The Godsmite

Naoidheamh 35-36, 6639 (yes, you repeated a day)

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
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker
• 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
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

The final scale destroyed, a mage suddenly showed up, teleporting in with a CRACK. Gróin recognized him immediately - it was Chancellor Lucious! Though he seemed about 20 years older than last they had met, only a year and a half before. He waved it off as "something about time travel," and suggested that the group "meet some friends of his." A wave of steam washed over the plains, and when it cleared, the party found themselves standing in a dark, spacious, indoor amphitheater. On the stage are twelve podioums, grouped in sets of three, dark apart from a light that glowed over Chancellor Lucious's head. Interestingly, the entire party was there, including those that had teleported away to destroy the scale. He introduced the Council of 12:

• Human: Chancellor Lucious, lvl 14 Mage; middle-aged fellow, looks familiar, because he's the time-traveling fellow that killed a dragon turtle.
• Nobiran: Evelyn Archiater, lvl 12 Nobiran Wonderworker, one of the head Instrumentalists, with an obvious Instrumentalist brand on her forehead.
• Zaharan: Emir Yazdi, lvl 12 Zaharan Ruinguard, one of the head Seekers, obvious from the symbols on his gear.
• True Elf: Dwyn Vispasial, lvl 12 Elven Courtier; one of the newly-risen True Elves.
• Dwarf: Thorfridh Oakenback, lvl 13 Dwarven Vaultguard, a member of the Ruling Council of the Dwarves (she waved at Gróin).
• Dragon: Angura Whitefang, Venerable Amphithere; demigod of Lawful Dragons.
• Beastwere: Standing Bear, lvl 9 Wolfwere; aka Mother Bear, granddaughter of Bear (the god).
• Treant: Larch Hardwood, 14 HD Treant; last of the First Trees (though he spent thousands of years in a valley, and didn't really see much during that time).
• Magic: The Phares, a sentient +4 sword.
• Thrassian: Filesh Toggrodh, level 11 Thrassian Gladiator; descendant of the original Thrassians.
• Fae: Prince Fenix and Princess Maedhe (Fall/Winter), of the Summer and Winter Fae, respectively; they are sharing the podium, since it is Beastnight, the Fall Equinox.
• Gnome: Panderick Rumblefine Monkeybloomer, lvl 12 Gnomish Trickster, a deadly serious Gnome with a scar over his left eye.

Once the introductions were finished, the Nobiran explained the reason they were brought: "We called you here for a grave matter, of the utmost importance. You've come... rather highly recommended, actually, by Mannanan. And Loki. And Coyote, though you can never be too sure of what he's actually saying. They say that you... assisted them before. And that you are the ideal force for good, regardless of your... er... inclinations. Coyote said something about it being otherwise impossible, because you are the 'player characters', or something?"

The Zaharan interrupted. "Ignoring Coyote's mad ramblings, we have been lead to believe that you are the last, best hope for Mareten, and indeed all of Mor-Thir."

Nodding, the Elf took up the narrative: "Indeed - most telling is that you, and you alone, have managed to destroy the seven scales. Ah - when the sixth scale was destroyed, the Faultless Diamond fell to dust - and thus this meeting was convened."

The Thrassian adjusted his glasses, and finished, "We cannot interfere directly; our power as Council forbids it. We can, however, convey messages, and so gather any willing to assist you. We can only do so at your bidding, however; is this your desire?"

Caranthir managed to get out a "Ye-" before the Thrassian cut him off. "Ah, good, we already did. I hope you will find the people we summoned to your liking:"

• The Bardbarians, recently having finished their second Beyond The Wall tour.
• The silver dragon of Mareten Tower
• The three gargoyles from what is now Quetgar's base
• Flynn, the mage Arkus, and the cleric Clarence Silverbeak, from the God Squad
• Grek Trieb ("Grek Trieb! Member Grek Trieb? Yeah!")
• Hjalmar Greathearth the paladin, Ham the barbarian, Twych the cleric, and Toxwell Dishthunder Galazooks, Gnomish Wizard.
• The Original Nightblade, who has taken the name Du Ryst
• Mabel the goat and Winklestem Eustache Bottomwobbler, proprieter of "Another Man's Treasure" (& some of his more... potent items)
• Ajeela, of course
• The Airwalkers of the Tower, as well as the Blue Dragon there

The group were given a single day to prepare... the same day, in fact, as they were fighting the battle for the scale! The council transported them back in time...

Ready as they would ever be, the party and their friends were transported to a dim, misty battlefield. The Lawful and Neutral gods were arrayed on one side, with the most devout of their followers at their feet, ready for battle. Soon, across the shallow valley, a horde of chaotic creatures charged down; behind them, great shapes stepped out of the fog: Erklik, Jörmungandr, Serpent, Balor, and Ysbaddaden. Each lead its own group of evil minions. As the edges of the two armies met, and battle began, the party moved to assist Kai-Ra; they quickly cut through the massive war elephant and the men and scorpions arrayed against them.

Moving on, they assisted Thor, though during the battle Loki and many of his followers lost hope and fled. Next, while Caranthir and Aingeal tried to rally Loki's followers, the rest of the party took on Ysbaddaden's minions - Rakshasa and Dao - trying to divert focus from Danu. They succeeded, thanks to Quetgar's quick claws, and Manannán's horde of summoned undead. Manannán fought Ysbaddaden, throwing him into a suddenly-appearing swamp.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the valley, the shape of the Wyrm was taking form. With each chaotic god that fell, the Wyrm seemed less translucent. Indeed, it was the Wyrm who had killed the god in the Pointless Tower; he took that power and split it into the forms of the other chaotic gods, traveling here to there in a soul jar.

The party paused for a moment to watch Bear rip the skull from a stegosaurus, and use it to crush a number of enemies, while Coyote giggled and made trees sprout from the chests of charging men. They didn't seem to need much help... However, Lleu and Kai-Ra seemed to be struggling against Balor; they quickly came to their aid, carving through redcaps and trolls, while trying to avoid Balor's horrible death-ray eye. As they finished off the last of the enemies, Gwydion charged up from behind, his twin swords flashing in the weak sunlight; in a moment, Balor was dead.

The last of the chaotic gods destroyed, Alehim stepped onto the field. He approached the Wyrm, his massive sword at the ready, his golden armor flashing in the sunlight. The Wyrm, with a dark cry of rage, hurled itself at Alehim; Calmly, the god raised his sword, and caught the Wyrm on the tip, the sword stabbing into its throat and all the way down its insides. The Wyrm's mouth began to close over the god's arms, but a crack of light shone through the creature, then another, and in a sudden, blinding explosion of light, the Wyrm was destroyed. Good had triumphed! The Wyrm was no more, and its followers were routed, fleeing the battlefield.

Speaking of the battlefield... now that the mist had cleared, the party could see the sun, a dim light, far in the distance. A massive shape was rising on the horizon - the Devourer, also known as Yiyen Biri, or Devorat, a massive gas giant! They were no longer on Terrarum, but one of the great planet's moons; Daelna, in fact.

Danu came to speak with the party - in part, to ask why Gróin only ever used the teleportation aspect of his god-staff. The staff has, as he knew, greater planar teleport once per turn with no downside. It also can (temporarily) turn stones to gems (and vice versa), and can cast illusion spells at will, similar to phantasmal image or illusory terrain, except they are permanent until dispelled. Caranthir wondered what their reward would be for all this; Danu replied that while the gods had little use for treasure, magical or otherwise, she would see that the party were aptly rewarded for their role in the battle.

Indeed, the party had played a pivotal role; had they not assisted Kai-Ra, he would have fallen before Erklik. Of course, had they assisted Loki, he would not have fled; but in helping Lleu, they saved him from destruction by Balor.

---

I pondered how, exactly, I would award experience. While the party did, in fact, destroy 14 men, 5 scorpions, 1 elephant, 6 wyverns, 6 fire giants, 3 hags, 3 rakshasa, 3 dao, 40 redcaps, and 10 trolls, they also assisted in what was essentially a mass battle. Assuming each was treated, technically, as an independent hero in a mass battle, everyone would get a cut of the entire battle's XP. To that end, I present the XP gained from killing a single chaotic god: as a roughly 68,600 hit dice creature, a god such as Balor would have in the vicinity of 154,321,750 XP. Assuming an epic-scale battle with groups of 10 HD or more creatures, single units would have nearly a million XP. To that end...

