Adventure 9

Test of the Warlords



Session One - Norwold


Barely half a year had passed since the end of the War of the Master. Darokin was still recovering from the toll the war had taken in this nation, and control of Selenica was still being disputed by Ylaruam, though Emir Ali Ben Faisal's popularity with the Ylari was very low. Lithanor, Morgan, Klaus and Gandi all returned to rebuilding and reforming their dominions of Dorneryll and Ardelphia. Mazaramus had been busy repairing and rebuilding some of the airships that he had salvaged after the Battle of Sayr Ulan. Sneaky chose to explore the Ethengar Khanate, learning what she could of the 'princess' that had disappeared at a young age from the court of the Great Khan. Several rumours about who she was and what happened to her were heard, though one that especially intrigued her, and probably the most fanciful, was that this princess had been swapped at a young age by faerie folk - a changeling - but then the faerie princess had left at a young age to seek her own realms.

The six heroes each received a letter, inviting them to come to the city of Alpha in the northern realm of Norwold at the time of the spring festival in that year of 1010. The newly appointed king of Norwold, King Ericall (and son of Empress Eriadna the Wise of Alphatia) was seeking highly skilled adventurers to help settle the lands. Mazaramus and Sneaky had been expecting this, as Emperor Thincol of Thyatis suspected that the Alphatians had their eye on Norwold and could use it as a further expansion of their empire, greatly undermining that of the Thyatian Empire.

Mazaramus and Sneaky had sworn to aid Emperor Thincol and answer the call by King Ericall when the time came. Lithanor was intrigued with the idea of setting up a second dominion, leaving Dorneryll in the capable hands of his family. Morgan appointed a seneschal to watch over Ardelphia in his absence whilst he too, along with Klaus and Gandi, went north to answer the call.

In the spring of 1010 AC, the six heroes attended the festival being held by King Ericall. They had the chance to meet several other characters of notable power and influence, who had also answered the call to settle and establish dominions in Norwold, Sir Ernest Day, Rutger Dag, Sandralane of Glantri, Allisa Patrician, and many others. The King reiterated his proposal, that those here were to be offered dominions in Norwold, on the condition that they swore fealty to King Ericall, that they paid all taxes due, and sword to have no loyalty or ties to the Empire of Thyatis.

The last condition would seem to be something of a problem to Mazaramus and Sneaky, who had come to Norwold at the behest of Emperor Thincol to keep Ericall in check and assist Thyatis in the event of war. Mazaramus went to his guest quarters and performed a Contact Outer Plane to find out of there was a way out of his dilemma. He discovered that the pact with Thincol would be virtually impossible to break, and would incur the wrath of Ziyuss if he betrayed Thyatis. Betrayed Ericall, on the other hand, would mean his expulsion and exile from Norwold, unless Ericall was deposed. The spell took a great toll on his sanity, and only the intervention of Klaus with a Cureall spell was the mage restored to (almost) normality. As it was, he was convinced that King Ericall was harbouring one of the Seven Portals somewhere within his palace.

Sneaky decided that she would not mention anything about her oath to Emperor Thincol, and try to keep a low profile should war break out.

The heroes chose their lands (having explored the region somewhat in the previous months) and swore fealty to King Ericall of Norwold. Mazaramus and Gandi chose to settle near a strange pair of volcanoes known as the Arch of Fire, which were actually gates to the Elemental Plane of Fire, one inbound, the other outbound. Lithanor chose a realm close to the Wyrmsteeth Mountains, because...dragons. Sneaky found a quiet little place by a river, though none of the other party members saw the place and she spoke little about it. The party noticed, however, that after returning from her realm, she seemed vibrant, refreshed and with a strange look of contentment on her face. Morgan and Klaus both chose more central areas, within a few hundred miles of the city of Alpha.

It was close to summer when Mazaramus strange things began to happen in Mazaramus realm. He had been having strange visions (an after-effect of his Contact Outer Plane spell earlier in the year) that the populations of Norwold, and Alpha in particular, were being taken over by the bhuts, the very same creatures that had taken over the monastery at the entrance to the Great Pass to Hule. He paid a visit to the miner's village that had sprung up near his tower. Several prospectors had set up the village, hoping to make finds of rare minerals near the twin volcanoes. On his arrival, he found that the villagers were in a state of distress, and a small band of prospectors had recently returned, looks of abject terror on their faces.

Mazaramus questioned the villagers about what was going on. The prospectors had found a cave and explored it in the hope of finding mineral deposits. They had ventured a short way inside when some unspeakable horror snatched up most of the prospectors, the remaining few fleeing for their lives and barely managing to escape. Whether those that were left behind were still alive or not was unknown, but the prospectors feared the worst. Mazaramus decided that he would find this cave, along with Gandi whose own dominion was close by, and find out what this unnatural evil was.

Several weeks prior, Sneaky had a vision. The red-eyed mage was in trouble and needed her help. She set out from her glade and headed northwards towards Mazaramus realm. Lithanor was visited by an unseen presence, a high-pitched voice that spoke to him and imparted a message from Sneaky. Lithanor recognised that this was a pixie, though was bemused by the connection with Sneaky.
Morgan received a telepathic message telling him to go to the aid of Mazaramus. Occasionally, Morgan would get these impressions from a kind of sixth sense he had inherited from his adventures in Castle Amber. He sent a messenger to Klaus to meet up with him and together they forth to answer this call.

And so it was that the six companions were once again standing together, ready to venture into a strange cave in the volcanic mountains near the Arch of Fire. What horrors lay within, and what had waylaid and so terrified the prospectors, they were soon to find out.....


