Rescuing Alrix

 This past weekend we had session 79 of my Swords & Wizardry game. The group was introduced to or rescued a new party member with a secret origin. The new player did not get a chance to show off much of his abilities because this was a low combat session. In fact, most of the combat occurred before they met. I used the tired old trope that they find the new player in a prison cell. In this case, it was the best option because they were in a pocket dimension wizard tower.

This is part 2 of the Lair of the White Worm adventure. But it has been difficult to keep the players moving along toward the final goal. I guess it just does not feel compelling enough to them even though the final enemy attacked one of the players. I suspect that without further motivation they are not going to follow up on the story clues. At the end of the last session, they did tell me that they wanted to investigate the secret vault beneath the Purple Bugbear Tavern. So I can prepare for where they are going next. I have just thought up another side trek so I may also need to use it.

Session 79: The Tower in a Book Part 2

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

The Company of the Black Dragon has learned of a Sorcerer’s Tower hidden in a book. Using clues gained from some bugbear thieves they have entered the tower. On the second floor, they battle some hellhounds and find a treasure room. Lakima opens a bottle and mist pours out and forms into a horse. Unable to get the horse to go back into the bottle they decide to ascend the wooden steps to the third floor. The horse is left behind.

On the third floor, they immediately encounter a Hill giant in what appears to be a torture chamber. Eathwund and the remaining skeleton minions move in to attack. Lakima casts Confusion but it has no effect on the dim-witted giant. The Giant misses Eathwund with a red-hot iron poker but does impale two of the skeletons. Aashdoshan hurls a dagger at the giant stabbing it in the throat. Lakima hits it with three darts. The giant angrily pulls out the small weapons but is distracted long enough for Eathwund to drive his sword deep into its belly killing it.

After the giant falls to the floor, the heroes hear the sound of cries for help from nearby. In a nearby chamber, they find a prison with three cells. The occupants of the cells cry out to be freed. One is a man who introduces himself as Arnold of the town watch. They also release a halfling pedlar called Lydia. The third cell holds a man with a strange accent. The man introduces himself as Alrix. He tells them that he would like vengeance on the wizard Ud Lux who was holding him captive and asks for a weapon. Lantosh gives the man his battle-ax.

Lakima takes some time to question the three freed prisoners. Arnold says he was captured one week ago after chasing some bugbears into the bookshop. Lydia says she was captured 3 days ago. She has no idea she is in a pocket dimension. Alrix claims to have been captured several weeks ago in Dolmvay by the wizard Ud Lux. He has not seen his captor in more than a week. They all have been facing the growing uncertainty of whether the Hill Giant jailor would eat one of them. They are grateful to hear that the hill giant has been slain.

Arnold and Lydia want to leave immediately but they are told that the way out has not been found yet. They decide to wait in the prison for the party to return. Alrix asks to come along. He tells them that he wants to deal with the wizard himself. The group heads up another set of wooden steps to the fourth floor. Fenris goes up the steps first and comes down to tell everyone that there is another hellhound waiting for them. Eathwund goes up the steps as quietly as he can manage and spies on the chamber above. He sees a sleeping hellhound in a large room. Eathwund tries to sneak up on the hellhound but it wakes just as he gets near to it. He quickly stabs it in the throat with his sword killing it.

The entire company moves up the stairs to the fourth level of the tower. Past the room with the hellhound guardian, they find a summoning chamber. The workbenches are covered in cobwebs. The summoning circle looks to have been used at some point. Opening another door, they find a room well-lit by lanterns. In the room is a round table with several strange objects sitting on it – an hourglass, a quill, a closed book, and a pair of scissors. Lakima casts detect magic and discovers the quill and hourglass are magical artifacts, while the book is magical and connected to the quill and hourglass in some manner.  After a little hesitation, Lakima picks up the hourglass. He notices that the sand is swirling about in the upper and lower halves of the hourglass but not pouring through the center. All of the items are carefully placed in his bag of holding.

The door from this chamber is locked but Fenris uses his thieves’ lockpicks and is able to open the door. Inside they find a cozy room with a clean-looking bed. On a writing table, they find an open journal written by Ud Lux. The last entry is from the day before his attack on Lakima. He mentions preparing to capture or charm Lakima. Lakima spends time flipping through the journal while the rest of the group searches the chamber. They find a pair of books that appear to have blank pages. But when Lakima looks at them, he realizes they are magical texts. Alrix finds his missing clothes and equipment.

