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BOOK FIVE THE ADVENTURERS ***** * The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright * 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to persons or characters * either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. Copying and/or * distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one * condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit. * In that case, I hope you enjoy them. ***** ------------------------------------------------------------------ (give me a second here - they have to get back together...) ------------------------------------------------------------------ LXIX. Reunion Three months ago, the party split into two groups to travel to Greyhawk. One group went by land, the other by sea. Both reached their destination eventually, and even in a large city like Greyhawk, it was only a matter of time before the two factions found each other... The scruffy-looking man slipped past two dwarves and entered the tavern. His companions waited outside, hoping that this place would not prove as fruitless as the last dozen inns they had checked. The fellow bought himself a mug of ale and began scanning the establishment's common room, his eyes alert for any clue as to where his targets might be found. Suddenly, he almost choked on his drink, as he saw several familiar faces at a table in one corner. At last, the object of his search! Peldor slunk over to the table, keeping out of sight. He concentrated while viewing the five people eating and drinking around the large, stained wooden table, and used his magical ring to lift a sizable egg from one plate. The dwarf to whom the plate, and egg, belonged cursed loudly in surprise, and stabbed at the egg with a fork. Another of those seated at the table, a tall, muscular dark-skinned fellow, looked at the egg nonchalantly, and exclaimed, "How eggciting." But the dwarf would have none of this tongue-in-cheek humor. "Gods be damned! What in the bloody hells is going on with this egg?!?!" Mongo poked at the floating ovule in vain, as it danced around his head. Then, from the crowd, a familiar face appeared, one that the dwarf had not seen in many months. Mongo looked up, and bellowed, "PELDOR! I should have known it was you!!!" All at the table rose to greet the rogue, and then his companions came over as well, and took seats at the table, as much greeting, talking, yelling, eating, and drinking ensued. Mongo: (grabs a barmaid) More grog! Bring more grog! barmaid: okay. (darts away) Peldor: (talking to Belphanior) Hey, good to see you. Any great thieving prospects here? Belphanior: (ripping a leg of lamb apart with his hands) Nah. The guild demands that we join. I ought to kill them all. Peldor: Here, this is Bosco, my henchman. He has no soul right now, but he's a nice guy. Bosco: (shakes Belphanior's hand mindlessly) Belphanior: Err...right. Ged: Ah, it's about time you people showed up! We were getting bored here waiting for you. Halbarad: (fuming) Peyote: Hey, dudes, time to feast and be merry! Rillen: (regarding Lyra) Hmm. (to Alindyar) Who is this, your sister? Alindyar: Oh. Ha, ha. Not quite. This is Lyra, whom I found in the course of our adventures and took under my...wing. Lyra: (kicks Alindyar) Alindyar: What? What? Ged: (muttering) Great. _Another_ dark elf. Halbarad: Worry not, friend. She can be trusted. She helped us get out of many bad situations. Ged: I'll just bet. Rillen: (looking around) Who is that little halfding? Peldor: This is Bosco. He's really, really sick right now. Rillen: Oh. He looks...empty. Peldor: Yeah. Ged: (to Alindyar) How's the spellbook coming? I bet I've got more than you. Alindyar: Perhaps. Ged: I recently learned the teleport spell. Alindyar: I have gained feeblemind, as well as the minor globe of invulnerability. Among others. Ged: Hmph. Halbarad: (to an unfamiliar person at the table, next to Ged - a tall, very musclebound human) Who might you be? man: I am Ah-nold. Ged: Arnold here is my new henchman. I intend to keep him safe and out of harm - unlike _some_ people have done for theirs. (glares at Peldor) Arnold: Right. Oud of hahm's way. Ged: Er...yea. Peldor: (draining a flagon) Belphanior: (pokes Bosco) You really _don't_ have a soul, do you? Bosco: (stares blankly ahead) Belphanior: No joke! Wow. Rillen: (toasts with Arnold) We should have great adventures soon. Arnold: Yes. Gread advengures. We can sdop the evil ones from gadhering or someding like dhat. Ged: Hmm. Maybe I should teach him another language or two, before he joins a literary guild or something. Suddenly, there was a commotion nearby, as a rotund man pushed his way through the crowd toward the adventurers' table. Rillen: Who is this fool? man: Excuse me. Pardon me. (steps on someone's toes) Whoops. (nearly trips over a table leg) Whoa. (knocks a halfling out of the way) Sorry about that. (stands before the adventurers' table, finally) Hey, guys. Mongo: ROB! Ged: Rob. Belphanior: (snickering) Rob... Rob: I'm back! Alindyar: Obviously. Ged: I though you had to go to...err, stay at a temple of the god Trithereon or something. Rob: Well, they gave me guidance. I think. Anyway, I was sent to Greyhawk to assist the high priests of the temple here. Peldor: (to Belphanior) Maybe they were trying to get rid of him or something. Rob: But the high priests told me to go out and raise money and spread the faith. So I was just sitting on a streetcorner and decided to use my magic to find out what you people were up to. Boy, was I surprised when you turned up in Greyhawk! Mongo: (between mouthfuls of food) Glmph. Have a seat! Rob: Thanks, I think I will. (knocks over a mug of ale as he takes a seat at the table) Uh-oh. Rillen: Again I ask - who is this fool? Somehow, in some mystical, fateful way, the party was now at its most complete phase ever, and there was much rejoicing. ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE PARTY: Alindyar 10th level drow elf mage (N) Lyra 6th level female drow elf mage (N) Belphanior 7th/7th/8th level high elf w/m/t (CN) Ged 9th/8th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) Arnold 6th level human warrior (NG) Halbarad 8th level human ranger (NG) Zephyr 5+5 HD wild tiger (--) Mongo 8th level dwarf warrior (CG) Peldor 11th level human thief (N) Bosco 6th level soulless halfling thief (CN) Peyote 7th/9th level half-elf fighter/druid (N) Rillen 8th level human warrior (N) Rob 9th level human priest (LG) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 3/25/571 C.Y. (Common Year) Time: afternoon Place: the Free City of Greyhawk ------------------------------------------------------------------ Before the next quest could be found, several things happened. Firstly, Halbarad undertook a mission for a noble. This minor lord, one Gillian, had been robbed two nights past, and among the items taken was a magical sword, a family heirloom. He hired the ranger to retrieve the loot and bring the thieves to justice. Halbarad was able to do so, especially when Rillen lent him the horseshoes of speed that he owned. Halbarad tracked down the bandits, and he and his tiger slew all but one. The one survivor claimed to know the whereabouts nearby of a fantastic monster that had a great hoard of treasure. The ranger decided to check it out since he was far from the city anyway. The claim was no joke - Halbarad, the tiger, and the warrior fought and defeated something very powerful (a behir). Shortly after the battle ended, the beast's cavernous lair collapsed, and the ranger was barely able to escape with his life (the warrior bandit didn't make it). As Halbarad and the tiger journeyed back towards Greyhawk, they were attacked by a familiar figure - Zara the drow bitch. The ranger was severely wounded, and if not for his tiger's help in driving away the crazed drow mage, would have been slain. The pair limped back into Greyhawk to recuperate, and Halbarad made a lot of money from the noble's reward and the gems he had picked up in the monster's lair. He trained extensively, and joined the mercenaries' guild of Greyhawk as well. He also managed to secure a permit for his tiger to enter the city. Secondly, Belphanior came across an ancient map, and ventured alone into the city's sewers in search of some lost hoard of ill-gotten wealth. He fought a strange acidic creature, losing his gauntlets and two magical longswords before using spells to slay the thing. Descending a hidden, slime-encrusted shaft, the intrepid elf came upon a crypt, and perhaps foolishly, entered it. He fought a spectre lord, and was weakened quite considerably, defeating the undead only through a combination of luck and magic. The thing had no treasure except for the sword with which it had fought - a sword which spoke to the elf, sensing a new, more powerful master in the violent and chaotic Belphanior. Thus it was that a most unholy union was begun, that between Belphanior, the elf, and Blackrazor, the longsword... The elf regained his lost levels when two malformed hill giants in the upper levels of the sewers challenged him on his way out. Soon after this, Belphanior trained for more power in the field of magic. Thirdly, Belphanior and Peldor sought out the home of the mage Otiluke, to inquire about the tower they had adventured in - the tower where Belphanior had gained a book full of the mighty mage's personalized spells. Though Otiluke was not home, the visit did have one effect - the thick tome vanished from Belphanior's person. The infuriated elf immediately began planning an attack on Otiluke's home, but Peldor managed to talk him out of it. Later, Belphanior traded his magical two-handed sword to Ged (for Arnold's use) in return for some gems. He also met with a mage from the guild and traded his ring of spell storing, his everfull purse, and his wand of lightning for an item that opened gates to other planes - the well of many worlds (the mage informed him that it was a most capital offense to use that item within the city walls...). ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE PARTY: Alindyar 10th level drow elf mage (N) Lyra 6th level female drow elf mage (N) Belphanior 7th/8th/8th level high elf w/m/t (CN) Ged 9th/8th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) Arnold 6th level human warrior (NG) Halbarad 9th level human ranger (NG) Zephyr 5+5 HD wild tiger (--) Mongo 8th level dwarf warrior (CG) Peldor 11th level human thief (N) Bosco 6th level soulless halfling thief (CN) Peyote 7th/9th level half-elf fighter/druid (N) Rillen 8th level human warrior (N) Rob 9th level human priest (LG) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 4/7/571 C.Y. (Common Year) Time: afternoon Place: the Free City of Greyhawk ------------------------------------------------------------------ The party, all happy in one way or another, met to decide what in the world they would do next. An answer was easily forthcoming though, as Halbarad showed up, sweating and out of breath. Mongo: What in the fuck's wrong with YOU?!? Halbarad: Whew! (holds up a scroll) Some fellow just ran out of the shadows of an alley and handed me this. Then he just...well, he just rotted away! Gone in a moment, victim of some vile misdeed. Ged: Whoa. Peyote: Uncool. Evil lurks within these city walls... Peldor: It's a good thing that you came to the mighty Peldor for protection. Halbarad: Well, I wished to take no chances. So. (opens the scroll) Alindyar: (peering over the ranger's shoulder) Arnold: (sharpening his sword) Perhaps there will be a good avventure soon. Ged: Yep, looks that way. Arnold: Good. I tink I've been sidding around here too long. Peldor: What's it say? Peyote: It's a map, detailing a fortress hidden in the Yatil Mountain range. Also talks about a "Yin-Tze", whatever that is...I can't read it all. Halbarad: Hmm. They took the parchment to the sage's guild, where an elderly fellow called Duzon helped them decipher the arcane script, for a hefty price. Duzon: Ahh. This is a map to a fortress. Ged: Tell us something we don't know. Duzon: I was getting to that. Yin-Tze is a hermit, who also lives in these mountains. He knows the location of the key, the key to get into this old complex. Halbarad: What manner of place is it, though? Duzon: Evil. Great treasures. Fearsome monsters. All is not clear. Rillen: Get more torches in here, then. It is too dark. Lyra: Heh, heh. Alindyar: (pops a Light spell onto the ceiling) Peyote: Hey, man, it was a _joke_. Alindyar: What? Oh. Whitherwhere, who cares? Bah. Ged: Well, where do we find this Yin-Tze guy? Duzon: He is in the Rushmoors, the swamps. Peldor: (looking at his map) Hey! That's in the Gran March! That's a million leagues away from here! Rob: Where'd you get that map? I lost one just like it a while ago. Peldor: Map? What map? (the map has disappeared from sight) They considered the map, and the facts they knew, and decided to investigate. They planned to depart on the morrow. next time: the cloud giant strikes FTP SITE: ccosun.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers) ******************************************************************** NOTES: You are probably wondering why in the world I set it up so that all of these adventurers were together at once. They now number nine, plus three henchmen (rounding up), a big wild tiger, and several smaller animals (Peyote's minions). The reason is simple : this adventure will be the last one with the party for a couple of our heroes... Also, the reason that I didn't make full-fledged episodes out of those "solo" adventures : I have bad, BAD notes of those adventures. They're so bad that I can't even decipher what went on, in some cases. So, I abbreviated. Trust me, you're not missing much. About Rob...the player showed up, and I thought he would be consistent for a while, so Rob the character returned. A word about the longsword, Blackrazor : I decided to have it chance across Belphanior. For those of you not familiar with this weapon, it appeared in TSR module S2, White Plume Mountain, as one of three magical weapons of great power that a party was to regain (they had been stolen in the first place by an evil wizard). The sword is basically Gygax's version of a toned-down Stormbringer. The sword eats the souls of anything it slays, and the wielder gets the levels/HD and hp of the slain being(s) for a short while. Also, the sword must have a kill every so often or it compels the wielder to go out and kill someone. As you might imagine, its ego wasn't enough to control Belphanior - but he had to keep the bodies coming, evil humanoids or invalids usually, for fear that the sword might force him to kill a party member if it went unfed for too long... Well, midterms are over, and I was too slack. I'll have to step up the pace a bit to get out of this quarter alive. This weekend was GT's homecoming, and it was interesting to see and talk to all the old alumni and friends who I've known at some point in my career here. As a sad side note, I seem to have lost my girlfriend yesterday (it's October 31 as I write this). This weekend would have been our 5th anniversary, but won't be, due to some irreconcilable differences apparently. The problems had nothing to do with my on-the-side story-writing, I know that (fantasy really isn't a big part of my life any more - I just don't want to be stereotyped or known as a RPG addict who lost his girlfriend because he was too spacey - the reasons are much more complex than that). The reason I am putting this message here is unclear, even to me - maybe it's some kind of sick tribute, I don't really know. Life isn't all fun and games...fortunately I'm too old for this to get to me like it would have a few years ago. So... Happy f***ing Halloween, folks, and better luck to you... ******************************************************************** THE ADVENTURERS ***** * The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright * 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to persons or characters * either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. Copying and/or * distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one * condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit. * In that case, I hope you enjoy them. ***** ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE PARTY: Alindyar 10th level drow elf mage (N) Lyra 6th level female drow elf mage (N) Belphanior 7th/8th/8th level high elf w/m/t (CN) Ged 9th/8th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) Arnold 6th level human warrior (NG) Halbarad 9th level human ranger (NG) Zephyr 5+5 HD wild tiger Mongo 8th level dwarf warrior (CG) Peldor 11th level human thief (N) Bosco 6th level soulless halfling thief (CN) Peyote 7th/9th level half-elf fighter/druid (N) fang wild dog eye hawk ear hawk Rillen 8th level human warrior (N) Rob 9th level human priest (LG) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 4/8/571 C.Y. (Common Year) Time: morning Place: the Free City of Greyhawk ------------------------------------------------------------------ LXX. The Great Journey The party has decided to investigate the information written on a scroll they have obtained. They are packed and ready to go, and are even now riding out of Greyhawk... Mongo: (looking around, at the vast size of the party) Boy oh boy. Things sure have changed. Alindyar: Verily. Peyote: Whatever are you talking about? (pets his wild dog as one of his two hawks lands on his shoulder) Belphanior: Critters. Halbarad: (uncomfortable with this large sized party) I suppose that we shall not be sneaking up on anybody... Ged: Nope. Arnold: Nooope. (swinging his new, magical two-handed sword in the air merrily) Nooooooope! Belphanior: Nice sword. Where'd he get it? Ged: (knowing of course that he bought it from the elf yesterday and gave it to Arnold to use) Bah. Arnold: It's a nice svord. Cut dem up good. Reel good. Rillen: Hmm. They were headed for the Rushmoors, to find the hermit called Yin-Tze and decipher the scroll. This was a three-week trip, not without its share of perils, for even though all but the last leg of the journey was through civilized lands, the Gnarley and Welkwood Forests had to be traversed, and later in the trip the looming Lortmil Mountain range had to be passed. Trouble was not long in coming; two days out of Greyhawk, the party was approached by a band of seven travelers, two of whom were quite tall and broad, inhumanly so. warrior-type: Greetings. I am Dorgon. Arnold: Dorkon. Ged: Shh. Halbarad: Well met, Dorgon. Why are you people moving to flank us, on this peaceful road, on this peaceful day? Dorgon: It is simple, really. You have something we want. Mongo: (blurting out) A map?!? Hah! We have no map! mage-type: Ah, but you do. Right, Perius? priest-type: Correct. They have the map among their number, Malor. My magic has said it is so. Malor: (mage-type) See? Dorgon: (warrior-type) I knew it. Perius: (priest-type) Yes. other mage-type: Yes! Yes! See? See? third mage-type: Silence, Zorka, you fool. second mage-type: No! No! I won't be quiet, Forka. Ged: These guys are really badly off... Belphanior: (casting Stoneskin upon himself) Dorgon: (unsheathes sword) Rillen: (addressing Dorgon) Leave us alone. Or I will be forced to resort to...violence. Peyote: Don't make him angry, dude. You wouldn't like him when he's angry. Dorgon: Bah. Mongo: (examining his hammer nonchalantly) Alindyar: (silently begins a spell) Dorgon: Enough prattle! Give us the scroll or die! Belphanior: Go fuck yourself. Mongo: Yeah! I've heard enough! (hurls his hammer at Dorgon the warrior, smashing his shoulder) Hah! Dorgon: Argh! (stomps around in pain) Kill them! Kill! Everybody was in motion, all twenty-two of them (Bosco just stood there blankly while action begun all around him.) Most of the fighter-types dismounted, as they were unused to horsed combat and realized this at the last minute... Alindyar: (casts a Fly on himself and floats up into the air) Peldor: (becomes invisible and sneaks away to do some harm) Halbarad: (charges Dorgon) Enough of your games, fiend! Dorgon: (begins melee with the ranger) Hah. Mongo: (catches his hammer) Hmm. Who gets it next? Belphanior: (charges toward the enemies) Yaaaaaaa! big humanoid: (tears off its hood, revealing it as a large and extremely ugly ogre) I step on you, elfy. other big humanoid: (also an ogre) Duh, yeah. (they move to gang up on Belphanior) Crush him like a grape. Ged: (to Arnold) Move! Help the elf there! (begins spell- casting) Arnold: O-kay. (charges the ogres) I'll help you oud, liddle elf! Belphanior: Huh? (watches as Arnold slices one of the ogre's arms off) Hey, thanks. Arnold: (hacking in melee, mindlessly) I love dhis! Malor: (the mage) Hmm. (casts a Web at the party, snagging Peyote, his wild dog, Rob, and the invalid Bosco) Hah! Perius: (the priest) Good shot. (casts Light on Alindyar's eyes) Alindyar: (fails his save, is blinded) Agh! (begins wildly gyrating in the air) Aaa! Lyra: Uh-oh. Zorka: (one of the lesser magi) Eh? (casts Magic Missile at Lyra) Die, bitch! Lyra: (hit by the singular missile) Ah! How decidedly puny. (fires her own Magic Missiles at the mage) Try mine, fool. Zorka: (hit by three missiles, dies with three large holes in his torso) Agh..... Forka: (the other lesser mage) I shall cast a spell too! (he begins spellcasting) Mongo: Uh-uh. (throws his hammer, clipping the mage but still crushing his chest in) Naughty, naughty. Forka: Argh...(dies) Malor: Geez. I knew we should have hired better support guys. Perius: Too late now. Ged: (casts a Slow spell on the priest, Perius) Boccob is by far mightier than your puny god, fool! Perius: (slowed down) Uuuhhh... Rillen: (strolls up to the ogre that Belphanior is fighting and bashes it, twice) The bigger they are... Belphanior: I know. (slices the ogre's throat, slaying it) The harder they fall. Ahhhhhhhh. (sucks in the ogre's life essence through his sword) Rillen: Are you all right? Belphanior: Oh, yeah. Peyote: (helpless in the web) Eye! Ear! (begins squawking in hawk language) hawks: (one attacks Malor the mage, the other attacks Perius the priest) Squark! Malor: Agh! (batting at the bird) Perius: Ow! (his hawk just got a piece of his ear, maybe due to his slowed state) Damn! Alindyar: (sailing around blinded) AGH! Halbarad: (chops Dorgon) Attacking us was stupid. We clearly outnumber you. Dorgon: I see that now. Still...(slices the ranger, drawing blood) I suggest that you worry about the matter at hand. Mongo: (catches his hammer) Rob: (entangled in the web) Help! Soembody help! Rillen: (looks back at Rob) It looks like you are all tied up, there. Arnold: (takes a hit from the ogre he is fighting and then decapitates it with a mighty blow) AAAAAH! (holds the head up high for all to see) I am Ah-nold! Da vic-tah! Ged: Calm down. Peldor: (shows up behind the mage Malor, as his backstabbing attack guts the evil mage) Ah. So much for _him_. Peldor saves the day for the fools once more. Zephyr: (Halbarad's tiger) GROWR! (leaps upon Dorgon, who his master is fighting, and tears his head off) GROWRR!! Halbarad: (pats the big feline on the head) Good kitty. Ged: (looking around) Well, that is that. Mongo: Those guys were idiots. I wonder why they didn't run away. I would have, if I was facing me. Not to mention the rest of us too... Halbarad: Who can know? They were dolts of some sort. Ged: Obviously. Peldor: Yeah, obviously. They dared to challenge the party which contained the great and mighty Peldor, after all. Alindyar: (hearing his companions talking below, he slowly floats to the ground, still blinded by his own brightly glowing eyes) AAARGH! This pains me muchly! Ged: (walks over) Hold still. (Dispels Magic on the drow, erasing the Light spell) How's that? Alindyar: Ahhhhh. MUCH better. Ged: It's a good thing that you don't have any more magic items to worry about during dispels. Alindyar: Perhaps. Peyote: Hey, dudes! Someone get us out of this web! Rob: Yeah! They rested and healed their wounded after freeing those caught in the web. The mages had no spellbooks - a strange thing indeed. Alindyar: (wiping his eyes) That means that they are based locally. Halbarad: Also, they may have been a strike team of some sort. Mongo: Well, they struck _this_! (holds up his hammer) Peldor: (searching the bodies) Nothing. Nothing! These guys were as poor as beggars! Ged: Strike team, definitely. There may be more of the fools about. We should get moving. Halbarad: Aye. (they begin moving along the road once more) The adventurers spent the next two weeks moving through Furyondy, Veluna, the Kron Hills, the Lortmil Mountains, and the Gran March, in that order. They had no trouble in the mountains thanks to a friendly dwarven patrol, whose members Mongo quickly hit it off with. The dwarves escorted the party through one of their guarded passes, and thus the group made it out of the peaks without difficulty. Nearly three weeks after they set out from the great city of Greyhawk, the party entered the foul Rushmoors, a swampy land teeming with insects and slime. It took no time at all for them to attract attention of the bad sort... trolls: (three of them, leap from the surrounding high grass and screech as they charge the surprised party) SCREEEECH! Alindyar: Wha-? Screeching trolls? What transpires here? Mongo: (blocks a huge paw, but is buffeted by another) Agh! We're under attack, that's what! Cast a spell or something! troll: (attempts to bite Mongo) GRARR! Mongo: (manages to cram his hammer into the thing's mouth) Here, chew on _that_, shithead! (begins punching the troll in the belly) Halbarad: (clawed and bitten by a troll) Argh! Belphanior: (clawed and bitten by a troll, but saved by his stoneskin spell) Heh. (draws his sword) Zephyr: (leaps upon the troll who wounded his master and tears into it) GROWL! GRAWR! Snarl? Ptui! Halbarad: I think he likes the troll meat not... Arnold: I, Ah-nold, will chaage into the flay! (slashes a troll with his huge sword, drawing prodigous amounts of green blood) Hah hah! Cud dem up good! Rillen: (he and Peyote gang up on Belphanior's troll) Belphanior: Hey! Save some for me! (stabs at the troll) Mongo: (pulls his hammer from the troll's mouth, sending yellowed teeth flying, and begins pounding the monster into paste) Attack _me_, will you? The mages barely had to use their spells, such was the raw physical power of the party's great fighters (Peldor even got in a blow or two). The trolls were slain shortly and their carcasses were burned, to avoid later complications. Mongo was the first to notice the faint, distant lights across the moor, more visible since the sun had set. Mongo: Hey! Look there! Torches! Peldor: (peering with his eyes of the eagle) I can't make anyone out. Must be really dark over there. Halbarad: We should follow them. Perhaps they know where the hermit lives. Ged: Or maybe they put these trolls up to this. Let's go! The party moved toward the lights, but couldn't gain much ground, as the people or whatever they were kept retreating. Suddenly, a new danger presented itself, as the front row of the party (Mongo, Halbarad, Belphanior, Rillen, Peyote, and Arnold too) sunk waist-deep in quicksand! Mongo: (up to his beard) Help! Blub blub! Arnold: (looking around him) Huh? Peyote: This is way bogus, man. (to his wild dog) Rowf growr! (tells the dog to pull him out, but the animal isn't strong enough) Rillen: I am having a sinking feeling about this... Belphanior: Hey, you guys look out for an ambush! And also get us the hell out of this stuff! Halbarad: (being pulled out by his tiger) Hold, and we shall help the rest of you. But another surprise was in store - a pair of flickering things, very much resembling the "torches" the party had been following, swooped in and began touching the party members who were trying to help their mud-trapped companions. Ged: (uncoiling some rope, gets zapped) Yie! That _hurts_, by Boccob! (rubbing his stinging shoulder) Halbarad: (also attacked) Argh! What in the hells? Peldor: (slashes at one of the things, but it is way too fast for him) Damn! Alindyar: Wisps! Will-o-wisps! Ged: Yea! He's right! Lyra: What do we do? Alindyar: Magic missiles! They are one of the few things that affect these vile creatures. Ged: Okay. (begins casting Magic Missile) Oh, how I hate this spell... Lyra: (also begins casting Magic Missile) Alindyar: Cover us! (begins casting Magic Missile too) Peldor: Uh, right. Hey! (begins dancing around, attracting one wisp's attention) Over here! Bite me! Rob: Yeah! (swats at a wisp with his mace, but misses) will-o-wisp: (zaps Peldor) Peldor: YEOW! I knew I was in for it! (goes invisible) will-o-wisp: (dances about, momentarily confused) Alindyar: (launches a volley of magical bolts at Rob's wisp) will-o-wisp: ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! (dances about in the air, weakened significantly) Ged: Everyone, blast that same one! We need to kill one off quickly! (fires his own four missiles at the thing) will-o-wisp: ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! (flickering now) Peldor: (stalking his wisp) Lyra: (fires her own missiles) will-o-wisp: ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! (it dies out, disintegrating) Ged: Yea! Boccob! Good move, everyone! Peldor: (slashes - nay, backstabs - his target...and HITS!) Aha! (becomes visible) Finally got the little sucker! will-o-wisp: (flits about in erratic movements) Rob: (begins tossing rope to those in the mud, Mongo first since only his groping hands are visible now) Zephyr: (bites Belphanior's cloak and pulls him out of the quicksand) Growf. Belphanior: Hey, watch it with the cloak. Zephyr: (licks the elf's cheek) meanwhile... Peldor: (poking at the wisp as it dances about) Nothing is too much for the mighty Peldor! Alindyar: Hold. I wish to speak with the creature. Peldor: Fine. It's too weak to go anywhere, looks like. Ged: Speak with it? How are you going to do _that_? Alindyar: Comprehend languages? Ged: Might not work. Give it a try, though. Alindyar: Tongues? Ged: Who knows? Alindyar: (casts Tongues, and tries to communicate with the wisp, but receives no response) Hmm. Ged: Well, now what? Lyra: (whispers in Alindyar's ear) Alindyar: Of course. ESP! Ged: Hmm. Might do the trick. But that's an alien mind, I would think. Who knows what strange thought waves it has? Alindyar: (thinking about his nigh-godlike intelligence) It merits an attempt. (casts ESP and regards the wisp, eyes shut and brow furrowed in concentration) Hmm. How very... chaotic. Soon, those who fell in the quicksand were all out, though Mongo was very dirty and spitting out mud. Alindyar was in front of the surviving wisp, while Lyra stood poised to cast a spell. Alindyar: This is the situation. This...being will lead us to its ill-gotten hoard, which we shall appropriate, and then it will lead us toward the hut of Yin-Tze. Lyra is ready to blast it with magic should it try to flee, or lead us into more quicksand, or anything like that. Ged: By Boccob! I must get this ESP spell! Mongo: Hmph. Whatever. Let's get going, then. The wisp led them to a hidden trove, which consisted of a chest full of many gems, and an old torch stub. The stub registered as non-magical, and was left behind, while the gems were taken. Peldor, unbeknownst to all, put the stub into his pocket, for in his eyes it glowed with a faint green tint. The party moved out, following the odd creature through the swamp; though it was well past nightfall, they dared not risk camping, resting, and letting the thing get away. After many tiring, weary hours, a hut seemed to appear before them, just as the sunrise was visible on the horizon. Alindyar seemed to know that the wisp had led them to the right place, for he motioned Lyra to let it flit away, and it did so, vanishing almost immediately. Then, as the party approached the small, beaten hut, a short, wizened man emerged and regarded them. man: Gleetings! I am Yin-Tze. next time: the cloud giant strikes (really!) FTP SITE: ccosun.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers) ******************************************************************** NOTES: As I write this, it is November 3, 1992. One year ago on this date, I began writing the Adventurers. It all started when I was cleaning my room and happened upon some written notes of one of my old AD&D sessions. A friend (you know who you are, Dave!) had recorded them, painstakingly, at my request, and as I read them for the first time in a while, I realized how funny they were. I had to post them, I knew that for sure. So, I took them to work, and typed them in verbatim on the trusty computer here. Then I ftp-ed the file onto our UNIX host, and posted the thing on the old rec.games.frp newsgroup. Boy, was I one proud DM at that moment. I went home, happy that people would get to read our group's adventures. The next day, I was reading the news, and found a most shocking thing...somebody had _flamed_ me for my post! I couldn't believe it! The person complained about how the posting, while a good rendition of a gaming session, had no intrinsic humor. Who were those characters? Why did they do what they did? Why was it supposed to be funny? Who knew? I realized at that moment why the posting had evoked this reaction, and a few others after it (though not as hostile). No one knew the characters like those of us in the group had. Without a firm base in place, all of our adventures (or anybody else's for that matter) were just so much text. What I had posted was a recording - not a story. With this in mind, I posted a mild rebuttal, and stated in it that I could and would post an adventure that made sense, and would make people want to read more. I stayed after work that night and wrote up a rough draft of what later that night became Adventurers episode #1. Then, after extensive proofreading and editing, I posted it. Later that week, since the fan mail was fairly good, I wrote and posted another. And, later, another. Well, you all know the rest of this story. I just want to use this day, the real 1st anniversary of the Adventurers epic, to thank the person who flamed me. I don't know who you are or if you're still on the net, but thanks to you, my friend, we all have "The Adventurers" to read... ******************************************************************** THE ADVENTURERS ***** * The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright * 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to persons or characters * either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. Copying and/or * distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one * condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit. * In that case, I hope you enjoy them. ***** ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE PARTY: Alindyar 10th level drow elf mage (N) Lyra 6th level female drow elf mage (N) Belphanior 7th/8th/8th level high elf w/m/t (CN) Ged 9th/8th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) Arnold 6th level human warrior (NG) Halbarad 9th level human ranger (NG) Zephyr 5+5 HD wild tiger Mongo 8th level dwarf warrior (CG) Peldor 11th level human thief (N) Bosco 6th level soulless halfling thief (CN) Peyote 7th/9th level half-elf fighter/druid (N) fang wild dog eye hawk ear hawk Rillen 8th level human warrior (N) Rob 9th level human priest (LG) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 5/1/571 C.Y. (Common Year) Time: early morning Place: the Rushmoors ------------------------------------------------------------------ LXXI. Yin-Tze's Tale The party had been led to a small, weatherbeaten hut in the Rushmoor swamps, where a small, wizened man emerged and greeted them... man: Gleetings! I am Yin-Tze. Arnold: (pipes up) Greetinks. I am Ah-nold! (waves his sword around in the air) Peldor: Hey! Watch it with that thing! You could cut someone's head off. Arnold: Oh. (looks around sheepishly) Alindyar: Well met, wise one. We seek knowledge most secret. Peyote: Yeah, man. Yin-Tze: Ohhhh. (grinning) Come inside, young ones. (he hunches over and ducks into his hut) I have knowredge, much knowredge. (babbling incoherently) Halbarad: (looks at Ged) There is no way that we are all going to fit inside there. Ged: You're right. The henchmen and animals will have to stay outside. Mongo: Bah. (enters the hut) You got any food, little old man? Yin-Tze: Rittre I may be, but I am a gleat sage. I know many things of intelest. Ged: (enters the hut) Is that so? Yin-Tze: (jabbering now) Yes, yes, yes. (puts a pot of soup over his small fire) I happen to know that you are rooking for a key... Peyote: (just entered the hut) How'd you know _that_?!? Yin-Tze: (looks up at the ceiling) Knowredge is the gleatest of _all_ things. Alindyar: (now inside the hut, with Lyra at his side) Indeed. Yin-Tze: You seek a key, a key to get inside an ancient fortless within the mountains. Ged: Yea, that's about the scope of it. Yin-Tze: Gather alound. Those who could crowded into the small abode, and the wizened sage proceeded to deliver a lecture... YIN-TZE's STORY (accent left intact) "Many decades ago, a cult of devir wolshippers constlucted a gleat foltless within a mountain in the Yatil lange. They used this prace as a remote base of opelations, staging prots in the nealby kingdoms and pelfolming vire lituars in the catacombs berow the prace. This went on for many yeals untir the nealby lesidents decided that it had to be stopped. They malsharred their folces and attacked the foltless. Aftel weeks of siege they managed to bleak in, and ploceeded to sray all of the evir cultists that they found. Only a few managed to make their escape; these letleated into the rowel leaches of the foltless and dungeons beneath. Unwirring to ventule into the depths of the ealth, the folces of good caused much destluction and then seared the gates of the foltless forevel. Thus the devir cult was finished in the vicinity. Lumor has it that the single key to the prace's gate was taken and hidden well, somewhere in the Balliel Peaks, and gualded by many tlaps and tlicks. All would have been well, except that a few yeals ratel, a ralge led dlagon frew into the area, and took the mountain ovel from the inhabitants. Those who put up a fight were srain quickry and effoltressry by the beast. For twoscore yeals, the gleat wylm, called Kieravaak by some, has rived in these peaks and amassed a foltune whire terrolizing arr in the vicinity. Those who have tlied to dlive it away are no more. Howevel, no one has come to ask me about these things in many yeals. I thought that no one cared any more...ah, but foltunatery for you I have a map to the dlagon's rail. Mongo: Map? Let's see it! Yin-Tze: Not so fast, dwalf. My selvices are not flee - I shall requile thlee items of magic from youl palty. Ged: What in Boccob's name are you talking about?!? Three items! That's ridiculous! Peyote: Yeah, man. Peldor: Highway robbery. Alindyar: Perhaps this quest is not so important after all. Lyra: Quiet, you. Besides, you only _have_ one item of magic. Alindyar: I know. That is the problem. Halbarad: We could draw straws to see which three must donate. Rob: Sounds good to _me_. Peldor: Bah. (gets the straws out) Mongo: This is bullshit. They drew straws, and the three with the shortest straws were Halbarad (who gave up his ring of truth), Peldor (who let the old gnarled staff go), and Peyote (who lost his ring of invisibility). The wizened sage refused to accept any other items but these, and all three of the adventurers were understandably upset. Still, it seemed like a decent trade. Yin-Tze: Here is the map. (hands over a map) Mongo: That?!? That crummy thing?!? We lost three good items for a piece of paper?!? Damn! Belphanior: (considering slaying the sage) Halbarad: (regards the map) Hmm. This map shows the exact route to the dragon's lair. Yin-Tze: (gloating over his new prizes) Yes! The exact loute! Ged: Bah. This whole thing is stupid. We shall go and slay this dragon, appropriate its treasure in the name of Boccob, and then proceed on to the devil-fortress or whatever it is. Peldor: The great Peldor shall liberate no treasure in the name of one so puny as Boccob. Peldor steals only for Peldor's name! Ged: Hey, watch it, you. It's a good thing that Boccob is known as "The Uncaring" or you'd be a smear on the ground by now. Peldor: Hah! A puny god, that Boccob. (wanders away) Puny! Ged: (seriously thinking about zapping the thief with a magical missile or three) Hmph. Fool. Halbarad: Let us be on our way, then. Belphanior: Hear, hear. (mutters to his sword) Yeah, yeah, I know. Soon it will be done. They left the hut, and plotted a new travel route, one taking them from the Rushmoors into the Dim Forest, then through the Gran March, Bissel, and finally into the Barrier Peaks. This trip was much more easily discussed than made, though, and after two days, they were still in the Dim Forest. It was nighttime, and Peldor was on guard duty with Belphanior... Peldor: (cocks an ear) What's that? Belphanior: Eh? Peldor: I hear something. Distant, but coming closer. Like a low-key shuffling and rustling. Belphanior: Whatever in the Nine Hells _are_ you talking about? Peldor: Shh! Belphanior: (talks to his sword) Hmm? What's that? Only him? Peldor: (looks irritatedly at Belphanior) What are you doing? Belphanior: There are no souls nearby. Save yours, of course. Peldor: Oh. Belphanior: (looks into the woods nearby) But you're right, Something _is_ coming... Peldor: Maybe we should wake the others. Just then, a rabbit leaped from the forest nearby, and bounded through the camp. One of Peyote's hawks immediately gave chase while Peldor and Belphanior looked around in amazement, for now a number of other small animals were running, flying, or hopping through or over the camp. The party quickly woke up... Mongo: What in the bloody fucking hell is going on here?!?!? Where did all these friggin' animals come from?!? Peyote: I don't know, man. Maybe I should ask one of them. Alindyar: (points) Somewhere out there, it would seem. Mongo: Ah, shut up. (hefts his hammer) Hmph. Ged: (wiping his eyes) Yawn. Well! Some guards _you_ two are! We just got trampled by the entire wild kingdom, and you just sat there. Peldor: Uh...well... Belphanior: Something isn't right here. Get the horses ready to move! (a squirrel leaps by his head) Whoa! Peyote: Hey! Stop, you! Someone get that squirrel! Rillen: (deftly snatches the animal from the air and hands it to Peyote) Here. Peyote: (grabs the squirrel and begins talking to it) Chirpa chik-ha! Arnold: (looking around) Wheah is de enemy? I, Ah-nold, wait to smash and slay! Ged: Not right now. Just hold on. Peyote: Hey, this little guy says that the "blanket of death" is coming, and driving away or killing everything in its path. Belphanior: Cool. Rob: (examining his blanket) Blanket? Death? Halbarad: Look! (points with his axe to the edge of the camp) Peyote: Whoa! Gnarly! There was a teeming mass of small insects and bugs coming from the forest. It was like a wide carpet, consuming grass and leaves before itself, leaving nothing alive in its wake. The adventurers quickly prepared to ride, leaving all nonessentials behind as they hastened to get away. Ged: What in the world...? (fires Magic Missiles at the creeping swarm) swarm: (a few small swaths are burned away, but other bugs move into their place quickly) Ged: Uh-oh. Time to retreat. Rob: (watching the swarm in fascination) Wow. Peyote: Hark! This may be what we enlightened call the "Creeping Doom". For obvious reasons. Mongo: No shit. That fucking thing ate our camp! Let's get the hell out of here! Hi-yah! And so they rode away at breakneck speed, until they were sure that the strange swarm was far, far behind them. Even then, some of them cast nervous glances backwards now and again. The swarm or whatever it was did not find them again, though, and they rode on for a week, through the Gran March and Bissel. These lands were peaceful, and there was no trouble while the party ventured through them. However, the Barrier Peaks soon loomed ahead of the group, and they looked intimidating indeed. The map indicated two large peaks, side by side, which were to be reached via a pass, the Broken Claw Trail. This pass was just north of a small fort - a fort which could be seen in the distance from the party's current location. They entered the pass and began their journey. Oddly enough, nothing attacked them that night, and the next day, they found the trail shown on the map. A sign was planted in the ground ahead - THE PASS UNDER THE PEAK LIES AHEAD. BEWARE THE GUARDIAN OF MANY FACES! Ged: I wonder what that means? Mongo: Ah, a battle is coming! I can _smell_ it! Arnold: Baddle? (breathes in the cold mountain air) Aah! Baddle to be soon. Rillen: Bah. (twirls his staff and ponders the meaning of life) Many faces just means more targets. Alindyar: Verily. Soon, they found that the pass actually led _under_ one of the smaller mountains! They used a spell to make a powerful light, and proceeded through the large, rounded corridor (it was roughly fifty feet in diameter, with a flat bottom - obviously a well-trodden path). About ten minutes later, they found a number of bits of debris on the tunnel's floor. Mongo: What is this? (picks up a charred object) Hmm. (breaks it in half) Aha! Bone! Ged: Bone? (examines another bone, also charred) Rob: (picks up a round object) Hey, here's a skull. Alindyar: (looking around) This entire area has signs of heat and fire on the walls... Halbarad: What lurks here, I wonder? The answer was not long in coming, for something huge shuffled forth from the darkness ahead, its many heads snorting smoke out of flaring nostrils... Arnold: Whad's dhat? (holds up his sword) Lods of heads! Mongo: Yeah...I count at least six... Alindyar: Make that nine. Nine heads. Ged: Can you say hydra? Rillen: Hydra. Hydra! next time: battle, and then the dragon... FTP SITE: ccosun.