACO, AC -4. Standard demon abilities like teleport at will and such. 60% MR

Alzar’s axe is out

7 vs 4

Alzar is hit once for 7 damage by the Lyco, and 1x by another for 6. Alzar carves for 28 damage.

71.83

6 vs 4

Alzar is hit and takes 17 damage total. He smashes the Lycosidilith for 36 damage and it dies. It has 52.

55/83

3 vs 4

Alzar kills one Kakkuu and is missed by the other fou rand their lower THACos – they only hit on a natural 20.

In the next four rounds, Alzar takes one hit for 7 damage. The rest die –

25K + 5kx5 – 50k for the demon slaying fun times


They disappear as they die, banished back to The Abyss for a while.

The Hound of Law came through the gates and was biting one at the end and helping Alzar. As they fall, it heads around searching the area to make sure it’s all clean. After verifying, it bids goodbye and heads off, shifting back home

Alzar’s battle has no evidence other than the wounds in the ground and himself.

A short while later, he heads home after finishing things up.

[Abe Sargent]

Waiting to greet him is the ghost, Draconus, from the Temple underground that he brought back after cleaning it out. Draconus is a level 20 LG ghost who is a servant of law and has the magic from him as a level 20 wizard.

As he told Alzar, Alzar was about to be a servant of Law in a major cross planar battle.

That war has arrived.

Alzar has been a major force for law. One of the greats. So something found Alzar and he now has something serious, and that’s where the attack came from.

One of the most common artifact tales across the planes is the Rod of Seven Parts. Here is its history.

“Aeons ago, in the Age of Legends, a great war arose between Law and Chaos. The roots of the conflict are obscure, shrouded in the mists of antiquity. Suffice to say the Great Powers of Law and Chaos waged war on worlds beyond comprehension. No thought was given to Good or Evil, for this was a conflict for dominance untainted by any other considerations. “Arrayed on the side of Law were the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, scions of an empire already ancient at the war’s beginning. The champion of Chaos was an enigmatic being known only as the Queen of Chaos. And her champion was Miska, the Wolf-Spider. “He was a demonic force unlike any other, as powerful as any of the ancient tanar’ri lords, and he led the Queen’s forces to victory time and time again. Sensing defeat, the Wind Dukes forged a weapon of Absolute Law to slay Miska, a Rod of black metal. At the battle of Pesh, (on another Prime Material Plane) the Captains of Law drove a wedge into the ranks of Chaos and smote Miska with the Rod. “Stricken, the Wolf Spyder wailed in anguish and his screams were so terrible that every soldier on the battlefield fell in agony. As he writhed in agony, his foul blood covered and permeated the Rod and, as the absolute Law imbued in the Rod mingled with the absolute Chaos in Miska’s blood, the fabric of the multiverse was ripped asunder. The Rod shattered into seven pieces and Miska was cast through a planar rift. “The sundering of the Rod spared Miska from death, but a portion of his being remained in the Rod, leaving the general crippled. When the Wolf Spyder retreated to a citadel of Chaos, the Wind Dukes struck, imprisoning him in a cocoon of pure law and casting him into the depths of Pandemonium”

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar grabs the unidentified wand he found in the Hollow World. This is the first segment of the Rod of Seven Parts. Alzar is told the command word by Draconus, and now he can use it 5xday for a Cure Light Wounds spell. So let’s delve into the Rod of Seven Parts fully.


Draconus has presented Alzar with a book from his collection he secreted away, and Alzar makes a bookcopy and consumes it to know what it says immediately:


Rod 1 – Cure Light Wounds
Rod 2 – Slow Effect
Rod 3 – Haste Effect
Rod 4 – Gust of Wind Effect
Rod 5 – True Seeing
Rod 6 – Hold Monster
Rod 7 – Heal

Those are the individual powers of the segments.

As they are brought together, they will have additional powers. Those aligned powers differ based on their current plane.

Meanwhile, here are other things you need to know:

Holding one part of the Rod and concentrating on the whole item, will lead one to get a feeling for where the next one is. Whenever two pieces come within a mile of each other, one teleports away to a newly chosen place randomly.

Alzar needs to craft special glyphs that prevent this from happening, one special glyph for each piece he wants to bring together, 6 total for the rod. It takes around a week to do this for each.