Session Two - The Dungeon of Kwyll


Sneaky went in first, scouting out the tunnels that led into the heart of the mountain. Without infravision, she carried a continual light stone to see her way. The tunnel, which was quite wide, some 20' or so, came to an intersection running east and west. From the east she could hear strange noises like some deep rumbling, so she ventured in this direction. As the almost rhythmic rumbling became louder, she tossed the continual light stone ahead of her. The light revealed some large reptilian claw. The claw pulled back. The noise changed. Instead of a rumbling, their was a kind of deep guttural rasping, almost hissing. Sneaky withdrew back to the entrance and the rest of the party. After explaining what she saw, Lithanor decided to investigate, heading alone into the tunnel and taking the same direction that Sneaky had taken.

As he suspected, he found a chamber in which was a large red dragon. The rasping was the dragon speaking the draconic language of magic, and the dragon vanished!

The rest of the party had moved into the tunnels to the point of the intersection. They heard the sound of several large creatures running towards them from the west. Before they could react though, a large red dragon appeared in the corridor leading to the entrance. Flames billowed about the party. They barely had time to dive for cover, avoiding most of the blast of the dragon's fire breath, though still being severely burned.

Now they could see running towards them from the west a group of eight trolls, and to the north, blocking their exit, was rhe great red dragon. Lithanor had come running back and charged the red dragon, Scorbane in hand. Gandi too charged the dragon. Mazaramus launched a fire ball at the advancing trolls, and Klaus put a barrier of whirling hammers up between the party and the trolls. Most of the trolls were instantly immolated. Those that weren't were diced apart by the whirling hammers, unable to halt their charge in time. Gandi found the dragon's hide difficult to penetrate, even with his magical axes, barely inflicting the slightest of wounds. Scorbane, however, cut deep into the dragon, who howled in pain. The dragon backed up and told Lithanor that he would yield. The dragon recognised Scorbane, the blade that had slain the dragons Gorkalk and Khordarg, and had no wish to die just yet. Lithanor was taken aback, but accepted the dragon' surrender.

The dragon told them that he was not responsible for what had happened to the miners. Their was some great evil deeper within the dungeon. The dragon had come to these caverns because of the great treasure guarded within, but as yet had not found a way to defeat whatever it was that guarded it. The dragon also cautioned Lithanor to not rely too heavily one the dragon-slaying blade. Their were dragons more powerful than he in the realms of Norwold, and especially in the Wyrmsteeth Range. The dragon bade them good luck in defeating the evil, spread his wings and took flight, heading off southwards back to his home in the Wyrmsteeth Mountains.

Returning to exploring the tunnels, they found that there were small sections of carved tunnel, with heavy wooden doors set into the walls. One of these was heavily barred on the outside, presumably to keep something in, and so they left this alone. The other set of doors led to a room that was at one time used as an office, though who by was a mystery. A desk was found to contain several pieces of parchment with mad scribblings about someone called Kwyll. Mazaramus recognised this name from his perusal of the Book of Al-Aharazed. Kwyll was the apprentice of some powerful wizard that sought the secret of eternal life through necromantic means. Kwyll had learnt some of these secrets and had indeed managed to defeat death and extend his life almost indefinitely, though at what cost? WIth nothing more to learn, they left the room and headed southwards following a tunnel that led from the dragon's cave.

The tunnel opened up into a large cave stretching to the east and west. To the west could be seen what seemed to be a fire, presumably a bonfire, and every now and then the shadow of some large figure could be seen as it moved in front of the fire. The dragon had mentioned fire giants serving the 'great evil' and they presumed that this was what was to the west. Mazaramus cast a wizard eye and sent it to investigate what was in the cave to the east. He got the impression of a large cave, probably 60' or more across. The eye got about 20' into the cave when it blinked out entirely, as though the magic had been abruptly cancelled. Mazaramus guessed that their was some kind of anti-magic field in the cave.

The heroes decided that they would ignore the giants to the west for the time being and deal with whatever was in the eastern cave. Morgan drew his claymore and scouted ahead. He had not gone far when the party saw a white flash. Sneaky crept forward and tossed a continual light stone into the cave. She caught a brief glimpse of the stone statue of Morgan, and beyond, some large round floating creature with a huge eye, before the light from the stone winked out.

Once he realised what was in the cave, Mazaramus cast a haste spell on the party and made everyone invisible. Lithanor prepared to cast a phantasmal force into the cave in an effort to distract the creature. They entered the cave. Mazaramus moved off to the side while the rest of the party converged on the creature. Lithanor's illusion disappeared. They then saw the beholder....and the beholder could see them! They were now longer invisible, nor were they hasted. There was nothing for it but to rush the beholder. Sneaky ran to the rear of the creature. The beholder, though aware of her deemed the charging dwarf and elf to be the greater threat and took little notice of her. Mazaramus to one side of the beholder, cast a spell, being out of the area of the anti-magic emanating from the beholder's main eye, and five magic missiles slammed into the beholder. Lithanor and Gandi hacked at the beholder. There weapons were rendered temporaily non-magical, and only Gandi managed to land a blow. Klaus lent some support by sling a stone, but barely managed to graze one of its smaller eyes. Sneaky was for a brief time in total darkness and had to guess where she was going. However, when she saw the flashes from Mazaramus'es magic missiles, she struck out with her daggers. The larger dagger (which had once been a rapier but had been affected somehow by the faerie magic of her realm) thrust deep into the beast. Purple blood oozed from it and it fell limp to the floor, deflating like a burst balloon as it did so.

From the back of the cave came cheering. Behind some iron bars in an alcove were the villagers that had been, until now, missing. They were about to release the miners when they heard the bellowing of the giants from the west. They must have heard the death shriek of the beholder and were now charging. Gandi, deeming that they would need all the help they could get in the coming fight, slipped out the last of the elixir of stone to flesh that he still had from the Caves of Chaos, and used it to restore Morgan. Besides, Morgan would never forgive him if he missed out on a fight with giants.