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers) ******************************************************************** NOTES: The endorsement for the week : the movie _Innocent Blood_ which I recently had the pleasure of watching for a minimal fee. It's got everything - vampires, humor, violence, gangs, the whole shebang. About the three lost magic items for Yin-Tze : I periodically tried to flush out little-used or (in my opinion) unfitting items that the party gained. As for the cloud giant, which I have been referring to for the last couple of episodes, well, he'll show up sometime. I got the sequence out of order slightly. First, the dragon - then the giant will make his appearance. ******************************************************************** THE ADVENTURERS ***** * The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright * 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to persons or characters * either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. Copying and/or * distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one * condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit. * In that case, I hope you enjoy them. ***** ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE PARTY: Alindyar 10th level drow elf mage (N) Lyra 6th level female drow elf mage (N) Belphanior 7th/8th/8th level high elf w/m/t (CN) Ged 9th/8th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) Arnold 6th level human warrior (NG) Halbarad 9th level human ranger (NG) Zephyr 5+5 HD wild tiger Mongo 8th level dwarf warrior (CG) Peldor 11th level human thief (N) Bosco 6th level soulless halfling thief (CN) Peyote 7th/9th level half-elf fighter/druid (N) fang wild dog eye hawk ear hawk Rillen 8th level human warrior (N) Rob 9th level human priest (LG) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 5/12/571 C.Y. (Common Year) Time: morning Place: the Barrier Peaks ------------------------------------------------------------------ LXXII. Kieravaak The party found the pass they were searching for - but a fearsome guardian approached them - a nine-headed hydra. Rillen: Hydra. Hydra! (looks around) What a stupid name. Belphanior: (points at the hydra) Tell that to _him_! hydra: REEARGH! (most of its heads focus on the party) party: (spreading out quickly) hydra: BLEARGH! (all of its heads breathe gouts of flame upon the party) <cough cough> Mongo: (scorched by some flame) Argh! Belphanior: (leaps to one side, and is barely singed by the flame of another head) Yow! You son of a...(gets on his feet and prepares to attack) Ged: (backs up and begins spell preparations) Arnold: (gets burned slightly) Yaaaaaaaaa. Dhat hurd. Now I, Ah-nold, shall do baddle! (unslings his massive sword) Need to cud some of dose heds off. Rillen: (dodges a gout of flame entirely) What a blast this is. Rob: (watches yet another flame burst go over his head, since he had the sense to duck) Wow. Neat. Peyote: (singed somewhat by another flaming breath) No fair, many-headed dude. Halbarad: (fails his save, is burned slightly) Ouch! We must slay this monster, ere it roasts us all! Ged: I'm on it. (casts a Lightning Bolt at the massive beast) Boccob! pyrohydra: (hit square in its body by the forked bolt) REARGH! AARGH! (some heads go sailing off in random directions, as a smoking crater appears in its chest) Rillen: Now he is really steamed. (unlimbers his bow) Ged: Hah! Boccob's power flows strongly today! Peyote: Way to start the assault, dude. Ged: Err...thanks. Belphanior: (leaps upon the pyrohydra, and slices one of its heads off) Ha ha! Rob: (casts Spiritual Hammer) I'll help! Peldor: (goes invisible and wanders around looking for a good angle to attack from) Arnold: (wades into the fray, getting bitten by a few heads as he cheerfully lops off one, then another) Aaaaaa. Duh monster will fall! Mongo: (aims and hurls, and his hammer smashes another head into pulp) Stupid beast! Rillen: (fires two arrows into two different heads) Keep at it! Maybe the thing will die when we kill all the heads. Halbarad: Perhaps so. (chops and stabs the hydra's body, drawing deep wounds) Mongo: (catches his hammer) I hope so. Alindyar: (realizes that he has very few spells that could affect the hydra while his companions are next to it) Hmm. Lyra, cast a spell. Lyra: (already doing just that) Hush. (casts a Ray of Enfeeblement on one head, causing it to shrivel up) Ged: Good job, there. It almost rivals my mighty bolt of lightning. (makes arm gestures, re-enacting his own recent spell in his mind) Lyra: Hmph. Mongo: (hurls his hammer another time - and misses) Dammit! I never miss! Rillen: Well, you just did. Peyote: (slashes the hydra alongside Arnold) That's okay, dude. _I_ didn't miss. Peldor: (backstabs the hydra, wounding it severely) Peldor makes his presence known! Ged: Yea, too bad, isn't it? Peldor: Quiet, fool. pyrohydra: (one of its few remaining heads turns and bites the thief) Rob: (uses his spiritual hammer to bash the hydra's battered body) Is _this_ the way to wisdom? pyrohydra: (dies) Rob: I guess so. Oh, thank you, O great Trithereon! Alindyar: Excellent. The stupid beast no longer blocks our path. However, obviously _someone_ put it there to guard something... Lyra: Indeed. Mongo: (catches his hammer and addresses it) What the fuck's wrong with you?!? Don't do that again. Halbarad: (looking around, at the dwarf talking to his weapon, at Alindyar and Lyra bickering, at Ged gloating over his magic, at Arnold continuing to mindlessly hack the hydra's carcass) What am I _doing_ here? Peyote: (joins the ranger to one side) I sometimes have to wonder that, myself. These dudes are nuts. Rob: (heals some of the wounded) There, there. Ged: (heals himself and Mongo) Ah, my mighty magic... Soon, they were ready to proceed along the trail. And proceed they did, for about six hours. Nothing seemed to lurk in the tunnel, after the menace of the pyrohydra. Eventually, the party emerged from the narrow tunnel, into an absolutely huge chamber. This enormous natural cavern was easily a thousand feet in diameter, and even more in height. A huge mound of treasure sat near the center of the place. Peldor: (looking around) Something's missing. Where's the dragon? Rob: Dragon? Ged: Who knows? Peyote: Why are we discussing this? Belphanior: He's right. Let's go get that treasure. Most of them ventured out toward the heap of loot, after Alindyar cast a spell to detect invisible creatures and Ged cast a spell to detect evil creatures. Neither of the incantations revealed anything. Only Alindyar, Lyra, and the soulless Bosco remained at the chamber's entrance. Of course, the horses and animals stayed as well. The party was most of the way to the treasure pile when the powerful winds buffeted them. Peldor: (closest to the treasure) Uh oh! Belphanior: (looks upward) Hey, everybody, it's a dragon! Red Dragon: (a fairly large specimen) NOBODY MOVE. Even the mercurial Belphanior stood fast - for no one had any desire to be roasted on the spot. The huge wyrm soared slowly downward, finally landing about a hundred feet from the slightly scattered adventurers. Meanwhile, Alindyar and Lyra did their best to blend into the tunnel, as all of the horses, hawks, wild dog, and tiger fled. Bosco was tossed unceremoniously into the cover of the passage by the two drow. Red Dragon: WHAT DO YOU WORMS THINK YOU'RE DOING? Peyote: Hey, dude, don't talk about Peldor like that. Rob: (points wordlessly at Peldor) Peldor: (grovels before the dragon, as he slowly inches his way toward the treasure heap) Oh, forgive me, your royal greatness! We are but weary travelers, seeking a legendary item, an item that only one as mighty and wise as _you_ could possibly possess! Ged: (to Halbarad) What's gotten into him? Halbarad: I have no idea. They say that the sight of a dragon can drive some men mad... Red Dragon: (regards the thief) REALLY? Peldor: Oh, yes, your evilness! We seek the key to a long-sealed fortress in the Yatils! Can you possibly stoop so low as to help puny worms like us? (he is almost at the treasure pile now, but the dragon doesn't seem to notice) Red Dragon: HMM. PERHAPS. WHAT CAN YOU MORTALS OFFER ME IN RETURN? Belphanior: (whispers) Your life? Red Dragon: I HEARD THAT! (grabs the elf and flings him high into the air) Belphanior: (sails upward for hundreds of feet) Aaaaaaaa! Ged: Him and his big mouth. Mongo: Enough! I've had enough! Ged: Now, now, let's not be too hasty... Mongo: Fuck it! (hurls his hammer, bonking the big wyrm in the head) All _right_! Direct hit! Red Dragon: YOU _DARE_?!?!? (sucks in great volumes of air) Mongo: Shit! Halbarad: Scatter!! (they all try to) Peldor: (dives into the treasure pile and buries himself) Red Dragon: (is of course aware of the two drow far to the side, but decides to blast the majority of the group in front of it, and lets fly with a blast of flame fit to fry a golem) BLEAAAAAARGH! Ged: (gets lucky and dodges the brunt of the blast, and is only burned moderately; his ring of water breathing and magical small shield melt) Boccob's blasted breath! My ring! MY SHIELD! You DESTROYED them! Arnold: (saves, is still burned severely) Aaaaaaaaaaaaa. Aaaaaaaaa! Aaaaa! AAAA! (charges the dragon) AAAAAA! Halbarad: (saves, is burnt badly; one of his two magical daggers melts, as do his magical hand axe and all three of his potions) Argh! My weapons! Mongo: (saves, is wounded only slightly thanks to his ring of fire resistance; his magical longsword and cube of health are melted down, though) Shit! You'll pay for that, motherfucker! (hefts his hammer) Peldor: (trying to hide in the treasure pile, he avoids serious fire damage, and none of his items are destroyed) Ah, Peldor once again has the luck of the gods on his side! Peyote: (fails his save, is slain as he melts into a red and black puddle along with most of his items) Rillen: (saves, is wounded moderately) Agh! Baby, I am on _fire_! (his cloak of arachnidia bursts into flame, and he dances around trying to put it out) Aaa! Rob: (saves, is seriously wounded, but conscious) OW! Belphanior: (in the air above, falling, has his staff of power out now) Osacula, saculorum! Verpe di'chantu! nearby, in the tunnel... Alindyar: I get the impression that you and I are next. Lyra: Agreed. We should do something to stall the wyrm while some of the others can recover. Alindyar: Yes. (they both begin spellcasting) The dragon looked around. Things were going well today, it decided, as it surveyed the scene of its carnage. The two drow in the side tunnel had to be eliminated next, for one never knew what a dark elf could do. But these others were mostly disoriented and wounded; the stupid elf was even now falling from above, to his death; the dark human warrior was on fire; and that strange-looking druid was now slain. Kieravaak moved its massive bulk, preparing to let another breath of flame loose upon the pair of wildly gesticulating drow in the distance. Ged: Yie! (feels something burning his side) What in the name of Boccob...? (grabs his other wand, the one he got from the lost Sueloise city adventure; the wand is now pulsing and glowing, and black and grey runes dance upon its pale white surface) What are these words? (begins chanting quickly, hoping to use the wand on the dragon who is now facing him, looking like it is about to use its breath again) Shit! Come on, come on! By all the myriad powers of the Uncaring Boccob, work, you wand! Lyra: (casts Hold Monster at the dragon) Kieravaak: (its magic resistance stops the spell) HAH! Alindyar: Laugh this away, monster. (casts Feeblemind upon the dragon, bypassing its magic resistance) Kieravaak: EH? (saves, easily) BAH. YOU DROW ARE PUNY. WHY, IN MY YOUNGER DAYS, I ATE DARK ELVES WHO WERE _TEN_ TIMES YOUR WORTH! HA HA HA! Lyra: Uh-oh. Alindyar: He is not amused. Arnold: (picks a timely time to charge the dragon, and hacks a deep gash in its side) Aaaaa. Die, fowl lizzerd! Ah-nold vill slice you into ribbunz! Kieravaak: ARGH! THAT HURT! (swats the big warrior with a claw, knocking him to the floor) Arnold: Aaaa....(drops, bleeding profusely) Mongo: (hurls his hammer at the dragon, but the weapon just bounces off of its thick hide) Damn it! Belphanior: (having used his staff's powers, he is now in the air above, levitating, and preparing a spell) Peldor: (in the treasure pile, goes invisible and moves to backstab - but backs off when the dragon turns his way) Kieravaak: PUNY FOOLS! Mongo: (catches his hammer) Ged: Aha! (points the wand at the dragon) Axui. Kieravaak, all hundred-odd feet of its huge form, was suddenly engulfed in searing flames! Ged's wand glowed brightly now as its power was called upon for the first time in millenia. Ged: wow. Peldor: That fire's _hot_. Halbarad: I am afraid that he may not mind that spell, or whatever you just cast. Ged: Eh? Why not? Halbarad: Look. (points wearily at the dragon) Kieravaak: (lolling happily within the flames) MY THANKS FOR THE BATH, GREY ELF. Ged: Shit. I finally find a great weapon, and our opponent isn't affected by it. Halbarad: Have no fear. (charges the flaming wyrm) Ged: What are you doing?!? Halbarad: We must attack while it is occupied! Kieravaak: (reaches out and claws the ranger, sending him to the ground, unmoving and bleeding) HA HA HA! Belphanior: (in air, about a hundred feet above) Fucking shit-for-brains sonofabitch arrogant asshole of a mother fucking dragon...(casts a Cone of Cold from his staff, at the flame-covered dragon) Kieravaak: (its flames are mostly doused by the spell) AAARGH! COLD! I _HATE_ COLD! Ged: Oh, really? (prepares his next spell) Mongo: (hurls his hammer again, and hits this time) Hah! Nothing's invulnerable! Kieravaak: ARGH! YOU SHALL BE DESSERT, DWARF! Rillen: (leaps forth from behind the dragon, smoking and charred) Not if _I_ can help it. (slashes the dragon twice with the bladed end of his staff-weapon) Kieravaak: GAH! THAT HURT, AS WELL! WHICH OF YOU PUNY FOOLS SHALL I SLAY FIRST? AH, DECISIONS, DECISIONS. Rob: (inexplicably nowhere near the dragon, casts Prayer and begins chanting) Ged: Ah! Take heart in this valiant, brave chant, my friends! Mongo: (catches his hammer, and wipes his brow) I hear ya. Boy, it sure is _hot_ in here! Kieravaak: (leaps up and bats at Belphanior, missing but causing wind eddies that disrupt the elf's concentration and ruin his spell) HA HA! Peldor: (finally sees an opening and runs out of the pile of treasure, intending to attack, backstab or not) Ged: (casts an Ice Storm upon Kieravaak) Kieravaak: AAAAAUUUGH! ARRRRRGH! (leaps about in pain) Mongo: Whoa. (slips and falls in the sudden sleet) Peldor: (also in the spell's area of effect, gets very cold very quickly) Brrrr! Rillen: Yow! (slips around on the icy ground, but yet maintains his balance) Chilling. Rob: (just out of the storm's area of effect, drags the form of Halbarad from the vicinity) Kieravaak: (dies from the extreme cold and his wounds) Ged: We did it! We _won_!! (claps Mongo on the back and tries to make his way out of the blizzard) YES! Alindyar: (sees that the dragon is vanquished, and dashes forth, casting Dispel Magic on the ice storm) Enough of that. Lyra: Oh, but what price victory? The party regrouped and counted their fallen...Arnold and Halbarad were slain, but at least they had bodies left. The unfortunate Peyote had to be scraped from the cavern floor (admittedly an easier task since the ice storm had frozen his remains into a pancake-like shape which could be peeled off of the ground...) Almost everyone else was seriously wounded, as well. Only Bosco, sitting just in the tunnel entrance where Alindyar and Lyra had deposited him, remained unfazed, as well as the two drow, of course. All of the horses were long gone, and only Halbarad's big tiger, of all the animals, returned. Ged: Well, we have three dead. And I have never prayed for the spell to raise the dead... Rob: (steps forth) Fortunately, I have. Which shall we bring back? Ged: Why, Arnold, of course. Mongo: I would say Halbarad. We need his fighting arm more than that goofy half-elf's babbling. Halbarad's tiger: Growr! Alindyar: No, no. 'Tis clear that we should raise the body of Peyote. Remember, he has that rod, which may help... Peldor: Yea, look - the rod is sticking up from his... body. In fact, it's pulsing...as if it senses what may be about to happen to its owner. Rillen: What would Boccob say? Ged: (makes some hand motions) Boccob says...we should take a vote. Full members only, of course. Alindyar: I vote for Peyote. Belphanior: I vote for...Peyote. Ged: Arnold. Mongo: Halbarad gets my vote. Peldor: Umm...Peyote. Rillen: I say Arnold. Rob: I vote for Peyote. (begins spell casting) Ged: Hmph. The slowly-thawing, smelly puddle that was Peyote was placed before Rob, and the priest poured what concentration he had into his efforts. As the spell was cast, Rob all but collapsed from the strain. The rod within Peyote's remains glowed brightly, perhaps augmenting the spell with its own great powers. The Peyote-puddle trembled, melted, and grew! Within moments, the half-elf stood living! Peyote: Wow! What _happened_ to me? Rob: You were dead, now you're alive. Rejoice, friend. (hugs the helf-elf) Ged: Now, Peyote, since we've so graciously elected to bring _you_ back to life, what can you do for Arnold and Halbarad here? Peyote: Uhh...I am weak from my ordeal. Ged: Don't give me that! Use that "great" artifact-rod of yours! Mongo: Yeah! Bring these guys back to life! Peyote: (looks at the form of Halbarad) You have no idea of the cost, dudes... Belphanior: Cost? Mongo: Bah! They need help. Now! Peyote: Oh, all right. (touches Halbarad with his rod) Bohemius sacrilie muvovum, shandi-sha. Halbarad: (opens his eyes) Wha-? Where is the dragon? Mongo: Dead, of course. Peyote: (touches Arnold) Viva la Schwarz! Arnold: (jumps up) Whea is da big lizzerd? Ged: Whew. Peyote: (heals himself with his rod, then falls asleep, remaining thus for three days while the rod heals his burn scars) They rested for six days in the dragon's lair, counting and sorting its treasure. Besides a great amount of monetary treasure, the hoard contained a large metallic key (which fit Yin-Tze's description of the key to the devil fortress' gates) and the following magical items: square of folded cloth - Belphanior libram - Ged belt - Mongo pocket (!) - Peldor staff - Alindyar colored robe - Peyote small bag of beans - Rob boots - Rillen rod - Halbarad mage scroll - Lyra knife - Arnold Peldor insisted that Bosco should get his share of the loot as well, but this idea was quickly ignored by most of the others. The party consulted its map and decided to backtrack through the tunnel, then leave the Barrier Peaks and head northward, for the Yatils. Alindyar used his flying carpet, though, to scout the upper exit of the dragon's cavern, far above, and returned to tell of a plausible, though steep, trail that seemed to lead down from the small mountain - as well as leading northward. Since this way was faster, the party used it, ascending in twos by means of the drow's carpet (Halbarad's tiger required a Fly spell, however). Once the group had descended the mountain (an entire day's effort!), they rested, and it was in this temporary campsite that surprising news was broken. Halbarad: Excuse me. Excuse me! I have an announcement to make. Mongo: Eh? (eating a haunch of meat) What's that? Halbarad: Um...Peyote and I will be departing from your company, effective immediately. Peyote: Also the tiger, man. Halbarad: Err, yes. Ged: What? Why? Halbarad: We feel out-of-place here. The time has come to seek out new quests. Peyote: ...to explore strange new worlds...to seek... Halbarad: Enough. We shall try to contact you later, if plausible. Alindyar: Are you sure that you must go? Halbarad: It is certain. In fact, the gods have told him (points to Peyote with his dagger) of new quests. As his faithful companion, I must accompany him, for these quests no doubt are of great import to the woods and forests and all within. Ged: No doubt. Rob: Aww, I'm going to miss you guys. Farewells were exchanged, and the two adventurers, plus one large tiger, took a different trail away from the mountain, as the others watched halfheartedly. next time: the giant; the Fortress FTP SITE: ccosun.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers) ******************************************************************** NOTES: It's currently shortly before midnight on a Thursday. I wasn't going to write one tonight, but then decided to because of a song I heard that put me in a really good mood...it was "Burn, Bitch, Burn" by the immortal KISS. Heh heh. Go figure. And speaking of burning, yes, I _know_ there aren't supposed to be pyrohydrae with more than 8 heads. But they exist... The "gods" who told Halbarad and Peyote to go might be better known as diplomas. The two players left to start their working professional lives, and that was that. Have we seen the last of Halbarad and Peyote though? Who knows? ******************************************************************** THE ADVENTURERS ***** * The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright * 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to persons or characters * either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. Copying and/or * distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one * condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit. * In that case, I hope you enjoy them. ***** ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE PARTY: Alindyar 10th level drow elf mage (N) Lyra 6th level female drow elf mage (N) Belphanior 7th/8th/8th level high elf w/m/t (CN) Ged 9th/8th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) Arnold 6th level human warrior (NG) Mongo 8th level dwarf warrior (CG) Peldor 11th level human thief (N) Bosco 6th level soulless halfling thief (CN) Rillen 8th level human warrior (N) Rob 9th level human priest (LG) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 5/20/571 C.Y. (Common Year) Time: late morning Place: the Barrier Peaks ------------------------------------------------------------------ LXXIII. The Giant The party has just lost significant manpower (and a fair share of lunacy too) as Halbarad the ranger and Peyote the warrior-druid have left to pursue other aims. Mongo: Well, so much for _them_. Ged: Bah. Who cares? Boccob never approved of Peyote's spells anyway. Alindyar: Is that so? Ged: Yup. Say, I think it's about time for me to cast my spell of magical identification. That way, we'll know what our new items are. Hopefully. And then I can sleep in the saddle as we ride today. Peldor: Sounds good to me. Mongo: Aw, can't we wait until _after_ breakfast? I'm really hungry right now! (eating plentiful portions of his iron rations) Ged: No, we need to do this now. Rillen: Yes. Arnold: Yeeeeees! Identifry the idems. Ged: (he takes the items in question from his backpack) It sure is a good thing that I collected these from you all last night and spent all night purifying them of outside influences. Mongo: Yeah, I was wondering why you wanted them all. Peldor: It's also a good thing that we trust you. Alindyar: (glances at the thief) Unlike _some_ people. Ged: So! (gazes over the items as he casts his spell) O Boccob, O great and mighty Boccob, bless us with your nigh- infinite wisdom and understanding. (picks up Alindyar's new staff) Hmm. This is a weapon, a fighting weapon, of great power. Alindyar: Wonderful. (he was hoping for a spell-casting type of staff) For all of those myriad times when I find myself in melee. Lyra: (pokes the drow) It's not that bad. Maybe someone will charge in your direction soon. Then - POW! - you can smite them. Just like that! Alindyar: No doubt _that_ will be an interesting day. You know how I despise physical combat. Ged: (ignoring the two drow, holds Lyra's scroll) Ah! A great item! Protection...from...devils. Devils! Lyra: (takes the scroll from Ged) Such an item will no doubt be of much use, considering that we are heading for an ancient devil cult's fortress. Ged: (fondling Belphanior's square of folded cloth) Belphanior: Hey, watch it, there. Ged: This item is strange. Belphanior: I know that. Why do you think I picked it? Ged: I cannot determine its function. (hands it back to the tall elf) Sorry. Belphanior: Don't lose any sleep over it. (he already had figured out what it is - a portable gateway to other planes) I'll have some sage analyze it or something. Ged: (examining his own item, a glowing book) Ha! HA! A Libram of Silver Magic! THE book for good mages, like myself! Ha ha ha! Mongo: Quit gloating. Ged: My mightiness is assured! The knowledge contained within this tome will propel me to new heights of power! Peldor: Hey, how about doing the rest of our items? Ged: Eh? Oh, yea. (picks up Arnold's new knife from his pile) Knife. This is but a magical weapon. Here, my loyal henchman. Use it well. Arnold: (takes the knife reverently) Ah...ah...ah-CHOO! (sneezes several times) I tink I'm gedding a cold. (wipes some snot on his breeches) Rillen: (looks on disdainfully) Ged: Hmph. What is this, now? (holding Mongo's belt) Mongo: I don't know. _You_ tell _me_, you're the mage. Ged: This is...an item of the giants. Mongo: GIANTS?!?! Shit! I can't accept it! Those big shit-for-brains giants are the enemies of all dwarves! Ged: Hold on. It may confer upon you some of their powers or abilities. That might be useful. Mongo: Power? Gimme that. (snatches the belt from the grey elf and puts it on) Hey, I'm not growing bigger or anything. Alindyar: Perhaps the powers take hours to manifest. Lyra: Or days. Ged: Yea. Hold your horses. Mongo: Whatever. When am I going to get a _really_ good item? Dammit. (wanders to his unfinished breakfast and resumes eating, the belt left around his waist, forgotten for now) Ged: Now, let's see. Peldor's pocket. (holds up the small, unattached pocketlike piece of cloth that Peldor got) I have no idea what this is. Have it sewn into some garment, maybe then it will manifest its powers. Peldor: Thanks for the advice. (takes the pocket and puts it in his pocket) Hmm. Rillen: What about my boots? Ged: Ah, yes, the boots. (picks up the boots) They need a shine. And they smell somewhat. But...hmmmm. They are a mighty item! Or, items. These boots will allow you to move faster. Faster than before. Rillen: Really? (puts the boots on and runs around, quite rapidly) Wheeeee! I am fast! Peldor: Look at him running around. What agility! Mongo: Hmm. He looks about as fast as a horse, too. Alindyar: Such speed should come in handy during battle. Peldor: I must have some boots like those! Rillen: (slows down and returns to the party) Whew. What a good thing these are! I think this day got off on the right foot. Ged: Yep. Well, we're down to the last item. Rob, you chose this bag? Rob: Actually, I had to choose last. Belphanior: Funny how that always happens, isn't it? Ged: Enough. This bag contains beans, Rob. Magical beans. You can plant them and see what grows. Rob: Okay. Alindyar: Do not _eat_ them, priest. Rob: I'll try not to. Mongo: So, we're ready to ride, right? Ged: Right. Where's the map? Rob: Map? Peldor: Here. (they all look at the map) Ged: We must leave these mountains, and pass through the hills, here. Alindyar: Then, we skirt the Bramblewood Forest. Peldor: ...and enter Ket. Rob: But only for a brief time, for we will soon enter the Yatils. Mongo: Ah, more mountains! They packed and rode down the mountain trail. Their horses did not care for the descent much, but within a day, the group was down the mountain. By the end of the next day, they had exited the Barrier Peaks. The only thing that resembled an encounter was the pack of strange hairy men who attacked the party. After about a minute, Belphanior had slain two, Rillen one, Mongo two, Arnold two, and Ged's sleep spell had taken out four more. The remaining creatures fled and were not chased, and Belphanior quickly slew the two sleeping foes, rather gleefully. Once out of the mountains, the party soon entered the foothills to the north of the peaks. This area seemed peaceful, since the halflings and people the adventurers met with were friendly. The group followed its planned course, and almost two weeks after they departed the dragon's lair, they stood ready to enter the Yatils. Mongo: (looking ahead and up, at the vast range of peaks in the distance) Would you look at _that_? Aren't they beautiful? Ged: Fascinating. Mongo: Gods, how I love the mountains! The peaks were entered, and Mongo used the map along with his great mountaineering skills to guide the group to the supposed location of the fortress. After two days, they had reached what Mongo claimed was the right mountain. Ged: So what do we do now? Mongo: Simple. We climb. (points up a rough trail) Somewhere up _there_ is the place. We have to make the climb and find it. Are you guys up to this? Rob: (looks down at his paunch) I hope so. Alindyar: And I as well. This is a high mountain... Belphanior: Let's go. (they begin hiking up the steep mountain trail) For two days, the party ascended. There were a few wild animals, but not much else, and no monsters showed up to bother them - a fact that Mongo was worried about to no end. After they had climbed for two days, the adventurers arrived at a deep chasm. They were high up on the mountain, and the trail seemd to end, though the peak was obviously much higher than their current site. The chasm was a part of the mountain itself, and a huge bridge of natural stone seemed the only obvious way to cross it. Another rising slope was visible across this bridge. Rillen: That chasm. (points) We must cross it. Mongo: Yup. Ged: What's this? (regards a six-foot high sign) Mongo: "Toll Bridge". Huh? Rillen: Hm. Rob: (peering into the chasm) Wow. That's a mighty deep crack. Looks like a thousand feet. Or more. Belphanior: (standing behind Rob) ....nah. Alindyar: The bridge of stone spans several hundred feet, 'twould appear. Peldor: Yep. Fortunately for you non-dextrous types it's nearly twenty feet wide. So the lack of rails or handholds won't be fatal. Hopefully. Ged: Well, I don't see anyone here to collect toll. Mongo: Bah. Let's cross. (they begin to) About the time that the adventurers were halfway across the bridge, a gigantic figure appeared at the opposite end of the bridge and began walking out, in the party's direction. giant: HELLO, FRIENDS! Rillen: I am not your friend. What do you want? giant: (about 25' tall, by the way) WHY, TOLL, OF COURSE. TOLL FOR CROSSING MY BRIDGE. Mongo: Toll?!?! Are you out of your friggin' mind? Ged: Shh, don't irritate him. giant: YOU MUST PAY. ELSE YOU MAY NOT CROSS. (he stops about fifty feet from the party, which is about halfway across the bridge), and sets down a large, heavy-looking sack - and the bridge shakes slightly) Rob: Hey, watch it! You might collapse this thing. giant: (laughs) Ged: I think we should pay him. Alindyar: (addresses the giant) What is the toll? giant: TWO THOUSAND IN GOLD. Mongo: What?!?! giant: FOR EACH OF YOU. Ged: Boccob's eyes, what a ripoff! Alindyar: I think he means to knock us off of this bridge, otherwise... giant: WELL, WHAT WILL IT BE? Mongo: I'm not paying a _giant_ two thousand coins of gold to cross a fuckin' bridge! Rillen: Me neither. Arnold: (to Ged) Whad shoud I do, mazter? You want I shoud addack dat big bully? Ged: Hold on a second, guy. Belphanior: We're not paying that shithead. No way in all the hells. (draws his sword) Time to feed. Alindyar: What? I say we pay him and be on our happy way. Ged: I agree. But just in case... (mutters some magical phrase, and is now under the influence of a Feather Fall enchantment) Rob: What should we do? Ged: Pay the toll, Mongo. We have the cash. Mongo: No way! Rillen: To hell with the toll. Belphanior: Damn straight! giant: WHY ARE YOU NOT LAYING MY TOLL OUT BEFORE YOU? (reaches into his sack) Belphanior: Now! Now! (charges the giant, suddenly hasted - one power of his sword) Attack! Alindyar: No! Ged: Too late. The insane one has ruined it all! giant: (hefts a two-foot wide boulder one-handed, and tosses it at Belphanior) HOW DARE YOU REFUSE MY GENEROUS TOLL OFFER? TAKE THAT! Belphanior: (hit square in the stomach by the rock, and suffers a few cracked ribs as all five of his stoneskins are cancelled) Argh! (almost falls off of the stone bridge, but manages to regain his balance just in time) Whoa. Rob: Whew, he barely stayed on the bridge. Rillen: (charges speedily) Time to carry the fight to the giant. Peldor: (becomes invisible) Mongo: Yeah! (hurls his hammer at the massive giant) (his hammer does triple damage vs. giants...) giant: WHAT? (takes the enchanted mallet in his gut and is knocked over) AAARGH! Mongo: (surprised at his own strength) Wow. I didn't think I threw it _that_ hard! giant: (gets up, hurls more boulders, missing Mongo somehow but nailing the fleet-footed yet unlucky Rillen and wounding him) BAH. Arnold: Shall I chaage, lord? Ged: No! Stand there and be careful to avoid flying boulders that the other fighters don't catch. We shall not fight. Alindyar: (to Lyra) I refuse to participate in this foolish battle as well. The warrior-types started it, and they can finish it. Lyra: Sounds sensible to me... Ged: Yea. (they back off) Rob: What should I do? (wanders around on the bridge trying to decide what would be best) Bosco: (stands and watches mindlessly) Mongo: (catches his hammer, looks back) Hey, we're not getting any air support from the mages! Rillen: I wonder why that is? (reaches the giant and bats his boulder-laden arm) Put that rock down and get off of this bridge. giant: YOU WANT ME TO PUT IT DOWN? OKAY, I'LL PUT IT DOWN! (slam-dunks the boulder onto Rillen's back, knocking him down and out) Mongo: Hey! giant: I HAVE NO QUARREL WITH YOU PEOPLE. PAY ME AND THIS POINTLESS BATTLE CAN CEASE. Mongo: What?!? Belphanior: Argh. (feels his battered chest) Press the attack, Mongo! Mongo: Hmph. (to giant) We'll pay you _one_ thousand coins of gold, apiece. That's our final offer! giant: HMM. VERY WELL, I ACCEPT. Mongo: You do? Ged: At last! A voice of reason prevails! Belphanior: Noooo! (charges the giant) Die! Alindyar: Oh, no. giant: (whips out a huge two-handed sword, over twenty feet in length, and intercepts the elf with it) HAH! Belphanior: (nearly cut in half, falls) Argh...(goes into a coma as blood splatters everywhere) Mongo: (yelling loudly) Stop this battle! (runs over and tries to stem Belphanior's blood flow) You really shouldn't have done that, giant. I may have to whack you again... giant: (holds up his sword menacingly) GO AHEAD. MAKE MY DAY. Ged: (runs forth) Let there be peace. For crying out loud. (tends to Rillen) This one will live. Lyra: What of the mad elf? Mongo: (cradling Belphanior) Geez, he's really fucked up bad. Peldor: (materializes behind the giant) Well, I guess I'm not supposed to backstab you now. giant: (sits down) THAT IS A RELIEF, I SUPPOSE. THEN I WOULD NOT HAVE TO SMASH YOU IN RETURN. Peldor: Oh. Soon, the party had given the giant the agreed toll, which wasn't really such a big deal, since they were practically overflowing with coinage from the dragon's hoard. Some of them chatted with the giant, while others tended to Belphanior. giant: WHY DID YOU ATTACK ME? Mongo: Two thousand per head is far too much for a toll. giant: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? TIMES ARE TOUGH. EVEN A GIANT MUST MAKE A LIVING. Mongo: Yeah, well... Peldor: Holy shit! (leaps up and dashes to one side, and grabs Bosco right before he can stride off of the stone bridge) Whoa there, little guy! (drags the halfling's shell back toward the group) Whew. giant: WHAT AILS THE LITTLE ONE? Rob: He's suffering from a serious spiritual problem. Ged: Yea. None. Mongo: Ha! Peldor: Oh, shut up. (sits his soulless henchman down) Now stay put. giant: OH. Peldor: Guys...we _really_ need to find Bosco's soul. Ged: We'll put it on the list. Alindyar: List? Rillen: (wakes up) What is going on here? Mongo: The battle was a...mistake. Our new friend here will help us get to the fortress safely. Rillen: Oh. (rubs his bruised shoulders) giant: IT IS A GOOD THING THAT I TOOK IT EASY ON YOU, WARRIOR. Rillen: Hmm. Ged: Say, how's old Belphanior doing? Rob: (about done bandaging the elf) He'll be okay. Thanks to your healing magic, and mine. But he should be out for another eight hours or so. Ged: Okay. Rob: You know, he's healing already. Unnatural... Ged: Yeah...(gets up and goes to the unconscious elf) Holy Boccob, you're right! His wound has already sealed at the edges! Incredible. Rob: Yes. I think he's probably got some item or spell in effect to help him. Ged: (examines the elf's sword) Hmm. (he pulls it a few inches out of its sheath) Yie! (the weapon's blade is jet-black, with small twinkling motes of light within, like the night sky would be, were it night right now) Rob: Neat. Ged: Eerie. (puts the sword back) Well, he'll get better. giant: I SUPPOSE THAT YOU HAVE COME TO VISIT THAT OLD FORTRESS PLACE NEARBY. Peldor: Yep. Tell us all about it, would you? Lyra: Don't pester him. Mongo: (talking to the giant) You don't seem like the sort of giant who goes around killing people. What's your story? giant: WELL, I AM A CLOUD GIANT. SOME OF MY KIND ARE OF EVIL BEND, AND SOME ARE NOT. LIKE ME. Ged: That's good to know. Mongo: (hands the giant his belt, and immediately feels weaker) What can you tell me about this thing, pal? cloud giant: (takes the belt, which looks tiny in his huge hand) HMM. THIS ITEM HAS A GIANTISH AURA ABOUT IT. Mongo: Yeah, I know that. What do you think it _does_, though? cloud giant: IT IS PROBABLY AN BELT OF STRENGTH. Mongo: You mean, I wear it, and I get giant-size strength? cloud giant: YES. THAT IS HOW THEY USUALLY WORK, ANYWAY. Mongo: All right! Say, I have something that you might be able to use. (opens his portable hole and digs out his oversized shovel) Here. Can you use this? It's much too big for us to hold, but it seems better suited for you. cloud giant: (his eyes light up) A MATTOCK OF THE TITANS! Mongo: I take that as a "yes"? cloud giant: YES. YES! THANK YOU, LITTLE FRIEND! I AM IN YOUR DEBT. Mongo: Nah. Peldor: So, tell us about this fortress... After a night of briefing and rest, they all got up the next morning and headed for the fortress, under the giant's expert guidance. He told them that it had been sealed long ago, and that people came from time to time trying to get in, but none of them were ever successful. He also informed them of the nest of evil bird-like guardians who lived near the entrance to the place. Soon, they had reached a sloping area, which was basically the beginning of the upper peak of this mountain. Part of a large door was visible above some rubble. A wide ledge above held some kind of nest-like thing, and a large, rounded avian head glared at the party and the giant from this perch. bird-thing: Squarwk! Hiss! Hiss! Ged: Boccob! That is one spooky-looking bird. (casts Detect Evil) Ah! It is evil! cloud giant: OF COURSE. Belphanior: (riding along painfully and angrily) Hmph. Suddenly, several of the bird-things appeared. They had long, wickedly clawed legs and devilish red eyes, not unlike Belphanior's. They screamed and cursed at the party, and seemed about to leap down and attack. cloud giant: ALLOW ME TO HELP. (reaches into his sack and begins hurling boulders at the things) The bird-creatures quickly fled, after several were badly wounded by the giant's volley. The party reached the rockslide, which contained many huge rocks and seemed all but impenetrable. Mongo: (grabs a large boulder and rolls it out of the way easily, grunting) Urgh. That's heavy. Rillen: Come, we must move this rockslide. Peldor: What?! The mighty Peldor doesn't _dig_! Ged: I could cast a Dig spell... Alindyar: 'Twould still take some time to clear this mess. Rob: (tries to pick up a small rock, but can't) cloud giant: ENOUGH. (pushes Mongo and the others aside) ALLOW ME. (hefts the titan mattock and begins scooping huge piles of rock and dirt out) Mongo: Holy shit! Look at him go! Ged: I'm glad we're fortunate enough to have his help. Mongo: I'm glad I gave him that shovel. Rob: I'm glad I don't have to dig. Belphanior: Bah. (stalks away slowly) It wasn't long before the rockslide was out of the way. The cloud giant took the heavy key from Mongo (the dwarf found that he now had no trouble hefting the thing, but the large keyhole was too high for him to reach...) and inserted it into the hole. Grunting loudly, the huge giant turned the key, and there was a loud grinding sound as the two twenty-foot-high, eight-foot-wide doors opened for the first time in many years. A huge hall could be seen beyond, its dark and dusty emptiness beckoning to the adventurers... Mongo: All right! We're in! Ged: Shall you be joining us, friend? cloud giant: NO. I WOULD NOT FIT IN THERE, ANYWAY. I SHALL RETREAT TO MY BRIDGE AND REST. Rob: What about the horses? Mongo: Uhh...say, would you be willing to watch our animals? cloud giant: HMM. I SUPPOSE SO. I JUST HOPE THAT I DO NOT GROW HUNGRY... Rillen: What?! cloud giant: JUST KIDDING. HA HA! (gathers the horses' reins) I SHALL SEE YOU LATER. HOPEFULLY. Ged: Farewell. (he watches the massive giant walk away) Belphanior: (imitating the grey elf and making faces too) Farewell! Ged: Oh, you're just mad because you fought him and lost. Belphanior: He and I are not done, yet... Mongo: Enough bickering. Let's check this place out! They used spells to make light, and entered the dungeon, taking the key and pulling the doors closed behind them, where a large crank was utilized by Mongo to lock the portals. The adventurers then turned to the vast chamber ahead of them. next time: spooks FTP SITE: ccosun.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers) ******************************************************************** NOTES: The party was _not_ supposed to fight that giant. ******************************************************************** THE ADVENTURERS ***** * The 8 player characters contained in these writings are copyright * 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to persons or characters * either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. Copying and/or * distribution of these stories is permissible only under the one * condition that no part of them will be used or sold for profit. * In that case, I hope you enjoy them. ***** ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE PARTY: Alindyar 10th level drow elf mage (N) Lyra 6th level female drow elf mage (N) Belphanior 7th/8th/8th level high elf w/m/t (CN) Ged 9th/8th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) Arnold 6th level human warrior (NG) Mongo 8th level dwarf warrior (CG) Peldor 11th level human thief (N) Bosco 6th level soulless halfling thief (CN) Rillen 8th level human warrior (N) Rob 9th level human priest (LG) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 6/8/571 C.Y. (Common Year) Time: morning Place: a fortress high within the Yatil Mountains ------------------------------------------------------------------ LXXIV. Into the Fortress Prologue The sextet of black-robed priests gathered around the raised dais, intently watching the magical image which hovered in the stale air above the dais. Their leader, a tall, gaunt man with a long goatee and red-rimmed eyes, was the first to speak. "So. The old magicks are still effective." Another of the hooded fiends, a sub-priest, replied. "That is correct, O dread Delgath. Someone has opened the gates above." Delgath glanced at the others, then at the image, which depicted a cheerful- looking band of adventurers, among them a dwarf and a pair of dark elves. "So it is. We must prepare for their arrival, for in opening the gates, they have in their unwitting foolishness negated the spells that have kept us imprisoned here, cut off from our lord like a disembodied hand. Ah. The only thing which stands between us and our freedom is - them." He then pointed to the explorers in the image, who were still investigating the same room several levels above the six priests, and laughed. "At last! It is TIME!" (end of prologue) The party has just entered a great hall in the old cult's fortress, and is in the process of exploring it. Rob: (casts Continual light on a lantern) Ah, now I can see. Peldor: (pulls out the glowing torch stub that he picked up earlier, and lights it with flint & steel, producing a bright green light) Alindyar: (watching the thief and his strange green torch) Where in the world did you get _that_? Peldor: Found it laying around somewhere, I guess. Mongo: Well, that's that. We've got light, and we're all pumped, so...let's see what those cultists left behind, shall we? Belphanior: (in a better mood now) Let's. The chamber was a gargantuan hall, at least two hundred feet in length; it grew wider at the far end, looking to be about a hundred feet in breadth at that point. A massive throne rested against the wall opposite to the double doors, and two smaller doors, one to either side of the seat, provided exit from this room. The ceiling here was some forty feet in height. Belphanior: (examining the walls and floor) This place is neat. Ged: I wonder what that throne is? What great powers of times past used to sit in it? (wanders toward the throne) Arnold: (follows Ged) Deh thrown. You shoud sid in id. Peldor: I'll check the doors. (moves toward one of the small doors near the throne) Mongo: (following Ged) What are those strange carvings on the throne? Rob: (looking at the ceiling) Rillen: This place smells. Alindyar: (he and Lyra walk toward the throne as well, for it seems to be the most interesting thing in here) I wonder how many cultists used to inhabit this gods- forsaken place? Lyra: Great numbers, no doubt. Ged: (examining the throne) Boccob! Mongo: Not here, buddy. That throne looks bad - like it's made from parts of monster bodies. I've never seen such fiendish stonework. Ged: Yea. (casts Detect Evil and scrutinizes the chair further) Hark! Don't touch that thing! It's _evil_! Rillen: Tell me something I do not know. Peldor: (done checking both doors) The doors are clear. Hmm, you want me to check the throne for secret doors? Ged: Nope. It's evil - and may be hazardous to your health. Belphanior: (eyeing the throne, fascinated) I wonder what would happen if I sat in it...? Soon, they went through the northernmost of the two doors, and entered a thirty-by-thirty square room. The new chamber smelled awful, for it contained a pile of whole skeletons. Rob: Whole skeletons?!? As opposed to...skim skeletons? Alindyar: What nonsense are you babbling, priest? Can you not see that they are _entire_ skeletons? Their bodies were intact when they died. Rob: Oh. Like, not chopped up. Okay. Belphanior: (examining some tattered bits of black cloth on the ground) Maybe this is where they piled the bodies of the slain cultists when this place was laid low. (begins spellcasting) Mongo: Now there's an idea! Pile the fuckers up to rot! Ged: Boccob's bones. No pun intended - but there must be _hundreds_ of them! Rillen: (pokes one of the corpses with his quarterstaff) Bah. These bony ones have nothing to tell us. Belphanior: (scanning the skeletons) You're right on that count. These aren't undead. Just normal dead bodies. Alindyar: That is a relief. Considering that we are now outnumbered by them at least ten-to-one, and in a tiny room, as well. Arnold: Aaa. Dhese scabeleduns are no madch for me, Ah-nold! (waves his sword around) I gould smash four of dem in one blow... Mongo: (bored) Hrmph. Peldor: Hey, I've checked these two exits, and they're both clean. Mongo: (eyes alight) Yeah! There's something! (moves to one of the doors, and opens it) Let's go! The small chamber beyond had a rotted table and four rotted chairs, but naught else. The other door from the piled-skeleton room led to a barracks-type place. The remains of several dozen beds and associated bedding filled this chamber. Three doors were visible, as well as an open passage which led away to the east. Mongo: Huh?!? (his helmet is pulsing) What's this? (takes the helm off; its large diamond is glowing brightly) What the fuck? Suddenly, there were moans, as four spectral shapes appeared from nowhere. They mumbled and moaned as they floated rapidly in the party's direction. Mongo: Holy shit! Spooks! (he quickly puts his helm back on and prepares to hurl his hammer) Belphanior: (also warned by his spell) Hey, guys, it's undead! Rob: Beware their terrifying countenances! Alindyar: (saves easily and is not aged) Lyra: (saves) Belphanior: (saves, barely) Spooks, eh? (draws his sword and deliberately approaches the ghosts) Ged: (being a priest above 6th level, he is immune to the undead's terror effect) Boccob! (presents his holy symbol) Arnold: (fails his save, ages ten years, drops his sword, and flees in panic) Aaaaaaaa! Ged: Hey! Get back here! Mongo: (his helm causes him to resist the ghost's evil effects) Huh? Peldor: (saves, goes invisible) Bosco: (N/A) Rillen: (saves easily) Where did Arnold run away to, I wonder? Rob: (like Ged, he cannot be scared away or aged by the undead spirits) Turn them! Turn them away! Ged: (raises his holy symbol of Boccob and chants) Out! Out! Get you gone, evil spooks! ghosts: (ignore the priest) Booooooo... Ged: Yipes. Time for plan B! (backs up and digs through his pack) Rob: (tries himself to turn the foul ghosts) Ah! Leave us alone, evildoers! ghosts: (ignore this priest as well) Ooooooooo! (they begin attempts to _Magic Jar_ certain of the party) Alindyar: Eh? (feels his life force being assaulted by one of the ghosts) What?!?!? Lyra: What? What is it? (grabs Alindyar) Alindyar: (looks at her with blank eyes) Ged: Boccob! (his life force, as well, is under ghostly attack) Boccob grant me strength to defy this evil and perverse invasion! Mongo: Huh? (one of the ghosts, sensing him to be a powerful warrior, tries to possess his body with a Magic Jar too) Wha-?!? (his helm is now glowing very brightly, or at least its diamond centerpiece is) ghost#3: OooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAA! (it is hurled back into its ectoplasmic ghostly body with enough force to knock it down) Mongo: What the hell happened?!? (hurls his magic hammer at ghost#3) Ah, fuck it. Rob: (pipes up) Maybe your helm is _holy_...! ghost#4: (goes for Bosco, the obvious choice...) Bosco-ghost: Oooooooooo! Booooooooo! (draws his sword) Alindyar: (repels the efforts of ghost#1) Away, vile undead spirit! I am no one's host! ghost#1: (becomes semi-material and approaches the drow) Ged: (repels ghost#2 by a narrow margin) Agh! How _dare_ you try to magic jar me?!? (begins chanting and waving his wand as the ghost becomes semi-material and stalks him) ghost#3: (hit by Mongo's attack, wounded) Aaaa... Mongo: (catches his hammer) You bastard undead fucker! I'll smash you into ghostly pulp!! Belphanior: (charges ghost#1, who is somewhat preoccupied, and slashes it) Blackrazor, meet Mr. Ghost. Ghost, meet your doom! ghost#1: Aaaaaa...