Lakima relates what he has learned from the journal. Ud Lux traveled from the lair of the White Worm on a mission to collect magic-users. In the first town he arrived in Phom Thult, he charmed a wizard called Ralthanar. Ralthanar told Ud Lux how he made a pact with a demon and used a pair of artifacts to make his tower impossible for thieves to find. By hiding it in a book. The journal describes how the Quill of Laminae works and how the Infinity glass was used to make the effect permanent. The journal goes on to chronicle Ud Lux’s capture of three more magic users including Alrix. Although the journal mentions that Alrix appears to use a primitive form of innate magic. Ud Lux used the tower to travel from the Northern wastes south of the Valen peaks. Before he charmed some bandits to be bodyguards and the bugbears were placed in the tower.

Once the chambers have been thoroughly searched the entire group descends to the first floor. They find that the bugbears are still safely behind the webbed door. Lantosh asks the bugbear leader the secret to leaving the tower. At first, the bugbears refuse to tell unless they are released. But eventually, they do agree with the promise of being released somewhere outside of the town. 

Now that he understands how the tower works, Lakima removes the book from the Bag of Holding. Opening it he sees that a large number of the pages have been cut out in the shape of a key. Lakima touches his paper key to the book and everyone in the room is turned to powder and drawn into the book. The Book of Keys falls to the floor in the tower and the heroes all appear in a small bookshop. A single member of the town watch on guard cries out in alarm. They assure the guard that the bugbear menace has been ended.  The owner of the Bookshop arrives and demands to know what is going on. After being calmed down they learn that he bought the book from the apprentice of Malyn the apothecary for 5 silver coins. Lakima tells him that he is taking it as it is dangerous. The owner, Jordan Page puts up a mild protest. The local watch leader advises them to come to the town watch tomorrow to collect the reward. The members of the Company of the Black Dragon say goodbye to the guards and people they have rescued but they do invite Alrix to the Manor House. He is offered a guest room for as long as he is in town. As it is very early in the morning, everyone goes to their rooms to get some sleep.

The next day Lakima identifies the magic items. He finds that the spellbook belonged to the wizard Ralthanar. The other book is a treatise on demon summoning. Lakima gives the Infinity Glass to Aashdoshan along with one of the keys and he keeps the Quill. A message arrives from the Merchant’s Guild indicating that they have found some properties meeting Lakima’s request. A much smaller group of Lakima, Eathwund, and Alrix head over to the Town Watch post and speak to Sgt. Frans. Frans signs a warrant indicating that the Company of the Black Dragon has fulfilled the necessary requirements for the offered reward. They take this over to the Keep to get paid. Money in hand the group heads to the Merchant Adventurers Guild Hall. The Merchant guild master shows them around a nearby building that would make a fine Wizards Guildhall. Lakima buys it on the spot from the current owners. He also re-enters the tower in the book and meets with the bugbears. They have all been freed by now. He tells them that he will be releasing them into the woods and touches each in turn with the quill before trapping them in a new book.

Not much happens for the adventurers over the next two weeks. Aashdoshan buries himself in the cellar and does not come out. Lakima commissions a shop to handle the furnishings for the new guildhall and finds a dwarven sculptor to make a life-sized statue of Medamellara for the hall. Meanwhile, Eathwund removes one of the dead bugbears from the tower in a book and takes it to Wynford to get it stuffed. Wynford is aghast and quotes a high price but Eathwund agrees to pay with a bonus. Then he tells Wynford to dye the bugbear purple. Alrix busies himself exploring Edgerton and finding where the best bookshops and places of learning are located. Finally, Lakima sends magical messages by messenger to Caster’s Ford advertising the new Mages Guild and warning of Ud Lux and his cronies.

The Tower in a Book

 This was the first session after one of the regular players had to drop out of the game. But shortly before the session start time - two players asked to join. I do not like to just drop new characters into the game. I try to have their introduction make sense. So I asked them to play one of the NPC characters in the group for the first session. One player played the party thief. The other spent the session listening and developing a rather unique character concept. More on that next week.

This session occurred almost entirely in an adventure purchased from Creations Edge Games. The adventure is L3: The Sorcerer's Tome by Matthew E. Kline. I made some alterations to it to fit my game and the character levels.

Session 78: The Tower in a Book

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Aashdoshan (human necromancer), Domago (human cleric), Fenris the Filch (human thief), Lantosh (human fighter NPC).

