D&D Dynasty: 3rd Path of King Alzar the Mighty - FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Abe Sargent]

Year 13, Month 2

There is a big push in the north from a pan-giant coalition led by Frost Giants, and Alzar heads out and ends it. More than 100 giants are dead.


More Bookfind books.


More work on items commences.


Alzar has a particularly heavy case that is making the whole area take up and take notice. Either way, Alzar will annoy a big part of his people. He chooses the just path, and then loses 15 realm confidence.


Vix is preparing for immortality.


ALPHATIAN SPY MURDERED

Decades ago, an Alphatian elf ·named Troiki*thus, loyal to Empress Eriadna, travelled to Glantri as her spy. Pretending to be an elf from the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, he ingratiated himself with the elven Clan of Ellerovyn and established his identity as an vigorous, intelligent student of magic.

Recently, he uncovered evidence of a secret order of magicians studying a previously-unknown type of magic (the Radiance). He also heard rumors that there were followers of Entropy among the rulers of Glantri. He sent back a report to his Em*press describing what little he knew and promising to find out more. A week later, Troikithus's drowned body is found in a ca*nal of Glantri City.

The princes of Glantri do some research into the background of the popular murdered elf and discover that he was an Alpha*tian with an assumed identity-in short, a spy. Alphatia re*sponds by denying that he was a spy, saying that he took the identity because of Glantri's long-standing disdain for Alpha*tians. Empress Eriadna protests his obvious murder, but with no evidence on either side neither Alphatia nor Glantri is willing to press the matter.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 13, Month 3


More bookfinding and item making commences.

Vix heads out to take out a few final quests to help ensure the expanded nation is stable and ready to go. All month long, Vix, non-stop, hits out almost 25 different dens, ruins, dungeons, and more.


Construction resumes elsewhere in the Grand Duchy, and continues in Evenarrow.


A forest fire begins in a local forest from a lightning strike from a storm. Alzar heads out and puts it out after a day of growing with magic like Control Weather. Very little is lost.

They have a number of issues to the north, as ice was delayed in melting, and the trade slowed, Evenarrow’s trade revenue for a few months will drop by 15%.


ALPHATIAN PROCLAMATION


The Alphatian Council of Wizards issues a doc*ument written and countersigned by Empress Eriadna. In it, the Alphatian wizards accuse the Glantrian Great School of Magic of harboring followers of the Entropic Immortals and using forbidden, evil varieties of magic.

An amused Prince Etienne d' Ambreville, speaking for the other Glantrian princes, replies that there are no followers of Entropic Immortals, or any Immortals, in Glantri, since the nation bans clerics of all philosophies.

Also, d' Ambreville points out, Glantri does not forbid the study of any variety of magic; therefore there's no such thing in his country as "forbidden magic." Even if there was, what Glan*tri's wizards study is their own business; certainly the wizards of Alphatia have no right to dictate to them what they can and can't do.

Lastly, the Glantrians say, will the Alphatians please explain what they're talking about?

[Abe Sargent]

Year 13, Month 4


More Bookfind. More items.

Next month, the Great Library will be physically complete.


Some issues occur as some young central barbarians chafe at Alzar’s centralized rule, despite him assembling their sacred swords and bringing them together and finding the lost tribe. Alzar is informed by the local leaders, including Barkal the Red, and around 350 barbarians have split off. Alzar intercepts them, and then challenges their leader and kills him in solo combat, and then kills a few other key ringleaders in solo combat as well, and the sails are taken out of the barbarian exodus, and these return, and the major issues have left. Alzar has handled barbarian issues as a barbarian would, and they respect it.




Vix again throws herself at blowing out everything she can. Alzar also heads out and clears out a giant cave and a den of nasty phase spiders that teleported in from other places.


Alzar Shadow School of Mages now have brought in 5 apprentices and are fully underway. Anyone who enrolls gets some free shadow spells Alzar made (Alzar’s Eclipse, Alzar’s Shadowshift).


The realm is pretty peaceful this month, only a handful of small weather related issues are dealt with.


THYATIS REVOLTS!!!

Things have been very busy in Thyatis lately. In recent months, the soldiers and sailors of the Thyatian army and navy, who are normally pushy and arrogant, have been outdoing themselves. On the Isle of Dawn, half of which is controlled by Thyatis and half by Alphatia in an uncomfortable state of near* peace, off-duty Thyatian soldiers have been more-than* commonly aggressive toward off-duty Alphatian soldiers.

At the same time, Thyatian warships have been very confron*tational toward ships of non-allied nations and have been ac*cused of piracy against trade-ships from Norwold and other Alphatian territories. Meanwhile, in Thyatis City, the gladiatorial festivities are more lavish than ever, the parties and festivals are being thrown more often and with wilder abandon; all in all, it's a very entertaining place to be ... until one spring day when everything goes wrong.

On that date, an enormous riot takes place in Thyatis City. The lower classes have for months seen a steady decline in the quality of the free bread passed out every morning in the city, bread which sustains the life of thousands of poorer Thyatians. While the size of a typical loaf of bread has shrunk in half, the loaves handed out have been only half-cooked and usually swimming with maggots. Finally the city's lower classes revolt', storming the Coliseum during one of the gladiatorial games.

Significantly, the Thyatian legions inside the city are poorly *trained and badly-led; they are unable to put down the rebellion. Far too many legions from other Thyatian cities have to be brought in to quell the insurrection, but quell it they finally do.

Over the next few weeks, the scandal continues to worsen as it is discovered that funds which were to be spent on the free bread were being diverted to fund several senators' nightly festivities, notoriously decadent affairs. Additionally, many Thyatian officers are charged with dereliction of duty or with incompetence, especially those who appear to be addicted to the dangerous zzonga fruit; they are executed.

Many of those convicted for embezzlement, bribery, and corruption break out of jail and leave for foreign parts, often in the company of their paramours, women of foreign nationality. Subsequent investigations of the Thyatian prisons reveal that they are rife with corruption; dozens of jailers and military officers involved with the prison system are executed.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 13, Month 5


More bookfinds.

During one of Alzar’s open court’s, the final visitor is a merchant with a great hat, and finery is introduced. Alzar recognizes him as Rheddrian. He asks to meet in private to discus some trading opportunities with Darokin, and to speak with Alzar in private. He grabs Vix and they do










“My friends! It's good to see you again. Please, sit.” He’s become almost paranoid, and he casts a few detection spells and such before confirming that only Alzar and Vix are in the room with him and no one is spying.

“There: that will assure us of a certain amount of privacy. Now, we can get to business.

"First, a word or two of explanation. You will remember, from when last we met, that I was trapped within that re*markable mirror-like shield, and you were kind enough to free me from that prison-a good deed for which I am quite grateful.

"My stay inside the shield changed me, as you know, and I emerged with all my abilities and mental faculties intact but I developed other abilities and became immortal. For example, I acquired other abilities as well-the ability to work magical spells, for example.

"In the time since we last saw one another, I've been learning about this world of yours-Mystara, I think you call it. As you mentioned, you were on the Beagle millennia ago, this is the same as the one my ship crashed upon, lo these many centuries ago, but dozens of centuries of age and catastrophe have changed it; it is very, very different from the way I remember it.


"Still, it's a nice place. And since I don't suppose I'll ever find my way back home after all these centuries, I've adopted it as my new home. Also since we last met, I've used my new abilities to become quite wealthy, fairly powerful, and very well informed in certain areas."


"Now ... I have asked you here because I need your help. I told you last time we met that I thought dangerous forces were doing harm to the magical energy of this world. Now I'm certain of it.

"I've also seen strange changes in the activities of whole nations. Clans and countries seem to be jumping and jerking in strange, unpredictable directions, like chickens freshly beheaded. I'm sure you've seen these changes as well.

"I sense that these political events are the result of powerful manipulators. People who are making entire nations dance on their puppets' strings, people who don't care how many thousands of people suffer and die.

"I think these two sets of events may be related. And I'll tell you why.

"Through my researches, I've come to the conclusion that only beings of a certain level of power-you call them Immortals-can utilize the remaining devices of my old ship. In doing so, they are draining magical energy from the world, as I told you. If it continues, your world could be utterly drained of magic.

"Think of it: a whole world with no spells, no magical healing, no magical weapons or protection, and no magical creatures either.

"Now, I don't know why the Immortals are doing this. Not all Immortals are good, as you know; perhaps you've already had the opportunity to observe the damage which an evil Immortal can cause with only casual attention. Others, not necessarily evil, are indifferent and careless, and through their negligence they can destroy us as easily as the evil ones.

"Too much is happening in this part of the world too quickly for it to be natural; only Immortals could wreak so much havoc in so short a time. But I don't know which Immortals are doing this, or why. All I know is that I want to see them stopped. I don't know if that's possible, but I've decided to use all my abil*ities and fortunes to find out what's going on, to see if there's a way. Maybe if we could find out why they' re doing this we could find a way to convince them to stop it.

"I cannot do it all myself. I cannot be everywhere at once. I need allies - men and women like yourselves. So I am here to persuade you to join me. I need adventurers who can travel the world, leaders who can turn opinion, people who can observe events in places where I think the Immortals are most active, and accumulate evidence to prove or dis*prove my theory.

"If you accept, I must ask you not to speak of this mission to your rulers ... or even the Immortals you serve ... until we know who is doing what to whom. I do not ask you to swear to a permanent oath of secrecy! But please ... for now ... until we are certain who is the enemy, who is the friend ... keep this association to yourself.''

[Abe Sargent]

Rheddrian actually doesn't know any more about the Immor*tals than a well-educated mortal does; though he is technically one of them, he is not part of their community and does not know any of them.

Rheddrian's motives are sincere; he wants to save the world and to counter the actions of the Immortals who are so callous about endangering mortals.


"Now that war looks to be breaking out between various nations, more and more nations will become involved. It's inevitable that innocent people will die by the thousands, including those of your dominion and your home towns. And the more out of control things become, the greater the likelihood that no place will be safe.''

Alzar asks Rheddrian if anyone else other than himself or Vix knows he is immortal, and he shakes his head. Do any immortals? “Not to my knowledge.”

Seeing that Rheddrian only has the knowledge of sage or mortal right now, Alzar offers his own information to Rheddrian,

“Read my mind. See all that I know about immortals here on Pandius. I have done more to get immortality here than any other, I have been manipulated and used as a pawn, and I have been embraced by other immortals.”

Rheddrian does, and then does for Vix as well.

He sees things he never knew about before, like the Hollow World, where Vix is from.

He sees that both are entrants for Entropy, and Vix has concluded that quest, but Alzar is finishing it up. Rheddrian is a little surprised that they are Entropic, but he also sees them as honest and law-abiding in ways that the good people of the world often aren’t.


Rheddrian has a mission for Alzar and Vix. He offers to pay them money, but Alzar declines. Alzar sees Rheddrian as a useful ally against the increasingly annoying manipulation of these immortals, and he should save his resources. “Now if you can send me a working robot…?” Alzar says jokingly. Rheddrian smiles, and then agrees to use the money for something else.


"I am going to send you to a place where unusual activities are taking place. From there, you are on your own for the most part; just keep me informed of your movements and activities, and I will warn my other agents not to interfere with you.


"In general, I want you to keep your eyes open for a certain set of clues-clues which, to my mind, indicate Immortal interference.


"First: drastic changes to a community or a society. Of course, with war between empires, there will be changes. Try to gauge which changes are likely to result from war and which are not. Keep your eyes open for strange changes, un*precedented ones.


"Second: unusual activities by clerical orders or unusual changes to the philosophies or opinions of clerical orders. Such activity tends to mean that the Immortal is using his or her clerics to achieve some goal; changes in doctrine show that the Immortal is providing new, different ideas to his or her clerics, which can point us toward the Immortals we seek.


