Chaos On A Cellular Level

Treas 8, 5540

The Party:

• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger Red Dragonborn Ranger
• Wendy, Terrifying Clown Bard
• Aria Balakdo, Gnomish Librarian
  • Emily Emerald, Librarian Guard
  • Gunilla Sandström, White Mage
  • Lautaro Rodriguez, Explorer
• Characters retired (for now, at least):
  • Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
    • Flit, bat familiar
    • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
    • Midnight, Panther
    • Noona, Lion
    • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
      • Rawf, Wardog familiar
      • Aroof, Wardog familiar
    • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
      • The Metal Man, construct
  • Caranthir, Human Leader of Men Dragon
    • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
    • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
    • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
    • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
  • Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

Treas 8, 5540

Before I start, a reminder on how XP and leveling works:

• XP gained from fighting monsters is gained at the beginning of the next session
• XP gained from coins and gems is gained once it leaves the dungeon/nest/encounter
• XP gained from trade goods (barrels of rum, monster parts, etc.) is gained once the goods have been sold.
• You can't gain more than 1 level per session; if you would gain 2 levels, instead you are 1 XP away from your next level.
• If a henchman gains a level, he immediately rolls to see if he stays in your service: +1 for each level gained while in your service (including this one), -1 for each catastrophic event (losing an arm, dying, etc.), plus any morale bonuses. If a henchman levels above your own, the henchman will immediately leave your service.

This is important, because while youve gotten a bit of treasure... it's not going to level you up until you haul it out of the dungeon. And now, on to the adventure!

Deciding to travel into the dungeon, regardless of the warnings of its guardians, the party headed inside through a particularly resilient door. After wandering through some very empty rooms and down some well-made stairs (though not of dwarven make), they found a large dome of some sort, with a huge door set in the top. After much struggling, Wendy and Crolack managed to open it, revealing a tube of some sort, set into the floor. Looking down inside, a tiny dot of light could be seen below, just a glimmer in absolute darkness. Saphira chucked a pebble with Light cast on it inside, and watched it fall down and down, until it seemed to just blend into the tiny dot of light below. Whatever it was, the hole was likely hundreds of feet below them.

Exploring around, Crolack found another heavy door, locked; nearby was another door, though with no visible knob or latch. Opting for the more door-like door, Crolack bashed on it a while, and managed to get it open. Behind the door were a lot of metal stairs - about 100 feet down in switchback stairs. At the bottom, there were a few boxes stacked, in not-too-terrible condition. Sorting through, they found:

• 6,000 silver pieces (600 gp, 6 st)
• 75,000 copper pieces (600 gp, 60 st)
• 204 bricks of salt (7sp, 1/2st each) (142.8 gp, 102 st)
• 53 ingots of common metals (1gp, 1/2st each) (53 gp, 26.5 st)

The passage was wide and clean, with no signs of life anywhere. It curved, gently, both down and away from the door. Venturing along the passage, the party found a largish room, circular, with a large pole in the exact center of the room - Saphira correctly summarized that it was the same tube they found above.

After a bit of searching, the party found a small secret door: only a few square feet, with some items stashed inside:

• 500 cp (1/2 st)
• 2 metamphora of preserved special components (1st/60gp, 800 gp each) (1600 gp, 265.6 st)
• 2 silver arrows, each worth 5gp (10 gp, 0.3334 st)

Also in the nook was a large red button, which Wendy was about to happily press, but Crolack got there first. Almost immediately, the room lurched, and began spinning around! As it spun, it dropped, as if it were on a huge screw. It dropped down and down, until finally grinding to a halt. The door was blocked with solid stone, though a tiny sliver of a gap was visible. Wendy flexed his muscles, and with a herculean shove, managed to drag the room about half an inch, giving him enoguh of a view to show that the crack was another doorway, and hypothetically, the two doorways were supposed to align. After much grunting and shoving, Crolack and Wendy managed to move the door another quarter of an inch, but no more. Sighing, Wendy pulled out a Chime of Opening, and with a single clear note, the room shifted, aligning the doorways perfectly.

The hall beyond was filled with plants - mushrooms, moss, mold, and decay. There was enough light from a few glowing lichen to illuminate the passage. Cautious investigation revealed standing water, pooled beside roots wedged against the ground. Crolack was at home in the six inches of slimy, sloshing water, but the others grimaced at getting their boots wet. Those that weren't floating on flying carpets, anyway. A little farther, Crolack found... a pair of cockatrice! Crolack leaped into battle, with the others not far behind, and soon the lizard-birds were little more than mush. Oddly, the birds were smooth-skinned, with only a few feathers at the tips of their wings; something about the slimy cave life, most likely. In the nest, they found a huge pile of copper pieces, silver pieces, and even some platinum, along with some tusks and ivory.

Sloshing down the swampy passage, the party found another room; inside, Laurita cast Speak with Plants, hoping to get some information from the lush jungle inside the room. Large, bulbous mushrooms spotted the room, and trees hung down from the ceiling. Grass and reedy plants covered the floor. Numerous voices answered Laurita's question; shrill, giggly voices begged her to come closer, come closer! - while deep, raspy voices mumbled, "PAIN... GROW... PAIN... GROW!"

A third voice also spoke out of the darkness, low, dry, and rumbly. "You do not belong here..."

A Detect Evil spell showed that while there was evil dotted all around the room, there was a creature in the center that was very, very evil - mostly likely the dry, rumbly voice. After some back and forth, Wendy hit upon a wonderful idea. Using his Helm of Alignment Changing, he would ride a carpet inside, and befriend whatever was there! He enacted his plan, and dropped out of the sky onto... an undead Treant. Grabbing the mummy-tree, he wrestled the helm onto its uppermost branches. The tree flung him to the ground once, but was unable to dislodge him a second time, and in a moment, was a confused and lawful mummy tree. Because why not.

Meanwhile, Crolack, understanding that the room was full of evil puff-mushrooms, grabbed a couple vials of military oil from Saphira, lit them up, and chucked them into the room. The mushrooms burned in bursts of fire, and the reeds spread the fire quickly - though once the fire reashed the trees, the roof-bound plants began to grow! Wendy and the mummy-treant zipped out of the room in a wash of flames, barely missing Pentzkin; a moment later, the burning trees shoved through the doorway, filling the passage and cracking the doorway itself before finally stopping their growth - probably having entirely filling the room behind them.

Last but not least, Wendy asked the undead Treant if it would like to be his henchman, to which it agreed with fanatic loyalty. Because of course it did. (Details on it below)

• XP from encounters:
  • 2 cockatrice (700)
  • 1 undead mummy treant (5+1*** HD, 860 XP)
• XP from treasure
  • 6,000 silver pieces (600 gp, 6 st)
  • 75,000 copper pieces (750 gp, 75 st)
  • 204 bricks of salt (7sp, 1/2st each) (142.8 gp, 102 st)
  • 53 ingots of common metals (1gp, 1/2st each) (53 gp, 26.5 st)
  • 30,000 copper pieces (300 gp, 30 st)
  • 200 platinum pieces (1000 gp, 0.2 st)
  • 10,000 silver pieces (1000 gp, 10 st)
  • 28 animal tusks (168 gp, 16.8 st)
  • 21 pieces of ivory (1st/100gp, 54 gp each) (1134 gp, 11.34 st)
  • 500 cp (1/2 st)
  • 2 metamphora of preserved special components (1st/60gp, 800 gp each) (1600 gp, 265.6 st)
  • 2 silver arrows, each worth 5gp (10 gp, 0.3334 st)
• Total XP gained: 1560
• Total XP once out of the dungeon: 3880
• Total XP once sold: 1497.8 (the metamphora and silver arrows were kept)
• Total treasure now: 3380
• Total treasure once sold: 1497.8
• XP per PC: 240
• XP per henchman: 120
• Treasure per PC: 845 (in copper, silver, and platinum)

The Mummy Treant currently has 28 HP. It is 5 HD, Str: 11 (+0), Int: 18 (+3), Wis: 9 (+0), Dex: 12 (+0), Con: 11 (+0), Cha: 11 (+0), and its level progression is as follows:

• Level 5: 4,500 XP; atk 5+; AC 7; 2x attacks, 1d12, mummy rot
• Level 6: 9,000 XP; atk 4+; AC 8; 2x attacks, 2d6, mummy rot
• Level 7: 18,000 XP; atk 3+; AC 8; 2x attacks, 3d4, mummy rot
• Level 8: 36,000 XP; atk 2+; AC 9; 2x attacks, 2d8, mummy rot
• Level 9: 72,000 XP; atk 1+: AC 9; 2x attacks, 2d8, mummy rot
• Level 10: 144,000 XP; atk 0+; AC 10; 2x attacks, 3d6, mummy rot
• Level 11: 288,000 XP; atk -1+; AC 10; 2x attacks, 3d6, mummy rot
• Level 12: 576,000 XP; atk -2+; AC 11; 2x attacks, 4d6, mummy rot
• Level 13: 1,152,000 XP; atk -3+; AC 11; 2x attacks, 4d6, mummy rot
• Level 14: 2,304,000 XP; atk -4+; AC 12; 2x attacks, 5d6, mummy rot

Additionally, it can control up to 2 normal trees within 60' as a treant. It saves and gains proficiencies as a fighter. It has General Profs: Alchemy, Caving, Endurance, Knowledge, Naturalism; Class profs: Dungeon Bashing, Weapon Focus (fists: double damage on nat 20). Like other undead, mummies are unaffected by poison and charm, sleep, or hold spells. Further, mummies may only be harmed by magical weapons, spells, and fire-based attacks, all of which do only half damage. Except for, in this case, magical or mundane fire does full damage, because it's a tree.

Brier Patch Tussle

Treas 8, 5540

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men Dragon
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger Red Dragonborn Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch
• Wendy, Terrifying Clown Bard
• Aria Balakdo, Gnomish Librarian
  • Emily Emerald, Librarian Guard
  • Gunilla Sandström, White Mage
  • Lautaro Rodriguez, Explorer

Treas 8, 5540

After camping for (the rest of) the night in the goblin village, the party journeyed onward. After a short conversation with one of the ancient trees - who didn't have much to say about the location to which they were heading, as trees don't have much concept of travel, apart from their original fall and consequent growth up, down, and out - they used a ring of Command Plant to move the tree aside, letting in sunlight, and letting them easily fly out through the canopy. They traveled on, avoiding any creatures beneath the canopy, and eventually running into a group of young copper dragons. The dragons weren't terribly interested in the "site of great power", saying that their parents had told them it was dangerous, and that they should't go over there.