The members of the Company of the Black Dragon take a week off without adventuring in Edgerton. Lakima and Aashdoshan research spells. Eathwund commissions a portrait of Mari Kell (as a ghost) and hangs it in the tavern room at the Sign of the Purple Bugbear. Fenris is sent on a mission by Aashdoshan, spending some time speaking with Fendar the caretaker of the cemetery just outside the town.

Another reported attack by Bugbears occurs in the town. This time the bugbears strike at a dried good store in the middle of the night and vanish before the town watch can respond. Lakima calls a meeting of the company at the manor. He suggests that this sounds like the work of a rogue wizard using illusionary magic. Perhaps someone stealing food for the poor. He suggests they set a trap for the thieves.

Lakima finds a bakery with particularly fine sweetbreads. He commissions a large order to be picked up a few hours after midnight. The baker they commission, Binda, is puzzled by the request but convinced by their gold. As the sun sets, the company sets up positions across the street from the bakery. Fenris climbs onto the roof of a nearby building to get a view of the street. The night is uneventful and they are just about to go pick up the bread when they hear a door open on the deserted street. As they watch, they see bugbears step out of a local bookshop called Pages’ Pages. Four bugbears slip-on hooded cloaks and nearly disappear into the shadows as they make their way down the street.

The bugbears somehow spot Eathwund hiding in an alley just as they pass and one of them swings a club. Eathwund stabs the bugbear while Lakima tells Brice to use his Wand to cast Web over all of the bugbears. A few moments later, Aashdoshan also casts Web further entangling the bugbears. In all of the commotion, the remaining members of the party arrive and they hear distant shouts from the town watch.

Lakima casts Charm Monster and affects three of the bugbears. Using Lantosh as an interpreter he tries to question the bugbears. Lantosh gets some answers but finds that the bugbears refuse to betray their friend the “fat human wizard”. Lakima realizes that the bugbears are already under another mage's charm spell. The Watch arrives and begins to search the bugbears. One member of the watch, Lantosh, Eathwund, and Lakima search Pages’ Pages but do not find anything. Lakima casts Detect Magic and discovers two books are magical. One is called Cherwell’s Misfortune and another called Flying Spells of Jiharu. Checking the strongly magical Cherwell’s Misfortune he finds it is a fairly innocuous story of a farmer with a troublesome goat. He does find a strange illustration of a tower in the middle of the book.

One member of the town watch tosses aside a piece of parchment found on one of the captured bugbears. Eathwund picks it up and finds it is a piece of paper cut out of a book that has been cut in the shape of a key. Eathwund hands the paper key to Lakima. Lakima heads back into the shop and immediately everyone in the shop vanishes. Leaving only Eathwund, Lantosh, and Domago outside on the street with three members of the town watch. Eathwund removes another paper key from one of the bugbears and the three remaining members of the team enter the shop and vanish.

In the Book

The members of the Company of the Black Dragon (and one member of the Town Watch) materialize in a strange dimension of brown fog. They find they are standing on the page of an enormous open book. The strange and enormous text covers the page in ink. Stranger still, a large paper tower rises up out of the open pages of the book. On the side of the tower is what looks like an opening. Lakima tells everyone to be careful. His voice is muffled by the thick, brown fog. Fenris tests a page of the book with his Longsword but finds he cannot damage the surface. Lakima admonishes him to put his sword away and check the doorway.

To Fenris the doorway looks like a door-shaped indentation in the side of the tower. He pushes against the parchment and it swings open into a well-lit room. The room looks like a furnished waiting room in a stone-walled building. A wood door faces them on the other side of the room. The backside of the parchment entry looks like a stout wooden door. Everyone enters with the exception of the watchman who insists on waiting outside. They search the chamber finding barrels and crates of recently stolen foodstuffs. Aashdoshan finds a guestbook and busies himself signing it. He notices that the last name in the guest book is Ud Lux which sounds familiar. Telling Lakima of the name, Lakima tells him that Ud Lux was the wizard who tried to Charm him.

The group opens the door into a corridor and slowly advances down the hallway. As they near another door, it flies open and five bugbears ambush them attacking with clubs. Fenris is struck several times and retreats for cover where Domago heals him. Lakima casts sleep on the bugbears while Eathwund and Lantosh hold them off. Three of the bugbears collapse. Eathwund kills those that continue fighting. Aashdoshan steps into the room and kills the sleeping bugbears. He then raises all five bugbears as undead minions. Fenris comments that he never gets used to that.

