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

[Abe Sargent]

The next room past the hall is a mortuary that was used to seal the dead, and a trap is on the sarcophagus here. They move on and encounter a pair of major illusions, seen through via the Gem/Star.

A few more minor rooms, like one with canoptic jars, are passed. A few traps are triggered, and then Alzar loses the small controlled golem when it triggers a fire trap spell and dies.

In a morgue there are an 8-set of Coffer Corpses, which Alzar controls. They require magical weapons to hit, and add to Alzar’s invulnerable army. There is a hidden crystal ooze that his minions kill in the army, and the key gets stuck in a lock and it takes him a few minutes to get it back out

A storage chamber with an acid trap triggers and hits for no damage on a Corpse. There are some stairs down a level, but they are forward and not below the previous one. There are a few crumbling holes in the walls and floors here.

Another lock is answered and a trio of mummies emerge are killed by Corpses (5 Corpses die)

9k

A large group of 21 zombies appear from a crypt and are controlled.

[Abe Sargent]

Behind the crypts the tunnel opens into a large, vaulted chamber supported by four carved stone columns, an Alabaster throne on a dais stands on the east end of the room and is flanked by two huge coiled snakes with female heads and a archway heads to the north.

They speak to Alzar and tell him to leave the place. Alzar rolls….and succeeds. These are guardian naga. He tells them he was sent by the family and rightful Sheikh to return the Annulus of power to its rightful owner They refuse to let him pass. Time to kill some lawful good guys!

(Good characters are supposed to trick, lie, and sneak across, in the text, btw “Good characters must not kill or injure the naga, which are also good.”)

Alzar’s zombies head in, followed by Corpses and his heavy hitters.

A few rounds later…(Random.org to the rescue!)

Both Naga have died, as have a bunch of zombies. Alzar carves their skin, teeth, and such.

And gained 14k

The archway opens into a royal burial crypt, where in a few cobras are angrily upset. Zombies, immune o poison, kill them. 1250 XP

The sarcophagus are opened and each one explodes, and more zombies die. Inside are four

4x Jeweled Death Mask, 2000 GP;

[Abe Sargent]

A doorway is on the far end, and a trap is opened and cracked by our zombie (now dead).

Just 2 zombies left after all of that.

There is an illusionary wall at the end of this corridor they walk through. Friezes in this crypt depict scenes of the former Sheikh’s life. The Gem/Star reveals a glyph in the floor they avoid.

Centered in this room is a huge sarcophagus, the final crypt, on a tiered dais, the top is carved in an effigy of a humanoid figures with the head of a squid- like a Mind Flayer. As each corner of the lid Is a stone scorpion with their tails coiled over their backs.

A zombie opens it, and the scorpion tail stings it for no damage (immune to poison)

There is a carefully preserved and wrapped mummy bearing a fabulously done gold death mask encrusted with jewels. The mask is in the form of a squid.

The zombie pulls off the mask, and the eyes underneath are a mind flayer, and they snap open and move to attack!

A Mind Blast tears into Alzar and…he is not stunned. Luckily, one of his anti-Mind Flayer weapons, the golem is here, and it moves to the front and smashes. Surrounded by undead, a golem, and an elemental, there is nothing for the Illithid to harm. Alzar takes some psychic attacks, but nothing threshes him

It dies two rounds later.

9000 XP for Alzar

[Abe Sargent]

The head is a mask and comes off. Apparently someone took the head of an Illithid, including the skull, tentacles, and everything, and turned it into this nasty little helm that gives the wearer powers like an Illithid, including metal attacks and more.

Alzar secures:

Bracers of Defense Ac2
22 Bolts of Ice, +1 Bolt, deal 1d6 extra damage, 2x damage vs fire

And the flail taken earlier is:

Ptah’s Royal Flail - +3 Flail, acts as Mace of Disruption

It’s identical to Osiris’s Royal Flail, in case you care.

According to legend, there were 10 such flails crafted in this area around 1350 years ago when Ptah’s cult was at its height

Alzar heads back, drops off the Annulus, and gets his reward all nice and snug.



End of Temple, Tower, & Tomb

[Abe Sargent]

Using the new Bracers, Alzar is -3 AC when he wields his Axe and the Bright Mirro in combat


Alzar has leveled up and is now level 11

Total XP: 379,725 (Level 12 at 750,000)


He gains a new spell each in levels 3, 4, and 5


Begin Treasure Chest




This is another of the quick little adventures we’re adding in to spice things up. Again, not a lot here but a quick little stop.

[Abe Sargent]

One of the death masks he took from the Tomb of the Faceless One looks a bit odd. It has a very different shape than the others do.

He takes it back to Ber-Gathy, and the Vizier knows the basic shape. There is a Great Stone Face that looks over a valley about a day’s march north-west of here, on the north-face of a small chain of sharply spiraling hills.

The next day, Alzar memorizes some spells, grabs the Flying Carpet and heads over, and arrives, eventually, at the Great Stone Face.

[Abe Sargent]

It’s a stone, grey, idol, with an unknown type of stone. It’s about 20 feet high, still has carving marks on it, and it located about 150 feet halfway up a cliff, so Alzar is on his carpet while examining it. The Gem/Star shows a hidden path behind it, and he can’t get to it. The Stone Face is too big, can’t be moved, and after 30 minutes of trying to find a way to that path, he just gives up and teleports the 25 feet away.

There is a old cavern back here, and a pair of Behir use it as their home. They see Alzar and move forward.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar uses the Warp Marble and it fails to capture a Behir. He should have known to summon the elemental early. Ah well, not doing it in the middle of combat. His axe is out. A lightning bolt is breathed from one for 17 save for half and the other for 19 save for half Alzar takes 27. Alzar mentally activates his Zoster of Zeal. They arrive and battle begins

Alzar 33/60

Init – 3 vs 9. Alzar needs a 2 to hit them, and hits the first one three times for…3, 5, and 6 for 44 damage and its still around. They need a 14 to hit him, but get a few attacks to do so. He takes 11 more.

He uses his Ring of Quick Action to make sure he gest Initiave. He kills the first Behir, and nails the second twice for 21 damage. It hits once for 5.

Alzar 17/60

2 vs 1. The Behir wins init and bite shim once for 7. Alzar slays it.

Dead lizards walking.

14k XP

[Abe Sargent]

He’s not going to do that again, and summons a Earth Elemental.

He carves some stuff from the Behir

There is an exit on the back side. The Elemental leads.

Back here is a large natural chamber, and a few accoutrements of the presence of a mage, long ago. There is a locked and trapped chest, a few books, and items. There is no way into this room, and a quick check shows that the mage spread lead and other items all around to prevent some scrying and some teleportation. (Not all). The chest is wizard locked, and knock, and a Dispel Magic on the traps, opens them right on up.

