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

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar cannot take the shadows with him, so he commands them to jump in the volcano. Similarly, he cannot take the ghouls with them – they are too messy. Ordered into the volcano. The agarats are similarly problematic, but he has to have them. He is also taking 15 of the topi, they are small. The Fundamentals are released and fly away. The skeletons and animal skeletons are stored in a room and locked up.

After a week in Tangaroa, Alzar has finished the final one of the random spellbooks for Castanamir. The Dispels worked. Here is the final of those tomes, one of Mordenkainen’s books itself, but there are multiple copies out there. It has just four conjuration spells, and they are levels 5, 6, 7 and 8.


Epic Saga of the Great Conjurers:

Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound, Conjure Animals, Cacofiend, Monster Summoning VI.


Cacofiend is rare, the Hound is uncommon and the other two quite common.


Alzar now has time to actually explore the ruins here on the Isle of Dread. There are no major pending quests.

They move out to the ruins on the north east of the Plateau and the village and ruins on it. They are let down on the land and quickly make their way to the ruins without much of a problems – since it’s only a few miles in.

[Abe Sargent]

C1. The Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan




This is another classic. It was rated number 18 in the top 30 selections by Dungeon. We have played #28, 27, 20, 19, 18, 16, 15 on that list. After this is #13 and the end of the mega Isle of Dread epic storyline. Then I may hit up #4, the Temple of Elemental Evil and head back to Hommlet, or grab #30, the Ghost Tower of Inverness. Others in the queue for soon are Desert of Desolation which is I3-I5 and #6, #2 White Plume Mountain, #22 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, and I have #23 The Forgotten Temple of Tharzidun as well. Others may include members of the X series of modules, since I have most of them, and more Is. Eventually, although I may be done with the dynasty by then, but eventually, I’d like to do the G 1-3, D1-3 and Q1 mega series.

[Abe Sargent]

The ruins are all dilapidated here, with crumbling blocks that once told of the realm of a civilization long ago. There is a crumbling central pyramid and as they walk, they find sign of a recent stone fall. Sometime in the past year, probably, one of the stones fell over and it revealed a path down into the earth. Not steps, not anything nice and steady, but a path down.

They explore it, and then move down. The architecture here seems to go past what Alzar has seen before. The destroyed keep, the ruined temple on Taboo Island, the keep on the island and the other ruins all seem to be from the same civilization, but this one is not. In fact, Alzar can’t place any of the symbols, architecture and accoutrements of the ruins as belonging to any civilization he has ever read about.

As such, his ancient languages proficiency will not help him here. (For fun, I am going to tell you the name of each room , even though Alzar won’t know it).

The path meanders down into the black and yet it shows signs of claws and such, so perhaps a few others have been this way before Alzar and his company. They enter the Vault of Chicomoztoc. This is a long narrow chamber with an east-west run. In the center is a domed shape on the floor. In the east wall a black faced stone door and the west end is where the path comes from. The two side walls have several niches cut into them.

Alzar sniffs the air and can tell that it is poisonous down here. Every ten minutes, everybody down here will take 1 poison damage. Alzar and Aleigha are immune because of the Necklace of Adaptation. Alzar hands the necklace to Maerie since she has a low number of HP and a Periapt of Proof vs Poison to Estaish, which will give him a save and a +2 to the roll. Alzar will save, and possibly regenerate that damage.

They look at the shape in the center and it is a small alcove, protected by a half dome with the open end facing the east. It holds some sort of a display, with a diorama of a hunting party of stocky humanoids Alzar does not recognize, in feathers and war or hunting outfits. There is a stag, dog, deer, puma, and various people like a scout and such. The scout is holding a shepherd’s crook, which is the only part of the diorama that stands out – it is a different color, texture, and such. Alzar takes it from the scout. It appears to have some notches in it and Alzar pockets it.

Key to Tamoachan taken

The niches on the walls also have dioramas of village life here in the Isle of Dread a long time ago. Alzar leaves the dioramas for later and moves to the door. It is carved with a sun symbol and appears to open into the room with no hinges, locks or handle. There is a small keystone with a narrow hole and Alzar inserts the shepherd’s crook into it and the door opens after turning it. It starts to close so Alzar gets everyone in quickly and grabs the key before it closes.

[Abe Sargent]

This is the Hall of Thrashing Canes. The side of the corridor are carved to resemble walls of bamboo-like logs, and the passage slopes down. As they head down, Alzar triggers a and several of the bamboo logs swing out and hit him for 8 damage. Maerie disarms the trap in case they have to come back.

46/54

They arrive at double doors that open and reveal the Roost of the Conch. This is a room made of large stone blocks, with a generally square shape but diagonal cuts in the corners to give it a lopsided octagonal look. There are doors to the right and left, and a stair down in front. The walls are wet and slimy and mud covers most of the floor in a thin coating. In the center of the chamber sits a large polish boulder amid a pile of smaller rounded rocks. The boulder is 5’ tall and colored brown with dark streaks and spots. Leaning against it is a bamboo staff. In the mud around the base of the boulder is a moving crayfish.

The floor is very slippery. Alzar moves forward and approaches the boulders. The crayfish begins waving its claws in warning and speak in a foreign tongue. Alzar can’t make out its language, so he backs away and it settles down. He sees the bamboo staff move a little, and a closer look shows it to be a leg of something else not a staff at all. They leave and head off right through the doors there.

As they walk down a new tunnel, the walls of the corridor are wet and slimy. The stucco covering has become saturated with water and is decomposing and sloughing off in spots on the southern wall, exposing the seams of a large stone block. Alzar pushes on the block and after a bit, due to his strength, it gives way. Inside in a set of double doors just a bit in. They open them, and enter the Sepulcher of Tloques-Popolocas.

Once the entrance block has been pushed out, and the stairs are opened, there is a crash and a glass sphere that was a trap falls and a gas cloud emerges. Alzar orders everybody back save the two immune to it and himself. He makes the save. Aleigha heads in, and Maerie follows. Behind the doors is a chamber cut out of the rock with a veil of calcite and stalactites covering the corners. Buttress rise from the corners, brown shot through with black and great stone transoms support the high vaulting. There are six urns made of beeswax to the left past the door. There is a colossal monument resembling a giant’s table, covered on all sides with intricate carvings and glyphs. Engraved on the floor in a seal bearing more glyphs. There is a battle axe embedded in the wall. The monument is constructed from several parts, with a great stone slab resting on a tick monolith and this, in turn, is supported on 6 huge blocks od dolomite. Every component is covered with intricate carvings and glyphs. The top of the slab depicts a struggle between a man and a serpent. The battle axe has a blade of bronze and the haft is wound with snake skin wrapping. We take a look at illustration #1:



See that creepy way the axe makes the shadow of an arm? That’s not a good sign. The block beneath the slab sounds hollow when thumped with a sword. None of the carvings or glyphs are magical, or else Alzar could read them with his monocle. Nothing they can do can pry the axe from the wall, or open the sarcophagus, and Maerie and they all search. The urns have common oil in there.

[Abe Sargent]

They return and head back to the room with the crayfish and take the left door. There is a short tunnel with stairs down, and another door. They open it and enter the Courses of the Gods. The room is wet and the walls are covered in a slimy white buildup. There is about an inch and half of water and mud blanketing the floor and within the room are many overturned pedestals and broken statues. Only one pedestal in the northwest corner is okay. On it sits a small, metallic three sided pyramid There is a door on the other side. Alzar takes the:

Small Pyramid of Silver – 3 gp

And they search, find nothing, and leave. They enter a hallway coated with the same slime as that found elsewhere and the floor is covered with a layer of mud, and thorough it a stream trickles north. Along the east wall of the passage stands a 12’ tall statue of a man outfitted in native finery and holding a narrow stone tray in his arms. His eyes appears ot be black gemstones and one droops one of the socket. Behind the left shoulder can be seen the hilt of a weapon, and several places are scratched and chipped. See illustration #2, linked to above.

Alzar uses the Rope of Climbing to attach to the sword and pulls it out without touching the statue. He can’t tell if it’s magical or not and tosses it in the magic pile. Maerie searches and finds nothing. They continue on to double door and arrive at the Court of Cemanahuac.

The doors are bronze and tinted blue due to age. There are two wells, one to either side, just before the doors. The small trickle of water ends there and forms a small pool. The doors open easily and there are narrow aisles in this room flanked by statues and and two corroded bronze braziers in the water. In the middle of the room are two broken urns and some sort of greenish trail in the vicinity. The water is roughly 2’ deep in most places, but the side are much deeper forming a bit of a moat. The green trail leads to a giant slug, which tries to talk to the party but is unsuccessful. They move through the water and up some stairs, into another hallway which 180s into another door – the Tomb of Hurakan.

There is a sound of dripping and slashing from the room, and the door is stuck. Alzar pushes with his might and it finally is forced open, but a flood of water behind it floods the party, and several wash back all the way to the other chamber, where the giant slug is laughing. They head back and discover nothing else in the chamber, not even after a search.

[Abe Sargent]

They follow a hallway out and arrive at double doors, and they have arrived at the Child of Zotzilaha. They hear a faint melodious voice singing, female and strong. They open the doors and see Illustration #3. (It’s just a chick languishing in water).

The room is lit by a strange soft light which illumines a section of sandy beach and a pool of water framed by a crystal cavern and double doors beyond her. It stretches for a bit to the right and it’s obvious this goes back to the crayfish room, and this is what was forward. The light comes from everywhere. On the beach is a nude woman singing, with long golden hair, pale white skin, and a glow to her skin. After finishing her song, she slips into the water.

They enter and move slowly towards the doors, and the pool with the woman. Alzar knows she is not a native due to her hair and skin color – they are all wrong for those who made this place. Alzar uses the Gem of Seeing, and can make out her in the water, as a golden mantling of angel seaweed. Carum and Estaish are taken with her and keep going. Alzar orders Aleigha and Maerie to hold them back while he moves forward (he is immune to charm as you may recall, even Man Charm).

Alzar has a hunch and tries to control her. She is invisible under water, which might imply coming from the Elemental Plane of Water. Or it could just be a natural defense. Alzar succeeds and controls the Nereid. He orders her to stop her charm of Carum and Estaish but she cannot, it is natural, but it will end after they are taken a few hundred feet away. He orders her to give them any treasure she has, and she goes into the water and comes out with:

6 golden statuettes worth 85 gp each
Gold Mask – 175
Two crystal scroll cases - 20 gp each , water has damaged scrolls within.
Bronze Bracers
Potion

Alzar orders her to open the double doors on the room and there is a half flooded door beyond. He tells her to stay away, or he will control her again, and this time, he’ll force her to leave the water and never return. He then releases her, and they move on, Carum and Estaish dragged until they recover. They open some double doors in the hallway and enter The Great Hall.

This hallway is 20’ wide, and has piles of rubble and debris all along it. It is at least 125 feet long, and probably longer. He walls are covered with frescoes, and the north wall has a nation questing for land and the south sailing over storm-tossed seas. They head down see Illustration #4. It shows the hall and the frescoes and the wall and such. They search and find a secret door, 8’ off the ground in the middle of the great hall.

[Abe Sargent]

They climb up rope and arrive in at the Hall of Great Spirits. This corridor is high and decorated with sculptures mounted on the walls. There are two corridors branching off of this one. The statuary that adorns the walls consists of four sculpted each of animals – sea turtle, elk, hawk, and tiger. Why is that interesting? Carum mentions that those are the same four names of the clans among his people.

There is something shining in the hawk’s beak. See Illustration #5. Maerie searches for traps. She finds nothing. Alzar can tell it’s magical and has earth magic in it, but nothing more. He grabs his staff, and slashes at the ring with all of his might and the ring pops out, and the beak closes.

Magic Ring – value 1250 gp

They go right and the corridor is smooth, and at the end is a small alcove holding a 3’ tall stone pedestal on which sits a small stone coffer. See illustration #7. There are two steps up. Maerie finds a trap on the floor of the nook. When more than 100 pounds of weight is put on it, the floor will sink and trap the person in the alcove, and close behind them. Megala flies in and is able to open the cover and inside is a small stone statuette that Alzar telekinesis’s back to him. It starts to glow and float, and Alzar watches it for a bit, and then after it does nothing else takes it.

Glowing, Floating statuette

They return and take the long path forward and arrive at the Hallway of the Ancestors. Deep in the shadows, human figures appear to be hovering in the air. See illustration 6. It shows that there hallway is in the dip, and there are steps up to those hovering figures. They appear to be corpses and Alzar’s investigates one They are not undead, just dead. None have any items but old, ratted and faded robes.

