Stealth

A few sessions ago the players in my Swords & Wizardry campaign made a return to the cloud giant castle they had previously robbed. It seems the cloud giants were not happy with being robbed and started dropping rocks on a nearby town. This meant that the players finally started exploring the seven maps I created for the castle. As with a lot of high-level adventure rewrites to Swords & Wizardry, I was not sure about the power level of some of the suggested encounters. What could be considered the big bad was a 15th-level magic-user with a disintegrate spell memorized. In Swords & Wizardry, a character who has had disintegrate cast on them is turned to dust if they fail a saving throw. I think this would preclude the use of the raise-dead spell. Possibly wish might bring the character back.

For this reason, it was with some trepidation that I watched the characters scout the flying castle and pick the wizard's tower as their point of entry. This turned out to be a lucky move on their part. They entered the castle quietly in the middle of the night using stealth when everyone was asleep. The first person they encountered was the aforementioned wizard asleep in his bed. The person who opened the door to the bedroom was the party mage who cast feeblemind before the wizard could wake up and cast disintegrate, teleport, or anti-magic shell. He failed the save and the encounter turned out to be a very easy one for the players.

Session 114: Assault on the Cloud Castle

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Joe Boxer (human monk), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC).

The Company of the Black Dragon joined by Joe Boxer and Norine Gayheart is aboard their flying longboat approaching Edgerton. They have recently learned that the cloud giants are attacking the town of Wolford.

The ship is brought down just above the aerie atop the Black Dragon manor house. The hippogriff Gnomeat is securely placed in his pen.

“Everyone prepare what they need. We are going on a long trip. First to deal with the giants and then with the white worm!”, Lakima tells everyone. Cowan and Dagmar are told to be back the next day. Joe stays at the Manor as a guest.

Lakima, Eathwund, Aldus, Alrix, and Joe accompany Norine to The Sign of the Purple Bugbear tavern. There they summon the one-legged merchant, Dexter Longwood. As Dexter stumps down the stairs and approaches the table, Norine gasps in surprise.

“Dex, what has happened to you?”

Dexter is shocked to find Norine alive and Norine is shocked and saddened to learn that she has indeed spent the last 20 years trapped in suspended animation in a bottle. She says she has to see Goldie her fiancé. Dexter tries to comfort her. Lakima tells Norine that she can count on the Company of the Black Dragon as friends and that a spot is open for her if she wishes to join. Norine is too dazed to respond with anything more than a nod.

The adventurers accept payment from Dexter (200 gold) and Lakima gives out shares to those that are present. Joe insists on giving his share to Norine. Then the adventurers say their goodbyes. Eathwund stays behind to check in on his business.

Alrix and Lakima head over to Clearwin’s Oddities. Alrix asks Clearwin’s assistant Gerfold Blim if he can speak to Clearwin. Once Clearwin is summoned from his workroom Alrix asks him if the properties of a potion of scaleskin could be added to the Talisman of the Dread serpent that was crafted for him by Clearwin. Clearwin explains why this will not work. Meanwhile, Lakima approaches two human mercenaries who are in the shop as customers. He offers them a good-paying job killing giants but the mercenaries lose interest (and leave the shop) once they find out that the job involves fighting giants. Clearwin and Alrix continue to talk and Clearwin does suggest that if Alrix is looking for a magic item that can protect him then he might have a special item that will do this. When Alrix indicates he wishes to see this item – Clearwin locks up the shop and has Gerfold fetch it. Clearwin shows Alrix a dragon-scaled robe called the Red Claw Regalia. While it is very rare, Clearwin tells Alrix that as a repeat customer he is willing to sell it at a discount, only 6,500 gold. Alrix accepts and purchases it with platinum and gold coins. Lakima asks about weapons of use against cloud giants but Clearwin tells him that unfortunately, he has nothing that fits that description. He does suggest a belt of flying, but Lakima is not interested.

Lakima heads alone to the Apothecary and greets Malyn. Lakima asks the ever-youthful mage for magic for fighting cloud giants. Malyn has no suggestions. Lakima then turns his attention to the two dwarven guards Malyn employs and asks to purchase their contracts. Malyn agrees once Lakima offers access to the flying ship so Malyn can study it. The two dwarves, Boffin and Haddon, seem very relieved to leave Malyn’s service. Boffin tells Lakima that he has experience fighting hill giants and frost giants.

Later that day all members of the company including the newest member Joe meet at the Manor to discuss plans. Lakima tells everyone that he wants to fly first to the Shrine of Medamellara in the valley of heroes so he can recharge a pair of wands. Eathwund says he could recharge his ethereal armor. From the shrine Lakima suggests they go to the Bridgeway and take the ship through the portal to Wolford. This way they can greatly reduce the travel time to Wolford. Domago agrees to the detour to the shrine given that they can make up the time by using the bridgeway.

The longboat is packed full of supplies and Alayna makes sure that Lakima gives her access to a large supply of gold for purchases while he is away. Before they leave Lakima opens the second bottle they removed from the ruined tower a week earlier. A bluish cloud pours from the bottle and they see the face of an old man in the cloud. In moments the man ages and turns to dust.

"That was not what I expected to happen," says Lakima.

The company sets out north early in the morning and arrives that evening at the lonely shrine in the cold, windy Valley of Heroes far to the north. The head priest of the shrine, Toffin, greets them and welcomes them inside. Lakima successfully recharges two wands (lightning bolts, fireballs). Toffin offers them a place to sleep that night but they decide to sleep on the boat. Eathwund decides not to risk trying to recharge his ethereal armor (there is a cumulative chance of failure which would destroy the item).

The next day they head south for the bridgeway located in Kingswood. Lakima suggests that they stop at Arkwood to recruit the rangers who live there. After two days of travel, they arrive unannounced at the steading of Arkwood. The rangers greet them with a volley of arrows that fall short of the ship. Lakima calls down and is able to convince their old friend Theric that they are indeed members of the same Company of adventurers who saved him. Lakima asks Theric to help deal with the giants and the white worm but Theric informs him that he and his group have pledged to protect the Kingswood. He does offer the services of one of the younger men at Arkwood. Fairfox, a young human, is asked if he wished to accompany the adventurers and he accepts.

The next day they arrive at the bridgeway deep in the Kingswood. They settle the ship a short height over the stone bridge and climb down to greet the custodian Ezmeralden. The custodian is skeptical that the bridgeway will function with the longboat but Lakima argues that it works with horses and wagons so it should work with the boat. Lakima takes the helm and settles the long boat a short distance above the bridge. Ezmeralden sets the bridgeway to transport them to Wolford. Aldus and Eathwund “push” the boat with help from Lakima at the helm. The boat passes across the bridge and does not vanish through the portal. The attempt fails. They let Ezmeralden know that he can close the portal and then reboard their ship and fly northeast to Wolford.

The trip to Wolford takes five days and is uneventful. While they have shelter on the longboat it is still a cold and windy journey. They arrive in Wolford late in the evening. They immediately notice a large stationary cloud above the town. The area directly beneath the cloud appears abandoned. They see many houses with their roofs collapsed as if hit with tremendous force. Eathwund notices that his father’s shop is one of the damaged and abandoned buildings.

Lakima casts phantasmal force to make their long boat appear to be just another cloud. The “cloudship” then ascends to the level of other clouds. Lakima brings the ship close enough to the cloud giant’s castle that they are able to see figures on the battlements. They watch for a while in silence as bugbear guards patrol the battlements. They do see at least three cloud giants on the battlements as well. Two male and one female giant. As it grows later in the night the giants head indoors. The bugbear patrols continue. One stone tower set off from the main castle seems almost deserted. A few lights blink from windows, but there is no one on the battlements atop this tower. The tower is connected to the main castle by a wooden bridge. Lakima points at the bridge and tells Fenris he will drop him on the bridge so he can scout the tower.

“What, do you want me to jump?” Fenris asks.

Lakima tells him he will settle the ship right over the bridge. The bridge is set 20 feet over the bridge and Fenris scurries down a rope. He waves back that there are no guards and Joe quickly follows Fenris down. Joe and Fenris make it to the door and wave back that it is held magically.

Lakima turns to Boffin and asks if he will wear a magical helm that will control him but allow him to pass through the door. He promises to remove the helm once the door is open.

“Magic doesn’t work on me,” Boffin says confidently and accepts the Cursed helm of Free action. Lakima then tells Boffin to dance which the dwarf does.

“Now then, none of that,” Haddon says angrily.

Lakima sends the two dwarves down to open the wizard-locked door. Once they have the door open, he tells everyone else to descend. Lakima then takes the ship down into the clouds a short distance away. He tells Cowan and Dagmar that the adventurers will return “soon”. He then polymorphs into a miner bird and flies down to join the other adventurers.

Lakima lands on Fenris’ shoulder and noisily squawks at the thief to open a pair of doors in the hallway they have entered. They notice that the hallway width and height are sized for giants but all of the doors are human-sized. Haddon tells everyone that the doors were rebuilt recently making the openings smaller. The rooms hold a comfortable sitting area and a dining area. They decide to take a stair up.

On the next level, they quietly search through the library and study. Fenris listens at a closed door and tells everyone that he can hear someone snoring. The door proves to be wizard locked so Boffin uses the helm again to open it. The light from Domago’s continual light spell falls into the chamber revealing a bedroom. In the bed, a grey-bearded man in a nightcap and gown sits up as if just awakened. The man spots Lakima and his eyes go wide. He starts to speak the command words of a spell but Lakima reacts first.

“Feeblemind”, Lakima intones as he completes the spell.

The spell hits the man who then stumbles out of the bed. Lakima questions the man but he appears to have forgotten his name or what he is doing. The feeblemind spell has taken hold. They decide to truss the man up in ropes and leave him lying on the bed. Fenris busies himself with a large chest. He triggers a poison needle trap but his magical talisman protects him. Inside he finds gold, silver, gems, scrolls, and potions. Lakima casts detect magic and searches the chamber. He finds the glow of magic emanating from beneath the bed – but there is nothing there. Using his staff, he shoves a heavy object out from under the bed. Lakima then calls over Boffin. With Boffin standing beside the invisible object, he casts dispel magic. A spellbook appears and Boffin takes the helmet off and tosses it on the floor. Lakima picks up the spellbook and slides it into the bag of holding.

Fenris is sent upstairs to the next level. He reports back that there is a laboratory. The entire group heads up to investigate. They find many strange items and clearly a very valuable collection of reagents and components. Fenris heads up the stair again and reports that it goes to a trapdoor out to the battlements. They decide to head down.