[Abe Sargent]

Rumors are that on the last world, you got fly with two pieces then 20% MR, control winds, shape change, wild walk ,and restoration. But if you assemble in the right one, one through seven you get the resonant power, and that’s more powerful stuff.

The rod’s bearer becomes more and more lawful over time as powers are used and the rod grows. Each day a power of the rod has been used, the Queen of Chaos as a 5% chance of finding the user. She’ll dispatch a huge group of Spyder-Fiends.

Alzar spends some time gathering the materials for, and creating a special glyph.


Alzar grabs the part of the Rod and verifies it’s the right one, and then he concentrates and feels a pull towards a familiar place. Underground. Near the dead Beholder city he took over called Ith Khin’ax, where he stores his undead and other secrets, and uses as a hidden base.

Alzar teleports over and checks it out. There are a few burrowing creatures that opened up and arrived, and he slays them easily. Then he closes up their methods of getting here. But try as he can the first part and the pull can’t find anything here. Or nearby. Hmmmm…..

The pull ends in a particular location. But nothing in here,

Hmmmm….

Where is it?

Or is the right question…when is it?

Alzar teleports back and grabs some technical stuff, including the Temporal Shifting Cube he took from the downed spaceship and it’s ruins. This Cube enabled him to shift through time, face the various Oard challenges, and then hit the downed Beagle spaceship in the ancient Blackmoor kingdom and the Cult of the Temple of the Frog that was growing up around them.

Alzar can use the Cube to move himself through time. So he grabs it, and heads back to the dead city, and then prepares and uses it…

And he arrives into the city 77 years in the future…

[Abe Sargent]

In the future, the ancient beholder city is fully lived in. There are any number of people, undead, and slaves here. And beholders are floating overhead. They have retaken the city, and around 40 or 50 beholders total live above, and hundreds of slaves, servants, and more are around the area.

At the top, by the central stairs, a Hive Mother is calling out a challenge to the various inhabitants. Alzar can understand her.

He shifted ahead in time, and the second piece is in front of him, like he thought it would be, in one of the ex-beholder passages. Alzar slips the glyph to them, and snaps the first and second pieces together, and they snap together like two magnets.

He places the Rod in his Bag of Holding, and he starts to use the Cube again, but waits….what did the Hive Mother just say

They are about to attack and take out Evenarrow! The area above is considered holy by the beholders, and the line of Alzar has been deemed impure.

Alzar can’t fight everybody here. He grabs a crystal ball and scrys his home. He sees it considerably built up and the statue is still there, as a testament to him (thus he has now finished, technically, the last step of the first path of matter, to have a monument up for at least 10 years).

After that, he writes a message, in his own script, signs it with his symbols and signet ring. He casts Teleport Object to send it to the throne room, and then gets ready to soften the invasion force a bit.

Alzar secures his anti-Beholder stuff (technological items like grenades, and anti-anti magic stuff) and then gets ready.

Alzar leaps out of the window and falls down to the ground two levels below, with Boots of Striding and Springing on instead of his normal stuff. He lands fine, and the lock of elven hair becomes the material for a Wail of the Banshee spell and about 20 humanoids and slaves are killed, including orcs and hobgoblins.

The Beholders immediately turn their attention to him, with a variety of anti-magic rays truning his way, to prevent any further magic. He grabs an explosive grenade from his belt, tosses it, and cleans out about 16 more bad guys.

Two more explosive grenades follow, and the Beholders begin to shift from anti-magic to other rays as no can get near him. Finally, to allow their own magic rays to work, the Hive Mother orders their anti-magic to look elsewhere. As they do, a bunch of eye stalks turn to him. Alzar suffers a variety of Disintegrate, Cause Wounds, and other attacks to come his way. So, how could he survive them all?

1). Amulet of Power - Detect Magic, Read Magic at will; Fireball (12 HD) 1/day; Teleport w/o Error 1/week; gives the wearer 50% Magic Resistance. Any non-wizard donning it is feebleminded.
2). +25% MR from Azzil
3). Ring of Spell Turning on one hand, instead of the normal Free Action one
4). Luck Charm - +2 saves
5). +3 Cloak of Protection instead of normal one, gives +3 to saves

The result of this is +5 to saves, 75% of spells stopped with MR, and those that aren’t are weakened by the Spell Turning Ring.