They arrive at a massive bronze door that forms the entrance to the Spirit Guard of Ayocuan, a grand chamber with rubble, broken statuary, and an army of clay statues. There are doors to the right and forward. The room is shaped like a rough hexagon.

In the east wing appear to be large carved stone stelae and the remains of a sedan or litter with statues of attendance standing in harness. They move in and in the littler is the remains of a human shackled to the arm of the sedan, and a bronze door barred shut with an old copper bar that Alzar breaks to open it.

Inside are several things including an amulet made of turquoise and silver. They search the center of the room, and as they move a giant urn, it falls and breaks, and out springs a wight wearing another amulet identical to the one they found. Alzar tries to control it, which should be automatic but…does not work? The amulet grows a vile green instead. It gets a swing at him and he orders everyone back and to attack with magical ranged weapons. Carum misses. Alzar runs and grabs a dagger and throws it and barely hits for 11 damage. Aleigha and Maerie and Estiash have retreated from the room. A sling stone flies in and adds 4 damage. Alzar orders Megala and Dryshik to fly in front of it before it reaches him. It attacks Megala but it manages to fly out of the way. Another dagger flies in for 11 damage. Carum hits and kills it for 5 damage.

XP – 700 for Alzar and Carum

He grabs the amulet and investigates this one, which is identical to the first one. Yeah, he can tell it’s definitely magical. It’s something he’s never seen before, but he thinks he can guess what it does, and if so, these two amulets may be the biggest treasure in here.

[Abe Sargent]

They leave and enter a hallway that ends at a dead end. Two searches find nothing and they turn around. They go right and a short hallway ends at the Chamber of the Nacehual. Both of the doors to this lozenge shaped room are made of heavy bronze.

In the middle are two stone divans, each with a human figure stretched out upon it. Between the divans is a low stone table with two goblets and a flask. There are glyphs and search around. One is female and the other male. They find nothing of value, and nothing is in the flask. The humans are either dead or sleeping, and have nothing of value on them but robes.

They leave by another door and move into a corridor with a Will-o’-Wisp in it. It hovers quietly overhead but makes an eerie sight. Maerie found a pit trap right under it. She disarms it. They arrive at The Nest of the Warriors.

This bronze door is opened and a bitter reek can be smelled. There is a mass of offal and rubbish and many glowing beetles moving around. They are ignoring the group. There is the glint of something shiny from a big pile of trash. Megala and Dryshik go get the glints and bring them back:

Dagger
Turquoise – 50gpx3

They head over to the other doors and leave and this corridor has a ton of stairs up and the climb up for about 15 minutes. Then the tunnel bends and they arrive at the Arc of Nanahuatcin.

[Abe Sargent]

This is a spacious vaulted hallway with much weathering and cracking from the wages of times. The walls are charred and scored and there are several stone statues of baboons scattered around and chipped in several places. Fungus covers part of the room. There is an opening at the other end of the room. As they move in, ahead something spherical floats in the air at about chest height. As the range diminishes, the sphere appears to have one eye and a dozen various tentacles growing out of the top. Alzar immediately orders everyone to stop and ready range weapons. It is probably a beholder: a very dangerous and powerful creature. It appears to not see them yet, despite being in range, and Alzar orders a preemptive strike with bolt, dagger, and stone. They attack and two hit. The “beholder” blows up and explodes but they are out of range of the explosion. It was a gas spore.




They find a bag with 7 silver sling bullets and Alzar hands them to Carum to use if needed.

[Abe Sargent]

They led and end around a corner. As the corridor, it bends and there is the Tomb of Pelota. There is is a bend in the passage and a faint line in the walls depicting men playing with a ball and stone goals. There is a capstone on the floor. Alzar orders everyone past, and then opens the capstone. Inside are several skeletal remains of various people. There is a glistening blue ball on top, about a foot in diameter. The ball is cool to the touch and made of resilient material wrapped around and around, and then dyed or painted.

Alzar is challenged to play pelota, and he disappears into another place and time.



Alzar has several rounds to try to score three times in this area. The information is conveyed to him telepathically. He rolls a 15 and easily hits the hole in the first round, and recovers the ball and rolls a 17 and easily hits again. (It’s AC3). He rolls an 18 and nails it and the challenge ends like that. There are some items in the area, and he takes them before he is teleported back:

13 pink pearls 200 gp each
Whistle of Flight – Can be blown three times a day. Gives flight for as long as it is blown until the person runs out of air.

They arrive at a door to the Guardian Beast. This giant room has multiple doors off it, and is decorated in a cat motif. See illustration 8. There is a snarling face of a tiger on the entire southeast wall, the statue of a cat man in the middle of the room, a stuffed tiger in the center of the room, and several stuffed domestic cats, Alzar orders a search, and as they enter, Aleigha turns into a werebear and pushes Alzar forward. She smells the room and moves toward the statue. Suddenly it animates and the werejaguar attacks Aleigha. The werejaguar wins init and hits Aleigha once for 5 damage. She hits twice for 7 damage back. Alzar flings in a dagger and nails the guy for 12. Carum misses. Aleigha wins init and bites him once for 4 damage and kills him. They search and find:

Jade Statue of Cat – 200 gp
Dagger
Scroll of Protection vs Felines

A secret door to the southwest. They can go behind this, to the right, left, and forward left. Alzar takes the secret door.

36/41 - Aleigha

[Abe Sargent]

This is The Portal to Death.

There are a massive number of symbols and glyphs in here, and double doors on the other side. There is a seal on the doors keeping them closed. They find nothing in here after a search. They break the seal and open the doors to Ancient Tomoachan: The Tomb of Tlacaelel

Beyond the door is a chamber containing a model of a city or nation fenced off from the entrance by a pillared porch. On the porch are clay statues of 20 guards holding bronze headed spears. The face of each statue is different. The walls are brightly decorated with frescoes showing royal court scenes. The central chamber holds a tarnished copper raft, crafted to resemble a dragon, bearing a copper coffin. The raft is afloat in a sea of silver white molten metal fed my several rivers which lace the floor of the room and its walls. Open that sea, small copper barges and carracks embark on journeys up the rivers, to port, and then sail back to sea. Stepped pyramid temples rise skyward. A royal complex spread across verdant field and modest countryside. There are ringed marketplaces, and yet a mar on this spectacle because several of the models have been smashed and melted as if by monstrous feet. See illustration #9



Alzar has Megala fly in, and then follows himself. As soon as he does, a Wall of Fire erupts from the pillars and separates him from the party. The copper coffin rises and out comes a doppelganger, in Alzar’s appearance, and Alzar’s axe is out.

Alzar wins init and deals 14. The doppelganger misses Alzar wins init and deals 17. Dead doppelganger.

XP – 650 for Alzar

The wall of fire dies out. The room is cool. Alzar drops a copper coin in the molten metal, and it melts, so it is lance hot. Maerie enters, and the wall of fire returns, and starts a search She finds a few hidden chest inside the temples. The wall of fire dies down after a few minutes.

Inside these chests they find:

Jade earplugs, 6 pairs, 15 gp each pair
Alabaster statuette – 50 gp
15 Bracelets of Obsidian – 200 gp each
Alabaster statuette of Coatlicue – the serpent skirted, worth 270
Scroll case with scrolls
Mask of Disguise

The chests have heaps of these silver coin necklaces, which have 360 silver coins pierced and on a threat of gut. There are 30 necklaces total.

Nothing else is in the room and they return.

[Abe Sargent]

They head to the next door clockwise.

This passage leads west towards a set of double bronze doors bearing the engraved face of the jaguar god. Both walls are carved to represent two lines of warriors in profile, holding hatchet-headed polearms and facing the doors. Illustration #10, which I have above for you.

A search finds a trap that turns the polearms deadly and Maerie successfully disarms it, and they move to the door to Xipe’s Audience Chamber.

When the door is opened, a rush of fetid air greets the group. The room is lit with a sanguine glow. On the wall opposite are tacked several obviously human skins. A cat-o-nine-tails hangs beside them. To the west the room widens to accommodate a high statue with an ogrish look to it, outfitted in flayed skins and many skulls, and with a gaping mouth big enough to swallow a horse. To the east is a well, and above it, a 25’ high ceiling and a hole in it. Beside it is a stuffed panther.

As they enter, a booming voice tells them to toss a offering into the Well of Wisdom, and they will be given advice. Alzar tosses a platinum coin in, a light from the well flashes, and the voice tells him to rerun to the room they just left, and take the north west door to find their destination. All is then quiet.

They search the room, find nothing, and leave. They take the door recommended and arrive at double doors after a 180’. The floor of this room is covered in a thick grey ash inches deep. There are double doors on the other end of this room. There are two alcoves on either side of the room. Megala flies in and sees nothing. Alzar walks in and the dust swirls and forms images. Alzar tries to control them, they are not undead. He uses the Gem and they are merely harmless illusions. He moves through the room, and searches, and finds a Rod. They open the doors into the Chamber of the Second Sun.

There are no more poison gases in here, and as they continue to rise, there will be none as well. 22 turns they have been in the dungeon, and that means Carum has taken 22, and Est rolls 22 saves and we’ll say he makes half and took 11. Alzar takes back the magic items.

This is a huge chamber with a mighty buttressing and vaulted ceiling. Parts of the ceiling and walls have collapsed and through a gaping hole in the north wall, raw earth can be seen. Crushed beneath a fallen block near the middle of the room are the remains of what was likely humanish. Elsewhere are the chewed and decayed corpses of some baboon like creatures, and through a hole in the ceiling can be seen a crack of daylight and fresh air. A group of 4 baboons way up in the gap scream at the party and as they do, dirt slides down a bit in the room.

As they enter, they run into a giant, two headed snake that was hidden in the rubble. It moves to attack and between Alzar’s axe and missile weapons, it is killed on the first round.

XP – 95 each

The mandrills leave after seeing the party kill the snake easily. They move the block and search the room, including the corpses, and find nothing but double doors leading on.

[Abe Sargent]

They open the doors and it bends 270’ degrees and as they move up the stairs, a trap Maerie failed to find hits everybody for 8 damage from a jet of acid.

Carum has taken 30
Est has taken 19
Everybody else has taken 8

Illustration 12 shows the trap. Now that she knows it’s there, Maerie disarms it. They reach the top of the stairs, and follow the corridor until it Ts. They go left. At the western end of this corridor is a pile of yellow coins heaped on the floor. On top of the gold coins rests a jawless skull, and in the right eye socket, a black spider has made this her home. There are bones piled on the coins, with the hilts of a broken sword in the mass. Alzar uses the Gem of Seeing. It’s just yellow mold. They search around the gold and find two secret doors in the hallway.

Alzar opens on and they move on. This is The Chapel of Kukulkan

Beyond the secret door the passage turns to the left. At the end of this narrow hall hangs an ornate mirror and in the eastern wall is a door. The door seems to be very heavy and there are many glyphs upon it, including ones with an eagle killing a serpent. Two warriors dressed in loin clothes form the doorposts. Illustration 13.



Alzar makes his save when he looks in the mirror and no one else will need to. Beyond the door is a wide foyer leading into a circular room. On the south wall of the room is a jade death mask fixed at chest height. In the center is a cross shaped dais with a set of stairs leading up to it at each of its four ends. Between the arms are shelves on which stand various small trinkets with little value. The steps to the north are bloodstained. There is a statue at the top of the north stairs, and the ones on the other side change colors.

The Gem of Seeing shows an ethereal Couatl coiled about one of the stele in the room, chained to it with ethereal chains.



Alzar waves everyone back and moves in and addresses the Couatl. He apologizes for the interruption, but asks why the Couatl is there in this quiet place? The Couatl hisses and addresses Alzar. It is pleased Alzar can see it and the chains. It wants to be freed. If Alzar and his party can reach the top of the altar, and grab the potion from it, and the prison is broken. Alzar consents. Megala tries to fly in, but there is a wall of force above. Alzar moves to climb the stairs and he chooses - blood, normal, statue or color changing….normal ones. Each time Alzar tries to climb them, he slips and falls, so he moves to the one with a statue at the top. The heads of gods in the stairs chant at him and he cannot concentrate. He move sot the one with blood. He makes it up the stairs, but the statue animates and ambles over. Alzar’s axe is out. The statue wins init and misses. Alzar hacks for critical damage for 16. Alzar wins init and adds 14 and kills the statue-warrior, who dissipates. He makes it up, and then feels the wall of force. The Gem of Seeing shows it to be of an unholy nature, so he grabs one of the flasks of holy water from the Taurian Dungeons and smashes it on the Wall of Force, and it dissipates. He grabs the potion and the Couatl asks for it. He gives it to the creature and it is freed and materializes. It does not know the ruins or the area, but it will give Alzar some special reward. A scroll appears in his hands, and the Couatl disappears. The scroll is opened and Alzar feels a chill, and then a warmth. He does not know the benefit.