It wasn't a fight. It was a slaughter. Seven fire giants and an equal number of large hellhounds were rushing towards them. Lithanor cast a dissolve spell, miring them all helplessly in a mass of thick mud. As they were slogging their way towards the party, Lithanor hit them with ice storm. Mazaramus conjured an earth elemental to batter their helpless adversaries. Klaus summoned two cave bears, but these would not be able to see any action until the closest of the hellhounds managed to crawl to the edge of the mud field. Two of the hellhounds did manage to get out of the mud, belching fire at Gandi and one of the cave bears, but were quickly hacked apart by the dwarfs axes or crushed by one of the cave bears.

With the fire giants and their pets slain, they returned to free the miners. They also found the beholder's treasure, which was a substantial amount of coinage and gem stones, as well as several magic items, including potions that were unlike any they had found before. Two ring were found. One was a complete mystery, its powers being unrevealed. The other was a powerful item, a ring of fire elemental adaption, something that Mazaramus would find highly useful.

Although the beholder had been defeated, and was presumably the source of great evil that the dragon had spoken of. Klaus still sensed that there was some other presence in these caves. Their was the barred doors that they had found earlier, and they decided that now they would investigate and see what lay beyond. Removing the bars, they opened the door and ventured in. They found a small room, 30' across, though obviously carved from the rock. Scattered about the floor were numerous bones, and atop a small table rested a skull. The skull rose into the air as soon as they entered and split into four floating skulls. With an unearthly scream, three of the skulls advanced. Klaus sent the cave bears forward, but both were instantly slain by the poisonous touch of the undead spirit. Klaus presented his holy symbol to turn the undead creature, but merely forced the four skulls to reform into one. The fourth skull that had hung back sent a finger of death towards Mazaramus, but he was saved by his ring of spell turning. Morgan, Gandi and Lithanor lunged at the undead skull, and it was Gandi's axes that shattered the last remaining physical presence of Kwyll the Necromancer, his ghastly existence as an undead spirit finally ended.

With the dungeon cleared and the miners rescued, they began the journey back to Mazaramus' tower. Outside it was a hot day, and Gandi went to quench his thirst by taking a swig from his waterskin. He instantly spat the water out again. It was foul and tainted, poisoned by the presence of the undead skull druj. The rest of the party checked their water and rations. They were all rotten. They were fortunate that they had stashed all of their potions in bags of holding, or these too would have been ruined. When they got back to the village and Mazaramus' tower, they ate heartily and quenched their thirst. Reunited as adventurers for a short time before going their separate ways once again back to their own baronies.


Session Three - The Barbarian's Battle


The companions had gone back to running their respective dominions. After their little adventure in the Dungeon of Kwyll, things seemed to settle down a bit. Settlers from other lands were still arriving and helping to establish the new found dominions, though not in great numbers, and the baronies were still quite small compared to those of more civilised lands.

Autumn had arrived. Lithanor was overseeing the departure of a caravan bound southwards for Freiburg. A small band of elves was escorting the caravan safely through the areas close to the Wyrmsteeth Mountains, while Lithanor followed overhead on his griffon, under cover if invisibility so as not to attract any dragons.

Sneaky had left her faerie realm to go travelling about the regions of southern Norworld. So it was that she heard the sound of something huge moving through the trees up ahead. Lithanor too was in the vicinity, and saw strange movement in the trees, as though some huge beast was pushing them aside. They each moved in closer to see what was happening. They could soon see a tall man wearing furs and wielding a two handed sword fleeing from an earth elemental. Exhausted, the man stopped, thrust his sword into the ground and turned to face the elemental.

The elemental had just reached the tall man and had grabbed hold of him. Lithanor and Sneaky both converged on the fight as swiftly as they could. With their magical weapons, they were soon able to defeat the elemental, which dissolved back into the earth.

The man they had come to the aid of was Barkal the Red. He was grateful to Lithanor and Sneaky for preventing the elemental from mashing him to a pulp. He knew that the elemental could only be harmed by magical weapons, and had thrown down his sword and turned to wrestle it out of desperation. Who had been controlling the elemental he had no idea. It turned out that Barkal was the leader of a large horde of barbarians, with some kinship with the people of the Heldann Freeholds.

Lithanor and Sneaky were welcomed as guests of honour at their tribal grounds, and they spoke for some time of the goings on in Norwold. Barkal and the tribal shaman also spoke of strange events that had transpired in previous years in the nearby kingdoms of Wendar and Denegoth. Some years ago, a dark lord that ruled Denegoth had threatened to invade Wendar, but his efforts were thwarted by Lithanor's old friend Bhakragh. However, even with the dark lord defeated, some strange evil still remained in Denegoth, though the nature of this evil was unclear.

For aiding Barkal and saving his life, he pledged the support of the barbarians should they need it in the future, being able to raise an army of 3,000 barbarians. The shaman gave the two heroes an ominous warning, however. A fierce winter was coming, and they had best return to their lands with all haste to prepare for what was to come.


Session Four and Five - Frost Giants on the Rampage


It was cold....bitterly cold, with a fierce biting wind from the north driving a blinding snow blizzard before it. Mazaramus was barely able to control his magical broom of flying when he went out to survey the scene, when there was a brief lull in the storm. To the north he could see that the sea between the northern edge of Norwold and the vast island known as Frosthaven was completely frozen over. To the south-east a huge blanket of snow covered the lands, and in the distance, the Great Bay upon which sat the capital city of Alpha was also frozen solid.

He could just make out several masses moving southwards across the lands of Norwold. Peering through his telescope, he saw that these black masses were bands of frost giants that had crossed the ice sheet from Frosthaven and were now headed towards the newly founded baronies of Norwold. Each band comprsied about a hundred frost giants, and he estimated that twenty bands in all were headed southwards towards them. Two bands were headed on a course that would take them close to Mazaramus and Gandi's own dominions. He sent a messenger to warn Gandi, whilst he returned to his tower to muster his own forces.

