The D&D Dynasty: The New Path of Alzar the Mighty

[Abe Sargent]

After fifty feet, there is a clear pool, and the rest of the mine has collapsed past it. Alzar suspects the pool as the home of a lacedon, or a water based ghoul. He approaches it carefully. He lobs the continual light pebble onto the beach to light things up, and detects movement. In a few seconds, a lacedon begins to emerge from the water, looking hungry and angry at being disturbed. Alzar feels that familiar sensation, but he cannot control this creature.

A knife misses it, and melee range is reached. These things are nasty. They have three attacks – two claws and a bite. Any of them can paralyze their target, and Alzar has no immunity. It needs a 17 to crack Alzar’s armor though. If it does, Alzar needs an 11 or higher to keep himself un-paralyzed and free. On the other hand, Alzar needs just a 5 to connect with the ghoul, will dole out 1d8 hp if he does, and he gets 3 attacks every 2 rounds with his axe of dervish death.

The ghoul wins init. It rolls a 6. 3 and 17. Connection. It bites Alzar’s left hand for 1 damage, but that scratch is enough to force a save. Alzar rolls a 17 back and saves. Alzar rolls a 3 and misses. He wins init and attacks with the axe. He rolls a 9 and an 11. He carves it twice for 19 damage and it dies.

[Abe Sargent]

The pool is clear enough that Alzar can see the items at the bottom. He jumps into the warm water after stripping off his armor and gathers them up – the water is about 9 feet deep. There is a rusted scabbard that fell apart when Alzar grabbed it, but an untouched and beautiful pesh-kabz (Kyber Knife). It has a beautifully polished agate handle and acts as a dagger in battle save it is 1d4/1d4 instead of 1d4/1d3. (the second number is damage against large creature, like giants). The pesh-kabz is giving off clear signals of being magical, with the untouched blade. There are also various coins here, probably worth about 100 gp total.

He returns past the steam mephit, tosses the head of the ghoul at it and it dodges and chuckles. Alzar leaves the mine and heads back to the path. This detour basically cost him a day, so he sets up camp at the end of the hill. He has memorized Detect Magic today, and as expected, the knife glows. He’ll memorize Identify tomorrow to discover what it is.

Again, no major disturbances hinder his sleep. In the morning he memorizes Identify, then casts it. He has acquired a +1 Pesh-kabz. He has Sleep and Locate Object for the day as his other spells. (He can’t memorize Sleep twice a day on Hamedh)

[Abe Sargent]

Two days see Alzar cross the second plateau. He fights off a griffon that flies in, but nothing else disturbs him. On his last night here, a pack of wolves surround his camp and want a horse or donkey or oxen, but Alzar’s well thrown silver kitchen knife hits the eye of one and they retreat.


There are four routes off the second plateau and into the dale below. One is to ride the waterfall down the cliff, but that’s not really feasible. The second is to take one of the safer, meandering paths down the mountainside side to the left and right. The final is a steep path that parallels the waterfall and is quick and dirty.

With his wagons, he chooses a long, safe path. He has used them all before, and he thinks the left path is the best change, because it skips the odd grotto of bones that several creatures call home. The geyser lake falls and collects into a larger lake in the dale, which creates a winding river that looks like a serpent. Far off in the distance Alzar can just make out the shape of an island in the middle that looks like an eye in the serpent. There is also a small island in the lake below that can be reached by a long dirt walkway of sorts that has been braced by wooden supports. That island is used as a dock by locals for fishing.

One day later, the path begins to curve, and out fly a flock of 7 blood hawks. These Hamedhi species are so called because they are carnivorous and will feed on larger animals, like cattle or horses. They begin to circle Alzar and then one dives in and other follows from an opposite angle. Alzar’s axe snaps up and cleaves one in half. The others stop and move to it and begin to eat their former co-hunter. Alzar leaves them to their cannibalistic meal and moves on.

[Abe Sargent]

The rain is now pouring and one of the wagons bogs down. He spends the better part of a day just going one mile. He can’t go further and just holes up for two day awaiting the end of the storm and the path improving.

Near the end of day six, one of his donkeys twists a leg. It is badly wounded, and he is unhooking it now, and transfers over the goods it was carrying. He will leave it here, and then if a healer is available, they can come and mend it. He is about one day’s journey from the local village here. About a half hour later, he hears a large cry of fear come from the donkey and hurries back to investigate. Soon cries of pain echo in the pathway.

As he nears, he sees the corpse of his donkey being chewed on by large cave bear, with her three cubs just off to the side. They clearly thought the downed donkey was a perfect meal. He leaves them be and returns.


Alzar lands near the end of the path and camps for the night. The trip has been a lot longer than anticipated. In the morning he makes his meal, gathers his things, and moves out. About a half hour later the final bend in the road arrives, and he can see the valley stretched out below.


What he sees shocks him

[Abe Sargent]

N2. The Forest Oracle





This 1984 module is the next in the line that began with N1. Against the Cult of the Reptile God, written by Doug Niles. The N designates a module for newer players. N4 and N5 are expensive and hard to find and I don’t have them. But I do have N3 and hope to run it soon. In order to run this, we are going to smash the plot of this and Eye of the Serpent together, and say that both valleys are the same, and that the incident in question just happened, instead of a while ago. (I am also modifying some people. Garinda replaces the generic mage in this story, and a certain priestess replaces the random druid.) (We’ll be sort of ping-ponging encounters and people and plot between these two modules for a while)

[Abe Sargent]

As Alzar glimpses the valley, a huge change has settled over it. It has been six days and seven nights since he saw it. Leaves have browned and are falling on a massive scale. The brown soil has taken a grey tinge. The grass has yellowed. There is a smell of decay on the wind.

Alzar orders his group into the valley and they push into the area. The soil is dried up, as if no rain had fallen here in weeks, yet a heavy deluge just occurred. He plunges on and arrives at a nearby village of about 140 people. He pulls into a tavern/inn/meeting place and unloads at the Happy Farmer establishment. This is a small country place with just a handful of rooms, one barmaid and one bartender, plus the owner is the chef.

He pulls in and finds that others are already here. He pushes into the crowded space and there is a hush over the room as people are discussing what is happening. Garinda has arrived just a few hours ago, and has used his magic to determine the source.

“It seems that a curse has been laid on the valley, but not the rest of this area. It was delivered five days ago by an ancient witch who had lived here more than a century ago. She was harassed by the people of this valley as a child, and that stayed with her in her whole life. She was a bitter old woman to her death five days ago. As she died, her dying wish was a curse on the place that treated her unkindly all of those years ago. The death wish of a person of power can be an incredible thing, as you can see. In just five days, the valley had begun to rot, just as she decayed for decades before passing.”


“Now that we know what the problem is, you can fix it, right?” The speaker was Delonna, a local miller, and often spokeswoman of the village. There was no official government.

