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Old 08-27-2013, 11:40 PM   #151
Abe Sargent
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With that dead, Alzar is free to finish exploring the final tower. In here, he finds:



Three books of magical history
One book on history of tower and residents


Spellbook destroyed by rat, just one spell left – Levitate


Scroll of Create Spectral Wizard
Ring of Cantrips
Crucible of Melting
Dusty Rose Ioun Stone - +1 AC
Lens of Speed Reading


Alzar takes the whole damaged spellbook, in case someday he gets his Spellbookmend spell back. The

Crucible of Melting is a laboratory aid. On speaking a command word, it heats up and melts all metal inside of it instantly for three turns (about a half hour), and then cools down. The Ring of Cantrips will enable Alzar to cast Cantrip 5x daily. The Lens will let Alzar read and triple normal spell.

The Ghost Prince was a Spectral Wizard, and he had a spell to use on one of the wizards here made by the lich. That could be a powerful tool for Alzar years down the road. It may end up being the best thing he found here.
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Old 08-28-2013, 12:09 AM   #152
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Spellbooks:

Evocation Tome of Beginners – All common 1st level evocation spells

Standard Spellbook – Feather Fall, Hypnosis, Sleep, Spook, Magic Mouth, Shatter, Dispel Magic

Sussick’s Spellbook: Magic Missile, Chill Touch, Spook, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Detect Undead, Cantrip, Wall of Fog, Find Familiar, Light, Tensor’s Floating Disc, Continual Light, Flaming Sphere, Death Armor, Hold Person, Levitate, Locate Object, Spectral Hand, Bind, Dispel Magic, Hold Undead, Item, Dig, Undead Familiar


Spellbook destroyed by rat, just one spell left – Levitate (remnants owned)


Death Armor is cool. It surrounds Alzar for 1 round per level with a nasty energy shield. Any creature that hits him with their body must save vs death magic or take 2d6 damage from it. This includes attacks with natural parts of their body like nails, teeth and such. Alzar still takes any damage they would do, but it zarks them. Animals will tend to stop hitting him once they take damage. It requires 300 gp unguent to be used up to cast the spell.


Alzar learns: Death Armor, Hold Person, Dispel Magic, Hold Undead, Chill Touch, Detect Undead, Hypnosis, and Dig.
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Old 08-28-2013, 12:10 AM   #153
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Alzar’s new Spellbook:


1st Level:

Cantrip
Charm Person
Chill Touch
Comprehend Languages
Create Divining Rod
Detect Magic
Detect Undead
Find Familiar
Hypnosis
Identify
Read Magic
Sleep
Wizard Mark



2nd level:

Continual Light
Death Armor
Hold Person
Locate Object
Skeletal Hands
Spectral Hand


3rd Level:

Dispel Magic
Hold Undead
Lesser Rhabdomancy


4th Level:

Dig



End of Wizard’s Challenge



Yay. What's next for our wizard friend?
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Old 08-28-2013, 12:11 AM   #154
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Wizard’s Challenge II





The sequel begins! This is technically for a solo-mage between 4 and 6th level. Alzar clocks in at 4th plus he has some HP and stuff from his warrior days, so it seems totally doable. I was going to run this back to back with the first one initially, but after reviewing it, I think we can handle it.

Here we go!
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Old 08-28-2013, 09:39 AM   #155
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As Alzar returns from the concluding battle and bringing back objects from that exploration, he stops at an inn in a town outside of Arjuna. That night a local mage drops into the inn and talks with Alzar. It seems that another associated wizard of theirs was killed, and they suspect by the spectral wizard or his master. Perhaps, since Alzar already handled them and investigated one such death that another is warranted.

Sure. Alzar spends the night in the town and then takes his things (wagons and all) to the location of the suddenly dead wizard. About one day’s trip from Arjuna lies the sleepy hamlet of Watershead. There was one known wizard here, an older gentleman called Yaghoub.

Yaghoub was a local Naturalist Mage, a Hamedhi specialization that deals with natural and magical animals and plants. He was over 90 years old and quite skilled. Yaghoub was a jolly old sort who endeared himself to the locals, and loved to research the area. He regularly packed up expeditions to places in the nearby badlands.

Yaghoub seems to have been killed off about two weeks ago, so the Death King is an obvious candidate.
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Old 08-28-2013, 11:56 AM   #156
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After arriving, Alzar unloads and unpacks. Along with Gilded Ears, he moves to the local tower that was the home of Yaghoub. It is hundreds and hundreds of years old, but Yaghoub restored it a few decades ago and then moved in. It’s a smaller home, and Alzar expected a bigger tower as the home of a supposedly powerful mage. It’s just two floors.

Alzar spends the night in the village, and he is told that a few days ago, a local force of guardsman were attacked while on patrol about a half mile from the town. That’s not too unusual, but are the events connected? Perhaps, and perhaps not.

Alzar wants information before heading into a wizard’s tower. He heads to the 3rd floor of the inn and meets with one of the survivors of the attack who is here convalescing. Alzar talks with him about what he fought. Apparently it was a large, magical creature, and it broke the fine steel blade the soldier was using when it tried to hit it. It killed more than half their number in moments, and the rest retreated. The beast was humanoid in form, had pointed sword-like arms; one of which slashed him, and a dark grey skin, with four legs, and bright yellow hair and eyes.

That’s not like any creature Alzar is familiar with. Related or not, that is not helpful information at this time.
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Old 08-28-2013, 12:08 PM   #157
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In morning, he moves to the tower. There is a door on the front, outside of the round tower, and the small outhouse looking building connects to the main tower. He moves in and checks the door. It is locked, and a spellcraft check shows that it is Wizard Locked. That will need something like Dispel Magic or Knock to open. Alzar memorized Detect Magic today and his Rod is out. He casts it and moves around. There are some magical runes on the door but he cannot read them. He needs Read Magic

He spends the rest of the day doing research and interviewing folks. The next day he memorizes Read Magic, and Detect Magic, plus Sleep and Hypnotism for his first level spells (and Hold Person, Skeletal Hands and Locate Object for his 2nd level magic). He casts Read Magic and the runes are revealed to him.


They have a command listed, and Alzar speaks it. He triggers the Wizard Lock and opens the door. A day later, but it works.
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Old 08-28-2013, 12:32 PM   #158
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actual tower and he is at an antechamber This room has two doors leading from it and takes out about a fourth of the layout of the tower. In here are mining equipment and excavation tools, as well as samples of local animals and plants. It’s just a work and storage room mostly. Alzar pulls out a Continually Lit stone and lights the room up.

He has the hands open the door on the left and this reveals a bed chamber, the same size at the other room. There is just a single nice bed, chest, and rugs. Clothes hang on various hooks to the side. The hands move to the chest and pull it open – it was unlocked and untrapped. In here are clothes and a bottle of greenish liquid. They pull out the bottle and bring it to him and he secures it for later inspection.

The hands move to the other door off the anteroom. Back here is a room that takes up much of the rest of the floor. A central circular staircase goes up. There are continual light spells here and Alzar returns his stone to its location. This is where Yaghoub did a lot of his living. There is a large comfortable sofa and two reclining chairs, plus a table and some chairs. The furniture in here is much wealthier and more comfortable than the relatively Spartan things so far. On the table are a bowl with some vegetables and fruit, with a fork beside it ready to eat. It is a couple of weeks old, and quite rotten.
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Old 08-28-2013, 01:21 PM   #159
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There is a door here to the kitchen. It’s quite simple. Just roots, plants, and herbs. Nothing animal at all. Perhaps after studying them, Yaghoub gave up eating animals? The plants are mostly spoiled. Alzar walks the length of the floor and there is no place for a secret location. So up the stairs they go, led by the Skeletal Hands.

