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

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar’s party descends to the lower level of the Caverns. He arrives at a long tunnel that goes in many directions. He again takes the leftmost first. It has a cave with an Antipathy spell on it, and pushes away evil. He orders the neutral Megala into it and sees nothing here but a fresh pool of water and mushrooms. He returns and takes another path. This has a huge ceiling and a great cavern. A skeleton rounds the corner and is attacked by something winged and reptilian that flies over. Alzar orders the glabrezu to teleport behind it and it does and is incinerated. 14 skeletons left. It moves and is about to turn the bend. Alzar retreats from the unknown, and grabs a Stone and summons an Earth Elemental from behind a bend. It moves around the bend and begins combat with the thing. Alzar uses his Mud Ring to summon another and it joins the battle. Soon, the creature has died. The first Elemental is down to 29 hp.

He turns the corner and sees the corpse of a Dracolisk. This is an unusual variant of a Basilisk that is physically stronger and its gaze incinerates rather than petrifies . Alzar takes its skin, teeth horns, and blood like a dragon. There is treasure here:

1000 pp
7x100gp gems
Jeweled Scabbard – 1850 gp
Wand of Magic Missiles – 100 charges

He manages to ID the Wand and switches the one on his bandolier with it

A tunnel on the other side of here leads to some empty rooms and a fungi cave with eight Shriekers here. A Skelton causes them to scream and they are slain. The noise causes a giant rhinoceros beetle and Hill Giant to move from their cave to the fungi that they farm. Alzar orders the elementals to the front and moves behind them. He loses the wounded one but slays them both.

Their cave is explored as well, and nothing back here save a giant weasel pelt worth 850gp.

[Abe Sargent]

There is a back exit from their cave which leads to another fungi cave with two shambling mounds protecting it. Alzar summons a Vrock from the Demon Staff and an Air Elemental from the Censer. Meanwhile, the Elemental and undead move to the Shambling Mound. After three turns, one is dead and four skeletons are gone. 10 left. The Vrock joins the battle and the other mound bites it.

The chamber has nothing in it cave two exits. One leads to cavern with many stalactites and stalagmites. A Roper attacks and grabs and slays a skeleton 0 9 left. The Elementals move in and smash one while Alzar casts Evard’ Tentacles on the other and it brought down by it. There is nothing in here either. The other exit from the fungus cave arrives at a long tunnel that continues. A dead end branches off, and then a side tunnel. Inside are twenty two trogs, which move out and attack. Alzar drops a Skulltrap and slays them. He then animates 12 to join his group. 21 skeletons.

The regular tunnel moves on and hits a angry pair of three demons known as Chasme.



Alzar commands one successfully, and the other two attack quickly. They try to hit him and both would have hit save for the Cloak. Alzar orders his creatures to attack the Chasme. In two turns, they are dead save for the one he captured – and it has 40/40 hp.

The one controlled reveals their treasure, an Elven Cloak and Pair of Elven Boots, and 200 pp and 4 flasks of holy water. Alzar takes them all.

[Abe Sargent]

They continue down the passage and slay a Trapper that kills a skeleton – 19 left. The passage bend sot the left and widens, with two passages opening. Alzar takes the one of the left. After several dead paths spread out from it, he arrives in a giant cavern of stalagmites. A central formation of four bar-lgura demons are here and they move to attack.



Alzar uses Skulltrap from his Ring and flings another one at the group. They take damage and forces smashes. The Elementals and demons slay two and they smash the Chasme, which they don’t really like that much. They deal 25 damage to it the Chasme. They win init and one drops a Darkness spell over the party and the other turns invisible. Alzar cleaves one with Blind Fighting and it falls. The other breaks away and casts Spectral Force appearing like 15 Vrocks are gating and joining its cause. That’s way more than normal, so Alzar is suspicious and checks -= it’s an illusion. He orders his flyers to converge on and slay the bar-lgura, which they do.

Gold and Ruby Bracelet – 4500 gp; Platinum Necklace – 600gp; Jade Ring – 550 gp;

[Abe Sargent]

The giant cavern continues and Alzar follows a 15’ wide passage that leaves. He arrives in a smooth cavern with unusually smooth walls and an exit on the other side. Out from behind a bolder emerge two Beholders. Alzar orders a Wall of Fog dropped between them and him, and two skeletons to move forward and draw their rays. Instead of doing that, they attack the Beholders which pop and explode, destroying them. These were the rare Gas Spore fungus that looks similar to a beholder to keep away prey. 17 skeletons left. There is nothing in here, and the tunnel winds up back at the first tunnel Alzar was at when he entered. He takes another one instead.

He arrives at a small cave and one look around this gruesome place shows that something awful uses it as a burial crypt or trophy room. The walls are lined with limed over corpse and a fresher ring is near the middle. Alzar sense undead and tres to control it. It’s too powerful and pushes him aside. (He rolled poorly). Out from the corpses steps a powerful and uncommon undead called a Bodak. The powerful thing moves at them quickly, and Alzar orders the Chasme to use telekinesis on it. It makes the save. The Vrock steps into it and the Elementals are behind. The Vrock is slain instantly by the creature’s gaze as attacks pummel it. It attacks the Air Elemental and slashes it for 17 damage. The Elementals dash it again, and it flees, but a dagger from Alzar cuts it down.

The trogs gave it their treasure and looked on it as a god. In here is:

4000 gp
300 pp
20x 50 gp gems
Potions – Diminution, Tongues
Candle of Invocation – CG
Ring of Warmth
Scroll – Protection from Possession
Magic Scroll – Write, Fool’s Gold, Magic Mouth, Dispel Magic, Distance Distortion, Statue
Bracers of Defense AC7
+1 short sword
+2 scale mail
+2 spear
Serpentine Owl Figurine

We’ll look at the Serpentine Owl later.

[Abe Sargent]

Three caves off this one and another path from the front land in areas with five gargoyles, a behir, and an Umber Hulk. Alzar’s Chasme is slain and he loses all of his animal skeletons and lacedons. The only treasure back here are Wings of Flying, 5000 gp diamond, +1 horsemans’s pick and 23 10 gp gems.

He heads back to the passageway that has another tunnel from it and moves to it. As he does, he is teleported to another place, but none of his minions are. Just him.

He arrives at a cave with two Taurians attacking. He casts Dire Charm on one and succeeds and it begins to attack the other. The other moves to attack its pal, and he watches as they slay each other, with him finishing off the one who won. There is a cave here that enters a giant labyrinth .Alzar enters it invisible and moves around. He finds a treasure in the middle of 1000 pp and a +2 hand axe. He continues and finds the way out.

[Abe Sargent]

A teleportation spell transports him to a room with no means of exit or entry and three empty, animated suits of armor. They don’t sense him, and are moving in a sentry pattern. Alzar smashes one for 15 damage and battle begins. He double smashes and hits twice for 26 damage and slays it. The others miss. They win init and he takes 10 and then he misses. He jumps out of the area and lands elsewhere. They move toward him and he smash the one that’s wounded twice and slays it. The other hits him for 9 damage. He takes no more as he finishes it off. He teleports to the next room.

This a natural cave with 6 Centaurs drinking and eating and talking. Alzar’s appearance disturbs their day, and they are not happy. They don’t speak his languages and they draw bows. Alzar casts Sleep and drops them all. He slays them and teleports to the next area.

This is a magical summoning room. There are protective circles on the ground. Alzar sees a cave above the magical circles of protection and grabs his Broom of Flying and heads up. There is an identical set of circles up here, and Alzar studies them. One is out of place,a and is not for protection. Alzar touches it and teleports back to the passage he left, just 20 feet down the corridor, but beyond the teleportation field.

[Abe Sargent]

He won’t be able to bring any of the creatures with him, since they cannot get through the area due to some force there. Alzar moves on. H should be able to return for them.

He arrives at two great iron doors. There are some runes in Magic, and Alzar grabs his Monocle and reads them. They say that Iggwilv’s great treasure is beyond, not to disturb it for vengeance will be sought on you.

The gates are too heavy to move. Alzar waits for ten minutes and then summons a Glabrezu. He also wants some muscle, so he sounds the Horn of Valhalla and 13 level 2 berserkers answer the call and will fight on his behalf. The Demon pushes open the doors and they move in.

A corridor of red marble is carved into the earth. A shimmering translucent screen beckons, and Alzar and the demons and berserkers go through. (The screen prevents scrying teleportation, etc in and out of the chamber it surrounds).