“Unfortunately, my magic cannot heal this place. We need something more, something powerful. But my magic has told me who’s aid we need.”

“Let me guess.”Alzar speaks up

“Right on queue. It’s Marilla, the priestess who passed by this way last year. Her deity specializes in ideal societies, and has the power to fix this. She likely has the right magic and everything.”

“And where is she now?” Someone in the crowd asked.

“It’s a long trek through the mountains on the east tunnels, and on the other side.”

[Abe Sargent]

The east tunnels are not the path to the city Alzar was expecting to take that go over the mountains, but instead go underneath a peak and continue up into a much smaller vale on the other side. He has not been that way before though.

Garinda turns to Alzar and asks that he go and procure aid from Marilla. He agrees. It is almost evening, so he stays the night in the Happy Farmer before setting out the following day.

Alzar leaves behind most of his things. It’s not like he suspects to run into a random library on the way and will wish for his lab. Instead he is just going to take one horse, food and drink, a basic set of supplies, and his normal items. On horseback, it should take about six days to reach the tunnels.

[Abe Sargent]

As he does he passes a small marsh to the northwest of the lake here. Soon Alzar hears a croaking sounds, and about a half dozen or so reptilian creatures come out from one side of the road. They try to squirt jets of muddy water at the head , and hopefully eyes, of Alzar and his steed. He pulls forward and then jumps off (takes one damage from the fall) and his axe is out. These medium sized lizards are around 2-3 feet tall. He slays two easily and the other rush into the brush. The ash tree they were resting on is their home, with many chewed up bones. Alzar recognizes a pole with a standard of a lizard man on it and knows the owner -it’s Swilbosh, a lizard man who lives on the island on the lake and runs the small dock there. He gathers it up and takes it back to Swilbosh and then returns to his course. It takes about six hours to deviate from the journey. Swilbosh likes to carve creatures in the valley on top of walking sticks, and that was one of the Muckdwellers that Alzar just defeated. Swilbosh trades Alzar a fine flask of high quality lizard man made liquor which is made from a local gourd.


Two days into his journey, Alzar runs into a hunting party that has come deep into the area, after losing food from father away. It is a hobgoblin, three goblins, and three hunting dogs. They are chasing a stag that just darted past.

Alzar holds up and waves them down. They stop and speak the local dialect. They live in another abandoned mine up the road about a day. They live by themselves and don’t really hurt anyone, so no one bothers them. Alzar greets them and they discuss things for a bit with the trio o’ goblins while the hobgoblin continues to chase the great hart. The valley is decaying where they are as well, and they have seen few creatures for food, so they are foraging far away. Alzar and the goblins part ways and he moves on.


One of the things that Alzar has noticed about this area of Hamedh is that really has a under-swell of Live and Let Live. There are few places in Thorasia where a good village and area of mixed humanoids lie half-elves, dwarves and humans would let goblins live nearby knowingly. It seems like there is less anti-evil or perhaps anti-humanoid evil prejudice here. Swilbosh, the lizardman does not seem evil, but these goblins certainly were. Every joke they told was about torture or killing. But they keep out of people’s way and don’t bother them.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar arrives at the place where the snaking river busts out of the valley and continues, but instead, he heads for a section of tunnel. There are a few days of woods between here and there though, and he’s heard stories about how dangerous this area can be.

As he continues a group of seven men move onto the path he is traveling and five raise crossbows. They call out to him to stop and give them money in order to pass. He agrees, and stops the horse. Slowly he takes off his armor, and they wonder what he s doing. “You want my armor too, right?” “Umm…sure!”

He then bends down to pick up some sand and casts Sleep. Five of the seven drop asleep. Both of the two still awake are hold crossbows at range. They both fire and Alzar takes 3 damage from a bolt. Then his staff is down and he charges them with it whirling about him. He fights as a Mage. He takes 11 damage from one’s scimitar before finishing him. The other has fled and is too far away to chase. Alzar takes a blade and kills the sleeping bandits save for one, who he ties up and smacks awake.

Unfortunately, Alzar has lost the ability to use ESP once a week that he gained while at Castle d’Amberville. But he is still pretty good at intimidation and torture. He tells Alzar where their hide-out is. It has about seven people still here, and the other one ran towards it. It’s miles away, so Alzar decides to bed down for the night with the bandit tied up and in Alzar’s bedroll by the campfire while Alzar is perched above, keeping watch in case someone shows up.

[Abe Sargent]

They do not. Alzar relearns Sleep, prepares a different second level spell and heads out. He has gathered the useful items from the dead bandits but has no wagon to store them in. He secures them in a hidden location in case he wants them later (and to hide them from the bandits). They bandit and Alzar head out to their camp. As they near, they see a camp with four huts and several guards. They have been alerted to Alzar’s presence. The one who escaped is their leader, and both him and his second in command are running the camp. That makes eight people to deal with. Alzar moves in. They have covered all access points. Normally, he could sneak in, but not with them alerted.

He walks calmly up the front, dragging the living bandit with him. The leader smiles and walks out to meet him. “Leave him, and he will be your toll, and you can walk free.”

That’s not a bad deal. If these were someone he could trust to keep their word, like orcs, then he might do it. But they aren’t. He hasn’t seen one thing that would imply they wouldn’t hunt him down or fire arrows at him. Seeing his hesitation, the leader orders his men to fire on Alzar and begins to backpedal. Two bolts have let go before his Sleep has let his lips, and he takes another 4 damage. This time four people fall asleep, leaving the two leaders and two others awake.

Then Alzar wins initiative and casts Continual Light at the eyes of the lead bandit. It works and the bandit is now permanently blinded. And a torch for everyone. Another bolt smashes into Alzar for 1 damage the leader screams out and falls. The second in command rushes up to her leader and bends down and grabs something from his belt.

They win init back. She grabs the potion bottle and drinks it. She turns into a gaseous form and starts floating away. Smart. With one leader blinded, the other fleeing, the other two drop their crossbows and begin to run post haste. Alzar lets them and easily defeats the leader, capturing him and slaying the others.

He uses the leader to tell him about any traps or information on the camp. After learning about the nearby area, and the camp, he slays both the leader and the surviving bandit. Just before he does the bandit cries out that Alzar promised to keep him alive. To which Alzar replied, “Actually, no I didn’t…”

(For actually winning a battle as a mage, Alzar gets full XP for this encounter – 300 XP + his normal 10% bonus for being super smart, so 330 in all)

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar then searches the camp and finds the following items:

Silver Ring, Bracelet, Necklace set – worth 750 gp as a set
Wine Barrel holding 5000 CP
Gem - 150 gp
Small Chest with 1000 cp – it was trapped, but Alzar learned how to bypass it with the leader’s info
750 sp
Various weapons, items, bedrolls, and so forth.


