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

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar is out. He hits the corridor and can go left or right. He hears laughing from the left. There are branching corridors down each of the corridors. Which way?

Alzar goes left, the way towards his items. He hits a long corridor that goes to the right and skips it. He hits two doors on each side, and he skips them and comes to an intersection. He goes left. The corridor opens into a large training room. There are padded posts, bales of hay, and two discarded and battered shields. No one is here.

He goes to the door and checks it. It is very locked. Alzar is going to have to try and find the keys. He returns to the intersection, goes back, and enters door on his right, the one between the armory and his jail cell.

He sees a pantry. The room is lined with shelves and additional rows in the middle, stacked with barrels, sacks. A quick look shows pickles, fish, meat, and more. Alzar hears noise from the hallway, and slides the door closed. Some people walk slowly down the hallway. There is no light in here, so Alzar cannot see. When the noise has passed, he gets up and leaves. He can’t search rooms right now unless he thinks the key might be in them – he needs light, equipment and does not have time to search.
He enters the door across from the pantry.

This is an open kitchen with a dining room beyond. It has two openings into corridors. There are two women preparing a meal. At a table there are 22 others, a few females, and then some that look like warriors and some that do not. Alzar closes the door and continues. He heads past the intersection and into a room on his left. This is a bedchamber with a table, four chairs, a desk, a sword on the wall, and a woman dressed in leather writing. Her back is to the door. Alzar casts Ray of Ondovir on her. She fails the save and is forced to keep writing the same words in the same place next round. Alzar closes, and stabs his dagger in her neck and kills her.

XP – 50

[Abe Sargent]

She has a belt pouch, leather armor, and a belt ring with two keys on it. Alzar grabs her stuff including the sword on the wall, and leaves. One of the keys works on her room;s door, so hopefully, no one will find her corpse and blood for a while. Alzar heads back to the Armory and opens it, sneaking inside.

This room is full of racks and armor and weapons, plus all of Alzar’s belongings are here, and have no been divvied up yet. It takes a few rounds to check everything and put on everything. During that time, no one check up on the area.

Alzar searches the room for more, but finds nothing. He uses the Crystal Ball to check the kitchens, and sees that the 24 people at the table and serving are all still there.

Now Alzar has several options. Try to escape? Or try to get revenge?

There is a rear door to the armory, and Alzar unlocks it and takes it. This large chamber is the torture chamber, with a small number of cruel devices for punishment/ There are whips and branding pit here, smouldering. Alzar smiles and stokes the fire.

A Search turns up nothing. There is an adjacent open room, and this is where that Gnoll Jailer lived. He gladly told Alzar about his treasure and trap. He opens up the floorboard, disarms the poison needle, and takes 300 gold and puts it into a small sack along with some others nearby. Alzar disarms and takes the poison vial. He knows how to use poison, after all.

Another check on the Crystal Ball shows that the kitchens are still busy and the main course is almost done. Alzar heads back that way, opens the door, (I roll a 17), and the puts the poison in the batter – maybe some pancakes. He closes the door and continues. Alzar grabs a torch from the hall sconces, and takes them with him. He enters the pantry and searches, and finds five potions.

He goes back into the room where he killed the female officer and there is nothing in there. One last time, Alzar uses the Crystal Ball, and notices that the people eating are starting to feel sick. The poison must have been diluted too much – it should have killed them in a regular dose

Alzar leaves, locks the room and moves up to another door on the left. There is another room for someone, not here currently. Alzar checks and finds nothing but chain mail. He continues up and hits another bed room, As Alzar searches, he hears a few people coming to the bed rooms. The door to the room next to his opens and closes. A few seconds later, one of the female warriors from lunch comes into his room feeling sick and nauseous. She shuts the door, and Alzar attacks her viscously with his axe as quick as he can. He gets one free attack and hits, and then doles out 15 damage and kills her easily.

No XP gained.

She has 5 gp, 7 sp and 10 cp on her. Nothing else.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar checks the hallway, locks her door, and then slides up to the last room. Alzar opens the door. There is a woman sleeping on a cot in here. Alzar steals her keys right by the door, and then shuts the door and locks it and moves on.

The corridor goes to the right, and then there is a wide open space beyond and a pen doorway to the right. Alzar checks the doorway. This is a meditation room. Beyond a curtain to the south is a door out. Alzar opens it. This is a bath area, with a stove to heat the water, and several tubs. Alzar searches, but slips on the soapy and wet floor and twists his ankle reducing his speed for 30 minutes. The next room is a common women’s quarters. There are several female servant here from lunch holding their stomachs and heads, and trying to rest, recline, or sleep. There are no accoutrements of war in here, and it looks like nothing of value, so Alzar skips it, heads back the way he came, and skips the big room.

He heads back down to the kitchen area, and then to the torture chamber. He hits the door across from it. This is a wine storage room. A search reveals nothing . Alzar hits the door to the east of the winery. This is another officer’s room, and the person actually is here, wounded form dinner. He sees Alzar and shouts for help. Alzar axes him for 9 damage and kills him. Did anyone hear? Alzar closes the door and then waits.

About 30 seconds later, a group of five soldiers arrive, and then force open the door. Alzar casts the only spell he can for this situation - sleep. Four of them fall asleep, but the other one charges. Alzar grabs his staff. He is critically hit for 10 damage.

24/51

Alzar swings and cracks the soldier for just two damage. The guard wins init and hits or 3. 21/5. Alzar swings back and cracks him for 5 and kills him.

Alzar quickly kills the sleepers. He strips off their items and finds nothing valuable. A search of the room turns up nothing. Nobody further ha followed, so Alzar moves to the next room. The door opens and it is a sick guy from lunch, who is completely dead on the floor. The others were just sick, so either he got a stronger bit, or he was very susceptible to the poison. A search reveals a short sword and chain armor. Nothing else.

XP - 80

[Abe Sargent]

The next room is across from a doorway, and Alzar checks both. He jumps into the door and hopes. There is no one in here, just a sword and armor. A search reveals nothing. Alzar heads across to the doorway, and this section appears identical to the female section he just passed – a meditation room, then probably baths and a servants common area.

There is no one in the med room, and Alzar pushes through the curtain and opens the door to the baths? Yes the baths. There is a man in here, trying to sleep and relax in a bath, eyes closed. Alzar goes up and drowns him by pushing him into the pool and holding him there. The man is unable to get a grip and drowns. This time, Alzar skips this room, sees the common male chamber, and then leaves back the way he came.

The next door down the corridor is an empty quarters, with no furniture in it. Alzar checks, and yup, nothing in it. The corridor bends and Alzar hits the first door on the right. This bedroom is nicer, probably an officer. The guy is sleeping face down on the bed with vomit on the sheets. Alzar lets him pass out, checks the room, and finds some shiny chain mail and 7 gp. There is another door to the rear so Alzar takes it and sees another hallway. He takes this, and goes forward. There are a door on either side, and he takes the right one. This is obviously a nice bedroom. There is a House Radu officer here, polishing her sword. She stands up, and challenges Alzar, shouting for help. Alzar swings his staff at her. Her plate armor is on the floor, so there is that. He misses, she misses. She hits for 1 damage, he hits for 3. Hit hits for 4 damage. She hits for 4.

Alzar is at 19/51.

Alzar swing and misses. She does too and drops her sword accidentally Alzar misses. She misses. Alzar misses. She hits for 8.

11/51

Alzar swings and cracks her leg for 7 damage. She swings back ad hits for 6. 5/51. Alzar quaffs a healing pot. He gains 7. She swings misses. He swings and slaps her for 4 damage an she dies. No one answered her call. Alzar quaffs another healing pot.

22/51

XP – 120

He searches her room and finds a bag on her body that appears much deeper than it looks. There are tons of coins in here.

2000 gold, 6000 silver – a bag of holding!

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar takes the door across from this and here is another house Radu servant, sleeping. Alzar quickly kills him and searches the room. There is nothing here. Alzar heads back to the corridor and can go up or down. He chooses down. There is a door here and it opens into a back porch. There are five doors into this porch, but it doesn’t go all the way down. In other words, the corner of the building does not have any doors going to it from inside or out ,unless the last few doors are bigger than the recent rooms Alzar has seen. He goes into the first.

Quarters. Guy is passed out, now dead. Nothing here Unused.killed, not here for the firs four rooms. Nothing found. Alzar hears someone in the 5th room. Quarters, the guy is here and he is dressed in leather asleep on the bed. Alzar tries to kill him but he awakens very quickly. He shouts for aid. He jumps off the bed and rolls along the floor, picking up a short sword and shield. Alzar chases him and swings. Alzar connects for 5 damage. The guy swings and misses. Alzar does too. Both miss. Alzar connects for 4. The fighter connects for 4. Alzar slams him for 4 more and he dies.

18/51

XP – 50

A search of the room turns up nothing. Suspicious. Alzar uses a charge and a secret door is,.,in fact, here.


This room is a treasury. There are several sacks along one side. Alzar checks the room and finds nothing. Two small sacks have 200 pp each – 400 pp total. Six larger ones have 500 gold each – 3000 gold total. There is also 1500 silver total in three sacks. There is a medium chest here that doesn’t weight hat much, totally locked. Alzar grabs it. He heads back to the corridor and goes up. He hits another corridor to the right and takes the branch and again, it ends in two doors, on on each side. Alzar nears them, and out of the south one comes Antonito Radu, a mage who sees Alzar, and then smiles before readying a spell.

Alzar grabs and uses the Wand of Paralyzation. Radu is casting Sleep. Who gets off what first? Radu does. If it can put to sleep a level four guy, then Alzar will fall. He needs to roll a 4 on 2d4. The first d4 is a 2, meaning if he rolls a 2, 3, or 4 on the next, Alzar will be out. He rolls a 1! Alzar is not asleep, the spell misses. Wow – total luck there. Alzar’s wand jacks him. Radu makes his save! Alzar fires the wand again, and Radu casts Charm Person. Alzar easily hits first, and this time Radu is paralyzed.

Alzar goes up to him, takes all of his stuff, pushes the paralyzed body into the room he came out of. He takes the Ring off Radu’s hands. Radu should be frozen for an hour. Alzar searches the room finds nothing. He then decides to just go ahead and kill Antonito now.

XP – 150

[Abe Sargent]

The other door is opened and this is the commander’s bedroom. It is opulent, large, has a door to the back, and a huge bathroom. As Alzar searches, the commander’s wife enters the room and screams. The commander follows in a few seconds, but he armor and weapons are in the room. He jumps out and leaves and Alzar can’t get to follow him through the wife.

Alzar punches the still screaming wife and knocks her unconscious after a few blows with his staff. A quick search shows nothing in here but a drawer of 100 pp.

Alzar goes into the commander’s living room and the commander is here with five fighters that he found. He grabbed them from several local rooms. The commander has no armor, but he found a short sword and shield.

Alzar tosses a bone at the door where he is and casts Blastbones. He retreats back into the commander’s bedroom. The soldiers come forward, and take 4 damage from the Blastbones when they go off.