They arrive in a library. There are two large bookcases that cover the walls. This room takes up half of the floorplan on the upper level here. A large fireplace and comfortable chair and sitting area are here as well. There are several hundred books in the library. Alzar’s quick look shows topics on weather, plant life, and animals. Just what you’d expect from a Naturalist.

One door leads away to the rear, and the hands open it up. A horrible smell comes from the room of death and decay. Alzar moves it and recognizes the corpse on the floor as likely belonging to Yaghoub. This must have been his study. There are two small book cases along the walls here and a door on the other side. Alzar leans down. The old man here must have been dead for quite some time. His face is one of sheer terror. Next to him is an open book, and on his disk are papers and books. Alzar lifts up the open book to read the shine first. Nothing. Alzar closes the book and secures it. On the hand of the mage is a ring. He grabs it. There is nothing else on the body.
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Old 08-28-2013, 01:48 PM   #160
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He moves to the desk. There are various papers, plus the journal of Yaghoub. The tomes on the shelves are about ruins and the local area. Alzar has the hands open the last doors and in here is a chamber that takes up the rest of the Tower, and it has various relics Yaghoub uncovered. Six chests are unlocked, and the Hands trigger a few poison needle traps that Alzar misses. Nicely done, Skeletal Hands!

One chest has about 250 coins of various types from centuries ago all stamped with the same logo - a raven on a skull. Another has several old weapons with that logo on them. The third, fourth and fifth have pieces of pottery or glass or shard of metal from that era, respectively. Finally, the last chest has some items of value from the era, including a ruby pin with the icon of the logo (Raven on Skull)

Also in the room is a ebony staff with a crystal griffin on top. Alzar has all of the thins brought together in one room to detect what is magical. He casts Detect Magic and these things react to his Rod – the potion he took, the staff, the ruby pin, the ring and the book.
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Old 08-28-2013, 02:29 PM   #161
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Alzar moves to the desk and looks over the papers. One is Yaghoub’s journal. For 41 years, he has been exploring the nearby badlands and finding relics from an old kingdom. There seems to be some ruins beneath the sand dust about a day’s journey away, and there should be more elsewhere. He mentions that a few days before he died he found this potent tome in a tomb that he has explored before but though was empty. He chalked it up to senility, but sine the book was magical and open and looked at when he died in his study with no signs of struggle, it seems very suspicious.

Alzar takes the items that viewed as magical and Yaghoub’s Journal for now for later perusing. He hires some local porters to move the two libraries to his third wagon. The Naturalist library is valued at 5000 gp and this one at 3500 gp for the ruins and local history. That is important stuff. He finds some keys and locks up the relic room and heads out.

The first place Alzar goes is to a local temple. He finds the head and inquires about raiding Yaghoub from the dead (this goes outside of the story). Due to the length of his death, he cannot be simply Raised from the Dead. He can be Resurrected, but that is an expensive spell. The cost to do so, ingredients alone, is about 5000 gp in incense, ointments, and rare spices that are consumed by the spell. Plus, it would require a local patriarch. Luckily, Arjuna is big enough to warrant one. Alzar cannot pay for it right now, so he thanks the priest.

Alzar notes that the tower was quite small. Clearly Yaghoub has secured most of his valuables elsewhere, like his spellbooks.
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Old 08-28-2013, 02:42 PM   #162
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Something killed him. The book was obviously a trap to get him out of the way. But who would want to do so? Were his explorations getting too close to something interesting? If so, Alzar would like to know what or where or who was in danger of being exposed.


With the journal in hand, Alzar knows where in the badlands to look for the place Yaghoub found the book that likely killed up. However, one thing seems quite sure. The death of Yaghoub and the Frost Mage seem unconnected. Just two deaths around the same time in the same city-area.

He spends the night in town and memorizes, the following day, the same spells as before but swaps Read Magic for Identify and IDs the staff.

Yaghoub’s Staff – Counts as a Staff of Striking, with 14 charges. When held, acts as a Ring of Protection from Fire.

That’s not a bad item to come across.
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Old 08-28-2013, 03:16 PM   #163
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Every fifteen minutes he travels, Alzar leaves behind marker in these changeless badlands. They have few large rocks, trees, hills or monuments that can be used to check your location and insure you’re heading in the right direction. After five and a half hours, Alzar arrives at the ruins that he believes Yaghoub mentions several times in his journal.

While unloading his horse, (he left the wagons in the town), a form moves out from the ruins around him. Another follows. Two Large Scorpions about 4 feet big are skittering out. Alzar gallops a way a bit from them and then jumps off his horse and tosses on his armor. He orders his familiar to the left to keep her out of harm. Meanwhile he moves up and flings his silver spear at one and misses. They get closer and closer. His axe is in hand and he approaches. Melee range is reached.

Each one has three attacks – two pincers, and one tail. The tail attack is poisonous. To hit Alzar in his mage robes ,they will need a 16. He needs an 6 to hew them with his axe. Their pincers do 1d4 damage each and the stinger just does a damage if it hits , but Alzar has to save vs poison.

Alzar loses init and they pincer him twice for 3 damage but otherwise miss. He hacks one for 6 damage. He wins initiative and gets to attack twice. He kills the injured one and his the other. It misses him, and wins init, pincers him for 3 damage, and he hews it and slays the beast. He doesn’t want to play with a poisonous creature. He has no idea how deadly the poison on a Hamedhi scorpion might be.

Five minutes later he has field dressed the scorpions, and taken their stingers and poison sacs. (Poison Use proficiency). He grabs his horse and unpacks his armor and sets it on the horse, and leaves the steed behind.

45/51 hp
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Old 08-28-2013, 03:34 PM   #164
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There are several ruins here, mostly buried by age and sand with rock. The ruins have a pyramidal shape ,but have been blasted by time , and now merely suggest it. According to Yaghoub’s journal, this is one of the areas that was the center of the ancient empire that he studied.

Alzar suddenly hears the sound of a chittering scorpion, much larger than the ones he dispatched. It is coming from the right, away from the ruins a bit. He is moving towards the sound, and away from the ruins. After fifteen minutes, he fails to find the source of the sound. He returns, and hears it again, this time from the other direction, to the left. He heads over again, and looks, but sees nothing and after a few minutes of watching, he moves on. He won’t be distracted that easily, and he plunges ahead.

Soon he encounters a few coins on the ground from the same empire as the ones that were in Yaghoub’s old tower. He bends down and sees a few more just at the edge of his eyesight to the left. He has Gilded Eyes head over and she sees another pair a loooong distance from that spot, and even further away. Nope, he’s not that gullible.
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Old 08-28-2013, 04:00 PM   #165
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Alzar moves on toward the ruins. He has arrived at the large square that once marked a pyramid. It seems like the stone was cracked and perhaps an earthquake occurred to bring this place down. He arrives at the southern edge of the structure and there is a stone floor here, still standing and working after all of these years. Sand has blown over it, and it takes a few minutes to clear away the sand that blocks a natural entranceway.

After moving things around, Alzar moves to the only exit, a doorway in the north wall. This is a long main hall, and it looks like it could have been an entrance hall. There is a stone throne, worn by still a throne at the end of the hall. There is a doorway to the right and down the left. The wall to the immediate right is destroyed and in rubble. The symbol of the empire is carved in stone and the throne in a few places. There are old pictures carved into the walls that still stand that depict the ancient nation.