Each PC and NPC will gain enough XP to be within 1 XP of their next level. Additionally, each PC present in the battle will receive the following, free except for upkeep, plus 150,000 gp:

• Rig Bigny: 1 unit of 120 trained battleshrews battlebadgers, and a Cloak of Protection +3
• Caranthir: 1 unit of 120 dwarven mounted crossbowmen, and a Ring of Spell Turning, with 10 charges
• Gróin: 1 unit of 120 dwarven mounted crossbowmen, and a Ring of Djinni Calling
• Crolack: 1 unit of 120 heavy infantry lizardmen, and Boots of Levitation
• Mor Gibs: 1 wonderworker of each level from 1 to 5, and Eyes of Petrification
• Saphira Moonstone: 1 skinscribe of each level from 1 to 5,
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi: 1 polydoctorate of each level from 1 to 5, and a Ring of Command Animal
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord: 1 unit of 120 Heavy Infantry Hobgoblins, and Eyes of Charming
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara: 1 witch of each level from 1 to 5, and a +3 Vorpal Sword (while she can't use it in her usual form, a polymorphed form certainly could!)

Of special note, Sorvald managed to actually hit Balor with an arrow; for that, he is rewarded his own thieves' guild, in the city of his choice, for free.

And thus ends this chapter of The Fourth Age; we will be taking a break from ACKs for a while, to go through a new, unrelated campaign - LeTourneau: East Texas University!

The Final Scale

Naoidheamh 35, 6639: Beastnight!

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
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker
• 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
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

Their armies teleported in, the party quickly organized both the battle and the strike team. With Rig Bigny commanding the battle, they launched their attack...

The units under Rig's command destroyed a unit of bloodhounds, a (terrifying) unit of death chargers, a unit of zombies, two skeleton units, and a flight of wyverns. The dwarven troops, a unit of archers, and a unit of infantry were lost.

The units under Ajeela's command destroyed a unit of bloodhouds, a unit of necropedes, a unit of ghouls, a unit of zombies, and a bone dragon (carrying a commander). She lost her barbarian troops.

Fayleen Ross, commanding the lizardmen, destroyed three units of skeletons.

The war raged back and forth, until Herman Thorpe managed to Hold the majority of the skeleton armies. Shortly afterward, the strike team entered the tower, and quickly (through Locate Object, Detect Traps, and a pile of other spells, wands, and magical objects) managed to race through the magical maze with little effort. They arrived at the scale, and quickly dumped more magic (and holy water) onto the black altar holding the evil scale; those on the battlefield felt its powers weaken. After some quick thinking, Te'a cast Remove Curse on the scale, Saphira quickly wrapped it in a temporary Bag of Holding, and Gróin teleported the lot of them to the main temple to Thor, in the Mountain Dwarf capital.

The evil sinkhole removed, the remaining undead were quickly cut down, while the living creatures routed, fleeing to the hills and forests. Even the general and his unit of manticores fled.

XP is a little weird, so bear with me. Hopefully this isn't too unbalanced.

• XP from destroyed units
  • 1200 Skeletons (15600)
  • 240 Ghouls (6960)
  • 240 Zombies (6960)
  • 120 Chaos-zombies (9600)
  • 120 Wights (9600)
  • 20 Necropedes (16400)
  • 240 Bloodhounds (11280)
  • 60 Death chargers (8100)
  • 1 Bone Dragon (12800)
  • 60 Wraiths (11400)
  • 240 Harpys (75 of the 240 killed, the rest routed: 15600)
  • 20 Wyverns (22800)
  • 60 Manticores (5 killed; the rest routed: 40800)
• Total XP from units: 187,900
• XP lost from friendly losses
  • Berserkers (60 died) (2520)
  • Paladins (0 died) (0)
  • Green Men (2 died) (0)
  • Bladedancers (4 died) (0)
  • Clerics (11 died) (0)
  • Heavy Infantry (98 died) (600)
  • Longbowmen (60 died) (600)
  • Dwarven Heavy Infantry (60 died) (1200)
  • Lizardmen (40 died) (0)
  • Gnomes (0 died) (0)
  • Roc Lobbers (1 died) (0)
• Total XP lost: 4920
• XP for Rig Bigny (General): 91,490
• XP for Rig Bigny (Commander): 22,110
• XP for Fayleen Ross (Commander): 2,340
• XP for Mor Gibs (independent hero): 5115
• XP for Llarm, Ffaufe, Alun, Herman (commanders/lieutenants): 2557

Of course, that's not all. There is also treasure! Hooray! The surviving troops collected 1/2 of the battlefield treasure as payment (or final gifts for the family of the dead); the rest, as well as the treasure in the tower proper, will be split up as desired. With a little bartering, I'm sure you can trade items for cash, so I'll just tally it all as if you got 100% gold.

• 1,231,200 gp worth of supplies, equipment, and other battlefield treasure was recovered
• The tower contained the following (well-labeled!) treasure:
  • 81,700 gp in silver, electrum, gold, and platinum
  • 12 jasper (600gp)
  • 8 shells (240gp)
  • 6 citrine (300gp)
  • 4 onyx (200gp)
  • 5 wrought silver studded with moonstone (25,000gp)
  • 23 jade carvings of heroes, monsters, and gods (4600gp)
  • 1 wrought gold necklace (100gp)
  • 1 porcelain curio (200gp)
  • 1 Bone curio (24gp)
  • 1 wrought copper curio (110gp)
  • 1 moonstone curio (3000gp)
  • 1 Fine wood curio (600gp)
  • 6 jars of spices (4800 gp, 6 st)
  • 2 vials of rare poison (2200gp)
  • 1 coat of chimera fur (19,000 gp)
  • 4 rolls of silk (1600 gp, 16 st)
  • 33 rugs of wolf hide (990 gp, 6.534 st)
  • 24 pieces of elephant ivory (1152gp, 11.52 st)
  • 1 metamphora of preserved special components (600 gp, 99.6 st)
• XP from captured/killed commanders:
  • Hakan Soroush, Zaharan Ruinguard/Mummy Lord: 8200
  • Chulcx Bloodbather, Thrassian Assassin/Vampire: 6600
  • Abigail Rojas, Bladedancer: 3900
  • Geoffrey Wells, Mage: 4800
  • Kharajit, Rakshasa: 3650
  • Porco Chefe, Demon Boar: 2000
  • Sisskt, Arane: escaped
• XP from treasure: 762616
• XP from enemy heroes: 29150
• XP for destroying the final scales: 10000
• Total character XP: 801,766
• Total gold for Rig, Caranthir, Gróin, Mor Gibs, Saphira, Te'a, and Fayleen: 108,945 gp
• XP for Rig, Caranthir, Gróin, Mor Gibs, Saphira, Te'a, and Fayleen: 66,814
• XP for Faufe, Llarm, Rhea, Gimli, Herman, Baelnar, Pentzkin, Alun, Harvey, and Zai-car: 33,407

Also recovered were the following well-labeled items: Leather Armor +1, Potion of Climbing, Oil of Slipperiness, Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Old Zaharan): Invisibility (2nd lvl), Scroll of Ward against Elementals, 2 Short Sword +1, Potion of Sweet Water, Ring of Protection +3, 15', Ring of Wishes (1 wish remaining), Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Old Nobiran): Angelic Choir (1st lvl), and a Treasure Map to 20,000gp. Additionally, the mage's library was rigged to explode if he ever left the area; the dark knowledge within was lost.

Along with the magical items in the tower, there were some found on those killed or captured: Hakan Soroush (captured) was carrying a greatsword, four bone-vials, a crystal ball, and a wand. Chulcx Bloodbather (dead) was wearing chain armor. Abigail Rojas (captured) was wearing a helm, leather armor, and a cloak, and carrying a sword, a knife, and a scroll. Geoffrey Wells (captured) was carrying a staff, a rod, and a wand. The Rakshasa and the Demon Boar had no special items, and were both killed. The only survivor was the arane...

That's a LOT of XP, so I will remind you that you can only advance one level at a time; if you got enough experience to level up more than once, you must cut it off one XP below the next level. However, the XP for the final scales trumps that, so if you're about to go over, you can keep at most 833 over the next level for PCs, or 417 over the next level for henchmen.

Beginning Of The End

Naoidheamh 23-34, 6639; tomorrow is Beastnight...