Any spell that gets through the magic resistance is resisted on a 2 or more on d20, and weakened by the Spell Turning ring as well.

Even if Alzar fails a save, he’s taking less effect, such as a reduced Cause Serious Wounds. Killing. Petrifying. It’s not likely to work. Plus don’t forget his various immunities as well . He’s not in the conversation.




5 vs 1

Alzar’s foes fire a bunch of rays and…..random.org…..none get the combo of 25% crack and 1 in 20 d20 save. Alzar casts Skulltrap and kills a pair of beholders near him that were wounded. Seeing the rays and eye effects not working, they secure him under the central anti-magic stuff, and order missile fire. That’s much more likely to crack the shell.

3 vs 2

Alzar takes 34 damage from various missile effects. Alzar’s summoned creatures (Invisible Stalker, Aerial Servant, Air Elemental) hit invisibly from behind at his mental command to give him some breathing room. He tosses another grenade and runs, killing some more slaves and foes, and slaying another wounded beholder.

50/83

5 vs 8

Some turn to face the others, and Alzar retreats into a nearby building and then casts his deus ex machina here underground – Earthquake . He can only cast one level 7 spell a day as a priest – their most powerful magic. The area collapses, and then slows down pursuit, and tons of folks take damage and a few more deaths follow.

After verifying the damage to the city, and the lack of immediate pursuit, Alzar slips the Temporal Cube back and uses it.

Alzar’s dynasty will manage to arrive in a few hours and clean up the rest of the army that was going to attack them….

[Abe Sargent]

Current Path of the Dynast –

Alzar must create a realm with a human population of at least 50000 or demi-human of 15000. DONE
Alzar’s March must gain independence from Alphatia and Norwold, and stand on its own
Alzar must quest for, find, and destroy an artifact from the Milenian Empire. DONE
Alzar must create a dynasty that will endure from his realm, and his successors must rule for at least 20 years. MAYBE
Alzar must travel into the future to three separate times, and secure his realm and dynasty’s future – ONE COMPLETED
Alzar must face and defeat 4 major challenges to his rule – ONE COMPLETED


As Alzar heads back home, something happens to interfere with his temporal shift and he winds up in the Temporal Sub-Prime, a dimension of time that runs under the main existence that Chronomancers and other time-based magic uses.

The chronomancer that brought Alzar out of Hamedh and escaped the curse of the Demon Lord Jubilex and his consort Zuggtmoy is here. And he’s a bit miffed at Alzar’s rampant run through the timestream.


It was one thing when he was heading back to face off the Oard at various points they were attacking Pandiu’s past to change its present and future. That’s in bounds. That’s what chronomancers do. And also helping out in Blackmoor at the bequest of the immortal agents to fix up some of the stuff in their own timeline works too. That’s fine.

But if Alzar is going to start mucking about in time for small stuff like what he just pulled, the chronomancers have an issue with him.

Alzar’s temporal cube has been taken. Alzar won’t have that available to him. In order to complete his tasks for the Sphere of Time, the chronomancer gives him three unique pieces of incense. Burn one, and you’ll head to the time if you choice until the incense finishes, and then you’ll return. Short, guaranteed safe time hops, rather than the full blown stuff Alzar just did.

(I changed chapter 2. In real life, it’s underground, in an Aboleth lair, and you can scout, figure it out, and secure the 2nd piece very quickly. I wanted some more epic, bigger, and more Pandius-feeling.)

[Abe Sargent]

A week later, Alzar heads out with another glyph prepared. We uses the two connected pieces he already has to show him the 3rd piece. He heads up to his flying Griffon, with Vix and her chariot there too. He concentrates and let’s himself be pulled gently in the right direction.

About 6 hours later of moving south, they arrive in the northern hills of the Heldann Freeholds hundreds of miles to the south. They feel the pull coming from a pair of ruined tower by each other from the hills, and begin to land. As they do, the Rod in Alzar’s grip vibrates, and suddenly the 3rd piece flise away.