Third, watch out for unusual or unpresented magic or spell abilities. The devices pillaged from my ship may inter*act with the magic native to this world to provide them and their mortal followers with strange, hitherto-unknown spells. ''Fourth: listen for the names of Immortals unknown to
you. When you hear of Immortals you do not know, ask for their stories and philosophies. In many cases, these will turn out to be local names for well-known Immortals you are already familiar with; those you can safely ignore. In other cases, the Immortals you hear of may be completely unknown to you. This could mean that the unknown Immortal has been drawn here to participate in the new activities of the Immortals, or it may mean something more sinister than that.

"Other than that, I have no guidance for you. Act as the heroes you are in all ways and I can have no complaint of your behavior.

"For your first investigation, I'd like you to travel to an island called Aegos. It is one of the four Alatian Islands off to the southeast of the Isle of Dawn. The Alatians are properties of Alphatia.

"The reason you're going is that one of my agents reported to me that Aegos has recently lost the majority of its work*force ... and yet these men and women were not seen sailing off to join the Alphatian armed forces. She wasn't able to find out anything more, but I want to know what happened to all those people. It may be something entirely innocent, but I don’t think so. My sense of detecting immortal intervention is becoming increasingly on point, and I suspect there is something more.

"Remember that your mission is one of intelligence and stealth."

Rheddrian gives them each a coin they can use to summon his notice. He’ll swing over when its safe to do so.

[Abe Sargent]

AEGOS


Aegos is a large island, about 500 miles long, running west*southwest to east-northeast; it is about 240 miles across at its widest north-south measurement.

The island has one area with fairly rich soil, to the southwest; this area is thick with farmlands and pasturage for sheep and cattle. The larger central and eastern regions are very hilly, with
one large central body of water, Lake Aegos; they are nowhere so friendly to farms or cattle, though sheep and especially goats do well. The hills north of Lake Aegos have fair deposits of lead and silver, so there are many mines there.

There are only two communities on the island-at least, according to most maps of Aegos.

The town of Aegopoli, population 17,500, is on the southwest tip of the island. It serves the shipping and trading needs of the island's farmers. It is the island's capital and has many ware*houses, shops, and taverns; there are a couple of inns here, and there is even a school for the teaching of children in both magic and academic matters.

The village of Selenion, population 2000 is on the northern shore of Lake Aegos, between the lake and hills to the north. It's the sole example of civilization for the miners of the area; it is in most ways a bawdy, rough-and-tumble frontier town. No magic users live in this small community; the only spellcasters there are a couple of clerics.


Long ago, wizards of Aegos tried to make the island into a haven for the breeding and creation of magical beasts and mon*sters and eventually a zoo for the exhibition of such creatures. But the effort was sabotaged by unknown parties (legend has it that the saboteurs were rival wizards of the Alphatian monster nation of Trollhattan). The breeding pens and zoo were opened and the monsters fell upon one another; the few surviving monsters fled into the island's hills, and the Aegos economy was ruined.
Later, the island became a very dull and typical farming and fishing island, though sometimes monsters still do wander out of the island's hills to fall upon the human inhabitants.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar and Vix use Hats of Disguise and such to take on various forms and teleport to the capital.

The town gates are open. Out in the bay, a fleet of small fishing boats is plying its trade. The town itself, though, looks tired and empty; many of the shops are closed, and there are signs nailed to their doors. The signs read "Closed for the Season " or, more often, "Closed for the Duration." Alzar does some math. It looks as though half or two*thirds of the town's population is missing.

The few people the PCs see are mostly of copper-skinned Alphatian coloration, though a few have been pale like the Thyatians; a very few are dark like the Pearl Islanders. In addition to the farmers and shepherds outside of town, there are a couple of tavern keepers to be found in town, plus messengers (always on the run be*tween the grand house in the center of town and other buildings in town), town guards (mostly too old or too young to be effective guards), and a fair number of soldiers. The number of elderly people and children is all out of proportion to the number of youthful adults; in fact, it seems that the elderly outnumber the young and vigorous by three or four to one.

Most of the natives do not appear to be curious about Vix or Alzar. The people here speak both Alphatian and Thyatian, but are careful not to use the latter since the outbreak of the war. If a PC addresses an islander ( on the street, in tavern conversation, or wherever) in Thyatian, he or she will look startled, glance around to see if anyone is listening, and then advise the stranger to use Alphatian "for the duration." If asked about what's happening on this dreary island, the locals will be downright chatty:

“Newcomers, eh? Good to see some new blood about. If you stay, that is.

"Not for me to talk about things here, you understand, but I can tell you this: plenty of businesses have had to close down, what with all the able-bodied hereabouts going off to join the Army of Aegos, you understand. You might be able to negotiate to open one of them closed businesses, as a tem*porary worker don't y'known, while the owner's away. Or, you can go where the big money is, in the Army, like most everyone else.

"Either way, you'll need to talk to Prince Dromedon at the King's Mansion. He's in charge of the work-force. Not for me to talk about it."


They head to the King’s Mansion. They get a meeting with Prince Dromedon in about 2 hours, asking for work.

[Abe Sargent]

“So, foreigners, eh? Looking for work? There's work to be had here. Two types of work.

"The town needs workers, as I'm sure you've seen. We need temporary shopkeepers, town guards, fish-cleaners, warehouse folk, that sort of thing. Payment is one gold piece a month plus room and board, or three a month for town guards, and we'll keep you on a minimum of six months if you work out.

"But if you're inclined toward work that's more interesting ... maybe a little more dangerous ... but certainly a lot more rewarding ... I can offer you local work in the Army of Aegos. You both look the sort to be army-types. Now, it's hard work, and you'll be off at a site I can't talk about for a minimum of six months, during which you can't send mail off to your families or friends, but the pay is high, a minimum of ten gold pieces per month, plus room and board ... perhaps much more, depending on your skills."


They would then be sworn into the Army of Aegos and transported to the work-site, at which time their duties would be explained to them. They agree to join the Army of Aegos. Alzar noticeable equipment isn’t here, so he can use his shield, but his innate ESP talent reveals the prince is going to send them to a nearby hidden Alphatian mission, and is honest about the offer.

The prince swears them into the Army of Aegos


The Oath of the Army of Aegos merely states that the person taking the oath promises to protect the island and its people to the best of his or her ability.

Prince Dromedon will ask each character what the character's abilities are and ask the character to demonstrate. Then, he'll set the PC's pay rate as follows:


Base Rate of Pay: 10
Each Experience Level Above 1st: Spell Use: 10
Weapon Master: 100
Character Has General Skills in:
Engineering
Healing
Intimidation
Leadership
Military Tactics
Tracking


Alzar gets 360 and Vix 220 monthly

[Abe Sargent]

Never one to believe in wasting time, Dromedon tells the party the name of an inn where they can put up for the night (at no expense, of course) and that they're to be ready and waiting at the town's northeast gate at dawn for transportation to the work*site.

At dawn the next morning, a small caravan of horses and wag*ons is arrayed within the northeast gate. Prince Dromedon isn't there, but the caravan-master, a gray-bearded but hale man called Scupper, has the PCs' names on a list, shouting them out one by one and checking them off when the PCs arrive. PCs who can ride will be assigned one of the small, tough caravan horses; other PCs will have to ride on the wagons.

In addition to Scupper and the PCs, there are three other new Army of Aegos recruits: a copper-skinned male fighter named Stryl, a dark-skinned female fighter named Torkia Nuar, and a light-skinned male cleric named Kelter Zerben.

Scupper is garrulous, but won't discuss what waits at the end of the caravan trip. He's an old Alphatian Navy man, an ex*cook who brags about the quality of his cooking but complains that everyone else thought it was terrible. He'll insist on cook*ing each night for the caravan, and the PCs will learn that he is terrible.

Stryl and Torkia Nuar are not very talkative about themselves; Stryl is from Archport in southeast Alphatia, Torkia is from Sea*girt on Nuar, one of the Pearl Islands. The two of them have been partners and travelling companions for the past few years, adventuring mainly in Norwold. That's about all they say.

Kelter Zerben is friendly, talkative, and charismatic. He's a fighter-turned-cleric from Darokin who'll gladly swap stories with the PCs; for more on his personality and past, see the de*scription below.
The caravan trip takes the PCs and their companions to Pittstown; see the accompanying fold-out map for directions. The trip itself takes twelve days of easy travel along a dirt road, passing through farmland, pasturage, light forest, and hills. The DM can gloss over details of most of the trip, so that these twelve days will not stretch into an eternity for the players.

At some point about half-way to Pittstown, the caravan (and PCs) will be attacked by wandering monsters: three trolls, de*scendants of those who escaped from the old Aegos zoo. These marauders will leap out from all sides at once, ensuring that all the PCs and NPCs get to see some action.

A raid of 15 trolls moves out. Alzar takes the lead as Scupper protects the wagons. He casts Death Spell, Wail of the Banshee and Skull Trap after using Time Stop, and Vix and Alzar take out the trolls easily, and use fire/acid to finish them.

During the journey, Alzar will teleport back home to help rule, make decisions, and more, and also communicates with locals via his scrying devices.

[Abe Sargent]

Alzar and Vix will not be able to avoid seeing Kelter Zerben. It's easy to think of this tall, strapping man from Darokin as a fighter, because he carries a two*handed sword and practices with it every morning. But he also makes offerings and prayers to an Immortal at regular intervals and meditates for spells each morning as well, making it obvious that he's in fact a cleric.

Alzar asks about his faith, and he’ll volunteer the information that he's a cleric of Balthac. Alzar will have never heard of an Immortal named Balthac, which should set off alarm bells in their minds. Kelter will happily talk about Balthac and his philosophies, as well as about Kelter's own history and attitudes; see the boxed description of Kelter, below.


Alzar asks of Balthac.

The Story of Balthac

Locals in the army who are from Darokin or who are elves from Alfheim will have heard the story of Balthac at some point in their lives and can corroborate parts of the following tale.

According to legend, Balthac was a great hero of the region that was later to become Darokin, famed as a dragon-slayer. He lived in the time between the fall of Blackmoor and the rise of modern nations. He and his companion, Sinan (a fe*male elf), fought many great evils in the ancient world. His career ended when he and his companion went up against a gigantic red dragon called Calor, who was ravaging the area that is now north-central Darokin. Both Balthac and the dragon died in the battle that followed their meeting, but Sinan survived. She buried Balthac in a large cairn, leaving another over the bones of Calor whose skull still had Camb, Balthac's elvish sword, imbedded in it.

Sinan went on to become a great hero in her own right, eventually perishing centuries later defending Alfheim from an evil lich. Both she and Balthac are revered as great heroes who died defending their people.

That's the legend as most people know it. Balthac's battle with the dragon is a favorite folktale in Darokin which every child born there grows up knowing; elves of Alfheim keep Sinan's memory alive in honor of her sacrifice. But the cleric Kelter Zerben has additional details, details which the PCs have never heard before.

Kelter says that not long ago an adventurer found an artifact that enabled her to travel back in time. A great admirer of Balthac, she journeyed back to just after Balthac's fatal battle with the dragon, raised him from the dead, and brought him back to the future with her. Uneasy with the idea of being treated like a legend, Balthac changed his name and continued his dragon-hunting career. He recently gained Immortality as the patron of warriors who travel about de*fending those who cannot defend themselves; the adventurer who brought him back from the past, Lady Lillith, is now the head of his new clerical order. His symbol is a sword cleaving a dragon's skull.


It certainly is possible that Balthac is just a new immortal, with a new following, but that last bit (time travel) certainly happens here, but feels overly convenient.


Kelter Zerben, Cleric of "Balthac"

History: Kelter, who is in his mid-twenties, was born in Corunglain, a city of Darokin near the Broken Lands. When he was 18, he joined the army of Darokin and was assigned to Fort Nell, a dangerous fortress situated between Alfheim and the humanoid-inhabited Broken Lands.