Alzar takes the best crossbow and 50 bolts. He actually knows how to use it and is quite happy to add another long range weapon to his repertoire. Alzar leaves behind the CP and again secures it in a private place. He takes the gem, set of jewelry, silver pieces. There are a few goats here in a corral. He knows of a village up ahead, so he takes the goats. Rather them be with him and used somewhere then set free and perhaps slain by random predators.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar camps at the bandit camp and the next day sets out. In a few hours, his route passes by a lovely sylvan setting, which is unusual in a place reeling from a death curse by a witch. His interest piqued, Alzar gallops over to take a look. There is a small lake here, and everything is very quiet. There are beautiful flowers and trees that spark the interest and attention. A dead dear lays right by the lake, and looks fresh. Suspecting poison, Alzar steps down and uses his poison use proficiency. No, not poison. And the deer is not dead.

Just in a deep sleep. It is barely breathing, but it is there. That’s odd. His spellcraft proficiency suggest it has been put to Sleep as per the spell. He spends a round waking the deer up and it groggily rises, and then moves back out. Odd. Then Alzar notes other things asleep by the lake, such as insects and a spider. He grabs a flask of water and empties it and, without touching the lake, fills the flask with lake-water.

A bit south Alzar notices a pavilion and heads toward it. It’s a simple square structure with curtains and two doors, one in the water of the lake. Alzar chooses the other door, the front. He knocks, and there is no answer. He checks and it is unlocked. Curiosity engaged, he moves in.

[Abe Sargent]

There is gentle breathing inside. Sunlight reveals a young man sleeping on a bed. The pavilion has a fireplace, two chairs and a table, and various other typical sundries. The man does not awaken as Alzar walks in. His spellcraft proficiency again tells him this is a Sleep spell, and he wakens the man.

The forester wakens, and spends a few minutes gathering his thoughts. He is out here gathering wood, and he fell in love with a nearby nymph. The two of them began a romance here by the lake, and then she apparently got jealous and cast a sleep enchantment on the lake itself. At this, she appears and apologizes. She gives Evan an antidote for the lake and the two make up. Alzar leaves. Mystery solved – the nature powers of the nymph allow her to keep this small area at bay from the curse.

Alzar spends another day moving down the path and things are clearing out. He reaches the small village at the entrance to the Horns of the Dragon as the tunnel network is called. There are about twenty buildings around, including another small inn/tavern place, the Wildwood Inn, run by a small Halfling named Bolo, who looks a bit rakish, although cheery enough. Alzar sells the goats to Bolo for a refreshed set of supplies, food and drink and lodging for the night and information.

People do travel the Horns and use it as an artery through the mountains. There have been dwarves living in the Horns before, but none know if any still do. Of course, a large contingent of bad guys has moved in and made travel difficult. That seems to be the most common story on both Thorasia and Hamedh. This time is is a group of orcs. Bolo even scrawls a rough map of the tunnel for him.

[Abe Sargent]

After night falls and everyone has retired, Alzar is dozing when someone enters the room. There is a one in six chance Alzar will awaken. He rolls…..a three. Stays asleep. He is robbed.

In the morning, Alzar awakens early, ready to head out again, but there is a serious problem. He is missing his valuables. He gets up and spots some large rat tracks in the floor. He takes a quick inventory. He is missing his gold, gems, and jewelry. They did not take anything he was wearing, so he still has his focus Signet ring.

Alzar slips down and grabs Bolo and pulls him up to the room. Bolo does not know what is going on. He agrees to stay while Alzar is searching. Alzar casts Continual Light on a random stone and then studies Locate Object for the day. 20 minutes later he grabs his diving rod and casts Locate Object, targeting a the bracelet from the jewelry set. He walks about and soon the Rod is pointing at a wall in his room. He checks and finds a secret door. Bolo tells Alzar he does not know about it. Alzar opens it and follows the Rod and the hallway that has been revealed.

Soon enough Alzar has arrived at another secret door, and the Rod is pointing right in there. He makes a divining check and the missing object is in the next room. Bolo is quiet and Alzar asks who is in there. Bolo quietly mouths – “four” and “wererats.” Wererats?

Alzar grabs his silver kitchen knife and the magical pesh-kabz. He knows sleep, but that won’t work on lycanthropes. He has used the 2nd level spell. His other spell today is Detect Magic. Alzar is very unsure of slaying four wererats with a knife or pesh-kabz that he doesn’t even know how to use. So he and Bolo slip back to his room to think it through. Instead, they pretend that they don’t know what happened or who is responsible.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar announces that some of his items went missing, and he has put out a reward for them, but that is it. He spends the day scouting and getting ready to head into the Horns of the Dragon, like normal. That night he sleeps, and no one comes into his room – smart. In the morning he memorizes Continual Light. At least that will cut down one, hopefully. Alzar sneaks to their room early, just a few hours past midnight. He places a variety of furniture in front of their door preventing an easy escape from him.

Then he moves back into his room and readies his full armor. He decides to go in as a mage in terms of armor, so he can cast Continual Light, but then fight as a warrior. As a warrior he needs a 9 to hit with his magical weapon. That’s not bad. It would be a lot worse as a mage (he needs a 17). But it deals just 1d4+2 damage in combat (from magic and his strength).

He does the expected and kicks down the door, casting Continual Light on the eyes of a wererat. Unfortunately for Alzar, it makes its save. They rise quickly and are wielding four khandas. Alzar’s weapon is out and battle begins. He wins init and slices out. He hits one for three damage. They need a 10 to hit him, and two do for 1d8 and 1d8 damage – he takes 13.

He keeps init and again carves into the wounded one. It takes five more damage. They hit once for 4. They win inti and hit three times for seven damage. Alzar misses

29/51


Alzar grabs init back and stabs it for 6 damage, and it is reeling. It retreats and screams out. The other three swing and one hits for 2 damage.

27/51

Alzar moves in and swings and misses. They add 6 more damage. They win init and carve him for 3 more, and he retreats. They swing an attack of opportunity and miss.

18/51

That was a disaster. Alzar flees down the tunnel and scoops up his armor. He hears scratching behind him. He dons the armor quickly, but they have arrived and begin to fight him back. His AC drops significantly, and now they need an 16 to hit him. They get one free round of attacks but miss.

Alzar smashes one for 4 damage. One hits for 4 back. They win init and miss. He hits again for 3 more damage. They miss He misses too. They win init finally and carve him twice for 1 and 5 damage. He dices into the damaged one for six damage and it dies. Two left. The other stayed in the room.

Commotion is beginning in the hotel.

Alzar wins init back and misses. One of the rats misses too, and the other critically misses dropping its weapon for a turn. Alzar carves for his max, six damage on a werereat. They miss and then win init and one hits for four damage, dropping Alzar to four life. He cannot flee for an attack of opportunity and has to press his attacks. They don’t know how badly damaged he is.