[Abe Sargent]

The room beyond is brightly lit. The chamber is spherical and the roof is made of lapis lazuli. A serpentine shelf in front rests a warrior maiden. Many other accoutrements are here. She wakens as Alzar moves in and sits up. She thanks him for rescuing her and tries to charm him using her innate ability. It fails, because he is immune to Charm, and he notices a pull at his powers. He realizes she is undead, and tries to command her. She is a vampire/warrior. He fails – rolls just a 6. Berserkers move in, and attack, but only three can reach her. The Demon is held back as reserve, and Alzar casts Ray of Ondovir. She fails and will try to Charm him again, but nothing happens. The magic Berserkers can hit as though they had magical weapons and one nicks her for 7 damage., Another Ray from his Rng fires off, but she makes her save and ih her mighty +4 sword the granddaughter of Iggwilv, and the true treasure of this place, cleaves a berserker. The glabrezu teleports into its place and moves to attack. She wins init and carves into the demon for 12 damage. She is hit for 17 damage and Alzar casts Continual Light at her eyes and she fails her save and is blinded permanently. A vampire exposed to tat much light shrieks, and her defense drops. 23 damage is deal t to her and a dagger form Alzar adds 10. She recovers and swings wildly and misses, and is slain and the screen falls.

Alzar moves to inspect the room. He finds a cache of books, an grabs the first one. As he does so, a creature teleports in to protest his ownership of this book – a Xag-Ya.

[Abe Sargent]

The berserkers and glabrezu hit and it crackles energy into Alzar for 12 damage after he makes his save. Alzar adds his axe to it and it pops. Then Xeg-Yi pops in and fights. It stabs Alzar for 17 damage of negative energy and his group slay it. Alzar remains on guard for ten minutes but nothing more arrives. He looks at the book and it is titled the Demonomicon of Iggwilv, a potent spell book.

This cache is secretly a coffin, and the vampire is reforming her body here. He uses Holy Water on it and then removes the rest of the massive bounty from the room.

6 Folding Screens, 1000 gp each
2 Carpets – 1000 gp each
2 Inlaid Stands,, 2000 gp each
4 Porcelain Vessels – 1500 gp each
Crystal Bowl – 3250 gp
Silver Tripod and Brazier – 750 gp
Platinum and Diamond Tiara – 27000 gp
47000 worth of random jewelry

Slippers of Spider Climbing
Everburning Incense
Manual of Bodily Health
Manual of Gainful Exercise
Manual of Quickness of Action
Tome of Clear Thought
Tome of Leadership and Influence
Tome of Understanding



Prison of Zazig

Daoud’s Wondrous Lanthorn with four crystal lenses, Ruby, Topaz, Emerald, Diamond lenses and can have Amethyst, Jacinth and Sapphire as well.



Solo – Gelatinous Cube, 8 Dire Bats, 28 Stirges, 28 goblins, 8 trolls, Clay Golem, 8 Mobats, Lurker, 5 Grey Ooze, 2 Formorian Giant, Giant Snapping Turtle, 2 Cockatrice, 4 Dao (5k each), Chimera, Dracolisk, 8 Shreiker, Hill Giant, giant rhinoceros beetle, 2 Shambling Mound, 22 Trogs, Trapper, 3 Chasme, 4 Bar-lgura, 2 Gas Spore, Bodak, Behir, 5 gargoyles, Umber Hulk, 2 Taurian, 3k from Suits of Armor, 6 Centaurs, 1 Vampire/warrior, 1 Xag-Ya, 1 Xeg-Yi

Used – Blastbones, Dispel Magic, Evard’s, Skulltrapx2, Dire Charm, Sleep

[Abe Sargent]

The books are powerful magic. The one of Bodily Health will raise Con by one, the Clear Thought one raises INT by one (but Alzar has already read one, and another won’t help), Gainful Exercise gains 1 STR but as Alzar wears Gauntlets of Ogre Strength, they won’t impact him in any useful way, Leadership and Influence is a point of Cha, and Alzar has already used one, Quickness DEX by one and Understanding raises WIS a point.

Serpentine Owl named Zandran – Two uses, and it’s a figurine like the Ebony Fly, and you can switch back and forth between them for eight hours a day.

1 – a small owl, very sneaky AC7, 3 hp, THACO – 20, 1d2x2 damage – 95% silence, infravision, keen hearing, telepathy with owner

2 – Giant Owl, AC6, 19 hp, THACO – 17, 2d4, 2d4, 1d8 -

The Prison of Zazig is a brass cage roughly two feet high. It has spells to protect both the interior and exterior. The door is sealed by a Wizard Lock as if the possessor cast it. No magic can target the cage on either side. Using a Command Word, Alzar can imprison any creature into it with a save at -3. It ca only be freed by Alzar. A creature trapped does not need food, water, air, etc. It does know what is happening. A powerful wish or something similar can release it.

A scroll nearby says that Iggwilv captured a mighty demon price in the Prison named Graz’zt. Eventually, he was freed by an ally with a powerful magic, and he sought his revenge on his captor. She forced him back to his plane, but not before he destroyed much of her magic and power. Her servants fled with much of her treasure, and she retreated here to build a home for her granddaughter. She left the Lanthorn here to hopefully cure her of vampirism and left. No one knows where.

Finally, there is an artifact here – Daoud‘s Wondrous Lanthorn:

The Lanthorn eats crushed gems – diamonds at a value of 1000 gp crushed for 10 years of charge; Topaz, Ruby, Sapphire, 400 gp per 10 years so its easier; generic gems for 1500 per ten years. Maximum 100 years storage.

It is already fully fueled.

Each face can be shuttered so no light shines. It has crystal lenses in each of the four directions. They will heal 1d4+4 hp daily after full exposure, and half poison and disease – but not cure it.

A replacement gemstone can be made from 10000 gp gem of that time and Enchant an Item and Permanency spell. Three are missing.

When three openings are closed and one of the gem prisms is inserted into the one remaining, a spell effect occurs that burns fuel aimed in that direction after commanded by the owner:

Ruby – Hold Anything
Topaz – Slow
Emerald – Haste
Diamond – Color Spray
Sapphire – Fear
Amethyst – Emotion, Rage
Jacinth – Flame Strike

Each uses five years of fuel.

If a gem is placed n each side, and spun, ten years is used and Confusion an all in the room.

All seven gems in one closest off direction fire a Prismatic Spray that burns 50 years. A Prismatic Sphere can be made by two colors in each socket and diamond in another for 50 years of fuel.


Because the potent Demonomicon of Iggwilv is made useless by the Second Edition taking all of its rare spells and, making most of them common, I have given it some additional rarer spells and one common spell to make up for it.

[Abe Sargent]

XP – 95650 gained

777,496 total and Alzar is now level 12, level 13 is at 1.125 mill

5/5/5/5/5/2

His new spell list includes:

Sleepx2, Charm Person, Hypnotize, Comprehend Languages; Empathic Control, Blastbones, Knock, Tasha’s… Laughter, Ray of Ondovir; Dire Charm, Slumberx2, Skulltrap, Vampiric Touch, Dispel Magic; Rary’s Mnemonic Enhancer turned into Slumber, Evard’s…Tentaclesx2, Shield-Maidens, Charm Monster; Conjure Earth Elemental, Dominationx2, Animate Deadx2; Invisible Stalkerx2

[Abe Sargent]

WG4. The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun



The sequel to Caverns sorta and one of Gygax’s final modules for D&D was published in 1982. It’s #23 on the countdown of best modules etc but I don’t think so. I think the name Gygax carries more than it should.

With this side show, we did a module not on the list, #30 in Ghost Tower, #22 with Caverns, #23 with Temple and we’ll hit #11 on our way back to #1 which is the seven modules in a row.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar moves back out and returns to the Svartafar mining camp. When he hits them, he can return with them to their village, and from there, find a path back to where he was before. Days pass and he arrives but not to the scene he expected. Here, instead of nine people, he sees only six, and they are all dead. They have been slain by violence and one of which managed to survive a bit after the battle. She wrote a note to her fellow people, and Alzar casts Comprehend Languages to understand it. It says that her group was attacked by number of humanoids that were working together, and took the other three prisoner, as well as the ore and raw gems they had mined. The note tells what direction they went, but the one who wrote it saw nothing else.

He sets off to find the Svartalfar. Without them, he does not know the way back to their place, and so he moves in after the bandits. If he can find them and pay for a hostage or free them by force, then he can find he route again. Without it he’s just wandering in the dark.


Alzar grabs the lens of Detection to track them like a Ranger could. Just 7 miles and two days later Alzar has fought through a swarm of flies and a giant spider’s web, and found an end to the trail left by those who slew and captured the miners. The trail moves up the right hand side of a vast cavern. The size of it gives people on top of the right side a good view of anyone coming up. Spying and Scrying shows that there is just one trail up, so it’s easily defended. There are a few rock vantage points to hide behind boulders and the trail enters a cave mouth. Alzar spies about 10 goblins at the top on guard. He summons a Vrock from the Orb and it casts Image. He will have it teleport to the mouth the cavern, preventing any from running in, right as he attacks. He grabs Zadaxx and rides it, while Zandran turns into a giant owl, and his familiars and Manticore join him.