(turns to face the elf now) Bosco-ghost: (stalking Peldor) Ooooooooo... Peldor: Huh? Rob: Look out! He's possessed! And he seems to be able to see your invisible form! Alindyar: It must be capable of detecting _souls_. Peldor: Ah, why did I let him hold onto his sword and dagger? (waves his green-burning torch in the halfling's face) Back, savage Bosco! Ged: Hey, watch _this_. (points his wand at the ghost) Axui! ghost#2: Ooo? (nothing happens) Ged: What?!? Nothing happened? Why? Alindyar: The thing is not wholly on this plane... Ged: I _know_ it's unholy, for Boccob's sake! Shit. Time for...plan C! (digs through his pack again) Mongo: (hurls his hammer at ghost#3, again, with sufficient force to imbed the weapon in the wall) ghost#3: (slain; dies surprised) Mongo: Gods, I feel STRONG!!! (flexes his muscles) Peldor: (dodges Bosco's attack) He's gone nuts! He's attacking his own faithful master! (hurls his green torch to the floor and parries the blows of the possessed halfling) Bosco-ghost: Boooooooo... ghost#1: (gropes for Belphanior, but misses) Belphanior: Hah! You'll not age me with your fell touch, spirit! (slashes the ghost again, slicing a semi-material wound in it) Hah! Mongo: Hah! (catches his hammer, as it finally tears itself from the indentation in the wall and flies back into his hand) Hah is right! Rillen: (rains blows upon ghost#2 with his magical quarterstaff) Fall, groaning one. ghost#2: Ooooooooo. (turns to face Rillen) Rillen: (retreating and dodging with his boots of speed, manages to avoid the ghost's attack) Too fast for you. ghost#2: (confounded) Uuuuuuuuuuuuu! Rob: Quick! Someone stop Bosco! Alindyar: (approaches the halfling from behind as he casts a spell) Bosco-ghost: (fails to save against the drow's Dispel Magic; the ghost materializes nearby, while Bosco falls to the ground) Peldor: Well, at least he got some muscle movement in for the month... Lyra: (fires three Magic Missiles at ghost#2, but they pass through its form) Damn! Ged: Obviously it's immune to spells, even if it can be hit by our weapons. So...(uncorks the bottle he has in his hand, and splashes ghost#2 with it) Hah! Taste holy water, spawn of Hell! ghost#2: (burned as if by acid) Aaaaaaaaaa! Belphanior: (slashes ghost#1 again) Ha ha ha! Die, undead! ghost#1: (perhaps sensing what the elf's sword can do to it, backs away) Belphanior: Oh, no you don't! (chases the ghost) Mongo: (conveniently nearby ghost#2, swats it with his hammer, causing it to shimmer) Get it! Rillen: (attacks ghost#2 again, while it shrieks from Ged's holy water attack and Mongo's hammer blow, and brains it) ghost#2: (ectoplasmic brain matter floats around as it dies) ... ghost#4: (newly evicted from Bosco, looks around and then sails toward Rob) Rob: Wha? Aaa! (brings the magical mace he has in his hands to bear) Stay back! Belphanior: (slays ghost#1) Aaaaah. (exults in the flow of life force through his sword and his own body) Ged: (has another bottle of holy water out now) Hey, you! (splashes Rob's foe, ghost#4, with the water) Take that! ghost#4: Aaaaaaa! Ged: Boccob! I love this! (looks for another of his holy water flasks) Rob: (chooses this moment to attack the ghost, and hits it, wounding it) There! At the most unlikely moment, retribution strikes! Mongo: What the hell are you talking about? (bahses ghost#4 with his hammer, sending it into agony) Peldor: (tries to slash the last ghost, but is too far away) Damn. Peldor shall have to find other means of entertainment. (begins searching the room now) ghost#4: (feebly attempts to touch someone, but it is outnumbered and surrounded, so it retreats to the Etheral plane, and taunts the party briefly before entering a stone wall) Ged: Why, that... Mongo: (picks up Bosco with one arm) Here, thief. Here's your henchling. Peldor: Not now. I've found a parchment! Alindyar: What does it say? Peldor: Oh, come on. Parchments don't talk. parchment: (suddenly speaks up in a hollow, eerie voice) WHEN NO END IS IN SIGHT, YOU MUST TRULY BELIEVE THAT IT IS THERE, OR IT WILL NEVER COME INTO BEING. Peldor: (having dropped the parchment as soon as it became verbal) Yah! (prods it with his boot) Ged: I think the parchment's dead. Cowardly fool. Alindyar: By the gods! It _did_ speak! Peldor: Bah. (collects Bosco and stands his body up) We'll get you help soon, pal. Ged: Hey, that reminds me. Where's Arnold? They checked the room, but found nothing of much interest. Arnold had fled through one of the exits from here - which turned out, fortunately, to be a single room with no exits. Arnold crouched in fear behind some rotten barrels. In fact, this and one of the other exits were storerooms, and the third door from the barracks led to a square room which contained a large pile of ashes. This room led to the main hall, via the exit on the south side of the large evil throne. Thus, the only unexplored exit was the open one, the passage on the eastern wall. Ged: (casting Remove Fear on Arnold) Calm down. Arnold: Brr-brr-brr... Ged: Say, Arnold, you look older now. Bigger, too. Arnold: (back to his normal self) Ohl-der. And bigger too! (flexes his biceps) Aaaaaaa. Peldor: (picks up his green torch, which has failed to burn down or go out, even when he dropped it during battle) What's with this thing? (shakes it, but it loses neither embers nor light) Well, I'll be damned. Soon, they were ready to explore the passage. It was evenly cut, from the surrounding rock, and went for a short while before yielding to descending stairs. Belphanior checked for traps on the steps but found none. The party went down, and emerged in a small guardroom. A smashed couch littered the chamber's center, and a skeleton was pinned to one wall by a spear. A ring of rusty keys dangled from its bony hand. Two doors led out of here, one of them smashed down. Belphanior: (regards the skeleton) Give me that! (snatches the keyring from the dead hand) Mongo: Hey, someone must have come through here and kicked total ass! (opens the intact door, revealing another, larger room) Belphanior: What's that? (looks into this new area) Hmm. Looks like a torture chamber to me. (enters) Hmmmmmmm. Mongo: Come on, let's follow him. (they all do) Rob: torture? The torture chamber was obviously long unused, but nevertheless held a wide assortment of devices and tools. An iron maiden held one skeleton, and another was stretched out on a rack. Hanging from a chain above a long-dead flame pit was a third. Alindyar: Were Peyote here, he would have something to say about the iron maiden, no doubt. Ged: (drily) No doubt. Belphanior: (examining the skeletons) Hey! skeleton above gutted flame pit: (speaks in a very whiny, shrill voice) You are doomed. Doomed! (goes silent) Ged: Hmm. A brief animation. Alindyar: A warning perhaps? Belphanior: Bah. (chops through the thing's neck, sending its body to the floor) Rob: (examining the iron maiden) Neat. Peldor: (checks the room for useful items or loot but finds none) The torture chamber held nothing interesting (to the party - Belphanior thought it quite amusing and talked for a few minutes about building his own), and the group went back out into the guardroom and through the smashed door. The chamber beyond had a stone pallet and some old, smashed shelves. One door led out, and they took it after determining that this room was as empty as it looked. The door led to a large, oval room (shaped like a football, though none of them could possibly know that). This new place had, at its center, a red altar on a raised dais. Various shriveled corpses adorned the walls, and a square hatch with a big iron ring was set in the floor. A shattered iron door led to another room. Ged: This was their sacrifice chamber, I'll bet. Mongo: Looks like _they_ got sacrificed. (points to the dried-up corpses on the walls, who look a lot like dead priests) Peldor: (searching the room) Alindyar: (looking through the burst door into a small squarish room that is empty) Hmm. Lyra: (she and Alindyar venture into this new chamber) Rob: (pulls at the hatch's ring, in vain) Ungh. It's too heavy. Help, Mongo. Mongo: Stand back, kid. (grabs the ring and heaves, and the hatch is opened) Wha...WHOA! Rob: PHEW! That sure does stink! Ged: (covers his mouth and nose) Gag! (looks down into a pit) Ugh. Rillen: (peers over their crouched forms, into the deep pit which smells worse than any sewer that any of them have ever encountered) It must be the trash pit. Mongo: Or their freakin' sacrifice pit. Arnold: Tradsh piiiit! Ged: They probably dumped the bodies into the pit after their black deeds were done. Close that hatch, before something comes up from down there. Rob: Or else a torch sets off the gas... Mongo: (closes the hatch) Ah! Fresh air... Alindyar: (he and Lyra are in the other room, where they have found a large pair of magically locked brass doors) We had best wait for the others before thinking about opening this. Lyra: Yes. (they return to the room that the rest of the party is in) Belphanior: (with Peldor) What's that crack? Peldor: (finds a secret door) Hey! (opens it by sliding a panel aside) The two thieves rejoiced, for they had found a small room, which held a large chest. The place had blood-red walls, and the hissing of air as they opened the secret panel told them that no one had found this niche until now. The chest was bolted to the floor, and was also locked, but not trapped... Peldor: Well, what are you waiting for? Open it! Belphanior: Uh...right. (he does so) black blob: (a particularly large specimen, flows out and lashes out at the elf) Belphanior: AAAAA! (his whole upper half is now engulfed by the pudding, and he thrashes about in agony, his sword dropped) Mongo: Fuck! Peldor: Oh crap! Get it _off_ him! Ged: Boccob's shit! No time for subtleties! (he points his wand at the elf and the pudding and shouts) Axui! Axui! The pudding went up in white flame, which seemed to have the desired effect on it, for it writhed in agony, as did Belphanior. The thing flowed off of him, and onto a wall, but it was still burning brightly, as if composed of oil. The elf fell to the ground, screaming. Everyone backed away from the pudding on the wall but Mongo; the dwarf took hold of Belphanior by the cape and pulled him out of harm's way. However, the pudding was already almost consumed by the eldritch sorcery of Ged's ancient wand, and as the adventurers watched, it melted into a grey puddle. Peldor: Damn! Mongo: That was one aggressive beast! Belphanior: Aaaaaaa...(alternately clutching his face, shoulders, and torso) Agh! That fucking shit HURT! I need help. Rob: (heals the elf with a powerful spell) There you go, friend. Belphanior: Ahh. How badly am I fucked up this time? Mongo: Ah, don't worry about it. You look a bit burned, but I've seen worse. Belphanior: Cool. (realizes that he had a good bit of life force from the ghost, and that helped absorb the pudding's deadly damage) Ah. Peldor: Look. (takes a sealed glass tube from the pudding's chest) A scroll or parchment. Ged: Well, open it. (they do, and the grey elf reads it aloud) "Beware the guardian of the lake, for the foolhardy did not and perished beneath the black waters." Alindyar: Hmm. Peldor: Foolhardy? Mongo: Obviously they're not talking about us. Let's go find that lake. Ged: (shakes his head as the party moves to the brass doors) The double doors were strong, but Rob's magical flute was sufficient to open them. Beyond was a vast, dark underground cavern, which extended much farther than any of them could see. Water lapped at a strip of dry land, which led to the party's right and followed the cavern wall closely. The bit of land was about ten feet wide, and went for as far as the party could see, and more. It was apparently the only way to continue, unless they wanted to venture out onto the dark waters - an idea that casued even Belphanior to shudder. So, they walked out onto the narrow strip of land at the edge of the underground lake, and followed it into the darkness. After about three hundred feet, a tunnel was visible ahead, and it appeared to lead out of this cavern. It was when the party was about a hundred feet from the tunnel that the lake began to churn, and small wavelets lapped up at the adventurers' feet. And then, about a dozen huge tentacles rose from the dark waters, all around the party. Mongo: HOLY FUCKIN' SHIT! next time: double-size, 75th anniversary edition FTP SITE: ccosun.caltech.edu (in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers) ******************************************************************** NOTES: Did you know that impaled people didn't get it through the chest (as depicted in _Dracula_) ? The impalers rather made use of existing openings - to maximize the pain. This comment from Belphanior's player, who was with me at the movie this past Saturday... ******************************************************************** + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 10th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 6th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 7th/8th/8th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/8th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 6th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 8th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 11th level human thief (N) + + Bosco 6th level soulless halfling thief (CN) + + Rillen 8th level human warrior (N) + + Rob 9th level human priest (LG) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 6/8/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: afternoon + + Place: a fortress high within the Yatil Mountains + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXV. Hadeus The party was circumventing a vast underground lake when a number of tentacles rose from the dark waters and attacked them. The slimy appendages were over two feet thick, even at the point where they emerged from the water, and were each covered on one side with large suckers. Mongo: HOLY FUCKIN' SHIT! Alindyar: (back far enough to avoid being grabbed) Gods! Lyra: (likewise) Aie! Belphanior: (dodges the tentacle groping for him) Whoa. I don't think my stoneskin's going to stop that thing... Ged: (out of the reach of any tentacles) Boccob! What in the Nine Hells _is_ this beast? Mongo: (snatched by a tentacle) Agh! It's got me! Peldor: (snatched by a tentacle) What?!? Who dares to lay a finger, umm, tentacle on the great Peldor? Bosco: (an easy target, in his state; fortunately, he is far from the water's edge, and unwittingly avoids being groped by any tentacles) Rillen: (slips free of a tentacle that looked like it had him for sure) I have never seen so many suckers. Rob: (snatched by a tentacle) Yie! The massive tentacles immediately began to pull their victims toward the black waters... Peldor: (hacking at his tentacle) Shit! They're pulling us in. They're pulling us in! Helllllp! Rillen: (uses his staff's bladed end to slash and stab the tentacle holding the thief) Let him go! Rob: Yagh! (being crushed and pulled into the water, is now in up to his knees) Ged: I must use the wand! I'll try a new command word, and Boccob grant me power! (points his wand at Rob's antagonist and chants, as the runes upon it glow red) Fbizi! Rob: (watches in amazement as the tentacle bubbles and boils) Wha-? Where's the fire? There's no fire! But it's _melting_! Ged: (looks at the wand gratefully, as Rob's tentacle melts away at its end, freeing the priest) Wow. Alindyar: Fascinating. Mongo: (wrestling with the tentacle holding him, has avoided being pulled more than a few feet) I'll beat you, you big fucking tentacle! (uses his belt of the giant's strength to fight the thing's constriction, and begins pulling its suckers off of him) Ow! Ow! Shit, that hurts! Belphanior: (chops the tentacle holding Peldor, drawing dark ichor) We've got to get the fuck out of here! Ged: What?!?! You never run from a good fight! Mongo: _Good_ fight?!? This is a _bad_ fight! Belphanior: Yeah, and this thing might pull someone in and then flee! We can't afford to keep fighting it! (his sword detects a very powerful soul, somewhere in the lake) Who knows how big it may be, anyway? As if to punctuate the elf's statement, four more of the huge tentacles appeared from the water and began groping for adventurers. Alindyar: By the gods...(casts Magic Missile, bombarding Mongo's tentacle with the magical bolts) Most of my spells are of an illusionary nature - and are of no use against this monster. Lyra: (casts a Lightning Bolt out into the lake, taking a guess as to the common source of the tentacles) Maybe this will help... There was a tremendous CRACK as the bolt hit the water a hundred feet out, and ozone filled the air. The tentacles writhed wildly, and the water farther out churned madly. Mongo: (zapped slightly by the current as it reaches his tentacle) Ow! Ged: Now you've done it, woman! Lyra: What? Mongo: You've _really_ pissed it off now! Lyra: Well, excuse me! (fumes) Alindyar: (grabs her) Come along. Rob: (dodges the attack of another tentacle) Arnold: Oh shiiiit! (hacks Peldor's tentacle, severing it and freeing the thief) Dehr you go. Peldor: Thanks! (grabs Bosco over his shoulder and begins running for the tunnel ahead, about a hundred feet away) Belphanior: Hey! Where are you going?!? (also runs that way) Come on, people! Let's split! We can't fight this thing! Ged: Yea! Move! Move! Alindyar: (he and Lyra begin running after Belphanior) Arnold: (hacks a large chunk out of another tentacle and then runs after the two drow) Aaaaaaaaaa...heah we go! Rillen: (uses his staff to help Mongo pry his tentacle loose) Come, it is time to go! (sprints for the tunnel, quickly passing Peldor and Belphanior due to his boots) Mongo: Okay, okay! (runs after Rillen, but much more slowly) Belphanior: Hey! (stops and begins spellcasting) Peldor: What in the hell are you doing? Belphanior: Mongo's too slow, he needs cover! I'm going to give it to him! Ged: (stops next to the elf) I'll help you out. (he raises his wand and ushers the others past the two of them) Alindyar: (hand clasped with Lyra's, they pass the two elves) Huff, puff... Rob: (barrels after the drow, his gut bouncing) Wheeze, wheeze! Mongo: Hey, wait for me! (still hasn't reached Ged and Belphanior yet) Belphanior: (sees numerous tentacles menacing Mongo, and casts his Melf's Minute Meteors, hitting six of the eight tentacles he was aiming at and burning small chunks out of each of them) Yea! Ged: Bah. (points his wand in the general direction of the tentacles) Axui! (one of the tentacles ignites in a burst of flame) Hah! Belphanior: I need a wand like that...(they back up a bit, now only fifty feet or so from the tunnel where the others have fled to) Mongo: Gangway! (charges past the two elves, running as fast as his stubby legs will carry him) Ged: Look! (points to the water, where the mass of tentacles is coming toward them, following the line of the shore) It's chasing us! Belphanior: Shit! (they both take off after Mongo) Rillen: (in the safety of the tunnel) Come on, run! It is safe here - the tunnel leads away! (fires a couple of arrows at random tentacles, hitting them but doing little relative damage) Belphanior: What do you think we're doing?!? (he and Ged and Mongo barrel into the tunnel, and they all back up about twenty feet or so from its entry point, as several tentacles blindly grope for them) Rob: They can't reach us in here... Mongo: Grr...(hurls his hammer at one tentacle, smashing it with a "squish" sound) I'll kill that damn thing! Alindyar: (peers into the tunnel ahead) I wonder where that leads...? Ged: We're going to have to find out, I'm afraid... Mongo: (catches his hammer) Peldor: (looks around) Let's hope that we don't have to come back by here to get out. Rillen: Hmm. That would be...bad. Arnold: Baaaaad. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad! About twenty feet further, down the passage, the group found a stone stairway, spiralling downward, and took it. Belphanior: (goes first) I'll check for traps. Mongo: I'll go next. To check for monsters... (pats his hammer) Someone's gonna pay for putting that tentacle-thing there! Rob: What do you think it was, some kind of gigantic octopus? Or squid? Belphanior: Hey, I've never eaten squid before...(he looks back the way they came) Alindyar: I suppose the thing was an evil variant. Some legends speak of such monsters, which lurk in the seas and oceans and are capable of bringing down a large ship. Ged: I, too, have heard of such things, though I never saw one, until just now...(it occurs to him that the forced of Good who sacked this place years ago may well have not made it past the creature in the lake) Interlude The six evil priests watched the image in the air above them. Their leader spoke then. "Hmm. They have survived the kraken." Another of the robed ones piped up. "Yes. They are powerful as well as lucky. We should prepare for them, should they make their way here." The leader, Delgath, looked around, and smiled. "So be it. If we must engage these fools in order to escape, then they shall fall." He pointed at one of the lesser priests. "Prepare the ritual!" The sub-priest bowed in fear, babbling. "Oh, yes, master! It shall be done!" Delgath spoke again, to another of his servant priests. "Find Dakar and Brom, and tell them to go to the guardroom and prepare to repel or delay the invaders while we make ready here!" The priest obeyed, dashing away to find the named ones and tell them where to go. Delgath turned his eyes back to the image in the air. "They must yet face Beezel. I see that he is wasting no time in bringing the battle to them. Excellent." He turned and strode to the exit. "Time is short. I shall gather what is needed, and then return. Prepare yourselves for the battle!" (end of interlude) The party emerged from the stairway, into a complex maze of carven stone walls - an insidious maze! Belphanior: I'm lost. (leads the party through the maze passages) Ged: That's obvious. Rob: Just follow the right wall, or the left. We'll get out eventually. Mongo: (thinking about busting heads) Grmph. Belphanior: (his sword warns him of a soul nearby) Hey, someone or something is near us... Suddenly, there was a blast of frigid cold, as the party watched an icy cone head right for them! Belphanior: Holy shit! (ducks, and avoids serious damage) Mongo: (his armor and luck shield him from the brunt of the blast) Fuck. Fuck! Someone's shooting at us! It's a friggin' ambush! Rillen: (knocked down by the force of the attack) Argh. Ged: (covered with frost, but most of the brunt of the attack was absorbed by Rillen) Brr. (shakily points his wand ahead) Arnold: (in his near-naked state of dress, he gets very cold very fast, and falls, shivering) Aaa. Rob: (somehow dodges to one side, avoiding the worst of the blast) Hey, who did that? Alindyar: (he and Lyra duck, and are covered with a layer of snow) Who or what attacks us now? Peldor: (manages to avoid the main blast of wind and ice) I can't see a thing back here! Fight back! Ah, Peldor should be in the front, with the warriors, to guide them and lead them and- Ged: Shut up. Bosco: (unwittingly avoids the cone of cold's tail end as his eyes focus on nothing in particular) tall, gaunt being: (appears around a corner ahead) Belphanior: Hey, look! (points at the thing) Mongo: Fuck! (hurls his hammer, knocking out a big chunk of wall next to the thing's head, as it runs down a nearby passage) Belphanior: Hold! (uses his sword) The soul, err, monster, is this way! (runs after it) Ged: (runs after Belphanior) Wait for me! Mongo: Hey, I'm not missing any of this action! (charges after Ged) nearby... Beezel (the attacker): (shakes his devilish head in some amazement) Damn! I have fled into a dead end! How in all nine of the Hells could I have done THAT?!? Now I must face these idiots directly... Belphanior: (runs around the corner) Aha! I heard that! (charges, leaping, sword raised) Die! Beezel: Bah. (waves his hand, telekinesing the elf into the ceiling, hard) Belphanior: (stuck to the ceiling fifteen feet above) Argh. Hey! Let me down, or I'll kill you! On second thought, I'll kill you anyway! Save yourself some time and let me down! Beezel: (propels the elf into Mongo, knocking both down) As you wish, fool. Mongo: Umph. (surprised, falls) Ged: (having ducked aside as Belphanior flew by) Whoa! (sees the tall devil) You! Beezel: Me? Ged: You! (points his wand at the thing) Roast, unholy one! Cspan! Beezel: (watches as an arc of flame sails toward him) Ha ha! My resistance will stop this puny spell! Eh..? (feels some heat) What? What?!? (hit by the flames) No! AAAARRRGH! (his torso is now engulfed by the arc of fire) AAARRRGHH! Ged: Hah! My magic proves mightier! Mongo: (back on his feet) Hey, don't forget me! (hurls his hammer, beaning the blazing devil in the head) Oh yeah! Direct hit! Belphanior: I shall finish him. (charges, and slashes the devil with his sword) Die! Your soul is mine! Beezel: AAAARRRRGGGHHHH! (parts of him are melting now, as he _is_ a cold-using ice devil variant) AAAARGH! Ged: Soul? Mongo: Hey, Bosco needs a soul. (catches his hammer) Rillen: (dashes around the corner, and to the attack, pounding the flaming, badly wounded devil with his staff) Hah. I will help you put this fire out! Belphanior: Noooooooooo! (stabs the devil again, and slays it) Yesssssssss! (raises his sword in the air in exultation) Aaaaaaaaah. Rillen: What in the world are you doing? Belphanior: Recharging... The others arrived shortly, and the party continued to search the maze, after Ged healed Arnold and Rillen of their icy wounds. In one area they found a ten-foot wide pool of black water. Ged: (casts Detect Evil) Aaa! The pool is tinged with evil! Belphanior: Really? I detect no...souls in it. Mongo: (looks into the pool) What?!?!? (sees his reflection, but with horns and a forked tail, and fangs) Yaaa! (backs up and grabs his face) Rillen: What? Mongo: Huh? (feels no horns or fangs) Whew! That was strange! Alindyar: (peers into the pool, and sees reflected a dark elf archmage of great power, with long, white hair and a cruel face) Hmm. Is this what _could_ be, or what _will_ be? Belphanior: (looks into the pool, also, and sees a face not much different from his own) Hmmmmmmmmm. Rob: Let's get out of here. That pool makes me feel sick. Ged: Ditto that. (they all leave) Within ten minutes, they had found an exit from the maze, and it led shortly to a door of steel. Belphanior: (listening) I hear nothing. But...there are two sou- uh, people behind this door. Ged: No doubt another ambush. Mongo: (draws back his hammer arm) I'm ready. Just open the door and I'll let 'em have it! Belphanior: Not so fast. We should do something... explosive. You know, blow down the door, kill or wound whoever's behind it, then run in and attack. Something like that. Ged: Sounds good to me. Let's back up a bit, and I'll try my mighty wand again. Mongo: Okay. (they all back up quite a bit) Belphanior: (casts another Stoneskin on himself) Ged: (points his wand at the door) What rune shall I try this time? Ah, how about...Knec! A small drop of white flame zipped from the wand's tip, and sailed toward the door, growing in size. As it reached the door, it exploded... Ged: Holy Boccob's shit! Fireball! Rillen: Fire in the hole! (leaps back as part of the explosion rebounds at the party) Mongo: (drops to the ground and covers his head) Ged: (darts back around a corner, where most of the others already were) Yipes! Sorry about that, guys. The flames roared past the party, but they were relatively unharmed, just a bit singed - and very hot. Mongo's ring and magical armor had protected him as he lay on the floor... Mongo: (cursing) Damn it! Fuck! (feels his beard) My beard is singed! Ged: Sorry. I've got to test the wand out sometime. Mongo: Well, how about somewhere else. Somewhere with a lot of room and open space. Maybe an orc colony or something. Just watch it with that thing, okay? Ged: Okay. (making mental notes in his head) Let's see..."knec" means "fireball"...that's four I've tried now...still five more to go... Peldor: Oh, great. You're worse than Peyote and his damned wand of wonder. Alindyar: (points to the end of the passage) Have a look at yonder door, though... The door was gone, and much of the doorway as well. Black, melted stone now made up the end of the passage where the doorway had been. A smoking room could be seen beyond. The party cautiously advanced down the corridor and into the room. Two piles of bubbling metal and blackened bone were here, as well as two steaming metal doors. These were half-melted and looked about ready to be kicked in, so Mongo chose one and did so. Beyond was a cave-in of melted rock and fallen beams - an obvious result of the fireball. Mongo: Well, folks, we're not going to get through _here_ anytime soon. Not without that shovel I gave to the giant... Belphanior: (turns to the other door) Ged: Cave-in, eh? Rob: Looks more like a "melt-in" to me. Ha ha. Alindyar: (to Ged) Bah. 'Tis just a wand. Ged: _Just_ a _wand_?!?! It's a great artifact, that should be obvious even to _you_ by now. Lyra: (to Alindyar) He is right, you know. Alindyar: Bah. I still have more spells. Ged: I bet you don't, I bet you don't! Peldor: I bet he does! I bet he does! Nyah, nyah! Ged: Why, you...I ought to blast you... Mongo: (grabs Ged by the collar) Quit goofing off. We have another door to check! Belphanior: (listening at the door) There are... six behind this portal. Six powerful ones. Ged: Well, then, I'll just use the wand again! Mongo: Do you really think that's a good idea? Ged: Why not? The party backed up again, farther this time, and the grey elf prepared to use his wand. However, when he pointed it and said, "Knec", nothing happened! Ged: What?!?! (looks at the wand) Peldor: Hah! So ends the puny power of Boccob's minion. Ged: (shaking the wand, which merely sputters out a tiny glob of flame) I don't understand it! What could be wrong? Alindyar: Perhaps the item is drained. Or, it may require time to recharge. Ged: Damn. Belphanior: (listening at the door) Hey! Someone's chanting... Without further warning, the party was blown backwards as the already half-melted door ahead blew outward in a blast of fire and heat. A huge, blazing form strode through the doorway and toward the party - an elemental of fire! Ged: Holy Boccob! (backs up as his wand begins pulsing) What's this? (looks at his wand) Hey, that rune is glowing... Belphanior: (covers his eyes from the heat) Wow. An elemental. Rillen: Who is this hothead? Mongo: Bah! My ring will protect me as I pound this damn thing into a puddle! (being close to the summoned fire elemental, he charges it, and strikes its blazing body with his hammer, dealing it a mighty blow) Alindyar: Beware whatever lies beyond that door! (begins spellcasting) I shall try to dispel it from here. Ged: (strides forth and points his wand at the elemental) Boccob, I hope this works...Psaft! fire elemental: (shrivels and vanishes, as the wand glows very brightly now) Belphanior: Damn! Mongo: Neat trick. Where'd he go? Ged: Who knows? Lyra: It appeared as if the elemental's flame was drained right out of its body... Belphanior: (turns to the door) Charge! (runs through the doorway) Arnold: (mimicing the elf) Chaaaage! (follows Belphanior) Ged: No! No! Don't follow that fool! Ah, it's too late. Rillen: (dashes through the door and into the room) Mongo: (goes through the doorway too) Hey, don't leave me back here with the mages! The large chamber beyond the doorway was about a hundred feet long, and sixty wide, with a very high ceiling. Many columns of stone supported its ceiling. In the center of the room was a wide, round raised dais, atop which rested a statue about as tall as the giant had been (twenty-five feet!). It depicted a powerfully muscled, fur-covered being, with a forked tail, taloned hands, and wicked horns. Its slavering mouth was filled with sharp teeth. The big statue was in a pose facing slightly upward, arms extended to either side, as if to welcome visitors. Six black-robed priest-types were ringed around the statue, chanting and posturing as they cast spells. TACTICAL MAP: ____________ | | KEY __| |__ M = Mongo | | B = Belphanior | 1 6 | R = Rillen | 2 S 5 | A = Arnold | 3 4 | * = rest of party | | # = evil priests |__ A B __| S = statue | M | |_____R _____| * priest#6: (casts Blade Barrier upon Rillen, with intent to slice him to ribbons and then block the doorway) Rillen: (watches in alarm as a million small whirling blades appear all around him) Sharp. (musters all of his skill to quickly leap out of the area of the spell's effect, and is successful, in the process managing to catch a few of the blades with his magical gloves) Bah. (tosses the razors aside and begins twirling his staff) priest#1: Impossible! (by the way, he is Delgath, the leader of these evil priests) priest#2: (casts a Flame Strike on Mongo) Burn, you fool! (a pillar of flame descends upon the dwarf) Mongo: (fortunately, his ring helps him avoid the worst of the conflagration as he rolls out of it) Argh! You'll pay for that, shithead! priest#3: (casts Poison and moves forth to touch Arnold) Come, my son. Arnold: Whad are you taaalking about? (lops the evil priest's arm off with a single blow) Gedd away from me, liddle man! priest#3: Aaaaargh! (in desperation, swipes at Arnold, and touches him, poisoning him) Hah. Arnold: (fails to save) Aaaaaaaa. (hacks at the priest again, wounding him further, then falls) priest#3: Ha ha! You shall be dead in minutes, warrior! (collapses from loss of blood) Agh. priest#4: (casts Sticks to Snakes on a bunch of wooden sticks between him and Belphanior, and ten small snakes appear and slither toward the elf) Belphanior: Ah, I see that you brought your whole family along! (dodges some snakes) priest#5: (casts Curse on the party, reducing their chances to hit) Hah! priest#6: (runs over to try and help priest#3) Belphanior: (realizes that he has Stoneskins left) meanwhile, outside... Ged: A Blade Barrier! Alindyar: We must dispel it! (casts the spell, which he had ready anyway, and luckily succeeds, cancelling the blade barrier) Yes! Rob: Neat. (watches as a few of the razor blades land nearby) Lyra: To the others! (she, Alindyar, Ged, Rob, and Peldor move into the room carefully but yet quickly) Bosco: (remains behind, and walks into a wall) As the second half of the group entered the big room, they beheld several amazing sights. Mongo was standing near a huge column of flame, cursing at a ring of four priests. Belphanior was dancing through a mass of snakes, trying to reach the four opponents. Rillen was trying to cut around to the rear of the four. Arnold was lying on the floor, writhing, next to a one-armed priest, who was also writhing. A sixth priest was headed for the one- armed priest. Ged: Looks like we got here just in time. Peldor: Yep. (goes invisible and scurries away) Rob: What happened to Arnold? Rillen: (yells) He is poisoned! Ged: Quick, Rob, go help him, while I distract the priests! (moves to his left) Rob: ...Okay! (runs toward Arnold) priest#6: (running toward his companion, but forgot about Rillen nearby) What-? Rillen: (bashes him across the face with his staff) Not so fast. priest#6: (falls, screaming, his nose shattered) Aaaaugh! Rillen: And stay down. Mongo: (throws his hammer at priest#5, since there is no one in the way of that one) Hah! priest#5: (hit in the chest by the hammer) Argh! Belphanior: (wades through the snakes, taking three bites, and slashes priest#4) Die, you! (his Stoneskin spell repels the snake bites) priest#4: Agh! (backs up) You shall die for that! (his spell is interrupted, so he hefts a mace) Belphanior: We'll see about that. Mongo: (catches his hammer) Rob: (having reached Arnold, he is casting a spell to neutralize poison) Hang on there, friend. Arnold: Aaaaaa. priest#2: (notices them near him as he is about to cast a spell) Alindyar: (casts a Hold Person at priest#2) priest#2: (saves, easily) Hah! (casts a wall of fire around Lyra and Alindyar) Fools! Ged: (now facing priest#2) So you want to play with fire, eh? (uses his wand) Inzus! This proved to be a useless, even potentially bad, move - for the pillar of fire near Mongo was suddenly amplified, growing twofold and reaching the ceiling. The wall of fire around the two drow grew as well, rebounding off of the ceiling and raining fire throughout the chamber. Ged: Ooooops. priest#2: HAH HAH HAH! Rillen: (hits priest#6 again with his staff, and snaps his neck) I told you not to get up. Mongo: (hurls his hammer at priest#5 again, but misses) Damn! priest#5: Ha ha! (casts Hold Person on Mongo) Mongo: Bah. (saves and ignores the spell) priest#4: (clumsily swings his mace at Belphanior, but misses) Belphanior: Never come to a swordfight armed with a mace. (stabs the priest, wounding him badly) Peldor: (backstabs priest#2) Hah! Only Peldor the great could strike thus! priest#2: (wounded badly) Argh! You'll not have another chance to attack me, thief! Peldor: Oh, that's good to know. priest#3: (writhes in agony on the floor, bleeding profusely) inside the wall of flame... Alindyar: Argh. This is quite hot. Lyra: (sweating profusely - in fact, they are both already suffering from minor burns) If we don't get out of this right now, we will fry! (begins spellcasting) Alindyar: Yes... Lyra: (gets as lucky as Alindyar was with the blade barrier, and dispels the wall) Yes! (as the fiery wall vanishes, she collapses from wounds and exhaustion) Alindyar: No! (pulls her back, out of the way of battle) priest#1/Delgath: Ah, the fools. (casts his spell, summoning an earth elemental forth to do battle) Kill. earth elemental: (plods for the nearest of the adventurers, Rillen and Rob) Belphanior: (slashes priest#4 again, and slays him) Ahhhhhhh! earth elemental: (charging Rillen) Rillen: Uh-oh. That is one big fellow, there. Rob: Delay it! I shall cast a spell! (begins doing so) Rillen: Uh...okay. (bashes the thing a few times, with little effect) Arnold: (stirs on the floor, recovering) Peldor: (watching priest#2 begin spellcasting) Not so fast, you. (uses his ring to lift the man and send him flying across the room - and right into the blazing column of fire left from the earlier Flame Strike) priest#2: (ignites and vanishes into the fire) Aaaaaaaagh! Rob: (casts Dispel Evil, and runs up to the huge elemental) Hey. Hey, you! earth elemental: (turns to face the priest, its large fists raised) Rob: (taps the creature) Begone! I command it in the name of Trithereon! earth elemental: (frowns, and is dispelled back to the Elemental Plane of Earth) Rillen: All right! You got rid of him! Rob: Yes. Fortunately, I predicted that we'd be battling Evil here today, and was forearmed. Rillen: (steps on the badly wounded priest#3's neck, snapping it) That is a step in the right direction. priest#1/Delgath: (to priest#5, the only one left besides himself) Shu-lir-than! Doop theis chau prok n'gai! priest#5: Swurg-as! (begins spellcasting) Mongo: What the hell kind of language is that?!? (hurls his hammer at priest#5 again, and misses again) Argh! Damn! priest#5: (completes his spell, and casts it upon priest#1, apparently, sheathing him in darkness) priest#1: (cloaked by the spell, he begins casting his most powerful spell) Hadeus... priest#5: (his purpose served, dies as Belphanior backstabs him) Urgh. Belphanior: AAAAAAH! I am vastly more powerful, now! (he has slain a number of souls today...) Truly mighty...Hmm. (looks around, and begins chopping up the snakes) Ged: (heals Lyra, at Alindyar's behest) The party paused, as they realized that only the high priest remained, sheathed in darkness in the room's center. Ged: Okay, everyone back up. I'm going to blast that evil one, hard! (they heed his warning, as loud chanting is heard from the darkness) Belphanior: What is he up to, I wonder? Alindyar: Who knows? Ged: (points his wand at the darkness, and speaks) Fbizi! The priest within the darkness ignited, and then started screaming as he ran out toward the party, melting. Delgath: AAArrrrgh! Fools! (his lips bubble and fall off) Ith ish tooo blate! Tooooo blaaa... (he becomes a puddle) Ged: Hah! That got him! Alindyar: Look at the darkness. (points) Belphanior: Ulp. The darkness zone was dissolving, and the stone statue within moved. Except, it was no longer made of stone. Fleshy arms and legs flexed, and the maw full of teeth grinned at the adventurers. thing: AH! YOU HAVE SLAIN ALL OF MY PRIESTS! NO WONDER THEY SAW FIT TO SUMMON ME... Mongo: Who the hell are _you_?!?!? thing: HELL IS EXACTLY RIGHT. CALL ME HADEUS, FOR THAT IS BUT ONE OF MY MANY NAMES. I AM DIABOLISM INCARNATE, A DUKE OF THE HELLS. I SHALL LEAVE THIS PLANE SHORTLY - BUT NOT UNTIL I FEAST ON YOUR BODIES AND SOULS! Alindyar: By the gods! He has possessed the stone statue and come to life on our plane! Ged: Boccob! Hadeus: YOUR PUNY GODS CANNOT HELP YOU NOW, WORMS! (strides toward the party, shaking the ground as his 25' form moves) HA HA HA HA HA! Rillen: This is not a very nice guy... Ged: (uses his wand again) Axui! Hadeus: (laughs as the flames cover him) FOOLS! I AM _IMMUNE_ TO FIRE! HA HA HA HA! Ged: Argh! (slaps his own head) Damn! Peldor: (becomes invisible) Alindyar: (casting a spell) Lyra: (unrolls her scroll of protection from devils and begins to read it aloud) Ged: Yea! Good thinking! Alindyar: (casts Feeblemind upon the devil lord) Hadeus: BAH. (shrugs away the spell) Alindyar: His - its - form on this plane is very powerful indeed. Belphanior: (uses his sword to Haste himself, and stalks the creature) Hadeus: (stares at the elf, locking gazes with him) Belphanior: Yie! (instantly goes insane) Rob: What did he do to Belphanior? Ged: Who knows? Hey, Arnold! Don't look at it! Arnold: (shielding his eyes, approaches the devil) How am I sudposed to fidht it if I cand look ad it? Rillen: (likewise) Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Bosco: (in the other room, wanders away mindlessly) Belphanior: (looks around, then casts Ventriloquism upon Rob's helm) Cackle, cackle... Arnold: (slashes mightily at the devil, but his weapon has no effect) Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Hadeus: HA HA! PUNY MORTAL! (swats Arnold twice, knocking him out) Ged: Holy shit! He floored Arnold! Rillen: (bashes at the devil, but misses) How? Mongo: (raises his hammer) I will not waver from this challenge! Do you hear me, devil?!? Hadeus: BAH. Mongo: (hurls his hammer as hard as he can, at the thing) Fall! Hadeus: (hit by the weapon) ARGH! HOW DARE YOU STRIKE ME?!? Mongo: I dare anything, shithead! Ged: First blood to Mongo! Yea! Rob's helm: Hey, Rob! Rob: What?!?!? Rob's helm: (begins singing pirate drinking songs loudly) Rob: Agh! (can't concentrate, walks around in a circle) Rillen: (strikes the devil, inflicting minor damage) Mongo: (catches his hammer, throws it again, but misses the huge monster) Hadeus: HA! Peldor: (invisible somewhere) Rob: (hurls his helm away angrily) Shut up! Rob's helm: Aw, Rob, you can't get rid of me that easily! (begins singing again, more loudly than before) Mongo: (catches his hammer) Someone smash that fucking helmet! Lyra: (finishes her incantation) It is done! I am protected! Alindyar: (moves closer to her so that he, too, can share in the protection) And I as well. Belphanior: (in his insanity, casts Taunt upon Hadeus) Nyah, nyah! your mother was a demon! your father was an angel! you mate with pixies! Hadeus: (ignores the spell) BAH. Rillen: (smashes the devil in the knee with his staff) Hadeus: ARGH! Mongo: Now, Ged! Blast the fucker! Ged: Yea! (casts a Lightning Bolt at the devil) Yes! A direct hit! Eat that, cur of the hells! Hadeus: WHAT?!? (knocked to his knees as his magic resistance fails to protect him) AAARGH! Ged: Ha! Boccob is with us this day! Rillen: Yes! (hits the staggered creature again) Hadeus: ARGH! (stands up) ENOUGH! (pummels the nearby Rillen with both of his massive fists) Rillen: (knocked out, goes comatose) Mongo: Hey! He decked Rillen! (hurls his hammer at the devil) Hadeus: BAH! (uses his innate Telekinesis power to stop the hammer in midair) Mongo: HEY!!! You can't _do_ that!! Hadeus: WHY NOT? HA HA HA! Alindyar: (casts Confusion upon the monster) Perhaps this will work. Hadeus: (doesn't even notice the spell) Rob: (grasps one of his prayer beads) Karma! (casts Pyrotechnics over the devil's head) Hadeus: EH? (watches the spell dissolve) HAH! IS THAT THE EXTENT OF YOUR PUNY POWER, PRIEST? Rob: Damn. I hope not... Mongo: (unsheaths his magical longsword) Won't give me back my hammer, eh? (charges the devil) Then taste longsword, bastard! Hadeus: (uses the telekinesis to lift the dwarf into the air) I THINK NOT. Mongo: Argh! Damn it! Let me down from here! (his hammer floats nearby, just out of reach) Gaaaaah! (grabs for the hammer, barely missing) Come back here! Lyra: (casts a Ray of Enfeeblement at Hadeus) Hadeus: EYAGH! (he watches as his right arm begins to shrivel and wither) BAH! (the arm is then whole again) PUNY DROW! YOUR SPELLS ARE USELESS! Lyra: (as she had hoped, this distraction was enough to let Mongo grab his hammer) Mongo: (quietly grabs his hammer) Peldor: (also makes use of the distraction, and backstabs the devil, badly mangling its right knee) Ha! Peldor strikes! Hadeus: AAARGH! Peldor: Tell them of Peldor when you return to hell, fiend! Hadeus: (clutches his wounded knee) ARGH! Belphanior: (insane, prepares his next spell) Mongo: (in the air, tries to throw his hammer but can't, since both he and it are held by the devil) Damn it! Hadeus: I AM THROUGH TOYING WITH YOU FOOLS! (lets the TK go, dropping Mongo onto the floor) NOW DIE! DIE! (breathes fire upon Mongo) BLEAAARGH! Mongo: (even with his ring and armor, he is wounded) Aaaarrrgh! (rolls around in agony) Argh! Hadeus: HA HA HA! (turns toward the spell casters) Ged: (casts Slow upon the monster) Hadeus: BAH. (shrugs off the spell) Belphanior: (casts Grease on himself and begins to slide around the floor, screaming) Aaaaaaaaaaa!!! Ged: What in the hell's gotten into _him_?!? Alindyar: He is useless to us now, insane. (casts Blindness on Hadeus) Lights out. Hadeus: NO. (nothing happens, and he breathes fire again, this time at Alindyar and Lyra) BLEAAARGH! Alindyar: (since he and Lyra are inside the effect of Lyra's scroll, the flames roll off of an invisible hemisphere which surrounds them) Whew. Close call. Lyra: (casts Magic Missiles at Hadeus) Yes... Hadeus: ARGH! (his resistance fails to keep the bolts away, and he is wounded slightly) AGH! ARR! A ZONE OF PROTECTION, EH, DROW? HEH HEH. Rob: (drags Rillen and Arnold back a bit and hastily binds their wounds and casts healing magic) Peldor: (slashes at Hadeus from the side, but misses) Damn! How could Peldor miss? Mongo: (stands up, steaming, both literally and figuratively) FUCK! (hurls his hammer at the devil as hard as he can, striking a mighty blow) Hadeus: AARGH! (reels) SINCE WHEN DO MORTALS HAVE THE STRENGTH OF GIANTS? Mongo: Since Mongo, shithead! You're going down! (catches his hammer) Belphanior: (slides into a wall, tries to stand up, and slips, falling on his head) Ow, ow, ow. Hadeus: (grabs Peldor, crushing him somewhat, and tosses his bruised body aside) ARGH! Ged: (casts a Web upon the devil, successfully) Ha! Hadeus: BAH. (only slightly hindered by the thing, due to his size, points at Alindyar and Lyra) I MAY BE UNABLE TO HARM YOU DIRECTLY, BUT... Alindyar: (the ground under them, outside their protective 10' sphere, turns into mud, and they sink) What?!? Lyra: Oops. He found a way to get us...