He stabs out and hits the wounded wererat for another five damage. They miss and they win init. They badly miss and Alzar finishes the wounded one for another five damage,

With that the other scurries back to its room and Alzar chases as if he is not that badly damaged. As he arrives, the wounded one is trying to break out of the jammed door with the stolen items, from Alzar and others. The other one, fully healthy, pushes forward and the door is freed. Alzar’s silver knife flies out and smashes the leg of the wounded one for 2 damage and kills it. The other flees out the door, rushes down the stairs and bursts out of the door to the inn.

Alzar has, barely, managed to win.

[Abe Sargent]

Bolo and others arrive to tend to his wounds. His stuff is here and he gathers it back up. There is a load of treasure, but it all belongs to others. Bolo will get messengers out to the right people. Meanwhile, Bolo allows Alzar to keep one of the items, a potion of healing, with two doses.

Alzar spends the day recuperating, and then begins the next day with 9/51 hp (fast healing trait). He heads out fully armored and ready to go. Hopefully he won’t run into any major problems in the tunnels or the other side, where Marilla is supposed to be.

[sterlingice]

What edition is Alzar?

And the dumber question: why does it take so long to relearn spells? Or does he only have a couple to begin with? I guess as a level 3 mage, there's not much to work with.

SI

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

What edition is Alzar?

And the dumber question: why does it take so long to relearn spells? Or does he only have a couple to begin with? I guess as a level 3 mage, there's not much to work with.

SI

Heya!

2.X Skills and Powers. As a level 3 mage, he normally gets 2 first and one 2nd. As a specialist Fivefold Path or Power Mage, he should get 3/2, but that doesn't happen until he has his library and workshop, which are requirements for that specialty.


He, like many, used S&P to create a nice specialist mage, and I took some abilities from various specialties and kits to make his. (His specialty must also be his kit, so he has not ability to add anything else to it). This gives us a chance to see him weaker because the disadvantages are kicking in. It;s going to be a while before Alzar is fully a Path Mage again.

He began as an Undead Master kit of the Necromancer (as listed in the DM Guide, Complete Book of Necromancers). Some of those abilities are still seen in his specialty.


It takes one day to relearn a spell, including rest. He has to spend time re-memorizing his spells in order to have them available.

My way of dealing with how weird this sounds is to have created what I call a binding process.


Suppose it takes a half hour to cast a spell. At the end of that 30 mins, you have done everything except for the last bit. All you are doing when you cast the spell is intoning the final formula for that spell. However, holding onto multiple spells is hard to do. You can only bind more than one spell as you gain experience. Plus, it can be exhausting, so you can only bind and cast so many spells a day, because it wearies you mystically. (kind of like how I spend an entire day interviewing, even if I never moved to a new room, I am exhausted. The same concept, just magically) That's my personal take on how the procedure works. You aren't memorizing it so much as binding the force using formula given.


You can;t memoriize the same spell more than once per day on Hamedh. Back on his home plane of Thorasia, Alzar could memorize Sleep twice day, so he could cast it in successive turns and drop even more humanoids. But he can;t do that here, so just one Sleep spell a day, and then he has to get a divination spell of some sort because that is all he has left. He doesn;t even like Continual Light as a blind spell that much, but that is all he has. He'd much rather have something more useful than that, but when in Hamedh...


Hope that helps! If not, just ask more stuff...

[Abe Sargent]

One of the questions I often get is, is Alzar really evil? He seems like a nice evil person. Maybe he's just lawful neutral?


Well, let's take a look under the hood to see:


1). Alzar regularly kills people after putting them to sleep with his sleep spell. This is killing a defenseless person, and in the AD&D world, it is an evil act. Alzar defends it easily - "You would have killed them violently with a blade in their hand and that is noble. I kill them peacefully while asleep and that is evil. You have a messed up view of the world!"

2). Alzar will use torture to get information from people without any problem. He;ll use it just ot find out where a camp is, what treasure they have, and more. Torture is a very valuable tool to him.

3). Alzar animates the dead en masse. Animating the dead is an evil action. It reimbues a person;s life force into their corpse, and that messes with the natural order, and is quite evil.

4). Alzar uses Charm, Suggestion, or Domination magic with ease. He will turn an enemy into a friend with magical force. Not by money or argumentation, but by magic.

5). Alzar dislikes Lawful Good people (lawful stupid). But at least they are lawful. Of the other three alignment extremes, he gets along best with these, because he can usually trust them, He thinks chaotic evil people are idiots. He gets their self centered nature, sure, but they will sacrifice long term gain for short term fun every time and that is truly misguided and wrong. But he truly loathes those chaotic good idiots. They will lie, steal, and kill for the greater good. They have all of the untrustworthiness of a chaotic evil person, with the idiotic good worldview of a lawful good person. They are truly idiots and actively hurt this world. These are the viewds of a clearly lawful evil person.


Of all of the alignments, after LE, Alzar does, it is true, get along with Lawful Neutral the most.


He does good things (rescue the village, kill the insert target X here) because it makes him more powerful. He gets gold, experience, and loyalty from others. These make him increasingly more potent. He plays the long game quite well.


And he is, lawful evil.

[Abe Sargent]

In an hour Alzar has arrived at the tunnel that penetrates the mountain. There is a large trail that leads up to them. He has arrived at the Horns of the Dragon, and can see horse prints and many other prints in the entrance. (He doesn’t know tracking so outside of the obvious, he cannot tell how many, what race, etc)

Alzar pulls out the stone he enchanted a few days ago and uses it as a light source.

The main tunnel is wide enough for a pair of wagons side by side at first. But it gently narrows. After almost a mile, a side tunnel to the south (and right) heads off. Bolo’s map shows a cavern here. Alzar decides to check it out. It’s an old dusty cavern, which looks quite weak. Old supports were added to brace it, but they look rickety, so he returns to the main tunnel and moves on.

After another three quarters of a mile the tunnel has bent to the right and then back to the front, and another tunnel passes that heads right/south. This cavern has an old collapsed ceiling. There are six dwarven skeletons here with small items, like hammers showing. Alzar’s necrology proficiency reveals that these are already animated skeletons that are just dormant. They will activate when someone tries to take any of the items or disturbs their bones. He skips the room and heads back.

[Abe Sargent]

Another 1/3 of a mile passes. The main tunnel hits an intersection with paths leading off in three other directions. The path out leads ahead. The left-north/west one leads to a cavern and that has an underground lake in the back. Right and south/east hits a large maze of tunnels that go nowhere. Alzar heads right first, but after an hour, comes up with nothing.