Alzar moves left and passes out of the main hall and into an unknown chamber. Doorways are to the left and right, as well as behind him. The exterior is in front. The rocks from the upper floors are still lingering here and the light is bad. Alzar’s lit up stone is withdrawn and there are crumbled remnants of old metal pieces from furniture barely recognizable in the dust. He heads left.
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Old 08-28-2013, 05:50 PM   #166
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This room has suffered a major cave in. In order to help inspect the rocks, Alzar casts Skeletal Hands. A quick check with them reveals an old skeleton here that was covered by rocks. On its neck is a amulet with the symbol of the empire emblazoned on it. Alzar grabs it. He moves to the other room and this is once the northern entrance to the pyramid. The staircase up is shattered. He hears a scraping, and in a few minutes, a long creature emerges. A carrion crawler. This can be dangerous with just himself here. A creature with 8 attacks that can paralyze you is death to a lot of creatures. Alzar backs away and orders in the hands. They cannot be paralyzed, and the tentacles of the crawler deal no damage. Thus, the crawler cannot damage them. After a few rounds and they hit twice, the crawler views this combat as bad luck and moves away, retreating back out of the ruins into the badlands.

Alzar explores this room briefly, and then heads back and moves into the area that was smashed. Back here were the crypts that Yaghoub found the book, and like he said, they are empty. A recent tremor may have knocked someone else free, because he finds a large piece of pottery worth 500 gp from that era.

Rare Pottery – 500 gp
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Old 08-28-2013, 06:27 PM   #167
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The final doorway leads to the last spot on the northeast corner of the pyramid. The place is thick with chunks of debris. As Alzar enters the room, he notices something odd and circular in the far corner. Before he can inspect it, a creature erupts from behind the ruins and moves in.

And it is the spitting image of the beast that attacked the town guard a few days ago. With hands that end in spears or swords and four legs it bounds over the uneven ground quite quickly to get to Alzar. It has not made any threatening moves though, so Alzar just waits. It stops about fifteen feet away. It’s golden hair looks odd against the coal grey skin.

Instead of speaking, it communicates with Alzar telepathically. It wants Alzar to leave the ruins. Alzar tells it that he is investigating the death of Yaghoub, and he died from a book that he collected right here. The creature admits that he placed the book there to kill the mage. He was getting too close.

Hundreds of years ago, he was tasked with guarding this pyramid during the reign of its first and only sultan. After he left and his state fell, the creature was left guarding it by himself. He keeps away those that he can. He was summoned from Earth to do this.

Wait? Summoned from Earth? Yes, he was once one of the proud race of Dao, but he has been here so long that this is his whole life and being. He left them behind long ago, but still considers himself one of them.
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Old 08-28-2013, 09:24 PM   #168
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Alzar asks if he was put here by the sultan himself. The creature suddenly gets massively angry at Alzar! How dare you insult me by asking that! The creature roars and moves in to attack.

Alzar barley has time to react. Yaghoub’s Staff is out and blocking. Alzar doubts he has any spell that will affect this tasked genie. It won’t slow down to Sleep, Hypnosis, Charm, and his Skeletal Hands have been dismissed. This can only be defeated by items or fighting.

Alzar needs a 16 to hit his foe. The creature just needs a 9 to cleave him with his sword arm – he attacks twice. The genie wins initiative and hits Alzar twice for 13 damage. Those are heavy hitting hands! Alzar swings with his staff and misses. The creature keeps init and swings and hits again for 5. Alzar misses.

27/51

When a Staff of Striking hits, it expends one charge to do 3 extra damage. Alzar is going to use the charges a lot of deal even more. He just has to hit. He wins init, misses, and then takes 6 damage from a sword/hand thrust.

21/51

He keeps int and finally hits, doing 3 damage from the staff, one from strength, and adds 9 damage from three charges. The genie took 13 damage. It stabs out and hits twice for 1d8 +1d8. 4 damage.

17/51

Alzar loses init, gets hit for 5 damage, and then hits again and puts another three charges into the staff for 15 damage. It decides to flee and leaps to the circular spot at the corner and then moves down and disappears.

12/51
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Old 08-28-2013, 11:41 PM   #169
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Alzar rushes over to that spot and looks down. There is a stairwell here that heads down about ten feet. Alzar grabs his stone, tosses it down the corridor, and leaps down instead of taking the staircase. He makes the landing.

Down at the base is a long corridor with a shimmering magical screen at the end and something beyond it. The tasked genie is not here. Alzar moves up quickly.

He reaches the magical barrier in a few seconds and sees movement behind. Alzar grabs a rock and tosses it at the barrier and it is destroyed with electrical damage. He grabs one of his bolts and pushes it at the barrier, but it passes right through. Alzar keeps pushing and he moves right through the barrier.

Odd.

The task genie sees him come through and is surprised as well. It roars and spins. Alzar is wounded and unsure if he will kill it. He draws his Wand of Frost and puts in three charges for a Cone of Cold. The wand spits out the Cone and deals 23 cold damage to creatures in front, save for half. The genie makes its save, takes 12 damage, and dies anyway.

Alzar – used up 6 charges in Yaghoub’s Staff and three in Wand of Frost
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Old 08-29-2013, 12:08 AM   #170
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He looks around. There is just a small chamber back here, with a resting area that the tasked genie apparently used regularly. After a search, Alzar finds a hidden niche here that springs open. Inside is a large and ancient tome. A spellbook.

Alzar also finds a second Amulet, a Ring, a Jellaba, and a few non-magical items.


Ruby Necklace – 750 gp
43 gold coins from the empire

Alzar suspects that anyone who could force a genie to serve them is very powerful, and that means the spellbook is likely trapped with all sorts of bad stuff. He will wait until later and cast a bunch of Dispel Magics at it over the course of weeks, and then pop it open. That alone will take level 5 when he can learn 3rd level Magic, although he is getting close to that level.




2500XP for the adventure and kill
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Old 08-29-2013, 12:54 AM   #171
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Other magic items:

Ring of Protection +1

Ring of Chameleon Power – This enables Alzar a 90% chance to blend into his natural environment

Scarab of Venom – Twice per day Alzar can place this scarab on a weapon and it will coat that weapon with a poison that will deal 3d4 damage to the next creature hit if they fail a save. It takes a round to prepare the weapon. (I actually weakened this, it really does 3d4 without a save and you save to die from the poison flat out.)


2 Amulets of Neconolis (one allowed Alzar ot pass through the screen, and the genie had one on him too)

Rock Jellaba – When worn, gives immunity to petrification, and Alzar can cast the Statue spell upon himself (without needing a system shock roil and keeping the form as long as he wants) once per day.

Potion of Neutralize Poison

Neconilis’s Book of Horrors – When opened and read, bad things happen. Reader rolls a save vs spells. Make it, and you suffer the effects of the 2nd level Fear spell, even if you are normally immune to fear effects. Lasts for 20 rounds. If you fail, make a system shock roll. If you succeed, than you are paralyzed for fear for 1d6 hours. If you fail, make a Constitution check. If you make this, you are in a coma for 1d3 days. Fail it, and you die.

Alzar dons the Jellaba, and he rolls. It works with the Bracers he always has. He then adds the Ioun Stone, which orbits his head and grants him an AC bonus. It works, but this skin turns a lovely shade of bright green. He then puts on the Ring of Chameleon Nature, and his skin goes back to its normal color. All four items are currently working together. He keeps it there for now.