Using his magic to conceal his regiments of skeleton archers and swordsmen, Mazaramus was able to ambush one of the bands. He had even quelled the storm in the vicinity somewhat using a weather control spell, allowing his wyverns to cause havoc to the frost giants. Mazaramus' army totally destroyed the band of frost giants, though at the cost of many of his wyverns. The second band had managed to slip past though, and was headed towards Gandi's barony. Fortunately, the dwarf had received the warning in time, and was able to prepare a solid defence, holding off the invaders until Mazaramus could come to his aid.

Many other bands were still on their way southwards. Mazaramus sent invisible stalkers to warn the other barons, in particular Lithanor, Morgan and the capital city of Alpha. Gandi and Mazaramus reorganised and gathered their forces and marched as fast as they were able in the harsh storm to the assistance of the other baronies.

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Thanks to Mazaramus' warning, Lithanor was able to bring a small contingent of elves and drolemites to help Morgan defend his realm. Sneaky also came to their aid, bringing with her a small band of pixies that were prepared to brave the cold. Morgan's knights rode forth to intercept a group of frost giants. Again, magic played a big part in affecting the outcome of the battle. Lithanor mired some of the forst giants using a dssolve spell, and Sneaky summoned her djinni, which turned into a whirlwind and swirled through the giants ranks bringing about the demise of a great many of them. Morgan had even brought his secret weapon, the iron juggernaut, which mercilessly plowed through the giants. The band of giants was utterly defeated.

This victory proved to be almost inconsequential. Whilst they had fought the giants, the remaining bands had swung eastwards and were converging on the capital city of Alpha itself. The other barons mustered their own forces to hamper the advance of the frost giants. Sir Ernest Day and Rutger Dag led their own knights against the marauders, and Alak Dool used his magic to great effect, rivalling that of Mazaramus the Red.

The companions had turned their armies eastwards to march to the aid of Alpha, joined now by those of Mazaramus and Gandi. They chose to take the secret paths through the mountains that guarded the peninsula on which Alpha stood, rather than going around on the ice that covered rhe Great Bay, where they would have been out in the open and vulnerable to counter attacks by the giants.

Finally, they came to wothin a hundred miles of Alpha. They could see that the outer walls were almost breached. Hordes of giants brought the defenders on the walls crashing down with barrage after barrage of boulders. Masonry and war machines fell in tumbled wrecks all about the walls. Just as it seemed that the giants were about to enter the city en masse through a huge gap in the walls, the companions saw a bright purple blast of energy emanate from the city. When the energy wave disappeared, there was silence. Not a single giant could be seen around the city. To the north, across the Great Bay, more giants that were moving to reinforce the attackers stopped and paused. Having seen their comrades blasted into oblivion by this unwholesome and foul magic, they turned and headed back towards Frosthaven.

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Mazaramus wanted some answers. The blast of energy was created by some very powerful magic. At first he suspected that the portal that he suspected was beneath the city was the cause of it. Alak Dool also had suspicions about the nature of the magic used to summon the blast, and consulted with Mazaramus on the matter. Even Lithanor was beginning to have doubts about the supposed neutrality  of King Ericall. Only two nations that they knew of harboured that kind of magic, Glantri far to the west, and Alphatia, ruled by Ericall's mother, Eriadna the Wise.

It was Celindira who pointed out that it was unlikely that one of the seven portals was beneath Alpha. They had seen charts plotting the approximate positions of the portals, and Alpha was over a thousand miles away from the closest possible point. Undoubtedly, Ericall had employed the services of some very powerful wizards to defeat the frost giants, and if these had been sent from Alphatia, this would put the neutral status of Norwold into doubt. Alak Dool and Mazaramus agreed to keep each other apprised of any developments on this matter.

Word reached the ear of Emperor Thincol far to the south. It appeared as though he had been paying little heed to Norwold, though nothing could be farther from the truth. He had considered secruing an alliance with Norwold, by means of proposing that Ericall marry someone with strong ties to Thyatis, purely in the interest of ensuring peaceful relations with Alphatia. This idea was quashed when, in the early spring of AC 1009, King Ericall announced the coming marriage between the King of Norwold and Christina Marie Alanira, a wizardess of some nobility from Alphatia.

Gandi received a message of an entirely different nature. It also concerned Morgan and Klaus, but mostly it was for the attention of Gandi. In the realm of Ardelphia in the Republic of Darokin, the dwarves had been mining and tunnelling deeper into the mountain where Castle Ardelphia stood. They had made a discovery that required Gandi's immediate attention, and he should bring his comrades along too.

Mazaramus made use of the House of Zebulon to transport the party to Ardelphia. There they were greeted by Gandi's herald and chief seneschal who had both good and bad news for his lord. The good news was that they had discovered a Forge of Power in the newly discovered tunnels of Mount Ardel (the name of the lone mountain that overlooked Ardelphia). The bad news was that it was guarded, by some fell beasts that had mutated by the ancient wizard Gargantua. Gargoyles and other creatures had been transformed into monstrosities of enormous size, and these would need to be overcome if the Forge of Power were to be recovered.



Session Six - The Forge of Power


Journeying through the tunnels into the heart of Mount Ardelphia, the heroes discovered what seemed to be what remained of the old dwarven settlement that had once dwelt within the mountain. A series of tunnels converged on what was once the forgeroom where the Forge of Power had been kept. Now there was just a large empty pedestal. Surrounding the pedestal were three huge gargoyles.

As well as being significantly larger, these creatures were far tougher  than those they were used to encountering. A volley of fire balls from both Mazaramus and Lithanor weren't enough to fell the creatures. Morgan and Gandi charged at the beasts, and even Sneaky moved in to assist, moving around to the rear and positioning for a backstab attack. The gargantuan gargoyles were eventually felled, though Gandi had taken quite a mauling and needed significant healing from Klaus.

