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

[Abe Sargent]

They walk though a weird hallway, and hit some rubble that takes Lastion about 15 minutes to clear out. There is a narrow twisty corridor and Megala scouts ahead and see nothing. They hit a door and They enter.

This room gleams with two large sarcophagi with golden runes telling their names - Alatandr and Zeonbia. There are numerous wooden chests in there, and several have been smashed open. Plus smashed thrones. Alzar quickly notices that the gold and gems in the room are mostly fake. He also knows there are two secret doors leading out. A quick search turns up nothing else.

The next room is Queen Zeonbia’s burial chamber. The walls of this room are plain stone with an oblong box made from stone slabs in the center of the room. A search of the chamber shows nothing. Lastion opens the sarcophagus and reveals Queen Zeonbia, now a wight, who attacks!

Another freakin’ wight. Alzar tries to control it and..success! He plucks the crown and sceptre from the queen. The jeweled crown would be worth around 5000 gold.

They head back to other secret room, this time led by their Queen wight.



They move into the secret door and find a room that is laid out identically to the queen’s room, but with a ghost that appears. Alzar has no idea what it is. That’s a rare creature. It wails and Alzar takes 3 damage


22/51. He swings with his staff at it and it does no damage. He orders the Queen to attack, since her claws should be able to hit the fey. Alzar tries to control it, but it is way to powerful. It shrieks again and he takes 4.

18/51.

Alzar leaves and shuts the door.

A minute later, the wight has died, and the fey is badly injured. Alzar opens the door back up with axe and slices. The fey take 11 and dies.

No XP, dead wight. The room has nothing in it either, so the coffin is opened and inside is a mummified corpse with an identical jeweled crown (5000 gold) and a long sword and plate armor that are added to the magic pile.


This finishes this level, so Alzar decides to take a group up with the gold, items, crowns, and such, and restock the wagon. They pick up two more casks of wine and a crate of food on their way. On their way, they run into a giant centipede, but it is non aggressive and they skip it.

[Abe Sargent]

The room they arrive in is empty. There are no doors. Alzar searches until he finds a secret one.

The room it opens into is a bedroom, empty, and looks recently used, including a white robe, clothes, furniture – everything you would except.

After searching the room, Alzar brushes the robe and he fails a save and is now possessed by Demetrius. This bedroom was once his, a cleric of Bathala. He swore an oath against his evil brother and the Cult of Zargon, and was assassinated by his brother before he could. He is now possessing Alzar’s body until he can fulfill the quest.

Alzar is now:

A 6th level cleric with these spells – Cure Light Wounds, Bless, Detect Evil, Hold Person, Striking, Cure Serious Wounds

He can turn undead, and cannot control them. He is now good. Megala and Lastion have had their connection severed for now, but Alzar spends the last of his energy telling them to stay here. He is at 51/51, restoring Alzar to full hp.

He opens the secret door to the treasury in here before he leaves, to help Alzar out when he returns, as a thanks for the loan of the body. He will be taking a direct route. He hefts Alzar’s staff.

South is a kitchen and dining room with two snakes. They ignore Demetrius/Alzar but they move into the room and attack Lastion and Megala. They are poisonous with little damage, so Lastion kills both and only takes three damage.

4/15

[Abe Sargent]

Demetrius goes into a Living room, and passes by two statues that are living statues but have not animated yet. They ignore Demetrius.

He arrives at a room with books, tables, urns and such, and tow stone gargoyles that would animate and attack anyone other than Demetrius. Demetrius jumps over a pit trap. He goes east and up and opens a secret door. And then east and north. He jumps over a pressure plate that would otherwise alert Darius of his coming. He opens the door and ten Cynidiceans are in the room spaced out on drugs. Demetrius ignores them and opens the south door. There are a dozen Cynidiceans here gambling and playing cards and dice. They invite Demetrius/Alzar to join, and he skips them and goes south, casting bless on himself, striking on his staff, and then opening a secret door to the south east.

He sees 6 hobgoblins, 12 Cynidiceans, and Darius. He casts Light at Darius, with surprise. Darius fails his save and is blinded.

Demetrius slams the staff into a nearby hobgoblin and deals 6 damage and it dies. The staff is dealing 2d6+1 for Bless and Striking. The enemies band together. Darius draws a mace.

Demetrius hops onto a table in this large room and kills another hobgoblin and he closes with Darius. He is slashed three times by Cynidiceans and a hobgoblin for 11 damage. 40/51.

He has neared Darius and lashes out. Hitting the blind Darius is not too hard, and he takes 11 damage. Darius misses. Demetrius takes 12 damage from the crowd.

Demetrius wins initiative and nails Darius again for 10 damage. Darius casts Cure Light Wounds on himself and he gains back 5. Demetrius takes 10. 19/51.

Demetrius slaps and kills Darius, hitting him for 9 more damage. Darius, leader of the Cult of Zargon, has died. Demetrius takes 10 damage 9/51. As the round ends, Demetrius releases his hold on Alzar’s body, and as a thanks, fully heals him.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar loses initiative and takes 9 damage (42/51). He keeps using the staff and doles out death to another hobgoblin . He is still strikinged and blessed.

Alzar wins init and kills and 4th hobby. Then he takes 14. 28/51. Three Cynidiceans run away, leaving 9.

The striking spell fades, and Alzar casts sleep. Both hobgoblins and three Cynidiceans fall asleep. To more flee, and Alzar takes 2. 26/51. His staff kills a Cynidicean, and the rest flee. He kills the sleepers.

XP – 250

Alzar saw what Demetrius saw, and know s much of the map of the area.

A search finds literally nothing in here but weapons and armor for a big ol’ magic pile.

The gamblers are gathering their things and getting ready to flee. Alzar attacks and kills two. The rest keep whatever money they had and flee. Alzar moves north and there are still a bunch of drugged, whacked out people here. He moves north and 9 Cynidceans are in here, partying and dancing and pretending to dance with invisible people. They ignore Alzar so he shuts the door. He hears one of the druggies in the room scream and turns around, but nothing can be seen – it is just the dreams they are making. He leaves, jumps over the trap, and realizes that he needs to find another exit in order to skip the gargoyles and living statues to get back to his minions.

He has a Charm Person and ESP spell left.

He opens a room and reveals a Gelatinous Cube, it moves towards the stone door. Alzar opens two flasks of oil and simultaneously throws their contents on the ground. As the Cube reaches the door, Alzar drops a torch and shuts the door. He runs back and gets another torch from the Zargon Priest area and returns, and by then the Cube is dead.

There is nothing else in the room.

XP – 70

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar continues and enters a huge chapel, with the three statues, altars, but apparently disused with time. A man and woman are talking to each other. They wear brightly colored clothes and fox masks. They look at Alzar, and use their natural telepathy ability and see that he just killed more than 20 people. They tell Alzar they mean him no harm, and move to leave. They are gone before he can ask where to leave. There are two fountains here fed by underground springs and Alzar fills the canteens and waterbags he has with him.

He goes north and enters and giant entrance. This is the ground floor of the pyramid, and it was covered with sand, but long ago, this was the main entrance into the pyramid from the city. There is nothing in her.e

Alzar encounters four Cynidiceans in grey robes and wearing camel masks moving in a zig zag motion down a corridor. They warn Alzar of the snakes they are avoiding and point out where they are, and then they continue around a bend. Of course, there are not any snakes to be seen.

He goes down a hallway and hits a room. It’s a storage room with an owlbear. It was sleeping, and now its hungry.



This is an axe fight. It wins init and misses twice. Alzar doles out 7 damage with his axe. This time, Alzar wins the init and rocks it for 12. A bear paw slashes him for 4 damage.

22/51

Both miss. The bear hits for 2 damage 20/51, and then Alzar decapitates it for 16 damage (crit hit).

XP – None

The room has more than 100 casks and bottles of wine in it, and that’s it. He leaves it for now, after a quick search.

[Abe Sargent]

The other room in this section of the base floor has a weird thing inside it. There is a pool of bubbling liquid that covers the entire floor. Floating in the middle is a box of stone and a large iron padlock on it. Alzar doesn’t have a way to open it, even with a way to get it. He ignores it.

He goes the other way and runs into another room that looks like old clerics quarters. There are humans here, Cynidiceans and they ignore Alzar. He skips them for now.

The next room has a storage room, with shelves, and various items in religious ceremonies, like robes, candles, incense and so forth. In here are three ogres that were eating the candles. They see Alzar and decide he must taste better, so they sit up and start moving towards him. Three ogres are no joke.

Alzar doesn’t have a deus ex machina in his back pocket. He knows that Ogres cannot be charmed and reading their minds means little right now. So he leads them. He leads them back down the hallway to the gargoyles. It takes about 10 minutes, but he taunts them and gets close a couple of times.

As he enters with the ogres fast on his toes, the gargoyles animate and Alzar is forced to run to the back of the room. He shouts to the ogres that his gargoyle friends will kill them, and they attack the gargoyles.

After a few rounds, Alzar manages to squeeze out. He goes back to the storage room to see if there is anything here, but he finds nothing. The bronze ladder in the priest’s quarters appears to be the only functional way back up, barring some trap Alzar misses.

He returns and sees the gargoyles flapping around and three dead ogres. He decides to gamble, grabs the axe, and swings at a gargoyle just inside the room. He hits for 11 damage and they both come out into the hallway.

Alzar wins init and kills the gargoyle after hitting it for 12 damage. The other one Hits Alzar for 7 damage. 15/51

Alzar loses init and the gargoyle attacks again. He hits for 4. 11/51. Alzar’s Axe hits the wall beside it, and he grimaces. He needed to hit pretty much every time to win this thing. He wins init and hammers it for 8 damage.. He takes 2 9/51. He wins init and decides to risk the swing and hits for 9 and kills it.