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
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker
• 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
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

Before I start, I'd like the point out that when we started, we had a total of four players. Now, we have nine, plus another three that have retired. That said, the current major story arc is beginning its inevitable turn towards closure. Even so, this world still has a lot of stories left in it. There are still a number of continents to explore; they may not be as detailed as Mor-Thir, but they still have their stories. There are still planes (aka planets) to find; the [REDACTED] homeworld, which will kick off a rather large storyline, and possibly even a journey to the [REDACTED], which (some of?) the players have (maybe?) visited before (or have they?). And then there's the huge planet with 8 moons... And even beyond all that, I have two different "years later..." storylines. Seriously, there is a lot of wear left on these treads.

But enough of that, back to the present! After hanging around a little - and picking up another party member, Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, a witch - the party decided the best next course of action would be to visit all the various countries they had stayed in before, and try to convince the leaders to send a unit or two their way. While they began, Aingeal and Crolack went to hunt down a dangerous thief. After intimidating a group of men, the two headed to the bad part of town. A little more intimidation later, and they found who they were looking for; or rather, where. The Thrassian "knocked" on the door, sending it crashing to the floor, and the two wandered in. Aingeal decided to try to seduce the guard, which sadly didn't work. The thrassian, not to be outdone, roared angrily, scaring the guard enough to fire his arrow down the hall; the Thrassian charged the door, knocking it off its hinges and thumping the guard pretty soundly.

Their target was sitting, terrified, on a soft chair; after discussing how best to torture the man, they killed his companion and dragged the fellow off to claim their reward: a whole 20 gp!

Meanwhile, the various party members were teleporting around all over the place, talking with the Winter and Summer Fae, the True Elves, the king of Mareten, the Hill, Deep, and Mountain Dwarves, the Northern People, and even the Gnomes, as well as a number of other associates they had found along the way. They tried to contact a few old friends, but they seemed... oddly out of touch. They couldn't find the silver dragon they had freed from the tower, for one.

Caranthir sent Rhea to investigate the Spire; she and Gróin teleported there, and she spent some time creeping through the area. She managed to learn some about their troops, and found that there was at least one living person there, likely a mage. She explored the first two levels of the tower, then left, safely.

After returning, Gróin again teleported away, this time to speak with the gnomes, taking his henchmen, Aingeal, Crolack, and Saphira and her henchmen. Aingeal was suitably freaked out by being turned into a gnome, and Gróin quickly lead them to sample the GodBrew. Baelnar and Alun managed to stave off its effects long enough to reach the god's pub. It was empty, save for a barkeep and a single drunk. The drunk happily sloshed over to them, burbling stories and trying to offer them a drink; he mentioned that all the gods were off planning "shomeshing shooper mmmmportant," which is why they weren't there. As the two felt themselves being pulled back to Mor-Thir, he called after them, "Come back shum time wi' shum frens! An' tell'm Bacchus sent ya!"

Once recovered, the group approached the judge-of-the-day. It was a younger gnome; Aingeal once again attempted to seduce him - not her finest seduction, but... well, this gnome was easy. He fell in love with her immediately, and began gushing sweet nothings to her. When she asked if he'd get her an army, he agreed: the Queen's Guard had returned just a few days ago, and he would be just the right man for the job! Irritated at the prospect of only a single gnome, Aingeal attempted to intimidate the gnome. As it turned out, the gnome was into that sort of thing, and offered his Furry Handcuffs. Not fuzzy handcuffs, oh no. Handcuffs for furries. Aingeal, repulsed, took the advice of the nearby scribe, and quickly left to visit the queen. The queen treated them to tea, and listened serenely to their story. Afterwards, the party decided it was probably best to leave town immediately... before the judge ended his shift!

The gnomes, and everyone else who volunteered to send units, were told to collect their men at a central location, where Gróin could teleport them a unit at a time to a staging ground, then from there... directly to the tower.

Speaking of volunteered units, the results table for the diplomatic unit requisition looks like this:

• 2-: Hostility: lose favor
• 3-5: Apathy: no troops, but at least you don't lose favor
• 6-8: Grudging Support: lose favor, but gain units anyway (melee/ranged)
• 9-11: Support: gain units (melee/ranged, plus leaders for each)
• 12+: Enthusiastic Support: gain units, (melee/ranged/special), plus leaders

Each faction had different numbers and types of units; some had no melee and/or ranged (the mages, for instance). Diplomatically speaking, most factions have a -2 modifier, because... well... they don't want to get involved. The Northern People and the people of Grove are especially anti-evil and anti-undead, so they didn't have that modifier. Due to being physically near, the Northern People and the True Elves had a slight positive bonus; the Gnomes, Mountain Dwarves, Hill Dwarves, and jungle lizardmen got a positive bonus from talking with people of their own race. However, the Hill dwarves are trying to build up their army, and the Mountain Dwarves, Deep Dwarves, True Elves, and Gnomes are somewhat insular, so they all got slight negative bonuses. Adding it all up...

The Northern People (rolled 11, modified to 12), the Summer Fae (rolled 17, modified to 15), and the Grove (rolled 11, modified to 12), and the Gnomes (rolled 12, modified to same) all pledged Enthusiastic Support. The Mage College of Riverbend (rolled 12, modified to 10) and the jungle lizardmen (rolled 11, modified to same) both pledged Support. The King of Mareten (rolled 10, modified to 8) and the Hill Dwarves (rolled 11, modified to 7) pledged Grudging Support, though the party's reputation with both kingdoms has dwindled. The Church of Alehim, under Ajeela's efforts (rolled 9, modified to 5) had an Apathetic reaction, as did the True Elves (rolled 7, modified to 4), the Dark Dwarves (rolled 9, modified to 5), and the Northern Dwarves (rolled 9, modified to 5). The Winter Fae, who already hate you... still hate you (rolled 8, modified to 2).

The resulting units you've been given loaned are as follows:

• Northern People
  • 120 Berserkers (1 unit), lead by a 5th level barbarian, Forest Leaf
  • 120 (lvl 1) Paladins (1 unit), lead by a 5th level paladin, Johan Gustafsson
• Summer Fae
  • 30 Green Men (heavy melee), lead by a sylph, Bryn Silveroak
• Grove
  • 120 (level 2) Bladedancers (1 unit), lead by a 5th level bladedancer, Lori Grove
  • 120 (level 2) Clerics (1 unit), lead by a 5th level priestess, Julia Williams
• Mareten
  • 240 heavy infantry (2 units), unlead
  • 240 longbowmen (2 units), unlead
• Riverbend Mages
  • 2 lieutenants (5th level mages), Herbert White and Rees Haley
• Hill Dwarves
  • 120 Vaultguards (1 unit), unlead
• Jungle Lizardmen
  • 240 Lizardmen (2 units), lead by two sub-chieftans, Bas Mnosh and Ra'kaka Portann
• Gnomes
  • 120 gnomes (1 unit), lead by the Commander of the Queen's Guard
  • 5 Roc Lobbers (1 unit consisting of 5 sets of 4 level 2 Gnomish Tricksters and a level 2 Gnomish Beastmaster driver, all mounted on a Roc), lead by the eldest of the Roc Prepper Sisters, Gnomish Beastmaster Marakkalani Twistspackle Torqueslip. Her other four sisters drive the other four Rocs.

I will, of course, print off all the information for the armies, the leaders, and some info for how these large-scale battles go, so everyone can pick-and-choose who controls what. While you don't need a lieutenant for each unit, it may help. PCs can take part as officers or independent heroes, if they are able. This is a battalion scale battle, so an average unit is 120 men.

Finally, you know from Rhea's recon that the tower has one, possibly more, living creatures. Rhea saw skeletons, zombies, wights, necropedes, death chargers, bloodhounds (the undead ones), wraiths, harpies, wyverns, and manticore in the area - over 2,000 individuals - as well as a huge bone dragon. Chances are, there are more troops elsewhere, if for no other reason than undead are easy to store. Knowing about the harpies allows you to equip friendly units with earplugs. That will allow the units to ignore the effects of the harpies' singing, but each unit costs an extra activation point to activate. You also know a foul darkness lays over the area, blanketing the skies with clouds, and darkening the hearts of any who dare tread that unholy ground; most likely a Forsaken Sinkhole of Evil. That means Turn Undead will not work! Additionally, reversed/necromantic spells cast 2 levels higher, while lawful divine spells cast 2 levels lower, and the undead will be tougher...

XP from encounters: Aingeal and Crolack each got 113 XP, from taking down a vile thief and his accomplice.

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

Agents of SHIELD... Breaking.