End of Wizard’s Challenge II
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Old 08-30-2013, 09:15 AM   #172
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Alzars stuff:


4200 gp

+1 Pesh-kabz, Short Bow, Dagger
Bracers of Protection: +1
Spear, +1, +2 vs Giants, +3 vs Orcs, Ogres
Potion of Levitation, Fire Giant Strength, Neutralize Poison
Wand of Frost – 6 charges
Yaghoub’s Staff – Striking – 8 charges, Ring of Fire Protection when held
Ring of Protection +1, Chameleon Nature; Cantrips
Rock Jellaba
Scarab of Venom
Scroll of Create Spectral Wizard
Crucible of Melting
Dusty Rose Ioun Stone - +1 AC
Lens of Speed Reading


2 Amulets of Neconolis

Silver Knife, Spear
Crossbow, 50 bolts
Flask of Sleep Water
Multiple Vials of Poison

2 Divining Rods
Focus - Signet Ring

Ruby Necklace – 750 gp
Rare Pottery – 500 gp
Relics from Neconolis – 1000 gp total
Gold Flecked Ruby – 1000 gp

Book - Tribal History of this Duergar Clan
Book – Yaghoub’s Journal


For example, he doesn’t have to be wearing his Venom Scarab to use it, it provides no benefits when worn.



His library has gotten too big for the wagon, so Alzar has to pick up a bigger wagon.

Here is what is in the Neconolis Spellbook when he manages to decode it muuuuch later:

1st level – Alarm, Burning Hands, Detect Magic, Detect Undead, Friends, Jump, Magic Missile, Protection from Good, Read Magic, Spook
2nd Level – Deafness, Detect Good, Ghoul Touch, Magic Mouth, Whispering Sound, Wizard Lock
3rd Level – Bewilder, Explosive Runes, Hold Undead, Non-Detection, Secret Page
4th Level – Curse, Emotion, Enchant Weapon
5th Level – Animate Dead, Summon Shadow
6th Level – Summon Least Yugoloth
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Old 08-30-2013, 09:53 AM   #173
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Alzar returns to the town and spends a few days there, identifying items, moving things around and more. He heads back to Arjuna to spend some time correcting a mistake. This was the third time he has encountered geniekind-here on Hamedh. They are not weakens in their travels, unlike the difficulty that others have in getting here.

After meeting with a local Shi’ar, Alzar begins instructions on genies. They have a massive influence on Hamedhi culture and magic. Therefore, it is only right to learn more about them. After studying for three months, Alzar has gained the Genie Lore proficiency. This enables him to know about genies, gen, tasked genies, other versions of geniekind, and he also knows about genie etiquette, genie bribery, and such.

While he spends these three months learning (and paying the Shi’ar 500 gp), Alzar also spends time looking over the books he recently acquired. As he does, he spends some more time with Yaghoub’s Journal, and discovers something quite intriguing.
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Old 08-30-2013, 10:22 AM   #174
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B1. In Search of the Unknown




Let’s hit a classic now. There have been some less appealing adventures we did, such as Forest Oracle and the solos weren’t exactly tripping goodness and daises everywhere. Puppets and Eye of the Serpent weren’t bad, but they didn’t exactly rock the block. Of the group of five adventures, Eye of the Serpent was the best. Then we added the Wizard’s Challenges, and they were nice, get your feet wet adventures.

Now, let’s move to the sexy B1, coming to ya from straight out of 1978. There are several reasons why this is a good first adventure for a lot of groups. First of all, it has pages and pages of notes on how to be a good DM. Second of all, many of its room descriptions later on are blank in terms of monsters and traps and treasure and such, giving you the opportunity to roll on some charts or just make it up yourself. This is an absolute classic.
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Old 08-30-2013, 10:38 AM   #175
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The journal talks about a discovery Yaghoub made about 16 years ago when searching the badlands for more relics from the Empire of Neconolis. Two famous icons from about a hundred years ago ruled the badlands. One was a powerful warrior and the other a powerful mage. The two united several tribes. When a large nasty weather system moved in, they ordered the construction and widening of natural cave systems and created an underground complex for their men and themselves in order to ride out the storms.

It worked, but a few years later, the relationship severed. They fought against each other, and the caves were partly abandoned and the men were lost to legend. Yaghoub found the entrance to the caves deep in the badlands, where they begin to turn into actual desert, about four days ride from Watershead. After finishing up his training in Arjuna, Alzar leaves behind many of the extra books in his house he rents in the city. He takes just 5000 gp library with him, and the same with his lab.

Watershead is much as he remembered it. Quiet and bustling. Alzar secured the body of Yaghoub, and someday would like to Reanimate it, but he does not have the gold right now. Meanwhile, he prepares for a long journey. He has purchased several camels to take with him, and loaded them down with water and food. There is only one oasis between here and there (which we will actually pull out of Wizard’s Challenge II since I didn’t use it there, and run it here. I do this stuff a lot)

On the first day out, Alzar encounters a large group of jackals. They come close, curious about Gilded Ears. After a half hour of sniffing and such they leave.
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Old 08-30-2013, 11:19 AM   #176
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The next day, about three hours from the oasis, Alzar notices something in the distance. At first, it is moving perpendicular to him, but then it turns. After a few minutes, he can make out galloping creatures and soon see that this is a small herd of desert centaurs, smaller and hardier than their forest friends. In a few minutes they arrive at the caravan and Alzar halts to get down and talk with them. They do not know the dialect he speaks, just a language common among desert folk. Then one comes over and casts a spell to allow communication.

They have just come from the Oasis that Alzar is heading too to refresh. They tell him that unfortunately a local poisonous serpent, the Heway, has made the place its home and has begun to poison the water. Normally they would just kill one with ranged weapons – their throwing sticks (trombash). But it has gone deep underwater, and they suspect there must be a small cave down there for it to breathe and survive. They were unable to gather the water and are moving off.

Alzar tells them that he suspects he might be able to track down this creature and kill it. As it is getting late, the herd agrees to make camp here tonight and two will go off and escort him to the oasis. If he can find the Heway, but needs help killing it, they can assist.

A few hours later, near twilight, Alzar’s caravan arrives at the oasis. It is about 75 to 80 feet across. Hyena howls can be heard in the night. No creatures are at the oasis right now, but there are some older footsteps, as if no one has used it yet.
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Old 08-30-2013, 12:20 PM   #177
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Alzar steps to the water and inspects it. He grabs his tools from the lab to test it and uses poison use proficiency. He can verify that the water has been moderately poisoned, but he is not familiar with the source. It is not a touch poison, and will only worked if ingested. Because of its dilution, it is not lethal, but it can cause cramps and tremors for a few hours. It looks like soon it could cause paralysis for a few hours if it continues to increase in volume in the oasis water (Find out more about Desert Centaurs and the Heway in the Al-Qadim Monstrous Compendium!)

The desert centaurs warn him that the snake creature can stun someone for a few minutes, allowing it to be easy prey. Forewarned, Alzar grabs some items to protect his eyes, mouth and nose, and dives into the poisoned water.

The oasis drops off sharply after about ten feet and there is a deeper bottom than one might otherwise suspect. He dives a few times and locates an underwater passage. He holds his breath and makes a swimming proficiency check and dives into the chamber. It takes some time. However, even with the proficiency check successful, he is unable to keep air in his lungs for long enough and after two minute begins to take damage. He emerges on the other side having taken 10 damage. (He should have had the Deep Diving Proficiency, or a spell or item such as his old reliable Necklace of Adaptation or Water Breathing magic.)

41/51
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Old 08-30-2013, 01:00 PM   #178
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Alzar emerges into an underground chamber, He grabs a continually lit stone and pulls it out to give him light, it is very dark down here. There are several fungi and the air here is fresh. There is a tunnel that emerges here and moves forward. After gathering himself, Alzar moves forward.

