Prince of Darkness

Summary

Adventure: Prince of Darkness
GM: Jon
Season: Spring 797 WK

Party

Kel, Elf leader and military scientist.
Pent, Halfling scribe and fighter.
Merthac, Halfling but easy to wind up.
Dunlan, Human alchemist who makes bad tasting potions.
Sasha, Human good looking noble.
Tso, Human philosopher from The Five Sisters.
Ty Trident, Human knight and healer.

Time on adventure: 1 Thaw 797 to 27 tHAW 797 WK
Employer: Aldred, Count of Karrack
Mission: Duke Branden has given the fiefdom of Ereworn to the Evil necromancer Saydar (Guild Member). The Earls of Cornumbria and Karrack (Aldred) have sent messages to King Durindar at Glissom. Alas he seems to be returning the messages unopened and has become a recluse in his own castle, only being seen by his Steward Kilnded. Our mission is to deliver the Count's message to King Durindar. We are to join the Kings guard temporarily over the time of their festival, as outsiders are hired so the regular guard can join in the celebrations.
Pay: 120 gold sovereigns between the party.
Original Scribe Notes: Media:Snsp9705.zip

Daily Summary

Thaw 797
Date	Summary
1st	Researched Glissom, King Durindar, The Mountains of Brack, The Prince of Darkness, Prince Fengil, Eltrandor
2nd	Portaled to Brandenburg then rode north.
3rd	Rode north to Pillaton.
4th	Rode to Ingham.
5th	Rode on to Axebridge.
6th	Rode north towards Ashmore. Fought some hobgoblins.
7th	Rode through the forest.
8th	Rode to Glissom. Met Doron.
9th	Met and were hired by Kilnded. Saw King Durindar who was a zombie!
10th	Checked out King Durindar and his quarters.
11th	Watched Kilnded and he acted suspiciously.
12th	We told Doron, Lord Rockwall and Hadron of what we had seen and they did some worrying astrology readings for us. Later we questioned Kilnded and found out he was in league with Prince Fengil to assist him in releasing Balor.
13th	We questioned Kilnded and found out of his and Prince Fengil's plot to assist the legendary Hawks of Balor to steal the Sacred Hearth Fire and free Balor.
14th	We defended the Kings tower and destroyed six Hawks of Balor.
15th	The council hired us to go up to the mountains and finish off Prince Fengil.
16th	Rode north out of Glissom.
17th	We rode north to the village Silver across the Felice river from the Siren forest.
18th	We went into the Siren forest and visited The White Tower, a magic pool, an Undead in his barrow and found Baz.
19th	Found out all about the Ruins of Mimir.
20th	Entered the Ruins of Mimir then fought mummies, necrophobius and succubi. Sasha was killed.
21st	Gave the elves back their sword, then rested up for the day.
22nd	Went back to the Ruins of Mimir and searched more of it. Kel, Tso and Dunlan were killed.
23rd	Healed up back at the village.
24th	Went through the tunnel under The Mountains of Brack. Dunlan died fighting the Rime Wraith and Tso went missing trying to return his body for resurrection.
25th	Went back to The Mountains of Brack with the help of the elves.
26th	Tunnelled to the Temple of Balor.
27th	Attacked the Temple of Balor. An Obsodiac killed Murthac. Dunlan turned up back at the guild and we dissolved the party.

Scribe Notes

1st Thaw 797 WK

Kel spent today checking the guild library for references to the area we are travelling to. She found information on Glissom, King Durindar, The Mountains of Brack, The Prince of Darkness, Prince Fengil, Eltrandor

We then spent 1000 sp. on party equipment.

2nd Thaw 797 WK

Left the guild with horses and portaled to Brandenburg. Rode north to a town and stayed the night. Stayed in the local Inn. (15 sp. 1 cf.)

3rd Thaw 797 WK

Rode north through the forest passing wagons laden with food and wool until we reached a village called Pillaton. Stayed in another Inn. (8 sp.)

4th Thaw 797 WK

Rode for half a day to village of Ingham. Yet another Inn. (6 sp.)

5th Thaw 797 WK

Rode through farmland to Axebridge. The Inns are getting cheaper. (5 sp.)

6th Thaw 797 WK

Rode north towards Ashmore. We spotted and avoided a hungry bear. Later on the trail some hobgoblins, including an air mage, attempted to ambush us but we killed a whole lot of them and interrogated one. They were just pretending to be bandits. We recovered some coppers (147 cf.) to offset our expenses and continued on to town.

Ashmore does not have an Inn as it burnt down last year.

7th Thaw 797 WK

Rode through the forest to the river then across the ford and into a village. Stayed in an Inn owed by the widow Morde. (48 cf.) Inquired of the road ahead.

8th Thaw 797 WK

Rode through the next village then on to Glissom. Crossed with the ferry (8 cf.) run by Ned whose brother Hyden owns "The Silver Griffin", a reputable Inn. We negotiated for lodgings until the 14th (30 sp. 80 cf.) and went to the commons for dinner. (5sp.) Kel went upstairs to her room to rest.

Met Doron, local prince and heir to throne, who bought us drinks and wanted to hear adventuring stories. Doron told us of a suspicious package delivered to the castle a few days ago by an Azurian ship.

He also told us of his wandering in the Siren forest, which is inhabited by fey (fairies, nymphs, pixies), searching for the Ruins of Mimir. Generally you are safe from the fey if you don't stray from the path. In the north of the forest is a small village that used to deal extensively (many years ago) with the city of Nem (Now frozen in the lake). He then got drunk, went and picked a fight with a big peasant and had to be rescued by the guard.

9th Thaw 797 WK

Held morning conference on next step then went to see the steward Kilnded with regard to being the guards over the festival. He agreed to hire us for 50 sp. each for the one night (the 14th, also a full moon). Afterwards we found out that he is a Necromancer allied to The Prince of Darkness. We looked around the castle, so we could better protect it, and saw King Durindar on his throne. He wasn't moving and didn't look well, also he hadn't touched his food and seemed to have a lot of makeup in his room.