This appears to be a hideaway place – the sort of place a mage secures in a secure location that they can use in case things go really badly. The items here suggest it:

1 Spellbook
2 Potions of Healing
1 Potion of Neutralize Poison
1 MU Scroll – Stone to Flesh, Teleport Without Error, Dispel Magic
A handful of gems worth 2000 gp

[Abe Sargent]

There’s also some emergency rations and water. You can see everything – potions to heal, items to repair, dispel, and send you back with a spare spellbook here.

Alzar takes everything, and will send the gems to the College.

To be dispelled and opened later

Transmuter’s Spellbook :

1st: Burning Hands, Fist of Stone, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Identify, Cantrip, Color Spray
2nd: Strength, Shatter, Wizard Lock, Knock, Bonewood, Melf’s Acid Arrow
3rd: Dispel Magic, Lightning Bolt, Blink, Explosive Runes, Haste, Fly
4th: Wizard Eye, Stoneskin, Polymorph Self, Dimension Door
5th: Passwall, Teleport, Farscry, Feeblemind
6th: Teleport Other, Disintegrate, True Seeing
7th: Teleport Without Error, Phase Door, Power Word Stun


Even here you can see the Spellbook has spells that are defensive, reparative, and information-gathering, and are selected to help the Transmuter who came here. Alzar will use Dispel Magic until it’s free to crack this open, dispelling any harmful protections.



( I removed a major item from the area – Censer of Controlling Air Elementals, and gave It the potions and scrolls instead)

Alzar spends the night, and then teleports back out and flies home.

End of Treasure Chest

[Abe Sargent]

The Dungeon of Death




Produced in 2000, this is one of the final 2nd Edition modules that was published. It’s got a few fun things, but for the most point, it’s a bit…blatant…

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar checks in and does another 3 month stint with the College teaching a course on Necromancy. Due to the Ring of Sustenance, he can teach and do other things at the same time, and he’ll study and research some of his old spells again:

Alzar’s Familiar
Alzar’s Axethrow
Alzar’s Quest

They want and will take the Quest spell. They aren’t really interested in the other two.


He finishes dispelling the spellbook, memorizes some stuff from it, and also prepares his own spellbook for 6th level magic by adding spells from the College’s Archives and spells from other spellbooks such as Summon Least Yugoloth.

[Abe Sargent]

While teaching, the College puts together an expedition to a place in the south, beyond the ridge on the south-facing edge of the ridge down there. The expedition pierced into the dungeon and after a few hours had to leave. The evil acts done in the centuries of history of that place have tainted it and made in evil. They’ve nicknamed it the Dungeon of Death.

People who are not evil steadily lose their powers and confidence, becoming shells of their former selves. After they came back, they ask Alzar to head out once he finishes the course, since we would be unaffected by the evil curse and taint the place has.

As the course ends, he prepares to head out and one-and-a-half days by Flying Carpet (you can fly at night with the Iuon Stone and Ring of Sustenance.)

According to research, there have been numerous things done of an evil nature on the Dungeon. A local race of tribal enemies bred human and feed on the babies, there were multiple evil planar creatures doing torture and more, a hag was sacrificing humans for evil powers, and a lot more.

The first-party-in found a lot of traps and such, that appeared to support people below. The Dungeon is inhabited. Time to head in and see what an evil Alzar can find.

There’s a small hill on the south-facing side of this ridge to the far south of Khaibar, about 100 miles from the end of Sand Mire in this direction. It used to be a mine back before the beginning of the Sand Mire, and continued in that capacity for some time afterward before that role ended and more villainous people took ahold of it.

[Abe Sargent]

The weathered grey stones and shattered gate of the stone blockhouse speak of a time long past, when skilled hands crafted a mighty defense, such as a large tower or small fort, to protect this mine. Chunks of rubble from scattered towers and tumbled walls litter the ground and yet there is evidence of recent habitation, tracks in the sand and some of the rubble has been moved to make walls and rudimentary defenses.

Since Alzar sees in the dark, he uses his Continually Lit stones less frequently, led instead by his new Iuon Stone. The way down is unit. He does not have Warp Marble with the Stone Golem hidden this time, instead he has brought it out just now, and they’ll head down into the Dungeon of Death together, a mage and his golem.

The detritus of previous inhabitation litters the entrance, and there is graffiti on the walls. A barbarian tribe must have lived here recently, perhaps leaving a few years ago. There is a wide stone ramp heading down from the entrance, and it is unguarded, and big enough for wagons or such. As always, the Stone Golem leads down.

After a while, the ramp ends, and neither the Gem/Star nor the Mage/Golem blunder into any traps or such on the ramp.

There are empty iron torch sconces in the wall as the ramp flattens and it levels out and a corridor stretches past for around 20 yards before it reaches a pair of iron double doors, rusted, with an iron frame and lintel. One is partway open and Alzar peers inside.

In the next room are some door embossed with an odd symbol of four vertical diamonds, three forming a triangle with the largest diamond in the center. There is a message inscribed in Sand Mire Common on the door that reads “Stand Fast the Iron Tower.” This door cannot be opened further without a lot of strength and noise. But it’s big enough for a mage and his golem.

[Abe Sargent]

There is a light breeze coming up from below, with an unusual damp feel to it – unusual for the Sand Mire.

The Gem/Star reveals a line of pit traps all around the edge of this room. There are three sets of double doors out, and all appear to have traps on them as well. There is a secret door that they will be using, untrapped. The first party here almost a month go found a lot of traps in areas near this room as well, but mentioned nothing of a secret door. Magic found it.

There are huge shadows here, despite the lack of light, and a heavy pall over the entire area. The dungeon beats to a different rhythm

The secret door is opened, and there is on the far end of a short corridor as well, and they open up into a strangely shaped room, with the south wall shaped like the head of a hammer, or the top half of an anvil. Exploring reveals a large number of murderholes beyond the wall here to the east, and this must have been a major room for defense. There is no door or way into that area. There are a pair of double doors to the west so they are opened and they head down a long corridor. After a while, double doors off to the south can be seen so they turn off the hallway and arrived at some iron doors.

A vaulted ceiling rises 20 feet above the floor in this vast room. Although it is now empty, its purpose is plan to see –it was one a great storage area, where enormous quantities of supplies and materials could be kept until needed, There is a lift mechanism here at an alcove house that is constructed of stone and metal chains, gears, and pulleys.

[Abe Sargent]

There is a doorway off to the east, and out of the hole come 8 shadows and flying from above a handful of mephits of various types – the undead creatures that have just waltzed into the command of their new master. As the shadows switch sides, the mephitis turn and flee before even beginning to attack.

As Alzar explores, a platform is still in good condition, and can be used to winch someone down. There’s no way he could get his Onyx Stone Golem down that thing though – it’d break.