Whew

XP – 250

Alzar enters the room and searches. He finds:

Mace, potion, 2000 ep, 18 gems worth 100 each in the room. The ogres had a ring, and a scroll, 1400 gold in three sacks.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar needs to decide what to do. Attack the iron statues that will likely kill him? Run through it? Grab his familiars, and run up the stairs? Leave all of the treasure here?

Alzar orders Megala to fly to him, and the statues do not animate for Megala. Well, that is one thing at least. He orders Lastion to follow, and they animate and follow. Alzar goes and sets up a trap for the Living Statues. He knows where the pit trap is that Demetrius jumped over. He jumps over it, and orders Lastion to do the same. The pursuing Iron statues trigger it and fall down. They take no damage, but they are 20 feet down and not getting back up. Alzar goes back around and enters the priest suite. The druggists are still zonked.

Alzar collects, from the gambling room:

3000 sp
5000 gp
26 gems worth a total of 3100 gp
Six pieces of jewelry worth 6000 gp total


They are loaded up in boxes from the storage room and taken out by Lastion to the priest’s quarters.

Alzar searches those kitchens and finds a full water bottle and a 700 gp necklace. Both are grabbed. The opened secret door has a curtain and some treasure in it. As he enters, the chest is locked and cannot be opened right now So they take it with them.

Two trips later, everything is out. They meet nothing on either trip.

The chest has in it a potion. Chain mail, dagger and 3000 gold.

[Abe Sargent]

With several crates of food, mostly mushrooms and cured fish, four casks of wine, refilled waterskins and additional water bottles, skins and canteens added, Alzar is re-equipped. They also have a truck load of treasure and gold found.


XP Gained: 1645
XP Total: 10122

Yay! Level 4!

We’ll come back to that later.

Gold Gained: 11758, after conversion, 11000. Total Gold:

Items Gained: Gems: 1000, 500x4, 100x22, 50 gold
Crowns: 5000x2, bracelets 600x2, necklace 1500, necklace 70
26 gems worth a total of 3100 gp
Six pieces of jewelry worth 6000 gp total

2 flasks of oil
4 teleport jars

5 animal skeletons, Lastion, Megala, and Alzar




These items were in the magic pile:

+1 long sword, Potion of Invisibility, Wand of Paralyzation 8 charges. +2 long sword. Plate armor +1, +1 mace, poison potion, Ring of Fire Resistance, (Scroll of Continual Light, Levitate, and Aganazzar’s Scorcher), potion of invis, chain mail +1, dagger +1

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar now:


7th level Fighter (Myrmidon), 4th level Necromancer (Undead Master)

Lawful Evil
Human

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

Hit Points: 51
THACO: 13 (Increased with Axe Weapon Master and +1 Axe) or 20 as Necromancer
AC: 9
Total XP: 10122
Total Gold: 26100

Race Abilities:

None Taken

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

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



Non-Weapon Proficiencies:

Myrmidon Bonus:

Tactical History 14
Fire-Building 16

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

Undead Master Bonuses:

Necrology 14
Netherworld Knowledge 10

Herbalism 14
Alchemy 12
Poison Use 11
Ancient Languages 10


Traits:

Empathy
Fast Healer
Precise Memory


Weapon Proficiencies:

Bonus Kit Specialization:

Battle Axe

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

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


Staff – Can only use this as a Necromancer


Class Ability:

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

In addition to normal specialist mage stuff, Alzar gets a 10% bonus to XP for his high intelligence


Magical Items:

+1 Battle Axe
Necklace of Adaptation
+1 Ring of Protection
Ring of Fire Resistance
Potion of Invisibility, Gaseous Form, Poison
4 +1 Daggers
Rope of Climbing
Sword of the Rock, +2, cannot be wielded by evil
Longsword +1, +2 vs undead
+1 Longsword; +2 Longsword
3 +1 Mace
+1 Plate Armor
2 +1 Chain Mail
Wand of Paralyzation 8 charges
Scrolls of: Mordenkainen’s Faithful Phantom Shield-Maidens, Bone Knit and Teleport, Read Languages, Continual Light, Agannzar’s Scorcher, Odeen’s Magic Cloud, Levitate
The Book of Years, Windscribe, 4 teleport jars
1000 Gold worth of books for a library


Spellbook:


3/3


First Level:

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


Second Level:

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


Third Level:

Dire Charm
Searing Serpent
Skulltrap

Fourth Level:

Vorthala’s Undead Turning Immunity



Jewelry and Gems

Crowns: 5000x2 and 50x4, bracelets 600x2, necklace 1500, necklace 700, Tiara 200, wristbands 100x4,bracelets 500, 300; pearl necklaces, 400x2


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

Six pieces of jewelry worth 6000 gp total
26 gems worth a total of 3100 gp

[Abe Sargent]

There we go.


Alzar’s wagon is slower due to the added weigh of the gold and, cask of wine and food, but the four steeds pulling it manage to get everything together.

Four days later, Alzar is leaving behind the desert. He is south of the qwith village by two days, and chooses instead to return to Regalsford.

Upon his return, he is greeted warmly, and makes 100 gold for delivering that package (Already added to the gold total).

It is time for Alzar to make some decisions. Stay in Regalsford and keep trying to do some adventures? Semi-permanently set up here in Reglasford and set up for a while, buy property, etc? Leave town for good?

In the last month, no one has followed those bandits, lead by a cleric, so that mission is still there if Alzar wanted to do it. He doesn’t really want too, however.

What Alzar needs to do is freelance. Find a place, clean it out, and make it home for a bit, until he is able to make something more permanent.

He could also put the gold in the bank, exchange the gems and jewelry, and keep going.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar looks up the mages to see if any have any items they would be willing to part with . Once does not want to talk to him, and the other two are willing. They don’t have much, though.

Rope of Climbing
Periapt of Proof against Poison +2
Dust of Disappearance
+1 Dagger
Scroll of Armor


In the end, Alzar trades a +1 Mace and two +1 daggers and 1000 gold for the Scroll and Periapt. He rolls to see if he can memorize Armor. Success.

The Periapt will force a save vs poison when there normally isn’t one, and ads +2 to saves vs poison.

He trades 11,000 gold for a super exquisite bracelet that is worth roughly 10,000. It makes his money much more portable.

The sorceress that Alzar used her laboratory, mentions that she just discovered that a crystal ball could be found in the valley of haven, but since that valley is one of the safest and holiest places, she would be unable to acquire it. Alzar, on the other hand….


Seems like a plan. Alzar grabs his new items, and wagon, and heads out. He traded in the camels for two more draft horses and used the extra armor and non-magical weapons he found as the incentive for the trade.


Alzar is back to having 9 animal skeletons, Megala, Lastion, and himself, now level four, with an extra second level spell available.

He is keeping Charm Person over Armor, and keeping Sleep and Animate at level one and adds Ray of Ondovir at level 2.

[Abe Sargent]

B3 Palace of the Silver Princess






This adventure is both rare, and really common. It was originally distributed with really weird creatures and offensive art, and was destroyed by TSR being making it to the stores. It was heavily edited, and then sent out. The edit removed it’s highly quirky nature. I will be playing the original version which is available for d/l for free from the WoTC website.

I will sometimes slide into the Moldvay version when encounters are left blank, in order to run official TSR Stuff. So, what I will do then is a synthesis of both modules, the quirkiness of the original combined with the sensibility of the edited version. I am also including some Moldvay spins that make the adventure much more fun.

Alright, here we go.

[hoopsguy]

Definitely enjoying the ride, Abe. It seems like being possessed was about the best thing that could have happened to you. Or else you just did a great job of making something good out of something not so good.

[Abe Sargent]

Yeah, normally, you would be in a party, one would be possessed, and you would fight your way to the cleric, and have a 6th level in your back pocket, but since Alzar is essentially soloing these things, that made it really interesting.

Oh, and glad you are enjoying yourself!

[Abe Sargent]

Within the large part of a day, Alzar has made it to the valley of Haven.

He sends Megala in to look but the valley has been changed. The crops have largely died, the valley id red and twisted, and red shining pall lingers over everything. Something has happened very recently.

Alzar and his group make their way into the valley, led by Magala flying up above and scouting for Alzar. As they get to a mile away from the Palace, that can see that the left half of the structure has been completely destroyed. Stone blocks and rubble cover the mountain side. The plant life is fading, but some are looking very nice, like these white rose looking bushes.

As Alzar approaches, a group of orcs that was watching the road sees him, and move off. In a few moments, 5 orcs are flying down the hill as fast as they can, and Alzar is alerted to their presence. One sleep spell later and they are all sleeping quietly, until they are killed one by one.

XP – 75


The castle is damaged and the road is battered. Alzar retreats from the valley for tonight, and will come back tomorrow.

[Abe Sargent]

The new day has dawned and Alzar has eaten and is back to the castle. The portcullis is open and anyone can come in.

While entering the palace, Alzar lashes his wagon to the entryway inside, and ties up the five horses. (One riding, four draft). The hallway is searched by animal skeletons running up and down. The hallway splits into a left and right corridor, with a small gate room at the front of each. Alzar enters the gate room on the left. Inside is a giant rat, which is killed by Lastion in a second.

XP – 10

Alzar heads over and checks out the right gate room, and inside are two skeletons, and Alzar commands them. They have 5 hp each, short swords in their hand, and ac7. Alzar chooses to head through the door on the left. Soon it has one way going forward, and one back. Alzar turns. The corridor goes on, so he searches for secrets, but finds nothing. He arrives at a natural cavern with a fresh creek running through it. A large stone grey pool of water in still in the center of the room, and occasionally bubbles rise to the surface.

Alzar sends in an animal skeleton to check, and it is attacked and killed by these bubbles. These creatures are unique to this pool, and Alzar has never heard of them. (They were formed by the process of making magical potions, and dumping the residue and failed potions into this pool over and over again through years, which eventually animated and gave intelligence to these bubbles). (I told you, this is a quirky module).

With a dead animal skeleton, and no reason to challenge the bubbles, Alzar skips the pool and moves on.