Left reveals a cavern with chipped rocks revealing evidence of quarrying and work. Alzar is only in here for a few minutes when a dwarf reveals himself and introduces himself as Thisvynn Talus. (every turn I rolls a d6 and Talus will either be insane or normal for the next ten minutes). He has been fighting the orcs here for a long time. They killed the rest of his dwarven friends and now he is the only one left. He tells Alzar that he knows why he is here. The orcs wanted his secret, but they could not have it, oh no.

He motions for Alzar ot follow him and picks out a very narrow ledge that is not on Alzar’s map. Alzar leaves behind his horse. They move up the ledge which heads over a crevice. It takes about ten minutes to arrive on the other side. Talus, who already seemed a bit loose begins babbling madly about the evil orcs trying to take the last secrets of the dwarves.

[Abe Sargent]

They arrive at an old forge. Talus’s loud ramblings have woken something though, and a noise can be heard up in the ceiling . Alzar looks up as an insect shoots a filament at Talus and snags him. It is a cave fisher.

It begins to drag in Talus, who ignores it. Alzar’s axe is ready and he tries to cut the filament. On the second try it succeeds. He races to the insect, but it just retreats behind stalactites and back off the crevice and walkway.

Talus gathers himself together and thanks Alzar and moves to the forge. “This is the famed lost dwarven forge of the mountain” He sighs. “Gone, all gone.”

Talus is lost in thought so Alzar searches. Weapons and a few shields are broken and unusable. He cracks a hollow base under a mighty anvil and opens up a compartment. Inside are a pair of bracers, chainmail armor, and a khopesh. Talus looks over them and tells him that the braces are cursed of fumbling, the sword is cursed too, but the chain very powerful magic. Not exactly trusting the dwarf, Alzar drops his armor and casts Detect Magic and only the bracers and sword glow. So he grabs them and will come back later for the chainmail if he wants it.

Suddenly Talus screams and grabs his club. Alzar looks up and several giant rats get onto the platform and move to attack. Alzar draws his axe and gets ready to join into the fray, but seven more giant rats pour out. Talus is completely surrounded. He calls out, “I’ve got you now you filthy orcs. I will slay you and rest tonight in the Sultan’s glory hall!” One giant rat is smashed and three more jump up. Alzar backs up and hacks a timber with his axe. Another thwack releases the ceiling and he rushes back out of the barrage. Mounds of dirt and rock land on the rats and Talus and finish them all quickly.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar backs up and heads to the main tunnel and continues. He passes a collapsed tunnel to the right. The main tunnel veers north a bit but generally continues in an easterly direction. Another mile passes before the cavern on the right appears. It has murky water on the bottom deep enough for some large eels to call it home. Alzar sees no treasure and skips the area (with low hp).

Another 2/5s of a mile pass and another collapsed corridor passes on the left. Finally the last element occurs. Just before the exit, the path will arrive at a large chamber that the orcs call home. Alzar gets ready, in case battle is needed. He knows both Sleep and Continual Light, but he also has his armor.

Alzar believes he has a better chance of surviving the fight with his spells are no armor than his axe and armor. 9 hp won’t go long either way. He scouts ahead and sees a cavern with about twenty orcs in the area. There is a crudely drawn large red hand dripping blood on a blanket that is hung on one side of the chamber. They are not actively looking for people on either side.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar steps up and calls for them. Suddenly, three grab slings and a leader looking orc moves in. Alzar demands to be allowed through the cavern.

“Why should Bloody Hand not capture you and make you slave?”

In five seconds, Alzar has cast sleep and five orcs have dropped. “In just a second I took out one fourth of your fighting force. Do you really want to give me another second?”

The leader peers at him deep in thought.

“I don’t want to kill your people, I just want to pass.”

“How about you pay.”

“No. If I were afraid of you, I’d pay you. I am not trembling. Would you like to see my next spell?”


The leader continues to look uncertain. Alzar grabs the components for his last spell. Before he begins to intone the spell, the orc relents and allows him to cross.

“Good. I really didn’t want to waste my powerful magic on you.”

Alzar crosses free. You can trust an orc a lot more than a human.


He comes out the other side, and in the bright air, he can see several humans working as slaves for the orcs, cutting wood and gathering nuts for dinner. Alzar nods at the guards and continues. In another fifteen minutes, Alzar is free on the other side and walking down the mountain side.

[Abe Sargent]

The day is growing long. Alzar has made it through the Horns, but he is growing tired. There is a river ahead, and Alzar has neared it. There is a sound of cutting wood here. Did the orcs bring their slaves this far? Rude laughter and harsh voices ring out. That is the sound of an orc enjoying himself.

The path curls toward the sound, and Alzar closes and sees two orcs cutting at a tree with axes, and then they rest and two others move in to start working at it. It is a huge oak, the tallest tree in the area. They certainly are an ambitious lot. Alzar decides to leave them to their intense work and moves on without being seen.


Then, a few moment slater, a young blond robe clad girl appears right by Alzar “Will you help me?” she implores. “Those vile creatures are trying to destroy my tree.” That phrase tweaks Alzar. “Your tree?” She nods, “My home”

Alzar suspects she is a fae creature of some sort. How can she not stop four simple orcs? Alzar sighs and moves back to the orcs. “Hello orcs.”

Startled they turn around and stare at Alzar as if caught with their hands in a cookie jar. They are cutting down this tree because the creature that lives here keeps pestering them. Just the other day she freed a slave. Alzar asks them to not cut down the tree. I will pay you if you don’t. That gets them interested. Alzar agrees to pay them each ten gold in order to stop cutting the tree. That’s worth five slaves apparently, and they leave.

-40 gold

The dryad is grateful. She lets Alzar stay the night here in her grove and she will protect him from the dire wolves that roam the river. She searches her tree and finds a small blue bottle. She gives it to Alzar and tells him it will make him float. He stays the night and in the morning, leaves refreshed.

Potion of Levitation.

12/51 hp

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar approaches the river, but there is a problem. The only bridge here is rope bridge made with a rope on the bottom and two guidelines at arm’s length. He cannot get his horse across. He returns to the dryad and she agrees to watch his horse while he journeys on.

He carefully moves across the bridge and makes his dexterity check to prevent himself from falling.

About a half hour later, Alzar is walking along the path when he begins to hear a howling sound from far away. It is answered by another from a few miles in another direction. They sound like wolves. After ten minutes, Alzar feels crashing in the woods around him and three snarling dire wolves explode from the trees and move in to attack the lone Alzar. His axe is up and he moves in to battle.

A dire wolf has one bite, and needs a 14 to hit and deals 2d4 damage when bitten. Alzar needs just a 5 and will carve for 1d8+4 with his axe. These are study beasts.

Alzar is set and swings first and smashes one for 5 damage. They bite back and miss. Then they one and one bites Alzar for 5 damage. He connects again for 9 damage, but misses once. He wins init and kills the wounded one. The others miss.