On a mission to repel orcish raids into Darokin, Kelter was the sole survivor of a hard-fought clash between soldiers and ores. As he lay wounded, he heard the voice of Balthac commanding him to travel northeast into the mountains and hear Balthac's word.

Kelter travelled for weeks into the mountains, suffering near-starvation and continuous attacks from ores, before finally finding his way to the site from whence the voice beck*oned-Balthac's cairn. The voice told him to rejoice; that he had been found worthy and chosen to serve as one of Balthac's cler*ics; that he, Kelter Zerban, would be sent around the world to right wrongs beyond the concerns of the army of Darokin.

Weeks later, the starving Kelter found his way back to Fort Nell and made his report. His commander looked at his de*pleted physical condition and listened to his story of becoming a cleric of a figure out of old fairy tales-a story Kelter couldn't corroborate because, as a 1st level cleric, he didn't have any spells yet-and kindly gave him an honorable discharge.

Since that time, Kelter has wandered the world: fighting monsters, protecting the innocent, and promoting honorable conduct wherever he goes.

If Kelter is with the PCs as part of the caravan, he'll tell them that he has come here to find out what's happening to the peo*ple of this island; if they' re the victims of some monster, he in*tends to slay it.
If Kelter is following the caravan and discovers the PCs doing the same, he'll tell them the truth (as he knows it): Balthac com*manded that he come here and find out what strangeness is afoot, because if there is evil here, it must be destroyed.

Personality: Kelter is brave, strong, heroic, gallant, and naive. In some ways, he's probably the nicest person the PCs are ever likely to meet; it's a pity he and they are going to wind up on opposite sides. His goal is to making the world a better place for everyone. He takes pride in the fact that, though a cleric, he can wield swords, and seeks to learn swordsmanship from every fighter he meets. Though he has given no thought to romance, he is certainly not immune to it, and may be attracted to female adventurers who are courageous and resourceful.

Appearance: Just over 6' tall, clean-shaven, with black hair and brown eyes. He has a compact and muscular build and is tanned from being outdoors in all kinds of weather. He wears dark brown and black clothing; on the tabard he wears over his armor and on his belt buckle are the sword-shearing-a-dragon*head symbol of his order.

Combat Notes: 7th level Cleric; AC 1 (plate mail, shield, and Dexterity bonus); hp 25; MV 90' (30'); #AT 1 two-handed sword or by spell; Dmg 1d10 + 2 or by spell; Save C7; MLl0; AL N. Sl 7 113 W15 D14 Co12 Chl6.

Clerics of Balthac have the special ability that they can use swords and daggers; they receive a + 1 bonus to their attack rolls when using two-handed swords. However, they do not gain spells until they reach third level. Clerics of Balthac must be Neutral or Lawful.

[Abe Sargent]

That night Alzar uses the coin to summon Rheddrian. About an hour later, Alzar heads away from the camp for a few minutes while on guard duty and Rheddrian arrives, although not taking physical appearance.

Alzar tells him of Balthac and supposedly a cleric of him in their group. Alzar can confirm there was a Balthac long ago, but as a recent immortal? It’s odd Alzar wouldn’t know of it. Rheddrian agrees it is suspicious, and will let Alzar know after doing some research. Alzar tells Rheddrian that he wants to ask one of his immortality sponsors to see, maybe Morena, who seems dialed in while not taking sides. Of course, he won’t mention Rheddrian, but given that he doesn’t have contacts in the immortal community, he may not have an answer soon.

Rheddrians doesn’t agree with the urgency, but accepts the basic logic, and they agree to share info.

Vix watches over Alzar while he casts Commune to speak with his immortal patron as a cleric of Morena, and his first sponsor.

A few minutes later, an avatar of Morena has arrived. Alzar tells her of Balthac and such. She lets him know that there is no Balthac immortal. Someone has clearly been impersonating Balthac.

Who would do that, Alzar asks? A trickster immortal like Loki? Possibly, but Loki has been keeping a low profile recently after getting in trouble a few years ago for direct intervention. This feels more like Hel to Morena.

Alzar beseeches a favor from Morena, knowing that a favor here is going to be something he’ll need to repay later. If he grabbed Kelter, and brought him here, would she tell him what she told Alzar, and allow Kelter to continue as a cleric of her?

She pauses, smiles, and agrees. While Vix continues to keep watch, Alzar wakes Kelter and tells him he wants to talk more of his faith. Kelter, initially annoyed at being woken, quickly gets excited and he heads to Vix and Morena.


Morena reveals her full grandeur to Kelter. Kelter has, of course, never dreamed of meeting an actual immortal, even her avatar as a female dwarf. Alzar tells Kelter of the betrayal, and that Balthac is not an immortal, and an immortal of entropy has lied and has been creating and manipulating the church for their own mission. Morena confirms it. Kelter has tears nakedly poring down his face. Alzar tells Kelter that Morena has offered to continue as his patron, and he can keep he spells and class, and continue as before. She nods.

Kelter takes a moment, then two. Then he kneels and thanks Morena and accepts her offer.

Morena fades, with a new cleric gained, and a favor owed from Alzar. She has gained more information about Pandius as well, to begin some quiet investigations. Alzar lets Rheddrian know later as well about Morena and Kelter.

On midday of the twelfth day of travel, the caravan comes in sight of their destination. Scupper announces, "Welcome to Pittstown. Hope you enjoy it. You'll be here awhile." This small town at the base of Aegos' central range of hills is surrounded by a stout stone wall. It doesn't look as if the town has been here long; all the buildings are new. Most of them are unexceptional single-story dwellings and warehouses, but one stands out and will catch any newcomer's eye. The strange building in the center of town is circular and at least five stories in height and a hundred yards in diameter; it is built all of white stone. Large entrances can be seen at the four cardinal points of the compass; a steady line of basket laden donkeys led by men issues from the east entrance. The donkeys head out the town's east gate and off into the hills. There is also a line of returning donkeys with empty baskets. The arriving caravan from Aegopolis is greeted with enthusiasm. Oddly enough, there are no old people or children here; everyone is youthful and hardy. The workers here are of both sexes and of every human race.

There are also many dwarves and gnomes in the town; they and the humans seem to be getting along marvelously. The arriving caravan is greeted with enthusiasm by bypassers as it heads through town towards the large circular building.

The giant disk-shaped building turns out to be a single huge room inside, the roof held up by tall columns at regular intervals. Your first thought upon entering is that you've never been in such a noisy place in your life: donkeys bray, machinery clanks and whines, and workers shout to be heard above all the din.

[Abe Sargent]

In the center of the unpaved floor is a pit, or shaft, heading straight down into the earth. The shaft is big (about 30 yards in diameter) and surrounded by a chest-high railing punctuated with metal gates.

Above the shaft, a series of enormous pulleys hangs from the ceiling, trailing a taut metal chain down into the depths of the pit. The pulleys seem to be powered by machinery up in the ceiling, for some of them are rotating, sending chain down and bringing chain up. Around the perimeter of the pit lie three large machines on the bare rocky floor. They are shaped like rigid centipedes with legs on four sides instead of just underneath and with a conical drilling device where the insect's head would be. They are about ten yards (30') long and have hatches and windows on the sides.

Near the eastern doorway of the building there is a small corral where many donkeys carrying baskets, and their hu*man handlers, wait patiently.

A grinding and rumbling noise comes from the pit, slowly getting closer and closer; nobody seems to be alarmed by this. Eventually one of those centipede machines clambers its way up out of the pit and rumbles over until it is beside the don*key corral. Hatches open and hot, sweating gnomes spill out, running over to where other workers have cool drinks and food waiting for them on tables. A big hatch on the side of the centipede machine opens up, and rocks and ore come spilling out. Donkeys are brought over and their baskets loaded with the stony rubbish. When a donkey's baskets are full, the donkey is led out of the building. Eventually the entire load is cleared away.

Then something occurs which does cause a stir among the whole crowd. Something comes into view at the end of the chain down in the pit; it looks like a round-ended cylinder with windows. As people hop to and push a drawbridge-like device over the pit's edge, the cylinder reaches the top and halts. A hatch opens in the side and five people, Alphatians by the look of them, emerge and walk along the drawbridge to the pit's edge. They look a little dizzy and stretch their legs as if they've been confined for a long time.


No sooner have the people riding in the cylinder gotten clear than a burly fellow who seems to be a foreman wanders over and confers with Scupper. Then Scupper calls out all your names as well as those of the three who came on the caravan with you. "You lot will be going down to the Site in Car #4, which just came up," he announces, pointing to the cylinder which just arrived. "It leaves in just a few minutes, so you'd better go ahead and get your gear stowed aboard. I'll be going along with you ... and maybe then you'll get answers to some of your questions.


The inside of the cylinder has weighted chairs mounted with*in spherical frameworks; no matter which way the cylinder is ori*ented, the chairs remain upright. Along the walls of the cylinder are rigidly-mounted boxes, one per person, in which the PCs can stow their gear.





As Alzar sees the giant pulley mechanism, there is only one place they could be going that would make need this much infrastructure. The Hollow World.


Descent begins

[Abe Sargent]

Several minutes pass. Nothing major happens. Then suddenly the cylinder begins its descent with a jerk. Stryl jumps and lets out an oath; Torkia Nuar laughs at his discomfort; Kelter admonishes him for his language.

The cylinder sways as it descends, but then the swaying gradually ceases and the ride becomes smoother.

Through the windows, you can see that the pit darkens; there are no lights outside to see how fast you're sinking. From his pack, Scupper pulls out an oil lamp and lights it before you are plunged into complete darkness. Then he grins and says, "Now we have quite a long ride. About a day's worth, in fact. Hope you brought some cards or dice. We're well stocked with food and drink, and there's a strange gnome device in the back of the car that'll serve us as an outhouse-or inhouse, in this case." He laughs at his feeble joke, as you resign yourself to a dreary journey.

The descent will continue downward hour after hour. The temperature increases, until it is barely tolerable; Scupper and the other NPCs will shed themselves of all clothes except garments constituting the bare minimum of decency. Alzar and Vix are fine (immune to elements).

From time to time, through the windows, the PCs will see one of those gnomish caterpillar-machines. Lighted from within so that their glowing front-windows look like shining eyes, these devices crawl along the shaft's walls. From time to time they stop to grind away rocky projections with their nose-cone drills, catching the debris in nets.

Every hour or so, the chain-and the PCs' cylinder-passes through a short metal tunnel attached by metal posts to the sides of the shaft. Scupper says that these tunnels stabilize the chain so that it does not swing wildly and crash into the sides of the shaft.


When asked where they are going

“Down," Scupper answers, grinning. "Way, way down. A few years back, an Alphatian sky-ship skipper named Haldemar found a place beneath the earth-a big place; bigger than. Alphatia itself. Where people lived. And Alphatia's going to own it. All of it.

"For the last several years, we've been digging this shaft down to the new world. One day, not too far in the future, we'll have cars on cables roaring up and down, carrying troops and trea*sures up to Alphatia, carrying colonists and governors down to the new world. Alphatia's already the richest empire on Mystara; with our new colonies, we're going to be twice as rich.

'' And folk like you, soldiers and retainers who get in before the truth is revealed to the world, will have a good deal coming. You'll have early choice on land to colonize, for instance. The Empire won't forget your efforts."

What's this new world like?

"Oh, no. Better if you wait and see it for yourself. Words can't do justice to it."

If the PCs have already been to the Hollow World setting in a previous adventure, it should already be obvious to them where they' re headed.

Also, if the existence of the Hollow World has already become public knowledge, then Scupper won't be so secretive about what the "new world" looks like.

What are we going to do there?

"Lots of things. Some of you will be guards and warriors. We need guards for the town and warriors to conquer the savages who surround it.

"Some of you will be sailors. We have a growing sky-ship navy down below ... but we aren't the only ones. Those evil, treacherous Heldannic Knights are down there, too, curse them. They have their own sky-ships, and plans to conquer all the primitive tribes of this world and make them slaves. Naturally, we' re try*ing to enslave them first, for the glory of Alphatia and empire!