He goes back to the fork in the corridor and heads south and hits a door shortly thereafter. It’s already ajar. The walls of the room are collapsing and moisture clings to everything. A brilliant purple moss is growing everywhere. The torch is sputtering as if not getting enough oxygen. A check by an animal skeleton finds nothing. Alzar enters. The Purple Moss gives off a sweet smelling gas that puts people to sleep, but Alzar is immune to gas. (Necklace of Adaptation) It smells nice. Alzar thinks that it would be a great way to protect a home where he was. He hacks off a nice section of Purple Moss and puts it in a large urn from a nearby storeroom, seals it, and returns it to the wagon. He then continues on.

[Abe Sargent]

The hallway moves into another cavelike area, this one much smaller, with another creek flowing through it. No pool this time. This time a section has collapsed and the areas is not that large. Alzar finds a store room down here with nothing in it after a quick inspection, and moves back to the other gate room. While moving, he runs into a cave bear moving from one room into another. This huge bear rears up. They are very aggressive.

Alzar wants to fight it, and draws his staff. He pulls back the animal skeletons to the sides, and moves the two skeletons in front. He will use the skeletons in front, and then nip in with the animal skeletons and Megala after the bear is engaged.

The Cave Bear swings first, and paws kill a skeleton. Alzar misses, the skeleton hits for 2 damage. The next turn, Alzar goes and hits for 6. The skeleton misses. Megala hits it for 1 damage and it…makes its save vs sleep. The animal skeletons nip at it and all miss (in fact, FOUR out of 8 rolled 1s None rolled higher than a 4. I kid you not. ) The bear kills the other skeleton. The bear goes first and misses Alzar completely with three attacks (rolled a 4, 6, and 7). Alzar nails it for 4 damage. Megala misses. Three animal skeletons nip it for 5 damage. It is reeling, and moves to flee, but Megala flies down chasing it, hits it, and deals 3 to it, killing it.

XP Gained – 325

Lost two skeletons.

There are two exits from the gateroom, South and east. Alzar goes east. The hallways goes, and then bends into a door and continues. Inside the door are Reed pens, ink wells, scraps of paper, and other signs that this was recently a library or study. Now it is a den for messy kobolds Five of them, a mother, a father and three kids, are playing, and Alzar has interrupted them. He kicks them out, and they take their bags of clothes and leave. A search of the room turns up nothing.

The corridor continues and Alzar enters the next room. In here are bags of grain, brooms, beer barrels and other signs that this is a storeroom. It has nothing it in and nothing shows on a search. As Alzar searches, a group of goblins come by. Alzar quietly closes the door and they pass, and just after they do, he jumps out, attacks, and kills one immediately, and the rest run in surprise. There is nothing on the goblin’s corpse.

XP – 10

The next room down is a kitchen, with wooden trenchers, spoons, knives and such around kitchen furniture. There is a large pile of rags on the floor, by the fireplace. Alazr orders his minions to search the room, and an animal skeletons runs into a spitting cobra in the pile of rags. They kill it, but one died 7 left.

XP – 25

The search finishes and Alzar finds a golden ring with the initials AES in it, and it is worth 100 gold.

[Abe Sargent]

He continues south and a door is opened to a giant room. It looks like a dining hall, with tables and chairs, candelabras, and more. It looks like it recently has been used as a war zone. The tables are flipped up, arrows are stuck in some, and so forth. There are no other exists, and no bodies. A search reveals nothing. During a search, they find a carrion crawler quietly munching on a corpse just behind an overturned table. It looks like a mage’s corpse. Alzar orders the undead to kill the carrion crawler.

XP – 50

Once dead, they inspect the mage and find a wand. Nothing else is on the corpse, except a set of keys.

The corridor comes to a T, and Alzar goes east some more. It hits a door, and goes north. Alzar goes north and enters a door just 15 feet down the passage. This is a barracks, and there are bedrolls on cots in here. There are also some footlockers in various places.

A search of the room turns up three strange octagon coin-size discs, with no marking on them. Alzar takes them. There is a door and Alzar opens it, and it leads to the next room. This is another barracks, but it looks like it was for officers with nicer beds and such. There was a battle here and dried blood marks the ground. There are six bodies on the ground of humans, and three of hobgoblins. They only died about three or four days ago. The bodies have been stripped of everything useful. As Alzar searches the room with his undead, two human females open the door to the hallway. They see Alzar and come in. They introduce themselves as warrior adventuresses who entered the castle thinking there would be some good opportunity for adventure and fortune, but are not as strong as they thought, and they’d like to come with Alzar. He casts ESP and finds out that they are lying a bit. They are thieves, not warriors. They do feel that they have bit off more than they can chew, however. Their names are Duchess and Candella.

Alzar agrees to welcome them, but under the rule that if they take anything of his, or come after him, his undead will hunt them down and kill them. They accept and Alzar can tell they mean it.

Duchess – AC7, HP9, Con 18, Dex 16, short sword., Align: N
Candella – AC6, HP8, Dex 17, short sword, Align: N.

Both are second level thieves.

Alzar has the thieves search the rooms he just was in and this one, since they are better. They find nothing. They go back to the hallway and north into a door. As they enter into a cave like complex, they leave behind the castle. As they move forward, they come across a cave bear cub, waiting for its mother (whom Alzar already killed) who is out looking for some food. It looks like someone has been feeding the cub regularly. Alzar tosses it a little food, and it eats it, and they move past.

XP – 100 gained.

[Abe Sargent]

As they continue, the cave bends and there are two twos, virtually side by side, in the cave wall. Alzar takes the right one. They enter one room in an octagonal chamber. This room is littered littered with red towels, and soap. There are beautiful marble floors, gold fixtures, and there are several benches in here. There is a door deeper into the octagonal chamber.

A search of the room turns up a hidden old key under a bench, found by an animal skeleton that is able to go under it and look.

They move to the next room, shaped identically to the first. Inside is a large pool of water, clear. There are murals of water nymphs on the walls. There are a few more towels here and there. There are also delicately carved vials of bath oils, and the water gives off steam. Perhaps it is heated by a room below, or a natural steam geyser. A search shows what appears to be a diamond at the base of the pool. Alzar sends in an animal skeleton, and it moves. And blinks. There is obviously a creature down there of some sort. Alzar skips it. There is a door to continue. It is a false door. One of the thieves found a secret door to the center of the octagon. This square room is the center of the octagon. This has a small pink marble pedestal about three feet tall. There is a small silver object on it that gleams in the light. As they approach, it begins to laugh harshly and shrilly. Alzar orders Megala to fly in and grab it, and when it does, the laughing stops. The pendent stops shining. It looks like a dull tin pendant, not silver, and not valuable at Alzar. Alzar destroys it. The thieves find a secret door and it is locked. The key from before fits into it.

This is the same size as the other outer rooms. As they do, the room begins to glow softly. Suspended from the ceiling is a glowing magical bastard sword, made of silver. Alzar orders everybody back, and sends in Lastion to grab the sword. As the ghoul gets near, a ghost appears, solidifies as a knight, and grabs the sword, ready to plunge it into the ghoul. Alzar orders everyone to attack it.

After four rounds, a thief is deed and the knight is still kicking, when it disappears and revealed to be an illusion. The thief awakens. The swords glow continues, and they take it as a light source.

They finish going down the cave and arrive at an open worship alcove. There is a raised platform with a carved statue of a woman. It is smiling down at a child at her feet. There is a small opening, larger than a coin, at the base. Alzar makes an INT check and realizes that it is the shape of those disks. He inserts one, and an opening is revealed with a scroll. Here is the scroll:

I came and what did my eyes behold?
A maiden fair with hair of gold
Her face aglow by which the sun is shamed
My steed a dragon her innocence did tame
Her heart a gem with many facets

The leave behind the cave section of the castle by xiting through the door that Alzar skipped earlier. A search had found nothing.

[Abe Sargent]

As they exit, they come across a group of 5 clerics, with blood red eyes on their shield, plate armor, and they see Alzar, the undead, and the thieves, and they spit out an attack. Alzar casts sleep. All but one fall asleep. That one casts Cause Light Wounds and hits Alzar for 8 damage (43/51).

Lastion tears into him for 2 damage. Alzar misses with his staff. The thieves wait until the cleric is focused on Alzar. Alzar wins init and rocks the cleric for 3 damage. Lastion claws him twice for 4 damage – no paralysis though. Appears immune. The cleric casts Cure Light Wounds on himself. Both thieves miss. Alzar wins init again and thumps the cleric for 5 damage. Lastion bites for three damage and a thief slides a short sword in for 5 and he dies.

XP - 200

All of their armor and weapons are taken to the magic pile. They have nothing else on them. They continue, skip a side tunnel south, and go west to a door. It is a small school area for kids. There is nothing else here after a search. There is another room next to it, and the door opens to reveal book shelves. Alzar has his undead scout it first ,and they encounter a giant crab behind a bookshelf. Alzar and Lastion easily kill and Lastion took two damage.

13/15 for Lastion

[Abe Sargent]

There are tons of books and scrolls in here. After a bit of searching, Alzar decides to come back later to try and see if he can find more tomes to take with him the hallway goes west and splits off south. They keep going west. A door blocks their way and it opens easily. Inside is a small and luxuriously decorated semi-circular room. Inside is a small alcove with a statue of a young girl with arms outstretched. A search of the room reveals a secret door to the rear Lastion opens it, and gold dust falls from the ceiling and covers him. It glows and he won’t be able to hide from anyone. A quick attempt to wash it off fails, it’s pretty sticky stuff.

The room they enter has a small foundation of water in a corner, a door to the northeast, and tapestries that cover the north and south walls. They enter the next room after opening the door, and see two statues, guarding an alcove. They animate when the door opens and move to fight. These are crystal statues.

Alzar moves to the front and draws a staff. Lastion is up with him. The Animal skeletons disperse. The statues arrive.