There are windows here to the outside, and Alzar punches out one with his staff while they are getting blasted. He orders Megala to join him and stop scouting.

This is axe time. Alzar drops his staff, draws the axe, and starts the battle.

Alzar swings his axe at the first soldier through the door. He doles out 11 damage and kills one. The others pour through. One slashes Alzar for 5 damage.

13/51

Alzar walks to the window while fighting. They win init and swing. Two hit for 4 damage. 9/51. Alzar aims a axe right at the commander and dices him for 13 damage – his max damage. The commander is still standing. Suddenly, Megala flies through the window and attacks a soldier. He misses, but the confusion gives Alzar a chance to quaff a pot. He can attack and quaff at the same time.

He gains 9 and is at 18/51. He axe cuts into the commander for 7 damage and he dies. Alzar is sliced for 3. 15/51. Megala misses. They win init and Alzar takes 5. 10/51. His axe misses, and Megala does as well.

Alzar win init, and slices one for 10 damage, killing him. The two left make a morale check and fail and begin to run. Megala follows and claws one on the back, and she falls asleep. Alzar kills her.

XP – None – fought as fighter.

15/51 and out of healing pots after he swallows the last one.

A search of this room and the next show nothing. The commander had a gold diamond bracelet worth 750 gold.

[Abe Sargent]

In front of the living room was a private dining room, and there are some overturned chairs, like the commander got help from here. Alzar searches and finds china and silverware sets worth 600 gold.

Alzar head back to the corridor he left and finds three bed rooms in a row, and all are empty. He searches and finds nothing in any of them. The only room left was the big room in front of the main entrance, the foyer. He enters and sees where some soldiers were gambling, and then left as an emergency. There is 25 gold here.

He comes across few servants and he scares them out of the outpost. He has Megala fly around and scare the servants out, and double checks all of the rooms to make sure that they are all empty of people. The wife is dropped outside in a creek and left there. Alzar and Megala find stables outside and he takes a horse. Megala knows the way back, and a few hours later, it reunited with a Lastion that was going crazy, and his followers. They take the wagon back immediately and load it up with the goods they found. There is a huge magic pile with dozens of weapons and lots of armor to check.

They stay here for a few days.

[Abe Sargent]

What Alzar found


Gold: 8562
Total Gold: 22612
China and Silverware – 600
Gold Diamond Bracelet – 750 gold

Bag of Holding


Used two charges, Wand of Paralyzation
Used charge of Wand of Secret Door Detection

A huge selection of chincey magic items.

+1 short swordx2, 3 pots of healing, one poison, one telekinesis. +1 chain mail. +1 shieldx2. Chest has Ring of Fire Resistance, Rod fo Cancellation, pots of growthx3. Ring of Pro +1, cursed -1 dagger.

Most of this stuff is ho hum. The fighter follower is given the magic chain and a magic shield and Ring.

Estaish now has an AC of 1, and still deals 1d8+1 in combat.

The Rod of Cancellation is odd. It is a one use item that will destroy any magic item it is used against. Then, it is gone.

Alzar’s Bag of Holding will hold, at no weight, 10,000 coins or that equivalent in weight, and that’s a lot.


Xp Gained: 770

Total XP - 14535


One of the things you note is how the number of monsters and magic items are not increasing in diversity. To my mind, it’s time to leave the D&D modules behind for a bt and grab some AD&D experience, before heading back.

With the bag of holding, Alzar will now be taking two teleport jars with him, jars 1 and 3. Items in the Bag are not subject to destruction by falls, fire, etc. Alzar can take them out, use them, and then put them back.


After a couple of days of rest, the group brings back Antonito’s corpse to turn in. They arrive back and find that there was a 200 gold reward for his capture or kill, and Alzar is given the gold.

Gold Gain 200

[Abe Sargent]

Dungeon #50 The Vaka’s Curse



Alzar goes to a local inn for the night and hears gossip about a cursed ship at the decks. Sounds interesting. A lot of people are talking about the dead Antonito that was turned in today as well. Many of the minor families are vying for the turf House Radu left open in the Athaly power structure.

Alzar heads to bed, and then awakens to a new day. He wants to try and find more portable ways of dealing with his extra gold. There is a shop near the docks that may have some nice jewelry. Alzar slides down and starts looking for the shop. He finds it, but it doesn’t have anything that he wants.

He starts back when he sees a darkened ship in the docks. That must be The Vaka, the cursed ship. It’s so close. Might as well check it out.

Alzar swings by, and has Megala do a fly over while he is still blocks away. Megala notes that the ship has a medium size to, an odd but decent figurehead of a man who looks like a clerk, and no crew to see seen at all. Alzar approaches the docks and enters the area where The Vaka is moored.

Captain Segel sees Alzar’s interest, and tells him that it’s a good ship, despite all the troubles. It’s worth a few problems, but over the year since its been built, there have been strange reporting of people getting weaker or sicker on it. They feel drained.

Now, that does sound interesting. Alzar is interested. This doesn’t sound like a normal curse. Captain Segel tells Alzar that if he can end the curse, he get 50 gold. Alzar tells Segel to keep the gold (it’s not that much). And to take everybody off the boat. It’s time Alzar went hunting.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar grabs some stuff and heads to the boat for the night. He has a theory, and he tries to see if he is right. He puts Megala in a quiet corner to watch and wait, and Alzar pretends to fall asleep. He keeps his breathing regular and slow, and watches through Megala’s eyes, not his own.

Several hours into the night, Alzar begins to feel another presence. He can always tell when undead are around. He keeps his breathing regular and Megala/Alzar spy a creature come through the wall and get close to Alzar. It looks like an unusual shadow. Alzar lets it touch him, knowing that he is risking an energy drain, but doubting it, based on the captain’s tale. It drains a point of Constitution from Alzar, and leaves.

Now that was interesting.

In the morning, Alzar has noted several things – he is an expert in undead, and never seen or heard of a shadow quite like this one before. Sneaking in, stealing health, and leaving is not normal shadow behavior. They steal strength and keep stealing and kill you. That is not what this one is doing. Time to actually hunt.

[Abe Sargent]

Here are Alzar’s spells for the day:

Speak with Dead
Locate Object
Ray of Ondovir
Detect Magic
Animate Dead Animals
Unseen Servant


He picks up a few vials of Holy Water. He gets a rod and attaches it to a cup, and then puts a rod on the other side. Inside the cup, hidden, are five vials of Holy Water. He has this placed above where he sleeps, and above where the creature came into the cabin. He will probably use the same path next time. Alzar ties a string to the cup and hangs it down. Now, if he needs to, he can pull the string, tip over the cup, and spill a lot of holy water.

That’s his backup plan, all ready to go. His primary plan is to control it. If that fails, he will Holy Water it, and then try to kill it.

Alzar casts Unseen Servant and has the invisible force stationed directly where the shadow-ish thing came in. If it comes in the same way, it will be unable to detect the Unseen Servant, since it is just a force, and not hot or a creature made invisible. There is nothing to see there. Alzar has cast a cloak around it, and it will hold a dagger. Alzar intends to scare the undead creature with something it cannot see or understand. Hopefully that will prevent it from taking the easy way back out.

[Abe Sargent]

The next night arrives, and once again, the actors take their places, and once again a certain visitor arrives, just as Alzar had planned. As it nears him, Alzar sits up and tries to control him. It dives towards him. The control attempt fails, and Alzar tips the holy water. It takes 16 damage from the holy water, and it hisses loudly and in pain. It starts to leave, and Alzar tells it, “You really are a beautiful thing. It would be a shame to kill you.”

The Unseen Servant is commanded to rise and it makes motions of menace. I roll an INT check for the bad guy, and he makes it, and doesn’t believe the Unseen Servant is anything threatening and penetrates the wall. Alzar orders Megala to pursue and does likewise.

Within seconds, Alzar doesn’t feel the presence here anymore, and they never saw it again. Interesting. Time for a search of the ship. The captain said that this was going on since the beginning of the ship’s travels. Sounds like something in the ship then, and not something gathered later.

The obvious place to start is near the area on the other side of the wall from where the creature came in. Alzar looks out and sees half the deck. He moves in that direction. He carefully examines every major pole and element of the ship in that direction, including the ship’s wheel. Nothing jumps out at him. He reaches the end and starts looking more closely at the figurehead. Then he cast Detect Magic. The figurehead glows faintly. Why would it? Alzar looks about the rest of the ships and sees nothing else glowing.

He moves over to the figurehead and begins to rap it with his staff, and nothing comes, until he raps the chest. There is a hollow in here. A very close inspection shows a cache in the figurehead. Alzar swings over and opens it, and inside are 100 gold pieces and a few minor rings worth between 1-10 gold each.

[Abe Sargent]

That wasn’t the answer Alzar was looking for, but that does not end the mystery of the Detect Magic spell either. Time to change this up a notch.

Alzar grabs an oil flask and pours and smears oil all over the figurehead. Let’s gamble.

Alzar grabs a torch from the docks and returns. “I will light this on fire unless you come out!”

Within a few seconds, the creature has emerged from the figurehead. As Alzar looks at it in the light, there is a sort of resemblance in the stretches face of the creature and the figurehead. Probably another tragic death ending in undeath. It’s an old story. Alzar casts Speak with Dead.

Alzar asks if this is his body. The creature says yes. Alzar asks if he was tragically killed. He says yes. Alzars asks if there is any way to put the spirit at rest beside killing him or destroying it. He says no. Alzar asks if he wants to die. He says no.

All questions asked.

So now Alzar has a choice. Kill it, or destroy the figurehead, or let it stay alive. If Alzar could have controlled it, this would have gone a lot more smoothly. Alzar tells it, I will kill you. It nods, and then attacks.

Alzar throws his +2 throwing dagger at it before it gets too close. That’s at -2 because of the weapons penalty. It nails the creature for 6 damage – max damage. Nicely done.

It arrives. It attacks and Alzar takes 2 damage and loses a point of Dexterity. This really is a beautiful creature, he sighs. Alzar unsheathes a dagger, +1 and swings. A hit (rolled a 19). Deals 4 damage to it. It hits for 5 damage and an extra 4 from the touch. Alzar swings and misses. It misses. It finally wins init and hits for 3, but causes no loss. Alzar misses. It misses. Alzar misses. It hits for 4 damage and a loss of constitution. Alzar hits for 3 damage (minimum – yuck). It misses. It hit for 3 and a str loss. Alzar fumbles and drops the dagger. It misse.s Alzar hits after picking it back up – 5 damage. It misses, Alzar misses. Alzar missies, it hits for 4 and a con loss. Alzar nails it and it dies. Alzar gains all lost sats back.

[Abe Sargent]

The creature was worth 3000 XP.

3300 for Alzar.
Total XP now is 17835

The captain is delighted with the story and the death of the creature. Alzar recommends burning the figurehead anyway, just in case, and the captain agrees.

Another adventure completed.


A week later, Alzar is healthy and healed and ready for more action. He has moved some gold for more portable gems and jewelry – 10,000 of it in fact. He cast Friends spell and then went into a store and got it for exactly the amount – no money lost, so he traded 10000 gold for 10000 in jewelry.