Ignoring the obvious warnings of danger, the group continued toward their destination. They stopped to sleep, and fought a regenerating hydra, pummeling it with enough damage to keep it from regaining its heads. Once again, they flew onward, finally reaching the location by later afternoon. It wasn't hard to find; the deep, dark forest was entirely cleared around the area. The site was a perfect square, with four large mounds at the corners, and a jagged series of earthen berms forming a sort of simple maze to the center. The berms were covered with strange, jagged things, like enormous briers, with huge, sharp thorns. On closer inspection, the briers were inorganic - stone, not woody plants. Weathered metal signs filled the maze, with images of skulls, running people, people covered with sores, and many more pictures of the dark angel on the maps.

In the very center, there was an irregularly shaped four-sided structure; the architecture was strange, with no line being parallel or perpendicular to another. On each of the four sides was a sign; the forth side had an additional, weathered wooden sign. A helm of comprehend languages could not read the original writing, but it could decipher the writing on the wooden plaque:

This place is a letter message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it! Sending this message was important to us. We consider[ed?] ourselves a powerful culture. This place is not a place of honor... no respected act is remembered here... there is nothing appreciated here. What is here is dangerous and retaliatory for vengeful towards us. This message is a warning about danger [specific]. The danger is in a specific location... it increases towards a center... the center of this danger... is of a particular size and shape, and below us. The danger still exists, in your time, as it was in our time. The body [society?] is at risk and can kill [body kills or danger?]. The form of the hazard is derived from energy. The risk peril is only dropped released if you are physically disturbing this place. It is better to avoid this place and leave it unattended.

After a few minutes of puzzling over the message, the party was interrupted by the arrival of five men, clad in somewhat odd leather armor, but otherwise unarmed. The leader demanded that they leave this place; Lorita was the only one who could understand them, and asked why, but was only repeatedly told to leave. After a few more requests for more information, and explaining their quest, the men became even more terse, finally ending with, "Leave or be destroyed!"

The men were... well prepared. Before the fight even started, they spread out to avoid area attacks; though they were only wearing leather armor, the armor was of such quality that they dodged damage like it was nothing. Their bare fists rained down damage, nearly taking down Wendy and bashing the rest of the party pretty well too. Two of the men ran behind a nearby berm, and returned with two contraptions following them - strange mechanical platforms with heavy shields and dual repeating crossbows that shot up the battlefield with ease. One after the other, however, the men dropped; eventually, the machines were damaged, and the last of the men brought down.

Realizing the men were lawful only after the fight, the party began binding their wounds and bringing them back to the land of the living... The leader was restored to full health, with minor scarring, only requiring a night of bed rest; two of the others also only needed a night of bed rest, though while one only had minor scarring, the other sustained damaged genitals (though, oddly, he didn't seem very upset by that fact). One of the fighters sustained a severed hand, and needs a week of bed rest, keeping the two engineers company, both of whom were lamed. The last of the fighters was utterly destroyed, and unable to be brought back without a powerful spell...

• XP from encounters:
  • 1 Martial Artist leader (2600 XP)
  • 2 Martial Artist (3200 XP)
  • 2 Martial Artist (2200 XP)
  • 2 Engineers (1200 XP)
  • 2 shielded moving platforms (4** HD, 380 XP)
• XP from treasure: (none)
• Total XP from encounters: 9580
• XP per PC: (Laurita, Saphira, Wendy): 1916
• XP per Henchthing: 958 (Herman, Baelnar, Pentzkin, Alun)
• Further XP once you reach civilization and sell treasure: 487 (total)

The moving platforms were reduced to composite parts (and fewer than they started with), but the crossbows were mostly ok. There are four crossbows - automatons - of exquisite design, though two sustained some damage; you don't know much about automatons, but these appear to be quite expensive.

As a note, automatons fall into two categories: those that require an operator, and those that do not. Those that require an operator are essentially just machines, and will not count towards XP - though they do count towards treasure. Automatons that do not require an operator are treated like enemies, giving XP by their HD and special abilities. What that means is, an automaton with an operator is similar to a magical weapon; as long as it is not used, it can be sold as treasure, but researching it removes the ability to get XP from selling it.

It Takes A Village (Out)

Treas 7, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men Dragon
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger Red Dragonborn Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch
• Wendy, Terrifying Clown Bard
• Aria Balakdo, Gnomish Librarian
  • Emily Emerald, Librarian Guard
  • Gunilla Sandström, White Mage
  • Lautaro Rodriguez, Explorer

Treas 7, 5540

After much discussion about the map, where it could lead, and exactly what they should do first, the party collectively decided to teleport to near the location on the map. They still had a great deal of ground to cover, however; the map was only precise to about a hundred miles. And teleporting into the largest forest on the planet probably meant a little searching...

Upon teleporting into the forest, they peered out into the darkness, and after some careful investigation, realized they were standing in a village - a goblin village! But these goblins were no cowering, mewling pushovers - they were scary goblins, with long, sharp teeth and dangerous looking claws. Wendy, the terrifying clown, challenged their leader to a fight; out of the darkness stepped an obese man, towering over the goblins. He strode forward, and as the fight began, transformed! He was a demon boar, a were-boar of massive size! He tanked though several solid strikes from the clown, but dished out a fair amount of damage in return. Finally, the boar fell to the ground, his insides burning from within. The goblins, enraged that their leader was dead, attacked; with some careful manuvering, the party was able to protect its casters and mow down the goblins. Injured but still standing, they felled the last of the goblins as it tried to flee. As they went about looting the village, they heard a squeak; charging forward, they discovered three bulky goblins and two goblin casters, who managed to survive a single round before being turned into goblin paste. In the wagon they were dragging away were two shapes - humans, bound and gagged!

The two introduced themselves as Lautaro Rodriguez, a level 1 explorer, and Gunilla Sandström, a level 6 White Mage. They explained that they had been kidnapped by the goblins, and then... nothing. They couldn't remember what happened after that. However, they were on a quest to find a place of power - and the map they were using seemed to match the one the party carried! Lautaro boasted that he could lead them all the way there. Using every bit of his wit and charm, Aria convinced Gunilla to work for him; as Lautaro was already working for Gunilla, that means Aria has two new henchpeople!

• XP from encounters:
  • 1 village of
    • 48 super-goblins (15 XP each)
    • 12 super-goblin champions (20 XP each)
    • 3 super-goblin subchiefs (35 XP each)
    • 1 super-goblin shaman (59 XP)
    • 1 super-goblin witch-doctor (47 XP)
    • 1 absolutely massive Demon Boar (5,400 XP)
• XP from treasure:
  • 1000 Copper weighing 1st, worth 10gp
  • 6000 Silver weighing 6st, worth 600gp
  • 10 bone fetishes and figurines, weighing 1.7st, worth 300gp
  • 3 rolls of cloth weighing 12st, worth 30gp
  • 8 rugs weighing 48st, worth 40gp
  • 2 barrels of preserved fish weighing 16st, worth 10gp
  • 3 barrels of beer weighing 24st, worth 30gp
  • 6 cord of hardwood log weighing 48st, worth 30gp
  • 5 ingots of common metals weighing 10st, worth 5gp
  • 6 gallons of lamp oil weighing 12st, worth 12gp
  • 3 pouches of wolfsbane, weighing 0.5st, worth 30gp
  • 11 bone fetishes and figurines, weighing 1.83st, worth 66gp
  • 1 shells trinkets weighing 0.167st, worth 110gp
  • 1 bronze trinkets weighing 0.167st, worth 100gp
  • 1 Fine wood trinkets weighing 0.167st, worth 800gp
  • 3 Glass trinket weighing 0.5st, worth 300gp
  • 1 Bloodstone weighing 0st, worth 50gp
  • 1 turquoise weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
  • 1 Agate weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
  • 1 jasper weighing 0.167st, worth 50gp
  • 1 lapis lazuli weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
  • 1 tiger eye weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
• Total XP from encounters: 6571
• Total XP from Treasure: 2186 in coins and gems, 487 in other treasure
• XP per PC: 1251
• XP per Henchthing: 626
• Gold per PC: 546.5 gp
• XP once you reach civilization and sell treasure: 487 (total)

Additionally, there were a few items of armor and weapons that belonged to the two adventurers, including a treasure map to the place of power:

• Treasure Map (to the place of power)
• Shield +1
• Crossbow Bolts +1 (Quantity: 7)
• Dagger +2, +3 versus beastmen
• Potion of Heroism
• Potion of Sweet Water

The two adventurers are:

Gunilla Sandström (Female, level 6 White Mage, 26 HP)
Str: 13 (+1), Int: 10 (+0), Wis: 9 (+0), Dex: 11 (+0), Con: 11 (+0), Cha: 12 (+0)
Plate Armor (AC 6), Bola, Sling, Water skin, Ink (1 oz)
General Proficiencies: Healing, Collegiate Wizardry
Class Proficiencies: Transmogrification, Apostasy
Languages spoken: Nobiran

Spells:

Lvl 1 (2)	Lvl 2 (2)	Lvl 3 (2)
Cure Lt Wounds	Magic Mouth	Water Breathing
Sanctuary	Choking Grip	Glyph of Warding

Lautaro Rodriguez (Male, level 1 Explorer, 7 HP)
Str: 11 (+0), Int: 7 (-1), Wis: 13 (+1), Dex: 12 (+0), Con: 13 (+1), Cha: 5 (-2)
Chain Mail (AC 4), Shield, Flail
General Proficiencies: None
Class Proficiencies: Ambushing
Languages spoken: Nobiran

Here's Mud In Your Eye

Treas 3, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

The trek to find the Old Gods didn't take as long as they had hoped, so the party spent the rest of the time hanging around a while. Having spent 6 weeks for Saphira to get her tattoos finished, they were ready to go, and decided the next place to visit would be the scattered islands at the south of the large continent.