Heading down they come to an enclosed basement. They find a storeroom and a game room and a wizard-locked door. In another room, they stumble upon an apprentice mage sleeping in a bed. Before the man can react, Alrix casts charm person on him. The noise they are making in the hallway does attract a human guard who attacks Eathwund. As Eathwund is dealing with the guard, the wizard-locked door opens and a monk attacks Eathwund from behind. Aldus is able to kill the monk while Eathwund kills the guard.

Meanwhile, Alrix talks with the apprentice he tells his new friend that his name is Deost. He tells Alrix about his master, Sazor’s immense power in an awed voice. He offers to put in a good word with his master from Alrix. Lakima dismissively tells Deost that they have already dealt with Sazor Stratus. Deost is skeptical at first but then warms to the idea. He explains that he was captured by the sky raiders and imprisoned in the dungeons. The ettin jailor told him that he was going to be food for their hydra. Sazor came to the prison and released him if he would serve him. Deost knows the names of the cloud giants and tells them about Jorgis the clan leader and a mighty cloud giant. He tells them that Sazor was originally a prisoner as well but has used his superior intelligence to slowly manipulate the cloud giants into doing what he wishes. He says that Sazor would normally try a charm spell on the cloud giants but apparently, they are very resistant to magic. The cloud giants usually hunt humans further to the north but they came south at Sazor’s suggestion. Deost also tells them that there is a cloud giant wedding scheduled to occur in 5 days and cloud giant guests are expected to arrive any day now. Soon the castle will be full of cloud giant guests.

Converting 5e Adventures to OSR

Last week I ran the players in my Swords & Wizardry Rules campaign through a D&D 5e adventure. Specifically, "Wizard in a Bottle" by M.T. Black. I have purchased a few adventures from this author on the DM's Guild site and I think a few more might get converted for use in my campaign. The adventure was meant for 2nd-level D&D 5e characters but I converted it to 8-10th level for Swords & Wizardry. In this case, I changed the monsters. I used similar creatures but kept the plot more or less the same. I switched an ogre for a feral hill giant, a spider swarm for a spider collective, and a lesser water weird for a 16HD Water elemental. This method works well for most 5e adventures. The traps and secrets can usually be left as they were written. Where this becomes a problem is with creatures like goblins - there is not really an easy way to scale up goblins from the 2nd to 8th level.

Session 113: The wizard in a bottle

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Joe Boxer (human monk), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC).

The members of the Company of the Black Dragon have taken their new flying boat out on a maiden voyage a short distance to the ruins of a wizards’ tower south on the south bank of the Dolm river. They have been hired to return the body of an adventurer to Edgerton for burial.

Meanwhile, a lone wandering monk, named Joe Boxer follows the trail of a marauding creature through the scrub lands south of the Dolm River. The creature has attacked several people along the Wilderness trail. The tracks look to be those of a large ogre or small hill giant. The tracks lead to the ruins of a stone tower.

The flying ship descends from the sky a short distance from the ruined tower. As they are descending, they see a man step out from under a tree and wave a greeting at them. Lakima halts the descent of the ship at 20 feet above the ground.

“Who goes there,” Lakima calls out.

The man greets them and tells them his name is Joe and he is tracking a creature that has waylaid travellers on the wilderness road. Lakima yells that he will come down to meet him. Ropes are cast over the side of the boat and one by one the adventurers descend to the ground. Joe greets each of the adventurers and introduces himself. Lakima suggests they team up to kill this marauding ogre or giant as the Company of the Black Dragon wishes to search the ruins.

Lakima shouts some instructions up to Cowan and Dagmar the crew of the flying boat. While they are shouting back and forth, the door to the ruined tower is shoved to one side and an ugly hill giant steps out and roars a challenge at them. Eathwund, Joe, and Aldus move forward to defend the company. Lakima casts charm monster and easily charms the dumb giant. The giant invites them into the ruined tower and offers them some rotted meat that appears to be from a human forearm. Domago readies his mace to strike the giant but Lakima manages to persuade him to wait. The giant lives on the ground floor of the tower. The room is open to the sky except for an area under a crude lean-to of wood beams. The giant tells them that he does not think there is a dungeon or trap door under the floor. They do notice a large tarp of animal skins over a statue.

When the tarp is pulled aside, they find a life-sized iron statue of a robed man clutching a tablet in his hands. Etched into the table are three words (I will refrain from spoiling it in case someone plans to run this adventure). Suspecting immediately that this is a command word, Lakima loudly speaks out the words. Nothing happens. Joe, Eathwund, and Lakima then spend a quarter watch trying to figure out command words based on the letters. They eventually deduce the command word but when they utter these words nothing happens. Lakima asks the giant to slide the statue to one side but the giant is unable to budge it. Eathwund busies himself studying the statue and as he touches one of the etched letters it glows blue. They realize they need to touch each letter in turn spelling out the command words. Lakima does this and the statue swings to one side as if it is on a pivot point on its base. Beneath the statue they see a narrow spiral staircase descending into darkness.

Fenris takes the lead and warns everyone that some steps are loose. Joe comes behind Fenris and is followed by the hill giant whom Lakima persuades to squeeze into the stair. The giant soon becomes stuck. Lakima tells the giant to wait in the tower and not to let anyone enter.

“I eat anyone who come!” the giant says.

Meanwhile, Fenris calls out asking if anyone has a light. As he descends the light from the sun is cut off. Lakima summons a glow minion and sends it down to lead the way. The light from the glow minion illuminates a 40-foot-long, five-foot-wide corridor leading to a chamber. The corridor is draped in spider webs and cobwebs. They can see hundreds and hundreds of fist-sized black spiders crawling about. The spiders seem to want to avoid the light from the glow minion and do not advance toward them.

After a short debate, Lakima decides to summon an ice storm in the narrow hallway. Rain, sleet, and ice pelts the hallway, and hundreds of spiders are killed. Hundreds and hundreds of the spiders crawl together into a large mound completely blocking the corridor. The top layer of spiders is killed by the storm but the rest emerge as the storm passes. The spiders form together into the wriggling shape of a giant spider 5 feet in diameter. The spider moves toward the group. Aldus and Eathwund are able to hold it off. They slash at it several times killing hundreds of spiders. After a brief fight, the spider collective collapses and the few remaining spiders vanish into cracks in the walls.

Now that the hallway is cleared of spiders, they see the mummified remains of a humanoid figure leaning against the wall. Fenris checks the corpse and guesses that it is the long-dead remains of a half-elven thief. He pockets a pouch with gold and silver coins in it from the corpse. They move forward to the chamber. Inside they find a room with walls covered in carved grey stucco. Eyeballs have been carved into every inch of the walls and seem to follow them about the chamber. A stair leads down to the east and another to the west. Lakima suggests they head east but when they start to descend, they smell a foul odor. They decide to try to the south first.

At the bottom of the stair, they find another small chamber. One wall is covered by two wooden cabinets holding all manner of strange items. The sort of items that are expected to be found in an apothecary – shells, fossils, skulls, minerals, insects in jars, preserved organs, reptile skins, and powders in jars. Against a wall are three wooden barrels and a crate. A hallway leads west. Lying face down on the floor is the corpse of a man wearing chainmail. Fenris leans over the man and tells them that the man has large gashes in his chest. Dried blood covers the floor under the body. He appears to have been dead for a long time. Domago identifies a silver holy symbol about the corpse's neck as being that of St. Kristoff.

“We should carry him out of here and give him a proper burial,” Domago says.

Lakima agrees but “after” they finish searching. They look down the hallway and see six large paintings hanging on the wall. The paintings clearly depict different layers of the abyss. At the end of the hallway, they see another chamber.

“That looks like a trap,” Lakima says. Lakima pulls the Book of Monsters out of the bag of holding and releases a thief that tried to rob them at the Blue Dragon Inn in Caster’s Ford.

The thief appears and looks about in confusion.

“Stay back!”

The thief backs away from the group and then turns and runs down the hallway of paintings. As he reaches the room at the end, two toad-like demons step from a painting. One chases the thief into the room, and the other runs toward the adventurers to attack them. It rushes into the chamber and slashes at Lakima but he is protected by the amulet of demon summoning. The demon then slashes and then bites down on Fenris’ arm crushing it. Fenris screams in terror and pain.

Eathwund charges the demon pushing it off of Fenris with his shield. Aldus slashes at the demon with his great sword. Domago also charges the demon and swings at it with his mace but misses. They hear a distant scream and then the second demon comes running down the hallway of paintings. Two demons now attack Eathwund. While Aldus pulls one demon off of Eathwund, Joe leaps up onto the rickey barrels and punches a toad demon right in the side of the head. The demon is stunned and stands dumbly. Taking advantage of this, Aldus and Eathwund hack away at the other demon until it is dead. Domago tries to help but his mace proves ineffective. Aldus and Eathwund then hack away at the stunned demon severing its head. It collapses in a heap. A few moments later both demons are suddenly reduced to piles of ashes.

“Fenris, check the hall for traps,” Lakima tells him. Fenris asks for a moment as Domago sets his wounds and casts healing magic on him. Fenris then carefully makes his way down the hallway. As they pass the painting that the demons came out of, they see a painting showing endless decrepit courtyards and withering fields, demonic figures are scattered amongst the ruins. The figures seem to move out of the corner of their eyes.

“Could these be portals to the abyss?” Eathwund asks.

“Let’s not find out,” Fenris says stopping at the entrance to the room. There is a circle carved into the floor at the entrance to the room. Lakima examines it and declares it is a protection circle but that it is currently harmless. The room appears to be a laboratory. There are many shelves with jars, vials, alembics, bowls, and the like on them. A small desk with a chair and a workbench covered in jars and bowls. Lakima goes immediately to the desk and grabs all of the scrolls and sheets of parchment lying there. They are stuffed into the bag of holding. Lakima uses detect magic to spot two flasks that glow magically.

The room does not appear to have any exits and Joe suggests searching the walls. Before they can search for anything, a flask flies off a shelf and narrowly misses everyone. It hits a wooden shelf and smashes. The liquid inside burns a hole into the wood like acid. Another flask is thrown into the hallway and explodes into flames. Joe narrowly jumps aside. Domago tries to turn undead but he senses no undead in the chamber. Lakima grabs the two flasks he noted as magical and places them into the bag of holding. There are no more flying flasks thrown at them.

A desk is moved and a shelf but they do not find any exits.

“There is still one stair we can check,” Joe says.