"Some of you will be teachers. If you' re skilled with weapons and tactics, you'll be teaching the savages how to do things the Alphatian way. They' re citizens of the empire now, and they' re going to have to fight to protect it along with everybody else.

"Don't worry, young 'uns. If there's something you know how to do, we'll find you someone to do it to down below."

Who built this thing we're riding in?

"Dwarves and gnomes, mostly. The dwarves are from Denwarf*Hurgon, the dwarf capital of Stoutfellow, in Alphatia. The gnomes are from an interesting place called Serraine, a gnome city of no fixed address." He chuckles to himself, but won't make any explanations about Serraine when asked by an NPC.

"We have four chains going now. Each one has two cars on it, one at each end. A car will go from the surface world to the new world, and its mate at the other end will go from the new world to the surface world. Then, the chain's direction reverses, and the cars come back to where they started.

"Those gnomes, they're trying to engineer a new type of con*veyance. This one'll go all the time in the same direction. Each car’ll have to pass through some kind of thingy at each end to help it stay attached to the chain when the chain passes through the pulley. I don't know how it works, but the gnomes say it'll work all right. When that's done, we can have bigger cars arriv*ing every hour or so ... and then we'll really begin moving troops in and treasure out."

Why don't Alphatian wizards just teleport there?

"Don't they wish! Ha! They would if they could, but magic don't work the same down there. Some spells just won't go. And no one seems to be able to get from the world above to the new world below by means of magic. Something between the two worlds keeps it from happenin' ... and I'll describe that a little further down."

[Abe Sargent]

After about sixteen hours of travel-and card-games, and dice-games, and sleeping, and singing led by the off-key Scupper-a faint red glow can be seen coming from below.

“Coming in to Midpoint," Scupper announces. "A chance to stretch your legs."

Through the windows, the PCs can see what looks like an enormous pool of lava filling the entire shaft below. Just as they begin to worry, the cylinder begins shuddering as it starts to slow. Finally, about 100 feet above the lava it descends to a stop beside a large platform which leads to a large lighted cavern cut into the rock beside it.




The platform was cut into the stone by means of disinte*grate spells, a fact which will be apparent to any experienced magic-user in the party who looks carefully at the surrounding stone. The edge overlooking the lava-filled shaft has a high, sturdy railing to keep people from falling in accidentally.

There are four drawbridges. t each of these four points an extendable drawbridge (like the one the player characters saw at the top of the pit) extends out to enable passengers from the cylinders to disembark with*out falling into the lava below.

Once the PCs are safely on solid ground again, Scupper tells them they have an hour or so to stretch their legs, enjoy the cool air, get something fresh to eat and drink, and have a look about.

[Abe Sargent]

There are gnomish caterpillar-travelers here on the platform, and the PCs will see others come and go during their stay, crawling all over the shaft walls grinding away at the rock.

The cavern houses a village-sized community, one which is obviously set up to provide services to people travelling from the Known World above to the Hollow World below and to serve as a base for gnomish caterpillar-tunnellers stationed here.
The air in the cavern is cool and refreshing, very different from the hot air the PCs suffered through during the trip down; it is obvious that the cavern is made more comfortable through magic.

The area of the cavern closest to the platform is the Plaza, an open area filled with chairs, benches, and tables, surrounded by vendors of juices, wines, and food. Despite the exotic location, the goods are all very inexpensive (the vendors are government supported). For a few copper pieces, the PCs can refresh themselves with the local goods.


Behind the Plaza are small buildings and tenements which serve as the homes of the humans, gnomes, and dwarves which operate Midpoint.

Over the edge of the platform, about 100' below, is a lava lake entirely filling the shaft. It might provide the PCs with food for thought if they happen to notice that the chain which carries their travel cylinder heads straight down into the lava.

Alzar spends a few minutes in contact with his Grand Duchy, before he passes the World Shield and will be out of communication range.




All too soon, it's time for you and your fellow travelers to load back into the cylinder and recommence the descent. Scupper asks everyone to shut and fasten down their win*dows, and then checks to make sure they're all shut correctly. He then hands out cheap leather bags, one per person. He won't say what they're for, but announces, "If they become necessary, you'll know what to do with them."

Finally, he sits down in a chair, muttering to himself "I hate this part." To the rest of you, his only advice is "Hold on tight!"

Suddenly, the cylinder jerks into motion and plummets 100 feet, bringing your heart into your mouth. You hit the lava pool seconds later at high speed and immediately sink into the fiery depths. The temperature inside the cylinder be*gins to rise rapidly and the air becomes very hot and stuffy.

The cylinder continues to sink in the lava for what seems like an eternity, downward and downward. Then something very strange happens. You begin to feel dizzy and have an odd sensation of weightlessness. You actually begin to float free unless you hold on to your chairs, which isn't easy, con*sidering that all the chairs are rotating at random in their spherical housings! You begin to wish you hadn't eaten that snack at Midpoint as your stomach rebels ...

Alzar feels it. They have passed the world shield

after only a few minutes, the queasiness eases. Scupper tells them jokingly, “Oh good; perhaps you'll all have time to get comfortable before you roast to death or suffocate.” You begin to feel your weight again, and your chairs gradually swivel around until they all face the same way. Oddly enough, the cylinder seems to have reversed its direction during all this; it's now rising instead of falling. Your speed is also slowing down; perhaps the cylinder is beginning to reach bottom.

Then, the last thing you'd expect to happen, happens. The cylinder pops out of the lava, and you're back at Midpoint!

[Abe Sargent]

Actually, although this is a Midpoint it is not the Midpoint the characters have just visited, as Scupper will helpfully explain to them: "The one we stopped at on the way down is Midpoint Up, on the other side of the lava. It may feel like we're going up, but then everything's turned around down here-in fact, we're still going in the exact same direction we were before.''

After a short stop at Midpoint Down to grab some fresh air and let the cylinder cool off, Scupper shoos everybody on board one last time. The rest of the trip is another sixteen hours of travel, this time "upwards.'' The PCs will have plenty of time to sleep during this final stretch of the trip.


At the end of the long, wearying trip, the travelers in the cylinder will see light far above; gradually, this rather reddish light will become brighter and brighter.

Finally, the PCs' cylinder is hauled up out of the shaft, to the top of a set of pulley machinery identical to that which they saw on the island of Aegos ... but these are standing in the open air, not in a building.

The PCs, looking out through the windows, will see that they are in a small walled town surrounded by what looks like jungle or tropical rain forest. The sun overhead is at high noon; it's a funny blood-red color, not yellow like the sun they're used to.

They've come to a land that is new to them ...

Within minutes, the PCs, their NPC companions, and their gear will be off-loaded.

[Abe Sargent]

Scupper will lead the PCs and the NPCs to the barracks which will be their new home; here he'll introduce them to their new commanding officer (Lt. Stolander) and they'll be assigned bunks and shown where to stow their gear. They'll also meet their messmates and generally be shown the ropes.

They are near the Azcan Empire. In the Alphatian colony town of Haldemar and Alphatian Neatharum Alzar, Vix, and Kelter will probably be in this area for some time and will be able to learn the following facts about the place through talking with NPCs and from ex*perimentation of their own.

Prince Haldemar of Haaken, an Alphatian adventurer and ex*plorer who had been missing for several decades, reappeared in the skies above Alphatia, still commanding his flying ship, the Princess Ark.

Haldemar had been famous for his voyages to little-known places, but his final voyage was clearly his greatest discovery. While attempting to fly over the south pole, he had inadver*tently flown inside one of the two great polar openings in Mystara's crust. His sky-ship had crashed when it passed through the anti-magic aura which protects the Hollow World, but Halde*mar managed to have it towed and sledded to a region where magic worked again.

Flying around in the Hollow World, Haldemar learned that he was not the first human of the Known World to discover this place. The Heldannic Knights, a group the Alphatians had paid little attention to in the past, were already here, conquering lands and making alliances as fast as they could.

When he eventually returned to Alphatia, Haldemar told Empress Eriadna of the Hollow World and was commanded to remain quiet about his discovery. The Empress then set about to exploit Haldemar's discovery for Alphatia's benefit. She discovered soon enough that some force-an anti-magical barrier of lava located at the exact center of Mystara's crust, soon termed the World-Shield-prevented magic-users from using teleport spells to reach the Hollow World. Those who tried either failed altogether (if they were lucky) or tended to wind up half-way (i.e., in the lava).

Knowing of the difficulty involved in sending sky-ships through the polar openings, she decided that Alphatia's access to the Hollow World should be from Alphatian soil. She contracted dwarves from Denwarf-Hurgon in Alphatia and gnomes from the flying city of Serraine to burrow a hole from Alphatian territory straight down into the mainland of the Hollow World. Over a period of a very few years, they designed the devices and provided the labor necessary to make a shaft 1,200 miles deep ... stretching from the island of Aegos to the jungle lands of the Neathar.

The first drilling mechanisms of the Alphatians emerged in the lightly-forested area of the Nogai Neathar tribe. The Nogai are a tribe of Stone Age men, similar to our own world's Cro*Magnons; they are accomplished hunters, trappers, and furriers who live in small forest villages and trade with the mountain elves to the north and the other Neathar tribes in the other di*rections. They treated the newcomers with suspicion but not hostility, and the first tunneling explorers from Alphatia had quite a tale to take home.

Soon after, more tunneling devices arrived; Alphatian wizards emerged, and the subjugation of the Nogai villages began.

In the time since then, the Alphatians have built a town to house and protect the mechanisms which soon will be carrying more and more people and resources between the Known World and the Hollow World. The town was named Haldemar in honor of the Alphatian "discoverer" of the Hollow World; it promises to be a big city some day.

The expanding nation under Alphatian domination is named Alphatian Neatharum. Since the area's initial conquest, the Alphatian rulers and their reluctant Nogai subjects have been un*der attack by their neighbors, including the Valgrai Neathar and the Azcan Empire.

[Abe Sargent]

They are given assignments in the local army.

Two days later, Alzar and company are on guard when a large army from the Heldannic encampment is flying towards them. In a few moments, after announcing their presence, Airships have dropped fire bombs all over Haldemar, but with an earlier warning from Alzar, they are able to assemble some defenses. The city is burning, but defenses force the Heldannic foes away. Soon enough they realize the city is lost, and in a few hours, they begin retreating some of their forces back up, meanwhile others head to the surface via polar exits and such.

Alzar grabs Vix and Kelter and they grab their good items. Alzar grabs his flying carpet from OtherSpace and he casts Mass Teleport and moves them to the polar area, and then they fly up until they pass the World Shield, and then Alzar teleports them back home.

It takes around 4 days in Hollow World and then to return. Alzar communicates with Rheddrian as they return.

They arrive back in the first week of next month….




The Great Library is physically completed. Alzar, Draconus, and the monks will spend two months preparing the library It will be opened in two months.

[Abe Sargent]

Great Library at Evenarrow:

The Great Library at Evenarrow is the largest library in Pandius with 1.4 million books in it and growing. The Library has 25 floors, and the ground floor is dedicated for many resources, catalogs, check out, and more. The library is divided into two major sections. 2/3rds of the library, up through floor 18, are considered the public collection, and are available to the general public. Any citizen of Evenarrow can access the public collection, and non-citizens can access it for a one-time donation of 10 gp. On floors 19-25, are the advanced collection, which are not available for normal public use, but citizens can access them for 100 gp one-time donation, and non-citizens can get access either through a donation of 1000 gp or a magical item, rare book not in the archive, or a task given to the library equal to it. Those donations go to the general library fund used to repair books or purchase new ones.

The library features a set of 100 teleport boxes used to teleport books quickly from one floor to another. Priests of Ssu-Ma are in the role of librarians, and Draconus is constantly on duty as the Chief Librarian. The library has a number of protections, and various counter-measures.