He will be stalked by a Death Servant, who merges with his shadow. If he ever is about to take a fatal blow, the Death Servant will jump out, take the blow instead, and Alzar will be fully healed.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar takes the other secret door. The Mirrors of Tezcatlipocas. An amber haze fills the room. The chamber is unoccupied, but there are strangely shaped and colored mirrors hanging in the walls and a large basin stands in the middle of the floor. One is red and firery, another is black, and other white and other blue. There is a golden pool in the center of the room.

Each of the mirrors is magical. Alzar’s shadow in one shows him dying in the shrine. In another, it shows what he would look like as one of those who made this place, in a third is shows a mist and so forth. The floor appears to be normal. A search turns up a secret room.

In the center of this diamond shaped room is a dais on which a weirdly formed altar rests. It is made to form a many armed and beaked octopoidal creature with large purple-red stone set in the forehead. The walls are decorated with paintings of the sun and moon. Alzar moves to the throne, and suddenly the arms start spinning and he is caught inside. Using his strength, he is able to bust out but tool 6 damage.

Nothing else is found here, and they return to the T and take the other doors to Mictlan. This room is decorated with a bizarre diorama depicting the land of the dead. Small brightly colored clay statues have been placed to represent inhabitants of the realm and the unfortunate souls bound to it. In the center of the room, the floor rises to form a small hill with earthen palisades and a group of small men figures are rolling a boulder up a hill with a demon driving them on. There is a pebble path through the diorama to the foot of the hill, and doors can be seen to the right.

Alzar moves to the doors and opens it. As he moves across the wild plains section of the diorama, he has to make a save and does. Knowing the room is enchanted, he gets everybody past and into the next room.

[Abe Sargent]

This small room has a small shelf on which rests a glazed flask. The floor of the room is covered with a lumpy pile of earthy material. There is also a small urn and stone cylinder. A door is on the other side.

As Alzar enters, the pile on the floor opens an eye. Then it opens many more. Then it opens a mouth, and more and more and more. It begins to make a babbling cacophony and Est and Carum are Confused. Carum stands still and Est runs in fear. Alzar orders an attack on the gibbering mouther.



Alzar loses init and it attacks 6 times with bites and misses this round. Alzar’s axe rolls a 5 and he misses against the AC1. Maerie and Aleigha grab weapons and dash in. Aleigha hits for 10 damage. The next round, Alzar drops his axe. Maerie hits for 5 damage. Aleigha hits for 4. It attacks Alzar 6 times in order to concentrate on him. Alzar takes 9 damage. At the end, Alzar recovers his axe and can attack normally next. The next round, Maerie misses, Aleigha misses. Alzar doles out 18 and kills it.

XP – 200 each


The flask in the room hold:

Powder of Strength Potion, which Alzar can restore with Alchemy skill
Dried Heart of a Mighty Sis’sharr warrior
The cylinder is a +2 baton, dealing 1d6+2 damage.


They open the door and it is stairs up. They take them and arrive at a room that is small and plainly decorated. To the west, stairs lead out of this room and to either side are narrow dust covered ledges. In the north and south ends of the room are fountains made of bronze inlaid marble. The southern one is cracked and only dry limey deposits remain. The northern fountain contains about two feet of brackish water. A quick check by Megala shows a platinum key in the water, and Alzar dips in his staff and flips it out and into his gauntleted hand. They search and find nothing, and move on, up the stairs and out to Sacred Chitza-Atlan.

[Abe Sargent]

In the middle of this chamber is what appears to be the withered preserved form of a centaur mounted on a slab of marble. Tinted green and decks out in lacquered leather, feathers and copper wire jewelry. There is another door at the end of this room. About the room at many jewelry and knickknacks. Made of copper and bronze, and of little value.

A search finds nothing but this junk jewelry, and they move to leave. As they open the door to the next room, the centaur animates and gets up. It appears to guard the door. Alzar tries to control it, and fails. Alzar thinks it’s a mummy.

Alzar moves up and dodges a pair of hooves from the offspring of Chitza-Atlan. His axe deals 15 damage. Carum and Estaish miss. It goes first and Alzar takes 5. He would get leprosy, but he is immune to disease. (Periapt of Health)Alzar hits for 15. Est’s crossbow adds 5. Carum’s stone misses Aleigha misses. Maerie hits for 5 and it dies.

XP – 1000 each

They find and disarm a wind trap in the hallway. While searching for traps, they find a secret door too, and it goes into The Hidden Room of the Nahual.


The walls of this room are painted a flat black, while the floor is inlaid with a colorful mosaic of strange gods cavorting and leaping around a sun. The chamber is otherwise empty, except for a curtain, behind which is the form of a statue seated upon a throne carved to depict feathers. The statue is wearing a feathered headdress, made to look like leaping fish. Laying across its lap in open palms is a gold and silver scepter with an eagle’s head in one end and the talons of a bird hold a sun in the other. See illustration #14 from before.

The statue has Alzar’s face. He reaches down and picks up the scepter and he becomes stone. Simultaneously, the statue with his face animates and becomes flesh and blood. It explains to the party that it is Alzar merged with a previous incarnation from a previous life.

A die roll shows that Carum does not buy it and leads an attack!

Carum hits for 8 damage. The statue misses with the scepter, now back in its hands. It gazes at Estaish and he drops his weapon. It wins init and hits Carum for 7 damage. Carum misses. It forces Aleigha to drop her weapon. Maerie misses. Est picks it back up.

Carum has 31/58

Carum misses. Est Misses. Maerie hits for 6 damage, Ale picks up her weapon. Carum is missed and is forced to drop his spear. Est misses. Aleigha misses. Maerie hits for 3 damage. Carum take s4 more and Maerie drops her dagger. Carum speras it for 8 and kills it.

27/58

XP – 750 for everyone but Alzar

Alzar is still stone. They try a few things, and eventually touching him with the specter changes him back.

Scepter of Nahual – 507 gp, residual magical energies, but all used up

A search here finds nothing so they return to the corridor and continue.

[Abe Sargent]

They find stairs leading up, and Maerie finds and disarms a crank of some sort of trap.

The stairs open up into what was once a large temple of sorts. All that remains are a back wall and enough of the roof to shelter the altar. All else seems closed off by fallen debris. Several pillars have fallen and litter the floor. There are a few holes in the ceiling that allow the poking through of sunlight. There is a giant bas-relief of a bat-creature on the back wall and in front of it is the altar stone, carved to look like a mass of rats, weasels, and worms.

Close inspection of the altar shows handholds at the base. Alzar cannot lift it by himself and Estaish helps. As they do, a trap launches and hits them both for 10 and 7 respectively. They move the altar top and reveal a pit with one major item of value:

19160 silver pieces

[Abe Sargent]

They have completed the dungeon, except for the tomb and axe below. Alzar sets up shop and spends ten weeks casting Read languages, Detect magic, identify and such, and writes a book about the temple itself, its traps and treasures, the glyphs, and such. He deciphers the languages with the Read language spell, shows rubbings of various parts, and more.

After knowing the language he figures out the tomb. The date of the person;s birth is given on the wall and there are stones around marked 1-10 in the language. By pressing them in the birth order, the crypt lid pulled back.

Beneath the slab is hollow and inside are the remains of a crumbling skeleton decked in finery. It appears to have been a man taller than human size. Fitted on the skull is a mask of jade, with cowrie shell eyes and obsidian pupils. The bones and inside of the hollow are stained bright green. Beneath the mask are fragments of bones as though the skull were crushed. Within the fragments are a white bead. Laying about the mask is a diadem of dark stones and green discs. There are several other items in here as well.

Alzar reaches in and starts pulling off items, and as he does so, the boys starts to reconfigure. While it is doing so, Alzar tries to control it. It fails, but he knows it is undead. It must be powerful. Alzar grabs a +2 dagger and stabs the creature while it is reforming. It looks up at him and bares fangs, and he stabs it again, and it dies. This is a vampire.


Mud Ring
Ring of Protection +1
Bracers of Protection vs Normal Missiles
Jade Mask – 250
Diadem of Opals and Jade – 300
Hair Ornaments of Obsidian – 200
Earplugs of Jade- 75
Polished Onyx – 175 gp
Breastplate of Jade and Bone – 640 gp (AC6)

Alzar tells the fighters to keep hacking the corpse in order to prevent it’s regeneration until he gets back. He goes out and finds the material in the caverns to move the body and then returns. They take the body to the room that was decayed where the poison ends, with a clothes ,and staffs to carry it and others keep stabbing it. They arrive and expose it to the sunlight, and the vampire is destroyed for good.

XP – 500 each

When they return, Alzar is able to grab the Battle Axe from the wall now. Here is what it does:

Battle Axe - +2, -2 vs Chaotic Evil (so it’s neutral against CE). It is cursed, and must always be used in combat by Alzar until the curse is removed. It has permanent scrolls in the haft, and the command words are in the ancient language, which he can now read. Three times a day he can activate each of these – Push, Passwall, Burning Hands.

[Abe Sargent]

All of the stuff from this adventure:


Powder of Strength Potion, which Alzar can restore with Alchemy skill
Dried Heart of a Mighty Sis’sharr warrior
The cylinder is a +2 baton, dealing 1d6+2 damage.
6 golden statuettes worth 85 gp each
Gold Mask – 175
Two crystal scroll cases - 20 gp each , water has damaged scrolls within.
Glowing, Floating statuette
Turquoise – 50gpx3
13 pink pearls 200 gp each
Whistle of Flight – Can be blown three times a day. Gives flight for as long as it is blown until the person runs out of air.
Jade Statue of Cat – 200 gp
Scroll of Protection vs Felines
Jade earplugs, 6 pairs, 15 gp each pair
Alabaster statuette – 50 gp
15 Bracelets of Obsidian – 200 gp each
Alabaster statuette of Coatlicue – the serpent skirted, worth 270
Mask of Disguise
Scepter of Nahual – 507 gp, residual magical energies, but all used up
19160 silver pieces
The chests have heaps of these silver coin necklaces, which have 360 silver coins pierced and on a threat of gut. There are 30 necklaces total


Plus the stuff from the crypt.


Magic Pile: Two Handed Sword, +1, +4 vs Gas Spore. Bracers of Cleaning. Potion of Treasure Finding. Amulet of Protection vs Turning x2. +1 Dagger, +1 Dagger vs Lycanthropes, Cleric Scroll – Stone Tell. Rod of Electrification – 17 charges.

Ring – 1250 gold. Can cast Flesh to Stone three times. Each time the value of the ring drops 200gp. Then can cast Stone Shape, and each time that is used, value drops another 50 gp until the value is gone – charges are used up.


Mud Ring – The wearer may cast these spells: meld into stone, water breathing 3x day, stone shape 2x day, earthquake – 1x month, transmute rock to mud or reverse, 2x week, transmute water to dust or reverse 1x week, conjure 8 HD earth or water elemental 1x week, and airy water 1x day . But, it cannot be used more than 5 times a day. All saves involving water or earth are made at +1, and air and fire at -1.

Alzar is immediately made aware of the ring’s powers upon donning it. However, there is a small chance each time it is used that Alzar will be wisked off to the plane whose powers he used when the conduit is open, because the enchantment is not perfect. He needs to keep his Amulet of the Planes with him at all times, as a result.

Bracers of Cleaning – When worn, prevents hands from getting wet or dirty from any substance. This includes poisons, acids, and such – so they might be handy in the lab.

Rod of Electrification deals 1d4+1 electrical damage when it hits someone in combat, can be recharged with a lightning bolt.

[Abe Sargent]

XP:

Alzar – 133,554 (Level 9 at 135k)
Estaish – 62,647 (Level 7 at 64k) – Now with 45 HP
Aleigha – 58,289 (Level 6) – Now has 41 HP.
Carum – 52,269 (Level 6) – Now has 58 HP.
Maerie – 44790 (Level 7 – level 8 at 70k) - 22 hp



Research shows that the heart is enchanted and meant to be eaten, so Alzar eats the old heart, and now he can fully understand and speak Sis’sharr permanently.