He moves up and the Giant Owl and Manticore melee on the front while the demon moves in. The goblins use slings and such to attack at range, and Alzar flies it and leaps off, hewing a goblin with an axe. In two turns, all of the goblins are dead, and he has taken the top without incident. The Manticore used four spikes and has twelve left – it takes a week to grow them back.

Up come 27 skeletons to assist.

On top is a plaque carved into the wall with magic runes. Alzar’s Monocle shows it to be a curse to the “Bringers of Light.”

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar goes invisible and slips on the Elven Boots. He moves into the open cavern to see what it beyond. It’s about 25 feet tall and 40 feet wide. He moves in. While the front is natural, the inside is carved. It is a square 80 feet by 80 feet after the doorway. There are stairs down on the other side. There are 11 gnolls and 29 goblins in various positions on guard in here. Alzar’s hasn’t entered the area yet, but the Gem shows a trap about five feet in front of him. They are making noise which covered up the fight outside, so Alzar switches to Slippers of Spider Climb and moves to the ceiling. Without any traps up here, he moves in.

The stairs are blocked by a Wall from each other, so he can’t drop down and block anybody from moving down. He orders the group in, and just before they do, he drops a Wall of Ice blocking the way down across both stairs. Now all of the humanoids are trapped.

Battle begins. Sleep drops 6 goblins and next turn another 4. While just three skeletons die, the rest are taken out. 24 skeletons left after Alzar frees two in the net trap triggered that he avoided. They drop the Wall and Alzar moves to scout the next level.

Piece of Jade, 1000 gp
Quaal’s Feather Token, Arrow

[Abe Sargent]

There is an oddness to the stairs. Alzar uses his Gem and reveals the walls of the stairs have souls trapped in them from goblins. Creepy.

Three are two goblins standing at the end of the stairs sounding the alarm after seeing the Wall of Ice. Doors are opening and people are moving in for aid. Alzar had checked down there and had seen none on sentry duty, so they must have gotten lucky and walked by.

Alzar grabs the Stone, Mud Ring Spell and Orb and summons four 12 HD Earth Elementals due to the strong ground all around. They will form a vanguard of power to his force. The stairs are huge, and anything can fit down them, including the Earths and the Manticore. Out from various doors come two Hill Giants, two more goblins – 4 total, 6 trolls, 4 ogres, 10 gnolls, 1 giant troll and 1 mountain giant who is in charge of the whole operation.

Alzar’s troops move down. He orders the Vrock to the end of the great hallway to block any exit and the Manticore sprays and brings down three goblins. Alzar moves his skeletons in front to screen the Elementals and battle begins.

[Abe Sargent]

They win init. There are large pieces of furniture in the hallway, and the three giants throw them like boulders. They smash three skeletons dead. Attacks by goblinoids in the front slay another four skeletons and he has 17 left. The Earths move in behind the dead skeletons and smash kill an ogre and two gnolls. The skeletons take out the final goblin but little else. The Vrock slashes an Ogre in the back but it’s still alive. The Manticore sprays and slays a unwounded Ogre. Alzar casts Domination on a nearby Hill Giant and it works. The Giant joins his team.

Alzar’ group wins init. The ogre is finished by the Vrock and all other ogres bite. The dominated Hill Giant smashes his fellow with a giant club for 14 damage. The Elementals smash slay a gnoll too. The Manticore uses its final missiles to bring down a troll, and the Giant Owl finishes a gnoll. Alzar casts Ray of Ondovir on the Mountain Giant and it fails its save, and it must throw a non-existent item again this turn. The Hill Giant attacks it’s peer and hits for 20. Two more skeletons are crushed – 15 skeletons remain.

They win init and the Mountain Giant retreats to the Vrock and attacks, but only smashes an Image. Their Giant smashes the dominated one for 17 and their trolls take out two skeletons. 13 left. The Elementals finish the gnolls. The Hill Giant misses theirs. Alzar Animates 12 dead behind their lines and sends them at the Mountain Giant. 25 skeletons left. Their line has mostly fallen, and the skeletons carve the remaining trolls which were already wounded.

They keep init. Their giant hits ours and slays it. Their Mountain tries to get around the flying Vrock but cant so he smashes and misses. Elementals slay their Hill Giant, Alzar stays behind and uses oil and fire to officially slay the trolls and the Vrock deals 15 to the Mountain Giant. The Manticore flew in and will attack it next turn and it takes 7 from skeletons.

Alzar wins init and finishes off the Mountain Giant.


Solo: 43 goblins; 21 gnolls, 4 ogres, 3 trolls, 2 Hill Giants, 1 Mountain Giant

Used: Sleepx2, Wall of Ice, Earth Elemental from Orb, Domination, Conjure Earth, Animate Dead

[Abe Sargent]

They search around the rooms on the second floor.

2500 gp in the Hill Giant’s lair
Troll lair leads off it and has nothing in it. Secret door found though – behind it is a secret room. This floor and wall has many carvings and such around it. The Gem shows a rotating door hidden in the carvings, from eh secret chamber, which is pushes into. On the other side is a small inset area.

Alzar, the Vrock, and a few skeletons move in here, but it’s not that big. The Gem shows a pair of secret doors leading from the chamber. One is a secret closet, which the skeletons open. Inside are:

3 strange hooded, magic robes
2 strange magical iron thuribles with iron chains
Iron Box, magical

The box won’t open. It has no cache. Alzar casts Knock and it opens. Inside are 18 small globes of Incense. He presses open a Thurible and it’s inner space is exactly the same size as a ball of incense.

The other secret door moves to a large space in the area. The skeletons open it and he moves in. There is dust all over, and a large shaft moving down. The Gem shows two more secret doors. The first on the other side of this room.

Akzar moves to it and opens it. Inside is a another secret closes opened by the skeletons. Inside is

4 more robes
Iron Horn with two handles, magic
4 iron holders
Iron Box. magical

Alzar can’t open the box. He grabs one of his Knock Scrolls and tries again. It opens and reveals 24 black cones. Each one fits into an iron holder.

[Abe Sargent]

With nothing else here, he returns to the other secret door. There is nothing back here but shattered items or those worn with age. Alzar returns and heads to the shaft down. Light illuminates hundreds of rungs down. Alzar takes a ball of incense and a cone of black and places them in an holder and thurible. He lights them and then blows the horn but nothing happens.

He climbs down the shaft by himself with the two items lit, hoping they might reveal something on the way. 333 rungs later Alzar arrives at the bottom. He had to use a second ball of incense, but the cone is still burning. He stands at a hallway and enters a small chamber. Light is dark here and extends very little.

There are magic runes at the bottom of this chamber “Look Above You to Know Your Fate”

Alzar looks up and spies three sets of runes that read:

“Those whom I find unfit I place on my left”

“Those who succeed I place on my right”

“The chosen may come before ME!”

The ceiling then fades to black as the runes disappear

Alzar moves forward. The light from the smoking black cone grows in this hexagonal room, but there are thick vapors here. Alzar tries the horn and the floor glows, brightens, and pulses. Something happens beyond the mist that is very cold, and Alzar cannot push through te mist. He moves the incense up, and notices a bit of retreat from the fog. He twirls the incense around dispersing it into the room and blowing away the magic fog.

A doorway has appeared with frigid cold descending. Alzar switches to Ring of Warmth from the Spell Turning one. He descends

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar has to light another black cone as it gives off light. This is a very cold circular room at the base of 50 stairs or so. There is a feeling of death ,wrongness, darkness and vileness beyond what Alzar normally feels. He moves to the south of the corridor and enters a hemispherical chamber of roughly 40’ diameter. The name comes unbidden to his mind of the name- the Black Cyst. There is some form in the middle of this chamber and Alzar gets closer. Is is so black that is it lightless. It absorbs all radiance from the torches.

The stone block is 12’ long, 4; high and 6’ wide. On it rests a shape wrapped in a black haze. Under the haze is something so black that It hurts to look at. As Alzar moves around the block, and uses the Gem, the entire place radiates magic. The altar has places for the cone torches and incense.

Alzar tries to wave the incense around and sheds the light but nothing. He tries the horn again and reverberations begin. After the room shakes, a doorway has opened in the other side of this chamber. Alzar moves to it. In here are 60 black cones and balls of incense, and the burners and rods for them. There are also two keys, but nothing else. Alzar returns to the altar-ish thing. He puts on the robe, places the torches and incense burners around, and lights everything, He places the two keys into a hole in a step in front of the altar, and turns, He doesn’t know which of those was needed, but an opening appears in a block underneath the step. Inside are the following three items –

A long tube of black metal – Wand of Force with 90 charges

A small black box of metal

A large bag of metallic black cloth with something n it.