Ochdamh 21-22, 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

On a roll with the scale-destroying business, the party decided to next go to Mareten, and see the king about his shield. After teleporting to the gate, passing through, then teleporting to Slowhaven, the party waited until they could receive an audience with the ruler of Mareten.

After a bit of negotiation, Caranthir was able to convince the king that they had, indeed destroyed the scales, and were intent on finishing their quest. They king's spies had already reported on the other scales' destruction (though he hadn't yet heard of the Scale of Darkness being destroyed), and the truthful verification put him at ease. He recommended the party meet him later that evening to discuss the particulars. After a bit of shopping, the party returned to the address indicated, and found themselves in the king's private entertainment chamber. After a light supper, the king got down to business: he would provide a champion and equip him with the shield, if the party would face him and defeat him in one-on-one combat. Caranthir agreed.

In the morning, Caranthir arrived at the battle, buffed and blessed; the fighter he was to face stomped out, raising the white shield to cheers from the crowd. The enormous man charged forward, slamming into Caranthir; Caranthir returned the blow, but both fell short, their swords parried away. Strike after strike fell, and neither was even winded. One of the opponent's blows finally made its way past Caranthir's armor, and Caranthir was forced back from the strength behind it! Enraged, Caranthir shift into dragonform, and blasted the fighter with his breath, then again, and a third time. The fighter was visibly faltering from the blasts, but doggedly kept swinging his sword, connecting a second time. Finally, Caranthir found a chink in the big man's armor, and tore out his chest.

The party turned to the shield... which remained whole and unblemished. Confused, they turned to the king. The man beside him was visibly pale; as the king slapped him on the shoulder, he flinched, the remaining color draining from his face. "Your champion lost, sir Mayor. And now you must keep up your end of the bargain..."

In a moment, the mayor, clutching a very similar shield, was thrust into the arena. Caranthir leaped forward, and in a moment, the mayor was dead - as was his warlock's familiar! The shield in his hands cracked down the face, then blasted into tiny slivers of shining glitter, before vanishing entirely. Caranthir bowed as the king thanked him for ridding his kingdom of a malicious plotter...

After the fun with the shield, the party decided to move on to the Jungle Tower, hoping to gain some strength before facing the final scales...

They teleported out immediately, arriving as another group was finishing performing sacrifices. After some chatting, they found the secret opening again, and began their descent into the tower. The first floor was filled with swarms of flies; Kurt managed to kill a few, but Caranthir slashed through six in a single blast. The rest fell quickly, and no one was harmed. They found a little treasure, and moved on. In the next level, they did not quite disarm a trap, and ended up watching two very large gems get crushed under a pile of rocks. Oops. They killed a few crab spiders to make up for it. Gróin was knocked over by a swarm of rats, but managed to splatter most of them, burning the last few. Realizing the Caranthir had not yet stopped to rest, the party immediately decided that this was the best place to stop for the night, and (after sweeping away the rat guts, I would immagine), set up camp for the night.

• Experience from encounters:
  • lvl 9 fighter, Breaker (3100)
  • lvl 10 warlock, Mayor Eustace Molebeak (3650)
  • Shield of Armies (5000)
  • 15 giant flies (300)
  • 4 crab spiders (152)
  • 4hd rat swarm (135)
• Experience from Treasure:
  • 4 statuettes of superior quality (280 gp, 0.6668 st)
  • 11 bone fetishes and figurines (7 gp each) (77 gp, 1.8337 st)
  • 4 sets of engraved teeth (1 item each, 70 gp each) (280 gp, 0.6668 st)
  • 1 set of superior thieves tools, worth 200gp (1 item) (200 gp, 0.1667 st)
  • 837 gp, 3.3335 st
  • 1 emerald (2500)
• Total gp when sold: 3267
• Total gp now for Caranthir, Gróin, and Sorvald: 279gp
• Total XP now: 128740
• XP for Caranthir, Gróin, and Sorvald: 2146
• XP for Ellenora, Gimli, Laurita, Herman, Baelnar, and Kurt: 1073

I'll keep track of what items haven't been sold, and where the XP goes, and will insert that once you do sell it off (do tell me if there's an item you don't want to sell!). As a final item of note, Craydos's tower has finally been completed as of 8/22, and his recruits are ready to begin their studies.

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.

Sellouts (READ THIS FOR XP)

Seachdamh 22, 6639; next holiday is Guard's Day, 8/3

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

Gróin, Caranthir, Rig, Mor Gibs, as well as Elenora, Laurita, Herman, Baelnar, Midnight, and Noona, decided to travel west to find the treasure there. The vest first day, they were discovered by a group of chaotic adventurers! The first hint was a loud buzzing that rapidly grew nearer.. and the next was when the flying carpet holding Gróin's henchmen fell out of the sky! It seemed that one group in an armored flying machine was attacking from the front, while a second group attempted to fight the stragglers. Caranthir and Gróin dove to rescue the falling henchmen, then turned to fire at the attackers. The attackers were, unfortunately, outclassed; their flying machine was destroyed, though luckily it held a smaller craft inside. The occupants fired at Gróin, finding him utterly invincible, and were soon taken out by Caranthir's breath, Gróin's super-boulders, and the occasional blast from Mor Gibs. Once the battle was over, they charmed the final man - an explorer - and looted the bodies. I'll list the items, etc. at the end, for the sake of brevity.

Luckily, an explorer is great at getting away from things like specters, which is just what the party did. Trying to keep from getting bogged down by battles, especially double-level-draining ones, they party fled onward. The next day, they smashed a bunch of skeletons, and got their hands on the treasure: a cool 25,000 gp!

Returning, they flew on past dire bugbears, purple worms, and throghrin, eventually landing in the Northern City to sell off their stuff, and get all their magical items tested (also listed at the end).

Waltzing on past a huge brigand camp and some undrground ankhegs, they reached Caranthir's stronghold after 5 days of travel. On the way, Caranthir celebrated his birthday!

With the treasure dealt with, it was now time to... enslave a tiny village? It seems so. Caranthir and Mor Gibs threatened, harassed, an ultimately killed the leader of a small nearby village, in an attempt to make a little more cash. As it turns out, tiny villages live hand-to-mouth, and have almost no resources. Who knew? Also in the "Who knew" line, if you kill innocent villagers, your Lawful god withdraws his support. Mor Gibs, Neutral, is now on a quest to become a follower of Loki...

Gróin, meanwhile, was approached by a strange creature: Danu, the mother-goddess! She told him the powers of the god-staff he carried, and begged that he remain Lawful, unlike so many of his friends. She suggested he visit an old friend - the wife of Dracul, dragon-lord.

With his new teleportation, Gróin teleported the group to another treasure (a cursed -3 plate armor), then to the Motherlodestone. After some experimentation - as well as being paid a significant amount of money (10k gp!) to teleport some mages to shoot lightning bolts at it - the party managed to get a bunch of copper, hammer it into a bulky wire, and wrap the scale with it. Then blast it with rather a lot of lightning! The stone crumbled to dust, and vanished. Another stone done!

That dealt with, the party considered their options for visiting the Spire... and finally, a heavily-buffed Gróin teleported himself there - a good half-mile above the spire itself. The Spire is a huge, smooth, black edifice, rising from the blasted landscape like a needle through fabric. At the top, staring down at an enormous undead army, were seven creatures: a Thrassian in full plate, an elf, a dwarf, three humans, and in the center, a figure wearing black armor. Having seen enough, Gróin returned home.

Then immediately left with Crados and Rig (and their 2 pets and 1 henchman) to go find a Fae henchman for him, and get some magical parts. A gnome directed them to the back of his garden, where an infestation of Spellwoods were wreaking havoc; Rig climbed into his mechanical crab, and set about smashing trees, while Craydos found fire to be quite effective. The trees dealt with, Craydos collected the remaining sticks, and carefully sealed them in his metamphoras.

For the sake of your XP and my spreadsheets and time, I'm going to assume that somewhere in there, Gróin sold off all his stuff, probably over several cities. The XP is listed below.