They swing first and punch Alzar for 5 damage. 38/51. His staff bounces off one. Lastion claws one for 1 damage. The next turn, Alzar’s group goes first. Alzar misses. Lastion does too. One thief hits for 1 damage. The animal skeletons peck for 2 damage. The statues miss three times, and hit Lastion once for 4 damage.

9/15 – Lastion

Next turn, Alzar’s group wins. Alzar misses yet again. Lastion slashes for 2 damage. Duchess hits for 4 damage. Two skeletons hit, one critical, for 5 damage and one statue crumbles. The other punches twice and hits Alzar for 2 damages. 36/51. Alzar goes first and finally hits, for 5 damage. Lastion added
2. The thieves add nothing . The skeletons hit for 5 and the other statues falls apart as well.

XP – 50

Inside the room they find the diary of Lady Argenta, and learn the story thus far.

A short time ago, some miners discovered a very valuable ruby in the local hills. They polished it and brought it to the Lady Argenta, ruler of the valley. As a thanks, she threw a large banquet and just before it began, a rider in blue armor riding a white dragon arrived. He was a stranger, but everyone was welcome in the valley, and he joined them in their banquet.

That is the last entry in the diary.

They leave the room and find the corridor here collapsed, leading to the section of the castle that has fallen.

[Abe Sargent]

They go back and head south down the first passage to do so. They hit a door and enter. This small room as an overturned oaken table and three benches. The floor is covered in footprints. There is a large sack in here, with 3 human skills, a dagger, just the blade of a dagger, some spiders that were living in the skulls, and 11 sp. Alzar has the sack run back to the wagon by Lastion. As they continue down the passage, Alzar, in front, triggers a pit trap and falls in, taking 4 damage.

32/51

The thieves disarm it and they continue.

They descend some stairs and enter another door on their left. This large rectangular room has implements of torture, including an iron maiden. There are branding irons, chain, and such in here. As they search the room, an old man with a cleaver enters, and tells them the they could not resist his treasure. In a flash, Lastion has killed him. As search uncovers a jade ring worth 250 gold still on the finger of a dead hand.

The corridor continues and quickly another door appears. It is opened and there is a horrible, rotting smell coming form in here. There are bodies from every way in here. This is obviously where the dead were put. Alzar has his minions search, but they have been stripped of possessions. The corridor continues a bit and Alzar has more searching take place – nothing found. It bends into another door. When opened, there is a small pallet of fresh straw, a wood trencher, knives, goblets, a table, and such. They look to have been recently procured and added here. A search finds a hidden cache with a wooden box. Neither of the thieves find any traps, and one picks the lock. Inside is 2 rubies – 300 gold, 1 emerald – 2000 gold, a gold wedding ring with the initial DB in it, 10 gold, and a dagger.

They continue and find another door to the left. It opens and reveals chairs and tables, a quill, a desk, and more. This appers to have been both an office and a meeting room. Nothing is found in here. There is a door to the west or they can go back to the corridor. They go west. It opens into a hallway with stairs going up into a tower. They head up.

This tower only has 7 rooms, and they quickly explore it. None of the rooms have any treasure or any monsters inn them. It appears that whatever penetrated the valley and the castle has not gotten this far yet. They return back down, and go the adjacent room farther down the corridor.

This is a rather large room that has been swept clean, and all furniture was recently removed. Nothing is found in here.

The corridor continues, and evolves into yet another cave complex. It Ts and Alzar goes left. After a few turns, and a search by everybody that finds nothing, they arrive at a door. It opens. It opens into a corridor with 11 jail cells. The keys they found will fit these cells and open the doors. They start searching them

A few have skeletons or are empty. The fourth one opened has two Large Marmoset Monkeys. They are 8’ tall with 12’ long, prehensile tails with spikes at the end. They move to attack. Alzar orders his animal skeletons to engage first. The monkeys win init and They kill four skeletons. They are a lot more powerful than Alzar would have thought. The remaining three hit twice and deal out 4 damage to one. Alzar orders them to retreat and closes, with the others next. He swipes a staff at one and connects critically, and doles out 9 damage. It dies. Lastion Claws the other for 2 damage and it…fails its paralysis roll. The group finishes it off.

XP – 50

Inside are three chests. The thieves search for traps and find none. They are not locked. The first has food. The seconds has coins and jewelry:

1000 cp, 400 sp, 200 gp, jewelry worth total of 500 gold

The third has a bunch of weapons, helms and armor, and both of the second two are run back to the wagon. Nobody is encountered either way. The rest of the cells are empty.

[Abe Sargent]

They go back and take the other cave way and walk past a small cavern with ornate and delicately carved life-size statues of different men and women. There are candles and incense in here, none of it burning. A search finds nothing.

The continue on and the caves twists. No search finds anything. It splits forward or left. They go left and arrive at a portcullis. Beyond it is a cave with pitch black water and a glint of gold and hot winds. Everybody pulling together is able to raise it. The black water is darker in the swordlight, and natural, with a swiftly moving stream flowing through here. The gold was pyrite ore in the walls. Nothing is reveled in the search.

They go back and continue straight. A cave opens to the right and inside is a large natural chamber with a statue of embracing lovers. There are vines and other plant life in the cave. As the light glints, there is a large yellowish mold growth on the walls.



Alzar uses a flask of oil and throws it on the mold, then lights it and kills the mold.

XP -50

They continue on and hit stairs leading up into a new corridor, or more cave. They choose more cave. The cave ends in a cavern with large natural features, like stalactites and stalagmites. There is a colony of giant locusts here, and when startled by the light, they flee and Alzar and company duck, and they fly out.

A search reveals a pit trap, which is disarmed by the thieves.

The ygo back and up the stairs to the corridor above. The corridor continues for a bit, so they search and find another pit trap and disarm it after two tries.

They hit a door and open it.

This is a rectangular chamber with a tapestry of a female bard playing music. There is a couch, pillows, wine, candle holders, and a wheel painted on the fleer. In the middle of it is a small lap harp made of silver. A search of the room finds a secret door. Alzar grabs the harp.

They head into a carved out area with a table, a small dragon statuette, and in front are five zombies. Alzar tries to control them and…success.

Five Zombies – AC8, hp9, 1d8, always attack last

XP 50


The silver statuette has on the base “Ariksbane, Destroyer of Evil”. It is worth about 500 gold, and not that big, so they take it with them. There is nothing else in the room. They have finished this section of the castle and head back to the other south corridor off the main east west one in the center of the castle. They run into a group of goblins on the way, and Alzar orders his zombies to attack. The four goblins flee.

[Abe Sargent]

They reach a door and enter it, with a small chamber cluttered with a lot of extra stuff. They see a human like form and charge in, only to see a dressmaker’s dummy, spinning wheels and other signs of a seamstresses work space. A search finds nothing here. They continue on. Two corners are rounded and they pass a false door. Twice they search for hidden stuff and twice they fail. They finally reach a door and it opens into a sand covered floor. Glints of silver can be seen in the floor. There is no furniture or other markings. Alzar orders the animal skeletons in, and suddenly, three barics emerge from hidden spots and charge. They are quite hungry. These are six legged rats with the bills of ducks. Not kidding. Alzar orders his scouts back and zombies in. The Barics nip and kill a zombie from claws and bites. The zombies smash back for 12 damage and kill two of them. The last one nips and kills another zombie, before being smashed.

Three zombies left. They can be reanimated, so Alzar now has three rather odd looking animal skeletons. 6 now.

A search of the room finds nothing but a few silver pieces – 20 in all.

They continue. This rectangular room has four arrases hanging from each wall. There are many couches around a 5’ decorative wheel painted into the floor. There are candle holders, wine goblets long empty, and more. This appears to have been a lounge, or entertaining room.

A search finds nothing.

The next room is a watchroom. Inside are several tables, chairs, and more, and it opens in the hallway and stairs leading up, so it is a natural place to make sure that people are going where they are supposed to go. There is nothing else of note in here.

Time to go up.

[Abe Sargent]

The stairs end at a door. (for the upper level, we will be using the other version of the module, the modified and edited one ,that is a lot smoother an logical, and uses the current storyline, instead of the old one.)

The party goes up the stairs and into a watchtower that looks out over the landscape. Nothing can be seen out the windows, and a search reveals nothing in the room. As soon as the door is opened into a hallway, three swords are in mid air fighting each other. That’s a bit weird. After a few moments, Alzar orders a zombie to grab a sword, but the illusion disappears.

They go down the hallway and open a door into a corridor. It T’s and they go…right. The corridor goes for some way, and they search and find nothing. Eventually a door appears on the left. Inside is a hallway with double doors on the left and a door on the right. One door leads to a sitting room. In here is chairs, tables, a fireplace, and beautiful painting of Lady Argenta holing a giant ruby. It looks to have been recently painted too. A search finds nothing.

More doors open into a bathing room. There is a large bathtub, bathing oils, and several colored stones by the bath. A search finds nothing. Back to the hallway and another door opens into a large room. It has a large canopy bed, and very expensive furniture. It appears to be Argenta’s room. It is empty,

They continue on and open double doors into a throne room. There is an opulent throne on a dais, and various sculptures, statues, and tapestries in here. On the throne is a giant glowing ruby. A search of the room turns up a secret door that leads out. The giant ruby appears to having two figures inside of it. They cannot be made out, but they can be seen moving around in it. The giant ruby appears to be worth 10000 gold, and Alzar grabs it and takes it with them. They go back to the corridor and move along it. They find a door that opens into a guard room near the throne room. There are several weapon racks, and such in here, plus an undead guard now animated as a wight.


Alzar moves forward and casts Blastbones on the wight. It deals 4 damage to it. One zombies is handed the glowing sword, and another the axe and a third the dagger.

The wight moves in. It bites a zombie for 2 damage. One zombie hits with a axe for 6 damage. The wight attacks and kills the sword wielding zombie. Another hits for 5 damage from the dagger. The wight misses. It is missed. It misses. One critically wounds it for 11 damage form the axe and it dies.