The tunnel narrows more and more until a tight squeeze is needed for Alzar to push through. A large serpent would fit in through here easily. Alzar is worried about being attacks or engazed (not a real word, engazed, but handy for what it does), and opens the holes from this side.

After fifteen minutes, Alzar moves into the area. It is a rounded chamber, made by an earthquake. Alzar hears a hissing a freezes. He closes his eyes and moves toward the sound, with blind-fighting proficiency leading him.

The hissing continues and the scale-against-rock sound is heard as it moves toward him. He pulls out the +1 pesh-kabz – he could not fit larger weapons in the swim. The snake moves toward him and it attacks.

It gets a free shot because Alzar is fighting blind. But then battle as normal ensues.

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Old 08-30-2013, 02:14 PM   #179
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It stabs out with its mouth and hits Alzar for two damage. That was not an attack he was expecting. He makes his poison use proficiency check. This creature has no fangs to ejects poison. His knife scrapes the scales but fails to connect. It attacks and misses.

39/51

It wins init and attacks. It misses. Alzar does as well. It adds another damage, and Alzar misses. Alzar regains init and slashes for 4 damage with his magical weapon. It misses. He misses badly, and it follows with a slash on his arm for 2 more damage. Alzar stabs it for 5 damage, and it misses. It wins init finally and stabs him for nothing as he just dances out of the way. He misses. He wins init and they both miss. It regains initiative and hits for 2 damage and he misses. He regains init and stabs out for 4 more damage and it dies.

34/51

Alzar gains 150 XP

The creature has no poison glands in its mouth, just oozes it from its skin. He searches down here and finds a few old bodies buried in the earthquake. Most have nothing, and he casts Detect Magic to see if any of the minor weapons, helmet, coins or anything glow. As his Divining Rod passes over that direction, he sees an amulet glowing.

Amulet of Neconilis

He returns with the head of the Heway and gives it to the centaurs as a sign he has slain the creature. They tell him it should take 2-3 days for the water to purify. In the meantime, he makes camp there for the evening.

(And that basically ends Wizard’s Challenge II’s Oasis encounter. I swapped an odd energy draining skeleton for the cool Heway and added desert centaurs as a fun desert encounter.)
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Old 08-30-2013, 02:37 PM   #180
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Alzar decides to press on because he has no immediate need of water. The next two days are quiet, and he arrives at the location mentioned in Yaghoub’s Journal. In front of him in a narrow crevice that is big enough for a few people beside each other, but nothing more. Alzar drops his camels and leaves behind Gilded Ears to be a spy to make sure nothing comes across his stuff and he unloads items for his venture, including a pair of oil flasks, five vials of metal eating acid, two stones with Continual Light on them and other objects. His spells today are: Detect Magic, Sleep, Hypnosis, Charm Person, Skeletal Hands, Continual Light and Hold Person. He cautiously moves into the complex. (He heads in as a mage, but has warrior weapons in case they are needed, but is leaving behind the heavy armor).


The entrance is wet and musty. Wind buffets this area regularly, and the rock has blackened with dust and sand over the years. After a short walk, Alzar cuts down some old scraggy vines to make sure nothing is beyond them and moves through. He’d rather cut them down than push past them, just in case something is on the other side, or they are dangerous.

Soon enough the corridor is carved straight, and Alzar needs light – out comes a stone. He sees alcoves ahead on the corridor. They look to have once been guardposts. After passing by two pairs, suddenly he hears shouting from the final pair. They scream out dangers, warnings, and tell him to leave. Alzar fails his spellcraft proficiency check, and is not sure where they come from (it’s a few Magic Mouth spells).
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Old 08-30-2013, 10:38 PM   #181
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The corridor rises a few steps, and at the top are five bodies. The corridor splits and heads right and left, and forward there are some doors and it continues for a while and opens up. Alzar leans down to look at the bodies. It looks like an adventuring party came in here a while, and smell badly. There are two guards too it seems. The first is a human who might have been a warrior, stripped of his armor and items, but with a broken sword and shield by him. A human speared by a sword wearing a red jellaba is here, and has also been searched clean. A dwarf has a helmet, nice but badly dented where it smashed his head, also stripped, and two humans of unknown profession finish the menagerie.

Ten feet in front of him are two doors that flank the corridor. He opens the left one. This appears to be a small kitchen, with a variety of pots and pans about. As Alzar moves in to inspect it, a pair of large centipedes move out of the cupboard and towards Alzar, who was making enough noise to alert them. His staff is out and he smashes out dead as it arrives. The other pecks him for 2 damage, wins init, misses, and he misses. Then he regains initiative, hits and kills it too.

20 XP

49/51 hp
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Old 08-30-2013, 11:07 PM   #182
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A quick search reveals nothing too interesting here. As expected, the other door on the right opens into a small dining room. The rooms here are frugal so far, the tribe may not have had a lot of money. The furniture, while usable, is clearly made by a non-specialist, but just someone who hammered a chair or table together. There are no dishes or anything in here, just a few tables and chairs, and a banner on a wall. Alzar moves to a door on the far side. He hears noise on the other side and opens it after preparing himself. Here are three goblins, who leap up as he opens the door and move to attack. He would have been happy to talk with them, but he is just as happy to kill them also.

His staff thwacks the head of one for death. He is crit hit back by a curved dagger he cannot identify (Khukuri) and takes 6 damage. The other misses. He keeps init, and they all miss. They win init, and miss, and he slays a second. The other tries to run around him, but he slays it with an attack of opportunity.

30 XP

43/51

The goblins have nothing on them. This place appears to be a lounge. The furniture appears to be makeshift, but there is an odd object here. A large, very attractive marble statue appears to be secured to the ground. It would be worth thousands of GP but Alzar has no way to secure it. It could not have been made by the same people that made the furniture, so perhaps they procured it from another culture.

A search of the room turns up a bag of 25 gp tied under a reclining chair.

25 gp
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Old 08-30-2013, 11:42 PM   #183
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Alzar returns to the corridor. It branches left and right just after the two doors. He heads right and it turns 90’ to go back in the direction he was originally facing. It ends at a door. Alzar tries it, but it is locked. He grabs a vial of acid and melts the lock.

The door swings open to reveal a different sort of room. The walls are made of better quality material, and the furniture is swank. It’s old, and has lost a lot of value. It’s also from different eras and styles, and very eclectic, as if collected from various places. There is an intricate stone carving on the wall across from him that stretches more than 50 feet. It’s of a wizard casting spells from a hilltop onto a faceless enemy below. Looking around, this might have been one of the rooms the wizard used. There are two doors leading from this room, both on the wall Alzar entered.

He moves to a desk at first. There are several drawers in here, and he uses a weapon to pry them open. Two swing freely open, and nothing in is there. The third will not open, it Is locked. He skips it and moves to a bed, with a beautifully done metalwork headboard. It has to weigh hundreds of pounds, but it has not aged at all. He slides to the door on the left and opens it.

This room is a large closet and storage room. There are some old, decaying garments in here, as well as various other accoutrements. Alzar finds four books and pulls them out. He returns to the desk and sets them down. The other door is opened and in here is a hug treasure pile! But Alzar is immune to low level illusions. He can tell that really, it’s a grey ooze creature behind a delicate glass container. Reach to get the treasure and ou would easily break the glass and out pops the ooze. Nasty little trap that.