• XP from Encounters:
  • NPC Party:
    • Kadir Hamadani (Male, level 10 Explorer) (2250)
    • Jerónimo Munoz (Male, level 10 Explorer) (2250)
    • Maulnar Underbrand (Male, level 8 Dwarven Machinist) (1600)
    • Finjy Fizzletossle Warblescheme (Male, level 8 Gnomish Mage) (1600)
    • Ýrem Salemi (Female, level 10 Thief) (2250)
    • Rhisiart Nelnueve (Male, level 10 Elven Spellsword) (2250)
  • 8 spectres (fled)
  • 25 skeletons (325)
  • dire bugbears (skipped)
  • caravan (skipped)
  • 3 purple worms (skipped)
  • 2 throghrin (skipped)
  • 60 brigands (skipped)
  • 4 ankhegs (skipped)
  • 1 village elder (5)
  • 1 scale (5000)
  • 6 spellwood (4920)
  • 21 spellwood twigs (147)
• Total XP from Encounters: 17,350
• XP from Treasure:
  • 14,000cp
  • 53,000sp
  • 23,000ep
  • 9,000gp
  • 20,000gp
  • 6 moonstone worth 300gp
  • 2 wrought platinum worth 200gp
  • 6 zircon worth 450gp
  • 2 diamond worth 2,000gp
  • 5 wrought silver studded with turquoise worth 5,000gp
  • 5 topaz worth 2,500gp
  • 7 wrought copper worth 70gp
• Total XP from Treasure: 92830
• XP from selling... well, everything: a lot
• Caranthir: 40046
• Gróin: 41000
• Mor Gibs: 30005
• Sorvald: 3224
• Rig Bigny: 1733
• Craydos: 9702
• Elenora: 26656
• Reah, Luce, Gimli: 10042
• Laurita, Herman, Baelnar: 27610
• Pentzkin: 6940
• Midnight & Noona: 1343

Also, last but not least, magical stuff. This is everything since the trolls that I haven't otherwise posted about: Potion of Growth, Elven Cloak, Shield +1, Sword +1 / +2 versus spell casters, Spear +2, Ancient Zaharan Divine scroll with 2 spell(s) (lvl 3 Cure Blindness; lvl 3 Detect Curse), Crystal Ball, Sword +1, Spell Book in Zaharan with Charm Person, Detect Secret Doors, Fly, Polymorph Self, Unseen Servant, Invisibility, Lightning Bolt, Giant Strength, Hold Portal, Detect Evil, Water Breathing, Magic Carpet, Magic Mouth, Gust of Wind, Holy Water (1 pint), Wand of Magic Missiles (8 charges), Bag of Holding, War Hammer +1, Potion of Delusion (Philter of Love), Rod of Cancellation (1 charge), Cloak of Protection (+1), Spell Book in Elvish with Ventriloquism, Stinking Cloud, Protection from Good Sustained, Wall of Fire, Feeblemind, Summon Berserkers, Uncanny Gyration, Water Breathing, Scry, Panic, Light reversed, Phantasmal Force, Infravision, Dimension Door, -3 cursed plate (with curse-hiding).

And from Craydos's fight: Potion of Fire Resistance, Potion of Healing, Potion of Super-Heroism, Scroll of Ward against Undead, Short Sword +1, Life Drinker, Shield +1, Potion of Clairaudience, Scroll of Ward against Lycanthropes, Sword +1, Sword +1, +2 versus lycanthropes, Potion of Super-Heroism, Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Classical Auran): Cure Major Wounds* (3rd lvl), Potion of Flying, Scroll of Ward against Undead, Potion of Polymorph, Wand of Detecting Enemies (5 charges), Potion of Gaseous Form, Potion of Longevity, Scroll of Ward against Undead, Sword -1 (cursed).

Finally, there's rather a lot of gold laying about; the gold share is as follows:

• Caranthir: 24643
• Gróin: 26073
• Mor Gibs: 9581
• Sorvald: 4836
• Rig Bigny: 1430
• Craydos: 11011

Whew!

The Pointless Tower: Death of a God

Dara 13-15; next holiday, Darkest Day, Dara 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
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker

Last we left them, the party was on the third level - a swampland. They explored a bit, and dealt with a Kelpie (a horse-like water creature). Then, they ran into nine lizardmen, camped on one of the larger islands. Quetgar was welcomed with open arms, and the rest of the party by association. Quetgar (and the others that spoke Thrassian) knew one thing for certain: these lizardmen were redneck! Their accent had such a twang in it, banjos were unnecessary. They spat into the swamp, had a boat up on blocks in their front yard, drank gray liquid-analogue they called "Swampshine" from a jug, and called each other the Thrassian equivalent of Jimmy-Bob, Mary-Beth, and Bubba. They even brought out instruments and gave a rousing performance of "Mama done raised me good" and "Muh Boat Sank When I Ran Over Muh Pet Gator," which Quetgar was kind enough not to translate. Quetgar thought it was real down home, while everyone else just tried not to lose their lunch when Mama grinned. Mama... was not a looker.

In friendly territory, the group decided to rest; Gróin built a wooden hut, and they slept in relative peace. The next... well, morning is a strong word; the light never really changed much from "darkish" to "grayish". After some friendly warnings, they left the lizardmen to continue on.

Past the lizardmen camp was the old lizardmen camp, complete with sunken boats, followed by a marshy dam. A few of the group picked up leeches, and had to smash the ugly things. A cloud of Stirge ("Skeeters") on the following island were dealt with handily by Caranthir's freezing breath. However, the black pudding that slithered out of the water was much harder to deal with. Caranthir ferried everyone to the next island as Gróin and his priestess burned the slimy thing to dust.

The next island had a large hut on it, and inside the hut were six Greater Thrassians and a Hag. After some negotiations, they began a pitched battle, which (of course) resulted in the deaths of the lizardmen and hag. The building cleared, they continued across a flat bridge to the final island. As the last of them crossed, the bridge was pulled back, and sank into the swamp...

A man leaned against a boat, smoking a long pipe; an elf, in fact. As he applauded, Caranthir (in Draconic) addressed him. The elf responded with a formal greeting, and greeted each of the party in turn, in their own native language. "You fight well! And hardly a smudge on the lot of you - well, at least the dwarf. The rest of you may need a bit of a shower!"

And with those words, a breeze kicked up, and tepid water rained down from the nearby trees, drenching them. The elf nearly fell over laughing. Finally, wiping a tear from his eye, he sighed. "Ah, but you've come to hear my story, no doubt. I am Manannán, Trickster God of the Elves and Gnomes," he said with a bow. "Loki, a rapscallion if ever I know one, hurled an uncouth creature into my realm. It seemed to keep to itself, but finally, I realized the Fair Folk had all but vanished from the swamps. I cursed the day I let the creature live, but in the time I lay idle, it grew stronger. I doubted I could best it in single combat, so I offered it a deal. It had eaten or driven off most of my followers here, so I suggested it find a greater host, and sent it east, to the towns of men. They like killing things over there, I'm sure it all worked out just fine."

For a moment, the trickster looked almost sad. "I know it spread wrath and ruin, for that is what it spread here, but I was not strong enough, and though I raised an army of the fallen, something tells me it would have turned them against me. Oh, which reminds me, there was supposed to be some sort of battle! Hold on a moment."

Green mists flowed across the bog, as a form stepped out of the swampy water... it was draped in kelp and swamp-weeds, though its form was familiar - a Mummy! A... swamp mummy? Laurita Gomez stepped forward, brandishing her holy item, and yelled, "Begone!" as holy light flowed from her grasp. The mummy raised its arms to shield itself from the light, and slowly sank back into the mire from which it came.

Manannán cheered. "Thank goodness that's over with. Well, I'm off!" He flipped his boat over, climbed into it, and sailed into the mists, leaving behind a small stoppered vial of faintly-glowing red liquid. One of the trees bent into a staircase, and so the party climbed...

The top of the stair was stone; after exiting some sort of entry area, the party came upon the withered husk of a great copper dragon, pressed against a wall, its head covered by its decaying claws. Its hide was covered in crude, cruel, and inflammatory words of a very anti-dragon nature. Even non-dragons found the words offensive, and Caranthir was incensed. Gróin, at Caranthir's insistence, Spoke with Dead. The dragon's voice issued forth immediately, groaning and crying out. Caranthir asked, "What happened to you?" and the creature answered, "Killed, by the great darkness!" Caranthir asked, "Do you want to be resurrected?" and the dragon's corpse actually shuddered. The party could hear the bones shaking and the creature's voicebox tearing as it screamed, "NO NO NO NO NO NO!!" over and over again. Finally, Caranthir asked if the creature that killed it could be defeated, and it answered, "No, flee, FLEE!"