They return to the chamber of eyes and check out the stairway leading down. Lakima sends the glow minion down the steps and they see a raised stone bowl in another small chamber at the end of the steps. Joe goes down and climbs up a wall and into the room. From his perch, he can see a dark shape under the scummy water of the pool. It is about the size and shape of a small human. Lakima orders the glow minion to pull the shape out of the water. But as the glow minion approaches the pool, a water elemental with a sickly blue-green hue bursts forth from the pool.

Lakima uses his magic to summon a fire elemental in the chamber of eyes. The summoned elemental quickly consumes the wooden furniture in the room. Lakima commands it to kill the water elemental. It rushes down the stair on which Fenris and Eathwund are standing. Eathwund uses his armor to turn ethereal and run back to the Chamber of eyes. Fenris is forced to run into the chamber with the pool to avoid being burned. Joe clings to the walls and then climbs out and runs back up the stair. The fire elemental and water elemental clash in a burst of steam. They hear Fenris screaming in pain down in the pool chamber. It only takes a minute for the fire elemental to destroy the water elemental. Lakima then dismisses it. Domago rushes down to the chamber and casts healing magic on Fenris whose skin has been burned red.

“That’s it for me. I am out of here!” Fenris declares and ascends to the Chamber of Eyes. He sits down next to the corpse in the hallway.

Down in the chamber with the pool they find that the pool has been emptied of the scummy water that was in it. The skeleton of a halfling lies at the bottom of the pool. A scattering of coins lies around it. Lakima calls out to Fenris and asks if he will collect the coins. The weary thief gets up and goes back to the chamber to collect the valuables. The halfling’s sword and armor are half melted and now useless junk.

Joe suggests checking the paintings again. He uses a pry bar to remove one from the wall to check behind it but is disappointed. Eathwund tells him that once the painting was removed from the wall its enchantment disappeared. They decide to remove all six paintings but do not find anything. They go back up to the chamber of eyes again. Aldus decides to poke one of the eyes in the wall with his sword. The eye explodes in a shower of plaster.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t touch that with your hand,” Fenris says.

Joe persuades Lakima to take the jars they found out of the bag and examine them more closely. Lakima takes them out and notes that one flask holds cloudy green gas while the other holds a blue liquid. He sees a shape in the blue liquid and looks more closely. Floating about in the flask is a tiny doll like figure of a woman holding a wand.

“Ready everyone,” Lakima says and then removes the cork on the blue flask. A blue vapor escapes from the bottle and then the figure of a woman appears and grows larger until she is human-sized. A woman stands before them with still a few traces of blue liquid on her clothes. She shakes her head and opens her eyes. For a moment she says nothing just looking over the seven men standing around her.

“Get back, fiends,” she says and brandishes her wand at them.

Lakima manages to assure the woman that she is safe. They freed her. The woman tells them she is Norine Gayheart. The mage they were sent to find. She tells them of entering the ruins with three companions. Their thief was bitten by a poisonous spider and died. Their fighter was dragged into a pool by a water elemental and drowned. She and the cleric continued on but were attacked by two demons. The cleric sacrificed himself by holding off the demons while she fled to a laboratory. Being out of spells she started throwing flasks and potions at the demons as they came toward her. She last remembered uncorking a flask of blue liquid.

“You were trapped in that bottle,” Lakima tells her.

The group decides to leave the dungeons. They do agree to remove the bodies of the thief, halfling, and cleric for a proper burial. But first Lakima tells them that they are going to need to kill a giant.

“Why do we need to kill it,” Aldus asks.

“Because it is eating people,” Lakima replies.

Norine is curious but holds back. Domago notices that she has a recent, bleeding wound in her side. He casts healing on her and she thanks him. They climb up the stairs and are greeted by Lakima’s friend the giant. The giant stands dumbly in the chamber chewing on a human arm bone. Lakima waves goodbye to the giant and Alrix, Norine, and he leaves the ruins for the flying boat. As soon as Lakima leaves, the giant eyes all of the remaining humans hungrily.

“Fresh meat!” and it swings its club at Eathwund who parries it with his shield.

Aldus, Eathwund, Joe, and Domago fight the giant while Fenris scrambles out the exit. Aldus stabs it and then Joe leaps up and cracks the giant on the temple with his fist. The giant’s eyes roll up in their sockets and it keels over with a crash – dead.

They make a quick search of the giant’s belongings but do not find anything worth keeping. Everyone makes their way back to the boat. Ropes are tossed down and the entire group climbs up to the flying ship. Norine marvels at the ship having never seen one before. Lakima proudly shows off the magical tiller but when he activates it he tosses in a bunch of nonsense words so Norine, who is listening intently, will not catch the command word.

The ship ascends and turns towards Edgerton. Norine tells them she is eager to return to her fiancé who must be worried. Lakima again tries to tell her that 20 years have passed but she does not believe him. As Edgerton appears on the horizon, they see a hawk circle the ship and then come in for a landing on the deck. The hawk hops about from one talon to another and then transforms into a robed mage. Lakima demands that the mage identify himself. The man shakes his robes as if brushing off feathers and then hands Lakima a scroll.

“This is my introduction. I am the Ubin Lerthal, a servant of Earl Uther and he is most displeased with you and your company.”

Lakima ignores the scroll and demands Ubin explain himself. The mage tells them that a week ago, a few days after they left Wolford, the cloud giant castle appeared over Wolford and rained boulders down on the center of the town. Many people were killed before the area beneath the strange cloud could be cleared. The giants continued to drop boulders and smash buildings on and off for hours. Lakima opens the scroll and finds an angry message from Earl Uther blaming the Company of the Black Dragon for making things worse and demanding they put an end to the cloud giants.

“I think we are going to need more hirelings,” Lakima says.

Grand Theft Sky ship

As I mentioned last week, the last adventure is an adaption of "Palace in the Sky" by John and Martin Szinger, published in Dungeon Magazine 16 in 1989. It took me a week to create all of the battle maps I would be using in Roll20. The players were hired to put an end to the raids of the cloud giants but I underestimated their desire for the skyship the cloud giants were using. It greatly outweighed their desire to explore the castle. They stole the ship and took off - never entering the main castle. But I am not going to let them get away with things so easily. The cloud giants will have no difficulty learning who stole their ship, the players always make sure everyone far and wide knows of their exploits. The giants have a flying castle capable of going anywhere. Tracking down the players will be easy for them.

Session 112: Stealing the Cloudship

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC).

The adventurers have silently entered the gatehouse of the Cloud Giant’s castle, sealing most of the bugbear guards behind a wall of iron. There are only eight bugbears in a guardroom standing between them and the flying ships of the sky raiders.

The heroes open the trap door and scramble up the steps as quickly as possible entering the guardroom. The bugbears are momentarily caught off guard but they quickly grab their weapons and attack pressing the heroes back against the open trapdoor. One bugbear runs to a gong and begins striking it raising the alarm. Aldus and Eathwund launch themselves into the melee. Eathwund is slashed by swords twice as he finds himself fighting two opponents. Alrix uses his sword of dancing to keep the bugbears at arm’s length. Lakima casts summon monster and summons three orcs to help the group. The orcs attack the bugbears from behind. Domago casts silence on the gong quieting the alarm and then casts healing on Eathwund. The fight is over in less than a minute. One bugbear tries to flee to the roof up a ladder but is killed by a volley of magic missiles from Alrix. Another bugbear tries to run for a door to the battlements but is caught down by Aldus and Eathwund. The last of the summoned orcs is dispelled.

Looking out an open window in the chamber Lakima sees the flying longship and another smaller craft floating only 45 feet away. He casts a luminous bridge from a scroll and urges everyone to hurry across to the longship. As they are traversing the bridge, he yells at Alrix to fireball the small ship. Alrix casts a fireball and it explodes around the smaller ship burning the wood and vaporizing the mast but the magic of the vessel protects it from further damage. Everyone scrambles aboard the larger boat.

“How do we make it go?” Fenris yells, looking around.

Lakima casts a fireball at the small ship and the second burst of fire magic is enough to break the enchantments on the ship. It lights on fire and plummets thousands of feet to the ground below. Lakima and Domago move to the back of the ship and examine a strange wooden pillar that is covered in runes. Lakima ascertains that they are magical and Domago can see some giant language runes as well. But they have no clue how to operate the ship. Meanwhile, Eathwund calls out a warning that a cloud giant and several bugbears have been alerted and have come to the battlements of the castle. They can clearly hear the booming voice of the cloud giant.

“What is he saying?” Lakima asks Domago.

“Nothing good,” Domago replies.

Domago and Aldus busy themselves cranking and loading a ballista on the bow of the longboat. They spin it about to face the castle.

Lakima yells out that he will figure out the ship later and he summons an air elemental from the plane of air to do his bidding. A large dark cloud with lightning-yellow eyes appears alongside the flying ship. Lakima orders the elemental to push the ship through the sky to the west. The elemental grabs the bow of the ship in misty hands and the ship begins to speed through the air backwards to the west. The cloud giant castle begins to recede behind them. But after a minute, the cloud castle and its cloud begin to follow the ship. At first, the castle seems to be gaining but after a half hour, it is clear that the ship being pushed by the air elemental is faster.

The strange pursuit continues all day until the sun begins to set. The cloud castle by this time has fallen several miles behind and is no longer discernible from other clouds. Lakima instructs the air elemental to take them down until they are just above the treetops of a pine forest. At a clearing, he tells the elemental to set them just above the ground by a few feet. Lakima has had to concentrate on the air elemental the entire time to keep it from gaining its freedom and attacking. Fenris drops over the side of the ship and climbs a tall tree to keep watch. Lakima tells everyone he will need to stay awake all night to control the elemental. Late in the evening Lakima feels his concentration slip for a moment and dismisses it just before losing control.

The next morning Lakima casts identify on the flying ship and he is able to learn the command word for the longship and how it functions. With their newfound knowledge, the adventurers cautiously ascend from the ground to 1,000 feet and scan the horizon. They do not see any suspicious clouds following them so they head back to Wolford. They find that the ship is slow without the air elemental pushing it along. But they manage to improve the speed by setting the single sail. Sailing into the wind is clearly going to be a problem.

The flying ship descends down to the Ironflood river outside of Wolford. They attempt to maneuver upriver like a boat but quickly discover that the flying ship is not watertight. The ship is ascended a foot out of the water and makes its way to the bridge over the river. The flying ship causes a brief panic as locals scream about the sky raiders attacking, but they are able to calm the locals and a group of militiamen who meet them. They request that the seneschal meets with them. A large crowd of townsfolk starts to gather and gaze in wonder at the flying longboat. The seneschal arrives with a group of guards after an hour. Lakima assures him that the cloud giant issue has been dealt with and asks that the Earl of Calwell be informed. When asked if the giants are dead, Lakima only answers that the giants have moved elsewhere.