(they sink into the mud) Rob: (casts a Bless spell) Oh, bless us, great Trithereon. We need it. (moves to try and help the two sinking drow) Belphanior: (whizzes by the devil, and slashes at it, scoring a wound) Wheeeee....! (careens into the prone forms of Arnold and Rillen, and sails off into a wall again) Oof! Mongo: (throws his hammer, but misses the devil) Peldor: (somewhere to one side, gets up painfully) Arg. Rob: (casts a Dispel Magic on the mud pit, causing Alindyar and Lyra to be encased up to their necks in solid rock) Oops. Alindyar: Worry not, priest. 'Tis better than the alternative would have been... Lyra: (to Alindyar) Look on the bright side. We may be trapped here, unable to move, but at least the sphere of protection against the devil is still intact... Alindyar: This is true. Hadeus: (grabs Mongo and pummels him severely, then tosses the body aside) SO MUCH FOR THE DWARF. Mongo: (unconscious, hits the floor) Belphanior: (menaces Ged, babbling insanely) Time to make a necklace of ears. Starting with yours! Ged: Stay back! (prepares a spell hastily) Back! Peldor: (invisible, stalks Hadeus slowly) Hadeus: (looking at Rob) YOU! PRIEST! Rob: Huh? Hadeus: (gestures at Rob, and he is paralyzed) HA! FOOLS! YOU WERE ALL FOOLS TO ATTACK ME! Rob: (falls to the ground, unable to move) ... Peldor: (slashes Hadeus from behind) Fall, foul fiend! Hadeus: ALLITERATION WILL GET YOU NOWHERE, ROGUE. (turns to face Peldor) Peldor: (looks around at the carnage) No one but Peldor is left to face the challenge. So be it! The legends will speak of Peldor's bravery and his great deeds. The latest of which will be - slaying the devil, Hadeus! nearby... Ged: (casts a priestly Dispel Magic upon Belphanior) It's times like this that I'm glad I'm multi-classed. Belphanior: (no longer insane) What's going on? Ged: That thing is killing us all! Belphanior: Oh, really? (casts Invisibility on himself) Prepare to cover me. I'm going in. Ged: Check. Peldor: (facing Hadeus, slashes at him, scoring a minor wound) Aha! Peldor strikes! Hadeus: PELDOR, PELDOR, PELDOR! I TIRE OF HEARING THAT NAME. (grabs Peldor with both hands) Peldor: Aaaaaaaargh!! Hadeus: AH! (forcefully rips the thief in half, disdainfully throwing the two pieces to either side) SO MUCH FOR...PELDOR. Peldor: (his two halves sail in opposite directions before landing with squishing sounds, entrails dragging behind them messily) Ged: Holy Boccob's eyes! He eviscerated Peldor! (casts Evard's Black Tentacles upon Hadeus, and a number of the ebon tendrils wrap themselves around the devil) Hadeus: ARGH! (begins smashing the tentacles on him) YOU ARE NEXT, PRIEST OF BOCCOB! Belphanior: (backstabs Hadeus with a mighty and well-placed slash) DIE!!!!!!!!! Hadeus: (his back is split open) AAAARGH! (he reels, and stomps around, as vapor spews from his wound, his mouth, and his ears) AAARGGHH! Belphanior: Holy shit! He's deflating! (backs up a bit, fascinated) Ged: Get the hell away from there! Belphanior: (his sword is pulling him to the dying devil lord) No. No! NO! (screams) Aaaaaa! Hadeus: (screams the same scream, but louder) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! (melts into bubbling green and black slop, and then even this evaporates quickly) Ged: So that's how a duke of hell dies... Belphanior: (grasping his sword numbly, trembling and sweating, every vein on his body standing out) Aaaaaahhhh... Alindyar: (buried to his neck in the ground, of course) That was fascinating, but...would you mind getting us out of here? Ged: Oh. Oh, yea. Belphanior: (stumbles around, quivering) Blblbl. Yes, things were a mess. Peldor was clearly dead, his two halves leaking blood in large puddles around them. Arnold and Rillen were out, but would live thanks to Rob's earlier attentions. Mongo was also on the floor, unconscious, but his ring was helping him recover. Rob, Alindyar, and Lyra were basically immobilized for now. Only Ged and Belphanior were in decent shape, and Belphanior was stumbling around babbling. Meanwhile, the forgotten Bosco had wandered back into the last room. Guided by a force that his soulless body could not possibly comprehend, he had opened a secret, undetected hatchway and moved through a long, eerily glowing tunnel. Since he had no concept of pain anymore, his body had ignored the various harmful effects of the tunnel as he had moved through it. The electrical shock, the foul weakness, the blast of heat, the nausea, even the burst of icy cold - none of these had deterred the soullessly intrepid halfling. The section of the tunnel without oxygen had not slowed his shell in the least. The poison gas had not stopped him either, and the loss of a life energy level never fazed him. All of these traps, which would likely have kept a conscious, thinking party away, didn't stop Bosco, though his body suffered greatly from the traps. He had walked through the illusionary wall (which he couldn't see as an illusion), and had entered the greenish-tinted chamber. There it had rested, atop a pedestal - the malevolent force which had tugged at his mindless body. A bright green sphere, it had beckoned his shell, and thus he had grasped the thing with both hands. The room had glowed brightly... Back in the shrine room, Ged and Belphanior were doing what they could to help stabilize things. Peldor's pieces (the two large halves as well as the numerous smaller bits) were collected, and Ged tried to fuse them together with healing spells - but clearly, a greater spell was needed here, a spell that would have to be prayed for overnight. Thus, the party rested, locking themselves in the chamber. The next morning, Rob cast the spell to raise the dead, while Ged stood by with other spells ready. Peldor was fused back together; as the others watched in a kind of sick fascination, his various and sundry pieces knit themselves into a cohesive whole. The terrible wound in the thief's lower torso glowed, and then...... Peldor began snoring. Mongo: Yeah! Rob: Of course, I couldn't do a perfect job. Ged: Yea, that's one hell of a scar... Belphanior: I don't think he'll mind though. Arnold: Don'd tink he'll mind ad all. Belphanior located a secret treasure room, and disarmed the traps on two chests. Much monetary treasure was taken and put in Mongo's portable hole, including a number of large gemstones. As for the magic...well, the evil priests had hidden quite a stash here, over the years... THE MAGIC ITEMS: horn - Alindyar human-sized plate mail - Ged (Arnold) pipes - Peldor goofy rod with snakes - Mongo pearl - Ged rod in metal case - Belphanior ring - Rillen periapt - Belphanior medallion - Peldor phylactery - Rob engraved metal cube - Mongo potion of feather falling - Peldor potion of poly. self (bat) - Rob potion of stone giant str. - Rillen potion of water breathing - Ged (Arnold) potion of plant control - Ged potion of skeleton control - Belphanior potion of healing - Alindyar (Lyra) scroll (Mage 6/3/2/1/1) - Ged scroll (Mage 3/2/1) - Alindyar (Lyra) scroll (Mage 2/2/1/1) - Alindyar scroll (Priest 4/3/2/1) - Rob It took an entire day to collect all of the loot, and the wounded ones rested. It was decided that the group would leave on the morrow. Bosco seemed to have wandered away, but was quickly found in the next room. No one noticed the slight greenish hue that his eyes now had...and of course they couldn't have known that his various wounds were now healed. The party decided that it would not be in their best interests to go back by the thing on the lake. However, no other exits from the fortress presented themselves - the creature had to be passed. They came up with a plan - they would all sprint around the lake, using the path, and Ged and Alindyar's magic would be used as cover. Mongo was to go first, since he was the slowest. The plan worked, though - Ged only had to use his wand once, when the monster under the lake appeared right as the party was almost across. Alindyar provided his own distraction, a fireball, and the creature was quickly aflame. It submerged, but when it rose again, the adventurers were gone - escaped! It was with no small relief that they emerged into the middle of a sunny day. They met their friend the giant, and told him tales as they collected their horses. He pointed them in the direction of a mountain fort, some two days' journey away. They bade him fond farewells, and were soon on their way. After two days, they found the fort. It was actually a small town, complete with everything the party could have needed to train - including a small mages' guild and a wizened sage (who, like so many other sages before him, grew extremely rich from the party's coming). The group trained and rested for one month, and everyone was in a pleasant mood during this time. Alindyar studied hard, copying his scroll spells into his spellbook. He grew more powerful in the arts of magic; significant new spells included the magic jar spell, to take over someone else's body. The sage told him that his horn could produce prodigous amounts of fog, but the drow had already suspected as much. Lyra also studied hard, with Alindyar's help, and learned the wall of ice spell, among others. Belphanior trained hard in both the arts of combat and those of thiefdom. It took him a while for the effect of his sword stealing Hadeus' soul to wear off, though - he had to run around and burn up all that energy. A few nights spent in the whorehouse helped immensely...later, the sage told him that his magical rod was an item that could nullify another magical item! Also, his periapt would guard him against poisoning - a useful item indeed, for one such as he. Ged pored over his libram, gained previously, and grew in magical power. Like Alindyar and Lyra, he incorporated his scroll into his spellbook. His more significant new spells were the wizard eye, the teleportation spell, and the dimensional doorway. As for his items, the plate mail for Arnold was highly magical - but no one else could wear it (or wanted to, anyway - it was heavy metal). The pearl would allow the priest to recall a spell already cast, once per day - a great boon indeed! Mongo finally was able to advance in his warrior profession, and had a ball sparring with the experienced warriors in the fort. There was only one problem - the sage could identify neither of the dwarf's items. He only said that one was good, and the other evil - and both of them were very, very powerful. Oh, that was the rod that was Good, and the cube that was Evil... Peldor at first refused to believe that he had been torn in two. Even the monstrous scar which now completely circled his stomach refused to convince him. He decided that the others were playing an elaborate joke on him because they were jealous of him. The thief did train a lot, though. His green torch, found before the last rooms of the fortress, refused to go out, but it also made light without giving off heat or flame. His pipes would play a haunting melody, except that he didn't know how to play pipes. His medallion was powerful, though - it would allow him to read the thoughts of others! Peldor resolved to try and figure out what the others were up to. He also blamed Bosco's greenish eyes on them. Rillen sparred extensively, perfecting what he called his "technique". The sage told him that his ring would protect him from falling, making him float downward like a feather. Rillen was confused, and immediately tested the ring by leaping from a rooftop to the ground - but it did work. Rob gained much priestly power, and learned that his potion would allow him to transform his body into that of a bat. His phylactery was an item which would help him maintain his total faithfulness to Trithereon. And so, it was a more powerful party who stood ready to depart the mountain town/fort over four weeks after they arrived. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Bosco 6th level soulless(?) halfling thief(CN) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + + Rob 10th level human priest (LG) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/13/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: morning + + Place: the fort-town of Lud, high in the Yatil Mountains + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ next time : surprise... ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : Here's part of a conversation from that last big battle: "I take HOW much damage?!?!?!" "Well, Marc, I'll put it this way. Remember the scene in _Aliens_, when the android gets ripped in half by the alien queen?" "What scene? What queen? I don't know what you're talking about! Aaaaaargh!" Welcome to the jumbo 75th episode. I worked hard to make this one action-packed. It should be posted before the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays. You won't hear from me again until afterwards. You should have seen Marc (Peldor) last night. In a room filled with dozens of people, he managed to be the one who won the pie-eating contest and got the stripper's attention (he beat out a variety of others for this dubious honor). It helped him immensely that he was drunk as a skunk at the time. The whole crowd, all fifty-plus, males and females, were chanting: "PELDOR! PELDOR! PELDOR!" Such is his fame as an undergraduate... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Bosco 6th level soulless(?) halfling thief(CN) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + + Rob 10th level human priest (LG) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/13/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: morning + + Place: the fort-town of Lud, high in the Yatil Mountains + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXVI. Bosco Makes His Move The party has been in the mountain town/fort of Lud for more than a month. They have woken up, and are eating a hearty breakfast while the stableboy prepares their mounts for travel... Mongo: (cramming bacon and eggs into his mouth) Mmph! Arnold: (doing his best to mimic the dwarf, but still can't eat as much or as fast) Ya! Alindyar: No manners. No table manners whatsoever... Ged: It's the nature of the beast. (munching on a loaf of fresh bread covered with honey) Mmm. Rob: This is the best meal we've had in...in...well, in a long time! Belphanior: (silently eating, watches Rillen play with his food) Rillen: (juggling five eggs, whistling) Peldor: Five?!? Is that _all_?!? Rillen: Here, you try it. (tosses the eggs at Peldor) Peldor: Whoa! (manages to keep all five aloft - for about two seconds, after which several splatter all over the floor) Oops. barmaid: (appears conveniently) Hey! I don't run a pigsty here! Keep yourselves out of trouble! (bats Peldor with a wet rag) Shame on you! Peldor: Sorry. (sheepishly offers her the surviving eggs) barmaid: Argh! (breaks into a fresh round of scolding) Ged: Heh. Rillen: (chuckles) Suddenly, a portly clergyman appeared in the tavern's doorway, and quickly spotted the party, ambling over to the party's table. Four burly guardsmen accompanied him - town guards, from the looks of them. priest: (blubbering) You! Rob: (looks around) Us? guardsman: Quiet, fool. Mongo: (keeps stuffing food in his mouth) Grlmph mmph. Peldor: (offers a guard one of the eggs in his hand) guard: (declines the offer) Peldor: (deftly swipes a pouch from the man's belt in the meantime) priest: You people! Are you the companions of the small halfling? Rillen: Are they not all small? Peldor: Small halfling? Hey, where's Bosco? Ged: Err, yes. At least, if we're thinking about the same halfling. Alindyar: Did this little fellow have any...distinguishing marks? priest: Yes, why, yes, he did! Dark rings around his eyes, not unlike a raccoon! That's the one! Peldor: Yep, that's our Bosco, all right. Uh, what did he do this time, walk into the women's baths? priest: Worse! Much worse! This halfling, this "Bosco" of yours, is tearing apart the Tower of Magic! Ged: WHAT?!?!? Peldor: Whaaaaaaat? Mongo: (spits out a mouthful of food) Come again? priest: You heard me! Even now he floats in the air, at the tower, taunting our guards and wreaking havoc! Alindyar: Inconceivable! Ged: C'mon, guys, let's go check it out! (they all get up and run for the door) Soon, they had arrived at the Tower of Magic, a bit out of breath, since the place was across town from their inn. Sure enough, there was Bosco, floating in the air about fifty feet up. He was sheathed in a glowing green nimbus and was cackling loudly in an unfamiliar voice. A number of magi and apprentices were gathered about outside the tower, watching in amazement. mage: He's been sailing around, blasting us to bits! (points to three smoking piles of red and black slop on the ground nearby) See? Those were three of our best! Mongo: Hmph. Peldor: (addresses the halfling) Hey! Get down from there! Bosco: (looks down at the thief, and speaks in a deep, resounding voice) Who in the hell are _you_? (points at Peldor, and a blue beam of energy sears the ground next to the thief) Peldor: (leaping aside) Whoa! Rillen: (looking skyward) I do not think the halfling is in his right mind. Ged: Yea, tell me about it. Mongo: (yells) HEY, BOSCO! What's going on?! Bosco: Bosco? Bosco the halfling has departed this shell, and _I_ have taken over. (casually waves his tiny hand, and a section of the tower's roof is torn away, revealing a laboratory) Ahahahahah! (flies through this new "door" and enters the tower, going out of sight) Peldor: What the hell's gotten into him?!? Alindyar: We must enter the tower. Well, actually, _you_ must enter it. I shall fly up there and have a look. (casts a Fly spell) Rillen: Yes. (runs for the tower's door, but is then repelled by a crackling energy field) What? mage: Oh. That's our protective spell. Only magi of the Order may pass through it. Ged: Baloney. (thinks about casting Dispel Magic) Meanwhile, Alindyar had flown up to the top of the tower, and peered inside the hole. He observed the halfling inside, tearing a room apart, as though in search of something. Alindyar: Hmm. (casts a Color Spray at the halfling) Bosco: Yah! (is stunned for the moment) Alindyar: Aha. (swoops in, grabs the halfling by the scruff of his cloak, and pulls him out) Look what I have found. (flies toward the ground, and drops Bosco off near the party) mage: Watch out! He's dangerous! Ged: (changes his mind, and prepares to cast another spell instead) Mongo: Bah. He's just a flea. Bosco: (looks around) Flea? FLEA?!? How _dare_ you compare me to a _flea_?!?! (walks toward Mongo) Mongo: Ha, ha, ha. Don't scare me, little guy. Bosco: (belts the dwarf, sending him sailing backward about twenty feet, with a dent in his armor and a cracked rib or six) Ho, ho, ho. Mongo: (reeling) Argh. What the fuck?!?! He's even stronger than _me_!! Bosco: Of course I am. (grabs the onrushing Rillen, and holds him aloft, choking him) Rillen: (bashing the halfling with his staff, but apparently having little effect) This is not even funny. Gak! Lyra: (casts Magic Missiles at Bosco) Taste this, small chaotic one! Bosco: Don't make me laugh. (the missiles don't seem to faze him much at all) Stupid bitch. (hurls the flailing Rillen right at the drow, knocking her down) Lyra: Oof. (falls in a heap, with Rillen) Rillen: (somewhat embarrassed) Sorry about this. Lyra: Oh, think nothing of it. It's not your fault. Ged: By Boccob, you must cease this! (casts Polymorph Other upon Bosco) Be an ant! Bosco: (saves easily - for he is no longer just a halfling thief...) Bah. You people are the ants. _I_ am the power! (floats upward again) Hahahahah! Rob: Geez. (casts Detect Evil on Bosco) Yes, he's definitely evil, all right. Belphanior: Thanks for that observation. (casts Taunt at Bosco) Hey, you! We are much more powerful than you could ever be! You are but rat feces in our shadow! Once a halfling, always a halfling! Nyah! You copulate with demons! Bosco: (turns) Eh? How did you know? Arnold: Aaaaaa. (looks up into the sky, his sword waving uselessly) Aaaaaa. Peldor: (invisible somewhere) Bosco: (scans the tall elf) Hmmmmmm. You, my friend, have great potential. But, also, a big mouth. (he points at Belphanior, and the elf grabs his eyes) Belphanior: Agh! (blinded) I can't see a thing! Bosco: Ha ha! Ged: Grr...he's making fools of us. (casts a Slow spell at the airborne halfling) Bosco: (saves) Huh? Ged: Argh! Foiled again! (thinking about using his wand, but hasn't wanted to chance destroying the halfling...yet) Mongo: (hurls his hammer at Bosco) I'll smash you! Bosco: (dodges nimbly aside) Yie! Okay, that's it! Now I'm _really_ pissed off! (waves his hand, and a wall of fire surrounds the party) Hah! (turns and flies away, yelling at the party) Be thankful that I let you live! It is the least I could do, since you idiots freed me! Peldor: No! Come back, rampant Bosco! Bosco: Never! I'm off to raze another town! Soon, my power will grow to its full capacity.....(he is just a speck in the distance now) Alindyar: (in the air, not ringed by the wall of fire) I _could_ follow him... Peldor: Too risky. He might destroy you. Alindyar: That chance does exist. Ged: Lbuzi. (dispels the wall by sucking it into his wand) Whew. Rob: That was hot. Mongo: (stumbles around, cursing) Ged: (casts Remove Blindness upon Belphanior) There. Belphanior: (rubs his eyes) Ah, I can see again. My thanks. Mongo: What _happened_ to him?!? He...changed. Alindyar: Aye. Ged: Possessed, would be my guess. Rob: Yes. Rillen: What did he mean by saying that we freed him? Lyra: Who can know? Somewhere in that last dungeon, maybe. Some errant devil or demon or lost soul took over his body. Peldor: Yea, and it said that it would get more and more powerful... Ged: Well, much as I hate to admit it, we've got to track him, or it, down! It's sort of become our responsibility. Peldor: But how? Rob: Locate Object? Divination? Commune? Ged: We are unfamiliar with any of his possessions. But, the latter spells might send us in the right direction. Rob: We shall need time to prepare. Alindyar: Yonder Bosco was moving north... Peldor: (to mage) You! What towns or forts lie in that direction? (points to the north) mage: Uhh, the small town of Targ is about a day's ride to the north. Ged: That is probably his next stop. We must beat him there. Mongo: Then what? Rob: Then we cast an Abjuration, or maybe even the Dispel Evil... Ged: We must pray for these spells, though. Rob: Yeah. Ged: (to another mage) Bring your highest-ranking mage to us at once! mage: (looks around at the puddles on the ground) Err...okay. (wanders away) soon... Ged: (to mage) Can you give us your impression of the halfling and his powers? mage: I'm sorry, I don't do impressions. I'm a wizard... Ged: Of course. Within an hour, they had debriefed the mage and were on the road, headed for Targ, to the north. An experienced mountain man from Lud accompanied them as a guide. They camped at night, not knowing if the Bosco-thing would have to rest or not. The priests prayed for the spells that they would need, if the party was able to catch up with Bosco and surprise him. next time : Bosco is found! ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : I knew that a mattock was a pick-type digging tool, not a shovel. I really did, I just forgot or something. Also, did you notice how TSR sort of slipped the "exorcise" spell out of 2nd ed.? Sneaky, sneaky... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + + Rob 10th level human priest (LG) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/14/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: early morning + + Place: the Yatil Mountains + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXVII. Bosco II - The Exorcism The party has left for the mountain town of Targ, to the north. Their mountain man guide, Shakar, has done a good job of guiding them through the peaks and trails of the area, and after a short night's rest and some fast riding, they expect to reach Targ within the hour. Their mission is simple : find the possessed (and extremely dangerous) halfling, Bosco, and exorcise his demon, through strategic use of the priests' spells. Ged: Targ? What kind of a name is _Targ_, anyway? The inhabitants must then be...TARG-ets! Alindyar: I am sure that Bosco feels that way, as well. Peldor: Poor, poor Bosco. Where did he go wrong? Ged: I'd say when you let him draw from that deck of many things, and his soul was forfeit... Mongo: Hey, it's not _his_ fault, what happened. Something's got him, took over his body! Rob: ...and it forces him to do its evil bidding. Ged: Of course it's not Bosco's fault! It's _Peldor's_ fault! Shakar: (looking ahead) The town of Targ is up the path a ways. Maybe I'll stay the night there before returning to Lud. Belphanior: Whatever. We certainly don't expect you to stay and help us apprehand Bosco. (musing) Though, realistically, we may have to kill him... Lyra: I agree. If we don't stop the little one now, he will just fly away again, somewhere else. I'd say we will be lucky to even find him in the town ahead. Rillen: Find him, and smash him. (raises his staff menacingly) He has quite a punch, for such a puny little fellow. Shakar: (points ahead) Behold - Targ! The town of Targ, nestled as it was within the Yatil range, was barely visible from the trail. It seemed heavily fortified, with a pair of guard towers flanking the entrance ahead. Of course, both of the towers were aflame... Mongo: Aha! The little fucker's been here! Lyra: Maybe he is _still_ here. We had best be very careful. Ged: I am ready for him. I've got the Dispel Evil all ready to cast. Rob? Rob: (waves his hands) My Abjuration is prepared. Belphanior: Then, what are we standing around here for? Let's go! (rides into the town) Shakar: (being a simple mountain guide, and wanting no part of this business, heads somewhere else) It was readily apparent that Bosco had been through here. A number of smaller buildings were on fire, and a few craters in the ground could be seen. Dozens of corpses littered the streets, some dismembered, others burned. There was some kind of commotion coming from the center of the town, so the group headed that way. shortly... Alindyar: Look up there! (points into the air) Bosco: (floating above the town's temple, eating a large haunch of mutton as he blasts the place with bolts of flame) Chomp, chomp! Ged: Shh! We must be discreet. Alindyar: Aye. (casts Invisibility on Ged) Perhaps he shall not see you when the crucial time is at hand. Ged: Thanks. Can somebody get Rob too? Belphanior: (grumbling) Okay. (casts Invisibility upon Rob) Rob: Wow! (trying to see himself, unsuccessfully) Mongo: (hefts his hammer) Well, I guess someone has to bring him down from the air... Rillen: Yes. (pulls out his sling and one of his magical sling stones, the blue one) Alindyar: Not so hasty. Allow Lyra and I to prepare spells to assist in the endeavor. (they all chat for a moment, and then the plan is put into action) Ged: (casts a Dispel Evil spell, and dismounts) Rob: (prepares his Abjuration spell) Lyra: (casts a Wall of Ice - the "sheet" variant - in the air above Bosco) Bosco: What?!? (looks up, as the sheet falls on top of him, knocking him towards the ground) Argh! Rillen: Smashing. Alindyar: (casts a Web on top of the ice fragments, anchoring the whole mess to the ground) Ah. Most excellent. Mongo: (watching the silent mass of webs and ice fragments) You don't think he's dead, do you? Ged: (invisible) Not for a minute. (moves a bit closer, though not between Mongo and Rillen, and the web) Suddenly, the webs trembled, and then erupted in flames. The ice began to melt, as did the webs, and the Bosco-thing floated out of the conflagration, grinning evilly. Bosco-thing: So! It's you people again! Rillen: Yes. Belphanior: Don't worry, we haven't missed you. Bosco-thing: (waves his hand, and a swarm of armed townspeople charges toward the party) Behold my newest servants. Charmed fools, all. Attack, my slaves! Destroy these adventurers! mob: (thirty or so in number, they move in on the party) Belphanior: Ah, I shall deal with these people! (waves his staff aloft, chanting) Ged: No! Don't kill anybody! Belphanior: Don't worry. (casts a wall of fire from the staff, blocking the charmed townspeople) There. They won't die. Not unless they walk into the wall of fire...and _I_ can't be held accountable for that. Bosco-thing: You idiots are as persistent as ever, I see. Mongo: Damn right! (hurls his hammer at the entity and hits it square in the head) Hah! Take that! Bosco-thing: Ack! How dare you?!? You might chip one of my teeth with that thing! (grabs for the hammer as it returns, but misses) Damn. (points at Mongo, and a grey nimbus appears around the dwarf) Mongo: Argh! (he is overtaken by wracking pains) What the hell- ?!? Bosco-thing: Flesh to stone, you fool. HA HA HA! Mongo: ARGH! (his innate resilience to magic is acting to try and prevent this petrifying turn of events) ARGH! (falls to the ground in agony) Rillen: No more! (fires his sling stone at Bosco, and the magical blue missile hits the halfling's chest, exploding in a puff of ice and snow) Bosco-thing: (encased in about 4" of ice, mouth agape) Rillen: I guess that shut him up for a while. Mongo: (nearby, has avoided the petrification, due to his dwarvish stamina and to his magical armor) Agh. (lies on the ground in pain) Bosco-thing: (causes the ice mass to explode, and sprays the party with ice shards) Bah! Alindyar: (nicked by a few ice shards) Agh! Lyra: (sliced by an ice shard) Ouch! Rillen: (gouged by a few small ice shards) Ugh! Bosco-thing: (begins to float up into the air) Peldor: (telekineses a handy, nearby bag of flour onto Bosco, delaying his ascent) Take that, brutal Bosco! Bosco-thing: What?!? (coughs as the cloud of white powder grows around him) Arg. I can't believe that I have allowed this "battle" to continue this far...It is now time to- Ged: Boccob! (charges, and pounces upon Bosco, triggering his previously cast Dispel Evil) Be gone, foul one! Leave this plane, and this body! (becomes visible as he yells) Begone! Bosco-thing: Aaaaaaaaargh! (fights this spell of banishment, successfully) Hah! Fool! Ged: Whoa... Bosco-thing: (swats Ged, knocking him backwards a ways) Puny priest! Your Boccob is nothing! Ged: Ugh! (lands nearby) Air strike! Air strike! Mongo: Here! (hurls his hammer at Bosco) Bosco-thing: (hit in the back by the weapon, reels somewhat) Ouch! You'll all die for that! Rob: No! (casts Abjuration on the halfling, turning visible as he does so) I banish you, demon! Bosco-thing: Huh? (eyes bulge wide) No! Nooooooo! Noooooooooooooo! (the body goes limp, and the eyes go blank - Bosco's body crumples to the ground) Rob: So! He's banished to his own plane. Alindyar: Wherever that is. Mongo: You did it! Ged: (casts Detect Evil) Yep. The evil spirit's gone, all right. Peldor: Poor, poor Bosco. Whatever will we do with him? (cradles the scarred, beaten form in his arms) The party helped the townspeople clean up most of the destruction, and Ged made a hefty donation to the town to help them rebuild their damaged areas. Peldor found a group of nuns in the big temple, and asked them if he could leave Bosco in their care for a while. The holy sisters agreed, and blessed Bosco even as they tended to his battered form. Ged and Rob both seemed to agree that within the temple, the halfling's body was safer than on the open road. Peldor left a sack of silver with the nuns, to pay for any expenses that Bosco might incur. The party rested that day, and prepared to depart on the morrow, planning to continue along the trail and leave the mountains from their northern edge. With the dawn, they left Targ, Bosco, and the wreckage and rode northward. next time : Drow; the portal ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : Understand that this whole Bosco affair was a "joke" adventure, not meant to be taken TOO seriously... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + + Rob 10th level human priest (LG) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/15/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: morning + + Place: the Yatil Mountains + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXVIII. The Portal Having dealt with the menace of the possessed Bosco, the party has departed the mountain town of Targ, and is riding northward. Ged: Are you _sure_ that you can get us out of this range of mountains? Mongo: No sweat. My mountaineering skills are almost as good as my cooking skills. Speaking of which, I think it's lunchtime. Peldor: Aw, come on. We just ate breakfast a couple of hours ago! Mongo: Quiet, you scrawny human. Peldor: Scrawny? Me? (looks at himself) Rillen: We could ride for a bit longer before we break for food. But, I am getting hungry again too... Alindyar: What voluminous stomachs you warrior-types have. Belphanior: Hey, Rob's belly there is bigger than Mongo's _and_ Rillen's, put together. Rob: (ignoring this prattle, as he daydreams) Huh? Mongo: (munches on some bread) Bah. Alindyar: Look! (points to the side of the rough trail) Near the party was a large track of some kind. It was not unlike that of a large lion or tiger, though without a ranger, the party couldn't confirm this. Belphanior: I sense a soul! (points with his sword, to the side of the road, and the tall weeds there) Rillen: It could be an ambush. Lyra: Or the attempt thereof... Peldor: Or just some lost soul. Ged: Let's check it out, then. (they leave the horses tied to some roadside shrubbery and begin to explore the grass) Suddenly, there was a shriek from above, and a fearsome monster swooped from the sky, divebombing the party. It had the hindquarters of a large, black goat and the fore- quarters of a huge lion. Three heads glared ferociously at the adventurers - one lion head, one goat head, and a red, scaly dragon head. Large, dark wings sprouted from its broad back. Mongo: What in the holy fuck is- OOF! (he is buffeted as the beast's front paws and goat horns slash at him) Agh! Ugh! chimera: (its lion head bites the dwarf's arm, and lifts him up into the sky with it) Graar! Mongo: Agh! It's got me! (tries to unlimber his hammer and attack the beast) Rillen: (readies his bow) What is that thing? Alindyar: Chimera! A deadly denizen of evil parts. Rillen: Oh. I was wondering why someone would sew two extra heads and some wings onto a lion. I guess this explains it. Arnold: Eggsplanes id! (unsheathes his sword and chops a bush in half, since the chimera isn't in his range) Ged: (preparing a spell) Yea. chimera: (its dragon head breathes fire at the party) Alindyar: Argh! (ducks aside, but is charred a bit, and his spell ruined) Damn Lolth's eyes! Lyra: (dodges the brunt of the blast, but also gets her spell ruined) Double damn... Belphanior: (not really in the path of the stream of flame, rolls to one side anyway) Ha! (climbs up onto a large boulder nearby) Come and get me, bastard of a three-headed monster! Ged: (also not in the flame's path, still spellcasting) Arnold: (gets crisped by the flame) Aaaaaaaaaa. (puts out minor fires in his hair) Peldor: (dodges the flames, suffering only incidental damage) Aha! Peldor's great speed and unearthly quickness come through again! (turns invisible as he sheathes his sword, and wanders around) Rillen: (burned somewhat) Argh! What a hothead. Rob: (avoids serious fire damage) Whew. This heat is hot! (begins spellcasting) chimera: (bites and claws Mongo with all available limbs and heads, as it carries him around in the air) Grargh! Grmph! Mongo: Argh! That hurts, you fucker! (finally gets a grip on his hammer, and bashes the thing on its goat head a couple of times) Take that! And that! chimera: Graaaaaaar! (drops the troublesome dwarf and circles around for another strafing run) Mongo: (lands on the ground about 20' below) Oooof! Rillen: (fires an arrow, hitting the chimera in one rear leg) Ged: (casts Blindness upon the chimera) Boccob take your sight! chimera: (fails to save, blinded) Rreaargh! (begins to dive and circle erratically) Belphanior: Perfect. (waits for an opportune monent, then leaps upon the monster, stabbing wildly) Die, die, die! chimera: Rargh! (tries to shake the elf off by looping and rolling) Belphanior: Hah! You won't get rid of me that easily! Rillen: (hits the chimera in one head's eye, with his next arrow) That will stick with him for a while. Rob: (casts Spiritual Hammer, and bashes the chimera with it) Alindyar: There you go, lad. Arnold: (tries to slash the chimera as it swoops by him, but misses) Aaaaaaaa. Belphanior: (stabs the monster again) Ha ha ha! chimera: (flies into a boulder, stunning itself and dislodging Belphanior) Raargh! Grrraaaargh! Belphanior: Wha' happen' ? (sits up) Mongo: It's hammer time! (hurls his weapon at the beast, crushing its goat head into pulp) Yeah! Rillen: I never liked goats anyway. (fires another arrow, hitting the monster in its flank) Peldor: (uses his telekinesis ring to slap the thing's crushed goat head against the other two heads) You know what they say - three heads are better than one! chimera: Raaargh! (extremely wounded and irritated) Rillen: Are you getting a little aHEAD of yourself? Ged: Argh! Stop it with the stupid puns, already! (casts a Burning Hands, roasting the monster) Mongo: (catches his hammer) Yeah! (hurls it again, and hits the chimera again, in the chest) chimera: (not built to take this kind of punishment, it plummets from the sky, dead) Ged: Boccob! Chalk another one up to the mighty team of Ged and Mongo! Belphanior: Hey, what about me? Rillen: And me? Rob: And _me_? The party healed and bandaged their wounds, and by then, Belphanior had located a cave - the lair of the chimera, apparently. Peldor would have dashed right in, if the elf hadn't restrained him. Belphanior: Hold on. There are others back there... though somewhat distant...souls waiting to be fed to- Peldor: Look, here come the others. (points to the party, which is approaching) How are we ever going to get treasure without all of _them_ showing up first?!? Belphanior: Don't sweat it, we'll find a way. The group entered the cavern, cautiously. The place was not overly big (only about forty feet by twenty); in fact, it seemed to be some kind of old mine. Back against one wall was a small pile of treasure - some worn gold coins, a few gems, and a rusty ring. More interesting was the secret door, found by Belphanior to the chamber's rear. It was cleverly set into the surrounding stone. Soem pushing and pulling caused it to pivot, on a central axis, and a dark passage loomed beyond. Rob created some powerful light, and the group moved into the tunnel. Peldor produced a strange torch that gave off green light, thus giving the party a second light source. They didn't have to go far before they found a door. The old, wooden thing creaked as Belphanior opened it (he had already disarmed the two poison dart traps by the time the party reached the portal), and they all entered a large cavern. Belphanior: A soul! (draws his sword) Mongo: (looks around, hammer raised) Where? Belphanior: Uh...(looks upward) Yaaaaaa! At that moment, the gigantic spider dropped down from above, landing right on top of the surprised elf. They both went down in a heap, and Belphanior's left leg and arm could be seen protruding from beneath the spider's bulk, the arm waving Blackrazor wildly, yet ineffectively. Mongo: Holy shit! Alindyar: (looks around) Beware! Ged: What? Rillen: I have a bad feeling about this... From the nearby shadows, a quartet of shadowy figures appeared, their ebon skin glistening in the pale glow of Rob's light spell - Drow elves! drow#1: (to Alindyar) Who are you?!? Who is this woman? Alindyar: Err...umm... drow#2: (to drow#1) Forget it! He seeks to infringe upon our territory! drow#1: It must be. Kill them! drow#3: (a priestess, begins spellcasting) drow#4: (a mage, he begins spellcasting too) Mongo: (bashes the huge spider atop Belphanior, and black juices spurt everywhere) Get off of him, you oversized arachnid! Rillen: (uses his boots of speed to sprint toward the drow, staff raised) Hold that pose. Alindyar: (begins spellcasting) Lyra: (likewise) Ged: Boccob! (also begins a spell) Arnold! Cover us! Arnold: Ridht. (waves his sword and interposes his bulk in front of the magi) I vill protect you! Rob: (hefts his mace) Yeah! Me too! Peldor: (hurls his torch at drow#1) Hey, you! Here, catch! drow#1: Whaaaat? (instinctively catches the torch, and also instinctively drops it, not realizing that the item gives off no heat or flame) Bah! (raises his sword) It is time to die, intruders! (closes with Peldor) Beginning with you, rogue! drow#2: (closes with Arnold) Prepare to die, large oaf. drow#3: (her spell is interrupted by Rillen's staff, as it descends in an arc and bashes her head) Agh! Rillen: It is not _nice_ to cast spells at people who are trying to have a swordfight. drow#4: (casts Hold Person upon some of the party) Alindyar: (saves, but his spell is ruined) Damn! Can I do _nothing_ of consequence today?!? Lyra: (fails, is held fast) ... Rob: (saves, easily) Huh? (hits the giant spider with his magical mace) Ged: (saves, gets his spell cast simultaneously) My spell! Where is it?!? drow#4: (his magic resistance stops Ged's Slow spell) drow#3: (likewise for her) Rillen: (also in the area of effect, but saves, and swats drow#3 again, knocking her down) What? drow#1: (slowed) Wwhhaaaatt? drow#2: (not slowed) A spell! (scores a minor wound on Arnold) Not a very good spell, though. Arnold: Aaaa. Aaaa! (slices a chunk out of the drow) Don'd cud me! Peldor: (easily hits drow#1) Ha! Peldor shall win! Ged: (muttering as he gets his wand) Only with _my_ magical assistance, to slow his foe... drow#1: (misses Peldor) Ddaammnn! Mongo: (squashes the big spider, and he and Rob then pull it off of Belphanior) You okay, pal? Belphanior: (examining the places where the spider fangs penetrated his belly) Argh. My magical gem must have saved me from the deadly poison. (stands up, then throws up nearby) Bleeaargh. I am ill. Rob: Yikes. (pats the elf on the back) It'll be okay. Belphanior: (turns, his red eyes glowing) I know. Nothing's wrong that a few _souls_ won't fix! Mongo: (headed for the melee) Belphanior: (likewise) drow#2: (slices Arnold again) I shall take you apart a piece at a time, oaf. Arnold: Argh. Aaaaa. (slashes at the drow, who ducks the attack) Aaa. Ged: (wins initiative and points his wand at drow#4, the mage) Axui! drow#4: (goes up in flames) AAAAAAGH! (runs around screaming) AAAAAAGH! Ged: Hmm. That got him. Peldor: (misses drow#1) Damn. drow#1: (uses an innate drow ability to cover Peldor in darkness) Peldor: What?!? (fumbles around) Mongo: (tackles drow#1) You shithead! drow#2: (also uses darkness, on Arnold) Arnold: Aaaaa. I can't see any more! (fortunately, he knows blind-fighting, and even more fortunately, he gets a critical hit on drow#2 at that moment) drow#2: (bisected, dies) Arnold: (runs around, his darkness hemisphere with him) Aaaaaaaaa! Can't see! Mongo: (cursing, smashes drow#1 with his hammer) drow#1: Argh! (brings darkness down around him and the dwarf) Mongo: You think _that_ is gonna stop me from beating your head in?!? Arnold: (running around, momentarily encases Rob in darkness as he runs by the priest) Aaaaaaaa. Rob: Huh? What was that, an eclipse? Ged: Hardly, Rob. We're underground. Rob: Oh, that's right. Peldor: (inside his darkness zone, drops to the floor as Arnold runs into/over him) Arnold: Whaaaaat?!? Peldor: Stop, Arnold! It's me, Peldor. Quit that running around, you're only confusing the others. We should sit here until someone gets rid of this darkness on us... Alindyar: (busy carting Lyra out of the way of the battle, looks in that direction) Eh? Arnold: Jusd _sit_ here? There is battle to be had! Peldor: Not for us, in this darkness. Now calm down and be quiet! drow#4: (runs into a wall, and collapses, blazing and dead) Rillen: (hits drow#3 again, with his staff) drow#3: (produces a small dagger and stabs Rillen with it) Hah! Rillen: Bah. Huh? (falls, poisoned) Erk. drow#3: Ha ha! (prepares to cut the fallen warrior's throat) Now I will make you pay! Belphanior: Oh, no you won't! (backstabs the drow priestess, slaying her) Aaaaaah. (absorbs the life energy of the priestess) Aaaaaaaaaaaaah. Rob: (tries to get over to Rillen to neutralize the poison) Excuse me, excuse me. Coming through. Alindyar: (dispels Peldor's and Arnold's darkness, restoring their functionality) There you go. Arnold: Thanks! (charges drow#1, who is trying to defend himself from Mongo's rain of hammer blows) I'll help you! (chops off the drow's arm) drow#1: Argh! Mongo: Hey, thanks! Not that I needed any help, though. It was all over, soon after that, as Mongo's hammer proved somewhat mightier than the drow's sword. The various spells of protection that the drow priestess amd mage had cast beforehand proved to have been in vain. Rob was able to restore Rillen's health with his magic, and the party rested and bound wounds. Lyra was freed from the holding spell, as well. The large cavern had a few smaller, side chambers, and it appeared that the drow had taken up quarters in these. The rooms were quickly searched, and a number of items were recovered for examination. Also, the drow were stripped of all armor, weapons, and items, and a pile was made. Alindyar cast a spell to detect magic (for the first time - Ged usually did the honors, but Alindyar had just learned this spell) and there was much magic to be had. All of the drow armor and weapons were magical, as well as their boots and cloaks. There were a few other items as well, both from their bodies and their quarters... Alindyar: Hold. (picks up a drow sword) This is magical, yes - but only under the earth, in the drow world. Up here, on the surface, it shall be nonmagical within days, due to lack of the mystic radiations under the earth. Belphanior: You mean to tell us that all this crap is _useless_?!? Alindyar: Affirmative. Except, those items not of drow manufacture should not have this problem. Ged: Which are those, I wonder? (begins to poke through the treasure pile) Lyra: Let me help you, there. (does so) Soon, those items which seemed non-drow in make were put in their own pile. This (much) smaller pile consisted of: the rusty ring (from back in the chimera's lair), a silvered dagger, a black wand, a javelin, a tome, two potions, a cloak, and a silver case. This last item had been under the floor of one of the drow's rooms, but the thieves had discovered it. Ged instantly knew that it was somehow holy; he and Alindyar deduced that the drow must have found it somewhere, but couldn't open it or use it (so they instead hid it). Inside the case was an ornate horn, which Ged and Rob realized could only be used by those of Good nature. One of the side tunnels ended in a larger area. A pair of huge doors, some 20' high and 10' wide each, were set into the stone. Runes upon them declared: THIS IS A PORTAL TO THE UNDERWORLD. VENTURE BEYOND AT YOUR PERIL BUT EXPECT NO RETURN HERE. Belphanior: Underworld? Ged: What? By Boccob, that's got to be the most inane inscription I've ever read. But still, the doors _are_ highly magical. Alindyar: (looks at Lyra) The Underworld. We know what that is, do we not, my sweet? Lyra: Yes... Mongo: Well, what are you waiting for? Fill the rest of us in! Rob: Yeah! Alindyar: Well...the Underworld is another name for the Underdark - that series of all tunnels, roads, and cities deep beneath the surface of the world. 