Once the gargoyles had been defeated, it was evident that the entire eastern side of the cavern had been collapsed, and rubble now blocked the way. They began clearing the rubble and soon cleared enough space to climb through into the cavern beyond. As they began to climb through, several large tendrils lashed out from the rubble, striking at the party. Morgan was instantly paralysed, and it was then that they saw what the tendrils belonged to. A huge carrion crawler, far larger than any they had ever seen, began crawling through the rubble towards them.

Lithanor blasted the creature with a lightning bolt, hoping that there was enough clearance beyond the carrion crawler so that the bolt didn't arc back towards him or the paralysed Morgan. His guess was good, and the beast wracked in agony. Gandi leapt in and finished the huge beast off with his axes.

Once Morgan was restored by Klaus' magic, they continued on past the rubble. Another small network of tunnels and caves led to a cavern containing a lone gargantuan gargoyle guarding a huge chest. The chest was found to contain two basilisks, so Mazaramus swiftly closed the chest again, managing to avoid their petrifying gaze. Lithanor slew the basilisks by calling on his dragon breath ability and breathing a noxious cloud of chlorine into the chest.

At last they found the final cavern and the lost Forge of Power. It appeared to be guarded by no less than eight gargantuan trolls, but Mazaramus, who had scouted around using a wizard eye spell, ascertained that there was but a single troll, the reflective walls of the cavern creating the illusion that there were many more.

Obviously, the forge was not lit. There was no way that a troll would remain in such close proximity to the relic were it not so. Despite Gandi's protests, lest the Forge of Power be harmed, Mazaramus hurled fire balls at the troll as the fighters closed for combat. Fortunately, the relic was highly resistant to magical attacks, and Gandi's fears were unfounded. The troll was slain (despite the confusing effect of the reflected illusory trolls) and they were able to recover the relic. Gandi now had a Forge of Power for his clan, and in years to come, the dwarves of Ardelphia would find this a great boon. Once they had recovered the relic and returned it to its pedestal, a new relic keeper was found, much rejoicing and drinking of dwarven ale ensued



Session Seven - A Royal Wedding


The heroes returned to Norwold and prepared for the upcoming royal wedding. King Ericall was to marry an Alphatian princess, one Christina Marie Alanira. The week leading up to the wedding, held in the capital city of Alpha, was filled with festivities and several bouts of jousting and all manner of other entertainments.

The day before the wedding, the party is introduced to Christina. However, Sneaky is notably absent. She had unwittingly caught the eye of Lernal the Swill, ruler of the despotic city of Landfall, and a most unsavoury character to boot, and had since been doing her best to remain hidden from him and his undesirable attentions.

Christina wished to see more of Alpha, and asked the party to accompany her to some of the more out of the way parts of the city, such as the docks. To maintain a low profile, she has all the party members, herself included, drink a potion of polymorph self, so as to appear as common sailors. After visiting a few taverns, they are assailed by a group of warriors and thieves, led by a wizard, who seem intent on kidnapping Christina. The heroes manage to fight them off. Mazaramus tried capturing the wizard alive for questioning, but Lithanor was too quick with his blade and ran him through. Nevertheless, Mazaramus kept hold of the wizard's body (after stripping the wizard of a few magical items that he had been carrying, including a wand of fire balls and a ring of regeneration) and put him in his bag of holding. Christina volunteered to take the bag back to the castle where they were staying during the festivities, whilst Mazaramus cast more polymorph spells (the potions by now had run out) on the party so that they could fly back to the castle with all haste. Christina suggested that they polymorph into seagulls, again so as to not attract too much attention.

On the way back to the castle, it seemed evident that Christina had gotten lost or waylaid. Mazaramus had been distracted by his attempts to recover the bodies of the other assailants, who had since been carted up by the city guard and taken to a mortuary for later burial. Moreover, she still had Mazaramus' bag of holding, and the dead wizard inside it.

Mazaramus pulled out his crystal ball and scried for Christina. She had dumped the body of the wizard into the sea, but after realising that the party might still be able to recover the body and resurrect it, polymorphed into a shark and swam down to where the body was and disintegrated it. This Mazaramus found highly suspicious. Obviously, Christina didn't want the party to know who their assailants were, or why they were trying to kidnap her.

Determined to find out more about who this Christina was and what her motivations were, Mazaramus cast a contact outer plane spell. Unfortunately, it would be some time before he could reveal to the party what he knew. The spell always carried a great risk, and Mazaramus was severely out of his mind, even with a cureall spell from Klaus to alleviate his condition. Alak Dool was barely able to translate his incoherent babblings and convey to the party that Christina was involved in some sinister plot by the Alphatians to gain control over Norwold, breaking the treaty that they had with Thyatis that Norwold would remain neutral. It was also revealed that Christina was part of (or maybe even the leader of) a coven of wizards that had created the purple blast of energy that had annihilated the invading frost giants.

Mazaramus tried to warn King Ericall that he was making a serious mistake, but Ericall merely dismissed the wizard, believing that he had dabbled too much in some dark or strange magicks that had unhinged his mind. Alak Dool and Lithanor both tried to caution Mazaramus as to his folly, thinking it better to keep a close watch on Christina, if possible, and see what happens.

The day of the royal wedding finally arrived. The guests of honour were assembled in the great palace in the city of Alpha, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Norwold's new queen-to-be. As they were waiting, the doors to the great hall were flung wide open, and four black armoured warriors boldly strode forth. King Ericall demanded to know what the meaning of this intrusion was. One of the black knights stepped forward and challenged the validity of the wedding. He told the King to choose four warriors to prove themselves, if any dared stand in defence of the Queen. Sir Ernest Day was the first to stand, and bellowed "I accept your challenge! If none other stands with me, I will take all four of you on!" Morgan, Lithanor and Gandi, not to be outdone, all stood and went to stand with Sir Ernest.