There are Symbol spells as wards, as well as Sepia Snake Sigils, Glyphs of Warding, Page Guardians, Xult’s Magical Doom, and more. The major fire-based traps of Explosive Runes and Fire Trap aren’t used. Additionally Bookworm Bane and other spells are used to protect the areas. They used a material in the walls that will prevent scrying into the Library, as well as teleporting. There is also a special magical material in the ground that keeps anything from burrowing up into the library. Alzar has semi-permanent’d the Garrison spell that prevents things like Knock, Dig, and Passwall effects from being used to enter the Library. He has cast Invisibility Purge in a few places, and then made it Semi-Permanent. Divinatory magic is used for potential folks to access the Great Library to ensure they are doing so for the correct reason.


Alzar has kept 125,000 books in his own personal library, the crème de la crème, but many arcane and research books will be kept by him, including the key books for making constructs, and will include his spellbooks and such as well.


The Library is done!

[Abe Sargent]

GENERAL TORENAL ASSASSINATED

A party of Glantrian heroes travels to Sundsvall, the capital of Alphatia, with another letter from Prince Etienne d' Ambreville to the Empress Eriadna. This is a follow-up to the letter wherein the Glantrians claimed not to know who mur*dered Troikithus, the Alphatian spy in Glantri City. In this new letter, Prince Etienne provides the Empress with more information proving that Troikithus was an Alphatian spy; his intent is to further embarrass and inconvenience Eriadna.

While waiting for their audience with the Empress, these ad*venturers meet General Torenal, who is the leader of the Alphatian Empress's elite guard and the father of some of Eriadna's children. When last seen, the Glantrians and Torenal are chat*ting amicably in a waiting chamber near Eriadna's throne room. What happens afterwards is in dispute. Torenal and the Glantrians disappear. A day later, Alphatian investigators find the Glantrians, all drunk to unconsciousness in a tenement in the Alphatian capital. Based on evidence in the tenement hideout - dust which turns out to be human remains, spell damage in the walls, and the use of a wish spell to extract memories from the Glantrians' minds - the Alphatians conclude that the Glantrian emissaries teleported Torenal to their place of hiding, then murdered him with magical spells, burned his body, and scattered his ashes to the winds. Then, according to the officials, the Glantrian assassins got drunk to celebrate. Eriadna's efforts to use a wish spell to resurrect Torenal fails for unknown reasons; the best guess is that the assassins used some sort of unknown magic to prevent his resurrection.

Naturally, the Empress is enraged. Her father, the former Emperor Tylion IV, takes charge of the investigation, and learns some interesting things with his magic.

The Glantrian assassins say they did not perform the murder, but have conflicting memories about the events. One set of memories has them speaking briefly with Torenal, who tells them to return tomorrow, as Eriadna cannot see them until then; in this memory, the Glantrians returned to the inn where they were staying, fell asleep, and did not awaken until the Al*phatian investigators found them in another place entirely ( the tenement). In the second set of memories, Torenal told them to return tomorrow, and they were so offended by his presumption that they took him away to the tenement and murdered him out of petty revenge.

The Glantrians are confused by these twin sets of memories, but do not think of themselves as callous murderers and do not believe they killed Torenal. Eriadna, on the other hand, believes that the memories where the Glantrians are innocent have been planted somehow, in an attempt to hide the truth of the murder so they can escape justice. Tylion is sufficiently intrigued by the discrepancy that he hasn't allowed Eriadna to kill the Glantrians yet.

Eriadna breaks off formal relations with Glantri, pending fur*ther information.



CLERICAL MISSIONARIES KILLED

Clerical missionaries of the Immortal Vanya from the Heldann Territories are slaughtered while travelling through the Ethengar Khanates. The Ethengarians deny any in*volvement, though the bodies are demonstrably riddled with Ethengarian arrows and lances.

The Heldannic Territories (To Norwold’s south) have begun ambling for war with the Khanates.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 13, Month 6

They arrive back from Hollow World and Aegos.

Alzar works with Kelter to help set up some more information on the false cult of Baltac. Alzar and Kelter want to let the rest of his cult know. Alzar actually knows of an immortal that they may find more to their suitability – Vix.



With the 6th literacy Wish this year, and another rise of 1% literacy in his nation, Alzar’s literacy is now 60%, the target for Ssu-Ma

Alzar spends most of this month working on the library project. Vix finishes getting things ready, and then at the end of next month, after the library opens and is dedicated, she’ll accept the Gift of Immortality, and leave behind this mortal coil and begins as a new Entropic Immortal, Neutral, with a profile not dissimilar to Vanya’s, winning, power, throwing oneself at something, success in battle, and more.

Of course an interesting question is, did Alzar ever love Vix. No. As I mentioned before, Alzar is asexual. He did not seek out a romantic partnership until it was required for him to get more power. Then he married the strongest female he could, literally, so that he could set up his nation for long term success. It was about power. They were a good match, and had a strong loyalty to each other, but Vix was hardly the sort to stay at home and bake cookies and she never played a traditional motherly role. Neither did Alzar as a husband/father either. While Alzar took the lead on battle, that was because of his heightened intelligence and decades more experience. Vix certainly got Alzar more so than any other woman has, other then possibly Vala, his most successful former apprentice. Their bond is stronger with just head nods and such that could give major signals. They were definite battle buddies. Alzar trusted Vix completely.


But did Alzar love Vix? Romantically? No. Alzar is not that mundane.


Alzar receives a secret communiqué from Former Emperor Tylion. He is convinced of their innocence and is looking for a neutral party to send the Glantri party of heroes to outside of the realm of the eyes of anyone else. Alzar secretly agrees to take them in and keep them hidden and out of magical detection. He’ll send them to the “Dungeon” with its antiscrying magic after using magic to change their forms slightly and give them new identities.

(This is not something that was actually happening to the PCs, but in order to make Wrath of the Immortals not feel like “Our Anti-Hero on the Sideline” I have given him a few lesser roles here and there to keep him in the story)

ASSASSINS ESCAPE

The Glantrians who were supposed to have assassinated General Torenal break out of the Imperial Palace's dungeons and escape.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 13, Month 7


The Great Library opens, the size is 1st in the plane, and the various tasks for Ssu-Ma are complete:

Ssu-Ma’s Path of the Epic Hero

Win the Demonwars for Law without using the Crook of Infaust. DONE!
Create a legendary weapon. DONE! Nykthos was created!
Have the best library in Pandius. DONE! It just opened!
Open up his library to more knowledge seekers. DONE!
Turn over some of the control of his library to Ssu-Ma. DONE!
Increase the literacy rate of his nation by at least 50% (Currently 60%) – DONE!


Alzar has completed the Path of the Epic Hero


One path remains…

Vix’s immortality is gained.

Now, she is made a last minute offer by an immortal from the Sphere of Thought. While adventuring with Alzar, she has actually completed the typical Path of the Epic Hero, not Ssu-Ma’s modified one above. Vix is offered the Thought sphere if she would like. But no, she is following her mother into Entropy.



GLANTRIANS ASSASSINATED

Not long after the escape of the Glantrian emissaries, more treachery breaks out, this time in Glantri. Several Glantrian nobles having dinner together, including at least one representative of each noble family, are assassinated by a bom*bardment of lightning bolts, fire balls, death spells, and other powerful magics. The assassins, obviously very high-level magic*users, escape clean away, their identities unrevealed, though the only surviving diner (Prince Innocenti di Malapietra) can testify that the killers were wearing Alphatian-style clothing.


PUNITIVE ATTACKS BEGIN ON ETHENGAR

Without benefit of a declaration of war, the Heldannic Knights send several punitive raids into Ethengar, launching deadly lance-cavalry attacks against Ethengarian en*campments and slaughtering every last man, woman, and child encountered.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 13, Month 8

Alzar and Kelter head to the temple out in Northern Darokin

At first, Kelter's plan of action at this point is simple: he intends to go to the temple at the Cairn of Balthac and burn it to the ground. Alzar though suggests turning them as an option first. They should also be alert to the possibility of learning more about the artifact the false Balthac mentioned; perhaps temple records will give some clue to its location (if the PCs do not think of this, Kelter will suggest it).

As they are teleporting near it, they will have no trouble reaching the Temple, especially since hu*manoids give it a wide berth (the clerics there consider them tar*get practice and react with enthusiasm to their rare forays into the area). If the PCs sneak up on and reconnoitering the site, they will be able to see the general layout of the temple grounds and will be able to figure out the purpose of each building. The absence of regular patrols means that the party will have no trouble sneaking into the main temple.

The Temple of Balthac is nestled in a small dale in the mountains. The temple itself is a large rectangular building made of stone, built in archaic fashion with a colonnade all around. The windowless exterior walls are decorated with bas-relief carvings representing the heroic feats of Balthac's mortal life. There is only one door, which is closed: a great bronze valve depicting Balthac's nemesis, the great dragon Calor. The doorway faces a large heap of stones, an artificial mound about 30' high-according to legend, Calor's burial place. Three wooden buildings stand on the eastern end of the dale; two which seem to be barracks or dormitories and one large one which, judging from the smells and noises that issue from it, contains a kitchen, mess hall, and practice room for the clerics-in-training to learn weapon skills.

Alzar scries it, and thinks he has a path to success.

He tells Kelter, and he agrees. Rather than heading in and taking out the temple, he will instead do something different and Kelter agrees.

Alzar and Kelter walk in front of the temple entrance visibly. Alzar sees a large temple in just inside of the entrance. They know Kelter as “the apostate” and ask Alzar to hand him over, or to just stand aside. Alzar introduces himself to them as the Grand Duke of the Mighty, and that Kelter was someone who asked for asylum, and he granted it legally. But, he has come here to put Kelter on trial just in case to either clear or convict him, and will allow the temple to take justice.

What Alzar suggests is that all of the clerics and clerics in training and the priestess come to the main temple area, and then they will be allowed to present their evidence to Alzar as the Grand Duke, and then Kelter will be able to present his defense. And then, if Kelter is an apostate, he will be turned over and killed by the Temple of Balthac.

They take the question to their leaders. It takes a while, almost an hour, to return. Priestess Lilith is here, and she speaks with Alzar, and confirms his statements and intentions with Detect Lie.

[Abe Sargent]

They set up the trial of Kelter.

Here at the lead (and only) temple of Balthac, there are:

1 Priestess Lilith
22 Clerics in Training
11 Clerical Instructors
15 Clerics

Alzar gathers the clerics of Balthac here in the tomb of Balthac, and Kelter is tied up by Alzar to show his willingness to listen.

Then Alzar takes testimony from many clerics. They were told by the one who gave them spells that Kelter left their service and went to serve an evil entropic immortal and a number of other things to attack.

Hours of testimony is given, and Alzar accepts it meekly. He used Detect Lie openly on the various testimonies, although Priestess Lilith did not testify.

Then, at the conclusion, Alzar sums their points. Then Alzar asks Kelter to give his defense, again using Detect Lie openly, and letting the clerics cast it as well. Kelter talks of discovering that Balthac was really not Balthac but instead an entropic immortal lying and taking Balthac’s service.

The clerics clearly find Kelter’s testimony contrived. One or two comment that perhaps he’s mad or his new entropic immortal has deluded him, But they are unanimously convinced of his guilt after his twenty minutes of testimony.

Then Alzar states that there is one more witness he would want to hear from before giving his decision. He casts Time Stop, then Hold Undead, Protection from Undead and unfurls his Rope of Entanglement.

Time Stop ends, and their Priestess is held and tied down. Alzar apologizes for doing so, but they will see in a moment that the real apostate was not Kelter, but the Priestess.

While held down by the rope, Alzar cancels his Hold and then has the priest cast detect lie again.