Lakima calls out if there are any sailors in the crowd. A few men wave back but when Lakima offers them employment on the flying ship only one young man is brave enough to step aboard. He introduces himself as Cowan and assures Lakima that the rigging on the ship is simple and easy to handle for someone with his experience.

Eathwund does see his father in the crowd waving his arms about trying to get his attention. But the ship soon ascends and Eathwund only has time to wave to his father and give a shallow bow.

With Cowan’s aid, they get the ship moving at a good pace at an angle to the prevailing winds back to the west headed for Edgerton. The trip takes 5 days, and they steer a circuitous route avoiding mountains and tall hills. All those who are not resting keep a sharp lookout for a strange cloud or a flying castle. The ship has a high freeboard that blocks most of the wind but it is still freezing cold on board. Lakima begins planning ways to provide shelter. On the third day, they attract the attention of a flying three-headed chimera with the heads of a goat, lion, and dragon. Lakima summons an air elemental that fights and kills the chimera.

The evening of the fifth day flying through the clouds they spot Edgerton on the horizon. The ship floats down to anchor just off of the aerie where their lost hippogriff used to nest. Few in the city notice the flying ship arrive. But a company of the watch does check in on the manor house to make sure it is not a threat. Alayna meets them on the roof and marvels at the new acquisition.

“Where did you steal this?”

The next day Lakima and Aldus (his coin purse newly filled by Lakima for providing protection) head over to the Mages Guild. Lakima checks in on Rune Frost the headmaster and on the new librarian, he has hired. Then they head over to Cromly’s smithy. Cromly asks Aldus if the great sword he forged for him is to his satisfaction. Aldus tells him that it is not. He is unhappy with the balance and the edge. He asks Cromly to recommend a weapon smith with more skill. Cromly is stung by this comment and assures Aldus that the great sword is the finest in Thurmany. Lakima tells Aldus that maybe they can find a better sword in Gundamark – the kingdom of the dwarves. A stunned Cromly watches as they leave the shop.

Eathwund heads across town to Milner’s court and enters the Sign of the Purple Bugbear tavern. His tavern manager Yana is happy to see him. Yana explains that the tavern is making a good profit. He does tell Eathwund that some local merchants have asked if Eathwund would provide them protection from local gangs. Many of the local merchants are being extorted for protection by more than one gang. Eathwund’s reputation has kept all gang members out of the Purple Bugbear. Eathwund tells Yana that he will check with his friends. Yana also tells Eathwund that Wexley Windham (their partner in a copper mine in Whetwhistle) is staying at the tavern. He requested a discount on account of being a partner with Eathwund. Eathwund tells him that this is fine. Then he leaves and returns to the manor.

Back at the manor around lunch, the company gathers. Eathwund tells the group about the trouble with gangs in Mirdton. Lakima presents a convincing argument for not getting involved. Eathwund also mentions that Wexley is staying at the tavern. Lakima suggests that they return and talk to him. Eathwund, Lakima, and Aldus head back across town to the tavern. There they find Wexley seated in the tavern eating lunch. He happily greets his partners. Wexley tells them that he is in town to meet a merchant who purchases the copper they mine. He tells them about the progress at the mine. About how they have found some ancient workings and a lot of old mining equipment that is aiding them in digging out the copper.

A one-legged man arrives in the tavern walking expertly about on a cane. The man is in his forties and very roundly built. He shouts a greeting and is overjoyed to be meeting the “famous Company of the Black Dragon”. Ignoring the business that brought him to Edgerton to meet Wexley, he introduces himself as Dexter Longwood, a former adventurer. He asks them if they have ever heard of the Crimson Company. None of them have, but Eathwund nods his head politely. Dexter launches into a story about how he lost his leg which led to the group breaking up. One member, a young wizard named Norine Gayheart continued to adventure with other groups. When he was last in Edgerton he met a member of her last group – now long retired who gave him the sad news that Norine (and all her party) entered a wizards’ tower and never returned. Dexter asks if they would be willing to enter the tower and recover her body. He would like to give his old companion a proper burial. He assures him that the surviving party member told him that the tower was a short distance away on the south bank of the Dolm river. He has only 200 gold to pay them but they agree to do the job figuring it will be a quick one.

Lakima asks Cowan the first mate of their flying ship to find a shipbuilder to make the ship capable of floating on water. He also tasks him with finding another sailor and a tent to provide some protection from the elements. They then head to a weapon shop on Emerald Street a short distance from the Purple Bugbear. Dexter told them that Alda, the surviving member of Norine’s last adventure company, works at the shop. They find a simple weapon smithy. They ask the smith if they can speak to Alda and he directs them to a woman crafting a dagger. Alda is suspicious at first but when she learns Dexter sent them, she agrees to talk. Norine was part of a company of four adventurers. They entered a wizard’s tower 20 years ago and none were ever seen again. Alda was a young girl at the time and cared for their horses and maintained the camp while they entered dungeons and caves. She says she waited for a week and then sadly returned to Edgerton. She used the money the group left to apprentice as a smith. She tells them that she has a copy of the map they bought in Dolmvay showing the location of the tower, but she will have to get it after sunset when her work ends. Lakima hands the shop owner a gold coin and asks to buy Alda’s time. The shop owner agrees. As they wait for Alda they have a conversation with the shop owner. He complains about the local gangs all demanding protection money. Once he learns who Eathwund is he asks Eathwund if he would be willing to scare off the gangs. Lakima steps in and tells him that they do not get involved in guild business. Alda returns and gives them the map. Lakima gives her a few gold coins.

They leave and make plans for travelling to the wizard’s tower. Cowan has not started work on the tent or the hull of the ship. But he has hired a sailor named Dagmar to join the crew. They fly off to the east and on the first day, they see a hippogriff flying toward them. As it gets nearer, Lakima shouts at that "That's our hippogriff!". Gnomeat the hippogriff has escaped from the cloud castle and returned to them. The hippogriff lands on the ship. Lakima expresses concerns that the hippogriff might have been freed on purpose to track them, but the rope around the hippogriff's neck is frayed as if the hippogriff slashed through it to make its escape.

The Cloud Castle

A few weeks ago the players in my Swords & Wizardry campaign took on the Sky Raiders - a group of cloud giants with a flying castle in the clouds. I used "Palace in the Sky" by John and Martin Szinger, published in Dungeon Magazine 16 in 1989. I kept the noted palace and its inhabitants changing the statistics from AD&D to Swords & Wizardry (which are really similar) but I removed the rest of the adventure. I changed the hook to fit my campaign and I did not want the semi-solid cloud with its enchanted forests and inhabitants. Instead, I moved the gatehouse to be directly connected to the tower and had the flying longboat tied off to the gatehouse. This is a large castle map and I created seven battle maps in Dungeoncrafter for Roll20. As written for AD&D levels 7-10 this is a really tough adventure with a lot of rewards (including a flying ship).

Session 111: The Cloud Castle

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC).

The Company of the Black Dragon has accepted a contract to put an end to the raids of a group of bandits that are called the Sky Raiders. In return, they have a contract from the Earl of Calwell granting them possession of the raider’s flying boat.

On new years’ day, 498 the Company pack up and prepare to leave Dolmvay. The elven adventurer Flora tells her companions that she has decided to stay in Dolmvay as a guest of the Irrlenov family (this was a player character but the player has vanished without any message, which happens sometimes at virtual table games like Roll20). The rest of the company make their way by carriage to the river docks. There they are able to find a boat headed upriver to Edgerton. Lakima informs the captain of the ship, Brent, that they wish to be set ashore at the Hillside Farms ferry. He is then to take their trunks of clothes on to Edgerton for delivery to the Black Dragon Manor. It takes a day to make it to the ferry. The captain tells them he is going to dock here for the night. The company sleeps onboard. The next day they wave goodbye and take the road north into the Kingswood. The squire Ian carries Alayna’s remaining travel trunk on his back with the aid of a harness that Aldus rigged up. When the road fords the Corabel stream the company turns into the forest following the stream. They have a brief encounter with some Elven rangers who allow them to proceed into the forest. By late afternoon they arrive at their destination, the Bridgeway. The custodian of the bridge, Ezmerladen, greets them and agrees to send them to Edgerton and watch the Asboro bridge in Edgerton for an hour to re-open the bridge so they can return. Alayna is reluctant to step off the Bridgeway at first but follows once Lakima leads the way. The entire group pops out onto the bridge in Edgerton startling some locals. They head over to the Manor and Lakima heads up to the rooftop aerie to get their Hippogriff Gnomeat. Alayna tells everyone she is going to surprise the riverboat crew by greeting them when they arrive in Edgerton in a day or so. The company heads back to the Asboro bridge and Lakima leads the hippogriff there. The portal opens and they step through to the Bridgeway again. They then ask Ezmeralden to send them to the old stone bridge in Wolford in Calwell.

The company, Lakima, Eathwund, Alrix, Aldus, Fenris, and Domago step off the Bridgeway again and arrive in Wolford in the early evening. They apparat into existence in the middle of the bridge and startle several local fishermen who were fishing off the bridge. One fisherman is so startled he topples over the rail and falls into the frigid, fast-moving river. Alrix quickly steps behind a building and turns into his true form of a couatl and flies over the river and rescues the man. He changes to his half-elven form just in time to pull the man from the water. The grateful fisherman invites him to his home for dinner. Alrix accepts but says he first must check on his friends.

Meanwhile, the rest of the company with a hippogriff walk from the bridge to the town gates.

“Hold on there. You canna bring that beast into the town!”

The town guard at first refuse to let the adventurers enter the town with the hippogriff. The guards are a little familiar with the beast as hippogriffs are a menace in Wolford valley. The company insists that the guards send a messenger to Seneschal Glint to announce their arrival. While they wait for the messenger to return, Alrix arrives and tells them he will meet up with them later. Alrix then returns to the cottage of the fisherman to enjoy a fine stew. Unfortunately, he lets slip during the meal that he and his friends were the reason the fishermen landed in the river – and he is asked to leave.