He moves back to the books and has these tomes:

Book – History of the Badlands Tribes (20 gp)
Book – Encyclopedia of Local Plants (50 gp)
Book – Diary of the Wizard, Zelligar
Book – Meteorological Phenomena of Hamedh (75 gp)
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Old 08-31-2013, 12:05 AM   #184
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Alzar moves to the drawer on the desk. He tries to force it open with a +1 pesh-kabz. He does and it springs open. A needle follows and pricks him. He fails his save and drifts off to sleep. Luckily, he wakes up after ten minutes and nothing happened.

Inside the drawer are a bunch of papers about the complex, such as inventories and pricing and other sundry things. In addition to that, there is a paperweight with the symbol of Zellimar on it, and finally a small block of incense. Alzar pulls it out and makes his ID item throw. It’s magical Incense of some sort, but not any he is familiar with.

Magical Incense, block of 20 hours (It’s Incense of Enlightenment. When burned while studying spells, it allows the spells memorized to be cast at maximum efficiency).


He heads back out and drops off the books, papers, gold, and incense before heading back out. He’s so close to the entrance, he might as well. He returns and takes the left at the passage. It bends too, in the same direction as the other passage, and passes by a large space on the right, about fifty feet long. He circles around the space on the top side at the corridor continues, and there are no entrances into that. A large space with no entrances is often a sign of a secret door, so he searches.

As he searches, he must make enough noise for a creature to wander over and find him. He hears movement in the corridor behind him, and after a pause, out crawls a large unknown spider. He grabs his staff. The creature is just two feet long. He tosses a knife at it and misses. It pulls up and spits a web at him and hits his arm and that will slow him down a bit. Make it harder for him to win initiative. It wins and tries to bite him and misses. He cracks it for 3 damage. It misses, and he does. It misses and he does. It bites him for 3 damage ad he makes a poison save. He misses. He gains init and misses, and it misses too. It regains, init, misses, and he misses. It misses, and he connects again and finishes it.

40/51

25 XP
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Old 08-31-2013, 12:27 AM   #185
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Indeed, after fifteen minutes he finds a small latch which opens the door. This appears to be a modest wizard workroom, with a door on the left side. Alzar smiles widely. The furniture in here is quite well made, and of stone, except for some wooden cabinets in the right wall. The equipment in here tends to be broken, missing, not of high quality or serviceable at best. Alzar believes that can salvage about 500 gp of value from this room. The cabinets open to reveal 40 small earthen jars, stoppered with wax seals, and with no identifying marks on any of them. They could be anything from potions to poisons to lab components. Alzar remembers a page on items in the lab from the library. They were just components for research, like sand or blood. He can grab them later.

500 gp – Lab Components

He heads to the door and opens it. This room is a magical enchantment chamber and an extension of the workroom he was just in. Some of the objects in here are weird, a coffin, a torture rack, and several tables with a stopped flask on it. Alzar cannot tell if the flask is or is not magical, so he adds it to the magic pile for later. There is a fireplace in here as well, as some vats and casks and such –all empty. Nothing of value in here.

He heads back out to the corridor. Left there is a door to a triangular room. Alzar opens it and in here are a bunch of barrels and storage. Also in here are a quartet of very surprised looking orcs that were trying to decide what to eat. He casts Sleep and drops them all and slays them

100 XP

12 gp
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Old 08-31-2013, 09:11 AM   #186
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He then moves to the room and starts looking at barrels. One has pickles, another edible seeds, and a third nuts, and a fourth dried berries, and so on. There is nothing in here beyond these foodstuffs.

The corridor winds back or continues forward over here on the left. Alzar moves back first of all, to make sure nothing was back there. After a few minutes, he runs into the corridor that comes from the entrance that spilt off the left. It continues. There is a corridor that winds in on itself in a giant twisting motion, getting closer and closer to the center. Alzar slows as he nears the center, preparing himself for a rap or opponent. He arrives and sees a pile of dead bones, with a large centipede shaped carrion crawler here that shakes itself and gets up. It probably hides here in this area, and then moves out to hunt and brings back the paralyzed foes to snack.

This thing is deadly. Alzar casts Continual Light at the multi-faceted red eyes it has. It fails its save, and it is blinded. Alzar backs up. He throws in a knife and hits it for 2 damage. Then it seems to gather its wits and moves with some degree of accuracy for a blinded opponent. Crawlers must have good senses. He backs up around a turn and grabs his spear. This is not a battle for the weak of heart. He spears it for 5 damage with its magic as it closes. Alzar’s axe is out and battle begins. He wins init, carves it for 6 damage, and it dies. Whew.

No XP

Back here on the ruins of the skeletons are some broken items and a few things of wealth. One is a gigantic metal gada, or mace, that weighs a lot. There is a warm blue unnatural sheen to it. Alzar tries to ID it but fails (only works 20% of the time at level 4). He grabs it and secures it. There’s a bit of coinage as well, but not a lot.

+1 Gada
21 sp
13 ep

The only other thing in this corner of the area is a meeting room, with benches and such, but nothing else.
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Old 08-31-2013, 10:16 AM   #187
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He returns and takes the corridor passage forward and within thirty feet arrives at a large set of double door while the corridor bends to the left. Alzar opens the double doors and reveals his favorite room in any dungeon, castle, keep or tower. The library.

The room is covered with dust and there are three bookshelves with three tables and various chairs around the room. Continual Light spells in the corners of the room provide light. Alzar moves along the old books and sees titles that are not particularly powerful, but they do serve to add to his collection. It’s a general library after not, not a magic user one. All told there are about 300 books worth about 1000 gp total.

1000 gp library of 300 general purpose books


The corridor branch ends at a door, which is locked. After trying various ways to open it, Alzar uses his 2nd Vial of Acid to open the lock. It opens in a corridor that goes right and left. Alzar heads right first. The corridor ends after thirty feet. Suspicious. He spends thirty minute searching every inch and nook three times but finds nothing. He heads back left. After a few minutes, he arrives at a winding corridor that has three doors, and then ends. The first door opens into a small room and it has in it blackish soot and material to use to supply a forge or smith. A quick search turns up:

Four electrum plates, 40 gp each
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Old 08-31-2013, 10:35 AM   #188
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Those are used to be forged into something valuable. The next door opens up into a….surprise surprise, blacksmith. There is a large fire pit that dominates the center of the smithy, and various tools around. The room is quite large and warmer than any other place Alzar has been, even with the fire unburned. Perhaps that is why four goblins are here making it their home, and they rise. Alzar casts Hypnotism as some weapons are thrown. They pin him twice with javelins for 4 damage and he orders them to drop their weapons from the spell. Three fail their save and one makes it. Alzar’s staff flies up and he smashes the one who is still fighting just as it stabs with his spear. Both hit. Alzar takes 3, it takes 5 and dies. Alzar then forces the other three to tie up and leaves them here.

37/51

40 XP

A quick search turns up a few potential items for the magic pile for later, that were used as smithing, but still in good condition, including a of hammers for the forge and a nice, pristine looking pair of tongs. Alzar also finds some ingots of iron and copper, and leaves them.


The final door in the corridor is a tiny chamber, with a round hole in the ground. Heading down is a pair of ropes and ladders. It looks like there is another level below this one.
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Old 08-31-2013, 11:01 AM   #189
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Alzar returns and tortures a goblin until it squeals. The pathway that led right from the entrance leads into a large section of the complex. They don’t know a lot about what is down. He kills one, and the others faint. He kills them too – not wanting to leave an enemy to his rear, in case they are rescued.

He moves back to the entrance, taking several items with him as he does, like the gada, the flask, the two hammers, and the tongs, and a few others here and there that grab his attention. He leaves them in the wagons and returns, taking the right passage.