Alzar opens the nice bag. There is a book here called Lament for Lost Tharizdun, and a takes 15 damage and blanks out for 3 rounds after opening it and using the Monocle on the magic inside. This is a unique book that tells the full story of the worship of this ancient temple and the creature who resided here, who was an avatar of Gontia, Goddess of Night and Ice. The box has a Cube of Force as one of its legs which Alzar takes, and he pockets it for later, when he has a Knock spell again

3x per day the wielder can use it to make a Wall of Force around himself, including up and down.


(Later inside alzar will find 5 5000 gp gems and 328 10 gp gems.)

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar moves back upstairs and moves to the two side rooms. Inside the first is a small magic orchard. There are metallic trees that are black, green, crimson, blue and purple and there have leaves and fruit. Alzar moves to a black trees and picks a fruit. It dissolves in his hand, and he gains a point in strength. This won’t do much, because his strength is now 17, but 18/00 with the gauntlets. Alzar moves to the green tree and picks a fruit but takes 27 damage from the shock. He moves to the crimson one and picks it, and again takes 25 damage. He quaffs four healing potions. He picks fruit from the Blue one and…gains a point of Intelligence. Alzar moves to the purple tree and picks a fruit, and loses 25 hp again from a shock.

(If done in a different order, Alzar could have gained a Con and Cha point as well)

Alzar moves to the other room, the one where found people according to the rune. This room is permanently black, and something moves to attack. Alzar backs up and it does not follow. He summons a Hezrou from the Orb and orders it in. It attacks something and Alzar dashes in. It’s a Shadow Demon they are fighting – too powerful to control.

After three rounds, the Hezrou is dead and the Demon is reeling. It slashes Alzar for 14 and then takes 16 back and dies. He finds a Wand of Light with 27 charges on the corpse.

After spending two hours down here, he returns. The Elementals will be out in about forty five minutes so he continues to explore this second level. A rear hallway has kitchens, a refectory, and two Annises in a kitchen. They are now free and getting ready to leave having been forced into servitude by the Mountain Giant. The evil hags thank Alzar for freeing them and then take off.

Alzar finds a moldering library that the ogres used as a home. He also discovers a scriptorium that has been converted to a supply closet with barrels of oil and a container of acid. They move into a room with several dire wolves kept as pets, and they attack. Alzar’s Elementals smash them and due to speed he will come back later to search.


(what they will find later)

-2 sword
Amethyst Chalice, 5000 gp; Jeweled Gold Flagon – 3500 gp; Ivory Box – 2000 gp; 2 small carved ivory tusks, 1000 gp each
4300 gp

[Abe Sargent]

Several other rooms are explored and empty. They come to the front of a temple. There are pillars and pews, aisle, and an altar and vestry. No creatures. The Elementals slay some Brown Mold and that’s it. Alzar grabs 3 Beads of Force from the magic area.

The Earths go and their magic ends. They explore the rest of this level of the temple. Alzar finds the cells and frees the three Svartalfar, as well as various dead creatures. They also find a spider lair with six huge spiders and slay the inhabitants. Alzar lost four skeletons in that battle.

The Spiders had:

500 gp gem
7x 50 gp gems
+1 dagger
Cloak of Protection +1
Human Sized Elven Chainmail
Scroll - Protection from Magic
11x Dust of Appearance


There is a door down to a dungeon level. Alzar has everything he came here for but since he’s here, he might as well finish it. He summons two Invisible Stalkers, goes invisible himself and explores with them.

[Abe Sargent]

There is a large room with four idols – one Black, one Red, one Green and one Blue. The Gem of Seeing shows magic, but Alzar can’t figure out how to work it. He moves on for now. There are three exits and six doors from this large square chamber. Alzar starts with the room on the south west and moves around the doors first.

This is a store room with food and supplies like shovels and rope used by the raiders above. The next is an empty room but there are footprints on the floor. The next door is another storeroom, but this one is in a mess, Nothing appears to be in here. Room #4 is a jumbled room with a damaged door. There some broken kegs that have made everything sticky and messy. Nothing is detected in here. (remember that Alzar is still invisible and has two stalkers with him ,the rest are upstairs. )

Room #5 has three goblins and Alzar’s Gem detects them as a creature taking the form of goblins. He orders the Stalkers to attack these Boggarts and he moves in as well. He takes 10 damage and a Stalker took 31 from lightning discharges.

He orders his undead down the stairs. The Manticore can’t come down. He summons a Vrock with the Demon Staff and a Glabrezu from the Orb.

[Abe Sargent]

Room #6 is a storeroom, but this one has a +2 battle axe in it. Alzar heads left and goes big with his skeletons leading the way. He and his Stalkers can’t be seen, but two demons and a bunch of skeletons can.

First room has two Otyughs here to eat trash and rubbish from above. There are a number of rats in the area. Alzar grabs his pipes of the Sewers and summons 8 giant rats from the area. He orders them to attack the Otyughs, and his follow. The rats are slain in three turns, but they give Alzar’s party time to slay the first and badly damage the second. It tries to hit a Vrock and slay an Image, and then dies.

The next room from a corridor out of here shows an empty and disused room. Alzar searches and finds nothing and then move to one of two rooms moving off from it. The first as nothing, but then a skeleton is attacked and slain by a jelly in the wall. Alzar’s powerful troops slay the Stunjelly in three turns with missile weapons and he moves on. The final corroder opens into a room with a giant pool that reaches into the depths. A Gem shows something down there. Skeletons cant; scout underwater so Alzar risks it.
Of course there is something down here – a grell.



Alzar is attacked by it and it misses after snapping tentacles at him. Alzar’s axe is out Battle begins.

Alzar wins init and carves into the Grell for 16 damage. It attacks back and Alzar takes 4 hits for 16 damage. His regeneration healed a lot since underground temple area, so he is fine. The grell wins and snaps him with 3 tentacles for 18 damage. These would cause paralysis, but Alzar’s Ring of Free Action prevents it. Alzar’s axe snaps once and twice for one hit of 18 damage, Alzar wins inti and finishes it off.

At the bottom is a Decanter of Endless Water and two Jars of Preserving that is a bit open and made this pool. Alzar caps it takes it.

[Abe Sargent]

This section is finished so he moves to the next one. The corridor ends at a door but turns right. The door opens into a torture chamber that is empty of anything valuable. The hallway moves to several doors on either side. The first is a crypt that was used by the servants of the temple. In here is a Guardian Daemon protecting the lair. Alzar recognizes it.

There are several sarcophagus being protected the area. Alzar runs back to the pool and summons a 12 hd water elemental from it., He then brings in two 8 HD airs. With his elemental squad and demons, Alzar returns to the crypt.

His troops moves in and the Daemon changes form and attacks! It wins init and attacks the wounded Invisible Stalker, which it can sense. He this twice and doles out 18 damage to it. It has an AC of just 1, but the Elementals and Demons and Stalkers are all high level creatures. They dole out 41 to it. It casts Heal on itself, healing it completely. Alzar’s group tears into it again, this time aided by Alzar’s double axe, and it falls. (It had 56 hp)

In here are:

10x5000 gp gems, 2x10000 gem, Platinum Mask, 12000 gp;
5x very old potions of Longevity, may not work.


They move to another door and this one is a another crypt but fully empty. A third door is another crypt and a casket has a +2 mace in it The last door is the final crypt. There is nothing here either.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar returns to the main room and takes the final hallway.

It passes a shrine. It radiates evil and magic slightly but nothing else is here . Alzar even tried tossing coins into a fountain and nothing. They move on, and arrive at a Diamond Column.

The large 20’ corridor continues, but there is a diamond column in the middle. There are giant statues carved into the wall itself. Alzar has a skeleton move across them, and two animate to attack and smash it. They are Caryatid Columns and made of out a rough diamond like material. The Elementals move in to smash, and an Air Elemental is cut to pieces, but not before a column is smashed. The remaining group badly damages the last column, who misses, and then is slain. There is nothing else here. The diamonds melted as they died.

The tunnel ends in a huge cavern. There are several ways to move about and Alzar’s group moves in. They head to the east after Alzar spots something moving. There are two Meazels, small evil, powerful magic humanoids. The make no move to harm Alzar big party, and there is nothing magical here, so they move on.

Alzar checks out the rest of the cavern but there is nothing else back here. The temple has been fully explored.


Solo: 43 goblins; 21 gnolls, 4 ogres, 3 trolls, 2 Hill Giants, 1 Mountain Giant, Shadow Demon, 3 dire wolves, Brown Mold, 6 huge spiders. 3 Boggart, 2 Otyugh, Stunjelly, Grell, Guardian Daemon, 2 Caryatid Column,

Used: Sleepx2, Wall of Ice, Earth Elemental from Orb, Domination, Conjure Earth, Animate Dead, Knock

[Abe Sargent]

XP – 33620 XP total or very little indeed.

811,116 XP no

Alzar has his people carry the Ore back with his escorts, but they reach a place the next day that only the small creatures can move through as it is 2.5 feet tall. Alzar leaves behind his undead and Manticore, and grabs the Diminution Stone and shrinks – he follows them for a mile and then grows again.