Word is brought back to the town gate to let the adventurers enter – with their hippogriff. The guards still caution them to find a safe stable with few horses for the hippogriff. Eathwund, who grew up in Wolford, suggests stabling it at the Pikeman inn. They do find the inn is willing to take the beast. Lakima pays for stabling and also purchases an old nag to feed the hippogriff. Alrix joins the group as they head across town to the palace to meet the seneschal. They learn some details of recent attacks, one of which occurred a few days ago and was just outside of town. They return to the Pikeman to get rooms but find that only the common room is available. Looking about at the dirty, flea-ridden common room they decide to find another inn. The nearby Grey Willow inn does have rooms and they settle-in. Fenris leaves to get up to his usual mischief, Aldus declares that he is going to sleep. The rest of the company gets a meal and listens in on the conversation in the Inn. The guests include some travellers and merchants, all of whom are talking about the sky raiders' attacks and speculating about the source. Lakima buys some merchants some drinks and listens to their tales. One man is sure that the red dragon Skorn is involved, probably carrying the flying ship. Another man scoffs at this saying that Skorn is old, fat, and sleepy and never leaves his lair. Another suggestion is that the bugbear raiders are really disguised agents of the rival realm of Thurmany.

The company has an uneventful night. The only interruption is when Fenris returns very early in the morning. The next day they talk about where to look first. Fenris tells them about a local mage named Isorin who went missing recently. He got directions to the wizards’ tower from a local friend of the mage. The company walks a mile north of town to the wizard’s tower. It is a small two-story tower that looks undisturbed from the outside. The front door is ajar so they enter. Inside they find clear indications that the tower was ransacked. Food and valuables have been taken although Fenris finds a lockbox with some coins in it that was missed. They do find a spellbook but the explosive runes trap protecting the spellbook is triggered by Lakima when he opens it. The book is turned to ash and Lakima and Fenris are injured in the blast. Domago uses some healing magic to heal them.

On the roof of the tower, they find a looking glass and a notebook. The earlier notes in the book detail the number of hippogriffs, griffons, and giant eagles in various nests throughout the valley. But the last notes detail the arrival of a strange cloud in the valley near Eyebrow peak. Isorin’s notes make mention of the fact that the cloud hung unmoving near the peak for days. Then he notes the appearance of a flying ship appearing out of the clouds.

Eathwund points out Eyebrow peak and Lakima uses the looking glass to view the cloud near the peak. He notes that it is indeed unmoving. The cloud is fairly low in the sky. Lakima estimates it is no more than 2,500 to 3,000 feet up. He says that with his memorized fly spells, the hippogriff, and Alrix’s flying form they should have no trouble reaching the cloud. Alrix and Lakima discuss the cloud and come to the conclusion that it is probably magically solid so they can land on it.

The group travels on foot across the valley and sets up a camp beneath the mysterious cloud. They camp for the night and Lakima prepares three castings of the fly spell. The night is uneventful and, in the morning, Lakima sets to work casting spells. He casts fly on Eathwund, Domago, and Fenris. Domago asks repeatedly how long the fly spell will last and Lakima assures him it will last more than long enough. Domago keeps asking. Lakima finally takes out a scroll and casts fly on himself. With Aldus on the back of the hippogriff and Alrix in his true form, the group flies up into the clouds. It takes about a minute to reach the clouds. They find they can fly right through the cloud. When they emerge above the cloud, they see a magnificent stone castle floating in the clouds a short distance away. The castle seems to rest on the clouds with no visible means of support. Tethered to the gatehouse is a pair of flying ships.

They decide to fly down into the clouds a little to arrive at what looks like a gatehouse. As they approach the castle, they do see some movement on the battlements but as far as they can tell no alarm is raised. They land on a wooden platform extending out of the front of the gatehouse. A portcullis blocks the entrance and they see two bugbears wearing blue tabards standing guard inside the gatehouse. Before the surprised bugbears can react to their presence, Lakima casts Charm Person on them. One bugbear falls under his influence. Lakima asks them to open the gate. His new bugbear friend tells him that he will go instruct his friends on the winch to open the gate. He turns to leave but is held by the second, uncharmed bugbear. Then Lakima casts sleep and the uncharmed bugbear slips into dreamland. The charmed bugbear waves and heads off. A short time later he returns and the gate slowly rises.

“Let me send your friend somewhere more comfortable,” Lakima says and touches the quill of laminae to the sleeping bugbear. The unfortunate bugbear is sucked into the book of monster summoning. The bugbear who remains tells Lakima that the main gate is just up the stairs he points out. The company slowly moves up the stair. Behind them, the gate starts to lower trapping poor Gnomeat outside on the landing.

Fenris silently climbs the steps and surveys the room above, he comes back to the group and tells them there are four bugbears. Eathwund and Aldus ask about the plan.

“Should we rush them?” Aldus asks.

Lakima tells them they need to be quick and quiet about it. Everyone runs up the steps and they catch the four bugbears flat-footed. Aldus and Eathwund each quickly kill a bugbear, while Alrix (back in half-elven form) and Lakima kill another with magic missiles and Lakima’s Staff of Striking. Domago is less successful with the bugbear he is fighting and the humanoid is able to bellow for assistance several times before being killed. A door opens at the end of a nearby hallway and more bugbears run toward the adventurers. But Lakima casts a Wall of Iron completely blocking the south side of the gatehouse from them. Fenris is then sent up a stair to scout the next floor. He returns a short time later to report eight to ten bugbears and he eagerly tells them that the flying ships look to be tethered to the tower at the level above.

Lakima tells them that they need to take out the bugbears quickly and then steal a flying ship. Domago questions that they are here to put an end to the raids.

“Without their ship, there won’t be any more raids,” Lakima says.

“Now let’s get ready.”

Handing over spells

The Emerald Locket item from the published adventure “The Emerald Locket” in Dungeon Vault magazine #22, gave me the opportunity to provide a source for high-level magic-user spells. The mage character in the campaign is now 11th level and more powerful than any friendly NPC mage in the realm. It is no longer possible for him to buy spell knowledge and he cannot expect to find many high level spells in dungeon treasure piles. In the published adventure the emerald locket held the ghost of a mage and an unexplained "ethereal codex" of spells. I decided that the emerald locket was a magic jar for the mage who would try to possess anyone touching the locket. But also that the locket was tied to a codex of forbidden and powerful spells held on the ethereal plan. The catch is that to read the codex a mage would have to read it on the ethereal plane.

This is one of the things I have to consider when stocking a high level adventure. The mage character is always looking for more spells but the fighters want more magic weapons. The two do not feel equal. Giving an additional +1 or ability on a weapon is not as necessary as new spells. It would not be fun if the mage gains the ability to cast 6th-level spells but finds he doesn't have any in his spell book.

In the game, it did not go as planned. The Mage thought that to free the codex he needed to destroy the locket. This was not the case, the codex became unanchored on the ethereal plane and floated off to oblivion.

Session 110: The Ethereal Codex

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC).

The company stands before a set of stone steps in tunnels beneath Dolmvay. The steps lead up to a chamber lit with flickering firelight. A pair of corpses lie on the steps and the area is covered in veils of cobwebs.

Fenris cautiously advances up the stone steps and immediately notices suspicious vertical cracks at regular intervals in the stone walls. He looks over the steps and spots a step that appears to sit up a little. Sliding a metal wedge into the step he disables the trap. He calls back to the rest of the company to let them know that it is safe. Fenris then checks over the two skeletons. One holds a fine-looking longsword. Nearby a shield lies on a stone step. Both items are handed to Lakima and placed in the bag of holding.

The entire company reaches the top of the steps and enters a square chamber. Magical flames burn in a pair of empty stone braziers flanking a pair of metal doors. Strange writing in gold metal marks the doors. To the left and right are a pair of smaller doors. Fenris walks up to the gold doors and reaches out a hand to check them.

“Wait!”, Lakima yells. He and Alrix are able to read the writings which are draconic and promises that intruders will be incinerated. Eathwund uses the power of his sword and says that he can see magic flowing throw the double doors. At this moment, Eathwund spots movement and turns to see the ghostly form of a young man stepping through a metal door on his right. The man regards the group of adventurers and then lays his eyes on Eathwund.

“Wizards! Free us!” Eathwund hears but none of his companions seems to notice. Eathwund tells his companions that he can see a ghost.

Lakima suggests they open the small door on the right. Fenris tries but says the door is stuck. Eathwund solidly hits the door with his shoulder but it does not budge. He uses the power of the sword again and increases his strength. When he slams against the door a second time it gives way and slides inward scraping against the floor. Inside they find a small chamber with three stone sarcophagi – two upright and one lying on the floor. There is also a stone table with parchment and scrolls lying on it.

“I can see the ghost”, Fenris says. All of the companions can now see the ghostly young man. Eathwund looks at the ghost and notices its form change to that of a ghostly rotted corpse with bones visible.

“I don’t like the looks of the ghost now,” Eathwund says.

Lakima steps through the ghost and walks over to the stone table. He picks up one of the sheets of parchment and finds that it is damaged but readable. The script is in old common. While the others wait, Lakima reads through the parchments and scrolls.

“If you promise to free us, I will tell you the password to the door,” the ghost says to Eathwund.

“I will free you,” Eathwund promises.

The ghost tells Eathwund the password and begs him to free his mother and him.

Lakima tells everyone that the parchments tell of a magic user named Maria Rutter who was part of a guild in Dolmvay called the Covenant. She was their archivist and one of her duties was to protect a tome of forbidden magic called the ethereal codex. She was attacked by an evil wizard who desired the forbidden magic. During their duel, her manor was burned to the ground killing her three children. Maria fought off her attacker but died soon after.

Lakima suggests they move to the other small metal door. Eathwund says the password the ghost told him out loud as he walks past the double doors.

“What did you say?” Aldus asks and looks at Eathwund quizzically.

Eathwund tells him about the password. Then he tries forcing the second door. It does not budge. Aldus then tries and the door shakes but again does not move. Domago gives it a try as well with the same results.

“Stand back,” Fenris says, then takes a run at the door and leaps striking it with his foot. The door is shoved open by the force of his leap enough to provide an entrance.

Inside they find another small stone-walled chamber. Against the wall on their right is a stone table covered in scrolls and parchment. A few damaged and unreadable sheets of parchment lying on the floor. To the left, the wall of the chamber has collapsed and a tunnel leads off into the darkness. While Lakima busies himself reading the parchment and scrolls, Fenris slips through the crank in the wall and explores the tunnel beyond. Domago directs light into the tunnel using his coin that has continual light cast upon it.

A short time later Fenris returns. He tells everyone that the tunnel leads into some tunnels they explored earlier near where they found the shaft to the Underdark. Lakima finishes reading the scrolls and tells everyone that they describe an Emerald Locket that holds the ethereal codex. A spellbook containing many powerful spells that had been outlawed in Valnwall. The mages of the Covenant sought to retain the knowledge of the spells even if they were not allowed to learn them so they had them gathered in one spellbook.