Alzar has finished Dispel Magicing another book for 2 months worth - the level 6 Evil Spellbook


Level 6 “Evil” Spells:

Death Fog
Ensnarement
Geas
Mislead
Programmed Illusion
Flesh to Stone


Curse of Lycanthropy
Gauntlet of Teeth
Otiluke’s Excruciating Screen
Seizure
Spell Mirror


The Screen, Teeth, Mislead and Programmed Illusion are all illusion and evocation, and Death Fog is an example of Evocation Bleed into alteration, so not.

Alzar learns Ensnarement, Geas, Curse of Lycanthropy, Seizure and Spell Mirror.

Spell Mirror allows the caster to put a spell into a mirror, and then the first person to cast a reflection that meets the qualifications gets the spell cast at them.

[Abe Sargent]

Since Alzar and company are near the dangerous monsters on the north side of the Isle of Dread, he grabs a Broom of Flying and starts searching for a dinosaur to fight, solo. He finds a Triceratops and flits down. The dinosaur is 100’feet away, and Alzar’s Blastbones forces it to turn and charge. It has 81 hp.

Alzar casts skulltrap and sets it on the ground and retreats, keeping it between him and the dinosaur. As it gets near, he casts Ray of Enfeeblement. It makes its save, and then bowls into the trap. 24 damage or save for half. It makes its save and takes 12.

69.

It arrives and misses (cloak). The new axe is out and The dinosaur is hewn for 18 damage.

51 damage left.

Alzar wins init and hits for 17. He is hit twice for 11. Alzar hits again for 18 more. 26 hp left for it. It wins init and hits three times for 11. He hits back for 20. It wins init for 22. Alzar hits for 19 and it dies.

Alzar – 10/54

Alzar gains 8800 XP.

Alzar – 142,354

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar gains 2 hp and is at 56. He can now cast 2 5th level spells.

5/4/4/3/2



This is a significant upgrade. The ability to do things such as summon elementals and animate dead will greatly increase his mystical force. Also, when he casts Dispel Magic at a work of Castanamir’s, he now has a 10% chance per spell of it working, which is a major upgrade.

He spends an extra week back at Tangaroa, and then with all of the more powerful Dispel Magics cast,

Reveals these two tomes:

Markessa’s high level spellbook – Lightning Bolt

Markessa’s low level spellbook – Magic Missile, Protection from Good, Read Magic, Detect Magic, Shocking Grasp, Scare, Wizard Lock and Darkness, 15’ radius


They were both easily dispelled of any protections, if they had them. Alzar doesn’t want any of these except Wizard Lock. One of the things that Alzar has been doing is getting skeletons ready for animation by casting bone knit on them, and memorizing two Bone Knits and one Dispel Magic daily. The Bone Knits will give a skeleton max hp and only take a shard of bone to cast. He is preparing many of them for eventual animate dead.


They gather up their things and move to the ruins on the other side of the Isle in the jungle that they found earlier.

[Abe Sargent]

I1. Dwellers of the Forbidden City





As mentioned before, this one got 13th on the all time best chart, and I think it did so, in part beause of its additions to the game. Here are the creatures it introduces – yuan-ti, tasloi, bullywugs, aboleth, yellow musk creeper, and mongrelmen. That’s a lot of creatures that are major parts of AD&D. All of them were important enough to make the cut in 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual, because that’s how good they are. The yuan-ti, in particular, is one of the most classic of AD&D monsters.

After this, it will be Alzar’s desire to leave the Isle of Dread and head home, but I suspect one or two more adventures are going to rise up and challenge him before he does so.

[Abe Sargent]

They arrive at the ruins, and closer examination finds that the ruins are part of a lost outpost, from long ago. The architectures matches that in other places around the island. They investigate it, and it is just old crumbling ruins, but there is a cave nearby that has a stream emerging from it. This certainly seems interesting, so Alzar and company move towards the cave.

The tunnel narrows and becomes a five foot wide path beside the stream that hugs the wall of the cavern, and soon the sound of a waterfall can be heard up ahead. After another fifth of a mile, the path opens up into a giant cavern, with a tall waterfall that’s roughly 200’ off the ground and a few hundred feet away. Bats squeak and flutter overhead.

Thirty feet along the path the rock wall juts outward and the path turns out of sight around the bend. Alzar fails his save and believe the rock wall and path are there and moves to go around and falls into the river. Everybody else backs up away from the now discovered bank.




Four warty tentacles lance out as the aboleth focuses on the people still on the path, ignoring Alzar for now. Mistake. Alzar’s cursed axe is out and he slashes into the mucousy cloud of tentacles. He misses. It hits twice, critting Carum and hitting Maerie for 4 and 5. Maerie fails her save and her skin starts to turn into a clear, slimy membrane. Aleigha jumps into the water (Necklace of Adaptation, does not wear metal armor) and swims to Alzar (slow and -4 underwater though to damage and to hit and +4 to AC)


54/58 – Carum
18/23 – Maerie

The aboleth wins init and hits twice, getting a crit of Carum for 10 and a hit on Maerie for 2. Alzar hits for 15 damage. Aleigha rolls an 11, -4 for underwater, +2 for sword, +4 for Ac – miss. Alzar’s second attack hits for 18 more. Carum jumps in the water after stripping off his metal armor.


44/58 – Carum
16/23 – Maerie

The Aboleth wins init and turns its attention on Alzar and tries to Enslave him. Success, Alzar is now enslaved and cannot attack the Aboleth, and will serve it. Aleigha hits the Aboleth for 5 damage. Carum spears it and adds 1 damage. Maerie is starting to be hurt by being out of water due to her altered condition, and she jumps out, leaving just metal bound Estaish on the shore.

Aleigha and Carum win init. Aleigha rolls a 13. -4, +4, +2 – hit barely. 4 damage dealt. Carum misses. Maerie tries to stab it and misses. Carum fails a save in the mucous and now can only breathe water for a few rounds. It swims away, ordering Alzar to guard it. It is moving towards the waterfall. Aleigha and Carum set up a perimeter in the water so it can’t escape. Carum realizes he can breathe water after he surfaces, gulps in air, and starts to choke.

Alzar is not coming too. Estaish believes they need to kill the creature, and is scanning the water with crossbow ready in case of ripples. Maerie is underwater so her skin won’t hurt. Estaish sees a small cloud of mucous and points it out to Aleigha and Carum who advance. Est lances a bolt into the water on the other side of the cloud in order to scare it toward Aleigha and Carum but instead it lances out at Est with four tentacles. One hits for 6 and Est makes his save. Aleigha and Carum near it. Est lances out a bolt at the area the tentacles are coming from. He just misses it.

39/45 – Estaish

Aleigha misses with a 12, and Carum misses with a 9. Est bolts in another for a 14. -4 for a blind shot, +4 for AC is a miss. The Aboleth rolls 7, 16, 6, and 2. The 16 is -2 for AC, and has a THAC0 of 14 and hits. Est rolls a 15 save and takes 3.

36/45

Aleigha rolls a 3. Carum a 16, which is a hit for 9 damage and the Aboleth dies. Alzar is back to normal. Aleigha casts Cure Disease on Maerie and her skin turns back to normal. Carum can breathe air again in a few minutes.

XP – 1000 each

[Tellistto]

Wow, nasty beast there.

[Abe Sargent]

They move inward and get closer to the waterfall. The path continues up the cliff in a very meandering way, and at several points it passes behind the waterfall. Megala and Dryshik fly up and see nothing but a continuing tunnel and a few barrels with lit torches on the walls. There is a stream and a pool in front of the waterfall.

As they move up the path, it goes underneath the waterfall, then comes out and heads to the other side of the cliff before cutting back on itself and heading under the waterfall a second time. Suddenly, a barrel of oil is broken above, and set on fire and the waterfall is fiery. Everybody takes 6 damage, except Carum, Estaish and Aleigha who are immune to normal fire.

10/23 - Maerie
48/54 - Alzar

Megala flies back up and sees several of these squat froglike humanoids at the top with rocks readied. A few have short bows, and two fire at Megala, and one crits it for 8 damage. It flies back down immediately.




4/12 for Megala

There is no question they are setting up to drop rocks and fire bows down on the group as they wind their way up the cliff. The best way to break that up is to change their view. Alzar hands out Brooms of flying to Estaish and Carum and grabs the whistle. They will fly up the cliff, land among the bullywugs, and attack with melee weapons instead of own their terms.

The 9 bullywugs are quite surprised when three people start flying up. The three with bows fire at the one in front – Alzar. He is missed due to his cloak. They land and start attacking.

Alzar’s axe is +0 to hit and damage against them. He still manages to hit a bullywug for 13 damage and kills it. Est drops his sword. Carum spears one for 6 damage and it dies. The other 7 have moved to melee weapons. They are jumping into the people they attack, so they get +2 to hit and deal double damage. Several miss Alzar He is hit by one who fired a bow at him earlier and knows to compensate – He takes 6. Est is hit for 10.

The next round, they win init and hop around some more. Carum took 12, Est 10 and Alzar 14. Alzar casts Sleep and puts down all of them. Should have done that to begin with. Now he knows better with the hoppies.

30/54 - Alzar
19/45 - Estaish
32/58 – Carum


XP - 200 for Alzar, Estaish and Carum


They search the bullywugs and the clear pool here with glittering things at the bottom. They find:

Silver Brooch – 1000
Three Disks of Jade – 500 gp each
Gold Enchased Incense Burner – 900 gp

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Tellistto

Wow, nasty beast there.

Yeah. Imagine if I had to fight more than one!

One of the things I've always liked about the Aboleth is that their powers make sense. They mentally enslave people, and then their mucous makes them able to breath underwater and their tentacles make their skin more comfortable underwater. So their abilities make sense together, and I like a creature that's well thought out like that

[Abe Sargent]

They’ve been wounded badly by less than 10 Bullywugs and an Aboleth. This is not going to be easy, Alzar thinks to himself. They continue along. As the path, which is obviously carved, continues, a natural path splits off to the left. They decide to take the off cave to see if the place gets a little easier than hoppers with spears and bows and rocks and flaming oil, and weird fishy things with tentacles and magic.

Near the end of the natural tunnel is a cave with a small cave mouth. The area is open to the sun and therefore there are ferns, orchids, all of the place, plus these pretty bright yellow flowers handing down from the entrance.

As they move towards the entrance, three humanoid creatures scramble out from behind the rocks behind them. Maerie dodges the attack of one and the party’s ranks reform. They wear banded mail, carry shields and sword, and they are pushing the group forward. Maerie is backed up, and suddenly, one of the flowers fires a puff of pollen at her. She is hit, fails her save, and starts waling to the entrance, listless. Alzar orders everybody to attack the three yellow musk zombies while he goes after the plant.

Alzar gets to the plant and is immune to the pollen, since it must be breathed in to work. Some tendrils are starting to work their way to Maerie’s head, and Alzar hacks them and forces her to the ground. Carum hits a zombie for 7 damage. One this back on Aleigha for 3 damage.

38/41 – Aleigha

The zombies miss three times and one drops a sword. Alzar hacks at the creeper for 18 damage. Aleigha and Carum hit the damaged zombie for 16 damage and he dies. 2 left. They win init and Carum takes 8 damage. Est and Aleigha hit for 14 on another. Alzar kills the flower. Then moves back to the group to help them out. They win init and Est takes 6. Alzar kills the damaged one for 20 damage. All three hit the other one for 23 damage. Alzar hits and kills the last one. He looks at the sword of one and immediately identifies it

24/58 – Carum
13/45 – Estaish

He look through the other things and finds nothing else obviously magical, but they add it to the magic pile for later examination. A search of the room turns up some small clay balls. Alzar is able to id them as well

+1 Longsword, +4 vs Reptiles
Incense of Mediation x4

XP – 202 each

[Abe Sargent]

They leave by another entrance to this chamber. As they walk on, they enter a larger chamber, with stalactites and stalagmites. They move in, and suddenly a Piercer falls on Alzar, and three more follow. They all miss. Then Alzar hears a clicking above and spies a carrion crawler moving on the roof. It is not attacking them – probably because the Piercers missed. They keep an eye on the carrion crawler and search the room and find:

200 gp
Wand

The tunnel continues and bends and winds its way out of the cliff altogether and they have emerged outside. Obviously there are two entrances to the area they are investigating, this one, and the one that was guarded. They head back.

Estaish is now told to use his Crossbow more and Maerie is handed some daggers to throw from the rear. Carum is behind Alzar, and Aleigha is at the rear, in case of rear attacks.