Alzar gained 200 XP. Two zombies left.

A search of the room turns up a loose stone hiding 2000 gold AND a crystal ball. That was what brought Alzar here to begin with.

[Abe Sargent]

The final room out here is an ale room with nothing in it. The secret door in the throne room leads to a passage way with a door at the end. They hear chanting inside and open the door. Inside is a human cleric with a blood red circle around him. He sees the invaders and yells help! A voice from the door to the south yells back” We’re coming!”

Alzar immediately casts charm person. Success. The cleric introduces himself as Catharandamus. He is trying to summon Arik, a power extra planer creature. Haven is the result of Arik’s taint, his eye, here and drawing power.

The people arrive. 7 hobgoblins and a female human holding a powerful looking ruby sword. He tells them everything is alright, and they eye him curiously. He begins to continue with the ceremony, and Alzar makes an Intelligence check . He pulls out the ruby and asks if that is the eye. “Ah yes,”

When asked who the people are the cleric is more than happy to answer. They are the Lady and an interfering dragon knight who followed Arik here. So where is the dragon now? Split into two pieces and each is in the body of a statuette. Very nicely done! “Oh yes, thank you!” How long before Arik arrives? About an hour. I’d like to see one of those statuettes – that’s be great! One is right by in the gardens, just across the hallway.

Alzar and party open the door and cross the hallway. They open a double door into a large garden area. Some of the plants are fading and withering, and others look very healthy. Alzar sends the animal skeletons in to investigate, and some bushes fire thorns at them. One dies. They go another way and run into more of these Archer Bushes. Alzar throws oil on a nearby one and tosses a torch at it and it goes up.

XP – 30

The path to the left cleared, the animal skeletons go that way and find a statuette behind a giant white rose bush. They move to it, and Lastion goes first. It grabs the statuette and brings it back to Alzar. Once Alzar is touching both statuettes, they glow, turn cold and disappear. Suddenly a White Dragon appears, in the gardens, and it gets attacked by about five Archer Bushes, which it quickly kills with some claws.

Alzar shows it the ruby and it nods and communicates telepathically with him. The ruby is set down and everybody retreats. Ariksbane, the lawful White Dragon, breathes on it and it is destroyed. When it goes, Lady and Ellis the Strong return. Ellis sees his glowing sword and takes it back. He leads the party into the summoning room and attacks the cleric there. Alzar follows and the fighter kills the cleric is one mighty swing. With that, the 7 hobgoblins rushing to attack turn back into haven people, as do the other various monsters in the castle, including the zombies Alzar was controlling. Those that were slain by the cleric or by Alzar and his group remain dead. The human female with the ruby sword is captured and incarcerated. The treasure of the cleric is given to the thieves as a thank you (it’s about 2k in gold) and Alzar is allowed to keep everything else he found, because they are being nice and thankful.

Alzar requests that the woman be freed to come with him. After some consideration, they agree.

Alzar has destroyed the cleric, freed the queen and the dragon knight, and prevented Arik from entering this world – which is a good thing – Azar has a low opinion of chaotic evil people that destroy merely to destroy, with no advantage gained. On the other hand, they are asking him and his undead to leave, now, they do not like Necromancers here in Haven.

[Abe Sargent]

XP Gained: 1,547
XP Total: 11,669


Gold Gained: 2252
Total Gold: 16352
Jade Ring – 250 gold, 2 rubies – 300 gold, 1 emerald – 2000 gold, Gold Ring – 100 gold
Jewelry worth total of 500 gold


Urn of Purple Moss


Lastion gained a ghoul follower, 5 animal skeletons left


Wand of Secret Door Detection – 7 charges
Throwing Dagger +2
+1 short sword
Crystal Ball


Here is how the Crystal Ball works -


Alzar can see anywhere in Thorasia. The user can only observe a subject, object, or place personally known to Alzar. He can’t use it to check the next room. He could use it to check on the wagon, a room previously explored, his undead, and so forth. He can only use it three times a day. This is a normal one, without any additional powers.

[Abe Sargent]

The woman: Aleigha, female werebear. As a human, she is AC8, F3rd level, 21 hp, 1d8+1 with her sword, and is otherwise in her werebear form – AC2, HP 21, At 2d4/2d4/2d8. She is neutral, and the cleric, very evil and chaotic, treated her nicely in order to keep her. He actually hated her ,and the hobgoblins knew it. She has gone from community to community, and flown each time they get close to discovering her secret. She fights with the Sword of Spartusia. In Werebear form she can only be hit by magical and silver weapons, can summon 1d6 brown bears in the outdoors. She can cure disease someone once a month, and heal at 3x the normal rate. They never enter cities unless there is an emergency.

The Sword of Spartusia. This ruby-bladed magic sword once belonged to Spartusia Eriksdottir. IT was crafted from a single flawless ruby by an ancient red dragon in thanks for a service provided by the legendary warrior. The longsword was given a trim and feminine appearance Spartusia was eventually killed, and her sword lived on but it became cursed. It searches out the female descents of Spartusia and forces them to use it. Aleigha, it’s the last one. Despite its massive value, it cannot be sold or traded, and can only be given away. Any attempt to do so fails. The sword brings disaster upon any owner who is not a descendant of Spartusia. In Aleigha’s hands, it is a +2 sword. In other hands, it is just a +1 blade.

[Abe Sargent]

Veiled Society.

We started down the first path, and did Castle Caldwell and Journey to The Rock. I then stopped, because I really didn’t want to do B1, The Caverns of Quasqueton and then The Great Escape. . I skipped the second path, with hits like Elwyn;s Sanctuary (from Castle Caldwell and Beyond) and The Keep on the Borderlands and B5 Horror on the Hill with its 100+ rooms. I didn’t want to do both The Caves of Chaos and Horror on the Hill in the same line. So I jumped to the third path and did Rahasia and The Lost City. In each path, Palace of the Silver Princess occurs, usually by an Immortal intervening and sending you there. I don’t have Immortals in my world, and it made no sense for an evil character, so I gave Alzar a motivation that we all understand tied it in to what he was naturally doing already.

Every path finishes with B6, and Alzar’s will as well. Once we have completed that module, we are free to select any other I deem worthy.


Alzar was heading for the big town anyway, and the Palace of the Silver Princess was just a nice little diversion. Alzar clears some space in the wagon for Aleigha, and then tells her that once they are out of the valley, she can stay or she can go.

I roll some dice. For now, she will stay.


Alzar heads towards the city of Athaly. Athaly is about 50,000 strong, the biggest city in the area by far, and more than a week away from Regalsford.

Perhaps here, Alzar can find some adventure beyond what he has been doing.

Two days in, a Wyvern thinks one of the horses would be tasty and flies down. They are pretty tough hombres.



With 38 hp and an AC of just 3, it could tear through Alzar and or his group. It has a poison in its tail stinger than can kill. It’s not smart, just hungry.

Alzar’s spells aren’t that good against a flying creature. Blastbones won’t do anything. Sleep, Charm Animate, ESP – won’t do anything. Alzar has one thing that can work against it. Ray of Ondovir. This forces a creature to take the exact same action the next round that it took the round it was hit. Alzar waits a round until the Wyvern is getting close, then casts Ray of Ondovir at it. It fails its save, and it keeps diving down, instead of making a change and going for the horses, and it crashes into the ground. It takes 15 damage from the crash. Alzar orders himself, Lastion’s ghoul, Lastion and Aleigha to charge it.

They are there in a moment, but the Wyvern has recovered. Alzar’s group goes first. Alzar swings a staff and misses. Aleigha misses as well with the Sword of Spartusia. Lastion hits twice for 2 damage and…it makes both of its saves. Lastion’s ghoul hits once for 3 damage and it fails its save and is paralyzed.

They kill it. Alzar cuts off the stinger and end of the tail and preserves it the next day. He also rips off some of the flesh for the Purple Moss to feed it.

A Wyvern normally gives 1400 XP. Alzar splits it with Aleigha, and gets 700 XP, plus 70 to put him at:

Total XP – 12, 439


During the day, Lastion and his ghoul ride in the wagon, and Alzar and Aleigha at night sleep there. I’ve actually seen a picture of what a medium sized wagon looks like in D&D, and it looks a bit like a gypsy wagon. There are two bunk beds, a water barrel and basin, two chests and two cabinets. Alzar is putting stuff in both cabinets and chest, and piling them on top as well.

They see nothing else of consequence. They near the town of Athaly. Aleigha will stay out here and guard the wagon and horses, and feed them and such. Lastion and his ghoul will also stay here, along with 9 animal skeletons. Alzar takes some of the jewelry, plus a gold pouch of 200 gold, into the city with Megala. He also has with him – Crystal Ball, +1 Dagger and the other normal stuff.

[Abe Sargent]

B6 The Veiled Society





This adventure will be interesting because in it, Alzar will be with Megala and nothing else. Not even Lastion. There are no helpers.


Welcome to Athaly. There are no sewers, there are just lots of people pushed together. This is largely a human settlement, and other creatures are not rare, but uncommon. The qwith keep to themselves in the woods, the dvergr hate cities like this, Taurians aren’t on this side of Thorasia, the small catlike Guzaks have never been embraced by humans, neither have the lizardlike Sis’sharr, leaving very little opportunity for non-humans to be in a place like Athaly.

What Athaly lacks in racial diversity, it makes up for in economic diversity. From the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich, Athaly has it all. There are tons of rich and poor mixing it up in the same city. The place is pretty crowded, and it has its share of thieves, gangs, city guards, and more. However, Athaly is more of a border city, so the number of unsavory characters is not as much as you might think.

Athaly currently has three major noble houses, with other minor ones competing for major status. The major houses are Radu, Torenescu and Vorloi.

The place has farmland to the south and west, and forests to the north and east, where Aleigha is with the wagon and the undead and the horses, about half a day’s ride away.