They continue to find their way through dark, stone hallways before discovering a barracks full of bugbears (10 total). A large melee commences. The fighters hold the bugbears back while the magic users cast spells. Aashdoshan casts slow catching a number of bugbears (and Eathwund) in the radius of the spell. Lakima raises five of the bugbears that have been killed to this point as undead. Meanwhile, Fenris hears more bugbears behind a door behind the group. He jams the door shut temporarily with finger bones from a dead bugbear. Then Aashdoshan wizard locks the door.

Back in the barracks, Lantosh calls on the remaining bugbears to surrender. Their leader, Xarg, agrees. Lakima questions Xarg through Lantosh and learns that the bugbears are bodyguards for Ud Lux. They claim to be from the Frozen Wastes far to the north. It is clear Ud Lux charmed them. The bugbears tell them that Ud Lux has been missing for a week. They do not know why the book ended up in the shop. But they have been raiding for food to keep a giant that lives upstairs from getting hungry and eating them. The bugbears are all sent into the chief’s room and the door is wedged shut and then Lakima casts a web spell on it.

The adventurers continue on and discover a wooden staircase leading up to a second floor. There they find further passage blocked by four hellhounds. They attack the hellhounds by pushing the undead bugbear minions forward in front of the group. The hellhounds respond with blasts of fire from their throats. This incinerates almost all of the undead and badly injures Eathwund. Lakima casts Lightning bolt and hits three of the hellhounds twice when the lightning bolt bounces back off a wall. All three hellhounds are killed. The last hellhound is brought down by Eathwund using his sword.

The group opens another door and finds an armory. As they enter, a suit of armor animates and attacks the group. Aashdoshan casts Dispel Magic and it clatters to the floor. Another door opens into a treasure room with three treasure chests. Fenris carefully examines the first chest but misses a poison needle trap. He curses and then collapses on the floor. Domago uses his Book of Poison Protection to revive Fenris. The chests are all eventually opened and they find gold and silver coins, gems, potions, and a stoppered bottle full of green mist. Lakima takes the bottle and opens it and a full riding horse complete with saddle appears in the chamber. Lakima is elated and then tries to get the horse to go back into the bottle without success.

At that point it was late and we decided to call it. The new character was almost met in this session but the players just did not get that far.

The Evil Abbot

 This session turned out to be an epilogue for an adventurer the players took part in almost a year ago called the Legend of the Ripper. That adventure ended with the players killing a RedCap who was mimicking a string of murders that occurred a half-century earlier. However, a ghost of one of the victims from the earlier string of killings was still haunting the tavern one of the players had purchased. Chasing away business. So he finally decided to do something about it.

The players were in a period of rest between major adventures. I have introduced three threads that the players could pull on to lead to new adventures. I also had some short encounters put together based on what the players had indicated they might want their characters to do during their downtime.

This session also marks the retirement of the character Alonso as the player is no longer able to make the weekly session time slot. Everyone was really sad to see him go. But these things happen. Alonso had been in the group for exactly a year.

Session 77: The Evil Abbot

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alonso (human fighter), Aashdoshan (human necromancer), Domago (human cleric), Lantosh (human fighter NPC), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC).

The full Company of the Black Dragon spends a few days of downtime in Edgerton. Lakima creates some magical messages and sends his apprentice Brice out to post them in the Town Square and Market Place. He also sends a personal message to Malyn and Lavinia Crane and has Brice deliver them.

Eathwund asks other members of the company for suggestions on how to get the ghost of Mari Kell to leave his tavern. The entire group decides to head over to the Tavern that afternoon. Business is looking up a little. Aashdoshan suggests a seance to contact the ghost in the cellar. The group heads down to the cellar. Aashdoshan uses chalk on the hard, clay cellar floor to set up a circle of protection. Then he plants his Staff of Withering in the floor. Aashdoshan tells everyone to form a circle around the Staff and then he casts a modified version of Speak with Dead. As he finishes chanting the vocal portion of the spell, the lanterns flicker, and the ghost of Mari Kell appears. She appears calm but sad and looks forlornly at Eathwund.

Eathwund asks how he can help her and she responds that she seeks justice before she can rest. Eathwund asks who killed her and she whispers to him, “the abbot of St. Bethesda!” Aashdoshan then tries to speak with her and she vanishes in a flash.