'Tis where Lyra and I came from. There are many openings to the world above, some magical in nature, like this portal. I would not be surprised if we could go through it, but not return by it. Peldor: So it's a one-way door to the lands below the Oerth? Lyra: Basically, yes. Ged: Hmm. Belphanior: Hmmmmmmmm. This holds great and numerous promises. Ged: Indeed. Boccob would no doubt demand that we investigate. Peldor: No doubt. Arnold: Whad aboud the treasure? Led's splid it ub first! Peldor: He's right. We should divide the magic now, if we are to go through that portal... Alindyar: Agreed. Rillen: (leaning on a wall nearby) Yes. Ged: Very well...(prepares to cast Identify) Alindyar: I have that spell now, as well. Methinks I shall cast it and assist you in the items' identification. Ged: (grumbling) Whatever. THE MAGICAL TREASURE: rusty ring (human influence) - Alindyar dagger +3 (of throwing) - Peldor wand of magic detection - Belphanior javelin of seeking - Rillen manual of golems (stone) - Ged potion of extra-healing - Arnold potion of flying - Rob cloak +3 - Lyra holy horn - Mongo Obviously, there were pretty slim pickings this time. Mongo had the benefit of winning the dice roll, and instantly chose the horn. He of course winded it immediately, and was pleased to see the effect of doing so: a large quantity of food and drink appeared from the horn - it was a true and great cornucopia. The others pocketed their own new items, some happily, others grudgingly. They rested for a day before gathering near the large metallic doors. Spells proved ineffectual in getting the doors to open, but Mongo saved the day with his chime of opening, which was able to do what the mages' spells could not, through some fluke of fate. The massive portals rumbled, and then slowly opened inward... next time : the Underworld ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : By the time this gets posted, finals will be in progress. Since it's Christmas vacation for most of us, I won't be posting again until early January, so have a great break, or a great three weeks, or whatever... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + + Rob 10th level human priest (LG) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/16/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: morning + + Place: a cave somewhere within the Yatil Mountains + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXIX. Into the Underdark The party has just opened a portal leading to the Underdark, home of all who dwell beneath the world's surface. The 20' high, 10' wide double doors swung inward, revealing inky blackness... Rob: Whoa. (casts Continual Light upon a torch stub and holds the bright object aloft) Belphanior: Good move, Rob. We _still_ can't see a damned thing in there. Mongo: (hefts his hammer) So, we go in charging, right? Lyra: Not so hasty, dwarf. If you knew what lay beyond, you might have second thoughts. Alindyar: This darkness seems not to be of the type which retreats before light sources... Ged: Yea, you're right. It's like...well, like a _wall_ there. Belphanior: No matter. (pushes Rob into the dark area ahead, and the priest is swallowed up) Hmm. Oh, what the hell. (draws Blackrazor and steps into the darkness after Rob, vanishing in the same way) Peldor: (pokes a dagger blade into, then out of, the darkness, without apparent effect) Hmm. Mongo: Bah. (strolls into the darkness) Ged: Enough of this. Let's go for it, by Boccob's glowing eyes. Alindyar: Truly, 'tis now or never. (the rest of the party follows the dwarf) A darkness more total than any of them had ever experienced now surrounded them. Though all nine of the party had entered in close formation, not a single footstep could be heard, not even the most hushed whisper was audible. Each of the adventurers seemed to walk through the darkness all by himself (or herself). After ten long seconds, the inky darkness abruptly lifted, and the group then found itself in a cavern. The ceiling was some fifteen feet in height, and the chamber spanned about forty feet in diameter, with six rough-hewn exits spaced equidistantly about its perimeter. Mongo: What the fuck?!? This doesn't _look_ like the Underdark! Alindyar: Hmm. It must be an adjunct area then. Rob: Hey, what's that?! (points to a puddle in the center of the room's stony floor; a bleached skeleton lies half-buried within this puddle) Ged: Wha-? (casts Detect Evil upon himself) Hey, Belphanior! Undead? Belphanior: Huh? Oh. (casts Detect Undead upon himself) Nope. Nada. Ged: Not evil either. Peldor: (pokes the skeleton, which is limed-over but has nothing of interest) Bah. Peldor will steal only from the _living_! Belphanior: Well, if one of these passages will lead us to the Underworld...(picks a random exit and heads for it) Come on, guys. Ged: No, I say we take _this_ exit. (points at another tunnel leading out) Belphanior: Fine. (goes) Peldor: Well...(follows the elf) Ged: Hmph. (heads down his own passage) Come on, Arnold. Arnold: Okay. (follows Ged) Mongo: Wait up! (follows Ged as well) You might need help. Arnold: No. I, Ah-nold, can hamdle any prodlems. Mongo: Yeah, right, I hear you, pal. Rillen: (follows Belphanior for reasons that only he may know) Rob: (follows Rillen) others: (all follow Belphanior) Belphanior: (looks back, amused) Well. nearby... Rillen: What is that smell ahead? Belphanior: Holy shit! Undead! (dashes into a small chamber, hacking at a skeletal warrior who leads two others of his kind) Die! Peldor: (hot on the trail, he engages a second skeleton) Aha! Peldor joins the fray! Rillen: (hears swordplay and sprints into the room, bashing the third undead warrior with his staff) More bones? Belphanior: Looks that way. (nicks his opponent in the arm bone, as the skeleton misses him with a swift sword thrust) Whoa! Peldor: (misses his opponent) Rillen: (crushes his skeleton's ribcage with a mighty blow, sending shards of bone everywhere) Simply smashing. Rob: (arrives, and begins to turn undead) By the power of the Redeemer, I command you guys, err, undead, back! Go back to hell! Or, even better, dissolve! skeletal warriors: (all three crumble into dust when faced with Rob's magical powers) Rillen: Well, they really bit the dust. Rob: (pleased) Yes, they did, didn't they? Belphanior: Good job, priest. Peldor: (examining the room) No loot. Belphanior: Their swords don't seem special or magical, either. Alindyar: (arrives) What has transpired? Peldor: Not much. We just got rid of three skeletons. Lyra: You must be proud of yourselves. What a grand feat of skill and power. Belphanior: Whatever. Let's get to another of the tunnels. Peldor: (realizes that the battle was actually not a glorious one) Oh, well. (follows the elf as he heads back toward the main chamber) meanwhile... Ged: (he and Arnold enter a tunnel which winds around; a niche to one side, in the stone of the wall, holds a conical opening) What is this? Arnold: Cone! Ged: Yea. Brilliant. (he looks into the hole or cone - it is ringed with many sharp teeth at its opening, and the point of the cone is about three feet in) Looks dangerous. Mongo: (arrives) What is this you've found? A cone-mouth?! Ged: Looks like it. (carefully pokes an iron spike into the opening, producing no response at all) Hmm. Mongo: Break the teeth! (bashes the stone "teeth" with his hammer, smashing a few) Ged: Well- YAA! (whips his hand back as the mouth-like opening slams shut, slicing half of the iron spike off, to fall to the floor) Arnold: Aaaaaa. Mongo: Shit! Ged: It's a good thing I didn't put my hand in there. Arnold: Yah. You wouldn't haave dhat hand anymore... Mongo: Oh, well...(continues along the passage and emerges into the original room; this exit was thus actually a loop, leading to another of the "exits") Hey! (runs into Belphanior and company, who are back in the main room now) Ged: Hmm. We've eliminated two of the exits so far. Peldor: Plus the one _we_ took. Mongo: Let's go that way. (the party now goes down another tunnel) Peldor: (takes a fifth tunnel by himself, now invisible) Belphanior: What's that odd smell? Did you fart, Rob? Rob: Who, me? Mongo: Hold up that torch, Rob. (they enter a portion of tunnel which is only three feet high, and three feet wide) Belphanior: Geez, I have to crumple myself up just to get through here! Mongo: Nah. (easily moves through the narrow passage and into a room) Whoa! Hold it! Ged: What? What is it? Mongo: Gas! The cramped tunnel led into a room which had a layer of green gas floating in most of its upper portion. Only the lowest three feet or so had normal air. The gas seemed to have collected in the top of the room over time, and the gas-to-air border was clearly defined right at the three-foot level. Belphanior: Cripes! Rob, put that torch out! (crouches low, careful to avoid the gas) Mongo: No need. If it was explosive, it would've already gone off. And we'd all be toast right now... Ged: (pokes the gas above himself, with his morningstar) Hmm, it doesn't react much. And it's not inherently evil...(jokingly) Maybe one of us should breathe it to see what it is. Arnold: Yah! Okay, boss. (mistakenly thinks that Ged ordered him to stand up, and does so - only his thighs down are visible now) <koff koff> Ged: No! I was kidding! Arnold: (falls to the floor, underneath the gaseous layer, coughing; his skin has taken on a greenish tone now) Mongo: Holy shit! He's GREEN! Rillen: Green as a pear. Ged: (gasping in horror) Agh! Boccob! Belphanior: Heh heh. Arnold: (blinks) Huh? (looks at his now- green hands) Whaaaaaaaaaat?!? Whad's happened to me?!? I'm _green_!!! Ged: Argh. I guess it's _my_ fault. How do you feel? Arnold: I feel fine. Bud I'm _green_! Just then, a piercing scream broke out, from some nearby room. Belphanior: Hey, where's Peldor?!? They all squirmed through the narrow way and made it back to the main room, then ran down another of the exit passages, in the direction from whence the loud shriek was coming from. They entered a larger, cavernous chamber, in which Peldor stood before some monster, his hands over his ears. The thing was seven feet tall, and covered in brown skin. Its beady eyes glowed red, and it held a white club of wood in one long, clawed arm. Its mouth was open as it continued to scream at the party. thing: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Arnold: Argh! (covers his ears, then his eyes) I am blind! I can'd see! Belphanior: This just isn't his day. First his mentor, the noble Ged, commands him to breathe the terrible green gas, which then renders him _green_, and now, this... Ged: Shut up. Mongo: (ignores the screaming, having made his save, and hurls his hammer at the noisy abomination) Shut the hell up! thing: (hit by the weapon, falls down and stops screaming for the moment) Eeeee... Rillen: (leaps forth and confronts the being) What _are_ you? Ged: (with his previously cast spell, sees an aura) It's evil! Very evil! Mongo: (catches his hammer) Alindyar: Indeed. That creature is one of the minor devils, in fact. Rillen: Oh. (bats the beastie with his staff, wounding it) devil: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Ged: (pointing his wand) Axui. devil: (explodes in flames) Eeeeeeeeee! Rillen: (leaps back from the flaming devil) Peldor: Gee, if that wand won't shut him up, I don't know what will. (heads for the chest resting nearby) Belphanior: (trying to distract the rest of the party, but he is too late - they have spotted Peldor) ... Mongo: (follows Peldor) What'cha doing? Ged: (casts Cure Blindness on Arnold) Arnold: (opens his eyes, blinking wildly) Aaa. Mudch bedder now. (looks at his green arms) But I'm still _green_! Ged: Okay, okay. We'll have to work on that one, I admit. Peldor: (opens the chest, after discerning no traps) Whoa! There was another trap, though, and this one nailed the thief. Several darts shot from the wall, and one hit Peldor, who then crumpled in agony, poisoned. Ged: Hold on! (casts Neutralize Poison upon Peldor, saving his life) There. Peldor: Argh. Damned darts. I owe you one, elf. Ged: Not me. You owe _Boccob_. Remember that. Boccob! Peldor: Hmm. Alindyar: (reaches into the open chest and pulls out some treasure) Interesting. Inside the chest were a tube of green paste, a small sack of marbles, a folded blanket, a wine bottle, some copper coins, a huge pearl, a foot-high egg of metal, and a lot of tattered wrapping material. The party examined all of this treasure after they were back in the main chamber. Alindyar: What is this? (tries to lift the metallic ovule, but can't) Mongo: Allow me. (easily lifts the egg and sets it onto the floor, where it promptly rolls onto its side) There. Peldor: (begins poking the egg with a dagger) How does it open? Hey, Mongo, use that chime of yours. Mongo: Chime? Oh, well, okay. (rings his chime) Suddenly, the metallic egg sprouted a pair of skinny arms, and a pair of skinny legs, and then began running around. Mongo made a grab for it, but couldn't catch it in time. Mongo: Cripes! egg: (trips and falls into the puddle) Peldor: (silently uses his ring of telekinesis to push the egg-thing into the sixth passage, the one that the party hasn't explored yet) Well, would you look at that? He ran into that tunnel! C'mon, let's chase him! Rillen: (already on the move, he and Peldor run through the exit, followed by the rest of the party, except for Mongo and Alindyar who are still loading the treasure into the dwarf's portable hole) Mongo: Hey! Aw, damn. Come on, let's get this stuff loaded! Alindyar: Right. The last passage led into a small cavern which contained a pedestal at its center. This roughly mushroom-shaped thing was no higher than a foot from the ground. The egg had run into a corner and was now apparently trying to climb the wall. Rillen: (he and Arnold examine the pedestal for clues as to its purpose) Why would someone make a statue of a _mushroom_ ?? Peldor: (watches the egg, sword raised) Ged: Hmm. Try lifting this pedestal. Rillen: Sure. (he and Arnold do so, and the stone lifts slightly, and then a deep rumbling is heard) Uh-oh. Rob: Look! (points at a section of wall that just slid aside, revealing a chute which descends, spiraling, into darkness) Lyra: (touches the chute) Look here. (holds up a finger, covered with some black tar- like substance) Grease. Belphanior: Maybe it was a trap of some kind. Peldor: Maybe it still is. (innocently telekineses the metallic egg-thing away from the cavern wall, and toward the greased chute) Hey, look at him go! He's headed right for that chute...! Mongo: (he and Alindyar arrive) What in the hell's going on here?!? egg-thing: (pushed into the chute, it slides down silently, and disappears from sight) Peldor: What a neat little toy! The party decided to descend the chute as well, after sending Belphanior down on the end of a rope. The elf ran out of rope before the chute ended, but he reported a floor in view at the edge of his vision. Deeming the chute safe, Belphanior of course volunteered to go first, and leaped into the descending tunnel, quickly vanishing into the depths. About seven seconds later, he yelled from below, though his voice sounded distant. He seemed to be telling the party to hurry, so they descended with all due haste. Rillen was the first to land on the floor of the huge tunnel. Belphanior stood nearby and looked around, taking in the view with awe. The party was now in a huge tunnel, some one hundred feet in radius, and hemispherical in cross-section. The enormous shaft led to the left and right as far as anyone was able to see. Its walls and ceiling were shiny and black, appearing as a series of segmented spines. The stone of the huge passageway looked like it had been polished and divided to the extent that it almost appeared to be...alive. A thin mist floated everywhere, not thick enough to block vision, but just enough to make the whole place seem eerie. Whatever was in either direction, and distant, was shrouded in the fog. The climate here was a bit chilly, and the air smelled old and dry, unlike any other smell that any of the adventurers had experienced in any dungeon. The sounds of the party made distant echoes as they were swallowed up by the gigantic mist-filled tunnel. Alindyar: ...Welcome, my friends, to the Underdark! next time : the first casualty ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : ... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + + Rob 10th level human priest (LG) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/16/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: late morning + + Place: the Underdark + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXX. The Fate of Rob The party has descended into a huge, dark, and strange-looking passageway far beneath the earth... Alindyar: Welcome, my friends, to the Underdark! They had entered the massive tunnel at a random point along its length, for the segmented, black walls continued to the left and right to the edge of their vision, and beyond. The floor upon which they walked was firm and resilient, not made from stone despite the resemblance. The hundred-foot radius passageway was quiet and empty, like some dark, obscenely gigantic vein that had been sliced neatly in half along its axis. The shaft's walls glistened like the skeleton of some weird insect, and the wisps of mist floated everywhere as echoes of the party's footsteps and whispers were eaten by the vast corridor. The adventurers also noticed, for the first time, that they were not in total darkness. The cracks and niches (joints?) between the plated walls glowed with a dim, bluish light, casting a pale, eerie tint upon the whole place. Mongo: Fuuuuuuuuck. Belphanior: I agree. Ged: Well said. Rob: (awestruck) Is that stone, the walls, or... are we inside an insect? Rillen: Big bug. Very big bug. Alindyar: No, actually, 'tis stone, but worked by drow and other, older magic, it appears as otherwise. Occasionally some denizens see fit to build onto the existing framework, and they change it into further, still more unusual permutations... Lyra: Illithid colonies come to mind. Alindyar: Verily. Ged: By Boccob, I hope they don't get much more unusual that they already are. The tunnels, that is. Rillen: I still think it is an insect. Peldor: What's making that blue light? Magic? Lyra: In a way. The cracks and niches in the walls are inhabited by benign fungi, which are naturally luminescent. Rob: Naturally. Alindyar: Unusual architecture, eh? Ged: I'll say. Belphanior: Even I will admit, this place is _weird_. Mongo: (hefts his hammer) We might get ourselves in big trouble down here. Rob: Yeah. Maybe we should go back. (turns to find that the entry chute has vanished) Huh?!? Peldor: Hey! No fair! (runs to the wall, and searches desperately for the opening which they all arrived here through) It's gone. Gone! Alindyar: Indeed. Waste no time seeking it, for it is now as if it never was. Rob: Huh? (genuinely confused) Mongo: Bah. We'll make our _own_ door! Belphanior: Not so hasty. There are no doubt a number of great treasures to be found down here. Ged: Possibly... Peldor: Did somebody say _treasure_? Rillen: Big bug filled with treasure. Hmm. It could be a worm. Big underground worm. Peldor: The treasure worm! Lyra: Treasure is the least of our concerns now. Alindyar: Indeed. This place is quite hazardous due to the monsters and magicks which reside within. Peldor: (spots a shadow moving, and is about to shout a warning when Belphanior's sword alerts the elf to a nearby soul) H- Belphanior: (spins suddenly) What's that?!? From the dimly lit mists to one side, a very odd creature sallied forth. It stood about eight feet tall, and most of its form was composed of its huge head. Two long legs were attached to either side of the head, and a pair of arms, scrawny-looking next to the big legs, dangled at the sides. The head was highlighted by a voluminous maw, filled with dozens of sharp teeth. The monster drooled a green ooze, and began babbling incoherently as it moved toward the party. Peldor: Shit! (turns invisible and leaps aside) Mongo: (addresses the thing) What the hell are _you_?!?!? thing: Blblblblb! (kicks the dwarf with one huge leg, knocking him down) Blab scree fron! Mongo: Argh! Belphanior: That's the magic word. (slashes at the beast, drawing a bit of yellow blood) Hah! Rob: Magic? thing: (grabs Mongo with both arms, and pulls him toward its fanged maw) Graaa! Blb spron! Mongo: Argh! It's got me! (swings his hammer at the monster, wildly) Leggo! Rillen: (bashes the monster with his staff, but the creature ignores him) Ged: (begins spellcasting) We have to stop that thing! Alindyar: (to Lyra) What _is_ it? Lyra: You're asking me?!? thing: (bites Mongo, denting his plate mail armor) Cha droog na! Mongo: ARGH! (severaly wounded by the monster's powerful jaws) Damn it! (green poison from the beast's jaws drips all over him, but he resists its debilitating effects) <cough> That stinks! Rillen: (hits the monster in the head, to no avail) Why will it not be wounded? Belphanior: Huh? (slashes the beast from behind, drawing its attention) I'm doing fine, thanks. thing: Blarg slurp! (swats Belphanior using Mongo's body, and both are knocked down) Grok blurpa! Ged: (blasts the creature with a Burning Hands, but the spell fizzles out) Boccob damn it! Alindyar: Just as I suspected. Most creatures here are highly magic resistant. Ged: How can you talk at a time like this, drow?!?! Alindyar: Twas simply an observation... Ged: Well, kindly stop observing and help us fight, dammit! Alindyar: Very well. (casts a spell) Arnold: (misses the beast with his huge sword) Aaa. Rob: (thinking of a good spell to use) Alindyar: (his spell is negated as it hits the foe) Ah, just as I expected. egg-thing: (forgotten now, it darts around among the adventurers) Rob: (trips and falls over the egg) Hey! egg-thing: (dashes away toward the beast) Peldor: (invisible, moves into one of two smaller, side tunnels in the main one; sees that they are both ends of a small loop passage, and spots a chest in the center of the loop, out of sight of the main tunnel) Aha. thing: (kicks Mongo, hard, stunning him) Grool! Mongo: Argh! Fuck you, too! Belphanior: (stands up) So you want to fight, eh? thing: Blarga bokko! (quickly snatches the elf and pops him into its mouth) Slurpa munch munch! Belphanior: Argh! (saved by his Stoneskin spell) thing: Lurga loof? (confused by the meal's unusual toughness) Rillen: (smashes the beast with his staff) Take _that_! thing: (kicks Rillen with one leg, knocking him back a bit) Droog! Rillen: Ugh. egg-thing: (runs into the beast and falls down, then gets up and heads straight for a wall) Arnold: (misses the monster again) Aaaaaaa. Can'd hit it today. Suddenly, combat was punctuated by twin gouts of flame from two small passages in the far wall of the huge tunnel, accompanied by a loud explosive blast! Peldor: (visible, riding the brunt of one of the fiery blasts) Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!! Ged: What?!? (whirls to see Peldor sail through the air) What has that fool done this time?!? Alindyar: Fire trap? Rob: (runs to help Peldor, who has landed on the floor nearby, smoking and charred) I'll help! meanwhile... thing: (bites Belphanior again, negating his last stoneskins) Muncha sloog! Belphanior: Somebody save me! (tries to stab the monster, but scores only a minor wound) Fuck! (realizes that the next bite will probably poison him to death, if it doesn't cut him in half too) Rillen: (his blow is met by the beast's leg, and deflected) Damn. We need to stop this monster! Arnold: (brings his sword down over the thing's head, cleaving it asunder) You called? thing: (falls, dead and oozing much yellow ichor) Belphanior: Ah. Free at last! Thanks, big guy. Arnold: No prodlem. Ged: Good work, Arnold. Arnold: (beaming) I, Ah-nold, have done it again! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. egg-thing: (runs pell-mell into the tunnel wall, and stumbles about after standing up) Rob: (tending to Peldor) It'll be okay. Peldor: Ugh. Mongo: (in pain, stands up, feels something warm in his backpack) What's this? (pulls out the strange wand, with intertwining snakes, which he got in a recent adventure) Wha-? (all of his wounds are healed as he touches the item) Wow. Ged: What's that you've got there? Mongo: Healing item, looks like! (touches the nearby Belphanior with the item, as a test) Belphanior: What are- (his wounds are healed to some extent) What?!? Mongo: (understandably very excited now) Yeah... (grabs Peldor and taps him on the head with the wand) Peldor: Hey, wait just one minute! (all of his wounds are healed) Ahh. I feel better. What- ever you did, thanks a lot. Mongo: Holy... Ged: Holy is right! It is obviously an artifact of the mighty Boccob. Peldor: (standing up) Yes. I suggest that you give it to me for safekeeping. Ged: (sputtering) YOU?!?!? Mongo: What, are you crazy? (stashes the wand in his pack) This thing could come in handy. No way am I letting anyone else hang on to it. Especially you. Peldor: Those who don't trust Peldor always lose in the end... Ged: Bah. Say, Peldor, what was that flame all about before? Peldor: Flame? Oh, that. I was bravely exploring that side tunnel, and a devious trap ravaged me. Fortunately for us all, I was not too badly hurt in the resulting explosion. Lyra: What a noble thief you are. Ged: Yes. Show us this...passage. Mongo: (to Ged) I bet there's a chest there... Ged: Yea. He's not fooling anyone. The party entered the side loop, finding its walls charred and hot to the touch. The chest within was checked, but no further traps were found, and the thing was opened. It contained a broken helm, an odd metallic medallion, a melon (!), four blue vials, a tiny golden bell, and six small, dead scorpions. Belphanior: (carefully picks up one of the scorpions and regards it) This could be useful... Rillen: Careful. It has a deadly sting. Belphanior: I know. That's why I want it. (collects the other scorpions) Time to brew some poison... (begins to whistle cheerfully, despite the setting) Mongo: (collects the treasure and puts in into his portable hole for later identification and dividing) Alindyar: A _melon_? Ged: Stranger things have happened... Rob: (wandering around in the main corridor) Peldor: (just entered the main tunnel, too, from the side loop) Hey, look! (points at the metallic egg, which is now running down the big tunnel, headed for the unknown) egg-thing: (building up a pretty decent pace) Rob: Stop that egg! (runs after the egg-thing) A powerful gust of wind suddenly buffeted everyone, even those still in the loop. Ged and Mongo entered the main tunnel now, but were pushed back a bit by the force of the winds. Peldor flattened himself against one side of the massive tunnel. Rob stood out in the center of the passage, though, looking in one direction as the mists scattered. Something was apparently out there, flying toward the party from the distance. Rob peered in that direction as the winds grew stronger. Ged: Rob! Get back here! Mongo: Get to safety! Peldor: (closest to the priest) He can't hear them. I'll have to go and get him. (begins to fight the winds as he moves slowly toward Rob) Just then, the priest was picked off the ground by something unseen, something BIG. Whatever it was, it carried the priest rapidly away, as he flailed and yelled. Within moments, Rob was but a speck in the distance, as the party stood gaping, in the gigantic main tunnel. Peldor: He's gone... Ged: (having cast a spell of Detect Invisibility) Boccob! Mongo: What? What is it? Ged: I'm not sure...but it's big. And green. Peldor: And it took Rob! Belphanior: Oh, well. (spots the egg-thing nearby) egg-thing: (overturned, its limbs have disappeared) Belphanior: (thinks about putting the egg into his well of many worlds, but decides not to) Peldor: (picks up the egg and puts it in his pack, where it makes a large bulge) Someone has to keep this thing out of trouble. Alindyar: The priest is gone. Long live the priest. Lyra: Amen. Belphanior: Wouldn't count on it. Ged: Well, I guess we should go in that direction. Rillen: Follow the wind-thing and Rob. Mongo: Yeah. Arnold: Yeaaaaaaa. They set out, walking along the massive, fungi-lit tunnel in the direction that Rob disappeared in. next time : swamp thing ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : Rob the player had missed four or five straight sessions and showed no interest. Thus I had to invent a way for Rob the character to go out in style. And there you have it. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/16/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: late, late morning + + Place: the Underdark + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXXI. Swamp Terrors The party had set out in the direction in which Rob disappeared. After they had been walking for a mere ten minutes, something approached them. Belphanior: Hark! Enemies dead ahead! Peldor: Souls? Belphanior: No, undead. (his previously cast spell to detect undead has alerted him to some shadowy forms lying ahead in ambush) _Dead_ ahead, get it? Ha! Ged: Evil undead, too! (his own detection spells go off) Boccob! (brandishes his holy symbol and starts chanting) Now that Rob's gone, it's all up to _me_. Alindyar: You relish this, no? Ged: Shut up. A number of shuffling forms appeared from the shadows ahead. The marauders consisted of a trio of crusty skeletons, two hunched humanoids with yellow teeth and dirty hair, a rotting mummy, and a floating wraithlike being. Belphanior: Undead with souls, too! Oh, joy! (moves to the side to facilitate Ged's turning attempts) Hurry up and turn them so I can attack whatever is not repelled. Mongo: (his helm's diamond begins to glow with a bright light) Huh? Ged: Evil spawn, begone from our path! Disperse! greater skeletons: (crumble into dust instantly) Lyra: I guess they took you literally... wights: (turn and flee in defeat and fear) mummy: (likewise flees, dropping bits of bandage in its wake) wraith: (also flees) Ged: Boccob is triumphant once more! Peldor: Bah. Puny Boccob. Rillen: Those people smelled. Belphanior: (disappointed that there was no battle) Damn. Mongo: (his helm's jewel goes dim once more) Oh, well. There's always another time to fight the undead. Alindyar: No undead wander aimlessly here in the Underdark. Someone or something was no doubt guiding them. Belphanior: Well, if they show themselves, we can always kill _them_ instead of their servants. Ged: That's looking on the bright side... The adventurers resumed their march. Peldor held his green torch high, at the rear of the party, as he (being human) could not see in the dim light of the huge tunnel. Arnold, as well, now held a torch to help him see here. Rillen, the only other human in the party, did not seem to be overly worried whether there was much light or not; he held his quarterstaff at the ready. The party found a side passage, but it led only a short way back, to a dead-end cavern. Nothing was to be found there, so they returned to the main tunnel and continued on their way. Soon, a major obstacle was reached... Mongo: Pugh! What's that _smell_?!? Belphanior: (peering ahead) Swamp. A swampy area lies ahead of us. Rillen: (covers his nose) This is not healthy. Ahead of them, the tunnel was encrusted with muck on most of its surface. The floor and walls (up to about fifty feet) were covered in greenish-brown slime. A stench like no other manifested itself. Rillen: (uses his staff to test the depth of the mud on the floor ahead, and finds it to be about a foot deep) Hmm. There is no other way across. Ged: Wonderful. We have to trod through the mud, eh? I think not. Surely I have a spell to help in this situation. Belphanior: Hey guys, if it helps, I detect no souls here... Ged: Well, _that's_ good to know. Arnold: (watching the mud in front of the party) Huh? Whad's thad? (points ahead) Look! Ged: Not now, Arnold- What?!? Something was moving - no, rising - from the mud and slime. It looked vaguely humanoid, but was fully ten feet tall. Roots and vines crossed its thick limbs, and between them were masses of brown and green vegetation, perhaps rotting. The thing seemed to be facing the party, challenging their intrusion into its domain. swamp thing: AROOOOOOOOOO! Belphanior: (begins spellcasting) Ged: Boccob's blasted bones! (begins digging in his pack) Where's that potion of plant control? Where the hell did I put it?!? swamp thing: (advances) Rillen: (bashes the thing with his staff) Take that, vegetable. swamp thing: (ignores the blow, and punches the warrior hard enough to stun him) Rillen: Ugh. Belphanior: (casts a Flame Sphere upon the creature) Chew on that, you! swamp thing: (hugs the blazing sphere of flame to its chest, extinguishing it) Belphanior: Huh? I've never seen such a thing! Ged: Aha! (triumphantly holds aloft a small potion bottle) My plant control potion! (drinks the vial's contents quickly) Glug, glug. Urp. swamp thing: (shambles toward Mongo, who prepares to attack as Arnold circles around) Alindyar: Try the potion! Ged: Yea...(steps in front of the creature and holds up one hand) STOP! swamp thing: (halts in its advance) Ged: (motions it to one side) Aside! We will pass without further incident. swamp thing: (complies) Ged: (to the party) Now! Go! Mongo: (tromps through the mud without hesitation) Arnold: (mindlessly walks through the muck as well) Rillen: (removes his boots and follows them) Alindyar: I have no wish to coat myself in mud. (casts Fly and zips right over the mud, Lyra in his arms) There we go. Lyra: (somewhat relieved that she didn't have to waste a spell for this) Thanks. Alindyar: My pleasure. Belphanior: (waiting) Hmm... Ged: Spells?!? Oh, come _on_! We don't have time for this! Just walk through the mud! You can clean up later. Belphanior: (hesitantly dashes through the mud) Peldor: (telekineses himself over the mud) Hah. Ged: (realizes that he has no clean way over the muck) Hey! No fair! Wait a second! Belphanior: Oh, come on. Just walk through the mud, now. What are you waiting for? Ged: Grr. (prepares to walk through the mud) Damn it. It'll take _weeks_ to clean up... Peldor: (uses his ring to lift the elf over the muck layer) Hey, look at Ged fly! Ged: Wha- (lands on the far side, with the rest of the party) Hey! (elated, but doesn't want to have to thank Peldor) Peldor: That's for saving me from the poison the other day. Ged: Oh, thanks. I guess. Peldor: Never let it be said that Peldor forgets his debts. Lyra: Perish the very thought! Peldor: (beaming) Of course, servants of Boccob have their natural place among the muck and the slime, so... Ged: Quiet, fool. The shambling mound just stood there, per Ged's command, and the party moved onward, ignoring the numerous bodies and skeletons which lay rotting amidst the muck. Those who had trod through the mud found that the stuff produced a noxious odor when dried. Actually, even those who had not trod through the mud were forced to detect this effect. Just as the swampy area and the big monster were out of sight, it was unanimously decided that the time had come for Mongo, Arnold, Belphanior, and Rillen to clean the mud from themselves. Ged: (casting a spell to Create Water) This will provide a way for you people to bathe yourselves and clean up... Arnold: Bathe? Mongo: (produces a basin from his portable hole, and he and the others start cleaning away the mud) Ged: Phew. Meanwhile, Alindyar and Lyra talked quietly, and Peldor examined the walls, perhaps in quest of some secret doorway. The thief didn't notice the thing behind him until the last moment, when he spun about in a blur, and came face to face with a nightmarish countenance! The thing that stood next to Peldor could best be described as a humanoid weed. It had limbs like men, but they were thin, and appeared to be woven of green strands. Patches of fungus were liberally spaced over the thing's body. Perhaps most disconcerting of all was the utter lack of a face on the thing's head-mass. Peldor had suddenly found himself looking into a bulb of fungi and weeds that held no expression whatsoever. Peldor: Yagh! (leaps backwards, really spooked) Rillen: Looks like there is a fungus among us. Ged: What in Boccob's name is that thing?!? Lyra: Make that _those_ _things_. Indeed, though no sound had been made, no less than a dozen of the creatures stood near Peldor now. They did nothing, just stood there silently and intimidated the party. Ged: Boccob! (tries to command the things since his potion is still in effect) Go away! Stay back! things: (slowly advance on the party, some of whom have no boots or leg-armor on right now) Alindyar: Aaa! The fungus that walks like a man! (retreats, trying to cast a spell and get back at the same time) Lyra: Beware their touch! If he is right, then the mere touch of one of these creatures means certain death! Peldor: Shiiiit! (retreats) Someone cast a spell or something! Belphanior: (about to attack, barefoot, backs up) Ged: Yea. They're not listening to the potion's power, so...(uses his wand) Uh...NDREK. This previously unused command word produced a mighty effect indeed. A twenty-foot wide swath of flame appeared in front of Ged (thus between the party and the things) and then moved forward very rapidly, until it hit the wall behind the things. The flames lasted for a full minute, and the party took advantage of this to move a hundred feet down the huge tunnel. When the flames died out, there was no sign of the things, or any remains for that matter. Ged: Wow! What an awesome weapon this wand is! Alindyar: You are gloating... Lyra: Wouldn't you? Peldor: Death? I was just standing a few inches from that thing...(shudders) Mongo: (trying to put his boots back on while standing) How embarrasing. A battle, and I was barefoot. Rillen: I would have fought anyway. Belphanior: Yeah, me too. Alindyar: Not a good idea. Those creatures have the hellish ability to grow spores on anyone they touch. Death is quick and painful, and no known spells can slow or halt the process. Lyra: The drow call them "the fungus that walks like a man" for want of a better term. Ged: Well, they walk no more. Let's get a move on. Arnold: Yah! The adventurers, no longer smelling of underground swamp mud, moved onward in the huge tunnel. next time : a small golem ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : ... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/16/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: afternoon + + Place: the Underdark + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXXII. Two Heads Are Better Than One The party had at last rid themselves of smelly swamp mud, and were once more moving down the huge tunnel of the Underdark, relieved to be out of the swampy area. Peldor: So much for creepy swamp monsters. Mongo: Yea. Those things were weird. Ged: Boccob's mighty power put them in their place, though. Alindyar: (to Lyra) He surely means the ancient wand's power... Lyra: You know his kind. Always bragging when things go well, and whining when they don't. Fools one and all. Alindyar: Perhaps. Yet, he is not nearly as unpleasant as most of the grey elves. Lyra: Then again, I suppose that we, you and I, are not as bad as most of our race, either... Alindyar: I like to think not. Peldor: (eavesdropping) Hey, I agree with you. Ged's a whining weakling, powerless but for his magic. (as Peldor and the two drow always make up the rear of the party, the thief is used to listening in on these sorts of conversations) You know? Lyra: Yea. (not really listening to Peldor anyway) Mongo: (peering ahead) What's that? Belphanior: (concentrating) No soul. Ged: Not evil. Belphanior: Not undead, either. Ged: Don't you love these spells of detection? Belphanior: Yep. Mongo: Well, SOMEthing's up there. Look! Lyra: Whatever could it be? Rillen: It looks like a big statue. Ahead stood some kind of golem. Fully fifteen feet in height, the creature glared at the party with the stony eyes of _two_ heads rather than one! Two pairs of eyes rolled around in stony sockets, finally focusing on the group of adventurers. stone golem: (in some unknown language) TUE VAYAL NOST GREF! Ged: What was that? Better get a Comprehend Languages, and fast... Alindyar: No need. Belphanior: Why's that? Alindyar: Yonder construct spoke in a dialect not unknown to natives of the Underdark, such as myself. It said, "You may not pass." Mongo: Well, wasn't that nice of him? Ged: Bah. By the power invested in me by the almighty Boccob, I tell the golem to begone. Begone, you! stone golem: (stands there impassively) Belphanior: It's not a plant, Ged. Rillen: I say we split up and run by the thing. Then, if it chases us, we fight! Mongo: Yah! Sounds like a plan to me! Belphanior: Hey, I'd go for that... Ged: (gets his wand out) Okay. Alindyar: Madness! The golem shall smash us like flies. Wait a moment...fly. That is the answer! (realizes that his Fly spell from earlier is still in effect, and drifts into the air) Come along, Lyra. Lyra: (holds tight around Alindyar) Is this wise? What if the monster can reach us? Alindyar: Never. 'Tis perfectly safe. Arnold: Run or fighdt, Ah-nold stands ready! (swings his sword in circles) Ged: Okay, let's go! (they scatter and try to run by the golem) Like ants, the adventurers scurried around the golem. The construct's twin heads looked around in confusion for a few seconds, but then the thing groped for the nearest target with huge, stony hands. Reaching up into the air, it plucked Lyra from Alindyar's aerial embrace. Lyra: Aaaah! Alindyar: (knocked aside, floats upside-down) Uhhh... Belphanior: (stops running) Fuck. (charges the golem, who is preoccupied with the drow in his hands) stone golem: (about to pulverize Lyra) Belphanior: Yee-hah! (leaps up and slices the golem in an amazing, acrobatic backstab) stone golem: (writhes in pain from the huge gash in its back, and more importantly, drops Lyra to the floor) Alindyar: (lands) Rillen: (charges the golem, and bashes it with his staff) Why do you not pick on someone your own size? Belphanior: How valiant. Ged: (wants to use his wand, but too many of his friends are in his way) Boccob damn it! I can't attack! Mongo: Don't worry, pal! That's what I'm here for! (he hefts and then hurls his hammer at the golem) stone golem: (one of its heads is cracked by the force of the dwarf's mighty hammer blow) Mongo: Hah! Score one for the dwarves! Rillen: That ought to give him a headache. stone golem: (stumbles about, then faces Alindyar, the nearest target) Alindyar: (readies his staff of striking) You have now threatened me as well as my woman, creature. I shall smash you into dust. (whacks the thing with his staff, striking it in the torso as he expends maximal charges and delivers incredible damage, for a drow mage anyway) stone golem: UHHR? (suddenly shatters into fragments and falls apart, as it was already heavily wounded from the other attacks) Rillen: That really cracked him up. Alindyar: (grinning, raises his staff in triumph) Lyra: (hugs Alindyar) Ged: What a scene. Peldor: (finds a helm on one of the golem's heads) What's this? (the helm suddenly looks like it would fit perfectly on the thief's head) Wow, neat. (he starts to put the helmet on) Ged: (spots the thief) What? NO! You don't know what that might be! Peldor: (puts the helmet on, and a look of peaceful serenity covers his face for an instant) Ged: (yanks the helm off the thief's head) Give me that! (examines the helm, then casts a Detect Magic to discern its nature) Non-magical?!? Peldor: (normal again) Oh, well. Alindyar: While you are using the spell, you might as well check the other items that we found. Ged: Right. (Mongo retrieves said items from his portable hole) Wouldn't want to waste it because of a stupid thief... The grey elf found that the medallion, the melon, the four blue vials, and the tiny bell were all magical. Also, from before, the tube of green paste and the blanket were now revealed as magical. Ged: Just as I suspected. Peldor: Bah. Ged: Shut up, fool. You wasted whatever magic that helm might have held! Belphanior: Who cares? Maybe it was cursed. Ged: (grumbling) Mongo: Let's break for lunch, I'm starving. (the dwarf immediately builds a small fire) Ged: Hmm. (gets his wand out) I want to try something on that fire...a little experiment, if you will. Mongo: (glares at the elf) Not with _my_ cooking fire, you don't! Ged: This won't take long. (points the wand at the fire) Mongo: Yah! (leaps back with a leg of mutton in one fist and trips over someone's pack) Wha- Oof! Ged: Inzus. (the campfire suddenly grows in size and intensity, flaring up to a twenty-foot height) Ahh. Mongo: For crying out loud! We're cooking lamb legs here, not dinosaurs! Put that out! Ged: Yea. (points the wand at the fire again) Lbuzi. (the fire instantly and totally dies) Mongo: Great. (starts building another fire) And don't go messing with THIS one, elf! A warrior's got to eat SOMEtime! Ged: Testing is over for the day. Soon, the adventurers were enjoying a hearty meal of rations augmented by goodies from Mongo's cornucopia. Belphanior and Ged, neither one hungry at the moment, stood watch while the others ate. Within the hour, the party was rested and well-fed. They continued on their way, under the dim blue light of the Underdark. The golem did apparently have a purpose, for there was a small side passage within fifty feet of where it had stood. Mist obscured the dark, unlit side tunnel, so Peldor and Arnold held their torches high, and the group entered this new corridor warily. next time : myriad beasties... ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : The helm that Peldor tried on was one of opposite alignment...but since he was True Neutral to begin with, it had no effect. Of course, if he hadn't been neutral, the possibilities might have been a bit more interesting. Likewise if, say, Belphanior had tried the helm on first... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/16/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: late afternoon + + Place: the Underdark + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXXIII. Monsters The party stands at the entrance to a smaller side passage into the main tunnel. Mongo: Enough ado about nothing. Let's do it. Belphanior: Right. (he, Mongo, and Rillen lead the party in, and they go through a long and extremely winding tunnel, barely wide enough for two people to walk through abreast) Rillen: (moves back to the second rank of the party, with Ged) Hi there. The twisting passage soon opened into a large cavern. The floor ended abruptly, for the cavern was covered in dark water. Opposite the party, however, could be seen a passage leading out... Rillen: I remember the _last_ cave like this. Ged: Yea, the tentacles. Mongo: Bah. This water doesn't look that deep. Rillen: (tests the water with his staff) It is only up to my knee. Belphanior: We could move ahead slowly, testing for sudden drops and such. Mongo: I heard that. (plods into the water) Let's get going! Rillen: (joins the dwarf, and they go first, finding that the water depth increases to two feet, but no deeper) Hmm. Mongo: (the water is up to his waist now) Good thing I'm not a halfling. Belphanior: Yup. A short distance away, the giant leech moved silently through its pool. It smelled blood nearby, and a lot of it, and immediately began swimming toward this long- overdue food. Mongo: Hey! Something touched my fuckin' leg! giant leech: (emerges from the water, attempting to latch onto its victim's face) Slurp! Mongo: Fuck! (swings his hammer in a deadly arc, scoring a mighty hit on the invertebrous parasite) giant leech: (pulped, dies, having chosen the wrong victim today) Mongo: Whew. Ged: Good job, Mongo. You creamed him with one blow! Rillen: (regarding the messy remains of the leech) Yes, creamed is the right word. Mongo and Rillen reached the far side without any further incidents, and soon the whole party was across. Alindyar and Lyra flew, though, not wanting murky lake water on themselves. The adventurers moved along a larger passage, which abruptly split. They chose the right fork, while Peldor, invisible and unnoticed, silently took the left fork. Mongo: There's a room ahead... Belphanior: No souls though. Rillen: What is that? (points) This fork led only a short way, and opened into a large cavern. The place was crawling (no pun intended) with segmented green monsters - carrion crawlers! meanwhile... Peldor: (leaves his tunnel, enters a room full of at least six carrion crawlers, who seem occupied with something in another tunnel) Heh. Peldor will show the worms who's boss. (the thief lights two vials of Greek fire, a rare and expensive incendiary oil) Here comes trouble, wormies...(uses his ring to TK the flaming vials into the worms' lair, then smash them to the ground, spreading flaming goo everywhere) Ged: (pokes his head, and his wand, between Mongo and Belphanior) Boccob! (the roomful of carrion crawlers in front of him suddenly ignites) Whoa. (he points his wand at the flames) Yea! Inzus! The flames suddenly magnified tenfold, and the green monsters within the room died a quick and fiery death. Shortly, Ged used the "Lbuzi" command to extinguish all of the flames, and the party entered the smoking room, coughing, and found Peldor already in there. Peldor: Hi, guys! There were two exits. One was at the cavern's opposite end, and led away; the other was right next to the party. This second tunnel was very short, and led to a chamber full of green eggs. Ged: These must be young carrion crawler eggs. Stand back, I shall burn them! (raises his wand) Belphanior: (having preferred to leave the eggs be, to promote chaos, he slips away and takes the other exit from the crawler cave) Rillen: Green eggs? Mongo: Green eggs. What would go with green eggs for breakfast? Ah, I've got it! Green eggs and ham! Ged: Not today, pal. (uses his wand to roast the egg chamber in a miniature inferno) Axui. meanwhile... Belphanior: (follows the tunnel around a bend, and then stands in a large cavern) Hmm. Suddenly, the ground in front of the elf exploded, and an enormous, purple-mottled worm erupted from the remains of the dirt-rock floor. Its huge, round mouth was ringed with sharp-looking teeth, and the elf knew that he was in trouble. Belphanior: (yelling with all his might) AAAAAA! HELP! (charges the worm, hacking wildly) HELLLLP! Arnold: (in the previous room, happens to be most distant from Ged's roaring inferno, and vaguely hears the cry for help) Whad's this? (races away) I'll cheg it oud. Mongo: Where's he going? (bored with the flames, he ambles off after the big warrior) Ged: (preoccupied with his wand's power) Look at it! My wand is truly a vessel for Boccob's infinite power! Peldor: (becomes invisible again, and begins sneaking here and there) nearby... Arnold: (arrives just in time to see Belphanior get swallowed whole by the worm's huge maw) Whaaaaaaat? purple worm: (rears back, pleased to see more food) Areeeeeeeeah! Arnold: Aaaaaaa! (charges) Ah-nold is coming to save the day! (he opens a tremendous gash in the monster's side) Yah! Mongo: (arrives, and quickly sizes up the situation) Shit! (hurls his hammer at the worm's head, with all his might) purple worm: (reels from the mighty impact) Snort! inside the worm... Belphanior: (in the monster's stomach) Fuck. (listens to the echoes of his voice in the blackness, then is knocked off his feet as the worm moves about) Argh. (digestive juices begin to eat away at the elf's flesh now) Ouch! (he begins looking for his cube of force) on the outside... Alindyar: (he and Lyra arrive) Mongo: Watch it, drow. (catches his hammer) Alindyar: Where is Belphanior? (begins spellcasting) Lyra: (begins spellcasting as well) Yes, wherever did he get off to? Arnold: He got swallowded! Eaden alive! (hacks the worm another time, slicing a chunk from it) purple worm: Euroooogh! (bites at Arnold, but the big warrior jumps aside, saving himself from the bite) Alindyar: (casts Color Spray at the worm's head) purple worm: (not really affected by the swirling arcs of color) Roooooorgh! Alindyar: Ah, I should have known that would have no effect...the creature is too massive. Lyra: (fires a Lightning Bolt at the monster, cutting it in half) Yes! Alindyar: Good work. in the previous room... Ged: (hears a thunderous blast) What was THAT?!? Rillen: Beats me. Ged: (looking around) Hey, where IS everybody?!? Rillen: (points) They all went that way. I was here waiting for you. Ged: Damn! (he and Rillen run after the others) Peldor: (remaining behind, he waits until the flames in the egg room die out, and then ventures in there) back to the battle... Alindyar: We must make all haste in cutting Belphanior out! Lyra: Yes, there's no telling how long the monster's digestive juices will take to dissolve the elf. Arnold: Ridht! (he begins chopping up the worm's corpse, splattering blood and guts everywhere) Dhis is fun! Mongo: Cripes, he's getting us all covered in blood. Shortly, they found Belphanior, inside of a faintly glowing cube of energy. He was very much alive, and weakly waved his greetings as the party found him. After turning off his cube's field, the elf fell unconscious from his wounds. Ged arrived just then, as if on cue, and tended to Belphanior's wounds. Peldor eventually reappeared, declaring that the egg chamber was cleared out and that no further danger lurked there. Rillen, fresh and ready for action, peeked into a chamber which was placed next to the exit. He then yelled in surprise, and pointed into the chamber. Mongo came running to see what was the matter. Mongo: Holy shit! It's filled with worms! Rillen: Big worms. (actually, they are only as big around as his thumb, not too big compared to the purple worm - but there are thousands of them) Ged: (leaps forth and takes a look) Never fear, for Boccob's power is here. (points his wand in and speaks) Axui. (the room ignites, and the huge colony of rot grub is no more) Hah. So much for _them_. Mongo: Yeah. Rillen: (looks at the exit passage longingly) Hmm. (to Mongo) Shall we take a look? Mongo: Sure, why not? (the two warriors head for the tunnel) Ged: (he and Alindyar revive the healed Belphanior) Wake up, you. nearby... Mongo: Can you see in here? Rillen: No. (lights a stubby torch) But now I can. Mongo: That's good. (they move down a small, narrow passage, the dwarf leading) Rillen: Hold. I hear laughing. Mongo: Huh? (he forges ahead, and the torchlight soon illuminates something moving in the passage ahead) Huh? In front of the two warriors stood a horde of small humanoids. They were about a foot tall, and their skinny little limbs gave them a malnourished look. Malevolent eyes and toothy maws betrayed a hostile intent to the pair of adventurers. The fact that the minute menaces stood three abreast, and also atop each other's shoulders (some also clung to the walls and ceiling of the passage) made Mongo nervous. Mongo: Okay, back up, slowly. Real slowly. Rillen: Right. little vermin: Bee-yah! (they swarm toward Mongo and Rillen) Cha cha! Mongo: Fuck! (he begins bashing them with his hammer) Rillen: (backing up, but slowly, in the cramped passage) Retreat! This tunnel gives them the advantage! Mongo: Yeah! (he has already pulped a couple, but their numbers are great, and several have bitten or clawed him) Ouch! Agh! Ugh! Damn! Little shits! I'll smash you all! verminoids: Eee-yah! Hahahaha! (they swarm at the dwarf again) in the worm room... Peldor: What's that? Where are Mongo and Rillen? Ged: (holds his wand up) I thought they went to have a look at that exit passage. But then, why do I hear screaming? Alindyar: Who can say? (readies a spell) We had best be prepared, though. Suddenly, Rillen ran out of the exit tunnel and toward the party, breathing hard. A second later, Mongo stumbled out of the same passage, bleeding from a dozen small wounds. Something in the exit tunnel was giggling and shrieking, and the sounds grew louder... Ged: (points the wand, as the first verminoids appear) I'll deal with these...things. Observe my power and tremble, drow. Ndrek! (a wall of flame appears, and then moves away, toward the tunnel, leaving burning carcasses in its wake) Hah! Boccob! (his wand begins to sputter and hiss) Oh, no! Not now! It can't be! Lyra: But it is. The wand is empty, no? Ged: Damn. Yea, but last time, it was okay after I let it rest for a day or so. Hopefully, that will be the case now. Mongo: Don't worry about it. The wand bit was getting to be old anyway. Alindyar: (moves up to the tunnel, which is now empty and silent, having been cleared by the wall of fire) I still hear more of the things, back in this tunnel. (aims his hands forward and steps into the tunnel) They are coming for us! (releases his Fireball spell and then leaps back with surprising grace) The fireball took off down the tunnel, and in about four seconds, there was a tremendous blast and a booming sound, and licks of flame spurted out of the passage entrance, though not far enough to concern the adventurers. The noise of the loud explosion drowned out the hundreds of tiny death cries, and shortly, the tunnel was indisputably quiet. Ged healed Mongo's wounds, and the group made ready to explore the charred, smoke-filled tunnel. next time : "Glass? Who gives a shit about _glass_?!?" ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : ... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/16/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: early evening + + Place: the Underdark + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXXIV. A Trio of Beasts Most Foul The party has just eliminated the threat of a roomful of small, evil vermin. The adventurers are now walking through a tunnel to the creatures' lair. Mongo: I see it! I see it ahead! Belphanior: What? Looks like a big, empty room to me. (snorts) Stinks, too. Alindyar: As well it should - Ged roasted those small vermin. Ged: Ah, the mighty power of Boccob's wand... Peldor: Enough about Boccob, okay? (the party enters the chamber) They were in a large, roughly rounded cavern now. The place was blackened and covered with soot, and the walls were still hot to the touch. Tiny burnt bones lay strewn everywhere, and it was Belphanior who found the puddle of gold and other treasure - all melted now, of course. Peldor: (pointing accusingly at Ged) And you said that _I_ was bad because I wasted _one_ magic item?!?!? Ged: Well...err...umm... Mongo: Enough. There's always more where these came from. Rillen: Very well. (eyeing the single exit passage) Belphanior: (leads the party through the passage) The passage was narrow and very curvy. Near its end, there were numerous bits of broken glass on the floor, and these had to be carefully stepped over to avoid nasty cuts. Alindyar: Beware the glass. Belphanior: Glass? Who gives a shit about _glass_? The next chamber was a large, though oddly shaped, cavern. Two strange creatures were within, and they ceased their squawking conversation to regard the adventurers. The larger one stood fully six feet in height, and had two round heads on long necks. The creature had no arms at all, but its beaks were quite large, and its tail was comprised of a number of very brightly colored feathers. The smaller avian stood only a mere two feet in height, but sneered at the party with a more ferocious look than its companion. Abruptly, both of the birds advanced on the party. Alindyar: Beware! That small one appears to be a cockatrice! Ged: Boccob! Then its touch turns one to stone! Alindyar: Yes. Belphanior: (regards the larger bird, which is bobbing its two heads to and fro as it approaches) I'll just attack _this_ one, instead. It looks like a wimp. (he advances on the large bird) large bird: (regards the elf, then steps forward and pecks at him with both heads) Squawk! Belphanior: (ducks one bite, but gets clipped by the other, and instantly turns into glass along with all of his items) Mongo: FUCK! (the party scatters most rapidly) small bird: squeak. (stalks random party members) Ged: Boccob! (begins spellcasting) large bird: (advances on Mongo, both heads bobbing about mindlessly) Squawk. Squaaaaaaaaaaawk. Mongo: Stay back, you peckerhead! Rillen: (prepares to combat the small bird) Lyra: (spellcasting) We must concentrate on the larger of the two. Alindyar: Aye. (begins a spell) Arnold: (mortally afraid of being turned into a glass statue, looks around fearfully) Aaaaaa. Ged: (casts Slow upon the larger bird, but the spell fizzles, and the thing is not affected) Boccob! Magic resistance! Alindyar: (casts a Web upon both birds, but the web unravels totally as soon as it touches the larger bird) Mayhaps it is totally immune to spells. Lyra: Don't say that. (blasts the large bird with Magic Missiles, but they dissolve upon hitting it) Damn Lolth's eyes! Perhaps you are right! Peldor: (nonchalantly telekineses the smaller bird into the larger one) When Little Bird met Big Bird... small bird: squ- (turns into glass) Peldor: (grins and takes a bow) Mongo: All right, Peldor! Ged: Arnold! Get Belphanior - err, his glass statue - and move it out of harm's way. It won't do to have him get shattered in this battle. Arnold: Ridht. (hefts the statue, which is a fairly light load for him) Ged: And be careful with that. Arnold: Ridht. (carries the statue to a far corner of the chamber) large bird: (snaps at Mongo, but ineffectually) Squawk! Mongo: (reluctant to hit the creature with his hammer, for fear that the weapon might turn into glass) Argh! (backs up) I need a club! Rillen: (draws his bow) Sorry, no clubs here. How about a few arrows, though? Mongo: Fine, go for it! (continues to back up) Ged: (casts Flame Strike upon the bird) large bird: (watches the spell fizzle around itself) Squawk? Peldor: (on a whim, telekineses his seemingly indestructable meteorite out of his pack and into the bird) Peldor strikes again! (in all actuality, the thief just wants to find out how indestructable the rock really is) large bird: (reels from this mighty impact - and the meteorite is not turned into glass) Squa! Rillen: (astutely observes the above) That is what I was waiting to hear. (fires a magical arrow, hitting the bird in the head) large bird: Screeeee! (flagellates about) Mongo: Yahr! (hurls his hammer, hitting the bird in one head, causing the head to bounce about) Take that, birdbrain! Lyra: (doesn't want to risk wasting another spell) I wonder if any spells will affect it? Alindyar: (casts a Blindness spell, which, somewhat predictably, fails against the big bird) ... Lyra: Hmm, guess not. Rillen: (hits the bird with another arrow) Mongo: (catches his hammer, and immediately hurls it again) Yah! large bird: (hit, falls, dead) Ged: Boccob's luck guides us today! Mongo: (catches his hammer) That one was for Belphanior. Alindyar: Speaking of whom... The party made their way to the far end of the room, where Arnold had reverently set the glass statue of Belphanior down. Peldor used his ring to move the two bird corpses into an alcove, far away from the party. Ged tried a spell of healing, to no avail - the glass elf remained so. Mongo touched Belphanior with his healing wand, that with the snakes wound around it, but this had no effect either. The adventurers rested and brainstormed at the same time, but were stumped for answers. No spell or item that they had seemed able to reverse Belphanior's transformation. They all knew that the elf had a sword containing at least one more wish - but that sword was now glass along with the rest of Belphanior. They even tried speaking the wish aloud, anyhow, just in case, but the attempt was unfruitful. It was Rillen who came forth with the final solution. He began rubbing his ring, the one supposedly of djinni summoning, and wondered if a djinni could bring the glass elf back to life. The consensus seemed to be that it was worth a try, so the warrior said the proper command word, half-expecting that nothing would happen. But not so! The stream of gas that billowed from nowhere quickly formed itself into a vaguely humanoid shape, as the party, never having seen a djinni before, gaped in awe. Well, not _all_ of them - Alindyar just gaped. djinni: (in a ridiculous accent) Greetings, my master! What can I do for you? Rillen: Uh...(points to the glass statue that is Belphanior) This elf must be made human once more. Can you help? djinni: (wondering if this is part of his contract) Hmmmmmmm. Not directly, master. Mongo: Shit. Rillen: (drumming his fingers on a wall) djinni: However... Rillen: What? What?!? djinni: I am empowered to grant you three of your wishes. Therefore, you may _waste_ one of them on this elf... Rillen: Waste? djinni: Well, he _was_ after all stupid enough to get himself into this predicament... Rillen: Bah. I do not recall asking what you thought of the matter. He is my companion, and that is all that matters. Thus I wish that Belphanior the elf was flesh and blood again, alive and well as if he had never met that glassing-bird. djinni: (sighing) Very well. (snaps his fingers and vanishes into the ring, as Belphanior is transformed into live flesh once more) Only two mooooooooooore......... Belphanior: (leaps up into the air, sword above his head, then lands, looking confused) Huh?!? Rillen: Let us just say that you owe me one. Belphanior: (considers this) The adventurers searched the chamber while explaining to Belphanior what had happened. The two birds had no treasure, so the party decided to venture into the next chamber. Peldor, now invisible, stayed behind, and carefully cut all ten of the brightly plumed feathers from the deceased larger bird's tail. Somehow, only the thief, whose wisdom was underestimated with good reason by most of the others, sensed the great magic that was contained within the feathers. He stuffed them carefully into a pouch, and then put the pouch at his belt, and joined the others. The next chamber was larger than the birds' lair. So was its inhabitant - a very strange creature indeed. It had a body like a dragon, and wings to match, but hands like those of a man, though with oversized fingers. The thing's snaggletoothed head had several horns jutting out here and there. Alindyar began muttering something about a "jabberwock", while Mongo charged forth bravely to do battle. Mongo: Chaaaaaarge! (runs into the room) jabberwock: (turns and breathes frost all over the dwarf and most of the others) Mongo: Argh! (falls, chilled severely) Belphanior: (likewise) Fuck! Rillen: (likewise) Brr. Arnold: (likewise) Aaaaaaa. Ged: (takes minor damage, as he was standing to the side) Boccob! Another foul beast! Alindyar: (begins preparing a spell) Lyra: Jabberwock? (also begins a spell) Peldor: (invisible, moves around the room) Ged: (begins casting a spell upon himself) Mongo: (the first to recover, he sends his hammer flying in a deadly arc, smashing the thing in the chest) Yeah! jabberwock: Blargh! Mongo: Says you, ugly. (catches his hammer) Alindyar: (casts a Fear spell, but it does not affect the monster in the least) Lyra: You know...(casts Charm Monster, also to no effect) Legends have it that the jabberwock is _immune_ to spells... Belphanior: What do you mean, THE jabberwock? Ged: (completes his spell, and begins to change in form, growing larger) Alindyar: We must beat it by force alone! Ged: (still mutating) I'm working on it... Rillen: (leaps forth and bashes the thing in the leg with his staff) You are one ugly- Arnold: (runs up from the opposite direction and heaves a mighty blow, sending purple blood everywhere) Ah-nold strikes! jabberwock: (disdainfully grabs each of the warriors in one clawed hand, and electric shocks course through their bodies) Blah. (tosses both victims aside casually) Rillen: (lands nearby, unconscious) Arnold: (ditto) Mongo: Did it _kill_ them?!? (hurls his hammer again, denting the monster's head) 'Cause if it did, well, then, I'll kill IT!!! Ged: (now in the polymorphed form of a huge frost giant, steps up and punches the weird monster with a large, beefy fist) Hah! I feel GREAT! jabberwock: Uhr? (reels) Ged: (beats his chest) Boccob! I love it! Peldor: What's gotten into him? (invisible, backstabs the creature, wounding it quite terribly) For Peldor! (becomes visible) jabberwock: (turns and breathes all over Peldor and Belphanior, a blast of flame this time) Blargh! Peldor: (knocked unconscious by the damage) Belphanior: (very, very close to death now) Lyra: (turns) All the monsters react like that when Peldor announces his name...hmm... jabberwock: (whips Ged with its tail, scoring a line of blood across his frost giant chest and causing great pain) Bleeeeer! Ged: (fails to save against the pain, and is feeling almost dizzy) Aaaaaaaagh! Belphanior: (staggers up and delivers a weak slash - which is just enough to penetrate the monster's heart and slay it) ...? jabberwock: (falls, dead) Belphanior: (as the thing was not intelligent, he gains no power from its demise, and slumps, feeling tired) Whew. The party knew that it was time to rest for the night. Most were hurt or tired, and all but a few of the party's spells were spent. Mongo used his wand to heal those most direly wounded (Rillen, Arnold, Peldor, and Belphanior) but then had to stop - even the mighty wand had its limits, it seemed. Mongo was unable to heal Ged or himself, but fortunately Ged had exactly two healing spells left. The jabberwock had a pile of items to one side. A ridiculous number of golden coins, minted in no stamp that any of the party recognized (save the drow), composed the bulk of the treasure. Within this pile were a number of small boulders of iron, a silk pouch containing dice, some old boots, a badly rusted helm, and a wand. When Alindyar cast his spell of magical detection, the dice, the boots, and the wand registered. The party set a watch, and rested here for the night. No further exits were evident - this chamber was the end of the side passage. next time : a truly unbeatable foe (no kidding) ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : Ten VERY magical jub-jub bird tail feathers - and now a single person has them all... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/17/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: morning + + Place: the Underdark + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXXV. Beaten! The party has camped overnight in the Underdark, and in doing so gained much-needed rest, despite numerous strange noises and wails heard throughout the night. Several of the adventurers also had bad dreams last night. Rillen: Spooky night. Mongo: Geez. I hardly got any sleep at all! Ged: It's a good thing that nothing came to attack us during the night. Like those things we heard moaning. Belphanior: Yeah. (wondering what those things were) Alindyar: I honestly suspect that being in this side passage helped us greatly. Had we been in the main tunnel...(shudders) Let us just say that wise ones do not make camp in the main tunnels... Ged: Point taken. Rillen: Maybe the other things were afraid of the things that we killed yesterday. Alindyar: I believe you have hit upon it, friend. Rillen: Yes. And so, if they were afraid of the things we killed...they should be afraid of _us_, too. Arnold: Yah! Afraaaaaid of us, too! (flexes his muscles) Lyra: Would that it were that simple. Belphanior: (prepares to cast Stoneskin on himself, a daily ritual for the elf) Peldor: (wakes up at last, feeling quite well this morning, neither tired, sore, nor ill) Ah! It's a fine day for adventure! (strolls around the area, whistling) Yes, a _fine_ day. Ged: (looks at Mongo questioningly) Mongo: Hey, don't look at me. How should I know?!? The party broke camp after eating breakfast, and returned to the main tunnel and its eerie bluish light. It occured to them that, after a few more days down here, they would lose track of whether it was "really" day or night on the surface world. Mongo also noted that the party's rations and water were just about gone. It was fortunate indeed that the dwarf had his cornucopia, for starting tonight it would be the party's sole source of food. Ged tried to commune with Boccob, to no avail. Either the deity was not listening (as Peldor suspected) or something was blocking Ged's communications (as Alindyar suspected). The elf realized that he was fortunate indeed to have received the spells he had prayed for, and ceased attempts to contact his god directly. The group set out once more in the direction that Rob had been taken. After about a half-mile of the tunnel had been traversed, the adventurers began to find remains. Smashed skeletons in beaten armor, rotting corpses smashed to a pulp, shattered items - a variety of such things littered this area. Most had quite obviously been smashed by some incredible force, judging by the damage and the numerous indentations in the hard floor. Ged: What could have caused such crushing damage? Peldor: Only one way to find out... Soon, they had their answer. In the distance ahead, a huge, dark form was barely discernable. As the party moved closer (very slowly, mind you) they could make out more details. The thing was some sort of golem, but larger even than an iron golem, standing some thirty feet tall. Its skin was metallic, and of a dull coppery hue. The construct had very little detail worked into its carven form, and carried no gigantic weapon to do battle with. The former fact suggested that the thing had been built for action, not useless decoration; the latter fact suggested that the golem probably had no need for weapons. Behind the creature, there was a cave-in of massive proportions. Rubble and boulders had fallen here at some point, and the huge passage was blocked to a height of about ninety feet. That is, only a narrow gap at the top of the heap allowed any continued movement in this particular direction - and the golem looked ready to prevent that. Quite ready, and quite capable. Naturally, the party attacked. Mongo: At last, a truly great opponent. For the dwarves! (hurls his hammer at the golem with a powerful throw) golem: <CLANG> (ignores the hammer as it hits, bounces off, and returns to Mongo) Ged: It ignored you! Mongo: (catches his hammer) This is _not_ good. Belphanior: (produces his wand) We'll see how he likes some lightning... Ged: Or a fireball. (begins spellcasting) It shall be the perfect one-two punch. Peldor: (feeling perky today, he prepares to charge in invisibly, once the magi launch their magic) Hurry it up, guys!. Ged: Quiet, fool. Belphanior: (sends a bolt of lightning from his wand, right at the golem, which is an awfully big target) Ha ha! Zap! golem: (takes the lightning bolt full in the chest; the ground under its feet bubbles and melts, but it continues to march slowly onward) Mongo: It didn't even slow down! Ged: (sends his ball of fire at the golem) golem: (hit squarely by the spell, instantly surrounded in the resulting explosion) Peldor: (recoils from the heat wave) As the flames raged on, about fifty feet away from the party, a massive form stepped out and marched purposefully toward the adventurers. The ground (floor) shook terribly with each of the golem's steps. It was glowing somewhat, but did not appear to have been wounded in the least by the fireball. Ged: By Boccob! Peldor: (moves toward the golem, invisible, and swings his shortsword in a well-aimed blow at the thing's leg) golem: (ignores the puny blow) Peldor: (the recoil of the impact drives needles of pain through his arms) Argh. golem: (swats Peldor) Mongo: Whoaaaaah. (watches Peldor sail by about twenty feet overhead) Peldor: Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! (lands on the floor behind the party, bruised and stunned) Lyra: That _always_ happens to him. Poor thief. Rillen: (dashes forth and belts the thing with his quarterstaff, but to no avail) golem: (ignores the blow, swats Rillen, who fortunately is able to roll somewhat with the punch) Rillen: (lands in a heap nearby, several ribs broken) Ugh. I do not think I have EVER been hit that hard. (spits out blood) Arnold: (heaves a powerful blow, but the golem ignores it) Aaaaaa. Lyra: Let us see what another spell will do. (casts Web upon the golem) Mongo: (hurls his hammer again, and hits for the second time) golem: (ignores the blow, and then rips Lyra's web apart like it was tissue paper) Alindyar: My turn. (casts a Suggestion at the golem) Why do you not desist in this march, and stand aside? golem: (not hearing the drow) Alindyar: Argh. I guess not. Peldor: Score it: golem 1, adventurers 0. Belphanior: (charges the golem, Blackrazor swinging in a deadly arc...that bounces off of the golem's impenetrable skin) Damn! golem: (bashes the elf) Belphanior: (staggers back, all five of his Stoneskins cancelled at once) Gagh. Mongo: (runs up and hits the golem with his hammer) Take _that_! golem: (ignores this blow as well, and gives Mongo a fist) Mongo: Yargh! (rolls head over heels for about twenty feet, backwards) Fuck, that hurt! Rillen: I could have told you that. (hefts his magical javelin, and hurls it at the golem) Maybe I can make a point here. golem: (hit in the neck by the weapon, but there is no penetration, and the javelin snaps in two) Rillen: Grr... Peldor: (digging through his pack) Arnold: (hits the golem, again, uselessly) I am starding to think that we can'd stob this guy. Ged: (near the golem, but not in its range, has decided not to cast any more spells, and instead uses his wand of conjuration to put up a shimmering red hemisphere around himself) Alindyar: What is he doing? (casting his next spell) Lyra: Looks like a prismatic sphere from here. (also casting) Or at least one of the early stages thereof. golem: (looking around) Alindyar: (casts Domination upon the golem) golem: (unaffected) Lyra: Nice try. (casts Shocking Grasp and moves to touch the golem - a risky idea at best) Belphanior: (hits the golem again, but to no avail) Fuck, fuck, fuck! Mongo: (likewise) Damn it! Arnold: (swings but misses) Aaaaar. Peldor: (uses his ring to telekinese his indestructable meteorite into the golem's head) Maybe this'll work. golem: <CLANG> (actually recoils from the impact - slightly) Peldor: Hmm. Lyra: (moves in, taps the golem, delivering a shock) golem: (ignores it and turns toward Lyra) Mongo: Keep away from her! (hits the golem with his hammer, more to distract it than in an attempt to injure it) Lyra: (retreats) Alindyar: My thanks, dwarf. Ged: (puts up his second sphere, an orange one) Rillen: (moves in, his staff's blade out, and stabs the golem, but only dents his blade) Uh-oh. golem: (punches Rillen, stunning him and wounding him severely) Rillen: Argh...(crawls away) Arnold: (moves in to slash the golem again) golem: (hits Arnold first, knocking him out and sending him sprawling) Mongo: (hits the golem yet again, with no effect) Shit! We're losing! Lyra: (casts Dig under one of the golem's feet) golem: (no master of dexterity, falls, one foot caught in the sudden hole) Alindyar: That got him. Nice job. Lyra: Thanks. (she moves to help Rillen) Peldor: (telekineses Arnold's body away from the golem) Ged: (from within his sphere) Thanks! Peldor: No problem. Belphanior: (holding his magical bowl, pours some water into it, chanting) Alindyar: Whatever are you doing? (casts a Fly on himself) Belphanior: (ignores the drow) Peldor: (sets his meteorite orbiting the head of the golem) Belphanior: (conjures a huge water elemental from his bowl) Attack that golem! water elemental: (moves toward the golem) Ged: (hastily begins spellcasting from behind his formidable defenses, temporarily halting the building of his prismatic sphere) golem: (trying to climb out of the hole, and slowly getting there) Mongo: (backs up, dragging Arnold with him) Rillen: (stands up shakily, and joins Mongo as they retreat toward the heap of rubble and possible escape) Belphanior: (joins the other warriors as his elemental moves in) Good idea. Peldor: (backs up with the others, still causing his meteorite to hover near the golem's head) What about Ged? Ged: What about me? (conjures a large earth elemental, which appears outside his walls of color) Attack the golem! Work with the water elemental! Defeat that golem! earth elemental: (vaguely understands what the elf is talking about, and moves toward the golem) water elemental: (watches the earth elemental approach) Lyra: (continues her Dig spell, excavating more earth from beneath the golem's other foot) golem: (gets stuck again) Alindyar: (to Ged) Come along! Retreat with us! Ged: Never! My magic will defeat this golem in the end! Flee if you must! I shall win! Alindyar: Very well. (flies up to the opening at the top of the cave-in, and ties two strong ropes together handily, then secures one to a large, entrenched boulder, and tosses the rope down to the others) Feel free to join me up here. (he flies down to pick up Lyra) Peldor: (while waiting to climb up the rope, he telekineses the meteorite into the golem's head, distracting it) Hah. golem: <CLANG> water elemental: (attacks the golem) earth elemental: (attacks the golem) golem: (counter-attacks the elementals) Ged: (begins cackling triumphantly as things start to get very muddy) golem: (pounding away at the two elementals, and vice versa) Ged: (puts up his third sphere, a yellow one) others: (climbing to safety) Things were a real mess, and to make it worse, Ged's next spell was one to turn rock into mud. He centered the effect right where the golem was standing. Meanwhile, Lyra dropped a wall of ice onto the golem's head (even sunken into a muddy hole, the golem was still taller than the elementals). Much commotion ensued, and mud splattered everywhere. Meanwhile, all of the adventurers except Ged reached safety atop the rubble pile. Peldor: (looking through the opening at the continuation of the main tunnel beyond) I see no enemies lurking in ambush for us. Lyra: That is good. Belphanior: (pointing wildly) Look! Below, nearby Ged, the flurry of activity had ceased. Momentarily, the golem pulled itself from the muck, victorious. Nothing else moved except Ged, who valiantly taunted the golem from behind his mighty defenses. Ged: Hey! Hey, you! golem: (marches right for the grey elf) Belphanior: He's in for it now... Ged: (yelling at the golem) Stupid golem! golem: (pounds at the elf's 3/7 of a prismatic sphere, taking 20+40+80=140 points of mystical damage, but saving for half; still, this is more damage than the golem has taken so far from all of the adventurers' other attacks put together) Ged: (leaps aside, out of the sphere, as the golem's huge fists smash into the ground where he was standing) Hey! No fair! Alindyar: If the golem can withstand the magical damage, then it can penetrate the sphere...so it would appear. (begins casting a spell) Ged: (runs for the pile of rubble) Boccob damn it! golem: (turns, to give chase) Alindyar: (casts an Advanced Illusion near the golem, creating images of a large mob of loud warriors) That may distract the construct... golem: (charges the illusionary people) Ged: (climbing the rope that the others used) golem: (smashing illusions efficiently) Mongo: (grabs the rope and starts reeling it in, to hasten Ged's ascent) Come on up. Ged: (reaches the top and joins the others) That thing was a puny foe. Surely my magic would have proven mightier in the end. Peldor: It looked otherwise from up here... Ged: Quiet, fool. (fumes) The golem wandered about for a while, but no longer seemed to notice the adventurers. Ged wanted to stay and taunt the thing, but the rest of the party felt that it was time to move on. Shortly, they descended the slope on the other side, and much healing magic was used before they felt ready to move further in the huge tunnel. next time : Brain suckers ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : The golem was made of adamantite. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/17/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: late morning + + Place: the Underdark + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXXVI. Remnants The party has fled from an indestructable golem, and now stands ready to continue along the main passage of the cave/tunnel that they are in. Mongo: We'd better hope that big fucker doesn't find a way to get through the rubble... Peldor: Yeah. Who knows if he's not digging away the boulders this very minute? Rillen: I neither know nor care, myself. Ged: (irritably) Come on, let's get moving. They traveled for about a mile before anything was found. The adventurers came upon a number of corpses, all long since rotted. Their heads, or what was left of them, looked like they had been torn open, and many bloody stains decorated the floor. Ged: Boccob! Peldor: (points into the misty darkness ahead) Look! Something's coming! Indeed, it was. The monstrosity that ambled toward them was eight feet in height. It was humanoid, but covered in scales that glistened with a sickly green color. The thing's head had two large, round, yellow eyes - alien eyes - and a cluster of foot-long pink tentacles instead of a mouth. But for these features, it might have been a large lizard man. Alindyar: 'Tis a yig! An illithid slave! Lyra: (shivers) Mongo: What the fuck does it do? Alindyar: It devours brains from living victims... Ged: Never! (points his wand, which has had a lot of time to regenerate its arcane power, at the beast) Axui! yig: (suddenly sheathed in flames, screams an unearthly scream as it writhes in agony) Mongo: Brainsucker! Die! (throws his hammer at the burning monster, felling it) yig: (its corpse continues to burn) Mongo: (catches his hammer) What's an illithid, anyway? Alindyar: A mind flayer. _They_ eat brains, as well. 