The doorway opens into a hall that has a door to the south. There is, silently and quietly, a staircase down, no traps to speak of here. The dampness on the air comes up from there. On the other side is a on abandoned armory that had a passageway to behind the murderholes in that secret-door-led room off the entrance. The armory is smashed, broken ,and long since rusted. There are dozens of guards’ quarters off the armory, all of which are disused, and even and old, dried up bath house is here

Before heading downstairs, Alzar conjures an Earth Elemental. Because he is underground and near rock, the elemental is bigger than normal – 12 HD

Larger Rock-sy – 61 HP, 9 THACo, 4d8 damage, AC 2

After finding nothing of note, they head down the stairs.

[Abe Sargent]

All of the doors that once enclosed this room are missing, leaving behind a trio of open corridors, one in the center of each wall. Although nothing can be seen down the hallways, there are some odd sounds that emanate from the various directions.

A pair of humanoids, rutterkin, are here. They are demons, chaotic evil creatures from the Abyss also sometimes called tanar-ri. Their presence probably indicates more are here.

Alzar’s shadows flank out as the two move in and roar to bring in more assistance. Behind them Alzar’s has his major two allies – the golem and elemental as shock troops.

Rutterkin -




If this were Thorasia, Alzar could control these lesser tanar’ri with his normal powers. But he can’t. He’s just as much an outsider as they are. But he can kill them! The shock troops smash one Rutterkin easily enough and Alzar blows through the other.

(4000 xp)

[Abe Sargent]

However, there are defenders moving here, and he doesn’t want to get hit on the move. He creates a defensive formation, pulled away from the three entrances, defending the stairs up and the back of the room.


Coming down the hallway in front is an intriguing sight. There is a woman, with bat-like wings, and virtually no clothing, leading a group of flying mephitis and lesser demons. She is an alu-fiend, and she has with her 16 dretch ,8 mephits of various types, and she begins to cast a spell. She casts Minor Globe of Invulnerability but out of range of anything Alzar can do, and begins ot keep moving.

That’s not good. It’s rare to have an alu-fiend that can cast magic. Now,the even worse news is that the allies Alzar could summon, from his Horn of Valhalla, would be weak to the dretch and their stinking cloud attack.



As the children of Succubi, Alu-fiend can be quite dangerous on their own. They are similarly sexualized in order to attempt to distract men, but Alzar’s past that. Alzar did have one as an ally, Varley, one of the people in his circle of contacts back on Thorasia who would occasionally visit his lair.


And dretch? They are among the least of the demons:

[Abe Sargent]

None of these lesser tanar-ri are immune to normal weapons. That’s a good sign.

8 mephits, 8 dretch, and a magic-using alu-fiend. Vs 8 shadows, a golem, elemental, and a mage/fighter. Not great odds. While coming in, he uses the staff of Amun-Re to turn into a snake:


Serpent - AC4, HD4, 28 HP, 1d4 + poison (save or die) THAC0 17

They are now in range. As they get in range the Alu-fiend makes out the mark on Alzar’s soul, and cackles. She orders for more reinforcements. The Mephits are flying up and will likely be using their breath attack in a moment. Alzar casts Evard’s Black Tentacles right where the dretch are. Two of the dretch are going to use Stinking cloud to cover the area. The alu-fiend is going to charm person Alzar.

Let’s roll init. 5 vs 7.

The Tentacles drop and grab a bunch of dretch. It makes 1d4+level – so…13 tentacles, AC 4, with level of wizard as hp (11). Tentacles attack the dretch. Some hit for 1d4 and disappear (made save), some fail their save and take 2d4 and are trapped (and take 3d4 next turn). Meanwhile, dretch that were not entangled drop Stinking Cloud over the room, and Alzar easily makes his save. Alzar makes the charm save. The mephits fly up and breathe on Alzar four times for…1d8+1 x2 fire, 11d6x2 ice, and there’s a chance to save vs half as well. 13 total damage to him.

Alzar - 47/60

Three dretch are dead.(Tentacles that attach to someone will keep on strangling it even after death)

Alzar grabs his axe, and orders folks to move to melee them while their ranks are dropped.

8 vs 2. The alu-fiend casts Acid arrow and Alzar takes 6, and another 14 from the mephits. He kills a mephit with Vampiric Touch (for 5d6 damage – 21 damage). Two more dretch have died from tentacles, and the shadows have killed more. The mephitis are the next concern and he orders the heavies to take them on.

Alzar 48/60

4 vs 6. Alzar slays a mephit with weapons and shield bashes another for 10 damage and it’s reeling, and a shadow finishes it, and the last of the dretch are finished. Suddenly, the sound of creatures on the flanks can be heard, and 16 manes are coming from the east flank and 8 more dretch from the west. Alzar takes 5 from the Arrow, 15 from mephitis, and the alu-fiend begins ot back up, and casts hold person, but he is immune (Free Action Ring).

Alzar 28/60

2 vs 8 Alzar pulls off the line and uses his Horn of Valhalla to summon some berserkers on the left flank to deal with the manes. The shadows are ordered to handle the dretch, and that leaves the alu-fiend and mephits against Alzar and the Earth/Golem. Alzar takes 5 from the Arrow and the breath weapons have been used up for now, so a few claw attacks come his way for 7 damage. The enemy wizard casts mirror image to protect herself. That won’t work on Alzar (he sees through low level illusions) but it does on his other stuff.

6 level 2 fighters arrive and the snake is sent to back them up - AC4, 15 hp, spear or sword.

16/60

1 vs 2. Alzar drops the shield, and swings with his axe twice, killing two mephitis, and then quaffs a pot of extra healing with the now free hand. He then takes 7 from the acid and another 8 from mephits. The dretch lose some members, as do the shadows, and the manes and fighters are exchanging as well. The minions finish off he mephits, and the various shields that the alu-demon had are now gone. She casts invisibility.

26/60

Alzar uses his Ring of Quick Action to move this round first. He thinks he can kill the alu-fiend. Moving quickly due to his ring and Sandals of Speed, and immune to invisibility and mirror image, she probably thinks she’s safe. His axe leads the way and he swings. He first swing is a 5 (on a d20) and that…actually hits. (She has an AC of 2) He carves her for a lot, and the second hit finishes her off (she had 16 HP in this adventure, but that’s not right according to MM so I gave her full HP rolls (at 30) but that’s precisely what Alzar just dealt to her.

A ring she was wearing falls to the ground, the rest disappears with her. Alzar grabs the Ring and moves back. He shock troops are there to clean up. The snake is killed and turns back into a staff, and the fighters are losing to numbers. Plus, whenever a manes is killed, it leaves behind a noxious vapor that does damage to those close by.

At the end of the battle:

Alzar has 1 unwounded and 1 badly wounded shadow, 2 fighters, and unharmed elemental and golem.

Kills – 16 dretch, 16 manes 8 mephits, 1 alu-fiend sorcerer –

Alzar - 28/60

Ring of Protection +3

52500 for everything, mephits, rutterkins, etc.