They headed for the capital city, and found the largest temple they could: a temple of Therapeftis (Thera-pef-tis), goddess of Stability, Healing, and Bedrest. The temperature was brain-meltingly hot - a rarity, but not unknown. After a lovely nap in the cool temple, the party attempted to teleport away... and realized that inside the temple, that was not possible. Outside, they managed to teleport to the other large island. As a note - the priest there spoke Majasten.

There, they eventually found a temple of Moenga Moe, the God of Dreams, the Elderly, and Judges - who owned the bone staff Aingeal tried to swipe. They set up an appointment with an ancient secretary, who asked that they come back that evening, at 1:30 AM.

Killing some time in a shop, they found a few water-based spells, items, and tools. After spending some money, they realized the entire city had a bit of a nautical flair - all the buildings looked like they were built from ships, down to billowing tarps as roofs.

That night, when they returned, they were directed to a large room, full of cots, one each. Falling asleep, they found themselves in a dream, and were soon able to speak directly with Moenga Moe. After filling him in on their adventures, and reassuring him that his staff was safe with Chaos, they asked about other Old Gods. He mused for a moment, then suggested a possible location, deep in the sea...

With the henchmen staying above the water on a lovely raft, the others swam beneath. It didn't take too long until they found the bottom; it was smooth and well-kept. Moments later, a number of mermen arrived, speaking, well, Mer. For a few tense moments, the mermen seemed intent on bringing them to their city, but when someone mentioned and Old God, they were suddenly all smiles. "Oh! Sure, we can take you there!"

Along the way, the four glimpsed shadows in the water - more mermen, at least one of which was riding a giant rockfish!

They lead the four to a steep incline, and pointed down into the murky water. "He's down there. Good luck!" - and with that, went on their way. Sighing, the group swam down into the depths. At the bottom of the incline, they found a hill, about 40 feet across. Crolack swam around it, looking for any possible entrances or portals, and was about to give up... when suddenly, an enormous head shot out! He kicked to the side, and the sharp beak of the enormous turtle slammed shut just inches away. His battle-reflexes kicking in, Crolack swung his sword, jabbing the turtle in the eye!

Realizing that... maybe that wasn't the best idea... Crolack quickly swam towards the others, hoping they could all teleport away. The turtle shook itself, revealing the previously-mud-covered hill was, in fact, its shell - covered in brilliant colors, every patch different! It rumbled, and a spell tore through the water! Only Saphira managed to avoid it - the others found themselves slowed. The turtle - actually the chaotic Old God, the Decorated Tortoise, readied another spell, but Laurita teleported them away, as quickly as her slowed action could.

Sitting on the raft above, miles away, they heard the voice of the tortoise growling at them...

List of Old Gods known and met:

• Lawful Old Gods
  • Old Mother, supposedly a six-legged cow, and Goddess of Earth, Strength, and Cattle
  • Chaos, God of Order and Intelligence
  • Odin, God of Wisdom and...?
  • Burli, God of Health, Constitution, and Manliness
  • Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), God of Thieves, Conmen, Charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes
• Neutral Old Gods:
  • Manu, The Hand of God, god of labor, construction, and work ethic
  • Hinengaro, God of Mathematics, Science, and Truth-Seeking
  • Moenga Moe, God of Dreams, the Elderly, and Judges
  • Therapeftis (Thera-pef-tis), goddess of Stability, Healing, and Bedrest
• Chaotic Old Gods
  • Wairangi, the Fool, Old God of fools, pigs, and ignorance
  • The Decorated Tortoise, Old God of Stubborness, Slowness, and Grumpiness
  • Sof Zamd, God of Sand, Feebleness, Heatstroke, and Dehydration
• Additional not-so-old-gods
  • Ooze Becky, Cubic Grace, Who Digests The World, goddess of... well, whatever gelatinous cubes are goddesses of
  • Görünmez, the Unseen One, god of Invisibility, Minding Your Own Business, and Staying Home.

• XP from Encounters:
  • Mermen (none, escaped from)
  • Giant Rockfish (pets of the mermen) (none, escaped from)
• XP from treasure: none
• Special XP: 1000 XP to each PC for discovering the Decorated Tortoise
• Special XP: 2000 XP to each PC and 1000 XP to each Henchman present for learning about Therapeftis and speaking with Moenga Moe
• Special XP: 1000 XP for Crolack, for stabbing an Old God in the eye, and living to tell the tale! Also... remind me to tell you about something new and interesting that your weapon can do...

So Two Old Gods Walk Into A Temple...

A'chiad 17, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

In the strange BNaaN city at the point of the 'arrow', Crolack, Laurita, and Rig (along with their henchmen Herman, Baelnar, Noona, and Kurt) investigated the reports of an Old God being worshiped there. They found a temple - later known to be a temple to Wairangi, God of Pigs. The cleric outside freaked out at the sound of Laurita's talking club, and the men inside the building seemed loathe to give out any information, preferring to communicate via unanswered questions. Moving on, the group spoke to a cleric of another nearby temple - again to Wairangi, but this time Wairangi, God of Fools. Narrowly missing a face-full of pie laced with a rather nasty spell, they moved on.

They found a pub, thankfully rather more normal than the strange priests and worshipers of Wairangi, and ordered some stew, beer, and information (and learned that the local economy used Shells, worth about 2 copper each). The barkeep directed them to a local, who lead them to a house at the edge of the city - the house of a shaman, an elderly woman. She told them the way to Wairangi's main temple, but warned that the priests there were real, and likely to cause quite a bit of trouble for them.

Instead, the adventurers decided to head to the mountains, where another Old God was rumored to be worshiped. Teleporting near where they heard the temple was, they were quickly met by a group of griffons; Rig managed to talk his way out of fighting them. That night, they set up camp, but were interrupted near midnight as the sky rumbled and... cracked! The clouds sheared apart as if a massive earthquake were taking place! Rig and Baelnar were deafened by the roar, though thankfully only for an hour or so.

Traveling on in the morning, the keen eyes of the party spotted a handful of bugbears waiting to ambush them! They spoke, managing to communicate through spells, and convinced the bugbears that they were very powerful... through using the Godstaff to turn a pile of rocks into gems. They were lead inside the mountain, where they realized this was no small encampment - there were over 200 bugbears inside! They were taken to King Egrim, Dragon Slayer (with the skull of a dragon to prove it), an enormous bugbear - Dire Bugbear, actually. The king offered them a deal; he would help them on their mission, if they would help him kill a pair of storm giants. The party quickly agreed, and left... intending to never go near the giants at all! Hopefully they would never see the bugbears again...

After about half a day's walk, they finally made it to the temple, a massive structure on top of a mountain. The moment they stepped into the path carved up the side of the mountain, the wind stopped; somehow, through the shape of the path, the wind naturally blew around them. The dwarves marveled at the intricate details carved into the solid stone; everyone marveled at the impressive steps, carved at different heights, so everyone was comfortable walking up them. Even though the steps went on for nearly a mile, the walking seemed easy.

At the top of the steps, they found two massive doors. Knocking, they heard a gong-like boom; the doors were built such that even the lightest knock was amplified. Moments later, a small window in the doors opened, and two eyes peered out. After a moment of hemming and hawing, the voice greeted Laurita in Mehastan! She was somewhat startled, but quite happy to hear her native tongue. The man at the door then proceeded to greet each member of the party in their own native tongue - no mean feat, since Dark Dwarf is hardly well known! Satisfied that they meant no harm to the place, the man opened the doors. The doors rolled sideways, easily enough that he could move them with a single hand, even though they were easily 30 feet tall and 40 feet wide stone doors.

Inside, he asked that they store their weapons and magical items, as those were not allowed inside the temple. They did so, making sure to remove the items from the bag of holding just to show off. The man didn't seem terribly impressed.

Inside, they saw countless creatures, all steadily working on projects - carving, building, lifting and carrying all over the temple. Not only that, but beside the humans, elves, dwarves, and gnomes, there were numerous beastmen - goblins, orcs, even bugbears and trolls! The man lead them to a Hall he called the Hall of History, and hurried them through, explaining bits and pieces of the Hall to them. It was, as the name suggests, the stone-carved history of the temple. The beginning depicted the split from the mainland, well over a thousand years before; it continued, every 15 feet or so a full year of events. Some events were large, stretching into multiple years, while others were tiny, a few square inches of wall-space. They walked on for nearly 45 minutes as the hall wound around and down (that's 3 miles, if you're interested). Finally, at the bottom, they came to a dead end, where a group of workers were tunneling out the next portion. They were directed by a large man - a giant, really, at 10 feet tall, though without the proportions of a giant. He was swinging a massive hammer, though through careful flicks of his wrist, he controlled the impact beautifully, carving rough shapes out as he tunneled! A loud gong sounded as they reached the workers, and they put down their tools, packing up and cleaning the area. Their guide introduced them: Manu, The Hand of God, neutral god of labor, construction, and work ethic.

Somewhat stunned, the party greeted him, not having expected to meet an Old God working in a mine shaft - even one as beautiful as this. He laughed, and explained some of his work. With a mighty clap, he teleported everyone to the surface, where a huge meal was already prepared. He introduced them to another Old God: Burli, Lawful Old God of Health, Constitution, and Manliness. He was dressed in... well, traditional lumberjack attire. It seems he and a few of his followers had been clearing trees, farther down the mountain. Together, Burli and Manu explained why the Old Gods were so... well, small. The other gods the party had met were huge, towering creatures.

The Old Gods were the prototypes, extensions of the very foundation of the world, individual personifications of characters themselves. They built the world, and shaped its foundations, but left the actual development and oversight to others. They gave up their mighty forms for something a little more practical, and gave up their hordes of righteous followers for the chance to actually be a part of the world. Unlike the gods the party had met previously, the Old Gods can act directly on the world, rather than being forced to act through their followers. As evidenced by the huge Temple that Manu is still building. Unfortunately, some of the chaotic Old Gods refused to give up their power, and stuck around causing trouble. Wairangi was one, but Manu and Burli kept him in check.