It bends to the right after twenty feet, and then after forty it splits off to the left, and continues forward. Alzar goes forward. He wants to explore this section of the place in the back. After several minutes, the corridor takes a 90’ turn to the left and moves off that way for some time. Eventually it ends with two doors on the left, right where he wants them to be. He hopes he is on the far edge of the dungeon.

The first door opens into a corridor, and he goes to the other. This opens into a room. This is a tastefully decorated room for a woman of refined taste. There are hangings and trappings, and a four post bed with many drapes. The table to the left as he walks in has a mirror and several beauty items including a silver comb and brush. Alzar searches the room. The lace and frills have decayed and the colors have faded on most of the items in the room, except for a few of value

Silver Comb and Brush set – 100 gp
Ornate Perfume Bottle – 50 gp
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Old 08-31-2013, 12:10 PM   #190
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He head back to the other door. The corridor beyond it moves forward, with a door on the left and it bending shortly thereafter to the left. Alzar grabs the door, but it is locked too. The door is weaker, and so he forces it open and it crashes with a loud bang. This is a furniture storage room, with old wooden furniture and wood chips on the ground in places. Bugs have gotten in here and eaten a lot of the items in here. Large termites emerge from the items, and Alzar shakes them away with his staff. A few moments later as he is finishing up a search, a few creatures fly into the room from the opening the insects made long ago. They must have heard the noise from the crashing and three Stirges have arrived to see what the ruckus is about.

Alzar stabs his staff at one and misses. They bite and one hits for 4 damage and attaches itself. Alzar hits and connects with that one and kill sit and the others miss. They win init and one hits for 2 damage. Alzar smashes it dead. Then they each miss for two turns before Alzar connects for 4 damage – just enough to kill it.

75 XP

31/51 hp
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Old 08-31-2013, 12:45 PM   #191
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The corridor to the left bends back after a short distance and a door faces that direction, telling Alzar there is not a hidden place there like he was suspecting. The stonework around the door is getting much better quality in the carving. The door opens to a trophy room that rocks items like Brass Dragon skin, skeletons, teeth of a basilisk, and body parts he does not recognize as belonging to Hamedhi exclusive creatures.

As he leaves the room to continue down the corridor,, a snake comes around the far end, and it’s just a small cobra. Nothing major, and Alzar kills it easily from distance.

The corridor bends right and it pushes into a much larger chamber and ends. Another branch heads off to the right, and there are two doors on this corridor. Pillars have been carved into the sides of the wall and a fresco in the ceiling of a fighter on a hill holding a powerful sword and looking like he is going to cleave an unseen foe.

The first door opens into a bedroom/work chamber of probably the captain of the guard or whatever passed for him. In here are a few tables and nice bed. There is also a sleeping goblin on the bed. Alzar carefully grabs his magical spear, and tosses it and kills the goblin. A quick search reveals nothing on the corpse, but a table leg rings hollow when tapped. Alzar breaks it and discovers:

Topaz – 100 gp
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Old 08-31-2013, 01:25 PM   #192
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He returns to the corridor and takes the other door. This room has a stairwell that heads down and nothing else. There’s not even the usual dust. Alzar returns and moves to the large chamber at the end and it opens into a small throne room, with a stone throne carved out of the rock itself. It looks like this was recently used as a makeshift bedroom, because old pallets are laying about and straw has been brought in for sleeping. Old draperies that once hung were torn down and used as blankets and wrapping. There is no sign of any recent presence though.

Alzar takes the right bend on the corridor. The quality of rock work drops as it goes, and in a few feet after it returns to the normal carving he expected, it meets up with the left path from the corridor coming down. There is a locked door on the left which Alzar uses his third vial of acid on – just two left.

Beyond this door is a corridor that turns to the right after ten feet. He turns and it heads straight for a bit before bending to the left out of sight. He takes the bend and it ends at a door a short distance beyond that. Alzar opens the door and he is at the end of another corridor, that heads back to the left. It opens into a large room, with a door on the left. Alzar senses something that tweaks his necromantic senses and opens the door. Inside is a small bed chamber rand work space with religious decorations for perhaps a priest. There are also a trio of skeletons standing by a corner that activate when he opens the door and move toward him. He rolls to control them successfully and….does!

The first undead on Hamedh to bow to his mastery!

He searches the room and the desk has paperwork, but the paper used here was poorer than that of the mage, and it has faded and worn out with time. There is a locked chest at the base of the bed. He searches the rest of the room and unconvers nothing. He uses a vial of acid on the lock and has just one left. He opens it with his staff and a dart flies and misses him. He sees a scarlet cloth in here and grabs it. He opens it and it was protecting a golden medallion. He pockets it.

Golden Medallion

(It’s actually a Medallion of Defense, on command it will grow into a +2 shield, and then shrink again when the command is stated a 2nd time)
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Old 08-31-2013, 02:15 PM   #193
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Leading the skeletons first, he moves into the large chamber. This oddly shaped chamber has a door on the back wall he entered and many different colored pools on the ground – 14 in all. Mosaic tiles are imprinted on the floor in an array of alternating patterns, scintillating the seven colors of the rainbow over and over again in pattern.

Each of the pools has something different in it. Well, one pool is empty. Each pool has something different, and Alzar is sure some are good and some bad. One could be poison and other water and a third lava and a fourth forget-me-not potion, and so forth. It’s basic dungeon design 101when designed by idiots. He has no desire to spend a bunch of time tossing in coins and testing liquids to find the right one to heal him or whatever. Not right now at least.

Alzar has a skeleton open the door, and it opens into a large barracks, and inside are 7 goblins that are in various states of battle. Some have weapons in hand, others armor, and some nothing. The goblins move to the skeletons. Alzar summons Skeletal Hands to assist. Meanwhile his skeletons clash with the goblins. They carve two dead that were unarmored. The others dodge away and one hits a skeleton for 3 damage.

Alzar’s group win init. His knife barely misses a goblin. The skeletons kill a 3rd goblin while they finish getting weapons. They stab and slay a skeleton, They win init and mostly miss. One hits for one damage with a spear (half damage from piercing weapons). The skeletal hans and two skeletons take out a 4th goblin dn wound a 5th. They keep init. They kill the barely wounded skeleton after a crti hit, and the skeleton and hands finish of the wounded goblin. Two gobs left. Alzar arrives. His group wins back init, and Alzar stabs out with a staff and misses. His minions scrap and slay a the goblin and the last one misses and is killed the next round.

70 XP

Alzar searches with his skeleton and pair of hands. They find in the barracks:

72 gp
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Old 08-31-2013, 02:38 PM   #194
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A door on the other side opens to a corridor that heads left and right. Left winds up at a small chapel and worship area, with an old alter but little else. The other heads into a corridor that ends after passing four doors. The first opens into an old armory. Most of the weapons here have been taken over the years, but a few broken or poor ones (clubs) remain. The next door opens into a guest chamber, and the third does as well. Both are empty of anything beside basic furniture- bed, table, chair, stool or bench, and an empty chest. The final room is a utility room with some basic storage. A quick search turns up nothing, but makes enough noise and a large beetle of some unknown sort flies into the room form the corridor and dies to the skeletons and hands in one round.

Alzar returns to the corridor and has finished this floor of the complex. He heads to the stairs and moves down. The Skeletal Hands have run their course by the time he is down there.

He arrives in an access room, with a cart, and stones laying about, with other mining equipment here. The rock is roughly hewn, and looks like it has not been finished at all. He heads to the only exit, a doorway in the south. It opens into a corridor with a door to the right, and the roughly turns into natural cave, and there are two natural passages that lead off.