Despite the glyph, prepared as the book stated, once Alzar came within a mile of it, it still teleported away randomly. That’s annoying. He needs to do some additional research


End of the Rod of Seven Parts for a bit

[Abe Sargent]

So here’s what I’m feeling right now:

Finishing the Rod counts as ending a major threat for the Dynast Path.

Typically, the Sphere of Thought, the next one, is all about questing, artifacts, and such. It’s pretty short comparatively. Find a major artifact of Thought and return it. Track down, find, and destroy an entropy artifact. Find and train a successor. Create a legendary weapon. Complete one epic quest. Thought is all about doing some things grandly. Obviously, any sponsor is free to alter and shift the path around. Pflarr did a bit, for example. But that’s the basic core of things.

I’m not 100% sure who his Thought Patron would be. I have two or three on the plate I like – Noumena, Ssu-Ma, maybe he ex-Orc Karaash. I don’t think Halav would be interested… There are some interesting ones out there, like former elf LE Ruaidhri Hawkbane who hates and wants to slay all lycanthropes, and will ally with anyone, even Entropy, to do it.


Anyways, here’s my core time line:

Crypt of L the Mad
M3 Twilight
Finish Rod of Seven Parts
M2. Vengeance finish the Time Path, Path #3,

Labyrinth of Madness somewhere?
Night of the Comet?
Vortex of Madness somewhere
Return to WPM?

Path 4 –

The Shattered Circle
M4 – Five Coins
AC7 – Bestiary, interaction with a dragon
M5, Talons of Night – Finish the Thought Path, Path #4



Wrath

Path 5 – Stone? Vecna Lives? Reverse Dungeon?

Others that might be on the queue:

Isle of the Ape
Greyhawk Ruins
For Duty and Deity
A Paladin in Hell
The Star off Kolhapur
Return of the Eight
Mordenkainen’s Fantastic Adventure
Other Planescape or Other Planar Stuff
Dungeonland? Beyond the Magic Mirror?




Month 4, Year 9 –


Vix is taking care of various lairs and such. She just solo’d a dragon.



Alzar is now level 31 – he gains an extra 1-3 level spell

[Abe Sargent]

Begin the Book of Lairs II Again

A few days pass and Alzar has a local sherrif in the Ljallenvals use up a Spellcache Ring to teleport to him. Alzar’s Magist immediately replaces it. They have some bad news

If you’ll recall, a small set of silver mines were restarted recently by dwarves in a hex Alzar just took in the Ljallenvals recently called Silvercrest. It’s near the Ice Tower they took out. Around a week ago, a pair of ink-black dragons flew in and took it over and ousted the dwarves.

(I’m not making up the perfect fit, we already had silver mines in the mountains, with many nearby dragons right here, and the lair in the book of lairs perfectly met that. I had to toss that here when I saw it!).

Black dragons aren’t bad. Ever since Alzar worked with the Black Dragon mother and helped hatch their eggs, he;s been on good relations with the evil dragon kind. He could ask them to leave. Alzar grabs a Crystal Ball and begins to scry. He finds the caves, and then heads in mystically. Inside he verifies that there are a mated pairs of dragons, but they aren’t black ones. They are shadow dragons.


They have created makeshift structures to block out the light, might quick earthworks and such. There are some recently deceased dwarves here as well.

Alzar grabs some items to make him more anti-shadow dragon, like the Iuon Stone that lets him see in any darkness, even magical. They have little treasure, it looks like just enough for one or two passes late at night, or just what they could bring with them. Alzar uses his Dragon Lore proficiency to ensure he is doing everything right, he’s only slain a couple of shadows before as they are pretty rare and from another plane of existence.

While still day, Alzar teleports over

Alzar arrives at the entrance of a cave and uses the Star of Mo-Pilar to assess things. He spies a Magic Mouth spell at the corner of the entrance about 20 feet in, and the Alarm spell a little further in, and casts Dispel Magic to drop them. Silver ore glints in the light, some of which is recently mined.

Alzar id’d the male as old and the female venerable.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar spends some time here, outside the chamber, about a few thousand feet outside, spending around 5 minutes Scrying it. Alzar casts Negative Plane Protection to save from the Energy Drain effects they sometime have, mentally activates his Zoster of Zeal, and then he casts Dimension Door and steps through it to emerge on the other side.