After a long discussion, where the Old Gods asked after Kaos (and if he still had Manu's Pick), and told stories of some of their old friends, they had a restful night's sleep in the temple, then said their goodbyes, gathered their stuff, and teleported to Nock, the more civilized city at the far end of the arrow... in the midst of a huge storm!

List of Old Gods known and met:

• Lawful Old Gods
  • Old Mother, supposedly a six-legged cow, and Goddess of Earth, Strength, and Cattle
  • Chaos, God of Order and Intelligence
  • Odin, God of Wisdom and...?
  • Burli, God of Health, Constitution, and Manliness
  • Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), God of Thieves, Conmen, Charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes
• Neutral Old Gods:
  • Manu, The Hand of God, god of labor, construction, and work ethic
  • Hinengaro, God of Mathematics, Science, and Truth-Seeking
  • Moenga Moe, God of ...?
• Chaotic Old Gods
  • Wairangi, the Fool, Old God of fools, pigs, and ignorance
  • Sof Zamd, God of Sand, Feebleness, Heatstroke, and Dehydration
• Additional not-so-old-gods
  • Ooze Becky, Cubic Grace, Who Digests The World, goddess of... well, whatever gelatinous cubes are goddesses of
  • Görünmez, the Unseen One, god of Invisibility, Minding Your Own Business, and Staying Home.

• XP from Encounters:
  • 8 Griffons (3520)
  • A huge village of bugbears (none; escaped)
• Additional XP from (knowingly) meeting Old Gods: 1000 XP each PC, 500 XP each henchman
• XP for each PC (Crolack, Laurita, and Rig): 1704
• XP for each henchman (Herman, Baelnar, Noona, and Kurt): 852

Learning To Spell

Dara 16, 6639 - A'chiad 4, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper (retired)
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker (on hiatus)
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi, Elven Polydoctorate (on hiatus)
  • Harvey Usagi, Rabbitwere
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord (on hiatus)
  • Zai-car, Zaharan Ruinguard
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

After spending some time in Elven Las Vegas, checking out temples and relaxing in the garishly bright lights, the party decided to return home for some general maintenance - making sure their cities were kept up, and in Caranthir's case, scoping out a new realm to rule. The first stop was the old mansion of Lady Dracul; there, they found a variety of somewhat jovial bandits and ruffians. Inside, they found the house redecorated in a much more militaristic style. They were introduced to Baron Vostvos, a towering, gruff man, and as it turns out, cousin to Lady Dracul. He re-took her lands from the invaders after some "trouble at home" left the place mostly unguarded.

That trouble was, in fact, Quetgar, who had been hired to wipe out the royal houses of those that attacked them. Of the four, two survived, and two were wiped out; the first that was wiped out was little more than a ghost town. Without a town guard (paid for by a ruler), there was nothing to stop the near-weekly bandit raids. At this point, almost anything not nailed down was already stolen. The second decimated city, a little farther east, was still kept up; a seneschal was trying to keep the place in hand. The poor man's wife met Caranthir at the gates, and was immediately cut down, having been mistaken for an ogre. Neither the town guard nor her husband were much upset. The seneschal, realizing someone else was going to take over, was all too happy to leave. Caranthir paid the town guard to restock, and vowed to return with the rest of his... well, everything.

That taken care of, they returned to the strange elf-city, and learned a little of what the mage they hired had found: namely, a list of information on the Old Gods, most of which they had found already, but with a few new things, specifically that this Chaos was mentioned as one of the Old Gods, and was possibly the reason for the cataclysms in the first place. Returning to the Temple of Chaos, Saphira managed to solve the riddle. They entered the code, and walked down the steps into the tomb-like interior...

At the bottom of the stairs, a well-hewn door stood; pushing it open, the party found themselves in a well-lit hallway, clean and almost homey. There were seven doors in the hall: three on each side, and another at the end of the hall. Door number 1, first on the left, contained a small library, though the text was entirely unreadable, even with a Helm of Comprehension. Across the hall behind door number 2 was another library; this one, at least, had understandable books. Interestingly, the books started as written in stone, then continued on animal hide, then treated leather, and eventually well-bound, hardcover, paper books. The books seemed deceptively small; after reading several minutes, no progress was made towards the end, as if the pages were enchanted to contain more than physically possible. Reading parts of the various books revealed nothing more than a dry narration of someone, as if the writer had simply watched someone all day and wrote down every action they took.

At the other end of the hall, doors 5, 6, and 7 were opened; door 7 opened into utter blackness. And, worse, the other door slammed shut. Doors 5 and 6 each contained shelf after shelf of tiny lights, some glowing brightly, some dimly, some gold, some white/gray, and some purple. Aingeal decided to go poke one of the lights, and found herself the victim of a life-drain spell! Luckily, it was only temporary. She poked around some more, and realized that each point of light was a tiny spell - and that by touching it, she not only experienced it, but gained an innate knowledge of that spell!

Saphira, eager to test out a hypothesis, began poking other spells, and managed to call an Efreeti! She bid it only to return to its plane. Which it attempted, only to blast itself into nothingness! It seems nothing can teleport, plane shift, or otherwise exit this area. Saphira was somewhat upset by accidentally ordering the creature to destroy itself... However, not so upset she didn't keep poking. After some non-starters, including a Cancellation spell that cancelled all her tattoos, she poked what may well be the last thing she'll ever poke - a spell of Tempral Stasis! While the spellcaster has the option of adding a trigger to end the stasis, she was unfortunately already under its influence before she could do so, which trapped her in a timeless shell...

Door 5, it appeared, contained divine spells, while door 6 contained arcane spells.

Meanwhile, doors 3 and 4 were opened, each revealing treasure! The room beyond door 4 was filled with carefully organized coins and gems, while the room behind door number 3 was filled with various magical items.

• XP from encounters:
  • Ogre-like wife of the seneschal (5)
• XP from treasure: none
• Total XP earned: 5
• XP per PC: 1
• XP per Henchthing: 0

Golem Gala

Naoidheamh 23, 6639; next holiday is Beastnight, 9/35 (only 12 days away!)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• (As-yet-unnnamed), Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi, Elven Polydoctorate
  • Harvey Usagi, Rabbitwere
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord
  • Zai-car, Zaharan Ruinguard

After much debate, the party finally decided to go take on the great golem, protector of the Hill Dwarf kingdom. They spent nine days researching, building, and entrapping the golem: a hole 60x40 feet, 480' deep, and perfectly square; above, layers of hovering 60x40 iron plates, 6' thick; a stone wall, 40' high, 10' thick, and packed with loose dirt; and, finally, 4 berserkers standing nearby, with bags of devouring full of dirt, who will jump in and dispel themselves to fill in any loose cracks. Whew. Additionally, they made some bets, at 10 to 1 odds, and paid the 10,000 gp deposit the city required before their battle with the golem.

On the morning of the battle, a crowd had gathered, and an almost carnival atmosphere permeated the place. The battle began with Gróin and Baelnor, who removed the last 20' of stone holding up the golem. As the earth crumbled, a summoned berserker, standing on the top of the pile leapt down, slashing at a knob of metal designed to cause the plate to begin falling, then pushed off, screaming "Blood and glory!" on his way down. He was, technically, the first strike against the golem, as it crashed into the pit. Next, the iron plates and the stone and earth slammed into it, and finally the remaining berserkers jumped in, causing a massive blast of earth as the contents of their sacks were suddenly released.

The blast of dust took over a round to clear; just as everyone was beginning to wonder if maybe, just maybe, that had worked, there was a sudden tremble, and the ground began to smoke. As the dust and smoke swirled into the air, the ground began to glow red - something was melting it from underneath! A moment later, a massive hand reached out of the rubble, and the golem drug itself to the surface! It sported three shallow gashes on its arm, where the iron plates had hit it.

Saphira (once Craydos) sent her summoned pet to attack, but its claws only threw up sparks on the tough golem (because, as they later learned, only +2 or better weapons could damage it). She also fired a lightning bolt - which seemed to heal it! Gróin and his priestess, of course, threw earth spells at it, but it seemed it was only taking half damage at best from them. Caranthir blasted it with ice breath, but the third blast seemed to do no damage - the golem had raised a shield! The next round, it dropped its shield and blasted a laser beam of destruction, instantly dropping Rhea, and severely injuring Caranthir, as well as setting a swath of grass on fire. It turned to go after Rig, stomping his crab-apparatus, and nearly upending the few not flying. It swatted at the flying beasts nearby, but missed. Finally, the damaged golem was blasted, and fell into nothing but earth. The great green eye toppled out of place, shattering on the ground.

All was, finally, quiet. Until something crawled out of the rubble... a dwarf! "Ehhh... ¿Dónde estoy?"

The dwarf had, it seemed, touched scale long, long ago, and had been trapped within, powering the hulking creature until it was destroyed. He introduced himself as Grop Beardson (a lvl 8 dwarven vaultguard: 16 (+2) str, 6 (-2) int, 8 (-1) wis, 14 (+1) dex, 17 (+2) con, and 11 (+0) cha).

After a little drama, Te'a collected their winnings (a tidy sum!), and the party sold off the pieces of the eye - 61 emerals, worth 2,000 gp each! Normally, it would take a while to sell all that, but with the huge crowd, they were able to easily sell it all in a short period of time.

• XP from Encounters:
  • Scale Golem (1800)
• XP from Treasure:
  • 61 emeralds = 122,000
• Total XP: 123,800
• XP per PC (Rig, Caranthir, Gróin, Saphira, Te'a, Fayleen): 11,791
• XP per Henchthing (Noona, Midnight, Rhea, Laurita, Herman, Pentzkin, Alun, Harvey, Zai-car): 5895
• Gold per PC, not counting winnings: 20,333gp, 3 sp, 3 cp

Also of note, Saphira wanted to hire some mage-types to come and work for her. There were a surprising number of mage-types found who were willing to join up, from level 1 to level 4. I can show off their stats in person, because I can't be bothered to actually copy all the information and format it all today.