The door is unlocked, but jammed. Alzar forces it loudly open. This room looks like an unfinished museum, with frescoes and the beginnings of statues and display cases made of rock. Nothing is in here though.

He heads back out and has the skeleton lead and they take the closer of the two passageways. It curls back on its and tightens in a few places. Soon enough it widens a bit again and a chamber is off to the side. The chambers on this floor are devoid of furniture or special objects, and just normal caves. Alzar moves into this cave, but as he does, a loud piercing scream rings out and down the passages. There is a patch of shrieker mushrooms here. He pulls off a flask of oil, douses the area, and lights it and kills the mushrooms. Meanwhile, all of the creature son this level have heard and all of them are moving on his position. His skeleton moves to the back while he uncorks the other flask and pours it along the ground on one passageway. He lights a torch and puts it right above the oil, easily able to be knocked into it and set fire to a patch of about seven wide ground.
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Old 08-31-2013, 02:53 PM   #195
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Soon creatures converge. Down the passageway he was travelling comes a giant spider, much larger than the one he fought upstairs. His spear misses it, and it wins init and damages the skeleton for 5 damage. Alzar’s axe is out and he smashes for 8 damage on the spider. He wins inti, misses, and hits for 7 and the skeleton misses. It hits and finishes off the skeleton. Alzar kills it the next turn.

Then four orcs come in from the other side. They see the oil and hold up. Alzar lights it up as the orcs ready some trombashes to throw at him. Two manages to snake over, and he takes 3 damage from one.


28/51


Alzar retreats and heads the other way, and the orcs cannot follow him. They turn around. Alzar passes a webbed chamber and checks. This was the room the spider was in. Nothing else here. He pushes forward to put some distance between the orcs and him, the fire should die down quickly enough.

Then his passage ends at a large chamber, and on the other side is another passage. He moves to it, and as he does, the orcs emerge on the other side. Uh oh! He throws a spear and misses and grabs the axe. They throw their sticks at him and he takes 2 damage from a hit.

26/51

Melee range has been reached and battle begins. Alzar wins inti and kills an orc outright with his axe. He is hit twice for 8 damage. Then they win init, miss, and Alzar kills two more orcs. The fourth runs, and Alzar kills it with his attack of opportunity.

18/51 hp

Alzar searches the bodies and finds:

18 gp
3 pp
18 ep
22 sp
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Old 08-31-2013, 03:20 PM   #196
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Then he retreats and checks the floors – nothing else is here to kill him. A search begins of the various rooms. The webbed one has earrings carved beautifully from ivory. The mushroom room is empty, as is this large chamber. The orcs passed by two rooms to get to him. One has a pair of statues in it, they look to be petrified people – one is a mage, and the other a warrior. Perhaps these are the two men of legend! They were facing each other and in fighting stances. There is nothing else in the room though. The final chamber was the bed of the orcs in the complex – upstairs and the ones down here too. They had found various items in the place and brought them to their room – lots of weapons, armor, and more. Alzar casts Detect Magic with his Divining Rod to see if any of it glows, and he does, in addition to some other items:


Scroll of Protection Against Magic

4 Gold Rods, 85 gp each
4 Silver Plates, 100 gp each
Emerald Headband – 300 gp
Ivory Earrings – 120 gp


And with that, Alzar has fully explored the complex created by the two men who conquered the area around 100 years ago.

He heads back to the pools, and discovery shows one is acid, one is just a pool with fish, another is clear normal drinking water, another heals, another has boiling hot water, etc. He heals up from the adventure, carts out the lab equipment and books ot the wagons, fends off a Stirge attack against his camels, and then heads back to Watershead.

XP Gained: 625 (After XP bonus)

Alzar needs just 1875 to level up to level 5.


End of B1. In Search of the Unknown
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Old 08-31-2013, 07:44 PM   #197
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Alzar heads back to Arjuna and spends a week unloading objects into his local establishment and making some deals. One of which is this:

He trades his +1 gada for a spell scroll and a potion.

Potion of Extra-Healing
Spell Scroll – Genie Contract

This is a 3rd level spell, common here, that is cast when drawing up a contract with a genie to have both sides forced to keep the terms. Otherwise, one or the other could not agree, and bad things happen. One commonly told tale involves an efreet, who was forced to serve a wealthy sultan for an extended period of time. As part of their deal, the efreet could not be told to do the same thing more than once, or else the efreet would be free. After working for him for a while and being given a lot of tasks, the efreet polymorphed herself into a human slave, and then went to the Sultan for orders. The Sultan commanded the slave to do something he had already commanded the efreet to do, and freed from her bondage, she revealed herself and absconded with his firstborn son to the City of Brass.


So you want a Genie Contract generally. It can be cast by either party - Genie or other. Alzar has learned it. It is technically an enchantment/charm spell, but here on Hamedh is in universal (the small number of spells that are tools everybody needs like Read Magic, Detect Magic, Identify, Wizard Mark, etc). It’s very common.
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Old 08-31-2013, 08:11 PM   #198
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L2. The Assassin’s Knot






This is the first module we are doing in the Hamedhi campaign that made the top 30 chart. Published in 1983, it clocked in at #29 on the list of top 30 modules written in 2004. It’s a fun little adventure that takes place on an island. The first of those, L1. The Secret of Bone Hill is pretty solid too, and I thought about running it. I still might, but the presence of a lot of undead might make Alzar a bit too powerful if he runs into and controls a lot of undead.

While this module takes place in two small towns on an island in a random location, I can easily convert it to the local city of Arjuna. Just make a few changes about NPCs and plot lines, and we are surprisingly good to go. You might think that an island based adventure might be a bit too hard to work here, but this one translates rather nicely I think.
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Old 09-01-2013, 09:02 AM   #199
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Four days later, Alzar awakens to a new day and heads to the local tavern to have breakfast. As he does, he sees a purple ribbon hanging from every house in the streets. He arrives at the inn and there is a somber atmosphere. The representative from this district has been killed! She was a local noble and was slain just last night. Appointed by the mayor to serve on an advisory council, she was murdered most foul.

One of the normal patrons of this establishment are a pair of local barhops, who go from bar to bar at night in various places. They are telling the story of last night. At a pub just across the corner from where the woman was killed!

She was found with three suspicious items. One was a small red ruby near her body. The second was a red leather button in her hand. The last was a golden tanbur string under her bed. What really interests the crowd though is what these barhops claimed to have seen. Last night in the Pub, the saw an old man with long white hair, wearing a blue robe stop in at the pub. His robe has the holy symbol of his deity, with a variety of small rubies in the eyes of a local creature. Then a short time later, a local tavern owner stopped by to make some purchases. He was wearing a distinctive red vest with ornate red buttons. Finally, a travelling troubadour stopped by for a short performance on his beautiful tanbur. A tanbu with unusual golden strings.

This information shakes the crowd. Who killed the noblewoman?
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Old 09-01-2013, 09:28 AM   #200
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Alzar steps into the same bureaucrat’s office a few hours later. He discusses the incident with the local official in charge of private investigations. Due to some training as a rhabdomere, his expertise is sought. No rhabdomeres live in Arjuna, they prefer much smaller than this one.

He identifies the three individuals in question – the old man is the head of a local temple, Farshid, the performer is a popular local man called Singh, and finally the man who made the purchases owns a tavern in the city. He is called Zarrin. All three work and live in the district by the south gate. This district has a bit of a reputation.

The official asks Alzar who his initial suspicion is. “Well, I doubt someone would break in, take the time to gather the items of two others to plant, and then be clumsy enough to leave behind their own sign. So I think it was none of them, but we’ll see.”

Alzar heads out to begin his investigation.
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