We went back and talked to Doron who said he personally wasn't very popular around town, especially with the local council. He also told us of a couple of notable personages around town.

Hadron
Lord Rockwall
Chang

Also Doron told us of The White Tower in the Siren forest which apparently contains a powerful weapon (sword he thinks) We decided to try and get a closer look at the King tomorrow, as we were worried about him.

10th Thaw 797 WK

We had another look around the castle grounds, looking for good spots to do our guarding from, and noticed that Kilnded had quite a lot of personal guards. He had six normal guards and two Guntan barbarians. Phon carried a great axe and a battle-axe, and Mut wielded a two handed sword and a crossbow. Duncan hunted and captured a pigeon then Sir Ty slipped in to have a look at King Durindar. King Durindar was not alive but instead had been turned into a zombie (Sir Ty has seen this before), all the food was rotten and the makeup was clearly there to make him seem alive for his annual address to the people.

This disturbed us and we felt that Kilnded (a necromancer remember) had turned King Durindar into a zombie to rule the kingdom. So we went to the prince (who should actually be the king now) and told him what we'd found. We then discussed the best way to reveal Kilnded for who he was.

11th Thaw 797 WK

We watched Kilnded carefully most of the day and observed that he seemed quite paranoid. At night he slept to midnight when he climbed up on his roof and performed some sort of strange ritual for two hours. Now we're really worried.

12th Thaw 797 WK

Kel decided we should go with prince Doron and investigate Lord Rockwall and Hadron, both council members, to see if they were in league with Kilnded. We went to Lord Rockwall's (a large manor house for lunch. Apparently Lord Rockwall had come to Glissom 12 years ago and Kilnded had been installed as steward only 10 years ago. Also Hadron (the Healer) had only been living with Lord Rockwall only the last few years. Having previously lived with Sordin. Hadron was very old, a human around 150 years old or more, and a little hard of hearing. Hadron is apparently a Seer, Alchemist and Healer (who can resurrect).

Sasha had little tour of the manor house and it seemed pretty normal. Discussions over lunch dealt with the Ruins of Mimir (also known as the City of Knowledge) that was in the forest. Also Hadron wanted to do a "Reading" on some one and would require a little blood for this. Kel went off with Hadron.

After lunch we chatted with Lord Rockwall who alluded to a mysterious adventuring past, he also showed us his axe collection and his magic chain armour of shattering. Sir Ty inquired about invested items that Lord Rockwall said he could make as well as some sort of experimental powder and potions. Generally seemed quite expensive though.

Meanwhile Hadron, in his seer capacity, was seeing all sorts of horrible visions with Kel. Merely by touching her arm he saw a vision of a huge head with big mandibles clipping off the top of someone's head and eating their brains (he says seers are MORE reliable than astrology). Hearing of this Kel decided this blood "seeing" might be a good idea. The results of this were more disturbing :

"There were three dark forces and one gray at work. We had to travel into the mountains to stop them, If we didn't darkness would befall and devastate the land."

She came back and Dunlan also had a reading (Hadron could only do two per day) and he got this :

"A very powerful Dark Force would be released if we do not stop it. There is one who plots you ill and a servant of the dark one who seeks to betray all."

After discussion we pretty much decided that the servant was Kilnded and we should do something about him. We went back to the Inn and Dunlan did an Astrology reading early in the evening, asking the question "When will the powerful dark force return to the land." and he found out the following :

"On the darkest night when the moon no longer shines, the prince of darkness will arise."

Sir Ty says the next new moon is two weeks after the festival, so we have two weeks and two days to do something.

Another further reading indicated that it mattered not whether Kilnded was present at this time or not. We decided we needed to check our Kilnded more thoroughly and perhaps have a chat to him. We went to the prince's house then popped over to see Kilnded. He didn't want to come with us so we had to subdue him and his bodyguard Mut. He had some suspicious stuff one him :

Dagger of Death - no sheath
Skull Ring - Rank 10 Necrosis.
Amulet made from alligator's teeth. (Amulet of Luck)

Also Mut had the following :

Potion of night vision.

This caused an uproar in the castle and they sent the captain of the guard to ask us to look for Kilnded. He also said he had sent for Lord Rockwall to come to investigate the incident. We searched Kilnded's room for clues as to his disappearance (and for evidence of his complicity with the dark forces) and found:

A copper rod with a gray blob on the end. Gold detection!
A pouch of gold coins. (150 gs.)
Phial of Lithon potion.
Potion of night vision.
Potion of strength.
Keys. (To the royal treasury!)

We then left the castle and went back to our Inn to wait for Lord Rockwall. After investigation we found that Kilnded had had a number of magic's upon him recently.

Detect Undead.
Ventriloquism - a necromancy spell cast 10 weeks ago.
Strength of Stone.
Mind Speech.

We left a note at the north gate for Lord Rockwall telling him to meet us at the prince's house. He came (at around three in the morning) and there was a lady called Dawn (actually a Mind mage) with him. We told him everything we had found out and they went up to the castle to have a look. They returned and Lord Rockwall said that he would call together the council and convince them to go and look at King Durindar, as he was a zombie. They also said that they were worried about The Fire of Balor, otherwise known as the Sacred Hearth Fire, as it is said that Glissom cannot fall will it still burns in the Kings tower. I kept watch as Dunlan did another astrology reading and everyone else slept. Dunlan asked :"Will Dawn betray us on our quest." and he found out the following :

"Moon, Reversed temperance, Death, Reversed chariot, Reversed king of pentangles, Two of cups, Queen of swords, Ten of swords."

He had no idea what this meant.