They know ways to avoid most encounters here, and only two major battles occur in the 11 day trek to their home. Alzar handles a trio of harpies and sends an Umber Hulk fleeing after losing most of its hp. They arrive at the village, and Alzar finds out that his party was brought here by the other Svartalfar. Wassilon, Estaish, Carum, Aleigh and Maerie are here, plus his undead Gargoyles and Hell Hound.

[Abe Sargent]

The Gates of Firestorm Peak

[Abe Sargent]

This clocks in at #11 on the module list and is quite detailed and intricate. It’s high on power and low on rest. There is a huge pressure on the party to succeed with a clock running and all of these powerful enemies around – tons of them. There are going to be lots of enemies that hit very hard, are very smart, and die very quickly because they aren’t that tough, technically – so low XP. It’s an odd combination.

This is a controversial module, because a lot of old school players don’t like it that much. The same people who talk about the awesomeness of Temple of the Reptile God or The Vault of the Drow or Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (yuck) also find things not to like with some of the later modules. A classic example is Ravenloft, the best selling D&D module of all time and Top 10 on the list of modules. It has a heavy handed plot that forces you to do things, and people rightfully point out modules such as Vault, Temple or Village of Hommlet that gave the DM the ability to craft their own adventures around the setting and the party. That’s true. But it’s a different sort of storytelling craft in Ravenloft and you can like both. Gates is often unloved because it prides itself on used the Player’s Option stuff, which, hello, we’re using. (Not most of the combat stuff though, it’s too complex – D&D is not a wargame). It’s also unloved because of the addition to Far Realm to the D&D mythos. People need to understand that by the time it was made, the game was more than 20 years old, and there had been tons of modules made. A lot of the “best of” modules that people like are pretty by the numbers to my mind – such as Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and the Forgotten Temple of Tharizun. There’s not much under the hood comparatively. Gates really does something new and its fresh. Plus, making these little Duergar the major villains for the first half in a very well conceived place and making them dangerous is really interesting. It’s worthy of a high spot, and we’re doing it.

I want to show off the interior art by Arnie Swekel but it’s hard to find. He used to live in the Detroit Metro area and was a huge fan of Magic. We played once in a large tournament, and I won so I asked him to sign a Swamp he drew and he did. I still have it in one of my decks. I’d love to show you some of the interior illustrations, but it’s hard to do so.

Allons-y!

[hoopsguy]

Still reading along and excited to see the upcoming module is one that is 100% new to me.

[Abe Sargent]

Awesome!

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar stays here for three days, and Wassilon tells him that the locals have been increasingly offended by various things, and the village is getting harder and harder to sustain. The local mushrooms have been tainted in flavor and sustenance. A type of lizard used as a steed has become skittish and hard to use, some of the villagers have behavior that has become disturbed, and more. After living here for a while, the party has become sensitive to the unusual situation.

Wassilon has been informed that odd emanations have been occurring for a while now, maybe as long as 3 years. Wassilon connects Alzar with a local cleric. After casting Tongues, they have a conversation. About 27 years ago, an adventuring party of humans and a Dvergr entered the area under a Peak at the time that a certain comet was in the sky called the Dragon’s Tear. It caused a certain set of gates underground to open up for the 28 days it is in the sky, and afterwards, the doors close when it leaves. These giant gates are ancient, and speak of an old era bygone. The gates won’t open for another two weeks, but there is an UnderDeep entrance to the area the gate guards that merchants sometimes take. It’s a week out of the way to get there though.

There is an outpost of a rare Dvergr sub-race called the Duergar. They have magical powers, and some communities tend to be mentally unbalanced due to the way they are raised, but there are exceptions. This one is an example. They have been in the area for more than 200 years, guarding what is behind the gates. Their most powerful magic items are their ability to turn invisible at will and to enlarge or shrink items or themselves.

After finding out more information about the outpost, the Gates, and the incoming comet, Alzar starts investigating with divination and scrying. After a week, he believes that the two are connected, and the emanations are of a highly unusual form of corrupted magic coming from the outpost. Alzar gathers his party and allies, and they move out.

[Abe Sargent]

For this adventure, Alzar has given each of the fighters and thieves two packs of Dust of Appearance. Due to his intelligence, Alzar can sense where invisible things are.

It takes six days to arrive at the gates, and Alzar and his party wait a day and then they open when the Dragon’s Tear Comet is in the sky. Alzar and his party move in. A corridor 20’ wide and equally high leads to the east behind the doors. The walls and floor are perfectly smooth and ancient. Alzar has summoned a Babau, since he does not know what may be inside but they are a demon that automatically sees invisible. Because he had to leave them behind, Alzar currently has no undead beyond the Hell Hound and Gargoyle cloaked skeletons.

Invisible, Alzar notices a shimmer on the floor and reaches down to pick it up. It’s a caltrop with poisoned smeared on it that has been turned invisible. It’s made from a rare metal that is clear like glass and strong like steel. These Duergar are prepared for the gates opening. Alzar wishes he had the time to go around in the UnderDeep to their back entrance, but he didn’t. So, he has to smash through the front door. There is a large 10’ stone wall with no door or window facing him and preventing access deeper to the room. On top are spikes and barbs pointing down. The craftsmanship is crueler, and this is obvious Duergar work. Alzar invisibly collects the Caltrops and stores them so there is no chance someone will step on them.

With his Axe, Alzar casts Passwall on the wall to create a hole and then goes invisible again. He sees nothing behind it, but there is the telltale shimmering he expects from invisible. It appears the guards have magically enlarged themselves as well as going invisible. Alzar returns to give that news to his party and they are prepared. He will move back in, and they will flank him. Then the babau will teleport behind the opened wall and attack while the gargoyles fly over and assault their position. With attacks from behind and above, Alzar and party will hit from below and overwhelm their defenses.

Here we go.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar wins init. The babau is behind the four Duergar guards, and the gargoyles are flying over to attack. His party is in position, and two guards attack gargoyles and miss because their polearms aren’t magic, and they turn visible. They win init and two attack the demon and both miss it’s very low AC. They have enlarged damage multipliers as well if they hit. The others move from the gargoyles to attacking the hole in the wall at the bottom and cleave it. They miss the party because Alzar is in front but they have shot at attacking him despite his invisible state, because their knowledge of invisibility is better than most. The babau attacks the magically enlarged Dvergr subrace and misses once, and hits for 13 damage. The gargoyles deal 12 to another. Alzar cleaves the legs from one for 14 damage. The fighters finish off that one. Alzar’s group them wins init. Damage from the gargoyles badly wounds theirs, and Alzar finishes it. The demon finishes his and the fighters tag team (double attacks this round) to claim the fourth. These small creatures retain their hp level when growing.

Behind this wall is a tightened gate. It is made by walls built on the left and right, bringing the room down to a 20 foot arch, with walls behind it stretching for at last 15 feet, creating an ad hoc gatehouse. Alzar moves back to scout and discovers many more invisible and enlarged sentries here, ready to attack.

Alzar backs up and readies an assault force. He casts Conjure Elemental, uses the Stone and Mud Ring and summons three Earth Elementals, each 12 hd strong. He has his fore charge in, led by the elementals and with the gargies and giant owl flying overhead. Add a teleport in by the bebau and the fighters and you’ve go yourself a melee!

[Abe Sargent]

The Elementals move in and are attacked by the giant polearms of the duergar before they get into range. The one in front takes 22 from several attacks as they become visible. Alzar casts Sleep and drops three and there are five left. They shout for aid. Behind them are two boltholes just large enough for a small Duergar to come through, and a passageway to the forward left. The Hell hound misses. Battle begins.

They win init. Five pikes cleave into an injured elemental, two hit for 18 damage total. It has 21 hp left. The Elementals smash slay two and the fighters a third from missile weapons The gargoyles mostly miss or deal small damage. There are only two left, but out of the boltholes pour more who grow and movein. There must be another rthree…no…five…no…ten more coming out. From either side.

They win init again. The two lft miss. The ten reach melee range. Alzar casts another sleep and drops two. Another dies from an Elemental and the demon lays a fourth. The fighters mostly miss or deal little damage and the gargoyles push one to 3 hp left. 8 duergar remain.

They win init yet again. Pikes and Ranseurs carve the Elemental and destroy it. The fighters finish the injured one and badly injure another. The gargoyles finish a second. The two elementals left each miss. The demon stabs one down to 5 p and the giant owl finishes it off. The Hell Hounds ignites one with its flame breath and Alzar stabs it with a dagger from 20 feet away to finish it off, four left.