Alzar was trying to trade spells with a local wizard, and he mentioned that there was a lost island in the river, about thirty miles away, that was once the home of a wizard. Perhaps there might be scrolls or items on the island?

Sounds like an adventure!

Alzar finds that The Vaka is still in the docks, trying to find a crew for a long journey. Despite the loss of the curse, people still have heard about it. Captain Segel would be happy to take Alzar to the island. Not only would it give him something to do, and a way to repay Alzar, but it would give his ship a successful journey, and thus give him facts to prove the curse broken to more sailors and eventually cargo and passengers.

Estaish is accompanying Alzar on the ship to the island, along with Megala. The werebear and ghouls and animal skeletons are going up river by wagon, and then will be at the shore line about a third of a mile away.

[Abe Sargent]

C3 The Lost Island of Castanamir










Castanamir was a strong wizard who was a sage in many areas, and wanted to leave behind the normal pace of life so he retired from Athaly to the unclaimed island thirty-ish miles hence. That was more than fifty years ago, and since then, no one had heard from him. Is he still alive? He was a fan of making many of his own spells, so if Alzar could find a few of Castanamir’s spells, they would be highly valuable trade commodities.

The legends of Castanamir are interesting, but one of the most interesting is that he had been alive for more than two hundred years as of his move ot the island, and he was once an apprentice off…..Elyas, the maker of the tower and temple that Alzar encountered near the qwith village when fighting for Rahasia.

(My own little changes, additions and subtractions from the published the story are significant here)

[Abe Sargent]

They arrive at the island. Most traders here go to the left side, because it has a deeper riverbed, but it’s not as long. The other side of the island the river is much wider, but more shallow. That causes some traffic on the left side. Capt. Segel has chosen to anchor off the south side and keep us away from the narrow passage, frequently traveled. A rowboat is prepared. Alzar and Estaish row themselves to shore. Then Estaish rows to the other shore to get Lastion, his ghoul and Aleigha.

They arrive back while Alzar was investigating. The towers only appears to be two or three floors tall – its hard to tell because it has no windows – exactly what you might expect from someone trying to get away. He found a door behind some rocks heading into the base of the tower.

As a reminder, here is who we have:

Alzar
Megala
Lastion and one other ghoul
8 animal skeletons
Estaish – 1st level fighter with +2 sword, +1 chainmail, +1 shield and +1 ring of pro
Aleigha – 3rd level fighter, werebear with +2 sword, no armor (it hurts badly when she changes), and Alzar convinced her to take a +1 shield, and +1 ring of pro

[Abe Sargent]

Here we go.

The door is unlocked and easily opened. It’s made of an unknown rock and shaped with an old bow in the middle. They enter a living area with dark green walls, gold fabric wall hangings, paints of the wilderness and a mirror. There is a small watermelon sized metallic object moving back and forth, and the room continues around the wall. There are couches, chairs, and a fireplace and table. The little object moves over to where some mud was tracked in by Alzar and zaps it, and it disappears, then it continues moving around the room.

There is a cabinet here, and when opened, it is super cold and there are awards and trophies given Castanamir by creatures of cold and ice and they are made of ice. As people get close to the fireplace, it magically catches on fire, but it produces no heat. There is a closest in the back which Lastion opens. Immediately out come two leprechauns and one grabs Estaish’s shield. It dances around teasing Estaish, who gets red. Alzar waves Estaish to calm down and he does. Alzar asks for the shield back, and the leprechaun polymorphs it into a rock, and then hands it back. Estaish confusedly takes the rock back and tries to say thinks, but the leprechauns laugh and one turns it back into a shield.

Alzar asks about Castanamir, and they admit they haven’t seen him for some time. He was their playmate and brought them out a lot to play with, but no one has been around in a while. They’ve been lonely. Alzar points out that the door is open, they could just leave, and then realizes, as he points to the door, that the outside can no be seen through the door way they just passes through, but instead, its another room!

As he sees that, the leprechauns have a good laugh. Alzar asks if there is anything in the closest that he might want, and they toss him a coat. He thanks them and they move to the other section of the room behind the wall.

[Abe Sargent]

This leads to a library with bookcases lining the bottom and left walls (who knows direction if they’ve been teleported). In another wall is a clear glass window that allows Alzar to see the lounge area where the mirror was. There is a desk in here that has been tussled. On the floor lies a human figure, motionless and turned over. Alzar sends Estaish over to check the body. Suddenly, two arrows ring out in quick succession from behind the table. Both bounce off Estaish’s good armor. A person jumps and heads for a doorway with another room beyond, then turns and throws a potion bottle in front of Alzar and his group and it splashes its contents to cover for the body who jumps up as well and runs off. Alzar can get off one spell before they leave and casts Sleep. The nearest one falls asleep. The other one hesitates, and then move to the doorway and leaves.

Alzar ties up Joblo and cracks his head awake. Alzar casts ESP and begins an interrogation for four rounds, asking questions and reading the answers. Joblo and his friend Doblin are thieves who heard about this tower and decided to come here. They’ve been here for a month, moving through teleporters and never quite figuring everything out, but they’ve scavenged and taken things. Joblo believes that Doblin will come and try to rescue him. Their goal was to weaken Alzar’s party to the point where they could be taken by the thieves and this was a trap.

Alzar asks what the items he found on Joblo are and he has to acknowledge that there is a Javelin of Lightning and Potion of Levitation here.

Joblo is tied three times, once with his arms behind his back. Then one arm is bound to his chest, and the other is similarly bound – three spate bindings. Additionally, his weapons are confiscated. Joblo is handed to Lastion, bound with cord, and Alzar tells Lastion to kill him and turn him into a ghoul if he tries to run. “Then he’ll listen,” and Alzar looks right at Joblo. Joblo looks suitably frightened

Alzar spends a good half hour perusing the library for books. He takes a lot, because there is a whole section on conjuring demons, spirits and other powers. Approximately 5000 gold in library value was taken and put in the Bag of Holding, which is of course now empty save for the teleport jars (two of them)

Nothing else is turned up in a search. There are four doorways, each looks to go into a room. Alzar is undecided. (Choose randomly with a die) he goes with the first one, the way back he came, supposedly.

[Abe Sargent]

He enters an L shaped room with light gray walls and a deep floor covering. There are doorways in each door. In one corner of the room are stacks of furniture, carefully arranged so as to make a barricade. Alzar can hear breathing on the other side. Alzar flies Megala up to take a look over and sees a bunch of hobgoblins. One throws a javelin at Megala and misses. Alzar brings it back down. Well, Alzar now knows what’s back there. He grabs a bone, throws it up and over and casts Blastbones on it. It deals 8 damage to all of the hobbies nearby, and kills them. Only five survived.

XP: 350 for just Alzar, no one else participated in that.

They push aside furniture and begin to address Alzar, saying they’ve surrendered. Alzar goes in. It looks like 10 died, and that included their leader. They will give anything or do anything for Alzar as long as he lets them live. Alzar thinks it over, and then agrees. He gets the items from the dead chief, and then the hobbies will take Alzar’s orders in the Tower. If they survive, they will be free to go. They agree. They are not willing allies, so Alzar knows they may try and break away, and they won’t jump in the way of big baddies like his skeletons and zombies and such would. There is a scroll and potion on the leader. Plus a gold medallion worth 300 gold.

Alzar looks through the doorways, and then go back the way they came, and enter a room with a few doors, and a kitchen, with a table, stoves, an oven, and a cistern. There is a large spice cabinet. Pots and pans are strewn around. There are gnawed bones and a few parcels of food have been opened. Alzar orders the hobbies to mill around the doors while he and his crew search. They begin searching and make some noise from banging the pots on the floor around and such. Suddenly, two berserkers emerge from one door and start cleaving into the hobgoblins.

Alzar orders a quick defense. One hobgoblin is hacked to death by a battle ax, and the other berserker misses. The four remaining hobbies swing and one hits for 2 damage. The next turn, the berserker that killed the hobgoblin hacks at its corpse instead of attacking. The other one nails a hobgoblin for 9 damage and kills it. The one hacking at the corpse leave sup no defense and is automatically hit by a hobbie for 3. Two hobbies hit for 6. Alzar orders everyone to concentrate on the more damaged one and swings his staff and misses. Aleigha stabs out and hits, but she can’t get to the more wounded one. The less wounded one took 8. Megala flies in and misses.

Next turn, the hobgoblins roll for morale and make it. They stab out and hit once for 6 damage on the wounded one. He galls and takes mortal wounds but keeps fighting. The guy who killed one last round is hacking and its corpse and Aleigha gets in a free hit for 7. Alzar nails the wounded one for 6. Megala misses. Alzar orders the people to switch and attack the other berserker. The berserkers go first and kill another hobgoblin, hitting him twice for 16 damage total. The two hobbies deal 7 damage back. Alzar adds 4 and megala hits for 1 and Aleigha for 10. Both are critically wounded. Next round, the one that has been dead for two rounds finally dies. Alzar orders an all out attack. Hobbies fail their morale and run through the top doorway. Alzar hits for 6 and the guy has now taken more than -10 damage and dies.

Alzar and the others swing by the other door and open to an icebox. The first room was a pantry. There are tons of food in each. A search finds axes on the berserkers added to a magic pile along with all of the dead hobbies armor and weapons. Two pots on the berserkers.

XP – 150 each for Alzar, Aleigha and Estaish

[Abe Sargent]

There is nothing else to be found in any of these rooms. Go north and follow the hobgoblins? Sure, why not.

This is a large empty room with an enclosed square area in the center which runs from floor to ceiling. There are a selection of weapons on the walls, and they are added to the magic pile (Bag of Holding). After a bit grabbing weapons, there is a magic noise from the central walled in area, and suddenly two doors slide open, and outs walks an unusual and very angry creatures (Feral Slasher).

It is hunched over, looks like a ton of muscle, has claws and fangs, howls, and is charging. Alzar orders Lastion and his ghoul to move in front and flings the Throwing Dagger. It misses. The Feral Slasher arrives and Alzar’s team wins init. The first ghoul dices it for 9 damage from a crit and all three hit. (He rolled a 16, 15, and 20). It fails at least one save is it is paralyzed. Lastion finishes it off.

There is nothing in the room, or the teleport chamber. They can go in any direction again. Alzar chooses up.

They seem to be in a closest sized room with three blank walls facing but when they are touches, they seem insubstantial. You can walk right through. Lastion walks through without problem. Alzar does so and he is immediately hit with an illusion of powerful joy. He is elated and super happy. It takes all of his will to wrench his mind away from it. He returns and tells the others to stay here. He sends out Lastion to see what is out here – the illusions have no impact on him. There are four walls, and Lastion ignores the illusion. There are different illusions in four different sections of the room. Alzar chooses to return.

[Abe Sargent]

The next room, is a hallway with two doors on the left and four doorways on each side like normal.

Alzar moves down and has Lastion open the upper door. The lock seemed broken on the south? door. Alzar orders his thief to open it. He is untied, and given tools, and had multiple blades drawn on him. After a few tries, he manages to pick the lock, and he is retied and reattached to Lastion.