13th Thaw 797 WK

With Dawn assisting we interrogated Kilnded and found out all about his evil plot. He has made a deal with Prince Fengil to assist him in releasing Balor. On the evening of the Festival the legendary Hawks of Balor will swoop down upon the Kings tower and take the kings body and the Sacred Hearth Fire to Prince Fengil. Prince Fengil would then use the fire to melt the magical ice that is imprisoning Balor that Crocell created. Prince Fengil is currently occupying the temple of Balor on the northern side of Lake Nimmur that covers the frozen city of Nem. Kilnded's job is to cast a spell to put out all the fires to allow the Hawks of Balor to approach unseen. Since he liked Dawn so much Kilnded offered to marry her and make her his queen thus keeping her safe when Balor returned. Kilnded found an ancient invocation that allowed him to summon Balor to pact with him. As a result of this pact he learnt the following spells :

Call Master - Normal. This is bad enough.
Darkness
Darkvision
Eclipse the moon - Creates a localised Solar Eclipse. This also makes a large area of fear.
Extinguish Light - Turns off all lights in a large area.
Javelin of Darkness - Creates a magical Javelin. This will blind the target if they fail a MR.
Shadow Fall - Creates twilight for a 1-mile radius.
Shadow Form
Shadowed Self - Turns into a shadow and travels like that. Reduces the caster's life force.
Summon and Control Dark creatures
Travel Home - ?
Ventriloquism
Wall of Darkness

He also told us that he used Chang to "Take care of people." for him. He can't summon Prince Fengil but can send him a message via his loyal follower Baz. Prince Fengil is a greater undead (Wight) and is a celestial dark mage. He is at least a hundred years old. When questioned on the number of Hawks of Balor, Kilnded said there were a score or so of them. We sent the captain of the guard to arrest Baz. for complicity in Kilnded's treachery but he had escaped and ridden north - towards where Prince Fengil is.

Members of the council entered the Kings chambers and found him dead (undead). Upon returning they pronounced that Doron would be crowned shortly after the festival. Meanwhile we discussed defending the Kings tower from the Hawks of Balor. The council refused to let us move the Sacred Hearth Fire so we discussed walling up the top entrance, to the tower which would force the Hawks to approach through the balcony to the Kings chambers, where we could ambush them. We looked at the Sacred Hearth Fire and it rests on a magical 3 foot round copper pan and seems to be magical fire.

14th (Day of the Glissom Festival) Thaw 797 WK

In the morning Hadron came into town to look at the Kings body. He said the King had been dead for around two years. He also knew something of the legends of the Hawks of Balor. Since we were defending the kingdom we looked over the royal treasury with Doron in search of useful magic stuff. We found :

Null Plate, -3 Ranks off any spell that impacts the wearer.
Sever Blade, Magical Hand and half with 10% SC of Grievous and 30% SC of Endurance blows.
Rod of Red Ruin, 5 Charges of ranged damage.
Scroll, Rank 5 Spell.
Potion of Strength, Adds a few point to your strength for a little while.
Two Handed Sword, Magic and +1 DM.
Scale Armour, Magic and +1 AP.
Potion of Flogiston, Summon and Control Fire Elemental. Same as Lord Rockwall's Lithon Potion.
Ankh of Osyris, Melds into Breastbone then gives an instant resurrection if you die then is used up. Can be removed by a rank 10 Healer.
Crown of Truth, 75% chance of seeing through illusions. If the wearer touches an illusion it is destroyed.
Hard Leather, Magical 8 AP hard leather with -0 AG modifier due to Rank 10 Armour-smithing. Size 6.

Also there was : • 25,000 silver pennies • 8,000 gold shillings • 9,450 silver pennies in jewellery Lord Rockwall lent Dunlan his "Volcanic Axe" which flames and does +5 DM. In preparing for the attack from the Hawks of Balor Lord Rockwall walled up the top entrance to the Kings tower. We also put a scarecrow with the Kings clothes on the throne and prepared to guard the King chambers. I stood watch on the Balcony and shortly after nightfall seven Hawks of Balor attacked. They seemed to be golem like and we destroyed (they puffed into lots a little shadows) six of them but one got away. Nothing further happened that night and we were paid our money (350 sp.) in the morning.

15th Thaw 797 WK

We rested and recovered from our fight. Hadron did another reading on Kel and it wasn't nearly as bad this time. There were only two dark forces now and they definitely had suffered a setback.

Also we examined the copper plate that the scared hearth flame sits on and found the copper disk was magical and created by Aim and is demonically resistant to fire. Actually if you could fashion a trap from the copper disk it is strong enough to hold Aim himself.

The council offered us either 10,000 sp. or one of the magic items from the treasury (Not the Crown, Sever Blade or the Null Plate) to go north and sort out Prince Fengil. We choose the magic hard leather.

16th Thaw 797 WK

We left and rode north all day to a small village. As we were heroes a local family put us up. Heard about Sara, a local wise woman who knows about herbs and curing boils.

17th Thaw 797 WK

Next morning we rode north to the village Silver that is across the Felice river from the Siren forest. Next morning we will have to take the ferry then follow the path into the forest.

We stayed in The Silver Stag Inn. (15 sp.)

We chatted to a local in the commons about the forest. He said it was full of Elves who hassle travellers. They don't attack them but tend to do things like shoot their hats off with arrows, and try to tempt people to chase them off the path. The White Tower is a short way in the forest on a side path. Also he had heard of golden apples that if you eat one a day you will live forever. Also apparently there was an ancient king of the elves buried in the woods somewhere.

North of the Siren forest there is a Dragon in the mountains as well as the Frost giants etc.

18th Thaw 797 WK

Next morning we crossed the ferry (1sp), and saw a path off into Siren forest after a logged area. A short way along the path we saw The White Tower with a side path leading to it.

The tower had an open archway and an internal stairway. As you climb the stairs the tower and all in it shrink (unnoticeably) until you reach the top room. If you step into the top room the tower expands back to full height and any entities in the tower remain one twelfth in height (Major curse MA 20). We were being watched by at least two elves that didn't want to talk to us.