[Abe Sargent]

Led by shadows and fighters, Alzar begins to move out and explore the level. There were several rooms of monsters that combined to come in and attack him. Let’s start exploring this stuff. To the west is the lift station on this level. It comes from above, and it can keep on heading down to the mines. This appears to be more of the living quarters for the abandoned mine.

There’s an area guarded as that hallway continues, and then it hits a storehouse here, with massive stone pillars that reach and hold the ceiling at least 50 feet in the air, and there are tons of objects on the ground like stone, cracked urns, rotted clothing, rusted metal, and in here is a crash of something cursing in a lower planes language that Alzar recognizes. A group of dretch moved in here to cover for those that came down the hallway, and there are 8 here too, guarding the area

Alzar has his heavies lead first, and pulls the fighters out, but stinking clouds hit them before they can and they die. Undead and constructs and elementals are immune. They move in and tears through the front ranks of dretch. The shadows die quickly, and the golem takes some damage, but the dretch are finished two turns of combat later.

10,000 XP for the dretch.

59/70 for the Golem


They run into a dead carrion crawler that had been fed on by the demons here.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar heads back and takes the east passage from the entrance chamber and runs into a room that opens up quickly, in a large, barracks-like living quarters. This is where the 16 manes were, and it smells bad. There are stairs that head down to the mines, and a hallway that leads off on this level.

That hallway is followed, of course led by the golem. There is a feast hall here, with some discarded dung being used to heat a fire, long since allowed to go out. The room has suffered a lot of chaos and disorder. Many stone tables were turned over for defenses long ago, broken, and more. Old bones show evidence of a battle fought here long past memory.

They head into a nearby kitchen and check it out, and it’s equally not-inhabited. A pair of mephits and a quartet of dretch on patrol head into the feast hall as they are in the kitchen, and are noticed. They wait until about halfway across before Alzar sends the elemental and golem to take care of them, followed by himself flanking with the speed of his sandals.

In a moment they confront the two, see how powerful they are, and begin a fighting retreat as dretch is pummeled dead. Alzar has flanked them and their lane of retreat is cut off. They choose to face the fighter/mage. Wrong choice. They are dead quickly, before reinforcements can arrive. Or even hear them.

7650 XP

[Abe Sargent]

There’s a cold storage room here, with a permanent enchantment to keep things iced and cold. There are body parts for the demons to snack on. They return and this time take the hallway forward from the entrance room.

They arrive at a ruined auditorium with a variety of exits off it.

Left/west takes them into a smithy and there were dretches here, pulled for the alu-fiend’s attack force, and the sharp stench of hot metal can still be felt. There are various rooms off the main one, each a specialty of forging. A group of 10 manes arrives from a hallway to the left as they investigate, and charge happily into battle, happy to die for the cause. Alzar’s two major players keep them off him, and drop a few, but they both take damage doing do (although not much and they are both immune to the death-poison).

51/70 – Golem
54/61 – Earthy

9000 XP

There is nothing of note being made at their workshops, which included carpentry and leatherworking.

To the left is a gem workshop, long since disused by the inhabitants, and now just used as a home for now-dead manes. They return to the auditorium and head another direction. It ends in a waiting room.

[Abe Sargent]

As they begin to move through it, four larger lesser tanar’ri, bar-lgura charge into the room to attack.





Two come after Alzar and one each his minions. They spring from 40’ away and attack first.

They have three attacks and a THAC0 of 15. Alzar has a -3 AC so the two on him need an 18. He is hit twice for 9 damage. Alzar axes and hits the AC0 twice out of three times for 25 damage from axe and shield. The elemental and golem hit once for an alive demon.

19/60 Alzar

8 vs 4. Alzar is hit once for 5 damage from a bite (2d6 on that one). His axe finishes the wounded one and he hits once more for 12 damage. The earth takes 11 from two hits and the golem slays the one on him


13/60
43/61


4 vs 8 Alzar casts Vampiric Tutor from his stored spells and kills a wounded demon for 22 damage. The golem and elemental gang up and smash the last one

Alzar - 36/60
Earth 43/61
Golem 44/70

24000 XP

[Abe Sargent]

To the right/east is a temple that the bar-lgura came from. This is a massive hall with vaulted ceiling and a large set of runes, carved into the floor, but have been defaced and written upon. The Gem/Star reveals a secret door, and after searching for a while, (Three search rolls, each 10 minutes long) he finds it and presses down a rune. Because it’s wounded, and abut to be un-summoned, Alzar uses the Earth Elemental to head first into traps and such.

A natural cave opens up, with doors down to a small cavern, with a statue of the original god the mines were dedicated to back here, undefiled. In fact, Alzar can feel the taint of the place ebb in here . Alzar finds a second secret door here, trapped by glyphs of warding. He casts Dispel Magic at them and they ebb away. The door Is trapped magically as well and triggers harmlessly on elemental skin.

The door opens and reveals a crypt and recalls the god worshipped here – Osiris. His symbols are on the coffins here.

There are a set of shallow stone steps leading to the long-lost forgotten crypt – no one record this here, and the current inhabitants have clearly not found this area at all. The lid of each of the three stone coffins is carved to resemble Osiris’s symbol and statue. Rulers? Clerics? Builders of repute? No idea!

Alzar’s never been afraid of a little tomb robbing. There are skeletons on the walls as well, arrayed. Non-necromantic ones. Alzar casts Detect Magic see what they have.

On the skeletons glow:

Platemail +3
Shield +2
12 stun bolts
Hammer, un ID’d
Scimitar, un I’Dd
Pair of Glowstones

The elemental opens the two coffins on the flanks, and each was trapped and decoys. The middle one though….

[Abe Sargent]

There are runes of power on this one that completely obliterates the elemental (failed its save). The golem opens it up. Inside are the long-since decayed remains of a major smith, buried in honor long since. There is a powerful looking pickax here and a shovel with the corpse and both are glowing from the DM spell.

Pickaxe of Piercing
Shovel of Digging

They head back and take the left/west exit from the waiting room. Next is a hallway that has two doors off it. The first heads into a set of makeshift chambers. These are empty, and luxuriant, with a beautiful table carved from a dark stone and chairs, and such. This might have been the dead alu-fiend’s quarters.

After a quick search:

3 Beads of Force
Philter of Love

Anderia’s Spellbook:

1st - Burning Hands, Chill Touch, Identify, Enlarge, Nystul’s Magic Aura, Shield, Taunt, Pro. from Good, Melt,
2nd – Melf’s Acid Arrow, Invisibility, Detect Invisibility, Ray of Enfeeblement, Tasha’s…Laughter, Infravision, Mirror Image, Blindness
3rd – Explosive Runes, Dispel Magic, Fly, Slow, Vampiric Touch,
4th – Life Bolt, Enervation, Charm Monster, Confusion, Minor Globe of Invulnerability
5th – Wall of Force, Demishadow Monsters


To be dispelled later.