The adventurers discuss this information. Lakima suggests that the abbot must be dead as Mari Kell was killed fifty years ago. Aashdoshan tells them that this would not matter to a ghost. They just need to confront the corpse of the abbot which is presumably buried in the crypts below the church of St. Bethesda. Most of the members of the group (except Aashdoshan) had ventured into the crypts below the abandoned Church of St. Bethesda in the past. They encountered a crypt holding five coffins and fought some skeletons that were in the coffins.

Lakima and Fenris scout the neighborhood around the abandoned church and they see that the cottage that they entered before to get into the crypt has been boarded up by the town watch. They note several other boarded-up entrances to the church, one of which is in a secluded alley. They decide to come back that evening and enter the church from the alley.

The adventurers return under the cover of darkness and try to discretely enter the alley behind a bakery near the church. Aashdoshan casts Knock and the bars over the door fall to the ground. Fenris checks the door and declares it okay. He goes inside followed by the others. Inside the church is an enormous nave. A stained-glass window lets in the moonlight at one end overlooking a simple altar. Enormous statues of St. Bethesda flank the altar. Debris has fallen from the ceiling onto the floor in several places in the large hall. A pile of debris blocks the stairway down to the cellar. Fenris checks it and says it would take hours to clear it away. Lakima suggests looking for another entrance. They check the bottom floor of the domicile and the belltower. In the belltower, Fenris finds stolen goods in crates and fresh footprints leading from an outside door to the belltower. The footprints head up the wooden staircase.

Fenris, Alonso, and Domago climb the stairs to the next floor and find more stolen goods. Aashdoshan joins them. Fenris asks for quiet and they hear voices from above. Fenris sneaks up the wooden stairs and they hear him confronting a pair of thieves up above. The rest of the group join him. They find two thieves of the Back Alley Clah gang who are on guard duty. The two men are immediately intimidated by the adventurers and offer up whatever information they know. Lakima promises to let them go and tells them that if they answer his questions, he will pretend he never met them. The thieves readily agree. After answering a few questions Lakima puts the pair to work clearing the staircase to the basement. Aashdoshan quietly draws a dagger as the men finish the work, noticing this Lakima angrily shakes his head at Aashdoshan and makes certain that the men leave safely. Once the thieves leave, Aashdoshan and Lakima have a discussion about keeping their word and not killing indiscriminately. Domago and Lantosh side with Lakima in the discussion.

The adventurers descend the stairs into the crypts beneath the church. Once in the crypts, they wander about the somewhat familiar hallways. They eventually remember where the tombs were located. In this room, they see five stone tombs, all open and five skeletons scattered about, some in the tombs and some on the floor. The scene of a fight they had with the skeletons months ago. The names on the tombs are checked and all seem to be for acolytes. The adventurers discuss where to search next when the ghost of Mari Kell appears near one wall. She waits until she has their attention and then steps through the wall.

Lakima takes out his Wand of Secret Door Detection and finds a secret door in the wall where Mari Kell’s ghost passed. Fenris checks and then opens the door. Beyond they find a large chamber. The chamber is bare except for a single stone coffin. The coffin is closed. On the lid they see the crudely carved message, Here lies Abbot Gresham Stowe, may St. Bethesda curse him in the afterlife.

The decision is made to open the tomb. The lid is slid off and inside they see a well-preserved corpse of a man in a simple brown priest’s robe. But the front of the robe is stained brown with blood and has several rips and tears in it. As they watch a ghostly spirit of a man rises up from the tomb. The man smiles serenely at them and in an unthreatening manner speaks, “Welcome to the Church, let me put my blessing upon you all!” He reaches out with ghostly hands towards those who are nearest. Aashdoshan immediately casts Magic Missile at the apparition. As the missiles strike, the ghost’s visage becomes distorted and angry. Lakima quickly shouts an accusation at the ghost accusing him of being the Ripper and murdering Mari Kell. The ghost angrily shouts, “No, no! No one can prove that. I made sure there were no witnesses! Now you must join them” It reaches out toward Alonso but misses. Alonso and Eathwund both strike the wraith with their swords. It screams angrily and begins to fade. The ghost of Mari Kell appears and launches herself at the wraith of the abbot. Both figures fade out of existence. As Mari Kell vanishes, Eathwund hears “Thank you” whispered in his ear.