Alzar casts Strip Resistance on the female. This should reduce her MR. She has a MR of 45% .and……it works, the MR is dropped to single digits. The pair is up and the female breathes at him and the male casts Mirror Image. Alzar takes 5d4+2 and save for half. He takes 10 after the save

75/84

7 vs 9

Alzar casts Temporary Youth on the female and she loses 3 age categories and drops to mature. Her stats drop as well. She casts Mirror Image and the male breathes and hits him for 4d4+2, save for half. He takes 7.

69/84

7 vs 1

The female casts Magic Missile at him, and he takes 8 damage (after the MR of himself clicks in). The male flies and swoops over at him and breathes as he flies. Alzar fails his save and takes 16. Alzar casts Cure Serious Wounds and heads 30.

83/84

6 vs 1

The male attacks him. He hits once for 8 damage with a claw. The first time someone hits Alzar with a melee attack each round, his thief skill Evasion kicks in and he has a 60% chance of dodging it. Yes, it works. No other hits follow. The female flies over, and breathes (male is immune) and Alzar takes 7. Alzar’s Axe is out )(he always has Bright Barrier the shield in fights, as he can cast spells while he has the artifact equipped if you’ll recall). He slashes the male and needs to hit his -8 AC and that requires a THACO of 10 +8- 19 – 4 for STR, -3 for weapon mastery,e -2 for Zoster, -5 for Axe 7 total. (usually I’m doing the math for things like evasion and bonuses to hit behind the scenes, but I thought you’d like to see it this once). Alzar tosses a 6 and a 10, and hits once for 1d8 plus a ton of bonues. 18 damage. Then he can shield bash with the shield. Doesn’t get the Axe or mastery onuses, needs a 12 to hit, tosses a 14 and hits for 1d6+ STR and Shield bonus for….10 damage – 28 total. Alzar gains one.hp a round with his regen ioun stone.

84/84

He’s immune to the energy drain of their breath and its blind effects.

4 vs 7

Alzar hacks at the male and adds two axe hits for 41 damage and it dies. That’s the weakness of these things. Very hard to hit, higher MR than other dragons, Mirror Image is a powerful defense they all have at a young age, powerful breathe, but weaker hp compared to other dragons. Alzar is immune to mirror images, he can see through illusions up though level 4 due to his 22 INT. These are a lot lower. The female, enraged, and weakened, but wise, and not that loyal to her mate, begins to rise and fly away from their cavern, breathing on Alzar as she does. He takes 16 from another failed save. Stupid saves!

69/84

6 vs7

Alzar casts Power Word Kill. With her reduced hp due to losing age categories and Alzar’s strip of her resistance, and the lack of a save if she qualifies, she drops dead. Alzar carves them up into pieces and scales and such.

Alzar grabs from the cavern:

+3 dwarven sized shield
+2 dwarven Warhammer –
Various dwarven armor, weapons and such, returned to the remaining miners, not kept for himself.

He also gives them all gems and coins and jewelry he finds of non-magical nature

There are a handful of small magical items -

1 Pearl of Power, 6th level
1 Gem of Brightness, 44 charges

But that;s not the best…

Under the female are five, recently laid, shadow dragon eggs. Alzar places them in stasis and stores them for now.

Alzar gains 42k XP



End of Book of Lairs II Again

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar flies around, finds the local dwarves nearby holding up, gives them the various items he grabbed from the dragons, and then teleports back with his stuff, then Teleport Other the sheriff back to the area.

How many times can Alzar teleport in one day?

Remember in Pandius, we have the restriction of just one/spell/day for Arcane magic. Alzar cannot cast the actual Teleport once/day.

So:

1). The dagger Unifex can cast Teleport once a day

2). Teleport

3). Mass Teleport

4). Teleport without Error

5). Dokkalfar Teleport

6). Transport via Shadow

7). Alzar can also cast Teleport Dead, Teleport Other, and Teleport Object which won’t work on him

8). Plane Shift

9). Worldwalk

10). Gate

11). He cast the 6th level priest spell Word of Recall up to 2x a day

12). Amulet of Power – Teleport w/o error, 1/week

13) To lesser, smaller distances, Dimension Door, Phase Door

That’s a lot of teleporting.