[Abe Sargent]

The final room on this level opens into a chamber where another alu-fiend waits. It was once a storage room, now a makeshift quarters, not nearly as pimp as the other room. She looks up and asks what in the Nine Hells does Alzar want?

Alzar tells her and she agrees to sit and talk.

She’s been shabbily treated by the leader her for sometime, and excluded. Alzar agrees to fail a save for her ESP ability and she asks him questions. After seeing how well he has been doing, and the fact that he is marked by her kind, she offers to help him until the leader here is dead, and then she’ll be off to find a new master.

Alzar implies that he can be her new master. His mark is not hard to remember, he is powerful. After talking, he tells her that he has a Scroll of Binding and she can voluntarily expose herself to the magic. She considers, but instead offers her Wand of Secret Door and Trap Detection he takes it.

Before they are done, she should be able to tell who marked him since it was one of her own. She’s a bit surprised. “You don’t know?”

“I’ve made a few enemies here and there. Lolth? Zuggtmoy? I’ve killed both at times.”

“No. It’s neither of them. You really don’t know who marked you?”

“No.”

“Jubilex”

“Never met him. Last time I checked, he was romantically linked with Zuggtmoy. Are they still tight?”

“Yes they are, and from what I’ve heard, they’ve been getting tighter in the last few years. But I haven’t been to the Abyss in a while, it’s all rumor.”

“Alright, that’s good.”

[Abe Sargent]

She then tells him about the next level, and the leader, a nabassu tanar’ri with a magical sword and necklace of missiles.




On the mine level there were undead like ghasts and ghouls, and that’s it, the demons on this floor would normally have headed down for defenses but Alzar killed them all.


His group heads down and to the mine level. They move around the maze for thirty minutes, one hour, 90 minutes. Suddenly a flying shape emerges from a side tunnel, flying at Alzar, leading with sword.

The demon’s sword is on target and smashes for 11 damage. Alzar can just get in one counter attack with axe twice. The nabassu has an AC of -3 and Alzar needs a 9 to hit. He misses twice (rolled 8 twice) and the demon flies back into the side tunnel and is gone.


Alzar 25/60

[Abe Sargent]

The pair move on, and run into some minor bats, who fly off. About ten minutes later, another surprise attack comes from above, down a chimney. It flies down with the blade leading again and misses. Alzar slides the axe once for 1 and once for 9 and hits for…14 damage.

Nabassu - 53/67


Alzar’s chop slows it and the golem pushes it down to the ground.

Init – 2 vs 5. Alzar’s weapons roll an 18 ,18 . 29 damage from the axe twice. Then he uses a healing potion with the other hand. The golem swings and…rolled a 13 and…that’s a hit for…1, 8, and 2 – 11 damage total. 40 this turn. It pops off a large item from the Necklace of Missiles and tosses a globe at Alzar for 8d6, save for half – 22. Save? Rolls a 6, fail

13/60

13/67

Alzar cannot use his Ring of Quick Action . (Once per day, not even wearing it right now). So just have to go to init. Alzar’s side rolls a 4…not bad…versus…7. Faster. Alzar’s axe carves it once for 16 damage and it dies.

11000 XP

[Abe Sargent]

They follow the trail and it leads ultimately to his home:

Necklace of Missiles – 1 6d6, 3x 4d6
Iron Flask
Sword +3

Total XP gained?

114150

He gives some of the non-special weapons and armor and Necklace to the College. He’ll keep everything else.

What was unidentified?

Scimitar of Defending +4 – You may spend some of the + each round to increase AC for that round, but the weapon is weaker when doing so (so you could drop it to a +1 Scimitar that attack to give a -3 AC bonus).

Hammer of Luck - +2 Hammer, gives +2 vs saves as well when wielded.


End of The Dungeon of Death


A pretty simple by-the-numbers adventure that had little to recommend it.

[Abe Sargent]

Begin Book of Lairs II





For the next little bit we’ll use books like The Book of Lairs and II and maybe Treasure Maps or Chests to do some quick lil’ adventures, the sort that flesh things out a bit here and there but otherwise are

[Abe Sargent]

As Alzar leaves the Dungeon and gets onto the Carpet there is a chimera nearby and it sees him and flies at him. He grabs his Wand of Lightning and shoots it once for 14 (save for half to 7) and it breathes fire and hits for 12 (save for half). It arrives and lands. Alzar lifts off, casts Hold Monster and….it works. Alzar flies down and slices the Chimera into pieces and it has died.

5000 XP for the thing.


As Alzar’s Carpet lifts off, suddenly there are roars and four more Chimeras fly from out of a large cavern to the west a few miles away and begin to fly after him.

Uh oh. Too many creatures right now for Alzar to handle, and he’s used potions and Vamp Touch spells. Discretion, better part of valor and all that. He turns and flees. But they are faster than his Carpet and are getting close to breathing on him range. New plan.

[Abe Sargent]

He grabs an emergency potion of gaseous form he keeps on his belt and turns into mist.

The beasts are confused, as the Carpet is hovering in air, without an owner. They fly in and around for quite some time, one lingers while the others leave and head back, and then, after another almost hour of being on guard, it leaves too. Alzar waits, and they are gone. Then reappears.

He flies the Carpet back down, scrys on his tower in Khaibar, teleports in, swings by the temple to pay for some healing, and spends the night in the tower, and then learns a new set of spells and scry/teleport back.

After heading out, Alzar grabs the Carpet and flies and heads towards the Chimeras’ lair, carefully.

He flies to the entrance and then heads in. The cavern opens and is one giant room, and the four Chimera roar and swing towards him. He has time to cast one spell before their reach breath range. He casts Hold Monster targeting just one Chimera (gets a -3 to save for one target, and -1 for class ability) and here’s the roll….it works. Paralyzed Chimera.

He spins and retreats. Mentally activated the Zeal of Zoster of Zeal.

Three are flying after him, and he spins to charge them. They all three use their breath attacks to hit him hard. 3d8 x three, with saves for half. Here we go. 14 save to 7, 12 no save; 14 save to 7.


Alzar 34/60


He slashes with the axe as he turned and charged, and…hit twice for….31 damage. He takes a few pecks

28/60


They move to follow him and swoop after him. They are faster, but have used their long range weapon. Alzar turns and casts Polymorph Other. It makes it’s save and is not turned into a caterpillar. They swoop in, and another melee round occurs.

Alzar swings and…kills the wounded Chimera, and is hit for 8 more.

20/60

2 left.

[Abe Sargent]

Once again he grabs a Wand of Lightning to spit off 6d6 at an unwounded one. 21 and …misses its save. Melee again. He carves and kills it and takes 4.