The entire group returns to the double doors. Eathwund walks right up to the doors and says the password he was given again. He then fearlessly reaches out and grabs a metal handle and pulls one door open. Beyond they see a set of steps leading down into another chamber lit by an eerie green light. The company, led by Fenris, descends into the green-lit chamber. Magical torches light the chamber. At the far end to their right, they see a raised platform. On a stone table, they see an object projecting a blazing green light. Because of how bright the light is they are unable to make out the object. Piles of bones and rusted swords lie on the floor between them and the stone table. Wooden benches face the table. The entire layout is reminiscent of a church.

The company spreads out and Lakima tells Fenris to grab the glowing object on the table. Domago, Aldus, and Eathwund take up positions behind Fenris. The thief moves as quietly as he can toward the raised platform on which lies the stone table.

When Fenris just starts to step past the piles of bones, the bone pile erupts and five skeletons leap to their feet to attack. The skeletons appear to be crudely held together and each has four arms with four hands each holding a rusty longsword. Two of them fall upon Fenris and hack and slash the poor thief into a bloody mess. Fenris falls unconscious to the stone floor. Aldus and Eathwund leap into the attack trying to draw the skeletons to them but one skeleton runs at Lakima. Alrix directs his sword of dancing at one of the skeletons and stays on the stairs preparing his battle ax. He is all out of melee spells.

“They are not undead!” Domago shouts. Lakima looks at the approaching skeleton and notes the green glow keeping it together. The skeletons appear to be some sort of magical construct.

One skeletal gets past Aldus and Eathwund and slashes Lakima cutting the mage twice. Domago and Alrix both move to block the skeleton from Lakima. Lakima seems unconcerned and strikes the skeleton with his staff of striking. Eathwund and Aldus both find themselves fighting two skeletons and dodging and parrying blows from eight swords each.

“Blow the Horn!” Aldus shouts at Domago.

“Save Fenris!” Lakima shouts at Domago.

Domago continues to fight off one of the skeletons and moves to reach Fenris. Stepping away from the combat he heals Fenris and then pulls out and blows the silver horn of Valhalla. Seven Einherjar appear out of nowhere and launch themselves at the skeletons. Fenris regains consciousness and crawls to the stairs from the chamber.

One by one the einherjar are dispelled by the skeletons. But they buy the group time. Eathwund and Aldus both smash a pair of skeletons putting them down and Alrix destroys the last one with his ax.

“Domago, quickly use the Staff,” Lakima urges, “The emerald locket is sure to have more defenses.”

Domago uses up many charges of his staff of healing as he moves about healing members of the group. Eathwund spots the ghost of the young man descend the stairs and walk into the chamber. The man watches them all expectantly.

Once everyone is feeling well enough to continue, Lakima directs Fenris to the locket on the stone table. Fenris moves up and grabs the locket. He freezes for a moment and then drops the locket to the table and scrambles back.

“There is someone inside the locket!” Fenris says.

Lakima walks up to the table and examines the locket. It is a green gem held by gold wire attached to a chain. He carefully reaches out and touches the gem. Lakima feels transported into a green glowing space. Suddenly, a withered old crone of a woman leaps upon him reaching for his throat. Lakima struggles and then asserts his mind and wins control. He drops the locket on the table.

“It’s a magic jar holding Maria Rutter,” Lakima says, “She tried to possess me but I was too strong for her.”

Eathwund looks at the locket and he can see a ghostly book lying on the stone table. Eathwund tells everyone that there is a ghostly book where they are seeing the locket.

“Smash it Eathwund.” Lakima says.

Eathwund steadies his sword Wormbane above the locket and brings it down with full force on the locket. The gem is shattered into dozens of shards. Everyone hears a woman shriek as the green glow disappears. Then they hear a bell begin to toll.

“Bong, bong, bong.”

“The book! The book is it still there!” Lakima shouts and looks at Eathwund.

Eathwund shakes his head, “No, it is gone.” He looks about the chamber, “And so is the ghost of the boy.”

Lakima curses and then scoops the fragments of the emerald locket into the bag of holding. As the bell continues to toll, he tells everyone that they had better get out of there. The bell is likely warning the mages guild of the locket’s destruction or theft.

The group leaves the chamber just as the tolling of the bell stops. As they exit the tomb of Maria Rutter they are attacked by four troglodytes. Domago again blows the silver horn and eight einherjar hold off the creatures. Aldus and Eathwund both kill a troglodyte and the remaining pair try to run away chased by the berserkers. On the way back to the sea cave they stop and liberate a golden idol of the sea god from a troglodyte altar.

The group leaves the tunnels and descends to the sea cave. They can see that the tide is starting to rise so they quickly leave the beach and return across town to the Black Dragon Inn.

The next day a few messages arrive. Lakima receives an invite to a dinner party at Cadriel Tresallinde’s manor. Alayna insists that they go. The group also receive a contract signed by Earl Uther of Calwell. Lakima takes the document over to a lawyer to get it registered at the town hall. 

Aldus is anxious to get some gold in his pocket and wants to sell the gold idol immediately. Fenris suggests that this is an opportunity to visit the Stone temple – a pawnshop near the Traveler’s Gate. Almost the entire group sets out for the shop. The shopkeeper Amir quickly empties the shop of guests once he is sure that his new visitors are trying to sell “acquired” goods. He agrees with Fenris’ assessment of the idol's worth but tells them he can only give them ¾ of that price as he will have to melt it down. Aldus haggles with Amir long enough to get the price up a little more but Lakima loses patience with the arguing over what he considers small change and makes a deal. After they leave Aldus tells them that he feels that Amir took advantage of them. He tells Fenris to rob the shop at his first convivence. Lakima tells Fenris not to as they do not need any legal issues.

“Too late,” Fenris smiles and shows a cheap gold necklace.

A day later, Lakima returns to the shop asking about a gift for an alchemist and Amir sells him a coin of transmutation that turns other coins into coins of less value. Lakima feels as an alchemist, Alayna should find it interesting.

On new years eve, Lakima, Alayna, Eathwund, Aldus, and Alrix go to the Tresallinde manor for dinner. Alayna has brought a traditional Yule gift for the household. During the meal, they meet several nobles that they met earlier at the Yule ball. It is a pleasant meal marred by the death of Lord Ganther val Hummbridge. Lakima quickly deduces that Jorrun val Thurman’s missing date is the guilty party. The woman he introduced as Irina has gone missing. Nathen Melius, who is at the party, assures everyone that he will take care of reporting the events to the duke and making arrangements. The company returns to the Black Dragon Inn. Lakima tells everyone that they should head back in the direction of Edgerton on the next day but stop at the magical Bridgeway to make the quick trip to Wolford and start looking for the sky raiders that they have been employed to deal with.

The Sea Cave

A few weeks ago during my Swords & Wizardry campaign, I dropped in a quick dungeon adventure to break up what had become a few sessions in the big city of the campaign. I modified “The Emerald Locket” a short adventure published in Dungeon Vault magazine #22. I made changes to fit the Swords & Wizardry rules and for the adventure to fit my campaign. I made some changes to the actual emerald locket which is the goal of the published adventure - but I will detail it in the next post.

This session did give me a chance to roleplay the players accepting a job from one of the "big bads" of the campaign. I made sure to plant the seed of doubt in their minds that he would be true to his word.

Session 109: The Sea Cave

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC).

The members of the Company of the Black Dragon are at a Yule Ball given by Duke Robert at the Palace in Dolmvay. The night is getting late and most of the important guests including the Duke have left.

The members of the company slowly start to come back together – with the exception of Flora who is sitting with a human woman and is in a conversation. About a third of the remaining 40 or so guests are standing in a circle around the table where Dona Maria is seated. The woman is telling one of her famous stories. Lakima turns to his wife Alayna and suggests that the party is pretty much over and they should leave. Alayna looks around for any important guests and not seeing any, she agrees with Lakima. Eathwund and Fenris seem eager to leave as well. They collect Aldus and Domago and start to head for the door. Lakima does stop and lets Flora know that they are leaving. Flora decides to join them. The entire group takes two carriages back to the Black Dragon Inn.

Early the next morning at breakfast, Lakima meets Eathwund. He asks Eathwund to join him in going to the Valenon to deliver Aashdoshan’s Staff. The two take a carriage to the East Gate of the walled city within a city – the Valenon (a sort of Vatican in this world). This is the home of the Church of Law and Order in Valnwall (and the world). At the gate, they find they are expected and they are quickly led to the enormous domed Cathedral of St. Poul. In the cathedral, they are led down into the vaults where they meet Lawlord Ethun Barrigan. Barrigan shows them a metal box in which they plan to store the staff. The box is unfortunately too short for the staff but Lakima is able to unscrew the sections of the staff and place the two femur bones and the eye of the Ghoul King in the box. The Lawlord quickly locks the metal box and gestures at some church guards to take it deeper into the vaults. That task complete, the Lawlord invites them to his quarters. There he asks them to fill in the details of the history of the ghoul king's body parts they found.

After a short meeting with the Lawlord, Lakima and Eathwund leave the Valenon and take a carriage across the river to the Palatial district. They stop at the Emerald Rose Inn where they ask for Earl Uther mor Calwell. They are asked to wait and soon find a nobleman waiting with them. Finally, Earl Uther arrives accompanied by a bodyguard. The Earl tells the pair about the raids that have been occurring in northern Calwell. At first, all that was reported was raids of livestock and food by bugbears who seemed to disappear at will. But the latest reports tell of a flying ship crewed by the bugbears and a pair of cloud giants. The nobleman who has also been waiting is asked to join them and is introduced as Sir Taris of Wolford. He tells of the most recent events reported by his seneschal. Lakima does not discuss a monetary reward – instead, he requests to be able to keep the flying ship should they capture it. The Earl agrees and tells them he will send over a contract. Sir Taris also gives them a letter of introduction to his Seneschal in Wolford. Before the Earl excuses himself, Lakima asks if he can speak to the Earl’s servant Nevain (Lakima’s stepfather). After waiting a few minutes with only the Earl’s bodyguard for company, Nevain does arrive. Lakima asks Nevain how he is and asks about Nevain taking a job in Edgerton. Nevain quickly dissuades Lakima telling him that he is happy in the employ of the Earl. Lakima also asks if Nevain knows the name of a reputable alchemist that Lakima could employ as a teacher in his school. Nevain suggests Lakima ask his daughter.

They say goodbye to Nevain and leave the Inn. Eathwund tells Lakima that Sir Taris is an absentee landowner. He grew up in Wolford and never once did Sir Taris visit. Lakima and Eathwund then take another long carriage ride across town to the Inn of 100 Floods at the Travelers’ gate. This is a very busy Inn. They ask to visit Dona Maria but learn she is not in, having stayed at her patron’s manor the night of the ball. Eathwund and Lakima return to the Black Dragon Inn and meet with the other members of the Company. While relaxing back at the Inn, they learn that the news from the ball that is making the rounds in Dolmvay is about a deadly duel that occurred the night of the ball after they left. Lord Petros was accidentally killed by Lord Varlen in a legal duel.