Alzar’s group wins init and finishes them off. With 22 corpses here, Alzar casts Animate Dead and makes 12 skeletons their normal size. He grabs the Stone of Dimunution and moves up the right bolthole with a skeleton escort. In here is a barracks sized for Duergar at their normal size, and secret bolthole door that Alzar opens that leads to a normal sized hallway. The other bolthole is to a similar barracks with a secret door bolthole on the other side too, and it leads to a cave with nothing in it, but it continues on.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar returns and his party has cleaned up. He moves to the hallway forward left, because he can’t take his whole party through the other ways. This is a long carved and paved tunnel 120’ straight. While walking down, a skeleton triggers a trap and falls into a pit. Wassilon and Maerie move to the front and discover three more pit traps in the corridor that they disarm. The door at the end of the corridor opens after being picked, and they move into a cave. This case is roughly worked, and about 40’ x 30’. There are exits to the front, left, and front left. There is also a door hat won’t work, and some old trap mechanism in the room that no longer functions.

As they begin to move into the complex, this whole place has a sense of oddness, like things are a bit out of sorts.

The Gem reveals that a person is under a rockfall in here, and it’s an old boulder trap. The Elementals dig in and after a few moments, a corpse is revealed. It belongs to a bard adventurer who was probably a member of that party that came through a the last time the gates were open. There is a pouch that includes a diary page which discusses an Alienist named Madreus who is trying to command powers that will drive men mad, and unleash them on the world. The only way to stop it it to refocus a gate to another place by finding three components of crystal. On the corpse of Derek Windcaller can be found:

Ring of Sustenance
+2 Broadsword, +3 vs goblinoids, orcs and regenerators

[Abe Sargent]

They take the left passage out, and Alzar finds a side tunnel that takes him to the room on the other side of the bolthole from the right of the entrance. The tunnel ends at a cave with the giant skeletons. These aren’t normal skeletons, which happen to be giant. They throw fireballs at the skeleton in front as Alzar moves in and tries to control them. They wipe out the skeleton and Alzar takes 44 damage from all three. Then he tries and he managed to control one, but not the other two. Everybody else move sinto range.

Alzar’s group wins init. The Elementals and demon attack the skeleton in front. It has an AC od 4 and that’s pretty easy by now. It takes 30 damage from them. Gargoyles follow and finish it off. The fighters slice deep into the other, an Alzar finishes it with his axe. Two dead and one controlled.There is nothing in the room

15/59 hp – Alzar

Giant Skeleton – AC4, 33 hp, 1d12+3 with sword, or 8d6 fireball once per turn.

They return and take the forward left exit. It Ys and Alzar heads left. They arrive at a room that widens just a bit from the natural cave tunnel and then continues. Inside the room is an undead which may not be turned or controlled called a Crypt Thing. It’s special power is a mass teleport away, which is uses now, and NMany fail their save and disappear!

Alzar failed as well and is gone! Estaish takes command and orders full throttle attack. Fire, demon, elemental, and more attack into it and take it out the next turn. There is nothing in here, and he has the group move on. The tunnel continues and a branch to the left has a pit trap in it that leads to a room with four Wraiths ready to attack. Alzar and his teleported helpers arrived in this room and he controlled them. Down here is:

788 gp
+2 dagger, +4 vs trolls
2 pots of extra healing
12 +2 arrows

[Abe Sargent]

The path continues and doubles back on the one that was on the Y, but not before widening again into a room which is empty. Alzar returns and takes the route forward from the first room. The debris scattered passageway opens into a cavern some 40’ wide and an equal amount across. In the center of the room Is is the beginning of a steep narrow stone staircase leading down into unlighted depths. Alzar moves in and uses the Gem n the room but finds nothing. Megala flies down and looks, and the stairs end in a iron door. A skeleton walks down an d triggers a trap. The staircase becomes a slide, the door fall down, and the skeleton falls into a pit of acid. Then the trap resets. 8 skeletons left. Maerie manages to disarm one trigger mechanism and Wassilon the other, but the entire staircase is just one trap that goes nowhere.

The passage continues and winds to the left. Corridors split off from both directions from the main tunnel, and Alzar checks out the one on the left first. In here is a large cavern with many giant scorpions. Alzar leads with his gargoyles and wraiths, since they may not be damaged by normal weapons. While the claws all miss, the poison from their stingers stabs into a Wraith and slays it. Two scorpions fall and the army of Alzar moves in. Damage is doled out accordingly. The Scorpions win init and stab into another Wraith and slay it, while fists and weapons slice four dead. Alzar orders the gargoes to fly into the air while they mess with the wraiths. The wraiths finish one as Alzar wins init. The Elemntals slay another and his ax bites and slays a third They damage a wraith bu t don’t bring it down. They win init and finish off the wounded wrath and hen Alzar’s group slays the remaining four scorpions

The gem finds magic in the seam of a nest used to house their eggs. It’s a whistle and Alzar does not recognize it:


The Whistle, “Nightcaller”

[Abe Sargent]

The corridor branching off to the right stopped abruptly ay a small room with a pool of fresh water in it only a few inches deep. There appears to b nothing else here and th corridor is used. Another pair of tunnels branch off, this time both to the left. The first ends in a rough cavern about 25 by 30 feet and with debris and shadows but nothing else. The next is chamber that widens to the back, forming two large caverns. There doesn’t appear to be anything of interest in either of them, and the floor is wet and muddy. As they move in, a party of 20 large bats flies down to attack. Alzar orders everyone back and a blastbones clears them out, save for three who were outside the zone of danger and fly away.

The demon’s time is up and Alzar summons a Glabrezu instead. The corridor is about to end, the presence of a horribly rand putrid odor can be detected. The stone floors and walls in the caveway have been coated with a sticky resin or secretion. Bolted into the end of the tunnel as it opens into a cavern are six sets of manacles, and Duergar bones about them. The vast cavern opens, and inside are a large number of carrion crawlers. They are content to watch the party and are not attacking. It appears that this is the execution chamber for the society next door. They lock someone in and the Crawlers eat them. It takes a bit for Alzar to finish exploring the chamber, and they exit by a tunnel on the right. It leads into the UnderDeep, and this is the back exit. Alzar and company arrive at a door that UnderDeep merchants and such would use. They have been informed of an invasion at the gate and are on the lookout.

Alzar greets them, but no one is to be permitted past this point under any circumstances. He thanks them for their time, casts Passwall with his axe again, and his group moves in, with the Elementals moving behind a group of skeletons as shields. . As they move in, 10 Duergar already grown fire crossbows at the hole made and destroy two skeletons. Half drop their crossbows and grab pikes and move to a defensive position to protect the crossbowmen. Alzar casts Hypnotize and four fail their saves and skip their next turn. Battle begins.

[Abe Sargent]

The Elementals smash and slay a piker, and another falls to Maerie’s dagger. Gargoyles finish a third. Then a concentrated attack on an Earth Elemental brings it down despite it’s undamaged state. They win init and with four more attacks bring down the other and hit Carum for 11 damage. The glabrezu smashes one and slays it. Carum;s spear stabs another in the knee for death and the pikemen have all fallen. Alzar has Megala claw one for 2 damage and it makes its save vs poison. Zadran, the owl, smashes for 7 damage and 2 on the same one. Alzar flings a dagger into its face for 12 damage and slays it. They win init and hit Carum twice more for another 18 damage. Alzar’s team finishes them.

Alzar’ group searches, finds nothing and continues to a section of new tunneling that is not natural like the previous place, or made long ago like the place they entered. Its practical, and within the last 200 years. They have finished the tunnels and entered the Mines.

Slain – 32 Duergar, 3 Giant Skeletons, Crypt Thing, 13 Giant scorpion, 17 large bats,

Used – Conjure Earth Elemental, Stone and Mud Ring Elementals, Sleepx2, Animate Dead, Blastbones, Passwallx2, Hypnotize,

Alzar – 20/59 hp
Estaish –69 HP
Carum –52/81 HP.
Wassilon – 56 hp
Aleigha –72 hp
Maerie –61 hp

They move forward and enter a network of mining tunnels. There aren’t an Duergar in here right now, and they move down first one, and then the other. They come across a giant rift in the ground. This is the trash of the Duergar. All corpses, food, refuse, broken items, and more are tossed down here. Alzar orders Zadaxx out and hey fly over 1000’ to the ground. He expects a nasty odor as they close, but nothing. He sees instead about 30 gelatinous cubes down here cleaning the entire area. He flies back up and they move on. They arrive at a mine station where the corridor opens up into a very large chamber 30 feet by 50 feet with seven mining carts lined along the western wall There are mining implements in rack, three giant spiders called Steeders in unusual harnesses and three Duergar feeding them and tending to their needs. Alzar’s party appears to be ignored, so he moves in and talks to one, going with the cover of trading items from the UnderDeep. He asks about the Steeders and they let him pet one. They tell him that they sell some in the bazaar inside their place, and just to follow this tunnel down. Alzar thanks them, and his menagerie of Hell Hound, gargoyles, undead, Svartalfar, humans, and a demon continue on.