In the aftermath of the battle, Alonso checks the tomb. The corpse of the abbot is still there but it is clad only in a simple robe. Apparently, he was buried with no valuables. Aashdoshan raises the corpse as a zombie and raises all of the skeletons they have encountered (after paying Fenris to drag some of the skeletons into the nearby room). Now Lakima questions Aashdoshan on how he plans to march his troop of undead minions across town. Lakima offers a solution but he first argues with Aashdoshan again about his methods. Eventually, Lakima casts Phantasmal force disguising the undead as henchmen.

They head across town for their manor. On the bridge to High Town they face a few questions from the town watch but manage to get by them. Aashdoshan disappears into the cellar with his undead minions.

The next day dawns, the day that Lakima had noted in his magical messages for the magic-users of Edgerton to gather at the Manor House at his invitation. Four mages arrive. They introduce themselves as Philo, Kenrae, Arvind, and Katja. Lakima tells them all of the dangers faced by mages in Dolmvay. Recently a witch killed every member of a nearby mage's college and he himself was attacked by an agent of the White Worm. He proposes setting up a Guild to offer mutual protection against those who would seek to harm mages. Three of the mages indicate they are interested. Katja tells him that she will think about it. Lavinia Crane and Malyn do not arrive at the meeting. Aashdoshan indicates that he is in but seems less than enthusiastic. Once Katja leaves, Arnvid tells Lakima that Katja has a reputation for being unlucky. She was asked to leave the Mages guild of Dolmvay and is called Katja the cursed behind her back. Lakima tells them that he would still welcome her into the guild.

Aashdoshan heads down to the cellar to continue to work on a spell he is researching. Lakima, Domago, and Eathwund head to the Apothecary to speak with Malyn. They find that Malyn has hired mercenaries to protect himself. Lakima asks Malyn to join his fledgling mages guild. Malyn tells him he wishes to remain neutral. Lakima argues that he is already involved but he is unable to convince him to join. They head over to the magic-user Lavinia Crane’s home and Lakima argues with her through her door that she does not open to him. Lavinia informs Lakima that she is already in the Mages Guild of Dolmvay. The group returns to the Manor House.

In the next few days, Aashdoshan continues to formulate a new spell, Lakima places an order for some silver Medallions (10) for the Mages' Guild and he buys a lot of parchment. Lakima visits with the head of the local Merchants guild and discusses a partnership and asks for them to look for a suitable Hall for his new Guild. Lakima also begins to research a special Spellbook he wants to create.

Beneath Zarin's Tower

I threw together a quick little cavern exploration for the party as a short encounter on their way home to the town of Edgerton. I included a few Fire Mephit which were supposed to just soften up the heroes for the final encounter with the Flame Salamander. As it turned out the Mephits were the most dangerous creatures in the adventure. Their breath attack was quite deadly because it struck the lower HP members of the group.

Once the group was back in their home town I really had no idea which direction they would go. I had a number of adventures partially developed but there is never enough time to cover every direction they might go. To add to that some of the characters have reached level 9 and want to start doing research and building strongholds. Luckily, I managed to keep ahead of them during the session.

Session 76: Beneath Zarin’s Tower

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Aashdoshan (human necromancer), Alonso (human fighter), Domago (human cleric), Lantosh (human fighter NPC), and Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC).

The party has arrived in a cavern some sixty feet below the ground after descending “Zarin’s tower”. The cavern is lit with the glow from a crevasse full of molten magma. The light from their lanterns reveals they have arrived in the ruins of an ancient town. A few buildings lie partially buried beneath dirt and stone.

Fenris and Lakima move forward toward the magma fissure and stop as the heat begins to get uncomfortable. They can see enough room to pass the crevasse on either side. Fenris is willing to try but Lakima says that it looks too unsafe. First Lakima drinks a potion of fire resistance then he casts the Luminous bridge spell and a glowing bridge of light arches over the magma.

“Hurry across!”, Lakima yells.

Fenris and Alonso are the first two to dash onto the bridge. As they are passing over the magma, three flying creatures made of magma emerge. Fenris breaks into a sprint and races across the bridge but one of the creatures (a mephit) claws at him and misses. Alonso attacks the creature and is joined by Lantosh, Domago, and Eathwund. Eathwund misses one of the flying creatures, but Domago strikes it with his mace. Aashdoshan fires magic missiles at one creature and it cools into rock and crumbles into the magma. A second creature breathes out a cloud of noxious gases and ash burning the lungs of the heroes. A mephit manages to claw Alonso but is then killed by Eathwund. The remaining Mephit breathes out a cloud of noxious gases on Aashdoshan, Lakima, and Eathwund. They try to hold their breath but are burned anyway. Domago hits the creature with a sling stone and Eathwund and Alonso finish it off with slashes from their swords.