This rooms appears to have been exhaustively searches, with a set of comfortable furniture, and stacks of books ripped apart and tossed in corners. There is a wooden door in the far corner. Alzar has the other ghoul go and open it. This is another furnished bedroom. The linen here is old and musty. Suddenly, two lizard men leap out from the corner and throw darts at the ghoul. Both hit and the ghoul takes 6 damage. Alzar order sit to retreat and his people move in.

Aleigha leads and runs to the lizard men with Estaish right behind. Alzar orders Lastion and the ghoul to stay and watch the thief and watch the hallway. Estaish misses, and Aleigha nails one for 10 damage and kills it. Alzar misses The Lizard Man drops his weapon and sits down. That ends that fight. Alzar orders a search and finds nothing but a bunch of weapons. Suddenly, Alzar feels pain in Lastion and runs out to the hallway.

Lastion has just been backstabbed by the other thief, trying to free his friend. He just took 10 damage and is down to 5/15. Lastion turns and the other ghoul is with him. Megala flies in as well. The other thief tries to rum but Alzar sees him and Megala is faster and catches up to him. Megala gets one attack in – a hit for 3 damage and…made his sleep save and runs into a teleporter. Alzar makes a command decision and orders Megala throw it too.

They are in the first room again, entering from the south. Megala pursues the thief into the room with the leprechauns. They begin to play with the thief, and Alzar charges after, and tells everyone to stay here. The thief’s armor just got changed to a dress. The thief is angry and the leprechauns are upst. Alzar arrives and casts Charm Person Success. The theif is now Alzar’s friend. Alzar turns him into a much nicer playmate for the leprechauns and they are happy and turn his dress back to armor. He returns via the path he took originally – L shaped room, kitchen, teleport room, illusion room and then hallway.

The new friend is named Doblin and Joblo’s eyes get big when he sees Doblin as Alzar;s new friend. Alzar points out that Joblo has no one left to save him. Doblin request that Joblo be untied, and Alzar agrees, pointing out that Joblo has nowhere to go anymore.

[Abe Sargent]

They enter the south room, and find nothing in the first chamber, and then nothing more in the second. Searches reveal nothing.

Alzar sees the first room in the end of one corridor, the L room in another. He sees another hallway room so he drops a pitchfork from the magic pile on the floor to tell which one is which. He then goes into other room.

This room is a large dining hall with a U shaped table, 12 chairs, and tapestries. There are two fireplaces, and a junkpile in one corner. There are lots of rat droppings here. This was the theives’ hideout, and Doblin tells Alzar where their treasure is. They have:

Two gloves
A large brazier
A large steel pitcher
Two gold statues worth 2000 gold each and weighing 1500coins each
Alzar procures everything and puts it all in the Bag.

The rats have not attacked. Alzar looks at his options. One exit goes to the kitchen, another to the teleport room, and third to the illusion room and the last one to a round room.

There is a sign hanging from the ceiling saying in big letters in typic, Gingwatzim exhibit, DO NOT CROSS LINES. In each quadrant of the floor is a bright orange painted line in a semi circle. Next to each is a sign. The first quadrant has a glass cabinet. From it shines a blue globe of light. There appear to be a plant and an amulet in here. The second has a green light, and a staff in its cabinet, with another glowing green sphere behind the line, outside of ht cabinet and to the right. . The third is a grey light, and a cabinet with a sword and another lying to the immediate right. The last one has a broken glass cabinet with no light. Normal exist show the first room, the hallway room they left, the other hallway room and the L room. The signs say Tim, Pakim, Graegzim and Eoluzim.

The center sign says, “In each area are found the three typical forms and one multiform example of the lower orders of Gingwatzim. Do not contact any objects or manifestations behind the warning lines. “

That is a lot of stuff. Alzar orders the other ghoul to enter the Tim quadrant and just stand there. The sphere glows and the ghoul growls a little, but that’s it. Alzar has the ghoul bust open the cabinet. The plant is a dangerous plant (Yellow Musk Creeper) and Alzar tosses the ghoul an oil flask to drop all over it. The ghoul grabs the amulet, and then Alzar tosses a torch to kill the Creeper.

They do the same game with the Pakim. The spheres both glow brightly and some light for the on outside the cabinet is obviously glowing at the ghoul but doing nothing. The ghoul busts the cabinet and brings Alzar the staff.

The ghoul enters the third area and the same glowing attack? occurs. Alzar has the ghoul bring back both short swords.

When Alzar takes one of the short swords, it begins to chuckle. Alzar starts talking to it, and it changes form to a fremlin. It introduces itself to its new master. It is a Multi-form Graegzim, and it can change into a +2 short sword or a fremlin or a globe. It’s doens;t know too much just what it regularly sees. It’s been here for a while. It knows that two hobgoblins just ran through here, and then were killed by the Pakim. The globes drain strength and paralyze, and they don’t work on undead, so Alzar’s ghoul was always safe. The items they found are bound Gingwatzim in just an animate form and can’t change shape.

The Eoluzim were taken and destroyed and Castanamir uses it as the opening to another section of the castle. The roof above it is an illusion.

Alzar uses his Rope of Climbing to climb up to the roof and go through it, making a robe ladder. It orders it to knot, which it does.

The bound Graegzim goes back to sword form and Alzar goes up.

This room has a floor to ceiling mirror.. There are black openings on three walls and a narrow corridor. Something is moving, and they suddenly see a giant wolverine. A quick slash of a staff, and two swords and it dies and then disappears.

XP – 20 for each.

[Abe Sargent]

There is just a hallway here, and Alzar suspects something more, so everyone searches. Somebody finds a secret door, but there is no lock. Alzar has the thieves search and search, to no accord. There are four hallways here, with four new rooms. A circular room, A room with shelves, a small room, very small in fact, and yet another really small room. Alzar goes to the room with shelves.

One half of the room is devoted o wood and glass cabinets, and the other half contains art like paintings and statues. The cabinets have trophies in there, and there are stacks of chests. There are boxes, belts, robes, sashes, statues, sculptures, musical instruments, rugs, glassware, and more. It looks like a heap of someone;s memories. The value of everything here is roughly 6000 go, but it would weigh a lot more.

There is an old man in robes bending down in front of one of the chest. He is poring through papers and a large crow is on the floor next to him. He leaps up in surprised and prepares a spell. Before Alzar can react, he turns invisible and tells the party to leave him alone or he will roast them.

“I Castanamir, tell you to leave. How did you get there anyway?”

Alzar turns the short sword into a fremlin, while hiding in the back. “Is this Castanamir?” The fremlin looks at him like he’s joking with the question. Realizing he’s serious, the Fremlin shakes his head.

Alzar replies that they are sorry, but they heard Castanamir was dead, so they were not invading his space, only seeking fun. After all, Castanamir has long been legended of his great sense of humor, so we thought we would see it.

Prompted to be funny, the invisible mage laughs . Alzar asks what the crow is – the legends say that Castanamir never had a crow familiar. "Castanamir" makes a joke about how it is a new familiar, just from the last decade. Alzar got him. He admitted the crow, which is still quite visible, is a familiar. Let’s look at our familiars together, Alzar says. Have you ever heard of a ghoul familiar? It’s from the necromantic Attract Ghoul spell, let me show you, and Alzar finds his spellbook and opens it up to the right page. Meanwhile, Lastion is secretly ordered to get near the familiar.

Lastion gets close, and then is orders to launch a sneak attack to kill the crow. The crow is hit twice and takes 3 damage. It is paralyzed, and Lastion grabs it and eats it. The crow dies. The wizard must make a system shock roll and failure means death. Success means a loss of a Con point. I roll 3d6 to see what his con is and get a 9. 65% chance of success. He rolled a 68, and dies.

(FYI, he was also blind, so even if it were successful, he would have been taken out)

XP – 250 for Alzar only.

They run into his corpses, and set it aside until the spell wears off. They search the room and find nothing, Eventually he turns visible and they search his corpses and find a few items added to the magic pile.

[Abe Sargent]

The exits from the trophy room are to very tiny room, sphere looking room, a smaller room with furniture, and a very small room. He takes the firts very small room, and drops an item to be able to make it out from the others. The very small room has all four hallways in it, and then a door. The spare ghoul opens the door and sees….a ghoul. It’s just standing there. Alzar tries to control it and…nothing? It’s not undead. The ghoul tears into it for a crit and a claw for 6 damage and it disappears.

XP – 50 to all

This contains two workbenches with small ovens, lab equipment like tubes, alembics, jugs, retorts, and such. There are everything from potion bottles to books and scroll cases.

There appear to be spell components in some of the jars on one shelf. The bound books are reference works on alchemy and alchemical experiments and Alzar (With the Alchemy proficiency) recognizes their value – 10 of them, 100 coins heavy, 1000 gold value to a library.

No spell scrolls in the scroll cases, just formulas that are in the books as well, but easier to find this way. The first rack of potion bottles has sealed racks and Alzar grabs them.

There are a lot of spell components here, but nothing too exotic. This was a good room for Alzar, with the finding of nice usable potions and such.

They go back out and find doors to a library, spheres, a small room with furniture, and a very tiny room. Alzar goes to the library.

This is a larger room that before, with book sleeves and a scroll cabinet along all of the walls. In here is a tables, chair, and a grey haired man wearing long robes and covered with magic writing on them. He is silent and motionless. There are books and manuscripts on the table.

A quick inventory of the library shows books on languages and dictionaries. There is also a general reference section. On a shelf next to the table is a collection of spellbooks, and there is a scroll cabinet, and books on general magic. Alzar is smiling the entire time. Alzar orders no one to touch anything. Mage books are notoriously trapped with numerous spells. On the floor are several books that appears to have been burned. One is still okay, and Alzar finds a partly burnt spellbook with 6 level two spells and 3 level 3s to be looked at later.

He is wondering what this mage is doing here, just standing there. He orders everyone to draw weapons. Simultaneously, they all strike the standing figure, and he dies.

XP – 100 to Alzar.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar touches one item on the desk, just to see, and nothing happens.

They’ll leave and come back later. The doors out are to a large pool, back to the first room,trophy room, and a small circular room with a power.

The pool room.

This large circular room has a pool in the center about 8 feet across. Filling the pool is a clear liquid, and at the bottom is an incredible wealth of coins in all metals and denominations, plus other items, and bones.

Alzar dips in his non-magical staff, and suddenly, a large orange one of the Gingwatzim appears. It’s a much larger globe that before. It says that Castanamir would pay for answers to questions, and then toss the money or items in the pool. It will either answer question in turn for money, or kill the characters. Alzar asks its terms, and it will answer.

Alzar tells it that he would like to finish exploring and then he may have more questions for it, and it agrees.

They can go to the first room, alchemy lab, trophy room or round room with a tower in it.

They arrive at a room and Alzar suddenly feels like he is falling. The four hallways here open to empty space in the middle of the room, just handing there. So are Alzar and his party. Several are very disorientated. There is a tower above you going up 20 feet. And a rocky platform 40 feet below. There tower stands on a 2000 foot high ride rising out of an ocean of mist. As more perception is gained, the floor can be seen of the room, just at the edges of the illusion.