They pass a chamber where another large spring opens, on the other side of the spring in the first chamber in the caves. It has a large pool and 5 Duergar are bathing off the mining dust. He continues and arrives at mess hall with 8 Duergar eating and 3 goblin slaves serving food. His party continues on and moves closer and closer back to their original entry way. Fifty feet move and they pass a jail cell with 20 goblins slaves – their home.

[Abe Sargent]

The corridor opens ahead into a 20 x 20 room with three figures standing here on duty. They hold polearms and look ready to use them. There are flagons and a vessel of the Duergar ale called cresch. Alzar detects an invisible Duergar that sees them and retreats back down the passage to the other side of this chamber. They demand to see Alzar’s goods. He reaches into his Otherspace and pulls out the casks of wine from the Døkkálfar. They inspect them and approve his travel. Two escort his party while the other remains on watch. They escort his party 80 down and they arrive in a large chamber identical to the one they entered behind the gate initially. They are right behind that chamber, but they have pilled tons of rocks against the wall to prevent a Passwall spell from working and giving someone like Alzar immediate entrance. Smart

They pass through and to several rooms. The first is a cluttered chamber with the nephelium ore that is translucent like glass. It has been smelted into rods, ingots, and such. Then they enter the smeltery where eight Duergar smelt ore from the mines. The entire time they have been following the track of the ore carts and now they end at an elevator. The Duergar escorting Alzar’s party arrive and each enlarges a small piece of rope attached to it. Now it fits into the pulley system, and Alzar’s party is taken down an elevator to the lower level.

It opens to another storage area for nephelium but this is where the ore has been turned into items. Behind is a tunnel that opens into the nephelium forge. They are escorted left from the elevator and arrive at a large, two level bazaar.

[Abe Sargent]

Before them is a tremendous open space, obviously carved from the rock ages ago. It’s a 140 x 80 foot promenade that has tents and stations where people shop, and magical lights keeping enough light to se by. Duergar are milling around and shopping. Several duergar on steeders walk the ledges and walls of the place on guard. There is a balcony level above on the level that Alzar just left, and many rooms and doors can be soon opening off it on both levels

The guards escorting him leave and he enters. Luckily he doesn’t seem that out of place. He can see many duergar vendors, but also a few Døkkálfar, a few Svartalfar, two humans, and even a Mind Flayer. He decides to explore to see what can be bought here. There are 25 stands up and running. They are selling, in order:

Nephelium Sheets and Rods
Goblin Slaves
Medicinal Lichen and Fungi
Gemstones and Jewelry
Cresch
Steeders
Steeder Accessories
Sweatmeats
Handicrafts and Decoratives
Spices and Legumes
Grilled Meat, including stirges
Charms and Fortunes Read
Soapstone Sculptures
Slaves Accessories
Furniture
Household Items
Maps, Compasses, Chalk and More!
Fried Crayfish and Blind Fish
Duergar Adult Entertainment
Poisons
Pets
Personalized Mining Equipment
Games of Chance
Decorative Fungi
Coffee and other Stimulants
Grain Alcohol

Alzar is immediately drawn to a few. He begins with the Duergar at the poison tent. There’s nothing too special here, and ends up buying nothing. The next place that picks up his interest is the Døkkálfar at the maps store. He is from the city Alzar will be visiting soon, and he buys a map of it for 10 gp. He also has a special UnderDeep compass that detects not only directions, but also the nearest source of water. That’s 25 gp and well spent.

UnderDeep Compass; Map of City

The next stall of interest is the one selling jewelry. Alzar would like to convert some of his heavier coins into lightweight jewelry. He ends up cleaning out three bags of holding plus some coinage in OtherSpace and loses 10% to make it lighter.

The pets booth is selling things such as eyewings and other friendly underground creatures. There’s nothing here of worth. The steeders are interesting, but again, nothing of major value. His party can’t ride them – they are too large. And Wassilon doesn’t know how,

As Alzar wraps up his shopping, suddenly a group of 12 Duergar emerge from the side tunnels and the 12 on Steeders above move to drop down. Behind them, a cleric opens a door and steps out and addresses the group. He is the chief priest, and Alzar and his group are demanded to surrender and come with him, he knows they are the group that broke through the gate.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar tries to decide what to do. He dismisses things such as Hypnotize or Sleep - none would work on the 24 giant Duergar facing his party. He doesn’t have any heavy hitters right now , just the Glabrezu and his fighters/thieves plus folks like the hell hound and gargoyles and the undead giant skeleton and wraith and skeletons. He considers and dismisses a Wall of Ice or Fog to cover a fighting retreat. Similarly, a spell like Skulltrap would hit too many civilians, and he doesn’t want to add a bunch of combatants that grow or others like Mind Flayers or Døkkálfar. There is no Deus Ex Machina that will pull his party out of this or swing the momentum to him and his. Any battling would be tough and rough. No potion, no scroll, and no spell will protect not only Alzar, but his party as well. This is going to be tough. Alzar reaches for his Bag and pulls out the Horn of Valhalla.

“If I blow this horn, it will bring a lot of pain to you and yours.”

“I heal pain. I also inflict it. Men, ready?”

Alzar was hoping to delay the battle by a bit, by making a weak bluff. He blows and summoned 9 level 2 berserkers and ordesr them to fight the 12 Duergar on the ground with undead support while his army save the Glabby focuses on the mounted ones and Alzar focuses on the priest. Meanwhile, the priest casts Silence on Alzar and it fails. The Glabby is powered on the priest with a Power Word Stun.

Melee range is reached and battle begins.

[Abe Sargent]

This will come down to who wins init. They win init. Four berserkers are slain. The Priest casts Flame Strike on Alzar and he takes 18. He has 10 left. The mounted ones carve deeply into several fighters. Then the fighters reciprocate. Two knights are taken down, the berserkers slay one, and the undead manage another. The civilians are mostly leaving, although five have grown and join the fray. The glabby’s Stun works, and the Priest is stunned for 6 rounds. Alzar casts Vampiric Touch on a nearby Steeder that broke through and slays it for 22 hp, which he gains.

They win again. The berserkers are down to two and they slay a skeleton. The giant owl smashes a Steeder for death, and the glabby finishes a soldier on the ground. The gargoyles take out one and Estiash carves the legs off a steeder. There just aren’t a lot of spells to help right now, so Alzar casts Vampiric Touch from a ring to slay a Duergar and be fully healthy again.

On the next round, Alzar’s group wins init. The undead manage one more and the demon adds a second. Carum spears a Steeder and the Hell Hound breathes and slays a mounted Duergar. Alzar grabs his axe and moves into battle, slaying a wounded civilian that joined the battle right by him. They hack away two skeletons and all of the berserkers, and then damage Carum badly and he pulls back from the front line. Right by Alzar enters a dvergr, not a Duergar, and silence reigns. He orders Alzar’s retreat, and appears a bit crazy. Half of his face is wriggling and swollen and it appears there is something under there. Since he is right by Alzar, he moves in with his axe to face this dvergr.

At that point, battle stops. Alzar has officially challenged the leader of the duergar, and they don’t like him at all, not only because he’s weird and infected, but also because he’s not one of them.

(for duels, we alternate initiative, and don’t roll)

[Abe Sargent]

The dwarf spits some sort of slug from his mouth to try and hit Alzar with it. It misses. He moves his axe at Alzar and hits, but actually misses, due to the cloak. Alzar’s axe is up as well. It doesn’t have a plus vs Wellfast because he’s chaotic evil, but Alzar rolls an 11 and hits for 10 damage, and then switches weapons to a +3 axe. Wellfast swings and rolls a 5 and misses. Alzar’s axe is out and swings and misses. (both fighters have good AC – Alzar’s is -3 and Wellfast’s is 0).

Wellfast is the first to connect dealing 14 damage with Axe Specialization, a +3 axe and strength, and Alzar returns the favor with 14 back. Wellfast attacks twice and hits once, missing once for 15 damage. Alzar attacks twice and hits twice for 28 damage.

Wellfast misses, Alzar misses. Wellfast hits twice and Alzar takes 24. Alzar has 21 hp left. He stabs Wellfast for 14 damage and then follows with a grab of a potion on his belt (he can use his free hand when battling with just an axe, as a reminder). Wellfast attacks and misses. Alzar doesn’t and deals another 12 and quaffs the potion of speed, and he now attacks twice as much Wellfast ends the turn by spitting another gibberslug and missing.

Wellfast stabs Alzar for 16 and Alzar attacks four times and hits three for 42 damage. Wellfast is reeling. He misses, and Alzar attacks twice, hits once for 19 and finishes off Wellfast.

With his victory over Wellfast, Alzar claims the Dvergr’s belongings and rulership of the tribe. He orders the awakened priest to heal him and his party and he does.