16/60

The last one cries out and begins to fly off. He reaches into the spellcrux and grabs a darkness 15’ radius spell and sends it at the Cockatrice. He can’t use something like Continual Light blind its eyes, since it has three sets of eyes. The Darkness falls around the creature, and he swings in – he can see in Darkness 15’ Radius; and flies in to hit it now that it’s roaring and dismantled. He attacks a few times and it flees. And it flies out another charge from the Wand spits out and slays it.

20000 more XP.

He swings back down and kills the frozen Chimera. The rest of the area reveals a few items after he casts Detect Magic and flies around.

Philter of Persuasiveness
+2 Knife – Given to College of Wizardry


End Book of Lairs II for now

[Abe Sargent]

And I won’t be surprised if we hit it up for Book of Lairs I as well.

Alzar uses the stored spell to teleport back after collecting everything. He will restore Vampiric Touch today and Teleport tomorrow into his focus, the Sigil Ring he collected from the dungeon he entered here on Hamedh.


Alzar heads back to the Tower in Khaibar he captured from Nadir months ago. He has put all of his undead in here as guardians and his Stone Golem protects one area for him. His library and workshop were moved.

Alzar’s latest project is to build a large circle of containment that will be used to Summon Lycanthropes around the full moon. He can summon them to the restraining circle, and then force or bargain when them to make some allies.

A few days later, while Alzar is working on his project, a town crier begins to move through Khaibar, and announcing that something tragic has happened in the north…

[Abe Sargent]

X4 Master of the Desert Nomads



It’s time.


Can you believe that we’ve only mapped out half of the Sand Mire as of right now? We still have the entire western part to go! These final two modules (X4 and X5) are going to wrap up my mega-Sand Mire campaign, planned around a variety of backgrounds. Get ready for the last chapter of this campaign.

By the way, this is a really good module. X5 is solid, but this one is really strong stuff. Published in 1983. I’m just saying…

[Abe Sargent]

Word has just come down that a nomad army from the north hit and destroyed a town a few days north of the Kasbah of Ber-Gathy, called Prama. Apparently an army of nomads swung through and destroyed it almost completely to the ground.

Alzar heads up and begins to pack and get ready. He flies to the College to see what they know.

There’s just one Regent around, and she tells him that a couple of wizards teleported over to Ber-Gathy, where a battle is ongoing. Alzar teleports over as well and unfurls his Carpet and heads up to get a look at the ongoing battle.

Up here are about three or four Airlancers still alive, but barely holding on, and a pair of wizards surveying things as well. Alzar knows battles, strategies, sieges, and more. He is better than normal fighters and is a student of warfare from his days as a myrmidon leading campaigns and mercenaries.

This is a losing battle.

There are thousands of nomads pushing in and they have two large juggernaut golems with them - three more were destroyed by the mages. They have breached the defenses and are poring en masse into the town proper. Fires have been ignited.

Japheth Arcane appears near the group and orders a retreat of all people magical, and in a few moments o gathering everything, casts Mass Teleport and they all head back, taking some soldiers and civilians with them.

They arrive just outside of the College of Wizardry and head in.

A half hour later they begin to discuss what has happened and how Prama and Ber-Gathy have fallen.

[Abe Sargent]

It seems that the Master heard of the services that Mage Alzar did for the Sheikh of Ber-Gathy, Alzar, and his vizier in collecting the three items of power they needed to defend themselves. Apparently he wanted to strike back quickly, before defenses could be mustered or the items fully understood. Meanwhile, an almost simultaneous strike at the northern town enabled him to hit twice.

There has already been an army assembled from local places, like the Oasis of the White Palm, Khaibar, and Bralizzar. Survivors of Ber-Gathy and warriors of Ak’Ridar are assembling. People are coming quickly, and dervishes and other troops from holy sites in the north-east are heading in as well. The Bastion of Faith has sent a bunch of paladins and clerics already to the place the army is assembling nearby, and various wizards are heading out. Nadia and Retameron are both on site, and many of the caravan guards of the Sandvoyagers are being loaned out. Mercenaries like Locinda and Zira are arriving. The stronger soldiers from Khaibar are already en route and many of the shadier element are even being sent.

After being set back by attacks from Khalitharius and the loss of Xanathon and their plots in Ber-Gathy, the Master has rebounded and begun to send out these attacks.

The Master has assembled the most powerful coalition and union of forces the Sand Mire has seen since the fall of Amun-Re, and then the fall of the various powers that warred and fought for his empire in the wake. Those death throes of the ancient kingdom severed the land long ago and ever since.

To the west are many barbarian tribes who war on each other constantly. There are also a small area that is united under one banner – Sind, on the western end, and includes a few towns.

In order to gather these people together, this must have been someone with a tremendous amount of power. Or perhaps a huge amount of respect – religion there is vitally important. Perhaps the tribes were unified by faith. Alzar points out it could have been both. That gets a pause.

[Abe Sargent]

Anyway, the tribes, who began to be unified by the Master around 12 years ago, have now strengthened to the point of attacking and destroying nearby areas. While the town of Prama was easily destroyed, with few defenses, Ber-Gathy was fully ready, had a very professional army, defenses, magical items, and more, and was taken in a day.

They spend the night resting, and in the morning learning new sets of spells. The Arcane Order will send 3 of its 7 Regents, 4 of its 12 guild wizards, and 10 of 30 initiates to help with the main army.

The next day around noon, the Vizier from Ber-Gathy has arrived at the rallying point for people who fled. He has the Fasces but the other two items were lost. The Annulus is a major loss in particular. Sheikh Alzar did not make it, and was killed in his palace. The town brought more soldiers than expected though, and will make a large presence in the assembling army.

Alzar is being tasked with helping to assemble a reserve force to move in after the main force has fought and such. People that arrive late and stragglers, survivors of battles, and that sort of thing. He’ll be the college’s contribution to the reserve force, and has a vote of confidence from the Oasis and Khaibar in doing so.

[Abe Sargent]

Over the next week, the armies are assembled, and the major one heads out. Their goal is to hit the nomad forces that have taken and hold Ber-Gathy and push them back. Meanwhile the reserve force is just starting to coalesce

Reinforcements have arrived at Ber-Gathy, and a second siege in 8 days occurs. With battlements still destroyed (although assembled with magic quickly) the battle is not a long one. After a few hours, the attacking force is again triumphant, but the Kasbah has been destroyed in the two battles, and as the defenders flee they burn what is not torn down and the town of Ber-Gathy has been destroyed.

With no post or fort to defend, the force chases the retreating army of the Master.

A few days later and a reserve force of more than 1000 troops, plus clerics, paladins, dervishes from various places sets out to the ruins of Ber-Gathy, a day away.

[Abe Sargent]

Two days later they are in Ber-Gathy, using it as a temporary camp. The main army is a few days away to the north. No one is striking the army, not even bandits, who seem to know better right now. They are going to head out and hit the ruins of Prama to the north, closer to the main army to support it as needed.