Starting experience: 143,564

Curses! (Foiled Again)

Naoidheamh 14, 6639; next holiday is Beastnight, 9/35

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, the Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• (As-yet-unnnamed), Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi, Elven Polydoctorate
  • Harvey Usagi, Rabbitwere
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord
  • Zai-car, Zaharan Ruinguard

Some of the party still having things to do, the remaining members decided to investigate the map they found. Incidentally, the map lead them to the same location that the Fae treasure map lead...

After some discussion, the group made an educated guess, and teleported to the vicinity of where they believed the treasure lay. It was a good guess; they landed in the correct hex, near a small village. A dusty farmer type wandered out to greet them. They asked if he knew where a certain hill was found; he laughed, and answered, "Well, it was nice meeting you, seniors, senioras, senioritas, but no one leaves that place alive. It's a tourist trap - literally. I wouldn't go in unless I had a deathwish!"

Still, the party pressed for the location, so he lead them to a low hill. Part had collapsed, leaving a low cliff of sorts; a bright red line was drawn in front of the entrance, and a fence surrounded the entire area. Several signs, in various languages, mentioned that stepping over that line will kill you, the local government can't be held responsible for you doing that, and if your religion or home country prohibits or regulates suicide, this counts if anything does. Shrugging, the party assured the man that they would be able to pass through the traps. Fayleen, using her new Gnomish Joke Book, summoned a bug, which was hit with a flurry of arrows as it entered. And then a scything blade, which bisected it. Following the traps in, and trying to disable or avoid them, the party slowly moved inside. They removed a high-powered Cancellation trap, avoided a pit full of yellow mold, dispelled an anti-magic shell and double lightning trap, blocked a slamming wall trap, crawled under a spinning blade trap, then dispelled yet another cancellation trap. The next slamming wall trap, though large, seemed poorly repaired; after that, there were only two pits, covered with blankets. Finally, a pile of stones were stacked over a trip wire; that trap didn't even reset after use.

At the end of the traps, they party reached four fearsome skeletons, clad for battle! Two skeletons held out their polearms, losing the head of one polearm, and the head of the other skeleton in the process. The first skeleton lost its armor; the fourth skeleton, already missing an arm and a leg, tried to raise its sword, but only managed to pivot a full 360 degrees. The priestess turned them easily, though frankly, a loud shout could have put those fellows down. They were a single hit point each, and likely would have killed themselves trying to wield their own weapons. Interestingly, the skeletons were not human, but orcish.

The wooden doorway was trapped with two magical sigils: a 12d6 fire trap, and an enervate trap, both of which were dispelled.

Inside was a somewhat homely room, with three occupants. First was what was obviously a mage of some sort, wearing rotting robes, sitting in a broken wooden chair, his feet propped on a casket. Second was a huge orc, crammed into a defensive position. The third, after some investigation, was inside the casket - a desiccated priestess. Additionally, there were a number of items in the room; a large rug, a fold-up table, and a huge pile of various items, from swords and armor to boxes, bags, and brooches. Most importantly, there was an anti-magic field that filled the entire room...

The entombed priestess was wrapped in some sort of ritual-level binding, a black rag with fine text written on it. The party attempted to communicate with her, but learned something else important: the Staff of the Dead has a 25% chance of raising the corpse as a zombie. The corpse stood, moaning, and began to lumber towards them. Laurita quickly Turned the corpse, and it was blasted into dust... or, rather, it started to blast into dust, but the magical bindings held the corpse together, so it was merely un-zombified. The second cast worked much better, and they asked the dead priestess three questions, which I should have written down but did not. The priestess answered Gróin's suspicions: she was Ajeela!

Meanwhile, the other party members managed to find a pair of secret exits, one of which was a deathtrap, and the other of which lead outside. After successfully triggering the deathtrap and plummeting to his doom, Harvey was rescued and healed by Gróin and company. Using Rhea's Gloves of Curse Prevention, the party gathered the various rings (including the two on the hands of the huge orc), dropped them into a bag, and lugged them through the secret tunnel. Gróin and Laurita, left in the room to talk with the corpse, found themselves suddenly very interested in some of the treasure; Gróin picked out a dashing pair of glasses, while Laurita picked a lovely amulet. After a bit of back and forth, the rest of the party returned, and found that they, too, wanted to grab some items for themselves. Rhea, still wearing the gloves, found that none of the items satisfied her; she picked through them all, finding nothing. Finally, irritated, she tried on a belt, and finally felt relief. Curious at what it did, she crawled out through the exit, stepped away from the anti-magic field. She read the word written on the belt, presumably the command word: "Behold!"

In an instant, the belt activated, and she found her clothes flung open! Startled, she quickly re-dressed, and looked up to see a small child staring open-mouthed, and a pair of very large rabbits rolling on the grass in laughter. Embarrassed, she rejoined the group. The belt, by the way, is enchanted with the Knock spell, self-targeting, usable three times per day. The others chose magic items as well: a scroll for the polydoctorate, a smooth rock for the ruinguard, and so forth.

In the chamber, Laurita had asked Ajeela's corpse if she wanted Atonement; she agreed. Laurita placed her hand on the corpse's forehead to begin the spell, but before she could even start, she found herself suddenly switched into Ajeela's body! And, worse, Ajeela herself was in the priestess's body! (As an aside, this was actually an ideal situation; Ajeela, being a 14th level priestess, and Laurita, being a 9th level priestess, were able to keep all their spells and such in each other's bodies.) After much consternation and accusation (from both sides), they figured out a possible method to return everyone to normal: go to Ajeela's church, and return her eyes, and from there cast the Atonement spell.

Gathering up the various magical items, they stuffed them all in a bag, sorted out which ring was the anti-magic field, and stuck it back into the chamber. Additionally, they added a few more traps, and re-hid the secret exit. They told the farmer, and he didn't seem as shocked as they expected... He rushed back to his house, and returned with simple NDAs for them to sign - non-disclosure agreements. Adventure-tourists frequently came by, and the village made a significant amount of money from them, from selling goods and from recovering their gear if they all snuffed it in the hill. The non-disclosure agreement ensured that the party wouldn't tell anyone that they actually managed to escape the traps... there had been a number of adventurers that had actually made it through, but it was much more mysterious if he could say that none had ever returned. The party was a little leery, until he explained that the signs were there to keep people out, and if anyone went it, it was their own dumb fault; he couldn't stop an adventurer if he tried. They agreed, and signed.

In Foreston, they visited a church of Alehim, and restored Ajeela's eyes; she and the priestess swapped back into their proper bodies, and she healed Gróin's eyes... though he did get a bird-foot out of the deal. Oh well. Ajeela decided to stay at the temple, for now, but said she would be willing to return if the party had a great need.

While that was happening, the rest of the party took their items to a sage, who looked them over. It was a fairly fast job - most of the items were cursed, and his great tome of reference material meant he didn't have to do much study. Here's the list he came up with:

• Cursed and evil:
  • Rug of Curse Attraction, which causes anyone who touches it to yearn for a cursed item.
  • Amulet of Infection: once per hour, curses a random item (this is what the priestess chose).
  • Deck of Many Thongs: cursed. Oh, gods. A deck of cards in the style of "nekkid lady" playing cards, except it's all pictures of men in thongs. And orcs. And ogres. And trolls. The curse is the after-effect of that image, burned into your brain...
  • Cursed coins: a bag of 1000 gold coins. Each one causes a point of (one of) STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, or CHA damage. Cumulatively.
  • Clown Doll: a freaky doll that always teleports to just ahead of the user any time it is discarded.
• Cursed, but not evil:
  • Ring of Flight: causes you to be weightless
  • Ring of Unebriation: immune to drunkeness... but not hangovers. May actually be evil.
  • Leather Armor of Hunger: +2 armor, but must eat 4 times a day.
  • Gauntlets of Meager Power: grants strength of 8 (-1) or -5 points, whichever is less.
  • Arrows of Returning: return upon being fired. Instantly. Before hitting the target.
  • Sword of Sarchasm: a sentient sword. "Oh yeah, great job, picked the cursed sword that can talk to you in your sleep, nice work, idiot."
  • Grind Stone: when used for any task, that task must be continued for the next 24 hrs. You will get an XP or stat boost from it, though!
  • Box of Fun: a brightly colored box. When opened, randomly tosses 1d6 cursed items at everyone within 15'.
  • Scroll of Chainmail: reader must make 10 copies and distribute them to his friends, or be at -4 for all actions.
  • Lenses of Powersight: you see everyone as lesser than yourself, and easily defeated.
  • Goggles of Science:
  • Mask of Misplaced Identification: causes anyone within 20' to hear the description of an item in the best light (if bad) or worst light (if good).
  • Belt of Opening: actually has a 3/day knock spell, self-target only, command word "Behold!" Oh, yeah.
• Evil, but not cursed:
  • Sword of Corruption: deals corruption points instead of damage
  • Bag of Glitter: as dust of appearance, except it curses everyone within 10', and anyone they touch, making invisibility and stealth impossible. Note that it isn't cursed, but casts curse when used.
  • Staff of the Greater Demon: command word 'destroy'. Nothing else is known about the object.
  • Packrat: a stuffed rat. Turns any object it is placed inside into a bad of devouring.
• Neither evil, nor cursed:
  • Ring of Unsleeping, aka Ring of Paranoia: (the second ring the orc was wearing) grants +2 bonus to AC and saves, and constantly warns you of danger
  • Amulet of Kitten Immunity: immune to all kitten- or cat-based magical effects.
  • Seven League Boots: each step carries you seven leagues*.
  • Helm of Allure: You are irresistibly attractive to anything even vaguely living; automatic success on seduction.
  • Sword of Decay: if it hits a target (0 AC regardless of armor), there is a 25% chance to cause rust as a rust monster.
  • Sword of Healing: causes 1d6 healing on the target. On top of the 1d6 damage it does as a sword. Handy against undead!
  • Sword of Retaliation: magical bonus equal to the number of times the creature hit you; does no damage if never hit.
  • Effreeti Lamp: rub to collect three wishes!
  • Potion of Age Reversal: causes the imbiber to age in reverse.
  • Bag of ???: looks like a normal bag. Has some sort of acid in it. If someone puts something into it, then hands it to another person, the object is gone; holding it again returns the object to the bag. It's magical, but the sage would need to do some intense study to actually figure out what it does.