+3 Battle Axe
+1 Ring of Protection
+3 Chain mail, acts as Feather Fall 3x daily

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar orders the Duergar to take him to Wellfast’s chambers and offices and they do. The priest is ordered to follow. The only item of note in here is a Scroll of Protection from Possession and a secret door to a room with a large crystal rod and a chest made by Illithids and trapped. The priest and Alzar sit and have a chat. Alzar explains that he has no intention of ruling the Duergar, he is here to explore the strangeness that emanates from deeper in the complex. Perhaps he’ll stop it, and perhaps not, but that’s the goal. The Priest gives him the backstory.

Twenty- Eight years ago, a party of three adventurers arrived here and broke through to that area. Wellfast returned changed, slew the chieftain and chief priest and ruled. There have been many examples of corruption here, creeping through the walls and such. His people came here a few hundred years ago to mine the nephelium. A while back, a crazy sorcerer arrived and penetrated to the back of the cave, and then forced them to change their main goal to keep out intruders. Wellfast was sent to force them to do so and has been a cruel ruler of the Duergar.

The priest doesn’t know everything that is going on, but it is clear that some baleful influence is corrupting the area and beyond, and it has increased in power the last few years There is a passageway there that the Duergar guard to make sure nothing comes up it, because sometimes foul beats stumble up that must be slain. It’s a half mile up. There are also some Duergar that were taken by the sorcerer some time ago as slaves. The pries gives Alzar a diary written by one of the adventures named Nigel, for him to read further.

The priest shows Alzar’s party where the entrance to the Twisted Caverns are, and they leaves. Meanwhile, Wassilon and Maerie figure out how to open the Illithid chest, and inside is a book written in Illithid braile. It’s a Tome of Clear Thought.

Alzar and his party are now leaving the Outer Complex and entering the Twisted Caverns. They slept and recovered spells. Alzar placed a Dire Charm in the Ring of Spell Storing and learned two Vampiric Touches. He animated another 12 skeletons before they rested. He has also read the diary.


Slain – 42 Duergar, 3 Giant Skeletons, Crypt Thing, 13 Giant scorpion, 17 large bats, 4 Steeder

Used – Stone and Mud Ring Elementals, Passwallx2, Speed Potion,

[Abe Sargent]

Many millennia ago the forerunners of the Døkkálfar built a great complex of rock here. They were mighty in word and deed, and their magic was at a level beyond any others of their age. Here a magical research laboratory and workshop was constructed out of the rock. They explored and produced great magics and created fields of study. They began to forge portals and ways to move across the gulf to other planes and worlds in the multiverse.

Eventually they decided to build one great gate that would surpass all others, they named the Vast Gate. They wanted to create a gate so powerful it could reach any world at any distance. Over a century, they constructed their masterpiece. The power needs of the Vast Gate were beyond their ability, so they tied to the Dragon’s Tear comet. The vast mystical energies it has served as a reservoir for running the Vast gate. Therefore, every twenty eight years, for twenty eight days, the Vast Gate opened. It has the power to reach the unreachable. The first three times it opened, the Døkkálfar were quite pleased with their calibrations and the worlds they reached. The worlds were new and unusual.

However, their fourth time they calibrated the Vast Gate and it reached to a world and perhaps a time so different that it was wholly unlike our own. It was beyond our multiverse and outside of our logic. It was a place with its own geometry. There were inhabitants abiding beyond the hate but were they truly alive by our understanding of the term? This lunatic vision of incomprehensible beings warped reality around them in horrid ways by their very presence. The lethal contradictions in physical laws came into existence as they crossed the threshold and entered our world.

Desperate to close the portal, the Elder Elves began, but before they finished, a powerful entity from the other side came onto our world to visit out of curiosity. It’s very presence twisted our reality and death followed it. Bored it returned, but not before slaying most of the ancient ones. They fled, but before they did, they closed the outside Gates with great magic, and tied it to the Tear, so they could only open once in 28 years. The Vast Gate and they close as the comet leaves, but open as it returns.

This was imbued to Nigel after much divination and research, but he does not know about the Duergar and when they came, or the vile Aiienist Madreus, who is said to have come here decades and decades ago for research.

As they move closer to the source of the Vast gate, Alzar is struck by the increasing sense of life being off. It is increasingly uncomfortable. A chill comes to the air, but skin is warm. It’s a cold of the soul. There is a disquieting sense of palpable wrongness here.

[Abe Sargent]

The party nears the caverns, and Alzar summon aid – a Vrock from the Orb, an Earth Elemental from his spell, and both Invisible Stalkers. it’s just a little too soon to use items that recharge daily – no Stone or Ring yet.

The rough tunnel opens into a larger cavern of irregular shape. Rocky columns hide the full extent of the room but from the tunnel entrance can be seen several 5’ heaps of earthy material scattered throughout the large chamber.

Alzar turns invisible and sneaks up to a mound. It doesn’t look alive. It slips back and he orders a skeleton forward with a stick. It pokes into an earthy clump and suddenly, it turns into a lump of flesh all eyes and mouths that begins to burble. The other mounds do so as well. These are Gibbering Mouthers, from the realm on the Vast Gate. It appears that over the millennia some creatures from the Gate entered the world on its various openings, and the Mouthers were one such creature.

[Abe Sargent]

They scream and the party has to roll a save or be confused. Estaish and Wassilon are confused, and no one else is. Alzar orders undead, elementals and demons to handle this. They are not foes for creatures of flesh to fight. They can attack with 5 mouths on one person. They are nasty brutal creatures, but they have low hit points and are easy to slay. The undead, unbothered by them attack and two die. The demon dices the third badly and the Hell Hound finishes it off with its breth. There are four more. They attack and slay six skeletons. Alzar’s group finishes them off.

There is no treasure in this large cavern. The corridor continues on forward. Right and left. There is a corruption in the walls itself. This used to be a built complex of rock, but over the years ,some creatures have chewed the walls and claws marks have rend them and no it almost looks like a natural cave system.

Alzar heads left. There is a small corridor about 8’ wide and a side tunnel to the left Alzar hits up. The floor of this large irregular cavern is covered with what appear to be skins of various underdeep creatures. There are also many skins not identifiable. Dozens of jabbering hunchbacked humanoids dance a lunatic waltz about the chamber, accompanied only by their hoarse shrieks. Several of the creatures are larger than the others, and they are giving orders. Underneath them appear to be small creatures writhing inside their skin. These gibberlings are the remnants of some lost humanoid race that encountered the corruption from the Far Realm and this is the result.

[Abe Sargent]

The large gibberlings with the slugs underneath order the pack to attack Alzar’s group. He casts Skulltrap and drops 25. The rest come on, and the powerful ones aren’t really badly damaged by the Skulltrap.

Battle begins. They win init and the Earth Elemental takes 17 damage from the broods and the remaining gibberlings. Alzar’s group slays the five left. He throws a dagger into a wounded brood and slays her. Four brood gibberlings are left. They attack and dash the Elemental for 8 more and Alzar’s finishes them/. There is no treasure here. Alzar animates 12 and then 12 more skeletons.

The tunnel continues. Twenty more gibberlings haunt this cavern and Alzar loses 7 skeletons slaying them. They continue on and arrive at a cavern where a Duergar and a Døkkálfar are hosting gibberslugs and alive. There is nothing Alzar can do for them, so he slays them to end the process. He finds on their bodies:

623 gp

The longsword Bloodfear – A +3 sword that absorbs blood during combat = for every 20 points of damage vs a flesh entity with blood, the sword gets +1 in damage to a total of +7, after which is drops back to just +3 because it’s satiated and has to be built back up again.

[Abe Sargent]

There are a few dead ends back here, but Alzar is brought back to the same corridor he left, just 250 feet down chamber. Here is a giant colony of Gibberlings. There appear to be 100 of them here, plus the 8 Brood Gibberlings. Alzar orders everyone to step back and moves in, revealed. He shines a light at them, and they turn. They are ordered to charge him and slay him and he is just outside of the corridor. As they do, he uses the Orb to cast Earthquake at the ceiling, and drops it on them. He slays more than 50 and another 15 squeeze through and are dispatched by his army. The rest are buried and extricating themselves. He orders his group to retreat to the first cavern, and head right.

They head right and arrive at a cavern after a tunnel. A small pack of 12 gibberlings are snacking on a corpse. They are alerted and charge, and Alzar loses two skeletons before they die.

They move around for twenty minutes, checking out one tunnel or another. The Vrock’s time is up and Alzar summons another. They can’t find anything major, until they uncover a room with three exits. The first enters a very low cavern, ceiling rising to just 5 feet near the center. A mound of thick soil reaches up to the ceiling forming a fat natural pillar. Remembering the gibbering mouthers, Alzar orders bolts shot into it, and it screams. It’s a giant one. It’s screaming causes Maerie, Aleigha and Estaish to be confused. Alzar orders missile attacks against it as it closes ranks. The fireball from a Giant Skeleton deals 20 damage. It closes and attacks the Wraith, slaying it. Alzar’s fighters and army dole out 41 damage total and finish it off.