Sasha lassoed the chest that was in the top room and we hauled it down. Inside the chest was a nice two-handed sword. We discovered this was silvered, magic and named "The Last Word". Any person wielding the sword will act last in the pulse (after magic) even if quickened but you will ALWAYS hit.

As we were leaving the elves in the forest threw darts at us attempting to knock off our hats and hit in the center of our shields. They only seemed to be taunting us.

We travelled further down the path and came across some nymphs frolicking in a pond. They threw us an apple each and said if we ate an apple a day we would not aging in any way (EVEN magical aging). However to reach the apple tree in the center of the pond we would have to cross the pond and this would make us old (but the apples would protect us). Thus as long as we ate an apple a day we would be young but as soon as we stopped we would become very old.

We tried to get some more apples but the nymphs turned into Hags and chased us off.

Further down the path there was a barrow off to the side.

Tso went over and looked around it, we think this is where the elvish king was buried. Unfortunately he rose up and created a huge, thick (can't see your hand in front of your face) mist that smelt terrible. He then put down an Agony spell and some sort of fear thing.

We ran away and only got drained a little.

About half a dozen miles further down the track we saw the Village of Mimir with a black Knight just this side of it. Sir Ty challenged him to single combat and asked his name. He said he was Baz so we subdued him.

It turned out that he had arrived at the village a couple of days before and was torturing the villagers to find out where the passage through the mountains started. We stayed the night and were put up for free.

19th Thaw 797 WK

After we woke up we found we were much less agile and dexterous and much more intelligent and wilful. Investigation revealed that this was caused by the water in the well in the center of the village and this was magic. We found out that the effect was temporary and only lasted one day. We waited one day for it to wear off (except Kel who went back and drank the water the next day).

While we were waiting for the effect to subside we talked to the locals about the Ruins of Mimir and they told us about the sage from Eltrandor who came here fifty years ago with the Centurion Drajan. Apparently he went missing in the temple to Mimir (in the Ruins of Mimir). All that was found by the Centurion Drajan was some bloody parchment.

Tso and Sasha decrypted this and came up with the following.

We decided to go and investigate tomorrow (strangely Kel did not object).

20th Thaw 797 WK

Today we went to temple of Mimir in the Ruins of Mimir in the middle of the Siren forest. The temple was an open square with ruins and edifices all around. In the middle of the temple was a seventy-five foot round pit that was fifty feet deep. There was a spiral staircase around the outside and a huge (eighty foot tall) stone pillar (actually a worn statue) in its center.

Down we went and knelt at the bottom and bid Mimir enter.

A stone block in the side of the pit slid aside and revealed a dark corridor sloping away from us. About fifty feet down there was an open iron gate into a room.

We went into the room and two figures wrapped in rags entered from side rooms. The one from the left was carrying a dish with white powder (Fog) in it. The one from the right had a dish with black powder (Poison) in it. Both carried short-swords and moved towards the altar in the center of the room. A brief fight ensued and we all got blinded by the fog and poisoned. Sir Ty, Tso and myself got one mummy and Kel (indirectly) got the other.

There was a secret door that opens behind the altar when you put white powder in the left depression on the altar and black powder in the right. On the other side was a skeleton of a man with the top of his skull snipped off (remember Hadron's reading with Kel about the big insect that eats people's brains).

Kel to Tso : What if triggering that trap summons a demon and it kills us all. Then you'll be embarrassed.

The skeleton was lying on top of a pressure plate that closes the secret door once you step off it. It had two scroll cases :

One had instructions on opening the secret door from the last room.
The other had the solution to the riddle at the bottom of the pit (see above).

We assumed that through the next door was a big bug demon which was forty feet long and eight feet high with nasty claws and huge mandibles.

Unfortunately we were right. It was named Necrophobius.

Fortunately we had set a trap for big bug things.

Unfortunately it got out of our trap by turning into a shadow then back again outside.

Fortunately we had a plan for this and hid in our own trap whilst shooting at it.

Unfortunately it had very thick skin and we could barely hurt it.

Fortunately Sir Ty got rid of it before it could eat too many of us.

The next room was twice as big as the one we were in. It had eight pillars that were carved to represent various intellectual pursuits. If you touched the columns a voice would speak and impart strange knowledge to you. You could only touch one column and they did different things.

Apparently there is something you have to do to activate them first ?

Dance, +5% Defence as long as you are not evading.
Music, Teaches an instrument. Can charm animals.
Poetry, Can perfectly memorise any verse.
Philosophy, Makes you more sceptical. +10% vs. Fright and Mind control.
Navigator, A free navigator or ranger rank.
Rhetoric, Bardic voice but cannot convince others to go into danger.
Painting, Skilled at painting. You can locate off the likeness.
Animal Training, A free rank in beast mastery.

At the other end of the room was a corridor exiting it that had a strange side corridor in it. The side corridor had two shallow grooves cut in the floor which were flowing with blood (Yuck). These ultimately ended in a face that was crying blood.

Sasha touched one and it spoke to here in an incomprehensible babble. We were all disappointed. We left that room and headed down the corridor towards the grooves of blood. We thought they were magical and Kel thought they proberly were poisoned as well. Sir Ty looked down the holes they ran into and started to feel as if he was choking. We pulled him back. It appeared that looking at or down the holes subjected you to some form of Mental Attack ! Kel covered the grooves and holes and we continued past the blood corridor to a door.

Through the door was a demon face on the wall which briefly tried to make the front people go mad then it faded away (spooky) and there was nothing in the room.

So we went back down the blood and grooved side corridor towards the bleeding face. There was a magic area down there with a beautiful girl standing in a side alcove (don't believe it for a second - remember the hags). Dunlan was very brave and discovered the magic is a mild form of mental control that made you a little drowsy and believe everything around you is benevolent.