Alzar asks a question:

Are you an undead vampire nosferatu? No! (lie)

Are you a servant of Balthac? Yes! (lie)

Is Balthac an immortal? Yes! (lie)

Alzar uses ESP to read he mind and she serves Hel. Just to ensure it:

Do you, and these other clerics, really serve Hel? No! (Lie)

Alzar turns to the group, gathers some of their holy water, and pours it on her and she screams.


Alzar turns to the crowd.

“Who is the apostate?”

They have to admit that it’s Priestess Lilith. “Then as a promised, I will slay the apostate” Alzar kills her.

[Abe Sargent]

With her dead, he then offers them someone else to worship.

They are free to go. But Alzar’s wife, the Grand Duchess of the Mighty ascended to immortality last month. Your Detect lie spells should still be working, you can verify that.

She is the Immortal of Action, of Success in Battle, Power and Warfare. Vix will keep the agreements in place, giving them the same spells, weapon usage, and everything just. Now, Alzar is honest, that Vix is in the Sphere of Entropy, but, she is not chaotic or evil, their alignments is also neutral or lawful, like others recently admitted, her goal in joining the Sphere was to help push it to a more practical and saner place.

They can confirm the truth, and given that it’s not different from their views of Balthac, they accept Vix. A few leave, but most stay. Kelter will become the head of this Temple to Vix, the first in Mystara.

Alzar finds in the shrine, the bones of the dead dragon Balthac killed long ago, and:

Camb: Elven two-handed sword + 3, + 5 vs. Dragonkind, intelligent (no communication), talent of extinguishing.

Alzar reports his findings to Rheddrian. This is Hel.



When he returns, he finds a duplicate of the Android Bodyguard, and now has two.




GLANTRI DEMANDS JUSTICE, THYATIS INTERVENES


The united Princes of Glantri send word to Em*press Eriadna of Alphatia, instructing her to surrender the assas*sins to Glantrian justice. Everyone expects that.

But it's a surprise when Thincol I, Emperor of Thyatis, sends Alphatia a stern warning, saying that it is obvious the assassina*tions were performed by Alphatia in retribution for the death of General Torenal, and informing Eriadna that Alphatia will not be allowed to extend her territorial holdings through these treacherous means.

Eriadna of Alphatia replies that it was not involved in the deaths and that Thyatis had best keep its attention to its own territories. It is obvious from this event that Glantri and Thyatis have secretly achieved some sort of alliance.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 13, Month 9

Alzar tries to get to Glantri City to check out the magic artifact he has found out about, but the immortal Rad is not allowing entrance. He can’s teleport, Shadowshift, or anything else. He can’t scry it anymore either. Glantri City is locked to Alzar for the time being.

Alzar continues to flesh out his road network.

Alzar orders another 5000 troops built in his Grand Duchy and spend some time investing in his navy as well, in order to be prepared.

No major events occur, save for him working on the magical item for Nyx. An early and harsh winter ends construction early as well.



THE TEMPLE OF ASTERIUS BURNS

In Alphatia, dozens of temples of the Immortal Asterius are burned to the ground over a period of days. The Alphatian authorities capture the arsonists-a band of Glantr*ians.

These Glantrians, elves of the Erewan clan, claim to have been envoys from Glantri to Darokin. They say that they were magically put to sleep and awakened within a burning temple of Asterius. However, magical probing with a wish spell reveals that they, too, have two sets of memories about the event. One set clearly shows the elves accepting a mysterious cloaked man's commission to destroy the temples of Asterius.

Empress Eriadna rushes the investigation through the judicial system; the Glantrian elves are quickly tried and sentenced to death.

The Princes of Glantri protest the trial but make no direct attempt to rescue their envoys. They instead sent evidence that the elves were in Glantri at the time of the burning, and were seen on the road by more than 50 witnesses, verified by magical means, but this is deemed biased information.

(By the way, it’s Alphaks behind the scenes causing some of these issues, in order to bring Rad and Ixion into war more quickly than either want.)

[Abe Sargent]

Year 13, Month 10

More bookfinds and research. This month. With Vix gone, Alzar spends some time taking out a few dungeons instead.

Corran Keep is up and running. The Corran Barony begins this month officially. Alzar holds a huge party in the capital for them.

Alzar spends some time working on upgrading the educational infrastructure here.

He preemptively teleports to the great ice bridge forming in the north and destroys it before any Frost Giants think of crossing. The Fire Elementals he summoned really seemed to enjoy it.



Year 13, Month 11

More bookfinds and research. A few crimes are committed, but Alzar finds and takes them out. Publicly.


ALPHATIAN ARMADA AND CITY BURNED

As the Erewan elves were convicted of burning the temples of Asterius, then Glantri sends a crack unit of mages to free them. They broke into the Imperial Palace's dungeons and rescue the Erewan elves.

Later, escaping from the continent of Alphatia, they stop in at the city of Aasla, which is the main port of the Alphatian navy's sky-ship armada. They steal a naval sky-ship and make their es*cape, starting a fire among several other ships to conceal their departure and delay pursuit.

Unfortunately, before the mages of Aasla can put out the fire, it grows into a firestorm. Amazing amounts of heated air from the sky-ship fire rises from the city; more air rushes in from the surrounding countryside. The fire spreads and the cycle con*tinues, turning the city into an inferno. When all is done, days later, the city is a crumbling acropolis of ash; half its population, especially the non-spellcasting citizens, are dead.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 13, Month 12

More bookfinds and research. Literacy is up to 63%. The Great Library has been a big hit and dozens of scholars and academicians are there daily. He stopped a high profile thief trying to get into the library and steal some valuable books. He goes public about stopping the thief to help deter others.

Alzar’s stats rise +1 each and he makes two more Silver Golems.

Alzar’s research finishes and the magical item is made!



Update for Entropy:




Nyx’s Fifth Path to Entropy

Create a new race of undead, introduce them to the world, and have them grow and flourish for 2 years. Mighty Wight created, Ongoing
Find an artifact of Ixion, and destroy it. DONE
Defile a temple of Ixion’s. DONE
Create a new school of shadow magic here on Pandius, and support it’s creation. Mostly Done
Add darkness to Pandius in some major way (literally, not figuratively). DONE
Create a magical item dedicated to the cause of Nyx. DONE


He should be finished next year for the 1st and 4th tasks.


With the rise of tempers and battles, countless pirates and bandits are seeing this as an opportunity and Alzar has been seeing heightened raids.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 14, Month 1

Bookfinds are ongoing.

Alzar is investing a lot of time in his Consume Knowledge spell that eats a book to give him the knowledge of that book, and he’ll teleport to Thorasia and do a few each day with extra books made by Bookcopy.


Cold reigns over Norwold heavy.


WAR DECLARED

Empress Eriadna of Alphatia, having sorted through the ruins of the city of Aasla and determined what has happened, issues a proclamation of war against Glantri.


Immediately thereafter, the Principalities of Glantri declare war upon the Empire of Alphatia. Considering Glantri's much smaller size, this sounds like a joke-until the next day, when the Empire of Thyatis and the Heldannic Knights both declare war on Alphatia as well.


This is a grim day for Rad, who has been trying to delay the outbreak of war as long as possible, and a victory for the Ring of Fire. Alphatia and Thyatis, the two greatest political powers of the Known World, are now at war.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 14, Month 2


This month Alzar spies an attack on his underground city at Ith Khinax. This former beholder home is a few miles underground and he cleaned it out and the uses it at the central depository for his undead and demons who patrol the streets, and he walled off the entrances. He uses it as a backup powerbase.

A group of 4 beholder scouts broke through the wall easily with disintegrate rays and are attacking his base. He teleports down there and destroys them and rebuilds the wall. He adds Bastion spells to the main entrances this month, and focuses more on Ith Khinax defenses.

Nyx blesses Ith Khinax and the undead there won’t be able to be turned, destroyed or controlled away from Alzar.


More bookfinds erupt.



ALPHATIA BUILDS FORCES

The Empire of Alphatia, caught off-guard by Thyatis's declaration of war, finds that it cannot immediately send conventional invasion forces against Glantri; Thyatis and the Heldannic Knights can interfere along every approach to Glantri. Also, the largest available sky-fleet was the one de*stroyed at Aasla, further limiting Alphatia's mobility with normal troops. So they decide on a longer, more grueling plan for the conquest of Glantri. First, they must eliminate the Empire of Thyatis as an obstacle, and the first step in this plan is to take over the Isle of Dawn.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 14, Month 3

Alzar has a major pirate force hit some of the privately owned merchants from his nation off Landfall. They sink four ships, capture two more, and looted the entire fleet. Alzar spies them returning to Landfall.

Alzar is done with this. He is done with Landfall.


Alzar teleports to Alpha, and requests a meeting with King Ericall. The King and Alzar don’t get along too well after Alzar declared independence, and then supported military, Oceansend’s War of Independence. but they have had a sort of “Don’t bother each other” set of relations since Alzar secured Norwold’s peace last year in Edairo.

Alzar shows his evidence and scrying. Pirate ships from Landfall took out a merchant fleet of six of his ships. If that happened from Alzar’s domain, what would Ericall want?

King Ericall guaranteed his independence. This is an act of war. If it continues, Alzar cannot respond save by an Act of War back. How can Ericall guarantee his independence when he lets Landfall be? How many times have Landfall pirates or bandits raided Alzar?

Ericall has no answers, just platitudes.

Alzar returns home.

That night, Alzar makes it personal mission to destroy Landfall.



KHANATE RETURNS RAIDS

Incensed by raids into it’s territory, the Ethengar Khanate raids back and hits the Heldannic Knights hard, thus hurting their immediate ability to help Glantri.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 14, Month 4


Alzar heads to Freiburg, the capital of the Heldannic Knights, and to the south of Norwold and Landfall. Alzar takes out of the Khanate raids with some allies and himself, as a sign of good will towards the Knights.

Alzar asks for the Knights help. He wants Landfall removed from the map. These are crusading knights and paladins, and they don’t like Landfall as a haven for thugs, bandits and pirates being right next door anymore than he does. He tells them of their recent raid, but Alzar is afraid Norwold will punish him if he moves to take out Landfall on his own, so he needs someone else to take them out.

He offers to support any military offensive north into Landfall.

More bookfinds and such.

Alzar stops a bunch more raids and removes bandits from his nation.



ALPHATIA SENDS MONSTERS


Since Alphatia can not yet attack Glantri di*rectly, they decide on a stop-gap attack: a reign of terror which they can set into motion without having to monitor.

Hundreds of Alphatian wizards travel secretly to Glantri and conjure hordes of monsters-many of them from other planes-and re*lease them in Glantri. The monsters rampage across the civilian population of Glantri, and the Glantrian wizards have a hard time keeping the monsters in line.

Unfortunately, many of the monsters spill over the borders in*to Wendar, Darokin, the Broken Lands, the Ethengar Khanate, and even into Alfheim. The Khanate has to pull back some of its punitive raids to deal with many monsters poring over their border with Glantri.

During the monster raids, Alzar reaches out to some of the nations raided to see if they need any assistance, but his proffers are not taken.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 14, Month 5

Today, the Shadow Mage school has been around enough that it has caught on, and that aspect of Alzar’s path is now complete.

Alzar stops an earthquake in Norwold early in its run with magic.

An ancient volcano to the west about four hexes outside of Alzar’s territory begins to give off smoke, it’s active again.

As always, Alzar hits a few lairs and smaller dungeons.

Alzar orders an amphitheater built in Evenarrow. It won’t take too long or too much money.

Amphitheater – This 2500 person outdoor amphitheater is outside of the city walls of Evenarrow on a nearby hill overlooking the capital city.


After researching it, Alzar is ready to use the Gargantuan Basilisk Egg, and secures hatching it, and it will be raised and used for defending Alzar’s keep basement after being raised for a few years.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 14, Month 6


The volcano erupts! Luckily it’s not in his region, but soot and ash are, and they are hitting the landscape there hard. Alzar is using control weather magic to force rain and well as using spells like Create Water to assist. There will be a hit to crops and such for this year, and realm confidence drops.