The buildings are usually wattle and daub construction. A few are made of stone or fired brick, like this smithy on the right. There are public wells for water and a river flows through the city.

[Abe Sargent]

Here is the city. Change the Duke to a self-styled Barony, and ignore some of the names. It's big, btw.

[Abe Sargent]

As Alzar arrives, a city guard tells him its 8 silver to enter. Beyond the gate is a narrow muddy street with people in their best clothes. There are brightly colored outfits, and jugglers, fire-eaters, and more. There are drums, whistles and such. Alzar asks what the celebration and the guard tells him it is the Festival of Lucor. The guard tells him that all weapons but daggers must be bound. Unbound weapons will be fines, murder by unbound is jailtime and perhaps death. The axe is bound to Alzar’s back and the staff has added softeners to it. It will take one round to unbind each weapon.

Alzar pays one gold and gets change, and then enters the city.

Beyond the gate is a swirl of people. Alzar moves the gold purse up his body to just below his throat. Uncomfortable, and very safe. There are acrobats, knife throwers, and a small menagerie of exotic animals with a small bear, wolves, a giant scorpion, and a stirge. The smells of sewage, grilled meats, breads, sweat and wine all mingle into an olfactory explosion.

Alzar grabs some meat of an unknown type from a nearby vendor and begins to walk around. Suddenly, the crowd makes a path and the music fades to bells and chanting. The people start to eagerly anticipate the procession. Alzar inquires to what it is.

This is the Procession of Lucor, which honors a local legendary cleric who, centuries ago, cleared the dock area of this town from an ancient evil that kept shipping at bay. Ever since, the shipping has been the lifeblood of the city as vessels go up and down the river and Athaly is now a central trading town.

This Festival honors that act, and the Procession has a local female lady of notable rank lead a procession to the place at the docks where a statue of Lucor stands, and honor that statue with offerings and sacrifices. This lead, the Lady Magda, a Torenescu faction noble, has the honor.

The procession arrives. A sedan chair borne on the shoulders of clerics has the Lady Magda on top. Then, the procession stops as an argument has broken out. Alzar leans in to see what is happening. Two men, one small plump and pockmarked, and one tall and lean, are arguing with the lead bearer of the sedan chair. The small, plump man says to the bearer, “Bald-headed fool, do you Torenescu think you own the streets? There’s space for all of us without your ape-like behavior!”

The lead bearer contemptuously rebukes the man tells the “Radu Rabble” to get out of his way. The tall lean man spits on a likeness of Lucor and spits on it.

The lead bearer strikes the tall man, knocking him to the filth. The smaller man tenses, ready to lunge. Alzar chooses not to get involved. A few seconds later, just before fighting would break out, two men in green break up the argument and pacify both sides.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar hears more from the nearby folks about the two factions. Radu controls the waterfront and docks and run import/export shipping. They have a lot of money and influence. Torenescu controls the noble section and the old nobility. They are wealthy old wealth. The Vorloi, who were the men in green, are the newest house in town, and they have built a strong foundation very quickly in the merchant district. They have their own merchant fleet despite Radu’s control over that area, and fight against the old nobility of Torenescu. They have strong contacts in the military.

Alzar finds a room but it’s crowded because of the festival. There is just one private room, and it’s quite expensive for 5 gold crows. It supposedly comes with a bath, and Alzar laughs when he sees the “bath” is a barrel of water, cold, and his bed isn’t not even off the ground.

During the evening, the center room is crazy. An older distinguished gentleman tries to get Alzar to sign his name on a paper agreeing to work for him ,but Alzar was having none of that. He retires to his room to sleep, and then wake up and get ready for anew day, and try to find the shops he is looking for.

[Abe Sargent]

As he eats breakfast in the common room, a woman comes crashing in and sobbing about demons in her basement that she hears. She’s a bit incoherent and says she hears them sometimes, but they’ve gotten a lot worse just now, they were calling to her! She’s hysterical. The only person in the room besides the innkeeper and a few works are a few tradesmen and Alzar. He secretly rolls his eyes and agrees to come look at her basement, and grabs a few torches from the innkeeper.

A few minutes later and they are at her house, just a normal one. He is escorted to the trapdoor to her root cellar, and then he asks her to wait here. He lights a torch and moves in. A large earthen cavern is covered in ankle-deep mud. The room is criss-crossed with supporting beams. Three thin and naked men shovel by the light of a feeble lantern and three ugly, armored creatures are watching them work. They are hobgoblins. Alzar unwraps his staff.

Alzar grabs his staff and orders Megala to fly up and come down when needed. The hobbies arrive. Alzar takes two sword hits for 13 damage. 38/51. He swings his staff down on one for 3 damage. He orders Megala down to attack them from behind. They attack and hit him twice more for 5 damage. 33/51. Hi hits one for 5 damage and kills it. Megala scratches one for 2 damage and it falls asleep. Alzar wins init and crits the hobbie for 3 damage – bare minimum – ick. Meg hits for 1 and it fails its save. Alzar kills those ensleeped.

XP – 105

The naked men come to Alzar and thank him profusely. They were captured almost a year ago and have been digging tunnels under the city ever since. Alzar take the hobgoblins back to the inn, strips off their armor and weapons (for a magic pile) and has the innkeeper care for the slaves. He then goes back down and takes that tunnel he saw.

It wins a bit and then opens out into a cellar with a light wooden panel. There are cured hams and sausages in here. A large bundle lies nearby and two men are fighting over how far to bury it. Alzar puts them to Sleep and checks the bundle. Inside in the body of a murdered young woman. Alzar slaws the sleeping assassins, and searches their bodies for anything of value and finds nothing. Alzar keeps going.

XP -100

He arrives at a dug-out cave dimly lit by torches. From the cave come sounds of several creatures – kobolds. There are ten or so in here, and they are trying to place a support beam. The beam slips and the tunnel begins to fall. They ask Alzar for help with the beam before they die. Alzar casts blastbones on a bone, with a magic mouth requirement on it. He then moves to help them. Just before he gets there, they run away and the beam falls amnd Alzar is covered to his legs in dirt. They grab their weapons to attack and Alzar sets off the Blastbones. They all take 5 damage – including Alzar. They all die.

28/51. XP - 50

There is nothing here.

Alzar follows a tunnel until it ends at a refuse pit, reeking of foul order. There is a scraping noise in here. There appears to be nothing in here when Megala flies in here, just a cistern above that fell recently and it is scrapping the walls.

Another tunnel leads to a dry dirt cellar with bags against the walls and cobwebs. There are dried apples split across the floor. Nothing else is here.

They move on to a chamber once the cellar of a house but now choked with rubble, burned beams and dirt. Several paths can be seen though. A chuckling vulgar sound can be head, and three zombies can be seen shuffling towards Alzar. He manages to control them (needs a 6 on a d20). They will go with him. Nothing else is found here.

The final tunnel leads to a cellar and a large pile of dirt. There is a wheelbarrow here, loaded with shovels and picks. Wooden beams are piled. There is a scraping of wood on wood as someone begins to descend the step ladder from the place above. A hooded man lands and notices Alzar immediately. He tries t run, but Alzar casts Charm Person. It succeeds. The fighter is asked to stop, and he does. He tells Alzar happily that this is a plan by The Veiled Society to tunnel under house and kill their enemies. The most recent one, Lucia Vorloi was an enemy. He does not know more than that. Alzar asks him to accompany him, and leaves the Zombies down here to get later if he needs to. Lucia’s body is brought up by Alzar’s new fighter friend, who goes with the slaves down to the local constabulary and turns himself in and tells them all he knows.

[Abe Sargent]

The police want to verify Alzar’s claims and use some magic scrying on him , which clears him immediately. There are some questions. Rumor has it that she had spurned advances of Stephanos Torenescu, and yet the hair under her nails was red. The fighter has implicated The Veiled Society, but to what degree? A tribune with Alzar goes to the Vorloi House. Fortunato Vorloi and Lucia live here.

The house is empty. Inside are signs of violence – dagger and bloodstains on the floor and broken dishes. There are some things that implicate Torenescu lie a signet ring found here. There is a dagger with more red hairs, and pitch on the rungs of the ladder going down.

They head to the house the fighter came from – Turano’s Guest House. It is deserted and someone was here recently. It is a small building recently rented to a blacksmith named Skevlos. There is an old bed, esk and a chair. Muddly tracks lead from the floor to the trapdoor. There is wine with the seal of Trouscan Estates, and trap door back to the cellars. There is a black leather hood in here, and bloody bandages in a corner. There is a roll of parchment in between the beams, with an X on Fortunato’s house, and also Zweis Radu’s house, Baron Vorloi’s guest house, and Rattlebone Inn. A search by constables shows no tunnels in any of those areas.

[Abe Sargent]

As the events and information from the day proceeds, some anti Torenescu people begin to agitate on the streets. They gather in small groups and then larger groups and larger still. By the end of the day, the speakers are emboldened and they connect Torenescu to the murders and The Veiled Society.

Late afternoon Alzar returns home and most of the stalls have closed for the day but many are still in the market. An orator stands on the edge of the central fountain and the crowd has gathered. He is shouting anti-Torenescu rhetoric. They begin to use anti-nobility invective against Torenescu “Who taxes you?” Their voices are raised, and the clatter of horse hooves can be heard as 30 of the Baron’s men have arrived. The orator and crowd grow quiet. Suddenly a rock flies from the crowd and strikes one of the horseman.

Silence reigns for a few seconds, and then the crowd charges the horsemen. They break ranks and charge back, and soon the horseman are cleaving into the crowd while the peasants are drawing them back. The orator is fleeing.

Alzar can chase the orator, attack the horseman, run away, attack the peasants, or just watch.

He has Megala fly after the orator and follows. He dives down a side street and changes streets twice. Eventually he ducks into a small shack and the door slams shut. Within a moment, Alzar has arrived and unsheathes his axe, spends a round hacking through the door, and then rebinds it.