What Alzar often does is teleport from one place to another near the end fo the day, after verifying no major needs to head out and adventure or deal with any major issues like he just did with the dragons. This teleportation allows folks to see him regularly. He’ll teleport to a town and check it out and see how things are going. He can do that a few times a month, with the size of it growing. Remember that Alzar is now bereft of all major things he normally would have to do

Most people need to sleep. The Ring of Sustenance reduces that need to a 2 hour meditative state. That’s an addition of 4-6 hours a day for you to do work, studying, research, and running a large state, managing the 11 apprentices you have, and more.

Now Alzar’s G Ring of that ability removes the extra 2 hours of meditation needed, so that 2 hours is freed up.

How much time in a day is spent eating, drinking, preparing food, and such. Without the need to eat/drink due to the Rings, that time is now freed as well.

All mages have to spend time memorizing their stuff. This takes 10 minutes per spell level/spell. This is supposed to be one of the major brakes on higher level mages. If you need to rememorize a level 3 spells, that’s 30 minutes. Just to rememorize 1 spell of every level is 450 minutes. That’s 7 and a half hours. So memorize all of the spells Alzar currently knows is more than day’s worth, easy. But with Nefti;s Spell Recall memorized at each level, and never cast, he doesn’t have to memorize any more stuff. Again, he’s free to invest that time into other pursuits

And then, don’t forget that Alzar can simply cast Consume Knowledge, and immediately destroy a book and absorb its contents as if he had read it. (combine with Bookcopy to make an extra copy of it for that purpose.)

Not only does Alzar have the full 24 hours each day to do everything, but he also cuts the time needed to read a book and such. Combine with time saving measures he has like the spell he made to make you a fast reader or the Research proficiency and more.

He has more time to run the Grand Duchy, more time to devote to studies, more time to adventure, more time to troubleshoot, and more time to gain power.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s take a closer look at immortals on Pandius. What happens here? What do they look like? What benefits do they have?

1). They cannot die, they are immortal. Mostly. There are a handful that have disappeared entirely, and none know what happened. And certainly there are more powerful creatures in the universe that can slay them though.


2). They have the power level greater than a demon lord, but less than a demigod. There are levels of power, and immortals gain power as well over time by various things, including adventuring. The most powerful immortals, like Thanatos and Odin, are still weaker than a Demi-God, but closer in power to that. Brand new immortals are a bit more powerful than the strongest demon lords.

3). Immortals don’t grant spells to their followers, the Sphere itself does. Don’t forget that these folks aren’t powerful enough to grant spells.

4). Increased knowledge not that much more. They naturally have more knowledge than others, but not that much more due to immortality, just with their longer lives, and higher vantage point. Many things happen and they miss it.

5). Cannot interfere directly. On planes that are considered neutral territory, like Pandius, immortals are not allowed to directly influence things If so, they will be punished, much like Alphaks was punished for the M1 stuff he did

6). Create artifacts, and can do things like prophecy and give boons to mortals. Basically the neutral planes are places to manipulate followers, scheme against other immortals, and there is an often shifting balance of alliances and enemies. Not all immortals care about that (Ssu-Ma in Thought has bowed out) but that’s the basic concept.

7). As per various sources, there are some pretty stupid and dumb immortals. Alzar is smarter than about 20-30% of immortals already.

Now, Alzar is more powerful than a demon lord right now. He could solo any demon lord in combat right now. No issue, and no concern.

Alzar’s not a super fan of some of the issues of immortality, such as fighting behind the scenes, manipulating and more.

Immortals here are many, diffuse, powerful, immortal-ish (but some have been killed by gods from other worlds and planes or disappeared) and such. They are like Hercules and Perseus. More like Dionysus and Artemis and Apollo. Manipulative, ever changing, powerful, objects of worship, immortal-ish and can kick your butt, and they even know more than you But fallible, trickable, with all of the foibles and weaknesses of humans, just more powerful.

But that’s the only ticket.

And while Alzar looks forward to not-dying there are things he doesn’t want to lose. He’s spent his life gathering power. This is more power. But he loses some power to gain it. In fact, by the time he finishes his 5 paths, he has so many powers and weapons and items and skills and spells gained, that he would likely take a step back to take one forward, if that makes sense.