That afternoon they decide to take a meal at the Wooden Eagle Inn. An Inn that Alayna assures them has excellent food. Alayna, Lakima, Eathwund, Alrix, and Aldus go together. At the Inn, they nod to some guests they recognize from the ball. It seems many of the merchants that were at the ball also frequent this Inn. In particular, they notice one merchant who nervously keeps glancing at their table. The man finally works up the nerve to approach the table and hail Aldus as a friend. Aldus responds that he does not know the gentleman. The merchant insists they spoke at length at the ball and introduces himself as Eamon Carvell. He asks to join them.

Eamon tells them a story of woe. He owes money to a broklaw gang in Baytown and the gangsters kidnapped his son in demand of payment. Aldus dismissively tells him that this is not the sort of thing a knight would deal with. Lakima, however, tells Eamon they will pay his debt in return for taking his son. Eamon is rather shocked by this statement. But Lakima explains he means to apprentice his son. Eamon is unsure and notes that his son, Heinrich, is already an apprentice cooper. After some more persuading, Eamon agrees though he worries about what his wife will say. The group returns to the Black Dragon Inn.

At the Inn, they sit and discuss the best course of action. Fenris has joined them and Lakima suggests that Fenris scout out the situation. Fenris tells them he knows of this gang and tells them that they are one of the most dangerous.

The next morning at breakfast Fenris returns – looking and smelling like he spent the night in a ditch. Domago has also joined them for breakfast. Fenris tells them the bad news. The gang knew that Eamon would not be able to pay them so they sold his boy to Murtha – a witch who has a hovel in Baytown. Word is that this witch took the boy to a sea cave as a sacrifice to a sea god. This sea god is an evil spirit that some sailors and fishermen make small sacrifices of copper and silver to in hopes of avoiding storms. The witch is said to have tied the boy to a rock and left him to drown when the tide rises as night falls.

Lakima shrugs and says that he guesses that is the end of the story. But Domago is aghast.

“We must save that boy!”

Lakima tries to dissuade Domago telling him it is illegal for them to take on an adventure without guild membership. The priest will have none of it. He insists he is going to the cave immediately whether they join him or not. He then looks at Eathwund. Eathwund sighs and says he will join him. With that Aldus, Lakima, Alrix, and Fenris also agree to come.

The group takes a pair of carriages to the Baytown Gate. A gate that leads down to Baytown is usually kept closed. A quick exchange of silver from Fenris to a guard and the gate is swung open. They walk down a stone path to a beach. It is clear from the sand and seaweed on the beach that this area floods at high tide. Fenris leads them to a series of three sea caves.

“That one,” Fenris says pointing at the largest sea cave.

The group enters and finds an enormous cave that has been carved out of the rock 60 feet below the walls of the city. The cave is full of pools of water and debris. It is clear that this entire cave floods at high tide. Near the center of the cave, they see an unmoving young man chained by his ankle to a stone altar. They approach the altar and shake the boy awake. The boy appears a little slow to comprehend the dire situation and he is clearly hungover. Fenris picks the lock on the boys’ ankle while the other members of the group spread out. Alrix places a fancy urn filled with some gems at the base of the altar to placate the sea god who might be angry at losing his sacrifice.

At that moment four crude wood spears are hurled at the group from a ledge 12 feet up on the left wall. One spear strikes Lakima injuring him. Eathwund, Aldus, and Alrix move up into defensive positions. They see a pair of troglodytes up on the ledge readying more spears. Lakima yells at Domago to blow the Silver horn of Valhalla. The horn is blown and four berserkers appear on the ledge and attack the troglodytes. One troglodyte is pushed from the ledge and crashes into the sandy floor of the cave. Eathwund moves up and attacks the troglodytes. More troglodytes appear on the ledge and throw more spears. Some of them leap down and charge Alrix and Aldus. The berserkers are soon all dispelled. Domago uses his sling to fire exploding bullets at those troglodytes still on the ledge. Lakima sits down on the ground and stares into a gem while speaking an incantation. After a few moments, he curses and then tries again. The troglodytes use teeth and claws against Eathwund and Aldus and Eathwund is clawed several times. Slowly they dispatch the troglodytes one by one. Lakima gives up on his possession attempts and throws darts at the creatures. Alrix uses his sword of dancing. That last few troglodytes run away. One runs back from the ledge and another tries to run across the cave but the sword of dancing skewers it.

“Fenris, climb up there and kill that creature, don’t let it get away,” Lakima yells, and Fenris scrambles up the rock wall to the ledge. “And throw down a rope,” Lakima yells as Fenris disappears from sight. Fenris returns a few minutes later and tosses down a rope. He tells them that there is a tunnel here leading up to a maze of tunnels. He saw some wood barriers and then came back.

The group takes notice of the situation. They realize that the boy Heinrich ran away in the confusion. Presumedly home to his parents. Eathwund is bleeding badly so Domago prays and heals some of his wounds. Fenris waits patiently up above. They decide to climb up to join him. The tunnel goes up about 20 feet and joins three other tunnels. Fenris reports that all three tunnels are blocked by crude wood barriers made of simple spears. He saw troglodytes guarding the barriers. Domago casts continual light on a coin so everyone can see. Alrix moves ahead until he can see the barriers with his darkvision. He hurls a fireball spell just over one of the barriers. He explodes and incinerates the barrier and a pair of troglodytes. Eathwund and Aldus rush forward to take advantage of the surprise. Eathwund finishes off a troglodyte lying on the cave floor. They enter a large cave, on the far walls are two ledges, each about 10 feet high. A number of troglodytes wait on the ledges with raised spears. In the center of the cave is a large flat rock covered in dried blood. A few golden idols rest on the floor near the altar rock.

Lakima enters and casts a lightning bolt killing or badly injuring all of the troglodytes on one ledge. This is enough for the remaining troglodytes who pull aside one of the wood barriers and try to flee. In doing so the troglodytes circle behind the group. The entire group runs after the fleeing creatures. They catch them at another wooden barrier. A short fight ensues and Alrix, Aldus, and Eathwund kill all of the creatures who were fleeing. But another pair of uninjured troglodytes appear and attack. One is killed and one is injured and flees into the dark tunnels.

With Domago and Fenris in the lead, they follow the sound of the creatures’ feet slapping on the stone floor. The pursuit leads into a cave with five exits. On one side of the cave is a structure of human origin made of well-fitted stone blocks. Steps lead up to a chamber lit by flickering firelight. The stair is blocked by curtains of cobwebs. On the stair, they see some broken human skeletons. Fenris points to the cave floor and tells everyone he can see a trail of dark blood leading into one of the tunnels. They decide to follow the fresh blood trail. The trail leads to a descending passage where they encounter four more troglodytes. Three of the creatures are killed in the fight – but one gets away. They follow it down a slippery tunnel to a large hole in the cave floor. A dark tunnel leading straight down. Fenris is sent down on a rope but he reports that the hole seems to have no bottom. They drop a stone and after a long wait, they hear a plunk as it hits a pool of water. Fenris tells them that the pit is about 240 feet deep.

The group decides not to try and descend. Instead, they make their way back to the stone stair. Fenris approaches the stair but does not ascend.

“Some of these fellows look like they might have been cut in half,” he says pointing at the skeletons on the stair.

Running a Medieval Ball

A few weeks ago the characters in my Swords & Wizardry campaign were in the big city of the campaign to attend a Yule Ball. It was a chance for them to meet the big NPCs of the campaign. I had a number of plot hooks and small disruptions planned for the ball if they only pulled on a few threads. The session ran smoothly and I enjoyed it but I think only one of the five players enjoyed themselves. To make matters worse this was the session that one player invited a non-gaming friend to sit in (he played the NPC Fenris). The lack of dungeons and dragons to fight probably soured him on gaming. Well, I tried.

Session 108: The Yule Ball

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Flora (elven thief), Aldus (human cavalier), Fenris the Filch (human thief), Domago (human cleric NPC).

The Company is in Dolmvay with several days to wait before the night of the Yule Ball. Lakima decides to spend much of his time in his wife’s room at the Black Dragon Inn. He sends out one of the Inn staff to buy him some passable common merchant’s clothing. Later Lakima asks Aldus to buy him a list of items. He offers Aldus some spending gold to do so. With nothing better to do, Aldus is accompanied by his squire Ian, Eathwund, and Alrix. Aldus asks Fenris where he can find the Adventurers Guild Hall. Fenris tells him that it is located on Riverlord island. Aldus and company head over to Riverlord island and Aldus asks at the Adventurers’ Guild Hall about buying magic items. The bemused attendants explain to him that this is the Adventurers’ Guild, not the Mages Guild. The Mages Guild is located at the southern end of the island. They do ask Aldus if he would like to register as a member of the Guild – only 50 gold per year. He declines. The group does look about at the magic shops near the Mages Guild but none of them cater to non-guild members. The entire disappointed group returns to the Black Dragon Inn.

Lakima suggests that they ask around in the Scholars’ district where he is sure they can find magic ink and quills. The entire group sets out again. Aldus stops a man in the middle of the street and asks about magic. The man is suitably startled. Eventually, they ask about ink and quills and they are directed to a tiny shop called Dyson’s Delve. Aldus and Ian enter and ask about ink and quills. The owner is a peculiar fat man with one deformed large eye and one normal eye. The man hops about the cluttered shop showing them quills. When Aldus lets it be known he is looking for magical ink and quills the man hurriedly tells them to close the door and blinds. Then he produces the items from behind a bookshelf. They negotiate and Aldus is able to buy everything on the list that Lakima gave him.

Outside Alrix wanders off and explores the neighborhood. He notes several houses of scribes, alman, clothiers, and a few theatres and libraries. He decides to enter one particularly cluttered library. He finds several books on local history and settles down on the floor to read them.

Meanwhile, back at Dyson’s Delve, the owner attempts to entice Eathwund into buying one or more treasure maps. He requests 450 gold and suggests the treasure will be 10 times or more than what the map cost. Eathwund decides not to purchase a map. Finally, the owner hints that he has a map to a Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb but Eathwund does not ask to see it. Before returning to the Inn, Aldus gives his squire 20 gold and tells him to be back in the evening.