A little unsettled by what could make a venerable dragon terrified, even after death, the party continued on. The passage to the right seemed to be blocked off with towering green crystals that ran ceiling to floor; a small alcove contained a few copper coins, and a single lightning-bolt shaped wand. In the passage to the left, a few heard a dripping sound, but couldn't place the source. They found a blocked door in a chamber, and Caranthir immediately removed the board blocked it. Then, realizing how that could go terribly wrong, he quickly replaced it. Looking through the wood, he saw only stone behind it. Whew.

Next was a stairwell; the Fury, Gimli, was sent to explore, but came back in a moment - it was blocked at the bottom. Then came a room, with a stone golem with green eyes inside... and a forcefield of some kind, blocking the path. The golem was quickly dealt with, and the forcefield dropped as the golem's eyes shattered. Then, a fighter, who was quickly killed; the shield he was holding broke into dust, and the next forcefield dropped. However, a few seconds later, the man's body rose again as a zombie!

Finishing off the creature a second time, the party continued on. In the third room was... darkness. After contemplating how to find what was in the room, Gróin cast Continual Light... which cancelled out the Continual Darkness spell. The room was otherwise empty. The fourth room contained nothing but a single, small cube - a cube of force! Quetgar happily picked it up, but as soon as the cube reached the doorway, it shattered. The fifth room contained a staff, and as soon as the party entered the room, they felt themselves become the target of a Bane curse. Oddly, there was no more forcefield; the party looked at the next room, which contained great gears behind thick glass, and a single steel pole, with wires running to the wall. The last room's door was filled with a dazzling disintegration field. It was impassable, even with a protection spell, as there was a stone wall just behind it.

Gibs fired the wand at the metal pole, and lightning arced to the tip. Lights flickered, and the gears began to move.

Just beyond the seven rooms was another stairway, blocked again; another set of massive doors, and leading into (presumably) the inner room, a pair of doors with seven runes. Yet another blocked stairway, then several rooms that were empty, or filled with... strange things. One held a man, eating the rotting corpses from a pile of bodies; another held four men, who stared at the group with empty eyes, then attacked. The four men, once slain, rose again as zombies. The eating man, Caranthir slew, and he rasped, "Thank you..." as he died.

Finally, they returned to the last two puzzles. Gróin, remarking that perhaps the room was a puzzle like the light/dark room, cast Bless; the staff cracked in two, and the Bane curse was lifted. And, with that, the final puzzle finished itself; the disintegration field vanished, and the stone door behind it slid into the wall, leaving only some musty old books of little value. Likewise, the final two runes on the door went out, and it was easily pushed open.

Looking into the main room, the party finally realized what this building was - a cathedral! The main chapel was filled with broken things - broken pews, broken glass, and broken people. Bones are strew across the floor. At the center of the floor, a sunken depression was filled with dark blood. At the end of the room was a large altar, and a man, slumped over it, his hands hanging down as blood dripped off his fingers. His eyes were wide and unblinking. As the party entered, he suddenly jerked upright like a marionette on a string, burst into an impossibly loud laugh, and began to babble, "He told me... He promised me... power! Wealth! Wine, women, and song! HAHAHA! But he lied Lied LIED! TRICKERY! Foolish mortal, FOOLISH MORTAL! Death, death, and blood on my hands," as he looked down at them. "I lead them, I brought them, I called them and they came, and death, DEATH is what they have now! And I have naught but ETERNAL TORMENT! Power, oh yes, wealth, certainly, but CURSED I am to live here! ETERNAL SUFFERING! And you," he cried, pointing at the party, each member in turn, "You come here, for power, for wealth, but at what COST!"

He looked towards the sky, pointing up, and screamed, "I bring no more sacrifices!" then at the party, "FLEE, OR FACE ETERNAL TORMENT!"

And with that, he fired a lightning bolt from his hand. The others attacked, quickly killing him, as he slapped ineffectually against their armor. He dropped a fireball, then was brought down. He body quickly burst into flame, and was burned to ash... then rose again, stepping out of the blood in the middle of the floor! The others quickly fired all they had at him, as he fired fireballs at them (even after he had been hit!). Gróin cast Bless on the altar as Rig tossed Holy Water onto it. The man suddenly dropped to his knees, sobbing, as the power of the altar lessened its hold on him. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... please... I'm so sorry," he cried, his tears mixing with the blood pooling around him. Gróin, realizing what that may mean, nodded toward him, and Laurita stepped forward. She prayed, and with her hand on his head, asked if he was truly repentant; the man nodded, miserably. She intoned a spell of forgiveness - Atonement - and immediately, the blood from the pool flowed away from him. He stood, a new light in his eyes... and then immediately flash-burned to ash.

The other explored, finding two rooms filled with gold , gems, and magical treasure. Gróin and the others scooped up the magical stuff, and sent Gimli to see what was in the third room. He returned, nonplussed, and mentioned that it was wet, and there was some scroll hanging on the wall.

Rig, Caranthir, Rhea, Elenora, Gróin, Laurita, and Quetgar crowded into the small room. Quetgar felt a drip of something cold hit his cheek (and, oddly, felt himself heal slightly). He looked up... and froze. Above them was a man, a young man, dressed in simple garb, wearing winged shoes, with an oak staff strapped to his arm. Hooks embedded in his flesh held him to the ceiling, as pinkish blood dripped from the hole in his chest where his heart used to be. It was his blood that was feeding the altar. And not just any blood. The blood of a god. This, then, was the Neutral god of Mareten, Viatoremus, the god of tricks, travelling, and treasure. What's more... that meant that the party was, at that moment, standing where someone had killed a god. This was once the neutral god of what is arguably the most powerful trio of gods in Mor-Thir, and he is dead. Not temporarily vanquished, not banished, not returned to the eternal plane, but DEAD. The party made a collective fear check at -20 and, of course, failed horribly.

Once they collected themselves, Caranthir realized what the vials contained - blood, from each of the gods (yes, Loki claimed it was his tears, but he's a trickster, what do you expect?). He had the party dump the vials into the flowing blood, and a moment later, they heard a CRACK as the altar split in two. Suddenly, the oppressive atmosphere was gone.

Caranthir saw the scroll Gimli had mentioned, and looked over it... and with that, he felt the compulsion to read it:

The Prophecy is Read, and woe to he, whose lips its foul words cross
But harken still, despite evil chill, for these words may stem your loss.
The Spirit of Doom to Mor-Thir comes, full power does it possess
In the scales of lore, it's power restored, no end in sight... unless...

The Protector of Hills defeated must fall, the Shield's bearer must die
The Revoker of Darkness must be bathed in light, and down the Weightless must fly
The Bringer of Undeath need be Blessed,
    and the Gatherer meet equal force
'Til alone at the end, the Cleanser will fail,
    and our warriors return to the Source

He continued reading, but the dark words that followed, no one understood. His lips began to blacked, and suddenly, he found himself, and the party, standing in the Street of the Gods.

Meanwhile... Midnight, Noona, Gimli, and Gibs were left staring at the treasure. Gimli and Gibs grabbed a bunch of gems and jewelry, then headed into the third room. As Gibs realized, and dealt with, the fact that he was standing in a room where a god had been killed... Gimli stole the god's shoes. And, in attempting to grab his staff, pulled the god from his hooks, and onto the floor. Placing his foot in the god's armpit, Gimli gave a good yank on the staff, and released it from its bindings. Gibs stared, open-mouthed. Gimli then pulled the scroll from the wall, and in turning it over, started to read it, with the same effect. Soon, Midnight, Noona, Gibs, and the confused Gimli were standing on the Street of the Gods as well. They turned to see the building behind them - the final building on the Chaotic end of the Street. It fell inward on itself, falling to dust, and leaving naught but a blackened slab.

Realizing this could be a bad place to stay, the party quickly left the Street, and found an expensive (and secure) inn to rest at. Along the way, they kept catching glances of red, black, and blue faces staring at them out of lampposts, or an elf with a long pipe winking at them, or a man dressed in a green-and-gold suit doffing his hat to them. Finally, they were able to rest. Quetgar stacked all the room's contents against the door, and slept fully dressed; Caranthir dumped all his treasure out on the floor, and slept on top of it.

Unfortunately, the treasure (at least half a million in gold, even platinum) was gone; scrying on it only showed foul creatures and horrible landscapes. Luckily, Gimli and Gibs managed to rescue a fair amount of stuff...