The adventurers look around but do not see any more mephit rising up out of the magma. They all walk quickly across the bridge of light. Lakima summons his Glow Minion and he sends it into one of the ruined buildings. They see bones poking out from under some debris. Lakima commands the Glow Minion to drag the skeleton out of the building. It tries but yanks the skull off of the skeleton. Lakima hands the skull to Aashdoshan and asks how old it is. Aashdoshan tells him that the skull is at least a thousand years old. Leaving the buildings near the chasm, the adventurers make their way to the largest building in the cavern. Held up by stone columns, the building is completely buried beneath rubble but the roof is intact and they see an open doorway. The Glow Minion is sent inside.

From the doorway, Fenris and Lakima see the light of the Glow Minion reveal a large, twenty-foot-long flaming salamander resting on a nest of gems and crystals. It lies in the intact corner of the buried building. Domago suggests tossing it some food, but Lakima tells everyone to stand back as he casts Lightning Bolt at the creature. The Lightning bolt strikes the creature and shakes the entire cavern, dust and debris rain down from overhead and the ground shakes. As the dust clears, the salamander shrieks a loud challenge and rears up on multiple legs. Alonso, Eathwund, and Lantosh rush into the chamber to attack the creature. All three strike the creature which roars in anger. Lakima tosses darts at it and Domago fires sling stones. The Salamander darts toward Eathwund but encounters only his strong shield arm. Aashdoshan flings a magic dagger striking the creature high in the neck. The creature attacks Lantosh and wraps around him constricting around the hapless fighter in a ring of fire. Lantosh falls unconscious. Alonso strikes the creature with his sword edge behind its head and it collapses and begins to cool.

As the creature falls, Domago runs over to Lantosh and prays for healing. A glow emanates from his palms onto Lantosh’s chest. After a few moments, Lantosh awakes and gives thanks to the healer. In the nest of the creature, Fenris digs out a pile of gemstones of various sizes and qualities. He also finds five salamander eggs.

With the cavern explored Lakima suggests that they leave. However, Fenris points to some leaning stone buildings to the north and suggests they investigate. The Glow Minion is sent into a somewhat intact building and they see the shine of piles of loose gold and silver coins lying on the stone floor amongst three skeletons partially covered in fallen stone blocks. The Glow minion is unable to pick up the coins quickly so Fenris enters the structure with the Bag of Holding. Fenris spots a longsword that is free of rust and reaches for it but at that moment a dozen creatures of shadow emerge from the darkness almost surrounding him. Fenris leaps from the chamber and runs back to the group. Lakima tells him to duck as he casts Fireball into the chamber. The fireball explodes blinding everyone with the flash, dirt, and smoke pouring out of the building and the cavern chamber shakes again. As the smoke clears, they see no sign of the shadows. Fenris cautiously steps into the chamber and begins scooping gold and silver into the Bag of Holding. He finds the melted remains of the long sword. But he also scoops up a wand, a shield, and an intact suit of plate mail armor that he has to strip off of one skeleton. It takes several minutes for Fenris to fill up the Bag of Holding. During this time there is a pair of after quakes that lightly shake the cavern. Once he is done, the entire group hastily crosses the Bridge of Light and returns to the tower. Fenris locates the same levitation rune as above and he floats up the tower followed by his companions.

As the adventurers ascend toward the light from the portal, they see the dwarf Zarin looking down at them. He yells at them for entering his Magic Tower. He tells them anything they found belongs to him. Lakima tells him that they only saw a pile of copper in an unsafe ruin and that they left it there. Zarin looks the group over thoroughly, but since he does not see any treasure, he does not say anything. Lakima does tell Zarin how to open and close the portal and work the levitation lift. The adventurers quickly board the riverboat headed for Edgerton.

Back in Edgerton

The group arrives back in Edgerton late in the day. They head for their Manor House. Their manservant Huntley assures them that it has been quiet in Edgerton with them out of town for the past week and a half. He does hand out some messages that were delivered in their absence. One from Malyn for the attention of Lakima and one from Yana Malster (manager of the Sign of the Purple Bugbear) for the attention of Eathwund.

Letter from Malyn addressed to Lakima:

An old friend has arrived in town looking for partners in a venture that I believe you will want to join. The venture would involve a journey far to the north but the rewards would be substantial. The rewards would be in magical knowledge so I thought of you. He will be here in Edgerton for several weeks. Visit me at your earliest convivence.