A few days later Lakima takes up the invite to visit the Windmaster Bryan Stulaker. He brings Fenris along for protection and travels incognito dressed as a common merchant. Sturlaker welcomes him inside and they are served lunch by invisible servants. They discuss some of the exploits of the Company of the Black Dragon. Sturlaker reveals that he has had his eye on their group since the events of last year when they aided the Library of Antiquity. He notes the Amulet against Scrying the Fenris is now wearing and comments that he has not been able to watch their adventures of late. Lakima tells Sturlaker of the threat of the White Worm. Sturlaker seems to have some knowledge of this through his “contact in Edgerton.” He is horrified when Lakima tells him about the three body parts of the Ghoul King they have in their possession. Lakima asks if there is some safe place where the items could be stored. Sturlaker tells him that the only place capable of protecting the items would be the Vaults beneath the Valenon (a district of the city controlled by the church of Law). He ponders this for a while and tells them he does know one member of the Church they should be able to trust – Lawlord Ethun Barrigan. He will try to arrange a meeting with him. Fenris and Lakima eventually depart.

On Dechem 26 the day of the Yule Ball arrives. They discuss the issues they will have at the ball without weapons, armor, or magic items. Lakima decides that they cannot risk bringing the Bag of Holding. Alayna assures him that the bag will be searched. The Duke has survived several assassination attempts and security will be high. They can bring weapons onto the Palace grounds but will not be able to enter with them.

The company arrives at the Ball dressed in their finest. Lakima, in particular, is wearing a robe that calls to attention that he is a wizard. They enter the Palace grounds and are forced to check their weapons in the guardroom before the doors (although Fenris manages to sneak in a dagger). No one checks for magical items. They enter and some members chose to be announced by name and others are announced as members of the Company of the Black Dragon. The main ballroom is a huge room with about a hundred guests milling about in a mob of people. Food is brought to guests by servants and there are tables laden with food where they can help themselves. They see nobles openly eating food while standing and talking with their peers. A few people sit at tables. A wide area has been kept clear for dancing and a small group of mistrals plays nearby. Flora immediately attracts the attention of the group. They have only spotted one other demi-human in the crowd and he was the halfling chamberlain.

The party splits up. Lakima, Alayna, and Alrix wander about as a group. Eathwund and Aldus walk over to the food and start helping themselves. Fenris dodges into the crowd eyeing the expensive baubles on the fingers and about the necks of the nobles. Domago walks over to where he sees some priests who have been invited to the party. A short time after they enter, the ambassador of the Vanhurr elves is announced and her companion. Lakima makes his way over to Ambassador Wildblossom and converses with her in elvish. The elves answer a few questions politely. They learn that the elves have yet to be given the invitation to visit the newly arrived fey elves of Haven. Lakima lets them know that his group ended the curse that kept the fey elves in winter. The elves move along into the crowd and Lakima briefly finds himself standing beside Earl Claude of Thurmany. The Earl promises to introduce the party to the Duke when he arrives.

Duke Robert arrives escorting a beautiful young woman announced as Lady Osene. He is accompanied by the Wolflord (head of the ducal guard) Lord Mikael. The Duke makes his way to Earl Claude of Thurmany and makes polite conversation with nobles who come to introduce themselves.

The next major stir happens when Earl Uther of Calwell is announced. Traveling with the Earl is a Lady Sasha and Alayna’s father Nevain. As they pass Alayna whispers at her father demanding to know why he had not told her he was in Dolmvay. Nevain smiles and asks if she has a poison antidote with her and moves on. Lakima asks Alayna if her father is going to cause any problems. Alayna does not know but explains to everyone that Earl Uther is Duke Robert’s older bastard half-brother – who is known to believe that the throne of Valnwall should be his. She suggests that they keep their eyes open. They watch Nevain for a few minutes but he does nothing suggesting he plans to poison someone.

With the Duke now in attendance, the halfling chamberlain calls for quiet and introduces the entertainment – Delanna the bard. The woman sings an enchanting elvish song about the coming of winter to elven lands. Lakima and Alrix judge that the bard is using some type of enchantment magic. Enough to make her music captivating without actually controlling the audience. The crowd listens in silence and cheers when the song is finished. The regular musicians then take over again led by a halfling lute player.

Spotting a small party of dwarves seated at a table, Lakima makes his way over to introduce himself. He meets the dwarven ambassador Emdain Darkstone and a female dwarven mining expert named Nisdyl. Emdain tells them Nisdyl was unable to return to Gundamark because of problems with frost giants blocking Icefang pass. Lakima tells them that his group of adventurers were the ones to unblock the pass. Emdain is suitably impressed and is not at all surprised when Lakima brings up the story of the White Worm. The dwarves of Gundamark are aware of the rumors about the creature. Emdain gives Lakima a token from the dwarves of Gundamark. He tells him it will announce him as a friend to any Gundamark dwarves and even the gnomes of Winterhaven. During the conversation with the dwarves, Lakima notices a middle-aged woman eavesdropping. At the close of the conversation, he turns and asks the woman if there is anything he can do for her. She makes an apology and quickly walks away. As he watches her retreat, Lakima notices that she goes to speak with a white-haired, bearded old man sitting in a corner – Windmaster Bryan Sturlaker.

Lakima notices now as he turns from the dwarven delegation that he has misplaced his wife. He spots Alayna dancing with a distinguished gentleman on the dance floor. Lakima heads over to the halfling minstrel and hands him some gold and asks him to play a tune from the Sea of Sands. The minstrel snaps up the gold and tells him he knows one song – he hopes he likes it. He proceeds to play a popular dance song from Lakima’s homeland. Lakima walks over to Alayna and cuts in and proceeds to lead her in one of the dances of his homeland. The other dancers leave the floor as they are all unfamiliar with the tune or the dance. Lakima manages to remember most of the dance moves – somewhat clumsily – and Alayna does her best to follow his lead. At the end of the dance, there is a round of polite applause.

“We are going to be invited to so many parties!” Alayna says.

Lakima and Alayna move off the dance floor as the music being played returns to the music that the locals are more familiar with. Lakima is approached by Cadriel Tresallinde as he steps into the press of people, Cadriel recognized the music as he is from Southport near the borders of the Sea of Sands. He discovers that Lakima is a member of the Company of the Black Dragon and he asks how many men he has underarms. He is disappointed when he learns of the size of the group. Cadriel is hiring mercenaries in Dolmvay to launch a coup in Southport to install himself as Emperor. He invites Lakima to come and visit him at his Villa in the District of Nobles.

On the other side of the room, Fenris continues to look for nobles to rob. More like a game than through any intent. He is surprised to spot a familiar face. He watches as a servant moves through the crowd serving food. He watches closely and realizes the man is Kavien – someone he worked with in the thieves’ guild 3 years ago. He checks the other servers and spots two more familiar faces. The brothers Throck and Adin were also members of the guild. Fenris makes his way over to Alrix and Lakima and tells them that he suspects a heist is in the making. He has counted three servants who are actually members of the thieves guild. He points them out to everyone. Lakima waves one of the thieves over and is offered a tray of food. While the man has his attention focused on Lakima, Alrix gazes into his eyes and charms him. Alrix then asks what heist is being planned. They learn that the three thieves plan to steal a painting from the adjoining library. They thank the man and move away. Lakima steps up to Earl Claude who is standing with Duke Robert and Lord Mikael. He tells them that the Duke is about to be robbed. Lord Mikael, who tells them the security of the ball is his concern, is skeptical. But he sends a guard to detain one of the men they point out. At this point, they can only spot two of the thieves. The guard returns several minutes later to confirm their story. The man they detained is a member of the thieves guild. Mikael orders more guards to the library and tells them to detain the other two men. Eventually, the guard returns to tell them they detained the second fake servant and caught the third trying to make a break for it. Mikael does thank the company for their help. The Duke appears amused by what has happened at his party. Earl Claude takes this opportunity to introduce Lakima and Alrix to the Duke. They get to spend a few minutes speaking with the Duke before he makes an excuse to move along.

The group continues to mingle about the party. Lakima finds himself near his father-in-law Nevain so he goes over and introduces himself to Earl Uther. The man seems to lower his opinion of Lakima when he learns he married into his food taster's family. He is interested when he learns that Lakima represents the Company of the Black Dragon. He recalls their adventure facing off against the blue dragon Synastarax. Earl Uther asks Lakima if the Company would be interested in a job. Lakima tells him they have some free time but they are not cheap. Earl Uther tells them of problems he is having in the north with “Sky Raiders”. He tells Lakima that he is staying at the Emerald Rose Inn for the next few days. He suggests that they pay him a visit which could benefit their mutual interests. Lakima notices that his father-in-law has a strained look on his face. Earl Uther makes his goodbyes and moves on.

At this moment, Lakima hears raised voices and sees a fat man in a clerical vestment shaking his finger in Flora’s face. Lakima and Alrix quickly move through the crowd to intervene. They hear the cleric accuse Flora of being a “creature of chaos” who should be banished. Lakima steps in to confront the cleric who tells them, “do you know who I am! I am Patriarch Sorlund.” Lakima appears less than impressed. The situation is defused when a grey-bearded fat man arrives who looks like sainted Klaus. The man informs Sorlund that he has overstepped his bounds and asks him to move along. An angry Sorlund is led away by a member of this entourage. The man who intervened introduces himself as Lawlord Ethun Barrigan. He apologizes to the group and again to Flora directly. He tells him that only the most conservative members of the church have views like Sorlund. Lakima realizes that this is the man Sturlaker told them he would try to arrange a meeting with. Lakima takes the opportunity to quietly tell Barrigan about the parts of the Ghoul King they have in their possession. Barrigan is shocked and has to sit down to recover. He tells them to bring the items to the Valenon – East Gate first thing in the morning. He will personally make certain that the items get into the Vaults. Lakima thanks Barrigan and moves on to the party.

Nearby, Lakima spots a woman who looks to be from the Sea of Sands. Both her appearance and her dress. He walks over and introduces himself. The woman introduces herself as Dona Maria. She is indeed from the City of Veils. She tells Lakima that she has been in exile in Dolmvay for six months. She makes a living retelling the stories of her homeland. Her local patron sitting nearby tells Lakima that the stories are wonderful. During the conversation, Lakima learns that one of the favorites is the story of Maikin the mighty – defender of the City of Veils.

The night continues on and some of the guests appear to have imbibed too much wine. Fenris finds himself standing near a drunk noble with a gold ring set with emeralds on his finger. Fenris reaches in to snatch it off the noble’s finger but he finds it is stuck. The noble notices the tug on his hand and looks unsteadily over at Fenris. Thinking Fenris is shaking his hand he returns the shake and then sits down in a chair. Fenris quickly moves to another group of guests.