While Rhea was interested in the corruption-causing sword, Fayleen was adamant that she destroy it. Luckily, the Packrat had caused the bag they stuffed it in to become a bag of devouring, so they stuffed all the cursed items and the sword into the bag, erasing them from existence. Handy, that! As a note: let me know if there were any uncursed items you got rid of, or cursed items that you kept.

*Seven leagues: a league is the distance a man can walk in an hour; in ACKS terms, seven-league boots essentially cause you to travel a full day's journey in a single step. I mean that literally - these boots are based on your normal (land-based) movement speed. You can take a step in the boots once per hour.

There wasn't any XP to be gained this time, from treasure or enemies, but the party did gain a powerful new friend, and a bunch of dubious magical items. As before, starting XP is 137,669 XP.

Bog-Cheese

Ochdamh 25, 6639; next holiday is Beastnight, 9/35

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, the Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Sorvald, Thief
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• [insert-name-here], Elven Polydoctorate
  • Harvey, Wolfwere
• [bad-with-names], Darklord
  • [some-other-name], Venturer?

Realizing they were about the enter the final floor of the tower, the party stopped and retreated upstairs for a night's rest. Refreshed (though warned by the locals that something bad was coming), they headed back downstairs.

The final level of the tower smelled of damp and rot, and the sulfurous smell of swamp. They had barely gone a few feet into the passage when a voice echoed through the passages: "You... dare... intrude?"

Interestingly, each party member heard the voice in their own native tongue - some kind of magic, surely. They continued on, uncovering the maze surrounding the center, and occasionally hearing more echoed speech. First was a call: "Where... lies... my champion?" followed by a rush of wind, laden with the scent of decay. Then, "My children... come... to me...", and the sound of scrabbling sound and a cacophony of chirping and clicking. Finally, as they near the center (having toasted a couple green slimes), the voice roared, "Erklik... accept this blood sacrifice! ERKLIK!"

The voice receded, but continued to chant. Finally (after the thief and his henchdwarf fell into a pit), they reached the center of the tower, the lowest floor. Torches lined the walls; four pools of water surrounded a dark throne. Mist and magical darkness obscured the throne and its occupant. Six figures lined the walls, human with dark, almost black skin, standing at attention, looking... well, fairly normal, actually. And then combat started... the dark-skinned creatures, awoken by their master, writhed and flailed - bog bodies! The scent of decay was nearly overwhelming, and the poor cat-badgers choked on the overwhelming smell. Caranthir immediately began slashing at the bog-bodies, bringing down six before they could awaken; the others began slowly spreading out.

After a few seconds of fighting, the chanting... stopped. And eight ankhegs burst out of the ground, thought were quickly destroyed. And behind the party, a new mummy stepped out - the dead Thrassian from the day before! The priestess and ectomancer, working together, managed to turn the mummy. The other Thrassians fell before Rig's arrows and a few well-placed hits from the dominated lizardmen.

The battle seemed to be going pretty well, so far at least. Sorvald fired an arrow at the dark shape, but only managed to ricochet from the magical glass surrounding it. Gróin tried to damaged it with a blast of his trumpet, but only managed in damaging himself, and those around him! Caranthir and Gimli slashed at the strange roots dipping into the pools, but apart from damaging them, didn't manage to do much. Finally, Caranthir touched the glass with a Rod of Cancellation, and having drained its magical ability, slammed into it with as much force as his double-sized self could manage. The glass split, cracked across, then in a rapidly-shattering sheet, fell downwards into nothing but shards. The mist cleared (revealing that one of the four openings was, in fact, open), revealing the four carcass scavengers and four rust monsters held within! Caranthir blasted them, and the dark figure, with a double-breath, killing the monsters and... well, gently tickling the massive Thrassian Conduit Bog-Mummy-Lord. The mummy strode out, chopping into the Darklord's companion, and firing a curse at Caranthir (which missed).

This was the main threat. As he fired spells left and right, the Polydoctorate cast two spells: first, a death-ward spell on Caranthir, and second, "Jail", which slams a portcullis-cage onto the target. As the others blasted lightning, cones of cold, and the many earth-based spells of Gróin's party at him, the creature returned fire... and failed. First, his no-save-turn-directly-into-an-undead spell was rebuffed by the Death Ward; then, his other attempts at dishing out damage (or causing everyone to fall asleep) were thwarted. The only one that ever failed was the poor ectomancer, and even he managed to survive the sleep of death.

Even summoning swarms of insects didn't work; eventually, screaming hatred against the skinscribe in particular (he remember the skinscribe's uprising - he was there!), the dark mummy-lord was slain, and his corpse fell into a swarm of insects, which flew out of the chamber. The party quickly located, de-trapped, and smashed the canopic jars, and the mummy lord was no more. The last ankheg, hunted down and slain, revealed a network of tunnels underground, containing treasures; under the throne were even more treasures.

Last, but certainly not least, the vines on the throne were dunked in holy water, and eventually had Cure Disease cast on them; they writhed and healed, and almost immediately, the four stagnant pools cleared of the boggy water. A deep rumble sounded from the tower itself...

And that, folks, is how you use your spells in an intelligent manner and make what was going to be the second hardest fight of the yet-planned story into a walk in the park.

• Experience from encounters:
  • 2 green slimes (76)
  • 8 Ankhegs (4000)
  • 24 Bog bodies (1920)
  • 4 undead Thrassians (860)
  • 1 Mummy-thrassian (660)
  • 4 rust monsters (800)
  • 4 carcass scavengers (540)
  • 1 Ancient Thrassian Bog-Mummy Lord (9300)
• Experience from Treasure:
  • Cash (11,450 gp, 12 stone total):
    • 2,000 platinum pieces (10,000 gp, 2 st)
    • 1,000 gold pieces (1000 gp, 1 st)
    • 4,000 silver pieces (400 gp, 4 st)
    • 5,000 copper pieces (50 gp, 5 st)
  • Gems (1.333 stone):
    • 2 diamonds (1,000 gp each)
    • 1 jacinth (4,000 gp)
    • 1 ruby (8,000 gp)
    • 1 ivory jewelry (900 gp)
    • 2 moonstone jewelry (2,000 gp each)
    • 2 gold statuettes (1000 gp each
  • Everything else (42.287 st):
    • 26 jade carvings of dark gods, each worth 200gp (5200 gp, 4.333 st)
    • 1 rich fur coat (2,000gp, 1 st)
    • 16 rugs of large common fur (panther) (1st/150gp, 90 gp each) (1440 gp, 9.504 st)
    • 3 rolls of silk (400gp, 4st each) (1200 gp, 12 st)
    • 12 sticks of rare incense (1 st/100 sticks, 17 gp each) (204 gp, 0.12 st)
    • 3 jars of dyes and pigments (50gp, 5st each) (150 gp, 15 st)
    • 2 sets of superior thieves tools, worth 200gp (1 item) (200 gp, 0.1667 st)
    • 1 vials of rare perfume (1 item each, 125 gp each) (125 gp, 0.1667 st)
• Total experience (before selling): 29,606 XP
• Total experience (after selling): 181,469 XP
• XP for PCs: 2277
• XP for henches (everyone but Luce and Rhea): 1139

• Magic items on the Thrassian Conduit:
  • Lifedrinker, a dark, twisted sword (evil, but not cursed; lore says is drains health and gives it to the wielder)
  • Earthbreaker, a Hammer +3 that grants resistance to Earth magic (-1 damage per die, +2 to saves)
  • The Soulstaff (which, if lore is correct, can speak with dead once per hour, as the spell)
  • A tarnished silver coin, currency of Ancient Zahara
  • Plate armor, Thrassian-sized
• Elsewhere (the throne, the ankhegs, and the ankhegs' nests):
  • A ring
  • A very oddly-jointed club (+3 after testing)
  • Two bags
  • Two swords (+1, after testing)
  • A potion
  • A Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Dwarven): Command Word (1st lvl)
  • A Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Dwarven): Resist Electricity (lvl 2), Trance (lvl 1)
  • A lumpy rock

Wyrm Welcome

Ochdamh 19-21, 6639; next holiday is Beastnight, 9/35

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, the Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger

Gróin had invested in a couple of scrolls of stone-to-flesh, and picked the map-holding man to unstone. Craydos read from the scroll, and instantly, the stone flaked away, revealing a startled looking man underneath. He jumped back, wildly looking for the monsters that had turned him to stone, but was quickly calmed. It seems that he and his friend were on their way back from the city of Endereise when they were waylaid by the creatures; thankfully, it had only been a few days. Gróin offered to shorten their journey in trade for the man's map; the man agreed, and Gróin teleported the two, along with Craydos, to the Mejastan city of Cuidado Mercado. Craydos, hoping to have his injuries restored, went with Laurita to a temple of Alehim. She cast Restore Life and Limb on him, and in an instant, the aches and missing finger were restored to normal! Unfortunately... there was a side effect. His injuries were healed, but his body was... changed. To that of a female, to be precise. Craydos was now a woman!

Returning to the others, Craydos reintroduced himself. Herself. Whatever. They moved on, and found the corpses of a number of giant scorpions; Pentzkin managed to get 405 XP worth of scorpion parts from them.

The city of Endereise was very different from the other deep dwarven city; for one, this city was built in a huge bowl, easily a hundred yards deep. They were met by a group of hooded dwarves; the spokesman welcomed them to the city, and relayed their message of the sorcerous spheres they found. That duty done, they explored the city. Craydos, wondering about the religions in the city, found three different churches, later explained to be the Church of the Flame, lawful followers of the cleansing fire; Church of the Clay, neutral followers of the warm earth; and Church of the Light, chaotic followers of the fickle, blinding light of the overworld. He was barred from the Church of the Flame when he asked about the Wyrm, but managed to have a short conversation with a minor obviate at the Church of the Light.

It seems a group of very deep dwarves hold a shadowy sway over all the churches, and indeed the cities of the dwarves; a sort of Praeumbrati, if you would, the dark version of the Illuminati. He and the strange gnome with him explained how the Wyrm was hated and feared by all sects of the churches - and how the scale the party was seeking was found in a deep cave in the center of the mountain. Interestingly, the dwarf mentioned a phrase that was not translated by the helm of comprehend languages; a truly dead language, perhaps?