They arrive back at the sculpted area and soon they hit a place where the passage widens and is dimly lit with fungi of a phosphorescent nature. There is a large open grillwork gate that blocks the wall, and it is flanked by two square pillars. There are shuttered windows in the pillars – towers? Rooms?

Well, this is obviously an interesting find. Why is there a cave version of a guardhouse here? Alzar tells the group what the plan is. He is going to use Passwall on his axe on the pillar to the left, and then they will charge in and attack whatever is there on his terms, not theirs.

They approach it, and Alzar casts the spell, reveals the room behind it with about 10 tasloi in it, and then they charge in. As they do ,two Tasloi in the windows across form them open windows and start throwing javelins.



Due to surprise at the way of entering, Alzar gets in a free hit and bisects a tasloi. They win init and Alzar kills another. Estaish and Carum kill two more with bolt and spear. They reciprocate. Those in the other room throw spears at Aleigha. One hits for 2. Several try and hit Alzar and miss. Carum is hit with a net and loses 3 turns while trying to get out. Alzar hews another down – 4 dead.

Alzar’s group wins init. He kills another. Est misses. Maerie misses. Aleigha runs in. Alzar is critically hit with a short sword for 8. They win init again. Alzar kills another. 6 dead. Aleigha deals 4 and just injures one. Maerie’s dagger flies in and deals 5 to one and kills it. 7 dead. Est bolts the one Aleigha hit and kills it. 8 dead. They run away and Alzar hacks down another as they do. 9 dead. They others join them from the other room, and there are way too many to put to sleep so Alzar has Dryshik cast Wall of Fog in front of them and they move in. A throwing dagger kills one. A crit on a sling kills another. They try to push into the Wall of Fog to escape the deadly missiles and Alzar casts sleep and drops 7 more and two are left. Megala claws one for 3 and it falls asleep. They follow the other and drop it in the fog.

36/41 – Aleigha
28/54 - Alzar

XP – 85 each

They search and find a bunch of weapons but nothing else except for:

2 10gp gems and 50 gp

[Abe Sargent]

They move on and after a bit, they arrive at a place where they hear people ahead. A quick scout by Dryshik shows that there are about 16 tasloi and a pureblood yuan ti.



Purebloods look like the chick.

Alzar decides to use up on the spells in his second Ring of Spell Storing in order to clean it out for better spells. He launches a Fireball at them. It will explode in front of them, and he is really far away still, so hopefully he will catch them in its explosion, without having to get so far that they can see him. It does 39 damage and a save vs half for the Yuan-Ti. It makes its save and takes 20. The tasloi are cooked. The yuan-ti casts Darkness 15’ radius down the corridor and where the fireball exploded, and Alzar can no longer see it. He runs into the darkness, hoping the yuan-ti did so as well, but doesn’t sense it. He pulls out the normal crystal ball and looks ahead at what he just saw . The yuan-ti has backed off, and is readying more spells once Alzar pops out.

He prepares by hoisting daggers and will run out, throwing daggers at his foes, while the rest of the party has caught up to the darkness. Then they will pop out and use missile weapons while Alzar engages.

Alzar wins init and hits the Yuan-Ti for 10 damage. It casts Polymorph Other on Alzar. Alzar makes the save. Alzar wins init and knifes for 9 damage. The Yuan-Ti casts Suggestion (Alzar is immune). The other missilers exit the darkness and Est manages to hit with a bolt for 5 and drops it.

XP – 1560 for just Alzar, 1000 for Estaish.

They search and find:

Potion
2 gems worth 1000 each

[Abe Sargent]

They continue on. The opens and light filters in a bit from somewhere above. The passage opens. There are two half-breed yuan-ti guarding this room. One appears man-like except for his scaled skin and snake like head. He carries a halberd. The other has snakes instead of arms. They see Dryshik scouting and move in. Alzar and group move up. They move to attack and one casts Suggestion on Alzar – immune. He lances a knife at the spellcaster for 11 damage. Then he reaches the one with the halberd. The halberd misses, the spellcaster casts Cause Fear and Carum and Maerie flee. The cursed axe hits for 13 on the halberd wielder. Est misses and Aleigha moves up to position. A Mist Ball flies in at the spellslinger for 2 damage and 4 rounds of blindness.

Alzar doles out 19 to the halberd wielder and Aleigha adds 8. He dies. Est misses the spellcaster. Alzar moves in and hits for 15. Aleigha misses, and Est hits for 2. It tries to bite with its snakes and misses Alzar. It wins init and hits Alzar for 5 damage. His axe bites into him twice for 36 damage and the yuan-ti dies.

XP 400 each

They search the bodies and find a ring on the halberdier’s hand. They continue and exit the cavern and enter a new world.

This is an old, underground city. It was once above ground, but volcanic activity and earthquakes combined to bury it. However, it has not remained fully buried. There are streams of sunlight that illuminate the place, as the jungle above and rocks cover it, but still allow in a lot of light

The city has a ton of buildings and as they move in, they notice that many are crumbling and antiquated. A large lake dominates the area in front of them, and a large swamp surrounds it.



(They are at C11 in the right corner)

[Abe Sargent]

Since this place is so large, and since they have those with them badly wounded, Alzar sends out Megala and Dryshik to scout. They find a cave to the right about 300 feet down along the cliff face. The area around the cave mouth is clear of vegetation. They move to the cave, and open entering find a large number of bullywugs. Alzar casts Hypnotize and 4 drop their weapons. There are three more but they call for aid and more can be heard deeper in the cave. Several try to hop stab Alzar but they miss. He throws in a Skulltrap deeper as a bunch more Bullywugs emerge from side caves and wipes out the cave but took 10 himself.

They search the caves and find:

There are three entrances from this main central cave, and they each extend back 20-30 feet or so. The floor is very muddy and strewn with debris, and at the back are two poisonous frogs in a cage. They clean out the cave and convert it to a place for them to stay for a while. They turn this cave into a campsite, with campfire, and more. It is very easily defended, and the people here will probably not attack thinking the bullywugs are in here. There could be more out on patrol or something, but there is little movement in the city, and Alzar suspects it awakens at night. They find plenty of fruit on nearby trees.

After a few hours, Alzar decides to head out scouting the swamp around them. He checks out the lake, and sees it teeming with life. He’ll come back later for a better look. He returns, and they set up camp. He gives Estaish his Belt of Flying with the gems for a few hours to regenerate him, and thence to Maerie.

The evening is warm and they listen to outside. There are two on guard at all times. They hear nothing approach their cave all night, and in the morning, everyone is fresh and rested. Alzar stores a Searing Serpent in the Ring replacing Fireball and then rememorizes it.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar memorizes his normal complement of spells – Sleepx2, Hypnotism, Charm Person, Animate Dead Animals, Blastbones, Ray of Ondovir, Ray of Enfeeblement, Empathic Control, Skulltrap, Dispel Magic, Searing Serpent, Vampiric Touch, Mordenkainen…Maidens, Charm Monster, Greater Malison, Domination, Conjure Earth Elemental

They head out and instead of hitting the city, they decide to investigate what is around them. Everybody is healed. They move down the swamp and arrive at the lake. The water is black and scummy, clogged with reeds, duck weed, and lily pads. There are swarms of stinging insects and frogs, and probably more. The lake hits the cliff side, so they cannot skirt it to the right without going over it,. There is a path that skirts it to the left, so they take it.

After a bit, it continues on into the city, or veers off north, and they take it north. It makes things rather quite easy to walk. As they do so, a giant centipede comes out of the swamp and moves to attack them. It probably thinks they are food. A dagger from Alzar kills it, and then 4 move emerge. They grab weapons. Est kills one with a bolt and Carum another with a stone. Alzar runs up in front and the last two attack him and miss He axe kills one. They win init and Alzar smashes it.

XP – 20 each

They move on Another 20 minutes pass by and all is quiet. The path leads to a stockade a few hundred feet in front of them, and it continues off to the left and skirts past the city. They move slowly towards the stockade. A flying scout shows several huts and such in the also, lots of swamp water, and bullywugs. Alzar has no idea why the bullywugs they killed were in that cave. Have these not noticed they are missing yet? Maybe there is more than one group in the area? Alzar has already seen how they can tear through a party if given a chance, and has no intention of allowing them to do the same to him.

There is a watchtower, and more. What Alzar wants to do is get all of the bullywugs together in one place, and then Skulltrap them. He grabs a skull to get it ready, and then mounts a Broom of Flying and flies over the compound. Several of them emerge and a few spears are thrown his way. He lowers himself on top of the watchtower and flings a non-magical dagger down and hits dealing 10 damage and killing one. He then leaps back into the air. A few more spears fly past, and after a few minutes, there are about 30 bullywugs around, and one is giving them orders and wearing chain mail. Alzar swoops down to the chief and grabs his skull, poised right above it. Spears fly out as bullywugs converge, and most miss but he is hit twice for 8 damage. He then casts Skulltrap and drops it. It hits most of the bullywugs. The chief, his guards, and 20 others have died, but a few are outside the range. Alzar has Megala fly up and down like crazy in front of Estaish, and that’s the signal for them for come towards the stockade. Alzar grabs a bone and flies toward the remaining bullywugs. They are running and hopping away from him. He puts the bone back, they won’t stay still. He casts sleep instead and five drop. The last few flee even more, and another sleep puts the rest to sleep.

When the fighters arrive, Alzar has made the stockade safe for them. They find a pond with hundreds of bullywug tadpoles. Alzar agrees to let them stay by themselves

XP – 1800 for just Alzar

They search and find a few trained frogs still leashed up.

8 gems – 500 gp each, 1 gem 700 gp
1500 sp
5000 gp

[Abe Sargent]

They leave the place and search the woods above but find nothing but a few giant wasps flitting above overhead. They return and take the northern path to the city. The city is roughly 2000-2500 feet wide at its widest, so although there are a lot of buildings, it should take too long to explore. They walk along the path on the north and enter a few buildings and they are devoid of anything of interest. They reach the northwest corner of the city and pass by some stakes, bloodied, and chains in the street. They hear the cry of a bird. Dryshik says its not a bird but a creature. Megala claws it and hits for 1 damage and…it falls asleep.

Alzar has it captured and they head back a few hundred feet to an abandoned building. They tie up this ugly, malformed creature. It looks to have the blood of several types of humanoids running through it, like some sort of…mongrel.



Alzar slaps the mongrelman awake and tries to talk to him. He is panicked, and it takes a while to calm his down. It speaks a fragmented common broken with animal calls. Alzar reaches down and unties him. He rubs his one wrist of skin – the other is an insect-like chitin. Alzar casts Charm Person and it works, and the mongrelman tells him about the home of his people just ahead. They are invited to come with him, and they mongrelman, who’s name sounds like the caw of a bird, move forward. He leads in the front, and the guards let them through, but a group of his kind arrive and they talk for abit. This is a wide open compound with walls all around and several buildings still intact in the center.

They are introduced to the leader, who will allow them to stay in their village and come and go as they please if Alzar will wrestle him. He agrees.

They take off armor and weapons, and that leave Alzar with his cloak and bracers and such, but not gauntlets – they actually are armor. They move to a fight, and Alzar easily wins after five rounds, and he took just 2 damage from a throw.

The group is welcomed and there is a feast tonight to celebrate, and as the food – a dead boar, is roasted, the people get clam and solemn, and the leader tells Alzar the history of their people and their heroes. They have been here in this city for a long time. They have fought many enemies. They ask for news, and Alzar tells them of the bullywugs they killed and they celebrate. The bullywugs will eat them. The stakes outside are where they chain enemies they capture in combat, and leave them for the local monsters to eat. They are welcome to stay the night tonight, and use the mongrelmen camp as abase.

[Abe Sargent]

There is a building in the compound that no mongrelman will enter. When asked why, they mention that is it the home of the mystic mistress. Alzar goes up to the door and knocks, and a female voice inside curses at the mongrelmen for disturbing her, and suddenly goes quiet when she peaked out of a crack in the building and sees Alzar.

Her name is Aratheas, a female Invoker who has been here for a year now, when her adventuring party came to the Isle of Dread, and found these ruins, and then was all killed but her. She is very haughty and indolent. Alzar and her talk about the art, and then enter into the trade.

He looks over her spells, but finds none that interest him. He is nice and trades for the first level spell Enlarge and she trades for Chromatic Orb in one of his spellbooks.

She asks to come with them on their way out, because she has been down here or too long. Alzar tells her they will come back for her when they are ready to leave, and she agrees ,although it’s obvious she does not want to stay.