They have the water needed from a pair of Decanters of Endless Water that give the army the liquid life. Food is easy to provide as well. Clerics cast Create Food, Alzar uses his magical implements, and those all supplement the food they brought and hunt for. They are eating roasted scorpions, snakes and insects of various sorts.

A few days pass and they arrive at the outskirts of Prama but the main army has fled deeper into the west, so the reserve army will head out. Alzar decides to stay here to explore the ruins of Prama and to see what he can find out. He can always teleport in later.

Prama:



(just ignore the river/water on the west side.)

[Abe Sargent]

As Alzar arrives there are smoking ruins, and a handful of stone buildings still showing signs of life. There is a small contingent of soldiers who have made the place their own. The palisade is broken and the locals are trying to rebuild. There were a few pens that held animals but those have been broken and the animals were killed or eaten. Or both.

Alzar has landed and steps in. He passes by the commander’s house and leaves to speak with him for a quick ten minutes. He’s very busy with lots of things, but gives Alzar a run down of the major incidents that occurred in the wake of the attack. There were subsequent attacks by scavenging monsters that carried off some of the corpses before they could be buried.

A cleric from a local temple swung by for a few days and concentrated and healed what she could and then left. She should be coming back soon from doing the same for other locals that fled.

Alzar heads out and finds some locals, including a impromptu sanitarium for a few locals that lost their sanity after losing their homes. A few villagers are staying here, hardy and headstrong.

[Abe Sargent]

He heads out to see what is in the surrounding area when all of the sudden there is a sound of combat from further away. Alzar unfurls the Carpet and heads out and a few hundred yards away, behind some rocks, is a cleric and she’s being attacked by something hard to make out.

Alzar rolls his Sage Knowledge proficiency and….he gets a 5 – he can tell what this creature is. He has never seen one, but this is a Soul Eater. Is an insubstantial clawed thing from another plane. There is a spell to summon them and then kill one victim it is targeted against. It will hunt that creature to the death, and then leave. It drains the Wisdom from its foe from each hit, and on 0 Wisdom it dies if it hasn’t already.




Here’s the problem with a Soul Eater. If it is defeated, it will return and attack the one who summoned it with twice the power and strength (and HP). That makes a bad choice compared to things like an Invisible Stalker or something else.

Alzar moves over and grabs his axe to help the cleric. It’s immune to anything but magical weapons, but her gada smashes into it – it’s magical. Luckily, she’s taken a few hits, but as a cleric, likely had a high wisdom already.

He activates the Zoster of Zeal, and then orders her down and his three attacks carve into the soul eater as he hits the creature for 1, 18, and 19, and hits for 15 and 12 for 27.

It roars and spins to attack. It slashes and Alzar and its claws hit him for 11 damage and he loses two Wisdom. He then stabs out and finishes it off (and gains 8k)

[Abe Sargent]

The beast fades and Alzar helps the cleric back up. They head back to Prama and discuss what happened. That would only have attacked if she was the target of a major spell-caster. She has some information she found on the outskirts of the area. She heard some nomads mentioning that they came through a great pass and then arrived in the nearby area to strike from the north, rather than the west as expected. There’s not that much north, but there are a few buildings from the pre-Sand Mire days.


The cleric heads back and Alzar heads north instead and find something that will give a clue as to where the enemy’s army came from or holed up. Any base of operations needs to be scouted out



As Alzar moves on, the sun hangs low over the hills in front, shining like red glass. There is a low throbbing sound, like a distant drumbeat. Everything else is suddenly still. From the horizon is a something – something flying. About a mile away is a large, winged creature flying into a lazy circle towards the area. It circles around and moves back, and again, patrolling as Alzar swings his Flying Carpet to see.

It sees him and begins to move closer. As it nears Alzar and his familiar can make it out – there is a rider on it. The creature is a wyvern, and riding on it is a wizard.

Probably a scout of the enemy. Maybe they must have a version of airlancers with wyverns. They begin to get closer, and flying at each other will quickly bring folks into each other’s range. Alzar prepares by casting Hold Monster at the wyvern. The mage has cast haste while out of range, and now they are knifing in even faster.

The Hold spell is released and….it has a -4 and….it rolls a 5. It failed. It is held, and begins to drop. Surprised, the magic user looks up in fear. Apparently he doesn’t have any other method of flying. He begins to chant a Levitate spell and it works, just before the wyvern crashes, dead, the mage begins to float, about 35 feet off the ground or so. Meanwhile Alzar was charging and casting Hold Person, and the mage….rolls a 7 and fails. Alzar finishes him off:

Ring of Spell Storing – Haste, Lightning Bolt

On Hamedh, Rings of Spell Strong only hold one spell. They are not keyed to the level like on Thorasia, so only these two spells can be stored. Haste was used, the Bolt is left.

Amulet of Finding.
500 gp


The Amulet allows anyone wearing one to concentrate and see anything else the person is wearing. Alzar pockets it for now.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar heads over and extracts the poison gland and sac and prepares them from the Wyvern. (Poison Use proficiency)

Then he heads out. The night continues, and his Iuon Stone is placed around his head.

Alzar spies a few creatures on the ground and then begins to near the ground himself. There are some large wolves here, heading toward the killed wyvern. If he were traveling on ground, he would likely have had to deal with them.

After another hour, Alzar spies a warm glow to the north-north-west about a mile and a half away. As he nears he sees a camp with more than 40 nomad soldiers. It looks like the enemy isn’t dumb, they have a camp here to protect their supply chain. That’s smart.

This camp appears to be a place to use for operations, supplies, and more. There are racks of food, weapons, tools, and such. Alzar flies over and high above, where he won’t be seen – he’s more likely to be spied out by landing than by being really high in the air at nighttime. There are sentries and some hastily build pickets. It’s not a permanent camp, just one used to secure things for the moment.

Alzar finds a few people in the center and unleashes the Staff of Amun-Re from his back. (He doesn’t carry any other staves with him). He uses it and spends this round spinning it. He continues to do so round after round after round ,building up a huge charge, and then unleashes the 10d10 lightning ball from the sky down on them, and then slides the Carpet over to a new vector and angle.

The ball crashes and kills 5 people outright and mayhem erupts. Everybody is up and scanning the sky. Lightning from the sky isn’t the most unusual thing ever, but this has the mark of magic lightning. The guards on the defenses are sent out and double guards are placed there and the fires are stoked. The commander comes out and orders some arrows to be set on fire and launched into the sky to see if they can find anything there by the arcs.

From his new angle, Alzar watches and waits. He then watches as a group meet to discuss what happened and then casts Evard’s Black Tentacles. The tentacles spring from the ground and more soldiers are killed.