The party teleported to Caranthir to pick him up, then teleported to within a day's journey from the deep cave. After some head scratching as to which way to go, the party settled on a direction, and continued on. After a day of marching through the soft sand, the party reached a well - or rather, a well-shaped hole. Well-cut stone steps lead into the hole. Shrugging, the party followed them down... and down... and down.

Hardly a few steps into the well, the globes of Continual Light went out! The torches managed to illuminate the steps, but even they burned dimly, as if some force was acting against the light itself. Other spells seemed to work, so the party merely pushed on. At the bottom of the well, the torches finally gave up. No light was visible. Only the infravision of the gnomes, dwarves, and dragon managed to pierce the blackness. The rest of the party followed them down a well-carved hallway, they began to hear the sound of chanting - countless voices, far away, chanting in an unknown language. Suddenly, the acoustics of the cavern changed - the party had stepped out into a large room. Caranthir could see a few figures, at the edge of his senses; stepping forward, he saw a semi-circle of beings, wrapped in thick cloth that hid their heat signatures and limited his infravision. Suddenly, a group of four dwarves moved towards them; the lead dwarf asked their purpose there.

Craydette, stepping forward, introduced himherself and their party, and why they were there - to destroy the Scale of Darkness. Immediately, the dwarf on the right chimed in: "Finally! Someone who understands! If you'd ask the Seeker over there, he'd say we should save it and study it! Destroy the blighted thing, before it's too late!"

As Craydette blinked in surprise (in the utter darkness, mind you), the dwarf on their left spoke up. "Certainly we should study it. Without study, how can we attain knowledge? We know not what will happen when the stone is destroyed..."

The dwarf standing behind the others spoke, his voice deep and course. "They cannot choose unless one receives the gift."

Sorvald, standing a few paces behind, started waving his hand. "Ooh! Pick me! I volunteer!"

Caranthir, shrugging, agreed. The party watched as the young thief was lead beyond the circle of chanting dwarves, and was lost to sight in the center of the circle. There, Sorvald felt the other dwarf grab his hand, and place it on the edge of a wide bowl - he estimated it to be about a yard in diameter. Feeling towards the center, his hand brushed something smooth; immediately, a light began to glow around him. He laid his hand on the stone - a small, shield-shaped pentagon of pure black. The dwarf warned, "Do not look up. Follow me."

Sorvald followed the dwarf back, casting furtive glances left and right. The room was well-lit, as if by daylight; the cavern was vaguely oval, with a ring of easily over a hundred dwarves sitting around the scale, chanting softly. When he reached the others, the four dwarves surrounded him. Behind him, the dwarf that had escorted him (wearing a charcoal-gray outfit), which I called the "Actor"; in front, the Speaker, dressed in simple white clothing; to his right, the Seeker, wearing green and gold; to the left, the Instrumentalist, wearing red and silver. They performed a ritual of sorts, asking Sorvald what he saw, and finally directing him to look up. 150 feet above his head... he saw an enormous face, hanging from the ceiling! Teeth, easily as long as his arm, protruded from the slightly open mouth of the great dragon-like creature over him! It was, as the others suspected, the Wyrm - asleep, as he had been for ages untold, and watched by the Deep Dwarves.

Now knowing the stone was indeed the Scale of Darkness, Caranthir asked the Speaker if they would be allowed to destroy it. The four dwarves huddled together, and after much deliberation, reached a decision: yes, the party could take the stone, but only if they bring a representative with them. If the stone is not destroyed, then the party must return it, and never return.

The party, along with the young dwarf picked to accompany them, teleported to the peak of the Northern Tower. In the thin afternoon light, the scale began to sizzle, pitting and slowly, slowly shrinking in the light. As the light died, however, the scale ceased to shrink; quickly, the party teleported to the opposite side of the world, where the sun would just be rising. Gróin cast Iron Platform, and the party flew up to it, looking down on rolling plains and a lovely lake to the north-west. As the day wore on, the light from the sun burned away the scale... only a thin scrap remained when the sun, once again, began to set. Meanwhile, however, Gróin and Craydette spoke with the young dwarf, who introduced himself as Kurt Steinbacke. Kurt was blind, and had been so since birth; however, he was skilled in combat, and had trained hard to be a protector of the scale. Gróin offered to heal his eyesight, but Kurt politely refused. "Perhaps, but for now... I am satisfied to feel the sun on my face."

The party teleported back to the Northern Tower, and in the midday sun, the scale finally cracked in half, then vanished into smoke. The scale had been destroyed. Kurt sat in silence, then spoke. "My duty is complete. I... would like to see, good dwarf." Laurita cast the spell, and Kurt opened his eyes, seeing this unfamiliar world for the first time in his life. He couldn't help but grin. Of course, only his eyes were healed; his depth perception was terrible, as one of the first things he tried to do was reach up and grab a cloud. The party teleported back to the dwarves to tell them the scale was destroyed. Kurt, however, stayed on, deciding to stick with Sorvald as a henchman.

• Experience from encounters: none
• Experience from treasure: none
• Experience from destroyign the scale: 5,000
• XP for Caranthir, Craydos, Gróin, Mor Gibs, and Sorvald: 588
• XP for Gimli, Laurita, Herman, Baelnar, Pentzkin, Alun, and Kurt: 294

Kurt Steinbacke is a Dwarven Deep Monk, level 5, with 28,308 XP (that includes the XP this session). His class sheet is found here. (I would suggest making him his own character sheet, rather than marking him in the tiny space on a henchman sheet - Monks and Mystics have a lot of associated information). His stats are as follows: Neutral; Str 13, Int 14, Wis 10, Dex 13, Con 13, Cha 13; Class Profs: Unarmed Fighting, Lay On Hands; General Profs: Survival, Theology (Church of Clay), Mimicry, Eavesdropping; a mundane warhammer, a collapsing spear, Miner's Robes (which provide +1 AC armor and Fire Resistance: -1 damage per die and a +2 to saves vs any flame attack), and a few smooth rocks worth 8,000gp.

The Path Less Traveled

Ochdamh 7 - 11, 6639; next holiday is Beastnight, 9/35

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Noona, the Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Craydos Silverskin, the Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger

After their defeat at the hands of the earth-mage and the mystic, Caranthir decided that he would hire Quetgar to kill the three surviving lords, their families, their courts, and anyone else in line to inherit their land. He sent word, and is waiting for a response...

Meanwhile, Gróin, Craydos, and their henchbeings continued their trek north to Caranthir. Six days later, Craydos (briefly) had two hyenas as pets, and they reunited at Caranthir's lands. With a little hopping around via teleportation, the party (Gimli and Elenora, Gróin and his crew, Craydos and his crew, Rig and his two pets, and Sorvald) visited the True Elves, and met the wandering gnome merchant, selling his odd magical items again. They traveled to Kanca Sahir, where they attempted to locate a ring of wishes; there were none to be found, however they did hear of a disturbance in the pass through the mountains. After speaking with a guild of merchants, they were given a quest - and a sizeable sum of money at the end, 50,000 gold pieces! Craydos scared off a would-be pickpocket, while another in the party heard of an army forming, now looking for transport...

The trip to the mountains was an uneventful teleport, and so began the underground trek. The first encounter was a group of 10 ghouls; after they were dealt with, they met a group of 6 NPCs, who after a brief standoff went on their way peacefully. Finally, they found a hydra in the middle of the road, staked to the ground. They killed it quickly, and Craydos managed to rescue 7 hd worth of monster parts from it (790 XP worth). They found two legs - one, the main road, and the other, a narrower path, though with many footprints easily visible in the dust. After turning down that road, they camped in a insta-cave made by Gróin.

Cave or no, these tunnels were dangerous, and in the middle of the night, a gray ooze slipped into the camp! Immune to fire, it was nonetheless pummeled into oblivion by the party, and they returned to sleep. They fought a group of four troglodytes, nasty stinky things that they were, and found nothing else until they camped. This time, a black ooze attempted to eat their Mechanical Deathtrap, but was soon overwhelmed by the party's combined efforts. No other creatures were encountered on the next two days, and finally they reached... a city? A wall blocked the road, and a quiet-voiced guard, speaking a language they had never heard before. After a bit of negotiation - including a warning against bright light - they were allowed to enter, and were escorted to a hotel. As it turned out, this was the Deep Dwarven city of Dunklesdorf. A brief search for wishing rings (do you sense a trend, here?), they went to the tavern. Gróin walked up to the barkeep and ordered a pint of his strongest ale, then was immediately overcome with horror - the dwarf behind the bar had no beard! In fact... no one there had a full beard! They were trimmed neatly, or shaved into manageable shapes! Gróin nearly vomited; only his tough dwarven spirit kept his insides inside.

Sorvald, meanwhile, was enchanted by these strange dwarves, and Craydos took many notes. They sampled the alcohol - sweet moss ale, and strong mushroom beer. Deciding it was finally night, they returned to their hotel, and barricaded the door, and slept.

• XP from Encounters:
  • 1 Dryad (missed)
  • 6 Hyenas (210)
  • 2 NPCs (skipped)
  • 10 ghouls (290)
  • 6 NPCs (peaceful)
  • 1 hydra (10 hd, 1550)
  • 1 gray ooze (65)
  • 4 trogs (80)
  • 1 black ooze (1550)
• XP from Treasure: none!
• XP for Gróin, Craydos, Rig, and Sorvald: 394
• XP for Gimli, Elenora, Midnight, Noona, Laurita, Herman, Baelnar, Pentzkin, and Alun: 197

Additionally, it was Reah's birthday.

Return of the Elves

Còigeamh 10-22, 6638; next holiday: Summerset, Siathamh 1 (the celebration before the Summer Solstice on the 35th)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper
  • Laurita Gomez, Priestess
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Grogg, the White Mage

After finally making it to the city of the Elves, the party cautiously surveyed the scene. After escaping from 5 wooly rhinos, of course. They spent the first day walking around the city, and sending Flit over the wall. They found no signs of life; whatever dangers the city held, there were no indications as yet.