Morning comes and another night passes. Once again, Alzar goes into a place by himself leaving all of his items behind and casts Dispel Magic on a spellbook and then returns. Then he memorizes it again. They set out early, with few preparations to make and Alzar only needed to learn two Sleeps a Skulltrap and Dispel. The mongrelmen told them where they could expect trouble, and they are to one spot right now. There are supposedly some bugbears holed up in a complex to the south east and with directions in hand, they head out.

[Abe Sargent]

Nothing attacks them on the way. They enter a section of ruins quite dense and Megala confirms that this is the section with the bugbears. There appear to be several spaces set aside for the bugbears. The axe will be at +0 for fighting them. This encounter will be about weapons, not magic. They are too powerful for a simple sleep spell – since maybe one or two would fall asleep from each casting. Alzar wants to save Skulltrap for later and they aren’t bunched together anyway. There are 7 separate entrances and exits to their compound, so they can’t be bunched and then killed. They are too smart to fall into the trap the bullywugs did. Nope, there is no easy solution to this problem, just grab weapons, and head in.

Alzar leads the way and they enter by the south east and run into 3 bugbears. He casts his maidens and orders everyone else to support him. Maerie has been given a quartet of +1 daggers to toss in. Aleigha watches his flank and the others fire in. The bugbears win init and miss. Alzar carves one for 14 damage. It is still alive until Est kills it. Carum misses and drops his sling. A dagger deals 2 to another. The other two shout for help. The maidens miss. Aleigha moves to Alzar’s right flank and watches it, ready to nip in and hit if needed.

Alzar wins init and deals 13 damage to the unharmed one. It falls. Another dagger flies in and hits the same one for 4. It misses Alzar. His maidens deal 2 to it, Carum recovers for 6 and Alzar‘s second swing kills it. Alzar has Megala and Dryshik watching to make sure none run away.

Four more round the corner and two throws weapons at Alzar. They win init and two miss due ot the cloak and the other two miss because of his -3 AC. At this point, unless they roll a 20, they are all missing due to the -2 AC with an axe and -2 from the maidens. The maidens miss. Alzar nails one for 10. Est and Carum add 7 and she dies. Alzar wins init and carves one for 12. The maidens hits once for 4 and kill him. Est and Carum miss. The two left attack Alzar and miss. Three more bugbears arrive as Alzar’s second attack kills one for 18 damage.

He moves forward to engage them away from the others. Megala sees 8 more coming. They go first. They all miss. Alzar drops his axe, Alzar thinks about wielding the other axe and the cursed one pops back into his hand – a useful side effect of the curse. Carum hits one for 3 damage. The maidens hit once for 6 damage. A Mist Ball flies into one but it makes its save. Alzar wins init and hits for 10 damage on the injured one and it dies. One maiden hits for 2, Est adds 4, Carum misses. Aleigha moves in and hits for 10 and kills him. Alzar takes a magic missile from a bugbear shaman for 8 damage. One crits him for 16. His second swing carves another for 16 damage and kills it.

30/54 - Alzar

The bugbears go first. They miss Alzar and he takes 5 damage from Melf’s Acid Arrow. He casts Vampiric Touch on a bugbear. He only deals 6 to her. Aleigha adds 8. One maiden hits for 3 and she dies. Est drops his crossbow and Carum misses. Maerie sneaks in and backstabs a Bugbear who turned his back too much. She hits for 14 damage and he dies. The shaman is Mist Balled but makes the save.

31/54

Alzar takes 4. Alzar wins init and deals 12 damage. Two beefier bugbears, with similar features arrive. The maidens hit the injured one once fro 2 damage, Aleigha and Carum miss. Maerie tries to stab him while she’s here and hits for 6 damage and kills him. They all miss, and the shaman casts Cause Fear. Carum runs.

27/54

They go first and Alzar is attempted to be Charmed but failed. He hits the beefiest one twice for 24 damage. He is reeling. Aleigha hits another near her for 8. Everybody else misses. The shaman is blinded and takes 2 from the third and final Mist Ball. Alzar wins init and cuts down the chief for a hit that deals 13 damage. The maidens both hit and kill Aleigha’s target for 9. Est hits a new one for 3 damage. There are just four left, besides the blinded shaman. One beefier, and three others. The beefier one calls a retreat, and Alzar slashes the beefier one for 11 damage before they do. Megala is ordered to clip one and hits for 1 damage and…fell asleep. Three left. Alzar casts sleep as they round the corner and the two non—beefy ones fall. They run after the wounded beefier one. Megala and Dryshik shows its position in this labyrinth. Maerie stops to kill the blinded shaman.

Megala flies down to claw and hits for 1 damage and it rolls a 3 and falls asleep too. The sleepers are killed and they have cleaned out the bugbear lair.

XP – 598 each

They search the bodies and area, and add a lot of stuff to the magic pile.


Scroll – Non-Detection, Emotion
1625 gp
Ring
55 pp
Ring
Sword of Wounding I 13, E 4 AL CN – Empathy, Detect Invisible, heal once/week
2000 ep
4 pieces of jewelry worth 500 gp each
Jeweled Headband – 3000 gp

As they leave the ruins, they come across a pure blood yuan-ti sent to investigate the commotion.

A dagger in its stomach from Maerie deals 2 to it. Alzar drops his dagger. Carum misses Est hits for 2. The pure-blood casts Sticks to Snakes and turns four nearby sticks into snakes. Alzar orders the group to take care of them while he runs to the pure blood.

It casts Polymorph Other on Alzar and he just makes it. His axe misses. (-2 for attacking CE align just caused the miss). One snake takes 14 and dies. One hits Aleigha for 4 damage and begins to constrict her. Another hits Maerie for 1 and does the same. They win init. Alzar is tried to be Suggestioned but that fails. Maerie and Aleigha automatically take 2 and 4 respectively. Carum drops the spear and grabs a dagger to try and cut a snake loose. It takes 3 on Maerie. Estaish’s sword is out as he attacks the snake not coiling around someone. It takes 6. Alzar hits for 12. His second attack adds 15 more and the pureblood just dies. The snakes turn back to sticks. They add his weapons and armor to the magic pile for later.

XP – 400 each

[Abe Sargent]

There is supposedly an old marketplace with nasty creatures a bit more down this way, so they head out more. They arrive at a 50’by50’ area that used to be a small marketplace and there are rotting remains of stalls still in orderly rows. Vines hang from the walls and canopies. As Alzar enters, two of the mounds of earth rise up and shamble towards them.

2 shambling mounds, which take 50% damage from weapons. Skulltrap is launched. 25 damage dealt to each if they fail their save. One makes, one fails. He grabs his axe and moves forward. Some weapons miss and Carum hits one for 1 damage. Alzar hacks the more wounded one for 6 damage. They win the next round and miss Alzar twice. Aleigha has moved up and nicks the wounded one for 5. Alzar adds 9 and kills it. Marie crits it for 4 with a thrown dagger and Est adds 1. Alzar’s back swing hits for 6. It wins init and moves to Aleigha and She is hit twice for 18 damage and is pulled in to suffocate (Which she is immune to). Alzar hacks for 8. The other all miss. It tries to suffocate Aleigha and fails. Alzar misses. Maerie’s final dagger hits for 2. Alzar’s back wing hits for 6 more and it dies.


23/41 Aleigha.

XP – 2400 each

They search the area, their corpses and find:

Potion of Extra Healing
Scroll of Cleric spells

They head back to the mongrelman camp. They welcome them back and Alzar asks where the tasloi live, and they tell him about an old park that has become an overgrown forest. He heads back out with the Sword of Lyons by himself and Megala and Dryshik, and making himself invisible. The others can stay back and get healed. Its south of the bugbears and he comes across nothing invisible.

[Abe Sargent]

There are six tall trees that supposedly hold all of the Tasloi in tree houses. There are a few giant wasps flying by. He uses his scouts to check the area. There is a pair of giant spiders, four guard posts with 2 tasloi in each, a huge platform is about 25 tasloi, one living alone by herself with no weapons and a staff – probably the shaman. Ten tasloi sleeping.

That’s a lot of Tasloi, but many are on the central platform. Alzar has only used Skulltrap and Maidens and one sleep so far – he has plenty of spells for today. There’s one he has been meaning to cast in combat though, and now is his time.

He lands on the ground nearby and Conjures an Earth Elemental:

34 hp, AC 2, THAC0 13, 4d8

He draws and sheathes the Sword of Lyons, and commands the Earth Elemental invisibly. It moves in and Alzar orders it to attack the tree of a guard post. The Tasloi see it and retreat. The tree is down in two rounds. Alzar orders it to move to the next guard tree, but not where many of the tasloi are. He grabs the broom and flies up. The two tasloi guards here retreat and the houses are a buzz with what to do. Several Tasloi are banging a drum and wasps with saddles can be seen. Alzar casts sleep from way up in to the top of a tree at those on the platform and 7 fall asleep. He draws and sheathes his sword. The giant crashing of the Earth Elemental covers his spells. The elemental is ordered to the drum tree to bring it down. Some Tasloi are arranging an attack while others are trying to flee. Alzar casts Hypnotism and 6 of those who are arguing to flee suddenly stop, and move slowly towards the Earth Elemental, and then sit down.

Arrows and javelins deal little damage to the elemental. It takes 7. The elemental is crashing the tree with eh drum and it is about to go. The tasloi decide to run and Alzar casts Sleep from his Ring and 6 more fall asleep. He has Dryshik drop a Wall of Fog over the entire area, and the tasloi are completely befuzzled and confused. The drum tree is brought down and Alzar orders the elemental to the main tree.

When it punches the tree, the remaining Tasloi move to the platform the sleepers were on. Some are climbing down to the ground, so Alzar flies down and attacks one with a dagger for dead. He grabs his axe and begins to hew any who believe the ground is their solace. Several fall down and are running away, so Alzar casts Wall of Force in front of them from the Ring. The Earth Elemental brings down the giant tree with the main platform and Alzar orders it to the next tree. The shaman casts Dispel Magic on the Wall of Force and…it works. Clever shaman. However, it allowed time for Alzar to fly in and he lands and forces them back. They are just running now. A dagger flies out and kills another. The shaman drops a Darkness on Alzar but he just runs out of it. The Earth Elemental brings down the 5th tree and moves to the last one. Alzar casts Slow from the Ring and the rest of the Tasloi now move half their movement.

Alzar runs after them and they cannot escape, so they turn to fight and a few miss him. His axe bites into one for death. The shaman pulls out a wand and fires 2 magic missiles at him for 7 damage. The next turn, they miss him, and he takes 6 more from the wand, and then he eats two more with his cursed axe. The final tree is down, and their entire camp is destroyed. Alzar kills the last two including the shaman.

XP – 850 for just Alzar.

A long search finds:

Potion of
Wand of Magic Missiles (32 charges)
1000 pp
3 gems – 350, 500, 700
500 sp
50 gp

Alzar heads back, having completely devastated the tasloi camp. They rest of the night, and in the morning, Alzar stores a second Dispel Magic and Domination, just so there is something in the empty slots of the other Ring.

[Abe Sargent]

The mongrelmen have rumors of an estate somewhere in the noble section of the city, in the south west section, where the yuan-ti are based. The group sets out. After an hour of going south and looking through any ruins that look close, they come across a web in one building, and behind it is a giant spider waiting for a trap. Alzar’s dagger cuts into it for 9 damage and he moves into the room and moves through the webbing. It charges at him, misses, and then dies on his axe.

They search and find nothing of interest in here. They continue their move and searches. They pass by five towers still standing in a group, and spend a half hour checking them and finding nothing and almost falling into some collapsed masonry. They find a section with a fully functional compound, walls, towers, buildings, and a central estate up a porch with gates. This has got to be where they are.

The outer wall is 15 feet high and built of blocks of unmortared stone. They are partially covered with vines. They have twice the normal number of guards due to the destruction of the bullywugs and tasloi and bugbears. There is a house to the north just on the other side of the wall. On the walls there are large buildings in the northeast and northwest corners, and the house is just on the other side. Alzar’s plan is to enter this house, wait and watch until the back wall is free for a few second, Passwall out the back of the house and Passwall into the back building on the northwest side.

They wait, and it happens a few minutes, Alzar’s Axe does the first and they move into the section between the house and the wall, and then his axe does it again. Resting in this barracks are 4 bullywugs and two bugbears, totally surprised. A sleep spell puts all but a Bugbear asleep and it is surprised and cannot raise the alarm before being attacked for death by Est and Carum’s and Maerie’s missiles.

XP – 90 each

They kill the sleepers and search. There find nothing of value here. There is a door to the courtyard and they have gained the wall. The Passwalls are ended, and there is no evidence of how they got in, or that anyone is in the compound.