7/51


They win back init. One bites him for 4 damage and he carves it for 14 damage in two hits. RAR. Then he wins init and slays the wounded one. The other flees.

3/51


Alzar chooses to spend the day resting and taking care of his wounds and sleeping nearby. He is undisturbed. He casts identify on the khopesh and it is a +1 khopesh.

6/51

The next day he memorizes Identify again and casts it on the bracers. They are Bracers of Protection: +1 like the ring. He dons them and drops his AC one gets a +1 to saves.

[Abe Sargent]

After seven hours of travel, Alzar notices the ruins of an old, abandoned castle. He takes a path to it to explore what is there. It looks like it once guarded this path, it was probably a road at one point then. The castle is mostly destroyed, with only a rickety tower still standing. The walls are sort of there, but clearly decayed and old. Nothing stirs in the compound, covered with weeds and stones.. There is a pitted and scarred story of the keep that seems to have a bit still up on the next floor. The word Karn is above the destroyed gatehouse, but whether that is a person, a place, a prayer or even a command is unknown.

Alzar heads into the castles. The interior is difficult to pick through. He begins in the destroyed gatehouse. There are fresh tracks in the mud from something. Alzar treads more carefully. Ancient winches with rusted chains speak to the drawbridge which must have been here, once. An old stone shed that was storage is right here, but there is nothing inside. Alzar heads around. He passes an old abandoned stables, and a few destroyed buildings. The stables seem to have had animals in here recently. There is fresh dung on the floor and it smells.

He pushes through a door into one of the few rooms that has a ceiling and two women cry out not to be hurt. They were captured yesterday by the river by some goblins, who brought them here, stayed the night, and then left them here. Alzar learns that the goblins were riding dire wolves. That means this is probably their home. He pushes on, and a large old kitchen has been turned into a makeshift barracks, with piles of straw and flaxen strewn about. A room right off of this still has its roof and in here are some supplies like sacks of flour and dried meat.

On top of a shelf is some of the goblins treasure. A few jars of coins. It’s mostly low level stuff, bronze and copper. Alzar pulls out a few pieces of jewelry to review later.

Pearl Necklace – 750 gp
Silver Clasp – 50 gp

[Abe Sargent]

As Alzar moves toward the tower, the ground shifts dangerously. Perhaps a dungeon level is about to be his new home, so he carefully moves to parallel an exposed beam, so he is not walking between supports but on one. He arrives at the tower. It opens easily. The wooded stairs in here go up, but are rotted too badly to attempt., There is a dirty pallet and a small chest. Alzar uses his staff on the chest but it won’t open. He flicks the lock and it clicks open. A dagger springs out and slices him for 2 damage. There is nothing inside but dirty clothes. Even a second inspection double checking for false bottoms finds nothing.


Alzar leaves the castle behind and moves back to the path and continues on his way. The women mentioned that a priestess named Marilla was nearby, about a day and half journey east. He spends the rest of the day travelling, and then beds down for the night.

At night a group of wandering gnolls happen upon Alzar;s camp. He awakens and then casts sleep on them and draws all three of them. Slays them, and then heads back to sleep


(50 XP)

[Abe Sargent]

In morning, he packs up and moves out. Along the way, he sees a group of hyenas, but they give him a wide berth and he continues. By late afternoon, he has arrived as a large hedge and natural preserve. This hedge protects a glade and several large trees have stairs and platforms built into them.

He moves into the hedge, and just behind the entrance is a camouflaged guard he did not see before. Alzar is given a once over and allowed inside. He moves to the front tree and climbs the platform. At the top is an elven guide who escorts Alzar silently down the platforms and up another set of stairs. They arrive at a large building along the side of a giant yew tree. The building beautifully melds with the tree as if the two were one.

Alzar enters and here is seated Marilla at a long table, with several other people. They reacquaint themselves and then he sits down. They get each other caught up on their stories. She went to the city, sold the goods, and was coming back when she felt a call to come help these people from her deity. She arrived here about five months ago and has been healing them and providing a foundation for a new government. Their old leader had died childless and there was no heir, so there was great uncertainly here, which she helped to alleviate by changing their government to a representative one.

Alzar tells her about what has happened to the valley. She agrees to help, and first, she heals him. She even notices that he contracted lycanthropy from the wererat battle and cures it too.

She does have the ability to heal the valley of its curse, but it will take four day to prepare a remedy. In the meantime, the goblins have become a problem. Goblins alone aren’t a major threat, and the dire wolves are dangerous but unguided. However, the combination of the cunning of the goblins and the power of the dire wolves has created real threat to the area. She asks Alzar to return to the ruins while they are there, and finish them off.

[Abe Sargent]

Two days later Alzar arrives at the castle and slips in. The drawbridge is guarded but the collapsed walls are not, and Alzar makes his way into the east. They are on high alert – they know they were invaded. There appears to be about 20 of them.

He would like to come in as a mage, sleep five of them, but that is not possible. Who knows how many dire wolves are in the stables. Instead, he keeps his armor on and grabs his axe. With three attacks every 2 rounds, he should be able to cleave a goblin regularly. He will need a 5 to him them, and they an 18 to connect with him. Here goes.

Alzar leaps from behind a destroyed wall and smashes the ribs of a goblin and slays one. Several cry out in alert and sling stones fly in. He takes 3 damage from one. Melee range has been reached.

[Abe Sargent]

He misses on the first turn. They hit him once for 4 damage with a yataghan. About six are in close combat and others are winging in stones. One accidentally hits a goblin instead of him. He gains initiative and hits and slays two goblins. Many more have arrived and are shouting wildly at him. They are enraged and he doubts any will run. This is a battle to the death. Alzar is hit twice for 5 damage

39/51

He slays another and they all miss. Then they win init and a stabbing yataghan hits him for 4 more damage. He attacks twice, missing once and slaying another goblin.

35/51
5 goblins dead

He wins init and slays another goblin. Suddenly, the door to the stables opens and a wolf peels out and moves in. He is his twice for 4 damage.

31/51
6 dead

He loses init and they hit once for 6 damage. He slays two more. Another dire wolf exits and moves to battle and the first one is almost here, and will be able to attack next turn.

25/51
8 dead

Alzar regains init and stabs and misses. They also miss, including the dire wolf . A third one heads out. He keeps init and slays two gobblies. They miss but a dire wolf bites him for 4 damage.

21/51
10 goblins dead


A fourth dire wolf pours out and Alzar is hit once for 6 damage by a wolf and 1 more from a goblin. He smashes another goblin dead. They keep init and miss. He wrests it back and kills two more.