It is just a bare room with a trapdoor, and Alzar opens it and drops to a passage running one way. Alzar and Megala follow it for roughly 300 feet before it ends at a ladder going up. Alzar hears scraping up in the room above. He leaps up the ladder and flings it open just as the orator was moving a heavy chest to cover it. The orator is totally surprised by Alzar’s speed.

Alzar is able to fire off Ray of Ondovir and the orator spends the next round continuing to push the chest while Alzar pulls out a dagger, grabs him, and holds it to the orator’s throat. It doesn’t take much convincing to get the orator to spill everything. Alzar ties him up and casts ESP. The orator is a member of The Velied Society, and there are at least 20 of them. He was paid 200 gold to stir up trouble for Torenescu. He does not know who leads the Society, or who are the higher ups. They meet in an underground chamber with a secret entrance from the Blue Water Mead Hall at the waterfront. The two killers were named Akarios the Shipwright and Zachariah Boeastes. He even provides a rough map to the location, and what’s there.

He asks for his life, and Alzar is tempted to end it. Instead, he leaves the man as a present for the authorities and heads to bed for the night.

[Abe Sargent]

The second day dawns. Alzar has leads. He memorizes all of the same spells as normal, but grabs Speak with Dead for today, instead of Blastbones.

The tension of the riots has largely subsided. Alzar goes to the waterfront to investigate what he can about the Blue Mead Tavern and the two murderers. As he reaches a few areas nearby, he spots a large number of beggars escorting a noble in Torenescu colors from a ship, and several people looking like they are about to ambush him. Alzar can ambush, watch, leave, or take out the ambushers.

He notices that one of the ambushers in the light is wearing a Veiled Society hood. He sends Megala up to a roof for a better view. There are three ambush spots. Alzar gets behind one just as the Ambush starts, and Sleeps the 5 fighters here.

XP – 75

Now there are just ten fighters against ten beggars and the Torenescu. Just to make sure, he has Megala swing by and sees nothing.

There is a guy in the back ordering the other ten around. Alzar makes for him. A charm person spell is sent, it fails though. The guy feels it, turns around, grabs a mace, and moves to fight Alzar. Alzar spends the round unfurling his staff. The cleric casts Light on Alzar’s eyes and it succeeds in blinding him! Alzar has blind fighting and is just fine! (Plus he can still see through Megala’s eyes).

Alzar is hit by the mace for 10 damage from this cleric. That’s way more than normal.

18/51

Alzar misses and drops the staff. He orders Megala in to attack. The next round the cleric misses, and Megala claws him and he falls asleep. Instead of killing him, Alzar grabs his staff and binds it back up. He searches the body and finds a mace, gauntlets, and other stuff. He strips the cleric of these items, holy symbol and more.


XP - 100

The beggars and Simion are finished with the veiled society men, who are fleeing. The sleeping ones are bound, and they are interrogated. This cleric has red hair and confesses to killing Lucia. The constables are considering closing the case, but Alzar has concerns, since the orator from last night said it was someone else.

He goes back to the bed and learns new spells for the next day. He is healed a bit by cleric allies of the constables who cast two Cure Light Wounds on him.

Alzar gets them constables to agree to cast Speak with Dead, and he does, talking with Lucia. She claims that she was killed by the Radu house. They go back and find some letters in the blood that spell RAD, and back up her claims.

33/51

[Abe Sargent]

The next day, Alzar awakens and there are more investigations. He swings back to Blastbones. No one in any of the noble families has red hair, according to the constable, including Radu. With a suspect hosue and The Veiled Society involved, there is suspicions that they are allied. However, it is just suspicion, the Radu person could have been acting on his own, she could have misidentified someone, and so forth.

Alzar has one clue to come back to – The Blue Water Mead Hall. He heads back out. As Alzar is a few blocks away, an arrow flies from the crowd from a hooded man holding crossbow and it misses. He begins to reload. Alzar has Megala fly over to him and he starts to run. Alzar starts to chase. Megala sees him go around a corner, and there are three crossbowmen standing there, waiting for Alzar to follow, so he stops. He lets the man go and takes another route to the Blue Water Mead Hall.

The Mead Hall is a bright and clean building. Inside there are several soldiers in the center of the room striking an off-key bawdy shanty. There are a few instruments being played here, and the small but growing crowd is being worked by a tavern keeper and several serving ladies.

There are two curtained doorways in the back. A red-haired man sits near the back to the room. It looks like Akarios. Alzar quietly approaches from the side, and has Megala fly down into Akarios’s field of vision so that his attention is on the Homunculous. Alzar puts his hands on Akarios’s shoulders very hard and introduces himself. Then he removes one hand, grabs the dagger and puts it into Akarios’s back. “This is the part where you tell me everything.”

So he does. He was ordered to murder Lucia, and there is a secret entrance to the Veiled Society chambers right there and nods his head. Alzar tells him to stay where he is and Megala flies over and they head in.

Two men sit on the floor near the curtain gambling after Alzar passes it. Both look up curiously and there is a hallway here with a door at the end. The top half is open, and shows the street beyond. Alzar draws the Wand of Secret Door Detection and uses it. The cleric and fighter don’t see anything, just Alzar drawing a stick, but Alzar now knows where the secret door is. He grabs the money from the gambler sand throws it in to the room, and then says good bye, dives for the door, jumps in, and closes it.

XP: 50 for cleverness

[Abe Sargent]

This chamber is barely large enough for two people to stand in, One wall has a red robes, and black leather hoods. Alzar grabs one of each and puts them on. He unbinds his staff and axe

The cave system here branches into two parts, southish and southwestish. Alzar goes southish. The passageway splinters off, and there is a door here. Alzar opens the door. There is a passage way to the westish, and a small passage that suddenly stops. Odd. Alzar fails to find anything and uses the wand, and detects a secret door.

Inside is a chamber brightly lit by hundreds of sputtering candles. In the center of the room is a table piled with books and papers. Standing over him is a middle-aged swarthy man holding a sword to a younger man’s chest. A dead man is on the floor. The younger man shouts “Stop him! He has slain out father! He is a murderer!” The middle aged man tells Alzar (in disguise) to get back or die, and makes for the door. Alzar tries to charm him. Failure! The middle aged man moves to attack. This looks like it might be an axe fight, but let’s try staff first. Alzar grabs his staff.

The younger man draws a sword and looks to help Alzar. The enemy misses. Alzar misses. The young guy hits for 3 damage with a scimitar. Megala pecks for 3 damage and a made save on the whole sleep thing. Alzar’s team wins and Alzar thwacks the foe for 7 damage. Megala misses, as does the unknown ally. The main guy misses. Next round, the enemy nails Alzar for 5 damage.

30/51

Alzar hits for 2 damage, The others misses. Alzar swings for 3 damage. Megala adds 1 and 5 damage from the scimitar ally. He rocks Alzar for 10 damage.

20/51

He wins init and hits again for 10 damage.

10/51

Alzar rocks back for 7 – his max. Megala misses and the unknown ally cracks him with the scimitar for 5 and he dies.

XP: 250

The guy introduces himself as Zweis Radu. The dead guy is Cartha Radu, and he just killed Anton Radu. Zweis is now in charge. He thanks Alzar but knows he is not a veiled society member after seeing him and Megala fight, but he offers Alzar a spot in the Society if he wants it., Alzar declines. He then offesrs 500 gold in jewels from the desk. Alzar still declines and moves to inspect the corpse. Zweis asks him kindly not to do that. Alzar moves to inspect the papers on the desk, and pissed off, Zweis attacks.

Alzar casts sleep. Zwies falls asleep. Alzar kills him off.

XP: 100


From the corpses he finds a long sword and a scimitar. A Ring, and armor. They are all added to the magic pile later. Alzar takes those jewels - 500 gold.


A search of the room finds papers and books that show House Radu and The Veiled Society are the same thing. There is also 3000 gold in gems in a small box, which Alzar procures.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar moves out and goes down that tunnel that he just passed. There is a door here and Alzar opens it. In here is a member of the city’s town guard, named Estaish. He will be escorted out by Alzar, but is way to weak to fight. He gear is just outside the door and down the hall a bit. He has learned everything during his imprisonment and would be a good double check on the papers and books. Alzar continues down the hallway and a flower moves to attack - Sirenflower.

Alzar backs up and casts Blastbones and that barely scratches the Sirenflower (6 damage). He is immune to the charming pollen it has, and does not need to come it. He grabs his staff and starts poking the flowers, and killing them from a distance. He does not need to make his saves and kills it over a few turns.

XP - 75

Back here, the kills of the flower include 500 gold and a potion.

He heads back down the other tunnel and finds a meeting chamber here, with about 18 or so members meeting and about to kill one of their own for being a traitor. Alzar only has Animate, ESP and Ray left, so he skips the chamber and lets them kill whoever. Estaish grabs some books and scrolls, and Alzar grabs the rest, and they leave via the entrance to the alley that Alzar saw earlier. In a moment, Alzar melts into the city and twenty minutes later, the Constables have been given statements, Estaish, and the books and documents.

In less than a day, House Radu and The Veiled Society have been declared outlaws and most have been rounded up and killed as traitors.

Estaish wants to accompany Alzar, but so he brings him along.

[Abe Sargent]

XP Gained:1326
Total XP: 13765

Gold Gained: 700
Jewelry Worth: 3500




Used two charges of Wand of Secret Door Detection


Magic Pile: +1 Mace, Gauntlets of Ogre Power, +1 Scimitar, +2 longsword, Ring of Protection +1, Pot o’ Diminution.


It’s a bit early for GOP to be given away, but Alzar can’t use them until he is out of the Dual Class issue (level 8 as a Necromancer) or he gains no XP for using them. They can not be used by mages normally.


The Potion causes you to shrink for the while. Everything else is just weapons and a ring Alzar already has.


This was a fun little adventure.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar moves to try to find some things, now that the drama is over.