• XP from Encounters: 22,686
  • 1 Kelpie (65)
  • 4 Leech, Giant (2280)
  • 8 Stirge (104)
  • 1 Black pudding (1,550)
  • 6 Lizardman, Greater (840)
  • 1 Hag (3100)
  • 1 Mummy Lord (4200)
  • 1 stone golem (3900)
  • 1 lvl 14 fighter (3800)
  • 5 zombies (133)
  • 4 cursed fighters (104)
  • 1 cursed eater (10)
  • 1 cursed, powered man (2600)
• XP from Treasure (once sold): 85,550
  • 36 jade carvings gods (7,200 gp)
  • 3 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes (3,600 gp)
  • 2 alexandrite (1,000 gp)
  • 1 sunset amethyst (750 gp)
  • 1 opal regalia (1,000 gp)
  • 1 diamond (1,000 gp)
  • 1 baroque pearl (2,000 gp)
  • 1 Black pearl (2,000 gp)
  • 1 amber regalia (2,000 gp)
  • 1 opal regalia (4,000 gp)
  • 2 flawless diamond (8,000 gp)
  • 1 amber regalia (7,000 gp)
  • 1 ruby regalia (7,000 gp)
  • 1 emerald (8,000 gp)
  • 5 platinum reliquaries with crystal panes (22,000gp)
  • 1 Gold studded with topaz regalia (9,000 gp)
• Total XP: 108236
• XP per PC: 13530
• XP per Henchbeing: 6765

Oh right, magical treasure! The party collected: 10 Potions, a Scroll of Ward against Elementals, a Scroll of Ward against Lycanthropes, a Scroll of Ward against Undead, 6 other scrolls, 3 Treasure Maps, 5 Rings, 1 Rod, 2 Staffs, 3 Wands, a Cube, a pair of Boots, a Cloak, a Helm, a Barrel, a Necklace, 4 Swords, 1 Sling, 1 Spear, 1 Axe, 1 Leather Armor, 2 Plate Armor, 2 Shields, 6 Arrows, 7 Crossbow Bolts, and a second set of 4 Crossbow Bolts. Oh, and a staff and a set of shoes from a god. You know, the usual.

Kill Them All

Deicheamh 12 - Deug 6, 6638; next holiday, Wintermas, Dara 1

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, the bat familiar
  • Clench, the Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, the Panther
  • [name], 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
• Quetgar, Thrassian Assassin
  • Zarc, Thrassian Gladiator
• Sorvald, Thief
• Mor Gibs, the Wonderworker
• Gianna, a Gnomish Trickster

The party journeyed to both cities of the Northern Dwarves, aka Mountain Dwarves; in Dundrende Klippe, they sold the Eyes of Petrification and the library staff for a pretty penny. Caranthir picked up a henchman, a Dwarven Fury named Gimli Trollriver. Then, off they went, following the wise words of an elder dwarven librarian - one of the Seekers. He pointed them to the locations of a good few items, and told them a bit about the Instrumentalists. Eventually, the group set off for Norston, then from there to the capital of Mareten, Slohaven.

After murdering some wild goats along the way ("I said herd, not hurt them!"), the group made it to Slowhaven, albeit with a few stops due to bad weather. In Slohaven, the King rewarded them with 50,000 gp (which was scoffed at by Caranthir), and a pair of amulets. The amulets will safely teleport anyone to the location of the other amulet. He thanked them for a job well done, and the group let once again, this time for a quick jaunt across the sea to the (much warmer) island of Malvados.

Once there, the group took a few hours to rest and relax, then headed inland. They found a haughty man directing groups of workers; after a brief verbal battle, Quetgar turned him into a fine pink mist.

A few other workers sounded an alarm; as the battle was joined, most of the group used dust of disappearance to vanish outright, and crept in among the soldiers as they advanced. Mor Gibs, meanwhile, wished for a spell. A "Summon Battle Kraken" spell.

The battle, predictably, did not go well for the unprepared Instrumentalists. They were woefully outmatched, even with their high-level casters nuking hexes with fireballs, and getting off a lucky disintegrate on the Princess. Even so, they managed to wear down the party; when two tall, well-built men in white robes arrived and began firing both arcane and divine spells, Ms. Gibs decided to use the second of the wishes she had collected, and wished for everyone to be at full health and power. Instantly, the party - including the not-so-disintegrated Princess - were at full health, though stripped of any previous magical health or might. Gróin grumbled about losing health from that wish, but the others were pleased to be alive.

The battle continued; one of the dark Nobiran wonderworkers (for that is what they were) fired off a spell and mired the attacking bunker in sludgy mud, blocking exit or retreat; the other created a wall of flesh, which terrified poor Gibs until the Laurita Turned it, forcing the grasping hands to retreat back into the ground.

At this point, the wonderworkers were on the offensive. They were confident in their spellcasting, and had plenty of spell slots to fire off. And then... tragedy. From about 300 yards in the air, Mor Gibs summoned four berserkers. He aimed them at the Nobirans below... and struck his mark. With a scream and a splash, one of the wonderworkers was permanently mixed with the poor barbarians. The other wonderworker was dispatched by a renewed Quetgar, and suddenly, the battle was turned.

The remaining mages tried to run, but were all captured and eaten by Caranthir. A few soldiers managed to escape, and one of the high level clerics used some very expensive jewelry to protect himself, restore one of the wonderworker, and teleport away, bringing another, lower level cleric with him.

Shrewfully, the party realized that the disintegrated-then-restored princess was likely out of her contract a little early. Indeed, she was; death tends to do that. However, due to her not unpleasant handling, she decided she would stay on and assist them, at least for the time being, or until something better came up. Besides, that whole "ocean" thing really freaks her out, and she'd be glad to get a ride back across. Fae and water... don't mix. Except for trolls, but trolls are just weird.

The battle over, the party gleefully set about looting the ruins. The ruins, as it turned out, weren't as ruined as they might have seemed; though the outsides looked as if they would crumble away at a touch, the insides were surprisingly well maintained. Apart from a number of sleeping quarters and storage areas (which were ransacked for their contents: jewelry, gems, and other treasure, including of course cold, hard, cash), they discovered a number of heavily secured treasure rooms. While locks and metal doors might have slowed the team down, with no one left to harass them, they could take their time and really destroy those doors. Inside, they found piles of magical loot. Helpfully, most items were well labeled! That is, apart from a large room with a sign over the door: "Unsorted Magical Items". The items found are below. Every item listed is magical, and did not detect as evil, apart from the very first item on the list, which seemed to be quite chaotic:

• Special Items:
  • The Motherlode stone (the gray scale)
  • The Pen of Artemis
  • Elrik's Water Boots
• Weapons:
  • War Hammer +2
  • 2 War Hammer +1
  • 2 Sword +2
  • Sword +1, light 30' radius
  • 3 Sword +1, +3 versus summoned creatures
  • Sword +1, +2 versus spell casters
  • 7 Sword +1
  • Crossbow Bolts +1 (Quantity: 19)
  • 2 Bow +1
  • 3 Axe +1
• Armor:
  • 4 Shield +1
  • 2 Shield +2
  • Plate Armor +2
  • Plate Armor +1
  • Leather Armor +2
  • 2 Leather Armor +1
  • Chain Mail Armor +1
  • Banded Plate Armor +1
• Staffs and Wands:
  • Staff of Healing
  • Wand of Detecting Magic with 17 charges
  • Wand of Detecting Magic with 14 charges
  • Wand of Detecting Magic with 9 charges
  • Wand of Detecting Magic with 5 charges
  • Wand of Detecting Magic with 17 charges
  • Wand of Detecting Magic with 5 charges
• Rings:
  • 3 Rings of Command Plant
  • Ring of Protection +1
  • Ring of Regeneration
  • Ring of Spell Storing, containing:
    • lvl 2: Glitterdust
    • lvl 3: Protection from Normal Missiles
    • lvl 5: Contact Other Plane
    • lvl 6: Disintegrate
  • Ring of Spell Storing, containing:
    • arcane lvl 2: Stinking Cloud
    • divine lvl 3: Cure Blindness
    • divine lvl 5: Create Food
• Misc. Items:
  • Amulet versus Crystal Balls and ESP
  • Boots of Traveling and Springing
  • Crystal Ball
  • Cube of Frost Resistance
  • Drums of Panic
  • Elven Cloak
  • Flying Carpet
  • Medallion of ESP
  • Rope of Climbing
• Potions:
  • Potion of Animal Control
  • Potion of Clairaudience
  • 2 Potions of Clairvoyance
  • Potion of Climbing
  • Potion of Diminution
  • Potion of Dragon Control
  • Potion of Fire Resistance
  • Potion of Giant Control
  • 2 Potions of Giant Strength
  • 2 Potions of Growth
  • 2 Potions of Healing
  • Potion of Heroism
  • Potion of Human Control
  • Potion of Levitation
  • Potion of Polymorph
  • 3 Potions of Speed
  • 2 Potions of Sweet Water
  • Potion of Treasure Finding
  • Potion of Water Breathing
  • Oil of Sharpness
  • Poison
• Scrolls:
  • Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Ancient Zaharan): Sleep (1st lvl), Magic Mouth (1st lvl)
  • Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Nobiran): Levitate (2nd lvl)
  • Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Nobiran): Remove Curse* (4th lvl)
  • Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Nobiran): Wall of Iron (6th lvl)
  • Scroll of Arcane Spells (Written in Old Elven): Protection from Normal Missiles (3rd lvl)
  • Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Common): Restore Life and Limb (5th lvl), Find Traps (2nd lvl)
  • Scroll of Divine Spells (Written in Dwarven): Snake Charm (2nd lvl), Glyph of Warding (3rd lvl), Detect Evil* (1st lvl), Flame Strike (5th lvl), Detect Evil* (1st lvl), Bless* (2nd lvl)
  • 4 Scrolls of Ward against Elementals
  • 8 Scrolls of Ward against Lycanthropes
  • 2 Scrolls of Ward against Undead
• And 5 Treasure Maps.
• Additionally, in the room of unmarked items:
  • 6 Crossbow Bolts
  • a Shield
  • Plate Armor
  • 4 Staffs
  • 3 rings
  • a Crystal Ball
  • 4 Helms
  • a pair of Bracers of Armor
  • 3 Potions
  • 2 Scrolls