14/51
13 goblins dead.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar keeps init and slays another goblin. No more wolves are pouring out. Because he fights one handed, he can use his other hand for stuff (since he is specialized in that style) . He quaffs one dose of his healing potion and heals ten damage. He just takes 5 from a bite and a yataghan.

19/51
14 dead

Alzar misses once and hits his 15th goblin and kills it. Just six left. One fights better than the others and has hit him several times – he suspects it’s the leader. Alzar gulps down the last dose of healing potion, and takes 7 from a warg and the leader. He loses init and takes another 4 from a sword and then stabs out and kills another goblin.

18/51
16 dead

He wrests back init and moves to a wolf. He still just needs a 5 and hits twice, once for 6 +4 and the other for 4 +4, which slays it (they have 18 hp each). The counter misses him, save for a goblin blade that bites him for 3 damage.


15/51
16 goblins dead
1 dire wolf dead

Alzar smashes a dire wolf for 5 damage. It bites but misses, and no one connects with him. He loses init and another bite snags him for 5 damage. He stabs the wolf twice and finishes it off.

10/51
16 goblins dead
2 wolves down


They keep init, but miss. He carves but misses. They attack and miss. He does not and damages a wolf but it is still alive. He wins init back and finishes it. The remains small group can’t pin him down with his high AC, before they were hitting due to the large number of attacks. He misses once and hits the last wolf. They attack, bite him once for 4 damage, and then he attacks twice and kills the last wolf.

[Abe Sargent]

6/51

But just four goblins and the leader left.

He wins init and cuts that down to four foes. They miss. He keeps init and cuts it to two foes. The leader smashes him. It deals 1d6 damage to him. Will it roll a 6 and finish him?



The green/gold d6 tumbles over and.....

[Abe Sargent]

It does… It rolls a 6! Alzar has died!

He has pushed it a lot, especially here, and now he dies at the hands of a low level goblin leader. How humiliating.


Alzar has died! Alzar has died! Alzar has died!

[Abe Sargent]

But wait….

[Abe Sargent]

Long ago, (in a previous adventure) Alzar was blessed with a shadow that would follow and stalk him forever. If he died, instead, it would fully heal him and then leave. Alzar is restored to full health but then it leaves. He didn’t even know about it.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar does not know what happened, but feels as if something left him and weakened him that he never knew was there. Suddenly empowered, he smashes the last goblin and finishes off the leader without taking any more damage.


He stands above the carnage and ponders what just happened. He cannot be that lucky again. This was a normal combat. If each goblin had about a 15% chance of hitting him, then 20 attacks should hit him 2-3 times each for little damage. But the wolves and the leader were the lethal ones, hitting him much than they should have been. It would have been one sided against just the goblins.

On their bodies total Alzar finds about 236 gp.


236 gp

[sterlingice]

Well that was a lame way to use your deus ex machina macguffin

SI

[Abe Sargent]

I know...sad but true. Stupid goblins!

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar returns to the glade and meets with Marilla again. She has prepared a large magical brew. It will not only cancel the curse, but it will also restart the growth of the land. She advises Alzar that the route he took has even more orcs than before, so he should instead take a southerly route that will cross the mountains to the south, but overland in a natural pass in the peaks. It’s longer, and will add at least a week or ten days to his travels but it should prove safer.


After his recent brush with death, Alzar wants safer. He points out that the land is getting colder and colder, and perhaps snows will begin soon. She agrees, but it’s the best way. Scouts have shown more than triple the number of orcs that were there before.

That’s a bit intimidating. This whole thing could have been handled in a week with a teleport spell. Ah well. Or he could head back, and then use Passwall or Transmute Rock to Mud to make a passage in a different point and enter the tunnel behind the orc camp. Ah well.

He takes the alternate path.

[Abe Sargent]

At first, Marilla was spot on. For a week Alzar see and hears nothing dangerous. He gathered his horse from the Dryad, and then moved down the river. This added two more days, but it gave him his full provisions for the ride.


On the eighth day, the sun is cold but bright, and the noon hour long since past. He passes by a small clearing as the path up river continues. Then Alzar sees a bit of smoke to the left on a trail that veers off to the river. Few seconds later, he sees a glimpse of something large and brown-red. Then four bugbears loom into view. For traveling, Alzar has been in his robes, since he is fully healed and its easier. A simple sleep spell drops two as thrown axes collide and he takes 5 damage.


46/51

One is barking orders to the other and it moves to the sleeping fellows to awaken them. Normally Alzar would target the leader with a Continual Light, but instead he targets the other, and it fails its save and is blinded. The other shows to it and gives it courage, and it draws a large war club and moves towards Alzar. The leader throws another axe, misses, and runs at Alzar. Alzar dismounts with his staff.

The bugbear wins init and smashes him for 5 damage. Alzar misses. After listening to directions the blind one will arrive next turn. Alzar regains init and thwacks the leader for 4 damage. Five turns later, Alzar has killed the leader barely, after getting a critical double damage hit, taken 27 damage, and the blind one has missed him every time. He finishes the blind one easily enough, and then heads over and slays the sleeping bugbears.

250XP

[sterlingice]

I was tired last night. Yes, deus ex machina. No, not a macguffin.

SI

[Abe Sargent]

He grabs their things and pulls them to the camp they have on the river. This appears to be a small raiding party. He grabs all of their stuff and uses his Rod to cast Detect Magic and looks for objects. A small set of mail glows. It’s sized for a human female, and is too small for Alzar to wear. Nothing else glows. In addition to some coinage he gathers something quite useful – a silver-tipped spear. It gives him another tool to fight creatures, since he is proficient in a spear. (He’ll cast Identify the next morning on the mail)


+1 Set of Mail, smaller humanoid female
Spear, silver-tipped
200 pp
500 gp
150 ep


He spends the day and night in their camp, eating the fish they caught, and healing.

22/51

[Abe Sargent]

He heads back out the following day and continues on the trail. As he does, a group of stirges fly around, and begin to sweep in. There are about five all told. A spear flies into one and kills it and his axe carves another before they can bite him. The others leave.


Several more days pass by. He has hit the main trail over here Marilla told him about and he has arrived in the foothills of the mountains . He has just about two days to hit the pass. Snow falls today and the first snow of the season has arrived. As he discovered in his first year living in this area, snow can be pretty serious business here.

He is forced to camp for the night here, and grabs a space by a shallow outcropping. Night falls, and his warm fire (fire-building proficiency) keeps him nice and toasty.

[Abe Sargent]

Around midnight, he hears a strange cry that echoes across the area. He does not recognize it. It might come from up higher. It silences all other noises for a good fifteen minutes before they pick up again,


About an hour before dawn, Alzar awakens to hear crunching noises around his camp. Slow, deliberate, and loud steps are heard. Alzar reaches down to grab the components for a Sleep spell and his weapon. After a minute, they move off.