A note from Yana Malster to Eathwund:

Hey boss, no good sales this month. No money. No need to come by. I have things well looked for. Will do better next month.

The adventurers go their separate ways in the Manor. Lakima’s apprentice Brice tells him that Rune Frost has been going through all of the books in the library and not putting them back in the correct order. He has had to clean up after him. He also tells Lakima that he feels he is ready to join his master on adventures.

The next day over breakfast Lakima notes to the assembled company that it would be a good idea if they continued to travel in pairs. Alayna assures him that she takes Onyx her magical guardian with her to her shop. Lakima asks Lantosh to join him on a visit to Malyn’s apothecary. Eathwund asks Domago if we would like to follow him over to his tavern. Aashdoshan is downstairs in the cellar, they assume and does not join them for breakfast.

Lakima and Lantosh arrive at the Apothecary and meet with Malyn and his apprentice Rodrigo. Rodrigo is sent to get Malyn’s visiting friend. He returns with a portly, older man with a grey beard. Malyn introduces the wizard as Ud Lux. Ud Lux tells Rodrigo to lock the door and then looks about conspiratorially. He tells Lakima he had better cast a privacy spell. Lakima watches as Ud Lux begins to cast a spell, and then he recognizes the incantation is for a Charm Person spell. Lakima grabs for his Rod of Absorption but before he can pull it from the Bag of Holding, he feels the charm compulsion falling over him. Lakima manages to shake off the spell and maintain his senses. Ud Lux realizes his spell has failed and curses, “the charm failed, kill him, Malyn!”

Before they can react, Lakima casts confusion on Rodrigo, Malyn, and Ud Lux. The spell grips them in insanity and Ud Lux yells, “You idiot, I will not suffer your mistakes anymore!” He casts a Lightning Bolt spell at Malyn, striking him and blasting a hole in the wall of the shop. Malyn turns invisible. Lakima summons a dwarf from the aether and yells for it and Lantosh to protect him. Lantosh approaches Ud Lux from one side while the dwarf approaches from the other. The dwarf strikes Ud Lux in the back of the neck knocking him forward. He spins around and strikes the dwarf with his staff. There is a flash of light and the dwarf disappears. Then Lantosh strikes Ud Lux in the head.  The wizard curses and raises his hands to surrender. Lakima demands to know why he attacked. Forgotten by everyone, Rodrigo calls out for help and they hear several voices respond from back in the shop. Ud Lux uses the distraction to teleport away. Malyn appears and Lakima casts dispel magic on him, breaking the charm Malyn was under. Malyn casts a charm on Rodrigo.

Lantosh blocks the doorway as four men attack him, Ud Lux’s bodyguards. Malyn casts a magic missile and kills one. Then Lakima casts a web spell and traps the rest. At that moment a town watchman slams open the door to the shop. Lakima tries questioning the three surviving henchmen but only learns that they are steadfastly loyal to something they call the White Worm. More town watchmen arrive and after several minutes of explaining the situation they take the three surviving henchmen away. Malyn tells Lakima that Ud Lux was a passing acquaintance and a middling mage. He has changed greatly in knowledge and power. He caught Malyn by surprise with a Charm spell when he visited a week ago. Then set a trap for Lakima. Malyn relates what he knows about the legend of the White Worm.

Meanwhile, Eathwund and Domago head to the poorer part of town and visit the Sign of the Purple Bugbear Tavern. Eathwund discusses some of the problems the newly renovated and opened tavern is having with his manager Yana. Yana makes excuses about the prices, the ghost of Mari Kell, and strange voices being heard in the cellar. Eathwund interviews the waitress Gladys who experienced the voices in the Cellar. He recalls that he also once heard this voice calling from below. But as the cellar is now blocked off from the catacombs beneath the Church of St. Bethesda, he dismisses it. He does suggest to Yana that they make some temporary price changes to increase patrons and he thinks about hiring a bouncer to cut down on fighting in the tavern.

Lakima and Lantosh head over to Lavinia Crane’s home to warn her that a cabal of wizards is charming/kidnapping magic users. However, he finds she is not at home. A quick check with the Arrow of Direction reveals that she is likely in town shopping.

Once everyone is back at the Manor House, Lakima explains what he encountered at Malyn’s shop. He goes down into the cellar and explains things to Aashdoshan as well.