The number of undead Alzar controls has passed 5000

Alzar turns down an offer of marriage from Empress Eradne’s family to bind him back to Alphatia.

Infaust’s monastery has been around long enough now that monks and servants of Infaust have begun to serve the capital and government in various ways. They have added to the growing intelligencia of the area.


WEST PORTAGE FALLS

The Alphatians on the Isle of Dawn begin the ground war by assaulting the Fortress of Kendach and the Hold of Fenswatch, the fortifications which defend the critical town of West Portage, where elements of the Thyatian Fleet are still be*ing prepared for war in West Portage's shipyards.

Over a period of a few weeks, the Alphatians box in the two citadels and then send troops directly against West Portage. The garrison at West Portage puts up a spirited defense ... but even*tually falls before the Alphatians. Soon afterward, Kendach and Fenswatch also fall.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 14, Month 7

After some time spent mining it in Tragidore and working on it here and there, Alzar’s Valorite Golem has been animated:


“Unbreakable” Valorite Golem:

AC -5, HP 100, THACO 1, 2 punches for 2d10+5 damage. This is the most powerful metal golem on Pandius, as Valorite is the most valuable metal made here. The power of this golem is just shy of the diamond golem Alzar captured and secured.


The Heldannic Knights reached out to Alzar and told him they were unable to hit Landfall anytime soon, and thus, Alzar is essentially on his own.


Year 14, Month 8

Alzar uses his teleport spell spell (Spelldoor) to teleport spells like Mass Charm. He teleports in and will Virus Charm a boat, and then Mass Suggestion another. 6 boats joins his cause and leave Landfall. Equal to the number his merchants lost.

He takes another 6 over the next week, here and there with a different path each time, as they use anti-charm magic then others. Once Alzar’s death spell and Wail of the Banshee will kills the crew and then animates them to return a ship. Another time he’ll use water elementals to move an empty ship back. Each time something different, a different way to attack. 6 ships for his navy and 6 ships to give back to those who lost theirs.

Two days later, Alzar teleports to just outside of Landfall’s harbor. He summons every water and air elemental he can. This includes Censor and Bowl, Face of Xenous, spells, Ring of Water Command, he summons flyers like his Griffin, Nightmare, Dire Bats, and creates the Ebony Fly, Glass Griffin miniatures and more. Alzar is on his Wind Chariot. He leads an attack with this horde.

His goal is to destroy the Landfall docks. He wants to remove their naval capabilities. There’s aren’t too many ships in harbor right now, as Alzar scared them away, and thus he is able to close pretty quickly. In about an hour, Alzar’s army is dead, destroyed, abjured and taken out. The docks are burning from some fiery creatures he summoned after arriving, like his Searing Serpent. They have been contained, and nothing inside the city is in danger of burning.

Landfall’s naval capacity is ended.





KHANATE INVADES DAROKIN

The Ethengar Khanate launches a lightning-swift attack into Darokin, overwhelming the defenders and driving the armies of Darokin back before it. Within weeks, the great cities of Akesoli and Akorros have fallen. The tattered remnants of the Legions of the Republic fall back through the hills east of Akorros to defend Darokin City. In those hills, units of the defending army try to dig in their heels
and make a last stand so that the other forces can get to the capi*tal safely.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 14, Month 9

More bookfinds follow.


Alzar teleports to Hamedh and heads to Khaibar and finds Ibrahim’s Mint Tea Parlor. He takes it and copies and creates an identical copy for his capital.

Alzar has another offer from marriage, this time from Thyatis, and again, he declines.


Alzar is sent a summons letter by King Ericall, and he agrees after grabbing the Peaceful Periapt of Pax. He is excoriated by his neighbor. As Alzar reminds King Ericall, his people have been attacking by Landfall again, and again, and again, mostly at sea. Alzar has thus acted in self-defense to remove Landfall’s ability to hurt his people at sea. It was a measured and reasonable response to an act of war that Ericall’s nation allowed, and has been allowing, and did not give Alzar any justice or recompense. So as the duly appointed ruler, he did was he had to for his people.


Ericall has no bullets in his gun. He’s not going to do anything against Alzar when he’s correct.



SABOTAGE IN ALPHATIA


Glantrian wizard-adventurers travel to Sunds*vall, capital of Alphatia, and harass Alphatian nobles there *fire-bombing noble estates, launching hit-and-run attacks on wizards and military officers, releasing conjured monsters in the streets, and the like.

The actual damage they do is negligible, but these incidents polarize opinions about the war in Alphatia- some are out*raged and demand Glantri be punished, while others wistfully recall the old days when this sort of thing didn't happen in Alphatia. The latter group begin to speak out in favor of isola*tionist policies that would enable them to just be left alone with their studies.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 14, Month 10

As one of the few areas currently not in war, the Norwold Region nations are seen as a heavy place to head to by refugees. Norwold, in particular, is benefiting as the closest one, and Oceansend as well. Alzar is getting some refugees as well, but it’s a trickle.

He uses divinatory magic to ensure they won’t be a problem, and then they are welcome here.


Alzar is contacted by McAlister, priest of Korylis, who wants his help. There are two small nations currently at war that Korylis thinks Alzar and the Peaceful Periapt of Pax can help bring to the negotiating table, and then to peace.

Alzar tries. He teleports Finnister McAlister there as well as Alzar and they have a negotiations, but they never go anywhere, and peace is lost to this era.



Year 14, Month 11

The Mighty Wight has been around enough to secure it’s strength, and Alzar has completed his immortality quest!

He will not leave right now, the world is in a dangerous place. But that has finished, and for the first time in years and years, Alzar is once again his own.


KARAMEIKOS SELLS OUT


Karameikos, makes a secret diplomatic mission to Sundsvall. On his return, Duke Stefan announces that hence*forth his country will no longer be a "Grand Duchy" but the Kingdom of Karameikos, with himself as King Stefan I.

The terms of the treaty of mutual peace and neutrality Teldon has just negotiated with Alphatia soon become public knowl*edge. The newly-established Kingdom of Karameikos agrees not to help Thyatis in this war-in effect, selling out their longtime allies. In return, Alphatia agrees to recognize Karameikos's in*dependence and to set up a school of magic in the Karameikan capital of Specularum.

This treaty is one of the major events of the war. Duke ( now King) Stefan has long desired his own throne, completely free of any allegiance to his old friend, Emperor Thincol. With Thy- atis's troops committed to the war with Alphatia, Stefan has chosen this moment to declare his independence, when Thincol can hardly spare the men to re-take Karameikos (which has been autonomous for the last three-and-a-half decades anyway).

Stefan has received Empress Eriadna's assurance that Alphatia does not perceive Karameikos to be Thincol's ally. He believes that Thyatis is doomed and rationalizes his betrayal of his home*land by saying that the steps he has taken will insure that Thyatian culture survives even if the Empire is destroyed. He also recognizes the very real danger posed by the Ethengar Khanate in Darokin. Finally, by establishing a school of magic, he is looking to the future, hoping to increase his nation's magical ability in upcoming years.

Within weeks of the treaty's being made public, the best units of Karameikos's military forces march and sail west to relieve the pressure on Darokin. En route, they join halfling forces from the Five Shires and a small number of elven units from Alfheim.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 14, Month 12

Literacy is at 69%

Alzar’s stats get +1


Alzar is going to follow Karameikos’s lead on two major things.

First, Alzar is going to officially change his title to King and his nation to the Kingdom of the Mighty, but then he is also going to try and start a wizard college of some sort.

He throws a huge party for the new title, and a ton of people attend! Lots of people (cough dwarves cough) get drunk!

The volcano has stopped erupting.

2 more Silver Golems animated

[Abe Sargent]

Year 15, Month 1


Alzar is having in increasing diplomatic role on Pandius as the ruler of a smaller realm, far to the north. He is seen as neutral, but firm, and multiple nations, like Darokin, Glantri, Karameikos, Alfheim, the Five Shires, and more have open up official communications with him, rather than just ignoring him in the north.

A quiet winter pauses as Alzar puts down a small ice rebellion to the north as ice and snow creatures attack en masse. It takes three days for Alzar to end it, and he lost more than 80 of his people in the attacks.



REDSTONE CASTLE UNDER SIEGE

On the Isle of Dawn, the Alphatian army at*tempts to secure the center of the island, turning its attention to Redstone Castle.


ROCKHOME GOES SILENT

There is just one nation on Pandius that is just a dwarf hold, Rockhome. There are smaller dwarf holds in other places, but only Rockhome is the dwarf home.

The dwarves of Rockhome have had enough. It is evident to them that the world has gone mad ... and they do not wish to be driven mad with it.
King Everast declares a state of emergency and commands his entire population to "go deep." Within weeks, every dwarf in Rockhome is locked up securely in a deep cave, a cavernous city, or some other subterranean community; all the surface dwell*ings of the nation are stripped bare, their furnishings and trea*sures safely hidden underground. The nation of Rockhome literally disappears from the face of Mystara.

This will not effect non-Rockhome areas, like Alzar’s dwarfhold in Hammerhelm.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 15, Month 2

Winter ends early, and construction re-continues.

Alzar ends some more raids. He also continues to head out every month to ruins, lairs, underground complexes and more to clean out baddies.

Alzar levels up.


KHANATE LOSES DAROKIN CITY

The forces of Karameikos, allied with military units from the Five Shires and Alfheim, march to Darokin City, which is now besieged by the Desert Nomads. They lift the siege on the city, reinforce the legions there, and then begin taking the war back to the Master. Over the next few weeks, the over*extended Desert Nomads are slowly driven back.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 15, Month 3

More refugees come in.

Civil strife in Norwold has ousted several leaders, including Claransa the Seer.

Temples for Bemarris and the Halfling immortals are complete.





ALFHEIM TREES WITHER

With the coming of spring, the trees of the forest of Canolbarth begin to darken, twist, and mutate into sinister things. The elves of Alfheim are at a loss to explain the mutation, other than to guess that something in the fallout from the ash of the volcano is causing it. Whatever its origin, they are helpless to halt it. The forest becomes increasingly inhospitable to the elves.


Alzar hears about it from some of his contacts, and he offers some magical aid. He has some sylvan based magical items and such. He teleports to Alfheim and talks with some of the leaders of the various clans here and gets a little information from them. It started a few weeks ago. Alzar Worldwalks in some aid from his own elves to assist.


Alzar finds some unusual looking Elves here, that are similar to the sea elves of Minrithod on the islands out there, smaller, blonder, pale, but with larger eyes and ears and some strange markings like tattoos. He spies them slipping out of a cave, and then watches as the band of 9 elves head out to a sentry and attack it. Alzar helps the sentry, paralyses the Elves, and then turns them over.


These are Shadow Elves, a lawful neutral band of xenophobic elves that live underground nearby and have been looking to return to the surface world. Alfheim will investigate it, with a forewarning given by Alzar.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 15, Month 4 –

This month, construction on the Mercenary Review Board area in his capital is open. This is to be a clearinghouse of mercenary employment that guarantees that all mercenary units and purchasers are acting in good faith by the use of divinatory magic

Alzar begins working on major beautification projects in Evenarrow such as fountains, statues, and plants.

Alzar orders the creation of an Arboretum of Plants from Thorasia that are unique to that plane that can be used as an interesting exploration and away place.

Alzar has begun working a new spell:





Alzar’s Continual Incense, Alteration
Level 3
Casting Time: 3
Components: VS
Duration: Permanent

This spell essentially creates a fragrant small like incense burning, and is chosen at the time of the casting. That odor will be smelled in perpetuity.

It will take 3 months for research and 2 to make.

After it is made, Alzar will use it to give his Evenarrow, and Kingdom, a continual fragrant smelling area. It can be placed on an item and then secured when not needed.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 15, Month 5 -


Alzar hires a third Magist for his nation, and will work on a new tower for her.