With Boots of Elvenkind that leave no tracks, and the Sword of Lyons, Alzar slips out and does a little recon. Alzar slips to the other guardhouse, enters, and sees another group of bugbears and bullywugs. He hides behind a bed and casts sleep and four bullywugs and a bugbear fall asleep again. He draws and sheathes the sword. As the final bugbear looks around quizzically, Alzar’s slips his axe out and ambushed it for 17 damage and it dies. A search here shows nothing else here either.

XP – 450 for just Alzar.

There is nothing else in here. Alzar makes himself invisible again and moves out into the compound. He moves to the door to the compound. No one is on the porch. There is a garden to the south, walled off with leopards and rust monsters in the area. The central area is free of bad guys. Just the walls have enemies. The towers have no one in them.

[Abe Sargent]

There are two groups of monsters on the walls. Two halfblood yuan-ti in one group and 3 bugbears in another. Alzar picks up his axe and heads in to the shack where the others are. He tells them his plan. He is going to move them out just as a group of yuan-ti approach, and then push the Yuan-Ti down on them for them to kill. This will raise the alarm, but with most of the creatures here kill, it may not matter much. Alzar heads back to the door to the place and spends a few rounds building a powerful Blastbones, casts Blastbones on it when neither group can see him and immediately goes invisible again.

He moves to the area, and the group is ready. A few minutes later the Yuan-ti are about ready to walk right where Alzar want s them, and he draws his axe, then he realizes he can come up with a better plan and returns, telling them about his new plan. The axe in hand gave him another idea. He can cast one more Passwall, so why not use it to break into the house?

He slips up and uses Ear Ring to investigate sounds inside the house. Alzar can make out some breathing and reading, but it is on the other side of the house from the group. The plan is that they try to make it around the house, Alzar casts Passwall and they run in despite the guards seeing them. Plan made.

They move out and make it part of the way before a clever Bugbear sees someone and calls out, immediately, despite being early, Alzar Passwalls the room.

Inside is a reception hall with a man sitting at a table who looks up quite curiously. Alzar casts Domination. He tries to cast Invisibility. The group runs over. He makes his save. Now he is gone. The bugbears are running towards the tower so they can climb down. The yuan-ti will be here in a short bit. Alzar uses the Gem of Seeing to see the man as he moves to a corridor to the left and Alzar follows. The party are moving in.

Alzar throws a dagger at the mage before he runs away. It hits for 10 damage. He spins and casts Forget at Alzar. Alzar fails his save and forgets what happened the last 4 rounds. Then the man, now visible, slips away. The party arrives, the bugbears arrive. Alzar sees battle and moves to attack.

They win init and one hits Carum for 6 damage. It is hit three times for 18 damage and dies. Alzar is in and carves the other for 17 damage. It dies. 1 left. It wins init and misses. Alzar hits for 11. The others add 8 and kill it. They move into the house through the pass wall. Alzar admits he cannot remember what happened, and suddenly the house is full of mist, and the doors slam close and strange sounds and lights can be seen. Alzar orders every one including himself and casts Dispel Magic at the room. It works and the Guards and Wards spell is dispelled.

The yuan-ti arrive and one casts Polymorph Other on Carum and the other on Maerie. Carum is now a pigeon. Alzar orders Carum to fly to the top of the building while the group moves in. Alzar casts shield-maidens. Alzar arrives and pushes everybody aside, and they miss attacking this turn as a result. The yuan ti miss Alzar.

One tries to cast suggestion and the other charm person on Alzar, both fail. He axe drops, and he recalls it. Aleigha, Estaish and a maiden hit for 18. They win init and they cast suggestion on Estaish and Charm an Aleigha. Aleigha is now their friend. Alzar hits the wounded one for 17 and it dies. He slashes again at the unwounded one and it take 15. Alzar’s axe swing again when he wins init and it takes 16 and dies.

900 XP for everyone so far.

Alzar moves into the villa via the passwall and the others follow. No one has left the building yet. He uses his Ear Ring and hears casting coming from nearby. They move around and find a large hearth room. There is a summoned, mystical hound, two mages.

Alzar orders everybody to stay back for a bit, and Conjures an Earth Elemental. The first mage casts Web and the second casts Ice Storm. The Elemental arrives. The Ice Storm hits for 22 on everyone – save vs half. Everyone makes it.

Maerie – 12/23
Alzar – 43/54
Aleigha - 30/41
Estaish - 34/45


The Elemental took 11 as well. One shield maiden failed and died, the other is still around. Alzar moves in the shield maiden and Elemental. The hound attacks the elemental for a big ol miss. Elemental misses as well. The mages case Magic Missile and Hold Person. Alzar takes 8. Maerie and Aleigha are Held. Estaish is fine, but in the Web. Alzar moves forward in order to keep the others out of the range of his enemy’s spells. He uses the Mud Ring to summon another Earth Elemental. The Elemental pounds the hound for 14 damage. The hound misses. An invisible blade nails the maiden for 2 damage from somewhere. The maiden missed the hound.

35/54

Alzar wants to cast Vampiric Touch on the invisible thing. Earth Elementals are to kill the hound and invisible thing, and the maiden the invisible thing. They want to cast Stinking Cloud and Cone of Cold. Alzar wins init. He hits the Invisible Stalker for 14. The Earth Elemental on the hound crits for 32 damage and it is very dead. The other elemental misses the stalker. The Maiden misses as well. The Stinking Cloud doesn’t damage any of the creatures or Alzar, and the Cone of Cold deals 24 damage or save vs half to Alzar and the summoned creatures. The Shield maiden die.s Alzar fails his save One Elemental makes the save, the other misses. The Stalker took it all too.

25/54
10/34
11/34
???/??? for stalker

Alzar wants to cast Searing Serpent by the mages. They want to cast Slow and throw a dagger. The Elementals and Stalker are to exchange blows. Alzar wins and a searing serpent is in front of the male mage who seems to be casting the powerful stuff. One elemental misses and the other hits for 18 damage and the stalker dies. Alzar is slowed and the dagger misses him.

Estaish is free and with his sword runs in to support a slowed Alzar. Alzar wants to cast Empathic Control on the male. The serpent wants to attack him. The elementals want to move in. Estaish wants to run in. The chick wants to draw her final dagger and move to protect the male. The male wants to cast Mirror Image.

They go first and the male now has 7 images. The serpent misses. The spell fails. Everybody else is by the mages and can attack next turn.

They win init. Magic missiles kill an elemental and the other one stabs at Estaish and misses. The serpent kills an image but the elemental and Estaish miss. Alzar casts Ray of Ondovir at the mage. It works. The mage casts Magic Missile at a dead target and wastes the spell. The female mage attacks Est and misses. Est and the serpent and elemental each pull off an image. 3 images left. Alzar casts Ray of Ondovir from his Ring. It works. The mage casts Magic Missile again at a dead person and again wastes it. The final thee images are stripped and Alzar’s dagger flies in for 12 damage on the mage.

They manage to win init and Est hits for 5, and the serpent misses and the elemental…hits for…17 and he dies. The chick misses. Alzar hits her with a dagger for 10 damage. She misses and is killed the next round.

XP – 1800 each

[Abe Sargent]

They find on the bodies:

Bracers
Dagger
Potion
Ring of Free Action
Wand of Negation – 5 charges

They search the room and find nothing, and move to the bedrooms. In the female decorated one, they find:

1000pp
Spellbook

They move to the other bedroom:

Two scroll paintings - each worth 4000 gp
Large-gold bound spellbook
There is a key with a tassel beside the book
Small replica of a chest

Alzar uses the replica to summon the chest, and tries to find a keyhole, but can’t The chest just opens, and inside is:

Potion
Scroll of Clerical Spells
4000 pp
Gold Tablets 500gpx3

Alzar has been cursed! He will grow 3 inches of beard hair every minute. They do another search while Alzar grooms himself, they emerge, and he Dispel Magics on Carum and brings him back to human. They head back and Alzar goes to sleep early. In the morning, he has feet and feet of hair. He cuts it off, and then memorizes Remove Curse (the reverse form of Bestow Curse). He casts it on himself and the curse is gone. Also, he can use other melee weapons again, and the axe no longer has control over him.

They spend a day searching the city, but the major bad guys have all been killed, and it appears that just a few monsters remain – like giant centipedes, giant wasps, and giant crocodiles in the swamp. The mongrelmen are offered trade by the natives and Carum, but they would prefer to just be left alone, so Alzar gathers the mage, and they head out.

[Abe Sargent]

Two scroll paintings - each worth 4000 gp
4000 pp
Gold Tablets 500gpx3
1000pp
Potion of Extra Healing
8 gems – 500 gp each, 1 gem 700 gp
1500 sp
5000 gp
Silver Brooch – 1000
Three Disks of Jade – 500 gp each
Gold Enchased Incense Burner – 900 gp
+1 Longsword, +4 vs Reptiles
Incense of Mediation x4
200 gp
2 10gp gems and 50 gp
2 gems worth 1000 each
Scroll – Non-Detection, Emotion
1625 gp
55 pp
Sword of Wounding I 13, E 4 AL CN – Empathy, Detect Invisible, heal once/week
2000 ep
4 pieces of jewelry worth 500 gp each
Jeweled Headband – 3000 gp
Wand of Magic Missiles (32 charges)
1000 pp
3 gems – 350, 500, 700
500 sp
50 gp
Ring of Free Action
Wand of Negation – 5 charges

Magic Pile: Wand of Fog (8 charges). Potion of Healing. Ring of Protection +1x2. +2 spear. Ring of Spell Turning. Cleric Scroll – Remove Curse, Cure Serious wounds ,neutralize Poison, Cure Disease, Heal. Potion of Human Control, Extra healingx3. Bracers of Defense AC4. Dagger of Venom.


The Wand of Fog places a Wall of Fog for a charge. The Ring of Spell Turning is very powerful. When a spell is cast at the wearer roll a d10 and that much percent of the spell is reflected. So, for example, if someone cast a spell that dealt 10 damage, or save vs half, Alzar would roll. If he rolls a 4, 40% or 4 damage is reflected aback and he takes 6, and each would roll for half. If a Charm person was reflected 40%, then Alzar would save with a +4 bonus and the caster with a +6 bonus. This can result in a spell with no save getting a save. The percent affects damage, saves, and duration.

This works whenever the ring wielder is targeted, even by friendly magic users. Touch spells, spells that affects areas, and spells from magic items are unaffected. So, for example, Alzar could take magic missiles from a Wand, and can target himself with his own touch spells like normal, and could take someone else’s Vampiric Touch and totally takes all damage from a Fireball.

This is a highly valuable item, and I’m surprised they doled it out this soon.


Kwarino’s Spellbook:

1st Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic Read magic, Friends, Magic Missile, Hold Portal, Shield
2nd - Continual Light, Knock, Leomund’s Trap, Stinking Cloud, Web


Horan’s Spellbook( Fire Trap)

1st – Affect Normal Fires, Charm person, Comprehend Languages, Detect magic, Erase, magic Missile, Frost Shroud, Push, Read Magic, Unseen Servant
2nd – Preserve, ESP, Forget ,Invisibility, Leomund’s Trap, Locate Object, Magic Mouth, Ray of Enfeeblement, Scare
3rd – Clairvoyance, Feign Death, Fly, Haste, Hold Person, Monster Summoning I, Slow
4th – Fire Trap, Ice Storm, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Rary;’s Mnemonic Enhancer, Wizard Eye
5th – Bigby’s Interposing Hand, Cone of Cold, Contact Other Plane, Cloudkill, Leomund’s Secret Chest
6th – Guards and Wards, Invisible Stalker, Part Water



Spell Storing Rings:

Time to figure this stuff out. The first Ring is still set. Detect Magic, Ray of Ondovir and Sleep.

The second Ring gets: Conjure Earth Elemental, Searing Serpent, Skulltrap, Dispel Magic, Sleep

[Abe Sargent]

Estaish – 72,650 (Level 7) – Now with 50 HP
Aleigha – 66,182 (Level 7) – Now has 48 HP.
Carum – 60,362 (Level 6) – Now has 58 HP.
Maerie – 53,473 (Level 7 – level 8 at 70k) - 22 hp
Alzar – 156,382 (Level 10 at 250k)


Aleigha and Estaish each hit level 7. They now get 3 attacks every two rounds like Alzar, and get more hp as noted above.