They enter the tower and there are stairs here going up and down. At the top is a trap door and out there is a Hippogriff nest with eggs there and mommy and daddy flying above. They retreat and go down the stairs. Here there is a egg shaped translucent object about ten feet long, and inside is a mage. Alzar can tell this is suspended animation. The egg cannot be opened, and they cannot take anything, find anything or talk to the mage.

[Abe Sargent]

They leave. Options are trophy room alchemy lab, small room with furniture, and very tiny room.

Very tiny room it is. This is very similar to the very tiny room at the front of the alchemy lab. They open the door and there is another really tiny room with another door at the end. The next door is opened, and inside are a forge, anvil, workbenches, and golems along the walls.

There are few books on golem design and repair. However, there are also two fully functional miniature Iron Golems. As soon as the cover over them is removed, they begin to attack. Alzar really doesn’t have a way of dealing damage to them. So, he orders everyone back out to the antechamber and the chamber before that, and tells them to go forward. As they do so, he grabs a few books, slams the doors on the golems, and slams the next one too.

This is the small room with the furniture. There is a small table, a small book stand, a brazier, and a cot and a table with a wand, ring, and glass sphere on it. This appears to Alzar to be an enchanting room. He takes the sphere, ring and wand. A search finds more books, and they look like spell books, so Alzar tells them to stay away.

They head into a room with spheres. On one wall are four glowing large metal spheres that float in the air. There is a cabinet with a glass door, and shelves and workbenches.

There is not much in here, there appear to be signs of a struggle with a knocked over chair and broken quill. Who knows what happened. A search finds nothing except three more Gingwatzim bound as low level magic items. Alzar takes them.


Okay, there appears to be no obvious way out, but there was the secret door with no lock. What would open it? No key. Alzar and party head to the pool and talk to the creature here.

How to get through the door? One magic item. Alzar gives up a Gingwatzim he just picked up for the info. It is Wizard Locked.

Tell us about other ways to get in. He doesn't know any,no item needed.

Tell us how to get out other than getting through that door. There are none, no item needed.

Alzar checks the burnt out spellbook to see what spells are in it:

2nd level Darkness, 15’; Magic Mouth; Breath of Bewilderment; Bladeleap; Levitate; Flash
3rd level Icelance; Nystul’s Expeditious Fire Extinguisher; Item

None of those will help

[Abe Sargent]

Is there anywhere in the tower that we can get a Knock or Dispel Magic spell? One item. Alzar gives another of the guys he founds in the summoning room. There used to be Knock and Dispel Magic spells in the library. Have they been destroyed? I don’t know.

Alzar decides to spend the night in the tower. There is food and lodging. He has the two thieves stay near Lastion and the ghoul.

In the morning, he tries to identify the scrolls he has, to see if he can find an answer.

Scroll o Tongues, Invis 10’, Fly from the coat given by the leprechauns, , and a cleric scroll of fire resist, cure twice and sanctuary. Ah, the leprechauns! Of course!

Alzar goes back to the Leprechauns and asks for their help. They agree to help after hearing his pleading. They hop into a box, because they don’t like the portals, and shortly later, Alzar opens the box and they pop out. They polymorph the door into a jar of flowers. And Alzar thanks them bunches. He takes them to the room with the creature from the pool so that they can talk to each other.

This secret room is the bed chamber of Castanamir. Inside is a flesh golem who attacks as soon as someone steps in. Alzar orders everyone back because only magic will hurt it, and Aleigha, and Estaish move forward. Alzar throws the +2 dagger at the golem. Crit for 10 damage (the max). Very nice. The Sword of Spartuisia doles out 9 damage. The golem hits Estaish for 8 damage and Estaish is ordered back:

1/9 hp left for Estaish

Alzar grabs a staff and hopes its magical and moves in. He swings and misses. Aligha tags it for another 4 damage. It punches Alzar for 12 damage.

39/51

It wins init and hits Aleigha for 10.

11/21 for Aleigha. Aleigha crits it for 8 damage and Alzar’s staff rattles it for 3 damage, so it is magical.

Alzar orders Aleigha back. He swings and misses. He is hit once for 3 damage.

36/51

He loses init and is hit twice for 21 damage

15/51

He slaps it for 6 damage and it dies.

XP – 675 XP each for Alzar, Aleigha and Estaish

There is lots of dusty junk in here. 2000 gold worth of Castanamir’s own personal journals.

There is no bed, just a belt tethered to a pole.

Chests of clothes Sack of 1000 ep and another of 1000 gp. An amulet.

[Abe Sargent]

There is a normal looking door o the south east.

It is opened and reveals a beach on the island. The thieves are let go, and they leave. Aleigha is ready to leave this dusty place too, and she goes. Alzar is going to stay for a while, and look at the library. Estaish goes with Aleigha to row her to the shore, and to the wagon they have there. Alzar may take a day or so, he admits. Look for the teleport jars, because he may be teleporting over items, and they should clear them out regularly.

They grab the gold and electrum and leave.

Everyone but Alzar got 895

XP – 2139
Total XP - 19974


As Alzar moves back to get some food, he goes through the teleport room, and more creatures teleport in. He has no first level spells memorized (they are all Detect Magic and Identify in order to figure out the stuff) . Two ogres pop in. Alzar will need to avoid this room in the future.

Alzar has Ray, Blastbones, and ESP. He tosses a bone to them and casts Blastbones on it. They ogres take 2 damage – the minimum. Wasn’t even worth the effort. They arrive and Alzar swings the magical staff at one and misses. He takes 4 from a giant club.

9/51

Alzar is totally unprepared for this – drank no healing potions, and prepared no spells. He backs up and fires off a cone of magic from his wand of paralyzation. The Ogres swing. Who attacks first? Alzar does, by miles. One ogre fails and is frozen, the ogre is still swinging. Its the damaged one. It totally misses Alzar. Alzar casts Ray on it and it is forced to attack in the exact same way. Alzar uses the free turn to dash back, and grab both his throwing dagger and a healing pot. As the ogre comes out, Alzar throws and drinks. The dagger hits for 3 damage (the minimum again), and aAlzar is up to 18/51. The ogre has charged him and swings. He misses and drops the club from a fumble. Alzar swats with the staff and misses as well. The ogre pounds him for 8 damage

10/51

Alzar is down to just ESP. He grabs and drinks the potion of invisibility. He disappears and slides to the slide. The Ogre tries to find him but Alzar is not is weapon range. He drinks another healing pot.

18/51

He slides over, picks up the throwing dagger from the floor, then grabs his staff and swings as hard as he can at the back of the ogre’s head.

Called shot to the head is hard but with the ambush and invis bonus, they sort of even out. Alzar nails him, he just takes 5 damage, but he is dizzy and there is a chance he will fall down, and perhaps slid einto unconsciousness. Dex check fails - falls. Then he is groggy but still conscious. Alzar gets into a free hit on the ground. Hit, 6 damage. The Ogre stands back up. Next round. Alzar swings and misses, and the ogre does not, nailed him for 8 more damage

10/51.

Alzar wins init, hits, and smacks him one more time for 4 damage and puts him away. Dead ogre. Alzar goes over and kills the other paralyzed one.


XP kill for two ogres – 540 + 54 = 894

Total – 20568

Welcome to 5th level

That was totally in the module too. The teleport room only works so much in a day, and then it resets, and it has a list of the monsters summoned.

Alzar maps out the first level teleporters completely and creates paths to all of the rooms that avoid the teleport room. Then he does so for the second level.

[Abe Sargent]

Gold Gained: 1500 gold.
Total Gold: 24,312
Items Gained:
2000 gold worth of Castanamir’s own personal journals.
3 books on golems and repair – 500 gold.
5000 gold in books on summoning and conjuring.
10 of them, 100 coins heavy, 1000 gold value to a library. Alchemy texts
Plus a gold medallion worth 300 gold and jeweled dagger worth 300
Two gold statues worth 2000 gold each and weighing 1500coins each



Spellbook:

2nd level Darkness, 15’; Magic Mouth; Breath of Bewilderment; Bladeleap; Levitate; Flash
3rd level Icelance; Nystul’s Expeditious Fire Extinguisher; Item




Used charge in Wand of Paralyzation, used Pot of Invis and 2 pots of healing

Amulet +1 save vs spells. This is technically a Tim Gingwatzim. +1 staff technically a Pakim Gingwatzam. Short sword +2, technically a Graegzim Gingwatzim, and a multiform one.



Magic stuff: The coat given by the Leprechauns was an illusion of a scroll of of Tongues, Invisibility 10’ and Fly. Cleric scroll – sanctuary, fire resistance, cure light x2; healing pot, philter of love, pot of spider climbing, Staff (+3, one of the Gingwatzim inbound animate form), Dagger +1, Bracers of Defense, AC7. One shot items Ring of Monster Summoning 1, Wand of Repulsion and Sphere of Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere. Belt of flying, 54 charges. Amulet of the Planes, Javelin of Lightning, Pot of Levitating, Gloves of Fire Resistance

First rack of potions – Longevity, Animal Control – horse, Diminution, Healing, Fire Resistance, Extra Healing, ESP. In the back is a pair of traveling cases for potions. One is full, and the other is now loaded with the findings. The full one has a bunch of potions with dust on them as cracks wax stoppers. Alzar knows that means they may be spoiled. Five smell bad. Two smell okay (and are both healing pots)


That large steel pitcher will fill with mead on command. We will call it the mead pitcher.

[Tellistto]

Nice way to win against those ogres. Really tough fight to go into cold like that!

[Abe Sargent]

When Alzar levels up, he can start casting third level spells, and thus, as a specialist, he can add one Necromancy spell to his book form 3rd level. He will be adding Undead Summoning I, which is fairly similar to Monster Summoning I, but for skeletons instead.

As Alzar is studying the things in the tower, he goes to put some things in the teleport jars, and notices a note has been sent. They are telling him that the door to the Tower has become locked and sealed somehow, and there is no way back in. They told the captain to go home, and purchased the rowboat from him.

Alzar tells them to wait by the wagon with the rowboat, and he may take a while to clean the tower out.

Alzar starts casting Detect Magic in each room on a daily basis to see if there is anything he missed. He finds some additional items in the leprechaun closest and library:

+1 two handed sword. Scroll of protection from demons. Potion of levitation. Ring of Free Action.

The larder refills daily, so Alzar can get new food each day.

Alzar can fit 1000 books in the Bag of Holding if he has nothing else in there, so there is no question that he can tote out his own personal library. He tells the group to leave for a while, and he’ll be fine for a couple of weeks. Use his gold to get a nice hotel along the road and relax. Don’t forget to feed the purple moss, and Alzar sends over his Necklace of Adaption for an hour so they can do that. Then they send it back.


Alzar pays the pool guardian 1000 gold to learn the command words for the Amulet of the Planes. Alzar escorts out the Lizard Man. He finds servants quarters in the first floor and searches them but finds nothing.

In the library is a paperweight with two charges of Rary’s Mnemonic Enhancer in it. The command word is etched into it.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Tellistto

Nice way to win against those ogres. Really tough fight to go into cold like that!