After the sounds die away, Alzar moves from his shelter. In the snow is a trial of large footprints that circled the camp and moves to the mountain above. They are larger than min sized prints. He follows them for a bit after donning his gear. The sun is about to peek in when a snowdrift moves and instead it grows larger. Something large and white and loud moves to Alzar. It’s ape-like in size and movement.

Alzar tries a Sleep spell. Unfortunately it does not work. His staff is out and the creature arrives to battle him.

[Abe Sargent]

It swings two fists and connects once for 3 damage. Alzar misses.


28/51 (gained 3 hp a day due to fast healer trait)

It swings and hits once and misses once for another 2 damage. Alzar cracks it for 2 damage back.

26/51

It punches twice and hits Alzar twice for 5 damage. Since it hit twice, it has a chance to grab Alzar and put him into a bear hug. It misses that though. Alzar misses. Alzar wins init and misses. It misses twice. Alzar swing and hits hit for a solid 7 damage – his max with strength bonus. It punches once more for 4 damage.


17/51

It wins init back and punches him for 3 damage. (each punch deals 1d6 damage). He hits it for 4 damage.

14/51
It has taken 13 damage.

The creature keep s init but misses. Alzar doesn’t and adds 3 more damage.

It roars and moves off, running away. It moves a lot faster than Alzar. It gait is much large and it is unhampered by snow. He follows it. He doesn’t want to be ambushed by it later.

[Abe Sargent]

After a half hour of tracking the giant steps in the snow it leaves behind, he has tracked it to its lair. Alzar slows down and spends a few minutes looking things over. He crawls up an embankment and sees the creature, nursing its wounds and resting. Alzar gathers himself but makes too much noise and the flies of the creature fly open and spot him. Its roar rattles Alzar and the beast moves in. His staff is out.

It has taken 16 damage.

The staff misses and the creature does too. It wins init and punches him twice for 1 and 5 damage – 6 total. It misses the follow up squeeze. Alzar adds 5 more damage to it and it reels over and dies.


200 XP

Alzar pulls everything together and casts Detect Magic. Three things glow under the light of his Divining Rod. One dagger, one potion, and something he didn’t even see before. He would not have noticed it if he had waited to cast Detect magic elsewhere. He heads over to it and discovers a blue-white colored wand, virtually the same color as the snow.

+1 dagger
Potion of Healing – one dose
Wand of Frost – 9 charges

1500 gp
300 ep
1000 sp
10 diamonds - (200 gp each)

He gathers his treasure and adds it to his horse and continues on his way. He will identify the items in the next three days.


Two days pass and Alzar only manages to push forward through one day of journeying. The snow is thickening with more and more blasts. The going is very slow and methodical. Luckily he has a lot of food and water. But the day is cold and the evening sharper.

[Abe Sargent]

M1. Blizzard Pass





Welcome to 1983. Blizzard Pass is another of those wacky solo modules. In the 80s, TSR was trying to find the right way to do a solo module. Like all gaming companies, modules are the worst selling product that you make. You sell a lot more handbooks or guides than you do modules. Even books which will have little impact on your campaign (such as Legends and Lore) sell more than modules do. So TSR was trying to get a hit, at a time when solo gamebooks were all the rage and books such as Lone Wolf were selling like hotcakes. They tried several methods. Lathan’s Gold is a pretty good one, it reads like a gamebook, adds some rule about sea travel, food and ships, and moves you into the game. Ghost of Lion’s Castle is also very gamebook-y, with some changes to spells and magic in there. On the other hand, M2, Maze of the Minotaur used an invisible pen to write on the book and reveal what happens. We might even see one later on that uses a red plastic screen to filter out red junk and reveal things beneath it. TSR used the tech of the 80s to push through solo adventures.

And so, that brings us to M1. Blizzard Pass. This is another invisible pen module, written by David Cook and edited by Troy Denning. None of these solo modules are on anyone’s best of list. But what they do is give me a chance to run them naked, without knowing what is coming. While I try to remove Alzar and my own knowledge and keep them separate, we all know that’s never 100% certain. But here, there is no chance Alzar knows, because I haven’t been peeking at the end.

Now, the M1 that I own only has some of the places revealed by a pen. Plus, some are hard to read after 30 years. So I purchased a football game book from Lee Publications and I will be using that pen to illuminate the sections in this module.

I am altering the plot line considerably. Instead of being a thief on the run from false accusations of murder, Alzar is just heading to the pass as normal as part of Forest Oracle, and runs into this.

[Abe Sargent]

So let’s begin, M1, Blizzard Pass!


Alzar moves up the day towards the pass and gets closer and closer. It takes a while, the snow is steep and the horse is sturdy, but slow. But progress is being made.

Alzar moves up the pass and things are looking good. Then, almost without warning, the wind picks up dangerously. Within moments, Alzar is pushed forward as gusts picks up snow on the ground and moves it around. Ten minutes later snow starts falling from the sky, and combination makes visibility poor. Alzar cannot afford to keep going in this, but there is nowhere to turn around or get shelter.

As he slowly pushes forward, the horse falls and tumbles. It has broken its leg and Alzar carves off its head to give it a peaceful death. He gathers what things he can and pushes forward. Soon the cold is increasing, and he makes an endurance proficiency check, and is able to keep on going.

An hour rolls by an Alzar keeps moving slowly forward. As he does, suddenly some forms melt out of the snow ahead and move to attack Alzar, who is focused on moving and keeping his balance. His staff is in hand for balance and walking, so he grabs it to fight. Three humanoids surround him as another circles around to his rear. His staff swings out and misses. They punch him several times and he falls over in the snow, and that about wraps him up. In a few minutes, they are on top and snow is pouring into his clothes. The weather and the enemy forces him unconscious.

[Abe Sargent]

An unknown amount of time later, Alzar awakens to a painful throbbing in his head. He hears voices nearby discussing impending death. He gently opens his eyes, allowing light to filter in and to get them to adjust. A few minutes pass, and he looks about.

Alzar is in a rocky chamber, like a cave. There are curtains on two walls, a table with four rugged stools around it, and several humanoids there he recognizes easily. Kobolds. He is in a prison cell with three others, a portly older man, a younger spry elf, and a younger female warrior. The older man tells Alzar to remain still and gently touches his head . In a few moments, Alzar has been cured of all wounds. “I don’t have much curative magic left. But I still have a few spells stored away, just in case.”


Their captors searched and took everything except for his boots and clothes. He is missing his focus Signet ring, which means no magic, even if he finds spell components, until he recovers it. Soon, three of the humanoids get up to leave and the fourth moves to the wooden bars, which look quite strong. That one grabs a spear and moves to the bars and calls out that the chubby balding priest will be a nice snack, but the thin lady won’t be much of a meal at all. It jabs her a bit and she falls to the ground. It laughs and turns and leaves.