We went back for a closer look and got attacked by two succubi that TK raged and Phantasmed us then stabbed Sasha and myself with poisoned daggers. Sasha died, Kel was badly hurt and I was poisoned and had to be saved by Sir Ty. At the end of the fight they ran away and we retreated to the surface to recover. While down there we saw a strange vase in a side room that we think one or more of the succubi live in (they seem to be able to walk through walls and are as fast as me). We bought Sasha back to life with one of those fantastic potions Hadron gave us.

We went back to the village to rest and recover.

That night the succubi talked to Kel's mind and told her that Shader had summoned them. along with the Necrophobius but due to our efforts they were released now. They got Kel to draw a map of the underground area and said they wouldn't bother us if we wouldn't bother them. One of them said her name was Bodorward.

21st Thaw 797 WK

Next morning we met a score of elves lead by Lirasal and Misopha (who was wearing a crown made of silver) who wanted their sword back (The Last Word). The one we had picked up from The White Tower. We apologised and gave it back. They agreed to guide us through the forest to the tunnel to the lake.

They told us we would need to enter the temple make our way through the maze then enter the totem of darkness. The warned us to not enter the room with Balor's head.

They told us that Prince Fengil is a greater undead skilled in dark celestial magic with hundreds of years of training. He has a handful of human priest/assassins working with him. They also said that the temple of knowledge was something of a local joke (we didn't get it) and was used by the demon Shader to obtain sacrifices. There was knowledge to be gained there but it all came with a twist or payment.

They said the undead in the barrow beside the forest path was King Quicksilver who died of disease and wanted to die in single combat so was rather unhappy.

They didn't regard our Balor quest important (and wouldn't help) and said as long as the sacred hearth fire burned and the local king could use it to defend themselves Balor would not rise. We told them that the king was dead without a direct heir and the next in line (prince Doron) didn't know how to use the flame. This worried them a little and they said they might go and teach Doron how to use the flame.

22nd Thaw 797 WK

We went back to the underground temple and went through it to where we met the succubi (who had left). We then went and examined the side room with a vase (lidded) in it. There was also another ceramic vase with its lid off beside it.

It turns out that both of these are spirit traps that can trap insubstantial creatures (once). The closed one had a wraith in it and also rattled - something else inside. We took the open vase (possibly for Prince Fengil).

The next odd room (will they ever stop?) had seven skeletons and nine chests on the roof and a deep pit in the floor. If you walked into the room you "fell" upwards towards the ceiling. In the chests were three rings of walking on air with 23 charges between them.

Further along was an altar room with a seven-pound bronze cursed helmet and a copper box in it. If you put the helmet on you cannot take if off, until someone removes the curse, and you might be able to understand all spoken tongues (or you might understand none and be unable to speak) - 18 MA curse. The copper box had a strange folding card in it :

Next was a round room with a scroll on a pedestal in the middle. The scroll case (which was magic with preservation) had paper within with some sort of portal spell on it. The Wyrm Lair was full of mud and had skeleton hands that tried to strangle you and a worm that magically paralysed things. We dug a hole and drained out the mud (with the worm), also some stuff went down the hole, including some rather good chain mail, but we recovered some stuff;

Magical +2 damage Rank 10 weapon-smithed hand & half.
Emerald Necklace (1200 sp.)
Necklace (100 sp.)
Necklace (438 sp.)
520 sp.

Kel tried to kill the worm thing but it paralysed her servant. So we went through the now drained Wyrm Lair and searched the end room. This room matched the card we found earlier. The rectangles on the card were bricks, hollow bricks. In them we found lots of stuff;

2 potions of Vision enhancement (Rank 20 Night Vision for 8 hours)
2 potions of Mental enhancement (+4 MA & +4 WP until next you sleep)
2 potions of Healing (10 points)
Silver Ankh (Restore life - see earlier)
Ring (Invested Agony - 4 charges Rank 10)
Dwarf bone dagger (Magical +1 DM)
Ring (Invested Sentinels - 4 charges - Summons a strange knight to fight for you)
Scroll of Resurrection (Dead less than 100 hours, don't need a big piece of dead person, loose 1 - 3 EN, for a week have 1/2 ST and AG, must be performed at sunrise, the reader of the scroll can't use any magic for the rest of the day)
Scroll of Entrapment (Draw a 15' diameter pentacle. A random number of creatures within 100' are sucked inside until released.)
Gold covered brick.
Silver brick.

Whilst looking at these Kel was attacked by two earth elemental and killed, Sir Ty was seriously injured trying to save her. The rest of us retreated into the bound earth room. Unfortunately the elementals released the wraith and then killed Tso and Dunlan. I created a magic portal and we escaped with the bodies back to the village.

23rd Thaw 797 WK

Spent today resting with the elves after restore life'ing Tso and Dunlan. We also got Kel back and healed up Sir Ty. Decided that going back was a bad idea.

24th Thaw 797 WK

We rode north (about 3 miles), escorted by the elves, to a cave in a cliff face. This is the start of the tunnels that go through the mountains. From the cave we heard a ghostly wailing. Just before we went in the elves gave us lots of healing herbs to take with us.

We left our horses with the elves and went into the cave. The other end of the cave had a Monolithic figure carved in stone sitting with both its arms outstretched. One arm was raised up with the disk of the sun and the other was lowered holding an eclipsed moon. It had a summoning ward on it that was triggered if you lower the hand with the sun in it.

In the roof was a large hole in it. We climbed up this on my rope and into a large cold room. In the room was a ice statue holding an ice key. We grabbed the key (it was for a lock in the far wall) and the statue animated and attacked us. We beat it up. In the corner of the room we found several scrolls;

Foscilite.
Stasis - Freezes time for three targets forever. (An E & E spell)
Summon Destria - Summons a horse from Hell.
Firestorm - Does d+42 damage to one target.
Death Light - Necromancy.