Thanks! It was a totla case of I knew, but Alzar didn;t, so I had t play it straight.

[Abe Sargent]

Oh, because we are ending Island, I thought I would give you a bit of info on Thorasia. Here are my gods. Many of them came from research into mythology to find deities from various cultures that fit my own world and desires. If so, they have parentheses with that culture.




The Gods of Thorasia:



Magister – God of Life, Triplet with Harryth, Barastyr
Mithris – God of Battle and Duty, Husband of Harkangi, Brother of Camulos
Harkangi – Goddess of Mending and Peace, Wife of Mithris
Tangaroa – Goddess of the Sea, Wind and Water, Sister of Bathala (Maori Goddess)
Lonna – Goddess of Stars, Sky and Serenity, Daughter of Gontia and Malekbel
Chasca – Goddess of Light, Color, Music and Art (Incan Goddess)
Teminia – Goddess of Forest, Hunt and Faerie, Sister of Berstuk
Qetesh – Goddess of Love and Beauty (Phoenician Goddess)
Bathala - Goddess of Agriculture, Harvest and Fertility, Sister of Tangaroa (Philippine Goddess)

Harryth – God of Balance, Betrothed of Shafina, Triplet with Masigter, Barastyr
Ravister – God of Magic and Knowledge
Shafina – Goddess of Law, Justice and Trade. Betrothed of Harryth
Belisama - Goddess of Crafts (Celtic Goddess)
Azeban - God of Lunacy, Madness, and Insanity, Teshub’s Twin (Abenaki God)
Teshub – God of Chaos, Randomness, and Luck, Azeban’s Twin (Hurrian God)
Malekbel – God of Fire and the Sun, Husband of Gontia (Palmarene God)
Kothar – God of Earth, Rock, and Mountains (Canaanite God)
Laima – Goddess of Distance and Travel (Latvian Goddess)

Barastyr – God of Death, Triplet with Harryth and Magister (Ossetian God)
Camulos – God of Conflict and Strife, Brother of Mithris (Celtic God)
Mahte - Goddess of Pain and Pleasure (Latvian Goddess)
Aminon – God of Destruction, Anger, and Vengeance (Ossetian God)
Arentia – Goddess of Decay and Disease
Gontia - Goddess of Night, Ice, and the Moon, Wife of Malekbel (Celtic Goddess)
Baetylus – God of Deceit and Greed (Phoenician God)
Berstuk - God of Faerie, Trickery, and Mischief, Brother of Teminia (Slavic God)
Melqart - God of the Underworld and Undeath (Canaanite God)

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar spends a lot of time in the library and has found a few things. First of all, on the desk, is a reference book . It catalogues all of the books in the library, along with symbols to show which ones are trapped. How convenient of Castanamir.

There are some evil spellbooks with spell traps on them, and normal ones. Three spellbooks are still untouched, but the rest of the normal spellbooks were destroyed.

Alzar has a task for Estaish. Go to Athaly, and find me a scroll of Dispel Magic. Money is no object. Teleport it back when you have it.

Five days later, the scroll appears. It cost Alzar 1000 gold – a lot more than it is worth. He unfurls it and tires to learn the spell. He rolls a 39 - success. He now knows Dispel Magic.

(Here is the problem. Alzar has only a 5% chance of success at dispelling the explosive runes and/or fire traps on the books. In order to reliably ensure that it worked, he should cast around 40 Dispel Magics on JUST ONE BOOK in order to make sure the book is ready to be used. However, that would take 40 days for just one book. That’s way too hard. I can’t, as a DM, have one of my characters do that. So, instead, we’ll make up something.

Alzar’s research into the library has brought some success. He has discovered that the trapped spellbooks can be held, not opened, but held by cold. Alzar goes to the freezer in the first room and freezes the gloves of Fire Resistance, and then takes them to the library and puts them on and takes the first spellbook. Success. Alzar puts the spellbooks in a chest and closes and locks it with a key he found. Now no one will touch them.

He has secured, for the future, 3 regular spellbooks and 9 evil spellbooks – one for each level of magic.

Alzar has found all of the information needed on how ot summon and control gingwatzim. 2500 gold for this unique information, and the five books and two manuscripts that show it.

He finds info on how to make the portals, but it’s a bit over his head (needs a20 Int to get it). He gets some basic stuff, but not a lot. He files it for later. (12 books, worth about 1000 total)

The catalogue shows that many of the books here have little value. The dictionaries, language books, notes on culture, these are several sections, and not a lot of value.

However, Alzar finds a section of books to be very, very interesting. These is a section of roughly 100 books on summoning and conjuring. Some of these are very detailed and very interesting. It’s worth roughly 15,000. It is a complete research library on conjuration spells and magic all the way up to 9th level. Any research that needed to be done on conjuration and summoning, from rituals to spells, can be found in here, at least as a starting base.

They are all added.

[Travis]

Very much enjoying this and looking forward to more, especially some of this new found knowledge coming into play (though I'd expect the really fun stuff will take a while to work up to).

[Abe Sargent]

Glad you like it!

Actualy, one new thing is coming up very soon I suspect

[Abe Sargent]

There is nothing magical in the trophy room, which was a big surprise to Alzar.

In the enchantment lab, Alzar finds another pair of enchantment spellbooks from Castanamir. He adds these two spellbooks to his collection. He suspects they will have spells like Permanency and such.


Alzar is tempted to stay for a bit, but he has 14 spellbooks, a while research catalogue on summonings, all of the magic items, and more. It’s time to go.

He offers the leprechauns a way out, and they decide to take it, but then they will leave Alzar and go off on their own. They leave.

Alzar looks back fondly at the place that has been his home for twenty days. In some ways, it would be a perfect place to make his home for a while – it has all of the rooms he would need. But, it’s a little too close to civilization for his taste – and there are too many open holes – like the teleport room. Plus, Castanamir could return someday, who knows?

He steps out of the tower with the chest in his hand. His undead follow him. Waiting with a rowboat is Estaish, and Alzar can see Aleigha and the wagon and horses on the shore. They row back. It’s time to leave the island to the myths and rumors.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar’s stuff.


Alzar has the following magic items:



Potion of Sweet Water, Diminutionx2, Gaseous Form, Poisonx2, Telekinesis, Healingx5, Levitationx2, Longevity, Spider Climbing, Extra Healing, ESP, Animal Control – Horses, Fire Resistance, Philter of Love
Gauntlets of Ogre Power
Bag of Holding
+1 Scimitar, Short Swordx2, Daggerx3, Mace, Battle Axe, Longsword, two-handed sword
-1 Dagger
+2 Longsword
+1 Plate Armor, Chain Mailx2
Ring of Protection +1
Ring of Free Action
Wand of Secret Door Detection – 4 charges
Wand of Paralyzation 5 charges
+2 Throwing Dagger
The Sword of the Rock
Longsword +1, +2 vs Undead
Crystal Ball
Necklace of Adaptation
Periapt of Proof Against Poison +2
Ring of Fire Resistancex2
Rod of Cancellation
Rope of Climbing
Scrolls of: Mordenkainen’s Faithful Phantom Shield-Maidens, Teleport, Read Languages, Continual Light, Aganazzar’s Scorcher, Odeen’s Magic Cloud, Levitate, Ray of Fatigue, Tongues, Invisibility, 10’ Radius, Fly, Protection from Acid, Demons
Bracers of Defense AC7
Amulet of the Planes (with command words)
Javelin of Lightning
Gloves of Fire Resistance (As the ring, but a pair of gloves)
Belt of Flying, 54 charges.
Cleric scroll – sanctuary, fire resistance, cure light x2;
Paperweight, Rary’s Mnemonic Enhancer – 2 charges

The Book of Years, Windscribe, 4 teleport jars, Mead Pitcher

Spellbook:

2nd level Darkness, 15’; Magic Mouth; Breath of Bewilderment; Bladeleap; Levitate; Flash
3rd level Icelance; Nystul’s Expeditious Fire Extinguisher; Item


Chest – 2 spellbooks for enchantment 9 for evil, and 3 others, all trapped


Temporary Magic Items - Ring of Monster Summoning 1, Wand of Repulsion and Sphere of Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere – just waiting on Permanency to make them a real magic item.

These gingwatzim: Amulet +1 save vs spells, a Tim Gingwatzim. +1 staff technically a Pakim Gingwatzam. Short sword +2, technically a Graegzim Gingwatzim, and a multiform one too, can turn into Fremlin. Staff (+3, one of the Gingwatzim in bound animate form, and it talks a lot to its owner and complains)


Estaish has Ring of Pro +1, Shield +1, Chain +1, Longsword +2. Aleigha has Shield +1, The Sword of Spartusia and Ring of Pro +1.


That’s a lot of stuff, and that includes a lot of stuff Alzar doesn’t even want.

[Abe Sargent]

Apparently Alzar was supposed to have gained an extra level 1 spell at level four, and I didn’t give it to him. Whoops. And now he gets another level 1 at level 5, so he’s getting two more daily)

Alzar’s Spellbook:


First Level:

Alzar’s Undead Porter
Armor
Animate Dead Animals *
Cantrip
Charm Person *
Detect Magic *
Friends
Identify
Mount
Read Languages
Read Magic
Sleep * *
Tenser’s Floating Disc
Unseen Servant


Second Level:

Attract Ghoul
Blastbones *
ESP *
Forget
Locate Object
Ray of Ondovir *
Speak with Dead


Third Level:

Bone Knit
Dire Charm
Dispel Magic
Searing Serpent *
Skulltrap *
Undead Summoning I

Fourth Level:

Vorthala’s Undead Turning Immunity

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar has two character points he has not spent, but he is not taking anything right now.


Alzar decides to make a decision now. He purchases 3000 gold of necromantic books from wizards in Athaly and spent 4000 to do it.

Alzar’s current gold: 18, 312 left


Alzar rents a house outside Athaly, a large one, for the winter months ahead. Estaish shows them around, and Alzar has most of them stay away for a few months.

Five months pass, and they are comfortable in the cabin with food, mead, and plenty of money, a mile from the city, and so forth. Lastion and his ghoul lair in a nearby cave and don’t really like the cold.

He spends two weeks researching and creating a variant of the Find Familiar (Nec) 2nd level spell. 1110 XP. -600 gold.

Here is Alzar’s version:


Alzar’s Familiar

2nd Level
Necromancy, Conjuration/Summoning

Casting Time: 10 hours
Range 20 miles
Components: VSM
Duration: Special


Except for the casting time (only during a full moon), and the cost (3000 gold for obscure ingredients) this is very similar to the 1st level Find Familiar spell or the 2nd level Find Familiar – Necromancy spell. However, there are two major differences. Firstly, it always succeeds and finding something. Secondly, the caster can choose the familiar type from the following list:

Imp
Quasit
Mephit
Vampire Bat
Galltrit, Gremlin, Fremlin, Mite
Large, two foot long spider
Screaming Devilkin
The Mystara “Homunculous” which are not true Homunculous, but just misnamed. There are five of them


And can also choose any other creature in range that normally can be a familiar (snake, owl, raven, crow, black cat, etc)

[Abe Sargent]

The rest of the time was spent by Alzar writing a book and making a major change.