The eight warriors went out to the marshalling field, to carry out their challenges. Each hero faced off against a black knight. The battle commenced and waged on for some time. Gandi was sliced by his foe's great sword, but then switched to a half defensive posture, using one axe to parry while the other found openings in his opponent's defence. Meanwhile, Morgan and Sir Ernest Day managed to fell their opponents. Both decided to maintain a code of honour by not interfering with the remaining fights, no matter how they went. Gandi's tactic paid off, and though the black knight parried many of his attacks, he was able to find an opening in his guard, slicing the black knight's head clean off its shoulders. As Lithanor was finishing off his foe, Gandi went to look at who his opponent had been, lifting the vizor to see his face. All he saw was an emaciated face that quickly decomposed and crumbled to dust.

With the duels ended, the warriors and those assembled to watch returned to the great hall to resume the ceremony.

Finally, Christina Marie Alanira appeared and the wedding ceremony commenced. King Ericall of Norwold and Christina Marie Alanira were wed. It was towards the end of the ceremony that Sneaky slinked in to join her comrades, feeling that she was now safe from the predations of Lernal the Swill. King Ericall and Queen Christina turned to face the guests to much applause...all except for Sneaky who stared in mortified horror.

At the same instant a shadow fall over the room and thunder rumbled in the distance. The great mirror at the head of the hall swirled with mist and the grisly visage of an aged crone formed in the mists. As they all stared at this new apparition, the crone spoke warning of some impending doom that was likely to threaten the Kingdom of Norwold, heralded by storm clouds before the following summer. Only if the Kingdom and its rulers survived this 'storm' could they hope for any kind of peace or prosperity in Norwold. The image then faded and the shadow receded. Somewhat shaken, the guests finally continued with the celebrations, though an ominous pall now pervaded the atmosphere of the festivities. All agreed that this 'storm' was a metaphor for some other threat. King Ericall and Queen Christina shortly retired, but Sneaky was still staring with horror, not at the mirror where the image had appeared, but at the Queen herself!

They asked what she had seen. Sneaky tried to explain, saying that the Queen was some sort of grotesque demonic creature. Most of the quests overhearing her tale dismissed this as jealousy or some kind of bewitchment. Klaus, however, took her story more seriously, as did Lithanor. This was soon backed up by Mazaramus, who was almost his normal self by now (if you can call a fire-worshipping wizard with flames for eyes 'normal'). The fact remained, though, that whatever Sneaky had seen was now queen of Norwold!



Session Eight - The Ruins of Alicor


In the months after the wedding, the companions contemplated what they should do about Queen Alanira. Mazaramus was certain that she was involved in some nefarious plot to allow Alphatia to gain total control over Norwold. Sneaky did not rest easy at all. The fey folk of her homeland shared her concerns. Klaus and Lithanor began to question whether their fealty to King Ericall was wise, and whether they should break their oath for the greater good of the need arose. Morgan would side was beginning to believe his companions, and would side with them against the King if needs be, as would Gandi. The problem was convincing the other barons. Alak Dool was now known to be an agent of Emperor Thincol, and would side with Mazaramus. Sir Ernest Day, who they had fought alongside against the black knights, would not break his oath of fealty to King Ericall, and refused to believe that the Queen was some kind of demoness. The remaining barons had mixed feelings about what they had been told, except for Sandralane of Glantri, who had used divine magicks to determine that the companions were indeed speaking the truth, even if the nature of the threat to Norwold eluded her.

By late autumn, an incursion of a group of frost giants near Lithanor's dominion on the edge of the Wyrmsteeth Mountains provided a welcome distraction to their dilemma. The heroes assembled for what would seem a good old fashioned dungeon bash. Tracking down the frost giants was not difficult at all. Villagers and farmers were able to point out where the frost giants were camped up, and they soon found the caves where they were hiding.

As the approached the cave, four frost giants came charging at full pelt towards them. Mazaramus was ahead of the rest of the group, invisible and on his broom of flying. It seemed evident that they were fleeing in terror from something within the cave. Lithanor was able to incapacitate one of the giants,, while the other three continued on past the party. After briefly questioning the giant, they learned that some mechanical guardian within the cave had brutally mauled several of his kinsmen and only the four of them had managed to escape. Lithanor told the frost giant to join his fellows and tell them to leave the lands of Norwold and not return. The giant eagerly agreed to do as the elf said, vowing that he would not return to these parts.

The party continued on into the cave to confront what had so terrified the frost giants. At first they found a cave where the frost giants had been camped. A camp fire in which a large hunk of venison was still roasting was surrounded by the bodies of several mauled giants and their pet wolves. At the rear of the cave, a tunnel wound its way deeper into the mountain.

They ventured on further into the caves. After dealing with some giant scorpions that had been feasting on one of the giants slain wolves, they came to a ledge at the end of a long tunnel that overlooked a large cavern. Blocking the way was a huge bronze figure. Thus was a bronze golem, a creation that they had fought before. Unlike the frost giants, the heroes were more than ably equipped to deal with this magically created foe. With the way cleared, they could now see into the large cavern beyond. A phosphorescent glow lit the area, and an underground river fed a large pool on the right hand side of the cavern. At the far end of the cavern they could see the large bronze doors of what was evidently the gates to some long forgotten and now buried ruins of some once great civilisation.

Before they could investigate the ruins, there was one final foe for them to face. As they were descending the ledge to the cavern floor, a huge dragon-like creature emerged from beyond the gates to the ruins. Flying straight at the party, it breathed a noxious cloud of gas at them. Gagging and reeling from the poisonous fumes, Gandi, Lithanor, Morgan and Sneaky drew their weapons and attacked. Mazaramus magic was ineffective against the creature. Klaus used his own divine magic to aid the party before himself entering the fray. Gandi was severely mauled by the creature, which Lithanor now recognised as a drolem, a golem like creature in the form of a dragon. They finally felled the creature, and Klaus used his magic to heal the more wounded party members.