All of the rooms off this one are traps of various sorts with fake or illusionary treasure in them. There are many dead Eltrantdorians here (see the Centurion Drajan). We headed up the tunnel found a magical banner (military standard) on a 9' pole.

Then we encountered an Ice Spectre hiding (or trapped) in a whole lot of ice. It drained us a bit then cast a Darkness spell so we all could not see. We ran away and used a Sentinel to chase it away. But it got away (but conversely so did we).

We dug around the cave with the fake treasure and 100 foot ice worm and discovered a strange one-way portal to the outside (snowy mountain top). A ledge ran around the mountain to a tomb. Beside the portal was a mallet that would destroy portals when you hit them with it.

Further along the cave was a big hall with doors outside and lots of dead Eltrantdorians (killed by missile fire) in it, there also were big stalactites on the roof. Just outside of the main doors out of the hall were two frozen Eltrantdorians, one of which had a commanders baton (maybe the Centurion Drajan). Also to the right was a large hall with a big dog in it.

We went back and investigated the tomb, we fought a Wight, which killed Dunlan. We have 3 1/2 hours before Dunlan turns into a night gaunt.

Since we were in a hurry we went back down to the cave near the forest and I gave Tso my flying wand. We made him invisible and told him how to evade flying dragons (He should be able to fly faster than them). Sasha had a magic thing that kept track of Tso while he was flying. First he went south (as planned) for twenty minutes. Then suddenly he was to our north, then a minute later he was out of range (80 miles) or dead. Things first started going awry when Tso was over the middle of the forest. We were very confused and asked the local elves for help.

The local elves told us of TWO dragons and a ROC, one of the dragon was male and a Air mage (Opps) who had recently claimed this area (we didn't know about him). The other that we had heard about was a female dragon who was a Mind mage and lived in a ruined city to the Southeast. The Roc had being stealing cattle earlier in the day. The said they could transport us, via a tree-walking spell, closer to the last place we thought Tso was. We went there and Sasha tracked him to the south and moving slowly, then he vanished again. This time he was beyond the female dragons lair and heading south. We think they are flying between rune-portals or some such thing. Next we went and visited Hadron's at Lord Rockwall's to see if they turned up there and they hadn't.

Sasha suggested we go to see Grobbenbonk (about 50 mile south of Tso's last position) as he is a local Rune mage goblin she knew. We went to his tower but he wasn't home (but his Orc guards were) and we used his rune portals to return to the guild to report the missing guild members. At the guild we had two astrology readings done. We asked :

Will Dunlan get resurrected ?
Where will we next see Tso and Dunlan ?

and the answers were ;

These events lie in the past.
It is up to Tso whether you will see him at the guild again.

It didn't seem like we could help them (Since we didn't know where they were and couldn't locate them in any way) so we slept the night at the guild.

25th Thaw 797 WK

With little more we could do we went back to Lord Rockwall's with heavy hearts (they weren't there) and picked up some earth invested's on a use (and pay for) or return basis. Then back to the cave (not there either) and through the tunnels to the large hall to outside on top of the mountain. We spied on the frost giants that lived in the hall near the lake and saw them eating a shepherd (YUK) with there six huge dogs (six foot high), we built a big pit trap for them and they fell in it and died along with a couple of dogs. The rest we dispatched except for one that Kel befriended and a puppy Sasha found. The hall of the Frost Giants was a strange (BIG) place with a meat locker full of human bodies (Double YUK), a kennel and a storage room with the following stuff :

Potion of Theriac. - +4 AG up to 25.
Potion of Control Imbiber.
Velvet bag containing the skeletal hand of St Cradock.
Snow Gem - Looks like an Icicle.
Large Round Shield - Magical + 5 Def.
Leather Armour. - +1 AP due to magic (ie. 6 AP Armour).
A Love Potion.
1,110 sp.
3,600 sp. in 16 Assorted Jewels.

and finally in their bedroom was :

A 1 1/2' diameter gong and a quasi-dimensional tapestry (100lb) containing a homunculus servant that can carry 20 pounds.
3 Giant sized silver pieces.

After we released the homunculus we talked to him and he produced the key that opened the anti-magic room. Inside was a priest of Balor named Tabian (a celestial Mage) impersonating a Brandenburg adventurer. Kel thought we was about to attack us so we took him down. He had on him :

A Runic dagger with a rune matrix of spell storage.

The strange room with the image of the Rime Wraiths tomb (and the frozen fountain) had some sort of ward in it and we left it alone. We spent the rest of the day tunnelling down towards the lakeside. There are lots of dangerous animals around upstairs (Ice Snakes, Yeti's, Snow tigers, Whirlwind things, etc.)

26th Thaw 797 WK

Quietly tunnelled around the lake to the northern side where the temple of Balor was. It is actually on a pillar of bound earth and had Balor trapped within it. We scouted around a little and decided to attack next morning (don't fight undead at night).

27th Thaw 797 WK

Our scouting detected the following things in the temple.

1 Wraith (Fengil?).
1 Obsidiac (Some sort of crystal golem).
1 Grey Hood.
2 Humans on the top level.
1 Giant Spider.
1 Night Gaunt.
1 Huge thing with a lizard tail that spits acid and has turkey like waddles of flesh in it's neck.
5 Ganglyings - Giant octopus like beings.
Some zombies.
Oh and one demon prince (Balor) who is huge and occupies multiple levels.

Due to our chance of spotting things I think there are approximately six times as many things as are detailed above. We tunnelled to the front door and captured the guard (there was a sign inside the door saying Touch the Hand of Darkness), who lead us through the maze to the center of the top floor, which was open to the sky. There was a balcony around an atrium in the middle that had a scum filled pool and four statues around it.

There were four priests of Balor on the balcony who poisoned Kel's Dog and her Rat before they were killed, except for the one we captured as our prisoner. We recovered

18 poisoned darts.
4 Vials of poison.
3 Obsidian hand & half swords.