Not wanting to continue to be harassed by something up above, and not wanting to abandon their post, the commander orders every one out of the camp searching in twos only. He’s lost more than a quarter of his command, he doesn’t want to lose any more to area effects.

Alzar’s Sleep drops some, who are killed, and Hypnotize another. By the time he has handled the various fighters, 24 of them have been killed. Time to finish this.

He flies down into the camp, with Bright Barrier ready. He casts Confusion as they move towards him, and some begin to mill around. A few missile weapons clank off him, and one actually hits for 4 damage. Then melee is reached and he blazes through them quickly, and then Vampiric Touches the last one to kill him.

[Abe Sargent]

The camp is unnaturally quiet. Alzar casts Detect Magic and takes the amulet from the leader and a banner that was hung above the camp and flies off again.

Alzar flies about 40 minutes away and finds a nice place to land. He casts Identify on the banner that he can’t figure out:

Banner of Renown

It gives +2 morale, +1 to hit and damage for up to 100 troops on the side of the Banner Wielder.

After id’ing it, Alzar casts Teleport and heads back to his tower for the night. He rests, memorizes new spells and stores Haste into the Ring of Spell Storing he procured from yesterday. He gains a slightly different cast of spells.


He scrys the place he finished at, Teleports over, and continues on.

[Abe Sargent]

Here there is an old caravan track that the army recently used. The desert in the northern part of the Sand Mire here tends to be a bit more rocky than sandy. No one uses the caravan any more (in the actual module you come across a caravan heading your way and join it. To be fair, in the actual module, the attacks are not in the desert, but adjacent to it, s you have to head over. Easy changes to make)

As Alzar flies, he sees a large force of more than 100 people moving toward shim at a quick clip. He flies down to the ground and casts Conjure Earth Elemental and summons a creature. Then he flies over to the top of a nearby ridge and sets up spying here. Passing below is a large troop, probably to reinforce the camp, or to find out what happened if they know it was destroyed.

Alzar has the Elemental swing in and attack from the side as they pass and it carves into them. It will kill 13 of their soldiers before some magic is used to kill it. Nicely done. They pass and Alzar moves on.

A mirage of an oasis is ahead and as he closes, the Lost Oasis disappears into the day. Hours later he lands for a meal up on the rocks.

As he does, an unusual creature, hiding silently and moving in shadows, approaches non-magically, thus staying off Alzar’s radar. Not even Gilded Ears detects it, until all of the sudden Alzar is backstabbed for 19 damage.

After spinning, it reveals a creature called a tabi. This creature looks like a cross between a small demon and a monkey. Demon wings and tail and humanoid head with monkey body, but demon legs. Alzar recalls it from reading the bestiary of creatures from Hamedh, and they might only be found here. They can be magically bound to wizard and forced to serve for life. But not as a familiar, they’re more powerful.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar’s axe is out but it flies away. Alzar grabs his stuff and jumps on the carpet to catch it, but it’s too fast and too far away. He follows as it moves to a ridge and then disappears into the ground. There are some old ruins flanking where is disappeared, and the site here appears to have been a temple once a while ago.




Alzar flies down and gets off the Carpet. There is a narrow ramp of pillars here that rise from the sand and at the low end, only broken tops of columns can be seen but as the ramp reaches the top, the columns are taller and more complete. Propped against the six uppermost columns are six skeletons, with ragged closing. They are held upright by nails.

Above everything under the sky three is an open area almost completely free of sand. In the center is a stone pool, now dry, and sand chocked. There is a doorway into a small chamber, still standing on the other side, and in here are three dead, aging coffins, once stood against time. One of the coffins has writing that can just be made out, and talks about these three lesser priests of the temple in these coffins guarding the rest.

[Abe Sargent]

There is what once was a secret passage but now is worn open a set of stairs that heads down. The stairs head under the earth, and there is a statue of a crouching sphinx on either side. They are carved out of a beautiful amber. They animate as Alzar descends and begin to attack – amber golems.

Alzar grabs the whistle of golem control and….fails to control the first one. He backs out (he’s faster) and tries the second and….it works and is under his spell. He forces the two golems to attack each other. As they do, he swings down and introduces his axe to the taste of amber (to the tune of 25 damage) After slaying the first golem, and controlling the second, he moves into the room.

Covering the walls of this room are frescoes that have been worn to time. The depict scenes of the afterlife and proper burials. They have been purposely defaced recently. At the far end of the hall is a raised platform on which stands a Vulture-headed man covered in gold-leaf. Broken bits of stone reveals other statues were once here as well, but only this one remains. The Gem/Star reveal a secret passage to the rear, but Alzar heads opens a door to the right first.

Back here is a storeroom, with canoptic jars, broken urns, and more rubble There are a few ancient scrolls that survive that tell of an ancient scorpion-like god that this temple once worshiped. He was charged with keeping away evil from the hidden world from this very temple.

[Abe Sargent]

There is a door on the left that leads into a burial chamber, and there are two ornate sarcophagi here resting on platforms. There is a warning not to disturb the peace, and the golems probably killed anything that came down here. They were the high priest and priestess of the faith that practiced here.

Alzar feels a faint tug, and opens the first and yes, as expected, out comes a mummy, and another opens the other sarcophagus. So easy to predict!


The amber golem moves into them and begins as Alzar slips behind, and nips in for some axes. They kill the mummies and the golem took 14 more damage. In the now-empty burial area are a handful of gems and jewelry, all cheaper. Alzar returns and opens the secret door.

[Abe Sargent]

This is the room of an odd creature –




It’s tabi is here too, and they move forward. Alzar’s golem moves forward and he uses Warp Marble on the tabi and….it disappears. The Stone Golem appears. The amber golem moves around to the rear of the creature, because there is a passage out. As Alzar moves towards it, it casts a spell at Alzar’s axe and….it fails its save and dissolves.

The axe is destroyed. Alzar pauses as it turns and gets punched by the stone golem. Alzar throws the Trombash of Returning and hits for 10. The creature casts darkness at Alzar. Golems bite it as Alzar grabs the black Iuon stone for his head and uses it.

The creature roars in pain, and then dies. 12k for both

There is a pit back here with a small gate on it. Alzar orders the Amber Golem to jump into the bottomless-looking pit before he loses control of it. They search and find a Mirror.

On the other side is a figure dressed in black. Hooded. It writes on two pieces of paper, and hands them to the mirror and they appear. Alzar grabs them.


“Come and enjoy my hospitality. I await you beyond the great pass.”

“The bearers are to be given escort to the great temple by the hand of the Master.”

It bows and fades.

There are a few notes the creature and the Master passed back and forth via the Mirror of Sending. It too big to take and too strong to break, so they do a quick search and a Detect magic spell is cast:


MU Scroll of Bind Tabi (5th level)
Potion of ESP

The procedures to bind a Tabi requires a lot of additional supplies Alzar doesn’t have. But he does have the tabi in the Warp Marble.