They head back to Tangaroa for a week, and as they do, they see a white plume on the south of the island. A volcano is acting up. After a week of Dispels, the woman’s spellbook should be easily dispelled if it has anything, and he opens it up.

He learns Knock from it.


Alzar has the ability to store some spells as per his class, one per spell level, and it costs some money, about 100 gold per level to do it each time. He is loading up the following spells:

Level 1 - Spoil Holy Water
Level 2 – Knock
Level 3 – Vampiric Touch
Level 4 - Minor Globe of Invulnerability
Level 5 – Teleport

He spends the 1500 gold to save these spells as emergencies.


The volcano is still exploding, and there are rumors of creatures that have nipped out, raided a few nearby creatures like the Neanderthals, guzaks and phanatons, and then nipped back to the volcano mountain.

Alzar decides to check it out. The party heads over to the volcano in the southern mountains on the Isle of Dread, and in fact, it appears that a new cave system has opened up. They move to investigate.

[Abe Sargent]

S2. White Plume Mountain






This one is #9 on the Top 30 Modules of All Time list. It’s not, in my opinion, but many think of it as the greatest. That’s because, at the time, volcano dungeons were not heard of and the uber-powerful weapons in the game were top notch and super desirable. I wouldn’t even have it in my top 20, but it doesn’t suck or anything. It’s a measly 16 pages and 3 is setup and 2 is denouement – not uncommon for an early dungeon, to be fair. The only introduce one new monster. The first dungeons were often very sparse in the description department. After the description heavy Shrine of Tomoachan, and the action heavy Forbidden City, I’m ready for something a bit lighter.

[Abe Sargent]

Here is one of the pictures of the area that came with the module, which, by the way, I really like:

[Abe Sargent]

They have arrived at the volcano with the white plumes over it. This cave on the south slope appears to be the only entry to the mountain. The cave seems to breathe, occasionally spitting out steam. Alzar goes ahead and swap the Ring of Sustenance for the Ring of Fire Resistance now, expecting to use it several times inside. The cave is about 8 feet in diameter and forty feet long, and then there is a horizontal crevice. Following that arrives at another cave that ends at a decent size cavern. And in that cavern, all natural mind you, is the first sign of other life – a set of spiraling stairs going down.

The spiral staircase descends about 100 feet before ending at a corridor heading eastish. The stairs vibrated a bit from the constant volcanic activity deep in the mountain. The air is warm, humid and rather foul. The torches burn fitfully. There are patches of subterranean fungus and there are small pools of tepid water with scummy algae covering them.

They turn the corner and see a mangy, bedraggled gynosphinx in the middle of a intersection that looks like an upside down peace sign. The sphinx tells its riddle:

Round she is, yet flat as a board
Altar of the Lupine Lords
Jewel on black velvet, pearl in the sea
Unchanged but e’er changing eternally

It’s the second line that gives this away. Moon. Alzar speaks it and is right, and a Wall of Force that was keeping them back disappears and they are free to continue. They head right.

[Abe Sargent]

The water here is deep and covers the floor by about a half foot. The Wall of Force was keeping back some of the water from the first area, but the rest is this deepish water over the ankles but before the knees. Alzar steps into a patch of Green Slime and takes 3 damage from it splashing and hitting his leg. He backs up. The normal flask of oil won’t work since it’s underwater. Alzar gets on a Broom and flies over along with another on the other broom and they pass them back and forth. They continue on down the corridor. At a junction, Alzar continues along the main path which bends to the south and hits a door. When Alzar enters to look around, the door shuts tight on him. In the room suspended from the ceiling are nine glass globes about 2 feet in diameter. They are silvered so they cannot be seen in. A knock on one shows there is something in there.

Alzar cracks open one with a staff and out come three shadows. Alzar controls them and they join his team.

Shadow – 19, 17, and 14 are hp, AC 7

The next one has a potion. Alzar can’t id it. The third one has a piece of jewelry and a small Air Elemental which is quite angry. Alzar moves to attack it with the shadows. One is killed and his axe slashes behind them for 17 damage. It turns to him and punches and misses. He axes for 16 and it dies.

XP – 2000 for Alzar

The next one has a Ring of Flying with 4 charges. The next one has worthless glass beads. The next one that’s broken reveals a gray ooze. Alzar remembers this is the one that you can’t fire kill, so he draws his axe and hits for 16 damage. It dies.

XP – 500 for Alzar

The next one has a Wand of Paralyzation. The 8th one has a key and a ring. The ring is added to the magic pile. The last one has a few gems totaling 600 gold. The key opens the door.

Items:

Jewelry - 12000
Ring of Flying with 4 charges
Wand of Paralyzation – 1 charge
Gems totaling 600 gp

They move on and take the side passage they skipped before. It ends at a door. In this room are five flesh golems and each has a number on its chest – 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13. One asks which of these does not belong. It’s obvious that 9 is not prime. There are others of course – only 5 is divisible by 5, Only 13’s digits add up to 4, etc. Prime seems to be the best chance.

#9 steps forward and will serve Alzar.

#9 Flesh Golem – AC 9, HP 30, 2d8x2, can only be hit by magic weapons. Unlike typical flesh golems, he takes full damage from fire or cold attacks.

So #9 is a weaker flesh golem than normal, but still a servant. At least for now.

[Abe Sargent]

They leave by the other door and the corridor here passes by a turnstile that allows passage only one way – forward. The golem is told to break it, and he does, and they move forward to the door at the end of the corridor, and it opens onto a very unusual room.

The door opens onto a stone platform in a large natural cave. The ceiling is over 50’ above the level of the platform. The floor of the cave, 50 feet below, is a deep pool of boiling mud. Opposite the entrance platform is another stone platform, and between them are a series of wooden disks suspended from the ceiling by massive steel chains. The disks are about four feet in diameter and three feet apart. Each disk is attack to its chain by a giant staple in the center. The disks and chains and wall are covered in a slippery algal scum that lives in the area. A geyser lets off while they are looking at the room. Alzar and company fly over in shifts and open the door, ealving the golem and shadows up on the platform. There is a long corridor and they walk down it. Alzar shines a light on the door and there are small holes in it. Alzar’s basic rule is “If something is unusual about the dungeon’s construction, then something is coming up.”

He suspects a gas attack that can hit the hallway, so he orders everybody but Aleigha back really far. His Ear Ring detects nothing at all. He opens the door and the torches don’t penetrate the darkness in the room. Knowing his ability to sense things in the darkness, he walks in a little with Axe out. There is something in here, and it feels different. Alzar tries to control it and a battle of wits ensues. In the end, Alzar fails, but he knows something is powerful enough here that he backs out into the hallway. He orders Aleigha back a bit and grabs a Wand of Illumination. Suddenly, the presence is behind him and solidifying. Estaish and Carum shout out warnings to Alzar and Aleigha. Alzar spins and drops the wand for his axe and they trade attacks. Alzar is missed. The vampire takes 19 damage. Alzar orders Aleigha back but she swings and misses, the Ruby Blade sending sparks along the wall.

The vampire wins init and turns its eyes on Aleigha. It just misses. Alzar drops his axe. Aleigha hits for 6 damage. Carum hits for 6 and Estaish and Maerie have arrived with weapons drawn. Alzar picks up his axe with the second attack.

It wins init and turns into a gaseous form. It starts to move back into the darkness. Alzar picks up the Wand and uses a charge to light up the room and the magical darkness is dispelled for a while. They move forward and it has nowhere to go here. Alzar uses a Wand of Magic Missiles to pepper the vampire for 8 damage on two charges. He tells everyone to keep attacking since it has been regenerating. In fact it has regenerated 12 damage. Alzar scrambles and finds the other flasks of holy water he has and hands them to Maerie. Then he spits two more charges at the vampire. It takes 7 more. And has now regenerated 15 hp. It is forced to resolidify before it dies to missiles. Est hacks at it for 6 damage, and Carum’s sling deals 4. The vampire attacks Estaish and misses. A flask of holy water deals 6 to it and it “dies.” Alzar goes over the ways to kill a vampire – immersion in running water, exposure to sunlight, and failure to return to one of its coffins for one full day. Other ways are temporary, such as stake in the heart, cutting off the head, etc. He beheads it just to give it some time and readies a spell. They cut off all of the limbs to slow down it’s regeneration process. Alzar stabs it in the heart with his staff and that will slow it down for a while. They begin to search the room.

They find:

A magical Warhammer
10000 sp
9000 gp
Potions x2, one is ESP
Scroll of…Magic Mouth, Dispel Magic, Monster Summoning III


They are done and Alzar has everyone grab a body part and he grabs the torso since he is the strongest, and they fly back over and reunite with #9 and the shadows. They head back out and near the entrance and find the sphinx. They move back up the stairs and outside and the vampire is killed in the light.

XP – 1800 each

[Abe Sargent]

They head back down and go forward. They see a ten foot deep pool of water off to the side. Carum dives down using Deep Diving and there is a drain there. Alzar swims down and Aleigha joins them and they turn it and a tube opens and the water starts to drain. They wait and an hour later, the water has all drained away except if there are pools or something at a lower elevation. They move on and arrive in a square room.

This appears to be another normal, water covered room with steps rising out of the muck from a pool deeper, and a now drained ledge along the wall showing where it gets deeper. They party is rounding the room when two kelpies pop out of the surface and try to charm Estaish and Alzar. Estaish fails. Alzar’s axe is out and he moves towards the charmers. Est is moving towards them, entranced. Alzar wins init and hacks a kelpie for 17 damage. Carum adds a sling stone for 6. The kelpies try to charm Carum and Alzar. Carum fails. Estaish is almost at the water and Alzar orders the golem to hold him. Alzar wins init and kills the wounded kelpie. Aleigha slashes the other one for 8 and Maerie misses. Carum enters the water and Estaish can’t move. The last Kelpie tries to charm Alzar again. He has a back swing for 19 damage that kills it.

XP – 275 each

They go along the room and Alzar spies an opening under the water. He swims down and enters an underwater room and then find a door to another. He finds:

600 gp
2000 gp jewelry
Chain Mail

[Abe Sargent]

They swing back up and takes some steps up and into a corridor with a door to the right. The door opens to a hallway. Alzar enters a spinning cylinder and orders everyone else back. It is made of some light metal and spins enough to make Alzar dizzy. It is covered with oil that makes it slippery-er. He closes his eyes and tries to concentrate, but falls. He slides across it and decides to make this a fly through when suddenly out of a hole in the wall someone fires a flaming arrow and the tunnel and Alzar light up. He is wearing his Fire Resist ring and this is normal fire. The fighters slide in despite the fire and Maerie sits back with the shadows and golem. While still on fire, Alzar opens the door and then they enter the next room. There is an armed man and a woman nearby. Aleigha snarls and turns into a werebear and charges the woman. She turns into a werewolf and charges back.

Alzar orders Carum and Estaish at the fighter while he goes to join Aleigha. The fighter hacks at Est for 6 damage. The werewolf misses. Aleigha deals 3 and Alzar hits for 13 damage. Est drops his sword. Alzar hits the lycanthrope for 12 damage. She dies. The fighter swings and misses. He is hit twice for 14 damage. Alzar and Aleigha move over. Alzar’s axe adds 19 and the fighter dies. They search and find, Maerie picks the lock to a chest after joining them once the fire burnt down.

Est -6 damage

Spellbook
400 ep
300 gp
7 gems worth 1300 gp total

They return and go up more stairs to a door. They pass three doors and then arrive at a huge cavern. There is a boiling lake hundreds of feet deep below them. There is an underground stream that feeds it and can be seen coming in, with another section leaving. There is a rubbery magical forcefield that is keeping the water back on this ledge. That’s where they are. The skins is soft, resilient and warm. After thirty feet the corridor widens into a low, dome shaped area. There is a huge giant crab here. There are many bones scatted about.




They two sides get together. Alzar orders melee weapons only, since there is the chance that a physical strike against the soft forcefield will pop the waterskin. Alzar nails the crab for 18 damage. The crab strikes back on Alzar and attacks twice and misses both time. Est swings and adds 10. It wins init and hits Alzar twice for 19 damage. Alzar does the same and deals 25 to it. Est misses, Carum spears it for 4 and Maerie adds 4.

37/56 – Alzar

Alzar wins init and switches to Vamp Touch and deals 11. It dies.

48/56

XP – 750 each

There is a chest at the end of the ledge and they move to it. It is unlocked, and Maerie doesn’t find any traps. Inside is:

A trident
1000 gp
Gems worth 1000x2, 5000, and 17 worth 3935 total
Ring of Infravision
Stone
Wand of Frost – 17 charges