Near the Motherlode stone was a sheaf of notes; most of it was quite illegible, but a few sections seemed at least slightly readable. The few readable lines say:

• Odd interaction with metal/magic
• [indecipherable] properties of magenetics?
• Interaction with [smudged] HIGHLY reactive, suggest caution, and keep the blasted thing away from storms!
• Impossible to attain samples, exterior is impervious to instruments
• Copper?
• Reversing the neutron flow doesn't even make sense, you [torn from attempted erasure] simple-minded [page is torn completely]

Additionally, there are a few piles of various alchemical supplies; glass jars, copper wiring and tubing, and shavings of various metals.

Gróin, eager to collect the full set, pulled on Elrik's boots. They fit snugly, warm and dry. As he stood, he suddenly found himself looking down on Elrik again. This time, Elrik was aboard a ship; a storm tossed it about, flinging it headlong into a rocky shore. Battered by the waves, Elrik clung to the ship's mast as the ship foundered. As the ship turned on its side, a huge wave caught it, slamming it through the shoals and tearing the ship into pieces! Elrik didn't wait for another wave; as the water streamed past, he ran through the shoals, jumping from jagged rock to jagged rock... and sometimes, it seemed, onto nothing but the water itself. Finally, he reached the shore, and threw his arms around a boulder. The wave crashed against the rocks behind him, leaving naught but a gentle splash by the time it reached him. For just a moment, as the tip of the wave touched the boots, there was a blue glow...

Elrik's Water Boots: provide Water Walking at will; additionally, provide complete immunity to magical water damage.

• XP from Treasure: (weighing in at 762.5 stone)
  • Money:
    • 4000 Electrum weighing 4 stone
    • 5000 Gold weighing 5 stone
    • 5000 Platinum weighing 5 stone
  • Gems:
    • 2 Black pearl worth 2000gp, weighing 2/6 stone
    • 1 emerald worth 8000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
    • 1 ruby worth 1000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
  • Jewelry:
    • 18 amethyst cylinder seals depicting religious scenes, worth 1200gp, weighing 3 stone
    • 14 carved ivory netsuke and figurines worth 1000gp, weighing 2 2/6 stone
    • 2 emerald regalia worth 14500gp, weighing 2/6 stone
    • 1 topaz-studded gold regalia worth 5000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
    • 8 opal cameo portraits and intaglio erotic tableaux worth 800gp, weighing 1 2/6 stone
    • 6 platinum reliquaries with crystal panes worth 3000gp, weighing 1 stone
    • 1 diamond-studded platinum regalia worth 13000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
    • 1 ruby regalia worth 8000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
    • 1 Wrought orichalcum regalia worth 1000gp, weighing 1/6 stone
    • 199 jade carvings of heroes, monsters, and gods worth 39,800gp, weighing 33 1/6 stone
  • Other treasure:
    • 6 2HD monster carcasses worth 240gp, weighing 6 stone
    • 6 6HD monster carcasses worth 720gp, weighing 6 stone
    • 6 8HD monster carcasses worth 960gp, weighing 6 stone
    • 10 barrels of fine spirits or liquor worth 200gp, weighing 160 stone
    • 2 bundles of rare fur pelts worth 1000gp, weighing 10 stone
    • 2 crates of armor and weapons worth 450gp, weighing 20 stone
    • 2 crates of glassware worth 400gp, weighing 10 stone
    • 2 crates of monster parts worth 600gp, weighing 10 stone
    • 133 ingots of precious metals worth 39900gp, weighing 266 stone
    • 2 jars of spices worth 1600gp, weighing 2 stone
    • 350 monster feathers worth 1050gp, weighing 14 stone
    • 12 pieces of ivory worth 780gp, weighing 8 stone
    • 102 rare books worth 15300gp, weighing 51 stone
    • 5 rolls of silk worth 2000gp, weighing 20 stone
    • 117 typical fur capes worth 11700gp, weighing 117 stone
• Total Treasure Worth (once sold): 232,200 gp
• Total XP from Treasure, currently applicable: 57,000
• XP from Encounters:
  • 13 goats (65)
  • 1 lvl 5 fighter (500)
  • 100 lvl 1 fighters (1600)
  • 10 lvl 6 mages (13200)
  • 5 lvl 9 dark clerics (12500)
  • 2 lvl 13 mages (10800)
  • 2 lvl 13 neutral clerics (8800)
  • 2 lvl 10 shamans (5900)
  • 2 lvl 12 Nobiran wonderworkers (13200)
• Total experience: 123,565
• XP per PC: 14,537
• XP per Henchperson: 7,268

The rest of the experience will, as always, be rewarded upon the sale of the treasure.

Hark, A Quest!

Ochdamh 2 - Naoidheamh 6, 6638; next holiday, Beastnight, 9/25

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
• Sorvald, Thief
• Good Question, the Wonderworker

The party bought some supplies at the Guard's Day celebration, then moved on to visit the King, hoping to destroy the Scale in his keeping...

Upon visiting the king, Caranthir noticed Luce was acting strangely. He had a suspicion... and it was confirmed. Luce was, in fact, a princess, the daughter of the king. Hypothetically, she was staying at some resort, but surely that ruse wouldn't last much longer. Her 18th birthday is in January, and quite a lot of important stuff happens then. Caranthir promised to keep her secret.

The king refused to allow them access to the scale. He did, however, mention a quest that may strengthen his trust... a quest to the Queen of the Winter Fey. However, the party was given a letter of passage; no Winter Fey were allowed to harm them, as long as they did not harm any Winter Fey.

Along the way, they met and killed three wyverns, avoided a couple of basilisks, and found an 8 headed Hydra, which Quetgar decided to bomb. While his aim was true, the hydra was, unfortunately, a regenerating hydra! Beheaded in a single round, only a couple rounds later, it sported new noggins, and continued sprouting replacements until it had a total of 12 heads! After many rounds of combat, and a few lucky strikes by the bothersome beast, Caranthir decided to call it a day. He and Quetgar took off, leaving the now 12-headed hydra alive.

The next night, they were attacked by another fearsome creature - a frost salamander! Its intense cold aura injured several of the party, but it was eventually vanquished. Not long after, they came across 16 zombies, trudging wearily through the snow, and ended them quickly. They camped near a village of trolls, but parted peacefully.

• Experience from treasure: none
• Experience from encounters:
  • 3 wyverns (4800)
  • 2 basilisks (avoided)
  • 1 8 12 headed hydra (escaped)
  • 1 frost salamander (2100)
  • 16 zombies (464)
• Total experience: 7364
• XP per PC: 921
• XP per henchman (excluding those that remained behind): 460
• XP for new players: 64557

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.