OOC – When I created Alzar a while ago, I already knew he was going to do this, but I never knew when, exactly, it would happen. I didn’t create a history that detailed. I knew it would have to be at least level 5, and probably sometime before level 9. I wasn’t sure if I should do it now or not for a awhile, but it feels right with him just coming out of the Tower. This is the reason I love Alzar though, so it’s time.



Alzar’s book is entitled “The Fivefold Path to Power”


This book outlines the five paths to power. In it, Alzar outlines five principles that make a mage the most powerful, and also outline pits and traps that mages often fall into.

(Okay, this next section will be a bit complicated for those who may not be familiar with the rules stuff of AD&D)

[Abe Sargent]

This is a new type of Specialist Mage, called a Path Mage or Fivefold Mage. Let’s go over the principles.


There are five principles, each of which is a route to power. In order to maximize the power of a mage, this sub-class focuses on effects of a permanent nature, when applicable.

A). This is the sub principle that all of the paths use. Consider the paths the way to power, but the sub principle the guide on those paths. Information is not power in and of itself, but it gives you the knowledge of how to obtain power.

Path 1). Charm, Cajole, Entice and Dominate the Living. The first path to power is the easiest one seen, with the power gained from subjugating the living. Living creatures are all around the caster, so using them is vitally important. This includes spells like Charm Person, Domination, and Confusion.

Path 2). Summon and Conjure Allies. The living do not end at the barriers of this plane, but continue throughout existence. The second path to power uses magic to summon and conjure allies from beyond the barriers. This includes spells like Summon Elemental and Gate.

Path 3). Animate and Invest the Unliving. The third path takes those living energies and uses them to reanimate the undead. Undead allies never need food, are unresting, have unwavering loyalty, and can never go rogue. This includes spells like Animate Dead and Summon Shadows.

Path 4). Create Artificial Constructs. Along with animating the dead is imbuing the lifeless with the spark of life. Creating constructs is another entry on the path to power.

Path 5). Make and Use Powerful Items. The final path is the creation of powerful magical items which can be used or given to allies to use in the gaining of power.


As a result, the following schools are considered the area of specialization:


Divination
Enchantment/Charm
Necromancy
Conjuration/Summoning
Artifice

These are referred to as The Path.

However, there are caveats to this, as noted below.


Fivefold Mage Views of Illusion/Phantasm:

The Fivefold Mage path views Illusion and Phantasm magic as the worst possible misuse of mystical power. Unlike other specialist mages who may not have the time to devote to all schools, so they cannot use a few, the Fivefold Mage does not merely fail to study Illusion magic, but they downright disown it. Why create something temporary and meaningless that does not even exist?

Views of Invocation/Evocation:

The Fivefold Mage distinguishes between Invocation and Evocation. Invocation is the communication with higher powers in other planes and channeling their power to make magical effects. Fivefold Mages are willing to use Invocation in their magic without question, but it is a very small school (Perhaps twenty spells total are Invocation spells). The vast majority of spells in this powerful school are Evocation spells. Although Fivefold Mages agree that Evocation magic appears powerful at first glance, they believe the power offered by Evocation is an intoxicant and belies a false understanding of power. Creating or forcing another to be an ally who fights for you permanently will be much more powerful in the long run than a splashy spell such as a fireball or lightning bolt. Therefore, Fivefold Mages ultimately see Evocation magic as barely above illusion magic on the chain. It is a seductive school that provides little long term benefit and little power.



View on Alteration, Abjuration, Alchemy and Geometry:


The Fivefold Mage views these schools as tools, but not the real path to power. Therefore, although a Fivefold Mage has access to these schools, they cannot have more than one spell per level memorized by all of them together, except for special circumstances. For example, a Fivefold Mage might want to keep a Dispel Magic or Banish in their back pocket for an emergency situation, and that would be fine, but they could not memorize a bunch of spells from this category. Note that Alchemy and Geometry are lowered to tool status because of the temporary nature of their work, which would otherwise increase in stature to be truly part of a Fivefold Mage’s path.

It is possible for a Fivefold Mage to memorize more than one spell per level when facing a highly specific and unusual situation. Adventuring or meeting guests or going shopping are not unusual situations. For example, a Fivefold Mage who knows Transmute Rock to Mud might want to memorize it exclusively because she is delving into the back of a cave in order to create a complex to house her and her minions.


View on Evocation Bleed


Alzar identifies what he calls the Evocation Bleed into other schools. He points out, that Evocation creates a ball of fire, and that is powerful. If conjurers conjured a ball of fire from the Elemental Plane of Fire, and it had the exact same range and damage dealing capacity, they might be different in method, but they are identical in purpose. This is an example of what Alzar calls the Evocation Bleed. It is when other schools try to mimic the power of Evocation by another method. Common spells that he calls out for this are Burning Hands and Melf’s Acid Arrow. While one is technically alteration and the other technically conjuration, Alzar argues that they are Evocation-like, and then subject to the Evocation Bleed.

No spell in the Path counts for Path bonuses, if it is an example of the Evocation Bleed. So, for example, despite Melf’s Acid Arrow being a Conjuration spell, it is NOT in the Path.

[Abe Sargent]

Class Abilities:


One Extra Spell/Level is Gained, must be Path.

Fivefold Mages reduce the spell level by one when researching spells in The Path.

Chance to Learn spell in The Path increased by +15%

Saving Throw of Targets when targeted by spells from The Path at -1.

The wizard can only gain one weapon when created, and must put all other weapon proficiencies into non-weapons.

No more than one spell per level can be from the group: Abjuration, Alteration, Alchemy and Geometry barring a highly unusual and temporary circumstance.

Because of the focus on external aids for power, the Fivefold Mage must invest a focus item as the method through which magic is cast. Loss of this item requires the crafting of another before the Mage can cast magic again. This is usually a hidden and secret item kept on the Mage’s person at all times.

Due to the intense physical nature of the class, they must have a lab, library and workbench with 1,000 gp value per level, and an upkeep of 50 gp/level/month in order to do the necessary research to keep themselves sharp. This is a requirement for both library and workshop, so a 10th level Path Mage needs a 10000 gp lab AND a 10000 gp Library, with 500 per month upkeep for both. If they lose this, then they lose all benefits of this class until they are again equipped. They do not lose the hindrances of the class, however.

They can store spells like an Artificer, but cannot begin to do so until level 6, instead of level 4 like an Artificer that focuses purely on the enchantment of items.

Fivefold Mages have a chance to identify a magical item by spending a turn peering at it closely and examining it. This chance is their level times 5. This is similar to, but not as strong as, the Artificer.

Fivefold Mages can control undead as an evil Priest of the same level, and this ability extends to extra planar beings which are considered undead with the same hit dice for this purpose.

[Abe Sargent]

In addition to being a class, being a Fivefold Mage is also a kit that is required for the class.

Non-Weapon Proficiencies: Necrology, Netherworld Knowledge, Spirit Lore, Hypnotism, Ancient History, Ancient Languages, Reading/Writing, Herbalism, Alchemy, Research, Sage Knowledge (Alchemy, Inner Planes, Outer Planes).

Weapon Proficiencies: Staff or dagger are the only two choices, and a Fivefold Mage can never use non-weapon proficiency slots for weapons or combat related skills.

Recommend Traits: Precise Memory, Obscure Knowledge, Glibness

Benefits: Due to their ability to talk smoothly and brush aside complaints, Fivefold Mages never suffer from a negative reaction penalty due to controlling or animating undead.

Hindrances: Fivefold Mages revel in power and the various accoutrements that it gives them. They enjoy decorating their undead with weapons and clothes, giving their constructs extra gems or metals, granting charmed allies magical items, and so forth. As such, the Fivefold Mage must spend a large portion of their money to make their home, creatures, and themselves comfortable, nice, and rich, as only suits a person of their power.

Additionally, a traveling Fivefold Mage must carry a large supply of books, ink, supplies, fine clothes, fine food, fine drink, a portable workshop, and more. They may have golem porters, wagons pulled by skeletal horses, and so forth,





Okay, most of the advantages are normal specialist ones, although a few have been lost – like automatic spells. They cannot have a kit beyond the base Fivefold Mage one. The limitation on spells outside their specialization is quite new and powerful. They have a wide specialization but a very important restriction on them based on the Evocation Bleed.

[Abe Sargent]

On a full moon, with a werebear watching over him, Alzar leaves this world mentally for 10 hours, and casts Alzar’s Familiar. Success. Meet the newest member of the team:


Dryshik, Mist Mephit

Lawful Evil

HP: 19
AC: 7
THAC0: 17
2 attacks/rnd: 1 damage each


Dryshik is Alzar’s second familiar. He can breathe a ball of mist 3x/hour. The target must roll a save vs. poison or take 1d4+1 points of damage and be blinded for 1d4 rounds – they hit automatically. He can also cast Wall of Fog once/day and can assume gaseous form once/day.

Dryshik was originally forced to join Alzar’s force when summoned by Alzar’s Familiar spell. Note that other-planer familiars are not eligible for the increased hit points that come from being a familiar, but they are more powerful than any familiar.

He can, once an hour, try to summon more Mephits and has a 20% chance of success, for 1d2 Ice or Mist Mephits.





Lastion is not happy about losing his status as Alzar’s one true familiar and thus, in a sense, closest ally.

(According to the Attract Ghoul spell, the familiar is in addition to any the Necromancer normally has, so Alzar can totally have both)

Alzar spends some time and learns Fly, Mordenkainen’s Faithful Phantom Shield-Maidens and Teleport and Continual Light. He can no long cast Tenser’s Floating Disc but it is in his spellbook.

He drinks the Potion of Longevity and loses 9 years. Alzar is still 37, but looks and has the body of 28.