Alzar makes some purchases:

10 flasks of oil, in metal flasks so they will not spill, stored in wagon. He will take three on each adventure.

Alzar buys a riding horse for Estaish

He finds 3 healing potions – 750 gold (Expensive, they are 200 each normally)

He finds a scroll of Ray of Fatigue. This first level Necromancy spell would make a monster, if they save a save, to get -1 to attack and AC and move 33% slower for the spell caster’s level. Not that hot. Just 150 gold though. It’s an uncommon spell.

He trades Alzar’s Undead Porter for Mount. He does learn it. Mount is a pretty common 1st level spell that enables you to summon a horse for a few hours.

There are some mages here willing to do business, and Alzar finds a few magical items available for sale. Here are the ones he can find here:

+1 spear
+1 banded mail
Scroll of Protection Against Acid
Potion of Animal Control
Three +2 javelins, a set
Potion of Giant Strength (Fighter only)
Potion of Sweet Water


Alzar purchases the Sweet Water pot, the healing pots and the scroll of Ray of Fatigue. He also picks up another spellbook (500 gold) and scroll. He trades a +1 mace and spends 3000 gold. He also picks up a scroll case


Alzar tries to find a mage who can cast a super high level spell, but fails. (Glassteel on the teleport jars so that he could take one with him into dungeons without much fear of breakage)

He decides to commit and tries to learn Bone Knit from the scroll he took from Vorthala’s old lair. It automatically succeeds (Always succeed with an 18 int and a specialist in your school).

He gives the extra Ring of Protection to Aleigha and a +2 longsword to Estaish

Gold Left: 14, 050 gold

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar’s Magic Items:

Potion of Sweet Water, Diminution, Gaseous Form, Invisibility
Pots of Healing x4
Gauntlets of Ogre Power
+1 Scimitar, Short Sword, Daggerx3, Mace, Battle Axe, Longsword
+2 Longsword
+1 Plate Armor, Chain Mailx2
Ring of Protection +1
Wand of Secret Door Detection – 5 charges
Wand of Paralyzation 8 charges
+2 Throwing Dagger
The Sword of the Rock
Longsword +1, +2 vs Undead
Crystal Ball
Necklace of Adaptation
Periapt of Proof Against Poison +2
Ring of Fire Resistance
Potion of Invisibility, Gaseous Form, Poison
Rope of Climbing
Scrolls of: Mordenkainen’s Faithful Phantom Shield-Maidens, Teleport, Read Languages, Continual Light, Agannazzar’s Scorcher, Odeen’s Magic Cloud, Levitate, Ray of Fatigue, Protection from Acid
The Book of Years, Windscribe, 4 teleport jars

[Abe Sargent]

I feel like I should roll up Aleigha’s character, so here it is. All mine.



Aleigha, 3rd Level Fighter, Werebear

Neutral
Human

Str: 15
Dex: 14
Con: 11
Wis: 12
Int: 14
Cha: 9

HP: 21
THAC0: 18 (+2 for sword, +3 for Werebear form)

AC: 7 with Ring of Protection +1, 2 when in Werebear form

Total XP: 4900

Race Abilities: None

Class Abilities:

Specialization allowed


Non-Weapon Proficiencies:

Fire Building
Swimming
Animal Lore
Animal Handling
Riding
Hunting
Fishing
Foraging
Tracking


Weapon Proficiencies:

Swords Group
Long Bow


Werebear:

As a Werebear, deals 2d4/2d4/2d8, immune to non-silver normal weapons, can summon 1d6 brown bears if in wilderness once every two hours
Can cast Cure Disease once a month
Heals at 3x rate



Magical Items:

Sword of Spartusia
Ring of Protection +1







Aleigha knows nothing of her time prior to becoming a werebear. The only memory she has as a girl of 11 is being ill in the woods, and the only way she was able to be saved, was a werebear who happened upon her and bit her, turning her into a werebear, which was able to fight off a very strong disease.

She fled the place she was in, and lived by herself for a while, but yearned for company, so she moved to a small town. After a while, people began to learn about a werebear in the area, and she had to flee before they tracked it to her. This repeated over and over again and each time, she had to flee before being found out. One time she actually was found out and was attacked by the village.

It was fleeing from that village when she ran into the cleric, Catharandamus. He treated her well and gave her a home, despite knowing who she was. She thought he was really nice, and adopted him as a father figure. Instead, he despised her, but she was a powerful bodyguard. He did some vile things, and she stood by him and defended him.

Her experience with Catharandamus and with villages has turned her to Neutral, where most werebears are chaotic good. She detests “civilization” and will stay away from cities and larger towns. She does not fear Alzar’s undead, she has seen a lot worse from Catharandamus.

Unlike the cleric, she senses Alzar is authentic. He freed her from the Palace, and he gave her a home and Ring, and he has told her she is free to leave anytime. She is currently a follower in status.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar’s Spells:

First Level:

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


Second Level:

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


Third Level:

Bone Knit
Dire Charm
Searing Serpent
Skulltrap

Fourth Level:

Vorthala’s Undead Turning Immunity

[Tellistto]

Very nice run through that town. Still enjoying this, keep up the great work!

[Abe Sargent]

Thanks!

[Abe Sargent]

Estaish, Fighter level 1, human, 1d8+1 in combat (given a +2 longsword), Lawful Neutral, AC 4 with chainmail and shield. HP 8. Currently a follower.

Estaish at first grimaces when he sees the ghouls, but he seems to suck it up pretty well. He takes the animal skeletons more in stride.



What next? There are several ways to go. Alzar can stay in Athaly and see if there are any more adventures either in town or nearby. A city this size is gonna to have some things going for it. He could put down roots, buy a house, etc. Then use the place as a base of operations. That’s not what he wants to do though, not here, and not right now.

Another option would be to try and leave, and find more adventure.

What module? The In Search of Adventure campaign is over but I could inject one or more of the modules back into the campaign. I could have Alzar captured and him have to do The Great Escape, or Horror on the Hill or The Keep on the Borderlands or The Caverns of Quasqueton, or even the cleric and her orcs and raiders.

Or, I could slide into another module for the low in level. How about T1 The Temple of Hommlet, or C2 The Lost Island of Castanamir?


Let’s just do a quick little adventure.

[Abe Sargent]

B9 Castle Caldwell and Beyond







This will focus on the beyond.



Alzar has finished taking some goods back the wagon and Estaish is left behind to load and get the steeds ready, because after another trip, they plan to move off.

As Alzar returns to Athaly. Antonito Radu, the new leader of House Radu in Exile, and twenty hired thugs ambush Alzar and Megala. Arrows fly out and the horse is hit many times. At the same time, Antonito’s cleric casts Hold Person on Alzar. Alzar makes the save and looks around. There are about 20 bandits charging him. Three magic missiles fly into Alzar for 9 damage. 42/51.

Alzar’s steed is dead, and he orders Megala to fly into the air far away for now. He quickly does a check. 20 bandits, a cleric and a mage. He has sleep, which may put anywhere from 2 -6 of them down, and charm and such. There’s no chance of making it through, so he surrenders.

Antonito swings down and punches Alzar hard. All of his items, gold, and such are taken. He is stripped down to robes, bound, and then knocked unconscious.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar awakes to find himself in the jail cell of an unknown place. He took some damage from beatings and kicks. They actually missed the Ring of Protection, and Alzar is still wearing it.

34/51

There is flickering torchlight from the hallway illuminating the cell. Alzar does not know where he is, or why he is. Torture? Information? Conversion? He still has all of his spells – Blastbones, Sleep, Charm, ESP, Ray of Ondovir and Animate Dead Animals. He checks the spell components. Charm and Ray don’t need any, so that’s good. Sleep requires sand, and there’s some on the floor on the cell – that’s good. Animate Dead Animals needs a bone chip from the species of animals to animate, and that is usually obtained from the corpses itself, so thats a check. Blastbones needs the bones to be destroyed, and anything else to be used like debris and nails. ESP on the other hand, needs a copper piece – and unless Alzar can find a few, that will not be castable.

Alzar awakens Megala to get a look. Megala followed, and Alzar sees an outpost where he is. He orders Megala to hold tight. Lastion is outside of the one mile radius and must be going stir-crazy. It is before noon, so about mid-morning by the sun.

There are double doors going out to the hallway. Alzar’s feet are in shackles, and they go through a ring in the floor. His hands are tied in front of him. Alzar tries to come with a way out. If his hands are untied, he can go with Charm Person. He could gather sand and cast Sleep. So there are options there. Alzar does not have the Rope Use proficiencies which would help him here. Therefore he will have to make a Dex Check at 50%. His Dex is 12, so he needs a 6 or less to free his hands. He rolls a 2. The rope slides off. He tests the ring and it is not bending or coming off the ground. Alzar tries the chain to see if it will come off, and then ties to see if maybe the hoop is screwed into the metal plate on the floor, but it’s not – it appears to be heavily welded. (Forge welded, the other forms do not exist)

He tries to find the edge of the metal plate. Perhaps it can come up. While he is doing that, he hears footsteps come up to the room, turn a key in the door, and in steps a gnoll.



It has a plate of food and water, and harshly tells Alzar to sit up. As he comes in, Alzar casts Charm Person and…it works! The gnoll is now Alzar’s good and dear friend. Of course it will unlock Alzar’s chains! This is a bandit outpost of men and goblinoids, and was funded in part by House Radu, and now House Radu uses it as a temporary base. Alzar was to be tortured, interrogated, and then killed. There is a hallway right outside, and Alzar’s things are in a room down to the left, turn left, and enter the door on the left. However, the door is locked and the gnoll does not have the key, nor does he know where one is. The gnoll happily gives Alzar his only weapon, a dagger. Alzar will be at -4 to use it. The gnoll does not know many of the rooms in this area of the outpost, but he quickly outlines the outpost on the wall with a fighter to give a rough showing of where things are.

Alzar convinces the gnoll to leave, and it agrees and does so.

XP 50