They set up camp, and were interrupted by a party of four individuals - though they didn't realize there were four of them. Caranthir was quickly pushed to one side by Rig; his method of diplomacy would likely get the party in trouble. After a tense standoff, the leader, Sinem Husseini, laughed them off, and headed towards the high wall. The party watched her and her friends group together and float up the side of the wall. Any attempts to scry on them were blocked - it seems they had a spell or a device to block it.

In the morning, the party set off to explore the city. The city itself was surrounded by a gently curving wall, tall and ivory. Inside, the buildings were tall and graceful; though it seemed the city was entirely abandoned, there was a distinct lack of decay. Apart from one or two buildings that had been pushed aside by trees, the entirety of the structure was oddly untouched by time. The front door of the central keep was unlocked; inside, the party found footprints, leading two directions.

Carefully, the party followed the prints, eventually finding a room where a campfire had been built. Still, nothing jumped out at them; it seemed the structure was entirely inert. They wandered the halls, eventually finding themselves going down a spiral staircase. In the darkness of the new area, the group lit a wand of light, and surveyed the area.

With no footprints to follow, the party struck out at random. The first corridor was traced with names; tens of thousands of names. What they meant, no one knew. Moving through the long corridors, the party was slightly confused by the odd layout. Long hallways, with the occasional cross-hallway; blank marble walls, and granite floors. Eventually, the light went out, and the party realized that the walls glowed with a dim blue light. Caranthir, tired of wandering around, heaved his sword at the wall, cracking it open. As he did so, there was a rush of wind. Inside the wall, suffused with blue light, he found a corpse - though, oddly, it was not decayed! He hauled it out. Whatever this creature was, it seemed to be in some kind of magical sleep. One quick Dispel Magic from Gróin, and the creature was sitting up, confused.

After some discussion (involving Llarm and a helmet of understanding languages, and a staff that could speak languages), the party learned a little of what had happened.

Long before the Age of the Beastmen, the True Elves that decided to stay in Mor-Thir learned of its coming, and decided that they would have to go into hibernation to avoid it. It was planned to last about 1,500 years; the cities were protected, enchanted to keep anything living or undead out, and the elves were placed in stasis. However, something must have gone wrong; the elves were not awoken at the end of the Age of the Beastmen, and have been sleeping for nearly twice what they should have!

The creature they rescued - a True Elf - was merely a gardener, and understood little of the stasis process, or of the Age of the Beastmen. He only knew of a coming disaster. Finally, the party decided it was to move on. They struck out in the direction they thought was the stairs... and missed. They did eventually reach the wall, but as they did, they saw the other tombs opening, and elves of all shapes and sizes climbing out! By the time they reached the stairs, a large number of rather angry looking elves had climbed out of their stasis pods and were holding some rather nasty looking weapons.

Caranthir, realizing that perhaps these elves may be a little out of their league, managed to keep things civil. He remained polite, answering questions and asking a few of his own. Finally, he agreed to visit the ruler of the city. Upstairs at the ruler's chamber, the lead guard knocked several times, before opening the door himself - and found the ruler with a knife in his chest! He was murdered! Though the party was initially suspected, one of the elven casters cast a field of truth on them, and soon proved their innocence.

They spoke with the caster, a motherly looking woman who was much less harsh than the guard. She explained more about how the stasis worked, and how troubling it was that it hadn't ended on its own. Caranthir told her about the other party they had encountered; she nodded. It seems that they had discovered at least some of the members of that party. Meanwhile, elves of all sorts were working on restoring the city; the others would be found soon.

The guards brought two members - a fellow in a robe, who previously had a hawk on his shoulder, and an elf woman - a nightblade. The woman wasn't struggling, but the robed man was alternating between crying and trying to cast spells. They had been caught trying to escape. Caranthir offered to assist in making them talk; he suggested a new invention, the "Decanter of Endless Waterboarding," but any offers of assistance were refused. The nightblade quickly gave up her friends, admitting that it was the warlock who killed the lord of the city. The warlock tried to cast another spell, then burst into tears again.

Outside, two more members of that party were actually making good their escape; fireballs exploded and plants surged upwards as the fighter and a mage reached the top of the wall. Laughing, the fighter leaped over the top of the wall - and was repulsed by a blast of energy! A faint sizzle of lightning raced around the top of the city. A huge forcefield! Angry, the fighter and mage were forced back-to-back. When the guards arrived, it was over quickly; the two were bound and brought back.

The two prisoners were lead to a small jail area; the elf was tossed into one cell, and the warlock the other. However, the warlock didn't seem to be able to be contained! The guard tossed him in, activated a force-field over the door, and the warlock dashed through like it wasn't even there. The guard tested it, but eventually just tied up the whimpering warlock. The party turned out his pockets, finding a silver dagger, 5 darts, a blank spell book, a small vial of plain water, a ring with no enchantments, a blank scroll, and most of a pound of wax candles. The nightblade's pockets held more value: along with her leather armor, bola, shortbow, 12 arrows, and 3 silver arrows confiscated by the guard, she held a spell book with Burning Hands, Alter Self, Charm Person, and Continual Light. She also had a Medallion of ESP, a scroll of Ward against Elementals, some candles, a crowbar, a pair of dice, an ounce of ink, manacles, a purse with platinum and gold, and 6 torches.

Conversation turned to the scales - the reason the party was there. The elven mage mentioned the scale they kept; usually, it was guarded by a group of a dozen White Elves, elves specially tasked with caring for the scale, but for whatever reason, they could not be placed in stasis; no one else existed that knew about the scale itself. She would, however, take them to see it.

The scale resembled a huge teardrop diamond. It glowed with a pure, white light, shining from the center of an enormous room. The room was a huge half-sphere, 120' in diameter. Caranthir nodded to Luce and handed her one of the party's many +1 swords. After removing her armor and magical items, she inched forward, and finally touched the sword to the diamond. There was a flash of light, nearly blinding; when it dimmed... nothing seemed different. She returned, and handed the sword to Caranthir with a shrug. He broke it over his knee; it seems the enchantment on it was gone! Though it seems that the enchantment on Luce's armor was gone, as well, which was strange since she wasn't wearing it. After some experimentation, it was discovered that Luce hadn't lost the enchantment on her armor - she simply couldn't use it! All magical items in her possession were inert. On the other hand, magical items didn't seem to work on her, either; enchanted swords acted like mundane swords, and spells seemed to ignore her completely. The scale, it seems, had made Luce absolutely immune to all magical effects.

The extent of the non-magical power Luce had been granted was tested over the next week. Meanwhile, Llarm took that time to ask a few questions of the outer plains; the first questions he asked came back, "Ask Again Later," but the second ("How can we destroy the diamond scale?") was answered, "1 2 3 4 5 6 7, do the rest to sent it to heaven!"

The party assumed that this meant that the other scales should be destroyed first; Laurita Gomez, who was very knowledgeable about the scales, agreed that interpretation was likely the most correct. Which meant that it was time to find the other scales...

• Experience from Encounters:
  • 5 wooly rhinos (evaded)
  • 1 level 12 fighter, 1 level 10 elven enchanter, 1 level 10 warlock, 1 level 8 nightblade (avoided)
• Experience from encounters: none
• Treasure (from the other party, graciously given by the elves):
  • +1 leather armor, bola, shortbow, 12 arrows, 3 silver arrows
  • 2x Shield +1
  • Axe +1, Sword +2
  • Blank spell book
  • Spell book with Burning Hands, Alter Self, Charm Person, and Continual Light
  • Spell book with Burning Hands, Alter Self, Clairaudience, Conjure Ooze, Adaptation, Chameleon, Continual Light, Chimerical Force, Dimension Door, Cloudkill, Choking Grip, Deathless Minion, Fireball, Fear, Cone of Paralysis, Detect Magic, Detect Good, Fly, Giant Strength, Curse of Swine, Light, Detect Invisible, Gaseous Form, Growth of Plants, Enchanted Container, Magic Missile, Detect Secret Doors, and Growth
  • Amulet versus Crystal Balls and ESP
  • Medallion of ESP
  • Potion of Longevity
  • Scroll of Ward against Elementals
  • 1.5 pounds of wax candles, a crowbar, a pair of dice, an ounce of ink, manacles, a purse, 6 torches, 10' pole, 1 lb of garlick
  • 20,477 gp in an enchanted containers
  • 2x enchanted containers
• Extra experience:
  • Reawakening the first city of the True Elves: 5,000 xp
  • Becoming Pristinely Ungifted (Luce): 1,000 xp
• Total experience: 5,000 xp
• XP per PC (Rig, Caranthir, Gróin): 1000
• XP per Henchman (Llarm, Rhea, Luce, Laurita): 500
• Additional XP for Luce: 1000

Additional notes: Luce, as a Pristinely Ungifted, is absolutely unaffected by any magic whatsoever. This includes magical armor and magical weapons, both for an against her; all weapons used by or against her are considered +0, regardless of bonus. All armor used by or against her is treated as mundane +0 armor. Targeted spells like Magic Missile cannot target her. Area effect spells like Fireball do not damage her. All potions except mundane poison are treated like normal water. Magical items in her possession revert to their mundane state until they leave her possession; intelligent magical items feel no time passing. Scry does not work on her; the caster will not even know she is protected, as with Nondetection. If a caster scrys on the area near her, the caster will not see her. True Seeing cannot detect her; to a caster using True Seeing, she will appear invisible. She is immune to non-mundane poisons and diseases (such as Mummy Rot or dragon's blood poison). Creatures hidden by the Inaudibility or Invisible spells will still be inaudible or invisible to her. Further, while she can attack/be attacked by enchanted or summoned creatures, constructs, and undead, no magical effects (such as a Chaos Beast's insanity or a banshee's scream) can affect her. She cannot interact with incorporeal creatures at all (nor they with her).

However, she can be affected by some effects. A dragon's breath attacks will work, as it is a physical effect, as will a hell-hound's breath attack. The magical bonus from an enchanted bow used against her will apply, but not the damage bonus. She is invisible to any magical vision (including wards or traps), but will still trigger physical traps (ie, a trapped door). She cannot teleport, nor can she be magically healed.