'Tis a good thing that you dispatched the yig from afar, priest. Ged: Why's that? Alindyar: Because at close ranges, it is capable of psionically holding victims still, as it devours their brains. Ged: Oh. Well, I'm glad I roasted it, too. (looks at his wand, which is sputtering again) Boccob damn it! The wand seems empty still. Belphanior: Maybe you need to let it recharge its power longer. Like for a whole day... Ged: Perhaps that is it. (puts the wand away) Boccob will help in the matter. Mongo: (he and Rillen lead the party forward) I don't see any monsters ahead. Belphanior: (using his sword) I detect souls, folks. Five of them! Ged: Evil fiends, no doubt. Suddenly, the adventurers were blasted by waves of intense mental energy from somewhere up ahead. Lyra and Arnold succumbed to the attack, falling to the floor, stunned, but the others were okay. Five mind flayers were faintly visible ahead, their tentacled mouths squirming in anticipation. They were standing spread out in a line, apparently to be able to cover the entire party with their mind- blasts. Mongo: Argh! My head's _killing_ me! (hurls his hammer at one of the illithids) illithid#1: (hit, reels) Ssssss! (a huge red bruise appears on its shoulder, which may be broken now) Mongo: Hah! You fucker! (catches his hammer) Rillen: (begins swinging his sling) Ged: (struck by a sudden idea, he digs in his pocket for his magical figurines) Alindyar: (begins spellcasting) It matters not anyhow. Illithids are all but _immune_ to all magic... Belphanior: (charges the flayers) Peldor: (invisible, moves toward the flayers) Ged: (speaks a command word, and two golden lions appear) Kill those creatures! (he points at the flayers) lions: (charge) Roar! Belphanior: (charging, watches the lions as they bound by him) Huh? Rillen: (fires a magical sling stone at the illithids, and it explodes in a green blast of acid, spraying three of the creatures) illithid#2: (moderately wounded) Sssssss! illithid#3: (critically wounded) Ssssaaaaa! illithid#4: (seriously wounded) Ssssssaaas! Rillen: (admiring the power of the sling stones that he has, though he only has a red one and a black one left) Good stones. lion#1: (leaps onto illithid#5, mauling it) Rowwwr! lion#2: (skirts some acid and attacks the dazed illithid#4, tearing away huge chunks of its slimy flesh) Roar! Snarl! illithid#4: (perishes) Alindyar: (casts Domination, to no avail - the flayers ignore his spell) Damn. (gets his staff of striking ready and walks in the illithids' direction) Mongo: (hurls his hammer at illithid#1 again, wounding it badly) Slimy scumbag! illithid#1: (hissing, and bleeding badly, it launches another blast of mental energy) Rillen: (stunned, drops his sling and falls) lion#2: (stunned, collapses) illithid#2: (fires its mental blast again, aiming at whatever adventurers happen to be within the arc in front of its face) Ssss! Ged: (stunned, falls) lion#1: (stunned, topples onto its side) Belphanior: (wildly slashes illithid#3, and slays it) Ahhhhh. (sits still and absorbs the power of the evil creature's life force) Mongo: (catches his hammer, and throws it again) Shit! They're knocking everybody out! illithid#1: (perishes, smashed into pulp) Peldor: (tries to backstab illithid#5, but misses; perhaps it knew that he was there) Thus, Alindyar, Belphanior, Mongo, and the now-visible Peldor faced two somewhat wounded mind flayers. The adventurers were spread out widely, following Alindyar's advice, to avoid having several of them get caught in the same mental blast. Mongo: What if they knock all of us out? Alindyar: Then...our brains will become their dinner. Belphanior: Ugh. Mongo: Fuck _that_! illithid#2: Ssssss! (fires a mental blast at some of the remaining adventurers) Alindyar: (saves, and advances, staff raised) You shall have to do better than that, foul fiend. Belphanior: (fails to save, stunned, falls) illithid#5: (fires another mental blast at the others) Hssssssss! Mongo: (fails, stunned) Damn it all! (falls to the floor) Peldor: (saves easily, and goes invisible once more) illithid#2: (flagellates in worry) Alindyar: (closes with the monster, and takes a swing at it) illithid#2: (hit solidly) SSSSS! Rillen: (watching while stunned on the floor, makes a mental note to teach the drow proper staff technique, if they get out of this alive) illithid#5: (looks around, trying to sense Peldor's location) Sssss? Peldor: (telekineses the creature's hood up over its head, as he stalks it invisibly) illithid#5: (panics, but manages to get the hood off fairly quickly) Ssss. Peldor: (makes his move, chopping the thing's head clean off, from behind) Hah! (turns visible) illithid#2: (determines Peldor to be the more serious threat, and turns to blast him next) Peldor: (fails his save, stunned, falls) Alindyar: (wallops the distracted illithid hard with the staff, expending three charges and braining it) So! illithid#2: (dies, surprised) Alindyar: Arrogant fool. (straightens his robes, and turns to regard the party, which is lying about, all stunned) Hmm. Eventually, the illithids' mental blasts wore off, and the adventurers were back on their feet again. There was a large, neatly cut niche in the side of the main passage, and it had five doors as well as two large cells (these were secured by portculli). The main passage itself was blocked ahead by a thick stone wall, into the middle of which were set a series of two portculli. These blocked further movement down the passage. As Alindyar had mentioned days ago (could it only have been days?), the illithids' lair had walls and ceilings that were radically different from the main passage. The black stonelike material was convoluted in twisting and swirling patterns, which gave one a bad headache just from looking at it for a while. The chaotic construction of these walls quite clearly bespoke insanity - or worse. The cells were checked first; one contained dozens of weak-looking goblins, who looked at the party with great hunger; the second cell held a few dozen miserable-looking kobolds. The five doors led to illithid quarters, and the adventurers searched these with gusto, all in all finding the following items (Ged's spell of magic detection revealed the magical ones, marked with a *) : dresser of strange wood six brains in brine old spinal cord potion * book * cowboy hat * (the fact that cowboys were unknown on Oerth is irrelevant) grey robes diamond pendant jar of eyeballs chime * ring green cloaks emerald coin small bowl * strange tooth blue hood eight sapphires ring potion in diamond bottle * half-eaten brain red robe trapped chest (Mongo, in his overeagerness, got a bit of a shock from this) five-inch wide ruby burnt book mummified elven hand silver harmonica * drow spellbook * heavy crossbow * battle axe * dwarven chain mail * The adventurers barely had time to wonder how an illithid could possibly have played a harmonica, for the fifth illithid living area also had an exit, which led to a room of smaller cells. The first of these held a pale, sick-looking (relatively) illithid, who screamed at the party in its strange language. The second held a dead, green, bloated, scaly, fishy-looking creature, which Alindyar and Lyra were able to identify as a kuo-toa, another of the native races of the Underdark. The third cell held a male drow, who was very ragged-looking and bloody. The fourth held a grumbling dwarf, who fumed and made faces when he saw the party. illithid: Auuuuuur! drow: (in drow language) Let me out of this place, my kin! You must set me free! dwarf: Who the hell are YOU people?!? Ged: (casts Detect Lie and Know Alignment) Alindyar: (ignoring the drow) illithid: Wauuuuurrrr! drow: (in drow still) I am Titus Noquar, of the Noquar family. You simply _must_ let me out of here. Lyra: (in drow) Calm down. Ged: (points to the drow in the cell) He is not lying - but he IS evil. Alindyar: Oh. illithid: Uuuuuuuuuaaaaarrr. (begins trying in vain to reach through the cell's bars and grab the dead kuo-toa's head with its facial tentacles) Sssssluuuuurp! Alindyar: That one appears to be hungry. Lyra: Obviously, its mental powers are lost to it, else it would have used them on us by now. Alindyar: Agreed. Belphanior: Yeah! Then we'd have to kill it. (wonders if eating an illithid brain would boost his intelligence) Ged: (addresses the dwarf in the cell) Who might you be? dwarf: I? I am Flint Firelips. I was here to spy on some tribe of goblins, when they ganged up on me, and captured me. But a day after that, _they_ got captured, by the flayers. Damned flayers! I'll kill them all when I get out of here! Ged: This one tells the truth. And he is of Good alignment. Mongo: (smashes the lock to the dwarf's cell and yanks the door open) You are free to go. Flint Firelips: Thanks! (leaps out of the cell and dances about in joy) illithid: Braaauuuuuuuug! Ged: (regards the mind flayer) That one is Evil for sure, but I can't tell if he is lying or not. Mainly because I don't have the slightest idea what it is he's saying... Alindyar: He looks insane to me. drow in cell: Oh, come now! You cannot just leave me here. With _him_. (points to the illithid, who is now licking the walls of its cell) I would soon be as insane as he is! illithid: Druuuuuuuuuuaug. Ged: Hey, he's not lying! The illithid _is_ insane! illithid: Raaaauuuuuuuurgha! drow in cell: (covers his ears) Argh! I can take it no longer! If you shall not free me then at least grant me a quick death! Belphanior: (moves to oblige) Okay. Ged: (stops the elf) We must discuss this. The party moved to another chamber and had a debate. After a bit, it was decided to first gather all the treasure, and be ready to move onward. At that time, the drow would be freed, as well as the illithid and the goblins and kobolds. All would be told to go the opposite way than that of the party. To make things fair, the drow would be given a headstart, so as not to be overtaken by the hordes of small humanoids. The illithid would be given less of a headstart. This seemed the best way to free the various creatures, yet give each a chance of survival; it took the adventurers a full fifteen minutes to come up with the plan. The treasure was gathered, though Flint the dwarf insisted that the chain mail, crossbow, and battle axe were his (Ged's spell verified this claim to be true). These items were then returned to the dwarf, who armored and armed himself before asking if anyone would loan him some food. Mongo and Flint began talking while they had a snack. Eventually, Flint Firelips asked for, and was granted, permission to come with the party, for his own safety. Peldor decided to reorganize his pack, and was astonished to find that several items from the backpack were missing. His magical pipes and medallion were gone. Belphanior claimed to know nothing (which Ged drily verified as the truth), and Peldor began to suspect the large metallic egg, which he had earlier stashed in his backpack. He cursed the thing, to no avail, for the egg didn't appear to be listening. When it was time to go, Peldor operated a pair of levers on the wall near the double portculli (those blocking further progress in the main tunnel), and both gates opened. Belphanior, being nimble as well as a warrior, volunteered to run back and open the cells. The party watched to ensure that the drow would not attack (Alindyar had explained the deal to him earlier). Shortly, the drow ran away, looking disdainfully back at the party, and vanished down the tunnel in the direction the adventurers had come. Mere moments later, the illithid stumbled out of its cell, ignoring Belphanior as it lurched and swayed about, moaning in its insanity. Belphanior: (near the goblin cells) Hmmmm. Stand back, you vermin. (begins picking the lock, and has it open in a second but doesn't tell them) Okay, when I say it's okay, you may open your cell and flee. If you try to attack me or my friends...well, we'll blast you into ashes. Or feed you to _him_! (points to the illithid, which is presently engaged in eating a rock) illithid: Graaaaaaaurg. goblins: (recoil, scared) Belphanior: (unlocks the kobolds' cell and gives them the same warning) nearby... Ged: what in Boccob's name is taking him so long?!? at the cells... Belphanior: (to both groups) The cells are now open. Flee, before I destroy you all! (his eyes glow bright red) Ha ha ha! The others first saw Belphanior sprinting toward them, though the drow and illithid had only been freed a minute ago. Then, all of the goblins and kobolds ran after the drow, sideskirting the confused illithid. Belphanior: Come on! (he dashes through the gates) Peldor: (uses his ring to pull the lever and lower the portculli) There. Ged: What happened to the delay on the mob of humanoids? Belphanior: I felt the need to promote chaos. What better way to do it? Besides, that drow needed to be challenged! Lyra: Hmph. The party chose this time to split the magical items that they had gained thus far. This time, Alindyar won first draw, while it was Mongo who picked last. THE MAGICAL ITEMS (in order of appearance) : medallion - Mongo melon - Lyra 4 blue vials - Ged, Arnold, Alindyar x2 tiny bell - Peldor tube of green paste - Rillen blanket - Lyra dice - Belphanior boots - Arnold wand - Belphanior potion from flayers - Lyra book - Ged cowboy hat - Peldor chime - Belphanior bowl - Mongo potion in diamond vial - Rillen harmonica - Ged drow spellbook - Alindyar The group walked through the tunnel and away from the illithid lair. After ten minutes, everyone sensed that something bad was about to happen, but the huge passage was empty for as far as the eye could see. Rillen: Why is the ground shaking like that? Mongo: Earthquake? Belphanior: (stares at a sizzling drop of red fluid that just fell on his shoulder) .... Everybody RUN! Run like hell! Without warning, molten lava fell from the ceiling in great globs, splattering all of the adventurers and igniting some of them. While some of the falling matter was no more than flaming liquid, other bits were heavy rocks. The party ran forward as fast as they could, some members helping others who had fallen or were trapped. They all made it through, but there was a high pile of bubbling lava behind them, effectively blocking any return in the direction they came from. Whether the lava was a trap, a spell, or a coincidence was not known - but the adventurers were in bad shape. All were wounded, some badly, and each had lost a few items (both normal as well as magical items) to the boiling lava and heavy rocks. In fact, it was nothing short of miraculous that they all survived the event... Extremely irritated, the group rested here for two days. Nothing came to bother them - there were no strange sounds during the night, or bad dreams. After two mornings, they were sufficiently rested and healed to travel onward. However, they did not have far to go; a mere ten minutes' walk led them to a large metal door. The huge main passage was blocked here, totally, except for the (comparitively) small doorway. Glistening black material, like that composing the curving walls of the tunnel, rose vertically around the door, neatly blocking off the tunnel. The portal was fifteen feet high and eight feet wide, and a strange rune was engraved on it. Analysis of the black rune via magic revealed a simple and direct meaning: danger. next time : the ka-ka really hits the fan ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : ... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/18/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: noon + + Place: the Underdark + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXXVII. Negation The party has found a large metal door, fifteen feet high and eight feet wide. The strange rune engraved in the door has been found, through divination, to mean "danger". Being intrepid explorers, the adventurers have made ready to move through the doorway and discover what lies beyond. Mongo: (preparing to kick the portal in) Stand back. Belphanior: Try opening it first. (opens the door, which swings inward without the slightest sound) See? Works every time. Rillen: (silently notes that the door is six inches thick, probably enough to stop a battering ram) Hmm. That ought to keep out any unfriendly neighbors. Mongo: Bah. (he strolls through the portal, followed by the others) Contrary to expectations, there was nothing different on the other side of the door. Well, actually, one thing had changed - the blue glow which had been emanating from the very walls of the huge tunnel was no more. The walls and ceiling looked the same, but there was no artificial glow to light this section of the tunnel. The adventurers had lit several torches already, and began to walk forward, into the unknown. Just then, several things happened simultaneously. First, the large metal door abruptly and silently swung shut, producing only a soft 'click' when it finally sealed. Second, all four mages suddenly felt dizzy and weak, especially the two drow and Ged, who fell to their knees. Third, Peldor's magical green torch suddenly blinked out, leaving only the two torches held by Rillen and Arnold to shed any light. Fourth, those who wore magical armor (Mongo, Arnold, Ged, and Peldor) noticed that their armor suddenly seemed to increase in weight. Belphanior: What the hell? (realizes that his empathy with Blackrazor has ceased to exist) What the hell has happened? Ged: (gasping on his knees) Boccob! Alindyar: (still dizzy, helps Lyra to her feet) ...Something is...very, very wrong here...(staggers again) Mongo: (just became a lot weaker) Ugh! (realizes that his girdle of giant strength isn't functioning anymore) Boy, this armor sure is heavy all of a sudden. Arnold: (wandering around, clanking, in his plate mail armor) Aaaaaaaaaaa. Peldor: (looking at his formerly green torch in wonder) This damn thing never went out before! That was the problem, it just wouldn't extinguish. Never before! Lyra: Well, it just did. Peldor: Yea, I guess you're right. Rillen: (notices that his boots of speed aren't so speedy now) What is going on? Ged: (has a terrible thought, and begins spellcasting) Oh no. Oh, no...no! (nothing happens) My spell didn't work! Alindyar: (quickly tries a spell of his own, with no success) My own magics fail, as well. Ged: (tries a priest spell) Boccob! (nothing happens this time either) Boccob! Why hast thou deserted me?!? (wails upward in a screeching voice) Aaaaaauuugh! Lyra: (looks around) Can you feel it? This place is sucking the very magical energies from us... Belphanior: The door! (spins, and begins trying to pull the door back open) Shit! (not even the slightest crack is now visible where the door used to be) No door! Peldor: Hey, I thought it looked a lot like a one-way door as I walked through. Didn't seem important at the time though. Mongo: We've got to break it down! (hurls his hammer at the place where the door was, but there is only a muffled CLANG which results in no damage to the metal surface) Fuck! Rillen: Do not waste your time. The door was this thick (he holds up his hands, about six inches apart) and I doubt we have the means to break it down. Belphanior: Perhaps we can pry it open. (he and Peldor look carefully over the entire area of wall, examining it for any cracks or other useful attributes) Mongo: (realizes that his hammer didn't return to him, and goes to pick it up, near the door) Argh. This sucks. Ged: (sobbing in miserable terror) No magic. No magic! Alindyar: (developing a headache from all of this) Ged: No magic! No magic! No magic! Lyra: (tries to console Ged) At least you can use a weapon with decent skill. Unlike myself. It could be worse... Ged: Weapon? (looks at the morningstar on his belt, which he hasn't used in a long while) Belphanior: (turns from the wall in frustration) It's no use. There's _nothing_ here. We're trapped. Peldor: (nods) Yep. Rillen: Not so. (points into the gaping darkness of the tunnel ahead) We can still go _that_ way. Mongo: (halfheartedly) Yeah. Belphanior: Are things like this normal down here? Lyra: I wouldn't suppose so. Flint Firelips: (looking around) What does this mean for us? Alindyar: We have been tricked into entering an anti-magic zone which has sealed us in. On the bright side, nothing we may encounter will be able to use any magic. On the dark side, neither will we... Rillen: (not really bothered by any of this) So? (twirls his staff) I need no magic to fight with this weapon. (holds up one clenched fist) Or this one. Ged: (smashes a wall with his morningstar, in anger) Aaarrgh! The adventurers went through a quick inventory of their items, and were depressed further. Not only were all of their weapons, armor, and protective items now merely normal ones, but Mongo's portable hole would not open, thus preventing access to anything within. The same effect applied to all bags, pouches, and other magical containers. Also, the group had already run out of food, but now, the dwarf's cornucopia didn't work, so there was neither food nor water. Not a speck, not a drop. On top of all this, the party no longer had any means of healing themselves of damage. Much argument and bitching ensued, as tempers flared, stomachs began to growl, and wounds itched. Ged: (points to Peldor) This is all _your_ fault! You should have propped that door open! Peldor: Who, ME?!? Don't blame this mess on me! Ged: That's your job - to deal with doors and traps. Peldor: Bah. Don't bitch at me for Boccob's impotency. Ged: Grr...(he and Peldor begin to yell at each other) Belphanior: (thinking about slaying the grey elf in order to shut him up) Alindyar: (snaps at Lyra about something meaningless) Damn! Lyra: Don't cut an attitude with me, mister! (they begin to argue) Mongo: (smashing stones with his hammer, in frustration) Gods be damned! Hell! Shit! Fuck! Arnold: (dozing against one wall) Flint Firelips: (trying to talk to Mongo, unsuccessfully) Rillen: (getting fed up with all of this, he hefts his torch in one hand and his staff in the other, and begins walking down the tunnel) Later. Mongo: (stops smashing rocks for a moment and looks at the warrior) Hey! Where are you going? Ged: (also regards Rillen, who is already fifty feet away) Rillen: If you people want to sit around and argue and waste energy - not to mention valuable torches - then go ahead. I am going to do something productive. Find food, or water, or torches. I will do _something_, though. (turns away and resumes walking) Mongo: Fuck. (hitches up his belt and plods in the direction of Rillen) I'm with you. Flint Firelips: (silently follows Mongo) Yeah, me too! Ged: Aw...(he, and the others, one by one, gather their items and follow Rillen) Rillen: (muttering to himself) I love it when a plan comes together... -------------------------------------------------------------| A QUICK SUMMARY OF THE ADVENTURERS' WEAPONS AND SKILLS THAT MAY BE OF USE IN THIS ANTI-MAGIC SITUATION: Alindyar : staff; knowledge of Underdark and the monsters within; nigh-godlike intelligence Lyra : dagger; ancient languages & history; herbalism; healing Belphanior : longsword; thief skills; swimming; tumbling; hunting; set snares; fire building Ged : morningstar; seamanship skills; fishing; rope use Arnold : two-handed sword; swimming; climbing Mongo : hammer; mining; dwarven abilities; cooking Flint : battleaxe; ? Peldor : longsword; thief skills; appraisal; jumping; tightrope walking; swimming Rillen : quarterstaff; martial arts; swimming; running; tracking -------------------------------------------------------------| next time : "mere" ogres ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : I actually made versions of the character sheets which represented life in an anti-magic zone. They listed all magical items as normal ones. In some cases, the players didn't know what the things even were (e.g. a "gem" that used to be a "periapt".) I cheerfully suggest pulling this trick on any party which you DM - it really makes the players think. The challenges within the anti-magic zone were tailored to allow use of the adventurers' skills and abilities described above. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/18/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: afternoon + + Place: the Underdark + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXXVIII. Ogreland The party has become trapped in an area which negates all magic and magical effects. Forging ahead bravely, they are walking along the huge corridor that they have been in for several perilous miles. Ged: (muttering to himself) Damned anti-magic zone! I'll find whoever created it, and by Boccob, that person will feel my wrath... Peldor: (whistling merrily) What was that? Ged: Quiet, you idiot. Peldor: (begins pondering the variety of pockets and pouches in the elf's clothing, still whistling) Mongo: What's that ahead? Belphanior: Dunno, but it sort of looks like a band of ogres from here. (draws his now non-magical sword) Too bad for them. Rillen: Maybe they can tell us about this zone of no magic. Lyra: What's there to tell? We are within it, and may be on our way out of it. Only time will tell for certain. Mongo: (pats his hammer) Not just time. Also blood. And steel. Belphanior: You know, I couldn't agree more. Five hulking forms loomed in the darkness ahead - ogres! The large humanoids were well-armed and armored, wearing loose-fitting suits of chain mail and wielding gigantic swords and axes. ogre#1: Hey! (points to the party) We's been watching you for a bit now. Throw away yer weapons and come wit' us! Mongo: And just who the hell are you? The "no-magic ogre tribe" ? Ha-ha! Belphanior: (chuckling) Heh heh. That's a good one. ogre#1: (obviously the appointed leader of the group) We am the tribe of the Busted Head! (proudly holds up his huge shield - he is the only one of the five who has one) Rillen: Why do they talk about themselves that way? Arnold: Budsted heaaaaad. Mongo: I'll bust some heads, all right! Alindyar: Perhaps they have food and water which we could use. Ged: Perhaps they know a way out of this area. (hefts his morningstar) I sure hope so, anyway. ogre#1: Hey, no fair! We not got nothing for youse but swordses! (waves his sword meaningfully) You gots five seconds to serrender! (begins counting) One! Two! other ogres: (grin and babble to themselves as they fondle their weapons expectantly) ogre#1: Three! Uh...uh... Alindyar: (to Lyra) He can count no higher. Arnold: (sets his still-burning torch down) Mongo: Four! Ged: Five! (he charges the ogres, abreast with Mongo and the other fighters, pleased to at last have something to vent his considerable anger upon) For Boccob! Arnold: (slices an ogre, decapitating it with a mighty effort) Yah! (actually, he rolled a 20) ogre#5: (dies instantly) Mongo: Holy moley! What a blow! Arnold: (holds up the severed head and yells at the other four ogres) Ah-nold! (beats his chest in triumph) Belphanior: (manages to nick ogre#2 with a feeble blow) Damn! Outdone by a henchling! ogre#2: (swings at the elf, but misses - barely) Grunt. Rillen: (holding his torch in one hand, his staff in the other; looks at the torch disdainfully) I cannot fight while holding _this_. (turns to Alindyar) Here. Hold this for a second, would you? Alindyar: Verily. (grabs the torch, wincing at its glow) Rillen: Thanks. (leaps into the fray, punching an ogre in its unhelmeted head) Hi-yah! ogre#3: (head ringing) Ugh! Ged: (charges the amused ogre#1 madly) Boccob! ogre#1: (laughing) One elf? Whoa. (tries to duck the morningstar's swing, unsuccessfully, and gets clobbered) Ged: Yes! Boccob! Never underestimate a priest of Boccob, o smelly one. ogre#4: (dents Mongo's plate mail with its sword) Hunh. Mongo: (bashes the ogre in its genitals with his hammer, eliciting a cry of agony) Yeah! (dances in glee) ogre#4: (dances in pain) Belphanior: (slashes ogre#2 again, drawing blood) Hah! Rillen: (dodges his opponent's clumsy swing, and hits it in the head again) Ayieeeee! ogre#3: (its head caved in, dies) Blblblblb. Rillen: (wipes his hand on the ogre's dirty tunic) Ugh. And I thought this would be a no-brainer. Belphanior: What a blow you dealt him! Rillen: It is called the "iron fist". Belphanior: Uh-huh. (returns to his own melee) I can see why. ogre#1: (preparing to swing at Ged) I'll bust you up! Peldor: (backstabs ogre#1, wounding it badly) Peldor, oh Peldor, strikes again! (almost singing now) Ged: Argh! Peldor has stained the glory of my melee. Away, stupid thief! (takes a glancing hit from the ogre, and his side explodes in pain) Argh! Peldor: (taunts the ogre, to distract it from Ged) Hey ho, the ogres lick elf butts...(incorporates this line into his song) Elf butts, elf BUTTS, they lick... ogre#1: Argh! (rains a flurry of blows upon the thief) Flint Firelips: (joins Mongo, and hacks ogre#4 with his axe, felling it) These ogres suck! Mongo: Yeah. Thanks for the help though. Flint: Any time. We make a great team, you and I. (claps Mongo on the back) Mongo: Yeah, I suppose so. (they move to help Belphanior with his foe) Alindyar: (throws a dagger at ogre#2, but misses) Agh. I have become too reliant on my magic. Lyra: And I have, too. (doesn't even bother to get her dagger) Belphanior: (slashes ogre#2 again) Fall, you big lug! Mongo: (bashes ogre#2 from one flank) Ha! ogre#2: (dies) Flint: (wanders around with his axe, bumps into Arnold) Hi there, friend. Arnold: Hello. Whad habbened to all the ogres? Flint: They're almost mopped up, I'd reckon. Arnold: Mobbed up. Alindyar: Almost... Peldor: (fails to injure ogre#1 with his blow) How can it be? Peldor never misses. Not even as often as the sun falls from its lofty- Ged: Shut up! (bashes the ogre again, finishing it off with a mighty blow) Boccob! Peldor: See? We defeated it. The perfect combination of my sword, my lightning speed, my witty dialogue- Ged: And my blessed morningstar. Which will likely bonk you in the head soon, if you don't cease your prattle. Peldor: Bah. No appreciation for Peldor's skills. (he strolls away) What is the world coming to, anyway? Belphanior: (surveying the carnage) Excellent. No one from our party even got killed this time. Mongo: Well, what'd you expect? After all, they _were_ puny ogres. The ogres were found to have carried minor amounts of gold coins, but even this paltry treasure was taken, for the group's main stash was out of reach for now, locked within the nonfunctional portable hole. Who knew what use the coins might have later? More importantly, the five ogres also had modest amounts of smelly food, and stale wine. Most of the hungry and thirsty adventurers gulped these provisions down quickly (except for the two drow, and Ged, who were not hungry at the moment, but even then they did sip some of the wine). Belphanior and Mongo used the ogre's tunics, and one flask of oil, to fashion crude torches, which were made ready for the time when Arnold and Rillen's torches went out. Rillen saw faint tracks in the dirty tunnel floor, and traced them a short distance to a smooth area of the wall. Belphanior, suspecting a secret doorway, rounded up Peldor, and the two thieves began examining the wall for such a portal. Shortly, a section of wall swung out, swiveling on an axis and revealing a twenty-foot wide passage beyond. The intrepid adventurers walked into this new tunnel quietly. Rillen: (observing the twenty-foot ceiling in silence) Belphanior: (points to the walls about seventy feet away from the party) Look. Ged: Hmm. Spikes. (one ten-foot long section of the corridor ahead has foot-long spikes covering the walls to the left and right) Big spikes, too. Belphanior: Nasty. Rillen: Surely they do not think we will just walk into there. Do they? Lyra: "They?" Alindyar: You know, the intangible "they"... Peldor: Hold up. (gets down on his hands and knees and begins tapping the floor ahead) This looks too easy. Mongo: Pit traps? Peldor: Exactly. (suddenly, a ten-by-ten section of the floor drops down, revealing a twenty-foot deep pit with sharp spikes at the bottom) Aha! Belphanior: Yikes! Rillen: This is really the pits. Peldor found two more pit traps ahead, and sprung them. Since the pits were diagonal to each other, the adventurers were able to step over them without much trouble, and soon they had crossed to the other side. Peldor continued to check the floor ahead, but there were no more traps. The section of passage with the spiked walls did loom ahead, however... pivoting spiked walls entrance pits | | /\ | _--_ <--- door v / \ v | | __________________| | N _| ## ## `` | W+E |______##______,,__ | S | | |_ _| -- <--- door Peldor: I'm not too thrilled at the idea of walking in there. You know, the spikes and all... Belphanior: Then why bother? We have guinea pigs to use for this, anyway. (begins walking back the way they came) Flint Firelips: We do? Mongo: Where are you going? Belphanior: To get an ogre body. Alindyar: Of course! Why did I not think of that? Lyra: Don't ask me. Mongo: Hang on, I'll help. (puts his hammer away and plods after the elf) soon... Mongo: Ready? Belphanior: Yep. (on a three count, they toss one of the dead ogres into the section ahead) And a-WAY he goes! Not surprisingly, the deadly walls came together with a tremendous <SLAM>, somehow fitting together perfectly even with all the spikes. There was a sickening crunch, and in about five seconds, the walls slowly drew apart, exposing a large red stain on the spikes, and the floor. Belphanior: Well. That got him, didn't it? Ged: A terrible fate, even for an ogre. A terrible fate. Rillen: Not one that I would want to get stuck with today. Mongo: Maybe we could run through while the walls are pulling apart...? Ged: Yea, maybe. Are you volunteering? Mongo: No way! Peldor: Maybe it's operating on a floor trigger. (gets a big stone from his pouch) Belphanior: Hey, what are you carrying rocks around for? Peldor: Why ask why? (tosses the stone onto the floor ahead, and the walls slam together instantly, crushing it into powder) Hmm. Belphanior: Awfully sensitive trap, that. Mongo: You think we could jump across, or something? Peldor: Not you. You weigh too much. I, on the other hand, have consummate jumping skill, and am lightweight to boot. I think I could leap across without a problem. Mongo: Oh. Belphanior: Well...what are you waiting for? Peldor: (prepares himself, shedding all equipment except for his clothing and sword) Hm. Alindyar: Perhaps you could find a way to deactivate the trap, once you are across it. Peldor: Perhaps. (backs up, for a running start) Belphanior: Be careful, there. Peldor: Who, me? (runs forth and leaps across the area of spiked walls, landing gracefully on the far side) Mongo: Way to go, Peldor! Peldor: (looking around) Hmm. (spots a small lever on the wall around the left corner, out of sight of the party) Hmm. (returns to the sight of the others, and makes strange hand signs and gestures) Mongo: What the hell is he doing? Lyra: It sort of looks like he is trying to cast a spell. Ged: Who, that fool? Never in a million years could he learn even the most basic of mystical lore. Belphanior: No, it's thiefly sign language. He's saying that there are other doors nearby - one is ajar - we must keep quiet while he checks it out. Ged: Hmph. I should have known. Mongo: I can't just sit idly by while the thief risks his worthless hide! Belphanior: Shh! He needs quiet. Alindyar: Why? The trap made an exceedingly high amount of noise when we triggered it. Anyone beyond must surely know of our coming... Belphanior: Huh? Oh, yeah...shit! Peldor! (the thief is out of sight again, though) meanwhile... Peldor: (eager for treasure, he decides not to try the lever just yet, and moves to the slightly ajar door to the north, listening intently, but hearing nothing) Hmm. (he opens the door slowly) ogres: (four of them, heavily armed and armored, grinning at the thief) Hello there. Weren't thinking of surprising us, now were you? Peldor: Whoa! ogres: (charge the thief) Yaaaaaa! Peldor: Shit! (slams the door and runs back the way he came) Shit! (the lever on the wall springs into his thoughts, and he heroically yanks it) There was a low rumbling from behind the spiked walls, and the party would have liked to believe that the trap was now deactivated. Ged: But what if it isn't? Mongo: (bashes the floor ahead with his hammer, producing no effect) Looks okay to me. Peldor: (runs toward the party, four mean-looking ogres in pursuit) Aaaaaa! Mongo: Fuck! (hefts his weapon and runs across the previous trap) Hang on, Peldor! Rillen: (leaps into action, twirling his quarterstaff) Time to show these ogres why not to threaten a helpless thief. Peldor: Helpless?!? (backed up by the party, he bravely turns around and challenges the ogres with his sword) Ha! You fell into Peldor's trap perfectly! ogre#1: Huh? What the hell is he talking about? ogre#2: No talk! Smash! (they all charge) To make a short story even shorter, the adventurers quickly decimated the ogre troop. Rillen slew two this time, while the other two were beset by the combined might of Belphanior, Mongo, Flint, and Arnold. During the melee, Peldor, followed by the magi, checked out the door to the south. It led to an L-shaped area, which was empty but had another door at its far end. Listening at this door, the brave, skilled thief heard loud snoring; the door was left alone for now. Shortly after- ward, the other adventurers joined Peldor, and were quickly briefed on the situation - there seemed to be several sleeping foes in the next room. Surprise was a certainty... Peldor: In the face of such great odds, I hereby volunteer myself as a member of the attack team. Belphanior: I shall go too. If they are asleep, we ought to have no problem dealing with them. ____ __________ | | | other |____| | | ogre | | room _________| entrance |__ __| ________ | | | | vault | | |_.._| |___..___| v | | | | __________________| | |_.._| _| ## ## `` | | | |______##______,,__ | |_.._| | | | | |_.._| |_.._| N | | __| |__ W+E | |__ __| sleeping |__ ____ S | empty : ogre : to |_______|__ room __|__ lake... |__ __| |____| Peldor: (silently opens the door, revealing four very unfortunate ogres sleeping on the job) Belphanior: (motions Peldor to go in first, and then follows him) Ged: (follows Belphanior quietly) Peldor: (kills one sleeping ogre) Belphanior: (assassinates another) Peldor: (kills a third) ogre#4: (somehow wakes up) Zzzzz...Huh?!? Ged: Boccob! (bashes the surprised ogre over the head with his weapon, achieving a critical hit) ogre#4: (perishes) Peldor: Say, that ogre looked small and weak...a runt among its own kind, surely. Ged: Quiet, you. You seek to downplay all of my mighty accomplishments, but you shall not succeed. Peldor: Not I. (filches a few coins from the ogres' bodies) These ogres were poor, anyway. Meanwhile, for some unknown reason, Mongo, Rillen, Alindyar, Lyra, and Flint Firelips had gone back to the northern room, from whence the other four ogres had chased Peldor earlier. They bravely forged ahead, but were soon faced with a dead end. No secret doors could be found, and there was no treasure to be had here, so the five turned around and headed back toward the sleeping ogre room. meanwhile... Ged: (looks around) Where did those others go? Peldor: Who knows? Maybe they got sick of your babbling. Ged: Hah! You're one to talk! Belphanior: Actually, I think they went to check out another passage... Arnold: Another passadge. (looks around) Whidch of these two doors should we take next? Ged: (points to the northern door with his morningstar) Let's try that one. Ok? Belphanior: Sure. (finds no traps on the door, though it is locked) Peldor: (unlocks the door, and opens it, revealing a 20' x 20' room with another door to the north) Hmm. Belphanior: (checks this door, finding no traps) Clear. Peldor: (picks the lock, and opens the door, revealing yet another 20' x 20' room with a door to the north) Belphanior: Huh? Ged: What kind of foolery is this? (he and Arnold bob along behind the thieves) Arnold: Don'd worry. When we find the monsters, I - Ah-nold - shall be ready! (hefts his sword) Peldor: Oh, I feel safer already. After a series of three square rooms and three locked doors in their north walls, the foursome entered a vault to the north. This slightly larger room contained some treasure and weapons - a few hundred coins of gold, a few thousand of silver, six small gems, a large gem, three potion bottles (though they could not possibly work in this anti-magic zone), seven two-handed swords, sixteen large clubs, a huge bow, and a large quiver with eight oversized arrows. Greater than all of this treasure was a wooden box in one corner, though - it held four large bullseye lanterns, and twenty flasks of oil for them too! Peldor: All RIGHT! (holds up a lantern happily) Ged: Hmm. Arnold, check those swords to see if they might be unusual. After all, we can't just carry them all around. Arnold: Why not? Belphanior: (examining the bow and arrows) Rillen might be a better judge of these, but they seem to be made for ogre-sized users. Peldor: (examines the gems and potions) We'll keep this stuff, though. Ged: (looking over the thief's shoulder) Yea. Let's see here - that's seven gems, and three potions. See that you don't "lose" any of them. Peldor: Lose? Me? Nah. Shortly, they returned to the sleeping/dead ogre room, and went through the eastern door, after the thieves got it opened. Peldor suspected, and confirmed, a pit trap in the floor ahead, and leapt across. A niche in the wall on the far side contained a lever, which the thief pulled. A metal plate slid across the gaping pit, allowing safe crossing, and the four walked across, finding another big, locked door. It was opened to reveal a T-shaped section of corridor. Double doors stood both to the north and to the south. There was a commotion from behind them, and they turned to see Mongo and the others headed in their direction. The party reunited, and decided to check the northern door first. Belphanior: (checking) No traps. Peldor: Then...no lock, either. (picks the lock) Those dumb ogres. Can't build locks worth a flip. Mongo: Hey, the dwarves build the greatest locks in all the world. Everyone knows that. Peldor: Actually, it's the _thieves_ who- Belphanior: Shh. (opens the door, revealing a huge, dark cavern) Hmm. (the sound of lapping water is heard from the void ahead) My infravision reveals nothing. But... it isn't too accurate with all these torches around. Ged: Maybe we'd better light some of these lanterns. We'd get better illumination that way. Arnold: Yea! Soon, Arnold and Peldor held bright lanterns; the torches they had been using were put out in favor of the new, and better, light sources. They could now see that the cavern was about a hundred feet long, almost that wide, and about fifty feet high. It was almost totally covered with a lake of fresh, clean-smelling (and tasting) water. The party was standing on a stone outcropping next to the lake; there was no way to get across except by somehow crossing the dark waters. A small passage was barely visible on the opposite shore of the lake. Mongo: How in the hell are we going to get across that? Ged: We could swim...or maybe build a raft. Belphanior: Yeah, but we don't have the materials for a raft. At least not yet. Alindyar: Perhaps those tables from the ogre room could be utilized to construct a raft. Ged: Yea, maybe. (digging through his pack) Aha! (he pulls out some thin line and other small items) Time to rest, for now. Arnold: (regarding his liege) Whad's that stuff? Ged: Watch and see. The adventurers rested, and shortly Ged and Arnold were fishing happily in the underground lake. Belphanior soon joined them, and it wasn't long before the three had a pile of large, healthy-looking fish. Mongo built a small fire and began cooking the party's lunch. Meanwhile, Rillen and Peldor scouted the other door (the thief locked the door to the lake cavern behind him, for the main party's security). Behind this southern door, they found another huge cavern, containing a huge dinosaur skeleton and a single exit. They returned and informed the others of this, and while eating a delicious meal of fresh fish, the group decided to explore the other cave before worrying about crossing the lake. next time : various things that the ogres never found ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : . +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/18/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: late afternoon + + Place: the Underdark + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ LXXXIX. Hope Renewed The party is resting and eating lunch next to a large lake in an underground cavern. This cavern is part of an ogre complex which lies within the anti-magic zone that the group became trapped in previously. \_ (lake) _____/ |_.._| \___..___/ __| |__ | | _ __| sleeping |__ ________| | : ogre : : | _|__ room __|________| | |__ __| | | |____| | | | | |_.._| __/ \__ / \ (huge cavern w/dinosaur skeleton) The party had already decided to explore the southern cave first, rather than attempt to cross the lake, and so they entered that area shortly. Mongo: Wow. This is a _big_ cavern. Peldor: Do tell. Arnold: (points to a huge dinosaur skeleton in the center of the chamber) Whad's that? Ged: Looks like the bones of some huge, long-dead carnosaur. Mongo: I don't trust those bones. (begins smashing the hapless, bleached bones with his hammer, raising a lot of dust) Rillen: Yea. (joins the dwarf in his destructive mission) Arnold: (to Ged) Can I? Ged: Oh, go ahead. Arnold: Thanks! (dashes forth and begins demolishing a section of ribcage) Belphanior: What's the point? Alindyar: Indeed, why destroy fossils? Lyra: Maybe they have nothing better to do. Soon, the bones were no more, and the group continued on, finding a neatly carven square exit. This passage ended in a "T" after a short distance, and the adventurers took the right passage. It ended in another, smaller cavern; this one was about forty feet in diameter, and perhaps seventy in height. Nothing was visible from the party's location, so they opted to try the left passage of the "T". This one led into a winding, square passage, which made right turns at ever-smaller intervals. Mongo announced that the whole thing was slightly sloped, upward - the party was subtly ascending. Rillen: I had the feeling this was a crooked deal. But where will we end up? Ged: There's your answer, maybe - look. (points ahead, to an opening ahead) Mongo: What's this? (walks out onto what turns out to be a ledge, overlooking a a fifty- or sixty- foot drop) Hey! Isn't this... Peldor: Right you are, sir. This is the upper end of that same area we stood in five minutes ago. (looks downward) See the entrance there? Belphanior: Hmm. I guess it's good that we didn't waste time climbing the cliff face. Ged: Look across, there's a passage opposite us. Rillen: (gets on all fours at the edge of the cliff and examines something) I have found a tightrope. Peldor: Tightrope? Here? Ged: Fancy that. Rillen: Nevertheless, it _is_ a tightrope. Made of steel, I would guess. It is anchored in the stone here. Belphanior: Seems to be firmly anchored. We should cross it. Peldor: Indeed. Anybody have a staff that I can borrow? Alindyar: (holds out his staff) Verily. Peldor: (grasps the gnarled wooden staff) Hmm. No good, the balance is way off. Waaaaay off. How about yours, Rillen? Rillen: (reluctantly hands over his own quarterstaff) Be sure not to lose it. Peldor: (ignoring the comment) Ah, now _this_ is a finely balanced staff! (prepares to walk out onto the thin cable bridging the gap) Ged: What are you doing?!? Or should I even ask? Peldor: What does it look like? I'm going to walk across this tightrope. Mongo: We didn't know you could do that! Peldor: Of course not. But actually, I am an experienced walker of tightropes. And other fine lines. Ged: Oh. Well, good luck to you. Peldor: Yep. Here goes... Peldor used the staff to balance himself, and strode out onto the dangerous tightrope. Fortunately, his skills were as great as he claimed, and presently he was across the gap and out of sight. Ged: I wonder if he'll find any treasure? Mongo: I wonder if we'll see any of it, if he does find some. Rillen: All I know is, he had better bring back my staff. Meanwhile, Peldor ventured down a narrow passage, lantern lighting the way. The tunnel ended abruptly in a small room, roughly cut from the surrounding rock. Searching the place, the thief found a miniature chest, and checked it for traps before opening it. Within the container were a number of fine gems, shining in various hues under the lantern's light. Also in this cave was something of more interest to Peldor; a longsword rested in its sheath, up against one wall. The thief examined the weapon, deeming it to be of excellent quality, probably even magical once outside this anti-magic zone. He put the sword into his pack, grabbed the gems, made sure that this chamber had nothing else of interest, and then made his way back to the large, open area. He then re-crossed the tightrope, and rejoined the party. After they had all looked at the box of gems that Peldor brought back, the adventurers decided to return to the underground lake cavern and find a way to cross it. After much deliberation, all wood from the previous rooms was gathered, and Mongo provided nails and a hammer. Using these items, the party constructed a small raft. Though it seemed sturdy enough, the raft (mostly composed of a table top from one ogre room) proved useful only for equipment- carrying purposes - the weight of any of the adventurers, even Ged or Lyra, threatened to overturn it. Ged: Wonderful. (begins removing his clothes) Lyra: (looks away) gasp. Peldor: Hey! What are you up to? Ged: By Boccob, I shall _swim_ across this lake! (tosses his breeches aside, leaving him clad only scantily, and wades into the water) We've no more time for planning. Peldor: Nice underoos, there. Ged: (swims out with strong strokes; he is already almost halfway across) Arnold: (sheaths his sword behind his back, shucks his armor near Mongo, and dives into the water) Waaaaaait for me. Rillen: (removes most of his equipment, except his wooden quarterstaff, and follows the elf) I shall go, too. Mongo: Hmm. I guess _I_ can't go - my armor is too heavy for the raft. And anyway, I can't swim... Belphanior: (begins putting his weapons onto the raft as he prepares to follow Ged) Well, I can. Rillen: (doing backstrokes, he zips by Arnold) Arnold: Whaaaaaat? (continues swimming, undaunted) Peldor: (piles his stuff onto the raft, along with the possessions of Ged, Rillen, and Belphanior) I wouldn't miss out on this opportunity for the world. (he puts a lit lantern on the raft as well, and then swims out, pulling the small raft with him) Alindyar: Very well, we shall remain here. Mongo: Yeah. (he, Alindyar, Lyra, and Flint Firelips remain) We'll hold the fort, I guess. (begins looking warily at the door to this area) Better barricade that door. Just in case. meanwhile, on the far side of the lake... Ged: (emerges from the water) Well. Boccob knows, that was a mighty feat of bravado. It's a good thing that I am here to set the example. Rillen: (arrives on shore presently) Yes. Of course, it is also a good thing that there were no monsters in the water. Ged: Yea. Then, I'd have had to enter into battle with them. Arnold: (he and the two thieves show up soon after, with the little raft full of equipment) Yah. Shortly, the five adventurers got dressed and prepared to explore this new area. A narrow passage led away from the scant shore that the five now stood on. The other members of their group were barely visible across the lake. While Arnold held the lantern high, this contingent of the party moved into the passage and were soon out of the sight of the others. Belphanior: (in the lead, sword brandished) What's this ahead? (they come upon a steep cliff