Exploration of  the ruins revealed that there was very little left of them. Only part of what was once a library and a tomb remained, the rest now being buried beneath the mountain. They learnt that these ruins were all that was left of a civilisation founded by some early settlers from Alphatia , many centuries ago. What had happened to this civilisation remained a mystery. They also recovered a few potent magic items., a scroll of truth that could be used to ask a question of any living being in the users presence, and would reveal the true answer on the scroll by means of a powerful ESP, and a scroll of creation that could be used to create normal items up to a certain size that would reman for 24 hours. Mazaramus also found a rod that he kept for himself, and later learnt that this was a rod of victory, a potent item that could be used to turn the tide of any battle.

With nothing more to learn from the ruins, and the threat of the giants dealt with, the heroes returned to their dominions. Maybe in the future they might be able to further excavate the ruins and find more secrets of the ancient civilisation that had once been here.



Session Nine - The Crones of Crystykk


Another winter was approaching, yet this one was quite mild compared to the year before. It was at this time that the dreams began. The dreams were not the same for each hero....a fantastic weapon of great magical power, the fate of Norwold hanging in the balance as great armies marched to war, the land being ripped asunder by massive earthquakes. Though each dream seemed to have one thing in common, a particular mountain towering over the surrounding mountains, and a cave within. Each of the heroes seemed to know where this mountain was, though none had been there before. Each therefore made his or her way to this strange mountain, meeting up once again as they travelled.

After about a week of travelling, they sighted the mountain in the distance. It was after they had camped for the last time before reaching the mountain that they realised that some of their magic items were missing. Gandi and Lithanor were missing their girdles of giant strength, and Sneaky was missing her favourite magical dagger. Pressing on, they soon reached the cave that they had seen in their dreams. Not long after venturing in, they found a large cavern with many strange openings at various heights around the walls, each at least 10' wide, and six main tunnels leading away on the far side of the cavern.

Sneaky scouted ahead, throwing light stones about the cavern to see the way better. This attracted the attention of several manscorpions that were waiting to ambush the party. They emerged from the numerous opening at various heights above the cavern floor. They were too spread out to be caught together by a single combat spell like a fire ball, so Lithanor and Mazaramus had to use their magic to take out the manscorpions in small groups, while Morgan and Gandi engaged them in hand to hand combat. Both warriors were hit by the manscorpions poisoned stingers. The poison was so potent that they were instantly paralysed, though not before they had felled several of the creatures. Sneaky had by now summoned her djinni to help fight them. Klaus sent his pet amber golem to fight the manscorpions. Lithanor used his dragon breath to incinerate several of the manscorpions, whie Mazaramus, out of reach of the manscorpions' stingers and weapons, blasted them with his spells. Soon they were victorious, having cleared the way, and within a few minutes, the effects of the poison on Gandi and Morgan wore off.

The battle had taken its toll on the parties resources, and they still needed to find those at the heart of this place that had sent the dreams. The way back to the entrance was now blocked by a wall of whirling hammers. Klaus recognised this as a barrier spell. He tried to dispel it but its magic was too powerful. Sneaky decided to scout the way ahead again, following one of the six tunnels leading into the heart of the mountain. As she neared the end of the tunnel, she saw another small cavern, in the centre of which was a strange crystalline pillar. She turned to return to her comrades to warn them of what was ahead, but she too found her way blocked by a barrier spell. It was then that she heard the cackling laugh coming from the cave ahead, a cackling she had heard before....

The rest of the party were still back in the larger cavern, debating whether to wait for Sneaky to return or to follow after her. Suddenly, the cavern began shaking. Rocks began falling amongst the party, forcing them to run for the shelter of the tunnels leading from the cavern. They soon arrived at the cave with the crystal pillar, where they found Sneaky's djinni battling with an air elemental. In the crystal they saw the faces of three hideous crones. They spoke "Our heroes have come at last! Who among them has the courage to fave the test of the Crones of Crystykk?"

Lithanor cast a dispel magic into the room, hoping to thwart whatever magic the Crones were about to throw at them. Instead, it merely sent both the air elemental and the djinni back to the elemental plane of air. The Crones finished their own chant, and waves of power hit the party. Klaus and Morgan were both stunned by the power of the spell. The Crones now materialised in physical form before the party, seeming unnaturally fast and agile with their maces given their ancient appearance.

Lithanor drew Scorbane, having already seen that the Crones had protections against magic, and faced one of the Crones. Sneaky put on her ring of invisibility and tried to sneak around to the rear of the Crones. However, one of the Crones turned to face her, knocking her off of her feet with her mace. The Crone laughed, saying "Your tricks are folly against our truesight". Sneaky rose to her feet again, drawing her pixie blade and her second favourite dagger. The Crone stared at the larger blade with a look of incredulity as Sneaky struck with a flurry of blades at the Crone. Gandi lunged at the third Crone. Even without his girdle of giant strength, his skill with his axes soon had the Crone beaten back. One by one, the Crones were felled. However, their bodies didn't fall, but faded and disappeared.

The Crones voices could be heard once again. "You have proven your worth. Now look!" An image appeared in the crystal pillar. Armies were marching across Norwold, bearing the standards of many of the barons of Norwold, as well as those of Thyatis, and white sailed ships from Alphatia were sailing towards the capital city. "War is even now beginning. Who will you fight for? Will you remain true to your lord, King Ericall and the demon queen? Or will you side with Thyatis and overthrow the usurper who intends handing the nation to Alphatia? Return, now, and prepare for war!"