[Abe Sargent]

Here is Alzar today:


7th level Fighter (Myrmidon), 5th level Path Mage (Fivefold Mage)

Lawful Evil
Human

Str: 16
Dex: 12
Con: 10
Wis: 16
Int: 18
Cha: 14

Hit Points: 51
THACO: 13 (Increased with Axe Weapon Master and +1 Axe) or 19 as Necromancer (+1 for staff, 18)
AC: 6 (Bracers, Ring) Gets +1 when fighting with Axe
Total XP: 21,668
Total Gold: 8,800
Age 37, Body - 28

Race Abilities:

None Taken

Class Abilities (Cannot use as Necromancer without losing XP gain):

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


Non-Weapon Proficiencies:

Myrmidon Bonus:

Tactical History 14
Fire-Building 16

Riding 11
Swimming 12
Reading/Writing 13
Survival 14
Blind Fighting
Etiquette 13
Endurance
Heraldry 13
Hunting 10
Fishing 14
Weather Knowledge 10
Orienteering 15

As a Necromancer/Fivefold Mage

Necrology 14
Netherworld Knowledge 10
Herbalism 14
Alchemy 12
Poison Use 11
Ancient Languages 10
Spellcraft 12


Traits:

Empathy
Fast Healer
Precise Memory


Weapon Proficiencies:

Bonus Kit Specialization:

Battle Axe

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

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


Staff – Can only use this as a Necromancer, +1


Class Ability:

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

[Abe Sargent]

Spellbook:

Alzar can no longer use: Tenser’s Floating Disc


5/3/2

First Level:

Alzar’s Undead Porter
Armor
Animate Dead Animals *
Cantrip
Charm Person *
Detect Magic *
Friends
Identify
Mount
Read Languages
Read Magic
Sleep * *
Tenser’s Floating Disc
Unseen Servant


Second Level:

Alzar’s Familiar
Attract Ghoul
Blastbones *
Continual Light
ESP *
Forget
Locate Object
Ray of Ondovir *
Speak with Dead


Third Level:

Bone Knit
Dire Charm
Dispel Magic
Fly
Searing Serpent *
Skulltrap *
Undead Summoning I

Fourth Level:


Mordenkainen’s Faithful Phantom Shield-Maidens
Vorthala’s Undead Turning Immunity


Fifth Level:

Teleport

[Abe Sargent]

Jewelry and Gems

Crowns: 5000x2 and 50x4, bracelets 600x2, necklace 1500, necklace 700, Tiara 200, wristbands 100x4,bracelets 10,000,500, 300; pearl necklaces, 400x2; Gold Medallion, 300, Jeweled Dagger 300;Gold Statues – 2000 gold each; Gold Diamond Bracelet – 750 gold

China and Silverware – 600

Gems: 1000, 500x4, 300, 200, 100x37, 50 x29, 10x4

Six pieces of jewelry worth 6000 gp total
Jewelery worth 3500
26 gems worth a total of 3100 gp
10,000 in jewlery

Books:


1000 gold worth of texts from Tower in Rahasia
2000 gold worth of Castanamir’s own personal journals.
3 books on golems and repair – 500 gold.
5000 gold in books on summoning and conjuring.
10 alchemy texts, 100 coins heavy, 1000 gold value to a library.
15,000 specialized summoning and conjuring texts
2500 gold Gingwatzim information, and the five books and two manuscripts that show it.
1000 gold, 12 books, info on making portals
3000 necromatic tomes for research



Items:

Potion of Sweet Water, Diminutionx2, Gaseous Form, Poisonx2, Telekinesis, Healingx5, Levitationx2, Spider Climbing, Extra Healing, ESP, Animal Control – Horses, Fire Resistance, Philter of Love
Gauntlets of Ogre Power
Bag of Holding
+1 Scimitar, Short Swordx2, Daggerx3, Mace, Battle Axe, Longsword, Two-handed sword
-1 Dagger
+2 Longsword
+1 Plate Armor, Chain Mailx2
Ring of Protection +1
Ring of Free Action
Wand of Secret Door Detection – 4 charges
Wand of Paralyzation 5 charges
+2 Throwing Dagger
The Sword of the Rock
Longsword +1, +2 vs Undead
Crystal Ball
Necklace of Adaptation
Periapt of Proof Against Poison +2
Rod of Cancellation
Rope of Climbing
Scrolls of: Read Languages, Aganazzar’s Scorcher, Odeen’s Magic Cloud, Levitate, Ray of Fatigue, Tongues, Invisibility, 10’ Radius, Protection from Acid, Demons
Bracers of Defense AC7
Amulet of the Planes (with command words)
Javelin of Lightning
Gloves of Fire Resistance (As the ring, but a pair of gloves)
Belt of Flying, 54 charges.
Cleric scroll – sanctuary, fire resistance, cure light x2;
Paperweight, Rary’s Mnemonic Enhancer – 2 charges

The Book of Years, Windscribe, 4 teleport jars, Mead Pitcher

Spellbook:

2nd level Darkness, 15’; Magic Mouth; Breath of Bewilderment; Bladeleap; Levitate; Flash
3rd level Icelance; Nystul’s Expeditious Fire Extinguisher; Item


Chest – 2 spellbooks for enchantment, 9 for evil, and 3 others, all trapped


5000 gold on a workshop/laboratory


Temporary Magic Items - Ring of Monster Summoning 1, Wand of Repulsion and Sphere of Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere – just waiting on Permanency to make them a real magic item.

These gingwatzim: Amulet +1 save vs spells, a Tim Gingwatzim. +1 staff technically a Pakim Gingwatzam. Short sword +2, technically a Graegzim Gingwatzim, and a multiform one too, can turn into Fremlin. Staff (+3, one of the Gingwatzim in bound animate form, and it talks a lot to its owner and complains)


Estaish has Ring of Pro +1, Shield +1, Chain +1, Longsword +2. Aleigha has Shield +1, The Sword of Spartusia and Ring of Pro +1. They each have been given 500 gold and each are now earing a Ring of Fire Resist



Here is what Alzar has on him typically:

Gloves of Fire Resist – They are smooth, sleek, do not hinder him at all, and give Fire Resist as the Ring.
Ring of Protection +1
Ring of Free Action – Moves at normal speed, while underwater, immune to Hold, Paralysis, Web
Amulet - +1 save vs Spells
Periapt of Proof Against Poison, Necklace of Adaptation
Bracers of Defense AC7
Belt of Flying


Bag of Holding

Throwing Dagger +2, Dagger +1, Wand of Paralyzation, Secret Door Detection. There are all in sheathes and hosters on Alzar’s chest and available for a quick grab and use

Short Sword +2, multiform Gingwatzim. Kept in a sheath on Alzar’s thigh
+1 Axe, kept on Alzar’s back with handle up, blade down, for easy retrieval
+1 Staff, used to walk with and poke things with

In Bag of Holding –

2 Teleport Jars, Mead Pitcher
Spellbooks (just two of them)
+3 staff for emergencies
Crystal Ball
Minor Potions and Scrolls in cases for them.
Rope of Climbing
Rod of Cancellation, encased so it won’t accidentally be used against something else
Javelin of Lightning
3 Oil Flasks


He keeps several pots on him in metal containers – Extra Healing, Healing Ones, Gaseous Form, Invis

He has a belt pouch with 100 pp. He has several empty pouches on his belt. He does not carry a backpack while adventuring, unless he came across something valuable.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar has created a lab/library wagon with books and lab equipment, and nothing else. He purchased two more wagons, so that they now have two living wagons, and a lab/library one.

Alzar has decided that Athaly and this region no longer has the sorts of things he is looking for. He needs a place with a larger city or more mages to trade spells with and trade items with. This is not it. The journey will take a while, perhaps a couple of months, but the relocation is needed. Aleigha has not allegiance to any place, so she is game, and Estaish has only been in Athaly for about 5 year, so he’s not native and south is closer to home.

The path south will be through woods, plains, and hills, and eventually the River Storm will become the new haunt. There are two major cities, lots of wilderness, and hopefully, the perfect combination thereof for Alzar.

[Abe Sargent]

They start out. The road follows the river for four days until the rivers turns off to the east. The road is relatively peaceful.

The main road continues to the east, but Alzar is going south. Lastion and his ghoul run into trouble on the fourth day, they land smack into three centaurs, who automatically start firing arrows at them. Alzar orders Lastion to flee back to the wagons and jumps out. He orders Megala to fly up so he can see the area, and jumps off, telling the others to stay here for a bit. They do, and Alzar runs in.

The Centaurs kill one ghoul (not Lastion). Lastion is arrowed for 6 damage 9/15.

Alzar sends Dryshik and Megala to the area to give him more info. He also gives Lastion some commands on where to go to meet him.

In three rounds, Alzar will meet Lastion. The Centaurs get three rounds of shots off. They hit four times and deal1d6 each time. Will the Centaurs kill Lastion? They easily do. Lastion dies.








With his familiar dead, Alzar suddenly stops. He makes a system shock roll. Failure means he is stunned for 1d6 hours, success means nothing. He rolls a 4 and makes it. He is pissed.

Alzar finds the Centaurs checking Lastion’s body and he casts Sleep. One falls asleep and the other two nock arrows and look for him. He has Megala and Dryshik fly through the trees to distract them. He readies another Sleep spell. They both fall asleep. Alzar smiles.

It’s hard to tie a Centaur up. He starts a fire. After a bit, he is sure he’s got it, and he ties them up. And then wakes them all up. He’s gagged them of course, just in case any are spellcasters. He lets them sit for a few minutes and gets a few sticks nice and hot. Megala and Dryshik are around.

“Would you like to know why you anger me? Would you like to know why people who pretend to be “good” annoy me so? Let me tell you a story. A griffon is trying to stay alive, and it does what it has to. It kills a horse and eats it. Is the griffon evil? Or is it just hungry? It’s just a predator. None of you would call it evil.”

“But a ghoul? Oh that’s different somehow. A wraith? A wight? All different. Some of your kind would shed a tear at the passing of a griffon. But a ghoul is “Evil,” isn’t it? Ghouls go out and kill to eat. They don’t torture their prey. They don’t prolong its death. They don’t have any moral choices, they just hunger, so they eat.”

“Did you ever stop to ask yourself if the ghouls you just killed were killers? Would you like to know the last time Lastion even killed an intelligent creature? It was more than six months ago. Lastion and the other ghoul have been feeding off animals, just like your griffon, or your wolf, or your wolverine. Did you stop and try to negotiate with it? Did you stop to see if it was a danger to anyone in your woods? Did you stop to think, in any way shape or form?

“This is why I detest those who claim to be doing things for good. You don’t care if you are right, or wrong. You don’t think about acts before you take them. You kill two ghouls because you think you are making things better, you think you are making this safer. But Lastion has spent the last year with me, killing goblins, orcs, and other evil creatures. Did you care? No you didn’t. Your kind never does. You don’t think, you just believe and act. You never stop to question what next. You never stop to ask about the orc children that you left parentless.

“You see, I don’t have to worry about that. I don’t have any pretention at all. I will kill a creature because it is in my way, or because I want the experience or because I want the items it has, or I am hungry. I never kill a creature because in my own demented head I have somehow justified to myself that it makes the world a better place. What kind of an ego you must have!

“So, you know that I not good, like you. I never will be. I think things through, and I make actions for selfish reasons without lying to myself about why. So, understand this. This is not some sort of lesson for you to live by and take home with you and try to understand. That would be what a good person would do. I am not going to give you an opportunity to learn from your mistakes. And that’s because, unlike those you have slain, I am evil.”

Alzar takes the hot sticks from the fire and begins to penetrate the Centaur’s flesh. He pins down each of the Centaurs’ six limbs to the ground with ember sticks. He opens up his three flasks of oil and smears it on each of their main bodies, but not limbs. He searches their bodies and finds 50 gold and takes it. Then he grabs their weapons and inspects them to see if any are magical. He casts Detect magic, and nothing the Centaurs have glows.

Alzar casts ESP. “Oh, and btw, where is your village? And how many of you are there? Thanks for your help. “

He stands up, and says, “So, here’s to making the world a better place.” He flings a burning brand onto each of the Centaurs, and they light up.


425 XP + 42.5 for 468 total.

Current XP 22136