The statues represented Fire, Earth, Air and Darkness and all had a door in them. All the doors, bar the darkness one, do horrible things to the person stepping in to them then throw your remains into the pool. The darkness statue shadow-walks you to somewhere else (on Alusia).

On Kel's suggestion Murthac (as he is the toughest) stuck a stick into the pool to see past the scum on the surface. A large black crystal golem (Obsidiac maybe) rose up and thumped him four times killing him. I smashed it and Sir Ty recovered Murthac's body.

This meant we had to leave the temple (with our prisoner) and return to the Guild to get Murthac fixed so we back tracked to the Elves then Grobbenbonk place then home.

That is where we called it a day. Interrogation of the captured priest of Balor revealed that we had killed all of them and there was only two Hawks of Balor left as well. We returned the armour that we were offered as payment for dealing with Prince Fengil (as he is still undead) and the invested's that we had borrowed from Lord Rockwall. Finally back at the guild we split up the loot except for the Cursed Helmet of Understanding which we kept as a group item so we could return to the Ruins of Mimir at a later date.

Appendices

Places

Ashmore: A village one day's ride from Glissom.
Axebridge: A village two days ride from Glissom.
Azur: A large kingdom famed for their ocean going fleet and trading routes.
Brandenburg: The capital of the Duchy of the same name.
Cornumbria: Neighbours to Brandenburg whom are worried about the Evil necromancer Saydar.
Eltrandor: A large kingdom which tried to invade Glissom some time ago. See Centurion Drajan.
Ereworn: Saydar new fiefdom in Brandenburg.
Glissom: Glissom is a rich, arable land lying at the mouth of the Felice River. It is bounded to the south by the Shriven Hills (Brandenburg), to the southwest by the Donier Basin, to the west by the Kriel Plain (Eltrandor), end to the north and east by The Mountains of Brack. King Doron currently rules it.
Goblin hills: The area in which Grobbenbonk is the Sheriff. He lives in a tower full of Orcs and has a Rune portal back to the guild of Seagate. He also has a Rune portal directly to Glissom.
Ingham: A village two days ride up-river from Brandenburg.
Karrack: Aldred's county and near to Ereworn.
Nem: The frozen city in the mountains. This used to be the seat of Balor's power until he was thrown down and the city locked beneath a lake of ice. There still remains a temple to Balor at the northern edge of the lake. The adventures of guild of Seagate attacked the temple and killed the Priests including the head priest Fengil.
Pillaton: A village one day's ride up-river from Brandenburg.
Ruins of Mimir: Unknown ruins in the Siren forest. The people that used to inhabit these ruins worshiped a god of knowledge. In this was a temple to Mimir that was investigated by adventurers from Seagate.
Silver: This is a small village on the southern side of the Siren forest near the path that leads into it. The Silver Stag Inn is there.
Siren forest: This is a fey forest to the north of Glissom. Pixies, nymphs and other fey occupy it. It contains The White Tower and Ruins of Mimir, The barrow of the Elf King (King Quicksilver), some hags in a pool of cursed youth and a small village in it's north.
The Mountains of Brack: A towering mountain range more than 100 miles deep, whose soaring peaks are perpetually lost in swirling snow and icy winds. Forming an impassable barrier between Brandenburg and Cauldersfield, these wastes remain untravelled by man and are only talked about in relation to myth and legend.
The Silver Griffin: A reasonable Inn in Glissom owned by Hyden. Where we met Doron.
The Silver Stag: A reasonable Inn in the village of Silver.
The White Tower: A tower in the Siren forest that holds a weapon of great power (a Sword). The weapon is watched over by the local elves and is King Quicksilver's sword. It is called "The Last Word".