The image faded, and the items that had been stolen now appeared on the ground before the crystal.As soon as they had retrieved their items, a white glow surrounded the heroes and they found themselves back at their respective dominions, except for Sneaky, who found herself in the wildlands just outside the borders of her faerie realm. Sneaky guessed that even these Crones, with all of their power, could not see into the faerie realm.



Session Ten - Norwold at War


The armies of Thyatis had already sacked Landfall and were moving northwards to the east of the Wyrmsteeth Mountains. Lithanor had marshalled his elven army and rode out to meet the advancing armies. He was met instead by barbarian hordes, who had answered the call of Thyatis and marched on the lands of Norwold. Accompanying the barbarians were armoured warriors and riders bearing the colours of the Heldann Freeholds, and were led by non other than Lithanor's old companion Bhakragh, Lithanor explained to his old friend that they King he had sworn fealty to was under the sway of a demonic creature that sought to bring havoc and destruction to the lands of Norwold. He therefore had no choice but to break his oath of allegiance and side with the invaders.

As Mazaramus and Gandi led a combined army of dwarves and magical constructs south towards Alpha, Morgan had been parleying with Rutger Dag, and finally convinced him to join forces and pave the way for the approaching Thyatian army. Many of the barons were still loyal to King Ericall, refusing to believe that Queen Alanira was a demoness. By the time the bulk of the Thyatian forces arrived several miles to the west of Regent's Pass, word had arrived that a great fleet of Alphatian ships would soon be entering the Great Bay and making for the city of Alpha itself. Whether this fleet was coming to the assistance of King Ericall, or was intended to take over the city, was unknown. Reaching the city of Alpha with  a vast army would be very difficult. Regent's Pass was the only by land to reach the city, and the defenders of Alpha had already moved the bulk of their forces into the pass.

The heroes took a small combined force of their own armies to try to fight a way through to Alpha, with the Thyatian legions following at a slower pace. Lithanor, Mazaramus and Morgan were confident that their armies, bolstered by their own magic as well as a number of powerful constructs, would be a match for the forces of King Ericall, even with the latter holding a well-defended position.

The defending armies, comprised of the Queen's Guard, bolstered by troops of Sir Ernest Day, engaged the heroes' armies as they travelled through the pass. Queen Alanira had an additional surprise for the invaders...scores of demonic malferae, hidden by invisibility. Mazaramus was himself flying invisibly above the battlefield and spotted the malferae due to having a detect invisible spell running. He prepared a rune, a powerful anti-gravity rune that he hoped would disrupt the enemy forces. Instead, the unthinkable happened! His rune backfired with catastrophic effect.A fierce storm wracked the lands for miles around. Flyers were grounded (except for air elementals) and missile fire was impossible. The opposing forces had to stumble blindly through the battlefield until they met their foes, more by sheer chance than anything else. More importantly, the Alphatian fleet was nearing the capital city when the storm hit. The fleet was all but destroyed before it could make landfall.

The constructs under the command of Lithanor and Mazaramus were instrumental in affecting the tide of battle, and Sneaky had herself summoned her djinni, who was completely unhampered by the effects of the storm. The Queen;s Guard and Sir Ernest Day's forces were routed. The malferae were soon mopped up, largely assisted by Lithanor's magic and even a lightning bolt from Morgan's ring of spell storing.

Within a few hours, the storm abated, and the victorious armies of Thyatis and her allies marched into Alpha unhindered. Mazaramus joined the entourage, having been swept many miles from the battlefield by the effects of his own magic. In the citadel wherein was the great hall of King Ericall, they found the King, along with his personal bodyguard, and Queen Alanira at the King's side. Ericall demanded that the invasion was entirely unlawful, and there would be sever repercussions once Alphatia learned of Thyatis' interference. Queen Alanira even accused Emperor Thincol of employing Glantrian mages to affect the tide of battle by conjuring a great storm (which was almost true!). Klaus stood forward. He proclaimed that the invasion was entirely justified. Ericall had already enlisted the aid of the Alphatians, and furthermore was in league with demonic powers. Ericall found this preposterous, and Alanira proclaimed that he had no proof. At this, Klaus spread his arms wide and uttered a holy incantation. Blinding light spread forth, and when it passed, there, standing beside King Ericall for all to see was the monstrous demon that Sneaky had herself seen the previous year.
Alanira screamed in rage, seeming to grow and tower over the assembly. She screeched "Your end will come and Norwold will fall!" Dark flames then engulfed her, and when they faded again, the demon queen was gone.

As soon as everyone (including King Ericall) recovered from the shock of seeing this demonic monstrosity, Emperor Thincol approached Ericall. He proclaimed "Ericall, you have broken the treaty, and as such, you are no longer king of this land." Ericall was almost speechless, but then Klaus interjected once more. "Maybe so, but one thing is certain. If Thyatis tries to claim Norwold for itself, then war across the face of Mystara could break out completely between Alphatia and Thyatis." Thincol and Ericall both stared at Klaus, then Thincol spoke again. "Klaus is right! We have prevented Alphatia from gaining control of Norwold, but to take it for Thyatis would indeed create instability across continents. I propose therefore that for now we maintain the status quo. Ericall, you shall remain in Norwold, if you so wish, but not as absolute ruler. Mazaramus shall be my vassal, acting in the interests of Thyatis for Norwold. Klaus has no allegiance to either Alphatia or Thyatis, so he shall act to ensure that Norwold remains neutral. The three of you will therefore share in the responsibility of maintaining stability in Norwold"

Ericall reluctantly accepted Emperor Thincol's terms. Mazaramus and Klaus also accepted their new responsibilities with respect to the governing of Norwold, which was no longer a Kingdom, but was now a Triumvirate. The future of Norwold was still uncertain, but at least total disaster had been averted. The heroes and other lords returned to governing their dominions, hoping in the meantime that negotiations between Thyatis and Alphatia would resume and avert any further invasions, at least for the time being.


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