face, blocking any further progress along the tunnel) Ged: Hmm, a cliff. (looks up, but can't discern anything at the top) Looks about a hundred feet high, and awful steep... Peldor: No problem. (climbing tools begin to appear in his hands) Rillen: I think I can do it, too. (begins groping the steep cliff wall, looking for outcroppings) The rock face is wet and...slimy. I think that there is water flowing down, from above. It will be a tricky climb, at any rate. Belphanior: Hey, don't forget me. (prepares to climb as well) Ged: Gee, maybe I should try too... Arnold: Hmm. (starts eating a snack) Rillen got about ten feet up before he lost his grip and fell; fortunately, he was relatively unharmed. It took about fifteen seconds more for Belphanior to come tumbling down, but luckily, he survived the fall too. Undaunted, perhaps even inspired, Peldor climbed upward slowly, and after a few minutes, he disappeared from sight at the top of the cliff. A moment later, a long rope fished its way down to the others. Rillen: Hm. (grabs the rope and immediately begins to climb up) This should help. Ged: I suggest that we go up one at a time, to avoid stressing the rope. Arnold: Yah. About ten minutes later, they were all at the top of the cliff face, which was actually only eighty feet or so high. There was not much room to walk around, and a single, narrow tunnel led away. Belphanior led the way into this new passage; it wound and turned for a bit before ending in a small natural chamber. An old skeleton rested in here, an ivory scroll tube grasped in its long-dead hand. A trickle of water flowed from a tiny hole in the wall above the bony one, and went through its ribcage before continuing into the entry tunnel, and eventually over the cliff's edge. Rillen: That explains the wet cliff face. Ged: And the lake, even. Think of the water, over years and decades, perhaps even centuries... Arnold: What's dhis skeledon? Belphanior: Could it be...alive? Even in this zone of anti-magic? Ged: Possibly. Rillen: (readies himself to bash the skeleton, if it moves) Not for long. Peldor: (snatches the tube from the corpse, and opens it, revealing a scroll) What's this? Hey, I can't read it. No fair! Ged: Let me see that, you. (regards the scroll) Hmm. It's in ancient elven. Belphanior: (peering over Ged's shoulder) Well, I can't make any sense of it. Ged: Of course not. You're not a grey elf. Prepare yourselves, for I shall now decipher its meaning. (the last words of the skeleton above the lake) "Gods be damned. I had thought myself safely escaped, but it now seems to be no more than a trick. I do not think that THEY were able to track my flight to this hidden niche. I dare not try to descend, however, for I have grown weak, and have no means of healing myself. I fear that I shall perish in this cavern. Whosoever sets eyes upon this, I may yet be able to help you. The portal opposite that leading to the lake remained unexplored by our group - it may yet lead to an exit from this forsaken place. Anything is preferable to a dead end. Damn this zone of anti-magic! We learned that it was at its most potent in the prime passage, perhaps a thousand paces in the direction of the flayers' domain. This leads to the logical conclusion that, if that is the centre of the effect, then somewhere past this accursed complex lies the cessation of said effect. Of course, one never knows what foul denizens lurk there... I have heard rumors of three evil men who remained down here for so long that they became un-dead of supreme evil and power. In addition, a green wyrm of great size makes its lair nearby, for the beast snatched two of our number yesterday and made off with them as if they were flowers, to be plucked and eaten! Alas, I am losing more lifeblood as I write. I fear that I am not long for this world. I wish you better luck than we had. Signed, Philias Abbandarthiir Rillen: Sounds like a noble elf, indeed. Peldor: Hmm. Well, we know that the door opposite the lake's door is no good - it led to the winding tunnel and the tightrope. Ged: Are you sure that there were no exits that way? Peldor: Abosolutely. I checked everywhere. Belphanior: Three evil men, eh? Sounds intriguing. Ged: And we've almost certainly encountered that green dragon already...remember Rob? Arnold: (grimly) Yah. Rillen: The bony one's words seem to tell of a way out of the no-magic area. Ged: Yea...we'll just have to see. Belphanior: I think it's safe to search this chamber, then return to the others and confer with them. Ged: Agreed. They found nothing of interest here, and eventually descended the cliff and swam back across the lake, the small raft keeping their possessions dry. After they shared the tale of the scroll with the others, a rest break was taken, during which debate on the best course of action proceeded. Later, the adventurers departed this area, and the ogres' lair altogether, re-entering the main Underdark passage. No monsters presented themselves, so the party resumed travel in the direction they had been going previous to finding the ogres' lair. This time, they were able to march for a (comparitively) long time in the huge, dark passage without being attacked. It was only when they began to wonder if this area was deserted that the three gigantic scorpions appeared in the tunnel ahead. Belphanior: Look! Giant scorpions! Ged: Have a care. I cannot cast a spell to remove the poisons of monsters anymore. Alindyar: Verily. Some of our number may die here... Mongo: Well, everyone's time comes sooner or later. I say, meet death face-to-face! (he charges) Yaaaaaa! Rillen: I cannot argue with that. (he also heads for the foes, as does Belphanior) Ged: Come on, all! We have much better odds of victory if we use our numbers to our advantage! We've got to hit these things with everything we've got! The entire party rushed into battle. Who would live? Who would die? Only the fates knew for sure. scorpion#1: (swipes at Mongo and Flint Firelips with its claws, hitting Mongo and drawing some blood) Mongo: Argh! (bashes scorpion#1, causing it to reel) Take that, sucker! Flint Firelips: (hacks scorpion#1, inflicting a messy wound) For the dwarves! Lyra: (throws a dagger at scorpion#1, but misses) Ah, if I only had my spells...I would mop this sorry sack of drider dung up in a heartbeat. scorpion#1: (stings at Mongo, but doesn't penetrate his plate mail) Mongo: (hits the scorpion again, wounding it further) Geez, this is one tough scorpion! Belphanior: (slashes scorpion#2, slicing a paltry cut in its hide) Die, bug! Alindyar: (swipes at the thing with his staff, but his blow is ineffectual) Technically, 'tis not an insect, but rather... Belphanior: I know, I know! Quiet, there's battle to be done! (nicked by the sting of scorpion#2, but the poison doesn't get under his skin) Argh! scorpion#2: (misses Belphanior and Rillen with its two claw attacks) Rillen: (to Alindyar) Allow me to show you how it is done. (crushes one of the monster's limbs with a mighty blow of his staff) Alindyar: Hmm. Rillen: (hits the scorpion again, a minor blow) Alindyar: You were saying? Rillen: Hrumph. Ged: Boccob! (flails at scorpion#3 with his morningstar and draws blood) Yes! Arnold: Yeaaaaas. (hacks the scorpion, nearly cutting it in half) Yah! Oof! (gets backhanded [backclawed] by one of the scorpion's claws, and falls to his knees in pain) Aaa. Peldor: (tries to backstab the thing, but it stings at him suddenly, fortunately missing by a hairsbreadth) Huh? Ged: Good dodge there, Peldor! Peldor: Dodge? Oh, yeah. <WHAM> (gets hit by a claw attack) Whoaaaa...oof! Arnold: (gets up and chops the scorpion again) Daadge. scorpion#1: (stings Flint Firelips) Flint Firelips: Argh! (he stumbles about in pain for a few moments, then falls to the ground) Poison! Mongo: Huh?!? Hey, he's dead! DEAD! (rains blows upon the scorpion) You'll die for that, beast! Lyra: (watches as Mongo pulverizes the giant scorpion with his hammer) Yuck. Belphanior: (slashes scorpion#2, a great blow) Yeah! Rillen: (bashes the thing with his staff) scorpion#2: (claws at both of them, hitting both of them) Belphanior: Argh! (slashes the thing again, and it falls, dead) Ha! Alindyar: Excellent. How fare the others? Ged: (bravely dodges the sting of scorpion#3 and belts it in the head with his weapon, slaying it) Glory to Boccob's name! I stand triumphant! Arnold: Yah! Peldor: (stands up, dizzy) Huh? In the aftermath of the battle, many of the adventurers were wounded, and one lay slain - Flint Firelips, dead by poisoning. The others made a gurney for the body, intent on carrying it with them rather than leaving it in this place. Soon, wounds were bound, and the group continued onward, somewhat dismally. After perhaps ten minutes of marching, they began to notice a strange effect - magical auras were returning, slowly but surely! Overjoyed by this, the party hurried onward, and before long, they found that all magical powers and effects had returned! The party rejoiced, and decided to camp for the night (?) in a small side cavern that they conveniently found nearby. All spells had apparently been lost, but Ged figured that they would return after a night's prayer/studying and rest. Mongo and Belphanior constructed a crude barricade to shield the small cavern from the main tunnel. Although quarters were a bit cramped, there were no complaints, since no one wanted to spend the night outside in the passageway. Miraculously, nothing showed up to attack the party during the night, though they heard some irregular moans and wails during that time. Ged found that his full powers had indeed returned, and he wasted no time in casting spells of raising the dead and neutralizing poison upon the body of Flint Firelips. The dwarf's form stirred - he was alive once more! Due to his weak condition, the party decided to wait another day before moving out. This time, spells were used to form the camp's defenses, and everyone slept more soundly. In the morning, they made ready to continue along the big tunnel. next time : Escape! (but it won't be easy) ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : . +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/20/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: morning + + Place: the Underdark + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "Hey, nine is a lot of drow." + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ XC. Salvation The party is ready to move once more, after escaping the anti-magic zone, resting for a couple of days, and bringing Flint Firelips back from the dead. To summarize recent events, they have spent the last four days in a large, subterranean passageway, one section of the maze of caverns and tunnels comprising the Underdark. They have encountered, fought, and run from monsters both common and previously unknown. Though they have gained a good bit of treasure from their endeavors, the group has grown weary of the dangers here, such as lava traps and anti-magic zones. Mongo: (fuming) I hate this place. Alindyar: Aye, I concur. I once sought to escape this region, and upon doing so, I swore against returning. Lyra: Yet, here we are... Belphanior: Hey, _I_ like it here. The loot we have found has been good...and the magical items... Ged: Bah. Both Boccob and myself shall be most angry if we find another anti-magic zone. Peldor: (sharpening the new sword that no one has yet noticed him having) Ho-hum. Rillen: Bah. Enough talk. Let us be on our way. The group resumed their journey, walking along the big tunnel, which was illuminated by the eerie blue light of the fungi on the walls. After five minutes or so, they spotted a large, murky puddle of fluid ahead. Peldor: What the...? Ged: It's blocking the entire passage. Perhaps I shall evaporate it with a fiery spell of doom. Belphanior: Whatever it is, it's not water. Water isn't black. Mongo: (walks forward to investigate) Suddenly, the pile of thick fluid welled up, oozing into a gigantic shape in front of the adventurers. The vaguely humanoid form was fat and featureless, rather like a large baby. Mongo: Yaar! (hurls his hammer at the thing) Take that! thing: (unaffected by the blow - and the weapon sticks in its syrupy mass) Mongo: Hey! Belphanior: (charges the thing, and slashes a mighty blow at it) Huh? (his sword is held fast by the creature) Peldor: Hey, that thing looks like it's made out of tar. Ged: Boccob's bloody bones! A tar baby! Rillen: A sticky situation, this. Mongo: (stamping up and down) Dammit! It took my hammer! (begins looking for one of his other weapons) Belphanior: (ducks the clumsy blow of the tar baby) Blast it, someone! Ged: Yea. (points his wand at the thing) Everybody, get out of the way! Belphanior: (he and Mongo scatter) Ged: Now, you ebon infant...Axui! tar baby: (spontaneously combusts) Ged: Hah! Mongo: You can say that again. Ged: Okay, hah! Rillen: Look, the baby still approaches. tar baby: (its blazing form stumbles toward the party) Ged: It cannot be! Peldor: (hefts his meteorite, and uses his ring to send the rock whizzing toward the creature) So! tar baby: (belted in the head by the meteorite, pauses for a moment) Alindyar: (thinking about preparing an appropriate spell) tar baby: (falls to the ground, and melts into a flaming puddle) Ged: Ah, victory! Belphanior: (produces a wand) Peldor: (regains his meteorite, after all the tar on it has burned off) That showed him. Arnold: Taaaa baby. Belphanior: (points his wand at the flaming puddle and speaks some command word) The elf's wand belched forth a cone of white foam, and the stuff soon covered the tar baby's remains, dousing the flames. An unusual stench filled the air. Ged: Hey, why didn't you just let it burn? Belphanior: Aw, come on. It's dead. Besides...(recovers his longsword)...it was just a baby. Lyra: Albeit a lethal one. Mongo: Yeah. No argument from me. (recovers his hammer) Hmm. Good thing this hammer was forged by the dwarves. Otherwise it might have gotten melted. Alindyar: Behold, there in the corner. Treasure! Indeed, there was a large sack off to one side. The group quickly investigated, and found some treasure: a great number of golden coins, an iron rod, a scroll which only Ged could read, and a thin book, perhaps a spellbook. This loot was appropriated, and the party made ready to move on, noting with some fascination that none of its number had been injured in this battle. However, there was no relenting. Within a minute of leaving the tar baby's vicinity, the group beheld a huge oblong shape, rolling rather unevenly toward them. Rillen: What in the hell is that? Peldor: By the gods...it's a huge _jellybean_! Ged: What nonsense...Boccob. It is! (begins spellcasting) Arnold: Bean? The gigantic thing, some 30' in breadth and perhaps 20' in height, rolled incessantly toward the party, who saw fit to scatter. Ged: Nothing so stupid shall menace one of Boccob's loyal servants! (he casts a Lightning Bolt directly at the thing) There was a terrific noise, and the jellybean was knocked back about twenty feet, a smoking crater etched in its pale surface. Then, it began to roll once more, much more slowly this time... Ged: Boccob! Peldor: We're gonna need more than him to beat this thing. (becomes invisible...without touching his sword, though nobody notices) I'll backstab it when it rolls by. Belphanior: Me too. (since the bean seems fixed on Ged, who is standing in the center of the passage, he simply ducks to one side, and unsheathes his sword) I'll cut that thing into little tiny bits. Rillen: (looks at his staff hesitantly) I do not think this is the right weapon to fight the bean. Alindyar: I am amazed at the utter stupidity of this situation. A jellybean?!? Lyra: It would seem so. Maybe you should use a fireball. (they both begin spellcasting) Mongo: Hmph. (hurls his hammer at the thing, and the weapon buries itself inside the pale white mass) Oh hell! Not again! Flint Firelips: (readies his axe, intent on meeting the bean head-on, beside Ged and Arnold) Arnold: Don't worry, I'll chob it up for you. Ged: Whatever. (begins casting his next spell) jellybean: (rolls onward; the crushing of Ged and those near him is imminent) Ged: Everyone, behind me! (puts up a domed wall of force) The rolling white mass collided with the magical wall with great force. There was a sickening sound as the big jellybean hit the barrier and ricocheted directly upward. Belphanior: (looks up) Holy shit! (the jellybean hits the ceiling of the huge passage and rebounds, falling) Gangway! The gigantic jellybean fell from above, hitting the floor with a sickening <thud>, exploding and spraying white, smelly syrup everywhere. All was silent... Rillen: (pops up from a puddle of jellybean guts) Ptui! What is this thing? Peldor: (stands up, covered in gunk) Hmm. It sort of tastes like...coconut. Yum. (wipes some gunk out of his ears) Ged: (he, Arnold, and Flint Firelips are safe and dry inside the wall of force) Ha, ha. Haaaa! Mongo: (swims out of a mass of the stuff) Where's my hammer? Where's my friggin' hammer?!? After some time, those who were splattered with the "guts" were cleaned up, and Mongo found his hammer. A large, grey ovoid leaned against a wall about a hundred feet down the tunnel, noted by Peldor's ever-observant eye. Mongo: What the hell's this?!? (he storms toward the 6' high object) Ged: Hey, wait...you don't know what's in that thing! Mongo: Bah. (begins cursing loudly as he lifts the egg-thing) Fuckin' eggs and beans! (he hurls it into the wall, and it shatters, sending treasure everywhere) Hey, wow. Peldor: All right! Belphanior: Good job. Mongo: Hmm. Among the items released from the egg-shell were a silver morningstar, a silver jug, a sphere of amber, a jar of jellybeans, an iron goblet, a moldy old loaf of bread, and some copper pieces. The party collected the loot, and made ready to move onward. By now it was noon, and a lunch break was had. During this time, Ged spent several minutes communing with Boccob, seeking to learn when some exit from this tunnel would be found. He only divined that a great battle was ahead. Also, Ged and Alindyar debated whether or not a teleport would work to escape this region (the drow was convinced that such a spell would not work here.) After lunch, everyone packed their gear, and the march began anew. Perhaps half an hour later, a nearby presence was detected... Belphanior: Souls...I detect several souls. A large group. (casts Stoneskin upon himself) Peldor: Huh? I can't see a damned thing up ahead. Rillen: Maybe they are above, or behind...or below. Ged: We had best prepare for the worst. Lyra: Interesting statement. Ged: ...yea, it was. Hmm. Maybe I should cast Haste on everyone. Belphanior: Ahead...that's where they are. Look! (he points to several very shadowy forms in the dim area ahead) Mongo: (hefts his hammer) Peldor: Uh...don't look now, but I think they're drow elves. (squints) Yep, that's it, all right. Drow! Alindyar: Indeed? Ged, now would be a...strategic time to cast Haste. Ged: I couldn't agree more. (begins spellcasting) Belphanior: (readies himself) I spy, uh, nine of them. Peldor: Nine? (becomes invisible) Ged: (Hastes the party) Boccob aids you all. Rillen: (observes his blurred movements with interest) How...speedy. Mongo: What do they want, these drow? Alindyar: Who can know? But I would advise that we be ready for any trickery. The drow - most of them - are not known for their good graces. Peldor: Hey, look. They've spotted us. Ged: Of course they have. Lyra: They probably spotted us a long time ago... Belphanior: (yells to the drow, who are now perhaps a hundred feet distant) Greetings! (turns to the party and grins, obviously impressed with his own diplomatic finesse) drow: (they begin gesturing and muttering to each other excitedly) Arnold: Oh, shit. Alindyar: I think I can deduce their next step. (begins spellcasting) Suddenly, the entire party was cloaked in darkness! The sounds of spellcasting could be heard nearby, as the drow prepared to press their attack. Rillen: I can see nothing. Mongo: Damn! Alindyar: Hold. I am prepared to erase this blackness, but since these foes do not know this, I would suggest that everyone prepare to attack, when the light doth re-appear. Ged: Yea. Hear, hear. (prepares his wand) Mongo: Just get rid of the darkness. I'll handle the rest. Alindyar: Very well. (casts Dispel Magic, negating the darkness and revealing nine drow, most of them about thirty feet away) Behold! drow A (a female) : Iblith! Sarn! Sarn! Rillen: What is she saying? Lyra: She curses, and warns the others. (whirls, and casts a Lightning Bolt into the midst of the drow) Ged: Hey! Boccob was pre-empted! (points his wand in the drow's general direction) NDREK! (a wall of flame appears, and moves toward the drow relentlessly even as several of them cast their own spells) Belphanior: Nice one-two punch. (dashes to one side, his sword held high) Mongo: (leaps to one side clumsily as a bolt of acid hits him in the chest, sizzling as it eats his armor) Yagh! drow A : (waves her hand, and a dozen large spiders appear and scuttle toward the party) drow B : (her arms ignite in blasts of black flame, which burn the clothes off of her arms, but don't seem to hurt her) Ogglin! (she hurls a ball of black fire at Rillen) Rillen: (hit by the eldritch flames, he is seared) Aargh! Ged: (watches his flame wall advance upon the drow) All of the above events happened simultaneously (and also rather spectacularly, it might be added.) The lightning bolt and flame wall sizzled as they encountered the magic- resistant drow auras; Mongo and Rillen yelled in agony as they were burned by magical effects; the spiders ran about wildly, some being consumed by Ged's moving wall of flame. When the smoke, acid, and ozone cleared, the two groups, both damaged somewhat, squared off against each other. The whole scene A B C key F G H I A....F drow P/M B....F drow P D E * C....F drow M * D....M drow W * * E....M drow W F....F drow P Mongo Belphanior Rillen G....F drow P H....F drow M Arnold Flint I....F drow M * giant spiders Ged Lyra (Peldor = invisible) Alindyar Mongo: Hey, look, none of the dark elves got killed by your spells. Belphanior: Too bad, isn't it? Ged: Boccob. drow A : (begins spellcasting) drow B : (begins spellcasting) drow C : (brandishes a wand) Alindyar: (begins spellcasting) There is no time for delay - we must be efficient here! Rillen: (moving lightning-fast, he uses his staff to vault over the spiders, and attacks drow E) Peldor: (invisible somewhere, he dashes about silently) drow D : (whips out a bow and nocks arrows) drow E : (defends himself against Rillen, wielding a longsword) Belphanior: (leaps into action, attacking the spider nearest him) Ged: (begins spellcasting) Lyra: (begins spellcasting) drow F : (holds up a red rod with three 8' tentacles and strides toward Mongo) drow G : (holds up a similar rod, a yellow one, and joins her companion in assaulting the dwarf) Arnold: (moves to intercept drow G) Hey, no fair to gang up on Mondo! Mongo: (stomps toward drow F) What the hell is that stupid-looking thing, you crazy drow?!? Flint Firelips: (raises his axe and charges a spider) drow H : (holds up a black wand) drow I : (holds up a pale yellow wand) drow A : (casts a spherical wall of force around Ged, sealing him off from the world) Brorn, brorn. (she cackles in glee) Ged: Hey! Aaa! (pounds on the magical barrier, to no avail) You fu- (realizes that his spellcasting is wasted at this point, and begins cursing) drow B : (casts a Flame Strike upon Mongo) Xun! Mongo: (singed a bit) Hah! Stupid bitch! Good thing I'm wearing a ring of fire resistance! (hurls his hammer at drow B, scoring a hit) Take that! drow B : Aie! (she stumbles with the force of the dwarf's blow) drow C : (waving a strange wand, she mutters some words of command, and a small gray blob shoots out of the wand toward Mongo) Mongo: Yah! (tries to dodge as he catches his hammer; the glob of stuff hits his feet and pins them to the ground) Huh? drow C : Ultrinnan! Mongo: Shit. (tries to walk away, but can't - he is held fast...fortunately, he was in a stable stance and isn't really in danger of falling down) Fuck! Fuck this! (hurls his hammer again, beaning drow C this time) drow C : Urgh! (recoils) Alindyar: (casts a Web upon drow C, H, and I) How does that grab you? drow C : (held fast, she curses) Igglith! drow H : (held fast, tries to begin spellcasting but can't) Malla ogglin. drow I : (held somewhat, points her wand at the webs holding her, and a ball of acid begins dissolving the webs) Heh. Rillen: (pummels drow E relentlessly with his staff) Put that sword away, fool, for the staff is a far better weapon. See? (whacks the drow again) drow E : Usstan tlu alur. (speaks a command word, and his sword flashes with unnatural speed as he slashes at Rillen) drow D : (fires arrows at Mongo and Belphanior, at an alarming rate) Fah! Belphanior: (slices a spider) Shit, this is no fun. I want to fight a _drow_! Ged: (fumes in his sphere of force, thinking of a spell to get him out) Lyra: (casts Magic Missile, blasting drow A, B, F, and G with one missile each) drow A : Ogglin faern! Darthiir...! Rillen: (continues to trade lightning-fast blows with drow E, in a blurred dance of death) drow I : (frees herself from the webs, though the acid has eaten part of her boots, and works to free the other two drow) Peldor: (invisible, he backstabs drow B with an extremely well-placed blow, and becomes visible) Take that! drow B : Gak! (falls, her spine severed by the blow) drow A : Sarn! Velkyn! Peldor: Whatever you say, babe. (he closes with the very much infuriated drow A) drow A : (pulls out a large rod, with seven tentacles - purple, red, yellow, amber, black, jade, and violet) Peldor: Oh shit. drow F : (whips Mongo with her red-tentacled rod) Elgg! Mongo: (hit by two of the flailing things) Argh! You'll pay for that! Just 'cause I'm stuck in this spot doesn't mean I can't fight! (hurls his hammer at drow F, twice in rapid succession, breaking some bones) drow F : Argh. (shudders in pain) Elgg! (prepares to attack again) drow G : (whips Arnold with her own, yellow tentacled rod) Arnold: (hit by all three tentacles, he is magically dazed from his wounds) Aaaaaa. (stumbles as he tries to fight the drow near him) drow G : (chuckles, and prepares to flail Arnold again) Belphanior: (makes mincemeat out of his spider, and moves toward drow D) Arnold: Aaaaa. (even dazed, he swings his sword in a deadly arc, slaying drow G with two powerful blows) Aaa. (stumbles about, still dazed) drow G : (falls, her head cloven down to the sternum) Ged: (stuck inside the sphere of force, quietly notes Arnold's mightiness) Flint Firelips: (quietly, yet efficiently dispatches two spiders with his deadly axe and hasted speed) Damn drow scum! A Peldor C H F I Mongo Arnold D E Belphanior Rillen * Flint Lyra Ged Alindyar (Ged in sphere/wall of force; drow C, H in webs) Peldor: (slashes at drow A, but misses...barely) drow A : Elgg! (she whips the thief with her tentacle rod) Elgg, wael! Peldor: (hit by _five_ of the seven tentacles on the rod, suffers strange magical effects) Argh! I can't see! I can't hear! I can't FEEL anything! (falls to the floor from both the severity of his wounds and the aforementioned effects, and begins wailing) Aie! Aiiiiiiiieeeeeeee! drow A : (moves in to finish Peldor) Wael... drow I : (taunts Arnold while waving her tentacled rod) Arnold: (still dazed, but also furious, charges drow I while screaming in rage) YaaaaaaAAAAAAA! drow I : Whaiee..! (dodges one blow, but gets cut by another, interrupting her efforts to free her webbed companions, drow C and H) drow C : (curses at drow I for becoming distracted) Ged: Aha! (begins spellcasting) drow I : (fires an acid glob at Arnold, point-blank) Arnold: AAAAARGH! (dances in pain) drow I : (returns to her efforts to free her companions from the web) Arnold: (ignores the pain, and slashes drow I, slaying her with a heroic effort) Argh. (falls to the floor, the acid still at work upon him and his armor) drow F : (whips Mongo, this time hitting with all three tentacles, and shrieks in triumph) Mongo: Wha- YARGH! (his left arm suddenly loses all its strength) What the HELL did you do to me?!? drow F : (cackles in glee) Jivvin, jivvin! Mongo: Damn it! (he hefts his hammer in his right hand, and hurls it right at the grinning drow) Go fuck yourself, scum! drow F : Nau! (she falls, her head crushed by the blow) Mongo: Stupid @%#$&*! (begins grumbling and looking for another target, since his feet are stuck to the floor and he can't move about) Huh?!? (spots drow A about to finish Peldor off) Hey! (hurls his hammer at the female drow, knocking her over) Stay away from Peldor, bitch! Peldor: (wallows ungratefully on the floor, in pain and confusion) drow D : (tosses his bow away frantically, since he is now being menaced by Belphanior) Belphanior: (stabs the drow) Take that! (stabs him once more) And that! drow D : (weakly tries to parry the attacks) Belphanior: (presses his offensive) Rillen: (bashes drow E again, breaking more bones) What speed! It has been a long time since I have fought one who rivaled my attacks! drow E : (bloody and bruised, like Rillen, he slashes at the warrior again, drawing another line of blood as the adventurer ducks) Rillen: Whew! (feels the fresh wound on his neck) That was too close. Talk about sticking your neck out... giant spider: (bites at Flint Firelips, but can't punch through the dwarf's armor) Hsss! Flint Firelips: (demolishes the spider with several blows of his axe) Bah! (heads for drow C and H, trapped as they are in the webs nearby) drow C : Nau! (hastily begins trying to cast a spell to get out of the webs) Ged: (casts Teleportation, and blinks out of the wall of force, though nobody really notices) Lyra: (casts a Wall of Ice around drow A, blocking her off from the combat) That ought to slow her down... Peldor: (continues to writhe on the ground) Arnold: (likewise) Flint Firelips: (produces a torch, and sets fire to the webs holding drow C and H) So much for you two. drow C : (as the webs around her go up in flames, she casts a Cone of Cold in a final act of attrition; the magical bolt hits Flint square in the chest and goes on to blast Rillen, the unfortunate drow E, Alindyar, and Lyra) Pfugth! (ignites, and begins to scream, as does the other drow in the webs) Flint Firelips: Argh! (falls, comatose and frozen, perhaps even dead) drow E : (his magic resistance saves him from the cone of cold, but he staggers under its sheer physical force) Rillen: (blasted fully by the spell, he falls) Alindyar: What-? (falls as well, buried in a pile of ice and snow) Lyra: (likewise) drow E : (looks around, pleased, and silently bows to the blazing drow C as he moves to decapitate Rillen) Mongo: (still rooted to the spot, he has become very angry) Son of a f- (hurls his hammer at the unmanly drow E, but misses) Damn! drow E : (momentarily distracted) Belphanior: (slays drow D with a herculean blow) Ah! (absorbs the warrior's life energy through his sword) Aaaaaah. Mongo: (catches his hammer, then hurls it once more, at drow E) Keep your fuckin' hands off of him! drow E : (hit by the weapon, his head is smeared away, and he falls) Urg... Mongo: Friggin' drow. (catches his hammer, and looks around at the decimated remains of both parties) Shit...(everyone has fallen, except for himself, and the drow within the ice wall, and...) < There was an incredible explosion, as the ice wall shattered from some mighty force... > drow A : (levitates into the air, looking extremely pissed) Xun dos elgg! (she points at Belphanior and speaks a word of power) Belphanior: (instantly falls to the ground) drow A : Xun dos ELGG!!! Ged: (standing behind the drow leader) Not if _I_ can help it! drow A : (whirls about, and begins spellcasting anew) Ged: (casting his own spell) Boccob has spoken to me, foul one! You must be defeated! drow A : Fah! (casts Feeblemind upon Ged) Bspa! Ged: Uh...(due to his priestly skills, and his high Wisdom, he barely resists the powerful spell) You vile miscreant! It shall take more than THAT to get rid of me! drow A : (brandishes her rod, the tentacles waving like evil snakes) Ssss... Ged: (casts Evard's Black Tentacles upon the drow) drow A : Yie! (eleven black, writhing tentacles surround her) Ged: You shall be defeated, foul one! Boccob has spoken! drow A : (begins laughing, as the tentacles begin dissolving) BWA HA HA! Ged: Shit! (whips out his magical morningstar and faces off against the drow and her tentacle rod) Spells are useless against this scum. I'll have to resort to physical violence. drow A : (stalks Ged, her rod's waving tentacles flailing about) Usstan ultrin! Mongo: (chooses this moment to hurl his hammer at the drow matron) Ahh, shaddup! drow A : ARGH! (hit in the arm by the weapon) Ged: Yea Mongo! Mongo: (catches his hammer, and gets a few more shots off in the heat of the monent, hitting with one more while missing with two) Yah! drow A : (immediately whips Mongo with her rod, scoring six hits with the seven tentacles and opening terrible bloody wounds on the dwarf's form) Heh heh. Mongo: YEARRRGH! (he is suddenly robbed of his sight, smell, and touch, and sinks to his knees from the agony of his wounds) drow A : (gloats silently, and turns to face Ged) Ged: (wallops the matron in the head with his morningstar, knocking her from her feet) That's for Mongo! drow A : (recoils, stunned) Ged: And this is for everyone else! And for Boccob! (smashes his foe with his weapon) drow A : (finally dies, cursing Ged loudly as she does so) Glk... Ged: Whew! Boccob! (turns to survey the carnage) Holy shit... The elven mage-priest wandered around purposefully, casting healing spells as needed. Peldor and Arnold were alive, though badly wounded. The same could be said for Flint and Rillen. In fact, the same could be said for everyone, though the two drow were quite unconscious from the cold, and Mongo and Peldor were at least temporarily deprived of some of their senses. Ged used wine to dissolve the gunk holding Mongo's feet, and the dwarf fell to the ground in relief. Belphanior was merely stunned, and got up after a short time. Ged kept his fire wand handy, in case anything or anyone tried to overwhelm the wounded party, but nobody showed up to test his power. In short order, Peldor and Mongo regained their senses, and at this point, Mongo used his magical rod of healing to bring the two drow back to consciousness, and to heal some of the others who were more seriously wounded (Mongo insisted that his own wounds were not that serious, although it was obvious that he was lying.) Shortly, the party was in such a state of readiness that they searched the drow bodies, or what was left of them. Many magical items were recovered... 6 x drow chain mail armor 5 x drow shields 2 x drow longswords 2 x drow maces 9 x drow daggers 9 x drow cloaks (two slightly charred) 9 x pairs of drow boots (two slightly charred) yellow lesser tentacle rod red lesser tentacle rod amber greater tentacle rod master tentacle rod four identical black rings wand of viscid globs finely crafted longbow bracers wand wand of acidic spheres small sack ring Needless to say, much debate ensued... Alindyar: Hmm. The weapons and armor, 'tis sure, cannot withstand the radiations of your sun, above. Mongo: Why's that? Alindyar: The peculiar properties of the Underdark... Belphanior: Bah. What about the other stuff? Lyra: We cannot know yet. Anything of underdark make will most likely become useless outside of here. Ged: So? So we take everything up and see what works and what doesn't. Simple enough. Rillen: (examining the longbow) Hmm. This does not look like it was made by elves. Alindyar: (wanders over and takes a look at the bow) Indeed. 'Tis is no drow weapon, this. Belphanior: What about the tentacle rods? Those seem like they'd come in handy. Alindyar: Such rods are innately evil. Only priests of evil may make successful use of them. Belphanior: Darn. Lyra: These four black rings are control rings, used by such priests to wield the rods properly. Ged: So...we destroy the stuff we can't use, yes? Mongo: Sounds good to me. Alindyar: Hmm. Belphanior: What a waste. Alindyar: The items may prove difficult to destroy. Lyra: They're usually incredibly resistant to harm. Mongo: (ambles away and begins piling drow bodies up) Hey, I say just toss the shit on top of the carcasses and torch the whole thing. Ged: Yea. I'll use my wand. Ten minutes later, Ged ignited the whole pile of drow bodies and the arms, armor, and items deemed useless or unusable for the party. As everything burned, Rillen noticed that the smoke wasn't filling the tunnel as it should - it was escaping somewhere. Rillen: Maybe there is a way to the surface nearby. Ged: Maybe they have a lair nearby. Their spellbooks have to be around here somewhere. Alindyar: Spellbooks? Belphanior: Yes, drow spellbooks would sure be nice to have. Mongo: Bah! Who cares for such mummery and crap? I say we go onward. Only then can we find the way out. The adventurers realized that they needed to rest for a few days or so, and began looking for appropriate areas to rest in. Since no side passages presented themselves, the group forged on. Five minutes later, they came upon a large open area, an intersection of passages similar to theirs. There were seven such passages in all; all of these were about the same size. In the center of this intersection was a huge, twenty-foot tall column of skulls and bones. Into each of the seven tunnels pointed one large skeletal hand of the column-thing; crude signs were hung from the seven bony arms. As the signs were in a language that few in the party could read, Alindyar and Lyra read them aloud to the whole group. Alindyar: Hmm. The way from which we just came says, "Nine Hells, 85 leagues"...fascinating. Lyra: Next to that is, "Skeva Ra, City of Vampyres, 5 leagues" Rillen: Sounds like a place for suckers. Alindyar: Mayhaps. The next sign reads, "Vrek Waxen, Liche Lorde, 1 league-" Mongo: At least we know he's close. Lyra: - and after that is, "Skull Gate, Flayer Town, 7 leagues" Ged: Great. Flint Firelips: Mind flayers?!? I'l _smash_ them! Alindyar: Next is, "Abaethaggar, 103 leagues"... Belphanior: Never heard of it. Let's go that way. Lyra: Nay. That is a drow city. Peldor: Drow _city_? Alindyar: Aye. Perhaps ten thousand dark elves. Mongo: That's too many. What else is there? Lyra: Hmm. "Wraith Lords Three" is next. Peldor: No distance given? Lyra: What, do you think that everyone who makes these signposts knows all? Peldor: Uh... Ged: Wraith lords, eh? I wonder if I could turn them? Peldor: Let's not be overconfident, here. Alindyar: Last among the seven ways is this: "He who watches, 13 leagues" Methinks it refers to a beholder. Rillen: A what? Alindyar: A huge floating sphere with numerous eyes, all of which bear deadly spell-like powers. Rillen: Oh. Sounds like something to see. Ged: Well...which way did those drow come from? Alindyar: Hmm. I do not think that any drow scouting party would be found 103 leagues from their city. Lyra: Maybe they were wandering far from home. Peldor: Yeah. Or maybe they got here through some other passage that we didn't find. Belphanior: I say we go back to the ol' bonfire and check for hidden exits. Ged: I agree. Even if we don't find an exit, we might find a hidden side passage that we could use to rest in. Peldor: Yeah, time to lick our wounds. Alindyar: I concur. 'Twould be wise. Ged: Yea. None of these other options sound like ones we want to pursue... Alindyar: Verily. The party walked back to the blazing fire, where the smoke continued to vanish, seemingly into the walls of the colossal tunnel. Belphanior: Hmm. Where to look first? Mongo: Who knows? We'll just have to do the best we can. Peldor: (looks up suddenly, and heads for a section of the tunnel wall) Ged: Hey, where's he going? Belphanior: Maybe he found something. Come on. (goes over to the area where Peldor is tapping the wall with his sword) Peldor: (prods and pokes a section of wall for a bit, then slides it open) Look, everybody, I've found a secret tunnel. Mongo: What's that? Ged: Ah, so you have. The group entered the narrow secret passage, and soon found that it led upward, albeit steeply. A draft of fresh air could be felt from somewhere ahead. After about ten minutes of squeezing through the tunnel, light was visible from up ahead. Ged: Sunlight! Alindyar: (covers his eyes) Ow. So it is, so it is... Rillen: The open sky! The group emerged from a small crevice within a rugged mountain face. The crack in the mountain was well-hidden from view by some scrubby bushes. The smell of the open air and the mountainside flora was a great relief to all of the adventurers. Ged: Let's move away from this accursed cave and find a road or trail. Rillen: Good idea. Belphanior: (decides that the party wouldn't want to go back down and challenge the city of vampires, or the beholder, or even the lich lord) Ah, what the hell? Let's get out of here. Mongo: Yeah! (he leads the party in doing so) The group headed down the mountain slope for hours, until a trail was found. At this point, it was late afternoon, so they found a campsite near the trail and made camp. Rest, relaxation, and food were enjoyed by all, and eventually the magical items were piled up in the center of camp. Ged and Alindyar used Identify spells to help give the party an idea of the loot they were all about to split. Even though many of the party members were sorely wounded, they wanted to split the items at this very moment. THE MAGIC ITEM PICKS (items listed in approximate order of their discovery) : non-Drow items potion of extra-healing - Flint potion of extra-healing - Lyra potion of longevity - Arnold rod - Rillen scroll of priest spells - Ged thin mage spellbook - Lyra silver morningstar - Ged jug of anti-poison - Mongo amber sphere w/bee - Mongo Drow items wand of viscid globs - Alindyar finely crafted longbow - Rillen bracers - Flint wand of darkness - Peldor wand of acidic spheres - Belphanior small sack of holding - Alindyar ring - Arnold Arnold immediately used his new potion to reverse the evil aging that he had suffered in a recent adventure. The others drooled over their new treasures, especially the drow treasures. Belphanior, who had secreted one drow cloak and pair of boots just to see if the myths were true, was disappointed to watch the drow garments begin to unravel and decay already. The party camped for the night after setting up some traps and deciding upon a watch order. It was decided that they would rest here for two days, to regain their full strength and faculties. next time : the long trek to civilization ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : Okay. You demanded it, so here it is...the Adventurers' magic item list! (drum roll...) DISCLAIMER#1 : The following list is for reference purposes only. Any attempt to use it to question the stories will probably be ignored :) DISCLAIMER#2 : This was indeed a high-magic campaign. The Adventurers' magical inventories as of episode #90: * denotes unique & very powerful items or pseudo-artifacts Alindyar, 11th level drow mage [20 Intelligence] [cursed to always have -3 on saves vs petrification] cloak of protection +4 staff of striking ring of human influence wand of viscous globs bag of holding horn of fog Lyra, 7th level female drow mage cloak of protection +3 blanket of warmth thin mage spellbook 2 potions of extra-healing Belphanior, 8th/8th/9th level high elf warrior/mage/thief [has permanent intimidation effect & red eyes due to potion] Blackrazor * longsword +1 (luck blade, one wish left) quiver of Ehlonna 13 arrows +2 bracers ac4 staff of power wand of acidic spheres well of many worlds boots & cloak of elvenkind folding boat cube of force dice of chaos ring of wizardry periapt of proof vs. poison wand of foam Flask of curses potion of undead control potion of skeleton control potion of super-heroism potion of speed potion of poison Ged, 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage of Boccob [19 Wisdom] morningstar +4 (Lightbringer) * morningstar +3 sling +2, of seeking chain mail +2 wand of colorless fire * wand of conjuration libram of silver magic ring of shooting stars ring of spell turning torus/talisman of pure good belt vs. normal missiles Boccob's Blessed Book manual of golems (stone) figurines (golden lions) harmonica of gravity scroll of priest spells Arnold, 7th level human barbarian warrior [hair & skin green due to recent breathing of strange gas] 2-handed sword +2 plate mail +3 boots of ? ring of anti-venom potion of water breathing Mongo Thunderhead, 9th level dwarven warrior [19 Constitution] hammer +4, dwarven thrower longsword +3 crossbow of speed 11 bolts +2 plate mail +3 shield +1 girdle of fire giant strength helm of life ring of fire resistance (actually Fire Elemental Control) ring of regeneration portable hole chime of opening necklace of adaption amber bee of feather falling bowl of boiling cadeucus * hell cube * cornucopia of endless food * jug of extra-healing x5 jug of anti-poison x3 Peldor, 12th level human thief [has permanent persuasiveness effect due to potion] [also has 18 Chr due to deck of many things card] longsword * short sword +1 (of Lyons) two daggers +3 of throwing leather armor +2 cloak +2 ring of telekinesis ring vs. insects eyes of the eagle luckstone rope of climbing hat of disguise boots of striding and springing adamantine meteorite pouch of accessibility everburning green torch bell of healing shield (traded to Belphanior later) FEATHERS * <see footnote below!> wand of darkness potion of longevity potion of extra-healing potion of flying potion of treasure finding potion of feather falling Rillen, 9th level human monk/warrior quarterstaff +3 longbow +3, of doubling longbow +2 red & black sling stones bracers ac3 robes of protection +4 boots of speed gloves of missile snaring ring of djinni summoning ring of feather falling bronze horn of Valhalla wand of illumination Laertes' ointment rod of inertia potion of stone giant strength feather footnote The ten tail feathers of the "jub-jub bird" were intended to be split amongst the party, as each conferred some useful power/ability upon its owner. However, only Peldor thought to take them, thus he got all ten. Each of the feathers has some magical power or property; after some owner has had a particular feather for nine days straight, the item vanishes from physical existence. The owner will find a small tattoo on his person, a feather tattoo of the color that his or her feather was. Henceforth, the powers of the feather are his or hers to command. And they are: white.........feather falling silver........invisibility (as the ring) yellow........regeneration (as the ring) orange........+3 on saves red...........fire resistance (as the ring) green.........+3 protection gold..........wish (1/year) blue..........cold resistance purple........haste (3/day) black.........poison resistance +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++