People

Aim, The Fire Duke: A powerful demon and partially responsible for the downfall of Balor.
Aldred: Duke of Karrack and our current employer.
Balor - Prince of Darkness: Once, long ago, Balor (Demon Prince of Darkness) ruled The Mountains of Brack, and from there his icy breath covered the land with thick blizzards and dark scudding clouds. Other Demons conspired together to overthrow the rule of Darkness, burying the city of Nem, the seat of Balor's power, forever in the icy mountains. First Aim (The Fire Duke) exploded at the heart of Balor's smithy where dark engines of destruction were built, and the city and the land for miles around were buried in deep volcanic ash. A burning ember of that explosion was carried far over the mountains by the howling wind and fell just where the city of Glissom now stands. To this day the glowing ember still burns at the center of the tower. Then Vapula (The Lion Duke) split open the earth to swallow the city and Crocell (The Duke of the Bath) poured down water, freezing it over and locking Balor and the rubble of his city forever beneath the ice pack. Balor is actually imprisoned beneath his temple on the northern edge of the frozen lake Nem. The Wight Prince Fengil was his head priest and worked to have him released before he was destroyed. For this Prince Fengil needed (but did not get) the sacred hearth fire from Glissom.
Baz: A messenger of Kilnded's who attempted to reach Prince Fengil. He was captured and turned over to the local authorities.
Bordoward: A succubus enslaved by Shader who now roams free in the region.
Centurion Drajan: 50 years ago when Eltrandor invaded Glissom with their Legions encased in bronze armor, one of the centurions named Drajan, led his men into the mountains in search of the city. Not one of his thousand men was ever seen again, although it is rumoured that their ghosts stand on the road to the north, begging travellers to go no further. He was found frozen solid outside of the Hall of the Frost Giants in The Mountains of Brack.
Chang: He's the Innkeeper on the north road and seems to be very knowledgeable about local goings on. He also is known to associate with and does "Odd jobs" for Kilnded.
Crocell, The Duke of the Bath: A powerful demon and partially responsible for the downfall of Balor.
Dawn: A mind mage and a friend of Lord Rockwall. She does not actually live in Glissom but can portal in if asked.
Doron: The prince (actually only a cousin to King Durindar) and heir to the throne of Glissom. A nice chap though prone to drink, womanise and act rashly. The prince is not liked by the town council and is generally not considered fit to rule. Luckily the prince also does not want to run Glissom and prefers his carefree life as it is. However the council discovered that the King was dead after being a controlled zombie and thus decided to crown Doron. Also the elves of the Siren forest were going to teach Doron how to use the Sacred Heath Fire to defend Glissom. He is now a Fire mage.
Duke Branden: Lord of Brandenburg.
Grobbenbonk: The Sheriff of Goblin hills and a Rune mage with a rune portal network set up.
Hadron the Healer: An all round good guy apparently who can bring back people from the dead, but the prince hasn't personally experienced this. He lives with Lord Rockwall.; Also he is an Alchemist and a Seer and can thus see the future. He is old and frail, as he is a human over 150 years old. He also can create Restore Life potions. He did some readings into the future for us.
Hawks of Balor: These are demonic minions of Balor. They are giant man sized demonic hawks who were only affected by silvered or magical weapons. They are apparently very agile and have celestial dark magic from Balor. They occupy the same demonic niche as hellhounds. Six of them have been destroyed and there may be only two left.
Hyden: An innkeeper in Glissom. Brother of Ned.
Kilnded: The steward of Glissom. A necromancer and agent of The Prince of Darkness. (and an ally of Prince Fengil). He plotted to release Balor but was stopped. He currently is imprisoned at the guild in Seagate.
King Durindar: Glissom has been ruled by an old and wise King for the past fifty years (since the failed occupation by Eltrandor). King Durindar has ensured that his people have flourished and that the granaries are full to bursting after each harvest. Yet two years ago, on the night of the Spring Festival where the people pray for the coming season of growth, the King came before them on his balcony as is his custom and announced that from that night forward he would renounce affairs of state and become a hermit employed in prayers and fasting in the tower that stands in the north-western corner of the palace. For the past two years the only person to have had direct converse with the King has been his steward Kilnded, who has carried his food to him in the tower and taken from there the King's proclamations. For the past two years, the only two public appearances that Durindar has made have been on his balcony at the Spring Festival. The third such festival is now soon to come up, and the people of Glissom gather anxiously in their capital, awaiting the address of their King. Unfortunately it was discovered that the King was dead and had been turned into a zombie by Kilnded. After this was discovered the King was given a decent burial.
King Quicksilver: The undead elvish king in the Siren forest who wished to die in honourable single combat but instead died of disease thus has come back as an undead. He appears to be a VERY powerful necromancer and toys with groups of people. His method of attack involves a Rank 20 Nocuous vapours, followed by an Agony and a Mass fear. He can see through his own nocuous vapours!
Lirasal: A female leader of the elves in the Siren forest she recovered the magic sword The Last Word. Associates with Misopha.
Lord Rockwall: An independently wealthy dwarf, who moved the area not long ago, he knows about Earth magic's and keeps to himself. The Healer lives with him. He was friendly with the adventurers from Seagate and gave them great assistance.
Morde: A widowed Innkeeper.
Misopha: A female elf leader from the Siren forest. She wears a silver crown and may be an elvish queen. Associates with Lirasal.
Mut: Guntan barbarian, wields a two handed sword and a crossbow, and is one of the personal guard of Kilnded
Ned: The ferryman across the river near Glissom. Brother of Hyden.
Necrophobius: A big bug like type of demon with celestial dark talents. It is forty feet long and ten feet high with around fourteen points of armor. Necrophobius can shadow self (turn into a shadow and travel like that) unless blocked by celestial counterspells (which also can be used to banish it). One used to inhabit the temple of Mimir.
Phon: Guntan barbarian, carries a great axe and a battle-axe, and is one of the personal guard of Kilnded
Prince Fengil: Two hundred years before, there was a Prince of Glissom named Fengil who was much given to occult practices in his youth. One day he set off towards the mountains, claiming he sought Balor's lost city. But he never returned, and although the King, his father, sent many men to search for him, he was never found and his searchers became lost in the treacherous woods and the swamps at the foothills of the mountains. Many years later, however, a shepherd named Murvon lost his way in a storm in the mountains and discovered a series of caves leading through them. He climbed countless stairs cut into the rock and survived many encounters with dangerous creatures, until at last he reached the top of a mountain. Below him he glimpsed the frozen lake covering the Lost City of Nem, and a ruined temple structure standing at its northern end where the freezing winds blew most fiercely. Above this, he saw flapping in the shrieking wind the legendary Hawks of Balor, The Prince of Darkness' harbingers of doom in times post. Seeing this dreadful sight the shepherd fled the mountaintop, but only after he had picked up an object that he had seen gleaming on the ground. Murvon was found dying in the foothills to the south of the mountains; he told the men who found him his tale, then opened his hand revealing a gold pectoral, the object that he had picked up off the ground. On it was etched Prince Fengil's name. Since then, his name has become a byword with which to scare children into their bed, for it is said that the now undead Prince stalks outside the city gates at midnight calling on the name of The Prince of Darkness. He was in the Temple to Balor on the frozen lake above the City of Nem, acting as the high priest of Balor until a party from Seagate destroyed him.
Saydar: One of the more powerful Guild Members. A very experienced necromancer and an Orc. Was bequeathed a castle and land by Duke Branden for services rendered. This was not popular with the local populous and most peasants and nobility in the area have branded him "The Evil Necromancer".
Sara: A wise woman who is able to cure warts and boils. See lives near the village of Silver.
Shader: A celestial demon responsible for the temple of Mimir. He uses it to gain sacrifices from the unwary. Although there is knowledge to be gained there it is only available at a price or with a twist. He also summoned Necrophobius and two succubi (including Bordoward) to protect it.
Shepherd Murvon: A shepherd / adventurer who found a gold pectoral near the lost city of Nem. See Prince Fengil.
Vapula, The Lion Duke: A powerful demon and partially responsible for the downfall of Balor.