Aleigha brings to Alzar news of a major corruption scandal is unearthed in Alzar’s realm. He finds the sheriff responsible, has a public trial, uses divination magic to uncover the truth, and then finds him guilty, sanctions him, and replaces him. Realm confidence drops.


After war on the Isle of the Dawn spreads, Shellsnapper is concerned about his people. Alzar, Shellsnapper and Feldspar head over to the Island, and they bring back a few tribes of phanaton that were about to be killed and in the path of armies and such. They relocate to Alzar’s Kingdom. The Hunakoi are fine. No one messes with giants. They return.


Phanaton – 3 tribes 450


KHANATE DRIVEN FROM DAROKIN, FINAL REVENGE, METEOR DESTROYS ALL IN PATH


The leader of the Khanate plunge into Darokin has been de*feated. His forces retreat back across the border. As a final defiant gesture, the leader formally curses those who have defeated him.

To everyone's surprise, the curse has an immediate and deadly effect. Only a few days later, an enormous meteor smashes through the sky and slams into northern Darokin, on the Darokin/ Glantri border.

The impact destroys an entire range of mountains, creating a crater dozens of miles in diameter. The resulting earthquake knocks down buildings as far south as Akesoli and can be felt as far north as Glantri City .. In Glantri, the Principalities of Black*stone and Caurenze are devastated, as is most of Darokin north of Lake Amsorak. The cloud rising from the impact is larger than some countries. Stretched by the last western winds of the sea*son, the cloud covers all of southern Glantri and northern Darokin out as far east as the middle of Alfheim.

The immediate loss of life is tragic, but Glantri survives. However, the impenetrable cloud stays in the air for days, block*ing out the sun. When it finally starts to settle, ash covers every*thing, killing plants and fouling drinking water. Together the cloud and ash have a catastrophic result on the crops of both countries, ruining the harvest and threatening famine for the upcoming year. Popular opinion in Glantri credits the attack to Alphatia; the Glantrians vow to make the Alphatians pay if they have to fight to the last wizard.


(The meteor was sent by Alphaks.)

[Abe Sargent]

Year 15, Month 6 –

The first mercenaries are coming to Evenarrow, or sending a rep here.

Alzar’s huge Evenarrow expansion with the doubling of the walls and the huge increase in area covered is complete!

Alzar reaches out to other tribes he is aware of to ensure that wars are not hurting them. What about the Aarakocra? Alzar finds a few and relocates them to the Ljallenvals. He finds that the gnomes are okay, and the tabi as well, and everything up at Serraine is operating smoothly.


Alzar checks out Jakondar, Isle of Destiny, and they are far away from the war and barely know what is going on. The savage coast as well.


YLARIUM RAIDS THYATIS

With Thyatis focused on the Isle of Dawn, a bold young emir decides to take advantage of Thyatis's distraction.

Zealot followers of the "Desert Garden" philosophy of al*Kalim execute a brilliant nighttime crossing of the Altan Tepes mountains into northern Thyatis. The wholly-unexpected attack takes the Thyatians at Fort Nikos off guard. Convinced that they are hopelessly outnumbered, the Thyatian commander surren*ders without a single life being lost on either side. The next day, the Ylari seize the town of Biazzan, capital of the Barony of Biazzan; the civilian authorities in Biazzan also promptly surrender rather than face massacre.

Thyatis now has a new enemy to face: the forces of Ylaruam, who are already on Thyatian soil. Thyatis must summon up reserves forming in Thyatis and recall units from the Isle of Dawn to cope with the new threat.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 15, Month 7 –


The first mercenary unit is hired in Evenarrow.

The Great Library is growing in popularity more and more.

The Spell is researched. Alzar gives it to his Magists to begin spreading to various places, starting with places that might not have the best smell in the world.

A spy attempt works, and one of Alzar’s courtiers is slain.

A meteor shower arrives and it’s quite beautiful.

The Barony of Qoedhar in Alphatia raids Alzar’s nation, and an army of 150 lands and begins raiding his coast.

After the spell is completed:

Alzar begins work on a set of 10 teleport pads around his Kingdom that will work as giant large teleport boxes and enable people to teleport from one area to another.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 15, Month 8

Alzar has removed the Qoedhar taint from his coast violently. He confirmed magically these were sent by Qoedhar, not just trying to trick him. Alzar casts scrying magic on the Baron (ESP from his C Ball of ESP), to no good result. He knew about it and actively kept it at arms in order to keep himself from knowing too much.

Alzar casts True Sight on the bedchamber with Spelldoor to see any magic defenses, traps and such. Once he knows the baron is alone, Alzar teleports to his bedchamber and casts Time Stop, Alzar casts Laudryn’s Cleaving (just in case) and then Power Word Stun and Slumber. He is stunned. Alzar teleports him back home as a war criminal.

Baron Qoedhar is publicly tried for the death of the 54 peasants that died. Divinatory magic reveals he had given a tacit instruction to carry it out. Meanwhile a fleet of ships from the Barony is on its way.

The Baron is found guilty by Alzar. Alzar takes 10,000 gp from him for each person dead, forces him to use a scroll that gives him the CON drops from permanency spells Alzar needs to cast, casts Forget on him so he won’t remember the scroll but he will his guilt, and then sends him back to the ship. The fleet stops and takes theirs stunned ruler back. Where possible, Alzar and his people restore the lives of those they can. The rest are given 10k gp each.


Alzar attends the wedding of Baron Corran, his courtier.

More refugees arrive, and some aren’t sapient. There are animals and owl bears and such coming across his borders.

Alzar gets more politically minded marriages proposals and declines.

Alzar’s secret lycanthrope network of spies, counter-spies, police and such is now more than 100 strong.



ETHENGAR REVOLTS

The Great Khan of Ethengar, whose people have suffered from several savage raids by the Heldannic Knights and have been pushed eastward by the choking black clouds from Darokin after losing there, has just started a powerful rebellion and civil war. This frees the Heldann Territories to focus on aiding Glantri.


THYATIS / HELDANNIC KNIGHTS SIGN TREATY

Though the Heldannic Knights and Empire of Thyatis were both defenders of Glantri, they had no formal alli*ance before now. This season, they sign a treaty of alliance. This alerts the Ylari that the Emirates may have enemies attacking by sea from both north and south if they do not leave Thyatis alone; it alerts the Ethengarians that they may face an additional enemy in Thyatis once the war with Alphatia ends.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 15, Month 9

The second mercenary unit is hired in Evenarrow.

The new spell is completed.

Alzar is working on making some more items that he likes, such as Quill of Bookcopy that he already knows how to make.

Alzar spends much of this month dealing with a lack of food in Heldan, and helping the people there, as Alzar seeks to improve relations with them. He sees a future where the holdings of Norwold he wants (cough Leeha cough) goes to him and the others to the Knights. His nation is oddly shaped, and there are places he really needs to better defend itself.

THAR RAIDS GLANTRI

Thar, the famous humanoid leader of the Broken Lands, analyzes the confusion in the human nations and decides that his humanoids can reap great rewards by acting now. He calls for more humanoid hordes from the Altan Tepes range and the Wendar Ranges to join him, and leads the largest humanoid horde assembled in living memory from his Broken Lands to the Darokin Crater. His strategy is to side-step the well-guarded paths and passes that separate the Broken Lands from its neighbors by launching his invasion from an unexpected direction.

From the harsh, forbidding landscape of the crater, Thar un*leashes his hordes into northern Darokin and southern Glantri. These forces sack and pillage what remain of the southern prin*cipalities. The Glantrians fight ferociously to keep their lives and properties, but fall back before the seemingly numberless humanoids pouring across the border.

Within a few weeks, Glantri City is an armed camp, besieged by thousands of humanoids under Thar's command. The capital has so many wizards that the city escapes being overrun or starved out. However, Thar has so many thousands of human*oids that the Glantrian wizards just can't kill enough to get rid of them ... and the humanoids are sacking, pillaging, and de*stroying the countryside for miles around. It is a stand-off.


Alzar still can’t teleport to Glantri City or get there, he is blocked by the immortal Rad. Otherwise he’d likely try to help against Thar.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 15, Month 10




REDSTONE CASTLE AND NEWKIRK FALL


After a long siege that was not being won, on the Isle of Dawn, the Alphatians had still not been able to take Redstone Castle, so they kept their forces in place there and send reinforcements further north to Newkirk in a surprise attack. They smash through the city's defenses and occupy the city. Heroic defense by units of the Eastern Thyatian Legion allow the majority of Thyatian troops to evacuate the city and take ship for home, landing in the town of Dawn point in the Duchy of Tel Akbir.

Within a couple of weeks, Redstone Castle's commanders re*alize that their situation is hopeless and surrender. Alphatia now owns the central parts of the Isle of Dawn from West Portage up to Redstone.
On mainland Thyatis, the Thyatian troops are becoming depressed as they lose battle after battle after battle.

Year 15, Month 11

After spending a lot of time, Alzar has finished Restoring the destroyed scrolls, papyrus, and books from the Edairo Library, and they are reviewed, and those that are appropriate are added to the Great Library collection while the others are in Alzar’s personal one.

One of Alzar’s Magists dues in childbirth and he resurrects her.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 15, Month 12

By the end of the year, 6 mercenary units have been hired.

Saffir is under attack by nearby humanoids seeking to escape the cold and Alzar teleports over and ends it.

2 more Silver Golems.

Literacy is now 69%.

Alzar’s stats are now capped at 22.

[Abe Sargent]

Year 16, Month 1

A new resource is found in the area just past the Ljallenvals as the local farmers discover the land is also good for growing grapes and wines.

Alzar has to deal with major blizzards this month and helps to keep things warm in various places.

YLARIUM RETREATS

The Ylari forces in Biazzan, seeing that they cannot continue to hold the Duchy against all the returning armies the Thyatians can throw at them, decide to withdraw. The entire force slips away before the approaching Thyatians are aware, getting all their people away as well as the greater part of Biazzan's wealth. By the time the Thyatian generals realize what has happened, the Ylari are across the mountains and well out of range of pursuit.



ALFHEIM FALLS

In Alfheim, invasions by the Shadow Elves have grown overt. The Shadow Elves come springing out of tunnels in the ground, attacking from within community boundaries. Canolbarth forest continues to mutate into something horrid to the eyes of the Alfheim elves, and their trees of life, living artifacts bound to the fates of the elves, are now dying.

In a move that shocks Alfheim's friends in Darokin, the elves of Alfheim flee their country, bearing with them healthy cuttings from the trees of life. Half head north through Ethengar toward the elven kingdom of Wendar in the north. The other half, with the permission and cooperation of King Stefan, head toward Karameikos.

The Shadow Elves occupy the completely mutated Canolbarth forest. They rename their new nation Aengmor, after a near-legendary city they built and lost more than two thou*sand years ago.


Alzar spends much of the month helping the elves in Alfheim win smaller battles against Shadow Elf raids. He also agrees to take some of the Elves back to his place. Unlike the long walk overland to Wendar or Karameikos, which will takes months in winter through multiple countries and hostile lands, Alzar’s offer of refuge is heard, and 8500 elven refuges are relcoated to his Grand Duchy, bring many Great Trees of Life with them. Alzar opens up Worldwake gates that last a day and allow anyone to cross back and forth as many times as they wish as methods of opening up gates. He also commits his Sky Castle to the mobile defense of local elven forces and protection thereof.

The Elves will create three major Elf-Holds in the south of his nation, along the great bay, on the eastern Lothbarth Forest. They will have Trees of Life and have exported many things to help recreate their cities quickly. Alzar has cast Control Weather to becalm the area to help their move and adjustment as well. They send their library to Wendar, and Alzar will still be able to finish the book-copying there once it’s completed it’s move north-west.


Alzar orders a Temple for Isundel, Patron of the Elves, in Evenarrow.